foreword

Sundays are fantastic for me, as long as there’s nothing planned on that day. It’s not that I don’t have to do work, it’s actually the total opposite.

Sundays are when I un-clutter the clutters of my life. Literally, I tidy up my desk – both physical and virtual – that almost always resembles a mountain range by the weekend. Anything could be on my table, be it half-week-old boxes of sweets that don’t belong to me or tissue paper filled with words and requests, or even the occasional gem that I’d been looking for all month but only decided to surface in that last week.

Sundays are when I can walk Rocky without having to worry about time, when he can go around scaring little kids who try to annoy him. Sometimes there is also the occasional adult who whistles or makes some random noise to get his attention, only to end up running away as Rocky runs after him.

Rocky will keep running even after he’s passed the adolescent adult though, so I prefer ignoring them.

Most Sundays allow me the luxury of cooking dinner, after I’ve spent the afternoon trying to finish up my work. For some odd reason it’s the only day that I actually give myself the discipline to complete unfinished work, or at least develop the occasional rudimentary garble that I also classify under this category.

Some Sundays I actually watch TV.

If not, I’m on the computer and I can hear my Mom singing along to songs that she plays on her laptop that I haven’t heard of – because she listens to 98.0fm and 98.7fm and I do not. I listen to music that she classifies as ‘noise’, regardless of whether they are folk or metal.

I like how Sundays feel. Good thing they come by more often than the monthly.

There’s this road in front of the main entrance of the condominium I stay in that goes all the way up -unsurprisingly leading to yet another road – with little terrace houses on both sides of it. As we all know, there are some people who live in terraces who like to keep dogs who like to bark when they see other dogs (not only the owners, their dogs bark too)… So after visiting Rocky’s girlfriend at the start of this road, I decided to do something crazy.

Off we went running up the road, and things just went wild. We glided pass the houses, with the rhythmic slapping of my flip-flops on the pavement and Rocky’s excited panting penetrating the humid evening air, our shadows following our steps, the dogs all around barking mad (literally barking, and literally mad), and then their owners also madly barking (as they say: like owner, like dog) at them to keep it down, and there we were – me having the time of my life and poor Rocky being extremely traumatized by the big dogs throwing their weight at the house gates.

Rocky half-glared at me after, stubbornly sat down and refused to continue walking – ignoring my explanation that he hadn’t had a good workout in a long long time.

This is what I woke up to this morning:

Murtabak. Yum. This one we found along a street behind Tekka Mall, while we were hunting for a place to eat. Selmor Restaurant. The very friendly uncle encouraged us to sit wherever we wanted, and then we ordered. It took longer than desired, and when it arrived at our table we began exploring it. It’s not your typical “just mutton/chicken-and-onions” murtabak – this one had potatoes, and the conspicuous taste of spices (as in the ones you’d find in your bryani rice) in it as well. Oh and for those who don’t like your vegetables, it’s got onions and peas in it too, so if you ever try it out don’t forget to tell them not to add those in.

I make a bad food reviewer. I can’t help it, I just eat.

And for those who miss our dear boy Rocky, here’s him sleeping in a very, very odd position. Presenting to you, Rocky Yoga:

(Sorry, it was a bit dark when I took it)

I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth, with the door almost closed. Then suddenly the door started to slowly creak open. I turned to see who it was, and saw no one. As my gaze moved downwards, I saw Rocky at the door opening – looking elsewhere. Trying to act as if he wasn’t the one who nudged the door open.

Nice try, mister.

I should start whacking myself. So much for knowing when I should start studying. Well actually, I do know. I’m supposed to start approximately two weeks ago. But ah well, here I am whining about not studying when I should be studying.

Here’s a shrug.

And another few more whacks for not having replied the email Denise sent me a long time ago, asking me to help contribute to the Players for Good compilation. Really, really. Hard whacks, please.

I’ve been getting into the whole Chinese music thing. Okay, maybe not. I’m just listening to the few old-but-not-too-old songs that people our age should know too – think Jacky Cheung, Zhou Hua Jian, etc. Especially loving A-mei’s Ting Hai, which can be literally translated into ‘Listen’ and ‘Ocean’. Listen to the Ocean. My mom used to love singing this song during karaoke sessions. It’s like her moment of glory kind of song. Recently when the song randomly popped into my head I finally realized the lyrics were hella nice.

Listen
To the sound of the ocean crying
Sighing over another person whose heart has just been broken
And yet hasn’t awoken
It can’t be me – at least I’m still calm
But even my tears, even my tears don’t believe me
- Ting Hai, A-mei

Haowen’s going to laugh at my translation. It sounds really bad like that, but it’s awesome in Chinese. I’m actually saying this, yes. If I decide it sounds too stupid tomorrow or something I’ll take this off -_-.

Anyway. From what I’ve typed so far this is yet another random rubbish post. Life, oh life, where’re you gonna take me to? I’d set my own path, but there’re some things that I cannot control, there’re some things that I cannot. We’ll wait and see.

…Like how Rocky’s waiting for me to help him get a girlfriend.

Awww.

I want a dSLR :(

So today I was heading to town with Haowen for a bit, then we bumped into our netball juniors at the school bus stop, Wenfeng and Xinru. Then Wenfeng was saying something about wanting to queue for donuts, and no one wanting to go queue with her, and then went on to ask me if I wanted to go.

Guess what my answer was :D

55mins of queueing, 24 donuts in hand (half of which I’m supposed to hand to Haowen -_-)

Timbre with schoolmates last Friday night, we went on a Happy-Hour’s-Ending- Quick-Order-More-Drinks spree. Had a good time with them. (and I like my camera a lot)

Dempsey road with Jo, Jess and Sam. Cool place, there! When I drive, when I drive…… I’ll bring you there when I pass okay Henny.

So yesterday night was my last night playing at Toca Me. Gonna miss playing there, it’s got awesome people there. :(

Was the usual bored on a sunday afternoon (or rather the entire day), so I surfed around and found some pretty cool stuff.

[edit]Okay I just found out that Shirlyn Tan‘s debut album is out! How slow can I get. I’m gonna stick two $10 notes in my wallet and go check it out, then decide if I’m willing to spend the money on it. (I probably will). I’m not a big fan or anything, but it’s nice to know that I’ve heard most or even all of the songs on the album before. Hahaha. It took me a while to start liking them though! Yep. Check out her site. [/edit]

Bones Throw Light on Lisbon Quake – They found a mass grave in Lisbon, Portugal. 3000 bodies. It’s really fascinating, the evidence they found. Go take a read. Don’t you just love archaeological excavations.

Earth-like Planet Found – This one’s old news, but I didn’t really read the details of it till today. Quite cool ah. If the planet is deemed inhabitable, I’ll bet half of it’ll be used to extract raw materials from, and the other half’ll be a holiday resort. That’s what people with money can do.

And lastly, here’s two of the many various positions that Rocky wakes up in. I coincidentally took them on consecutive days, found it amusing, and decided to put it up. Hahaha. :D

And that’s all, folks. For now.

Finished the game in 79 seconds. Does that say something? Either that or I’m saying something stupid.

Today the moon is exceptionally large and bright. But nope, tonight’s not the right night to eat mooncakes. Try harder next time. But for a moment it looked like an explosion. A big ball of explosion, isn’t that how they always describe it? One huge orb emitting rays of light all over the night sky. Imagine chunks of metal and debris flying off from the impact. So yea, there’re wars in outer space, and this time it’s really near. I wonder who won. Maybe the aliens have come to take over.

Doesn’t matter really. Cause I’ll be flying out of here anyway. …to the country that recently had a coup. Okay it’s the same thing then.

I ate lots of fruits today. Some cranberries, blueberries, mangoes and 3 apples. I’m hoping I get to, ah, get in touch with nature today. Answer its call and all. So that I don’t export my crap to another country. Later they make me pay tax then how.

Just finished reading last year’s ChiangMai journal. Now there’s this mix of feelings. The want to go and experience it all over again, the want not to waste my time being more of a burden to those we’re supposed to help. But it’s not as if I have a choice. So just go I will.

And yes I have decided to take the plunge. Nothing to lose anyway.

And I shall end off here, not as dramatic an entry as was written for last year’s trip. But something special for you guys anyway:

He’ll be staring at you every time you visit this page before the 15th. Which isn’t really a bad thing.

So good night, and goodbye.