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:D
I sleep smiling again!

Are hols here yet? Training is the order of the week. Touch, frisbee, soccer, touch, and netball in that order. League games on Saturday and Sunday. But who's complaining? Beats housework anytime. Dilz says I should quit wearing my competitive face. I had to agree after a few failed mimics by Fig. I actually do wanna play something for fun. Like...REVERSI *shifts uncomfortably*.

Had a passionate discussion with Fig about, uh, passions that we share. I was being difficult (hands down those who saw that coming), and I think he went to bed puzzled about my origins (not hell, baby). My damage control move? Terminator Salvation for two. Terminate my nonsense and salvage our passions. Say cheese. <3

Exam results out in 8 hours. I am a strong believer that for every plan A, there is a plan B. Plan A (if acceptable): Go to work happy. Plan B (if dismal): run to Boracay.

I’ve been meaning to share this for a long time, and reading someone’s latest entry opened my heart a little bit wider.



I remember when I first saw Sis Delnaz (my childhood counsellor who, wait for it, helped me a lot with my communication) as I walked into her office. I thought she was the most beautiful woman alive. She had the attitude of the women in the video.

Throughout history covering the head is a sign of respect in most religions. In mine, the practice extends to the rest of the body, the simplest reason being it is in keeping with the commandments of Allah (even that is being interpreted differently among scholars).

Some people wear the hijab because they don’t wanna be objectified. As someone who does not wear the hijab, I object to being objectified. I pretty much go about my daily life not worrying if people respect me more as an object than as a woman. The lack of paint on my face proves it. And I wear what I wear because I feel comfortable in them.
Men need to be accountable for their own actions, not blame it on what a woman is wearing.
-Non-Muslim Hijabi (on youtube)

I could give many reasons why I am without that one thing that looks very beautiful on women, to which I would probably receive instant and seemingly duh solutions. Can’t get on the field and do the things that I love? Start with skins. Can’t give up my dresses? Layer them on with more modest clothings. Granted, I shouldn’t even be defending myself. But I know for certain crowning myself with the hijab would have to precede a renewed way of life. Islam is a way of life. Yes, physically, I have what it takes to wear the hijab: a head, brooches, scarves from my family members I can easily pilfer. It’s the will that I’m slowly trying to strengthen. The will to submit myself fully to the expected demeanor and speech I am supposed to adopt. For instance, I still yell more than I talk, and express happiness by jumping and screaming for joy (instead of silently saying my syukurs), not unlike any other teenager. I am severely flawed when it comes to modesty of behavior like that. Changes, lots of it, have to come solidly from within, because I want the moment when, not if, I finally do make that very personal choice, to last for the rest of my life.

That said, I support your decision, sister, to be the lady that we should rightfully be. =) It won’t veil, only enhance the wonderful things you are already made of.

To the undecided, judge for yourselves only:

Life lesson #1: No matter who breaks your heart, or how long it takes to heal, you’ll never get through it without your friends.

So I didn't return with an adopted kid, like how I planned to in my head. Instead, I have with me bagloads of souvenirs, beautiful memories, and a vow to do PP with Hanoi right after I trot the rest of ASEAN (boy I've got ground to cover!). Real awesome, this part of the world!

Overnight chitchatting at the airport over Popeye's with Khai before Nad arrived at 3am. 6am and about 3 hours later, the group of us were in Siem Reap. Everything spelt Cambo the moment we got off the plane.

Our tuktuk drivers got us to our resort-like hostel. I think I fell in love with the country taking in the sights on our way there- whole families on a motorbike, quirky giant billboards, buffaloes and chicken roaming free, the village layout, and mainly the fact I could enjoy views without skyscrapers preventing it. Checked into our rooms with a connecting bathroom, how cool! Just like Jess and Liz in SweetValleyTwins! Oriented ourselves for a bit around the centre of SiemReap, because we had absolutely no plans (I dig!). We ended up at Tonle Sap, thanks to my big mouth and zero clue. 20 bucks per pax for an entry to Tonle Sap. Apparently, that was standard. We actually said no, because the waters were policed (ie no bargaining), and agreed the things we saw on our way there were fantastic enough (glimpses of daily life around houses on stilts, with the SiemReap river flowing through, waterfront much!). Guess what, with sad faces and at the insistent persuasion of mine, our really great chap of a tuktuk driver (we found him by Pub Street, they're more flexible with price negotiations, or maybe I was more aggressive then) slashed the price by half! 3 reasons why this destination's a must-go (like anybody needs any to be convinced).

1. Tonle Sap. Whole communities floating on water. Markets, schools, places of worship, and even a basketball court!





Kids heading home from school. I'd swim if I were them!:D


2. Angkor was massive! We caught the sunrise there. More than amazing.



So Angkor is a complex of temples right? I never knew that.

Bayon Bay was next, with its one striking feature.





The next temple we visited had warning signs to climb at risk for good reason:

Am not good at capturing my point huh (am not Deel with the DSLR hokay)? The steps were steep! But we just had to, damn the adventurous trait.

Alright I can't exaggerate this further without photography madskills.

And then we scooted over to Ta Phrom, also affectionately known as the tree temple by- guess who- us (as well as the rest of the world, as I just discovered), is probably famous because people keep wondering and speculating how on earth the trees grew so fascinatingly like that.



Phnom Bakheng is where most tourists view the sunset. To make it worthwhile, and if you don't fancy getting elephants to get you up there, up, up, up you walk. Felt vertigo as I looked down after an admittedly scary climb. It was worthwhile. Never had my breath taken away like that, especially not because of exercise.



They're so beautiful.

3. Shopping. There are many major markets to choose from, each affording you with different bargaining power. That's like the 7890th time I'm using it in this entry. See, Nad and I loved bargaining (657890th) when we shopped there, and what we got out of it. I'd think it had nothing to do with our gender, but the boys were somewhat uncomfortable (largely surprised?) with how excessively discounted our purchases were gotten eventually. Their issue? The locals are poorer, a doller or two (greenback, mind you) wouldn't make a difference to us. I maintain that they will never sell anything if they aen't profiting at all. Nad's more reasonable argument: we're non-earning students, on a budget trip. Anyhoos, my favourite is the Night Market, because I love how it had a souk feel. It was raining the second night we were there, and water was collecting on canvases covering each stall. Under the weight, one collapsed, drenching just me. I wasn't at a nice spot, I was walking. A stall owner, laughing with the rest of the world, said I was lucky. A few seconds later, he got drenched, same as-if-someone-splashed-a-bucket-of-water-on-you style.





Wicked stuff. Street life sort of mirrors Vietnam's, with much less traffic (was disappointed only because we couldn't rent a motorbike to zip around in like we did in Saigon). Now, the people. Not as smiley as the Thais, but they make lasting impressions (so lasting, someone attributed his msn subnick to them, rare stuff). From the clever little touters ("Where you from? If I tell you capital you buy from me", "You buy where cheap? You tell white lie -toothy grin-") to the ever so informative tuktuk drivers, I am extremely privileged to have connected with the people of Cambo. Speaking of locals, please engage tour guides when at the temples. Or at least, pay attention during your SoutheastAsian Studies lecture in school. Else, you might just end up taking pictures at specific sites, never knowing if they had special significance in their heyday (but believing so anyway).



A trip I will never forget, if only because I went with happy, like-minded people (not sleeping before a 7am flight the next morning just to play daidee and bridge, with nobody being a wet blanket? COME ON)! :)

Ao Kun, God, for making one more wish come true!

Labels: travel

I think I'm beginning to like research. I know, because despite the fact that I can knock off anytime (if I choose to be present at all), I'm still here. Fig rode over to have lunch with me, and I spent less than an hour on THAT. And tonight, I'm flying. But I'm still here. Wowee, responsible siol. Though the ants on my workstation are still not taken care of (not literally).

The word "set" has more definitions than any other word in the English language. VOLEZ!

At Deel's place, his mom pointed to Fig and asked if he was my boyfriend.
"Handsome eh, jaga baik-baik!"

HAHAHAAHAHHAHA not that I don't want to, but see, I'm with a curfew, what's a girl to do? =/ :3 The same curfew that got me unbaddie-ass back home tonight while they're still hanging at Eunos watching soccer ordering probably 3 more round of drinks now? On the other hand, she probably implied he couldn't take care of himself. To think abourit, the cough I heard before we parted sounded something out of Grey's. Luckily, I've lots of TLC to spare. If only the same could be said about kaching!

I spent some today buying something for my mother from a hardware store. HAHAHAHAHAH practical joker siol.

They say that you should follow,
and chase down what you dream
But if you get lost and lose yourself,
what does it really mean?

We're taking it back, we're doing it here
Together!
It's better like that, and stronger now
than ever
We're not gonna lose cos we get to choose
That's how it's gonna be!

Das Lied, es erinnert mich immer an eine bestimmte person.(:

"I consider myself very lucky!"

Heard someone say that on TV and I was all METOO!(:

Had a good day at work (I spoke too soon!). Which is 20min-talktime away from training ground. Training was HOMG ants made a home out of the dried mud on my stashed-away boots! I had been sedentary for 2 months which felt like forever! My stamina was KABOOM, pancit. Taking one every 2 points. Must eat more beancurd. Hahahahaha. Excuses.
BAR consoled me over dinner, saying that choosing to mug over those training sessions was a noble decision. He didn't really say noble. I just have bad memory. He said it was not a regrettable one. So supportive sweet sincere silly semangat super SUDAH.

Do not underestimate the power of freedom.

'Freedom' within six hours brought me speedy into Fiqqy's arms, it didn't make me think twice about spending on dresses and food I'd craved so badly while mugging (sic), it led us to witness a religious ritual at a Hindu temple, a visit to the mosque, and some Chinatown night market (all are rare events). I think I surged back to life at "Pens down!". :) Or was that just the perception of freedom? I'll be collecting my new passport tomorrow. When I use it in a week's time, what'll freedom be?

There are just a few reasons why open-book exams are more of a bane than a boon.

1. The false security. I saw a dude with a whole Seiyu-bag full of books (it looked one too many to be part of our course requirements so I assumed he exhausted the school library limit of 20 books per student- isn't that pressurising to know?). He, as did everyone else, probably thought chances of aceing would be increased by the amount of books/lecture notes/cheatnotes (I call them trash) brought in, simply because it is allowed.

2. You have a hard time screening for what you need if the questions are cross-topical (which then justifies the nature of the examination). This doesn't apply to those who memorise everything, and I mean everything, that they bring into the exam halls. Worse, you find that there is nothing you brought along that could marginally increase your chances of scoring. So that's why professor gave me a shrug and a smile when I looked at the time helplessly.

3. You get too absorbed reading things that are irrelevant to your answers, but of course you don't know that (you think you have to squeeze all of the textbook's content into a two-page essay). Looking for the part which said something, anything about cortical representations, I found myself being intrigued by brain substrates underlying emotional memory. For ten whole minutes. And then got emotionally charged for another five.

Then again, it's probably just me. Definable as someone who's not studious, apparently.

Post-mortem of bio paper.

Han: You could NOT have studied for the paper. It makes no difference.
Glan: Yati aren't you glad you didn't study?
Me: How you know?!
Glan: SURE WAN AH YOU.

O gosh. For the record, I went through an ordeal this semester. Could not have made it without my family (the sudden increase in beverage supplies), my friends (they make good cheerleaders!), disney videos ('when you can dream, then you can start'- inspirational siol!), and that EPIQ Win who did everything he could to make sure I spent more than five minutes on my revision (e.g. watching footytube for hours on my laptop while I read and pretended not to get bored like I would have). (:

Now now. Why brood. What comes after Part B? Part-AYEEEE! (Mat Fad, 2008)

The grand plans.

Whiten my teeth, perfect my driving so MaTrEmPiTZ and my mom would stop criticising it (and I'm the one who took off the P-plate :O), get a telescope and stargaze until term begins (relook through lecture notes for explanations on how), go kl and bunk in with my african friend, GET ME TO AFRICA, obtain a pet (baby steps to responsibility-taking), familiarise myself with the things found in DIY Home-fix store so that nobody else will attempt to ask me what a wheeler is for (my wild guess/correct answer: cutting pizza) in attempt to mock my domestic abilities, manage my finances forrealz, and find a job that I love.

If I were to be realistic, though:

Australia (hail impulse!). Cambodia. India (Won an eco-adventure trip on a radio contest!). Summer league. Football (I know I said I wouldn't do it again, but hey, people do join competitions for FUN, no?). Netball (too long a lost passion, but I've never represented a mosque before, so). Be more productive in teaching myself Spanish (Hablo mal español. Este hombre pagará por todo. HAHAHH. Okay, relearn the German and French as well). Climb trees! ♥ ♥. Jalan kayu (versus simpang and alameen hokay, northeast FTW)! Stop growing styes in my eye. When I consider the fact that I'll be doing most of these with the people I love, achieving them all becomes more of a priority.

God willing, I will.

Once in a lifetime
means there's no second chance
so I believe that you and me
should grab it while we can
Make it last forever
and never give it back



It's our turn, and I'm lovin where we're at
Because this moment's really all we have

Today it hit me how unprepared/knowledgeable I was when about the only questions I could answer were those of substance abuse. I could not even answer the question about eating disorder, in spite of the amount of food I gorge everyday. I choose to be optimistic.