If you wanna be happy* - Jimmy Soul

In some ways, smells are like music. Just like how you are transported to a moment in time in the past when a certain tune or song is heard, a familiar smell can do the same thing.

Certain places have their own distinct smell. Some just cannot be described - like the smell of the corridors along the faculties in UoE. And especially the smell near the Computer Lab B, where i spent the most time there doing me dissertation... and chatting on MSN. When i visited UoE again last summer, i walked along that corridor again and those memories flooded back again - especially when a mate told me something via MSN and i was jumping for joy - literally cuz i was alone (later i realised the presence of a CCTV camera).

Food smells are another kind. The smell of waxed meat will always be associated with London's Chinatown. I smiled when i visited Chinatown during the autumn of 2005 as i was pleasantly surprised that it still smelt the same after all these time!

At UoE, when Michelle was baking in the kitchen, the smell of cookies in the oven reminded me of the pre-CNY days back home when me sis will be baking and filling the entire house with the fragrance of the freashly baked goodies.

Then of course there's the smell of perfume. Different people have different perfumes to remind me of them - either cuz they always wear it or cuz they gave it to me.

So i was pleasantly surprised when i found a stall at the flea market this morning to be selling Clinique Happy at a very cheap price!!!

Happy will always be associated with a dear fren of mine - is it coincidence that i just saw her on Friday nite after almost a year? She was like a sister to me and we had loads of wonderful memories together before she left to overseas to pursue her studies. She bought Happy for me before she left - and that perfume has always brought back memories of those times, so long ago.

I was a lil' skeptical, tho. It was selling for less than 6 quid!!!! I tried it out and it did smell authentic. The lady explained that it was "old stock". Oh, wat the heck! Only RM30 - even if it was not original, it smelt close to it and it's still worth it. As i took out me wallet, something happened which almost made me regret buying it - she volunteered to take off RM5 from the price!!!!! Huh?? What the...? I din even try to bargain! Did she feel bad for me? if she was willing to take off RM5 voluntarily, how much was it really worth?

But hey, it's Happy!!!! So i really din mind!

On a separate note, i'm happy that i finally got me new study table this weekend!!! :-)

The old one was the same one that i had been using since my secondary school days!!!! It was still ok - but i'm really particular bout me study table. It has to be BIG. HUGE would be better!!! It has to be big enuf for me to put all me books and spread out all me notes. And still have space for me coffee!

There were times during both me undergraduate and post-graduate days that i'd hijack the dining room table and use it to study - it was big enuf.

Anyways, after looking for so long, i decided to just get the best that i've seen - even tho it was grey in colour and did not go well with the "wooden" feel of the furniture in me room. But as i was chatting wif the lady at the second hand shop, she told me bout this drawer-less wooden table - which was bigger and cheaper than the brnd new grey one i was gonna get. So i got it. And am pretty happy about it!

Retail therapy can be truly therapeutic! LOL!

Me table at Rayleigh Tower - it was big enuf

Me tiny old one - books usually ended up all over the floor

Me new one! Soooo much space! :-)

*A no. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963, it has been used in 2 brilliant movies, and MermaidsMy Best Friend's Wedding.