Chumma Talk: I need a break..

.. this plant which I kept on my desk?




... and this is how it looks now



It was the only thing I have ever received from someone and I treasure it. It was growing pretty well until I left for a short break. Normally I make sure it has enough water to survive few days and it was perfectly alright when I left it. But when I come back, it was almost dead. It is growing back slowly now but it has lost the former glory it had.

Kinda sad to see it like that. Guess it is dying just like my feelings are.

Chumma talk: If I am not in blogs, you may find me in Facebook. But do send me an intro msg before sending an add request.

If anyone noticed, my blogging frequency (read blogging enthusiasm) in tulipspeaks has decreased tremendously. Same goes to my blog-hopping habit and unusually late replies to the comments posted here. It shouldn't happen as I just love blogging and friends I made through blogs. The reason behind it remained a mystery to me until I give it a thought about it last night. Or should I say early morning as I only manage to sleep around 2am and woke up at 5.30am. Why having insomnia - no idea. But the insomnia might have helped to think and take decision on a lot of pending stuff.

So now back to my blogging attitude. I realised that ever since I started a private blog, which is restricted to the mass, I blog lesser here. It's not that I want it to compete with tulipspeaks for my time but I just needed a private space to let out my frustration or any other ill-feelings without making a scene in front of people :P. Actually it worked pretty good for me. It was like having a personal therapist. It was a good idea but then I realised that I am talking lesser and lesser about my life and myself here. I don't know if tulipspeaks has lost the personal touch I used to give it last time but certainly the tone has changed.

Second, I think I may be put off by some disappointments I had around here. HERE doesn't means tulipspeaks but blogsphere in general. I made friends and I got to admit that I did make some mistakes in terms of relationship. All revolves around my blogging circle and believe me, once one of the ties is broken, you won't feel the same any more. To be fair, I did try to mend things but it doesn't work in our favour all the time. But I have done my part isn't it?


My relationships outside blogsphere did affect my blogging style and attitude. Relationships come in many forms - there are family, friends, ex-dudes and new dudes (:P). The irony is, apart from family and some long-time friends, all of my other relationships began in the Internet world, but they are much stronger outside the virtual world. They are now like magnets which are pulling me away from my laptop and go wild out there. I never seen the strong, crazy, advenderous and out-going Ammu in me till I meet all these people - be it in good light or bad way.

Ph.D - o - Ph.D! Hahaha! I predicted my studies to pull me away from blogs and it did. It's something I have been waiting to do for a very long time and now when I am actually 6 months into the program, it took me away from my passion - blogging. Hmm.. is it true you have lose to something in order to gain something? I wonder..

I am a part-time tutor. I committed myself for $$ and also for the teaching experience that comes with it. But eventually I grew fond of my students - crazy bunch of kids! Who said Science is boring? Join my class, then you will know how exciting Science can be! Forgot to mention that you have to be between 13 and 17 years old to join any of the classes! Although I can just teach any biology-related topic off-hand, I do have difficulties doing the same for Chemistry and Physics-related ones. So, Ammu is back to school text books! Classes and my own revision are consuming a lot of my time, especially the one I allocated for blogs.

I am not defending myself .. from my own accusation, but merely trying to clear my own doubt. Sometimes, self-therapy is the best therapy. ;-)

Chumma Talk: Ammu in a conflict... 

We all have made mistakes, don't we? Misjudgement, misunderstanding, trusting the wrong people, bad companies, falling in love with a jerk.... and the list goes on. No one is spared of ill-taken decision. Yet, most of us sort of 'woke up' from the decision, brush it off and move on after learning a lesson or two from it.

But at times the past comes back to haunt us. The mistake of the yesterdays tries to ruin the beauty of the future, making our present a miserable day instead. The cause? Well, sometimes the blame is on us for not letting it go. We hang on to the past way too much that we are unable to live the present. Yet, sometimes it is because another party is unable to let it go and who knows, maybe the person get the kick out of "boo-ing" at us, freaking us out as he/she wish.


 We might be living with a mask on, hiding our real self from the mass. Or we have just washed away the 'colours' that tainted the skin and living for real. Whatever it is, we are living indeed. We are not God to be perfect. We are designed and programmed to make mistakes and learn from it.

So what is the problem with the past and some people not being open enough to understand we have washed away our sins and moved on? Probably it is high time for them to wash away their sins and move on as well.

Chumma Talk: Anyone would like to accompany me for a movie this weekend? Been a long time since I stepped into the cinema hall :(

Guess I am still in "ARR mood". Found this wonderful song composed by him in his early days in the cinema industry. Watch the video and tell me about your favourite flower :-)


I think this weekend gonna be a mixture of boredom and excitement. Hope the excitement will overshadow the boredom :P.
Happy weekend people!

Chumma Talk: My blog is back on moderation. Thanks to Mr Anonymous.

That is the compact camera which I recently purchased after deliberating for some time. Thanks Mahen & Puvan for accompanying me when I made the purchase.

The most frequent question I get whenever I say I got LX3 is... "Given the price of LX3 is close to the cost of a DSLR, why not a DSLR?". Lets just say I am not a DSLR-person, though most of my close friends have one. I prefer something smaller and lighter. That's all.

I am not going to bore anyone with a long list of specification of the cam, which I think you guys can read in any camera review websites. I have some shots which I took from time to time (Bukit Tinggi shots were taken with LX3 as well). Below are some of them and these are unedited photos save for cropping & watermarking.





If you are into photography and have a tips or two to share, please leave me a comment ;-)

Chumma Talk: I'm getting ready for the major FB clean up.. If you are in my friend's list but never care to keep in touch, be prepared to be dropped from the list! :P Mind you, friends' list is meant ONLY for friends!

I was reading my Saturday newspaper when I came across an article talking about the diminishing number of romantic heroes in the Bollywood. Then it occurred to me - the number of romantic men (in general) has diminished as well!

I wonder what happen to the guys who ask you out on a candle light dinner, turn up at your doorstep with a bouquet of roses (or tulips) and  kneel-down when he propose to you. Fairytale it may sound, but that is what has been embedded in our brain. Blame Disney for that!



You may argue men are now more well.. manly. Great thing but why it has to be at the expense of a relationshp? How far could a girl take a relationship without any romance in it? How long could a relationship last just based on the usual crap - understanding, respect, security.. blah blah blah? What is a relationship without romance?



A simple Google search for the word "romantic" yielded 109,000,000 results, with the #1 results pointing to "1000s Creative Romantic Ideas.." and in fact there is a website teaching you on "How to be romantic"!. It is rather ironic that so many people (regardless of gender) have to resort to a website to get ideas on how to be romantic, when it should be coming from you naturally.



If you ask me what is the most romantic thing a guy has done for me, I would say..
I can't remember any!
And hell no! I am not accusing each and everyone here of being hopeless when it comes to romance but guess I wasn't lucky enough to meet one.
But some of may have.. care to share your experience, people?

Chumma Talk: I have just got back my Net connection at home.. Hopefully I can blog more frequently after this.. :)

Okay.. I missed my Friday due to the unavailability of Internet connection at home *sigh.. But please let me to compensate it with loads of photographs taken at Bukit Tinggi / Berjaya Hills.

It was MIB's first photoshoot event for the year and we did a poll to determine the venue for the photoshoot. The majority voted for Bukit Tinggi and we scheduled it to be on the 1st of March 2009. We met up at KL Sentral around 8.30am and proceeded to Bukit Tinggi in two MyVis. We pulled over a McD to have breakfast while on our way.

We reached Bukit Tinggi around 10.30-ish. Took some loads of photos in Colmar Tropicale, a French-themed settlement before proceeding to the Japanese Tea Garden and the Botanical Garden. It was great exercise indeed! :P

Some photos to share:




The photos were taken with my Lumix LX3 which was less than 24 hours of purchase at that time. The entire photoshoot was a good opportunity for me to test the new camera. How you think the shots turned out to be? Okay? Boleh tahan? :P

View the rest of the photos in my Flickr and Facebook album.

This may sound like an article from Cleo, but it is not. :P

I never believed that I would be able to move on.
Never.
Ever.

But I did.


I was in the denial for a very very long time - as long as I can remember actually. Now, I can't believe that I spent so much of my precious time getting stuck in a slum. Yea, precious time.. but the only consolation is that I have learnt important lessons in life. Anyway, that's another story for another day. Now let's just focus on how you could move on with your life after losing someone you loved.

1. Get out from the DENIAL stage
Just a year ago, if someone told me that I could walk over that man and rebuilt my life, I would laugh at them.. and in fact, I did. I would say.. "Dude! you have no idea...".

Moving on, is not as hard as it seem - as now I am experiencing it. You have to plant the phrase "My sweetheart, it has ENDED for good" in your tiny little brain. After which, you will be fine or at least will move to that direction.

Some of you may disagree with me - depending on which 'stage' of break-up you are in right now. If you are in the great DENIAL stage, probably you should just let this post a pass. Because when you are in the denial, no words could make you believe that you can do it. Simply because your mind is telling you that there is no need to do it..this is not happening to you. But do bookmark this post, when you have started to realise that it has ended, come back and read this.

2. Get moving with activities
And lots and lots of them!

Suddenly you will find that you have lot of time in hand once you come to the terms that you are single. This can be a blessing in disguise. Use the time wisely. Embark on a journey of your life time. Do things that you always wanna do.

What I did? I took up part-time job, freelancing, gym and yoga. Oh yea.. and my Ph.D. My activity calendar is filled to the brim. It is so cluttered with activities that I find it hard to spare some quality time to date someone.

But it helps.

3. Do not hate every guy/girl you meet
Okay.. he/she screwed you up.. big time. But it doesn't mean every other being at your side would do the same to you. Thinking that they would, will only bring unnecessary stress to yourself. Think that everyone is nice, but remember the lesson you have learnt.

It's peace, harmony and serenity. As odd as it may sound, this is what good for your soul.

4. A parting gift
No one in his or her right mind would like to gift the person who dumped him/her. I know. But it is not only a gesture, but a sign that you are parting ways from the person. It need not to be expensive or branded. Even something as simple as a card will do.

Remember - you are only conveying your parting message in the most creative and convenient way possible. You are NOT trying to impress the person or win him/her back. Thus, the usual romantic gifts are big no no.

5. Friends
In my case, the LOL gang :-). I had the best of times with these people, filling my every other weekend with some sort of activity. Friends are the best medicine for heart-break and that is one of the lesson I learnt in recent times.

Besides, if you are girl.. then find a group of girlfriends whom you could have good laugh with it and probably gossip about the guys. It is fun, disttracting and will leave you feeling rather 'high'! Cam-whore whenever possible.

If you are a guy.. well.. I got to ask my guy friends for idea!

Any other tips you think should be here?

p/s: The shots of my Crocs-like shoes were taken during my yesterday's photoshoot with MIBs in Bukit Tinggi.