Everyone has a Story.

Last weekend I found myself following my mum and aunt from Sabah to, Singapore.
Its my aunt, mainly, who came over to peninsula, stop over in JB, then back to Sabah, for her visit cum business opportunity trip.

It was a CPR course I went in the morning. School. High School. Or 'sekolah menengah' aka middle school in Malaysian terms. I realized I spent much of my high school life coaching groups an groups of people CPR and the anatomy of the heart. Right after 15 years of age. It wasn't my favorite thing to do, but it wasn't something bad either, it was rather beneficial. In many ways. One thing was I did not imagine myself teaching/talking to so many people. I'm the only kid at home. And I can say that I Did enjoy the privacy I had for free. But yet I enjoy companions. I didn't mind either way.

After all, its good that I don't go loitering or smoking or drinking or clubbing at this age.

After that I went to Singapore. Although I had no idea what I'm going there for, probably only to pass my cousin Jon Foreman's EP. Fann said there's London Simfonia playing. But of course, going to Singapore with my aunt. uh-uh. No chance. But when meeting up with my dad's gang of sisters, its obvious that they will go walking and shopping. Its all you do and enjoy when you're at that 'Golden Age', right? =) Either you spent your days in a quite place reading up a book, playing the fiddle, continuing your old hobbies; or, life in the city. Shop till you drop. lol. Ain't saying that all my aunts are extravagant, but hey. You've done a great deal raising up your nice kids, its time for you to sit back and relax. I wonder what I'll be doing, meeting which kind of people in the future. God holds my future, that I know.

I stayed up at night quite a bit. After walking some shopping streets in Singapore. Even went to this building (Singapore Handicraft Centre, I think) which do not have distinct levels. Instead, walking clockwise in the shopping aisle means going up the hill, and walking counter clockwise means going downhill. In simple terms, it was a corkscrew/spiral building. Very cool.
At about 10 plus we headed back to my cousin's place. It was distance back there from the MRT station. I raced one of my 'energetic' aunt back to the apartment while the other 3 strolled behind. I ate pretty late. Need to burn it off before sleeping, you see. She ate pork. Which was worse. lol. Ended up playing in the exercising playground while waiting for the other 3. And then racing up to 8th floor. Of course I made it first since I was the youngest around=D If I were form 3 then I would have last till at least 12 floor. I lack cardio. Too much. Next year I'm gonna get it backXD
Sat down on the sofa awhile to catch my breath, meanwhile watching Lord of the Rings, again (But I don't mind because it is a mighty good movie), on my cousin's Sony HD. Very cool. First time watching LotR in high definition, wide screen.
Later that night in the bedroom with my cousin, before light was out: LocoRoco. (the locoroco thing on PSP was so cute. It was fluid soft. That night I dreamed that there was a huge man-made locoroco.)
Other then that, she made me solve puzzles and mystery questions in the middle of the nightXD

And in the morning, I saw her collection of Nicholas Sparks' books.

Finally, I decided on one. Did not plan to do much reading.
She recommend this, though.




And I think I'm going to continue reading more Nicholas Sparks.
I knew this author who wrote that nice touching story: A Walk to Remember.
After reading his memoir, Three Weeks with My Brother, I've come to know that A Walk to Remember was written after what happened to his sister.

Yet I've stumbled upon a good book. Its been a year since I finished a good book. Surprising, right? Form 1 I used to read many Hardy Boys series. I don't know why its Hardy Boys for me and not Nancy Drew. Probably because guys have more of the liberty to do crazy stuff. Jump over cliffs. Head on fight with gangs. Running away from land mines. Jumping off buildings. You name it. Lord of the Rings was my favorite. I'd literally embark on a journey with Frodo. Middle earth and all its languages were awesome. Tolkien is a Genius.


Threes Weeks with My Brother is a Nicholas Sparks' Memoir up to Spring in 2002.
He received a brochure in the mail about a trip around the world for 3 weeks, and after much contemplating (really, his lifestyle is Hectic) he decided to go for it with his brother.
Every chapter in the book starts with the activities and thoughts in a specific destination. And the second part will be flashbacks on his life. The whole flashback started since he was a toddler. And I think its fantastic how he (and Micah his brother) could remember every detail that happened in their lifetime starting from such a young age.

Concerning his first family:
In his first family when he was a kid, his house whole contained a father, a mother, a younger sister, him, and his older brother. 5 in the house.

He was closest to his brother, Micah, when they were kids. Micah was brought up to take responsibility, especially over the two younger siblings. Micah was a daredevil. He once threatened to leave home and mom just let them off (knowing parents during the 60's, they let their children run around town.) And Micah put his younger sister(still in diapers) in a wagon and drag Nic along and leave home. Traveling by foot across busy roads, they made it into LA city. In the evening their mom found them and chase them home with a fly swatter.

Nic was close to his sister, Dana, as well. Dana was an optimist. She was cheery and loving and the brothers loved her. Later on when Micah when to junior high, he spend more time with his friends thus Nic and Micah weren't so close during that period of time. And then Nic would find company with his sister. As really good friends.

Nic himself admired everything his brother did. Everything Micah did, he excelled. And being the middle child he sought after more attention. Thus pushing him to study hard to gain attention. He worked extra hard on the track field, too. Everything to surpass his brother to gain more attention. High school life was hectic, earning incomes from various places, and maintaining top grades and on the track.

Mom, was someone they really, really love. She was intelligent, loving, and would stand up for them if they were ever bullied or abused by school teacher. And every night she would whisper in their ears, one by one, to ask them about 3 nice things their sibling did for them in the day. That eventually made them closer and closer to each other.

Dad, was the mysterious one. He was more of the quiet side and the children were somehow scared of him. The DEFCON countdown, was stages for the level of furiousness their dad was in. The last stage would be nuclear launch. lol. But still, at night he would watch horror movies. Of vampires and werewolves. And the kids would snug up beside him to enjoy the adrenaline rush.

And they lived in poverty.

That's the first family.



As time passes, there were many ups and down. Many adventures, many incidences.
BB gun wars. Bow and arrows. The sheriff took it all away.
Attack of the Devil Raven 'Blackie'.
Once on a vacation their dad brought 23 bucks, that's all. And the old Volkswagen van broke down. They were waiting for the Mechanic. Meanwhile the kids witness a death of a dog they played with awhile ago, hit by a passing car, and three of them cried together.
Nic hurt his Achilles' tendon and was miserable one summer. His mom casually said, write a story. And he did. Never went to creative writing class before. And became an accidental author.
Doberman in their house, their favorite pet dog, died of old age.
Mom bought 2 horses. It was her dream come true.
Spring break, Nic met Cathy. His perfect wife. He proposed. Got married at 23.
Mom was riding on Chinook and the horse tripped over. Mom was unconscious. And then died at 47.
Cathy had a baby, then a miscarriage.
Dad was depressed and angry and unstable due to mom's death.
Cathy had another baby. This time the baby was delivered successfully.
Dana had a seizure all of a sudden, and found out that there was a cancerous tumor in the brain. She had it removed in surgery and undergo medications and things were back to normal. Dana met Bob, got married, and had twins boys, they lived in Bob's ranch.
Nic wrote a novel The Notebook and had it published. Warner offered him an unexpected Million. Since then Nic has been busier than ever.
Found out his second son was mild Autistic.
Dad's condition improved and met a woman he wanted to marry.
Suddenly Dad met in an car accident and died on the spot.
Nic devoted himself in teaching mild autistic 5 year old Ryan (second son) how to speak.
Dana's brain tumor was growing again. Surgery wasn't an option because this time its in the deep areas of the brain. Dana grew weaker and weaker and died at 33. Only Nic and Micah left, once a family of 5.
Ryan managed to do fairly well in school.
Nic and Cathy had Landon. Then twin girls. Life for him was a long to-do list. He managed to finish every task though. Even squeezing in time to get a Taekwondo Black Belt with his eldest son. I can say that he was a workaholic.

Until the brochure appeared in Nic's mail.





I realized that I have written a very long (winded, perhaps?) book review. No. Summary. No. PLOT.
It's been long since I post a long one. No one would actually sit down and read through the whole thing for sure. LOL.
But it's a nice story. Gotta thank my cousin Yee Lin=D


~signs off here.


Spark's Mom's three statements, repeated in various sequences:
a. It's your life + social commentary
b. What you want and what you get are usually two entirely different things
c. No once ever said that life was fair.