Election Protest in KL

Oh my goodness I'm about to lose my mind.
It's Brooke here, and just to inform you, Ashley and I just wrote a beautiful post all about a protest going on in KL as I type, BUT the evil computer had to lie to me when it said it was saved, then delete when I tried to post it.

*deeeeep breath*

The backwards nature of our host country never ceases to amaze me.

Dad called us while on his jaunt around KL with the new GPS system to tell us about an unbelievable amount of people flanked by fully geared, riot-ready police. Roads were closed, cars were being searched, and dad wanted to know what was going on. A google search later we found advertisements for a peaceful protest overseen by an organization called Bersih. What they wanted was equal and fair votes for the upcoming Prime Minister election. Though the election is set for 2009, voting will probably start early 2008, rank with bribery, vote-buying, and other corrupt practices by the Malaysian government that caused the outcry yesterday.

Over 26 non-government groups gathered in Merdeka Square, the birthplace of Malaysian "independence" just 50 years ago. Even in its early stages, the police were ready to take on the crowd just like it had (needlessly) just two months ago in another protest in Terengganu. With the crowd tipping the scale at over 10,000 participants, the excitable Malaysian police force felt the best way to deal with the multitudes of citizens rallying for their constitutional rights was to hose them down with chemicals, bombard them with tear gas and start making arrests. Crazy, eh?
Well that's about it. We just wanted to have some information for anyone who cared to read or if anyone was wondering what was going on yesterday. Too bad I We couldn't be there....

Untill the next political outrage, this is Ashley and Brooke, signing out.

Spare time

So I don't post as much as I should.
I know this because people never check my blog and my blog-to-blog links aren't as common anymore, but why not? Why would anyone want to keep checking an abandoned blog?
Anywhoz, I'm now sixteen, and it does feel a bit different.
Yes, you know how as a teenager with every birthday people think it's just so original to ask "So do you feel different? Old? Grown up?" which tends to be quite irritating and is always answered with an toneless "no."
Not to stray from my loved tradition of appearing as unenthusiastic as possible about "the change question", but I do feel different. Like I've seen enough things to know more about the world then I used to. Like I'm not who people think I am. Not like I'm trying to be the stereotypical misunderstood teen, and it's not like I'm tryin to hide. I just don't think people know me all that well.
Agreed, it is partially my fault [I guess] for not being completely open and gut-spilling to everyone who crosses my path, but I tend to pay more attention to other people then myself.
I'm an extrovert, as you most likely know, and I don't think it's very good for me. It's like the people I'm around *are* my identity. No, not in the sense that I try to hang out with the kool kids to be kool or the bookish kids to be nerdy, but I'm tofu. I take on the flavor of what's around me.
I don't know what to think of it. It's all me, it's not like I'm acting or whatever. I showcase a different part of brooke with everyone. A part that will get along and understand the person I'm with. It's not a complete and total change. I don't have a few hundred alternate personalities to whip out depending on the company, but I guess I just do my best to make the other person feel comfortable.
I never really thought about it until one day when I was talking to my friend Fuzzy and he brought it up. Like I was hiding something but always talking about other people. It got me thinking. So even if I am hiding something, or compensating, or whatever it may be, I don't know what it is. I haven't thought about it enough. I try, but my brain doesn't seem to be in my complete control anymore. I don't know. Maybe my ADD is getting worse, maybe I'm just thinking about too many things, maybe I'm somehow avoiding it.
Issues like this are mind-boggling to me. Obviously I only know what it's like to be in my head, but I wonder how different I am for everyone else. Is it hard for people to hear their own thoughts? Can all of my forgetfulness, confusion, lack of focus and frustration be pure ADD? Or is it part of being a teenager? Or could it possibly be normal?
I'm not writing this all out looking for you to answer all of my questions, lend advice, tell me what's going on in my head. It just seems like this is the one clear way I can think and see my thoughts formed to a point where they are comprehensible and sane.
I guess I am just a very lost sixteen-year-old with a lot to learn.

until my next epiphany,
Brooke

sweet stuff

So I'm officially sweet sixteen as of August 22, 2007 =]
On Wednesday night we went out to the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra for their "Birthday Bash" to celebrate 10 years of making music, so unfortunately not just for me. ;] That was great and the music was really nice to relax and listen to, even if the story for the piece Peter and the Wolf was slightly censored. haha
So today at 4.30 Ashley mom Jasmine and I are off to SINGAPORE! We're going to take a really nice bus [think first class international flight] down to singapore for a great weekend. =]
Well i'm in the publications room during lunch at school and my next class happens to be three floors and half the campus away. i should get going. I'll post up some fun picures when i can.

toodles!
B

Here we go again

First off, "Here we go again" is a great song by the group Paramore [go check it out if you don't know them], and it describes my situation pretty well; starting school over, starting a few friendships over, starting soccer try-outs again... haha I already have butterflies and it's still six hours away!
Oh well, It's my second day of being a sophomore and we start normal classes today. Oh boy. First up is IB Honors Higher Level Chemistry. Yea-haw! Well i'm off to organize my binder. Hope you enjoyed the update. I'll try to do it more often. ;]

<3
Brooke

Discovering what we're made of

Tonight I got the scare of my life.
Not from a scary movie, or a haunted house,
This was real.
I was scared because my best friend in the entire world could have been in real trouble, and I was powerless.
I cried, I cussed, I couldn't take it.
I broke down.

Gone.
For a walk?
She wasn't there.
I couldn't get to her.
Separated.

Was she in trouble?
Is she ok?
What's going on?

Panic.
Worry.
Tears.
Friends holding my hand,
Hugging, helping,
Searching.

How did this happen?
Come back.
Don't leave me here,
Waiting in chaos.

Finally safe,
Family and friends.
More tears and talks.
Never again.
I wouldn't be able to take it.

I love you completely and forever.
I will do anything for you.
You are an amazing and beautiful person.
Don't ever forget it.

Sisters.
Stuck,
Together forever.

i made it.

Heyy everyone.
I survived IASAS in Singapore. And it was pretty awesome. Singapore was a refreshing change from Malaysia; clean-er air, sanity on the roads, a comforting lack of back allies and trash heaps, nice people and safe food.
I shattered my personal best in Javelin. Before IASAS my record was around 17.28, and when I threw in the actual competition, I threw over twenty meters! BUT, because it didn't land correctly [it didn't land tip-first, it landed on its side], I "scratched out" meaning that none of my throws counted. True, at first I was devastated and really expected myself to do better [yes, there were even some tears, but I had my amazing thrower girls Lindsay and Eun with me], but I'm happy with doing my best and as everyone kept telling me; I'm just a freshman. It's pretty good to have gotten to IASAS at all and I have three more years to improve. And the top three girl throwers [all from Jakarta International School] are seniors, which will leave the field open for me to own in the years to come. =] Which I plan on doing along with hopefully year-round training.
I threw alright in discus, not any personal bests there, but I had great form and didn't foul out. Shot put is definitely my weakest event, but I threw decently for an amateur. ;]
It was a great experience to have softball badminton and track IASAS all in one place, and there was A BAZILLION students everywhere, but it was REALLY fun. I went super hoarse from screaming on my team and friends, which resulted in me getting a somewhat "manly" voice. Then our oh-so-witty friend, Mr.Boyd, decided that I should be called Brock due to my new masculine voice. So now people are calling me Brock and I go around school growling "BROCK OWNS YOU" to anyone looking like they would have an exciting reaction.
Well now it's a little past 10.30pm, and I haven't quite recovered from my lack of sleep on the trip, AND I have my Argentine tango class tomorrow with my buddies Jasmine and Levar.
Sweet dreams everyone and goodnight.
Brooke.

Not drowning, but choking.

Wow.
There is so much to do.
So much going on.
I think I'm gonna pop.

I made it to track IASAS, which is the equivalent of the huge end-of-the-season track meet, where only about half the team gets to go to compete against the best athlete's from all the other schools, like Singapore American School [who is hosting IASAS], Jakarta International School, International School of Bangkok... You get the picture.
Well I made it in my three throwing events, Shot Put, Discus, and my new love, Javelin. Ashley also made it for the 1500m long distance race, but I'm pretty sure she will also run the 30000m race. We're both really excited to go and compete, but out of the five-day-long trip we will miss three days of school.
Everything is piling up. Homework, band, track, church, friends, family... I can't crack. I'm going to do this.

It's time for me to crawl in to my cave of a room and not come out until i have things under control and all of my work done. <=

Goodbye for now.

Rough around the edges?

alrigth guys this is going to be short and sweet.
i woke up wednesday mornign feeling like i had swallowed a bunch of sand paper.
yesterday i had a big track meet where i got some bad sunburn and a little congestion from all the rain.
thismorning i ran the KL 10k, part of the KL marathon, [whoo Houston Striders! ;] which left my hips rather sore [my form must have been crap because we were shuffeling along due to injuries, sunburn and lack of training].

so now i'm a mess with a congested nose, sore throat, painful cough, bad sunburn, sore throwing arm, sore hips and feeet......
at least i'm here and still smiling.
just wanted to give you guys an update and assure you that i am, in fact, still alive. ;]

alright i'm gonna try to sleep and get better by the morning for school, i realli can't afford to miss. =[

later guys!
-brooke

Life moves along

Heyy guys.
Sorry i haven't written in so long. I've been quite busy lately with school of course, now track [yay! =], and friends when i can squeeze them in. ;]
It's alot different having three out of our clan of five in school now [yes i count the dog]. Ashley and i have to rely on the bus and neighbors more than ever, now that our lovely chaufer is in music school and our wonderful father is currently in "The States". That lucky duck....
Well I'm still gaining new friends at school, and geting realli close to some awesome people.
ok, this kid Levar is a total goof and he's amazing. On our odd days [block scheduling, remember] we have three out of four classes together and we're unstopable. We sing rent and whatever other song pop into our heads in PE. Like, the whole time. We're on the ground doing push-ups: "I should tell you, I have baggage too...", on the lat pull machine: "Hey now, hey now, don't think it's over..". Then in band we switch instruments during short practice breaks [trombone and alot sax whee!], and then in spanish we do our best to understand our teacher and know what's going on.
Just about wherever we are we're singing, goofing off and laughing till we have to stop so we can breathe.
=]

Track has been great too. I'm in for the shotput, discus and javelin, and the coaches are thinking about putting me in sprinting or distance running. lol. Weird yes. I got to school this morning at 6 with the other track throwers to practive throwing javelins for the first time, and that was nearly and scary or un-safe as it sounds. Haha. No worries, Grandma, we were careful and no one got speared. =] We run alot and it's quite challenging, but i think i can do very well this year and am willing to work for it. And of course it doesn't hurt having Ashley and a whole bunch of friends on the team too. Hehe.

Luch is in a few minutes, but I just wanted to let you guys know i'm still alive and kicking over here in KL and I'm totally looking forward to visiting in the summer! [And Jason and Emily might fly over for a visit early summer! YAY!!!]

Untill next time,
Broo out!

So close...

Darn!

I missed out on the Vietnam trip by a DAY!
I was going to turn in my forms and stuff today and all the spots filled up yesterday and last night.

Man.
I'm SO bummed right now.
=[

There's a local build coming up, and Habitat for Humanity does normally have a few trips a year.
And I guess I do have a few more years to take trips like the Vietnam build.
But still.
I was so excited.

Well thank you guys for your support and enthusiam.
Mebe next time.
=/

-bummed broo

Veitnam?

Alright guys. I have been faced with an awesome opportunity-
To go to Vietnam on a “build trip” with Habitat for Humanity!
As you probably know, Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit organization whose goal is to provide decent affordable housing for people in need.
From March 30th to April 5th the Habitat for Humanity group in my high school will be taking a trip to the city of My Tho in Vietnam to build houses for people and families in need.
This trip will give me a chance to do a few things I’ve loved doing since I was a little kid, helping other people and building things, houses in this case. Not only will I be able to serve others, but also I will get to visit a country that I have studied closely. As you may or may not recall, a few friends and I went to the National History Fair competition with our project on the Vietnam War a while back, and since then I have wanted to experience Vietnam firsthand.
As I know all too well from my studies, Vietnam is a country that can always use a little extra help, and I’m so excited that I may be able to administer some of that help.
The only obstacle standing in between me and building houses and experiencing a new culture in Vietnam is funding. Unfortunately, this build trip costs 3,000RM [about $870 USD]. As a freshman in an international high school, and a 15-year-old ex-Pat, money can be hard to find. If you are interested in supporting me by donating, please let me know.
This is simply an awesome opportunity that I have been given and I would be absolutely THRILLED to take advantage of it.

That's about it for now.
Thank you everyone.
=]

-brooke

Whoo! Another new year!

So it's New Year's day, mom and dad are out to dinner, Ashley and I just finished watching the moovie Taxi, and and Alfredo is sleeping on my bed. So things are nice and peaceful over here, the last little bit of clam before school starts back up on the 8th.

Christmas was nice, but it has a whole different feel over here. It's truely a Christian holiday. In the US pretty much everyone celebrates Christmas [at least the giving and recieving of gifts part. haha], and here only Christians and Americans observe the holiday. Sure, we all get off school, but it's mainly used as a time for families to snag a quick vacation. Haha. well to anwser the question that must be on your lips, the koolest things i got this year were
-A black, 30 gig video ipod [yay!]
-an awesome fuzzy purse [that looks like it's make out of wookie fur]
-and a sweet book of Fox Trot comics. =]

Ash got an crazy 7.0 megapixel camera that has just about every feature that could be thought up, and i can't wait to see her realli get into her photography. yay! X]


For New Years Ashley and I had a few friends over to goof off with, playing Balderdash, watching moovies, and concocting our own drinks untill the wee hours of the morning. i wound up getting to sleep close to 8 this morning and woke up at 1 this afternoon. not bad i must say.... lol.

Well i'm about to go have "dinner" [keep in mind it's going to be a fifteen-year-old's version of dinner since we're home alone] and probably another moovie or two with Ash.

Untill next time,
-Broo out-

Phuket = Pooket

So here we are in Phuket, Thailand enjoying our artificial Thanksgiving holiday. =]

We spent just about all day at the beach, either swimming or reading books and magezines under some beach umbrellas. We're taking pictures by the bucket full and i hope to post them up as soon as we get home. well i hope you are enjoying a wonderfull thanksgiving yourself, and have a great day.

laters guys,
<3rooke

Hong Kong pong tong long...

Yes, so as you have probably read on my dad's blog, I was in Hong Kong for four days a while ago for the South East Asia Honor Band. It was simply AMAZING!!! My school mates and i are SO sad that it's over, when we get together that's all we can talk about!
The Hong Kong International School [where we practiced as a band for 8 hours a day on 2 days] is basically built on the side of a mountian, so the part of the school we were in had at least 8 floors. And, because there was only one elevator, we would pretty much fun up and down the equivelent of 9 stories. pretty crazy. So there's a system international schools over here in asia have, where is if students from other schools fly over to your school for some sort of event, you have them stay over your house. This makes sense because it would cost a bunch of money to book hotels for every out-of-town event, and it lets students from different schools and countries get to know eachother. So i got to house with another girl from my skool named Yuka. We had a blast together and we're on the baskestball team together.

Here she is lookin good in a new chepow [sorry i don't know how to spell it] she just bought in Hong Kong.


Thai Pineapple rice the second night we were there. GOOD STUFF, man. haha.


Here we are with our hostfam.


Well we got to have the most wonderfull host family ever! They were SO kind to us! First of all letting us stay in Ting Ting's room [while she had to stay in her brother's room], then making sure there was always food within reach ;], then giving us some fruit and water for during our long days of practice at skool, then taking us out to an amazing dinner! Wow. Oh, sorry. Ting Ting is the 15 year old girl who hosted us, and she played clarinet in our honor band.

This is the guest conductor from canada. Does he not look like the KFC guy?

I think he does.

Alright, I forgot the name of this building, but it's like the tallest in hong kong of something, and the night of our concert [when i took the picture] was the last night is was going to be open. It's goin to be demolished to make a bigger peir or more buildings or something. fun, eh?


This was a display in the wall going up to stairs to the Charlie Brown Cafe in down town hong kong. I thought uncle chris would especially appreciate this. =]


And this was my dessert at the Charlie Brown Cafe. Mmmm, tasty!



NOODLE BUDDIES!

-Levar


-Brian


-Chris


-Me



ok enough of that.

Times Square: Hong Kong style.


Personally I think this picture is awesome. so let me know what you think.



alright this is on the plane in Hong Kong back to the KL. With my friend, now boyfriend, Stephane. =) He's amazing by the way.


Alright. This post has been delayed long enough.
All involved thinkit was the best trip ever.
And we miss hong kong.
hehe.
laters.

-broo

i can't stand it

Wow. i feel like the ADD is eating me. i can feel it. during tests i just can't keep my mind on the paper. i know its happening and try to focus so hard. it's an uncomfortable feeling that makes me want to squirm, being aware it's going on and not being able to stop. it's so agrevating; taking some stupid drugs to keep me straight. drugs that very well might be hurting me more than they help me.



agh. pray for me.




here's a post from like a month ago i never got around to finishing......so pathetic it's kinda funny.

Hello again. I'm currently in my prep(free) period @ skool, and I was sending, replying to, and organizing important emails when my BBS went down. I forget what BBS stands for, but the easiest way to explain it would be a forum-type thing(but wayy better) where you have seperate folders for all of your classes, clubs, athletic teams and activities, where your teachers and coaches can post homework, announcements, and calendars, you have a whole email account devoted to school(but can be used otherwise, heh heh..), you can read notices specific to your grade, and can easily communicate with other students, teachers and allumni. It's amazing. Anywho, I'm in charge of the breakfast for Habitat For Humanity's 40 Hour Famine.....


-brooke out

The post you've been waiting for...

Ok, so I just checked my blog, to read comments and stuff when I noticed I'm missing a post!! Last week during my prep(free) period in skool, I wrote a new post and put it all up and everything. Then just now I notice I must have closed it or signed off before it was finished publishing!! Grrr. SO not fun. Sorry about that. SO how would you like to hear about my day?
So let's see....I made myself famous in my P.E. class today. Today is the second-to-last day that we will be on the volley-ball unit, so we were split into teams to play games for our assessment. A guy on the opposite team is know to serve strong to the very back corners of the other team's court, So I'm in the back corner that his serve is heading toward. I call I got it! I got it! to let my team know it's my ball and I get ready to bump it, when I notice it's way to high for that! So I just turn my head away in the hopes that I'm not about to get knocked upside the head. The ball lands squarely on the top of my poor cranium and bounces off in what could have been a beautiful header and arcs to crash down on the bleachers. I spin around, chase the ball down and turn back toward the court to find my whole team on the floor laughing! For the first few minutes all I could do was smile weakly and eek out a very embarassed chuckle, but I got over it and wound up telling my friends about the incident with a tint of pride in my voice. High school, eh?

Anyways....I'm sitting in the computer lab of the library again, tapping away on this grimy keyboard as people frantically attempt to finish their homework and checking thier myspaces.
Alot has happend since i last blogged, so here we go.
The weekend before last, mom, ashley, dad and i ventured out to the bintan beach resort in indoeasia for dad's work. The resort was stunningly beautiful and had so many things going on in it! For example; ashley mom and i (dad was golfing. hehe.) got to hang out with a sweet indoneasian elephant named emma. I'm sorry i don't have the pictures avalible at the moment, due to the fact that I'm at skool, but I'll get the pictures up soon. Ashley mom and i (dad had to golf with coworkers again) had a great time exploring the beach the first morning. I also have beautiful pictures from that, but will post them later. The pool at the resort was realli kool, cuz it was in a big weird funky shape, and the one time mom dad and i (ash was doing home work) had a chance to try out the sweet pool, it started raining. Now the rain in Indoneasia is nothing like the rain in texas, besides that one time we almost got a hurricane. It was like the sky was one huge waterfall flowing from a limitless ocean in the the clouds. It was quite a kool atmosphere sitting under a huge cabana umbrella, freezing your tootsies off, watching the rain pour and listening to the powerfull thunder. Later that day, it was still raining so ashley and i played a round of lazertag(yes, the resort even had it's own lazertag place) with a few new friends from singapore. Their parents were also there for dad's work thing, so we wound up hanging out alot during meals when all the adults were engrossed in their own conversations. Something new that we have discovered (and i think is amazingly awesome) is football by australian rules. Seriously exciting sport right there. I guess the closest i can come to describing it is almost a mix of american football, soccer, rugby and a touch of basketball. Haha. I know! It's crazy, right? I would attempt to explain more, but i have other stuff to write about. So check out wikipedia's definition of the sport.
Alright, enough about the Bintan. But on the way there and back we went through Singapoe, and it's SO clean and peacefull! The roads are even nicer than any american roads I've seen; very clean, and a wonderfull break from the malaysian "driving" we live in. Moving on.
As you all probably know, i made the girls junior varsity soccer team (XD) and i'm totally loving it. I'm improving alot too, which is really nice to hear from your coach after you've been bustin your butt in every practice and game to play better. Haha.
I don't mind wearing a uniform at skool, i just need more iskl-worthy pants. I only have like 3 pairs! lol
Since I'm already on the topic of skool, one of my awesome new peeps Michael is reading my blog for the first time after careful negotiations. He's amazingly smart, has in interview in the magizine Newsweek for his amazing Lemony Snicket website. Check it out, it's realli amazing.
Well I'm about out of things i been needing to blog about for now, so I'll write more later. Thanks for stopping by, San Diego. ;]
<3brooke

Birthday!!

Ok, sorry I haven't been able to post in a while, so i'm just gonna combine a few posts that I've been meaning to put up to create one big superpost. Well it's august 23, here in KL, and it's my prep period right now, or like free period. So I decided to blog. Lucky you. SO yesterday was my birthday, and it was nice and layed back, which was relaxing. My friend Katy made me an awesome sign that said "It's yo Birthday!" and put it on my locker before i even got to skool, which was realli nice of her. My soccer coach excused me from practice (by the way, I made J/V soccer, =D, and yesterday was our first practice. Nice coach, eh? lol), people I didn't know kept telling me happy birthday, and ashley and katy embarrasingly sang/screamed happy birthday during lunch. After skool, mom, ashley and i went to KLCC and i got a new pair of soccer cleats!! I already told my coach in an email i sent her yesterday! Haha. i can't wait to try them out in practice today. Well since i'm at skool i don't have any of my pictures on the computer to show you guys, but i'll try to put some up later. Well i'd better go work on the melodramatic and overly descriptive paper i'm doing for english. Later guys!

Post from last Friday:
Well, today was freshman day @ good ol' ISKL. And that means free dress and free pizza for the freshmen, and my personal favorite, senior hazing! ;] No, the seniors don't haze us, we haze them! Haha. So the seniors on the student council and whatever other seniors that volunteer get to be the targets for whatever gross food combinations you can cook up for 4RM (ringgit) like, a bit over a dollar. It was great. I knew a girl that was doing it from soccer and the student council president (senior) who also participated. I was in the splash zone, good view though, so i got some oatmeal schrapnel and egg splatters, but it's all good. Oh and to use my free dress day to it's full enjoyment, i wore the "¡Ayùdame...Estoy en fuego!" shirt and got alot of compliments. And alot of requests to translate. But it's all good.
So i didn't make the Varsity soccer team, but that's ok, cuz i've never realli played soccer before now, and I'm a freshman (eventhough 2 of my friends in 9th grade got on the team....=/). But i think i made J/V cuz my name was on the first list for it, but we had more J/V try-outs cuz a ton a 8th graders think they can play soccer. Oh well.
And yesterday i went to the varsity girls first game and it was great! My buddy and locker neighbor Katy is the craziest goalie ever! She made some amazing saves like jumping up and punching the ball while surrounded by offenders, diving on her knees to deflect the ball off hestomachhe, diving on the ball to make a great drop kick....She rocks. She's one of the only 4 kool people in out World studies class (me, her, and the awesome "miguel", and a crazy guy named Amrit), one of the very few fun people in band (i'm thinking of quitting. And i very well might.), and has the locker below me. Yea. We're fun like that. Another girl i know named Cory plays goalie too, but this game she played lefdefensece and made alot of great saves. yep, i'm proud of our varsity girls. ;D I've had a great time in try-outs, not just trying out, but learning alot about soccer! lol. And getting to know other girls. It's been alot of fun, and i have @ least 10 majobruiseses, a couple blisters, and field-burnt knees to prove it. My friend Maddy, who is an insane forward, lent me a pair of shiguardsds when she saw all the bruiseses i was getting, so hopefully i'll have normal colored legs again. haha. Anywho, gotta go. Have fun kids!

yes, brooke is still alive....

Heyy guys! Sorry i haven't blogged in FOREVER!! First i got sick, and was misrable and didn't feel like doing anything, then we moved into our house, which required packing up the puter @ the hotel, lugging it to the house and waiting for the cable dudes to finally come hook up the internet, then skool started, which left no spare time with homework, school supplies, and trying to get the house in order. Wheew. Yea, alot has been happening lately. I'm sorry that this is such a brief and boring post, but i need to finish up my hoework and get in bed for school tomorrow! Haha. I've been doing soccer try-outs since last tuesday and i love it! Soccer has been so fun and i hope i might have a chance at making a team, Varsity or J/V. Try-outs end tomorrow and we will know who is on the team on Wednesday. Wish me luck! And comment plz? =] Laterz!
<3brooke

chillin out

Heyy guys! I'm am literally chillin. Ashley mom and i just ran home from the mall in the pouring rain and i went straight to the computer to write this so i didn't change. We went to a place called Little India, where we got some saris, and rings and stuff. It was fun, but towards the end we were all so tired we had very nearly completely lost our decision-making abilities. Scary.
Anyways, i'm sorry i haven't gotten to blog a in a while, but ashley is out of the hospital and the doctors said all her tests came out normal. She only had to stay in the hospital for the night and left in the morning. But the night ashley was in the hospital mom and i stayed up untill about 4am, so when we got to the hospital later in the morning we were realli tired. Ashley got a good night of sleep, so she let us stretch out on her bed

and she sat on the end and read her book.

Yes, in her fun socks.


Here's a kool pic of me waiting with ash in her hospital room.

And some fun pics from the hospital:

The kool little button ash could push for a nurse to come.


An arrow sticker on the celing in ash's room pointing to Kiblat, or Mecca, the direction you pray in 5 times a day if you're muslim.


Ashley's panic button! Naw, it's just a light switch next to her bed, but isn't it sinister-looking? We were scared to figure out what switches were for the lights cuz we thought that they would call for the nurse or doctors or something.


A button you would NOT want to press- CODE BLUE!!


Most of the nurses at this hospital wear these kool hats. Isn't that awesome?!

Now just some normal pictures:

Getting my blonde hightlights re-done.


Blonde highlights done. Now i just need some red.....


Pool area where mom ashley and i ate breakfast this morning. Isn't it pretty?(Ignore the building going up in the backround.)


Mom looking beautiful as always.


Ashley ready to start the day.


Me just being dorky me.

That's it for now, but there's just a few things i wanna say before wrapping up.
Heidy: Where's that guest post from Iceland? Don't leave me hanging. =[
People in La Mesa and San Deigo who read my blog: Are you someone i know? Cuz i used to live there. It's beautiful and i love it. =D
"Caleebe": I miss you too! =P

I would love getting some letters from my peeps, and just email me if ya don't have the address. Selamat Jalan!
brooke

Poor Ashley!

WARNING: This blog post might contain material cosidered disturbing to overly-emotional readers. Viewer discretion is advised.


Today we had to bring Ashley in to the Emergency room for the second time. The first time was about three weeks ago because of her "food poisoning". We went back again because she still hasn't recovered from whatever she got that first week, and now she has to stay at the hospital over night. =[ It just doesn't feel right at all to leave ashley behind cuz she's not here. I've been with ashley 24/7 for over a month, and though it can occasionally get old, i've gotten used to it.


Ashley posing with the magazine i was reading to her, The Japan Club of Kuala Lumur. Dancercising. Oh yes.


Ashley and her dinner "surprise".


SURPRISE!! X[


Getting up the will power to eat the "hospital meat". Ugh.


Now this is the kind of picture to bring a tear to a grandma's eye. Sorry Grandma, I warned you.

Please just pray that this isn't some parasite or anything realli bad. I hope ashley heals up fast and can come home soon.

<3-brooke

Day of rest

Ahh, Suday afternoon. Probably the most relaxed part of the week. Since mom and ashley are asleep, i'll just relax and blog for a bit.

Last night Ashley and i had our new friend Sara sleep over, and she's realli kool. Sara is exactly 20 days older than me, going into 10th grade, a wonderful singer, and the daughter of the pastor of the church we've been most frequently visiting, the Bridge International. Yesterday Ashley and i went bowling with Sara and her sister Abby (going into 12th grade and also realli nice and fun to be around). It was only 5 ringgit per person per game, which includes shoe rental, so roughly $1.36 US Dollar, 8.1 Egyptian Pounds, and 1.7 Euros. Pretty cheap, eh? And you may be wondering why I put so many different currencies. That's because, thanks to some fun new programs, i saw that people in Egypt, the UK, France, Malaysia and all over the US are reading my blog. =] Anywho, we played two games, Abby won the first and i won the second, with 119 points. Apperently Malaysians realli like to bowl, that's good because so do Ashley and i. Haha. So Ashley, Sara and i watched What Women Want, talked, belted out show tunes from Wicked, The Last 5 Years, Rent, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and The Producers, and and ate chocolate all night. It was great. Then, some how, we managed to get up at seven, get a good work out, shower, have breakfast, drive across town and get to church on time before 10. We rock.

Dad just left for another buisness trip, but right before he left he installed some of my cell fone's software, so now i can put my pictures on the computer! So I'm going to try some thumbnail codes so i can put more pictures on. Hope they work!


Here's mom doing her Batik. But the time i remembered to take pictures, mom was the only one still working on hers. It was quite a long process, and we wound up spending about three hours there. I'll try to explain the process so you can understand better. We walked into the small, hut-like "Batik studio" and our friends Kim, Sara, Abby, Anitha, Mrs.Nelson (Sara and Abby's mom) coached us on what to do. There were two rickety little tables completly covered in binders that had pictures and patterens you could use to trace, or free-hand the sketch of what you wanted made into Batik. So of course i, being as unique and slightly rebelious as i am, had to free-hand a drawing of my own abstract idea of a pattern. So once you had your pattern or sketch down on paper, you would tell the people who worked there that you were ready for your fabric, and chose either cotton or slik. Out of the people i was with, only one other person chose cotton and everyone else had silk, so i picked cotton. Then they would hand you your fabric stretched and stapled across a square frame, and you put your paper under the fabric and trace your design on to your cloth in pencil. Then there needs to be wax along the pencil marks so that your design is is wax, and you can do that your self or have the Batik people do it for you. I realli wanted to do it myself, but just drawing my own pattern put be wayy behind everyone else doing Batik, so i had the Batik people do it. When you get your fabric back, you paint it with some watery pigments and the wax keeps the colors "inside the lines" of the pattern. When you are done you then give your masterpiece to the people who work there and tell them if you want it washed (so the wax comes off and it's officially Batik. To get it washed you have to pick it up the next day) or just framed. So it's a long, creative and quite relaxing process, and we had a lot of fun doing it.

Here is mom driving on the left side of the road and braving the crazy Malaysian traffic. Keep those eyes on the road! <:I

Ashley looking pretty as we drive through FRIM, the huge forest reserve here in KL, Where dad's company did a scavanger hunt for it's employies and their families. We didn't do the actual scavenger hunt because (1. It was mainly for younger kids, (2. We got their late, and (3. we had to leave early to go to a beautiful Malay wedding that our new neighbors ivited us to. We did hike a bit, up a small mountain or huge hill (i couldn't tell). We saw a Malaysian family swimming in a small pond at the bottom of a waterfall, and a barrel of mokeys (i looked it up, and this is the real term for a group of monkeys, so no, the monkeys were not realli in a barrel. Jeesh) . We took some kool pictures of FRIM, and ashley mom and i standing on a huge log over a river, but some how they got deleted from our camera. =[

We finally got to see The 'Fredo after two weeks of separation! Because he gets to run around with other dogs where he's staying, he actually acted, and smelled X[, like a dog! I think we'll have to give him people lessons when we get him back or something, but it was just weird.

Here, just for you, Aunt Gail. My Aunt Gail emailed ash and me a yahoo news foto about Kuala Lumpur, so we made our own version.

American Partiotism. Yes, this lovely picture was taken with my cell phone in black in white. (i luv my fone!) I mostly just wear them with my jeans, though. It's obvious enough that i'm an American matsali because of my light skin (compared to Mayalsian and Indian), lightish brown hair and blonde hightlights without me advertising my country's brightly colored flag on my shoes. ;]

My fone has sepia tone too! =D

My fone is a source of entertainment for me. If ya didn't notice.

Well this has been an extremly long post, and i'm sure you're past tired of me, if you even made it this far, so i'll let you go about your buisness. Good day.

<3-brooke

Look! Exciting pictures!!

Today Ashley, mom and I went out to do some batik today, with a few girls that we've met at church and at our hotel. It was realli rather relaxing and i can't wait to post up some pictures of mine. Anywho, the koolest Icelandic girl ever, and one of my very closest friends since fifth grade, is going to blog a bit here while she's on vacation in Iceland. I'm realli excited for her and can't wait to hear about her adventures, so comment and let us know what you think. It seems like this summer everybody is going all over the globe; India, Iceland, Chicago, all around California, or people are moving; Belair, mangolia, and of course, Kuala Lumpur. Fun, eh? Well here's some pictures that i owe you guys and just stuff i wanna post, so enjoy.

This is me, i guess trying to blend in with the local culture....

Me and Mr.Quintero at an awesome restaurant called Hakkas down the street from our hotel. Mr.Quintero was officially our first visitor from the US, and with in the first week of living here!

Still at Hakkas. Yes, Ashley and I are playing with our food....Drunken Prawns. Prawns stewed in Chinese rice wine. =]

I guess these poor little guys are on the menu O_o

Thanks for reading! <3-brooke

hanging in there

Hey people. I'm just hanging out in our hotel, as always. Yesterday was realli tough. Missing my friends in Cypress, and not realli having any friends over here. It's hard to keep myself occupied, considering i'm never in a mood to do anything in perticular. So Mainly we've been sitting around watching tv and eating. Not fun. And it doesn't help that food is a major attraction here. I'm pretty bored of the computer, even, but it's the only thing that's kinda interesting. It's hard to not have my friends around, or my guitar or trombone, or even my dog. So i guess i'm just trying to keep my mind on other things untill our sea shipment gets here and things start picking up. In the mean time i'll just keep on blogging. =/ Laters...
brooke

Just seeing the sites...

We've decided that we should get out and see all of the "tourist" sites here in Malaysia while we can still get away with it and not be laughed at. So, we've seen the "Sky Bridge" the double-decker brigde connecting the two petronas twin towers at floors 41 and 42, KLCC, the Kuala Lampur City Center which is the five-story mall in the middle of down-town KL that unfortunately has jacked up tourist prices too. We've taken a stroll around KLCC park, basically the big pretty park next to KLCC, Aquaria, tha aquarium here in KL. We've ridden the trains here, we've had an "interesting" adventure in Jalan Alor, eating the sickest and most disturbing thing we've had here in KL. A Durian Smoothie. Liquid evil. The closest we've come to describing the taste is liquid rotting garlic. Nasty stuff. And just the look of this bizzarre fruit should just be screaming DON'T EAT ME!! But it seems to be a local favorite here in Malaysia. It's about as big as a watermelon, brown, and covered in mean-looking spikes. I'm pretty sure it scarred Ashley and my mom for live. Haha. Well just don't try Durian, k?
Well We've picked up some useful skills here the hard way, like figuring out the it's best to hold your breath, or breathe through your mouth, while walking over street grates, but other things we've learned from local, friends, or the nifty "Malaysia breifing" we recieved from our orientaions company yesterday. So we are learning alot about the culture and way of life here, and will continue learning for a long time to come.
I hope these updates will be somewhat useful to helping you get a glimpse of our crazy experiences, and what's goin on with us. Please leave comments to say hi and let me know what you think! Laters, people!
<3-brooke

Just hangin...

I'm just chillin here with my fam, of course, and MR.QUINTERO!! Our first official visitor! Haha. I'll put the picture up here as soon as I get it on the comuter (and figure out how to post pictures, lol). Yesterday was insane! We went to the "Aquaria", the Aquarium here in KL, and we saw some pretty crazy stuff! Like a GIGGANTIC fish, that was like four-feet long!! We have pictures, and again, once i know how to post 'em. I took pictures on my nifty new CELL FONE too! Haha. It's a sony ericsson quickshare, and i love it! I'm not sure if i'm gonna be keeping this number, but if ya realli wanna know, just ask. lol. To all my friends and everyone else commenting, THANKS! I'm so glad to be hearing from all you guys! Keep it up! Haha. I gotta go, so write ya later. I luv you guys!!
<3-Brooke