Remember this?

Remember this song? Someday We'll Know by New Radicals. It's a couple of years old. I almost forgot about it until I heard it on the radio a few days ago and got hooked on it once again. The last time I listened to it was when I was still an MTV addict. That was in college. I just love this song much.

Lyrics from Someday We'll Know by New Radicals:

Someday we'll know

If love can move a mountain

Someday we'll know

Why the sky is blue

Someday we'll know

Why I wasnt meant for you

Does anybody know the way to atlantis

Or what the wind says when she cries

I'm speeding by the place where I met you

For the 97th time tonight

Someday well know

Why samson loved delilah

One day I'll go

Dancing on the moon

Someday you'll know

That I was the one for you

I bought a ticket to the end of the rainbow

I watched the stars crash in the sea

If I could ask God just one question

Why arent you here with me?

But then again...

Have any of you read the articles by Mary Schneider? (I think I spelled that right...I'm too lazy to walk downstairs and grab the newspaper again) I believe her articles are published every Monday in The Star under the title "But Then Again" with a cartoonish drawing of a woman's face with short hair. Anyway, I love her stories. It's a combination of life details with a twist of wit and light sarcasm. I've been reading her stories almost every week and just today, I found out that she actually stays in Penang. That's cool...not that it changes anything, duh! It's just cool to know that someone who writes such funny and meaningful stories is living in the same island. What a small world..

Dinner at Lone Pine Hotel

Last night, I had dinner with my family at Lone Pine Hotel in Batu Ferringhi. This hotel is now owned by E&O and the surrounding area and beach front looks quite pleasant. We had dinner at the restaurant called Bungalow as shown in the photo. It is a regular hotel coffee house, not over the top and pretty casual. It has an outside terrace facing the sea where you can choose to sit there for your meals and listen to the waves or to sit inside where it's air-conditioned. The food is a mix of western and local hainanese style dishes. The satay was mouth-wateringly delicious and the meat was so tender. And I also ordered the Ground Beef Burger. Excellent..I loved it. It's not too big and taste just right although the beef looked slight burnt, but taste was nice. I loved it. We also order a very common Hainan dish..the macaroni pie as well as Inche Kabin (fried chicken) which was tasty also and fit for 2 or 3 people. Price is not as cheap as road side shops of course but not too expensive either for a hotel. Somewhere between 10s and 20s. It's not a 5-star hotel that's for sure.

Humid day and a dose of Tony Bennett

Today is such a hot day. I spend 5 days a week in the office and 2 days at home in the heat is so torturing. Sleep, I sweat. Eat, I sweat. Just sitting there under the fan, I still sweat. So humid..my gosh. I miss the californian cool breeze. Although it was just a 2-week stint there but the weather was inviting. I didn't have much planned out today. Ding is down with the red-eye and I hope he gets well soon as he's been telling me how uncomfortable the feeling is..the itchiness and the pain. I spent a couple of hours today reading a book my dad bought for me a while back entitled "Global Future.." Something about the future of Asian companies and globalization. I'm reading it real slow. There are new bombastic words in there which I would love to learn up and I keep referring to the dictionary when I come across those words..which kinda slows down my reading. I quite like some phrases they used to describe things like China being the "factory of the world" and India being "the world's back-office". Nice stuff.

Besides that, I was also listening to Tony Bennett's Duets album. It's got a jazzy, swingy and classical feel to it. Quite soothing to listen to and if I just shut out all the noise and fully focus on the melody and the voices...I think I do quite enjoy the style. It features quite a number of people such as Michael Buble, Diana Krall, Stevie Wonder, Tim McGraw and many more. Personal favourites in that album are Cold Cold Heart, Smile, For Once In My Life, I Left My Heart In San Francisco, Because of You. I haven't listened to the rest. I read from somewhere that this album was recorded live in the studio with all the band, guest artiste and stuff.

Top 10 of the quarter

Here are the Top 10 songs that I've been absolutely hooked on for the past 3 months. These are the songs that I play on my iPod or in my car..night and day, day and night. I just can't get enough of them!

In no particular order:

01. Coldplay - The Scientist. I first heard this song in the movie Wicker Park starring Diane Kruger and Josh Hartnett, a story about love, obsession, destruction, deceit and finally, truth. This song came on at the last part of the show in the scene at the airport where Diane and Josh's characters reunited...it was absolutely touching and I got so reverberating hooked on the song after that.

02. Carrie Underwood - I Ain't In Checotah Anymore. Carrie, no doubt the best American Idol winner in my opinion. Her debut album is two-thumbs-up, and been listening to it for the past year or so. It is still alternating between the Top 3 of the country chart for like months and months? Fantastic. Well this song, I never really liked it before but after listening to it a number of times, I got really hooked. The chorus which goes "I'm in a world so wide, it makes me feel small sometimes.." is my favourite part of the song.

03. John Mayer - Vultures. What can I say? It's the great John Mayer. Absolute genius. Loved everything about the song from the lyrics to the introduction to the chorus to the weird sounding high notes.

04. Jewel - Goodbye Alice In Wonderland. This talented singer-songwriter is one of my favourites. I have her original debut album. Not all songs in there would top the charts but each one of the songs has got some infectious uniqueness about it that makes me want to listen over and over. This song is from her latest album of the same name.

05. Chantal Kreviazuk - Feels Like Home. This song was recommended to me by a friend and I got caught in the song's smooth melodic feel from the word go. Hey Soon Yee, I think you'll like this one.

06. Mika - Relax. One heck of a catchy song. Something to bob your head to in the car. Makes a pretty good ringtone too! :)

07. Michael Buble - The Way You Look Tonight. Oh man...he makes me swoon and sigh with delight. I love this version of the song. It's very slow..very soft..very romantic. Now if I knew how to slow dance, this would be perfect. Unfortunately I feel like I've got 2 left feet.

08. John Legend - Coming Home. Nearly all the songs in my list are slow songs. That's the style of music that lives through times. This is another one that will live through good and bad times. A meaningful one. I first heard it when he performed it live on the Grammy's together with John Mayer and Corrine Bailey Rae.

09. Diana Ross - I'm Still Waiting. This is an old song. I was listening to her greatest hits collection cd which I found covered with dust in my cupboard. The lyrics tells such a sad story. One thing about these old songs, the lyrics are like storybooks unveiling the story from the start of the song to a closure at the end.

10. Justin Timberlake - What's Goes Around, Comes Around. All about karma. I guess it makes a good song. I love the beats and I can't hide the fact that I think Justin is hot ok!

Those are the Top 10 songs for the quarter. Anybody got any Top 10 songs that you are so infatuated with?

Saturday update

It's a warm, sunny Saturday morning. It was anyway..getting slightly cloudy as I'm typing this. The roads outside are starting to jam up due to the annual 'cheng beng' duties carried out to pray to our ancestors. Roads leading up to cemeteries are bumper-to-bumper. Besides that, I think the jam is also due to the fact that Monday is a holiday so it's a long weekend *whoopee* and that Gurney Plaza is having a one-day sales today. I don't comprehend the logic of a one-day sale..it's weekend for goodness sake. Make it a two-day sale at least. At least people like me who might not be able make it today can probably go shopping tomorrow.

Oh, and I would like to add that now I have officially obtained my Master Of Business Administration (MBA)...hehehe. Hey I'm not being a brag or what but I'm just happy that we finally did it! It wasn't an easy journey.

My convocation was just over 2 weeks ago and I'm kinda proud that I'm one of the youngest in the batch. Woo hoo! Hell, doing MBA was tough and torturing but it's good that I learnt a lot of new things there...things that I never learnt in I.T. And all this crap that some people say about studying and working at the same time is impossible to do. It ain't true! We are living proof that if you have the will to do it, nothing is impossible. Now I should start getting my engine up and running and start updating my resume. *blush* It's pretty outdated.

The rule of What, Who, Why, How and When

Now you might wonder..what the heck is this "The rule of What, Who, Why, How and When"? It's simple actually, it happens everyday and almost everywhere. I guess it is more so especially when people are the subordinates facing the brunt of the bosses and the customers. And bosses in turn face the brunt and grunt of the bigger bosses. When something goes wrong, the one-liner will happen. Why one-liner? Well, some people are good at getting someone do something for them with just one sentence without any explanation. What is this one-liner..well duh..it's the rule of what, who, why, how and when! Now take this for example: "I want you to explain to me what happen, who is responsible, why did this happen, how are you planning to fix it and when can you get it done?!" Does that sound familiar? Woo..all in one breath, or should I say a few taps on the keyboard. It is the echoes of everyday worklife. But to be fair, I guess almost everyone practices this, especially when we are the ones impacted. I do that when unwanted things happen to me. *GRIN*

Simply the best

I'm a John Mayer fan. That's right...He has a new album entitled Continuum and it is undeniably cool. He is one hell of a guitar genius. His Continuum album has a couple of songs which I'm particularly hooked on such as Gravity. He sang that on the Grammy's show recently and the way he played the guitar...*my heart flutters* Another song with a really nice guitar solo is "Slow Dancing In A Burning Room". It's a slow song, obviously but it's really nice. Others are "Vultures" which has an insanely infectious chorus and of course, the one I keep hearing on the radio "Waiting On The World To Change". Before I had this album, I was busy listening to his old albums notably Room For Squares and Heavier Things. Those have addicting songs such as "Neon", "Home Life", "Your Body Is A Wonderland", "No Such Thing" and many more. What I like about him besides his guitar skills, is his voice and his songs have got really good lyrics. John Mayer has a unique voice...sounds rough and sexy all at the same time. It's no wonder I'm so hooked...

Academy blooper???

I was just watching the Academy awards just a few minutes ago and I think they were giving out an award on...I don't know..screenplay or something. I missed the first part. Anyway, The Departed won it but something shocking occurred! After the winner was announced, the guy stands up and as usual they will give an introduction over the loud speaker on who he is and what he did. Shocking thing was that they said that The Departed was based on a Japanese film called Infernal Affairs. *faint* It's a Chinese film! Get it right, Oscars!!

Does Music Speak Your Soul?

I've read somewhere about some researchers who believe that music we listen to indirectly defines our personality. I don't know whether to agree or not. I listen to different genres, different styles and different types of music from different generations. Pretty much anything that I perceive is nice to my ears. In that case, does my differing taste in music define that I have multiple split personality? Wow..

I think that, to me, the music I listen to doesn't necessarily define my personality as much, but more on my moods or the going-ons in the world around me. 70% of the time the type of music that I listen to is largely influenced by my mood of the day. 30% of the time is because I'm just simply hooked on the song like vampires to blood. Today I could be listening to a Michael Buble song because I feel relaxed, tomorrow I will be bobbing my head to Semisonic's Closing Time or Nickelback. Loud music is just perfect when I'm feeling pissed off. Soft, slow, smooth music the likes of Michael Buble, Norah Jones...even Jewel settles my nerves at the end of a long uninspiring demotivating day when I'm feeling blue. It's no wonder I've been listening to these 3 fellas for the past month! And, when I'm feeling a little lonely, 80's love songs are my poison. As a closure, I don't have multiple split personality but I do have a lot of mood swings.

Let's Dance

I would like to introduce you to a brand new dance studio in town. It is the brainchild of a relative of mine, her name is Joo Nee (picture below). She's 25 and a great dancer and she is a semi-finalist of the Nescafe Kick-start Season 3 competition. Just a heads up: Nescafe Kick-start is reality TV competition for Malaysians to achieve their dream. Today I attended the grand opening of the Let's Dance studio which she had worked hard on completing in a short period of 3 weeks. It's not only just a dance class studio, it is also a dance club for all dance enthusiasts. I love the concept. I must say the opening is a success. A large crowd turned up to support her. Keep an eye out for the first episode of the Nescafe Kick-start which will begin airing on TV3 on the 24th of February 2007 at 7pm. Grand prize winners are chosen based on judges and most importantly, the support of the public via SMS VOTES. Do take the time to view it! The Let's Dance studio is located on Level 28, Northam Tower A. Visit http://www.letsdancemalaysia.com for more info!

Good movie

Recently, I watched an old movie on astro, The Wedding Date. It's a romantic comedy starring Debra Messing (if you didn't know, she's one of the stars on Will & Grace. Ok, she's Grace from Will & Grace. That is one heck of a fun comedy series, only second to Friends). In this movie, she plays Kat and also starring Dermot Mulroney (that cutey from My Best Friend's Wedding), who plays Nick . The story basically revolves around Kat who happens to be single and pretty much not loving it. She's going to attend her sister's wedding and the worst thing was that the bestman is her ex flame. In order to make her ex jealous, she hires the services of Nick as her escort to be her fake boyfriend. Nick is this sweet, sensitive, stylish and damn sexy guy who manages to capture her heart and earn her trust. One thing leads to another and in the end both of them fell in love and lived happily ever after (not without some obstacles along the way). I guess the storyline is kinda predictable but I really like the show because it was funny and addictive. My favourite part of the show was the wedding dance class where Kat & Nick joined her sister for some dance lessons. I really liked the dance sequence and Michael Buble's Sway made it all the more attractive. :) Added bonus: they played songs from Michael Buble and The Corrs in the movie. Perfect!

Nice weather, no activity

If you must know, it is not a sunny day but it's not raining and there's some slight breeze. Been like that for the past week and I simply LOVE it. Too bad, every other day was spent locked up in the office while I longingly look out over the balcony towards the gentle weather beckoning for me. Now it's Saturday. Weather is still kind and I'm sitting here blogging and surfing for themes and pictures for my phone. That's the sign of boredom. The ultimate sign would be me cleaning my room and I did that last week. Gosh! What am I going to do next? Stare at the freshly painted wall, watch Will & Grace over and over and over, watch my finger nails grow and play a game of spot-the-new-mole on my hand? .....yea I guess.

Weekends can be so boring sometimes. Queensbay is far and I'm too lazy to window shop and the thought of elbowing my way through the crowd there is not very tempting. Gurney has already been visited by me almost everyday for this past week. Prangin is a dump. One-stop is a bigger dump. No where else to go. I guess I'll go sit and watch birds poop.

Holiday in Genting

This post is way over due. I went to Genting on 22 Dec and came back on Christmas Eve. We spent 3 days and 2 nights there in the nice, cold, misty, foggy weather. It's nice for a change.

The Hotel:

We stayed at First World. Nothing much good for me to say about the hotel. It's definitely not worth the amount of money we had to pay just to extend one night in a peak period. No way! I mean it's just ok for a place to lay my head...but I didn't get much sleep those 2 nights. So it wasn't such a nice experience staying in First World, or maybe I'm too fussy. Firstly, the room is so tiny. The bathroom space is so tight that I have to maneuver my body around to open the door from inside while trying to avoid touching the toilet bowl with my clean pair of pants (I have a phobia of dirty toilets..don't get me wrong, it was clean but I have a weird imagination and nothing is ever like home). Besides, I have to try to keep my balance without falling back into the toilet bowl on my way out. Secondly, it's pretty old looking inside, the carpet is stained with drops of brown stuff which I'm trying to believe is not anything else but chocolate stains. Thirdly, I was sleep deprived for those 2 nights because I take a while to settle in to a new place and from things I've heard from others, I tried my best to find the right position to sleep with my head covered up in order to avoid accidentally seeing anything 'unseen' while I was half asleep. It was made worst by screaming kids running across the corridor outside the rooms and their maids yelling for them from behind. I would think that kids have bed times? You know, like 10pm, off to bed. It was already 3am and their still kicking and screaming. Well, the walls sure are thin! Fourth, the TV is so small that I....I....I don't know what to say. I guess that's what you get anyway. I mean, people do go there to play and gamble, not watch TV. I get it, ok? Fifth, the drinking water has a weird smell...basically the smell of unboiled tap water *again it's my imagination*. Still, I have to drink and mineral water costs RM2.00 at least. I could go on with the list but I'd prefer to focus on the good part of the trip. My rating I would give to this is maybe...hmm...er...3/10.

The weather:
The weather was perfect. It was cold, windy and foggy. We could barely see far ahead and you might wonder why the hell I think that's nice. No reason, it just is. We don't see that in Penang but it significantly cleared up by Sunday. boo!! Chilly weather...8/10.

The food:
Food there wasn't too bad. It was expensive. VERY expensive. A normal sized sausage was RM4.00 per stick. One thing we learnt from Genting is never purchase any food that doesn't have a price tag. We just had to find the cheapest of the lot. Most of the food on the menu come in double digits. Even for a plate of noodles or fried rice. I guess it's a good opportunity for them because either you eat it or you starve to death up there. Anyway, it wasn't too bad, the taste. Despite the price, 8/10.
The show:
'Mysteria' was the show we watched. It was sort of a stage story type of show with dancing, music and magic. Interesting! The tigers were huge. Ding and I agreed that the star of the show, the magician does have some resemblance to Salman Khan. It's not him of course, he just looks like him. I give it a 9/10. I can't give it a 10/10 because 1 point is deducted for not releasing the tigers out to roam on stage. *partly, I'm glad they didn't or else I wouldn't be sitting here writing this*
Overall:
I had a good time up there. It was crowded, no doubt. I mean, the hotel lobby was like a fish market. Nevertheless, it was a cosy get-away, just having fun, saying crazy things. We visited the casino for the first time. No..we didn't play anything there coz we just wanted to look around..look at other people. Besides, it was like a free ticket to second-hand smoke inhalation class so we couldn't spend too much time in there for fear of suffocating. Ripley's Believe it or not was quite interesting too. I had a close up view of a Vampire killing kit. Apparently, used to kill vampires centuries ago. :) It was just funny. The 4D Motion Master ride was a MAJOR let-down. I expected more excitement and better graphics like the first time I saw it a few years back. It was boring. I could practically yawn my way through it. We also took the Rio Float ride, the reindeer ride, those were interesting. Nothing scary but just a relaxing 5 minute ride.
Overall, I enjoyed the trip. I wouldn't go up there again for another few years because we have pretty much explored whatever we wanted to see. But still, it's one of those holidays that hardly come by and I enjoyed it!

Welcoming 2007

First things first, wishing all my friends a happy new year. No wait...happy new year is so yesterday. Wishing all my friends a rockin, hip-hopping, high-flying, ass-kicking 2007~!!!

Now, my new year resolutions. Mine is simple. No more point 1,2,3,4,5...and so on which I can never keep. Basically, I just want to have a great time, to make money and to be happy and healthy. Cheers!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas y'all!!!

...and a Happy New Year

Gelatine...whoopee

Here's what I found out about gelatine, it is created via long term boiling of connective tissues including cartilage and skin of animals such as cattle. Apparently it's a protein which when cooled, is formed into some kind of gel that is semi solid. Thank you Wikipedia.

So basically, the thing that I'm chewing on right now...an apple flavoured chewable candy where part of its contents are gelatine as well as ice cream, jam, apple juice, margarine and so on which do sometimes contain gelatine. In other words, I've been chewing on cow hide for all my life. Well, you won't get anything but a soft sigh from me on this fact because although I'm Buddhist but I have occasionally gone down the beef eating path. Like last night, I just had an A&W Mozza burger. So eating this candy made from gelatine that comes from - I suspect - cows, is actually not a big problem for me. I may have sinned a little but who hasn't right?

The problem is I can't get this thought out of my head. You know what that thought is? Ok, read this on home-made items: unflavored gelatin can be made into cheaper versions of hair styling gel. The thought of what I'm eating now can actually be turned into hair gel is not exactly a pretty thought. Just imagine eating hair gel...not literally, but really...think about it. Gooey..

Why the insult?

Help me out here...I'm having trouble understanding why women are constantly put-down and insulted here and still the sources manage to turn it around and say that it is for the good of women. I'm still shocked at reading about the news on a suggestion to give polygamy awards to men who are willing to take single mothers as wives. *jaw drop* I don't understand it. Is it a joke? Single mothers don't need the pity of men and don't need to be drawn into a relationship..a marriage..which is just a sham..which is just based on rewards. That's not love. Mother nature will be fainting right now. I think for some single mothers, they are even happier being a single mum, despite financial problems. At least they are not tied down by husbands who bully them, and they have the freedom to pursue the things they like in life rather than being controlled by a man. Nevertheless, single mothers..women, have a right to choose and not to be chosen like an object - a thing. Omigosh!

And what about another thing I read recently about advice given to women that they should behave properly at work and not to neglect their families in pursuit of career success. Duh! This is not 'how to be a woman 101'. Every grown up woman knows how to think for themselves and behave accordingly. Why is it that women are told to behave themselves and not to neglect their families and men are not told to do that. Is it ok for men to neglect their children but not ok for women to do so? Every mother, every father should love their children and they can decide for themselves the best method of handling work-life balance. It is unfair that men are not told to give priority to family and women must give priority to family. Responsibility doesn't fall on women only, what happen to gender equality?! I hope we have not become the laughing-stock of the world when outsiders read these things.

The harmonica

I'm getting restless and my fingers are itching for some action besides the constant tapping of the keyboard and clicking of the mouse. I've been playing around with the thought of learning up another musical instrument. Not that I have mastered my guitar...no where near that but it's getting a little tiring carrying it around. I'm a tiny person and the guitar is overbearing. I'm interested in learning something new...something smaller, less stretching, portable...something like a harmonica! That's it! Though, I don't think it's easy to learn. I mean imagine putting that thing in your mouth and sliding it side to side and twisting and tangling your tongue just to get the right sound. But I'm really into it and have been for many years, I just never got to a point where I can independently say, hey I wanna learn it. Now I have...but I think one major obstacle I'd have to get past is the thought of covering that piece of instrument with all my saliva and drooling while learning it. Hmm..worst case scenario, I could settle for a flute..

Re-design

As you can see, I've gotten pretty bored..to a point that I was bored with the design of my blog. I've replaced my flamboyant blue and yellow with ..just plain blue. How blue it looks now...and why the hell did I even do that. Now I miss my old colours. I spent so much time customizing it last time. Well, I guess this doesn't look too bad, but it lacks something...something in the form of my identity. Crap, now it looks like any other blog of any other people who happen to choose this template. Damn it...I need to add some 'oomph' to this.