A Life Less Ordinary

"Live as if your were to die tomorrow.

Learn as if you were to live forever."

- Mahatma Gandhi

Okie, I've been bad again, not writing for more than a week. Anyone who knows me will understand though, I think.. am rather preoccupied atm. :) Have been showing F as much stuff as possible, got things better planned this time somehow.

Performed two shows at Mont Kiara last Saturday afternoon, one at 12:30 and the other at around 3pm. It was blisteringly hot, and the henna 'tattoos' we got before the second show started blotting and smearing onto everything as we sweated in the heat.. we suspect the henna mixture contained mostly poster colour to make it look impressively black, instantly. No wonder the henna lady (who had a booth there) offered to paint us for free..

Fortunately for us though, the henna mixture applied on our skins didn't seem to contain para-phenylenediamine (PPD), an industrial-strength chemical used to colour black hair dye and used in the textile industry to dye black clothes - definitely not meant to be applied directly on to skin or mixed with other substances. PPD is a transdermal toxin and a potential carcinogen, which can cause blistering and permanent scarring. Apparently, unscrupulous 'henna tattoo artists' add PPD to natural henna paste in order to make the tattoo stain the skin black and make it last longer. Read more about it here.

Anyway. They were very fun performances, in spite of the heat and sweat and melting tattoos. I'm glad F got a chance at last to see me dance. :)

Sunday to Tuesday we were in Penang, where I dragged him all over Georgetown. He got to see the Goddess of Mercy temple, beggars and all, as well as the Masjid Kapitan Keling. Also brought him on part of the Penang Heritage Trust's endangered trade and traditional foods trails; he got see some of these trades in action and the preparation of some foods as well. He has sampled ais tingkap (Indian sherbert) and fabulous coconut tarts, seen traditional coffee roasting (he bought like 4kgs of the stuff to bring home..) and the preparation of yau char gwai (Chinese crullers), bought handmade sandalwood incense and Him Heang tau sar pneah (bean biscuits), got driven in a trishaw (by a really old dude), got a haircut at an authentic Indian barber (complete with neck massage/twist, cologne dousing, etc - the cut made him look very German), and eaten copious amounts of famous Penang food: char kway teow, assam laksa, fruit rojak, ikan bakar, chendol and ais kacang (can't be described with a few words - check my photo albums after I update them :P). He did quite a bit of shopping in Gurney Plaza as well!

The hotel we stayed in was quite nice - a heritage hotel which was a bit away from Georgetown. Not very convenient in terms of walking distance to the places we wanted to go to, so we got into and out of town by taxi. The only thing that should be changed is the water heater in the bathroom.. there was no way to regulate the heat so it was either damn hot or cold.. the best time to bathe was late afternoon, with the heater off, because the water would have been warmed gradually by the blazing sun. All in all however I'd say we had a great time. :)

Tonight we're taking the latest bus to Mersing, where we will languish for a few hours in the extremely early a.m. in some coffee shop and the jetty before heading to our paradise chalet in Tioman by ferry/speedboat. Can't wait. :) Whee!! Hectic, but hey, we only live once. :) On a similar vein, we are only young once, and thus only have energy to rush around madly like this in our youth...

P/S: I almost forgot to mention!! S is training WY and I to be teachers! *very thrilled* We'll be replacing 2 of her basic classes next week; I'm currently compiling a list of music I want included on my CD.. :) A bit nervous about it, but I think it will be very interesting! I just hope I don't panic midway through class.. :P Stay tuned..

P/P/S: The trip to Gemia island was cancelled. Still disappointed and don't want to talk about it, but I guess if I went I wouldn't have been able to make it to S's teacher training briefing on Thurs... everything happens for a reason, it seems.

Zonked Happiness

He has come, he is here, my love has come home,
The minutes are lighter than flying foam,
The hours are like dancers on gold-slippered feet,
The days are young runners naked and fleet --
For my love has returned, he is home, he is here,
In the whole world no other is dear as my dear!
- Sara Teasdale

F is here, finally.. :) *so happy* Took the ERL to meet him at KLIA, where he was already waiting after the customs check and stuff. It felt a bit surreal, but so very good to have him so near again; to touch and hold him again. It was a mixture of joy and tenderness and an inexplicable poignant aching..

I didn't sleep last night, doing a last minute whip-clean of my room, then finishing an overdue article. Got to rest an hour before heading to the airport, and as a consequence I'm now completely zonked. My eyes actually feel tired and dry. Got class tonight, and then rehearsal again for Saturday's shows..

Ed seemed on the verge of breaking down today, seems she went through an ordeal on Monday involving a mad taxi driver who kept cursing at her and threatening her, taking the wrong route and scaring her half to death. Poor her, her nerves have been on the edge for some time now, and with this added to it I fear they might snap.. :( I wish I could do more to comfort her..

On another note, Mo sent me this link last night, about sturdy shelters that can be erected quickly, and I am quite fascinated with the idea: "A pair of engineers in London have come up with a "building in a bag" -- a sack of cement-impregnated fabric. To erect the structure, all you have to do is add water to the bag and inflate it with air. Twelve hours later the Nissen-shaped shelter is dried out and ready for use."

Belly butterflies, belly dancing and much travel

Oh you are coming, coming, coming,

How will hungry Time put by the hours till then?

- Sara Teasdale

It is going to be an extremely busy and exciting 3 weeks ahead. F is arriving early tomorrow morning, so I will be up at 4:30am to prepare to pick him up from the airport. I'm so thrilled and excited and relieved that he will be with me, in about 14 hours... We've been apart for only two and a half months, but it seems like forever. Yet I remember how it was, being with him, as if it were yesterday. Sounds clichéd, but the longer I am in this world, the more clichés I experience and figure that most of them stem from human instinct. Anyway.

This Saturday will be hectic, rushing from work to Mont Kiara for two shows. Going to do about 3 items each, including a revamped choreography and a simple item with zills... finally! I love them zills (or zils, zeilss, finger cymbals, whatever you call them).. just started learning them, but one day I'd like to do an item, where I dance and play my zills to live percussion, and no other music. Much fun! Also discussed with S and WY the possibility of doing the tribal style with our next costume. Seashells, flower power, hair extentions, colourful beads, silver ethnic jewellery.. gorgeous. Exciting! :)

Early Sunday morning will see F and I heading to Penang by bus. Gonna spend a few lovely days there, coming back Tuesday, then (probably, pending the boss's approval) heading to Gemia island early Wednesday for an assignment with CW! Glad I managed to talk the organizers into letting F come with me. :) On Friday night F and I will go straight from K.Terengganu to Mersing, then to spend a few leisurely days in Tioman. Not sure what we'll be doing beyond that, but it doesn't matter. What does is that we will be together. :)

The rebirth of Imaginings..

Since the code and programming stuff for my first blog, Wild Imaginings, has gone wonky (main page no longer writable), and I don't know how to fix it, I've decided to give in to easy "push-button publishing" with Blogger. Hopefully this time it will go ok. My old posts will be compiled and published on my site as a manually archived html document, sometime, when I've got time to breathe.. as every day is a frenzy of activity. Stay tuned for more frequent posting in this blog (hopefully).