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Tornado Minou
A whirlwind of a weekend just passed.
I just came back from Kuala Lumpur last night.
They studygroup gang decided to go Kuala Lumpur for Christmas this year. So we arranged to meet in the middle of the night or early 24th morning around 2am to drive into Kuala Lumpur.
The Husband and Morte are the designated drivers for the car we are in. It' a rented Toyata and super comfy and the back seat could squeeze Davienne, Suvena and me comfortably.
At first Davienne wanted to sit in Silvermist's car with Elyxia and Qiaoyun, but when Khallrik came over to our car, he was practically squeezing himself against the door to prevent any accidental contact with Suvena's ample bosom so Suvena dragged Davienne kicking and screaming over.
To be honest, there weren't any kicking and screaming. But that's boring, so I decided to improvise.
Davienne immediately made herself comfortable in our car, sitting smack in the middle between Suvena and moi, with her feet up and between the two front seats.
She would keep wriggling her toes and Morte would get freaked out by her cold toes.
I hated the 4 hour drive. I couldn't get very comfortable or sleep much. Unless I am really tired, it's very hard for me to sleep in a vehicle. And even if I am really tired, I can sleep for about 1 hour max. So I didn't get much sleep and my back and neck were aching.
The Husband drove behind Silvermist's car all the while and we were speeding along the highway up to KL. Then the sky poured. The Husband used the wipers on the car and immediately started cursing and swearing. Those wipers were useless, making the windscreen smudged and impairing our visibility further. There were a couple of close shaves that I remember. Maybe there were more but I missed them while I was closing my eyes and I don't wanna know.
Then at one of the rest stops, we discovered the air vent on Silvermist's car had disappeared. He fixed it back and we tried to find wipers for our car but the petrol station at the rest stop did not sell any, so we went on our merry way.
We finally reached KL when the sun started to rise.
Upon reaching our hotel, we immediately checked in and conked out on the bed.
Poor Davienne was sick on the first day with gastric pains and the gastric pills Qiaoyun passed to Davienne didn't work. She had to walk with us with a gnawing pain in her stomach but she didn't complain much. So brave!
If it were me, I would look like a sick cat and refuse to move. 
The Husband was also sick on the first day with diarrohea. He looked so pale and felt so clammy and weak that there were a few times I thought he would faint.
Thank goodness they got better on the second day.
We decided to play the Secret Santa game and the name I got was Elyxia's. When I saw a scarf, I immediately decided to get it for her for her upcoming Hong Kong trip. The Husband was cracking his head over what to get for Silvermist and when we saw a stuffed scorpion, he immediately decided on that. We kept bumping into Morte and Silvermist and they were there when I eyed a pair of fluffy bedroom slippers that looked like a pair of strawberrys. I debated on getting them but decided not to when I thought I would not use them.
So when I got my present and I was squeezing it and it felt oddly familar, I immediately knew it was the bedroom slippers.
Thanks Morte! I love them! 
Qiaoyun was the shopping queen for this trip. She bought lots of tops and a really nice pair of boots!
I bought 3 pairs of shoes.... O.o
We went to a club on the second night but I was not feeling too well so I missed out on the dancing. Well, next time then. :(
The girls were happy and slightly tipsy on alcohol so they started posing in all sorts of manners in the streets. Then they got the guys involved in the posing as well. Since I did not drink and was sober, I decided to play along with them.
I hope Davienne would not put up too much of the weird shots....
By default, I became the designated alarm clock for us girls. So when the morning call came in at 730am, I will laze in bed for 15 mins and finally drag myself up to the bathroom. After my shower, I would go wake the other girls. Because the guys were afraid that putting us girls in 2 connecting rooms would result in a bathroom jam, they wanted to put each couple in a room instead, but we girls protested: We are not slow!
In the end, we girls were always the ones waiting for the guys to finish getting ready.
Senario : 25th December morning.
Me: wake up at 745am, shower and wake the other girls up.
Girls: all ready by 9am.
Forgot the call the guys, so called them at 9am.
The Husband and Khallrik: almost ready! (hmmmm)
Silvermist and Morte, they were slow....
Me to Silvermist: Why are you still sleeping? we all ready liao!
Silvermist: huh? wait....(his voice away from the phone) alfred, your call.
Me to Alfred: Wei! You all still sleeping ar? We ready liao lar!
Alfred: what time is it now?
Me: Nine fifteen liao!
Alfred: Shit.
And the night before, we were so impressed when Silvermist said he would be ready before 9am and would be sitting downstairs drinking coffee.
Senario : 26th morning.
This time, we all averaged two and a half hours of sleep because we went clubbing the night before and got back to the hotel only at 5am.
And I also got smarter and called all the guys at 8am.
The husband sounded awake....
Me: woke up at 750am and stood in the shower for a long time. Eyes wouldn't open.
Girls: All ready by 930am.
The Husband and Khallrik: The Husband was ready before 9am but 15 mins before nine, Uncle Khallrik was still sipping tea in his bedroom.
Silvermist and Morte: finally dragged themselves over by 930am.
Suvena refused to wake up and tried to bargain her way. First, she was waiting for Davienne to finish using the bathroom. When that excuse ran out, she tried to ask whether the guys (namely Silvermist) were ready. When I told her Silvermist was in the bathroom, she knew she ran out of excuses and sat on the bed looking stoned.
We had lots of good food in KL. So much that I am still feeling a little sick from all the rich food.
My favourites would be the fried vermicilli and the salted egg crab. They were so yummy!
And I had Nando's chicken! *Awed silence* 
I loved them since I first tried them in Melbourne, Australia. I had figured that I would never have the chance to eat Nando's again unless I go Australia and so, I was excited when we saw Nando's in KL.
Elyxia had the hot chicken and Khallrik had the mildly hot chicken while the rest of us wimps (moi, the Husband, Morte and Suvena) had the lemon and herb chicken. We all tried one tiny piece of chicken from Elyxia's plate and regretted it. 
When we started to drive back to Singapore, I only had at most 1 hour of sleep in the car before I could not sleep another wink. I was so tired from the lack of sleep and cranky with the aches in my neck and back that I turned into a Sulky Bear. 
Sorry guys! *embarrassed*
On our way back, Silvermist's car had some...problems.
First, the chrome holding the air vent flew off during the drive. Before we reached the first rest stop, the rubber from his back window came halfway out. It almost looked like his car was falling apart during the drive.
Later, when we were almost in Johor, we saw something white on his rear left tire.
The Husband and Morte were alarmed and almost thought there was something wrong with his tire until we slowed on the way to the toll booth then we noticed it was a huge piece of tracing paper/toilet paper? stuck to his tire.
They started joking that they thought his tire was breaking apart and Suvena, who was sleeping soundly, woke up and really thought Silvermist's tire was breaking apart.
The occupants in the two different cars were in constant contact throughout the trip using com-sets and although most of the messages were important...there were a few...not so important ones....
Like the off key singing of the 12 Days of Christmas. And the off key singing of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (oops, by me) and the not so off key singing of the Teletubbies song.
But Teletubbies in itself is bad enough.
Doodle doodle
Qiaoyun wants me to draw the whole of Studygroup. 
Well, there are a few obstacles in the way....
Although from my earlier blog, it may look like I can draw very well, the truth is, I chose one of my better doodles.
The drawings I have, or the ones you can find scribbled all over my note pads, used papers, envelopes, anything, usually only have one eye. Yes, one eye. Because, it's a bit...I mean, it's very very hard to draw two balanced eyes. I usually end up with one higher, one lower, or one bigger, one smaller, or they don't look the same.
Another problem is I only draw girls. I cannot explain why I don't draw males. The very very few attempts I have tried ended up with males that look like females. Or else they look very very effeminate.
I know lots of Japanese Manga have males that look vaguely female too. I just don't understand why they can basically use the same features for a male and a female and yet they still look distinctively male or female.
The ones I draw end up looking sooooo feminine.
Maybe it's the storyline. I dunno.
Hands are a nightmare too. They are not easy. I have made friends hold their hands and fingers in one position so I can copy it. It's psychotic, I know. Linked to this is body position. The last thing you want is the character you're drawing to look like it broke something trying to get into that position.
Body proportion also presents a problem. There have been times when I have finished the body (hiding the hands at the back) and I find out that the head is too big for the body.
When I was in Secondary school, my best friend and I actually bought a japanese book teaching us how to draw manga.
I picked up some things in there, like the head to body proportion, and also how to do dot drawings.
It's a tedious process. Imgaine trying to draw a bubble. Instead of using a pen and drawing one circle, you use the pen to dot the whole circle. almost like a dot matrix printer. Main thing, you have to have a very good pen and don't use a crappy pen like mine. The ink don't flow smoothly.
Dotting the circle will give the bubble a lighter and airy feel.
Like this.
It's only half because I'm too lazy to dot the whole thing out.
Manga artists usually do this for the background. But this is more old school now. The newer mangas I have seen do not include so much of these dottings now.
The older ones, I have noticed some authors actually dotted out whole roses! And the roses are in the background, framing the lead.
Another thing I learned from the book was to draw lines on the face to make the eyes symmetrical.
This is a good method but it's not practical when I'm doodling. Unless I intend to use the picture I'm drawing, I do not bother with the lines. Hence the one-eyed dragons I have been drawing.
Once, long time ago, I drew 2 girls. I postered coloured them (and I'm not bad at painting :p) and my best friend scanned them into her computer and uploaded them into our long dead first website.
Well, her computer crashed and the images are long gone now.
Maybe, one day, when I'm really free, I'll start drawing and painting again.
But I'm contented with doodling right now.
Oh yar!
Somebody stop me from opening my Christmas Presents! 
Itchy hands
I am so bored recently. When I am bored, this is what happens.
No piece of paper is safe from me.
When I was studying, my textbooks were full of such doodles. Then when the year was up and my mother was going to hand the textbooks down to my cousins, I would have to spend a day erasing them all off.
Nothing to do so I outlined in ink.
Forgive the poor picture qualities.
I have no scanner and my digital camera has permanently relocated to my sister's hands so I took a digital picture of the drawings on my handphone. So, the results is a little...gimped.
Adding injury to insult is all these doodles are drawn on recycled paper....
Her Story
Everytime I look at my blog posts, I get a vague feeling of "I should post more regularly!". Not that this has helped much. My posts are still spaced 2-3 weeks apart.
Then Sheylara and Elyxia, in a sudden burst of activity, started posting, horror of horrors, everyday or every other day!
Davienne is still updating regularly, no change there.
Well, at least Morte and Silvermist are still not posting. :p
Just kidding on the above. =)
I'm not competing with you guys! Serious!
Very soon, it will be a new year. So many things have happened this year!
I started playing Everquest II.
My sister got the sweetest cat in the world.
I found a bunch of good friends.
I got married.
My best friend/shopping kaki quit her job without another job on hand and said something about using the time to upgrade herself and wake up early in the morning, no more late nights and waking up in the afternoon and she will use this time to look for a job also because she will have no income and she need to eat etc etc etc.
Reality Check.
My best friend is still at home, after more than 1 month, playing Maple Story nonstop, sleeps in the morning and wakes up at dunno what time. She has not even updated her blog, much less do any maintenance on the website.
I've upgraded my nag tactics. My fearsome arsenal includes face to face nag, telephone nag, sms nag, email nag and now, the Blog Nag! ;)
I hope she's reading this.
This is also the time for resolutions.
To be honest, I have not made any in the past, and I cannot see the big deal for resolutions.
If you want to do something, why wait till the New Year to start? If you have enough determination, will power and motivation to begin with, you do not need a New Year to start on something you have always wanted to do.
Wanna lose some weight? Start now!
(Actually the above passage is to motivate...yours truly! I will be holding my customary soon and need to look pretty and slim. I really do not want to look at my wedding pictures years later and marvel about the fat blob in a wedding dress.)
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Tuesday, December 27, 2005
