the right mood.

Hobbes
Do you have an idea for your project yet?

Calvin
No, I'm waiting for inspiration.
You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet.
You have to be in the right mood.

Hobbes
What mood is that?

Calvin
Last-minute panic.

this week's top six

1. being away in Miri - super hectic week, but really enjoyed being away and being alone (whenever I had the time to).
2. finished reading a book. reckoned i haven't done so in months so yay!
3. sleeping in til noon on Saturday.
4. reunion with ex-colleagues.
5. this documentary about Calvin and Hobbes.
6. this interview with Brendan Buckley.

thirty four.

The blogging muse is on her year-end holiday, an explanation as feeble as any for the lack of update here. This must be my blog's driest month this year! Anyway, with the 4th anniversary of my 30th birthday looming in the horizon (at the point of my writing this, it's just 4 days away), I thought I should put my fingers to keyboard and write something here. But what, I asked. And there was silence, naturally.

Aha, why don't you revive that 100-things-about-me meme? A voice suggested. But I don't have that many interesting things to warrant a list of 50, let alone 100! I replied to no one in particular. Mm maybe I could just do 34? I thought to myself, and then thought that was rather clever. Indeed.

So, here are 34 things about me that are not in anyway mysterious or groundbreaking as I would have in one way or another spoken about them. But a list's a list, so here goes nothing.

1. I'm very sure I have a mild *cough* form of ADD, which according to wiki, is characterized primarily by inattention, easy distractibility, disorganization, procrastination, and forgetfulness.
2. I hate writing. When I say this out loud, I usually receive polite protest that I could write, but I think people just want to make me feel better. Oh but you have a blog! I don't think that means much but I appreciate the affirmation though. :) 
3. I enjoy reading, but these days, most of my reading are Internet articles. I kinda dislike this fact.
4. I'm often lost in my own world.. like Alice. Ok, my world is not that rich. I like to hold imaginary conversations with people. Aloud. Which can be embarrassing. 
5. According to Myer-Briggs, I am a Nurturer (ISFJ). I sure didn't see that coming but the description is pretty accurate. And it helps me understand myself a bit more. Like how I've always wondered why I didn't do well in varsity, and even in my on-off studies at the bible college, until I read this (so it's really not my fault *ahem):

ISFJs learn best by doing, rather than by reading about something in a book, or applying theory. For this reason, they are not likely to be found in fields which require a lot of conceptual analysis or theory. They value practical application. Traditional methods of higher education, which require a lot of theorizing and abstraction, are likely to be a chore for the ISFJ.

6. According to the same test, I'm an introvert (though I didn't need it to tell me). People are often surprised that I am. In turn, I'm surprised that they are surprised. I can also be very shy. And I've been told they are not the same thing. I'm shy and gregarious.
7. I am absolutely terrified of syringes and snakes.
8. I love Calvin and Hobbes.
9. I enjoy sitcoms. I think life has enough drama that my escape shouldn't be more drama. My current favorites (and in this order) are Community, How I Met Your Mother, and Modern Family. 
10. I don't watch horror movies. I get startled very easily. I watch scary scenes through the gap between my fingers with my palms over my eyes. I don't want to watch an entire movie like that. I don't watch much drama movies/TV either (the slow pace is very distracting).
11. I like detective stories. Agatha Christie is my all-time favorite crime writer. If I have access to her books, I would like to re-read them again. I like Sherlock Holmes too. I love his recent screen incarnations (Robert Downey Jr, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jonny Lee Miller). I love Jeffrey Archer although he doesn't really belong in this genre.
12. I love Wang Lee Hom and David Tao. An unabashed fangirl, I am. I don't like female singers. I don't know why. Female voices tend to get boring very quickly. According to the idea of six degrees of separation, I am 3 degrees away from Lee Hom. alas, those are but weak links.
13. I love the smell of new books. But I wouldn't wear it. What were they thinking? I feel like a fraud when I talk so much about books, but I've only read so few this year, or in total.
14. When I was younger, I used to finish all the books I ever started reading. I don't do that anymore, and although I feel guilty when I don't, I still don't. 
15. I am a top-notch procrastinator with super short memory span. I have met people who are worse at procrastinating, but I don't remember anyone who has fish memory like me. Mm probably I have met the person.
16. While I prefer to remain "emotionless", I am easily excitable. -_- If you wanna test it out, just mention Lee Hom or cats or Calvin and Hobbes (or anything in this list that began with "I love...") in a sentence. 
17. I rarely cry at movies, but I have shed tears watching my fav sitcoms. True story. 
18. I love jokes and I can appreciate good ones, but I suck at delivering them (remember Nemo's dad earlier attempts in telling the joke about the mollusk and sea cucumber? I'm like that.)
19. I love cats. Not all cats. Just the cute ones. Not a big fan of kittens. I sigh when I see pics of cute cats online. I think that a feline's silhouette is captivating. I don't have it in me to be a crazy cat lady thou.  
20. I love musicals. Okay, not all. My favorites so far is Puteri Gunung Ledang and Wicked.
21. I can be rather particular with kerning in design. I'm annoyed with designers who are not.
22. I love Melbourne! Had my best vacation there. I'll definitely be back. 
23. I love travelling. The wanderlust in a force strong in me. 
24. Friendster, Myspace, Multiply, Flickr, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Weibo, Tumblr, Blogger, Dropbox, Gtalk, Skype, Live Messenger, email accounts from Hotmail, Yahoo! and Gmail: I have them ALL ("had" for the first three items in this list). 
25. I love Google. 
26. Every morning when I open my Chrome browser, I simultaneously open these pages: Yahoo! mail, Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader and Weibo. Then I close the Twitter tab after glancing at some tweets. The rest are open throughout the day.
27. I am very fond of the pi π symbol. If I could have a tattoo on me, this would be it.
28. I like chocolate with nuts or wafer. I like dark chocolate. I don't like white chocolate.
29. Milk in its liquid form makes me queasy. Even thinking about it makes me nauseous. So I thought I was lactose-intolerant. But I drink choc milk, and eats milk in other forms i.e. cheese and yoghurt. Go figure.
30. I love fish head noodle.
31. I don't like buffets. It makes me greedy and I will overeat and that's just bad. I think I'm much better at controlling myself these days. Still, I don't like the idea of paying to gorge on food. 
32. I love potatoes. In every edible form.
33. I am an insomniac.
34. When I'm not focused, I'm not. But on the very rare occasions when I am, I'm unstoppable.  

Yay! Done-doh! So.... happy birthday to me. Sometimes I can't stand me, but I'm generally okay in my own skin. I am writing in one of those moods, can you tell? Anyways, I hope the next 365 days will be good (generally), and I would continue to grow up emotionally, spiritually and mentally, and shrink physically.

My friend tried to get Lee Hom to wish me over weibo. Well, there's one in 24 million chance of that happening. Oh well, I'll make do with his song then. I've posted this song before, so here's just the MV (translation here). Have a good day on me, everyone! *MUAKS*

once upon a time, east met west...

the husband and i are the same in some ways and very different in every other way.. personality wise, don't let me get there, but we clash in every. possible. way, except oh, we are both VERY STUBBORN. hahahaha.. interest wise, at the basic level, we both enjoy reading, TV/movies and food. but rarely do we read the same books (he reads theological books)(as I'm typing, he's reading an OT theology book)(or serious mags like Time or The Economist)(while i like my whodunits or fiction or Calvin and Hobbes); we don't download *cough* the same shows (i love animation and sitcoms, while he watches everything from Hawaii Five-O to Walking Dead BUT doesn't touch my HIMYM or Community); we do eat the same food when i cook (of course =), but i love my pasta or potatoes, while he prefers low-carb meals (or he'll say crazy things like, "let's just have vege and fruits for dinner" to which my only response is an emphatic NO. because the cave-woman in me MUST. HAVE. MEAT. rawrrr! =) on some Saturday mornings, he would up at 6 to go hiking, while i probably would have just gone to bed a few hours before that (i'm allergic to the morning sun, which explains my semi-comatose state before noon each day ;)(but i can get reeeally hyper when my adrenaline kicks in, like really =).

thankfully, another thing we have in common other than our "stiff-necks" (read that in Canto) is our love of travelling and thankfully again, we belong to the same category of travelers (there are many kinds actually, like the first-class-all-the-way type, the backpacking-and-sleeping-at-bus-stops type, the tour-group-only-else-i'd-be-lost type, i'm-allergic-to-sun-and-sea type, off-the-beaten-path-only-please type, city-lovers vs nature-lovers, and many more).. we are the free-and-easy-can't-afford-first-class-no-tour-group type. and while i'm not a big fan of Tony Fernandez, we have AirAsia to thank for enabling us to go places we have been over the years. let's see, together we have been to Singapore (of course =), Bali (Indonesia), Hatyai, Phuket, Chiang Mai and Bangkok (Thailand), Hanoi (Vietnam), Baguio (the Philippines), Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai (China), and recently Melbourne (Australia). and there's Taiwan end of this year! the wanderlust is strong in us. if only our currency is equally strong *cries*

anyways, the reason for today's post is that............... today we are ten. that's TEN YEARS as a married couple. that's (365*7 + 366*3) days (= 3,653 days)(gosh, only 3 thousand plus days? felt like it's been 10,000!)(accordingly to the traditional anniversary gift list, we're supposed to be getting TIN/ALUMINIUM this year)(ergh no thanks!)

and what a ride it has been. haha! i'm thankful for this journey. of course if i could walk it again, there are many things i would have said or done differently. but there's no looking back. we are definitely better people today than we first started, for there has been a lot "sharpening" of the iron kind haha, lotsa sparks (from the friction haha) i think we have learned (and are still learning) to accept each other for who we are (especially our bad sides!) i am very excited for what God has in store for us in the next ten years, and all the tens that follows.

Lord God, we commit ourselves to you. thank you for your faithfulness in our lives. thank you for the happiness we have known together; for the sorrows we have faced together. we ask for forgiveness for any failure on our part; for any times when we became difficult to live with; for any lack of sympathy and understanding; for our selfishness. you have brought us so far along in this journey as husband and wife, we have learned tough lessons about living as one, how to die to ourselves and to consider the other's needs above our own. and we continue to learn. thank you for blessing us with so much, help us to bless others with what we have, with who we are, in return. thank you for the love which grows more precious each day. guide us in your way everlasting. we want to know you more. we want to be sensitive and obedient to the prompting of your holy spirit in our lives. help us God. light our path. thank you for everything. we love you. in jesus' name we pray. amen!

H A P P Y T E N , H U B B Y ! !

love you so, so much! muaks muaks! ^^

two drifters, off to see the world, there's such a lot of world to see...

-moon river-

i've been looking for a song to commemorate this day, and am happy to choose this because:

1. i love derek webb and i love how much he loves his wife and i wanted something from him that reflects that and voila, this song ^^ 
2. this song is fun ["I wanna read the Bible and I wanna make out"? haha! btw this is him and his wife Sandra, if you are interested] 
3. if you asked me if i would do it all over again, i'd probably pause to think for a bit, and then smile and say "Yes!"

I wanna marry you all over again, I wanna meet you and I wanna be friends
I wanna chase you all the way to Tennessee, I’ll meet your parents at the airport bar
I’ll take you out in my rental car, I wanna court you on the record label’s dime

come on baby let’s go back to the start
take it back sugar then gimme your heart
don’t you know baby I would do it all over again

I wanna buy you an old upright, I wanna accidentally stay all night
I wanna read the Bible and I wanna make out
I wanna marry you all over again
I wanna fall in love and say we’re just friends
I wanna race you all the way to Kansas City

I wanna give you a diamond ring, and then we’ll run into my ex-girlfriend
oh, I wanna sing songs while the sun’s going down

derek webb :: i wanna marry you all over again

of chicken curry and calvin and hobbes.

I spent the weekend doing a few things, namely:

• cooking and burning a pot of curry (managed to salvage it somewhat but i was rather disappointed) :( read somewhere online that adding peanut butter to the dish can reduce the burnt taste but i didn't have any at home so i didn't try. am curious if it would work!

• listening to Mayday's 第二人生 (Second Round) album which I really, really like :) 

• "warming" my ex-housemate's new home.. i was expecting a big crowd so i was pleased that it was a cosy get-together.. and there was wine too so yeah i was kept relaxed haha :) also, her husband loves reading and collecting action figures so a huge section of the condo was dedicated to books and collectibles -- impressive!

• reading calvin and hobbes! i started from the very first strip and is now half way through the first tome. i aim to do this once every other year. :) if only i could express how much i adore the boy and his friend!

• it was father's day yesterday! we just had a simple dinner at Puchong Curry Fish Head. had wanted to bring him for Thai food, the same place where we celeb'd mother's day but he wanted something else -- i was so pleased we went there cos food was really delish. ^_^ but erm, i didn't even get to take a photo with dad! *regret* after dinner we went home to have some laichee which were very sweet. oh before that, my mom told us that...

• the cat has ran away. *HEARTBROKEN* stupid cat! i am so over this cat business and i will NEVER love another one of your species! EVER! STUPIDCAT why you go and break my heart?! :'( please come back :'(

anyway, today's write up has nothing to do with the song..

i think the lyrics to 玩偶 Puppet is quite obvious, a boy who's after a girl who's not into him. i don't really know anyone like that in real life, but i am familiar with the stereotype. shame on you!, is all i can say to the person stringing another around. ok, this is obviously not my area of expertise and i have nothing to add to the topic right now. have a good week ahead! :)

update: after posting this, i was tempted to rewrite the whole piece because the writing is so bleh.. but, but..


當司機 搬東西 幫你開車門
隨傳隨到陪你逛街 希望你認真
你跟別人玩耍 叫我在家楞
餵你的哈士奇 還聽他說我笨
i am the chauffeur, the mover, i'll even open the car door for you
roaming the streets together, hoping that you would take me seriously
while you're out playing with others, i'm left at home staring at nothing
and when feeding your pet husky, even it calls me stupid

我不想讀你的腳本
不想讓你動我的嘴巴
我不想往身上綁線
不想當你的玩偶~玩偶~
i don't want to read your script
don't want to allow you to move my lips
i don't to be moved by the strings tied to my body
i don't want to your puppet/marionette

送你禮物鮮花 幫你修電燈
帶你上山陪你烤肉 還解不了悶
每天每天痴等 是我太遲鈍
想做你的情人 可是感覺像光棍
giving you presents and fresh flowers
helping you repair the electrical light
bringing you up the hills and sitting with you as we roast meat
but you're still bored
every day i wait for you like a fool, i am an idiot!
i want to be your lover, but it feels like i'm single

我不想照你的規則
在你的指間 No
我不想當你的玩偶
i don't want to follow your rules
or to be wrapped around your little finger, no
i don't want to be your puppet





玩偶 Puppet

當司機 搬東西 幫你開車門
隨傳隨到陪你逛街 希望你認真
你跟別人玩耍 叫我在家楞
餵你的哈士奇 還聽他說我笨

我不想讀你的腳本 不想讓你動我的嘴巴
我不想往身上綁線 不想當你的玩偶~玩偶~

送你禮物鮮花 幫你修電燈
帶你上山陪你烤肉 還解不了悶
每天每天痴等 是我太遲鈍
想做你的情人 可是感覺像光棍

我不想讀你的腳本 不想讓你動我的嘴巴
我不想往身上綁線 不想當你的玩偶~玩偶~玩偶~

我不想照你的規則 在你的指間 No
我不想當你的玩偶

我不想讀你的腳本 不想讓你動我的嘴巴
我不想往身上綁線 我不想當你的玩偶~玩偶~

玩偶~玩偶~

#1
dinner with prema, hema & pet: my colls from the first job
piccadily’s at section 17
food was bordering on terrible, even when i tried to not be fussy :P
haven’t met them for like 9 months, and I almost cancelled on this one
cos I had needed to go home and pack (I was leaving for china the next morning)
glad i went
always enjoyed being in this group cos I’d be the youngest hahaha
my (ex)boss turns 40 this year, can’t believe it’s been 10 years since I’ve known her




#2
my most recent haul from bookxcess

zits – love it. could half relate to it. what more could i say? :D

calvin & hobbes – I just can’t get enough of the boy and his tiger. I half want my entire C&H collection be buried with me but that would be a waste, so who wanna call dibs on this most marvelous of collection? Gimme a tinkle. Hahaha..

jeeves – I was soooo glad that I decided to buy this cos I lurved it to bits. Ok, that might be a wee bit exaggerated but really, this is the kinda book that make me wanna stay up whole night and once I’m done would love to read the next one available. this was the 2nd book i brought with me to china, and the rest is history. hahaha.. I can’t wait for the coming Big Bad Wolf Sale!! I’m gonna get my hands on the entire collection (please God let them be dirt cheap!)




#3
supper at papa rich, pj old town
had our drinks al-fresco which was made it all the more awesome when lil whipped out her android phone and showed us this app
can’t remember what it’s called, but it shows all the constellations (neatly labeled) in the sky at any direction the phone is aimed at! ohsofascinating!!! :D
we were waving the phone all over ogling at ‘em shiney heavenly bodies :P
saw most of the major constellations, but couldn’t find the scorpio though :|




#4
one of the five times we had xiao long bao that day
despite Shanghai being the origin of this dish
and this restaurant on “Cheng Huang Miao” which purportedly serves the best
all five times were rather disappointing
trust me, any of the Canton-i restaurants in KL serves much better tasting xlb

for more pics of our china trip, go here and here.




#5
the Mexico pavilion
one of the last few pavilions we visited on our trip to the Shanghai Expo
I like how these look like giant geometrical mushrooms against the dusky sky :)




#6
also taken at the expo
I title this piece “night/day”
go figure ;)


for more pics of us at the shanghai expo, go here.




#7
porridge from this Cantonese restaurant (cannot rber the name – 18 something :P) in Fahrenheit 88
we got quite a deal as there was an branch opening promo (buy 1 free 1) so this cost us like 6bucks per bowl
really yummy – it has like 8 items inside – century eggs, chicken, fish, prawn, scallops, crunchy cruller, etc




#8
tackling the TTDI jogging trail with lil
a relatively easy one
(i know, cos i could talk the entire time, and i spent twice the time here compared to the bukit gasing trail which leaves me huffing and panting in 15mins :D)
last Sunday evening was my third time in three weeks going for a walk
I hope the streak won’t be broken




#9
dinner with hubby at fig & olive in sunway pyramid
the night before deepavali
that was maghribi chicken and olive rice
quite delicious and looks healthy
this place is worth a second visit




#10
view from my parents’ bed
the now very dilapidated home where I grew up
the plank wall is as old as I am
that wall light hasn’t been working since I was in school
and the cheesy calendar pages from c.2005 covering the two walls
dropped by my parents’ place on Saturday after a very nice dimsum brunch w J
chatted about stuff, and mom trying to serenade me with her guzheng skill (I’m not very impressed but don’t tell her that HAHAHA I’m just glad she likes whatever she’s doing)




#11
outside the house, on the way out to the main road
i've always loved the view
and the quietness
the lush trees
i guess all the nutrients from decomposing bodies help hahaha
and in broad daylight it doesn’t seem so scary right :)




#12
the last time Jersoon played for me
he and Clara have recently graduated and more recent still have received and accepted job offers in Spore
I think I’m still trying to come to term with this loss to the team

but I wish them the very best – at that age, the world’s their oyster :)




#13
lunch with chongy
departure lounge, damansara utama
she had to layan herself for a whole hour cos I was ignoring her :D
I had needed to work on the powerpoint slides for my church anniversary the following day
my fault for having delayed it (sorry, chongy + anniv organizing comm.)
btw I concur with the her friends’ observation that she has developed a sense of style and dressing that go well with her ;)

for pics of my church anniv, go here.


last but no least:
i just *HEART* this music video from David Crowder Band – it just oozes the awesomeness that are stop-motion and Lite-Brite. see it pwease! :D

david crowder band :: shine (SMS)

i love the gems random surfing can dig up. i don't remember how i reached there, but i'm a-loving richard beck's experimental theology blog. if psychology and theology is your cuppa (i kinda think that it could be mine :), then i think you'd enjoy it. it's long-but-light reading - me likey!

i was in the midst of reading The Theology of Calvin and Hobbes (i love C&H, unreservedly =D and there are a lot a lot a lot of article titles that have caught my interest so i'm a happy camper for now *grins*) but i was nearing saturation point so i'm taking a break lah. it's Friday after all!

speaking of which, i met up with my ex-colls (whom i have "lovingly" dubbed my barnacles aka barneys for their "stickiness" urm.. long story) over lunch.. at amcorp mall. we quickly discovered how disastrous a decision it was - with the terrible jam and unexpected crowd and that it was 10 train stops from KLCC - everything went awry.. we ended up spending only about 20mins eating together (my traveling time alone took up almost four times that o_0) anyways, loved seeing them, but never again (lunch on a weekday)! hehe..

mm back to work. ;)