Bits and pieces and Selamat Hari Raya ...

Hey. Heavy and pointless stuff aside, here are snatches of things going on in between my torrid and sometimes placid life:

• Haze is back, smoggier than ever. Before you complain that the whole forest burning is choking the life out of you, look down at your plate and be thankful for the kampung rice that you love so much.

• Independence Day and Raya falls on the same week, so prolonged holidays. Two weeks ago I was involved in the Kembara Merdeka Ramadhan 2011, organised by our sister department, the Information Dept Ministry. It stretched for 14 days with a convoy of 6 cars starting from Kuching and ended in Weston Tow, Sipitang. Fun, the trip was although I was in it for 5 days only, rounding up my turns from Sibu to Miri. The trip was fun, relaxing in a way, and made me realised how fortunate I am to be born and raised in Sarawak, the biggest multi-ethnic State in Malaysia. 

Vanity shot @ Daro ferry point. With my ex-boss from Info Dept.

• Double celebration means longer public holidays of course. Looking forward to clear traffics, less road bully, and more road racing! What 80kmph? We go by 120!

• Watched The Bridesmaids two nights ago. A hilarious and pathetic adventure of a 30-plus attractive lady, single, broke, jobless and who was uncannily picked to head the Bridesmaids squad -- a colourful mix of friends -- by her soon-to-wed bestfriend. I would've chucked it because it sounded kind of too familiar, but then we're not feeling sorry for ourselves, are we? All the single ladies, watch this and see if you don't laugh and cry at the same time.  Didn't know a broken tail-light can be a hard-to-ignore pickup line, hey. 

 Google Pix

• Tried my hand at Italian food, and with a smashing success I might add! Beef bacon with egg and chilli cheese pasta... Seriously fun to do, quick and not over the top. Perhaps the only thing missing is the Italian -- picturing the Godfather himself coming over for dinner. Sigh. Thank you Wilson Chin for the idea. 

 Tada! Bella italia!

• And ... Thank God for FB, now I can save my phone credit and just send the Raya greeting via walls and messages, since most everyone I know is connected one way or another. Amazing how much money and time you save. Did I miss out anyone? Sorry I'm a cheapskate, but so what. That's what technology is for right? Utilise and conquer! Good stalking tool too, that. 

So here's wishing everyone celebrating the Raya: 

SELAMAT HARI RAYA,

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

and 

SELAMAT HARI MERDEKA!

Romantic fools will go far ...

Here's another indulgence you might not understand.

So what if I'm romantic? It makes my world go round. So what if I spend my money on books with covers my dad would scowl at? Good investment, each one. Hey?

There are reasons why I read my novels. One purely being that I love the wits laced with sarcasm some might mistake them for sugar. Two being that I pick up words I don't normally see played down so brilliantly in other genres it gives me enough ideas to form my own. Three because I so adore intelligence in a woman, and a romance novel is 90% written by one and most assuredly 99% starred in one. Closely related to that, four being that men featured in them are usually ones with many contradicting features it helps to understand some of their weaknesses, to my endless advantage. And five... simply because I am an utterly hopeless romantic and forever have the need to romanticize everything, even an entry post like this, because what else can I do about it except glorify in it?

Yes you caught me at it a few times already. Did I use that clever line on you? No I came up with it on my own a few more hundred times. Improvised, you know. Plagiarism is bad business, don't copy, imitate in your own way. You will get the hang of it.

How else did you think I get so well argued with my interviewers, mostly men who liked to think they're intelligent, that I managed to change jobs from good to better a few times in my life? There. How else did you think I managed to scare men away? Not always good that, not always bad either, but humor me.

Oh you can have your stuff ... crime, thriller, horror, science, futuristic, journals, biography, autobiography, travel guide, poetry, political... I have nothing against them, in fact I do alternate on rare occasions. Except they don't stir my soul quite as well as my romance collection. I don't read them for the intimacy and birds-bees stuff, although there is that too. And I pick my authors, like you'd pick your lingerie brand. Before you smirk and dismiss me as some sex-crazed moonstruck kookie -- Dude, to each his own.

Hmm. I think I'm going to start on that book project now. *Flipped another sexy cover from the shelf. Ah.*

Source: Crisismagazine.com

Noteworthy: We the romance readers don't read dime novels for teenagers, we read the thick and complicated ones that help us learn our grammars, build our vocabs along the way, feed points into our arguments, sharpen our wits, improve our charms, and aid us in our everyday dealings with the men in our lives.