Day 366 - Hope

So 365 days have somehow whizzed by since I wrote my very first blog entry for Day 1, here we are at New Year's Eve again. What a year 2012 has been! I mean, come on, I finally achieved my lifelong dream of meeting my childhood heroes Hanson (twice, even!!) for chrissake... any year that THAT takes place is pretty hard to top!

When I was writing up my first blog post on the 1st of January, in the back of my mind I was already getting ahead of myself and was trying to imagine what this day would feel like - how it would be like to be writing my 366th post on the last day of the year. (Ok technically this is not my 366th post because as I'm typing this it's the 2nd of January 2013 and I have 83 unpublished backdated posts to complete!! But my rule is that a post will be done for every day of the year about what made me smile on that particular day, but it may not necessarily be done on the actual day itself (ha nice save Sammie).)

At that time, what this little project would look like by the end of 2012 was a massive unknown for me. Honestly, I was kinda nervous about it. I wasn't sure whether I'd have enough determination or motivation to keep writing everyday, and for all I knew then my blog could have ended up containing just 5 sad posts. Heck, I'm pretty sure Jon put money on me giving up after a month while Brett was kinder and said I'd probably sustain it for 3 months. They probably knew that I loooove proving people wrong (bless them), and knew that I would take their cynicism on as a challenge.

Day 348 - Hanson memes

Today I discovered Hanson memes. Yep, HANSON MEMES. And I pissed myself laughing for the longest time!

Day 347 - 12 things to smile about on 12/12/12

Seeing that today is 12/12/12 which is kinda special, I decided that I should do something a little different for today's post to commemorate this date. Today I'm documenting not just one thing that made me smile, but twelve!

So here we go, 12 things that made me smile on the 12th day of the 12th month in 2012:

Day 339 - Cat laser bowling

What a shame I don't have wooden floorboards to try this on Snowflake!

Day 338 - Coming home to a running cat and pretty flowers and girls

After a looooooooooooooooooooooooooong day at work, it's so nice to come home to:

1. A cat that's running towards the door to greet me, with her flabby belly swinging from side to side as she runs.


2. Pretty flowers. There's something very therapeutic about flowers, they can turn a bad day right around. The roses are starting to open up.



3. Pretty girls. These gorgeous girls came in the mail today. Yep, I got MORE girls to adorn the house! 

Day 336 - It's December!

HOLY MACARONI I can't believe it's December already?! You know how everyone says the older you get, the faster time seems to fly by? It absolutely rings true for me. As you get older, you also start noticing that everyone around you says the same thing and can spend up to hours discussing and marvelling at how fast the year has whizzed by.

Today being the 1st of December means a few things:

1. It's officially the first day summer.
2. I can play Hanson's awesome Christmas album 'Snowed In' on high rotation without judgement!!!!!! I'M LISTENING TO IT NOW AS I TYPE OMG I LOVE THIS ALBUM SO DAMN MUCH OMG
3. There's just one month left of this project to go..!! Well technically, anyway, because at this point in time as I type this there are still *gulp* 64 posts from July - November to catch up on.. gah! I will write those posts in due time (even if I don't finish doing that this year....), I promise!

I woke up this morning to these 'stars' in my room. So pretty. They get me every time. I've thought about getting rid of these curtains and installing blinds many times, but every time I see the stars shining they just take my breath away.

Then I got some fresh flowers for the week,

and took some time to smell the roses with Snowflake (fun fact of the day - those red and yellow striped roses are called abracadabra roses!).

Chrysanthemums always remind me of my home in Penang. Dad almost always buys chrysanthemums for home every week from the market. They also make me think of the chrysanthemum tea we drink at yum cha. They're such simple flowers, but each bud carries with it a lot of sweet-smelling joy and nostalgia.

I almost forgot - the 1st of December also means one more thing... CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!!

Day 335 - "Human, your death will be slow and painful" and REALLY surviving Bikram yoga

1. HAHAHA hilarious, thanks for the early morning laugh Soon Yang!



2. I can't believe I'm thinking this, although I'm probably jinxing myself for acknowledging this, but I went for my 3rd Bikram yoga class tonight and it felt.... 'easier'?!?
   
   Third time around I'm starting to embrace the heat of the room and actually find comfort in it (SHOCK HORROR), and embrace the fact that torrential rain of sweat is just constantly going to flow down my face for the next hour and a half and there's nothing I can do about it. Somewhere, somehow, amongst the intense stretching, sweating and breathing, something happened. My state of mind became clear, still and centered. I had somehow broken through the mental barrier of Bikram yoga. It was such an incredible feeling after class - it felt like I was crossing the finish line at a marathon! I felt fantastic! Light headache again afterwards (I've narrowed it down to heat exhaustion or detoxification), but no more throwing up this time. Huzzah!
   
   But now that I've said this, I'll probably struggle and pass out during my next class.... eeps. 

Day 334 - The best typo, guilty pug, light writing proposal and Snowflake's weird sleeping positions

On this hot day of 38 degrees I...

...could not stop laughing at this hilarious typo.

...found this picture of the guiltiest looking pug and wondered what it's done. That face!!

...came across this pretty nifty light writing proposal which was shot over 3 nights using long exposure, which the final image made up of approximately 800 individual 10 second exposures. I absolutely love proposals that have incorporated a lot of thought and effort as it's always amazing to see how love can motivate and inspire someone.

...watched Snowflake sleep on her back and air her belly in various weird positions (why does she always touch her paws together?! So weird...)

until she caught me staring. So I stopped for a little while, until she fell asleep again.

Day 333 - Nice guy on the tram and surviving my 2nd Bikram yoga class

1. My Dad once said to me a while ago with all the kindness in his heart, "You always seem to attract all the weirdos."


In no way am I saying he's wrong, because he's absolutely right. For some bizarre reason unknown to me, weird strangers REALLY like approaching me on the street and talking to me. I must seem like a friendly approachable weirdo?!? There have been what seems like hundreds of requests for directions, a few "What are you doing tonight? Do you want to come to this party?" types, "What is that you're holding? Do you want to get a coffee with me? Where are you going? I'm just going to follow you around ha ha just joking", and even "I think I've seen you before, where do you work? Do you have e-mail?". I've had so many encounters with random weirdos that it now seems completely normal for a stranger to speak to me.

I was at the tram stop today when a man who was carrying several bags of groceries - from what I could see it was lots of beer and some bread and fruit - asked me if I knew which way the tram was going. He then followed up with some questions around purchasing tram tickets. I asked if he had coins to purchase the ticket on the tram, he said he did, but he wasn't sure which ticket to get. I offered to help him buy his ticket for him and he flashed me a warm smile. He looked like he was in his late 30s, the bottom half of his face was covered in stubble, his light green eyes glowed and he had a slight slouch. I wondered whether he was going to drink all that beer himself.

We boarded the tram together and I bought him his ticket. I looked around and groaned - the tram was full of rowdy school kids. Then, a boy about 10 years old looked up at me and asked if I would like to take his seat. I was too stunned to respond so I just smiled back with no thanks. A young boy with manners, who would've thought! The boy then proceeded to ask the groceries-carrying man if he would like to sit! I almost passed out from shock!

I then had a chat with groceries-carrying man.. he seemed totally normal so far. He explained that he was from Sydney so he had no idea how to go about Melbourne's public transport as he usually caught taxis, and that he was in town for a conference. When the tram approached his hotel, I told him this was his stop to get off.

He thanked me profusely and said, "You are very nice. You are very, very nice", then blew me a kiss before getting off the tram...!?!?!?

I burst out laughing. As the tram moved along, I saw him crossing the street. He waved goodbye madly at me.

For the rest of the tram ride, I pondered about how social interaction, relationships and connections between people, even between two random strangers, so strongly contributed to one's happiness.


2. Dave decided to give Bikram yoga a go, so I went along for my second class. I gotta say, it was better this time around. I knew what to expect, I tied my hair differently, and I made sure I was properly hydrated. Sweated like a stressed horse from start to finish, it felt gruelling but I could see the light at the end of the hot and sweaty tunnel. 

I did develop a slight headache after class, but I didn't throw up this time!! Fist pump! Success! I survived you Bikram!

Day 332 - Finally finding Milocrorze on DVD

Almost exactly a year ago during the 2011 Japanese Film Festival, I had the pleasure of watching what I believe is quite possibly the most insane, mind-boggling and ridiculously hilarious Japanese movie EVER (and we all know how insane, mind-boggling and ridiculously hilarious the Japanese can be). It was a movie called Milocrorze: A Love Story.

I mean, how could I not see it after reading this in the brochure?:
The sell-out opener to the New York Asian Film Festival this year, Milocrorze is pure spectacle - a sexy, genre-defying romp through the psychological landscape of three misfit male subjects in dogged pursuit of love. Unequivocably one of a kind, Milocrorze has left viewers over the world agog – as evidenced by some of the reviews out there (google it!). Don’t expect soggy vanilla romance with this one: Milocrorze has mojo by the bucketload. Bring it on.

And after reading the movie's synopsis (via Twitchfilm)?!:

When platinum redhead Ovreneli Vreneligare was just a little boy, he fell in love in the park. Sharing a juice box with the stunningly gorgeous Milocrorze, he took her home to his cat, Verandola Gorgonzola, and made her his girlfriend, until fickle beauty abandoned him, and he covered the hole in his heart with a pot lid he found lying on the ground. This is only the beginning of his story but it's not the end of his heartbreak. MILOCRORZE: A LOVE STORY is a candy-flavored anthology of hopeless l'amour, and it has many victims.

Cut to: Besson Kumagai, the worst and most famous youth counselor in the world, with a ridiculous moptop 'do and a propensity towards doing the "Thriller" dance. His pro-tips include tweaking a lady's nipples on the first date. "I give great advice to wimpy assholes," he snarls, spitting out chauvinistic tirades about "the enemy" (read: women) and filtering all potential interaction through a paranoid male gaze as he and his girltoys prance through vivid macho fantasies. Then it's on to lovelorn swordsman Tamon, trapped in a dystopic samurai hellscape, searching for his lost soulmate in a futuristic geisha house. Milocrorze herself is in neither of these stories, yet she is in all of them. She is the joke, she is the loss, she is the sadness and anger at the heart of the world.

And, especially, after watching this trailer?!?!:

I would have been a fool not to! Needless to say, I loved it. Absolutely LOVED IT. I raved about the movie (as well as the melodramatic but enchanting epic samurai swordfight in slow motion) to anyone who would listen, but Milocrorze turned out to be one of those movies that was ridiculously hard to explain... my friends either thought I was high, or looked at me in disbelief then asked if I had it on DVD. And that was that too - I really wanted to rewatch it, yet I simply could not find it anywhere. I searched high and low (on Google) for it but was always faced with disappointment.

Until now.

It's taken a year, but I've finally found it. Samuraidvd.com, you with your samurai DVDs and free shipping and crazy quick shipment have made me a happy girl!

Day 331 - Old photos

HAHAHAHA oh my gosh there's nothing quite like laughing over old photos!

2002 was when I had my first webcam... and wow did I go overboard with camwhoring then. It was also when I went through my coloured hair phase!


(Looking back now, whoaaaa the place was messy.. look at the amount of crap in the living room behind me)

These ones here were taken with Wei Wei during her very first visit to Melbourne in August 2003! Her first visit!

(2003 was also a time before I discovered concealer and deemed myself too cool to need makeup.. eeps pimples)

In 2003 I also had my first paintball experience.

10 Things I Hate About You screwed up my perception of paintball. I was totally expecting it to be like this awesome scene (with Semisonic playing in the background too) and was soooo shattered when we were given camouflage coveralls and guns with puny bullets that hurt like a mother when you got hit by one. I didn't want guns, I just wanted to throw big balls of paint at people:
Hahaha and there's this photo of me with Socks, who's looking like the happiest cat in the world!

And Socks' mom, Fissi. Aww who's a cute kitty.

Ha I remember this.. that frozen strawberry yoghurt slice was one of the first desserts I've ever made. I think the recipe only had 3 steps - 1. Mix yoghurt, strawberries and honey together, 2. Pour into a container and freeze for a few hours, 3. Cut into slices and serve with mint as garnish. Yeah I made sure I picked a hard dessert as my first one.

Look I'm cooking bacon!! This was probably one of my first attempts at 'real' cooking...... that look on my face is a combination of pride and being petrified that I would either burn the house down or give everyone food poisoning. Or it could've just been my typical "I don't know what the hell I'm doing, I'm just pushing some meat around with this thing" cooking face. But if I really think about it, it's probably my "ALL THIS BACON IS MINE" face.

Ahh good old photos, they're always there when you feel like laughing at yourself!

Day 330 - No face painting and stuff at the French Festival, food marvels and Snowflake's weird sleeping position

Today I...

...overheard a mother saying to her crying daughter outside the Paris to Provence French Festival, "I'm sorry there's no face painting and stuff like that, but this is a French festival. There's only cheese here."

...had a moment while wandering around in Thomas Dux, and started marvelling at how far we, as human beings, have come, because I was staring at products such as truffled salami,

and crab stock made from sustainable Australian blue swimmer crabs. Think about that for a minute - you can buy sustainable crab stock because someone decided to make it and package it and sell it, and you can buy truffled salami that's made in Australia because someone thought it would be a good idea to add bits of truffle to salami... ISN'T THAT INCREDIBLE?!


...wanted to scream WHAT ARE YOU DOING SNOWFLAKE???? to Snowflake as I watched her get into a strange position in the corner of the sofa. She really is a strange cat!

Day 329 - Dumb Ways to Die

This is THE CUTEST video I have seen in a long time! I love how they've managed to make a morbid subject so damn cute!

Props for this awesome safety video, Metro.

Day 328 - Surviving my 1st bikram yoga class (kinda)

Rob and Peter somehow managed to convince me to join them for a bikram yoga class after work. Bikram yoga has always been categorised under 'what the?', 'are you crazy?', and 'out of the question, I'll pass out and die' in my head, but I had always been curious to find out how the classes were actually like, and reading testimonies of "First you feel like you're dying, then after the class you feel reborn" helped push me into today's 6pm class.

And can I just say - yes, the room is fucking hot and humid. It's a fucking 40°C sauna. There is no joke about it, IT IS FREAKIN HOT.

After a few minutes in the room, I thought to myself, ok this isn't too bad I can handle this, it feels like I'm back in Malaysia and I'm walking under the hot sun. The instructor comes in and starts barking orders, military drill style. I looked around in confusion - everyone seemed to know what to do - so I just followed one of the other girls. 10 minutes on, I can feel beads of sweat sliding off my body. You're doing ok, I told myself. About another 10 minutes later, I start seeing white spots before my eyes and I'm feeling light headed. Uh oh.

So I kneeled down on my mat and sat out a few poses. When I looked up, everyone around me was contorted into human pretzels with their knees and arms wrapped together like rope. I'm thinking WHAT THE. Meanwhile the instructor keeps barking instructions. "Kick higher! Kick higher! Higher! Higher! Higher! Now hold! Hold it there! Hold! Absolutely hold! Now relax!"

The next hour and 10 minutes was brutal and challenging, both mentally and physically. I was conscious of the heat, my body felt like it was burning, and I was sweating bucketloads from every inch of my skin. I didn't know my eyelids could sweat!

Via: The Iron You: The Awesomeness of Bikram Yoga

The end of the class finally came. Ah savasana (corpse pose), my all time favourite pose. As I relaxed on the floor amongst a sea of sweaty bods, I ran through the session in my head - I had managed to stay in the room the whole time and was able to do a large majority of the 26 poses. I was elated - it was Bikram 0 Sammie 1, I had survived!

So did I feel born again after the class?

Sadly, no. I felt like I had just run a marathon in 40 degrees heat in Vietnam. It felt like the biggest workout, I looked like I had gone swimming in my workout gear. Even after a shower I was still sweating.

I also had a massive headache. I knew I had tied my hair up too tightly (which always gives me a headache), I was probably dehydrated, and my body just doesn't handle heat very well. The headache soon escalated into a migraine. I couldn't even stomach dinner - when Sammie doesn't want to eat, something is very very wrong - and on the way home I threw up.

Bikram 1 Sammie 0. Bikram, you win big time. But at least I've now had a taste of Bikram yoga, and it tastes like sweat, Gatorade and water.

Day 327 - The US Troops vs Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders do Call Me Maybe

Bec sent me this link to a hilarious video she described as "something for all". Muscles! Boobs! Abs! More boobs! More six packs! Hair flinging! I don't know where to look!
The US Troops seem to really love parody videos don't they?!

Day 326 - Cookie face, even more ice cream, I passed!

1. Sir there's a face in my cookie?


2. Had 3 more ice creams today like a real Asian.


3. 38/40, 95%.. I passed!!

Day 325 - Snowflake stretching on me, more ice cream and a face

1. I was woken up by this at 7am. What the heck Snowflake!?

Bit hard to see from this dark photo, but I think she was walking over me to get to the other side of the bed when she got lazy/tired and decided to lie down for a rest and a stretch!


2. Ice cream #1.



3. Ice cream #2.



4. Aaaaaand ice cream #3! Loving it!!!



5. I wouldn't be very happy if I had moistened tissues coming out of my mouth all the time either.

Day 324 - Unlimited ice cream

Today's the first day of my 3 day training course. Not only does the training centre provide free coffee, tea, juice, soft drinks, biscuits and lunch every day, there's also free ice cream that you can help yourself to.

FREE ICE CREAM THAT YOU CAN HELP YOURSELF TO AND HAVE AS MUCH AS YOU WANT OMG. My head almost exploded!

Our trainer said the current record for most ice creams consumed over a 3 day course is 27. 27!! 27 ice creams in 3 days!!!! That's 9 a day!!!

I was conservative and had 3 today.

Day 322 - Waking up to Snowflake, cauliflower trees and Middle Fish

Here are a few things that made me smile today:

1. Waking up to this.
   
   I want to document and record this so that I can remember in the future when I look back and reread this post. This is the sight I've been waking up to most mornings - Snowflake's eyes half open half shut, her oversized flabby belly flopped either alongside me or on my face or right next to my face. I'd open my eyes and see her lying facing me like in the photo above, her eyes fluttering as she drifted in and out of sleep. And she'd be purring loudly like a machine. It makes me smile something big every time.
   
   But it also makes me worry.
   
   You see, Snowflake has never been an affectionate cat until recent years. She was the most ferocious and feisty cat that wanted to eat my hands for dinner up until about 2 or 3 years ago when her age seemed to suddenly kick in and she practically mellowed overnight. I've always thought oh yay she's finally mellowing, she's finally being a nice cat. But over the last few months she's been RIDICULOUSLY nice and overly affectionate, always wanting to crawl onto my lap, sleep on my chest, sleep on my neck, and then even on my face. 

Her (positive) personality change got me thinking... is she dying..?? She's 9 year old but has never gotten sick. Does she realise she's dying so she's being super nice to me?! I've even started wondering about what I had to do if she died.. who would I call? Who would take her away? Do I bury her? Where do I bury her? Who do you call for these things?!

I know this all sounds a bit morbid, but I want to remember this. I want to remember waking up next to her almost every morning; I want to remember seeing her sitting by the door waiting for me as I walk through the door in the evening; I want to remember her purring in my arms as I hit the snooze button and give her a good morning hug; I want to remember her always insisting on sitting on my lap while I get ready for work, but is so smart that she gets off my lap immediately when I do a special signal; I want to remember her always being there for me.


2. Marvelling at trees that look like giant cauliflowers with Dad.



3. Middle Fish's Thai milk tea comes in this cute aluminium bowl, and they do really delicious curries.

Day 321 - Bubbles at work

We had some bubbles at work for Michelle who was going up for a prestigious service recognition award tonight.

I could get used to this...

Day 318 - Keep calm and look at Hanson crotches

Stumbled upon this really random photo on one of my favourite Hanson tumblr sites, Our Side of Paradise. The comment had me laughing so hard that I fell off my chair and rolled on the floor, holding my sides! Hanson fans are a hilarious bunch.



Source: Our Side of Paradise

Day 312 - Photos from Melbourne Cup Day, 28 Things That Are Worse Than Talking About Politics on Facebook, Obama wins and cat yodelling

It's a funny photo kind of day:

1. These photos from yesterday's Melbourne Cup Day had me smiling. God we're a classy bunch aren't we? No judgement here - but I always find most candid photos of drunk people having fun to be so joyful, because what you usually see is raw and stripped down joy. That is, until you see photos of them throwing up.



Source: Daily Mail


2. 28 Things That Are Worse Than Talking About Politics On Facebook. Freakin' HILARIOUS. I laughed so hard that my lungs hurt! 

My favourites are:








Source: Buzzfeed


3. And speaking of politics... memes such as this one scattered through The Age's live update of the US Election had me in fits of laughter. I think today's just one of those days that I'm even more easily amused than usual (if that's even possible)?! 

Source: The Age


4. And Obama's speech. What a brilliant speech he delivered. How can you not vote for a man who says, "I wouldn't be the man today without the woman who agreed to marry me 20 years ago. Let me say this publicly - Michelle, I have never loved you more. I have never been prouder to watch the rest of America fall in love with you too as our nation's first lady."

Well done, Americans.


5. Last but not least, an instructional video on cat yodeling shared by Soon Yang. I love the WTFISHAPPENING expression on the cat's face at 0:38 haha!