Confessions of a City Slicker

Here we are…..the original gang, now scattered all over the place.  It was either find our own path out of die in that shit hole.

I really miss the good ol’ days.  Of course, I’m really glad I left because I’m very happy where I am now and all psyched up to face the challenges in this new territory, but I really miss our good times.

Payday means going to the bank together then treating ourselves to a nice lunch (most of the time it will be 2 hours).  Akebono is our favorite place.  Even that has closed down

Photohunt, our favorite game during lunch.

Movie night on Wednesdays, that is, until my belly dance class got rescheduled to Wednesday nights.  We like horror movies, although, for some people, I wonder why they even bother when they cover their faces throughout 80% of the whole movie :p

New World Park, that was before they relocated to the new building, sometimes we like to there for lunch for our lor bak, pasembur, fried oyster, rojak, fruits, ice kacang, all on Jie Foo.

Karaoke to blow off steam after work where we jump on their couch while we sing, that is, until that place was taken over by a "moh sang" shop (a place where uncles go to cuddle china dolls).  We heard Tan See has a foot in that business.

Gathering in the empty office during lunch for sembang session, until that activity got outlawed by the salted fish.

Photo sessions around the office with everyone during a person’s last day.

Coffee breaks visiting each other’s cubicles for a chat while taking a break from work.

And our most enjoyable activity nowadays, bitching sessions about the stooges when we occassionally meet for dinner.

We were a tight group, despite the stooges trying to promote an environment of animosity around the office.  But in the end we won, we each found our ways out of there, proving to the stooges that there is life outside of that shit hole.

Here is something the5xMom made for Easter, roasted chicken with dijon mustard, red wine and bacon.

It fits my requirement of 5 ingredients and below and gives me the opportunity to use my extremely underutilized oven.

I don’t know what it tastes like because I have never had dijon mustard before.  Am I a bumpkin or what?

Gonna go hunt for the ingredients this weekend.  I’ll let my guinea pigs try it out first.  If they say "Pass", then I’ll make it for my friends, ya….

Meanwhile, just drool over the photo, hehehehehe……

Dear Baby

It has been five years since that fateful day I had to let you go.  Please understand, I just couldn’t bear to see your suffering so.

Sometimes, I wondered if I gave up on you too soon.  What if I had fought harder to get the doctors to do more for you, what if I had prayed harder that Jesus will spare you, what if I hadn’t taken you to the park that day, what if, what if, what if…..

I still remember when we went to visit you that evening, you looked at us as if we had abandoned you.  You seemed to have slept already, so we went home.  I was torn, I really wanted to be with you.  I wanted to be the first thing you see when you woke up, just like you have been the most beautiful sight I see when I wake up those 6 wonderful years you were with me.

Now I can only console myself that this is all for the best.  You have not been happy since we moved.  It must be so lonely for you being cooped up in that apartment all day while we work.  And only getting an hour or two each day to be outside.  What an adjustment it must be for you.

You were so happy and alive, running around and exploring the park to your heart’s content without the leash.  I only wanted to give you more time to be outside the apartment that day.  I never expected that it would be your last day.

It’s OK.  You’re with Jesus now, and I pray everyday that He is taking good care of you.  They tell me that only people have souls.  I don’t believe that.  You are the most wonderful creation on God’s earth.  You were capable of giving so much love and happiness and you gave selflessly.  How can a being that is capable of giving so much love and happiness just die and disappear to nothing?

If it is true, then Baby, I’m willing to forego heaven just so that I can spend an eternity with you, wherever that is.

Don’t worry about your portrait.  I know I have been working on it for years now, but I want to make sure that it turns out as perfect as you are.

As for your side of the bed, it’s always open for you if you want to come by for a visit.

I’ll always love you, Baby, even if I do adopt another pet some time in the future.  You’ll always have my heart.

It has happened again…..I gave my heart and it got broken.

A week was all that I had with him.  A week of cuddles and tender moments and of playing hide and seek under cars.

I always smile when I come home and find him sitting under the neighbor’s car.  His usual spot where we would feed him.

It took a while for him to finally be comfortable enough to come out and rub his cheek against my hand.  In that precise moment, I knew he had his claws deep in my heart.

Sadly, the cruel fate that befall most cats living in the streets befell him.  He was hit by a car.  They found him lying by the side of the road outside our building.  I can only pray that it was quick and he did not suffer.

Some nice folks buried him somewhere nearby.  At least he wasn’t just chucked into a plastic bag and thrown into the dumpster.

Sometimes, I wonder why I continue to do it….it’s so painful to lose them, and I cry my eyes out every time that happens.  Yet the next time I see a pair of big brown eyes, the next time a little kitty comes meowing at me, I know I will fall hopelessly in love and start the process all over again.

No matter how short the time I have with them, I know I had given them love and made them their world a little happier, even if I can’t take them in.

Tiger, you had a short life.  But know that a lot of people here loved you and we are all gonna miss you so much.

Here’s a preliminary photo to share from the hafla.  I’m not sure, but I think that’s me there in the picture.  Ha ha…this is just a guess because I was standing in the row just behind the girls with the black & gold costume and my skirt is the only one with the lining, so you can’t see the sexy silhouette of the legs.

The picture was taken during the opening dance.  Believe it or not, we did not get a glimpse of the audience at all so we don’t know how they reacted.  They were supposed to join in and follow us.

After the dance ended we were quickly ushered back to the holding pen, so it was all a blur.

Here’s another one from a friend’s camera.  Can you spot the fake eye lashes?  Heheheh my previous experiences with fake eye lashes were very teary affairs, so I passed this time.  Besides, after working for hours on my eye makeup, I was not gonna take the risk of mascara and eye liner streaks running down my face.

Too bad, they were very nice purple ones.  But, if they were the ones with diamonds on them, I guess I wouldn’t mind

After weeks of patience and persistence, I finally get to cuddle Tiger last night.  Oh happiness!

It was such a joy to see that furry little face turned up to me, eyes closed, as I gently rub his cheeks and under his chin.  All the while, I can hear him purring away and his whole body practically vibrates like a motor. He even stretched up and touch nose with me.

He’s still testing the waters with me.  Although he would allow me to pick him up, he still flinches a little when I pat him on the head.

Tiger, this looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship…..

This is happening on May 10th at Berjaya Georgetown Hotel.

The theme is "Harmony".  The event will consist of a kids belly dance contest, hafla and a workshop conducted by a dancer from the US, Badia.

The hafla will be a sit down dinner featuring an 8-course menu.  There will be belly dance performances, belly dance costumes made from batik and a batik fashion show.

Performers for the night will include my teacher, a dancer from Mexico and Badia, and a few other teachers from other states.  Yours truly will not be performing this time.

When I heard that the hafla will be a dinner, I thought I’ll just have to wear one of little black dresses.  Then I spotted the best belly dance costume contest.  Yikes!  Wear a belly dance costume to an 8-course dinner?  If they announce the winner at the end of the night, nobody will be able to suck in the bulge no matter how hard they try kekekekeke…….

Our class girls are trying to make up a table.  Some of us are already keen to go to the hafla but are still undecided about the workshop.

Me, even if I have to eat instant noodles for the whole of next month, I MUST go to the workshop.  There are workshops happening in KL throughout the year but very rarely do they come to Penang.  And to have someone from the US to conduct it, I’ll be nuts to let this opportunity slip through my fingers.  I already had regrets when I only signed up for one day of Kayshee’s 2-day workshop.

World Belly Dance Day is a charity event.  All proceeds will go to 2 charitable organizations - Women’s Center For Change Penang & Children’s Protection Society.

Most of us were still experiencing the high after performing at the hafla, so our teacher decided to let us have a break and not teach us anything new.

Instead, she let us do our older routines.  Has it only been a little over a year ago that we learned them?  It seems like years ago and we have really forgotten some of the choreography.

She told us that she had received rave reviews for the hafla.  All the performances were good and people were not expecting that Penang has such a high standard for belly dancing.

I’m not sure if the rave reviews also include us.  I don’t remember hearing any zaghareets (tribal call) before, during or after our performance

Also, the video of our performance and pictures should be ready by next week.  Yeah!  I’ll finally have pictures to share

On the downside, I can’t seem to post any pictures from my home computer.  Don’t know if it’s the problem with the narrow bandwidth or my computer doesn’t have enough RAM power for that.

Guess I’ll have to curi-curi do it from the office.

Remember these kitties who took over my parking spot one afternoon?

The security guards in my building have named the kitten Tiger because of the unique markings on his fur.

He’s an adorable little darling, a little shy, but very affectionate judging from the way he likes to rub himself against things.

Now that he is big enough to be independant, his mother has sort of abandoned him.  We still see them together but she won’t allow him to follow her around any more, so most of the time, he’s all alone.  Poor thing.

The mother cat is pregnant again, so we’ll probably see another litter of kittens soon.

We feed Tiger whenever we can.  My mom even bought a bag of Friskies just for him.  But he’s still shy when it comes to human contact, although one of our security guards has made friends with him already.

Nowadays he doesn’t run off whenever he sees people coming.  He won’t come near us but will sit at a distance and watch us.  I tried to get near him, even tried to entice him to come out and play with my keys.  Till now, all he will do is sniff at my hand.

Smart kitty….

Latest scan - finally, I’m seeing some significant fat loss.  I need to lose about another 10% of fat to reach my ideal region.

Looks like I’ll have to make it a point to include a Body Pump class each week to increase muscle mass in order to speed up my metabolism rate.

Before I went on Herbalife I was never really conscious about the amount of liquids I drink per day.  Now, I make sure I have my required 3 liters.

I also look forward to lunch time when I go home for my appointment with Rania