School Reunion.

This morning I received an invitation to a school reunion on my Facebook.

Owh how I cringed.

Why, you ask?

I'm not the type that will agree to social around with a bunch of people am not comfortable with, worst, with those whom I have had issues with; now or then. I will not be able to adjust myself to a crowd of people I haven't met for years.

I know that whatever that had happened in the past should not be the reason that dictates the way I think of them now. I don't particularly care about any of them at all. It is just, I don't really need more friends at this point of time.

Sounds smug isn't it? But that's the truth. You will come to a point where, you no longer need a large number of friends in your life. I treasure quality more than quantity.

Let me tell you about my high school experience. I mingled with the same crowd ; those I liked and hated; since primary school. It was only natural that we progressed from Primary Convent to Secondary Convent, because both schools were located within the same compound.

-____-

Boring.

I befriended and de-friend-ed the same crowd for almost 10 years of my life. Out of hundreds, I stayed friends with only 5 of them. These are the girls I knew since I was in standard 1. We don't actually keep in touch or see each other as much, but deep down we have a common understanding that if we miss each other or long for company, we are just a phone call away.

In my book.. that is friendship.

Ok. Let's get back to this reunion thing.

We all know that Facebook is the culprit that brought all these unnecessary reinforcements in our life and causing inevitable consequences. It is hard to stay positively cheerful when people you don't fancy poke you and expect a poke in return. I had received a friend request with a message, "You still single? How come? Can't be!!". or "Eh fat now ah?". This message was coming from someone I hardly know and probably met for a few minutes 20 years ago. Of course I was skinny back then, I didn't even have boobs yet. pfth!

So with all these bad rapports that I had been receiving on Facebook, countless numbers of pokes and re-re-requesting friend notifications from acquaintances ( some I really can't recall), do you aspect me to attend a school reunion? Haha. I don't think so.

I know some of them were really genuine in getting back on the friendship wagon, but you must admit that there are a few quarters that would love only to catch up on all the goss and make stupid comparison on life's achievements.

I never practice this and I will certainly not let anyone practice it on me.

Unfortunately, in this close-minded circle/society, our achievement in life is based on how many children you have managed to plop out. Since I have yet to plop one out, I better not give them anything to talk about or making jokes like "Owh your standard is just too high, men are afraid of you" crap straight to my face. Not that they haven't started gossiping about me already eh?

If I want to stay in contact or catch up with them, they should have already received a private message from me by now.

Photos I love I

Under the Mirabeau Bridge.

Mirabeau Bridge by Guillaume Apollinaire

Under Mirabeau Bridge runs the Seine
And our loves
Must I remember them
Joy came always after pain
Let arriving night explain
Days fade I remain
Arm in arm let us stay face to face
While below
The bridge at our hands passes
With eternal regards the wave so slow
Let arriving night explain
Days fade I remain
Love goes like this water flows
Love goes Like life is slow
And like hope is violent
Let arriving night explain
Days fade I remain
The days passed and the weeks spent
Not times past Nor loves sent return again
Under Mirabeau bridge runs the Seine 

Translated by William A. Sigler

***

I braved the cold and breezy autumn weather of Paris and walked several miles in search of this beautiful green bridge; just so I could take this picture and email it to him with the caption

- I found the bridge mentioned in that poem you once gave and read to me. -

Love,
Lina.

***

Our Favourite Place: Langkawi Island.

Both of us have this itch to get out of KL every once in a while so that we can clear our cluttered mind since we are unable to clear our cluttered desk and life. We are always looking for some place near that is within an hour drive or flight away. Just for a quick getaway to get our quick fix of each other ... (heh corny I know, sorry can't help it)

Our list of preference is quite short and simple. We are pretty boring couple, I have to admit. For a quick getaway, we don't really do extreme sports/activities or have plans of any sort; all we need is to wind down and spend quality time with each other. No shopping, no sight-seeing. This would usually involves - a comfortable sea-view chalet with low density of tourists and a tortoise-paced area.

The one perfect place that fit all these requirements at that point of time was Langkawi's Frangipani Resort and Spa.

Yeap, for the first quarter of this year, we decided to go back to Langkawi island. We loved it so much from the last time that we were there, we made a pact that we should go back to this island again, probably every year for as long we are together. This time around, we chose to stay at this resort.

Entrance to Frangipani Resort & Spa

From Agoda, we knew that this hotel is nestled somewhere in Pantai Tengah which is pretty quiet compared to Pantai Chenang, so that's a plus point. But when we were surfing around for more information, there weren't much reviews that described the hotel well with maybe a few broken links. A bit disappointed but we decided to give it a shot anyway. We booked the hotel and the rest, they say, is history. We spent 4 days and 3 nights there and came back fully refreshed and rejuvenated. All ready to take on the world again.

*flex muscles*

I love this resort so much, I was really eager to blog about it. That is not something that I would do. I suck at giving reviews. I can never find the best word or sentence to describe anything. I also would go on and on and on about it. People get bored by reading an unstructured nonsensical review. But I will not pass the opportunity to blog about this resort.

*takes out an imaginary sword and points it out to the sky*

But of course, knowing me, I put the word PRO in procrastination. It has been almost a month and Mr. Snots was constantly reminding me of this 'responsibility'.

Aih.

Ok back to this update.

We spent 4 days of doing pretty much nothing. Every morning, Mr. Snots, after his rounds of jogging (he's boring, see?) forced me out of bed so that we can have early breakfast... whilst enjoying the morning breeze and view. I resented the fact that I had to wake up early there, but what's not to love about this eh?

After breakfast, he then forced me to walk the food off. Pfth! Walking about in the shade of these fruit trees and flowers what were planted all over the resort was just extremely relaxing. It reminded me of my dad's village. The staff there were so friendly, they even offered to climb up the tree and pick mangoes for us. As much as I was extremely flattered with that offer, but I wouldn't want to eat unripened mangoes.

Again. what's not to love about this?

Frangipani Resort & Spa is an eco-friendly resort. They have solar panels installed for all the chalets and recycle bins can be seen all over the place. They actually practice the art of recycling and produce their own organic compost and use it to fertilise their garden. They walk the talk; something that is rare in the management of big hotels and resorts.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing by the beach, reading books, swimming and played ping pong. I should have known better you know. Playing ping pong or any sorts of sports with him is kind of suicidal. He is extremely competitive. He will never give up; not at least he gets better at it.

Here's the thing. At first, he was really bad at playing ping pong; the score was around 21-1. Seriously. He was so bad that I was able to beat his ass in about few minutes. LOL. But what made me feel suicidal was the fact that, he just REFUSED to give up. He constantly bugged me to play like 3 rounds of best-of-5, and got exponentially better. It started with 21-1, then slowly catching up to 21-10 then to 21-19 until he won one or two games. Even thrash talking did not bring him down. Talking about determination, I tell ya or bruised ego, probably. Heh. It was fun, but it was also damn tiring. He got the stamina. I don't!

Daily activities - pretty much nothing.

Then at night, Mr. Snots drove me to Kuah Town to enjoy the best and the cheapest seafood in the island. Tourists were always fooled to think that the best seafood is in Pantai Chenang. They were fooled alright!!

This is the restaurant that we usually go to for our seafood. The food is sensational and it's cheap. The first time Mr. Snots took me there, I took out around RM150 to pay for the bill, but it came up to only RM40. I was like WTF, must eat here every time and every day. Like that. I took this picture because, like Oprah, I also like sharing my favourite things with everyone. If you ever have cravings for seafood in Langkawi (and if you don't you must be crazy or something), this is the place that you should go to. It is located near the Bella Vista Hotel.

After dinner, for like every night that we were there, we chilled at the Coco Jam Beach Bistro (in the resort itself) and listened to the live music and enjoyed a drink or two, probably three or four and did a couple of shots. The booze was cheaper than mineral water man.... might as well order beers.

We've made many friends during our stay there. The managers and the staff were extremely accommodating. There was this one particular gardener that entertained the guests at night at the Coco Bar. He always introduced himself with, "Hai, I'm Kamal, gardener by day, rock singer by night." He was extremely good belting all the rock songs. Because he is quite old so expect rock oldies from this man. But since we are old too, that was our type of music as well. He had this one thing that he did every time before he went up the stage --> got himself drunk. LOL. He can only perform in front of the crowd if he's drunk enough.

Funny that old man.

Gosh. Typing this update makes me missed my time in Langkawi. I love every moment that I spent there. Well, except maybe for the ping pong part (still annoyed about it).

After our holiday in Langkawi, this time around, we've made a new pact, Mr.Snots and I. We will come back to Langkawi every year for as long as we are together and back to this resort to rekindle our love and trust in each other just in case we get strayed off the path of happiness.

Love,
Lina

The Speed Dating Guidelines.

I recall talking about this with my girlfriend, Toots. It was some time last year when she brought up the issue of speed dating.

How do we go about it?

Do we need to go in with the intention of getting ourselves a man, or two..or we should join just for the fun of it. To be honest, my idea of fun doesn't really include giving a crash course of myself within a span of 5 minutes and repeating the same excruciating process again for the next few hours. Or to convince a guy that I'm the one that they are looking for. It's tiring enough to convince a guy that you fancy or in a relationship with, how do you tackle such issue for a few minutes with a complete stranger?

But that's me I guess. I was already taken aback by the speed dating approach when she first explained on how it works. Come to think of it, am not a good sport really. Hehe. BUT!! I was willing to accompany her if she decides to join the speed dating "fun".

We talked further about how we should strategise the whole interview bit. How do we get to know a man within that 5 minutes span, grab the attention and make some impact.

So I laid out the OSI Model Plan.

Open System Interconnection model, also known as OSI is basically a standard or protocol used to sub dividing the communication/networking system into several different layers. Basic Communication 101. Ok that's that. I'm not going to explain about the protocols because; first -I have totally forgotten about it; second - who cares anyway. We are here to talk and understand about what can be sampled from this Model for our 5 minutes speed dating rules.

Ok, the OSI Model, the old one; contains 7 layers of which within each layer, one or more entities implement its functionality. Refer to the diagram below.


Well, we talked about this and decided that it was just too complicated to adopt this concept and make it work for 5 minutes. So we decided to combine few things that are supposed to work together for this exercise and came up with this guideline.


i. Physical Layer.

We admit that we are a bunch of shallow people. For any equipment to communicate with each other, physical connection must be in place. More so for mere mortal like us. Physical attraction is of course the most crucial aspect of this exercise. There's no point of going to the next level if we can't bear the sight of our err prospect let alone sharing our personal information with him. First 10 seconds should be used to scan physical attributes that make them stand out from the rest..If there's nothing much that we can work with, one should consider to spend the next 4 minutes and 50 seconds to try to get away from that awkward 'interfaces'.

ii. Data Link / Network.

This is pretty much about his career and his affiliations. Does he bear any sort of title to his name like Dr, Ir, YM, ABC, WTF and etc. Scan his business card discreetly if he hands it out to you. Listen carefully - if he name drops any known celebrities, VIPs, VVIPs every now and then when he talks about his achievements or the lack of it. Of course, people think that this should not be an issue, money is never an issue. But hey, you are not there in search of starving artist or a poor poet. Be realistic. You can't expect to be fed with poem when you are hungry. I'm just saying.

The thing about this is, it boils down to your preference. You want his money and his associations, or you want his money but you also want him humble. At my age, when a man talks about how much he makes, he is just being cheesy and I don't really fancy cheese.

iii. Transport.

Self explanatory. He must at least own a car eh? But if you prefer to date someone that spends half of his time saving the planet by taking the public transportation, be my guest.

iv. Session and Presentation.

It is all about image. Baggy jeans, oversized jersey, cap pull backward screams lame or stuck-in-the-moment-he-can't-get-out-of. If he took the time to look presentable for the session, he must worth some sort of acknowledgement from you. But if he looks better than you (and you are looking your best that night) you might consider the possibility that he carries a man bag everywhere as well. Judge the book from its cover. Because what ever that he is covering can be judged through his appearances. ;)

Last but not least;

v. Application.

This would only come to play when you have decided to hand over more than just your number. Application and performance are the only two aspects left for you to consider whether he is worthy of your future headache and sorrows. Set your standard high because low expectation is easily achieved. ;)


So there you go. The adaptation of speed dating rules based on OSI 7 Layers Model, courtesy of Lina and Toots. Have fun and don't be too naughty.

p/s: Whether we have realised this or not, all of us are guilty of using the same method to gain access to a friendship or relationship.

Sunday Project.

I'm always looking for something to do on Sunday; things that I can tweak around the house. Since Saturday is dedicated entirely for Mr.Snots, so that automatically makes Sunday a "Me Day". Doing chores and running errands are definitely apart of the itineraries. But of course, not every Sunday is spent doing those things. I alternate my Sundays between doing normal boring house chores and art projects.

Since I was out of art supplies and my creative juice wasn't flowing well last weekend, I did something for the apartment instead. I painted my work area; because to be honest, I kinda feel bored with it already. So here's the before and after picture of it. It is actually quite small but am not complaining.



Next project --->the wet kitchen. :)

Saturday Morning.

Waking up early on a Saturday morning isn't really my style. My time is usually around 10am. The excuse I would usually use is to enjoy the luxury of sleeping in during the weekend.

But this morning at around 6am, my sleep was disrupted by a phone call from the office saying that there had been a lost replication of data. I said, "OK, will fix it later", hung up the phone and tried to sleep again. After much tossing around, I was sure that I was not going to fall asleep again. :(

So what's a girl gotta do other than forcing herself out of the bed, make a cup of coffee and switching on the laptop to connect to the office VPN. This is life when your company pays you a standby allowance; meaning that you should always make yourself available at any time during your turn. And to be honest, the allowance is not that great.

My weekend routine is very predictable and it has been like so for the past few years. Saturday is also the day I get to spend the whole day with Mr. Snots doing things together; groceries shopping, watching movies and take turns cooking for lunch if we are not lazy enough. He would usually come by at around 1030 am... but since it is raining today, I reckon that he's going to be a bit late than usual. So am taking the time to update my blog.

Will update more if time permits. Chao!

DIY Artsy Fartsy stuff makes me happy.

Every time I'm down and feeling like a helpless sod, I'm always looking forward to go back to my apartment. My bed awaits me to plunk my lazy body onto it and no matter what happen, it will be there to comfort me. If things are still fucked up, I would turn to the other parts of my small apartment. I would lie down on the sofa with the TV on but don't really bother to watch what's on it (I just need the background noise so that I won't feel lonely), and walk back and forth to the kitchen; rummaging the fridge to snack on sweet things to calm me down. My relationship with my home is the best I've ever had. - ___ -

I'm such a loser. I don't even know how to comfort myself when I'm down. Seriously. It has always been a struggle to put bad things behind me. Drama, I know.

Since am tired of having to sleep off my shitty days away, I'm searching for things to do to so that I wouldn't spend so much times lamenting and thinking about my problems again and again. Just to take my mind off things, you know.

Growing up, I remember that I spent hours assembling and creating crafty projects for my art classes; weaving straw into hats, sewing batik pants, wooden pots, paper mache, collage and others. I remember the feeling of joy and satisfaction if I manage to get it done, no matter how hard it was for me and no matter how many times I had to redo it to make it perfect. (to my own standard of course; and my OCD kicked in quite early I must say heh). My parents were always around to help me out; Mom teaching me how to use the sewing machine, and how my Dad did a demo on how to cut those blistering wooden planks for my wood class. I would do anything to feel that kind of feeling again. That sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

For years I have been buying and collecting crafty stuff like ribbons, paper, felt and etc thinking that one day, I would have the time to use and make something out of nothing ; to be able to get back on doing things I once loved. But surprise surprise, I never really make the time for it. pfth!! I'm always so tired after work, I'm always not in the mood to do anything and of course other excuses I've managed to use to sabotage my own "happiness". LOL. You see, I've got all these fabulous papers and whatnot.. all boxed up and just laying there, untouched.

Thanks to Pinterest, I've started to do small projects to get myself inspired again recently . I surely hope to continue this and create more interesting projects in the future.

Project 1: Transforming a shoe box into a more fun storage box.

Project 2: Turning a boring scratched Ikea desk into a fun rainbow coloured one for the niece.
I don't usually play with so much colour but at that time I was thinking, why not? Do something out of the ordinary might be the one thing that will guide me out of my rut.

Project 3: Paper eyelet and pearl bracelet.

I love bracelets. Thanks to my overly sensitive skin, I can't wear non-gold earring and necklace, but am thankful enough that I can still wear any type of bracelets. Since I love them so much, I've started to learn how to make them and I can always style them in any way I want. *kisses wrists*

So there you go. Stuff I made when I'm down and out and bored.

Much Love.

Things of late.

I'm sitting in this workshop waiting for the car to be fixed. Total body service and the aircond as well. As I was browsing through all the blogsites to kill the time, I was suddenly reminded of my own blog. Funny when there's so much things happening lately, I have totally forgotten about this space. Some bloggers ignored their blog because they spend more time fiddling with facebook or succumbed to the temptation of twitter. I did none of the above. Lol. I'm just lazy.

I have been down with fever and cough for the past 3 weeks or so. Been to 3 different clinics that prescribed all sort of different medications for me. Since my condition was on and off, I was immuned to it and grew to live with it. I know that I needed to get myself a thorough check by a specialist or some sort, but it could wait.

Work is a major concern now. It is beyond control. But what I learned from my past experience is that work will never end. It will keep on coming in. and no matter how much effort I put in, some are just not worth for me to devote my life to it. I'm taking things easy, and by 6 or latest 7pm, usually am already at home. Small things if appreciated, could change the whole perspective on how we look at life. Without shame, I asked for an assitance in a form of a minnion so that I can teach him/her to take over simple but tedious task, so that I can concentrate on more crucial tasks and projects in hand.

For this year alone, I have few things lining up. But what I love about it is, it gives me the opportunity to grow a nd learn new things and those newly acquired skills will make my CV looks good. Not that i'm looking around for another job. Well not anytime soon atleast. I can't just leave my projects behind. Got a lot of people counting on me. And at this point of my career, it is nice to know that I have many colleagues and bosses that actually believe in me and would do anything to help me out.

Till later.

Oh..now I remember what has been taking so much of my time. Am obsessed with Pinterest.com nowadays. And also learning to make jewelries and art projects. Duh.