awesome weekend is awesome.

Dear Diary

I had a superduperagilisticexpilidixious weekend and I am still smiling thinking about it!

It all started last Friday evening after work. I got home early, before the sunset. Saw my neighbor washing her porch and she remarked, "Awal balik hari ini?" And I was like, "Ya, ya :)" That evening, I had roast chicken from Isetan for dinner and also tackled my mountain of unfolded laundry while watching the remaining 12 episodes of the the 25-episode anime I've been watching, called Steins;Gate (stream here). It's basically about time travel which is one of the toughest topic to tackle in a show or writing, and very few get it right. I am superbly nit-picky about how the concept is applied -- I'd buy any theory put forth by a writer, but it's crucial that it remains consistent throughout -- and hence I'm usually not interested in picking up anything related to TT because most writers fumble through it, or they'd start off right and then conveniently bend the rules they have established to suit the plot, which annoys me because I am simple-minded and easily confused. But this one, it stuck to its rules and while I did get lost here and there, I wouldn't stray too far and was able to get back on track because they are consistent. Actually, I only watched this because many reviews actually highlighted this point, and it paid off. I am glad! ^_^

Although I have not watched that many anime to-date, but if what everyone says is true, this is truly one of the best there is. While it started off slow, when it hits its stride about 10 episodes in, I was kinda blown away.. Looking back, I think the slow build-up was necessary to establish the characters because these were revisited later on. I love the style of the animation, the characters (some minor gripes though), the story line, the colours, the direction.. I felt everything was perfectly held together.

The only problem I had after this is deciding what to watch next. The thing is, this anime is highly rated (so thanks, Quora, for the recommendation) so my expectations are kinda raised. I have bookmarked a few other potentials though, so I might just randomly select one of them. In the meantime, there's always have the long-running Gintama that's good for a few chuckles. Actually, there's this anime called Cowboy Bebop that has appeared on almost all top lists I've came across so far, but I hesitate because the title is like so bleh and the protagonist's hairstyle (yes I just said that) is like so messy. Anyways.

In between watching I texted the husband who is in the most populous nation on earth to see how he was doing. He was going back to the City after a week out in the woods. Okay, not woods, but somewhere remote. He brought some people along for this trip so he had more time to relax. I fell asleep two episodes before I finished the series, but I still had the whole weekend before me.

So, that was Friday evening and it was good and I went to bed wearing the hugest smile.

On Saturday, I woke up early to clean the house. I finished up putting away the laundry I folded the night before and then I swept and mopped the floor before rushing out for my hair appointment with Alex in BU. I was running late because I was moving like a snail but decided to drop by a bakery and get them some cakes from RT in Taman Desa. Traffic was slow heading towards PJ, but the weather was good like my mood. Got there about 10 minutes late but he was okay with it. According to him, I haven't had a hair cut in four months since M's wedding so my hair was kinda long and unruly. Told him to chop off a third of it so right now, it is short and unruly, like I have a bunch of seaweed on my head. I can only hope that it would be okay when it grows out a bit. It's a losing battle that I fight with my crowning glory so for now, I'm just resigned to the fact that this is as good as it gets.

Anyway, after I was done, I went to pick D up from his place and spent the rest of the day with him. We had Nando's for the n-th time because it's his most favorite food ever and he is the most unadventurous eater I know, but I would not tease him anymore after J kindly pointed out that my obsession with fish head is essentially the same thing. Touche. We had a whole bird and were practically stuffed after the meal. And for some reason, he was being particularly obnoxious that day and at one point I was pretty exasperated. Maybe it's a boy thing to be playfully annoying. Still, I thoroughly enjoy his company and look forward to meeting him again. I don't remember what we talked about. I only remember that there were a lot of repetitious nonsense and fluff and me facepalming constantly. Maybe I'd hope that we could talk about more substantial stuff like quantum physics or the Cultural Revolution or comparative theology and yes I'm being facetious. We walked KLCC Park after our late lunch to help with digestion and deeply regretted our decision to go on the swings. The sun was hiding so the weather was nice so we sat on a bench and continued our frivolous banter. It started to drizzle at one point and we coolly walked back into the mall and had gelato. We could have two flavors in a cone so I had cappuccino and lime (weird combo, I don't know why I chose those sigh -- I generally don't perform well under pressure.. but they tasted good separately la, the lime one in particular). In between, he went for prayers and I read my book, and because he has a poor sense of direction he got lost coming back to where I was and I thought that was amusing. Sorry that I had a good chuckle, all my direction-challenged peeps (love you sis). We went shopping for his stuff after that. He got a new pair of work shoes, which according to him, was the first pair of shoes he bought for himself. Achievement unlocked! We were still kinda full from lunch so we had a simple dinner at the food court (I had a drink) and called it a day. We sang in the car otw way back to his place, as we usually do, but mostly it was him singing because he doesn't like my songs -_- (Jv went through my entire CD of 50 songs the other day when I sent him home after dinner, commenting on every single one of them -- too radio friendly, too old, so pretentious, too mellow, so passe, Leehom again?, too Regina Spektor wannabe blah blah). Oi, I tak tanya pun. Srsly, boys. -_- But really, boys! ^_^

So, that was Saturday and it was great and I went to bed (after finishing Steins;Gate) in bliss.

On Sunday morning, I woke up at 6:36AM and got ready just in time for A to pick me up at 7 before we headed to J's and then S's place. It was our forest reserve outing day! Yay! We were all groggy from lack of sleep and the unearthly hours, except for A who was inexplicably perky the whole day, having woken up 5:30AM and being on chauffeur duty the whole day. Maybe we were good company, us three sloths. S made us coffee and J was a happy camper. It didn't do much for me I think. We got to FRIM in Kepong around 8 and chose a spot to park and had brekkie at a resting hut before beginning our grueling... 10-minute hike. Haha! Yeah it was a short hike, before a long descend of about an hour. When we got back on gravel road I decided to run the rest of the way, so that I could sweat more and also because I had a tummy ache hehe. Left the forest reserve at about 11 to Desa ParkCity for Kb, which was a disappointing affair.. save for the brinjal fries and wasabi and garlic sauces which were awesome. The rice burger.. nah. Then we went lying on grass under a tree in the park. The sun was out but the breeze was cooling so we laid there and tried to sleep but couldn't. I loved that lying on the grass bit. Then we went to this other restaurant A, which was a worse outing than Kb. We had terrible pasta and a mushroom pizza that didn't live up to its name and we paid RM25 per pax. I was annoyed. We sat in the restaurant for a couple of hours as we were still lethargic. J browsed through salon.com and was reading from lists like "25 things men do to show that they are interested in you" or "10 things that men look for in the first impression". It was hilarious dissecting these trying-too-hard lists. J then brought up the idea of going for one of those puzzle room places that are quite popular these days and we decided we should just do it. I've always wanted to go and check one out, and although I didn't think we were in the right frame of mind to do it that day, we went ahead and booked ourselves a place at the Es-ca-pe Room in eCurve. Suffice to say, we failed spectacularly. As per the words of the guy who came to get us when our time was up, "You guys are still in this room ah?" Yes we are. Boo hoo. It was fun though, although I don't think it's something I'd excel in. After that, since I was much poorer financially compared to the start of the day, we went to eat at a hawker center where we all had piping hot nasi lemak and grilled chicken wings and lobak and we were completely exhausted but in good spirits. A dropped us home after that. I practically crawled under my blanket and for the first time in a while, slept by 10ish.

So, that was Sunday and it was awesome and I went to bed deliriously happy.

luv, E.