Thursday, December 28, 2006

2006: IN RETROSPECT

If life were a book, then then the years that pass would be the chapters that allow the words to flow seamlessly and reveal stories that people enjoy so much.

But years don't do that, do they?

It felt just like yesterday I was welcoming 206 with open arms, in smiles after a moderately pleasant 2005. It offered promises of being a good year, as most new things do. Besides, beinga year older meant being a year wiser.

It has become a custom NOT to make any New Years resolutions, especially in the last ten years or so. Anyway, it's a fact that when 31st December sweeps by, bowing on it's way out, we sit down and ruminate in regret for not going through all those (usually ridiculous) goals we set for ourselves. I didn't make any resolutions the previous year, and I've made up my mind to not make any for the coming year too!

2006 brought along a whole bunch of joys and sorrows. Topsy turvy and turbulent as far as years go. Time sped by, leaving snails behind, lagging whilst looking for a comfortable place. Those that moved with the times might have found themselves being dragged unwillingly along the way. Just going with the flow that was neither smooth nor comfortable.

Among things that bore any significance in my existence in this corner of the planet include the fantastic trip to Bali I had somewhere in mid-April, learning a new language that I was teribble in, and most probably will never be able to master perfectly, and meeting my very first fender bender.

2006 was littered with many instances that made you wonder if you were really ridiculously unlucky. Those instances dropped like hailstones crashing in on a warm sunny day and tore the once promising looking 2006 into tiny shreds of misery that twisted into knots that tied you so tight that you felt that if you attempted escape, you'd be hurt even more that it's better to stay still and allow the year to take complete control of your life. But then again, occasionally some nice things would happen, and there'd be something sweet and nice and memorable that makes you think of 2006 with a smile.

If it didn't sound so silly, I'd say that 2006 had something personal against me and whoever else who might have been on the receiving end of neverending misery.

Is there a reason to detest 2006, I find myself asking... I suppose I should, or could, but I don't. Maybe there's a small amount of animosity, but that's about it.

I've always had an unexplainable fear of time passing by too quickly, becaus it means that another year would be over before you know it, and everything still remains the same (I still adamantly disapprove of resolutions!)But for once I'm glad that a particular year is coming to a close. That 2006 is going to be over. I tell myself that next year will be better.

2007 here I come!

Thursday, December 21, 2006

THURSDAY THIRTEEN: THE FIRST TIME


Thirteen Things about terrashield:the past

1. She played table tennis in school
2. She dyed her hair purple once, but since her original hair was very dark, it didn't show except under bright lights.
3. When she was 11 she had a fight with another kid over a green colour pencil.
4. At age 6, she created an imaginary sister whom she fondly named Malboro. She then shared the imaginary sister story with her real sister who believed every single word.
5. She had single handedly destroyed a vacuum cleaner
6. Her interest in caring for the environment started with a book by David Bellamy
7. She used to have a cool collection of stickers
8. When she was 5, her neighbour told her that she wanted to kidnap her kid sister, and she really believed that horrid woman.
9. No one wanted to be friends with her when she first started school
10. She used to enjoy the schoolbus rides home when she was around 13 and 14 years old
11. She had survived on a 56K modem until April 2006
12. Her ex-favourite sling bag had a glow in the dark Adidas logo which frightened the hell out of her one night when there was a power failure
13. When she was around 10 she used to pretend her dad's motorbike was a horse
Links to other Thursday Thirteens!1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


Wednesday, December 20, 2006

BY THE RIVER PIEDRA I SAT DOWN AND WEPT: A REVIEW

It's been ages since I last reviewed a book. As far as I can recall, I reviewed GOD KNOWS by JOSEPH HELLER because that was one of the funniest books I have ever read. Besides, I borrowed the book from the varsity library ever so long ago, and I was afraid that I would forget why I loved it so much.

Other favourite books of mine have thus far avoided being brutally post mortemned by yours truly because there was simply no time to do so. Besides, I feel that books like 'TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD' and THE CATCHER IN THE RYE are far too great to be reviewed by little old me.

Nevertheless, it's not as though this particular book is not that great that I dare review it... it's only the circumstances that led to me getting the book in the first place which prompts me to attempt some reviewing... not what I think about the book, but the cause and effect analysis due to reading the book.

The funny thing was, an old school friend whom I got in touch with only a few months back, read my unimaginable dramatized post and sent me an e-mail and said I could borrow THE ALCHEMIST from her... How so very sweet, she added that she was Coelho's fan, and had most if not all his books in her collection. Simply amazing... to think that we were in the same school since the age of 13 right up to 17 and I never knew this side of her...

Firstly is the way the book is written, the words flow from the book like a tranquil river waiting to meet the sea. Add in a dash of breathtaking view in the midst, and you have pictured the language used successfully.

The story, however, is about love, and it's all sweet and stuff. And awfully painful too. Now, sadly I admit that I don't really believe in true love as there has been nothing whatsoever to prove it's existence... but a part of me occasionally reminds me that it may not be such a bad thing after all. I blame it on quarter life crisis like how John Mayer narrates it on Why Georgia. But I digress... There was nothing to laugh about inside the book, but I found myself laughing all the same... recollecting all the drama that unfolded along the pages of this blog...

In a way, I'm quite glad I made a mistake when buying the book... because you always hear about THE ALCHEMIST and not much of this book wherever you go. Or like what my Moroccan bloggerfriend put up in my comment section: maybe the universe did have a special message for me inside :)

Monday, December 18, 2006

SONG REVIEW: EVIL BY INTERPOL

I was just listeneing to some music just now, and apparently this song, Evil by Interpol was in the right place at the the right time...

The musical arrangement is superb.

Music video

# Lyrics

Evil Lyrics
Artist(Band):Interpol


Evil Lyrics


Send Interpol polyphonic ringtone to your cell phone


Rosemary, Heaven restores you in life
You´re coming with me
Through the aging, the fearing, the strife

It's the smiling on the package
It's the faces in the sand
It's the thought that moves you upwards
Embracing me with two hands

Right will take you places
Yeah maybe to the beach
When your friends they do come crying
Tell them how your pleasure's set upon slow-release

Hey wait
Great smile
Sensitive to fate, not denial
But hey who's on trial?

It took a lifespan
With no cellmate
The long way back
Sandy,wait why can't we look the other way?

We speaks about travel
Yeah we think about the land
We smart like all peoples
Feeling real tan

I could take you places
Do you need a new man?
Wipe the pollen from the faces
Make revision to a dream while you wait in the van

Hey wait
Great smile
Sensitive to fate, not denial
But hey who's on trial?

It took a lifespan
With no cellmate
the long way back
Sandy, wait why can't we look the other way?
You're weightless; you are exotic
You need something for which to care
Sandy, why can't we look the other way?

Leave some shards under the belly
Lay some grease inside my hand
It's a sentimental jury
And the makings of a good plan
You've come to love me lightly
Yeah you've come to hold me tight
Is this motion everlasting
Or do shudders pass in the night?

Rosemary, Heaven restores you in life

I spent a lifespan with no cellmate
The long way back
Sandy, why can't we look the other way?
You're weightless, semi-erotic
You need someone to take you there
Sandy,wait why can't we look the other way?
Why can't we just play the other game?
Why can't we just look the other way?

Friday, December 15, 2006

BLOGGER'S SECRET AGENDA

Some time back, I recall a fellow blogger friend who one of the first few to convert to beta mention that she couldn't log into her account to post comments into non-beta blogger's pages.

Now, I find myself facing the same problem... only it's the other way round. Due to my unexplainable stubborness in refusing to change to Beta, me and my blog have been relegated to the status of second class blognetizens. Bloody hell...

I can't post comments on my beta blogger friends blogs in one try. It takes at least 3 attempts, and that is if I label myself as 'other' or 'anonymous'. Sometimes, I give up due to sheer frustration in attempting to leave a sign that I have visited.

Other non-beta bloggerfriends have mentioned similar thoughts on this subject: Prometheus and Yaxlich.

I'm afraid, that blogger has finally figured out a tactic to not woo non-beta bloggers but to coerce them into joining this society where if things go wrong, then too bad! Ha! Ha! And then when there a minuscle number of non-beta bloggers left, they will just eliminate the whole non-beta thing and then one day when we wake up andfeel the urge to post something on our blogs we will be cruelly informed that due to the poor response non-beta blogger is having, they have decided to scrap the idea of having beta and non-beta versions!

See, they have a secret agenda.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

PAGE 123: A TAG

I was reading My Marrakesh this morning when I stumbled upon this meme which she had put up on her blog. As usual, I couldn't resist tagging myself...

What you have to do is pretty simple...
1. Grab the book closest to you.
2. Open to page 123, go down to the fifth sentence.
3. Post the text of next 3 sentences on your blog.
4. Name of the book and the author.
5. Tag three people.

Alas! I realised in dismay that I was at work, which means the book closest to me might be an equipment catalogue... Now putting that up would have generated a free advertisement... (The truth is my table was spotless this morning, because we were forced to clear out the desks as the president (of the company) was supposed to visit us - that means even the manual was out of reach!)

Anyway, I just remembered that I had chucked a book into my bag a few days ago... so I guess that I'm in luck. Here goes:

They are probably arriving now. I left my uncle there and I must run back. Look here, if you were not such a fool, such a confounded fool, an infernal fool with strangers - you see I recognise your cleverness, but you are a fool, or else if you were not, you would come and join us, instead of wearing out your boots.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Let's see... I haven't actually tagged people for some time, so maybe it's time to make a change again. I hereby tag Princess Shin, Julia Scissor, and Irene.

Everyone else is also invited to join in the fun. Just let me know :D

Sunday, December 10, 2006

A WHACK ON THE HEAD AND THE CONSEQUENCES THAT FOLLOW

If there's any injury that you can downplay, a whack on the head is definately not in the group. It's a nice Sunday morning, and the best part is that Monday is a public holiday and that means I have one of those hugely anticipated long weekends :) But then that's another story!

Anyway, I went to get some stuff yesterday (which was Saturday), and one of it was this book The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. I'm not exactly sure if it's just my luck or the fact that the major bookstore chain only has a tiny store in the town I live in, but books are hard to come by once they've passed their prime...

Anyway, surprisingly this time around the book was there, riight in front of my eyes! (Actually, if I'm desperate enough, the staff at the book store could always locate the book for me from one of their bigger stores, but for reasons unknown, I don't often go through that measures to obtain a book I want. Maybe I feel that its better complaining about it)

Back to the Alchemist... there were 3 copies, but I didn't like the feel of the cover (It was the glossy kind, but I prefer books with the matte surface and embossed words... I browsed even closer and found one book hidden at the back. Yes! I was on a roll. Despite being ridiculously unlucky most of the time, I was extremely lucky, or so I thought. I checked the book to make sure that it was correct... It wasn't embossed though... Yep, Paulo Coelho and The Alchemist were visible on the cover. I picked up the book, paid for it and hastened out of the store.

When I got back, the sister dived into the book bag and picked out the book. I can't remember her exact words... but she told me I got the wrong book. Instead of getting The Alchemist, I had in my insistence of choosing a book with the prettier cover grabbed 'By the River piedra I sat down and Wept'. I'm afraid this big blunder was caused by the unceremonious whack on the head by the damn doorway. Argh...

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go sit by The River Kxxxx and weep.

Friday, December 08, 2006

A HUNDRED AND FIFTY THINGS TO DO

I saw this on Prometheus's blog who tagged himself after reading Lizza's blog (which i actually read too, but it was quite long ago). Anyway, it looked pretty interesting and all, and I was bored, so I actually tagged myself... more out fo curiosity than anything else.

38/150 = 25%

If you read this part, that means this is the 3rd time I'm publishing this post. You see, in my half unawakened state this morning, I hit my head on the doorway (accidentally, of course!) and now, I'm a bit of a blubbering idiot. First I spelt 'actually' as 'catually' and then left it there to be published, next I repaired my PS at the bottom of the page, because something was wrong with it, and then as I read the page again, I noticed that I had failed to describe the objective of this meme...

Objective: What you have to do is copy this whole thing in your blog, feel free to delete the parts in the parantheses, and bold the sentences which describe things you have done.

I hope this is the last edit...

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain (a hill actually, but who cares, right?)
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse of the moon.
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk (and found out a secret!)
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage (School)
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship (boat, but I hated it!)
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours (Chicken pox time)
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions (so far...)
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

PS: Does anyone know where's 98?

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

YO MAN, WHAT'S GOING ON?

Is there a reason to not worry when you read things like this

Registering yourself as a blogger describes the idea of having your freedom curbed, your every move monitored... It's an assault on your existence as a person who has been bestowed with the ability to think (rationally or otherwise)

If a different country wants to do it, then let it be. Why emulate it? If you look at their history, communism was part of their not so distant past. We instead have fought tooth and nail against it, lived in general fear during the emergency years, not allowed a movie about an old communist 'hero' to be screened here, yet when it comes to freedom, we are sometimes treated like 5 year olds. And you can't force people to be responsible.

I believe that people, regardless of who they are will be able to make conclusions for themselves based on what they read. Introducing this move is akin to telling off the lady at the end of the street to register herself as an official gossiper!

Friday, December 01, 2006

RECIPE FOR A MISERABLE NOVEMBER

INGREDIENTS
1. Find November
2. Add a dash of self induced insomnia
3. Sign up for a competition with stringent time constraints
4. Sit for an exam in a foreign language
5. Study the said language
6. Apply for leave (2 days) to study said language
7. Go to work and stay there for 12 hours
8. Work on Saturdays too
9. Ensure that everything is urgent, if it's not, make sure that machines break down so that sooner or later it will be urgent.
10. Work with a colleague who has just handed in his resignation and is doing his involuntary notice period.
11. Your other level headed colleague is out of the country
12. Neglect your blog and concentrate on other things (read: work/competition/exam)
13. Worry about everything that usually doesn't worry you
14. You find out that your favourite band loses a team member (The bright side is, he's still alive, so chances for a regrouping will be there)
15. Make sure that everything clashes with everything
16. Encourage your car to make funny noises
17. Yell at people, be grumpy
18. Throw in a million distractions
19. Do more paperwork, draw graphs that make no sense
20. Write fiction till you hate your characters, and then give up after you've passed the 30,000 word mark

METHOD
Mix all of the ingredients into a bowl. Something about the size of yourself will suffice.
Let it simmer slowly for one whole month. Be careful not to let it get too hot, for no deaths should occur.
At the end of the month, look into a mirror and laugh out loud
You may or may not feel better, but you will realise that November has finally come to an end.
If you're brave enough, maybe you could jump into the nearest ocean/river/drain to forget about November.
There you have it, all the ingredients to make a disasterous November... Next year I'm gonna obliterate November by sleeping through it, unless I get brutally woken up by reality (I wish!) Got to remember to make an appointment with an evil fairy godmother!
PS: OK, I must have mentioned this like a thousand times to anyone who would listen, but yeah, the Japanese exam is on 3rd December. Yes, that's barely 2 days away, and here I am, distractedly blogging .

Please wish me luck... I am actually dead scared :)
Thank you...

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

DEATH OF A NOVEL

After 3/4 of a month of word crunching, ugly elbows, unkempt hair, mad coffee and ice cream intake, I bow in defeat to this thing called time.

I don't know where it went, or how I suddenly got here although I swear that it was only 15 November a few days back.

Even if I sat or stood and typed and typed till tomorrow, the 18000 words I'm after is too far away... (I just sprained my side trying to reach for those words)

I hate to admit defeat so soon, but I've preservered, lied to myself, sabotaged my characters, sabotaged my story, not to mention hated my self and life so many times this month.

It's finally over.

My NaNoNovel Epitaph

The nights you kept me awake,
Seeking all my attention,
You shared my coffee and cake,
And caused a whole lot of tension.

Yet I cared for you,
In ways no one understood,
There were moments when I was blue,
Yet you never went unnurtured.

Then the day came,
It was so not expected,
Some may say that it's lame,
But I was totally afflicted.

In a matter of days,
Your health dwindled,
Life was falling to pieces,
In death, we got divided.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

5 THINGS : A TAG

I have been recently tagged by Princess Shin to do a tag about 5 things.

Based on observation in other blogs though, I noticed that the 5 things can be anything, some folks did 5 things you never knew about me, or 5 things I want to do, etc...

I have decided to go by 5 things I want to do before I die.

1. Bungee Jump in Australia

It was definitely a long time ago when I first saw someone do the bungee jump (on tv, obviously) and it was done somewhere in Australia. Since then I've been hankering over bungee jumping, but since I've never stepped into Australia it all remains a wish.

Anyway, the other day, I had to climb up a 10 ft tank to take some pictures (all in a day's work) and as I stood on top of it, I looked down and felt a wee bit queasy. This tank, however is only 10 feet above the ground, and if I fell down, I might have just broken a bone or two... Not too bad, eh?

But I'm not deterred. Australia, here I come! (When I can get leave long enough to travel!)

2. Rocking with The Darkness

I was reading while lying on my back on the floor one day after work when I heard the most magnificent guitar riffs from the tv. I turned instantly and watched the tv upside down to catch the name of the band. They changed my life forever. They are known as the Darkness.

However, what irks me is the fact that their songs rarely get played here, even on the radio. The morons in charge of music selection here are truly morons. They only picked one song out of their whole album (permission to land) for airplay, and it was the ballad! What's wrong with those people?

Of course there's nothing wrong with ballads, but these guys have got plenty of other interesting songs too!

Anyway, I was lucky enough to get hold of the album... It was a chase from one music outlet to another, one shop only had the cassette, and another had only 2 cd's.

Their new album, however, (One way ticket to hell and back) by the way, which is not so new anymore, has yet to see the Malaysian sun (at least in the stores I've visited)

I need to go to their concert, by hook or by crook, even if doesn't happen today, it must happen before I die.

3. Learn to dance

All this while I've always dreaded dances, especially choreagraphed ones. For some unknown reason, I can never remember the steps properly, and I can't stop laughing while dancing (I've been part of small forced to perform groups, sadly)

This has to end. I would like to learn a proper dance... anything doesn't matter, salsa, tapdance, two step, tango, whatever (please be reminded that I'm only churning out names of dances that I've heard of, but I don't necessarily know their routine and steps)

4. Words that create an impact

I admit, I want to write a book someday. And not just any ordinary book. It has to have a great impact on the reader like what 'To Kill a Mockingbird' had on me, where I can read it again and again and still find each page as exciting as the first time I read it, or how wonderful the book "The Catcher in the Rye' is that I truly wish that Holden Caulfield was real and I could have an interesting conversation with him.

5. Act


A long time ago, when I was about 11, my English teacher threatened me into writing a play for our class to perform at school. The topic we chose was truancy, and it was a tremendous success as the teachers unanimously decided to pick it for the end of the year performance.

Not only was I forced to write it, I was also forced to act in it. I had to act as the teacher in the story. (Honestly, I really do wish that I had the script to put it up here, but too bad I don't!)

It was cool, because when we performed the play for the end of the year performance, we actually used Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby, and some of my schoolmates who were supposed to be the truant kids rapped and danced to the song.

The last time I stood (or sat/died/became a bridge) in front of an audience was when I took 'Theatre' as an extra co-curricular subject. It had absolutely no lines, and I was part of a bridge, played a 'dayang' which only involved me waving a fan at a queen, and then I became a villager who died all in one night.

Anyway, one day, when I've garnered enough confidence to step into a theatre audition room and audition for a small part (even a tree would do!) because I have no proper training, I hope that I can act in a play in front of an audience.

As with all tags, I'm afraid I have to tag people.. but I shall leave it to you. All right, do drop by Sharon's Five Things so she can link you up in this five things mania.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

TAPDANCING IN BANGSAR

One of my shortcomings is that I have a penchant for (what I presume to be) spiffy titles like this one. They just pop into my head and don't leave me peacefully until I've used them.

Anyway, if you live around here, it's common knowledge that Bangsar is synonymous with cool happenings, shopping, a wide variety of food and dancing (or clubbing, as most of the people know it)

It is something of a curiousity, but I have a feeling that regardless of whatever other forms of dance that may be present, tapdancing may not be one of them. As I said, I'm going by gut feeling, so if there is tapdancing going on in Bangsar, then I'm afraid I have to eat my shoe.

(PS: I think they should have the Riverdance performance here; it's awesome)

But I digress...

This is a story about me, Bangsar and shoes.

One of the few attractions of Bangsar is the food, especially since it has a myriad of restaurants
serving banana leaf cuisine. I'm not particularly a fan, because when it comes to banana leaf food, my grandma makes killer dishes (minus the leaf, that is). So obviously I prefer eating what she cooks.

To those who are unfamiliar with the term, banana leaf cuisine means Indian food (usually south Indian) that includes rice, curries (chicken, mutton) and vegetables served on a banana leaf instead of a plate. This apparently gives the food an appetising aroma and enhances the flavours.

However, when the gang meets up in Bangsar for lunch, banana leaf cuisine somehow always manages to sneak into the picture.

We did the Saturday afternoon in Bangsar thing twice this year. Living about some 40 minutes away, I usually take a train and get picked up by one of the friends at the LRT station.

As always, I'm the kind of person who prefers shoes to open toed heels - very dangerous footwear, I should add. That is open toed heels, not shoes.

I wore a pair I bought a few years ago. At the train station in Bangsar, my left foot felt funny... the sole was slipping of the shoe. This was followed closely by the right foot. I was horrified, as I can hop on 1 foot, but if both shoes were unusable, then I might as well be dead.

Nevertheless, I didn't die, but both my shoes gave way in the end. There I was in the middle of Bangsar town, dragging my feet on the sole of what was formerly my shoes while holding the top of the shoes in my hands as I didn't want to litter. And all those people looking at my bare feet. The vulnerability I felt at that moment is beyond words!

My friends fetched me, and I ended up buying a pair of Reebok flip flops at Bangsar Village for an absurdly high price for flip flops - RM 45.00 which is about USD 12 (that was the cheapest available, and I had not much money, and I left my credit card and ATM card at home for safety reasons) I might add that normal flip flops are about RM 15.

The second time around, I went with shoes once again, this time though, I made sure that they were quite new (less than a year old), and things were just fine, or so I thought.

However, to my horror, the material that coats the shoe started peeling off to reveal the insides which were of a horrible colour. And with each step I took, I felt the heel coming off, and all other fears connected with having no shoes to walk with flashed through my mind.

I made it back safe this time, but barely so. Next time we have banana leaf at Bangsar, I'm going tapdancing! I don't care how...

Friday, November 17, 2006

SUICIDAL STRANGER

Two ways to (commit) suicide
1. Quick death: Take a BIG rope, tie it around your neck and hang yourself.
2. Slow death: Take a SMALL rope, tie it on a girl's neck and marry her...


I received this through SMS earlier today, it was from an unrecognised number, so I'm just going to go ahead and assume that the person who sent me this is a stranger who accidently sent the message to my phone number instead of the person it was intended to reach. It might be also safe to assume that it was from one guy to another guy.

What worries me though is the fact that why would anyone use a rope to marry someone else?

Thursday, November 16, 2006

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER NOW

In a Past Life...


You Were: A Famous Undertaker.

Where You Lived: Ireland.

How You Died: Consumption.


PS: Credit goes to www.blogthings.com
The HTML code refuses to co-operate with the formerly famous undertaker

Thursday, November 09, 2006

NOVEMBER IS ANOTHER IDIOT

I broke down in front of the colour spectrophotometer this morning while I was having a discussion with the QA executive regarding some colour issues that have been mushrooming at a rapid pace the last two weeks or so.

She didn't know what to do, except saying, hey, calm down... and patting me on the shoulder.
Apparently, I'm not the first to break down in tears. A few other 20 somethings have been at it too.

Things have been going on quite awfully the last few days especially. There are so many things to do, the problems keep cropping up, I investigate, and my findings leave me even more baffled than before.

I spend about 12 hours a day in that place, taking in as much crap as I possibly can. It's too much. There's only so much I can bear.

But I still don't get why I cried. The last time I did that at work was when I just joined this place and was in charge of something I had no experience in (I was practically a fresh graduate right out of school that time) and the thing didn't turn out as expected, and I was scolded by almost everyone in the hierarchy. At least, I had the sense to run into the ladies to do my crying then. Now I realise that those idiots just took advantage of my gullibility.

I've been feeling so miserable that I didn't have the energy to blog. I just went around and put in comments on other blogs that I read. I'm beginning to feel that I've bitten off more than I can chew... the Japanese Exam (the main one is in less than a month), I've not read a book for more than a week, I can't attend the second biggest life changing event of my friend's because of the exam, and I don't know how to tell her. And all the stupid damn problems that refused to be resolved.

I actually hate life right now. And I hate November too.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

UPDATES!

Woo Hoo!

The internet connection has been fully restored to it's normal self. Yay!

That means, I've finally linked this blog to the NaNoWrimo Project I'm working on. The adrenaline rush is awesome, I tell ya... The link to the temporary blog I've set up for this November madness is right at the bottom of the sidebar at the right and somewhere above on this post.

The last five days have made me realise that this is an extremely daunting task. My characters actually had a small argument without even me knowing. Ha! Ha!

Time for some Non-NaNo stuff....
I had to go to the bank today to fight for my rights. In reality, I should have done it at least 3 weeks ago, but due to many other unavoidable obligations, I've been putting off this activity until today. Alas! It rained the whole morning... somewhere in between cats and dogs and a mild drizzle alternatively. I should have been sleeping instead of getting ready to go and errr... fight for my rights.
So, mom gave me a small umbrella to use when running from the car to the bank. Parking spaces are scarce in that part of town. Neither am I exactly in the mood to catch the flu now. Turns out I didn't have to fight for my rights at the bank after all. My request was processed immediately. All the dramatic speeches I practised in my head the past 3 weeks on the journey back and forth to work was just unnecessary drama.
When I reached home, I kind of shook the umbrella, to get rid of the excess water from the folds... and then I saw the words imprinted on the umbrella. I never knew umbrella had names. This little blue one apparently goes by the name Justin.
A long time ago, when I started believing that I had the ability to pull off a 300 page novel, I started my story with a character named Justin. For reasons I cannot remember, the name stood out amongst all other names. A plus factor was I didn't know any Justins personally back then.
Turns out, a few months later my whole family shifted to where we still live right now... (not the house, but the same town) and voila! we had our very own neighbourhood Justin there. I never spoke to the person (I must admit that I was an extremely anti social person at that point, besides, this person Justin was way older and we had nothing in common to talk about)
I remember though that he used to go around on his mountain bike, and play tennis in the evenings with his shoulder length hair flying in the wind - this I observed when I used to get down from the school bus after school in the evenings. He was dubbed our own local Andre Agassi. (When he still had the shoulder length hair!)
In a later revision of the novel that will never see daylight, I changed the name of my lead character. It had to be a name of someone I didn't know personally, or never will know personally. Of course now that the novel is dead, the name of the characters don't matter anymore.
I just can't believe that I am writing a post about a person I've never spoken to before and all because of an umbrella that shares the same name.

PS: This story was written somewhere in August but I didn't post it at that time...

Thursday, November 02, 2006

NANO MADNESS, 1667 AND COUNTING

I'm officially a NaNoWriMo player this year... I think I'm slightly insane. I'm digging my own grave. I'm actually writing long pieces which I've never done before. At least, there's something positive out of it.

Clueless is what I am... I don't know how the story is going to be. In fact, I'm just going to let the characters lead the way, and I'll follow. If they want to commit suicide, so be it.

Anyway, I've set up a separate blog somewhere around here to put it up once I'm sure that I've gone too far to abscond it...

Anyway, I hope to continue blogging as usual, but the internet connection at home has mysteriously ended... so I have to make do with what I can during break time at work, like now.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Boo!

I thought that it would be nice if i could write a nice, scary story that'll give the bravest person the creeps... instead I chose to select a few stories I've heard throughout these years. Are they true, or made up from the remnants of over active imagination? No one knows... (insert scary music here)

Fact is I wanted to do a halloween decor for my blog. Alas, my knowledge on HTML is not good enough to do some tweaking to the template... Enjoy!


1. Aminah
Location: Selangor, Malaysia
Aminah is the name we fondly gave to our resident workplace ghost. No one has ever gone near enough to know if it's a woman or man. We suspect she's a female due to her long and black flowy hair. She haunts the utility room and comes out after 7pm and scares the people who go up to the 2nd floor.

2. The toilet ghost
Location: A toilet in a girl's secondary school
The middle mirror of this toilet is broken. Legends tell us that girls who have looked into the mirror end up seeing a face which is not their own (that is before one smart person broke the mirror) Another tale tells of girl going into the toilet stall, but takes forever in there, and when you look underneath, there'll be no legs.

3. The page turner
Location: A girls dorm room in a university in KL
Two girls share a room, and one studies during the day, and another studies at night. So, one night when girl A was studying, and girl B was sleeping, girl B heard the sound of pages being feverishly turned. She opened her eyes and saw a ghost wildly turning the pages of her book on her desk, and another ghost looking at her by the side of her bed

4. The screaming figure
Location: A boys toilet in a school in Ipoh, Perak
Apparently, there's a figure drawn on the floor of the toilet in this school. And if your pour lime juice over the drawn part of the body, it gives a scream. I really hope that this is a joke...

5. The kiasu ghost
Location: Girls dormitory block, 2nd floor, at a varsity in Johore
There was once a student who performed well at school, but when he (the block was formerly a boy's block) started studying in varsity, he didn't get a perfect score of 4.0 for his CGPA and therefore killed himself in the room. He apparently haunts the room, and does not allow the new students who inhabit the room to move his ex-furniture around (the furniture actually belongs to the university)

6. Household noises
Location: A house in Taiping, Perak (my mom's maiden house)
The house is quite large and set in a slightly isolated area. When mom and the grandparents slept at night, they used to hear sounds of people washing clothes, children playing, etc.

7. Help me!
Location: Unknown
This is a story of a boy in another big 3 story house. They usually have the top floor rooms empty because the family is quite small, and no one wants to rent those rooms. However, one night, they had a function in the house, and all the relatives slept over (this was in the 60's) and this poor boy was sent to sleep upstairs. While he was sleeping, he was woken up by a little boy tied in chains who was begging him to help him get free.

Monday, October 30, 2006

9 WEIRD THINGS AND ME: A MEME

I got tagged by Silversabre where I'm supposed to list down 9 weird things about myself...

1. My (real) middle name:
The parents were not just happy giving me a first name, but they had to have a middle name for me too. This name was the butt of numerous jokes and caused some confusion when it came to ethnicity (there are tonnes of different ethnicities here in Malaysia, therefore everyone's curious about a person's particular ethnicity)The weird part is now, when I'm all grown up and people have stopped making fun of my name, I'm starting to quite like it :)

2. Where do I go from here?
My sense of direction sucks big time, even in my own hometown. It gets worse when there are roundabouts....

3. Reading:
When I was about 9, my parents got me a second hand encyclopaedia (20 volumes) and I sat down and read almost all the entries (except the long winded ones about wars) for the next few years.. In the end, I ended up walking around with all these trivia in my head. Some close friends thought that was weird.

4. Rapunzel's braid
My hair used to be rather straight when I was in secondary school. Then I chopped it off and opted for a short do for a few years. Now that I'm growing it out again, it's not straight anymore

5. On fruit
I don't eat fruits, except for watermelons. I can't stand the smell of certain fruits, and the taste of many others. Sometimes, I run away from the place where everyone else is having fruit. A lot of family members think this as weird as they all eat fruits all the time.

6. Language barrier
I grew up speaking English as a first language at home, then started on the Malaysian language in preschool. Somehow, I rarely heard people speaking in my mother tongue, and never caught up with it. In school, I enrolled for class, and managed to remember all the flowly lines that form the writing, but I still couldn't speak the language properly. I still can't and when I actually do speak the language to one or two people... I end up speaking really slowly with an English accent, but I can read the words and don't know what they mean. Bummer!

7. Memory charms
My memory works in a weird way. I remember most people's birthdays, I remember bits and pieces of conversations, what they wore the last time I saw them,and other rather unnerving things. I also used to remember telephone numbers until I got my cellphone. On the other hand, I am capable of totally forgetting to do certain important things like passing on a phone message. I hereby remind myself to post a scary story tommorow to commemorate Halloween!

8. Water works
I can't drink water from a red bottle, the bottle has to be either white, blue or green. I had a red bottle once, and I used to bring it to work and back again completely filled with water.

9. Work Station mess
I prefer working on a messy work table. Contrary to popular belief, I get more work done at a shorter time that way, and I'm always more enthusiastic. Unfortunately, this habit does not conform with the 5S system we are currently using at work :(

Errr.... I shall tag everyone who reads this (insert evil grin here)

Friday, October 27, 2006

ARE YOU WATCHING CLOSELY ?

It was several years ago when my then roomate casually mentioned to me that I make conclusions far too easily. Actually, I can't remember what she really said, but it was something along those lines. You see, despite us being born in the same month AND us both being pisceans, we were as different as cabbage and peas... Her feet were always firmly rooted to the ground whereas my head could often be found floating in mid air, hovering between pink clouds and orange skies, and the feet weren't so often found on the ground. At times, I'd find myself being roughly pulled down to the ground where I'd fall in a painful heap, but the clouds and the skies are worth it!
What is the connection, you may ask and rightly so... I suppose my intention is to highlight the fact that I do make rough conclusions about the things around me (mostly concerning myself) in a huff... it's interesting while things are on a roll, but it's a big time bummer when the premature conclusions start proving themselves wrong :(
The conclusion this time is: Don't research the movie you're gonna watch, you're sure bound to enjoy it!
It kind of happened twice in a row. Call it good taste, or mere desperation to catch up with movies. Any movies, for that matter.
The other day, we went to catch The Prestige. It was one of those movies where I was clueless about the cast, the story, and whatever else that are important in movies. Hugh Jackman was a really good surprise, and the storyline was unexpectedly awesome, with twists at every turn, a revelation of characters every other scene, as well as you're constantly puzzled as to who's the good guy and who's the bad one... (Naturally I'd assume that Hugh Jackman's character is the good guy - too bad he got his hands dirty!)
Oh well, the movie's really good, but I'm pretty sure that any summarisation will do it justice. And by the way, the 18+ rating for the movie is utter rubbish. Seriously. Another thing that I just remembered is that I'm the same person who once wrote that most of the good movies are in May/June and November/December. Go figure!
Hahahahahaha

Sunday, October 22, 2006

TAGGED!!!

Due to the never exhaustive supply of tags flying around in the blogosphere, I find myself once again succumbing to the pulls of the TAG. I expect that I'm a million light years behind everyone else for this tag, but what the hell...

Silversabre tagged me

1. 5 things I would do if I were a millionaire.

1. Build a gargantuan library (fiction only!) with all the cool titles in the world :D
2. Get a self sufficient house - using minimal resources, environmentally friendly, with a large garden that can sustain birds, and insects and frogs (as long as they don't get inside the house and scare the living daylights out of me)
3. Take a long break from daily routine and go globetrotting around the world... and drop by my favourite artists concerts along the way
4. Fool around with the stock market and do some serious investing at the same time
5. The parents: they would need it


2. 5 bad habits
1. I get annoyed way too easily, resulting in me sometimes saying things I don't mean to
2. I'm awfully quiet at times (typical piscean dreamy mode), and lose track of what others are saying, laughing and talking to myself...
3. I'm a bit obsessive about certain things... it used to be Baba O'reilley, and lately it was Pippi Longstockings
4. Addiction to coffee and blogs
5. Not reading the newspapers everyday

3. 5 things I hate doing.

1. Waking up early in the morning
2. Being the mediator between friends who've had a falling out (Not nice at all!)
3. Going for a group lunch which has AW as part of the group
4. Leaving a great book unfinished just because there are other 'ahem' more important things to do
5. Being dragged into horibbly boring conversations

4. 5 things I would never do.

1. Get involved with drugs
2. Go on a slow sailboat (I did it once and I was dizzy the whole day!)
3. Swim (be it in a swimming pool, or the open sea unless by some miraculous way I suddenly am able to float and swim without any problems)
4. Lose contact with friends on purpose
5. Be in a relationship just because I don't want to be alone

5. 5 Things you regret
1. Not being able to learn any musical instrument(s)
2. Not being confident enough in things I do (insecurity issues)
3. Not finding time to travel much
4. Not doing certain things I should have done
5. Saving this space for the future

6. 5 favorite toys or things.

1. My books
2. My MP3s
3. My car. It's tiny, causes problems at times, but I still love it
4. The little toys in the cabinet - presents from friends through all the years
5. My favourite skirt

7. 5 people I choose to do this.
Anyone else that reads this and hasn't already done it :D

Thursday, October 19, 2006

THE BRAIN THAT QUIT WORKING, ROADS AND FESTIVE PLANS




It's kinda strange how when I was driving to work just now, my mind was filled with (what I assumed was cool) ideas to blog about, but now as I'm seated here waiting for working hours to start, I'm a bit, 'ahem' stumped.

Of course the ideas are still there, but they refuse to fall in place nicely... so unlike a silk curtain.
I remember though that I wanted to write about roads, because I saw one of the ladies (whom I fondly refer to as the daredevil road crossers due to their extremely mind boggling choice of location at the stretch of the road they cross - boy wasn't that a mouthful!) buying nasi lemak off the road side nasi lemak lady.

So there are these 3 ladies whom I see crossing the very dangerous stretch of road just outside my neighbourhood. Trust me, I know that there is a less dangerous spot for them to cross. I was a pedestrian too!

The ladies are fond of huddling at the side of the road that converges from an unofficial 2 lane road to a single lane road. The road is unbeliavably busy, as certain areas are public transport unfriendly. The fact that 2 developing highways at the opposite ends of the road doesn't help much either. Personally, I think that they should give the bus stop area a chance when crossing the road. It's much safer. Really.



The 2nd issue

It's only a few days more before we celebrate 2 major festivals back to back... and I'm excited more so because the customers of the industry I'm in chooses this time to shut down the plants, give them a new coat of sparkling colours, while the overworked folks who are the suppliers (i.e: us) get a shared break too! 1 week! Woo hoo!

I got to thinking about the activities that I might pursue during the said break. A good vacation may not be a good idea this late. Most places are definitely fully booked. Bummer. Maybe I'll contemplate on the topic of the most ambitious project I might or might not undertake.

Most probably I'd be headed to Kl and go window shopping, drop by the bookstores and get a few I've been looking for...enjoy the slow ride via train. Last year the newspapers headlined that KL looked more like a foreign place with loads of people from our very large and kinda scary next door neighbours.I suppose I'll be doing my part as a local by injecting some local flavour into the capital city when it needs it the most :D

Full of maybe's and probabilities, huh?

I guess that's it...

Anyway, I would like to wish Happy Diwali/Deepavali to all who celebrate. Have a rockin good time. Ahem.

And selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, or Eid as it's known to some... Have a rockin good time too!

Friday, October 13, 2006

MEME ATTACK:

I pilfered this off Aunty's blog, entirely voluntarily.

1. You can press a button that will make any one person explode. Who would you blow up?
One only huh? Let's see... O factor

2.You can flip a switch that will wipe any band or musical artist out of existence. Which one will it be?
Pussycat dolls... can't stand them, besides, I'm still sore that they were invited to play here instead of Coldplay

3.Who would you really like to just punch in the face?
This answer is quite mean, as I was once this person's lab partner, and she is a 'member of the gang'... but of late, I've found her to be an excruciatingpain in the ass. So, I figured that if I do let out that punch, the animosity towards her will fly away...

4.What is your favorite cheese?
Due to the lack of variety of cheese available here, I'm forced to choose Cheddar

5.You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your immediate disposal. What kind will you make?
Turkey sandwich. Every single time

6.You have the opportunity to sleep with the movie celebrity of your choice. We are talking no-strings-attached sex and it can only happen once. Who is the lucky celebrity of your choice? Johnny Depp? But then again i might be intimidated by the whole idea :D

7.You have the opportunity to sleep with the music-celebrity of your choice. Who do you pick?Dan Hawkins from The Darkness.

8. Now that you've slept with two different people in a row, you seem to be having an excellent day because you just came across a hundred-dollar bill on the sidewalk. Holy shit, a hundred bucks! How are you gonna spend it?
US? Australian? Buy more clothes, perhaps

9.You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go?
Italy

10.Upon arrival to the aforementioned location, you get off the plane and discover another hundred-dollar bill. Shit! Now that you are in the new location, what are you gonna do?
Eat all the scrumptious Italian food, visit all the historical places... typical touristy things, what did you expect?

11.An angel appears out of Heaven and offers you a lifetime supply of the alcoholic beverage of your choice. It is...?
Need to get some expert advice on this...

12.Rufus appears out of nowhere with a time-traveling phone booth. You can go anytime in the PAST. What time are you traveling to and what are you going to do when you get there?
Go to my mom right before she gave birth to me, and persuade her to have me several hours later... I was already 4 days late, a few more hours wouldn't have made any difference to her. The reasons are too complicated to be explained here

13.You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. You make the rules. What is the first rule you put into place?
It's obvious isn't it? Everyone takes orders from me!

14.You have been given the opportunity to create the half-hour TV show of your own design. What is it called and what's the premise?
Save the animals. The contestants are made up of industrial leaders who contribute to pollution, restaurant owners who sell meat of endangered species and so on... and these people will be given assignments (really tough ones) and if they are unable to come up with solutions, their earnings for the day goes to WWF, Greenpeace etc

15.What is your favorite curse word?
ASShole

16.One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find that you are surrounded by MUMMIES. The mummies aren't really doing anything, they're just standing around your bed. What do you do?
Nothing... go back to sleep, maybe.

17.Your house is on fire, holy shit! You have just enough time to run in there and grab ONE inanimate object. Don't worry, your loved ones and pets have already made it out safely.So what's the item?
ONE cupboard containing all my books. How am I supoosed to run out with that?

18.The Angel of Death has descended upon you. Fortunately, the Angel of Death is pretty cool and in a good mood, and it offers you a half-hour to do whatever you want before you bite it. Whatcha gonna do in that half-hour?
Dye my hair a lurid colour

19.You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what's even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What's it gonna be?
Speed. Now I'm here, the next minute I'm in Greece :)

20.You can re-live any point of time in your life. The time-span can only be a half-hour, though. What half-hour of your past would you like to experience again?
Half an hour more of the trip to Bali...

21.You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be?
I guess the period of 1st to 7th March 1999. I lost my wallet, with my ID, someone stole my scientific calculator (and I had no $$$ to buy a new one), my glasses gave way (very bad eyesight), there was a horrible C Programming subject that was impossible to do, the theatre final performance clashing with everything else.

22.You got kicked out of the country for being a time-traveling heathen who sleeps with celebrities and has super-powers. But check out this cool shit... you can move to anywhere else in the world! Bitchin'! What country are you going to live in now?
New Zealand?

23.This question still counts, even for those of you who are under age. Check it out. You have been eternally banned from every single bar in the world except for ONE.
Which one is it gonna be?
Once again I shall refer to the alcoholic beverage expert

24.Hopefully you didn't mention this in the super-powers question.... If you did, then we'll just expand on that. Check it out... Suddenly, you have gained the ability to FLOAT!!! Whose house are you going to float to first, and be like "Dude, check it out... I can FLOAT!"?
To make it really impressive, I guess I'd float to my friend who lives the furthest away... yeah,
that's it!

25.The constant absorption of magical moonbeams mixed with the radioactive vegetables you consumed earlier has given you the ability to resurrect the dead famous-person of your choice. So which celebrity will you bring back to life?
Freddie Mercury - we need more of Queen's songs in this world

26.The Celestial Gates of Beyond have opened, much to your surprise because you didn't think such a thing existed. Death appears. As it turns out, Death is actually a pretty cool entity, and happens to be in a fantastic mood. Death offers to return the friend/family-member/person, etc. of your choice to the living world. Who will you bring back?
My grandpa

27.What's your theme song?
I choose not to have one, but WalkAway by Franz Ferdinand has been playing in my head since this morning

Tagging is entirely self service!

Thursday, October 12, 2006

AMAZING THINGS: YET ANOTHER MEME

Thanks to silversabre's obsession with the word amazing (Check out his archives, and you'll know what I mean) I have been tagged with this rather interesting meme about all things amazing... in pictures.

Here's my list in no particular order:

1. Coffee! A great way to start your day!
2. Johnny Depp - Amazing actor, talented, gorgeous and mysterious!

3. Coral reefs - To think that they're actually animals... Amazing, innit? Besides, since I'm teriffied of the ocean depths, it's even more amazing :)

4. Sunsets - Red and orange streaking across the sky - absolutely amazing (and romantic)

5. Ancient architecture - and close friends/family

6. The Aurora Borealis - Because I can't see it in the equator, where I live :(

7. Music: Need I explain more?


PS: My alignment's in a mess... but feel free to tag yourself :D

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

THE ELUSIVE SONG

Dear radio station that refused to play the elusive song....

I have no idea as to what are your ulterior motives for refusing to play the song that I have been curious to find out about.

However, despite your insistence on being mean to me, I managed to rediscover the song once again... no thanks to you, though!

If I recall correctly, you played the song maybe TWICE (while I was tuned in) I checked your website, your playlist, and everything else that I could think of with futile results.

On the other hand, admittedly, it is rather embarassing on my part that the word
everyone /everybody does not exist in the said song. (I'm still at lost as to how the confusion occured in the first place)

Anyway, I thought that you, being the radio station I tune into most of the time, should know about this.

regards,
Terra

John Mayer - Waiting on the World to change

me and all my friends
we're all misunderstood
they say we stand for nothing
and there's no way we ever could
now we see everything that's going wrong with the world
and those who lead it
we just feel like we don't have the means
to rise above and beat it

so we keep waiting
waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change

it's hard to beat the system
when we're standing at a distance
so we keep waiting
waiting on the world to change

now if we had the power
to bring our neighbors home from war
they would have never missed a Christmas
no more ribbons on their door
and when you trust your television
what you get is what you got
cause when they own the information,
oh they can bend it all they want

that's why we're waiting
waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change

it's not that we don't care,
we just know that the fight ain't fair
so we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change
and we're still waiting

waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change

one day our generation
is gonna rule the population
so we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting

waiting on the world to change

Saturday, October 07, 2006

OF WORK AND DEATH WISHES: A MEME

Yo peeps! Got tagged for this meme by the wielder of the argentum sword

1) What is the best thing about my workplace?
Errr... I suppose it's the fact that we get a lot of free food for every great accomplishment (just had one fantastic free dinner last night!), plus the friendliness of all the staff is rather heartwarming :)

2) What do I hate about my workplace?
Hate is a pretty strong word... but I could say that it is abominable that we are 'forced' to work late and taking your own designated annual leave is frowned upon. Apparently it's (insert country's name)'s working culture that they have imposed on us just because they are shareholders!

I also can't stand the departmentalised mentality the different departments have. We work in the same company for crying out loud!

3) What small irritants at my workplace really annoys me?
a.Lots.... the extreme cold in the office vs the extreme heat at the factory floor where I spend most of the working day (which strangely makes the bathrooms the only comfortable place to be in )
b. The 'exercise music' in the mornings. Why can't they get a better tune?
c. The smell of solvents wafting around the factory. Got used to it by now, though...

4) Describe the actions/quirks of the weirdest person I work with (can be a co-worker, employer, or a vendor if you are self employed):
There's this chemist at work who is extremely fond of theorising and making deductions on observations... it's not the act but the way he does it. Refer to this post for the full story.

5) What is one thing that I would change at my workplace to make life a helluva lot better?
More trees please!

6) Pick five songs that I'd like played at my funeral......

Que? 5 songs only?
1. The Who - Baba O'reilley
2. Travis - Driftwood
3. Eagle Eye Cherry - Are you still having fun
4. U2 - Stuck in a Moment
5. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
PS: I wouldn't mind if my whole playlist was played at my funeral ;)

Now I tag: Lizza, Ian, Pugly, Prometheus, and Kartik

Friday, October 06, 2006

THE HAZE:

This is my attempt to write something informative... I hope.

Anyway, in my previous post, I wrote a poem about the haze which was unable to capture the haze in it's true form. So I have this post, written as an afterthought...

The haze is an annual occurence in this part of the world, as in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. Since I don't follow the newspapers daily, I'm not sure if Thailand is affected or not.

The haze is actually a blanket of dense smog which hovers in the atmosphere. The severity measured in API (air Pollutant index). Last year we reached levels of up to 600 in certain parts around the capital city, which was considered to be extremely hazardous.

The forests in certain parts start burning in the right conditions: dryness and intense heat. I'm assuming that no one in their right mind would go into the depths of the forest and start a fire now, would they? Winds play a contributing factor too... the original place where the fires started in the first place suffers less compared to other places.

In the hazy conditions, the sky looks grey, the sun's rays weak... (we usually have intense sunlight during the day, walking around from 11 am right up to around 6:30 pm is pretty uncomfortable in this heat)Even the sun looks an ominous red. Breathing becomes difficult, people develop sorethroats, suffer from influenza, eyes turn red, and hurt, skin problems arise, etc...

In extreme conditions like last year's haze, people started wearing surgical masks at work or on the road. There was even a talk of declaring an emergency situation.

I've attached a picture here... it's not mine, but from uglymen.net

Thursday, October 05, 2006

LAZY HAZY DAYS

The haze is back,
Just our luck,
Grey skies abound,
All you can see is the ground,
And nothing above a 12 foot rack!

The forest is on fire,
Definitely not burning with desire,
I'm not sure about the peat
But if you think about the heat
It burns the quagmire

A sorethroat has come knocking,
I wear a striped red stocking
Oh! There goes the wind
The sun saying hi from behind
Adieu! I'm going spelunking

A poem to'commemorate' the arrival of haze on our doorsteps.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

PIPPI LONGSTOCKINGS

I can't help it. Pippi Longstockings has been stuck in my mind for at least the past 2 days since I saw Lorelai and Rory watch the movie. Now, I'm compelled to mention it.
I can bet on my safety shoes that if I were ever to walk into a neighbourhood video rental (does such premises exist anymore?) or even the VCD/DVD rental (never seen any thus far) and asked for Pippi Longstockings, the look on the sales clerk will be worth a million dollars (unless they themselves sat down and watched the Gilmore Girls)
Pippi Longstockings!
PS: Ran a search on Pippi Longstockings on Yahoo! and found out that it's actually a book! But DVD's can be rented... hmmm

Friday, September 29, 2006

HUMPTY DUMPTY'S ABODE AND OTHER WEEKEND STORIES

This happens to be one of those days when I just allow my fingers to do the talking and the brain to not think too much. It's kinda nice to do that considering the fact that I've not been doing things like that lately...

The story through the eyes of Terra Shield:

"It's not too easy to exactly figure out how this thing started, but I guess that it stems from the desire to 'ahem' stalk other blogs. Another guess is that foxyfyrre started it first by creating a wall (2 actually) for us to expose our creativity. As the story unfolds, we have Reeholio who found the wall templates and created his own wall, followed closely by Gem. All this happened about 2 weeks ago"

But that's not all.

"Inspired by the blog enthusiasts, I decided to do one myself... not a really good idea, as the mouse and my palm don't really make a good pair... crooked lines and strange handwriting rule the day. And then I left it to rot in oblivion in an obscure folder in the computer at home. However, somewhere around yesterday, Lizza posted her wall on her blog, and I suddenly remembered mine. Here I portray my Humpty Dumpty's wall"

PS: Silversabre the dude with the talent for sketching may be interested in doing one himself...

So there's another thing bugging me now... a few days ago I heard this song on the radio and fell in love with it instantly... but as usual as it is in my case, I missed the song name and title, and even as I try to recall the tune, it refuses to come to mind. Sigh.

The only words that come to mind are the words everyone (or was it everybody?) and world. Just my luck too, that the said radio station refuses to play the song whenever I'm tuned in. I can't figure out who's the artist, or which era it's from... oh, the elusive song on the radio station!

Other things of note:
1. Fries which are cold and soggy actually don't taste too bad... but never leave them in a car to bake in the heat for 3 hours, because they get dry and can cause damage.

2. The same goes with vanilla coke... hot vanilla coke is tasteless and smells like teen spirit. Nah, melted ice cream...

3. I get stuck behind crazy drivers every evening coming home from work... A few weeks ago it was this lunatic kembara driver who kept on braking and induced almost heart attacks in me. And then the week after that was a mad guy in a Nissan who kept honking at the lorry in front and then progressed to hit it. You get the idea....

4. It a wonderful thing blogging on a Friday night while listening to your favourite songs (except for the new, elusive song)... the calm, the energy...

5. Woo hoo! It's the weekend! :D

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

DO YOU FANCY A FANCY CRUSH OR A GODFATHER?


About a week ago, mom and I ended up in Little India. Contrary to popular belief, the area is not specifically dedicated to all things Indian like Indian food, or Indian clothes shops. The fact is, there are a few banks and some government offices situated in the area and finding a parking spot is a teribble nuisance. Which is why I don't really enjoy going there.

Lady luck was on our side that day, though... parking was easy, the day was breezy.

Transactions completed, mom and I decided to check out one shop. She decided, actually, and I duly followed her in apprehensively.

Mom: You should get a saree this year...
Me: Where would I wear it? (Stupid question, I know)
Mom: M's getting engaged isn't she? and SLL is getting married too..
Me: M's getting engaged in December... besides the stupid Japanese exam clashes with it... SLL's wedding is only in January
Mom: We'll just look okay... once people start rushing to buy for Diwali, then you'll be left with all the ugly ones
Me: (Thinking to myself... there goes my plan to push of the saree buying till later)

Here's the problem, mom and I are in complete opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to buying stuff, be it clothes or anything else. She's thorough and will deliberate for hours (if you let her) and will go from shop to shop. I on the other hand, couldn't be bothered to search every nook and cranny... if I see something and like it well enough, I'll just buy it and won't even glance around other shops... trust me, if your shopping habit is like mine, that's the best thing to do. Otherwise, you may have regrets later on...

So we stepped in and started browsing while the conversation above was going on... and then we were greeted by a salesperson. Looks like the crowds haven't arrived in throngs, yet...

My mom told her that we were looking for sarees. She looked at us and beckoned us further into the shop... (Come into my lair, ladies, and I shall drown you'll in a sea of sarees)

And there we were, checking out the carefully folded sarees which were now being opened one by one. Admittedly, most of them were gorgeous... but something was sinisterly wrong with the person who named the sarees...

See, each design comes with a name. Who gives the name, I have no idea... but the names were downright strange.

First there's the fancy saree... nothing too fancy, but what the hell... and then there's the tissue saree, where the cloth is slightly transparentlike and almost tissuepaper-ish. Duh! There was also a fancy crush saree, where the material looks like it was crushed very carefully. And then... the craziest name I ever saw on a saree.. The Godfather Saree. I pointed it out excitedly at my mom, who just gave a small smile.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Movie tag

Got tagged by Ian, Lizza, and Yaxlich for this one...

1. The last movie you saw in a theater, and current-release movie you still want to see.
My super ex-girlfriend. It was an unexpected, last minute let's go watch a movie, and any movie will do kind of day. Enjoyed it heaps! I want to see... The Devil wears Prada?

2. The last movie you rented/purchased for home viewing.
The Da Vinci Code... borrowed from a friend. I missed it when it was running in the theatre. I haven't watched it yet, though...

3. A movie that made you laugh out loud.
Bridget Jones' Diary - The edge of reason: especially the scene where Colin Firth's and Hugh Grant's characters are chasing each other and the song 'I believe in a thing called love' by the Darkness is playing in the background.

4. A movie that made you cry.
More of a scene, actually, from Life is beautiful: when the dad continued pretending that it was all a game to make his son less frightened during the war

5. A movie that was a darling of the critics, but you didn't think lived up to the hype.
Titanic (1997) I don't know about critics but it sure won a lot of awards... I didn't think it was that great, though

6. A movie you thought was better than the critics.
Err... I'm sure there are many, but can't name any at the moment

7. Favorite animated movie
The lovable green Ogre -Shrek!!!

8. Favorite Disney Villain.
I'm stumped... honestly!

9. Favorite movie musical.
All time fan of The Sound of Music. Excellent movie!

10. Favorite movies of all time (up to five).
a) Life is beautiful
b) Moulin Rouge
c) X-Men (all 3)
d) Lord of the Rings (all 3)
e) Bridget Jones Diary (both)

Allright... I guess I have to tag five people.... pugly, the nerd, vjanand, aunty, silversabre, anisah, alethegoodsoul, prometheus, gem and kartik

Now there are 10...

Edit: 8. Favourite Disney villain
Yzma from The Emperor's New Groove... Her evilness was hilarious :D

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

WHAT ARE KNEES FOR?

Inspiration comes from the oddest places... I was in the oven room just now, baking some samples for a test I've done, when I was suddenly hit by a strong wave of intense heat and vaporised solvent from the depths of the oven when I opened the door. I was a bit woozy for a few minutes, and I'm pretty sure I lost at least a year of my lifespan there...

What I found interesting though was the fact that not only me, but all of us who frequent the oven room, shut the door with our legs, and stuffed the knobs into place using our knees.

Are we that lazy? Why is bending to stuff the knobs with our hands so difficult? Seriously if there was a way to open the door with our legs, we would do it... morever, our hands are usually laden with samples which had been removed from the oven... Helpful, aren't they? Good old knees...

I tried concentrating on what else I used my knees for (to check if the brain still worked after the dose of heat and solvent) and came up with this list:

1. When your hands are full of things and you want to move from one place to another, you push the doors open with your knees.

2. To balance a heavy load: e.g. a box full of papers

3. To rest a baseball cap/safety helmet. Apparently the size of the cap/helmet fits the bent knee perfectly

4. For self defence

5. If someone's asleep, and you want to wake them up, but the place is too noisy, a prod on the knee does the trick - 'tis a true story (The question of how can a person sleep through the noise still baffles me till today)

6. Do you have anything to add?

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Let's Play Tag

I found this meme from It's a Blog Eat Blog World and tagged myself. Nothing surprising there. Ha! Ha! Ha! However just like Morgen, this word meme is rather new to me. Sounds nice, anyway... meme

Here are my answers...

1) How long have you been blogging?

I officially started on 11 April 2005... presently I have 2 active blogs, and 1 sleeping blog. The shortest lifespan of a blog under my name was less than a month. It was dying of neglect.... and then I painlessly killed it.

In short 1 year and 5 months

2) Why do readers read your blog?
Depends on which blog....
a) This one: I hope it's because the readers can relate to what I have to say, but I think it's most probably due to blogaholicism :D
b) The other one: This one's read by people who know me personally, and they are the 'ahem' stars of the show, or as some have said: they need the laughs
c) The sleeping blog: This is a special summarisation project which I undertook for a friend who doesn't read fiction but wants to know the stoy nevertheless. SO only that one friend reads it... I hope.

3) What was the last search phrase someone used to get on your sit?
- Engineers on tv. searched by someone from Germany
I suspect, like me, they most probably went away disappointed :(

4) Which of your entries unjustly gets too little attention?
Whoa... ever since I started being more proactive with the blog... there has been an overwhelming response like no other. I have no complaints... instead I would like to thank everyone who stopped by to read :)

5)Your favourite current blog?
Not fair... I like em' all. That's why I always go back for more... and stalk new ones... :D

6)Which blog did you read most recently?
Morgen's Blog

7) Which feed do you subscribe to?
None so far...

8) What bloggers are you tagging with this meme and why?
Once again, all of you who read this post, and as to why... just think of it this way... 'curiosity killed the cat, but it's been good to us humans' :D

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

WHEN I GROW UP, I WANT TO MAKE TEH TARIK IN SPACE

For some particular unknown reason, for a few years of my life, I was very obsessed about being an astronaut. At that point in time, I was rather ignorant of the fact that our country had no space program on it's own. I still remember the days when I used to weave my dreams about going to space, gathering rocks, hopping from planet to planet, meeting alien lifeforms, and not being too bothered with the pulls of gravity. Before I get marked as a raving lunatic, I should add that this was when I was about 9, so my ideas about space was err... kind of ridiculously imaginative.

Therefore, it should be no surprise to me or to anyone else that I was rather perplexed whenI heard that the 2 chosen ones for the space program were going to make teh tarik in space! What the hell? Tonnes of (definitely taxpayer's) money was spent to enable this program and all they want to do is make teh tarik? Had I known, I would have applied to be part of the program myself… I'm sure I would not need to be able to run the 100 metre dash in less than 10 seconds (I can't), or neither should my height be above 5 ft 7 in (I'm less than that) if my purpose was to make plain old teh tarik. (This, I'm assuming would have been the pre-requirements for any program that needs the participants to be physically fit) I'm pretty fit, I think... considering the amount of fully caffeinated coffee which has become an integral part of my mornings.

For the uninitiated, teh tarik literally translated means 'pulled tea'. It's nevertheless not as horrible as it sounds, and has been relegated to the status of the national drink - unofficially of
course!

Monday, September 11, 2006

1 less single friend

HK got hitched yesterday, after 7 long years of dating, 1 year and 2 months of being engaged, and 3 months after registration. (the engaged and registration is inclusive of the 7 long years, by the way)

She's the first to head on into a world which the rest of us don't belong to... and it's funny in a way. The HK we knew had was always laughing about some thing or another... even when she sometimes attempted to have a serious tone, the rest of us always found something funny about it. Like the time she said that she needed fake tears because her eyes were always dry.... (I mean, dry eyes are not something to laugh about, but the rest of us went ahead and laughed. If you were there, you would have too!)

During the ceremony, she actually managed to keep her composure and didn't burst out laughing, though she smiled when the cameras weren't focused on her... there's something about certain types of weddings where the parents and elders advise those getting married to try to be solemn - reason unknown though.

One thing that I thought was rather sweet was the presentation her brother prepared where he had gotten pictures of the bride and groom from the years long gone - childhood right up to the time they started dating and to the wedding.

So, there we have 1 less single friend now, although she will be living around the same area (her parents coaxed her and the guy to buy a house nearby, she being the only daughter)

Here's wishing her all the best! (Although I know she will never see this page - it being a secret and all)

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

The price we pay for language: A poem

This is the last place I'm supposed to be at on this rather quiet Tuesday night... I had initially planned to do a bit of studying considering the fact that I had actually gone ahead and signed up to sit for the external Japanese language paper. Yeah, and there's also a test on Monday (sigh)
So to appease the turbulence caused by the crescending amount of panic in me... I wrote this poem.
Why do I subject myself
And put myself on a shelf;
To learn a new language,
And acquire courage
Then suffer from chapter twelve.
The brain is swollen,
Most probably rotten;
Grammar sucks,
Aw shucks,
And everything learnt is forgotten.
Of types of 'keis' and 'meishis',
'Keyoshis' and 'doshis',
Help! I'm drowning,
In endless suffering,
I hate this life full of worries.

She has the key...

I was at a meeting just now and I saw a colleague. Not that I don't see her everyday, but there was a substantial amount of unpleasantness today due to her invasion of my dreams yesterday.
Before I go on about the dream (which does not involve ghosts this time, phew!) I might as well explain about this colleague. Lets call her KCT. She's quite fierce and prone to mood swings. I don't work directly under her, so I've been spared the harsh criticisms her subordinates receive on an almost weekly basis (or so I heard)

In this dream, however, I had to get her permission (and the key) to get to the bathroom. After asking a few rather ridiculous questions (eg: how desperately do you have to go?) she gave me the key, but chided me for wasting her time... what the hell?

The journey to the bathroom was even worse. I practically had to crawl through a tiny tunnel which had sand and stones that kind of grazed my elbows and knees (I was wearing shorts and a short sleeved top) I don't remember how the bathroom looked at all, but I woke up with a weird feeling and forgot all about the dream, until I saw her.

On a rather pleasanter note, though... I'm very grateful that our bathrooms are clean and nice where the doors are accessible at all times (unless someone's inside) and there's no tunnel of any sort nor is there a fierce woman (dragon) guarding the entrance :D

Friday, September 01, 2006

Melancholy

I must admit,
I am a git,
For poetry I shall not quit.
Ha! This is what I get for listening to some of the songs on my playlist... bloody hell. The songs aren't even sad (Barenaked Ladies' It's all been done, Big Country's Big Country, BEP's Don't Lie to name a few) - and yet... here I am, feeling melancholic all of a sudden.
Melancholy,
You arrived without a word,
Your colour green like broccoli,
Your presence like people mourning a dead bird.
Mood is low,
The sky cloudy,
With rain and hailstorm below,
And bread that is mouldy.
Melancholy,
You're unwanted,
Oh melancholy,
Will my wish be granted?
PS: I must insist that I am no poet. My idea of this poem is mainly to get the rhyming going. Unfortunately proofreading it gives off a somewhat comical vibe. It's actually supposed to be sad :(

Thursday, August 31, 2006

1K's next Top Model


This is a story from long ago. A year full of geekiness. In fact, my whole class was filled with bespectacled teenagers, had an aura of awkwardness around them, who enjoyed maths immensely and was well known for it's noisiness. The class was known as 1K, whereby K stood for Kenanga. I have no idea what the name is in English, the dictionary that was lying here on my desk only defines 'kena' as hit and 'kenangan' as memories. Just my luck!


Those were the years when lifelessness ruled. You'd wake up, have a bit of the morning to yourself, and get ready for school at about 11, have a quick lunch, and wait for the school bus around 12 to reach school before 12:50 pm Monday to Friday. School starts a little later on Fridays, but the school bus comes the same time anyway. Then you'd spend the whole afternoon/evening in school right up till 6:30 p.m and by the time you got home around 7:30 pm, you'd have enough time to have a shower, eat some dinner and do homework the rest of the day. Those were the times when the teachers were still dedicated and made sure you did your homework every single day.
That was also the time when the class started experimenting with fashion, not their own, of course for they were forced to wear a white blouse and a turquoise blue pinafore. If anything could be called ugly without an iota of guilty concioussness, it would be that uniform. It was a foolish design... why would anyone have school kids with potentially dirty days ahead wear something light coloured like that - the dust, falling on muddy scholl fields, etc?
However, this group of rather well meaning girls had a teacher, known as Ms N aka The Lioness due to her strict demenour. Despite being given the opportunity to shine in the fashion department - she was stick thin, she made no use whatsoever of the good fortune at her doorstep.
A normal observer would have noticed that her fashion sense needed serious mending. Couldn't she see that all the other teachers wore something nice every once in a while? Didn;t she know that straight black knee length skirts matched with equally straight cut covering the bum blouses were... not what 13 year olds needed to see every day in their already boring lives?
We had SY, a cheerful classmate and friend who shared the same surname as Ms. N. We also had a bunch of plastic bags (for lining the waste paper basket) and a pair of scissors. I do not know if it was mere impulse or a planned fashion revolution, where SY got (rather voluntarily) decked in in a Parkson plastic bag (fashioned as a sleeveless T) and a black garbage bag (cut so that there was a high slit and an uneven length) as a skirt right before maths... Ms. N's subject.
Everybody surrounded SY in her new clothes, and one of the classmates turned commentator and began explaining the details of the design for the benefit of those who were not directly involved, i.e; those who sat like good little kids at the front of the class.
A familiar sound of 'tok tok tok' ensued, The sound of tired footsteps, trudging up the flights of stairs in tired heels towards our class.
Scissors moved to get the ensemble off SY before Ms N saw and suspected that something mischievous was brewing. She entered the classroms amidst stifled giggles, took a piece of chalk and started writing the day's lesson on the blackboard.

IT's THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN

Time for the Annual Appraisal again.  It's a cloudy Sunday afternoon, and I had just finished giving scores to my subordinates on their ...