Adebelle

Me, me, me. I am the lucky girl! I really am!!!!!!!!!

Okay, here’s the thing. I just celebrated 2 rounds of birthday, mind you, 2 days in a row, even the real day is yet to come!!! Oh no, my eyes are getting wet again… These people, they are simply the best and I there is no reason why you shouldn’t love them. They are tubes and tubes of colourants, painting my already colourful life (since met them) even more colourful!

Here goes the details. First celebration was with the favourite people I used to work with in Cyberjaya (IBM). Cat, as usual, sent out reminders of this celebration 2 weeks ahead. With her secretary instinct, she pre-scheduled this so that everyone could block their calenders and come together for the birthday celebration. Thoughful Sam then bought the birthday girls lovely Daisy as pressie and the birthday boys red balloons. Pink daisy for me and yellow for Jo. I was really excited as that was the first flower received in a long long time. The coolest part was catching up old times with these people whom I feel so strongly connected with. Thank you thank you thank you!!! Cat, Ai Peng, Sam, Adrene,Jasmine, Jo, Meck, Vincent and Raymond, THAAAANK YOU!

Anyone could use a great surprise birthday party these lovely lovely people I met not long ago in Accenture knew this! They are simply the best!! They had me totally fooled! I thought we were throwing a surprise birthday party for one of the guys. I was told not to mention a thing to YSeng (birthday boy) and everything must be kept highly discreet. On the other hand, YSeng was told the same thing. He thought the surprise party was for me. So when they brought in the cake, we wouldn’t have a clue it was for us. SMART, how very smart of them. Well, candles being lit up, birthday song being sung… I thought we pulled off the surprise party successfully and then… And then, I heard my name at the very last part of the entire birthday song, ‘happy birthday to Adeline!’

You can imagine me, sitting right there and totally shell shocked! My mouth was left wide open. I was in awe… They were celebrating my birthday too?!?! I thought it was YSeng’s. I had to give it to them… Now, the exciting part soon followed. I was handed a BIG carrier bag and in there laid a big box wrapped in blue. That was for me too????? Good gracious, a big pressie just for me… I couldn’t wait to unwrap the box and when I did… I just couldn’t stop ‘oh my god-ing’. They did know me very well. A bag for a bag lover. What else can go wrong? May Ann obviously has very good taste as she was the one who shopped for the lovely bag. I love it, I love it! Of course, I owe those who chipped in for this great pressie a BIG THANK YOU too. Generous generous people they are.

Now, I’d like to relate my virgin experience of getting drunk. Hmm, maybe not drunk, tipsy it is. Becca let me tasted her Italian white wine and I loved it. The next thing, I was pouring myself a glass of that divine wine. One glass followed by another. Hmmm, I was having a good time, sipping new found favourite and swaying with the jazzy music. I was pretty sober until, until the fourth glasses down in my belly. The surrounding started to spin around  me and I thought I was floating, maybe flying. I knew I was laughing, a lot. May Ann and Shearn were beside me. They asked me weird questions and I heard myself blabbing something else. I laughed again and felt my eyeslids shutting up. Another rounds of laughters and I must have said something funny.

Off I went to the loo. From the way I walked, I don’t think I was really that drunk. I could still walk in a straight line and found my way to the loo. I opened the door and a guy was looking at me intensely and he spoke, ‘Hi, we met again, same position you are standing. My name is xxx and you are?’ (xxx coz I honestly don’t remember his name no more) Oh well, it wouldn’t hurt to tell him my name. Before I finished, that guy spotted the huge pimple I have on my forehead and I heard him saying, ‘Awwww, you have a really big pimple here. But I didn’t see it there just now.’ Oh my goodness, he’s a bit too straightforward, wasn’t he? I giggled so much so to cover my embarrassment. That guy, without asking for my permission, pulled my fringe to cover up the pimple. Suddenly I was really awaked. For a minute I felt like hitting him right on top of his head, except he’s too tall for me to reach! Ahh, thanks goodness. Someone came out from the cubicle and very quickly I disappeared behind the door.

Come to think of it… He could have done something funny to me. I am pretty sure even moron can tell I was tipsy, very tipsy. Pheew, glad I am sober now.

I had whale of a time last night, THANK YOU FOLKS and I LOVE U *muacks* Next party coming up, Pub Crawl and I’ll see u guys crawling

My Pressies
I adore the pink daisy.
Am proud owner of Roberta di Camerino.

Jamie Cullum’s singing ‘These Are The Days" on MTV. It’s been the whole afternoon since I switched on the telly. Well, if you have to know where I’d been since morning….. I was ermm, off to shopping mall for rounds of retail therapies after many many many days of deprivation. Don’t start rolling your eyes, ok.. I was having enormous stress and retail therapy is essential to keep me going…

But maybe, just maybe… I errm, ermmm, went a bit too far… In just 3 hours’ time I… Just put it this way, if I were to shop like this every month, I could have another car, yeah, a brand new Honda City… Oh nooooo, that much I’ve splashed out??!!! Jamie Cullum, more soothing jazzy songs for me please please pleeeeeeeeease…else am totally gonna develope hypertension, like now!! Oh sweet christ, what was I thinking…

But then again, I was just investing in my career growth, wasn’t I? People said dress for success, didn’t they?? So what is so wrong about being serious wanting to climb up the corporate ladder??? Mmmmm, yea, I am right, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that… Besides, it was such a GREAT deal, I mean, too great to pass. You see, you get one really cute blouse free if you purchase 2 of them and the best part is that you get to choose the FREE, yes, F.R.E.E blouse from the entire collection! Isn’t that fantastic?! I don’t remember having a sky blue nor a chic black blouse. Just when I went round the shop to choose my third FREE blouse, I spotted a divine and elegant MUST HAVE… MY eyes were fixed on that pretty thing and I fell in love with it. It was a classic love at first sight, I swear!!! So you see, I was in a really difficult situation… Now, am the proud owner of everything mentioned above Oh wait, did I mentioned I chosed a FREE sweet pinkish blouse?

Well, if work isn’t stressed enough… Last night came home and saw my new favourite, white ZARA suit back from dry cleaning. Of coz, I scrutinised every inch of the clothe to make sure it’s been cleaned properly and that’s when my blood went boiling!!!!! There were yellowish stains everywhere, even at the hemline of the skirt!!!! Were they completely out of their mind?!!! It should be handled with care, WITH CARE!!!! How can I not be upset, you tell me!!! Mind ya, one time, one time I wore them. STUPID!!!! I can’t handle this. I am going to the shop and they are going to gimme an explanation and do what they can to get rid of the stains, else, they can either gimme back my 500 bucks or appear in all the local newspapers!

I was and still am traumatised!! Maybe I should go look at the new black thousand-fold-skirt I bought… maybe that would calm me down a little… Opps, yea, I bought not just one skirt but two. I simply had to… It’s a great bargain, mind you. It’s 50% for the purple one (I need a purple skirt to go with my purple blazer since purple skirt came together with blazer was RUINED by another dumb a** dry cleaner some times ago!!!) Guess what, 2 skirts from the shop and now am in their VIP list!!!

Now, it won’t hurt to do some window shopping, right? So off I went to M** and Miss Sel******. I was just gonna take a look…. but, I got sidetracked just a bit and it wasn’t really my fault… Those are birthday pressies I bought for myself.

The whole retail therapy wouldn’t be complete without going to shoe shops… Chill and relax, I didn’t get anything from any shop… because.. because I have extremely good self control. Okay, that’s a lie… shoes that I wanted were out of size!! Nothing can come between me and pretty shoes!

Ummmm, my guilt level is so much lower now. I am not a binge shopper and I have self control!! You see, the way my system works is, you shop this month and you don’t for the next month. Besides, I am gonna lock and secure all credit cards somewhere beyond reach… Hmm, where should I keep ‘em?

Shopaholic? Shopaholism? Oh bugger it, that’s not even close to a CRIME!!

But… I would love to live a normal-non-shopaholic life, perhaps…

Some times back, mum forwarded what she called an inspirational email to me. It was about a little frog and how it managed to reached to the very top of the tower. The crowd started to build up around the tower to see the race. Many said no one except super frog could conquer the tower. The bigger and stronger frogs heard this but were convinced they could absolutely do it. So when the race started, these stronger frogs with one end goal in mind, very enthusiastically racing towards the tip of the tower.  The crowd cheered as the biggest frog made his way ahead of the other racers. Many had written the little frog off because he didn’t have strong legs as others and he looked like a weakling.

As time ticking tick-tock away, the biggest frog looked exhausted and stopped to catch his breathe. ‘It’s impossible, you will never make it there alive, no one can do that, in fact’, he heard the crowd shouting at him from below.  At that very instant, the cold hard truth hit him like a thunder and he thought yea, he could never make it and why waste the time and energy. Very quickly, he turned and headed down to the ground, to the awaiting crowd. One by one, the bigger and stronger frogs quit as they too, thought they could never make it there since the biggest frog couldn’t do that. The crowd kept telling those who were still climbing to stop and they did.

As all the frogs made way to the bottom of the tower, the tiny frog kept moving ahead. One tiny step followed by another. Many thought he was crazy and maybe too ambitious. He didn’t care and just kept going. The crowded headed home as a few hours passed by and the tiny frog was still inching his way towards the top. For what was like an eternity, he finally reached the top. The remaining crowd couldn’t believe what they had just seen. It was a mission impossible, remember?

It turned out that the little frog was deaf!! He couldn’t hear the crowd, couldn’t hear a word about the discouragement nor the negative comments made by others and he made it!

Last week, this email would be just another forwarded email that added insignificant value to me. This week, as of today, I’d never looked at the email the same way again. I’ve lived the life of the little frog.  I almost went into frenzy and self paranoia state days ago when there were changes on my already very tight schedule. On top of the shortened deadlines, I had to shoulder additional responsibilities like never before. I was scared, hell scared and thought I would never make it and people were going to doubt about my abilities. Then, I heard people telling me that I was overloaded and would never able to meet the deadline. No one would meet that kinda deadline, anyway. I should discuss this with team lead before it is too late and strongly encouraged to ask her to reassign. Don’t get me wrong, these people meant no harm and I knew that by heart. There were just offering words of comfort. Anyone with eyes could see I was totally stressed out that day and at that instance, their words were like quick fix of comfort. I almost did what thought was the right move…

That night, I lied on my bed and prayed.  The next day, I went to work with the biggest determination and wrestled with the deadlines. Today, I hold my head high and have won the battle with deadlines and paranoia. Tomorrow, I know I can win again.

Rain is still falling and I am smiling. These are winning smiles.

Not sure since when my tolerance of LAME jokes has become ZERO. I remember I used to laugh at the lamest jokes ever told, even if the joke’s on me. Somehow, I’ve lost this ability kinda completely.

I also realised I’ve become rather blunt towards certain people these days. Is like I don’t want to but I have to kinda situation. Just say, have you met someone who will pick on you all the time because he/she thinks that’s funny and that you are nice to be picked on? Have you met anyone who would embarrassed you in front of other common friends by saying stupid things about you because he/she thinks that’s funny? Do you know someone who thinks he/she has got really funny bones but he/she hasn’t? Do you feel like stiching up his/her mouth whenever he/she gets started with his/her ‘funny’ comments about you? I can go on asking questions like these all night.. and yes, I’ve met such person and this person has completely driven me up the wall!!!

Now, have you met someone who likes to stick his/her ears out when you are having a rather private conversation with your friend? Private as in you lower down your voice and almost whisper the words. Another scenario, he/she would ask a serial of questions which makes you feel like a criminal being interrogated. You don’t want to answer but you don’t want to embarrass that person by ignoring him. Yes, I’ve met such person. Unfortunate?? Hell yeah!

Next, you are having a bad time at school or at work. You finally got the chance to rant it out to your friends. Just when you about to continue whinning or b******* about your bad day, you realised on the other side of the table someone has already begun with his/her very own version of TRAGEDY, which is a zillion times worse than yours. Instead of ranting, you end up consoling that ‘POOR’ soul. When he/she stops and you think you can continue to vent out your frustration, apparently, he/she has some other tragedies to talk about. Is like if you said you cut your finger such person would have thens said he/she lost his/her arms. This person is exactly the attention seeker you hate to have around when all you could use is a bit of attention and listening ears. Oh yes, I’ve met this person too.

And indeed, listening is after all a skill many haven’t possessed and yet think they already have. When you listen, make sure you really listen and not hearing!

I’ll just add good listening skill and know-when-to-shut-up to the list of ‘how to become a gentleman’.

Alright, here I am, again. I know I’ve just posted something here this afternoon but I can’t help it, not after attending such a beautiful wedding anniversary of a friend’s parents in Klang. Well, the party and everything (especially the music, deafening… ) was not really your normal kinda of fantastic BUT still, it was a beautiful celebration. Celebration of 2 human beings, 2 soulmates, 2 lifetime partners renewing their wedding vows once again after the first exchang of vows some 40 years ago. That’s true love, that’s a love worthed celebrating for.

I can’t help but wonder if I’d be doing the same with THE ONE after 40 years of living together in the name of husband and wife… With the increasing number of divorces, it is hard to predict what human beings are to become. Perhaps, love won’t even exist in the next 30 years to come. Maybe love would not be an essential no more. That’s really scary… I can’t imagine going through life without someone to love. Even now am in the state of WHATEVER, which means, not attached and still looking around for the other half of the circle of love, I WILL want to build a family with THE ONE someday. When exactly someday is however is not known just yet. Que sera sera, what will be will be. I believe he will come by when the time is right.

Wait, I am not ending this yet. After leaving the party (there were Chat, Ellie, Ben, Razak, May, Christina Joanne and Winnie), the girls decided to stop by for a drink at Starbucks to catch up some old times. They are my fellow Teambluers from IBM and it’s always delightful to see them. Anyway, off we went to Starbucks in Taipan. Just when we happily walking up the steps in front of the shop houses, Joanne and I had the scare of the night! We experienced a close encounter with a cockroach and then a big fat rat!!! We screamed on top of our long, of coz. That’s by default

By the way, the horoscopes in Star paper says blue is my lucky colour today. The next thing you should know is that I was wearing blue top and bring my favourite blue hobo angel beg. Lucky colour? Blue? Go figure.

I TOLD YOU!! England will absolutely bounce back!!! Just have to have a little faith in the them. The late late winning goal scored by Michael Owen is really something and my bad of writing him off at all… He was having such a quiet game but came alive in the nick of time and secure the win! Stunning!

P/S: Wonder if Prince Williams would ask me out on a date after displaying such a strong and fierce support for England *wink*

What a long week it has been. I mean, late nights, like EVERYNIGHT, late dinner, short lunch, short sleeping time but what’s worse is WORKING WEEKEND! I spent the entire day slogging in the office on SATURDAY if you should know and I turned down a friend’s invitation to Zouk on Thursday night despite a FREE entrace ticket(not that I’m a party animal but could use some entertainment) simply because I was still working at 7.30pm and didn’t see myself getting it done anytime before 9pm, I stood Lin up and totally forgotten to call her to cancel our lunch date this afternoon, which she arranged yesterday simply because I was busy working. At this point, I won’t be surprised if they cross me out from their list of favourite friends… I can’t blame them, can I?

As much as I’d like to leave the exam nightmare behind (though sometimes I kinda love exams) just discovered my student lifestyle hasn’t been leaving me behind. It feels like am back to pre-exam period again. Fighting for times, getting nervous attack and exams related dreams at night. I hate to say this but I must admit I do have just a tiny winy sense of kiasu-ness in me but I’d like to think of it as being RESPONSIBLE. You wanna be able to deliver what are expected of you on time, don’t you? It’s same for me. So you see, I am just being responsible.

Gosh, what have I been typing… I think my brain just can’t take in any sense… I love my job, absolutely love it… if I say often enough, I might as well just really love it.

But you see, in the weirdest way, I do LOVE my job, the so called GLAMOUROUS job by many… Glamour doesn’t come free… in return are hardwork hardwork and more hardwork. You know what, I can feel my wings have hardened bit by bit with each passing day. Very soon, or soon enough.. maybe not so soon, but yes, soon.. I’d be able to fly further and higher… Now just have to do more groundwork a.k.a not-so-glamour work (layman’s term DONKEY work) I guess.

By the way, Today’s Forecast (friendster) reads: Work is superb right now — you’re getting a lot done, but you’re still having fun! Mmmm, come to think of it, I am having quiet a bit of work related fun. Am I sick or what??

ShOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT..  Argentina’s Hernan Crespo just scored! I have to leave my laptop now!! England will so absolutely BOUNCE back.. I hope..

Laters…

I don’t know is it delusion or am willing myself to dig my own grave… Mind over matter? Yeah right……

This has turned into a repetitive cycle or rather, a viscious cycle. You see no begining and definitely no end to it. It’s dark, it’s cold in here. Can’t get out but sink deeper,deeper and deeper.

Hmmmm, can’t hide my satisfaction after spending hours declustering. The weather is just so right for activity like this. Oh yea, just in case you might wanna know what exactly declustering means, it is actually something like spring cleaning. You basically throw away redundant things, old magazines/college and uni notes and bits and pieces here and there. The fact is, declustering is the best way for someone to unnerve. Well, maybe you wouldn’t feel the magical feeling when you first got your hands on those stuff you’ve been meaning to clean up or put away but trust me, it’s the ‘aftermath’ feelings we are aiming for… Ummm, unbeatable See, I am now swelling with sense of satisfaction though I just broke the glass ornament ex-highschool mates gave to me before I left JB……

I must admit going through piles and piles of old stuff isn’t the easiest task, like not easy at all. You have to be determined especially chucking away things that you’ve been keeping for ages. I must have thrown away a couple of shoes boxes, some glossy brochures, piles of Thermodynamics, Organic Chemistry and Additional Mathematics files and some other well, stuff… Saying goodbye to those notes was tough. How could I throw away those notes carefully written by ME… Anyways, those have to go straight into bin…Next up, needed to clear the book shelf to house my new collections. Geez, It’s so dusty in there.

After clearing the book shelf, I turned my attention to the cabinet sitting right beside my bed. I have been shoving things in that little cabinet. Flung open the door, there were 2 pencil cases, 1 with barbie doll printed on it and another Garfield. Those are my favourite pencil cases and am not prepare to throw ‘em away. Maybe I could find some space to keep ‘em. Venturing further into the space, there were 3 shoe boxes. Heaven knows I love to keep letters, birthday and seasonal greeting cards, photos I don’t like and other things (ie. monitress tag, price tags and etc) in shoe boxes. Carefully taking off the lid of one of the boxes, my eyes were tranfixed on an envelope with my name and home address written on it. I haven’t been seeing this familiar handwriting for ages!

Putting my task in hand aside, I lifted the envelope and started reading the content of the letter. One by one I read and got sucked into the time machine and travelled few years back from now. I had been snail mailing a high school friend. We would write each other few pages of letters filled with every bits of what’s going on around us. For years, those letters kept my head up high when I met setbacks, they never ceased brighten up my days. I remembered receiving letters from this friend when I was still studying in UK. Less often that before but still, there were letters wrapped with endless warmth sent from time to time. To be fair to other friends (friends I met in primary school), they too, had been sending letters to me.

For some strange reasons, I don’t get those letters no more. I think it all started exactly a year ago. Perhaps everyone has been too busy moving on with life, getting a career started or juggling between work and boyfriends/girlfriends. As for me, I was and am too, busy adjusting and adopting a brand new working life. Maybe I should have written letters to those friends… Can’t blame them for not writing, after all. Wait, spotted a mobile phone number at the end of one letter. Without thinking twice, jabbed the number and suddenly clutching the receiver harder than ever when heard the first ring on the other end. It only took him 3 rings to answer the call. I could still remember his voice, low and slow.

‘Hi, YY? Adeline here.’, I said. ‘Hi Adeline.’, he said. I couldn’t help but to feel a pang of disappointment. I hadn’t detected a slightest joy or surprise in his flat tone. ‘D’you know which Adeline I am?’, I asked him with a small voice. It turned out that he’s at work, in Singapore and he would ring me back later. I would give him a chance to sound surprised later. Already my hands were opening another shoe box. Staring right back at me was a stack of photographs. For the very moment, Nickeback’s Photograph started ringing in my ears.

Gosh, I almost couldn’t bare to look at some of ‘em. The background was some building in Paris and standing in front of it was a plump girl that remotely resembled me. OK, that’s me and my fatself. There’s no b***** way in the world I’m going to show it to anyone. Moving on, there were photos of me few years back, sitting next to my cousins beaming happily into the camera lens. Look how much I have evolved… I feel like a butterfly and maybe I’d just keep these photos away from anyone….

Wow, I found at least 5 beautiful jewellery boxes in a larger transparant chocolate box. Oh yea, those… You see, guys, no, boys in my school and other schools had the liking to express their feelings via little gifts, eg. necklace and ermm, necklace. Therefore, I have a collection of necklaces which I never intended wearing. By the way, love letters were another mean letting your feelings known. I happened to still…. well, keeping a few of those from a few anonymous boys. I should have thrown them away, which I did but decided to keep a few better written to show my grandchildren, one day

I think I will spend the night writing letters. Letters to YY, Achille and Giorgio (2 italians I met in uni) and also Steve (Londoner I met in uni). I’ve just found their addresses in one of the shoe boxes. Yes, I miss them dearly. Oh wait, have I mentioned Dennis Current? The nice american exchange student from uni who’s been sending me pressies and postcards.

Ahhhh, what a long day it has been. I mean, a pleasant long day. How nice if could extend perhaps, preserve good times.

Am finally sitting right here staying connected to the internet since left for grandma’s in JB on Tuesday morning. Strange enough, I hadn’t longed for internet access for more than 3 days!! That’s a record, mind you! I swear I hadn’t even thought of my emails for days… Maybe I did on the first day arriving but after a few rounds of good catching-ups with my cousins, checking emails was the last thing on my mind. Hmmm, I was hoping to stay  laptop-free until Monday, somehow…… Oh well, addiction came right back when I stepped in my room this late afternoon right upon arrival. It’s like a curse…

Anyways, the lil’ trip back to gramma’s was fab! Not only had I managed to see my lovely gramma I got to finally visit granpappy on All Souls Day. That was pretty emotional. Long he has gone to the arms of God but his presence still lingers. It all sounds very cliche but that’s really how all of us feel. Good lord knows how much he is missed by the loved ones he left behind… I saw gramma weeping softly again that late morning at his grave. My nose felt funny and was going to cry. I guess she will never stop thinking of him until the day she unites with him at Up Above. Yes, the love is not the deep you understand.

Maybe, to honour this great love, I’d like to tell the story of these two extraordinary souls. You see, long long time ago, long before World War II, there were many people fleed China to what was called Malaya. Two of the many people were my beloved grandparents. Love just didn’t blossom the way it does now. I mean, you didn’t get a say who you wanted to marry nor was there a what you call fall in love and head into marriage. You married who your parents wanted you to get married with, by hook or by crook. In short, arranged marriage was what it was.

That was how grandpa and grandma got married. I remember pulling a grim face when grandpa unfolding their story. Eeeeuw, I just couldn’t accept such marriage. I mean, where was the romantic bit?!! I remember telling him that I’d run away from home if my mum were to marry me off like that. He just laughed and said that’s how most of the people got married during that ancient time. Unbeliavable… Hold on, my grandpa told me something even more bizarre. It was too much for me to believe… How does a young maiden married to a rooster sound to you? Yes, a human-animal union… Gosh, just how sick in the head those people were?! I better stop thinking about that…

Anyway, back to the story… I think among other 20 grandchildren my grandparents have, I must be the most curious one. I shot grandpa one thousand and one questions I could possibly think of that day. After all, he hadn’t told his love stories so freely ever and it’s not like an everyday opportunity to get him revealed some of the juicy bits to his grandchildren. According to him, he had never spoken to gramma before the marriage. He had a fruit stall just right in front of gramma’s and he said gramma was a stunning beauty whom would hide behind the curtain just to steal glances of him everyday. I was laughing so hard and it hurt when grandpa walked up the the window suddenly and demonstrated with the curtain how grandma used to do. Good gracious, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Grandpa must be in best than better mood that evening.

I turned to my blushing gramma and seeked confirmation. She of course denying that, instead complaining grandpa was the stalker, not her. I think they were both attracted to each other… There must be some truth in what they said. Come to think of it, it wasn’t a forced marriage since there had been mutual attraction. Well, I am glad that the two of them got married and gave birth to 11 wonderful children and 21 fab grandchildren. Through thick and thin they stood together. I know gramma lost a part of  her when she first learned about grandpa’s illness. It’s cancer. Damn cancer! There goes her heart, wrenching and breaking when grandpa left for heaven. There were tears, lots and lots of them. After more than half a century of marriage, so long and goodbye to her one and only first and true love.

Now I shall resume to the parts I enjoyed the most throughout the short stay at gramma’s. They have to be playing with my youngest cousin, sylvia. aged 2+ and also talking through the night with Cecilia and Michael, another 2 cousins I grew up with, aged 21 and 16 respectively. Lil’ Sylvia is such a smart little darling. Already she’s learning so many new words, crocodile, butterfly, penguin, tiger, lion and the list goes on. I’d have thought she wouldn’t recognise me since I hadn’t been seeing her for god knows how long and therefore didn’t expect her to warm up to me. Guess what, I had her at hello hahahaa… sounds too Jerry Maguire for you?! *wink* The next thing I knew, she was like a lil’ koala bear clinging onto me and started singing happy tune. Gosh, I am already missing her and her chubby face!! She even said she likes me. She likes her cousin Ade

Time flies by so quickly that have lost track of cousins’ ages. Suddenly they seemed few inches taller and some cracking voices already. Three of us, Cecilia, Mike and I shared a same room for the past few days. It’s never been so fun. Though the age gap is wide between Mike and I, we still talked like old pals. He told me he has started working as part timer during his school holiday. How very grown up of him! Now he knows money doesn’t come easy. He is also very tall, thanks to basketball and his lovely cousin ME. I was the one encouraging, if not forcing him to take up basketball. I had a crush on a basketball player last time in highschool and I thought basketball players are cool and wanted him to be one… I must also tell you something really insulting. You know my cousin, a leggy lad, Mike I was talking about? A friend of my aunt came to visit. She had him mistaken as a 18-year-old while was mistaken as a school girl. How very insulting! When I told her I had graduated from university and am now working, her face turned into some funny expression, quizzical it is. Arrrghhh…

I also happened to get my loooong hair trimmed yesterday. Was toying with the idea to get my long hair with not-so-straight-fringes permed. Chicked out the minute walked into the hair saloon and got a hair cut instead. I wasn’t prepared to let some hair stylist I didn’t know to do such big change on my hair. NO WAY, not in zillion years to come. Anyway, I must have looked very arrogant when I stepped into the tiny little cosy saloon. The guy who was doing my hair later told me I did look like a snob or prissy princess. There goes the first impression… Oh well, what can I say.. That’s kinda standard first impression I get most of the time. But, the next thing, he was talking non-stop to me once I started to make a few ermm, funny remarks. Funny? Well, that’s what he said.

5 minutes into conversation, I already got asked the STANDARD questions. ‘Do you have a boyfriend?’ ‘Why not? Are you kidding me?!!!!’ ‘Ahh, I know, it must be your high requirements, huh?’ ‘Oh c’mone, don’t tell me no one going after you?’ ‘Did anyone tell you you look like some HK actress??’ Oh no, not again. Not the whole I-do-not-look-like-her debate again… Finally got him stop looking at me and comparing me to the likes of HK movie stars, he asked THE QUESTION again. That’s when I thought I was cool when I told him, ‘well, unfortunately, I am not someone who falls in love because I want to but because I can’t help to.’ That really made him shut up for the rest of the 20 minutes. I mean, at least he didn’t ask why again. Overall, he was a pleasant lad. He said he would be waiting for my next visit… Errm, I don’t know if am gonna make a return trip there anytime in the future.