ref⋅uge [ref-yooj]

–noun
1. shelter or protection from danger, trouble, etc.: to take refuge from a storm.
2. a place of shelter, protection, or safety.
3. anything to which one has recourse for aid, relief, or escape

The lack of updates is an indication of my stress level. I am trying to cope with stress everyday. I wouldn’t say that I am going through a huge storm, but I am going through a “pruning process” instead.

prune [proon]

–verb
3. to rid or clear of (anything superfluous or undesirable).

Lots of trials and challenges everyday, they test my patience, wisdom and selflessness. I only hope that going through these trials would make me a “pruned” person.

It’s hard to consciously knowing that I am under stress (so used to it…almost like a routine). But I do know that one would explicitly behave a certain way when going through an intensive stress. My stress manifests in this:

It all started one day when I was extremely stressed out in class. I almost stomped out of class and was having migraine. Instead of going to my colleague and whined about it, I took a slow stroll out of the campus for breathing space and self-internalisation.

There and then, I found this place – THE PRATA PARADISE

I ordered a cheese sausage prata and gobbled it in tears. It relieved me from my stress and migraine. I FELT GOOD AND ALIVE!

Since then, I have been a regular customer there. More so when I am stressed out. My brain will tell me to walk there though sometimes I resist it (because I know it is unhealthy).

This whole prata experience helps me a lot. For once, I never liked eating alone. But now, I look forward to the “my prata and I” moment.

As you can see from the picture above, YES, I eat it with sugar AND curry. AND yes, that makes the curry sweet and salty…yet, crunchy with undissolved white sugar. IT IS HEAVENLY TASTY!

What and where is your “refuge”?

Posted under Me! Me! | [2] Comments 

Just as I blogged about letting go of the idea of moving to Australia, that someone is posted by Army Reserve to Australia!!

ROAR!! I. am. so. jealous.

Well, at least it is only for 2 weeks…-_-

Posted under Random ramblings | No Comments 

On Saturday, Don and I flew to Kuala Lumpur to attend my sister’s dance concert. My sister can groove, man! I have never seen her doing break-dancing, and all the popping, locking, swinging and splitting. We were so impressed! She performed 10 dances in 3 hours. Boy she IS PROFESSIONAL! Will blog about it separately once I downloaded the videos.

After touching down, we went to Sungai Wang for shopping. Just as we were rushing to her concert place, we were approached by 2 teens with two lucky draw slips. As we were rushing, we did not want to take that slips but they just hung on to us.

And so, Don received a “THANK YOU” slip and mine, a “SPECIAL GIFT“. So I gave it back to the boy. He responded with a hyper-excited-exaggerated-shocking expression, exactly like this…

I can only try to “CAPITALISE” his responses co’s no way to “reenact” his ultra-exaggerating responses in words.

“MISS!! YOU KNOW WHAT IT MEANS??!!! WE ONLY HAVE 200 SLIPS MARKED WITH SPECIAL GIFT IN THE WHOLE MALAYSIA!!”

“Uh huh…so..?

“YOU KNOW WHAT IT MEANS!!!??”

“Ya…just tell me what it means…”

“You WILL WIN ONE OF THESE PRICES!!!”*pulled out a folder with pictures all over it. There were cars, RM15,000 cash, travel packages to Tokyo and etc*

With this expression, he said:

“Now we just need to go back to the office to have this slip scanned, to reveal which price you’ll get! The office is just 10 minutes down the road!!!”

“Uh huh…”

“Let me explain to you..You KNOW GENKI (the electrical household appliance company)?”

“No…”

“WHERE ARE YOU GUYS FROM?”

“Singapore.”

“VERY FAMOUS IN SINGAPORE! This’ their advertising campaign..blablabla..There was a Singaporean actor also won this prize!”

Ya..like we were some stupid tourists..

“Let me call my supervisor to confirm this!”

*He passed me the phone*

“HELLO!! CONGRATULATION!! xxx xxxx xxx xx x x xx x xx” *She was screaming excitedly on the other end with super high-pitched voice that I can’t even hear what she said*

“MISS!!! WE CAN ALSO GET RM3000 BONUS BECAUSE OF YOU!!” *passed us a photocopied contract-looking paper with all the Terms and Conditions in MALAY*

Wow…the crappy-ink-faded paper looked “serious”..wow..I can read malay ok..

I gave Don a “Are we in for fun? Let’s play along!” look. I wanted to see how people go all the way out to scam people.

*Changed to the same exciting look as his* “Wow..cool. You’ll go with us right? You go and flag one taxi for us now.” *grin*

“OK!OK!OK!!” *rushed off frantically and enthusiastically grabbing a taxi for us*

Don was feeling uneasy, he was asking the boy many many questions and reading the paper many many times while sitting in the cab. I squeezed his hand and gave him a “I know what I’m doing” nod.

After 10 minutes, we arrived at the office. As I took over the change from the cab driver’s hand, he secretly revealed “不要上当” (means, don’t get cheated) which were written on his hand.

“I know..*grin* thanks.”

So we followed the boy to the so-called office. As I expected, the office did not look like a decent office at all. No proper signage, cigarette butts everywhere and it stinked! (Smelled like a dodgy karaoke lounge)

I took a quick mental count on the number of people and rooms in the office. Though we were in for adventure, we must be alert and to protect ourselves if necessary.

He ushered us into a room and asked us to take a sit while waiting for his supervisor. He closed the door and went out. I didn’t want to sit, and stayed close to the door. I tried turning the knob to see if it can be opened inside.

I reached for my mobile phone and held it, not because I could make a call but it was the hardest thing I can find in my hand bag that I could use for self-defense. (note: iPhone is not meant to dial in an emergency situation, the touch screen is so sensitive that you would end up touching the wrong buttons)

2 guys walked in and this lady came in with a big folder. She started showing us newspaper that featured the winners with cars and exotic prizes. She talked very fast, acted very excited as if we just won 1 million dollars…like real.

“We’ll scan the slip to see what present you’ll get. But you know lah, to get all these prizes, first you must pay the government 5% tax. Just like Singapore right? So you need to pay RM5600.”

“No you can’t. You must get your RM5600, then we can scan to see. Because ah, if we scanned already and you don’t want the prize, we’ll have to pay RM5600 you know..”

*Lame…*

“Oh I see..but as you know, we’re tourist right, how would a tourist carry RM5600 walking on the street?”

“You can use ATM card!!! There is ATM machine opposite!”

*Getting more desperate…:)*

“Mmm…you see, I rather see the prize first. ” *I am more interested to see her response then the prize*

“YOU CAN’T!! YOU MUST PAY THE RM5600 FIRST!”

*She was getting agitated and more desperate..There there…someone was showing the true colour*

“Mmm…So, if I put the RM5600 CASH on the table now, you’ll show us the prize right?”

“Yeah…too bad, I don’t have that kind of money..Well, I got to go..:)” *I opened the door to take off*

She was so angry that she screamed behind us to her “colleagues”. “Wah…these people got no money!!! Singaporean is like that one lah…”

*Ya ya, this kind of technique doesn’t work for me*

As we stepped out of the office, Don turned around and took a picture of them. They shouted:“Take as you like!!”

Don:“Yeah…taking..:)”

We giggled on the way out. “HOW?? FUN, RIGHT!!” I laughed. Then we took a cab to my sister’s concert.

“The taxi driver was very nice hor! Can’t believe he warned us about it!” Don exclaimed.

“Yeah…Have heard and read so much about scam like this but never experienced one before…can really get to see ‘human nature’ through experience like this. That was why I think it was worth to take on this adventure. Good training ground for critical thinking and spontaneous response. “

Of course, I wouldn’t do such thing if I am alone. There is still risk involved. Come and think of it, they were all pretty young, in their 20s. This is not just cheating for email addresses for spammers, they are in for real money. Why do such thing to cheat people’s hard-earned money?

Posted under Life documentaries | [6] Comments 

I always feel strange whenever I look at pictures taken in Perth by friends and random people online.

“Hey…I know that place! I used to do…”

“It would be nice to be back again…” etc etc

Though I always have the choice to pack my bag and to “venture to another country” anytime, I’ve chosen to forgo this freedom. I called it the “freedom to lose the freedom“.

Many have told me:“You should have gone to Sydney! Better opportunity there! The exposure..and everything”

Ask me last year, I would have agreed.

But this time, I have chosen the other path. I am staying here, to complete my studies and for as long as I am needed here.

I like the freedom to be able to lose the freedom to move around. Simply because, I have the freedom to choose what I cherish the most. I don’t think what’s BEST FOR ME ALONE works for me now. I have to think what is best for two.

I know it well that I would be ended up staying in Australia for many years to come if I go, leaving once again what I have built in Singapore. You see, most of my friends do not last for 5 years.

My friend TH told me,“We must be friends for more than 5 years, ok?”

Though I nodded back then, I can’t help having the second thought behind my mind. These people have become my secondary family members.

For the first time, I actually STOPPED thinking of moving away. You see, I started to move around since I was 6 years old. My first stop was leaving to another state to pursue my studies in a primary school that I HAD CHOSEN by myself.

I remember telling my mom when I was 5, that I wanted to move to Penang to study in a particular school. She had to send me off in tears.

After high school, I chose to go to the States to do my degree. Once again, she was upset because “it was too far”. Thus Australia. And again, she sent me off in tears….many many times for years.

When I was working in Australia, I never stopped thinking of moving to other countries. I applied jobs in several countries. Subsequently, I moved to Singapore, which I told myself that I would move again after 2-3 years.

I made my decision to stay just last week. I thought it was going to be tough but boy I felt good! Never thought making a decision like this could be this easy…I guess because I have learned what is best and most important to me now.

Is that what people called “settling down“? It was never in my dictionary but now I think it is.:)

Posted under Me! Me! | [4] Comments 

It just made me cried over and over again…:~~(

Posted under Life documentaries | [2] Comments