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

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.

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

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?

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

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!

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)

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

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 :(