Cheat Work Thursday

Photo by Nick Hillier on Unsplash The only book that I read after The Hobbit (which was in March last year, by the way) was Something Borrowed. The movie was ok. The book, unfortunately, was not really. But I tortured myself and finished reading it. This reminds me the time I had to wait for my niece Baby Noble when she insisted on putting on a shirt by herself. I tried reading Room and probably stopped after about 30 pages. I'm sure it really is a great book. I was just worried about what it could do to my English. The book was written in the voice of a five-year-old, broken English and all. The next day after those 30 pages, grammar and I fought more than usual. With a heavy heart, I think I won't be making any clothes this year. Last year, besides the two skirts and that one half pants, I actually made one and a half baju raya, which was great and nightmar-ish. I went through all sorts of phases along the process -- from being ambitious to a long hibernation, to variou...

Honey Stars always remind me of my nieces and nephews. Did you know the cereal comes in the shape of rocket and moon too? I have the best mornings spotting them in the bowl. I had a good week, last week. I hope it gets better this week. Hope it is for you too.

Sitting in my room, sometimes my mind is transported back to that room. I don't even have to close my eyes. It was 6 in the morning, but I could see from the glass window that it was already bright outside. I loved the view, even if it was only the roofs of other buildings. Under my warm blanket and because I knew how high I set the heater the night before, I could almost feel how cold it was outside. I waited 10 minutes before getting up, not willing to let go of my blanket and sweater and socks just yet. My feet touched the soft, wall-to-wall carpet eventually. I got into the squeaky clean bathroom. The floor was dry and cold. The shower was hot. Then I walked into the tiny closet and picked out my clothes for the day: grey skirt, black top, black stockings, gold-coloured stud earrings, and nude-coloured handbag with metal and PVC handle. I only had two handbags. The other one was black. I had bread, scrambled egg and iced chocolate for breakfast, and packed my bihun goreng...

Besides my love for procrastination, I also watch SAG for the dresses. Between Globes, SAG and Oscars, I usually love Globes the most; the scripts are funnier, the dresses are more adventurous, and I usually love the results more. Dresses at the Oscars are more elaborate but often safer. And by the time it's the Oscars, the results have turned pretty predictable. One of my favourite SAG dresses was Kate Winslet's blue Narciso Rodriguez in 2009, and this year it's Anne Hathaway's black Giambattista Valli, which is one of E!'s Fashion Police's picks for the worst dress nominees 🥳. (I realize somewhere in the world people are discussing things like literacy rate and global warming. And Steven Spielberg does not know me.) For a reason, I'm going to have a bit of free time in the next one week. The plan is I'm going to use it to do useful things and take my time with it. (I also have two resumes to make for two sisters. And probably work e-mails to d...

Do I hear a collective sigh from adults around the world, now it's time of the week again? Lucky you people in LA, it's still 9AM Sunday at your place... Wait, there are people out there who would love to have our jobs, or any job actually. We are the lucky ones here. (But seriously, why are we doing this to ourselves?) It's 1AM. I wish my Sunday nights were filled with laughter that makes me roll on the floor. Sometimes they are; other times like tonight -- not really. Because Sunday nights also mean watching Homeland and The Walking Dead. Really, why is the latter getting more gory by each episode? (Also, give these guys a break please, they need a shower.) And Homeland is just being Homeland: depressing, no character to root for, gives you breath-holding suspense, superb acting and, worst, is addictive. I can't wait to watch Argo. I feel fresh now, though. I think I've recovered all the lost sleep from my reading bootcamp . So I'm currently thinking ...

For weeks, I've been trying to find out who sings this song. So it's Both of Us by Taylor Swift. Ok, it's featuring Taylor Swift... I can't sleep right now, which is not good because I need to wake up early tomorrow morning to beat the open house traffic madness. There's something about a quiet (quiet er -- I live next to a highway) 3 o'clock on a weekend morning that makes me not want to go to sleep. I feel like I'm missing out on something if I do (like... tired skin?). It feels like I need to use the time to do some work, or invent a magic product, or re-think the century's great idea, or something. Magic products, how do I create you?

On my way home today, I saw a homeless old man changing his clothes by the roadside, and he was with all of his belongings: a bicycle and two half-broken umbrellas tied to a school fence, a few bags and boxes, and a pile of empty plastic bottles. I assumed he was homeless and that was all he owned. I don't think he's a beggar. I think he gets money from collecting stuff to be recycled. In many parts of this country right now, people are buying a thousand-dollar baju raya and squealing how cheap it is because "It's on sale !" while in some other corners, people are sleeping by the roadside. What do you think, rich people? Are they too stupid and too lazy to have a better life? Did these people make too many bad decisions in the past, so now they just get what they deserve? Did they practice the law of attraction wrong? On the other hand, you've been working hard and smart all your life, you deserve to reward yourself with this million-dollar house and tho...

Hi, it's 2+AM with a long weekend ahead here, and I'm about to say something that might upset about half of the world's population if I don't edit this post after two hours and, you know, if half of the world's population actually reads this. So I was thinking, imagine everything we think inside our head is audible, or gets tweeted or posted online automatically... And imagine if there's no cover behind it. Everything is transparent. We know exactly what everyone is thinking about. No anonymous identity, no sugarcoating. (Although, in some cases we don't have to, actually. They are happening as we speak *looks at some people*.) Imagine being cornered by our own (or other people's) audible thoughts. [ post edited ] Happy New Year.

I was awakened at around 5 this morning by a loud sound of two people yelling at each other in the yard. For a real life event, it was brutal. I'm not sure which neighbours were these (I don't know any of my neighbours anyway), but I think they were the same people who always fight with each other somewhere above my floor. Both of them were shouting, the woman was crying loudly, and I think at least one of them had a stick and was pounding on the car or the pavement, I'm not sure. Maybe one of them or both were in the car, but the man was yelling to the woman to get out. At least that's what I thought happened because I didn't get up and take a look. I just lay in bed, scared that someone would get hurt... but not doing anything about it. Should I intervene? Or at least yell something cowardly from my bedroom? (And I still wouldn't know them or their unit, as I was not wearing my contact lenses, while they would now know which unit I was shouting from.) I...

After two days in the fridge, you can actually cut it into perfect bricks rectangles.

It's the first weekend after the long raya break. I miss home, and I wish I were there right now. I baked this on the stove using a pot.

It's 3AM and I'm on a roll. I usually function differently after 7(PM). I try to avoid making life-changing decisions after 7 because they're usually done very quickly. Sometimes, that's not very good. It may even go one step further after midnight. Sometimes it would be just my alter ego in charge. For example, when writing this (originally) long(er) post. In fact, I don't really want to stop at this point. There's also another topic that I want to write, but I have a feeling come morning all is well in the world again. Maybe you'll be lucky and don't have to read this (in full).

Is it only me, or do others have this problem too? Unless I’m on vacation, I have trouble sleeping if it's not in my own bed. It wasn't so obvious before, and it only gets worse these days. This includes sleeping at my parents' place, which one place I love so much. Now it has come to a point where I'm thinking of getting some sleeping aids. Not sure what to get, though. It makes me nervous and feel guilty knowing that I'm going to babysit my nieces tomorrow and probably spend a three-or-four-day weekend in my hometown two weeks from now. Isn't it supposed to be a trip that I look forward to? (Note: I once had no problem sleeping in a train station.)

Seven continents by size: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, Australia. Oceans from left to right: Pacific, Atlantic and Indian (and Pacific again). Arctic in the north and Southern in the south. (I always get Arctic and Antarctica confused, the same way I do with con cave and convex, or east and west, so I'm putting the map here as a note. Also as a reminder to go out and see the world. ) Map: Wikipedia

I would love to get some sleep right now. It's almost 5AM and I'm wide awake. I went to bed before midnight and was awake at 2. I do usually have problem sleeping the night before a huge meeting or busy day because I'll be all anxious about it. (I'd also use the word 'huge' loosely here if I were you.) But nothing is extraordinary about tomorrow's schedule, I didn't have any coffee today, and I've tired myself out working out last night: running and doing XX crunches and XX push-ups. (I take my count seriously. I use a calculator. And it was supposed to be XX each, but I couldn't finish it. By that count, I was already sprawling on the floor...) And now I'm still having trouble sleeping, despite having tried my usual tricks whenever I couldn't sleep: sleeping in the living room with the TV or music on, or lying flat on the floor (can't find the logic behind the latter but it usually works). Alright, I'm going to try to read ...

I'm bored with eating out these days. It doesn't help that I'm not so creative with it either. Don't you, too, sometimes feel like you've been frequenting the same eating place hundreds of times? So I decided to go grocery shopping and have been preparing my meals and snacks at home for the past one month. Now I know instant noodle is not the only meal that can be prepared under three minutes and there are alternatives to nasi lemak in the morning. Naturally, this must be documented. I hope you appreciate how I artfully stacked the crackers. [ pictures deleted ] Document Image (and moar funny pictures): lolcats

It's 1+AM and I can't sleep. I have a minor case of coughing and a major case of annoyance at the cough syrup because it didn't manage to make me sleep. If only I could summon a box of doughnuts to my bed right now. Seriously, Big Apple should consider a 24-hour-drive-thru. I love 24-hour-drive-thrus, especially ones that would serve yummy chocolate-filling doughnuts. How did we as a society end up with this gap in the market?

At last I decided to do something unacceptable (to some) this year -- not buying any baju raya. Thought of getting a ready-made this year, then in that very short time I got the chance to look around, I couldn't find any that I liked. Should have got it tailor-made... And the cycle continues. But -- I still have clothes to wear! And since most of my old kebayas were acquired during my not so frugal mode, this is their chance to prove their worth. Another thing that I'd like to report is, I didn't win the bid to get ten jars of that super yummy pineapple tart this year. Thankfully I still got two. While I'm ok with no new baju raya, I've yet to find out if I can survive with only two jars of this tart. Click on the link and drool. I'm looking forward for raya anyway because I love my mother's cooking (fine, spending time with the family is nice too). I love that most of the time, raya or not, I'd usually be the one (well, I love to claim so) helpi...

Location: My bookcase next to my window, possibly the only location used for all the pictures taken for the blog. Model: Green tea with sugar and ice, in a very acquired-for-free glass. Time: Time to buy real dishes.