Oopdaits.

Thanks Pu, for kicking my ass into blogging. Sorry lah, everytime I wanna blog, I get interrupted by something else. Anyway, Mel's week in random order:

1. Was in KL last weekend, for just one night. Sabah won 6 awards during the Malaysia Tourism Awards, woo hoo!

2. I managed to buy a pair of black pants in Isetan. L was too big (I could pull them off in one swift move) and M is a tad snug. The lesser of two evils won: M. At least I look like I have a butt.

3. Went to Sandakan on Friday for the Agnes Keith Day. FYI, Agnes Keith is an American writer who lived in Sandakan during the second world war and she wrote a book about her experiences. Why the hoo ha? She coined the term 'Land Below The Wind'. Nuff said.

4. I had an 'emotional episode' some time mid-week. Must be all the raging hormones. Thank God for girlfriends who remind me that I'm still lawa mau mati and jerks will forever be jerks, worthy of our friendship nevermore. Sniff.

5. I painted my nails red.

6. I had dinner at Shangri-La's Rasa Ria Resort's Coffee Terrace and it was fantastico! I wanted to stick my tongue under the chocolate fountain all night but my colleagues stopped me.

7. Yolanda and I will be workmates!

8. I wanna watch The Simpsons, Vacancy and Harry Potter. Yes, I'm backdated, sue me.

9. My colleague is having her fare-thee-well party tomorrow. Sob.

10. I went partying on Saturday night and came home on Sunday morning. It's been QUITE a while since I did that. That said, you guys really should check out Cock & Bull at the Waterfront. I had a surprisingly good time!

11. I had Spanish food with Yo and Sel - which took ages to arrive. Over dinner we discovered: The education system in Malaysia infuriates Yo, Sel wouldn't mind having a clone of herself and Mel is 100 percent against capital punishment. Oh and Oprah doesn't make sense sometimes.

Ok, random photo of the day:My trip to Bangkok in 2004 with the media. Those were fun times. L-R: Me, Jerry and Rayner.

24/7

There's this guy.

Who just makes me laugh.
And he's the only one who can speak to me without saying a word...

We have the best adventures...
And sometimes, we even play dress up.

Although he looks good in a tux, I think I like him best in his Nikes...

And he likes me best in mine!

He's the best kind of friend you could ever ask for (and an even better boyfriend!)

And although he's far away right now, we're never really apart.
Happy birthday, cubby.

love,
me.
24/7

Gone for the weekend.

I've been busy (ya so what else is new?). Just finished the magazine and this weekend, am busy with weddings, dinners and award shows. I'm off to KL this Sunday, just for night and when I get back, more work beckons.

May your weekend be filled with happy things.

S-P-C-A!

Finally! Sabah has set up its Society for the Prevention of Cruelty To Animals (SPCA). In case some of you haven't seen it in the papers, the society currently has only 10 members and they're looking for interested parties to join them. I'm definitely signing up. I think it's been a long time coming and I am so glad someone's taken the initiative (kudos to Dr. Rasit, who also happens to be our family vet. See pic above for photo patients).

And if you don't want to sign up but would like to make a generous donation, you can also contact the Society. Call Dr. Rasit at 019 861 8348, Ms. Yap at 019 881 9440, Ms. Catherine at 016 834 6674 or Mrs. Guna at 088-319008.

Join la...The more the merrier!

You guessed it: The KK Bloggers Meet

I took my time doing this entry because I know you can rely on the other more 'frequent' bloggers update you, heh heh. Anyway, here's Fridaycat's take...

It all started here. A really cool cruise ship, complete with a buffet.
We all piled onto the boat/ship (potato, poh-tato) and started cruising along the coast line. KK lights are so pretty. But it was, in truth, one stinky ride. Must be the fish market we cruised by.

The first ever KK Blogger's Meet was the brainchild of these bee-you-tee-full peeps. L to R, Jacq, Gallivanter and Jewelle (Jacq's sis who came all the way from Brunei).

And you wanna know how small KK is? It was like a high school reunion! Bumped into several schoolmates (both juniors and seniors). L to R: Imelda, Charlene, Yolanda, moi.

Yolanda, me and the ever-bubbly Josie. She's like happiness in a jar!

With Gallivanter. Sans alcohol. Scary no?

Group pic! After some 15 shots, everyone got distracted and decided to go, "Oh screw it. I'll just stand here and look natural. Yang penting, masuk frame."

Although there were plenty of guys around, Yo and I snagged the cutest one and decided to take him home, muahaha. (Too bad his parents were around). That's Jordan, also known as Mr. Badak Jr., heh heh.

The party found its way to The Bed (it's a club. And short for...Best Entertainment Destination, i kid you not). Imelda, Charlene and me, clinging on for dear life. Still sober and 'control ayu'.

And there goes the 'ayu' bit....

Uh oh, the 'happiness' is kicking in...

Papajoneh, Gallivanter and Wei Chuen doin' the doo wop. Punya main happy...
All in all, I had a great time. It's great to be able to meet the people behind the blogs. Come out and play again ok?

Not really here.

Monday started with a sore throat. Not any sore throat. The kind where you feel a porcupine has crawled in and lodged itself there. I woke up at 4:30am, thinking I was choking and pretty much couldn't sleep thereafter.

A trip to the doctor five hours later, I'm told I have a nasty infection on my tonsils (ulcers and the works) and it's highly contagious. A fever develops by noon and at 2pm, I'm off to bed. I wake up at 5pm and feel like I never really slept.

I missed out an interesting point made by my doctor. He said that since I started exercising regularly again (in a nutshell, I've picked up running at least twice a week, three if I'm feeling particularly inspired), it's likely that my immunity system has dropped, making me susceptible to infection and what not. Great. I thought exercising was supposed to HELP my health.

My whole body feels like it's been pummelled. I can't watch any more TV for fear my head is going to explode. I can't sleep because I think i've 'outslept' myself. I'm hungry but I have to go on a soft food diet - and porridge can only do so much. I can't talk much because I think my throat just needs a break. So here I am, blogging. I've been given 2 days medical leave but we'll see how Tuesday morning pans out. Oh, and given my current state, I've decided to turn off my handphone. It's times like these I feel like I'm not really here.

Sex fans, listen up!

Ha, knew that would get your attention. Sex & The City fans la. Guess what? They're doing the movie!

"Sex and the City" headed to movie theaters

The four women who spiced up Manhattan's singles scene for six years on the HBO television series "Sex and the City" appear headed for a big-screen reunion after all.

New Line Cinema, a corporate sibling of HBO under Time Warner Inc., is close to sealing a final deal to finance and distribute the long-stalled picture, a spokesman for the studio said on Thursday.

The project is set to begin shooting in the fall with all four stars of the HBO hit -- Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon -- on board to reprise their roles.

Hurrah! I love the show for so many reasons:

1. The witty anecdotes on life, love, men and sex

2. Fantastic cast, great chemistry. The last show I remember that has fantastic on-screen chemistry would definitely be The X-Files. Mulder and Scully rule!

3. How nobody really looks like they have a 'job'. I know Samantha is in PR and Miranda is a lawyer but seriously...Where do they find the time to hang out for brunch for what seems like EVERYday?

4. Two words: Manolo Blahnik

5. The yummy men who waltz in and out of their life.

6. Samantha's sexual conquests!

7. Charlotte's perpetual search for her soul mate

8. Miranda's sarcasm

9. Carrie's ability to wear the most ridiculous things

And on her salary as a columnist, how DOES she afford those Blahniks?

Highs & lows

Today's lows:

1. Woke up at 4:45am

2. Stepped on a needle in my bedroom. Bleeding toe, not pleasant.

3. Blanket has a fever!

4. Having a 'fat' day


Today's highs:

1. Am in writing mood and finished 2 full articles today. Full speed ahead!

2. Big Boss not in the office, heh heh.

3. Not hungry (this is a good sign, trust me)

4. Called Haw *big cheesy grin*

5. I got the 'cheap' parking spot outside my office. Usually it's RM15 for the whole day. Cheap spot means RM5. Score!

My highs outweighed my lows. I told you life is good.

Let's go to the zoo!

Actually, it's a Wildlife Park, ehem. But it's just more fun to say, "I went to the ZOO on Sunday!" And by golly gee whiz, it was fun. Yes, peeps, Sabah finally has a real zoo and I ain't talkin' bout the ones where they cage up wild monkeys and feed them keropok, ok. A REAL zoo, with more than 2 types of animals! Excited yet? Read on.

It's located at Lok Kawi, which is about half an hour's drive from the city centre. You can go there using the Penampang way (not recommended cuz the roads get confusing. Ok la, with me all the roads are confusing anyway...) or from the Putatan road. It's pretty simple really. Drive all the way to the Lok Kawi-old Papar road junction. When you get to the junction, just turn left and go straight on. You'll pass by a Hindu temple, keep going straight and you'll see a shooting range. Keep going my friend. Aaaaallll the way past the army camp and on your right, keep your eyes peeled for the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park. Ta-da!

*Just to let you guys know that my camera died halfway through the trip so pardon the lack of photographic evidence of the total awesomeness of the place. Proceed.

So here I am, holding up the Park map. And that's Wilson eating ice cream and poking his nose into the frame. I didn't even know he was behind me until after I took the photo.

It's a big cat! It's a lovely clouded leopard (ok don't quote me on this cuz I'm not sure). We were wondering why he was so fascinated with the view on the left side of his cage. And then I realised his 'neighbours' are a bunch of deers. "Why, I'd LOVE to have you for dinner" brings a whole new meaning in this neighbourhood.



And then we saw the Malaysian Civet. Sleeping. Wei, I paid 10 bucks to see you act cute, bangunlah!

The whole park is structured really well but I think once the trees are bigger and in full glory, it'll have better shade. We were lucky that it was cloudy so it wasn't too hot. We rented umbrellas for RM1.00, just in case it poured.

And then we saw elephants!!! I got so excited. I want an elephant for Christmas. Loved ones, please take note.

Sang Melissa dengan Sang Gajah ber-posing. (no 'Spot the Elephant' jokes, ok?)

We were looking for the Rhinos but this was the only one we could come across. (Actually there was one wallowing in the mud but it looked exactly like the one pictured above anyway).

How can you not love sun bears? Damn cute and less scary than grizzlies. "I'll just balance on this tree and look cute. Gawd, I don't get paid enough for this."

And then the aviary was super cool. One of my friends commented it was like entering Jurassic Park or something.All these birds flying freely around you. I didn't know which to worry about: being crapped on or pecked to death.

And then my battery died. Sialan. The zoo also has Proboscis Monkeys, Orang Utans (what? here in Sabah? Wowee), Otters (SO adorable), a bunch of deers whose names escape me, tigers and unicorns (well, a girl can wish...). Lots more critters I can't remember right now. Oh and they're in the midst of finishing the Reptile House which I hope will not disappoint. All in all, the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park looks promising and all you Sabahans really should check it out some time. It's only RM10 per entry (cheaper for kids) and free for those above 60. But if you're REALLY a cheapskate, visit the Wildlife Park on 7th July 2007 during their launch and get in for free, heh heh.