"It's not where we're going, but who we're with" :)

Oh yes, it has come and gone :(


Four days didn't seem like enough to any of us, leaving was so hard although we know we were gonna see each other the next day hehe :p


We never really have big family holidays like this, so, this one, it was a big deal.

The last time we were all together on a holiday was when my aunty from the US came down about 10 years ago. So really, it has been a long time.

But to me, the most important thing about this holiday was to have my grandparents with us. They weren't too keen on going at first, but we convinced them to come in the end, and I am more than glad that they did come, cause it might be a bit too long before we have our next Sreeni holiday.

pretty view,mm? :)

I had Shania Twain's "You've Got a Way" playing the whole way to Penang, the same song, yes the same song, a little much I know but I just love the song so much, no idea why, it just makes me >:)

and I had my crackbud with me to make the trip there a tinsy bit more comfortable he he :p

(thanks for letting me lean on you, hug you, litterally put my whole body on you without you muttering a word nyehe loveyou) that's why I always sit next to you in the car,sissy :)

Day one, we headed to Ipoh first, to eat yummy dim sum, mmm :) and then we all headed to Penang, to Sua Tau Lane to have delish hawker food but the old man that used to sell the yummy kaya pancakes isn't there anymore! So I searched everywhere for it, but noooo, I still couldn’t find it. SIGH, big spoiler :(

For the next few days, we just spent alot of quality time together.

we put our bags down.

3 minutes later, we were at the beach.

:) (this includes sunil, he's always been one of the girlies! haha)

I could sit and watch the waves for hours.

It's so calming and peaceful :')

The captain ball & volleyball matches in the beach,


Being THE loudest people there(haha what's new),

Burrying Ati in the sand ;she's too cute. Such a drama queen la our little “POmelo Anderson” running in the beach in her one piece suit. Oh, Baywatch flashback! Hehe :p

Watching Gramps play volleyball with us, he never does that! :’) Which almost 80 year old can you say that about!?,

Ordering ONE burger from room service and splitting it amongst the 5 of us haha and paying it with Sunil's coins!,

PARASAILING! I only have a picture of Shayna all geared up, the cam died on me :( buuuut yay! I finally did it, although I was so freaked out before going, I'm afraid of heights! but after all that hastle, I was so relieved that I actually did it, hee :) everyone did it except my papa :/
It was so calming looking at my legs dangling in the air, feeling the cold breeze, looking at the pretty ocean and plus, i had a good partner, alayna :p

Karaoke : reliving our past with S Club 7, Spice Girls and the Backstreet Boys, with dance moves and everything! hehe, oh good times,

Baby shav sang to Love Story.

Although I don't like that song, when she sang it, I couldn't help but like it, too cute! :p

Anddddd :)

Gramps sang to Frank Sinatra :')

my schweets :)

Watching gramps and meems walking together, holding hands, it makes me feel all fuzzy inside :')

THE most amazing couple alive,

Our everyday pool & snooker games which made me laugh so hard till my tummy ached,

The ENDLESS laughter and weird, crazy, sadistic, retarded jokes in the room HEHE. You guys are real schmucksss,

And on the last day, we decided not to sleep, well Ally, Nil, Alayna and I mostly. We stayed up and talked for hours and hours about random topics, life, love, family, society, everything and then walked out onto the balcony and saw something that we don't usually get to see : a sky that was filled with the most prettiest stars I have seen, it was breath taking :')

yeah.. but nayna dozed off, obviously.

We tried taking pictures of the star-filled sky that night, but, it doesn't look so good on camera :(

Our last night made me really happy, I just love it when we have our late night sessions, it's always so meaningful, I love you girls(and guy) :') and this time, it meant so much more because Ally and Sunil joined us, SUNIL joined us! He isn’t exactly the mushy mushy type, but he really opened up that night :)

Before we headed home, we decided, since Grandpa was with us, and since he hasn't been to Ammama & Achacha's(my Grandpa's parents) grave for years and years now, we'd take a quick two stops to both their burrial grounds, Ammama's in Butterworth and Achacha's in Taiping.

So we visited the grave, said a few prayers as a family for them. Grandpa's usually the strong one in the family, and I never really see him get sad or upset, actually, I never do, but when he was there, praying at his parents grave, he was more emotional than I have ever seen him to be.
I could see how much it meant to grandpa to get to visit his parents grave.

I still have memories of Ammama's funeral.
And I still remember the chants and songs played during her funeral and I'm constantly reminded of her when I hear those songs being played again, though I was so so young when she passed away.
I remember kissing her hand heh :')
I sometimes just get this feeling, when I'm going through a tough time, that she's watching over me, and well that.. that makes me smile.
But the day ended well with Taiping food :) Yeah yeah, we eat alot.

My mummy was talking to a close aunty, and she asked about our holiday, so mommy said “Oh it was great!” and then Aunty started to cry. She said she was reminiscing on her old memories when her family used to go for trips together or just spend time together. Not much anymore.
It just reconfirmed my realization that these little things really are things that I should be so grateful about. I love the fact that I have a huge family, extended family or not, we’re a big family and I absolutely love it. We’re noisy, everyone talks at the same time, I swear, we’re like those Italian families you see on tv hehehe :p We joke, we cry, we EAT, we bake, we fight, we serve together, we organize, we make photo albums to keep for life together :’) we.. love.
In 20 years, we’ll have another huge family holiday and take OUR kids with us. yee :)



anyway

I love you,family.

The Battle at Kruger

I've been so busy lately that I haven't been able to blog for so long!

I'm still really occupied with things to do so, here's just a video I watched at the Leadership Camp about a week ago. Never in my life have I watched a video this moving.

I'll tell you why, but just watch the video first, very carefully. Watch the whole video.

(Tune out the music - this was the only short video that I found unfortunately with a not-very-good malay song. The one I watched at camp, the music was.. sooo good)

If you watched the video closely, you would've seen the four lions crouching first, getting ready to get it's prey. Then after awhile, one lion goes for the baby buffalo and the other follow behind to help. The few other buffalo's that were with the baby buffalo ran away. So yes, now the lion's fallen into the river, and an alligator comes out and gets hold of the buffalo and the lion and the alligator start tugging on the buffalo, each trying to get something to eat.

But all that is besides the point I'm trying to make.
If you realised, after awhile, all of a sudden, hundreds and HUNDREDS, maybe thousands of buffalo's, I don't know, that huge herd of buffalo's came to save that ONE baby buffalo. I remember, while I was watching this at the camp, I started to tear(yeah I know, you might think "WHAT? she cried about buffalo's and lions ah?!" but seriously, this really moved me) I remember thinking, if animals, creatures without the power of CHOICE, without a consience, can come together just to save ONE baby buffalo, why can't WE, us humans, gifted with the power of CHOICE, with a consience, CANNOT come TOGETHER, UNITED, to help contribute to save our generation, to save the next, or to just help make this world that belongs to.. ALL of us a little bit better.

You know, I learnt this at camp too, about Ownership. Sometimes, we forget that, this world of ours, or the people living in it, it really belongs to every single one of us.

And yeah, everyone says "Yes yes, it's my Earth too, my world too" but if it really is something that BELONGS to us, don't you think that it isn't only the duty of a fraction of the world to make this place better to live in? Shouldn't it then be the duty of ALL of us? I mean, for instance, our room belongs to us, and we take care of it well, because well, it belongs to us, so yes, we want it to be nice and decent and pretty and comfortable, so it's the exact same thing with the world we live in.

Maybe you think that what you do now, has no effect on the betterment of the world. Maybe you think that there are enough people out there trying to make this world a better place to live in. One of the facillitators, Daniel, said "You might not be able to change the whole world but you can change the world of one". Isn't that already really good? Even in the video of the lions and the buffalo's, if you were watching closely, only a few of the buffalo's in the front row attacked the lions, and the rest of them were there, behind all of them, playing their parts, whether it be big or small, they were playing their parts. The impact that it made, when ALL of those buffalo's came together united, made all the difference in the world. We think sometimes that it's only the work of the government, the NGO's, or activists to be the ones upfront, okay well, that's who we SEE doing all the work, and we think that's enough and we always say "Leave it to them to do it", but it really does make all the difference in the world if everyone, and I mean, everyone, comes together, works together for something that really, we all want. The little things that we do to contribute really does make a difference, whether or not you are being noticed for it.

"Not everyone is prominent, but everyone is significant"

Yup.

I love gaining new insights.

leaving for Penang in 8 hours :)

I need a goooood break.

Movers of today.

Camp was amazing! I had theeeee best time :)

It was by far the most empowering and impactful camp&workshop I have ever been to.

MBPJ did an amazing job asking the Generasi Gemilang young adults/youth to facillitate the leadership camp(in line with helping to create a Child Friendly City of PJ)

yay so happy, and I actually miss everyone at camp!

I've got alot to say about what happened, and I'll post up some pictures too.

But as of now, I'm dead tired and in dire need of rest.

One day of rest, until Saturday, for the Open Mic Night! yay:)

plus, I'm counting down the days to Penang with the cousies d:

7days to go!

I'm actually excited for camp tomorrow :)

yay:)

Feels like home.

Things are getting busier by the day.

With the Open Mic Night, the leadership camp in Bukit Tinggi, and some youth activities and meetings in Pantai Dalam.

But.. I kinda like busy. I feel productive,proactive, and useful.

Now, that's how I want to spend my holidays. Doing things that I might not be able to do as much once school starts, something productive and meaningful.

I want to make the most out of the time I have.

But time's passing so quickly, that, I don't like.

But.. here's to a good December :)

Penang in 12 days with my favourite people. yay:)