Jolly Chrismukkah!

It’s the holidays here in my home town. I flew back about a week ago and I’ve been busy trying to cram as much home stuff into my time as possible. Among seeing all the old familiar sights in my fair city I’ve also seen some splendid new sights as well! Among those new things was the new TexMex restaurant that’s opened.

KTran, SewingMaster and I stumbled upon Monties Revenge (don’t talk to me about the punctuation, I’m here to talk about food!) when walking to our local Japanese restaurant. Last minute we changed our plans and decided to eat there. I cannot recommend it more highly. I’ll hopefully be going there again before the holiday is over!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!

Happy Hogmanay!

Small Adventures

When I was younger I was a little bit more adventurous. I enjoyed festivals and rallies and protests, as any young student socialist/activist/hippy/liberal/journalist would. Despite this I’ve never been a huge dare devil. I like quiet and peaceful activities like knitting and reading, occasionally listening to a podcast. As I’ve gotten older this love of the indoors and quiet has grown. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a complete introvert, but neither am I a full extrovert. I sit happily in the middle of the spectrum, enjoying quiet solitude and the occasional party. Which is why I was able to travel around Europe mostly on my own. It is also why I was able (only just) to put myself on a plane and move to Malaysia.

Unfortunately it is also why I’m a little bit scared about dining out or exploring on my own.

Here are three reasons why it’s difficult for me to venture out:

1. Until one month ago I was solely reliant on the generousity of others or cabs to get about. A trip to the supermarket was a large hoo-ha.
2. Unless I have a specific purpose in mind the idea of strolling about in this heat and humidity is awful.
3. It’s bloody scary out there! I’m the odd one, no matter what I wear or how I walk I’m still obviously not from around here.

This week I said “Enough! I am brave and strong and true!”

• *I marched myself out of the house and down to the satay house, Satay Zul and I ordered in English a takeaway! Huzzah! Not so scary after all are you counter man!?

• *I waltzed into the furniture shop and wandered happily until I got to the lighting section where I met Uncle U.

Uncle U: What are you looking for?

Me: A lamp.

Uncle U: This is the right place.

Insert minor chit chat about Australia and weather and my length of stay etc.

Me: I like this lamp.

Uncle U: Well I can give it to you cheaper than the price.

Me: Really? (I still don’t know how to haggle)

Uncle U: Yes. 200 Ringgitt.

Me: That’s great. That’s 40 Ringgitt off.

Uncle U: Do you want a yellow or white globe? They’re 10.

Me: Yellow. I think you know my friend, T.

Uncle U: Hmm? With the goatee? Yes! I know him. The light globe is free!

Me: Are you sure?

Uncle U: That’s how we work in Malaysia. We give friends and friends of friends discounts!

That’s right, I accidentally haggled. Plus I got a lamp!

• I  ordered Chinese take away, alone at the local Chinese restaurant.
• I drove passed my “city limits” into unknown territory, finding both the state mosque and the bus station. I even managed to drive myself home without the GPS.
• And tonight, I went on a date, with myself. I took myself to a western restaurant, alone and ordered steak! I sat alone, I ate alone, I paid alone. It was wonderful.

These things that I took for granted in my home town were alien and scary in a new place. I’m glad that my quest for adventure can be quelled, at the moment, by a trip to a restaurant on my own. I don’t know what I’ll do if I start needing a bigger hit. I don’t see bungee jumping in my future.

One month in Kuantan

I arrived in Kuantan in the middle of Ramadan. The fasting month for Muslims. It’s unfortunate because all the restaurants are closed. But soon after, Hari Raya began. The month long celebration of the end of fasting. I was invited to celebrate with some people. It’s very exciting to be included.

The food was amazing. The first day of Hari Raya and it was a huge feast. People were coming and going the whole time I was there. I ate curried just about everything and drank a delicious guava punch. The whole idea is that people eat for the whole day right after Ramadan. One ad for Hari Raya said “This is our reward. We just eat and be happy.” How can anyone not love a celebration like this? And everything was so delicious.

Pool

I’ve moved into a lovely little apartment. It’s one bedroom and has some plumbing issues but it’s nice and has air con! I’ve had some problems with cooking, because the gas elements aren’t self lighting. I nearly lost both eyebrows! I’m now using the rice cooker to make my meals. The ones I have at home anyway. There’s a pool for me to swim in and a gym, to work out in. My bedroom window looks out over the South China Sea and the balcony has a view of the gardens where wild pigs roam in the evening.  It’s possible that there is an illegal dojo in the flat above me! All the crashing and banging and crying out!

I’m addicted to this drink they have here called 100 Plus. It’s like Gatorade but fizzy and not as sweet. It tastes a bit like fruitsaline, you know that powder stuff you have when you’re young and sick and need to get rehydrated. It’s bloody good.

Something that you’ll love about MY is that they add la to everything. It’s like a verbal exclamation point. OK-la?! Hurry up-la! Chinta-la (means love).

 

 

 

And in my life today…

I lunched today with the awesome knitters that I love to knit with. We dined out at our local Milkbar, a new café that does organic food and makes a great cuppa. They are also quite crafty over there so our knitting group was fine and dandy sitting out the back around the large workshop table.

This was the last time I’ll be seeing the awesome knitters, as I’m moving in a few weeks to Malaysia. I haven’t mentioned the move here yet because I have been really distracted about it and, honestly, it’s a fricken scary thing to do. Anyway, as I won’t be seeing the knitters I thought it only right to take lots of photos. Here are a few:

 

 

Have a Happy Thursday!

 

 

 

Life in Pictures…

This week in my life.

Painted my nails with gold glitter! Love sparkly nails.

I sent some mail out to my pen pals Tracy and Laura. And I started reading Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.

Bought Tawny Scrawny Lion for my friend Fee and wrote on the Where’s Wally postcard to send off. I also started the lace pattern on my Ishbel shawl and made a little bookmark.

Life in Pictures.

My life of late has:

Seen me peruse the Op Shops around my town. I found this amazing lounge suite in one outside of my city! Awesome right?

Imagine them with a really dark red or purple corduroy upholstery. Fabulous for reading. With a brown alpaca afghan and a nice big mug of strong tea. Brilliant. But alas I have no where to put them and I doubt they’ll still be there when I do.

This guy survived the whole trip to and from the supermarket, clinging to my rear vision mirror. It reminded me of that scene in A Bee Movie where the insects are clinging to the windshield (or was it A Bug’s Life?).

I have also been reading a lot and knitting like a trooper! And watching Speed for the 15 millionth time! Although I didn’t see it to the end, the perils of sharing a television!

And finally, on a cold and rainy day, I took refuge in the delightful cafe Nanna’s for a pot of piping hot tea and a slice of fruit toast, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

How’s your week been?

Loathe List

Lots of bloggers out there enjoy putting together a Fav List or a Lust List or a Love List. This trend, like so many on the internet, is great and also annoying! Sometimes the lists are fabulous, like Felicia Day’s Fav Five on her weekly Flog (YouTube her! Seriously, like now!). Other lists are less than cool, often just trite. So in opposition of this I’m starting a Loathe List!

1. Ombré! Whether it’s your fingernails, cakes or your God Damn hair, I hate it! Ombré is French for dark to light or vice versa. Great. But stop pretending you’re not growing out a bad dye job by making it something trendy! And dark purple to lavender cakes, enough! You baked a cake, it doesn’t taste any better if you make it a different colour OK!?

2. Cake Pops. There is no way to make cake better! Putting cake on a stick is cute if done right, but it’s also a logistical nightmare! It’s hard enough to eat a cupcake imagine the loss of cake once you bite into said cake pop. These are not toffee apples people. These are a food stuff that loses it’s integrity upon eating. Cake pops make me sad.

3. Movie Chatterboxes. As a former notorious movie talker (seriously, people have been known not to sit next to me for this very reason) I have worked hard to curb my desire to chat in the cinema. Especially if the numbers in the cinema are below 15-20 people. It’s the acoustics in a cinema that makes even the most whispered of comments audible to other theatre goers. This problem is exacerbated by limited numbers. More bodies in the movie somehow provides sound proofing between rows. Or perhaps if numbers are limited then people feel they are in a more intimate setting and want their comments heard. Whatever, people please SHUT THE FUCK UP! OK sorry to get all green and gamma rayed on you there.

4. Instagram. Controversial I know but I can’t stand Instagram. It might be that I’m sick of looking at photos that are filtered, square and have borders or it could be that Instagram doesn’t make anybody a photographer, yet a lot of people are under that impression! Before I went to Europe I worked out how to use my point and shoot Sony and since then I have taken some photos that I’m really proud of. Does that mean that I’m going to open an exhibition soon? No. And all I had to do to get these photos was learn about my equipment. I didn’t need an app!

Thursday gripe complete!

PS I mostly only mildly annoyed by these things, except number 3. I hate those guys!

Excited!

Exciting things have been a foot lately in the world of me! First thing, my pen pal, TC,  sent me a letter. This is actually quite a regular thing. It’s still exciting when I get the letter and can read all the goings on in her life!

TC’s letter!

Next, I signed up with the Orphaned Postcard Project. I picked 5 (greedy I know!) postcards I knew I could write a little something about. And my postcards came! I can’t wait to write on them and send them back! Here they are:

The Astronomical Clock in Prague’s Old Town Square. This was taken in 1922.

 

Prague’s Old Town Square. The Tower is where you’ll find the Astronomical Clock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apollo’s Temple in Pompeii.

Babelsburg Palace and Park in Potsdam, Germany.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where’s Wally. For a bit of fun!

Finally, I am in love with Answer Me This. It’s a podcast by Helen, Olly and Martin. Basically listeners send in questions, either advice or information based, and Helen, Olly and Martin will attempt to answer them for you. I recently sent them an email with further information pertaining to an older podcast about “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter”. And they put my email on their website! Stoked!

Happy Mother’s Day to all you mums out there! Whether you’re mums to children, adults, pets or plants or are just genuinely maternal, have a great day! You bloody deserve it!

My life lately.

Hey you guys!

For these last few weeks I have been back living with ma mère and mon père. It has been quite easy actually. There, of course, have been moments of antagonism but wholly it has been fine.

Recently I made a decision about moving abroad. I have decided that I will move to Scotland, taking up a Youth Mobility Visa to work there for a year. If it all works out. I may only be there for a month but I will have tried at least. And who’s to say that it won’t work out.

It’s been glorious summer weather here and I have been hating it. It’s too hot. I don’t appreciate heat. I like the cold, but I have been trying to at least do stuff in it. I have had some nice picnics and been sitting in the shade outside which has been nice.

Healthy type lunch with TM at LivEat. We staged this because she was reading Men's Health with lots of hunky men in it.

The journal I gave to KK. I put lots of journal suggestions inside as well as photos of our history together and little "self-care strategies". I will make her some more pages.

 

At Royal Park, our local youth radio station was setting up for a huge party while KK and I lunched. Next to us there were some very cute (young) French Canadian men barbequing. We couldn't work out where they were from so KK asked.

And that has been my life lately. Lots of other things have happened, like my friend DC moving to Indo and Miss USA deciding to come visit Australia. But that’s their lives and not what my blog is about! LOL

 

Judy -May out!

 

Wait… what?

In just one week it’s moving day. And when I say moving day I mean moving in with my parents day. In order to save what few pays I have left I am to move back to le casa de mi madre. I’m not impressed. I’m even less impressed with the fact that I now have to go through all my junk and pack things I want to keep and throw away worthless pieces … well… So here is this week’s GPOY… 

 

As you may be able to tell I’m having a bit of a freak out.

Judy-May out.