summer love

I was recently posted to Kota Kinabalu to fly the flights from that base for 2 weeks. Actually about 16 days. I was very apprehensive at first and thought what did I do to deserve this? I had alot going for me in KL and I had alot of planning to do before my trip to Bali end of the month. So tried as I could to swap it with someone, I couldn't. So with a heavy heart I went for it. And guess what? I had the time of my life!! I was a huge hit over there. HUGE HIT. Stayed in Promenade and was treated like a king. Everything was walking distance. Spent my days there walking from one point to another. Just walking and taking in the sites and letting the locals take in my sight ;) I was a regular tourist.


This is the view from my room.



Spent the first few days exploring and sightseeing. I love doing this. Just walking and getting lost in the surroundings. Met up with Azhar I think my 5th day there and he took me to the markets where everything is extremely cheap, colourful and FRESH. Check out the veges and esp the chilies! The colours! And i adore vege.. I wanted to buy them which was ridiculous.



We then went to the seafood section. And the smell had me retching. Even now looking at the photos, I can still smell the seawater and the blood and all the fish. Lord.. I'm feeling woozy. But the fish were extremely fresh. You can still see some of the gills moving. And there were so many varieties. From stingrays to crabs and weird coloured fishes and HUGE fishes. But the smell..

And some of the fishmongers were cleaning and gutting the fish and you could see the innards being pulled out. I could have passed out. But truth be told, some of them were hunky! The mongers not the fish. And they were topless ;) Leave it to me to notice men in a bloodbath.




And until today I cannot tell what this is. Some weird underwater plantation. And I'm not sure what is in the plastic containers either. They look like intestines. Or gall bladders.


After that, we walked thru the clothes part of the market and got approached by porn peddlers. Then we went to look at massage parlours. And got approached by a particularly hot massuer named Jimmy who guaranteed a good massage. Very good. I should mention here that in that 2weeks I was in KK, I must have gone for like 5 or was it 6 massages. I must have tried every place the city had to offer. But none gave me a happy ending ;) Even Mr Jimmy.

Flying in KK was a breeze. The flights were short and simple. The heat however was unbearable. Could have died. But survived. Part of the city, somewhere after LeMeridien towards Hyatt had a park. And in this park there were all this weird structures which to my eyes served no purpose. They looked like pillars. Patrick says they're pots. I'm not too sure about that Patrick..



And at one point there was this huge splash of colours on the buildings! I was very intrigued. I'm all for colours. These buildings are flats with shophouses at the bottom. And it's quite cosy walking thru them. And you can get from point to another by walking using the elevated colourful pedestrian walk. From this mall to the next. Very ingenious.



There was this gelato/ice cream place near my hotel called Scoops. Which was a bad idea. Cos I was there almost every other day. And each time I tell myself I must take a pic of what I ordered. But it never happens. Cos after one spoon or one lick, I just couldn't stop. So to make up for the lack of gelato pic here, here is the overall look. The taste is to die for! Esp the chocolate orange! Smooth and tart.




So there you have it, my 2weeks went by in a flash. And what I thought was gonna be the death of me turned out to be the highlight of my year thus far. I met such interesting and wonderful people. Patrick being one of them ;) Really like the city. It's small. Quiet. But I don't think I could live there. In that 2 weeks, I've explored every nook and cranny of it. If I lived there, I'd go mad with mentalness. I also had the time to check out the islands Manukan and Sapi but I didn't take photos as I had left my phone back in the hotel. Didn't want to risk me dropping it or misplacing it. But the islands were nice. Esp Sapi. My return trip to Sabah would be to go to Sipadan. Someone close recommended it alot. I even had a free hair highlight! How cool is that? Yes.. I now have blonde highlights. It was silver initially then got switched to blonde. For free. Don't ask how or why.

On recommendation of my heartbeat HoneyStar i checked out this wonderful place called Little Italy. And the food is to die for! Very good Italian cuisine. Took pics of my first visit. Didn't take photos of my subsequent visits. Their bread basket comes with 4 varieties of bread. And their pastas are handmade. And the drinks come in cool pitcher like glasses.



Upperstar (about a block away) had nice drinks and ok ok food. Cheap drinks and the atmosphere was excellent. The view was amazing as we were upstairs on the balcony and you can people watch. But my eyes kept coming back to the person in front of me. The smoky silver of his hair kept caressing my thoughts ;)

All in all, KK was good to me. Very good. I enjoyed it alot. And am definitely pondering making a coming back visit. Lots to look forward to on my return trip. Azhar and the girls say I should. And I just might. But i'm also glad to be back to the old status quo. Nothing like home.

makes me wonder

These are recent pics taken at Nazlyn's sister's wedding. A good event. Really felt the family love and togetherness and it was great seeing Nazlyn glow from all her pride and love. I was so proud of her. Running around getting everything and everyone together and yet she looked so poised and elegant at the same time.


This is us. Me, Nazi, Vis and PY. The awesome foursome. This is one of our last times together as a foursome cos Vis is now with SIA and that means Singapore has claimed him. But don't we all look amazing?! Esp Nazi with her eyes all done up.


And this is us doing what we do best. Gossiping.

then you look at me

A few weeks ago, I decided to do something I don't normally do. I stepped out of my comfort zone and altered my hairstyle. What used to be spiky and gravity defying was now flat and humble. And this is how it is when i'm at home. Just me being my humble self. I stepped out in this style and got good responses all around. Some were shocked at how i looked and some said it doesn't suit me cos it does not represent my wild side. I'm like W H A T E V E R. But overall response was good.

BUT with this new style came new problems. People were approaching more and more. Most of the time, with my previous style, I sort of have an intimidating presence and a devil-may-care attitude which prevents alot of people from actually striking up a conversation with me unless they're really confident and daring. But with this new style, everyone was talking to me!

On the ride to work, this guy in front of me asked me for the time and then proceeds to talk about the weather. I'm looking at him in disbelief and just nodding and he's smiling and going on about the weather. And on that same ride a woman asks me about flight timings in and out of Macau and after I tell her she proceeds to tell me about her holiday plans which I seriously do not give a damn for. Out shopping, random people stop to ask me this and that. Often stupid trivial stuff. I feel like I'm wearing a "Feel free to approach and talk to me" sign.

Don't get me wrong. I welcome all sorts of human interaction but alot of the time, I just don't wanna talk to people. Seriously. So despite the good response, I've returned to my old hair which served me very well. And back to my regular diva-self.

I learned a lesson from all this, I look good no matter what ;) Sorry no pics!

you make me sick

SICK SICK SICK. I hate couples who dress alike! Colour coordinating is ok. BUT this one takes the cake. Lord.. help us all..

where the streets have no name

Had a big case of mistaken identity recently while on MSN. I have a friend who frequently uses the nick FallenAngel. In fact, it's become her solid calling card. We were close awhile back, always hanging out and talking about life and our dreams but grew apart recently. In fact, we only speak on MSN nowadays and ou conversations are polite and I guess we try to be as we were once but it just doesn't happen. So anyway, she went in for surgery a few months back. She says it's to remove a cyst or something but I suspect it's for cosmestic reasons ;) Being the caring friend that I am, i spread the word and we got a card sent out to her and never got back a thank you. So we assumed she died on the operating table.

Then a few weeks back, discovered her back online and we chatted for awhile. I never bothered asking her about the card. And life went back to normal. Today, I saw her online. Didn't bother to message her. She messaged me instead. And we spoke for awhile. I asked her how she was and so on. Then I asked when we were gonna meet and she said we can meet this week. Then the politeness in me came out and asked her how is she recovering from her surgery. And she asked me, "What surgery?"

I told her the surgery you went for in March. And she was like, "I didn't go for any surgery. U must be dreaming." I insisted, "No, you told me a few months back you went for surgery. I even sent you an get well card which i never got a thank you."

And she went on denying it. At this point, I thought to myself, this bloody bitch. She must have casually lied to me back then when I asked her out for a drink and she came up with this excuse of having to go in for surgery. And promptly forgot about it now. Which also explains why she didn't say thank you for the card. Cos she was guilty!! The dirty whore! I was so ready to attack her when I got this next message, "Are you sure you got the right person?"

Which sent me into turmoil. Uh oh.. Did i get it wrong? I checked the nick. Yea.. it was FallenAngel. I checked my contacts. Yea.. It was her. No way I could be wrong. No way no way. Then I saw another FallenAngel at the bottom. That was her. This was somebody else who had smartly changed HIS nick. I was flabbergasted. I was in shock. I wanted to die. I was like you fool!! Couldn't you tell me who you were in the first place? Lord.. I feel like such a fool.

Needless to say.. I was embarassed for all the thoughts and feelings I had. Sorry to the original FallenAngel. But you had it coming anyway.

grace kelly

These covers caught my eyes for different reasons. Rolling Stone never fails to amaze us with their cover shots. And this one is no different. It's been awhile since Rose was on any cover let alone nude. So it's qutie refreshing to see her. I like the shot alot. Classy.

Whereas the Carmen Electra one below has me in bewilderment. Where are her nipples?! Totally airbrushed away!! And are those chocolate coins on her or what? Nice shot too. Just abit sleaze. Then again, it is FHM.

these are a few of my favourite things

One of my most favourite words in the English Language is the word SALE. Just seeing the word sends shivers up and down my spine. Hearing it in conversations makes my heart beat faster with loving anticipation. Oh how I enjoy a good shopping spree. Nothing holds me back. No one can stop me as I flit from store to store. Retail therapy is the best kind of therapy. The thrill of choosing your items, the excitement of hunting for something new and the satisfaction of knowing your money has been well spent. I love shopping for anything anywhere. CDs, books, handphones, clothes, furniture. I can go hours and hours just walking and going thru every store. This is my element and I know how to work it.

I do my best shopping when I'm alone. Cos there is nothing to distract me. There are alot of fickle people out there who can never make up their mind and there are many who can't keep up with me. Like I said, once I set my eyes on something ain't nothing gonna hold me back. To illustrate, back when I was holidaying in Kathmandu, we were shopping at this extremely popular street. Bargains galore and things as far as the eye could see. The group I was with was content with browsing and just casually spending their time. They had no respect for retail. There were things to be bought!! So leaving them behind, I ventured out on my own. When my hands were tired from carrying all my purchases, I bought a huge backpack and stuffed everything in thus leaving my hands free to carry more things. When I was at last spent and content, I realized to my amazement I was hopelessly lost. I had lost track of my bearings in my mad wonder spree. So I wandered the streets of Kathmandu trying to find a landmark I remembered and also asking strangers for directions which wasn't much help cos it just kept sending me in circles. I could already visualize tomorrow's papers TOURIST FOUND DEAD HUGGING SHOPPING. No way was I gonna let some wannabe thug rob me of my shopping! But just when I had given up all hope I saw my group again and needless to say I ran to them.

I even enjoy shopping when it's nonSALE days. Just walking and emersing myself in all the retail. Makes me feel complete. I enjoy grocery shopping too and usually end up with more than what I had intended to buy ;) But my favourite places to shop are CD stores and bookshops. These places are heaven on earth for me and I'm like a kid in a candystore! I just go mad with all the choices and it is at these places that my money is most spent at.

Yesterday, there was a warehouse clearance sale on books in a huge HUGE warehouse. Needless to say I was there with my sister who shares my passion for books. I had to steady myself on her when I saw the rows and rows and mountains mountains of books. It was heaven. Only problem is nothing was categorized or alphabetized which is normally the case for sales like this. So you would find a kiddie book lying next to a how to spice up your sex life book. The assortment of books were mindboggling. We had a field day. Spending up to 5hours just book hunting and scanning all the titles. I even found a book called COOKING CRAWLIES which had recipes and pictures on how to cook bugs, worms, snails, crickets. I dropped the book of course. Not my cup of tea.

We spent just above 400ringgit. Which was a good deal cos I found so many good books and memorabilia that I've been searching for. It was money well spent. But carrying the books was not an easy task. Still it was a good spree.

It's no wonder that I alwasy struggle to budget myself. But I'm getting better at saving. And who knows one day I might have even saved up enough to buy a house.



Happy shopping! And here's to the next Big Sales!

for your eyes only

I want to see these on our streets. I want to see half naked men (and women) as I drive by on the highway. Or stuck in traffic somewhere in this forsaken city. Sigh..

This is just another self indulgence post. Nothing serious. Just fun. Do enjoy.

caught in the moment

This is a true paparazzi snap. Don't you think? I having so much fun last weekend that I didn't even realize there were cameras around. And look where my photo ended up?

But truth is, I LOVE this picture. You can see every detail of my gorgeous shirt. You can see all the features of my facial structure. And the chain I was wearing is so perfectly draped on my chest. My hair all done up and gravity defying. And the bottle so clear and poised. It's a good shot. I like it. Which is why I agreed to it being used. It's a great shot. Congratulations to Ayu who took it. It's easy to get good shots when you have a beautiful subject ;)

I totally can see how celebrities can get caught up in the moment and then having their pics turn up in the local tabloids or internet. But I'm very happy with this shot so no complains from me.

Story behind the photo is... It was a friend's birthday. Bottles after bottles were opened and I think this was like the last bottle left so there was competition going on to see who could finish it or something like that or who could swallow for the longest time. Mine was exactly ten seconds. Mind you, I was already extreme tipsy by that time, and I really didn't want to down the bottle NEAT but I thought what the heck? I'm only young once. So i swallowed as much as i could for ten seconds before giving it up. AND did i burn!! My teeth, my gums, every cavity in my mouth was on fire!! And my throat was screaming for help! Whatever germs were in my mouth that night, definitely did not survive. And I am proud to say, I did not throw up altho I came very close to but I didn't.

So here's to the next party! And to the paparazzi all around the world!

sittin up in my room

This weekend, I finally managed to repaint my room. And I'm sharing the results. It took 2 whole days. To move out everything and then do the preliminary stuff, and then mix the paints, and then actually start painting. Then move everything back in. Backbreaking! But it's a change of colour and scene so I'm glad.

And not to mention, in the midst of all this, I still managed to find the energy and time to go clubbing on Saturday. Came back at 6am. Was in church at 10am. Then back to doing up my room immediately after that. Haven't slept since.

I wanted to do a very disco-ey effect but I decided in the end, the cost would be ridiculous and it would be too time consuming. But this is good enough. The colour is cooling and soothing.

God knows how long this colour scheme will stick with me. Stay tuned for more episodes of Terry's DIY workshop.

i think we're alone now

A few days ago, my mum was sitting outside in the porch under the mango tree, cutting fruits for tea enjoying the breeze. She's been under alot of stress lately and she always finds it a relief to be under the tree.

Okay, so you know how everyone in Bangsar puts a garbage can outside their house to guard their special parking spot? Well, my household is no different. My parents actually take turns staying up to see who had dared to remove the garbage cans and park their unsightly cars on our spot and then of course they'll unleash a whole mess on the criminal regarding how they have no manners and no courtesy blah blah blah.

So on this particular day, mum was actually killing two birds with one stone. She was enjoying the cool breeze and was waiting to see which fool had parked his car at our spot.

I received this sms from her later in the day.

"I did not know how stressed out I am til this incident. Just now this chinese pig (he actually looks like one) moved his van from our parking space dragging our dustbin with it and he had the nerve to laugh. So i went outside to put it back. The van stopped cos the cover got stuck under the van. The ugly pig had the nerve to ask me what? So I gave it back to him. All of a sudden, the ugly pig rushes back into his van with a horror look on his face. Only then I realize I was still holding the knife in my hand! So there"

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, do not mess with my Mama. She'll shred you. God knows what the fella must be thinking. I know for sure he'll never darken our parking spot again.

this kiss

I came across this a few weeks back and have been meaning to share it with you guys but kept on procastinating. But here I go. LoveFilm.com listed the "Top 10 Best Big Screen Kisses EVER" online the other day and the "Brokeback Mountain" reunion kiss between Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal was named the #1 best screen kiss of all time!

Here is the full list from LoveFilm.com.

1. Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger in "Brokeback Mountain"
2. Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard in "Breakfast at Tiffany’s"
3. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in "Mr. and Mrs. Smith"
4. Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in "Gone With The Wind"
5. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair in "Cruel Intentions"
6. Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster in "From Here To Eternity"
7. Al Pacino and John Cazale in "Godfather"
8. Colin Firth and Renee Zellweger in "Bridget Jones’ Diary"
9. Toby Maguire and Kirsten Dunst in "Spiderman"
10. Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in "Dirty Dancing"

I'm actually not surprised with the results. That kiss has won them awards and a lot of movie magazines and websites have even proclaimed it as the best kiss ever. And it's true. You've never seen so much passion. Alot of my girlfriends agree too. One even went as far as to say she has never seen a straight couple kiss with so much passion before. So kudos to the boys. I like the #9 spot too. That whole upside down kiss thing was totally out of this world!! Very superhero!! And who can forget SMG and Selma's kiss in Cruel Intentions?! Totally scandalous.

Happy kissing!

freedom

This weekend was supposed to be a weekend full of dancing and merry making. I had plans for Friday night, Saturday night and even Sunday night! All involving dancefloors, shots of alcohol, beautiful people and tons of glamor. BUT i only made it to Friday night. After a hard night of partying, I woke up on Saturday with an unusually high body temperature. In fact, it felt like i was on fire. And getting out from bed was like walking through a glass door. I was thinking to myself, this is a really bad hangover. An hour later, i realized it was not hangover. I was really sick. By then, i was coughing, sneezing, wheezing, in extreme pain. My whole body felt raw. Moving was too painful and despite my fever, I was constantly freezing!! I bet i was the only person in this tropical heat who was wrapped up in a blanket.

The doctor gave me tons of medication with so much instructions. This is for morning, this is for night, this is for after meals, this is for before meals, this is that, this is this. Madness.. By nightfall, I was feeling close at death's door. When I was a kid, I used to grab a pen and paper and start writing out my will whenever I felt sickly. Mum would always call me a drama queen. Yes ladies and gentlemen, Mum freely uses the word queen on me ;) But I always say better be safe than sorry.

On Sunday, i had lost all taste sensation in my mouth. My tongue felt like concrete. It was a bad feeling. Felt like rubbing cili padi on it to awaken the dulled tastebuds. The medication i was taking was really working cos I was seriously drugged up on Sunday. Felt like i was in a daze the whole day. But today I'm all ok. Feeling much better. Just abit angry cos I wasted the weekend.

But it's ok.. There are more weekends to come ;)

it's all coming back to me

This is the most romantic definition of the term dejavu that i've ever heard. So i'm sharing it with you guys.

"It is most common in people under 20.I believe it is a jump in time, a brief connection to a previous lifetime. Toddlers often remember things from previous lifetimes when they see them. Deja vu is a momentary flash of memory of a previous lifetime. It happens so quickly that you don't have time to analize it. Something you see sparks this flash of memory of a previous life lived. Because the concious brain cannot analize it because it happens so fast and is connected to a time before your brain was even born, it is interpreted as a memory of having "done this before." It is really your SOUL remembering that it was alive in a time before this.Others will argue that it is a glitch in the wiring of the brain. But when it happens, you know inside it is real.
It is a window into a time before this time, when your soul was inside a different body. Your brain interprets this the only way it knows how, as a memory of "I've done this before." I believe it may indicate that here is an important life lesson coming up that up you lived through before and did not fully pass or understand so get ready, here comes the same test again."

Personally, when I have a moment of dejavu, it just freaks me out cos my hair stands on it's end and i get a slight electric impulse running thru my body. Like something's not right here. But it's a nice feeling.

What do you think?