Not My Kind

but the thought that counts ...........

i met her during my almamater's reunion last year. we managed to stay in touch through the indonesian community's mailing list. though she's married and i have a *life* of my own, we tried to meet up as and when we can. i do have to give her loads of credit for never giving up on suggesting dinner or just a mere catching up. and earlier today, we met for awhile as i have a tennis game to catch *though we ended up playing for 10mins and went home afterwards*. chat over lunch she gave me this little pressie made by her own hands. isn't it so sweet of her? it's not my kinda ring but still, i was touched and a little embarassed for not making a better effort in catching up.

Travel Note - Genting Getaway

i can't recall how we ended up with this idea. all i could remember is that a few of us wanted to do some other place but it was cancelled and so in order to have one where all can make it, we have to do somewhere that doesn't require us to talk leave. and genting it is ....

it was a rush for me. mum grumbled on me going again after my diving trip. but then again, one couldn't make it end of august and i definitely can't make it next month. fasting month is just around the corner and i intend to keep a low profile during that month. and so... last week it was.

day 01 - 22nd aug 2008

left work at 6ish am and meet the other two before heading down to harbour front. there we boarded the coach to KL. reached KL around midnight and we waited for sal, who reached KL earlier to meet her families first, to arrive at the hotel before checking in. put our stuff and all we went out to enjoy the street at night and had a stopped for supper. walked around again and reached hotel around 4am. by then i started to feel a slight pain on my left knee. after teaching them how 'gambreng' works to determined who got the extra bed while others had to share the double bed, off we went to bed in preparation for the following day.

day 02 - 23rd aug 2008

wake up early, had our breakfast at the eatery opposite our hotel before heading down to pasarakyat for a coach ride to genting higlands. once arrived there we went straight to the outdoor theme park. by this time around my knee was killing me but i ignored it and simply walked slower than the rest. i was a bit frustrated when none of the shop there sells tiger balm. but the show must go on and we had a blast trying almost all of the game. two of us decided to take the corkskrew (aka the flying coaster) before lunch. it isn't as scary as it looks but it definitely is awesome! had lunch and by this time around i couldn't hold the pain any longer. i felt like crying 'cos i couldn't massage the pain. it's like the bone and my knee cap was rubbing each other. it's like living the pain mum has been facing all these years.

done with outdoor for awhile, we went indoor for archery. it was intertesting. we've been talking about trying this for *ages* and finally we did it! 37 arrows after we went to the indoor theme park as it was raining heavily outside. i really couldn't hold it any longer that we went to search for watson and yes, i got my balm! stopped for some drinks while i applied the balm on my knee only to be followed by the others who applied it on their shoulder or tummy, lol. everyone was sore in their own style. the plan was not to book a room there. well, we tried but it's all fully book so we went there with the idea of spending time until late and crash at a nearby coach waiting for morning to come. after spending time at the indoor theme park we went back to the outdoor park to collect the stuff they left in the locker. the area was crowded as apparently there's this hk (or taiwan? china?) actor's concert. got our back we went back inside and headed down to the cinema - Wall E time. yeah, it's playing there. movie wise, cute!

done with movie we went for a foot reflexiology where i got told off *again* to take care of my legs or it'd caused a lot of problem as i grow older. done with reflexiology, we went for supper as we didn't have dinner. by then our drama queen was kinda whining that we tried our luck and asked for a room. we got it! the world club room, supposedly one of the best room. checked in, put our stuff and went to walk around the casino. once done we went back and sleep. as none of us brought our stuff with us, we slept with what we're wearing. everyone smelled the same anyway.

day 03- 24th aug 2008

woke up waaay early as we kinda reserved seats on the earliest bus. had shower, had breakfast and off we went to the cable car station. once out of the cable car, one decided to take a look around while i went to the loo. done with my business i noticed two of them were still wandering around the stall and once we gathered one said she wanted to go to the loo first. alas, we missed the bus by 5minutes! oh well, we ended up walking around chitchatting. an hour gone by and we're on our way back to KL.

once we reached the hotel we took our back from the concierge and went to the loo. we didn't book a room so we had to change our clothes at the hotel restroom, hehe. done with changing we went to the coach counter and persuaded them to keep our bag for us. our coach is still like 6hrs away that we're rejected the first time we wanted to put our bag there.

off we went to KLCC for some shopping spree. haha, at least that's what we said. wandered around with my strawberry-filled dounut. we stopped at madam kwan's for lunch. this place was recommended by cin's boss so we thought of trying it - good decision as it is nice. done with KLCC we walked to the latest and biggest shopping centre in KL, wandering around before taking a coffee break. done, we walked back to the hotel and boarded the coach back home. back to reality.

it was a nice getaway. with each of us busy with our own activities, our own life, this trip was a great way of us catching up with each other more than just through emails, friday breakfasts, or monday tennis. got to know your friend's characters better as well. and most of all, each of us enjoyed this simple *away-from-the-red-dot* getaway. not to mention, i got myself a pair of sandal - just one, thanks for the warning from my friend :)

On Singfest, Friendship and Pocket

i had a wonderful weekend!!

went for singfest yesterday, leaving the house at 9ish in the morning to meet the others for brunch beforehand. the event itself was great, money well spent - i can say that. pity that singapore has no proper place for an outdoor concert, though. i mean fort canning is good for musical, theatre, dance etc but for some pop/rock kinda concert? errk, those buildings in between just make it too pack. nonetheless i enjoyed it so much. gotta give 2 acts a miss because i had to attend a friend's birthday party. oh well, not that i'm a great fans of those 2 performers anyways. back in time to catch rick astley and i'm happy. yupe, he is the main reason for me going to the event. yes he's old but i like his songs when i was in secondary school. its quite funny though to see only a handsfull of people know his songs. i'm darker for sure, but i'm happy! all i need now is to upload all the videos to flickr (if you know my yahoo id or my nick, what bk stands for, you should be able to view it as well) or maybe facebook for my sister, let her burn with envy haha.

during the break between acts, cin talked to me about what she came to her mind in the birthday venue. how few people there who used to be close friend are no longer *that* close, if not acting like a stranger to each other - some due to relationship problem (hence my believe in thinking twice about turning friendship to the next level) while others due to some expectation issue. how she realised that two of us were the only one who's still as close as we were the first time we joined the group.

it's true though; i learnt a lot lately mostly on not having any expectation on anyone, about trusting your friends and understanding each other more. yes we have disagreement, but we work things out and learnt from our mistakes and move on. in fact, it makes the friendship stronger as we know the other party better as a person - as a friend. i hope i will never have an estranged relationship with any friends of mine. if i make a mistake, i'd rather be told off so i know my wrongs instead of friend(s) holding grudges on me. friendship is something i treasure as much as i treasure my family. okay, no need to be mellow. next ....

and now being sleepy and all, i made a point to write down all my weekend expenses in between doing the analysis (my way to avoid getting headache seeing all those numbers) and oh yeah, i spent a bomb during the weekend. paying the singfest ticket, food, taxi and stuff; not to mention i just registered for a course that isn't that cheap as well. nope, NO REGRETS. just need to tighten my spending and cut down calling home ...

Some People Want It All, But ...

Nothing's Better Than :-

• spending time with friends you can connect with over dinner.
• strolling from one buffet spread to another with someone who has the same passion when it comes to food.
• chit chatting about almost anything from plain silly to work to super serious stuff while trying to digest all the food intake.
• joking around even with a friend you just met though you feel you've known them for ages from the stories you heard about them.
• moving from dining to the lounge, continuing the chit chat over a cup of tea
• hearing the male's point of view on SATC the movie, comparing it with the real life scenario/situation
• sharing views on life, family and what have you with people from different culture/race.
• having a more serious conversation someone you feel comfortable with.
• meeting a friend's friend's friend only to find out that he's actually an ex-colleague (yeah, tell me about it).
• ending the night with a smile after spending 5 hours with lovely people, leaving nothing but a heart warming feeling in you.
• reaching your destination with a relieve smile upon knowing that you have enough cash to cover the cab fare

for all that, i can only say thank you!

Real Life Drama

remember the episode where poor monica, chandler, phoebe and joey are caught up between rachel and ross? i guess there's always a reason why one should think thorougly before mixing friendship and love.

that "twat" is our friend too, eh.

A Night To Remember

disappointed i am still was but it disappeared with the hugs from the girls. one of them told me her suspicion on my disappointment, which i find is true. thank you girls...

a very dear friend of ours is in town and today is the day we're catching up with him, hence the dinner. he doesn't change a bit, well more muscular and still as charming as ever. and with his 5 o'clock shadow; all of us agreed on how ruggedly handsome he looks. even when we haven't meet for more than a year, nothing's change. we're still doing the same old things we used to do - teasing each other, joking, sharing views of life, pouring our heart out on what's happenning at work and what we've been doing since he moved from singers, and of course being the only guy surrounded by 4 of us - girls. went for a 2nd round where we had dessert and continued our chit chat - from life to girls to work to religion to all other stuff. to sum it up - i love how today ends.

he's still the same old dearly charming guy. he still makes us blush once in a while with his genuine compliments. even we noticed how one of the waitress are taken by his charm. he still makes me speechless every now and then. and he still said i give out the 'arrogance' vibe *i beg to differ anyway*. overall he's still the same dear friend who will always have a special place in our heart. i'm so glad i have you as a friend and i am so very sure whoever you end up with will be one of the luckiest girl alive.

on another note, reached home and i was surprised to read a message from my friend. she's a scientist and she failed her exam last year. she's retaking it in september and hoping to ace it this time around. i know this might sound bad but still, a scientist failing an exam - i must be normal to fail mine then.

View From Top

went to experienced the singapore flyer with my ex-fm (here we go again with the nick) earlier. nothing much as expected, but at least we've experienced it. we kinda try to do something different on our birthday, something we don't usually do. we did gold class for hers and the flyer for mine. God help us with some ideas come next year. but then again its way too early to talk about next year, hehe. view wise, well it's similar to what i see on my weekly run, just that this time around its from above. well actually i should say my used to be weekly run route 'cos now we've change the route to river valley, thanks to the floating stadium and this very own flyer which makes us run more along the road side than the river. 45mins of ride followed by dinner and ended the night with a movie *which will be reviewed shortly*. a nice way to start the long weekend! thanks again for the flyer, yol....

I Feel Loved ....

i did something for the first time today. i was being very very very honest about my feelings, opening myself up and not letting anything left untold, not even a single bit. i guess i feel that i wasn't being fair to the other party with my bits and pieces of thoughts that i sensed made each other wonders over certain issues. i spent like an hour writing it, a little proof reading for the grammar sake and without thinking twice, clicked the send button. i then went out for a lunch with the thoughts that this could either make or break whatever's been there. i am totally an open book but i know that i won't be judged. still, i was quite anxious on knowing how the outcome would be.

and so that was the first thing i did once i was back from lunch. and it work wonders!! all the uncertainties and wondering for the past few months were cleared. both parties actually had the same feelings and thoughts and even disappointments, when all that are actually signs of unspoken love and care *not in a romantic way though*. i have myself to be blamed for not letting all the things that are bugging me out in the open because that was the reason this kept on going for quite some time. i learned to be open, to be read, to be judged though i know i can count on not being judged, to let all my weaknesses out in the open, and i even admitted on being the things i never wanted to admit, not even to myself.

i am just happy and i feel very much lighter. i've learned to be more open even when i'm making myself vulnerable by doing so. i've learned to say the things i have in mind instead of just keeping it for the sake of not wanting to complicate things. i've learned not to be ashamed to show my feelings. i've learned a lot from this.

i am just so glad that i decided to let my innermost feelings out in the open.

Surprise No More

a week we've been planning for a surprise party for one of our friend. his wife was busy organising and listing down gifts, we were making sure that we could be at his place before 6.30pm and all other stuff just to make it fun. apparently he planned on hitting the gym today that his wife told him not to as she made a dinner reservation and he should be home by 6.45pm. the minute i reached their place (6.30pm thank you) i suggested on his wife calling him, asking him to call her once he's around the area as she wanted him to get her something from the nearby supermarket. the wife then told me that somehow he reached home at 6.15pm and surprised her and the other guy who was already there instead. LOL! he was asked to leave again and not be back until 7ish. before reaching home he texted his wife asking "ready?". still we surprised him with a birthday song accompanied by harmonica playing and those party popper stuffs.

i truly enjoyed spending the night in a cozy place with few people that are close to my heart. the birthday boy surely had loads of fun as well - being a bartender for those who drinks and kept on changing his attire just like a bride. we managed to asked them to show us some affection publicly even when the wife tried very hard not to oblige. it's just a nice way to end my workday.

again, happy birthday my dear friend!! may you always stay humble and sweet and caring and all other good qualities you have. we love you....

Feeling Bless

one of the "little one" is troubled. nothing bad or whatsoever but apparently there's some competition going on and he was somehow the 'object' of it. so this became a topic of discussion i had with a friend. i try to think like one of the subject while my friend became the realistic one. it is easy for me to do so as i was, well actually still am every now and then, in that situation too. then my friend gave an example using the both of us.

i really admire the courage she has in admitting everything to me. she's exposing herself, her weaknesses, her insecurites. and to think i was actually feeling that few days back but tried not to let it out. i am really thankful of all the honesty and ended up admitting that i was like that too. she somehow told me how she approached things before and i told her about my way of approaching it. both are different but similar result. so yes, what's important is what you and i know, not what others think.

geez, i feel so very blessed to have you as a friend and i love you even more after the chat we had. *muacks*

On Friendship

a friend told me how frustrated she was with few of her school mates. they never say hi online, send email or text her unless they need her help. it is always she who does the first move. knowing how this friend of mine treasure friendship, i can understand her frustration. that's why whenever i can, i took the opportunity to be in touch with her, just with a simple hi and a note just to stay in touch. out of her frustration she told me that she didn't want her friendship with anyone to become just like a ship. i was puzzled and try to find out more...
ships will always be in line when they're docked. once they sail, they'll go their separate ways in the wide ocean. there might be time when they come across each other, in which they simply continue their journey without acknowledging the other ship. only once in a while, mostly when they're in need of something, be it noticing the other ship that they're sailing through or other kind of help, will they honk the other ship. bisous