Little Cozy Corner

Sometimes when I tell people how time flies, I don’t neccessarily take notice of it. But recently, after reading a random post by someone from church who is going to turn 21, made me realise that time has really zipped past me, and I didn’t even realise it.

When we first moved to Kulim, she was a wee little kid in primary school. Heck, it’s been almost 10 years since we have been in Kulim so that pretty much sums it up in a nutshell but the shock of realising that she will soon turn 21 is like omg….when did she grow up? How did I miss it??

I don’t have to go that far really. It also didn’t occur to me that I will be hitting the BIG 30 in a few months and it’s like OMG….I can’t believe it!!!! I’m happy that I don’t really feel like an almost 30 year old at all. I still think about partying, and going clubbing and hanging out with friends. In fact, when I was in Kulim recently, some friends from college came to visit me and we lepakked at the mamak stall and it was like we were taken back in a time capsule, back to our college days. We sat there stuffing our faces with all the mamak food because a) I wasn’t going to miss out on a chance to eat that yummylicious mamak fried chicken of which I ordered many pieces b) apparently Penangites who move to KL also miss Northern food tremendously so with such a combo and the company, it was just magnificent! Would give anything to do it again soon. We just sat there and ate, drank teh ais, teh tarik, kopi kau, Nescafe O….you name it, we had it. I even tried Roti Milo and it was DELISH!!! Didn’t bring my cam so no pix - sorry. It was just so good to hang out like that. Thinking back, the patrons of the mamak place must have thought we were insane or simply gluttons, or worst still, insane gluttons!!! We were cackling away talking about mainly taboo stuff like sex and what nots. *lol* Really funny….am laughing while I’m blogging about this too!

But that’s just it - I don’t feel like I’m getting any older. I feel young inside and I think that’s a good thing. Although I do realise that I have to act my age la. You won’t spot me in any emo goth trends, so don’t you worry about that! I guess the other main thing that made me realise that I am getting older is the fact that I have a baby! Well, she will be considered a toddler in just a few more weeks. Arianna is turning 1 in August!!! And these pictures just says it all…

At 8 days old :

[This is just too precious - one of my fav pix!]

And this is now :

It really goes to show that time really flies and that if you blink too much, you really can miss it. So treasure every moment of it.

I love to bathe. The feeling and smell of a fresh, clean, soaped body really turns me on hence, if I could bathe 10 times a day, I would because it really makes me feel good. I love how the streams of water jet down and massage my shoulders and run down my body, cleases me and washes away the days grime and grit.

*Like so story storybook style eh?*

Anyway, my point is, at any given time, I would definitely choose a shower over a soak in the bath. A hot shower that is, cold showers are reserved for hot, humid days which there aren’t many of these days. I’m not sure why a lot of people make a big deal about having a soak in the bath because to me, what’s so great about wallowing and soaking yourself in your own filth??? Some even soak in the bath for hours on end - yuck!!!

That said, I will admit that the ‘thought’ of soaking oneself in a tub of steam, hot water laced with fragrant oil certainly sounds very good but it still, cannot la!!! I would still turn to hot jets of water down my achy joints. As a matter of fact, since we moved in, I have not used the bathtub yet. Even in the hotels, I hardly ever use the tub, in fact, I think I spend more time in the swimming pool than in the tub!

On the opposite pole is Ted who LOVES his baths and if he could have a soak 3 times a day everyday, he would! But we are not wasteful people seeing that water IS liquid gold no matter where you live, but more so in Australia at the moment. Water conservation is a big issue and everyone should save water where and when we can, hence, soaking in the bath is a luxury. I normally offer to run him a bath because he comes home late sometimes and a hot bath does help him unwind PLUS, my man deserves it.

So are you a soaker or a shower person?  

Something just ocurred to me today while I was chatting to Ted. It was regarding a profile photo which he saw on my Facebook account which he thought was cute. It was a picture of my friend and I told him that she looks a lot older than she is and I personally feel that somehow, I am the cause of what she has turned into today.

I’m not saying that she’s turned bad or anything remotely close to that but I’m not sure if it’s just teenage rebellion or I have indirectly become some sort of a role model when it came to body art and having loads of metal piercings particularly on the ears.

Perhaps I’m just taking it more for what it’s worth and maybe I’m not but I can’t help feel that although she may not admit it, and it’s not as if I asked her, she may have felt that she wanted to grow up to be just like me. On a personal note, I can’t really remember why or what got me so interested in body art but more likely than not, it was my dad. He had a couple of tattoos and I wished I could clearly remember what they were as I would love to get one of them in his memory. But I know for sure that he did have Jesus tattooed on his left upper arm and it was really cool.

Anyway, to be totally honest, me getting piercings the minute I was out of high school was just a phase in my early teens. If Mum is reading this, which she may, I have to admit that I used to get my piercings first and then tell her about it. She wouldn’t be happy about it and would grumble a little but my reasoning would be that if it didn’t work out or heal properly, I’d get rid of it and of course, I made sure that all of the piercings I had healed well. *snigger snigger* Yes, I was very cheeky back then.

So what turned out to be something that I enjoyed doing because it irritated my mum turned into something that I realised got peoples attention. I used to get stares everywhere I went because of my earrings and even now, I still get whispers behind my back and sometimes, it’s not at all conspicious! I enjoyed the attention I was getting which sparked off more reasons on why I should get more piercings. But I did one up….I started thinking of getting tattoos.

It took me many, many years to decide what I wanted to get because I knew there was no turning back once the ink is on. Also, unlike piercings, you can’t just scrub it off - piercings you can just remove the piece and it heals though there will be scars but tattoos…that’s a whole different story there. Mum was more against me getting a tattoo for various reasons I never really knew of but one thing was sure, I still remember her saying,’Over my dead body’ when I told her that I wanted to get one done in Amsterdam with my cousins. Even with that, I kept on nudging her about it and kept on talking about it. By this time, I had lost my interest in piercings.

So after leaving hints lying around the house like pictures of my tattoo and me casually asking her opinion about the design and what not. I wanted her to know indirectly that I was going ahead with it anyway. I finally took the plunge and I got my virgin skin inked with another friend. I was very proud of it and Mum in turn actually accepted it I guess. She even helped me with the daily cleansing and dressing I had to do so it must have meant something, right? She was even with me when I got it touched up - yup, she waited with me. Fast forward a couple of years later, I was itching to get inked again and this time around, she was there with my sister but it really took a long time to complete and she told me that she would never go with me again! *lol*

Today, I’m still itching to get more tattoos but I don’t like to rush into things and am still thinking of what to get and where to get it. Thing is, both my sis and I are somewhat similar when it comes to piercings but she hasn’t gotten a tattoo yet. Although I doubt she will ever get one - she goes woozy at the sight of blood and faints when she sees a needle. So needless to say that it will take a lot of courage and determination if she really wanted to get inked! *lol*

The thing is, the trend that I noticed happening back home was that a lot of teens seem to be doing what I was doing when I was older. This is what I’m saying when I say that I feel somewhat responsible for this reaction. Then again, I might be flattering myself for saying this! Maklumla, perasan kononnyer!! Heck, it could even be all those music videos that one can get freely the whole day since everyone now has Astro at home. I really do hope that I wasn’t an influence when I was back home because although I do keep my inks under cover most of the time, I am proud to show them off and I am not shy about it either.

I gotta admit though, with Kulim being a small town and we still got a lot of conservative people living there who think lowly of tattooed girls, my ink most of the time still turn heads! And like it or not, deep down, most tattoeed people do love the attention although they may not admit it on the surface. Heh.

I was sitting on the bed this afternoon combing my hair while Arianna was on the floor in front of our huge mirror when I realised that my sidetable was a little dusty and I reminded myself that I would have to do a little dusting today.

I haven’t done it yet but I did manage to vacumn the unit but it left Arianna very upset and cranky that I had the vacumn on. Normally she is ok with it, not sure why she wasn’t happy today. Anyway, while I was combing my hair and thinking of dusting, I was simultenously thinking that I should ask Ted to buy me this GoDuster thingamajig as a present and save him the headache of thinking what to get me come my birthday. After all, we are both allergic to dust and it would be great if we could get it and ‘make dusting fun’ since for the life of me, I hate dusting. I just hate housework in a nutshell la. Also I could also easily think up another household item I could use to make life easier for me that would do for a Christmas pressie when all of a sudden it hit me.

I’ve lost my spontenous ability to want things that I don’t need - at least a huge chunk of it anyway.

At this point in my life, I no longer look forward to the newest CDs or DVDs on the rack. I no longer feel the need to change my handphone every 6 months. I no longer have the desire to go on shopping sprees instead I find myself wanting to buy household items. And it’s amazing how I now make a beeline to the childrens section instead of checking out some nice stuff for myself. :shock: I can’t even believe I’m saying it myself!!

I’m at the point where I’m looking forward to doing up my kitchen and getting a new stove. I’m excited about the new set of kitchen knives I just bought online which I should not have since what I actually wanted was a ‘no need to sharpen for the rest of your life set’ but I was too hasty and made a big boo-boo. Thankfully, it’s not that painful because it was my own money from all those sponsored posts. I was over the moon when Ted came back with a clothes rack for Christmas, which was part of my pressie. And I was just so happy when Ted bought some clothesline to fix on my balcony because this means that I don’t have to go downstairs to use the general clothesline outside!

What is happening to me???

Apparently I’ve left the realms of singlehood and gone straight into motherhood since I didn’t really have much time as a married partner and these are the things which makes most mommys happy. At least it makes my life easier and when life is easier, then I am happy. Since I have my birthday present all figured out, I better work on my Christmas present and since we already have a BBQ set which my MIL gave Ted for his birthday, I might have to settle for a nice coffee table to put on our balcony and complete the outdoor look. Or maybe I should ask for a couple of hanging plants? Nah….I think I’ll get Ted to fix more hooks up so I can have more decor in the house.

Omg….I’m just going over the top aren’t I? I think I should slow down….I dun wanna get too old, too fast!!

As a Catholic, seeing the Pope in flesh will be the height of my spiritual life. To be able to see the Holy Father up close is as good as it gets as chances of us making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land is currently out of our reach. World Youth Day 2008 is to be celebrated in Sydney this year and there is a lot of hype going on and in preparation, and in anticipation of His Holiness’ arrival.

World Youth Day was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1984. And the largest crowd ever gathered for this event was in Rome in 2000 where approximately 2 million people gathered together. For the event in Sydney, they expect about 500, 000 to turn up and fingers crossed, we will amongst the throngs of people as well. The last time the Pope stepped foot in Sydney was in 1995.

Pope John Paul II visited Sydney in 1995 to beatify the Venerable Mother Mary of the Cross, MacKillop (1842-1909). And I believe Ted didn’t miss this chance to catch a glimpse of the Pope. In fact, he even has the paper cutting of this visit plastered on Arianna cupboard, it was his back then. I don’t really know what to expect but I can imagine what it’s going to be like.

An upside down standing ovation for the organisers as I personally think that it’s passed the point of balding to be part of this huge event. I can’t even imagine what these people are going through, the stress and pressure must be just beyond words! As for me, I’m just wondering how the heck are we going to get there, lugging Arianna along. Everyone has been strongly encouraged to take the public transport which will be the main mode of getting to and from the site. Randwick is going to burst with the number of people who will be coming for this. Aiyo….I’m already tension thinking of this now and the Pope is only coming in July!!!

Anyhow, I really am looking forward to this mega huge event because as I said, this maybe the only chance for me to catch the Pope in action and how often do you get the chance to check out the Popemobile???

Picture from Beliefnet - ain’t it one of a kind?

• that to simply walk, you use 200 muscles?

• that xerophargy refers to a diet of bread and water?

• that a cheetah’s stride is 7 to 8 meters in length? It completes 4 strides per second.

• that artichokes are flower buds?

• that 24 frames per second are projected in most animated films?

• that all porcupines float in water?

• that in ancient times, vinegar was the strongest acid known?

• that the largest pumpkin ever grown recorded a weight of 482kgs?

• that emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards?

• that female elephants produce one offspring every five years? [I'm glad I wasn't born as an elephant!]  :what: 

• that the African eagle, swooping at nearly 200km an hour, can brake to a halt in 6m?

• that the blow of a blue whale can reach over 12 metres in height?