Once upon a Summer's Day

[caption id="attachment_370" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="Lavenders in Kaikoura"][/caption]

Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can.”
― Alice Hoffman, Practical Magic

In Living Colour

There are many kinds of friends and people that I have in my life. There are those who are my best friends for life-till-death do us part kinds, those after work coffee buddies whom I meet once in a while to de-stress and rant about the office, and then there are those who hold a cameo role, appearing rarely but nonetheless, making their presence known and heard.

I have a few of these people in my life. I see them very rarely, but during those rare moments, they have never failed to make me either stare in amazement, cringe, roll my eyes or secretly wish I can stab them-repeatedly.

I have a friend, whom I’ve known since we were 15. Whenever I cut school, I would go over to her house to hide out and we would listen to Feminin (yes, they were the rage back then if you must know) and talk about the boys at school. We were so close that if we aren’t together, we will be hanging on the phone…sometimes not even talking. Just holding on to the phone, listening at nothing at would only start to talk if there was something that  crossed our minds.  But school life ended and we parted ways. Me to UPM and she chased her dream of becoming a singer. Well, we’re still friends now but not as close as we used to be. We talk, meet up once in a while and exchange life stories.

So I texted her a few weeks back. Asking her how she is, since she just went through another breakup to which I had spent countless and endless hours of texting, trying to calm her down.  My “Hi babe, how’s it going? Are you ok?” was met with a short reply – “Hey, check out my video yah? (insert video link here)”

Hmmm…okay…what is this? A game of Blue’s Clues? Find the clues in this video to get your answer ;-)

Or did she just confuse me as being one of her fans? Maybe I should’ve asked for her autograph.

And then, there is this guy. Who I rarely see. Very interesting character and perhaps well on his way of being sued for sexual harassment one of these day.

His idea of breakfast talk is “you hebat tak di ranjang?”

And I splutter hot tea all over the table. Who ever uses the word ranjang anymore these days?

Oh, and he gave me the middle-finger as he sped away in his brand new mini cooper as I stood waiting for a bus late one evening.

Pgthggshhhjkss…..

The girl I wrote about some time ago also made a comeback. Remember her?

I was in my car one morning, idling and warming up the engine. I saw her driving past in her black MyVi. I looked down, hoping she didn’t see me and quickly shifted the gear, wanting to drive away JUST in case she saw me.

She did. And what were the odds of that happening to me?

She made a U-turn.

Drove up to the side of my car, rolled her windows down and asked

“Kau ni bila nak kahwin ni? Umur dah berapa”

I'm beginning to wonder what is with her and her obsession with my status?

Yes hi, Good Morning. Kau sihat? Dari mana ni pagi-pagi? Oh..hantar anak pergi sekolah. Besar dah anak kau… Ok lah bye

Shoot, I wish I had given a better comeback. At least she skipped the weight issue this time around. Thank god.

Well, whoever they are, and for whatever reason they exist in my life, I just realised that they add colour to it. Yes, I admit annoyance was the initial feeling but when I sat down, and thought about it, I found myself smiling and chuckling.

I think I can still handle those bizarre once-in-a-blue happenings.

They are who they are. And I am who I am.

Looking back and moving on

I’ve deleted a few lines and a number of words as I attempt to breathe life back onto this small space of mine. I sat staring at the monitor, watching the predictable rhythm of the cursor as it blinks, thinking of how I can recap 2011 in twenty words or less or more. Perhaps more.

Emotionally, 2011 was a stable year. No major heartaches or heartbreaks but also not a single date. But I think I was ok with that. I’ll consider 2011 as a buffer year from the years of mis-match making attempts by friends and family. Nonetheless, I still believe in the age-old of happily ever afters. I am Cinta, after all.

I survived the moving office to Putrajaya, got used to the long commute and sometimes long drive between home and the new office. I finally got my diploma in translation and managed to whizz past my first semester with the assignments and endless presentations and exam as a post graduate student in University Malaya. Not too bad I say, though there were times when I think I forgot to breathe.

2011 was also a good year as I was fortunate enough to have the means to travel to New Zealand’s South Island, twice in the same year. I hopped in a car armed with a GPS and guide books and drove the width and breadth of the country. I hiked through a mossy forest, saw the seals in Kaikoura, inhaled the sweet scents of lavender, listened to the sounds of nature at the Pancake Rock Blowholes in Punakaiki, stared in amazement at the glaciers in St. Josef and watched my own reflection at the lake in Wanaka. I was in Christchurch a week before the big earthquake in February happened and came back a few months later. I saw how beautiful and busy the city was before and witnessed the eerie silence of the city after. Christchurch will never be the same again. I counted my blessings at the greatness of Allah the almighty.

I was and am lucky to have friends who so willingly handed over a paid luxury holiday at the Pimalai Resorts in Krabi, spending three days experiencing what it was like living a life of the privileged. I couldn’t thank them enough.

I shrieked with shared happiness as a friend landed a job in Dubai, and another found her other half and soul mate. Wedding bells soon to be ringing and a trip to Dubai must be planned.

I also learned how to bake a cheesecake from scratch and met a lot of new people. In real life or virtual from this blog of mine.

Most importantly though, I welcomed my first niece into the world early in 2011. She’s a bundle of joy a ray of sunshine for the whole family. I couldn’t ask for more.

But it wasn’t all smiles last year. Of course there were those moments of gloom. But lets not dwell on that.

The only regret I have of last year is that I didn’t write often.

What will 2012 bring?

Only the best that life has to offer…. And maybe my other half. 

Oh, and happy new year to you. This will be great year for us. You and me.