May you Rest in Peace

This is still not acceptable.

I know we weren't close. It may not be my place to say these things.

But.

I believe you were an amazing friend. A friend with an amazingly positive attitude. A girl with her own opinions. A girl with a strong will and determination.

You were robbed from your future. This is all so sudden. You are no longer here. This is just too sudden.

I just cannot accept this. I cannot understand how this could have happened. I even tried to picture the scenario. How on earth could this have happened?! This is so unfair! You could have had a bright future! But not anymore! How could this have happened?!

I still cannot accept. This is just devastating.

I can only say

"Dear Shu Ern, rest in peace."

Island Trip to Perhentian Island

All thanks to the wonderful Joy and Kee Onn that this trip is finally a success!

Much can be seen and understood from the photos and albums posted on Kee Onn, Moi and Ivan's profiles on Facebook. So there is basically nothing much to elaborate on. 

What I am glad to say is, this trip is a very relaxing one. I had the precious chance to enjoy the scenery of the beautiful beach with the almost-crystal clear seawater and soft sandy beach while lying lazily on the hammock. I had an even more precious chance to just talk with my friends and really spent time with them. This may even be the very last time to meet some of them, so I am really appreciative.

The journey to Besut jetty was kind of exciting. It was my second time boarding a night bus. The bus was travelling rather speedily but it was still safe. What was exciting to me was that the only thing I could see from the window were pitch black scenes. It gave me an even stronger sense of mystery and creepiness. As if I could be travelling on an extremely narrow single lane kampungish road or on a wooden bridge! (No idea why I would think of this, it just sounds creepy that's all)

Oh, and speed boat can prove to be quite a bumpy (and uncomfortable) ride. Yet challenging.

Perhentian Island, to date, may be one of the most well preserved island. This is apparently true as seconded by a frequent traveler we met at the chalet. Though, 5 years ago, the sea was livelier than it is now. The sea is really clear; we could even snorkel in front of our chalet! Kee Onn took some pretty pictures of some random fish (I call them random because I have no idea what they're called) and some clown fish! Some of the fish were rather territorial, as quoted from Moi. They even charged at us at full speed and bit us when they saw us, instead of swimming away cowardly like what the normal fish at other islands do. Their fierceness sort of scared me a little.

Weirdly, snorkeling was scheduled on our second day. It was fun! We got to see turtles and sharks! Though I didn't get to see the sharks; I was somehow led to another side of the sea. But some very impressive pictures were taken, so I don't exactly feel left out. The trip could feel a lot better though if it didn't give me such massive headache / dizziness. Maybe I didn't get used to the boat or the snorkeling feel. Heck, I will probably enjoy it more thoroughly the next time.

On our second night on the island, we joined Kee Onn for his stargazing activity. This was really a pleasant and surprising experience for me! This is because I never really had much interest for astronomy but under his guidance, I managed to locate Scorpius, a teapot, a cross and the Milky Way. And some other stuff too, of course. And for once, I truly truly knew how to appreciate the beauty that the night has to offer. Really, all thanks to Kee Onn!

The food on the chalet was not bad. Oh, we stayed in Fauna Beach Chalet. The food was actually included in the package. It was a buffet style, with BBQ food on our second night. It was quite lovely. And we definitely appreciated the bottomless food and drinks (and fruits).

Overall, I think this trip is quite a success! Initially I would really prefer a much better furnished accommodation rather than a chalet. But later on, I realized that I was okay with a run-down, wooden chalet so I guess I can adapt to anything. I really hope to be able to go to other island or beach like Lang Tengah or Krabi or Phuket or Bangkok (probably in my dreams) but now I don't know if I have the time in August. I shall see.

Lastly, I would like to thank Moi, Jordan, Ivan, Kee Onn, Joy, Yeang Ching, Hancock and Shen Wen for making this trip a truly memorable one!

Letting Go of Your Bananas - Dr Daniel T. Drubin

An interesting self-help book introduced by a colleague.

The author uses bananas as a metaphor to all the bad habits and bad characteristics that everyone has. He calls it rotten bananas. The author thinks that to strive for a better life, or a better Quality of Life as he puts it, everyone should be get rid of all the rotten bananas.

However it is not as easily done as it is said. All these rotten bananas are normally things that we are very comfortable in / with. In fact, we are too comfortable with all these rotten bananas that we don't feel the motivation or the drive to change. Hence, we stick to our rotten bananas, and our Quality of Life never improves.

So it is extremely important to always put ourselves in the limelight of scrutiny and judgement, and constantly rid ourselves of the rotten bananas that have been with us prior to this day.

This book actually has some rather substantial content. It is not a bad book. But, I rather dislike the method with which the author penned this book. The author was beating around the bush too much whenever he wanted to get to a point. He could just get straight to it, yet he used various verbs (of the same meaning) and adjectives (of the same meaning) to express what he wanted to. That annoyed me a lot and disrupted my flow of reading. Hence I found it slightly difficult to finish the book. In the end, I sort of skimmed through the last few pages.

If you come across this book, you could give it a try. Like I said, the content is good. But the penmanship is not my favourite.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower - THE BOOK!

I just finished the book. It took me two days to finish it. Technically, it's less than one day because I started reading it at roughly 9pm last night and I just finished it. Come to think of it, I finished it quite fast compared to other self-help books I have been reading.

This is such a sad book I think. Throughout my reading the book, I just can't help but feeling sad. Life is not always a bed of roses. Not everyone's life is perfect. But even when your life sucks to the point of giving up on it, you should still keep moving on with a firm faith in a better tomorrow. That is sorta what I learned from this book.

Of course, I know that drugs and smoking are not good. I will never attempt at any of those and this book contains tonnes of them! And this book also contains many controversial social predicaments that many people would disapprove with. But I just think of them as..social occurrences that happen by nature. So sometimes, you accept things as they are.

Well if you are reading this post, you will probably not understand what I am talking about, unless if you have read the book. Come to think of it, even if you have read the book, I can't guarantee if you would appreciate it as much as I do because, for me, I could relate to the author and the main character, hence I find it meaningful. The thoughts that Charlie always came up with at the most random times, I did and do think of them. Charlie always thought of wishing other people's life well and hoping that everyone is having a happy life. I do that too. But that does not make Charlie or me a kind person or a popular person. That just makes us not participating in things. Because we think, instead of participating. What Sam said is true. You have to participate. Be yourself. Put yourself in those situations. Let people know how you feel. That's when you stop being a wallflower.

Anyway, I don't know if I would give the book a second reading because I generally don't repeat my books. But maybe when I have finished all my self-help, I would give it another go?