Goodbye Mah Mah.

Rest in peace
Madam Lee Thye Weng
1914 - 2004

What did I expect? What did I seriously, seriously expect?

That they would drop everything, go out of their way, to include me?

Yea.

30+ years old and still as naive.

Cheers.

I think I'll pour myself another glass of Martini.

I don't want to be bitter. But I just can't seem to help it. Everything seems to be happening at once.

I am happy. I am smiling. I am laughing. I am making jokes. I am drinking myself silly. But it's still painful, very very painful.

Let go.

It hurts to see you suffering like that.

Let go. Just let go.

The reason I braved -30C for in Harbin, China...

View from the top.




View from the ground.

Happy 90th Birthday Mah Mah.

When are you going to wake up?

When will you open your eyes?

Waiting...

It just keeps coming and coming and coming.

It doesn't stop.

But I mustn't be stressed.

I cannot be stressed.

Must.

Learn.

To.

Control.

Stress.

Unwind.

Surf.

Be silly.

Sing at the top of my voice.

Argh.

So much work.

So many deadlines.

So many tight deadlines.

Argh.

Funny thing is, I actually don't mind it.

Well yea, I'd rather be hanging out than stuck in the office late at night...and I suppose I do complain about it once in a while...but that's it. It feels okay. There's no anger at having to give up my social life, there's no anger in having to stay late (well, okay...maybe not that much anger...)

Rather amazing.

Maybe I've just gone mad.

No gifts.

No chocolates.

No flowers.

No one to spend it with.

Maybe I'll just hug this photo all of tomorrow.



Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

您的精神年齡21歲 (my mental age)

幼稚度40％ (my level of childishness)
成熟度57％ (my level of maturity)
老化度8％ (my rate of ageing)

Are you mentally older or younger than I am?

Yes, she's alive.

Having suffered the extreme cold.

Now suffering the extreme heat.

But she's alive.

And back to face reality again.

Back to the grind.

Back to routine.

Back to earning more money for more extreme trips.

Hah.

So...

2 weeks have gone by with me MIA.

The first week...I don't really want to talk about it. I should. But I don't want to. So we'll leave it as that.

The second week...Harbin/Jilin/Changchun/Beijing. 8 days.

6 days I spent in extreme temperatures averaging -20C. The day we visited the famous Ice and Snow World was the worst. It's a wonder I still have my fingers 'cos I seriously couldn't feel them that night.

-30C.

And that's not counting the wind factor.

We braved it.

We survived.

We really should get a certificate just for that.

Hah.

All that said, I did have a good time. It was a whole lot of fun, although I'm not sure if I would want to experience such temperatures again. Looks like Finland would have to wait awhile.

By the time we got to Beijing, 6-7C was nothing. Hah. After 6 layers of clothes on the top, 3 layers of pants and two pairs of socks, I was peeling everything off in China's capital city. Pooh. What was 6-7C? Hah.

But boy, has Beijing changed lots. I was there about 7 years ago and it has definitely undergone a major makeover. Clean streets. Modern buildings. Shopping centres. Less bicycles on the road. Wow. I was impressed.

Now all they need to get rid off is that bad Chinese habit of ptooing anywhere and everywhere. Ew.

Oh, and just to emphasize how much fun we had...9 people went with 7 pieces of luggage and came back with 20 pieces. :D

And to demonstrate how cold it was...


That's not me by the way...

This is me...

When in -30C, looking pretty is the last thing on your mind...

It was extremely cold.

But I'm alive.

I know me having been MIA for so long must have caused some concern. Thanks for the love and well wishes. I really, really appreciate it. Sorry for having scared so many of you. Sorry for having so many of you worry over me. My bad. I apologise.

I'm back now.

And I know this sounds really cheesy, but I love you all! :D