Traditional remedies

I had that really terrible feeling in my chest yesterday when you have trapped air but cannot burp. I felt very nauseous and dizzy, and all I wanted to do was lie down. I was at work too, and it was right after lunch. I had all these things to do, that I just couldn't go off sick. I even went to the surau and tried to lie down a bit, but that didn't work either, because the room we use for our surau was quite small, and when it's filled up with all these ladies, I started to feel really claustrophobic.

I rarely use minyak cap kapak because the smell of it is too strong, but my colleague offerred me her small bottle so I rubbed some on my chest and on my tummy. After several applications, I was able to burp and did feel a lot better. Then I found that as the minyak started to wear off, I would reapply, and I thought, "hey this stuff is really addictive." Now I want to get a bottle of my own. I had a really good friend who was addicted to minyak cap kapak and he would rub some on his temples all the time. There's something about how it smells. It is after all an essential oil. Just like the aromatherapy oils you can get from those Body Shop type places. Those Crabtree & Evelyn type shops.

I prefer to use balms myself. I can't stand Tiger Balm though. But I like this balm, my friend uses it, Bam Cap Kaki Tiga (Three Legs Brand Balm). I tried looking for it in the shop, but couldn't find it. I have a balm I always carry around called Bam Kita (Our Balm). I think it's made it in a mosque. I don't know why I just didn't use my balm yesterday. I think because I was too nauseous and subconsciously I knew that certain smells would make me feel worse.

Nice things

The thing I like about making spontaneous purchases is that I end up liking the items bought more than the other things that I own. It's always like that. Usually I don't spend unnecessarily, but last week I saw these two bracelets, and bought them without really much thought. And I wear them everyday now. (This comes from a person who rarely wears jewelry). And then just the other day I strolled into this store and bought a nice skirt, which I am wearing now.

I'm wearing it today because I want to look nice for my sayang. It's nice to dress up for the ones you love. But I'm a little worried because I look quite chubby in it. But who cares. As long as I like my outfit, that's all that counts.

You know, even that little girl at the end of J.Lo's song "Get Right" can sing better than J.Lo. But now that she's married to a guy that can really sing, hopefully he'll give her some pointers. He seemed very encouraging at the Grammys, when they were doing that duet. He kept giving her that look of encouragement when she sang her part, the same look I used to give to my classmates when they were making presentations. And then when she tried to stretch a note, her voice cracked a little. I'm surprised nobody spoke about it.

I'm not a singer, so I don't sing. Not even at home. hehe

Everyday for one week

Whew! It's been awhile eh? I've been pretty busy lately. And I just had my first encounter with the internal auditors. Thank God I'm very careful with my work, and thank God I've cleared all my outstandings so my work looks polished. I can safely say that the auditors were very impressed. My MD asked me, "Do you feel pressured Nadja?" with two auditors sitting behind me as I did my work, and I said, "Nope!" and I really meant it! Woohoo! The first test over.

I'm feeling pretty good about myself.

I have this stomach problem now. Gastric problem. So I can't just eat anything I want to anymore. Which sucks. And I can't eat nasi lemak for breakfast. Or oily food.

But I have discovered something nice. I discovered that Evening Primrose Oil capsules help to clear my nose congestion and sinuses! How about that? I didn't even buy it for that purpose. I bought it to fight excess water retention... because I realise that my thighs and my feet swell up not because I'm fat but because of water retention...

Last night's dinner

I brought my mom and the kids out to the restaurant nearby for dinner last night. The food is nothing to shout about but it was better than eating at home, and plus my dad was still in the Netherlands. We were already tucking into our food, when this party of 12 ppl came in. It was someone from my dad's office and her family. So as usual, they recognize my mom and salam her. The thing that really got me was the overly-friendly auntie. I don't even know this lady, it was the first time me and my mom had met her (it was the mom of the lady that works at my dad's office). She thought I was still in my teens, so she was being very patronizing at first. I hate that, when ppl think I'm 19. I guess cos I never bother to wear anything "my age" when I'm in my neighborhood, because please, I live right down the road, I don't feel like I need to dress up. It felt like going to your local deli to get a sandwich. You know what I mean.

So this auntie was patting my shoulder and saying to my mom, "Oh so this is your number two? All your kids will be following you on your next posting then?" And my mom was saying, no, she's (me) working... And I say, "Yeah, I'm working, so I won't be going." And this lady puts on this mock 'shock-horror' look and says, "Laa...kesian! Apasal tak nak bawak skali!" I was thinking to myself, "Oh my God, didn't I just say, I'm working, and I can't go!" I was starting to get insulted, because I knew she thought I was still 18 or 19, and I shouldn't be left alone in this country. So I say, politely, "No auntie, I think I'm old enough to live on my own. And plus I'm working so everything should be okay." And she croons back, "Oh really? How old are you this year?" (Note the "this year". A patronizing way of asking young children how old they will be. I despise condescending ppl) And I say, "I'm 25."

And she is surprised, this time she's not faking it. And she says, "Oh that's only one year younger than my daughter! When she's gone (she's going on her first overseas posting) you can take her place! You can come to auntie's house anytime..."

Now I know she's trying to be friendly, but I was appalled. Firstly, how can you ask a stranger to take your daughter's place, and how can you ask that same stranger to come to your house anytime? That's just nuts. Plus her daughter was sitting right behind us, so like if she heard this whole conversation, I'm sure she'd be insulted. I did not respond at all. I don't think so. I think at that moment my mom, being the good diplomat that she is, changed the subject so that I wouldn't have to reply.

But it was the strangest, most funniest thing a stranger has ever said to me.

Pinky diamond ring

I am looking for a really good design of the pinky diamond ring. Men's. I did a search on Google, but all sorts of stuff came up, and not the type I'm looking for. I wonder if I should just design it myself. I'm very particular about the jewelry I wear, and I won't wear something gaudy, so the same should apply to men. So I'm looking for nice designs for the pinky diamond ring. With a gemstone in the middle. If anyone has seen photos of nice ones, pls forward them to me.

Today I'm going to the new Borders in Berjaya Times Square. If it's anything like the Borders in Singapore, then I'll be pretty happy. I'm almost about done reading the book I'm reading now, so time to get a new book. I already know what I want, too, I just hope the shop has it. I know I can find it in Kinokuniya.

My hair is going through that stage where it's growing out. Kinda messy. Starting to have wings. But in a few more weeks it'll be shoulder length. Or so I hope. Then maybe I'll think about permanently straightening it. But my hair is the stubborn type. Eeesh.

What to do??

It's another 3 day weekend!! Woohoo!! What to do... what to do... so much sleep to catch up on, so much to do...

You know, you don't really feel like an adult until you've had your first credit card. Yeah. And I just got mine. So being totally childish about it.

I clicked on to the Adidas global website this morning, and it's really a cool site ya? And they've got nice stuff for the new season too. Hmmm, I wish we had an adidas concept store in Malaysia. I wish stuff wasn't so overpriced.

Need to lose weight

This is something that I've always wanted to do, but no matter how I try, I still end up gaining weight, and not losing it... I'm so afraid that I'll eventually end up the same size as my mom and my aunts... that is such a depressing thought! So... I'm going on a diet. Yes. Eating only a sandwich at lunch, wholemeal. But I'm not sure how effective that will be. I usually don't take rice for dinner anyway. Rice is the main culprit of weight gain, the carbs. But bread is also carbohydrate... so... I don't know...

Of course I need to exercise more. I'll jog more. Usually I'm so tired when I get back from work, I have no mood for exercising! So what should I do?

My target is 5 kg. Start small. Then work harder.

Drink 100plus when I get tired at the office. (My bf suggested that).
I was really tickled though, when I found out my bosses (who are all men) are on the Atkins diet... it works for them, but I doubt it'll work for me...

That lonely, quiet country...

My good friend Emma, who is now back in NZ, was with me in Secondary 2 and 3 in Brunei. It was a very small school, and there were lots of other girls named Emma. Right Emma? It's nice to hear from her after all this time because it reminds me of a time when life was so simple. Things were very sort of easy and simple in Brunei, without every really being easy. Because you had to throw out your own trash at the landfill (there were no garbage collectors), there was limited Internet access, new phone lines took months and months to set up, there was no McDonalds, 2 major supermarkets, maybe 3... What other amenities were missing? Well, I can't remember, but for a time, there was no public transport either, but then they began to introduce the buses and taxis that would take you anywhere for $1.00 or $3.00, respectively.

There was Jerudong Park, which we kids went to like 2-3 times a month. All our birthdays were celebrated there, except for mine, because I always threw pool parties at home. And do you remember the time when that kid, I forgot his name, jumped off my roof to dive into my pool? That was so weird. And we weren't even high or drunk! Imagine if we were... but we were so young back then...

Now that we're older, sometimes I wonder how our time in Brunei helped to shape us into the adults that we've become now? Did it contribute a lot to our present character and personality, or not at all? Sometimes I think the time we spent in that quiet country was so traumatic (due to its isolative factors) that it contributed a whole chunk to how we are now. Isolation makes us into either creative or destructive creatures, or both. Which one have I become?

Lazy mornings...

I've got a headache this morning. From not being able to breathe right last night when sleeping. The bosses aren't in today so I'm blogging. Plus I have no mood to do any work cos of my headache. The sky looks so strange today.

I slept for like about 15 mins in the car before pulling myself out and unlocking the office. Some weird guy with one good eye (his right eye) was looking at me strangely, and I gave him one of my stares back. Like, "Whatchu lookin at?? Eleh..." Those ppl give me the creeps cos they look like they're dying for a fuck... with any chick... Eee.

Now I've got nothing else to say so I'm going to start work... *Yawn...

My four-day weekend

I'm reading acclaimed Turkish author Orhan Pamuk's newest novel "Snow". I've already read his other book, "My Name is Red". His newest book "Snow" makes me wonder when I'm going to start wearing a tudung or headscarf like other Muslim women everywhere. Reading the book makes me feel proud, happy and relieved that I live in Malaysia, where the state is secular, and Muslims are liberal and tolerant. I feel sorry for the Muslim girls and women in Europe who aren't allowed to cover their heads in schools and universities because it is seen as a symbol of "political Islam", or as a symbol of religion. I wonder why ppl can't just see it as a piece of clothing or a fashion accessory? After all, married women in Spain and Italy cover their hair with a scarf when going to the market, and they're not even Muslim. And when ladies drive around in a convertible in the countryside, they'll wear a scarf around their heads to prevent their hair from blowing all over the place. I don't see the big deal in banning the headscarf in public places. In Turkey, women members of their parliament aren't allowed inside the building wearing a headscarf. That's so pitiful.

But anyway... enough of all this "hard" stuff. I'd just like to say that I really like the way Orhan Pamuk writes. It sounds as if he's recounting an episode that really took place in his life. He describes movements, people's faces and expressions, their tone of voice. Which is why I like it because it doesn't feel like I'm reading a work of fiction, but something non-fiction. (I like to read non-fiction travelogues... my favorite form of literature.) Even when the work by Pamuk's been translated from Turkish to English, I can see that his writing is very up-front and very honest. Which is the way I've always wanted to write. So, I like this man's work very much.

Today is the last day of my four-day weekend. Wow. It was really nice to do all that stuff that I did. I don't feel like going to work tomorrow as usual after a long holiday. (But it wasn't even long. Later on I'll have to take 8-10 days off in a row.) And today I did something I've always wanted to do, and that was go to Nilai 3 and buy kain. Buying material has always been something I do with relish. It's like the same feeling a small child would get being put in a candy store with money to spend. Or a toy shop. That was the feeling I got. Surrounded by rolls and rolls of material to make baju. And everything machine washable and affordable (I won't say 'cheap' because that would give the reader the impression that the material was of poor quality). Most of my baju kurung have to be dry-cleaned, so it was such a relief to buy some kain that was washable.

Baju kurung is the easiest thing to put on for work in the morning, because you don't have to accessorize. If you wear a shirt and pants, both top and bottom have to match... shoes have to match... etc etc. And I'm such a lazy person in the morning, that I can't be bothered sometimes to match clothes, so I just put on a baju kurung. Plus I'm kinda big on top so shirts have the tendency to look very tight on me, and I hate looking fat.

So Nilai 3 is this place that looks like a border town bazaar. It's how I imagined the border between Russia and Asia or the Middle East to be like, with lots of different merchants selling cloth, furniture and other goods. All the shops were in these warehouses and the heat in them was stifling. There were lots of electrical goods and toys from China I noticed. Lots of fake Barbie dolls that looked really nice. As if they were real Barbies. There were plenty of kedai kain around to my amazement. And lots of them sold really cheap material, around RM3.00 - RM4.00 per meter. But they were the polyster-feeling type of cloth that was coarse and if you wore a dress made out of it, it would make you feel hot, so I didn't buy any of that. But it was just amazing to be there anyway because if you go to Jalan TAR in KL, they'd probably sell the same stuff double or triple the price.

Anyway, not that you want to hear, but I bought 4 different patterns of cloth and I'm very happy with my purchase. The only thing left to do is to send them off to the tailor to make my baju. Next week, I'll have to bring my mom... she wants me to bring her...

And yes...

if you check the time of the post, I really did wake up this early on a Saturday... because I slept so early yesterday and skipped dinner... and now I'm hungry.

I got my passport

My arm so hurts from yesterday. Actually I was so exhausted, I slept so early even on a Friday night. I took leave yesterday just so I could go to the Isetan members' only presale. How sad, I know. And only a woman would do that. Yeah, so what. I was there at 11am, and didn't leave KLCC till 4. But I left Isetan at around 2 cos I couldn't stand the crowd by then. I was at Kinokuniya after.

Anyway, I discovered something about salespeople. If you go shopping looking your best, for some reason, they layan you more. Yeah. They'll think you're rich and have lots of money to spend. But the fact is everyone has money to spend if they go to a presale on a working day. Please... who'd go to all that trouble, getting suffocated in that big a crowd not to buy anything? It was like an oven in there yesterday! I was sweating in an air-cond room.

For the first half an hour it was fun cos there wasn't much ppl around yet. But then it got unbearable and I stood in line for 45 mins or more just to pay for the 3 things I wanted to buy.

Yesterday was also the day I got my first civilian passport. Not that I wasn't a civilian before... not that before I was military... No but it just felt weird. Cos if you are still a dependent at the age of 21 (which I was) you get to keep your diplomatic passport. But once I graduated and got a job, I had to surrender my diplomatic passport. Which is what I did. And I was passport-less for about 2 years... can you believe that? A passport is your freedom, and I was living without one for that long. Imagine if some bad thing were to happen in Malaysia, like, God forbid, a military coup... you would need a passport to escape, and I didn't have one! You know, stuff like that... it's your freedom ticket.

Other ppl will say that money is freedom. But there are ways to travel without money you know. So a passport is still your freedom.

My face still looks like a clown's in the passport photo. Except fatter. And I was so shy with the auntie who brought me to the special immigration to cancel my previous passport. She had things to say about Chinese ppl that I wasn't very proud to listen to, and I was tempted to tell her that my bf is half Chinese, which would mean that I took offence to the stuff she said (narrow-minded stuff) but then she's really old, and it would make her lose face if I told her. It would be like me telling her straight to her face she's narrow-minded and it would hurt her because she's so much older and experienced in life, and I'm supposed to be so young. But you see, I'm an advocate for making Mandarin a subject in schools. Why not? Kids can learn to understand each other better.

She thought it was rubbish. Sometimes I wonder if they put these ppl in our paths to test us. Like maybe they are spies for the government and they are just there to see what our opinions are really like and report back to their bosses. I'm sure that type of stuff exists. I mean who would suspect an old lady to be a spy? She asked me lots of questions yesterday, and she did antagonize me over certain subjects for no reason. Maybe she wanted to see which political stand I had. I'm pro government. Just that the govt should improve their policies just a little. But anyway, maybe she was a spy. Because she said certain unneccessary things to gain my trust like, "How's your mother? I like your mother, she's a pleasant lady." Okay... no, my mother is not that pleasant, but alright... And she's got no reason to suck up either, she's in a totally different dept than my father. Maybe she is a spy, because sometimes I just refuse to believe that the foreign ministry can have such narrow-minded ppl working in it when they've all been and lived overseas.

See... now I'm the one being narrow-minded, or being stereotypical, or um... making my own conclusions. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with learning different languages. She's so rubbish about that.

Incident in the lift

When I worked at the Bank, I had a colleague whose husband went to the same high school as me. I attended a boarding school for the last four years of high school. Technically, (in the American sense), I did my last two years of high school there and then added 2 more years to do A-levels, which was a waste of time because I discovered I could've entered the uni I went to without it.

Anyway, it being a "British" boarding school, it was really strict in some areas, and not strict at all in others. But there was one funny incident that still makes me curl up with embarrassment, and which my ex-colleague at the Bank refuses to let me forget. Her husband was my senior and also a prefect. When I was in Form 4 or 5, I can't remember when exactly, he booked me for excessive PDA (public display of affection) during bulan Ramadan. It was nothing excessive of the kind. It was a good-bye hug and kiss at the speed bump leading to the girls' dormitories, which provides the border where boys are prohibited to step over. It was fasting month, and I was having my period, and therefore can't fast, so what the hell, we kissed and hug, and that was it. The humiliating part was, Azly, (the prefect and my ex-colleague's husband) saw us performing our good-bye ritual from his dorm's balcony and blew a whistle to stop us. Of course, when he blew the whistle, everyone rushed out to see. It was late afternoon, and possibly even lunch time, so all the kids were about. And then, for punishment, me and my bf (now ex, and possibly married) had to run around the school at 5 am in the morning (it's called school drill) for a week. Our names (along with other ppl being booked for other offences) were posted on the notice board.

Anyway, this same prefect that booked me, he works for Sime Darby on the floor above mine in my office building. And what should happen last Friday but me bumping into him in the elevator! And he gave me this big grin and says, "My wife told me you were working in this building..." and I think I blushed remembering what he'd seen me do during puasa month, all those years ago and I covered my face with the cheque and bank-in slip I was holding. Hehe... how embarrassing... I was so young then... how naive and innocent... yeaaah right!

Flashback

You know, looking back at old photos, I have the same exact haircut as I had in high school. Exactly. I didn't even realise it until a week has gone by since I first had my hair cut. It's the short bob where I can tuck it behind my ears. Back in school, when my hair grew a little longer, I would tie my hair up in two pig tails. And my bf (now ex, and maybe married) would call them "Nads tails".

I couldn't possibly tie my hair up like that now and go to work. Even though it can get very warm in the office because the air-conditioning is weak.

Do you sometimes go through everyday life and then suddenly realise that you've gone through the same thing before in the past? Like you're reliving a flashback? Ya, those things are so scary. Especially when it's not a happy event. I was sitting in the car for more than an hour (pretty much) having a discussion, and I had chills up and down my spine cos it seemed like a perfect re-enactment of something I've gone through before. I was telling myself, "Do something different this time, so it won't be jinxed... or else you'll be doomed to relive the same nightmare over and over again."

I am determined to make my life different this time, although I am not sure in which way I should change, or whether I am even capable of change. Because you know, day in day out, we become creatures of habit. Even if it's a bad habit. I don't know how I should start, and even where I should start.

Sometimes I feel like it's better to live alone and not have to bother with other ppl at all. You're free to be whoever you want to be, and free to do whatever you want to do. I'm sure everyone feels the way. Sometimes I am just tired and want to go to sleep for a long long time. I need a vacation.

Sometimes you just can't explain why

You know, there's this person I hate (or maybe just 'despise' because 'hate' is too strong a word), but I can't exactly explain why. I just hate her. It's one of those things. She just annoys the hell outta me. Even until now. And we've known each other for years and years. And when I think back, I think the reason why I started hating her back when we were kids was because she did certain things on purpose just to annoy me. Like you know those competitive types of ppl that do everything to be one step better than you. Copy-cats, etc. I've no idea why I let her get at me so much, but I did. And now, when we're both older, I still hate her.

No, maybe just despise her. I know I sound mean and bitchy when you're reading this, but she was the person who would rat on me in class if I was passing notes, would rat on me if I had borrowed someone else's homework to copy, that type of thing. She's the type of person to pretend she's British even though she's full-blooded Malaysian... yeah you know.

Why the hell am I blabbing on about this person? Because after so many years, I really feel like I want to send her a message and congratulate her for getting married. But I'm just afraid she'll reply with a catty remark that will hurt my feelings. Saying something to put me down. Which she usually did. But I think I will congratulate her anyway. And she looked beautiful in her wedding photo. I hope she's not like how she was when we were kids anymore. So here goes...

Keropok lekor

It's raining heavily outside, all of a sudden. The rain came down in a torrent in a split second. I was having some keropok lekor with my sayang at this outdoor eatery, under a wide umbrella, and suddenly the rain came. So I ran from table to table, ducking under each table's umbrella, all the way to the car park, where I waited for him to come with the car. And still I got wet.

The interesting thing about keropok lekor is that it's quite addictive. Plus it's freshly made so the flavour is quite yummy. And my boss, despite being a white guy, likes them. He likes the thin crispy type that my AM sometimes buys after lunch and leaves in the office pantry for everyone to eat. But my boss, he doesn't dip them in the chilli sauce like you're supposed to. Maybe he doesn't know.

Ugh, thinking about bosses, my other boss, the big boss, he will be in the office tomorrow. Which means I have to come in to work wearing covered shoes, and not the open-toed shoes I usually wear. The ones with a heel but actually look more like sandals. I prefer those because covered shoes give me blisters. But I will have to wear proper shoes tomorrow in the office because Maltop will be in, and I'll have to actually go into his room to get his signature for something. Eesh, so leceh... But I'm also excited because I have a new haircut!! Yay! So at least I'll look presentable. Big boss is so strict about the presentable appearance.

Ants on a Sunday

I woke up this morning to discover my arms were sore and aching. When I stood up they hung limply against my sides. I am getting heavier, I thought, this is part of the ageing process. Or the fattening process. I am putting on so much weight that my body aches carrying around so much weight. What a depressing thought to wake up to!

Then when I went upstairs, I was greeted with so much sunshine from the windows, I was happy again. And even when I saw that the ants were devouring the chocolate sea-shells, still in their box, I didn't get angry. They are one of God's creatures after all and need to eat something, so I didn't disturb them but rescued whatever untouched chocolates there were on a piece of tissue paper and ate them. Or eating them this very moment. The scene with the ants reminded me of the passage Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote in One Hundred Years of Solitude when the ants carried away the baby that Aureliano Babilonia left in the basket at the end of the book. Such a morbid thing, but true though, these ants will eat anything. Especially tropical jungle ants.

Ants are everywhere.

But the thought of my new short hair, and the freedom it brings, and the warm sunshine on a Sunday still makes me cheerful. Despite the ants eating the box of chocolates that I only just opened last night. I should never have left them on the coffee table. These ants will eat anything sweet.

Woohoo! I cut my hair!

I've got really short hair now compared to my below-the-shoulder length hair before. Now I have a chin-length short bob. So I'm happy. I feel like my short hair has freed me from a lot of burden and weight. Not to mention headaches caused by the weight (of long hair).

Here's a pic of us at the sea during the team building trip in Kuching. I'm the one with my hands up in the air.

I feel so dead man

My back hurts, my head feels like it's going to explode, I start talking to myself and making sound effects at the office... everyone is saying out loud that I am crazy... this could only mean that I am on the brink of exhaustion. I don't think I've fully recovered yet from that team building trip I told you about. I even brought a pack lunch from home today because I knew I would be too tired to walk anywhere for lunch... yeah... in this heat... who'd want to??

Anyway, I ate my lunch, now I'm just dying to finish my work and go back home...

Team building trip

My company recently sent us on a 2-day team building trip to Kuching, Sarawak. Actually I just came back from it yesterday. We skipped one working day (Friday) to go on this trip. And even though it was exhausting (since I haven't had any proper exercise in years), it was a lot of fun! As team building trips usually are. Yeah, they had the usual activities like wall-climbing, rappeling, obstacle course, raft-building, kayaking, etc. And yeah, we had to spend the night in a cabin in the middle of the rainforest, with all those creepy crawlies. But the one thing that I noticed about my company was that every single employee's personality "matched" one another's. Meaning that, even though our personalities differ in some way, we were all able to mix with each other well, even if there wasn't a team building trip going on. It was like a revelation. And I wasn't the only one who noticed it either. My cabin mates did too. I was very impressed with the selection process that our HR carries out, because they do this personality test thing to see if the personality of potential candidates match the "company's personality" (if you could actually call it that), and it works. Surprisingly.

The other surprising discovery during the trip was that Kuching really does have a lot of cats. (For those non-Malaysian readers out there, "Kuching", the name of the city that I visited in Sarawak for my team building trip literally means "Cat" in Malay.) At the camp, which is situated in a rainforest by the beach, there were many cats walking around all over the place. It was as if that jungle was their natural habitat. They didn't even bother us humans. It was just an amusing observation.

Anyway, I'm supposed to rest in bed today, to nurse my aching body. I have a bad knee since my ligaments are torn (since the age of 15), and of course a bad knee means I can't balance. So you can imagine all the torture I had to go through during the obstacle course... all those "balance beam" activities. Eesh. My boss had to hold my hand while I did it. Muahaha. And I fell down hard like 3 times. And what was worse my boss made me the team leader, so like I felt obligated to always volunteer myself to be the first girl to do everything. Sheesh man, talk about leading by example. And I can't swim, but I did the kayaking anyway. And by the end of the first day, because I had no idea how hot it would be like in a rainforest by the beach (with the glare of the ocean), I had heatstroke, was very dizzy, and had a terrible migraine. And no, I didn't bring any dehydration tablets, so I was very dehydrated, and found myself panting all the time. But they had a natural "jungle pool" with natural mountain spring water, and it was great to take a dip in after a long hot day to cool your body down. That was neat.

And later on tonight, me and my best buds are going to celebrate me and my bf's birthdays at one of our fave restaurants. So... I'd say this was a pretty good weekend.