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Plan of the day was to visit the temple and along the way, we saw two lion dance performances. I asked Pappy to stop next to the road so that I could watch them.

This is the interior of Puh Jih Shih Temple, built on a hilltop, overlooking Sandakan Bay. Prayed for everyone and almost forgot praying for myself.

Pappy then brought me to Giant Hypermarket. The opening of this hypermarket was considered big, considering that we are just a small town. We have a few KFC outlets now but not a single McDonald’s in sight. Wonder when we’ll have McDonald’s.

The lions came to Giant too, roaming about the whole supermarket. Look at the colours of this lion. Green and gold. It matches the colours of Giant which is green and yellow. It zoomed by too fast. This is the best picture I have of it.

The night was spent at Jesselton Coffee. A new cafe in Bandar Indah Sandakan. The 8 of us, former scouts and girl guides gathered to have a chit-chat over Iced Chocolate and Iced Blended Green Tea. Jesselton is actually an old name for Kota Kinabalu.

This year’s yamcha session is very much limited as not all of my friends are back to Sandakan for Chinese New Year. This year was a bit quieter as compared to the last. I know you hear people saying this most of the time, every year…but this is the first year I’m actually feeling so. Maybe because I’m growing older..

First day of Chinese New Year was spent at home, with people visiting our house. Second day was spent visiting other people’s home. All our relatives are in West Malaysia and thus I’ve never once visited any relatives during Chinese New Year throughout these 20 over years. So, today I followed my parents to visit their friends.

There is only one car at home in Sandakan now so I couldn’t just drive to where I wish to. And even if I wanted to, I can’t. Pappy’s car is a company car and so you need a GDL license before you could it.

There was roast pig! 🙂

You could see adults and children taking pictures of it with their cameras and mobile phones. Even the man had to give way and gave us some moment to snap all the pictures we want before he chopped up the poor piggie.

It was so crunchy and delicious. While worth the wait. We finished our lunch at 12 something but the roast pig would only come at 1:30pm. We patiently waited for it!

We went to visit another friend of Mummy’s after that but Pappy and I left earlier as we were bored.

Dinner was at another open house and this time they had roast lamb. No pics though because by the time we reached, the lamb was almost finished. We then adjourned to 7 Heaven because there’ll be lion dance performance. This was the cutest lion dance performance of the year by Man Woo Association.

There was another lion dance performance a few shops away from 7 Heaven Cafe so Mummy and I walked quickly to the other side before it ended. It was a glow in the dark lion dance performance. I like this very much. Twin lions, performing and then lighting fireworks on the pillars. Nice!

The day didn’t just end here. I went for movies after that at Star Cineplex Sandakan. My first time to this Cineplex which opened around last year. A friend won in gambling and decided to give his friends a treat. I was one of them. This friend of mine is a junior friend, as in younger than me by 2 or 3 years. My friends are either 1-2 years older, same age or a few years younger. Most of them are younger, I have no idea why but sometimes it’s nice to be with younger people.

We watched Kung Fu Dunk and it was okay. Not too bad.

I’m already heavier by 2 kg today. Shocking indeed. I just weighed myself before I flew back and weighed myself again when I arrived in Sandakan. 2 kg of difference. I must have eaten too much! Hehe.

😀

Gracie’s open house today! It happens every first day of Chinese New Year. Crowd is lesser this year, same as last year because Iris is not back and thus her bunch of friends didn’t come to visit.

But nonetheless, having open house instills the festive mood. I put on my read and white floral dress which I liked very much. The hair wasn’t cooperative today though. One side was flying out and there was nothing I could do. Mummy kept looking at my hair and laugh. Pappy said don’t bother, it’s a new hairstyle. Short and sassy. Oooohhhh.. Haha!

A few of my friends came over, as well as my parents’ friends and staff.

Only 1 lion came to visit the house today. Well, at least there is one. I was still in my pyjamas when it came.

At night, Pappy organised another open house at the tennis club. There was lion dance performance. Lion was in pink.

One thing we missed doing was taking a family photo on the first day of Chinese New Year like we always do. We were just too busy serving guests and was all tired at the end of the day. Another thing missed doing was the tea ceremony. Every year, we would pour a cup of tea for our parents, wishing them health. That would be done tomorrow.

*squeaks*

I am home for reunion dinner!

Queueing up at the check-in counter of LCCT was a happy one. I’m just happy and excited today that I’m going home. The moment the plane landed at Sandakan Airport and with the air stewardess reporting …” Kita telah mendarat di Lapangan Terbang Sandakan..”, it just felt like heaven.

I met an ex-classmate of mine whom I’ve not seen since we graduated from secondary school. He was just sitting behind me and I only managed to smile at him when we were getting off the plane.

Mummy came to pick me up at the airport and was greeted with a daughter with new short hair style. 🙂

I was expecting Pappy to pick me up as he was more excited about me coming back than I do. He booked a taxi for me a few days before the day I fly, called me when the taxi is already downstairs waiting for me. Called me again while I was checking in at the airport counter. Called me again while I was buying some sandwiches. Called me again while I was lining up to board the plane.

“Grace, you SMS me when you are about to board the plane. Not when they start to line up you know? But when you’re about to board the plane.”

M.Y.G.O.D.

HAHAHA

That is not all. Mummy asked me a very funny question in the car.

“So how’s you and D? Steady already?”

“I don’t know.”

“What don’t know. Got kiss?”

“Ya…got. Goodbye kiss.”

“YERRRRRRRRRR…..”

***

Had a nice reunion dinner even though one person is missing. MISS IRIS, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU COME BACK NEXT CHINESE NEW YEAR. I cannot take this anymore. 😛

The neighbour’s kids were having a great time with the fireworks and firecrackers. It was fun and noisy. Really miss the times when I was younger, where Iris and I will be happily lighting the fireworks and Pappy lighting the ones that zooms and explodes in the air.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

I’m flying home tomorrow. I’ve never flown at the last minute, on the eve of Chinese New Year. It’s usually a few days earlier or at least one day earlier. I pray for no flight delays because once I land at the airport and have my parents pick me up from the airport, it’s just nice for reunion dinner! I CAN’T WAIT!!!! I REALLY CAN’T WAIT!!

I LOVE TO GO HOME. SANDAKAN HERE I COME!

Talking about home, I’ve got a colleague who hails from the same place as me. Feeling very ecstatic once I knew about it. What’s even more surprising is that his younger sister is actually is my ex-classmate! GOSH!

GONG XI FA CAI!

Have a safe journey home!

I’M JUST SO IN LOVE WITH CHINESE NEW YEAR!

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Yo People! I AM BACK! 🙂

Been busy busy busy. Still busy but I must write.

Tomorrow is going to be my last day of work before Chinese New Year and I’ll be flying home. Iris won’t be celebrating Chinese New Year with us for the 2nd year so I’m gonna miss her as usual.

The last two weeks had been hectic, stayed until 9:30pm in the office last Friday to clear up that huge pile of work and redoing some tasks due to the unfortunate server crash. Managed to clear off most of my work by today. Tomorrow, I will make sure my plate is clean.

I’ve not finish cleaning the house. Thanks to my procrastination. My plan to clean the house over the weekend was interrupted. A friend called and asked me for lunch on Saturday and there I go, walking around One Utama for half a day. On Sunday, I managed to scrub and clean the balcony which was left uncleaned for a good 2 months or more. The toilet, left uncleaned for at least 2 weeks is now smelling like lemon. Plants have been decorated. Lanterns up. Chinese New Year deco up. Luggage 80% packed. But there is still more to be done and I’m contemplating of not going for dinner tomorrow and stay home to clean the house. Dinner is going to be long-winded one. It depends okay? Final decision to be made tomorrow. My mood changes. I felt like not going to the dinner about a few minutes ago. I’ll still dress up a bit to work tomorrow, just in case.

I was internet-less for a few days. Don’t know if it was because of service failure or that I was too smart in changing my Streamyx password online and then forgetting to change it on the router itself. I recalled just today that it might be because of that. Changed it at work while I was still having internet access and came home to be greeted with a PC that is proudly connected to Streamyx.

The flow of writing is not there anymore. i think it’s because I haven’t been writing daily as I normally do. Anyway, have a safe trip home and have a wonderful and prosperous Chinese New Year!

My first proper facial treatment was enjoyable. I was half an hour late for my appointment due to traffic jam. I’m not going on a weekday anymore as traffic along LDP can get quite unpredictable. The beautician did so many things to my face that I couldn’t really remember all the steps. Feeling a little like going for a surgery because you need to lie down and you’ve got lights shining direct towards your face. I cannot see what she’s doing to my face because my eyes is blocked with something (I don’t even know what’s that so that the lights doesn’t hurt my eyes.)

But it is nice. It did hurt when she tried to remove the whiteheads and blackheads from my face and especially my nose. The beautician was quite shocked when I told her I’ve not had facial in years. Was told my face is very dirty and that it’s quite hard to take care of my skin. Mine’s combination skin which means some parts are dry, some parts are oily. I have blemishes and acne too, which means my skin’s sensitive too. I cannot apply greasy moisturiser, yet when I cleanse my face, it gets tight and dry. Something I’ve noticed but don’t really know what to do with it. The beautician suggested me to use a hydrating mask to hydrate the skin. All this while, I’ve been using clariying mask to clear off dirt and oil, which can result in a drier skin perhaps.

For those who have normal skin, I envy you!

About the haircut…it turned out shorter than expected. Next time when you visit the salon, just show them one inch longer of the hair length you desire and you’ll get what you want. Like if you want it slightly above the shoulder length, show them you want it cut until the shoulder length. I expected mine to be slightly above the shoulder length, but it’s not slightly below the ear. Still looks okay though but has brought shock to a few people.

The boyfriend says I look like 29 years old. I hate him. A friend said I looked like my mum. I don’t know what to say. A colleague said I looked very cute. Another colleague said I looked younger. So, people, I’m a little confused.

I wasn’t quite used to it at first but I think I can live with this hairstyle for a few more months or beyond. I know when it grows a little longer, it will be perfect. Washing my hair now is like not washing anything. Yeah, because my previous hair length is long and it takes lots of water and time to wash it off, dry it off and etc. Now, it’s a stress-free routine.

I coloured my hair too though it’s not really noticeable if I don’t tell you I’ve coloured it. It’s a dark brown tone and I like it that way. Not noticeable and yet coloured. Why? Because if it’s too light, Pappy might discover it and he may not like it. Pappy allows me to smoke and drink ( I don’t smoke…and I only drink a teeny bit)…but I’m not allowed to dye my hair. But as always, I sometimes go against him. 😀

The hairdresser asked me if I’ve coloured my hair before. I said no.

“Oh, first time?”

“Yes.”

“OHHHH ……. VIRGIN~~~~~!”

That was his response. It was funny.

Now that I’ve got my hair coloured, I’m no longer a virgin. 🙂

Before….

After…

… Stories soon

That sad looking packet of organic oats on the kitchen table is going to be really happy tomorrow. Because I’m finally going to eat it, have it as breakfast. I have not really been eating proper breakfast. Sometimes when I’m at the bakery, I’ll just grab some bread and have it as breakfast. But I don’t always visit the bread shop and so when I don’t, usually I will not eat anything but just myself a cup of milo kosong.

Tomorrow, it’s going to be oats. Maybe the day after. Everyday perhaps. 🙂

Going to make the oat drink in the office because there’s Milo over there. This is what my mum used to make for me when I was still schooling. Oats with milo. Oats isn’t really my favourite food. It’s boring food I must say. But boring food are healthy.

It’s funny how you hate eating vegetables when you are a kid. My parents have tried every possible way to make me and my sister eat vegetables but we just don’t like it. The turning point between hating and loving vegetables was when a Japanese friend of Pappy told me over steamboat, while cupping out the boiled tofu with the ladle, that eating tofu is good for the skin, makes it smooth and makes me look beautiful. I was immediately enlightened.

From then on, he always tells me to eat vegetables. Vegetables is good for you. Eating vegetables make you look beautiful. He goes on and on and repeats it everytime my parents bring us out for dinner with him.

I was slowly brainwashed.

I used to hate brinjal, bitter gourd and beansprout. Now, I love brinjal and I love bittergourd. I still don’t love beansprout but I eat it. I don’t like bananas but I eat it. I don’t know why. I just am not into bananas.

Today’s a tiring day at work. Been reaching early and leaving later. Will be repeating this till Thursday. Friday, I’m going to have my face washed by someone else. Excited! Saturday, I’m going to get my hair cut. I mean cut. As in SHORT. Yeah, I don’t know how I’m going to look like after this. I have not had my hair cut so short for like 10 over years. It’s going to take a while for the effect to sink in. I don’t know if I’d scream in horror upon looking at my short hair….but this is what I’m going to do.

I’ve already grown my hair till it reaches the breasts so my wish has been fulfiled. I’m contented so now the hair has to go. It has to be cut short. My hair’s dropping a lot now and have long hair isn’t going to help. I’m both excited and worried actually but I’ll hope for the best. I hope I’ll like my new hairstyle this Saturday.

I’m not going to tell him about me cutting my hair short. He has been away for 2 months so when he sees me when he comes back, I should be in short hair already and I want to see if he still recognises me. Yea, I know..I’m talking nonsense again.