hey y'all.. was that a long weekend or what? i especially enjoyed my weekend for several reasons
- i've (finally) managed to start buying things for my engagement party (oops, kenduri)
- i went over to NY's family home and borrowed her mom's lovely glass pahar & alas (pahar's another term for dulang used in the hantaran, whereas 'alas' is, duh, alas dulang le)
- i've bought a piece of fine-looking cloth for bf's baju melayu (in ice green)
- he proposed.. what? what was that again? hehehe.. yep. my boyfriend who, last i checked, was the epitome of typical, unromantic character actually does have an ounce (or even more) of romance in his bones! he proposed to me last friday night.

the story
on friday after work, i went to ikano to check out aussino's bedspreads. as a result of my idiocy (obviously there would be horrendous traffic awaiting me on the way back), i arrived home really late. feeling somewhat drowsy & extremely hungry, i went straight to the kitchen & cooked up the easiest dish i knew (no, maggi was out of stock so i did daging masak kicap). in the midst of me pounding the onions, bf arrived with a bouquet of roses. the first thing i asked was 'uh, what's the occasion?'. he just smiled & asked back 'can't i give u flowers once in a while?'. oh-kay. still hungry & drowsy, i ushered him up as he 'wanted to wash himself up'. so i was left alone in the kitchen, eventually finished & ate my dish.. i half expected that he must've dozed off or something cos he never came down. when i went to my room a good half an hour later, the door was closed ('so, he's asleep.. already?').. opening the door slowly, i noticed that my room is orange ('huh? isn't my bulb white?').. then it hit me 2 secs too late that my room was lit all over, by more than a dozen candles! on my table were the roses & he was sitting right in the middle of bed, with a huge grin on his face. he told me (who still happens to be blinking in blurriness) to sit beside him & to close my eyes. playing along, although still in the land of 'huh?', i closed my eyes. he then asked me whether i'd want to be his life partner. needless to say, i grinned a yes. then he slipped something on my finger - a ring! it's absolutely gorgeos -white gold with a diamond- and all this while he kept giving me the creeps by telling me that his mom would be choosing a simple gold band (not that 'cincin belah rotan' is all that bad, but this is MY engagement for god's sake. it only happens once in a lifetime -god willing) to keep up with tradition! hehe.. i've never beamed so bright my whole life. it's official, my sweetie's not just a sweetie by name. he lives up to it.

h'lo.. been a while since my last yak. thing is, my office is still unequipped with a computer (and a phone, for that matter). i wanted to demand those essentials but they wanna shift me to another floor soon (though soon happens to be when the new semester starts in june), so go figure -can't surf as often as i'd like to cos i need to be boring & attend to my students' needs. academically, that is.

so how has everybody been? what's up in the world today? forget about the suspected mall bombers in the philippines, the alleged hike in our food prices or the alleged affair of beckingham palace. i mean, how are things in YOUR worlds? seriously, i haven't been blog-hopping for quite some time. even if i did, i'd be skimming through & u know quickies ain't fun! when u're teaching, u're in a world of your own (u agree aida? oly?) i sometimes forget about the world out there cos i'm buried under assignments, quizzes, midterm etc. i guess this is where working in the 'real' world is better -u get to meet people. sure, we teachers/lecturers meet people. but only if u consider those brats or sometimes annoying admin people, people.

i remembered back 2 years ago, when i first decided to go into the academic line, my girlfriends were giving me spooky thoughts. i was single at the time, so "when will u meet a guy?" or more realistically "where would u meet guys?" -my classes? they're filled with kids (paedophile alert). the department office? boring, married, buncit men.. the canteen? indon workers. basically, all u see are ur students. male lecturers? they're either married or taken (we are 25++). even if there are ones worth ogling over, i don't quite fancy dating anyone from the same workplace cos i foresee problems & hassles. besides, never had that sort of experience before. i never had a bf from the same class/school/university. heck even now, my bf's in a different state. hehe. talk about stretching the limit. *sigh* i'm just blabbing here. think i'll stretch my own long limbs & head home. i'm garfield-eyes already. catcha later, peeps.

p.s engagement plan is still unplanned. hehe. my bf's nagging me to start. hey, who's the girl here??

just when i thought i'd move on & blog about the economy or the political state of our nation (not), i was bugged by this exteremly long email on the prerequisites of choosing a life partner. it was actually forwarded to me some time last week by an old acquaintance (she doesn't know i'm getting engaged so i've ruled out the possibility that she's just nosy & bitter. hehe).. and once more by my future fiance this morning (who in turn, got it from his sister. ayoo.. so boring aah fwds u send to ur siblings??) nway, i believed him when he said that he didn't mean to scare me, just wanted to share an interesting read. if anyone is scared, it would be him cos the article contained quite a lot of ammos against us girls.. but it got me thinking, do these so-called tips for newly-weds (or soon-to-be engaged couples) work? or are they just a scam some ms.oldmaid or mr.bachelor-forever spread around to spook us cos they wanna make the rest of us as miserable as them?

hehe.. thanks girls! you're all so sweet & helpful. i have some preliminary ideas of my own (carefully noting that ideas envisioned in the mind does not necessarily look as nice once outside) but it's always nice to hear what others think.. it's a plus-point if others share our views. alrighty. as excited as i am, i intend not to be obsessed with such matter i.e. act all giddy & perhaps causing u to get nauseous or think of me as someone who's got nothing better to do than count the days till she gets whisked by a knight in shining armour on a galloping horse.

first of all, there is no knight. my guy doesn't have a title (what more a heavy steel outfit) & is far from being a diplomat's son (hehehe.. can't help but to let 'Loos' here). he just happens to have a majority of the things i like in a partner (the italic shows that i'm more realistic on criteria setting). for those other stuffs that we don't like about one another, god help us to try and compromise.

secondly, there's no horse. the only clean thing that gallops is perhaps a ride at the amusement park. of course, if u can afford it, a trip to any equestrian club would be nice. in today's world, i think it's ideal for our guys to have his own transport. not that i'm a gold digger, but if i drive my own car, then er, wouldn't it be reasonable for my guy to have one too? whether it's a car or a motorbike is not the issue (though i'd personally go for 'like with like'). it's just cool that he has one. somehow the image of me sending him to/from work ain't that appealing.. of course, u could lend him your car & he does the driving.. but neahhh.

just some of my crappy thoughts before i blog on other things tomorrow onwards..

- a fantasy would be getting married ala garden party
the reality would be facing rain or some smog caused by a neighbour's act of open burning

- a fantasy would be getting more than 10k for your hantaran (serba satu)
the reality would be accepting the 'market rate' or, on a bad day, whatever he has to offer cause u are supposed to marry him for him & not his money

- a fantasy would be marrying an orphan (so one can avoid the mayhems of picky mom-in-law)
the reality is that most nice, marriable guys still have parents who are very much alive, the majority of which are extremely close with their moms. so we girls just have to work harder to win their hearts too

- a fantasy would be marrying someone who has all the criteria we set
the reality is that he must've been hiding his 'dirty laundries' so well that we only realise his true colours (or odours) after sharing a vow

- a fantasy would be marrying mr. perfect
the reality is marrying someone not-so-perfect but good enough for u

- a fantasy would be marrying someone who worships the ground we walk on
the reality is that we would generally give in more than our male counterparts

i'm getting engaged in june!! hehe.. but my excitement goes to a halt at the mere thought of all the preparations to be made. so many things to sort out in between (my classes/SLAB course/proposal writing etc).. i haven't the faintest idea what or how my hantaran should look like, while on his side, things have started. his sisters & mom are very supportive -they've already pickied out ribbons, fabrics, hantaran stuffs.. i don't even have a dulang yet! my bestfriends NY and LI said there's still time but i should think about my theme at least..

one thing's settled though-i've already gotten a nice kebaya for my engagement. it's actually his sister's. the nice white & golden assembly was the piece she didn't wear on her wedding day cos her friends said it made her look pale. i thought it was really nice of her to offer lending it to me, knowing that i must've be short of cash as there are loads of other things to pay for.

as a loony member of 'bdinsanity', i've finally taken time to join the mind-humping game. heh.

using the letters M-I-N-D, reveal four things about yourself:
M - merry
I  - indulgent.. intellectual (at least i pretend to be).. innocent (under the right expression) 
N - natter (that's the closest the thesaurus has helped me in describing my likes for yakking)
D - dependable.. devoted (yeah.. the perfect gf, hehe).. i'm a doer

the 'i say, u think' game:
chill - pill
poodle - something cute & fuzzy
tissue - snot
foam - neutrogena facial wash
wee - pee wee herman
crack - pot
bellybutton - bellydancers
bounce - bounce baby out the door (can't get that song outta my head)
disco - saturday night fever

so u think 'the poltergeist' is the only way for u to see things move about on their own? nope. people, there are ghosts (or little devils) around us every single day at every single time.. and i'm not talking about seeing any dead people here.

the "i-can't-sit-still" ghost
have u ever been in that situation where u're in a hurry, say u wanted to open the door cos the phone inside is ringing or something, but as u dig inside ur bag, u just CAN'T seem to find that darn room key? i mean, u got hold of the office key.. the house key.. the car key.. in fact, every other sickly thing that's in your bag, but not that darn house key??! ugh.. that sorta thing happens to me all the time. sometimes i think those stuffs actually have a mind of their own, where they'd actually plot to move about in my bag just to drive me nuts. annoying, isn't it?

the "disappearing act" ghost
when u're in desperate need to go to the loo, u grab your tissue box only to find it empty but u could've sworn there were still tissues there the last u checked. or u're minutes away from dashing out of the room, u lost sight of that important document which was right under ur nose till about 10 seconds ago.. and we're in awe of david copperfield's disappearing act?? things go undetected all the time in our daily, menial lives.

the "i-just-HAVE-to-fall" ghost
yeah, this is the best bit - when u reach over for something, there's always, and i mean always that some other idiotic stuff that tumbles/drops/spills/scatters all over u. that's when u go stoopidnincompoopshitttyidioticsjkeiuhgrljkv!!! this morning for instance, i wanted to remove this particular book from underneath a pile of books. fully aware that it might result in a leaning tower of pisa, i was extra careful not to set the above pile of books tumbling (which i managed to do so well). what happened was, the table shook (either by accident or due to ghost number 1), yesss it shook, so it sent all the OTHER stuffs on the table laying around -pens, pencils, nail clippers, loose sheets of paper- all scattered around.. and to add to that effect, i had my fan on, so those stuffs just went swirling around the room like crazy. huwaa..

any other ghosts u have that i don't?

i got this forward eons ago. perhaps u've come across it before too, given how fast 'forwards' circulate. what can i say? i love apples! hehe. oh yeah, don't forget that last bit. hehe.

have a great weekend, peeps.

i know we're all nothing but strangers.. but admittedly, strangers that i enjoy knowing. it's great being able to blog, but it's even better when i could hear what u guys & girls have to say about my nonsensical blabberings. more often than not, ur comments provide me with different perspectives of things. heh. so there goes my lil intro. what i have down here is something for u guys to do, if not too busy :)

1. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it.
2. How long have you known me?
3. When and how did we first meet?
4. What was your first impression?
5. Do you still think that way about me now?
6. What do you think my weakness is?
7. Do you think i'll get married?
8. What makes me happy?
9. What makes me sad?
10. What reminds you of me?
11. If you could give me anything what would it be?
12. How well do you know me?
13. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't?
14. Do you think i could kill someone?
15. Describe me in one word.
16. Do you think our friendship is getting stronger, weaker, or staying the same?
17. Do you feel that you could talk to me about anything and i would listen?
18. Are you going to put this on your journal and see what i say about you?

-courtesy of oly (who in turn took it from peanut)

is it possible to live life without having 'to-do' lists, that is, without constantly being bugged on what  to do next? is there ever a time where we can just sit back & relax, and enjoy the fruits of our past labour?

nope. there's none.

i remembered in high school -being a fully residential one- we kids were grilled to study, study, STUDY. getting top scores is like, the ultimate dream. as a self-proclaimed geek (yeay to my kind), my goal then was getting a single aggregate (this was prior to the current SPM's 'open' cert system) as it'd brighten my chance to get a scholarship for further studies. thankfully (and luckily) i did, but i had more obstacles to come..

during a-levels, despite my hoo-haas & share of clubbing/boy-watching, the thing that constantly haunted me was (again) exams. i take it as a positive thing as it keeps me on my toes, though i eventually studied last minute anyway, hehe. a-level was TOUGH, so i worked hard at getting at least 13 out of 15 points (A=5 points, B=4 points... i took 3 subjects, so go figure). again i was fortunate to meet that target, and again, more obstacles ahead..

in my degree years, apart from hanging out with my (then) bf every weekend, gossiping with the girls & keeping up-to-date with the latest shopping carnival/movies/top 100, again, i'd get anxious whenever exams hit. like every other geek, i'd set my goal to be in the dean's list. at the time, i wasn't sure whether i wanted to be in the practical field or join the academic line, so i set high goals 'just in case'. thankfully, everything went ok but dejavu, more hurdles upfront..

for my masters, things were bad at first cos i just came out of my 3yr long relationship. i was alone without any of my friends & i wasn't too familiar with the subjects (i did a different degree). like always, i set high goals as i really wanted to join the uni (it's reputable & close to home -big plus point). having completed my masters, i was ready to embark on work life. but did the problems end? uhuh.

i know problems or 'life targets' are never ending.. and it's obvious that the obstacles get bigger & heavier as u advance yourselves. but it's all so tiring. can't we live our lives (with work of course, not goyang kaki only) without worries, or without bothering to do something anymore? aah, wishful thinking ey? there are always things to do. i guess the pressure's getting to me. heh. but seriously, can't u enjoy life without having to do something for the next few years? there's this saying that goes "Happiness is not a destination, it's a journey".. oh, how true! but how can such a journey be a happy one? it's nerve-wrecking & brain squeezing!!