Chance Meeting

How strange life is sometimes... It's the peculiar events that sometimes bring excitement to life.

I had the opportunity to meet two new friends last weekend. They were introduced by another friend whom I met through a good friend. The strange (and wonderful) thing is we all just clicked after meeting one another.

These two new friends are on their vacation and stopped by Penang and TH had asked SS to ask me if I could maybe bring them out for some local tastes. It's just coincidence that they came on a Deepavali weekend and I had some free time to show them some sights of Penang.

We had a grand time going to some places even I haven't been before. The Thai temple at Pulau Tikus with the grand looking gold Buddha image and very nicely done archway. The Spice Garden - I had stopped by many times but had never went in and walked around. The newly open Hard Rock Hotel - well, it's new.

And they loved the Chicken Rice Shop! For the weekend, we went there two times!

It was just a chance meeting... But what great chance it was!

You like him, He likes you

But why did nothing happened?

Sometimes people are strange. We reacted when we didn't need to and didn't when we needed to. We talked when we have nothing to say and kept silent when we should have talked.

Sometimes just a few words could change our whole lives. And yet, the words did not come.

Why do we complicate our lives?

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Surprisingly, I'm enjoying the movie. Hawaii is looking real good. I have always wanted to go to Hawaii ever since I was a little kid watching Fantasy Island on tv. The sights are just so so beautiful.

My favorite part from the movie was when they just jumped off the cliff into the ocean - in a very spontaneous manner. What a thrill!

The thing I love most about movies like these is that the ending is always good. Downtrodden people will always find their strengths and opportunities, and turned out the better for having gone through a bad patch. Totally feel-good! And the world could always use a feel-good moment anytime...

Split Second Change

We may be in a status quo for a while or even for a long while, but, in a split second, the situation of our lives may change - for the better or for the worse, forever. Just like accidents, they happened so suddenly, when we least expected. Or even, good fortune. Like those people in the casinos who just hit the jackpot. In a blink of an eye, their lives are forever different.

Actions that we performed in one second could dictate the way our lives might turned out.

This could be scary, or, reassuring... depending on where you're coming from.

Hmmm...

View from my window

It's sometimes nice to just sit back, enjoy a cup of tea and look out the window...

Snake Temple, Bayan Lepas, Penang

I suddenly found myself at a lost when was required to think of a place to bring some visiting uncles to. My dad out-of-the-blue thought of the Snake Temple. One of my uncles who used to stay in Penang some 50-odd years ago could still remember the last time he visitted there (almost 60 years ago), so, it turned out to be quite a nostalgic trip for him.

I haven't been there for many years myself. I was surprised at the number of snakes that were there - there were more than I expected! And the crowd was bigger than I expected.


There were some signs of commercialization - as expected - pictures with snakes for a sum of money and a whole area with exotic looking snake which require a small token entrance-fee.

The Kuan Yin Shrine behind the main temple was a nice place to just walk around. There were a few trees in a protected area which has a small crowd of people hanging around. My dad later told me that they were snake-watching. There were actually snakes in the trees!

Hmm... sometimes it is interesting to re-visit places that have been kinda forgotten...

Caught up in life....

It's one of those things that if one is not careful of, one would be totally caught unaware. And by the time one is aware of its trickeries, time has passed us by and life would be as it seem for naught.

That is life and that is work. I have been afraid that I have been too busy with work to live life. And the past month or so of work had given some cause to my fear. I have been so caught up in work that there has been none for much of anything else.

That is a danger.

Time to think of more...

MJ, life and gone...

Surprisingly, his passing affects people from all walks of life. of all ages.

Looking at pictures from his youth, when he was just starting out, he was really a cute kid.

how could a person who started out with such strong religious background, with such brightness, with such support, turned out at a low and bowed out leaning on past glories?

I would like to think that he was really that innocent, decent and pure mind. Who was just misunderstood. Rest in peace...

Charming Guys Who Lie

Oprah's show today touched on lives of women who were for a short while touched by violence and torture in the hands of a person they loved and trusted, their own husbands. We looked at their stories and wondered why these women even started a relationship and loved these men and why they stayed married to them.

It's difficult for a person on the outside to understand. Even these women who appeared in the show, for them, it's difficult for them to see who they were in the past.

When asked, the women just said that the guys were so charming and nice in the beginning. The bad side sneaked in gradually after the wedding, often years after. And on why they stayed on, the women said that when they uttered their wedding vows, they really meant it and so didn't think that the husbands did anything wrong.

The good thing is that they managed to get out of the abyss and that they are all in good situations now.

I wonder if I were in this situation if I would ever have the strength to step up and out.

CSI without Grissom

Grissom is CSI. How could there be one CSI without Grissom? When I found out about the imminent change, I thought I would give it a chance, although I really couldn't imagine how it would be.

After watching a few episodes, it seems the feeling (from watching an episode of CSI) is gone. The excitement is gone. The mystery is gone.

Somehow Grissom's character brought something to the show that is missing even with the new guy who is not any light weight came on. It seems strange to replace a character with Grissom's caliber with a newbie! I was excited to see Laurence Fishburne sign on but his character is not doing anything for me. In other words, the character is boring and flat. And the new girl is not convincing either. The character tried too hard.

This is sad.

Just chillin'...

I just want to chill. Live a life that is meaningful to me. Go on a pace that does not have me rushing through the motion. Surround myself with people that feel good about themselves and thes, allow me to feel good about myself. Feel confidence with my faith, virtues and decisions. Feel beautiful and good in my own skin.

Adam is still my Idol... regardless...

I was quite devastated when I found out that Kris is officially the American Idol. I guess I had a thought that this could happen. Afterall, he was the dark horse. He was good in the finale but somehow, Adam was marvelously amazing! Well, good people have lost aplenty historically.

I'm sure Adam will go far, regardless of whether he is the idol or not. The world is at his feet right now. He just has to choose his preferred path...

O yay! Adam & Kris made it!

I came back home too late to catch the results show for the American Idol but managed to catch the news... Danny is out. Adam and Kris are on to the finals next week!

Contrary to news that stated that Danny was the favorite, he was never my favorite. i thought he paled in comparison to Adam. And even Kris with his impressive performances this week was better than him. I think Danny is a nice and good guy but in terms of 'idol', he seems to be a bit short of something. If Adam was voted out this week, I'm not sure if I'll have the mood for the Americon Idol Party that I'm hosting next week!

So YAY!

Last Three

Last three on the American Idol this season. It seems that this season went by so quickly. Now, it's down to the last three already. Adam, Danny and Kris.

Personally, my favorite is Adam. Kris is still a dark horse which I've grown to adore. Danny, I'm sorry to say I don't fancy that much. Yes, he's talented but I thought he's kinda boring. He's a humble guy, and for that I don't quite like myself that much for not liking him.

Maybe we should have an Idol party during the finals... That would be a fun get-together!

Love memories

A friend compiled a photo recollections stretching back to a decade or so ago and include the song 'Perhaps Love' to serenade the presentation.

The song ended with 'My memories of love will be of you'. In the length of our lives, I'm sure we have experienced many different kinds of love. To me, the strongest bond of all is the familial love we have for our parents, siblings, children. It is unconditional. Then, there's the other love for which people search all their lives for and many willing to do many things for.

I have a good family whom I know loves me and they gave me strength, faith and confidence to be what I am.

Then, I have one memory of love which is of one person. And they are just that, a memory. We know a memory for what it is. It is just that, a figment of thoughts in our mind. Something that happened in the past. It was real then. It is not real anymore. Time to cease sadness and let happiness soars again.

But it's not sadness I feel. Not anymore. Not for a long time. Yet, the memory remains.

Balance in Life

This year has been a busy year, at work, for me. I've always been able to control my time and leave work at a reasonable time and do things that I like. But this year has been difficult. In the first five months, I have logged on the same number of jobs that took the whole of last year for me to complete.

I'm still thinking and considering how to balance and adapt. Afterall, a life of just work is not healthy at all...

A.I.D.S

Over the weekend, a teacher taught us that we need to have A.I.D.S in life. Not the disease, but aids = assistance, help. Life is hard enough, who doesn't need aids to make life easier.

A = adaptativeness. Being able to adapt to whatever comes in life. I have been thinking of this a lot lately. For now, it seems as if my life is all work. Which I don't like. The job I love, it's just the some times long-hours that I kinda don't like. I have been thinking of how to balance up things. I understand why some jobs are urgent, I'm sure there's a way to make things easier but at this point, I have no solutions yet.

I = initiative. The initiative to think up new ideas and to think big. I have no problem with thinking up things to do. It's just the thinking big that I'm hesitant of.

D = dynamics. To transform the initiative into action. To manifest the ideas. To put words into action. To be more energetic. To be more effort-full. To overcome sloth and torpor.

S = service. A life spent to be of service to humanity must be the utmost worth living. Not everyone has the luxury to do that. But I guess we should all strive towards that. My personal conflict is between service to others and being and doing things for my own family. Which I still need to reconcile and adapt.

A lot more of reflection for me...

Deluded

By chance i caught the show called 'Helter Skelter'. It's about the gruesome acts of a man who managed to collect a group of people who somehow thought that he was God and all of them lived in a commune in a ranch, sharing everything. They would go into a person's home and brutally murder everyone in the house. Including a pregnant lady and an elderly couple. And they thought they did not do anything wrong.

That's their reality.

Reality could be so warped sometimes.

My time in Bali (I)

It was the most amazing time, the six days spent in Bali.

The weeks leading to it were hard. Between work and coordinating the itinerary between three other companions were tough. Considering that all of us were situated in different locales.

The morning we were flying off, I was a bit apprehensive abt the connecting flights. Would we make it catch the flight to Bali? I would then console myself by saying that we would be catching the early morning flight out of Penang and early morning flights are typically on time, if not early. And we already have ample time between flights.

Anyway, all the flights were smooth, other than a little delay of the Bali flight.

We got into Bali and met our guide, Ketut, & driver. And checked into our first hotel. The Pura Dewata at Seminyak. Ketut turned out to be a fun and flexible guide. He took us for a spin around Seminyak. Stopped at the memorial area at Legian where we had a little time to shop a bit and took some photos. Then proceed to Jimbaran Bay for sunset and BBQ dinner by the beach. The sunset was typical but the dinner was good. The mussels were to die for. After the food arrived, we kinda forgot about the sunset! It was a good, good start for a first day.

Second day started with a blast. We had breakfast at the hotel and met Mr Chee,Katherine & LeeMin! In Bali of all places! I was supposed to join Mr Chee and the gang for dinner just a few days before but I couldn't make it due to work... And I met him in Bali! Anyway, we proceed to Sukarwati and Ubud area for shopping, and onwards to Mount Batur.

Sukarwati was fabulous. This is indeed the place to go to for shopping and the time to go is early morning to get all the best deals! Tegalalang is a good place to shop for carvings! And the paddy terraces were nice too! ALthough if you have been to Vietnam, this is a mini terrace. But the concept of proper dining by the terraces is indeed interesting. I doubt the hygiene though.

We had the babi guling at the famous place in Ubud, Oka Kartini... It wasn't that good.

The rain came down heavily at Tegalalang shortenned our shopping spree. Actually, it was terminated before we managed to buy anything.

The road to the mountaineous area has tremendously amazing sights. The hotel, Hotel Segara, turned out to be rather nice. and cosy. The dinner at the hotel happened to be one of the best meals we had in the whole trip. The fried maggi was incredible.

The end of the 2nd day... All still good (other than the heavy rain in the afternoon).

Amazing and Blessed

Saturday was a good day for me. It was good reconnecting with some friends. It was good being a spiritual day. It was good being in the presence of really sincere and wholesome people. It was good being in the presence of people who only wants the best to happen. It was good to be the catalyst that put the factors together to get all those people to get together. It was good to have family and friends who helped get the event in shape.

The house dana turned out amazing. I had worries aplenty before the event. Would there be enough food? enough plates? enough utensils? enough cups? enough room? Would I get the events to go smoothly? Would everyone come? Would they be on time? Would they have a place to park their cars? Find my place? All in all, everything went smoothly. The number of people who turned out was just nice to fill my house but not too many that it was crowded and uncomfortable. The kids tended to get rowdy but I thought it was not too bad. At the very least, they were entertaining.

I think everyone got a dose of spirituality and hopefully left, after the talk, with a sense of what would be good to do to make their lives happier. I am very glad that Bhante agreed to grace this event and gave a thought-provoking talk. The responses he gave to the questions raised were really impressive. They really gave some points to ponder without being patronizing. I felt that he has really progressed exponentially since I last attended lessons with him. He really has a way of presenting his views in a way that is subtle but halfway through hit us with the realization that 'omg! that's it! that's so true! that might just be the way!'.

What a day!

Meeting old friends

Met an old friend who has gone on to live a really good life. A friend who had been a part of my growing up stage. Who had gone through uni together. Who had gone through some life changing courses together. Who had been and I'm sure still is a very giving, and wise person.

But now that his status has changed, I find that I felt awkward. The status as in, I'm a layperson, he is a venerated person. I'm happy that he is liberated, atleast from the more worldly stuff. I'm happy that he has gone beyond the typical paradigm of life. Just that, I now can't call him by his name. And I felt that I have to be more mindful of my speech. I can't just blurt out anything.

Anyway, it's all me. My issues. I just need to work them out. And working them out will only do me a whole world of good.

Blessings

I have been going through things that I have in life and seeing all the blessings I have. Wondering if I appreciated them enough, or I was taking them for granted, unconsciously. Wondering if in trying to keep my appreciation, I was happy doing those things. It's such a tough balance trying to keep things in perspective. Keeping people who matters in my life happy and keeping myself happy in the process.

Then, to me a simple life should be happy, but it's an effort to keep life simple. We had a whole life of conditioning of acquiring things and possessing things and this and that, that keeping a minimalistic style is an effort.

Just work...

My life has been work for the past couple of weeks. Hence, no blogging. To compound all things, my notebook crashed last weekend. Or rather, it was before that even.

Balance and Fairness of this Girl-Boy (Woman-Man) Thing

This is my analysis (I can't help it, analyzing things is what I do) on this whole dating and relationship stuff.

It seems the balance of relationship is always not on the side of the person who feels more (more often than not, it's the women). At first, it had been whirling in my mind for a while that the man always seems to have the upper hand. Then, when I looked around, I do have man-friends who are as equally as powerless in this thing we called 'relationship'. So, I guess in my previous relationships, I had been the one who had more vested (atleast emotionally) in the whole thing. But I believe in the beginning, it had been more on the side of the guys since they had to do the chasing, ehm, the courting, or whatever ppl wants to label it, and what a chase it was. So much energy and time and resources were invested by the guys to convince the gals that this is what they wanted. It was fun, I'm assuming on both parties had fun, else it wouldn't have ran its course to a full bloom relationship.

Then, came the 'talk'. It could be difficult or as easy as, 'I'm feeling really good about this, are you ok with me?'. Haha! Ofcourse, the easiness or difficulty of it all was all in my mind, since, I'm the one who put the label. It's only difficult if I had to be the one to bring the topic up.

As the relationship progressed, somehow the balance of power changed sides. Sigh!

That's my two-cents for now.

A downer

After really good days, it's about time, the cycle is back to a downer day. The day started out fine and well. Everything was smooth and good. Then, someone said something. At that time, since I was preoccupied with something else I didn't feel anything. But as the day progressed to the end, when I had time at hand, it came back to me and I felt angry and sad.

Angry that people have stereotypes and perceptions and misconceptions. And that they voiced them out loud with probably not an evil intention, just insensitivity. Which myself, have been guilty of time and time again. Sad, that I still let these things affect me.

'She has time because she's not married!'. That's a totally unfair and unfounded statement ever. Unmarried people have things to do. As a matter of fact, we might have more stuff to do. 'Aren't you lonely staying alone?'. Why state the obvious? And I have to answer in a way that doesn't make the asker feel bad.

I know she didn't mean to be hurtful but that doesn't mean that it doesn't.

Another good day...

What would I call a good day, hmmm.... Not necessary a free day. As a matter of fact, today was one of the busiest day for me at work. Not necessary a day filled with life changing conclusions. As a matter of fact, I didn't manage to finish any reports, oh, except for one early in the morning from results I received late yesterday. But somehow, the hours the just past so quickly. I did get a lot of things done but just not all to its completion yet. For that I need more time. But for today, I felt I have used up my time well. To cap off the day, a great dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant with good friends. More like a treat for my birthday yesterday.

What more could a gal ask for?

Birthday Day...

I have been quite irregular with the blogging lately. Life sometimes has a way of just flow by itself and sweeping me along. There's been work and scrabbling and family and friends, all taking up time. It had been fun and tiring and exciting in the same time.

Everything it seems culminated to today. I had expected another normal workday, just busier than normal with new stuff I've taken up. But I had dressed accordingly in my new favorite orange top and my new pair of dark jeans. My new pair of casual adidas completed my attire for the day. All, just a personal feel-good thingy. I'm at the stage where I think I could afford to indulge myself.

I was greeted with a chorus of wishes when I walked into my cubicle. My cube-mates had without fail made the day special for me. Although I have a lot going on today, they had made me remember that this is a special day. We had lunch at SunShine and then the meeting I was supposed to have after lunch got kinda shuffled a bit and foiled the surprise that they had wanted to arrange. I went back to the cube unexpectedly and saw my cake, gift and card! They proceeded to gather a few of our closer friends and we had our impromptu bday celebration. Songs, candle and all.

And I absolutely love the apron that I got! I had told them that I was looking for an apron that I won't mind wearing. And they got me exactly what I wanted!! What bulls-eyes! Amazing!

Am I sick?

Aw shucks! My head and eyelids feel heavy. My throat is starting to feel irritated. Feel like coughing. What a time to start feeling horrible! The weekend is here! And I have ideas in mind of what I would like to do.

BLR

BLR= base lending rate. Only people with housing (or other types) loans are concerned with this. When I saw that the interest rates are going down, I was quite happy. The first time it happened, end of last year, my banker told me that that action shaved off three years of repayment! Less that half a year ago, our rate is 6.75% per annum. Then it dropped to 6.5%. A 0.25% drop is equivalent to 3years of repayment! That is amazing.

CIMB and Maybank over the course of the last few days announced that they would cut the rate further to 5.95%, effective 3 February. Imagine that! But I'm still waiting for good news from OCBC. So far, silence. Calling out to OCBC! Please adopt this ASAP! Talking about banks, specifically OCBC, they should do something about their internet banking system. It should also allow loan customers to track the loan status and payment online.

Then, there is the bad news that the fixed deposit interest rates are also down. 2.5% for 1 month deposits! Seems like pointless (unless one person has a humongous amount). This will impact mostly the pensioners and the older generation, some of whom lived on interests earned from FDs. That is sad.

We couldn't have the good without the bad.

PS, 30 Jan 09, OCBC announced that they will be reducing their BLR to 5.95% effective Feb 3rd. Yay!

Mall incentive

Today would go down in history as d day that my nephew, S, progressed one more step in the pool. He could kick and move!

After many tries of just pushing the board around the pool and enjoying the water slide, he finally dared to pushed his legs up to the surface and started kicking! Boy! He could move! And what dared him? The thoughts of going to the mall!

Fitness Plan (2)

Fitness plan for 2nd week failed miserably. Enough said. Must get myself motivated.

Anyway, the thursday squash did not materialize since we had the new year cum birthday dinner at the new steamboat place. Since I'm on this subject, let me say that that new place at Krystal Point sucks big time. We were charged RM75 just for the soup (we should be told of that before)! Talk abt fleecing! We have since implemented a total ban on that shop!

Happy (I)

What image conveys the meaning of happy to my mind? When I saw those people on American Idol, after coming out from the judgement room with the yellow piece of paper that meant that they were going to Hollywood for the next stage of AI. Jumping and screaming or shrieking. With joy in their eyes. Wholehearted happiness. I could jump and scream too, happy being infectious.

That is a moment of happiness...

The right thing to do...

Is the one that feels right. The problem is, what if at a later time, that right feeling turned bad?

Who would know that the right thing is the right thing. Everything is subjective. Nothing is carved in stone. Even carved in stone, over time, erosion could erase everything.

This will remain a vague blog entry... I rest my case.

Inaugural Speech

We are one! That's what the inaugural celebration was called. How apt! I think that should be the direction all of us are heading. After all our histories, have they not show us that all of us bleed red blood? What happened to one community would affect other communities. We are inter-linked.

The inaugural speech blew me away. Gave me hope and made me believe in a better tomorrow.

Hoorah!

Why do I have a blog?

A friend once told me that I kept a lot of things to myself, especially how I feel and think. It makes getting to know me and getting really friendly with me, difficult. I think in some aspects, I've come a long way, in others, maybe not so much. This blog is one of my effort to open up a bit, express more of myself, and at the same time allow me to practice my writing. Who knows? I might get published (for real) one day.

Life is continuous improvement...

Fitness Plan

I have successfully played squash for two times last week. I was still short of one session of work-out since I was targetting for three-times a week. I wanted to swim on Saturday to make up the number but was too tired after the late-night on Friday and ended up sleeping late.

I will try harder this week.

A Good Friday...

Things went quite close to plan last Friday. Left work about 5.30 pm to rush home to change and got myself to the squash courts by 6 pm, although the in-campus traffic was quite bad.

When I got there, Clement was playing with Mr Lim. Megat was jogging. I had a few strokes with Mr Lim before playing a game or maybe two with Clement. Then a game with Megat. What a surprise that KengLong appeared with CheeHoe! But then, they seemed to be busy together - talking and playing - and not much time for others. Weird!

Anyhow, I left and tried to get hold of PS and Pauline to confirm the plans for the later part of the night, but failed. Seemed like everybody had their phones off (or rather their batts were dead). Pauline, called me back later to firm up the plans and off we went to hang out... with Wai...

It was a good night of ribbing and laughing...

Perchlorates

A friend asked me about perchlorate detection today. Wow, what a topic!

Perchlorates, in the form of ammonium perchlorate and the other perchlorate salts are used in a wide range of applications, including pyrotechnics and fireworks, blasting agents, matches, lubricating oils, textile dye fixing, nuclear reactors, electronic tubes, tanning and finishing leather, rubber manufacturing, electroplating, aluminum refinishing, automobile air bag inflators, paint and enamel production, and pharmaceuticals (1).

Perchlorate is of concern for the following reasons (2):
(a)it has potential human health effects at low concentrations - another source mentioned that it inhibits the thyroid function;
(b)it may be widespread in the environment;
(c)removing it from water and soil may be costly; and
(d)it may have deleterious effects on ecosystems.

And aside from that, in the industry, it may have corrossive properties. That is the one that bothers us most here, since the environmental bit is hopefully taken cared of by the powers that be.

Off my head, would ionic chromatograph (IC) work for this? Afterall, they are talking about anions. And true enough, googling 'perchlorate analysis' gave me a list of hits which uses IC. And surprisingly, ESI-MS, which was a darling topic of mine during grad school. Which was one of the factors that pushed me into the field that I am in now, TOF-SIMS. Apparently, using the EPA 314.0 method for IC, there would be some interfering anions (e.g. chlorides, sulfates and carbonates) which would give false readings since the IC detection is via retention time identification. Other methods were made to overcome this, mainly, IC/MS/MS, LC/MS/MS and ESI-MS. I wonder if there were work done with other ionization methods e.g., FAB and MALDI.

This has been interesting.

(1). A Systematic Approach to In Situ Bioremediation in Groundwater
Interstate Technology Regulatory Council, 2002. www.itrcweb.org/Documentation/ISB-8.pdf

(2). http://www.clu-in.org/contaminantfocus/default.focus/sec/perchlorate/cat/Overview/

The Outlander

James Caviezel - I called him as the man with the sad face. Almost all his movies involved him in some kind of sad, down-trodden situation, most likely with tears. Maybe I am wrong.

This movie is so cliche. But ofcourse with a title like that I should have expected that the end of the movie would favor the outlander or the outsider. I bet the guy, can't remember his name, the king-in-waiting was also thinking the same thing as me. "What is this guy doing, just dropped out from no where and trying to exert his will and wisdom on his community, and also usurped the king's affection, and the king's daughter affection."

But then, this outsider or outlander as he was known to the Vikings, was the hero of the show. It's his right to shine. So, he did. He could do no wrong. And most importantly, he could not die. Atleast not in the movie. The girl would not die too. Because the hero had to get a pretty girl.

The show is ok, except for the butchering and people got eaten alive. That's just vile.

Lucky

On the way to work yesterday, I heard this song on the radio and was immediately captivated. I had at first thought that the singer was Michael Buble. It turned out to be a duet. The singers turned out to be Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat. And the song turned out to be Lucky.

The harmony was just great and lovely. The lyrics dreamy. Overall, it's just a really nice and happy song.

I should be so lucky.

Where friends come together...

Friday night saw me hosting a get-together-cum-house-warming for a dear group of old friends. Fridays are typically not a my favorite day or rather night for a lot of things after work, as, fridays usually would turned out to be a rather busy day for me. Work to finish before the week ends, etc. etc. (the king n i?)

There were ChongSing & HwaSiew & their 2 sons, Angie & CK & their 2 daughters, Kenny (with his arm sling) & MuiKeok, Jonathan and WeiNien. This was easiest the biggest group I have ever hosted, other than the gathering of aunts, uncles & cousins during the school hols. Being such a big group, we ended up sitting and chitchat-ing on the floor.

OK, I was a bit apprehensive about hosting the event due to the size, but it turned out alright. I had fun catching up, and I think everybody had fun just fooling around. I'm not sure about MuiKeok, though. She seemed kind of quiet. Anyhow, hope she wasn't too bored.

We had the birthday cake for ChongSing, CK and Kenny to blow candles but it turned out that Kenny lied about his birth date!!!

And they got me an IRON! Exactly what I needed....

Should I?

I have a friend who lately was saying No to all my invites. Am I being dumb for inviting him for more? After so many years of living on this earth, after reading so many books, after interacting with so many different types of people, after all my life experiences, I still am not sure how people think sometimes.

I guess I may not have encountered too many 'No's in my life, atleast not where it mattered. I don't like rejection (who does?). And as a matter of practice, after a few nos, I would have stopped calling. But after a decade and more of friendship, things are harder. And not so clear cut. I dislike situations where people don't tell me what they feel and I, not knowing if I did wrong or they just prefer things differently, don't know how to act. I feel so clueless, and helpless.

And when I don't understand things, my brain goes high powered. Damn! Was that a curse? From Me? I rest my case. For now.

Post-Holidays Blues

All good things come to an end. That's sad, but that's the way life goes. C'est la vie.

Life could not be just the fun. It had to come with hardships, heartbreaks and hardwork. That's why it's samsara. Some people call it the school of hardknocks. Guess what's the lesson life teaches us?

After the awesome week of xmas-new year, where could I go but back down to earth? That were moments when I totally forgot all my troubles and worries and was just completely in the moment.

My family being around was the greatest joy. Everybody feeling as if they were away on vacation was fun. Watching the kids play and make fun was priceless. I'm glad I bought my place.

When everyone left after christmas, I suddenly didn't know what I wanted to do. I was lost. Then the New Year plans started and I was buoyed upwards again. The plans made and more got executed, and now it's back to daily life.

Sigh!

Full Schedule

I've not had the opportunity to sit and finish any blogs for the past few days. I've been busy, what can I say?

There were just no breaks at work. It's one deadline after another. Being chased by one person after another. And then, there were talks (rumors) of pay-cuts. That sucks and quite disheartening. Not that I work solely because of money, but that's an important factor. Work satisfaction is all important but if there were no compensation, who could afford to work?

On to a lighter note, other than work, it had been fun, fun, fun! I guess fun could be tiring too. Too much of a good thing, you know... I've been meeting up with friends, going shopping (I'm still standing) and catching up. Catching up with friends and catching up on my shopping...

I don't think I've shopped like this for ages. It's shopping everytime I went out (Other than the New Year BBQ), starting 24 Dec. And we had to go shopping for the BBQ too! This was a reminiscence of my US xmas-new year shopping 06/07! Ofcourse nothing could beat that. A whole boot-load of goodies belonging to 2 ladies and a gentleman! What a DAY! What a TIME! What an EXPERIENCE!

Break-Ups Are Painful: My 2-cents

That's why they are called break-ups. If a person did not feel pain or hurt or sad, that person is not normal.

Things begin and things end. That's the fact of life. Phases of life begin and old phases end. And on and on. That said, being a woman, especially if we didn't want the break-up, we'll have a thousand and one questions.

I'm writing this not because I just broke up. I'm writing this because I wanted to bring things out to the open. Talk it over in words and let the negativity flows away. So that we'll be filled with positivity and light and happiness. I see the therapeutic values in talking and writing.

Back to us having many, many questions. I'm going to write this as me going through the horrid ordeal.

Question 1: Why couldn't we work things out? If he loves me (as I love him), things could be worked out.

Point: He doesn't love me anymore.
If he loved me, he wouldn't have broken up with me. No matter how intensely I insisted that he loved me (still, a bit), that was just me. And my will that he would act as how I wanted him to act. Pressing the point with him will only backfire upon me.

Question 2: What happened? What changed? When did that happened? He promised he'll love me forever.

Point: Nobody knows for sure. But it happened.
Questioning him again and again would not work. He has no answer. But prolonged pestering would break him down, and he would give an answer that he hoped would satisfy me but most likely not the truth.

Question 3: Why couldn't he love me?

Point: He did.
But not anymore. Not everyone could persevere.

New Year 2009 BBQ

Yay! BBQ at Goy's. For year 2009. Surprisingly, I had fun. The food was good. The few good friends were there. Since there were there, I was sure the night would be good.

The night started off drizzling. Everybody were kind of worried about the rain. Soon and Goy had to re-assure many ppl who called that the event was still a GO. We were early and hung out at Goy's place. While we were there, he aired Mamma Mia, high def, on his big big Plasma TV. It was incredibly cool. The songs were still very nice and exciting.

Note to all: The food was still too much!

Shopaholic in me out and about

O ya, my shopping adventures continued on this weekend. It's kinda scary but I haven't felt this good for a while. For one year after coming back from the US, I -had been on a 'shopping-ban'. And then, after the leash was cut, I found that I was used to not going to shop for fun and couldn't get my rhythm, and had really dismal shopping outings. then, felt bad afterwards. That's horrible! Shopping is ONE of my favorite past-times.

I think started from a few months back, having to shop for my home kinda changed the whole thing. Since I needed to fill my house, I had to make time to shop and had ample reasons to spend money! Still, that was mostly on household items, furnitures and electrical stuff. But still, a good start!

Then, the Christmas holidays, with so many days off and so many sales and so many ppl around, it was shopping, shopping and shopping! I have shoes, shorts, jeans, tops, swimming stuff and hols decoration! It has been incredible! Awesome! Amazing!

Shopaholic me is back!

New Year 2009

New Year's eve ended early by a few minutes when I witnessed the fireworks at the mainland of Penang which started about 10 mins before midnight. Or my clocks were slow. It was a long show which I enjoyed from the comfort of my balcony. Towards the end of the show, fireworks at other locations were started. This I know because of the noise.

This year, although, I was alone, surprisingly I didn't feel melancholy or sad. The fireworks really cheered me up. And dinner with close friends earlier had also bouyed me up for the countdown. And I had close friends online with whom I could count down with.

Last year (2008) had been a good year for me (although there were some low moments). I have broken out of some shells and chains that held me back from some of my personal goals. Thrown away some heavy baggage that was weighing me down. And brushed off things that were not meant for me. Taken a bold step and purchased my first home. Saying NO to more things. Doing things that make me happier. And spread my wings to Europe, which has been a long time dream of mine. So 2008 had been a liberating year for me.

Although I have gone some distance in 2008, there are still some areas to work on and new things that I would like to explore in 2009. I look forward to the year with gusto!