Over and Over- Puff Johnson

I have not heard this wonderful song in a very long time. When I first saw the the movie' First Wives Club' and heard this soundtrack, I love it. It became my pep-up song during that time when I need some 'kicking'..

Today I feel like being reminded of how far I have come since I heard first this song.. And to celebrate it..

 

~.~

So you stood there on the corner
With your suitcase in your hand
Ready to quit this place
There were just too many people
With too little left to lose
You were just one more face
But you weren't born to give up easy
You weren't raised to just lie down

And you saw the sun that rises up for more
Over and over
You watch the wave that wears away the shore
Over and over again
And if there's any justice in this world
Gotta keep fighting on
Over and over

They say God always forgives us
But can we forgive ourselves
If we let our hope die
Cause if passion is a weakness
And silence is a strength
Who's gonna hear the cry?

So we gotta climb the highest mountain
We gotta shout for all to hear

And we'll see the sun that rises up for more
Over and over and over
And we'll feel the wave that wears away the shore
Over and over and over again
And if there's any justice in this world
Gotta keep moving on
Over and over
You gotta keep fighting on
Over and over
(All that we dream)
All that we dream can come to be
All that we lost we'll find if we
Just strike the match
And fan the flame
We'll build a blaze
That lights the way

We'll be the sun that rises up for more
Over and over
We'll be the wave that wears away the shore
Over and over again
And if there's any justice in this world
You gotta keep moving on
Over and over
Gotta keep fighting on

We'll be the star that rises up
Over and over
Over and over and over and over
'Cause if there's any justice in this world
You gotta keep moving on
Over and over
You gotta keep moving on
You gotta keep fighting on
Over and over

Over and over again

Highlight of my Gawai 2012

So our Gawai 2012 festival has ended. And what a celebration it was! Most of our family members do not live in the longhouse per se, so just being there, and observing the activities during gawai it self have always been a treat.

My cousin  who always took it upon himself every year to organise and coordinate events and activities involving the longhouse folks around this time, had always been more than happy with the response so far. However this year, he was not too happy with the response he was getting and made it clear.

In show of support for his effort, the younger ones  (cousins) decided to jump in and participate in Kumang and Keling competition.

Since I no longer belong in the 'maiden' bracket, I no longer qualify. But hey,  we must support our cousin, no?.. Here are some pictures taken during the preparation.

Here's me with one of my younger maiden cousin who participated in the competition; getting her all pretty up in her costume.. We both had problem try to get the coin belt hooked.{Thanks to  my inexperience in sorting out what goes where}. But after much perseverance on my part and holding her breaths for the umpteeth of time without fainting and being extremely patient with my cluelessness, on her part; we succeeded.{Yay!}

Now this is how the expert does it.. My grandma and my younger sister..

My nephew outgrew his shyness this year and said he wanted to participated too.. So one of his uncles helped him get ready.   What's a war hero without their tattoo, eh? Check out my nephew's tattoo.. He wanted one too, as he was inspired by an orginal he saw on one of his many uncles. So my cousin tattooed (gel-linered, to be precise) him..

Here's the young man with another contestant. There were only the two of them in this category, so no prize in guessing who won. :D

The line up of contestant and winners.

My nephew, cousins, sister and her friend..

Aah.. And here is the highlight of my gawai this year.. My lovely angels and their equally lovely family came for a visit.

I am still reeling from disbelief from this visit. I would only come back to the longhouse, once a year and mostly during gawai. To have my angels visit me during gawai and to have dinner on a table that my late grandfather built was so surreal. One of them and her family even stayed a night..

Thank you , my lovely angels, for making time to visit me...  Let's make this a tradition, shall we... :)

Today..

For the past couple of years, I subscribed to two wonderful blogs that inevitable impacted my life today.The first was  Rare and Beautiful Tresure. I was drawn to the blogger's voice{choice of words, to be precise} because she sounded so soothing. I was at point of my life where I was constantly bombarded with negative vibes, negative words, being put/looked down upon, being lied to, etc, but was clueless as to how I should handle it.

When I first read her blog, her words were so soothing to my soul and what scared me in a way was, how 'foreign' that seemed to me. I have not 'heard' that in a very long time. It only occur to me then, how conditioned I had been to receiving/ accepting all things negative in my life. And it made me realised how much I needed some form of gentle influences in my life, instead; for I was getting very tired and weary.

Once I have started following the 'gentle' path, there would be times when I find that it was so hard to keep a positive outlook. It was like whenever you try to stay afloat, you feel you keep drowing. Then I came across this wonderful blog Positively Present.

The blogger shared a very critical part about being positive.

Always surround yourself with people who bring you up. Choose not to be around people that cause you to be unhappy. Sadly, you're probably around a few people that bring you down, not up. If you find people in your life bringing you down -- yes, even family members or significant others -- find a way to separate yourself from them. If you want to live a truly positive life, you must be surrounded by positive influences.

 I realised then, that in order for me to stay afloat and breathe, I need to separate myself from people who seemed to suck all form of joys out of daily lives or those who are intent in finding faults as if there was a reward for it. It was not an easy feat if the person is someone you are close to.

But when you have reached a point where you could no longer bear being lied to or told half truths, or looked down upon; you will decide that enough is enough. While it is very convenient to just point at the other person and say, 'Oh he's/she's the jerk', it certainly takes more effort to work internally and ask your self, 'What are you going to do about it?'.

Then you will realise that you deserve better.

That is when you will love yourself enough to only surround yourself with those who will bring you up.

(Pinterest)

You would naturally choose to let go of any negative influences in your life.

(Pinterest)

And so today I am a much happier person than I was before..

(Pinterest)

Thanks to the wonderful blogger Erin & Dani.

Wordless Thursday



Yipeeee!

The FINAL Step in Part 1 of the Decision has been approved!!

For those readers (Yes, I do pretend I have more than 1 follower *wink*), who have been wondering what this Decision is all about, do bear with me a little bit more. I promise I will share with you once the whole process have been finalised. As in finalised in my favor, of course. 

The main reason why I have been very cryptic about this 'Decision'  on this blog is because it is a very personal journey for me. Only my immediate family and my two angels knows about it, (even then, my own parents are thinking this is just a phase I am going through, since I have not talked about it anymore since I announced my 'Decision'.)


But for today, I just want to record it here, that I am happy to have reached this stage.

Thank you Father God. Amen..

Not quite there yet

It's Monday

{CAUTION : Read at own risk. Writer was sleepy when she wrote this entry.  You may note the absence of the head or tail (more likely the tail) of this entry. }

I am exhausted today not because of Monday blues, but I am finally back from a work assignment over the weekend. I had been planning and coordinating this weekend since late last year and I am so happy that it is finally over; and I can breathe easier now, too.

I am glad and thankful that everything went well. Since I am close to dosing off right now,{ and am having problem constructing sentences to make a good blog content due to sleep deprivation} I will just share some of the photos I took while I had a little time to myself, exploring the venue.

I love the ginormous painting at the lobby.

 

Pacific Sutera, Kota Kinabalu

Magellan Sutera's gorgeos swimming pool

 

Zoom shot of the man made waterfall by the pool.

View of the marina right across the pool

Water so clear, you can see cute school of little fish swimming by..

Some more fish..

Sea urchins(!!!) Lots of them too..

View of the marina

Lest you question I was actually there, here's a shot of my chunky legs.. (hehe)

Gorgeous yacths.

My attempt to shoot an artsy shot..

*YAWN*

Me go sleep now..