one year on

So this is how it ends.

Mereka it’s been a pleasure to have been part of you, and like they say this is not the end of the road for us. Some of us may embark on new journeys after this, in fact, all of us will, but we do so knowing that we have been part of something bigger. Something that was so intrinsically part of us that we did not realise it.

I did not realise it till I departed the gates of the abandoned building that I still do not know the name of. A space that seemed so daunting at first, but soon became so familiar that I left it in tears. A space that, when filled with the sounds of Irfan playing the takbir on the flute, made it feel so sadly beautiful and so appropriate given that it was Mereka’s last official day being together.

Is it silly of me to say that I don’t know how to let go? Perhaps I am inexperienced in such matters. But I’d like to think that this one year has been special for all of us. There have been so many moments..happy ones, funny ones, frustrating ones, proud ones…so many others you can’t place an emotion on. Let’s hold on to them while we are out there doing great things. Because we will be out there doing great things.

Lastly, I thank each and everyone of you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you Tini, Asyikin, Izzaty, Mo, Hammy, Nabila T, Hafiz, Li, Ruzaini, Khalid, Ezzat, Hazwan, Bib. For all the words of encouragement, for the support, the hugs, the inside jokes, the teasing, the food, the laughter, the strength, the moments of learning. I will not forget.

A special thank you goes to the amazing Irfan who puts in so much work for us that we sometimes do not recognise. Who puts in so much of himself into us that I know part of his heart belongs to Mereka. Who lets emotions get the better of him when it comes to us simply because we reside in that part of him where emotion sits in its purest form. You have been such an integral part of this experience, so if you look back with any feelings of regret, don’t. You deserve all the credit that can be given. Thank you for leading us in this journey, and for letting us lead you as well.

Like most things, gratitude is usually only recognised at the end of things, when they are almost too late, but credit must always go where credit is due. And I have you guys to credit for what has been an amazing year for me. I almost did not make it through that door to audition for Mereka so this has been almost like a dream for me. In a Sliding Doors-type of world, I wonder how my life would be like without Mereka and I struggle to even begin to imagine… Yet now I must.

Sorry for this emo note but my heart feels so heavy that I simply had to. And I know you guys understand.

Tok: “Hati kau rasa apa?”

Doktor: “Rasa sayang.”

Tok: “Sayang…”

-nabbycat

veggie may veggie might

Couple of weeks ago, my friends and I found ourselves in the unexplored terrain that is the North of Singapore, or more specifically, Neo Tiew Road, where we had a truly fun afternoon at Bollywood Veggies.

We were celebrating our dear friend Shal’s birthday, and the yummy food made with ingredients all found on the farm, coupled with the amazing service by Dhillon Singh and the owner, Ivy Singh-Lim, truly made it a memorable experience for us. Dhillon even broke out the guitar to sing us (mostly old bluesy rock) songs. It’s just that kind of place, you know?

Contrary to popular belief, they don’t just serve vegetarian food (their philosophy is more of a sustainable farming type). In fact their Masala Burger was pretty damn good!

And yes, Ivy is one heck of a personality. Clad in her safari gear complete with at least one knife on her, she regaled us with stories about herself and how she fought her way to get the farm started. At one point while talking about what she would do to an unfaithful man, she brandished an unsheathed knife, much to the fear of one of our male friends and to the amusement of the rest of us.

I’d totally recommend that you go there for group outings! Due to the rainy weather there were not many people at the bistro that day and we were even treated to a mini tour of the garden where there were more herb and fruit plants than I can even remember.

We even got a glimpse of Ivy’s villa – she lives smack on the farmland and has a mini lake of sorts outside her house! The Great Danes are protecting her house and we heard that they have 20 more dogs guarding the farmland!

And some other photos from the day:

It was truly amazing, do visit if you have a chance!

circles

A: We’re here, we’re here! Are you ready? Tadaaa!

B: Wow, it’s bigger than I imagined.

A: Nice right?

B: Needs a lot of work though.

A: What do you mean? You don’t like it?

B:  Well, not that I don’t like it per se, just that I thought it’d be different, I guess.

A: Different?

B: Yeah, different. Not the same, you know. It should lack that sense of… sameness.

A: (quiet)

B: Why, did I say something wrong?

A: No… Well… I don’t know. You seemed all excited when I first told you about it. Said it was a revolution and all that. An end to all that oppressive… angles that we’ve been subjected to all these years.

B: Yes, I remember. I was really excited about it. Circles, who would’ve thought? I guess it is rather… beautiful.

A: Isn’t it? Oh, I knew you’d come around! Now, I know it’s not perfect. It wasn’t easy to make you know. Why, I didn’t even know how to start at first! I tried asking the Elders, but they waved me away and acted as if I had asked them something absurd, like… like… gravity or something! I even went to the library and took a peek at the Great Book, but it was all lines and gibberish to me. Nothing about perfect circles. Not even under the letter “C” or even “P”, nothing at all.

B: Oh… I didn’t know you put so much work into it. I’m sorry I was harsh before. It’s just that, I guess I never saw anything like it before so I was… scared I guess. We’re so used to angles around here you know.

A: I know. Boy, don’t I know it. Triangles, rectangles, right angles, acute angles, obtuse angles…I remember the lines very well. Why, I bet they’re drilling it into babies who aren’t even born yet! Imagine, them still in their mother’s wombs, singing that stupid song!

B: You mustn’t say things like that. Anyway, I take back what I said. I love it. It’s beautiful. Just like you. Hey…hey…

A: What?

B: Has anyone ever told you that you’re acute?

A: Haha. Don’t start you’re cheesy lines on me…I’m serious now. I think we’re ready for a change. Yup, I’m ready for circles.

B: Aren’t you scared though?

A: Yes…No. I guess…I don’t know. I don’t know. But circles can’t be that bad right? I mean, they never end do they?

B: Yeah, they don’t. But I guess you can’t always ask for nice endings.

 

Image: weheartit

of a feathery persuasion

Sharing a video that my theatre group, Mereka, made for an upcoming performance. If anything, watch for the song! (:

funny pants

Some days, you want to break out the funny pants. The special ones that make you smile without fail every time you put them on. It might be stupid to think of them as having a certain magical quality, but there it is, that ability to make you forget about what was right for once, to make you think, “yes, today’s a day for magical pants, today’s the day.” So you put on the crazy pants, knowing that its crazy cotton material would be like the strongest of armours against the sheer brutality of the world, the world where the middle-aged lady stares at you for making such a choice. And you meet her eye and send her a thought that says “why yes lady, these are my super awesome pants, and I feel sad that you can not appreciate their princely qualities.” But the middle-aged lady looks away, pretending to be distracted by other middle-aged lady thoughts like where to buy the best non-stick cooking pans, or something of that nature. But you know she is still thinking of you and your choice of legwear, yes, the same lady who is sporting the latest fashion in middle-aged-lady-denim. Those are the days when wearing the funny pants are not just a good idea, but necessary.

Image credit: 20×200

LISTERINE® Bloggers Dare: Week 5

Do you guys remember the show Art Attack?

For those too young to remember, the host Neil Buchanan would teach kids all these cool art projects they could do with just everyday household items. I used to love the show and would try to make some of the art myself, though I was no Picasso.

The beauty of Art Attack is he would always say “It doesn’t have to be perfect!” which resonated with me even as a kid. The fact that the objective was in the experimentation, in the trying and failing and just having fun, I think I never stopped believing in those things.

I thought that it’d be a great idea to revisit a childhood favourite with a project of my own, INVISIBLE LETTERS.

Music credit: Salt Peanuts by The Quintet & Sleepy Tigers by Her Space Holiday

Psst: Our challenge this week was to make someone smile, and I hope my little tutorial managed to get you smiling! Thank you for all the positive comments about my videos and posts, I’ve been using the LISTERINE Bloggers Dare to take little steps towards a new, more creative direction for my blog and my life which I hope to be able to sustain – so all the support is greatly appreciated!

If you would like an INVISIBLE LETTER from me, just leave a comment with your email address and I’d be happy to make you one! (:

Second last week of the LISTERINE Bloggers Dare, phew it went by real quick!

If you like this post, do help me earn points by re-blogging the photos, share the URL on FB or RT it on Twitter!

Do continue to vote for me here! Click here for my Week 1, 2, 3 and 4 posts!

brown paper packages tied up with string

Hi  everyone!

Remember the chai&biskut giveaway I did two weeks back? Well, here are some photos of the packages I put together. I’m a rather bad present wrapper so I’m actually proud of these babies, hehe.

Photo credit: Fuzzygreenlights, Zsixshutter and myself

 

Not bad, no? Congrats to Fuzzygreenlights, Stephie, Sleepysteph, Teeks and zsixshutter! And thank you to everyone that participated, the response was amazing and I will definitely be doing more soon! (:

LISTERINE® Bloggers Dare: Week 4

If you’ve been following my journey these past 4 weeks, you know that I’m always looking to have fun and this week’s no different!

This week’s video: The Sweet Truth

Music credit: Lollipop by  The Chordettes

If you can’t view the video on your iPhone, click here to watch it on Dailymotion.

Outtakes and funny stuff:

You can hear my awfully high-pitched voice in the outtakes video.

Why is it we always cringe when we listen to our own recorded voices?

Music credit: Woo Hoo by 5.6.7.8’s

Hope you enjoyed the videos!

I also kind of made a mistake when I read what we were supposed to do this week- turns out we just had to ask 10 people the same question! Instead, I asked 10 questions. Feeling a bit silly now!

If you like the videos, do share the links on your Facebook or your blog – it gives me 5 points every time you do! (let me know if you do so I can keep track) Every comment/RT on Twitter gives me 2 points 🙂

We’re down to our last 2 weeks everyone! Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who has supported me, if I could I would hug every one of you! 😛 Do keep on voting, commenting and reposting – I would appreciate it oh so very much! 🙂

Also, do check out Sherms’ post on the behind the scenes look of the “Good Friend Hunting” photo story – she shares very candidly about her experience and it is worth a read!

waheyyy

Drew this tonight for the happy people that helped me RT about the original Fat Cat drawing.  I’ve decided to give him a friend, but he doesn’t have a name yet. Any suggestions?

Fat Cat first appeared here.

LISTERINE® Bloggers Dare: Week 3

This week I present my favourite oral health tip, and it’s a pretty fundamental one.

Just a short post to let everyone catch their breaths (geddit geddit?) and go back to the very basics of oral care, as illustrated by me, hehe.

This week the blogger with the most points and votes gets $500 to help them achieve their personal dream! I need all your help and support for this. Every comment gives me 2 points, and if you share any of my videos or photos on your Facebook or blog, I get 5 points!  Or you can also vote here.

Thank you to everyone who have been voting and supporting! (:

NOTE: Some people have told me that they don’t know how to vote. It’s really easy! To vote, you have to click on the purple badge on the right sidebar of this blog, or click here. This will take you to the microsite where you have to click on “The Dare”, “Nabilah” and then “Vote-n-Win”. You have to give them an email address in order to vote.  You can vote once a day, every day! 🙂