Tuesday, January 20, 2024
Whoa..
This site feels almost alien to me.
Not dead, not dying, just trying to survive hectic moments days before Chinese New Year while helping my cousin out in her so-damn-bloody-far office and facing horrific traffic conditions every single day.
Welcome to my world.
As much as I wish I had a third of the internet time I had back in Canada, there is just too much to do and too many obligations to fulfill, too many bills to pay and not enough sleep that would allow me to meander along in my dreary life rambling on pseudo-philosophically about the being and living of everydayness.
Yes, I've resorted to semi-creating my own lingo as I stare at the screen through sleep-deprived eyes with bags so dark you'd swear I had war paint on. Or something.
Aiyoh.
I've been so far behind in my mailing it's not even funny, and I felt even shittier when Anne's cards and photos found its way to my mailbox, my actual physical mailbox, not the damn e-mail one, and there was a picture of me and Asha squashed on Kayla's bed back in second year, hiding under the covers from what I thought was the rest of the world (until Anne came in and took the damn picture!).
Dear Anne,
I am the suckiest friend alive, but I wanted to thank you so much for the card and the pictures. It totally brightened up my day, and all I could do was grin like the idiot that I am while thinking of rez moments.
I will email this soon. Really. I think. Uhm...
Love,
t.Now, if only I could access my email account to send that.
That was a lousy e-mail, wasn't it?
*sigh*
It's not the first time I complained about what a sucky correspondent I was.
A'ight, a'ight, enough whining. What the hell have I been up to? Let's see... well, the swear jar which worked pretty damn well when I was back in Canada has failed me pretty miserably here. 10 days and RM27.80 later, I've come to the conclusion that Malaysian traffic does not permit me to speak in a civilized and polite manner. Instead, it encourages me to sputter incoherent little bursts of oddities in reference to people's mothers, certain activities and family lineage in a jumble of English, Malay, Cantonese and Hokkien.
I love being multi-lingual (in swearing at least).
My boss just came back, and I have work to do.
Wait ha...
Have an R&R; to file.
Back.
Let's see. There were a couple of major family dinners that were brilliant (booze, lots of booze!), my aunt passed away (hence my second funeral in less than a month), lots of running and driving around, and practically no yumcha sessions.
It's been a busy few weeks.
Highlights include my new camera which has rendered me penniless (but I don't care), meeting up with old classmates who I haven't seen since '98, staying up till the early AM with my cousins and catching up on old DVDs.
sooks and I finally caved in and bought the Canon Ixus I, also known as the SD10, in black. It's a wicked little thing with more functions than I know what to do with, and I love it!
Anyway, I have to take off and do more last minute shopping for the house. If I don't get back in time, Happy Chinese New Year y'all. It's my first time celebrating in 4 years, and you can bet I'm excited as hell ;D
Posted by Tiff @ 01:45 AM GMT [Link]
Friday, January 9, 2024
Penang revisited
After hastily packing my backpack and grabbing William Gibson's Pattern Recognition, I drove like a maniac to DJ to pick up Norman and detoured to 17 to grab Shao before heading to Shean's. Surprisingly, we managed to beat the jam and made it in good time to downtown KL where we caught the bus to Penang.
It was a long ride, punctuated by naps, conversations and a quick dinner in between. We reached Penang in a little over 5 hours, and were greeted by Sharon and a late Kai. We soon left for what would be the first of many hawker food expeditions, and the next two days were like a race to consume as much kopi peng I could stomach without getting sick. All in all, I was alright, if psychosomatically hyper crazy.
"Ah peng!"
"Ah mung!"
"Siew peng aa?!"
"Sei mung mung!"In short, it was a trip of great food, good company and numerous silly moments. As always.
Got home not two days ago and have been busy helping Audrey wrap 21 massive hampers. My car's been fixed, and it set me back almost 500 bucks *sigh* Have some dinner thing to attend tonight, and I've been enlisted to help out at my cousin's law firm starting next week, unless something else comes up.
Chinese New Year is less than three weeks away, and major cleaning sessions have already started. There's a living room to paint, some furniture to buy and a room to fix. Lots to do, lots to do.
"There's no place like Penang to make you feel like a real banana"
Off to get ready for dinner.
Posted by Tiff @ 05:04 AM GMT [Link]
Thursday, January 8, 2024
"You penguin!"
There's nothing quite like opening an e-mail with a title like the above ;D
Been cut off from the 'net for a while, mostly because my sister ran off to Ipoh with the 'puter for a couple of days, only to return 2 hours after I left for Penang.
Nothing much this past week, just loads of caffeine, funny ass moments and pictures taken indiscriminately for the heck of it.
I have 2 minutes before the 'puter battery dies, so before it does I'll just post this and update later.
Posted by Tiff @ 02:20 PM GMT [Link]
Friday, January 2, 2024
(No) sex, drugs, (but lots of) alcohol
New Year's eve was better than I expected.
After a busy morning of cleaning house, the cousins sat down for a super-long mahjong session which lasted till late evening, punctuated by dinner and Zoe's feeding schedule. I won enough money to pay for a bunch of mixes which I picked up from Carrefour, and the family sat down for drinks.
At the stroke of midnight, I cracked open the bottle of apple-infused vodka I had specially made (thanks to sooks' recipe) and everyone toasted the new year. We wiped it out pretty quick, and soon I had to bust out the Absolut Mandrin and peach schnapps as the jokes got raunchier and the laughter louder and more maniacal.
Madness runs in the family, as does the thirst for alcoholic beverages ;D
Hangover-free and chirpy the next day, it was lunch with Levin, Alice and Audrey before a coffee and ciggie break (for them) at Starbucks. We ended up bumming till late evening before dinner with Levin's parents in downtown KL. For the first time in years I had yee sang, and aside from the salmon, the meal was excellent. We wrapped up the night with more mahjong and a mamak session with several cousins.
Shean functioned as my alarm clock this morning, and we met up with Norman, Kai and co. in Damansara for some good food and loads of laughs. Migrated to Norman's to check out his graduation photos and meet up with Shahnon (finally!) before he leaves for Waterloo tomorrow.
Am thinking of stopping by Carrefour later to pick up more apples and some other stuff for the house. Have to drive another load of furniture to Colin's too, meh.
No resolutions this year, just a hope and a prayer that all will be well soon enough, for everyone.