hmsb!

KAWAN - KAWAN

2010-08-12T23:51:00.000+08:00

Friendship takes effort.

With that said, let's get cracking!

Write a letter
Send a postcard from wherever the hell you are
Surprise visits are awesome (most of the time)
Pick up the phone (or get texting, if you're not that into phone calls, like me)
Plan something, anything, together

No man is an island.

STATUS UPDATE : CATHARSIS !

2010-07-28T00:13:00.000+08:00

I'm guilty of following my friends' lives via Facebook.
Been checking up on how they're doing, what's going on in their lives.

Facebook can never substitute real-life interaction.
I still prefer to see you than to write on your wall.

But there's no denying that it's useful.
There's so much you can find out in a span of minutes.

I'm also guilty of indulging my emotions online.
People (including me) vent, complain and bitch on FB. All the time.
Yet it doesn't really matter what other people write on a SOCIAL-NETWORKING SITE as long as you don't actually take it to heart.

I have friends who, in my opinion, take these things way too seriously.
When you really think about it, it's kind of silly to get all riled up over some cryptic, shadowy, one-sided status update / comment / whatever form of BS it takes.

Writers of supposedly ambiguous, finger-pointing sentences are just cowards.

If we can't face up to the perpetrators that are the cause of such angry online outbursts in real life, and instead choose to console ourselves by telling a bunch of virtual friends that 'YOU' are so-and-so, then we seriously have a problem.

Lets ask ourselves these:
What do we gain by it?
Does it help you (and everyone else subjugated to reading it) in any way?
Do these people of whom we write about 'get it'?

The Internet is a powerful tool that is at our disposal to disseminate what information we deem suitable.
Shouldn't every sentence that we write on this powerful tool result in a positive, an possibly enhancing, outcome?
Honestly, I'd rather read status updates that are peppered with inspirational quotes than read about how you're annoyed at this person and what a bully he/she is and how you JUST CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE.
Do something about it, dude.

Let's take our lives out of the virtual cocoon it seems to be stuck in.
Face our demons head-on, in real-life, face to face.
We'll be way happier and satisfied. I guarantee.

WHOA

2010-06-17T23:53:00.000+08:00

I'm going to keep the fact that I've fallen madly in 'like' with you, a secret.
Because it makes no sense, not even to me.

YOU NOT EXISTING KILLS ME

2010-06-14T01:10:00.003+08:00

I know that God has plans for all of us.

I know that.

I believe that.

I really do.

But I'm just so tired.

So very tired.

I don't want to wait around anymore.

It's not working.

Don't tell me your highs and lows.

I don't want to be the only one who listens.

I want my own story to tell.

Don't I at least deserve that?

*Shit, this post has a lot of 'I'*

I don't like it when I'm emotional.

I feel weak; I look stupid; I seem human.

I don't think you're there.

Maybe you never were. *God how depressing*

I don't think I'll ever find you.

Then I am the fool.

I want to go away.

Away from the idea of you.

I AM STEADFAST

2010-05-30T17:43:00.002+08:00

I have come to a point in my life where I know, with absolute certainty, what I want and who I want it with.

I don't want to waste anymore time I have left on something that I know won't work.
And I know it won't work because it is not something that I want.

What I want may seem far-fetched and ambitious to you, but I'd rather spend my time looking for it than waste it on something I have to settle for.

I don't care if you think I'm being silly and naive. That doesn't change how I feel about this. It's my life.

I am wasted on you. So stop.
You can't push, shove or weasel your way into someone's heart.

The heart wants what it wants.

MMA RAMOTSWE TRUMPS NANCY DREW

2010-04-13T18:19:00.006+08:00

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

Fierce!

How can you not want to know more about it, with a title like that?

Honestly, these are some of the most interesting and entertaining series of books I've ever read.

They're not pretentious or filled with complicated settings and plots.

These books are lighthearted and very satisfying.

These are simple books.

Simple books that taught me about culture, mannerism, and intuitions, more than any others I've read.

My only complaint is that the author (Alexander McCall Smith) needs to write more of it!

I really, really DO recommend you read the series.

I heart Botswana and Precious Ramotswe!

HBO recently turned it into a TV series, which delights me even further.

The show is awesome, the cast choice spot-on.

I hope you'll like it.

But then I already know you will :)

NOT ALL IS LOST

2010-04-10T01:35:00.003+08:00

Some love stories are short stories,

But they're love stories, all the same

MAYBE IT'S TIME TO PULL THE PLUG

2010-02-28T23:24:00.005+08:00

AKU

SUMPAH

DAH

TAK

TAHU

NAK

TULIS

APA

DALAM

BLOG

NI.

YOU WERE JUST PASSING THE TIME WITH ME

2009-08-31T02:08:00.005+08:00

Oh wow,
Talking to you was great.
We were saying all the right things, at all the right times.
Conversations with you is good for my waistline.
Because when you talk, i forget that i need to eat.

We only just met,
But when my buddy goes "hey hany, meet YOU",
It was like "Wham! Bam!" (doesn't end with "thank you maam" okay),

CONNECTION

It was easy being with you, well even if only for some hours,
Wasn't awkward wasn't weird,
There was no cringing and my jokes were actually funny,
I knew they were because your eyes laughed along with you.

You were just so ON, that I wonder if maybe you're bipolar,
Not that it matters, i liked you by then already,
You smell really nice too.

You made it neon-clear you're availability (damn it boy, you're just so likable),
Which is good stuff; i don't like games,
You asked for my number, in case i wanna 'get together',
And yes, I'd like that.

But.
You never called.

I guess you're just not that into me.

Sheesh.

BACK IN BUSINESS, BABY

2009-08-29T17:40:00.001+08:00

Yep,
loads to tell.
Starting with the next post.

I'm ending this very brief post with a really good track that I heard in an HBO vid.
It's so good, it's on loop ;)

I JUST REMEMBERED I HAVE THIS

2009-06-05T01:51:00.002+08:00

I don't know why I'm here.

I don't even know how to start.

I just know that this space is awfully dusty, has haybales cart-wheeling around and is at the brink of being forgotten.

I should do something about that.

Not now tho.

Maybe later.

Or never.

See ya.

SO...HAS IT CHANGED YOU YET?

2009-03-29T19:32:00.005+08:00

Earth Hour.

Noble intentions, saintly.

I applaud those who learned something out of it; you are lucky.

But raves and parties afterwards? Driving all the way and crowding a mall to participate in a DJ counting backwards? Buying and using candles in papercups once the lights are turned off? Isn't it better for the earth if you didn't buy those damn papercups in the first place? Do these ppl even know how much paraffin and CO2 a candle burns and produces?

Shouldn't the hour be best spent in quiet contemplation of the effects of our actions on this planet we call home?
Is it not a cause of alarm for us to repent and mend our ways, lest it not be too late?

I don't know about you, but I believe that the feeling of 'saving the Earth' is somewhat special and personal.
Sort of like realizing that you messed up and how sorry you are and how you really really want to make it right, not because everyone's jumping on the bandwagon, but because it's the right thing to do.

Ok, you tutup lampu for an hour.

That's great, providing you don't:

ask for a plastic bag when whatever you bought can easily fit into your bag (-> bodoh)

buang sampah ke jalan raya sambil memandu (->fuckwads)

switch the fan/AC on 24/7 just because it's a wee bit hot

leave your PC on when you go to bed just so that you can immediately use it upon waking up (->dipshit)

bother to recycle (really?? how hard is it to seperate?)
etc

It doesn't have to be that hard, it's the little things that we do that really makes all the difference.

We really should not need enormous corporate sponsorships and celebrity endorsements to make us realize that we're single-handedly messing up our own world.
Nobody should have to tell us.

Sorry for the cynicism/sourgrape-ism/spoilsport-ism.
I know it's meant at creating awareness; that's awesome and all.

Anyways all that Oprah-talk aside; perseverance should come close after awareness.
Now that we KNOW BETTER, will we heed what we preach AT ALL TIMES?

Instead of turning this whole Earth Hour event into one giant party (we Malaysians will find ANY cause for celebrations), let's focus on what we can do to keep the effort worthwhile.

Symbolism is nothing without actual, concrete, continuous actions.

(same case la with all the boikot2 Israeli products; just because a ceasefire occured at one time doesn't mean you get to go back to buying all that you boy-cotted before.
That's not how it works, PRINCIPLES ARE FOR LIFE)

WE MUST PERSEVERE

Maybe you have more faith in us Malaysians than I do.

-We do what we can, with what we have, the best way we know how. And we do it because in the hearts of our heart, we care-

LIKE A BAD PENNY, I ALWAYS TURN UP

2009-02-27T11:54:00.003+08:00

Nah, I'm not dead.

Yet.

THE NOVEMBER 3rd POST

2008-11-03T23:46:00.007+08:00

It's just us girls at home.

I went home last Saturday after my 2nd exam, fully expecting to recruit my dad in helping me to put up the organza shades in my room, but I completely forgot that he was flying to New Zealand for some conference or stuff.
He DID tell us the other day, must have slipped my mind.

So now it's just us girls at home.

I never noticed how weird it is not having my dad at home because everytime he had a trip or something, I'm always away.

It was really late after seeing him off and everybody went to directly to bed when we got home.

I slipped under the duvet, flipped the spoka bedside lamp off, and tossed and turned the night away. I couldn't really sleep, feeling this paranoia creeping up. I started imagining burglars tip-toing outside my door, org minyak at my window and all other nonsenses. The whole house felt UNSAFE.

Having a male presence in the house really has an impact. To my wild imagination, at least. You see, it's not like I have brothers or guy cousins living nearby. Our house is a female territory, even the cats are shes. So when he's not around, it's felt.

At the risk of bearing the wrath of feminists everywhere, I feel a lot safer when there's a man (whom I know and trust. That goes without saying) in the house.

Yeah yeah, I believe that men and women are equal, and women CEOs aren't crazy, anipulative cougars, and if a woman wants to get her own door, LET her.

But I also think that despite the whole equality issue, there are certain things that men do better than women. And vice versa.

With my dad the only male in the house gone, things that go bump in the night just come rolling by.

Just the other night I was reading in my room sometime around 20 after midnight. And suddenly there's these 7 successive loud bangs coming from my neighbour's place. They sounded a lot like gunshots.

And how do I know this?

In uni, sometimes we can hear these bangs in the middle of the night.

At first I thought they were caused by fireworks and I always stood on my toes near the window so I can see the pyro.

Which of course I never did as my sympathetic roommate gently informed me after hearing the eager scrapings of my chair one too many times followed by sighs of "la cepatnye, tak nampak pun", that they were actually the gunshots of the security ppl shooting down wild dogs. (very inhumane, I know).

So even though I can't really be sure if that was a shooting or just stuffs knocked down or the tv, it was really scary.

It's exam time for us.

Tough, nasty, and necessary.

I'm just really thankful that I don't have double-finals in one day. Mine are spaced out quite nicely.

So study like you've never studied before. To hell with sleep, you can sleep when you're dead. Eat the whole damn book if you have to. Because it's not like there's a re-test or something. They don't care if you're "dead-tired", "stressed nak mati" or "tgh having anxiety attack". Screw-up and it's there permanently plain on the paper. That's why it's called the finals. Finito. Finale.

With those encouraging words, good luck everyone!

Me, I need all the luck I can get.

With my dad away, our kitchen is temporarily closed. Me, my mom and sisters, we don't really go for all the nasi-and-9-different-lauk habit. I'm generally ok with bread, soup and frozen stuffs.

Tonight, my mom and I went out for dinner at this place called Eat Work Shop in Shah Alam. I found the place by randomly googling for places to eat in S. Alam because it's nearer to my place.

Let me just say, it's not easy looking for it. The website had a map and all but it's not very helpful. Luckily, it's not far from where I used to work so we at least know we're going in the right direction.

It's located in Glenmarie. No. 9, Jalan Peguam U1/25. What was weird was that the entire street was lined by the usual office/warehouse/factories buildings and none of them looked even a bit like a restaurant. We had to drive by twice until we finally noticed this small brightly-lit entrance wedged between 2 warehouses.

The ambience was nice, the food better, albeit slightly pricier. I liked the Chocolate Fondant, which is the piece-de-resistance and is actually a slightly crispy chocolate cake oozing with warm none-too-sweet chocolate syrup and served with vanilla ice cream and pineapple jam.

I love going out with my mom, she's always so game about trying new things.

Next thing we're going to try is this German sandwich shop in Ara Damansara. It was featured in The Star last Saturday, if you're interested in the details.

Guy Ritchie's films may not be everyone's cup of tea. But I've always loved them. Lots of Brits, heists, guns, cussing and Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones.

Snatch was brilliant, but the one I really liked is Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Very raw (shut up, I don't even know what I mean by that) and dirty. Total bottom-feeders messed up by the order of things.

His new one, RocknRolla, looks good. Though I'm not really sure if it's up to par with his previous work. RocknRolla looks, well, shiny. And clean.

Gerard Butler??!! Come on! He was the dancing leprachaun in PS-I-freaking-Love-You! And Ludacris? WHAT?!

A Guy Ritchie film is supposed to be gross, disgusting and sick. The actors should be bald, balding or at least look like they cut their own hair in a rollercoaster, drunk and with the lights off. They're supposed to have chipped teeth and look like they smell. And there are no chicks, none leading ones at least.

Muscly Madonna must have diluted Ritchie. Woosh, Kapow, Meow!

I really hope that RocknRolla lives up to the 2 previous movies. Because I don't think Guy Ritchie's gonna be making any more movies any time soon. And that just sucks.

CHAMPIONS PLAYING IN THE GRAVEYARD

2008-10-28T14:39:00.010+08:00

The Graveyard Book is out!!!!!

It was supposed to be released in the States this December if I'm not wrong.

I've been yakking about it for almost 6 months and now it's here!

Here are one of the covers and some illustrations by Dave McKean who's Gaiman's long-time illustrator. I think he's the only person that can pretty much get what goes on in Neil's head and put it on paper.

(oi, spooky or not?)

I wanted to take a nicer photo, you know the kind with maybe me holding the book doing an upside-down pirouette or me at the beach reading it in the sea or something like that, but I'm in a rush.

I have a test tomorrow and I'm still at home. Last nite I was thinking, ceh it's just EAP man! Pagi ini, baru sedar yang EAP carries 3 credit hours and should at least be taken with, at the very least, fake seriousness.

That thing jutting out of the book is my ticket to go watch the "Showdown of Champions" this November 18th, Bukit Jalil Stadium (so jauh from my house, I will need to crash at someone's place).

They've got Federer, McEnroe, James Blake (Daughtry lookey-likey) and Bjorn Borg playing 2 singles and 1 double.

But somehow, I'm not that gung-ho over it. Maybe because Federer already came last year. Good things should be served in small portions at long intervals.

So anyways, the Graveyard's freshly dug and the Champions are having a showdown in it. Sounds good.

I leave you now with this photo of my buddy Anne at the time when we were supposed to go to an open house and ended up watching Dane Cook' bad pocked skin up close for almost 2 hours.

Dane Cook is NOT funny.

(very attractive no?)

I have to go back to uia now *shucks*.

NOTE TO SELF:

2008-10-28T00:49:00.004+08:00

"Easy on the swear"

UPDATE

2008-10-27T18:57:00.014+08:00

I am peeling the 'burnt' skin of my arm from staying in direct contact with the big ball of fury that is the sun. Ugh.

What was I doing standing there? Was I hit by a moose while walking back from class and lost my mind? Yeah, something like that I suppose. We actually had this really dumbass tennis tournament which was so dumb that writing about it is just pointless.

I stayed on campus last weekend for the previously mentioned stupidity, met up with Moon

(disguising my grimace with a tight smile; my face felt really tight like I was pushing it through a plastic wrap)

and we went to catch Max Payne. Now I don't know much about it other than that the movie is an adaptation of a video game with the same title and is really really noir.

The contents were so-so (better you go pinjam the dvd lorh), but I like the visuals especially the part when the Valkyrie pulled the junkie out the hole in the wall and when Marky Mark does the whole somersault-shooting in slo-mo. That was some awesome stuff.

(don't do drugs, boys and girls. look at that junkie, his ass is grass)

Syawal's coming to an end, how was it for you?
I don't know if I speak for all, but honestly for me this raya has lost most of its glitter, leaving behind a dull husk of what was once a time for jubilation.
In other words, mine was kinda bland.

I didn't visit as much people as I intend to and it's really frustrating because I want to, but timing just sucks.
I haven't seen most of my high school friends for ages and if I can't even make time to do so during the raya season then I'm in deep shit. Because then I know I've become to lazy to care.
Which is worse than being friendless because being indifferent has a way of numbing you to the point that you just live day by day without ever really appreciating life itself.
I'll have to do better next year.

Speaking of ends, the semester is also almost done. I can't wait to wrap it up already!

*tiba2 terdiam*

My subconcious just snapped when I realized that next year will be my last one.
Wow, I'm actually one year away from becoming a full-fledged engineer (assuming I don't fail any subjects or go to juvie or get distracted and have babies).
In one year, I'll actually be able to shoulder these engineer-ish responsibilities to build the nation or something like that.

That's heavy stuff, I don't know if I am or ever will be ready.
I know it's what I want to do, and I've known that for a long time; I have no doubts there.
But wanting it don't mean a thing. I want to be able to do it well. Heck I want to be the damn best one out there, I wanna rock the aerospace world!

I was hooked ever since I was snotty kid wondering how something so ginormous can stay afloat when logically it shouldn't. (I was a very logical child; I like unicorns and stuff but I KNOW they're not real. I liked watching My Little Pony; but with a cynical smile).

Now I'm doing what I want
(with the delightful encouragement of having people tell me my job opportunities will be scarce and I've chosen a frivolous path filled with frivolity and flying objects. This I'm not sure they're doing with the kindness of their hearts because surely if they do care they wouldn't go blithering around breaking people's spirits left right and center. Unless of course it's reverse psychology. Which is sick, playing around with people's heads and shit).
and I'm not sure that it's enough.

*shudder*

*

Exams are just around that bloody corner, tip-toing in their fur-lined slippers, rubbing their hands gleefully and curving their spines and bending their knees; ready to spring out and catch you unaware. (yes I know, bucketload of metaphors. I just finished teaching my sister about similes).

Time to hit the books and hit them hard.
Good luck!

p/s: Intan introduced this old track to me, it's really good:

p/s: For a local band, this isn't half bad:

DRIED-UP & AMPUTATED

2008-10-11T13:12:00.000+08:00

I don't think I want to write anymore.

I'm not gung-ho for it now, whatever I write is so dry, bland and ......... nada and i want to sick all over it.

I'm a dried-up, amputed octopus in a dark place. I searched through my head with a kutu-comb but alas, no idea jumped out and squeaked "hey i'm here! write about me!".

So because I am a dried-up, amputed octopus with no writing ideas who resides in a dark place, let me babble on about one thing that I have a lot of. Dreams.

My sleeping habits have been on the schritz these days. I'm always finding myself sleeping when I don't intend to, at the strangest times in the strangest manners.

Let's just say if you find yourself waking up from a propped sleep facedown on the kitchen table with a tube of seaweed facial mask in one hand and HALF your face smeared green, then you should probably know that's just not normal.

Maybe my body's trying to tell me something. Maybe like, "You gotta drink more water" or "Step away from the Tam-Tams and Ring-Dings!".

Anyway, I was going to go on about these dreams that I had which had the following themes in them:

Bonnie & Clyde
Phelps the Swim Machine
Desperado
The Wonders of Hair-Removal: Immac or Veet?

Then I changed my mind and I want to do it later.

Today is my sister's birthday. You know how ppl refer to the term 'the other half' to their spouses. Well I think it applies to siblings as well.

Because she's the other half to me.

The better half.

Happy Birthday Babyboy's Momma!

Much Love!

On a sadder note, I hate it when shit happens.

Like when I just finished painstakingly HAND-washing and TOWEL-DRYING my car with my two UNGLOVED hands under the HOT sun with SWEAT in my eyes and.....

Shit happened. Literally.

It was flying la-la-la up above and absent-mindedly (and i'm sure, intentionally) shat all over my day.

PING : WHICH FLOOR MISS?

2008-09-03T06:35:00.003+08:00

I had a dream.

I was in a small hotel room huddled in a corner with what looked like Genghis Khan's entire clan rampaging the room.
In my dream I tried keeping real quiet so they wouldn'y see me and chop my head off/skin me alive with their big big swords.
But in dreams, like in real life, we sometimes have intuitions. And I know in my dream I can keep quiet all I want but when they're done hacking the four-poster to smithereens, they might look around and decide that the wardrobe's the next one to go.
And while they're reducing it to firewood, they will see me hugging my knees in the corner next to the wardrobe-that-was.
And I too will become the girl-that-was.

So I transformed into a liquidy-gooey-mass of me, slicked discreetly across the room towards the entrance and siphoned myself through the keyhole.
I transformed back into solid-me and ran helter-skelter away. It was much faster to run madly than to slick about the floor. Physicians might disagree, but they can try the theory in their own dreams.

I sped towards the nearest elevator and jabbed the down button as fast as jab can. I can smell the Genghis breath across the hallway and I jabbed harder. Harder, faster, harder, faster and

Ping!

A hotel employee stood inside the elevator, ready to press your button for you. Going down, miss?, he smiled his hotel smile at my bedraggled self, and shooed me in so the doors will close.
In my dream, I cried big wet tears like the big Jessie I hope to never become in real life.
Oh and by the by, the employee his name was Patongkram, Thai I think. At least that's what his badge said.

Which floor, miss? I wept and told him of my fear for the wardrobe-bashing evildoers upstairs whom I was sure would like to add my head to their totem pole, so could he please take me somewhere safe.

Patongkram tut-tutted and pressed a button. I will send you to the lobby, the safest place here. The Concierge, he is there.
I told him how I was alone here, that I don't know anybody here et cetera et cetera. Patongkram offered me a standard-issue hotel napkin and told me Don't worry miss, the Concierge he will help you. You don't worry, the Concierge is here.

Ping!

Lobby.

Here we are miss, the lobby. You go look for the Concierge, I cannot come with you.
I begged him to but he smiled sadly at me and said I cannot come with you, I cannot leave. Only then did I notice the shiny glint on his wrists of the chains binding him to the elevator. He could not leave.

I wept again, but this time not for me.
Patongkram dug around in his pockets and pulled out some coins. Here miss, you take this, just in case.
Now you go, find the Concierge, he will help you. He nudged me out gently and a cow from the lobby sashayed into the elevator.
Evening, cow. Which floor do you wish to go to?
He winked at me, Patongkram not the cow, and

Ping!

HK PHOTOS AND SOME OTHER STUFFS

2008-09-01T00:47:00.010+08:00

A couple of weeks ago, my family and I went to Hong Kong. We were supposed to go to Beijing (Olympic fever) but alas, visa problems.

As per practice, I missed some classes (I'm not proud of this) which I intend to make up to by actually attending classes punctually (ha!) this whole semester.

But to justify so I can sleep better at night, I did inform my lecturers that I won't be attending for a week. Yeah I know that don't mean much, but hey we all have our vices.

So ahoy, HK here we come!

It was gorgeous and we had a fantastic time :)
I came back a gajillion shades darker than before (it was summer, you see. even hotter than Malaysia on a very hot day) but it was worth it.

Here are some photos taken during my vacay at Hong Kong, stories will be told by mouth.

Caution, heavily featured : Disneyland and me perasan2.

In support of my close friend, Moon, I went to the Mock Trial 08 last week.

Come to think about it, I've never missed one the whole time I've been in uni.

Moon is actively involved in the mock trial, from first being one of the cast (she's a damn good lawyer, onstage and offstage. I totally want her in my camp) to becoming the director (bigwig!) to finally reaching the epitome of it all: the Programme Manager.

I love her to death and I'm very very proud of her :)

I went with Atiq and Farhah (also close friends) and it was great to bump into Widaad and Adora, peeps I haven't seen in a while.

I'm in the middle of my mid-semester break, if you can call 4 days excluding the weekend, as a 'break'.

I finished 2 midterms b4 the break and I have 3 more waiting for me once break's over. Sweet.

I've also been trying to reach some ppl, keeping-friendship-alive-and-everything, but honestly what's the point if the intended receiver doesn't want to reciprocate the effort.

Ship's docked in the harbour for a long time, but when it's sailing away you can't exactly yell at it to come back. So if you would like to move on and I'm in your way, I'll gladly step aside. It's kind of sad, but what to do no?

I meant to say this at the beginning of the post but I forgot.

So here it is:

Happy Merdeka Malaysia

and more importantly,

Ramadhan Mubarak to all!

THE TRAPEZE SWINGER

2008-08-21T01:22:00.003+08:00

I just got home,

will write more soon :)

soundtrack from the movie:

2008-08-15T23:27:00.003+08:00

Adios muchachos!

art by myhaela

THAT WAS A LOT OF PYRO. YEAH!

2008-08-09T22:57:00.021+08:00

Did you guys catch the 2008 Olympics opening last night?

Was it awesome or what?! (negativity--> begone you nasty pessimistic devil!)

I tried staying up to see the Malaysian team parade away. But I must have dozed off in between because when I woke up, the torch was being already being lit.

So because it was so awesome, here's a recap:

I went to see the "biggest little play festival in the world" with Pu3, liana and mars last thursday.
I didn't really know the exact way to Sentul West so I depended heavily on maps I printed off Mycen.
And naturally, affirmatively, inevitably........I got lost. Well in my defense, we did not stay lost THAT long.
20 minutes tops je.

The show(s) were interesting and totally perfect for ADD-stricken entertainment seekers. Go see it and improve yourself one way or another. And don't do drugs because it makes you skanky and cheap.

So how was last week for everyone out there? Hope it was a good one for you because it was a so-so for me.
A lot of times, I fell asleep flat on my face with books/lab manuals strewn on the bed. Sometimes I roll out off bed with Post-its stuck to my knee, crumpling lab manuals en route rolling.
Sounds very collegiate when really all it spells out is that I'm messy :)

I have a 10 mins paper presentation that I need to work on. I'll be explaining UAVs to a room of ppl with different majors so I'll have to think of some pointers to keep the interest going.

I also learned some things about certain ppl that I find to be really disturbing. You really can't blame ppl for digressing, when a change in looks is apparent. Take off our masks, people!

And now I leave you with the Beijing 2008 ad that's been shown on Astro. It's a little cheesy but I love it because yes, they do amaze me.

Because as mush as all that DC, Marvel and Heroes can spin, they can't beat these ppl because they're REAL and HUMAN. We should be amazed.

So I'll see you when you get there!

IT'S A SUNDAY

2008-08-03T11:21:00.007+08:00

Happy Birthday dad!

A nice family dinner consisting of desserts, roti jala (one of his favorite dishes ever. If I wanted to bribe him, this would be what I dish up) and durian.

My sister who goes to school in Johor is home this weekend, so all heads are counted for. I love it when everyone's home.

While on the subject of celebrations, many more will presumably come this way. Fingers crossed, blessings counted.

Anywho and btw,

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is very easy to do.

I was having a hard time picking a topic for my English Term Paper, so I decided to write on UAVs. Which is awesome on its own and is related to my major (this is compulsory) and is factual so there's loads of references.

It would have made a lot of difference if I actually liked the class tho, too much rigidity in the essay structures, no free flow of actual ideas.

Writing it is like writing down lines in detention with a ghastly matron lurking behind your shoulders, ready to rap your knuckles at the mere sight of a lopsided italic.

I had dinner with some long-time-no-see friends last friday at the Triplets of Fiscal Joy (Ikea, Ikano, Curve). Thanx guys for the awesome catch-ups, we have to do it again!

I also managed to find someone who would sell me the 1st season of Pushing Daisies, which is a fantastic series I heard of from atiq (she really is a source of cult-loves for me) and I'm loving it.

Ok please stop thinking that all I do is bum around and watch dvds. It's just that if I start writing about my classes, work etc, I too will fall asleep with saliva slathering all over the keyboard. Besides, do you really want to read about whiny ppl who write about how oh so 'difficult their classes are' and 'curse at exams'? Leave that to the angst-ridden teens.

One a last note, does anyone know if there's anywhere close to Gombak where I can renew my passport and get it done in under 2 hours without having to resort to flashing the guy at the counter?

A REAL QQ

2008-07-27T23:29:00.003+08:00

Hello how are you all doing?

I know we're all busy and whatnot but we should deffly make time for supper and catch-ups soon.
Anyway, I haven't got much time (I need to sleep by midnight) so this is just going to be a real quick quickie (i did not mean for that to sound vulgar, honest) :

Sem started, and it's a whooping one. I have Aircraft Structures 2 to gear up for so the books must be hit as soon and as often as possible. And the other subjects are very much interesting so we'll see how it goes.

I picked up my car from the garage and it's spanking awesome (must drop these annoying american cliches that I picked up from watching way too much american daytime telly). No traces of the accident and a fresh coat of paint. I love my car, I do. When the guy wheeled it out I choked, it's almost like seeing a long lost lover after a tragic separation. I really must stop watching these dramas.

Started weekend job. Btw, I'm no longer a temporary employee of the afore mentioned clinic, but am now in fact a temporary employee of a music centre. A few doors next to the afore mentioned clinic. Awkward. But can't argue, pay's better. The whole point of taking a weekend job is after all, money-wise no?

Catched, watched, embraced, adored, hyperventilated The Dark Knight. I'd just like to clarify that yes, I am indeed very much enamoured by the very fantastic Bale.

Me: Mr. Bale, you're under arrest.

Bale: ?

Me: Your hotness level has exceeded the maximum; you are very hot, it's homicidal. Please remain silent as I slip this wedding band I purchased at Jacob's on your very masculine finger.

Ledger was prominent as the Joker, a fitting final performance. He gives me the willies, I wouldn't have been able to sleep that night had I not been really sick that I almost choked on my own vomit.

Speaking of that, I'm guessing I was too blown away by Le Ledger & Le Bale.

Could hardly drive back to uni because my head was really buzzing (did somebody slip something in the popcorn?) and my vision blurred like mad.

Ms SP and I had to make a pit stop at the guys hostel to pick up some stuff.
Ms SP went off to locate the guy we had to pick stuff up from (how very incognito) and I stayed in the car; hugging the steering wheel with the window partially open, trying to keep the sick in my mouth at least until I reach the lovely comfort of a proper bathroom (I am very particular as to where I fall sick. I prefer to get ill in a place where there are beds, warm water and a kind doctor).

I woke up the next day feeling very grateful that I managed to not die because my driving the prior night was a loud shame and very very dangerous.

My laptop malfuncd the other day, due to an extremely expensive mistake that I'll be very sure to not repeat again. It's fine now but I lost all the personal thingies in it. Bugger.

I've been very busy being an aunt. I think I'm getting better at it.

Ok I need to get up at 5 to see my folks off to Bangkok, so I'm hanging my virtual pen for now.
Ciao.

PASS THE KLEENEX PLEASE

2008-07-04T00:07:00.007+08:00

I'm down with the flu.

art by jared chapman

And only 3 days until sem starts.
What a delightful coincidence.

Anyways, here's a Gavin Rossdale (of the now defunct Bush) track, which I croak to in my current sickness.

Peace out!

I need more tissues.

FRIGGIN AWESOME

2008-06-27T12:16:00.008+08:00

I DID NOT KNOW I'M PSYCHIC

It is exactly as I predicted HERE.

(whoever said that the Germans suck, have obviously never driven a BMW)

(whoever said yellow was unlucky, needs to get an MRI)

Whatever the outcome is, I'll be uber-happy. Both sides rock!

So let's stay up and watch the finals ok.

People should totally come see me before going to 4D Lotto.

P/S : I'd just like to take this opportunity to say that the Turks played awesome and they're really great sports; lots of heart, Bravo!

IMPROMPTU JB TRIP

2008-06-26T22:32:00.021+08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I met up with a good friend (ryhn) who was in town.

I haven't seen her for months (only 2 actually, but when you're living a life as superficial as mine, a couple of months of not seeing one another is akin to being as socially inept as a lawn gnome) and we had loads to catch up on.

So we were sitting there and yakking like nobody's business and I thought, Oh god this is nice. Being able to talk without actually making it seem like such an effort. Being comfortable, that is.

You must know, in this 3-month-long sabbatical of mine, I had been awfully anti-social.
So terrible in fact that I only ever do see at most 7 people excluding immediate family members and work colleagues (also excluding someone who only recently have I made an acquaintance with and do see quite regularly, but that like everything else in the world, is another story).

I like to see it as 'recuperating' but in plain fact, I'm just lazy.
I think there comes a certain point in life that we become extremely comfortable with the contents of our life, that we just don't see a point in moving out of our comfort zone.
Or rather it happens to me.

I'm very satisfied with all that's going on around me, I like the people that I know so much and I don't feel the need to go around and be merry.
That's why you only ever do see me out not in a group of more than 5 ppl.

Unless of course I really have to, and the 6th person is a very very agreeable guy.

This is a wrong outlook on life, I admit.
Maybe after I have seen Happy the Clown and taken a dose of Xanax I will feel differently.

Anyways, ryhn is one of those ppl that if I was to go in a war/be on my deathbed/have a big tub of Paddlepops/possess a deep dark secret, I would be happy to have by my side.
And it dawned upon me that I simply must spend more time than an afternoon with my friend, not necessarily to talk but to just be in that comfortable presence.

Staying at home not doing anything had given me ample time to ponder on all sorts of thoughts.

One of them was: there are so many things I haven't done on my own, and there are a lot of firsts I have yet to touch base on. It's no use making lists because it'll become a chore, and I'll end up doing them not because I want to but because as a person with mild OCD, I'll feel obliged to.
After tossing and turning, I finally came to a conclusion: I want to indulge my impulses.

It happens that at that precise moment I was spooning into my mouth a piece of ryhn's tiramisu, I felt this sudden impulse to go to JB.

So i indulged that impulse.
I'm not going to rant about how rare is it for me to be impulsive because I'm really quite boring ninety percent of the time (my hobby is reading, I used to collect stamps and coins and I have never OD-ed on anything. How 80s is that?).

If I was a wearer of hats, I would have happily described my feeling as one of a girl splashing around at the beach and tossing her straw hat into the air.

I wanted to go there by train because I was swept off by the romanticism of arriving somewhere in a cosy coach with the train chugg-chugging softly against the splendid background of a misty mountain overlooking the countryside.

Word of caution:

There is nothing particularly romantic about riding in a small, smelly, oxygen-deprived or in simpler term, manky train which arrives 2 hours later than the estimated time printed on the ticket.
And if you do insist like I did, please don't use the bathroom because guess where all the waste go to? I found out when I went to wash my hands after accidently touching the sticky window at my seat, that it all goes down on the tracks. The hole in the crapper bowl is just what it is, a hole.

Oh and do not ask for the window seat. Unless you're fond of looking at unfinished construction sites and illegal immigrants sunning themselves. If you look closely I'm sure you will be able to spot a dead body or two along the way. It could become one of those games that you can play with your travelling companions: Spot the Corpse.

Take the bus. Please.

Putting aside all the colorful unpleasantness of the journey, the arrival was a notch better.

My cab driver was a small middle-aged man whom I would have to describe as nice because despite the fact that he started ranting about how suwey his day was and insisted that I join in his rant by agreeing that all the drivers around us were suwey and do not know have any idea on how to drive their cars , he did not decide to rob me blind.

I spent a few hours at the hotel just catching up with moon and atiq, while ryhn (bless her) left early to start preparing for dinner.

Dinner was at ryhn's place where I painstakingly spent half the night convincing her button-cute little sister that I'm not a monster who eats children for breakfast. I'm happy to report that we are now friends.

The girls and I spent a lot of time doing a lot of things which I'm not going to write here because if I do, I'll wake up at noon tomorrow and will spend the day being very very grumpy.

The best part of the whole impromptu trip was when we went for the seafood. If you ever do come down to JB, go to Kafe Rumah Limas, which I think is located at or nearby Danga Bay.

It's not like a typical restaurant where you have this building in which ppl go inside and order food and sit at their dull boring tables.

The place is huge.

They have all these traditional houses strewn and distantly-spaced all over the lawns.

You can sit in any one of them and have your food there.

We chose to sit in one of the smaller cabanas because there's just four of us and it's cosier that way.
But if you come in a larger party, you should totally go in the bigger houses.

The food was as expected, really good and the prices were surprisingly, not too expensive.

the drive there

happy and well-fed

they appear to be very keen on recycling

I had a great time and will definitely be looking to go back there. Only this time, not via train :)

I hope this will be the first of many sudden impulse-indulgences.

Many thanx to ryhn, moon and atiq!

I think this video stinks, but I like the track

CAN'T COME UP WITH A TITLE, I'M TOO GIDDY

2008-06-25T00:37:00.004+08:00

Hey hey,
I just got back from JB, which I will write more on later.

I'm really psyched at the moment bcoz I just got the news that a really good friend of mine from UK is coming down to Malaysia.
She can only stay for a couple of days so we're gonna make sure we squeeze in as much as we can.

Plus I wrote about how I wanted to travel and all, and it seems like I'm going to!
I just need to check next semester's timetable because this travelling will be in August, so I'll prolly have to miss a few days of classes.
This happens often btw, I've already skipped classes (a few days each time) due to travelling, two sems in a row.
It's bad, but honestly could you say no??
Because I definitely can't.

Ever since the fuel price hike I've been contemplating on getting a weekend job.
My folks aren't so cool with that this time around but I kind of like to pay for fuel on my own because they pick up the tab for everything else.
I'm 21 already, legal by law. I should be able to at least do some things on my own and gradually stop sponging from my folks :p

Today I got a call from one of the places I enquired (a clinic), and after negotiations I got the job.
So good luck to me!

In the mean time, K forwarded to me this weird video which I'm putting up only because it has a claymation Nadal in it. It's some kind of ad for Euro 2008 by Kia.

So watch it, and then go get yourself a Kia whatever coz then you'll get big biceps and be able to kick some alien-ass and do some real weird stuffs :)

P/S: When I wrote 'weird', I mean it. I cringe when I watch.

*I have GOT to kick off this smiley-mode I'm falling into

WRITTEN OFF BY FOOLS

2008-06-20T15:23:00.008+08:00

What makes a team worth supporting?

Not the hairdos, the endorsements or the ruckus they buzzed off the field.

It's when they deliver,

when it matters the most.

Despite the doubts and the odds tipped to the other side ;)

THIS POST HAS EXACTLY SEVEN '!'

2008-06-18T15:15:00.011+08:00

He does us proud!

I'm so utterly in love avec him (I can feel myself dropping 6 pounds just by looking at him).
Since 2002.
Word.

Shoutout to >>

ryhn: our plans shall prosper! teehee
daad: i miss u! take ur meds ok
miss-sp: you have a surprise coming your way :)
anne: i miss u too, jom jln2 haha!
nate: i've sent it, you remain inconspicuous as always. Don't change.
k: funny's funny and that's that :p

Oh and one more thing before I do a Tom and cruise:

What about all these insanely crazy airline deals huh??
It appears that they are aware of my poor resistance prowess.

Why are they tempting me!

Thanx to all the ads in the papers, I am famished for travels and if I'm not careful, will be fantastically broke before I turn 22.

I want to go to Madrid! And Reykjavik!

VIVA ALL AROUND!

2008-06-17T00:02:00.000+08:00

I'm cheering for 2 teams this Euro.

I am obviously all for Germany, as any one who knows me will tell you. To the end of the world and back yo!

And I'm also beyond impressed by Spain.

So I say,

Viva la Deutschland! (excuse my German)

Viva l'Espagne! (pardon my Spanish)

Now can somebody else other than Podolski please score for Germany?

TSR : THIS IS THE ONE

2008-06-16T11:47:00.004+08:00

I found the The Stone Roses track I wrote about in the previous post.
Apparently I've been looking in all the wrong directions. It's actually This Is The One, not All I Want. My bad, hehe.

It's a great track, wait until 3:05 onwards and you'll get what I mean.
I'm so happy; this is the one :)

THE GOOD FRIDAY

2008-06-13T15:25:00.013+08:00

It's Friday-schmriday.
Nothing much going on this week.

I bought a pocketbook wallet (which I don't think I'll ever use) on eBay.
Cleared up all the crap in my closet, color-coded all the shirts.
Got this new maroon lampshade from Ikea that makes my floor lamp looks like it has a piece of liver glued at the top.

My toes grew tired of tripping on the dragging ends of the Rafael Nadal poster I had hanging behind my door, so I borrowed dad's stepladder and finally hung it high up on the wall where the ends will never ever make my toes go blue again.

I fell in love with pomegranate juice and had occasionally been seen sipping a glass of it while watching re-runs of Midsomer Murders (I could murder myself a Troy).
Finally mustered the courage (post-accident) to leave the house and send Pijat to the workshop for some R&R.

Watched a few of Wes Anderson's stuffs but strangely, I can't seem to find Rushmore. I'm pretty sure I had it, if I loaned it to you let me know.

Got my maybank2u (banking made easy!) account up and running after some mix-ups at the bank, it's so stupid it's funny.

Bickered and quaralled with some ppl (I'm sorry, totally my fault).

Finished a book; reading that is, Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris.

It's good, put me off office jobs tho. It's like Dilbert, only more realistic and without the graphics. The animated Dilbet sucks, btw. Funny, but sucks. Hmm, I wonder what Dilbert would be like if he was say, a lawyer?

I wrote about how I wanted to watch Eagle vs Shark, and I did on Wednesday.

Don't expect much; the plot was empty like a Ben & Jerry's bin on Free Ice Cream Day. The jokes are funny at times and Napoleon Dynamite-y.

My advice: If you want to give it a go, you should. Maybe you'd like it more than I did. Just don't watch it with a friend if you don't want him to go all eh, what the 'ell?

Last Sunday my taman organized a Walkathon for its residents.
It was actually tons of fun, there were all kinds of sweats on parade, even more than a Nike ad. Not to mention it was super cute to see all these kids running in their little shorts and all the grown-ups yelling 'Walk! Don't run!' only to be surpassed by a fit of giggles and them running as well.
And there you were thinking that I'm this sloth who does nothing but watch movies and eat chips (which incidently, I am at times) :)

Ok there's this book called Q&A written by this guy called Vikas Swarup and it's about an Indian kid hitting the jackpot on an quiz-show that's sorta like India's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and instead of being jubilated he got thrown in jail and was accused of cheating.

I flipped through the book a couple of times and I give it a 4/5.

So now WIP has decided to make a movie out of it and giving it a new catchier name, Slumdog Millionaire. I'm not sure how it's going to transit, some books should just be books you know. But I'd be lying if I say I don't want to watch it.

I've been looking for the video for The Stone Roses's All I Want on YouTube but I can't find it. I wonder why, it wasn't very long ago, not even practically ancient.

Oh I really like all of Gondry's movie sites, there's something so......constructive about them. I can spend hours just twiddling with all the apps, like a preschooler in a sandbox.

Damn. I really should start looking for and watching Che (if only to see Benicio).
Anybody has it stashed somewhere?

To do tonight:

De-brief on Father's Day plans. Clock's ticking and I still have no idea.
Get around to actually using the cookie mix.
Drape something on lampshade so as to make it less liver-like.
Call someone.
Make popcorn.
Watch Be Kind Rewind.
Have an early night

TUDM OPEN DAY AIR SHOW

2008-06-10T15:24:00.008+08:00

I went to the TUDM Open Day Golden Jubilee Celebration with my sister 2 weeks ago.
My dad and my friend, K were supposed to join us but they bailed last minute (dad had a wedding he's obliged to go to and K had a surprise visit from a relative)

I found out about the open day when I was driving home from work using the GCE; I heard a loud roaring noise overhead and I looked up and saw 4 jets in a diamond formation.

So here are some photos I took that day.

Most of them didn't turn out great because it was really hard to get a good shot when the aircrafts are going at breakneck speed (took a couple of days for the crick in my neck to go away).

INEVITABLE

2008-06-09T00:04:00.000+08:00

6-1, 6-3, 6-0

Shocking. And expected.

He was just murderous on clay.

Inevitable

WHY WE SHOULD NOT LET DIMWITS TAKE THE WHEEL

2008-06-07T16:13:00.000+08:00

I had my first car accident today. I've been driving my car FLAWLESSLY for almost two years now and I have never scraped, bumped, rasped or nicked it. Until today. And heck it wasn't even my fault!

I was driving me and my sister home from Mutiara Damansara. We were at Jln K. Selangor en route home, and the traffic light was amber-ing. Like any other sane drivers in front of me, I naturally slowed down and came to a stop as the light turned red.

Then I heard this squeal (it sounded like guitar strings being tightened, I imagine)

I was going all 'hey mary, do you hear that? Cause I do, I donno maybe its just me, but I'm pretty sure I heard something. I dont think I'm crazy but yeah its not just me, you heard that too right?' and ..................... KAPOW!

We were jerked forward (God bless self-restraining seat belts and French automative engineering) and our stuffs that we dumped in the back seats propelled to the front.

I remember being really stunned and mad and I remember my hands shaking so badly that it took a few minutes for me to pop the seat belt open.

Turns out the thing that hit me was this green Viva driven by this prick with a probation license.

What makes this prick a prick is not the fact that he hit my car but because he had the balls to mock-fiercely jumped out of his car and started yelling at me for braking when the light was amber.

W. T. F.

Now I don't normally raise my voice even when I'm mad, I prefer indifference.

But this guy has got to be the prickiest prick I have ever had the misfortune to meet (and I've had the acquaintances of quite a few).

So I returned the gesture by yelling back at him:

> oh hell of course you're SUPPOSED to slow down at amber! That's the LAW!

> even if I wanted to run the amber (which I don't because that's just fraking stupid) I wouldn't be able to on the account that there were at least 5 cars before me!

> that everyone knows that should an accident like this happens, it will always be the driver behind's fault. Because you should always drive at a certain distance behind a car, not practically frenching the arse of the car in front of you! That's the LAW!

> Dahla awak tu P! (how dare you accuse me when you're the one on probation license!)

This I believe hurt the most because he shut the frak up after that. Plus I noticed his eyes glistening.

That felt really good.

What made it even better was when he threw his arms in the air, looked up to the heavens and proclaimed loudly how was he supposed to pay for my car and his car (practically a confession)?! He's broke! And it's not even his car, it belongs to his girlfriend's mom!

Sweet.

The prick's girlfriend's mom's car. Two words: paper thin

Mine. Three words: strong as bull!

The damage wasn't much. In fact you wouldn't notice unless you're actually looking for it.

The impact caused the back to barrel a bit. The deformation made the trunk top pop up and is now jarred open around 2 inches. Other than that it's fine.

The Viva however looked like Lugnut crapped all over it and had to be towed to the police station.

I would have felt sorry for him for being so stupid to drive like a moron in a car that doesn't belong to him but was in fact the property of a person who wasn't even aware that the moron was horsing around in it.

But honestly, he should have known better. So I don't pity him. And I sure as hell will make sure he pays every cent of it. Because I'm just so darn evil, mean and spiteful.

So all you boyfriends out there, your woman's Bugatti Veyron may look so good it hurts but think twice before you slide in the driver's seat because should anything happen to that 'spensive piece while you're manning it, it's on you.

MY TENURE IS OVER AND NOW, I WRITE

2008-06-05T16:40:00.011+08:00

I was released from the bounds of my work contract and I must say, I was both happy and sad when I walked out the glass doors for the last time.

Happy because I can finally go back to being the blithe person whose worries are only that of her grades and woe betide the contents of her wardrobe.
And sad because for the briefest month in my life, I was an adult.

I started the job with expectations of the paycheck and the constant contemplating on what I shall spend it on.
Now that I have it in my hand, all I want to do with it is keep it in the bank and not touch it unless I really have to.

My first real paycheck. That's not something you just blow off on meaningless expenditures of shoes and handbags.

Anyways, I have been rather vague about the job (some of my friends were even properly surprised when I told them, vaguely) not because I'm mysterious or whatever but because I myself wasn't sure what exactly the work is.

The first day found me almost weeping with boredom.

I walked into the office fully expecting someone to shove a bunch of papers into my arms and order me to file them alphabetically or whatever it is that's required to be done to bunches of papers.

Instead, the kind bespectacled supervisor showed me to my desk, flick the pc on and asked to me to go to the WCIT website and read all the contents.

When I told him I'm done, he asked me to read it again.
When I told him I'm done the 2nd, 3rd and 4th time, he told me to take a break till 6pm and do whatever I want. It was noon.

Some ppl would go all hallelujah! But I'm not one of those ppl.

I get really uncomfortable when I find myself with nothing to do in a place where everybody around me are busy doing something.

It's not like I'm a workaholic (God, no). It's just that when I'm idling away I like it to be done at my own time.

I'll idle when I want to, not when I'm told to.

So I gunned down my car to the 7-11 as far away from the office as possible but not far enough to make it seem like I was skivving, and bought 5 packs of gum.

Back at the office I worked my mouth through all the packs for a couple of hours. All that sugar took its toll and my jaw paid the price that night.

That was the first day. I'm happy to report that the rest of the days went along just fine.

I've written the basic gist here. So I'm just going to go on where I left off.

The preparations (on our side, that is) for the event started around two weeks before.

So I went from doing data-processing to:

forcing cards into plastic tags,

stuffing envelopes with brochures,

hauling boxes off trucks,

and many more miscellanous things.

Hey at the very least if a career in aerospace doesn't pan out for me, I would always feel at home in a factory's assembly line or unloading cargos at the port.

There were roughly around a thousand bags to be prepared for the delegates, by 15 of us in only 5 days. And because we were temps we get to come to work in jeans, flip flops, sweats or whatever we fancy.

Some days would see us doing overtime until 11 pm, and back at the office by 8 the next day.
It was tiring, physically-exerting and fun, fun, fun.

The event itself took place at the KL Convention Centre from 18-22 May, 0900-1900.

For the delegates, that is.

We meanwhile, were to be there 16-22 May, 0600-2200.

I quite liked the early start. Rustling out of the bedcovers at 5, slipping quietly into the shower and getting dressed with only the soft haze of the night light (fluorescent is much too harsh for 5 am. I like to be roused, not shocked, out of sleep).

Subang's train stop at dawn.

I would leave the house around 5.20 and drive on while watching the fading twinkle of stars in the night sky. And the occasional motorists doing the superman on their bikes.

I'd park at Subang's KTM and hop into Z's (a friend and co-worker) car.

Z is this really sweet girl who talks with a lilt in her voice. I met her on my 2nd day in the office and we've been lunching together ever since.

So Z and I would then continue sleeping whilst her boyfriend drove us all the way to KL Conv Ctre. No point in both of us driving there when we live only 15 minutes from each other.

Our shift started with us unlocking the storage rooms and doing inventory checks on the delegate packs. We would then herd the packs to the counters, arrange them accordingly and go to the command centre every 15 minutes to get lists of delegates' names to be matched to the packs.

The rest of the day required us to man the counters, process delegates who comes to get their packs, replenishing the stock of packs, answering enquiries, shepherding ppl with quizzical looks on their faces to the appropriate venues etc etc.

Most of the delegates are pretty OK so that made our jobs easy. Some of the foreign delegates are real friendly and nice and that's always a pleasure.

15 of us were from the office and WCIT also hired volunteers from colleges, mostly from UiTM, UPM and UTAR. I had some great ppl in my team, we got on great like house on fire.

And that was that. The event was done and wrapped by 23 May but my contract was until the 31st. So the office bosses pulled straws and I was placed in a Microsoft telemarketing campaign.

I wasn't sure about this because I've always held a certain dislike towards the Nazi, Vince Vaughn and telemarketers. I don't know, it just seems.....wrong to be pulling up ppl's numbers from a database and calling them up out of the blue. It's sort of like bending their arms and making them buy stuffs they don't need from me.

For this Microsoft campaign, we were supposed to call up small business enterprises and pitch them some Microsoft thingies.

I got ppl asking if I'm from BSA, ppl swearing up and down to me that they're using legal software, scared receptionists putting me on hold then disconnecting the call, ppl talking and eating at the same time (i will never listen to the distinct crunch of lettuce the same way again), ppl praticing their flirt voices with me, ppl reminiscing good old days to me.

Yup, I got all sorts.

The campaign manager offered me an extension of my contract until the end of June but I graciously refused because telemarketing and me aren't on good terms and never will be.

I'm awfully glad I decided against my own indolence and actually started looking seriously for work. I've worked other jobs before and I will certainly look for more in the near future prior to graduating.

Shame for those who think part-time jobs are for the middle-classes. You're passing out on invaluable exeprience that money can't buy and a head-start in the career field. People who are out there are those who really do have something you can learn from.

I guess I was lucky.
I applied for a job doing data-entry and I ended up participating in one of the biggest IT event in the world.
I expected a 9-5 office job and I got an interesting cocktail of field work.
I thought I would be surrounded by ppl who would be just colleagues to me and I discovered truly awesome ppl with diverse backgrounds and even made a few fast friends.

It was truly an experience, and I'm glad I'm the one who gets to have it.

SELF-PITY : THE COMPASSION OF A FOOL

2008-05-25T20:52:00.006+08:00

An old cardigan, a glass of milk and a good cry on your favorite (threadbare) pillow does wonders when you're assailed with thoughts concerning matters like this.

Personally, I blame hormones. And the lack of bowling partners (people are always so damn busy! Or maybe I just got boring).

It's a rut. I don't like being in it.

WE'VE ONLY JUST MET, BUT HE'S ALREADY ONE OF THOSE I LOVE THE MOST

2008-05-22T00:33:00.003+08:00

I've turned soft and am now officially a viciously protective and ferociously loving aunt.

Thank you everyone, for the power of prayers.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

2008-05-11T13:33:00.004+08:00

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie - Tenneve Jordan

Happy Mother's Day !

TAKE THE SHACKLES OFF MY FEET SO I CAN DANCE (OR EAT)

2008-05-02T23:14:00.000+08:00

I joined legions of workers worldwide as soon as the clock striked 6 and the shackles bounding me to my desk melted into the scruffy carpet and I became delirious as I swept everything off the desk with my arm into the wide gaping mouth of my bag.

I can smell the weekend and I'm going to celebrate that happy happy fact with widaad as we wolf down potato skins and big-ass burgers complete with chips and sour cream, ironically (in a pleasant way) at TGI Friday's.

There aren't enough days in the weekend - Rob Schmidt

Too true. TGIF!

THE MAN AND HIS HAT, INSEPARABLE

2008-05-01T22:02:00.004+08:00

I love love love this

Happy Labor's Day!

WORK IT!

2008-04-30T22:37:00.010+08:00

I've been crossing my fingers (and toes) all of last week.

And now I can untangle and let loose because I got the job! Going to take a while for my limbs to retract back into shape :)

I wasn't going to tell anyone about it when I was scouting and applying until I actually got it because I didn't want to jinx it.

I've been bumming around for up to 3 weeks. It was an absolute picnic at first but like everything else in the world, it got old. It was fun being a moss-collecting rock until the moss suffocates you and you realize that moss is actually quite icky(yeah i know, terrible analogy).

So now I'm working on a temporary basis for a certain IT event at an outsourcing company at Shah Alam, which is expedient because it's close to where I live so travelling's a real snap.

My job is basically to fiddle around with the computer and register delegates who want to attend the event.

And do whatever my supervisor throws at me, rhetorically speaking of course. My supervisor is awesome and will contemplate deeply before smacking a mosquito, let alone throw anything at anyone.

I applied for the job a bit late, there are 20 positions available and I was the 20th. By the time I started, most of the outbound callings were already done.Which is too bad.

I would have loved to pick up the phone with a: "________ Enterprise, how may I help you? Certainly, sir. If you could just hold a moment, I'll put you through. Yes of course, it's no trouble at all. Why thank you sir, I would be honoured to accept the award for 'Most Competent Staff'. Have a nice day!".

You know, I like it so much that I might start answering my cell that way.

Since all the callings are practically done and dusted, I've been assigned to data entry and registration. I know it doesn't sound particularly exciting, but it's easy money man.

The event is pretty major by the way: World Congress on IT (WCIT).

Anyway, I noticed something interesting in the midst of all my data-entering.

There are a lot of well-known international speakers coming over. And when I say well-known, I meant really important, influential, world-changing people.

Let's see, we have Vinton G. Cerf (a Google bigshot), Fritz Attaway (Executive VP of MPAA), Peter Thrush (Chairman of ICANN), Robert Bishop (founder of BBWorld Consulting) and many more.

We even have environmental scientist & Nobel Prize Winner, Rajendra K. Pachauri. And Bill Gates will be making an appearance via holographic technology (this I must must see).

These are people who have changed the world and how we see it. These are people who I would give almost anything just to dissect their minds and see through their eyes. I really am sincerely looking forward to go.

Ok, so when we do the registration for participants, we basically ask the participants to write down what name they want us to put on their name badges.

And here's how it went down:-

International Participants

Name: John Smith
Name: Robert Bishop
Name: Rajendra K. Pachauri

Malaysian Participants

Name: Dato' Whatever
Name: YB Who-Cares
Name: Dato' Dr. Seriously-Who-Are-You

Honestly, what right have they to make us waste our breath just to spit out the designations? Have they done things remotely worthy of those titles?

If you haven't done anything towards the betterment of mankind (and I mean mankind, as in people of the world and not just your family. Underline underline BOLD highlights) or at least tried to, those titles are just what they seem: a waste of space, ink and manpower to print your fraking nametags.

I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised because we do live in a country where the government still thinks it's just snazzy to send yet another astronaut to space which is a project that will rob the underpriviliged of their rights to be considered first not to mention waste billions of ringgit that we don't have.

Oh and we do live in a third-world country that believes licking the arse of the British is an honorable thing to do, by yet again wasting taxpayers' money and sending Malay troops to train with the Palace Guards. Why?? Haven't we already claimed our independence?

And let's not even get started on THAT overseas sportscenter.

(Oh my, this sure is getting political)

But I still am absolutely amused. And terribly ashamed of my own country.

Aren't you?

THE DARJEELING LIMITED

2008-04-27T13:34:00.004+08:00

I watched The Darjeeling Limited on Thursday, which incidently isn't in the list of movies I want to watch.

But ah that's life for you; it pretends to not see you and the next moment it jumps out from behind a wall, yells Boo! and makes you watch a movie that's not in your list.

I'm glad it did though, this is one good movie.

Makes me want to pack my bags, dollop sunscreen onto my nose and buy a plane ticket/an old Mustang/a not-so-prickly hedgehog and ride it to wherever it takes me.

MY EYEBALLS ARE GOING TO HAVE SOME SERIOUS FUN

2008-04-20T16:54:00.011+08:00

Oh wow, I am far too tired to write right now on the account that I've been chasing my cat all around the house, inside and out.

The fuzzball just won't sit still!

She must have smelt the FastBath canister in my left hand and the rag on my right.

So here are some stuffs I want to watch. Because I can. Because I have time for them.

Because for three months, I AM KING!

Ha.

I hope it's not just another supposedly 'quirky' indie movie. That was cute at first, now it's just annoying.

This movie had me at the ginormous blades and the 'stache just adds to the chutzpah.

Despite the wild hair, crazy eyebrows and B.O. radiating from the screen, I like a man who doesn't mind having his intestines skewered out of his guts to prove a point. And what a point it is.

If you're going to tell me that this movie is an outright lie and an obvious conspiracy to exploit the Scots/Britons etc etc (seriously, I have had killjoys who waste their spit on me by getting all huffy over this movie), you need to lighten up. Concentrate on the 'freedom!' notion instead, that's universal.

Yeah, I know it's not out yet. But COME ON, this has got to be one of the coolest posters you and me have ever laid our peepers on!

I first watched this when I was 15, I think. I had a headache afterwards because I choked on a Fruity-Tutty Slurpee from laughing and snorting away.

Edward: Kevin, you wanna play scissors, paper, stone again?
Kevin: No!
Edward: Why not?
Kevin: Cause it's boring. I always win!

This is a password-protected post. If you'd like to read it, ask me for the decryption key

2008-04-16T02:20:00.018+08:00

Show encrypted text

JAMIE CULLUM MAKES ME HAPPY

2008-04-13T22:53:00.006+08:00

I heard this when I was buying slushies with a friend.
Thanks a lot you for making my day and freezing our tongues blue :)

MAYBE, OH MAYBE, MAYBE

2008-04-12T01:07:00.006+08:00

I'm waiting for Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book" to come out. It should be released in the States at the end of this year. That's about 8 months from now.

So, what to do to kill time?

-Shake the Oracular Journal, oh boy.

-Freezing in Unison in KL (I learned about this from a thread in Facebook. My status: maybe, enormous possibility of being 'yes').

-Popping in at Glenmarie, S.Alam. Things to do, dough to get my hands in......

-Slip money under the counter for S3 of VM.

-Go see some old faces and surprise them senseless.

-Dust off Mrs. Pot & Chip figurines and practice humming 'Be My Guest'. Must start saving.

-Enjoy solitude.

FLIP VIDEO ULTRA

2008-04-10T22:41:00.009+08:00

My hankering for the Flip Video Ultra from when I read a review of it on cnet last month, was intensified when I read another review of it in today's local paper.

It's idiot-proof (just point and shoot) and pocket-sized. And it has this popout USB connector, so the whole dilemma of rifling through cords and untangling cables is minused out of the equation.
Plus it works with Muvees, which I have in my laptop.

However, it really is very.........basic. But perfect for capturing those quick moments.

I read somewhere that Pure Digital (the people who made Flip possible) are working on upgrading the software, video quality and they're probably gonna make a version that includes an expansion slot for additional memory.

Awesome.

One more thing to add to the covet-list.

Right under world peace and Bose "Kickass-Total-Noise-Cancelling" Quiet Comfort 3.

DON'T SLEEP WITH A LOOSE-CAP SHARPIE ON YOUR BED

2008-04-09T00:10:00.015+08:00

I seem to have some sort of bumpy bruises speckled on my left wrist.

Yes, I know. What a choice of word, 'seem'.

But it's quite true. You see, I fell asleep one night (with bruises-free wrist) and when I woke up there they were. Spattered, olive green, connect-the-dots bruises.

What's even weirder is that they don't hurt. Like everyone else with cuts or bruises on their persons, I constantly stare and prod them gently (the bruises, not the persons), expecting to pull my face into a grimace.

But they. don't. hurt.

I'm very sure I did not have a green marker with the top off under my duvet (I checked), and I'm also very certain that my mother will never play such a mean trick on her own daughter (I asked).

So unless I have one of those type of skin that changes color or I am actually allergic to whatever I ate the night before, I just hope this shade of green is temporary.

Other than that, I'm fantastic.

I just finished my finals (some papers were such killers they're homicidal),

I have a long, vast stretch of this good thing called holiday.

3 months to be exact.

Oh boy, I giggle myself into a stupor everytime I think about it. 3 months. A quarter of a year.

All to myself!

Don't ask me what I plan to do because frankly, I don't give a damn.

I will do whatever I feel like.

If I wake up one day hankering to get a job, then I'll draw circles on the classifieds.

If I have a sudden impulse to while the time away on the couch with nothing but sodas and chips, then I'll start wearing my magical expandable pants.

I started this post with the intention to write a lot.

I am also watching Law & Order at the same time.

So in between running to the loo and writing one word per commercial break, concentration = nada.

It's now one in the morning and I've only written this much. Plus, the Sandman and I have been having this battle for a while now. And he's winning (yawn).

So now I'm going to briefly tell you what I did some times ago. And look, I even have pictures (I must have known that I was going to be too lazy to write, that is why I was snapping pics like a madman):

Did I mention that miss-SP and I took tennis lessons this semester?

Well we did, the classes were great. Except for the part where we had to trudge to the court at 8 am on Saturdays, dragging our racquets and feet behind us.

But hey, better to be sweating off than pigging in front of the telly watching crappy cartoon reruns. And by crappy I mean Kim Possible. Oldies cartoons like Captain Planet and Thundercats are way ok with me.

Atiq and I had an in-depth discussion about this which deserves a post of its own.

We practiced a lot for the practical test, and had some good laughs along the way:

That's me hugging a really big red cone

And that's miss-SP leaping out from behind a lopsided yellow cylinder to give you a lovely surprise.

Knackered

miss-SP working it while I sat on the sideline and whined like a girl because I was 'tired'. Lazy more like it.

After the test with our new friend, Beatrix. Ignore the sweat patches.

A friend of mine got married a few weeks back; Congratulations Ilya+Haris!

Let's just hope they won't put this one in the wedding album.

I'm treating myself to Queen Camilla by Sue Townsend and I'm halfway through it.

Yes, the cover looks like a chick-lit but it's not. Really.

I love Sue Townsend, she makes monarchy bearably funny.

I have sand dunes in my eyes and I've been jabbing the play button on the keyboard for 2 minutes now, thinking it was the spacebar.

So, adios!

!

2008-03-31T15:29:00.006+08:00

MIRRORED

2008-03-12T19:03:00.007+08:00

I suppose what they say about imitation being the highest form of compliment is supposed to make people feel better about other people mirroring them.

But I don't feel so. Definitely not better, annoyed is more like it.

I AM OVERWHELMED

2008-02-24T15:08:00.004+08:00

Sudden discoveries can be so uplifting.

Sometimes they're not even that momentous. Just things that you already know, most likely drilled in from years of experience.
Probably have read about it in the papers, heard it from your friends, saw it through other people's eyes on the telly.
What you have not, is felt it for yourself.

And that's why sudden discoveries can be so uplifting.

Mornings are not my thing. I don't generally make it a habit to wake up early and march through the day with gusto.

But lately I've found myself spending less and less time asleep.
An event that occured caused me to realize that I'm much more useful awake than semi-comatose on the bed.

I have this morbid notion that life is like one big, ticking clock. There's just so much that I need to do and I feel like I'm racing through it all.
There's just not enough time, there's never enough time.

I'll never get enough time to tell my mother I love her, to express my affection to my father by fixing the printer, to whisper to the baby in my sister's belly to be kind to her when it's time to come out.

Time asleep is time wasted.

And that's how I find myself sitting at the breakfast table, watching the sun yawn and shaking off drops of last night's dew.

In an attempt to keep myself from grabbing the remote (honestly, I'm not such a robot that I need the telly at 7 in the morning), I brought with me downstairs one of those women's magazine.
You know, those that're always telling you what type of shoes you should wear if you're shaped like a mango and assuring you that black is indeed, the new black.

I flipped past a headshot of the editor with strangely fluorescent dentals, the bevvy of models toting expensive borrowed goods, looking for something to amuse myself with until everyone else is up and about.

Armed with a mug of something chocolatey and a small chunk of wood claiming to be a pencil, I anchored the pages with my elbows and proceeded to do the "What Color Defines You?" quiz which was wedged between this month's astrology prediction and a page of coupons from Coppertone.

Customary to common quizzes pratice, this quiz consisted of questions regarding my personality and will decipher the answers to present me with a color that best define me.

Okay, numero uno:

Among the dishes below, which do you prefer:

a) Sushi and ramen noodles
b) Spaghetti with meatballs
c) Greek salad with cream cheese
d) Buffalo wings and mashers

I was about to circle d) when it dawned upon me that I am, in fact, crazy over meatballs. And obsessed about cheese. And extremely fond of ramen.

I'll do this one later then.

Number two:

If you could have a day off, which would you like to do:

a) catch two movies, back-to-back
b) go for a swim at the beach
c) curl up in front of the fireplace with a book
d) go on a shopping spree with your girlfriends

I wiped the sweat off my brow, my fingers nervously clutching the pencil, hovering over the abcd.

I'll get back to this one later.

The same fashion went on for all the questions. I couldn't decide. I suppose I could just circle any one of the answers; since I'm fond of all of them, picking one wouldn't make any difference.

But it wouldn't be right.

I do not prefer swimming over movies. Neither do I favor movies more. If the options had been starkly different, for instance whether I prefer gardening over throwing cats from bridges, maybe it wouldn't be so difficult.

In movies it's just so easy to define someone; geek, jock, goth, weirdo, whatever. But I shouldn't be surprised, everything in Hollywood is plastic anyway.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but that quiz had me thinking (which is not always a good thing).

The complexity of human beings is depthless. People can never be classified. It is virtually impossible to define someone.

You might call him a self-loving bastard when he leaves you, but when he comes home to a house filled with stray dogs that he nursed back to health, does it still make him so?

A man can kill and love at the same time. What would you tag him as then?

I could act one way, but feel differently about it. The bespectacled old man next door could decide to tattoo himself and ride rings around his house in a Harley.

And by George!, Bush could someday grow a brain and start thinking.

Can we really define, classify and pigeon-hole? Would it be fair to look at a person for a few seconds and slap a label on his back that he has to live with for the rest of his life?

I don't know how to exactly express what I'm feeling in words. I could talk and talk all I want until I start frothing at the mouth but I doubt people will get it. They're going to have to know it on their own terms.

Back to the nagging question : How complex are we?

Well, I'd put it this way:

I like to think that we have the capacity to be anything and everything we want. We don't need other people telling us what we are because they're not and never will be right. We are all what we are.

I am overwhelmed.

TWO STEPS FORWARD, ONE STEP BACK

2008-02-16T16:33:00.009+08:00

My my. There's been quite a few "?" posts in this page lately, hasn't it?

I've been indulging myself; wallowing in the blues, shutting people out and cocooning myself in self-pity.

It's been fun in hanyland. But I've overstayed my welcome. At least until next time ;)

So, what's going on with all of you?

I know things haven't exactly been easy in the world these past few weeks.

Some awful shit(1 , 2 , 3 , 4 etc.) happened.

But civilization (1 , 2 , 3 etc.) sure is moving forward, slowly but surely.

Not good enough. But hey, two steps forward, one step back.

Since I'm never going to know what you've been up to because it's highly unlikely you would tell me anyway, I'm going to write about what I've been doing lately.

This semester, I'm having a rough time with some my classes. New concepts, different approaches, tons of homework, you get the idea.

I'm trying not to get too choked about it. Looking at the big picture helps a lot. Me and my study issues just shrivel in comparison to other people faced with real life-menacing problems.

Aerodynamics 101 vs Eight-Month Closure of Gaza?

No brainer there.

So, to fellow students : suck it up.

My mom had been pretty sick a few weeks back (She's fine now and doing great).

Forgive me if I declined your movie dates, shopping sprees, hair-saloon trips etc.

You see, my mind was elsewhere.

If you could watch only one movie this day/week/month/year/whatever, you should watch 3:10 to Yuma.

No idea what it is about?

Well, I can pretty much guarantee that it's not of the 'Lone Ranger+Tonto+Silver' type.

Try it. Really. You should.

I took up tennis lessons with ms-SP.

Oddly, people seemed to be tickled pink when they here this.

Y'all can say what you want to say, I just want to get some work out and have fun doing it.

Whatever floats my boat.

Mmmhhmm, I'm out. Maybe will continue later. Maybe not. We'll see.

I'M NOT SURE WHY I POST THIS

2008-02-16T16:16:00.003+08:00

I have a feeling that sometimes, not all the time mind you, only sometimes, occassionally, on the odd days, sometimes:

I scare people.

Not a good thought to have clouding in your head, I assure you.

WE STOP BEING HUMAN WHEN WE START TAKING LIVES

2008-02-15T13:05:00.004+08:00

Sometimes when you think that the world we're living in is pretty swell, news like this and more takes it all back. People are not people anymore.

May God have mercy on us all.

HAVE A NICE ONE, MISS-WORLD

2008-02-12T17:18:00.001+08:00

So yeah, let's talk about miss-world

What can we say about her?

Hmm.

Well,

#1. She's miss-world. I don't think I have to explain this.

#2. She's a laugh most of the time. Wait. Ha, my bad. ALL the time.

#3. She's loud, and it's lovely

#4. She's kinda old.

So m-w, here's to you

Happy Birthday!

MY KARMA RAN OVER MY DOGMA

2008-02-09T23:52:00.000+08:00

I am such a sore loser.

Boy oh boy, do I hate losing.

We just bought a new Monopoly set because the old one magicked itself into thin air during the house renovation.

I don't know why we needed another, because the last time we actually sat down & played it was so long ago, I hardly remember.

I suppose we just want to be assured that it's there, lying somewhere around the house. Just in case we find ourselves bored and the power's out.

So now there's Monopoly in the house.

(in addition to Scrabble Classic & Deluxe, Uno Cards-Classic, Harry Potter & H2O, Cluedo, Batman Forever BG, Risk, Jenga, a boxful of dominoes, Snakes & Ladders, assortments of checkers, Chess, Twister, Barrel of Monkeys.........you get the idea).

Order is restored.

I should start by telling you that I always have the best luck when it comes to board games.

It's not like I'm a really good strategist or whatever.

Hell no!

My motto would be:

Shut up, wing it, and the forces will be with you and see you through.

I can be cocky all I want before the game, but when it starts, I shut my trap and don't go "Yessssss!!!!" when I get a windfall or go "Shit it!" when I have to give up all my chips.

I would also be void of any facial or bodily expressions.

Just flip my cards, pay up and move my piece until the game ends.

Karma, I believe, never takes a day off.

I try not to forget that.

I am however, human. And this is the story of what happened when I do forget.

The first night we played, I stayed true to what I know and I wiped the floor clean.

The 2nd night I got hot-doggered and grew a little swagger in my steps; buying all squares of property I land on, building houses everytime the banker passed me my allowance, sniggering everytime someone skidded on squares belonging to me and obnoxiously extending my hand under their noses for the pay-up.

And karma turned in its sleep, lightly smacked my fat, greedy fingers and rolled back into slumber.

It was the most Titanic Monopoly lost I ever tanked.

I had to have all my properties mortgaged, all my houses sold to the bank to clear my debts, went to jail twice in a row and squandered all my bail chances on the false hope of getting doubles on the dice.

And to add insult to the injury, all I had were a bunch of $1 notes and those too were rapidly dwindling.

The game ended with me mortified and declared bankrupt.

So, no. Karma never takes a day off. Try not to forget that.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR

2008-02-07T11:59:00.000+08:00

I'll be spending the day tossing yee sang & peeling mandarins with melon-seed-covered fingers.

Gong Hay Fat Choy!

GREEN DAY : MACY'S DAY PARADE

2008-01-20T14:00:00.000+08:00

Back when rock was hard, real and solid & music wasn't just a jumble of words strung out to sound cool.

Good times, good times

I AM LIBERATED

2008-01-19T17:09:00.001+08:00

SENTIMENTS IS A NASTY THING TO WAKE UP TO

2008-01-13T15:57:00.000+08:00

Missing someone is a lot like finding yourself alone in a dark room, desperately feeling the walls for a way out.

CAUTION : GROUCH AT A STANDSTILL

2008-01-10T12:21:00.000+08:00

Things sure have been piling on.

I'm pretty much at a standstill now. Not because I like standing idly around with free time sprouting out of my ears.

It's more like I have this mountain of crap I have to sort through, and I'm not sure where to start.
And I'm not just talking about studies.

Though, that too, is going down the toilet. In a clockwise spiral downwards straight to the sewers. Counter-clockwise, if I was in Europe.

I'm not the only person on God's green earth who has to study, but why do I feel like I'm stuck in this rut and I seriously need to buck up, but I can't?

I read and read, but I can't remember. Isn't 21 too young to be getting dementia?

GOOD GOD, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!

It's UIA, for Pete's sake!

A third-world-country higher institution of learning!

Not MIT!

Not Yale!

Not even UCLA!

If I can't make it on my own homeground, I might as well just pack up and move to Timbuktu and join that tribe. The one that worships Donald Trump's hair.

I've been so absent lately. Not just in my mind, but on life's solid grounds too.

I've been ditching my friends left, right and center.
And on the rare occasion that I'm there, I might as well not be.

I find that I'm favoring being alone by myself, and I just can't muster up enough enthusiasm to make it appear like I'm a living, breathing human being.

I find fault with people very quickly, which is why relationships and I don't get along well.
I can fancy the pants off someone one day, and get annoyed at the way his chest heaves everytime he breathes, the next day. And fancy him again the day after that.

And that's not the only ugly trait of mine. Oh no, it's not. It's get even BETTER, for all you haters.
I'm also AWESOME at holding grudges, toilet-papering houses NOT on Halloween, stealing candies from babies and mocking lepers.

Ha, kidding! I'm just pulling your leg ok. Except for the grudge part.

I can not talk to someone for a really, really long time, for the littlest of reasons.
If the powers that be decides to put 'holding grudges' as a sport in the Olympics, I would totally grudge away for Malaysia and blow all the other countries out of the water.
I would be a HERO to my country, and I too will get a datuk-ship and have a rose named after me.

Hmm, seems I've painted quite an ugly picture of myself.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a grouchy, depressed youth who lives in her black anorak and likes to sing songs about killing myself but cries everytime someone 'misunderstood' me.

I like the people that I know and I love the people that I love. Very much.

It's just that sometimes I have out-of-the-body experiences and all I want to do is just sit with you and not talk.
Just sit and not talk.

I'm a difficult person to live with. Mood swings, temparements, the works.
(Note to self : fix the stuck 'mood' button near the spine)

Yes, I'm whining, but honestly, I can't write about ponies and rainbows ALL the time.

OH BOY, SOMEONE SURE IS GETTING OLDER

2008-01-10T10:22:00.000+08:00

Happy 22nd, john-lennon!

Not only are you kind, patient and an excellent cook. You also kick ass at the pool table.

Have a great double digit year!

Love,

MONKEY ON A BREADBAG

2008-01-06T16:35:00.000+08:00

I have never been unfortunate enough to experience 'losing appetite'.

Until I see this monkey adorning the breadbag:

MEMORIES

2007-12-23T17:26:00.000+08:00

Thanx daad, ry, kev.

ATTENTION-STARVED ROBOT

2007-12-21T11:27:00.000+08:00

It's amazing really, how absorbed we can be with ourselves. Absorbed to the point that we become oblivious to other people around us.

Scene ~ B's place. Eid makan-makan, you see.

Scouring for seats, lontong in one hand and soda in the other. Found one, next to A, B's college buddy, in no way a friend of mine due to her successfully managing to pretend to forget who I am despite the fact that we've met at least a few trillion times thanks to B's idealistic notion on making sure all her friends are buddy-buddy with each other.

Me : Hey A

A : Oh hello...........Haris? (tight smile, flick of the eye)

WTF??

I'm a woman!

(Note to self : use a double-edged razor when shaving beard off. Aren't they selling Gillettes for half-off down at the drugstore?)

Bitch.

Me : Ah...no. It's Hani. We've met loads of times, last week was the latest in fact.

A : Oh. Right.

[further forced greeting and niceties, inquiring after the health of an uncle etc.]

Me : Hey is that your phone?

A : Mmm-hmm.

Me : It's, well, ringing. You pickin it up?

A : *shrugs*

[more calls and multiple texts ignored]

Me : You know A, maybe it's important. At least read the texts.

A : Nah, that'll teach him.

Me : *raised eyebrows*

A : *leaning in conspirationally* He didn't reply to my text last nite. His ma said he was sick, puking in the crapper and all. I'm not buying it ok, what does he think I am? Stupid? *rolls eyes*

Me : Ah.

A : That's right. If he thinks he can lie to me and get away with it, he's wrong. *obviously flustered, agitated and desperate* I don't NEED him.

Me : Wow, has he been acting up a lot lately?

A : *evil eye in my direction* That was the first. But the point is, you can't let men walk all over you! You can't let them pull all the strings! I am NOT someone you can get just like that. I am unique! And I should be treated like one!

Me : *shrinking into the chair's upholstery*

A : I'm so tired of this! You know what, he's OUT.

Me : Hang on, you're calling it quits with your boyfriend just because he didn't reply to ONE text?

From what his ma said, I think he sounded pretty sick to think about anything else other than horking his guts out.
If he is that sick, his brain is probably addled and unable to compute anything more complex than the color of the toilet's tiles, much less to actually locate his mobile and will his fingers to type out a legible text to you.

Are you sure you want to break it off?

A : He's not my boyfriend.

Me : Well, it was nice seeing you again. I have to go talk to real, sane human beings now and be comforted by the fact that the world is not yet completely infested with rude, love-starved, selfish, plastic robots such as yourself. Good day.
(If I was wearing a hat, I would have tipped it. But seeing as how this remark of mine is spoken only in my head and not out loud, alas no hat-tipping then)

I walked to where B was refilling the punch bowl and tapped her on the shoulder,

"Hye B, thanks for inviting me. Food's great, compliments to your mum from me.
We're still on for that movie, right?

Oh and by the way, can you please not invite A to whatever we will be doing in the future?

Except if we're going to the archery strip, firearms & bazooka exhibition or any places involving sharp objects, fatal weapons and deep endless holes where one can easily be accidently shoved into."

By the way, eid mubarak!

HEHE SHEEPISHLY

2007-12-02T20:57:00.000+08:00

This is as weird as it gets.
I swear, I had no idea what possessed me.
I was a few metres away. Pretty much blacked out on how I just happened to appear on his right side. Hmm, weird innit?

Btw, that is not a hologram. It really is him. And how do I know? Because I can smell his cologne which frankly, smells rather delightful. Shame he's too pretty.

MALAYSIAN INDEPENDENCE TENNIS FESTIVAL

2007-11-27T18:31:00.000+08:00

Ok.

Pretty much all of my friends already knew that I went to the two main matches of the Malaysian Independence Tennis Festival:

Rafael Nadal vs Richard Gasquet
Roger Federer vs Pete Sampras

And I've bragged so much about it that if I wasn't me, I would probably have slapped me unconcious and steal the tickets.

The matches were awesome, really. Worth every penny, in fact.

I don't have to tell you what great players Nadal, Gasquet, Sampras & Federer are because you already know. And if you don't, there's always Google or Wikipedia.

Anyway,here are some photos to tell the story and to honestly show the rapture and elation I felt those two nights.

Warning : due to the fact that I was happy as a monkey and behaved like one, some facial expressions and behaviours may be too graphic for your liking.

Click to enlarge

And that was how ms-SP and myself upgraded our seats at no cost at all. Really, you should try it. Providing of course that you prepare a clever diversion to distract the burly guards.

All right, what's cam-wh*ring without the wh*r*s themselves, no?

Oh no, don't get me wrong. I intentionally held my ticket upside-down because it's indie-er that way. You know, like photographing a fingernail instead of the whole hand. ms-SP totally gets it.

That other person is to remain anonymous, as I am not begging for legal troubles.

if the Scary-Movie-ghost ever falls sick, I would make a perfect replacement

You can very well see there was a lot of love going around those nights.

We had a fantastic time.

ms-SP & I even succumbed to acting like crazy fans and stalked Nadal all the way to his getaway car.

No good THAT did though, we couldn't get through thanks to all the fat, burly, smelly and sweaty bodyguards.

So....no autographs. Shite.

But hey, we 'got' something almost as good! :

p/s : If anyone asks (not that anyone would because it's not like we did something illegal. that would be crazy, right?), we did not rip a poster each from where they were hanging on trees near the stadium and ran off gleefully towards the car. We ordered them through eBay ok.

BENICIO 'BENO' DEL TORO

2007-11-27T17:48:00.000+08:00

I just finished watching Snatch for the umpteenth time and boy oh boy, he is better every single time.

It takes a real man to don purple & ruffles at the same time and STILL be smokin'.

And he makes under-eye circles impecabbly hot.

Come 2008, don't forget to check out Benicio del Toro as Che Guevara in Guerrilla (Ryan Gosling too)

FLAVOR OF THE WEEK : ELLIOT MINOR

2007-11-26T16:32:00.000+08:00

Elliot Minor is strictly for teenagers. Much too emo & doctor-ed for me to really get into.

This track here, I like it for now because they sound like Queen.

I'll probably hate it next week. And like it back next year when it'll be vintage.

Have a listen, and start your own love-hate r/ship with Elliot Minor.

COLD SPIT

2007-11-26T00:26:00.000+08:00

This is a rhetorical question, so don't:

think that I meant it seriously,
bring it up the next time we meet,
store it in the black-mail section of your brain.

How do you feel about licking back what you spat?

Ugh.

No, I did not mean that LITERALLY.
Who would lick cold spit anyway? That's just macabrely disgusting.

Here's what I really meant:

Would you take back a person you broke ties with?

Just because he said, 'come on, it's been a while now, i missed you'?
Would you? Even if it's been 5 years now? Even if he showers you with compliments?
Flattering as it may be, I tell myself: Hmm, it HAS been 5 years now. That's a really long time.

And I should have told him :

Hey, thanx a lot for saying all those flowery-sugary-sweet things which would have worked if I was a spineless sap who wants nothing more than to have a guy, any guy,to coo back all those flowery-sugary-sweet shit to.

Kudos to you for saying that I'm the only girl you ever wanted and you couldn't live without me, even though by saying that you're automatically destroying every ounce of manhood you ever posessed, not that there was much to begin with, what with you being a spineless-sap-emo-bordering-on-homo.

One moment though, were you dead before you met me? And were you unalive between the period of me leaving you and you deciding that you can just waltz back into my life in your knock-off Nikes?

It's awfully kind of you for mindlessly suggesting that I must have missed you too, even though in reality I am a grown-up who has moved on and got over the phase of going out with losers who whisper into my very clean ear flowery-sugary-sweet pieces of crap and who thinks that just because a girl has a history with him, that makes their relationship 'special' even though in reality, the supposed 'relationship' has been severed intentionally by the girl who has finally realized her own stupidity.

I appreciate your suggestive offer of 'getting back together', though I believe you have once again mistaken me for a spineless-sap who thinks that having a partner is compulsory, when it is supposed to be complementary.

Oh and just to clear the air so there is to be no misunderstanding between us:
No, I am not in a relationship right now.
But no, that does not mean that I am desperate to be in one, unlike most women my age who moan and whine at the lack of a spouse.
So perhaps you should stop using your fake, throaty, fag-manly voice to suggest that you are also single and delightfully available because I'm not interested. Period.

And no, I'm not playing hard to get. I spat you out, remember? And I did it not because I thought it was fun, but because you were a bad taste in my mouth.

But hey, thanks a lot for coming!
And there's the door.

A TASTE OF PARENTING

2007-11-24T16:31:00.000+08:00

My parents left for hajj a few days back.

Sigh.

Don't get me wrong; it's fantastic news that they're going after all these years.
It's just that they'll be gone for a month++.

And I can't just ring them up anytime I'm missing them.

It's not like they're on vacation or something.

I don't feel like explaining, Google up 'hajj' if you don't get it.

So with them gone, I have to take the helm in the family.

Sure, k.g. and her husband mr-F stays with us some of the time. But they have their own family to think of.

Being the 2nd eldest among us 5 sisters makes me responsible by default.

I'm generally good with taking care of practicalities:

managing the meals,

laundry,

dishes,

tending to the garden,

cleaning (more or less),

making sure the cats don't starve,

paying the bills, etc.

And if we're still hungry after all that, we can always have pancakes.

Grandma is staying over for a while, so I think I'll manage fine.

It's the emotional-shoe-filling that I'm awful at.
My 2 sisters after me can pretty much take care of themselves, seeing as how they're both big girls.

It's the baby of the family that I'm worried for.
She's never been apart this long from my folks. Usually she tags along whenever my parents go vacationing all over the world on their own.

So now, I'm the surrogate-mom.

What exactly am I supposed to do when she wakes up in the middle of the night, and crying for the REAL mom? Everyone knows that I'm crap at comforting.

Hmm. I need to work on that.

(This is a little something I made to help amuse her.

A countdown page, in case you go 'huh? what IS that thang?')

p/s: this post appears to not have any proper body or flow. This is because my mind is a bit pre-occupied at the mo. And I'm writing this at 4 am. So sue me.

I HAVE BRAGGING RIGHTS

2007-11-19T23:35:00.000+08:00

Knock, knock.

Oh hello there,

Does anyone know which channel will the 'Rafael Nadal vs. Richard Gasquet match' be on?

Any idea?

No?

Hmm.

Oh wait.

It's all right that you don't know.

Why, you say?

Well, I don't really mind because.......

I'll be watching it LIVE!

(I'm allowed to brag ok. I've been good this year, I didn't kick a hobo on the streets or kill a unicorn or whatever. Ask mr-Claus)

NEIL : AN AUTHOR IN NEED OF A HAIRCUT

2007-11-18T14:28:00.000+08:00

November's a good month for Neil Gaiman fans.

Not only is his lighter work, Stardust, adapted to the big screen and is now showing. (And I have seen it. Twice),

His adaptation of the epic poem Beowulf, is also out:

But I'm a bit surprised on his take of Beowulf.

In his book Fragile Things, he wrote a short sequel to American Gods. In it, the roles of Grendel and Grendel's mother are unconventionally written.

Grendel is seen as a pale, misunderstood antagonist who wants only to be left alone in peace and not be slaughtered by silly young men who kill creatures less pretty than themselves.

While Grendel's mother is written as old, haggard and protective of her son.

The classic interpretation is more usual. You know, Hot-Geat-Guy = Good, Freaky-Grendel = Evil, Dominatrix-Mommy-Grendel = err,dominatrix?

But hey, both views are pretty interesting if you do your research. So, I say aye to both.

So, here's what Gaiman's up to these days:

Directing & writing the screenplay of Warner Independent's Death : The High Cost of Living, alongside Guillermo Del Toro

Seeing his surreal children's novella Coraline made into a stop-motion version, thanks to director Henry Selick

(Selick's the one in the middle)

Surfacing now and again in Tori Amos's songs

Expressing his interest in collaborating on a film adaptation of the Epic of Gilgamesh

Seems we'll have a lot to look forward to. I just hope he won't be too busy and side-tracked by being Hollywood's Flavour of the Week to actually sit down and write more books.

Because if you ask me, that's the best form his work will ever take.

AZUR ET ASMAR

2007-11-15T00:57:00.000+08:00

Wow.

We (widaad, khair & myself) went in for an ordinary 100+ min. movie.

And we left stunned by the pure beauty of it.

A tale of child-like wonder and innocence that speaks to open-minded humans of any age, and serves as an elegant plea for racial and religious tolerance.

Azur et Asmar

a film by Michel Ocelot

I LOVE MY FRIENDS (and it's not just because of the surprise either)

2007-11-13T23:36:00.000+08:00

Dear miss-world, john-lennon & miss-SP,

If you are reading this, i would like you to know that I love you guys very much.

Only good friends would:

remember the date their friend was born

spend their time to plan a 'surprise' party even though it's exam week and they have 3 papers and a project due in the same week

go out of their way to find multi-colored candles even though almost all the stores they went to do not sell said candles
make sure their friend had a great time

And to celebrate our love all around, I'm going to take you guys out for ice-cream.

My treat.