self check

Is it the last day of October already?!

how time dashes by in a blink of an eye.  gosh, it is ridiculous. (tsk tsk tsk) :P

But i'm glad the whole month did not dissapoint.

not going to say much to elaborate on my previous post - just that everything was oh-so FABulous!!
The stand ups, the musical, the weddings.

Oh, last night's wedding dinner was almost perfect. Jap Buffet in Shangri La - so delicious! i can still taste the Oyster in my mouth (oh.. yuk), the passion fruit/mango desert. what was that?! i want to have it somemoooooore. and her dress... so simple, yet so elegant. (thank god there was NO slide show with a corny background theme song.). Sham and i burst out laughing in the middle of the previous wedding lunch (2 weddings this month, remember) when we heard the slide show's music (which went on and on and on throughout the reception) playing for the upteenth time that day.    Note: get good DJ/ more then 5 songs in playlist/no slide shows on auto play mode, please!

... self check.

yikes.
OK. i must confess - i HAVE been mentally taking notes.
from the dress, to the food, to the venue, the setting, the music, the photography, the guest list, the speech .. oh my goodness even to the color of the napkin.

i AM freaking myself out.

i wonder whether he does it too?
:P

bye bye October 2010.

Hello, November!!

to Laugh Out Loud

i knew October was going to be good. and it seems like it's getting better and better...

kicked off 4th October with winning my first Security for Costs hearing. Sure, a "mere interlocutory application" some would say.. but to face a senior lawyer (6 years seniority), topped with undue pressure from Boss - "Shobana, we can't lose this".. "you sure you can handle this, on your own??" [edit: OK la. let's not dramatize - 'twas not "undue", i know.. ;) ] and then to finally kicking ass before the Registrar and winning the application ... was aaawwesome! :) oh, did i say i was 5 days short from my first year mark in the profession that day?

wookeeyyy... all this boasting is giving me a heartburn.

But yeah, October is going to be good.

Watched Eat  Pray Love last night (as predicted, i loved it). but that's not my point - on the way to the cinema from work to watch the movie - i won 2 tickets to the coolest stage performance ever!

Kings & Queen Comedy Asia!
- cloud nine, thinking that i'll be watching Harith Iskandar, Douglas Lim and Kumar all on one stage. Vek's gonna be soooooooo happy ;)

Thanked my lucky star when FlyFm rang me up after my first sms. one sms! damn lucky. had to laugh out loud like a moron on national radio to win them tix - but it was all worth it. i love radio contests! i love the month of October!

and oh, Pluck's in town! catching them with mum, sis and Vek next Fri. Mum managed to book tix on time (way to go, mummy).

not to forget 2 blessed occasions. . family friends' kids getting married next weekend and the weekend after. (granted, i'm more concerned of the wonderful dinners, and of course - to have a reason to dress up :P ) LOL.

Octoberrrrr... a wonderful crescendo to my more anticipated November.

blessed.

just one day was all i need

There are times when one just wishes that she'd be able to go back in time - not in the regretful sense - but to literally be thrown back at days where things are much more simpler, where speed is only as fast as a bicycle going full speed, when our grandparents are in their younger days, when cars are only owned by the very few who can afford such luxuries.

Time really seemed to have stood still in Penang town that Sunday morning. i didn't hear honking of cars. i breathed in clean air. i sat at kopitiams with Vivek sipping kopi-o from an uncle making kopi from his stall under a giant umbrella.

Thankful for the fact that the lil island is one of Malaysia's UNESCO Heritage sites, i can't imagine what would have happened to the beutiful old buildings built so very long ago before the colonisation, long before World War II if not for the shield UNESCO provided for the island.

so i sat back and soaked everything in. it felt wonderful cos, time really felt like it stood still that Sunday.

the end of an era

let's state the obvious - my blog has been sleeping for the longest time ever. in fact, until today, it was in a comatose stage, almost dead to the world.

naturally, after more then 2 months, you can expect alot to happen. and i'm not just talking about myself.. oh, of course, i'm talking about myself. after going around Europe for 5 weeks, i've graduated from the Bar. i've uprooted myself from London. i've spent quality time with loved ones. i'm STILL spending quality time with loved ones. i've enrolled for driving lessons. i've applied for jobs in KL law firms. i've recieved calls for interviews. i'm home... i'm finally Home.

it almost feels like i'm starting a new chapter once again.

a new beginning.

as if a new era is dawning.

and i can't wait for it to start.

wheee... it's wii!

i've found my fav past time, when i finally got my hands on Wii.
for all the non geeks, Wii's not a Korean/Chinese dude.. i'm talking about the world's best toy, in my book..

it's soooo smart!

i played tennis like a real pro (with actual racket movement - you can even feel the "racket" vibrate when it hits the virtual ball), swim laps, and run.. with your hands.

so, so, so cool.

and Ruey's even more cool to have bought it a day before his birthday party, and let us ceremoniously de-virginized his numchuks and console. hahaha...

oh, i love you, wii!

everyone tells me it's much cheaper back home. i need more confirmation, because i want oone tooo!

FYI, playing wii, olympic games, for hours that day caused ALL of us sore arms... talk about a good work out, eh ;)

hail-le-lu-jah!

i was going craaaaazy.. being cooped up in my room for so long, trying to remember everything on Criminal Litigation. the Big day is only but on the 28th..

was about to screeeeaaaaam senseless from going thru this long, tiring, non stop ordeal.. when suddenly..


i HEARD it

went to the window.. and screeeeeaaaamed... "SNOooOooOOOWW!!""

of all the little things i knew about snow, i somehow knew this wasn't right. it isn't suppose to sound like that, is it? nor am i suppose to actually hear it, am i?


is snow suppose to look like that? they felt like someone crushed ice and sprinkled them from the sky..



ok, so if you've seen snow before, you would've figured out by now, that this is most definitely NOT snow. but i've NEVER seen snow, and to see crystal like tiny particles falling from the sky on a less then 4 degree celcius day was so fascinating!

i made myself believe it was snow..

but "snow" lasted less then 10 min.


then half an hour later it showered again..

the... hailstorm (may as well call it right), came hailing down mixed in a light drizzle of rain.
All that and the cold temperature didn't stop us from going outdoors.

all the commotion lasted for, again, another less then 10 min.

then.. like "hope" during my desperate moment, the sun came peeking out from the sky. a burst of sunshine warmed up the streets, poured in its goodness into the room.

so beautiful!

changed my mood a 360°...

krrrriiiingg....

last day of Term 2..

this is my Large Group a.k.a Lecture

the beginning of easter "holiday", the beginning of assesment month.

Miss Catherine Hill is telling us about points we should bare in mind when we carry out conference with our clients... and i hear "buzzbuzzzbuzzz... pet peeves..buzzbuzz.. in 25 minutes.. buzzbuzz..." nothing's going in my head. and i should stop before i start typing out what she says verbatim here on this entry. but hey, why not?? no, i shouldn't.. i can't keep up. she speaks as fast as the tapping that girl in front is doing with her pen.. annoying. stop it! the girl, i mean.. not catherine.. catherine's funny.. she wore jeans to the lecture that day, and apologized everyone, cos she actually forgot she had class... yea.. catherine's cool.

Etmoni's giving me the look.

ok, pay attention to Catherine Hill.

five min.. and i'm staring blankly at my juice. i carelessly left my water bottle at home today. so i had to fork out unnecessary money at Starbucks for this lil bottle...

hmm.. interesting bottle..

the lime juice was good, tho..

yes, it is the last day of term 2.. term 3 starts in April.. and then there'll be May.. and then i'm done. wow!

i'm going to miss my Large Group.. term 3 starts of with a new tutorial of 12 blokes and new Large Groups Lectures.. will be getting to know everyone all over again. well, not EVERYONE... cos i learnt that i know 4 future classmates already. and thanks to the popular choice of subjects, all 4 of em are Malaysian buddies... weeeeehpeeee... (hey, everbody is click-ish, k. i have a right to rejoice)

i must apologise for my long absentism. it has been busy busy busy... and monotonous at the same time. busy monotonous.. hmmm...

i know some of ya'll will beg to differ if you've seen my recent facebook pictures..damn tagging! but, mind you, that was last night and it was after sooooo long.

i still dont have a life.

edit: this entry was written partly in class on the 27th of Feb..

more to come, i hope... back to the books!

will think of more stuff to write about. will entertain questions.. cheers to all!

oh, boy

if you're wondering whether this is a scene from one of the zombie movies (think: Shawn of the Dead) - you're wrong. but i won't blame you...

it was 10.30 p.m., at Waterloo. there were HUNDREDS walking in one direction, for kilometres, heading towards

the mothership.

It was New Year's Eve. and london's fireworks were apparently the BEST way to usher in the new year (if you don't have - a family to celebrate with/enough cash and time and energy to spend in a club/ invitation to a really cool and hip in house party...) ok, so it's not really the BEST way to usher in the new year.. But, how can u possibly explain the CROWD.

this really beat boxing day hands down. we practically crawled our way thru - blindly - the very moment we stepped out of the tube station. just followed the loud "new year music" in the distance.. to find ourselves getting sandwhiched even more in the crowd. everyone was just standing around waiting for the countdown in front of the London Eye. apparently the Thames riverbank was jam packed with people as well. whole of london is obviously awake.. i have never ever seen so many people in my life.

then it started -

London Eye Exploded with a spectacular display of fireworks...

believe it or not, we were on the "wrong side" of the river.. there wasn't a proper countdown.. the next thing we knew, the Big Ben started striking twelve, and simultaneously, fireworks erupted. caught off guard

what an experience, tho!

u can only imagine what happened after the fireworks ended. we crawled our way thru back to the nearest tube - duh.. that took, say, about an hour?

london eye bursting in flames... whoever took this was smart enough to be on the right side of the Thames, got there real early, and had a really handy cam corder (just to state the obvious). oh, he was smart to post it on you tube so quickly too...

Happy 2008, everyone!
luck in keeping them resolutions this time...

mecca

shopper's mecca - it is said - is none other then Oxford Street in London.

Oxford Street on Boxing Day therefore, is very much equivalent to the annual pilgrimage in Mecca during Dhul Hijjah.

it felt like it.
i was there.

it was madness! it was equally bad IN the shops.. shopping that day really require superhuman strength and concentration. no wonder i didn't manage to get anything "spectacular". *sulk* a friend of mine got a pair of Gap Jeans for ten pounds (so her Facebook status read). oh well, i have enough jeans anyways *self comfort*

strangely that day, amidst the throng of people, a small seperate procession was going on. the saree and vesti clad (yes, u read it right) group marched against the crowd chanting and clapping to om, hare krishna... much to everyone's amusement.

the Routmaster. oxford Circus.

the junction where the christmas lights on Oxford Street began. squint and you'll notice the Enchanted Themed lightings in between the buildings.

fancy a chandeliar in the middle of the road?
why not?

Debenham's Christmas Deco. like golden threads

child's play

more christmas lights

so this i guess is how i end my christmas entries... wish i could say i saved the best for last, but no.. it isn't. the best entry i would be able to write would be one on SomersetHouse's Ice Skating Rink - opened only during christmas hols. we missed that trip. and how it'll look will only be limited to what we can see on the website.

but to end on a good note, most importantly, a merry christmas it was, i must say.

and a very merry christmas to all, i'm to wish... till here for now, from me you hear

christmas blessings

christmas was unplanned and spontaneous.

happens when u suddenly fall sick on the eve of christmas, with high fever and diarhoea to boot. so due to such misfortune, i had to cancel xmas lunch at Ah Soo's. which was a shame cos it was something i was looking forward to since the invitation itself. mainly to see what tht fella can cook for lunch, since he's the main and ONLY chef for the day.

with me calling sick, Deepak and Deepa refused to go anywhere as well (i love them so for caring for me so much tht way), and decided to have our very own xmas party.

i was as fit as a fiddle on the 25th of December. whoopee! with that and knowing we were to have our very first christmas together, christmas joy couldn't feel any better.

we exchanged gifts. and we took photos.

counting my blessings, i can't imagine how my stay in london would've been without them two. it's such comfort knowing everyday that there'd be someone to listen to you if your day had been low, or that there'll be someone to share your peak moments on days when you're happy. it's more then the mere thought of having someone else under the same roof with you. They give my days reasons to have a smile plastered on my face, and the very often face ache due to excessive laughing. Deepak's my punching bag. Deepa my comrade. But when Deepa and i become the butt of the joke, it gets even funnier. it such a comfort living together!

especially on christmas day in london, where annually, there'd be a blanket shut down of public trasport (busses, trams, rails, tubes..), having the Dee's at home, sacrificing their christmas' sleepovers and lunches for their invalid housemate is just the ultimate blessing anyone can get.

counting down to christmas

nothing beats being caught up in the christmas atmosphere. it's everywhere here - the air you breath, the sights you see, the sounds you hear, everything you read. even the weather seems really fitting. Brrrrr....

i'm suffering from an acute sense of mixed feelings. the holiday season is upon us - and all i want to do is have as much fun and adventure as possible, naturally. it's just too bad that in January, Uni reopens with a string of Assessments to accomplish

not letting that dampen the christmas spirit, i have had my agenda planned out.

It started with my quest to visit the Christmas Markets in London. never really had the chance when the markets started on the 1st week of December. so you can imagine my luck and joy when old childhood buddies Wai Chia and Wai Peng decided to do some shopping for thier mum, and called me along

they brought me to the best market i've ever been in. nothing like the pasar malam's you'll find back home nor your ordinary market with weird smell that make your nose cringe and automatically stop functioning. Borough Market (as it has been called for ages and ages - 250 yrs to be exact -at London Bridge) is simply unique. now which market have u ever done "window shopping before"?.. i raise my hand to answer

first aroma that hit me when wai chia led me to the cobble-stoned pavement (ooh, how classic) was the indistinguishable smell of ... Cheeese, even before my eyes could catch hold of any. and when they did.. my mouth started to salivate. it was like heaven - cheese heaven.

there was a particular queue leading to a stall with hot steam and even stronger cheesy aroma -

what the man did was to heat up the top layer of a thick slab of cheese - look at that thick block!-then...
scraped the whoooole melted layer onto a plate with steamed pickles and tomato. ooooooooh!


"you shouldn't have had lunch before coming", waichia said.


now u tell me.


The sight was unbelievable.

mulled wine - which is sooo delicious (fruity and herby and warm and nice); neatly arranged pastries, pies, handmade jams - handmade, how much more traditional can you get; chocolates, sold in huge wooden tubs. never have i seen so much chocolate in such a small space of area before.. yummmm... fruits, pumpkin, turkey, partridge, pork, beef, stuffed meat, stufed pork, sausages of he weirdest sizes.... soooo many. it was like being in a totally new land.

someone once told me you can't find anything traditional in london. i wish that someone reads this and swallow his/her words back. he/she is so wrong.. it really can't get anymore traditional then this. lovely, lovely, lovely

speaking of chocolates - check out the price of winter truffles... :S

wai chia and wai peng

mother of all pumpkins!

on a slightly different topic,

wednesday marked the last week of term - and what better way to celebrate it with music and alcohol/coke *ahem*, at the basement of one happening club. i love london clubs! correction: i love my first london club experience - at TigerTiger. love the music - DJ played jacko's BillyJean, Queen, The Wonders, to songs like The Way I Are (nod, nod) to (lol, i can't believe this song followed me) Umbrella - girls the song made me miss you :( .. arms on another's shoulders when george michael's Last Christmas came up.. awwww.... wat a mix!

when they say Law school kids can party, they really meant we can parttaay!


Deeps and i decided to spruce things up among our college mates with reindeer antlers. and they were a hit! i can't remember how many times they changed heads :P

Today - we're at Stocksfield - a beautiful village in newcastle!! it's freezing, but the frost makes everything look so pretty.




YinSoon, Lord of Beggars Roost Mansion decided to (has no choice but to, rather) play host for us.. and when i say "mansion" i mean it literally.


The lack of sleep thruout our 6 hour journey from 11.30 pm last night is taking a toll on me now...

look fwd to the continuing posts on this 2nd newcastle adventure of mine very soon- Christmas, here i come!

*first frost*

I have 2 hours before I should crawl under the duvet and call it a night. But, I still have one more assignment to finish. And it seems like it’s taking forever.. should I just pack it and call it a night anyways?

Opinion Writing is such a bore. I have writer’s block, and I can’t seem to find the right words to explain the Instructing Solicitors whether or not “Mr. Shields” can be compensated by “Merryweather Ltd.” for his personal injuries.. Strangely ‘tho, I find myself having the urge to write something for the blog. Writer’s block can be selective.

so here i am, in Words.

This weekend was really really laid back and relaxing (despite not finishing my homework – problem with having one week deadline). Nothing in the agenda this weekend. Nothing was planned. Deeps and I had set foot outside our house for an amazing total of one hour throughout the weekend... not bad. You can say we were practically hibernating. Can’t blame us – it’s the weather.. so berry berry cold, and the internal heater is the only thing that concerns you at times like this. I shudder to think about how we’re to survive December and January.

Last Thursday, the temperature hit its lowest since we got here. Freak weather, I think. 0°C. My first ever “suhu beku”.. hehehe… it was no wonder that, on Friday morning, Deeps and I had a pleasant surprise (Deepak missed all the fun due to his court visit)…

Deeps was making breakfast, when I heard her say, “Oh my gawd, ShoOoooO….!”

She was staring out of our kitchen window into our backyard…
And there they were, lil’ bit here and there on the ground -

Our first frost.

Laugh all you want, if you find this funny. But the both of us were honestly, very excited. Like I said, it’s my (our) first time. And technically, I think it’s the first frost for the season.. at least for our backyard, that is.

We actually tried taking shots of our warm breath in the cold.. (if they were watching, neighbors proly think we’re mad). My camera couldn’t really capture it well. With hindsight, I think I should’ve tried using Macro mode. I dunno. Would that work?

Neighbor’s tree is totally bald now. I regret not taking its picture when it had leaves for a more effective before and after shot. Till spring comes…

Color me blue

Our backyard. Self timer. We posed. Fullstop.