en route; 
spent a good saturday with my two gorgeous girls,
sunday lunch at Sole Pomodoro for jazell's birthday,
a sunday shopping afternoon with michtan,
followed by a hearty sunday dinner with kai!
"Acknowledge that not absolutely everything sucks. Yes, there are about a hundred things wrong at the moment, but there are probably also a hundred other things that are not wrong. In fact, regardless of how minuscule, some things are probably going right. It’s not about not allowing yourself to feel like shit because you live in the first world and have a microwave or rich dad or whatever, it’s about a healthy dose of perspective. Go easy on yourself."
- Mila Jaroniec, How To Feel Okay
and the work week starts again.
happy monday, everyone! (: i'm scared.
i'm scared because i don't want to drop back in that hole.
i'm scared because i don't want to give up contentment.
it's always one step forwards, two steps back. and while everything seems to be moving forward now, moving backwards almost always seem likely.
Lord, show me your way. so i'm stuck at home today with a tragic flu &sore throat, accompanied by body aches &a massive headache, and my brain decided that it was a fantastic plan to wake me up at 5.48 in the morning & not let me go back to sleep (this is why drowsy flu medication is one of the best things scientific research has ever come up with).
thank God for caring colleagues though. one even messaged saying "you finally took MC." HAHA. this was, however, finally cancelled out by an ex-colleague who said "you weak sauce" -.- YES, JINGHOW, IF YOU EVER SEE THIS, YOU'RE THE UNCARING EX-COLLEAGUE. SO MUCH FOR BEING MY 'BEST FRIEND'. hahahaha.
on a heavy-headed note,
i'm going to crash before going to see a doctor.
good night morning, world. “We pass through the present with our eyes blindfolded. We are permitted merely to sense and guess at what we are actually experiencing. Only later when the cloth is untied can we glance at the past and find out what we have experienced and what meaning it has.”
- Milan Kundera
t'was an okay working week,
followed by an awesome weekend, despite the (to put it dramatically) relapse of the flu. habitat coffee, yahava, novena, the fat cat bistro, everything with fries with amazing people! (: saturdays nowadays seem like foodie/coffee saturdays.
PLUS, the awesome bubbles designed my phone cover for me, &i played around with some art&craft stuff (to be revealed next time! HOHO)
happy tuesday (&the rest of the week) everyone <3 
antoinette on monday, penang place on tuesday.
happy birthday to my awesome mom! (:
september is definitely a month of birthdays!
18th Sept: mom &RAHRAH! (happy birthday, my amaaaaaazing, long-time friend! you are most deeply loved <3)
19th Sept: JOZHAN! (happy birthday, my retarded wife that i never married <3 your baking skills are too amazing, and the fact that you know me so damn well makes me love you even moreee :D)
21st Sept: JESSTAN! (happy birthday my backseat buddy (: thank you for always being my listening ear &giving me the most amazing hugs <3)
"I have this foolproof defense mechanism that I will let you guys in on. I call it the potato method. In times of great distress or overwhelming doubt, it will bring you unparalleled clarity. Just do what a potato would do. Potate. No, it doesn’t make any sense. Yes, it does work anyway. Adamantly ignore things that would otherwise hurt you and focus your attention on technical responsibilities. Focus on things you can excel at as a result of sheer effort alone, on things in which luck plays no part. People will admire you for your determination and they will never realize that you are potating. If you are ever accused of cowardice, of running away from your problems (as you are, frankly), maintain your potating. Commit to the potato method. This is how you can run away from everything."
- Heidi Liu, How To Run Away From Everything
i can't do this. i just want need to run. 
had an okay week,
followed by a not so good friday workday, but thank God for amazing, caring colleagues who (to put it dramatically) came to my rescue. i had prayers (thanks to Rie!), antiseptic wipes &ice packs, followed by a string of concerned questions, which really brought me much comfort (: it was also awesome that almost the whole office trooped down to Selamat's house for his Hari Raya open house, which had a whole buffet FEAST. there was rendang, curry puffs, chicken wings, mee siam, sambal eggs, etc. IT WAS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. hahaha. thanks to Selamat for opening up his house and his wife's amazing cooking for us!! (:
plus. plus. *drumroll*
CONGRATULATIONS TO AHMAD on his recent FATHERHOOD!! (: his wife gave birth on wednesday to a beaaaautiful (or handsome, in this case) baby boy! haha. happy occasions are always worth sharing (:
xoxo;
happy weekend!
--
"Why would you ever want to drop down there again? This is safe. Safe is content. Content is better than miserable. You’re going to be impervious to heartache. You’ll be unbreakable in the future."
- Christopher Hudspeth, You VS Feelings
“Life, he says, doesn’t have to be so bad all the time. We don’t have to be anxious about everything. We can just be. We can get up, anticipate that the day will probably have a few good moments and a few bad ones, and then just deal with it. Take it all in and deal as best we can.”
― John Corey Whaley, Where Things Come Back
monday has come &gone,
and i'm. still. sick. but going back to work was somehow not such a bad thing. perhaps it's exactly what i needed for my restless soul. early happenings on a sunday morning:
#1 waking up (still) feeling like dying. tells dad about being flu &headache.
dad's response? HOR. YOU WENT DRINKING LAST NIGHT RIGHT?! -.- such faith my dad has in his daughter.
#2 waking up to bubbles' amazing news! CONGRATS BUBS (: i am mighty proud of you!
#3 receiving messages from marcusseng asking me if i have died. YES I HAVE.
#4 Avicii being blasted from the pub downstairs my place the first thing at 12noon. or so it seems to come from there.
last day of the holidays!
please let me get well by tomorrow. good friends don't let their sick friends spend the remaining days of the september holidays lying in bed at home!
Balaclava! with my girls, ben, kai, alvin &kenchin (:
spent the day collapsed in bed with harrypotter, gnomeo&juliet &panadol cold, but i managed to drag myself out of the house to see the people i haven't seen in quite awhile! no regrets, though i went home pretty tired out &stuffed with mixed nuts. HAHA.
saturday brunch!
woke up (late) to cheok &rah's whatsapp messages appealing for us to get out of bed, before getting whisked off to Thomson for brunch at Habitat Coffee! hoho. i swear i'm becoming a drug addict. people take medication for their cold, i take Yahava coffee (monsoon malabar beans! :P) for mine. i'm starting to feel a tad bit unhealthy :/ thanks to cheok for driving us around, and to rah for introducing me to awesome coffee! (:
next up, Ted! (:
and the awesome didi is coming back with my replacement Kindle BWAHAHAHA.
happy weekend, everyone!
i need to get well before monday :/ 
“And since he was seeing more and more people who were unhappy for no apparent reason, he was becoming more and more tired, and even a little happy himself. He began to wonder whether he was in the right profession, whether he was happy with his life, whether he wasn't missing out on something. And then he felt very afraid because he wondered whether these unhappy people were contagious.”
― François Lelord, Hector and the Search for Happiness
woke up with a horrible nose, a splitting headache &a scratchy throat, but running around buying ingredients &spending them in front of the oven made the passing thursday a lot more bearable (:
happy thursday everyone! "The same resigned look, the same desperate need to justify the damaging behavior, the same rationalizing of their obvious discomfort with their place in life. They have led themselves here like toy cars on a circuit — one they could step off of if they moved only an inch to the left or right, but outside of which they cannot understand life exists. We are all on these circuits, our own version of circling down a certain drain, and it’s clear that remaining in the whirlpool only leads to profound dissatisfaction. What greater fear is there than trapping yourself in a cage of your own unwillingness to grow?"
- Chelsea Fagan, Are We Doing This To Ourselves?
i hate the fact that it affects me.
i hate the fact that despite whatever you're putting me through, i actually still care, at least a little bit. i wish for the first time in this one month, you'd just put all your pessimistic thoughts aside and just LISTEN. just for this once. but no. apparently i'm not even worth it for you to listen. MY REPLACEMENT KINDLE IS FINALLY IN AUSTRALIA WITH THE AMAZING COUSIN AKA DIDI!! *jumps around*
it's made me so excited that i've actually been browsing for new kindle covers, and i've bought another $75 gift card for more books :P 14 ebooks since may, and many many more to come (:
time to head out for some coffee &some reading off the laptop to 'waste' my holiday away!
xoxo; 
