updates...

ok, i know i've not been updating very consistently. one of the many reason is due to sheer laziness... hehe. anyway, here are some very quick updates on what's been going on for the earlier half of this year.

1. i went to france (paris and toulouse) in march, the "west-est" country on the globe i've been to thus far. this is also the first overseas trip with the significant other (to be known as "SO" henceforth). yes, there's a presence of an SO for quite some time now... hehe *blush*

2. i was going to go to greece in may, but had to cancel it due to point no. 3.

3. i applied and got transferred back to m'sia. so i'm officially not living in the land of the shimmering sands anymore, but on an island now.

4. things have been rather crazy with all the packing up of my desert abode, flying home, moving up north to the island, settling into my new job, looking for a new apartment... i finally moved into my new pad last weekend! yahoo!!

5. oh, and in between spending a few days back home and moving up north, i also managed to squeeze in a short getaway to the banjaran hotsprings retreat... a heavenly place! it's a belated birthday treat and pampering from the SO :)

ok, that's all for now!

of sleep, butterflies and love...

what do these 3 things have in common? and no, this is not my version of "eat, pray, love".

at the beginning of this week, i was sleeping happily when i suddenly woke up. yes, SUDDENLY. at 3.30am in the morning. it's very sudden because i just opened my eyes wide. one minute i'm sleeping peacefully and the next i'm wide awake. i let out a groan when i saw that it's only 3.30am and i'm feeling so fresh and alert, even though i went to sleep only at 12.30am. damn, not again!

i tried to close my eyes and go back to sleep. i tried to empty my mind, to relax, to psych myself into sleepiness. but none of it worked. coz at the back of my mind, i'm stressed out from not being able to sleep. it's like while i'm trying to be all zen and calm about it, my brain is screaming in panic in the background, "I NEED TO GET BACK TO SLEEP, DAMMIT!"

i was tossing and turning for more than an hour. and then at about 5.00am, i decided, "ok fine, i'm NOT gonna try sleeping anymore!" so i got up, turned on the lights and even went to brush my teeth. then i went to sit in front of my laptop to check my e-mails, browse through fb, just surfing the web for a bit. then i decided that since i have so much time still before i need to take my shower and catch the bus to work, i might as well do some chanting. i was quite happy that i have so much time and was counting the number of boxes i can colour in in my daimoku chart.

but i only managed to chant for 15 minutes before my eye lids started drooping. argh, 15 min is not even enough to fill in one box in the daimoku chart! to continue chanting or go back to sleep? in the end, i decided that chanting while groggy with sleep is no use at all, and also i needed the sleep to be alert at work. so at 5.30am, i went back to sleep for another 2 hours before my "official" alarm woke me up.

you may ask, "what has this got to do with butterflies and love??" well, nothing. just that this whole experience brought to mind that saying about love being like butterflies. the more you try to catch it, the more it'll elude you. but if you stay quietly, it'll come to you unexpectedly.

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! ;)

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.

pure coincidence?

it's pretty scary, really... whenever i'm feeling blue or lonely or down or pensive etc, suddenly i'll get an sms from the x. basically, he leaves me alone most times. we don't keep in touch after all the storms died down. but once in a while, he'll just drop me a "how are you" msg and it's always when i'm feeling rather down in the dumps. or when i had a dream of him the previous night! scary, right?

anyway, life's been pretty mundane lately. yeah, i admit i feel pretty lonely sometimes. those deep kind of loneliness, u know? like even when u're surrounded by people, friends and families, you'll still feel lonely. very deep, right? haha...

but overall, i'm still ok lar. bz with work and stuff... so all is good!

change of url...

need to change the url, coz the x knows the old one. that was why i passworded this blog previously.

over-controlling partners...

seems like this is the latest 'in' thing among partners? just yesterday, a friend told me of her daughter crying abt her over-controlling bf... and then this morning, the topic for mix FM's 'he says she says' is also on over-controlling partners! and all these right after my own show down with the over-possessive bf! pure coincidence or is this the prevailing trend among partners nowadays? hmm... points to ponder, huh?

neeways, met up with the x no. 2 yesterday to discuss on some stuff... he's looking more composed and calm. we even had a nice chat on general stuff. maybe it's really possible to remain as friends after all these...

show down...

u said u'll wait till after his exam before breaking the news to him, but u acted too rash... yeah, he forced u to blurt it all out, but actually u could have swallowed it down and bear it for another month. u are not a good actress after all...

u wanted a peaceful and calm break up, but u still speak all those unkind words to him. it was unnecessary... but u just had to open ur mouth n speak ur mind. y hurt him further by telling him all those things? u needn't be so truthful...

u cried hard when he requested for one last hug from u. yes, it's difficult. and it may be the last hug u'll get from a guy who really and truly loved u with all his might. u even contemplated taking it all back n keeping his love forever. but u urself know that is a very selfish act. and would u be able to live that way? to be loved and not love? i dun think so...

u know u must live with the consequences. of course u'll miss his love and care and all the things he's willing to do and sacrifice for u. but since u've decided to take this course, u'll just have to live with it and make the best of it.

these past few days has been an emotionally charged one, but i know u'll live. u've been thru worse... and u still have ur family and friends whom u can count on. so for now, just take some time and let things settle down for a bit. go back to your prime point of faith and dun forget to include a little prayer for him too. u've hurt him badly, it's the least u can for him now...

wedding bells...

supposed to post this earlier, but just got the pics from bro... anyway, bro finally got married last dec! :)

so now the pressure's on ME! :(

weekend getaway

went for a weekend getaway with the bf to cameron highlands last weekend... well, one thing i learnt from this trip is:
NEVER GO ANYWHERE ON A SCHOOL HOLIDAY WITHOUT PREBOOKING YOUR ACCOMMODATION!

looking for a place to stay was hell! we arrived quite late, abt 6pm and all the places in brinchang were fully booked, be it hotels, inn, guesthouses, motels etc... in the end, we found a yucky room for an exorbitant price of RM150!

as it was a saturday, a 'pasar malam' (night market) day in cameron, we went to have a look. well, most of the stalls there were catered for tourists... if i were a local there, i dun think i'd buy anything there! but since i'm the tourist, i went ahead and parted with my money! hehe... bought some fresh vege, for goodness knows why, since i dun cook at all! but they were really cheap, prices ranging from 4 - 12 packets for RM10, depending on the size of the packs.


nothing like a pot of steamboat to warm one up in the cold! but the shop that we went to (aiya, forgot the name of the shop!) only served us a few slivers of cuttlefish, 2 miserable fish balls, 2 pitiful meat balls, a bit of 'tao-kee' (bean curd skin) and lots of vege, for the cut-throat price of RM36! that's RM18 per head! >:(



after an unsatisfactory steamboat dinner, we headed over to this shop "Strawberry Moments" that we spotted earlier for some strawberry desserts. their menu were mouth-watering and i had a hard time deciding what i wanted. in the end, we shared this "Melt-in-Mouth", which consisted of 3 scoops of ice-creams (strawberry, raspberry and chocolate), strawberries coated in white chocolate, marshmallows and fresh strawberries. other than that, i ordered a cup of strawberry tea while the bf had some hot chocolate. hmm... at least the dessert did not disappoint!



early the next morning (believe me, for someone who usually goes to bed at 5 or 6 in the morning, waking up at 7am IS VERY EARLY!), the bf drove me further up the mountain to watch the view from Equatorial Hotel... it was lovely!


from the front of equatorial hotel, there's this little trail of steps overgrown with bushes, trees and plants leading down to the plantation below... it was really beautiful and fun, but the overprotective bf would not allow me to venture beyond the steps to the mud trail further below :(

after a bit of exploring and picture taking, went back to town for breakfast... we've deduced that food is quite expensive there! then we checked out and went strawberries hunting! ok, not really hunting... plucking!

ripe strawberries waiting to be plucked...

1/2 kg for RM20... and these proprietors are really clever, i tell u. u not only buy their strawberries, u need to do the work for them too!



on the way down, stopped by the roadside to take this spectacular view of the tea plantation... then since it's still quite early, we decided to go up another road to the Boh Tea plantation. boy, the road is really narrow and winding, just enough for one car to pass at a time!



yikes! saw this gigantic millipede crawling along the path at the plantation... scary!
we decided not to track up to the very top of the plantation, coz it's so tiring! so we went to visit the Boh factory and see how they process the tea...


after that, we rested for a bit in their tea shop... i had the Boh green tea (yucks!) and the bf had the Boh camomile (nice!). and so, our weekend getaway ended with 2 mugs of Boh tea! and i'm gonna be sick of strawberries for a very long time!

family affairs...

contrary to popular belief (ok, maybe just my naive and distorted view of things), a relationship between 2 people is not well, between just 2 people. now i realized, whatever decision, plans and undertakings we make/take will need to involve not 2 people, but 2 families! *sigh*

maybe i'm so used to being independent, coupled with the fact the my parents don't really impose any major restrictions on me, going along the tunes of "as long as ur life is not threatened, we trust that u're big enough to know what u're doing and what's important is u're happy", that suddenly having to extend my consideration for other ppl's family's views, opinions, wish, etc is just so dem frustrating! and the spoiled and obstinate brat in me wonder if it's really so important to give in to one's father's every whim and fancy, when all these while, it's MY every whim and fancy that's being met by my dad! *urgh*

new fad...

in one of my previous posts, i've promised to blog abt my new fad... well, ok, it's not so new now, but nvm lar. here it is!

yep! PS2! hehehe... actually it's not so much my fad, but the bf. i only play the dummy games like super mario and monoply. hehehe... but he put it at my place so that he can shoot, race and bang police cars to his hearts content without nagging parents and controller-hogging siblings. like a kid right? *sigh*

not only that, he's obsess in collecting games! now it's filled 2 folders! *sigh*

new hobby...

the bf's lar, not mine! found these in his handphone:

another year...

nothing extravagant... simple yet memorable.

weekend at the zoo

ok, i know i know, most of u will go like, "what?!? the zoo?!?" but i like going to the zoo n looking at the animals wat! *pout*

here's me stretching myself to feed bananas to the elephant.
*sigh* the things i do for them animals! :Þ

i think my fav part of the whole zoo is the children's world, coz get to pat the animals! hehe...

random updates...

1) this was supposed to be my last week in this company, n next week i would have officially been jobless... then last week, my manager asked if i'd like to extend my contract for another 1.5 month! ok, it's just 1.5 month, but at least it'll give me slightly more time for my job-hunt. but shucks, i still need to follow through with some work, work which i thot i can escape doing! :Þ  

2) N and i had set our hearts to sending in the application for Amazing Race Asia Season II! but after all the excited planning and talk, we reluctantly came to the conclusion that it's too rushed. other than the application forms, we'd need to submit some photos of us together and a 3 minute video showing y we're the perfect team for the race. the thing is, we only found out 1 week ago, so i dun think we can come up with a good video that'll stand out from all the thousands of applicants from all over asia in that short span of time. we'd need to come up with the video concept, a good script, the actual shooting and all the NGs... we din even know how to do video editing! *sigh* so maybe Amazing Race Asia III next year?  

3) never believed so much love can exist in a person b4... let alone a guy!  


4) gosh, getting so the gemuk!!! thinking of taking up yoga again... or maybe set an exercise regiment with the bf? jogging? swimming? hmm... but the thot of it is so lemah-fying!  

5) surveying on backpack for siem reap trip in july... dunno y, those that i have my eyes on are so expensive! at least RM400 n above... gosh, more expensive than the trip itself!  

6) been having a lot of financial headaches lately, things i dun usually stress my little head abt... *sigh* really gotta start saving...  

7) sushi challenge day 2! sushi king's RM2/plate bonanza is back and as of today (2nd day of their 4 day promo), i've been for 3 meals oredi! hehe... see how many meals i can go for this time round b4 i get sick of sushi for a while...

ipoh wedding/makan trip

ah, look at the view! ipoh is practically surrounded by these mountains! makes waking up early in the morning a pleasure... here, the ji-mui are going for an ipoh breakfast before going over to the bride's place to wait for the groom...

the wedding was a sweet and simple affair... we ji-mui had a great time 'receiving' the groom and his heng-dai, which involved daipers, ribbons, the groom's baton performance, love letter, shoe-hiding and at one point, door-barging on the part of the impatient heng-dai.



and while in ipoh, of course we had to take the opportunity to witness with our own palates all the hoo-ha about ipoh food. gosh, it was absolutely crazy!

white coffee and chee cheong fun for breakfast; iced white coffee, chee cheong fun, egg tarts and yam-kok at the original nam heong kopitiam for 'immediately-after-lunch' snacks; white coffee, iced-lemon tea, iced-lemon (to help digestion), roti dipped in curry, some sort of puff etc at one of those 'Old Town' coffee houses (that seem to be mushrooming up everywhere) for cooling down after our 'immediately-after-lunch' snacks; wedding dinner which is very different from any wedding dinner food we've tasted; taugeh chicken rice at onn kee immediately after the wedding dinner; white coffee (yes, i'm well aware we're over-doing it with the white coffee), dim sum and fried kueh teow the morning after; baked salted chicken to go; back to nam heong to ta-pao some egg tarts and yam-kok back to kl (unfortunately the egg tarts weren't ready), and while ta-pao-ing, had more iced white coffee; duck drumstick mee at bidor on the way back to kl.

*phew*

earliest birthday present ever!

first birthday present for this year... and the birthday is more than 2 months away! *grin*

dun u think the red one is super cool? i lurv it!

he is so SO so spoiling me! *grin*

cny '07

2 glaring differences from past years' cny:
1) hk uncle's whole family (including his 2 new daughters-in-law) came to spend cny here in m'sia... cool, 3 additional ang-pao's!
2) the aunties have less 2 persons to nag abt getting partners
---> bro and me! hehe... thus giving a lot of pressure on the remaining single cousins!


back in kl, lou-sang gathering with a few gco friends at my place.

urgh... i kept asking them to keep their hands away so that
i can get a good shot of the masterpiece , but no one listened!

some entertainment after makan...

chap goh mei...

made this to a gathering at my ex-clg's... when i showed N this pic,
she went 'wow, so nice!' but when i showed her biow's koi jelly,
she said, 'dear, ur friend's fish is much much nicer than urs ler!'
aiyo, must she be so frank? sakit hati betul! ~:(

note on konnyaku koi: as opposed to biow's koi agar-agar, i used konnyaku powder instead. for the koi part, i used laichee flavoured konnyaku powder and the water part is plain konnyaku. not sure if u can see, but i put in some basil seeds in water to make it look like 'fish eggs'. haha... so weird.

introducing...

everyone, meet the bf... *blush*















appetite back to normal!