On the last day of the year

While everybody is out to celebrate New Year Eve, what is Mindy and the hubby doing?

Something....

Happy New Year! May 2010 bring better things and less white hair to all. :)

Little new touches here and there

The hubby and I have very little in common. If I have to list what we have in common, I can only think of three right now. We love to eat. We love our dogs. And we love our home.

These past few day, free from the stress of work, we have been giving our little home a few new touches here and there. :)

 

 

 

 

More to come. :)

You-know-what

The little island I'm on has been invaded by outsiders. Traffic is so bad that there was a crawl all the way up to Batu Ferringhi. And were so many people during the weekend that I couldn't get my bowl of Penang road Laksa because there wasn't anymore space to sit. :(

Anyway, I blogged about you-know-what over here [click]. You can find the password on my Facebook profile or Twitter which I recently updated. Favourite something. You should be able to guess which it is.

Gotta go back to work tomorrow. Sob! Which also could be a good thing because a girl who doesn't go to work, goes shopping instead. And shopping a lot she does. Not looking forward to the coming credit card bill.

Holidays are here. Woohoo.

It had been on of those "If I get through this shit, I can get through anything (until the next bigger shit comes by)" months and I feel like a kid who has just finished her exam and the holidays have started.

Took the week off to chill and to give my poor gray cells a little rest. And half of the last week of December. Why didn't I just take the whole of the last week off? Because

1) Being together with the hubby for 24 hours, 14 days will drive me up the wall.
2) I'll end up just logging into work from home 
3) I'm kiamsiap with my leave even though I've accumulated over 30 days.

I've got so many things I wanna do during the holidays. All the things I always say I would do if I was a housewife who had the luxury of being home the whole day. I always have this wonderful list of things I want to do, like trying out new recipes, sewing teddy bears, go swimming, reading books, sort out my photos etc. But then when the holidays do come I often find myself with the remote control in one hand and my lazy ass on the sofa the whole day in front of the TV.

Unfortunately I'm sick. And the hubby is sick. I was boasting that I didn't fall sick at all this whole year, and as if to punish me, I had to fall sick now. I've got the sexy-sick-voice now and I'm worried that my block nose would cause me to lose to sense of taste later. Which would mean I won't be able to enjoyed the yummy food at you-know-where! Sob!

Btw, if you know what I'll be up to later, don't comment about it here because of you-know-what reason. Not that it's a secret because everybody knows, but you-know-who doesn't like me to tell the whole world so I can't talk about you-know-what here.

Have a good holiday and Merry Christmas. :)

Marriage to me is this

Feeling totally in love with him, sometimes hating him

Feeling like you cannot possibly live without him, sometimes wondering how you can live with him for the rest of your life at the next moment

Laughing your heart out, sometimes crying your eyes out

Snuggling happily up to him in bed, sometimes cursing him for stealing your blanket

Seeing him as somebody who will look after you, sometimes having to look after him as a kid

He brings out the best in you, sometimes the worst in you

Having to sacrifice
Having to always think for two and not just yourself
Having to tolerate him just as he tolerates you

Marriage is feeling the two extremes, the good and the bad. To get the good, you'll have to experience the bad as well.

Today 10 years ago, I asked this question

During the last year of school one question we liked to ask ourselves was, "Where would you be 10 years from now?" There was something just so exhilarating about that question to a 17-year-old whose future was wide opened bursting with endless possibilities. I used to stare out of my bedroom window while doing my homework, daydreaming of what the future would be.

Well, as of today, exactly 10 years have passed since the the very last time I wore a secondary school uniform. The day was 11 December 1999, the last paper of SPM. One of the happiest days of my life. :)

10 years later, 11 December 2009, all of us were supposed to meet in McDonalds at Midlands. Needless to say, that won't be happening today. Being young at the time, we were naive enough to think that our friendship would be able to withstand the time of 10 years.

I can say that the 10 years have changed all of us in different ways. Some chose to grow apart and have nothing to do with the rest. But some of us decided to make that extra effort to keep each other in our lives no matter how busy or how far from each other we were.

To those few who are still in my life, I appreciate each and everyone of you. You have been there from the very start, my pre-Yin How years... the years where all us would argue who would be the first to have a boyfriend and get married. (we all know the answer by now... it wasn't me...).

I appreciate the fact that we grew up and faced every stage of life so far together... oh like how we had to keep up with somebody's latest boyfriends... or somebody's ever changing hairstyles or somebody's never-ending shocking announcements (you think you know a person from inside out after 15 years of friendship and yet she still has something to tell you which will shock you completely into silence). And there's something so nostalgic about seeing the girl you used to play with when you're young, grow up into a fine woman and witnessing the day she decides to tie the knot with her life long partner.

10 years can do a lot to a person. And it has done a lot to me (I hope not so much physically though). Looking back, I realized I always had a plan and stuck to that plan almost obsessively. First get a degree, then the first job, then the first car, then the first home, then the first husband (better add "and only"), then the wedding reception, then the very much delayed honeymoon. I planned exactly what I wanted by what age I wanted it (except for the honeymoon which I kept conveniently delaying).

But I realized that nothing always go according to plan. I went through good times and bad times.. my own as well as the girls who grew up with me. I learned to walk away then it hurts too much because not everything has a solution. I learned to let go of a lot of my naive thoughts that everything would be perfect as long as I had a perfect plan. And I've learned that sometimes it's not necessary to always have a plan. That now and then it's okay to just go with the flow and fill it with little surprises on the way.

After 10 years, would I have made the 17-year-old Mindy proud? I believe so. I hope so.

Today I get to answer the question the 17-year-old-me asked 10 years ago. I guess that now that I'm here, the next question would be, "Where would I be 10 years from now?" (Hopefully still alive... seriously).

***
In a way, a few of us did meet up for lunch today at Dragon-i. It's not McDonald's but hey, after 10 years, I think we can upgrade our taste buds for something better ;)
How was the pau?

You know you’re a Penangnite (or in Penang)...

When you absolutely know for a fact that there’s no where else in the world that serves better food than Penang (I know Ipoh folks will strongly disagree)

When you’re addicted to Penang Road Laksa and Chendol and Gurney Drive’s Char Keow Teow

Where the dirtier the place, the better the food tastes

When you can eat at table by the drain of a main road, be horrified when you see the bowls and chopsticks thrown near the drain and yet continue happily eating your bowl of curry mee in denial of what you just saw.

When you have a tummy made out of steel to survive the fact mention above. If not, the tummyache is still worth that bowl of curry mee. Eat first, think later. Why? Because it's oh so worth it.

When your main activity during the weekend is eating… and eating…

When you don’t need beautiful girls posing in the PC Fair to attract your attention. Show us your cheapest price and we’ll come rushing in. Money first, looks second.

When finding a legal car parking space by the road along Gurney Drive on a weekend night makes you so happy you’ll want to cry

Whenever there’s a new shopping mall opened, you’ll see half of Penang’s population there. 1 month later, it will be empty.

When in a shopping mall during the weekends, you’ll have to bump into at least one colleague, friend or relative.

When in a shopping mall during the weekends, you’ll have to fight your way through an army of people chasing you trying to sell you credit cards, investment schemes, slimming products, telco promos, balding hair solutions, etc. (does this happen in KL malls as well? I don’t seem to remember such experiences when I’m at KLCC, Midvalley, etc…)

When you wear shorts and slippers anywhere and everywhere (I had to throw a tantrum to convince the hubby to wear jeans instead of shorts to a fine dining restaurant)

When you can be driving in your car surrounded front, back, left, right by a crowd of motorcyclists and not feel intimidated

When you have the ability to turn a 2 lane road into a 4 lane road

When you are able to weave in and out of traffic like one of those old gameboy racing games.

When you know at least one person working in Intel or Dell

When any place can be considered a parking space, including roundabouts and road junctions. Parking summons don’t matter compared to that bowl of laksa or rojak or char keow teow you’re desperately craving for.

When you enter a shop, a lethargic skinny looking teenage salesgirl will follow you round and round. You take one step forward, she’ll take one step forward. You take one step backwards, she’ll take one step backwards like you’re both in a dance routine or something. Front two, cha cha cha. Back two, cha cha cha.

Where prices of landed properties within prime locations on the island are ridiculously high and you think the people who are willing to pay that price are all insane (though you wish you had that kind of money to be just as insane)

When you insist you're not kiamsiap. You just want everything Cheap and Good. What's so wrong about that? :)

What else?


****Updating with more facts left in the comments***

From Anonymous

When you bump into your friend, instead of saying "hello", you say: "Jiak Pah Ah Boi?" or "Un Chuah? Hoh Bo?"

When you had a lousy food, you say: "walau, cannot go (beh khi)!!"

When you always ask for discount, regardless it's promotion item or fixed price item

When you are traped in traffic jam during weekends and/or school holiday, you ask: "why tourist like Penang so much?"

My latest favourite thing

I have a new favourite word. When Yin How says, "Liverpool?", my eyes light up.

Recently found this place, Nasi Lemak Liverpool Cafe. They serve

Nasi Lemak Liverpool
Tom Yam Liverpool
Laksa Liverpool
Burger Liverpool
dan lain lain

I'm just a nasi lemak addict who's happy to find a nasi lemak cafe and is now a Liverpool supporter. :)

bleeding love

Love this. :)

Remember that feeling?

Remember that feeling when you were a young student and after studying for months, you have just finished your very last paper knowing that all the hard work has finally paid off. The feeling of a thousand tonne weight lifted from you as the examination invigilator starts collecting your answer sheet for the last time and you can't help but grin like a maniac to all your friends around you. The feeling that you can go home burn all your study books because you don't to look at them again. The feeling of absolute freedom knowing that as of that one moment, there's nothing in the world you can be worried about.

As you emerge from the examination hall, you feel so light you could fly off into the blue sky.

I miss that feeling of freedom.

How do you know whether the one is the one?

1. if he is able to make you laugh like an idiot even after being together almost everyday for the past 10 years
2. if he still look sexy to you even when he's wearing his spongebob boxer shorts 
3. if he is the first person you