Happy Merdeka!

Won't be writing a Merdeka post. Enjoy the pics though! Have to continue packing...


Before that,

Many happy return of the days to Soon Ching in Penang and Eleanor in KL! *hugs*




Here are some shots are the city leading up to today:


Great lights up in Jalan Padungan!


Last minute preparation... workers putting up the billboards yesterday, causing a slight jam... was on my way back from the waterpark.


Suckling oinky anyone? Out at the parking area in front of a chinese restaurant... in plain sight of the main road users...

My Celebrity Look-alikes! (Warning: Vanity Overload!)

Thanks Dida dear! This is soooo fun! :) Anyone like to have some vainey fun??? :) Get yours here!


This is my most made-up face, and plus the studio airbrushed my face, so not surprisingly, I got the pretty FEMALE stars!


This is how I usually look with no/little make-up, so got some musculine features I think...


This one was the biggest surprise... no make-up, just woke up photo... can still look like Eva Mendes... not too bad... but, but how come I look like black bald Dave Chappelle??!!


Why is Eddie Murphy in the line-up??!! I suspect the eyebrows...


This one I didn't expect much... me wearing the specs that made the children cry in the paediatric ward... but I'm so happy that a Lennon's in the line-up because it was John Lennon who inspired me to wear black rims back in school in the first place! :)

Official pictures

my graduation portraits, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

My graduation portraits turned out quite ok (though I looked a little pale, so I up the saturation during editing). Haven't got the family pictures yet though because we decided to have them make it into an album, which will cost a bomb! But mum said that it's something she really wants, so what the heck. So we'll be having like 10 family and personal pictures in the album.

"So who do you think will keep the album when dad and I die?" mum asked. She's always asking weird questions like these.

"Me lar, of course. It's my graduation." I answered quite immediately.

"Yalar ho." then she looked happy.

???
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I met Bebe just now! She's looking hot! And still very bubbly... didn't talk too much with her because we were shopping at Tun Jugah... promised each other to catch up soon. :)

Which reminds me, I should be organizing some gathering... June, Bebe, Angie, Jojo, Sue-Anne, Jane, Min Yen, Adeline, Raha... probably in these 2 weeks, before I start work or something.

Anyone I'm missing out??? Those not in Kuching need not apply. :)
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I also met Philip's sister, Julia at Sarawak Plaza just now. No school today for her because of the Merdeka preparation roadblocks affecting STS and SJS.

She's really such a sweet gal, always so smiley and chirpy... and very friendly too. It's funny because eventhough I'm always sooooo delighted to see her, I also feel a certain heaviness in my heart. :)

She's like my connection to Philip... you see knowing that she's around assures me constantly that Philip's not "lost" from me. If I really need to find him, I guess I would still be able to. That's how I feel.

But Philip aside, Julia has blossomed into such a pretty girl. I've been seeing her growing up. Since she was 6 or 7 (she's 16 this year)... :)
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Ooooo... at Sarawak Plaza also just now, I spotted a certain physic teacher and a certain english teacher shopping for shoes together!!! How scandalous!!!

Please anyone with clarification of the nature of their relationship, let me know. Because it's uncomfortable bumping into them together! If I know their status, then it's a little better... then I won't look too disturbed and they would see it on my face and then feel uncomfortable themselves.
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The anniversary dinner for Sr. Siena was ok. Food was good. Entertainment not so, but I'm happy to be there for her. I've mentioned before I think... she was my kindy teacher... but became a family friend ever since... so it's nice to celebrate this milestone in her life with her. She was beaming just now!

And what do you know... the priest I had a crush on for 1 week last time was also there! Better don't mention his name la. Since priests not many here... But he's looking sharp, eventhough he's spotting grey and silver hair. He was the only priest wearing his collar just now... sexy! Hehe... kidding. ;)

Just now I was trying to "hu" (suck-up) one nun because mum told me that she makes the most delicious apple pie! So I beamed her my sweetest and my most angelic smile, and gave her my utmost attention when she was talking to me. :) Hope she'll like me soon and make me some apple pies!!!
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Mum and dad lectured me in the car this morning about taking my posting thingy too lightly. They were appaled at my lack of planning and preparation for my likely relocation to KK.

"What happens if your letter arrives late, and you have to just pack and go in like 2 days? Won't you just die if you haven't prepared a single thing?"

Yeah, I guess. So tomorrow onwards, I'll start packing some of my stuff. Work clothes, stationery, my weapons, bags, sheets, etc.

That should take a couple of days.
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Bonne nuit...

What's new?

Besides the movies and the books:

(1) I have 3 huge yucky zits on my face. And I have a dinner tonight. Luckily it's a dinner for Sr. Siena, to commemorate her 25th Religious Profession Anniversary, so not expecting to spot any cute guys, unless I'm allowed to check out those with Roman collars (even that if they are under 40, with no beer bellies)

Fr. Eric, during his sermon just this Sunday, said that women are attracted to powerful men, that's why priests often have a string of admirers and often gets "tempted" by these women. Yalar, I heard of these stories (I had a crush on a priest once for 1 week), but what's the connection with the last weekend's gospel reading? Maybe there was, but I wasn't paying full attention. Hehe.

(2) Yesterday, I was being bimbotic because when I woke up in the morning, I was feeling sorry for myself because I realized that I don't look nice without make-up. No natural beauty. Because it's bothersome to wake up very early each morning, and to have to make the time to wear make-up. :( I know, I know... shouldn't complain... got 2 legs, 2 hands, 2 eyes, 1 nose and 1 mouth. Bimbo mah.

(3) Got all my forms settled. Adeline and I went to a commisioner for oaths to have our oath thingy signed. Both of us ranting about the red tapes, and how long forms are getting processed. So what's new.

(4) Oh, great news! Dad just told me while I'm writing this post... my uncle's out of surgery (postpone from yesterday) after 3 and half hours. He's stable post-surgery. Path report out on Thursday. But there was a gross mass on the kidney. Just hope it's confined within the Gerota's fascia. But I'm happy whatever the results, because it's a huge relief for the family... it's nice to see them a little lightened up.

Ok, was meaning to write a few more things but the photo studio just called to collect my graduation portraits!! Yipee!! Continue another post.

Oh, oh, forgot... I want to colour my hair! Thinking of the reds...

Have a great day people!

Looking forward to MUKHSIN

mukhsin green poster, originally uploaded by yasmin the storyteller.

After GUBRA, I'm so excited about Yasmin Ahmad's upcoming MUKHSIN! Even found this poster from Yasmin's Flickr.

Check these out:

(1) Yasmin's blog, "the storyteller"
(2) Her post about the movie, "Orked and Mukhsin"
(3) eCentral's Allan Koay's articles on the movie, "Returning Favourites" and "First Love"

Yes, Jemima, sounds like LITTLE MANHATTAN! Should be VERY interesting... :)

About GUBRA

GUBRA by Yasmin Ahmad is daring, poetic and contemporary. It made me laugh and it made me blush because some of the "embarassing" scenes reminded me of what I would say or do only in private or within the family circle or with close friends. There are certain things about ourselves, our habits and our quirks, that we don't normally make very open. It is that real and it is that down to earth.

I thought also that it was like Yasmin's "pantun nasihat" to society, especially when Orked and Alan were talking about living in a multi-racial society, and when Orked realized how lowly her husband regarded women.

Orked's family reminded me of how "pelik" my own can be, and her chemistry with Alan, especially the scene when Orked did the kickboxing bit and when they were singing in Alan's pickup, those reminded me of how I would just "let go" and be my true self when I meet kindled spirits, no matter how brief the introduction.

The pain and the hardships were also real. "Kiah" caught my attention the most. She's a prostitute, but her youthfulness and air of girly innocence touched me. I was particularly moved with the scene at the park, when she was giggling away when the ice-cream man was flirting with her. It felt strange at first, but it hit me... she has not given up on life. Life was beautiful to her.

There were a few scenes which I couldn't quite understand:
(1) What did the religious mean when he said "Not until Thursday!" to the dog he met in the middle of the road?
(2) What was it that the religious slipped into the thief's pocket? Did it mean anything?
(3) What happened to Kiah in the end when the man sneaked into her room?

I usually despise movies that don't have good endings, or at least that give me some closure... but the magic of that in this movie it leaves us room for a little reflection, or a moment of appreciation, of life and what little, but precious that we have.

My highest recommendation!

Yak, yak, yak.

I'm feeling very tired today because I slept like 4.30am this morning because I just had to finish THIS LULLABY by Sarah Dessen.

Honestly it's not that good after all (the story I mean), but I just needed to know how Remy's relationship with Dexter would turn out. I cheated by flipping to the last page, but it didn't have the answer I wanted, so I went back to where I stopped and finished it the honest way. :)

The one think I liked though was the writing style. Dessen was meticulously descriptive, so I could imagine the characters and the places in the book very well. The only thing was I couldn't put a hair colour on Remy (the book's main character) because there was no mention of it... so she had diferent hair colours in different chapters! LOL!!! But I would think she's a brunette.

Wouldn't exactly get my recommendation, this book. But I would look out for Dessen's other books next time.

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Still no news from my uncle. Hope everything goes well tomorrow.

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Church was super boring today. Ooops, was that a sin? Need confession? Talking about that, there's this talk "Why we should go to confession" this coming Wednesday. Thinking I should go because I need some answers. I don't believe in confession, and that's killing me, because I feel lousy being a Catholic who doesn't believe in confession.

Can I even be called one?

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I'm expecting my posting letter this week. I want to start working already. All the current idleness is making me stupid. Please people, pray that I get KK! My parents are thinking I should be getting KK, so they've been pestering me to make some planning on what to bring and stuff... I can't because I need confirmation!!!



The first thing I'll do when I get the letter and if I get KK, is to buy myself a nice map of KK. Those given free in the airport and Tourism Office not good enough (not updated in the case of the Sibu map I used when I was in Sibu)... saw some nice ones at that bookstore in Sarawak Plaza... the former Bell's Bookshop... what's it called now?

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I'm planning to watch GUBRA by Yasmin Ahmad tonight. And if I don't die after that, read my new book.

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The traffic jams getting to me... I'm already planning how to avoid the jam when I have to run some errands tomorrow:

1) Collect my graduation portraits (if possible, because the studio is right in the Golden Triangle)
2) Send mum to her friend's funeral, who died of bone marrow failure
3) Settle my Public Service Commission forms and sign some documents in front of Commisioner of Oaths
4) Swimming (getting fat liaw didn't swim for 2 days)

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Ok, 10.30pm liaw. It's showtime. Have a productive week ahead!

Currently reading...

I've just picked up THE BONESETTER'S DAUGHTER by Amy Tan.

Was deciding between this book and some Roald Dahl books. My sis is a fan of Dahl's. But decided to go for Amy Tan... after all I did enjoy her Joy Luck Club tremendously many, many moons ago.

Life

green road, kuching, 23 august 2006, 6.27pm, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

This is what I get to enjoy almost everyday after my swim, on the way home. It helps when I'm stuck in the traffic, especially for the past couple of days when the city's in a frenzy preparing to host the national level Independence Day celebration on the 31st of AUGUST. The traffic jam can be quite unbearable.
__________

It rained really hard in the morning before dawn and the rain persisted in drizzle right up to late morning. So the whole day was rather chilly, and not even a glimpse of the sun. The thought of swimming in what I imagined could have been icey cold water in the pool deterred me from my daily swim today.

As if the day wasn't somber enough, my family received news late evening that my uncle (my dad's older brother) was diagnosed with kidney cancer, and would require surgery to remove the left kidney on Monday.

It was extra devastating for the extended family because of 2 reasons:

1) my uncle was told by the doctors (in Singapore) 2 days ago after a battery of tests that his kidneys and bladder were fine, and were not the source of his haematuria (blood in the urine)... but because his haematuria did not improve for the subsequent 2 days, they reinvestigated him, and now they are are telling him that he has kidney cancer, and he needs a nephrectomy.

2) my uncle's a cancer survivor, diagnosed with lymphoma almost 10 years ago, which he recovered, and then he had a relapse several years back, but apparently recovered.

And now this again. Other details are fuzzy because now he's refused to receive any visitors in the hospital, and he's not answering any calls. And his wife, my aunt, is very disorientated, but being the bossy and very "datin" that she is, she driving the doctors crazy in the hospital.

I don't know how true, but my other aunt told my mum that one of the doctors even said to nurse, "Please ask somebody to bring this crazy lady shopping! I can't stand her anymore!"

How unbecoming. At least have the decency to be discreet. I know my aunt can be quite annoying, but the news is a terrible blow to her. And she paying top $$$ to that private hospital. I haven't started practising, but a little sympathy is in order? No, Doctor?

"Common sense is not so common after all", I quote one of my favourite lecturers, Dr. Pubalan.

I wasn't as affected by the news because I guess I'm immune to all these... the first thing that raced through my mind was my sessions in med school on breaking bad news... and all those role-playing sessions... when I was the doctor breaking the news to a woman diagnosed with breast cancer, and counseling a young man found to be HIV positive.

Maybe it did sort of affect me in the sense that I was searching in myself the way I should react, and searching how I should be feeling... it's hard because we learnt how to be the strong one, the saviour, the comforter, in such predicaments in med school. We learnt never to falter no matter what.

But I'm ok. I'm only worried about how I should talk or conduct myself if I meet his family. And this I imagine in my head after my uncle dies during one of the family gatherings. Eeeesh.

My mum's brother had epigastric discomfort some months back, new onset at age 60... his physician ordered endoscopy and tumour marker. He asked me why, so I explained about H. pylori, ulcers, gastritis, and worst case scenario, gastric cancer. I was doing the medical student thingy... and I apparently freaked him out, and up to now, he's stalling on the endoscopy!

I'm very disturbed about that. My mum told me that her brother's a wuss, so I should choose some of my words more wisely.

Am I soooo insensitive?

Back to my uncle with kidney cancer...

So I really at this juncture do not know what the prognosis is like for my uncle. I don't know the stage of his cancer, whether its a primary kidney tumour or his lymphoma... but I'm assuming that it's early stage because they are actually doing the nephrectomy.

Yup, papa's right... all we can do is to pray for him. Whatever the outcome, we believe he's in God's hands.

So, while it's uncertain days ahead for my uncle, life goes on for the rest of us.

These are kinda interesting...

On AskYahoo! today:

What's the difference between a nerd, a geek, and a dork?

and... got this from my Inbox:



LOL!!!

Currently reading...

I seriously need to thank my girlfriends/former schoolmates/blogging buddies/fellow nerds (ehehehe) again for the reading-frenzy that I'm going through now. It's funny that I used to read only when I was swarmed with my studies, especially nearing major exams and when when assignments were piling up on my desk. It's like an avenue out of the craziness of my life at that time, so that's why I completely abandoned reading when I graduated. So guys, thanks for reminding me of the joys of reading, once again. *hugs*


I'm halfway reading THIS LULLABY by Sarah Dessen. The first few chapters started kinda slow for me, but now into the halfway mark, I can't wait to see what Remy's going to do in college, and most importantly, whether she would ever recover from her distorted take on love and relationship which had rendered her cynical, bitter and erm, super bitchy.

Book Review

THE PHILOSOPHY FILES by Stephen Law (see info)

What I like about the book:
It's very easy to read because English is simple and writer used a lot of dialogues to make most of his points. I thought that was excellent since the issues discussed were abstract and complex. The cute and cartoony illustrations were an added bonus. It's like reading "Philosophy for Dummies"! :) Each chapter, or called "File" in this book is independent of preceeding and subsequent chapters, so read the files in no particular order.

General impression of the book:
I do feel a little more intelligent after reading the book (muahahah!!!), only because I'm not a naturally inquisitive person, so it's like a bum's comprehensive handbook to all the philosophical questions they never bothered to ask themselves. :) So I had many moments of enlightenment while reading files on "Should I eat meat?", "Does God exist?" and 'Where do right and wrong come from?". But I won't say that it has affected me. The next time I would read this book again is when I'm hypomanic. :)

Sharon's Take: Little Manhattan

Thanks to Jemima, I crossed path with this beautiful movie. See info.

I could relate to Gabe's "pain" and when he cried his heart out when he thought that Rosemary liked Tim. I could relate to Gabe's decision to not let things go unsaid, and proceeded to profess his love for Rosemary.

My favourite scene (see picture) is the holding-hands-under-the-table scene. After holding hands for a while they worked up some sweaty palms, so Rosemary pulled back her hand, and wiped her hand on her dress, and slipped her hand back into Gabe's! That moment of uncertainty for Gabe when she retracted her hand, not knowing whether she was grossed out him or whether she would let him hold her hand again, was classic! :)

Romantic movies like this would never go wrong because it's sweet, honest and it can trigger such a storm of nostalgia! Enjoy!

Currently reading...

You guys are good influence on me... I've started reading again. :)

Currently reading "The Philosophy Files" by Stephen Law
The piggy on the cover caught my attention. :) Picking different chapters to read, favourite chapters so far: "Should I eat meat?" and "Can we jump into the same river twice?". Recommended for people who love to engage in intellectual conversations, because the writer covered all angles in every argument, so you wouldn't lose in any debate. *LOL*

A day in the life of Sharon

miss jelly's favourite spot in the house, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

When Miss Jelly's not feeling very paranoid (when she prefers to hide in the store), she's guarding the telly.

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Just finished a yummy slice of apple pie! Chance purchase at Satok Mita Cake House when I was over there getting my loaf of bread for breakfast tomorrow. RM2/- for a teeny slice. Not the best apple pie I've ever tasted, but it's something after so long...

Sister Siena (yes, a nun) still makes the best apple pie in the whole wide world! She's my kindy teacher, but has become a family friend. She used to make the pies quite often for my family before she was transfered to another school in Song several years ago. But she's coming back to Kuching end of this month to celebrate her 25th anniversary in the sisterhood!

Amazing, no? 25 years of celibacy! :) And the most amazing thing is she does not look like she's aged since she taught me in kindy some 20 years ago!

That's her grace from God for being a nun... :)

Have been having breakfast at home for 3 consecutive days now because I'm worried with my parents' and their fellow retired breakfast buddies' daily kolo mee, laksa and kueh chap.

It's hard enough to lose those flabs swimming 30-40laps daily! But I'm happy because my sis (who's the least merciful critic in the house) sheepishly said that I've definitely tonned up! And even more sheepishly encouraged me to "keep working" with my exercises.

You see, I'm a staunch advocate of exercise+balance diet, while she's always switching diet pills, slimming teas, laxatives, and ridiculous diets! I've always asked her to join me for a swim or go for brisk walking, but she always declined and dismissed them as "boring".

It's hard to talk sense into her. And she's also a health care provider. She has a lot of common sense, but she's just rebellious in nature. *sigh*

Whatever I planned for my morning went down the drain because a family friend's car broke down and needed repair, so my good samaritan papa offered the friend to pick him and his wife from the workshop early morning, chauffeur them around town to do some errands, and then send them back to the workshop later in the afternoon to pick up the car.

And mum had her 2pm appointment with her rheumatologist.

So I have no transport the whole day.

I was planning to go to the hair salon with mum, then catch a movie or 2 because it's movie day, then go hunting for the 2 DVDs...

So I spent my whole day updating my digital photo albums (burning the pictures in CDs and labeling them according to dates and events), replying email, cooking and washing my bags (from my traveling the other day).

Papa came home around 4pm+, luckily, just nice for me to go for a swim at 5pm. I did 26 laps, ONLY, because the 3rd swimmer who came into my lane (mine because I got there 1st) didn't streamline very well, and brushed the lateral aspect of my abdomen, on the right side. And that made me very uncomfortable, so I finished the 26th lap and hit the showers. :(

The pools are extra crowded because of the school holidays. Lots of kids just now.

After dinner, persuaded dad to drive me to Kenyalang to check look for the 2 titles...

"Little Meng-hey-ten?" the puzzled vendor cringed his forehead as he read the title from piece of scrap paper I scribbled the 2 titles...

"Sofi Skol?"...

"Dong have. But have Little Meng!" he sounded very helpful.

"Nevermind, thanks a lot!" I said quickly before he suggested any other titles... :)

I'll try Saberkas tomorrow.

Things to do tomorrow besides going to Saberkas:
1) Wake up late! (preferably around 9.30-10am)
2) Afternoon swim (preferably 2.30-4.30pm)
3) Help write letter for Julie
4) Sort out medical books and notes for sale/donation or to burn
5) Maybe go to the hair salon, if mum's still up for it
6) Maybe blog a little
7) Maybe start reading a book... saw some colourful paperbacks on my sis' shelf in her room.

That should take my whole day. :)

I wanted to blog about my dream about Philip last night but that would be too long. Maybe another post another day.

Good night people!

Some final photos from my Miri trip

The mandatory picture of The Grand Old Lady on Canada Hill, the first ever oil well in Miri. Godpa drove mum and I up Canada Hill to the Shell Museum, but it was kinda hot so the old folks (mum, godma and godpa) didn't want to get out of the car... so I took a couple minutes to see the panaromic view of Miri City from the hill. There was also a dinosaur exhibition in the museum, but didn't go in lo.


Tanjung Lobang Beach... it could be cleaner, but the view was still breathtaking!


I take pictures like this ho, as proof to my parents that I'm where I say I am... hehe... no lar... they trust me cause I'm a vely, vely good girl. :)


I really like this artpiece at the hotel's 7th floor lounge.


Miri's hidden treasure, Marina Bay!


I should have waited for the sunset here.


Look Maman and Papa! I was at the triathlon!


*drool* Look at the water!!! Most of the triathletes, of course, did frontal crawl... but I saw a handful doing breast strokes! I was thinking that they would be left quite far behind with the breast stroke for 1.5km distance... but I guess they knew that they could make up for it in the other 2 disciplines, cycling 40km and running 10km.


Min Yen was sharing with me that most triathletes find swimming the hardest discipline to master, unless they started off with swimming before taking up triathlon. It's very easy for them to get disorientated in the water when they lose bearing, and there were cases of season triathletes drowning. But am happy to note that Min's a superb swimmer! Make that a superduper triathlete!


Cherry on the water... the turning point.


Makeshift showers... :)


Stalking the cute bald guy... ;) He reminded me so much of Philip... ehehehe!!! *drool*


I know I'm a bad photographer... I loved the ceiling and the fans so much that I didn't relized that I beheaded the crowd. But this function hall of Parkcity Everly Hotel, Miri is really something! The competition's closing ceremomy was held here... but Angie and I left half-way even before eating because it was buffet, and with the crowd it took forever to get to the food... we sneeked back into our room and watched CSI instead and ate junk food.


My flight back to Kuching! It's my first on Air Asia... not too impressed, but for the cost, it's soooo worth it! Saved me about RM100/- from taking a flight on MAS!

Tricked by the weather

waterpark, kuching, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

I missed my mandatory daily swim today because the weather was playing peek-a-boo with me. I was getting ready to leave the house for the waterpark, when suddenly the sky turned eerily dark and grey, and I could see flashes of lightning at a distance.

"MISSSISSIPPI-1, MISSISSIPPI-2, MISSISSIPPI-3, etc...."

No thunder. Each Mississippi represent the distance in mile of the lightning. If I reach Mississippi-6, for instance, and the thunder roar, then the lightning/thunder is about 6 miles away.

Not scientific ok. Just something I picked up while watching Sesame Street as a kid.

So anyways, I decided against going to the waterpark because if it's only showers, it would not be a problem, but lightning and thunder... a big NO-NO.

So instead, I took out dad's boxing gloves, and removed the chair that's supporting the punching bag, and started whacking the miserable bugger.

And then I saw the sun. Darn. And it continued to be sunny until dinner time.

But boxing's good. Worked up a sweat pretty quick.

Went shopping today! :) Finally got myself the "display unit" for my 50+ pairs of earrings. Haven't got a photo, maybe tomorrow. :) So happy!!! *dizzy* So nice to look and touch all my danggling earrings... :)

Then today 2 blogging buddies reviewed a movie each they've seen recently, Jemima found "Little Manhattan" most charming, and Brenda thought that "Sophie Scholl" was brilliant!

Both sound pretty good to me! So at least now I have a little project for these few days... to track these 2 DVDs... Saberkas tomorrow! :)

Any more good movies to recommend? I basically love heavy movies (eg. Sunshine), but I also enjoy epics (eg. Braveheart, Gladiator) and heartwarming cum comedies (eg. Secondhand Lions)... Let me know!

Can you believe that I forgot about "House" last night? Yes, very disturbing, but turned on the telly on time for "Nip/Tuck", but I didn't enjoy it very much... it's basically about the misadventures and vices of 2 plastic surgeons in private practice. Not very interesting. Maybe the 2 actors not cute enough. :)

Ok, cut short. Getting too wordy. :) Cheers people!

Sematan Palm Beach Resort

spbr, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

Was suppose to post this before I left for my road trip, but it slipped my mind.

I love this place because the beach was beautiful, and the sea was a vibrant blue! The last place where I've seen a "bluer" sea would be Pulau Redang in Terengganu back in 2002.

A small resort, it had the cutest chalets I have ever seen, each with its own name! Angie and I got the attic beds. Yipee!

And the sunset was spectacular!

Red-eye problem

bruno, uncle tine's alsatian, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

Bruno, my uncle's 1-year-old alsatian was nice enough to pose for me. It was taken at night and I thought the photo turned out quite ok, except for Bruno's flashing red eyes! My 2 photo editing programmes failed to clean it up. Went online to find any other ways to fix red-eye problems, but there's nothing I can do with my very basic photo editors (maybe I don't know how to use my Photoshop Elements to its max capability).

I could "repaint" Bruno's eyes. :) But it would look kinda scary, no?

Any tips? It's worse with animals because their pupils are more dilated than humans, even in daylight.

I'm making tomato chicken curry today. Uncle Tine's coming for dinner. Did my share of preparing dinner earlier because I'm going for a swim later at 5pm! :) So excited already!

Godma gave me her recipi for "Devil's curry", a portugese curry... it's a little tedious to prepare, but will try it out maybe next week. :)

Cheers!

Time

godma's garden, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

Tried out my Ixus 60's digital macro function on my godma's garden flowers when I was in Miri. This is my fav!

Busy the whole day chauffeuring mum around running some errands and then to the hair saloon. She had her hair dyed and set.

Because tonight she's meeting her friends from Class of '73 and some of her old teachers. After 33 years! They're having their reunion dinner at Merdeka Palace.

How cool is that?!

It will be 10 years for my batch in 2008. Seems like nothing compare to mum's 33 years! 2 of her friends have died of cancer since.

Have a great weekend!

mellow and shasha, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

Like the photo? :) The 2 doggies are my godchildren! Jojo's babies...

No water at the Stampark Waterpark this evening.

???

Pool was full of water but there wasn't a single drop in the showers/toilet/sink. So couldn't bath. So had to have dinner with family smelling of chlorin.

Apparently no water in BDC area, one of the lifeguards told me.

But had a great swim! Swam between 6.30-7.30pm, so water was little cooler than the usual 5-6pm period.

Let's pray for downpour tomorrow in the whole of Sarawak (and where ever it's needed)! Happy weekend!

The Kutien Garden Series

kutien garden, sibu, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

Imagine getting proposed here... :)

Another source of haze!

angie burning joss sticks, tua pek kong, bintulu, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

ANGIE!!!

No lar... just kidding Angie... muahahaha!

Swimming in the haze

sarawak international triathlon 2006 flag-off, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

Not the wisest thing to do in the world, but I went for a quick swim yesterday evening, yes in the haze. *oops* A little disappointed because the water was hottish warm. Was hoping for a refreshing dip.

Going to KMC later to see whether the water would be cooler... :)

I was drooling went I saw the triathletes swimming in the beautiful Marina Bay on Sunday during the competition's flag-off. (See picture above)

Now one of my life's dreams is to compete in a triathlon! First to figure out how to make my body run a marathon. Swimming I can do. Cycling no problem. But running... that's a BIG problem. I stopped running back in like Form 2?

Try to stay indoors during the haze

hazy airport road at 5.30pm, 16 august, kuching, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

I know I should avoid outdoors as much as possible because of the haze, but I think I need to go for a swim. The heat's getting to me.

Miri

tanjung lobang beach, miri, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

Was telling mum that I won't mind working and living in Miri. It's a beautiful city, and most importantly, it's seaside!

Mum not very impress with the heat and gushes of wind, and the distance from Lutong Baru (where we were staying with my godma and godpa) with city central.

But I don't mind. Compare driving 40mins to Santubong beach and 10mins to Tanjung Lobang beach! :)

Food's ok, no kompiah though. ;) More people speak hokkien. Easy to get around. Shopping's a tad better than Kuching. :)

And I know someone's there. :)

"Resort" Church

"Mater dei" means "Mother of God" in latin. Located in Lutong, Miri, this beautiful church looked like a resort at first glance.

We attended feast of Assumption mass on Tuesday evening. Mary was brought up to heaven, body and soul on Assumption.