Insomniac

Insomniac = experiencing or accompanied by sleeplessness.

That's me. I haven't been able to sleep at night for the past 2 weeks; often only falling asleep at 3 am or so in the morning and then not being able to wake up until the sun is high up in the sky.

I am not too sure if I am really having a case of delayed jet lag (post UK) or it had to do with the fact that perhaps I am worrying too much about what is gonna happen in January (ie. old (new) job, new environment, blah blah blah..). I didn't think that starting a job in a new environment can have that much of impact on me..but subconsciously it did, unfortunately. I think I am subconsciously worrying about work permit, medical check-up, hunting for accomodation, getting settled, fitting in etc...and hence the reason I am not able to sleep at night...it is either that or the bed bugs bite and hence I do not feel comfy sleeping on my bed!

Sigh...not being able to sleep is really not a nice feeling...Every night at 11 pm I would be on my bed fearing that I cannot fall asleep; and that is exactly what happens to me; not being able to fall asleep...!

So here I am again; at 4:19 AM; not being able to sleep and blogging nonsense!

The Wedding...

The wedding took place on the 3rd of November. It was a beautiful, simple and yet classy wedding, attended by the love ones of the bride and groom.

It started in the morning around 8ish at the Regent Hotel with the 'get the bride' ceremony. All the fellow sisters (chee muis- mostly the uni friends) gathered at the honeymoon suite in preparation for the 'gate crashers' to come at 9 am! Well, there weren't much to prepare la, except that all the chee muis busied themselves with making coffee and chatting trying to stay awake as most of us didn't catch enough of sleep the night before.

'Chee muis' admiring the wedding photos while enjoying coffee

Bride taking time out for a short photo session with her 'chee muis'

Bride ready for the BIG MOMENT of her life...
Bride reflecting on the goodness of God...

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

The 'heng tais' - came with suits, mmm...smart & slick, but still not captivating enough to miss all the punishments that they have to endure to get the bride! :p FUN!
'Chee muis' trying to defend the fort! More ang pow please!?
FINALLY, I managed to get to you, my beloved...your fellow sistas are really cruel leh... (so not true!)
Off to church we went right after the 'get the bride' ceremony. The march-in was Canon in D. (simply beautiful)

The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." Genesis 2:18

The happy faces of the many that came to share the beautiful day with the bride and groom.

I myself personally thoroughly enjoyed the wedding. Mainly because May is a very good friend and I am truly happy for her as I have seen how she had grown all these years into a beautiful woman and her journey with God also had brought to her a partner that serves the same God. :)

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13: 4 -7

Things that Go Bump in the Night

I was awaken at 230 am after 4 hours of sleep. It wasn’t because of a noise that awoken me; I simply just woke up as if I had enough of rest. But because of the timing, I felt that I need to continue resting. However, a body at rest doesn’t mean that the mind can also do the same when one is awake.

As I try to coax my mind to shut down (ie. Go back to sleep), I begin to hear all the small little noises (in the morning we probably call them background noises as it probably fades in the background of all the other more significant noises that we hear).

I heard this consistent banging of the wind chime that it almost seems impossible that the movement is actually caused by the wind. (It is a wood wind chime, so what I hear is the noise of wood banging against another wood – tuk, tuk, tuk). I mean it doesn’t make sense right that the wind can cause such consistent banging - tuk tuk tuk for like 2 minutes or so, like as if it is a musical instrument being played in accordance to some rhythm. My mind actually imagined that perhaps it is not the wind, but maybe it is a case of baby toyol hanging at the end of the wind chime thinking that it is a swing. (It made me thought of all those ghost stories I heard when I was young about baby toyol and baby jin that likes to come out and play in the middle of the night). *Shiver* - ok, ok, I am a grown up now, so all those stories are not real; I tried to refocused and bring myself back to concentrate to get some rest.

After a while of refocusing and ignoring the tuk tuk tuk, I began to hear a soft scuffle; like as if a very light object is being either pushed or dragged on the floor. I waited for a while to hear if my dog will react to this sound, but none. The scuffle doesn’t sound like my dog as well. Then I heard ‘bang’! (well a soft one) as if someone is trying to break the gate or grill. Still no sound of my dog barking. Then I imagined that perhaps my dog is poisoned and he is now lying dead in the yard as the thieves tries to get into the house. I didn’t dare to go downstairs to take a look for fear that the thieves had already managed to break into the house! I waited for a while; no more sound. Ok ok, so maybe I had imagined all the sound after all. I refocused again and tried to sleep.

After a while, I thought I heard another scuffling sound of something moving next to my room, on the roof of the patio (my room faces the roof of our garden patio). Oh no, oh no, someone is trying to get into my room!! I shut my eyes tighter and wished it to go away. Well, the sound did went away, perhaps it didn’t happen in the first place, perhaps it was just a fraction of my imagination. But I also remembered that my dad told me that there is a particular cat that likes to patrol our house roof at night, so that’s perhaps what happened.

Then suddenly, everything seems to be extra loud and extremely busy (for a case of middle of the night). I heard someone got into a car somewhere a few doors away, started the engine and took off; I heard another car coming up the street, stopped and doors opened. People came out chatting. Then I heard my dog barked. (Phew…my dog is alive!) Then I heard the security motorcycle patrolling the neighbourhood.

My mind went back to be more at ease after hearing all the human activities; but I know I can’t sleep anymore. So here I am at 5 am in the morning trying to find the peace and quiet to at least put in an entry into my blog; after such a long time of non-inspirational entries (not that this is anything inspirational!).

So here I am...

So here I am sitted in James' condo (he is here in Spore for a 3 month assignment)! I asked for his laptop so that I can check my email, he asked me to update my blog! So here I am...I gotta at least mention him in my blog..so here it is..

His condo is darn cool..right behind Taka...very classy! It is a serviced apartment! Darn cool! Very nice pool, fully furnished 2 bedroom apartment..Furthermore, it comes with free breakfast for 5 people (sigh..that's the perks for these drillers, they get to stay in 1st class place)... I don't know why free brekkie for 5 people when there is only one person living here!

I think I will go down and enjoy a simple continental breakfast tomorrow morning before I meet May for my mani and pedi....

I will also be collecting my contract tomorrow. I don't know why, after talking about this for so many months, I don't feel like signing the contract now....BUT I WILL..for my own good, I WILL...!

The Big Apple...

I realised that I have loads to tell...and loads to show...but I guess the description, comments etc will have to come later...show photos first! :) After all pictures speaks a thousand words...

What is friendship if....

What is friendship if it isn't about sharing one's joy, tears and laughter plus a lot more? And that is the one thing that I have to say'kudos' to my friend, May. Bcos she is one that does all that with us...

Although she had been away from us considering that she had always been in Singapore all these years, she always makes the effort to keep in touch. Whenever she had time, we will plan for holidays etc just so that we keep the fire of our friendship going, and hence that's why we are still really good friends until today.

She is getting married this weekend...in Singapore. And I will be going down to not only attend her wedding, but also to participate in this celebration of joy. I will be her bible reader for the church wedding, and helping her with the reception for the dinner (so exciting!). That aside, I am also truly excited to meet up with the rest of my uni buddies once again..bcos we are one wild bunch! :p I look forward to the fellowship.

Although I have been so far away all for the past 2 years, she (May) never once made me felt left out in her life. She is always excited to share about what's been happening with her whether it is a good news or a sad news (via emails, chats). She is always transparent and always eager to share her life with the few of us close friends; and because of that I am truly glad; because I always believe that true friendship is not cultivated on the grounds of secrecy, of unknowns or not bothering nor want to know; I believe that friendships are cultivated with love, with acceptance, with time spent, even money spent (sometimes). Such is not the case with some of my other friends (which sometimes makes me feel sad thinking about it, but what the heck! That's life isn't it? U win some and u lose some).

I am glad with May, our friendship is a winner. I am glad that our friendship had lasted so long notwithstanding the distance. I am glad and proud to be one of her cheemuis this Saturday, because this is one event that I am participating not because I am obliged to do so, not because I am expected to do so, but it is because I want to do so.

I will be there a couple of days earlier before D DAY to spend some time with May and of course June and the rest before the real day itself. We have mani and pedi all booked up and pre-wedding dinner and drinks all arranged with the rest of our friends in Singapore. I am so looking forward to catching up with all of them. :)

Congrats!
Pics to follow later after the event. :)

5 days...and nothing!

It has been 5 days since my leave started (yes, moi here had applied for 3 months UNPAID leave- just to see how it feels like to bum around). And YES, I have a whole long list of things to do, but I haven't achieved any in the last 5 days!! Well not really la, I achieved half of it actually of the to do list for this week! And time is running really really short! My room looked like a war zone as I am attempting to pack etc.

It is now 1247 am, and I have to be awake again by 515 am! I have a flight to catch to New York! YES, moi here is going to NEW YORK, NEW YORK!! And Boston too. It will be my first time! I managed to get the visa from London. Not much of a problem for a girl to get a visa, but plenty of problems for a guy to get one! I am glad I am a gurl! :)

Anyhow, yea, so will be heading to BIG APPLE tomorrow. Apparently, a lot of things to shop wor....well, I don't know, I am not excited...except that maybe I am dying to see skyscrapers!! It would make me feel soooo like home. (grin)

Well, my room still look like a war zone even as I leave tomorrow. Once I am back from the BIG APPLE, there are so much so much to do!! Sigh...if only I have more time.

Season of change is here yet again....
I am starting another chapter soon.. :) Mixed feelings really (mostly happy).
But meanwhile, let me savour this moment while I still can.

Wish me Happy Holidays!
If I have time, I will blog from Boston?!
Show you a pic of Time Square ok?
Especially the neon lights...
Fingers crossed...that my pics will turn out clear...

Of Festivals and Feasts....

It's blogging night tonight! haha...Both me and Wye Yim are seated by the dining table with our laptops trying to find inspiration to blog....Imagine a set up like back during student days, music in the background, papers strewn all over the table (as Wye Yim is also busy planning her weekend trips etc), snacks on the table for sharing, the clicking of the keyboards...

What's missing is the stress (as we don't have assignments to complete, or exams to take). But hor, blogging is also considered an assignment - that the both of us have been neglecting for a while now; and hence why tonight is a blogger's night for us in the house!

I think that HL is correct... sometimes, one needs 'inspirasi' to blog... Haven't been having much of inspiration of late. I think this has to do with the weather as well. Weather like this makes one wants to hibernate rather than doing anything at all. It seems like we have gone from summer straight into winter! So cold! But that is not the worst, it had been cloudy and it had been pouring since the past week or so....The COLD and DREARY weather is here again! I am reminded now as how bad winter can be! Anyhow, this blog aint about the weather.

Here are snippets of my life over the past few weeks.

Entertained Audrey (my uni friend) who was passing by London on her 2 weeks European tour. Brought her to this place called Four Seasons in Bayswater; supposedly it serves the best roast duck in London. Been in business for more than 25 years.

Claimed by many of my friends that their sauce is super duper nice and can be eaten just like that with plain white rice.

Well, for me, is ok la...I am not really that fussy with food and eat anything that is ok. And I cannot tell the difference between good food and super duper good food, to me, GOOD FOOD is GOOD FOOD.

We waited for approx 45 minutes before we were seated inside the restaurant.

Thames Festival

This is a festival organised by the Mayor of London, to celebrate River Thames. This happened like 3 weeks back I think. It was a 2 days event (over the weekend kinda thinghy). The sort of activities that took place around London was like uhmm...food feasts and street parties mainly. For instance, they closed up one (Southwark Bridge) of the many bridges in London into a similar to Borough Market type of food market; with different portion of it having different theme (ie. beach, ginger bread house etc).

The festival ended with a presentation of fireworks by River Thames on a Sunday night. Were there to admire the fireworks with Wye Yim and the Baptists.

As always; pictures speaks a thousand words.

The part of the bridge with the beach theme

Decorating the ginger bread house

A place for people to chill with the beer etc. This is along the bridge as well

Uhmm..it is never too early to start prep for Halloween?

This is taken on the Sunday nite when the firework is suppose to take place. 'London Eye' was really pretty that night as the lights that was ON on that night was an intermittent of various colours; one minute it was red, another minute it was blue and yet another minute it was magenta and the list of colours goes on. It was a very festive night indeed. Perfect for photography, but without tripod, this is the best that I can do. In the background is the Big Ben and Westminster.

The fireworks was suppose to take place somewhere between the Waterloo Bridge and the Southwark Bridge - from the barges lined up across River Thames.

The fireworks lasted for 15 minutes. It was quite magnificent. (by my standards, although Audrey says that the New Year fireworks are much better)

Dinner at the Baptists
We were invited for dinner on a Saturday (2 weeks ago I think). The Baptists live very close to the Arsenal Stadium and on that particular Saturday that we went, the Arsenals were playing, fortunately it was after the game and the crowd had dwindled to just a handful.

The Baptists live in a very nice, up class one bedroom apartment (with a small little garden). I like their place a lot. Very cosy and nice. Paul made the main course for us while Vinna prepared the aperitif and the dessert. All in all, it was a FABULOUS nite for me. I was tipsy! (3 glasses of wine is all it takes; 1 Rose and 2 whites). Paul says I am a cheap drunk. (haha). I am beginning to like white wines a lot. I prefer it more to red. Chardonnay and Riesling are my favs.

Left: Our Aperitif, it's sparkling Rose with 2 laici.

Below:THE COOK!

Left: Audrey & Wye Yim; my housemates

Below: Food under prep by Chef Paul

Who would have thought that you will find that many smsjians in London? The only one missing is the one far away in Bury St Edmund; always complaining he is being left out of activities. But what to do? So far away wat!

Yummy-licious food prepared with love by Chef Paul - lamb cutlets with asparagus and mash. IT was yummy! And I give him 100% for presentation!

Another go with the photo - this time, with Vinna inside. She is the one that made the sticky date pudding (see below). It is really really nice!!! Double yummy!

Pardon Me..

I know that expectations runs high for me to at least post something on this piece of blog at least once a week...and so now I try...

Many have voiced their concerns as to why I had gone MIA for such a long time...and even the comeback wasn't really that exciting enough to keep the readers entirely satisfied...

I would like to apologise to all my readership (fellow fans, friends, whatever...) as I have been neglecting this blog and got some of you worried..One friend was busily smsing me and calling me (to which I always did not reply because either I wasn't around to pick up the phone or forget to reply smses) and finally when she got me on the phone..she said; "Thank God you are fine!I thought something happened to you, because there were no entries on your blog for so long!

Another friend, (this story totally unrelated to my infrequent blogging), also frantically smsing me to which I did not reply her sms too...Finally, her last sms came like this: What did I do wrong? Did I offend you? Why aren't you replying my smses? Well, actually, to start with she changed her handphone number and so I didnt know it was her, and secondly, I am just PLAIN LAZY in replying smses, emails or even blogging nowadays...

Sorry all! Please know that you are not the only one I haven't really been keeping up with...it's almost everyone back home that I havent been really 'rajin' to keep up with unless you have msn. I know I have always been very prompt with replying all these years, but I guess sometimes well...no explanation to it la. But, OHHHH..actually hor, I do have explanation to it! In fact there are several factors to it!!

Factor 1 - I got a total non business related internet ban in the office (ie. no more gchat, no more browsing through facebook, no more friendster, no more booking of holidays, no more flickr, no more You Tube....and obviously no more blogger too). And hence the silence lor..hehe..now you wonder what I do at work leh? But sigh..if I am efficient, what can they say right? (tsk tsk)

Factor 2 - I am really quite busy at work and most of the time, I come home tired and never on my computer

Factor 3 - I now live with 3 other housemates..so therefore, I am never bored at night, we always have something to do, or talk about, or watch...

Factor 4 - I take more time to travel to work, so therefore when I reach home and make dinner and have dinner, it is usually 9 pm or more. So, I don't fancy getting online no more

Factor 5 - It was summer and there are always something to do during weekends, so no time to be online on weekends too

Factor 6 - I had been on hols.

Factor 7 - I don't have inspiration to write...or whatever..and I haven't the time to sort out photos from my hols..so therefore, no photos to show as well.. (hehe)

Factor 8 - I had been busy watching Korean soaps at night

But I can tell you that I have thought up the titles for my following blog entries:

a) Rowdy Romans!

b) Summer bubbles

c) The life and death of Fergie Khoo

d) I know what I did last summer

e) Autumn Colours

So, watch this space...it will come...but I can't promise if it will be soon.. but definitely before October ends ok?

Tell you more later. Maybe I shall weave my tales this weekend...if I have nothing to do...NO PROMISE whatsoever...

The journey of a thousand miles…(A somewhat travelogue of Cornwall)

Weather : SUNNY throughout the 3 day weekend

Ok..so we didn’t travel a thousand miles…only approximately 700 miles…but close enough…700 miles is equivalent to more than 1000 km! Done in 3 days…that’s really a lot!! We didn’t realise that it was so far, if not, we would have budgeted more days. The trip is definitely worth taking, it’s just that we should have taken longer time to appreciate the beauty of the Cornish coastlines.

We, the three of us (housemates) took this trip during the UK Bank Holiday weekend (which was the weekend before the Merdeka Day weekend in Msia). The August bank holiday is actually a holiday to mark the end of summer.

Our journey to Cornwall started in the wee hours of that Saturday morning. The time was 545 AM when I took this picture before we depart on our trip with ‘Charlotte’ (that’s the name of my car, named after Charlie my dog). I was a bit worried as ‘Charlotte’ had never been tested to take such long distance before.

It was a misty morning

the traffic we had to bear on our way to St Austell

We did pass by some interesting places though..this is where Cheddar cheese came from..no joke..

the traffic, all lined up all the way back to dunno where..

Looking back, we were a bit ambitious with our itinerary as during that time, we were not aware as to how far each of the destinations is from each other.

On our ‘to do list’ in our little trip; we had wanted to do:

- Lizard Point (southern most part of UK)
- Land’s End (western most part of UK, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean)
- Eden Project & St Austell
- Mousehole (pronounced Mou-zwhall)
- Minack Theatre
- Penzance and St Michael’s Mount
- St. Ives

We didn’t manage to do St Michael’s Mount (we only admired it from a distance), Mousehole nor St Ives.

It was suppose to be a 5 hours odd journey (200 odd miles) to our first destination; Eden Project near St Austell. But because it is the bank holiday weekend, obviously, we weren’t the only people that took the opportunity of the long weekend and sunny weather to go to Cornwall. We were stuck in the traffic here and there and ended up near St Austell only close to 3 pm; a total of 9 hours drive (we decided that we didn’t have enough time to go around Eden Project for the afternoon). Hence we decided to drive to Lizard Point instead. The journey took us another 1.5 hours!
Therefore, after 11 hours and 2 comfort stops, we finally arrived at our first destination in Cornwall! Lizard’s Point. Check out the view..

this is the Lizard's Point. It's is suppose to look like the head of a lizard.

This is a shop at Lizard's Point that we stopped by for a tea break. I am telling you NOT to go there...Food sucks..more instant stuff than homemade...u gotta pay for everything..and that includes tomato sauce! 20p for a small box of tomato sauce that you get free in McD.


The next day we started with Eden Project. The Eden Project is pioneered by a Cornishman and is aimed at reconnecting people with their environment locally and globally. To date, the Eden Project consist 2 biomes whereby the temperatures in it are replicated to be of the Mediterranean and the tropicals.




We spent about 5 hours at the Eden Project and then headed towards Penzance in the afternoon. From Penzance, Lands End is just a stone throw away (about 45 mins).
Since it was already evening when we reach Penzance, we decided to hang around Penzance and only visit Lands End the following day (which also happens to be the final day!! Sob sob…so short...).

In Penzance, we sort of went to St Michael’s Mount. Ok..so we didn’t get there because it was high tide and also evening already…(we decided to just enjoy the view from afar; at one of the pebbled beach.) Look look…look how happy we are…we could almost JUMP with joy….oh well, we did jump! (in the background is St Michael's Mount, when it is low tide, it is possible to walk from the beach to the Castle, but when it is high tide, there is a ferry that brings the people there.

We were just experimenting with our cameras and yours truly here came up with an idea; to capture our happiest moment in cornwall; and hence the 'jump'. We jumped many times to capture this. My other housemate, Audrey took this for us on Jos's camera.

It is a case of READY, GET SET..

GO!
P/S: Please pardon the hairstyle..not meant to be that way actually... keke..(she will kill me if she knows I published this photo!!)

On the final day, we decided that we cannot do all that is in our itinerary, hence we only went to the places of significance importance…We covered Lands End (obviously) and Minack Theatre…

On our way to the Minack Theatre, we took a wrong turn and discovered this place called the Porthcurno Beach…contrary to the rest of the beaches, this is a white sandy beach with soft and fine sand…just like those we get in Redang/ Perhentian/ Phuket..it was a good wrong turn..

We took the scenic route to Lands End from Penzance, and hence we pass through small towns such as Mousehole etc.. One word describes it all for me: AWESOME!

We also came across many B&Bs in the farms and along the coastlines…(I hope to come back one day and spend one week in Cornwall living in these B&Bs and discover all the nooks and cranny that each of the small towns in Cornwall had to offer).

Breathtaking! Porthcurno view from Minack Theatre

i love the space..open field..!

Porthcurno

View of Porthcurno beach from Minack Theatre

the seats at the Minack Theatre. Notice that each of it is carved with names of plays.

Entrance to Minack Theatre

the 2nd line is in Cornish..tat's what Cornwall is called in Cornish..

Land's End, the western most part of UK!

supposedly a breathtaking view..

Overlooking the Atlantic ocean...if u look hard enough, perhaps can see NY..
it was really windy on the day we went..my ice cream flew off the cone...!

we took this photo before we left to go back to London from Lands End...It was something in our itinerary that we want to do...and that is to take a photo of us from the sun roof of the car..

We reached London at 1030 pm at night. We were all dead tired..but happy and glad we made the trip.