I have a theory. Most things costs more than they would say 5 years ago. And the clothing industry has cut back on cloth and tried to fob us off with smaller sizes. Why else would I have gone up 3 sizes and am now a blubbery "L" and an occasional ( roll eyes twice ) XL. It's enough to make me both anorexic and bulimic cyclically. But just to be sure, I've unrolled the yoga mat daily last week ( not daily strictly speaking but it sounds nice when I write it down) and have been saluting the sun....and folding over numerous times. Apparently ( tell me this is true ) a simple "sun salutation" uses all 140 something muscles. So it must be doing some good to my body.

Oh dear.

This was taken some months back. I don't think the tilt is /was intentional. Yet I can't figure why would it grow in such an odd way. Was it ( unlike other trees ) aiming for the ground?

Monday again. Time flies and I'm still recovering from last weekend. What a lag. The weekend was nice. Midterm break, ie less cars on the road cos folks with children have flocked to smaller towns leaving us working folks with clear roads and even tempers.

Today Siti Nurhaliza got married. What's the big deal you ask yourself? Well in all honesty, it's not that great a deal. Only Malaysia's number one pop princess getting married to her own prince charming. ( Older then expected..a divorcee with 4 children...and a messy divorce behind him ) But as they say, "LOVE IS BLIND". And occasionally love is dumb as well. I wish her well. Congratulations SITI!! And I wish for you, a very happy and successful marriage.

A challenge indeed.

I've been tagged by Anna..... ( thanks very much ...I 'll take up the challeneg and am still waiting for a photoblog of Oxford :)

4 jobs I've had in my life:
1.Librarian ( in college)
2.Organist for mass ( transient post..I got bored )
3. .........( I'm basically lazy...no point lying..)
4.overworked and underpaid government servant. ( current job description )

4 places I've lived in
1.Malaysia
2.Singapore ( if you string together them annual holidays to visit relos...it'll add up at least 1 whole year )
3.Galway
4.Back to Malaysia again

4 TV series I enjoy watching
1.Me and My girl
2.Lost
3.Desperate housewives
4.House / Grey's anatomy. ( I know I'm only allowed four...but it doesn't count if it's in one line)

4 places I've been on vacation
1. Singapore
2.Melbourne
3.Paris ( took us ages to hunt down eurodisney )
4.Batam ( an island off Singapore which technically belongs to indonesia )

4 places I'ld like to visit
1.Giant's causeway
2.Vatican City for easter mass please
3.Bali...( only if I can return alive and well )
4.Venice ( That episode in Bold and Beautiful had some lovely scenes )

4 places I'ld rather be right now
1.Shop Street Galway...in winter admiring the shop fronts.
2.Home in Raub...in my own bed preferably with the rain beating down.
3.The Alps...interlaken ( and pretend I'm a chalet school girl )
4.Having tea with Maeve Binchey ( I'm sure the invitation will come..some day ..fingers crossed )

4 websites I visit daily
1.Aunty Marianne
2.Tan Lucy Pez
3. Gnightgirl
4.Jimbo

4 favourite foods.
1.Nasi Goreng Kampung with petai ( Plaza Damas )
2.Keropok lekor ( only the original ones from Kuala Trengganu will do don't fob me off with any other)
3.Ms Read's Duck Spaggethini
4. Dome's spicy olio with beef bacon bits

4 places I feel at home
1.Raub Pahang
2.No 5 newcastle road Galway
3.Upper thomson singapore
4.my present address ( hush hush )

4 things I wish for
1. A painless viva ( thesis session ) in Nov 2006
2.To play the violin like an angel and be less tone deaf
3. Failing which..to play the piano better
4. To own a whole series of out-of-print books by Elinor M Brent Dyer...and Ruby Ferguson books.

4 concerts I've been to
1. Scenario's concert in Tawau. ( Embarrasing but true )
2....................the plan to watch an MPO fell through
3................missed the pussy cat dolls concert recently. That's right I LIKE them
4....................

4 person's I want to challenge
1. Jimbo
2.Gnightgirl
3.Lasez
4.Misdina


The blanks were unintentional. I certainly hope you enjoyed reading this bit. I'm off to bed now. Good night

Ais Kacang

S-l-u-r-p! Malaysia is very humid. But occasionally it storms. We had thunderstorm yesterday afternoon. The roads were wet and driving through the rain made me strain my eyes to avoid driving through red-lights or hitting inanimate objects at the side of the road. I hate driving in the rain. ( But I love sleeping when it rains..) When I reached home I napped shamelessly and woke up after 6pm feeling ( like a baby ) grouchy and a tad disorientated.

The sky looks gloomy once again this afternoon so it doesn't have to take a claivoryant to predict a huge thunderstorm any time now. Dun leave home without an umbrella. 

Go figure

 

It's arrived

If you've ever waited for something eagerly...you'll be able understand how happy I was/am when I got a call this Wednesday ...."your book has arrived".

Chicken soup

What would you call this meal? Back to basics. None of your fancy swanzy stuff. Oh no, what we have before us is good old plain chicken soup, with a smattering of pepper ....and you get to dunk your bread ( nice and chewy ) into it. 

Jelly courtesy of M2 nurses.
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Grandfather's teeth,
are stuck in the Jello.






 

Chicken Little....

Today being Monday, you can expect low mood and crabby faces. But, in addition to this, we had a busy day. Loads of leg work and that's when I found my shoes squeak quite a bit. A friend pointed this out to me ....when the squeak became too regular to ignore on a quiet corridoor. I tied the hair up vigorously in a feeble attempt to look neater...only to have this backfire with a nagging one-sided tension headache after lunch. And so, I walked about the remaining part of the afternoon looking like I'd just woken up from sleep.

The stuff of dreams!

Hello, in this life, it is well known you should try everything ( almost! ) once.Last weekend I tried lobster in tepid soupy buttery sauce. ( refer self to picture ) The verdict...a resounding "yes please may I have seconds"

What is this?

A return to elegance....

Figure 1. A view from the front.
Figure2. Sarkies corner.
Figure 3. Natural sunlight is so appealing.
Figure4. Nice old banisters
Figure 5. The main foyer .
I have only ever been to Penang twice. Once at the age of 5...where as the story goes, I vomited quite a bit and quite spoilt the trip for everybody else present. The second visit was less eventful, a school trip ....only memory of which is " Right here waiting for you" by Richard Marx playing in the background at the road side stall in the night.

This trip ( over the weekend ) was definitely better. No vomiting..and no Richard Marx music. It was hot. Scorching hot in fact. The whole do was held at Eastern and Oriental Hotel Penang, ( E&O for short ) Built in 1885 its one of the remaining colonial buildings in Penang. Its actually a combination of two hotels Eastern and Oriental. The eastern hotel was founded by the Armenian Sarkies brothers. ( Noe the picture of Sarkies corner...where you get your meals ) The hotel has changed hands many times and has had some famous guests ie...Rudyard Kipling and Somerset Maugham. Interesting yes?

The frightening thing was, on the first night in Penang, it stormed and the winds blew madly. The waves hit the wall and went up as high as the coconut tree and the E&O pool was flooded with sea water as was the ground floor. All hushed hushed now. Was it a mini Tsunami?