The world needs more love.

Let Your

Light Shine.

Be A Source

of Strength

And Courage.

Share Your

Wisdom.

Radiate Love.

The forest that never sleeps.

I am stoked. Extremely stoked actually because the rainforest dream is back and alive :) After months of "nays" and "let's sees", we finally made flight bookings today and it's as good as locking the dates down. I remember at the initial stage of toying with the idea of our return to Kuching this year, i made it a habit to check up on random flight promotions as a "just-in-case" measures of all the domestic airlines. I guessed i had always harboured that desire to return eventhough it's currently one of the busiest times of the year and you don't have the luxury yet to think about taking a holiday and all.

So for almost 7 months religiously, i did that. Amazing how being slightly compulsive can be a blessing. And today, i managed to score relatively cheap tickets to Kuching via MAS especially considering it's quite last minute. I have been lucky to stumbled onto this ongoing promotion for MAS when i was logging in to activate my Enrich card membership which had just arrived a couple of days ago. Btw, just to point out that AirAsia has been getting ridiculously expensive. They started including fuel surcharge recently & their baggage prices is just expensive. My MAS tickets were not only cheaper but it included 20 kg's of baggage, refreshment and i get to earn Enrich points. So always check all airlines and compare prices.

With that done, i am a little at ease. A friend of mine Kay and i have actually been talking about this trip since the beginning of this year. It would be her first time and i have been telling her all about it. In fact she has been the one keeping the "jungle boogie" (as what we call it) alive for me. She will be going with a large group of friends with some of them based in Kuching itself. Can't wait to hangout with her and some familiar faces that will (or hopefully) be going including Reza and his family, Aaron and friends, Simon and his Lithuanian friend. Also, i am excited and hope very much that Priscilla and Geoff will be come back to M'sia and we can all meet up in the festival as promised. I miss them much. Now if only i can convinced some of my other friends to contract the festival fever and come along. I can imagine twice the fun and memories.

Mmm memories. I had so much of them there. I still can feel myself standing in the middle of the forest, with all these exotic sounds permeating through the beautiful jungle. The beautiful revellers, the warm sun during the day and chilly nights, the wonderful kaleidoscope of different world music and the spirit of the festival is something you just take along with you and never forget.

For now i am one step closer, i have only the lodging and misc to worry about. But it's all good. I still can't believe i am planning for Kuching. If you had asked me just a few weeks ago whether i was going, i would have hesitated with my answer and yet i would be standing there telling you how amazeballs the whole thing is. Yes, i have been shamelessly promoting the festival to everyone i know. RWMF organisers would be so proud. You would too if you felt as if you left your heart there when it was all over :)

And the countdown begins - 1 month 14 days more to go.

For more information about the Rainforest World Music Festival 2011, click here.

{Listening to....}

1. Walk On U2


2. Taper Jean Girl Kings of Leon


3. The Last Time Eric Benet


4. Last Train To London Electric Light Orchestra


5. Go Your Own Way Fleetwood Mac


6. Let It Be Me Ray LaMontagne


7. Night Cruise Boney James & Al Jarreau


8. Give A Little More Maroon 5


9. Unpretty/I Feel Pretty Glee


10. Valerie Amy Winehouse

Don't Get Stuck

Don’t get stuck. Move, travel, take a class, take a risk. Walk away, try something new. There is a season for wildness and a season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is about becoming. Don’t lose yourself at happy hour, but don’t lose yourself on the corporate ladder either. Stop every once in a while and go out to coffee or climb in bed with your journal. Ask yourself some good questions like: “Am I proud of the life I’m living? What have I tried this month? What parts of my childhood faith am I leaving behind, and what parts am I choosing to keep with me for this leg of the journey? Do the people I’m spending time with give me life, or make me feel small? Is there any brokenness in my life that’s keeping me from moving forward?”

Now is your time. Become, believe, try. Walk closely with people you love, and with other people who believe that God is very good and life is a grand adventure. Don’t spend time with people who make you feel like less than you are. Don’t get stuck in the past, and don’t try to fast-forward yourself into a future you haven’t yet earned. Give today all the love and intensity and courage you can, and keep traveling honestly along life’s path

You are young enough to believe that anything is possible, and you are old enough to make that belief a reality.

Excerpt from Relevant Magazine article by Shauna Niequist, "What To Know When You're 25(ish).

To do list

smile at strangers
notice kindess
smile and hope
eat icecream
take pictures
wear perfume
count your blessings
keep learning
laugh and lovedaydream
listen to great music

Jil Sander Acetate Market Bag

I am an advocate of using shopping bags. Which means i try not to use those ugly plastic bags that do no good to our earth. The ones from the market, small retail shops and food shops still irk me with it's hideous ghastly purple, black and orange colours and the fact that it is NOT recyclable. My whole family are changing our ways slowly and surely by bringing our own recyclable bags (they are sold in almost every supermarket for less than RM 5) and we use a tiffin carrier to take away food as much as possible.

So when i saw Jil Sander's market bag, i went "yes please, i want one. thank you very much". Yes, it is basically a glorified plastic bag and this controversial bag of a kind has made its debut on Net-A-Porter. It is said by the editor that " Jil Sander puts a contemporary spin on the classic carryall with its bright-orange transparent acetate bag. Carry this statement shopper to punctuate a new-season muted palette"

The bag is no ordinary bag. The transparent acetate bag in bright orange measuring 32 cm by 58 cm is as simple as it gets. It has no inner pockets or side slots or any prints of sorts though it comes with a stamped leather tag which carries the designer’s logo. And that’s it, really.

So how much does a fashionable shopping bag cost you? According to Net-A-Porter, it is priced at GBP 90 or after conversion to our dollar - the grand sum would be around RM 440. With that price, i could just get a Longchamp Le Pliage and call it a classier shopping bag. I agree that it's a little over the top but i am still in awed with it. In fact i would love to tote it around Village Grocer when i shop for groceries or maybe to the post office carrying all my parcels just to have people turn and look at my glorified bright orange plastic bag. So what do you think?

First of May

“Sweet May hath come to love us, flowers, trees, their blossoms don; And through the blue heavens above us The very clouds move on.”