confessions of a drama addict…

ok, i have a confession to make. i’m a drama addict. i spend a lot of my time in front of the laptop (coz i’ve no tv here), watching dramas… all sorts of them, in all sorts of genre and in various languages…

anyway, i just finished watching the tvb drama series, no regrets and i LOVE it to bits! the story line is good and the love between the two protagonists so intense that i sorta suffered from a withdrawal syndrome after i finished the last episode! mind you, there wasn’t any intimate moments in the drama, but one can feel the love between kau mui and lau sing just oozing from the gazes and glances they gave each other. the expression of love thru mere looks and selfless acts… sigh…

one of my favourite scenes… and the ONLY hugging scene in the whole drama!

i was so into this drama that i began to start reading the forums and websites dedicated to it, and subsequently got to know the actress who acted the part of kau mui, sheren tang, a little bit more. and boy, i think i’ve found my new idol! lol, i know, idolizing actors and actress at a ripe old age of 30+? but my kind of admiration for sheren is unlike those of teenage girls’. i just find that her values and outlook in life is quite similar to mine, and that she dares to be different.

at 40+ years old, she’s been leading a single life for 10 years! what i admire most about her is, she believes that a girl can still live a happy, joyful and fulfilled life even if she’s single. yeah, most people would say, “cheh, of course lar. she’s single now, so of course must say like that lar!” but the more i read up on her and watch/listen to the various interviews she gave, the more i feel that she’s actually a very down-to-earth girl, and the reason she’s single is because she’s not found her true soul mate yet. of course, every girl will hope to eventually get married and lead a happy family life, and sheren is no different. but to get married for the sake of marrying? just because everyone around her is married or with a partner, it doesn’t mean that she should follow suit too. and while she’s searching for her soul mate, she’s very appreciative of what she currently has, living a happy and purposeful life. this is my sentiment exactly! i feel like she’s spoken what’s inside my heart!

anyway, i digressed. back to no regrets. i’m so addicted to this particular drama, that i’m crazy enough to watch it all over again! now that i’ve read and watched so many forums, talk shows and interviews about this drama, and knowing about the actors’ and actresses’ feelings and opinions as well as the things that happened off-camera, i’m really watching this drama again with a different impression and emotion. and also, i can’t get enough of the love between the 2 protagonists. this is how i imagine true love to be. to love a person wholeheartedly and unconditionally without expecting anything in return. and loving someone doesn’t mean possessing someone. but of course, i love it too that they were finally able to be together in the end, after more than 30 years of waiting! big sigh……

oh, and i’ve not been wasting time just watching dramas. i’ve been keeping busy too! click over to my craft page and you’ll understand! ;)

burmese water festival…

as i’m typing this, the whole world is watching THE royal wedding either on tv or live online stream. am i the only one not interest in the extravagant wedding funded by the people of britain? :P

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two weeks back, the burmese had their new year and so the burmese community in my company and another company near our vicinity held a joint-celebration on the rooftop pool area of our accommodation. there was a poster that invited everyone to join in the celebration, so i decided to pop by to see what it was all about.

on the day itself, a weekend in sandland, i was suddenly feeling very lazy to get out of the house. i kept going back and forth in my decision to go up to the pool area. but then i reminded myself the purpose i chose to take up this job in sandland in the first place, that is to gain more exposure, experience and to see more things. so isn’t joining a new year celebration of another culture an exposure and experience for me? that was why in the end, i did drag my ass up to the roof area. and i’m glad that i did! :)

like the thai and a few other cultures, the burmese celebrate their new year in the form of a water festival

 

the food presented…

 

the water war started off quite early…

 

some came with their own weapons of choice…

  a lot of people were pushed into the pool…

 

some waited at the entrance to the pool area to ambush newcomers…

 

i managed to stay relatively dry at first, coz i was holding on to my camera. so they always asked if they can pour water on me. i had to give my consent lar, since they were so polite, right? and they’ll just pour (and not splash) water down my back while i hold my camera out of the way.

   there were dancing and singing, burmese style…

 

discovered the best place to be is behind the electronic equipments! :P

 

can’t really see how wet i was, as i had the good sense of wearing black (as opposed to white, which will become semi-transparent when wet!). my colleague here wasn’t feeling too well, so i guess she’s the only person to leave the party “not-so-wet”.

 

in the end, i was drenched from head to toe, after i decided to put down my camera near the tv and walked over to talk to one of my colleagues. someone sneaked up on me from behind with a big pail of water and poured it onto my head!

 

splashing water during this festival is symbolic to cleansing. that is why everyone is happy to splash and be splashed with water. and it is usually held during summer time in myanmar, so dousing water onto the people around us is really nice and refreshing. but the weather here (at that time) was still very cold, not to mention the wind that was blowing. so most of us were freezing our asses off up there on the rooftop! but it was a good experience… :)

ginseng herbal soup…

cooked this a few weeks ago, but forgot to post. it’s another shortcut soup! hehehe…

soup pack brought over from m’sia…

used chicken wings to sweeten the soup and cooked it in my rice cooker. added some mihun to complete the meal…

jelly legs and blue-black bum…

actually i have a lot of posts to write (i know, i’ve been lazy), but i’m just too excited about this that i’ve decided to let this jump the queue. so here goes…

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when i went back for the cny recently, i caught the rerun of seabiscuit the movie. ah, i’ve always loved horses and this movie made me dig up the book from my bookshelf to bring back to sandland for a reread. dunno if it’s my failing memory or i’ve always been that forgetful, but i always learn something new from rereading a book. a new insight, a new info that i may have overlooked the first (or second, or third etc…) round. even a different emotion and feeling.

anyway, i digressed. so after rereading the seabiscuit book, i’ve started to have this yearning to get closer to horses. and there being so many horse clubs here in sandland definitely made things so much easier! so i began researching online, and found that there’s actually one quite near the place i stay! heck, it’s even in the same neighbourhood! but the website is a bit outdated and when i wrote in to enquire, there wasn’t any reply. so i kinda put the matter on the shelf for a while…

until one day, i spotted an offer in one of those internet deals site (like the milkadeal that you have in m’sia) that is offering 2 horse riding lessons for aed135 (abt rm108), with 45 min per lesson. it’s like someone heard my request and tailor-made that offer just for me! hehe, perasan habis (malay: something like thick-skinned), right? anyway, i bought the maximum 5 vouchers allowed per person (equivalent to 10 lessons) and went for my first lesson tonight! (actually i wanted to go over the weekend, but all the slots were fully booked)

so after work today, i took the bus to the club at the appointed time (15 min earlier to fill in the form for first timers), but i found out that i went to the wrong gate! and i had to walk quite far to the right gate (right across to the other side of a football stadium), which caused me to be late about 10 mins. then i had to fill in the form and then go choose a helmet that fits my head. so in the end, i started about 15 min later than the rest in my time slot.

once i got into the sand pit, the handlers just sort of placed a plastic platform next to a handsome white spotted horse (his name is oliver, by the way – the horse, not the handler!) for me to step on to climb up onto the horse. no briefing, no nothing! just, “put your leg here (pointing to the stirrup) and swing your other leg to the other side of the horse”. so that’s what i did. ok, first step was easy enough. then the handler adjusted the length of the stirrups and the position of my leg a bit and handed the rein to me with, “this is the rein”. duh!

ain’t he handsome? but a bit on the small side hor? just hope he didn’t find me too heavy!

then, with just “sit with your back straight, head looking in front and your legs close to the horse’s body”, the handlers started to let the horses walk round the pit and gave instructions that we’re to sit and stand, sit and stand THE WHOLE FREAKING TIME our horses are moving! we practiced sitting and standing while holding onto the rein and the saddle for balance for one round. then the handlers shouted, “ok, trot!” the horses just started trotting without us doing anything! my goodness, it was such a bumpy ride that my bum was just hitting the saddle like nobody’s business, all the while holding onto the saddle for dear life! the handlers kept reminding us to “up, down!”, “up, down!”. it was hard to get a rhythm at first, coz i was so afraid of falling off oliver!! then after a while, i sorta got a hang of it and started to find my own rhythm of “up and down” in-line with oliver’s gait. and i found that the bum is not so painful if you sit and stand, compared to just sitting on the saddle and let the horse’s trot bump your bum. but man, it was HARD WORK!! i was sweating in no time and i can feel my face hot and flushing (as it tends to whenever i do any strenuous exercise).

he moved when i was snapping this, but i wanna show everyone the black dot on his forehead. ain’t that just so cute?!

and the horses knew what they were doing. they knew that they had to trot in circles outside the red cones and to slow down if they get too close to the horse in front of them. they even know how to listen to instructions from the handlers. when they were slowing down, the handlers would just need to shout, “trot, trot!” and their speed would pick up. we the riders don’t have to do anything other than concentrating on hanging on for dear life sitting and standing on our saddle.

after a while, one of the handler asked me to let go of the saddle and hold my rein up a bit in front of me. at first i was terrified and shook my head vigorously, but the handler was quite firm and kept asking me to let go of the saddle. so i had to do it, tentatively at first. then i found that i have more balance if i don’t hold onto the saddle. hey, i’m good! :D

a few of the first timers stopped after a while, citing tiredness. and i can see that they’ve not been doing the “up and down” at all. so i guess their bums must’ve suffered some major bruises! and at one point, i heard one of the handlers telling another handler, “no. 2 (that’s me – i was the 2nd in the line of horses going around), first time”. there were lots of other first timers there, so i guess he must’ve noticed that i’m riding the right way. i know, perasan again, right? but why else would he wanna point me out to his colleagues? and i was really putting a lot of effort in making sure that i’m sitting and standing as much as i can! :P

so for my first lesson, i learnt how to mount a horse (with the help of a plastic platform), how to sit and stand, how to steer my horse to the direction i want him to go, how to make him go faster or slower, and how to dismount.

the riding part took about 30 min (coz i was late, remember?), but when i got off oliver, after giving him a good appreciative pat on his back, my legs were so jelly-like that they just collapsed and my right leg sort of kneeled down onto the sand. so embarrassing! but i stood up immediately, so hopefully no one saw. hehe…

and with wobbly legs, i went out to get my camera to take a photo of oliver as requested by N. now as i’m typing this, i can feel my back shoulder muscles starting to ache. i’m anticipating a full body ache tomorrow! ok, at least in my arms and legs… and a slightly blue-black bum. can’t wait for my next lesson! :D

oliver knew his session was up too and was walking out of the pit by himself when i pointed my camera at him. and he stopped right in front of me and stood very still until i’ve snapped the picture! cam-whoring horse, just like seabiscuit! :D

ocd* up a notch?

yesterday evening, i came home to this note stuck on my door:

pest controller coming?!

on one hand, it’s a good thing coz it means that it’ll keep my roach problem in check, which by the way, is very well under control now *fingers crossed*. but on the other hand, it’ll mean having these men coming into my apartment when i’m away at work! yes, that’s one thing bad about staying in the staff accommodation. the accommodation supervisor has a copy of your house key and is allowed to come in for maintenance work, pest control etc. not that i mind, really. it’s actually quite convenient, coz then you can get the supervisor to let the internet guy in and breath down his neck when he comes to fix your modem/internet problem and those kind of things. hehe… :P

anyway, back to the note above… what got me worried when i saw the note was that these guys are gonna walk into my apartment with their shoes on! now we can’t have that, can we? so i took down the note, turned it over and scribbled this:

a lil note to the pest controller…

i know it looks weird, but what can a girl do, right? and i thought no one would notice anyway, since nearly all the doors have a piece of note stuck to it… but during lunch time in the staff cafe today, a colleague from another department, who lives on the floor above me, came over to recite out loud what i’ve written and was just short of falling dead from shortness of breath due to laughing too hard! malu-nyer! (malay: so embarassing!)

so, tell me my dear readers, is my ocd* getting way out of hand? :P

p/s: if u’re wondering about my personal safety when i’m inside my apartment, with the supervisor having a copy of my key (like i know N would surely ask about), fear not. when i’m home, i always stick my key in the keyhole from the inside. that way, no one can stick another key in from the outside to open the door.

*ocd: obsessive compulsive disorder.

fried tom yum mihun…

first of all, i'm not sure if anyone noticed, but my posts for the past month or so have been without any photos. that was because i've been typing out those posts during my breaks in the office and posting them via e-mails. not sure why, but i can't seem to post directly on blogger from the office. must be some firewall in the server or something kua... and only texts are allowed for postings via e-mail.

ok, now back to the subject of the day...

ingredients:
1. garlic
2. mihun
3. prawns - i found out that i'm not icky when touching raw prawns.
4. kangkong - the only vege i can recognized from all the foreign looking vege at the minimart.
5. button mushrooms - canned ones.
6. tom yum paste - was so excited when i found it at the supermarket the other day.

don’t look so bad, right? :P

this is my first time trying to cook this, so it was a bit haphazard. and i was afraid of jumping hot oil splashing onto my face/hands/body! but overall, i think it went well. only glitch was that, after frying the mihun for sometime and i was just turning to get a plate to dish it out from the pan, i spotted my washed kangkong still sitting by the sink. oh sh*t! i forgot to put in my vege! so i quickly threw in the kangkong and continued frying for another 2-3 minutes. that explains the slightly burnt look of the mihun, as well as the mihun being no longer longish, but broken into small pieces. hehe...

overall, other than it being slightly dry and the prawns being not entirely fresh (it's frozen prawns that came in a bag), it still tasted ok lar... ok for a first attempt! :P

time taken to prepare the ingredients: 20 min (like i said, a bit haphazard)
time taken to cook the dish: 10 min
time taken to consume the dish: 7 min

if you see the time taken to prepare and to cook, as compared to the time taken to eat it, u'll feel that it's totally not worth the effort, right? but then we have to take into consideration the satisfaction from tasting a nice tom yum dish. so totally worth it! next, i may try making some tom yum soup. so stay tuned! :)

love struck... us blind!

what reaction should we give to people who can't seem to stop talking about their boyfriends? it's ok if it's anything interesting, but to repeat every word that their bf said to them??? 

an example is this chat i had with my colleague recently:

me: ur new hairstyle is very nice!

naive evie: thanks! i told kk i cut and coloured my hair (note: kk is her VIRTUAL bf of the same nationality as her, virtual meaning never met before, but have been in a r/ship through internet for 8 years)

me: (bored) then?

NE: i told him earlier i'll go cut hair and he agreed 

me: (in my heart) need to ask permission from bf to cut hair meh?

NE: then he said, "wat??? coloured??? what colour?"

NE: i said, "dark pink"

NE: he said, "wat???"

NE: i said, "yes, sorry is baby pink. look cute"

NE: he said, "tell me u're kidding"

me: :)

NE: i said, "i would like to joke, but sorry for this time"

me: haha... (fake laugh, but really dunno what reply i should give)

NE: only 2 months to go, so he's worried (note: she's going to see him in 2 month's time in australia)

NE: if his grandma, mother and sisters see this........

(yawn) not that i'm a sour grape (for not having a bf myself), but i don't think i need to know the whole conversation between you and your boyfriend in its minute detail lar... especially since i don't know you that well, and i don't know your VIRTUAL boyfriend at all!

i know *NE is not showing off, coz she's actually a sweet girl, but sometimes she tends to go on and on and on about her virtual bf, even the most trivial and most ordinary stuff. maybe she's really excited about her bf and has no one to share her excitement/happiness/joy/whatever with, but she must be really blind not to see the fake smiles pasted on our faces or the disinterest written all over our faces during one of her many ramblings. see, even when i didn't really give any response in the chat, she still happily insisted on me knowing what her kk told her. maybe love really can make us blind... or maybe we're just really good actresses?? :D

*a 24 y/o girl, who naively believed all her virtual bf's sweet words and promises of marriage, of not having to work after marriage, of sending her for further studies in a college in australia (even though their supposed marriage will take place right after he graduate and BEFORE he finds a job), of a bed-of-roses married life etc.