hello, November.

So we are entering into my most favorite month, no prize for guessing why haha! I think November is the Friday night of month. Like how Friday is the beginning of the weekend, November is the beginning of the end of the year, and like how the whole weekend is still ahead, it feels like there's still time at this point to revisit the year's plan and resolutions and work towards ticking off more items off the bucket/resolution list. Holidays are looming and half the fun is in the anticipation. Christmas will soon be in the air, but it's not quite there yet, no rush for gift buying, no pressure for year end activities. The new year is still kinda far away. I love November. :)

Revisiting a song here. Quoting the bits I like. Leaving out the bits I don't. This is so me, right? :)

I know a girl whose head is in a twirl
She has her own lovely little world
And cause she likes me I get to look inside
And when I do the things that I see
Like trips to Spain and houses in the trees
Makes me wish that my mind was just as free

So baby, I know it's fun to play
And let your thoughts drift away
Dreamer, that's what you are

Mayer Hawthorne :: Fantasy Girl (Cover)

horror of horrors.

so last night i went back to my parents' place because they had a harvest of bananas and asked me to go back for some. the hubby wasn't free so i went back alone which i'm usually okay with cos it's my old home and i practically grew up there.. but then again, i haven't been back in a while as they have moved out, only that they go back there every morning to cook and prepare soyabean drinks for sale. oh have I mentioned my old house is right smack in the middle of a Chinese cemetery? it doesn't bother me though---I've never had any eerie experiences of any sort. it's just a place where home was.

the thing is, it is not so much the spirits than the serpentine that bother me. as i was reaching home, i remembered how my parents have been telling me about their recent encounterSSS with SNAKES OMG. if there are two things that i am most terrified of, they are syringes/needles and SNAKES. just thinking about them can make me stop dead in my track---i have vivid imagination, what can i say. anyway they told me about this HUGE snake (i think it's python) that they have seen around and how fast that bloody thing moves and all.

my imagination was already going wild the whole time but i didn't realise how scared i was until i parked. my parents were not home and it was quite dark all around. i left my car ignition and lights on and i walked to the back of the house to get in. the house is this dilapidated structure (my parents built it around the time i was born and it's made of wood and hasn't stood the test of time---anyone up for a tour haha) and it wasn't very well lit and images of snakes flying out from nowhere and mauling me had me close to tears - ok I cried a bit - it was a page right out of a horror movie okay no kidding.

i was so petrified that i stood at some spots for so long, wondering if i should turn back.. but i kept inching forward (like a classic protagonist who's gonna die in the next scene). getting into the house took spy-like ability (old house, tricky locks) and i was using my phone as flashlight but it was running out of battery so i had to get in before it was all dark. of all the days i didn't keep it charged.. -_-

i got in after some fumbling about and i stopped and looked at every spot in my house where i've previously seen a snake, half expecting one there. and i couldn't see where my parents left the bananas and they didn't pick up my calls until a good few times later. all i could only think about was my imminent death by then.. stuff like if i would have time to text everyone a farewell message, and which order that would go, or if i should just send a mass text in case i died quick.. my heart was pounding the whole time and my body was so tense and i probably heard my blood coursing through every vein and capillary.

thank God kitty was home and her meowing provided some assurance to me. i suppose if there were danger she would be hissing with hair standing up instead of rubbing herself against me and trying to get me to pet her, right? i was told that the bananas were in my old room which is like this spooky and dark room and again i contemplated whether to just leave empty handed. but i thought if i survived this, my parents might not be so pleased so i soldiered on. i ran in, quickly took a comb and dashed out of the room and patted the cat and left the house with my heart intact but really, what an ordeal i had to suffer for a bunch of bananas.

home schome, i am srsly never ever going back there alone again.

I hope I won't forget what they mean to me..



「やっとまた会えたね」
懐かしい君の声がする
気付けば僕らは宙に浮かびあがって
時に追いやられ

“We finally meet again”
I hear the familiar sound of your voice
Before I know it, we’re floating in the air
Chasing after time

Galileo Galilei :: Circle Game

Wholesome Threesome: Penang edition

So we had a blast in Penang (and Alor Setar, where J grew up). S was an excellent guide - I love how adventurous she was on her own, and we reaped so much from that. I don't know how to articulate it, but the trip was.. very balanced. Maybe it's an odd choice of word, but it was. We had a bit of everything, old and new, street to cafe to restaurant food, east and west, quiet moments and loud conversations, man-made architecture and nature's glorious handiwork.. and I left Penang sad, but so enriched, so loved, so accepted. It was a very balanced trip.

Switchfoot - Souvenirs

Here’s to the twilight, here’s to the memories
these are my souvenirs, my mental pictures of everything
Here’s to the late nights, here’s to the firelight
these are my souvenirs, my souvenirs

~

Here’s to your bright eyes, shining like fireflies
these are my souvenirs, the memory of a lifetime
we were wide-eyed with everything
everything around us
we were enlightened by everything
everything

---
I don't know if I should apologise for the brevity of this post. It's not because the trip wasn't great, in fact, it was so overwhelmingly awesome that I struggle for words to describe how I feel. Hence, this post is merely for posterity and date keeping. I think I'll just leave the memories in my heart to keep it warm for all days. :*

loopy

I tend to listen to things I like over and over again for an extended period (which kinda explains why I don't have the time to be exploratory with more music, cos I'm basically stuck on one repeat or another haha). anyway, I'm sure we all do that. and why not, right? here I just wanna note down what fill my ears daily (for this week at least):

driving to and from work, i've been looping Hillsong United's Zion for over a month now. I really do think that it's a very well written and produced album, with new sounds (for a worship album) that don't distract from the message. two thumbs up! my favorite tracks: Oceans (Where Feet May Fail), Relentless, Mercy Mercy, A Million Suns, Scandal of Grace, Nothing Like Your Love... you know, I'm thisclose to listing the whole album, so you might just want to head to HSU's Youtube channel and check it out yourself. :)

at work, I'm still listening to Cmdr Hadfield's very EPIC rendition of Space Oddity, and all the king's men and all the king's horses haven't been able to collect all the pieces of my blown mind from the other day, what more to put it back together. I don't know how this video could be topped! this, btw, was how it was done.

at home, I've been listening to Jacky Cheung's songs the past few nights, and letting this playlist singing me to sleep (in lieu of the husband.. who is coming back tmrw morning after being away for two weeks!) and the occassional Leehom videos.. like this one, it was really good! it's a game show called The Million Star where the participants (in this case, LH) have to sing songs from various categories karaoke-style but halfway through, the lyrics would be blanked out and the participant has to guess the words. I'm amazed (but not surprised hehe) that Leehom has really good memory! he could remember words to songs he hasn't sang in years! he lost in the end because he wasn't familiar with the song (which was a Mayday song hehe).. so yeah. (and yes, I just have to mention him in this post la la la..)

it's eleventeen o'clock.

it's that time of the day...
when sleep is carelessly whispering sweet nothings into my ears.

it's that time of the week...
just before a nice long weekend and all motivation to work is leaping off the forty second floor of this building.

it's that time of the month...
where i'm more emotionally vulnerable than usual and i can't decide if i'm a usually emo person who gets desensiticized during a period in a month, or if i'm a fairly apathetic person whose guard just goes down during a certain time in a month.

it's that time of the year...
when i give up wondering where the time has gone, and what i have accomplished (or not) and just resign to the fact that December is around the corner!

it's that point in my life...
where i evaluate my career choices yet again.

every moment present and accounted for... not.

It's 11.11.11 11:11AM right now.

Just thought I'd commemorate the moment (yeah I do this, but I still haven't posted anything about my anniversary two weeks back.. Tsk tsk! Hehe..)(Btw, we turned NINE on 26.10.11 -- Yay us! =)(and I'm happy to be happy)(and I miss the hubby now that he's away..comebacksoonhubby!!)..

Anyways, I love November - it's the most awesome of months, only because I was born this month. We Novemberians are a loving, cute bunch ahem.. really. I haven't met a Noverian I don't like, have you? ;)

Nov signifies the time to start winding down (I know, it's like we've just started and somehow the year went over us like, whoosh!) and reflecting on the year gone by.. and going for holidays with the AA flight tix you book last year.. and weddings to attend.. and scrambling to finish off off the to-do or to-achieve list. And erm.. shopping for Xmas (dread dread dread!).. It's nice, cos the year is not year over and at the same time, somewhat behind us.. Thanks Nov, for being gentle.