should i?should i not?

god knows i'm shallow enough a 3-year old child won't be drowned in my head (a statement the opening sentence...is that a good sign?)...let's talk about shopping and sale shall we?i'm saving all the money i can spare...the reason is, shall we say that i have some ideas with that saved money...enter smith and caughey's (u know the hallowed ultra expensive shopping place that rarely been visited by dear ole' moi coz of economic purposes) into the picture and it's massive crazy sale...things like designer perfumes, toilettes, shoes and home decorations are sold at this crazy (affordable) price, tempting poor buggers like who are supposed to be on strict shopping diet...why are all of my favourite things are on sale???that's the main question here...my theories are:

• they are evil...the make us salivate and at the end, we will definitely break...i bought 2 aromatic diffusers coz i thought they were cheap (can u imagine designer aromatic diffuser are like $13 for 2 bottles?!!!!)...now i'm having this 'should i, should i not' internal (and not so internal as i did ask rini just now about it) debate about whether should i buy this divine escada ocean lounge perfume (it's a 50ml edt that cost a pittance at $52!err at least it is rather cheap for a good perfume!)...will someone tell me whether i should (or should not)!!!!
• they are creatures from hell...a lot of perfumes are on sale....i saw dkny be delicious midnight perfume (thought i don't actually favour it's smell, it's a perfume...by the title of 'perfume' itself gives it an indesribable allure that attracts me like a bee to honey!) and some others...i'm salivating...and ah men's perfumes (i have this great need to buy 2 bottles for my brother and father)...
• they are born with 2 horns (not a ram darn it!) aka the devil...a devil's handmaiden aka rini told me that shoes such as witchery's and some other designers shoes are like $60-$90...still expensive that i need to sell one of my kidneys, i know, but considering their designer origins, yeah, those are kinda cheap....

in the end i made this conclusion that smith and caughey's is the very devil and it's natural variations for my purse...

what can i do?

damnable things that can happen to me:

1. i want to go out and celebrate a friend's b-day by going for a nice dinner - thus, do laundry 6 hours before the said dinner but alas, my clothes are not fully dried...normal laundry usually takes around 2 hours to be done but because i go out with friends for a nice coze at a cafe when my clothes are in the dryer (justifying to self that by the time i'm back home all of my clothes will be dried), my clothes are still partially wet (because it just happens)...what's worse is all of my good wearable clothes are the ones in the dryer...the ones left in the wardrobe have their own 'cuts and bruises' as in tears here and there, thus not wearable in public...so...i have to miss that b-day dinner...i can't go there naked, can't i?
   
2. i wake up 4-5 hours before class...it's a lot of time...so i do other things such as organising plans for the day, check my account, clean up my room, do my bed, water my plants, print out study notes and other things unrelated to getting ready for class...i reasoned to myself 'i have a lot of extra time...i should fill it with useful activities...i will start to shower and get ready for class an hour before class'...30 minutes before class, still in the shower, nowhere near half ready to go to class...time to walk to class, around 20 minutes, give or take (should reserve an extra 10 minutes due to the unpredictable auckland weather, thus resulting to 30 minutes journey time)...i keep thinking i can get ready within 30 minutes while in reality i spend around 45 minutes the least to get myself somewhere in the realm of presentablism (or else i will scare old ladies and little children)....result, late to class...

i have done a lot of stupid things in my life...these 2 defy logic...especially number 2 since i've done it over and over again...you should say 'she must have learned from experience right?' but sadly, it's like a broken record playing, i keep doing it over and over again even when my intentions are good...what can all of you learn from these 2 scenarios?yup, i should've do my laundry the day before and i should've get ready 2 hours before class so that i won't be late....

exercise oh exercise

me and exercise don't go well together...the only way to get me to exercise is to get me to think that exercise is fun...don't get me wrong here....a few things related to exercise that are really great fun to me are the kind of exercise that i really enjoy...i can deal with sweat and smell because they are not considered as exercise in my harley dictionary of life....yup yup the main reasons that i can't deal with exercise are the grunting, sweating and smelling...major ewww...those are, ah, anyway i won't go there, too gruesome to explain...


exercises that i do enjoy are cycling (as in on a real bicycle, being mobile and moving in all the fresh air, not the fixed bicycle in the gym...imagine the sweat and bacteria all over the bike....major turn-off!), swimming (it's more like flopping around like a demented whale than swimming but alas, that description is not accepted by any exercise handbook) and taekwondo....the last exercise is indeed a self-defense class and it has thousands of exercises that i hate such as running and doing push-ups...but i don't know why, when it comes to taekwondo, my brain suddenly goes skewed and realign itself to normality and decipher all those 'usually hated' exercises as 'acceptable'...i also love dancing...it's a physical activity, thus it's considered as exercise is it not (please please be true!)???


anyway, can't people create a better way to drag an exercise-hater like me to do that damnable thing called exercise?like hmmm creating a gym just for fat people so that we won't be embarrased by all these buffed and toned females or those males with abs and buns to die for...fat people and the latter, the buff and beautiful, are 2 totally different species....we don't mix well...or i should actually fix my mindset and think of exercise as a great gob of fun and one of the way to live long and healthy...*sigh*...as if that will happen within this 20 years period...

daily planner

i'm being cautious this week....this week being the first week of the new semester and all...okay, it has nothing to do with anything but yeah, i'm trying to get my school legs back (sea leg, school leg, get it?)....anyway, my sleep cycle is still crazy...i fell asleep around 5 pm or 7 pm and wake up at random time like 12.30 am or 3.15 am...at least i don't fell asleep in the middle of class...


a happy news of the day!i bought a new 2009 diary/daily planner!it's a bit too late (as i should've bought it at the start of the year but hell, it's so hard to find one that fits me!) but it's on sale at the UBS...it's basic black and joyce had one too...actually she was the one who told me about it...she's a kindred spirit...she is similar to me (now i've found my own species!!!!yay!!!we aliens stick together for the future of aliens!)...she arrange stuff in colours...she write down things that she is supposed to do in her daily planner and tick them off when they're done (very moi!) and keeps stuff (pack-rat!)...and yes, buying a daily planner constitutes as a major news of the day...accept it and u'll be better off!


it was a bit eerie to actually find someone who's almost obsessive complulsive as u are, but there it is (as joyce stated 'i'm organised, not obsessive compulsive'....rightttt....that's one way to look at it)...anyway, i am proud to announce that i didn't eat dinner yesterday!why is this piece of crap of information matters, u say?well, i have to loose weight to be healthy and pretty and fit a size 8 (a bit unrealistic but let me have my dream here), and yes, one missed dinner wouldn't make me wake up the next morning 20 kg shed off but alas, i felt good...that's the most important point is it not?(actually the real reason i didn't eat dinner was because i was too tired to cook rice!)...

congratulations!

nia married her sweet-heart ray last holiday!and sadly i missed it because of my damnable mobile phone!she told me she tried calling and texting me so many times to tell me...huhuhu...anyway, it's so sweet!i love weddings...i wished i could attend the wedding, but alas, fate intervened...here's my special wish:

to nia and ray,

have a great marriage ahead and may both of you be happy and blessed with an abundance of joy!

p/s: and congratulations to moi for my 100th post!!!!nothing to brag about but hey, this is my time to shine!hahaha...

news of the day!

evie came back from sydney today!yay!hehehe...it means i'll no longer be alone in this cold drafty apartment (it's cold coz i haven't bought a heater yet ^^)...megu (that's meghna) and her twin malu came to stay in her room today too...thus, everyone's home and we're all snug and happy!so that's news...hehehe...ah n the apartment above me is currently having a blast...the sound of their music is preventing me from sleep (that's how loud their music is!)...punk-*ss!!!


anyway, another news i'd like to impart to my dear readers is that i made some awesome korean dishes today!2 of my favourite korean dishes are the soft tofu stew (soondubu jjigae) and potato side dish (gamja jorim)...they tasted great!!!so yummy!!!i've been following maangchi's korean dishes recipes so far and they worked really well...i also baked apple and boysenberry crumble...it was also delish!omg!i forgot!i promised to make pizza for amin and his housemates!thank god i already bought the ingredients today, so yeah, will bring the pizza to him tomorrow ^^


anyway, that's my new's of the day!i want to make her abalone porridge next time (sans the abalone ^^)...

his logic...

today jonathon said something intriguing to me...guys get girls that they don't want in order to get girls who they want...it's a twisted logic...does that make sense, i ask u?yeah, i did said it doesn't make sense to johnny but he insisted this is a tried-and-proven theory...hmmm...err...does that mean that when a guy likes me he actually doesn't like me but acted that way so that he can get a girl he likes?well, to johnny that holds true...me, i reserve my judgement...it's so plain weird to think of relationships that way!


my take of attraction between girls and boys is a little different from his...i believe, most girls have crushes (as do most guys)...but it is usually the guys who work hard to get the girls (unless u are a japanese, as u may know, they do thing a wee bit different from the rest of the world ^^)...if it's a mutual attraction, hey more the power for u!if it's not (one sided, in this case on the guy's side), not to worry!the guy will usually get the girl eventually...all he needs are determination and no-quitter attitude (and strength if the girl is a direct-reject kind of person)...if he hangs on long enough, he will most probably get her...girls are more malleable in that sense than guys...our hearts are easily touch by devotion...


anyhow, he said a lot of things...his observations are funny...hey johnny, we must do this again!this time, with christina, or alex (he's sooooo cute!)...see what christina will think!hahahaha...

intentions and actions

you know at one point in life when u are broke and u know u are broke and u realised u have a credit card...yes, that is called chaos...i was hungry yesterday...i went to dinner with friends (dora, yaya and the rest, u know the gang, syed, irfan and rini with 4 additionals, shafiq, a new member, zahara and nadia, dora's friends from malaysia and another girl)...we went to occidental and on a spurt of sudden rebellion i decided to order a different mussel platter than the 2 i always ordered (the cheese and herbs one or the olive oil and garlic one)...i ordered the espagnole (the chilli and olive oil platter)...it tasted like plastic, to quote someone (i think it was rini who said that)....


i ate about half of the platter and gave the rest away...that was a $16.50 meal...another zap to my budget...the service was bad that particular day....zahara didn't get her meal, even after more than 3 times asking about it...dora and someone got the wrong order, sadly the only mussle platter in the menu we can't eat, yup the spinach and bacon one...we were told to wait around 30 minutes for a seat inside the bar and we waited valiantly outside in the freaking cold for more than 30 minutes, neither menu or waiter could be seen within that waiting period...so we wasted more than 30 minutes, rather than at least ordering something and wait for our seats...then, there was no waiter service, no plain water to be offered and so on...i could complain for hours, but alas, the conclusion the same....the service was BAD!i wonder what had really happened to our old favourite vulcan lane's the occidental...


anyhow, because of my driving hunger, i bought the $ 8 turkish chicken and mushroom pizza...another zap on the credit card...today, i was hungry so i went to foodtown to get some snacks, i promised myself to buy only a box of cheese snack crackers that costs about $ 2 but i ended up buying carrots (it was on sale!), rhubarb and apple cake, brown sugar (again it was on sale!) and some buns...from my original intent of spending $ 2, i had spent $ 16.01...so...credit cards and sale and supermarkets are evil, that's the real story here...

patience is virtue

indeeeeeedy....okay, not i am not a patient person...yes, i want to keep on writing this darned blog and in turn i also want at least a person in this whole darned universe to read it...i love looking at other people's blog with their sophisticated backgrounds and what-not...and no surprise, mine is stuck in the middle ages...it's simple, though easy to look at, it's boring with a capital B....


alas, my attempt to revamp has fallen through...after hours and hours of frustration (none of the templates that i've found so far is the one that i am really really keen on) and countless brain-numbing html tweaking, i've thrown the towel and cry uncle (err...mixing up my metaphors, whatever)...my brain is spasming...


at this point, i promise u, i'll find a background that i really really really like...one day...one fine day...and do this all over again...over and out...


p/s: create my own template?pishhhhyyy...when did i get that creative and more importantly industrious???

are u nuts?

i was bored and boredom and me is not a good combination...i found things when i'm bored...so, since i was bored, i found these few blogs of food lovers in malaysia...they went to various restaurants (believe me, if it's malaysia, restaurants are like mushrooms popping out after the rain) and try various food...i can't say i can compare, but almost 4 years in auckland has taught me a lot about food...yes, i've eaten so many things compared to when i'm in malaysia...granted, most of them are either vegetarian or seafood, but they are more variety to things i've eaten in kuala lumpur....


not that kl doesn't have lots of choices....it does....but i'm so entrenched in my comfort food zone, i'd say i don't experiment that much...so far, i can safely say, the exotic food i've learned to love back in malaysia are japanese food (i was introduced to it when i was 12, years ago and i still love it!), tax-max food (learned about it a few years ago, it was delish!), italian food like pizzas, lasagnas and pasta and that's about it, i think...malay, indian, chinese, thai, indo and mixture of these are not included in the list of exotic food since i've grown up with these food....burgers n other fast food will not be included as they are a class by themselves!


anyway, in auckland, i've learned to love more japanese food (they are lots and lots, believe me), korean food (i love that korean place tucked in between nandos and the internet shop on queen street, opposite aotea square), belgian food (okay, maybe not really belgian restaurant, but that belgian bar, the occidental at the vulcan lane serves the most beautiful array of belgian seafood i've eaten!), morrocan mediterranean food (i don't remember the restaurant's name but it's in ponsonby, the price is exorbitant but it was worth every cent!) and so much more!from restaurants that charge me my whole month food budget like soul at the harbour to relatively cheap places like the korean pancake place at the corner of high street, i've learned to love them all...


anyway, i looked at some of these food-lovers blogs and some of them listed the prices of the dishes they ate...like this tax-max food, a plate costs an average of rm 35!n here i was, thinking 'wow!it's like paying for the whole cow!'...i thought it was that expensive...then i remember...here in auckland, i've eaten at some exclusive restaurants for birthdays and other celebrations (yes, my group of friends seem to think that we must eat at great restaurants for celebrations ^^) and some of them even reach to a nz $ 40 per dish!and the portion!omg, it can't even feed a baby mouse, never mind a fully grown woman!nz $ 40 is around rm 80!ooops...then, i knew...it was not that expensive!hahahaha...auckland food is definitely more expensive...i mean, normal meal that u buy at a stall in a food court here cost around nz $ 10, which is around rm 20....for that amount, u can grab good food in good restaurants in kl...and that tax-mex food, the one that costs rm 35, well, i could buy one burger and a regular fries at burger fuel with that amount....


now that i've done the comparison...i'm thankful that malaysia has such lovely choices of food with reasonable price...but then again, if i'm in malaysia, i can't afford to eat at those places, not with my current financials...coz of that, i'm thankful to be in auckland and it's great restaurants! ^^