The Raya Weekend

My only complaint about raya weekend was that 5 days wasn’t enough to be called a break. Before heading back to home sweet home, I figured 5 days in office seem to pass rather slowly so 5 days home is more than enough time to do much. Oh, how wrong was I.

In fact, I felt I should have forfeited my 1.5 days of sleeping and headed out to catch up with my friends instead. In trying to meet everyone I can, family to spend time with and also my beauty sleep which is a luxury I no longer have since starting work, I rushed in the last 2 days between people and places. I do feel awful about it, it is really unfair to meet up with a friend for 1.5 hours and then having to dash off somewhere else.

Raya is a quiet affair for me. I went to one open house and was helping myself to all the yummylicious cookies. I miss just having such delicacies to munch on when I’m bored or just itching to eat something. Seriously, if my skin was any thicker, I probably could have summoned enough courage to ask the aunty if I could tapau some for myself. Every single kuih raya was delightful to my taste buds which didn’t discriminate between the butter, chocolate, peanut butter and the myriad of flavours of each cookie. I’m already getting hungry typing this out.

With promises to meet up in KL and Melaka, I do hope on catching up with my friends soon. I do think we may eventually hang out more in KL since quite a number of us are based all over the Klang Valley save Ah Ken and Sakura whose presence will be missed dearly. I didn’t realize how dependent I have become to Sakura for all her food recommendations, I miss having her around.

Till the next cookie filled Raya, hope everyone had a fantabulous weekend.

Sisters and Suits

my parents picked me up yesterday from campus where i loaded my whole 5 years worth of things and some junk to lug it back home to Melaka. thank heavens i've given away all of my books and notes (that saves me a good 20liters of space) or else i wouldnt have a seat in the car. the boot was filled to the brim and there were some spill over at the passenger seat.

so then we headed to ipoh and stopped by shinder bollywood (a shop on Little India selling punjabi suits and sarees etc). mum wanted to sew three suits from the materials she had. and while we were there asked me if i saw anything i liked. i was looking for the barbie doll suit (its fittin on the top and flairs out at the waist) but i didnt find any that looked nice, they either looked ugly or too gaudy. and yet my mum who never lets me buy a suit everytime she's there was pretty insistent on me gettin something, which was really weird for me coz this has never happened before.

we then headed to the next shop (this shop is run by the brother of the lady who runs shinder bollywood) to see if there were better options there. this is the case of a different shop but same story. this time around, my mum was not about to give up so easily so she suggested i looked at the materials and sew a suit instead. another weird episode coz the logic she used ALL this years is that a person my size can always get a ready made suit (which is true not including all the alterations i have to do coz the sizes are too big for someone so tiny like myself) therefore there is no need to spend money sewing one. i do see her logic in this. depending on the material and eloborateness of it, they cost a minimum of RM150. and to sew will incur an additonal RM30 or Rm65 if you include lining. and this is for the same suit you can buy ready made at about RM100.

she was pretty persuasive in me picking out a material. so i looked and the owner showed me a good 40 designs for me to choose from. i had to even insist he didnt open some of them whenever i saw a colour i didnt like. but nope, he wouldnt listen and opened up everything in the end. so there i was flooded in a sea of colours trying to pick out something i liked. the selection was pretty good but only if i was looking for an ordinary suit. and i wasnt. what i had in mind was something grand, something spectacular, something WOW. and i didnt get that mojo looking at my choices. nothing really made me feel like "YEAH, now that's the one i was looking for".

at long last i found a pretty nice colour, yellow background with green patterns on it. but even this was very ordinary. i was actually kinda hoping to find a nice outfit for my coming graduation and this just do not make the cut. long story short i got it still coz mummy dearest was going to get a material for herself if i didnt buy one. oh yeah, she was not leaving that place till we bought something.

i really felt something fishy was up. like why would of all people my mother insist on me getting a suit when every other time i accompany her and i do find (i ALWAYS do) something i like, she'll find excuses to not buy it. ironically, the only time she gave me a free hand in choosing, i didnt find any that i particularly liked. well, anyhow, so i dig around a lil bit more when we got back to the hotel and then the whole story came out.

last weekend was barsi and during this time suits go on sale and almost everyone who is anyone would be shopping like crazy and bargaining like its the only thing that would secure their lives on earth. ok, i do exagerrate but you get my drift. as the last 5 years went including this year, barsi falls during finals and i couldnt make it again. and i discovered that the suits my sisters picked out for me were, how do i put this, not up to standard aka not grand aka very very simple aka theirs is superbly and fabulously beautiful compared to mind. OMG ! so out of guilt, my mum wanted to get a suit to compensate for it!!! yes, that's a nice thought but i was pretty upset with my sisters.

they go every year and couldnt they just pick out something nice for me for a change. cant they when they see a nice suit say, "hey, let's get that for kul" instead of grabbing it for themselves? every year without fail, i get the remnants, the ugliest ones, the ones that no one else liked and i have no choice in choosing them at all. and after so much of warning and partial begging in getting them to get me a nice suit, i ended up with really cheap ones. like the suits my sisters have for themselves cost a good RM150 at least. wanna guess mine? the most expensive one (i only have 2 btw) is rm50! now you do the math and convert the monetary value into the exclusiveness of their outfits. i'm telling you, its a HUGE difference. and belle had the cheek to tell me, "Oh, you mean this one, nah, this is such a simple one i got myself..."

are you crazy? her supposed "simple" one was really really grand and she dared say it was SIMPLE! gosh, i wonder what her grand must have been like. so using her scale, mine is definitely ugly. not that it was particularly ugly, they are just pale in comparison, completely background suits compared to their red carpet suited outfits. at that point of time, i wished i just walked up to belle and slapped her in the face, shake her real hard and scream WAKE UP, DONT YOU SEE MY SUITS HERE!

oh, that's not the end of it. belle could kindly put on a very sweet smile and said if i didnt like the ones i have, i could pass them over. like are you mad? i only have 2 and even that you want. hell no way. i dont have to like them but i most definitely am not going to give them away. you wanna swap, yup, we could negotiate. but to give away, wow, do you think i'm a charity organisation?? oh no, i'm much smarter than that my dear belle.

geram geram geram. is this wat its like to have sisters? anyone? help. me poor soul with leftovers, not so nice suits while my sisters have ones that make them look like princesses. sigh

Wesak Weekend Part 2

Day 3 (Sunday, 18 May)

Off to KL. Had lunch in Aunt Sugar’s place before heading off to 1Utama with the cousins. Big J drove, Middle J was the co-driver while Sista B, Sista S, Lil J and I squeezed at the passenger seat. In times like this, I’m glad we’re all thin. Lil J was hungry so we all got ourselves Big Apple doughnuts. Yummy yummy.

Big Apple Doughnuts

I loved my Chocoring, it was rich and left me wanting more. As usual, I never fail to get chocolate smudged on my face and all over my mouth. Everyone had a good laugh at how the oldest amongst us was the messiest eater. Well, the kid in me comes out more often, what more can I say.

Walked all over 1U till our legs felt like they were going to detach from their sockets. Got myself a white frilly top. Sista B, Sista S and Lil J preferred the other dress I tried on but I’m very into white so I stuck with what I liked better. Afterall, they cost the same so I might as well get what I like. Sista S and Lil J also tried out some outfits.

Sista S and Lil J

So we then drove all the way back to our side of town to have dinner in Pavilion’s food court. I must say, I like the atmosphere there, it is cosy with the warm lights and unlike most food courts, it is not so noisy despite the number of people around. There were also ample seats and the variety of food immense. I was in the mood for tom yam so I headed to Thai Food for Tom Yam Beehoon. It had a lot of ingredients but the tom yam didn’t have the kick I was looking for. The soup was watered down, probably coz it was night already.

I highly recommend the toast from Toast Box. It costs around RM3 and it tastes much better than the ones you get in Old Town Kopitiam. We finished the two sets of toast we ordered (kaya and peanut butter) within 5 minutes, that’s how delicious they were. The peanut butter especially was heavenly; it literally melts in your mouth. The toast here isn’t those on the thin bread, it’s as thick as the French toast from Old Town.

We wanted to catch Prince of the Caspian but tickets were sold out for the 10.10 pm show and selling out very quickly for the 11.15 show. So we headed home. Ended up chit chatting till 2 am.


Day 4 (Monday, 19 May)

Aunt Sugar’s room is pretty dark with the curtains drawn. I woke up thinking it was 8.30 am to find out it was already 11am. Had meehon for breakfast and an hour later lunch. Dad dropped me off to Ah Kie’s place around 3pm. The rest were off to my cousin’s birthday party. Ah Kie’s mum was so sweet to pack me food for dinner. She made sambal petai but I don’t eat petai. So I got the chicken sambal, egg and veg. *Thank You Aunty*

Due to the recent clam on Konsortium buses, I noticed all buses stuck to the third lane on the highway on my way up to KL. So when Frank and I boarded our 6.30pm bus, we were expecting to arrive at 10.30pm coz that was how long Frank took to get from uni to KL on Thursday. Ironically, despite keeping on the slow lane pretty much throughout the journey, we arrived in campus at 9.30pm.

Ah Kie and I in the bus

Halfway through the journey, I woke up and had trouble going back to sleep. From then onwards, I kept smelling the sambal from the food Ah Kie’s mum packed. However I think I was only imagining it coz the food is sealed tight in a plastic container and previously I did not smell anything. So I had to be imagining it which got me hungry after while. Hehehe…

So after a very nice weekend from all the superb food (which I hope would beef me up), great company, lovely things I bought, I’m back in Cowboy Town Uni. I think having a big gap like this is a bad idea. To first start studying for the earlier 2 papers took a lot of conscious effort and after the break, the momentum is all lost. So wish me all the best getting into the mood for my final paper.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I missed the Wesak Procession in Melaka but anyone did go, I’d like to hear all bout it.

Wesak Weekend Part 1

Day 1 (Friday, 16 May)

I went home from Friday – Monday to enjoy the long Wesak weekend as I have a 9 day gap between my papers. Left campus on Thursday taking the 12 midnight bus. The journey was extra long this time around as the bus tyre was punctured and changing it took one hour in Ipoh. I only arrived home at 8am. My whole body was aching from sitting 8 hours in the freaking freezing bus. The first thing I did was to hand in my laundry to the helper, got a hot drink, changed and headed straight to bed. Siesta-ed till noon.

I wanted to explore the first Cold Storage in Melaka (gasp!) which is really near my house and to my horror my mum drove at a mere 40 kmh!!! I tried so hard persuading her to go faster. I could see a long trail of cars behind her (as the road is one lane with a double line) and she could not be coaxed. Due to her accident not too long ago, her idea of driving safe was to drive slow. Gosh. I was really irritated after 15 minutes. Personally, I felt it was rather selfish of her to hog the road. Plus she could have been the cause of an accident for driving too slow. And driving slow does not guarantee she’ll be accident-free. Another car from the opposite direction could still swerve into her lane and hit her still. But all my words and breath fell to deaf ears. It’s been a long while since I felt so *geram* with my mum. I shook her real hard and told her “WAKE UP, its driving safe that’s important, not driving slowly!” Of course, that only took place in my imagination.

So after the geram-fied journey to Cold Storage, we explored every nook and corner of the place. My love for Cold Storage resurfaced again. I loved visiting Cold Storage on my way to the LRT station in KLCC after work back then. This time I put my persuasive skill to another use – to get my mum to make spaghetti. And this time it worked!! Dinner was superb as I had a choice of rendang And spaghetti. It was rather confusing to me coz just about an hour later, the same person who made me grit my teeth made me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Off to Popeye’s place and we chit chatted for quite long. I didn’t realize the time until she yawned and I was like, OMG, I better get running. Poor girl, she has a test this week to study for and neither one of us realized it was getting late. I felt a lil bad for taking so much of her time. But I’m glad good ol’ Popeye is back. We all missed her during her 2 year stint in Manipal India.

Off home to watch the American Idol Marathon!

Day 2 (Saturday, 17 May)

A lazy day with me waking up at a princessly hour of 11am. Helped dad run some chores. Celebrated Mother’s Day since all of us are home this weekend, had dinner in Pak Putra where the naan and tandoori is yummylicious! Also did some shopping. Dad was the cashier for the day (and night) and I managed to get myself a pair of shoes!

After dinner, we headed to Jonker Street. Mum bought 8 really pretty necklaces (and dear me got myself one too, daddy sponsor mah). There were so many to choose from, all very chic and elegant. I got myself one with a black pendant so that it would be easy to mix and match. Mum bought a rainbow of colours. Got a decent discount too from our purchases. Next stop was earrings and here I got 2 pair of button earrings (again, sponsored by daddy dearest).

Headed home, packed my bags for we were headed to KL the next morning. Sista S did my nails. I liked the design I chose!

Anugerah Industri Musik (AIM 15) - Full Coverage

The weekend was a blast! Remember how I mentioned i'm going for the AIM? Well, the Anugerah Industri Muzik was awesome from the very beginning starting with the pre-party to the post party.

Le invitation

There were 4 of in all, two from Fly Fm, Adibah and myself and two more from Hot FM, Liza and Firdaus. As part of our win, we got to pick out our attires which were sponsored by Little Black Book and Jefferson (for Firdaus), a makeover, walk the red carpet with the DJs, sit through the event at VIP seats and attend the post party! The words nice does not even come close to describing the coolness of all this.

I’ve broken down to post to 3 parts. Here is goes:

Pre-Party

Friday 2nd May 2008: It was every girls dream come true to walk into a boutique and try on dress after dress before picking on one. Little Black Book had a pretty wide selection of dresses, all very pretty, I was spoilt for choice. I tried on at least 15 dresses before I settled down on my final choice. Being small and skinny was a huge disadvantage as I had trouble finding clothes that fits. Size M is wayyy too big for me; I look like I’m swimming in it. I was initially a little hesitant with my final choice simply because it screams ME all over it. A very typical dress I would have picked out except that I was hoping to go for a different look that night. But I figured it is best I feel comfortable with what I’m going to wear since ill be in it for a few hours.

Among the many dresses I tried


Saturday 3rd May 2008 (3-6pm): Make-overs at Sri Pacific Hotel :).

All of us after the makeover

Right before leaving for the party

Party

This is when all the excitement truly starts. We were brought to the VIP lounge where everyone was chilling out before they walk in. Met an old friend Fabian from Radio Icon who now works for Fly Fm. We did not waste any time here, took shots with who we could get a hold of.


My date for the night was Phat Fabes who looked smashing with his coat and vest.

Fabes and I

Adibah’s date is Ben (who is so cute btw, his pictures do not do him justice).

Ben and I

AA from Singapore. He’s so adorable and tall. Was sweet enough to sing for us his oh-so-famous Sayang Sayang song.

Farahwaheeda, Liza and I

Andy of Estranged. He is So Cute and tall. *heart melting like chocolate*

Vinder (who has yet to master the art of smiling)

Pop Shuvit and Estranged

Elaine Daly (she’s so pretty)

Jules who hosts the Night Flight with Prem on Fly FM

Walking down the blue carpet (to reflect Celcom which is a sponsor of the event) with Fabes is pretty cun. I had my one minute of fame smiling at the cameras who went flashing like crazy.

My seat was 4th row from the font, Woo Hoo!! Fabes is funny and really nice to talk to. He kept us laughing whenever he teases Adibah Amin whom I think did a great job hosting the event with Adlin Shauki. They were witty and entertaining throughout. The things that went on during the commercial breaks with her saying “I love Faizal Tahir” and “He’s so cute” left the crowd in stitches.

* * *
Ben: Do any of you blog? Coz I came across your post on the event
Ohkulala: I do blog. You did? *I think my eyes were gonna pop out*
*reality striked, I ain’t famous, only those who knows me reads my blog so he probably got the wrong person*
So I asked a few more questions and confirmed it was my blog indeed! *cloud nine*
* * *

Faizal Tahir had great showmanship with his flying act and Superman shirts. Pop Shuvit ended the night with a bang. Their performance was very fancy with the whole stage appearance, clowns, fire eaters etc. Kudos to them for winning the Anugerah Kembara which acknowledges Malaysian artists who bring their music abroad. Pop Shuvit were number 1 in Japan beating Linking Park (info courtesy of Fabes), now don’t you feel proud?

Post Party

Food was provided but I barely ate with all the excitement. Took more photos. Such a camwhore. Hehe

Din of Estranged. Love the hair dude

Anuar Zain

BoomerangX

I heart Estranged. Felt so privileged coz not many got pictures with them (thanks Vinder)

The Biggest winner of the night – Faizal Tahir

I think I slept with a smile and this image plastered on my face. There is no way I can forget all the glamour and glitz of the star studded weekend :). I must say I felt a certain sense of pride for the artists, singers and bands. It is not easy to break through and make it in this competitive industry in Malaysia. Some of them are yet to be on par with the international artists but give them time and I’m positive they will grow, develop and bloom in due time. Congratulations to all the winners of AIM. And a very big Thank You to Fly Fm and Reen who was in-charged of us winners. Today, I have one more event I can talk about, beautiful memories and another story to tell my kids one day. Hehe…

Augerah Industri Muzik and I

PS: Being the camwhore I am, these are not all the photos of the nite. You can view more pics here.

Whizzing By

Dear Diary,

I’ve had so many things up that I haven’t really had the time to update. Last week was crazy with 3 major projects due – Facilities, Operations Management and Engineers in Society. The bulk of the work was from the Facilities project. Initially, it was overwhelming but as we went along and figured out our way, the project was do-able. And seeing that most of us were going home for the weekend, there was urgency to finish everything by Thursday.

I was home for exactly 31 hours!! It was so short but nothing beats coming home. Got my sister to bake chocolate chip cookies for Ah Kie’s birthday party and mummy dearest made my favourite chicken curry! So yummy!!

Saturday was spent on Ah Kie’s birthday party with so many people. Had a really awesome time meeting the rest of the gang. We continued the celebration with dinner at La Bodega in Pavillion. Then instead of heading back to Ah Kie’s straight, I hung out at Hobbes, where I watched the youtube of Veyron, discussed music, Imogen Heap, movies etc etc. Oh, Hobbes even lent me a book, Bone which I totally dig! Wish it wasn’t so heavy so I could bring it along for class to read during boring lectures. :P

This week will be spent on completing the draft of my thesis which is due on Friday. And I’m really sorry for not being in touch with some of you (and you know who you are). Work was extremely stressful especially last week, pretty tensed too. So I didn’t come across as friendly or borderline pissy even, and I’m really sorry. I feel awful bout it but I’m pretty hopeless at multitasking especially when the projects are humongous with deadlines screaming at my face. But good ol’ Ohkulala is back. It feels good to be back too.

It’s the last week of the semester. Gosh, time really flies. Come Friday, it is officially my last day of my FINAL semester AND 2nd may also marks exactly 5 years I’ve been in Cowboy Town Uni. Part of me feels happy coz it marks another milestone in my life that I am coming to an end of my uni life (Cowboy Town Uni makes you feel that way, especially with its location). A part of me feels sad to leave this place as it holds so many memories of new friends, adventures, experiences and most importantly, of growing up. *Thoughtful*

Vaisakhi

Happy Vaisakhi everyone!! Vaisakhi is a very important day for the Sikhs. While it is widely celebrated as New Year, it also marks the very significant religious event of the creation of Khalsa. You can read more about it here.

So here’s what I did for Vaisakhi. A group of us headed of to Pusing Gurdwara. Right as we entered the Pusing junction, there was a massive jam which is totally surprising seeing that it is a pretty small town. And then we noticed there was a chariot!! So the driver dropped 3 of us by the side of the road and we joined in the procession.

I was so excited! I’ve always wanted to join in the procession but have always missed it. Seeing that it is my final semester in uni, I feel so blessed to have been able to be part of this. I simply could not contain my joy last night to be able to be there. The atmosphere was exhilarating. There were hundreds of people, young, old alike decked in their best for New Year’s. Did I mention that the chariot is the same one used in Anna and the King?

The chariot carried the Guru Granth Sahib (GGS), the holy book for the Sikh and the Kirtan group (a group of people singing hymns while playing traditional instruments like the vaja and tabla). The procession started out in Seputeh Gurdwara around 7pm. The drizzle did not dampen anyone’s spirits, all around you see is smiling faces. Lucky me, I came prepared with an umbrella. By the time we arrived in Pusing Gurdwara, it was around 9.30pm. Lo and behold, the crowd waiting at the temple was as big as the crowd in the procession. I have never seen the place so packed before.

Here are some of the pics from last night.

Me at the stairs of the chariot

Me at the middle of the chariot

Le Boys

Well, I hope everyone will be blessed with happiness, success, joy and love this Vaisakhi.

Colourgenics

I just signed up at the AllMalaysian Blogger and cmate dropped by and kindly added me to Mini Bites! *happy happy*. So I did what any curious person would, check Mini Bites out. Hehe….

As I was visiting, I found the Colourgenics Profile very interesting so I did it for myself. And here is what my profile said:

"You appear to others around you as a person who is simply 'laid back'. From time to time you shelve your ambitions and forgo the desire for prestige and recognition and you are often considered as mentally lazy. You have the ability and you are the first to know this, but you prefer to take things easy and indulge your longing for comfort and security.

You are full of stress at this time. It would seem that you are having more than your fair share of trials and tribulations and you are looking for a way out. You are not quite sure which way to go but the advice is - 'Stop trying so hard'.

You are a demanding egocentric and therefore quick to take offence. This attitude makes people feel somewhat inadequate when in your company and so it is no wonder that at times you feel alone and unwanted.

Unacceptable restrictions have been forced upon you and this is resulting in severe frustration and stress. You are looking for independence and consequently you shy away from any restriction and avoid obligations of anything which might prove hampering. You are being subjected to considerable pressure and want to escape from it so that you can obtain what you need, but unfortunately at this particular moment in time you lack the necessary strength of purpose to succeed in this.

The tensions that you are trying to cope with are a result of conditions which are really beyond your control. As a consequence of this almost impossible situation and not being able to get your own way, you are subjected to frustration and almost ungovernable anger. You are trying to remedy the situation but the stress that you are experiencing is making the situation even worse. You feel so inadequate that you are not quite sure which way to turn. A good suggestion would to be to try to relieve the stress and anxiety by participating in some very active physical activity which will relieve your tension."

There are some parts which are quite true. So I guess I know what I should be doing for the weekend then, some very active physical activity. *skips away*

FESCO

Last night, Ah Kie and I attended the Festival of the Colours of The World (FESCO). It is a series of cultural performances and dances from 10 institutes of higher learning. I felt like I was watching a Malaysian Festival, the whole Malaysia, Truly Asia right before my very eyes. As usual, Ah Kie and I camwhored before the show started. We took pictures with the dancers, their costumes were elaborate and so colourful!

I was surprised to see the MCs, they were friends of our batch. Kinda shocking seeing that we're in the final semester, most people shy away due to the immense work load we have. But they said they're doing it one last time, for old times sake. Aww... so sweet.

We also took the front seats to get a better view. Oh, and let's not forget our 10 seconds of fame when we appeared on the main screen singing the uni's song at the end of the function :P.

So I leave you with my favourite pic of the night.

Of Pooja Mantras and Love Song

My current Pooja Mantra is Love Song by Sara Bareilles. I love the simplicity of the song, the beautiful melody of the piano and the soulful voice of Sara Bareilles. In case you're wondering what is a Pooja Mantra, let me explain. Pooja usually refers to prayers, daily prayers. And Mantra could be a chant or a form of meditation, you say something repeatedly, over and over again.

Ah Nee and I coined this termed back in our foundation year when we have a particular favourite song that we play again and again, not once getting bored of it. So how often do i play my Pooja Mantra a day? At least 20 times, but the figure is more accurate at 30-40 times a day. Yes, 40. My longest phase was where I played this song every single day (i'm afraid I can't say which song here :p) for about 2 months. I go through phases of Pooja Mantras. Some years, I may have up to 10 Pooja Mantras and there are times, only 2. I do play loads of other songs regularly but only if i play it for at least 20 times a day do they qualify as a Pooja Mantra. So here's my current Pooja Mantra, I especially like the last 2 lines of the song.

Head under water,
And they tell me to breathe easy for a while.
The breathing gets harder, even I know that.

You made room for me but it’s too soon to see,
If I’m happy in your hands.
I’m unusually hard to hold on to.

Blank stares at blank pages.
No easy way to say this.
You mean well, but you make this hard on me.

I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you asked for it,
'Cause you need one, you see.
I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you tell me it's,
Make or breaking this.
If you’re on your way,
I'm not gonna write you to stay.
If all you have is leaving,
I’d need a better reason to write you a love song today.
Today.

I learned the hard way,
That they all say things you want to hear.
My heavy heart sinks deep down under you,
And your twisted words, your help just hurts.
You are not what I thought you were.
Hello to high and dry.

Convinced me to please you.
Made me think that I need this too.
I’m trying to let you hear me as I am.

I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you asked for it,
'Cause you need one, you see.
I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you tell me it's,
Make or breaking this.
If you’re on your way,
I'm not gonna write you to stay.
If all you have is leaving,
I’m gonna need a better reason to write you a love song today.

Promise me you'll leave the light on,
To help me see with daylight, my guide, gone.
'Cause I believe there's a way you can love me because I say,

I won't write you a love song,
'Cause you asked for it,
'Cause you need one you see.
I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you tell me it's make or breaking this.
Is that why you wanted a love song,
'Cause you asked for it,
'Cause you need one you see.
I’m not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you tell me it's make or breaking this.
If you’re on your way,
I’m not gonna write you to stay.
If your heart is nowhere in it,
I don’t want it for a minute.
Babe, I’ll walk the seven seas when I believe that there's a reason to,
Write you a love song today.
Today.

Randomness

Yesterday morning right after I woke up, I had a craving for dim sum. Instead, I had suew kow noodles at the Tronoh market.

Mid morning I felt like shopping. But that was put to a screeching halt when the ATM machine ate my card. You can read about it here.

These past few days, I have been having this unexplainable itch to eat tit bits. I’m not particularly hungry, it’s just the itch to munch on something, to crunch and chew. I usually pacify myself with eating raisin. I keep a 500g Sun Maid Natural California Raisins for times like these. However, since I’ve been eating so much of this, the raisins just feel sour in my mouth, like “Oh no, raisins again?”

And my box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates is MISSING!!! Last night on top of the absolute need to munch on something, I had this tremendous craving for chocolates. And imagine the frustration I felt when I can’t find them. I find it rather peculiar how could the box simply vanish. I checked under every nook, corner and cranny of every possible place the box could be. I checked, rechecked and triple checked. I also looked at places food should not be at, my wardrobe, in my book shelf, my junk drawer, the dusty corner at the furthermost end of my desk, my undergarments section, everywhere. And I know with absolute clarity that I did not put them in the house fridge for fear of unwanted hands rummaging through my precious chocolates and when I looked there through the horrid junk of what is called food in there, alas my chocolates is no where in sight. Not that I mind people having one or two, but please at least have the courtesy to ask. I shall not go into the long story of how good stuff goes missing in the fridge. I brought the box of chocolates back from home after my mid-sem break and I remember putting them on the food shelve together with my milk cartons. Everything else looks in place, undisturbed and yet my chocolates are missing. At this point of time, I am willing to believe that the box of oh-so-yummylicious-chocolates grew legs and walked out on me.

So today, my temptation to eat was so overwhelming, I can’t sit and write a word more on my report (which by the way is driving me crazy), I took a short walk to Kopetro, the uni’s convenience store to see what can I get my hands on. I finally settled for the Jacob’s Crak’s cream onion flavour and a small packet of Cadbury’s Hazel Nut coated with Dairy Milk Chocolate. Haih… what compensation. The Crak’s were pretty good, it makes a close second to all the keropok I buy from the Tronoh pasar malam, a little salty, bite size, crispy and crunchy.

The chocolates… sigh…. Cadbury’s. What else can I say? They pale in comparison to Ferrero Rocher and mind you, I wouldn’t even consider Ferrero Rocher top notch chocolate, they’re just nice chocolates with their gold wrappings, made for the commercial market who believes they are actually eating really good chocolates. Since I don’t eat chocolates very often, I only get really good chocolates, the best kind, dark rich imported chocolates. Cadbury’s is nowhere near the league of fine chocolates.

But today, I learnt to be grateful. Because here I am eating Cadbury’s while typing this post out and actually enjoying the chocolates. Chocolates are chocolates no matter what brand stamp they have on, the fancy packaging they come in or the country they are manufactured at. My craving’s have been somewhat satisfied, my endorphins multiplied; my taste buds happy and for that I’m thankful.

(Hint: If any kind soul would like to buy me chocolates, I’ll settle for Ferrero Rocher without a fuss. You could also get me the Belgian Chocolates shaped into seashells and sea creatures, these are my ultimate favourite. The Rither Sport ones are yummy so are Hersheys. Those are the only ones I can remember for now; I’ve tried and eaten so many awesome ones to be able to remember all of them. The biggest clue is that I love love love dark chocolates. Milk chocolates are for babies :p)

My roomie did not sleep at all last night! I am amazed, shocked, surprised and in total disbelieve that someone can just not feel sleepy therefore did not sleep. Throughout the night, I woke up at several intervals to peek at the time and she was just there sitting in front of her computer working on her report. When morning came, she still looks as fresh as a daisy, as if not sleeping is the most perfectly normal thing in the world. She took a nap and I thought she’ll probably crash till tomorrow morning. So the shocker came when she woke up about 2 hours later feeling fine (read: not sleepy, not tired). Wow. Maybe she’s a robot in disguise. I need to keep a closer inspection on this supposed creature co-habiting with me. Ill give periodic reports as observations are made. Stay tuned~

8am Clockwork

At long last, I get to wake up as late as I want this weekend. I am exhausted from all the work and running around this whole week. Going to the lab tires me out even more and I was there in the lab the whole of yesterday.

So last night after staying up to watch 27 Dresses, I drew the curtains shut to block out all possible light from entering my room and when to bed.

After what felt like a few hours, something in me jolt and I groaned to myself. I sleep every day for all this years to be able to accurately estimate the number of hours of sleep I have gotten and what time it is roughly.

And I know that I have slept for 7 hours.

I also know that it is roughly 8am.

I peeked at my watch and I was disappointed to find out I am right. Damn!

How do I know?

I have been getting between 5 to 7 hours for the last month every single day and I am usually up latest by 8am. So I have indirectly developed a subconscious habit. My internal clock is functioning in automatic mode these days, by 8am my brain snaps out of hibernation and revs into full gear.

So there I go, despite wanting to sleep in today, like clockwork, I am up. I refused to surrender so I stubbornly stayed in bed for a bit more. But the terrible urge to pee was too much and at the risk of wetting my bed, I rushed to answer the call of nature. That blew it! After that, it is pointless staying in bed when I am fully aware of everything.

It is funny how when I wake up each morning, I wish I have more hours in bed. And on the occasion I can, I can’t sleep. Sigh…

The ATM incident

The freaking ATM machine swallowed my card!!!

Here I was there in the bank to check my account balance, really hoping my scholarship money is in after months of waiting. So I waited patiently for my turn and when I inserted my card in, it said Device Failure. My head went “Ooooh oooo”. Repeated attempts was to no avail so I switched to the next machine and no, that was not how I lost my card.

I inserted my card and found out my bank absolutely-shrinking-almost-obsolete balance (when the hell is the money going to come!!!? I need to shop people!) and Poofff, there was a flicker and no electricity. The power outage lasted a few seconds and the systems were up soon enough. Midway through the loading process, Poofff, another flicker.

I thought, hey, what could possibly happen? I mean, this is a bank with super cekap security systems and backup systems and what-ever systems that keeps in the place running efficiently. The second time around, the machines were fully back and running and guess what…

NO CARD

That’s right, my card which was in when I was checking my balance got freaking swallowed by the freaking ATM machine!!! The machine made a meal out of my poor card.

Ah Kie was going to help me activate my online account mentioned that I can’t do much at that point of time. I’ll just need to check with the bank and claim my card back on Monday.

To play safe, I called the Enquiry Center and the lady assured me of the same thing. My card would not be ejected out anytime between today and Monday. The only way to get the card out is to manually open up the machine so its there, safe and sound. That did bring a little comfort to me. I mean, as much as the future of my bank balance looks hopelessly bleak, I’d still like to have some money than nothing at all.

So, there goes my craving to shop. I am officially broke.

Sunburst Music Festival

Sunburst Music Festival was awesome! I was there around 2.40 pm with Keropok and we bumped into a number of friends including some unexpected ones from uni. Security was tight, we had to go through 4 check points and I had to leave behind my mineral water bottle. I knew it wasn’t allowed but I can’t just not try my luck.

The first show I watched was Gerhana Ska Cinta and the sun was blazing, literally laughing in our faces telling us “Melt people, melt till you are no more. Hahahaha”. However, I came totally geared up for the weather. Clad in a cotton holter top, Capri pants, flat sandals, a cap borrowed from Keropok, sunnies and a thick coat of sunblock :). Keropok also brought a long a bright sunny yellow umbrella so we took shelter from the sweltering heat while watching Gerhana Ska Cinta.

Next was the episode of water “taking”. We spotted a tent, unsupervised filled to the brim with boxes of mineral water. So I cheered on as Keropok managed to get 2 bottles for us and 2 of our acquaintances.

Gigi had good showmanship, I liked it how the lead singer pronounced Incubus as In-ku-bus (pronounced in Malay), it was hilarious and became our running joke of the day. The weather decide to take a 360 degree turn and it started pouring cats and dogs right before Pop Shuvit took the stage. I ran to the nearest tent and stayed there till the rain was a mere drizzle. Die hard fans of Pop Shuvit bared the rain, umbrella or none. People were soaking wet and jumping like crazy. There was also a side performance, slightly more enterntainng that Pop Shuvit. The crew members of Joe Flizzow were also in the same tent as me and they were restless. So they had races under the rain and also sliding competitions into big puddles of water. They looked like they had the time of their lives! Keropok and I also placed bets on who would win which rounds. Talk about entertainment man.

I couldn’t miss Hujan, and the rain was sympathetic, it was drizzling by then so I got under the umbrella to the stage singing away to their songs. I couldn’t care less that most of the others around me were staring. And then it started to rain again, I was a little disappointed they didn’t play Pagi yang Gelap and just as I was leaving, they sang the song!!! So I stayed back, overjoyed they played all my 3 favourite songs – Ah Moi Cantek, Kuala Lumpur and Pagi yang Gelap. So yeah, I watched Hujan in the rain, literally.

Keropok’s brother and gang were also performing, they are Twilight Action Girl who plays at the Loft@Zouk every Friday night. And Keropok had no idea about it until we met the gang during Hujan’s performance. Or else we could have gotten free tickets. Oh well…

George Clinton and P-Funk was energy busting, people dancing and grooving to the catchy beat. I loved Raul Midon, his voice soulful, his lyrics spoke to me. His guitar skills are amazing. I especially love the song he wrote when he was dating his now wife. Pity my uni network don’t carry his songs.

By the time The Roots and Icognito performed, the crowd has swelled tremendously. John Legend was Sweat Man. He was not glistening but literally dripping in sweat, honestly I found it gross. A girl had a chance to dance with him on stage and even she couldn’t help but wipe off his sweat for him. By the time she left, her left thigh (which was against his) was wet, a sweat patch was clearly visible.

The highlight of the night was Incubus. They, however, did not perform according to schedule. Being the superstars they are, they decided to perform earlier, citing reasons that their fans wouldn’t wait till too late for them. WTF. And because of that, Estranged and Search were pushed back to make way for the whites. Seriously, I think loads of people were there mainly for Incubus, they would have stayed back no matter how late just to catch their show. The organizers gave in without a fight, not even a negotiation to get them to perform as scheduled. Got this scoop form V.

Now, why is this so important? Well, the idea of the festival was partly to support the local music scene. And if Estranged and Search were to perform after Incubus, the crowd would pretty small by then. Even the Anugerah Juara Lagu (AJL) chairperson did not support nor stand up for the local acts! To give the local bands center stage and exposure is so important and they took away that golden opportunity by letting Incubus perform first. Gosh….

The festival brought upon loads of catching up with friends I have not meet in years. I met Davina from our Introduction Weekend of Raleigh International Kuala Lumpur, after camp, we have not met up, and that was 5 years ago. I was so happy she could recognize me, I tapped her shoulder and was saying, “By any chance, are you ….” “OMG, OHKULALA IT IS YOU!!!” she squealed. Then there was Neha, whom I’ve not meet since 6 years ago. Also finally met V’s sister-in-law, have heard so much about her and we finally met face-to-face. Catching up with Superman was great, pity him, he took awhile to spot me coz of the massive crowd.

My back was totally aching from all the standing I was doing, after the fourth or fifth song of Incubus’ performance, I had to get a sit. So we chilled at the Tuborg station watching Incubus from the big screen. They had an encore of 3 songs! We left around 1.30am. I was hungry from all the excitement. The pizza we got from Pizza Hut was not wow, it was cold and expensive but that was expected. The satay was so much better, should have gotten that earlier. To pacify my aching tummy, we ate at Devi’s Corner in Bangsar before I headed back to my lovely bed.

I think the idea behind Sunburst was a great one. They could tweak it better by selling water at a cheaper price, it was RM3 per bottle and I found out these were actually sponsored. So technically, they are making 100% profits cutting our throats. The incident of big guns pushing their way around should not be repeated, what is the worse that can happen? Incubus doesn’t perform and the organizers can sue them, win-win-win for the organizers, local bands and the patrons.

The weekend was awesome. To counter the amazing weekend, I have loads going on this week. My FYP experiments were completed yesterday afternoon. The PDP pre-EDX and final presentations are due this afternoon and my interview is on Saturday. Jord Mela on Thursday and OM test on Friday. So yeah, I have my entire week packed out. Good luck to me.

What's your name?

Pre-story: Ah Kie wrote a lovely piece welcoming me to the blogsphere. I’m really touched, that was sweet of him. Here it is.

***
What exactly goes into a name? I believe our parents thought deeply into giving us names, thus stamping our identities for the rest of our lives. My name is a combination of my parents’ names, the first syllable from my dad’s name and the other two syllables from my mum’s name. My name was decided way before I was born. I did ask what if I turned out to be of the opposite sex, they nonchalantly said, it’s alright, we’ll just change your middle name *horror*.

As I grew up, I didn’t quite like my name. It sounds very traditional, rare but still … traditional. I have only come across one person with my name, he was an old man, yes, you got that right, it was a guy. So I have a boy’s name! I did ask around “knowledgeable” people aka old folks if they knew the meaning behind my name. I must say, it is pretty… manly. As a whole it means Warrior of My Generation. Sounds really macho isn't it? But since I’m a girl, I will think of myself as Zena, Warrior Princess. Right. Considering my size.

So how did this name thing came about? Keropok had a friend, Ah Der over and his mum couldn’t quite catch her name. So the mum asked if she could give Ah Der an English name. Ah Der didn’t mind, if it means Keropok’s mum can remember her better, no harm done.

Thus began the discussion of a new name. It started out with Christine (origin: English, meaning: Follower of Christ) which resulted in the choosing of spellings, is it going to be Christine, or Kristine. The other options were:

a) Elizabeth (origin: Hebrew, meaning: God is my oath) apparently reminds the mum of
someone slutty back in her days.
b) Claire (origin: French, meaning: clear, bright) sounds like chocolates.
c) Sophie (origin: French, meaning: wisdom) was sweet.

And so it was settled, she will be known as Sophie….Or so Ah Der thought, until the mum said “Goodbye Christine” when she left. So yeah, looks like Ah Der’s new name is Christine. She’s still getting a hang of her name.

I think it is cute and really funny. From a one syllable name, Ah Der is now Christine. Wait, now we can call her Chris for short. And since Chris is also a boy’s name, I have a friend. Hehe…

Paris, I Love You

I’ve been itching to write the whole weekend. But I had no internet access. In fact on Friday when I woke up, the connection had simply died on me. No matter how many times I renewed my ip address or restarted my computer (which is usually my last resort and Always work), alas the internet was nada.

So today, at long last I get to post again. And *gasp*, Ah Kie got a new template for his blog! No fair, I’m still customizing my one which is taking forever and he did his in one day.

My weekend was awesome. Wanted to watch Jumper, however the tickets were sold out. So I settled for a French movie instead, Paris, je t’aime (Translation: Paris, I Love You). It was a completely different movie unlike anything I have watched before. There is no story line, the movie is made up of a compilation of love stories all taking place in Paris, the city of love. And unlike Love Actually where the stories or characters are somehow interconnected, it is not the case here, each story is stand alone. The love stories are pretty random, my favourites are the blind man who falls in love with an actress (played by Natalie Portman), a mother who lost her child, a guy who falls in love with a woman he meets at a car park and he has been looking for her ever since. When he finally meets her, he passes away in her arms. The weirdest one is about a young man (Elijah Wood plays the young man) who sees a vampire killing an old man, attracts her with his blood, gets turned into a Dracula, hugs the vampire and eventually bites her to death.

I have also learnt that sleeping at 7am in the morning (very early indeed…hehe) is a sure way to screw up your sleeping habits. I woke up at 5pm and my first meal of the day was dinner. Well, since I do believe in trying everything at least once, I can check “Sleep at odd hours” off my list :).

How did your weekend go?