The things I do.

Every day I wake up with the same question in my head: ‘what should I do with my life today?’ Perhaps, I am being overly critical of myself. But this question that I constantly ask, up to an unnerving degree, are what drives me.

Today was not an exception.  What should I do with my life today? How can I vary? But instead, I got myself an answer for tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow – what should I do with my life tomorrow. 

I am going to wake up very early, drive to the nearest little town, have breakfast, explore , discover, stumble, look at faces and document all these using the only weapon I have in my hand right now: my shiny, new point-and-shoot.

It’s about time I learn to make a video.

Coz I'm leaving on a jetplane.

http://newstitches.tumblr.com/

Not too long from now. 82 days to be exact, thanks to Kesten the Genius for the countdown. So excited (and nervous)!

A period of absolute ignorance.

Spent last weekend resting up. My sister’s friend whose dad owned an old bungalow by the beach organized a little gathering for all of us - bbq, swim, a stroll by the beach; it was really nice to meet new friends. Felt young and immature being surrounded by managers, doctors and accountants.

The place felt so cozy with big living hall, huge dining room, spacious kitchen. Very roomy as most colonial houses do. I wanna own one of this some day. Sipping tea by the wooden window in my kebaya. Hubby fixing Leica IIIF. Daydreaming on the wet rock and watching waves curling foams.

When was the last time I spend a calm moment doing nothing – just sitting and looking at the ocean, people-watching and enjoying sunset that gives way to the break of night? A period of absolute ignorance from the chaotic life of the city.

I want quiet.

http://autumnum.tumblr.com/

Expect excitement. Quit whining.

Something worth sharing with those of you who likes to travel. As taken from Travel NST.

1. Enjoy the journey as much as the destination

Oh yes, making the journey can be tiresome, what with the long flight, long drive or ride. Delays and crowds can get on your nerves too. All these are to be expected. So plan ahead to make your journey as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. Avoid getting all knotted up or you’ll spoil your holiday even before it starts. Bring a good book to read, your laptop, game sets or whatever gadget that will keep you happy and occupied. Or use the time to catch up on your sleep. Bring eye shades and a U-shaped neck support to help you sleep well. Nothing beats arriving at a destination feeling refreshed and energetic.

2. Leave your comfort zone behind

Don’t just stay in the hotel room to watch TV or lie in bed and listen to music. You take vacations once in a while, so it doesn’t make sense to travel far only to sit in a hotel room or sip coffee in the coffeehouse. You can do these back home. Think of being a real traveller, not a mere tourist. See as much as you can of the new country and learn about its people and their way of life. Adapt yourself to the new environment. A successful traveller will return home enriched with new experiences and friendships forged in lands afar.

3. Plan ahead but be spontaneous too

Yes, you need to plan ahead and have an itinerary so that you can fully appreciate what it is that you’ve come to see in a foreign place. An important part of the planning is to read lots of information about your destination. But don’t be too rigid. If you like a place a lot, spend more time to just wander around. Often the best discoveries happen when you follow your heart (and mind) rather than your itinerary.

4. Avoid doing too much

Tourists often make the mistake of trying to see and do too much with the result that they end up seeing and enjoying very little. It is better to see fewer places but to know them really well. Zero in on a few experiences and get the most out of them. Adventure overload will leave you dazed. Try to spend at least two nights in a place and visit several places from one central location. If you are on the move everyday and changing hotel rooms every night just to be able to visit more places, you’ll get all stressed up from just the packing and unpacking.

5. Go where the locals go and learn some local words

Don’t stick to tourist trails. Get to know some locals who can give you tips on the best places to eat and hang out or on where to go for great fun and adventure. Visit villages, markets and local eateries. Experience local flavour that will leave you with a more lasting memory. Learning a few words of the local language is useful too. The locals will love your making the effort and they’ll go out of their way to help you. Ask them lots of questions to get the most out of your holiday experience.

6. Expect excitement. Quit whining

Go with anticipation, not apprehension. Don’t find fault in everything and everyone. When you set out with a positive mind to seek excitement from new places and experiences, you’ll be surprised at how often your expectations will come true. Just let your mind be free, open, willing and receptive to new ideas or the way of life of others. When you complain frequently and expect to have a bad time, you’ll miss out on opportunities for better things to come along. Remember, you are the one who will make or break your holiday, so plan to be positive.

7. Be aware of security at all times

Nothing can spoil a holiday more than being attacked by muggers, and losing your money, passport or other possessions. Buy travel insurance so you can make a claim on losses, injury or inconveniences suffered. Use a money belt, locker, hotel safe, etc. Don’t keep all your money or cards in one place. Make photocopy of your passport and carry it along. It’ll come in handy if you do lose your original passport. As you keep your eyes open to everything that’s new or exciting around you, also keep your alarm antenna up to detect fraudsters and danger.

So are you an aunty-tourist or a chic traveller? :D

Land of a Million Elephants

So, what have I been up to?

Besides having the office all to myself (the rest of the staff is still on hols) and writing myself nuts, I did spare some time researching about Laos and a few other places I’ve been planning to backpack to. Lao Lao trip is still a long way to go – November. Turns out that the only possible date for me to travel happy by road to the north of Laos would be during the month of heavy downpour in my own country since Laos itself is gonna be experiencing the cats and dogs some time in the middle of the year.

I’m getting the kick of it, backpacking. I don’t know what’s gonna happen to me if I don’t. Probably stuck at home, knitting like a grumpy old grandma. Hey, not even my mom does that. She travels a lot more than I do, come to think of it. Of course, it’s a lot different than the usual road-tripping and I can say it’s a lot more adventurous too. The bumpy road. The long, painful train ride. Smelly hostels. Getting lost. Friendly strangers. Weird strangers. The unforeseen danger that vary dramatically from countries to countries. Traveling or backpacking, road-tripping or whatever you would like to call it; is only glamorous in retrospect.

When I got on my first long train ride, I theoretically think it would be ideal to hop on it in the evening and then wake up fresh in a new place, saving a day and a night’s accommodation. What really happen is you don’t get much sleep because of the bumpiness, feel pretty much shit the next day and wish you could have cut short the time by taking flights and sleep comfortably on a real bed, not a bunk.

But then again, it’s the fun and trouble that I seek so I made my choice.

Laos has always been on the top of my ‘Places I Wanna Go Backpack To Before I Hit 30’ list. Don’t ask me why because well, do you really need to have a reason to frantically bugger off somewhere more cooling to avoid the insane level of humidity in your own country? Or vice versa?

Now, now. I know that Laos is going to be a lot of effort if I really want to explore more than just tubing in Vang Vieng and this means hiking to the hill tribe areas in Luang Phrabang and get the monk walking down the slopes in the morning shot I’ve always wanted to capture. According to my so-called good plan, I’ll be taking the Vientiane-VangVieng-LuangPhrabang-Vientiane route. Still deliberating whether to add Muang Sing in; ooh the thoughts of capturing the village kids playing rattan and chewing sugarcane is so tempting!



lonelyplanet.com

I’m starting early on the funds this time. If I’m discipline enough, chances are I will not be scraping off my wage. Woohoo. The travel cost might be cheap even with dining like a king, so I just pray that the air fares will not be that expensive or else it will drain my funds a little.

Oh, Lord of Flights please bestow upon me a wikkid cheap flight ticket.

Happiness Follows When..

Once there was an old alley cat walking down the street looking for his dinner. As he walked along he came upon a beautiful young cat who was running around in circles chasing her tail. Around and around she went trying as hard as she could to catch her tail. 

The old alley cat stopped and asked her, “What are you doing?” The young cat slowed down and replied that she had been taught that joy, happiness, success and luck were all in the tip of her tail.

“All that I have to do is catch the end of my tail, and I will have the happy life, she said.

The old alley cat replied, “I’ve been around for a long time, and I know that joy, happiness, success and luck are in the tip of my tail; but, you know if I don’t chase it and work my very hardest and don’t worry about it, the happy life follows me wherever I go. My tail follows me everywhere, so I don’t need to chase it.”

Happiness isn’t a place, a time, or a possession. You have to make it happen. The ways to make it happen is to stop worrying about everything and just go about your business, and do your very best. Then, if you really work hard, your happiness will follow you just like the alley cat’s tail.

Taken from m-altruism.

Passport To Life

It has been a long week so far.

There were an incredible amount of task piling up at work and home which left me with little time to blog. Yesterday was trapped nearly the whole day at the immigration re-newing passport and I was desperately need to do it before mid December.

Today was no exception. Was busy rushing up jobs before leaving for Penang tomorrow. Yours truly will be conducting a small interview for a magazine's article. Received tons of advice and support from my strategist who is aware of my panic-attack. Hihi. I get nervous breakdown pretty easily, I admit and it often strike without warning. How sad.

Despite that, the first meeting ever conducted by myself, on Tuesday went really well. Alhamdullilah. Was extremely pleased with the result and hope the project will gain its momentum after the first leap. It may be nothing compared to other accounts handled by my strategist or senior acc manager but hey, considered that I've only been with the agency for a month and to the fact that I'm only a copywriter, I felt rather excited to be appointed to lead a project. Inshallah, with His willing all will be okay.

Work aside, I'm looking forward to the weekend. Have nothing in plan right now but this could be yet another spontaneous opportunity to do something exciting. That long overdue hike, perhaps? Had my Saturday planned by Nadiah and Eka who dragged me out for post-birthday cupcake treat at Wondermilk. Awesome time discussing life, business and culture whilst sipping earl grey and baked potatoe with chicken filling. Yummeh! This weekend, I'm just gonna see what life has in store for me.

Happy Friday, in advance!

A round, solid week

If I am a font, I would marry Century Gothic for its darling a and g's look. They are elliptically sexy . I had a miserable time trying to construct a good opening sentence. Normally, words come to me naturally but not tonight. Reason being the font I used. It looked boring and tiresome and and. Urgh, so much more.

Or maybe not.

Ah, petty reasons to avoid admitting that it had been a slow, rough week without anything interesting happening for most of the days; enthralling event or gripping story that I could share in today's entry. Yeap, it was a slow, rough week, I admit. There were just deadlines to catch up as well as the usual luncheons and dinners. Apart from the uneventful, I survived the platitudinous.

An old friend came by for dinner on Saturday. Had been a year since I saw her and we had a smashin' good time gossiping and reminiscing. It has been great so far ; we received quite a number of visits from family and close friends whom like us, fell in love with the open space of the house. My best friend dropped by a few days back too, with a pack of biscuits in a hand. 'I know you love chocolate biscuits so I bring some. Good things are meant to be shared' she announced at the door. Best friends!

We were suppose to go on a little hike up a hill in Semenyih to catch sunset this evening but twas cancelled thanks to rain, superb home-cooked lunch at mum's and balmy weather that makes me sleepy. And a good book. Which I dont mind - good moments are meant to be shared...with your family. Not somewhere up a strange hill by one's self.

I love my garden - our petunias and white periwinkles are blooming beautifully from the hanging pot and my baby's breath looks like she can't wait to grow! I'm expecting our little christmas tree to be back on her good self again - she looks like a sad little snag the past coupla week. So sad but MN convinced me that its only a natural cycle.

I'm gonna write my first radio commercial so I'm hoping for the best. Have a great remaining weekend!