rose tinted glasses

pangkor laut

2007-02-08T13:47:00.000+08:00

nice greeting after the hour long ferry ride (not so bad with ad there):

first things first: FOOOOOOD!! but this was the nice appetizer:

the view from where we had our 1st lunch

sheer bliss to jump into the pool to cool off, then eat, then jump in again. i realised i am sooo unfit. duh, actually not really surprised there. two laps and i'm panting like i just climbed mount kk.

ad had the biggest burger i've ever seen.. with everything on top. wow.. it was massive. i fell in love with the pizzas and more or less ate pizzas everyday we were there.

after our very satisfying lunch, we headed to the nice private beach and just slept and talked and read and drank lots of coconut water. hahaha. this is the life...

ad hates it when i snap him whenever. he'll probably make me take this photo down. but it was so nice.. just doing nothing and lazing around

end of an era

2007-02-05T10:37:00.000+08:00

ok ok, maybe era is a bit over doing it.. but to me, it's really the end of an era. the era of my life where i'm confined to only talking about where to buy the cheapest nasi lemak, which is the best way to soak stained clothes and where i have to second guess everything that's being said in mandarin/cantonese/hokkien. *phew* what a relief!

i never realised how much this has taken a toll on me. the forced camaraderie with colleagues whom i would never foster the same kind of wavelength had i met them anywhere else. i am not a snob; i realise these are sweet, simple and sincere people. probably one of the least threatening and least intimidating i'll ever meet. but then again.. u have got to understand that i need normal human contact!!! ppl of the same background, upbringing and exposure.

i tell you.. after 2.75 yrs here, i have started speaking like this : "you eat what?" - when asking them what are they eating for lunch, "what you did?" - to make the printer jam, and various other mangling of the english language. just so i can communicate my point across. i am so pathetic. talk about falling under the influence.

the infamous phrases i always hear, which always make me cringe:

if someone tripped - "oh you so poor" (erm? i assumed they meant you poor thing and it's got nothing to do with their financial health)

some work thing gets bungled up - "i am back to square" (ok, i think they meant square one here).

it's pretty funny when you think of it. but i am not going to think about it anymore!!! as of march 1st i am outta here!! the place where everyone thinks i am the odd one out, the place where i just can't fit in, the place where i'm the only one who knows what a blog is!!!! wheeeeeeee........

but then again, i am also leaving the place where i can drive out at 10am to get a burger if i'm hungry, where i can come in a bit late if i'm stuck in a jam, the place where i can walk anywhere and get any information as and when i please, the place where anything i say is given weight and where most of my requests are entertained. bleh.

can't believe i'm saying this, but i think i'll miss this place, mangled english and all.

2007-01-23T17:02:00.000+08:00

I have been nesting… that’s what happens when you get married and move to a new home. It has been a blur of decorating, fixing and cleaning. Now my home is my haven. Especially the study. However, cosiness breeds laziness. I am now not inclined to go out once I’m home. And I am also inclined to mold myself to the sofa and be happy. Bliss…

We had a couple of parties to usher in the new year. It was a blast. Some of our friends went for watch night service, then came back to the party. The rest of us were too lazy. So we chatted and played taboo. Sooo funny. It’s hilarious how it brings out our kiasu-ism and competitiveness.

We switched off all the lights when it was nearing midnight. Then lit candles everywhere. Everyone held one. Then we counted down, blew all the candles off and hug hug kiss kiss scream scream. Then we opened a bottle of wine and yam seng-ed! That was quite spontaneous and funny actually.

The following week we threw another party for Ad’s friends. I was the good little wife, washing up in the kitchen etc cos Ad did it for our 1^st party. It was quite fun actually. Tung Yin, Sharon and I had a nice chat while the rest of them were bringing the house down with their Taboo game. In the end the ruckus was so incredible the 3 of us ran out of the study to see what brought it on:

Word: Freeloader

A very over excited Koh: “When Leong drinks.. he..??”
Everyone: “Is blur! Is drunk!”
Koh: “No! He never pays…!”
Adrian: “He’s a freeloader!!”
To which everyone screams in laughter and Leong is blur and Koh is so embarrassed and apologizes profusely.

Another one:

Word: Master Bedroom

I forgot who: “Before sex you..” (gets interrupted by):
Henry: “Masterbed…” (gets interrupted as everyone takes it as ‘masturbate’ and won’t let him live it down)
Poor Henry. I think they won’t let him forget this any time soon.

Needless to say I did not cook, nor prepare the food. We conveniently tah pau-ed everything hehe. We don’t even have gas! Good grief. I can get used to not cooking ;) but I don’t think it’s very good for our arteries in the long term.

photo diary (night)

2006-12-21T14:29:00.000+08:00

walking into the war zone haha:

perfect depiction of me being overwhelmed by all the unfamiliar faces of ad's family! i think even ad was shocked at the sheer numbers that greeted us when we opened the door to the vip room!

focusing, focusing on the reason we're doing all this:

adrian welcomes me into the ballroom by serenading me: (i had no idea - as is for most of the whole day)

my crazy MC's; ad's best man, jerral (politician in the making eh?)

my popo and adrian.. having heart to heart talk :)

taking a break; listening to our MCs tell stories

on stage with our heng tais and chee muis. don't they look grand :)

we had to ask our heng tais and chee muis to lead the toasting cos both our families were stage shy! and chicken.

My family - mum's side

ad's gang:

Darling FOJ-ians (without whom my deco wldnt be as gorgeous):

OJ-ians!! also part of our wedding committee:

claire, me, weipeng, meilin:

uni friends, old friends:

dear adelyn, tirelessly executing everything. no wonder i cld relax on my big day :)

my ham sap co-MCs and fellow rebels in cell:

showing off our sexy shoes to ah jon:

papa and mummy post their bedtime:

ad's dad and mum:

picture diary (morning)

2006-12-21T11:51:00.000+08:00

wiling away time cos my chee muis were super late

the boys in all their glory and matching pink ties!!

out the door, down the stairs:

i didn't know ad was singing while i walked down the aisle. chieh! wasted... he should have told us, instead of surprising us. we all thought it was the cd...

and papa kept whispering to me when we were walking down the aisle: "eh.. walk faster, we are the last'. duh... i'm the bride. i'm supposed to be last. "eh.. they reached the front already". "pa, stop stepping on my dress". "pa! sloooowerrr..!!!!" "eh, adrian is singing la!! look look!" "are you sure??". "yes la! walk faster"

my favourite pastors:

both mums burnt their fingers cos they used the tea lights to light the bigger candles. haha.. their eureka moment only came after the whole thing was over:

the best moments of the entire day:

mr and mrs lim!!!

my wedding day recap

2006-12-21T00:54:00.000+08:00

i really enjoyed myself on my wedding day. but i actually have no idea what actually transpired during the day hahaha. strangely enough i wasn't tired or exhausted as most ppl warned me about. i think it's the adrenaline high that accompanies being the center of attention for a whole day! hahaha.

it was great to be quite oblivious to the many panic attacks that visited themselves upon my friends at the last minute. apparently my wedding day was fraught with last minute crises. ooo how lovely lovely to be able to chuck it to the back of my mind and assume that it will be taken care off. and it mostly was! cos i obviously never knew the difference. i love my husband for being the calmest of calmest and just trusting god that everything will turn out ok.

list of crises:

- our worship leader was struck by dengue 2 days before our wedding and had to be hospitalised. it was quite serious. and becos he chose all the really cool but difficult songs to play, the rest of the worship team didnt have the confidence to play without him. so... voila! up stepped wallace and the team to change every single song and play superbly with only 1 practice. wow... lots of faith being put into action there! i was blithely unaware of how stressful it was for them. i just said... ah.. you guys can do it. and i didnt even bother to ask what songs they decided upon. so it was a wonderful surprise (not really la, i knew they would do a good job - they're all veterans) that worship on our wedding day was super. we loved the songs.

- my deco person forgot my headpiece. so i had no flowers for my hair for the church wedding AND the dinner. so we yanked a few rose buds from the bridesmaid's bouquet in the morning. and took some flowers from the table arrangements in my hotel room for dinner. hah. we plucked different coloured roses from some arrangement in teh VIP room during dinner also. cos i forgot my change of dress. haha

- power outage at the club before the church reception started. and our poor worship team were in the midst of their only practice. good thing dad knows ppl who knows ppl. and voila! we got the power back on 1/2 an hour beofre the service started i think. oooo.... how melodramatic

- my bridesmaid left the communion in my house. only realised when we were 1/2 way the the club. problem solved with wonderful ppl who had backup.

- my whole gang of chee muis were fantastically late (the heng tais wanted to sabo them and break into my house and ask them for angpows instead) becos my bridesmaid's tyre got punctured really badly. i dunno how we managed to start the service on scheduled time, but we did.

reasons i didnt panic and cry:

- adrian was an absolute rock and merely laughed everything off and said don't worry i prayed already. so it'll be taken care off. waaaahhhh! even i don't have that kind of level of faith hahaha. so obviously that faith transferred to me, so i also didnt bother much.

- mei lin told me at the end of the day, the most important thing is being married to the person you love. so all these details are mere icing on the cake. i just needed to focus on the whole point of the day. which is being married to adrian!!!! and thank you thank you thank you my darling beloved mei lin. becos for every single crisis that happened, and every single thing that didnt go according to plan, i always remembered what you told me. and you know what? that was one of the main reasons i totally enjoyed every bit of it. it kept me focusing on the right thing.

it didnt even bother me that my dress was super loose and i had to keep tugging at it. so lame. serves me right for not trying anything on at all since i took my photos. which was 6 mths prior. heh.

what a wonderful day...

on married life

2006-12-18T10:54:00.000+08:00

wow.. it's been ages since i've updated any posts. they're all saved as drafts. problems with my broadband connection for eons.

old entry:

MARRIED!!!! at last! still fantabulously giddy when i think of it. to think that 2 years ago, the idea of marriage was quite off putting. i have to eat my words now :) if only i knew how lovely it would be i would have done it sooner and not balked at it. haha. the benefits of hindsight. many ppl have asked me what's the best part of being married. here's my humble answer: to wake up next to the person you love most in the world, and his face being the last you see before you fall asleep.

i think your whole mindset actually changes. so it's really not the same as when we're courting. i can't quite describe this change, just that it's an immense knowledge knowing that you are part responsible for another person as well, and that another person is depending on you. yeah, it's cool.

it's also involves lots of conscious effort and commitment not to take each other for granted. of course, we're still in the honeymoon phase so it's not apparent yet. but we're well aware that familiarity and apathetic feelings can creep up slowly and subtly, hitting you only when the symptoms are quite severe, and it's harder to reverse. so.. we must always be on guard. see? i actually paid attention during our pre-marital counselling sessions. heh.

rants

2006-11-16T10:39:00.000+08:00

finally... something our PM says that i agree with. i just hope it's not rhetorics as usual, as many of the speeches made by politicians are. (i do wonder whether they can keep track of all the false promises they make, or whether they recycle them depending on who their new audience is)

quoted verbatim from the star:

A nation should provide channels for its people to voice their concerns and where constructive criticism was encouraged, the Umno president said in his opening speech yesterday at the party general assembly.

“Differences of opinion should be viewed objectively and not necessarily be seen as being anti-government,” he said.

The media, he noted, now had greater freedom to publish news highlighting the mistakes of the Government and its agencies. The Government, party and elected representatives, he said, were not immune to criticism.

“But there are those in the Government and the party who are uncomfortable with this freedom. There are those who believe that the Prime Minister is not in control.

“The truth is that I would rather see heated exchanges in the pages of the press than to see raging riots on the streets.

unquote

what would be even better would be if the heated exchanges resulted in a positive outcome for the lay ppl. after the uproar regarding zakaria's (the non-mention of his title is deliberate as it's an insult) palace and his other cronies' mansions without permits, all they received was less than a slap on the wrist. is our state government actually insulting our intelligence? by stupid remarks like 'he didn't do anything wrong except not apply for the permit etc etc'. geez... wake up guys. we are not that stupid. did anyone try to find the answer to the question of the origin of his immense wealth, which culminated in the building of that egoistic-booster of a mansion?

and don't you just hate it when moronic public servants make even more moronic spastic comments, and then claim that the press 'misunderstood' them? HARLOOO!!! this trick may work once, but all the time? come on... at least be a little more creative with your excuses. the fact that the penang municipal council president's remarks that a reporter's 'sexy' outfit warranted the attention of a cctv technician in focusing on her thighs just shows what kind of ppl we elect to represent us. he is more than a pathetic moron. he's taking us back all the way to the times when women were persona non grata. did his parents educate him properly? do the ppl he mix with breed this type of 'male chauvinist pig-ism'. talk about being backward!

actually, the fact that he thought the reporter's clothes were sexy really shows what he's missing huh. he's either been trapped in a time warp or he really hasn't been watching tv for the last 30 years. you kinda feel sorry for the little twerp. he must be so deprived.

i personally don't think a public apology is enough. i think he should be sent for some sort of brainwashing / re-training / or rather re-thinking programs.

communicating with a guy

2006-11-15T14:43:00.000+08:00

Welcome to my world:

Me: WaaaaAAAHhhhhHH!! This green is really nice.. .sort of apple-y cum natural leaf colour. It goes really well with the other white walls. And especially since we have dark wood furniture. Don’t you think so? Is this green ok? Or you prefer a more earthy, olive green look?

Ad: White is better than the ori.

Me: Huh? (thinking to myself: does this mean the green is nice as well, or is it just the white that’s nice.. and does it go together? Tell me tell me! Describe describe! Since I’ve been banned from going to our new home until it’s more complete)

Ad: It looks bigger

Me: Huh? What looks bigger?

Ad: The rooms

I tell you ah… I cannot get this guy sometimes. Like… I NEED details man…

my worldly goods

2006-11-15T14:42:00.000+08:00

all my worldly possessions are now either stuffed unceremoniously into boxes, or they are about to. it's strange how a home you once thought was cosy and welcoming is reduced to a minimalistic existence of a bed and a sofa. the walls are stripped bare, the personal touches wrapped in ungainly old newspapers, and everything that's me is tucked away.

*sob* it's no surprise then that going home doesn't seem so appealing now. my home is always my haven.. it's now just a place to go back to sleep. i can't wait to move. not least because i can start nesting again :) i am itching to get started on our new place. it's currently being painted, and the furniture and my stuff will be moved in this saturday. then it'll be a mad mad week of unpacking and cleaning up before the wedding.

this is what my current place looked like when everything was in its place:

this is what it looks like now:

but i have lots of good memories in this place

ladida.... i think i'm gonna miss this place. especially the landscape and the pools. hah. not like i made much use of it. it's straight from the car to the unit for me... you can tell i'm not one to appreciate my surroundings until it's taken away from me. bleh.

sale!!!

2006-11-14T15:50:00.000+08:00

because i'm moving out, i've been forced to dig deep into crevices previously unsearched before in my wardrobe to pack all my clothes. good grief... what nasty surprises lay in wait for me.

i can't believe i have a pair of cargo pants. me??!!! cargo pants! with their requisite side pockets and all that. ewwww... i cannot believe i bought them. i was probably depressed and in need of shopping therapy. yeah, that's right. i was out of my mind. it is just so not me. i believe i haven't worn it before. i should be thankful for small mercies. but one of my friends was so excited when i told her i had a pair, cos she really wants one and her husband won't let her buy one since he's in a quest to feminise her. i'll gladly unload my pair to her man. she's more than welcome to it.

another 2 friends can't wait for me to have a closet sale. so i have actually set aside clothes which i haven't worn before, or have worn a few times, and which i don't think i'll ever wear again. sigh... i can't believe i have all this stuff that i've accumulated over 2 years! talk about hoarding!

i'm not bothered taking it with me to our new home. it's either going to be sold off to my friends, or left there hahaha. sale sale sale!! anyone interested in many halter necks?

the new tenant of my current condo is interested in buying my furniture. ooooo i am so hoping he does! and the best thing is, he and his gf seem to like the stuff which i don't mind getting rid off, since ad and i have already bought new stuff.

out with the old, in with the new! *fingers crossed* since he's going to come see it again tonight.

people with zero personality

2006-11-13T17:08:00.000+08:00

it's blardy annoying when you invite ppl to your wedding and their rsvp means = erm... i think it's a yes, but don't be surprised if i FFK, since i tend to do that. but you can put it as a yes first. i'll see whether i'm too lazy to make it.

what the ???!!!

and i hate it that inviting someone to your wedding has become so 'political'. some ppl, you're just obliged to invite, cos you just HAVE TO. damn and blast. and these are the morons who give you that kind of response. geez... gimme a break. and have some manners for goodness sake. urgh!

a wedding will always let you know who your true friends are. not least through their response. actually, let me rephrase that. a wedding will show you who are those with personalities. and who will just plod through life, oblivious of the fact that they are pathetic morons with no basic manners.

i had to do the obligatory invitations for the office. and boy, i can honestly say i didn't do it very sincerely. dad says i have to invite all the managers at least. i don't actually have a problem with that, just that a couple of them loathe me and let's just say they aren't on my bosom buddy list. but i HAVE to invite them, since they're managers. *gag*

a couple of them were so incredibly rude, actually most of them were. some didn't even bother looking me in the eye when receiving the invite. there was no congratulatory wish, no thank you, no nothing. one even told me, without even looking at me to leave it at his table cos he was busy. okaaaay... i'm not desperate for your wishes, but have the courtesy to say thanks, at least. sheesh. i wonder where they were educated. or whether they are at all. how do ppl get along in life with zero personality and zero social graces? i can't believe i WORK with these ppl! i can't believe they are working for my company!!! *waaaAAAHhhhHHHhh*

granted, not all of them were like that, but majority were. that's bad enough. and they're managers! that's what i can't believe. i know i shouldn't be biased and prejudiced, but ok.. all the rude ones were chinese educated. a mere coincidence? i dunno.. am i going to get shot for saying that? you make your own conclusions.

my bridal shower

2006-11-08T08:51:00.000+08:00

it was one of the nicest gathering of friends i've ever had. adelyn organised it soooo well, together with ann. we had a sushi party, and i heard they were preparing since the afternoon. ann painstakingly went to look for all the required recipes etc etc. so semangat! i would have been quite happy with dominos pizza haha.

but the whole spread was very impressive, for a bunch of sushi novices! even the miso soup was delicious, and packed with all the yummy stuff inside which you only get a smidgen of when you eat out. i think everyone had more fun preparing the sushi and secretly hoping it would turn out ugly so that it would be deemed too ungainly for the sushi trays, and they would have the excuse of gobbling up. heck, even i wished that when i tried my hand at a california roll. i was way too greedy and the ends couldnt quite meet to make it a roll hahaha. tasted just as nice though.

the process & the results:

after dinner, they sat me down with questions to answer about my relationship with ad. i had to choose my answers from a variety of cut-out pictures which they had earlier cut from magazines. it was quite amusing how they know us quite well by now. i could find almost all my answers from the stack of pictures they offered. one example: what would ad love you to do with him. answer: outdoor-sy stuff like camping etc. and they had a picture of a four wheeler splashing through a river. in the end, all pictures of my answers were pasted on a big black board, which will be framed up for me.

photo of my board:

after the interesting Q&A, of which i won't divulge here, they each presented a gift to me. the theme was kitchen tools/apparatus which i can use in my new home. awwww... they are so sweet. each tool presented came with a card from the giver, stating the meaning of their gift, with other encouraging words. i was so touched by all the thought that went into this.

my darling friends:

the long break (not!!)

2006-10-27T10:52:00.000+08:00

we started the long raya break with a bbq bang :) the heavy heavy downpour didn't stop us in the least. we just waited it out. mostly cos we were hungry, and too lazy to go out to eat in the rain. my cell had a bbq bday celebration for all the october babies, yours truly included!! we had it at likxon's condo in mt.kiara.

watiting for the rain to let up: i like this picture cos it looks like an out of body experience. but it's mostly cos i don't know how to adjust my camera for night views. bleh

sitting pretty and finishing the marshmallows cos it was raining cats and dogs, and that was the only 'prepared' food we had:

i must say the guys really stepped up to it. i was quite impressed with how they started the fire (manually!!!!!) by blowing on it!! cos no one remembered to bring a fire starter. my darling fiance got his leftover five o'clock shadow singed off, how convenient..too bad i didnt take any photos of how RIDICULOUS they looked!!! HAHAHA

guys are so desirable when they know how to cook:

but they cooked everything for us while the girls just sat around chatting and making hungry faces. we demolished almost the whole packet of marshmallows cos we just cldnt wait anymore. the food was so excellent that till this day i am still dreaming of the one drumstick i let go off cos i was too stuffed. i haven't tasted barbequed meat so well cooked and succulent b4. mmmmmm....

i am so proud of my baby and some of the guys for cooking non stop in the fierce heat from the fire without complaining or eating also. they just served us all the time and waved away any enquiries to whether they wanted us to feed them. EXCEPT for one guy. bleh... so mega ungentlemanly and uncouth ok. urgh...just sat there demanding more chicken or sausages or mushrooms or bacon. he couldn't even get up to get it himself (as his gf pointed out)

gee... i only noticed this when the first ever plate of food was brought to the table by the mighty guys. being the gentleman, i know the rest would have let the famished girls eat 1st as there wasn't much on the plate. instead this specimen grabbed almost all the food while everyone else was left standing ard the table and staring at the fast disappearing plate. hahahah.. i would have been MORTIFIED at such manners if this person were related to me in any way! good grief! this was the pattern of his behavior the whole night. i don't think i was the only one who noticed tho. i think his gf noticed this too cos she quietly chided him that he'd already had enough when he asked for another piece of bacon. i guess she was embarrassed cos lots of other ppl wanted the bacon but hadn't eaten it yet, whereas this fella had already grabbed a few pieces by then. not once did he offer to help the other guys who were cooking. actually, not once did he move from his chair. sigh... he should be ashamed of his behavior but i don't think he even realised it. *shakes head*. to think that the rest of the guys hadn't eaten yet cos they were cooking for us. and one of them was the birthday boy himself. it was left to the girls to keep some food for the cooks.

other than that everyone had a really good time. needless to say i didn't notice the other guys talking to this fella. and i pointedly did not bother talking to him also, cos i simply can't bring myself to put on a polite facade and talk to someone whom i'm a bit irritated at. what a poser.

the birthday babies:
male bonding:Stef & I love this photo cos it looks so glowy & artistic hahaha:

nerd alert

2006-10-26T08:45:00.000+08:00

i know i've said that weddings are a good excuse to meet up with old frens that u haven't seen in yonks. sending out invites are also a good excuse it seems. i was busy doing that over the long break, and it was quite productive and fun.

it's somewhat reassuring to know that your school and uni mates haven't changed since you met them. with the exception of bigger savings accts and more groomed appearances haha. but then again, anything would look better than our requisite jeans and whatever-i-can-find-before-i'm-late-for-lectures t-shirts. i find some comfort in seeing them looking nice and groomed, cos it validates my own need to look that way. Not least becos I was SUCH a NERD! And them too heehee.

Seriously. We all looked so uncool in the uniform of basic coloured baby T-s and jeans (at least they were not the carot-cut types - **gag**) and loafers/sneakers. How uncreative. And you see these ang-mohs in uni who at least made the effort to look like they had some modicum of time to get dressed in the morning! Makeup was not in our vocabulary. Anyway with the Malaysian society of students as it was, anyone wearing makeup would be considered a vain pot or whatever.

I remember one of those (frequent) days when I really couldn’t drag myself from my electric blanket heated bed to go for lectures. This always happens in winter. For the 9am lectures. How ungodly. Unfortunately this one day was the last day of lectures for a particularly stupid subject which I took. I kinda skipped every lecture except the 1^st and now, the last which I HAVE to go for. By the time this dawned on me I was so late I just dashed out the door in my pyjamas! Granted, it was quite decent – track pants and some sweater I could have shared with another person, it was so huge.

This just shows how much I actually cared about my appearance. I guess at the time I was more interested in ace-ing every subject and traveling to every imaginable spot in Australia. Clothes did not figure much then.

Enter final year of uni. By that time I think I was quite confident academic-wise, so I really let loose and enjoyed myself. Not to mention we were all fully adapted to our new host country already and could act like we owned the whole place! That’s when the real fun began. And that’s when we started becoming fashionistas.. but that’s another story. But now you know why we’re so vain now. I think it must be to erase all memories of bad-clothes-days previously.

2006-10-19T14:32:00.001+08:00

So I just finished addressing all our wedding invites with the help from my absolutely marvelous, fantabulous friends last Saturday! Wheeeeee!!! We did it in only 1.5 hours.

I was so stressed that day cos Ad and I were about 2 hours late meeting them in Ann’s house. Cos we had NO idea that carting all those stuff from ikea was going to take absolute yonks! We spent a total of 4 hours in that place!!! bleh… I’m glad that’s over. Taking note of what we want to buy is sooooo not the same as actually looking for the stuff, carrying it to the checkout and to the car! Thank goodness Ad has some semblance of muscle man in him. I would have died if I were to do it alone.

We arrived in Ann’s house totally out of breath, in need of a shower and the bed. But Ann being Ann, she had nice bowls of pak koh tong sui laid out, and nice curry puffs, and nice drinks… and she bought me nice, lovely, artsy fartsy pens to write with, not the mention art wires which I intended to use as part of the card deco. (Idea scrapped cos it’s too blardy hard to do!!! Sob…)

Ann is so sweet that when we scrapped the idea of the wires etc, she pretended that she’ll be using the wires for some other things, and the pens as well, so she wouldn’t let me pay for them. I feel so bad! Cos she went shopping for me to get them!

And she is so humble and unassuming as to wonder whether I would invite her to our wedding. Duh… of the biggest order. She actually asked Ade quietly whether she would be invited cos she was planning a family holiday abroad and didn’t want to miss our wedding. And when she took a peep at my guest list and couldn’t find her name (she was looking at the wrong list), she felt even worse.

Oh dearie me… isn’t she the absolute funniest / adorable-st. To think she is offering us her home to be the venue for my hens’ party / sleepover, she’s part organising it esp the menu (popiah and sushi), and she’s helping me with the wedding preparations… and she actually thinks I’m not going to invite her. **Sob** How can I not invite her? I just love her! She makes my day especially since she takes all our corny, mean jokes so seriously. It’s such a laugh teasing her.

I am just touched and humbled by how supportive and helpful my friends have been. Planning our wedding has been one of the best fun so far. I say so far.. cos I know the RSVPs are gonna kill me.

Having so much love and support for your big day is really overwhelming. I wonder what I've done to deserve all this. I really don't actually.

Busy at work: Addressing envelopes, stuffing cards into envelopes, sealing them (Ad's talent); Ann is busy getting us food so she's not in the picture

Some of our wonderful helpers at our 1st 'wedding committee' meeting. i'm so embarrassed!! i have a committee!!

my birthday!!!

2006-10-16T14:32:00.000+08:00

My family celebrated my birthday with Jap food.. ooOoooo yummy. But the person who took our photo completely cut off my dad’s face! Boo. What a grouch pot. So we didn’t even ask her to re-take. Good food, good company. Adjourned back home with stuffed stomachs to slouch around till midnight to cut my cake!!! Yes, I’m older but I still like my cake!

This is us stuffing our faces:

This is us after our shower, sans respectable clothes, after a full stomach and lazing at home; a pyjama ad if there ever was one:

This is what happens when we are too free / see each other too often / or not / there’s too many of us at home at once

2006-10-09T11:04:00.000+08:00

Can u BELIEVE what our PM says these days???!! Good grief! I am floored. Might as well listen to a fire hydrant for all the sense he makes these days.

The latest case of him trying to be smart is about denying that the New Economic Policy (some call it the Never Ending Policy) has met its goal of 30% bumiputera equity interest for the malays (he says that they have only achieved 18.9% equity stake), versus the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute’s (Asli) report that states that Bumiputras owned 45% of the country’s business equity.

This report (which is an independent report), cites statistics from the Bursa Malaysia Corporate Equity’s 2005, which estimates that the amount of bumiputra equity ownership is 45% of the RM715.4bil worth of stocks on the stock exchange, or RM325.08bil.

According to The Star, “Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was recently quoted as saying that Asli’s 45% Bumiputra equity ownership result was wrong as it was based on a survey involving 1,000 companies listed on Bursa Malaysia, while the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) had surveyed 600,000 companies to come up with its 18.9% figure for the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

Badawi also says that Asli’s report is inaccurate because (get ready for this): “Government-linked companies (GLCs) are not bumiputra companies”. What would you classify them then? A ‘special’ corporate entity? If you exclude these companies from the poll, then you might as well not poll at all. Almost all the monopolistic big companies in Malaysia are GLC’s. It’s a bit ridiculous excluding some of the largest cap companies in the country from this report.

This is like taking a national poll on obesity and excluding the VERY HUGE people because they will skew the results. Gimme a break. Who are these people who makes these rules?

Another shocker: the PM claims that Asli’s report is inaccurate also because they calculate the value of a company using it’s market value, as opposed to the par value used in the government’s calculation.

DUH!!!! It’s such a stupid comment I cannot even believe I read it! The Edge has a good article on this. I think a 19 yr old finance undergraduate can tell you that NO ONE values a company using its par value! How ludicrous is that?!!!

Look, I buy Maybank shares. I bought them for about RM 7.50 some yonks ago. It’s par value is RM1. It’s market value now is about RM 11.20 ie. it’s trading in the Bursa now for RM 11.20. Heck if I’m gonna say my share is worth RM1 when it’s jolly well trading at 11.20! I’m not going to sell my shares for RM1 (par value)!!! I sure as heck am gonna sell it for RM11.20.

So, the PM thinks that companies shld be valued at par value. Okaaaaaay. I’m a bit worried here for our nation. I think this one remark of his is gonna make us a laughing stock to anyone who reads The Wall Street Journal or The Financial Times, not to mention our local papers!

more shoes to drool over

2006-10-07T18:20:00.000+08:00

my favs:
drool worthy manolos

my fav in this collage is the brian atwood in the middle. and the two ballet shoes. heck, i love'em all.

2006-10-06T17:26:00.000+08:00

Yay! It’s fridaaaaaaaaaay! My lethargic, uneventful week has taken a hop-skip-and-jump turn just because it’s Friday! And today, I am entitled to TWO steaming hot cuppas! ** My unhealthy allowance for the week. (Let’s not remember the chocolate cake for supper on Wednesday and the sausage snacks in bed to induce sleep)

Not to mention I just completed a horrid spreadsheet of stuff. So I’m home free this weekend!

Tonight will be attending Ad’s cell – we’re meeting at one of the adults’ home cos we’re having a so called ‘health’ talk. Which will most probably degenerate into obviously cloaked questions abt reproduction and what not, just becos the guy’s a gynae. Anyway we can be a cheeky bunch. I would actually like to test my boundaries with my questions. HAH. Cheap thrill.

Ad and I wanted to finish writing and addressing our wedding cards this weekend but the printer bungled up the cards. The insides are printed upside down! HAHAHA. Anyways, it’ll be fixed by tomorrow I think.

Behold! A shopping trip with ML tomorrow! I hope I find some gorgeous shoes. I’ve gone a grand total of 4 weeks without buying shoes! Not for any righteous reason though. It’s cos I can’t find what I want. Long sigh….

OooOO have another wedding to attend tomorrow. Fun fun. Photos to come later. Supposed to select flowers on Sunday night with MG, our really talented friend who’s doing our wedding deco. Unfortunately postponed. Or fortunately, cos I promised my Dad I’ll be home for dinner and I forgot.

I want dusky pink roses. But apparently dusky means a lot of different things to a lot of different ppl. Bleh. Really hope peonies are in season! Cos that’s my flower of choice, but only subject to season and availability. Sob. Oh well.. pink is pink.

If I have time I’m going to transform my many cool, cute ‘mooncake’ boxes (I dig the boxes more than the mooncakes inside!) into jewellery boxes or ‘whatever’ boxes to store stuff. It’s really pretty to store your girly stuff like sample bottles

can a girl ever have enough bags & shoes?

2006-10-06T17:11:00.000+08:00

my wish list:

hermes long kelly - it is sooooo sleek

Miu Miu bag (you would think miuccia prada would design some cute stuff like this for her prada label huh..)

another Miu Miu

very cute flats but forgot by whom. who cares? they are cute and would look good with my denim capris and new cropped cardi. boo hoo.. how come i can't find anything like this here?

marc jacobs ballet flats!!!!!! i'm in lurve...
marc jacobs peep toes

are you drooling yet?

2006-10-04T18:01:00.000+08:00

i've been reading the recent uproar over s'pore's minister mentor 's (is that some moniker for someone who just can't give up power?) remarks about how the m'sian govt marginalises the chinese here. hmm... we're treading on dangerous ground here people. especially if you agree with the old man.

not that i particularly like lee kuan yew, but i do admit that he is a brilliant man. and i do acquiese to his observations that the chinese in malaysia are subservient and submissive. if we aren't, why am i cautious abt admitting this? why are all of us careful about what we blog about? even if it is supposed to be our personal space. we're not really free to express anything of this sensitive nature, esp when it comes to racial differences or racial nepotism.

we put up with it. what choice do we have? it's just the way things are, and whether we like it or not, it'll continue to be this way for yonks. of course our m'sian counterparts lashed back that the chinese here are successful and happy and are the largest equity stakeholders. why not? we work damn bloody hard for it. nothing's handed down to us. so of course we bloody well are successful. that's a huge DUH if you ever ask for one. we all know it's not a level playing field here. the reason is economic planning; to 'create equity among the races to prevent another may 13'. well, to a certain extent i see the point in this. however, i'm sure it irks us that this 'reason' or excuse or whatever gets taken advantage off by a select, chosen few who become grossly wealthy, while the rural poor remain marginalised!

whether we gloss over the fact, or pretend that it doesn't exist in this country, it's anyone's prerogative to do so. live in total ignorance if you want, tan sri or minister so and so. i somehow understand that you have to. can't afford to create another racial ruckus yeah?

but for those of us who are so immune to this, coating each sentence with the insinuation that 'they are like that wan lah' whenever the topic of wealth integration arises; doesn't this just prove that we are in fact totally submissive to this? call it active passimism or active submission if you want. it's submission all the same. that's just my humble opinion.

the means to the end may be justified, but along the way, the true hardworking ppl (including the rural poor) are marginalised by the few who seek the easy way to wealth, through whatever means and whatever strings they can pull. all in the name of economic planning.

me? sew?

2006-10-02T13:53:00.000+08:00

i just finished adding embellishments to one of my dinner dresses. *phew*. that was hard work. i felt like i was an underpaid, overworked minion in one of the sweat shops. bleh.. i would NEVER attempt to make this a part time job. sheesh. now i know why dresses with hand sewn beads and stuff on it is so expensive.

i was on a roll. momentum got me going. that's the only explanation i can give to having spent almost 8 straight hours sewing. but what a great sense of achievement i felt after that haha. it's finally done. and i'm quite pleased with the results actually.

maybe i can start embellishing other stuff now. gee.. did that just come out of my mouth? i take it back

the devil wears prada

2006-10-02T09:26:00.000+08:00

i read the book abt 3 years ago, ovlivious to the furore that was taking place behind its bitchy, gossipy pages. i nevertheless enjoyed my brief encounter with new york's glamorous, hyped-up fashion industry. i am a girl after all, and the book is peppered generously with beautiful clothes and the latest va-va-voom fashions. you need to use your imagination, and at least have regular binges of fashion magazine to truly enjoy the decadent lifestyle it portrays. if you're on teh right side of the fashion tracks, that is.

imagine my glee in finding out the movie version was being made - i get to feast my eyes on everything fashionable and beautiful. so i watched it last saturday (to ad's chagrin) and i must say, i did enjoy it for the most part. a girl can never resist beautiful images of beautiful things! it's the most fashionable movie i've seen. i am still drolling over andy's (the protagonist) tweed chanel coat. not to mention her borrowed manolos.

but i need to gripe about said devil's hair! i cannot imagine a fashion editor (in this case, a thinly veiled representation of anna wintour, editor of fashoin bible vogue) with white, un-dyed hair. it's so not done. and although meryl streep's character, miranda priestly looks sophisticated and pruned, i wouldn't say she's taking advantage of her lofty front row perch in every fashion show. her dressing is a bit blah to me. i much prefer andy's makeover in chanel, chloe and what not.

i read about the great wintour's icy fury over the book, written by her former assistant, lauren weisberger. too close to home truths? anyway, it's a well-known fact that anna wintour is the reigning ice queen in the fashoin world, never too shy to wield her power over the world of publication and hollywood. it's said that she's threathened any designer or model that they would be banished from the hallowed pages of vogue if any of them appeared in cameo roles in the film. i raise my hat to gisele bundchen and valentino who made their thespian appearance despite this threat. gisele of course is gisele; she has no need for wintour's endorsements anymore, being the supermodel.

anna wintour in a rare picture sans her trademark chanel sunglasses

needless to say, many reviewers (who might have hopes in gaining the ice queen's nod) have trashed the book and the movie. it's only the laymen like us who love it. who love every thread of luxury-bleeding fabric portrayed in the movie, which we can ill afford!

my favourite character is of course, emily, the bitchy, sarcastic 1st assistant. what a fun role to play! but i would say the ugly duckling is more the fashion maven than she, after her much needed makeover.

a fun, gossipy movie that's sure to make you walk into the prada store this weekend.

paris fashion week

2006-09-29T00:52:00.000+08:00

just perused through the spring ready-to-wear from paris fashion week.

i must say i'm pretty disappointed in the offerings. nothing pretty ala spring. even marc jacobs didn't whet my appetite. the spring collections are usually my favourite. free, floaty and flirty, in all manner of girly colours. oh well. will wait for NY fashion week then.

pretty pretty dresses from some of the collections: