love & other drugs

Day 3

2012-01-15T13:29:00.001+08:00

5/8/11

This morning we woke up early, had our devotion and continued painting the house. When we were done, we had congee for breakfast then washed up and brushed our teeth. I don’t quite remember why we did it in this order. Today, Aunty Chat told us that we were free to do whatever we wanted. So, Frankie being the Starbucks junkie wanted to go to Paragon, which is one of the uptown malls. Jo and I were more interested to go to Platinum, a mall with wholesales but Paragon took the day.

In Paragon, everything felt really grand. Frankie works in Starbucks back in Penang and he wanted to try his luck if he could get a discount on his coffee with his staff card, even when we were in a different country. We were so close until the manager came over and verified his card! We sat down for coffee and bagel, which Jo misread the menu and felt totally ripped off. Just sitting down & looking around, I noticed that Thai people are much more fashion forward than we are. Which made me feel underdressed since I did not come for this purpose.

We walked to the center of Paragon and there was this beautiful beautiful bouquets, arrangement and hives of flowers! It was so breathtaking, even more when there was this 4 piece band playing light jazz music right there. I sat down beside the flowers and I really could have stayed there all day. It was my idea of dreamland..

Moving on, there was this food fiesta which got us all excited. We had donuts, croissants and avocado ice cream. They were really really good stuff, I remember standing in front of the booth taking a long time choosing between a chocolate or ham & cheese croissant. While standing there deciding, I unabashedly had my fair share of samples too.. I was a foreigner after all.

By evening, we took the train to meet Frankie’s uncle who was gonna treat us to a real Thai dinner. We took the train which brought us to another stop where we had to wait for a taxi. The queue took us more than an hour, and it did not help that it was drizzling and it was right in the walk way of food stalls. I was pretty tired by the time we got to the restaurant and went to the restroom for a wash up. I must say that I was very impressed with the cleanliness of their public toilets! Way better than ours back home! Another thing was that their switches are all opposite, meaning you press up to on & down to off.

Dinner was generally good, Tom Yum was delicious but there weren’t any vegetable dishes which was a little setback for me. By this time I realize that too much pork is just too much.

We slept early, long day tomorrow.

You knew

2012-01-08T14:30:00.000+08:00

What the devil promises to give you, is tied to him as he makes his way down the depth of hell. He really is not going to give you anything, he wants it all for himself. That’s the son of a bitch.

In the afternoons

2011-11-22T16:28:00.002+08:00

"Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things".

- Philippians 4:8

Heaven only knows

2011-11-14T13:52:00.000+08:00

You are God-sent. Thank you for being in my life.

I am happiness

2011-11-06T15:55:00.000+08:00

Happiness is truly just something you choose to be. That's all there is and that's how it is.

And you just look through me

2011-11-01T13:03:00.002+08:00

So I went to this really cool place where cool people wore cool clothes and drank cool drinks and listen to cool music and talked to cool people and thought they were too cool for you and were so cool.
But the problem was, everyone was thinking the exact same thing.

"Vanity of vanities; all is vanity"

And so I sat down & sipped my tea

You were right there

2011-10-30T18:19:00.001+08:00

Truthfully, I believe there is a reason why God gave me no sisters, three brothers, to lead this unconventional life, and to be so problematic people prone. I dont know how I would live this life any other way. Here's another truth, I think its taking its toll on me. I feel quite worn out.
But then again, dont we all?
My bad.

2011-10-18T13:58:00.001+08:00

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

1 Corinthians 13

Today, I

2011-10-17T00:26:00.004+08:00

Still in love with love

2011-10-03T13:16:00.000+08:00

What do you do when you feel restless every other day? How do you quench fire in your heart? What answers do you give yourself?
Well, you tell yourself it's normal of course.
And then you sip tea and feel content for that moment.

Day 2

2011-09-17T21:48:00.002+08:00

4/8
I overestimated my memory span so I only jotted down very little for the first couple of days. We decided to spend today re-painting Aunty Chat's place, and doing an overall spring cleaning. If I'm not mistaken, it used to be a church (that was why it was at the shop lots). We managed relaxedly with only one roll paint brush, a mini brush and two scrapers. The girls mainly dusted and swept while the boys scraped and painted. Because everything is better with music, I was so glad that Frank brought his mini speakers. That was when I found out that Jo can't whistle, I feel so sad for her. I love to whistle!

Anyway by later afternoon, we got hungry (we ate congee for breakfast) and adventurous. We first visited the lovely 711, where I got a magi cup for lunch (my gastric was still bad) and the boys tried a hawker stall outside. Frank ate so much pork&chicken that it was scary. So we wanted to walk to this mall called Tops which was the nearest. Which really wasn't that near at all, cause oh you know men with directions, never admitting whenever they are lost (or that it IS very far). The walking there was fine and enjoyable really, tried some street food and sight seeing. And also learning that most of the ladies in Thailand don't shave their legs.. forgive my observant eye. By the time we got to Tops, we found out that no one actually needed to buy anything that any other shops couldn't provide. We just wanted to go to a mall. Because it is big, air conditioned, efficient. Because everybody just likes going to a mall right? When we were done 'shopping', Jo wanted to take the cab back, I wanted to take the motor taxi back, but the boys again insisted that it wasn't that far after all but it was only far because we got lost. So for the sake of some bahts we walked back. It was still far by the way and we were exhausted. The king's car passed by us when we were about to reach, and we quickly stopped our tracks when everyone else stood still.

That evening we followed Aunty Chat and her family to a Messianic Service. I left out the name of the hotel we were in, and the name of the speaker. I remember that he was white and he reminded me of Colonel Sanders (don't google him up). People danced during worship and although I had no idea of the lyrics, Jo and I were very encouraged to see this elderly woman in front of us really doing her thang. After service, this very nice lady pastor treated us to Wan Tan Mee which was damn good! I thought I was gonna share one with Jo but I had to have one for myself. Aunty Chat's husband (we never got around to his name, we called him pastor), ate his with huge spoons of sugar! By this time, I noticed that every shop provides sugar & chilli flakes.

Oh by the way, there was this dead lizard in Aunty Chat's kitchen which stayed there for the next couple of days. Sorry, I've got 'dead lizard' in my journal.

I dont know about you but

2011-09-17T10:56:00.000+08:00

I dont know about you but, I see waves and happiness
Contentment
I dont know about you but, this feels right to me
I dont know about you but, I dont feel cold
I look at you and I see gold
The stars above silver
I dont know about you but, I really could do this
I dont know about you but, this I know

Sam

2011-09-17T10:41:00.000+08:00

They call us we

2011-09-08T13:44:00.002+08:00

Tomorrow is my brother’s birthday. If I remember right, the last gift I bought for him was 2 packets of Ayamas cheese sausages, wrapped in newspaper when he was about 9. The year before that, I bought Mars, Snickers & Kit Kat, taped but unwrapped. Shit, that’s almost 10 years ago. I must have bought him something in between… Last year for my 19th birthday, he gave me a two thousand pieces puzzle. I was incredulous and I refused to accept his joke. It was a joke I found out much later on, but the Paramore tickets inside of it wasn’t. This I must tell you that I cried. He skipped school the week before, took a bus after my dad was out of sight and went to Central to get on a bus for KL. He did all of this in his school uniform, I wondered how many unpleasant frowns he had to ignore. Mind you, he has never been to The Gardens or whatever it is called, but he managed. After purchasing the ticket, he had TGI and took a bus back to Central, then to school. Waited for my dad, and resumed all things mundane. No one would have guessed that he just left the state and got back within 5 hours in his school uniform on a Monday.
Anyway, I got him a gift this time. It’s not Ayamas but it’s Farmcow! Oh, he loves his hot dogs. Back to sentiments, I was shopping for my best friend actually; she told me she liked the checkered shirts from Brands Outlet. He was helping me to find sizes when I suddenly thought of his horrible wardrobe. I don’t think he has bad taste, just bad clothes. I meant bad as in torn, bleached, with holes. So he tried on the men sizes and he looked really good! I told him to get the tighter ones to accentuate his arms and chest.. He said he wants it wrapped and to maybe not buy it yet since his birthday is only the next week, he wants to be ‘surprised’. After saying that, he walked away and pretended not to look.
Right now, I am just waiting for his clothes to be washed. He has seen the wrapping paper that I bought for my nephew, assuming that I’d use the same one to wrap his ‘surprise’. Which I am, but I am going to wrap something else in it. His boxers. See why I am only going to wait for them to be washed.. Actually I thought using the dirty ones would be way cooler, I went to his laundry basket but I couldn’t do it. Okay I know it’s gross, but I can’t think of anything else funnier! Haha, I can’t wait to see the look on his face! I am going to ask him to open them after dinner. I’ll give him his real present after that, of course also wrapped.
Take that!
26th July
Ps/ in the end, I used two of his dirty boxers instead. Don’t ask me how it was.