just bought new running shoes; and it’s about time (as sarimah says in the biggest loser asia) to cut the fat! now seriously i wish the spm results would be announced later so that there will be enough time for me to lose the flab. or at least look like i used to look like in school. i don’t want friends see me in my current condition.
anyways, totally random stuff here.
i know, i know it’s not christmas or whatever; but today i feel like sharing a favourite short story of mine. the german title is the original name of the story; written by the gifted hans christian andersen. enjoy!
Most terribly cold it was; it snowed, and was nearly quite dark, and evening– the last evening of the year. In this cold and darkness there went along the street a poor little girl, bareheaded, and with naked feet. When she left home she had slippers on, it is true; but what was the good of that? They were very large slippers, which her mother had hitherto worn; so large were they; and the poor little thing lost them as she scuffled away across the street, because of two carriages that rolled by dreadfully fast
One slipper was nowhere to be found; the other had been laid hold of by an urchin, and off he ran with it; he thought it would do capitally for a cradle when he some day or other should have children himself. So the little maiden walked on with her tiny naked feet, that were quite red and blue from cold. She carried a quantity of matches in an old apron, and she held a bundle of them in her hand. Nobody had bought anything of her the whole livelong day; no one had given her a single farthing.
She crept along trembling with cold and hunger–a very picture of sorrow, the poor little thing!
The flakes of snow covered her long fair hair, which fell in beautiful curls around her neck; but of that, of course, she never once now thought. From all the windows the candles were gleaming, and it smelt so deliciously of roast goose, for you know it was New Year’s Eve; yes, of that she thought.
In a corner formed by two houses, of which one advanced more than the other, she seated herself down and cowered together. Her little feet she had drawn close up to her, but she grew colder and colder, and to go home she did not venture, for she had not sold any matches and could not bring a farthing of money: from her father she would certainly get blows, and at home it was cold too, for above her she had only the roof, through which the wind whistled, even though the largest cracks were stopped up with straw and rags.
Her little hands were almost numbed with cold. Oh! A match might afford her a world of comfort, if she only dared take a single one out of the bundle, draw it against the wall, and warm her fingers by it. She drew one out. “Rischt!” how it blazed, how it burnt!. It was a warm, bright flame, like a candle, as she held her hands over it: it was a wonderful light. It seemed really to the little maiden as though she were sitting before a large iron stove, with burnished brass feet and a brass ornament at top. The fire burned with such blessed influence; it warmed so delightfully. The little girl had already stretched out her feet to warm them too; but–the small flame went out, the stove vanished: she had only the remains of the burnt-out match in her hand.
She rubbed another against the wall: it burned brightly, and where the light fell on the wall, there the wall became transparent like a veil, so that she could see into the room. On the table was spread a snow-white tablecloth; upon it was a splendid porcelain service, and the roast goose was steaming famously with its stuffing of apple and dried plums. And what was still more capital to behold was, the goose hopped down from the dish, reeled about on the floor with knife and fork in its breast, till it came up to the poor little girl; when–the match went out and nothing but the thick, cold, damp wall was left behind. She lighted another match. Now there she was sitting under the most magnificent Christmas tree: it was still larger, and more decorated than the one which she had seen through the glass door in the rich merchant’s house.
Thousands of lights were burning on the green branches, and gaily-colored pictures, such as she had seen in the shop-windows, looked down upon her. The little maiden stretched out her hands towards them when–the match went out. The lights of the Christmas tree rose higher and higher, she saw them now as stars in heaven; one fell down and formed a long trail of fire.
“Someone is just dead!” said the little girl; for her old grandmother, the only person who had loved her, and who was now no more, had told her, that when a star falls, a soul ascends to God.
She drew another match against the wall: it was again light, and in the lustre there stood the old grandmother, so bright and radiant, so mild, and with such an expression of love.
“Grandmother!” cried the little one. “Oh, take me with you! You go away when the match burns out; you vanish like the warm stove, like the delicious roast goose, and like the magnificent Christmas tree!” And she rubbed the whole bundle of matches quickly against the wall, for she wanted to be quite sure of keeping her grandmother near her. And the matches gave such a brilliant light that it was brighter than at noon-day: never formerly had the grandmother been so beautiful and so tall. She took the little maiden, on her arm, and both flew in brightness and in joy so high, so very high, and then above was neither cold, nor hunger, nor anxiety–they were with God.
But in the corner, at the cold hour of dawn, sat the poor girl, with rosy cheeks and with a smiling mouth, leaning against the wall–frozen to death on the last evening of the old year. Stiff and stark sat the child there with her matches, of which one bundle had been burnt. “She wanted to warm herself,” people said. No one had the slightest suspicion of what beautiful things she had seen; no one even dreamed of the splendor in which, with her grandmother she had entered on the joys of a new year.
lovely, innit? 😉
thanks to Afza Qistina, i took a quiz, and here’s the results. your say? 😀
Your view on yourself:
Other people find you very interesting, but you are really hiding your true self. Your friends love you because you are a good listener. They’ll probably still love you if you learn to be yourself with them.
The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:
You like serious, smart and determined people. You don’t judge a book by its cover, so good-looking people aren’t necessarily your style. This makes you an attractive person in many people’s eyes.
Your readiness to commit to a relationship:
You prefer to get to know a person very well before deciding whether you will commit to the relationship.
The seriousness of your love:
Your have very sensible tactics when approaching the opposite sex. In many ways people find your straightforwardness attractive, so you will find yourself with plenty of dates.
Your views on education
You may not like to study but you have many practical ideas. You listen to your own instincts and tend to follow your heart, so you will probably end up with an unusual job.
The right job for you:
You’re a practical person and will choose a secure job with a steady income. Knowing what you like to do is important. Find a regular job doing just that and you’ll be set for life.
How do you view success:
You are afraid of failure and scared to have a go at the career you would like to have in case you don’t succeed. Don’t give up when you haven’t yet even started! Be courageous.
What are you most afraid of:
You are afraid of having no one to rely on in times of trouble. You don’t ever want to be unable to take care of yourself. Independence is important to you.
Who is your true self:
You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.
1. I’m in my bedroom now.
2. I’m in Asia.
3. My hair is black.
4. My best friend is of the opposite sex (one of my bestfriends)
5. My best friend is my significant other.
6. I’m currently listening to music.
7. In fact, I listen to music more than 80% of the time.
8. My parents are still married.
9. I have an older sister.
10. I love skinny jeans.
11. I prefer flip-flops than shoes.
12. I have plans for tomorrow.
13. My watch is white.
14. My cell phone is neither a slide nor a flip.
15. I’m near-sighted.
16. I use smileys a lot.
17. My music player is Samsung.
18. My significant other’s birthday is in September.
19. I shave.
20. I love the rain.
21. I’m chatting with someone on instant messenger now.
22. I use MSN.
23. I have a Facebook account.
24. I’ve more or less abandoned my MySpace account. (or deleted)
25. I watch Glee.
26. I watched Avatar more than once.
27. I’m terrified of cockroaches.
28. I’m using Windows Vista now.
30. I’m not on a desktop computer.
31. I just watched a video on Youtube.
32. I have over 200 favourites on Youtube.
33. And I’ve watched at least 1000 videos.
34. I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life.
35. And I don’t intend to try one either.
36. I’ve been on a plane all by myself.
37. I’d rather sing well than dance well.
38. I’m satisfied with my height, but not with my weight.
39. My hair is naturally wavy.
40. My nails are painted.
41. I know how to drive but don’t have a license yet.
42. It’s almost midnight now.
43. I own an animal print wallet.
44. I play farming games.
45. I take pictures with my cell phone a lot.
46. I love black eyeliner!
47. Saturday is my favourite day of the week.
48. And tomorrow is Saturday!
49. I loved Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbossa in POTC.
50. I play the piano pretty well.
tags; anyone who read this! kthxbye 😮
oh my god i am so frickin’ fat – and i discovered this from looking at the pics taken during the trip. no wonder my 28″ jeans are getting tighter. so some pictures of me here are edited to mask my fat, chubby face. hehs.
oh, hello there!
this trip was kinda impromptu, as apparently my cousin and i actually planned to go for chendol (it’s 36°c outside, scorching hot) at the changlun highway near napoh. so we borrowed my aunt’s car and she asked us to send her to her bf’s place. her bf had another idea instead; evening snack at dannok, thailand. it’s been around ten years since i last went there. so we decided to go for it. her bf actually works around the border around bukit kayu hitam so basically he frequents dannok.
it’s already 5ish when we arrived at the immigration point at the border and there were throngs of people! it’s cny and i think some people are still in their holidays. but lucky us, my aunt’s bf knew some people and things went easy for us. and an added advantage that he speaks basic thai too. and before we know it, we’re in thailand!
shops.
more shops.
and more shops, just wanted to show the thai wordings actually. hehehe.
my impression, i think dannok is a shopping haven if you don’t mind the mess, noise and crowd. you can have cheap stuffs here and haggling isn’t an option, it’s a must! and for us, we went straight to our food – roasted beef! it’s kinda weird to have roasted beef as snacks in our country but it all seems so normal here, everyone eats that.
all smoky there.
the wooden mortar which they prepare som tam - a delicacy.
the supposedly artistic shot.
and the next pic, i only came to realise this i uploaded it into the pc.
aah, no wonder the food tastes nice. thanks, thai lady.
my dear god! haihs, eaten the food already, what to do, what to do…
ok i do not usually patronise stalls like this, but heck, who am i to complain in this situation.
waiting for the food, me acting paiseh.
this supposedly highlights the thai wordings on the bottle, notice that we turned it towards the camera. (compare previous picture)
aand here’s the food!
looks simple, tastes nothing like what we have in malaysia.
the beef is char-grilled with spices so tender, and the dipping, spicy-ketchupy-smoky-sauce with coriander bits inside and those white bits? chilli seeds. it compliments the beef and the combination will leave you wanting moar and moar! it’s served with a plate of raw cabbage and cucumber, an interesting and refreshing contrast to the sinfully-grilled beef.
aunt's bf. his yellow shirt is eclipsed the yummy piece. sorry.
aunt. the look on her face dominated the supposedly-highlighted beef. sorry.
me. the double chin and chubbiness of my face overshadowed the scrumptious piece of meat. sorry.
after we nommed the beef clear, my aunt wanted to buy some things, and we tagged along. back in the car, straight to a shopping complex. along the way, i saw a whole lot more stalls selling food like pulut ayam and pulut mangga, you can get these glutinous rice condiments in perlis. i like them quite as well. also, numerous entertainment clubs, discos, cheap hotels, spas and even dangdut clubs (i thought dangdut was indonesian?) are publicly advertised on signboards. no wonder dannnok is among the favourite hotspot to so many malaysian men; it’s close to the country border, yet so many entertainment stuffs that we don’t have at home are here.
an entertainment house near the shopping complex. can see sexy girls if you pass by the door. hehehe.
and i come to realize that the thais are very open minded. very liberal. the next picture was taken outside a shopping complex.
the public can really see what are you buying, and what colour is your innerwear. talk about judgmental people, like me.
and we went shopping. i didn’t buy anything though. nothing that interests me as the place mainly sells clothings that i don’t usually wear. like work wear, women wear and of course, lingerie. but i found something cute! you might know that elephants are synonymous to thailand, and they love the animal. this picture was taken inside the store.
two mini elephants!
after the shopping, we went around town for a while, and while doing that, guess what? guess la. don’t be so lame, haihs.
the elephant! from inside the car.
my aunt, my cousin and was really really excited to see it, but my aunt’s bf was acting cool. i snapped the blurry picture and was happily looking at the elephant from inside the car. and suddenly my aunt’s bf pulled over and asked us to come out of the car. he went to the elephant and talked to the man on the ellie, and called all of us to come closer! but we were not really sure and hesitated in excitement (ironically) as the creature was so GYNORMOUS! it was waaaay bigger than i ever expected. a real beast! apparently it was a business, where the man on the back of the elephant sells sugarcane pieces (20 bhat per plastic bag) to tourists, and we supposedly feed the elephant. and we did!
no butterflies in our stomachs, but an elephant instead! so nervous.
and the elephant nommed like there was no tomorrow! it was gentle and nice towards us. maybe because it liked me. hehehe. i touched the elephant, it was hairy and coarse. but it reacted back by trying to grab my slippers with its trunk! so scary! and of course, it wouldn’t be complete with some more pictures.
hehe, he's scared.
nice shot, but i'm the one who snapped it, sobs. not in...
me acting jacoon, touching the beast. my cousin still there, stealing my thunder...
touching it! amirul, enough with the face. notice that he's doing the same face in all pictures.
but i sympathized towards the elephant. it was not in its element. come on, an elephant in the city? yeah sure it’s attractive for us tourists, and it makes money to the owner. but the elephant? is the welfare well taken? was it washed and cared properly? i hope it is. it seemed so helpless with the man on the back in control of the animal. pity elephant.
post frolicking the elephant, we decided to head home as it was already 7ish. it was a nice experience to have once in a while, to visit a neighbouring country. the road towards malaysia is congested, and on the car, i noticed a mini monument near the exit of thailand with their king and queen on it. they’re so patriotic.
monument or what? i don't know what to call this.
and past this monument, was the thai immigration checkpoint. what a wonderful day trip i had! three hours spent on foreign land. and though they say the grass is always greener on the other side, i think it’s greener here in malaysia.
goodbye thailand, or as they say it, สวัสดีครับ - sawatdee khrap!
mein Kampf 