new norcia

Today, we visited New Norcia; a monastic town about an hour and a bit's drive away.

It's a place of fat cats,

ancient petrol pumps,

pretty skies

and naked trees.

In one word?

Breathtaking.

I had a great time.

Hope y'all are well.

:)

chewy caramel tim tams

are the bomb.

And tonight's company.

--

Today was spent in the city, the block of the newly opened Apple store.

In what seemed to be an endless line of people all waiting for the new iPhone that was released today.

We got in the line at eight.

We got the phones at three.

Only Apple could generate this kind of hype. The line was ridiculously long. It's funny, though. The guys standing behind us in line were complaining a lot (as were we) about the ridiculousness of the wait.

Yet none of us actually were ballsy enough to give it up and get out of the line.

I overheard more than one person postponing meetings/presentations to continue standing in the line.

Yes, that was a very interesting and informative experience.

But unless someone wants to pay me for it, I'm not going to be doing that again anytime soon.

Hope you're all well.

:)

perth: day three

This is going to be another picture post because I'm watching TV and don't really have that much to talk about. :)

This is my day in pictures.

We started it off by visiting the Wildlife Park.

This kangaroo is really comfortable with in his natural habitat, eh?

bunny.

baby goats!

And then continued along the road to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory.

Where we ate as much free chocolate as we could.

That came from these MASSIVE bowls.

We also visited a winery and drank a bunch of different wines and ate yummo cheeses. :)

I'm having a good time.

Hope ya'll are well.

:)

--

Cheryl, here is your mention.

MENTION.

And here's Harold the wombat for good measure:

PERTH

HAI GUYS.

We've got a steady supply of internet now, and I've got a bunch of cool posts lined up.

Problem is, they're all still in my head. SO.

You'll have to be patient for a bit. It won't take too long, I don't think. :)

Oh.

And I had to get rid of the cbox. The spammers found me.

All comments are to be directed to the ACTUAL comment button.

(Sorry Fifa.)

HOPE YOU'RE ALL WELL.

:D

macaroons

Look like this.

Cheryl and I had a full discussion about how we imagined macaroons to look differently than they actually do. And how it ruined the romanticism a bit. So I decided to show you so no one else would have to deal with this horrible universe implosion.

--

We're leaving for Perth tomorrow morning and gonna be staying there for a week. Apparently we don't actually have a confirmed place to stay or any schedule of sorts so it's gonna be quite the adventure.

Because we don't know where we are staying, I cannot say that there will be consistent posts this upcoming week.

I hope there will be.

Because, contrary to popular belief, I find blogging very enjoyable. :)

(Yes, I did make up that popular belief. DON'T JUGDE ME.)

So yeah.

Expect sporadic posts.

That is all I really have to say about today.

Oh. And that my suitcase is muy awesome looking. :)

Goodnight.

Take good care of yourselves.

:)

interweb

Recently, my internet has not been very cooperative.

It's moody and only works when it feels like it wants to. This is irritating when I'm stuck at home, with nothing else but the computer for company.

OH WELL.

No one's died yet.

the shenanigans we get up to

We were talking about people on the internet stealing my identity because my Skype profile picture disappeared for a bit. This conversation happened just a bit after it came back. We were already in the middle of planning our sneak attack.

Husna Qureshi: they must've read this conversation and gotten scared off

Amanda Shiew: yes

Amanda Shiew: that must be it

Amanda Shiew: spy mission completion

Husna Qureshi: and succesfully

Amanda Shiew: yeah!

Husna Qureshi: pity we didnt get outta the house though

Amanda Shiew: oh well

Amanda Shiew: we're lazy people

Husna Qureshi: that we are

Amanda Shiew: it's just super fitting this is the way it happened

Husna Qureshi: that is true

Husna Qureshi: movies dont get EVERYTHING right

Husna Qureshi: real life is a lot more understated

Husna Qureshi: just like us

Amanda Shiew: that is profound

Husna Qureshi: "strokesimaginarymustache"

Husna Qureshi: INDEED

Husna Qureshi: did i just cancel out my profoundness?

Husna Qureshi: profundity?

Husna Qureshi: profuseness?

Amanda Shiew: well, you didn't

Amanda Shiew: then you did

--

Amazingness.

Hope you're all well.

:)

today i

woke up at ten to the sound of my alarm only to find a text from my dad telling me that pilates was off because mahm was sick and to get up and watch the kids.

accidentally fell asleep again.

got up and rushed everything to get downstairs asap.

was bombarded with tasks.

drank coffee.

taught a hyperactive seven year old about commas and how to use them.

cleaned up the various messes around the house.

showered.

drank more coffee.

ikuted Rach and Emi on a dress hunt.

ate a sundae.

and then drew a lot of pictures to help me tell you about my day.

the end.

--

Hope you're all well.

:)

the wall nose what you will never

Today, I was perved on in the changing room.

So I'm in there, trying clothes on like a normal person, assuming it's a NORMAL changing room. When I notice something out of the ordinary.

That's a nose.

The wall was perving on me.

Let me help those of you who are a bit challenged in the imagination department.

THASSANOSE!

Yeah.

This is how RIDICULOUS my life has become.

Hope you're all well.

:)

adventchaaaa

I went on an adventcha with my dad today.

Mahm wanted me to follow him on a work related day trip to Malacca to make sure he stayed awake the whole time.

So I did.

The ride there was uneventful.

I napped in the back of the car while my dad was talking to the professor and one of his employees. They had the job of keeping him awake.

I was prepared for the journey. I had a fully charged phone, two iPods, two books and a hoodie.

We stopped at Pantai Hospital so the professor could make his presentation.

It was cool. Everyone was totally into it. I learned a couple of new things too. Skin regeneration will always fascinate, I think.

Hah.

Once that was over, we headed over to Jonker Street to makan chicken rice balls and cendol and rambutans. (Dad totally shared the rambutans with random people because we had too many. :D) And though it was furnace hot outside and I had to run a marathon to find a bathroom near the Red Square, it was nice being back.

Home.

It was all happy, fuzzy, (kinda sweaty) feelings right up until it was time to get back in the car. Let me set the scene for you:

It's an open car park we are walking to. I am mentally prepared to sit in an air conditioned car from this point onwards. Dad unlocks the car and puts the key in the ignition. I open the door and get in the passenger seat. Dad turns the key.

The. car. does. not. start.

AHHHHHHHHHHH.

So we sweated it out in the hot Malacca sun, trying to make it work. It wasn't a battery problem. There was something wrong with the prindle.

(Prindle (PRND2L): Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive, 2nd Gear [omitted], Low)

Yeah.

Thank goodness Razali (awesome taxi man we met when we still lived in Malacca) showed up to help us out. He didn't know how to fix it either, but he was smart and figured it out. He be cool.

That took half an hour.

We sent the other two off on their way (to Johor) and made the slow drive home.

By this time, it was five thirty.

I told dad that mahm didn't want him to stop for anything, and he was all, "What about petrol?" and I was all, "Fine, you can have petrol."

So on we went, squinting at all the signs that we passed on the highway.

I thought we were done for when we missed the first petrol station. We saw the sign for it a kilometer back, but were still on the fast lane. As we passed it, dad said calmly:

"Oh, is that it?"

I took one look out the window and saw the station. I sighed.

"Yes, that's it."

Thank goodness there was another one a short bit up ahead.

And when we stopped, I bought coffee for dad and made him drink it. Which is just as well because I ended up falling asleep when we got back to KL.

I don't know how that happened.

It was a mistake.

IT WAS A MISTAKE.

And then we got home alive.

Like. Flippin'. Heroes.

--

Hope you're all well.

:)

inception

Okay, this movie is crazy good.

I watched it for the first time yesterday and again today.

If you've heard anything of the movie, you'll know that it messes with your mind a bit. The second time round, it messes with your mind MORE.

And now I am both terrified and uncontrollably excited about going to sleep.

:)

i won the cinnamon challenge

The cinnamon challenge is something you challenge your friend to not with the intention to win, but with the intention to watch them squirm in discomfort.

What you do is heap cinnamon powder on a spoon (one per player), count to three and then shove it in your mouth.

Person who can hold it the longest wins.

Alex and I have already done this. We recorded the ordeal, but it wasn't as fun because we both kept it down.

Tonight, he challenged me again.

Upon spooning the stuff into my mouth, I immediately made a face. That did NOT taste like cinnamon. Determined to win, however, I just tried to swallow it as quickly as I could.

Alex threw up in the sink.

I win.

But did have slight tummy discomfort after.

Verdict: Just don't do it.

Hope you're all well.

:)

of thieves and buttocks

Hello again.

Today was another one of those days made up of weird, unrelated things happening one after the other. And I didn't have a nap like I usually do on Sundays. So I feel like I've been awake for two days. I'm not tired. Just time unconscious.

After church this morning, I joined a couple of elc bandits. They had already had lunch and were planning to watch a movie that I have already seen but I thought I'd go see them anyway.

We ended up NOT watching a movie.

But I did arrive to meet someone new.

Jayshan stole it from the counter, Cassie stole it from Jayshan.

And although this looks like a lighthearted, playful shot, they are actually fighting over it.

Cassie won.

I got to see Shanaz! It was supposed to be a surprise but Cass accidentally blurted it out to me over the phone. Haha. Fail.

And then back home to babysit. Both parents out to dinner tonight and Gramma on her way back to uncle's house. And Alex is asleep because he is tender and needs his beauty rest. (*gag*)

So I'm up alone on the couch.

But not before witnessing Adam getting attacked by a plastic stool.

Yeah.

Goodnight.

:)

abandoned

Today, my family abandoned me to go to the mall and attend parties and watch movies.

I stayed at home and watched reruns of Bones while eating mushroom soup fresh out of the can. (Seriously, if you have to do this, I highly recommend adding bacon bits and extra hot tabasco.)

It was a productive day, though. Did you know that your capacity to sing at the top of your voice increases greatly upon an empty house? You should try it out. Kick your family out and have a whack. Great fun indeed. :)

OH.

And yesterday, my mother dragged me along to her pilates class. After getting over the grog of being awake at the unholy hour of 10:00 am (stop judging me), it was quite hilarious. During one of the exercises, Ken (the instructor) stopped midsentence to tell me to do it more gracefully.

It was like Christmas came early for my mother.

Hmph.

But yeah. Laughed a lot. Sweated more.

This morning I woke up, and I was in absolute agony.

That's the way to do it right.

Heh.

Hope you're all well.

Goodnight.

:)

tea time tempura

My Grandma is awesome and made tempura for me.

The initial plan was to make it for dinner time, but because we decided to eat dinner out of the house, she made it for tea time instead.

TEA TIME.

You may not know this about me, but no matter what kind of diet I'm on, how sick I am, or what I feel like, if my Gramma cooks something, I WILL EAT IT.

You see two plates in the picture. I ate most of what was on those plates.

Note: I took the picture halfway through my meal. There was more of it.

I plonked my behind down in front of the computer and watched cartoons and slowly ate piece after piece. It was great.

GREAT. :D

--

In other news, Shanaz posted some old pictures of the elc gang from Year Seven. Check it:

Haha.

Hope you're all well.

:)

friends in high places

If you've ever been with me in a car while driving past the security guards who watch my taman, you'll notice that I usually wave quite enthusiastically at them.

And depending on how much they are used to me, they too will wave back.

It is also important to note that guards around my area get rotated a fair bit.

And now I will proceed with my story.

Rach was around the area at lunchtime and though I had already had a fill of AMAZING BANANA LEAF RICE, I went to lunch with her.

She decided on Organic Recipe which is really nearby my house. Like, if you stand in front of my bedroom window and point straight, you will be pointing at it.

The thing about Organic Recipe is that it's located in this building (I think it's an apartment thingy) that requires to to pay RM5 upon entry. It's not the normal

'take ticket'

'pay at autopay'

'put ticket in machine upon leaving' system.

It's

'put a ridiculous amount of money into the machine'

'here's your ticket'.

The restaurant DOES cover the cost of the ticket if you eat there, though. After you eat, you show them your ticket, and they give you five bucks off the meal.

But we didn't have to do that.

As we pulled into the parking lot, the security guard came over and peered in the window and I got ridiculously excited because it was cool guard man who used to guard the second entrance to my taman. I yelled 'HAI' and waved so hard I might've dislocated my wrist.

And then the coolest. thing. happened.

He held is hand up and told Rach not to pay. He then walked over to the barrier and took a key out and opened the barrier for us. It was like nothing I have ever seen or experienced.

IT WAS AWESOME.

And after lunch, he let us out.

Proves that being friendly does have its benefits.

COOLNESS.

Hope you're all well.

:)

princess lala

This is Princess Lala, Cheryl's My Little Pony pony.

She's quite the diva.

:)

my mother loves me very much

mahm: Since you're sleeping downstairs, make sure the alarm is on.

me: Yeah. And if I forget, it's okay. I shall attack them with my amazing ability to sleep through whatever they're doing.

*beat*

mahm: *chuckle*

me: What?!

mahm: Or you can just scare them away by waking up and showing them your face.

--

Hope you're well.

:)

on whether to watch the world cup final or not

All day Sunday:

Nope. Ima stay up as usual, but then sleep when I get tired. Watching football is stupid.

10:00pm:

Alex is ordering McDs later. I'll stay up for that.

12:00am:

I am the only awake person in this house.

2:00am:

Hm. I am strangely still completely awake. I want McDs.

2.30am:

Alex just went into the den. Oh, I better go ask him if he's gonna call for food.

2:32am:

He is not going to call. Hey, look, the match is on. Maybe I'll watch five minutes.

3:00am:

Well, I'm here already. I'll watch till halftime.

3:20am:

Hey, this show that Dad switched to looks interesting.

3:40am:

Oh look, the match is back on. Agh, five minutes more. Gee, those are a lot of yellow cards.

4:15am:

I can't believe I've been here for the whole thing. WHY WON'T ANYBODY SCORE?!?! Okay, they are going to go into extra time. I have to watch. Someone is going to win and I've already started wasting my life on this game.

4:50am:

OMG, YOU GUYS. INIESTA SCORED. I DON'T BELIEVE MY BLOODSHOT EYES. HE SCOREDDDDDDD.

4:57am:

It is over.

5:00am:

bai.

--

Hope you're all well.

:)

there is a pimple that would very much like to live on my face

And I want it to go away.

It made me eat four eggs for lunch.

Because the eggs were half boiled and not fried.

If I ate anything fried, I wouldn't have a face.

Just a giant pimple head.

That is all.

Goodnight.

who can refuse a japanese buffet?

Tonight, my aunt took us all out to a Japanese buffet.

I would show you pictures. Except I didn't take any. Because I was too busy running around and stuffing my face with anything that would hold still for long enough.

I'm kidding of course.

Well, not about the 'no pictures' part.

Because I still don't have them.

--

There was this one point at dinner were I was getting back to the table with three, crispy, golden tempura prawns. As I set the plate down onto the table, my mother asked me to go get dessert for my grandma.

So obviously I set them down and went to go get the food.

I laid the waffles and ice cream down on their side of the table and happily skipped over to my side, excited about the meal waiting for me and

THE PRAWNS WERE GONE.

Because it was a BUFFET, all these servers were going around cleaning tables and what not and took my plate before I had touched anything on the plate.

I hadn't even touched it with cutlery.

hmph.

Getting more wasn't the problem.

I just felt stolen from.

Moral of the story: Never EVER leave an unfinished plate unattended at a buffet. EVER.

--

Also, take a look at my epic win at the petrol station:

Hope you're all well.

:)

vasco

is the name of the turtle Cheryl and I discovered in the car park at school.

--

I woke up this morning and went straight to brunch with my mother. Three magic words, people:

Banana. Leaf. Rice.

Gee.

Never has grains and curry served on chopped tree parts tasted so good.

And never have I bragged about breakfast so many times in a day.

I just really had a simple, pleasant day.

Plus, I got to see Ammy before she leaves tomorrow as well as John who's back for the summer. Which was a nice kind of surprise.

--

Amanda Shiew: the cangkul at the end

Amanda Shiew: i know it's a spade

Amanda Shiew: it's just funnier to call it a cangkul

Husna Qureshi: very true

Husna Qureshi: i liked the contract thing

Husna Qureshi: and yes when i saw it, the word cangkul came to my mind first

Husna Qureshi: it is funnier

Amanda Shiew: it is

Amanda Shiew: and spades are for kids at the breach

Amanda Shiew: *beach

Amanda Shiew: i said breach because you said contract

Husna Qureshi: hahaha

Husna Qureshi: i'm in your head dude

Amanda Shiew: SHHHH

Husna Qureshi: *concentratesonsendingvibes* give. sna. the. mac.

Amanda Shiew: not happening

Amanda Shiew: nice try, though

Husna Qureshi: thanks

--

In other news, my air cond is leaking.

Hope you are all well.

Goodnight. :)

bruno

Bruno is the name of the world's best behaved dog.

--

I had a good today.

Much good food and much much good company.

Life is good.

I cannot complain.

Always grateful.

:)

stewsday

Tonight, Mahm made not one, but TWO kinds of stew.

And so I asked her,

"Mahm, do you know what day it is?"

"Uh. Wednesday?"

"Nope!"

"Then?"

"It'ssss STEWSDAY."

--

Broke into the Science Museum today with Rach and Reyna.

(Okay, no we didn't. They just didn't charge us admission.)

It rained a lot too.

Good day.

Yes.

I'm hungry.

Keep well.

GOODNIGHT!

:)

an almost midnight adventure

It is ten thirty and I'm sitting with my brother in front of the television. Of course, neither of us are actually watching the television.

I was writing the shower post and Alex was playing football on his PSP.

All of a sudden, he pipes up,

"I feel like roti tisu,"

Which is where the adventure started.

We rolled dad out of bed and as we were waiting, I went through the drying laundry to find a pair of shorts to wear. Alex went through the same pile to find underwear. He didn't find any. And I ended up having to put a pair of his pants on.

Dad appeared and we were off.

Alex was asking dad whether he got cravings or not and dad got all high and mighty and said:

"Oily, sugary carbs are not advisable at night. But you're growing, so I suppose it's okay."

Alex looked at me.

"He just took all the fun out of this, huh?"

"Uh huh."

And so we spent a part of our tonight at Kayu eating those oily, sugary carbs and it was awesome.

On the way back, we even managed to have an argument about sales. Yes, SALES. We're not nerds at all.

Haha.

Hope things are still moving smoothly for you.

:)

not very clever

A bit of the backstory you need to know:

We just got a new maid and she's been doing a fantastic job cleaning the house in places that she is not instructed to clean.

--

When I was showering tonight, I was thinking:

"Huh, this is a great shower. This is awesome. Cleanliness is awesome."

But of course, with this great shower came a better surprise.

After squeezing all the water I could from my hair, I stepped out onto the bath mat to go outside to get the towel I intended to use aaaaaaand,

IT WASN'T THERE.

Of course. Why not?!

I had three towels out last night and none of them were there. I managed to find a large towel in my closet, but the surprise from being butt naked and sopping wet in the middle of a freezing room kinda took away from the awesomeness of the shower.

OH WELL.

Those towels needed a wash anyway.

Also, I should learn to check for towels before getting into the shower.

--

P.S. Alex needs to stop pretending he is a ninja. He's starting to break things.

Hope you're all well.

:)

raw chicken

Today, I was talking about how I have encountered chicken that was so raw it didn't bleed. After thinking about this for a second, you may have to facepalm for me.

I did not hear the end of it.

--

Hope you are well.

:)

today is a sick day

I woke up today feeling great.

And as the day went on, I got progressively snifflier and colder and achier and TIREDER and now I want to go to sleep.

So that is what I am going to do.

I hope you feel better.

:)

"And in this world of hate and bitterness, I take a look around me and realise that I am surrounded by beautiful people."

snake by d.h. lawrence

Because sometimes, I too question the purpose of our 'accursed human education'.

--

Many things happened today.

There was a bagel, coffee and a morning nap,

Bejeweled, some homework and a pot-o-noodles,

Doughnuts, swimming and curry chicken,

A shower, thank you, hello, goodbye.

And with this, I bid you farewell.

--

"I've never had someone this constant in my life."