Beautifully Imperfect.

EXAMMMMMS. 13 - 18 June.

The only bright spot in all this is that I'll finish right in time for Mary's 21st. Hee. Dual celebration in style, for sure.

To make things worse, I had a day-long craving for Maybank nasi lemak doused with their awesome sambal all day. Drove there after class, and as usual got stuck in the rush hour jam. Kept on dreaming of the nasi lemak and fried chicken and sped to Sea Park after I got off the LDP.

And it was closed.

WTF. :((((((

I have never seen the Maybank mamak closed. Everrrr. Emooo-ed in the car, staring at the closed mamak and their stacked chairs in disbelief and wondered if I should drive to Uptown for that other awesome nasi lemak but then decided that the traffic would be insane. Drove home very very upset. Lol.


This makes me all the more determined to tapau it later for dinner. A girl's gotta have her fuel to continue all the textbook cramming, and today, mine comes in the form of Maybank nasi lemak.


I can't believe I just typed up a whole entry about nasi lemak. I swear it's the stress.

*

Didn't manage to catch the repeat of the finale because I was at Pyramid with the uni gang so Youtube it is!

I still love them both. Thought little David did better at the finale, but still Simon said it best when he said that for the first time, he didn't really care who won because they're so deserving.






p/s: Oi, PANG WEI SOON in Moscow, are you serious about having watched the Champions League finals livee? PICTURES, I WANT PICTURESSSS.

So while Streamyx is working fine for me this lazy Saturday morning, and while I'm still in a very semangat spirit to get some colour into this space, I present photos of darling 2-month old Jayden like the very proud aunty family member I am.






There are tons of other cute pictures of Melia's birthday and of the fam but they're all in Yee Soh's cam, so I'll probably never get them. And we had the biggest cake ever. A 3 kg Winnie the Pooh cake which we barely devoured a quarter. Ughh.

The kids made Mother's Day cards in school yesterday and I took a peek at Joel's and inside a very distorted looking heart-shape, he wrote:

"I love my mummy very much because she can cook and she always lets me play PSP and PS2."

LOLLLLLL.

Anyway, after that I went over to MF's big 21st bash. The theme? Beach party.






Thanks darling MF for the wonderful blast (and all the alco provided, btw. lol.). I hope you had a great night, or rather what you can remember from the night. Happy 21st again dear. May we celebrate many more birthdays together to come!

And of course, since I didn't blog for all of April - April babies, this is for you!







*

I'm still in love with Gavin DeGraw's In Love With A Girl after three months. Dude's a genius. I can't wait to get my hands on the new album.

"So many people gonna say that they want you,
To try to get you thinking they really care,
But there's nothing like the warmth of the one who has put in the time and you know he's gonna be there,
Back your border when she knows someone crossed it,
Don't let nobody put you down, who you're with
Take the pain of protecting your name,
From the crutch to the cane to the highwire."

Go download go download go download!



And thanks to Bryan and MTV in the MUSA Lounge yesterday, Jesse McCartney is still in my head. Hee.

"No stress, no stress, no stress
Girl you deserve nothing but the best."

I'm going to try repeating that like a mantra and see if it helps reduce assignment stress. Lol.

*

Boss, ada rokok tak?"

Mamak guy: "Adaaaaa.. *points behind* Kat 7-11 belakang tu."

Hahahaha.

*

Till next post, people. <3> The words to the newly surfaced Jason Mraz/James Morrison duet are beautiful. And the simple lilting melody comforts me. Two of my favourites and now they've even collaborated. 'Tis gonna be a good day now.

How many of you remember Elliott Yamin from last season's American Idol? Siokkwan, remember him?


Cute pic. The top four from last season. Elliott, Taylor, Katharine and Chris.

I was rooting for Chris and Elliott all the way. Shucks. Neither of 'em won. You know, the person I root for NEVER wins American Idol. Ever. I definitely was NOT rooting for Fantasia. I liked Carrie, but preferred Bo (but Anthony Fedorov was shoooooo cuuuuute). And then in Season 5, Taylor won. Darn. How did that happen?

Anyway, while the other Idol contestants from his season came out with albums, Elliott sat in the sidelines, apparently waiting for record companies to sign him. I, personally do not understand how he was not snapped up immediately. I love that Chris was signed almost immediately, but Elliott should've been too! If Kellie Pickler can get a record deal, so can he.

Come on. He's such a genuine, sweet guy. I'm saying this like I know him personally, but how could you watch Idol and not like him? He and his mother seem like the sweetest people ever. I cried like a little baby when he got voted out. Because there's just something in him that makes you see that he wants it so bad. The passion, the love for singing, the awe that America voted him that far, it's all so evident.


Aww.


Why is it that he can post like that and not look lala?


Debut album!

But anyway, that isn't the point. The point is, he FINALLY has a record album out. And I love his voice. It just has that silky-yet-raspy (although don't ask me how that is possible) quality to it.


Elliott and his new song, 'Wait For You'. Go listen!

*Wendy melts away into a little gooey puddle* Guhhhhhhhhhh.



Psst, Elliott! You need a haircut though. Just sayin'. Look at how much better your hair used to look.

And since I'm on the topic of Idol, lemme gush somemore about Chris Daughtry. Happy sigh.


Chris Daughtry. OMG. I think this was when he sang that Bryan Adams song. *melts somemore*

How is it that this guy finished fourth on Idol is still beyond me. He has everything it takes to be an American Idol. The entire package. The look, the voice, the talent. Everrrrrything.


But maybe it's better for him that he didn't win. Who knows what the producers would've done to him? They may have manufactured him into some bubble-gum pop tearin'-up-my-heart dancing guy. Which is very shudder-inducing. Yes, he would have made the Idol single his own, and made it awesome in his own right, but do you really want to hear him sing Taylor's 'Do I Make You Proud'? Cheese-fest.


Chris' It's Not Over. Have to say I prefer this video over Elliott's debut. Hey, does that girl in the video look like Theresa from the O.C. to you guys? Also, umm, hellooooo leather pants.

What makes me happier than just Elliott or just Chris?

.
.
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Chris AND Elliott singing together! :D *squees like a little fangirl*


The both of them giving a Nickelback song some love.


Gah. Duets are love. And yes, you all probably already know how I feel about guys and guitars now. :P


And since I'm posting pictures...


Wackiness.


Doesn't it make you happy to know that you're not the only camwhores in the world? Lol. Hee. They're so adorable.


More hamming it up for the cam.

Don't you just love pic-spams? Not if you're on dial-up, but still. :D

This is what happens when I'm all the way here without MTV or Channel [V] and when Youtube is my only source of music videos. Layan a bit lah.

In other news - presentation for Money and Caps went okay today. Phew.

Lol. Am I the only one who finds it so funny that I love my reality tv and can ramble on about it for so long and only have one line to write about my day? HEH.

Till then, I love you all long time. =)

Chris Daughtry, you may remember him from American Idol? You know, bald guy who most definitely should have WON THE DAMN THING? Yeah, him. He has an album out and it is awesome. If you like Nickelback, you will definitely like the album. Let me know if you want it, I'll burn you a copy.

Siokkwan's birthday was awesome fun. I hope you had an amazing 19th birthday, babe. We got close during a primary school trip, running around in KLCC buying Winnie the Pooh keychains, and it's been six years of awesome friendship since then. And definitely still counting. We've grown up, and we're not Pooh fanatics anymore, but we're still best of friends. Things definitely wouldn't be the same without you around. Gossipy mamak sessions, ups and downs, fishes, shopping, clubbing nights, and so much more. I know I can count on you, and I know you know that you can count on me. Love you! New target = The Loft, yeahhh.

Will blog about the celebration once I get all the pictures, because what's a birthday blog without pics, right?

Haven't been doing much these hols. But then again, hols aren't supposed to be for doing things. They're supposed to be for lazing around and for being all couch-potatoey. Guess the only useful thing I've done these three weeks is probably clean up my pigsty of a room (Oh, and shopping. Shopping's totally useful). I'm not entirely done, but it's definitely a whole lot neater. I had no idea I shared my room with so many dust bunnies.

I realise I can't bear to part with a lot of junk. Until yesterday, I was still keeping my SPM papers and Peka stuff and my old radio which doesn't work anymore. Heh. I guess love clutter. And junk. Oh well. That's all thrown out now. Bye bye SPM, bye bye old radio, bye bye rubbish. :P

Oh. And I had my first passengers which do not include family members on Tuesday. Hee. We went to 1U to buy Sioki's present. Lucky first time passengers in Wendy's my father's car: Jo, Ching, Siokkwan and Eddy. Jo kept on holding on to the handle above the door. -_-" And I reverse parked. Omg, now that was bloody stressful. Parking in Centrepoint is pretty tight. And stressful. Uhhh. Thanks to Jo who got down and did little twisty motions to the left and right with his fingers for me, and Ching who was directing me in the car. You should be proud of me. :D

I start work on Monday, so if anyone wants to bring me out from now till then, I'm absolutely free. Hee. It's a short term telemarketing thing, so I'll probably be done with the job in about two weeks or so, I guess. I finish work at 5:30, so I can still do dinners and mamaks, though. Just letting you know in case you want to treat me or something like that. Hee.

Have fun with holidays if you're on holidays, or exams, if you're nearing that period of the year. *hugs showers everyone who's reading*

Forces of nature. Here I sit, complaining about the loss of internet because lightning fried my modem. But today, we read about lightning killing people. A boy got struck, and died yesterday, while his friends suffered major skin burns. Scary stuff, isn't it? People play in the oceans every day, but those playing on December 26th, 2004 saw a wave unlike any other they had ever seen before. A wave so high, likened to a White Dragon on the horizon, which wiped away homes and lives. We use fire on our stoves, to light cigarettes up, birthday candles, while some where, on the other side of the world, forest fires spread, and arson, is happening. Burning down flesh and wood into ashes and dust.

Dangerous stuff. But I guess, what I'm trying to say is, it's the unknown. Things that we are so used to, day in and out, could potentially become so much more. We never know what's going to happen.

Yes, you can say that that part of life, of not knowing, is the beauty of it. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and each to his own. Contradictions, galore. Aren't we all?

*

Random-ness of the day.


Aaron pretending to be a ghost. Scaryyy. :D



Cam-whoring with Mary's super canggih Sony Ericsson K-something-something-something-i which compiles three pics into one. My memory fails me yet again about the model of her phone. Check out our la-square poses, dude.

I always wonder. We pass judgement on people so easily. Tossing 'lala' into conversations daily. But have you ever wondered what these group of people whom we deem so, refer to us in return? Are we preppy, unfashionable? Do they have a term coined for us?

I've wondered, not because I'm worried about what they call us, but because I'm curious as hell. But does that mean we're going to stop using that phrase? Highly unlikely. I know I probably won't.

I'm just writing random thoughts that float in and out of my mind, and trying to clear some stuff out of my head so I can hit the books because my Management books are a-beckoning me. And partially, writing soothes me. It always does. It doesn't matter what I'm writing about, as long as I'm forming words in my head and mashing them up together to form sometimes gramatically incorrect sentences, because at the end of the day, I'm telling a story, like everybody else.

Words are powerful, they are. They evoke love, woe, joy, passion, lust, greed. Look at any one of the words in this post. Just a single word, they bear a single meaning. But take it away from my post, and tell me that you've done so. Would I have realised at one glance? No way. But when I sit down and take my time to read, I might notice a glaring absence of the word you have removed, which I have coined into a sentence of mine. To put it cliched-ly, you never realise what you have till it's gone.

It's just like people. Alone; you strive to achieve something. But together, in our own sentences of people, we mean so much more to each other than we could ever comprehend. We may look like little dots from up above, but with the absence of any one of us words, the difference would be vast. Keep your friends close and treasure them. Because I know so many of us have lost people along the way, and to a certain extent. It happens; way of life. But that doesn't mean we regret it any less.

The sports section in the papers today says that one of our Malaysian football refs have been chosen to train the World Cup referees or something. Some hype about that fellow not being able to make the cut to ref at the two previous World Cups and he really felt broken about that and felt rejected. So now, given this opportunity to be one of the four referees chosen to be trainers, he feels like it's the light at the end of the road for him or something to that effect.

When I read it, I went 'Hmm, drama much?' but looking back on it now, I suppose, in all fairness to him, congratulations is in order. Rejection is probably not easy, especially twice in a row. And well, he's Malaysian, so I suppose I gotta show some loyalty for our Malaysia Boleh-ness. But you know, typically, I'm going to say that if all goes well at the World Cup with the referees, people are going to be gushing over the fact that a Malaysian got recognised witht the FIFA. In contrast, if there's a cock-up with the referees, you can just bet on hearing "Of course lah, Malaysian train them one whatt."

:D

*

Forgive me for the wordiness today. Too much thoughts.

So, I watched the Idol finale yesterday. So expected, but loved all the extra nonsense that AI came up with. The awards stuff for outstanding voice and all that crap. I loved that they honoured Elliott's mom, though, because she seems like such a sweet lady, and the way she introduced him. "My Elliott Yamin". No other words but sweet.

The ending was just anti-climatic though. The entire build-up to the results was grand, and in the end, it was like 'Okay, Taylor, congratulations, sing us out, and see you next year'. Hmm. Sorta like watching a great movie with twists and turns, and explosions here and there, when suddenly the lead actor wakes up and realises it's all a dream, and the movie ends. Heh.

There was this guy during the auditions who sorta impersonated Clay Aiken and they got him to come back, presented him with an faux gold award and got him to sing. Just as I was about to yawn, someone walks up from behind him, and I'm scratching my head wondering who the heck that guy is with the Beatle looking hair. And surprise, it's Clay Aiken. And the look on that guy's was seriously priceless. He kept on wanting to sing the 'duet' so badly, that Ryan practically had to wrestle the mic away from him. :D Click here to hear the song. You can hear the audience screaming so loud when Clay Aiken appears.

Some other songs I've uploaded from the finale, if anyone's interested:

Chris & Live singing 'My Mystery'. Didn't like it the first time I heard it, but I love it now.

Katharine & Meatloaf with 'It's All Coming Back To Me Now'. Meatloaf is fifty different kinds of weird, man. I didn't get him at all.

Elliott & Mary J. Blige duetting on 'One'. She sang too much. Ish. Get outta the way, people wanna hear Elliott sing.

Oh and Toni Braxton was so trying to grind on Taylor. Ughh.


That Clay wannabe dude.


Out comes Clay Aiken with a smouldering look.



The guys perform together. Love this bit. Brotherhood and all that.

*

The song of the mo- I am totally loving me some Rascal Flatts after I downloaded an entire zip file of his album. So, every song in there is my song of the mo. Good stuff. I never knew I could enjoy country music this much.

Thought of the minute- Oh, did I tell you guys that One Tree Hill got picked up for a season four? Joy!

Wish(es) of the day- Stop raining!

Thing(s) I should do- Save up on cash.

Thing(s) you should do- Ooh, buy me this damn awesome bag I saw in Converse which has 'England' on it. It's part of their World Cup line, I think.

Favourite quote since I last blogged:

*Astro service gets disrupted in the middle of the LIVE telecast of the AI finale*
*phone rings*

Su: Wen! You can receive Astro at home or not?!?!!!!!

Wen: Don't have!! Something wrong! *panics*

Su: Scare me okay, I thought your Yee Kor never pay Astro bill!

*

*in Jo's car on the way to school to collect SPM cert*

Jo: Eh, just now your Astro got problem or not?!

Me: Yah weih! I totally freaked out!

Jo: Me also! I was panicking already, okay! I went search for the Astro Guide and find the number but I couldn't find! Wanted to call them!

Me: I know! Panic, right?! Damn scared miss the results, weih.

*

The things American Idol make us do. Lol. :D

Okay, so with the absence of internet and sickly assignments, I hadn't had much time to update.

But my bad, how could I keep away from posting pics of my lovely new niece for so long?

New rugrat in da house, y'all!

World, I introduce to you, my darlin' angelic niece, lil Miss Amelia Tan Yuet Ling.


The night she was born. Look at how tiny she is. Well, tiny in the sense that she's small compared to everyone else. If you look at it in the sense of her being in Su's stomach, then she looks pretty big, lol. If that makes sense. Sorry, I'll stop my rambling now.


Aww, look at her.


Joshua, who is now a kor kor, was so excited throughout the night and kept on tugging at my skirt to 'see his baby Amelia'. His words, not mine. :)


My brother, the proud papa.


Two weeks later, during Mother's Day. Look at how scared she looks. Psst; Evelyn's actually squealing at her, that's why.


Yawn. Guess we tired her out.

Ain't she lovely?

So, for those of you who still can't keep my giga-family straight, that was Amelia;


These are her two speedo-donning older brothers, Joshua and Joel, who have a bright future as kid swimming trunk models ahead of them.


Her cousin, Aaron, who recently got number 8 in class, yay! [There, Zhen Han, this is the one that whacked you. Hee.]


And his sister, dear Vanessa, who now insists we call her cheh cheh instead of baby.

There you have it, my convoy of kids who drive me crazy on a daily basis.

*

It's a do-it-yourself meal.

The gang came over for dinner one of the days because my mum was making her special pan mee. She makes the dough, and the soup, and all the stuff you put into the pan mee eg. mushroom, meat, ikan bilis, fried onions. And the rest of it, is DIY.

Whenever DIY is involved, you can bet on it getting messy, and funny.


A very dark-looking Jo, and a not-any-fairer Ching at my kitchen table with the dough.


Suki beginning to cut up her pan mee pieces..


...And somehow they turned out like this. So, she dumped them into Jo's pot while it was boiling, and he had to eat it. :D


Enjoying the meal. Burp.

We ate till we were so full that I swear I could practically hear all that soup sloshing around in everyone's stomachs after that.

*

The day for mommas.

I made a carrot cake with cheese toppings and raisins for mum.

Joseph a.k.a. Ah Dong decided that he wanted to make chopchip cookies for his mother. Guess who's help he enlisted and who's kitchen he put into danger?

Giving me high blood pressure and all.

So, first he came late. Second, he didn't buy me any lunch. Third, he's just Joseph lah.

Teaching him how to bake is not easy, trust me. I braved the task, and barely emerged alive. Just ask Mary or Jo, who came along just for kicks.


My newest student. Oh joy. Psst; Ming was a better one, I'll have to say. Just ignore that sentence, Dong. Oh look, there's Mary too. And the electric mixer, which is older than me, by the way.


So, finally, the batter is done, and Dong starts scooping it out onto the trays.


But the process is too slow, and in the end, we all had to chip [pun totally unintended] in with help. After that, our brilliant friend decided he wanted a mega-cookie, and went on making a big round one about the size of a CD.


But, being the lovely, kind friends that we always are, we decided that a mega-cookie would be too boring and therefore, morphed the CD into Winnie the Pooh, amidst great protest from Dong. Ta-daa!


After staring our work of art also known as the Winnie the Pooh cookie, Dong decided that he too should get creative, and went to work. The end result? This piece of, erm, something. :D


The end result: Loads of chocchip cookies, and one very tired me.

Hey, at least his mom was happy. And now Dong owes me a plate of the best nasi lemak in the world. Maybank mamak nasi lemak, yumm.

*

Oh well, guess I better head in to bed soon then. Class was tiring today, but not like I attended them all. *sheepishsmile*

I let myself be persuaded easily by Mel, Zhen Han and Darren [those culprits!] to skip a lecture and to go to Pyramid for lunch. Shame on me.

But, still, I gotta turn in early, because I'm waking up early tomorrow. Not for class, because I have Thursdays off, but to catch the live telecast of the Idol finale results. It's not like I like either Taylor or Katharine [sorry, John!] but I want to catch it for the sole purpose of watching all the top 12 come back to perform, especially Chris and Elliott, and all the extra bits and pieces that they usually show.

I do however think Taylor will win, but Kat will be way more successful. But that aside, I really don't care who wins. Because this would have been my ideal final two, so this part of my blog is going to be like a little shrine to them, lol:


Smouldering Chris, and charming Elliott.



Because like us, they like wacky photos too.



And they both look good with instruments. Lmao!

*

The song of the mo- Ricky Martin's [yes, surprise, I still listen to him!] It's Alright.

Thought of the minute- Zzzz.

Wish(es) of the day- For Ryan to glare at Taylor and Kat tomorrow and say "And the winner is...Chris Daughtry!" Hee, a girl can dream, can't she?

Thing(s) I should do- Pack my table so that I can have a nice, clean slate to study on.

Thing(s) you should do- It's Jia Min's bday, so drop her a line.

Favourite quotes since the last I blogged:

*Mel pores over Darren's Java coding for his assignment*

Mel: His writing is so terrible man. He use his left hand, is it?

Me: Yah. *pause* He's left-handed, what.

*laughlaughlaughlaughlaugh like two insane girls while the guys stare and wonder what happened*

*more laughing ensues as we tell the guys what happened*

:D!

Ahh, I love funny days like these. Hee hee.