Dreaming

I just woke up from a short nap, and I dreamt of something very graphic that I don't think I'd be able to get out of my head soon.

In dreamland:

I was on Facebook, scrolling down my News Feed, when I saw a sudden influx of new posts from many people talking about this young girl (no more than 7 years old) who committed suicide by hanging herself at her kampung. There was a picture that came with the posts, but I chose not to look at it because, honestly, why would I? It IS a photo of a girl being hung. 

I then suddenly find myself AT the kampung, with the Starbuck drink that I bought after school today - a Venti sized Iced Cappuccino Triple Shot WITH WHIPPED CREAM. I stress on WITH WHIPPED CREAM because I NEVER drink my Starbucks / Coffee Bean drinks with whipped cream (I'm actually still sipping on it as I type). Anyway, the head of the kampung is giving my family (mum, dad, grandma, grandpa, Adelynn) a walkthrough of the kampung, saying that many families had visited the kampung after hearing about the news. So as we walk through the kampung, the head tells us that the site where the girl had hung herself was approaching. Turns out she had hung herself on a wooden arch that was situated right outside the kampung which was meant to welcome people to the kampung. Now, because of the incident, everyone enters the kampung through it's back entrance. 

So as we approach the wooden arch, there is a freaking wooden model of the girl hanging from the arch. Like, wtf. She had short hair, very much like the ones you see little Standard One girls have on the first day of school. The statue reminded me a lot of the statues of Jesus that are outside St. Anne's Church in Bukit Mertajam. Expectedly, I felt reluctant to see the statue from the front. I held hands with my mum, and walked over to the front of the arch to see it. I should probably mention that we were somehow not allowed to look at the statue frontally. From the arch, we had to walk on a suspended bridge (more like a few planks tied together with rope) that was about 1m in length (so barely 3 steps) to get to this little pavilion that was only about 1m² in size. 

Then came the moment: turning around to look at the statue. Her head was facing the ground, but her tongue and esophagus were hanging out, ang it was about 30cm in length. The head of the kampung said something about her tongue falling out of her mouth because of the pressure of the rope against her neck, which was what that was holding her up. To paint a better picture of the little girl, think Dora the Explorer in terms of hair, skintone, and physique. It was a pretty gruesome image. The head then said that the body of the girl was hung up for five days, before it eventually fell to the ground, and that's when it received media attention. 

Then I woke up.

 I woke up shaking. Plus, I was home alone, so I was petrified. I didn't dare to do anything for the next 5 minutes. If you know me well in person, you would know that I have a horrible phobia of statues and masks.

This photo is of the statues at St Anne's that I was talking about

The arch looked somewhat like that, but bigger (about 2m) and made of teak (hence a dark brown colour). And on the top of it was a signboard welcoming people to the kampung. 

I've always been a dreamer, if that's what they call it. Last year, or the year before, I dreamt almost every night, say 5 nights a week. It got pretty severe, to the point where every morning Richie would ask me "What did you dream of last night?". I've also always had a very peculiar sleeping schedule. Last year when I had the frequent dreams, I woke up almost every hour each night. And everytime I slept after waking up, I would be dreaming about something new.

The meanings of dreams have always fascinated me. It's like this unknown window of your sub-conscious mind that you try to reach out to, but it is always a step further away for you to catch or to comprehend.

Anyway, I know I haven't been posting lately, and my previous post was very emotional. But as I said in my first post (I think I did...), I want this blog to be an accurate and shameless journal of my teenage life. I have many posts laying on Blogger as drafts waiting to be expanded on or have photos added to. School has been very busy lately, and I promise to update once I have the time to. :)

2012 - A Year in Review [Last Update - 13/01/2013]

NOTE: I will constantly be adding new photos to this post as I find more photos or remember more things that happened. This is somewhat my 2012 memory vault. Do feel free to leave any comments / feedback :)


Fairly long post ahead. Took me about two weeks, because I'm a lazy bum. Do read in sections if you're bound to get bored easily. Picture heavy. Click to enlarge photos! :) x

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly. It all happened. And here I am, coming clean. Note to self: Don't be embarrassed. It was all part of your life.

January

I spent New Years in Singapore. On the 31st, Lara, Alicia, Aunty Wee Hong, Aunty Anne, and I had watched Wicked at Marina Bay Sands. Went out with my relatives after the show, and spent the New Year shopping at Mustafa. Hands down, best way to spend New Years ever! (I'm not a big fan of being at an unshaded place with lots of fireworks)

When I got back to Penang, we had a 'surprise' birthday party for Emma. You could say it was a fail, as we had it in a secluded area on the beach, and the wind would just not allow us to successfully keep a fire for long enough, but yet, you could say that it was pretty epic. Emilie and I were almost attacked by a dog whilst walking to 7-11 to get some drinks and cardboard for the fire. Not long later, it started raining. Yes. It started raining. So we moved everything to the poolside, where we managed to stay just for a bit, because then, a thunderstorm decided to greet us. Us not being in the 'best' state of mind, we were laughing and hiding in a corner. Mhmm. Just imagine.

Birthday girl inhaling some Helium. We definitely had fun with that!

Birthday Girl! ♥

February
I don't remember much from February, apart from it being Chinese New Year, and Richie coming back during Valentines Day. Emma and I were also invited to Joachim's birthday party, where we bowled at Penang Bowl, then dined at TGIF Paragon. Oh and how could I forget, my great big fall.

Found this in my pencil case after Lara returned to Australia, she must have somehow slipped it in!  ♥

Hipster Hani. It was non-uniform day.

This photo got many likes on Facebook. Hence it should have its place in the Hall of Fame. 

I like this one. 

Joachim's birthday lunch. It took me a while to make out which is Ciara and which is me. (I'm still not entirely sure)

WARNING: SKIP THIS PHOTO IF YOU CANNOT HANDLE THE SIGHT OF BLOOD AND 'GORE'.

March

Nothing much happened in March. The drama students had their performance at PenangPAC in Straits Quay. I did attend the show, as those involved were all from my year. After the show, Ciara, Emma, Hani and I headed to Spasso's for dinner. This was the time when they put tabasco sauce in my otherwise delicious Iced Lemon Tea (they insisted the extra tabasco was better than conventional Iced Lemon Tea. I would like to fully disagree). This month, I had also spent countless hours in school trying to perfect my Design & Technology Graphics final project. 

Definitely, definitely working hard. 

The final products!

♥

These photos made us laugh. Hard. 

April

Nothing happened.

May

Exams happened. 

June

Life started again. I had the first two weeks off, with my Media Studies exam only happening on the 16th. Hence, I went to China with my family. Woooo. The route was Penang → KL → Hong Kong → Kunming → Lijiang → Zhongdian → Kunming → Hong Kong → KL → Penang.

I also graduated from high school.

Year 11 IGCSE Class of 2012 (Not everyone was present)

Roxanne - Hayley - Ciara - Amelia

Tibet (Shih Tzu) and Tikam (Pomeranian)

July

My #YOLO (shut up Amelia) Singapore trip! MTV World Stage at Sunway Lagoon, where I enjoyed the company of Kara, Jay Park, Mizz Nina, and that Justin Bieber guy. Holly Grabarek is my new god. It was also my birthday. 

Singapore

My solitary birthday lunch. Was yummy. 

August

My paternal grandfather passed away a couple days before we were scheduled to fly to England. I got the job of calling / emailing each hotel. Woop! It was a good experience though. School started the day after I came back from England. The route was Penang → Singapore → London → Cambridge → Manchester → Plymouth → Bristol → London.

September

School started. Year 12, IB Diploma, scary scary! During the second or third week of school, we went off to Jerejak Island for the Year 12 retreat. Three days two nights of fun filled activities and challenging tasks!

Our group was the best overall. Go G Force!

October

The month of heartbreaks. Heh. BUT. It was also the month of BIG BANG. Life is fair. We also had a Halloween disco at school, and the theme was Batman. I tried to channel a Catwoman-esque look. Ciara went as Robin, and Emma went as Poison Ivy. Lise was the ultimate winner that night, I was quite terrified of her the whole night, I have to admit! Headed down to KL for Big Bang with Ciara, one of my best trips ever.

Toilets are just so beautiful.

Lise and Emilie

Night before Big Bang

Why so serious?

MY BABY. 

November

Nothing much happened. Study study study. 

December

Grandpa fell off the stairs the day before I was due to fly to Singapore. I was terrified when I saw him once I got home from school. I managed to sort out everything for him before I went to Singapore. Singapore was fun as usual, but I also did get pissed off at some points because of the same reasons. Surprisingly, all I bought was a dress from New Look, and a Christmas jumper for Lara from Forever 21. Spent Christmas in KL with Lara, and experienced Dining in the Dark on Boxing Day. New Years was spent cooking, watching movies, and making resolutions with Lara. Its almost a New Years tradition to spend it together now. I love you Lara. 

So that pretty much wraps up my 2012! At some point, I will be adding even more photos, when I decide to get less lazy. 

My feelings about this year? 

Not telling anyone.