X2

2011-11-05T11:26:00.001+08:00

Of all the flaws that come with being human, the fact that we are born to be emotional beings, tied to other emotional beings, has to be the worst.

Because when the anchor that keeps everything in place is gone, everything else is like a furious thunderstorm which will smash you up against the jagged rocks and reduce you to little pine splinters.

And it hurts, so much, when the thunderstorms don't stop.

stay hungry, stay foolish

2011-10-07T00:49:00.004+08:00

"At the end of the day, what are we but the sum of the people who'd mourn their loss if we were gone?"

I still remember writing this almost a year ago, and I've never quite been as forcibly reminded of it as much as today, when we all woke up to the news that Steve Jobs had passed on.

By this time of the day, everyone has said what they needed to say about Steve, but I just feel compelled to... I dunno, say something, somehow.

I've always been lusting after Apple products ever since I first laid eyes on the bondi blue iMac, and the only thing stopping me was, well, the lack of dollar bills which still stop me from getting a Mac today. And I'd always been fascinated with how Steve, with his personal backstory worthy of a summer blockbuster, managed to turn an electronics-manufacturing company into a cult with a global following.

One of the things about Steve Jobs that remember reading about the most was his approach to design - his need for a product he was creating to be simple, intuitive, and just work. And that inspired me to try to think that way about my work as well whenever possible - not that I'm designing anything earth-shattering lah - but for things to make sense, and fit together to tell a story.

It's strange to feel sad about the passing of someone you've never even met before, but it's not so strange anymore when you see all the tweets, Facebook updates and zillions of articles online paying tribute to Steve. My personal favourites were this Wired article on Steve's life story and how he came to be, and Brian Lam of Gizmodo's account of hard choices and regrets over the iPhone 4 leak a year ago.

RIP Steve :(

black is back with arthur's day 2011

2011-09-17T17:35:00.002+08:00

This tune was looping endlessly on my iPod not too long ago, and I can't believe that in less than a week I'll be able to say, "Well hello there Taio Cruz. Fancy seeing you around this part of the globe ;)"

Yes yes yes Arthur's Day is back! A pint (or three) of Guinness + a night of club hits from Taio Cruz is totally FTW, and I wouldn't miss it for anything :D For you Amish people who haven't heard, Arthur's Day 2011 is happening on:

Date: 23 September 2011 (Friday)
Time: 7 pm onwards
Venue: Speed City KL, Selangor Turf Club

Apart from being massively excited about Taio Cruz performing that night, I think it's pretty cool too that you get to choose 2 of your favourite local acts to open at Arthur's Day at the Guinness Malaysia FB page here. Personally, I'd love for Rosevelt and James Baum to be opening, but well... I'm just biased like that :P Looks like Dragon Red and Prema Yin are in the lead at the moment!

If you haven't got your Arthur's Day passes yet (why???), check out this link to see how you can get yourself a pair! See you there! :D

a mirage of happiness

2011-08-21T01:06:00.006+08:00

Because Elmo's happy all the time.

every dreamer needs an anchor

2011-07-29T00:31:00.002+08:00

In life, there are certain traits and abilities which have always labeled as the "good" ones - positivity, determination, being outgoing, being a natural leader, the ability to cook, things like that. And anything which is the opposite of those traits and abilities, will naturally be labeled as the "bad" ones.

So that's what we've always been fed ever since we were kids, and it's still the same now. That's what all the self-help books, motivational courses and inspiring articles on the Internet are supposed to do - to help you become a better person.

There's nothing wrong with that, of course. It's just that a lot of the time, the whole notion of being a better person involves trying to develop an ability out of thin air, or changing the "negative traits" that you were born with, like it's a wine stain on a white carpet that needs to be removed. And I think there's no greater fallacy than this.

I've always believed in the concept of yin and yang, that everything on earth is better with a counter-point to it, and the notion that we should all try to conform to the ideal of a "better person" just doesn't make sense to me. Would we all not be Barbie-esque drones then; like Sims in a utopian world? Every dreamer needs an anchor, to keep him from getting lost in the clouds. Every overachiever needs a slacker, to remind him to slow down sometimes. Every leader needs a follower, to support him along the path he has charted.

We spend so much time being apologetic over quirks and flaws that we were born with, and trying to live up to everybody's expectations that we end up being miserable ourselves. Not everybody is born to be a star, and I think that we should be okay with that. It's only then that we can recognise when we're in the presence of greatness, and appreciate it so.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't try to aspire to be something more, or to work on something that we don't like about ourselves. But for me at least, the self-flagellation has to stop because I've finally grown tired of feeling inadequate my whole life. The self-improvement battles will come another day, and just for this moment, I'll tell myself, "You're doing okay, kiddo." And I think we all need that sometimes.

our world, their war

2011-06-14T23:55:00.002+08:00

'Tis the season of summer blockbusters, and you know it just wouldn't be complete without Michael Bay blowing something up. So yeah, whuddup Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon!

With movies like this, there's always the question of whose side you're on, and most times I end up siding with the good guys because uh... I'm easily manipulated by Hollywood like that :P But seriously though, if I had to pick, I would definitely wanna be part of the Autobots as Bumblebee.

Well yes, Optimus Prime is all patriotically coloured red and blue, is intimidatingly enormous and comes with an uber manly voice, it just wouldn't be the Transformers without Bumblebee. Bee's the one with all the heart - he's so fiercely loyal to Sam and his comrades, doesn't let his relatively diminutive stature nor the lack of a voice box faze him in the least, and you know he gets all the ladies because he's such a charmer :)

In fact, that could be my/Bumblebee's strategy in the war against the Decepticons - being cute. Yes lah. I'll just sit there as a little Camaro, cute as a button and make the baddies go "awwww".... and then I strike. Something like this. Okay fine, maybe it's not the best plan in the world, but that's what scriptwriters are for kan. Not sure how true it is but I hear Bee is the main character in this installment, so all the more reason I'm excited to see how the real Bee pulls it off :D

Oh I almost forgot one more reason I would be the best Bumblebee ever - I already have one! :D

Heehee. I sometimes wish my BB had the power to transform into a mini-Bee if I was ever threatened, and save me the trouble of having to buy pepper spray, but that might be a tad too much to ask from the universe. Oh well.

**Don't forget to check out the Ultimate Movie Card fanpage if you're a big fan of movies :)

things that go floop in the night

2011-03-16T00:40:00.000+08:00

I once told Yuen: "If a dress chooses you, BUY IT. Fuck poverty."

Yeah that would be the bimbo in me abandoning all pretense of being a sensible, money-conserving adult. I've always been notorious for being the shopaholic regardless of which group of friends I'm with at the time, and my bank account deficit balefully reminds me that it's been getting worse lately.

I have a theory though, for all this incessant shopping of mine; I have a sneaky feeling that it's the high of seeing something you KNOW would be perfect for yourself than the actual purchase which keeps me going. I don't know quite how to put it, but I'm sure fellow shopaholics would totally understand :P It's like you've found the dress/top/skirt/whatever that completes you and it makes your heart go 'floop!'

Which is the same feeling I get when traveling to new places and seeing new things, except with a thousand times more 'floops'. I crave it so, so much. I miss the excitement of planning a trip and looking forward to the date when I'd be leaving on a jetplane. And I don't get to travel much... so I settle for the little 'floops' of shopping instead :/ Flawed logic, I know, because it's the very thing that depletes my ~~Tabung UK~~ I mean, Tabung Travel-anywhere-cool really fast but please be reminded again of my bimbobrain.

So that's how I ended up spontaneously deciding to go on a weekend trip alone to Singapore last weekend to meet up with a couple of college friends. I needed the rush to keep me sane, really. I dunno if it worked though, because though I was in a 'Singapore mode' (as my exotic fiancee put it) all day yesterday, I find myself wondering when my next surprise trip will be again. sigh.

It's not easy to find something that takes your breath away, is it?

just 'cause

2011-02-21T23:20:00.000+08:00

Hello solitude, I knew you'd always be there.

Yeah I know this doesn't really count as blogging. But why are you still here reading this?

the year that was

2010-12-30T23:53:00.001+08:00

Around this time of the year, you start to see a lot of blog posts everywhere recapping the year that was. And reading this entry of mine which I wrote about the same time last year, it really doesn't feel like a year has passed at all.

2010 was - for a lack of a more descriptive, all-encompassing word - interesting. Learned what it was like to be an Employed Person (TM) and pay my own bills. Got a bunch of crazy colleagues turned awesome friends in the Nuffies. Met lots of new people. Got a few new shiny gadgets. Lost my soul to Angry Birds. Tasted lots of good food (?!) and went new places. Saw stuff that I wrote get published (yeah I damn jakun but it's a big deal to me!). Learned a few life lessons (not the Angeline type though). And some other stuff... some of which I am proud of, some not so much.

But whatever happened, I'm glad I can say that I regret none of it, for I'm not the same person I was a year ago anymore. For the first time in god knows how long, I'm actually nervously optimistic about 2011 and I hope this feeling lasts; too many years have gone by which I've been feeling meh or just utterly, depressingly convinced that the year ahead would be the same shit as before.

So it's also around this time that people start to make resolutions for the new year, right. And I've never really been one to make resolutions, just because I kinda figure I'll probably run out of steam somewhere around mid-January :S Anyway, I can only think of one thing at the moment that I wanna work on, but promise you won't laugh at me. Seriously. And that one thing is...

... to learn how to stick on false eyelashes by myself. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Oi why you laughing I said DON'T LAUGH!

But seriously I need to learn this shit because have you SEEN my Facebook photos? T_T The photos of me at the LG Cookie Monster party and Hennessy Artistry (like the one above) are the only ones I can look at for more than 2 seconds and not flinch in horror, because Michelle was kind enough to be my makeup artist both times and she sticks on the falsies like most people breathe. Airuviu Mijel T_T The only other alternative which makes me look like I have eyes in photos would be...

... to wear those Audrey Hepburn sunnies like it's Halloween all year long -.- Sigh. I suspect I'm actually a dude inside because girls are supposed to be born with the innate ability to handle falsies, eyelid tape stuff and all thingamajiggies like that.

Anyway. Happy new year everyone! May you make better new year resolutions than me, and may your 2011 be filled with lots of beer (or equally awesome non-alcoholic drinks for those who don't drink) and double rainbows. woohooOOooOOO

merry guinness

2010-12-28T23:21:00.000+08:00

Okay blogging about food/drinks has never been my thing but what the heck, good things have to be shared right :P

Last week Uncle Eu mentioned that we hadn't met up since I got myself a straight head of hair (jeng jeng jeng!) so we decided to get some dinner at Modesto's, Capsquare.

Hello Uncle Eu! Oi why your expression like that wan.

I went for the minestrone (I have never learned how to pronounce this word but I love it anyway) soup and lasagna...

... while Sin Eu went all out for the zuppa di branzino and trancia al cartoccio. Tsktsktsk all the atas food with fancy names this fler. Actually it was just soup and codfish, which turned out to be really quite nice!

I know I really shouldn't have because I had a horribly painful cough at that time, but I just couldn't resist finishing off with some ice cream. My official excuse is that I couldn't help it, I was in a Christmassy mood. Yeah.

Aaaaaand my favourite part of the night has got to be the drinks :D Guess who had the full pint of Guinness? Heeheehee. There's this Happy Hour promotion at Modesto's now where you can get a full pint of Guinness at RM 17 and a half pint at RM 12 only before 10pm. Not bad right? Moar Guinness pleeeeeees *hic* come come let's go drink. Now, if only I could save enough to go back to Dublin where I once had the best Guinness in the world...

focus on this

2010-12-22T15:37:00.064+08:00

What's better than designer sunnies?

A lot of designer sunnies?

Well... close enough. How 'bout a lot of designer sunnies on a whole lotta pretty models ;)

Yeah, that pretty much sums up the Ms Focus Point event I went for last Friday, where Ms Tourism International contestants (all 51 of them O.O) descended on the Focus Point outlet in Fahrenheit 88 for a mini-pageant.

It was the first time I really had the chance to see what beauty-pageant-entering people looked like up close, and goddamn do they ever dwarf me :S And they have the power to make designer sunnies look really good too :P Or is it the other way round. I can't decide.

Say hi to the winner of Miss Focus Point - Miss Lithuania :)

When you're at an event with bloggers right, you can't escape getting photographed yourself ok. So here I am with (L-R) Shannon, Michelle, Yuen, Li Kee and Tian Chad. All pictures here except the 1st two are ~~stolen from~~ courtesy of Shannon's post, where you can also go for more pictures of the event BTW :D

disjointed

2010-11-28T22:43:00.003+08:00

I think I may have something to blog about but I'm not sure what. So here's a bunch of random, totally unrelated photos and equally random captions, which will hopefully keep you entertained for 2.5 seconds while I try to figure out what is it I wanna say.

Pick a god.

Look your enemy in the eye and don't back down. wtf.

Bright colours in a mess make me irrationally happy.

The street is our canvas.

All sunsets should be like this.

Last two photos taken with my BB... but edited with good ol' Photoshop-on-a-laptop. If only there were some apps, ANY apps at all which allowed photo editing on BlackBerries, I could die a happy pretentious amateur photo snob. And there would be more vaguely artsy lomo-esque photos for you to look at on my blog while you (hopefully) mourn my death WTF. Sometimes I should just stop spewing every random thought that pops into my head.

everyone connects turns 1

2010-11-26T10:14:00.001+08:00

So if you read my previous post, you'll know that I went for the Everyone Connects Birthday Bash at The Curve on Sunday with a whole bunch of other people.

Upon arriving at the venue, I bumped into Shah who immediately declared, "I'm starting to like this event already!"

"Err what? Why? It hasn't even started yet."

"Ada banyak United logo ni."

"-___________-"

Okay. Moving on... as I was saying earlier, the Everyone Connects Campaign is already one year old, and there's a new portal to boot.

It's based on the concept of an "Everyone Connects World", and you can choose between a Fella and a Felli (haha) to navigate the different sections of the site - Open House, Sini Maa, Jamming Garage, the EC Hall of Fame, and the Stadium. And those little avatar things don't just move around, they can connect and communicate with other people's avatar running around the site at the same time too! Check out the site for yourself here, it's meant to bring together all of TM's services, i.e. Unifi, HyppTV etc under one world. Pretty cool.

Anyway back to the event. The layout of the place was arranged so that they corresponded to the different sections of the site, so if you walked around you could see stuff like this cute 'Open House' model...

... and this Jamming Garage booth, among others.

Oh and you know you've made it in life when you're made into Celebriducks wtf. That's Bunkface by the way, one of the TM ambassadors.

Emcees of the day: Ben and Hunnymadu. Hunnymadu had cool shoes but I didn't manage to get a shot of that :(

(photo stolen from Jackieloi teehee)

After Ben and Hunnymadu had gone through a bunch of games with the crowd there, the TM ambassadors Bunkface and Summer Ash came by and sang Happy Birthday to EC, and there was cake too. Awww.

Bunkface performed after that, of course - I think half the crowd there was there just for Bunkface's performance. For good reason too; lead singer Sam is cuuuuuute :P Their accoustic set wasn't too shabby too. *cough*

And you know Summer Ash? I gotta admit I had no idea who that was before, but HELLO. This is Summer Ash.

Hot chick/pro gamer. She played a game of...... something..... (aiya sue me I'm terrible at this games stuff) live on the spot to demonstrate the speedily speedy speeds of TM's Unifi. Made us lust after Unifi, but also made the rest of us feel spectacularly uncoordinated at the same time :S

So yeah. That was EC's first birthday bash. Oh hang on, I forgot the balloons.

Now I'm done :P Do log on to http://everyoneconnects.net to check out the revamped portal!

everyone connects

2010-11-20T16:01:00.001+08:00

Okay so I'm not sure if any of you remember, but there was this Everyone Connects campaign by TM some time ago, with this commercial:

There was quite a bit of hype about the campaign, and I remember seeing a coupla blog posts about it around, like this one by Niki. If you're all like "huh whazzat?" now, lemme break it down for ya. Everyone Connects is basically TM's initiative, a movement for the youth to demonstrate the power of connecting, communicating and collaborating, with the belief that connections make anything possible.

So with that whole "connections make anything possible" idea, there were a few events held for the youth like Buka Puasa sessions and some street parties with football challenges, but the most epic one was the biggest karaoke event held last year at Bukit Bintang with many people attending.

Many people.

Many MANY people.

Okay this is not working. Many people as in, I think a few thousand people were there, the whole Bukit Bintang junction was closed off for it, and even Tokio Hotel was there at the event.

Please look at Tokio Hotel wtf.

This video has a better view of the massive crowd:

So one year later (damn, it's been that long already?!) the campaign is celebrating their 1st birthday with the Everyone Connects Birthday Bash, and you is all invited. w00t!

It's happening on;

Date: 21 November 2010 (Sunday)
Time: 3 pm - 7 pm
Venue: Centre Court @ Curve

Bunkface and Summer Ash will be there, and there'll also be tons of games and excitement and contests, which of course come with many much prizes as well. I'm gonna be there, come lah and join too (especially if whoever is reading this hasn't seen me in a long time WTF), it'll be fun :D Ons like crayons OK?

wisteria lane is life

2010-11-14T01:38:00.001+08:00

Marc Cherry was watching a news report with his mom about a woman who drowned all her kids due to postpartum depression. And then he came up with an idea for a TV show about a bunch of good friends - housewives, who live picture-perfect lives with white picket fences on a street called Wisteria Lane, all the while hiding deep dark secrets from each other. Which just get progressively more WTF as the seasons go along, by the way.

So there, the story of how Desperate Housewives came about, if you didn't already know. Interesting premise; I kinda loved the first season too. But when you think about it, really, isn't real life like a great big neverending season of life on Wisteria Lane anyway?

All of us have secrets we keep, things we hide behind a mask of "I'm good!" to a "How are you?", even from our closest friends sometimes. Because people don't really care anyway; everybody's already got enough problems of their own, thanks. Because the truth would let people see beyond the face you put on for polite company, and it wouldn't be a pretty sight. Because it's just easier to live life pretending that everything is gonna turn out just fine.

It's not hard to catch the signs of the emo secrets around; it's the emo tweets late in the night, or sometimes blog posts like this one. But I swear I'm not like this all the time, really. Most of the time I'm still the one you equate with laughing too hysterically, WTF jokes and inappropriate poking of boobs... okay the last one's applicable for Pinky and Kadazan only. Midnights just have a way of bringing out the emo in everybody.

till death do us part

2010-11-07T15:59:00.006+08:00

There are only two emotions so powerful, we have them carved in stone so we never forget.

Love

and grief.

Because when we're looking down the tunnel at the bright light and it's time to go, all the hatred, spite, jealousy, anger, vengeance, contempt and bitterness will dissolve into nothing. And what's left behind, are the ones whom you loved most, and those who loved you back. At the end of the day, what are we but the sum of the people who'd mourn their loss if we were gone?

*****

you know why humans are not asexual beings? what the hell is heartache for? for poem. for music. to swim and be drowned in beautiful things.

A tweet by #drunktaliban some time ago - so heart-wrenching, so apt. Patrick has a soft side :)

on all hallow's eve

2010-11-01T23:04:00.000+08:00

23 bobby pins, 9 weird-shaped pins in varying sizes, and 2 rubber bands.

That's what it takes to be Audrey Hepburn for Halloween :P

Yep, the hair was the hardest part for me. Because I suck at being a girl, I paid someone else to do it... so the most expensive part of my costume ended up being the hairdo. Side note: if you sleep on a hairdo because it appears to be a voluminous cushion, but actually has 23 bobby pins in it, your head WILL hurt in the morning.

That sexy pantless pilot right there, that's Linda. Remember her? She calls me Basi, and I call her Chubbs. She is evil. And I have no idea why she's sticking a gun in my butt.

So yeah. That was Halloween 2010, or what goes in the few photos on this blog anyway. Facebook albums document most of the madness, as usual. Many much thanks to Jacqkie the mighty Wonder Woman for being an awesome host :D

If anything could sum up that night though, it would be this:

Everyone, say hi to the Nuffies ;)

we are paramore

2010-10-21T23:46:00.001+08:00

Last night, I drifted off to sleep with The Only Exception looping on my iPod. Looped it too, on my way back from work just now. And it's still stuck in my mind as I write this, because Paramore was just THAT awesome :)

Dunno if it was just me, but it felt distinctly different from the other concerts I've been to this year; there was just something about the crowd there, which was absolutely buzzing. Hayley and Co. put up a great show, and Michelle and I were just bopping along to whatever even though we didn't know all of the songs :P The usual hits were in the lineup though - Decode, CrushCrushCrush, That's What You Get, Misery Business, those. And I didn't bring any canggihfieds camera along so again, so I'm stealing all photos in this post (except the first) from Joshua just because. Hi Joshua! Check out his post for more photos BTW.

The best part of the night was without a doubt, when they performed The Only Exception. Hayley got everybody to hold up shiny illuminated things and the entire freaking stadium was singing along. Every single word. Like wow.

It was one show I definitely don't regret going to, and I'd go again if they'd come back. After I've properly memorised some lyrics, that is :P Props to Tune Talk for bringing them in, and of course many yays to working in Nuffnang and the perks that come with it, like this. teehee.

Yeah. I'm off to loop The Only Exception more... even though it's making me progressively more emo with every play :/

*****

I've got a tight grip on reality
But I can't let go of what's in front of me here
I know you're leaving in the morning when you wake up
Leave me with some kind of proof it's not a dream

overheard in nuffnangMY

2010-10-17T15:17:00.002+08:00

Sometimes, when you're around a bunch of crazy people 5 days a week, you gotta take some time to remember some of the stupid stuff that goes on around here. Most of the time that stuff goes on Twitter, but it all also gets lost in the wilderness of Twitterville all too soon. So I've been doing a little compilation of funny things Nuffies say either in person, through email or MSN that sometimes don't make sense then, and make even less sense when totally taken out of context Overheard in New York style. Or are just plain WTF however you look at it. Please refer.

Yuenny: It's about the length of armpit hair...

Robb: Oh the great god of Papua New Guinea, I believe in thee. Please give me the pig along with two coconuts now.

Michelle: I just felt my boobs bounce when I did that.

David: Where do you think I can find balls ah, I need to buy balls.

Nick Davis: Don't worry, when you're with me, you only need one minute of heaven.

Nick Davis: What? Unretweeted love?

Sara: DO U KNOW WHERES UR CERVIX OMG

Michelle: Does Nicholas Chay moisturise his head? *waves hands around head*

Pinky: Eh pick me up again, pick me up again?

Tim 2: Yo' momma so stupid, she looked up the lyrics to 'Around the World'.

Robb: Dicks and vodka - having either one is fine, having both is superb.

Linda: Boobs are difficult to keep.

Robb: Why have one banana when you can have TWO yao char kuey?

Nic Chay: There's some powerful gigabyte shit goin' on here man.

Pinky: Can you help me light up my cigarette? Cuz you're burning hot, baby.

Okay so I cheated; I added one of Pinky's pickup lines as the last one just cuz OCDFresh inside me was going all, "Make it feefteeeeeen." Actually, a compilation of all Pinky's pickup lines could take up an entire post by themselves. Yeah. Maybe I should do that next. But I'm not sitting next to Pinky any more so that's gonna be so hard :'( Make sure you keep your promise and come give us some sex jokes/pickup lines whenever you wanna shit okay Pinky!

all hail prince ludwig of bavaria

2010-10-05T22:53:00.002+08:00

… because he is the good man that gave us Oktoberfest; it first started off as a celebration of his marriage 200 years ago. Clearly, people have always appreciated any reason at all for them to drink barrels of beer. :D

One of the things that I wished I could’ve done when I was in Europe last year was to extend our stay so that we could experience Oktoberfest in Germany but alas… if I’d stayed any longer I’d probably be so broke I’d have to hijack a gondola back here. :S Nemai. Since I couldn’t go to Oktoberfest, Oktoberfest has come to me!! WTF.

Last Friday, Yuenny, Jacqkie, Michelle and I went for the launch of this year’s Oktoberfest celebration at Souled Out. We endured spectacular traffic jams and a couple of massive wrong turns to get there, and we were already stressed out from work earlier so we really needed the beer when we finally arrived.

Upon registration, we each got one of these ginormous glasses (called steins, apparently)…

… which we were then told we could use to get free-flow beer during the event. I swear I heard an angel chorus in my brain at that moment, and our faces all lit up like a row of Times Square billboards. Those glasses have a 1 litre capacity by the way. Heehee. We wasted no time in filling the glasses up…

… and here I am being all HAPPYFRESH with my 1 litre of Kilkenny :D

There was quite the carnival atmosphere going on there, there were Oompah band performances, German folk dances and some cool games too. One of them was where you had to compete in pairs to roll a barrel up a slope thing, and another one was like this three-legged race that we used to play in primary school, except you’re both holding a full stein of beer while doing it. Hahaha. Oh, and there were plenty of Bavarian milkmaids around too *wiggles eyebrows*:

The other Nuffies were planning to join us later, so after an awesome dinner of sauerkraut and jumbo sausages (MMMM), we just chilled and messed around lots with Yuenny’s camera (all pictures are from her too, shame on me I know)…

… and by 10-ish, our table was crowded with Nuffies (and boyfriends) all eager to drink.

HAHAHAHA PINKY WTF

We got rebuked by a disgruntled Kadazan for not finishing our 1 litre of beer each before they came. :S Hey, give us a break, we’re not the designated alcoholics at Nuffnang okay? :P It was all good fun though; we spent the next hour or so talking about more nonsense and laughing at Linda, who primly announced that the beer was getting to her after all of two and a half sips.

Oh Chubbs. I love you, Chubbs. Don't you love me too, seeing as I didn't post the photo that Jacqkie posted? HAHAHA oops.

Anyway, Oktoberfest is happening all this month so there are awesome promotions at GAB outlets everywhere. There’s this RM 50 for a litre of Tiger beer promotion going on, and remember that huge beer stein of mine? If you buy your beer in one of those steins, you get to keep it!! Mine’s currently sitting on the kitchen table scaring my housemates. There are apparently different designs available at different outlets, so let’s go collect all the different designs and we can make a little beer stein family WTF. There are a couple more other promotions; check them out at http://oktoberfest.com.my. So many drinks, so little time. AIH.

elmo tells no lies

2010-09-28T22:49:00.003+08:00

One of my favourite accessories, from one of my favourite shops, Urban Outfitters :) You'll find me twirling the needle absently a lot when I'm wearing it, and I always wish it was fully functional. :P Well, who wouldn't wish for that huh :\ The worse of all the lies though, are the ones you tell your own self because it's easier that way.

*****

"The meaning of life is respecting your elders by saying Mr and Ms, and please and thank you, and also giving lots of loves and kisses."

- Elmo

Oh furry Elmo. I wish it were all so easy. D you must watch this :D

just the way you are

2010-09-16T01:22:00.005+08:00

You don't often see me being mushy, but I just can't help but melt a little inside at this song :)

I think the video didn't disappoint, because thank god there are no massive making-out scenes or generic spaced-out girls with their asses hanging out - it's just really simple and sweet, like the song itself. And of course, I've always had a soft spot for guys who play the piano :P

I said the girl should've been slightly hideous so the whole you-hate-yourself-but-I-think-you're-gorgeous thing would be more believable. Michelle said that if this were a Chinese song with the video produced in Taiwan, at some point the girl would probably have a great fall in slow motion and become crippled, but later when she could get up and walk, the guy would gaze deeply into her tear-filled eyes and sing the chorus to her. Hahahaha sigh we crack ourselves up sometimes.

You know how sometimes you feel like you're all alone with your troubles, and nobody would ever understand what you're going through? It always seems that way, but then songs like this, and Airplanes come along, and they seem to touch a chord with everybody. And then you see that your pain is the same story lived by so many others - just told a different way.

paramore live in kl

2010-09-14T22:43:00.001+08:00

Well, well, well, looks like this year is shaping up to be the one where all the superstars visit. I've seen Ne-Yo and Usher already, and now it's time for Paramore. WOOHOOOO!

Yup, it's Paramore Live in Kuala Lumpur presented by Tune Talk Mobile Prepaid! They're performing at the National Stadium, Bukit Jalil on 19 October.

While I may not be as huge a Paramore fan as lion boy Nick Davis, I always have liked their songs. One of my favourites is Decode (DON'T judge me, I liked it before I knew of its association with sparkly vampires), and That's What You Get and CrushCrushCrush are also permanent fixtures on my iPod.

Besides, Hayley Williams is just so - there's no other word for it - cool, with her flaming red hair, powerhouse vocals and all. #whenigrowup I wanna be like Hayley Williams wtf. Any time you see a lead like Hayley with a great band behind her, you know it's gonna be a great show for sure ;)

So yeah I have tickets, thanks to Tune Talk. Envy me :P If you wanna get some tickets for yourself too, it's RM358 for the Rock Zone free standing category and RM268, RM168 & RM98 each for Free Seating categories. Buy your tickets before 15 September and you get a 10% discount off all categories! If you're a Tune Talk subscriber then even more awesome news for you: you can redeem free 20% airtime rebate of your ticket value at the concert! You know, so you can yak more and annoy your friends who can't make it to the concert.

Tickets are available online from AirAsiaRedTix at www.airasiaredtix.com and TicketPro at www.ticketpro.com.my, as well as over the counter at Rock Corner and TicketPro outlets. For more information, check out http://www.rockthisjoint.com.my.

the evolution of pants

2010-09-13T22:54:00.002+08:00

So it was raining this morning, the huge thunderstorm-and-45-degree-raindrops kind of rain, so naturally by the time I reached the office I was basically soaked from the knees down. Jeans, they take an eternity to dry off so I was getting increasingly agitated with my damp jeans clinging sadly onto my calves and I was all HULKFRESH inside and wanted to just tear the damn things in half so I'd be left with dry, knee-length shorts wtf.

And then I suddenly recalled, much to my horror, that those things actually existed and were sold commercially once upon a time. Y'know, the atrocities which looked like this:

Those stupid pants. Does anyone else remember them? They were everywhere at one point in time, and I used to think it was so cool because they were two freakin' pairs of pants in one. HELLO DAMN VALUE FOR MONEY CAN. If you ever get tired of wearing your normal long jeans, just unzip the bottom part and ta-dah, you have sna-suku (3/4) pants!! WTF. Thankfully, I never did actually have a pair of my own, mainly due to the fact that I was blessed with short stubby legs which made either one of the er, pant-lengths possible look utterly ridiculous on me.

And then there were the flared pants, which refused to RIP together with the 60's. Or was it the 70's? Those too started off kinda cool but then everybody had to go and try to out-flare everybody else and next thing you know, people were flapping noisily around in flares big enough to house a homeless man and a picnic basket underneath. Maybe I saw more of it because I used to hang out in Prangin Mall at that time (god save my soul). I dunno.

Fortunately most of time pants in general are not too outlandish, because jeans and a tee are pretty much what you'll find me wearing about 80% of the time. I'll probably be looking back at this in about 10 years and laughing at how stupid skinny jeans are cuz everybody wears carbon-fiber pants which have a hole cut in the knees or some shit like that, but what the heck, fashion is one thing everybody's a victim of. Which reminds me, I'm wearing out my favourite pair of skinny jeans out really fast. Where can I find petite skinnies for £15 here? T___T

sing along now

2010-09-13T00:40:00.001+08:00

Voulez vous coucher avec moi, ce soir? ;)

*****
Finally got around to messing around with PS CS5 yesterday. What's with the segregation of 'Essentials', 'Design', 'Photography' and all that? Not that it's not nice, but now I have to click around more to get to my favourite PS Actions, and switching incessantly between that and History :S Oh well. And I haven't gotten around to really trying out the legendary content-aware fill, but at first blush the content-aware healing brush seems to work better than the usual one (but of course, duh). /geek

*****
Can has moar weekend pleez? T_T

tumpang glamour

2010-09-02T23:29:00.001+08:00

Okay since I always need an excuse to blog, might as well grab this chance to be all Blogger Bestari (TM) and tumpang glamour at the same time :P

About two weeks back, I was in the office on a Saturday debating whether to go back and sleep or go shopping and dent my bank account after I was done, when I got a call from Huai Bin asking me if I could help him and Cindy out with a video they needed to shoot. Why not, I figured, and so I promptly canceled my thrilling plans for a Saturday afternoon.

So armed with Huai Bin's little compact cam, I played Little Miss Videographer for 5 hours, and am proudly a (invisible) part of this video shot for the Arthur's Day Man of Action contest!

Yup, it's Love the Way You Lie by Eminem & Rihanna, originally with Dominic Monaghan (I secretly call him Charlie Lost) and Megan Fox. If you haven't watched the original before, you HAVE to watch it to appreciate the attention to detail in this version :D Huai Bin and Cindy were awesome in their dedication to getting everything right, and Haze was the one who did all the seriously epic editing, fire and all. fuhhh.

Huai Bin's got a bit of funny behind-the-scenes stories on his post (see, this is why I told you I don't bother blogging any more :S) which is worth a read, it includes a couple of videos too. I didn't know he uploaded those blooper reels, this one in particular is damn stupid wan:

HAHAHA. One thing though - I can never get over HOW MUCH I SOUND LIKE A DUDE FML FOREVER T________T To all of you whom I talk to every day, I am so sorry that my trannyvoice has to grate on your unwilling ears on a regular basis :( Next time, please strangle me in conversation so that I talk 3 octaves higher, thanks.

And finally if you're thinking of asking me how I felt while filming all the hot and heavy action, please don't, 'cuz I don't know what answer you're expecting. What IS the correct answer in these kind of situations anyway? o.O

A. "It's all so violent T___T"
B. "Erm, shift your hand to the left a bit, yah like that."
C. "ME HORNYYYY!"

Totally WTF all. Nevermind. OK lemme go loop that song now bye.

do you want fries with that

2010-09-02T00:10:00.002+08:00

I know, I don't blog enough, and if I had 1 kupang for every time someone huffed at me about the lack of updates, I would have enough to buy... a medium double cheeseburger McValue meal. wtf.

Because when I don't think about it too much, time just seems to pass by in big slurps without anything happening that I feel the need to sit down and blog about... with the exception of a few things that I don't talk about :S

I think the best way to describe it is like when you're happily slurping a Coke at McD's while spewing a string of Inception theories at your friends, and you suddenly slurp in a mouthful of air which tells you that you ran out of Coke. And then you feel cheated because there's no way you reached the bottom of the paper cup so fast. sigh.

The funny thing about doing what I do though, is that for some things, it doesn't really matter if you don't blog about it because about 50 other people probably did (complete with your mugshots, mostly), and so there will always be a bit of you floating around in someone's archives. Probably not the best way to get about it but hey, sometimes they tell it better than I do ;)

It's not so much about the writing for me now, because god knows I spend enough time wringing the witty out of my brain at work; I never could understand how some people could hold down full-time jobs while regularly churning out brilliant blog posts (and regularly too, mind you). It's the picture-taking I miss.

I miss being a student, and the life I left behind a year ago.

I miss those I rarely meet now, the company which made traveling fun.

Most of all, I miss the places where I just felt inspired to capture every moment I spent there.

I think I just need to be able to see the beauty in little everyday things again. And just living a little helps too... for which I'm happy for every chance I get :)

9 to 5 in the twitterverse ghetto

2010-08-01T00:23:00.001+08:00

Signs indicating that your job is full of win:

- You can say that your office once had a half-day off so everyone could bond over some intense laser tag.

- Your boss makes a trip to Toys"R"Us and comes back with this little fella.

- You also get a message from said boss in the company's BBM group chat saying he got RM 350 worth of Nerf Guns for the office from Toys"R"Us.

- Yes, boss aku ni yang teramat gembira beraksi with his Big Boss Nerf Gun.

- It is perfectly acceptable to hurl smashable dicks made out of rubber/silicone stuff at the glass walls of your meeting room, and giggle immaturely as you watch them go SPLAT, regain their shape and flip, flop, roll all the way down to the floor.

- You hold an event and your colleagues from another country turn up to support you. *tears*

- One of the elements in company culture includes the abnormally high risk of being tweetjacked if you so much as leave your seat to go pee.

Like this. Nyahahahahahaha.

All this, and I've only been working here less than a year. I actually think it's kind of a prerequisite that you have to be at least slightly nuts on some level to be hired here, and I wouldn't have it any other way cuz you just couldn't wish for a more awesome bunch of people to work with :)

the start of my wish list

2010-07-27T23:25:00.002+08:00

If I had this T-shirt it would probably be my favouritest one ever :P

Handmade by Monika T-shirt, by Ewa B. | LOOKBOOK.nu

WANT!! This is one tee I know I can rock for sure. heehee.

*****

And speaking of things I want, the iPad's gotta be on that list too (surprise,surprise!!). Thought about entering Munchy's Mimic to the Muzic contest cuz they're giving out like THREE iPads OMG. But after I calmed down I realised that you'd have to make music with your mouth to enter, and the most musical thing that comes out of my mouth most of the time goes something like 'ppppbbbbttlehhhhhh'. FML. If you think you can do better than me, go give it a shot at http://munchysmuzic.com; extra win of RM 500 is in store if you're a Nuffnanger :D

on a rainy day

2010-07-10T22:09:00.007+08:00

There is no spoon.

no amish rugrats, thanks

2010-06-28T00:10:00.002+08:00

While there are roars coming about 5 minutes apart from the mamaks downstairs from ENG vs GER, I'm aimlessly looking through old photos I took a year ago in Liverpool 'cuz I have no kaki(s) to go catch the matches with anyway. *shrugs*

So I realised that while I took plenty of pictures of non-moving stuff like buildings, trees, grass, rocks and the likes, I managed to not really get any photos of the people in the places I went to :( Which makes me sad-ish 'cuz now there are no reminders of the cute angmoh babies I saw - pretty much the only babies who'd ever made me go "Awwwww" instead of "Whaddafak do I do with these again?" Yeah I'm horrible like that :P I think I've improved somewhat though, at least now I'm just clueless about small-sized humans instead of visibly blanching at the sight of them.

And I somehow started thinking: What would it be like for this generation of ours to raise kids? With all the teknologeee that we have, I mean. It used to be that our parents/grandparents would tell us that they had to cross 2 rivers and jump over 3 pigs and a goat to get to school every day (or something like that) and we'd have to take their word for it 'cuz there's no Facebook photos, blogs or anything else to tell us otherwise. Parents were parents - the people whom you just can't quite imagine doing nasty shit when they were young. Or being young at all o.O

All these social media stuff that we have now could turn out to be quite a pain when we're trying to bring up kids, methinks. It's fine if you have say, a food blog like uncle KY 'cuz his kid would be all "My dad's a fehmes food blogger, how many hits does your dad get a day? *snob*" But I think my kid would be a nightmare if she (I like to think it'd be a smartass girl) found out about my blog/Twitter or whatever. Imagine this maybe 15 years down the road:

Me: Where'd you pick that up? That's a bad word. Stop saying that!
6-year-old smartass kid: NO! You curse a lot on your blog and Twitter too Mommy. HA HA!
Me: *gritted teeth* Bitch.

Yeah. Well on the bright side, at least that kid's smart and tech-savvy. I have this irrational fear that my kid would instead, by some freaky twist of fate turn out to be some Amish person who likes listening to country music. Not that that means that my kid's bad or anything, but really. I can't imagine my life without clutching the cool glass surface of my iPod Touch, getting numb-thumb syndrome from tapping away on my BB, or hearing that satisfying whoosh-snap from my Charlie every time I take a picture. I dunno if I could take my kid being the total opposite of gadget geek mom T___T

Oh hey! Old photo that I posted before; looks like I got an angmoh kid photo after all :P Awwww.

ohaiz i am making no sense

2010-06-24T00:02:00.000+08:00

Mind noodles. That's what I called them and that's pretty much how I'd describe it now.

I thought everything was fine, and it was. But sometimes the stripey tape and cautionary signs are put there for a reason; once you pass them, some things start less and less sense. Like this post. I wish Blogger had a password protect function to protect you from this drivel, but it doesn't so I'm sorry, here I present my tangled mind noodles on my blog.

Maybe it's that goddamned Nobody song driving me nuts, or maybe it's 'cuz I carry the burden of many at once. Either way, I don't know what to think now. For I saw what you wrote, and it was heartbreaking.

pizza and booze are best friends foreva

2010-06-21T00:30:00.005+08:00

Am blogging about this rather late but what the heck. Better than totally forgetting about my photos as usual teehee.

So last Saturday a few of us Nuffies suddenly decided that it would be a good time to make our own pizza. And by a few of us, I mean Michelle and Firdy were making the pizzas, Veen Dee helped and the rest of us took pictures and generally got in the way.

The making of a pizza, totally sped up:

Lots of mushrooms...

... throw in colourful capsicums...

"But Grandmother, what big eyes you have! O.O"

... some mushed-up tomatoes as the sauce mmmm....

... uhh my photos of the pizza base and the pepperoni seem to have gone missing...

... and voila! We can has pizza! :D

OK I probably should've had a warning ahead that this wasn't gonna be Pizza-Making 101 cuz of the sad lack of photos and elaborashun. Because by the time I took the photo of the pizza, I was valiantly trying to maintain some semblance of sobriety -.- Yalah I was damn drunk that night FML. And the source of our drunkenness/buzzedness:

mmhmmm. Sixthseal/Boozeseal as helpfully nicknamed by Rachel. Please note that the above picture is not an accurate representation of Sixthseal as it DOES NOT INVOLVE HIM HOLDING A BOTTLE OF WHISKEY. Dude has abnormal tolerance for alcohol, so FOL for us who can't keep up with him. It goes something like this:

- Normal people are tipsy
- Normal people start slurring and making less sense
- Sixthseal is totally unaffected
- Normal people start wobbling around like Jello
- A small hippo is knocked out
- Sixthseal is finally drunk

So yeah. Can't remember a lot of stuff, but most importantly I remember that apparently I rock at Wii bowling, play the piano quite passably, and can take okay-looking photos, all while totally inebriated. I consider that a win :P There's a video around of me playing the piano while Michelle and Sixthseal are all yay karaoke, but I'm not posting that so that those of you who haven't seen me drunk before can go back to remembering me as the person whose only vice is cursing a lot in Hokkien. hehehe.

Anyway since this is totally useless as an "event coverage" post, how 'bout a few pictures of the people I hang out with nowadays instead:

Spot! OK no I don't see Spot a lot but I couldn't resist cuz Spot is so cute :D Spot is our awesome host Linda's doggie.

And this is Spot's human, Linda on the left, and Rachel on the right. Why yes, my colleagues are hot. I swear everyfreakinbody in the office looks like that. Does wonders for my self-esteem every day.

Here's Linda again, with Sara and little Veen Dee! I'm gonna miss Veen Dee when she goes soon :(

Aha group shot! L-R behind me: Michelle, David, Rachel, Sara, Veen Dee and Firdy

♥ the Nuffies :)

tick-tock, clip-clop

2010-05-02T22:11:00.004+08:00

It's a good thing I don't write for a living, because if I did I'd probably be jobless, destitute and wandering around Genting Klang with unwashed hair. I totally suck at this coming up with interesting stuff to blog about thing.

Maybe it's because like D discovered a few months before - our lives now pretty much rotate around a bright LCD screen until we collapse on our collective beds every night. I think she put it much more elegantly than me. As much as I love my job, sometimes I wish we all - our society in general, I mean - didn't have to bust our asses so hard just to survive.

Time just passes by so fast. Last week, a colleague left and took half the company by surprise. A college friend's father passed away suddenly. Somebody asked me how one of my closest friends in college was doing now, and I didn't know the answer. And today, chatting with the dobi lady downstairs, I suddenly realised I haven't seen one of my ex-housemates for almost a year. At moments like this, I just think that for whatever reasons, we don't make the time to just chill with the people around us. And sometimes we don't even realise it.

Oh well. Been looking through some photos I took ages ago and never saw the light of day. Since I'm in the office all the time, here's one of the view from my side of the office:

Not too shabby eh? :)

And this here is my beeg mug, which was Tim's Christmas present to all of us last year. It's totally awesome because
1) It's got my name on it! How often do you get that?
2) It's big enough to be filled with 2 gallons of water at once or something like that, because God forbid I have to keep walking 15 feet to the water cooler. Yes I'm a sloth like that, don't judge me.

Back when Yee Hou was still around, we used to play a little game which I call 'Marginalise the Intern'. It basically entails a few of us (usually Yee Hou, Robb and me) clinking our Christmas mugs with names together in front of the intern (then Christy) and going, "Ah, it's nice to be part of the family, ain't it?" And we'd watch and laugh as Christy went T______T

Here's Christy! I miss Chwisty :( And we're not as evil as you think, I swear :D I think our intern now, Veen Dee is doing pretty okay except for the time we fake-fired her on her first day, which was April Fool's... okay we're horrible people WTF.

So yeah. If for some strange reason you like my writing very much and are disapppointed that I don't update often, please follow this blog instead, where I occasionally write with too many exclamation marks.

look ma, my name's on tv

2010-04-21T01:10:00.002+08:00

I know, I've been a bad bad blogger. Kinda ironic that the more I work in the world of blogging, the less time I have to update my own blog. So yeah. Here's my post for the month of April, even if uncle KY says that blogging once a month doesn't count. teehee.

The only thing interesting enough for me to blog about at this time would be Project Alpha I suppose, considering it's the reason I'm going blind and nuts simultaneously with Excel spreadsheets and interrupted Youtube uploads every day. If you haven't been chatting with me lately to know what's Project Alpha (which would make me very sad btw), it's an online reality TV show about ze Malaysian top bloggers, which ain't half bad actually and I'm not saying that just because I'm involved with it :D

Season 2 just premiered yesterday, and about 2 weeks ago there was a press conference and Bloggers' Launch where all the fehmes stars of the show turned up.

So 8 am on 7 April saw me schlepping off to The Curve for the press conference, which was... a press conference lah, I dunno what else I can say about press conferences that you don't already know. Photos, they is here. After that, I hung around with the Kyanite crew and a few of the bloggers while they went to the P1 office for a shoot. And it's at this time only I remembered that I was LOLing at this epic lighter that one of the featured bloggers, Klubbkidd carries around:

Hahahaha. I think I wanted to tweet about it at that time but got distracted by... god knows what and forgot all about it until now. Yeah I know lah I damn blur FML.

After shooting for a few hours there, we all carried our half-dead selves back to The Curve for the Bloggers' Launch, which was kinda like a dinner/meet-and-greet thing with a movie after. Meriah sekali. And I had no camera and no time to take a lot of pictures because apparently I was busy stalking around emanating lots of stress vibes the whole night. Or something like that. SAD MAX AH.

I kinda realise now that a part of me wishes I didn't have to attend events as part of my work because I don't get to take lotsa photos T_______T As a result, I have to resort to something I absolutely hatehatehate doing for this blog post, which is to steal photos. Just to... um, prove that I was there =.=

This one I stole from the awesome Kimberlycun, whom I immediately decided I heart max ever since she called me a n00b for not having a Twitter app on my old LG Cookie :P And behind us Shaolintiger makes a guest photobomb appearance -.-

And as you can see, this one was stolen bulat-bulat from Niki because that budak Cheong always had a problem with sending me photos :P I die die steal because I really like this photo okay teehee.

Official pictures of the Bloggers' Launch here! But for more fun and LOL-worthy pictures, look for Kim, Niki and Audrey's posts about the launch :)

Ooh and guess what?! My name is in the credits for the show!! :D Seriously. Check out the first episode - around the 5.45 mark my name appears under the 'Nuffnang Core Team' section!

OK lah it's only my name there but still! My hard work is recognized on screen *tears of joy*

Um. I'm done being happy and syok sendiri so I gtg sleep and stock up on the mental strength to face more Excel spreadsheets later wtf. But last thing before I go - the trailer for Season 2, which I really like :)

*bounces around happily*

one of those days

2010-03-12T23:06:00.002+08:00

Today it's just been one of those days. One of those days where everything needs to be done nao. One of those days where it all makes me wonder if I'm not quite living up to the expectations and hopes others have towards me. One of those days which makes me paranoid about my job security :S

Because while others always seem able to keep their shit together, I drown in the loose ends and fret over being unable to get stuff that seems so simple done. Working where I do introduced me to a few people which I've gained much respect for, like @timothytiah, @sotongzai, @sixthseal and @jstna. Especially Robb, who's always got my back and looks out for me, even on days off *kamtongsniff*. If you read this Robb, do not get too happy and smirk or I will loop Justin Bieber on the speakers I stole from you until your ears shrivel up and dai.

OK my eyes are burning, I'm messing up all my passwords (why the hell does Project Alpha have so many different logins dammit), and I'm messing up 'their' and 'there'. And I have about 200 emails to compile and a blog post to draft and omaigad I need my pink Post-It. Will blog about happier stuff soons, promise T.T

the ghost of CNY past

2010-02-20T23:04:00.006+08:00

It's Chor 7 of CNY already, so happy birthday everyone! Somehow it feels like such a long time ago that I was back in Penang for CNY.

Not that I'm not a fan of CNY, but I had way more enthusiasm for CNY as a kid than I do lately. Maybe all things are just better viewed from the eyes of a 3.5ft tall child.

I remember staying up excitedly every CNY eve when I was a kid together with my sister. We'd always get all the spring cleaning done just in time, and I'd be a busybody hovering around my mom while she cooked some dessert thing, which till this day I've no idea what it's called in English. It's the one with all the stuff like red dates, gingko and fungi stuff... nevermind, I'm making it sound horrible. It's still one of my favourite things about CNY actually :) My mom would also always let me stick some red paper on the fruits for the gods, because my arts and crafts skills were so l33t wtf.

At midnight, I'd bounce around for a while at the sound of firecrackers, nevermind that I stopped being able to actually play with any after the age of like 6 when they were outlawed :( And I'd then get my first (or sometimes second) angpow of the year from my mom happily with my sister. We both have a 'treasure chest' which we keep our angpows in until the end of CNY, upon which we'd pour everything out, and I'd fish the $$s out while my sister checked the angpows to see if I left anything out before we disposed of them. I almost threw RM 10 away once wtf T_T

My treasure chest :D

If you're wondering why that photo is kinda fail and quite unlike my usual pwetty photos *hacking cough*, that's because...

...I took it with my new Blackberry which I got this CNY eve :D Thanks to my awesome dad teehee. It's the Bold 9700! And it is the awesomesauce hohohoho. [/showoff]

Thing is, getting the BB was probably the thing I was happiest about this CNY, other that the fact that I got to go back to Penang. CNY just isn't quite the same for me any more; there's generally a lot less hype, and a lot more bickering. I've always considered myself pretty lucky that my whole extended family on both sides generally get on pretty nicely, but well... let's just say clinging to my Berry and being antisocial helped me get through some rough yaks this CNY.

Well that was CNY 2010 for me; hope you had a great CNY! Now excuse me while I go digest the yee sang/steamboat I had for dinner with yee-sang-obsessed Robb and Zach just now.

new year, old town

2010-02-11T17:48:00.002+08:00

At this time tomorrow, I'll be in the old hometown already, probably unconscious to the world, as I'm apt to do on days I'm not slaving away in the office. *cough* FMypoordad'sLife, he's gonna have to pick me up from the bus station at the ungodly hour of like 4am or something tomorrow seeing as I'm leaving at 11pm later. I sure hope my parents miss me enough to do that for me hurhur. I never understand why public holidays + Penang = everyfreakinbody converging on Penang like it's going out of style in 2 days.

Burgerz! Damn I wish I could stay longer for teh epic Penang noms, but sadly it would be but a pendek break of 5 days only this CNY =(

Wish I could just sit and chill at home more in this time but what to do eh, relatives and friends are aplenty. Well, work's all good for now and going to the office is always fun so I guess I won't have too much of post-CNY depression when I come back =/

Anyway to everyone out there who's celebrating CNY, happy CNY and may your yee sang be awesome and your angpows be bursting with RM 100 notes wtf.

cityscapes

2010-02-08T22:34:00.001+08:00

Cuz it's cool seeing things from above. Lots of times I've been one of those tiny pedestrians crossing the road but I never realised how pretty the view from the top is. Piccadilly-esque, if you will. :)

my dream in the year of the tiger

2010-02-02T01:53:00.003+08:00

... is to travel. Yalah a very normal, common dream only lah. What were you expecting?

Nuffnang's gonna have a Tiger Run this weekend where the winner gets RM 8,888 of his/her dreams fulfilled, with a cash prize of RM 1,888 also, so... I hantam also lah. But unlike Huai Bin's dream that caused Epic Mass Squealing (TM) in my orange office some time ago, my dream is simply to travel alone, with my lil Charlie for company. =)

It's mainly for the photogeek in me, really. I like the thought of being able to take in the sights at my own pace, seeing the little everyday things that tourists miss and just capturing the moments of life as it is for people there. Because while the classic shots like this...

... are always awesome, wandering around alone gave me the chance to see the quiet old town of Nice...

... and this view of the Nice harbour which I would've missed if I hadn't insisted on climbing a whole lot of stairs again (in a drizzle, too) without my friends... ah, nevermind the details. :P

So yeah. Since I've been to my favouritest city in the world, which would be Rome, the next city I'd really, really like to check off my list is NYC. w00t!

I've always been drawn to New York since forever, and I recently stumbled across a couple of NY photoblogs - MDPNY, Bluejake and Joe's NYC - that show the beauty through all the grime and grit of New York. I love photoblogs like these and it would be so awesome if I could have New Yorky photos of my own.

And I somehow got the price of RM 4,085 for a return ticket to Los Angeles, so I'm wildly guessing and adding on like, uh, RM 1,000 so that I can take a connecting flight to New York and back? Yeah I'm not very good with calculations, see. So the remaining RM 3,803 and cash prize of RM 1,888 for the grand prize winner would be really useful since I think I'd be absentmindedly blowing cash down Fifth Avenue or something with a cloudy mind like mine. sigh.

If you wanna get the chance to rob me of my dream, all you gotta do is blog about your dream in the Year of the Tiger and send in the permalink of your entry to fulfillmywish.tiger@nuffnang.com. Do head on over to the Tiger Run microsite here for more details. Very easy only one. Don't let the word 'run' put you off, it's really not that long of a run and nothing that would kill the average Nuffnanger; trust me on this one :P

the fiery moments

2010-01-17T20:33:00.000+08:00

I think most twilights (hurhur) these days where I am have been of the 'blue hour' type.

Not that blue evenings are not pretty, but it's nice to see a properly fiery sunset sometimes. =)

17 days in

2010-01-17T11:30:00.006+08:00

Gooood morning lazy Sunday!

And yeah it's 17 days into 2010 already but it's only my first post of the year. I get a free pass cuz I don't blog for a living (heehee), but I guess I gotta maintain some semblance of updating now that there's a... sudden influx of passerbys here O.O But blogging without pictures now feels so wrong. bleargh.

Which is why although my life for the past month has been colourful enough to fill up my excitement quota for a few months, I haven't been blogging much - I'm probably sleeping half the time I'm free to blog, and since I can't take many photos while I'm working, I don't really feel like blogging about whatever event it is anymore T.T Poor Charlie's feeling so neglected these days.

Besides, you can always read about those events from other top bloggers anyway. Like the time I was in a tumultuous marriage with the notorious Sixthseal.com... for about 30 seconds, in which he decided to openly cheat on me with Robb, and I promptly stabbed him to death cuz y'know, I'm already insecure as it is and he goes and boinks a dude who looks prettier than me. Hell hath no fury like a Fresh scorned! So much for the much-hyped marital bliss. =/ OK fine that was all pretend for the Astro B.yond Bloggers Night but still, it was quite a bit of fun for the month. :D Oh and you can find my gay hubby's long-ass post about it here ;)

Some things I have to blog about myself though. Like Ne-Yo's concert. Definitely the highlight of the month, and I still can't believe I was only about 20 feet away from him, thanks to the almost VIP seats Robb gave me! But again, no photos. Because I thought that I wouldn't be able to take photos there anyway, only to see about 4859218 cameras flashing away at the concert. T_____T I could've had the most awesomest photos ever okay FML x infinity. Whatever. I shall remember the awesomeness of the concert and the hawtness of Ne-Yo with his zomg-so-sexy tattoos with THE SHEER POWER OF MY MEMORY.

So yeah. Two of the more interesting things that I've experienced so far this year. If you ask nicely when you see me maybe I'll tell you more :P And there's also this sneaky and awfully familiar... thing that I've been feeling these days, which I haven't felt for quite some time. I guess old habits die hard, and I always go for precisely the things I know will never end in anything good. OK no more emo shit for now. Here's to hoping this year will be better than the last!

tis the season to be jolly

2009-12-25T01:43:00.004+08:00

I think the best Christmas gift is your salary coming in on Christmas Eve. Yesh I got paid for the first time woohoo. But if you're thinking about asking me how much moneh I can has, GO AWAY DOWAN FRIEND YOU. Because I'm still freakin poor... and my dear boss asked me to buy Blackberry lagi T.T OK so he was joking (I hope) but there's so much I wanna do now that I'm getting my own moneh. Like travel.

God I miss UK so much. What wouldn't I give to be able to shoot the autumn leaves and the frozen people in winter. And I can just imagine Paris being absolutely gorgeous this time of the year. sigh. Cold as it may be, my inner shutterbug is yearning to go out and just shoot for a day or two. I really miss doing the tourist thing... even if it is in Penang. *makes note to do a proper Penang shoot someday*

But being here kinda sucks out the inspiration somehow. I miss the simple days of vegetating and Photoshopping pics before I started working, which I don't get to do much these days cuz I don't shoot... and when I do my photos are so sad I can't bear to look at them :S

Anyway tis the season to be jolly.

And this makes me jolly! =D My Secret Santa present from Singaporean Nuffie Elaine - stuff from Sephora which we cannot has in Malaysia. That alone makes me jolly sigh I'm so easily bought. It also smells like caramel toffee which is SO AWESOME okay. The Singaporean Nuffies are all so sweet btw.

This is from Boss Ming for everyone! Cool gift even though I'm not in it =( Hopefully I will be though the next time there's a pic like that. Yes I know my recent pics are ugly see I told you T.T

Just to prove what an epic failure I am as a shutterbug, I didn't bring Charlie along for the company Christmas dinner. sigh what is wrong with me wtf. On the other hand, you know you're the one with the awesome job when you can get your boss to do this:

Merry Christmas everyone! *throws popcorn and confetti*

the leftover crumbs

2009-12-19T00:58:00.001+08:00

So here's a few things I've learned since I started working a couple weeks ago:

I am actually as overrated as I always thought I was. heehee.
I've got a speshul 'meet the bloggers' voice which is up to two octaves higher than the voice I normally use to yell stuff like "MAHAI YOU THINK I VERY FREE AR."
I really gotta learn to pose nicer in photos or risk appearing in random blogs looking like a drunken spastic monkey.
I really need more clothes. Really seriously.
I think I need to move out to preserve my sanity.
I need my carrr. My lousy ancient whiny squeaky holey car.

Yup. That just about covers the basic stuff sigh. And I just realised I managed to take 800 photos of a wedding and hate all of them. ugh.

On the other hand, meeting up with old friends was teh awesumness =) Pity though that it was too spontaneous and Charlie didn't come along. meh. You'd think I'd have more interesting stuff to blog about, what with my awesome new job and all but noooo this is the best that it gets. pffft.

what we wait for

2009-12-07T22:39:00.003+08:00

"How much of human life is lost in waiting." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

i sees cheez

2009-12-05T12:47:00.002+08:00

Highlight of the day:

Me: Hey I like your jeans! So nice!
Cheesie: Thanks!
Me: You got them at Baci right?
Cheesie: *squeals* Yeah how did you know?!
Me: Cuz I read your blog!
Cheesie + me: SQUEEEEE

Awww isn't she like the cutest thing ever. And really nice too omg I *heart* her and Vivien they're so niceee. So yeah yesterday night marks my first time doing the whole meeting people hi-nice-to-meet-you thing. And if you're actually reading this blog you probably know that this is when I usually BSOD. So that's another one of my.... issues... that I gotta work out before I get booted for being anti-social or something T.T

Which reminds me.... I really should go shopping for more clothes now. Without my shopping buddy. sniff. And with no cash FML. My moneyflow is so one-way now.

so i am a non-bum

2009-12-01T01:19:00.000+08:00

So I've only just had a much-needed bath after the 5 hour journey back here, even though I've been home for more than 4 hours. Because well, taking out 5 tonnes of trash and cleaning a place that both stinks and looks like it hasn't been introduced to a mop and broom since 1937 does tend to take up some time. Tough shit too, knowing that all that is gonna last all of maybe 1 day before I find 3 trash bags glaring balefully at me from 3 feet away. And I'm going to be sleep deprived. But dammit I will be happy.

HAPPY I say. Because in a few hours, I'll offically be the new ProbieNuffie. Nothing better to psyche you up for the first day of work like an orange office and friends who want your job. I love you friends. hurhur. So here's to a (hopefully) awesome job, more orange office time and less stinky room time.

attachment issues

2009-11-28T23:51:00.005+08:00

I have issues T.T

More specifically, gadget attachment issues. I'M SO SORRY I DIDN'T BRING YOU BACK CHARLIE.

I miss you and your friends so much. T.T OK I know I look like I need some Gadgetoholics Anonymous intervention now but but see Charlie is only like 2 months old okay. He's still little and lonely. shhh.

*****

And now, for the LOL of the day, check out this article about why the Twilight saga (movies, that is) must continue till Breaking Dawn is done. And it is full of teh awesumness. No, seriously, it's a must read. To illustrate why, let me provide you with a quote from the article that kinda explains it all:

So one day he's going to stick his wolf dick in this girl that he see as a bloody newborn. Romance is not dead, it's just being abused by insane Mormon writers.

HAHAHAHA.

day 'n' nite

2009-11-27T02:45:00.001+08:00

Day and night
The lonely stoner seems to free his mind at night
He's all alone, some things will never change (never change)
The lonely loner seems to free his mind at night (at, at, at night)

-Kid Cudi, Day 'n' Nite

potatohead

2009-11-24T00:35:00.001+08:00

I have been eating almost nothing but chips for the whole day FML.

Not the best way to prepare for an interview. I need my Penang food =(

once upon a geeky time

2009-11-23T02:59:00.002+08:00

... a boy met a girl on Flickr. Though they were miles apart, they came together with the help of the Photoshop fairy, and they lived happily ever after.

I can't believe I'm only learning about this now, but darnit if it's not now my favourite fairy tale of all time. Such is the story of Aaron and Rosie, who met on Flickr through their 365 projects and had the most fairytale-like romance with the decidedly geeky twist which melted my little geeky heart: Because they couldn't be together, once a week Aaron would take a photo of himself in the States, and Rosie would take one in England, and they'd put themselves in a photo, until they finally met in person and the rest is history. SIGH SO ROMANTIC.

And because it's Flickr, you know the photos are gonna be awesome - take a look at the set, which has the both of them in all sorts of surreal fairy tale pictures. And the descriptions! so heartbreaking sometimes. Aaron and Rosie edit the same shoots in different ways, and while I do kinda lean towards Aaron's work, Rosie's is no less impressive especially since she's only like 18 okay let me go hang my head in shame now bye T.T

Between that and religiously stalking Jasmine Star's blog (which happens to have the most brilliantly happily romantic wedding photos in the history of EVER faster go seeee), I keep getting this feeling that I've mellowed and emo-ed somewhat since traipsing back from Europe. Because you know, I'm really not the type to be happy over weddings and mushylove stuff. Oh and also my iTunes is also now as likely to be playing Michael Buble's Everything as something from Pitbull. hmmm.

And because now my posts are nekkid till there's a pikshar...

Happiness is summertime daisies =)

rolling backwards

2009-11-21T14:33:00.002+08:00

After less than a week back, there's been a job offer and an upcoming interview scheduled already. Lucky stars, thank ye. And yeah I guess some excitement or whatever is in order but dammit all I can think of now is how much I miss my home and my friends. Which is just nuts because I'm supposed to be the weird kid with no attachments to anybody. WTF IS WRONG WITH ME. But at least I'm feeling better than the nutter having a watery mental hemorrhage over anybody who'd listen a few days ago. sigh.

I miss all you guys sooo much =( And the times that we had!

This too I miss - one of my most favouritest views ever - Liverpool Cathedral from the back of the Dean Walters building. Accessible only to us Mass Comm. students (wheee!), and almost makes the half-hour walk to class worth it all. Alas, toomuchbloodysun and my poor lil Ixus make for a photo needing valiant salvation with much Photomatix and Photoshop.

That city is just so damn beautiful.

a tale of (deciding between) two cities

2009-11-15T00:24:00.001+08:00

So now that I'm apparently (finally) going back to KL on Monday... for some reason I'm inexplicably way more heavy-hearted about leaving Penang than I thought I would.

Maybe it's the thought of leaving the comforts of home.

Maybe my parents' (not so) subtle psychology tactics finally got to me.
Maybe it's the thought of leaving the friends I have here.
Maybe...

you can take a Penangite out of Penang, but you can't take the Penang out of a Penangite. sigh. Sure ain't the same tune I was singing barely a few months ago. Whatever it is, I'm suddenly having doubts about this.

woof woof

2009-11-10T11:28:00.002+08:00

A doggie a day keeps the doctor away.

So here's two. =D

I know, Ginger. Sometimes I just feel like lying like that all day too. *patpat* Oh wait, I kinda already am. teehee.

pumpkins of the mind

2009-10-26T03:11:00.004+08:00

I'm really trying not to think of it or to say it out loud, because I know that if I do, it'll become real. And I just can't handle that again.

*****

Oh and um...

ImissLondonsomuch. All of it. Everything - from the fancy-schmancy...

to the nitty-gritty...

and the squeaky-squeaky.

HI SKIPPY. D THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT. T.T

*****

And for the upcoming Halloween celebrations...

I can't help it. I luvs this photo. I know I look like a nut. Shutup.

older and none the wiser

2009-10-13T02:23:00.001+08:00

This would be totally hilarious if it didn't resemble an ominous prediction of the future:

Age has been a lingering obsession of mine since I left my teens. However old I've been is too old. At 26, I felt totally washed up. At 32, I regretted wasting time worrying about my age as a 26-year-old, because now I was convinced I really was totally washed up. At 38, I look back at my 32-year-old self and regret that he wasted time with those regrets about wasted time. Then I regret wasting my current time regretting regrets about regrets. This is pretty sophisticated regretting I'm doing. That's the sole advantage of ageing: I can now effortlessly consolidate my regrets into one manageable block of misery. Otherwise, by the age of 44, I'd need complex database software just to keep track of precisely how many things I'm regretting at once.

- Charlie Brooker, The Guardian 12 October 2009

*signs up for regret-managing database software*

j'adore paris

2009-10-11T03:45:00.003+08:00

When a city like Paris becomes as famous as it is, the endless stream of people wanting a piece of the Parisian magic begins, and for every tourist enraptured by its charm, no doubt there will be ten more disappointed that the city of lights and romance has failed to live up to their expectations.

Maybe it's the newfound photography geek in me, but Paris has turned out to be one of my personal favourites among the places I'd visited. As long as the feet are strong and the heart is willing, there is no shortage of snap-worthy scenes all over the city. There are the enormously famous landmarks...

... the sweeping views of Paris from the top of many of the landmarks...

... and if you just pause, and take some time to wander off the beaten tourist track...

... there are places where the hordes of fellow tourists vanish, and you get a glimpse of the quiet charm and romance of Paris so often immortalized in movies and postcards, yet elude many. Despite being overrun with tourists more often than not, and the commercialization that follows, the soul of Paris is very much still alive; however, it cannot be felt by rushing from one attraction to another, which is a great pity.

Of course, feeling the romance in the air might be a lot easier if you have a special someone along for the journey...

=)

scrambled eggs and mooncakes

2009-10-08T02:04:00.007+08:00

It's true then, the saying about old habits dying hard. True at least for this long-lost habit of mine of blogging in the dead of the night. And yes the title doesn't make much sense but does anything make sense anyways? Maybe I'm just hungry again. Please feed me.

Back then, like maybe 10 years ago, I used to think that 10 years from now I'd be some straight-A or somesuch graduate, knowing everything, galloping around in heels and very sure of the blindingly glorious career path I'd be embarking on. How disappointed my young, innocent self would be if I'd knew then that I'd be horribly wrong on all counts. Especially the heels part.

I used to resent the fact that my life then was more or less set on a course, albeit without my having a say in it. I also used to think that it was kinda cool to be able to do lotsa stuff well-ish... but then I'd also never quite grasped the meaning of 'the jack of all trades is a master of none'. Now having (some) freedom to choose seems a lot less than it was hyped up to be, largely because the options now start off equally unappealing, with no obvious advantages, and keep multiplying and getting worse over time.

Never mind the fact that the above rambling was set off just by watching a double episode of Heroes, or that the nagging feeling that my newly earned degree is of the wrong major keeps coming more than usual... the worst feeling now is that of overwhelming despair that has been plaguing me since exactly two weeks ago, and is threatening to stay. And also the realisation that the only thing that I really wanna do is

Because I just think that the jetlag and nomadic-ness is worth pictures like this

and this

but that's just me. Guess that's just another one of those things not meant to be.

goodbyes

2009-08-22T05:54:00.018+08:00

are always the hardest when you have to say it to places where you've left a piece of you behind.

How do you leave a place which makes you happy just to wake up to a sunny morning

a place which replaces your cynical, jaded eyes with a sense of childlike wonder

or a place that simply feels like home after spending even the briefest moments there?

The worst part about going back is not the passing sense of nostalgia towards a place where fun times were had

but the fear that the peace and contentment I've had throughout the past 85 days will never be found again, because in its place will be the all too familiar feeling of frantic searching for that place where I am truly happy.

how (not) to complete a 1500 word essay

2009-08-04T07:04:00.003+08:00

Sunday, 2 August. 1 day before deadline
1030 - Wake up. Get real motivated to start assignment "real early".
1200 - Still on Gizmodo.
1230 - Lunchtime. Must give self some "rest" while eating.
1400 - Urban Outfitters has some really nice stuff...
1530 - Start blasting music that D deems crap. Start reading journals.
1545 - Facebook is SO interesting.
1630 - A short nap would be nice...
1730 - Back to journals.
1800 - 2200 - Read journals. Facebook. Ebay. ooomg leather bags. All Saints. Who's that outside the window? Journals. Strawberries. Bejeweled.
2200 - OMG Facebook says my friends have finished but I have no intro yet OMG
2300 - 1 paragraph done. Rest.

Monday, 3 August. Deadline.
0400 - 3 out of 6 paragraphs done. McCoy's chips help me celebrate
0500 - Sunrise. 4 out of 6 paragraphs done. I WANT TO DIEEEE
0530 - Why didn't I start 5 days ago? *facepalm*
0615 - Done. Stagger to bed.
0700 - Good morning sunshine. Time for class T.T

9 more days like this to go in the month ahead. Whoopdeedoo.

The world according to kitty is a very nice one. I want to go to there.

here we go again

2009-08-01T18:05:00.003+08:00

Most excellent.

Is there any hope left for us?

47 and counting

2009-07-15T01:22:00.006+08:00

I am hereby ashamed to admit that I am a failure as both a geek and an Apple fangirl.

*****

Can't believe it's been 47 days since I was last dipanggang-ed by Malaysian sunlight. The old cliche of time flying by when you're having fun has never hit me more.

Can't believe I've been to so many places I never thought I'd go to.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed London a lot more than I thought I would...

... enjoyed 2-hour hikes a lot more than I thought I would (it's awesomer when you click on it :P)...

... but most surprisingly of all, Edinburgh turned out to be the place which holds my heart. I always figured myself to be a true blue city girl, only content to be surrounded with the flashing lights of the big city, and all the clothes and gadgets and malls that come with one... but apparently I never really grew out of all the stories of the quaint old towns and whatnot I read when I was still a wee lass.

Can't wait to go explore more. North Wales and very hopefully North Ireland await. *crosses fingers and toes*

*****

God my blog posts are getting so boring. Oh okay I know.

Today, I was suspected of plagiarising an essay because it's apparently "too good to be true." FML

gadgets & chocolates

2009-07-07T08:07:00.008+08:00

How do I love thee?

Let me count the ways

UGH UGH UGH

*breathes in, breathes out*

Much better.

Is it possible to miss a place you've never even left?

settling in with the scousers

2009-06-14T21:22:00.008+08:00

I rather expected that this post would've come about 2 weeks ago with the first sentence going something like 'ZOMG!!1! I AM IN LIVERPOOL LIAO'... but I guess running around and taking pics all the time wipes one out pretty fast. So here's to my first blog post in a foreign land =)

But before commencing with the gushing... the bad stuff first. I. DO. NOT. LIKE. THE. EFFING. WIND. HERE. I guess I'm lucky that at least we don't have hail over here (hi Thomas! :P) but still. I cannot has layers of blubber like seals do okay. I swear the freakin' wind + generally low temperatures around here's made me feel even more shriveled and malnourished than I already am. Which brings me to the point of always feeling hungry T.T We cook and we snack and we snack some more but everything we eat just... evaporates in a coupla minutes. Curse you Tesco for making us shop there about twice a week.

And the walking. God the walking. The uni's buildings are scattered all over the city, and so the poor mass comm people just had to be the ones to have to walk 30-40 minutes to class every day. Add a handful of uphill sections in the walk and a generous serving of moderately strong to I'mma-blow-your-ass-straight-off gusts of wind every 10 seconds into the mix, and hey look you have a bunch of mass comm students shivering and cursing their way to class.

But despite all of that, I absolutely love this place. I felt right at home the minute I stepped foot in this city, and I hear I'd love Manchester or London even more. Some of my favourite things to do here which I wouldn't/couldn't do back in Malaysia are

taking a walk with a coupla friends around random places
taking a walk by myself to just absorb the city
going shopping (of course) and finding really cool stuff that's in my size/stuff not available in Malaysia
looking for new parks to visit
stumbling across random courtyards/corners/anything while walking around
just chilling somewhere quiet on a sunny day
taking pictures on a sunny day and Photoshopping the hell out of them.

Good thing we're located in the city centre though, cuz the outskirts are kinda dodgy but the city centre is ♥. So many people, and so many colours. I just wish I had a DSLR to capture everything but sigh. I guess my lil' Ixus has served me well most of the time...

The prettiest shot (and my personal favourite) of Liverpool I have so far! *bangga* :P With the help of my best friend Ms. Photoshop of course.

And this shot of Wavertree Park comes in a close second =)

If you so wish you can catch up with the other boatloads of Liverpool and Chester photos on my Facebook. Pics of London coming up soon after my trip there next weekend ZOMG I'm so excited :D

=)

bring on the brits

2009-05-28T05:41:00.002+08:00

Things that I have learned while preparing for my Brit Invasion:
1. Packing is a pain in the ass.
2. Baldy is a pain in the ass.
3. Luggage weight limits are a pain in the ass.
4. Packing is a pain in the ass.

Yes. In about 16 hours I'll be flying out of the country for the very first time. Yah never been away from tanah tumpahnya darahku before. Very sad I know.

Things I'll probably miss while I'm there:
1. The sun.
2. Kawanku sekalian.
3. Food!!!1! Especially the Penang type. =(
4. 24 hour mamaks FTW.

Things I'll probably not miss while I'm there:
1. The sun.
2. Non-existence of really cheap clothes.
3. Genting Klang smog. -.-
4. Er. Get back to y'all on this one.

To all my friends whom I didn't get to meet before I leave, I'm sorry but bad timing, a bout of flu, homework and packing took up a lot of time =( I'll miss you guys and promise I'll see y'all in about 4 months with stories to tell :D Ciao for now!

essay plan fail

2009-05-11T02:56:00.002+08:00

I have seriously got to stop blogging at this time. -.-

But the mass revolt of my brain cells is causing me much distress. What happened to the me barely half a year ago? The emo chick that somehow managed to pull a not-too-shabby thesis out of her ass through epic emoness? Is it really possible to go dumb dumber dumbest in such a short period of time? I can't even concentrate long enough to come up with a blasted 150-word plan. Is that sad or what.

*****

Was it the right thing to do?

arrr mateys

2009-05-10T04:59:00.003+08:00

Ahoy mateys! This new ~~and useless~~ discovery just in at 5 a.m.: Ye olde Facebook is available in Pirate english!

What? I'm bored and procrastinating. And it's kinda fun. Now I know why I never get anything done =/ Yarrrrr.

change.com

2009-05-04T04:12:00.004+08:00

There's something about moving that always throws me off balance for a while. So this post might sound kinda weird like. Or maybe I'm just a spoilt princess. Anyhoo, for all y'all that I haven't been pestering these 2 days (or aren't my roomie -.-), I've moved!

I'm still trying not to unconsciously walk into the wrong apartment, but in the meantime... I miss my old apartment and all the people in it SO SO VERY MUCH T.T Yes, all 8 of you, past and present. I know I play favourites but heyyy I really do love you guys okay. Who I gonna yell at in Hokkien now? =(

And this was my view for 2 years. Also my favourite spot to be Super Emo Girl. Nice, I know. Don't hate *coughSinEucough* :P

One thing that hasn't changed tho...

Where I go, my mess goes with me. This is my desk... on a good day. But hey, they say a messy desk is a sign of genius right?

Oh and roomie, if you have any reason why I shouldn't do something about the ungodly amount of sunlight in our room, speak now or forever hold your peace. I'm sorry I forgot to tell you you were getting a vampiric princess as a roomie.

*****

There's still so much I need to do before leaving for UK. I'm starting to panic a wee bit now.

*****

D, the 'pact' we made yesterday was an epic fail. For me anyway. I is repenting now... over Gossip Girl. T.T

*****

I have to stream now. And I will die. I can has downloads pleez?! =(

when life gives you lemons...

2009-04-27T16:21:00.006+08:00

Please, everyone, remember: Thou shalt not leaveth thy network unsecured, or some desperate Internetless loon like yours truly shalt exploiteth thy unsecured WiFi network. Oh and thank you, 'linksys', whoever thou may be. teehee.

Before succumbing to temptation and stealing WiFi though, I was watching 30 Rock to help numb the pain of living without an Internet connection. And strangely enough, about 5 episodes into Season 1, I realised:

OMG. I am Liz Lemon. Liz Lemon is me... in about 15 years. Look, I already have the curls (actually I've got twice as much hair already) and I have glasses that sorta match too! Okay so Lemon's about 400% hotter than me but still... Season 1 of 30 Rock is reminding me of my life. Very strongly. And also eerily similar to what I think I'd be like in my 30's if life keeps going on the same track it is right now. *cringe*

Let's see... Liz Lemon's character traits, according to Wikipedia:

College-educated (check!)
Single-and-pretending-to-be-happy-about-it (check!)
Overscheduled and undersexed (I imagine it's gonna be a big, fat check too...)
Typically appears in casual, gender-neutral attire (check!)
Worn glasses since she was four or five (check!!)
Something of a geek (Beginner geek I is)
Skilled writer (I'd like to think that'd be a check :D)
Socially challenged (check T.T)
Sardonic sense of humour (check check check!)
Stress eater (Uh no. Stress shopper maybe)
Strong aversion to unfairness (check! But I'm not gutsy enough to do anything 'bout it like Lemon)
Weakness for maternal instincts (NOOO. The only big NO on this list)
Likely a Democrat (check! I'd totally be a Democrat if I was American)
Major Star Wars fan (unfortunately no check)
Really unlucky in love (check, check and check again)

Hmm. 12 out of 15... pretty close. I'm well on my way to being Lemonised. But... being Lemonised is not that bad right? Right? Even though she's always having excuses for being in a rut and has no personal life and is extraordinarily unlucky sometimes... she's still pretty successful and all... right?

sighs. Fresh Lemon needs ZARA warehouse sales NOW. =(

chicken shit for the soul

2009-04-20T03:25:00.004+08:00

Some of you might recognise these love letters from a very special someone that is near and dear to our hearts. There's this one I got that totally made my day:

JUST A GENTLE REMINDER : YOU HAVE TO HAND IN YOUR PLAN FOR
Introduction to Mass Communications project assignment one ON 22 APRIL , SINGAPORE / MALAYSIA TIME 12 NOON, ANYTHING LATER I WILL NOT ACCEPT.

Server down / slow is not an excuse! You should get a reply from me if you don’t something is wrong. I WILL REPLY AFTER 22 APRIL.

YOU WILL NEED TO HAND IN THIS PLAN (YOU CAN MODIFY)WITH MY COMMENTS EVEN IF IT IS A WORD TO SHOW THAT YOU HAVE ACKNOWLEDGE MY COMMENTS. FAILURE TO DO THIS MEANS YOU HAVE FAILED TO FOLLOW THE ASSIGNMENT REQUIREMENTS AND MAY BE PENALISED.

PLEASE Choose and Write the question

a) Discuss the ethical dilemmas faced by researchers conducting research on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.

b) Critically analyse the implications of online research ethics.

INCLUDE A BIBLIOGRAPHY OTHER READ WORK OR YOU WILL BE READING . I WANT TO KNOW WHAT OTHER READINGS YOU WILL BE DOING!

ALL THE BEST.

Oh and there's this other one that's sure to put a smile on my face when I go to bed later:

to all students

At this stage, you shd have at least completed ALL your reading logs or at least the first draft! If you have not, you sound be listening to warning bells in your ears!!

Start concentrating on your introduction to mass comm project , start by contributing on the forum and developing your understanding of the relevant field.

Remember if you take my advise seriously you will get my full support and you will not be disappointed at the end result but if you 'cant listen' ... while ALL THE BEST!

[ I have been reading your contribution, to be honest I DONT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!! ]

1. ur caps r on, btw
2. Good lord get some grammar lessons will you.
3. Up yours.
4. Good freaking night.

what do you do

2009-04-17T02:10:00.003+08:00

What do you do
when you know something somewhere has gone wrong but you don't know what it is
when you wanna fix something broken but don't know where to start
when you hope to wake up to something new every day but everything remains the same
when you couldn't care less about the things that should matter
when you can't let go of the things that shouldn't matter anymore
when you have so many decisions to make with so many choices
when you finally have all the answers yet can't bring yourself to act on them
when you see so many expectations and know not if you can live up to them
when you wanna let it all out but nobody's there to listen
when you are surrounded by people yet you feel so alone
when you see that time is slipping away and your life is passing you by
when your past is but a disconnect, your present is but a blur, and your future holds no answers

What do you do?

confused, conflicted, confuzzled

2009-04-09T19:48:00.005+08:00

The title kinda says it all, really.

Going to UK is turning out to be not quite as fun as I imagined, due to some things that I just only started thinking about. Yeah, it is totally so very late to start thinking about stuff but what to do. I'm slow like that sometimes.

So for the past week or so I've been pondering the same things over and over again without ever coming to a resolution. My thought process, if put to paper, would resemble an utterly demented flowchart which looks something like this (click to make beeg):

Heh. As you can see, all signs point to NO. But as anyone who has known me for more than 6 hours will attest to, I've always wanted to invade some country in the EU, or the States, for an extended period (preferably for the rest of my life) like forever. And I just feel that I owe it to myself to at least do something so that I can walk away saying I tried. But every time I think about this my brain goes into a noodlefied state as shown in the lower right corner of the above chart... and I don't exactly have oodles of time left to make decisions. le sigh.

This is not working. At all. I think I need tarot cards.

meaningless restlessness

2009-04-06T01:50:00.003+08:00

Graaaaah. This hot weather is cooking my brains into a useless mush of stoopid. There's this restless feeling buzzing about me but I can't figure out why I'm feeling so restless and how to stop it. And I'm soooo bloody unmotivated to do something productive, like post on that goddamned papan hitam or logging my reads. Whatever. If anyone dares to suggest that e-learning is easy 'cuz like you don't even have to attend class physically or any shit like that, I swear I will hack at your neck with a tray.

I'm also supposed to be back in Penang since I have absolutely nothing to do here but but but I just don't wanna go back. I think I'm just afraid to acknowledge the reasons for my not wanting to go back. sighs. So not making sense wtf.

My poor dompet is also falling apart. And with the power of random clicks I've found replacements for it... if only I had the cash. T.T My brokeness is gonna overtake emo as the central theme of my blog soon. agh.

Comme Des Garcons Color Embossed Zip Wallet, $154

Marc by Marc Jacobs Totally Turnlock Billfold, $158

So prettyyyy. So expensive T.T And so lacking a thingy for photos :( Guess it just wasn't meant to be, my pretties.

*resumes quest for replacement dompets*

the fast, the furious, and the funny

2009-04-03T02:30:00.009+08:00

So I watched Pantas & Garang 4 yesterday.

Hey, don't look at me. Credit for that goes entirely to the genius who did the subtitles. lulz.

Anyway, if you're wondering whether you should watch it or not... lemme just say, for a movie based on fast cars, cartels, explosions and laydeez, it is pretty darn awesome. This is one movie you gotta watch in the cinema and let the THX sound of breaking glass blow your socks off. I mean, the opening scene alone is enough to justify going to the cinema for this. Ooh and you get to see Paul Walker in beeeg size too. yum.

Speaking of blowing one's socks off... I hereby announce that I WANNA WORK AT LEGO. OK, OK, so I wanna work at Google and Apple too BUT. They do not have these mini-figs which are so mindblowingly cute and cool at the same time for name cards.

Are they not the cutest thing ever?! You get one of these mini-figs customised to look like you, and...

... there's your contact number and email at the back! eek! Sodamncuuuuuuute.

Ah memories... I loved Lego as a kid (who didn't?), so naturally I was drawn to Gizmodo's coverage of their trip to the Lego factory in Denmark to see all their hush-hush machinery and operations and stuff. You can find 12 posts worth of their Lego trip here, including videos showing how the mini-figs are made, the 65-foot high storage cathedrals, the employees with their said awesome mini-fig name cards, and a secret vault with all the Lego sets ever made in history. Major Lego geekfest here.

And of course, some of you saw this coming =D Stumbled upon my new favourite Youtube video of the week in one of the Lego posts mentioned above. I've watched this about 6347 times now, and it doesn't get any less funny each time. teehee.

Penne alla arrabiata, anyone?

kthxbai

2009-03-20T03:37:00.007+08:00

Gosh I haven't been properly emofied for some time huh. But slightly emofied it is. It has finally hit me that yesterday would really have been the last time I step foot into college as a student there.

Disclaimer: Stupendously boring ramblings ahead.

I'll be honest, I didn't really take to the KL campus when I first came, just 'cuz the whole vibe it has was waaay different from the nice and chillax thing we had going on in Penang. We had less.... bleargh... food back there (I'm looking at you, Canteen 2). And the KL campus was too damn big for my liking 'cuz like I was a spoilt brat back in the comparatively puny but cozy Penang campus. I mean, it has all of two main blocks, but we'd still whine like nobody's business if our classes started in one block and ended in the other. So I'd drive and park my car at the other block if that happened 'cuz God forbid I'd have to torture myself by walking the extra distance of the equivalent of... maybe from Block V to the sports complex to get to my car after class.

But yeah. This place has really grown on me after 2 years. Despite the oftentimes hysteria-inducing assignments, I really have had a blast all this time thanks to all the people I've gotten to know and love during my time here. Y'all know who y'all are ;)

So it goes without saying I'm kinda bummed my college life here is finito. There'll be
no more getting lost on campus like freshies even after 2 years
no more cursing my way up to Block V which had to be the one on the highest goddamn hill in college
no more falling asleep during classes
no more skipping classes to fall asleep
no more aimless wandering around between classes
no more endless gossiping about friends/lecturers/anything at all, really
no more 3-hour long yamcha/dinner sessions with 300 grandmother stories to tell
no more spontaneous after-class shopping frenzies with friends
no more movie tix discounts for student IDs
no more passing out for 10 hours a day just because I can
no more slaving over assignments without sleep the day before and... uh... OK that's a lie. I am totally gonna continue this excellent habit of mine in Liverpool.

And when I come back from my all-too-short stint there, it'll be...

I am so gonna miss this place. sighs.

tersangat amat memperemokan

2009-03-18T01:21:00.002+08:00

Yeah. That.

And because my emo comes with a lot of lansi and I need to satisfy my appetite for snark... this is for all y'all who have an idiotic dumdum (or two) in your life. I'm sure you know at least one person like this. God knows a lot of those seem to be popping up lately. hmph.

If Only the Production Crew Of The Hills Could Do This
Hyper teenage blonde: Hey, know what I just realized?

20-something blonde sister: Okay, wait. In the interest of saving time, I'm gonna pull my hand back like so before you start talking. Now you can go ahead and say what you wanted to say, but just know that if it's something ignorant or retarded, I'm gonna slap you out of your shoes and right off the sidewalk, and then keep slapping you until we get home. Is whatever you want to say worth it?

(long pause)

Hyper teenage blonde: No?

--Times Square

Overheard by: Really want to know what she was gonna say
via Overheard in New York, Feb 24, 2009

20-something blonde sister FTW. I so wish I'd have the chance to unleash that on some poor unsuspecting bozo. lulz.

no one ever really dies at sunburst

2009-03-15T23:52:00.013+08:00

ZOMG kill me now kill me now kill me nowwww.

"What is it this time," you roll your eyes and say. Well what is it is that Sunburst KL '09 is happening in 5 days.

I kinda knew it was happening sometime around now, but I was just like uhhuh okay Sunburst yay. Until I (just only) found out that friggin' N.E.R.D. is coming.

N.E.R.D. okay. N.E.R.D. I am a nerdy nerd who loves N.E.R.D. "So go to the bloody Sunburst thing lah dei," you roll your eyes again and say. And I would so gladly run to the 1U ticketing counter as fast as my stubby legs would take me to get a ticket, but one of those goes at a 'What Recession?' price of RM 200. And as all of you who read my blog probably know by now, I am always toodamnbroke for any of this stuff. As I said, kill me now.

It's bad enough that I missed the Jabbawockeez when they came for the MTV Asia Awards last year, now I have to miss N.E.R.D. too. Pharrell Williams in particular. I've had a crush on him since like, 2007 or something and now that he's finally gonna be within 100km of me I cannot go and see him. Where is the justice in that you tell me zomg why am I not Bill Gates' god-daughter.

*sighs very melodramatically* I am going on a self-declared strike from journal-reading and going to sleep now. But.

I.

WANNA.

GO.

SEE.

PHARRELL.

WILLIAMS.

DAMMITTTT.

P.S.: That Spongebob tee is so cool.

just realised

2009-03-11T02:14:00.000+08:00

how much I really miss you.

bow to the awesomeness

2009-03-10T02:20:00.006+08:00

Class starts again in 6 hours 40 minutes. boohoo.

Screw class. Look at these:

1. 1,474 MP Presidential Inauguration Photograph by David Berman (via Hypebeast)
Yeah, I didn't know 1,474 megapixel cameras existed either. Click and zoom click and zoom you must click and zoom all the way in. My 7.1 megapixel Canon point-and-shoot is pissing its pants in fear.

2. Nina Ricci Heelless shoes (via the.LIFE FILES)

These shoes are made for... well, I dunno what they're made for but I sure ain't walking in those. Posh could so pull off one of these tho.

And my favourite...

3. Public Enemies trailer
This is on my list of must-watch movies of 2009. Because both Johnny Depp and Christian Bale are in there. OK, OK so that's my inner fangirl talking but HELLO it's Johnny Depp. And Christian Bale. Two of the hottest and most talented actors ever. I'm getting excited just thinking about it.

I like baseball, movies, good clothes, fast cars, and you. What else d'you need to know?

- Johnny Depp as John Dillinger

*swoons*

old school horror (or not)

2009-03-08T03:17:00.010+08:00

You might not be able to tell, but I'm actually quite fond of the slasher/horror/alien/ghost/paranormal sorta films. Thanks to my mom, actually. I remember watching Silence of the Lambs ('very interesting wan', said mom) when I was 5 without batting an eyelid, and also watching at least one of the movies in the Alien series when I was like... 3? 4? and henceforth being disappointed when any alien movies I watched did not involve aliens busting out of someone's stomach.

Which is why after hearing a lot about the horror classic, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre over the years, I was finally intrigued enough to download and watch it. And... I dunno if my expectations were too high, or maybe movies in the 70's just kinda suck. Either way, it was underwhelming, to say the least.

First off, the movie is just a very normal length of about 1 hour 20 mins, but it was a freakin' half hour before anything happened. A freakin' third of the movie. No buildup whatsoever... just boring boring arewethereyet boring OH SHIT HE'S DEAD. And there's no discernible plotline to this movie either. It is exactly what you'd imagine when you see a movie title like that, and nothing more: demented guy turns some really unlucky people into fun-sized bites with his chainsaw for absolutely no fucking reason at all. His whole murderous family is equally as demented and there is no explanation whatsoever about how they became cuckoo, what is it they kill people for or whatever. They just run around pulling unsuspecting victims into their house of horrors, which somehow managed to go unnoticed by anyone.

I'm not done yet. Most of the time the dialogue seems like it was written by a disgruntled intern who got tired of throwing pencils at the ceiling in his musty corner and decided to write down random shit that came out of his mind. And don't get me started on the (non-existent) editing. The pace of the movie is just butt-clenchingly slow with a lot of unnecessary prancing around and zooming in on stuff sometimes. If that's not enough, one of the things that annoyed me the most was the atrocious lighting throughout many parts of the show. I mean, there are times when all you can see is literally black with specks of colour. Like this.

What's going on there? Are the undead having a frat party there? Did someone find the entrance to Narnia? Maybe a unicorn's hiding there? OK so this is like maybe 7 or 8 p.m. at night in the movie. But this...

... is about maybe 3 or 4 p.m. in the afternoon. Still can't see shit. Winnie the Pooh could be standing in the corner with a parang for all we know.

OK I guess I'm a little harsh since it was made in the 70's. And to be fair, me and my friends did get scared quite a bit at parts, and the sound effects were quite traumatizing... but I was sorta expecting more from a 'classic'. If this movie, this original cut, was released now, I'm not sure what kind of reaction it'd get from moviegoers today. But back then, apparently it was considered so terrifying that people walked out of the sneak preview (the sneak preview for goodness' sake), and it grossed like 30.8 million USD domestically. Seriously?!

Well. I guess I'll just have to stick to watching Fringe for now. When it finally comes back from its damned hiatus. I feel so empty inside. I'll go sleep now.

100

2009-03-07T02:36:00.005+08:00

Hello and welcome to my new purty layout, which I've proudly tweaked (just a little...) meself in order to celebrate my 100th post here. jeng jeng jeng... *throws confetti* Huh. Looks like I took long enough to reach post No. 100 eh. Here's to 100 posts of cryptic angst and rants, and a 100 more.

Well if you're hoping my 100th post was gonna be in some way special or whatever... sorry but there is absolutely nothing happening to me worth blogging about now. No class, no work, no outings with friends... 'cuz like everyone I know in KL is working, studying, in Bali *coughDENISEcough* or otherwise busy. I feel so useless.

Oh who am I kidding this is the last chance for me to slack like there's no tomorrow before I have actual study/work obligations again. Sleeping, eating, aimlessly wandering around online, watching accumulated TV shows and staggering off to KLCC to watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button alone this past week was awesome. Please God why does this have to end? T.T

I really need to get a life, don't I?

no more mozzies

2009-03-01T01:04:00.004+08:00

Rahrahrah I'm back in KL peopleeee. Just so whoever cares knows.

So ends my supremely uneventful hiatus back in my mosquito-infested hometown. OK maybe it wasn't that uneventful... For all y'all who weren't trapped in Penang with me, calling me, leaving me love poems on Facebook, or otherwise contacting me, I got myself like the first real job I ever had in my life. And it was in retail, no less. Please proceed with the gasps. 9 days of working as a promoter for 12 hours is really not something a princess like me would ideally be doing, but I was boooooored. So now I'm like so proud of myself for not quitting on the second day (with the help of my... er... support group :D), and also so sad that my salary is gonna last me all of 3 minutes before something shiny in Pavilion catches my eye. sighs.

Yeah, that was about it for my entire 1 month break. Oh and maybe this round-Penang-we-go trip which turned out to be me and my friends eating our way across the island, ending up at a club where we all get lansi-like and start on how KL clubs are better yada yada. Nothing much this photo album won't tell you. See if you can find the one where everyone starts bashing my parking/driving skills.

Ahhh. Me iz feeling balanced now that I'm back with BFF, an Internet connection that doesn't make me suicidal, and some much-needed solitude. I iz also about to pass out now, but before that, some final random thoughts:

1. I'mbrokeI'mbrokeI'mbroke
2. IneedajobIneedajobIneedajob
3. YAY for Heath Ledger's posthumous Best Supporting Actor Oscar (yalah I'm slow blame my sucky Internet at home)
4. Why do people wear Crocs again?

*passes out*

love is in the air

2009-02-14T01:20:00.003+08:00

... and it's pooping on my head. Courtesy of the lurvely Despair.com.

Yeah, I'm that cranky person who hates Valentine's Day (for obvious reasons). Everyone knows at least 1 cranky party pooper like that, and this year it's gonna be me.

I'd write a snappy snarky post 'bout all the sap in the air, but I'm just too tired. But hey, there's always next year.

But for all y'all who have a reason to be celebrating, Happy V-Day. Really.

oh the boredom

2009-02-04T02:05:00.007+08:00

Oh happy CNY or something like that even though it's like the 10th day already. What? They do say better late then never...

Well, I hope all 4 of you people who read my blog had a happier CNY than I did, 'cos I am insanely bored as I type this. It took me this long to realise that I'm no longer the same Penangkia who was always happy to come home to the land of good food and unlimited seawater just a year ago. Don't get me wrong, home has its perks, i.e. Astro (ohmygod Friends reruns), washing machine, unyucky and cheap food... but that's about all I can think of. Now, more than ever, I just wanna ask all those tourists who're sooooo excited to come to Penang: WTF do you do over here?!

And as if it's not bad enough that I have nothing interesting to do, it seems that Penang weather does not agree with me. Because my face now looks like it got doused with an extra dose of ugly, and most of the time my hair now looks like Courtney Love styled it. When she was high on meth. Or whatever she's usually high on.

Yeah kinda like that. Except I'm not blond and my hair's longer. And and and my Internet connection sucks royally and won't let me chat with other humans. At the moment it is being evil by refusing to download Gossip Girl. DO YOU KNOW HOW DEPRESSING THAT IS?

Just to illustrate how boring my CNY was, the most interesting things that happened to me recently were that there was a crab in my house which escaped from its carrying cage (I dunno what else to call it), and that I discovered the horrors of Lil Wayne's singing (you don't wanna know). I ate the crab later, but that's not the point. The point is that it's so saaaaad that a freakin' crab is the most interesting thing I can come up with... but apparently someone found that story utterly hilarious and kept calling every day to check if any other crustacean prison breaks had occurred (the answer is no).

Sigh. Well at least I'm finally getting out of the house to watch Bride Wars this Friday with a long lost friend. Ooh and I just found another movie I'm totally gonna watch:

"You speak Prada?!"

Best. Line. Ever.

And hello, hot pink Macbook?! I am so jealous zomg I want one so so bad.

Please, please, Jesus Moses Buddha and Allah, give me a reason to take the 6-hour bus ride back to KL.

go shawty it's your birthday

2009-01-25T00:00:00.004+08:00

On this random day, a random friend of mine turns a year older, wiser, calmer, randomer and more poser. *throws confetti* Yes random person I know you probably expecting this post :P

The most unlikely friend I ever expected to make, she has had an influence on my life the way only a random person can. She comes up with the randomest shit in which the only appropriate (and available) response is 'er', calls at the randomest times like when I'm sleeping, drags me to the randomest places, swears at me about 50 times a day, corrupts my innocent self with... um, a lot of random stuff... she's poles apart from me to the extent I sometimes have no earthly idea why we can stand each other, yet she has turned out to be the rare someone who understands me inside out and one of the few people I trust and cherish the most.

So to the one who knows me best... Thank you for
making my life more interesting this past half year
making me appreciate the things that I have
cracking my shell for the me inside
being by my side when I lost my missing pieces
and most importantly, just being a great friend :)

Happy birthday Jovial ;)

yes we can

2009-01-20T22:01:00.003+08:00

Its 10 p.m. as I'm typing this, I'm sitting for the last paper in my Advanced Diploma life in about 11 hours, and what am I doing?

I'm streaming Obama's big inauguration shindig live from CNN with Facebook (damn cool wei!). T.T OK so I'm studying at the same time lah but how many people do you know who're so selamba on the eve of their exams. I scare myself sometimes. But it's like, totally historical and all, so I've got an excuse :P

Speaking of which, I just discovered the dude behind Obama's highly-anticipated inaugural speech (and all his other angels-are-singing-and-flowers-are-blooming-like speeches) - Jon Favreau. He's only like 27 (!!), and sooo damn cute can die zomg. The youngest speechwriter in the White House ever, worked for Sen. John Kerry right out of college and now for the President of the United freakin' States of America. I am so crushing on him. lol. On another random note: why is Anderson Cooper not covering the inauguration?! =(

Ah well. Studying it is. Oh wait I can waste more time by showering first. ngek.

talk is cheap

2009-01-08T02:20:00.003+08:00

... and gossip is even cheaper.

Whoever said "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" must have had a hide of steel and a heart of stone. The recent turn of events has shown that the exact opposite could not be truer, and as shown on my wonderful poster 2 posts ago, shit indeed be everywhere.

Words, when simply thrown around, can bring down even the strongest person... as I've seen from one of my close friends whom I respect the most. Words, when simply thrown around, can also distort the truth into something hideous and poles apart from what it really is... as I've had the truly awesome opportunity to experience myself.

The new lesson for today: There's just no escaping gossip if fate has you in its cross hairs. Whether you're the Blair Waldorf of your community, or the extra in the background just passing through, you're at equal risk of having your shit hit the fan. And so it happens, it seems that this rash of gossip is the twisted gift that keeps on giving.

It's all so vicious. And out of control. So there's no point in me blogging about this, really. It's just sad when people choose to see the truth through the words of others, rather then through their own eyes.

lesson of the day

2009-01-07T01:17:00.003+08:00

Every day we learn something new. And what have we learnt today?

Fuck trust. Fuck secrecy. Most of all, fuck gossip.

Absolute silence is the way to go. Always.

new year same shit

2009-01-03T18:08:00.007+08:00

Because I'm always late to the party... here's the mandatory blogger's New Year post from me. At 6 p.m. on the 3rd of January. And 'cuz y'all know I'm not the happy marshmallows type and need to balance out all the happiness in the world with... well, me... there will be no happy bunnies and marshmallows in this New Year post. yesh.

Came across this supercool poster at I Am Still Alive recently:

"The Seven Rules of Astronomy", by Jody Avirgan and Noah Rauch. Cool shit which me likey very much.

So me was inspired to make my own Seven Rules poster:

"The Seven Rules of My Life", by yours truly.

Well, at least that's what 2008 felt like at any rate. Looking back, it was just another year of my life in which I accomplished absolutely nothing..... 'cept like, not die. And maybe discover that I has a leeeetle bit of Photoshop skillz. Where do I apply to Photoshop my way through life?

So here's to another year of the same shit. With enough luck, at least I'll have more interesting shit to blog about when I plant my fatass in another continent a couple months later.

Happy 2009 y'all.

nigo and da nigga

2008-12-29T06:42:00.006+08:00

A break from the regular programming of emoness...

Nigo

and the nigga. Pharrell Williams for you.

Because I like the nigga more.

Because this would be like the mostawesomecombo evah.

Hot dayum.

Yeah, strange obsessions hit one at 6-ish in the morning.

taking this one to the grave

2008-12-28T05:27:00.002+08:00

Perhaps over-compensating for my up-until-now uneventful life, I just wtf-ed and did things that I shouldn't ever have done a few hours ago. What was I thinking. Oh right, I wasn't.

The damage has been done and I dread to think what's gonna come of it. Not only did I let some of the people I care about most down, I may just have set off some GG-like madness... So now's a time as good as any to start using my spin doctor skills, I guess. oh wtf.

What was I thinking. What WAS I thinking.

merry freakin' christmas

2008-12-23T22:50:00.008+08:00

to me.

Yeah I lost it. Emoness makes you go crazy with the retail therapy.

So this is pretty much the only thing my 'lucky pendant' has got me this Christmas....

.... the last pair of shoes available that I wanted, in my size, in the store.

This would normally be when I start squealing about my new stuff and howbloodylucky I was to get it, but

all I really wanted for Christmas

was you.

wish mine was a hairy heart

2008-12-20T21:05:00.004+08:00

So it goes. My recycling campaign has come to and end, and my thesis is coming to an end soon too, among other things. If only all that ended would leave me with a little more, rather than a gaping emptiness.

It's times like these that I wish I couldn't care, couldn't feel and couldn't think. It's times like these that I wish mine was a hairy heart, locked away and impervious to all. Guess my ice_princess email nick wasn't as accurate a description of me as I once thought it was.

It was all fine, until I came along and screwed it (and myself) all up, as only I could.

Whatever it is, that's how the cookie crumbles and brings emoness with it. And I gotta drag myself through 3 chapters of my thesis with the dead weight of emoness clanking along. sigh.

spare me please

2008-12-13T21:39:00.003+08:00

You're hot then you're cold
You're yes then you're no
You're in then you're out
You're up then you're down

Katy Perry - Hot N Cold

tag - 100 random questions

2008-12-02T02:34:00.003+08:00

Hurm. So yeah, a tag from Jovial before continuing my journey to Socio-Cultural Comm hell THANKS TO MR CHUAN grrrrr. Just in case you read my blog again sir. zzzz.

[01] Name: Xinxian
[02] Nickname: Fresh
[03] Married: NO
[04] Zodiac Sign: Leo
[05] Gender: The fairer sex.
[06] Age: 21
[07] High School: SMJK Union
[08] College: Tunku Abdul Rahman College
[09] Height: 160 cm
[10] Weight: hello why do you want to know.
[11] Do you like yourself: Er. No.
[12] Piercings: None
[13] Right or left: Righty
[14] Are you a freak: So not.
[15] Hair: Perpetual bedhead. Occasionally disgusting.
[16] Skin: Fair.-ish.
[17] Allergic: um... Miley Cyrus?
[18] What are you doing now: this tag lah.
[19] What will you do 1 hour later: Sleep my ass off.
[20] What will you do 10 years later: No idea. I catch things as they fall my way.

FAMILY
[21] Live with mother/father/parents: Not at the moment.
[22] Siblings (included you): 2
[23] Eldest: Me
[24] Youngest: Um. My sister.
[25] Love/hate your family: hello who'd put hate lah.

MY ONE AND ONLY
[26] You found your another half: well...
[27] If yes, who is he/she: WELL....
[28] If no, who you want he/she to be: Wentworth Miller!! *squeal*
[29] Time(s) you in relationship: N/A
[30] Ever woo boy/girl(0-100000): Hell no. Not with my face.
[31] Anyone woo you before(0-100000): Hell no. Not with my face.
[32] Did anything wrong to your other half: wtf
[33] What was/were the wrong you had done: all
[34] Ever argue with your other half: not
[35] You with your other half since: applicable
[36] Are you straight/lesbo: Straight
[37] Reasons you love your other half: hello
[38] You and your other half in which stage: not
[39] You woo he/she or he/she woo you: applicable
[40] Ever think of marry he/she: again.

FRIENDS
[41] Your first best friend: Dunno. *gasp*
[42] Your first enemy: Uh... me iz peaceful person.
[43] The friend you love the most: Deng. I love all my friends. *cannot show favouritism wtf*
[44] The enemy you hate the most (1 only): Refer to 42
[45] Your most beautiful girl friend: Fuhhh. You try and pick one.
[46] Your most handsome guy friend: hmmmmmm......
[47] The kind of girl you hate the most: Know-it-all bimbos.
[48] The kind of boy you hate the most: Er. Know-it-all ah bengs?
[49] You fall in love with your close friend before: Yes.
[50] Your best friend is your ex-lover: *gasp* No.
[51] If your friend backstabs you: There will be blood.
[52] If your friend betray you: There will be blood.
[53] If your friend woo your lover: There will be A LOT of blood. Yes, I take loyalty among friends seriously. Seriously.
[54] If your friend fall in love with you: Deng. Sapu lah if still single. Duh.
[55] If you fall in love with your best friend: Deng. Sapu lah if he wants me. Duh.

STUDIES
[56] Are you a good student: HAHAHAHAHAHA
[57] You always done your homeworks/assignments: I get all my assignments done if it kills me. Normal homework... eh... no.
[58] The teacher/tutor you love the most: Ms Mah!!
[59] Always late to school/college: Occasionally.
[60] Your class: Uh... is... lively?
[61] You love your seniors: Dunno any seniors.
[62] Senior who you love the most: None.
[63] Your classmates good/bad: Good lah.
[64] Excellent result classmate: See Yun! My long lost sister! LOL
65] Laziest classmate: Dunno. None of them seem even close to being as lazy as I am =.=

PEOPLE
[66] Smart people: intimidate me.
[67] Stupid people: are just unlucky to be so.
[68] Good looking people: get everything they want in life.
[69] Ugly people: go nowhere, like me.
[70] Funny people: are the ones I *heart* the most.
[71] Cute people: annoy me sometimes.
[72] Bad people: make the dark side seem so much more desirable.
[73] Honest people: need to learn the art of white lies.
[74] Acting people: need to STFU.
[75] You are what kind of people: The kind you don't notice in a crowd.

PREFER
[76] Lip or eyes: Eyes. I think.
[77] Hugs or kisses: noooo don't make me choose.
[78] Shorter or taller: Tall!
[79] Hesitant or spontaneous: Spontaneous! Sweep me off my feet yo.
[80] Nice stomach or nice arms: *gasp* noooo don't make me choose again.
[81] Listener or talker: Talker. Silence kills.
[82] Romantic or rich: Romantic! I can be the rich one :P
[83] Good husband or Good Father: Good husband. No kids hello.

FUTURE
[84] Age to get marry: :O
[85] Numbers of kid(s): None ya allah.
[86] Career: OK somehow Miranda Priestley (The Devil Wears Prada) keeps popping up.
[87] Salary: Enough to support my fantasy of Chanels, Marc Jacobs and YSLs all day.
[88] Retirement age: I don't think that far T.T
[89] Properties value: Eh.
[90] Wishes: Toofreakin'many.

TAGGED
[91] Denise
[92] Lydia
[93] Hui Ping
[94] Mich
[95] Rei
[96] Hui Ping
[97] Xin Yun
[98] Siu Sien
[99] Clarine
[100]Kuan Ye

I actually reached 100! :D

of microsoft, html and getting screwed

2008-11-28T03:00:00.004+08:00

Back when I was still a n00b in F5, I actually wanted to work with computers, graphics, animation and stuff. Y'know, like those people in Pixar or Dreamworks.

I so see the folly of my ways now. If I'd gone down that path, I'd probably have ended up like the guy in the pic below in about a week.

Yeah, that's PB's Charles "Haywire" Patoshik. Well that was the stupidest pic I could find of him.

Anyway, I only just realised how effed up I'd be after hours of toiling over meaningless strings of HTML for... my other creation (ngek!). This pic just about summarises my feelings in a nutshell every time I start with HTML:

(Pic courtesy of Pundit Kitchen)

And after scrolling up and down, over and over again through the whole freakin' code only to edit, like, 2 words or so, it turns out that everyone's favourite browser, Internet Explorer has screwed my beautiful *cough* page up. At which point, this pic sums up my feelings:

Seriously, IE is the worst piece of shit Microsoft has crapped, second only to another one we all know as Vista. grrr. And that's my last word on that.

pride is thy sin

2008-11-25T03:49:00.003+08:00

OK so even though I've taken over as Super Emo Girl for the day, I'm still damn bangga about the blog I created for my recycling campaign. lol. I rarely ever venture that far down the road to HTML hell. Not even for my own blog. urgh.

So. http://tarcrecycle08.blogspot.com. Just layan me and go, can? I gives you candy if you go. :P

story of my life

2008-11-24T20:54:00.002+08:00

When she alone then she cries, but nobody can hear/
'Cuz she lost all the little pieces and nobody could care
......
And you can try you can try/
But you're never gonna find the missing pieces/
The missing pieces

Missing Pieces - Damien Fernandez

sloth is thy sin

2008-11-21T11:48:00.004+08:00

Things I am supposed to be doing right now:
- Literature review for my thesis
- Getting people to do my questionnaire for my thesis
- Creating a blog for my recycling campaign
- Doing my godawful Socio-Cultural Comm or something assignment
- I have a sneaky feeling I might have forgotten something important

Things I am actually doing right now:
- Feeling really sinful
- Not doing anything for my thesis (yet)
- Posting meaningless shit on my own damn blog
- Not doing my godawful Socio-Cultural Comm or something assignment
- Trying hard to remember what I might have forgotten

How on earth did I manage to ever fool people into thinking I'm competent. tsktsktsk.

Oh and I hate HTML. I'm such a failure as a geek.

president... now available in black

2008-11-07T20:25:00.011+08:00

Yeah I'm real slow on this but waiting for photos will do that to ya. OBAMA FTW!!! Finally the leader of the free world (so they say) is gonna be someone who would look really cool on a $100 bill. lol. Oh and my blog post title came from this lol-worthy pic from Pundit Kitchen. :P

So to show my unfortunately limited support for Obama, I jumped at the chance to go to an election partayyy organised by the US Embassy over here at the Renaissance Hotel. OK I didn't really jump, I kinda did hesitate for a minute 'cos the slacker in me was crying inside at the thought of having to wake up at 6.30 a.m. for the thing.

But anyways. The whole bunch of us college students went there by bus and upon arrival, were greeted by (of course) a very red, white and blue ballroom. It was all very nice, but unfortunately I don't have pics 'cuz being the stupid I am, I forgot to bring my camera. :S Luckily for Lydia then. :D

So here's a coupla pics from Lydia's cam:

Some of us who went, with an awfully tall Mat Salleh at the back. We're inside the ballroom though you can't tell. Please don't look at the above pic for too long 'cos I look more hideous than I usually do in there. Moving on...

Oh yeah, here's (almost) all of us with the US ambassador, Ambassador Keith. I'm sure there's no need to indicate which one he is :) Busy, busy guy. Wasn't real easy to get this shot.

The main things to do at the function were basically just mingle with the many Americans there and watch the live coverage of the election results by CNN, which was broadcast on a projector in the ballroom. There were lotsa distinguished gentlemen in suits and little teenage guys but not many in my general age range :( But now as a result from watching about 4 hours of the CNN coverage, I developed a sudden crush on one of the anchors, Anderson Cooper. XP Yeah I know I'm kinda late to that party, but I'd never been exposed to CNN for prolonged periods before.

One of my favourite things they had there was a mock election. And you know I'd totally be a sucker for that. heheheh. So we non-American people got to vote, and they even gave us this "I Voted!" sticker to voters just like they do in the States:

No prizes for guessing who I voted for :P And turns out he would so totally pwn McCain if he was running here, 'cos it turned out he won the mock election by a landslide of 88%. lulz.

Besides that, they also had a Lincoln Resource Centre corner, where you could take a quiz on US presidential trivia to win prizes, and there were also like bigass TVs there showing lotsa information and also the presidential debates. Yeah I took the quiz with a friend. It was horrible. They had folders with even more info in them too, like this:

I dunno why my photo is rotated. Ignore the Republican Party sticker, I got a random one and my inner Democrat is sad. bah. :P Ooh and another thing I'm happy about for no reason is this:

I got my own Obama/Biden '08 pin!!! hehehehehe. OK I am such a nerd.

But the highlight of the day had to be when I met the man himself, Sen. Barack Obama. Really lah I have proof. I have to admit though I was slightly disappointed when I finally got to meet him because he wasn't quite what I imagined him to be.

I guess I was kinda hoping for more depth from someone who was gonna be the next President of the United States, y'know? Maybe it was his nerves. Hmmm. He's tall. And I have horrible hair.

All in all, I'm glad I got to go 'cos that was probably the best place I could have been while getting the results of a US election. It was pretty exciting when CNN's projected results would flash across the screen, state by state, and there would be an occasional cheer when Obama won yet another state. It got pretty scary at one point when McCain suddenly starting winning a whole bunch of midwestern states in a row, but it was awesome when the electoral votes ticker suddenly changed to 297 for Obama, the words "Barack Obama Elected President" appeared and the whole ballroom went nuts, us included. hehe. We stayed long enough to hear McCain's concession speech and were all holding our breath for Obama's victory speech, but sadly had to go :( So I just went home and watched it on Youtube. Which was obviously less awesome, but... well.

And to top the whole thing off, we sorta made it into a couple of newspapers on Thursday. lol. My face was in Sin Chew Daily, which you can see in this online version... click the pic to enlarge. Lucky my face is kinda small 'cos in the words of my sister, "you be smiling abit like an idiot, mate." sigh. We were kinda in The Star too, except my face wasn't in that one. The coverage in The Star was more substantial - 2 pages, to be exact. ngek~~~

So with that the election is finito. It was good for a few lols while it lasted, like the epic LOL about Sarah *coughfreakin'idiotcough* Palin getting seriously pranked by two Canadian comedians pretending to be French president Nicolas Sarkozy... and there's some post-election gossip emerging now, like this wtf one about Palin not knowing that Africa is a bloody continent. Yes, that could've been the next Vice President of America.

Next up: Inauguration Day! Obama/Biden 20/1/09!!