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August tales
12:49 AM
August tales

Okay I feel bad for neglecting my blog cause even Wai Ee who's in Down Under has time to regularly update. But you know, I've been busy with work and when I'm not working, I'm at home recuperating or out of the house or I'm outstation. And I've been sick. I seem to spend most of my time in both our houses or in 1U. Sigh. Anyway, I've stopped working so hopefully I'll have more time to breathe and relax for a bit. I just got back from Camerons last weekend and I'm off to Penang soon for a kick-back chilling blue sky holiday which I need so badly. Along with the delightful smorgasboard of Penang food which is so overloaded with calories which I don't care about and am going to stuff myself silly with it till I waddle around like a penguin.

And I'm ashamed to say that I've only 2 posts for the month of August. So here goes, a condensed version of what I've been doing for August.

Started work at Osh Kosh B'gosh on the 1st of August. Designer clothes for kids. Imagine shelling out RM126.00 for a dress for a 6 month-old baby who will outgrow it in 3 months! And there was this customer who walked in and bought RM1700+ worth and paid in cash! And we had Ziana Zain walking in with her two kids, and she was very pleasant and polite. No snooty snooty stuff. And this lady who did the Omega 3 adverts came in with her kids and maid in tow. Her maid walked around the shop picking out clothes for the kids while she had to keep asking the maid if the clothes she picked would fit the kids or not. Kinda sad, imagine not knowing what size your kids wear. The price for fame and fortune and high-society glamour, I suppose. The supervisor is a really pleasant easy going lady and so is the senior lady. The third full-timer is really outgoing and slightly wacky in a very fun way and thanks to her I didn't get charged a processing fee and I got a good rate at the photo shop next door cause I'm a "neighbour". The full-timers are very nice and they do most of the heavy stuff, maybe because I'm the youngest and the freshest. And they laugh like crazy and ask me why am I so hardworking when I ask them if there's anything I can do because I'm so damn bored out of my mind. I even resorted to clearing out the cupboards and tidying and stacking up what I could because there wasn't anything to do. The other part-timer and I were so bored that we started filling up the record books till we reached 2008. Sigh. Yeah, we were that bored. Her husband works at GSC so its been kinda easy for me to get movie tickets and although she stopped working here, she's still ever so obliging. And we are very muhibbah. The supervisor and I are Chinese, the 2 other full-timers are Malays and the other part-timer who recently left is Indian. And we all banter and chit-chat in English, Malay and a smattering of Cantonese and Mandarin. Semangat muhibbah, kan? I am lucky to get such nice, warm and friendly colleagues. And I've stopped working at Osh Kosh already, so yeah that kinda basically is a summary of what my worklife has been.

Celebrated a friend's birthday in early August and my boyfriend cooked again which means I got to eat his yummy cooking. Pasta, garlic bread, pan-fried chicken... All I seem to do in the kitchen is watch him cook and do all the tiny stuff like clearing counters and oh, doing important stuff like tasting! =p

Results day came and went.

And we're now one step closer to that. It won't be easy, but its a step forward on that path.

Headed off to Camerons with the family. Haven't been there for years. Thank goodness for the new road. Had brunch at Kampar, there's this bread baked with chicken (either curry or herbs) inside that's really nice. I remember having that the last time we went to Camerons too. And uhh, I went shopping and bought a pair of pink shorts and a light brown skirt. Yes, I walk around PJ and I can't find anything and I step into a boutique at Kampar and I pick up stuff. Weird huh?

Resumed driving to Camerons and stopped by this strawberry+plant farm and snapped some pictures.
Dropped by this teahouse for tea and scones and brownies with icecream which were so delicious, but expensive. RM15 for a pot of tea and scones with butter, jam and cream! But so so so yummy!!! Sigh. Warm scones. Mmmm... Walked around their so-called tea plantation, which was really really tiny and I bet you that it was planted there for commercial purposes, to give the area an atmosphere cause everyone was walking up and down and bumping and brushing the plants. Drizzled and we swiftly made our way to Equatorial hotel.

Quite a good number of Middle Eastern tourists. The ladies must enjoy the cool temperature very much since they have to be garbed in their black swirling burkhas with kohl-rimmed dark, mystic eyes that peek out at the world. There is wifi here and its free, why didn't I bring my laptop?! Checked into the apartment. To find that out of the two bathrooms, only one shower can be used at a time, or the hot water will go off! Sigh. Of all places for the heater to malfunction, when I need a hot shower the most. Headed down to Brinchang for steamboat dinner which was not as cheap as I remembered, but still it tasted so good in the cold night air. They were using the school hall as the venue for some stock clearance and yes, I went in there and bought a pair of Angelo Moda black heels. Aaaargggh!!! What is it with me and shopping in weird places?! Also bought this stapler thing which can sew stuff. Very handy to have around. I just hope it doesn't spoil on my first time using it.

Woke up real late the next day. Gosh, it feels so darn good to sleep in. The blankets were so warm and the floor was so cold. Went to the butterfly farm and honey farm and whatnots. Drove down to Brinchang for lunch and we had western. I know its so weird, but I was sneezing and freezing and I really wanted some good, hot soup inside me. Walked around looking for our pancake shop. The last time we were in Camerons a few years back, we kept going to this pancake shop to eat cause everybody loved the pancakes there and the shop owner could recognise us. Sadly, it seems like they have closed. Sigh. Darn it. Spotted a few pretty good looking places that serve yummylicious looking pancakes and scones! ohcravingformorescones. But sadly, we were already too stuffed to sample more and the places were closed on Sunday. What the?! That's when business is the best! Oh well, I guess they'd rather enjoy life. Went to the park and my daddy was carrying my brother on piggyback, and I merajuk and said I also wanted. So damn funny le. Okay yes I know I'm 19 and way too old and too heavy for my daddy to piggyback but you know, I'm still daddy's girl. So stop laughing at me okay!

Daddy wanted to check out the golf course so we took a drive and saw a sign that said 'Church' so we stopped by and took a walk while mummy and brother napped in the car which we parked at 'Ye Olde Smokehouse'. Such lazybums. Tsk tsk tsk. At least we were making an effort to walk of the calories. 200 metres down the path, we decide to turn back and head for the smokehouse which is so so so old-world charm and enchanting and we check out their menu and 3 guesses, we decide to have tea and scones again! Haha. The place is seriously gorgeous. And seriously expensive. There were other family and couples having tea, most were in the garden. Sunny skies, cool breeze and atmosphere, green grass and flowers, white iron garden furniture, children romping in the background, the fragrance of blooms gently scenting the air, the aroma of fresh scones wafting among the tinkle of silver spoons stirring Earl Grey in fine china. It would be perfectly perfect if only you were here with me.

Went back to town, I think it was Brinchang and had steamboat again. If my dad had his way, I can predict the whole trip's menu. Steamboat, steamboat and more steamboat. But steamboat when its freezing and it was raining and we had to sit outside and the rain was kinda slashing in at some point and it was cold and I had a cold it was misery without that hot soup. Ahh..Thank goodness for warm tom yummy soup and hot chinese tea. Went searching for pancakes and found this shop but no, the pancakes weren't as nice as the one we had years ago. Headed back to the apartments because it was cold and I was having a runny nose and I wanted to be tucked up in bed under the warm sheets with you and hot soup for company. What I had was your copy of 'The Soulforge, Raistlin Chronicles Volume I' and my mobile. Phoeeey.

Woke up really late again, daddy disappeared real early in the morning to play golf. He wanted me to caddy for him, but my reason for not caddying was cause firstly, I was having a cold and it was crazily early, up by 7am on a holiday?! and it was really cold and wet at that hour and also cause there are no buggies! I mean, I used to tag along in Awana cause it wasn't so cold and it really was refreshing and there was a buggy to drive which meant I didn't have to trample through wet grass and the scenery was so beautiful and the ball-washers were so fun to play with. And I had a lot of fun joshing my dad about how many golf balls he'd lose this time and whether he would clear the river on hole 17 or not. No, I'm serious. I still sort of caddy for my dad at when he plays in Awana. My sis and I will sort it out who takes the first 9 holes and who takes the second 9 holes, my brother notwithstanding cause he's small enough to squeeze in the buggy. Caddying here means swapping and wiping golf clubs for my dad and washing the dirty golf balls and cheering him on when he gets a par and agonizing and joshing him gently over that double boogie along with water and biscuits and a book to entertain myself when he's taking so long and it always ends in meeting the rest of the family for buffet breakfast at the resort restaurant which overlooks the golf course.

Whew, I don't know where that came from. All I meant to say was, daddy went to play golf early that morning.

Lounged around the apartment munching biscuits and watching telly, it was a show about the invisible man. On the drive down to town, we stopped by to buy fresh produce, the veges and fruits and this is where daddy and I went crazy. We saw flower stalls and they were hocking flowers by the penny! It was umm RM3 for 5 stalks or something like that and we bought bunches and bunches of roses. Deep red ones, champagne coloured, buttery yellows, pale pinks and pure white ivories. Buy buy buy!!! And after buying those, we walked further down and saw a stall that were selling roses in bunches of about 12 stalks for only RM5. Damn, got conned! Anyway, some of the colour variety here were brighter and more striking and bought golden orange flamish ones with beautiful middle pinks and bright lipstick red roses and loads more. I think we bought about RM40 worth of roses which gave us about more than a 100 stalks of roses. Back home in PJ, I don't know what RM40 would get you, but I bet its way less than a 100 stalks. Bought back some geberas and baby's breath and some dried purple flowers and 3 cactis for Daniel which are now sitting outside on the shoerack. Stopped by the teahouse again for a final round of scones and tea and choc brownies with vanilla ice-cream.

Resumed the drive back home and I didn't want to drive on the windy roads so mummy drove and I drove once we hit the highway cause daddy was sleepy and mummy was tired and I didn't really mind cause I felt a bit guilty about sleeping in so much. Seems to me like all I did on this trip was eat, sleep, read, text and sneeze. Oh well, I really needed to catch up on my food and sleep and reading list anyway. There were trucks blocking the road and soldiers marching, probably for the Merdeka Day parade. Needless to say, it caught Daniel's attention. Stoppped by somewhere for this 'cendol special' and laksa which didn't taste very good. Drove home to mutterings from my half awake dad that went "Keep your distance" and "Slow down, why are you going so fast, don't go over 120km/h". Ah well, arrived home in one piece, car and all.

Came home to brilliant news that my boyfriend got into Nottingham Malaysia! =)

I nearly died of suspense while driving, wondering and trying to figure out what was it that you wanted to tell me. Almost 2 hours of flooring the accelerator so that I could reach home faster and talk to you. Well, not really flooring but you know what I mean. A truly pleasant surprise indeed, after all that bouts of worry and nerve-wracking anticipation and sleepless nights.

That pretty much covers August except for the Penang trip which was the last week of August and deserves a whole post in itself.

Will edit and post pictures once I'm at home.


Written on Saturday, August 25, 2007; 12:49 AM
3 comments
Harvest time
12:52 PM
Harvest time

Running through cornfields, their bright yellow ripe heads bowed low. The heady sweet smell of fresh grain. The grinding and rumbling of gathering machines rake the earth as they gather up the harvest. Little children in overalls and wide-brimmed straw sun hats, the girls with baby pink ribbons, run behind the machines laughing gaily and picking up the remaining stalks that the machine missed. The fields echo with their joyful laughter, grown men pause their work for an instant to watch the little figures running down the whispering rows and they are momentarily transported back to their own happy, laughter-filled childhood days. The barns are filled to the seams with the harvest. Little ones romp merrily on soft haystacks, an occasional sneeze from the gentle sheafs that tickle accompanied by giggles punctuate the air.

I can see the scene so clearly in my mind. But somehow the words don't do it justice. They don't capture the colour of the fields, the scent of fresh corn or the sound of the children's laughter.

Can you see it?

Written on Thursday, August 23, 2007; 12:52 PM
0 comments
Ophelia's worn with an innocent smile
4:51 PM
Ophelia's worn with an innocent smile

I've discovered the title to the song that has been melodically haunting my mind.
I've eaten one too many Strepsils till the lingering taste lingers past what it should.
I've missed goodness knows how many birthday dinners, movie outings and shopping sprees.
I've been out of touch with the inside flow of what is happening to who and where.
I've said too many "Talk to you later's" where later seems to become never.
I've stopped sleeping at reasonable hours and started getting up at reasonable hours.
I've learned that being smart doesn't necesarily make you right.
I've discovered the title to another song that was submerged in my "I want to know the title and the words so I can dance to it" list. So deeply submerged that when I saw the words, that it came springing out like the way a roll of ribbon does when you tug on it sharply.
I've received too many IM's and texts that have the undertone of "Where have you been for the past few weeks or have you just dropped off the earth and forgot about the rest of us?" I've smiled at every kid that walks into the shop and work always seems better when they return my smile with a smile of their own, some shy, some cheeky, some sweet and some so innocent that you want to wrap them up in white cotton wool and protect them.
I've roses blooming all over the house, shades of red and pink, yellow, champagne and white. I've not mastered the art of knowing when to use a sledgehammer or a delicate chisel.
I've hopped, skipped and jumped from rock to rock in a brook that is alternately crystal clear and gently murky with floating grains of sand which flows rapidly and gurgles gently.
I've been looking inwards and not outwards, rooted in my shoes and not stepping into others.

I've been away for what feels like just too long.

Written on Wednesday, August 22, 2007; 4:51 PM
4 comments
Stiflingly heavy air with feet
2:40 AM
Stiflingly heavy air with feet

Its freaking 2.40am and I should be in bed with the aircon full blast because its so damn stiflingly warm and I have to go to work in less than 10 hours but I just can't. And yup, I'm blogging on my new laptop. Its nice to finally have my own laptop, smaller screen and keyboard than what I'm used to, my hands feel a lil cramped, but the images look sharp and loads of stuff to play around with. Its just that I'm still a wee bit annoyed that I didn't manage to pick out my own laptop personally and the casing is plain black (yes I'm being childishly bimbotic here but I was hoping for a light pink or blue or even silver casing) and there's so much techie stuff to deal with which I'm damn lousy at. Okay I'm being whiny and bengang tonight so I'll sing its praises another day along with my new phone (yup, I got this one in white and pink and its such a girl phone). For tonight, I'll just add it to that list of not-yet-blogged things which is growing longer by the day.
And I'll add that blogging list on to the things-that-have-yet-to-be-done list, which is also getting longer by the day. No surprises there because I know that I have a serious time management issue. I know that I should write down a list of things that I have to do, but the thought of another damned list makes me wanna tear up the idea into tiny pieces and sweep it off the table into the dustbin. So it seems that I'm also being damn irrational tonight. But its getting harder to juggle all that in the air, dealing with whichever one is that has the nearest expiry date and topmost priority (which partially means whichever one my parents are lecturing about) and getting ready on my tippy-toes and hands outstretched to hopefully catch all the pieces when seams start bursting and it all starts falling apart. They say practice makes perfect, but this is not something I want to perfect right down to a tee. Oh the relief rush when everything comes right through the skin of your teeth by the seat of your pants style is like no other, but its nice to have everything properly written down and done in apple pie mode. I think I'll get a nice sheet of foolscap and a blue ink pen and start writing down everything that has to be done and see if I can pull it through perfectly without having to do a Royal London Circus juggler act again.
One thing good, castle is now viewable properly without having to scroll sideways on the laptop. My wrists are sore from pressing against the laptop and the emanating heat. I need to get used to it. And I'm damn whiny, grumpy and irrational tonight. What wouldn't I do to be able to speak a few choice words along with an icy cold shower right now. And my tummy's acting up again. Damn it, I want to bite into something solid. I want a slice of beef pepperoni pizza right now!
And I've done it again. I'm not sure exactly how, but I think its connected to the lists. I really think I need to grow up out of these bouts of childish wilfullness. A part of me thinks and worries that I never will, and a part of me is reluctant to grow up so soon, knowing that with the growing pains will be the loss of a certain perspective and it won't be easy path to trudge. What an indecisive paradox I am. But I suppose I must, musn't I?
Must I really, now?

Written on Tuesday, August 07, 2007; 2:40 AM
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