Lost in space

I just realized its been a month since Mi Amor left! Now I don't know if it feels like time is flying or if it's crawling though I must say that November has been a pretty busy month at work which I actually like coz it takes my mind off counting the days.

Truth be told, I kinda enjoy this new found singledom and freedom...being able to do what I want without having to fit Mi Amor in my plans or having to answer to him..heh (and I'm sure you're enjoying yourself just as much Mi Amor, don't bluff!). Sometimes I find it hard to believe that I'm actually married! The past week we have actually been skyping almost everyday to the point where I actually said, "Mi Amor, too much skyping is no fun, don't you get bored? I am a bit..." No offence Mi Amor....you know I love you...but I also like the absence makes the heart grow fonder feeling... :)

However, today is just one of em' days when Mi Amor suddenly pops into mind while I'm at work and I get a sudden rush of  the 'I miss him' feeling. So Mi Amor, this is for you...I know how much you love this song and thanks to you, I do too (and I even included the lyrics for you coz I know you have a tendency to make your own up in some language that only you understand! hahaha). Wanna sing it to me tonight? heh



Lost in Space

Sometimes I get tired of this me-first attitude
You are the one thing that keeps me smiling
That's why I'm always wishing hard for you

'Cause your light shines so bright
I don't feel no solitude
You are my first star at night
I'd be lost in space without you

And I'll never lose my faith in you
How will I ever get to heaven, if I do

Feels just so fine
When we touch the sky me and you
This is my idea of heaven
Why can't it always be so good?

But it's all right, I know you're out there
Doing what you've gotta do
You are my soul satellite
I'd be lost in space without you

And I'll never lose my faith in you
How will I ever get to heaven, if I do

And I'll never lose my faith in you
How will I ever get to heaven, if I do

And I'll never lose my faith in you
How will I ever get to heaven, if I do

And I'll never lose my faith in you
How will I ever get to heaven, if I do

And I'll never lose my faith in you
How will I ever get to heaven, if I do

Don't cry for me Argentina.....Part Dos

On the 3rd day of the symposium, the organizers arranged a dinner and tango show for us. Would have loved to bring Mi Madre along but since she was a last minute thing, they couldn't accommodate her. Anyway, on that day, I was feeling exceptionally sleepy (normally for me drowsiness kicks in during the after lunch/late evening sessions, i.e around 4pm but this time I couldn't keep my eyes open since the morning session!) and having to sit through the entire day felt like torture. So the minute it was over at 6pm, I rushed back to the hotel hoping to get some rest (we were told to gather back at the centre at 7pm as the bus taking us to the dinner would be leaving at 7.30pm). I must have been freaking tired (prolly still jet lagged) coz the moment I reached my room, I collapsed on the bed face first and went into a comma.

When I came out of the comma, it was 7.20pm and I started to panic. I decided against changing my clothes and washing my face (coz God knows that would take more time than I actually have!), grabbed my handbag and left the room (yes, I didn't even comb my hair let alone look at myself in the mirror). While reaching out to press the elevator button, I suddenly realized that I had marks/imprints on my hands and arms. Saying a silent prayer ("please God, don't let me see what I think it is...please"), I turned to look at my face in the elevator mirror. OH MY GOD I HAD FREAKING TYRE TRACKS ON MY FACE!!! I rubbed the sides of my face so hard hoping it would go away. When that didn't work, I thought "Screw the dinner.I'll just miss it" but then I didn't want to regret not going and hearing from people the next day about how they enjoyed it so I decided to hell with it! I kept my head lowered and covered both sides of my face with my hands (think Macaulay Culkin's classic Home Alone pose) and walked down the street as fast as I could to the waiting bus (thank God my hotel is about a minute away from the centre or else I wouldn't have made it in time). I even put on a serious face hoping that people might think,"Wow, she must be thinking really hard and worried about something!"

Yeah, exactly how I felt, except replace that with a frown.

Thought I got away with it but my Malaysian colleague laughed upon seeing me and then he assured me that the lines would disappear by the time we reach the dinner place. Thank God he was right!

The stage for the Tango show

We arrived at the restaurant around 8ish and was served a 3 course dinner first. Thank God they had options for vegetarians (and I'm not just talking about boring salad) so I had some tomato onion tart thingy for the appetizer, shrimp ravioli as the main course and pistachio creme brulee for dessert. Took the time to practice using Cammie for dark indoor/ low light shots so that I would be able to take good pics during the Tango performance.

Practice shot of my appetizer. Too orange

Practice shot of my main meal. Too bright

Practice shot of my dessert. Guess this'll hafta do (got tired and bored by now)

Dinner ended around 10ish and then the Tango show started. It was 1 1/2 hours of watching Tango but in different forms/themes (not just the stereotypical Tango we see on TV where the couple hold hands with their arms stretched out and dance across the room and then switch direction). My favourite one was a Romeo & Juliet like theme (at least that's how I chose to interpret the dance) where the girl was on the balcony and she gracefully came down from it into the arms of the guy. The stage was big enough to fit 5 couples at one time. The top part of the stage had a platform to fit in the live orchestra. No thanks to Mi Amor, everytime I see the male dancers on stage, I can practically hear him asking, "Out of the 5 male dancers, how many do you think are straight?" :P

So how many do you think Mi Amor?

The dying scene from the Romeo and Juliet inspired piece

I purposely made this pic bigger so that you can check out the arms of the guy on the right....heh :D

Best pic of the night

Bravo!

Even though the show was entertaining, to tell you the truth, there's only so much of Tango I can take before getting bored (plus it didn't help that none of the male Tango dancers were good looking) . It was a good thing I managed to get some sleep before attending the dinner because I was fully awake during the whole show (unlike my other Malaysian colleagues who were close to falling asleep). By the time I got back to the hotel it was close to 1am. Mi Madre was fast asleep so I got ready for bed and channel surfed hoping to find some interesting reality show to watch..heh (and no, I couldn't find any, dammit!). Finally bid buenos noches to Buenos Aires around 3am.



p/s....I know I said I didn't do much in BsAs but there's still a Part III coming up (when I finally get to it, hopefully sometime this week!) and perhaps a part IV and V (depending on how rajin I am and how many pics I want to put up) so bare with me.

Don't cry for me Argentina.....Part Uno

Yupp, am back in Malaysia....and I hafta say I do kinda miss Argentina, perhaps because I wish I had more time to explore and enjoy the country and the city of Buenos Aires (was at the symposium everyday from 9am till 6pm and sometimes till 7-8pm as some of the sessions finished late so didn't have much free time ).

WARNING : This is gonna be a pic heavy post.

Oh but before that,FYI the flight to BsAs was 22 hours including a 1 1/2 hour transit at Cape Town, Africa. Flew by MAS so fortunately the flight experience wasn't so bad(I x like flying btw...kinda developed a sudden fear of flying). Tried watching some movies but unfortunately their in flight movie selection suck big time! It was mostly B grade movies. Settled on a movie called Killers and I must say that though I was never(and is still not) much of an Ashton fan, the fact that he was kinda adorable in this movie(not to mention has a great body)made the movie bearable to watch. My fav is the elevator scene but I couldn't find an unedited version. The unedited scene is way longer(which means more time to drool over his body) and he has more dialogue with Katherine in French(*swoon*) but I guess this will hafta do. I actually rewound this scene 3 times in the plane...hahaha



OK, on to the pics


Arrived at Cape Town Airport around 6.30am local time



It is never too early to shop

.....and my ass is back in the plane seat for another 7-8 hour flight

Hola Buenos Aires!

Arrived in the afternoon so we missed the morning traffic

Spring time in BsAs

These beautiful purple trees are called Jacarandas and they are in bloom all over the city

I stayed at the Hotel Esplandor, a Boutique Hotel in downtown BsAs. Just around the corner from my conference centre

View from my balcony

Since my hotel was a boutique hotel, it was filled with pictures of famous Argentineans. They all looked like real paintings but once I looked at em' close up and read the labels, I found out that each picture was made out of different mediums

Picture of Eva Perón aka Evita was made out of different types of bread

  

Picture of Che Guevara was made out of bullets...how apt

Galerias Pacificos...higher end shopping centre in downtown BsAs. The building was declared a National Historical Monument in 1989 before being handed over in 1992 and turned into a shopping and cultural centre. My conference centre is located within this Galeria.

The downtown streets are filled with random tango dancers

Oh, and let's not forget the whole reason why I'm here...the 11th Symposium on the Biosafety of Genetically Modified Organisms....nerd much?

Ok....need to force myself to sleep now ...Hasta luego!

Ayudarme por favor.....

That means help me please in Spanish...

Yes, I made it safely to Argentina but I need help....firstly, the stupid huge ass dinosaur of a laptop that i lugged all the way to Argentina isn't working and I can't get WiFi when everyone else can....I have tried EVERYTHING possible but I still x get WiFi...I'm using the hotel computer btw. There's only 2 of em' and there's always a queue for it....prolly the ones queuing are the people who's stupid laptop can't get wifi either! There goes my hope of skyping with Mi Amor while I'm here....I even bought a web cam and headphones with a mic before leaving for Argentina so that I could skype with him (yes, that's how old school the laptop is...it doesn't have an inbuilt webcam or mic).

And the second thing I need help with is my sanity.....my FREAKIN MOTHER is HERE with me in Argentina!!!!! (pls God give me the strength to not want to hang myself ). She decided at the 11th hour to buy a ticket a follow me to Argie (yes, 2 hours before I was going to leave for KL Sentral to check in my bags she decided to pack her bags and purchase a ticket!). It's only been a day in Argie and already we've had some disagreements (but I hafta say I'm semi proud of myself, instead of talking back, I just roll my eyes in silence hoping she doesn't catch me doing it). 

Drama began even before we reached Argie.Since she purchased her tix last minute, she couldn't get a seat next to me coz the plane was full....somehow halfway through the journey, the guy sitting next to me changed seats....and I decided against calling my mum to sit with me (coz I wanted the peace...and also the space)...somehow she was walking through the plane looking for me and when she found me and saw that the seat next to me was empty she got upset at the fact that I did not ask her to sit with me!) sighhhhh.....

Oh and then there ws the gift shop incident in Cape Town Airport (we had to stop over for almost 2 hours before resuming the journey to Argie). She asked me what should she get, a fridge magnet or a mug and me being me was trying to rationalize the options ("Oh if u get a fridge magnet, you'll only put it up on the fridge, that's it, it won't benefit you much but you do have a few collections already. Wherelse if you get the mug, you can use it but then again you have so many mugs already and u hardly even use them"). Now in all honesty I didn't mean anything by my statement, that's just how I think even when it comes to making trivial decisions. But noOooOoOO...apparently my mum took offence in my statement coz she snapped at me "Mama mintak your opinion, can't you just give your opinion instead of berleter kat mama?" to which I replied "Berleter? that wasn't even berleter.That was me trying to think out loud since you asked for my opinion when truthfully I don't have an opinion coz I x care!" OH JOY, I'M GOING TO SPEND A WEEK IN ARGENTINA WITH HER!

The TV in my room has 80 channels and me being the TV addict I am will always find something to watch. It is NOT FUN watching late night shows (*ehem ehem*)  with my mum sleeping next to me.
I was watching this trashy reality show (so sue me, I like em') called A Shot At Love with Tila Tequila (why don't we get this is Malaysia?!). It's the same premise as the Bachelor or Bachelorette or any other reality show where the main person is looking for 'LOVE'. Anyway, from the start of the show till the middle, she was quietly asleep. When when it came to the part where Tila was making out with one of the contestant in a champagne glass shaped bath tub (filled with champagne non the less...yes, prolly the classiest bit of the show) she just had to choose that time to wake up!

Mi madre : Why are you watching this? Takde cerita lain ke?
Me           : Nope.
Mi madre : Why is she wearing clothes like that? (I'll leave the clothes to your imagination)
Me           : Fashion
Mi madre : Is that a man or a woman? (refering to the person Tia was making out with)
Me           : It's a woman, can't you tell?It's so obvious (ok to be fair to her, it prolly wasn't obvious to her as the woman was a butch..but still, I could tell and I'm sure most people could)
Mi madre : Why are you watching this? I don't like all this lesbian stuff!
Me:          : Then don't watch.

Think that's enough for today. It's been a longgggggggggg day. And if I had to blog about my encounters with Mi Madre, I should start a whole new blog for that! (so maybe that must be God's reason for my laptop acting up...so that I don't blog more about the rest of our Mother-daughter adventure in Argie)

Hasta Lavista!

Feliz Aniversario Mi Amor !

If you look at the lil’ Daisypath counter in my blog, you’ll realize that today we have been together for exactly 11 years and 9 months (though we have only been married for 9 months).

Ever since we first got together, we have been wishing each other “Happy Anniversary!” monthly (yes, that’s 141 months of anniversary wishes). We don’t necessarily have to do anything to celebrate it but a simple wish would suffice. Even when we were doing the long distance relationship thingy for 2 years, we would text, email or call each other to wish “Happy Anniversary”.

This morning Mi Amor called me around 1.30 am to do exactly that and that was enough to make my day. Today in the office (about an hour ago actually) I received a surprise delivery:

9 roses for 9 months...apparently according to my Chinese friend,the no 9 stands for longevity :)

At first I thought it was odd that they sent purple and white roses...coz normally people would send red or pink roses. Then I realized that purple and white was the exact theme of our wedding solemnization!

Sighhhh...this is the first time I'm getting chocked up since he left for Vevey. Te quiero  y te extrano mucho Mi Amor!

Think I should get a timer to start counting down the days to me leaving for Vevey. Why doesn't time fly when you want it to?

Trigger happy

Guess what?!?! I FINALLY bought myself a camera! Yay for me! *clap clap clap*

I didn't really do much research on cameras before getting Cammie (yes, it has a name now) as it was a last minute decision kinda thing when I suddenly realized I can't rely on Mi Amor's bb anymore and need a camera urgently before going off to this place

Argentina...land of Gauchos, Tango and Futbol

which I’ll be leaving for tomorrow night to attend this. So I actually had only 5 days to get a camera!

I present to you the Canon IXUS 300 HS



My pics better be this clear!



I won’t bore you with the specs (coz God knows I don’t quite understand them all) but if you’re really that interested, you can read it here.

Anyway, I just wanted to give a shout out to Mi Mujer (which means My Woman in Spanish) for seeing me through the whole process (yes, I even need support to buy a freakin’ camera!). What kinda support you ask? Let’s see:

 

1)      She was the one I called when I couldn’t decide on what camera to buy and with our collective limited knowledge on cameras (she doesn’t own a camera either) we debated on the potential camera models suitable for me.

2)      Once I finally decided on the IXUS 300 HS, I couldn’t decide on which deal to go for (there were many good deals around but all offered something different) and again called her up to discuss the deals.

3)      After I had decided on which deal to go for and made my payment, she advised me to pick it up directly from the shop since I need the camera before leaving for Argentina (even though they can Post Laju it over she said she didn’t trust Post Laju which apparently is not so laju sometimes). Since I had no idea how to get to the shop (it’s in Pudu Plaza...never been there, never even heard of it) she offered to accompany me to the place.

So we met up last night and drove to the shop (not an easy feat on a rainy Thursday night with heavy traffic). To quote Mujer,  “I can’t imagine you actually coming here alone to pick up your camera” (I can’t either, I’d definitely get lost along the way. Heck, I can’t even find my way in the parking lot and within the shopping complex itself! Not to mention the area is kinda dodgy).



What better way to officiate Cammie than to take a pic of Mi Mujer



After picking up Cammie, we went to Pavilion for dinner and while waiting for our food I decided to tinker around with Cammie while Mujer helped attach the wrist strap to the camera (we both couldn’t figure out how to attach the camera strap to the camera case and gave up on that).

Yes, even to attach the wrist strap we needed to consult the manual

Reading the manual does have a tendency to make one hungry. It's all that thinking involved I tell ya!

Mujer did all the walking even with a sprained ankle. It actually doesn't look that bad here but it is U-G-L-Y in real life....guess my camera makes things look good....haha

Haven’t finished reading the camera manual (will prolly have plenty of time to do that in the plane as I heard it may be a 26 hour flight). Mujer, I will try to bring you back a hot Argentinean man but if all else fails, hopefully you’ll have plenty of pictures to look at :D

La Isla Bonita

Don’t feel like writing much but felt like reminiscing about the wonderful mini break we took a few days before Mi Amor left for Vevey.  Please excuse the photo quality as we do not own a camera so all pics were taken using Mi Amor’s bb.

If you don’t know already, we went to this place which had a few themed villas and stayed at the Spa Villa. To briefly quote the website:

 
“ Spa Villas are private bungalows on stilts over the sea offering direct access to the Spa Village. Similar to the Sea Villas, each unit features an oversized bath with ceiling mounted shower, large balcony for private sun bathing and a stunning view of the Pangkor Straits".

 

Heading towards our Villa

 



View from the porch right outside our room doorstep



Since the whole idea of the villa is to rest and relax, hence there was no TV in our room (so much for our stay in bed and watch TV/Movies all day long plan!). Don't they know tht watching TV can be relaxing too?! But I wasn't so bothered about the no TV situation coz I wasn't missing any of my favourite shows throughout our stay there. I was even a bit happy coz I thought, “Yes! Mi Amor can’t watch the Liverpool game tonight!”. However, trust Mi Amor to find a way and we found a small living roomlike area on the floor above the gym that had a TV with sports channels :P


The staff were really friendly and on the first day we were there, I got a cheap thrill when I entered our room to find a cute lil’ monkey made from towel hanging from the wall with a note attached.




Yes, I know it's creepy looking in this pic (kinda like Jason from Halloween) but trust me, it looks cute in real life (and the eyes and mouth are made from flower petals!)



Why thank you Ruby :D

 

Since I'm adverse to sunlight (by choice), I didn't do any sunbathing. But Mi Amor and I did chill out on our balcony at night gazing at the stars with me falling asleep thanks to the cool breeze and Mi Amor serenading me with Paramore songs (yes, the Paramore concert was still on his mind!) 

 

Our balcony where no sunbathing took place...only star gazing



Those who know me know that I enjoy a long shower or bath and the bathroom in our villa was a treat for me. The windows from the oversize bath open out to a beautiful view of the sea and as much as Mi Amor tried to persuade me to leave them open so that I can enjoy the view while taking a bath, I’m just not that much of an exhibitionist.






Hmmmmmmm, tempting..... but no

 



Wait a minute, I spy with my lil' eye...

People fishing outside my villa?! THIS is why I don't take a bath with the windows open!



Ohhh, besides the normal bath gel and soap , they also provided bath salts and some lovely smelling emerald green soap (me thinks it might be seaweed). It was my first time using bath salts so I think I got overly excited and carried away with coz I used up more than half of the salt in the container, which explains why I came out looking like a prune (but a relaxed and sweet smelling prune none the less!)


 

Soothing, relaxing and refreshing experience indeed!



Our package included a spa session for 2 at the Spa Village so we chose the ultra relaxing Balinese massage. Prior to the massage, we went through an elaborate 45 minute relaxing Bath House Ritual which was suppose to represent the various bathing traditions from around Asia . Again, quoting the website:

“This starts with a soothing footbath and an invigorating Chinese Foot Pounding, previously only enjoyed by the concubines of feudal China. From there you will be escorted to the Bath Houses to enjoy the traditional Malay 'circulating' bath, and a Japanese-style cleansing with a 'goshi-goshi' cloth, followed by a dip in the heated Rotenburu pool.Our professional spa staff will then give you a gentle exfoliating wash with our signature Shanghai Scrub. In Shanghai, this is traditionally offered exclusively to males. After your scrub, enjoy a cup of calming tea in our tranquil surroundings before you begin your spa treatment”.

Apparently they’ve won various International Spa Awards but I can’t remember much of the Balinese massage coz I was mostly asleep during the massage (isn’t that a sign of a good massage?). The only thing I probably remember before dozing off was the sound of Mi Amor snoring.

The Food at the restaurants there was superb! Since food was also included in our package, we had appetizer, main course and dessert for EVERY MEAL! (I know, I’ve packed on the kilos...but it was worth it!). Again, these photos from the bb don't do the food justice (Damn I gotta get a good camera!)

During dinner, we managed to get one of the few couples table overlooking the sea. The table on our right was a British Indian couple celebrating their 25^th Wedding Anniversary and the staff surprised them by bringing out a cake and serenading them (the song was “Tonight I celebrate My Love for You” in case you’re wondering). The table on our left was a young newlywed Malay couple celebrating their honeymoon (how do I know? Coz I overheard them telling the waiter..haha). And out of all the tables, suddenly the chef comes over to our table and started talking to us! Asking us about the food, bla  bla bla...and he sent us a complementary orange cheesecake. I kinda felt bad, coz the newlywed couple didn’t get anything. At first I thought, “Maybe he had mistaken us for the newlywed couple?”  “Maybe I should give the cake to the newlywed and congratulate them” then after staring at the cheesecake for a while I thought, “Oh well, maybe God just wants to reward me today for being a good girl...cheesecake..YUMMM” 



3 desserts, and they're all MINE!!!



All around the resort you can find different spots for lounging and chilling out (see model demonstration below) 

Male model was on a break

but my favourite was this poster bedlike thing near the lobby (in fact, I shamelessly hogged it and had a 2 hour afternoon nap there even though there were people around! ).


Can you believe they put this out in the open? I should have this in my room!



 I also looked forward to their daily complimentary 15 minute neck, shoulder and back massage. I swear, the woman doing the massage has MAGIC fingers! Even within that short 15 minute massage I managed to fall asleep! (but then again, it doesn’t take much to make me fall asleep). Besides using her hands and fingers to massage, she also used some sort of stick like instrument to rhythmically and gently tap my back. On our last day there we almost missed the boat back bcoz I wanted a last massage before leaving the island!

I didn't even realize Mi Amor took this pic....was ZzZzzZZzzing away

Though I was sad to have to leave, I still looked like I was in a happy dreamlike state thanks to the massage

Mi Amor if you’re reading this, thanks for the mini break babe, it was exactly what we both needed! Can’t wait to meet you in Vevey so that we can take more mini breaks :D