Simply Felicious

Listening to: Bloody Mary - The Panic Channel

Went out for steamboat with the gang on Saturday =D Barring a few soup accidents

    i.e. Gan splashed tomyam soup in Barath’s eye and only realised it was him who did it AFTER laughing  and AFTER Barath had run off to the toilet
   i.e. Bryan spilt his entire mangkuk of food on Barath’s beige khakis…

So the only food casualty of the day was Barath *pats back* there there..it’s okay - you still cute la alamak..hehe

After about 45 minutes of loudly discussing what we were gonna do after dinner, Navin solved all our problems by announcing that we’d be heading to One Utama for some bowling …

It was a night of steamboat, ChupaChups and piccies with great company and good fun, OH and a great new bag from Trev & Judith *thankies!*…we missed you there Joshua, Cheryl & Justin…

Here are some of the many various pics we took that night…enjoy — p.s. we should SO do this again =D.. muacks

Listening to: How to Save a Life - The Fray

I turned 21 on Thursday - didn’t feel very much different physically nor did I feel an abundance of overwhelming responsibilities. Since most of my friends have their birthdays waaaay before I do, by the time the end of November rolls around, it normally feels like… WEELLL IT’S ABOUT TIME SISTER HONEY BABY CHILD!

However the more I think about it, the more I’ve realised that in these 21 years I have, whether consciously or not, picked up on certain things. Sticking to the Legal 21 theme, here are 21 things I have learned over the years.

I have learned that:

1. God will always remain faithful and when you think that He has abandoned you, you will eventually find that it is you who have walked away - and that when you go back looking for Him, it is Him who finds you again (and not the other way around).
2. Some events that occur in our lives may cause us to go forever without ever knowing why they had to happen - there are no coincidences, everything happens for a reason.
3. We will meet many people over the years; we will forge lasting friendships with some, we lose touch forever with others. Good friendships, like every relationship, takes a tremendous amount of effort to maintain. Always respect the friendship that you shared and try to preserve it in any way that you can; good friendships are like wine - they taste better with age =)
4. First impressions are almost never true.
5. Never place too much importance on what other peple think of you, you only live for yourself and for God. Besides, you can never please everyone - so pick your favourites =)
6. Don’t give up on yourself; if you do, who’s left to root for you - you should be your own biggest fan.
7. When push comes to shove, sometimes, you gotta look out for Numero Uno. Everyone else is.
8. When someone hurts you, it’s always best to be honest and tell them that you do not appreciate it. It’s your right - be nice but be firm, if the person respects you, they will lay off. If they don’t give a shit even after you’ve made it clear several times that you do not appreciate it - tell them off. And take no prisoners.
9. If you want love to stay in the building, pride has to go out the window.
10. Wearing red can attract attention faster than ants to a sugar trail - just remember to shave your legs.
11. Confidence is key - love yourself. So what if the guy wouldn’t look at you, he was probably gay anyway =)
12. Have a close network of friends and never ditch them for a boyfriend/girlfriend - they are the ones who will buffer you through thick and thin, boyfriend and girlfriend.
13. NEVER speak in F language about someone else in public, there might be someone else there who understands you =)
14. Gossiping is never helpful, but it’s good therapy sometimes
15. Trust is hardest to earn, easiest to lose. Keep confidences, what goes around always comes around.
16. Everyone has a handle, find the right one and you’re set for life.
17. When we are young, black is black and white is white. The older we become, the more the lines are blurred and we begin to see shades of gray in everything. Learn to distinguish the lines and never compromise it - once we begin to compromise on our values and principles, the line will never stop moving. Tolerance is not the same as Compromise.
18. At the end of the day we are still human, we should have the courage to apologise and to forgive; to pick up our crosses and start at square one if neccesary.
19. Love, chocolate and prayers can change the world.
20. Good music is very good therapy. So is crying - there is no excuse needed in order to cry. And last but not least…
21. Take things one day at a time. You have enough strength for one day - let tomorrow take care of itself. I trust that my life is in the hands of He who is greater than me…and so I will follow Him wherever He leads me. That is a greater comfort to me than if I know that I alone am in control of my life. Trust is a must.

Thank you to everyone who have taken the time to message/call/contact and spend time with me on my birthday, you all know who you are - *many hugs* it means more to me than you will ever know. =) Thank you for the beautiful presents, both material and emotional. I am truly truly blessed to know, love and be loved by each and everyone of you.

Here’s to finally being legal. =D To more mistakes and laughter, hope and happiness, life and love.

I love you all. God bless…
Felicia

Listening to: Amie- Damien Rice  (from the album Cannonball)
Listening to Damien Rice makes me want to go twirling under a moonlit sky…

For lack of pics of my own, I grabbed this from you Melissa.. thanks again *beams* oh and click to enlarge..

Went out for the most wonderful Girls’ Day Out on Wednesday. It’s liberating to be able to lepak with accomplished, confident, beautiful and supportive women - the bond of sisterhood between women is a truly unique one and something I suggest every woman should take under consideration. When you are surrounded by a bunch of supportive females who love you for who you are, then all the negativity in the world that stem from biatches of every walk of life cannot touch you..and even if it does, this support network will cradle your fall.

Only girls know just how devious and cruel other girls can be…boys just ‘take it outside’, kick each other’s nuts (pardon my language) and then go out for a beer. Women aren’t quite so physical (catfights aren’t so intimidating and we don’t exactly have nuts either). Instead they (we?) work behind the scenes, cerebrally and emotionally, and can effectively annihilate another woman’s dignity, image and self-esteem. Now this isn’t me being anti-female or whatever; this is me being practical and speaking from experience - both from things I’ve seen and people I’ve talked to.

The only immunity from that is to ensure that you surround yourself by women that know you and love you for who you are - who will build you up when others break you down, who listen to your woes but affirm your spirits, friends who have the guts to say ‘Sayang you’re being ridiculous, that is a Human Walking Forehead!"…you get my drift?

I am not in any way saying men aren’t good friends; I have male friends who have proven to be every much as supportive as women, and having a bf that believes you are the most beautiful woman to him honestly helps

What I am saying however is that female friendship and support is equally important for a woman to fend off the ‘Miss S’s‘, ‘Ira’s’ and ‘S**ts‘ of this world. For those days when you feel fat and ugly, worthless and angry - having other girls around who can honestly look you in the eye and tell you sternly when you’re being ridiculous or lend a shoulder or listening ear - can truly help. I know what it is like to feel all those negative emotions (I am in no way as normal as some people think I am) but knowing some very crucial women along the way have helped enhance my esteem and boost my self-confidence.

For this I am extremely grateful.

Melissa, Marlene and Cheryl - I am truly grateful to have met you girls, here’s to many many many many more of these days..maybe next time Dayana can come too hehe…ooh maybe next time minus the Tripod Drama and the creepy Secret Recipe guy. Keke..

Take care chicas…and erm.. chucks? Keke

Listening to: Walking After You - Foo Fighters

Man! It is so damn great to be back.
Currently I am You Tubing to my heart’s content.
So far I have eaten

• tosai
• wantan mee
• mee curry
• chicken peratal
• prawn sambal (with REAL chilli)
• chicken rice
• char siew rice
• fish curry

And that’s just the first three days. And I do not regret a single meal.
The weather is making me break out. So I just slap on some deodorant and continue on my way.
The Covenant is ok ok only la. Nice bods, okay plot.
I hope Damien Leith wins Australian Idol.
I miss my friends in Aussie but it’s great to meet up (and jam with) my old ones
I don’t even know what uni means anymore
Hurry up and finish your exams Mel…dah tak sabar edy!

Going to eat lunch. =D
Kisses…

Listening to: The Scissor Sisters - Don’t Feel Like Dancing

It’s almost noon and I’m leaving for home tomorrow and I haven’t even started packing! Finally dragged myself out of bed and decided to Take Charge and Get On Wit It and damn-bloody-well PACK and… I’m blogging.

Nice.

Caught myself wondering why the Scissor SISTERS sound like men!

Here’s what a healthy curiosity and Wikipedia got me:

"Scissor Sisters are an American band who formed in 2001, whose style draws from disco, glam-rock/pop and the gay-club scene of NYC. The group was named after a sex position between two women (tribadism) and their initial full name was ‘Dead Lesbian and the Fibrillating Scissor Sisters’."

There are four guys and a girl all dressed not unlike the dudes from YMCA. Ohkay, that explains way more than I needed to know.

Which brings me to (well, not really) how the hell did I accumulate so much shit in my room? I have stuff EVERYWHERE and trying to defrost my fridge is like a North Pole expedition - I had a glacier in my freezer. I washed my bathroom yesterday - the most of exercise I’ve done in a month since the exams started - and woke up with what felt like a boulder lodged in every crevice of my muscles.

Oh well…at least all that’s left to do is pack (faints) and vacuum.

My friends took me out for dinner the other night to celebrate my birthday. They gave me the most gorgeous clutch. Seems to be a favourite gift from most people…I highly encourage it, bags are practically my life.

Also got the latest Stephen King from Aruna and a chain with a key from Dorothy. I almost cried at dinner, I never got a chance to celebrate my birthday with them because I’m always home for my birthdays and so the surprise was beautiful. These girls practically buffered me through the worst year I’ve had in terms of assignments and the workload and ahem one scare in particular (note: Kiki)…so I know next year’s gonna be Shit but if I have them, I think it’s gonna be okay. Nothing like a great support network when you feel like you’re about to fall through the cracks. *death trap hug*

The exams were horrendous but…over. And now, I’m less than a day away from getting on the plane and going home. This is the moment I wait for the minute I get off the plane in Australia. Granted, I have the time of my life here but home is home. And I am blessed enough to be able to enjoy the best of both worlds.

So I’m gonna miss my girls and my hostel mates (TinKel in particular *bear hug*) but they’ll hold down the fort for me while I’m gone.

Here’s to Charades galore, the Christmas of a lifetime and the greatest time of the year. I can’t wait to see my family again, my sayang, my friends…I have to admit there is a touch of … something - I can’t put my finger on it. Nervousness, I suppose, of going home and losing my independence and becoming my parent’s daughter again (and I don’t mean in the biological sense). But I suppose therein lies my greatest blessing - that I may go anywhere and become anything in the  world but I remain forever my parent’s daughter.

On that note, I suppose it’s time to go pack.

P.S. Who is the Blower’s Daughter that Damien Rice sings about? Go find out if you want to know…it’s beautiful and totally puts the song into perspective. Thanks to Benjamin Hammond..

AND GO WATCH THE PRESTIGE!

Till I write to you from Malaysia, I bid you adieu.

Listening to: Quando Quando Quando - Michael Buble & Nelly Furtado

Some things are just too pretty that you have to stop whatever you’re doing and capture the moment. Normally pictures tell a thousand words. I don’t have a camera on me, so I’m doing the next best thing.

Adelaide experienced it’s first serious rain in many many weeks. Tonight there was some spectacular lightning bolts that snaked across the night sky and lit up the Australian sky with its tendrils. The jagged bolts were followed by some relatively unimpressive thunder but the anti-climax was surpassed by the awesome show the night sky put on for us tonight. The smell of rain is a very refreshing one - it smells of hope and renewal, all things being anew, if you need me to get technical. When it’s been raining all day and all night, like I’ve heard it’s been doing in Malaysia, it tends to get very tiresome very fast. But the farmers here need rain for their crops and the weather has been getting too dry too early in the season.

Tonight however, it was beautiful. Sombre and solemn yet magnificent in beauty and power. There is nothing understated about lightning and yet there is nothing quite so underestimated. You think you got problems and yet when you’re sitting in your room in the dark with Ben Harper on your speakers, watching the night sky light up, you feel miniscule in the grand scheme of things.

If it wasn’t so crazy I’d have gone out to dance in the rain. Thought I better not chance it - I still have exams on Tuesday. To which I have to get back to. Just needed to write this out and hopefully ‘capture’ it.

Damn I wish I had a camera on me now.

Currently Reading: Where Have All The Boys Gone? - Jenny Colgan

I’m meant to be studying but.. I am not =) End of story. I was thinking of compiling a soundtrack of my life. Songs to me are like scents, certain songs are indelibly printed in my mind’s eye because they’ve been linked to a memory I made while listening to those songs. Others were just the anthem of my life at one time or another. Some of the songs that have punctuated my life include

• Video - India.Arie: This was the anthem of my life in Form 5, I was into the whole I Am Woman, inner beauty independence phenomenon and believe me, no one rawks it quite like India.
• Always Be My Baby - Mariah Carey: Oh my gosh, Mariah (pre-boob job) was my first exposure to raw talent, listening to the queen of vocal gymnastics made me wanna be a singer and so my hair brush and I made a lifelong partnership and made our debut in front of every mirror in my house =) This song would soon be dedicated to me 6 years later on the radio by a boy I had not even known existed at the time
• Push - Matchbox 20: My first induction to real music, I was twelve-ish I think… the year I began broadening my horizon - soon followed was Shimmer (Fuel) and Third Eye Blind.
• Belaian Jiwa - Innuendo: We were 13 and performed an accapella version of this in church for a talent competition - I remember great afternoons of screaming laughter and night after night of relentless practice - we couldn’t have been that bad, we got third =) we got our first gig at a wedding the following weekend to which we all wore black and with only one mic we sort of…bombed..keke *Cheryl bares witness*
• I’ll Never Break Your Heart - BSB: omg we were freaks for these guys, every time we met all we would gush about were these dudes who never showed up in Malaysia ever again; everything we talked about was NickCarter this, AJ that… my dad used to call them The Blue-Arse Boys… like it was funny or something *seethes*
• Crazy Love - Aaron Neville : self-explanatory
• Foolish Games - Jewel: First time I ever cried while listening to a song
• Rock DJ - Robbie Williams: This was my song man, I can’t dance to save my life but you can’t say I don’t try
• Come Away With Me - Norah Jones: Always transports me to the time when I was seventeen and used to sit on the parquet floor of my room and talk to Barath on my mobile phone while it charged next to my radio
• Every Sarah McLachlan song ever released: I always crank up my Sarah when I’m feeling depressed or manic
• Paper Bag - Fiona Apple: My friend and I was going through a particularly rough ‘I Hate Men’ phase - this is a great song for the feminist soul (also listen to Ani DeFranco: Untouchable Face)
• Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell : saddest song in the world
• Holly Jolly Christmas- Alan Jackson: reminds me of Christmas at home, with baked cookies and the tree and presents and friends and new clothes..
• Oughta Know - Alanis Morrisette : The first time my friends and I had ever heard a song that was censored because of the infamous ‘F’ word…we were what, nine?
• Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals - Live From Mars: one of the best live albums I’ve heard to date, I used to be addicted to Disc2, I would listen to Ben the minute I woke up till the second I went to bed. My friends were thinking of planning an intervention, that’s how bad it was =)
• Hell Freezes Over - Eagles : I listened to this album ad nauseam the first week I was in Australia…don’t ask me why, I was addicted to it.
• More Than Words - Extreme,(You Look) Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton and Here Without You - 3 Doors Down : me and the guys used to jam to these ones frequently.

Have I left anything out? Sorry for the boring entry, I just thought I needed to give these songs credit, they are literally a soundtrack of my life. Also sorta reminds me that my taste in music have broadened quite considerably

Just like jasmine can remind you of your gran’s perfume, songs can have that ability too.

Apparently.

Having a Mariah Marathon … from MusicBox to Emancipation of Mimi

Reminds me so much of the time when I was eleven and used to stand in front of the mirror with my hairbrush..actually, it may have also been yesterday hehe..

Had my first exam today — Immunology…whatever la; one down two to go.

I am so against the concept of exams, there is no way you can judge a student’s understanding of an entire year’s worth of work in a three hour paper. It is inhumane and .. arcane, I can’t seem to remember if there’s such a word but, no…arcane means obscure; archaic is the word I’m looking for. Where was I — yeah EXAMS are an extremely archaic concept — it should be shown to the door. 

The stress and pressure surrounding the entire idea of knowing a bulk of syllabus (syllabi?) and then being tested in vast proportions on the one meagre slide that you skipped because you didn’t think it was worth anyone’s time, is not only cruel, it’s barbaric. Not to mention that exam conditions can really screw a person up — I can almost bet you that students make the same amount of stupid mistakes and careless judgements in an exam as they would if they were drunk - something happens to you in an exam hall that you can’t explain!

You write things you normally wouldn’t, you leave out things you would normally stress to death, you start giving your own version of things (p.s. I rewrote my own History during SPM hehe). It’s like the second you enter an exam hall you enter an equivalent Twilight Zone area — everything seems strange, and it never bodes well if you start to think that about your exam paper as well. No, exam conditions are not a conducive environment for anything, much less a setting in which almost your entire GPA is riding on.

No - Do Away With Exams!!!

I am going to make this one of my personal causes — join it will you?

Make everything assignment based -

• students are given the opportunity to demonstrate what they understand at length and depth and present their best work.
• It minimises the possibilities of a student slacking of an entire year and then showing up to exams with a stupid photographic memory and doing better than the entire student body put together (grr)
• There is no stress when you’re in your own room - sure you slave in the meantime, but you get the end of the year off and so do lecturers/graders…everybody wins…
• …and gets to go for Christmas vacations earlier.

If you’re a brilliant student that’s shit at handling exam stress you can say goodbye to your grades - it’s unfair, inhumane, barbaric and…say it with me…archaic.

So until that day, I still have to remind myself that I still have Genetics on Wednesday and Biochem next Tuesday, can’t boycott those — my parents will beat me, they are less likely to understand my plight…good luck to everyone sitting for exams.

Here’s to :

1. Doing Away with Exams forever
2. Equal opportunities for every student to improve their GPA in non-exam conditions
3. Less chances of losing your hair faster
4. Lower suicide rates among students in coutries where exams are the Be All and End All of life itself
5. You effectively eliminate those annoying makciks whose only goal in life is finding out how many As you got in the last exam — MYOB!
6. Earlier Xmas holidays

Med students can have their regular exams :p can’t have our doctors walk into an operating theatre and refer to an anatomy book while the patient lies on the table…

Adieu.

p.s. Kel, since you almost killed me..this one’s for you…

Listening to: Drown in My Own Tears - Ray Charles (OST Ray)

Currently Reading: Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult

It is nine days to the start of my finals; a thought that is, at this moment in time, still foreign to me. Having been heaped with work since the word go, the thought that we might actually be coming to the end of the semester is still a shock to me.

My prac exam was merde; pardon my french. Everything that could go wrong, did. But by the grace of God, calmness, that has never been my forte, pretty much kept me from ending up like a pile of bawling mess in a foetal position. I was upright the whole way through and walked out alive; God is good - I, obviously, was not good enought. BUT it’s over and that’s all that matters.

I need to get over this state of temporal procastination that I have found myself in and get unto work - -does ANYONE else find themselves dragging their feet the closer you get to an exam? It truly doesn’t make sense as, in theory, the fear should be jolting you towards your desk rather than away from it and towards future episodes of the OC, Prison Break and Smallville.

Either that or I’ve been doing stupid Blogthings which tell me useless things like

You Are Pistachio Ice Cream

Funky. Surprising. Wild.

Which doesn’t make sense since

1. I don’t like Pistachio (ice-cream or otherwise)
2. I am not funky,
3. surprising,
4. Or wild.

But if you want to find out, here’s where you can go.

I also found out that

You Should Be With a Water Sign!

Your best match is a Cancer, Scorpio, or Pisces Why? You crave intimacy and connection in your relationship And while most guys can’t open up enough for you, a Water Sign can Not that you’re whole relationship will be soul gazing A Water Sign matches your goofy sense of humor - and desire to help others.

Which would be a problem if it were true since Barath is a fire sign! Lol

So yeah, it’s 3 pm on a Saturday afternoon and so far I have washed my hair, gone grocery shopping (well, chocolate shopping), started a book, spoke on the phone to the whole para familia, finished my grapes and started this entry all the while entertaining the thought of sitting down to Jack Da Silva’s notes. Which, mind you, if the guy wasn’t hot, would make it that much harder to forgive his notes. Damn Evolutionary Genetics, there’s way too much math for me to contend with. Plus the weather is all gloomy, beautiful for curling up in bed in pajamas, which I am gloriously still in. Sigh, torn in two I am.

So before I go into a chocolate-induced coma maybe I will go lie on my bean bag with my new book and see what happens, goodness knows I’m not going to get any study done now. And I should go before I get addicted to finding out Who my Celebrity Boob Twin is and Which Sex and the City Vixen I am.

Listening to : Blue Moon - Rod Stewart feat. Eric Clapton

Currently Reading: Perfect Match - Jodi Picoult

Happy Deepavali gang!! Second year in a row and I am not home to revel in the festivities. All that briyani rice and chicken kurma and mutton curry and murukku… all left untouched because I am here, in the Land of Men who believes that  the best chilli is sweet chilli - HELLO? True chilli is NOT sweet ok??? They put sweet chilli with everything here - chips, dips even…Philadelphia cream cheese. Yes, gross no?

Not only that but Hari Raya is also next week!!! So I’m missing the double whammy!!! All that ayam masak merah (Dayana, I oso want okay?) and satay and ketupat and rendang..haihhhh.. all left untouched because I am here in the Land of Men enthralled with peanut satay sauce which is also, three guesses, sweet. In the Land of Men where Malaysians and Singaporean businessmen who have settled down here have decided to prosper on Malaysian students’ cravings for satay by selling 3 sticks for $5 AUD. OMG *faints* That’s around RM15 for 3 sticks when in reality for that much you can buy enough satay to feed an entire Gombak neighbourhood and have enough left over for next Raya. Preposterous, oui?

The only thing that cheers me up a bit is the fact that Chinatown still sells real chilli - the type that makes your eyes water. And the fact that I always have enough Tobasco sauce stocked up. Oh, and that I will be home for Christmas =D

The past two years my family has not had the opportunity to celebrate it properly because we were mourning the death of my paternal grandmother in 2004 and my maternal great-gran in 2005. After the year we’ve all had, I am truly looking forward to Christmas and hopefully the whole shebang; christmas tree, cookies, shopping for gifts and clothes, carolling and house visits sharing the joy of the birth of Christ. And accompanying all of that, let us not forget the food, Food, FOOD glorious food. *chorus joins in*

Josh & Bry– we are so jamming okay? And I really wanna meet up with everyone this year, next year is gonna be the shits for me in uni and I wanna cram in as much fun as I can this year. Maybe see if the rents will bum us a trip to Penang — where the food is even more glorious — as I have heard from Juli and Kel. Oh and LOTS and LOTS of charades hahahah…I am going mad with delirium. And…oddly enough, I’m quite hungry as well.

And now I have the pleasure of getting back to my Immunology notes..weee~

-_-

On this note, to all my friends who celebrate both Deepavali & Hari Raya — hope you guys have a good one and God bless…adieu

P.S. Save me a satay stick, I’ll be home soon =)

P.S.2 - Gan, chin up — we love you!!!