How to kick start a brand new year

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

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.

:)

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

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

"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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

"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

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....

...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..

SPAIN

Euro 2008 Champions

Copy cat Simpson?

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.

A man of 40 dreams

Have you read this piece of news in the papers recently about this guy getting the nod to take a 4th wife. Recently, there’s ANOTHER update on his life saga (seriously, stop publishing idiotic news like these. As if the world doesn’t have enough of heart wrenching news that you have to give us an eye sore news as lame as a guy wanting 4 wives and targeting 40 offsprings…duh!)
Anyway, he says he wants to hit the target of 40 children and already has 25 from his first 3 wives. He doesn’t want to burden his 3 wives anymore. *choking on my own saliva*. So, ok…in order not to burden them, he wants to pump up another woman who’s 30 years of age so she can bear him another 15 kids in order to reach his quota. Basically, what I think is this poor lady will be very very busy for the next 15 years in order to bear her highly ‘ambitious’ husband his offsprings before she hits the age where having kids is considered risky business.
Anyhoo, one's personal life is none of anybody's business..I get it, I get it. Nobody's business..so why is it in the newspapers? Get it?
Such news being published in newspapers is beyond my wildest imagination. Please, spare us the damn details of his goals. We really do not want to know anymore about his revelations and resolutions. It makes me want to throw up in my mouth.

Top 10 Songs You Should Have In Your iPod

The self-proclaimed legendary joint-post project is back.
This is my Top 10 list of songs that is a must have in my iPod. Just so you know, I hit a bit of dilemma between David Cook’s Always Be My Baby and Mariah Carey’s Touch My Body. Finally, I decided Touch My Body didn’t make the cut. *pretending to look devastated* There's all kinds of genre in my list. Got country, alternative, spanish song, folk rock and others lor... You might not even have heard some of this songs before, which is a good thing coz sometimes the non-hit singles could be the best. For some, I just love the guitar sounds. If it's nice, it goes into my iPod. ~Dope! Anyhoo, it's cool to share my favourites. Let's see what a vast difference it is with our tastes in music.

1. Carrie Underwood - I Told You So (Listen)
2. Jason Mraz - Love For A Child (Listen)
3. Evan & Jaron - On The Bus (Listen)
4. Brad Paisley - She's Everything (Listen)
5. John Mayer - Vultures (Listen)
6. Meatloaf - 2 Out Of 3 Ain't Bad (Listen)
7. Luis Fonsi - Eso Que Llaman Amor (Listen)
8. Andrea Corr - Ten Feet High (Listen)
9. Michael Buble - Everything (Listen)
10. David Cook - Always Be My Baby (Listen)

Story continues..with strategic alliance
Top 10 by Soon Yee
Top 10 by Zeek

Pile of shit

This morning I was about to go to work when I found this unpleasant surprise from one of my neighbourhood resident's cats (or illegitimate offsprings of this bloody cat a.k.a. strays!) ON MY FRICKIN DOORSTEP! If one does not have the frickin mental capability (a.k.a. common sense/akal) to keep one's frickin cats inside their frickin house so that the frickin cat can't go out and shit at other people's doorstep or if one does not have the frickin brains to bloody neuter their stupid cats in order for it not to go hump other cats/get humped.....DON'T FRICKIN HAVE ONE!! Hey cat owner, I really hope your frickin dinner looks like this. So have a shit feast on me!