I remember growing up, munching on some peanuts with my family members at home and watching local singers and dancers perform on stage during the Merdeka countdown. We would all point and laugh at the hapless crowds whom we can see sweating and battling with mosquito bites out there.

“Why go through so much hardship to be there when you can actually watch everything from the comfort of your home?” we would smugly say to each other from our comfortable perches on the sofa.

But this year, for the first time in our lives, bezzie, my baby and I found ourselves actually in KLCC counting down to Merdeka (our Independence day) together with ‘the hapless crowd’. Call it a moment of insanity or a sudden burst of patriotism, but there we were – nearly choking from the foul fumes that were emitted by cigarettes and pushing through an endless sea of people. I had no idea that we have THAT many smokers in this country. Yech.

A concert was going on and we heard some familiar names being announced. “Wah, got Jamal Abdillah leh. And Awie, too!” We squinted our eyes to have a look at the real deal on stage but they were simply too small to behold. The projected video screenings helped but after a while, we were so put off by the cigarette fumes that we decided to find somewhere with clean air to perch and watch the fireworks.

Then we bumped into a group of serious amateur photographers nearby who had set up their tripods away from the madding crowd. It was great meeting kindred photographic spirits, chatting with them and introducing our babies to each other. I was the only Nikonian in that group of Kodakian/Minoltian enthusiasts. Unfortunately, they decided that the viewpoint wasn’t too great and decided to find a nearer spot where the madding crowd was. Alas, my tripod was far too short to be able to shoot anything of use above the heads of the madding crowd, so I sadly had to decline.

Still, I managed to take some decent pics of the fireworks despite my miniscule tripod.

After everything was over and the crowds started to disperse, we were appalled by the amount of litter left behind at the park. It was embarrassing, really. Here we all were, celebrating the 49th anniversary of our beloved country’s independence and we couldn’t be bothered to even keep our country free from trash. How ironically unpatriotic. Apparently, civic mindedness is something that our people still need to improve upon.

Anyway, we winded down and had a great time at the 24 hour A&W restaurant after alighting at our LRT station. Thank God for 24-hour eateries and LRT stations that operate till 4am on special occasions!

Oh, and a Happy Merdeka to my fellow Malaysians. We have an amazing country. Let’s do our best keep it clean in every way.

This was no smooth sailing, easy-breezy kinda trip. At least, not for me :P

Firstly, after surviving a bumpy and most uncomfortable bus ride and boat ride to Perhentian island, I survived being stung by a mysterious creature. It happened while I was floating back to shore. My feet brushed against something and it bit me so hard that I yelped in horror. There were about 5 black spots on my foot. I had absolutely no clue what had bitten me. My only thought was to get to the shore and avoid as many sea creatures as possible. What once looked cute now appeared to be hostile enemies in my sight.

Man, I thought that I was a goner. Visions of me mumbling incoherently due to high fever and being carried away to the mainland on a stretcher swam before my very eyes. My friends and I quickly sought the medical advice of the seasoned locals.

Our chalet owner, Encik Azmi took one look at the bite marks on my foot and heaved a sigh of relief. “It’s just a jani bite. You are lucky it wasn’t a lion head fish – the pain from that would be so excruciating that you wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.”

And the remedy for a jani bite?

“Just hit those bite marks with something hard until they disappear,” was his advice. “The pain should be gone in a day’s time.”

He was right. In less than 15 hours, the bite marks were gone and so did the pain. Yaay, thank God! I still dunno how a jani looks like though. Some kind of sea urchin perhaps?

But Jani bite aside, the trip was rock-awesome! The four of us were shutterbugs and so we understand the need to photograph almost everything we see and nearly everything we eat. There were so many photos on my side to sieve through. But here are a portion that would best describe our trip. I can truly attest that having my baby in my life has brought joy that is incomprehensible. I’m so so glad I didn’t manage to leave it behind, thanks to bezzie :P

I’ll let the pics and the captions do the talking.

Children of the Sea

Apparently, this ultraman green snake is poisonous. *gulp*

Plants of The Sea

Never thought dew could look so much like snow

The Sea

Lillian’s reflection

This time yesterday, I was woken up by the rhymitic sound of waves crashing upon the sand. I felt surreal. Refreshed. So far removed from the cares of the life that is mine on the other side of the shore.

Now I am back. The familiar barking of the neighbour’s dog has replaced the sound of the waves. The breeze from my faithful Panacycle box fan of many years takes the place of the air of the sea. Instead of my toes sinking into the lushious and warm, soft sand, they now grip the cold hard cement floor.

And yet, I’m glad to be where I am. In the here and in the now. For indeed there is no place like home.

Ariel
7.30am

p.s: More stories and pics to follow after I catch up on some backlog ;) Missed you guys!

I’ve seen some bloggers taking spoony pics like this one here below:

A fleeting thought did cross my mind to pose that way. But no one offered to take a pic of me until Joe crazily suggested it over dinner with the E06 folks.

“Eh, want to take a trendy pose pic ah? The one with the spoons placed on your eyes.”

Always gamed for trendy pics, I enthusiastically said yes. Ha! Now I can be at par with the rest of the trendy spoony-eyed bloggers.

So I placed two teaspoons dutifully upon my eyes. Wah, I really couldn’t see a thing behind them!

I look like Ultra girl hor? Wheee!

I was so blinded by the spoons that I was totally unaware as to what my surrounding friends were doing to me. Aieeee!

The spoon gang at work! This is what happens to people who harbour envy.

You can tell what my newfound friend KS thought about the whole thing.

Aiyoo… what is wrong with this girl/people???!

Nah, do not be deceived. He was actually part of the spoon gang that sabo’ed me.

The pic above was taken just after I told him that I was not a lawyer.

I kid you not ;)

I have this mental checklist everytime I pack my bags to go somewhere.

In recent days when planning for this holiday trip (yes, I’m on the way to the beach, people – YAAY!), I have always put my baby as the top-most thing to pack along with me. Numero uno on my vacation checklist so to speak.

I’ve been happily saying this everywhere I go and to everyone I meet, "I’m going to bring my baby to see the sun, sea and sand for the first time! We’ll have so much fun together!"

My baby has become to me what American Express is to errr… Americans. I’d never leave home for hols without it.

So there I was, packing away last night and carting off my luggages to my car this morning. Drove happily to work with tranquil visions of me sipping coconut water while munching on some keropok lekor on a lovely, lovely beach. Aaaaah.

Fun at the beach with my baby

As soon as I parked in front of the office, I discovered that I was one bag short. The most important bag of all. I left my camera behind. My baby’s home alone! My heart felt like it stopped for one short second. My eyes started seeing stars of the other kind. If there was ever one moment where I felt like kicking myself, this was it.

Going back home and coming to office during lunch hour was rather out of the question as the traffic would be horrendous then. But I couldn’t bear to leave my baby behind and only having my Ixus to capture the lovely beach pictures with.

Gah, why did I have to take everything with me except my baby??!!

Thank God that bezzie came to the rescue. She hadn’t left for work yet and offered to collect my precious bundle from my house and drop it to me on the way to her office.

Suddenly the sun shone a bit brighter and I could breathe a little easier. And when she come over to pass my camera to me, I bet no sun could rival the huge smile plastered on my face.

Good ol’ bezzie! You saved the day :)

Thank you, bezzie!!!

Pssst… while I’m away, one or two random posts may be placed for your entertainment. Enjoy, be jolly and be good!

To the beach, I go, I gooo!!

Some of my dear friends from KK are down for the E06 conference. Oh, what joy it was to reunite with them again! Never thought I’d make such amazing lifelong buddies in that trip last November. The KK folks think that the DUMC folks were crazy and wacky. And on the flip side of the coin, we DUMC-ians think that KK people are way crazier than us. But the truth is, I think that it is the combination of both particles that bring out the gilerness in each other.

I arrived early for dinner with MF last night. When our food came, I quickly whipped out my camera and snapped a photo of my Unagi Bento. “I don’t want them to tease me about taking food pics mar. Haha, this way, they won’t be seeing the blogger in me in action!”

My yummy foodie

But my KK friends knew me too well. The first thing that Alice asked when she arrived was, “Wow, nice food you are having there. I bet you took photos of it already!”

Fooman who came later took a while – after ordering food and all – but he still asked the ultimate question. “So, how did your Unagi food pics turn out?”

Bleh, can’t fool ‘em!

Behold Alice, one of the Chopstick Sisters

Apparently, I wasn’t the only blogger on the table. Alice and Julia whipped out their cameras to take photos of their foodies. Not only that, when Choon’s delicious mountain of an ice-cream dish came out, Alice, Joe and I rushed to take paparazzi pics of it. Poor Choon! I think she looked rather stunned and traumatised in the picture below.

After that, we kept staring longingly at Choon’s bowl on the other side and made many comments about her ice-cream. Fooman suddenly decided, “Tell you what. Let’s have one bowl to ourselves.” To which we said hearty ayes to. But having the dessert at our table brought the ice-cream monster out of one of us. Eeeks.

To be continued…

Nianci lost in an ice-breaker game at cell group last Fri.

“Sing something!” We all demanded as punishment. “Negaraku (our national anthem) also can!”

“Don’t want!” she dug in her heels. “I rather cook Shepherd’s Pie for all of you instead!”

Crispy on the top and succulent on the inside. Yummy!

Being Malaysians who love any and every opportunity to eat, we all decided that it was quite a reasonable trade-off. So we graciously allowed her to change her punishment.

It quickly turned into a full blown food fest. Then the cheeky girl volunteered me to bring the ice-cream dessert.

Amanda volunteered to bring yummy baked potatoes with bacon bits and sour cream toppings, and fizzy drinks.

These are simply to die for!

Rina got the mushroom soup to add on to Nianci’s garlic bread. Eugene and Dianne got the ice and coleslaw. The rest brought their ravenous tummies. And we were all set!

Sing for your supper!

I want!

“Are you done taking pics? We wanna eat!!!

Finally can eat! Nyam!

Eat until sweat kau-kau

And we licked the platters clean

And to think it all started because a girl preferred to cook instead of sing. I’d take the singing any time :P

Three girls were talking, reminiscing on friends who have been swept away by the waves of love.

"So, how did Renee* meet her boyfriend? Same town ar?" Girl A asked with a busybody glint in her eyes.

"They met at Mount KK. Syiok wor!" Girl B said with relish. "In fact, there are quite a number of people who met their mates up there."

"Wah sei… What kinda mountain is this? Sure or not?" Girl A cocked an eyebrow jadedly.

"Eh, Girl B could have a point lar. I have another friend who also met his girlfriend at Mount KK," Girl C furrowed her brows thoughtfully.

"Halo, I went there before and nothing happened to me wan," Girl A said proudly. "But then of course, I went with my boyfriend lar. And…" Suddenly the normally chatty girl went awfully quiet. An "Aiyo!" abruptly escaped her lips.

Girl B and C could hardly contain their excitement. "Eh, what? What? Share lar!"

"We fell in love at the mountain lar. On that very trip itself!"

Girl B giggled so hard that she nearly fell off her chair. "Hahaha, see? I rest my case lar. There’s just something lovey dovey about that mountain!"

Girl A nodded. That night, the three friends gained a newfound respect for the tallest mountain in South East Asia.

* – not her real name, of course :P

Photo Credits

It was a hot and balmy night. Jase and I were sitting in the cool vicinities of KFC in deep discussion about something when suddenly this uncle came along, pointed at Jase and said, “Are you an engineer? You sure look like one.”

I could see Jase’s face lit up appreciatively like a Christmas tree. I guess that’s what creative market-ty folks feel when they are mistaken for someone in the geeky line of work.

“That’s not fair, Jase. I never get mistaken for an engineer or even an IT person. People actually think that I look like a lawyer!” I shook my head at the injustice of it all.

“Ok what. Hey, now that you mentioned it, you do look like a lawyer! Haha! Got intellectual look mar.”

Ok, looking intellectual ain’t half-bad. That perked me up a little. “Well, typical lawyers are normally verbose and argumentative. I am not argumentative wor.”

“No, no, of course you are not argumentative,” he hurriedly appeased me.

Seeing a big opening at the goal, I took the opportunity to lay it on real thick. “Yalar, I’m so sweet…”

“Yes, sweet.”

“…demure”

“Errr… yeah, demure.”

“Gentle and nice…”

At that Jase stopped short of his affirmations and gave me the evil eye. We both burst out laughing and went back to work.

That’s the thing with Sanguines. When no one praises them, they take it upon themselves to exercise self-praise at any available opportunity they can get.

A Phlegmatic would shrug and say, “Ah well. No one noticed ah? Never mind lar, who cares?”

The Melancholys would sigh mournfully and wait patiently for someone to notice and appreciate their efforts.

The Cholerics would go out and terrorise people who dare to even suggest that they are less than great. Heh.

“Self praise is an international grace,” so says my former lecturer.

I beg to differ. A little dosage of it once in a while truly lifts up one’s spirits.

Try it ;)

Helping some friends plan for their wedding. This is where my smallish Canon Ixus 40 camera came in handy. My d50 was simply too big and bulky to bring along in our expedition. It’s hard taking photos on the sly with it since it practically screams – “Look at me!” everywhere I bring it to. So with some sadness in my heart, I left it behind.

Anyway, I snapped lots and lots of pictures so that we can show them to her family and fiance. I was particularly taking pains to tweak the bridal gown photos that she fell in love with so that her fiance will bowl over at the effect of it all. And bask in his good taste for choosing such a lovely creature for a wife.

After that I tweaked and resized photos of the restaurant which we thought was suitable to host the wedding dinner. Sent those files to the fiance and we waited for his feedback.

First thing that came back from those quarters was, “Wah, nice venue! Food looks yummy!”

Eh?

“Oi, what about the dress lar?”

“Oh, didn’t look at that yet.”

I was flummoxed. “But aren’t you the least bit curious about how she looks like in all splendour and glory? She looks awesome wor!”

“Nope, bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her wedding dress before the ceremony mar.”

Wah, like that also can ar?

I’m not sure about the bad luck thing but I do know that girls would dearly love to hear compliments on her appearance especially from the ones very close to her heart.

A simple, “Honey, you look so beautiful and stunning in that dress” would earn you an obscenely high amount of brownie points.

But nope. Food venue takes precedence over that. Luckily, that guy’s not my fiance. Otherwise…

:P :P