Just Duckie

It's alive!!!!

2011-12-26T17:39:00.001+08:00

This blog is still alive.....
I love Dunkin's choc pudding donut.
IKEA would be super cool only if you got your own little place to decorate.
I need Dexter.
I love holding my nephew.
I will never regret buying an iPhone. Phones have never been so fun.
Time should stand still for a moment.
Astro should bring in better shows.
The characters on Law & Order SVU look so dull.
There you go, all my random thoughts of the moment.

End of story

Awesome and sweeet

2011-09-18T23:49:00.004+08:00

Manchester United is already 3 - 0 up at halftime. FInal score is 3 - 1. The game went pretty well. Very exciting. I don't know why the papers keep harping on De Gea's initial mistakes in his 1st or 2nd game with MU. I totally disagree. He has been awesome so far. I think those are just mind games to mess with his confidence. He is living and breathing awesome. He is catching balls (no pun intended) where I didn't think he would be able to reach and I thought it would be goner for MU already. But he got to it.
Apart from that, I am not a Nani fan at all. Not at all. But his strike was superb. And Torres's big miss was the best!
Another worthy effort to stay up and watch the game.

8- 2

2011-08-29T00:56:00.002+08:00

8 for Manchester United, 2 for Arsenal. Unbelievably awesome game! MU made it look so easy and so entertaining at the same time.
Awesomeness... Well, this was worth staying up for.

Hallelujah!

2011-08-12T22:19:00.002+08:00

FINALLY SOME PEACE!

_|_

This Is Country Music

2011-07-29T21:23:00.001+08:00

*swoon*

Universe says, Screw you!

2011-07-16T17:40:00.004+08:00

You are never right when you dream of the best and you are always right when you imagine the worst. I think it's funny how things turn out. It's like the universe is just waiting for you to make that choice and then it screws you over. Like those storybooks with options for you to choose that leads you to different endings.

No Masters degree whatsoever is going to make any difference. In this world, that piece of paper gives me hope that I can venture out into something new. But really, people don't give a flying f**k and neither do I. It's stashed somewhere in that closet of old books. 90% of the time I don't even remember that I have one.

And then the wheels start turning and everything from the past & present starts changing drastically before your eyes. And then I feel like I have pummeled down a sink hole and yet sometimes I feel like I'm riding a wave, smile on my face, the wind in my hair and then suddenly a shark pops up and rips off your ankle. People usually say don't regret anything. Well, people who are successful will say that. I'm not getting any younger and my target line is already closing in on me. Looks like I need to shift it further.

Everyone's got to have passion in life. I don't have one, I can't find it. Do you have passion and what is your passion?

P/S: I just played with an app called Mood Analyzer test and it deemed me Useless. WTF?!

Another milestone

2011-06-06T21:40:00.006+08:00

Here we go again. Another birthday just around the corner. This year seems less of a celebration but more of a 'gawd, is it back again?' Maybe as I grow older I dread it more, or maybe I'm just in a bad mood. Or maybe coz I dislike the feeling of the end of a long weekend where I accomplished nothing, not even a bit of relaxation. Weather was hot and humid, plagued with incessant headaches. And it's back to work tomorrow. It's a busy morning with back-to-back meeting/conference call trainings and more and more things to worry about. If there is a pill that I could take that would make me chilled and cool and calm. I want it.. Who am I to complain about work anyway? I'm sure other people have much busier days...but screw it. I'm not other people and I'm grumbling to myself anyhow! I'm totally entitled to it.

What's more is that I've finished watching Glee Season 2. I've finished HIMYM and Modern Family. I'm almost done with latest season of Bones. I would say I'm having Glee/Bones/HIMYM/Modern Family-withdrawal syndrome. Meaning of life is slowly but surely seeping out of my soul once more and I'm going to be stuck with dull-coloured NCIS and Criminal Minds re-runs for the coming weekends. Furthermore, I wish they would stop showing White Collar and Burn Notice. It doesn't attract me a teeny bit. So it's a waste of time when they show it and I have nothing else to watch. In the end, I get so desperate, I watch The Kardashians. Come to think of it, sounds more like I have no life at all.

Well, it's been a long long ..whatever. I wish I can sleep the week away, have a nice long dream where I'm flying peter-pan style or wrestling with sharks. I'm not tired, I just don't really want to face the days. Maybe I'm just a bum. I am a real bum. Music helps me sleep but lately I've been listening less and less eventhough my list has grown longer and longer. People say that when you are lying in bed getting ready to sleep, you shouldn't think at all or re-cap your day in your head. I'm guilty of that, I end up getting all worked up and can't sleep. I've started playing Angry Birds recently. It's cute and it gets my eyes tired that I need to shut it and sleep comes. I never understood the draw of Angry Birds. I tried it once many months ago and deleted it. I tried it again this week and I got hooked. Damn..

Kinda hooked

2011-04-17T20:53:00.004+08:00

I hate to admit this but Britney Spears's new single "Till The World Ends" is head-bobbing feet-tapping infectious.... good comeback.

Artist of the year???!!!

2010-11-22T21:58:00.003+08:00

WHAT THE *toooooooooooooooooot* ???!!! Justin Bieber!? Other than the Baby song, what in the...huh...why...gawd....I'm speechless. I'm almost disgusted...

On a separate note, an NKOTB/BSB performance in the AMAs? I wouldn't have guessed. Boyband days are so over, but tell you what. This was hot! Joey McIntyre!!! Woooo....
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xfq14j_211121224728_webcam#from=embed

Live It Up

2010-11-19T23:26:00.007+08:00

Last season's American Idol was so darn boring, I could have watched my fingernails grow while what's-his-name or what's-her-name blurts out songs on stage. But I like Lee Dewyze, although not as enthusiastic about him as much as some of the contestants in the past seasons like a certain Adam Lambert...was that too obvious?

I didn't expect to like Lee's album. But I'm pleasantly surprised, I like it. The pace of the music is nice, suits him, thank God he didn't go bubblegum pop. The album's not great but it's easy listening.

Entertainer Of The Year

2010-11-14T16:52:00.003+08:00

One of my favourite country crooners, Brad Paisley is CMA's Entertainer Of The Year. Long wait is over.

It's a drug

2010-11-07T20:26:00.002+08:00

Why am I still toying with my dad's old iPhone 3G after more than a week eventhough the phone is already cranky and unstable?? Why does Apple products have this odd draw that I can't seem to put it down? Don't get me wrong, I still love my Nokia N97 and it is in top condition but I can't put down the iPhone just yet to switch back to my N97. It is unexplainable...annoyingly unexplainable. It's like a drug.

I totally pray for you

2010-10-04T21:32:00.004+08:00

Excerpt from Jaron and The Long Road To Love song "Pray For You" (except the last word).

I pray your brakes go out running down a hill
I pray a flowerpot falls from a window sill and knocks you in the head like I’d like to
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls
I pray you’re flying high when your engine stalls
I pray all your dreams never come true
Just know where ever you are, I pray for you ..

BITCH!

Random thoughts

2010-10-01T17:16:00.001+08:00

Hey, Mr No Balls....did your wife eat your balls for breakfast? Oh yes, she totally did!

Tyler Ward

2010-08-13T22:22:00.002+08:00

Tyler Ward is this really cool singer who apparently made his name via Youtube and is pretty much an online sensation now. He has his own band, he does concerts, you can find him on Facebook, he looks awesome playing the guitar, voice is hot, and he even released his own albums via iTunes. I don't have them anyway. But he has done some really de-wait for it-lightful acoustic cover versions of quite a number of songs like Justin Bieber's Baby (sounds even better than the original), a number of Taylor Swift songs, Katy Perry's Teenage Dream, Goo Goo Dolls, Taio Cruz's Break Your Heart (this one is awesome). Check out this one below, you'll find all his covers on Youtube.
Justin Bieber's Baby - Tyler Ward style.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh83c_UImD8

Short note

2010-08-07T22:18:00.005+08:00

It has been a turbulent couple of days. Throw in my volatile temper and it could have turned out to be an explosively vulgar situation. I'm happy I have people who love me who took time to steer me away from the pain and somehow made my days a little brighter for me because god knows what I might have said or done (I would NOT have regretted anyhow) which may have caused further complications. But it's not over, I'm still going to need a whole load of self-restraint to get through the next 1-2 weeks.

Meeting a celebrity

2010-08-01T15:04:00.012+08:00

Today marks the first day I have ever spoken to and stood inches so close to a celebrity. A Hong Kong celebrity and I didn't even know his real name until I googled it a minute ago, his name is Chris Lai. All I know is he is one of the cute actor that I have seen in a few TVB drama series. See if you can recognise him? :)You can't? Well I know it's too dark. This is the BEFORE photo that came out too dark, unfortunately. But with my extremely limited Photoshopping skills, I managed to make it a little bit viewable in the below version. Maybe now the face can be seen. Any Photoshop 'experts' willing to lend their skills to improve the photo, please let me know.

I think I should explain in order how it came to be me taking photo with Chris Lai (Yeah..now I'm tossing his name about like I know it so well) Ding and I were having buffet lunch at Hard Rock Hotel because he won a voucher. The food wasn't really good and variety was limited but well it's almost free, so what the hey right? Anyway, we were halfway through our meal (btw, the cafe wasn't packed at all, 2-3 tables tops at that time after a big group left) Then I started noticing 2 bodyguard-ish type of fellas standing near the glass door just watching the space. Not that they look like bodyguards, just they were in black and had earpieces so they looked like they were there for a purpose. There was another small group of 3 person that were seated a couple of tables away and I figured this group is probably the one the 2 guys are watching over. But I couldn't make out who they were. One lady held a walkie-talkie so she's not the star. The guy with his back facing me turned out to be Chris Lai shown above. When he turned around to greet another Hong Kong actor whom I don't know his name also but appeared in a number of shows before, maybe my eyes popped out. Then I got excited and told Ding, I finally know why there are security in the restaurant because I recognised this guy as one of the actors in Moonlight Resonance & Heart of Greed. We were chatting excitedly and joking about taking pictures with them but were afraid the security would tackle us to the ground. (they looked unfriendly) They were watching the door not letting anyone come in to disturb the actors having their lunch. And I said, let's do it, let's take photo with them. Ding waved the waiter over and asked if we could take a photo with them, the waiter proceeded to ask the security, the security says we should ask the actors ourselves after they finish eating. So we waited...and waited. Finally I asked Ding to go settle the bill first then we will approach them. Then Chris Lai was getting ready to leave and I was thinking "Oh Shit, he's leaving", I scrambled up and signalled to one of the unfriendly-looking security that I would like to take a photo.. what happened next was a bit blur to me. All I know was that Chris Lai passed by and I blurted out to him asking if it is ok that I take photo with him, which he so kindly obliged. OMG, his skin is so smooth and I am so envious and he is so tall. So there you go, that's how it came about. (The other actor, he somehow disappeared but never mind).

** Btw, when I came home, my dad was telling me that there were some Hong Kong celebrities at Gurney Plaza earlier today promoting something. And I showed him the photo and said, does one of them resemble him? Hahaha... ok, he wasn't sure but the look on his face was precious when I explained who the person in the photo was.

Olly Murs

2010-07-24T23:02:00.007+08:00

I think most people wouldn't have heard of Olly Murs. I didn't before this until I heard his new single on one of those music blogs. He came in 2nd place in X-Factor 2009. We don't have that shown in Malaysia so I went to check out his performances on Youtube. Man, this dude has got some moves and apparently mentored by Simon Cowell in the X-Factor show (wikipedia says so). He is super super cool and so is his name. I love his new song "Please Don't Let Me Go". Check it out below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4S9gQb9PjM
(To add on, it is from this X-Factor performances that I found out what Cheryl Cole looks like because she is one of the judges on the show. She is pretty... Does Ashley Cole rue what was lost?)

Before Sunrise

2010-07-18T20:42:00.007+08:00

Before Sunrise is an old movie from way back in 1995. I've read of it occasionally but never watched until now. It's a love story between Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) whereby 2 strangers meet on a train bound for Vienna and then Paris. The whole movie revolves mainly around these 2 characters and their conversations. Normally I wouldn't continue watching but I persisted because I needed to know how it ends though some parts were a little boring. Definitely not something I would swear to watch again and again, worth watching but once is enough. It helped that Ethan Hawke was so hot. Something about the simple interaction between these 2 was captivating that I caught myself smiling at times. Jesse, an American visiting his girlfriend in Madrid to find out that she no longer loves him decides to travel Europe for a couple of weeks after the breakup. Then he meets Celine, a French girl heading back to Paris who broke up with her boyfriend 6 months ago. Jesse somehow manages to persuade Celine to get off at the Vienna stop to spend a day with him just sightseeing before he leaves for home. The way he persuaded her was adorable. Their relationship as 2 total strangers that struck up a conversation in a train revealed the magic of such easy conversations, no pressure, just 2 regular people talking about their lives and eventually falling for each other accompanied by the scenic backdrops of Vienna. Even their teasing fake phone calls were so mushy...yet, so sweet.
******SPOILER ALERT : Don't read any further if you don't want to know how it ends because I'm so totally revealing it ******

As they only had until the next morning to be together, growing more and more fond of each other the more they talked. There's a dilemma between trying to see each other again or take this as their final night together, they decided and made a vow that this will be their last night together so they are going to spend it enjoying each other's company. No emails, no phone calls because in their own words, it's too depressing. They know they will only write once, call once in a while and eventually lose touch because it's never going to work being so far away. When time came for Celine to take the train back to Paris and Jesse to take the first flight back to the US, parting words were so much harder to say compared to a couple of hours before. In a desperate spontaneous moment, they decided they will meet back here in 5 years (no, Jesse says it's too long), 1 year...no....6 months on this very day. So they agreed, hugged and kissed a tearful goodbye. Celine: "Goodbye". Jesse: "Bye". Celine: "Au Revoir". Jesse: "Later". THE END
Did they meet up 6 months later? I don't know but this movie has a sequel Before Sunset which is set 9 years after this event (which I will watch).

World Cup Winner

2010-07-12T05:06:00.006+08:00

SPAIN ~~!!! :)

Awesome!!!! Euro 2008 winners and NOW, the World Cup. History made for Spain. This is a good good night/morning! (I still like the Dutch team though, but I love Spain, ain't nothing gonna top that) :D

What's with the darn oracles?

2010-07-11T14:08:00.004+08:00

First you got Paul the Octopus from Germany predicting football match winners, then you got another wannabe-oracle from Singapore...some bird, and another octopus called Pauline or something from Netherlands. Now, you got elephants predicting winners. What the f**k, it was something real cute when I first heard of this Paul the octopus but now everyone seems to want their pets to predict world cup winners. It totally gets on my nerves already. Think about it, how far wrong can they be? There's only either option A or option B, 50-50 probability and a dash of luck. It's not rocket science for goodness sake. Why don't I get my dog to predict World Cup winner also? It has become silly and annoying.

ECLIPSE

2010-07-10T14:16:00.006+08:00

I caught Eclipse on the first day of its opening in Malaysia, 8th July 2010. It was good., what do you expect a Twilight fan to say? I can't say anymore other than it was so good, it had funny moments too, Jacob talked too much and too slowly, Bella is still a bitch and Edward is to die for. Hey Peen, promised you I won't reveal anymore than this. :P

Dream Final

2010-07-08T04:25:00.006+08:00

Worth it. All worth it...staying up for the game. Never would I have guessed both my favourites will be playing each other in the World Cup 2010 Finals. The Spain-Germany match was really frustrating. Spain had most of the possession, their passing was almost impeccable, mesmerising to say the least but Germany looked dangerous too for just fleeting moments only anyway. They were so shut out, so much for all their big talk. *laugh* My reflexes were in overdrive tonight. I practically jumped out of my chair when Spain scored. Spain emerged the rightful winners and they'll be meeting Netherlands in the finals of my dreams. I am so happy that I don't need to watch a team that I don't like in the finals. :) Now the problem is how am I going to get any sleep, it's already 4.30am.

On to the finals Oranje

2010-07-07T04:27:00.002+08:00

It's inching closer, Netherlands have gone to the finals of the World Cup with a convincing win albeit tense last couple of seconds. Now if Spain can whip Germany's butt in their match, it would setup my dream final. Final scoreline:

Netherlands 3 - 2 Uruguay

Into the semis

2010-07-04T04:46:00.003+08:00

Super awesome! Both my favourites are in the semis. Netherlands and Spain. My world cup dream almost coming true. I do hope this 2 teams can make it all the way to the end. Let's make it hard for me to decide who I want most to win if the finals is between Netherlands and Spain. I hope Spain will kick the Germans back to Germany trophiless in their semifinal clash. I'm still bummed that they whipped Argentina, whipped them bad indeed. Poor Messi, I like that guy.
And no...I did not stay up to watch Spain vs Paraguay. 2.30am match, siao, it's not even finals. I woke up to switch off my pc.

A wave of orange

2010-07-02T23:53:00.008+08:00

A wave of orange has enveloped my world! The Netherlands has kicked Brazil out of the World Cup and rightfully so! What a game...so tense. But the better team won. They played like heroes, they won like heroes.

NETHERLANDS!

Where The Heart Is

2010-07-01T21:35:00.006+08:00

I......LUV it. Where The Heart Is. It's an old movie which came out 10 years ago. Starring Natalie Portman, Ashley Judd and James Frain. Who's James Frain you may ask, I didn't know either but he is so adorable in this show. Omigosh and I just wiki-ed him a minute ago, he's also acting in True Blood Season 3. Foooo....Anyhooooo, this movie is about a pregnant 17 year old who got dumped by her ass of a boyfriend at a Wal-mart store and all the perils in life she had to go through having the baby as well as the unexpected friends that helped her along the way. It's a beautiful story about facing challenges, never giving up and finding love. There's a song in this movie that I really like. Check it out below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fsvAnJ47MA
And OMFG, on a separate note...True Blood Season 3 has started!

World Cup

2010-06-28T22:05:00.001+08:00

GO ORANGE FOR HOLLAND

I could have had extra sleep

2010-06-27T23:42:00.002+08:00

Why I wasted my time watching the game when I know England not gonna make it. Oh gawd the scoreline is embarassing. Go home. I go to bed better. (beckham looks real hot tonight, watching from the side)

Lakers make magic

2010-06-19T21:37:00.000+08:00

The NBA finals between LA Lakers and Boston Celtics was over and done with on Friday morning (Malaysian time). Unfortunately I was stuck at work and wondering why was I even there in the first place. I could have taken off and stayed home to watch the finals live. It seemed exciting. Anyhoo, because I was HARD AT WORK, I had to rely on the minute-by-minute reports from Yahoo! News. I didn't have a major favourite though I realised in the end I was leaning towards Lakers to win. They were trailing Celtics all the way till the 4th quarter when they finally took the lead and eventually, WON THE WHOLE DAMN THING! (under the awesome guidance of Phil Jackson their coach who was actually the coach for Chicago Bulls during their massive runs of being champions in the 90s. I was big fan of Chicago Bulls during the Michael Jordan/Scottie Pippen era) Awesome!

Brothers

2010-06-13T16:54:00.004+08:00

I love this movie. I almost cried watching this. Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman were really good in it. And so was Jake Gyllenhaal. It's a drama about war, brotherhood and love. What people do for love. This show is so touching and captivating in every way. Two awesome movies in a day.

Julie & Julia

2010-06-13T15:05:00.005+08:00

Julie & Julia is a very good movie. Light and interesting. Remarkable how someone's passion, a book and then a blog could change someone else's life decades down the road. Yeah, and the movie made me hungry..

World Cup 2010

2010-06-09T21:03:00.002+08:00

World Cup is starting and it is impossible that I don't say something about it. My picks for this year, are the same picks I almost always make - Spain, Holland and England. In situations where they all lose, then whichever team that looks better.

Safe journey

2010-05-19T22:54:00.003+08:00

My dear friend, you are now on a plane with 12 hours to spare. I hope you enjoy your flight in BUSINESS class and soak in all the perks of it. :P May both of you make wonderful memories over there and have the best experience ever ever ever! I know you have all sorts of emotions running wild in you right now, I think I heard it in your voice but don't worry. As I always say, everything will be alright, in fact it will be AWESOME...no, it will be Legend-wait for it-DARY! Take care and see you when I see you. :) HUGS

R.I.P. PodPod

2010-04-18T11:40:00.008+08:00

I bought my Ipod Classic more than a year ago and it was a joy to use. It has more capacity than I would ever get to fill but this lovely little thing helps me sleep at night. Then…I killed it. That fateful night, a couple of weeks ago. Pod Pod was plugged in and innocently lying on my desk. For some reason, I turned in my seat trying to get something from my bed and my giant leg swiped the USB cable, pulling my Pod Pod from the top of my table to its death on my cold hard tiled floor. I heard a loud smack. I froze. Then I went Oh My F-ing God! F F F F F F! I picked it up, I heard it whirring over and over. I was like going on along the lines of omg, omg, omg, omg, please work, please work, omg, shit, shit, shit, omg, omg. Sadly, it was stuck. It couldn’t boot, it just kept whirring in and out of consciousness. Out of desperation, I whacked it on the palm of my hand but it didn’t help. Nor did it do any good to my palm. The next day, I googled for help. Many forums suggested re-dropping it. Apparently it works for many. Alas, there was hope! I dropped it on the carpeted floor, not once, not twice…3 times. My hands quivered as I tried starting it up after each drop. Didn’t work. Genius! I ceased and called it a day on the dropping activity in case my colleagues thought I had gone cuckoo. (tried that again when I got home…no, it didn’t work also). Finally, I took it to the shop and tried to get them to fix it but I was told, my harddisk is bonkers already. I would need to pay RM500+ to get a replacement.

I thought about it. I was planning to get an Ipod Touch later this year or the next year. Why would I want to spend another 500 bucks for this now. After a couple of days of pondering and saying my goodbyes to Pod Pod, then it was the birth of my Ipod Touch. End of story.

And yes, that's Adam Lambert. I HEART HIM. Maybe I'll blog about the pathetic group of Idol contestants in the latest season after this. I miss Adam Lambert. American Idol Season 9 is sooo boring (except for an occasional few good performances that gave me bits of chills) and I used to like Kara as a judge but gawd, she's so annoying and fake this season. That crying bit she did to one of Big Mike's performances felt so ultra fake. It's like someone said, hey, a judge needs to cry this season since we lost Paula...so, someone please cry. Yeah, whatever, what do I know, it's show biz.

Aras

2010-04-11T11:25:00.003+08:00

I'm liking his music very much. Very acoustic, indie songs.
http://www.myspace.com/oddus

34 degrees Celcius

2010-03-06T15:02:00.002+08:00

I'm baking in the sweltering heat of a Saturday afternoon. My internet line has finally gone back to close to normal. It had been slow as hell for the past 3 days. Maybe the cables melted from the perpetual burning heat. It has been a somewhat blurry week. I've been slumped on my office seat wishing the minute hand would hasten its pace. Then my days started getting a little brighter and perkier as the week approached the weekend. But some things just get me down again so suddenly. Nevertheless, life is full of ups and downs.
Next update, my iPod Touch and the death of my original iPod.

Quick Bits

2010-02-07T20:46:00.002+08:00

Did anyone watch the Grammy's recently? It was interesting in some parts. I really liked the duet between Elton John and Lady Gaga. And Beyonce's performance was nice but I wished she had performed Single Ladies instead. It would be cool to watch. Pink's bit was awesome and surprising. It's so not like her at all but I like the song. I think I hated the Eminem/Little Wayne/what's-his-name performance. What's with the underwear-showing pants? It is so uncool, unhip & unfashionable. Btw, I wonder if there was a barricade of bodyguards surrounding the stage looking out for a certain Kanye when Taylor Swift got the album of the year award. My favourite bit of the show was when one of the announcer's (a comedian, I don't know his name), was joking around on stage and pulled out his Ipad from underneath his coat. That was funny. Didn't expect that.
Ra ra ah ah ah, rama ramama, Gaga ooh lala. That tune has been playing in my head all week. I've been going ra ra ah ah ah everyday. It's a song by the way. Lady Gaga's Bad Romance to be exact. I love it.
What's with American Idol having Joe Jonas as a guest judge?? All he did was nod and go YEA. *shake head* I enjoyed the Katy Perry guest judge segment. She's so direct and in your face and it's interesting watching her and Kara trade insults. I'm looking forward to watching Ellen Degeneres as a judge.
My current obsession (mild obsession btw) is Glee. This show is colourful, bright, funny, smart and the music's good. I really like Kurt (the gay dude). He is so funny and cool at the same time. Then, Rachel, annoying but adorable with a weird fashion sense. There was one part when Kurt and Quinn were saying that Rachel dresses like a grandmother and a toddler at the same time.
I watched Legion recently, despite Soon Yee telling me that it was a load of crap, I still had to see this load of crap myself and agree wholeheartedly that it is a whole load of crap. Don't get me wrong, the action and effects are fine but the story line is bullshit. Angel's with machine guns, God instructing an army of mean angels to annihilate human race by seeking out and killing a certain baby mama not so Terminator-style(why need to send a bunch of useless angels that can't do their job? Just send the Terminator) , and what's with the zombie-ish human possessing angels with sharp teeth..are they demons or angels?, and where did Michael hide his huge angel wings after he cut it off?, and that final line between Gabriel and Michael "You gave him what he wanted, but I gave him what he needed"...WTH??. Yiiisshh.
I just realised all my quick bits above only had to do with either TV or music. God, I have no life. Well, what do you want me to talk about right? Work?! (LOL, roll on the floor LOL). I have enough of that bullshit to give me stress pimples.
Happy Chinese New Year!

Glee fever catches on

2010-01-31T12:03:00.004+08:00

Filled with colourful characters and catchy songs. Glee is a must watch and it ain't no High School Musical (Thank God!).

Friday night

2010-01-16T12:17:00.002+08:00

Now playing : Norah Jones - Chasing Pirates

Dinner at Equatorial Hotel, Coffee Garden last night was pleasant. It was our annual department gathering and the buffet was varying. Most of the food was acceptable, quite a number of choices but some were too salty. They served 3 types of potatoes and I'm a sucker for potatoes. Nothing else mattered after that. I tried the Portugese Barbequed Chicken. It was very tender but please, if you ever go there, don't take the BBQ sauce. It tastes like soap. Not that I have eaten soap but I imagine that's what soap would taste like.
We had a lucky draw after that at this OB Irish pub in Bukit Jambul Country Club. I got number 23 in the queue and then later on exchanged with another colleague who had 15 because we carpooled there and all of us wanted to go home early. I had a glass and a half of beer, and we all sat there looking bored, music was loud. I couldn't even hear myself think but I enjoyed the experience. I told my colleagues that it was my first time in a pub. They couldn't believe it because they said I didn't look so 'lau beh'. But it's true, although I actually prefer lounge than pub. Lounge music with live bands is so much better than the loud pumping, ear-splitting music in a pub. And finally, what did I get for lucky draw? Not so lucky...I got chopsticks. I wonder what I'm going to do with all those chopsticks. I could stick it into my hair like a kungfu gal!

Side note: Yes, Jo..that is the lyrics of my favourite Lee Hom song at the moment. But you should know better since you say I'm a banana.

My week as it was

2009-12-31T16:58:00.002+08:00

I'm sitting here in the living room on 31st Dec 2009, Thursday at 5.00pm watching Can't Hardly Wait on tv. I've watched this movie dozens of times since high school. Ethan Embry is so cute. So, in the blink of an eye, this week has gone by before I can fully grasp it. How did my week of shutdown go? Let's rewind.

Monday, 28th Dec 2009
I slept my morning away until 11.30am because my head was pounding like a nail or was it hammer? Then I went for lunch at Passions of Kerala (banana leaf rice) before heading off to Gurney Plaza to look for some gifts. I managed to spend about 2 hours watching some shows after that. haha. But I felt too sick to enjoy it, my head was spinning.

Tuesday, 29th Dec 2009
I woke up today at 9.00am down with flu and cough. After an hour of lazing around I decided to head to office to get some things done. Spent about an hour there and went off to Queensbay for a walk. It was followed by a trip to the bank to settle some discrepancies with my gift redemption and then followed by a reluctant trip to the doctor. My throat was killing me. The rest of my afternoon was just an hour or so of tv time.

Wednesday, 30th Dec 2009
This morning, I woke up at 8.00am! Woohoo....waking up after 10am makes me moody. Thus the woohoo. At the spur of the moment, I decided to go for facial to kill time and zits. Then I had lunch at Batu Lanchang market before heading to Prangin mall for a while. Again, I spent 1-2 hours of my remaining evening to watch Bones.

Thursday, 31st Dec 2009
Today is the final day of 2009. Shouldn't it end with a bang or some sort of celebration of what I may have achieved this year? Yeah...no bang, no obvious achievements anyway. Worked from home this morning and completed it in the nick of time. So, I went shopping for some clothes. Out with the old, in with the new. Make new memories. Which then brings me to sitting in front of the tv watching Can't Hardly Wait.

I guess I didn't rot in front of the tv with the whole pledge of tv series marathon I mentioned in my previous post. It's strange how time flies, I didn't really do much this week as you can see but the hours flew by like a Boeing 747. I figured nothing out and everything is still the same old story. Tomorrow we begin a new year. Happy New Year anyway.

Out of office for a week

2009-12-27T15:39:00.004+08:00

I'm gonna be off work for a week. Not by choice anyway but not saying that I would choose to be at work also, yiisshh WTF right? I'm hoping for cloudy days so my plan is to just crash at home and watch endless marathons of shows. I can picture myself at the end of the week, unkempt, wide-eyed, groggy and a little bit stoned. Besides just being couch potato and relaxing with me time at home in the quiet peace and comfort and also bask in the fact that a monkey-poop is out of my sight, so besides that I might just get a few important things done.
1. Call the banks and cancel cards. (I hate dealing with them, douchebag horrible service)
2. Shop for belated Christmas gifts...yea yea I know Xmas is over, shush.
3. Do something with my hair, maybe a whole Kristen Stewart-ish theme.
4. Go to the gym...will try anyway.
5. Have to work on Thursday.
6. Jobstreet, jobstreet, jobstreet.

Basically I don't have much valuable stuff to attend to besides those. I'm just really looking forward to just tv time and sorting out my thoughts. These past couple of months have not been great. All those nights, starring wide-eyed at the ceiling trying to get some sleep but ended up hyperventilating. My thoughts on my career..or lack of, my bleak future, stay or leave Penang, life in general...it's all crazy at times.

Shortnote: My f*cking office pc seems to be turned off, I can't connect and I have to go into office to turn the f*cking thing on. I shouldn't even care at all.

Soundbites

2009-11-29T17:00:00.002+08:00

I watched New Moon. Wouldn't miss it for the world. This time around it's a lot of Team Edward versus Team Jacob. I'm loyal Edward follower...all the way...even though Jacob's body is so darn hot. I only begin to start liking Jacob a liiiittle bit in Breaking Dawn.

I watched this movie called The Canyon too. It's not too bad, nothing high profile. It's about 2 honeymooners lost in the Grand Canyon. Only familiar face is the girl who happens to be Sarah, from the show Chuck.

I am so exhausted. That's what I feel inside me anyway. It feels like I have not slept for a week even though I actually did. Every waking moment is so tiring. I wish there is a pill that will just make the troubles go away.

And, only good thing is MU won Portsmouth 4 to 1. Go Rooney! I hope Arsenal burns Chelsea's bum.

Top 10 songs on my Ipod, November 2009

2009-11-16T13:53:00.004+08:00

November...going into December then going into a new year. Time is inevitable, deadlines are inevitable, I hate my life already. Nothing worth looking forward to, except for nice songs that will take my troubles away for a few minutes a day.

01. John Mayer - Who Says : It sounds a little different from his past songs. I absolutely love this song, it's so simple yet so mesmerizing. Only complaint is that it's too short.

02. Black Eyed Peas - Meet Me Halfway : The rap part of this song is the best. So infectious.

03. Craig David - I'm Sorry (I Just Don't Love You No More) : Thanks Soon Yee for this song. I'm so hooked, it's so emo. I think the word 'emo' is also the most said word by us this month.

04. Lily Allen - Fuck You : I don't think I'll ever make a good teacher in this lifetime because I actually think this song is so good as a kid's song. Because of the upbeat, cute-sy tempo. And wth, those kids gotta learn to defend themselves verbally somehow.

05. Kate Voegele - Angel : This one's got a kick-ass chorus. I love her voice, so smooth and blue-sy.

06. One Republic/Sara Bareilles - Come Home : Another emo emo song recommended by Soon Yee. "Come home, come home, I've been waiting for you, for so long, for so long".

07. T-Max - Fight The Bad Feeling : Ballad version. A korean song from the drama series Boys Over Flowers which I was so freakishly hooked on the past month or so. I've finally finished it and hey, even my grandma enjoyed watching it.

08. Someday - Algoinnayo : Another Korean song from Boys Over Flowers which I think this song is the best of all in the soundtrack. It had been my ringtone for a long time. Just fyi, now my ringtone is the Fuck You song minus the chorus as people might find that offending. I don't want to be bashed up in a coffeeshop or get kicked out from a classy restaurant.

09. Michael Buble - Hold On : This song makes me feel like wrapping my arms around someone to feel safe.
10. Adam Lambert - Time For Miracles : He is so perfect for this dramatic songs and I can just feel the tempo building up to that end note where he goes to his trademark Adam Lambert high pitch scream.

A toast to this f**ked up day

2009-11-16T13:06:00.000+08:00

What a f**ked up day it is. What stupid monthly maintenance downtime?! It is giving people nothing but issues. Everytime there's a downtime, something will go wrong whenever the system is back up again. Am I suppose to follow-up this crap shit every single month? What difference does it make staying with the stupid dinosaur system or this?!
I'm hungry, I'm tired, I'm sick of my life and I just want to eat and I don't f**king care about that weight...this is a grand way to cap a miserable couple of weeks that have been nothing but shit for me. It has been all f**ked up weeks in every aspect!

Time Traveller's Wife

2009-10-31T16:25:00.005+08:00

I finished reading Time Traveller's Wife last week just in time before the release of the movie. And I watched it yesterday. 2 words. Loving it. It's a nice story. The book was a bit of a long, merry-go-round read which took me a couple of weeks to finish but at the end, it was worth it. So was the movie.

Top 10 songs on my Ipod, October 2009

2009-10-17T17:27:00.003+08:00

The music world has lost a wonderful talent. Stephen Gately. Not many would know him worldwide but he is very famous in Ireland, UK and Asia as far as I know. Boyzone, they are one of the best boybands I've grown up listening to and my favourite member was Stephen Gately.

01. Kate Voegele - Angel : Who's Kate? I heard of her through One Tree Hill. She's a regular guest star in that show as Mia Catalano, a budding singer. Features her songs occasionally. on the show. A pretty good way of promoting her album. This is her latest album (A Fine Mess), and it's really good. The kind of music I love.

02. Gavin DeGraw - Glass : I have heard this song for some time now but it never really clicked with me until they featured it in the background in one of the scenes in One Tree Hill.

03. Heart - Never : They are more famous for their other songs like Alone or All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You. I love the chorus of this song, brings a nice vibe.

04. Justin Lo - 三十日 : Totally got whacked big time by that Gary Chaw. But unrelated to that, I love this guy. Justin! Not Gary...don't even care who Gary was until the news broke about how he bashed Justin up. My friend introduced this song to me. Hooked on it ever since.

05. Nickelback - Far Away : I didn't even know this was by Nickelback. I heard Ace Young (guest starring on Bones) singing it the first time. Then recently I watched Bones season 3 again and this time I heard him mention Nickelback. Oh this is good.

06. Mandy Moore - I Could Break Your Heart Any Day : Not a big fan of Mandy Moore at all. But definitely a big fan of her latest single. I just wanna clap away with the song everytime I hear it.

07. A1 - Living The Dream : Old song from old boyband. A sweet little ballad. This song goes into my special little list. SY, I'll show you the compilation if you are interested. It's still growing very slowly. Haha!

08. Michael Buble - Haven't Met You Yet : His latest single from his newest album.

09. Elton John - I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues : I don't know how to describe this song. What to do, I love old songs.
- No mood to find a 10th song now...I don't know why my mood changes so suddenly. Shit.

Waiting for the sizzling hot albums to be released soon by Carrie Underwood, Michael Buble, Adam Lambert.

Boyzone's Stephen

2009-10-11T18:25:00.003+08:00

Omg...I just read. Stephen Gately has died! One of my favourite members of Boyzone is gone.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091011/en_afp/entertainmentirelandmusic
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/10/11/boyzone.death/index.html

Top 10 songs on my Ipod, September 2009

2009-09-26T21:03:00.002+08:00

01. Shania Twain - Nah : Off her Up album. Haven't heard this for a long time? The other day I was playing it in my car and kept repeating it since.

02. Uncle Kracker - Smile : I love this part in the song where he sings the chorus and the background music is all gone "You make me smile like the sun, Fall out of bed.."

03. Pitbull - I Know You Want Me : This song is weird. I love it!

04. Colbie Caillat - Begin Again : Absolutely loving this song. It's off her latest album.

05. Human Nature - When You Say You Love Me : They had this song in the Walk The Tightrope album. Then I wiki-ed them recently and found out they have released a couple of albums since as well like motown hits and stuff. This song was released in the Symphony of Hits album where their songs are remade to be accompanied by symphony orchestra. I love this song and it features Darren Hayes. He made it sound so natural.

06. LFO - Summergirls : Still remember them? It's been so long. This song is so feel good and the video is colourful and nice. Who can resist Rich Cronin back then?

07. Oasis - Don't Go Away : It oddly puts me in a melancholy mood and I'm so hooked on it.

08. Human Nature - Everytime : Awesome love ballad. Also from one of their older albums.

09. Brooke White - Sometimes Love : She released her debut album recently and this is one of the songs in there. The albums pretty good, since I like her style of music. This is my favourite song in there aside from Hold Up My Heart.

10. Daughtry - Pokerface : Poker what? Uh huh...yup. It is theLady Gaga song but I saw this clip of him singing it acoustic on youtube and ...it was sizzling hot!

Those were the days

2009-09-01T16:15:00.000+08:00

Do you still remember them? Try looking through the pictures. Maybe you'll find something that brings back some memories. Those times before all the Pussycat Dolls, before John Mayer, before Taylor Swift, before Daughtry and before American Idol ever existed. There were those boybands, Spice Girls and bubble pop times. They were the 'essence' of my school days & adolescence, musically. Some of them have become defunct, some became bona fide superstars bringing sexyback, some just grew up, disappeared from the spotlight or hogged the spotlight with all the bad press and a selected few decide to sing horrible versions of other people's hit songs and etc. Nevertheless, I kinda miss some of them.

The morning after

2009-08-31T11:48:00.004+08:00

It's Monday, my close friends and brother and sis-in-law have all left or are preparing to return to KL. The feeling is a mix as it seems like the weekend just passed by in the blink of an eye. Before you know it, everyone has left. I'm just sitting here, nowhere to go, no one to meet, no place to return to because I am where I am. It don't feel like home so I spend most of my time in my room thinking about something to do. I need some company, or cheering up...I know! Ice cream! New Zealand Natural Ice Cream...that should keep me up for a couple of minutes.
P/S: See you when you get back from Europe, SY. Maybe I'll make a trip to KL when you guys are around.

_|_

2009-08-28T09:38:00.001+08:00

Look what my idiot friend did. So free ah! Hng....adding spiderweb, my blog not that dead kua. 10 days isn't so bad.

Ramblings on life

2009-08-19T09:00:00.002+08:00

I never thought of myself as a person who dreads getting older. Years ago, I couldn’t wait to be 21. Now I’m practically drowning in the late 20’s pool and frankly it freaks me out. For one, it feels like approaching 30 is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. I have not achieved what I want to achieve nor do I know what I want to achieve other than the fact that what I want to achieve is definitely not this. Do you get what I’m trying to say? I don’t care if you don’t. :P
These days I don’t feel particularly proud of myself. I see people close to me whom I grew up with & some close friends moving forward in their lives and I admire them for it, going off to places like Australia, KL and other places and making a career for themselves. I’d like to do that too. Recently, I have been wondering a lot about moving out of Penang and maybe to KL, partly because one day my dad brought it up and asked me if I’ve ever thought of doing so (of coz I like Singapore though coz it’s clean and $$ and the system is so much better there! Education here has taken a backward step after the recent govt announcement. But anyhoo…). I told my friend, I wonder about that...just as far as wondering.. but I don’t know when or if I will ever find the guts to do it. I don’t think I’d be able to just go. But it’s a nice thought. That kind of change might be considered as a small achievement. I’m not really that brave to be honest because I tend to think too much, I’m not a change person. Change is good though, I want to embrace change.
I just don’t look forward for my life to be like born in Penang, study in Penang, work in Penang, start a family in Penang, continue working here until the day I die. Life pretty much shapes into that, freakish but that’s life. Personally for me, my case, and I mean just my own opinion and not comparing with anyone else, not offending anyone else, I feel I got nothing to show and dreading family gatherings coz I’d be the only one who’s still here. Thus, that is why I don’t feel proud of myself anymore and lately it is like I’m having permanent PMS. Maybe I don’t have to think about moving away from here, I guess I could take baby steps and change work environment and find something new with better prospects to do. Maybe I’ve just really been doing this far longer than I really should. That could change my whole perspective.
And thus comes to the end of my post while I go scratch my eyes out looking at codes. It doesn’t feel so bad if I can solve it, but it feels horrible when your mind refuses to work.

Top 10 songs on my Ipod, August 2009

2009-08-16T21:37:00.002+08:00

01. Keith Urban - Thank You : Who can get over this song? I still can't.

02. Fan Wei Qi - 可不可以不勇敢 : I heard this song on a Taiwanese game show and with the help of my dad translating it, I managed to find it. Something like 'ke bu ke yi bu yong gan', can we not be brave?' Am I right there?

03. Theory Of A Dead Man - Not Meant To Be : The name of the band is a bit of a mouthful. Can't they just call it Dead Man? Whatever...but it's got a nice chorus.

04. JJ Lin & Charlene Choi - 小酒窝 : My dad loves this song right now and asked me to find it for him. I was told it means Little Dimple. It's absolutely casual, romantic song.

05. Michael Learns To Rock - Out Of The Blue : I haven't been listening to them for a long time until that day they were playing one the songs on Mix FM. I still remember my school days with their songs. This is one of my all-time favourite.

06. Brad Paisley - Everybody's Here : Sad song, good old country style. I'm a sucker for country songs, they tell such beautiful stories.

07. Kristina DeBarge - Future Love : This is a very catchy song. For some reason, I keep picturing cheerleaders jumping here and there like they were on a sugar high. Anyway, it's an infectious tune I can't get out of my head.

08. Sting - Fields Of Gold : I think this is the song I've played the most times this month. It's haunting, in a feel good way.

09. Themesong from Little Nyonya : Been watching this chinese series show The Little Nyonya. It's got a nice theme song.

10. Brooke White - Out Of The Ashes : Remember her? I think she was Top 5 in American Idol (David Cook's season). The one with great hair. I love her hair and also her style of singing.

I gotta keep this post short. Manchester United is playing Birmingham now and they are 1 up. I need to continue watching. I hope there's a 2nd goal, I can hear the commentary from my room and everytime the commentator takes his voice a pitch up, I jump out of my seat.

Real men

2009-08-13T10:06:00.004+08:00

How many of you agree with this? I already managed to find 1 friend that agrees with me. :)

Real men don't carry lunch boxes.

Disclaimer: This is by no means meant to offend anyone at all. It's ok if your father, brother, uncle, boyfriend, husband, nephew, grandfather or you carry lunch boxes. Just my own random thought, don't take it to heart. :P

The day Moses came to town

2009-08-03T13:33:00.004+08:00

Moses Chan is so damn hot in real life just as he is on-screen. It was pretty crowded in Queensbay but good thing Peen and I managed to sneak a 60 minute peek at the man himself. I was telling Peen thank goodness he wore a hat because I wouldn't be able to locate him at all with all the people towering above me. We just continued to stick our hand out and snap a photo. I took a couple of short videos too. :P One aunty practically climbed up on a chair beside me and I was kinda worried she would tumble and squash me.

Seeing the man himself, both of us pretty much melted into a pool of...Mel & Peen.

First impressions

2009-07-29T13:18:00.004+08:00

Took a quiz in Facebook about the first impression people have of me when they first meet me. Darn accurate!

YOU ARE MAYBE A BIT AGGRESSIVE
You scare ppl!but you are not mean, you are a good friend once people come to know you..just be a bit more open!

I do scare people. People always say I am cold and serious initially and only think I'm less cold after knowing me for a longer period of time.

Oh Roy

2009-07-25T11:23:00.003+08:00

Roy Chiu (Roy Qiu). One word... "sigh". So handsome. Happen to watch this Singaporean series show Yours Always and saw this angel on earth. *melt*

Check out the link. The song is very nice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ1My2lEvdM

Top 10 songs on my Ipod, July 2009

2009-07-11T16:53:00.007+08:00

Why does time fly by so fast? It was like I just posted the June list not too long back. It is kinda depressing seeing the time ticking so fast, watching my life slip away, dreading the ever-dreading. At times like this, what's a girl like me to do but to turn to music... I will dream to make a music room next time in the distant future. My escape room where my walls will be covered with book shelves and CD shelves. I will paint the walls a maroon red or sky blue with marble tiled floor. And a comfy sofa in the middle of the room, giant headphones. In the corner will be my computer table and a hifi set. The 4 corners of the room will be 4 Bose speakers hanging on the wall. The room will be dimly lit when I want to relax and side table lamp where I can read. All that would be missing is a fireplace, seeing that Malaysia is a sauna by itself...I can pretty much forget about sitting curled up in front of a fireplace sipping hot chocolate. Now back to the list...
01. Martina McBride - Wrong Baby Wrong Baby Wrong : Catchy song, cool lyrics. Once you hear it, you can't forget it.

02. Martina McBride - I Just Call You Mine : Took me a while to find this song. I heard it a while back on the radio and I kept thinking it was Faith Hill or Le Ann Rimes until recently I made a lucky guess.

03. Adam Lambert - Want : This is NOT his new single by the way. I read that this is a song he recorded before all the Idol hoopla.

04. Rick Astley - She Wants To Dance With Me : A very old song that kinda strikes a chord. I never really noticed it much and it has been playing on the radio for a long time now until suddenly, one day, maybe because of my mood, I heard it again and it just sucked me in.

05. Tinted Windows - Dead Serious : Btw, Tinted Windows is a super-group (this how they call it if it's a combination of well-known artist from different bands collaborating to form a band, I think). The lead singer is Taylor Hanson from the Hanson brothers band..still remember them? The Mmmbop fellas. Another member is someone from Smashing Pumpkins and they have other members from some other band which I frankly I don't even care. This song is infectious. It's one my ringtones too.

06. Peter Andre - Mysterious Girl : Not sure if you still remember this guy. Famous for this one song and keeps prancing around topless in his videos. He's got a good bod, I admit but that was the 90s.

07. Jessie James - Wanted : I thought Jessie James was a guy until I heard this song. Yeah it's a girl. It sounds like a mixture of Christina Aguilera in the 90s plus some modern feel in this single.

08. Keith Urban - Thank You : Yeah yeah, I'm still hooked on this. Who can't be? Makes me want to be in Nicole Kidman's shoes.

09. Adam Lambert - Mad World : Gosh, Adam in a trench coat singing this song. He is so HOT. I don't care if he's gay. He's hot.

10. Human Nature - Midnight Train To Georgia : Listening to this cover version makes me want to take a midnight train to Georgia.

Bali

2009-07-05T15:01:00.005+08:00

4th June 2009 (Thursday)

The clock struck 5:15pm on Thursday and I would need to go home, get ready, leave for dinner and be at the airport by 8:00pm. Where am I going? Well KL of course and the next day...Bali.

5th June 2009 (Friday)

Let's fast forward to Friday 3pm or so. The check-in line was crazy at LCCT. The system was down and everyone was queueing up but no one was moving and no one was manning the counters. After much back and forth, my brother finally found someone to process our boarding pass and all 8 of us rushed to the gate just as it was closing. Whew!

It was a little less than a 3 hour flight and surprisingly it went by quite fast. Before I knew it, we were touching down at Denpasar, Bali. Talking about Denpasar, I didn't even know this is Bali...when we were boarding, all I could think about was, why are we going to Denpasar? It was dark already when we landed and the time was only 7pm, after much waiting at the immigration, finally we met our tour guide and were heading for an Indonesian dinner.

I don't remember the name of the restaurant but the food was really delicious. An Indonesian rice set dinner. So after dinner, we went to our hotel Adi Dharma Cottage in Kuta town. A pleasant, old-fashion designed place which felt real cosy. As usual, 1st night in a new place...sleep was hard to come by for me but someone was already snoring away within 5 minutes while I tossed and turned. iissshhh...

6th June 2009 (Saturday)

The first morning in Bali started off early. We were leaving at 8:30am for a cultural show (Barong dance) that starts at 9:30am.

After this visit, we took a brief stop at a silver shop before heading to the volcano which was some what of a long journey too. Our tour guide, Pari, was really good and wow, he can really talk about anything under the sun. From history to different types of rice. There were many interesting things to see along the way, it seems like different locations specialise in different stuff like silver...along the whole road, all I can see were shops selling silver. Then came wood carvings and then stone carvings. I must say, there are A LOT of statues in Bali and they are beautiful. Almost every round-a-bout, there is a statue and a huge one too, mostly of religious statues or historical ones. Did you know, approximately 90% of Balinese are Hindus. I came across one really gigantic statue at a round-a-bout and luckily managed to snap a photo of it. Amazing stuff.

Finally, we have reached the spot that we can enjoy a breath taking view of the volcano. There were some young kids selling souvenirs to tourists like us. It was pitiful to see these young kids coming from poor families, out there on the road side trying to make a living.

After taking our buffet lunch overlooking the volcanic scenery, we made a stop at a coffee plantation and tasted some coffee, cocoa and ginger tea. I bought some too. When we were done with that, we went to a souvenir shop to browse around. Lots of handicraft stuff, key chains, wooden carvings and what not.

At about 4pm, we were taken to a market-type of place which sells souvenirs also, t-shirts, cheap stuff that we must bargain for. It was interesting to bargain. I'm no expert but I learnt a thing or 2 from there.

About an hour later of shopping, we stopped at a family's compound which houses several members of a family and the place was open for the public to visit and see their living conditions. As night falls, all of us took a walk along the road of our hotel and the Saturday night life there is lively. There were pubs, discos and lounges all packed to the brim. It was a really long walk and by 9pm or so, our feet were ready to cease functioning. So we went for a foot reflexology...at 60,000 rupiah for an hour. There were cheaper ones but this one looked more impressive. Worth it. Felt really good after that. At the time, the night life in Kuta had just begun. People were packing into pubs and so on and dancing and drinking.

7th June 2009 (Sunday)

Today, we were headed to Tanjung Benua to look at turtles and along the way, ride in a glass-bottom boat so we can see the corals and seaweeds and rubbish under the sea. The beach there, honestly, isn't very pretty. It just looks normal..nothing breathtaking but the boat ride was nice because it was windy. The wind blowing in my face was comforting on a hot day. When we arrived at the turtle farm, it was already getting cloudy. There were a number of animals there, cocks fighting, snakes, birds, bats and of course, giant turtles.

After that, our next stop was Tanah Lot to visit the temple and also for some bargain-shopping. Weee! Things were so much cheaper at Tanah Lot compared to the market we went the day before.

And the view..ahh..the view of the cliff was exhilaratingly beautiful.

Next stop, Jimbaran beach for a sunset dinner.

We spent some time playing with the water and writing nonsense with our toes into the wet sand. Then we settled down for a sumptuous seafood dinner whilst the sun set in the background.

By the time we reached the hotel and were getting ready to go for a walk along the shops of Kuta, I was already caught in a sneezing frenzy. Took a pill and slept like a baby.

8th June 2009 (Monday)

Woke up early today and feeling all cured and strong again, we were prepared for an exciting morning of...wait-for-it....water....wait-for-it...rafting!! The rafting cost about 230,000 rupiah which is about RM70+ and worth every dollar. The journey to the rafting station of Ayung River was a long and winding one. I was already half baked in the van from the sun shining in the window. We started the water rafting at 10am and it lasts for 2 hours down the Ayung River of 9km journey from start to finish. There were basically 4 commands we must know, forward pedal, backward pedal, stop and the important one, BOOM BOOM.

It means that's when the screaming and yelling starts. Seriously...it means when we are about to hit a rock or slide down the gap between the rocks like a mini rollercoaster. Man! Was it fun!

The whole episode finished after lunch and we headed back to the hotel for a short rest before meeting up at 4pm again to go to the Uluwatu temple for the Kechak Dance. A cultural, historical dance show performed by the locals.

9th June 2009 (Tuesday)

Today is our own time day. We are free to do whatever we like and it started off with Ding and I walking to the Kuta Beach to watch some hot surfer dudes. Well fine, I was watching the tight-ab-surfer dudes surfing (like I can help it! They are everywhere!). Kuta Beach has got a better view, it's cleaner and damn, it's hot.

Sticking my feet into the sand is like baking them. After I was done with all the oogling, we decided to walk to Discovery mall because our malfunctioning senses were telling us it's nearby. It wasn't. We never reached it by the way, so we continued walking, melting and walking...bought some stuff along the way and ended up in front of our hotel. Fate huh. After a short rest, we went for lunch at Mama's German Restaurant and then we walked somemore. Having given up on Discovery Mall, we decided to walk along the shops at Kuta and buy some souvenirs. I wanted to buy a fridge magnet and we ended up with Ding getting pulled aside to buy surfer shorts, Bintang singlet and we came out feeling a little bemused with all the persuading and insistence of the 2 brothers competing to sell us their whole shop.

Finally, we went back to our hotel at 3pm to pack up and check out at 4pm. We weren't leaving for the airport until 5:30pm so we went for another walk and stopped at a juice shop to rest and sit in front of their gigantic fan for about 45 minutes. Before leaving for the airport, Ding and I managed to squeeze in some last minute shopping where he bought an imitation Liverpool jersey for 60,000 rupiah and me, a black Man U Rooney jersey for the same.

That's pretty cheap considering we can't find one at that price back here in Penang. Then it off to the airport!

10th June 2009 (Wednesday)

We touched down in KL just after midnight, reached my brother's place and slept at about 2am. We slept and we slept till 10am. Ding and I were flying back to Penang on the 4pm flight and then that was it. That was the end of the vacation. Now I'm back to rot. I don't even look forward to go back to work. It's just so demotivating. But reality awaits right...

All in all, I had a wonderful Bali trip and did many firsts on this trip. My first foot reflexology, my first water rafting, my first real bargaining expose, Ding's first fake tattoo (it's fading by the minute), my first Japanese girl style hat(or so that's what I keep telling myself), my first experience of watching people surf in real life. It was awesome!

Coming soon

2009-07-01T22:15:00.002+08:00

To my friend who has been 'challenging' me to post updates on my Bali trip, it is coming soon. Within the next couple of days. As you already know, June baby's attributes include 'tends to delay'.

Most popular news

2009-06-30T11:20:00.004+08:00

I’ve come to a conclusion that people are generally horny. Almost daily the kind of news that will appear at the TOP of the Most Viewed/Most Popular/Most Read list in online papers are sex-related or nudity-related news. Above is just one example. I’m not saying it’s wrong. I mean, Hey whatever… that’s human nature, we humans are curious creatures. Horny too, no doubt. It's just amusing though, isn't it? To see how the probability adds up. If you have the time, check out the online papers for the next couple of days. Chances are, these kind of news are always the most popular pieces.

Darn it

2009-06-19T23:15:00.006+08:00

Maxis and Apple, please be clear with your instructions on upgrading iPhone to OS3.0!! FYI, not everyone has done this before!

Thanks to your unclear and inaccurate steps provided, I have screwed up my dad's phone and all his SMSes are gone. Not only did I have a hard time finding the items that you mention in your thin little booklet, it's also misleading, lacking on precautionary measures and there is INSUFFICIENT FREAKING WARNING! Wait, I stand corrected, in fact there was ZERO WARNING on the adversities of it!

Apologies DID NOT HELP me as well, sms-es are gone.

Top 10 songs on my Ipod, June 2009

2009-06-13T21:05:00.002+08:00

01. Keith Urban - Kiss A Girl : He performed this song live with Kris Allen in American Idol finale show. Keith Urban looks so hot with his guitar and of course, that makes the song so much hotter. Or was it the other way around?

02. The House Martins - Caravan Of Love : Very acapella. It's an old song which is nice for easy listening.

03. Keith Urban - Thank You : You've got to listen to the lyrics of this song to be able to feel the emotions of it. Very touching ballad.

04. Lionel Richie - Just Go : He's old...I guess, but that's not relevant. The song is pretty nice for a vacation.

05. Pink - Please Don't Leave Me : My favourite part of the song is when she goes "da da da da...da da da da" at the beginning.

06. Shinedown - Second Chance : Is this a new band? I've never heard of them before. The introduction part of the song is real cool..chorus not so much.

07. The Corrs - Heaven Knows : Any of you still remember the The Corrs? One my favourite band of all time. This is a pretty old song from their first album but listening to it got me hooked once more.

08. Kiss - Beth : Kiss sings ballads too? Their makeup is so darn scary. All it takes is for Adam Lambert to sing this song on the show and suddenly I'm looking for the original version by Kiss and, man, it's worth the time.

09. Daughtry - No Surprise : I mentioned this before in May and I'm still hooked on it.

10. Lady Gaga - Poker Face : I can't help it! I was already over this song. But they played this in one of the episodes of Ugly Betty showing Mark strutting in to the room with this song in the background. It's so perfect. Mamamama...

Holiday mood

2009-06-01T09:06:00.002+08:00

I'm already in a holiday mood. Somehow some things manage to creep in and spoil it. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. I think I have better things to take care of than that. I used to think I would try anything to prove myself but this past 2 years I have some how lost my way, grown disillusioned. Anyway, I hope I get lucky.

And the American Idol is...

2009-05-21T10:11:00.007+08:00

Two words....

ADAM LAMBERT

Ok...I'm just kidding. Kris Allen is the new American Idol. Believe it or not...but I think Adam deserved the limelight so much more so in my heart, Adam won. Cutey pie guy-next-door Kris is the new American Idol (with a dash of disappointment but it's good either way). I guess Adam's gothic-ness is too hot for AI. *sizzle* Anyhoo, better Kris than Gokey. I'm looking forward to Adam's and Kris's debut albums.

*Updates..btw I took a listen at the studio versions of the winning song 'No Boundaries'. This song was so totally made for Adam, it fits him. I hated it when I first heard it live but the song is slowly growing on me the more I listen to it.

EPL Champions once more

2009-05-16T21:46:00.002+08:00

Manchester United are English Premier League champions once again! Awesome-ness!

Adam vs Kris

2009-05-14T10:08:00.003+08:00

I love this finale!! Both of my favourite contestants are in the Top 2 but I love Adam the most. If I understand correctly, it seems like Kris got more votes but good for him, he deserved it.

Next week will be a great finale to watch, 2 of the most creative and original Idol contestants this season vying for the crown.

Top 10 songs on my Ipod, May 2009

2009-05-11T15:22:00.004+08:00

When I have nothing to blog about but desperately want to say something, the next best thing to talk about is music. Listening to music is a little like shopping for your favourite things. It's therapeutic, the only difference is that music doesn't leave me starring shell-shocked at the credit card bill 1 month later. These are the songs that I've been very hooked on for this month in no particular order.

01. Daughtry - No Surprise : I first heard this last week on American Idol when Daughtry was performing. Damn...he's so rocker yeng! One of the best rock songs I heard these couple of weeks. Very Daughtry-ish, a little Nickelback-ish.

02. Survivor - Can't Hold Back : An old song which I heard in the movie Mall Cop. It's got all the classic 80's-90's rock feel plastered all over it.

03. Kelly Clarkson - I Want You : This song is so totally addictive. The chorus is so cool that I can't help but want to sing-along to it in the car. Her cutest song in her new album. You you you you you you , I I I I I want you..

04. Adam Lambert - If I Can't Have You : This song was originally done by Yvonne Elliman and featured in Saturday Night Fever, if I'm not overly hallucinating. Adam totally stripped down the song into a heart-breaking ballad. Love it!

05. Demi Lovato - La La Land : This is the kind of teenage-y pop song that gets my head bopping. The video is pretty cute too.

06. Marit Larsen - If A Song Could Get Me You : Yeah, I talked about it in one of my previous posts and right now, I'm still hooked on it. It's got a sunny-day-picnic-in-the-park aura, not that I've done any picnic-ing before or sat in a park without being attacked by flies and mosquitoes. It always looks better on TV.

07. Plain White T's - 1234 : One of the most creative lyrics I've heard this month. "There's only 1 thing, 2 do, 3 words, 4 you, I love you." The song itself is pretty laid back and good for easy listening.

08. Jesse McCartney - How Do You Sleep : I heard a slightly different version on the radio which stripped out some of the beats at the back and that version is nice. Catchy chorus!

09. Adam Lambert - Tracks Of My Tears : I can't get enough of this guy. I loved the live version of this song which he sang on the show.

10. The Saturdays - Up : Girl band, girl power alert! I don't know how to describe this song except that it's got a groovy feel to it.

Go-live Announcement, Apple & Bali

2009-05-09T13:57:00.007+08:00

Congratulations to everyone who is part of the SAP Time project team for a job well done. It has been a stressful 6 months for each person involved because everyone of us had our own individual tasks to fulfill for this project. Finally, it has been 100% live on 25 April 2009 regardless of whether pay computing has successfully started or not. I still see it as a completion of major milestone. The rest will come when it comes.
I've waited so long for this day. I've done bits and pieces of little things as a reward to myself such as getting myself the Apple keyboard on which I am gleefully typing away, a trip to Bali as a good vacation opportunity that somehow just fell on my lap without much planning needed..haha! (Thanks to my dear brother and sis-in-law for inviting us along! It's gonna be a good break where I really want to relax, have fun and not having to stress about anything at all). As egoistic as it may sound, I think I deserved it. It is MY time for once, don't nobody take it away from me.
But somehow, I've not had all the personal celebrations that I imagined. Despite all the novels I've saved up for this day, I still haven't read them. Despite the Wii, waiting for me to play but not much in the mood still. I'm thinking of what cool gadget should I get as a reward. I'm hoping if I get a good recognition ($$$) reward for our 'hard work' in this project, I might go out and get an Iphone (nah, it is good to look at, good to touch, but not so flexible to use)...or maybe Sony Ericsson Idou? It's so pretty..or maybe a phone with a keyboard. What the hell is up with me and keyboards... I'm still hoping for the $$...It's all about the $$. Yeah, stupid fantasies. I should get back to reality. Go Adam Lambert~!!

Funny people

2009-05-07T10:10:00.003+08:00

There are people in this world who thinks and preaches their holier-than-thou speech but are blind to the fact that their selfishness and stupidness causes the very chain reaction that leads to the person that they claim they love so much to suffer the consequences of their actions.

The one who suffers may not admit so but we worry every single day for the well-being. When is this holier-than-thou person going to wake up and see that one's own selfishness to fulfil their whims and fancies but disguises it under I'm-doing-this-for-you speeches. I can't do anything about the fact that everyone is on this supposed holier-than-thou person's side but seriously, how do you sleep at night? You are a wicked, wicked, selfish person who tells lies and more lies for your own heart's benefit and is indirectly influencing the person you love to accept your point of view and willingly suffer in silence because you syok.

Heaven at the fingertips

2009-05-02T21:57:00.005+08:00

Today, a wonderful little parcel arrived at my doorstep. It is my very own Apple keyboard. The world is so much more interesting, so much more sexier with Apple. This slim little piece of gadget oozes with awesome-ness. Yes, Apple stuff are so pricey but it sure is worth every cent. Everything is done up with such great detail. Take a look at this cookie..

Snippety snippets

2009-04-18T15:07:00.002+08:00

Just sharing some snippets on what's been happening and what I've been up to lately.

I am head over heels hooked on this song by Marit Larsen called If A Song Could Get Me You. It's cute and everything. *Here it is, here it goes, I could try rock n roll, change your life, forever too, if a song could get me you*
The front end system that the team and I have been working on for the past 6 months has finally gone live on 16 April 2009. Hurdle no. 1 has been crossed, the next major hurdle is next Saturday. Wish us luck!
It's American Idol fever all over again. I'm totally loving Adam Lambert (he is so hot but my dad refers to him as 'pondan' coz maybe due to his nail polish) and Matt Giraud (thank goodness the judges saved him). Well I like Kris Allen too but more an on-off thingy.
I've been farming a lot on Facebook. I wasn't much of a facebook fan, I never go in to update anything. Now I go in almost everyday but the only reason is to play Farm Town and occasionally Restaurant City.
I haven't filed my income tax yet. :( Procrastination is taking over, man! I really gotta get finished by end of this weekend.
I've been eating hell of a lot for the past 2 weeks, so naturally I'm afraid to weigh myself but after much dilly dally, I weighed.. and I just found out that I went down 2 freaking KG! Wooo hoooo! Being stressed sometimes ain't so bad after all...
I'm very happy that Manchester United's Champions League dream is still alive for now. Btw, I miss Owen Hargreaves so much...where is he???
Starting to get a little hooked on Mario Kart on Wii. I guess I get hooked on anything as long as I start winning and I get to crash into others in the process.. and btw Wii tennis is fun. I'm going to try the Sims on Wii once my project has officially gone live. It really feels like exams, you can't really enjoy anything until it's over and passed.
True Blood series on Cinemax. One word - AWESOME! If you like vampire stories, this is a good one to watch. It's not overly scary so it suits my lack-of-guts persona and it's intriguing in certain ways.
Time to go hang my clothes to dry...cheers!

Typical Sunday

2009-04-05T16:48:00.004+08:00

My favourite part of the day is the morning. At the moment when the sun is just rising and the coolness of the night still lingers in the air. But mornings go by too fast. Before you know it, it's high noon and the heat is unbearable. For some reason, Sundays feel excruciatingly depressing eventhough tomorrow I won't be working as my office is having a shutdown, but it still feels like the typical Sunday. By the time it hits 4 o'clock, everything gets very gloomy.
I'm not looking forward to tomorrow whether I work or not. I may not be physically working but all I can think about is work. All I can think about is SAP, attendance, job schedules, interfaces bla bla bla as I see things spinning out of control. I'm almost at the tipping edge where my confidence level is at the lowest. Actually, things are not as bad at work as the way I put it (I exaggerate, that's all I do) but I cannot help feeling this panic washing over me that something would go wrong. It's a big deal. This month is a huge deal. It's either do or die the way I see it. I don't feel like I even have time to really sit down and focus on getting my side of things ready when there are so many distractions.
And then ...I really hate Sundays. I hope it rains tomorrow. I just wish for a cooling day where I can relax and maybe get my thoughts together and really really figure out how I'm going to make the best use of this final days leading into *shudder* go-live. A big part of me really absolutely totally want this thing to go-live. I feel so ready to celebrate, throw the dinosaur out the window and feel that sense of achievement I've been missing for so long. I hope it comes true. And now we're back to the typical depressing Sunday afternoons. I hate Sundays...and I just heard thunder.

2009-03-21T00:46:00.002+08:00

Now playing : Gavin DeGraw - Stay

I can't sleep. Or maybe I don't want to go to sleep...

My 1st pedicure

2009-03-16T11:06:00.002+08:00

On Saturday, I went for my first pedicure ever with Peen. I thought of taking a photo of my pedicured feet but then again, it's just plain weird to post that. The actual experience of letting someone scrub my heels and file my nails, I must admit, was really awkward at first. I guess I'm not used to people tending to my feet..sticking my leg out towards a total stranger. But anyhoo, it was interesting..the experience of a pedi. I would totally go again but some place else this time. In fact, Peen has already made plans and ...even thought of her colour already. Haha!

It's not just a book, it's a story

2009-02-22T21:11:00.007+08:00

Since the start of 2009 I have read 3 books if I checked correctly. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer, My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson and Marley & Me written by Josh Grogan. These 3 books are really good buys and it's gonna stay top 3 for this couple of months till I can find others to challenge it. They have something in common, they all managed to inject realistic jokes and humour in the story that made them so enjoyable. Just 30 minutes ago, I finished Marley & Me (you know, the book about a family and their crazy dog), at first with the sole determination to know the story before I watched the movie. But after a couple of pages, I was instantenously hooked. It's everything in one story- funny, mischievous, touching, romantic, cute, tear-jerking madness and sadness. I'm not surprised that it's such a popular book because pet owners relate to it somehow. There's definitely at least one familiarity in the story that one has experienced while raising their dogs. I can't help but feel a sudden urge to want to give my stinky dog an extra hug or a head rub everytime I put down that book. I'm slightly embarassed to say that I actually laughed (softly) to myself while reading it and towards the end, basically I shed real tears as I kinda know the feeling of what the author was telling in his story. Not as if I can control my tears..*going on the defensive*..it just overpowered me out of the blue.
My fellow girlfriends, you girls wanna read it? I think you'll love it. You'll devour the book like how Marley devoured everything in its way. P/S..yesterday I bought Confessions of A Shopaholic, because I wanted to read it before the movie reaches our shores.....and also because it was on sale (30% discount!).

Signs of boredom

2009-02-21T11:20:00.003+08:00

This is how bored I am. The result of starring aimlessly at my pc screen to kill time.

Quick run through

2009-02-10T10:27:00.004+08:00

Now playing : Sugarland - Stay

I've finally finished Breaking Dawn early this morning at 12.30am. It's kinda sad that it already came to an end so fast, I just couldn't get enough of it. Anyhoo, it's a good book, a good series. Time flies by just like that, I didn't have to put much effort into reading it. It just grabs my attention like an addiction. Almost cried a little at the end because it was a little touching at some parts. Never expected a bunch of vampires would make me teary-eyed...with joy anyway.
On a different note, on Sunday morning, I went to watch the Thaipusam procession. Walked from polo ground all the way to the Waterfall temple (not the one on the hill, I doubt I would make it up there). The road was closed and jam packed, good thing the whole road was shaded by gigantic trees.
Now it's Tuesday morning. This week is going to be another hectic week and I'm still not in the mood to get started with it. There's just so many things that is so disillusioning with work and outside of work. Waking up each day without a thing that I look forward to. Or maybe it's the weather that's making me cranky. I'm still waiting for Klaatu to come and make the earth stand still.

Procrastination rules my days

2009-01-30T10:11:00.003+08:00

*Updates: I did not reach office after all. Lost my mood just before I even reached there...so freaking screwed...*
Imagine how fast time flies. It's already Friday and next week I will have to return to work. I had plans for this shutdown week. Namely to finish some unfinished business but I came to realise working from home for me does me no good because I could never get started. Too many distractions like Astro, internet, food..to name a few. Basically I have successfully procrastinated the whole week away idly. I think I gotta get into office to settle some stuff, I really don't know what I have left to do but I just have this nagging feeling at the back of my mind that something is not done. Or maybe it's just to settle my nerves.
I just finished clearing some old books and donated them to the nearby library. My next plan is to clear some old clothes but thanks to my bad planning, it's already Friday. I guess I have to spend my afternoon in the office just to be sure I didn't leave anything to regret. Ciao!

The puzzle is complete

2009-01-28T17:30:00.000+08:00

I have finally found the missing piece of my Twilight book series puzzle. I had Twilight which is the first book and also finished reading New Moon (book 2). Then I bought Breaking Dawn which is the final book of the series. Just one tiny little thing missing - Eclipse...book 3. Obviously I couldn't proceed without reading the third installment and I spent probably close to a month looking for it. The books were sold out everywhere and I thought it was only because Penang is so small but Soon Yee said it's sold out in KL too and even in Singapore! Soon Yee managed to get the 4 books after placing orders with the bookstore and I was still bouncing around looking for Eclipse. So was Joanne in Singapore. We were both trying to find the missing piece and miraculously, about a week ago, I found Eclipse in Popular at Tesco where I so happened to visit there for lunch. I believe on that same day, Jo also found her Eclipse. I have just finished reading Eclipse last night. I agree with you, Jo. I do not like Jacob as much as I disliked him in New Moon. Good thing Bella came to her senses at the very end. Do you think Bella would become a werewolf in the finale? Imagine the extreme forbidden-ness of this already forbidden love. 2 sworn enemies in love with each other. Or would she stay human or decide to join the dark side of bloodsucking...

My joy in all it's glory:

Once upon These Days

2009-01-28T13:51:00.002+08:00

I need a different now,
Where we can wear each other,
For a while,
And I'll lend you my tears,
If I could borrow your smile,
And we'll get through tomorrow,
Some other day,
Happy after once upon these days..
(Chantal Kreviazuk - These Days)

A wonderful wedding

2009-01-24T16:51:00.006+08:00

My brother's wedding to his first love and girlfriend of 12 years (now my sister-in-law) was 2 weeks ago and it definitely was a joyous occasion full of colours, laughter, food and angpow. It was fun to see so many friends and relatives attending the ceremony and dinner. It was fun getting to dress up, people making up for me, wearing nice expensive clothes, spreading the joy. Our family and friends were all there to help in whatever way they can (it was great and I appreciate it a lot), that being the first time holding a wedding ceremony at our place, so everything was a bit new to us but it was cool! Do visit the link below which is the photographer's blog site for some snippets of photos and at the end of that is the slide show they prepared for the day ceremony. I must say that the photos are a burst of emotions, unique and funny at the same time. The 2 photographers were very professional and very good at what they do. Their observation to detail is simply breathtaking. They really have a good eye for creativity and imagination. I really enjoyed looking at the photos, I can't wait to get the rest of them. If I get married, I'd definitely want them taking photos for me. I'm not advertising for them, I'm just stating the facts. It's just something really different from the usual.
http://blizzconcepts.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/wedding-of-andy-choon-lay/

How to kick start a brand new year

2009-01-18T22:09:00.002+08:00

Now playing : The Click Five - Addicted To Me

1. De-motivation
It's coming to 3 weeks since we stepped into year 2009. Everyone is pretty much affected by the economy, everyone is talking about the economy, everyone seems to know everything but I guess I can't tell you how the economy really is gonna affect and I don't think every Tom, Dick and Harry is such an expert in this, everyone is just saying what everyone else is saying. It's happening to everyone, it's true, we understand it but it doesn't mean we like it, it's just something we gotta accept. Misery loves company. Hadn't really felt the painful pinch yet until I found out what might happen to my income. It feels like the serial killer in the Scream movie just slashed his hook across my guts and spilled it all over the floor. What a way to kick start the new year.
2. Elevate unnecessary issues
Wouldn't it be nice if problems of past years can be left at the door of year 2009? Basically like how yearly entitlements are reset to 0, problems should be reset to count 0 also. Everyday that passes, it just seems to elevate further. Sometimes I think, hey, I think things are working out again, feel could be happier than before and bang, it's not true. Things are not happy after all. Drop a bombshell and kick things down a notch.
3. Bills
Don't you wish the credit card bills can also be reset to 0 across the new year? WTH! Credit cards are evil, there's no denying it. Don't loyal, timely paying customers get any rewards? I guess not, all they can say is F it, you know?

Oh, and finally...Monday mornings suck!

When reality sinks back in

2009-01-13T07:00:00.002+08:00

I am so tired, I really don't want to do this anymore. Totally dreaded waking up yesterday morning and this morning. Hate the thought of going to work and seeing all those items pending for me. Test scripts, OT system, dinosaur system, SAP IR8-freaking-A, UAT UAT UAT... This dreading hadn't cross my mind for a couple of weeks now, but since now that more important things are settled...I'm getting all these mixed feelings again. It's 7am and I'm wishing today is the day the earth stood still.

:)

2009-01-09T08:33:00.002+08:00

Today will be a busy day, but it will be a fun day. I'll be learning something new, seeing a lot of people and possibly eating a lot of food. Tomorrow, too, will be a busy day, but it will be a happy day and I hope for a happy, breezy, sunny weather to top it off.

New year, new colour

2008-12-31T21:53:00.002+08:00

Feel like a change, so I changed the colour of my blog. Have a Happy New Year y'all. Throw away your old unfinished resolution list and come up with a new one.

Words

2008-12-25T21:51:00.004+08:00

"It's only words, and words are all I have, to take your heart away", comes from a legendary song by the Bee Gees. Words are important, no doubt. Some are said to make a person happy, some are said to hurt, and some are said just for the sake of saying something. It's a God's gift to mankind. The power of speech, the wonders of words.
Too much words can be overbearing too, like my writing..I tend to say a little too much, explain a little too deeply, repeat exaggeratingly. My previous sentence is a good enough example. Many people say the wrong things at the wrong time. Silence really is golden. Some will feel that the words said have a hidden agenda. Did you know that the most powerful words are not the inspirational shit that we hear, or the lovey dovey nonsense lovers talk about? The most powerful words are the words that cannot be forgiven. The ones that hit the hardest. I've heard plenty directed to me or to people I love. Of course, it is worst when it comes from people you actually give a damn about. Some use it to pressure or threaten you coz basically they think they are just so good at talking. At the end of the day, you tell yourself you won't give a F what they say. But you know what, keep telling yourself that. It doesn't work. I won't lie to you. Words f-ing matter, especially the bad ones.
On a lighter note, Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year.

Christmas time is here

2008-12-20T17:10:00.008+08:00

Now playing - I'll Be Home For Christmas

Almost every year I will say the same thing, there's just some thing about Christmas and Christmas songs that puts people in a romantic mood (I meant the walk on the street, smiling and laughing under the Christmas lights kind of mood). Or maybe it's just too much dose of movies over the years. And Christmas is usually linked to winter. I love winter. I've never actually experienced the depressing part of bitter coldness in winter which many people say that it sucks. I don't want that to spoil my fantasy of it. I only know that I loved the cool breeze of San Francisco before the actual bitter cold hits town. I'm no expert about the world, after all, I grew up in Penang, I studied in Penang, I work in Penang, maybe I will breathe my last breath in Penang and my life is just this little island. Don't get me wrong, I love home at times, anyhoo, this is not the point. 2 weeks in Sunnyvale, California don't make me no expert but it doesn't stop me from loving the short winter I had there.
Anyhoo, every year in December, one way or another I will always make it a point to listen to Christmas songs. Recently, I went and bought a Christmas album by Elvis Presley - Christmas Duets (for the sake of the spirit of Christmas) collaborating with a few of country's leading ladies like Martina McBride, Carrie Underwood to name a few. Dueting with a legend that has been dead for 3 decades is a work of modern technology, albeit, a little weird come to think of it. But hey, they could even digitally replay a 3d performance of Elvis on stage with Celine Dion, what can they not do. Heck, Elvis has been dead so long but every time I listen to his music, it is absolutely magical.
P/S: I have a thing for Christmas trees. Only coz they are so pretty...some of them anyway. A couple of years ago when I was in Singapore, I tried to take photos of every single beautifully decorated Christmas tree that I stumble upon just for the 'Kodak' moment feeling. These days I'm just too bummed to care. I look at them, I go 'oooh and aaah' and I walk away. They just don't look as pretty over here as they are over there.

Twilight is coming

2008-11-24T21:55:00.005+08:00

I've not been so excited about a movie for some time now until Twilight came around. More so a vampire flick. Twilight is a story based on the novel by Stephanie Meyer about a devilishly handsome vampire who falls in love with the smart girl-next-door kind of high school girl. A tale of forbidden love, everybody loves to have something forbidden eh? The hot vampire, Edward Cullen comes from a clan of vampires who are basically 'vegetarian' by choice (I guess it's not the right term to use, I don't mean they don't eat meat, they just don't suck the life out of humans. Their diet revolves around deer, bears and stuff.) They are the good vampires, in short. And then of course there are the evil vampires, equally hot. I just finished the book, it's book 1 of 4 part series. I'm telling you, it is addictive. I'm now mid way through book 2. It's so sinfully delightful. I'm joining the worldwide legion of screaming teenage girl fans being sucked into this vampirish version of a doomed love...though I must add that I'm no longer a teenager, by a mile or a couple of miles....

I was watching the trailer this afternoon and by golly, the vampires are stone cold beautiful. Based on that, I didn't see much of any gory, sharp teeth, blood-smeared faces or bloody scenes which is a good thing. I'm glad they portrayed the vampires in a 'hot' way. At least I know I won't be getting nightmares if I watch it. *cross fingers* I hope the movie is as good as the book. Finally a serial book-based movie that hopefully will give the super sissified Harry Potter series a run for their money. I never liked Harry Potter, I never read it and I never will, and I've only watched one of the movies. Sucks like hell. Bite Harry, Bite!

Samantha Who?

2008-10-30T15:06:00.007+08:00

Recently, I've been watching Samantha Who? It's a comedy series about this girl..Samantha. She met with an accident and can't remember a single thing about her past. Basically she was a mean but successful girl who would do anything to get what she wanted, that was the Samantha before the accident, thus the tag line "She's been a bad, bad girl. Good thing she can't remember." Every episode she discovers different things about herself such as she cheated on her boyfriend, she does her little victory dance when she discovered she is a VP of a firm, she hated her mum, she terrorized her assistant, she stalked a man, drowned her dad's car in a lake and many more. The show revolves around her trying to make amends and being a better person...in all the goofy, unsuccessful ways that I can't help but laugh. It's a really good antidote after those horrible long days. Samantha is surrounded by all these colourful, quirky characters that makes this show so enjoyable from her sometimes-mean mum, to her bitchy lawyer best friend, cute dad, adorable childhood friend, creepy boss and the sometimes-pitiful boyfriend.

David Cook's new single

2008-09-29T12:56:00.006+08:00

David Cook has a brand new single from his upcoming album. It's called Light On and it's totally rocking the speakers. Get hooked on Cook. Check out the song here.

Fernando wins in Singapore

2008-09-29T12:49:00.003+08:00

Former 2 time champion, Fernando Alonso is finally shining again, though briefly but it's a very good sign. Alonso won the Singapore Grand Prix last night, starting from 15th place all the way up to 1st. (photo courtesy of guardian.co.uk)

Blogging about nothing

2008-09-23T09:46:00.006+08:00

Today I attempted to blog about something, anything, a fly at my window if I may or the thoughts that are crossing my mind. Yes, it does seem 'mo liu' but I realised I don't have anything interesting to share at all and neither do I have the mood to.
I'm wondering how much dust can get into my room, I just wiped my table like 2 weeks ago and now it's already caked with a layer of dust. Enclosed room, windows that hardly open..where'd all the dust come from? And now my mind wanders to why I get very disturbed during my sleep especially naps. I keep having the same dream of something wrapping me tightly, I try to open my eyes, I try to move but I can't, I just feel paralysed. Then I start to panic and I dream that I'm forcing myself to wake up or am I really trying hard to wake up but I can't? Zap..I think about my meeting which I need to talk sense and not screw up. I ask myself, why the hell am I worried about it? I tell myself, I don't freaking care, what's there to worry? I worry too much...I totally need to chill. My life is just stagnant, it's not moving backwards, neither is it moving forwards, upward, downward. It's just standing still. Some friends keep coming up to me and asking me stuff like when you gonna get married, when people are bored they should get married bla bla bla. That is a whole load of crap. What kind of reason is that? Bored = Time to marry???!!! Oh the shock! I have so much phobia for that topic now. I never thought I would hate talking about this so much but I wish people would stop saying it like they know it all. Is it a must-follow rule that people who just got married and started families MUST spread the joy? I keep hearing people like they just had a baby, and suddenly constantly they are pestering their friends to hurry up and produce a baby also. WTF?? Is it a case of, ooh I have a baby, it's your turn now, see if you can beat me? What a joke. Thank god my family don't pester me about these stuff, I would totally scream into my pillow. Then I think about the fact that I'm getting fat and really need to follow a strict daily exercise routine at least for the next 3 months before my brother gets married so I can fit into nice dresses. I don't do diets, that's unfortunate for me. I'll die if I don't eat what I like to eat, so I just need to be more persistent & consistent with my exercises. Skipping to another topic, I have a little plant in my room and it's still going strong which is a miracle. I have a history of 'killing' plants by their 3rd month. What?! I'm not born with green fingers!
It's going to be a light lunch today of homemade sandwich. And now I'm hearing the clock ticking away and I gotta get changed. Thank you, God, for the creation of Panadol. Next week is a long week, shutdown and I'm so looking forward to Soon Yee coming home. We can finally meet up again for drinks and a whole load of catching up. I also need to spend some time soon looking for a nice dress or two. Anyone wanna accompany me? SY? Peeno? :)

Mellim Spicy Tomato Spaghetti

2008-09-06T08:33:00.007+08:00

Now playing : Daniel Powter - Next Plane Home

On Thursday, I spontaneously decided to try out my cooking skills again...or lack of. This time I ventured into the wonderful world of italian/asian/chapalang food. I had with me a can of Prego's Spicy Tomato spaghetti pasta (btw, did you know Prego's is under Campbells, I didn't know until recently, thanks Soon Yee), a packet of spaghetti, some sausages and an egg.
I sliced up the sausages and fried them till they turn from pink to brown and crispy. Then I fried an egg. I intended to make these my deco toppings. I made too much of topping, you'll see at the end.
Next, I boiled some water and cooked some spaghetti. The packet says 8-10 minutes, but by 10 minutes, my spaghetti hadn't transformed into edible form yet. Maybe the water wasn't boiling enough. So I waited another 10 minutes.Voila, final step, I heated up some Prego Spicy Tomato sauce in the microwave. Poured it onto my cooked spaghetti. Sprinkled...no...dumped the big lump of toppings on it. As you can see, the toppings had blocked out the sauce.
The verdict from yours truly, ME. It didn't look as good but it sure taste quite fine. The sauce is a bit spicy but it's very nice. I recommend you buying this sauce. Another flavour that is nice is Prego Cheese & Herbs. I haven't tried others but soon, I will.

Verdict from 2 of my 'lovable' friends:
LK says "From photos , doesn’t really look nice , yat pek yeh like that. But may b the taste might be okay ?? I am not sure . If Chyna and freeman not die after eat , let me try next time haha. Don’t b angry my fren , just joke for the day :p"
A couple of hours later, she decides to take a 2nd look at the picture and said "I try to relook the photos again and would like to say something to cheer u up. But i really couldn’t say something good about its outlook muahhahaahhaaha. Soli"

Thank goodness one of my best friends in the world was more encouraging with her verdict so I won't cook this and force you to eat it the next time you are back.
Soon Yee says why didn't I make some for her. (Sorry dear, I would have if you were in Penang but are you sure you want to, no regrets?)

Along the way

2008-08-25T16:22:00.003+08:00

"When I look back on my ordinary, ordinary life. I see so much magic though I missed it at the time." (Jamie Cullum - Photograph)
Do we overlook so many things in life that might matter? Do we really? All I know is I spend most of my days moaning and complaining about my day. With all the focus on the superficial things in life, I believe I would have dropped some balls along the way. But as life states, everyone has their own distress to pour out that nobody would really be listening anyway. (except for my friends who always lends me an ear.)
It's been weeks and weeks of unsteadiness and confusion. And then I saw the light, things just kept pushing me and pushing me until I realized I can't do this anymore. Now, most of my days are just spent waiting for good news. I hope it will come soon.
Today, I listened to this song by Jamie Cullum. I must say that I bitch a lot about work but at the end of the day, I truly appreciate those simple things in life such as love, family, friendship, health, a roof over my head and my non-sensical dreams. So I look back at my ordinary life and I realise, it may be ordinary but for a fact, normalcy is all that I wish for and life is a miracle. Thank you for being a part of my life.
But I ain't gonna stop bitching about things that piss me off until I get it right. Life is ALL about fulfilling satisfaction. Cheerz~!

The Mummy 3

2008-08-07T20:58:00.003+08:00

I loved the Mummy movie franchise. I could never get enough of The Mummy 1 and 2 regardless of how many times I’ve watched it. Everything was just right, the chemistry, the scenery, the suspense, the jokes. I could never get enough of how oddly shiny and white The Rocks teeth are in a hot, dusty desert during a flashback moment as the Scorpion King. Most importantly, Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz were just perfect for the roles.
Needless to say, I was very excited when The Mummy 3 aka The Mummy : Tomb of The Dragon Emperor was released. But bummer, it lacked the suspense and thrill that the first 2 movies delivered. Firstly, Jet Li wasn’t scary enough as the baddie. In fact, I wasn’t at all anxious as compared to the Egyptian mummy in the first 2 installments. Apart from that, this time around Rachel Weisz was replaced by Maria Bello. That’s too bad, Weisz was really perfect for the role as Evelyn. The new Evelyn kind of lacked the enthusiasm and the curiosity that Weisz’s Evelyn portrayed. Maybe should have just killed off Evelyn’s character and replaced with a new character, maybe then, it wouldn’t feel so out of place. And there was serious chemistry lacking between the new Evelyn and Rick O’Connell. Something was missing.
Besides that, Rick and Evelyn’s son was played by some actor (I didn’t even bother with his name) whom I think looks too old to be their son. The whole family thing just felt out of sorts. No chemistry, nothing. It was deadbeat relationship.
Nevertheless, the visuals were pretty cool and I loved the Yeti(s). I liked the movie as a whole. I just wished the characters had better chemistry. Looks like I’ll be watching re-runs of the Mummy 1 and 2 again to remind myself how much I still love it.
I read that there will be a Mummy 4, set somewhere in Latin America. Ooo, I hope it will be much improved.

I Kissed A....

2008-07-26T12:18:00.006+08:00

...a frog? a hot surfer dude? ...oh oh...I know. A GIRL! I Kissed A Girl. *silent pause* Oh don't get your intestines in a knot, that is a name of a song. I didn't kiss a girl, ok?
Recently FlyFM has been playing this song a lot by Katy Perry (it's a nice song by the way). Funny thing is, they block out the word 'girl'. So the song goes like this, "I kissed a ****. And I liked it, I kissed a ****" yada yada yada. Seriously, what's the point in that when you already announce the name of the song before and after playing it. It's interesting to know that the word GIRL, is actually a vulgar word that they have to censor out. Gosh, now I can't go around telling people that I'm a 'girl'. Oops sorry.
Hi, I'm a nice ****. Sorry, I can't say the G word. It's foul language. *rolling my eyes*

And the winner is..

2008-06-30T22:21:00.001+08:00

SPAIN

Euro 2008 Champions

Copy cat Simpson?

2008-06-21T15:20:00.004+08:00

I recently found out that Jessica Simpson will be releasing a COUNTRY album. OMG! She's gonna kill country. To be fair, Jessica Simpson was quite a good singer. Her voice is powerful, but also shrieky and painful to the ears but she can sing. So now she's gonna go country, is this her way of emulating Carrie Underwood?? Wow..she's got a long rocky way to go. She's got the guts..she sure doesn't have the talent. It doesn't mean that dating Carrie's supposed ex makes her an on par rival to Carrie Underwood. I heard one of Jessica's new 'country' song, Come On Over. I thought it might be nice..I was damn wrong! Honestly..it sucks.

If you guys are looking for really good country sounds, check out Jewel's new album. It's called Perfect Clear and there is NOT a single bad song in there. It's all good. 5 star quality. My favourites are...well it's hard to pick a favourite. All the songs in there are pretty nice.