Dad called last night. He mentioned about attending some dinner thing with the family. I thought it was pretty random. My instinct told me that his call was NOT just about the dinner.

And I was right.

After all the random talk, he finally broke the news to us, with incoherent sentences– our very beloved neighbour uncle of 13 years has just passed away on Sunday.

It was cancer…AGAIN! He only started to fall ill 2 weeks ago. It was just too sudden.

I didn’t react to the news, which was strange. I sat there for hours, not knowing how to react. I was confused. “Am I supposed to feel anything? Am I supposed to cry?”

I went to bed feeling very heavy and confused. “An early night usually helps..” I thought.

Stared at the ceiling this morning when I first opened my eyes, felt as if the world was different. Came to work like a zombie, not because of being lethargic but just feeling numb and “autopilot”.

Sat down at my cubicle, went through the entire “checklist” and “diagnosed” that I am going through the first stage of bereavement – numbness.

The good thing is, I am trained and am aware of the grieving process. I know it usually helps when I allow myself to feel everything I feel and not repress my emotions. But I know, I will still need HIS help to go through this.

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Posted under Random ramblings | [5] Comments 

Jean’s hen party (bachelorette party) @ MOS

At the entrance

Me: Wah..How come so smoky? Why is there a queue? Wah..why must pay so much just to get in?

After paying the “entrance” fee, the cashier gave me a stamp on my hand.

Me: Eh?? *pointing at my hand* NO STAMP??! Where is the stamp?

So un-cool…

The gang laughed at me and said it can only be seen under some UV light. -_-

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The bass was super loud. My ribs were vibrating, heart was pumping to the music beats. I thought if the music stopped, my heart would stop beating too.

Very thirsty. Friend said that I can get a “complimentary” drink from the bar.

Stood there for 5 mins. I asked:“Where is the MENU??”

Obviously, they don’t have one.

After seeing what people ordered, I decided to get a glass of Vodka orange (with 90% of orange juice)

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Went back to the table. Nat said there was a huge jug of orange juice on the table. Great….

Nat gave us a private tour around the club. There were so many rooms with different designs and theme. Cool…we must also bring our drinks along so we “looked” cool. *grin*

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Back. Phone rang. Needed to go outside to pick up the call. Going round and round looking for exit until the phone went off and still couldn’t find the exit.

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Went back to the table, was dragged to dance. Managed to squeeze through sweaty and hyper dancers in a “chicken cage“. Can’t move because it was TOO squeezy, can only “nod” my head.

After 3 mins nodding my head, I left the chicken cage.

Back to the table. Chatting with Jean’s friends. Was yelling my lungs out because the music was too loud.

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Went around to see more people shaking their heads, waving their arms “frantically” in the air..more shuffling on the dance floor.

I think you can tell it is my first time going to MOS. Clubbing isn’t my cup of tea and hence, am very ignorant about the culture. In fact, when my friend asked me to join him at MOS 2 years back, I thought it was the MOS stall near my house.

Nat joked that I can finally put a “tick” next “MOS”. MOS – checked.

But I must say, it is an eye opening experience for me. I enjoyed the night because of good company. It is always the people, isn’t it? *grin*

Look forward to Jean’s wedding this friday. Got a day off because I AM ONE OF BRIDEMAIDS!!… for the very first time!!

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I have just gotten back from church camp in Kuantan. It was another 8-hours coach up north.

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It wasn’t easy to convince my students that water-rafting was a fun and must-try-once-in-your-life kind of sport. Natasha and I were pretty worried that we couldn’t get enough participants to go on this trip.

But thank god, the numbers were more than we expected!

We spent 1 night on the coach. Departed at 10pm and reached Perak at 6am! Frankly, I have never taken such a long-hour coach before. My previous record was 4 hours. This was double!!

We reached at Gua Tempurung at 6am. But because it rained cats and dogs the day before, the water level in the cave was higher. We waited for the water to subside.

We went through gruelling tour that took us to the icy cold underground stream, climbed muddy paths, leopard-crawled though water and rocky holes, and slide down slippery stones…Man it was exhausting! But it was ALL worth it.

We climbed a long flight of stairs (263 of them) to get to the top of the cave! Like what my student said, it was a “stairway to heaven”. My legs were so numb that I slipped…and fell. *blush*

Sliding down..

Before…still very dry and fresh!

After..drenched and muddy…butts!

After lunch, we were all ready for water rafting! As I mentioned before, my favourite part of the trip was the lorry ride to the upstream of the river.

The lorry travelled through narrow and bumpy terrain with durian, rambutan trees at both sides. The air became fresher and cooler as we travelled higher and higher.

The most exciting part was to dodge and duck !Imagine, 30+ people stood at the back of the lorry….It was almost like playing an arcade game. When someone shouted “DODGE!!”, we had to duck or shift to left-right immediately to avoid hitting our faces on branches and huge leaves.

Getting ready..

Drill – learn to posture and to tackle the rapid.

Raft stuck on the rock

More action!

This river was a grade-2 river. But according to the instructor, it was just a “warm-up river” as compared to those in the east Malaysia. It is better for beginner actually.

Compared to this picture, where Natasha and I first water-rafted down the Padas River, Sabah (grade 4).

You can’t see me in the picture because I was already in the water.

“Ta-da”…We made it!!

Because Alastair spent a fortune in the disposables water-proof cameras and photo developing and scanning fees, all of us get to keep these photos as our wonderful memories. Thanks man!.

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At 10:24pm. Phone rang. Private number.

Note: CW – crazy woman

CW: Hello!! Can I speak to Mr. xxx??

Me: Huh? I think you called the wrong number.

CW: I am Tracy xxx (same surname as the Mr. above). I am looking for xxx urgently.

Me: This is not xxx. You called the wrong number.

CW: NO! I saw this number (mine) on his phone bill! He must have called you!

Me: Huh???!!! I don’t know him.

CW: I am calling from KL..er..Penang. Is he there?

Me: (KL or Penang???) You know, this is Singapore.

CW: I know!! He is in Singapore now! Is he with you??!!!! Get him to pick up the phone!!*almost screaming her head off*

Me: (Fuming) NO!!!! I don’t know whoever xxx you were talking about!! YOU HAVE CALLED THE WRONG NUMBER!!

I hung up.

I wonder who this xxx was. My number on his phone bill??? Then I recalled that this CW (with private number) has called me several times in the afternoon when I was in my class. -_-

A fine evening was totally screwed by this mad screaming woman. I joked to my friend that I won’t even know what happen if some mad woman came to pull my hair on the street one day. If next time she called again, my friend said that I should irritate her.

Such as…

Me: Ya why?? He is with me. SO? You want to fight? Come lah!! You take a plane to look for me!”

“Hey darling!! Your that ugly screaming mad wife is on the line. You want to speak to her??

I am so bad…

I am just joking ok? Don’t play play. May be this mad woman has some detective hooking my line on some GPS trying to track my coordinate down. You never know. Almost everything is possible if you have $$$ in Malaysia.

I think I watched too many shows like this.

Posted under Life documentaries | [8] Comments