Heaven Is Pretty Close to Earth

070504: May was such an active month full of events; and this Bukit Tabur climb was part of that month’s activities. I only have time to blog it now. But better be late than not capturing it.

We had been planning this for a couple of weeks but the weather was not accommodating. At first attempt, one of our kakis who stayed the furthest (LJune), woke up at 5am disappointed by the rain. The night before Bel claimed that she was so excited she packed such a complete kit she would look like a professional climber. Few days prior to this KW even bought himself a new pair of tracking shoes. Phew… and the list goes on and on with every climber psyched themselves up nicely for this day. Damn, it had to be postponed.

Then, came the second attempt. The night before, I was so paranoid I went into the Government’s weather forecast site. And guess what? It showed ‘Rain’ again in the coming wee morning. ‘Damn’, I thought. I couldn’t take my heart to relay this sad news to the rest. Quietly, I went to sleep with all my ten fingers (and toes) crossed X_X, hoping that the Government keeps to its general trend of contradicting itself.

At 5am I woke up without any alarm, and to my surprise, it was all CLEAR! All preparation work was neat and complete. Most of us had to gather at my house as mine is the most strategic one. I even drew a map. The only tiny hiccup was LJune took a wrong turn, not because she’s like all-the-ladies-who-can’t-read-map (ouch, I’m gonna get spanked for this), but because she didn’t print the full page of my map!! Ouch, this is classic.

Oh, another tiny incident. Trista came last. As we were so excited, different people directed her to different cars. As it was also still dark (in the morning), the 2 cars zoomed away without getting her onboard! Luckily I realized, ‘huh… did Trista climb into that car??’. What another classic!

Anyway at slightly more than 6am we managed to gather and began our climb with all exciting juice over-flowing…

Beautiful KL skyline at dawn
The other side of the hill
Breaking of the day
Shiny lake backdrop
It doesn't look real, does it??

Group spirit

Half-way through was already heavenly

Buddies shining along the bright light

It is real climb! Not a walk in the park. And bare hands too!

The most dangerous part.

You can't imagine the lower part of this photo. It's an empty space all the way down.

Giving support so that they don't swing to the right, like in previous photo

Most dangerous ledge. Left and right is empty all the way down again!

Sigh of relief

It does look like a world of fantasy

Three fighters

Down to earth

Flexing muscle

Flexing joy

At 11am, we were a bunch of hungry wolves. What a beautiful brunch at nearby Batu Caves. You can't ask for more at that time. *Gulping*

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Despite the tough work, we never really complained. In fact, for some of us, this is the second time climbing. For Norman, he has scaled it numerous times. The view and the air were more than enough to persuade us to wake up at 5am. Heaven is indeed close, if we work hard enough.

When Is World Environment Day huh??

One of the days in last week was World Environment Day. And I’m getting very much disturbed with the fact that of all the nice and earthly citizens who are putting in so much effort to conserve and preserve, none of the World leaders are actually giving any shit towards this.

Looking at the natural disasters which hit us so frequently in the past recent years, and looking at last night’s simple flash flood hit a common city like KL without any warnings, it’s so sad that some of these leaders are actually wearing a sympathetic mask announcing their dismay, but refusing to work towards effort like the Kyoto’s Treaty. We don’t even know whether treaty like this would help significantly, but for goodness sake, if we shut off effort like this altogether, we are likely to live short enough to see enough destruction and suffering on this planet. Does it take their own family to go through a typhoon in order to realize what comes out from their tiny mouths means a great deal to many people?? I just wonder why the lives of so many people are at the mercy of these few leaders. Are they trying to prove that their short-term economic benefits would prevail over preservation of mankind? I just hope soon enough that the World Environment Day does not fall on a single day, it should be abolished. As a citizen of this Earth, we should treat it as a habit to preserve, instead of ‘a day of reminder’.

I’ve been doing my part (since young), not to waste food in my own plate. I would be very sick to see innocent food thrown away while so many unfortunate beings beg for a single grain. Not only do I finish mine, I would even help others to finish theirs. It's a habit cultivated through Mom. It may not be enough still, but I’m putting in more - writing this blog is another one.
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Purple Cadbury celebrates Green Day too

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Excerpt from our Management's recent memo which I think worths every thought to be updated in this post:

"Our planet faces potentially devastating social and economic consequences. If no action is taken by governments or business there is more than a 75% chance of global temperatures rising between 2-3C over the next 50 years, with water shortage likely to be one of the first and most tangible consequences. Extreme weather is forecast to reduce global GDP by 1%, global economic output by up to 10%, and global consumption per head by up to 20% by 2050"

What’s for Breakfast?

7:00 am:: wake up, wash up, poo poo
7:30 am:: iron my shirt (urgh), dress up
8:00 am:: jam, jam, jam (urrrrgh), jam, jam, jam
8:20 am:: petrol mart – newspaper, coffee / juice / soyamilk & ‘breakfast’
8:50 am:: late to work

With such hectic morning beating jam, crazy motorists, and stupid road systems, I just wonder what do people eat for breakfast. For me, an ideal one is a bowl of hot soup noodles for easy digestion. But of course this won’t be possible with such timing. Most of the time I would end up at the nearby petrol mart, contemplating between the healthy but boring sandwich, or the tempting but oily peanut butter & jam donut. Yeah, I have great cravings for anything with peanut butter.

Recently I found the perfect solution in Tiger biscuit’s version of peanut butter, plus a little chocolate cream for the extra oomph! It’s pretty crispy and fresh, and not oily like most of the similar biscuits in the market. Just like eating Oreo’s, I love separating the joint biscuits and taste one side at a time, hmm… still keeping in touch with the child side in me. That’s for breakfast, until there is something interesting.

Counting My Blessings at 31st

Stepping into the 30s is not something many of us would love to look forward to. Last year’s burden lifted, comes a heavier one this year. We seem to be trapped in this never-ending quest to succeed. Just when would success be accepted as the ultimate one? Just when would we stop; beside the ‘obvious’?

It reminds me of this beautiful song frequently played during the ‘warming-down’ session of BodyPump (at gym) – ‘Chasing Cars’, by Snow Patrol [for the benefit of those who do not know what is BodyPump, it is simply a trademark workout session where participants in this class train each major part of the body by lifting weights, following the rhythm of some very cool songs].

Back to the song, the lyrics says a bit of my life now. I am like chasing cars all the time. When would I really lie down (but not fall asleep) and forget about the world? We, the gym buddies love this session so much. Right after a tiring workout, we’d be catching our breath, the light would dim, and we’d lay there imagining stars on the ceiling, and stop chasing cars for a minute.

I’m lying down now… I’m stopping the world for a bit longer, and start counting my blessings. What do I feel? I feel that…

… I’m blessed with so many good buddies that I
love from top to down, front to back, side to side, & inside out!

But I still can’t possibly cover all the important ‘parts’ they play, in my life.

This post is definitely dedicated to them, who have spent very meaningful time with me, especially during these few birthday sessions. Turning 31st is easier to swallow with them around....


Pt #1: 070504 - Spicy Szechuan Steamboat w Goodie Choco Buddies


Very hot & spicy steamboat




Pt #2: 070510 - Exotic Korean w Healthy Gym Buddies

Korean Spread

Why the anxious look??

Juicy silkworm stew!!! ###
Had a few mouthfuls!!

ThanXxX for the gift!!!

Pt #3: 070511 - Dim Sum Lunch & Office Bunch

My sexy present - lucky me!
Giving her a blow-job
Free tatoo, courtesy of 2 pretty artists

Pt #4: 070511 - Happy Hour @ Q-Bar w Choco 'Check-it-check-it' Buddies

quiet n peaceful at 8pm
artist

1 of the cocktails - Illusion is the best!

Pt #5: 070511 - 2nd Happening Session @ Passion w Outdoor Gang

second session at midnight

the glasses that filled our drinks

Pt #6: 070512 - Jungle Dinner & Temple Visit w Skool Buddies & Outdoor Gang

Kampung & back-to-nature feel
karaoke?!!

Tigers in the jungle

beautiful temple in Broga

the dragon babies

into the Tiger

Thanks to all Buddies for these few sessions... really appreciate it... there's nothing more I can ask for. Many happy returns to each & everyone here. You guys make the earth a warmer place (but not giving it a greenhouse effect :-). I am blessed!

Breathe and Thou Shalt Taste the Goodness in Life

070522: My Buddy asked, “Hey… long time no blog??”, and I thought ‘oh yeah, it has been 3 weeks already since my last post’. The fact is, these couple of weeks had been hectic day-to-day. I only had time to live those days, but not much time to take a breather and reflect. You know how some of those days go; when you wish it’d be just a ‘seasonal’ trend. Otherwise what meaning has life got?

In these short couple of weeks I had megabytes and megabytes of photos from events here and there, which I wish I could find my prudent strength to filter and blog them.

But this simple post deserves to be dedicated to this Buddy who somehow reminded me to breathe during our short chat at 5:51pm. And from this simple concept, we somehow ended up at her place, dressed in comfy home clothes, with the following items on the table:

1) a bottle of Chilean Carmenere
2) a tiny tub of blue cheese
3) a bag of assorted breads – mixture of wholemeal, sunflower seeds, hard, soft, etc etc
4) many packs of single-served Irish butter
5) a bunch of celery
6) a bottle of Dijonnaise
7) a pot of home-cooked organic, vegetarian, light tom yam pan mee

All the breads tasted good and fluffy, and went well with the beautiful Irish butter. Buddy indulged quite a bit of those. Celery is no doubt best paired with my favourite rare Dijonnaise sauce. We didn’t have time for the Carmenere, but did spread some foul-smelling blue cheese on our tongues – ‘yucks’ to ‘yummMM’.

But of course the highlight was Item 7). I have not tasted home-cooked food (other than my Mom’s) for a long time. She was not too happy with how her pan mee turned soggy-looking after I was, er, (opps, now that I count) 45 minutes late!! Ouchh… But frankly, it tasted GOOD! It was a light tom yam soup with some vege, tau foo pok and eggs – well-balanced and easy on the tummy. I think I could take 2 pots without feeling bloated. This review should take her to a beautiful sleep (without any unnecessary dreams, haha).

You just wonder how a little breather can let you taste all the goodness in life…. *ThanX Buddy & Thank GOD for all the fine foods on earth*