Last night, my sister asked me what it felt like knowing I would turn 29 in a few hours. Now that I’m there, I think I feel great :D

For some reasons, I don’t have this fear of approaching the big 3-0 or whatever other fancy names you’d give it. But of course, now that I’m spending a significant amount of time in Kampung Mangkok in Setiu, I frequently get that “When are you going to get married?” question. But outside of Kampung Mangkok, nobody else asks me that question. Maybe I look fierce enough to deter anybody with the intention to actually go ahead and ask me that question.

But for the most part, I’d like to think that I don’t look 29 :D

I wanted to write about my frustration with certain politicians for saying certain things and with certain groups of people for doing whatever they are doing that disrupts racial harmony in the country. In MY country. But then, who are we kidding, politics isn’t exactly my cup of tea.

I wanted to write about the mounting excitement in the current project that I am working on (yes, it’s related to terrapins), and the kind of project-related activities that I am really looking forward to, but I guess all that is more appropriate in the Terrapin Conservation Centre website. Plus, I don’t want to jump the gun. So I guess I will be writing more about that stuff there later.

I wanted to write about my frustration with certain people in a certain administration because they are making things unnecessarily difficult for me. But I thought, what’s the point? Ranting about it will not solve the problem, but actively and tirelessly pursuing it will. And I am known to have tonnes of patience, so let’s see to that.

I wanted to write about how I am looking forward to the overseas trips that I will be making this year but I do not want to come out as being arrogant. I have learned that 2D communications, without the facial expressions, can be misconstrued and read the wrong way.

Did you ever feel this way? That there’s so much you wanted to write about but can’t because, you know, somewhere around the corner, somebody might be waiting to pounce on you? I can’t wait for this phase to be over so that I can be myself again, here on my blog.

A lot of things have happened to me in the past year — what do you expect, 12 months is a loooong time you know? Just like in a plate of yee sang, I’ve had the happy days, the crappy days, the crying days, the revengeful days, the excited days, the boring days, the I-want-to-lie-in-bed-all-day days, and the I-love-my-life days :)

This post is going to be about me, me, and me. Proceed if you can handle that :)

I got myself a new car
I exchanged my 10-year-old Perodua Kancil with a spanking brand new Proton Saga. It was my first HUGE investment, and I am so darn proud of myself. Yes, it may not be my long-term dream car, but it is my current favourite car. And I need the boot space (you will know what I mean if you knew the size of a Kancil boot).

I got a new iTouch
I got an iPod Touch from J for my birthday. It was THE most expensive gift he had given me (and I’m not complaining). And now I hate myself for refusing the iPhone when he first offered to get me one. Yeah, and I hate the my-phone-bills-will-get-more-expensive-every-month rationale now, LOL.

I released a lot of terrapins
Apart from the 99 river terrapins that we have released during the 5th Terrapin Independence Day, we have also released about 400 terrapins into the Setiu River. We had a lot of fun during these releases, and we are actually pleasantly surprised that we are forging such good relationships with the local fishermen. More updates about the terrapin research and conservation work that we will be doing in 2010 can be found on the Turtle Conservation Centre website.

I visited Medan for the first time
The trip to Aceh Tamiang, Medan was interesting, to say the least. While there, I met a bunch of eager turtle researchers and conservationists and shared with them the work that we do here in Malaysia. Work aside, I also had the opportunity to visit Lake Toba (yeah, the lake and super-volcano) and Gunung Leuser National Park. Needless to say, I enjoyed myself thoroughly!

I participated in Turtle Blogathon
Turtle Blogathon was fun :) What sounded like a crazy idea turned out to be a fun-filled one and who would have guessed that we would be able to raise RM 4,500 for turtle conservation in 24 hours in front of our computers? I will always cherish the time we spent together, as well as the friends we have made during the blogathon :) Thank you once again for your continuous support!

I was featured in Singapore Women’s Weekly and Malaysian Women’s Weekly
Despite the fact that it was an online interview done more than a year ago, the story about “Pelf the classic blogger” came out in print in 2 separate issues in 2 countries. How much more awesome can that be? And, the photoshoot was an eye-opening experience. That was the first time I had my hair and makeup done professionally, and I must say that I love the image of myself that the stylist-cum-makeup-artist created for me :)

I attended a girlfriend’s wedding
I went back to Melaka for a week at the end of November, to attend a girlfriend’s wedding. We threw the bride a bridal shower, and I managed to catch up with other girlfriends since we don’t really see each other that much anymore, now that we’re working in a few different states.

I was dismissed from all turtle-related projects in the university
This is funny but true — I was dismissed from all turtle-related projects in the university because somebody thought believed that I was a threat (when in fact, I did all that I could to be helpful, I swear to God). Plus, that somebody probably also knew that I don’t fight back, and that I would swallow all the shit thrown at me, and yeap, that’s right. But you know what I feel now? That I’ve come to this stage where when somebody throws me lemons, I am prepared to make lemonade and serve that somebody some :) Because seriously, life is all about making lemonades, after all!

I was plagiarized (can you believe it?!)
When I was still in service in the university, my job description included answering turtle-and-program-related emails from the public, as well as sending email updates to those who were interested. So over the months, I came up with my own greeting, which goes like this — “Dear turtle lovers” or “Hello turtle lovers” or “Hi turtle lovers”. I mean, people who have received emails from me can testify this :) But somebody found it a nice phrase so much so that it is being plagiarized in a website! I was hurt initially, but I later recalled that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery :) So yeah, thanks for imitating me :)

I will be working on my Ph.D. research soon
‘Nuff said :)

So that pretty much wrapped up my past 12 months. It was truly a mix of sweet, sour, spicy and bitter experiences but you know what? I have survived it, in one piece :) Now that I look back at all that I have experienced, I am thankful to certain parties for believing in me and for having faith in me, for giving me THE chance to prove my worth, for giving me the opportunity to see their true (ugly) colours, and most importantly, for giving me THE chance to get out of what is seemingly a dangerous mine field :)

So, my contract with the university will end in 3 days, but that does not, by any means, mean that my love affair with a university will end too :) That just means that I will be free to pursue my dreams, without having to deal with people who constantly make my life harder than it already is, LOL.

I will still be actively working with turtles, so if any of you have turtle-related questions, shoot them :) And if you’re planning to spend a weekend or a few days by the river banks, or if you’d like to go terrapins tracking in the river, you know who to call/email, don’t you? :)

Enough about me, what about you?

But I’ve never imagined that the story would be re-featured in the Malaysian Women’s Weekly, but it did! The two articles weren’t exactly the same, word-for-word, but the gist was there. And this time around, I shared the article with Sharlene @ Just Sharlene, who blogs about her cats and Ai Lian @ Tips and Tricks to Effective Parenting, an ex-national golfer who is now exploring the world of motherhood.

So yeah, go get yourself a copy of Malaysian Women’s Weekly, it’s RM 5.60, a few bucks cheaper than your favourite Starbucks drink :)

If you’re here after reading the article in the December 2009 issue of Malaysian Women’s Weekly, here are some updates:

I graduated with a Master’s degree in Biodiversity and Conservation, majoring in Conservation Biology in July 2008 and am now working in the university. At the same time, I am also doing some voluntary work, helping set up a new turtle conservation organization, Turtle Conservation Centre. I will be leaving the university this December, for greener pastures, like they say, but I will always be here :)

P/S: The Turtle Conservation Centre website is temporarily unavailable due to the restructuring of the organization. We will enable the website as soon as we have ironed out the kinks!

My first Blogathon experience in 2006 was, for lack of better words, mild. Five of us — John, Charmaine, Jesicca, Yvonne and myself — teamed up and blogged non-stop for Eden Handicap Service Centre in Penang, Malaysia. I think we collectively raised close to USD 400 within 24 hours!

Then in 2007, I went solo because the others either weren’t free or wouldn’t be around (can’t remember exactly why) on the day of the Blogathon. Now that I think back, all I could say about that solo Blogathon experience is that it was challenging, really challenging. I didn’t have anybody to cook for me at home, so I had to rely on instant food and snacks and coffee and chocolate bars. And I only realized afterwards that I was awake for 36-straight-hours without a proper meal! But at the end of it, I managed to raise USD 800, also for Eden Handicap Service Centre (and it was totally worth it).

I didn’t participate in Blogathon in 2008 because I was in the US.

This year, Edrei and I had actually discussed a joint-effort but because he wanted to write about cancer and I wanted to write about turtles, the joint-effort didn’t happen, LOL. But now, we at the Turtle Conservation Centre (TCC) will be running a Turtle Blogathon to raise funds for the newly-established turtle conservation organization :)

We will be publishing one post per hour beginning at 9pm on Oct 25th, for 24 hours. And for doing this, we collect donations. No amount is too little or too much and your donation will be used to support the turtle conservation projects that the TCC carries out. So if you are interested, this is how you can participate in the Turtle Blogathon. We are inviting the public to send us turtle-related questions, so if there are things that you’d like to know about marine and freshwater turtles but never knew who to ask, THIS is your chance :)