tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69561954444317934032024-02-07T11:20:33.375+08:00High High JaggaMy words sound better coming from my hands than my mouthUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-9069163938228689302022-11-30T20:52:00.000+08:002022-11-30T20:52:10.817+08:00Does This Dress Make Me Look Pregnant?<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW0g4lWfpXudCMRAUUTE4h9u6umvqgTORL0A9JCPs_EwfcAqNtYieWR4_bK258iGK0XCmN2Rcpit4fDc_iw8M7BhJfNU-8Z0EeIRv9V_r8M-hwcWEW94-1BB2RbU3n_TzJTF3GSVA8ggd4DXVMubamhjYC-hISxToQB0sKSCynRr48leC97a-o52Do/s1200/20200225_211004_0000.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW0g4lWfpXudCMRAUUTE4h9u6umvqgTORL0A9JCPs_EwfcAqNtYieWR4_bK258iGK0XCmN2Rcpit4fDc_iw8M7BhJfNU-8Z0EeIRv9V_r8M-hwcWEW94-1BB2RbU3n_TzJTF3GSVA8ggd4DXVMubamhjYC-hISxToQB0sKSCynRr48leC97a-o52Do/s320/20200225_211004_0000.png" width="213" /></a></div></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I bought this dress in
a thrift shop for RM15 (around $3.50). A dress like this in retail could easily
cost me around three to four times that price.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The dress, had twice,
brought me memories that I will never forget. Twice while wearing this dress,
people had mistakenly thought I was pregnant. I’m not offended though, quite
far from it actually. I found their opinion hilarious.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The first time I heard
of it was when I went to the doctors for cough + flu + fever combo in 2019.
Whenever I fell ill, my skin felt like it’s on fire. Everything hurts, even a
slight breeze. Every time my skin brushed against any articles of clothes I’m
wearing, it felt like I’m being sliced with a sharp knife. So a broad dress
came across as heavenly at times like this. It’s comfortable and didn’t brush
against me as much.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The doctor took my temperature,
and asked the usual questions; symptoms, drug allergies. He took off his
stethoscope and said, ‘This dress you’re wearing, you’re not pregnant are you?’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’m not being ignorant;
I can hear what the doctor wasn’t saying. He just wanted to make sure I’m not
with child so that he can give me the proper medicine to treat me. But he did
mention the dress being the reason he asked. Both of us laughed loudly in his
office when I told him no.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The second time I heard
of it was on Saturday in 2020 when I went to the string of food market near the town
library. It was exceptionally hot, and I felt especially plump that day, so I
pulled this dress from my closet to wear. There was this lady, whose stall was
selling pastries: bread, buns, full-sized egg tarts, mini egg tarts, pineapple
tarts, you name it. I was craving for pineapple tarts so I went there to buy a
carton. The lady switched the carton I handed her to what she said to be a
“better looking tarts” because the one I picked had cracks in them. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“We women should give
good food to our babies if we’re pregnant” she said, implying that I’m
pregnant. “The poor baby in your tummy wants to eat pineapple tarts. Let’s give
the baby the good-looking tarts, okay”.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
laughed so hard when I heard her say it. I did not correct her, as I did not
want to embarrass her and make things awkward. I went along with her
assumption, and was given a discount for the pineapple tarts and she even
thrown an egg tart for free.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
collapsed in the car in a fit of laughter when I tell my father about it. I
know this has everything to do with the dress. I’m on the chubby side, but
people never outwardly ask or assume I’m pregnant. But it has happened only
twice, and both times were because I wore this dress.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></span></div></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-88793956592586041022022-11-18T09:22:00.001+08:002022-11-18T09:22:05.369+08:00Never wrong a writer. They get their revenge in print.<div style="text-align: justify;">
I don't like to be asked what's on my mind and when I do, I am told that I was being over-emotional.</div>
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I don't like that when I told people how much I hated you for what you did to me, I am told to move on.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I don't like it whenever I tried to let go of you by talking about you or writing about you, my throat gets tight and I feel like crying.</div>
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I don't like it that I am accused of not moving on, when I fucking do want to move on.</div>
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I hate you so much for making me change my mind about you.</div>
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I hate you so much for convincing me that your words are true.</div>
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I wonder if you have any sort of remorse</div>
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I hate you so fucking much.</div>
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I am on the way of punishing you.</div>
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I will give birth to a character intended as a representation of you.</div>
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And I will give you a slow and painful death.</div>
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Reincarnate you again in a different name, only to have you murdered in some sort of way.</div>
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Just like Sisyphus who was punished by being forced to roll an enormous boulder uphill, only for it to roll down when it's near the top.</div>
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That is how I will punish you.</div>
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A non-glamorous immortalisation of you.</div>
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Every time people read about death in my books.</div>
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There's no other person they would think of, except you.</div>
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For every book, with a death of your character, I will send you a signed copy.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And perhaps a dictionary.</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Because you can't read English)</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-15432413625332970032022-11-18T09:13:00.001+08:002022-11-18T09:13:56.269+08:00Do you guys think Bonnie noticed Woody was missing?<div style="text-align: justify;">
I did not watch Toy Story 4 in the cinema, due to personal reasons. I waited until they played it on Fox Movies for free.</div>
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I read some movie reviews; and a lot of them were disapproving of the way Bonnie ignored Woody, and all agreed that Woody should have stayed with Andy.</div>
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After watching the movie myself, I agreed!</div>
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I am quite offended by this fictional six-year-old girl.</div>
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If Woody is in college with Andy, he wouldn't be mutilated by another toy in some random antique store for his voice-box.</div>
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But then again... If Woody is in college with Andy, he wouldn't have been reunited with his long time love, Bo Peep...</div>
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The end of the movie fast-forwarded to two years later (kindergarten is for how many years in America?), Forky is still in Bonnie's bedroom. Which brings the question, does Bonnie noticed Woody was missing?</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-53252977661104815362022-11-14T12:48:00.000+08:002022-11-14T12:48:19.425+08:00Twelve random facts about me<p style="text-align: justify;">Why twelve? I don't know. Probably because there's twelve months in a year? Here we go.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">1.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I cannot stand the taste of pineapple.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Not under any circumstances, not even when I dipped them in salt.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">2.</p><p style="text-align: center;">My house is a mess.</p><p style="text-align: center;">No matter how many times I tidied up, it's still looks messy.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">3.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I can't handle scary movies.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Although the only ones I've ever watched all the way through were Chucky, IT and IT2. They're not bad. But then it's probably because I watched them during daylight.</p><p style="text-align: center;">There's a funny story behind how I came to watch Chucky. Maybe I'll write that in another post.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">4.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I used to pull out grasshopper's legs when I was little.</p><p style="text-align: center;">In elementary school, my friends and I would catch grasshoppers, and then we pulled out its legs so it can't jump and escape. We wanted to make them our pets. The grasshopper(s) didn't last a day before it died.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">5.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I daydreamed - a lot!</p><p style="text-align: center;">You can't even imagine what it's like. Apparently it's a mental condition called Maladaptive Daydreaming. Although mine's probably called Immersive Daydreaming. Either way, it's a mental condition, like I said.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">6.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I don't curse.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Well, at least, I don't curse in front of people I'm not close with.</p><p style="text-align: center;">And I don't curse in my native language. Those were vulgar as vulgar can be. So I only curse in English.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">7.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I have one constant friend throughout the years.</p><p style="text-align: center;">His name is Dante, and he's an imaginary pen-pal I wrote to when I write my diary. Hmm... I haven't write to him in a while. There's so much to catch him up on.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">8.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I got my driver's license in 2019.</p><p style="text-align: center;">It's a very long story involving procrastination, money problems; and lying and thieving driver's instructors, who happens to be a friend of mine, by the way! I wanted to support his business and that was how he repaid me?!</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">9.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I keep things that I don't need, or have no need for it again.</p><p style="text-align: center;">This is probably why my house is messy? Hmm... Better fix that.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">10.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I am hopeless in Mathematics.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I swear I scores As in Maths from kindergarten age to 9 years old. This was a case of teacher who don't know how to teach when I was ten. And in this case, he only teach a certain group of students because it was convenient in terms of body posture. When we asked him to show us how to do the work, he wasn't as detailed.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">11.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I take a long time to eat.</p><p style="text-align: center;">There's this one time at the shopping mall food court, my mother got tired of waiting for me to finish eating, she went to another shop to kill some time.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">12.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I write fanfictions.</p><p style="text-align: center;">It's M/M trope(?). It's embarrassing if people in my circle knows about it. But this is okay. I'm sort of in incognito.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-25770423230833083002022-11-10T12:24:00.002+08:002022-11-10T12:24:12.080+08:00For that one reader who visits my blog when they can’t sleep<p> <span style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hello. Welcome.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Your comment about me
not updating my blog in a long time has been heard.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Well, if I haven’t been
updating my blog before, it was because I was unbelievably lazy. But this year,
I have the fortune of having a full time job.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But I will try and
regularly update my blog from now on; since I found out I have a loyal fan. You won't believe how happy this makes me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You also mentioned not
being able to focus on reading my blog because I wrote long articles.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I will try to keep them
short.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stay tuned.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-65329740566853220002020-01-15T17:30:00.000+08:002020-04-18T22:03:55.968+08:00On My Bookshelf: The Hundred-Foot Journey, by Richard C. Morais<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcx4GeHGBom2CSy_GNe1KnDICWr_7bFw0T6KbvpIdRc9P7-5lunx1EQwsu4pgoUdaQywniYG6-bkNtX1MXXfqUK1Vv41Wj55Dja7MAo9y0Rj8L3kU76KVK8jimhU-mr3pG0L4-HOyvH9I/s1600/NS-70.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcx4GeHGBom2CSy_GNe1KnDICWr_7bFw0T6KbvpIdRc9P7-5lunx1EQwsu4pgoUdaQywniYG6-bkNtX1MXXfqUK1Vv41Wj55Dja7MAo9y0Rj8L3kU76KVK8jimhU-mr3pG0L4-HOyvH9I/s320/NS-70.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">[
WARNING: SPOILER ALERT ]<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My dear readers, if you
are an avid reader like me, and like to read in your free time (especially if
that free time also includes meal times), then I don’t think this book is for
you.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I would suggest you to
read until the end before you decide to negatively react to this post over just
one sentence.<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This book tells the
story of the humble beginnings of the Haji family; starting from the Haji’s
grandparents. The grandfather is a humble but rather successful businessman.
But it’s the grandmother who is the entrepreneur of the family, who thinks outside
the box and was able to transform a home based small business of lunchboxes to
a full blown restaurant business that also became a source of income to many
people around who worked for them. You have got to admire that. It gave you a
sort of inspiration to be successful as well.<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Clapped hands) Now… I
am going to tell you about why this book is not suitable to read at meal times.
I’m not sure how accurate the cultural reference is of the Indian community,
but the book mentioned the word “toilet” several times, “raw sewage”, “sweaty
armpits the size of dinner plate”, sloppy description of eating style and all
others, all before the fourth chapter. Even if you’re not eating at the time
you’re reading the book, but if you happen to have a weak stomach, you will
feel queasy nonetheless.<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Unfortunately (or is it
fortunately?) I will not include quotes of the said mention, for fear my dear
readers might be having a meal when reading this.<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you are a person
easily to feel squeamish, I suggest you start the read of this book by sucking
on something to take the edge off; maybe some tangy candy, or minty ones;
really, whatever helps. But it doesn’t last the whole book, thank goodness.
Only the first few chapters.<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The book however, I
guess what shocked me a little was when fifteen year old Hassan who just
arrived in London following his mother’s death, met with his London-born cousin
of the same age for the first time and was astounded by her choice of fashion
that he cannot keep his eye away from her. I know, everyone is allowed to be a
little astonished by something they very rarely see in their life. But what I
meant by I was shocked was when the vehicle they ride on, that was driven by
his late mother’s brother, rounded a roundabout so fast that the said cousin’s
knee were pressed against his thigh and he can feel his pants pitching a tent
just from that!<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And
as we leaned around the corner, I felt my cousin’s hot knee push back against
my thigh, and instantly a cricket bat was poking up through my pants.</span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I really don’t
understand what brought that on. Even though the book was written from a first
person point of view, I don’t know what went through his mind when his body
reacts like that. How could you get aroused from a person’s choice of fashion
and from a simple physical touch like that?<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hassan later wondered
if his troubled relationships with women had everything to do with losing his
mother in a murder. As soon as it felt as though the relationship is about to
get serious, he will do something to screw it up. With that said, this book
contained some bam-bam in the ham storyline. Although it not really that
focused: just one sentence per woman. But with enough of an overactive imagination,
a person can jerkin with the gerkin anyway (Not that I tried).<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Madam Gertrude Mallory
is a two Michelin star restaurant chef and owner, called Le Saule Pleureur,
that also double as an inn. She is so successful that people travel from Paris
just to eat at her restaurant. Madam Mallory is quite a character! She is the
sort of employer that I would get a lifetime of trauma from. She lost her
tempers easily and does not care who around them listened. When the Haji family
decided to open a restaurant right across the street from her and make
Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val as their home, she went ballistic. She did everything
to sabotage their business; such as blackmailing people of the town market she
patrons not to sell goods to the Haji family.<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Plus I have a sneaking
suspicion that her loyal manager Monsieur Henri Leblanc is a little bit smitten
with her, and she him. Just a lit~tle bit smitten. Lit~tle.<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But don’t let first
impressions fool you. Madam Mallory showed herself as a surprisingly emphatic
person, albeit dismissively emphatic. One bite of the food Hassan cooked, she
immediately sensed talent. Which brings me to the part where Madam Mallory sabotage
attempts, and it went back and forth between the two restaurant owners, and
finally stopped when their fight caused an accident burn to Hassan.<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Madam Mallory
determined to make things good again, even staged a hunger strike in front of
the Maison Mumbai. She refused to move from where she was sitting and eat until
Abbas Haji, Hassan’s father, agree to let his son work at her restaurant where
she knew he can be great. Abbas agreed eventually.<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And so Hassan’s journey
into the French culinary began. Madam Mallory’s attention to Hassan had planted
a bitter seed on her existing staff, particularly Jean-Pierre.<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">For
if there was one human condition that Madame Mallory understood, it was
jealousy, the intense pain of realising there are those in the world who simple
are greater than we are, surpassing us in some profound way, in all our
accomplishments.</span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She did not mean to
make her staff envious of Hassan. She was gentle to Jean-Pierre’s outburst and
it made him shameful of his acts.<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">But
he is like a visitor from another planet, and in some ways he is to be pitied,
for the distance he has yet to travel, and the hardships he has yet to endure.</span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This quote changed the
way I look at life. This quote changed the way how I look at other people,
especially when they make mistakes.<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hassan did not stay at
Le Saule Pleureur long, and since his leaving, he had been in and out of working
in many restaurants, even helping some of them earn one more Michelin Star.<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">“When
you leave here, […] you are likely to forget most of the things I have taught
you. That can’t be helped. If you retain anything, however, I wish it to be
this bit of advice my father gave me when I was a little girl, after a famous
and extremely difficult writer had just left our family hotel. ‘Gertrude,’ he
said, ‘never forget a snob is a person utterly lacking in good taste.’ I myself
forget this excellent piece of advice, but I trust you will not be so foolish.”</span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">“I
am not very good with words, but I would like to tell you that somewhere in
life I lost my way, and I believe you were sent to me, perhaps by my beloved
father, so that I could be restored to the world. And I thank you for this. You
have made me understand that good taste is no the birthright of snobs, but a gift
from God sometimes found in the most unlikely of places and in the unlikeliest
of people.”</span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He soon settled down
with his own restaurant, that he co-owned with his sister, with the help of
Madam Mallory’s regular patron, and inheritance from his father. As any
business owner will tell you, not every day is filled with sunshine. Things got
steadily hard for Hassan financially, and it certainly did not help with his
emotion that his father, Madam Mallory and his best friend all died within less
than six months.<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">This
was the vision that visited, in that restless space between sleeping and
waking, and it greatly soothed me. For this vision of the chickens heading to
slaughter reminded me that there are many points in life when we cannot see
what awaits us around the corner and it is precisely at such times, when our
path forward is unclear, that we must bravely keep our nerve, resolutely
putting one foot before the other as we march blindly into the dark.</span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">And
it was just before I fell asleep that I remembered one of Uncle Mayur’s
favourite expressions, often repeated as we walked, hand in hand. through the
slums of Mumbai when I was a little boy. “Hassan, it is Allah who gives and
takes away,” he liked to tell me, and with a cheerful wobble of his head. “Always
remember this: His will is only revealed at the right time.”</span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I
am always reminding myself why I got into the game in the first place. […] It’s
so easy to become intoxicated by all this flimflam. […] That is what he had to
teach us - all of us - in the end. Never lose sight.</span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But when Hassan’s
restaurant luckily earned a surprise third Michelin star, things were alright
again and the book ended and so is this blog entry. I know. I’m shocked too.<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 18.4px;">This blog post is part of On My Bookshelf series of <a href="https://nadinesuhaimie.blogspot.com/2020/01/on-my-bookshelf-around-year-in-52-books.html" target="_blank">Around the Year in 52 Books</a> reading challenge.</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-31347908437836389102020-01-10T21:35:00.000+08:002020-04-18T22:01:56.785+08:00On My Bookshelf: The Out of Office Girl, by Nicola Doherty<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5hYJ3_s7s8QcASTOkk6vsTlXiInQibaJZJeOHKsEDpB6mmOoZz3Vt_yk5lgXO52oX_RvRC3Z2hALkzf-EeeumCAc35rCFykR-VjA75kiBNra2l3PMCLhxJKBtzw-m-83v7uH9k5GMVP0/s320/NS-70.png" /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>[WARNING:
SPOILER ALERT]<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you want to read
about publishing, this is the book. If you want to read about writing (or
rather, the process of ghost-writing an autobiography), this is the book. If
you want to read about somewhere based in Italy and/or London, this is the
book.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Most importantly, if
you want to find a book by an author whose name contains A, T, and Y for your
book reading challenge, this is the book (at least one of the books).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 116.25pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alice
Roberts worked at a publishing house in London, and one of the projects her
department was assigned to was writing an autobiography for an American actor,
Luther Carson. The actor was by no means </span>ageing<span style="font-family: inherit;"> nor dying. But his short
marriage and hiatus from acting brought interest to his life. When the
ghost-writer who stayed with Luther in Italy came to no significant progress on
the book, Alice was given an assignment by her reluctant boss to help convince
Luther to help write the book.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 116.25pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 116.25pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alice
went out with a guy for two months, who then ghosted her and terminated the
“relationship” after a long silent treatment. It made her question if there was
even a “relationship” to begin with. So the trip to Italy was the break from
London life she didn’t realise she needed. She was starting to day-dream about
getting into a relationship with her actor crush, and imagining her
ex-(sort-of) boyfriend getting jealous and wishing he hadn’t dump her.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 116.25pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 116.25pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
reality she was met was far from her imagination. Luther Carson, while
expressing his intent to wanting to write the book, kept putting it off. He
kept going out on his friend’s yacht at daytime, going out to dinner and clubs
at night time. When asked about writing the book, he was going with the
“party first, work later” approach. No wonder the ghost-writer had trouble
writing the manuscript. Alice was hounded with deadlines by her boss, who
already thought she was not a competent person for the job since the beginning.
After another procrastinating on Luther Carson’s part, Alice lost her patience
and gave him an ultimatum about what is at stake.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 116.25pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 116.25pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Luther
came to his senses and agreed to actually start working on the book. But this
time, Alice was facing another challenge: The ghost-writer, Brian, heard news
from his wife that she was diagnosed with cancer. He was distraught of having
to be so far from her; torn between the responsibilities that was asked to do
his job, and the love for his wife. Alice made an executive decision to send
him home, and send him Luther’s interview transcripts for him to work with. Her boss was not happy when she found out what Alice did, and even more
upset to find that a supposed clause in the autobiography contract, that Alice
was in charge of, was left out by accident; but nevertheless let Alice
continued with her work with the book. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 116.25pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Luther Carson was a
transformed man, and in a span of a few days, Alice had acquired more materials
for the book than they did two weeks ago. His agent, Sam Newland, was
convinced that writing the autobiography will be the worst decision Luther has
ever made and the stories written will be held against him throughout his entire
career.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alice and Sam had a
talk and came to an agreement regarding to Luther. Putting that aside as a
resolved problem, they had a few cosy moments where Sam even felt comfortable
enough to tell Alice a few work gossips about famous actors and actresses. The
cosy moments progressed into flimp-flopping, and, oh-my, Nicola Doherty wrote
it in such a way that made you want to hitchhike to the sky.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I love it! I love Alice
and Sam together! I ship!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Much better than if she
ended up with Luther Carson…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But Alice got the idea
that Sam was just playing with her and that it was Marisa, their Italian
friend, who he was really attracted to. Her hesitation put a strain on their friendship
and any potential that it will ever progress to something more. To make matters
worse, Sam found the paper containing an intimate detail of Luther’s hiatus and
thought Alice was tricking him into putting it in the book. Alice returned to
London without ever having the chance to explain herself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Luck wasn’t on Alice’s
side at work. While she admittedly did a quick progress on the book to the point
of it being finished, she was dismissed from her job. She was accused of
unprofessional conduct when a gossip site wrote about “a publishing house
editor” was spotted coming out of a night club with Luther, accused of firing
the ghost-writer without consulting with her boss, and for carelessly leaving
out an important clause in Luther Carson’s autobiography contract.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was engrossed in the
book so much when I found out that I had about three more chapters left! What
will happen to Alice and Sam?! I hope they ended up together!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Okay. I just returned
from reading the last few chapters and I have great news!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While going to an art
exhibition with her colleague, Poppy, Alice bumped into a founder of a newly
established publishing agency, who gave her her card and asked Alice to contact
her if she wants to consider working with her. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As a thank you for coming with
her for emotional support, Poppy pulled out Sam Newland’s business card from
her bag that she took from Alice’s boss’s desk. Alice refused to take it,
telling her that contacting Sam will be pointless, to which Poppy replied with
this gem of a quote.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">When
a nice guy shows an interest in you, you run a mile. It’s as if you think you
don’t deserve it. Whereas a creep like Simon has your full attention. </span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It does make you think all of our the-one-that-got-aways...</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A few days later, Alice
was contacted by the managing director of her old workplace, asking her to come
back to working with them again with a promotion. No, <i>begging</i> her would be a more suitable word. It turned out that Sam found
out that Alice was fired from her job and demanded that they reinstated Alice into the company. So the managing director begged her to come back, and if she decided not to,
they promised they will put out a great word out for her if she wanted to work
for any other publishing company.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alice found out from
Poppy that Luther and Sam were in London, for a premier, and she rushed to the
hotel they were staying in. She felt like it was the only chance to meet face
to face with Sam and talk properly. Sam found her at the reception and they both
went up to his room. They had a proper talk, and what a satisfying feeling it
was to read that they genuinely had feelings for each other and the kiss at the end to
prove it! I was squealing with joy in my seat the whole time! In fact I am
still giddy with happiness.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Want more good news?
The book doesn’t just end with thirty-seven chapters. It had epilogues too!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This blog post of part of On My Bookshelf series of <a href="https://nadinesuhaimie.blogspot.com/2020/01/on-my-bookshelf-around-year-in-52-books.html" target="_blank">Around the Year in 52 Books</a> reading challenge.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXYrZEx1SbdHJOyAgoTp27dMYm7_-dezRscgTTtadIO7L0VcH5mq8X8_6sxysUqRyim9f83ZJ9IH2zMLEkqjD6Cmdr9zmVgnw89-huXX4qRh4GgmanWE9SFoBeBo2OGucKtGqImePrXNM/s320/NS-69.png" /></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-9172830406503508912020-01-05T22:30:00.000+08:002020-04-18T22:03:38.477+08:00On My Bookshelf: Fifty Shames of Earl Grey, by Fanny Merkin (aka Andrew Shaffer)<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcx4GeHGBom2CSy_GNe1KnDICWr_7bFw0T6KbvpIdRc9P7-5lunx1EQwsu4pgoUdaQywniYG6-bkNtX1MXXfqUK1Vv41Wj55Dja7MAo9y0Rj8L3kU76KVK8jimhU-mr3pG0L4-HOyvH9I/s1600/NS-70.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcx4GeHGBom2CSy_GNe1KnDICWr_7bFw0T6KbvpIdRc9P7-5lunx1EQwsu4pgoUdaQywniYG6-bkNtX1MXXfqUK1Vv41Wj55Dja7MAo9y0Rj8L3kU76KVK8jimhU-mr3pG0L4-HOyvH9I/s320/NS-70.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>[
WARNING: SPOILER ALERT ]</b></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">No. This is not the
infamous fan fiction trilogy. If you thought it is, read the title again. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I found this book while scrolling through Pinterest for eye candy. It was in a Tumblr screenshot, and the anons replies about the book piqued my curiosity.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have not read Fifty
Shades trilogy or Twilight saga either, but I knew enough to recognise which
story line belonged to which franchise. Most of my knowledge of Fifty Shades
came from the first volume, where I would open the book at random pages and
read what’s on it. My Twilight familiarity came from the TV tuned to said
movies on HBO as a background noise while I work on something else; occasionally glancing
at the screen for a break or when my sister pointed out interesting facts that
went way back to the first book.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In essence, this book
is a crossover of 95% Fifty Shades series and 5% Twilight.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 24.5333px;">I open</span><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 24.5333px;"> my eyes and stare down at Mr Grey and HOLY MOTHER EFFING SPARKLY</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> VAMPIRES
IS HE HOT.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A note on one of the
page of the book said that the book </span></span><span style="font-size: 16px;"><i>“</i></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;"><i>imitates an author’s style and work for
comic effect. Its intent is to ridicule”</i>, which is evident in this one-liner
that made me chuckle.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 24.5333px;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">With</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> his tousled brown hair and brilliant gray eyes, he’s the kind of guy you want
to write fanfic about.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In fact, the first few
pages of the book had so much resemblance to Fifty Shades of Grey that I almost
did not see any difference. Although the pseudonymous author did moved and
added a few words, I had a moment of insight of what my college professors must
have felt like when we turned up written assignments that each one read almost
alike. This book started with the protagonist Anna Steal who was filling up for
roommate Kathleen Kraven for an interview with Earl Grey.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">“[…]
I’m Edward Cullen. I mean, ‘Earl Grey.’ Have a seat”</span></span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here’s a little
anecdote: Whenever I fell in love with a fictional character, I would pretend
that they were even crazier in love with me, and that there is nothing in this
world that they cannot do to prove it. My beloved fictional character would
also be this powerful person and that everyone in the world can’t wait to want
to associate themselves with them. This book reminded me a lot of the fan
fictions I used to write on paper and in my head, and because of that I got
embarrassed a lot while reading it. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To give you only <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">some</i> illustration as to what I meant: To
get Anna to join him for a coffee during her shift of working at Walmart, Earl
bought the whole company just so that she could take the afternoon off. And
then they ride the helicopter to go to Starbucks - that’s just right across the
street. And my personal favourite was when Anna and her two best friends
crashed their car into the sea; Earl drained the Pacific Ocean to save them.
There’s plenty more where that came from and I wish I could tell them all in
this post.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The pseudonymous author
also name dropping names of public figures that associates with Earl Grey:
Names like Bill Gates, Jay-Z, Nicholas Sparks, and Vin Diesel, which were <i>“included
only to enhance the overall value and effectiveness of the parody”.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Like the original Fifty
Shades of Grey, in this book Anna Steal’s virginity were also taken by Earl
Grey, but with so much comical effect that I don’t think anyone will be able to
milk the moose with it. Their boom-chick-a-wow-wow made Anna horny; and combine
that with Earl’s character, they make for one sex-crazed couple.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">“Moan,”
I moan. “Moan, moan, moooooooan”</span></span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That sentence right
there seems like a dig at Stephenie Meyer’s New Moon:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Aro
laughed. “Ha ha ha,” he giggled.</span></span></i></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That’s not the only
Twilight reference. Even though I did not watch the movie properly, I do
remember when Bella Swan found out she was pregnant. Even though it was only
about fourteen days since the wedding, Bella can already feel the baby moving
inside her body. It’s not even a week since they first puddle-snuggling and
Anna can already feel the baby kicking.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Even until the end of
the book the pseudonymous author did not pipe down the hilarity, and anyone
with a sense of humour for a pogo in the shrub parody of Fifty Shades of Grey
should love this book.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This blog post is part of On My Bookshelf series of <a href="https://nadinesuhaimie.blogspot.com/2020/01/on-my-bookshelf-around-year-in-52-books.html" target="_blank">Around the Year in 52 Books</a> reading challenge.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoYDe55Q9eKizIYfAfpKiGQpnZMgQRS9FAOKlEJHFTMD5Cvrr4oPD24lcjKMI6URbDmpXwdsr-kuruHvrhdbBLSogCGoFMewp97AanEsyuvsBKZ3-TYHarCPe2dNmSf_fLfSJ9OXeKiks/s1600/NS-69.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoYDe55Q9eKizIYfAfpKiGQpnZMgQRS9FAOKlEJHFTMD5Cvrr4oPD24lcjKMI6URbDmpXwdsr-kuruHvrhdbBLSogCGoFMewp97AanEsyuvsBKZ3-TYHarCPe2dNmSf_fLfSJ9OXeKiks/s320/NS-69.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-17541287977131575462020-01-01T07:00:00.000+08:002020-04-18T22:03:06.755+08:00On My Bookshelf: Around the Year in 52 Books<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6xM13GjXfAqcQ9Esgd07tykNKGrGd0ihURG-nCNqAXFNfFDCyKXC3vGQcdKkAMCdqbuR39KclpIT2XJnMJwAQN_y8TGM8ea6ysnt8uOT9UUM7CIyLXR7O9xE6IumI6pif8fsccG532bo/s1600/NS-69.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6xM13GjXfAqcQ9Esgd07tykNKGrGd0ihURG-nCNqAXFNfFDCyKXC3vGQcdKkAMCdqbuR39KclpIT2XJnMJwAQN_y8TGM8ea6ysnt8uOT9UUM7CIyLXR7O9xE6IumI6pif8fsccG532bo/s320/NS-69.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">I bet every bookworms
and Pinterest addicts have stumbled upon reading challenges at least once or
twice. I have shown interest in taking said challenge but keep putting it off,
and before you know it, three years had passed. I even had a library card made
last year to encourage reading, but with every books borrowed I had to return
with hardly five chapters read. I think I only read seven books last year, for
light reading. Not my greatest achievement, but to the best of my abilities.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I happened upon another
book challenge again, but one that I rather like. So I thought this year, I should really give it a shot. It’s called Around the Year in 52 Books. That's 52 books in 52
weeks, for me to read and write a review in no particular order whatsoever. And
for that I decided to start a pioneer series called On My Bookshelf.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHfyXCdX0oSk30MdyQJ971uSpj3bkb91h3eB118Y9F3H_18cD5dUuz-UGZwRo-tr3pU9yoJW0HcalCuS9_1lIHIpg9YqBAo0VE-lhRlp8n2NDd5CCl5nh-a86FFWw02Eq077n6T1l-y-o/s1600/NS-70.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHfyXCdX0oSk30MdyQJ971uSpj3bkb91h3eB118Y9F3H_18cD5dUuz-UGZwRo-tr3pU9yoJW0HcalCuS9_1lIHIpg9YqBAo0VE-lhRlp8n2NDd5CCl5nh-a86FFWw02Eq077n6T1l-y-o/s320/NS-70.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The reading challenge
was for last year, but I will keep the year on default for authenticity sake.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">1. A book that was
nominated for or won an award in a genre you enjoy<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2. A book with one of
the 5 Ws in the title</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">3. <a href="https://nadinesuhaimie.blogspot.com/2020/01/on-my-bookshelf-out-of-office-girl-by.html" target="_blank">A book by an authorwhose name contains A, T, and Y</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">4. A book with a criminal
character</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">5. A book written or
inspired by Shakespeare<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">6. A book with a dual
timeline<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">7. 2 books related to
the same topic, genre or theme: #1<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">8. 2 books related to
the same topic, genre or theme: #2<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">9. A book from one of
the top 5 money making genres<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">10. A book featuring a
historical figure<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">11. A book related to
one of the 12 Zodiac Chinese Animals<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">12. A book about
reading, books, or an author / writer<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">13. A book from a New
York Public Library Staff Picks list<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">14. A book with a
title, subtitle, or cover related to an astronomical term<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">15. A book that set in
or by an author from a Mediterranean country<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">16. A book told from
multiple perspectives<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">17. A speculative
fiction<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18. A book related to
one of the elements on the periodic table of elements<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">19. A book by an author
who has more than one book on your TBR<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">20. A book featuring
indigenous people<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">21. A book for a
suggestion from the ATY 2019 polls that was polarising or a close call<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">22. A book with a
number in the title or on the cover</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">23. 4 books inspired by
the wedding rhyme: #1 Something Old<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">24. 4 books inspired by
the wedding rhyme: #2 Something New<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">25. 4 books inspired by
the wedding rhyme: #3 Something Borrowed<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">26. 4 books inspired by
the wedding rhyme: #4 Something Blue<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">27. A book from the
1001 Books to Read Before You Die list<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">28. A book related to
something cold<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">29. A book published before
1950<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">30. A book featuring an
elderly character<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">31. A children’s
classic you’ve never read<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">32. A book with more
than 500 pages<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">33. A book you have
owned for at least a year but haven’t read<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">34. A book with a
person’s name in the title<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">35. A psychological
thriller<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">36. A book featured on
an NPR Best Books of the Year list<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">37. A book set in a
school or university<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">38. A book not written
in traditional novel format<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">39. A book with a
strong sense of place or where the author brings the location / setting to life<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">40. <a href="https://nadinesuhaimie.blogspot.com/2020/01/on-my-bookshelf-fifty-shames-of-earl.html" target="_blank">A book you stumbled upon</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">41. A book from the
2018 GR Choice Awards<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">42. A book with a
monster or monstrous character<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">43. A book related to
STEM<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">44. A book related in
some way to a TV show / series or movie you enjoyed<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">45. A multi-generational
saga<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">46. A book with a
(mostly) black cover<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">47. A book related to
food<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">48. A National Book
Award finalist or winner from any year<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">49. A book written by a
Far East Asian author of set in a Far East Asian country<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">50. <a href="https://nadinesuhaimie.blogspot.com/2020/01/on-my-bookshelf-hundred-foot-journey-by.html" target="_blank">A book that includes a journey</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">51. A book published in
2019<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">52. A book with a weird
or intriguing title</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-47531319443679310902019-04-20T20:00:00.000+08:002019-04-20T20:16:01.490+08:00NEVER ANNOY A WRITER UNLESS YOU WANT TO FEATURE IN THE NEXT STORY THEY WRITE...<div style="text-align: center;">
You're on thin fucking ice my pedigree chums, and I shall be under it when it breaks. Now fuck off!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
- Snatch</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-6231845075268589372019-04-15T20:00:00.000+08:002019-04-15T20:00:04.765+08:00What do I see when I look outside of the bedroom window...<div style="text-align: justify;">
I sat in the car with my father, waiting for the school to end to pick up a student, and I looked up just in time to see a toddler hauling a broken cement stone to a place by the chain link fence. To us adults, it may seem like she's just making herself tired for no reason. But in her mind she's probably imagining building a house. I kept my eyes on her, wondering why this scene is so familiar.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Then I remembered.<br />
<br />
In a flash it brought me to my childhood home in Kudat. We lived next door to a community hall that also double as Tadika Kemas. I was probably three or four years old at the time, because I remembered staying home and had to be fed bottles of milk whenever I wanted. The house we lived in had this old school style window that reaches to the floor. I also remembered this detail because when I was spying on the kindergarteners, I was sitting on the floor.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The last kindergarteners to leave Tadika Kemas were usually in groups of four or five people. There's an oil palm tree growing by the fence, just one. It's old enough to grow fruit, but not too tall because all the kindergarteners had to do was stand of their tip toes to pick the fruit out.<br />
<br />
I found it fascinating. One of them pick a sharp stone the size of their palm and will gently knock the stone around the oil palm fruit to prise it out of the bunch. They usually pick just one fruit for each of them. The picker would hand the fruit they successfully extract and hand it to their friend. I remembered the picker said, 'Put it in our fridge'. There was no fridge of course. Just a little place on the fence's cement that they suddenly decide will be their "fridge".</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In a group of four to five people, when only one of them was picking oil palm fruit, what were the others doing?<br />
<br />
They crowd around under a tall guava tree, where another friend was climbing it. The fruit was so far up the tree that the said friend even had to stand on the community hall's garage roof top for a bit. They crowd around under the tree to be the eyes to the climber. I remembered they excitedly screaming at their friend 'to reach a little over on the left'. They pick any guava they could find, albeit unripe.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
When they're done, they took turns biting into the guava, not wanting to lose to their friends by admitting that it's too bitter to consume. Or maybe, they already used to the taste, so they don't care. They did not forget to pocket the oil palm fruit. I loved it when I watched them pretending to open a fridge door, each of them took it from the "shelves" and put in in their kindergarten uniform. One of them chose to bite into it instead. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I remembered thinking, <i>'Lucky kid'</i>. After watching so many episodes of them playing pretend, I remembered telling someone (perhaps my nanny?) that I want to eat it so much, but the adults at my house said it will give me stomach ache.<br />
<br />
Spoilsport...</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I loved watching them whenever they played pretend. As a kid, I have no concept of time of course, but somehow my body knew when the Tadika Kemas ended, and I would rush into the bedroom, sat by the window and watch them.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It was one of my favourite memories as a kid.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-17811239727597041432019-04-10T14:00:00.000+08:002019-04-10T14:00:10.438+08:00Hundredth Day of Year Two Thousand Nineteen<div style="text-align: center;">
Inspiration can come from anywhere - an image, a comment, something that's happened to me or someone I know. It's hard to know exactly.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
- Nicholas Sparks -</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Years ago, by my own standards, I was a very active blogger. I once reached a peak of creativity and I published a post once a day, almost every day of the week. I cannot afford a smart phone with Internet access like my peers back then, but I do owned a laptop and a USB broadband (Goodness, remember the USB broadband?). But then again, I can't very well lugged it around with me everywhere I went. So when I got an inspiration, I grip it tightly in my mind so I won't forget, got home and wrote it in my blog.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Those were the good days, it seems. I certainly hope that that wasn't the peak of my life and that I'm still climbing. Realising the stark comparison between the number of posts in my early years of blogging, I decided to start fresh: Build a new blog and delete the old one. Which you are reading now. But as you can see, even in the new blog, the posts were very few and far in between.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I lived a rather introverted life. I had very few friends who I hesitate to contact, just in case I bother them, so I am not really without friends I stayed home a lot, not doing much. I picked up some sewing skills, which I might share with you one of these days. But mostly I just watched TV shows these days, whether on the actual TV itself or on my phone. By living such life, my daydreams probably exceed that of an average person, so for me inspirations really <i>can</i> come from anywhere. Even when I was at a post office waiting for my number to be called, my head can spout a dozen of ideas to write, however ridiculous. Each and every one of my ideas, can fill at least a few pages.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
With apps and websites being developed each day, in this day and age, inspirations are scattered everywhere waiting to be harvested. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram and many more, are abundant with raw ideas to develop.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, though inspirations really do can come from anywhere, the process of really executing it into something people can enjoy reading is an entirely different story.<br />
<br />
So let's cut to the chase of the matter. I haven't been writing much lately not because I'm uninspired. It's because I'm unbelievably lazy.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And that's what made me disheartened.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Even so, don't think that I am giving up on myself. In fact, it was far from that.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I can't help but wonder though, where's the girl in me with the passion for writing. Was she upset that I pushed her out of the board room and replaced the writing team with TV shows. I hope she doesn't completely abandoned me. I want her back with a triple raise of salary.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And since we're talking about non-existent entities of imaginary corporation in our heads, I also want to call back the reading team. I only read a handful of books last year, why was that? I used to read a book a week, remember? Pull yourself together...</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Anyway...</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A few years ago, I had drawn up a blogging plan; with pre-picked topics, and meticulously spaced dates for posting. I didn't get to do it that year, so I moved it up to the next year. But the next year came and went, and I still did not hold up to my self-expectations. If you think the blogging plan were moved to this year, then you're so right. When I missed a few scheduled post in January, I remembered thinking, '<i>It's okay, it's free-trial month</i>'. Then February came, but it was March when I finally come to my senses.<br />
<br />
I cannot keep breaking my own promises.<br />
<br />
It was also March when I scraped my blogging plans, compose myself and promised to return to blogging with a healthy and ready mind. Rather than following a list of topics to write in numerical order it came with, I decided to just write freely with whatever topic I want to write at the time. I will treat my return to blogging as I did (or at least tried) with everything else - stress-free.<br />
<br />
And today is that day. Today, on the hundredth day of two thousand nineteen, I am publishing my first official post of the year. </div>
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I'm still keeping the blogging plan. It might be useful in a few years, after another lengthy revision of course.</div>
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With that said, I'm saying goodbye for now. I'll be celebrating my return to blogging with a feast. See you in a few days.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-77249671520816286872019-01-26T18:10:00.001+08:002019-01-31T16:05:33.435+08:00Product Review: KFC Parmesan Truffle Crunch<div style="text-align: justify;">
When I first saw the latest KFC limited edition product, it was on a tall, slim billboard that you can see from far away, and I saw it on my way home with my brother. I was curious, but I did not immediately ordered my brother to stop by the nearest KFC. Or maybe I wasn't interested at all in the first place.</div>
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I came across KFC's advertisements on this particular product on Instagram every single time I logged in, you can watch it <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BsWXVgDgG6i/" target="_blank">here</a>. (Please excuse my beginner level's blogging skills, I have a lot to learn, it seems)</div>
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Anyway, whenever a video plays on Instagram, naturally I reached for the comments. People were divided over the taste of the new KFC product. While some say it's delicious, the other side that doesn't think it does though can agree with one thing... <i>It's salty</i>.</div>
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There's some people who tried to justify the saltiness. Number one: The fried chicken itself is salty. Number two: The Parmesan truffle is made out of cheese, that is known to be salty. Number three: The shredded Parmesan cheese itself is also salty. Now, what happens if you combine all the taste together, that person said. Of course it's going to be salty.</div>
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Provided with such evidence, I have to agree with that person on that.</div>
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So... Last Thursday, I walk into a KFC outlet, with full knowledge of what it will taste like, but I still bravely ordered and paid for two-piece KFC Parmesan truffle crunch set. I found myself a table, and I bite into my chicken, the one I have been anticipating for a while. It - taste - like - disappointment.</div>
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People had been commenting how salty it tasted and everything, but I will tell you exactly how salty it was. It taste like the dust on the bottom of your bag of chicken-flavoured crackers. While the crackers we put into our mouths were moderately salty, the moment you tipped the whole contents of the bag into your mouth, you'll be instantly attacked by the raw salty taste of artificial flavouring.</div>
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So, yes, I can confirm that the new KFC Parmesan truffle crunch is in fact salty. I came into a KFC franchise with clear head of not to get my hopes up, to be readily disappointed. But I was disappointed. Do you want to know why? I expect the saltiness to be from the chicken, from the cheese. I don't mind that type of saltiness. But I am certainly not happy to have to made myself eat chicken sprinkled with cracker dust. And on top of that, I'm pretty sure the chicken they gave me wasn't cooked through. The part where there's vein in the chicken, were still pink, and the meat doesn't came off cleanly from the bones, as should a cooked one does!</div>
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While I don't want my opinion on this new KFC product to be mistaken as being ungrateful to have food on my plate, for this one, I'm going to have to say no.</div>
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*<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Title updated on 31st January 2019. Originally titled <b>KFC Parmesan Truffle Crunch</b>.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-6091081642169945012018-10-21T09:17:00.002+08:002018-10-21T09:17:47.313+08:00Post-Bosou Making Report<div style="text-align: justify;">
As you probably read in my recent blog post, I had made a fish bosou. I had a friend who commented that my fish bosou looked dry. It's only looked dry because I just only finished making them. During the fermentation, there's a clear, yellowish liquid that began to flood the jar. I was told by another friend that it's normal. Well, after waiting the compulsory fermentation period of two weeks, and lusting for it every other hour, I finally get to taste my very precious fish bosou.</div>
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The fish was soft and tear easily with a spoon. There's no need to pick the bones as you eat, because the bones produced exciting popping sounds as it crushed between your molars. But there's only one setback, and I'm not sure where the root of the problem came from. The fish tasted like lemon-lime flavoured fish! God! It's so sour that it induced winks out of me. It's such a mistake because to make up for the sourness, I scooped up more vegetables than fish, which was never my intention. I didn't labour hours in the kitchen just to have vegetable bosou did I?! My friends were as baffled as I was when I told them.</div>
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I stopped eating the bosou for a few days because I fell ill, and when I do feel better, I felt like I can't return to eating acid as my side dish. At least, not at the time. So the fish bosou jar sat where I last left them: In the coolest part of the house.</div>
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Last week, I felt like eating bosou again so I took the jar out and scooped and scooped for the fish, but there were none?! Where's the fish that gave me so much grievances for weeks when I was looking for ingredients? I thought I had a fish's more worth of meat in there. Again, I put the jar back where I left them.</div>
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Last Tuesday, I sat with the same friend that commented that my fish bosou looked dry, and told him of my experience and asked him if it melted away. He said, 'Of course it melted away, it's an acidic environment'. Please be also noted that I never told him that the fish was extremely sour.</div>
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I thought to myself, well, what happened? Wasn't the point of bosou-making was to be able to keep the meat for a long time?</div>
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First round of bosou-making: FAILED.</div>
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But it doesn't really matter. There's always a room for learning. I'm going to try making a second batch soon.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-87302585312315574882018-08-21T16:54:00.001+08:002018-08-23T15:10:28.416+08:00The Amature's Crazy Misadventure of Bosou Making<div style="text-align: justify;">
For those unfamiliar with one of Borneo's island's local ethnic's language, bosou is a way of preserving meat or fish by pickling them. Most popular ones are bakas (wild boar) bosou and fish bosou. For religious reasons, I have never eaten wild boar or any of its kin. I am sure it's delicious though.</div>
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I have a vague childhood memory of eating pickled fish, but I don't know if it's called bosou as well, because instead of fermenting in rice, the fish was put in tapioca paste. My grandmother brought it from her hometown when she visited us. It tasted so delicious! My mother even successfully tried to copy the recipe, but it was just for that one time. She never made them again, for unknown reasons.</div>
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On my way home from Sandakan last year, I bought two small plastic containers of fish bosou in Kundasang, which is the worst decision to make, because it was that good, and I don't want to ever stop eating them three meals a day. Before you know it, my sorry supply of fish bosou were polished off.</div>
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As luck would have it, several months later, I found, in our town's Thursday's farmer's market, an elderly lady selling several small containers of bosou. Again, for religious reasons, I can't just buy from anyone else, otherwise why would I deprived myself of this delicious fermented fish that is bosou! So every week, I would return to her stall, buying all the fish bosou she had available that day. Until one day, she ran out of fish to pickle and she had to stopped selling it. She also said she'll resume selling fish bosou next month, which is this month, but I went to her stall a few times, and there's still none.</div>
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So, what did you do when your supplier stopped production? You made them yourself, of course.</div>
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Which brings me here. The reason I am sitting in front of my laptop, in my stifling hot bedroom and writing in my blog that was in hiatus, is to tell you a story of me making fish bosou.</div>
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If you were one of the blogs that posted recipes of fish bosou and noticed a sudden peak of pageviews to that particular post, I can guarantee 75% of your traffic came from me.</div>
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Let me give you a brief look at the ingredients I put together from my research from the other websites.</div>
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<b>1.</b> Freshwater fish</div>
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<b>2.</b> Rice</div>
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<b>3.</b> Pangi</div>
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<b>4.</b> Salt</div>
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<b>5.</b> Bunga kantan (or in English it's called torch ginger)</div>
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<b>6.</b> Bamboo shoots</div>
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<b>7.</b> Tuhau</div>
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<b>8.</b> Mushrooms</div>
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<b>9.</b> White chilli pepper</div>
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<b>10.</b> Bawang kucai (or in English it's called chives)</div>
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<b>11.</b> Ginger</div>
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Freshwater fish is highly recommended in making fish bosou. Any kind of freshwater fish is good, but most websites recommended pelian fish. My concern at that time was where to find pelian fish? Our town being just a boat-ride away to the South China Sea, is the reason our fish market only sells saltwater produce. Plus, when I looked it up online, the only way I was ever going to get a pelian fish is to go to a tagal river where fishing is prohibited, and can get you fined and some jail time.</div>
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I told my parents of my trouble: about the lack of fish bosou in my life, and where can I get pelian fish in this town? My father told me of the next town over where the people there only ate freshwater fish, as access to the ocean is far too limited. He should know of this, because we used to live in the said town for almost eleven years. I was excited. I was already planning our road trip.</div>
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Luck was on my side. On my next trip to our town farmer's market (let's call it Week 1), I found a stall selling pelian fish! I cannot contain my joy. Except that I have to, because the pelian fish costs from RM18 to RM50. Per fish! Not per kilogram! The price wiped the smile from my face. So I bought the cheapest one. Compared to the expensive ones, this fish was the smallest. I managed to get RM15 for it, because the writing on the price sticker was smudged, and neither me and my father, nor the stall owner can read what it said.</div>
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Later that week, I went to Giant Hypermarket which is near my house to buy cupcake ingredients for my nephew's party at kindergarten when I came across a pelian fish! Cheaper! Bigger! After I made sure with my father it's the same fish we bought together a few days ago, I happily put the fish in my basket. At Giant, they don't call it pelian though. It's by another name called sultan fish. That's why it had me confused.</div>
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So, all I need to do next is to get the other extra ingredients that gets put into the bosou. Which is easy enough.</div>
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Except that I cannot find pangi! Pangi! Gosh. Apparently, it's harder to look for a place to sell pangi than I thought and the sure place you are guaranteed to get them is at Donggongon market, which is an hour drive from our place. I went to the spice stalls at our town's market and had asked for pangi, and the nice elderly man, which I think is the stall's owner, laughed apologetically and had asked me to look for people who looked like they came from a remote village, they might sell pangi there. I circled that week's farmer's market three times to make sure I didn't miss any of them and found no pangi.</div>
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A higher being from above must have find my desperation for bosou making either adorable or annoying, because we had some business to do over in Penampang anyway so I get to go to the Donggongon market to get my pangi. Cue the excited squeals.</div>
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I bought packets of them since I don't know when I'll be able to go to Donggongon market again.</div>
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Another visit to the farmer's market the next week after (let's call it Week 2), and I had the most productive shopping ever. I bought all the other ingredients needed and I came home happy, and can't wait to start bosou making.</div>
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Here were the two pelian fish I bought. The smaller fish was from the fish market and the bigger one on the right was from Giant.</div>
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First thing's first is to clean the fish. I have to gut the fish and descale them. I had never gut a fish before, but I always said I can do it when there's a desperate time came for me to do it. Today is that day. I had to call my mother into the kitchen and asked her to teach me how to clean it. She was watching her favourite Korean television show at the time but I can't tell if she's annoyed or not. Best to not find out. The expensive, sorry of a fish I bought from the farmer's market had already been gutted by the person who sold them, which only leave me to clean the big one I got from Giant. My mother stood behind me, looking over my shoulder to make sure I cleaned the fish properly. If it wasn't for her doing that, I would have saved that sac of white stuff I found in its guts that I thought were eggs. It turns out to be the fat. Urgh...</div>
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The pelian fish scales were as big a rose petals. I tried plucking it, but it took a good chunk of my time and I'm tired from standing over the sink for too long. I tried scraping it with scissors and the fish might as well resurrected from the dead to laugh at me. I don't want to use the knife as it might cut into the flesh. Then my eye rested upon this brush of nails, made to do exactly that, scale a fish. One stroke of this beast of an invention and the scales came right off. It was flying everywhere, including into my hair, making a mess. It was the most satisfying thing I have ever done to a raw ingredient.</div>
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One of the blogs mentioned cutting the fish in fillet style, debone it. I thought I could do it. Hey. How many times have I watched people did it on that Korean television show? That celebrity in that show also claimed that he had never done it before, and look how beautifully he cut them.</div>
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So I sharpen the kitchen's knife, the act that only my parents ever done, because they had children who only knew how to use the knife, but not when it comes to maintaining it. I sharpen it the way I have seen my parents did it, the way I have seen people on television did it, knowing the dos-and-don'ts of knife-sharpening I have read on Tumblr screenshots on Pinterest. The sound of the knife being grounded over the sharpening stone echoed in the kitchen and can be heard from the living room (Probably, I wouldn't know. My mother didn't comment anything).</div>
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The knife was sharp enough. It's only me who didn't have the skills.</div>
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This was the pelian fish that I got from Giant. With the way I cut it, it looked like I almost minced the fish! I was upset of course. I thought I could do it. But then I decided to just accept the fact that that was the outcome of my first ever attempt to fillet a fish. I decided that it was a much needed learning experience. A learning experience that I am not in a hurry to perfect though. I left the fish looking like that. I'm going to eat it anyway, and my stomach doesn't care what it looked like.</div>
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There was still so much meat left on the bones that I decided to boil it to eat later.</div>
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Learning my lesson, I have decided to just cut the other fish like this. While wondering where went wrong when I butchered the bigger fish, I remembered something from when I was reading from that same website that told me to fillet the fish. It was so that I won't be uncomfortable separating the meat from the bone when I'm eating the bosou. I mean, really? It's a fish! What do you expect? Of course there's going to be bones in them!</div>
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I put everything in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge (Please note that I wrote fridge, not freezer). I cleaned the kitchen so that my family can use it next. I have been hogging the kitchen all afternoon. After I was done, I decided to take a break as I haven't had lunch yet and had been feeling dangerously light-headed. Plus my heels were killing me from standing too long.</div>
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One thing I noticed was that during I was handling the pelian fish, it was rather oily from fat. The fish that I boiled for my lunch, it tasted like patin fish. My father concluded that the fish I bought from Giant must have been grown commercially. That would explain the oil from fat and the patin-like taste.</div>
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My father also hilariously commented that the lady who sold me the pelian fish from the farmer's market must have caught them in the tagal river, because the fish only lives in the upstream of the river and the chances that the fish can be found downstream was if there's a flood from the rain. A tagal river can be found in our district a few kilometres away from town. I was then reminded of the story a friend told me that he always fished in the said tagal river, and thought that there must be some truth in it.</div>
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It was purely conspiratorial theory of course. Please don't arrest me for buying fish product from suspected tagal river fishing. If anything, please make rounds at the farmer's market to investigate.</div>
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Moving on.</div>
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I took the remaining rice from the rice cooker pot and cook a new batch for the family. There must have been three cups worth of rice in there. The recipe requires for cold rice, not freshly cooked one. Although there's some blogs that said to use hot rice. </div>
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If you notice, I was already using fluorescent light, as it was already early evening. I moved to the dining area, where I set up station.</div>
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Aside from the rice, first I add the bunga kantan or the torch ginger after I chopped them up.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF-bjYd6tUJhrhpv8-ivCKP42Q82t3YRXqimqjXspxf-jgmLdVsz738QC9ebZcE28QAaqBQK2aDqu6kHxnlONTC7DlNiRV4aZw1xsp7DWCN3UfrGvhHFU51GKNX09ZE7RlDl7Le-lxmGM/s1600/NS-53.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF-bjYd6tUJhrhpv8-ivCKP42Q82t3YRXqimqjXspxf-jgmLdVsz738QC9ebZcE28QAaqBQK2aDqu6kHxnlONTC7DlNiRV4aZw1xsp7DWCN3UfrGvhHFU51GKNX09ZE7RlDl7Le-lxmGM/s400/NS-53.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Next came the young bamboo shoot. I remembered this ingredient from the bosou I bought in Kundasang. Only that I can't recognise what it was at the time. It came in a plastic bag already shredded like so. I only need to wash it and put only two handfuls.<br />
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The rules I read for making bosou was that the ingredients we put in must be dry, otherwise it will grow mould or something. I used quite a lot of paper towels to dry this bamboo shoot. In the end, I had to come to terms the bamboo shoot will never be dry, so I just get it as close to dry as I can. Instead of wet, now it's just moist.</div>
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Make sure to wash thoroughly. Although we make sure we prepare our food hygienically, the person who provide the raw ingredient might not. Case in point, I found a baby-thin strand of hair on the bamboo shoot that I am pretty sure was not mine! I had thick strands of hair that I inherited from my father's side.</div>
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The pink dots is tuhau. Tuhau is a type of vegetable we commonly eat raw after being pickled in white vinegar. But I just put them fresh after slicing since it's going to be fermented anyway. Most people already know this, but for those who don't, tuhau emits a funky smell that can be found on an insect. Some people can't stand the smell let alone eating it. You're going to be bored reading this over and over again, but dry the tuhau before putting it in.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhAsNNJyzcYA8DF-pzrzkhfUZfkNVm9X1X1EAICbjS25mc4zWq6_2B1w3XZh3Q0aIT5kSYDoIM9WaRoNvU2Fb2wqc2mEfRGdYaSXN9FTXSPjEDbxFipCUhGbtUdmWWKjk80Anz_iWVUc0/s1600/NS-55.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhAsNNJyzcYA8DF-pzrzkhfUZfkNVm9X1X1EAICbjS25mc4zWq6_2B1w3XZh3Q0aIT5kSYDoIM9WaRoNvU2Fb2wqc2mEfRGdYaSXN9FTXSPjEDbxFipCUhGbtUdmWWKjk80Anz_iWVUc0/s400/NS-55.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This is mushrooms. They're tiny and available at RM4 a bag. I was lucky to be able to get my hands on this because apparently they had their seasons to grow.</div>
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Now, this is a vague ingredient to add. Why you may ask? I remember picking the Kundasang fish bosou apart to figure out what goes in it and I remembered coming across this type of mushroom. But when I asked the person who sold the mushroom to me, she told me she didn't know. She even called her mother over to ask, but her mother had no idea either. But I decided to put it in anyway.</div>
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I didn't wash this one, because of the culinary rule. But I put spread them carefully. I don't want to come across another strand of hair.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-IyHV2Uo2BYCC4uGJWepRbwRunvpZ5qPZL9eanApWtsWbdQQAtPpuZZN4SHgT1zNV9O0kBPw5Nm2ezUNa9DFVqaezWmAp2WiPYpJ8-mYOA0M0s44pz3I4-HuhaF_cTmsvlyUFgFDO4jE/s1600/NS-56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-IyHV2Uo2BYCC4uGJWepRbwRunvpZ5qPZL9eanApWtsWbdQQAtPpuZZN4SHgT1zNV9O0kBPw5Nm2ezUNa9DFVqaezWmAp2WiPYpJ8-mYOA0M0s44pz3I4-HuhaF_cTmsvlyUFgFDO4jE/s400/NS-56.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This is white chilli pepper. If you read somewhere that the bosou requires "white pepper", they meant this pepper, not the powder one or the bean one. Again, dry the chilli after rinsing them.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnOIUfWCd2pNlxaE6UUsGQ5o6qQ6eWUUWVuYr2LIidfhA8jDFdhcupsB4M5SIqkkCTTB_n1cHmoqVGz36cjkPqfNLDG_ai9eRUCT3ioKBVJMk_nPRUfjYByLDl72L-nTOol1Pxggpmwfs/s1600/NS-57.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnOIUfWCd2pNlxaE6UUsGQ5o6qQ6eWUUWVuYr2LIidfhA8jDFdhcupsB4M5SIqkkCTTB_n1cHmoqVGz36cjkPqfNLDG_ai9eRUCT3ioKBVJMk_nPRUfjYByLDl72L-nTOol1Pxggpmwfs/s400/NS-57.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I cut the pepper right in the middle like in the picture above. You can add as many pepper as you like. For me, I don't like my food to be spicy. If it needs extra kick, I'll just add-on some chilli later.</div>
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Also from here, you can see the small mushroom I added earlier.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqowPa_ttwbFb2GepgqewS-nWCcNKtaL60MPE0h0BZytWGcvWSY1UNtWBhGUGD7Kq28Z7kVNOQcJwmBDObau9DPT8_sQbEamppvkGn7-_STbDwo8quFm1N9rNmOekFZGHNjeY7zxcKPY8/s1600/NS-58.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqowPa_ttwbFb2GepgqewS-nWCcNKtaL60MPE0h0BZytWGcvWSY1UNtWBhGUGD7Kq28Z7kVNOQcJwmBDObau9DPT8_sQbEamppvkGn7-_STbDwo8quFm1N9rNmOekFZGHNjeY7zxcKPY8/s400/NS-58.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I then add a bunch of chives, just the roots. Make sure they're dry (Hey, I'm also taking directions here).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHqOHOcUFgVTE2eG8o91yyJPpbwrIii3EQAXs9EbPG9gd43uXyd1L_Q5vlnd-7I1G2h9m9Y6f0KY9mf2KZAilbGcBySiJGFCQE8ia5BjOuPxTQcJOSAGwRUzKSgoDe3Osd8tkT8x2kpDA/s1600/NS-59.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHqOHOcUFgVTE2eG8o91yyJPpbwrIii3EQAXs9EbPG9gd43uXyd1L_Q5vlnd-7I1G2h9m9Y6f0KY9mf2KZAilbGcBySiJGFCQE8ia5BjOuPxTQcJOSAGwRUzKSgoDe3Osd8tkT8x2kpDA/s400/NS-59.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I almost forgot to add ginger. The one in the picture is around three inches long.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgPZoofBr8Dkg4wGEjE3EfSy9lPTea_K6WXTU3qAviwXalulPxAQUrsABcQuUs1SuGCD_nY7KeMkcknOMhkWotM_FNCslxpUmthKqdcZQ3y1Y9pErEqaMqsmEiHUEwOMlt3Okx-ALTWJ4/s1600/NS-60.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgPZoofBr8Dkg4wGEjE3EfSy9lPTea_K6WXTU3qAviwXalulPxAQUrsABcQuUs1SuGCD_nY7KeMkcknOMhkWotM_FNCslxpUmthKqdcZQ3y1Y9pErEqaMqsmEiHUEwOMlt3Okx-ALTWJ4/s400/NS-60.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I cut it up into little matchsticks.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaNm9MtUGZc-o0tIY1jRQ8PCOu8QWb10XZwClmqieCUXI4Jq3xn7LcsRIa7X0kS1jKG_LjXeiY-El8ea0yV6ZETqIPxLbCcOsIZrf7RJakb0EQBZYGW1Wp2zIjvfYdlHFwGT2hNFA_jvs/s1600/NS-61.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaNm9MtUGZc-o0tIY1jRQ8PCOu8QWb10XZwClmqieCUXI4Jq3xn7LcsRIa7X0kS1jKG_LjXeiY-El8ea0yV6ZETqIPxLbCcOsIZrf7RJakb0EQBZYGW1Wp2zIjvfYdlHFwGT2hNFA_jvs/s400/NS-61.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Salt is the most important ingredient. It helps to preserve the fish and helps mould from growing. So you might want to put adequate salt in your mix. In mine, I put seven spoons of the amount you see in the picture.</div>
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I licked my hands to avoid waste and golly does the mix tasted salty</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF-m-LzQvlPWN4gvuzSdF0FRhcgfzvBVgckRsAfaCOtY4BfFHLgpank_iXFh5pJ1ZPMMz20gOLaS04g2WH6Xp1UPJSXQpSykgiav0H0uT2FVS3BAppLK9pJebtMuH5vhcnc_OZ3ldxw-I/s1600/NS-62.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF-m-LzQvlPWN4gvuzSdF0FRhcgfzvBVgckRsAfaCOtY4BfFHLgpank_iXFh5pJ1ZPMMz20gOLaS04g2WH6Xp1UPJSXQpSykgiav0H0uT2FVS3BAppLK9pJebtMuH5vhcnc_OZ3ldxw-I/s400/NS-62.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This is what the rice mix looked like pre-pangi.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgfH87Uh4oex3A74r8hmTnsoA5w3XpSZjPyTCxyQ8sjpucaMEil7N61bu3wKaEXZ1niPKZR-c3kJnWM_IimTASPdBAn7uQG6Cdf6bKzImMUGxzSijs2HgRyF8DndmnFmoBwRFZKSloWjk/s1600/NS-63.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgfH87Uh4oex3A74r8hmTnsoA5w3XpSZjPyTCxyQ8sjpucaMEil7N61bu3wKaEXZ1niPKZR-c3kJnWM_IimTASPdBAn7uQG6Cdf6bKzImMUGxzSijs2HgRyF8DndmnFmoBwRFZKSloWjk/s400/NS-63.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This is the pangi that had been giving me so much grief. I vented to my friend about how hard it is to acquire this thing. He laughed at me and pointed to the Kota Kinabalu market with his lips and said pangi is available there.</div>
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But, next time I needed some pangi, I should just give him a call. He sort of promised to get some for me from the Donggongon market. Sort of. I decided to give him a benefit of the doubt.</div>
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Alright. This is what the rice looked like with pangi mixed in. I've read in one of the blogs that the pangi smells like coffee. But it smelled more like cocoa in my opinion. The mixture stuck to my hand, but I had to keep myself from licking it as I did earlier. From what I read, pangi contains low level of cyanide. One can never be too careful.</div>
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So I stepped back after taking that picture, quite proud of myself thinking that I have done my work. But I can't help but hearing this nagging voice at the back of my head telling me there's something missing. Can you guess what it is?</div>
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That's right! The fish! I felt so silly to have forgotten the one ingredient that makes a fish bosou what it is, fish! The fish was still oozing with pink blood, so for the fish, I also pat them to dry using paper towels.</div>
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This is what it looked like when finished.</div>
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Okay, something was bugging me as I am writing this piece. I constantly reminding you to dry the ingredients. Then salt were added into the mix, which we know from learning science in school, draws out moisture. Meaning the bosou, as the time goes on, is going to get watery anyway.</div>
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Here's what I think... Since I have absolutely zero experience on making bosou, I decided it's better to listen to the voice of experts, or people who have access to experts. When you think about it, if the bosou turned out bad because we simply will not be bothered to spend a few moments to dry the ingredients, think of how much money you wasted.</div>
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I had to raid my mother's kitchen cabinet when it was almost middle of the night to look for this glass jar. She bought this for me a long time ago for when I was in my kimchi-making craze. For fermenting food products, it's best to put them in a glass jar to avoid chemical from the plastic to leak into your food. After all, the reason you ferment food is to be able to store them for a long time.</div>
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It cost quite a lot to buy this glass jar. But my mother used to work in the Health Department and Ministry before she retired, so she totally support in the need to buying this for me.</div>
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But it you don't have glass jar, either get one or a plastic one would be fine. Do whatever makes you comfortable.</div>
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All I have to do now is to wait around two weeks for it to pickle before I finally can sink my teeth into it.<br />
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Okay. That's all the adventure to tell. See you next time with another story.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-42128347321685764862017-09-17T07:30:00.000+08:002017-09-17T07:35:31.433+08:00Best Anime Series<div style="text-align: justify;">
I am attempting to step into the world of anime. I did not know where to start. For this, I needed help.</div>
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So, who is better to turn to than my trusted 'little brother', Google?</div>
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I typed 'Top recommended anime' into the search bar and clicked the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/best-anime-series-all-time" target="_blank">top-most website</a> on the result page.</div>
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Number 1 spot surprisingly for me was Death Note. As of today, 7.30am, it was recommended at 68, 862 votes.</div>
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Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball (although I have yet to know the difference between the two), takes slightly lower spot on the list at number 6 and 32, respectively. To be honest, I thought the two would take a higher level than this.</div>
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Pokemon takes spot number 26. But let's be totally and brutally honest here. If it wasn't for the ever viral Pokemon Go application, the anime would probably be somewhere lower than the result.</div>
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It wasn't a few days ago, I think when I typed Samurai X into an anime website I frequent and failed to find the anime my sister and brother used to watch years ago. When I scrolled into the list of ranked anime, I found a familiar name. It turns out, Samurai X wasn't called Samurai X everywhere in the world. It's called Rurouni Kenshin. So I went back to the anime website I frequented again and found the said anime. I could not be any happier. On a side note, Rurouni Kenshin takes the number 28 spot on the list.</div>
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Any other recommendations for an anime newbie to watch? Please let me know. Drop your comments below, no matter what year you read this in. Thank you.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-4103596270697562902017-08-29T23:16:00.000+08:002017-08-29T23:16:22.111+08:00The missing sock<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hi there! Meet me and
my partner. We’re socks! We are white in colour, and our job is to warm our
master’s feet and to protect his feet when he wore shoes. Our home was in a
clear transparent plastic package before our master bought us from the store.
We were washed when he took us home and worn with his running shoes. Our master
cleaned us fairly often. When he sees us getting grey with dirt, he puts us in
the laundry to wash.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It was raining one
night. Our master had sent his other socks to the laundry and he only had us to
keep his toes warm. So there we stay on his feet when he went to bed. We were
very happy to do the honour of keeping his feet from the bitter chill of the
downpour air of the tropics.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Soon the rain stopped.
Our master’s foot isn’t cold anymore. Slowly we felt his foot getting warmer
and we felt ourselves started soaking the sweat. Our master was getting
restless. He was getting uncomfortable. He was tossing and turning in bed. He
reached for my partner and peeled her off his feet and threw her away in the
dark. Unable to do anything, he peeled me off his feet as well and threw me
across the room where I landed in the dark corner of a dresser.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I hated it there. I
felt lonely. I was alone. I wanted my partner with me just as we had so many
days together. A spider decided to spin its web on me, stretching it to the
dresser. I didn’t know how many days had passed since that unfortunate night.
The spider web had collected some dust and the spider was gone. It had decided
to abandon it probably. Once, I heard my master call out to his father whether
he’d seen me around because he can only found my partner. He knows I’m missing!
Sometimes I saw glimpses of my master’s shadow fell over me and I will with all
my heart that he’d see me here. But he never noticed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">More days had passed
since. I was getting anxious. Most people will throw away the single sock when
they can’t find the other. I was scared my master might throw my partner away
if he couldn’t find me. What would become of me then? I’d end up in the landfills
with other garbage and rotten trash. Then one day, I heard the sound of the
floor being swept. I heard the sound of furniture being dragged across the
floor from its place so the tight space under and around it can be swept clean.
I heard it getting nearer. The dresser was then dragged away and I saw my
master’s amazed face finding me in such place. He picked me up, beat me against
his thigh to clear the dust and puts me in the laundry basket.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As water and soap wash
over me, so does my relief. My master washing me means, he still kept my
partner somewhere. I was rinsed, wringed and put on the clothes line where I
let the sun dried me. I was white as snow when my master picked me up. When my
master sorts the laundry out in his bedroom, he picked up my partner, folds and
rolls us together and puts us in his underwear drawer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The next morning, my
master picks us up again and wears us during his routine walks. I was just
happy I’m together with my partner again.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-31885363145794903902017-08-18T19:05:00.000+08:002017-08-18T19:05:40.003+08:00Because ordinary failure just wasn't enough<div style="text-align: center;">
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-74519350741980423402017-08-04T08:55:00.000+08:002017-08-16T13:16:47.550+08:00Someone who was in my life that I miss<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">At first, I can’t
decide if I wanted to publish this post. I have been keeping this to myself for
quite a few years. When writing this post, telling one story might reveal
another. But in the end, I decided to be professional and publish this post. This
is a story of forbidden love. I won’t use his real name here, so I’ll change it
to Mr First Love.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ever since I went to
school in KK, I learnt from my friends that first loves aren’t necessarily your
first boyfriend. That’s true though. I met Mr First Love at his workplace.
Nineteen years my senior, he’s not my first boyfriend, but he was never my
boyfriend either. He’s just someone who’s so dear to me. Who would have thought
that I would fall for him so much when I first met him?<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have spent so much of
my time after school with Mr First Love. When I don’t feel like going to
school, I went and hang out with him, coming home in late afternoon. Even when
I was sick with menstrual cramps, I’d hold the pain in and ride the stuffy bus
to his workplace. We would just talk and talk endlessly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It seemed like there’s
an unspoken agreement that we’ll only be each other’s best friends and not
more. So we talked about the two women he dated, about the boys I liked but
didn’t like me back; we talked about his workplace and I talked about my
school; we talked about our families and our homes. When I’m in doubt, I’d ask
him for advice; we exchange jokes; we exchange experience; he told me such
amusing stories of the two women he dated. I really enjoyed our time together.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But then during those
times together, I fell in love.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I didn’t tell him. I
didn’t tell anyone. He’s the only person I loved who I kept in secret. I want
to keep him and all my feelings for him all to myself. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mr First Love occupied
my mind. When I’m in class, when I eat, when I drink, before I went to sleep
and when I wake up. It was safe to say that in every breath I breathe, he was
always in my mind. I can’t help but wonder if he thought of me the same way as
well. I can’t help but wonder if he could possibly fell in love with me as I
had fall in love with him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I guess the
relationship between us was too casual. One day Mr First Love revealed to me,
through a picture he set as wallpaper in his phone, he’s dating another woman.
That takes the count of the women he dated to – three? I got jealous. I was
right there, in front of him, for almost a year. Yet he didn’t date me. I
swallow my envy and asked him how he got to know her? He tells me everything
without sparing any details aside. Once or twice, he let slip of how in some
ways I am better than her. That made me felt good. I told him I didn’t believe
him, but in the frown I displayed, there’s a relief knowing how he thought of
me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I asked Mr First Love
why he didn’t pick me to be his girlfriend. I gave him a look of mock jealousy,
when what I truly want is to show him how jealous I truly feel. He told me that
he did want me. But he cared about me too much. He wanted to protect me from
anyone who wants to hurt me should they find out I’m in a relationship with him.
Looking back at the time now, I realised that he also meant he can’t trust
himself not to hurt me as well. We can’t be in a relationship together because
he’s such a player of women’s heart that he might one day inevitably hurt me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That’s when I realised he
had feelings for me too.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One day, I got myself a
boyfriend. Then I stopped being friends with Mr First Love. He called me and
texted me a few times, probably because he missed me, but I didn’t answer or
reply. When we met face to face at his workplace, he gave me a mild look of
resentment and accuses me of forgetting him now that I had a boyfriend. But
that’s not the case. I just can’t be around him, feeling what I felt. He both
made and breaks my heart. Soon, he stopped calling. Soon, he stopped texting.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There were times, over
the years after that, where I thought about Mr First Love, wondering how he’s
doing. For the past months so far, I have been missing him so much. My random
scribbling had been about him, my daydream always had him in the background.
Maybe because our friendship ended so abruptly, we haven’t had any closure.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I made a promise that
I’d tell Mr First Love one day. Writing about this gave me a sense of relief.
As if a weight had been lifted off my shoulder, I felt a little better now. One
day, I’ll meet him, just me and him alone to talk about what happened in the
past. We both deserve a better closure than we had all those years ago.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;">(Dear Mr First Love, Happy birthday)</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-69427509026635335132017-07-25T08:35:00.001+08:002017-07-25T15:56:31.422+08:00After someone has experienced terrible suffering, they no longer think about what kind of person they are... They only think about the kind of person they must become... Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-76320371974436853292017-07-23T18:28:00.000+08:002017-08-18T18:45:27.889+08:00Your worst battle is between what you know and what you feelUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-47199457321650221512017-07-23T12:43:00.000+08:002017-08-18T18:44:17.780+08:00Post your selfies for YOU. Doll up for YOU. Take naps for YOU. Eat good food for YOU. Make YOU happy. Who the fuck are "they"?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-32233112396385348422017-07-22T22:39:00.000+08:002017-08-18T18:39:04.091+08:00I hope I never get tired of the night sky, of thunderstorms, of watching cream make galaxies in my coffee. I hope I never grow to be someone who can no longer see the small beautiful things.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-12111831017248196122017-07-22T12:30:00.000+08:002017-08-18T18:39:48.865+08:00There are four things in this life that will change you. Love, music, art, and loss. The first three will keep you wild and full of passion. May you allow the last to make you brave. - Erin van VurenUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956195444431793403.post-38537870385928506472017-07-21T18:33:00.000+08:002017-08-18T18:35:11.060+08:00She's been through Hell and came out an angel. You didn't break her, darling. You don't own that kind of power. - BMM PoetryUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0