Chapter : He Popped the Question

It seems that Friday was pretty much a very eventful day for me. After a busy day in the morning, and hanging out with Joey and Yuki in One Utama and then met up with Jin, Peggy and Maria later on. Well, more like they joined us later in One Utama. We ate at William’s and then I send Joey back home because she was waiting for her guy to come over to visit her later.

After when I reached home, I called Jin to pick me and Yuki from my place because Ben, Mervin and Chee Hao (I think that it’s his name) were coming from Johor to celebrate Ben’s and Jin’s birthday. We sat at McDonalds’ and were laughing and chatting with each other. Unfortunately, Ben was really sick and Mervin was just recovering from it. Mervin has changed pretty much because the last time when I met him he was so quiet but that night itself he was so noisy to the extend I actually wondered whether they were the same person.

After the little meet up, Jin sent us home. He dropped Yuki off first and then me. But we hung out for a while at my place and we sat near the pool area talking. We were just talking pretty much about everything and laughing with the jokes then we started telling each other about our exes. I was telling him about my experiences with my exes and how many I have dated and what not, and this particular part I joked-

“Well, if I have dated you, you would be my eighth if I taken in the part that I used to be coupled with a guy for mere few hours.”

“Well, would you?” he asked.

“Hmm?” I said.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” he asked.

“Is that an invitation?” I replied.

“Yeah,” he said.

“Are you serious?” I said and stared at him in disbelief.

“Yeah, I am serious,” he said.

“Err…Erm…Err….,” I stuttered.

“You don’t have to answer now, I mean take your time,” he said.

“Okay, you got me speechless here,” I said. “That was…err…unexpected.”

“Well, I wanted to pop the question for some time already but you made it easier for me when you started to joke about it,” he explained.

“Oh…” I replied and I was blushing like a beetroot. “But I am leaving to Australia, for one and a half years…”

“Well, we could just try it out. I mean I don’t mind if you find another guy there but I would feel thrashed though,” he said.

“Oh…Kay,” I replied. “But I am not a good girlfriend, I mean, err…I won’t be a good girlfriend.”

“That is for me to decide, wouldn’t it?” he said. “Are you trying to scare me off?”

“No, I mean. I’m just explaining!” I exclaimed. “I admit that I am attracted to you but I never expected this.”

“Like I have said, you don’t have to answer me now, I can wait,” he said.

“Err….” I stuttered. I was too lost for words.

We sat there for a while more before he walked me back to my house. I was still in a speechless state and I didn’t know what just happened until I lay on my bed and thinking back. To me I felt as though he was just giving me mixed signals and treating me as a friend. Then next thing I know, he just popped the question causing me to freak out and left me astounded. I mean, freaking out and being astounded in a good way. That moment when he asked me, it was so random! I could feel myself reddening from my cheeks all the way to my ears but not that it is visible due to the fact that it was pretty dark and the yellow light just made me look yellow.

But before that he did explained to me that he was attracted to me at first because the moment we met, we clicked and according to him, that felt really nice because he don’t normally clicked with people easily which I find that pretty hard to believe. But for me on the other hand, I told him that I thought that he and Maria were dating and such and he explained that he and her are nothing but really close friends and he did admit that he fell for her which I jokingly said that he now chose me as a rebound which caused him to start saying that I am not his rebound because he was already attracted to me first and what not. He did explain also that he decided to back off from Maria who has a boyfriend for five years and it felt uncomfortable for him to just continue liking her and being the main cause of the reason of the break up and he didn’t want that to happen and he finally settled with his feelings and treated her like a friend which he said that he thinks that she gotten the message.

Well, I felt that she should get the message due to the fact that whenever we meet up he would just sit next to me or would be talking to me most of the time and such. Like a mere example when he, Maria and Peggy came over my place to hang out while waiting for Ben, Mervin and Chee Hao to arrive. At first Maria was sitting in front of his car and when we were heading off to McDonalds’ that night he just asked me like this-

“You, get in front.”

“Huh? What?” I asked looking really blur.

“I mean, you sit in front,” he said.

“Err, okay?” I said and just gotten into the front seat.

Later on, during the time when he was explaining to me, he also said that after he decided to back off, the next thing he knows, Maria came confessing to him and he was saying that she should just stick to her boyfriend because he is always there for her and such and hopes that they could just maintain as friends. It was pretty matured of him to think that way on the account that I did met some people who reacted differently when they came down to this kind of situation. During his explanations, he would keep repeating that I wasn’t a rebound in hopes that I wouldn’t misunderstand him and I assured to him that I gotten the picture and asked him not to worry.

I still haven’t given him the answer and we are some how on this dating basis thing where we like each other but not yet in a relationship. Well, that is how I look things this way. I would admit that if he found another girl that he suits him better I would feel sad but I wouldn’t mind because he deserves someone better compared to me. After all, I did say that I am leaving to Australia for a year and a half. Who knows what would happen throughout the time when I am there. Right?

Chapter: A Night-Out with Jin

Jin asked me out for a drink yesterday night and he picked me up from my place since my brother that time took my car and disappeared into the moonlight with it. We headed off to TTDI Plaza which is located near the wet market. That place it pretty new because it just open and well, all I can say that it is what you call, rich man’s area. At first I thought it would a casual drink in a “mamak” stall but later on he confined with me on the way there saying that we are meeting with his mum and her friends in a pub. Well, that got me speechless.

So we met up with is mum and she brought us to this pub and we ventured inside. The place was really decent with a “new” atmosphere feeling to it. His mom introduced Jin as her son and she introduced to me as his GIRFRIEND. It really got me taken aback and I hissed to Jin, “Since when I became your girlfriend?”

He just looked at me and shrugged and both of us laughed. I was introduced to his cousin and his uncles who were there plus his mom’s friends. His mom told this German guy whose name is Eric that Jin was her son and was celebrating his birthday tomorrow. It went like this:

“Eric, my son, Jin is celebrating his birthday tomorrow. Same time with me,” she shouted due to the fact that the music was blasting.

“Okay, but why are you telling me this? I am not gay,” he joked. I think he has one too many gin and tonics if you ask me.

“If you told me that she is celebrating her birthday tomorrow or something then I would be interested,” he teased and pointed at me.

After the “adults” mingled with themselves joking and talking, I was just sitting there and was thinking that it has been a while since I ventured into a pub. It was like a small club that doesn’t have a dance floor but a disco ball, snooker table and blasting music that sounded really old school. I heard one really old school song which is titled “Mr. Bombastick.” Later on I got really cold and I told it to Jin and we headed outside for me to grab some hot air. We just sat there and talked while he smoked. I did drink some gin and tonic and I really didn’t like it because I could feel my face burning up in flames and it was really red. Well, I felt that it was red but I didn’t or should say couldn’t see it because it was really dim. We mingled around inside the pub but all in all I couldn’t really stand the cold and we ventured out again. I suggested that we should “explore” the place because it is still new and not many shops have opened there. The place looks like an airport / planetarium instead of a plaza. It has blue lights which made my ears look purple because I remember seeing myself in the mirror in the toilet and my ears were really red. I was thinking at that time, “Great, just what I need. A red face and ears and under these blue lights, I look like a purple monster.”

We later went back in and noticed that all his mom’s friends have left and only his cousin and his uncles who were entertaining some customers. He asked me to seat and then he sat next to me. He started talking to his mom and cousin and I was just sitting there quietly feeling cold in the place and the next thing I know his placed his hand on my knee. I pretended that I didn’t feel anything but all I know that I could feel my heart beating really fast against my chest. Then his hand left my knee because he wanted to drink his beer. Occasionally he would asked whether I am okay or am I still feeling cold which I replied that I am okay and STILL feeling cold. He continued on talking with his mom and cousin and I placed my hands between my knees because it was freezing up. Out of the blue, Jin placed his hand on my hands and it almost made me jump with surprise but I managed to remain my composure but I could really feel my heart beating really fast and I think it wasn’t the gin and tonic that was making my face going redder than ever.

Few hours later around 11 something pm, we decided to leave and he had to send his mother home at Segambut. Along the way, we had supper at this dim sum shop near Jalan Ipoh. We just sat there and talked and when it strikes 12am, I wished both of them happy birthday. I couldn’t really talk much that time because I was really shy with his mom around and tried to be myself but as what I was brought up to be, always be quiet and polite in the presence of an adult especially if it is someone’s parent. Well, so I think I was brought up to be that way or some matter. All in all, one thing I can say about his mom, SHE IS COOL. I did tell Jin that his mom was cool that goes drinking in a pub and all which is different from my mom who doesn’t drink but she is still cool in her own way. I mean my mom, not his.

After that we met up with Peggy, Foong and “Maria” at Banana Leaf located at Centerpoint. We just sat there talking and discussing what to do on his birthday. Peggy also told me that Ben is coming down to celebrate his birthday on Saturday together with Jin and asked me to come along which I said that it wouldn’t be a problem if she could tell me the place and time. While they talking among themselves in Chinese, I was just stoning there because I didn’t get enough sleep the previous night and was feeling the sleepiness kicking in. But out of the blue, Jin looked at Foong and said;

“Oh, she became my girlfriend since 9pm”

“Yeah, for 3 whole hours,” I said with a laugh.

Foong’s tiny eyes became big and started to stare at both of us. The next thing I know he took out his hand phone and was muttering “I so need to record this” and “shine” his phone at Jin and asked;
“Say that again,”

“I am not saying it again,” he said and ignored him.

“Jessie, why don’t you say it for me?” he asked and aiming his phone at me.

“Hmm, okay. Foong is the spawn of Satan,” I said.

“Shut up,” he replied and aimed his phone back at Jin. “Come on, say it again. Say it again.”

“Okay, Foong is the spawn of Satan,” he answered.

I laughed and Foong got quite annoyed and muttered, “You guys suck.”

“I know,” I replied.

Soon, we left the place and Jin walked me up to my house well, not literally walked me all the way to my house on the account we just took the lift to the thirteen floor and walked me to my door which he decided to stand a good 10 feet away from it because he has heard stories of my dad that is really strict and all that. I gave him a birthday hug and another hug to thank him for picking me up and entertaining me for the night. I went back home and tried to go to bed and then I received a text message from him. It went-

Hey. I forgot to tell you that I had a great time tonight. You looked really sleepy and it had probably been best if you get some sleep soon. He he. Sweet dreams!

I replied-

Me too. I did sleep for 2 hours. Hahaha, but it was fun being your girlfriend for three hours. LOL! Take care, good night and happy birthday. *hugs*

Then I sent him another text message that goes like this-

Try this,

1. Go to write messages
2. Put on dictionary
3. Cover the screen with your hand
4. Press 42779124784329
5. Gently remove your hand…

Hope it works!

Well the word comes out Happy Birthday if you are wondering and later on his message came in-

Wow! Thanks! That was really sweet of you, not being sarcastic. Heheh. And aren’t you supposed to be sleeping by now? 2 hours isn’t enough you know ;-)

I was thinking that was really sweet of him thinking about my welfare of lacking of sleep that will make me not look like a freaking zombie the next day but I replied-

Trying. I don’t sleep in an instant. It takes time for me to get to bed. Maybe the gin and tonic is keeping me awake. Wait; aren’t you supposed to be asleep too?

His reply-

Hahah. Nah, I don’t have to work tomorrow. Heheh. Still up for lunch? Or we could get a drink later in the afternoon. Gin and tonic sucks!

I totally forgotten that he asked me whether I could grab lunch with him tomorrow and I quickly replied-

You give me a buzz. Gin and tonic doesn’t go well with me. Makes me look way too red. Just to remind you that I would be picking my brother at 12ish. Okay, now me sleep. Nights!

His last reply-

Nighters! Sleep tight! I’ll see you tomorrow. :-O

I went to charge my phone then and went to sleep thinking whether I will be seeing him tomorrow, well I mean today. I would be still in bed right now if my parents didn’t come bustling in my room telling me what they wanted me to do and all that causing me to not being able to get back to sleep. I mean, haven’t they heard of POST-ITS?!!

Chapter : Interested or Not Interested, that is the question.

I think this is what I call the first time in my life that I am constantly blogging. It is because mostly it is either I forget all about it or just too lazy but it seems that these days I feel as though I really need to take account on everything and just dunk it in here.

I just came back from hanging out with Yuki, Joey, Jin and Foong. Well, at first I met up with Joey and Yuki at the Curve and they were eating steamboat. Then I sat for sometime because I was waiting for them to finish their dinner. Later on after that we just walked around and Joey was craving for doughnuts. So we headed off finding doughnuts around 9 something at night and the shops are closing and we managed to find this shop named the Big Apple and we headed there for doughnuts. Joey was choosing the doughnuts while Yuki and I lingered around looking at them.

Then this dude was asking Joey, “How many pieces?”

“Five,” she said.

“Miss, if like that, why don’t you get half a dozen?” he asked.

“Hmm, okay,” she agreed.

He grabbed a box and instead of asking her which one she wanted, he asked me who was innocently standing far away from the counter dazing off in fantasy land. I just looked at him and walked away and he continued to serve Joey then. Not too long after, I went towards her and put my hands around her shoulder and stood there while waiting for her to make her decision. Out of the sudden the people working there just suddenly looked and me and spoke this in Mandarin which I thought at first was another language like Burmese or Vietnamese or something.

“Hi, my friend wants to know you. What is your name?” he asked.

“Huh?” was all I could answer.

“Which wants of us do you like?” he continued.

“Huh??” still looking appalled by sudden interrogation.

Yuki has to practically drag me to the cashier while Joey was laughing her head off. I mean they just left Joey’s doughnuts there on top of the counter and just talked to me. Yuki just dragged me to the cashier while taking the doughnuts with her because it seems that Joey was laughing so hard that she was trying not to cough up her lungs. After Joey paid for the stuffs we ran off to Cineleisure to find a place to sit and eat them. Joey and Yuki were laughing and teasing me about the incident that taken place and it seems that it was the “hit” topic for that moment.

We cleared up the doughnuts in an instant and I have to admit that the doughnuts were tasty! We walked around some more but we can see that the mall was closing and Yuki suggested that we should hang around at Starbucks since it is still open and closes at 2am. I ordered hazelnut hot chocolate while Yuki got herself mango passion fruit drink. We sat there and Yuki wanted to smoke but I think she either lost her lighter or forgot to bring it and asked me to ask from the table next to us. I tapped the person on the shoulder and casually asked-

“Excuse me; can I borrow your lighter?”

“Err…huh? Err, okay,” he said and took his friend’s lighter and passed it to me.

“Thank you,” I said and smiled.

I passed the lighter to Yuki and she and Joey were laughing their heads off at the way on how I asked for the lighter. They told me it was as though I know the person really well and even though he was in a deep conversation with his friends, I just casually disturbed him and asked for his lighter. They were like, “She didn’t even said excuse me!” and started laughing and I did point out that I did said that but I think he didn’t hear me due to the fact that he has more important things to pay attention to a random girl asking for his lighter in a polite manner or not. We just sat there for quite sometime and we started talking about serious matters. Once in a while we joked around and teased Joey about her guy and they teased me about my guy which I really didn’t think that he was my guy.

Soon after our stay at Starbucks, we headed off to Centerpoint Mc Donald’s and we called out Jin and he called Foong. We just sat there chit chatting and laughing and joking with each other but I felt really awkward because Yuki and Joey kept teasing me with Jin because they feel that he is a winner since it seems that he is interested in me but not for my looks but for who I am itself. Whereas in my case I kept assuring them that Jin and I are just merely friends that have the same taste of humour and we get along really well. They said that I was in denial. I mean like HELLO?!! Which part of me is denying it? I mean I don’t feel anything from him and he and I just casual people talking and laughing at the same kind of jokes.

Okay, I can admit that I do feel attracted to him because he has a great sense of humour which is one of the things I want to find in a guy because I want to be always laughing with the guy that I am dating instead of stoning around or talking some really smart things. Not only that, I was attracted to his looks because he looks like this Korean artist named Kangin from the group Super Junior. Other than that, I should think there is nothing more. I still don’t see the part which they see that he is interested in me. I mean which part? Do they have a checklist with them that I could see and understand or something? He somewhat does fulfill my criteria that I want for a boyfriend. Well, my criteria for what I want in my boyfriend is

• Nice
• Loyal
• Has a great sense of humour
• Caring

He does fulfill all of that! I mean he makes me laugh most of the time to the extend that I could pee in my pants! Not that I have literally peed in my pants but that isn’t the point! He has tons of friends, or should say girlfriends that are way cooler, funnier, nicer or prettier than me. Why would he want to be dating a person who is lame, stupid, blur and lack of self actualization? I really don’t see the point there. His birthday is this Friday and he did tell me that he was free and asked me whether I was free which my best friends telling me to go out with him to celebrate and I really don’t know what am I suppose to do. I was trying to find out what he wants to do on his birthday in order to get some ideas but this is what I got:

“What do you want to do on your birthday?” I asked.

“I don’t know, I want to October fest,” he said.

“Huh? October, what?” I asked looking blur.

“There are having October fest in One Utama, I want to go. Beer at RM1,” he explained.

“Oh, okay,” I said and that it is.

I am serious. After what they told me that he is interested in me and all that, I couldn’t properly have a decent conversation with him nor be myself. I felt so weird all the time and was hoping that I could keep him talking to me in order for me to find out about him but I just don’t know how. I felt that I was trying to impersonate another person that isn’t me. Yuki and Joey are trying their best to get me together with him which I am really grateful and all that but they do have to realize that I would be flying off to Australia in February and he would be here in Malaysia and will have tons of people to be with and happy. I mean why would he CHOOSE me when there are millions of people that he could be with? Don’t they see the bigger picture?

God, I have a headache from trying to explain to them. Maybe I DO need a man in my life. That way he would just put me to bed and start watching me sleep and play with my hair or something.

Chapter : Deprived and Futhering Studies

Well, I would be flying off to Australia on the February but I still don’t know which day of the month that I would be going off. Upon telling my parents that I got accepted to the university that I have applied for and the course only takes one and a half years and well, all in all, I know that I am really helping my parents save costs.

Although I would have wanted to try out to go to the States but then again after hearing a really long lecture from my dad saying that he is going to retire soon and have another two kids to support and what not and well, it actually got me thinking that I should be the one that have to sacrifice everything in order to help my dad to save some money to support my two younger brothers. If you are looking at it this way, it is really depressing because I have to be the ONE to do the sacrificing. On the account of being the second eldest and all, at least my sister gets to go to well prestige school do to pharmacy which well if I am not mistaken one of the top schools in the Australia…well, I wouldn’t be too sure on that because I remembered reading it somewhere a long time ago.

Nevertheless, after hearing a lot of people telling me about the line of animation and also well, most of them are very experienced to be exact which actually made me settled to study in Australia regardless it wasn’t my first choice of country to go to in the first place.

THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ANIMATION

1. It is all in the work itself, not the grades or certificate.
2. Working in a production company itself actually allows you to learn more compared to studying.
3. They wouldn’t be bothered to see whether you score an awesome A in animation but seeing your demo reel whether you understand the principles of animation.

That is what I was told by my friends or I should say seniors. I took all that in account and finally made up my mind to just further my study in Australia, get my degree and then start working so my parents wouldn’t be worrying whether I am going to turn out to be a bum for life. On the other hand, whatever they said it is actually true because most of the time for us people who does art we are surveyed by our works not what paper do we hold.

All in all, I still have so many things to prepare for my trip to Australia and stuff to buy but unfortunately I don’t have the money or the time due to the fact that I am still working for my mom in her office keying in accounts, putting stamps on letters, filing documents, photostating documents or even answering the phone. Seriously, I may be bumming for a year but hell I think I might be forgetting how to even do a simple bouncing ball animation without screwing it up. Well, honestly it is my fault for not finding a job but well, I guess that I really wanted to really enjoy my life for a year instead of hovering around in a cubicle working on projects that makes things jump or run. After all, we only live life once and why can’t I enjoy it for that particular year I wonder. I guess it is because my parents feel that I am wasting their hard earning cash and decides that I should do something to fulfill my time.

THINGS TO GET / DO

1. Buy some really nice sneakers or shoes which I like and not because my dad asked me to buy due to the fact that he thinks that it is comfortable and longer lasting
2. Get some winter clothes because I know that my sister would be really upset and throwing her temper at me for using her clothes, despite the fact that her entire wardrobe is filled with so many clothes and she still has the time to tell my mom that I don’t need any. Plus, I am going to Hokkaido during December so it is a must.
3. Get new 1.0 pen
4. Get some new clothes.
5. Ditto, socks.
6. Contact lenses.
7. Get a doctor and dentist checkup
8. Research on laptop specs
9. Buy a new hard drive since the last one is being affected by virus and isn’t capable of being read in computer’s USB.
10. Buy black or olive coloured eye shadow.

Not only that my mom asked me to do a survey check on the prices of the winter clothing’s sold here so she could inform my sister whether she should get the winter clothing’s in Brisbane or back here. I would be happy to do so if only I wasn’t-

1. Have to work in her office.
2. Pick up my brothers from school since they finish around 3.45pm or 5pm and doesn’t take a school bus but live a luxury life of people ferrying them around.

I mean, if I have to go at night that means it would be in the evening but that kills most of the fun. I mean, normal teenagers or I should say young adults because I have already passed my teenagers’ years, hangs out in the afternoon. I mean, if it is in the evening, I would have exactly I should think around 4 hours spend some fun with my own friends. Unless half of the hours I spent looking for a parking spaces then it would be only 2 hours spending time with my own friends. My parents doesn’t seem to figure out how can one individual let alone a group of people hang out at one particular place doing nothing but talking and walking and not buying anything. Gee, let me see…we are only students and have learnt the art of bitching, gossiping and talking serious things to pass time. Oh, and not forgetting stoning when things gets dull. That is how things work! Don’t they see it this way? No wonder I am suffering from some mental illness because I am deprived of having fun and communicating to human beings that is around my same age.

Chapter : Trip to Singapore

Let me start off my trip to Singapore last week. I went over to Singapore for three days because there was this studio called Intense Animation Studio and was having an open day and my dad asked me to check it out which I did. Joey followed me down to Singapore too to check it out.

We set off Kuala Lumpur around 2 something in the afternoon and I think we arrived at Singapore around 8 something at night and my dad dropped off Joey at the MRT station because she is staying over at Kyoru’s place. My dad and I were staying at my aunt’s place throughout the short trip. I wasn’t used to the quiet lifestyle because well, my aunt and uncle sleep around 9 at night and I normally sleep at 4 in the morning. I slept with my aunt in her room while my dad took another room for himself and my uncle slept outside. Thankfully I brought a book to read with me if not I would probably die of boredom throughout the night. While engrossed with the book, my cousin and his wife came back from work. My cousin works in this company called MediaCorp which a TV station in Singapore which is pretty well known. His wife on the other hand is one of the producers there if I’m not mistaken.

When they saw me, I greeted them of course and I then went to disturb them in the comfort of their own room. Well, actually my cousin brother asked me to come into the room and he asked me some questions about why am I wandering around in Singapore at this time of the month, and whether I am working (obviously not, unless you taken the account working for my mother with no pay working…) and then my dad “summoned” him and he went to talk to my dad and I was sitting in the room with his wife who seem to be doing something.

Then she told me that my cousin brother just bought himself an IPhone which is one of the “in” gadgets this year and she allowed me to fiddle with it and I was so amused with the phone to the extend that I wanted one for myself. Everything was TOUCH screen. It felt so wonderful in my palms that I wanted to bring back to KL. Then I went to see his games and I saw a fair lot of old school games like Super Mario and Donkey Kong. I was so tempted to play it but I didn’t want to waste his batteries or anything, or worse, destroyed it on the spot. I do tend to have this sort of “curse” where whatever kind of electronic device comes into my hand, it would be destroyed in an instant. Then my cousin’s wife was asking me whether I have a Wii at home. One of the latest game console that everyone is after, which I replied that I don’t have it at home due to the fact that if I do have a Wii at home my two brothers would not study and hence would be the main cause of the nice little red marks in their papers.

I was wondering why she was asking me that which later on she told me that one of my cousin brother’s friend from the States gave him a Wii for his birthday. I was muttering “lucky bastard” under my breath and she said that she should have asked him to hook it up for me to play which sadly she forgot and I didn’t even get the chance to play it. Even throughout my days there, I didn’t once touch the Wii because it was packed in this suitcase with al the other game consoles that my cousin brother has such as the PSP and PS2.

It then dawned upon me that my cousin brother’s room is a friggin’ entertainment center. Soon I found out that he still has his old IPod which he doesn’t use it anymore and wanted a new one and I was begging my cousin brother to give it to me. The conversation went like this

Me: Yang, give me your IPod since you are not using it anymore.
He: Why should I?
Me: Well, you should learn to care for your little poor cousin sister who doesn’t own an

IPod and you already have the IPhone which you can listen your music.
He: *laughs* No.
Me: Why not? Seriously, I don’t have an allowance and you ought to have compassion

for your cousin sister you know. Come on, give me your IPod. I would handle it

with uttermost care.
He: Still no. I rather sell it and get money instead.

I mean he is married for almost a year and he already learnt the art of saying “No” and I am so certain that it would be a good skill to his future children. I can so imagine his kids going,

“Daddy, daddy, can I have a transformer toy?”

“No.”

“Please daddy, I will promise to do my homework a day in advance!”

(laughs) “No.”

The poor kid would be upset and the rest of his day looking as though he eaten a barrel of lemons. Well, I almost looked as though I eaten a barrel of lemons and was bought to have all my hopes of getting his IPod all crushed when he offered me his Macbook for me to go online. That made me perked up like a child given a bucketful of candies. Sadly he didn’t offer it to me to bring it home and called it mine. That would even make me even happier and I would be forever in his debt and would proclaim to the entire nation that he is my most favourite cousin brother. Thankfully my cousin brother has the sense to install Wifi in the house and I could go online wherever I liked even in the bathroom. I was thinking that I wouldn’t be able to go online throughout my stay in Singapore.

I logged on and some people who knew that I was in Singapore were pretty surprised that I could be online and I just explained to them about my cousin and his mini entertainment center and offered me to use his Macbook to go online. I was in my aunt’s room typing in pitch dark because my aunt was already asleep and have to wake up around 5am to go to church so I couldn’t on the lights and disturb her beauty sleep. Anyway, for what is worth, a Macbook isn’t computer friendly that is what I can say. It is pretty and all that but seriously the shortcut keys that you have to get use to like “Ctrl+A” is selecting all text in a normal computer but for the Mac you have to press this Apple looking icon and A which got me confused half the time.

Anyway, furthering on with the next day which my dad said that I have the entire day to myself which is the most awesome news I have ever heard in my life. Most of the time whenever we are on a trip to Singapore, my own parents wouldn’t allow me to go out alone and wander around the streets of Singapore. So I managed to make some plans to meet up with my online friends whom I have met through a game and we agreed to meet up at Orchard Road that day. My aunt offered to escort me all the way there because she was afraid that I would get lost along the MRT way and ended up somewhere at the other end of Singapore. Before my aunt and I left the house, I was preparing with make-up and all then my aunt came in the room and had a conversation with me. The conversation went like this,

“You are going out to meet your friends, right? What time would you be back?” she asked.

“I don’t know. It depends I guess because I haven’t met her before,” I replied.

“Okay, your friends are all girls, right?” she asked.

“Erm, yeah…”I replied.

“No guys?” she asked.

“Yeah, only girls,” I assured her so she wouldn’t be so worried about me getting raped and all that.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” she asked again.

“No, I don’t,” I said.

“Are you gay?” she asked.

I just stared at her for a long time and replied, “No, I am not.”

“Ah, thank god that you are gay!” she exclaimed and started smiling.

I just stared at her as though she was an alienated being that came to me for road directions! But in all confusion I asked her, “Why do you think that I am gay?”

“Oh, because most of the people who does arts are gay,” she said.

Well, that was blunt I should say. To top it all that, it was said in Mandarin. I couldn’t believe my own ears that my own aunt thought that I was gay. Well, I would have joked about it but due to my limitation in that particular language I couldn’t. I mean even if I could I couldn’t because she is a sweet 60 something year old lady and I shouldn’t give her a scare if you know what I mean. I did plan to say this if I could speak properly in Mandarin and she wasn’t really that old. The conversation would turn out like this.

“Are you gay?”

“Well, I guess so since half the time I spend mostly with girls and we always hug and say I love you to each other. Hmm, so pretty much I am gay.”

Aunt couldn’t reply due to the fact she finds out one of her nieces is gay and won’t be getting married and letting her see her grandnieces or nephews and to top it all, she wont be seeing a husband but an extra “hus-wife”. Okay, running along with the story instead of explaining the sadistic lame story of aunty thinking niece is gay and it would ruin the family tree.

My aunt and I reached at Orchard Road and I was waiting for my friend, Xian to arrive. I was grateful yet worried or should say more like embarrassed because I have to trouble my aunt to escorted me all the way here and wait for pretty much a long time for my friend to arrive before she could be freed from worrying that I would be abducted by strange people.

I have never met Xian before in my entire life but when we just met; we automatically clicked as though we haven’t seen each other for ages. We walked along Orchard Road while looking for presents to buy for another friend who is studying in UK. It was drizzling a little and it was really wet and Xian was telling me how she hates the rain while I said that I only like rain when I am at home in my own room. Neither of us had an umbrella and we walked under the rain as though we have nothing else better to do but to get ourselves soak with water. Well, technically speaking we didn’t get soaked but just slightly damped because it was only drizzling.

We walked from Orchard Road all the way to Dhoby Ghaut, I think that is how it was spelt but whenever someone says “Meet me at Dhoby Ghaut.” I would automatically think of bitter gourds instead. I wouldn’t know the reason why I do so. We stopped at the internet café which it is called PC bunk to most Singaporeans and we both sat there and played a game of Audition. Xian and I had tons of fun and were laughing our heads off creating a small racket from all the blasting music surrounding us. A group of guys crowded our place and both of us feel a bit pressured because all the eyes were on the screen watching us play.

After 2 hours in the bunk, we headed off to grab some bite at this restaurant called Billy Bombers. That restaurant has this 80’s feel and well it was decorated to look like those little coffee shops in those days. If you remember Sean Kingston’s song, “Beautiful Girl” and watched his MV where the starting there was this bunch of girls heading inside the shop which looks like the 80’s? Well, it looks like that at Billy Bombers. We sat down and were thinking what to order and took some pictures while we were at it. While waiting for food, we were talking, laughing and joking with each other and another of my friend whom I also met in a game, text messaged me saying that she is able to drop by to see me.

The food came and the portions were HUGE. Thankfully I managed to finished what I ordered but Xian couldn’t and we still were waiting for my friend, Fyora to arrive after her classes. Xian was rummaging through her bag and then she finds an UMBRELLA in her bag and she can ask me this question, “Jessie hani, why do I have an umbrella in my bag?”

“How would I know?” I said.

Then we both laughed.

“You know, we walked from all the way from Orchard Road to here in the rain only now to find out that you have an umbrella stored in your bag?” I exclaimed with a laugh.

“I don’t know Jessie. I really don’t know!” she replied laughing as well.

Then I kept on teasing her since then until Fyora’s message came in saying that she was near Tanglin and I looked at Xian and asked where is that and she just stared at me and said,

“Hmm, where is that?”

I just looked at her astounded and said, “You don’t know where Tanglin is?”

“Erm, yeah,” was her reply.

“Are you sure you are Singaporean. You know, you could be Malaysian and said that you are Singaporean as cover up,” I teased.

“Nooooooooo!!!” she said and was laughing her head off.

Later Fyora arrived and she ordered her food to eat and I told her about Xian being a fake Singaporean and not knowing about an umbrella in her bag and I continued teasing her from that time one. But for what’s worth. It was really a great time hanging out with them. We laughed and talked and walked around a mall for some time and then I had to go back because my aunt was getting really worried for me. I would have continued on longer but I think it has already reached the length of a short story novel.