A Day's Adventure

I got up pretty early today. At about 840am (I know, it may sound late to many ;p). Took my shower and repeatedly harrassed hubby and Thea to wake up for Thea's holiday classes at 10am.

Met Foo at Dome for breakfast - talked about Fire/Householder insurance (what an insight!), the poor people in Laos, the Mind, 2012 and properties. Interesting.

Bought Christmas presents (yes, already!! ;D) and a toy Thea has been eyeing on since almost 2 months ago.

Caught in pretty bad traffic on the way home.

Reached home, did some housekeeping and then Elaine & her kids arrived.

Left with Elaine to her new home. :)

Elaine wanted to bring me to see her new home. It was a short drive, and she indeed has a beautiful home despite the renovation bit. Simply lovely. Felt a bit motivated to sell my house, and to buy the one opposite hers. Tempting, but nah... I am happy where I am :). Then we stopped by Lewre's warehouse sale. Most of the sizes, ok.. let me correct that, ALL of our (Elaine & I) sizes were OUT. So, no luck there. We proceeded for a late lunch. It was about 3pm already. Had Japanese and then hopped into London Weight Management. Heard they were not bad. But we didn't feel comfy. Made an appointment for trial next week though, just for the fun of it.

We headed back to KK and stopped by a friend's centre. Elaine and I were awed by what she could offer. Well, Amis was already my friend, and I knew that her stuffs worked. Since Elaine was comfy with her too, we decided to try her out anyway - only later when our schedules were not so erractic. Elaine left after we made our decision - seriously, we discussed this as if it was some multi-million making project! Lols.

In the midst of it, sweet Navitha called. Hmm, and I thought I've got an appointment with Hari! But ah, it's ok. I understood the 'rules'. She requested that I wrote something for Hari as they were renewing their 'Gratitude Wall' I think. I thought about it. Shucks.. what am I to write? So I pulled out a ciggie, sat at my porch and waited for inspiration. Aaah, blissful... inspiration came :). Guided, I walked to my laptop and started typing away. I just love moments like these... writing with inspiration, from the heart. :)

And now, Pauline is here. She is here for dinner with me. Ahh, so blessed... surrounded by beautiful companions. It would be hard to tell myself now how my life sucks... Lols. Obviously, life's good. :)

Another Friend Episode

I just came back from Klang. Met up with a primary school friend whom I had not met in 21 years. She was one year my senior and to be honest, I can't even remember if we talked then. But she remembered me, and I remembered her too (though bad with names on my side - eesh!).

We met at Starbucks, Bukit Tinggi. Although I doubt that we had ever really spoken to each other when we were little girls in primary school, it didn't feel strange connecting with her today (on my side, that is). We talked about lots of things - work, Melbourne (she lives there now), husbands, kids (she's pregnant now), Malaysian drivers, properties in Melbourne, friends, life in general, Klang... It was a great getting-to-know-each-other session. I wouldn't really call it a catch up session since I never really knew anything about her until today. In fact, as I sat down next to her when I first arrived, she asked if meeting up with her was freaky since we didn't really 'know' each other. I was quite shock to hear that and assured her that I did not find it freaky at all. In fact, I was overwhelmed and grateful for her 'renewed' presence in my life. :)

I actually had a good time. I did not feel weird in any sort of way and felt more appreciation when I received a text from her after we have both left each other's presence, citing how glad she felt that we 'caught up' with each other. I am glad too. :)

Irene is a strong woman, who stands her own grounds. When she asked me if she looked any different from before, I told her that she is a lot smaller now than how I'd remembered her (she used to be really chubby in primary school days). I feel kinda honoured today to be able to witness how beautiful she is at present, despite her pregnancy. She concluded that we both didn't change much though, except that we were prettier.. Lols.. what a way to boast our ego.. Lols.

Thanks Irene, for a wonderful time. Hope to see you again, either here or in Melbourne. Enjoy your pregnancy and your upcoming Parenthood. God Bless!

Midnight Sun

Believe it or not, I woke up at approximately 440am and automatically walked to my laptop to continue reading the draft version of 'Midnight Sun' - Edward's version of Twilight.

No, no.. I didn't wake up on purpose. I just happened to wake up at that time. I think I was awakened by itchiness all over my body. I was scratching scratching, at the same time wondering why mozzies especially liked to target me. Argh. I've heard it before - the B blood group. How true? Beats me! :{

So since the scratching worked me up (at the same time noting that my body was probably showing signs of irritations of the mind), I woke up and led myself through 'Midnight Sun'. Although it is very much like reading 'Twilight' all over again, but it was rather insightful and funny reading Edward's version of it, despite it being just a story. Ah, isn't it always like that for all of us? We always love a good story, don't we? Lols.

For anyone who is interested in reading the draft, it can be found at Stephenie Meyer's wesbite. But like I said, it's just a draft. Apparently, she is working on it, but God knows when the book will be published! So let's just wait wait and wait.. Amen. _()_  [btw, this is a hands put together for a prayer symbol ;)]

2nd Attempt at Lasagne

There, not too bad huh? And, it was actually quite delicious!!
*patting myself on the back* :D

I had in mind quite some time ago to put this 2nd attempt into action and today was the day because... geez, I don't really have a reason... I just felt like it! I took out the recipe book which I briefly looked at, and decided to do it MY way, intuitively. I figured, God wouldn't fail me! *winks* And He didn't! I instinctively knew what ingredients to put in, when to put in, when to stir in and etc. It was as if I was almost a natural in cooking this. Hah!

Alina called me while the lasagne was in the oven, baking. She asked me, "How did your lasagne go?" I told her over MSN when she nudged me that I was going with my 2nd attempt at Lasagne. When I told her that I think the Lasagne looks burnt. She gave me a few tips over the phone, together with her current frenzies over the Twilight Saga. Guess what?!? She is watching 'New Moon' AGAIN tonight! I am so jealous!! Lols.

Back to this Lasagne episod, I am quite impressed with the turnout (as in the taste of it) although the top layer of the Lasagne is still hard (not burnt though). I added much more cheese this time round and I will remember to foil it over while baking during my 3rd attempt. If, there is ever going to be a 3rd attempt. Lols. :)

Nevertheless, thanks for the tip Alina!!

An All the Way Brunch / Friends

I received a text from Ming Yen yesterday, asking for brunch today. She said that she'd head over to KK. I said ok.

She arrived in KK today at nearly 12pm. It was ok for me 'cause I wasn't THAT hungry yet. But she was. Lols. Took her to our all-time-famous Bak-Kut-Teh from Port Klang. She simply enjoyed it. She was dressed poised, ready for work in the afternoon. She was on long leave and today was her last half day leave, so she decided come to KK to brunch with me. So sweet and thoughtful of her huh... When I was chatting with hubby later in the day, I expressed how blessed and abundant I am, to receive such a kind gesture from an old friend. Imagine, she stays in the other end of Earth, traveled all the way to the other end of Earth for brunch with me, and then head off to another corner of Earth to for work after her long leave. I am truly touched and appreciative to be able to fit into her holiday schedule anyhow. Ah... so blessed with abundance of wonderful company. :)

We chatted about her recent trip to Vietnam. She shared with me some gruesome displays which she saw in some musuem.. Eeww.. certainly something that I wouldn't want to witness if I'd ever have a chance to visit Vietnam. She also shared with me how she enjoyed the food there, and her views and concern on the upcoming 2012, spirituality and mirroring. It was great being able to catch up with her and also share my views despite the short time we had with each other. Thanks girl, for making the trip up (or is it down?) to meet me. I had a great time, as always. :)

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I knew Ming Yen when we were young swimmers representing our states in competitions. We were rivals. Ahem, healthy rivals, that is. Competitors in the pool but once out of the pool, good friends who laugh with each other and cry on each other's shoulders we part. Wow, almost or more than 20 years now. That's a pretty long time. And eversince she came down to KL to work, and kinda permenantly lives here, we never fail to catch up with each other for each other's birthday or just for a cup of tea. There is just this kind of genuineness and sincerity in the friendship. Somewhat, unconditional too if I may add. :)

Sometimes we tend not to be able to spend loads of time with friends. But when we do, the time spent apart seems to cease, or rather kinda never existed; and the time spent together seems to be in a continuation instead somehow. It's amazing how I am having many experiences with friends these days. Just the other day, before the episod where I witnessed how my concepts of friends and best friends were so faulty, I made a query to my Higher Self, questioning what is this thing called 'Friends', the meaning of it?

And I realised, I wanted a best friend, because I wanted to be special; I wanted to be someone's best friend (eventhough I may not feel the same way as the other person) because I wanted to be special too. All this thing about being special, this sense of belonging, screwed up concepts/rules of friends or best friends or whatever labels have I were absolutely crazy! And you know, to be able to admit today to the rest of the world, and most importantly to myself is a kind of embarrassment, a kind of shame. And, to a certain extent, it hurts too.

Having spend a day with Alina last thursday, her sharing of wisdom made me see something. That, every friend is special. There is no such thing as Best Friend (and here in this context I do mean 'possessing' a Best Friend - note the singular - who would be the BEST of the ALL the friends I have). So since I have SOOOOOO many friends whom I would want to be 'Best Friends' with (or wants to be 'Best Friends' with me), I came up with this subconscious ultimate criteria list of how, if a person were to ever be my 'Best Friend' or the other way round, he or she would have to fit into this list of criteria. Stupid right? Lols. And, shameful too. :(

So, when Alina shared with me that we could have many many best friends because as we progress in our lives, we get greedy, I felt liberated. And I as ponder upon my sense of liberation from the tension and stressful ideas of 'Best Friends', I realised that everyone was my best friend in their own ways, special to me in their each very own unique ways. And then, a word surfaced in the mind - Equanimity - something that BB has shared with me before.

I love all my friends, although I do acknowledge the fact that I hardly put in the kind of effort to visit, pick up the phone to call and etc to show that I do so. But I guess, that's just me. I live with them in my heart, whether or not I see them. When I feel inspired to, we meet up; and it works anyway!

I am thankful for the presence of friends in my life, and I am grateful for the lessons they bring forth through them for me. For without them and these lessons, I would not be able to understand my inner world, and would cease an opportunity to love myself a little more.

Thank you once again my dear friends, I love you. :)