Little Cozy Corner

What a sweet surprise it was to find out that I got awarded not once, but TWICE for the Rockin’ Girl Blogger!!! Bangga nyer…… *grins proudly* I must thank Lux and Consuela for giving it to me. I’m such a happy camper and what a way to start the weekend, eh? I never expected it at all so I’m very, very the happy to get it. See, I’m so ecstatic that I’ve repeatedly said it too….hehehe!!

How this works is that I need to now award the same to 5 other rockin’ babes…although I have 2 awards, I think 5 babes is hot enough la, right? Too many and it might smoke up your pc screen!! *lol* My Rockin’ Girl  Blogger award goes to…..

• Aida
• Che-Cheh
• Cindy
• Hedo
• Midnite Lily

Now ladies….please award 5 other babes as well and bring on a smiley face!

I was exposed to music since a very young age. My parents made me learn the organ [obviously against my will] and today, although I hated it back then, I still play for my church choir whenever I’m in town [in Kulim]. I believe it was partly God’s gift to me as talent and the other part was because of my slight interest. You see, they gave out stickers everytime you attended class and till todate, I still love stickers!! Heck, I went a step further and got permanent ’stickers’ on my back too. Tee-hee!

Anyway, music played a huge role in my life. I still remember staying up late at night listening to the radio when I was a teen. Gosh, it must have been so long ago that I can’t even remember that radio station names!!! Ugghh…..anyway, I loved the dedication bits and most of the time is was just the music. I will never forget the day my Daddy presented me with my first and only walkman, Sony ok? Don’t play-play!! I had them plugged in my ears [almost] 24/7 back then. I got it for getting not too bad results in UPSR. I wasn’t expecting anything because that wasn’t the way my parents worked. We were not promised rewards if we got good results. Instead, if my parents thought we did good, we might get *something* after the results came out and not the other way around as how most parents work these days. ‘If you get 20A1 in your SPM, I give u new car, ok?’ or ‘For every A you get, that’s $100 for you.’ Shessh….that’s just bribery in broad daylight!!

Coming back to the topic at hand, my interest in the genres are extremely wide. But my all time favourties are oldies [which Ted seems to think is an Asian thing] and classic slow rock. There are some particular songs that have special meanings to me or they bring back memories, be it bad or good everytime I hear them. Here’s a couple :

• Hearts Breaking Even Tonight by Bon Jovi
  This is my all time break up song. Everytime I break up - I play this song. Somehow it soothes me and it’s a great song to sing cum cry to in the shower, coz you’re boung to sing out of tune with the water streaming down  your face and choking you in the process.

• Could I Have This Dance by Anne Murray
  Aaahh…I’ll never listen to this song the same way again. When I first heard this song, it was a line dancing song for beginners. I absolutely loved it and the steps were just so in-time with songs that it became my favourite dance. Then when Ted and I got married, Mum suggested this song to be our first dance as a married couple and I really have to thank her for that coz everytime I hear this song, it’s takes me back in a flash to that precise moment when we had all [misty] eyes on us ‘As we swayed to the music and held to each other’.

• I’ll Be Missing You by Puff Daddy & Faith Evans
  This was a tribute song to Notorious B.I.G when he was killed back in the late 90’s in I’m not mistaken. I was in college then and it was DA hit in clubs and practically everywhere you went, you’d hear it blasting from the speakers. I associate this song with my college days and my very special group of friends back then. It was our clique’s theme song and I still don’t know why this was the song they chose.  But o man, did we have good days or what!! Those were the days when day was night and night was day and geez, when I think back, I would give anything to have just one of those days, today. I really miss all my friends back then. Things were so different and just so GOOD. But I’m happy to say that althoguh I may have lost most of my friends from that clique, one still remains faithful and close to me. She happens to also be my bestest friend, Sha. [Miss you, piggy - come and visit me soon ya?]

• Love You More Than I can Say - Bobby Vee
  This was Daddy’s song. I remember him always singing this song to himself. It was like a mantra to him. Every now and then, he would be singing this song, didn’t matter when or when, and everytime I heard it, I somehow am able to visualize him singing it even to this day. It’s one of those songs which help me keep his voice and face alive and real.

• Always On My Mind - Elvis Presley
  This song was also sung by Willie Nelson and it is good too but Mum’s a HUGE Elvis Presley fan and this is one of her favourites. The other is Elton John’s Sacrifice. She would stop short of doing whatever she was in the midst of doing, make a beeline to the radio and prop herself comfortably, lay back and enjoy these tunes before resuming her work once it was over. She’s funny like that! I can’t belive the number of Elvis cassette that Sis and I have bought her and the similar ones too coz she keeps wrecking them from over play. And now that I can finally afford to buy her CDs, I’ve been sending them to her every now and then coz in Oz, they actually have quite a selection. I’m planning on getting her Elvis’ gospel songs which I doubt she has.

• Rose Garden by Lynn Anderson
  Believe it or not, this is my all time pick-me-up song. I know it’s not really a ‘happy’ song if you read the lyrics closely but it’s really catchy and…hhmm, makes me feel empowered so to speak. It’s a good song to dedicate to a man who always takes you for granted and perhaps through bad experiences and what nots, I can relate VERY well to this song.

• Land Down Under by Men At Work
  I absolutely love this song and it can be put on replay for 24/7 - it’s one of those happy, tap to the beat songs to me plus, it must have been a sign as well. Just that I never realised until I met Ted. *grin*

That said, I’ve got more but I want to see what you have to share. Wanna make this a tag? Good!! You’re IT!!! *cheeky grin*

Che-cheh tagged me and since I’ve learnt my lesson…..I’m doing her tag straight away. That way, she is happy that I’ve done her tag and I am happy coz it’s off my chest. Not a bad thing if you think about it, eh? The good thing is, this tag doesn’t require me to think so hard - just some CnP and voila!! Habis cerita….

1. Write a short paragraph at the beginning of your post and link back to the blog that put you on the list in the paragraph. This isn’t a suggestion. You need to break up the duplicate content. Someone took the time to add you so the least you can do is give them an extra link back.

2. Copy the list of originals below COMPLETELY and add it to your blog. If you would like a different keyword for your blog then change it when you do your post and it should pass to most blogs with that keyword.

3. Take the adds from the blog that added you and place them in the “Originals” list.

4. Add at least 1 new blog that you KNOW is using the DO FOLLOW plugin to the list in the “My Adds” section. (Add no more than 5!) Let the people you’ve added know, so that they can keep the list going!

My adds:

Dawn, Mama Bok Choi

The Original links :

Mistyeiz
Che-Cheh
Eastcoastlife
Wuching
Paris Beaverbanks
Narrowband
Chinneeq
Giddy Tiger
Rabbit
Huei
Rinnah
Simple America
Niceheart
Ethel
Sanna
The Queer Chef
Shoshana
Leah
Gina
Haze
Ghee
Neng aka Sirena
Angelo
Ju aka The Border aka Juana of Femjo
Tina
Keep the Faith

I know that there were many a times that the saying, ‘Procastination is a thief of time’ comes into play in my life and most of those times, I procastinated too long and ended up rushing to do whatever I had to do. This time around, I’m taking the bull by the horns and completing this tag, now. I tag tagged by Dawn and before I let this tag pile on the other 3 I haven’t done…I better get a move on it!

Here are 8 random facts about me :

1. Almost like Dawn, I like the smell of tabacco. Not the smelly ciggie or smoke smell you get from pipes but the smell of tabacco before you stuff it into the pipe or light a ciggie. I absolutely love it! I remember sneaking a sniff or 2 of Grandpa’s box when he wasn’t looking. Aaahhh…..bliss!

2. I’m scared of dentist and doctors because I associate them with needles and pain but I have no qualms about getting a full back tattoo, even right this moment.

3. I hate hospitals. It brings back terrible memories and makes me feel very uncomfortable which is not a good thing seeing that I have to stay in there for 4 days after Kecik is born!! Blek….part and parcel of the maternity package. Can’t escape! [Must be the thought of horrid hospital food!]

4. I’m very particular about manners and to me, rude/naughty kids deserve the cane.

5. I have high expectations of others especially if it has got something to do with me. I.e. I’ve been told that I have a sharp learning curve and that I pick things up fast. Hence, I expect others to be like me as well. Tough love, eh?

6. I love animals but can’t imagine being a vet because my heart cannot take seeing them in pain.

7. I love to donate blood and I’ve been told that ‘God’s given me beautiful veins‘ because they are easy to find. *Praise God for that - do you know how excruciating it is to have nurses poke around trying to find a proper vein to draw blood?? Acckk!!*

8. I would like to work in a zoo some day.

There! I am finished…..not tagging anyone coz I don’t want anyone cursing me while I’m carrying my precious load. So take it on if you want us all to know your freaky bits. *grin*

I normally get tagged before I actually do a meme but every once in a while, I get the itch to tag myself with memes that I like and this one which I read on Lil Miss May’s blog, caught my attention.

The Rules are simple, only if you’re planning to take this meme on :

1. Go to http://www.popculturemadness.com
2. Select the year you turned 18 [or http://www.popculturemadness.com/Music/Pop-Modern/19XX.html]
3. Get all nostalgic over the songs of the year
4. Write about it
5. Pass this tag onto 5 others [if applicable lar]

When I was 18, these were the top 10 greatest hits :

1. Grease Megamix - Olivia Newton John & John Travolta
   I remember this one only because it was famous all the time.
2. Macarena - Los Del Rio
   Aaahhhhh, yes. This was the beginning of dances with specific moves - left arm out, right arm out, left hand on right shoulder, right hand on left shoulder, hands on hips and shake that bootie!
3. Maria - Ricky Martin
   Ricky Martion slowly sneaking into the music charts here…
4. Because You Loved Me - Celine Dion
   This is one of those everlasting-overplayed love songs that I could do without.
5. California Love - 2Pac
   Ghetto music!!
6. Champagne Supernova - Oasis
   This one I dunno lar…
7. I Will Remember You - Sarah McLachlan
   Sweet ol’ Sarah, love this lady…
8. Sweet Dreams - La Bouche
   They used to play this often at clubs I frequent.
9. I Believe I Can Fly - R. Kelly
   Gah!!! This is one song I could REALLY do without….blek! Overplayed to the MAX!!!
10. I Finally Found Someone - Barbra Streisand & Bryan Adams
    Awww…I picked this song for my wedding reception but, I got carried away with the band! Lol

Out of the 75 odd songs that they listed on the site, there were many I didn’t know and I am surprised!! I was constantly glued to my walkman back then and to realise that I hardly recognise some of the songs is rather shocking….o well, it was kinda fun walking down memory lane this way though.

Maybe you wanna take that walk too? *bats eyelashes at potential meme self-taggers*

Ok, so Pelf did me. Now tis my turn to do her lor…as promised. Heh. A deal’s a deal! *evil grin* I’m about to do a Bloggy Tag - this is suppose to be the new ‘in’ thing that is going to replace your age old traditional memes. There isn’t much difference as you still have to answer the question posed to you by the previously meme-r or tagger but you just add on a cute button which links back to the person who started the tag in the first place. I’m not sure how I’m going to link that button back to Pelf but try, I shall. Sorry la, tak jadi!

In short, these are the ‘rules’ :

• Do a written task or answer a question. Then tag 1-5 others to do as you did.
• Tag your post with the cute little glowing “Bloggy tag” button to alert readers that you’re playing.
• Link the button to the post of the person who tagged you, if you didn’t start the game.
• Tell your readers to click the button to find out who came before you. It’s a surprise for them.

And now, her question : Tell us about the nicknames you were called when you were younger.

Frankly speaking, I hardly ever had nicknames when I was younger. But I guess it all started when I was around 13 or 14 [FOrm 1] when my classmates started calling me ‘Joey’ as I spotting a rather cropped hair style and what with my bushy/frizzy hair, I did look very much like Joey or I had Joey’s hairstyle. Back then NKOTB [New Kids On The Block] was hot stuff so to be said that I looked like one of em’ was THE best thing that ever happened to me, then.

After that, somewhere along the way, while at a church camp, someone wrote me a testamonial and said that hair ‘rocks’ just like Slash of GNR [Guns 'N' Roses] of which I was also a fan and I was like, ‘O wow….I must be in heaven. Pinch me!!!’. Thinking back it took so little to lift me off the ground but I never had any negative nicks until I made enemies with my bestfriend. It’s really funny how things turn around when your bestfriend becomes your bitter enemy.

Up till now I don’t know what triggered such an outrage from her that she made my life in highschool a living hell and thanks to her, I got my next nickname, ‘Pizza Face’. Yup, you can bet that I was no fan of Pizza Hut back then. All thanks to my acne prone teenage skin and the constant outbreak of acne, things were always going from bad to worst until the problem escalated to the discipline teacher. You could say that I had reached the breaking point of me not wanting to go to school anymore because of the taunting that I got everyday from her and her kuncu-kuncu [gang]. Although it was sorted out at the discipline teachers room, the friction was always there. Life was a peach the moment she moved away. It’s never ceases to amaze me how my bestfriend turned out to be such a horrible person.

But on to a happier and boosted-self esteem note, I was also nicknamed ‘Cindy Crawford’ by a close friend whom I nicknamed ‘Tom Cruise’. It was our little thing that we had for each other. We still call each other that but for what reason, I have no idea. *scratches head* I called him ‘Tom Cruise’ because his surname is Cruz but why he calls me ‘Cindy Crawford’ still baffles me. Not that I’m complaining of course. Perhaps at one point, I did have an hourglass figure but that was ages ago! But other than that, I dont even have her signature mole on my face….so I don’t know why I got called that but heck, it made and still does make me feel good. Heh. And that was what I used to be called back in the day. I don’t think I’ll tag anyone but if you’d like to share your story, consider yourself tagged plus, if you have nothing to blog about this long coming up public holiday, do this tag lar!

O by the way, happy holidays for those on leave today & tomorrow - Happy Wesak Day to those who celebrate it. As for me, Mum and Sis, we were at Padang Besar and Gua Kelam for a picnic with the Eurasian Club members. It was a fun day and I had a go at haggling. More info & pix tomorrow!