Valentine’s Day – Over-Rated?

First of all, I wanna wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day =)

Now, the big question. Is Valentine's Day really over-rated?

Well if you've got a BIG date, BIG plans for it and all those yada-yada… then, hell no!

What about those gorgeous singles out there? When you walk past display stores reminding you of this day, what actually goes round your mind? The balloon hearts, flowers, jewelleries, cards, chocolates, presents. Oh please. Not another shop telling you for the 115th time it's this thu and luring you to buy something you don't need or to get you into the mood. You'll probably agree with the title. Or not... Well you must have your reasons for not celebrating this special day today, and I respect that. ("And the crowd goes, shut up charm you're so rubbing it in!") No I'm not! ("Oh cut the oh-so-drama gurl!")

*drags lil miss chirpy out of the audience*

There. Silence now.

Yes I was saying…

Valentine's Day.

So… what are your plans for today? You know, Valentine's Day is NOT just for couples, it's really a day of celebrating this special day with people that you love. I don't know about you, but I love my family to bits. If I'm back home now, I wouldn't go out with anyone else but my family.

("That's coz you don't have anyone asking you out back home!")

Wait haven't I thrown her out of my audience? SECURITY!

Tsk Tsk. Some people. Things they'll do for attention…

As I was saying, yea I actually planned to hang out with my family, if I had went back for the CNY. My mom'll be my Valentine of honour
(like bridesmaid of honour) and my whole family'll have a ball ! Haha the restaurant will be full of couples but the Tung-sterks'll make so much noise we're so totally gonna rock the atmosphere for them LOL !

And yea besides spending this special day with your family, you could probably hang out with your mates, be it a potato-couching moment or nite out partay! But please party responsibly okiez? Don't go overboard. Don't let a good nite out end up in a drag. Yea the nagging mom side is taking over.

Well another alternative is, you could go on a date! Why haven't I thought of that earlier? Wow this is brilliant, a date! (in a sarcastic tone)

Thing is, if you wanna do something, do it to the fullest, put your best foot forward. If you wanna plan something, well, make it special. Don't just sit around procrastinating, or just waiting for IT to happen, coz, you know, FUN don't come crawling to you, you would have to make an effort.

You might say, it's a guy's job. Well, girls can plan stuff too ya know. It doesn't alwiz have to be the cliché of guys making the surprises blablabla. Wait I'm sorta being insensitive here. I don't know who does what in a same-gender relationship, but I think both sorta compromise in doing their part I guess. And I'm not being sarcastic, if that's what you're getting at.

And about V-day being over-rated, well nahh I don't think so… it sorta at least apportion a day out of 365 for people all over to show extra Lurrvee on this special day. That Extra kick for the moment, you know? Be it for your mom, dad, siblings, grandparents, kids, cousins, aunt, uncle, neighbor, colleague, boss? , sub-ordinate, teacher, guardian, FRIENDS, your beloved SPOUSE, your pet, the tree in your garden? , aiya just about anything la…

So come on, there's no excuse for not celebrating Valentine's Day! Stop being a party-pooper.. go let your hair down and show some lurrrvee baby…

Muahaha the question you're probably dying to ask is, what's charm's plan for the day…

*wink wink*

I'm just gonna spend the evening with my best friend and room-mate. Well at 1^st, Amman got us book for Gordon Ramsay's at Mayfair. I had joked about wanting GD for V-day and I didn't know he actually took the liberty of placing a booking there. It costs approx 85 pounds for a 3-course meal per person I'm not joking.

And then he pulled my leg by saying let's go to Nando's on that day. Ok I know him and I aren't a couple, but hello, Nando's? On Valentine's Day? Come on… My face was super BLACK and whoa, you wouldn't wanna mess with me at that moment. I could KILL with my stare.

I got off the tube not speaking to him and went to work. Later that nite he called to say that Gordon Ramsay's was meant to be a surprise and I felt so silly to blow my own surprise gosh how can I be so siu hei in the 1^st place.

But then my boss kept wanting me to work on Valentine's Day coz we have got bookings and will be very busy on thu. Amman too have to work from 9 to 5 so in the end GD was cancelled coz both lunch and dinner is out of the question. Even so, GD's price is whacked man, I mean I know celebrities go there, but what are the chances of me meeting James Blunt or Hugh Grant or Keira Knightley having a Valentine's dinner there?

Ok they might, so let's just pretend they wont, so I wont feel bad, ok?

After much negotiation with my boss, who's actually a very nice guy, today he said I could get off on Thu! (I got flowers and a heart-shaped box of Ferrero Roche from my boss today but due to excessiveness, I sorta gave them to my room-mate. Trust me, too much chocs give u spots! N I have no more extra vase so yea). Anyway, by then, it's too late. GD was cancelled. We got Galileo's in Piccadilly instead.

And then I thought of something. Why join the band-wagon of effect? I am the kind of person who wants things to be special. So I decided, to ditch the eating-out plans, and instead, cook for him and my room-mate, 3 of us could enjoy the nite together. Sounds like a plan? Yea it is. We're not joining zee crowd.

Nothing beats spending time with people you love. And this is my plan. What's yours?

=)

Oh-so-sudden

Life is so fragile, innit?

One moment you're here, and the next… poof… you're gone. Just like that.

You think you're so sure of something.

Perhaps your career path. Your life partner. Or even that nasi kandar you're gonna tapau after a nite out at Zouk's.

But u can never be too certain about it all.

After all, we're only human.

Incapable of changing the course of nature.

I once know of a girl named Nian Ning. From Ranger's camp… though not close, but still… I do recall fractions of memories in my fuzzy wheel of thoughts.. Tall, energetic and knows what she wants in life... She has a bubbly smile and friendly nature… During JOTA reunion, a big group of us were playing games and I happen to got hold of the card that was suppose to do some dare with a guy. Knowing that I am so shy at that time, she told me not to worry about it, swapped cards with me… and ended up doing the dare instead. We became friends since then... U might think it's just a small thing. I don't so yea...

Many years had passed, I just never thought that the next time I'm hearing from her is through forwarded mails telling she passed away in a bus crash.

I'm sure many of u had heard or read about the Slim River bus crash on 25^th January 2008, claiming the lives of 3 people – Lee Nian Ning, Mohd. Zailani & Pang Boon Eng, and injuring 24 others.

The double decker bus was heading from Penang to Kuala Lumpur. Passengers claimed that the driver was texting a lot whilst driving! He was also speeding in the pouring rain. Somehow the driver lost control of the bus, causing it to spin 3 times, slamming into a divider, and careened to the opposite highway. An oncoming Honda Odyssey MPV crashed into the back of the bus, where Nian Ning & Mohd. Zailani were sitting at the back row, claiming their lives. Pang Boon Eng was in a critical condition, he passed away in the hospital the next morning.

The bus driver escaped with a broken right leg. He had 7 summonses issued against him for speeding, 5 for illegal overtaking and 1 for not using an overhead bridge. Needless to say, this man should not even be allowed on the roads, given his numerous summon tickets.

For more information, head on to http://www.buscrashnomore.blogspot.com/

To Lee Nian Ning, Mohd. Zailani & Pang Boon Eng, may your soul rest in peace.

Petition For Safer Bus Rides

*This post is a sticky, taken from http://www.buscrashnomore.blogspot.com/

We, the concerned youths of Malaysia, express appalled anger towards the Slim River Bus Crash incident that claimed the life of Lee Nian Ning, Mohd. Zailani and Pang Boon Eng on the 25th of January 2008. This is not the first time that such an incident has occurred. Despite numerous complaints and public uproar in the past, incidents like this continue to occur. It was reported that the driver’s company had 13 summonses on that bus itself. We find it unacceptable that such a company could have operated that vehicle on the road.


What are the explanations?


Hundreds of thousands of university students just like Nian Ning and us rely on such public transport to travel back home. A human life should not be taken lightly.


How could a vehicle with 13 summonses be free on the roads and not be held by the authorities?

We, the following, hereby demand that the relevant authorities set up a committee consisting of road safety experts and representatives from relevant public bodies to conduct a thorough study to find effective solutions to ensure that mistakes like this do not occur again in the future.


We will not be quiet until we see it in the media that satisfactory measures have been taken.

To sign the petition,

please click here
and submit your FULL NAME (as in IC. Please don't use your nicknames or initials.) and e-mail. It will be considered one e-signature upon completion.

Announcements

Feeling : tired ahhh

Listening to : Radio.. Chris Brown ft T-Pain – Kiss Kiss. I think.

Charm sings : She want that lovey dovey… That kiss-kiss... In her mind she fantasize bout getting with me...

First of all, I wanna wish my friends a very HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR ~ whooopp !

I am gonna miss all those CNY partay-ing, ang pau collecting & cookies galore, that's for sure… U all have fun without me kiez… Sobz… Neways I have couple of announcements to make over here, so yea…

1. As many of u might already know, due to last minute change of plans, I am not going home for the CNY celebration. My flight was post-poned to mid April. Let me explain ya. U see, if I go back for good during CNY, I have too little time to settle my stuff here. U know, box up stuff to ship home, rental, accounts, (farewell parties?), etc etc, u get the idea… If I fly back to London after CNY and then back to Penang again in April, it's a bit costly and not practical… So… best solution is to delay the flight and so yup I'm still here in the UK.

Sorry for not being able to inform about the last min change of plans. Thank you so much for the texts to my digi num and calling up my house phone in Penang to make plans hehe… sorry ahhh I'm not back yet… and lou poh shing ying I got your msg… you're the sweetest lou poh =) sorry I cant teman u and the gang coming weekend... ahhhhh u all make me regret not being able to be there nia...

Hmm I warn all u Pg guys ahhh dun steal my lou poh, fei zi & darlings k =P

2. Great Grandma still hanging on strong and has accepted Christ. YAY !! Praise the Lord =)

3. Mom's chest pains (suspected of TB or sumtin sumtin culosis, gosh these jargons!) has subsided. So far, so good. Thank you AMOS for fetching my mom to GH and my siblings to tuition/school. Mom is still too busy with work to go seek 2^nd opinion. If I'm back home, I would have dragged her to Loh Guan Lai, Adventist or Gleneagles I don't care how much they charge as long as they heal her.

4. I am going back for good in mid April (date to be confirmed later on) for interns and job in KL. I wont mention the place from now onwards for privacy reasons. And I hope u all understand and also help in not mentioning about my whole job thingy. Thank you =)

5. Apologies for the late blog updates. And sorry to my blogger friends, namely Trish, Jess, Prem, Amit, Jono, Janice, Grace, Kuria, in fact everyone in my list. No time to visit your pages… Been kinda busy lately.. I just got back from work & showered. Gonna hit the sack soon so yea…

6. Oh right… lately… I started working in a restaurant in Clapham. Only thing I don't like is, getting home at midnite. Today there's this freaky deranged guy who kepts arguing with the driver and threatens to shoot him. Who just got off 1 stop before me. Don't worry, Amman's gonna follow me home tmr onwards. But this thing cant keep going on coz I seriously don't like troubling people and also putting their lives at stake. He'll come after work and wait till I finish church evening service, out with frens etc or send me till where the train stops. I've gotta get 'em pepper spray pronto.

7. Remember how I used to say I have a boyfriend to ward off people? It doesn't really work. So now I say I'M MARRIED. HAHAHA. I'm not joking. Like that time I got home at 3.30am after a birthday party, 2 guys in a car stopped to approach me on my way home. I GOT SO TOTALLY FREAKED OUT and walked the opposite direction towards the main road fast. They drove their car beside me and was like.. "hey lady… u seemed lonely… wanna come inside (their car) for a chat?"

I kept shaking my head and walk faster. They were kinda persistent so I juz said in a stern voice, "Look, I'm married. I have 2 kids waiting for me at home."

They were like, "alright… sorry ma'am" and drove off. Pheww I guess u wont like srewing round with someone else's mom right… coz then u know… u'll be a mother-ahem-toooot hahahahah… Ok stop it charm. This is not funny. N Thank you Lord for keeping me safe alwiz =)

8. London can be pretty scary at nite huh. No actually, anywhere in the world, it's not safe when it gets dark. ESPECIALLY after midnite. SO PLEASE BE ALERT AND CAREFUL AT ALL TIMES. PLUS TRY NOT TO GET HOME SO LATE, ok?

9. Well I guess that's all. Have a good week ahead, and if you're celebrating CNY, HAPPY NEW YEAR once again. Drive safely. U know how it's like during festive seasons.. Take care of your belongings, again BE ALERT at all times. Wear proper clothing gosh I know the girls back home are wearing skimpy-ier by the day, even primary school ones. And the boys... haiz... getting more wild and perverted. What has this world become?

Ok, ok... nagging mom is going to sleep now. Ahem. Mom with 2 kids. So yea lights out in 3…….2…....1…..