cousins and hotels

We went to the gym again today. A longer work-out though, but with Oasis (again) and the All-American Rejects. We had dinner, then I had to drive everyone (my brother, who doesn't really count since he lives with me and three of our cousins) home. Noisy bunch of people, they were.

From the time I got home till now, I've been looking up hotels in Kanchanaburi. I wish there was just one website that had everything you needed to know and that answered all your questions. Why have 483748374870932 that at the end of, leave you pretty much where you started from? So I turned to Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree. It was really helpful the last time we went to Thailand, so hopefully someone knows something.

Who knew looking up hotels could be so tiring. It doesn't help that the connection is still a little sucky. I can't get into Hotmail.

It's the end of December. The year is almost completely over.

testing, testing...

There was an earthquake in Taiwan that has messed up Internet connections in lots of places, my dining room (which is where I am now), for one. Everything's really slow and sucky, and I've only just been able to get into Blogger. What's worse is how dependent we've become on technology. I was watching Star News yesterday...people in Hong Kong and all have it bad, losing buckets of money.

We're hurtling towards 2007, and no one has plans for New Year's!

We've been talking about doing the reverse bungy thing, first in Singapore and then when they opened it up here. I think we have plans to go on Saturday. I'd like to, would be a nice way to top off the year. But talk about scaaareee!

I'm not even sure this will work, so enough for now.

Laters.

tragic desires

Today, I watched what is probably my favorite episode of One Tree Hill ever – The Tide That Left and Never Came Back from Season Two. Jimmy Eat World (!!) perform at Tric and central to this episode is the famous quote by George Bernard Shaw - There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart's desire. The other is to get it.

Have you ever thought about what this guy had to say?

It is easy to imagine that not getting what you desire can be quite tragic. Yearning for something or someone you can’t have must be hellish.

But what if what you desire can’t possible do you any good? What if it’s just what you think you want? What if you were swayed into a false sense of attraction by a box of chocolates, a heartfelt moment between two characters in a fictional movie, or even the smile of a stranger from across a room?

A cynic would add that chocolates make you fat. And that what happens in the movies never actually happens in real life. And that gorgeous stranger was smiling at the equally gorgeous person behind or in front of you.

How much more tragic is getting your heart’s desire?

What happens when you finally get something you’ve wanted (assuming that you really do want this) for so long? You’ve been waiting, and waiting, and now, you can reach out and touch it whenever you want to. All that anticipation and craving has been replaced by a sense of satisfaction.

But how long can that last?

Will you always be happy with what you have? Now that you have it, will it become less appealing because you know it’s no longer unattainable? How long before you set your sights on something else that is just beyond your reach?

On the flip side, you may become completely paranoid about losing what you fought so hard to gain. What if this consumes you? You won’t be able to ever enjoy whatever it is you wanted to badly.

And then, of course, there’s the possibility that you’ll actually lose it – a fate that I imagine to be the most painful. To have something, and then to have it taken away. But is it better to have had and lost then to not have had at all? Would your life honestly be richer? Is it worth the anguish?

A romantic would say of course, it’s worth it. Everything you experience influences you in some way, whether it makes you smile more often or it makes you decide to get your head shaved. A romantic would say, if getting my heart’s desire is tragic, then give me tragedy. I’d rather live for a while than not live at all.

What Shaw did in twenty or so words was sum up the human condition. We always want what we can’t have. And if we are lucky (or unlucky) enough to get what we desire, we often forget to relish that because we’re too worried about losing it. And if we are unlucky (or lucky) enough to lose what we have, we often forget to be thankful for the fact that we did have, even if only for a while.

Song for today – Pardon Me by Incubus. I don’t like the verses, but the chorus kicks ass.

Pardon me while I burst into flames.
I've had enough of the world, and its peoples’ mindless games
So pardon me while I burn, and rise above the flame

noel

So Christmas came, and Christmas went. It just happened so quickly. There was hardly any anticipation. I remember saying that I didn’t think the presents had even been under the tree long enough to get excited about. I went shopping three times to get everything, and I was surprised at how completely exhausting it was!

On the 24th, my brother and I made a white chocolate mud cake. The method was a little strange – we had to melt butter, sugar, white chocolate and milk. When I tried some of the goop, I got seriously worried cuz it tasted like pure sugar. But it looked really, really pretty.

Even after adding the flour and eggs later, it still looked nothing like how other cakes look. But we chucked it in the oven, and a little over an hour later it was ready to come out. We then slopped a ganache over it and decorated it with little silver thingies. They have a name, I know they do…but I can’t remember now.


After dinner at home, we went for midnight mass at the Church of Our Lady Fatima (or something like that), which is the same church where my parents had one of their weddings (they had two, the other was in a temple) and where I was baptized (not sure about my brother). Mass finished just after midnight. We were sitting with my uncle and his family, and one thing I love about sitting with my cousin is that she knows exactly how much longer till mass is over. So then, we went for supper to my aunty’s house and we left at about two.

The next morning was the usual presents and breakfast thing that we do every year with my aunty’s family. This year, my uncle had some important golf game (quite paradoxical, if you ask me…) so he wasn’t there and it was just the seven of us. We had juice (apple and orange), French toast, hash browns, and they had bacon. We usually have a lot more than that, but we had a big lunch in a few hours and plus, it was a Monday. After eating, we got to the presents =D

From my mum and dad, I got a Body Shop gift set that had the Neroli Jasmine EDT (I knew I was getting this from someone), shower gel and body lotion. My brother bought me a crystal anklet from Above and a tin of nutless (wooo!) chocolate chip cookies from Famous Amos. My cousins got me Stop the Clocks (which I also knew I was getting. They brought it over the day before and it was completely obvious that it was a CD, but I don’t care…I got Stop the Clocks!!). My aunty and uncle gave me a Borders gift card and a silver scarfy/belt thing. And from Ads I got a pair of this really cool flip flops :)

Once that was all over, we had to get ready for the lunch. My cousins were coming with us, so they got ready here. Jay, for some reason, brought his hairdryer. It was the strangest thing!

Lunch at Antonio’s, the Italian restaurant that my dad and his family own a part of or something like that was with pretty much the whole of my dad’s family. There was salad, breaded mushrooms (which were apparently really, really good), bruschetta (likewise) and soup (either seafood, which I had, or mushroom). After a bit of an intermission, during which my niece, Selena and my cousin, Dinesh and I had a bit of fun with shiny confetti that was lying around on the tables, we had the main course, which was a choice of either lamb (which was apparently, also really, really good) or chicken. Everyone was so full, that when they brought the turkey out after the main, it was sent back to be packed up. Dessert was the cake, which people actually ate…and LIKED! Even though it was just family, I was all worried and things. Everyone assumed it was all me, and I had to keep reminding them that my brother made it too. Talk about gender stereotypes!

Later on, the breakfast people came over again so my uncle could open his presents. We then had a late dinner at some place called William’s. The food was good, but the place wasn’t. Yesterday, the four of us and Jay went to the Yacht Club in P.D. for the day. Once we got there, I listened to the whole of Stop the Clocks, during which the boys had their lunch then played “football” on the beach, and we played pool (I sunk many balls =D ). The weather was a bit weird, cloudy but hot. Once we finally got off the deck chairs and had dessert, we went to the playground. Between the three of us, we did everything there – serious fun! Then we went to the beach for some “volleyball” and some more “football”. The tide was out, so we had to walk past the bit with the crabs, which were HUGE. I’ve never seen them so big! Usually, they’re so tiny you barely see them. I only went into the water as far as my ankles, cuz things have never been the same after the prawn.

After the boys ate some more and had showers, we left. Later, I was watching the HBO movie about the tsunami. It’s been two years, and over fifty thousand people are still missing. I think that’s the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone. Imagine, you go on a holiday, and you come back missing a family member or a friend. How do that many people just vanish? And to think, we were going to Phuket two weeks later. We had air tickets, hotels…everything.

I’ve been listening to Stop the Clocks a lot. There’s not one song on it I don’t love :)

all i want for christmas...

1. Stop the Clocks - the new CD from Oasis.
2. Island by Michael Kors - I just saw this perfume today. It's divine.
   
3. While we're on perfume, I also want Pleasures by Esteé Lauder and Neroli Jasmine from the Body Shop.
   
4. I want to watch Oasis live. And Robbie Williams.
   
5. The perfect snow globe. I've been looking at some. None have talked to me.
   
6. Okay I just looked at the list so far...materialistic much? I want world peace =D
7. I want people to hurry up and find a cure for cancer, and AIDS and all that already.
   
8. I want people to hurry up and make shoes that look nice.
   
9. Same goes for swim suits.
   
10. I want to go back to Switzerland.
    
11. And I want to go to Paris. And Istanbul. And Greece. And...
12. I want an island.
    
13. I want my holidays to be a little longer.
    
14. Right now, Swiss Miss.
    
15. You.
    

the eve of christmas eve

I wrapped presents for. I don't know. Maybe three and a half hours. I put Christmas music on and got to work. In case you don't already know, I love wrapping presents. Last year, I made initials from aluminum foil to stick onto the presents (not doing that again). My fingers feel all strange like. But now there's a whole bunch of presents under the tree =D

Earlier today, as in WAY earlier, I went with my mother to One Utama to get presents for my aunty, uncle, cousin, brother and dad. I also got my brother's present (from me), and we walked all over the freaking mall. Everywhere. But we managed to get everything done. It's weird how everything was so completely last minute this year. By now, we're usually done with the shopping, but I don't know what happened this time. My brother and I have just one more present to get, which I'm making him do tomorrow cuz I was in the shop, and he wouldn't let me get it then. Tomorrow we also have to whip up a white chocolate mud cake for Monday.

Hey, it's Christmas Eve already.

surprises, zen moments and slippery senoritas

I was just looking at the pictures I took in Penang :) So here's the recap.

Early Wednesday morning, Ads and I hopped on a bus to Butterworth. The four and a half hour journey wasn't actually that bad - I didn't even finish reading the Cleo magazine (almost complete fluff) I had. The bus stopped at the ferry terminal, and once we were on the island, we took a cab to the Penang Club. We hadn't had lunch so we asked the receptionist if there was any food nearby, and she said that Swatow Lane was just down the road. So we set off, all the time looking over our shoulders just in case Priya, who had no idea we were there, happened to whiz by or something. After wandering around a bit, we come across the same place Priya and her mum took me to the last time I was Penang! We had Majestic Rojak (I swear, that's what the sign says), which has the stickiest rojak sauce I've ever seen. It's got the consistency of honey!


All we kept talking about was how cheap everything was. The Char Kuay Teow was only three ringgit, and was excellent also.


But taking pictures of food felt a leeetle too touristy, so I put my camera away and enjoyed the food. Once we were done, we wandered around some more, trying to decide where to go shopping and how to get there. We decided on taking a cab to Gurney Plaza. We were still on the lookout for Priya, and we even agreed to duck into the men's room if we had to ;)

We headed back to the club after that, and hung out in the gorgeous, gorgeous garden. There was this huge tree that had benches around its base, and the sea was just beyond that. It was seriously breezy and so peaceful. I could spend ages there, just chilling. Very, very Zen.


Then we left to go get ready, and made our way to the Family Room that had been done up in purple and white. It looked gorgeous! Everyone was waiting for Priya to get there, and she still had NO idea what was going on. Finally, she was there, and her expression was priceless! She reacted in what Ads and I deemed a classic Priya way, and it was the coolest. A little while later, the newly tattooed Jacqui showed up. I can't remember the last time I saw her, maybe two years ago, so that was brilliant too. The food was really good, there was a DJ, but I was completely frozen and had to keep going out of the room to thaw. Then Ads suggested a drink to warm me up, which actually was a really good idea, but a whiskey-coke later, I was not warm at all. Just as we got a second, we decided to go down to the patio area to thaw some more. It was breezy as hell, but slightly less cold than it was upstairs. We had been talking to Jacob when suddenly Jacqui calls and goes, "COME NOW THEY'RE CUTTING THE CAKE!" which resulted in my getting up a little too quickly for two whiskey-cokes. That was followed by Ads and Priya inhaling helium and singing 'Silent Night'. I'd never done that before, so I did. It was weird. What was also weird was me, Jacqui and Ads hanging out in the bathroom, talking for a long time. The bathroom? But it was all good :)

Some people were dancing while Ads and I chilled (I have got to stop using this word) with Jacqui. Then the DJ started playing old music, and we did the whole YMCA hand thing while sitting down. It was funny - the only thing people know about that song are the hand movements and the "young man" bits. At about one, it was decided that the after party would be at Slippery Senoritas, which was just down the road. I changed, and we left. The place was crowded-ish, but it was Ladies' Night. There was a bunch of guys who looked like they were about twelve. We went to the bathroom, took pictures in the mirror, and when we were leaving Ads said she saw Utt walk into the men's.


We went upstairs, where we stayed until they closed. There were two bottles of vodka, juice and Pepsi (ugh.), and it was a whole lot of fun (aside from the creepy guys who would not look away when I went down with Ads for a while). There was good music - Sean Paul, that song with Jennifer Lopez - Lose Control, Terriyaki Boyz.

After leaving, Ads and Jacqui decided to have a little karaoke session in her car while waiting for the others. Panic! was on the radio when I was talking to Durvesh just before 4 a.m. and they were singing along. The plan was to go out for food, but that didn't happen to Jacqui dropped us back at the club. After a really random picture, I was in bed by 4.30.

The next morning, Priya came to our room at about 10.30 for a little chat. After she left, Ads and I had juice (again) in the garden (again) and I had a Zen-like moment (again). I took some really cool pictures, and later on the whole bunch of us had a nice Indian lunch before Ads and I had to leave. We made it just in time for the bus at 3, I was home before 8, and falling asleep during Amazing Race: Asia.

Many little things made Penang oodles of fun, but for the most part, it was my chicas. I miss them already.

Today afternoon my brother and I finally started our Christmas shopping, and we managed to get 1.5 presents and plan the rest. There are two presents under our tree, and both have my name on them. The second one was there when I got back. And yes, of course I rattled it to figure out what's inside. Haven't got the faintest idea. It's not Stop the Clocks though =/

More Christmas shopping tomorrow, so laters for now.


Song for today - Again by Lenny Kravitz. I had forgotten all about this song, till they played it to get people out of the club. Not that it worked for us.

i heart oasis.

just a quick one. watch clips of liam and gem of oasis live in paris here. it's all acoustic and beautiful.

*melts*

O Christmas Tree

Every year, my mum's sister and her family (i.e. my uncle and their two kids) come over to help us decorate our Christmas tree. This has been going on for as long as I can remember, and it's usually heaps of fun. We put Christmas music on, and sort out all the ornaments, then put them on the tree. There's not a second of silence, and we're usually quite loud to be heard over the music.

This year, my aunty and uncle couldn't come, they're still in Ipoh, so it was just the six of us (and Charlie). The tree and the lights were put up two days ago, to give it time to chill (I'm chatting about Zen-like states, sorry) and stuff. So we put the music on and got to work. When I looked at the tree, it somehow seemed smaller. Strange, seeing as how I'm definitely not growing taller. It made sense for my brother to say it seemed smaller. Being the youngest, he insisted on being the one to put the topper one, even though my dad had already done it. Then we were talking about how in the movies, the parent carries the little kid up so he or she can put the topper on, and we laughed at how my brother was the least likely to need carrying.

Last year, we had hot chocolate when we were done. Okay, i don't know if everyone had hot chocolate but I remember making my uncle some. I don't know if it was rainy then, but it's really hot now, so no hot chocolate.

The tree's also in a different place this year, directly opposite from where it usually is. I wonder how that'll work out with the presents on Christmas morning...

I don't feel like typing anymore.


Song for today - Snow (Hey Oh) by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

but i need more than myself this time

grrr...

I've been trying to add pictures to the last two posts, but Blogger won't let me! I follow all the instructions and click Done and everything, then nothing happens! Grrr...hopefully I'll figure it out soon (or someone else will).

We went to Bangsar Shopping Center - there were snow globes there, but nothing appealed to me (i.e. nothing screamed "BUY ME!!").


Song for tonight - Dance Inside by the All-American Rejects

hands do now what eyes no longer defend

more updates

So I’m back. The movie, Just Friends, was…nice. Other than the fact that it had Ryan Reynolds in it (he’s hilarious) and it was Christmassy (not that I really love soppy Christmassy movies), there were snow globes :) I seriously want one. Like I was telling Jun Guan earlier, I had a little one when I was really young, and I loved it. But then it broke or something, and I forgot all about it until some time this year, when I saw it in some movie. And since then, I’ve been seeing snow globes everywhere. I’m so getting one.

On Friday, Ling, Sue (since we all have single syllable nicknames…) and I went shopping (finally!). We walked a lot, splitting up here and there to cover more. I spent a little under RM100 on a birthday present, a purple t-shirt (Viv would be proud) and a bunch of other things. On the way to check if they’ve made a swim suit that will make me happy yet, I happened to walk past a display of greeting cards, and I stopped to look at the Christmas ones for a second. And then I realized I hadn’t sent any, and it took me a while to decide between a real card that will, in all likelihood arrive after Christmas or an e-card that will get there whenever I want it to. I went conventional.

When I finally got home, all I had time for was a shower and a Kit Kat then I went over to help Ling wrap presents for her Japanese host family. We ended up somewhat stranded at her house while four other people who were or were not supposed to pick us up (I don’t really know what happened) were at Souled Out. When we finally met up with them, they had gone to Hartamas Shopping Center cuz there were no tables at Souled Out (and I was SO looking forward to a strawberry margarita). We walked around looking for somewhere to eat, and when we finally decided on a place, we were told the kitchen was closed (it was almost 10). So we ended up at Rakuzen, a Japanese place that had a really cool layout. All the tables are in little enclosed areas, it’s almost like you have a private room. Can’t say much for what I had, though. The way it was served was quite cool, and the prawn tempura was okay, but the soup…had zilch taste. I don’t think I’d ever survive in Japan.

Ling’s in Japan right now. She left yesterday for three weeks and won’t be here for Christmas and New Year.

Yesterday, the four of us (i.e. my family) and my aunty drove to these hot springs in a place called Sungai Klah. The place was quite impressive, and clean! While waiting for my uncle and cousins to meet us there (they were in Ipoh), we had breakfast at the café. We also bought some eggs cuz that’s what people do at hot springs. They boil eggs. We took the eggs to the egg boiling place, which was a little stream with a platform that you stand on so you can place your eggs (which you put into a little container) in this hollow where the hot water comes out from the ground. Seven minutes later, your eggs are fully boiled. The water is supposed to be a hundred degrees. A little further down where it was supposed to be around fifty degrees, I stuck my foot in. It was hot. We also did the reflexology walk, which didn’t just have the really pointy stones – it also had hot water.

Then we went to the mountain springs pool, the water of which was really, really cold. It took me a long time to get in. Little by little, as opposed to just diving in. Finally, I was okay with the coldness, and went under the waterfall thing, down the slide and everything. When the other people finally showed up, we hung around there for a bit then had a snack (burgers, which was lunch to me but apparently not to the others). For the hot water, you could either go to the big pool (a lot like the mountain one) or have a private Jacuzzi. For RM25 an hour (which is honestly, ridiculously cheap), the eight of us had our own hot pool. It was completely enclosed (if you’re outside you can’t see inside) and the whole area was away from the rest of the park. There was the Jacuzzi, a covered sitting area, an outdoor shower and a bathroom. In other words, it was completely cool. That was probably my favorite part of the whole thing (the slide was quite fun too).

After lunch we left for my uncle’s place in this golf course called Meru Hills. He’s been there for a year and this was the first time we’ve been over. The place is gorgeous. People buy land there and build their houses, so every one looks different. My cousin, my brother and I went for a drive around the place, and we found the coolest waterfall I’ve seen in a while. You walk down this trail and you come to a wide clearing, then you walk down a slope, and the waterfall is in front of you. You walk down a bunch of rocks and you’re in the water. It’s small, about six or seven feet across, but it’s completely private. Not a single person around unless someone else who lives there had the same idea you did. On one side it’s got the whoosh of water, and then it’s completely calm and shallow. I wish I had a clearer picture of it in my mind, but we decided it was amazing so quickly and that we were coming back really soon that we didn’t hang around much. We drove around some more after that, checking the place out. The driving range was built in front of a lake, and you’re supposed to aim for a patch of green in the middle of it, but a lot of the balls we saw ended up in the lake. The gym also looks out to the lake. Very cool.

Our tree is finally up, but not decorated yet. Last year, we went on this massive hunt for a topper, after the gorgeous one we had broke. We’re resuming the hunt in a while. I can’t believe Christmas is so soon. I’ve barely started thinking about presents! And my brother and I are supposed to make a white chocolate mudcake. And cupcakes. And then there’s the little trip I’m taking on Wednesday. And there’s heaps of things on my table. And a bag of clothes on my floor. I so have to get organized!


Song for today – Was It a Dream by 30 Seconds to Mars.

Was it a dream?
Is this the only evidence that proves
A photograph of you and I

updates

So it’s been a while (again).

My finals were on the 7th and 8th. We had about a week to study for them, which was good cuz we seriously needed the time, but at the same time, it was like I turned into a complete zombie. I lived in my room with a textbook in front of me. My days were reduced to breakdowns according to page numbers and chapters. I took two papers last semester, Child Development and Adolescent & Adult Development. The first was definitely more challenging in terms of cognitive resources (damn that sounded psychological). Reading the textbook made me tired. It zaps your energy. One chapter, Moral Development took me an entire day, and at the end of it, looking at my textbook made me feel nauseated. Don’t get me wrong, it was cool and interesting and all, but there was just so much to cover! The second paper was less intellectually demanding but needed a lot of effort all the same, for reasons you’ll figure out…

I really don’t like short semesters, like this one was. The classes are so long, and you have to do so much in such a short amount of time. Then before you know it, it’s all over. This semester was especially bad, cuz I paid almost no attention in class, especially after the midterms. I couldn’t tell you one thing that was said in one of the classes, cuz even when we did show up for class, we had no idea what was going on. Bad, I know. Someone, I can’t remember who, attributed it last semester’s overload (in case you didn’t know, last semester was quite hellish). I don’t know if it was that, or if it was that from the beginning, we were not looking forward to this semester.

On a lighter note, Lavan, with the help of Carlos has been taking pictures of the things we’ve been doing all semester in class. Needless to say, none of the pictures were of us taking notes. She even made a little presentation thingy, her holiday project.

I’ve been on holiday for a whole week. I can’t say that I’ve been bored yet. It seems like I’ve been doing nothing, but I haven’t had time to clear up my stuff from last semester (or go Christmas shopping!). I watched Romeo + Juliet the other day, the Leonardo di Caprio one. I watched it for the first time ages ago, but I couldn’t remember much, like the fact that they actually spoke in Old English. It was a bit strange, but it had its moments.

Tuesday’s episode of Six Feet Under was quite depressing. Nate “came back” and was talking about life and the abruptness of death and things. I remember lying in bed after it and thinking about the universe. Literally.

How little sense does it actually make? Think about it. Everything we know. Everything we are. All of it happens on this spherical mass of land and sea and ice, and this mass revolves around this bigger mass of pure heat. And you know how in books they draw orbits? Completely imaginary. And all of that happens in complete nothingness, except for other bits and other masses. Honestly, the idea of space seems like something from a really bad sci-fi movie. How ironic is that, that all of existence seems so farcical?

I’m going to go watch a Ryan Reynolds (yaay!) movie now, and I haven’t had lunch either. So I’m going to continue this later like.


Vee – Happy now? =p