arteries of the heart

It rains again, she moaned. How am I ever going to get home?

The perpetual need for an umbrella to protect her from the elements. Splashing your best pair of heels into puddles is not fun when you are actually old enough to wear heels. Dancing in the rain is an illusion created by songs of dreamers not yet hardened by heartache. The drenched-wet look had never completely caught on with the fashionista faction, preferring the blow dried pneumonia-free style.

The pitter patter of the rain resonated with the conversations in her head.It drips,it plops in an awfully slow way, contently awaiting for the big storm. The whisperings in her head persuading her to stay and go at the same time, with equally baffling arguments from the devil perching on her right shoulder and the angel on the left. Go home,you know you want to, whispered angel. But you will get wet and probably sick from walking in the rain.Stay here where its dry and comforting,argued the little devil.

The deceptive sunshine that peeks through the clouds presents a hope that the rain will be stopping soon somewhere over the horizons.Somehow she is jaded by the knowledge and experience that a deception is what it is,nothing else. The sun should just completely dissapear, bringing the world with it,she secretly complained.What is the use of the sun if it continues drowning in the overwhemingly grey rain-producing cumulus?

When will this ever stop, when will summer ever grace us with its glorious beams? Her head continues to spin at a dizzying speed, as the rain picks up outside the stained glass looking down on the little-travelled highway. She wants to hitch a ride, steal a car,ride a bicycle, anything to get on the road. A tuk-tuk with an umbrella,maybe, she ponders.Or a superman in a red cape, with the distinguishing outer-innerwear to set it apart from little red riding hood.But where would the road ahead lead?

Or does it matter?

For my UK readers only - received this via work distribution list and via the cat:

GAP Voucher

I love it when they have coupons as such - I just go completely crazy and buy anything that fits me.But GAP is of good value - good material and dirt cheap during sales,clearances & in outlets - half of my wardrobe is made out of GAP.

Guess what am I doing this weekend?Not to mention the cute-ness of babyGAP clothes - I swear my baby will be swathed in nothing but babyGAP.In the meantime, my godson will profit.

Last sat signified lunabliss’ comeback in the local craft fairs. Again,this was at the school where I first held court more than a year ago. After spending all Friday night organizing, decorating cupcakes and making hampers (with bacon baking all night) I was dead tired come Sat morning. DEFINITELY NOT WORTH IT!

It was a horrible poorly-attended fair. Only 30 pax actually managed to show up in the 3 hour space..and it cost me £10 which made it worse. We only sold two baskets out of 8 that I had made, 1 cake loaf out of 6 …but half of my prettily decorated cupcakes went for £0.40,which was quite cheap. Well, seeing that stupid bacon being cheapskate had not put enough dough in each cup (preferring QUANTITY) , I was surprised that any of the cupcakes went at all.Must be due to my decorating skills.

My pretty cuppas

Loafing around

Cakes and earrings

Pretty easter baskets - that no one bought:(

The chandelier that no one bought:(

Corner display

(and that was when my camera died on me…so ta da no more pictures!)

As the punters slowly trickled in, a husband bought a pair for his wife, which I thought was really sweet.My second customer was a little girl buying herself a basket..I actually felt bad like as if I was conning her out of her moolah.And then my neighbouring stall discovered me. She actually runs an accessories shop somewhere north of Leeds, and seeing that I was selling my stuff for cheap, bought some earrings and necklaces from me to sell at her shop. Me being really clever, went over to her stall and suggested a couple of designs that might go with her existing necklaces…and promptly sold another 3 pairs of pearl & crystal drop.

Then my neighbour from the other side (selling to-die-for bodyshop stuff - I bought a lipbalm) popped over and requested a made-from-scratch pair of seagreen crackle glass earring.And then suddenly I got loads of attention from kids re: cupcakes and started to do a suprisingly roaring trade - I think I sold more than anyone else in that fair.Seeing that there was only like 30 customers walking around.

I’m glad I was neighbours with the shop owner (which did not sell a thing by the way) - will try to sell stuff to her via her shop..as she charges £30 for a necklace whilst I only charge £10.But it is so tiring baking and going round to fairs, I think I’ll only do this again in Christmas. At least I recouped the £10 rental, most people did not even have that and it is sad.Oh, also realized bacon is a useless salesman. He tried selling off my baskets below cost to customers towards the end..after spending ALL 2 HOURS reading newspaper and chatting whilst I was trying so hard to make a living.GRR.

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Im worried. For me.

I score very high on escapism. I have escape artist tendencies. Lots of people put travelling down as a hobby, but for me it had moved on to be more than a simple hobby, it’s a way of life. I move around a lot and I have an urgent need to get away every so often…more often than not. Most people love going away on holidays especially abroad ,but for me its more than that - if I do not get away every few months I feel stifled and get very depressed. I am not easily satisfied - I need a change of environment all the time. This planned Ibiza hol signified the longest period of time that I had not escaped from hicksville - I always have something or other planned. If I did not get away, I would’ve probably died and withered away come June this year. It keeps me sane, and it revitalizes my soul. Even moving countries had not defused my need to see and discover more…I’d rather travel around the world than to be let loose in a Prada warehouse. This is why I refrain from going out on weekends, preferring to build up holiday funds instead. I rather travel on the cheap and sleep on beaches as I would not be able to afford the continuous holidays otherwise.

I also have what I call my runaway fund - I maintain a certain amount of moolah to ensure that I can runaway anywhere in the world anytime I want. I’ve had this for years - since I started working in Fresno.The shrink in you will probably find something seriously wrong with this. But I need to escape - I really do. I don’t know why but I do see this as a good and a bad thing - I constantly strive to discover the world and learn more which makes it a good thing. The bad part is I make a very bad wife - with the eternal need to get away from everything and anything . Bacon’s coming into terms with my escapism - he either escapes with me or I will still escape irregardless and that’s quite creepy. Poor Bacon.Dreybee had to keep reminding me that I cannot simply run away now that I’m a wife.Grrrr…

I do wish that I could be easily satisfied and just stay in one place forever, be a house wife, pop a couple of babies out, keep a few dogs and never have the need to escape ever again. That would be cheap and convenient for everyone involved. However, this is who I am, a runaway train off the life track and I am proud to be an escape artist.

As they say, the world is your oyster, and I loveeee oysters.

Ibiza - here I come!

AH

At last..I am posting up my masak-masak version of the infamous nasi lemak that I am always running after.My daily dream of me running, jumping into the horizons of a rising nasi lemak…I don’t think this dish needs any introducing - those reading my blog long enough would be more than aware of my fascination with this dish.

Inggredients:

rice
2 cups rice (1/2 cup dry rice per portion)
2 pandanus (screwpine) leaves -knotted
small 1cm ginger
mixture of santan (coconut milk) and water - depending on how ‘lemak’ you like it

to pound:
10 chillies (5 dried, 5 fresh)
1 lime
3 tbs belacan (shrimp paste)
4 inch ginger
5 cloves garlic

To add into sambal - sliced onions

Garnish: fried ikan bilis (whitebait),peanuts, boiled egg & cucumber

1) Add all inggredients and pound away. Make sure inggredients are all properly mixed - and then tumis (shallow-fry) until fragrant
2) When cooked, add water and onions. Leave to simmer
3) Wash the rice, add all flavourings and cook it as per rice cooker instructions - no stovetop cooking instructions ehre.
4) Boil the egg, slice the cucumbers.
5) Deepfry the whitebait and peanuts. I already had some in my fridge,so skipped this
6) Serve up like below

I love nasi lemak with curries, so I whipped up a madras chicken curry (as below) - no recipies cause the paste came out of a tin! But to smell the nice aroma of cooking nasi lemak again was heaven on earth. My sambal is still not quite there yet - which is dissapointing,but hey, I can’t get everything right at the first time now can I? Not a bad try…I might make it again this weekend..*drools

the calm after the rainstorm.the pot at the end of the road.it brings hope and answers to all my prayers washed away by the tumulous before.

YC is one of my favourite blogger with a heart of gold. She is smokin’ ,super drama, dead nice…and a sucker for ice cream..how can y0u not like anyone with such a innane love of ice cream.In the midst of her super-drama life, she has found time to lend a helping hand …and for all of us whose life is waaaay less dramatic than her, surely we can find some time from all this blog reading to give a little back to someone else who truly needs it?

In YC’s words:

” I stumbled upon Yvonne Foong’s website by chance. Being a drama queen who whines n complains gila babi when the world doesn’t revolve around me puts me to shame after spending more time understanding her situation.

At the peak of her youth, Yvonne’s diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (A rare inherited disorder resulted by genetic mutations which causes growth of tumors in the nervous system, commonly involving the cranial, spinal and auditory nerves (brain, spine and ears). With its broad clinical spectrum, NF2 patient may develop a wide range of distinct problems such as symptoms of nausea, balance problems, partial facial paralysis, changes of vision, numbness or weakness in the arms or legs, fluid buildup in the brain and most importantly the loss of hearing.)

Yvonne suffered sudden health deteriorations that robbed her bodily capabilities, became deaf, and soon had difficulty balancing. To date, Yvonne has undergone 1 spine and 3 brain surgeries.

Despite having went through four surgeries, many tumours are growing in Yvonne’s brain, spine, and along peripheral nerves. To monitor her health, Yvonne requires periodic MRIs, expensive doctor consultations, eye examinations, X-Rays, and many more.

Just recently, a cluster of tumours were newly discovered inhibiting her right optic nerve. Doctors in Malaysia tested her eyes and concluded that they could not do anything about it. Yvonne is set to see an Neuro-Ophthalmologist at UCLA in May. She is determined to save her eyesight, and nothing can stop her from believing.

Yvonne’s one of the most courageous young women I’ve ever met, she deserves every single piece of respect that I have to offer. Instead of letting the incurable disease get in the way of her dreams, she took the world with all the strength that she has.”

YC has kindly sponsored four handmade dresses by Drama Mama under her own funky label of Blackjettas Design for Yvonne’s fundraising which will soon be up for auction on Ebay. During the month-long charity auction, a new dress will be up for bidding each week.

The charity auction will span from March 22 to April 22, 2007. All biddings will be conducted on Ebay, making worldwide participation possible. Winning bidders will have the option of paying by Paypal which has credit card facilities. Dresses may be shipped worldwide.(NO MORE EXCUSES KAY!)

100% of the making from the auction will go to Yvonne’s medical fund.

For more information, please visit Yvonne’s website. If you want to know more, Yvonne has a book up for sale as well..” I’m not sick, just a little unwell” , and I believe that it is on sale at MPH.

Now get your ass off and go bid/donate/buy/remortgage. Thank you have a good day god bless you.xx