This blog is slowly becoming a photoblog oh wellllllll and I didn’t even take these photos but I’m gonna let these photos speak for themselves because there’s only so much you can talk about food.
This year, like every other year, we had a Christmas dinner at my uncle’s.
Hope everyone had a great Christmas this year!
This blog has not been updated for too long, but perhaps it’s because I’ve finally gotten a life. Quite a lot has happened to me while I was away from this blog. The main reason I couldn’t blog was because I was staying at my Si Pek’s house from Sunday to Thursday, and blogging on my phone was inconvenient.
Might I add that I’d been leading a life of hedonism while I was away. Hedonism in my contextual definition means enjoying every single thing I do without really worrying about the consequences, in case you’re worrying that I’ve started picking up drinking or smoking habits or whatnot. I’m pointing it out because somehow, I finally found the guts to step out of my typical guidelines to do things -things I normally would be horrified to do- without thinking too much of the consequences, which is something I’ve never been brave enough to do before. Again, nothing serious or life-damaging, but perhaps a little life-changing.
So here’s what you missed on Michelle’s Interesting Life:
I have been attending a lot of Christmas parties. A family dinner at Si Pek’s house on the 24th, a barbecue dinner at Caleb’s house on the 25th, another Christmas party at Si Pek’s house on the 26th, a Christmas festival at Taman Laguna Mas on the 29th and an MYF Christmas party last night, the 30th. This year’s Christmas has been great. Some ups and some downs but overall pretty satisfying.
Dad started giving me driving lessons around the neighbourhood, because he said he wanted to make sure I had “steady steering skills” before I worry about manual gears during the real exams. The first time was horrifying, and I couldn’t even exceed 10 km/h. I’d brake everytime a car or a motorbike appeared out of nowhere, so you can more or less imagine the hysterical screams and laughter I emitted while my dad got more and more frustrated. However, today’s my third time driving around the neighbourhood now and safe to say, I love driving. I know I’ll most likely change my mind in a few months’ time but right now, I love driving.
This is the first non-separated post about my braces, which hurts my OCD but there’s nothing I can do about it. I got black braces yesterday. Yes, black and nothing else. It symbolises my mourning of the start of a new school year.
And now we get to the sentimental part. The end of 2011. To be quite honest, 2011 was probably the best year I’ve ever had, and I know I say the same about every year when it’s coming to an end, but this time I really mean it. I’ve been to so many different places and obtained eye-opening experiences, made new friends with wonderful people as well as strengthened old friendships, and done things I’d never, in a million years, think of doing.
But of course, there were the horrible breakdowns, painful heartbreaks and confusing obstacles that lined the path of 2011. Those are places I don’t really want to venture into but just to make it clear that 2011 wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns and pure ecstasy.
Hence, safe to say, the best and worst moments of my life all took place this year. It has been a wonderful yet disastrous ride, but a lot of lessons have been learned. They’ve helped me grow into the person I am now. I think I can safely say that I’m better than the person I was early this year.
There’s another reason why I dread the arrival of 2012 besides the fact that this year has been infinitely good to me, and that is SPM. I don’t think it has fully registered in my brain yet that in less than a year’s time, I’m going to be sitting for what would probably be the most important examination in my life. I’m not prepared yet. I don’t think I’ll ever be. It makes me nauseous just thinking about it. So I shall not think about it. Yet. For today.
And then there’s also the teeny voice at the back of my head that spews apocalyptic theories which, sometimes, even makes me doubt myself, wondering if it’s true we’re all going to die next year. I know it’s highly unlikely, but you never know these things. Unlike SPM, there’s nothing I can do about it but being a natural worrier, I still worry about it.
All I know for sure is that next year is going to be one hell of a ride. Stopping for a breather even sounds absurd. So here’s to the last two days of freedom before the gates of school finally open to welcome all of us into her arms, despite our struggles and tantrums.
I would’ve written this at night when 2012 looms closer, but there is a countdown tonight and I don’t think I’ll be able to break away from it to write a blogpost so this is it.
See you guys next year!
PS. Unfortunately, I have not completed my YNN Camp page yet. Epic facepalm. Guess you all will have to wait until next year.
I’m sorry it took so long for this 25th of December post but things were quite busy lately.
But I can say this was probably the best Christmas I’ve ever had.
As you know, Caitlin + her family, Aunty Wendy, Uncle Richard, Uncle Victor and Ian, came all the way from Singapore to Alor Setar to visit on the 20th and stayed at my house for a week to celebrate Christmas together too.
On that day, everyone from my mother’s side of the family dropped by at my house, Uncle Soon and Aunty Ling Fong (Chieny’s parents) from KL, Uncle Hong, Ah Loon and Ah Jie from Penang, & Uncle Guan, Aunty Ai Chin and Jessie. Uncle Lim and his family, and my parents’ old friend, Chin Hin (right spelling hopefully) dropped by too.
And the highlight of that night, apart from the family get-together, was the food.
The food, dear God. I almost never talk about food but I’m pretty sure I can make an exception for this Christmas night. We’ve been anticipating Uncle Richard’s “banquet” like he did on Christmas day 3 years ago, and we weren’t disappointed one bit. Uncle Richard is half-British, half-Chinese, so naturally he has been preparing the traditional dishes for Christmas day for years now, and this time he was bringing it on for us, figuratively speaking.
There was shepherd’s pie, gammon ham, meatloaf, cauliflower with cheese, mushroom pasta, mash potato, corn soup and the big finale: turkey. I was already full when I started on appetizers, which was corn soup, but you cannot seriously resist tasting each and every dish on the table because the mere sight of it would make you drool endlessly. So I topped my plate with a little of everything, and by the time I got to gammon ham, I was already so, so stuffed. But did I stop? Well, would you stop if there was still turkey?
Of course not, that was a rhetorical question.
By the time I tasted a “little” of everything, I was so stuffed I was convinced I was going to burst. I am not exaggerating when I say I have never, ever felt so full in my entire life. So I went to the living room and socialised for a while, trying not to get my stomach feeling too explosive.
And then the last course was dessert: fruit cake truffle. I couldn’t possibly eat anymore so I refused, but Kai Li insisted that it was amazing and I had to try so I tried a mouthful from dad’s bowl and o h m y g o d it was the best thing I have ever tasted and believe me when I say I couldn’t resist a bowl of it. I thought I couldn’t take in anymore but honestly, you wouldn’t have wasted a single bite of it. You wouldn’t and couldn’t. It was simply amazing. Even the skinniest and weight-conscious people couldn’t resist. I should know.
And then we started opening Christmas presents and this is a list of what I got for Christmas 2010:
It was a fantastic Christmas and amidst the mess and busyness, it was the perfect getaway.
Now tell me your tummy didn’t just grumble.
michelle teoh 