pain in the neck.

You know, like when you didn't sleep on your back or alternatively on your side with a bolster the way experts have repeatedly told you to do, and ended up with a severe pain in the neck.

Just got off the phone with my former landlady. 

Such a pain in the neck.

Some people think they can get away with highway robbery by yelling over the phone. Well, I've had the unhappy experience of being yelled at over the phone before by a person with a much higher voice frequency. I was more amused than angry or hurt at how juvenile she was this time. So I suppose it didn't scare me as much as she'd hoped.

My action plan? To be as civil as possible. I left barbaricism a long time ago and have no intention of returning to that old way of life. But being civil doesn't mean I give up being firm. 

And I suppose, as someone very wise once said, "If they are your enemies, you are under orders to love them." (C.S. Lewis)

On another note, 

I went to the park with someone very important. 

=)

so someone posted this:

...and called Christians "sexist, chauvinistic, judgemental, xenophobic" and backward.

I'm sorry,
you said who was judgmental?

I don't get angry at this stuff anymore.
I just get really amused.

Jerry Seinfeld:

‎"We are all throwing the dice, playing the game, moving our pieces around the board, but if there is a problem the lawyer is the only person who has read the inside of the top of the box."

Ok. So my job is to read the inside of the top of the box.

talking about listening...

Neighbour's alarm went off for the longest time. Nobody was in when I checked. I wonder how their dog tahan-ed man (which, incidentally, is the same dog here). 

Anyway, I couldn't do anything about it. since this lousy neighbour doesn't have her neighbour's number. And the sound of the alarm was killing me.

So I went to the piano and...

Pressed the E key. 

And was glad to find that my perfect pitch is still perfect.

Alarm just stopped. Yay.

lesson #1.

"Mind over matter" means,

if you don't mind,

it doesn't matter.

-Uncle TP-

I'm sure that's not what "mind over matter" means.

But Uncle TP's definitions are quite spot-on sometimes.

In the past month, I think I've learned to shrug off things that don't really matter.

For example, if I'm hearing the same question the third time, I smile and repeat the same answer the third time, and tell myself that it's just deja vu.

Or if someone tells me I did something which I'm absolutely sure I didn't do, and it really doesn't matter if that person believes it or not, I smile and shrug. 

But learning to shrug off things that don't really matter also means that I've learned not to shrug off things that really matter.

For example, if someone says something that is totally against what he or she should believe, it usually means that there is a statement beneath the statement, and I shouldn't dismiss it as an annoying start to an annoying argument.

Of if someone asks a question that he or she should definitely have known the answer to, it usually means that there is a question beneath the question, and I shouldn't dismiss it as pure ignorance.

All in all, I think people behave the way they do for a reason. While it's true that sometimes people simply want attention, I think a lot of the time, people are holding the door wide open for someone to come in. And a simple decision to not roll my eyes or to wave my hand dismissively can be the difference between a meaningful conversation and a general one.

I would think that deep inside, everybody wants to have meaningful conversations. 

No, opinions don't count. 

Disagreements and "views" don't really count either.

You can get all of that in a court of law. and i tell you that they're not always enjoyable.

A meaningful conversation is one that makes you prop your right elbow against the inner part of your car door and put your index finger to that part of your chin just below your lower lip as you drive away from that conversation. 

It's what makes you think twice, or at least pause, before you tell anyone else about that conversation, because it meant something to you.

It often brings back memories of the past, and questions about the future, because meaning is attached to who we are and who we want to become.

It's not easy to have a meaningful conversation with someone,

but it's a skill worth learning.

I think I need to learn to listen.

kucing sedap.

No, I don't eat cats.

This is kucing:

Kucing that made me very happy at a mamak stall.

This is sedap:

Pretty people, pretty voices.

Both make me smile.

=)

i tell you the truth.

Most of my time at home is spent trying to stop my grandma from worrying about the clothes outside.

On a brighter note, 

I think I've become a lot more patient.

*yay*

it upsets me when there is strife within the family.

not too cloudy today.

So I hand-washed some clothes and put them out to dry.

Then I swept and mopped the floor downstairs.

And put out the clothes on the other side of the house to dry.

Now I'm going to sun a sleeping bag for this weekend's girls' outing.

At the end of all this, I'm gonna say something like this,

"Good sun, good sun."

(the way Chelsea and I did in PJ)

I...

Feel like an auntie.

(Public: "Aunties are people too!")

pink tulips.

i don't like flowers because they die real fast.

and they look ugly when they die.

but flowers are nice to look at.

buahaha.

pop.

I've looked at so many wedding stuff that if I were a superhero, my superpower would be Super High Eye Power.

On another note, 

This is really cute. 

on a very bright note...

yet another friend is getting married

and i am very happy for her.

love weddings!

positive negative.

If you're a pianist, you would know when a fellow pianist strikes the wrong chord.

If you're a Christian from a brethren assembly, you will probably be able to say, "predestination" before your Bible study teacher says it. (and then shrug casually when everyone else asks, "eh how you know?")

If you're even the most basic of movie freaks, you would probably laugh when Arnold Schwarzenegger says, "I am back!" in The Expendables 2, and wonder what kind of movies your friends have been watching because they obviously didn't get it.

"A man had three strands of hair..." - if you've heard me tell this one before, you'll probably either do a face-palm or start giggling, depending on the kind of person you are.

You know how you just know sometimes, when something isn't right?

How 'bout when you know when something isn't right, but nobody else believes you?

This one is a bit tricky.

Because if you don't do it right, you come off as being very proud and judgmental.

And that's why,

Even if you're that pianist, you usually let that wrong chord go.

If you're that Christian from a brethren assembly, you usually bite your tongue during Bible study. Or if you do say "predestination" involuntarily, you shrug it off and say, "wild guess."

If you're that movie freak, you'll either go all the way to explain what happened in The Terminator, or just  apologize for laughing so hard.

If you're that person listening to that statement you've heard before... well. Just do what you do. =P

Sometimes you've said what you need to say, and know that saying more will just do more damage.

So just let it go. 

Let people make their mistakes. 

As much as you'd like to say, "I told you so" when it happens, you know you've got to step in to make the best of that mistake. 

And just live with the fact that... 

You'll really never get to say, "I told you so".

if i ever learn to cook...

...it's so that I can bless others the way I've been blessed today.

Thanks, Hannah!

smack yourself.

When you start thinking that everyone is doing nothing

And you're doing everything -

There's a term for this.

It's called

"thinking too highly of yourself".

When it happens, and you catch yourself doing it,

I think you should just smack yourself on the right cheek.

If that lesson was hard enough, 

You just might be able to avoid a smack on your left cheek by someone else.

i think.

if i can trust God with my life, 

i can trust Him with my final paper.

geram judge.

And on 21 June 2004, this court fixed 21 and 22 September 2004 for trial. Counsel present at this case management date made no objection to these trial dates.

On 21 August 2004, the plaintiff's counsel wrote to this court requesting a postponement on the ground that the plaintiff has to accompany his son to the United Kingdom to enter a medical faculty in the University of London. This application was rejected by this court. 

When this case came up for hearing on 21 September 2004, the plaintiff was absent.

First, realising that his earlier request for postponement was rejected the plaintiff still absent himself on the day of trial. 

Second, the task of accompanying his son to the United Kingdom could have been undertaken by someone else or by him personally at an earlier date so that he could return to attend the trial. 

Third, accompanying a child, who is of mature age, to study in the United Kingdom, whether in a medical faculty or otherwise, is not a necessity. There are numerous students these days who travel on their own to pursue their tertiary education overseas, unaccompanied by anyone.

-- Per James Foong J in Tee Ha Leong v. Messrs Low & Lim [2005] 4 MLJ 426.

I burst out laughing reading this.

But yes, I totally get his frustration.

lawyers.

When people think of lawyers, they think:

Right?

Wrong.

That's judges.

The only thing we also own in that picture is the books.

Someone gave me this magnet when I was accepted into law school:

It's still stuck to my refrigerator.

or maybe just...

The policy underlying and the principles governing an order of this nature have been expounded and ossified in a catenation of congeneric cases.

-- Per Abdoolcader FJ in S & F International Ltd v. Trans-Con Engineering Sdn Bhd [1985] 1 MLJ 62.

...A judge known for his huge vocabulary.