25 Years In The Making

-19062008-

Happy Birthday my dearest Shasha!





Seeing US brighten YOU up for a change was definitely refreshing!





I am so honoured that I was the one that was in-charge of bringing the balloon to u!





Ahakz, even though it was put in a plastic bag.


-besties; Suli & Shasha @ MUIS canteen-

*and just to let you know, I am NOT a big fan of balloons*








Thank you for always being OUR sunshine.


-Seri i MUST commend you on picking up the most scrumptious tasting Choc Cake!-

I am forever grateful to you for accompanying me to THAT McD's in Jurong once upon a time.




And for consoling me all the way from KL to Singapore.



Only GREAT friends do that.



And YOU certainly did that.



Love you Shasha!



Fin.

TAGGED BY Liyah (Kawan Suli)

01. At which age do you want to get married?

27-30

02. Who is more important to you? Friends or Girl/Boyfriends?

Girlfriends; Boys come and go but Girlfriends are forever. Did u watch SATC the movie? Need i say more?

03. Who is/are the person/people that you trust most?

God, My Parents and Myself

04. In a relationship, does how long you last with him/her matter?

None whatsoever

05. What would you do if you saw someone abusing an innocent animal?

Do unto others how others do unto you; so if i see someone stapling a cats ears and genitals, i'd do the same thing to the animal basher.

06. Do you believe in seeing rainbow after rain?

Yes i do. I've seen it before.

07. What is your goal for this year?

Get into teaching

08. Do you believe in Eternal love?

Yes, love for God is eternal

09. Have you ever broken someone's heart that he/she tries to commit suicide?

I might have hurt their feelings. But not till they want to commit suicide

10. What feeling do you love most?

Being Loved, you get the "fluttering-in-ur-tummy" feeling

11. If one day your boy/girlfriend and best friend quarrel, who will you side with?

I will play peacemaker and diplomat

12. Does having alot of bestfriends, really regard them as the real meaning of bestfriends?

Totally. I form close bonds with all my bestfriends.

13. Do you cherish every single friendship of yours?

Yes

14. Do you like to hang out with friends?

OF COURSE!

15. What/Who do you think is/are the most important in your life?

God, family, friends, bf, job.

16. If you were on a ship, your mother and your boy/girlfriend(been together for 2 years) were knocked out of the ship, you only have one life float, who would you throw it to?

My mom. *so sorry Dear* hehe

17. If your boyfriend were to two-time you, what would you do?

I've wanted to do this to my exes that two-timed me; strip them naked, tie them to a tree and coat them in honey. They had better start praying.

18. If time were to rewind, when will you want it to be?

To when i was 4/5 yrs old and back in the States to enjoy the Magic Kingdom again.

19. What was the first book you ever re-called reading?

Matilda by Roald Dahl

20. List 3 qualities/features that your boy/girlfriend must have?

God-fearing, loves me for me and have a sense of humour

Instructions: Remove 1 question from above, and add in your personal question, make it a total of 20 questions, then tag 7 people in your list, list them out at the end of this post. Notify them in their chat box that he/she has been tagged

1) Hasanah

2) Kha

3) Nora (when u get back from U*SM!!!)

4) Shasha

5)Seri

6) Syima

7) Firah

More Pics

These are all that i can manage for tonight.

Hope they will satiate your hunger

*for the time being*

once i have more time i'll update my blog with more pics k!

toodles and enjoy the pics!

Whats Happening?


Last week:

1)Cleared all laundry from Bali trip.

2) Tuition
3) Slept at grandma's house to accompany her cos she was alone at home.

4) Grandma had breathing difficulty; almost sent to hospital

5) Went for Hasanah's nikah and sanding.

6)Only got back on Sunday.


and best of ALL...


MY LAPTOP'S GIVING ME PROBLEMS!!!!


*i feel like chucking the thing into the rubbish chute!!!*

THUS, the delay in pics!

My sincerest apologies.


Fin.

Sneak Preview

-sunset at Uluwatu Temple; taken with k850i 5mp-

Hope you enjoyed this teaser!

Stay tuned for more!

Fin.

Bali Hai High


One week of non-computer related activity and i turn into a doofus.

No connectivity whatsoever to the outside world.

Besides the local paper and the Jakarta Post on random days that is.

The trip to Bali was successfull alhamdullillah!

It was amazing!

The WOW! factor was definitely high.


Day 1


We set off from Singapore at 10am from T1 by Garuda on the Boeing 737-400 series.

Small plane, meaning every turbulence could be felt.

There was turbulence while we ate.

Which definitely made me green (not with envy definitely).

We landed in Jakarta to wait for our connecting flight, another 2 hour wait.

But we scoured the Soekarno Hatta Airport for some Starbucks and were treated to some delish coffee by my uncle.

The wait was well worth it.

The moment Bali came into sight, it was clear blue skies and PERFECT weather.

Almost NO humidity! (Yeaaayyy!)

By the time we arrived in Bali, it was 4pm.

The Ngurah Rai Airport in Denpasar, Bali was one of those quaint looking old airports.

Something like our Seletar Airport.

The runway which we landed on was flanked by the sea and it was looking postcard/picture perfect.

The ten of us, (my family of 6 and my uncle's family of 4) were greeted by our tour guide, Pak Ian (Sofian).

You know those people that hold up the cards with people's names on them.

I felt like a rock star then haha.

We took the van to Sanur, Bali to our hotel, Diwangkara Holiday Villa.

My sister and i naturally shared a room.

But the room we were given was boring.

But the room was big.

My brothers got the room upstairs which had a view of the ocean and they had a 4 poster bed (the older one said it was kinda gay cos he was sharing it with my younger brother).

So we switched!

Lawa giler! (but come to think of it, i forgot to take a pic of the room!?)

So the whole day was pretty much spent flying and getting settled into our rooms.


Day 2


I caught a sunset in the most beautiful place of all.

The high cliffs of Uluwatu were spectacular.

The crashing waves and the surfers out at sea enjoying the last rays of light in the surf.

It was amaaaazzziiinnnggg!

And to top it off, we went to Jimbaran Bay for a seafood dinner (sgd$15 per pax) for 10 people and we were stuffed silly with squid, fish and prawns.

Did i mention we sat on the BEACH for the dinner, listening to the waves crashing onto the shore, while we were serenaded by some buskers with Eric Clapton's; Wonderful Tonight.

How was that for an apt ending to a beautiful day.


More tomorrow...hopefully with pics!


Fin.

Did You Hear?


She is considering coming to Singapore to do her Masters.

I am crossing my fingers, toes, tongue, eyes and whatever else that can be crossed on my anatomy that she applies to NTU.

But my dear, are you considering doing a thesis based Master's?

Cos i noe that NTU English Lit. programmes are theses based.

Haven't seen a course based programme.

But whatever it is...

Get your butt down here!

*my excitement is getting ahead of me!*

Oh! And if you can get Prof. Q to write a testimonial for you, you've got a HIGHER chance of getting in...he used to teach there.

Ok...

Neway, I haven't PACKED!

How much clothes do i need to pack for a 5 day trip to Bali???

Anyone have a CLUE!?

I need help!


begin pukefest
P/S: I'm sorry Dear that I brought that thing up. I knew you were not going to be happy, but i just HAD to open my mouth.

I'm really sorry.

Pls don't be angry? Besides, its not even written in stone yet.

I love you.

You know I do.


end pukefest


Fin.

My Condolences.


My deepest condolences to You.


Al Fatehah.



Fin.

Sex and the City


It was more like: No, Singaporeans are prudish about sex, thus we will cut out the sex scenes.

And true to form, i saw some letters about the movie in the Forum page of T*he S*traits T*imes.

My take on the scene cuts:

I was really unhappy.

*no im not a voyeur or porno freak*

I just felt that the movie was disjointed because of the cuts.

There was no reason that the movie had to be rated at M18

If it had to be R21 so be it.

Personally, I HATE CENSORS!

They cut out the parts and give the movie this "cut & paste" feeling.

I do not want to feel this way when I pay perfectly good money (movie tix now very expensive also you know!) to watch a movie.

Besides the fact that the movie was cut at certain places, i felt that the direction of the movie was also good.

*All hail Michael Patrick King*

The flow of the movie was great, there were collective gasps and i truly felt that the audience were completely enthralled by Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte.

Though i missed the first 10 mins of the show, i'm glad that i followed the series because this movie is like an extension of the tv series.

The on-screen chemistry between the four girls was undeniable.

I was tickled pink and i shed a tear at the end.

But most of all, I loved the way that the central theme of the movie revolved around relationships and more accurately, friendships.

If i were ever in a jam, I'd definitely turn to all my girlfriends for support.

I'm glad i have the same support system that Carrie had when she got jilted.


For all hard-core Sex and the City fans, this movie is not to be missed!

I've finally found my fix and closure for this show.

$10 for a 2hr 25min movie?

Worth it i say.

Sans the cut parts that is.

And what girl doesn't get a kick from seeing a walk-in wadrobe the size of a master bedroom?

I rate it a 4 out of 5.

Watch it before it ends its run!


Fin.

Counting Down The Days...


Its my last week at work here...

>_<


And i honestly don't know how i feel.

Well one thing's for sure.

I am so happy to be rid of LL my sales manager.

*all smiles*

Hahaha...happy taking over my post Kha!

Anyway...yeah...im feeling mysteriously light and carefree.

'Cos my holiday is just around the corner!

Yeay

I loved being here.

*Kha has already kind of taken over the workspace and doing most of the job anyway...hence the past tense*

The atmosphere was not so stressed.

Sans the amount of nonsense that i had to tolerate from LL. Hah.

The guys here have been really great!

Yes. All the people in my office are Chinese guys.

Hence the non-issue of office politics.

They are gerek-nak-mampos people here.

Even our new addition, Jonas.

Whom we both affectionately call Adik Nas.

*member dari Subang...haha...*

But coming to work this whole week has been great!

Cos i have a friend to share everything with.

We share the same workspace (for now)

And we've been giggling while i TRIED to teach her the ropes.

So thanks for making it a worthwhile week!

This weekend...Making The Video: Darwis.

Just a little tribute to him for his farewell cos we won't be able to make it there for his.


Anyway, a little shout-out to a new friend made over the net (via Suli)


Liyah! Happy Belated Birthday!


Fin.

Finally!


Finally, a new blog skin.

I think its been a while since i've changed my blogskin.

The last change i did was back in 2004!

Its taken me FOUR looooonnngggg years to change the blogskin.

That picture on top is Times Square, NY.

That's the closest i'll ever get to New York after plans fell through.

But anyways...do you like it?

Cos i do!


Fin.

The Mango Season.

Remember this photo?

Yup, that was the book that I was devouring after reading Candace Bushnell's dreary Lipstick Jungle.

The Mango Season was soo much better!

There were witty moments and those that kept me at the edge of the seat!

Basically, Amulya Malladi, the author that is; navigates her way into the labyrinth of Indian social and familial customs that seem to faze the rest of us.

She weaves a beautiful tale where the protagonist of the story (your lead character you might say), becomes displaced in her own country and family after her 7 year absence.

The young Priya Rao (protagonist) has come back to India for a visit (note: VISIT! and not come home!)

She finds herself lost in all the intricacies of her own culture.

She takes centre-stage when her parents set her up for a pelli-chupulu or bride-seeing ceremony.

The thing is...she's already ENGAGED to an American which is a BIG no-no in her society.

And that's where all the conflicts begin.

What?

You thought I was going to give you a run down of what happened.

Go find the book and read it for yourself. Teeheehee.


The book's called The Mango Season by Amulya Malladi.

Available at all NLB libraries!

Enjoy the read!

Next up: Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri.


Fin.

So Much For Losing The Voice on Friday.

Yes pple...prior to my last minute "jom-lets-go-karaoke" by najib i had lost my voice on friday.

YES.

I was croaking.

*hmmm....probably one of the reasons why it rained huh?*

Oh yeah.

And i played hooky from work on Friday.

Which meant that i worked a total of only 3 days this week!

Haha. But after all the merry making i had...i still felt that the weekend was a tad too short.

Yes... now back to the intended post.

I had intended to spend the WHOLE afternoon (or whole day) at home.

There were NO prior plans watsoever.

I was already plonked on my bed watching Season 4 of SEX & THE CITY courtesy of Justin my colleague.

Then around 2.15pm, I received an sms from my darling Suli.

It an invitation to join her, Shasha and Aisyah Spec at Far East.

Mind you it was a sweltering HOT day.

Even though I had a late shower that day, i was already perspiring buckets.

I was still undecided at about 2.30pm

But then i was like "Ahhh...Wat the Heck....I'm going out!"

I was getting pretty restless at home anyway.

tried to get ready as fast as i could.

Was out the door by 3.30pm.

That was really fast by MY standards.

-the fabulous 5-

Reached my destination and saw Seri!

I was so happy to see her and the girls! (The more the merrier i say)

*get well soon babe!*

But she had to leave soon after to go and get ready to go to Gentarasa 2008.

-tgk mereke berdua di background-

We were then soon joined by Najib.

*mmg tak plan langsung!*

Had lunch at Cahaya and decided to go Karaoke!!!!

My second time Karaoke-ing at Cash Studio.

The first being with my AISS girls.

It was WAYYYY different!

That's cos we sang

a lot of English songs.

This time we sang a lot of MALAY songs!

-Najib tgh feeling sampai naik atas kerusi menyanyi-

*Mary nyanyi lagu melayu???!!!!*

Of course i still sang my english ballads...and i sooooo loved belting out Mariah Carey's "Forever".

-me and my chica; Suli-

-Go Sya Spec & Shasha!-

Hope you enjoyed the pics!

-Left with just the 4 of us; supper-ing-

Fin.

My Not So Hectic Weekend.

Compared to last weekend, this weekend didn't make a dent.

I barely did anything.

Save for going to town to go and get KiKi fixed.

I miss my phone terribly!

I want her back and to cradle her lovingly in my arms.

Okay-okay...i'm sounding a bit like a crazy woman.

Anyways...i really wanted to blog about my last weekend but i kind of got sidetracked by the fact that i went go-karting.

So it totally eliminated the joy factor.

Right.

Last weekend i tried to rally my girlfriends for an enjoyable day out.

Which only resulted in seeing the same faces again and again.

Not! That i'm not happy to see you girls but really, we're turning into this pathetic group of 5 where Hafiz is starting to get cranky about the fact that he's the ONLY guy around.

So PLEASE you other girls, try and make it the next time round okay?

So what did we do besides cracking up with laughter every 5mins?

Just a simple lunch and a game of bowling

Which i might add im pretty bad at.

I can play all other forms of sport save for bowling.

I played quite well in the first game.

But failed miserably in the second one.

Where all 3 frames went down the drain.

Literally.

We only met for the afternoon and parted ways around 4.30pm-5pm.

And mind you, we didn't even leave Yishun!

We bowled at SAFRA Yishun...sad right?

I think its just age catching up with us *Yikes!*

But i realised i wasn't done with my day yet.

Instead of staying home alone (yes the parental units weren't at home either),

I decided to join them wherever they were.

So i went down to toa payoh to meet them at the pool.

And yes! They decided to lengthen their sojourn , my little brother in tow of course,

Plus my uncle's family to Arab Street for dinner.

We ended up having a great big dinner at AlaTurka for some authentic Turkish fare.

Yes I am definitely raving about this place.

Its got the freshest salads.

The best oven toasted bread.

And tasty moussakka.

The kebabs weren't bad either!

And for 10 hungry people, we pretty much scarfed down all that food in a jiffy.

The hummous was DELISH!

The pricing was reasonable too!

And service was TOP NOTCH!

Yes i am totally won over by the hospitality and how fast our food was served.

I would definitely go again (hopefully with the bf one day).

Can i just say how much i've missed middle eastern food?

*And TEH AIS!*

I so miss teh ais for sure.

The closest that i've gotten to M'sian tasting teh ais was at Bilal Restaurant over at Sembawang Rd.

*Okay ter-sidetrack again.*

Anyway...I am UBER excited about my trip to Bali!

Yeayness!

Okay then...

More updates soon!

Promise!

*MY blogging mojo's finally BACK!*

Fin.

On Being "Blah!"


Side-track:


Yes, thanks for reading even though its been so boring and bland.

But i really appreciate the: "How come you've stopped writing?"

And the "Any new entries?"

Thank you for the concern...hehehe...

I'm touched that pple still read my blog!

Thank You!

And all you CLOSET readers, come out and tell me WHO you are!

I'm tired of thinking I'm writing all this for no-one!


Now back to the intended post.


I know since I've graduated as an English Lit grad I should be picking up more noteworthy and "literature-ish" type books.

But I've picked up MORE chick lit since then.

I know I'm being such a bad example.

But after having so much Literature shoved down my throat for the past 13+ years, the only thing I want to pick out from the library shelves has been trashy chick lit.

Ok..maybe not so trashy but more commercial chick lit.

I mean there's nothing wrong in that, but i REALLY pride myself on being a well read person.

But there has been a silver lining within all that chick lit.

I actually picked up a really good book frm the POPULAR bookstore about 2 months back.

It really began as a love affair with the movie that I watched with my Encik Farhan.

*Thanks for accompanying me to watch the movie!*

You guessed it, it was "The KiteRunner".

I remember reviewing the movie on my blog sometime back.

But anyway, that was a movie review.

Now, i think Khasanah, more than anyone else knows how much i love asian lit.

More accurately;

"displaced-asian-author-trying-to-find-voice-in-adopted-Western-country."


Point in case, Jhumpa Lahiri, Amy Tan, etc, etc...

And my latest find....


Khaled Hosseini!


I've read the book twice.

Both in like very literature type mode.

Yes, I'm anal like that.

Reading it to gain a different perspective.

I loved it.

That's the thing with books.

You can read it AGAIN and AGAIN and you'll always gain a different perspective of the novel.

It was poignant, moving and heart-wrenching.

And the book wasnt written about Amir at all.

It was totally about Hassan.

Yes i only got it after the second read.

So girls, wanna go out and discuss books?

Oh!

And I was looking through Khasanah's Shelfari and I saw "The Road To Mecca".

I was sooo intrigued that I placed a reservation on the NLB website.

And then I was hooked into reserving Jhumpa Lahiri's "Unaccustomed Earth".


Her 2008 offering after her highly successful "The Namesake".


See, when the bug bites.

It doesn't stop biting.

Hahaha...okay that was corny.

Now I'm thinking, should i BUY "A Thousand Splendid Suns"???


Fin.

Pffftt...


I wanted to upload the pics from my spanking new K850i (in Quicksilver) today.

BUT

The phone died on me yesterday.

AaaaccckkK!

Now i can't upload my pics from the go-kart session i had.

And yes...

Now i'll need to revive her (yes she's now affectionately known as KiKi to me)

Boo hoo.

This is so sad.

Everytime i get a phone OTHER than Nokia, I have to send it back for repair in less than 2 weeks!

The last time this happened was when i purchased the Motorola E51 Rokr phone.

The phone would always die on me when i answered a call.

And this was WITHIN the 1st week after i purchased it.

I had to go all the way to Plaza Singapura to revive the damn phone.

And it took them quite a while to fix it.

Now that i've purchased this OTHER model, the phone instinctively died on me.

AGAIN.

Gah!

I am seriously ANNOYED!

Honestly, yesterday i thought the phone died cos the battery was weak.

But the thing that got me worried was, the lights to the keypad were still on and the light on the back where the camera lens was located was also lighted.

Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....

Now i have to go to Wisma Atria to get it fixed!

I'm afraid to go cos I'll end up spending money at DP and Forever21 and Cotton On!

I want my KiKi bacccckkK!


Fin.

Lets Go-Karting! (Part 1)


The best part about being in a small company thats laid-back SANS my anal retentive sales manager,

is that we get to do FUN stuff!

And also cos we have a really generous boss, he foots the bill!



So thanks Mr. L*eow J*uLen!



Today, i got to meet D*awn Y*ang.

Yes, THAT D*awn Y*ang.

So wat did we all do exactly?

We ALL went karting in JB today!

The WHOLE company except the Old Fart.

Kewl right?

Kha, i hope one day you will get this opportunity to go karting with the company some time!

Yes, it was like a mini company retreat.

I tell you it was SUPER gerek to the max lah!

It felt like an extra weekend altogether! :D

I'm going to miss the people i work with for the past 5 months!

Pics up soon k?

And i WILL elaborate more!

Finally, something REALLLLY worth blogging about!


Fin.

Not!Stressed out

The Blushing Bride (Fadhiilah; The Duchess)

and the Dashing Groom (Ustz Khidir)

This picture would have looked spectacular had Ekhsan zoomed in!

But even so, good picture composition!

This would also have been a gd shot if MY hands were more steady!


The ethereal Duchess...

This picture of US and the bride looks AWESOME!

Nice colours! I loooooovvveeedd Hasanah's tudung kaler!

I seriously think we make a cute couple!

I wish i knew how to keep my head straight when taking a photo!

Notice that there were mostly just pics of girls? Hahaha...

It didn't even occur to me till I uploaded them to my Facebook account.

One more wedding in June!

Hasanaaaaahhhh i can't believe you're tying the knot already!

I will TRY to be @ your wedding.

I want to upload all the pics i took on sunday but Blogger is not cooperating as yet.

Stay tuned pple!

Fin.