And then we have 1 year.

I have been back to Malaysia for more than 2 years now. But officially, my company Kia Kaha Fitness was registered on this day, 5th of September, 1 year ago. =)

Confused rant few days ago aside, I actually am feeling pretty blessed. To have been given this opportunity to blossom as an Entrepreneur. To learn the tricks of the trade, stand on my own two feet, make my own decisions and call my own shots. To meet the many wonderful people that have made me feel so happy to be Karen Siah, Personal trainer and Fitness Instructor, as well as those who showed me the ways to better myself in every way.

I have endless gratitude to my parents and brothers, for without them many of my endeavours would have stopped short. I thank them for every single time they have egged me on. To my boyfriend and all my friends who have put up with my first few training sessions (while having a lack of experience), for those who signed up with me and went through my arduous sessions, I truly appreciate your support =) ALso thanks a million for the recommendations that you have sent my way. I hope to repay you with coffee, pints of Guiness or dinner as often as possible =)

1 year is a milestone, but most definitely nothing to shout about. The journey is just starting and I intend to make it a long and joy-filled one, with many a food for the soul and many a time for laughter :)

27 is the new awesome.

I'm twenty-friggin-seven years old. To me, that sounds extremely old. Mainly because I had envisioned myself to be married and probably with a kid now. Because at my age right now, my mum already had my big brother.

But when I think about it, I think I am living the best times of my life. Life for me, is pinker than a bed of roses, bluer than the sky on a summer's day, and peachier than peaches. When I laid my head to rest yesterday, completely exhausted from my weekend, I had the widest smile on my face. I fell asleep feeling so amazingly blessed, words won't do it justice.

I mean sure I just had my house broken into about a week ago, and my skin is close to charred from the sun, and I have an ulcer the size of Dumbo in my mouth making it very painful for me to shout, and eat and drink. But I am really happy.

My career is really bringing me places. I am now the new Ambassador for Nike Training Club, representing Nike Malaysia. I met the most amazing girls in fitness, from different nations. I have the most amazing job. My clients are succeeding in their heath goals. I am the fittest and strongest I have ever been in my whole life. I love the way I look and how I owe it all to just doing my job, and loving my job. Jobs, plural, actually. But the gist of it is I am so happy!

My friends, both old ones and new, are the most awesome people. Just because they are always lending their support in any way they can. I know they humour me most of the time, but God, I love them! Always a Whatsapp message away :)

My boyfriend, Gary, is heaven-sent. The most supportive and attentive partner I can dream of having, he makes me feel extremely loved and cared for every single day. He takes it all in, my tantrum should I throw it his way, my odd working hours, my need to constantly train, and sleep, and eat, he just takes it all in and creates an environment so conducive for me and my life. I struck gold the day I met him.I am extremely grateful.

My family never fails to show their support for everything I do. My brothers are the most amazing brothers, keeping track of my activities, and keeping me close to their hearts. My parents have to deal with my erratic lifestyle, exchanging the cars in the driveway for me, washing up my really dirty clothes, humoring me when I talk for hours on end about fitness and people I train.

I hope this never ends. I hope the downhill of all these joyous moments is lightyears from now, and that my life will continue to flourish till the day I die. =) That will be my birthday wish every damn year.

2012

It's the 3rd of January, 2013 and like always, I do a recap of the year. That's my tradition. I stopped making resolutions when I realised I never keep resolutions. I do better when I just resolve to progress as an individual and do new things. There, done. :)

Anyway, 2012 was my first year as a fully independent working adult. Of course, when I say "fully" I meant still-living-with-parents-and-occasionally-using-their-credit-cards "fully". heh. Ok, ok, Chandler Bing jokes aside, 2012 was a transitional year. Here's how it looked like.

I carried on being Teacher Karen at a new school. The kids loved me (I think) and I felt what it truly was like to be exhausted from work.
I gained a few more clients, different ones, with different personalities and everything. Always interesting.
I got certified to train pregnant and post partum women. (Go me!)
I started leading my own platoon at Rebel Bootcamp.
I took the whole year off from full marathons and did mostly 10s and 21s.
I kissed someone who makes me very happy and hey, last I checked, he's still with me. :)
I finally found someone who's right by me through all my races ♥
I went on BFM radio 3 times, to talk about different things. I realised I like radio, might be something I'd consider doing in the future.
I finally watched Wicked the musical in Singapore!
I started re-watching old episodes of Friends.
I got a new bike from my brother! And I train more now.
I did another Powerman.
I went to Kuala Terengganu to visit the boyfriend's parents for the first time.
I went to Phuket and Krabi, which was amazing till I got food poisoning on the 2nd last day.
I fell deeply in love =)

Not that big a year, but significant nonetheless. I have bigger plans this year with all the bells and whistles and everything! Watch me defy gravity.

For a sneak peak at what I did in 2011, click on the year.

Life and death.

I attended a funeral service yesterday for a good friend of mine who had just lost his father. I was slightly hesitant at first because the last time I attended a funeral service, I got really affected emotionally and I ended up not being able to sleep the entire night, with shivers of fear going down my spine. Whoa, right? I know.

Anyway, last night I went with some friends and while listening to the eulogies given by this man's family and friends, it occurred to me how little I know about my friend. I couldn't help but feel ashamed, for we've known each other for over 6 years and I couldn't even tell how many siblings he had, and whether he was the eldest, the middle or the youngest in the family. And while the pastor was talking about Death being a destination, and how you should live life well so that when you pass on, your life can be celebrated, I couldn't help but think to myself if I am doing what I can to live my life well. I don't even have a hectic schedule, nor any status or celebrity, yet I couldn't even name the number of siblings my friend had. Who am I?

I think it's so easy to get caught up in the race of life, even for someone like me who is not climbing the corporate ladder. It's just human nature, or should I say Asian nature, to chase wealth and success and keep up with the Joneses. So often I feel the pressure to buy a new car, just because my friend did, or buy a house, just because this person did...I keep thinking "we're the same age! And she's not even living at home any more!" and stuff like that. But there's so much more to life, as clichéd as it may sound. There really is. I don't even know why I have like a gazillion friends, yet I find myself not making any plans on a Friday night. I'd much rather curl up in my bed watching old episodes of Friends. Why? I use to crave social meet ups and hangout spots. But I feel like I am no more interested. And I don't know why.

Hmm...maybe I am rambling a little off topic here. But I think initiative is key. I do not take the initiative to keep in touch with my friends, to visit my relatives, to spend time with people I love and care about. And I'm only friggin' 26 with a lame entry level salary! I'm not even anyone rich and famous!

So coming back home last night, I thought to myself, that I need to take more initiative. I need to step out more, do more, care more. I need to live well and make my time on Earth matter.

On love

In 2009 I created a post with the exact same title, "On Love". It was a birthday dedication to a boy I loved very much at that point in time, and it captured the very essence of my heart. I think that Love which you grow in time as you get to know a person, get to recognize the things which makes you smile, and those which make you hold your breath, as you learn their flaws and turn them into affection, and as you feel the need to be the reason that person is happy, is a truly amazing thing. That, to me, is Love in its purest form, and the kind which takes forever to shut down because you so carefully nurtured it through time.

Marriage, through my simple eyes, is a public announcement of that love. It is like that Facebook update that you were so happy about, you wanted your 1000 plus subscribers to know about it. It is the promise that I have fallen in love with you, and I do not intend to climb back out. To be so sure that nobody else in the world would make you happier than the person next to you, is a big call - and a brave one at that.

Not many people have the opportunity to meet Love this way. And among those who do, not all of them are lucky enough to have their feelings requited. And so I think that those who make it all the way to marriage, and all the way past years and years of marriage to their deathbed, I think they're heroes.

Congrats Kor and Ah Soh! :D

Today my brother married the love of his life. It was something about his smile, the radiance in his face, the spring in his step, and the song in the way he talked, (and this is the big brother who could make me cry by scolding me via online chat), I could tell he was very happy. :)

I want that for myself. (And I've said that to practically everyone). One day. =)

My brother the Ironman

My brother is a bit of a superhero. Today he completed his 4th Ironman race in Western Australia in under 10 hours 30 minutes. That is AWESOME! He put in hours and hours of training with undying discipline and enthusiasm and he achieved a goal he had set sight on months ago. Bravo, Kor! =)

In my family, sport and exercise is a huge thing. We're all active people with athletic inclinations. To a lot of people on the outside, it's pretty amazing. And I think it is too. My family is so supportive of one another in the things we love to do. My dad was on his laptop all day just keeping up with my brother's progress. It just reminds me again and again why I never want to be too far away from home. =)

Family.

I can tell that I've been a lot more attached to my family since coming back home. I go almost everywhere with mum and dad, even if it was just to go and pick Keith up from tuition down the block. I guess I really appreciate how close I am to them, and how I can just chat their ears off till the cows come home! haha...I don't know if they still enjoy my company, though. Maybe I'm starting to be a bit of a third wheel already. heh.

But since most of my friends are busy with work, chilling out with them is getting much less frequent unless I take the initiative to start calling everyone (which is a feat on its own), so after I've tried a couple of times, I've kinda given up. :p

I've been extremely slack with training for my legendary The Legend marathon. sei la. I think it's going to take me 5 hours. I just wake up at 5 every flippin' morning! And try as I might I can never get myself into be before 11 pm. I don't know why! Just got so much to do every night, and when I'm on my notebook I spend quite a bit of time getting my social networking fix. haha...so I end up using every free time I have taking naps here and there, or eating food to curb my ever growing hunger! I am turning into a glutton, ironically!

Like my brother says, I'll just have to wing it. But now I have bigger concerns than trying to safe my face from losing to a 57 year old grandma. I've just done something to my back, which *fingers crossed* isn't a sprain, or a hernia, or a slip disk. It has been hurting for 2 days now, if it still hurts tomorrow morning I think we can rule out DOMs and maybe consider an x ray scan.

Back in Auckland

It's ridonkulous how fast time flies. It really feels like just a couple of days ago I was counting down the days till I finished my finals last year. An entire summer has passed by now, and I'm back in NZ again.

My summer holidays weren't exactly epic. If I were to be blatantly direct, I'd say it was the loneliest summer I've had in the past few years. But there were good times. I have amazing friends, I really do. And I truly appreciated being around family this time. It really helped things heal a lot faster.

So now here I sit, in the last place I will be living in here in Auckland. I have one last semester ahead of me, which begins this coming Monday. I have 16 weeks to study 5 subjects and be examined on them. And then I will throw my hands up in the air, and rejoice for surviving everything I have been through to tag this degree to my name. =)

What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger right? =)

Melbourne

So Melbourne, we meet again.

Melbourne Central clock tower

This is my 4th time in Melbourne and my 3rd time staying with Kenneth. He's been an excellent host.

My flight here was long, bumpy and sickening, literally. I was a messy tired heap of migraines and stomach aches when I got off the flight. And the drama started from the moment I stepped into LCCT in KL, with my electronic visa being rejected because I had a new passport, and my luggage being overweight, and my laptop battery failing on me, and WiFi KLIA that didn't allow me to log into the Australian Immigration website. Geezzz...All of which has never happened to me before in my years of flying to and fro...not even the overweight baggage.

But I met many kind souls to help me get through it all, starting with Julie's mum and colleague, which helped me get a visa for free through the phone, followed by Michael, a Scottish traveller who helped me check in 1 backpack (Very interesting dude, who stayed with the Penan for a month and travelled around Malaysia for about 3 months or something), and finally Denning, an Iban/Fuchow Chinese from Kuching who played the ukulele and taught me both how to play the ukulele and speak Iban in our 8-turned-9 hour flight to Melbourne.

Denning and his ukulele

View of the full moon from my seat.

Anyhow, Melbourne has been enjoyable. The weather is a little erratic though. It's 15 degrees today, and I've not a single jacket in my bags. Coz they're all packed away in Auckland.

Potato twisty things from China Town

Aunty Bee Imm and my cousin Kimberly

I have been meeting up with several friends, and meeting up with more today and tomorrow. I even met up with my aunty and my cousin over here. Guess it was a pretty good idea to come for a few days longer. =) Makes my journey back to Auckland slightly more pleasant...hehe...

Melbourne and her arts. :)

I'm very tempted to shop in Melbourne. There are sales EVERYWHERE! But not only do I not have the moolah, I also do not have luggage space. heh.

I am missing my family and friends at home heaps. I've had some pretty heartfelt moments with every one of them this time around, so that makes leaving them very difficult. But I guess the bright side is there are only about 5 months to go before I see them all again. =)

Sunday Morning Breakfast

I'm sitting here staring at my empty plate filled with crumbs and a banana peel. 5 minutes was all it took. My cup of warm Milo is fast cooling down, and will soon be less than delicious. Not like it was super delicious to begin with. It loses its appeal when you have it almost every morning.

You know what I miss every damn Sunday morning here in Auckland? Breakfast with my parents. I miss Mum knocking on my door ever so lightly, so that if I were awake, I'd hear it, if I were asleep, it wouldn't wake me up. I usually hear it. "Girl, want to join us for breakfast?" she'd ask. And I never refuse. =)

Breakfast at home constitutes going out to SS15 or USJ 2 or USJ 14 or SS13 or USJ 6 for a nice hot plate of hakka meen, or a steamy hot bowl of kuey tiow soup, or delicious nasi lemak, or crispy roti kosong with teh tarik.

Everything about it is awesome. Getting into the car involves the decision making process of where to eat. And since I have been going overseas a lot, they always let me decide. I love deciding where to eat. =) Going there, Daddy would have a lot of things to talk about - usually pertaining running/marathon. I'm often still in a just-out-of-bed daze to reply, but I do listen. It's like turning the TV on while you putter around in the kitchen. The noise is soothing, comforting. It lets me know I'm not alone.

Then, reaching our destination, we would then sit down at a vacant table and ponder what to eat. Daddy would give his orders to Mum, and she'll run off to place orders. I usually go about by myself to pick from the variety of hawkers. Upon returning to the table, as if by habit, we would ask each other "What are you having?" even though we kinda already know, and it wouldn't make a difference to us. But it's like an obligatory report. I always come back to my seat and automatically announce what I have decided to order.

All throughout breakfast we would chat happily about anything. Maybe it's something in the news. Maybe it's about my brothers who are usually not there, so we can gossip about them. =) Maybe it's about relatives. Or maybe it's just about nothing at all. Just random nonsense we decide to debate on like "Why yellow noodles give you tummy ache and white noodles don't".

Mum would always be the first to finish, so she would always stand up and start buying things for Keith to eat, start doing bits of marketing here and there, buying veges and meat and asking me what soup I'd like to have this afternoon so she can go get the ingredients. I'm usually the slowest to finish my breakfast so Daddy usually waits for me.

And when everything is done, we head to the car and make our way home. One hour. At least.

One hour of not eating alone, of having someone to talk to, of delicious food, and of getting out of the house.

I miss home. I miss my Sunday morning breakfast with Mum and Dad. Oh why can't I finish studying already?!

24

Updated: Picture below. My Hyacinths now. only 4 days after. =)

I'm 24.

For some reason I don't like the sound of that age. It's a strange number. It's not quite 25, and too far away from 21. 23 was a nicer age to be at.

Anyway, birthday celebrations this year in Aucks was a lot more joyous compared to last year. I definitely had quite a bit of fun this time. I celebrated it 2 times, once on Saturday with the Malaysians and Subangites, and once more on my actual birthday with the mat sallehs. My best non-Malaysian friends here in Auckland. =)

I received quite a few presents as well, money from Mom and Dad and yehyeh came a few days before my birthday, allowing me to do a bit of birthday splurging, a beauty pack from Navin, to fulfill my becoming more womanly, a pedicure set from Abby, same inspiration, a gorgeous aqua single stone necklace from Michael Hill from Wye Yin, which I absolutely love, and this Hyacinth plant from Mod and Flo. I guess I really am about to morph into a lady this year. =) Oh and the Aunty i'm staying with gave me an angpow too!

I feel loved, by the people over here. And they really spoil me sometimes. So much so that I feel a tad guilty, that even with all the love they shower onto me, a small part of me still yearns to have my family and friends from Subang around. Birthdays always matter in my home, and my family make an effort to always make birthdays special. I miss that. And my besties back at home! I miss them so much. And I want to spend my birthday with D. I've spent only one birthday with him since we got together. I guess before we met, I've always ogled at the idea of spending your birthday with your boyfriend. So it's quite a bummer that I'd have to celebrate 3 birthdays without him. 2 down, 1 more next year. =(

Anyway, I've got 6 weeks to home! The anticipation is killing me. I really need to get my head into my exams and everything, but really, I think my body knows it's coming soon because of late, I've been craving the randomest Malaysian foods like mee hoon kueh, char kuey tiaw and satay. =)

The earth turns, the sun burns, but I die, without you

I went to watch Rent yesterday. Live in The Civic. It was AWESOME. I've watched the movie production, the Broadway cast on video, and now live on stage. I'm not tired of it yet.

In fact I find that every time I watch it, and every time I listen to their songs on loop, I understand it more and more.

Definitely my favourite musical of the century. =)

Sometimes, I'd like to think, if my days on earth were numbered, what would I do? What would I do, first?

I guess I'd give and receive as much love as I possibly can, from family and friends.

Go on a holiday with my family. Stay in a jungle chalet, go jungle trekking, caving. Have a huge seafood dinner. Play badminton.

Have a night out with my friends. Drink to my heart's content. Get completely wasted, talk heart to heart. Sleep over, eat, indulge.

And snuggle up with you. Watch movies. Go camping. Sit by the fire, stare at the moon and stars. And just tell you how much I love you.

um...yeah. =)

Happy birthday, Por Por. =)

One Tree Hill

One Tree Hill is crazy. I just watched the latest episode of the latest season.

With just one episode it managed to open up my floodgates, making me miss my dad and mom, making me miss my brothers, making me miss D, making me miss my friends staying close by, and making me miss my grandmothers.

I think I cried just as badly as I cried for My Sister's Keeper. And I cried because I really really want to be at home to hug all of the above but I can't. Not right now.

I was talking to D last night and I think I poured pretty much all of my emotion out onto him. haha, I hope I didn't scare him away just yet. Babe, =). I'm just at a point where I don't think couples should be apart. Couples should be together. It just gets a bit too hard sometimes.

Why do we do this? Why do we embark on adventures by ourselves, sometimes, when it is double the fun to embark on it together?

Well, I'm just glad I'm halfway through mine. And I'm counting down to June now. I'm going home for winter break. One lonely winter is more than enough. I don't need to experience another one again.

summer 09/10

Now that it's less painful to reflect, let's have a look at what I did this summer.

Family and Friends

I started off by catching everyone by surprise because I appeared a whole week before I was supposed to! Jayson and Grace came to pick me up from the airport, whisked me away to Murni's for my first Malaysian meal, and then I came home and surprised my family! Daddy was hilarious, because he was walking out when I arrived home and he somehow didn't recognize me at first (it was dark) and thought I was my cousin when i went "BOO!". And then when I got closer, he realised it was me and went, "Eh, what are you doing here?". Haha...it was great to be back. =)

The next few days I went about surprising some more people like Ju and Lyn and Rosie. Poor Shiau Sang had to be my cameo in surprising Lyn, and even though she hasn't seen Lyn in ages as well, I kinda stole her thunder because Lyn cried when she saw me! Priceless. =)
Meeting up with the high school gang was real nice as well. On many occasions I hung out with Ven Nee or Julie, mano o mano, so we could have deep, intriguing conversations about boys. haha...Off and on those oversea-ers came back and we had small reunions here and there. Always nice to attend those. Although I think I didn't make it to some of them, and I regret I didn't. 3 months is so not enough I tell you.

The Metro peeps, I managed to meet a couple of times too. Stevo being the one I saw most often. Because he's cool and agrees to go for anything. Joey, Yan Yee and Nick I managed to catch once or twice. Shakti too! Some I failed to meet, like Kailash and Shah. But you know, there's always next summer. =)But this time I made it a point to eat more dinners at home. And it was nice. Mummy's cooking is definitely a healer of the homesick soul. I dare say that I miss her cooking so much when I am here, I tend to go crazy with junk food to stave the craving. heh. 9 months till i have it again. I know they probably feel I didn't spend much time at home. I guess I always should've done better at that, but it's hard to say no to dates with the boy though. =)

Cambodia
I went to Cambodia with my family in December. It was really nice. I wish my big brother came along, it's been quite a while since we went for a holiday as a family, not counting the recent CNY. I guess that'll have to wait till I'm done with this degree. But Siam Reap was good. Very cultural. Lovely scenery.
Runs
Then I ran the Singapore Marathon blindfolded. That was quite an experience. I think I enjoy running a bit more with the gift of sight. I'm a little more grateful, you could say.

Running the NB 30 k was when all the oily street food and alcohol binging started to show. Haha...and where the hills of KL humbled this Auckland trained runner. heh.

The Putrajaya Night marathon was really something. Quite an interesting race. The best part was seeing D at the finishing line waiting for me. Oh and winning a grand. =)

Adventure
I was supposed to go on a mountain expedition. But seeing as how that failed, I went on 2 waterfall trips instead. Ijan, my friendly waterfall guide slash OB friend, brought us to Lepoh Falls and then to Jerangkang Falls. I loved them! Waterfalls are awesome!Skytrex with a bunch of Ds friends and Ju and her cousins was the bomb! I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Chinese New Year
CNY fell on Valentine's Day this year. So i think the festivities all over the place was a little diluted because of the double event. I went back to Raub with the family as usual, big brother was back too! It was really nice having him around, because if not I'll be the eldest grandchild there, and Keith was the only one I talked to the most. Having my kor around meant one more person to talk to.
D time
Where do I start? I spent the most of my summer with D. And I can only wish we had MORE time together.

We went on a Christmas trip to Penang/Ipoh/Teluk Intan with Calvin and Carmen. I stuffed myself crazy with really really good food. I had a really good time with them. I have to say it was one of the best trips I've had. I think Calvin and Carmen are like our permanent double dates. haha...

D planned a really great Valentine's for me on the Friday before I flew off. It included hiking, and wake boarding and of course, more eating. I think the boy really did it this time. He really stole my heart and had me wondering how on earth did I get him.Being with D this time around made all the difference. I was never big on physical contact and PDA, but this time around, I held his hand or waist or shoulder every time we went out and I didn't want to let go. We probably might have kissed in a few public areas too, something I so, wouldn't do. We went through a lot, and each time we made up, I cling on to him a little tighter. It was really hard to leave him. I made a promise that I'll try my best to sail through this year without missing him painfully. I don't know how well I'll be able to do that, but i will try.And those are just some snapshots of this Summer. What wasn't captured was the joy and sheer happiness I felt the entire 3 months. It sucks that I can only have that again after 9 months. But there are only 3 semesters left in this degree. And when I'm done with it, I will be going home to Malaysia. For good this time.

Auckland 2010

So after 3 blissful months at home, I am finally back in Auckland. And to be honest, I don't really know how to feel happy or excited or thrilled in anyway right now. I know it's because I just got here, and it has only been less that 72 hours since i bade my boyfriend goodbye for 9 months, so i'm feeling extremely emotional, and homesick, but really, there must be the slightest hint of excitement in me to be getting back to my course, or to be independent again, or to be able to have mussels and belgian beer again.

But all I can think of is how I won't be able to have Ramly burger at midnight anymore, or drive to Mutiara Damansara for lamb burger anytime, or arrive home and Mom would've had dinner ready on the table, or call up Julie on a weekend and crash her place, or have her crash mine, or call friends from everywhere, really, to meet at mamak lorong anytime. Or how i won't be able to call D up and see if he's keen for lunch. Or go on spontaneous trips with D to Klang or Bangsar for more food. Or go walking around with D.

I was walking up on Swainston Road just now, by myself after looking at a potential flat. It was about 9 pm. And the streets were deserted. It wasn't that it was scary or anything, considering I've been mugged on that road before. But I wasn't scared this time. I was just so full of hatred for this place. I hate Auckland. I hate the fact that I have no where to go to, and nothing to do on a night like this because everything is closed. I hate the irony that right here, where the weather is so awesome, and there's no curfew and all the freedom in the world, I couldn't have D here.

I feel like I've been locked up in a department store, and I can have anything I want for free, but I can never leave the store.

So, right now, I'm still struggling to keep my chin up. I am feeling so miserable this time around, it's not funny. I'll get better. I know I will. It's just this time around it's a whole lot harder than last time. And I can't quite put my finger on it. I think the novelty of studying abroad has worn off, and i've had enough of being by myself, and really because I just want to be home, where I don't have to pack lunch for work, or think twice when I want to eat out, or worry about internet quota.

And with that, I leave u with hopefully the first and the last whiny, emo post I'm gonna put up about Auckland for this year.

Oh I hope it'll be sunny tomorrow.

Keong Hee Huat Zhai

Roar! Have a great Year of the Tiger!

I am incredible at procrastinating.

Yeah. Almost awesome even. I do it with no effort at all.

***

I was blog surfing, visiting some old blogs I've not gone to in a long time. Some people just write so well I feel embarrassed owning a blog. I am not worthy of the "blogosphere". Anyway, I came across a post which said "I can't believe it's almost June. Only 6 months left of this year". So it's half way through June now. And she's right. Only 6 months left till 2010. I guess, time really does fly. When you look at the big picture. But when you're perched at your study table doing MCQ after MCQ after MCQ, the minutes really do crawl. haha..

Anyway, I sit for my first exam paper tomorrow. Finally. Don't ask me if I am prepared. I never know that answer. I don't think anyone will ever be prepared for an exam unless they're thinking of getting a 100% right on it. Exams are mean. They prove nothing in this world.

One tomorrow, one on Friday, one on Monday and one more on the following Monday. And then it's off to Aussie for 7 days. And then hitting the slopes for a whole weekend. And then just chilling out and bumming around till Semester 2 starts.

And once semester 2 starts, its only 14 weeks till I start packing up, to go home this time.

Home. I have to say you really really appreciate home when you're away from it. I think I'll do things a little differently this time when I go home. Gonna actually stay home more. haha..just bum around and hang out with mummy, daddy and Keith. go to the market with her. go running with him. and...play ps2 with him?? ahha i'll find something. maybe i'll make him play badminton and squash with me once a week. =)

I miss home. I really do. It's not that I don't like it here. I just like home more. Love home. Hands down.

happy birthday mummy

When times are dull and monotonous
You bring on life and colours and rhyme
You bring on fun and laughter when we’re young
Which carry on in our hearts through time

When times are dark and fearful
You bring light to brighten it up
You bring warmth to comfort our nerves
You bring assurance that you’ll never give up

When times are unreasonable and unjust
You take in our raging temper
You calm us down with soothing words
When none other would understand better

When times are happy and full of zest
Often we take for granted how it came to be
That, really, life for us is grand and wholesome
You made sure of that when you raised us three

strongest man in my life

For the past couple of weeks back home, all i've been hearing on the radio when they announce events was "Catch the strongest men and women in the world as they pit against each other in the upcoming Langkawi Ironman 2009!" And though that sounded pretty corny, and slightly off-tangent (because it's the fittest not the strongest)...i was actually pretty darn proud that I knew people who were taking part in that race.

And especially so since my own brother was there. I was initally a little sad that I couldn't go and watch him compete and complete this impossible task. But thanks to Ironmanlive.com I was able to track his progress and i must say it is pretty thrilling going in and checking back every 30 minutes to see how much he has completed.

And if i was so anxious about the race just by watching some numbers come on the screen everytime it refreshes, i cannot imagine the intensity in Langkawi.

This is he.

Strongest man in my life right now.

Toughest, leanest, most dedicated athlete I know.

Completing the Ironman Langkawi 2009 in a gruelling 11 hours 15 minutes, a time far better than he had targeted.

My brother the Ironman.

Congrats kor!

wow...i can tumpang glamour man. =)