If you're ever in the area..

.. send my love, and tell her I miss her dearly.

If you ever get the chance to go to England, and wish to spend a quiet day relaxed, go to Exeter. Drink a cup of tea and feel humble in front of the cathedral. Take a walk by the quay and smile at strangers. Stroll through the high street and enjoy the bustle - stop by St. George's market (if it's still there) at any time of day and have a breakfast of chips, sausages and eggs. Visit the library and close your eyes for a moment. Go over to The House That Moved and marvel at the absurdity of moving a whole house. Peek in corners and passages for strange hidden delights.

Go to Pennsylvania, past Elliott Close, past the corner shop. All the way down to the recycling bins.. Walk towards the bushes and find the hidden path to eat wild blueberries. Stain your mouth and enjoy the burst of flavour, and wash your hands in the titchy stream. Watch out for the horse poop.

One day I'll be back. To eat fish and chips near the statue of the blue boy. Or grab a crepe, hopefully you'll remember me Crepe Man. Thank you for the delicious treats and feeding me even when I didn't have enough money. Now excuse me while I spend a few minutes bawling.

The House That Moved.

I took a lot of these pictures from the Exeter group over at facebook. Fek.

Unbelievably sentimental

(Yes. The picture above is of my inbox - Everything is neatly sorted into folders. 'Cause that's how I roll.)

I'm one of those people who have to work hard at getting rid of clutter, I'd be convinced I'd need something for.. whatever reason it is I've convinced myself I'd need stuff for. I'll eventually throw stuff out, but it does take me a while to come to that decision!.. but I never throw cards and letters away.

The habit has sort of been continued to email, which I have mixed feelings about. On the one hand - unlimited space! No real life clutter! But.. I've lost so many emails from my bestest friends because I forgot to log in to my hotmail account after I switched over to yahoo. It's still an annoying itch I can't scratch when I'm reminded of the hundreds of lost correspondence. I've learnt my lesson! - I print them out these days.

But yeah.. Its icky when I remember the lost letters, because every few years I like to dig these up and read them over. Its a bittersweet experience, a roller-coaster ride of memories and emotions.

I don't exactly know what changed, but I seem to hardly ever write letters and emails anymore. Its possibly because I can always just text the people I want to contact, or chat online with them, or twitter them a message, or even send a short note on facebook.. The possibilities are endless. But I do miss taking the time out to compose a long letter, sometimes just rambling about the most random subjects and waiting excitedly for a reply.

I make such a fuss over this probably because I like having a record of my life on paper. Or at least some sort media which I can look over any time I want.

This is possibly also why I have a stack of journals I hide, as well as this online record.

An illustration of my parents in 100 words.

1998.
Mum: I hate the theatrics in football.
Dad: But they're running. High speed collision = Funny scenes of grown ups rolling around on the ground.
Mum: Pffthz.
Dad: *demonstrates tackles*
Mum: *On the ground, and in pain* You will pay for this.
Dad: See! You were standing still and you're in pain. Imagine if I did that while you were running.
Mum: Kids, get him.

*tickle fight*

2009.
My 58 year old father demonstrates my cat jumping, he crashes into the couch and hurts his hips.
Dad: It doesn't hurt.
Mum: Hahaha.. HAHAHA. *calmly sips tea, and doesn't help*

***

And people wonder why I'm so against the whole 'being a serious grown up for 24/7' business. Happy giggles in the morning, indeed.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, INDONESIA :D

Old pics posted anew..!

Just a couple of random pics I took and posted ages and ages and ages ago.. And the one below, I have to admit is one of my all time fave shots.

My dearest most beloved bestiePOOP.

I'm too too easily amused.

Bag SQUEE. Oh and life goals.

My favourite sentence to read so far, this year :

Thank you for your timely payment. I will get your Item shipped soon. Thanks again

SQUEE! I love the internet. I love vintage bags. And I love the 80's.

So yes. Etsy is a combination of catnip, crack and caffeine for me. Especially when I haven't had any sleep. Oh the prettyness available on teh int3rw3bz makes me dizzy.

No, this post wont just be me squealing about the beautiful 80's grey-brown wondrous patchwork bag I have just ten minutes or so ago purchased. I promise.

See, I have these 'goals' I want to achieve before I'm 30. Well, not so much 'goals' as random sillyness I want to do so I can brag that I've lived a little in my youth - and I figure writing them down is a good start. You know, the whole - visualize it, then reach for it with both hands thing. So here they are!!

1. I want to spend $250 on etsy. I want corsets, bags and shoes. Yes, shopping is a goal. If I have the dosh to spend, then logically it means I have the job that can fund my madness.

2. Learn the violin. Even if I am semi-tone deaf when it comes to playing stuff.

3. Start learning French again. Just so I can read all those letters my friend and I exchanged when we were 13.

4. Go on a beach-hopping trip around Jawa, and be a beach bum for a month. Because Indonesian beaches are just to beautiful to ignore.

5. Go on a holiday by myself. Being in Bali on my own, last year made me realize how much I love exploring places by myself.

6. Dye my hair an outrageous colour. Like fire-engine red or bright purple. This is partly because I've always wanted to do this, and partly because I want to stick my tongue out at my brother who once dyed his hair bright red with one huge yellow streak.. Or alternatively - I want to go bald.

7. Pamper my mum and dad. Because fabulous parents should be treasured. And I figure I owe them for all the times I've patted their arms patronizingly and saying : "Toys should be seen and not heard".

8. Learn to sew. Oh I can sew, but I mean sew as in tailoring a beautiful personalized skirt, so that I can turn heads, and make people drool. Over my bodacious curves. Err, I mean my mad sk1llz with the sewing machine.

9. Spend a whole weekend being plastered out of my mind with my two best friends. Because it's unfair that other people have seen them that drunk, but I haven't had the chance to point at them and laugh.

10. Have a costume party on my birthday. And I mean full on fancy dress costumes. - And then go out to a fancy place to eat dinner. - Was gonna do this paticular one this year, but I took pity on my more.. sahll we say.. 'reserved' friends.

Random things which will make me happy and giggle to myself, because I'm easily pleased. What can I say - I love sillyness in all its glorious form. Oh here's another one:

I hope I'm never too busy sticking my head up my arse to know when to let down my hair and have fun. I hope I'll always be able to talk to a 7-year old as if we're peers of the same age, and I hope I never stop being easily pleased

Observe!

Top left corner of this page..!

My Daily Mugshow! It's supposed to be daily pictures taken with the same expression, and over a course of time it'll look quite cool.

I'm trying out how many different ways can I obscure at least half of my face.

Why? Why not.

Strange dreams indeed.

I have no idea why, but I woke up thinking 'Romeo is a prick.'

I then showered and hunkered down to concentrate on my undergrad thesis feeling strangely inspired.

Music pimpin'..!!!

Have you ever heard something so good that you start swearing?
(Yes, this is a variation of Russell Howard's "Eating something so good you want to sexually gratify whoever made it" line)

Anyway. Yes. Seriously amazing. The Impellers. You have to click on their name, go to their MySpace site and just listen. The vocalist has one hell of a voice. And the music.. Oh Gods - the music. You can't help but move to it. It sounds amazing. Just whoa.

I was listening to Craig Charles Funk And Soul Show on BBC 6music's iPlayer, bopping along to the great tracks while doing some chores in my room and was stopped dead in my tracks when they did a cover of The Ting Ting's 'That's Not My Name'. I'm not a big fan of that song to be honest, it just grates my ears after a couple of times hearing it blasted at me from every direction I turn.. But The Impellers was just amazing, they did a live cover in the 6music studio and seriously - just whoa.

It's supposed to be up on the site in the next couple of days (hours if Craig Charles has anything to do with it, apparently).. Check it out if you're a fan of funk. Hell, check them out even if you're not a big fan of funk. Amazing stuff.