I’ve been angry at the world of lately. Usually I’m fine but for the past three days, anger seems to fuel my soul more than anything else. I could easily attribute it to the most common of excuses…

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) (also called PMT or Premenstrual Tension) is a collection of physical, psychological, and emotional symptoms related to a woman’s menstrual cycle.

…

The most common symptoms are:

* Weight gain from premenstrual water retention
* Abdominal bloating
* Breast tenderness
* Stress or anxiety
* Depression
* Crying spells
* Mood swings, irritability or anger
* Appetite changes and food cravings
* Trouble falling asleep (insomnia)
* Joint or muscle pain
* Headache
* Fatigue (medical)
* Acne
* Swelling of breasts
* Trouble concentrating
* Social withdrawal
* Body temperature increase

…or is it more than that? I wish I knew.

*sigh*

Stocking up for the store really has put a dent on my credit card. I’m at least a few hundred bucks poorer now…or at least when the bill comes.

The first of my purchase arrived yesterday and someone suggested taking photos but I’m too lazy right now. The heat is horrific and I still have about 14 rows to go for my shawl before I start on a new one.

Perhaps I’ll go do some yarn winding later and take some pretty pictures. It’s time I update the store and this blog with pics! No?

Ever seen that show Till Debt Do Us Part? It’s screened over Astro on a regular basis and features a financial planner/manager of some sorts giving debt-burdened couples from the UK a lesson or two about money and marriage.

Money woes are one of the top reasons for divorces around the world and if you’ve ran into some bad luck once or twice, you’d know what sort of strain it can and will put on a relationship. Now, you’d think that people would know these basics - don’t spend beyond your limit, don’t buy what you cannot afford, save whatever and however you can, etc - but this show just proves that there are some people out there who just do not have the word “save” in their vocabulary. The mistake often starts here - weddings. You’ve probably heard it a gazillion times, plus it doesn’t help that Asians are crazy about saving face.

It’s a once-in-a-lifetime affair! People will talk if you don’t have a grandiose ceremony!

Never mind if you don’t know half your guests. Never mind if they show up with additional people that are not part of the invite list. Never mind if it’s a card that no one will keep - the minute your wedding is over, they trash it into the bin along with all their other unwanteds. Never mind if you really REALLY cannot afford to splash money around just like that.

Honestly, I would love to have my dream wedding. You know how it goes - a poofy wedding gown with lace and bling-blings all over, a huge banquet at the classiest hotel, wedding favours imported from the US…the list is never ending. But when all the champagne (or booze) has been drunk, when all the funfare has die down, what is next but bills and more bills plus that huge dent in your savings?

So Nil and I decided to do things all on our own…simply because we couldn’t afford a lot of things. I took charge of my own wedding…yes, the wedding planner was me. If you don’t like the deco, too bad. It’s not your wedding. ^.~

Anyway, yeah…no cake, no professional videographer or photographer, no wedding dress, no twenty over tables or a huge ballroom…in its place, I took a 10-table function room in KL with a tailored dress or two, friends as my photographer and a dummy five tier cake to cut. It was, after all, just for show. But you know how it is…part of us is unhappy…naggy even at the prospects of all your friends blowing 2K per table, renting wedding gowns and hiring professionals here and there.

Then yesterday’s episode of Till Debt Do Us Part hit the nail on the spot.

What matters more at the end of the day is what happens after the wedding NOT the wedding itself. Which is more important - a dream wedding or a dream marriage?

So my focus right now? I want a dream marriage more than a dream wedding. At least I’ll have more to show for it than a bunch of pictures and VCDs.

People probably think I’m nuts to be doing so much…and at this point in time as well.

There is the wedding that is coming up in February - I still have the wedding favours to make, source and assemble; two slideshows for the dinner; food tasting and deco to worry about; photoshoot design and album to veto over…well, you get what I mean.

Then there is Shawls 4 Sale! which doing fantastic since opening a month ago. I have about fourteen orders including the first one I delivered last week and that ought to keep me busy right up till December. In the meantime, I’ve been stocking up on the store with new yarns. Am in the middle of finalizing an order with a bunch of other knitters.

And of course, my spanking new cake deco classes. With some luck, I’ll be carrying them on into November. After all, what’s the point of starting now only to let it die halfway?

To top things off, did I mention that I’m signing up for make-up classes? That’ll take place on Saturdays, 3-6pm…

So including work which has me swamped in with assignments to grade and final year students to supervise plus a host of other paperwork to submit and events to take part in, you can see how my plate has gotten kind of full all of a sudden.

In a way, I love it! I love how I am able to pick up so many things at one go - knowledge is such a wonderful thing. Honestly, it doesn’t feel very stressful for me. I still have time to knit, destress, watch a fantastic movie like Ratatouille and be absolutely tickled to the bone…

Wonderful no?

Yes, that’s me…I have decided to take the plunge and up my current occupations to include part-time student.

I’ve always been fascinated with cake decoration and concluded once & for all that it was better to learn than to just gawk and stare in awe at the beauties that people churn out on a regular basis - especially people like her and her.

Anyway, the first lesson will start in September and run once a week for two hours. I choose to go for their evening classes because of work commitments but for those who are more flexible, they have day classes too! Price paid includes a starter kit and certificates plus basic lessons in preparing stuff for cake deco.

Techniques covered include torting a cake, frosting, basic shell and zig zag borders, the Wilton rose (15 petals), the Sweet Pea, the Bow, pattern transfer, drop flower and figure piping (clown). Medium used would be buttercream.

Once this level is complete, I plan to go on to Level II and III which will start in October and November respectively. Am pretty excited because those levels which cover lessons on churning out flowers, food painting and fondant plus wedding cake deco!

For information on classes and prices even, you can check out this site or visit the “school” named International Centre of Cake Artistry (ICCA) Sdn Bhd at 16-B, 1st & 2nd Floor, Jalan 14/20, Section 14, 46100 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.

People have been asking me what my future plans are once I move to France to be with Nil. Honestly, I have too many ideas.

So far, the business-related ideas are these:

• Knitting - shawls and clothes
• Wedding planning
• Handmade card printing
• Baking & sweet stuff
• Make-up
• Breakfast & bed with Nil running the place and me organizing the kitchen

* All of this would be done from home first instead of having a store physically. It means less overhead for me and way less capital than what I have.

The back-up plans which are more traditional would be to work for someone and I plan to go into the education or language line. It’s either a PhD and teaching OR language degree and translation work.

I would really like to concentrate on my family and have a small business on the side. Being just a rich tai tai or housewife just doesn’t sit well with me. Then again I’m not very familiar with the French market so…I dunno. I suppose we’ll just have see how things go when it does finally happen.

Here it is, folks - a shop of my own…well, sort of!

I’ll be removing the page from the top menu and instead will be using the button at the sidebar soon! YAY!

I have been reading about the whole drama involving Wee and the government and it amazes me that the government has gone to such huge lengths to demand this and that from a young man who speaks nothing but the truth.

In his song, he sang of corruption and the many daily realities that we, the common people, had and have to go through. To him, this is Malaysia not the Twin Towers, not the flags and etc. And you know what? HE IS RIGHT. We live in a corrupt land. So how can the truth be insulting? Did the Ministers bother looking at the video in its original form or did they merely base their accusations on hearsay? Did they probe into the realities and look between the lines before they cast the first stone?

One Minister said this a few days ago: “We are a country governed by laws. He broke the law so he should face the music.”

REALLY NOW? Well, what about Zakaria who failed to pay his summons? Is he in jail now? What about all those corrupt politicians who have been caught out? Are they in jail or were their accusers arrested instead for some crappy trumped up charge?

Yes, he is 24 years old. Yes, he is a university student so he should know better but you know, the Minister who said those offending words about the Batu Gajah MP was nearly 60! HE SHOULD KNOW BETTER.

Every day, Ministers go about their business offending the people of this country and the country instead with their trivial debates, with their corrupt and lacksadial attitudes. How come WE can’t stand up to them?

“Never challenge the government”, said another Minister over national TV yesterday.

My loyalty and allegiance is to God and country NOT to one leader or the government - please get that right. When the people pledge their loyalty, they pledge it to the state NOT the government. His words only go to show that the government today has become pompous and arrogant, disrespectful of their rightful duty and responsibility to the people. THIS is insulting. So where are the apologies?

Speaking of forgiveness, doesn’t Islam and other religions teach a thing or two about forgiving? When that idiotic MP made that statement, he retracted the apologies he made based on the grounds that we, the public, have blown the whole issue out of proportion. What about this one? The government threaten to remove all traces of him leaving the country for studies, threaten to revoke his passport, ask for apology after another, accused him of treason and everything imaginable and why? To cover up the truth.

When terrorists carrying Malaysian passports were exposed, why didn’t the government threaten to remoke theirs? Why didn’t they ask for a public apology for shaming the country? Because blowing up innocent people in other parts off the world is no skin off their noses but openly accusing someone of being corrupt AND being correct is.

To think, we are turning 50 in a few days and yet the leaders of our country still behave like children. If anything, I am angry that I’m being lead by people like this…and we tell our young ones to lead by example. Disgusting and hypocritical really.