ZONED OUT

Press Play, and then repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

That's what I'm currently doing with the *new Coldplay album. If I thought X&Y was awesome, this one is far more awesomer (if there is such a word!) As you can see, I am rather speechless at the moment and will leave it at that.

*It's slightly less than a week old in my hands.

THINGS I LEARNT

Over 5 months have passed since I went for the Performance Driven Team training which involved a trek in the jungle. I recall posting up anguish filled posts that were related to the issue before and after the training because it did mean a big deal to me. Nevertheless, one final post about it remained in the drafts section of my blog for reasons I cannot remember.

A cap and a watch, lying on the floor. It's anybody's guess what could have possibly happened

Anyway, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, as I was floating in and out of the different stages of sleep, I found myself dreaming that I was in another outdoor adventure of the same sort, this time with team #5 at the beach, in which someone I sort of know but haven't actually met in real life made a special appearance and was part of the team. Nevertheless, our adventure was far from pleasant as we had to deal with waves that turned into tsunamis. As a self professed hydropobic, that was freaky gila babi! (Literarily translated gila babi means crazy pig and does not make any sense unless you take into consideration that we also call wild boars babi in the local language, and they can be a bit crazy. Oh well... one thing's for sure is language can drive anyone crazy!)

And then when I was at work, they made an announcement for all the members of team #4 to head on to the HR department, and we received a baseball cap and a watch each. Actually, every team receives the watch and cap, but check out the co-incidence of me dreaming of the training just a few hours before that!

Admittedly, I am on the geeky side, but I've never obsessed about any training I've been through except for this one because this one was really really good. So, I thought it would be best to give a summary of the few precious lessons I've obtained from this training.

1. Nike was right. Just do it should be everyone's motto.

2. Everything you can or can't do is because of your mind. If you believe you can do something, you can. The same goes if you don't believe in yourself then you can't. It is a pity that you learn something so important like this when you're in your late twenties, but hey, better late than never.

3. Focus is the key. Focus removes all fear.

4. Food cooked when you're hungry is the most delicious even if you lack certain ingredients.

5. When a group of equally focused people combine their brains and their energy, nothing can stop them.

6. Insects only like some people, and not all. Evidently, they didn't give a damn about me.

7. Sometimes, lack of sleep and being under pressure can help you perform better.

8. If you put in a group of people together for a long time, they end up becoming very close.

9. If you can communicate well, then your ideas will be well accepted. You've just got to make people understand.

Aside: I wonder if my fear of water would disappear if I went for hypnosis. It would be even better if I could be hypnotised into believing I was a champion swimmer! Anyway, they would never actually conduct the training at the beach. Some people would just have too much fun seeing that the beach is so very relaxing. The jungle is more conducive for torture!

TAKING MY LIFE BACK

When I was a kid of impressionable age (less than 4), my father told me that once time is gone, you'll never get it back. Being the age I was, I cannot remember why he said that, and what was it I was doing that made him think I was wasting my time, but one thing I remember clearly was wondering why he said that. If 4:30 pm of today has passed, there's always tomorrow's 4:30 pm! Silly me... Many years down the road, I began to feel the pinch of lost time in the form of deadlines, where losing sleep to squeeze in activities became a norm (which is where I got my coffee addiction)

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately, and the fact that my mind has never been clearer seems to have aided the thinking process and I came up with the conclusion that I had put too much effort into one particular thing last year that every other aspect of my life had been neglected. In the sense of doing what was expected of me (there was too much expectation, by the way), I had neglected living - for myself. It is upsetting knowing that I had thrown a whole year of my life that way, thinking that the situation could not possibly last that long, and how everything should be better in time, and no matter what I did, the situation remained the same, my mind was clouded by thoughts that could not sort themselves out, and I was just plain miserable. Knowing that nothing could ever be too late (well, there are some instances, which will perhaps be touched on another time), I have decided to take my life back this year.

For starters, I am contemplating going to a concert this year. Anything will do, I suppose. We actually have Rihanna (after much commotion as some parties thought she was too sexy and decided to protest against it, and the local papers showed a snippet of her saying that she'd cover up. Ha! Ha! Ha!) and Jason Mraz coming over to perform (separately, of course... I can't imagine what their fans would have in common) and I figured I might as well just go and join in the crowd at Jason Mraz's, just for the sake of doing something with my life. I also heard rumours that Coldplay were coming to town, but I don't want to count on that in case history decides to repeat itself two and a half years later! Seeing that I actually despise crowds, this will be something interesting! The only thing I haven't done is get my tickets!

I'm also thinking of completing the 3/4 of a novel I kicked off for NaNo 2006. I had just left it unattended in the past because the competition was over and it is rather difficult to pick up the pieces, but I think this is something I need to do. It will be an indicator if a particular road needs to be taken. Of course there are no plans to get it published or anything. Completing it will suffice at the moment. Followed by editing.

I also realised that I need more holidays. Actual ones which involve moving around with a backpack in an unknown area with friends and taking photos that we can laugh at in the years to come. Nevertheless, a plan which was made earlier this month for the end of this month seems to have disappeared from the radar. Perhaps it's time to pick up the phone...

BONDING OVER MOVIES

Movies and me have mostly been a 'two years later' affair, mostly due to an unfortunate series of not being able to get tickets because of kiasu crowds, or just plain forgetfulness and other such lame excuses. The month of January nevertheless has seen both my sister and I bonding over movies during the weekend, and to date we have gone through about 6 movies. Here's a short review:

1. The Devil Wears Prada: I was advised against watching the movie when it first came out, but I couldn't remember the reason why I was advised as such. Therefore, I never bothered about the movie or the book which I see displayed in the local bookstore I frequently visit. Personally, I thought the story was alright, and it sort of hit a chord with me as the main character seems to spend so much time and has way too much dedication to her work (which I don't think is the healthiest thing ever) which is how my life is at the moment. Overall, I thought the movie was pretty enjoyable (on DVD and with good company)

2. Let the Right One In: This is a Swedish movie with English subs and was recommended by my sister. From the title it is pretty hard to imagine that it is a horror movie, but it in fact deals with a female vampire and we get a glimpse into their enigmatic lives, for instance we find out that a vampire can't enter our house if uninvited, which is pretty comforting I guess. For someone who get frightened easily, I can say that this was one excellent horror movie and suggest you watch it. I read on wikipedia that there is a plan for a Hollywood remake in 2010, and can't seem to understand the need for such a thing.

3. Apocalypto: I initially imagined this to be a depressing movie for reasons I can't remember. Nevertheless, I sat and watched it and was captivated. Set in the forests, it is about a peaceful tribe whose lives are disrupted when they are brutally kidnapped to be made into slaves. Spoken entirely in Mayan with English subs, I just thought that the determination shown by Jaguar Paw (the central character) was something we can all learn from.

4. [REC] : A friend recommended this movie saying that it made him need to sleep with the lights on! This is a spanish movie in a very blair witch project - esque manner. The only unfortunate thing about the whole movie was that it was in Spanish sans subtitles, and my knowledge of Spanish is too basic to be able to fully comprehend what was being said. I understand the fear of the unknown the movie attempts to depict, and although I did close my eyes at certain points, I doubt I missed much of the horror. It is gore that disturbs me.

5. Children of the Corn: Based on Stephen King's short story, my sister coerced me into watching this movie, which I agreed to seeing that it was during the day and not at night (somehow horror movies at night are 10 times worse) I thought the little narrator was the most adorable boy ever and the story disturbing in true Stephen King's style. The whole thing somehow makes you fear the small deserted town depicted. The moral of the story being too much 'faith' in religion is not always a good thing.

6. The Corpse Bride: This was one movie which I've always wanted to watch, so we did. It was one of those cool musical kinds which while watching, I totally understood the need to make it animated instead of having real life actors in it. I can't imagine how real life skeletons could have made it any better. I kind of enjoyed it.

Reading the reviews above, I realised that I'm not very critical of movies, and maybe I'm not. I've seen many scathing reviews before, and the only complaint I can think of is that any particular movie may only either be a waste of time, or not worth lining up for or something along those lines. However, I'm a bit skeptical about the remake of the Karate Kid featuring Jackie Chan. And I also heard of a planned remake of My Fair Lady. Can't they just re-release the original version?

WELCOMING THE OX

There's a story about the twelve animals that represent the twelve year cycle in the Chinese calender that I think is cute. Apparently the rat conned the cat into believing that they were supposed to meet up at a different time and date to get picked as the top twelve, which is how the rat emerged as the very first animal in the list, and the cat didn't get a place at all, which is believed to explain the Tom and Jerry-like tendencies we see among cats and rats (Although to be honest, I have never seen any real life cat chasing any real life mouse/rat. Come to think of it, do they really?)

Anyway, tomorrow - Monday, all the Chinese people all over the world will usher in the New Year, the year of the Ox - the second animal in the list (The newspapers ran a list of famous Ox, and one of them happens to be President Obama) What I thought was interesting though, is that late Friday evening, after a meeting with the RnD Manager and the GM, I heard the Rnd Manager inform the GM that for those born in the year of the horse, getting back to work on the 28th was not very auspicious. Now based on that information, I calculated the GM's age to be 43 (or 44 if it's calculated the Chinese way, which I personally think is NOT the way to go as far as age is concerned) Hehehe.

Earlier today, the streets and malls were crowded with last minute shoppers purchasing things for the reunion dinner later tonight, and tomorrow, the people will be dressed in red, lion dances can be seen and heard, and kids (as well as anyone who is unmarried) will be receiving money from their elders in the form of Ang Pau. And as any other festival that we've seen and celebrated so far, everything is commercialized and I wonder if my other twenty something friends who are actually celebrating this festival (and not merely a spectator as I am) feel as excited about it as when they were kids?

Edit: I was born in the year of the Monkey :)

MOVE IT

They swerve, they skid, they come this close to causing a massive heart attack in even the healthiest person around, and yet they look at you nonchalantly (which is fine by me) or give you the look that clearly says "Are you trying to kill me?"

That is the typical scenario of a motor bike rider, or to put it even more accurately, the scenario with a typical Malaysian motor bike rider. I can't speak for others.

I don't know if it's just me or if anyone else has noticed it, but it seems as though these bikers don't seem to care for their own lives, and instead hope that the other road users will look out for them and take care of them. I mean, they ride dangerously, beat traffic lights at any given opportunity, swerve in and out around other vehicles, stationary or otherwise, and if something bad happens, they shamelessly place the blame on the other vehicle. What the hell? As a person who drives a car, I am sometimes more terrified of bikers than I am of big trailers.

This morning, I had a less than pleasant experience with a bike that swerved from the lane at the far right to the lane on the far left in which me and Chiquita were plodding along quietly on our way to work. Thankfully we were at a speed that was slow enough to stop immediately as the bike swerved into the lane with a screech. Otherwise, I'd most probably be at the police station reporting the accident and fretting over the broken bones of complete strangers instead of typing this out.

It's obvious that the bike rider was at fault for switching lanes in such a dangerous manner, but his pillion rider had the gall to turn and give me a dirty look as though it was me who got in their way. Idiots!

Note: I don't mean to diss all bike riders with this post, only the ones I've encountered so far.

LET'S GO FOR A DRINK

The "now it's there and now it's not there" feminist in me (although admittedly I've never ever even burnt a bra before, and most likely never will) was torn about putting this up. Nevertheless, it contributed to a series of laughter amidst a series of multitasking including the process of aging a lifetime while waiting for version 8.0.2 of iTunes to download.

Here's to more laughter in this world... :D

Edit: Clicking on the pictures for a better view is highly recommended :)

LETTERS WE DON'T SEND OUT

To whom it may concern,

Interesting innit, how things turned out? Are you wondering what went wrong again? Or are you going to say that you lost because of the 58% of people who refused to exercise their rights?

Welcome to the 21st century, the age where people refuse to accept propaganda blindly like those in the 20th century did, which made you think that you were God's gift to mankind, and everyone was so thankful for your existence, the so called stability you provided and the fact that without you, everything that was built all this while will crumble into tiny little pieces.

After 50 over years, I'm amazed that you think we are still so gullible as to listen to everything you have to say without looking further. We may be facing a mid-life crisis, but we can get out of it if we deal with this properly. Your scare tactics are passe, dated, whatever. You have lost your relevence, because what you offer is not what we need, much less what we want.

So, the voices that had been squeaking louder and louder since March of 2008 have finally proven to you something. Are you going to listen, or are you still in denial?

regards,

DIGGING UP OLD STUFF

It is indeed awkward leaving the blog idle for a few days, and although there are a few things which need to be put up, I just couldn't find the time and opportunity to make them 'sound nice' (in print at least) Therefore, I have decided to bring up something which I posted in December 2006 as my very first Thursday 13 post (credit goes to Travis for this idea), and it discusses 13 things about me in the old days (before 2006, that is)

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 school bus 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

THE SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE DREAMS

So much for using lavender to help with having a peaceful sleep. I used some in the room last night and instead of sleeping like a proverbial baby, I ended up flitting in and out of dreams like a flimsy wooden boat in choppy waters.

The first dream I had was somehow in the office and at home in the same time, it was apparently 6:30 am, and I received information that we are all supposed to go to the main office to submit our list of improvement projects at that very moment and my protests of it "only being 6:30 in the morning!" and "I thought it was supposed to be at 6:30 pm" fell on deaf ears as everyone else trooped out of the office leaving me behind.

Then I suddenly find myself back on my bed, and reluctantly I get up to go and take my shower so that I could go to work to submit the list. Next thing I know, while I'm actually showering, I'm suddenly bleeding profusely in an abnormal sort of way. I stop showering immediately, and then get dressed, all the while worrying about the bleeding because it became painful the moment I saw the blood. I decided to head on to the clinic first, and suddenly I find my mom and my sister in the car with me.

We head towards the clinic, but the roads are all full of cars that look like helicopters minus the rotor, so I make an illegal turning somewhere, and I think of heading straight to work, but then I had to drop my mom and sister somewhere, so I make another turn, and when I do that, all three of us are out of the car, and I can't seem to find it because my car had turned helicopter shaped as well, and there was a small kid running inside. I pull of the kid, and drop my mom and the sister by the side of a road which looks like it's heading into a jungle, and then I wake up.

I can't decipher dreams to save my life, but I'm very curious why my dreams are always so strange. Anyone out there who wants to attempt deciphering this?

THE BIG BOYCOTT

As the world sits back and watches life go by (and the news on tv every evening), some very real people are fearing for their lives, living amidst bombings and gunfires as they fight to keep the land each group thinks is likely theirs.

Ever since I became aware of what was happening in the news (around the age of 8), nightmarish tales of the fight that is ongoing in the Gaza strip has always been there, from the time Yasser Arafat and his missions to negotiate peace right until his death, and up till now. And with all the nations surrounding it, some strong, some weak, taking sides with perhaps the group they think ought to live there, or based on ideology and political interests, it is a wonder that the conflict has never ended even after all this while. I can't help wondering why, and yet I can't seem to think of any reason, or how anyone can make things better. This is probably one situation where the phrase 'make peace and not war' will fall on deaf ears.

In light of the latest series of blasts and bombings that are occuring, there was a call by a certain former important person and a few quarters to boycott Israeli and American products, which I personally think doesn't and cannot do anything to help the situation in Gaza. Firstly, seeing that my country does not even recognize Israel as a sovereign state (Our International passports allow us to go anywhere in the world except Israel), it is natural that there exists no trade between the two countries, and therefore I see that the call for the boycott serves no purpose. Secondly, what does the United States have to do anything with this (except allegedly being Israel's strongest supporter)? Of course there were some of the foreign policies made by the US under the Bush administration which was not very smart - especially the one on Afghanistan. But if you're going to boycott their goods, their currency and their economy, it will only make the American people suffer, some of whom are friends which is almost as bad as bombing a school full of kids because one of the kids parents was a war criminal, for instance. It's always the people who suffer due to the actions of their governments and despite how much the governments hate each other, the people on the street (well, not ON the streets, but you get what I mean) are mostly nice. The politicians are not going to suffer, except maybe for a vote of no confidence, but how often does that happen? The politicians are most probably rich enough to sit back and sip martinis on a Sunday afternoon.


My faith in the intelligence of the Malaysian politicians returned after the chief minister of the state I live in said that the boycott is pointless, one reason being with the globalisation which has enveloped our world, lots of so called American products are also produced elsewhere, some even here, which in turn will have some sort of effect in so many different ways. But then, he is from the opposition and was voted for the plain and simple reason that we needed some changes.

I can't offer a solution to the conflict which is going on because so many people have tried so many different things and nothing seems to have worked so far, but I do hope that it ends soon, amicably, peacefully and that the peace lasts for a long time. There is already too much blood soaking the land.

HOCUS POCUS - A REVIEW

Throw in wit - lots of it, a middle age man who flaunts his promiscous ways, a crazy wife and MIL to boot, a school, a prison, a straightfaced prison warden, some crazy criminals and you get Hocus Pocus.

I had never set out to get this particular book in the first place, and as I might have mentioned before, some books look for me In this case, I had read one line of about the death of the author on a blog, and was thinking of reading him after seeing a Wikipedia entry on him. About a year and a half later, I see Vonnegut on a book spine alongside book spines labelled with Pratchett, and as they say, the rest is history.

The book introduces us to the life and loves of Eugene Debs Hartke, a Vietnam war veteran who married a lady who turned crazy later on. His kids hate him for procreating because it is most likely they will turn crazy someday too. He narrates his life weaving us into his adventures back and forth through the war, his life as a college professor in a school for those with studying difficulties, talks about the bells, his life as a prison teacher and his conversations with the prison warden who then becomes his neighbour, to the time he does some time in a local prison as an inmate. His ultimate goal, however, is to list the number of people he had killed during the war as well as the number of women he had slept with all his life. Throughout his journey, no doubt slightly tragic at times, we are entertained with his quirky thoughts and typical 'just my luck' situations. To top it all off, there is a quiz at the end of the book that could most probably make you go 'huh?' That was an interesting touch.

I found Vonnegut's writing captivating and hilarious at the same time and regret that I only found out about him because he died. This is the kind of book you should NOT read during a train ride or when you're in a public place unless you're not the kind of person that gets embarrassed laughing out loud in public.

THICKER THAN WATER

There are times when you just don't talk for no apparent reason. It's hard for me to gauge why it's been ages since I last spoke to my sister. Of course we have exchanged words every now and then, but there was something missing unlike the conversations we used to have in the middle of the night not too long ago. Perhaps it's our differing schedules, her insane thesis that leaves her mood something I'd like to move far away from, her full time job and part time job, my full time job that seems to take more of my time than I'd like to imagine, both of our get healthy plans, my battle with insomnia, or our addiction to our respective mp3 players which played a part in this. I don't know really.

It was her birthday yesterday, and after that long long time, I actually sat down and spoke to her for a good 30 minutes (using the coffee stained phone, which by the way is still specked with coffee dust that refuses to budge) about things in general from how the Gilmore Girls episode later that night must be watched, and how one of her friends got laid off as she was the last person who joined the company to the weird little silences in our conversation that made us believe that an angel passed above us at that same moment. But most of all we laughed.

I got a bit excited seeing her updated status on facebook earlier this evening. She said something like "G is goin' home in 7 minutes", because I thought her goin' home meant her actually goin' home, I was all happy, and when I finally reached home about 3 hours later, she was nowhere to be seen. I can hardly express how disappointed I was at this. At this point, for no apparent reason I'm actually missing her.

A POCKETFUL OF COFFEE

Sometimes it is hard to say where it all began, but in this case we can safely say it all started with the convenience of three-in-one sachets, a retractable pen and a mobile phone in a pocket. Oh, and moving around. Lots of it. Which reminds me of the horror expressed by a dear friend during one of our 'conversations' at the number of items that occupy my pockets. Yes, I finally see the repercussions of having these many things in the pockets.

Anyway, to make a long story short (it wasn't very long to begin with), the retractable pen, unretracted, poked a hole in the sachet and there were bits of coffee powder, creamer and sweetener in my pocket which filled up every crevice of my mobile phone that I believe has suffered more beatings than the quiet kid at the playground ever has due to the fact that besides making calls/sending texts, it likes to fall down! Alot!

It's a strange feeling putting your hands into your pocket and feeling the coffee powder. It's as though you smashed some biscuits in there. A trip to the bathroom saw me turn out my pockets and wash them in the sink which then (about 10 minutes later) brought in so many ants in there that anyone would have thought there is a diabetic amongst us. And my mobile phone makes a crinkley crumbley noise when I press the buttons. Now as I sit here typing this, my pocket is almost clean. The remainder of the coffee in the pack had been made into a drink, and everywhere I turn smells like coffee. Thank goodness it's a nice kind of smell!

Getting into the groove of things

The kids are back to school,
I guess they don't think it's cool,
After a month of playing the fool,
Now it's back to the whirlpool.

Today was the first day of school and after about a month of being able to leave the house a little later, and still avoid the traffic jam, everything is back to like what it was before. Cars with the parents and their little first day to school kids with their smartly pressed uniforms, clean shoes and new bags walking into the school grounds while their cars are parked along the road.

To avoid getting annoyed unneccesarily, I left the house 10 minutes earlier as I had to pass by three primary schools on my way to work. Secondary schools wouldn't have been so bad as the kids are older and will not necessarily have their parents in tow. I escaped the jam in the first two schools, but was slightly delayed in the third school as by then the parents cars had happily illegally parked at the side of the road reducing our two lane road to one and a half lanes. Of course there's nothing much you can do with one and a half lanes, so you move slowly to avoid any accidents.

Nevertheless, I ended up reaching work early. And although it means that from now onwards, road users will be even more rude and dare devilish, and the journey to and from work will be a bit more painful, it is kind of nice to get back into the groove of things, to get back a sense of normalcy that I feared had disappeared towards the end of the previous year.

Unrelated matters: I received an international text message spam (from Indonesia this time) inviting me to check out a hot dance by an Indonesian supermodel on my phone. Why?

Overheard in UTM

I've always thought that good company is very important for your well being. Back when I was in UTM doing my degree, I happened to meet the most fantastic bunch of people whom I remain friends with till today except for a couple of people who turned weird and decided to cut off ties. We did have good times, and good conversations, and despite the spirit killing nature of our coursework we remained in high spirits because of some of the things we did. I don't know how or why, but I suddenly recollected some of the stuff we said to each other in those years, and it kept me laughing to myself early this morning. (I awoke at 6 although I had set my alarm for 7)
And I figured why not share it and spread some laughter....

Quotes that were used as advice for the juniors in the faculty name book:
(Back in the day, the first years were required to come up with performances, the second years will be the organisers of the event, and the third, fourth and fifth years will be there to sit back, relax and enjoy the show, and eat as well. Everyone is required to fill up a form with information like your name, phone no, address and advice. In the batch I was in if you don't fill up the section for the quote, someone else will fill it up for you)

1. "Take life seriously or you'll never get out alive!" (One of our more laidback friends wrote "Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive" so, this was written for one of the most serious coursemate of ours)

2. "Cows come and cows go, but vegetarianism remains forever" (For our vegetarian friend who didn't fill up her column)

3. "Jesus loves you, but nobody loves me" (The guy only wrote "Jesus loves you" but his friends decided to add "nobody loves me")

4. In response to a friend's constant mutterings of "It's so boring" on a Saturday afternoon, I said "Life will be boring to you if you are boring to life"

Somehow, both she and my roomie found it terribly funny that they put it up on her notice board!

5. A conversation between a 5'9" guy and a 4' 11" girl

Guy: God should have spent a little more time on you (sung to the tune of N'sync's God must have spent a little more time on you)

Girl: Oh, shut up!

6. C: I'm so sleepy I could sleep standing up

M: Are you a horse?

7. "If you say anything else I will burn your nosehair with this candle"

8. M: Ok, for the last time... bye!

(And everyone is still standing there talking)

9. A bunch of 19 year olds to the security guard who caught them hanging around after curfew. N was the selected spokesperson.

N: See, it's his birthday today... look at all the presents he got. M, show him your identity card.

M actually takes out his identity card and the security guard actually looks at it. The 19 year olds were let off without any further incident.

10. The sound of a pair of Garfield slippers shuffling is heard along the corridor. It stops, there's a slight knock, and a bleary eyed girl holding a mug and her math book enters and says "This is my 17th cup of coffee"

11. A group of people are seated in a circle in the basketball court with lanterns surrounding them, playing truth or dare.

MK: V, are you in love right now?

V: (Barely heard because his voice was so soft)Yes

And everyone starts making a lot of noise

12. M: Look at her curled up like a snail. For gods sake, get her a jacket.

A NEW PERSPECTIVE?

When you look at something long enough, you tend to miss certain details, especially if you just look at it and stop seeing it. Take the pen I use, which I've been using for over a year. It took me so long to finally notice that the finishing is some sort of metallic gold. Almost as cool as the paints we make. Incidentally I bought it in the first place because I thought it was pretty.

And then there's the aedes mosquito. I remember seeing A2 sized posters of mosquitoes hung in the school clinic, where you could clearly see the zebra like stripes across it's body and legs. Last night while waiting for the new year, I found an aedes mosquito. Whole (I killed it, actually, when it was attempting to suck some blood right out of me. It's either it dying or me getting dengue which I realised how serious it could be when a colleague's daughter died early last year) And guess what, for the first time in many years I looked at it closely and it seems to me that the stripes on the legs seems to have disappeared. Evolution or was that mosquito a mutant?

The thing is I hoped of getting a new perspective on life (Of what kind I don't know) during my leave of absence from work and blogging. As my leave was approved at the last minute (for work at least) I couldn't get away to a remote island somewhere, and instead observed the pen, the mosquito and my guitar. Which makes me wonder what on earth was it that made me pick up the guitar of all instruments. Didn't I know that the chords, frets and pentatonic scales are not the same as the traditional music scale which I could read once upon a time? No I didn't.

There's also the fact that the moment I stated I was tentatively taking a break from blogging, in true "just my luck" fashion a lot of blogworthy things started happening, and for once I'm glad I didn't succumb to pressure and decided to allow those blogworthy incidents go unblogged. Except for yesterday's unexpected post as popsie so cleverly pointed out.

The point is I had a really good rest.