The constant rain is starting to become somewhat of a nuisance. My Amazon package from Jack arrived this morning, and it sat in the rain for hours because the postman left it sitting on top of my pillar and no one noticed it. My new book was dripping wet when I opened it, but fortunately Amazon has a replacement service. Unfortunately, it means I won't actually get to read my book for another 7 weeks. Bummer eh?

The roads have also been flooding, especially near where I live where it's infinitely under construction or repair of some sort. Don't even let me start on how bad the traffic becomes when it rains.

Everything looks drearier and much more depressing when it rains. Even the birds don't sing.

I can't believe Seattle is like this 9 months in a year.

I figured it was time to write something, only I have nothing much to write about. Maybe I will write about how Roy is buying all of us dinner at Tamarind Springs, something we more or less force him into on an annual basis. It's not a big deal for him anyway, since he just made bucketloads of moolah on a stroke of luck. Sharing is caring, no?

I could also write about how we plan to go to Bar Savanh after dinner, for the blabbing bloggers meet-up, and to party, but you already know that.

Perhaps I could mention the apartment party I had planned for Saturday, which has been postponed indefinitely due to lack of available rental space.

Perhaps then, I should write about my day which started at 10:55 am when I woke up and realized that I was supposed to be at Lynn's at 11 am. I overslept because I was watching Season 5 of Sex and the City till 4 am. I got there at 11:27 am and we picked Roy and Phoung up and headed into the city for some serious shopping. My only involvement in the whole entire shopping process was buying a box of Lancome Juicy Bar. We each bought one, and my wallet wailed in protest.

I could write about how broke I was after that one purchase.

I could write about the mad rush home at peak hour traffic, that didn't turn out to be as bad as it normally is, so that mom could take me to see the chinese woman that will fix my (ouch) ankle.

I also could write about how the skies were feuding and I almost got my newly bandaged foot wet in the resulting torrent of rainwater. Almost.

I could also procrastinate and not write anything at all today.

Perhaps I shall do just that.

And thus ends the festive holidays for most people, having to slog back to work on Monday morning isn't the most joyous of things to do, and I have about a week or so left before I have to wake up at 7 am everyday and face morning rush hour traffic.

I have been uninspired to post much at all, having fulfilled my constant need to write by way of email instead, which is probably a good thing.

I'm off to catch up with Q, Roy and Phoung for lunch.

Can someone tell me why my site is listed (under Stephanie) on this page? Like, seriously.

Lately I've noticed that when I bump into someone I haven't seen in a long time, I usually don't make it past small talk. In fact, even small talk requires tremendous effort on my part. Sometimes. My ability to chatter endlessly has degenerated into mumbled phrases. Even my close friends whom I used to spend endless hours on the phone with are now restricted to 10 minute calls and weekend cafe gossip.

After the usual hellos and how are yous, I'd randomly go through career, family, significant other and recent events.. and it ends there. If the other person is just as bad as I am, the conversation would end in two minutes.

So, hows Kevin?

He's good, still as busy as ever.

And you? Same job?

Yup.

Cool. So, what have you been up to lately?

Nothing much, I work 6 days a week, not much time to go out. You?

Oh, this and that. Still doing the party circuit.

With a little effort, I could stretch it to about four minutes, but if it's as interesting as watching bread bake, really, is it worth it? Sure, I pick out all the leads and prompts, but I can never decide what to say so I don't say anything. Much.

I've just lost my social mojo (not that I had very much to begin with)

At a gathering with my old high school friends just last week, things were great. We couldn't stop talking. These are a bunch of girls I spent years with on a daily basis, 5 years ago. On the surface everything looked great, but when I went back and thought about us, it seemed painfully evident that the 5 years we spent apart has changed all of us and things will never be the same as before. Small things, like how we still pick on Irene the exact same way we did 7 years ago, prove that we're all trying hard to pretend nothing has changed.. but it has.

More and more, I'm feeling like a derelict adrift in a sea of whispered conversation.

More and more, I find myself withdrawing from social obligations and wanting to be alone instead. I shed even the pretence of being interested in meeting new people.

What's wrong with the picture?

Seeing as how some people perceive me to be a social butterfly, plenty! Don't get me wrong, I haven't entirely given up speech or anything, I'm still doing the rounds and making monumental effort to deal with the finer points of networking.. but I'm also discovering a side of me that's very reticent and I don't know if I like it.

Maybe I just _can't be bothered!_

---

Last night, three cousins and three friends went to Cafe Flam and got very drunk. As Luke, Sam and Steph walked out of the club laughing and holding on to each other for dear life (having indulged in the intemperate pursuit of pleasure by way of a bottle of Chivas) two words popped into Steph's head:

Kodak moment.

Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! May the year of the Monkey bring you prosperity, luck and happiness! :)

My chinese horoscope tells me, 'Arise early, Rooster, and usher in the Lunar New Year with loud crowing. For the hen house must be awaken early to make much noise for prosperity.'

I wonder what my neighbours would say if I started crowing loudly at 5 am.

I got picked up today, mid-toilet dash and wearing a white tank that says 'high maintenance', by a middle-aged caucasian in Telawi Street Bistro. His choice of wit was obvious: 'Are you really high maintenance?'

As I related the incident to my friends, the retort 'Can you afford to find out? (a maybe)' or 'You can't afford to find out (a no)' surfaced and I mentally kicked myself for not thinking of it minutes earlier. I always come up with a comeback too late, sigh.

I only managed a lame 'No' before I walked away.

I had a high-school reunion thing last night, which generated way too much noise and laughter, in Secret Recipe OUG. The turn-up was way more than I expected, and I finally see Fay Yin after almost 2 years. I took a bunch of pics with my new cam, but have been too lazy to transfer them out.

Nik's left for Kuantan. Tonight I'll be having dinner with some friends somewhere and going for a pre-CNY gambling sesh at someones place later. Nothing's been decided yet. I might have a game of Scrabble with Roy later.. $1 per point, which should make me at least $100 if I play decently and $200 if I get lucky with my draws judging from our history.. unless somehow within the last year Roy's been secretly studying Scrabble instead of playing 7 hours of online Magic a day like he says he has been. We're all closet geeks, really.. and it was hilarious what Eugene said to me '..but you so bimbo! You play Scrabble one meh..?'

Things I have been addicted to in the past:
Hockey
Rollerblading (and street hockey)
Monopoly
Crossword/word/IQ puzzles
Vodka
Scrabble
NBA
WWF (yes, wrestling!)
Formula 1
Basketball cards (I still have a few Shaq rookie cards somewhere and used to think Shaq Attaq was the coolest book ever.. I have that book too)
Salvador Dali
Ren & Stimpy cards (anyone want a whole stack of them?)
Swarovski crystals
Books
Photoshop
MP3s
TetriNET/mIRC
Red Alert
Diablo II
Stamps

Things I'm addicted to now:
Vodka
Champagne
Books
Scrabble
Neverwinter Nights
Diablo II.. still..

..which sums it all up pretty good, really. I'm an alcoholic geek (or at least a self-declared one if you don't agree..)

What's your claim to Geekdom?

I spent the day not spending any money because I'm broke. It was fun watching Roy trying to buy out all of Prada and Phoung go ape over the number of designer stores in KLCC. I saw a pair of pink monogram Gucci heels for RM 585 which I don't buy, of course, and a Prada laptop bag for RM 3950 which I also don't buy but I secretly want because it is the ultimate geek chick accessory. *shrug*

I also saw another old friend, Eugene, back from the days when Arena was the place to be, the legendary Boom Boom Room was still in existence and you party like hell in Heaven. These days I only see him when Roy comes back - he's doing the married thing now and has quit smoking. Heh.

I'm really tired, but in ten minutes I'm supposed to be at Steven's Corner to meet up with my old high school buddies who're all back for CNY. I don't know how I'm gonna last the night.. phbt!

I missed traffic run, otherwise I'm perfectly happy. It's not like me to brush off such an important thing, even in the throes of repose.

So you've probably heard all about Blabbing Bloggers @ Bar Savanh, but spread the word anyway:

If you live around KL, blog (or no blog), and just wanna party/say hi/get drunk or something, come join us. Bring your best friend, grand uncle twice removed, your pets and your liver. Any questions about who/where/when/how/why just leave a comment or e-mail.

I had to go to KLIA at 7am this morning to pick Roy and Phoung up. After breakfast, me and Nik crashed out the entire day till it was time for dinner with Kevin and Aom. She cooked us such an amazing Thai dinner that I almost didn't want to leave, but I wanted to go pick up my new camera from Tiff, so I did, and ended the night at Alexis Bangsar with Nik, Roy, Phuong, Alex, Q, Eleana, Lynn, Yee Lin and Tracy. Two hours of catching up and everyone's already picking on Roy.. heh. Some things never change!

I'm so tired today, all that running around. I have to sleep early today too, because I want to check out how bad the morning traffic is in my area before I start working.

It's confirmed, I start working on 4th of February.. oh no!! :)

I always get excited at the prospect of getting a new toy!

I went on a mission to look for Word Freak after a recommendation from a certain Robert G. From the reviews in Amazon and the first chapter of the book, it's a must read for any Scrabble fan.. and anyone who wants to know what the competitive Scrabble world is like. I'm just back from watching The Two Towers. It's pretty cool, the animated Ents were probably the highlight of the movie, CG was amaaaazing and Haldir (oh why oh why did he have to die?) and Eomer are possibly the sexiest elf and man out of the entire cast. Both of them have appeared in Xena and Shortland Street, LOL. Gonna go catch up on my new book now.

My site looks warped on Macintosh machines - can someone please help me figure out how to fix it (or at least tell me what is wrong with it so I can fix it) as I don't have a Mac and I can't see anything wrong with it on my PC. The tables (yes I'm still using them) don't align with my background therefore this part of my blog runs to the right column which in turn pushes everything else to the right *grr*

BTW I'm finally watching LOTR: The Two Towers tonight. Yes, I'm aware it's been out forever but I wanna see it before I watch the finale. Yes, I'm aware that I'm probably the only person who hasn't seen it. I've read the books though.

Hey I have a question.. do any of you guys out there happen to play Scrabble seriously, professionally or a member of any Scrabble club/assoc. in MALAYSIA? If you are, please e-mail me or leave a message on my tagboard.. or something. Thanks.

I was completely off my head today in one of my idyllic pensive states and I made two random observations.

The try before you buy:
People these days are getting married at an older average. Mid last century people were still getting married at an indecently young age (Do I think it is indecent because of what society believes is the norm now or because I really do think getting married mid-puberty is just plain wrong?) but this century finds us at the beginning of a little dilemma - the older people get married, the bigger the generation gap becomes and in time, will this change affect the way the world spins? I personally came to the conclusion that the reason why people are generally more focused on careers than starting a family now is because there is no real pressure to marry the first eligible person that comes along. Instead, we get to fully check out our partners (living together is becoming oh-so-common that it's almost so-last-century) before we fully commit. If we're not satisfied with what we see, it's as simple as passing it on and checking out the next prospect. And if like most Hollywood marriages that happen on a whim - c'mon, who can forget Pamela Anderson's white bikini wedding? - if it's too late, a divorce is only a lawyer away. Well, and a couple of cents. Once upon a time, that wasn't even allowed.

Single parenting is slowly becoming widespread and acceptable.

Also, women today are waaay more independent than they were before. To hell with arranged marriages for the modern woman, who'd put up with that? And if they're anything like Sex and the City's Samantha Jones.. it's not surprising that men are finding us more and more intimidatingly equal. Consistent media portrayal of the 'new woman image' is slowly making a dent in society and our way of life and even women in the more conservative Asian communities are finding their voices, but the whole thing is undeniably Western-influenced.

It's OK to be single and successful at 40.

How vodka can get you more hits:
My fascination with vodka has influenced me to name my site after one particular iconic brand: Absolut. The name works great with my long-time handle, fuzzy, in more ways than one. Nothing fuzzy can be absolute, which perfectly highlights the paradoxical and unpredictable nature of my character.. but that's another story. Absolutely Fuzzy is a fluke of a brilliant name because in alot of alphabetical link lists and whatnot, nothing much comes before it. I was wondering why I'm on top of the list of Mark's virtual friends before I noticed it was alphabetical (thank you, it's a nice surprise, and I've been wanting to link you since I read your journal but as usual, procrastination has been rearing its head) and then noting that I'm on top of Diarist's lists and concluding that being on top of link lists gets you first dibs to exploit a surfer's curiousity thus resulting in more hits. You get my drift. So thank you, Absolut, for giving me more hits in return for being a loyal consumer.

I wonder what it'd be like if I'd decided to name my site after another passion: Scrabble. Scrabbled-Fuzz.com would probably be the result.. although the concept of straggly hair eludes even me in this state.

My two-hour book hunt at MPH MidValley was fruitful. I came back with not one but three books that left me RM 107 poorer, but as I'd spent above RM 100, my MRC (MPH Reader's Circle) membership was renewed for free until 2006. I bought:

Haruki Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase
DBC Pierre's Vernon God Little and
Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things

I cannot wait to start on Murakami. I wanted to buy two of his other books, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and The Elephant Vanishes but I didn't want to go home with only one author. As for DBC Pierre, it's only a matter of time till I read Vernon God Little because I've heard so much about it and it won the Booker Prize award in 2003. The third book, The God of Small Things, is also a Booker Prize winner. It looks promising. They all look promising. I love books.

Thank you, Jason, for the book recommendation. I will look for it soon.

I have taken down the cast page till further notice. I'm not satisfied. It's all peculiar mood swings and flagrant indecisions today.

Ten minutes ago, Van Morrison's Someone like you made me cry. Three drops of guilt trickled down my cheeks, one each for what was, what could've been and what will never be. I always, sometimes unwillingly, recount one particularly momentous afternoon like a freeze frame in my mind. In the picture, the wind is still, the leaves unmoving and even the traffic seemed to pause as the song plays in the background and two denim-clad figures walk down the street hand in hand. The chords always elicit the same painful tug, an empty hollow sensation akin to exhaling your last breath, and sometimes my hairs stand on end.

My recollections are often related to relinquishment or the act of it. How very morbid.

The inspiration for writing the rest of my thoughts just deserted me, or is it that I am not entirely sure where my thoughts are going (twenty different directions at a time) or am I afraid of the implications they might have?

I need a new book to read.. a new world to lose myself in.. a new character to fall in love with. The books on my shelf call out to me, but I've met them all before. I wish my new book (thank you again, Jack) would arrive sooner. Maybe it's time to go book-hunting again.

Pictures from the cruise are up.. thank you, Nik.

Apparently I write too much :D

I think I got myself employed today. I don't know when I will be starting yet, but it's soon enough. I'm gonna be doing something I want to do - working in a magazine!

Roy's coming back with Phuong (some of you may remember them from my recent trip to Brisbane) this coming Sunday for Chinese New Year and to catch up with the rest of us back here. I can't wait to get them drunk, LOL.

I want to go to the gym later today. Now I've got a tan, I need to get in shape. Plus, I'm kinda bored sitting at home all day.. although I HAVE been sleeping most of it away.

The cast [Link removed] will be updated shortly, and I need to make a link to it somewhere under 'site stuff' later. I'm lazy.

Oh, and advance notice.. mark your diaries, Urbanscapes 2004 is here. With an expected turn out of 12-15 thousand people, it's gonna be a mad 12 hours.

Proof that Justin is my biggest pimp:

I came across Mark Nam surfing RBJ looking for new unchartered journals to stalk. After reading through all his posts, I feel like I'm living a sugar-coated dream compared to what he has been through in the last two or three years. I've never felt so emotional reading someone's journal before, the experience stunned me a little and left me staring at this window for ages not knowing what to write about. I have never lost anyone so close to me (he lost his mother to cancer two years ago and his faith in God is inspiring to say the least) and for that I'm thankful.. yet in a funny way I can relate having lost someone close in a different way. Our birthdays are only 10 days apart yet we lead such different lives.

I often wonder where I would be now if I didn't meet Bronson. I wouldn't have gone to NZ and I wouldn't have experienced what I have. I wouldn't have met all the wonderful people that I did, and I probably wouldn't have found the inner strength and determination in me to excel in my studies when he left me and all I had left was my work.

Destiny is a strange thing. I'd sometimes try to imagine having gone to finish my studies in the UK or the US. The experience could've been better or worse and I'd still meet some amazing friends but I'd never know because I wouldn't have had the NZ experience to compare it with. If I'd gone to either places, I would probably never see Bronson again. I wonder what that would've been like.. I'm not destined to find out.

It's comforting, however, to know that my friends and family back here would've been there for me all the same no matter which path I'd taken. I hope to do the same for them.

Nik is back from Bali today. I picked him up from KL Sentral and we spent the rest of the day together eating Prosperity burgers and Twister fries (a delicious money-making McD scheme that happens pre-Chinese New Year) and drinking Vanilla Coke and strawberry wine. He's bought some gifts for me in the form of a pair of black indon warrior pants (good luck to me trying to figure out how to put it on, it's not your conventional pair of pants as it has no legs, but its very nice!), a black tank top and a black Balinese straw bag. Not only did he buy me all-black gifts, he's also bought me a carton of duty-free to colour my lungs black with.. hehe. I hate the fact that I smoke so much but I really appreciate it.

Nik's a great boyfriend. He's attentive, he listens, he cares and he spoils me sometimes :) In contrast, I think I make a crap girlfriend. A part of me is still not ready to commit - I'm still afraid to trust - thus I'm not very attentive (I have occasional ADD) or affectionate and sometimes I space out. Not what you'd like your girlfriend to be! I don't know how he can be so patient with me but he is.. and because of this I realize that if I don't want to lose him eventually, I will have to change.

Change, as I've heard, is inevitable. The only constant in life is change. What a paradox!

To my credit, I've been making conscious efforts to kick my own ass on occasions that I find myself lapsing into one of my space-out moments and making more time in my life for a relationship. I know it's not enough but it's a start.

When it comes to personal matters and relationship stuff, I am pretty much a private person. I may talk alot but I seldom touch on those topics, so the reason I'm writing about this eludes me somewhat.. maybe it's because I haven't been getting enough sleep :) I hope Nik doesn't mind.

I spent Saturday night in Bar Sa Vanh again. I drove there alone for the first time. It's nice seeing my friends there as most of them work during the week and the only time we consistently see each other are during the weekends. David joined us for the first time that night. I was on cranberry juice for most of the night because I was driving, but I gave in to some champagne when Julian bought a bottle. It was really nice of him, as Bar Sa Vanh was low on Moet & Chandon and they are only selling it by the bottle for the time being and I couldn't get a glass for myself. We really only wanted two glasses :)

2004 has been good to me so far.. now if only I can convince someone to give me a job that doesn't involve serving food to the masses.. at the rate I'm going, I'm tempted to take on the offer of bartending at Bar Sa Vanh!

The Cast :) <-- Link removed!

Today I saw the sunset and I wanted to touch the radiant energy and lick the fiery gradients and watch it swirl around my tongue and burn my fingertips. I'm very much a sunset person.

My ankle has swelled up in a myriad of purple and brown and green which can only mean two things; it's either getting better or worse. Mom decided to take things into her own hands (because I'd probably just let it heal by itself although I know it isn't the best of ideas) and made me a hard boiled egg. I'm not sure if this is a common practice but in my family, when someone has a minor internal injury, we whip out the ol' pot and hard boil an egg and when it's ready we peel it and wrap it in a muslin cloth and rub the affected area. It's hot, it gets a little sticky but it works like a charm. Fifteen minutes and my kaleidoscope has diminished into a single, solitary brown hue. Brilliant stuff, them eggs.

It's honestly not too bad, I can walk without pain and I even drove today. I thought I was doing alright until my grandmother asked me if there was something wrong with my foot. I told her that it's fine but nothing gets past my grandmother. The next time she saw me again she said 'Go get your sprain fixed tomorrow at the chinese doctor, ok? It's not good to leave it unattended for so long!' I foresee a trip to the chinese whatchamacallit clinic tomorrow which will result in my ankle being tortured back in form before being wrapped up in some herbal concoction.. which means I probably won't be able to make it to Bar Savanh tomorrow night..

Hmm :)

Lynn's gone to Singapore for the weekend and I just came back from a yum cha session with Eleana. I just realized that I had SEVEN limau ais drinks today and TWO maggi gorengs.. lunch and dinner combined. How typically unhealthily Malaysian. I love maggi goreng though, preferably with no veg and made extra spicy. Lotus in Bangsar does an excellent one.

I was just surfing RBJ and I clicked on the Malaysian section, and I'm very happy to note that there are 18 pages (20 users per page) from Malaysia registered up there. It's been awhile since I last visited the site. I'm also mildly amused to find myself one of the first few Malaysians who registered and then I realized that this domain is indeed almost three years old. I have been blogging for way too long! :) But anyway, click on the RBJ link, because it apparently ups my ranking every time someone does. Cool. I wonder what I'm ranked.

Time to sleep, Nik's *still* in a meeting and hasn't slept for more than 2 hours in the last 38. It's a little insane, as it's close to 2 am where we are. I hope he finishes soon. I wonder how much coffee he had today :)

Someone please take away my internet connection so I won't try to post something every 20 minutes or so. I'm having a mild case of posting-catch-up-itis.

Thanks to the anonymous person who bought me Anthony Bourdain's Bone in the Throat from my wishlist. Amazon won't tell me who you are, so please e-mail me so I can at least thank you personally :)

I find myself reiterating this ONE point so many times - this blog is here as MY OUTLET and I choose to make it public because I like it that way and it is NOT HERE TO CATER TO YOUR FANCIES or keep you entertained on a daily basis (however that's nice if it is the case) so for people like dear Mike Sanza (whoever you are thanks for signing my guestbook by the way) who left this comment:

How about you face the camera once in a while instead of looking at it with the side of your eye all the time. gets pretty dull after a while.

.. it's people like you who piss me off. People like you think you have every right to judge everyone else just based on how they look.. people like you think that just because WE bloggers post pictures online, it automatically becomes public property and it's there to entertain YOU ONLY. I'm sure we are all well aware that we have almost no control over who reads/looks/steals our blog and images and making password protected directories is a tad too paranoid, so for conveniences' sake we continue posting them but that does not give you the right to tell me how I should look at the camera. Next I'll have people telling me what to wear! So Mike, and everyone else who holds the similar opinions, let me say this loud and clear:

How bout you find another blog to read if you don't like me? No one's forcing anyone to put up with anything.

GEEZ.

I'm not usually this bitchy but I've had it with people who think I exist in this space solely to keep them happy.

It did strike me that maybe Mike was offering a 'constructive comment' instead of a destructive one - it doesn't make a difference to me at the moment. Sorry. And no, I don't think this is the coolest site on earth or that I'm the coolest person ever - I'm just a girl, and this is my blog.

Picking up from where I last left off, the check-in at the port is very much similar to an airport, except they hold your passports for you for the entire cruise. We got on board without much hassle, found the duty free shops and browsed around for awhile before checking out the rest of the ship. It looks rather unassuming from the outside, although the size of the Super Star Virgo is rather overwhelming. 13 floors of ship accommodating almost 1000 staff and 2000 passengers, a helipad and two pools and about 12 public elevators is enough to impress me but the inside of the ship – wow. I was floored. We spent the evening catching the remains of the afternoon sun tanning on the sun deck before heading to dinner at Bella Vista, one of the three ‘gourmet’ restaurants. It was pretty surreal dining in an overly ostentatious (complete with live band) hotel-like restaurant seated next to a floor-to-ceiling window with the Straits of Malacca passing by outside. It was actually just a glorified airline food service food-wise; think first-class menu and hotel service. All the food was pre-prepared and came on nice plates instead of foil packs. It wasn’t bad though.

The next day, we made a stop in Langkawi after a huge breakfast at the Mediterranean Buffet. It was only then that I found out the meaning of ‘Langkawi’ – Lang is short for helang which means ‘eagle’ in Malay and Kawi is Sanskrit for ‘brown’ so directly translated, Langkawi means Brown Eagle, but there is a legend behind the name and the name means something on the lines of ‘Eagle on brown stone’. We followed the tour bus which took us to a tourist duty-free mall and a huge eagle statue, before heading into Kuah Town for more shopping. We bought about RM 150 worth of chocolate and Nik bought 3 bottles of champagne. When we got back to the ship (it was docked at the Starcruise Terminal at Awana Porto Malai) we headed to the sun deck again. For dinner, we went to Bella Vista yet again and was pleasantly surprised to see a different menu. After dinner, we chilled out in the middle of the helipad and met a cute boy called Marcus who told us not to sit there because a helicopter will crash on our heads.

Next stop, Phuket. The ship anchored about 3-4km out from Patong Beach and we had to take a tender boat to shore. This is probably the first time I’ve been anywhere without a passport on me.. hehe. We decided to skip the bus ride/tour we paid for and took a Tuk Tuk to Phuket Town and Big C (biggest shopping mall in Phuket Island) where we did more shopping. We found a Carrefour-like store in Big C and stocked up on Thai spices and junk food and I bought this t-shirt that says ‘Girls Rock’ for 29 baht. That’s like RM 3! We went back to Patong Beach after a really spicy lunch at a coffee shop somewhere which made me breathe fire for 20 minutes and guzzle 4 glasses of water during my meal. Talk about pleasure and pain, heh. After a bit of browsing and pointless haggling, we went for a massage which was so good I left a 100 baht tip. We shopped some more and we picked up 2 pareos and a silk skirt and chanced upon a Molly Malones Irish bar on the way. I took a picture for my Wellington buddies (there’s one in Welly where we go to sometimes) Walking back to the jetty, I was looking out to sea and marveling at the size of our ship and I somehow missed a step and sprained my ankle. Sigh. We took another Tuk Tuk for the rest of the way.

When we got back to the ship, our cabin stewardess came and apologized for breaking one of our Moet & Chandon champagne flutes while she was cleaning it. She was so worried and I felt so sorry for her. The ironic thing is, her name is Lucky! We went sunbathing after we got changed. Working on my tan was never this fun, hehe. At night, we went for the Gala Dinner and it was a formal event, so everyone dressed up. I went in a dress and slippers.. couldn’t wear my heels because of my sprain. At Bella Vista, I met the executive chef, who came up to me and said I should be in a wheelchair. He’s the biggest person I’ve ever seen. My eyes only came up to his name and the word ‘executive chef’ stitched on his chef whites, which seemed to go on forever in all directions. I highly doubt my arms will even go halfway around him! Nik was somewhere else at that time checking our table seating, and when he got back I told him the chef came to kick me out of his restaurant because I was wearing slippers and he believed me until I started giggling.. bloody giggles :) Nik gave me more reason to giggle when we popped a bottle of bubbly later that night and hastily induced me with alcohol.. a good painkiller, apparently!

The seas were so calm all the way and the weather was so beautiful that half the time I forget I’m on a ship in the middle of the sea. Everywhere I look, there are masses of water with no land in sight, and for a while I understood what it must be like for Piscine (Pi from Yan Martel’s Life of Pi) to be stranded on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific. It’s a little scary. It’s also ironic to be swimming in the Parthenon Pool (the upper pool deck area has a Greek theme) which is a body of water floating on a bigger, saltier body of water.

We woke up late on the last day, got some breakfast and went sunbathing again in the early afternoon sun! The sun was so hot that in 2 hours, I have a really obvious tan line on my butt.. yay! ;) We chilled out the rest of the day and checked out at 5pm. By the time we got back into Singapore it was pretty late because of the massive taxi queue at the port. I crashed out in the car while Nik drove all the way back to KL. He’s got a 9am flight to Bali today, and a meeting to prepare for so I wonder if he got any sleep at all. I know I crashed out.

I'll post some pics when Nik gets back from Bali with the camera.

Singapore has been great so far, we checked out Bar Opiume on Friday night and shopped whole day Saturday.. now we're waiting for the cab to take us to the port.. cya when I get back! :)

Sunscreen, check. Bikinis, check check check. Travel Scrabble, check.

Looks like I'm ready to cruise! ;)

Meme alert: The Seven Deadly Sins (Insomnia is such a buggery)

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My intentions of catching up with Sleep was duly abandoned when I did my round of midnight blog stalking and came across Rachel's Idlethink for AIDS blog-a-thon only to find, of course, I missed the actual event (but no fear, she's put all 24 hours worth of posts on one page for the rest of us). This girl constantly amazes me with her intelligence and wit and after 20 hours of posting non-stop she still manages to make sense - a whole lot at that. How does she do it? :) Go give her site a visit. It's more than worthy of a mouse-click, I promise.

It's now way past midnight and I was, again, debating Sleep but after clicking 'Check Mail' one final time like I always do before I log off I was a little horrified to note that the lone e-mail chose to find its way into my inbox bore the title 'Keep that New Years Resolution'. Phrases (You have nothing to lose but weight! It's sweater season... but that doesn't mean you have to get bulky!) jumped out at me and paranoia caused my brows to furrow in mild confusion - What the HECK? A split second later I realized that it's just an ordinary spam like the other 300 I get daily and not some Higher Tech-Savvy Being berating me on breaking my resolution after two hours. Funny what your tricks your brain plays on you when it lacks proper Braincell Regeneration Time. Why am I capitalizing Not So Important Phrases? Eh?

I haven't mentioned the word 'resolution' anywhere in the last few posts leading up to 2004. It isn't because I don't believe in making them - resolving to do something is rarely sufficient in the course of achieving it. It takes guts, belief, will, devotion and time. Making a resolution is as easy as.. typing it out for instance. No biggie.

Hence, this year, I AM GOING TO:
1. Do everything I can to fit into my size 8 jeans again. I am aware that a proper Plan of Action is required to accomplish this mission, therefore in the next 30 days I will acquire my own gym membership instead of hijacking all my friends guest passes and start training regularly again and not flirt with the idea every 2 weeks or so.
2. Empty my pockets of spare change every night and put it in my Extra Large Money Box in hopes of one day actually filling it up to the brim. It is a rather large one and might take some time but I have time and plenty of change. This will work.
3. Say what I mean more often instead of what I think you want to hear. The right words at the right times can do more than simple unblemished Truth, but being insincere does no one favours in the long run.
4. Focus.
5. Get over my insecurities (or at least two of them) They only serve to hamper my goals and I am wasting way too much time dwelling on the past.
6. KICK SOME SERIOUS ASS. Just watch me :D

However, for now I AM GOING TO:
1. Hit post. I'm rambling again, as usual.
2. Say hello to Sleep for it has been waiting for me patiently for the past 3 hours.

Unexpectedly, there wasn't much of a traffic problem in the city at all. It took us 15 minutes to get to Bar Savanh from Nik's place and find a parking spot. When we got there, everyone was already drinking. I was pleasantly surprised to see Diana there as well although 30 minutes into a quick dinner, me and Nik polished off a bottle of Moet and I was as bubbly as the pale champagne liquid I was sipping on and didn't manage to catch up with her much. There's always tomorrow :)

The whole party was really fun. Here are the uncensored photos courtesy of Nik. The entire place was a mess after the countdown because of the free cans of silly string they were giving out and I was lucky enough to come out of the fray unscathed. The stuff was everywhere! I so do not envy the cleaners!

I got a new hairstyle for the occasion, whatcha think? I still can't decide if I like it or not.

Despite forgetting to check out the fireworks at midnight, it was a good farewell to 2003 thanks to Nik and all my friends. Bring on 2004!