20% of #100happydays

If the start of the new year was anything to go by as a sample of what 2015 will be for me, I forsee Late nights and lazy morning starts with plenty of craft, choir, and conversation in between.

DAY 11
 I started my new year by meeting Joleen's furry sisters: Randy, an European purebred Rottweiler and Ruby, an abandoned aging Golden Retriever.

Photo by Joleen 

 Yea, I was rubbing eye goop off Ruby's eyes. Ruby's story was a heart-breaking one, heard by many dog-lovers anywhere and everywhere.

Joleen used to have a male GT called Rudolf/Rudolph. Rudy, went missing one day and when Joleen's dad went around the neighbourhood to look for him, he chanced upon poor Ruby instead..

"When Ruby was found she was weak, aggressive and traumatized. It took a while for her to gain faith in human around her again. Initially she was timid, and reluctant to show her loving part to human.

After 3 years, Ruby is now the most gentle and beautiful soul dog ever. Tho she is getting older and suffering from rheumatism, but she never fail to spark a smile on her face."

An excerpt from Joleen's Jiffy Journal

It was a magnificent evening spent, learning about proper dog ownership and care, especially those who are attentive to proper dog breeding procedures. I also met another of my species, Edmund, and the three of us commiserated over the job scope/pay of our chosen field.

DAY 12
Luncheon with my girls!

Photo by Arvin where Edwina is missing

To my bestie's encouragement, I joined the Herbalife-promoted Fit Challenge and was reunited with Arvin from school, and met Kathireen.

Lunch at The Little Cottage near New World Park was a quick catch up since I stopped the Challenge for a couple of seasons due to a combination of reasons. The Fit Club grew in membership exponentially until there wasn't enough space to accommodate everyone and I was basically fed up of the crowd, over-enthusiasm and pushy Herbalife promoters.

However, the happy part about the luncheon was about a certain life phase that we were all going through: marriage. Or lack thereof.

Friends left right and centre were getting hitched or hitched or getting knocked up or knocking up...and we were wondering if we want the same thing or just not ready for it.


DAY 13
I saw a full moon.

You read right.

I just like shiny stuff ok?! A full moon that bright on that particular night was the best part...besides re-watching Big Hero 6 and laughing so hard until I nearly fell off my chair.


DAY 14
I love being in a choir and have only been in one during primary school and Form 6. Stuff like Vocal Point gives me such a nice buzz up my spine and makes me wanna cry.

That Sunday, a fellow parishioner came up to us and told us how touched she was by one of the songs (hymns?) we had sung. Hopefully, we'll be able to sing in tagalog, bahasa, mandarin (gasp!), tamil (double gasp!!) since we have migrants from the nearby industrial zones being part of our church.


DAY 15
My new phone is finally activated and cased in a Tiffany blue casing - time for a change since I'm sick of having red and black shizz for my gadgets.

Also, I feel extra grown up now after my sister finally transferred the ownership of my mobile number to me. Been having problems changing plans, sim cards, etc since she registered that number for me to use during my trips back during Oz's summer holidays.

I haz new toy!

DAY 16
Embarking on another frustrating and physically exhausting charitable project may not be anyone's happy thing but I've come to realise I do appreciate and 'enjoy' it to some extent.

This time it's for the catastrophic flooding in the East coast of Peninsula and at the time of writing, the danna and I have gone through a few hitches in this ride and expecting more. For a small, budget and time-restricted group, plenty of effort is needed but unfortunately not everyone is a 100% committed to such an idea of reaching out personally to disaster victims.

I'm skeptical myself, TBH, but as they say, 'with the grace of God..."

DAY 17

Painted bronzeback

Joleen and I were 'complaining' about the lack of animals spotted in the Garden due to the heat of the midday tropics and I was pitying the bats roasting under the palm leaves. Later on in the day, she found the painted bronzeback, hanging around the palms at the water garden.

I'm totally against handling snakes at shows or fair because they get handled too often by so many people. This disturbs their natural behaviour and increases their risk and exposure to zoonotic diseases. Hardly, you may think, due to the reptile-mammal relations but do you know, that they can get 'dried out' due to the constant contact?


DAY 18
I had a little impromptu meeting with my boss...by passing her my signed contract and the conversation led to what may be future planning which I've never done in my entire life.

So far, ideas and hopes are the norm for me but in terms of putting it effort to make it a commitment is something new for me.

Subconsciously, I've been doing that in other areas of my life as well, no matter how slow the efforts or how small the gestures - bit and pieces in the garden, at home... I find myself settling down and liking it.

Fuck. I'm old. Yay.

DAY 19
So I can be happy with a rainy day, a full moon, and now, a nighttime thunderstorm.

Home alone with the rains lashing down, skies lighting up, and I'm snug in my jammies doing some craftwork

A little personal project for the gift shop...will reveal later on when finished.


DAY 20

Was supposed to wake up at 7am and head to Youth Park for a little workout session with the girls but none of us were obviously enthusiastic enough to leave a comfy bed due to the cool weather from a night of rain.

So I went back to sleep and woke half hour to noon (gasp!) and had a rare brunch with dad alone.

The happy part? An awkward moment where the danna met dad later on at night...in a semi-official capacity. The both of them watched Johnny English 2 on TV while I was having a shower. Nobody kill anybone, no threats were made (as far as I know) by either party, no interrogations were done...

all good ^_^

10% of #100happydays

Starting off the new year of 2015 with finding something to be happy about for 100 days (minimum) under the hashtag "100 Happy Days" was the initial plan. Of course, nothing ever goes to plan for me. Planning doesn't come easy for me. I tend to want to plan things right down to the minute details on a pictometre.

What kickstarted my spontaneous #100happydays was the simple act of latching on to the wifi at work and updated all my applications. They got prettier. That was it. Seriously...that's how shallow I am.


^_^


I got the idea from an ex-sushi-making colleague who just got married. Her posts, consisting of a collage of pictures from each day, were infectious as she took us along the journey of wedding planning and other non-wedding happy happenings in her life.

Instead of following the same, and because of the spontaneity of my own project, I didn't post up a picture or a collage of pictures with a mini essay on what made me happy that day. So what happened was a picture, with one-word summaries.


DAY 1
As mentioned, was started off by updating all the applications on my tablet and the prettier widgets set off a flurry of silly, sparkly fireworks in my unbalanced hormonal state.

Truly, the little things.


DAY 2
My first Christmas present, Joleen gave me this thingamajig...an earphone port stuffer (??)
Yes, I have a weird affection for owls ever since Mick Todd, then a PhD candidate in UTAS in 2011, took us, a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears, eager-beaver undergraduates on an 'owl hunt' where he played some calls - territorial and mating calls. Screeching calls near midnight in total darkness? Fucking awesome experience.

Also, when I took this picture, I noticed that the books in the background were for once, non-fiction. Seeing as this was my desk at work, the genre of those books and the titles alone were a wake up call. That I may have finally, found my place in life. No...not botany specifically, but doing things I love to do and doing something unusual.


DAY 3
Another life goal came to realisation: wearing a saree.

Janita, my longest-time ever bestie, had bought me the material for Christmas in 2013. Late November, we finally went to Chennai Silk Palace in town to get it sewn. Since I wouldn't have anyone to help me tie/wrap/pleat on the spot, I had it ready made. Slightly shoddy workmanship for RM160 but the experience was worth it.

The turquoise chiffon with silver sequins stood out among the shimmery reds, blazing blues, sparklings golds of other sarees. Wouldn't say I stood out as the only Chinese wearing a saree...I was tripping all over the place and extremely self-conscious of my muffin top.

I didn't take a picture, sadly, because I was so caught up with the magical midnight mass I was attending. Hopefully next year I get to participate because that's how I've always preferred to experience things.

Christmas tree at my (hopefully future) home

DAY 4
Christmas Day!

Started off with another mass less than 7 hours after returning home from the midnight one and despite my sleepy state, I saw a cat on a motorcycle.

Ok, bear with me here. It wasn't a stray getting comfortable on a parked bike. It was one kitty, claws dug in securely into the seat, riding pillion, and getting ear and chin scratches from the owner when he stopped at the traffic lights.

A cat riding a bike. Got me so happy. And devastated I wasn't quick enough to snap a photo.

Also...I went to Butterworth. For significant reasons: Meeting the Family. More on that another time. If I feel like it. I'm too old to simply tell everyone everything now.

DAY 5
I GOT PAID!

LOL. Surely, everyone loves payday but not counting part-time jobs, this was my highest paycheck ever since graduating.

Highest paycheck in my career thus far. When I made up my mind to make it a principle in life not to work for money, no one told me that this field doesn't pay nuts. They also neglected to tell me the satisfaction of doing something worth waking up for.


DAY 6
Went over again to the mainland to meet up with my insane sistah, Esther, and Royston. Had a 4-day weekend journey with them and Z way back in October and...had quite a few new experiences that should've been experienced if I hadn't been so...cynical and pessimistic.

Fine. It was just drinking, alright? Like, heaps. Until I got rashes. The first time it happened was in Sandakan where I overdosed on seafood and boxed wine.

I was mixing quite a bit of hard liquor but thankfully, no puking was involved. Just plenty of giggling and stumbling.

The happy part for Day 6 was the high tea in Winter Warmers...and confessing to Esther the happiest thing in my life that had righted an effed up year.


DAY 7

4PAWS.

'nuff said.


DAY 8
I don't need elaborate and expensive gifts.
I don't need fancy events.

Leftover bridal floral arrangements given to pretty my desk and attract lil' bees are big enough gestures to make me melt.

A colleague snatched one from the cleanup of the wedding ceremony held over the weekend. Kenny may be gay but seriously.....not everyday I get flowers and I LOVE getting flowers, especially when they are so pretty and he doesn't have to spend a penny.

Pretty flowers are expensive and end up in my craft drawer or half dead in a pot.

...

DAY 9
Found out my whole life may have been a lie.

Sangria wasn't just ice cream soda, tinned peaches and sparkling (sometimes non-alcoholic) wine and orange juice.

At Mish Mash, a quiet pub on Muntri St, it was a full-bodied red wine with Cointreau, pineapple slices on a toothpick and a lot of other shizz that made my eyes sparkle like an anime character as I sat at the bar with Reuben, waiting for Jeffrey and Justin to turn up.

It was a nice catch up on post-Form 6 life. Touching the surface of the lives of others I haven't bothered to keep in contact TBH. Just to make conversation and enjoy light-hearted company. No other girls but gosh the gossip these boys can dish...!!!


DAY 10
Ending this post with something that's so typical of me:

I ran into this butterfly on the way down from lunch.

As usual, I walked into a tree. No, the overhanging leaves of a plant, really, but still...call it walking into a tree, and saw this pretty fella. Not moving despite the 'collision', the subsequent 'oooohhhh!!', and followed by a camera phone, looming very close, invading its' personal space.

I can't tell you the species because I'm not familiar at all with the flora and fauna of Malaysia. But ain't it preedieee thang????


Also, it was New Year's Eve.