JAPAN!

This week I'll be flying off to the Land of the Rising Sun with my TAS friends, and I am so excited!

I've never been overseas without adult supervision before so this is a new first, a step out into the world of journeys and adventure! All the new things that can happen!

I have yet to pack, but I have my whole wardrobe planned out in my head already... Well, at least that would make packing easier wouldn't it! Haha!

To be honest though, I'm more excited to meet another culture. To see how other people do things and go about their daily life. The way they dress, talk, commute. The Japanese are well known to be neat, polite and efficient. I'd love to understand how such a culture thrives in contrast to Malaysia.

We're going to be walking around a lot though, and currently the most (vain) problem on my mind is 'What shoes to bring?????' hahahaha!

Of course we're only going for a week or so, but still I'm sure it's going to be awesome! :D

Just a few more hours and we'll be breathing Japan air! :DDD

Valentines' Day and White Day

So~ White Day has just passed us by, and it dawned on me that I should probably blog about all the amazing things le petit ami has done for me. That would take at least a couple of lengthy blog posts however, so I'll just write about the significance of Valentine's Day and White Day instead.

I finally got to cook for him after a long hiatus. Also because I've been craving for fried eggplant, so I decided to give it a shot and try my hand at it.

I'm not tooting my own horn here but it turned out pretty awesome. xD

The onion cutting ninja at work.

Look at that!

Making curry~ It turned out too thin, as usual... @@

A relatively healthy... vegetarian meal, ohohoho!

Because of course we were saving ourselves for dinner, since le petit ami had already planned a pretty extravagant Valentine's dinner at La Risata! (The food explanation is copied from the menu given. I pretty much have no idea what it means, but it sounds terribly fancy and I'm compelled to type it.)

Super romantic setting! (I couldn't resist burning some of the petals on the table... I see fire and I want to burn things, sorry. xD)

A shot of something that made my whole body heat up into warm fuzzy chocolately feelings.

Cappasana e Fragole

Pan seared scallop on strawberry carpaccio and almond flakes topped with deep fried bresaola beef julienne

Paccheri Rippieni di Anatra

Pipe shaped dry pasta stuffed with chocolate flavored duck ragout on green peas cream

Okay, a little something about this dish. I was at first skeptical of it, because really, duck and chocolate? But I was floored, because it really tasted like duck and chocolate and it was good. I was so confused but yet delighted so I think it deserves a special mention. The cream went really well with the pasta and the stuffing, but imho they should've offered a main course (see below) that wasn't so thick and filling because this did a really good job of cream, meat, carbs and thick sauce already.

Guancia Brasata

Red wine braised beef cheek with oven baked pumpkin and potato cake

Like I said, a mouth full of carbs. Makes me full just looking at it.

Salmone con Risotto ai Funghi

Butter fried salmon steak served with mushroom "chiodini" risotto with spring garlic butter and sautéed beetroot

Millefoglie di Banana

Layers of thin chocolate and banana mousse on Berries Coulis

Okay so technically there was only one raspberry and one blueberry but oh well. The mousse surprised me, because it's banana flavored but yet it was strangely appealing. Three wasn't enough. xD

We took at short detour back to Lake Gardens, the place we spent the beginning of our relationship to have a proper sit down and talk about everything under the sun moon. I'm really grateful we did, because we cleared away uncertainty and doubt and made way for trust and love. :)

And now onto White Day~! White Day is one month after Valentine's day (March 14th) and is generally considered an "epilogue" of sorts of V day. Since I forgot White Day last year (though it's totally the guy's responsibility to celebrate! Hahaha!) I got le petit ami chocolates, because #typical and #generic.

He surprised me more than what the chocolate was worth though, in a way. Even though I knew he had won Avril Lavigne's concert tickets from RedFM's Instagram contest, it was only one ticket... By sheer luck and generosity on RedFM's part they gifted us two instead, so... FREE CONCERT!

We had by far the worst KFC ever (it came in a big truck... guys never buy food from trucks.) and I accidentally hit a lady with our complimentary glow sticks and despite the eager crowd that rushed to the barricades and blocked everyone else's view, I enjoyed every minute immensely with this adorable baka! ♥︎

Too bad we weren't really prepared for the concert... Otherwise we'd have lightsabers ready! Whoop! xD

In a way I'm thankful I've never been the butthurt type to hate on these couple-days when I was still single (ohohoho) so I can say without being hypocritical that sometimes being stupidly in love on special days really is just so much fun! xD

I can't stress how awesome being in love with your best friend is. :') Good times are to be had, always!

TAS is Family

Ohana means family. And family means no one gets left behind.

TAS is my family. Extended family to be there always.

It's strange how the idiom 'blood is thicker than water' has changed its meaning completely... in the beginning it means that 'blood' shared between people- whether it be sworn blood brothers or the closest of friends, is stronger even than the kin with whom one shares the womb with- 'water'.

In terms of the old sense of the phrase I do agree quite heartily.... Many a times I feel like TAS is my second family, in our SLC living room... imagining if a whole group of us staying together in one mansion like the Oneida community... it'd be brilliant!

It's strange that we trust each other so much after, when you think about it, just some lunches together or weekly meetings. My parents love reminding me that there are no true friends who stay by you: that in the end we're all using each other for our own gain and benefit.

It's a cruel, disillusioned way of looking at the world, but I don't want to think that way. In the same way that I believe respect and communication is a two-way street, so is friendship.

So yes, I miss my TAS family. I haven't seen them in so long, I haven't talked and hung out and went for yum cha and laughed at each other over spicy sausage.

But still I'm sure we're family, and no one gets left behind. :)

Growing Up With Board Games

A couple of months back my sister and I stumbled upon a quaint, cozy place with a fantastic twist: a café themed around board games. Since then we've gone back a couple of times, because they give a voucher thing with each receipt and they have a pre-paid card with special rates.

Board games mean something special to me, having grown up with the happier part of my childhood being involved with playing board games with the adopted family. There's always time for board games, I'm always in the mood for board games. It's simply the best.

What first began as a hunt for frozen yoghurt (we were disappointed that Tutti Frutti in Kota Damansara had closed down) ended up with us playing board games with New Zealand Natural ice cream to satisfy our sweet tooth. (Coincidentally, NZN is my favorite ice cream brand- so of course the large banner caught my attention.)

Our first game we were introduced to is Ubongo, a puzzle-based game where you had to fit all the pieces into the board within the time limit and collect stones. It's not as easy as it looks! xD

Enjoying our ice cream and cake at the same time.

The other game is Blokus, one of my favorites, which you literally try to dominate the board and be a cockblock to everyone else.

The next game we tried included pandas and bamboos, and it included lots of limiting factors and things to consider, so it took quite a while.

There was also a fun kiddish-game including ghosts, mice, chairs and colors. Adorable!

There was one last game that included trains and train tracks and it's awesome (and I won it) but unfortunately I don't have the pictures for that. :( But I won that game, and it was great. :D

Food at the Border City Cafe is at best, mediocre. It does make things a little more fun and warm though, and they have a variety of finger food and pastas (also slightly cold all-day breakfasts). Evidently food does make the heart fonder!

Drinks to accompany our scheming.

I was pretty happy because they really do treat customers as friends, and you can have a polaroid taken on the first visit to put up on the wall. (I'm sure you can ask for it back, though- I should have just taken mine home with me, haha.)

The rest of shop was decorated with boardgames (for sale, too) from various different countries and and super comfortable seating arrangements for an optimum group of 4 or above.

All in all, Border City Café is quite a comfortable place to hang out with friends, and they open till late as well. It's worth visiting again!

Mind Palaces and Appreciating Things

February has come and is nearly gone, and yet I have barely written anything worth mentioning at all.

It has recently come to my attention, however, that I have gradually stopped reaffirming my thankful and appreciative habits, so here's kicking myself into the zone to love life and live life.

• my family is 300% amazing
• this includes my extended family
• of which my grandmother peaks at a 765% amazing rate
• le petit ami ♥︎
• all the pretty cute things I own
• all the useless but adorable impulse buys
• the ability to even afford such things
• friends who buy me things
• friends who buy me food
• friends
• the House of Vorosmarthy
• the TAS famiry
• 异类
• the amazing childhood friends that never lost touch
• the amazing not-quite-childhood friends that sorta lost touch but still stalk constantly
• learning about love
• learning the meaning of love
• learning how to love
• learning how to in general be a better person
• I have the privilege to study and learn
• even more so the opportunity to do it at my own pace
• to find my own interests and develop them
• the ability to write and communicate through words
• which I do so on a laptop
• a very good laptop
• my favorite one
• unlimited internet access
• torrents
• movies
• snacks
• good food
• more food
• best food
• all kinds of food
• desserts
• yum

The list will go on forever, because there is always something to smile over. Things that remind me of good times, of good people, of good effort.

I might write about them, but they're short (but of course that does not necessarily mean it's bad) and the train of thought loses itself quickly in my mind palace.

I'll have to organize my mind palace...

In Limbo

I've been putting off going to America for much too long, and it frustrates me.

On one hand I'm so reluctant to leave my home, my friends, my life here in Malaysia... On the other I'm so excited, so desperate to want to explore and be amazed.

I've met some problems with my application, which set me back another half a year. And in this free time when I step out a little to experience with my internship, I realize I'm not young enough to hide behind a silly reason for not being useful or responsible anymore.

I'm 20 years old with nothing to my name, with plans long-discarded or abandoned.

The same friends who used to look to me enviously because I'm granted the gift to study abroad have already experienced their first years in another country, being scared and overcoming their fears. They've grown up, matured somewhat, and gained a fraction of independence.

At the same time I sit at home and scroll the depths of the interwebs, aching for such a day.

I know it won't be easy- then again nothing ever is, and an object at rest stays at rest- but do I ever want to be part of the buzzing, vigorous life. Creating magic and filling the world with saturated youth and blind optimism because I can, because I want to, because I believe so.

I want to go out and explore, fly away and find new things, open my eyes to controversy, think scandalous thoughts and write about things that inspire, disgust, interest, horrify me all with enthusiasm only the young can generate.

Except I don't want to end when I'm not-young, I want to end when I'm not-remembered (which implies that I will not die in traditional silly means like body decay) and when no one knows my name anymore.

Of course all this is nothing but wishful thinking, because we all think we can change the world.

Now I just need to get up and do something about it.

Internship!

So. I've started interning at a production house just for kicks, y'know, cuz I have the time. I might as well get the experience.

The place is seriously cool, with doof bags and a TV and a sofa in the large open room... A space I thought we would be able to chill out and relax, but LOL NOPE THIS IS WORK.

It's exhausting how even though technically the whole month has more or less been just sitting in the office by 11am with the laptop open I am actually tired! I've run out of time to do my own things, reaching home at around 8pm... on a good day. Obviously although I've been meaning to blog, I wasn't quite able to just sit down and do it.

Counting Stars! ♥︎

Production work is so demanding... Though I guess that's only because it's my first time doing such a thing that I'm a little lost... From referencing to scripting to shooting... It's a lot about focus and otherwise (for me) "I hope this is okay", haha! And this is only the first half of production! @A@;;;

Essentially being the saikang! HAHAHA!

Other than the workload though, it's pretty awesome! Because all this is actual stuff... We're making things... Legit things, not silly assignments that would be irrelevant a couple of months later.

I'd blog more but it's late and I just wanted to blog before CNY, so here it is! Hopefully after the CNY rush I'd be able to at least update some pictures... Though looking at my schedule... That's rather unlikely... DERP.