Sunday, December 19, 2010

Turkey - snow and spices





Tukish pizza

13th century Sultanhani Caravanserai


Goreme Open Air Museum

comprising 29 rock cut churches


Rice pudding

Lunch in a cave



Carpet weaving showroom
Salt Lake



Guard changing ceremony @ Ataturk Museum
(Ankara)
Grand Bazaar

Silver handbags that cost 900 Lira! so pretty!
Cruising along Bosphorus

Sunset @Ortakoy

Spice Bazaar



Thursday, December 2, 2010

Thunder and lightning ...

.. And I'm in bed sick with the flu.. :(
Giddy, feverish and body aches. Yesterday was worse.
Should be getting better and to hell with negativity.

Sent from my iPhone

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Why fiction exist


 Fictions exist because of this fact. Because we have only one life, and our desires and fantasies demand a thousand lives. Because the abyss between what we are and what we would like to be has to be bridged somehow. That was why fictions were born: so that, through living this vicarious, transient, precarious, but also passionate and fascinating life that fiction transports us to, we can incorporate the impossible into the possible and our existence can be both reality and unreality, history and fable, concrete life and marvelous adventure.
-Mario Vargas Llosa, The Temptation of the Impossible

Source: Eva from A Striped Armchair

Sent from my iPhone

Cross roads

Here I am, standing at a cross road again. The year is ending and I can't help but be anxious about the next 365 days in 2011.

This has been a good year so far. Granted, work has been testing my patience and sometimes I wonder why do I bother to do the things I do. HC ever told me to take pride in the things I do and every small or mundane job can be something worthwhile if you have the heart to do so. It is with these thoughts that I held in mind when I took on this job and I appreciated it because of the flexibility and the company. Sadly, people I like have all slowly left and it is with unfamiliar faces I meet daily. All new colleagues and fellow office mates.

I think it takes too much effort to write exactly what happened. The fact is I have been replaced next year and I was told about this last Friday by my boss. It seems I was too expensive and I was advised to do something "better" with my education and caliber. Yeah.. Laugh but it was all serious-ness when she told me. It left me thinking what am I doing here working as a "maid" for these people??!? I had to go downstairs and buy them lunch on Monday because they were having training!!! Because the admin person was not around, I couldn't get anyone to deliver food to us between 12 to 2, they are ( with the exception of 1) keen on fast food and obviously since the request was made to me at 11:57am, there wasn't many choices. I could think on the positive aspect of doing them a favour but truthfully? I felt degraded and it's with as much sacarsm I could bring while taking their order. Thank goodness someone from the other team was kind to go down with me
and thank God the rain came after we came back. Otherwise I would be madder than I was then. Oh yah, obviously the rest of the team in training would like a break and go downstairs for their lunch but noooo... She would not allow and thus only allocate a short lunch.

I was really pissed. Degraded and felt like their maid.

I never thought if it much this way before... But now, the thought bugs me and I resent being manipulated again. Negative thoughts and emotions... That's what make me sick. And of course the temperamental weather..

Either she's really concern about me and my future or she's just saying to rid me.

Hurts. Because I felt disposed and because I didn't really want to believe in the meaness in her.

Sent from my iPhone

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

coffee.. caffeine..toffee nut latte and happiness

bought this coffee from Mediya during a sale. Not too bad.


Pike Place roast from Starbucks. Full bodied and great for breakfast wake me up. Not acidic, just what I like. Wishing SB would reissue it again.

My favourite time of the year - Christmas! Seeing Toffee nut latte makes me dreamy and happy and peaceful. Another fav is Dark cherry Mocha. Like it blended, perfect after work buy and carry along while window shopping drink. =)
Need to try the peppermint mocha. peppermint is not one of my favourite but I should give it a try if I can.


Hazy October



We were invaded by the haze started by our Indonesian neighbour. It was bad. 24 hrs of non stop inhalation of burnt air and smoke. Lasted for about 10 days and it finally ended after 2 days of continuous rain. The pictures above was taken on 22 and 23 Oct, somewhere around the peak of the haze. Highest PSI reading was around 106. Read somewhere that the higest PSI reading was around 170-190 in 1998(?). Gosh! can't imagine how that feels and I have no recollection of the haze then.

Makan_10: Oct and Nov


cous cous with roasted chicken from cold storage


vegetarian pasta

hamburger steak with sunny side up (purplecreme's farwell =()

Ribeye steak at Marche (Z's farewell)

+++++
there're just too many farewells... =*( .. sad.