Happy 28th Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary Momee and Papee!

Well, it was actually yesterday - May 30, 2009 - but today was the day we as a whole family celebrated it. (Haha yes, my parents had their 'own celebration' by staying at a really awesome resort...) (;

But today we celebrated their 28 years of marriage - and i'm so ridiculously happy for them.
I mean, TWENTY EIGHT YEARS. THAT'S A LONG TIME!

Their love is truly inspiring. I mean, they say that after that initial high of being overwhelmingly, ecstatically in love, that sort of 'euphoria' that comes with a new love, they say that it goes away after, perhaps two years? And so, according to Captain Corelli's Mandolin, (as well as probably millions of other people) love is really not just that initial euphoria, but the way you feel after that high and obsession has gone.
In other words, the reason that you remain together for so long is because of real, true, and undying love.

And with the case of my parents, that's exactly right.

But what's amazing is that they seem to still be in that euphoria and 'high-on-love' sort of stage. Their hands still find each other and hold on, they still look into each others eyes and smile, my mom will still cuddle up to my dad on the sofa...
Even after 28 years of marriage, and several more from dating.
I guess what I wanted to say was that you're both truly inspiring. And I couldn't have asked for better role models to show me what true love really is. You've both been through so much together, and I just know that both of you were truly meant to be together. (Otherwise, my siblings and I wouldn't have been born!) But not just that though. We really can see that love is present and real, and that it can last between two people.
No matter what, Mama and Papa, you're the hope and guiding star, enabling me to always believe that real love exists.

Thank you for that.

I love you both so much.

________________________________________

But, just how did we celebrate today?

By eating JAPANESE BUFFET!

Finally, I get to start an eating section in my 'Eat, Pray, Love' categories. (:

But yes that's right! My family and I, we're major japanese-food fanatics. Every weekend we'll eat either japanese or chinese cuisine per se, but it doesn't mean we don't have variety! We'll eat other cuisines like italian, vietnamese, korean, filipino (obviously) and just many others. You'll see.

But moving on - we ate at TENJI Japanese Buffet - a restaurant in Solaris, Mont'Kiara.

And it was soooo good - I'm pregnant with a food baby.

Here are some photos:

The sign outside the entrance. I love how they added, 'gourmet sensation'.

Pictures of the interior.

Quite nice actually - Tenji is known to have great ambiance.

My parents with my brother.

A close-up of their card.

An after-meal-shot. We're all full and satisfied. (:

Some pictures of the food.

I didn't take that many - sorry. I'll be taking plenty more when I put up more posts about other restaurants/gastronomical adventures.

Haagen Dazs' Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream is so delicious.

My brother and I took just one bite and immediately said, 'Oh. My. Gawd.'

Just a little bit of the sashimi + sushi they had to offer.

Coconut drinks (:

They had these really adorable ice-blended lemon juices/dragonfruit juices.

It was fun to take pictures of them...

So that ends the first of many more celebrations on my blog, as well as the first of many food-adoration posts.

It really was quite a good day!

It ALMOST made me forget about the terror that keeps looming over my head...

Exams.

Soul-Soothing Music

Just listening to a little Maroon 5 for some soul soothing! (:
Thought I'd share the lyrics...
I'll be putting up some happier posts soon. I promise.

Nothing Lasts Forever

"It is so easy to see
Dysfunction between you and me
We must free up these tired souls
Before the sadness kills us both

I tried and tried to let you know
I love you but I'm letting go
It may not last but I don't know
Just don't know

If you don't know
Then you can't care
And you show up
But you're not there
But I'm waiting
And you want to
Still afraid that I will desert you

Everyday
With every worthless word we get more far away
The distance between us makes it so hard to stay
But nothing lasts forever, but be honest babe
It hurts but it may be the only way

A bed that's warm with memories
Can heal us temporarily
The misbehaving only makes
The ditch between us so damn deep

Built a wall around my heart
I’ll never let it fall apart
But strangely I wish secretly
It would fall down while I'm asleep

If you don't know
Then you can't care
And you show up
But you're not there
But I'm waiting
And you want to
Still afraid that I will desert you, babe

Tough we have not hit the ground
It doesn't mean we're not still falling,
Oh I want so bad to pick you up
But you're still too reluctant to accept my help
What a shame, I hope you find somewhere to place the blame
But until then the fact remains

Everyday
With every worthless word we get more far away
The distance between us makes you so hard to stay
Nothing lasts forever, but be honest babe
It hurts but it may be the only way."

Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Taken from Wikipedia: (ahh, good ol' wikipedia)

'Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a 1993 novel written by Louis de Bernieres, which takes place on the island of Kefalonia during the Italian and German occupation of World War II. The main characters are Antonio Corelli, an Italian captain, and Pelagia, the daughter of the local physician, Dr. Iannis.

"Captain Corelli's Mandolin" explores many varieties of love. We see the initial lust-based love betwen Pelagia and Mandras, which burns out as a result of the war, and the change it prompts in both of them. Corelli and Pelagia's slow-developing love is the central focus on the novel. Love is described by Dr. Iannis as 'What is left when the passion has gone', and it certainly appears that this criterion is fulfilled by the love of Corelli and Pelagia. The paternal love of Iannis for Pelagia is also strong and is heavily compared and contrasted to that of Corelli. '

I came upon this quote a few days ago, and was just absolutely stricken with it. The way Bernieres described love was in not only a simple and easy-to-relate-to manner, but also in a language that was both lyrical and beautiful.
This is definitely one of my favourite definitions of love.

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being 'in love' which any of us can convince ourselves we are.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."

Crave - The Play: A's Monologue.

It all started when I was suggested to watch a youtube video, Reflections of a Skyline. Upon loading the video, I wasn't sure what to expect; an educational video on weather? Pictures from a landscape artist, perhaps?

Little did I know that this video would change my take on love forever.
I found it to be so honest, so captivating, so real...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V08Mt35MSis

It was, in fact, a video of these two actors performing a monologue from a play called Crave, written by Sarah Kane. I'll definitely be looking at some of her other plays!

Taken from the blog 'Left, Right and 'Centre', I found much better descriptions.
"Crave, the play by Sarah Kane, by Theatre Nisha, presents four characters, or perhaps four aspects of human nature all of which are singly, overwhelmingly traumatized by life. It reveals a litany of rape, infidelity, loneliness, familial rejection and childlessness. The characters are embittered and dismayed by an existence over which they have no control."

""Crave charts the disintegration of a human mind under the pressures of love, loss and desire." Sarah Kane on most occassions focused on plays that brought out human emotions when dealing with child abuse, rape, eating disorder and sexual identity."

Pretty deep stuff.

Alright, so I haven't seen the play in person myself - but I have seen a version of A's monologue (the characters in the play don't have names; simply A, B, C, and M) on the video Reflections of a Skyline on youtube. And yes, maybe in the actual play it's not supposed to come across as all lovey-dovey as it did in the video. But it really did change my take on love. Strangely, this unexpected little event in my life, changed the way I felt about being honest with feelings and expressions. It's like what's being said in the monologue is exactly what you want to tell someone you romantically care for when you're angry or so annoyingly in love with them.
It made me laugh, cry, feel horrible and yet strangely happy about my relationship; I wanted to shout at someone, yet hold them at the same time. I wanted to tell him about all his faults and how bad it hurt me, but at the same time pour my heart out in a brutally honest manner.
Like Meursault from 'The Outsider', written by Albert Camus expressed, ''I was pouring everything out at him from the bottom of my heart in a paroxysm of joy and anger.''

It didn't take me long to feverishly search up the script and learn about the play.

But finally, here's the monologue:

And I want to play hide-and-seek and give you my clothes and tell you I like your shoes and sit on the steps while you take a bath and massage your neck and kiss your feet and hold your hand and go for a meal and not mind when you eat my food and meet you at Rudy's and talk about the day and type your letters and carry your boxes and laugh at your paranoia and give you tapes you don't listen to and watch great films and watch terrible films and complain about the radio and take pictures of you when you're sleeping and get up to fetch you coffee and bagels and Danish and go to Florent and drink coffee at midnight and have you steal my cigarettes and never be able to find a match and tell you about the the programme I saw the night before and take you to the eye hospital and not laugh at your jokes and want you in the morning but let you sleep for a while and kiss your back and stroke your skin and tell you how much I love your hair your eyes your lips your neck your breasts your arse your... and sit on the steps smoking till your neighbour comes home and sit on the steps smoking till you come home and worry when you're late and be amazed when you're early and give you sunflowers and go to your party and dance till I'm black and be sorry when I'm wrong and happy when you forgive me and look at your photos and wish I'd known you forever and hear your voice in my ear and feel your skin on my skin and get scared when you're angry and your eye has gone red and the other eye blue and your hair to the left and your face oriental and tell you you're gorgeous and hug you when you're anxious and hold you when you hurt and want you when I smell you and offend you when I touch you and whimper when I'm next to you and whimper when I'm not and dribble on your breast and smother you in the night and get cold when you take the blanket and hot when you don't and melt when you smile and dissolve when you laugh and not understand why you think I'm rejecting you when I'm not rejecting you and wonder how you could think I'd ever reject you and wonder who you are but accept you anyway and tell you about the tree angel enchanted forest boy who flew across the ocean because he loved you and write poems for you and wonder why you don't believe me and have a feeling so deep I can't find words for it and want to buy you a kitten I'd get jealous of because it would get more attention than me and keep you in bed when you have to go and cry like a baby when you finally do and get rid of the roaches and buy you presents you don't want and take them away again and ask you to marry me and you say no again but keep on asking because though you think I don't mean it I do always have from the first time I asked you and wander the city thinking it's empty without you and want what you want and think I'm losing myself but know I'm safe with you and tell you the worst of me and try to give you the best of me because you don't deserve any less and answer your questions when I'd rather not and tell you the truth when I really dont' want to and try to be honest because I know you prefer it and think it's all over but hang on in for just ten more minutes before you throw me out of your life and forget who I am and try to get closer to you because it's a beautiful learning to know you and well worth the effort and speak German to you badly and Hebrew to you worse and make love with you at three in the morning and somehow somehow somehow communicate some of the overwhelming undying overpowering unconditional all-encompassing heart-enriching mind-expanding on-going never-ending love I have for you.

The First Post

I suppose i'll just get right to the point.
What's the purpose of this blog? I'm just one of billions of people crowding the world...

It's not that i'm trying to be famous, popular, or the show-offy kind. And it's not as if I have impressive writing skills or an amazing life with numerous stories to tell. I simply have an honest voice and a knack for sharing some personal discoveries i've found.

I started this blog for several reasons:
1. To share my findings, experiences, or just some pretty great stuff with the world. <3
2. To write anonymous letters to my best friends, parents, boyfriend, not-so-close friends, loved ones, random strangers...

3. For finding out why blogging [and talking about yourself] is so addicting. No honestly, why are humans so egoistic sometimes?
4. To improve my writing skills? To find meaning embedded within me? Hahaha! Maybe, sure. I can try, right?
5. To be proud of something that's my own on the world wide web. Just a Facebook profile no more!
6. And why not - for entertainment purposes too. (:

Either way, I hope this is the beginning of something great.

“Live this day as if it will be your last. Remember that you will only find 'tomorrow' on the calendars of fools. Forget yesterday's defeats and ignore the problems of tomorrow. This is it. Doomsday. All you have. Make it the best day of your year. The saddest words you can ever utter are, 'If I had my life to live over again...' Take the baton, now. Run with it! This is your day! Beginning today, treat everyone you meet, friend or foe, loved one or stranger, as if they were going to be dead at midnight. Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.” - Og Mandino.