2009 Stuff

On the 30th of Dec last year, me and my family and Uncle Lai and wife, went to the Suzuki Night Market which started at 5.30pm. It was so hot that day. 37degrees C was the forecast. But I really don't know what temperature it was. It was just so hot! There were a number of shirtless people walking around. Haha. Anyway. We went there and I could instantly smell the smell of fried food. It was quite interesting, like a bazaar (yay!!) but much more interesting than the bazaars I've been too. We were a bit early, we were there at 5pm. By 6pm, there already were quite a lot of people and many more were coming. It was so lively. There were 3 stages throughout the market and the live music was quite good. The first one I heard was a one-man band!! It was cool. There was a lot of food from many different places like South Italy, Africa, Spain, Persia, Holland etc. It was very interesting. I walked around a lot and it was really tiring, my legs were so sore! There were some cool stuff on sale, but it was very pricey. Towards the end we just sat and enjoyed the Spanish music from the live band, though we couldn't see it because it was too crowded. There were a lot of people dancing before the stage. It was so lively. The market finishes at 10.30pm and it is on every Wednesday until the 24th of Feb. Worth going just to enjoy.

For New Year's Eve, we (same group plus Uncle Wong, wife and daughter) went to the city and got a spot by the Yarra River on the grass where we could see the city skyline. It was quite warm that day (yesterday). There were two rounds of fireworks scheduled. One was at 9.15pm at the MCG which we could still see from where we were, and the other one was at midnight and that one was from various points in the city. Me and my family took the train down to the city at 6.30pm and it was so crowded. Seriously. There was no empty seats and it was noisy and smelly. Anyway, on the river side, it was really crowded too. Every spot of grass was taken. Thunderstorm was the forecast that night. So we sat there, snacking on the food my mum brought and just chatted. There was music being broadcasted through speakers all along that side of the river. And around 8pm, an announcer said 'the weather bureau expects rain between 10pm-2am. Please be ready to take refuge'. Haha. The sky was getting darker, ominous clouds were moving in. Soon, the whole sky was covered by those gray clouds, the wind was blowing and it was just quite exciting. With all those people sitting on the grass with us, people started getting their raincoats out, or using those garbage plastic bags to cover themselves. The announcer came on again and said that the rain will hit us at about 9pm. It was true. It started raining. We fit ourselves under two small umbrellas, and two waterproof sheets/mat that we used to sit on the grass. It was so funny. When the rain started everyone started woot-ing and clapping. The rain was on and off and the first round of fireworks was delayed. But soon it was up and well, it wasn't that good. Normal fireworks, nothing special. When it finished, a bolt of lightning flashed right beside where the fireworks were. It was so cool. 'Natural fireworks', my dad said. It was still raining at that time.

After that the rain didn't let up and it was just steady rain, not heavy torrents. We left our spot and walked to the train station and just stayed there under the roof. It was really crowded. We wanted to look for a place to get a drink or something. But I guess it was just so wet, we sort of just stayed there and chatted. Until 11pm, it was still raining and we decided to head home. From the train station, we walked back to the house, it wasn't that far. But it was still wet and muddy and really dark (no one turns on their porch lights here. NO ONE). That was quite enjoyable. Haha. I took a quick shower and was in time to watch the countdown at the Sydney Harbor on TV. We were looking for the Melbourne one but I don't know why it wasn't on air. Anyway. It was really good. The fireworks were really good.

So yea. That was how we invited the New Year. It was fun. But how funny it is. A new year replaced the old and life still goes on the way it was before. We watched Tokyo Dogs (Kat's series) after that and even my dad joined her. (Oguri Shun so not good looking! Haha).

Anyway. Happy New Year I guess. . . .

Oh and here's something to start the new year off. =D

Queen- Under Pressure

I fell in love with this song when I heard the part from 2:37 onwards.

Can't we give ourselves one more chance
Why can't we give love that one more chance
Why can't we give love give love give love give love
give love give love give love give love give love
'Cause love's such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care for
The people on the edge of the night
And love dares you to change our way of
Caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
This is our last dance
This is ourselves
Under pressure

2010

Oh my gosh. Can you believe a new year has arrived already and replaced the old one?

Seriously.

2010. I hope I will live this year up to my expectations. As for my resolutions? We'll get back to it.

I wish all a... well, a productive year.

Last Book Of 2009

Montana 1948- Larry Watson

Montana, 1948; and the events of one cataclysmic summer will for ever alter twelve-year-old David Hayden's view of his family. His father, a small-town sheriff; his remarkably strong-willed mother; his uncle, a war hero and respected doctor; and the family's Sioux housekeeper, Marie Little Soldier, whose shocking revelations forn the heart of the story.

As their memories unravel before young David's eyes, he comes to learn that the truth is not what you believe it to be. That power is abused. And that sometimes you have to choose between loyalty and justice...

Haha. This is the book which had a really good prologue I mentioned before. I finally finished it on New Year's Eve. It's quite interesting. The beginning of the story was not that interesting, but the interesting part came soon enough. I thought the story I imagined when reading the prologue was much greater than the actual one. But it was ok. I think it was written very well. The way of writing was really convincing, it made me wonder whether it was a true story or not. This book is one of the books I'm doing for English next year. Oh and the covers.. sadly, the one I got is the one at the bottom, the small, sad one. Haha. So yea.. A.. 4/5 for me I guess. I have to stop being so nice when I'm rating. I even feel bad when I want to give a 3! Oh well..

Happy New Year guys! =D

Face It!

Tough to say, but true. Viewer discretion is advised..? (Especially to those who know me. Sigh..)

Well.. Tomorrow is New Year's. So that's why I want to blog about this today. I have to get this done before 2010. Why? I guess you could say it's because I want to leave this in the past, get it off my chest? But then I think that doesn't mean that it's solved, or that I've overcome it already. Anyway. Here goes.

I have low self esteem when it comes to my appearance. I don't think I'm "nice to look at". So when people ask me why I don't straighten my frizzy, wavy hair, it's because I don't really want to. It's not because I like my hair the way it is. It's because I don't want people to think I'm "not bad to look at" when I'm not. I think it's giving a false impression to people, to let people think I'm "nice to look at" but actually am not. I want people to like me regardless of what I look like. You know? I know, it's so pointless and stupid, but that's how I feel. I want to "be strong" and "stand my ground", "be true to myself" and all that lousy stuff. But I think the main point is me not wanting to give a false impression.

I am still young. I try not to dress otherwise (hah, as if I could if I wanted to). But you know, sometimes I waver. When I look around at my friends and see them dressed so well and nice, while I'm just wearing a t-shirt with Felix The Cat on it (Felix The Cat!!!), I waver. I feel embarrassed. But I try to just be myself and "stand my ground".

Erm.. I guess that's all. This took me a long time to put together. I'm actually sort of confused. Have to slather on thick, thick skin and face it!

Pictures not mine. And the smile is just a diversion.

Christmas

First of all, Merry Belated Christmas to all! =D So here's the run down on what happened before and after Christmas.

As you might know, the Christmas sales here are crazy. There are sales everywhere! But even so, things still aren't that cheap here. So my mum arrived on the 17th I think. We had a small birthday 'celebration' for her after dinner with the tiramisu she and Kat just made that afternoon. Before my mum arrived, we were busy making her birthday card. After she arrived, we've been busy in the kitchen. I've been helping out in the kitchen cooking. For Christmas, my mum was holding a Christmas dinner in our house. It was the first ever Christmas dinner we had which wasn't at home. These dinners were a normal scene back home where Christmas Eve, Christmas and Boxing Day nights were all just a blur of dinners with family friends and relatives. But this time it was much tougher, because we don't have the help of our kakaks anymore (=(), we only have one fridge to store food (back home we have about 3), and everything here was just so expensive.

So as Christmas drew nearer, the time spent in the kitchen just got longer and longer, regardless of whether it was simply cooking, or just cleaning up the mess after cooking. On Christmas Eve and Christmas itself, we spent a lot of time cleaning up the house too. On Christmas morning, I found myself peeling apples for the apple pie and just helping out. It was sort of hectic. For me, anyway. In the end, with the help of Aunty Sophia, the dinner went fine. It was quite boring for me, as it always were. The only person from back home who was here in Melbourne was Javier. It was quite nice to have him here, made me think of all the other family friends who I'm actually not close to. Oh well. Skipping this part.

On the 23rd, some (I think) shopping malls were open 24hrs. I think that is really cool. Me and my family (that time my dad and Kev had already arrived here) went to Chadstone at 8pm. It was really crowded and just so.. lively. We just walked around, milling about with the crowds. We had Pancake Parlor and then Nandos. Went home about 1am. It really was nice just to watch everything that was happening, though the crowd was giving me a headache. I would have loved to go shopping at 3am in the morning, but everyone including me was just to tired. Maybe some other year I hope. I just really enjoyed how spontaneous it was and how lively everything seemed. At Borders, some of the staff were wearing pajamas to work. Borders had a 30% discount on all books from 2am-3am. How cool is that? Haha.

On Christmas Eve, we realized that my dad, who was supposed to buy drinks for the party, didn't buy. Mum told Kat about what vegetables and stuff we still had to get, but didn't think to mention the drinks to us. So me, Kat, Kev and dad went down to Box Hill to grab those stuff. My dad, being so dad, bought an Arnott's Butternut Snap Cookie instead of the drinks. So we went home with carrots, potatos, cabbages (etc.) and a packet of biscuits. No drinks. Then that night, when we realized that we didn't have enough drinks, and that all shops would be closed on Christmas, we hurried out on a drinks hunt though it was about 10pm at night. It was quite exciting, really. The whole family except mum went. Mum was still in the kitchen and was with Aunty Sophia. So we went for a drive. At that time, all shops were closed. After driving for quite some time, we got lucky and found one of the Bottle-O shops open. We got out drinks and went back home. That was quite fun. =D Butternut Snap Cookie, we owe you one.

On Boxing Day, we went on a road trip with Uncle AhLai and his family. It was pretty good. We went down to Mornington, where the beach was. It was really, really beautiful. The colour of the sea was so bright and green. Somehow different from the one back home. It was just brighter and lighter. Really nice. Then on the 27th, we went to Sharks Fin House in Chinatown for Dim Sum with them too. We were lucky to get a table. The dim sum there was ok, nothing special and not the best, that's what I think. The up side was that I got to eat the dessert! The sago and yam dessert thing! The first time me and Dana tried that, we had a second one. It was really very good! I think the one where me and Dana had it was better than the one in Sharks Fin House. The down side was that I ended up overeating and felt sick afterwards. We just walked around the city afterwards, and then went home. It was tiring.

On the 28th, we (the same group minus Kel and Uncle AhLai's children, add Mrs. Tio) went to Daylesford, Hepburn and some other places along the way. That was really a longer drive than to Mornington. It was really tiring. We didn't really do much there. Ate at some random restaurant and went to the Ice Cream Parlor. Nothing special. We were all hungry because we all had to wake up at about 7+am and had been driving/in the car since then. We went to Lake House Hotel in Daylesford by recommendation from Mrs. Tio to see whether we could get lunch there. Me, dad and Kel went into the restaurant and a worker there asked us a table for how many. For 9 please. Then he told us we would have to wait for a table in the 'waiting area' which was where we were. Why? Beats me. I could clearly see empty tables in the restaurant. He suggested we looked at the menu and decided what to order first and handed us the menu. Wow. Posh, much? Kel said that they only served 5 mains. One for lamb, one for chicken, one for duck, one for pork? I don't really remember. The last one was vegetarian. My dad asked how long would the food take to arrive after we got a table. The guy said "Oh.. about an hour and a half." Omgosh. Seriously? We left after that. Haha.

That's when we found a random restaurant in town and just ate there. After lunch we went to Hepburn Springs. It was where we were to get Mineral Water. Like those serious mineral water from a pump which gets the water from underground (obviously). Those water which really had minerals in it and which was apparently good for your brain or something. It tasted horrible! Seriously! It was like sparkling water and it was so metallic. Yuck. The aftertaste was really bad! We brought empty water bottles to fill up with that water. But until today no one has drunk it except for my dad. It just tastes too horrible.

Anyway. We got back in Melbourne at about 7pm (tired!) and had to go for dinner. We just went to this random Chinese restaurant which wasn't bad. I was just too tired so I didn't enjoy it much. Went home and we were free. =D

Yesterday, my mum cooked laksa (seriously YUM!) for lunch where Uncle Lai and wife came for lunch and just hung out. I was relieved we weren't going out anymore. One can only take so many days of outings. Anyway. Today, they went to the Carribean Market I think. I didn't go because I wanted to finish up my blog before New Year's and wanted to finish my book too. Got scolded for that. "Why didn't you make it clear that you weren't going? You just made people wait for you pointlessly. Wasting people's time!" I wanted to vent my anger at Kat who was the one who announced I was going even though I had said otherwise. But then I thought "Positive people don't put others down" and didn't. Hah..haaa. (Darn that poster!) Oh well.

So that's what I've been doing. Gosh I can't believe so soon after Christmas, New Year's is just a day away! @@

Princess

I try not to blog about really personal things here. But sometimes I do, sometimes I put up personal thoughts here. But the reason why I blog at all, is so I can preserve my memories and not let it just dissolve into nothingness. Memories are precious to me. I want to remember. Memories can make us learn from our mistakes, make us stronger (or so they say), give us some idea of what made us who we are today, or just let us laugh along with it, if only for a little while, to something that happened in the past. So I have blogged, or will blog about things that I'm embarrassed of, things that will make you think badly of me, things that hurt my pride, but things that are true. I have to put on this 'thick skin' to blog about things like that, pretend it doesn't hurt me, pretend I can face it. But can I really? FACE IT, you typical, foolish geek!

I really want to make things new. How much A has suffered, A doesn't deserve it. How things have been, it's just stupid. All unsolved because of pride and stubbornness! But I'm at fault too. Ever since I've been here in Aus, every time I feel overwhelmed and stressed and just so ARGH!, I picture myself lying on my back on the floor of this carpeted study room, arm spread to each side and just.. lying there. That's what I picture myself doing now. It's just stupid!

I've said before: I just get put off by people who know of their own mistakes, but don't change. If they just BACKED OFF sometimes, things may be better, at least a little.

I'm so tired. I'm worried and stressed about the coming together of my whole family after a long time of it only being bits and pieces of my family being together. We have each changed and how well do we know of each others' habits and personalities? Will we be able to adapt to each others' company in this small house? Or will our patience all run low and it'll blow up like it always does because of our pride and stubbornness.

After all the stupid things I've done, after the way I've treated A, I really, really, really close my eyes, and hope that everything will be okay, that everyone will just relax and be more flexible and just back off and let go. Seriously.

I'm such a bad person. How could I do such things?

"Who do you think you are? Princess ah?"

Youngest of the family, stupidest, most useless, laziest.

Yes. I'm a foolish, useless princess.

Dilbert!

Because my life is now so uninteresting, I'm blogging about nothing. Have you noticed? I'm just lazing around all day, living a pathetic life, waiting for something worthwhile to happen. Or rather for me to do something worthwhile.

These days, I've just been doing the Maths Methods holiday homework they gave everyone who was doing Yr 12 Methods next year. I've finished it (FINALLY) but I don't think I did a good job. Relying on Kat to help me, but looks like she's still basking in the 'post-VCE lazy holiday' mood.

Other than that, I've been helping my mum to cook. Oh yea, my mum arrived on Thursday. Since she arrived, the kitchen has bombed up with food. Seriously. We now have porridge, kon lau kueh tiao, fried kueh tiao, fried rice and marinated lamb chops in the fridge. We're slowly stocking up the fridge and pantry with loads of things, apparently it's 'for Christmas'. So yea. I now know how to cook fried rice in theory, but don't know whether I can do it in practice. I also know how to steam pao (or other stuff) and also how to cook lamb chops. All in theory only though.

Anyway.. That's sort of all that is happening in my life now. Of course there is the series-watching (there's nothing to watch anymore!), and the internet surfing.

Which reminds me, I have to seriously KICK myself to continue reading. If I were at home in KK, I would be reading everyday, all the time, the whole day. But I don't know why, I just can't get myself to pick up the book I'm reading now, Montana 1948. Maybe it's because at home, where it is warm everyday, it's just home. But over here, it's cold (dreading summer!). Or maybe it's just because I'm still childish and shallow and just like reading children's books like Percy Jackson and stuff. Sigh.

Oh. I'm looking forward to the heat when summer really hits, but not so because the house I'm living in now does not have ceiling fans! Not only that, the air-conditioning is not working properly. I WANT CEILING FANS INSTALLED!!!

Oh well.

13th Dec, 2009

Photos

Was just looking through some old photos.

Wow. How can it be that some time ago, you loved something so much, thought that it would be a part of your life, but the next year it just didn't work for you? How can things change so dramatically?

And then how can you be a part of something, then things changed and you just weren't anymore? Ok, I'm confused. Is that the same? You just become the person looking at the photos, getting the heartaches, wondering what it would be like to be the person laughing in the photo.

And would it be possible to like, or even love something, but not be great at it? Just agreeable. How unfair it is to not be able to be great at it. Worst if you are good, but not great, but not bad either.

In the middle. Always.

Sigh.

Remember what Denise said- let go.

Sometimes, things just aren't meant to be for you.

Always.

From The-Freshness-Factor-Five-Thousand Blog

READ THIS!!!! All not mine. Guess whose! =D I really enjoyed reading this and just wanted to share. =D

Wed. 16th Dec. Memoirs from the WC

It's about time for another Wet Wednesday Water Conservation Wake-Up Call

Who doesn't love animated statistics? These are brought to you by the Good Ideas at Good Transparency. Have a gander. Enjoy. Consider. Conserve. - Jason

Mon. 14th Dec. Monday Morning Truant

It’s cold in my house. The kind of cold I didn’t want to rise up out of bed for, even though I had slept in many layers of clothes. When I did finally stand up, our dog, Sadie, snapped and barked at me as if I was some kind of crazy-haired monster or cold-ghost flowing in robes, blankets, and wacky pants.

The weekend offered me a strange and uncomfortable case of the flu, a kind that was activated conveniently in the evening hours giving me my days to get things done. Since we’re working on new songs for a new album, I was able to record some guitars and ukulele’s before the heavy of the night came dancing back to my temples. The wretch of midnight has reduced my speaking voice to a raspy crawl. Singing will be postponed for another day.

If I were still in school I would most certainly use every trick in the book to stay home today. The weekend wear would’ve given me some leverage, but I still would’ve placed my forehead on the heating duct to fake a temperature just as my Mom was rushing out the door to go to work. This worked like a charm. I was a regular Ferris Bueller in my day.

Check out this note my Mom recently found. One of many themed notes I'm sure, designed to keep me out of trouble. But who could not love a child with such a sassy seventh grade signature like so?

Have a superb day. Do your best. Practice your autograph...

-Jason

Fri. 11th Dec. Itchy Faced Kid Does Amazing Rendition of I'm Yours

I am most impressed with the diminished chord this little genius plays at 1:07. Not many people care to hit this chord when covering the song. It is often overlooked. But nary is the case here.

I am also quite touched by the child’s commitment to the public performance regardless of the obvious itch near his right nostril. At such a young age, to have that kind of grasp on “the show must go on” is extraordinary. Unless of course he’s locked in a closet somewhere forced to play the song over and over again, in which case, this video becomes quite disturbing.

Yet, it is difficult to watch this video without making faces. I sorta kinda wanna inquire as to if he let a little pee out after the last expression. I think something happened that wasn’t supposed to happen. Humility, maybe.

This is a superb video. Love is fully expressed here in an XL hoodie. So are the hundreds of people who sent me the link. Thanks for sharing.and if anyone knows the kid. Give him a high five for me.

Weekend Challenge: Post your own video of you watching this. Try to mimic his movements and maybe try to go so far as lip-syncing to it. The process will awaken the four year old in you.

Wink, Jason

07.2.09

Last Saturday, the day after I came back from my Bike Camp, my neighbor, David, brought me, Kat and the other neighbor, Sonella, to the Healesville Sanctuary. Sonella is a student from German and she wanted to see more of Australia so David decided to bring her there and asked us whether we wanted to come along. I actually didn't want to go because I was tired from Bike Camp but in the end, because I'm so nice, I agreed to accompany KAT. Healesville Sanctuary is this famous zoo place where they showcase loads of Australia's wildlife. It is located in Yarra Valley, a place famous for its vineyard. This is already in the countryside, outside of Melbourne.

It was quite a nice trip. The zoo was quite cool but remember to BRING YOUR STUDENT CARD!! If, that is, you are indeed a student. Sonella and I didn't bring ours and so we had to pay the adult fare which is not that cheap (SIGH). The zoo was really good. I think the favorite thing I saw there was probably the pelicans. It was my first time seeing them in real life and I was absolutely shocked. They were so huge! Seriously. I didn't think, in my wildest imaginations (well.. not that I actually have had them in my mind-wanderings before.....), that they were that big. It was cool. =D We ate at the cafe there in the sanctuary. Then after that David brought us to Marysville. Marysville, one of the many places hit by the historical bush fire on the 7th of February this year. Black Saturday.

I've heard of Black Saturday before, about how the fires raged and were unstoppable, travelling at high speed, huge winds fanning the fires faster. I've heard of the destruction it caused, about how many thousands of people lost their homes, how towns were destroyed, how forests were burnt out.

But driving towards and into Marysville, only then did I fully realize the extent of destruction Black Saturday brought. The hills which were before covered with tall trees with thick foliage were now merely hills covered with tall, black trunks with comparatively little foliage. Driving on the road, all you could see were black tree trunks after black tree trunks, with strong leaves starting to grow again from the trunks. At first when I first saw all the black trees, I thought it must have been some kind of tree that I've never seen before, but I was wrong. Driving along at 80km/h, I only could imagine how fast the fire was travelling that day. Whenever we reached a clearing, I looked afar at other hills and could just see individual tree trunks standing, not a mass of green trees like before. It went on for miles and miles. So many hills, how many woods were burnt out? Those were the homes of so many animals.

When we arrived at Marysville, it was just so.. empty. Seriously. Apparently, the whole town was destroyed, there was nothing left except for a bakery. That was where we had a drink. David, who had been there before, told us of how the bakery used to be one of the many shops on that road, and now there were only two or three left. The town was in the process of rebuilding. There was a billboard just showing what land was for sale where. To think that before Black Saturday, this town was a home to about 550 people, now it was no more.

After a drink at the bakery, we drove back going through Warburton. We used a winding, small road to get there. When we started off at that winding road, it was all just the black tree trunks with little green on both sides of the road. Then we reached the part where the fire didn't reach and what a huge difference it was. For the woods in and around Marysville, it was mostly black with little green, and the floors of the woods were really empty and had lots of fallen timber amongst some green. But for the ones the fire didn't reach, it was full of greens, with so many ferns just covering the floor, it was brighter and was just so green and brown compared to what I saw before. What a huge difference.

I think the worst part that makes me so sad is that I can't think of how many thousands of people lost their homes and their loved ones. It's equal to losing their life. Their way of life, people they loved, it was all gone now. What is life without people you love?

According to ABC, the worst bush fire in the nation's history claimed 173 human lives, injured 5000 people, destroyed 2029 homes, killed countless animals and burnt through over 4555-square-kilometers of land. I'm so thankful that the fire did not strike where my sisters were. Speechless.

http://www.abc.net.au/innovation/blacksaturday/#/stories/mosaic On this webpage, you can read about the stories of people who were affected by Black Saturday. Here's something I got from the page, "We're not lucky to be alive, we're lucky to have survive. The things that made us alive were our home, our collections, our hobbies, our town, and most of all, our friends who had died."

From Wikipedia: The majority of the fires ignited and spread on a day of some of the worst bushfire-weather conditions ever recorded. Temperatures in the mid to high 40s (Celsius) and wind speeds in excess of 100 km/h, precipitated by an intense heat wave, fanned the fires over large distances and areas, creating several large firestorms and pyrocumulus clous, particularly north-east of Melbourne, where a single firestorm accounted for 120 of the 173 deaths. A cool change hit the state in the early evening, bringing with it gale-force south-westerly winds in excess of 120 kilometres per hour. This change in wind direction caused the long eastern flanks of the fires to become massive fire fronts that burned with incredible speed and ferocity towards towns that had earlier escaped the fires.

Today, NSW is dealing with bush fires as well, and I pray that it will not get any worse.

Classic 2!

My all-time, favorite song!
More Than Words- Extreme (covered by loads of other artists)

(1990) Extreme II: Pornograffiti

Saying "I love you"
Is not the words I want to hear from you
It's not that I want you
Not to say, but if you only knew how easy
It would be to show me how you feel

More than words
Is all you have to do to make it real
Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me

'Cause I'd already know

What would you do if my heart was torn in two?
More than words to show you feel
That your love for me is real
What would you say if I took those words away?
Then you couldn't make things new
Just by saying "I love you"

More than words

Now that I've tried to talk to you
And make you understand
All you have to do is close your eyes
And just reach out your hands
And touch me
Hold me close, don't ever let me go
More than words
Is all I ever needed you to show
Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me
'Cause I'd already know

A Walk To Remember (2002)

Shane West, Mandy Moore

In Beaufort, North Carolina, a prank on a student goes terribly wrong and puts the student in the hospital. Landon Carter, a popular student with no defined plans for the future, is held responsible and forced to participate in after-school community service activities as punishment, which include starring as the lead in the school play. Also participating in these activities is Jamie Sullivan, the reverend's daughter who has great ambitions and nothing in common with Landon. When Landon decides he wants to take his activities seriously, he asks Jamie for help and begins to spend most of his time with her. But he starts to develop strong feelings for her, something he did not expect to do. The two start a relationship, much to the chagrin of Landon's old popular friends and Jamie's strict reverend father. But when a heart-breaking secret becomes known that puts their relationship to the test, it is then that Landon and Jamie realize the true meaning of love and fate.

Absolutely awesome movie! And it absolutely slipped my mind that this was a book! Seriously. And it was only today I found out that it was a Nicholas Spark book! Or maybe I knew a long time ago, just that at that time I was shallower than I am now (not by much) and didn't know who he was. Well.. now I know. To all who haven't seen the movie or read the book (including me), it is definitely a must!!! =D

The Phantom Tollbooth- Norton Juster (1961)

"It seems to me that almost everything is a waste of time," Milo laments. "There's nothing for me to do, nowhere I'd care to go, and hardly anything worth seeing." This bored, bored young protagonist who can't see the point to anything is knocked out of his glum humdrum by the sudden and curious appearance of a tollbooth in his bedroom. Since Milo has absolutely nothing better to do, he dusts off his toy car, pays the toll, and drives through. What ensues is a journey of mythic proportions, during which Milo encounters countless odd characters who are anything but dull.

This is an excellent book. Seriously. It is awesome. It makes you realize so many things and makes you think. It's wonderful, really. I read it a long time ago when I was young. This is book is witty and funny. It's amazing. I just suddenly thought of this book and I definitely want to read it again just thinking about it. This book is a children's book, but I think that adults today should really read this book, especially those who are so busy they don't even know what colour the sky is. Like I said, this book makes you realize things.. =D

It's a movie too! I found that out today. It was made long ago in 1970 and I want to watch it though I don't know how I'll get my hands on it. Hopefully someone will remake it? =D

The Faraway Tree Stories- Enid Blyton

Joe, Beth and Frannie (or Jo, Bessie and Fanny. The original names.) move to the country and find an Enchanted Wood right on their doorstep! And in the wood stands the magic Faraway Tree, an enormous tree whose branches seem to reach into the clouds, and in that tree live the magical characters that soon become their new friends - Moon-Face, Silky the fairy, and Saucepan Man. At the very top of the tree they discover a ladder which leads them to a magical land. This land is different on each visit, because each place "moves on" from the top of the tree to make way for a new land. Together they climb through the clouds to the top of the tree and have new, exciting adventures each time.

This book is a 3-in-1 edition which contains three stories in the Faraway Tree series: The Enchanted Wood (1939), The Magic Faraway Tree (1943), The Folk of the Faraway Tree (1951). I read this book a long time ago and it's so wonderful. It just immerses you into a different magical world and it's just so awesome. I still remember little bits and pieces of the stories and it's just really nice. I still remember some of the treats Moon-Face (or whoever) prepared for the children in the book and it just seemed so delicious. I so want to eat those treats. Sigh... Fiction.

15 December 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =D =D =D

You're 50 and still young, still healthy and still safe! (Thanks, God!!) I'm so happy to have you as a mum! If not, I wouldn't be the one who brings quiches, perfect chocolate cakes, lasagnas, spaghettis, paella, and so so so many other best food to school! I'm so happy to have you as a mum! If not, I wouldn't have so many Enid Blyton books you have to box up. I'm so happy to have you as a mum! If not, I wouldn't be handicapped (just kidding) and have thoracic scoliosis (Thanks, God! For it being moderate and not serious!).

I love you for everything you are! Thank you so, so much for everything.

Cherish everyday and live it to the fullest. Stay healthy! I love you!!! =D

(I don't own this!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!!!!!!!!!!! =D You're the best! =D