One fond memory...

This picture was taken more than a year ago... when I was busy preparing for my med&surg finals and I had no time to even pack my clothes properly into the wardrobe... Everything was just thrown in higgledy-piggledy without being folded! Wardrobe was in a disastrous mess (it honestly looked like I bombed it - could have buried an animal underneath all)... and when Ben opened it one day when he came to visit me (I can't remember why he had to open it), clothes rained down profusely like sand from a disintegrating sandcastle when someone kicks it! *Gulp*

I, with my wild imagination, was not only ashamed (*sob,sob*) and horrified that he had seen World War I and II in my wardrobe... but also terrified that he would leave me for being such a slob. But thankfully he didn't. The next time he came (oh yeah, he came back!:D), he brought along a portable ironing board (I'm not sure what my housemates thought about that!), sat down without a word in front of my wardrobe (you can see its wooden door in the picture above) on the dusty floor, and proceeded to iron my clothes diligently - while I was studying away. Or more like, tried to study - I was so touched *sobs again* and paiseh -because it was a massive pile of clothes indeed! In fact, he did a much better job ironing that I would have done myself! (If you think I'm a sucker for neatness, I think Ben is 10 times neater than I am.)

In short, I had very nicely pressed clothes to wear to school the many days that followed (felt like they were so bathed in love)... and because I was so ashamed of myself, I made sure I at least folded the clean laundry and packed them neatly into my wardrobe after that...

Note: Ok I hope Ben does not read this post... and see the pictures... because he is going to be very traumatized... but I really love what he did... and I did feel very loved indeed!:)

Having said all that, I am really not that untidy! :D Haha. It was just the med&surg finals. I love cleaning. I assure you, my house is tidy now (except for my study desk - I am never good at keeping my work-station neat.. I love to throw books and papers around, and I hate putting away my stationeries when I am still not finished with them - In that case, I am kinda never finished with them!:D). Sure, it gets a bit dusty at times, when I am rushing assignments... but I make sure I clean it properly after that because I'm allergic to dust (-mites) - they give me rhinitis, allergic conjunctivitis, eczema and asthma... and I hate seeing hair on the floors of my house! Eeeeeks.

Nevertheless, I was very surprised and glad that during our MPC class a few months back, when we were supposed to discuss who does what when we are married (eg. deal with the cars, housework, cooking, planning for hols, grocery-shopping, admin, etc), and we came to the part of "Who will do the housework", I put down my answer as "Me"- but Ben put down his answer as "Both of us"! *phew*

Thursday

The simple joys of life...

...of seeing my laundry hanging up to dry...

...which I so often take for granted....

Hey, I'm admiring the colours, ok... And the anticipation of wearing 'em - those clean, sanitized clothes, smelling of anti-bacterial detergent. Hehe.

Anyway....

I went for a missions-team meeting at school this morning, then Kevin, Vanessa, Joseph, Dong Hoon and I went for lunch together at Prima Tanjung. A very meaningful morning, I felt. We worshipped God, Kevin (our team leader) taught us a very encouraging game which I will elaborate a lil' more later, talked about our progresses in preparing for the mission trip and prayed a while - before we adjourned for lunch.

The game that Kevin taught us was simple. We all were given a piece of paper each, on which you had to write your name. Then, everyone's paper was passed around (in a circle) to all the team members, so when it arrived back in your hand, all your team members would have written on it. And what are you supposed to write on another's paper? Well, something good and true you've observed of that person, which you feel would encourage him or her.

Reminds me of Philippians 4:8, one of my favourite verses in the Bible - 'Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think of such things.'

Amazing game, huh? I am so gonna paste my piece of paper in my journal. (Call me sentimental or whatever.)

I've been through many challenging days this year, but thank God - last year's were even more terrible.

A snippet from 9/7/2008's journal entry (a year ago) read:

'Today... Most of my friends would have left Penang. Many of them I'll only probably meet again in heaven. Some of them I'll probably bump into once in a while. And yet some, I might never see ever again. How sad. I need to be more diligent... Family's gone back to KL. I'm getting a little homesick lately. Don't know why... Penang is home... but I'm pretty much alone here..."Today, I'm thankful that many things have changed. No doubt, there are times I am still pretty alone in many things, and each day brings something that keeps me broken before the Lord. But I am grateful, coz I can 'taste and see that God is good'.

What is the meaning of life if we do not know the Giver of it?
What is the meaning of living a life if we do not know the reason we're living it?
What is the joy of living if we have not tasted what is not?

TGTIF!:P

Sweating bullets. Thanks to the ironing...haven't even gotten down to the laundry yet. *Sweats bigger bullets*

It's raining outside!:) Love nights like this. It feels snuggly-wuggly in my home. Praise God for sending some rain to cool down the weather. It was really hot today.

Thank God tomorrow is Friday!

Just stocked up on a new supply EPO... I'm amazed at myself! I've never been so religious with any supplement in the past. Guess, I'm finally growing up huh!:P My former housemates would be seriously shocked if they knew about this. And my dad must be proud. LOL. Considering how non-compliant I used to be to anything that looks like a pill or an inhaler. Bleargh.

Think it's time to cut the grass in Mini Taman Negara :/ Wet season + damp long grass ---> perhaps a snake might lurk. *Shudder* I certainly don't intend to see snake-skins hanging across the gate posts again...

Something painful

I've often had ingrown toe-nails as a child/teenager. Thanks to gymnastics and ballet. I've scuffed my toe against the hard floor many a time - and every time that happens, the toe-nail grows a bad way...

And thus...

...my painful memories of my mum trying to 'dig' out the embedded parts of the affected toenails with the sharp tool thingy (the ones that come attached to the nail-clippers), me clutching my bantal busuk to my mouth just to drown the whining and whimpering (in pain), and the many trips we had to make to Subang Poliklinik just to get antibacterial cream. Once a nail gets embedded, somehow, local infection results...and you know the rest of the story... Inflammation, pus, pain and more pain.

Ok, guess what? Now, I have an ingrown FINGERNAIL. Don't know how it happened - but I cut it wrongly that day, tore off too much from the side...somehow, it embedded its edges in a bed of flesh at the side. It ain't too bad. I'm even thinking of how I can get it out without causing too much agony. Conclusion - it is painful but bearable. Just a little tough to bathe with one hand. And the other hand with less one important finger.

Unfortunately, I had to hand-wash my baju-baju today as I usually do on Thursdays.. (I don't own a washing machine btw).. The scrubbing and rinsing weren't too bad. Like I said - painful but bearable...

Then I had to wring my clothes dry.

I'm dominantly left-handed when it comes to anything but writing. So my left hand (on which the poor finger is on) usually does the most work.

This was the painful part. It was painful and NOT bearable. Yeouch! The first wring brought a fresh pool of tears to my eyes... The rest was history.

Now, I'm really going to have to do something bout the fingernail...

Anyone watching?

TGIF!

Ah! I'm so happy! Long weekend!

I've decided to go green this weekend. Wear an article of green whenever I go out. I'm going to colour-code my weekends from now onwards. For one thing, it makes laundry much easier. I usually do mine after the weekend - imagine my dilemma when I have 1 piece of green clothing, and the rest are say black. No baju to accompany the green one into the soap suds (I hate cross-dying my clothes! I have unfortunately done so, countless times, and I don't want to remember how many white t-shirts I've dyed purple/gray during my Dublin days), so it usually doesn't get washed until more green clothes go into the laundry basket... Kinda poor thing, don't you think? To stay unwashed for more than a week?

I understand how distressing it is not being able to take a proper bath for days. Blearggh.

Phew, finally finished my report... and I've got most things ticked off my to-do list too. Praise God.

Laundry woes

I took a heavy load of laundry to my usual dobby yesterday morning (bedsheets, heavy towels, etc - coz I don't have a washing machine at my place, and my bathroom's too tiny to wash stuff like these).

Dumped the huge, filled bags on the counter... and the dobby owner stared at me, narrowed her eyes, and said in Mandarin, "You look like you've put on weight!"

*Gasp* (I have to make a mention here that she last saw me 3 weeks ago.) I had to keep my jaw from dropping. Managed a weak smile. "Yeah...isit?"

Can anyone be more honest? What d'you expect? I had a really good Christmas/end-year holiday back in KL. And I am still trying to jumpstart my exercise routines again.

I don't think she is winning any the-most-nice-and-flattering-salesperson awards. Boo!

Dahlah have to pay for the laundering. Now, my ears are stinging pulak! What a high price to pay to launder bedsheets and towels!