The pants I love

Now playing : Gipsy Kings - Amor

This post is long overdue. Soon Yee bought me this cool pair of pants/bermudas that I absolutely adore and fits me just perfectly. Hopefully I don't grow any fatter. I promised to update her on this and *sorry* it took me so long. But the photos are very recent. I'm wearing it right now at 12:05pm 24-Nov-2007. I've been looking around for this style of pants (a bit of stripes and yet look so stylish). My dear friend can surely read my mind. I LOVE the side button at the bottom. Here are 2 photos of it. I'm no Gisele or Kate Moss so please forgive me for these awful poses.

I thought I was losing grip

Now playing : The Jets - You've Got It All
What will happen in 5 years time? What will I be having 10, 20, 30 years down the road? Where does this road take me? Am I going to be sitting in the same cubicle doing the same job? Or will I have the courage to take up a more creative and fulfilling career? Will I get to see the world before I die? The past few days have been like an emotional rollercoaster ride which I believe eventually contributed to the nightmare I had.
These questions populate my mind every now and then. Sometimes I can feel that I might spiral out of control and lose grip on my life and the people around me. Today I feel especially awkward. Last night I had a bad dream and I woke up still feeling a pang of sadness and anger eventhough, logically speaking, the story in my dream was a little non-sensical but it felt so real. The fears I have on my life played out into a movie by itself in my sub-conscious reality. In my dream, I had no control, I had no say. I felt like I was under invisible lock and chain as I shifted from scene to scene. Everything was revolving around a default scenario that I didn’t agree with. The life that was normal was lost in translation and I ended up helpless, which gave me an extreme feeling of losing grip. The moment I opened my eyes from the sleep, I still felt that wave of misery washing over me. Ever experienced a time when you suddenly wake up from a dream and realize that you were crying? Or that immediate tug on your heart and the tight knot you feel in your tummy? I wasn’t crying though, but I was mildly down in the morning after. It gave me fears that I’m going to be losing grasp of decisions and the fear of living by other people’s rules but with fear came determination too. It was pretty silly now that I think of it. I’ve had dreams of alien bugs attacking me, Godzilla chasing me, me turning into a vampire, me being chased by a vampire, me surfing on waves, me playing basketball with Michael Jordan. God knows I have dreams of everything under the sun.

Carrie Underwood : Carnival Ride

Now playing : Carrie Underwood - I Told You So

I have a thing for country music. I like most of the songs by Keith Urban, Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Rascal Flatts, Tim Mcgraw, Shania Twain, Collin Raye. Most country song's lyrics tell a story. It never fails to strike a chord in my heart. Listen to Collin Raye's One Boy One Girl and you will understand what I mean by story. Unlike some of the pretentious songs such as Britney's Gimme More...whole song just going gimme gimme gimme..no meaning also..gimme gimme more, give her a slap ler. iissshh (anyhoo..I admit I'm shamefully addicted to that tune). Back to country... I like ALL the songs by Carrie Underwood. Serious..it's really that good! Her 1st album was worth it. Every single song suited my taste and her powerhouse vocals was worth every dollar. Now she just released her second album, Carnival Ride, and her vocals have gone from power to power. This album is 5 star. I repeat...5 star (1..2...3..4....5...star) or gazillion stars..
Anyhoo, I bought it a week ago. One of it is her 1st single from this album which has been playing on my ipod for ages already, So Small. Now, the other song which really caught my attention and has now become my most hooked on song for the week is "I Told You So". First time I heard it, I fell in love with the song. Ok, here's my dog hair's worth of thoughts on this album.
Track 01 : Flat On The Floor - This one is so country with a little bit of rock. This fella really can rock. I didn't like it when I first listened to this one. But after a few times playing it in my car, it is quite a catchy, wake up song.
Track 02 : All-American Girl - Favourite part of this song is the 1st 5 seconds (the instrumental part). Don't know why, I just like the tune. The chorus is pretty nice too. Back again to the part I said that country music always tells a story. This piece is one good example.
Track 03 : So Small - I did talk about this song a few posts ago. A strong ballad. One of me favourites.
Track 04 : Just A Dream - This one is a pretty sad song about a girl losing her soldier boyfriend/husband/lover..etc. It's slightly too depressing for me.
Track 05 : Get Out Of This Town - This...I likey! A fast track. Kinda makes me feel like going on a road trip everytime I listen it. "Let's get out of this town tonight, nothing but dust in the shadows, gone by morning light, somewhere we won't ever get caught"
Track 06 : Crazy Dreams - Didn't really catch my attention.
Track 07 : I Know You Won't - The beginning of the song was slow but then it started getting into my head just as it reached the chorus. I'm hooked on the chorus. Talking about her powerhouse vocals...this is one heck of a powerful song. Picture this, if I ever attempt to sing this, I'll very likely gag and choke on my own saliva..and pass out before I can hold the high note. Ok, that example is a little odd. This is one of her best songs in the album. It's a gorgeous, monster ballad.
Track 08 : Last Name - Another rock-like country song. Pretty funky...
Track 09 : You Won't Find This - Another one of my favourites. Don't really know what to say about this. I'm just getting really lazy.
Track 10 : I Told You So - *drumroll* This one is DA BEST! Loved every single part of the song and the melody. The lyrics are pretty sad and sympathetic about someone leaving their lover and only to realise that he/she is the one but it's too late.
Track 11 : The More Boys I Meet - You know what I like besides the fact that this is quite catchy, it is the part she sings "the more boys I meet, the more I love my dog" Cool....I love my dog.
Track 12 : Twisted - This track is ok. The chorus is pretty fine..the rest of the song is just alright.
Track 13 : Wheel Of The World - A nice piece to close off a fantastically fine album. A slightly slower pace song, softer and great lyrics.

Ok, I'm dead tired now.

Oh darn, what have they done?

Soon Yee and I have declared war against Westlife, and we are not the only ones. It all started from a song called Home which was originally by the one and only, the great, the awesome, the legendary - Michael Buble. We loved that song because it was one of the most beautiful songs Michael Buble ever wrote and sang. Westlife destroyed it!! They made a mess of it!!It is meant to be a personal song about loving someone, missing someone. How could they allow Westlife to sing it? The saying goes, if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. And Westlife is obviously not in a position to try a Michael Buble song. They killed it. Unfortunately I will never listen to Home in the same way that I have before because I will always be reminded of the destruction caused by this overgrown boyband. They have transformed from potential boy band with considerably good original debut and sophomore albums years ago to freakin'-I-wanna-throw-up-in-my-mouth-when-I-hear-them-kind-of-boyband. I don't like them anymore. Basically they have quickly and surely deteriorated to doing horrible renditions of other people’s classics. Let’s be frank, it really sucks. Here's a tip, if you are not as talented as someone like Michael Buble, please puh-lease stay away from spoiling other people's songs. I'm not alone in this, here are the links to Soon Yee's and Zeeko's 'heartfelt' objection to Westlife's painful destruction of such a beautiful song. This is a collaborative, coordinated, timely objection merely to fulfill our heart's discontent on this matter of a horrendous cover version. Here are the links on what others have got to say:

Soon Yee's post "Michael Buble"
Zeek's post "Westlife.. Please DIE?!"

Winter Warmers

Now playing : Nelly Furtado - All Good Things Come To An End

Tonight I had dinner at Winter Warmers in Gurney Plaza. It's a cosy little place which has been there for a long time now and this was the first time I ever stepped into the place. The interior is very cottage-like and it smells good inside.
For my beverage, I ordered the Vanilla Ice Blended which was priced at RM7.90. A mixture of vanilla, tea and well...ice, of course. That's the tall one on the left. It wasn't too bad. The first sip I took, I immediately felt that it wasn't sweet enough. But after a few tries, I kind of liked the simplicity of it. My dad had the Rose Coffee which is the pinky one and notice the tiny dried rose on the top. It smelt great, just like its name but obviously we didn't eat that rose coz I felt it would be like eating potpourri. The drink tasted coffee-ish, strawberry-ish and rosy.

For the main course, I took the Macaroni Cheese Bake. Costs about RM14.90. I'd give it a 7/10. It wasn't creamy enough but I guess it's a good thing since I'm getting fat already. The taste was slightly bland but fortunately the 2 side dishes made up for it. Kinda even out the taste. Portion was just right, not too big and not too small either.
This is the Grilled Fish my dad ordered. Looks plain, though..don't ya think? I guess I would call the portion too small for him. Again, I felt it wasn't salty enough but my dad said that it tasted quite nice. Apparently, it went well with the coffee he ordered.Maybe next time I'll order the other type of tea which comes with a mini jug and a martini glass which was oh-so-cute. I meant the jug was cute. I saw a couple of people ordering that drink. :P

The melody in my head

Alright, it's been 2 months since my last blog about the music that I've been listening to and the list has changed totally. For the past 2 weeks I've been immensely hooked on these pieces below:
Jamie Scott – London Town. This song reminds me a little of KT Tunstall’s style of song. Nice soft drum beats at the back. Loved that part where he hums in the song.

Joey McIntyre's Someday. Haven't heard anything from him for ages. I read that he released 2 new albums after Meet Joe Mac but I haven't managed to locate those CDs in Penang. This is an old song from him. I’ve heard it like a zillion times before but recently got hooked on it again because the song goes like a conversation between 2 friends. One is saying that someday he will get the girl. The other is saying it won’t happen. Good melody.

This is a rock song by Chris Daughtry and it's called Over You. His latest single which is playing quite often over the radio. It is addictively loud. He’s got a fantastic voice.

My favourite of all favourites at the moment is this Cantonese song by Eason Chan (the God of song...in my opinion). It is entitled 富士山下 (Fu Shi Shang Shi) Hahaha...you'd think I know that but I didn't and I had to ask my friend for the title. Thanks to the language bar installed, I managed to type out the name successfully. It means 'at the bottom of Fuji mountain (as what my friend translated for me) Love it love it love it. I’ve put it on repeat mode. Sounds like a sad song…probably a reflective song about the past and the memories of a love. I’ve heard it quite a long time ago and have been looking for it ever since but I didn’t know the song and only knew it was by Eason. Then…my colleague played it over his notebook recently and I pounced on it like lion on a carcass.

Come So Far from the Hairspray soundtrack. The people singing this song includes Queen Latifah, Zac Efron, Nikki Blonsky and etc. It’s a very cheerful song with a nice beat that keeps my feet tapping. A happy-go-lucky piece about encouragement and not giving up.

Missing you by Tyler Hilton. 'I ain't missing you, since you've been gone away, I ain't missing you at all' Rings a bell?
It’s a cover version of the original by I don’t know what band. Heard this acoustic version on One Tree Hill in the scene where Nathan and Haley were standing in the rain holding each other. It’s just as good as the original.

This is by Kiki Ebsen, Say A Little Prayer. This is the adult contemporary, jazz-y style of this song made famous in the movie My Best Friend’s Wedding. But the one in that movie was sung by Diana King. It’s a softer, toned-down version with nice guitar sounds. Perfect for a scenario that involves a romantic dinner by a pier overlooking the sea, with a waiter in a black and white uniform serving meals, pouring me a glass of champagne which I don't know how to drink.

Winners At A Losing Game by Rascal Flatts. A very nice country ballad on unrequited love where he sings about loving a person that doesn’t love him back and that he knows that he will never be the man of her dreams. One the lines goes like this “If love is really forever, then I’m a winner at a losing game”. I’m thinking it probably means that if this relationship really works and last till the end of time, he wins because he has the girl of his dreams but the girl will never love him truly for no matter how long she tries. So ultimately, the relationship is a losing game because he may get the person, but he’ll never gain the heart. I like the way the lyrics were written, it’s like a puzzle. It's a kick to figure out meanings of songs.

The perfect vacation-welcoming song. Coconut Grove by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. What a freaky name! It sounds like an oldie to me but my mum didn’t seem to have heard this song before. My uncle was singing that at the top of his lungs in the car though. A mixture of muffled sounds because he forgot the lyrics and he sounded a little like a broken guitar string. Anyhoo, this song is really nice and everytime I listen to it. I imagine the beach and blue skies. (It’s part of the lyrics by the way) I googled the name Coconut Grove and found that it is a place in Miami, Florida. I wonder if this is the one they were singing about.

Gimme More. Ahem…it’s Britney, bitch. I hate to admit it but this song is so infectious. The more I listen to it, the more I feel like moving to it. I really can’t help bouncing my head to the beats. Although pretty much the whole song, she’s just going ‘gimme gimme gimme more gimme gimme gimme more gimme gimme’.

Blue sky blue

Now playing : Jamie Scott - Runaway Train

I woke up abnormally early today knowing eventhough it's a Saturday morning. It was already bright and sunny compared to the past couple of days where the morning was cool, rainy and good to sleep in. During a work day, it's cloudy, cold and rainy...a kind of day I would kill to stay in bed but I can't because I have to go to work. Bah!

After countless days of gloomy skies, today was quite a beautiful change in a way. I was just done bathing my dog and as I was scooping her poo, I looked up to skies and was taken aback by the gloriousness of it. I love looking at the sky. It's like a whole different world and imagine if I was like Superman with the ability to just fly all the way up there...endless..endless space. Here's the beautiful blue sky captured this morning.

3D/2N in Langkawi

Now playing : Take That - Rule The World

My trip to Langkawi had been a good one. For those that don’t know, Langkawi is quite a pretty island which is part of Kedah, Malaysia. Flying in the air above it, I had notice many tiny islands nearby which made it look breathtaking. You can find out more about this place in Wikitravel (http://wikitravel.org/en/Langkawi)
I spent 3 days, 2 nights there. In actual it’s more like 1.5 exploring days.
Day 1:
We touched down in Langkawi at noon on 28-Sep (Friday) which gives us about half a day to explore. Kudos to Ding for being the ‘PLANNER’ (as how he likes to put it..ha ha) and planning the itinerary for our trip. Well, we fulfilled almost 80% of the itinerary and I’m sure he should be proud of that. The flight there was a peaceful, non-turbulent journey which is our first time flying Firefly – its motto is something like Malaysia’s first community airline bla bla bla. I’d like to point out that I LOVED the black t-shirt that the stewardess had on. The plane was tiny (could hold probably 50 passengers). Upon reaching Langkawi airport we rented a car for a pretty good price in our opinion. RM120 for 3 days, that’s like RM40 a day. We got a Proton Savvy as Ding had never driven one before and had a little trouble at first working the auto/manual gear. It was drizzling as we headed out towards Awana Porto Malai resort. The map was simple and direct. There were a lot of signs that could point us in the right direction. The 1st few hours we were just learning to get used to the map and the roads. We made some wrong turns sometimes but I would say traveling by car in Langkawi was not too bad. We spent our afternoon at Oriental Village where the Langkawi cable car was. The journey there was briefly disrupted when we took the wrong road and ended up on a narrow 1 lane road just big enough for a Savvy to pass through. It was some ‘kampung’ in Kedawang and there was no turning back. Thank God we managed to get out of the maze. At Oriental Village, it was drizzling and the cable car service was stopped briefly so we didn’t take it. Besides, I was really disappointed because the weather made the distant view look so blurry and white so much so that I think it would be a waste of RM25 to go up there and not get a good clear view. In the Oriental Village, there’s a section housing rabbits and deer and anyone can walk right in and feed them. When we reached there it was only the 2 of us but unfortunately a big group of party poopers followed suit and crowded the whole place, hogging all the rabbits’ attention. Ding and I were attacked by deer. When I had food in my hand they start rubbing against me and aiming for my hand. One damn deer stepped on my foot. Imagine the pain. I went ‘OUCCCHHHH’ but the deer wouldn’t budge. And the guy there had the nerve to say they are harmless. They practically ambushed me. Ewww!
Here's a lowdown on Awana Porto Malai (that's the hotel we stayed in):
I liked the front walkway that leads into the lobby. It was flanked on both sides by Koi fish ponds which was unique. The room was quite nice and the sea view was pretty.

Day 2:
We got up to an early start and first destination was Snake Sanctuary which is very near the Makam Mahsuri. Never ever go to this stupid snake farm. Waste of money and time. Along the way we say the Makam Mahsuri and decided to take a look. I thought it should have been free but they are charging RM5 per person so I thought…WTF? 5 dollars to see a ‘makam’. No thank you. We left immediately. The next destination was Crocodile Farm. Why snakes and crocs you may ask? Well Ding loves to watch these reptiles. We had to pass by Ulu Melaka to get there. This is how most of the roads in Langkawi looked like.Fitting to say, it’s quite ‘ulu’. Everywhere is flanked by shrubs, trees, bushes and all green plants. Houses that we see along the way are always surrounded by overgrown shrubs. Crocodile Farm was definitely worth it. I would recommend this for those that won’t scream everytime they see a crocodile move. Not really for the faint-hearted sometimes. There were quite a lot of crocodiles, big ones, tiny ones, motionless ones. We were in time for the 11.15am show. Voila~! This is the star of the crocodile farm..which one you might ask?
The interesting part of this farm was the bridge above the crocodile pond. It’s a wooden bridge which was kinda scary. I was afraid it would break and I’d fall straight into the mouth of a crocodile. There were quite a lot of them in the stinky pond. We completed the first 2 destinations way ahead of schedule, so we wanted to stop by one of the beaches and the easiest along the way was Pantai Pasir Tengkorak…or maybe loosely translated to Skull Sand Beach.

Our next stop was Kuah town. Upon reaching the outskirts of the town. We started to see more ‘civilization’…meaning we started to see more concrete, shop houses, buildings etc. and less jungle. We knew we were close. We stopped for lunch before heading into the several duty-free shops to scout for chocolates. At this point, it is CADBURY time~~!! Finally we headed off to Langkawi Parade shopping mall and bought chocolates…lotsa chocolates.
As we had planned to visit the Night Market, it was way too early so we headed back to the hotel to get a short rest before coming out again to Kuah in the evening. At 6pm, we went back to Kuah and visited the Eagle Square. (eagle eagle..come to mama!)
Next stop was Langkawi Fair..there wasn’t much to see there so we went to the night market after dinner. It was lame. Lame lame lame night market. I only saw 2 stalls selling food.
Day 3:
Anyhoo, that's about it for our trip. Day 3 was our flight back on..Firefly. The return flight was ... freaky. So much air pocket travelling on a teeny-tiny airplane so much so that it felt like I was sitting on a roller-coaster ride. Even my sunglass I placed safely on my head fell off. I can see that the middle-aged fella sitting on the other row was freaked out to the point of pee-ing in his own pants but he still had the balls to laugh at Ding. It was raining and windy and it did feel like the plane was falling at a couple of intervals.
Well if you want to see more of our Langkawi photos. Here's the link :
http://mellim82.multiply.com/photos/album/9/Langkawi_Trip_2007

Reminiscing the old times

Now playing : Vitamin C - Graduation (Friends Forever)

Recently I read an article in The Star about board games such as Monopoly. It reminded me of the fun times I had playing those games with my 2 cousins and my brother. We used to play Monopoly, a short stint on Cluedo and there was a few times we played Pictionary. I remembered that I have a few other board games like Scrabble, Mastermind.

my Barbie doll shoes and accessories(below)

one of my board games that is not stuffed somewhere deep in the closet(below)Those were days back in primary school. My cousin would come over my house and hang out during school holidays. We’ll play Barbie dolls, Polly Pocket, even build Lego houses. Sometimes we’ll cycle outside our houses along the road and get into arguments with the ‘children’ living opposite us. Sometimes my cousin and I would cycle to the nearby library and look at books. There was once we saw a recipe book and immediately went back to my place and started making sandwiches with ingredients like cheese, banana *gasp*, grapes *gasp again* and what not. It tasted quite nice. We sat there in the living room and ate our masterpieces while watching Hindi movies with my grandma.

Back then when we were young, I’d sleep over at my cousin’s house and vice versa. We lived just 2 houses away so it was easy for me to drag my pillow and bolster and blanket over to her place. Imagine tiny little me, carrying my pillow..scurrying over to her place. In the evenings, we’d play badminton outside our house until it was dinnertime. I used to have early dinners. 5.30pm was my dinner time.
Together with all this play time there was also tuition time, music lessons, ballet lessons that I had to take. I didn’t like ballet lessons but I don’t regret it either. I cannot at this moment imagine myself prancing around in the tight body hugging ballet costume which looks like a swimming costume anyway. I never practiced my ballet steps so I’d always make a mess in class. Sometimes I get punished but I guess I’m the type that doesn’t like to be embarrassed that way, so I had to get my act together and not humiliate myself. I stopped ballet when I reached Standard 4. The music lessons were still going on though. I loved playing my electronic keyboard a.k.a organ. I didn’t like the lessons because I was a lazy bum but come to think about it. I enjoyed playing music very much. The teacher let me take the practical exams and I got to Level 5. It’s been a while since I last practiced. I stopped music lessons I believe sometime in Form 3 or Form 4. My excuse was exams.
Now the days are gone. It’s something of the past and those are memories that I would love to cherish forever. When we entered secondary school, we didn’t really have time to play anymore. We kept out Barbie dolls and polly pockets back into our boxes. Tore down our Lego houses and packed it. Since entering high school, play time was reduced. Besides, we were already growing up, we can’t be playing Barbie dolls no more. At times before we also played 2 player computer games like Bubble trouble. We were addicted to that but I couldn’t recall at what age did we play that. More and more time was spent studying, going to tuition, after school activities, doing homework and worrying about exams. Years later, I graduated from high school and started my college life. When I was young, I played a lot of girl toys as well as boy toys too…FOR KIDS!~! What you thinking??!! I will always reminisce the good old times because I had a nice childhood surrounded by sleepovers, sandwich experiments, board games, badminton, TV, ballet lessons *eck*, music lessons, tuition (that’s like mandatory, I had no choice) and some toys.

MIX fm turns me on

I listen to ...

Normally when I go to work, I’ll pop one of my cd’s in the player and listen to it on the way…yes, occasionally I do sing to myself in the privacy of my own car..duh, who doesn't. Sometimes I’ll listen to Lite n Easy aka Lite FM but since I discovered a certain threesome in the morning, I’ve switched channels. Nowadays, I tune in to Mix FM during my drive to work. That's 91.1fm in Penang. I’m so hooked on the Mix breakfast show with Ika, Serena C and Pietro.
I think these 3 fellas make a good match and gives the right vibe. It’s much more entertaining and humorous now. If one of them is missing on certain days, it just doesn’t feel so right or as funny as usual. It’s wacky, the things they say and the jibes they pour on each other. I especially like those parts when Phua Chu Kang makes his appearance for celebrity news and starts joking about Britney ‘throw the knife’, Britney ‘javelin’…no..Britney Spears and other celebrities. It’s a good move pulling him in here and there. Totally beefed up the entertainment value. In the evening on the way back home from work, it's Ross and I totally like the way he talks.
Besides, Mix FM plays great songs. I still like Lite FM occasionally because of the softer songs and oldies that they play. To me, other than Mix FM and Lite FM, the other channels are just...blah.

D.I.Y. Burger

Now playing : Luis Fonsi - Tu Amor

Fancy having a burger for dinner but don't really feel like going out to the nearest roadside burger stall, how about a homemade burger. This evening I had a craving for it so I thought I'd make it by myself one using the frozen Ramly chicken burger meat I bought 2 days ago (the fact is the burger bun I bought will expire in a couple of days so don't want that to go to waste either). Well, two's a company so I invited Ding over to try my hopefully 'edible' and 'safe' masterpiece. Let's call this specialty - Mellim Burger. ;P

This is how it looks like taken out from the freezer. I left it on the plate for a couple of minutes. Still looks pale and unattractive for now.












Then I whip out the frying pan to heat it up. Once I think that it is warm enough, I slapped some margerine onto the pan till it turns watery, golden and gooey. I kinda prefer that to cooking oil.












This is the going-to-expire-on-30th-September bun. As the margerine is slowly simmering in the pan, I quickly proceeded to slit each one of the buns into half....abothen...if not how to make burger.












Done with the bun, back to the pan. Now I placed the processed meat into the pan to fry it. After many minutes have passed, and after many flips have been done on the meat. It finally turned golden brown and looks cooked enough. I had to be sure it's cooked so I continued frying it till I felt it is secure enough.












The above shows the halves of the buns split open with margerine spread on top of each half. Then I take each of them and dump it into the frying pan (margerine side facing downwards) for a minute.

By doing what I did previously, I would then get a nice golden colour. This picture looks like 4 eggs. But no, it's the buns.












Now comes my favourite - EGGS~!! I'll fry 2 eggs like that. Well at first it looks beautiful like in the picture, sunny-side-ups. But after some dabbling by me, you won't be able to see the sunny side of it no more.












Here are all my cooked and ready to be consolidated ingredients. Time for magic!












First layer is the cheese, then the egg goes on top. After that, I squeezed some tomato sauce.





















After the egg comes the meat. This is then followed by the final layer of some type of vegetable which I found in the fridge. It's cabbage which I have so 'delicately' chopped up into a train wreck. Since I don't have any mayonnaise, I decided to substitute it with Masterfood's Barbeque Sauce. I love this sauce! There you go...my work is almost done. *DRUMROLL*

I serve to you 'Mellim Burger'. Honestly, it's not too bad. A decent burger and it had some taste to it :P I think it would have been better with some mayo. Anyhoo, everything turned out OK.

Craving for Campbell's

Now playing : Marie Digby - Umbrella

Today, besides tandoori chicken with cheese naan...only one other foodstuff was on my mind. Campbell's soup. I've been thinking about Campbell's soup after Soon Yee 'planted' the thought into my head this morning *GRIN* and have spent the whole day craving for it. :)
After dinner, I went to Giant and bought myself the Clam Chowder soup and the mushroom chicken instant soup by Campbell's. I thought I would like to come home and make myself some soup but I ended up eating half a plate of sliced watermelon. Now I feel so bloated. Maybe if I wake up at 6am tomorrow (which is quite an impossible stunt to pull), I might make myself some good ol' steaming, hot soup-ie.

A Dose of Barry

Now playing : Barry Manilow - Can't Take My Eyes Of You

Who would have thought that I actually would listen to Barry Manilow? Who's he you say? He sang Mandy, I Write The Songs, Copacabana....ring a bell yet?

Anyhoo, he has been releasing a couple of compilation songs from different times with the albums Great Songs from the 50s, Great songs from the 60s and his latest one which was just released recently, Great Songs from the 70s.
I've heard his take on the Great Songs From The 60s. He covered a couple of those oldies tracks which I really loved such as 'There's A Kind Of Hush', 'What The World Needs Now Is Love' and also the party-friendly-sing-along-song 'Can't Take My Eyes Of You'. I've heard a couple of versions for this from different singers but I think Barry's one is pretty cool. There's also another of the evergreen oldie - Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head. That is a difficult, difficult tune to get out of my head. It's like an old record that wouldn't stop spinning!

His latest collection from the 70s. I've not really heard it but apparently it's got some interesting list of songs in there which obviously I love..too. There's a duet in there with Melissa Manchester. Familiar name...hold on, let me google her. Ahh yes, she's famous for the song 'Don't Cry Out Loud'. :) The duet with Barry Manilow is another great-party-hand-in-hand-sing-along-song 'You've Got A Friend'. There are many cool tracks in this album such as 'Bridge Over Troubled Water', 'It Never Rains In Southern California', 'Sailing', 'Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word' and many many more classics.

My Fantasy Home - part 1

Now playing : Tyler Hilton - Missing You

Fantasy football, fantasy basketball, now I’ve got fantasy home. Everyone has a dream home pictured in their mind, I’m sure of that. Not everyone will ultimately build their dream home but it sure doesn’t stop one from imagining how it would look like. Fantasizing is a gift. It takes me out of the realm of reality.
I’m not able to picture the exterior of my dream house, it could be anything. But I can picture the interior, although the only interior that crosses my mind at the moment is my music/reading/computer room. My fantasy house has a room that is my little shack, my little world. This room will be where I will have a gigantic book shelf lining one side of the wall – filled with books. Another section of this shelf will be my collection of music CDs and old cassettes. This room will have windows obviously, it’s creepy without windows. And it will be covered by a stylish brownish bronze plain curtain. On another side of the room will be where my personal Hifi set will be placed. Very important piece of equipment. Nearby I will have my own desk where my laptop and other computer peripherals will reside as well as enough space for me to lay my head down and drool. But space is important for me to do my work or in other words doodle. I hate crammy desks although currently my tabletop is pretty messy. Smack in the middle of the room will be a sofa or maybe a reclining arm chair with a small table top at the side where I can place my cuppa steaming hot chocolate. I can picture a small antique clock on the table with a slick looking photo frame by its side.
The room will be painted either sky blue or a nice shade of yellow. And I’m picturing probably a large wallpaper on the wall at back of the room showing Manchester United legends…aka David Beckham and Nistelrooy. Ok, I’m not that corny, I’ll probably just have a large wallpaper showing green meadows or the calm blue sea. Hmm..still, a football wallpaper is irresistible like this one (anyhoo, the football field still looks like a green meadow):

On the ceiling, I will paste glow-in-the-dark stars. Near the sofa will be a small carpet on the floor to rest my feet. I don’t need a tv in my fantasy shack. TVs are meant to be watched together in a nice living room or bedroom instead of my little private room. One corner of the room will be where my Yamaha electronic organ will be placed assuming I still remember how to play it. Now imagine, the curtains are drawn, the lights in the room are dimly lit as I lay on my comfy chair. I close my eyes and listen to the quiet strums of guitar and the crisp clear voice of Michael Buble playing from my stereo system. Ahhh…paradise of my own. Voila~!This is my private entertainment room, I shall call it – My Studio. I’ll need to fantasize other rooms too but I’ll leave that to another time for daydreaming. To be continued…

Sunday Morning

Now playing : Fountains of Wayne - Hey Julie

It's a cloudy Sunday morning and has been raining for 3 days straight. Intermittent but heavy. Yet I like it because it's so cooling. It has been a really long week in the office. I felt rattled and angered at times but who hasn't. Sometimes I would love to tell my troubles out loud but over the years, I've learnt to live without. Not everything can be shared and I've come to realise something over the days. The more we give something out of sincerity, the more they expect us to give every single time. My house is quiet at the moment, peaceful and quiet. Some may think that's awful but I like a cooling weather and a quiet time, curled up on my sofa drinking hot chocolate with marshmallow (I've tried that, it's simply delicious but overly sweet so I won't drink it anymore) Everybody's out, my dog is sleeping and the Sunday paper is waiting for me to read it. Oh, and the sun seems to be peeking out now.

Happy Merdeka

Five For Fighting - Freedom Never Cries

The past 3 days have been somewhat interesting. It's a holiday on Friday in conjunction with Malaysia's Independence Day. Fyi, I didn't do anything patriotic except for contributing to the Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival aka shopping, if you consider that as contribution. I went to Deluxcious for lunch with my parents and I ordered the Chicken Linguini with light cream sauce. It was a delightful meal. I was actually going for a light meal as I wasn't very hungry but I ended up with a huge plate of pasta which I freakishly finished. After lunch, I linked up with Peen to satisfy our shopping thirst. I would declare Peen as the bigger contributor since she bought 2 bags, and I...one. We bought the same Espirit sling bag. :)
I was feeling a little creative and a little wacky so I painted my toe nails as such using the nail polish I bought from The Face Shop whilst shopping with Peen. Pretty colours aren't they?
On Saturday, my brother and I took our dog to the vet. For some time now I thought my dog was fat but apparently it was at a healthy 27kg, down from a fat 30+kg. She behaved well throughout the journey there and back except for some occasion when she drooled a little on my car door. She slept like a little baby on the way back. In the afternoon, I met up with my good ol' buddies that I miss so much. Soon Yee and Yee Leng came back from KL and it was about time we hung out again. So I took them to e-gate for lunch. They kept asking me...why e-gate? Gosh, I really don't know, it was the most convenient I guess. Yee Leng and I ate first while waiting for Soon Yee to come. (Psstt..she got a little lost looking for the restaurant we were in...chuckle) Anyway, we sat and talked for hours and finally left the place at close to 5pm. The cashier must be wondering when these 3 ladies are gonna pay and leave. Heck, Bequadro...the food sucked and the milkshake was so freaking expensive. We took every single cent of the change, took the receipt and Soon Yee was tempting me to take the receipt holder booklet as well...which I didn't. *we should have hor?*
Sunday, Tzu Chi Charity Food Fair day at Pesta. Ding and I reached there about 8.45am and saw that it was already jammed. We went Supertanker to have some Aki Pancake first before going to the fair but decided that we're gonna park at Queensbay and take the free shuttle to the food fair. They had buses and cars to fetch people there and I was heading straight for the Honda CRV at the front of the queue. Too bad some family beat us to it. DANG IT! Next best thing, we hopped into the old version CRV...bahhh...We spent about an hour at the fair. It was packed and the atmosphere was very merry and interesting. It was a fun day. Now that the weekend is over, it's back to work. Party-pooper.

Consolation...weeee~!

Now playing : OST Hairspray - Without Love

Look-ie here! I've got a consolation prize for a contest I entered for the Pirate Master reality show on AXN. I know it's not the grand prize but it's been a long time now since I last won a prize. I don't quite remember. Maybe this is the FIRST time I ever won a contest prize or any sort. I received a nice black t-shirt and shown in the picture is the design on the back, a plastic folder and a cube-like name card holder.

Beauty of nature

The grass is always greener on the other side

Now playing : Nikki Blonsky - Good Morning Baltimore

I guess each one of us is born this way. We tend to want something more, we tend to see what others have as better than ours and other people would want to have what we have. It's like a game that never ends. Maybe it's meant to be that way. Only with these thoughts do we take steps to improve ourselves. I would assume it's perfectly alright to want better things as long as it doesn't extend to become obsession and self-destruction in achieving something.
I see many people who are working or studying overseas saying that they wish they were back home. They wish they could spend more time with their family and friends. I, on the other hand wish sometimes that I was them, away in a place where the grass is greener 'not literally the grass'. Far away from home, living my life in a place where there are four seasons in a year, away from petty squabbles and savouring what it really is like to be overseas and to have the feeling of excitement of coming home for a vacation instead of the other way around. I wonder if that would be considered tasting the true meaning of life. Coming back is nothing but just a holiday. If you asked me, I don't know..but I think most of those who are living overseas, they don't mind coming back for vacation but if you ask them to stay. I doubt that would happen because the world is so much bigger out there. No matter how much one misses home, once you are out, you probably won't want to come back for good till retirement age. Some may beg to differ but that's the truth.

What am I listening to lately?

Carrie Underwood has just released a strong new single from her upcoming sophomore album. It is a powerful ballad that still stays true to her style and the song is called “So Small”. In contrast with the title, this song is huge and is definitely my flavour of the month. Do you remember another song by a duo called Sky which is a couple of years old already entitled “Some Kinda Wonderful”. It’s got a catchy bouncy tune that is so perfect if you are driving down the country road in an open top sports car and the sky so blue with white clouds way above. I was listening to some old songs recently and stumbled upon this addictive piece of fun. The last time I heard it was when I was still in school and I remembered that Soon Yee and I had talked about the possible meaning of this song’s lyrics.

Moving on is a song from Andrea Corr’s new album and the song is entitled “Ten Feet High”. It sounds like a sad love story about a couple growing apart and my favourite snippet of the song is when she sings the lyrics “Don’t say it’s over, when I still love you”..What about Wet Wet Wet – Somewhere Somehow? I’m sure you have heard that before. It’s not as famous as their other song which is so cliche, Love Is All Around but I definitely like this one much much more. It’s freaky how fast time flies from then till now. Let’s explore 1973. This is James Blunt’s brand new single which is called simply..1973. Probably singing about some experience he had in 1973. *shrug * In this music video, he was heavily bearded and his hair clumsily flat. He’s definitely not hot but his songs are! I don’t really know how to describe it but it gives me a nostalgic feeling. Dang, I think coz he keeps singing 1973 but then again I wasn’t even born yet.

There’s another song which probably not many people are familiar with. The band is called Embraces (I think it’s a band). I heard it from the album ‘Essential bands’ which I borrowed from a friend. The song title is Nature’s Law. The slow, moody melody with a pinch of rock caught my attention and I’ve been hooked on it ever since. I’ve even set it as my phone ringtone now. I’m also hooked on anything to do with Michael Buble. More so for his 2 original songs in his latest album. The songs are “Lost” and “Everything”. I swear if he appears in front of me right now and serenades me with either one of these songs in his smooth, silky voice, I will totally melt. Who wouldn’t? *Wake up! Stop dreaming!* What girl in their right minds wouldn’t fall in love with that sexy deep voice of his? Somebody please back me up and (Soon Yee) please don’t say Winnie The Pooh sounds sexier…

Finally to close off this list of current favourites is No Doubt’s Sunday Morning. *I thought I knew you, wo ohhh, I thought I knew you, wo ohhh, I thought I knew you well, so well* How do I differentiate all these from other favourites that don’t make the cut. It’s because these are the songs that I keep listening to on my player and it creepily plays in my head all the time even when I’m not listening to it. I probably have an embedded internal music player in my skull. Wonders of technology and crappiness.