Sunday, July 30, 2006

Girly times..

So hanging out at Sha's tonight after some good old fashioned English Curry. I realise that some things don't change all that much. Although we might have lived overseas, have had our good and bad run-ins with boys, done the initial bambi steps in University trying to establish our individual personalities even got our first proper jobs with proper responsibilities... we're still kanak-kanak.

So in true 'sleep-over' style... We're messing about with music, videos and of course, the girly staple - the quiz. Although this time instead of 'Which Spice girl are you' in the middle section of J17, its online asking me 'what religion are you?' This is how I fared:



You fit in with:
Humanism


Your ideals mostly resemble that of a Humanist. Although you do not have a lot of faith, you are devoted to making this world better, in the short time that you have to live. Humanists do not generally believe in an afterlife, and therefore, are committed to making the world a better place for themselves and future generations.

0% scientific.
100% reason-oriented.

http://img.quizgalaxy.com/bg-map.jpg">
Take'>http://www.quizgalaxy.com/quiz.php?id=47">Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com
huh. xxw

Summer in Londonium - "Fun with an Outcome"

Good grief! Its been ages since I've last blogged and plenty has happened! Priceless quality time with the family, 10 bloody kilos overweight in our luggage, way too long on a plane, insane running around the departures in Heathrow, reuniting with my cat Molly a.k.a moo-moo cat, a traditional White Horse afternoon-evening and night, a comedy thing we do not speak of and a swanky night out with my oldest and closest mate - I'm in London baby.

But alas. As its WAY too hot in this lovely lovely landan flat I'm squatting in for the meantime, I'm going to let the photos do the talking.

Another beautiful addition to the family, Iman.

Kyle and I at the Empire with everyone before jetting off to sunny England.

My mum.
Gorgeous baby Zara at the airport saying turrah and providing me with a priceless 1 minute video I can't help but show everyone.

Sha and I - "Alai LANDANNN!"

Birthday Girl

So been in London for the past few days after a warm warm welcome back in Spalding once we arrived - and by warm I mean 35 degrees of warmth! - hoping to catch a few exhibitions. Already managed to get into the AA project review on Thursday before it shut on Friday which was truly inspiring, once again feel in love with architecture after battling with my hate hate relationship with it the past year. Tough love man. Went to the Barbican on Saturday for the first time to catch the Future Cities exhibition which was also fantastic. The entire exhibit especially the early parts on Archigram reminded me once again that it ain't all that serious. No wonder I love this city!

Oh! And if anyone knows how I can score a studio flat in the Barbican? Let me know - I'm in love love love with the place. Absolute architect's utopian dreamstate, yes? Fantabulous.

And for those who are wondering the thing of which we do not speak of which happened on Friday, went okay. Made some classic Widari blunders and coined the perfect dorky tag line which I'm sure will haunt me forever. Comedy scene- middle aged guy, smiley happy English lady and older gentleman who changed the batteries to his hearing aid in the middle of the interview and the blundering idiot that is me as soon as something incredibly important comes along. I'll hear from them on Monday. Fingers crossed folkes.

London rocks, the weather is lovely and summery. If only I didn't miss mine at home. xxw

Monday, July 17, 2006

Kuraman!

Saturday was a bit of a non starter for me. Finally finding a way out of going to a previous invite, it was too late to ring Leila to tell her I could come see her. There goes my saturday night. So I sat down on the couch with a mug of tea and a pile of dvds to watch to wile away my lonely existance at which point Abang calls and tells me to get my sorry ass off the couch I was coming to dinner with them. Well okay in not so many words, and he gave me the chance to decline but I thought well I might as well stuff my face with pizza and good food and not let waste those three and a half laps I had done earlier in the day.

Sunday on the other hand, was awesome from the get go. Even though the get go was at 630am. Kuraman! Here we come!

Kuraman- just off Labuan, surrounded by warm waters and sandy beaches. Paradiso.



A few hundred meters away are pretty good snokelling spots which we had a good poke around. Sadly though, the coral and sealife were a little sparse and you could see traces of what an amazing reef it must have once been. Dynamite fishing in the area destroyed plenty of the coral leaving a few small pockets of untouched coral still teeming with fish. I had no idea that we had so many pretty fish so close by! Dozens of stripey fish and the odd electric blue fish oh and not to mention the abundance of blue starfish- hardy little buggers -made up the population of wildlife that we managed to see.

After a couple of stops to dive and an 'encounter' with a local fisherman in his wee catamaran we came back to the island where we found our barbeque nicely coming along. Dug in like hungry animals since most of us hadn't eaten that morning while Ronald and Roger watched hungrily.

Ronald and Roger


The rest of the afternoon saw us lazing a little, sunning a little, swimming a little and of course, eating a lot. Perfect.

Nothing but us, a sandy barand a couple of wind-beaten chalets.
Oh and a loo.

Swimming off the pier.


My Mad Sailor-a-captaining!

Rachel and I attempting to look normal while everyone else was feeling a little worse for wear.

Boys and their toys! Kyle on the Hog-Machine enjoying dry land.


Joined Mrs.Egg and family at their family football sesh at Jerudong which was more of an excuse for us to eat junk food and lie in the grass. All in all a perfect Sunday. xxw

Friday, July 14, 2006

Ben, Hal, Kyle and Jack.

After my moping bout ran its course we went to see the first showing of Pirates of the Carribean at the Empire Cinema just down the road from where I live. I turned up in my stripey blue top a la Mad Sailor (or Mat Salleh)'s girlfriend. A gold chained purse and some shorts to go with. I thought well thats how far I'm going to take the pirate theme and left Polly and my boots at home.

When I got there some others had taken it further with eye patches and what not. If only I had known! This one never turns down the oppportunity to play dress up.

THe movie was fantastic and Johnny Depp delivered as expected. The only damper on the night was that because we had to get seats quite close to the screen we had to slouch leaving us with sore behinds.

Decided to grab some food at aladdin then hang out at mine for the rest of the evening which turned out into the small hours of the morning! Its always good catching up with friends although last night was especially good reminiscing the good old 'Asma' days. Stupid incidents like the Water Tower and countless 'molestations' by him her and the other always find their way of haunting us again no matter how many times we meet up after having left school four years ago.

So all in all a good night thanks to Johnny, the Said brothers, Hal, Ben Kyle and good old Jack. xxw

Cik-guru

Yesterday was my last day of school. Or 'school' rather. My friends and family know that I've been at school since being at home in order to sit an exam at the end of the year.

It started with mum introducing me to a lady she knows through the Women's Coucil, I think. My first impression was that she was nice, very very well spoken and appears to have travelled around the region especially around Indonesia - still hugely unchartered territory for me. A woman after my own heart - or vise versa depending on how you want to see it.

So we'd meet every morning at 930 after I pummel through the kampong road (as opposed to the giant highways) to her house and ungainly bump along the dirt road to her doorstep. By around 1130 we'd stop for a cup of tea and some kuih which she would unfailingly provide and exchange stories. We talked about everything from politics to Datuk K, our shared passion for budget travel to how she became a teacher from studying for her A Levels in three months in order to get a scholarship.

Her birthday is the day before my mum's and they both had similarly important roles during their working years here. Which is perhaps the reason why I found her so easy to relate to and understand.

I don't think she'll ever know how much I look up to her though. Which is quite sad really. Especially since my command of the Malay language is, well, a little stumped shall we say. She'd do most of the talking while I do a nodding donkey impression (GAH! DUMBASS Widari!) because I could never think of a way to express what I was thinking (omg cikgu I'm smart please I promise if only you could see the inside of my head!).

So half of yesterday I spent moping a little. Quite silly really after having only met her just over a month ago. Our dialogue before I left her house at midday as usual kind of went like this:

Cikgu: I'm not going to see you for a long time ni Dayangku. Sedih kah? (jokingly)
Emotional Idiot that is me: myes.
Cikgu: Elaa.. inda nyaman hati cikgu mendengar catu Dayangku.
Still, the emotional Idiot who cannot speak malay that is me: sorry cikgu.

hahAHhHHA sounds so sappy! But yeah, I was really sad to be leaving this sweet aunty who'd taken me into her home expecting nothing in return. I tried telling her that if ever she wanted to build an extension on her house or anything I can help her with I'd do it in h wella flash. Although I'm not sure whether I managed to get my point across. Nanti kalau cikgu kan buat extensyen rumah panggil saja yawwrr (sad in phoney anglosized accent)? xxw

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Azzaro

Okay, while I'm at it (poking around net-a-porter while waiting for my dance class to start) I thought I'd add this:

AZZARO Vicar Strapless Dress. Pic from net-a-porter

Love it! xxw

oh please oh please..

Okay so its no secret. I just don't have very good taste when it comes to music. Kyle says that I have the same music taste as your regular uncle meets Kev boy from the hood. Fair enough.

But ohmygod what is wrong with me?! I want to be this woman. I don't care if people just wanna stare at her bleep!



Maybe tomorrow I shall start acting my age. xxw

Dinner in the Sky and the Barbican

Yesterday's article in BLDGBLOG is just priceless. An 8 hour meal hanging mid-air over the streets in Belgium. Just bloody brilliant.

The pictures aren't very exciting but give the article a quick once over. However for 7,900 of those Euros, I think I'll have my meal in the first class thank you very much!

Also, bought me some tickets to go and see the Future Cities exhibition at the Barbican. Tried to pursuade Kyle to stay in London for one night before heading home so we can catch Peter Cook's convo with Wolf Prix though failed miserably. Still! We have tickets for the discounted price of 6 squid each so I'm happy. xxw

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Mr.Hard-of-Hearing Tribiani

So went to the comedy gig at the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports last night-Peepolykus. Maybe it was the hype surrounding it you know with the radio interview with the Groove Monster, also known as the British High Commisioner, the rave reviews written about it excinema, excinema, excinema. I was expecting so be splitting my sides in laughter leaving the hall giddy and hyped up.

I was sorely dissapointed as you can probably already guess.

It started with the show starting a little later than expected - and all the hoo-haa surrounding the event which albeit necessary in some way was not what we came to see. Then the first act. Now I'm not going to spoil it by writing a detailed 'review' of the individual skits but I have to say that the opening act did little to attract my attention. Its a good thing that I keep those purse strings tight. I'm going to sit here for my whole five bucks worth!

Granted there were some funny points in the show and one particularly funny sketch that made me giggle. However, the laughs that crept through were only because I had loosened my jaw slightly in sheer aggravation with the guy sat behind me.

Now I'm all for going to see gigs in Brunei. The Jazz pianist the other day was fabulous and I was thoroughly entertained even with the Sheraton kitchten staff happily clanging away in the background. While I was at school here I had plenty of chances to go and see plays and theatre nights which were of an exceptional standard. But the one thing that REALLY gets my nerves in a tizzy is the 5% of the audience who make that time for others just a little unbearable at times.

We all payed $5 bucks to come. Okay, maybe everyone after the 2nd row perhaps. But still, we all payed the heavily subsidised fee to come see some top-notch talent from the UK. We all know it was a comedy night. We all know that its quite alright to laugh out loud - as opposed to when you see the funnies on a plane with 200 sleeping passengers around you. Yes? But the guy behind me took every oportunity to laugh - no. HYUK (you know-goofy style) particularly loudly. So he might have been having a good time, and you can't fault someone for the way they laugh. But forced laughing? grrr. So the thoughts running through his head went like this:

I'm at a comedy night
People around me are laughing
OH wait! was that something funny on stage?
Damn I missed it.
Huh? Mary Antoinete? I know her!

(pause) HA. HA. HA. HAAA!!!
Good.

ok ok ok ... I'm being a little mean. The guy can't help it if he's slow. Why don't I go and kick a kitten now.

But the rest of the night went like this:

(pause) HA. HA. HA. HAAA!!!
Good.
(says to friend with little attempt to keep his voice down) mary antoinete.
(guy on stage calls a handbag a hamburger) OH Oh HAHAHAAHAHAHAHHAHAAHHAHAA!!!!
(says to friend again with no reduction in volume to previous line) HAMBURGER!
(friend says) wait wait I don't get it. What did he say?
(three of them say) hamburger.
by this time we've moved on to a new scene

and so on.

So it was like sitting in front of Joey from Friends meets someone slightly hard of hearing. If you can't sympathise - sit infront of oh I dunno, some topical comedy and as soon as subjects you might vaguely know about - Bush, Iraq, Prince Charleses nose, Hamburgers- come up, laugh. Real loudly. Its embarassing.

SO if you saw me at the show I was the pissed off girl gnashing her teeth sat in row 5 in front of Chuckles Mcphee here. xxw

My parents and niece looking exceptionally cute. Picture taken at Kura, The Mall. Posted by Picasa

Saturday, July 08, 2006


Rainy day from my window - Don't you just love it when it rains like this? Posted by Picasa

Friday, July 07, 2006

The bird flew where?

Saw this on Sas's blog and thought bloody hell bird flu is in Australia?

Then re-read the title. Hit head. Hard. No wonder I have to go back to school.

Anyway thought I'd give it a go as well.



create your own visited country map

Right, so now on to the white half... xxw

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Bini-bini Kebaya Kenduri

wooahhh hold up wait a minute. In case it wasn't clear - I was taking the piss. The mickey. Call it what you please but noooooohoho thank you. If you haven't noticed, I've been a little hard up on post material.

Ahem.

So as newly appointed Chairbini-bini of Bini-bini Kebaya Kenduri, I say to the masses - get off your bitching tagboards and get back to work ya lazy lumps.

Oh and this came in the mail today..



On the back it reads:

'The Director of the Architectural Association School or Architectre Brett Steele has pleaure in inviting you to a special viewing of Projects Review 05/06 on Friday 7th July 2006 from 6.30pm to 8.30om...'


Score. xxw

Meet Ethan-ol, Luke-wid, Gus and Doyle.

So last night we had dinner with one of dad's friends who welcomed us all into his home. They started talking about some energy projects in Brunei that I'm interested in although I can't seem to find anywhere online to get any info. What is it with websites (at home) not giving any information? Its all as clear as mud to me.

It has though, definately made me want to do my MA in Emergent Technologies (fingers crossed), after these next two years, then after 16 months of work, after my final final exam... then I can start thinking about that. I know it sounds crazy but I can't wait to get back to school (although technically, school never really finished for me- haha).

So, spent most of the morning looking through the AA Exhibition site today turning a darker shade of green with envy which I'm quite sure is not very good for my health so I'm taking it in small doses.

Holy Moley so many things to read and so little time. pfft. xxw

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

All you need to know is on the radio

Was in Gadong today listening to the radio running a few errands. Did the mad rush from home to Gadong to pick up something for David (or as he's convinced, the David who whopped Goliath).

Anyway, some interesting things to check out:

1. A Jungle Survival Course I'd do if I had 600 smackeroos to spare. Anyone feeling generous? Although Kyle just said that he'd rather spend 580 and get his Padi here. Quite frankly, if we didn't get to do it Koh Tao two years ago, then I don't think we'd be able to do it this time. (just fishing for the sympathy vote here)

2.Peepolykus, comedy night this weekend that I've promptly bought tickets for. It should be good and I'm looking forward to some funnies. Oh and one of the guys is the guy who did the voice of Pingu! How brilliant!

Still got loads to do today since we're out for dinner. Cheerio! xxw

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Project Wanna-be It.

In light of my Project Wanna-be It, Victoria asks me 'Do you seriously wanna be an RA girl?' and I say hell yeah. Glam parties, stuff to do, being in the know and all that. Its not what you know its who you know right?

After all, you've got to want to be in the club to be in it if you know what I mean-yes? No one is in there by force. Well, not apparently anyway.

So as I was saying, in light of Project Wanna-be It I've decided to up my game. So here are my strategies:

Do put my best foot forward
Don't do it in selipar jepun bagas muji autumn 2001
Do be the fittest chick on the block
Don't let anyone know how many hours you've been racking up at your home-made Harun's Gym
Do be a team player preferably futsal, softball and the like.
Don't be the goalie/fat unfit chick chasing the ball in your brother's old Umbros.

Okay so the last Do point is the one I'm having trouble with. After all I'm only around for about two and a half more weeks which is the same amount of time I'll take to find my old boots. I haven't played football since that nasty game with Sheffield I played with Uni back in first year. And I haven't played indoor since.. oh god knows when. So chances are that I've chucked those old things away or they've succumbed to the termite hill at the bottom of the garden. These boots certainly weren't made for walking.

Then, Victoria asks me whether I'd like to get introduced to the man in the know. Bling bling a light shines from the heavens - or in this case the kitchen light which is steadily blinking like a sign from the God of It. NAhh.. that would be too easy. Must find alternative method of penetrating the system. After all I wouldn't want to look like a desperadito. Still, the option is open as soon as I figure out how un-It-worthy I might be.

Then again, I wouldn't know what to say if I did meet the guy.

Me-Hi. Can I join?
Him- Join what?
Me- Your club.
Him- Do I know you?
Me- No, but you should. Just add this address on your links and I'm in.
(hand over fab one-off business card with blog on and quickly scuttle away back into great unwashed)

Wish me luck. xxw

Saturday, July 01, 2006

On Mrs.Egg

Before I go, I've added a link to Mrs.Egg's blog. Mrs. Egg lives in the Bijou Bungalow with AB 1 and Heruzim, loves going on holiday, has fab taste in everything and is go-for-the-jugular-honest.

Emma Good Egg

p.s when we going dancing, chick? ahahahah pun intended.

Saturday at the movies..

The weather hasn't been very forgiving lately so our BBQ bash (by that I mean a couple of wings on a grill over a pit) has been postponed. Whoever came up with the term Rain Check (Cheque?) had a nasty sense of humour.

So we decided to catch a flick at the Mall in honour of my new 'Becoming It' project. No one was around so we caught the 2 o'clock showing of Dark Night which is a series of three short horror films. I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to see when we bought the tickets but hey at least I was entertained for the two hours we were in there

So its raining outside (again!?) and I'm sat at home listening to Ben Harper again. Although seems to be pretty good rain music..

Ah well, off to do something productive now. xxw

On being It.

I'm not talking about that freaky clown from the early 90s and for goodness sake put your age away.

Brunei has no shortage on It girls. The type 'everyone' knows and talks about. Whether it be about her latest haircut and whether or not people decide it makes her look like a tigress or tomboy. The type you see on posters for adverts and you go 'hey I went to school with her' to make it sound like you were friends but really she was in a totally different league which explains why she's on that poster and you aren't. Yes we all know the type.

We all also know that if you know Rano, you're It. Whether you like it or not. Subject to public scrutiny as to whether you should or shouldn't have walked through that cafe at that time wearing that etc etc. Click the website if you don't know it already, his website it brilliant for us lot who can't bother to keep up to date otherwise.

The It Squad is a tough club to get in but if you're at the right time and the right place and know just the right people.. get in line, the rest of us are waiting too. hahaha...

Still, it sounds like fun dunnit? Secret handshake parties, football/softball matches, stuff to do in a place where it seems like nothing happens... yes?

Well folkes here it is - deep down we all quite fancy being part of the It squad. Subject to scrutiny and all that palava or not. Its just a bit cool. So if you vote for me I promise to dedicate my reign to eliviating world peace and promoting world hunger. Oh dear, did I mix that up? Good lord, its started already.