A Walk In The Park

So there's this place in Oslo known as Sognsvann - it has two lakes and many trails for biking and walking. I had an opportunity to go running/walking around this lake and took some cool photographs.

Strange Indeed

Life is so strange lately - I seem to find what I am looking for without even trying. I admit I haven't been blogging lately - that's because real life is catching up. It's been ages since I really spoke to half of my Internet pals too...let alone my family back home. Everything is happening here - right now. Work, friends/colleagues - life. It's now. I'm so caught up in my day-to-day life - its actually exhilarating. Feels like I've found my place, to a certain extent.

Yes, I bought the new Harry Potter book. No, I haven't even read half of it - its embarrassing :(

Best Week of My Life :)

Its Sunday today. I'm hoping to spend the day at home. It appears that I'm no longer a hermit - I spent the past 6 days out every day for different reasons.

Monday: Norsk lesson
Tuesday: Dinner with colleagues
Wednesday: Norsk lesson
Thursday: Dinner with friend
Friday: Movie + Dinner with colleagues
Saturday: Movie

Whoa, its so much fun to have a packed social calendar like that..hahaha, but its tiring. I feel beat :\

Missing Beard Papa

I know that title sounds kind of twisted...but beard papa is actually this cream puff in Brisbane (they have it in KL as well). Somebody please open a franchise in Norway :( I miss it so much :(

So Many Things, So Little Time

I believe there's always two takes to perceiving things:

1. I have way too many things to do and way too little time, OR
2. I am keeping myself busy to have something to look forward to each day.

Guess I'll pick Option #2...

Hung out with my colleagues yesterday - had a lot of fun. Feels weird to have a real social life after so many years of just chatting with people online.

Work is good, as usual. Planning to cook a proper meal with fish curry tomorrow; hopefully it turns out well. Also, been wanting to watch the new Harry Potter movie that is releasing on 13th July here...

Hmm...barely more than a week before Harry Potter #7 is released. I am quite keen to read it - can see myself locked up in my apartment the whole weekend, just to finish that book. I did that in Brisbane in 2005, when book #6 was released.

Aww

You know you're going to get wet and soggy and hear that 'squish' sound...when you see a weather forecast like this. *Sees herself washing lots of laundry this weekend*

So I tried my Mom's chicken curry recipe. *Grin* All I can say is it was pretty good. I'm also addicted to this particular Mango chutney available at the supermarket. *DROOL* I know, I'm such a foodie all of a sudden. When I was in school (12-17 years old or so...) I used to not want to eat. Mom used to chase me around the house to get me to eat...of course the easiest way was to lock myself in my room and just say I'm not hungry. ;) I don't know - just went through a phase when food didn't fascinate me.

These days the prospects of cooking/eating good food is quite exciting. In Oslo, it is expensive to eat out...so you kind of have to cook. I also crave different kind of food - sourish, spicy, tangy, all-you-can-think-about-when-you're-eating type of food. If you live in Malaysia, food is a very important factor in your life. When we eat in Malaysia - the food consumes you - at that one moment, all you can think about would be the food - nothing else ;)

I was so tempted to skip Norsk lesson today but I forced myself to attend it. Wasn't so bad, quite challenging lately though.

Hmm, I'm trying really hard not to shop lately partly because things aren't really cheap (especially when you have a younger sister who SMSes you telling you about the shopping deals in KL right now *grumble*) and the other part is I want to do some other things - read, learn Norsk, work more, eat out/hang out with colleagues... so no shopping for the time being :)

Fluff Post

You Are a Dreaming Soul

Your vivid emotions and imagination takes you away from this world So much so that you tend to live in your head most of the time You have great dreams and ambitions that could be the envy of all... But for you, following through with your dreams is a bit difficult You are charming, endearing, and people tend to love you. Forgiving and tolerant, you see the world through rose colored glasses. Underneath it all, you have a ton of passion that you hide from others. Always hopeful, you tend to expect positive outcomes in your life. Souls you are most compatible with: Newborn Soul, Prophet Soul, and Traveler Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

People are so strange...

It's weird how people say the strangest, least expected things sometimes. Like you're talking to someone and they tell you odd facts or ask you way too personal questions for no particular reason...kind of ruins my perspective of how everybody is nice in their own way - people are so competitive for the wrong reasons - money, success.

Why don't people compete to be better human beings? Why compete for such material reasons?

I'm a strong believer of "We get what we deserve"...maybe because I'm religious, but I still believe that if you want something - you have to work for it and it will come to you - eventually. Nothing comes overnight...and nothing drops from the sky either (unless you're THAT lucky).

When I was 10, my class teacher told me "If you want to find out who your REAL friends/relatives are, you must win a lottery. Suddenly, everyone will start being nice to you."

I haven't won any lotteries, but I think she couldn't have been more right. Some people are only nice to you when they are in good situations.

Photographs

I was just thinking, "This blog needs more photographs and less words." So there you have it :)

This is 9.30 pm in Oslo. It's sooo bright because of summer.

That's the chicken vindaloo I had with my colleagues for dinner, last Thursday. Vindaloo is more of "the level of spiciness" in most Indian restaurants here. I was under the impression that it was just another dish actually, because Mom does cook a spicy chicken dish known as "Chicken Vindaloo".

A waterfall...right in the middle of Oslo.

I frequently drink chai lattes whenever I'm at cafes in Oslo. It's quite fun, especially after you've spent most of the week chugging down coffee after coffee to stay attentive at work :)

...of chocolate and mocha

I received 20 fingers of KitKat from my boss. He was travelling over the weekend and he said he remembered that I mentioned how sad I was that you can't get it in Norway..as Norway has their version of it - Kvikk Lunsj.

How cool is that? :)

I had coffee with 3 of my male colleagues today - we have this habit of running out of our offices to get coffee from a nearby cafe, then walking back to our offices to enjoy the coffee while working. One of my colleagues said I should be really happy because I have somewhat of a harem of "smoking hot" guys. LOL, these people definitely don't need any help with self esteem. It's so nice to have nice colleagues - kind of makes your day.

Spoke to my boss about my performance today - he said he's happy. He's so nice and polite - motivates me to work as hard as I can.

It's 11.42pm and I was just looking out the window - something I do pretty often these days. It rains a lot here...but now it has stopped raining and the view is just gorgeous - dark night sky, the street lights, the buildings - Norway is just too beautiful for words...you have to see it to realise it.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

I can't take it :) It's been raining constantly the past few days. So depressing. This is Norwegian Summer :) It's not bad, to have rain, but having to walk to and from work, and then going for Norsk lessons braving the rain - is tiring. Looking on the bright side, Norway doesn't have drought.

So how am I, you wonder? I'm good...life's going well. I finally have a chance to just...be...drift along for awhile - learn what I like at work (teaching myself Multithreaded Porgramming now).

I cooked tempura prawns and ate them with mango chutney the other day. I thought it'll clash but it was really, really tasty :) The next day I made Honey chicken and ate it with naan bread. The naan was instant - heat up ready made stuff, but the chicken was almost from scratch (seasoning from Malaysia).

My next task is to attempt authentic Indian chicken curry...we shall see how I fare with that.