Just finished reading this article, shared and reread again. So many enlightening moments in this article but so little people truly experienced it.

There will never be an end to finding happiness, but being happy at the moment and contented with what life has given is a tweak of the mindset, something that will get your spirits up everyday.
Everybody grows older, but not everyone grows wiser. You can be 40 but still be harping at the unimportant things in life.

As of now, I am happy because I made it so. I am happy I have a roof over my head and people who love me - so much so I count my blessings every morning I awake. Life is a bliss.

Yes, I am happy but not complacent. There are goals to strive towards and milestones to achieve, and I shall enjoy the journey there.

I'm a hermit in real life.

Just going through my Facebook feeds (#ThankGodforFB) and was instantly updated on how complete some of my friends' lives are. After years of searching for a purpose in life that could potentially complete that search, be it traveling the world, creating jobs, having found a life partner or just having a child - I am thrilled for them because I know that the future is not so much a mystery anymore.

During our teenage years we used to wonder what would life be like in the future. As we searched for ourselves the answers in the more successful role models, we did not all turn out to be what we wanted to be. I did not know then that the past ten years would in the end define the rest of my life.

Just ten years ago, did we even think that we will be where we are now?
The joy and love we could receive now and freely give?
How the definition of success is neither a measure of monetary values nor corporate achievements?
How today we stand as adults could in a way instil fear into the younger ones?

Not too far from now, I will turn 30. Would I have achieved everything I ever wanted before then, or is there never an ending quest for what I really want to do.

Not every 30-year-olds find their life's goals and can safely say to have achieved them. Or maybe, no one could ever say that they have truly achieved their mission in life?

I once told myself that I should blog once a day. Then I failed miserably. Ok, let's try to catch up.

Before the six housewarming parties and one big wedding proposal party we have thrown over the past three months, we did have a life. All these photos are not edited at all because I can't be bothered about the nitty gritty anymore. Blergh.

First up, there was an article on SpinAsia I wrote - and the magazine is now dead. Oops.
 


Two months into settling in our new place, we flew off to Kuching in April --

Oh, that kolo mee.

 Then we hit the pool which we spent two days at:

act chio

Pullman Kuching: Boyfriend and the pool

Then dinner (same place for both nights):

Then obligatory lousy-cam selfie:

Thus ends Kuching!
Actually it was nothing much because we lazed around for three days straight. It was a true vacation.

Then, a few more housewarming dinners. We hosted so many dinners until we got professional at it.

Then, China --
First the scenic spots we went to:

That's the entrance to the washroom, btw. I have no idea why they chose to pose there. -.-

The lesson learnt here is to never stand next to Dajie for a photograph

 It was beautiful. China was REAL to me at that time and all I could think about was how people at those times used to live. Everything we learned about Chinese architecture is true.

Then came the crowds -- I think we were in 龍之夢.

That's seven storeys in a mall, and still super packed. I swear if I stayed for one more hour in that crowd I will murder someone.

Then next day, we went to a crowd-filled heritage spot. Someone kill me please.

We were there for quite some time but I no longer had the mood to take photos because I was already an angry woman standing in the crowd and being pushed around like in primary school when the last class was over. So, I was an angry, angry woman. So pissed at people coming close to me.

Anyway, we still queued around 30 minutes for some famous 小龍包 (xiaolongbao) and the best seller 蠏蟥汤包 (crab roe soup pao). The dough was okay but the soup was heaven. 

Amidst all the huru-hara, we went for beers at 老外街 (means "foreigner's street"):

Mommy was so sporting so we had to take a photo even though the lighting was appalling. We just had to.

What I missed most in China was the time we had together at Dajie's place - small but cosy. We managed to cook meals with only one pot and two plates.

 

The most important women in my life: Mommy and Dajie -- Love'em so much. Tho I was in major bitch fit in China - meh.
Well, that's all I remember of China so far other than the incredible size of vegetables in the wet market there.

So that's all the catch-up up till June. Guess if I don't write them down now I would have forgotten most of it by end July. Tho I'm pretty sure I must have forgotten some great deal of details in Kuching and most of May.

Remind me, if you will!

Some people just couldn't be bothered to be polite and courteous. Just because they are behind the keyboard and not needing to come face to face for a direct confrontation, they lash out as if they have the right to.

I am afraid to know.

Bimbo note: I am gaining so much weight I'm starting to hate myself. Ugh.

Anyway, there is this one topic I have been talking about for quite some weeks already, about settling down.

Why the phrase -- "Settling Down"?
"It's time you get a wife and settle down..."
"You have to stop playing a fool and start settling down... yada yada..."

We hear these on TV or when grandparents/parents are nagging but do we actually know the real meaning behind "settling-down"?

I pondered for a bit, thinking that it just means that you find a partner and live the rest of your lives together, while your partner guards you with his/her life.

Then I started thinking about the literal connotation - It's about setting a routine for your life and stabilising it by adhering to that same routine. That includes how and when the laundry gets done, at what time do you visit the toilet everyday, your bedtime, and your daily expectations with deliverables everyday.

Life is such that parents think that by getting a job, buy a house, getting married, and having kids - is what life is set out to be, the moment you are born to them.

When life sets into a routine, there's nothing interesting about it anymore. Then, is this a life worth living? Or are you even living life?

It's difficult to get out of this cycle but then, the biggest risk in life - is to not take risks at all.

Yay! Pictures not up because they are not ready yet but we are excited!
As of now every weekend is packed with something. Either something to fix or something to furnish.

This June is so meaningful to me and we endeavor to do a little housewarming party with close friends.
This June is my birthday month, my 2nd year anniversary with Mr J and most of all, 2014 June marks the beginning of my 10th year in KL!

I know a celebration for my 10th year here is overrated but I'm sure any of you who are now living far from your hometown and at the same time trying to make it work independently in the city would know what am I talking about. The first few years were the hardest because survival was everything and while family is far, far away, you have only yourself to depend on.

When I first started out here, there was no such thing as a last minute call to your family for help. You had to plan your itinerary taking into consideration of public transportation, how you were to live in the shabby rented room and still be like everyone else. It wasn't peer pressure, it was mere survival instincts. You need friends to at least be normal.

How clean drinking water is hard to come by, how laundry is almost impossible without an early queue, how every meal is the same but you can't be bothered with choosing, how there is no way you can see this city beyond the area you live in because you don't have a car and One Utama is so, so unattainable. 

At 18 I learnt to be on my own and no one was going to call to check if I'm ok at the end of the night. No one would bother to know if I have slogged through the day taking the wrong bus then ending up waiting for the last bus home, and even if someone was following me while walking on the road and totally freaked me out, I had no one to tell because no one cared. Or the ones who cared were nowhere near me and there was nothing they could do.

I remember crying to myself in the middle of night fearful of what will happen tomorrow or depressed at what state I was living in. No family, no close friends, no one really understands what I was going through but I knew I was gonna make it. I was stubborn like that :/ still am, actually.

To strike out and know that this new place will be your home for the next 10 years was probably the hardest thing to do. I could never call back and tell my parents that I want to come home or cash is running low. I couldn't make my parents worry for nitty gritty like this! I had to make it work.

Gah, this blog post is sounding a little depressing but you get the gist!

Well on a sunnier note - I graduated within two years. I got my first job at 20 working for Sunway, got my first car too which spells AWESOME! Finally rented a whole apartment to myself at 22 (finally no shared bathrooms!). Went to India that year and came back with a new perspective of life.

At 23 I started two businesses while maintaining a "higher" paying managerial position in a smaller firm and at 24 I officially left the corporate world.

Today I am 27 and after nine years in KL, I work only three hours on weekdays, found my love and bought an apartment, together planning the next few decades of life.

Tell me, isn't this worth a celebration of some sort?

So... If you have been invited to my housewarming party, you better come! Nikki Lee!!

Premenstrual Syndrome, ladies and gentlemen.

It is getting ridiculous to get depressed over nothing at all. Even sanity cannot contain it. Mr J bought another bouquet of roses to appease me but it hasn't really worked - Sorry hon!

Imma get lotsa sleep and zzz.

Isn't it amazing to know that you have actually already met your soulmate, over ten years ago - at a small event within the community? Our social circle so intertwined but you never got to know his/her name?

I was 15 and came all the way to KL for the very first time, my crew was invited to dance for an mini christian concert (I think) and there he was, in the audience. He must be 16 and looked like a nerd. I don't remember him, and vice versa.

Ten years later, he is everything to me.