and a surprise birthday partae too!

birthday gals minus one

this is the unposed one. haha

definitely posed

' get her anything that's revealing'

mooch lookin' all sweet n demure
just what i wanted!

huda's surprise baby shower...

can u feeeeeel it

yay pressies!! balloons for effect...

book with googly eyes! woot!

the yummy mummy look is complete

attendees

believe it or not, the ONLY self portrait of the day. haha.

le sigh

ok ah quite a lot of things have happened over the past month or so, therefore the excuse for not blogging. haha.

malas ah wanna write. i'll do it in pics ok.

ahem

ok ah lots of things to update on, so point form it is. first and foremost
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we bought a flat y'all! yeah, probably a little early considering we're only getting married in about 8 months (meaning i should've started my fitness plan a month ago) but it was a really good deal and we loved it so we just went for it. the moment we signed the exercise option i suddenly felt my age. u know, kinda old and grown up. haha. it's probably the most responsible thing we have done, ever. was all nervous and stressed out the entire day thinking about the financing and how we have no choice but to be successful/ make a lot of money in our careers if we are hoping to survive in sg. but hey, we have a crib yo! also, i wouldn't recommend reading the h.db. site for more info cos you'll just get paranoid and confused like i did and trigger a major unnecessary headache. just leave it to the agent, but ask lots of questions and double check with h.db. if in doubt. they need to earn that damned 3% commission. i'd post details but i'll only breathe easy once the keys are in my hands. haha. which will be another 6 months, give or take, seeing how h.db. likes to make it a really drawn out process. will keep you guys updated with tales from the crib as and when i get them. haha.

in other not so exciting news, i have an exam next week and i'm going to kl over the vesak day weekend. smart right? the ethics proposal for my thesis also just got approved so i have 4 months to write my 10 000 words. using a very scientific method, i broke it down to 500 words every 3 days starting from right about now. really fun times man. so, please wake me up only when september ends.

speaking of which, time flies. this time last year i was planning EU07. now, i'm engaged and just bought a flat. how things change eh.

also,i really admire people who can express themselves and be all emotional without feeling any embarrassment. be it while talking, blogging, or whichever other way they choose to do it. i always get choked up and keep it to myself seeing how i'm not the mushy nor complimentary type. hmm.

wake me up when april ends

sometimes i think that the only reason i'm not having a breakdown yet is because of my ability to procrastinate even though i have a million things to do. for e.g. i took fri off cos i have to complete 1 assignment, 1 presentation and 1 thesis title + purpose (it's harder than u think ok) this weekend. fast forward to sunday evening and i still have 1 assignment, 1 presentation and 1 thesis title + purpose to finish. did make some progress on the assignment but haven't even started on the other 2 things. was supposed to meet up with groupmates to put together the presentation today but they're just as lazy as i am to go out... probably haven't finished their parts either. haha.

spent the entire day today doing the assignment in between watching tv, surfing shopping sites (even though i'm not getting anything cos i totally blew the budget this month) and napping. if i had half the discipline of some people, i'd probably be worry free as of lunchtime or something. but nooo... and tonight i need to discuss the assignment cos it's downright vague and confusing and critique 6 papers for the presentation and come up with a legitimate thesis title + purpose which our supervisor can approve so that we can finally move on and do up our proposal.

so, seeing how i have no one to blame but myself if i'm rushing things last minute, i don't actually have the right to break down or get stressed do i?

next weekend i have a 50% proposal and the thesis proposal to complete. think it's unfair that the 50% proposal in lieu of exam is due on the last day of class instead of the first week of exams (which would've given us more time to complete something which is worth that much) but the lecturer seems biased against/for some students so i will not pursue an extension request.

i will have another nap instead and print out the proposal 2 hours before it's due.

trich(er) happy

so i spent a small fortune last night on my hair. yes, my hair. it was an awesome experience and i would go back again (confirm), but my heart still aches from the amount i spent. haha. yeah this is what happens when u're trying to save as much as possible but some things just get in the way. went to the ke.ras.tas.e hair ins.titu.te at j.'s s.alon with shereen, cos only she will understand the need for pampering. lol. been wanting to go for ages but only just made the appointment this month cos of the bonus.

we thought it would just be a matter of us going to the salon and getting our hair did, but no... it was a spa experience sia! well i should've expected it cos i read about it in a mag, which is why we were there in the first place. since we were first timers obviously they gave us the full package thingy ah. nice setting, very serene and plush, with a gushing waterwall feature and all. got changed into comfy robes and had our hair and scalps analysed. omfg! the machine magnified our hair 10 000 times and i must say mine is in a sorry state. damn gross looking u know. i already knew my scalp was both oily and flaky and hair was getting thin but she confirmed it i guess. scalp is also sensitive. why am i not surprised. hair is not bad tho, pretty good. there are supposed to be 3-4 strands growing from each root but i had like, 1 or 2. pathetic rite. each strand wasn't very thick also. shereen's was twice the thickness of mine. haha.

so onwards to the treatment prescribed by the hair stylist person. think i had to have like 4 different products on. so leceh for such a small amount of hair. wahaha. it was pretty nice, she really worked my scalp man. package also included a head, neck and shoulder massage so it was quite relaxing. haven't had a massage in aaaages. shereen added on a trim and a manicure. i didn't cos i think if i had a trim i'd be tempted to get my hair shorter than it should be. haha.

my only gripe was that the person assigned to me couldn't speak english and was using hand gestures and occasional words to tell me what's going on. it's one of my major pet peeves when service sector people can't speak english. i decided to let it go lah, cos she was quite nice. can't blame her if her clientele is mainly made up of taitais and she has no obvious need to learn english rite? *rolls eyes*

anyways, got my hair blown straight as a finale and it looked pretty nice. it seems that i'm currently growing a bob of sorts. hmm. ended up getting some products too cos i wanna continue having the results at home. shampoo for sensitive scalps and treatment to stimulate hair growth. the treatment will last me about 6 wks so i guess i will go back to the salon after that. if the analysis shows that there's no difference then i'll know not to go there anymore. haha. anyone wanna join? :)

t.m.t.h.

that's too much to handle for the uninitiated. haha.

so, uni started again in early march and i've done one presentation so far, with one more to go. both are worth 30%. like wtf rite? since when so much? my ea.tin.g di.sord.ers mod has no exams. woohoo! but there's a 50% assignment which is due on the same day as my presentation for that mod. my res.ear.ch me.tho.ds mod is pretty ok, no stats, just methods. thank god. there's an assignment due in a couple of wks which i haven't started on. why? besides being a procrastinator i actually have to do my th.esi.s pr.opo.sal, which is going nowhere at the moment. die ah die. need to give a brief outline today and hand in proposal by wed otherwise we won't make it for the april et.hic.s com.mit.tee. if we don't make it then we'll be completely screwed cos there's only 5 months left till the thesis is due in which time we need to find participants, collect data, analyse and write a 10 000 word document. good times.

in light of the lack of time that i have for everything, what did i do yest? that's right, slack off. today i won't have as much time as yest cos i'm going to my aunt's mau.lud and will probably need to stay there for the better part of the day cos she did help out loads at the engagement. can't help it ah, will definitely have to make a quick exit sooner rather than later.

in other news, got my bonus this mth y'all. variable + performance bonus = more moolah in my bank. wahaha. i'm a happy camper. when my super told me my banding which entitled me to the perf bonus i was like, ok thanks. she went on about how i was doing a pretty good job and how the next year the banding will be split further and not as many people will get the bonus. i went and said, in all honestly, if it was split this year i doubt i'll get the bonus. she was like, ok why do u say that? then i'm like, well i don't think i'm performing as well as i should. now which person in their right mind would say that to their super eh? i am, of cos, not in my right mind, since i don't intend to stay very long. that is, if i manage to find another job.

anyways, in minah khawin2 news, we booked our photog/vid for the actual days. freaking hell, damn ex lor, even though it was the cheapest package we could find. we blame our parents (read: mums) for drawing it out into a 3 day affair, which would naturally jack up prices for services such as the aforementioned as well as mak andam and food. food i don't quite care ah, cos parents paying for it. but the rest... ouch man. there goes my exotic honeymoon. happily enough i have decided on a theme for his dulangs- greek is the word. so exciting! i almost have full artistic control over the wedding, subject to mum's willingness to layan me. wahaha.

oh shite

carrying on with the cat theme, i think i'm allergic to hakka.

However, if you have a cat in the household, then you would want to suspect some allergies going on. Aside from an onset of colds, coughing, or sneezing, there are other symptoms of a cat allergy. If you have experienced most of them frequently, then you do have the allergy. The other symptoms are rashes, sore throat, and ringing ears. You may also experience a burning sensation in the eyes, or the eyes could redden and be watery. What is nice is that there are ways to reduce the effects of the allergy on your body. This way you would still be able to keep your cat with you.

coughing, check. onset of colds, check. ringing ears, check. red and watery eyes, check and check.

noooooooooooo! i absolutely refuse to get rid of him, even tho my dad is more than happy to do so. he's like, give him away give him away. HELL no. i guess this just means that i can't sleep with him anymore at nite. he'll need to go to my bro's room. oh well...

what's life without a cat

so right, i think hakka is smarter than he lets on. why?

a. always always uses his litter tray no matter how much he's busting for a pee/ poop. well there was once when he did it in my room while i was in europe (out of spite, mebbe) and he peed on my blanket a while back cos i didn't wake up to let him out of the room. other than that, has the best record out of all the cats i've had.

b. knows that i can hear him walking around on my keyboard at night and that it pissed the shite outta me enough to get me out of bed and take him off it. after which he runs meowing to the door to get let out.

btw he's kept in my room at night cos he tends to go fishing in the pond when no one's around.

c. seems to know when i'm stressed/ sad/ sick and will come and cuddle excessively. so cute rite?

d. will be waiting for me at the door when i get back home. will also run and hide when there's someone at the door who's a stranger. don't even need to knock or ring the bell lor, he'll run away when he hears the footsteps. his hearing and sense of smell are pretty good i guess. he just chooses to ignore me when i call him.

e. he's my unreliable alarm clock. i reckon he wakes me up only if he needs food or he wants to get out of the room. other than that he'll only come and meow in my ear if my mum asks him to.

complaints

remember how i was saying the flight bookings that i wanted to make didn't go thru? i'm not the only one! having as much time as i do in the office, i read the news. a lot. does this mean that people who have nothing better to do are the updated ones? haha. apparently there are others out there who were having the same probs but were not as lucky as me. their so called 'error' bookings did go thru but they found out too late and got confirmations and everything and had to write in for refunds. even though it was the system's fault. like wtf rite?

i guess companies should get their systems right and well maintained so things like this don't happen. best part is when i called their hotline during my error, the customer service person seemed damned nonchalant about it lor. i was like, so mine didn't go thru, i'm sure other people will be having the same probs. aren't you going to tell your IT people or engineers? she was all like, oh as long as your card number isn't here then it didn't go thru. so you're not going to get the system checked? no you can just try again later. what if the same thing happens? you can call in to book but there will be a fee of $10 per ticket. yeah ok but it's a system problem which could be affecting other customers too, are you going to tell your system people? no if it's confirmed you will get a confirmation email.

then i got tired.

which brings me to another issue. i have had damned lousy reception in my own house since the day i moved in. i finally sent in feedback to si.ngt.el and they did reply quite nicely (though i think it sounded patronizing, but that's just me.) that they would get one of their engineers to check it out. i'm not sure if they did or not cos it's been a week and they haven't updated me on anything. yesterday my line got cut off 4 freakin' times while i was on the line with f. adakah patut?? no, it ain't my phone ok. mum experiences it too.

oh oh and i am this close to losing it while on the train to and from work. got smelly people, people who talk too loud on the phone, inconsiderate people who won't move in, people who block the escalators... come on!!! you have got to be kidding me man. completely ungracious society. to make a comparison, while i was in aust, the guys almost always gave up their place in the bus queue/ seat, opened doors for women. what happened here sia? yeah ok we're supposed to be all equal and shit but a bit of gentlemanly behaviour wouldn't hurt lor. the women aren't any better. absolutely hate it when they rush in for seats. have more class will you? or do a smooth expert block like i do, as witnessed many times by ro.han.a. wahaha. being big is helpful sometimes yo.

i know, i like to comprain comprain. bite me.

planning ahead

thurs
f: eh, h.s.b.c. cards has a special for cardholders. i feel like going on hol...
n: oh really? hmm looks like siem reap is going for cheap. know anyone with the card?
f: yeah actually r has it
n: ok so go ask him then! i'll go discuss with my travel buddy s.r. and see if anyone else wants to come along

fri
n: so rite, after intense discussions, we are ons! (outlines participants, possible dates, budget for whole trip)
f: whoah u really thought it out huh?? ok great will ask r when i see him tonight

meanwhile, n is getting completely stressed out over the possibility of not catching the deals and reconfirms everyone, msging f every couple of hrs or so. f is busy at work and is naturally annoyed but being the patient sweetheart that he is, doesn't scream at n.

fri nite
n: so... how? are we on? can i get the card details? he ok with it? what if there are not enough seats left for the 6 of us?
f: relax, we can settle it tomoro, got until sun. i'll ask him to confirm later ok

n is overly excited and completely baffled as to why this isn't as high priority to everyone else as it is to her. gets even more stressed out. can't sleep well and has dreams about it. well, more like nightmares.

sat
n finally gets the details of everyone and things go smoothly... until the stupid booking system cocks up and the booking doesn't go thru. twice. n calls the airline to make sure that r's card isn't being abused or hijacked and tries again. fails again. n gets fed up and thinks screw it. goes and has a nice evening out with f walking around chinatown and pretending to be tourists.

sun
ladies and gentlemen, we have lift off!! booking finally goes thru and n can enjoy what's left of her weekend. well, for a while. needed to place one more person on board, for which the booking didn't go thru in the afternoon, but did in the evening. peace at last.

so, 5 months from now, 6 of us are heading over to si.am rea.p y'all! can't wait!! wanted to go since last year but tix were always too ex. yay. :) won't get too excited yet ah, still a while away...

p.s. i have no idea why pe.opl.e wr.it.e lik.e th.is b.ut i as.sum.e th.er.e's a g.oo.d re.aso.n?

it's a boy!

sis in law went for a check up last week and a scan. i'm getting a nephew y'all! well there's a 99.9% chance anyway. saw the pics and from them, it definitely has a willy. lol. from about 3 angles. due sometime in august, possibly around my birth date. how much u wanna bet he's gonna be my fave anak sedara if we share the date? :)

part quartre- :D :D :D :D :D

well obviously i was pretty darn excited about getting engaged. haha. things started out the day before the engagement, which happened to be my dad's and uncle's birthdays too. so lots of aunties and cousins came over to pour blood, sweat and tears into the preps. my dadi and nani manned the fort in the afternoon while the rest of us were running around singapore picking up flowers, food, cakes and brownies.

there was a torrential downpour at the time, and i got stuck in it on my way home from work. fool that i am, i left the shoe sole-ing to the last minute and had to wait around while it was getting done, in which time i consumed a double cheeseburger cos i was so damned hungry. yes yes, completely ignored the fact that i was supposed to look stunning the day after. tried on the baju and it fit mah, so what's the problem? got corset anyway. haha.

so yeah, got home just to go out again to the flower shop. damn pretty! damn cold also. was turning blue in the cold rooms sia. literally. even my glasses were fogging up! managed to get the flowers that would later make up the veritable garden that was his dulangs. very very pretty, i liiiiiiike. then went home and started prepping, while bro and parents went to get other stuff.

the night passed pretty fast, managed to get most things done with the help from the troops and minions. haha. that didn't stop my from sleeping late though. 2am! so much for beauty sleep. also squeezed in a short chat with the bf to get an update on his end. they were done by 11pm lor! unfair...

next morning, i stuffed myself cos i knew i was only gonna be able to have bite sized food for the rest of the day. so unbecoming of a future tunang hor? should have been starving myself but no... this is why i will probably never be anorexic. haha. was drinking loads of water too cos there was no way i'd be able to get out of the corset and outfit to pee once i was in them. this is called planning ahead.

mak andam came at around 12.30 (apparently it takes a good 2-3hrs to get ready) to get me all dolled up. i tell you ah, looking good hurts like a biatch! the fake eyelashes (which i completely loved) made my eyes a little watery, which was a good thing actually cos i was wearing contacts and they have a habit of getting dry. the hair was a complete nightmare. even after all the teasing and volumising, my hair was still too thin and short to make the side part fringe that i wanted! adakah patut? so she did a little scroll thingy circa 1950s and clipped on the hair extensions. looked pretty good in the end, thank goodness. felt i looked a bit like a drag queen at first, but after a while it grew on me. it helped that most people said i looked like a living mannequin so that boosted the ego a bit. :P apparently i was the first person to use those particular extensions and her mum had gotten the veil especially for me too. so nice right? preferential treatment cos they're neighbours at my mum's shop. hehe.

i moved over to my mum's room where all the goodies were so we could take pictures and stuff after the mak andam deemed me to be ready. smiling is tiring. haha. my mum was like, don't laugh too much, your make up will crack! cos i was all giggly and 'vibrating' when i was in the room. excited mah... cannot meh? got a little nervous when his side came and was taking lots of deep breaths so i wouldn't break into fits of giggles again. couldn't exactly hear what was going on outside, so i was happily in my own world and my cousins were in the room too, so they were playing the fool, as usual.

after a not so long period of time, his mum came in with the ring followed by a pretty huge posse. think about 50-60 people came from his side. was concentrating on his mum and the ring, then his parents, and taking photos with them. so i didn't really look up until a few minutes later and omg!! felt like a celebrity sia. wahaha. so many people and cameras and they were all directed at moi. a bit scary ah, i was like, damn y'all. but managed to keep it cool and just keep smiling... his family was all pretty excited and keen to take photos so that was good. according to my dad even the guys were lining up outside and were asking the ladies inside to hurry up. wahaha. so funny. he was like, that's the first time i've seen men who are more gam chiong than the women when it comes to taking photos.

it was pretty quiet after the dulang exchange went down and his side went to makan. had relatives and friends around, even managed to recount on the proposal with the girls. well, some of it anyway. haha. i couldn't change out of the costume though, cos needed to do 'studio' shots and take photos with him when he came at night. it was pretty tiring, cos the bouquet i had was sooo heavy. 30 roses, don't play play. my old neighbour made it for me, it was gorgeous. it looked so... extravagant? dunno if it's the right word to describe it but, u know. of course there were the mandatory ring shots as well. haha. took a while to get the macro right but i think we managed in the end. :) had lots of couple shots but the ones that will go into the album for circulation among family will be G rated. wahaha. the PG ones only for us and close friends. lol.

that, my friends, pretty much wraps up the engagement. it was all excitement and food, basically. wahaha. if you were expecting me to get all emo... then obviously you don't know me that well, do you?

p.s. photos at the usual link... look to the right hand bar hor.

part trois- my goodies

if you're wondering what the goodies were... wonder no more! shall lift the veil of mystery that was shrouding the engagement... well ok, not much of a mystery to those in the know, but those who dunno or weren't expecting it so soon, here we go.

we actually went shopping for the ring waaay back then during the sales... i can't remember which sale period but it was before the xmas sales, sometime in the 4th quarter of the year. think in one of the much earlier posts i wrote, i said something about my ability to walk into a sale and come out with something at nett price. guess what? ahahah. yeah ok, there wasn't a discount on the ring but it was a really good low price. went to compare at other places and i just couldn't get the same quality for the same amount. brought the bf- oops, i mean fiance- to the store and walked out with a not one, not two, not three, but five stone ring. score! it's super brilliant cos of the cutting (hearts and arrows) so i was pretty gleeful about it. haha. didn't want a solitaire cos i think it's too typical. was going for a trilogy but the 5 stone looked a lot better on my fat finger.

then on 31 dec (i remember the date cos it was new year mah) we went to get his watch. this one got bargain one, managed a good price. haha. we were going in and out a couple of times, pretend to discuss and all... it's a seiko sportura kinetic chronograph watch. saw it a couple of days ago at one of the dept stores here and omfg! the price was like 550 bucks more than what i paid for his sia! this is why we should support small and medium businesses. shop local, people.

other goodies came in the form of food. gastronomical delights for him included a big ass cake, cupcakes, chocs, fruits, more cakes and curry puffs. go check out the pics! he gave me quite a lot more dulangs than i gave him tho. lol. think it was 14 vs 21 or something. :s i can't exactly remember who has given what but here's my list of thank yous. if i left you out sorry hor! lemme know and i'll edit. wahaha.

double heart cake- mooch & shereen

cupcakes- zuraidah

chicken pies- huda

perfume- yaya, candida, yasmine, aishah, fiza
profiteroles- kak yani (sis in law)
bunga rampai- dadi
eclairs- auntie no
walnut cake- no idea who, but it's yummy
cupcakes n earrings- kavi & sang
necklace n cute bear bride & groom- rohana & taibah
bouquet (30 white roses! damn heavy sia)- cik idah
pralines- buyin
cube cake- mama
bread basket with curry puffs- mama
brownies- mama
baju kurung, songkok, songket, sejadah- mama
pretty much everything else- mama & ayah
moolah- you know who you are!

well, i did pay for the mak andam and half my outfit! haha. naturally all proceeds from the engagement went to my mum. expensive business man.

ooh forgot to add in another blooper. his sis and zuraidah both ordered cupcakes from the same place, and apparently the orders got switched. so zuraidah ended up getting the cupcakes his sis ordered and vice versa. she was panicking and was like, shit naz, the cupcakes are purple! ahaha. the ones that we picked out were pink and purple and had only my name and his name on. pretty! the purple and white ones were pretty too, and they said 'selamat bertunang'. u know what the stupid thing is though? don't think i got solo pics of the cupcakes lor!! argh! this is what happens when i ask ari to be the unofficial photog. sighs. note to self- never again.

part deux- bloopers

first in the series cos they're easy to remember and funny as hell.

my uncle in attempting to do his good deed for the day, made a faux pas instead. he saw kavi parking in the handicapped lot downstairs, so he assumed she was just visiting for a while. after some time, some people started to pester him to let her know that she mite get fined if she doesn't move her car to the multi-storey carpark. so of course he went upstairs looking for her. he was like, eh, the car downstairs is yours right? maybe u should move it to the multi-storey carpark in case they saman u. kavi's like... uh it's ok i have a handicapped sticker. uncle: oh... ok then. after which he promptly went downstairs and started noisily blaming everyone for not seeing the sticker on the windshield.

in another incident, my dadi, parents and a few aunts and uncles saw some people walking around the block looking lost and carrying dulangs. they assumed that it was his side and they didn't know how to get to our place, so they enthusiastically waved them over and greeted them. only to find out that there was in fact another engagement going on and they were looking for the guy's side. in a different block. apparently my dad had even salam-ed some of the guys already. lol.

so, zub was my photog and buyin was the artistic director. we were taking pics and stuff before faisal's side came, so all his gifts were on the bed beside me. there was this one particular dulang with a basket made of bread and filled with curry puffs. it was quite tall and had a slim arching handle and all. very pretty! this basket was kinda in the way so zub attempted to move it without knowing that it was made of real bread. u know what happened lah. handle broke! buyin and i were the only witnesses cos everyone else in the room had their eyes on me (naturally. wahaha). zub froze and i was like, OMFG!! my little cousin hajar happened to be in the room at the time so she became the scapegoat for a bit... when in actual fact she was busy at the other end of the bed doing some other damage to my ladybugs on another dulang. wahaha. terror sey.

chaos ensued, with makciks panicking and attempting to fix the basket with tape. it looked attached, but just that it was broken and any movement will make the piece fall off lah. sticking attempts by a few kecoh people proved to be futile, so i was like, u know wat, forget it, it still looks whole, and will probably crumble if we keep touching. we can stick it later if it completely falls off when his side carries it. everyone was like, oh ok... and there was peace once again in the shire.

of course, i had a bridezilla moment. would u expect any less? wahaha. so right, i was sitting in the room and waiting for the engagement to get underway, when i felt a breeze near my ear. my veil wasn't secured properly and one side was lopsided. i was like, help help, someone fix my veil. i couldn't move to look at the mirror behind me cos i couldn't stand and i would probably make the veil worse. no one helped me lor! i ended up demanding for my mum (cos she knows how to fix these things) and throwing a bit of a hissy fit. lol. of cos she came to the rescue. eventually. candida and yaya and all were like... oh oh she's getting pissed off and whiny...

last but not least, faisal, his bros and his cousin came over at nite. the plan was to take couple shots and stuff. in all the excitement, guess what? forgot to take pics with his bros and cousin lor!!! i was like, argh!! so stupid rite? best part is they were sitting outside the entire time we were taking photos inside. wahlau eh. our shoot was quite long sommore. i don't know how it slipped our minds that we hadn't taken with them. sighs. felt so bad about it sey.

that's the end of the engagement bloopers series. next series akan datang!

prelude to project 090109 part une

i'd love to try and get away with saying 'a picture is worth a thousand words' but i owe some people a proper entry. wahaha. i'll try to be semi coherent as i recount the day's moments, but no promises. :P stay tuned ok, still working on it. really.

zzz

so, i have decided that i desperately need a break soon and i'm even willing to pay preposterous cny peak period surcharges, as long as the total bill (inc. spending) is less than 500 bucks. please please please let seats and accom still be available. sorry rohana for not being able to make perth happen! can afford within region breaks only at this point in time. haha.

anyways, last exam for this trimester on wed. wish me luck peeps, it will hopefully not go the way of last week's exam- to the dogs. i take comfort in the fact that each module this sem is only worth 10% of the entire score for this course. phew. i am not beyond salvation! yet.

also need to get in some sort of exercise before sat... just realised that i haven't gone for a run since 2007. haha. oh well shall depend on my power walking for now.

see u guys on sat man. u know who u are!

p.s. seeeeee i refrained from turning this into a u-know-what post!

i need a hero

just spent pretty much the entire weekend watching the heroes marathon instead of studying for my exam on wed and doing my essay due on fri. well done.

easy come easy go

according to victoria's secret, my favourite bras are on sale. alas, i am but a pauper until jan 09. haha. actually, i'm starting to believe the, uh, belief, that good things happen when u're gonna get married. i just got an increment y'all! alhamdulillah. ok it's not much but i'm still grateful for it cos it will allow me to save 100 bucks more each month. adds up, that's 1.2k over a year! i got a little bitter when comparing to others who got the increment too but hey, everyone's rezeki is different eh. just glad that it's before the march bonus. woohoo! hopefully the bonus will be pretty substantial. keeping fingers crossed.

in other munny matters, just dropped about 1.5k in deposits on wedding related stuff. yeah, i know, tell be about it. i didn't intend to spend as much as i am on deco alone but it seems that everyone was happy with my choice and didn't even wanna consider the other ones that i thought were pretty. chosen one= gorgeous, glamourous and classy. other options= simple, pretty, clean. personally i really wouldn't have minded the other options... but oh well. as rohana said, she wouldn't have expected anything less, and i do have a reputation. haha. naturally i'm gonna try to convince the bf to go for the pretty and clean one. :p also settled my mak andam and studio/ outdoor shoot stuff. things are coming along pretty nicely i would say. next headache- photog and vid for actual days which won't burn another hole in my(our) raggedy pocket(s).

the reason i could get the chosen one and not 'settle' for the others is because of people. my mum initially wanted to top up the amount that was over budget but i insisted on not taking. couple of days after that, my bro said he would sponsor 1k for the wedding. thanks bro! woo freakin' hoo! ape lagi, went for the deco lor... could've put it to other use but like i said, i wasn't the only one who was keen on it. also, we also kinda knew the deco people and got a massive discount and extras. yay. :D if none of this had occurred, i wouldn't have been able to get the chosen one. i wouldn't have minded either way but it seems that everyone wanted me to take it. it also made me realise that your wedding isn't just about you, its about family and friends too. have to be able to keep yourself and the majority happy and it's no easy feat. this is when you also realise how generous people can be and how lucky you are. got quite a bit of sponsorship for the wedding and quite a lot for the engagement. to those who contributed, a huge THANK YOU in advance for sharing in these occasions... without you, they probably wouldn't be half as great.

ok lah time to zzz ready. supposed to be working on my ethics essay and studying for my exams but no... got an ulcer and a tembil aaaaaah!! so irritating. haven't had one in ages. looked up the english equivalent (which is 'stye' btw. thanks rohana!) and to cut a long story short, it happens when you dig your nose and then rub yr eyes. eeeeeeee. gross sia. infected gland or something. oh well. hoping it'll go away by the time the engagement comes around.

this sounds like a minah kawin2 post. noooooooooo.

we've come a long way, but we're not too sure where we've been

it's that time of the year y'all, to reflect on 2007. i would say that it has been a pretty eventful 12 months. in no particular order:

europe 2007
this was just the best vacation ever lah. thanks to ez and zur for helping to make it happen. we had a blast and i would so totally do it all over again. ok ok so my travelog kinda got truncated around italy or so but hey, the memories will remain with me forever.

closure of loans dept/ transfer new dept
what can i say? work is still the bane of my existence. new management, new style. even though we were making a good profit and were embarking on a whole new marketing campaign, it was not meant to be. was perfectly happy there with my supervisors and colleagues, even though my work scope could've been beefed up a bit. went on a pretty passive job hunt in may, as my bond was ending in july and i wanted out sooo bad. unfortunately i did not manage to find anything suitable, probably due to the fact that i myself did not have a clear idea of what i wanted. in july, i started at my new dept. think it was my partly my fault that i did not fit and and i still don't. i didn't feel the need to put any effort in as i wasn't counting on staying very long. 3 months max, i told myself. 6 months on, i'm still here.

starting 4th year psych
this is why i'm still in my current job. i really don't think there is any other place where i can have the kind of work life balance that i have now. i can take leave anytime, with any amount of notice, i can take time off, i can do school work during office hours, i can skip out on meetings that i'm chairing or attending just cos it's 6pm and i need to go for classes. like seriously, where else will they allow you to skip out on meetings for goodness sake? not to mention the dec and march bonuses. dear god, please please please let the march bonus be worth it for the extra excruciating amount of time i'm spending here. this course is pretty intense and i need all the balance i can get.

relationship
04 07 2007 saw me giving up my 'keep my options open' mantra in favour of commitment and a serious relationship. i have to say it's a great switch and i'm thoroughly enjoying myself. i also have the big event to look forward to/ worry about for the next 375 days. earlier in the day at work i started reminiscing about how it has already been a year since shaz, di and i piled into farn's car to go catch the fireworks at marina bay, followed by a late nite session at simpang. it was pretty cool huh? one year on, i spent a quiet new year's with my bf, playing tennis in the afternoon and at night, walking from parkway parade to siglap and having a coffee there- and there's no place else i'd rather be than with him, anytime, anywhere. of cos this doesn't mean that i can't have a social life but it seems that a lot of people are nani-ing too. wahaha. u know who u are!

u and me we can light up the sky if u stay by my side we can rule the world

moving house
goodbye peaceful reservoir, hello ghetto tamp. we finally made the move after the board won against the dude who didn't wanna sell and took it all the way to high court only to get thrown own pretty much immediately. hah! padan muka. we also felt kinda cheated cos this was supposed to happen a year ago, and guess what happened in that one year. that's right, the property market heated up and prices went sky high. meaning that we naturally had to pay higher prices for a house now. damn u, u greedy bastard! at least we got a pretty good price on our place. my new room is quite awesome even though it's smaller by a crapload than my old room. ah well. the rest of the house is pretty cool too.

facebook
damn u kavi for introducing me to this! wahaha. enough said. had an brief but intense affair with graffiti on superwall (dead now), scrabulous (which is waning) and having a current obsession with fluff friends. my al dente is whoopin' ass y'all. facebook is not helping me stop my procrastinating. argh!

with that said, i guess i'll do my resolutions another day.

HAPPY NEW YEAR &
HOPE YOU'LL HAVE AN
AWESOME 2008!!