This is such an adorable ad… got it off a friend’s blog… he prefers to remain anonymous, hehe…

So last Friday, was asked to help out at a salsa workshop at my “most favorite place in the whole wide world” (excuse me while I go choke now)…

Naturally, the person who I “really liked” recognized me… so I had to put on the “real” smile and go “Oh hiiiii!!! Yes, it’s me… no no, I’m not an instructor. Just helping out coz the main stars are out of town…blah…blah…blah”

So anyway… they had us standing there (no chairs for us, mind u) for about 1 hour before we started. And no, they didn’t want us dancing on the wooden floor coz they didn’t want us to scratch the floor…. waaaaaa, ok lar, so we dance on the tile floor.

Next thing I know, I was walking pass the staircase and this girl walks by and says “Hi Ai Ling!!!” and I do a double take and think to myself “Shites! That’s my classmate from primary school!!”

That’s the second “It’s such a small world” incident at that place. Their former asst. manager there was also a schoolmate, one year my junior. Geez, talk abt being in teeny tiny KL, man.

So anyway, after we were done with the workshop, naturally had to do some small talk with the “long lost friend”, exchange of numbers, “oh, we must meet up for drinks one day ya”, yada yada yada…

Sometimes, I really dun like being in such a small world.

Bleecckk…

My friends are funny, hehe…

SL has been wanting to try out YM’s voice call for some time. She’s been bugging me for a few days and I keep telling her that it won’t work coz I dun have a mic. But she goes “Never mind, try anyway” so yesterday I gave in and said, “ok ok, u call me”… and she went “haha, we’re so sampat. I said “U lar! So sampat! :-p”

So she called… and the woman ended up talking to herself while I typed out my replies coz while I could hear her, she couldn’t her me coz I didn’t have a mic! Duh!

Then I said I’d go look for my old old mic while she tried to figure out how to get Steph to join our conversation so we could have a 3-way conversation. Found my mic and it was actually working! :-O Was so impressed! Hehe…

SL managed to get Steph conferenced in but the way YM worked was more like a walkie talkie. It was quite funny when we were talking all at once coz it seemed like we were talking to ourselves, haha! And we kept repeating ourselves “Hallo hallo, can u hear me???” and burst out laughing each time…

Hehe… it’s cool how the simplest things can make us laugh… like a short-lived voice conversation via YM.

)

Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Two weekends ago, it was Chien Li’s wedding…

Highlight of the dinner was when the groom declared to the bride that he was “addicted to her”. Aaaaawwwww… so sweet! (She’s my former colleague from VS)

Yesterday was Rachel’s wedding…

There was a garden ceremony where the priest conducted the nuptials, followed by a sit-down dinner in the resort ballroom. I liked the slideshows that they’d put on. Highlight of the nite was probably the part where they made the guests all go up and do the Scottish dance (the groom’s Scottish). After some confusion, I think the M’sians finally got the hang of it… haha… (I’ve known Rachel back in the Buffalo days… we were in the same faculty and took some of the same courses).

Come December, there’ll be another wedding… of my oldest friend, someone I’ve known since my pre-school days. Wow, I feel quite ancient o_O

This year’s a good one for weddings, eh????

;o)

Here are some of the animals who I’d had the good fortune to be associated with throughout my life…

Sandy, brindled boxer… the very first dog we had that I could remember…

Sylvester & Bandit

Sandy and I-can’t-remember-his-name… my aunt’s dogs in Ipoh

Sam & Rufus – boxers, who we’d hand-reared when they were newborns after their mother died of complications from their birth

Frisky, our very first cat! Dad wanted to dump her when she came into our house one day but me and sis protested madly. Dad & Frisky eventually became best of friends… but she ran away when we moved to our current home (

Patches/Patchy – our second cat who came one day and never left. She’s all of 9 years now and still going strong *touch wood*

*Ppbbttthhh!!! Stop taking pics of me! Else start paying royalties!*

Vanessa/Nessa – adopted in the States, relocated to M’sia. Lost a tip of an ear to frostbite and almost had a leg amputated when she was a stray on the streets of Buffalo.

*Ssssshhhhh!!! I’m hiding!!!!*

Misty – adopted with Nessa in the States, relocated to M’sia. Has a short-haired version of a brother back in the States.

*Oh hello… would u like to rub my tummy???”

These are only some of the animals who I’d had the privilege of growing up with. Others include Prince, Ginger, Kimbo, Bobby, Max, Fred/Tiny… I couldn’t find pics of them.

RIP to those who’re already in Doggy/Kitty Heaven…

Gaaahhh!! I’m having this persistent cough that just won’t go away!! All coz of the stupid haze… gggrrrrr…

Last nite was bad… was coughing and coughing till I couldn’t get to sleep…

(

Feels like a perpetual itch in my throat… so agonizing!

*cough cough* I’m coughing my guts out… blurgh *pieces of unidentifiable gut comes hurtling out of my mouth*

o_O

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What makes a person determine whether another person could be a potential partner???

After going thru the checklist on the usual physical and personality traits, the next criteria on my list would be to see if being with the person would make my life more positive i.e. at the risk of sounding cliched, someone who’d make me a better person and who’d bring more life to my life, so to speak.

My logic is, if a person with whom you’re planning to spend the rest of your life doesn’t have that sort of impact in your own life, then the relationship wouldn’t be very meaningful and the possibility of it lasting would likely be low.

Another criteria would be to see if the person would stick by me, not only during the good times, but more so during the bad times. This story was shared by Bee Suan during her ‘interrogation’ session when we organized her hen nite. We’d asked her what was one of the nicest things that her future hubby had done for her (or some similar question)… and she’d replied that one of it was that during the early days of their courtship, he’d driven all the way to Johor (she was studying there then) on her birthday and brought her flowers. Naturally, us gals went “Awwwwww…” when she told us that story. But what really touched me was what she added after, that he’d been there for her during the tough times when her father got ill and eventually passed away. She teared up when she was telling us this, and I could see that it really meant a lot to her that he’d stuck by her, encouraged her and motivated her to move on with her life. She’d said “U wanna know if a guy’s really good? See if he sticks around when things get tough”… and that comment has stayed with me since then. And I think it’s a fair criteria for anyone to expect of their potential life partners. Who would want a partner who’d take off as soon as things get tough?

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Hhmm… I think my cats need a shower…

Sunny weather today so they can dry themselves off on the balcony.

)

I totally agree with his/her views on how our so-called wildlife experts handle human-wildlife conflict.

You can refer to the hardcopy of The Star, 10th October 2006, Page N45 to see the picture of the said crocodile, with all its limbs and head bound in such indignity… just coz it was following its survival instincts.

Yes, it’s tragic when human lives are lost to these wild animals but do we ever stop to think why the animals are driven to attack humans? Do we even stop to think, whenever we clear forests and swamps to build our bungalows, apartments, and link houses, that we’re encroaching on the land that they depend upon for their survival?

Oh no, we don’t ever think that far. We just clear land and build and build, and when the inevitable happens i.e. these wild animals are driven to attack humans for their survival, we get angry and condemn these animals to their death.

Remember a few years ago when some govt. official put out the order to have any tiger shot and killed after it attacked a human? Even though tigers are extremely endangered animals? And the order was apparently approved by our very own wildlife dept, whose very existence is supposed to be to provide solutions to manage human-wildlife coexistence and NOT just send out orders to kill any wild animal that happens to attack a human for its survival. Heck, if that’s the case, we dun even need a wildlife dept!

See, animals’ minds dun work like us humans. They attack for survival; we, on the other hand, are capable of premeditated murder. So if that’s the case, why dun we kill each and every human who’s murdered another human being instead of spending tax payers’ hard-earned money to rehabilitate these criminals?

If we really wanted to, if the relevent officials really wanted to, we can find solutions to manage human-wildlife coexistence. It’s been proven to work in other countries. But see, our relevent officials are just too busy with making money from building this development and approving that development. So whenever something like this happens, they just need to send out an order “Bunuh saja semua buaya/harimau/gajah/[insert a wild animal] kat sana tu.” Easy peasy… and they dun even need to do the work themselves.

It just makes me sick. Each time an innocent animal gets killed coz it had to do something to survive and another stupid Mat Rempit is loose on our roads, makes me even sicker. Who’s more dangerous, u tell me now…..

In this day and age, I’d like to think that I have enough common sense NOT to make silly and careless mistakes.

But sometimes, I do slip up and then can’t help but worry about the consequences of “What if…?”, the worst-case scenarios playing in my mind endlessly until I feel like hitting my head against the wall, not that that’s gonna help anything.

And sometimes, the fear that comes with it is so terrifying to the point that it almost suffocates me.

Sigh…

Note to self: Must.Not.Make.Stupid.And.Avoidable.Mistakes

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I broke our mop yesterday… but it was old and the wood was rotting from the regular usage.

I’m not THAT strong… hehe…

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What is your biggest fear? I think one of my biggest fears, in addition to being a failure (at anything), is to be a disappointment and failure to my parents, the people who’d brought me up to be the person I am today and to whom I’m eternally grateful for all the opportunities and support that they’ve given me throughout my life. Therefore, must work hard to ensure this doesn’t happen.

Another fear that I have is to lose control of my life (can’t imagine how yet, at this point in time) and an irrational fear of worms and any creepy-crawlies that are slimy. Yecckk… *shudder*

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Managed to get thru Week 1 of Unemployment without driving myself or anyone else crazy

)

Got this in my mailbox some time back…