Friday, December 29, 2006

SMS

One of the sweetest SMSes I've seen in a long time:

"This is a toast to us ladies for 2007! For the men who have us, the losers who had us, and the lucky guys who will still meet us! Send this to all the beautiful women you know. I just did. Don't break the chain. You can make someone feel real special. Have a wonderful year ahead. To all my special pals."

This is the best New Year message one can receive, in my opinion.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

KL Trip Dec 2006

Went to KL for the first time the few days before the Christmas weekend. The journey up wasn't bad, they upgraded us for free to a nicer bus with nice big plush seats. Too bad I didn't get to sleep much cos I was chatting with Piggy Fren. When we reached KL, she started to play with my seat. Okay, see, our seats are controlled by pressing some buttons, so yes, she pressed my buttons. It got her so amused, I do not know why.

Our first destination after putting our stuff in our hotel was to go to KLCC. We took a taxi there. I don't know if taxi is the right word. But it was a nice big cab. Bear decided to try out his (brand-new) camera in the cab.


Pic 315: Bear and Chris. I really like this photo.



Pic 316: Piggy Fren and me. I think this was the only pic we took together in KL.



Pic 316: I think Bear was trying out the flash or something. Me and Snowflake. bear took a thousand and one photos of us, with the excuse that he's 'testing his camera'. I think he just wants to see my pretty face. *blush*


Then we reached our destination.


Pic 317: Petronas Twin Towers. I hope I got the name right.



Pic 318: A closer view.



Pic 319: Getting tired of all these shots yet?



Pic 320: A picture of us. I don't really understand why when people are tasked to take pictures for other people, they always assume we want a full body shot. And you know what, they NEVER ASK. The other day I was at Vivocity and someone asked me to help them take a picture. I asked them, "Full body? Half-body?" Turns out they only wanted half-body shot, so if I had been idiotic, I'd have taken pictures like these. Grrr. Okay rant over.



Pic 321: Another picture of us, missing the Bear (cos he was the one who took this pic) with the ACTUAL THING (huge-ass Christmas Tree) we wanted to take in the first place.



Pic 322: More scenery pics! This was taken from where we were sitting at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf inside KLCC. Before that, I bought a book from Kinokuniya, Kamila Shamsie's Broken Verses.



Pic 323: And yes, we did sit there until it turned dark.


We took a cab back as well, and Chris had great fun bargaining with one of the cabbies. We got a cab back at a slightly cheaper price than when we went. Just for the kicks larh, yah?

We ate at some place which name escapes me already with not very good food. )= We didn't wander about much cos I think we were all tired. We ended up playing bridge till quite late, then went to bed. Piggy Fren and I slept even later, cos we were gossiping under the covers.

The next day, Midvalley! Took public transport for the first time in four months. Haha.


Pic 324: Piggy Fren and Chris in the train. Got fu qi xiang k. Don't play play.



Pic 325: I think this was at Midvalley. Chris was trying on a pink shirt in a shop, and the changing room has TRANSLUCENT DOORS. I won't want to change in a room like that.


We had a much nicer dinner that night, and was even cheaper larh. Then we went to a shopping complex near our hotel. Wandered around before returning to the hotel, then playing bridge again until 3.30am. Even though we agreed not to sleep, we all ended up sleeping except for Piggy Fren and Chris.


Pic 326: On the last day in the coach. I didn't sleep much the night before, so I just wanted to sleep. That's why I'm not smiling. Posted by Picasa




What I've learnt from the trip: I look good in every photo I was in. HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA. No, I'm just kidding. Whatever I learnt, it's between myself and the last few people I've talked to.

Next post, pictures of the NUSKK pre-Christmas party at Twinny's house.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

1st kyu

I know I promised pictures, but I am an incorrigible liar.

Grading is finally over, and even though my grade was waiting for me, I don't feel like I did my best to take it. But it's okay, if the grading panel gave me the grade, it means that they think I am capable of being that grade, training up to that grade, and then training beyond that grade. I'm just glad that the grading panel sees it fit to give me the grade.

That being said, I will always feel inadequate about my ability. I will never be as good as my opponent in shiai, in training. I firmly believe that as long as I think that I'm better than my partner, I will never be as good as someone who is of a lower rank, but more humble.

Congrats to all those who passed grading, and all the people who got what they want.

And Godspeed, you cannot jump grade from ni-kyu to shodan larh.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

pictures coming soon

I got tons of pictures from my GESL project. But I'm lazy to upload them. (= So next entry.

I learnt something new today. I learnt that being blue = being happy. Haha. Original context: "Went training yesterday. Arms almost came off towards the end. Woke up today with an aching body. But I like my new gi and hakama haha. I'm blue again!"

I had to babysit my sister today, and again on Saturday. So today I brought her to the playground near my new place. There was an old auntie there with her two-year-old grandson who thought I was my sister's mother. (Does that make sense?) She asked me in Mandarin, "Only one? Why not have more?" I was wondering if I should tell her that she is not my daughter, but nah, the truth requires a bit more explanation and more lies. So I just said I didn't want more. Help, I think I've reached that stage in my life where people think I'm a very young mother. I don't think it's supposed to be flattering, because it means I look plump enough to have given birth. Ugh.

Brought her swimming at my beloved Piggy Fren's condo, but my idiot sister refused to let Piggy Fren in. So bo bian, I just 'swam' (in the loosest sense of the word) with my sister. Then we headed off to IMM to have lunch (Happy Meal!). This sister is expensive... I spent $4.50 on her Happy Meal, $3.85 on her Pringles, and $9.90 on a VCD that she picked out. Since she was being okay (read: not needing me to carry her so much), I bought it for her.

I also learnt today that carrying a three-year-old is more tiring on the arms than swinging a shinai way over my head. I finally went back to training yesterday, after a month off. All I will say is that I lost focus in the last few months, especially during the May to September period when I was quite depressed (-squish-, as someone said). I woke up this morning with no aches. But now my arms are aching all because I carried a kid around.

I'm babysitting her again next week argh. But this time I'm bringing her to the beach with my NIE friends. I still haven't figured out what nicknames to give them. One of them is Strawberry, cos of an inside joke about painting her first car like a strawberry. The other one... (=

Pictures next entry!