And the biological clocks ticks on..

I loved working at Rainbow Montessori. It was eye-opening, tiring, fun, full of saliva and sweat and tears, mad running around and pure laughter. The kids were mostly ADORABLE. Of course, they were also maddening at times, but still, the cute side always showed up just in time before I opened hell's doors on them. heehee. How can you not love THIS!

Nadine, quite a sweet child. Mostly, she'd bounce into school early and sing her own songs with her fellow pal Chuan Jun [no pic available]. They'd dance around ladeeladeedaa all over school, kinda like an officiation [?] for the day, before the others came.

These three are friends when they want to be. Hao Jie [on the left] is generally an independent kid, who occasionally tells you a longwinded story about nothing in particular, to which you nod and smile politely. Imran, is very quiet but he comes for Show&Tell day with interesting things and a speech prepared. Daniel [right] is the kid who watches too many soap operas. He was the first kid to kiss me on the lips. It was very random. *blink*This is Arman. At first, I thought he was quite a terror. Running allllll overrr the plaaace, pakat-ing with whoever was willing to do 'naughty things'. But then I realized he had a toddler's mind, and needed to be sayang-ed. After that, we became friends and he was manageable. heh. He really is a nice boy, he just gets restless.

Qiao Yu. Another sweetheart. She's the one who probably plays mommy/daughter at home. She'd make a good mommy. lol.
Marcus would come to school with his daddy. Sometimes he'd cry and want to follow daddy. Sometimes he'd say hello to a teacher and bye daddy. He loved Isaac in a squeeze-you-really-hard way.

This lil cutie, most of you recognize him by now, hahahahaha. ISAAC!!! the darlingest thing ever. This is the face he gave me when I asked him to smile at the camera, everytime!

Seriously,Joni.

I keep telling myself I must change. It’s getting so old. If I’m so desperate to set things right, why hasn’t much changed? How can I possibly talk about your dust & dirt while my cobwebs are all over the place too? These past few months I’ve realized that yes, I was very hurt and affected by the incidents that caused me to despise a majority of Christians. And yes, while I still believe I have my rights in feeling that way, I’ve also realized that I haven’t done enough to set my Christianity right. Sure, I may have told you that I “understand where so&so was coming from and did this or that so she wouldn’t be turned off from Christians herself”, but now I see, what was the use in that? Wasn’t it just an impression of the truth, not the real thing? I wasn’t living the impression I was giving. Why on earth am I walking this way and that way, this way and that when I know for a fact that it makes me a part of the problem?!

A number of occasions in these few months past, have made me really think. Have put me on the spot. Have caught me red-handed bloody-handed spillage-on-the-floor. I may be dabbling with a very dangerous thing. I’m teetering on a very high edge, aren’t I? The last incident was last Saturday. When I told S about a part of me I’d conveniently left out. She didn’t say much. It was just a half-second look that killed me. It messed me up this bad. Thanks, S. Now it’s a little clearer – this edge I’m overlooking. I don’t like what I see. And I’ve been around long enough to know that if I wait longer, my warning signs are gonna get drastic. I don’t wanna wait for that moment, THEN panic and turn around. Why can’t the moment be now, now that I see it clearer, now that You’re tugging harder, now that I feel emptier? Maybe that’s why I’m not professionally at the level I want to/should be at by now. No wait. MAYBE?! Of COURSE that’s why!

Time to move out of this Hollywood, woman. Quickly, before you’re Nipped/Tucked.

I don’t know how to get rid of the anger/hurt/frustration. I could be so much more. I want to be so much more. Now my real test begins, doesn’t it? At a very difficult level – Level 7, Speed 5. 1 life to go. Press Start to begin. Now what are you gonna do, Joanna Lynne Nagaratnam?

I'm off, will you miss me?

Well, here I am blogging at 5:02am. I leave for the bus station in 42mins. I feel sleepy.

I can't believe it's been pretty much FIVE months that I've been back here.

How did that happen so quickly?! No WONDER I feel so strangely attached to Malaysia again.

I will miss Bernice and Eunice. And ALL THE GRACE USJ KIDS. [alahh,dont lah terasa i call u kids, senang untuk i je lah]*puts on best rempit voice*

My OMGsarah, Petrina Thong, ArielleTaiImSoProudOfUForBeingBrave. I love you three, with most of my heart. EVEN IF sometimes things dont click well. love me too?

I will miss the randomities like zac joash nelvie kristy chern paultantk and wid.

I will miss you.

I will miss MANGLISH SIGHhHHhHhHhHHhHh

i WOULD link all names mentioned above, but im so sleepy and im leaving like.....now.

Here's to the past five months.*clink*

Bangkok, here I come again.

oh dear dear me, Paultantk. i think i have gotten carried away with photoshop.look at the time.

Babes

I like Sharon. She is one power chick. She's from KUCHING,my homietown *wannabe pose*. A lot of times, she speaks and my mind says, "wah. one day really soon,this chick is gonna bring the house DOWN!" You go, SHARONNNNNNN!*liCk*

I love my cousins, they are just BABElicious! LOOK AT THEM! We should've had more outings this time 'round,girls..you gotta come to bangkok sometime,promise me!! LOVE u!


...to be continued.

Kissing A Samuel

NAH!

*stops self from apologizing* Hellloooo, fellow people! my my the things that have happened since my last post. We've a lot of catching up to do so here we go...! Riana Green's 5pools [or so] was where the threesome decided we'd take a day off. It was "just nice"..as Goldilocks would say.Then came the night we went to Oasis. It was filled with water,ice,water,cards,more drinks,until some of our bladders malfunction-ed, hahahahahhahahah [for more information, please refer to Petrina Thong]

The Ultra Edition was a celeb party to honour three individuals in their form of art, be it music,fashion design, or pictorial art. Pet and I were there to help out with registration [yeah i know, not as glam, but hey.] It wasn't too bad, but nothing terribly exciting either.

This was Isaac Entry's last performance at Laundry. I was just in the mood to ber-Laundry last week, and paul wanted to practice on his cam,:P [and he turned 22 that night,too]..so...yeah.

And tHISSSSSS, is the reason why I've been so busy. Grace USJ youth organized a music workshop and mini concert on the 24th of Oct. And since I only work 'til 12.30pm while everyone else worked 'til much later, I got the jobs of : backdrop design/deco, 7min original performance [with DarrenAshley,Eugene,and Josh Jesudasan], dance choreography, and keyboard workshop teacher. I could go into details but..nahh. Ah yes, since you generally voted for the videoblogging of a song....here it is...
Disclaimer: i had a sore throat that i tried hard to get rid of, but under the circumstances of late night practices, early morning yelling-at-kindergarten-children days, lack of proper food, yadayadayada........yeah. i apologize for the pitchy "mariahcarey notes", as Sean put it.heh.

SEE!I'm on the right track.lol

You scored as Visual&PerformingArts. You should strongly consider majoring (or minoring) in the Visual or Performing Arts (e.g. Art, Art Education, Art History, Ceramics, Culinary Arts, Dance, Drawing, Fashion Design, Film, Graphic Design, Interior Design, Marketing (advertising), Music, Music Education, Music Theory, Painting, Photography, Theatre). It is possible that the best major for you is your 2nd, 3rd, or even 5th listed category, so be sure to consider ALL majors in your OTHER high scoring categories (below). You may score high in a category you didnt think you would--it is possible that a great major for you is something you once dismissed as not for you. The right major for you will be something 1) you love and enjoy and 2) are really great at it. Consider adding a minor or double majoring to make yourself standout and to combine your interests. Please post your results in your myspace/blog/journal. Visual&PerformingArts 75% HR/BusinessManagement 75% French/German/Spanish 63% Psychology/Sociology 63% Education/Counseling 56% English/Journalism/Comm 38% PoliticalScience/Philosophy 38% History/Anthropology/LiberalArts 38% Religion/Theology 31% Biology/Chemistry/Geology 25% Accounting/Finance/Marketing 25% Mathematics/Statistics 13% Physics/Engineering 13% Nursing/AthleticTraining 6% WHAT MAJOR IS RIGHT FOR YOU? created with QuizFarm.com

POLL or something to that extent.

I'm bored of talking about the happenings in my life here. hehe [as if]

But here. I'll give some suggestions for the next post, and if u like, u can pick one, and let me know.

Would you like me to..

A. take pictures of _____________ and post them up. [fill in the blank]

B. Video blog a song.

C. Do a questionnaire with questions you give me.hahahahahaha.

D. Write about the kids at the montessori I'm working at.

E. ____________________________ [fill in the blank]

I got my laptop. It works. I am happy.

Have you looked up the word "Semangat"?

So there we were getting a loonnnggg briefing about the dangers and safety precautions of paintball since a grand total of about TWO in our group had played it before. But we had an awesome bunch of characters with us. It was superb. And a tad violent. hehehehehehhehehe.

Jeremy was upset that I'd shot Sarah..

Sam was glad I'd made some useful shots...while he preened and primped himself.... Daniel Yong tried to be a pimp...but failed...so Pet had to show him how it's done..

I was upset that I didn't get any battlescars as proof that I played hard too!!! POTONG!!

THE BLOOD AND GORE WE CAUSED.

hehe. THE ONES WHO INFLICTED THEM...

And then of course we had to ber-poserposer aLOT.hehe.

AWwwww isn't this adorable?

That's Paul in green. He's a very sweet boy. And that's his brother Daniel Gan, who's just left the country. Byebye, Daniel...

I have a few more pics but it refuses to load. What's new. Anyway, bottom line is that we had a bLAST on the 9th of September when SARAH LIM SHU YI turned 19. The only sad part was that we lost a BIG bunch of important photos of the other parts of her birthday. sighh. ah well. We've got the memories....and a coupla sanitarytowels to remember those moments by. [hahahahah,sorry,internal joke.] LOVE YOU SARAH HAVE AN AWESOME NINETEENTH!!

The Indifference Card.

It's sorta like this. There comes a point where I just let things roll by. The sweet, the sour, the stale, the fresh, the raw, the bland. And I'm at that point. Maybe everything is too overwhelming for me to respond. Or maybe I'm just procrastinating the inevitable. *one big shrug* is the way I've been these two weeks. The indifference card is being played. Well, not really. Coz' it's not like I'm not affected by it all; I am but I'm choosing to take deep breaths and smile at life. I'm not emo, honest to goodness. It's just called "blankness", I suppose. Indifference is a little too strong, maybe. It's that slight la-di-da feeling, now and then. And other times, it's just a *blink blink* moment. Or those hours when I just need some air. mmhmm.
Sometimes I'm also tempted to get back into the Tasha madstressexcitedupsetgibberjabber mode. But then I stop myself in time, and wonder what good it would do. I've learnt that one shouldn't assume. I've learnt that one should not catch oneself in shady situations. I've learnt that it's hard for me to not try to explain what's on my heart and at the same time, it's hard to try to explain it.
Yup. So there we go. An uninteresting post, to say the least. I don't even have pictures to post up because I haven't gotten them from Pet/Sarah/Gene/whoever else. Erheh sorry.

p.s. did u notice my pathetic attempt at making this post at least "colorful" to look at?hahahahha. I figured it's the least I can do.Lol.*rolls eyes at self*

Just awesome. [edited 1]

I finally decide to get a Mac, instead of a pc, and they decide to have a worldwide shortage which bars me from getting one by this week, or ever.
*'tis-the-end-of-the-world pose*

Edit 1: it gets better. today,monday 21st,mom finds out that the credit card she has to apply for [they don't accept the one we already have!] will take about 3weeks.
frustration sial!!!!!!!

The Manglish Lesson

I have come to realize that the most useful version of English in the world is Manglish. Pretty bold statement, I suppose you without any Malaysian blood may say. But if you really took some time to learn a few phrases in Manglish, sooner or later you're gonna wonder how you ever got through life without some of these words. SO. I have decided to list out a few common phrases for you [yes you, the non-Malaysian] to learn and hopefully one day, use. Don't get me wrong. I'm not forcing you or anything; I'm merely enlightening you so that *I* may use them myself in the days to come [and you will understand what I mean when I do].

The most famous "Lah".
"Lah" is undoubtedly the first sound of Manglish that foreigners will hear and probably pick up soon enough. It is an additive you can add at the end of a word or a sentence to strengthen the expression.
Here are some examples of how we use the "lah":
Okay-lah! (The different tone of the speaker determines how willingly the person is agreeing to the subject discussed)
Can-lah! (This is often used to beg for something or favor)
Cannot-lah! (Well, to refuse somebody's begging...)
Yes-lah! (An unwilling way to say yes, also depending on the tone of speaker)
No-lah! (To strengthen your disagreement or decline to something)
Come on-lah! (Normally used to persuade people to change their opinion or attitude)
You can use the "lah" in almost any situation. Like: good-lah, nice-lah, no-sweat-lah, Don't-lah like that!, very clever-lah,etc.

A few other suffixes include:

mah : Used to affirm a sentence but not as strongly as "lah". Used at the end of sentences.
Eg. "She's like that mah.."

nah : Derived from the Malay expression of "Nah!". Used when giving something to another person. Eg. "Nah, take this!"

meh : Used when asking questions, especially when a persion is skeptical of something.
Eg. "Really meh?"

ah : Derived from the Chinese expression "a". Used at the end of sentences, but unlike "meh", the question is rhetorical. Also used when asking a genuine question. Besides that, some people use it when referring to a subject before making a (usually negative) comment.
Eg. "Why is he like that ah?"
"Is that true ah?"
"My brother ah, always disturb me!"

lor : Used when explaining something.
Eg. "Like that lor!"

Some random words to know:

"Kacau" [kah-chao'] means 'disturb' or stir things up in Malay. There are friendly 'kacau' and unfriendly 'kacau's. Sometimea, we just phone or visit our friend to kacau him/her from 'peaceful' loneliness. And there are some guys who always like to kacau girls! And normally we don't welcome people who will just come and ka-ka-cau-cau when we are busy doing or enjoying something.
Eg. "I don't like that guy-lah. He always kacau me in class.
" Eh, little boy, ka-ka-cau-cau me only! Go go go!"

"Blur" > confused, out-of-it. Roughly equivalent to "spacey" in American slang.
Eg. "Aiyah, that Jane always very blur lah. Don't ask her about these kinda things."

"Slumber" > relaxed, laid-back; possibly a conflation of the Malay "selamba", meaning nonchalant, and the English "slumber".
Eg. "Ya, Jason slumber only walked in and took the camera with him without telling us"

These are only a handful of the words/phrases that are so engraved in us Malaysians, making us the unique and weird people we are. If you'd like to learn more, do indulge in the wonderful world of the INTERNET, maybe try searching places like

THIS wikipedia page

or THIS one

or this china version of manglish which i don't really use much

Or if you are more 'semangat' [haha,look it up], you could even check this out.


[p.s. sorry this post is kinda messy.]

A stagnant song in dire need of a touch from ArielleTaiLiXian.

Down it all. Woe to him who let you fall.

Between spinning and speeding. Woe to him who left you weak.

All it took was just one strike.

Burning out in broad daylight.

No resolve to stand upright.

Squeeze it 'til the tracks left in your palm are purple-blue

Can't believe the hue could come from you.

[blank space for Arielle's contributions]

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So. What am I to you?

Snapshots of my summer so far...

WANTED.

These two are guilty of conveniently FFK-ing me here. Reward Assured, please contact your nearest Joni if you see them.

ANATOLIY ZALEVSKYY

Say what you want, guys. I still think his act is SEXY. He's so strong and smooth and stimerlingamjitdootsingh!! Watch til 3:35, THEN only comment.

[to my non-grace-pj people, i'm sorry about that word, hhhahahhahah]

NAhhhh.

Nice? I made this for Arielle the butterfly queen a long time ago. Painstakingly cut each little hole with a penknife, trying hard not to slice the wrong sections and ruin the white card paper. I like the result. So far, being home has been a big mess of ups and downs. Put them together and I guess you'd get an equal ratio. Which I suppose is good. There ARE a lot of nice things going on. And it IS after all only my first week here. Wow. One week already huh. Gotta get moving and do all I wanna do here.

Nelvie!

ahhhahahah. buttaaaa.. i just wanted to put your name there for fun. Stress ar? ekekekekekkekeekekke.

I'm waiting on the pictures we've taken so far, before I can nicely update you on what I've been up to.Visuals are important. hehe. Oh look what I found! I'd never seen these pictures before until yesterday when i received a cd containing a big bunch from Arielle. thanks MUAKKKK doll!!

This was Christmas '05 at Grace P.J. Oh yeah, I just discovered that PetalingJaya is officially a city on its own now. YAY, that makes it a lot easier to describe to foreigners.

This was also in Dec '05 when the foursome had our reunion at The Curve with the firetruck ahahaha. Oh, and as you should know by now, that's Pet [or Petrina]. She should be here with me ber-holidaying now!! But she's having fun in Aussie and NZ later with Arielle, so nevermind lah. At least we had our Penang trip. Which was really fun, eh Pet? lol. *liCk*