Everything old is new again!

These last few days, I’ve been thinking a lot about boyfriends, relationships, marriages & children. Because I have been bombarded with these questions non-stop from everybody since January this year till today – Do you have a boyfriend yet? When are you getting married? You are not young anymore, you know? Who will take care of you when you are old?
And sometimes, I feel clueless on what is the right method or answers in answering their questions without offending them. Like every woman, yes; I too desire to have my own family. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. My main ambition in life is not to get married, be a stay-at-home-mum. For now. I’m sure there are a lot of young ladies out there who is in the same situation as I am. This unnecessary pressure is very annoying isn’t it?

"Why do people get married? What do you think two persons are after when they get married?"
To that, I had turned on my most cynical side and said, “For that extra income via joint finances. To pacify the parents. To answer to the girl’s parents. For logistics reasons. For legal rights to each other’s assets. To have legal sex. To give legitimacy to babies.”
Seriously, with time I’ve found that I have more confidence; I’m more sure-footed and I don’t fret over these small things…I want to be happy and do what I want. I really want to debunk the whole culture of ‘being alone is sad’. Yes, you may not have the husband & children beside you, but you have other family members, friends and community to support you.

Life is meaningless only if we allow it to be. Not necessary, spinsters live a sad, lonely and dreadful life ok. Each of us has the power to give our life meaning. To make our time, bodies and words into what we want.

'It's Such a Different Ride'

Happy Mooncake Festival :)
Wow, the price of the mooncakes these days is so outrageous. So unaffordable. It keeps going up & up every year. The manufacturers claim that it’s the cost of the raw materials which have went up but I doubt so. I think it’s the overly nice & unnecessary packaging that takes up most of the cost. Ingredients are expensive only when the manufacturers start to be creative and come up with new flavors; such as Charcoal mocha, Spinach, Dragon fruit lotus chocolate etc. Of course it’s expensive. The ingredients are exquisite. The original red bean and lotus paste ingredients are cheap ok. Even the lanterns have been given an upgrade. Besides the original paper lanterns, there are now the inflatable lanterns and battery-operated lanterns. Cute.

Sometimes, some things are best to be simple. I love the whole new creativity and commercialism of this pastry, but there is also a part of me that craves simplicity.
Sometimes I need to strip away the unnecessary add-ons of my life and live simply :)

Every. Single. Day.

Congratulations to IVY & Vic.
A toast to this newly weds; settling into a new life, home & career.
Her big day is finally here. She breathe, stand up straight and smile to perfection :)
The dinner was a very cool, cosy atmosphere. The guest was so excited and hyped up and hooting and whooping and clapping and smiling and laughing. It felt like a great big family reunion, where everyone was best friends.
It was good catching up with Agnes & Chee Hoo, CZ and Jo. We were very giggly and buzzy the whole night. Just the way we like it – chill, chat, wine, good food & mini abalone :) A big Yay. It was definitely a night filled with simple pleasures. The best kind, really :)

Cloud Atlas

My favorite Prince turns 26 this week! :)

And we also celebrated my Mummy’s birthday :) Behind every child’s strength and success is a proud, self-sacrificial mother. Despite our ups & downs in our mother-daughter relationship, the numerous bickerings that we have, clash of opinions most of the time, exchanges of harsh words every now & then, difficult & challenging moments once in a while - Thank You for everything and for being there. I am grateful and thankful for all of my life blessings, and you are one of them :)

I sit and wait
Does an angel contemplate my fate
And do they know
The places where we go
When we're grey and old
'cos I have been told
That salvation lets their wings unfold
So when I'm lying in my bed
Thoughts running through my head
And I feel the love is dead
I'm loving angels instead

And through it all she
offers me protection
A lot of love and affection
Whether I'm right or wrong
And down the waterfall
Wherever it may take me
I know that life won't break me
When I come to call she won't forsake me
I'm loving angels instead

When I'm feeling weak
And my pain walks down a one way street
I look above
And I know I'll always be
blessed with love
And as the feeling grows
She breathes flesh to my bones
And when love is dead
I'm loving angels instead

And through it all she
offers me protection
A lot of love and affection
Whether I'm right or wrong
And down the waterfall
Wherever it may take me
I know that life won't break me
When I come to call she won't forsake me
I'm loving angels instead

And through it all she
offers me protection
A lot of love and affection
Whether I'm right or wrong
And down the waterfall
Wherever it may take me
I know that life won't break me
When I come to call she won't forsake me
I'm loving angels instead

-Angels : Robbie Williams-

bangkit

I need to go and do some stationeries shopping :( It’s very annoying when my fellow colleagues (either from the same division or different division) who drop by at my workstation, consciously or unconsciously borrowed my stationeries and never returns back. And some of them; when asked, couldn’t even remember where they have misplaced it. And getting my HR Department to approve for stationeries request takes ages. Worst then the government administration. It’s infuriating. The blue pens are always the first to go, followed by color highlighters, staplers and calculators.

A world where a whole lot of people need a whole lot of help and love

Change Your World
Sunway Convention Centre from 6pm – 10pm

It’s a Christian Youth Movement, organized by the Christian Creative & Music Ministry, initiated to mobilize the millennial generation of all races & religions to take City and Nation Ownership as well as to create World In Crisis Awareness. It goes from city to city in Malaysia to create awareness, presenting real life issues and practical solutions towards JUSTICE, MERCY & FAITHFULNESS. It was founded by a husband-and-wife-team of Kelvin & Cathryn Lim. The founders believe that change begins with oneself from which will emanate a ripple effect of selflessness. They have finished their tour in Kuching, Penang, Kluang, Ipoh and they are currently right here in KL.

I was feeling really out of place because the majority of the people who turn up for this event are the youths, the millennial generation; ages 15 to 25 years old. And I’m already like what…28. I think only the founders and the volunteers of the event were the only mature-age people around :) I don't denied that people in my age group are probably busy with their career, family & children, probably do not have the energy & have long-lost-forgotten-their-passion-in-their-hearts, unlike the youths who have too much free time on their hands, and not to mention; it's much easier to put ideas & perceptions into their naive heads...but I think the movement should also reach out to us because we have the experience and the network to make change as well.

The event and the messages have been an eye-opener for me. It kicked off with a power packed concert championed by Relent (a 4 piece devotional indie rock band - they are really good), Hip Hop & Contemporary dance and powerful media presentations via video clips that highlights the important issues. Then it was followed by messages & challenges by Kelvin, YB Hannah Yeoh and Cathryn on how to make a difference in our City, Nation and the World. As Kelvin & Cathryn are just not taking the youths to an event but a journey, the party-goers were challenged to bring change to our city through many initiatives such as How we can help to create more awareness on human trafficking or even take action. How we can help the refugees in our nation. How we can support the government with different initiatives. How we can own our city instead of just complaining. How to make our city, nation and the world a better place. This was done by encouraging the youths to sign up for the movement activities such as feeding the poor, visiting a refugee camp, participate in the various workshops etc. It’s all about Being A P.A.L. (Pray, Act, Lead). Kelvin & Cathryn is planting this movement in every city, giving the youths the exposure and the platform and I really hope that each city's movement will remain sustainable in order to continually to help humanity.

I must admit, I had a fantastic time with the music, I like the way they bring their messages across, inspiring youths that we too can make a change, that there is still hope out there and instead of complaining, take concrete actions. And of course, unlike other Christian events, they are not obsess in converting the non-believers into believers. That would have turn me off completely because I believe that every individual have the freedom to choose their own religion and they have to do it willingly and sincerely and not through force.

Honestly, I'm despondent and tired of the local politics. Is anyone doing anything about the problems that the common Malaysian faces? So, this is where we come in. Don't complain and run away but make things happen. What can you do for your country, not what your country can do for you. We have to continue to fight, to demand, to improve for the betterment. I don’t use the sentence ‘what is right’ because what may be right for one party may be wrong for the other or vice-versa. Betterment, inclusive, holistic & harmony.

I was impressed with YB Hannah’s message. Here was someone who was courageous enough to do something a little different, driven enough to inspire the people around her to contribute to a cause, and motivated enough to do something significant for her community & country. Hannah is the State Assemblyman N:31 for Subang Jaya and I think she is doing a very good job for the people of Subang.

I am not going to take up everything. I am going to start small. Let's start to show more kindness, humanity, generosity, love, understanding; genuine actions...especially in our current community :) Then, good things will start to add up. Yeah, be a blessing to others.

"The life which is unexamined is not worth living” - Plato

Friends. Coming together. Growing apart. Riding a wavelength

A bit late with this blog post :)

C was back in town last month :) we spent a glorious dinner together at Ben & Nick’s Diner with some of our other high school friends. We enjoyed a very good meal, a tranquil ambience and a good catching-up session on our current work & self updates, our travel stories, M’s kids, recalling the good old days and laughing our heads off. Damn it, I forgot to bring the camera that day to take some pictures. I have all of them in one place. Sitting across from C, I seriously can’t recall when I last saw her. Yet, C still looked and feels the same; and so are the rest of them. Of course, our faces may have shown the passage of time, our attitudes, behaviors, characters, opinions, the way we speak & project ourselves may have shown maturity…but deep down inside when we sit down together, we are still the same bunch of giggling teenagers from SMKSSAAS. It has been 11 years since we left school. As we parted our ways and say our goodbyes that night, I was left feeling excited, pumped up and completely energized. I was very HAPPY. And I like being happy. It has been a privilege to have known such a great bunch of people. Making memories together.

And come to think of it, not only with my high school friends, but also my friends from College & Uni; we don't see each other as much these days. Life, work and children & family have gotten in the way. Busyness seems to be a symptom of our society. It’s almost a badge of honor. We rush from activity to activity saying, “I’m so busy.” We even feel guilty if we don’t have something to do every moment. It’s time to get connected again :)

pick n brew

Raya is here again! A year has gone by so quickly! It felt just like yesterday where all of my Muslim friends were just about to prepare themselves for their fasting season and today; they are celebrating. It also just felt like yesterday where I went food shopping at the Ramadhan Bazaar Pasar Malam at the Stadium Malawati car park; buying Kuihs, Kebab, Roti John, Keropok Lekor and Cendol. Raya is all about love, good cheer, fireworks, forgiveness, togetherness and yummy Raya food going all around.

It's a long weekend for me where I can sleep in and do absolutely nothing.

And today is probably my most unproductive day :)