one woman's folly...

is another woman's find..




"Mary Mary where you been
You've been out all night
You ain't got no sleep

I've been dancing in the hills
At a place I know
She said 'and that's the place
Where the fire flies glow'

Had to slap my white face
Pull my head from the clouds

There were pictures and paintings
Of freaks like me
So I drank with my devil
For my company

And I kept
Buying and, lying and flying, relying and dying
To know what spins her world around

Good morning I missed ya
But ya bringing me down
I saw an Indian roller
Today on the line

It was the forty eighth hour
We fought our forty eighth fight
Madame Helga's folly
Is where I spent last night"

~madame helga by stereophonics

thoughts over momo..and goodbye to dear dodo

the four of us had dinner at a place we used to like to go. we had momo among some other vegetarian fare. it was sort of a farewell to dodo who's off to korea and then to fountainbleau.



i thought i was the only one reminiscing and missing the times..but so did you..

sometimes somethings can come only around once. it was fun. we will have more fun on our own but things will never be the same again.

like the time when we sneaked back to the office next door to 'steal' ice from the icemaker in the pantry to fill up the bathtub. it was for the silliest but well crafted theme party. the time someone got the antrhax scare. the time we conveniently 'tapaued' the leftover from the office popiah party for own party food later on in the suite..to the time when we had the dinner party while the wife was away and everyone was so loud , the neighbours had to call the police, and the times when there were scandals, the affairs both discrete and not so discrete. to the times we collectively sighed, eyed each other and like telepathy knew its time for a coffee break for another bitching session.

eventhough there were the hardest of times, with friends who are like comrades, its the good times that will be remembered.

the last saturday. random thoughts.

i am really bored now..so i shall blog. some random thoughts.

1. i have already done the housewife stuffs.
- did the laundry.
-cleaned the room.

- cooked lunch..ermmm. actually it was my MIL but i helped!

i have been doing that some saturday mornings but it stills feel a lil bit akward and seems to me still like i am under supervision. like today she said i can 'hiris bawang'. but somehow my mind went into a blank..and momentarily i was caught wondering if hiris is to slice or chop. and i had to ask her..so duh..she must have thought i 've never done any cutting at home. hahahah..

2. i am now wondering if i should redeem myself after this morning kitchen 'dont know what hiris means' boo-boo. wondering if i shoould bake tonight? i did brownies last week which was well received especially by the kids who gobbled them up..(though that brownies didnt count coz its one of the tricks from my 'bluff your way to baking' book i.e. from the pre-mix box)
..shall i or not? or shall we go out?

3. it IS the last saturday. sigh. i want to go out on a date with him. but he has work this morning and i have some meeting this afternoon..which means our whole day is out. my friend had asked me to go for the impenjaramant at esplanade tonight..but we couldnt make up our mind till today..and i just checked but the tickets are sold out :(

4. i spent last night again trawling the web on destinations to travel for the next holiday. i think it it has to be the end of the year for us this time round. no short trips for a while coz i counted we had 3 holiday breaks (ok, counting that cvillage stay) after our wedding day..that's almost once a month!

after he came back from his trip..he told me of his colig who told him that they went to goa this june..and i got started on goa..then i thought, oh wait..india..i always wanted to do the rajasthan circuit ..so i googled and surfed..then i read..india is actually NOT going to be relaxing and is chaotic and challenging..which at this moment doesnt sound very enticing. maybe i do india when we can afford to stay in the oberois and fort palaces there and be chauffered..no need to plan plan and hop in and out of taxis..

so i guess i went back to our original plan. after all they said the place is picking up and we should go there while it is still a gem. besides..i have another agenda for going where we initially plan to go. oh..and it will be MUCH much cheaper. good then.

in parts

you know the body parts murder old man..


i was asking a friend yesterday about this. that old guy has been or appeared to be as what i read in the news, the perfect father of three children, the husband for an nyonya who had loved him and showed that he loved her by going for walks and bicyle rides with her..he appeared to be a good husband and father..

except for one very fatal mistake he made. would you be able to forgive him for that mistake? or not ? and forget all the things that this person had done as father and husband and the duties he has fulfilled so far?

a girl's guide to..

i have always been one of the global fans of alexthegirl. and she has a cool new site, among many of her cool sites. alex has a new site called a girlguide's to la.

and one of the categories was for the thrifty girl guide to la.

the description of the thrifty girl i thought, could possibly fit me and more so a friend.

you see my friend had not had a stable job for some time after she quit some time back (we laughed about it that for about maybe a couple of bucks per hour more,we have so much more headache as compared to the time when we were serving iced tea at borders cafe) of coz there is this thing called stability and responsibility.

but i digress..my friend has been asked how she survived without a 'proper job' and yet get to travel so much the past year and months. to europe, indochina and sri lanka to name a few places.

she is not a hermit. she has an active social life and does dining and partying with friends..she's just very good at bargains and finding that gem of a place to eat or a buy that doenst cost you much...hence that idea we thought of doing a 'cheapskate or thrifty girl's guide to singapore?'

but it never take flight..coz we are quite the pair of unfocused girls.

all about books..

tis was done by lts..and i just read m/o/k/c/i/k/n/a/b's and one of hers is the same as mine!

i dont really have much time to read. i used to read more when i was very young, then sometime in my teenage years i kind of stopped only picking a book or two. but i picked up reading once i graduated.

the following books are those that affected me in someways and some of these are books which i have reread at least twice. yes i reread books i really like.

the ones that meant something to me..

1. the alchemist by paulo coelho. i dont think this book is preachy nor did i take it initially as inspirational or self help. it just has a good story witth life lessons subtly woven in. and is the best of coelho's.

2. the road to mecca by muhammad asad. i read it while having my first holiday at perhentian. it may seem ironic that a book with islam as one of its theme was read while bumming on the beach. but it was some sort of a perhentian for me to reflect. i actually have another book he worked on, which was given to me by a muslim friend when i was in the states ' message of the quran' by m. asad. i've read it but had never taken note of the translator.

i really admire muhammad asad and his works. and i may just name my son (insyallah if i have one), muhammad asad.

3. gone with the wind. yes i reread this book. it was THE romance book for me when i was growing up and it taught me a few lessons about love...like the idea of love is not the same as actual loving, and not to get pride in the way.

4. catcher in the rye. it was so teenage angtsy book. i think it was one of the earliest presents between us. i just cant remember now who gave it to whom.

5. lil house on the praire series. this was it. the one that got me into reading when i was a kid. i just couldnt wait to go to the library to borrow more and read about laura and her ma and pa. this series together with the enid blytons will be the ones i would love to pass on to my kids someday.


and the other parts of the questioning:

1) Total Number of Books You Own:
cant remember..they're all in my jellicoe flat though. boxed up right now.

2) The Last Book You’ve Bought:
has to be that guidebook to lombok and bali i bought because i wanted the map in it.

3) The Last Books You’ve Read: status anxiety by alain de botton. am still reading tho


can i also add...a few more things here ;

the last book you want to give your husband/boyfriend during a holiday : this will be the davinci code.my mistake for telling him to read the book. this book consumed the man who normally doenst have that good attention span with books. he just didnt want to do much or go out much coz he wanted to finish the book :S

and a book i can never finish reading: a brief history of time by stephen hawking. tried as i might i just cant. got lost somewhere when he started bringing in the graphs and circles.

it aint that bad as long as the sun still shines

i really dreaded waking up this morning to go to work..

and i just procrastinate doing the ickiest of the task to the very last. but hey, i discovered, it wasnt that bad. the nastiest person i had to handle i discovered had a soft spot, and guess what, i just spoke to someone to clear some lil mess..and her name was...

s/u/n b/e/a/m

i was going like "err.. can i speak to mr or ms beam?" ..and the operator just went "oh, s/u/n b/e/a/m..ok"


whataname! i am not making fun of her name. in fact i take it as a positive sign..
hmmm....i can feel the positive energy already. the rest of the week shall be fine aite ;)

lombok:gue banget!

this is going to be the last entry of my travelogue on lombok lah...coz tomorrow its time to get back to work :(

but i have to, despite the heavy heart.., get back to work. coz that's how we get the moolah for more holidays rite.


anyway, after the gilli trawangan, we decided to go back to mainland and do one last tourist thing. i wanted to go to one of the villages where they do handwoven cloth.



from the harbour at bangsal we decided to share the taxi with another couple whom we befriended on the boat back from the gillis. they were going to batu bolong which is a lil bit south of senggigi. so we could share a cab. we were planning to stay at holiday inn (since it was the last night, wanted to stay somewhere nicer) northly of senggigi..but unfortunately, we ran out of rupiah and had to change some singapore dollars. the rates at gilli and at the harbour was atrocious, so we figured we change at senggigi..

the london couple paid for our part of the fare first. it was then we decided to change accomodations, as we decided to change money at senggigi central which had better rates than holiday inn would have and pass them the money at senggigi. secondly, we wanted to meet our trek guide who is based in senggigi central.

so we based ourselves in senggigi central..and we booked ourselves in intan lombok village. a hotel with a HUGE compound. pretty okay beach but a bit run down room.

anyway we met our guide nursin at night, and asked him to help us with the transport for the last day..which was the day we did the tourist thing, going to the weavng village, and the not so tourist thing where he brought us to the biggest local market in the capital..which was like geylang serai market but five times bigger. unfortunately it was raining so we passed the area and had a look-see from the car.....



oooh...the last thing for us to do before checking in at the airport was to....search for the lombok kopi. which i fell in love with during this trip. gue banget! it's full bodied and gives a good caffeine kick. i reminded nuhsin i would really love to bring home some.

however it's not sold prepacked and not available commercially in supermarkets or groceries. you have to buy at that geylang serai like market by the weight..but that place was flooded due to the downpour so we couldnt get out of the car..but normally warungs have their own mix and stock. so our kind guide took us to a roadside warung and talked the owner to sell us half a kilo of kopi powder!

we really had a memorable time there. it's not as touristy as bali which also means it's not as polished. but it's not that ulu since there is a tourist industry going on though not as fully developed.

~lombok 2005

gilli tralalala ...

since we had planned our trip to be 7D6N, we still had a lot of time after our hike.

so we decided to go to the smaller islands or the gillis. gilli means pulau in the local language just like koh means pulau in thai.

our destination was gilli trawangan. we got to the harbour quite late at 6pm when all the public shuttle boats were no longer in operation. so we could either stay a night at the harbour or charter a boat. we did the later. something which i later think wasnt a good decision coz it was far more expensive than staying a night in mainland.though it was relatively cheap in sgd terms.

anyway......

once we got to gilli trawangan it was quite late. 7pm here felt late coz the sun sets at around 6. we stayed in a very cheap place costing 40 000 rp a night which is less than SGD10. but the room was of coz very very basic.

then came the irony of our travel..eventhough we scrimped on accomodation, it seemed so far we dont really mind splurging on food. so we went to a nice eating place which was part of a nice hotel to have crab and fish. the bill came up to be more than twice our night stay rate.

we would have thought the decent nice place will serve good food. it did, the food was delicious. but something was wrong somewhere and he got sick at night with diarohea and the following day developed a high fever!

because of his condition i thought to myself, no more scrimping on accomodations so we went to the other side of the island and stayed in the more comfortable villa almarik. which cost us 40USD a night.

this was the part of the holiday where i remembered a day of it being between lounging at the beach and going back to the room to do cold compress on him and waiting by the bedside watching indonesian mtv ampuh. by evening time, his temperature check showed 38.3 degrees celsius, 0.2 degrees from being very high fever..so i decided to take him on a cidomo ride (that's the island horse carriage ride) to the village doctor! how exciting rite.


anyway, it got much better thereafter. the next few days on the gilli we got to enjoy the holiday. but we didnt do snorkelling coz the legs were still feeling a bit crampy from the hike.

gilli trawangan is also called gilli tralala..coz of the rather hippy state of affair here. it's an island that seemed to have flourished tto serve the angmohs especially the backpackers. since there was absolutely no police here and the mainland ones close an eye to this island, the cafes here openly sell magic mushroom which they seemed to be universally described as 'bloody f**king fantastic' on the menus. the locals here also appear slightly more corrupted than mainland i.e. more western influenced. but on the whole, many were still nice and friendly.


our nicer accomodation was at villa almarik. italian owned with an italian manager. it has the nicest room for our entire lombok trip. very spacious room, well maintaned, had a/c and hot shower. though in the gillis, there isnt any freshwater. so water from the taps are actually treated salt water.

by the second day i was a bit tired of bathing in salty water..so we decided to hop back to mainland senggigi :)

lombok: photos

here are the rest of the photos:

rinjani hike and trawangan+senggigi

i'll do the log on trawangan and senggigi later.

hiking mt rinjani

peak of the mighty mt rinjani 3726 m above sea level
Originally uploaded by itsanisnm.

and so we had hiked up to the crater rim, down the lake and back down to level ground all in 3D2N.

mt rinjani is the second highest mountain in indonesia. it's not as high as kinabalu, the highest in southeast asia, but it's definitely not an easy hike. google 'rinjani+hike+experience', and many will say hiking up this mountain is hard work. especially to the summit.

which wisely enough we didnt consider. we know our limits.

but going mountain hiking has been indeed an exercise of pushing and knowing your limits. i discovered that i am hardier than i thought i was. i also love being in open space and with nature. back in the city, just one day gets me anxious again. its easy to get stressed being in the city. but up there with nature, you see the ants and bugs, the trees and plants that have been there long before you and maybe long after you, the open sky and the sun rising and setting , you get to feel really humbled and small and that one is all just apart of the big scheme of things. i could let go more easily and anxieties of everyday living dissolve. of coz that can also happen when one is lazing by the beach.

but up in the mountain, you get to feel even more that there are unseen and uncontrollable forces. the step you take as you put your feet down on the rock. it could be a loose one, you could loose your balance. so one develops a great respect for nature, and the surrounding evokes the feeling of god consiousness in you that staring at a mighty skycraper wont be able to.


we were first time mountain hikers so the trip wasnt without its surprises. like our footwear disintegrating. that we were not prepared for the cold in the crater. the guides lent us their parkas. there were no strange happenings. thankfully but each night we were so tired. we slept almost soon after dinner.

as for the 'bizness'...you just have to give it back to nature. au naturel. do it in the bushes. i couldnt however make myself do the BIG one in the bushes. so i down a few tubes of pochai during the trip as a form of self-constipation :)

aku, manusia dan ikan

aku, manusia dan ikan
Originally uploaded by itsanisnm.

it was a relief to get to the lake. by the time we got there, mas agus one of our guides and the porter had set up tent.

there were actually quite a lot of trekkers down by the lake. a number of them were from sembalun and had attempted the summit. and surprise surprise! we met another group of singaporean trekkers. they were a family with three teenage kids. we shared stories. i didnt feel so bad coz they thought the descend was super siong (later we were to meet them again at the airport and they said our part of descend was actually more siong than theirs)..but i have to admire them for even thinking of attempting to reach the summit eventhough eventually they didnt and instead decided to stay at base camp coz the wind and temperature was simply too cold.

anyway, inside the crater, we just hung around by the lake, watched people fishing. chatted with a few other trekkers.

there was also a hotspring which was a trekkable distance from our campsite. we took the trek and took a much needed bath/dip. but didnt stay there too long coz the hotspring was sulphuric (due to the volcanic soil content) and after a while i thought the smell was getting to me.

the tittle for the picture above was given by mas agus who was preparing the fire for the fish! we had freshwater fish thanks to the previous president soeharto who in his rule came down to the lake to release fishes so that hungry campers like us get some reward at the end of the trip!
super shiok! especially with mas agus's specially made javanese pecal sos and another equally good sos i couldnt remember the name..

2642 m above sea level....and danau segera datang!

Originally uploaded by itsanisnm.

day 2. 10 am. we finally finally got to the crater rim!

it was actually quite warm here coz the sun was out. but it was a cool sight especially to be above the clouds. and looking down the crater to the lake below.

looking down, made me realised i had vertigo..i wasnt feeling comfortable with him sitting on that rock..eventhough it was not near any edge.

he had vertigo too. he said looking down the cliff made his balls shrink. i told him, looking down that rim made me develop imaginary balls ..and they shrank.


we took a short break.


before heading for the next part of the journey that is the descend down the crater to the lake.

as we were starting on the next leg, another group of trekkers were reaching pelawangan from the crater. they were at the lake the night before. they wished us all the best..and as we trekked further i could hear them shouting "allahu akbar" several times...at that moment i thought 'wow the people here are really god consious'..anyway soon there were a few shouts and exclamations of thankfulness for reaching the rim..and a few more steps down for us after when i realised why the shouting..

this was going to be the part where i was between silently repeating what the trekkers had said at the top and silently cursing myself 'crazy b***h, crazy b***h'

the descend to the lake was the hardest part of the trek. we were going down slopes ranging from 30 to 90 degree. rocky edges, narrow ledges. and there was only one way to go that is down. but two ways to do it. tumble down or slowly inching our way down. which we did. sometimes getting on our fours down the rocks face up or rock climbing down (face to the rock cliffs) again on our fours. it was in parts low grade rock climbing without any safety relays.

here again i have to say we were amazed at our porter for carrying the load on the bamboo pole slung on his shoulders and navigating the rocks wering slipar jepun for footwear!

we took almost 3 hours to go down the crater.

hup hup (inhale) weeeeee (exhale)

when we got up the next morning, it was time for the hike up to the crater rim.

i actually couldnt sleep very well the first night. not used to the hard ground. so i was not well rested for the next part of the hike.

by then we were moving up to an altitude of about 2000 m above sea level. this part of the hike was beggining to feel more challenging largely due to the thin air. breathing became more laborious and mine was sounding something like "hup hup (inhaling) weeee (exhale)"

every 10-15 min we had to stop. in the earlier lower altitude part of the trek we got a hang of controlling our breathing as we trekked our way up, but thin air was something we were not used to and i began to feel like an unfit mountain goat, no puteri gunung rinjani.

pos III

first camp site at Pos III
Originally uploaded by itsanisnm.

beyond pos II the terrain and vegetation changed again. it got cooler so it was easier to go up. the vegetation changed from tropical rainforest to more ferns less trees and with the mist, it looked a bit like a scene from LOTR.

up to this point, i was still fine. i have a pretty decent stamina and endurance for long runs normally but faizal the smoker was getting a bit tired. or maybe he was still in a bit of a shock.

the pic shows where we camped out the first night. it was cold and misty when we got here. so we stayed inside the tent most times while waiting for dinner.





at this point i shall write about our guides. we felt quite lucky we got on quite well with them. mas agus and mas nuhsin. nuhsin is the more contemplative and 'intellectual' one who has an affinity for history . after dinner, we sat infront of the campfire and he told us the history of the island and mt rinjani. he likes to read so we gave him our copy of national geographic which had a special feature of flores (a nearby island).



nuhsin has a kid who likes peter pan the band. nuhsin liked to sing with agus along the hike. agus is from java actually. is divorced and has a kid. they make a quite a pair, nuhsin and agus as agus liked to tease nuhsin ...

how do we know so much? coz the lombok people are very warm and friendly. along the hike and trip, many stopped to ask us about our trip, where we are from and wished us all the best for the remaining journey.

pos 1-2

kedai di pos 1
Originally uploaded by itsanisnm.

this is the kedai at pos 1. the stop where we felt a bit cheated coz after that long trek, it wasnt even the start yet. we took a rest here. recharge by having a banana and some water. the guides gave us some energy powder to be mixed with our water. it's actually some vit c and vit b.

here we also met another couple from london. they were slightly behind us for the trek. tis was the first stop we met them and thereafter we had them as a pace guide. anyway they looked worn out by that short walk. probably the humidity.

after that short break we continued walking up. surprisingly, it was easier. maybe it was a warm up previously. we stopped every half an hour...stopped at another halfway pos to rest before eventually stopping for lunch :)





lunch was at pos 2. and our meals were to be provided for in the package which in the middle of the jungle meant, prepared and cooked on the spot.

sunrise 1

sunrise 1
Originally uploaded by itsanisnm.

we are back home. it's been a trip.

here's one of the first few photos taken. on the way to senaru, about 6 odd in the morning sun starting to peak out of the horizon as we headed towards north east lombok.

Start of Trek

we are now back in senggigi and i am online to find a place that would be more comfortable for us to stay.

before that, we had just had lunch in an eating place. we were the only patrons beside a japanese family whom we were speculating to be a yakuza family coz the entire family the mummy, daddy, the kids had full bodied japanese tatoos.
and before that we shared a cab with another brit couple from bangsal harbour, after the boat ride from gili trawangan.

anyway, back to my rinjani trip.

we started off at 6am in the morning. they picked us up. and we proceded to drive northward. along the way we stopped at a market as the guides had to buy some grocery supplies for our meals up the mountain. we went out of the 4WD and walked around at the market place. the thing i liked about lombok also is the people here generally still has a nonchalant attitude towards tourists. no one begged for money or tried to sell us things. oh and another thing, at the market, you may just get to see clothes you have sold to the garang guni man some time back. a FAS shirt and a red singapore soccer jersey was on sale at this sunday market in lombok.

the drive northward was amazing. open spaces with padi field and the moutain ridges as the backdrop. we finally reached senaru. had breakfast and had our first taste of lombok coffee..it was POWER. got our caffeine fix and then proceeded to the park entrance. here our guides started packing their groceries which were to be carried by the local porter.

the local porter deserves a story on his own. the local mountain sasaks here work as porters carrying the heavy goods/bacpack/bags what have you on a bamboo pole slung on their shoulder up and down the mountain wearing selipar jepun as footwear.

anyway we started with our trek once the groceries have been packed.

we passed the rinjani trekking center where you would have to pay an entrance fee (but already included in our package). it was an uphill walk passing a few kampung houses. at that level, it was rather humid. i could hear myself and faizal's breathing. fifteen minutes of walking and i thought i could hear my heart beats loud and clear. half an hour later...we realised we have not even entered the park, coz lo and behold..at the end of that hike, was POS1, the real entrance to Rinjani National Park.

TBC

Senggigi Bargaining

i wasnt going to let the incident at the airport spoil my trip.

and we actually felt better once we approached the island. high above the clouds,as the plane went over the northen part of lombok, the summit of the mighty Gunung Rinjani peaked out above the clouds. it was definitely an awe inspiring sight. the other chance to be as high as that on the island is to go to the summit itself.

i was getting my inspiration back again.

we arrived at the airport at about 6pm and was greeted by the island's beautiful sunset. i already start to like the place.

we got our bags and got into the taxi. i sort of know where we would be spending the night. so i just told the driver 'kantor perama' which is this big travel agent. but the place we were heading was actually across it, our accomodation for the night. lina cottages a double with aircon but no hot shower for 70 000 RP. about SGD12.50. we were going to just stay for the night and move on after that so i didnt mind staying in the basic place. it was actually quite clean. and convenient being right in the middle of the city.

we headed out to walk around senggigi. before that we enquired at the reception for the next leg of our trip and then at perama. each of them gave a price of 1 million RP and 1.5 million RP per person. so we walked down senggigi main st and chanced upon a shop. i have seen their site online before. they first quoted us USD140 a person, thats about 1.2 million RP i think.

They told us we could bargain..and so i tried. i gave them a price of 980 000 RP which i thought was a good deal coz it covered everything and much better deal than another quote i had got online before i arrived here.

they actually looked a bit puzzled. punched a few figures and showed the calculator to us, with the figure 900 000 RP. everything included. that just showed that i was lousy at bargaining, and the people here are actually quite honest.


and so that was how we got on with the rinjani trekking club. we were to meet again at 6am the next morning for our climb to the crater rim.

TBC

lost in transition

its our fourth night at lombok and i am currently at gilli trawangan off the main island.

i was thinking of blogging what we have been through but the connection here is so slow.

so i shall do it in parts.

the excitement for our trip started right at the changi airport while waiting at the departure lounge. we were waiting just outside the gate, when the boy realised he had his wallet missing. and along with that SGD250 which had been converted to RP!

a report had to be made and all, and luckily we had travel insurance. not sure if it really will cover but i had called the insurance co and they said they would. so will have to check when we r back.

ok thats all for no.
will be back with more another time.

waiting at departure. destination lombok

here's another entry at the airport. we checked in early so that we have time to browse around.


i am just very tired now coz i was up till 3am and had to go for a meeting this morning. i left early coz we had not finished packing. a few things were done last min lah..but hey, we're on our way now.

will be staying at senggigi tonight. and no, we have not booked accomodations yet.

party like it's 1928

we went for our first married couple housewarming party tonight. a difference here from the houseparties we have attended so far is that this one is his 'side' or rather his friend's. previously it had been mainly my 'side' (no nesting instinct ah his friends until this one). and the other thing about this housewarming, it's one thrown for a rented apartment (more about that later) and not the couple gets married, couple buys flat type of housewarming. it was a singleton's houswarming.

i have mentioned before i have met his friends over the 10 years of our relationship but had not been formally introduced or interacted with them much. i know its slightly weird. but it dint really affect our relationship. anyway, the party just now was like another 'oh, so finally we get to talk to the ex-girlfriend..coz now wife lah'.

my husband for a few moments left me to be grilled by his friends. not that i am complaining coz it was fun and funnny. funny coz the guys remembered me from all the way to our ML1 days and even to the sec1/2 tuition center days. only that ...errr..i dindt really remember them..but it was fun reliving those days and learning a few things about each other back then and the perceptions we had back then. not that it bothered us but it was just funny. especially the atmosphere just now made it seemed that the boys are not that different from how they probably were back then.

and the apartment was cool. it's actually a stonethrow from where we are staying now. it was built in 1928. coz it had that year at the top of the building as with buildings built in that era. so it was a rather old three storey building. the apartment occupied half of the third floor. it had that charm of old building that i like with a retro tropical feel as there was considerable wood element in the funrnishing. the bestest was the huge living/balcony area (with wood flooring) where we congregated most times and it was perfect place to chill, with a view of the planes asecending/descending at changi.

wished i had taken pics. note to self:
*about time i get a sleeker slimmer camera*

...thanks for all the fish

thanks for all the concern...so schweet.

i am okay.

last night, we were reading the papers at around 9.20pm when we found out that the HG2G is already showing in the cinema. so we just grabbed our wallets and pop by for the last show 15 mins later.

this one, watch you must. wickedly funny. goofbally but not slapstick. physicist or not, clever will you find the humour.

watch again i will, after i come back

Yayapapaya Corporate (Tertiary) Instituition

i am getting a lil bit worried about myself lately. i was just wondering if i am turning into those singaporean women who just like to bitch and complain. am i ?

maybe its me getting edgy. uptight. pmsy. watever. but people get on my nerves more lately. and i had to just complain to him on the way home today for the following reasons which i think are certifiably bitching materials:

1. i attended a series of lectures at a local tertiary institution today. the one that is ranked 18th in the world (cant believe that actually).

during lunch break i was held back at a short meeting. after which i proceeded to the lounge where catered food had been prepared for the participants. as i walked pass the rows of serving dishes, i had a nagging feeling about the food. so i enquired. and to my horror of horrors, they told me the food was not. by then some of the muslims had already been tucking into their food some of which were meat based.

firstly i am pissed not so much at the fellow muslims but at the organisers for their failure to remind the muslims about the food. BECOZ as i found out they were suppose to provide us separate food that was already budgeted for. and today the response was 'oh yah,we were so busy just now we forgot to make the announcement' and the only apology was "oh,tomorrow we give you money to eat outside."


or is it always our responsibility to enquire? perhaps it is and i did. but hey, the event had particpants of multireligous mutiracial background and i think the rest might have just tucked in becoz maybe the assumption had always been for such public events, the organiser would be civil enough to cater halal food from the so many certified caterers. it was not after all some hokkien hwee kan clan gathering.

i think i just might post a complaint. becoz it is not really excusable and simply slipshod behaviour for yet another YA-YA papaya institute.


2. and the second thing i have been pissed about is...this very irresponsible disorganised girl who plan badly and pass over the badly planned task to me! but i am not going to elaborate on this here...


...................................................................................

...maybe i am getting stressed huh. the time for holiday is not yet here. maybe its time for me to get into the yoga posses to destress.

i learnt a few today.

aptly called the yoga posses for Corporate Slavery.




taken from: http://modernmonk.blogspot.com

many more posses here