22.08.2008

Plus minus birds

St John's Church. A 200 something year old building.

Lichfield Cathedral

Just a note:

Looks like this blog is turning into a photoblog. Not that it's bad. It's fun!

More Photos

I figure pictures speak more than words. But some need captions anyway =)

These two Canadian sisters! Good friends, cute people! We had lots of fun together.

This angel was among the many memorial stones, dedicated to unborn babies and babies who didn't survive the early months. This was someone's angel. It was very very sad to see.

The cycling. Man. I'm amazed i look reasonably good after the long and tiring trip. Panjang dan jauh, that's all i can say. Good views though.

Avoiding soggy sandwiches

I hate soggy sandwiches. Usually if you put tuna or egg mayo into sandwiches, the bread becomes soggy and cold and clammy and disgusting. I've been wondering how to avoid soggy sandwiches so today i put lots of sliced up cabbage in between the tuna and the bread and left it for a good hour, just to see if it works. It works! I think i should have added onions and pepper though, would have tasted better i think.

What a strange post, you might think. Nah, have just been cutting costs and learning to cook cheap and easy meals by eating at home and making my own meals. It's been fun, especially since there's no one to make fun of me if i'm eating on my own. I've watched how the English make their meals, and it's usually very simple, quick and because they dress it up nicely, it looks yummy on top of tasting yummy! Long way to go before i get there though.

The Fig & Olive

For the first time in my life, i decided to take my parents out for dinner. Well, technically they took me but dinner was on me. The occasion: their 23rd wedding anniversary. I suppose in our world this is just cause for celebration, heh. We went to this place my dad's friend recommended, the Fig & Olive in Sunway Pyramid.

I liked the font and design to this thing. The food is Mediterranean-ish, got a bit of a mix of that and italian i think, and it's pretty good. Looks nice too. The teas are good too, their fruit teas are excellent. Price-wise, it's from about rm15-40 for food, rm5-10 for drinks. The place also has this balcony that overlooks the Lagoon.
It's in the Marrakesh area if you're interested.

Why not : Small talk?

I'm excellent at making small talk. The essential start points to getting to know someone, asking the right questions, being friendly and bubbly comes pretty easily to me. However, has it ever come to a point where small talk leads to topics that you'd rather not open up about?

Recently, i've been thinking about many things, deciding on some big issues. And whenever i meet new people or catch up with friends, the small talk always leads me to wonder whether to lie, give some vague dismissive answer or to be honest. Because being honest usually requires opening up a can of worms, having to explain why you're thinking about these things and though i personally think that being honest is the best thing, it doesn't usually work well. For example, the common question "How are you?"...
People either:
1. are not really interested to know, which makes you wonder what kind of friends these people are haha. They just ask about you cos well, it's the thing to do when you meet people.
2. don't care to listen to a genuine explanation. Similar to above, but different in a sense where these people want to know what's going on in your life, but in short.
3. want to know and ask a whole lot of questions (which is a good thing, but i rarely encounter this kind).
4. want to know but believe they have to add their own salt and pepper in (which i do take into account most of the time, but well... some people are adamant about their own ways and in the same way, so am i).

I think it's great, small talk. Only if you really want to know about someone, then ask the questions. If not, don't bother. It's a waste of your time and a waste of mine, entertaining you when i could be doing so many more productive things.

Well, it applies both ways. So when I ask "How are you?", I hope that my friends would be genuine enough in return to offer more than the usual "Fine, thank you" (unless you really are fine, thank you). I guess the point of my rambling is to love one another (particularly in conversation). That's what makes small talk GREAT!

More photos from Lichfield

Today, some shadows, scenery and sheep.
edit: i figure i should name the places where i took them from too.

In Dovedale, where there are just hills sparsely dotted by these little white fluffballs.

In Wall, a place named after a wall.

Running wild on the streets of Birmingham on a bright sunny day.

Can't remember the name of this place, but it's a reserve, where deer, dogs and occasionally humans run wild.

At the Black Country Living Museum.

A Methodist church top in Stafford.

Flowers from Lichfield

Finally got around to checking out the 2000+ photos i brought back with me and here are the beautiful flowers i managed to snap.

Trying to write a blog post, after deciding to write good, is kinda tiring. It definitely takes more than the usual effortless hows-my-day-been stories. But i'm planning to stick to it. Which sorta explains why there hasn't been posts for a while, because all i've been tempted to do were the mindless stories of where i've been, what i've done and who i've seen and nothing more to that. Not that writing about those things is bad, but to write about it for the sake of filling up an awkward silence is strange to me at the moment. But what the hey, this post seems slightly space occupying hehe.