My favourite dragon is Haku

I feel so so lazy to blog! It’s like i got used to the EAT & SLEEP pattern of CNY!
Last night i ate so much at my uncle’s i almost blacked out on the porch.
Seriously! My vision went fuzzy for a few blinks and i almost tipped over before putting myself upright.

So i now know: a food coma is indeed possible.

Also, i had a really vivid dream about slashing two snakes with a sword. Steph was with me and the snakes were swimming in a pond in a field. The sword just felt so HEAVY in my dream and i was so tired after killing them. There was even a victorious portion where i stabbed the snake right through the top of its head. So violent but i remember feeling relieved and awesome. I did google what killing snakes mean in dreams, but the variations were too many, i wasn’t THAT bothered to find out.

Anyhoo, some daily dress pix. Nowadays, I seem to be really casual but still maintaining colours. As long as the piece isn’t sheer, i deem it fit to be worn to the office.

double-layered studded top; spain
leopard tights; bangkok
kimono slip; beautiful disaster
wishbone necklace; present from clem
long necklace; thomas sabo

+ + + + + + +

grey silk & jersey shirt; f21 tokyo
pants; topshop
studded flats; singapore flea
vintage coin necklace; brick lane london

+ + + + + + +

aztec print slip; f21 tokyo
leggings; old blossom box store
leather moccasins; harajuku
white bead necklace; flea market

+ + + + + + +

black dress; h&m tokyo
necklace; justin yap

Old is Gold. Old AND Gold is even better.

My dad texted me a few days ago asking whether everything was okay cos he hadn’t heard from me for a week. I called back to say everything was fine and that the office held me captive for a bit. He told me that my Mama (grannie) wanted to meet all the grandchildren for lunch today to pass on some inheritance gifts. I said i think she’s getting old and sentimental about passing her things on…

After a huge dim sum lunch at Grand Imperial, we headed back to her house where she laid out red velvet boxes of jewelry on the dining table. All female grandchildren were like “OOH… “ My brother, the only male grandchild, was watching TV, completely disinterested in jewelry.

In my younger years, i’d be elbowing with my cousins for the best present. But today… i was really nonchalant about it. No matter what i got, i would still love it cos it’s coming from her, and that was the main point of it. In the end there was no elbowing or ‘chupping’ occurring today. Mama had already carefully written our names in Chinese and English on little tags attached to the pieces for whom they were to go to.

I got this beautiful set of jade and gold necklace and earrings.

So gorgeous… i feel honored to own family jewelry like this!

My mum looked over my shoulder saying, “Things like this, money cannot buy one you know.” I nodded.

Smalls called me frog face when she took this pic of me wearing the necklace. I know i look slightly worse for wear. Went all out partying last night and came home at 5:30am. Girl can still party yo.

Mama & i

My mum got a pearl set with this crazy awesome bracelet that caught my attention the moment i laid eyes on it. Its design and simplicity are fantastic. I tried it on and fit me perfectly! Mama’s wrists are really tiny! Now i know where i got my supertiny wrists from. My mum said it’s too small for her even… so i guess it goes to me HEEEEEEE.

One of Smalls’ pieces

Nick, Mummy, Mama

Mama said my great-grandfather gave this to her – a solid gold coin that went to Nick. EchoPunyaBaby said she has the same one too! Maybe it was some token of wealth amongst our great-granners back in the day… I find it weird that it’s from USA tho… 0_0

Nick got this jade ship pendant so his life will ‘sail smoothly’.

And one of my favourite pieces (because of its story!). My Yeh Yeh gave the gold ‘Happiness’ brooch to Mama when he married her. He passed away in his 50s. This went to my brother to give to his future wife. Awwww 

Anyway i am a bit scared to keep all the gold in my apartment. I always hear about friend’s houses/apartments getting robbed and even have a friend who had her RM30k wedding diamond bracelet stolen. Also, i do have cleaners coming in and out all the time… so everything was handed over to my mum to be kept in a bank safety box.

The only thing i dared to hold on to myself is this gold bangle i also inherited

Meow, what a special day!

I can’t wait for CNY

Just so there will be A LOT LESS PEOPLE AND CARS IN KL.

The traffic has been killing me this week… i had to turn up at work early one day for something, and i took an hour and 15 minutes. I did two U-turns trying to find the best possible way out to the highway. Out of the frying pan into the fire. Counted how many people wear sunglasses in their cars. Challenged myself to karaoke all the way.

This morning i intentionally left at 10am and i took 10 minutes. Saved an hour of my life!

Haven’t been blogging cos i’ve been so busy at work. Having fun. But i will turn my attention back to my blog again, swear. Haven’t had a Guinness at all this week. Nor seen any friends. Nor attended any of the events that have been taking place daily.

But if there’s one person who’s in the office more than anyone, it’s Bryan.
When i left at 10:30pm last Friday night, he was there.
When i went in at 3pm on Sunday, he was there.
When i left on Sunday at 7:30pm, he was there.
When i went to work really early on Monday at 8:30am, he was there.
When i looked over at his place at midnight on Monday, i told Ee Von, “Oh thank god. For once i’m in the office and Bryan isn’t!” Ee Von poked me and said, “No, he’s still there. He’s sitting there *pointed*” I saw his head peeking over the desk barriers and said, “You’re KIDDING ME.”

I suspect he’s secretly living in the office with a sleeping bag under his desk.

ANYWAY today is the first time all week i’ve managed to sit in front of my own laptop and it feels SO GOOD! I can’t wait for CNY! 4 days off and i can catch up on errands and blog stuff!

The one thing i’ve been indulging in a tad to destress, is watch New Girl.

I LOVE NEW GIRL! (And Modern Family, and Community. If you have other happy quirky series to recommend me, please do!!!)

Clem and i started watching it last week. I was sick with the flu and self-medicated with a ton of Redoxen, Clarinase and Panadol. There are two occasions when he just MUST be nice to me. 1) when i’m sick. 2) it’s my birthday. Am saying this cos he didn’t wanna watch it at first:
Clem: New Girl? You want me to watch a show that’s called New GIRL??
Me: But i’m sick… *puts on pitiful sad sick face*
Clem: Putainnnnn okayyy

In the end he likes it too cos there ARE some male characters in it. And i love Zooey! Pilot totally cracked me up and i swear watching it while eating a magnum almond ice cream cured me of my flu.

///

I’ve been trying to go to the gym of late. Not that i need to lose weight, but i just need to be FIT. And get more muskels and at least be able to open the office door without having to lean on it. Pathetic. Oh and i just found out i have to be in another photoshoot next month and would like to be the girl that has to be photoshopped the least. I’m thinking CNY would be a great time to start cos noone would think of going to the gym then… right?

///

What else can i blabber about, hmm oh YES! Yishyene, Sa and Nadia came over to my house last week for dinner. Clem went to the One Buck Short album launch to represent us, while the girls came over (there was just no other date we could set it!) They appeared in front of my door wearing pajamas and carrying soft toys, shrieking “Surprise! We’re ALL gonna stay over!” Of course they didn’t, it was a school night after all. But it did shock me a bit and i exploited it fully by sending Clem a picture of them saying, “LOOK they surprised me and are staying over tonight!” He ended up coming home really late and drunk.

///

Yishyene and i went over our route plans for summer. We’re gonna start off in Italy, work our way up France, hopefully stop by Croatia (sounds so exotic!) and finish off in Belgium for Rock Werchter. Then i really really want to go to Stockholm. Been wanting to visit that city since i’ve started admiring some crazyass fashion bloggers / style / ad campaigns from there since a few years ago. And if i don’t just go there alone if i have to, i don’t’ know when i’d do it.

I heard this (silly) discussion on Capital FM last night – it was about this 30-year-old girl who’s in the middle of her career and unsure of whether to take a couple of years off to travel. Her worry isn’t money, but that she’d be ‘left behind’ in her career when she returns. I’m like, what a STUPID question! Why do we work in the first place? To LIVE. And what’s the point of having all this money when you forget to USE IT TO LIVE. All i can say is if you want to travel, just DO IT and you’d NEVER REGRET IT. I have NEVER once heard anyone say they regretted traveling.

I realize that my summer hols hold such high importance for me that i use it as THE pinpoint to plan my work, finances and year. ‘Before summer hols’. ‘After summer hols’. I can’t wait! It’s the carrot at the end of my stick for 11/12. See. My years are all split in half now.

///

Mummy’s Dinner, Fat Spoon, Templer’s Park, Batu Caves, & La La Chong

Oh man. You have no idea what i had to go through to get this blogpost up! First of all, i had to think whether i wanted to blog tonight, then figured i’d better cos i know my schedule will be crazy for the next few days. Then my iPhoto wouldn’t recognize pictures from my phone. So i thought maybe i should update my phone. And found out i forgot my Apple ID password -_- So i had to go retrieve it. After i reset it, i had to backup all my purchased apps before updating my phone. So i googled how to do that (google saves everything!) and followed some steps then tada ok done. Then when i was READY to update my phone, it said by doing so it would delete all media including pictures which i don’t want to happen cos the PICTURES are what i’m trying to get out of my phone -_- So in the end i transferred them to Clem’s laptop, to my hard disk, to my mac. MAN i spent over an hour doing NADA. And i STILL don’t know why my iPhoto suddenly doesn’t recognize photos in my phone! Will figure that out another day when i have a cup of patience to spare. There. That wasn’t super interesting but you did read it till this sentence HA.

Clem’s mom and stepdad were down in KL to visit him while on their way to Cambodia. They’ve been to KL before so we didn’t have to do the entire hardcore tourist shebang. When they arrived on Friday afternoon, we figured they wouldn’t want to go out after such a long flight so i cooked us all a dinner of sage and onion chicken with Edwards sausages (my butcher was very excited for me to try out their newly imported british sausages). They passed out at 9pm. At 9:30pm i thought it must be midnight cos i was so so tired and was aghast when i saw it wasn’t even 10pm! Managed to stay up till midnight.

Saturday i went to meet Jess & Rudy for brunch (but with Jesselia Savings Losings Time it turned out a late lunch). In the evening i went to help my mom cook, meaning i watched her cook and washed up what i could. She prepared a magnificent feast for Clem’s parents and us!

I giggled inwardly when my mum was saying to Dom, “Just some simple food.”
Dom: Dees is not simple!!!

Such a scene from The Joy Luck Club.

Oh man my stomach was rumbling like a tractor while ‘helping’ my mum cook this! Clockwise from middle: fried fish with onions, chili and garlic; curry prawns; sweet & sour chicken; bean paste pork ribs; chinese mushroom / tunku. My dad was away in HK that weekend, so this was all for five people mind you! – Mummy, me, Clem, Dom, Serge!

The mummies

Clem loves this bean paste pork ribs dish so much, my mum gave me the paste for it and taught me how to cook it for him -_-

After dinner my mum served local fruit – mangosteen, duku langsat and oranges (which i don’t think are from here CNY la ok)

+ + +

On Sunday we took them to Fat Spoon

Guns in Peter & Jane were so innocent before Bowling for Columbine

If you go to Fat Spoon you MUST MUST MUST order their cempedak popiah + vanilla ice cream. I almost died of ecstasy eating it.

After a huge lunch (i ate what everyone didn’t finish) we went to PJ to let me run an errand in Digital Mall, before heading for Batu Caves. Even with Google maps i missed ONE bloody road and suddenly we were on Jalan Ipoh highway heading to… Ipoh. Shit. After doing a frantic U-turn, i spotted Templer’s Park and said it would be kinda nice for them to see it if they wanted so we stopped.

I  can’t remember when was the last time i went to Templer’s Park… or if i even did in my life, sometime in primary school..?

As we hiked for 45 minutes looking for a waterfall, i thought to myself ‘wow look at this. Joyce hiking in kl’. The thing is that Clem and i have no qualms with taking long hikes when we’re traveling, but when we’re in KL, we’d rather… bond with our couch on the weekends. We go to great lengths finding waterfalls in the jungles of Indonesia and Sri Lanka, to the extent we accidentally walked to the same one twice; but we don’t bother discovering one in our own backyard. Hopefully that will change soon! (Clem must be shuddering while reading this.)

Dom, Serge and i

After the park, we finally found Batu Caves.

I can’t believe went up and down those stairs three times in one day before -_-

After Batu Caves was Joyce’s feeding time before she turned into an evil pumpkin that ate people up. I suggested La La Chong since we hadn’t had seafood yet.

Serge: We seem to be eating a lot [i don't understand this tho, we only had lunch before dinner!]
Clem: In KL, there’s not much to see, but there’s a lot to eat! 

I noticed that La La Chong uses Taste Me sauce and grabbed it off the table in a squeal. “Taste Me! It’s the Taste Me sauce!”
Clem: What??
Me: It’s THE TASTE ME SAUCE! The one that Tania brought to BBQ and is super spicy! The one i was telling you about!
Clem: *turns to his parents* I’m sorry, she gets like this sometimes. 

I didn’t even get offended cos i was too busy taking pictures of the sauce. It was a like a SIGN reminding me to go buy the sauce, which i did the next day. 3 bottles of it. One for home, one for office, and one for backup.

An unexpectedly long reply to an email

I got an email from a reader called Yueh on Friday, which prompted me to reply her here.

///////////////////////

I’ve been your reader for quite some time and i’m not sure how I started it, but I seriously love your life! You have been traveling to so many places, and I love the way how you see everything, everything is just beautiful in your eyes.

And after some time I wondered, do you ever groan in your life? Because you never blog about your emotional moments, or any sad or angry ones. I understand that maybe you are someone that likes to keep it to yourself, but I’m still very curious, how you manage to enjoy your life so much despite all the problems or stress or things that annoy you in some way? Don’t you have moments you hate/dislike something/someone that could make your mood shifted whole day long?

I get distracted pretty easily, I always keep myself positive but sometimes when my mood gets affected, it’s hard to get back to normal mode after.

Honestly, you are a person that I look up to even though I do not really know you. But reading your blog makes me feel that I can always be as bubbly and happy-go-lucky as you too. =)

///////////////////////

Thanks for saying everything is beautiful in my eyes, haha. I have to say that i LEARN how to do it more from my friends as well… especially the really happy ones.

I’m always in awe of some people like say, Jess, whom i’ve never seen angry or complain. Even if she does complain, she makes it sound like a joke she’s telling after one minute. She’s always super happy and smiley and enthusiastic and all “Let’s goooo!”. Teamed with pumping fist in air.

People like her make me feel bad i can’t be like that all the time in person. I do have my moody days, i do have angry ones too. I have stupidly horrible days just like everyone. I can bitch all day in my head just like everyone. 2-hour traffic jam. Idiot cutting me on the right without signaling, why are you even allowed to drive? I wish there was an online police system where i could report license plates instantly for a complaint. Oh, now look at that. I lost my parking ticket. Why why whyyyy and i’m rushing and i have no change to feed into the parking machine even after finding it. Tripped and scraped my favourite shoe. Caught in storm in my favourite leather flats and was forced to walk in 20cm of disgusting rainwater that comes from this massive longkang that runs through the whole of KL, OH i don’t even want to THINK of what these water molecules have touched.

See, i’m really good at complaining. I can go on and on if i wish. When something/someone makes me mad, I CAN CHOOSE to dwell on the subject that caused me irritation to hell and back, or I CAN CHOOSE to wave it away as fast as i consciously can and get on with my day. Traveling has made me appreciate my life a lot more. Seeing how poor yet happy people are in other countries makes me rethink what i have to complain about. Nothing. I should have NOTHING to complain about. I’m safe. My family is safe. I have Clem. I have my job(s). I have my super happy friends who are generous and inspiring. I have enough money to buy myself whatever i want to eat.

I really think being happy is practice. Clem and his family have taught me that as well… i barely see them complain. His mum is like, the most satisfied happy-go-lucky woman i’ve met. You can’t say it’s because they’re French, cos i’ve seen hell lotta French people bitch openly on public transport before. Clem and his family’s habits got me thinking that i could do that as well. I could be like that if i stopped complaining and being negative in any way in my head.

And the more i did it consciously, the swifter i got at mentally slapping myself every time i had a bad thought about something or someone. Just the other day i had a bad thought about someone in the office and my hand physically hit my own leg before i realized what i was going to do. Then i started laughing at myself for it.

I don’t blog about my worries or complaints because it’d just magnify them. Not only am i swirling all that negative energy around in myself, but spreading it on my blog for people to read as well?! I’m not into reading people whine and complain on blogs, so why should i do it too? Same goes for Twitter (tho i think i’ve been slacking). I’ve been trying not to tweet angry and emo stuff all the time cos that sentence will affect people. Reading an angry tweet will make you feel like you have a right to be angry too, cos someone else out there is already angry, then we can all be angry together. One big angry twitter group woohoo. (Admittedly i slip sometimes. But i try.)

Every time you feel superdamnannoyed at someone, think about WHY that person is being such a prick. Maybe he had a fight with his girlfriend in the morning, maybe he HAS no girlfriend, maybe this is karma for you, maybe his parents abused him as a child. I’m not saying to make excuses for the person. Just that every emotion someone brings up in you is because you have some connection of it in yourself which is why you RECOGNISE that emotion so passionately.

Urm yeah wow i went way off over there. Anyway, i’m just like you. I get annoyed. Last weekend i got so annoyed at Clem i felt bad and had to apologize for being a bitch after. I realise that annoyance comes from dwelling on something that happened in the past. And there’re all these books now that keep on saying concentrate on the PRESENT and not on the PAST nor the FUTURE. So er i’ve been trying to remember that. Like when i’m moody i think: What am i doing NOW? Okay i’m driving. Enjoy the drive. Look outside and see what EXCITING things i might MISS if i’m too busy overthinking life.

So the answer to happiness is… practice!  I’m still practicing myself.

New Year’s Eve of 2012

I decided 3 months before New Year’s that spending it BBQ-ing and chilling with some friends would be ideal compared to partying amidst hundreds of people in a crowded club. So i booked the top floor of Awanmulan before anyone thought of what they’d do for NYE and paid the full price even though i didn’t confirm who’s going. Was just so certain enough people would see the AWESOMENESS of it and come. In the end we had almost everyone we hoped would join us – Aps & Fai, JP  & Oli, Steph & Nick, Serena & Matt. Olivier asked to come last min and Awanmulan was nice enough to let him.

Nick & Steph on our patio

Are there ANY paparazzi pictures of Clem and i like this?! I need to get a resident photographer in our group besides myself.

Clem, Nick, and Oli & JP being lovey dovey at the back. I have so many pictures of them being smoochy in the background throughout the trip…

Steph, me, Oli

To be fair to all those unattractive pictures of friends i’ve put up, here’s a horrible one of me. Oh and perhaps Nick too. I showed the above pic to Clem: “Look how sexy i am. This is why you love meeeee righttttt”

Steph & Nick were in charge of grilled veggies, mash potatoes, and some pumpkin dish Nick wanted to make. It turned out SO GOOD that i asked him how he made it, later that night. He tipsily told me and i tried remembering it best i could, as did Oli. The next day Oli got Nick to write the recipe down… and thanks to her brill memory, she noticed something missing and said, “Eh, you forgot the sugar?” Clem told me later Nick told him the night before he’d purposely miss out an ingredient so we wouldn’t get it right. Sial wei the fellow! We got it anyway HA! If y’all want this pumpkin recipe i heard his mum (who’s responsible for it) is publishing a cookbook soon.

Pumpkin is such a wonder to cook and eat if only it wasn’t such a BITCH to chop!

Steph forgot to bring her commendable collection of shot glasses and sorrowfully prepped paper cups in replacement of them. Wasn’t a big deal la (that she forgot). Erm just that she made it like a big deal so we didn’t stop her from writing names on everyone’s cups to avoid wastage. She even measured and poured shots into each of them before food was ready heh. Good job Stephy!!

Orange + cinnamon + tequila

Fai’s chicken wings and my lamb.
The chicken was so awesome i’m inspired to try marinating that next…

Fai takes his BBQ very seriously and didn’t let anyone else handle it cos he didn’t trust them. Not like the other guys cared… think they were very happy to let him do all the work. Look at Nick pretending to help but padahal doesn’t want to be near smoke.  :D

JP & Oli made some crazy pork burgers. I’m so impressed by how EVERYONE’S food turned out fantastic! Every single leftover pork burger was whacked the next morning by being made into sandwiches.

Steph and her hotdog.
The ones who were cooking ended up eating earlier than the rest – hard to resist food while prepping!

‘Twas hard to see the BBQ on the patio when it got dark… and Matt proudly emerged with a headlamp in hand. Super dot dot dot… who would think of bringing a headlamp? Hahaha

Matt. Always prepared for the elements of nature.

Steph and i were prepared in other ways. We constructed a moat made of tinfoil so the ants couldn’t get to our leftovers that sat waiting for people who wanted seconds.

Clem took to doing the dishes since he didn’t cook.
Me *standing there and staring* : You’re so so sexy baby…
Him: While i’m doing the dishes? Great… just great.

Nick got Maurice my mouse to take his first step! “It’s all in the dynamics,” he said.

Having a shot at midnight

There was so much love there that night! Everyone was hugging and kissing. I even saw Fai giving Clem a big smack on the cheek, super bromance can die. Tried convincing him to do it again so i could take a picture but he didn’t. I guess it was a special moment that i thankfully happened to see :D

Steph, Nick, half of Matt’s face, Clem

me and CC. Her tea ceremony is coming up and i almost booked tickets to Acheh for that same weekend. Happened to get her message while looking at flights and immediately thought, “THERE’S NO WAY I’M MISSING OUT TORTURING ALL THE FRENCH GUYS HAHAHAAAAA” (by the way, for girls who think you’ve got a BRILLIANT torture please email me joycethefairy@gmail.com! the more ideas the eviler mwahahahahah)

I & Fai