Ahem.

GUILTY : For not updating as promised.

CAUSE :
Tests every blardy week. Thankyouverymuch.
Last minute reports to complete.
Birthday celebrations every weekend!

TIDBITS :

I've been a bad, bad girl.

Puked.

Hugged many long lost friends.

Had stomachache from too much laughter.

Food overload.

Shopped.

Said goodbye to a friend. Gonna miss you, man. (sentimental. Heh.)

Became a Kadazan for a night.

Became an Iban for a night.

Met new people. Occupied thoughts.

Malacca.

etc.


Wait for it, I'll be free-er soon.

Toodles!

Yeap. Still breathing.

I've been staring at this empty blogger screen for a while now.

I have so many things to write about that I do not know where to start.

Neither do I have to time to start at this very moment.

Suffice to say that I'm still very much alive and missing all of you plenty.

I promise to update soon!

Intermission

And someone please remind me again why'd I sign up for this?

A whole month of holidays spent not being at home.

Yours truly shall be missing in bits and pieces.

Reunion ' 07 Gathering Ahem.

"Let's have a 6AS1 gathering tomorrow night!"

"Yeah, lets!"

Plenty of smses in the middle of the night later,

Voila!

Surprisingly, quite a number turned up considering the seriously last minute notice. Nonetheless it's been a while since I've laughed this much and had this much fun. Oh, how I love those bunch of maniacal people!

The clichéd picture of drinks. I know, I know. But Chia Hau's in the background!

Siew Wen & Yei Sang

The girls.

Yue Shi, Shashi, Jiang, Chia Hau and erm..Yei Sang's boyfriend.

Lunish & Visalini



Cheese~


Machas!

Shin D busy making her point.

One big happy family.. Ah.

If you want updates on 'em, come find moi.

Reunion 2007.

I'm going Ga Ga

'SO. Have you been working?'

Er.. No.

'SO. What have you been doing?'

Er.. Nothing?

Bumming around can get to you after a while and one can actually be bored out of one's wits with basically having naught to do.

HA! Yeah, right.

I'd like to bum my bum off when it's time for bumming, thankyouverymuch.

I'm deliciously happy today and wanna know why? I finally have this is my shivering hands

I was at Borders today and my intention was to get that book with my 50 bucks credit card thanks to Karin, Su Sien and the gang (LW : Heh heh) but my dad was there and he paid for it !

That's not all though, I walked out with not only Night, but also Jane Austen's Persuasion, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Tender Is The Night and Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.

*salivates*

But they would have to wait their turn though, for me's plodding through Brokeback Mountain & Other Stories; yeap. that Brokeback Mountain. It's a short story actually, one of many by Annie Proulx who also wrote The Shipping News, another good read.

Now, who says I haven't been doing anything?

ashes to ashes

Ba di ya
dancing in September !

No one is free from family troubles. If someone tells you that they get along perfectly fine with their families 24/7; tell them it's a pile of bullsheet. Totally unbelievable one lor.

I guess the one that I have is good enough for me, great even, for some who view from the outside but sometimes what you see isn't what you get. God knows how many times I wish for a different set but a family who accompanies you to 1U to buy a bag you've been hunting everywhere for, feeds you well, clothe you and give you shoes is a family worth keeping.

It's funny how Humanity has a way of breaking through in the face of adversity. You find that the poorest of the poor are oftentimes the ones who are willing to lend a skinny hand to a malnourished one and how good intentions, humour and a pinch of salt can help you get through anything.
I believe it was Bill Cosby who said that,
'If you can find humour in anything, you can survive it.'

I have that quote written in bold on post-it notes at my table during exams. My mantra, my chant. I so need a sense of humour around me during war season.

But anyway, I've just finished Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. This book caused me many a sleepless nights and remands from Dad for not being asleep yet in the wee hours of the morn.

Heard of it a long time ago but found it recently for less than 10 bucks hidden somewhere in a secondhand bookstore.

Oh I love secondhand bookshops.

It was actually quite a sad story, made even sadder by the fact that it was true. But his insights were so hilarious and his actions (of which society would definitely frown upon) so cleverly justified that one can't help rooting for this kid.

And it wouldn't hurt to know that there'd be a somewhat happy ending because what the heck, he survived long enough to write this memoir!

I even thought that this book would be a nice change from the norm as I didn't come across any sex midway through. But surprise, surprise, it literally ended with an erm, sinful romp?

Only this book can justify that, man.

Och, aye.

Contented tummy

Imagine that you're horny and wanting a piece of skin so badly that it hurts. A crowd surrounds you, rooting you on. It's your first time and you're lost, bewildered and freaking scared.
No fret, there are 3 muscular men at hand.

And within seconds, it's all over.
Someone pass the cigarette.

Yeap, I witnessed breeders helping dogs to hump.
Got dragged into it by my parents who chanced upon mom's friend wanting to mate her dog with her boyfriend.
The dog's boyfriend that is.
I personally don't see anything fascinating about dogs humping.
Oh well, it was a beautiful and natural event, the union of souls, the circle of life and all that jazz.

Mom's friend has to pay the he-dog's owner for the dog's services some more.
Hmm.

...

I had my fix today and twice some more! Har har.
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice-cream!
Thank you to one Mr. Loh Kin Wai for the first quart.
And my appreciation to Papa for the second.

I still have some in my freezer, you want?

Yeap. Go get it yourself .

Oh, thanks, Sindhu for this:

p/s : I can never have enough presents, LW !

I want my ice cream

I have a feeling that age is catching up on me.
Looks like I ain't that much of a thrill seeker these days after all * shakes head*
How was Genting I hear you ask?
I enjoyed screaming on the Corkscrew finally, and flying down the Solero albeit only once.
It was indescribable, being able to sashay through the guards into the casino - ever ready to whip out my IC if ever they dared to ask for my age and they didn't (which meant only 2 things : one, that I look old; two, that my beauty is so mesmerizing that they just let me pass.)
I personally prefer the second one.
Being in a casino might seem like such a trivial thing to most but I was blown away. By the sheer number of uncles and grandmas there that is. To my dismay, no sign of cigar smoking, gun-trotting mafia around but I did feel like a kambing out of the kampung.
I didn't enjoy the unbreathable smoke-filled air and I definitely did not enjoy donating 10 bucks to Uncle Lim Goh Tong.
Cis.

I did enjoy freezing my butt off at Starbucks hanging onto my steaming cup of coffee with fellow insomniacs, talking about everything under the moon until almost 3 in the morning.
I particularly enjoyed watching AC Milan win the cup. HAH!
Well, I managed to stay awake for 45 minutes anyway.
And woke up in time for the 2nd goal.

It was good.
...

The down side to all that excitement, all of last week was the realization of how this week couldn't be more different.
I could be in Zouk right this moment if only my parents had said yes.
Or I could have been over at Ern + Karin + See Wah 's place for a sleepover if only the plan did not fall through at the last minute.
Instead, I witnessed John Travolta twirl Uma Thurman around, watched cutie pie Bruce Willis bawl his eyes out trying to save 2 kids from self-destructing teenagers, spent time with Dick and finding myself falling in awe with Shirley Maclaine.
And saw Jen Aniston give up the glam life with Kevin Costner to be with something Ruffalo.

To top it all, my appetite doubled these few days.
Ah, sod it.
I need some chocolates.

Of cock-a-doodle-doo!

Gosh.

21 years old and thinking about my mortality? What a weird, weird day.
No thanks to Oprah who had this guest on to talk about the bird flu epidemic in Turkey and Asia, namely China, Thailand, etc.
I haven't deleted much of geography from the hard drive inside my skull so I know fully well that Malaysia is just south of Thailand, very much a part of the beautiful land that is Asia.
Malaysia, truly Asia alright.
It IS a big thing, and well, you can't just believe a hundred percent what one person says, but that person rattled my feathers, so to speak. And Oprah's too for that matter.
Seems that the influenza pandemic in 1918 (lasting around 18 months) which left 50 - 100 million people dead is definitely happening again.
The influenza strain killed many in the 20-40 age group, which many would regard as the healthiest among all homo sapiens. But that's just it, the healthier you are, the faster you die.
Talk about irony.

There is no 'maybe' , no 'probabilities', no 'I'm not sure';
He is saying that it IS going to happen.
We just don't know when and how.
It's like sitting in a comfy armchair with a coke in hand, doing nothing whilst waiting for the virus to mutate into a form that enables it to be transmitted from one human being to another.
We're talking about a worldwide problem, each country for itself, no foreign help, no nothing; each man for himself essentially and when; IF this happens, the stuff you see in movies can very well be our reality.
The lack of food, the lack of medicine, the helplessness of all.

*Scratches head.
What can we do about it?
I honestly don't know.

But of course, we musn't be like Spongebob, too afraid to go out for fear of getting squashed.
Flip the thought over and what can I learn from this morbid day?
To just live like there's no tomorrow, which translates in my book :
Eat that darn ice-cream in the freezer, even if it makes you pudgy.
Who the hell cares?

Yours truly will be screamin her head off on thrill rides in Genting tomorrow with good friends.
She hopes to find a space wide enough for her big butt to watch AC Milan and Liverpool have a go at it.
She secretly hopes AC would avenge Chelsea's defeat.
Heh.

Don't miss her too much.

Muaks.

Of idle chatter

Admittedly, its been hard these days to open up to my parents. I used to blab about anything under the sun- who's with who, who's not with who, the works. But I find myself muttering monosyllable answers recently, in no mood for conversation.
SO it was nice when we had coffee today, like the good old days, when we used to talk about everything and anything, however trivial it might be.
...

The wooden fan was spinning, the cushioned seats, oh so comfortable; the hazelnut coffee delicious.
mom flirting with the waiter.
And oh,
dad was there too.

Mom : Actually hor, what does Mayday means ar? Is it like an acronym for something? Like you know, S.O.S for Save Our Souls..

Moi :NOlar! Where got such thing one..It's got to do with some aeroplanes or something something flying over France or something something. (Worth a shot, no?)

Dad : You're both wrong la. Mayday was coined when a pilot, flying his plane suddenly came across some difficulty of some sort. The first word that he uttered at that time was "Mayday! Mayday!" . Hence, Mayday was born.

Mom : But why Mayday? Why not Juneday?

Dad and I : Because he flew it in the month of May. (Obviously, right.)

My dad was crapping of course, and me being his daughter, naturally I followed suit.
Heh heh.
The true origin of it can be found here.

.....

Cars were passing by in flashes of light, the stars were out yonder.

Mom : Auntie Mary messaged earlier, suggesting that the Class of '74 meet up for a 2 days-1 night trip to Genting in July. What do you guys think?

Moi : Wah. '74? So long time ago ar?!

Mom : Blardy fool.

Haha.

Dad : Aiya, no need to go la! What for waste money to go to Genting?

Mom : But I haven't seen them in a while! Especially Judy, Patricia... We still keep in touch, unlike you, who don't even call up your old friends like George when we're back in Penang.

Dad : But George si liao lar *.

'Nuff said.

* passed away

*Shakes head

Old news but when I chance upon this I just gotta share it with you guys.
I didn't think much about it at first; giving them the benefit of doubt -thinking that the remark could have slipped out of their mouths without any intent;
But now,

I'm fuming.

Who are we voting into the Parliament?

Oh man.

I went into the salon to get my hair trimmed and came out with BANGS.

Blardy hell.

If it's hideous don't you DARE breathe a word.

Of sweeping down hills, picnic by the lake and slumber party

....Melinda...why America..why?

City bumpkins are we, sick of shopping malls and expensive cafes.
Young and restless are we, adventurous and free!

The 5 of us - Ern, Sien, Karin, May and yours truly woke up before sunrise on Thursday after god-knows-how-long to head to our planned destination - Bukit Cahaya, Shah Alam.
Armed with sunblock, mosquito repellent, a cap and loads of food- both junk and healthy;

Ho Ho Ho Away we go!

I've never been this excited for a while. I love nature, being around trees, being with them and when you throw in good company and loads of food into the mixture, what you get is one happy camper.

So there we were, on the road in the early morning breeze, extremely eager (at least I was) to get away from the sight and sounds of clunky metals on wheels. We arrived safe and sound thanks to May Lynn's superb navigation skills and Li Ern's superb handling skills.

Suffice to say we were the only car in the parking lot. Okay-la, I admit, images of sadomasochistic psychos chasing after us with parangs in the middle of the secondary forest with no one to help us did cross my mind.
But we can't really let paranoia spoil our little adventure can we?
On the safe side though, we brought along a stick to beat the hell out of wannabe psychopaths.

And of course, handphones. One doesn't have to completely shut off civilisation.

Water bottle? Check. Food? Check. Happy faces? Check!

We rented bicycles for our lil' sojourn and god what an exercise it was. Up the hill, down the hill with sweat pouring from every pore of the body.
It was lovely really, seeing so much of one of my favourite colours, green!

I almost hit someone coming down a slope but hey, I haven't been on a bike for the last, what, 10 years?! Like, totally excusable.

Uber cute creatures

As cute, if not more. BHB betul.

With rumbling tummies, we went in search of the perfect spot to rest our butts and refill on fuel. And we did! We found this beautiful idyllic island in the middle of the lake with clean flat land big enough for the five of us.

The view up front

The view behind
The view somewhere out there
First, you gotta set the tikar!


We had one humongous loaf of bread, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, tuna, eggs, baby carrots, junk food, delicious sausages!


Had some company..


After stuffing ourselves silly, we paid 3 bucks to enjoy the life-saving air-con in the four seasons house.



For deserts, we took a bus ride around, enjoying the breeze and the smell of leaves.



Spent a night at Sien's after that for a supposed movie marathon.

I slept halfway through The Omen though.

OMG what a day.

Let's do it again!

Dream it anyway

Tagged by Myky or the person formerly known as Kin Wai

Layer One:
On The Outside
Name: Chuah Sim Mei aka Amy
Birth Date: 26th April 1986
Current status: Single
Eye Colour: black
Hair Colour: black and brown-er
Righty or Lefty: righty

Layer Two:
On The Inside
Your Heritage: Chinese. Half hokkien half cantonese
Your Fears: Ironically, cockroaches. And not being able to live a full life.
Your Weakness: Good Food.
Your Perfect Pizza Toppings: Pizza hut's Island Supreme

Layer Three:
Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
Your Thoughts First Waking Up: "What time is it? I think I'll just...doze..a..lil'..longer.."
Your Bedtime: I try to keep it before 3 am these days
Your Most Missed Memory: Form 6 days. Yeap.

Layer Four:
Your Pick
Pepsi or Coke: pepsi
McDonald's or Burger King: Can i choose both?
Single or Group Dates: never been on either. But either one's fine with me!
Adidas or Nike: Nike
Tea or Nestea: Tea
Chocolate or Vanilla: chocolate
Cappucino or Coffee: both.

Layer Five:
Do You...
Smoke: Nope.
Curse: Just up to the level of "Shit!"
Take a shower: of course. If not my family would throw me out.
Have a crush: Yeah
Think you've been in love: .... don't think so
Go to school: No more school, no more tuitions. It's University now and tutorials.
Want to get married: Not right now. One day la.
Believe in yourself: Not all the time. I have moments of weakness too ya know.
Think you're a health freak: definitely not. "Eat now, talk later!"

Layer Six:
In The Past Month
Drank alcohol: Yeah.
Gone to the mall: Yeap!
Been on stage: nope
Eaten sushi: No! So sad.
Dyed your hair: Nope.

Layer Seven:
Have You Ever...
Played A Stripping Game: Not yet. lol
Changed Who You Were To Fit In: Like speaking in mandarin 24/7 just to communicate? I guess so.

Layer Eight:
Age You're HopingTo Be Married: 27 onwards? I remember discussing this with a bunch of girlfriends. Almost all settled on 27. What's with 27?

Layer Nine:
In a Girl/Guy
Best Eye Colour: anything
Best Hair Colour: anything la. As long as it suits that person.
Short Hair or Long Hair: as above.

Layer Ten:
What Were You Doing
1 Min Ago: doing this
1 Hour Ago:Went to tesco to buy stuff for the picnic tomorrow. Yeah!!
4.5 Hours Ago: Watching American Idol. Melinda!!
1 Month Ago: Finals about to start i think..
1 Year Ago: Holiday-ing? Everyone was still around so lepaking was a recurrent theme.

Layer Eleven:
Finish The Sentence
I Love: holidays, laughing with family and good friends..delicious food..having the freedom to do whatever I want and the freedom to do nothing at all. And of course, curling up with a good book,
I Feel: excited!
I Hate: litterbugs and feeling irritated with parents. Sometimes feel that I ain't such a good daughter after all.
I Hide: nervousness quite well.
I Miss: hanging out with friends..especially those I haven't seen in a while.
I Need: ice cream.

Layer Twelve:
Tag Five People
Whoever's reading this !

Black April

April 1994.

I was all of 8 years studying in ye ol' Simpang Lima (1), a part of the rockin' class that is 2 Ungu. Our classroom, if I remember correctly, is the last one of the block. There was this empty piece of gravelled land where we would play and get our co-curricular books signed on Saturdays.

There was also this raised concrete thingy on which we would play buaya.
Buaya darat literally.
Haha.
Okay that was cold.

Isn't it funny when you try to recollect a certain month in a year and all you, or rather I, could think of is school? Everything else slips my mind. Looks like school takes up a Huge space in my head.

April 1994.

Rwandan genocide.

800 000 to 1, 000, 000 Tutsis estimated to be killed.

One blardy million people.

Killed while I was at school.

Kind of put things in perspective doesn't it? Living in a place we blardy take things for granted.

My eyes got red watching Sometimes in April over at HBO.

What we need is music

Mucho gracias li wei, for introducing me to the world of imeem.com.

Heard this for the first time in the middle of the night and I was hooked

It's called Balisong by a Filipino band, Rivermaya

Not bad, not bad at all.

More?

Dinner came an hour and a half later.

The rice came 15 minutes after the dishes.

So we stayed an hour 45 minutes after we've finished.

Almost la.

Hrrumph.

Note to self : Never ever go hunting for presents with family parents again.

It has been such a looong time since I've felt remotely exasperated with my family that I can't remember how it feels like.
Until today that is.

Presents to me, are something special, though not exactly sacred but close. They are literally gifts from the heart, representatives of the self, symbolizing the time, effort and in most cases money that are spent on someone that is important to you.

So I take time to choose them,
So sue me.
It's not like we're hard on time. We have all the time in the world.

So I like the things I chose to mean something,
So sue me.
It's my friend we're talking bout here.

Just don't assume I don't know any better.
And don't huff and puff away complaining.
At least do it far away so that I, and other shoppers for that matter wouldn't hear.

The practical side of me thinks that I would have reacted in the exact some way if I were in their shoes,
But I'd like to stay in my shoes for a moment, please.
So sue me.

More presents! Heh heh

Forever 21 I am, I am!

Finally, Wild Hogs!

WOoHoo!

Go watch it, it's hilarious. Though some parts are a bit stupid but what the heck, just laugh man.

Thanks Esther for the good time and presents. (Note the plural : for Patrick and the book and of course, the bookmark)

May Lynn turned 21 today!

It was really, really nice to catch up with the rest of 'em. The caffeine's definitely going to my head. Thanks Mr and Mrs May Lynn for the presents!

Fireworks especially for her

Look! Kin Wai without a head! Har Har.

May your life be as sweet and as fulfilling as a piece of blardy delicious tiramisu cake.

Blessed 21!

In retrospect.

I've been keeping a diary ever since I could remember, probably since I was in kindy? -with the first entry being about (surprise, surprise) how I bought that colourful hard cover diary and the chicken rice my family and I had had earlier.
Funnily, I distinctly remember me ardently writing on the floor and my dad sitting on the chair helping me with the spelling. The spelling were wrong anyhow.

Ever since then I'm on to my 4th edition, a recollection of my life.
My life.
...

The journey which took me from simple pleasures and innocence in the first book, to the joys and heartaches in the 2nd, heartbeats and letdowns in the 3rd, doubt and trepidation in the 4th.
Soul-searching in all.
Have I found it I wonder? Do I really know me? Am I unwittingly putting on a facade in this blindingly beautiful masquerade?
At times I feel like I need some rearrangement.
Messed-up and mixed up and god knows my tuning needs some tweaking, sometimes.

I'm searching, like the many people before me and like those after me.
I have my own demons to exorcise too as hard as that is to believe.

It's the people you meet &
how you treat,
them that last to touch,
the hearts though not much;
But enough to say,
I've done what I could,
With my life; so if ever today,
I were to be gone,
It wouldn't be wrong,
I'd smile & think
without even a blink,
Or a tear in my eye,
I've had a blast; au revoir, goodbye!

4/2/07
amy.