My Nostalgic Apartment...

Most of my friends know that I've some preference in staying in high-rise, ie. condominium, or apartment…

Besides the security reason, not that it's 100% secured, however, I do have a peace of mind, somehow… especially those days, when he's traveling, and I was working in KL, alone…

It's really freaky, if I've to deal with a big house, solely by myself…

Well… that's past…

Just the other day…

While I was lying in bed… in the middle of the night, trying to fall asleep…

I heard a motorbike passed by… on the road, far away, up on the hillside opposite our condo…

Then… I realized, what I've missed in my statement about my preference in staying in condo…

With that sound…

My memory flashed back all the way, to nearly 20 years ago… (gosh, yes, I'm disclosed my age, but it's not a big deal, I've never intended to hide)

When I used to go to my uncle's house in pekeliling, yep… the "17-floor" area… where there's this pekeliling bus hub for travelers from some other states in malaysia… (some of the buses are from here, some of the other buses were from pudu)

My uncle's unit was on the 16, I may have remembered wrongly though…

There, I used to stand next to the balcony, at night, after dinner…

Looking up onto the roads downstairs, look kinda small… where vehicales "flew" by…

I kinda enjoy the sound if it…

So near, yet so far… you just stood there, watching…

AND that perhaps also explains, why of all heroes, I love Batman!! (of course, the major part of it, was because of Christian Bale!) I love the way, The Dark Knight stands up high, on top of the building, watching the city he loves, yet disappointed… a nostalgic city for him…

That… again… brought me back to an even earlier, much earlier years of me…

While I was indulging on all the chinese language fiction, mainly city love stories… (oh… if  I was younger, then, I may enjoy SITC series…, which I simply don't, anymore! That's for SITC, for the story books' stories, yes, I still do, I believe…)

And most of them, were composed by HK female young writers… in fact, I said, "most of them", that's just trying to show that I READ a lot, which I actually don't…

It's just this writer, amy cheung… amy cheung siu han…

I know some people may think that her stories are shallow, just about love and love and love between men and women, and heart-breaking and so on… but then, I did enjoy them, and I did cry over some of the sad stories that she wrote…

Though, as of today, I'll of course, try to make myself sounds a little bit more with depth, and that, I proclaim, I like zhang man juan, a taiwanese female writer, whose story-telling, or short articles definitely, have more substance… and yes, I truly love her… she's different from anybody and she's a lecturer in the university… unlike amy cheung…

And now, probably you get it…

HK's the key word, where most of the people there…

Stay high up in the highrise…

1 huge blocks, many stories… many lives, many sad and happy souls…

And probably the handsome bloke you bumped into, at the lobby, will be staring at the sky at his balcony, or watching the cars and motorbikes "flying" by…

Whenever I hear this night-riders "flying" by…

I'll be wondering…

Hm… where's he going to?

Who's he meeting??

Is he a happy person?

A lost person? Or a sad soul?

….

Ps: and that's why~~~ I'm into apartmenttherapy.com now…

(haha, how I wish, I'm advertising for this website now… the fact is, I don’t!)

And just let me side-track…

After sharing with him about my "finding" regarding my preference on highrise, or apartment…

We explored further into our preferences…

And a few places in the past popped up…

Like the fisher hall that I stayed in london,

Or, this lodge that I stayed in gatwick,

Those houses with cozy basement's living lounge…

Those english houses along cromwell road, or simply, a few blocks away from fisher hall, or bernard sunley house…

Hm…

So, the fact is, I'm not that against 2-storey, or 3-storey…

The point is that, it's to be cozy..

And my terms of coziness's to be a little bit colourful, homey, and maybe even crowded with stuff…

For eg. Bookshelves full of books… different sizes…

A bench with some colourful cushions,

A console with some photos, some books, or everything on top.. Just like the one we've now, which we bought from ikea… I simply love this piece of furniture, it makes my dining area more homey and cozy now… kekeke…

If you still do not get what I'm saying… just go see the apartmenttherapy.com pictures…

Small, colourful, homey and cozy…

Just by looking at those pictures, I can imagine spending time with my loved ones in these area… doing nothing… maybe just sit around, chat all night… drink all night… and whatever…

Ya… that's my~ apartment~~

Ps: if I've money, if I'm rich, I won't by more houses in this crap country, this crap city which is full of crime, a country's that marching its way to hell… I'll probably spend my money, buying small apartments in cities that I like… ^_^ sounds like a good and sweet deal huh?? That's ONLY, IF!!!

Morningly Breeze

Last night… oops, technically, this morning, there was rain…,

Yep, after being "grilled" in the "oven" for so many days… it's just simply relieving and nice to hear the rain coming, to hear the wind blow…

But then… it did get a bit chilly… that's the "problem" (a nice one) that one has, when one's staying in highrise condo… (jealous or not? If not jealous, keep quiet, ok!!)

In fact…

I don't like chilly wind…

When sleeping…

It's similar to, I'll never put the desktop fan, or box fan in those "rotate" mode, ie. they'll just have to blow in 1 direction…

I hate the feeling in getting those "wind" that blows onto me, ONCE IN A WHILE, it'll has to be, either BLOW, or NO BLOW…

The on-and-off blowing, somehow gives me a cliché!!! Yuck!!!

And this morning, the breeze gave me that feeling too… ok, though I said, it's nice to have rain… without the wind part, ok??

I couldn't tolerate anymore and that, I got up and close the window, leaving a narrow gap, so that, we'll still get some fresh air into the room… especially fresh nice air, after the rain, I like the smell of it!!! ^_^

Then… since I was "struggling" with the wind, in bed, sometimes get up to peep peep baby who's sleeping like a cat on the mattress on the floor, and sometimes think of some "idea" that I'll put down on my "scrapbook" just beside my pillow…

Oh ya… that contribute to my "sleepless" nights!!! (most of the time)

Oh… as I was "struggling" with the wind…

I started to think of different cooling device…

Fan vs. Aircon…

And, cool, vs. cold!

In fact… If possible, I don't like to on my aircon, but I've been putting it on lately, every night… at around 26-27 deg…

Just to keep everybody cool, in the room, while in bed…

If I can "afford", I'll only like to have the fan, and to its lowest speed,

Cos.. For a simple reason,

I don't like the sound of it, the sound of the engine…

You can set the device to "quiet" mode.. But then, you'll still hear some sound…

I like my night to be quiet… it's not to say that I'll have problem falling asleep… (I'm a person who's pretty flexible about sleeping condition, a little bit of noise, a little bit of light, I'll be able to sleep, and that's what I'm training my baby too… else, she'll suffer in the future, when she grows up, maybe she needs to share room, or bla bla bla, who knows…)

But then… I kinda dislike the sound of engine, just the engine, the motor sound, it sounds artificial to me.. (of course, it's pieces of metal put-together, what do I expect)

Like I said… I like my night to be quiet.. Peaceful… I just enjoy those sort of moments…

AND, if you talk about the temperature…

Yep, I've been juggling the remote control, up and down the temperature, from time to time, oh!! Another factor to be added to my sleepless nights' list!

Too cold, I'm worried that baby will get a cold,

Too hot, I'm worried that she'll be sweating in her sleep…

Sigh…

Then again, I prefer it to be cool, instead of cold…

If it gets too cold, a blanket is needed, AND I hate using blanket… hahahahaha!!! Except that, I love using duvet!! (another problem of mine, kakakaka!)

From morningly breeze, to fan, to aircon, to temperature,

What I'm trying to tell you is,

Of all 4 seasons!!

I prefer autumn, which one do you prefer??

I know some people may prefer spring, maybe most people do, and some prefer summer, cos they're beach and sunny type of person, and hardly you'll find people who like winter… except those hardcore skiers, maybe…

I prefer autumn, it's not because there's anything linking to the word, "romantic", but I simply prefer autumn,

The colour, the weather, and the mood…

Again, quiet… yep, winter is dead silence, but autumn's quiet… with a little bit of natural noise, maybe, that's what I like…

And that's why, I like the 3rd quarter of the calendar, AND, that's when you return to UK to start your new academic year, if you're studying in UK…

Arrghh…  maybe there's some reason, why I like autumn… ^_^

And when I listen to bossa nova - ono lisa, joanna wang, sometimes, norah jones…, they're autumn to me too…

At least, at this stage, where I'm now… (which I call it, "old already") these are the things I like…

AUTUMN!!

………………. And there comes my next post!!

"Cup of Coffee"

This is another one of "those" stories that my friend sent to me...
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A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other's cups.

Now if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Some times, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

So, don't let the cups drive you... enjoy the coffee instead.

- Author unknown --
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When I first read, I was tempted to agree with the whole thing, however, ya, I did feel something lack of... maybe, with my own understanding about life, about work, about anything at the moment...
This story IS ideal... AND very ZEN!! :-D
however, I don't want to say I'm disagreeing (err.. because it is very true, and ideal!), but, I just wish to elaborate more, with my own understanding...

Since small... we're never really taught to know, what real "coffee" is...
and from school, from parents, even while we're already grown up and are already working.. from company, from boss... we were never told what real "coffee" is... but!!
use the right tool!!
get the right person!
get the right equipment!
get the right car!!
get the right job!!
oh!! worse still!!
get the right husband/wife!!

ya... we're never educated about "coffee", never!!
however, we're educated to great extent to identify, and the skill to 'fight' for the right "tools"!!
right?

Then... I start thinking... as for me...even getting the "right tools", the idea is not good enough...
In my opinion, life is...
the process in pursuing the right tools, and thus, achieveing the right "coffee" that you want, and you'll enjoy!!
it's the process!!

In actual fact, ya... whatever cup to use, to drink the coffee, doesn't really matter... however... ooh!! the process of browsing through that many styles of coffee cups, and then, choose one that you like, is thrill!!
It's that simple!!

The other day, I went to a cafe downtown, and as oppose to what I usually get from one of the local cafe, a nice cappucino cup, I got a mug for my coffee... Arrgghh!! just like the Starbucks mugs... no thrill... so, I thought, sometimes, the "tool" that we use, can greatly influence our mood at that very moment, and thus, influence my taste bud..
cos... food, drink, clothes, people, life... etc. are all a matter in our mind...
that's why, we have 心情好, and 心情壞!!
because it does contribute to our decision, whether the food tastes good, the drink is great, the clothes is worth buying, cos, it makes me look beautiful, that person is actually quite pretty/handsome!!
Ya... the mood!! the ambience of our hearts!!
Haha, I like the taiwanese way of describing it... the OS!! (ya, Operating System, not sure if they're still using this at present though, "OS" was used about 1 year ago? I think!!)

So, I do think, to a certain extent, "tool" matters... :-D cos, the whole world is built up in this way... that's why, it's a material world!
otherwise, I can imagine the whole world will be just like the Lazar!!!