♧ Que canta Esperança da Vida ♧

Tralala trilili

2006-10-18T16:13:00.000+08:00

Slight discomfort due to constipation and tante bulanan but..but...I feel very blessed today!

Woke up late today from all the late-night watching of Goong (I bought the DVD set 'cos I couldn't possibly catch the weekly screenings on TV due to the time slot) and some other TV programmes in between.

I know I'm a little late in watching this but it's good, even though I find both lead actors have sissy faces. Haha. And I cringe everytime the 'Queen Mother' talks because she always does it very, very slowly! The character often has this spaced-out kind of expression which I find testing. Still I like the show despite all the contrivities. Escapist entertainment is therapeutic and inspiring.

I'm a very erratic person in that I often fret for stuff which don't need fretting and yet have this 'all's peachy' outlook (of course in such situations something will just come and burst the bubble). Something which I read today set me thinking, in a strange, but heartwarming kind of way. It's about stress-relieving. ふわふわ暖かい～

Anyways, while life isn't always bug-free I guess I'm thankful of the priveleges bestowed to me and those whom I hold dear. Yesterday Mar's package finally arrived! Tralala trilili senangnya rasa hati Wah...this Dufan song is very infectious. I feel somewhat lamer and happier everytime I hum along to the tune and the cheesy lyrics, hehe . I miss the Dufan of old (what's the name of the mascot ah?)...Mar,
I like the card with the photo a lot!!! Thank you so much for the letters as well! I'm gonna need to scour through lots of things to find my letterset but I'll make time to write back! Or I'll just use up the Margaret comics giftset. No I don't think your signature's funny, it's very sweet! And I love the charm (if you say so)... Akuw terharu dehh...hehe

Oh yeah, due to me oversleeping, I had to go to the Doc to get a half-day MC (not entirely an excuse since I do feel a little unwell, plus I got medicine for my constipation)...The counter pharmacist advised me to eat more prunes ("You know what prunes are, girl?" "What? Don't like?"), pineapple and greens and H2O ("Do you drink lots of water?" "What? Forget? How old are you?") to help my 'stubborn' stomach, as she put it. She told me to stop eating so much goreng2an (she's from Indo too)...and that home-made gado-gado is good 'cos there's lots of vege...

Also overheard someone complaining to her Indon friend that our countrymen is poisoning her (the haze, you know)...I'm miffed, but...it's all said in half-jest, of course.

Now I'm looking forward to my parents coming here...I miss them (Cue to clean the house all over again)

I need a pensieve now

2006-10-03T14:15:00.000+08:00

To my dismay, the new 'access level' feature in blogger beta proved to be a case of mere smokescreen; you cannot modify the access rights to individual posts and more importantly, 'locked' entries will still be visible to all blogger members. It's not like in カフェ, where you decide who'll be in your friend list and be allowed to read restricted entries. And blogger beta has the annoying feature of displaying your email address on the navibar (which, fortunately, can be hidden). Google continues its mission to infringe all sun and dry. Dear professors (yes, they only employ PhDs!), please spare us mere mortals who value our privacy from your all-prying search engines....

On another note, I gotta buy mooncakes today (the ones I'd wanted had been sold out last weekend)...the snowskin versions from Raffles The Plaza! They're the best-tasting ones so far this season (barring the usual place from where we always buy our mooncakes, which I have yet to visit this time round)!

This morning forgetful me once again did something which I shouldn't do (forgive me!), hopefully there won't be any bad repercussions *cross fingers*...Promise I'll be extra extra careful next time

Isetan Sale

2006-09-29T10:25:00.000+08:00

Went for Isetan Private Sale yesterday! Well, not so private really , the whole building was swarmed with so many people, it's pandemonium! There're even those that went with whole family in tow to attack the bargains. Not as if there are a whole lot of discounts either. I came in during the evening and the crowd still came in throngs judging by the apparent people density (I suppose some of the better items had been grabbed - in the Fendi or Dior store there're like two whole empty shelves Not that I'd buy those but all the same it stood out, the empty shelf). Never did realise there are so so many Isetan members!

I spent like almost 30 minutes queueing just to pay for my purchases. Basically when you first enter the staff will give you this big plastic bag where you 'chope' all the items you want first and put it inside, so after all the choping and I decided that I couldn't possibly buy too many goods (did ask Niki whether she wanted to come along but she said she'd pass, which she later regretted - my colleague had wanted to come but she had work to do) I proceeded for payment. Had wanted to buy beauty products as well, 'cos if I'm not wrong there'd be vouchers totalling 10% of total purchase. Not sure if it's only valid for yesterday though. But frankly all the crowd (+ 財布の厚さ ) probably came into my deciding that's it for the day, bargain or not.

I'd wanted to buy a shawl for myself but in the end there's only 1 worth buying imo and Mar it'll come with the box (お待たせ )! The more expensive items are the one I bought for Mar and Niki. There goes my plan of wanting to save up for the month...Gaaahhh!!!

Arti Kebahagiaan

2006-09-24T04:24:00.000+08:00

Bought a few books on Friday (intended to purchase something else but ended up buying others):

= Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Marisha Pessl (very thick book...will put it off first)
= One Piece vol. 43 (I like the inspiring words on the cover wrapband!)
= Like the Flowing River, Paulo Coelho (short story collection...I like what he wrote about how he came about to be a writer and all the research he did to show his mom...it's all so true Btw, I just found out that 'Coelho' means rabbit!)
= The Interpretation of Murder, Jed Rubenfeld (I like reading crime novels...this one looks interesting as it's very much like The Dante Club, i.e. actual historical characters weaved into the story, in this case, Sigmund Freud)

An excerpt from the first chapter of The Interpretation of Murder which set me thinking. I think it's really quite illuminating:

"There is no mystery to happiness.

Unhappy men are all alike. Some wound they suffered long ago, some wish denied, some blow to pride, some kindling spark of love put out by scorn - or worse, indifference - cleaves to them, or they to it, and so they live each day within a shroud of yesterdays. The happy man does not look back. He doesn't look ahead. He lives in the present.

But there's the rub. The present can never deliver one thing: meaning. The ways of happiness and meaning are not the same. To find happiness, a man need only live in the moment; he need only live for the moment. But if he wants meaning - the meaning of his dreams, his secrets, his life - a man must reinhabit his past, however dark, and live for the future, however uncertain. Thus nature dangles happiness and meaning before us all, insisting only that we choose between them."

Isn't it so? I think, for a (somewhat) 'future' person like me, then I guess meaning it is. Which explains my bouts of mood swings and all the PMS. But then again, I yearn for a meaningful, happy present reality that I live in; because at the end of it, we are always in the present.

Haizz...nature is quite testing, doesn't it? Knowing human beings as such (i.e. capricious + dissatisfied), we are made to 'compromise' one thing in place of another. And the thing about compromising is that we hardly ever know how best to do so, if it even reaches a point of compromise that we're willing to justify.

By the logic above, that leaves us with a lot of unhappy, meaningless lives. The flip side is that reality's more than what a writer or philosopher can deduce; so there may be hope after all

Therapy

2006-09-17T02:56:00.000+08:00

Every so often, don't you feel that you're simply burnt out? Although it's most likely a result of our own indulgent minds, you still can't help but want to blame something, anything you can possibly lay a finger on.

Writing is indeed therapeutic. After doing so incoherently in my ol' Moo, plus some whining which accompanies almost every entry, I feel somewhat 'pacified' and even a little guilty that I sulk so much.

「待て、そして希望を持て」This line from Gonzo's adaptation of Comte de Monte Cristo is one of those that comes into my mind every now and then. And how long can we really do so, I wonder.

Status Report

2006-06-29T12:07:00.000+08:00

House - Messy

State of mind - Stressed

"The reason that attributes to the current state of mind of subject is caused by a mixture of factors including the current state of the house (short-term factor). Tension may also be caused due to surprise tests during subject's Japanese lessons which require regular revision, something the subject does not do."
~ Professor Apapun Tauaja

General health - Below average

"Along with the coming of the Big Aunt, lack of sleep due to late-night tv and the constipation, the subject is decidedly afflicted with cramps, eye-bags and the perennial 'soak' symptoms."
~ Dr. Oga Olaraga

Emotional State - Mercurial

"Given the subject's general annoyance at tardiness, the current state of the house plus the extended environment (note: The subject has a negative disposition towards many aspects of her current extended environment), in addition to the presence of the Big Aunt, the volatile emotional state is a natural outcome. This is aggravated by the fact that she is upset by some apparent revelations as seen via the media. We suggest she mind her own business. The initial prescription of comfort food was rejected as they might contribute to a further expansion of the waistline which in turn will spark more agitation."
~ Professore E. Mosi

Fellowship of the W.C.

2006-06-20T12:29:00.000+08:00

No, not the toilet. Of course I meant World Cup, what else? It's that time of the (four) year(s) again. Now me, I don't bother much about the tactics and all that as compared to the irrationality and the romantic (as in dramatic) notion of the game. Basically this applies to all sports I watch. I basically just watch sports for fun and not over-analyse formations.

Ok enough basa-basi. It's nearing half of the tournament now and already some teams have qualified, some butchered (poor S&M - but what a game by Argentina), some still awaiting their judgment day. But no big spectacle is complete without eye candies Not to say that we girls are superficial, we admire both skill and looks (Me and my sisters do). At least we're not as pretentious as the guys who accuse us of bimbotism (well I don't mind the tag - like, whatever) while they ogle at the scantily-clad female fans. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Anyway, my brother joked that all the better players are better looking than the rest of the squad...which is not entirely baseless. Actually, my theory is that, someone may not be really handsome or pretty but if they're talented somehow it'll make them shine.

And let the photos roll...

1. Blondie a.k.a. the current W.C. top scorer: Fernando Torres (España)

Well, this is a very 'what the?!' pose imo, but I'm just posting this 'cos I'm curious about the tattoo...I don't like tattoes (or blond hair) but my curiosity's at it again. You know, I noticed that another Spanish player has a similar looking tattoo on the arm (S. Ramos, I think)...

PS: Ouuh! Just found out over the web (I must be too free - it's only my 2nd day in the finance dept - and yes there's no cure for my curiosity, at least for the 1st 3 minutes) that it's actually his own name written in some J.R.R. Tolkien's Elvish language...siaoo!!! Is LOTR very big in Spain? If I was Spanish I'd much prefer to read gems by the many super talented writers like Cervantes or Gabriel G. Marquez...Edric has the LOTR trilogy...but before I pick up a fantasy novel I'd much sooner sit down with a pile of comics like One Piece, haha.

Well, here's a close-up from the previous match:

Banyak flek deh...日焼け防止ローションを塗らないようです。

Oh, here's his teammate and Spain's captain...can you believe it? I thought Carlos Puyol (the one with the mie keriting hair - I used to be very biased and poke fun about it but in fact, he plays well) would be captain but apparently not. Is he the youngest International captain or what

2. Goalie Ganteng a.k.a. Iker Casillas (España)

And to think, just the last W.C. he came on only because Canizares (correct spelling? I forgot), the original goalkeeper, was injured. Fast forward now and he's the captain. To Mr. photog: Nice capture, it'd be better if the hand's not in the way of the jersey though.

Enough of flamenco (amazingly, I always think of this when I think of folk dances - influenced by all those pics of flared-up skirts in mags etc when I was a kid), let's continue...

3. Seleção Cakep a.k.a. Kaka (Brasil)

Niki doesn't know who's Kaka (a nickname btw), so I said, "Yang lebih cakep di Tim Brasil." My brother pitted in (correctly), "No, satu-satunya yang cakep di Tim Brasil." That about sums it up, lol. And so far, plus this not due to me being biased or anything, Kaka's been the best player with the most drive in the Seleção.

4. Tango Tackler a.k.a. Gabriel Heinze (Argentina)

Well, I included him 'cos he shares the same birthday as my brother James and because I like his name.

5. Crybaby a.k.a. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

I heard from James that he's the international footballer to front those funny Extra Joss ads after Del Piero...those Indon conglomerates are sure rich. TYK, that hilarious self-confessed couch potato/football fanatic/journalist, nominated him for the "Sob,sob,sob, I want my Mommy" title because he kept getting tackled and a lot of times the referees peanutted him. Anyway, he looked happy here. I think ~~all~~ most youngest children are...ehmm...with the exception of Edison Chen, who said he hardly cried ever since dunno when (aeons ago, according to him).
I saved the most candid pic for the last, ふふふ～

6. Liverpool Lengzái a.k.a. Steven Gerrard (England)

The pic speaks (pouts) for itself, doesn't it? Ok, he may not be the most handsome, or metrosexual etc etc, but...人を引くことがある、でしょう？

Anyway, in case you're wondering, most, if not all, of these fellows above are taken/attached. Aside from businessmen's spouses, I guess their wife/girlfriend brigade forms the other group of tai-tais.

おまけ/ Selingan

Some other things:

'奶奶杀手' Old Coach: Marcello Lippi (Italia)

Don't you think (I mean, compared to all the other coaches in the W.C. now)? Well, he might not be good looking in the past but at least he looks well groomed for his age.

Most likely to be mistaken for the Mafia: The Italian National Squad (Italia)

Tell me, does this look like a brotherhood straight out of The Godfather or does this look like a brotherhood straight out of The Godfather.

Credits: All photos from fifaworldcup

Currently, the teams that are already through to the last 16:
Germany, Ecuador, England, Sweden, Argentina, Netherlands, Portugal, Brazil, Spain.

As it is, the group stages are concluding soon, I suppose I'll write again when I'm fuming mad (injustices, if any), in delirium (supported team(s) perform well), or any other fervent state of emotion during the W.C. tournament.

Phlethora of emotions

2006-06-12T00:27:00.000+08:00

And my shopping spree is officially over. The past two days this weekend has seen me spend an amount that, say, will DEFINITELY make my Dad reprimand me. Huh-huh. This (the splurge) is because I've just recently been informed by my prof that my research earnings will be deposited to my account, hence, the induced spending spree. Anyway, it's also because just last Saturday all the so-called big fashion houses started having their Summer Sale.

So after my Japanese class I met my sis Niki to window-shop and at the same time look out for nice men's patented leather shoes for Father's Day. It has to be patented leather because so far papi hasn't gotten any of those, and it has to be fabulous because our dad doesn't deserve anything less. Niki and I anyway were dressed in cheap clothings if you want to ask (I was wearing Niki's top which at the end of the day left some black stains caused by stray threads on my upper arms because of humidity), but even so that didn't stop us from entering the boutiques, just because it's Sale time and there were more people than usual in those shops so we felt less self-conscious, haha. Basically our shopping trip is something like what Jodie Kidd and her friend(s) do in every episode of Fashion Avenue (those lucky tourists!) - shop with a specific budget.

Our first stop was the DFS Gallery (Duty-free) - Mar, I saw the Anna Sui white compact mirror! But it's bundled together with the normal black one. And juicy tubes sets were going on discounts! Wooohh...but I'm going to get those some other day, probably next Friday. They're not going to disappear as fast 'cos there are more stocks available. Niki took a pic of the Louis Vuitton display bag so she could show those to *ahem* you-know-who at ITC.....they're really nice by the way. But other than giving our eyes and legs and arms some warm-up exercise (mostly bags, and bags are way out of our budgets), the trip to DFS Gallery churned out nada. niente. I think this is only the 2nd time in so many years since I stepped in there.

So after that we went to the Plaza Senayan of Orchard Road, a.k.a. The mall where we only go to for visits to Dr Poon & co. on normal days a.k.a. Paragon. As we were looking for men's shoes, we went to Ferragamo first. Gucci has waaayyy too many shoppers. In all the Gucci outlets we passed by (we only went inside the DFS branch I think), there were actually QUEUES outside the store as they had to limit the number of shoppers inside the boutiques...Anyway, in the Ferragamo store we spotted this absolutely gorgeous pair of suede-patented leather shoes....and it's on 30% discount (still expensive obviously, but it still counts). So we set our eyes on those and decided that if we didn't see anything better we'd get those for papi. We did see some of the ladies' shoes but as our feet were too big (laterally) for the on-sale items we didn't bother.

Next we stopped in at the eateries below to eat some dumplings and other yummies to build up energy for the rest of the day (well, not quite - it's already 6 plus by the time we finished eating).

Our next stop was PRADA, my favourite designer's store (not to say that she designs the nicest clothes everytime but she's my favourite designer.) Alas, the men's section does not have any patented leather shoes so we gave it a miss. We browsed through some dresses just to see the price tags. My gosh. Where would all those money go? OMG. So we passed.

Next we went to miu miu, where we spotted this freakingly cute canvas flats. Unfortunately, it's not on sale as it's a new arrival. But, the model is only available here Asia-wise and they only stock one pair for each size. Both of us tried it on (with oohhs & ahhhs)...I waited and waited and pondered and pondered (while looking at the items on sale there - arrgh!)...and finally, I decided to get those. It costs about the price of normal PRADA shoes but on sale (miu miu is slightly cheaper. slightly). So I decided to part with a portion of my budget for these pair. My first pair of expensive shoes (excluding sneakers) which I bought myself! By the way, either by influence of our mother or otherwise, the girls in our family are believers of buying expensive shoes; not because we're snobbish but because our feet cannot fit snugly or comfortably into most shoes. And you can be dressed in designer garb but if your footwear is under-par it'll show. On the other hand, you can wear bargain apparel but if your footwear's classy it will make the whole outfit so many times better. I know guys' theory being that they never look at girls' feet but the point is girls buy shoes not to impress guys; more to fulfill their vanity needs and pride.

Anyway Niki also tried on another pair of miu miu heels which are on sale (I like it too but no way am I buying another miu miu shoes for myself on the same day)...but owing to our budget constraint, we decided to 'see-see-look-look' first before committing to anything else. The staff offered us the tax refund option so naturally we filled in our dad's name as he'll be coming here a few days later (oops, cue to clean the messy lair that is our home here).

Next on, it's back to 'wash eyes - translate to Bahasa Indonesia'. After surveying TOD's and Hugo Boss, YSL, Ralph Lauren etc for men's footwear (seriously, never in one day without our parents or elders have we dared to enter so many boutiques as if we've just robbed a bank), we saw another contender for our Father's Day gift. Showing off on its display window, the Hugo Boss shoes seem to radiate some mantra in the air 'come in and look at me (and my label)'. It has a very smooth finish and after visiting so many stores we sort of forgot how the Ferragamo pair looked like so we thought that this pair looked more elegant (with a heftier price tag). But just to make sure it's not some hot air that got into our heads, we decided to re-check later with the other pair of shoes, if only to refresh our memory.

Anyway, instead of lingering at Paragon, we crossed the road to Takashimaya and sifted through various items like DKNY (okay but not worth it - this season's collection I mean), Diane von Furstenberg (lovely but quite auntie imo) etc. We came to On Pedder, which stocks up on labels such as Jimmy Choo (no flagship store here yet), Marc Jacobs (same) and such. And we spotted the perfect (taking into account natural leather creasing etc and the fact that our wallet's on a leash) black and white MJ pumps. Unfortunately for Niki, it's the last pair they have (for the size), and only sizes 37 and 41 are left. It's just nice for me (size 37), so Niki went on to try on a pair of lovely bronze ballet pumps from MJ as well (sweet but impractical, but we just wanted to try on nice shoes...hehehe)...the store auntie was very friendly and kept pointing out how good a bargain the shoes are. Niki wanted to say to her, if it's really so, why don't you sponsor us. Because it looks perfect and because it's only the first day of sale and so many people are already hawking over the goods and because the auntie kept egging us and because both Niki and I agreed we should not, should not, miss this buy, I bought the MJ pumps. I feel very sinful, yet inside me there's an inexplicable sense of...glee? The strange strange relationship between girls and shopping.

Well I know it's ridiculous: instead of actually buying a gift, I ended up buying stuff for meself. By the way, just out of curiosity we also visited the LV flagship store at Takashimaya as well as the Chanel's. There are all these vintage LV luggages (of which there are 'legends' vouching for their durability - they indeed look very heavy and immovable)...There were heaps of Indonesians in the store, some sitting in unsightly poses (imagine Tukang Becak) as spotted by Niki. I went in to Chanel just to see how much the dresses cost, with no intention of buying them even if they're on sale whatsoever. My gawd, it's even more ridiculous than the PRADAs and the LVs...I guess price tag for price tag only Hermes can match the length of the strung-up numerals.

Satisfied with all that we've looked, Niki seemed not to be able to get the miu miu heels out of her mind, so off we scurried again to Paragon. We went in to PRADA again, yes, because we wanted to try on the sickeningly pretty shoes. I can fit in this super sleek red heels but as, again, they don't have it in Niki's size, and since I won't splurge on shoes after the previous buys, I let Niki try on other designs. But anyway let's just say the shoes are designed for people with dainty feet. So next we went inside to Ferragamo to inquire about the men's shoes. On second look and after so many stores, we really did finalise our decision that THIS is the one we want. Niki tried on the smallest size (European size 7) and it's still a bit loose and as we weren't sure what papi's shoe size is we decided to enquire him over the phone that night.

After which, we visited miu miu once again. The staff there recognized us and cooed, "Ooouu, you came back"...we just smiled sheepishly like some dodos. But she was very nice and invited me to seat on the sofa after walking for hours (very cute leather sofa at that) while Niki try on the shoes. I had offered to buy Niki the heels if she really like it as her birthday present. My wallet is bleeding, so I said I'll come back again next morning (since I would anyway, to buy the Ferragamo shoes after asking papi his size) to get it.

Luckily, our dad's shoe size is just right so on Sunday I finished what I had to do...I ended up with many shopping bags (and a depleted savings account) 'cos I also did some shopping for myself (normal clothes with only 2 numbers for price) and I bought the most endearing book, "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane" by Kate DiCamillo. I finished it already (it's a children's book much like The Little Prince) and am so touched...I was so engrossed I did not even pay much attention to the Holland-Serbia Montenegro match on TV.

Speaking of World Cup, Mar, you are so going to want to watch it here. Because there are 4 dedicated channels, two of the channels are PlayerCam channels, which means the camera only zooms in on a particular player on a rotational basis from each team for a specific amount of time throughout the match. During the England-Paraguay match (we started watching late during the 2nd half) we turned to the England PlayerCam and guess what? Steven Gerrard was the featured player! So the camera just followed him around and we didn't know what the hell was going on in the game (reportedly it's boring) but we're quite amused feeling like stalkers watching him on TV, haha.

Anyway, for me, that's it for the sale season and moving on to the World Cup. I shall check out the PlayerCams from time to time because it's so amusing! (Niki even figured out a way to take screenshots from the TV, though since we don't know how to save it, it's practically a waste of temporary TV memory) though I feel it's a bit...stalker-ish...hahah. I wonder how the cameraman must feel ("What am I doing zooming in on guys instead of capturing the match coverage...eyuuck...just to amuse some people in the living room...") ...Well I hope this tournament will be a great one for the teams I support and for the cuties!

A world full of contrasts

2006-05-29T21:38:00.000+08:00

Just yesterday my brother went back to Jakarta and purportedly got stuck on the PS2 for hours on end (as expected). He got to play Kingdom Hearts 2 and FFXII (blasted). On that same island (I mean Java) hours before James went to the Airport chaperoned by his friend (and misplacing my as-yet-to-be-found phone charger!), as all of us who happened to see the news know, a 6.2 Richter-Scale Earthquake ravaged its nearby environs, most notably, imo, Yogyakarta, hailed as the City of Scholars. Somehow the terms and jargons spread out on the newspapers reminded me of my secondary school days while I was studying about tectonic plates et al for my Physical Geography exams for reasons beyond me. I felt kind of detached, in a way. It's a real concern to me because it happened in my home country but as humans do, probably because I'm many miles away, it is, starkly, albeit more significant and poignant, just another piece of news.

And I thought, here's a real tragedy of a natural disaster at hand, and what are people fussing about? That totally idiotic anti-pornoaction (who coined this ambiguous term I know not) Bill. Maybe, this time round, people has become somewhat jaded since the Tsunami, and help, though still pouring in, would come in at a more calculated rather than emotional rate. There are honest altruistic people, I'm sure, now dealing with serious anguish and pain and goodness knows what. And yet, I think again, as my sis mentioned, evil people still swarm around like locusts. There's a boy facing real issues of survival, and there's a boy happily pressing the hours away on a console. Such mockery, no?

Somewhere now, Germans are preparing for World Cup festivities, and somewhere now, people are struggling to save lives. I feel guilty sometimes having all my selfishness about me and all and yet all the same I feel miffed that you should repress your selfishness because you're obliged to feel 'grateful' and not be greedy. Like, you shouldn't be happy (because there's so much unhappiness somewhere else) and you cannot feel sad for your predicament(whatever tragedy there is you must pull yourself - much sadder things are happening). Sigh. It's just hard to be a happy soul unless you're a bad meanie.

More and more and more!

2006-04-25T09:18:00.000+08:00

Waa......it's been such a long time since I last update an entry here...just goes to show how lazy I am muahahahaha......

Contrary to that claim though, I've signed up for Japanese classes in order not to let my Japanese go rusty for wont of regular use. I'd signed up for two classes, one to prepare for JLPT 2, the other one for conversational practice; my colleagues at work had recommended me the school and one of them is in the Introductory Course class on Friday; my classes are on Fri and Sat morning so at least I've a buddy to accompany me on Fridays! The tuition fees are quite reasonable, about $190 per term (ard 10 lessons or 2 months); there are some Japanese learning Chinese at the language school too, which is located at Isetan so I can always go shopping (on Sat, cos on Fri the shops would've already closed by the time I finish my night class) after my lesson! Hohoho...

Anyway, classes had already gone into the 2nd term (Intermmediate classes & above are held yearly) by the time I registered, so in a sense I've a lot to catch up on my own...bothers! My 'baptism of fire' included having to take a mock exam on the very first day of class (Due to the fact that it's a mock exam day - for JLPT 2 class there's a mock test every other month I think)! Figure that...how very welcoming. As expected, a lot of vocabs and phrases were foreign to me, even though I could guess some of the meanings through kanji when available. Worse, being the careless git that I am, I initially shaded twenty or more so circles on the wrong MCQ sheet and the only eraser I had was my miserable mechanical pencil's teeny-weeny-does-not-erase-cleanly eraser. PILOT, please improve on the mechanical pencil eraser! What if that was a real exam? Luckily, halfway through the Sensei returned to the room and saw me forcefully erasing circle after circle and he lent me his spare eraser (which in actual fact does not erase cleanly either - either that or the pencil lead contains too much carbon -- PILOT!!! What's wrong with your products?! Kidding). Anyway I took the test with two others who'd missed taking the exam previously, so I'd only get to meet my classmates this week. All three of us barely had enough time to finish the whole paper (2^1/2hr paper)

Oh, by the way..for that mock exam...I failed (225/400 - passing grade is at least 240)...boohoo...as expected...but the consolation is that even those pupils who've been attending classes since January also failed (I attended the make-up lesson on Saturday and the exam results were returned to the pupils then)...there's this one super cocky smart-alecky guy in class who managed to pass (267/400)...more about this later (shall lash out in Cafe)...gosh...can't stand it! I'm telling you, this kind of ppl only exist prevalently in this country.

On another note, we bought an electronic piano, finally! Need to buy headphones connector so we can use the big headphone while playing so as not to disturb the neighbours...that's the simple part. The problem is, it's been ages since I last played and all the while we never did take any official graded lessons, so you can imagine the unharmonious timbres heard all over when we took turns to try out the piano...Niki and James has yet need to learn to play the piano...although some of Niki's friends are self-taught experts (one of them's even able to emulate Maxim songs just by hearing those a couple of times...kaohz)...I doubt James has the discipline to practice anyway. Currently I'm just playing some of the songs from the songbooks I'd purchased previously. Now on FF songs and wanting to find my old Les Miserables songbook which is lying somewhere in Jakarta (I liked playing One Day More and Stars)...

Meanwhile, on top of all these I still have to finish my system analysis and recommendation report. This week I need to practice my presentation too...so stressed!

Herrghh...anyway now my aim, apart from acing my Japanese and stuff that stuck-up-as-if-his-Japanese-is-so-bloody-proficient-which-in-fact-isn't *whew* student some humble pie, is to learn to play the piano smoothly again (I heard that playing Bossa Nova songs is recommended if you don't want your mistakes to show, 'cos no matter how you improvise, it'll sound ok - but currently no such plans), learn other languages I want to learn, and exercise (+ housework - I feel quite compelled to do more housework after seeing my mom slog whenever she visits us - plus Mother's Day is coming). I don't know if I can cramp all these now but hopefully come May I'd have finished all my projects and can concentrate on actually doing all these things I've said I wanted to accomplish. Tomorrow I'll be going on an airport excursion...urrghh...late for home again.

Sick

2006-03-25T22:07:00.000+08:00

A few months into work and my free time is in jeopardy of being consumed by work. I practically have no time to myself save for sleep and probably about 2-3 hours of TV everyday (Thank heavens for television!). Forget about exercise, everytime I come home I get so stressed over the messy state of the house I feel like Lisa Simpson barging accidentally into Bart's room. Plus, the last three days had seen me doing a roadshow ('for the experience') in one of the educational institutions here (read: standing and talking from 9 am to 6 pm)...my sore throat's still dragging me down after two weeks, my knees and heels hurt and worse, no one at home seems to be any more understanding of my plight. Boohoo!! The amount of housework is still too daunting to even think of. Only sheer dislike for tardiness and a niggling sense of responsibility (diminishing fast-though reminded everytime Papi or Mami calls) and probably hope that some hottie's going to be visiting (ha-ha) have kept me to go on, really.

Is this the way creativity is sapped literally from the minds of adults - by way of non-stop working commitments? I haven't been able to draw or buy the piano that I've wanted for so long, let alone practice; I find that I'm getting more and more discerning, and that is frightening. Too much of Russian literature, or too many dumb people faking it in the media, either one of those reasons.

Seriously, what's caused all these is simply a vicious cycle of workaholism. Everybody works more and this results in more work allocated to a specified amount of time - why can't people understand that working hard doesn't equal better results - only longer hours outside home. Well I could drone on and sulk some more but that wouldn't change a thing. Might as well get my schedule organised (even if I'm a non-schedule kind of person, ironically) and put my time in order somewhat - though I already anticipate that the amount of free, constructive time to myself would be pitifully meagre. I am just crossing my fingers and telling myself, when the raft has been built, it's time to have fun on the beach (I forgot the exact idiom but the point is, better to keep a positive outlook than depress myself further) .

A moment's reprieve

2006-03-04T16:54:00.000+08:00

Finally it's the weekend! I hardly have any time to myself nowadays. There are so many things you want to do; I don't know if I should be happy or sad that time flies by in a blitz given all those errands and tasks awaiting to be completed. Anyway, here's a short clip to remind you how gullible we were as kids when we used to be awed by the multi-coloured goggles.

Lyrics

2006-02-26T01:16:00.000+08:00

Finally, finally, I bought the Jack Johnson album, In Between Dreams! I searched the Internet high and low but his site only offered the lyrics...in the end I bought it at HMV at the clearout price (still a not-so-cheap $16.95-even though it's not a new album and that few people here know about Jack Johnson at all...hmm...although I think MTV did have a blink-and-you-miss-it feature on him this month)...and I must say, I'm an instant fan! His lyrics are melt-in-your-mouth delicious and sung with just the right amount of nonchalance. All his songs (which are written, performed and produced by him, except for two tracks which are co-written by him and his friends) seemed to sound like songs sung by a wise friend by the balcony deck in his beach house, like you're part of the 'ring of trust', so to speak. It's stripped of commercial pretentiousness with just the bare basics of, well, songs that are meant to be sung to satisfy the singer and anyone willing to listen to his piece of music.

Oh...and I really, really love the lyrics to 未来航海, the song playing in the background now! And it fits One Piece perfectly. I don't normally endorse Tackey & Tsubasa songs but all I can say is I'm glad I bought this single (仮面）.

The Myojo Mami bought for me last week was quite a let-down 'cos there's no complete TV schedule (I should've known better, Myojo is a JE-controlled media and the coverage is skewed towards JE artistes)...but Gachi-Baka! looks interesting, do check it out! There are so many school-themed dramas nowadays. Anyway, there's this polling special for Johnny Jr. (Does not include KinKi Kids, Tackey and Tsubasa, Arashi or NewS) artistes and it seems the fans are simply mad about KAT-TUN. Surprisingly most view Kame as being the one with the nicest personality. Jin got 16 'most' titles, including for categories such as most pervy (he admitted he's perv - in a 'healthy' way -- err)...the interesting part was the polling amongst Johnny Jr. members. The results do differ from the fans' opinions, in most categories anyway...I wanted to scan the pages 'cos their comments are really funny, but to do so I'd have to stay even later at the office...I'm basically being handed OT almost everyday! Well, at least Saturday's shopping therapy did me large doses of good! Oh, oh, I found out that if you spend $100 and above at the supermarket at Shaw House, you can get the items delivered free to your house! And if you're a member (which I realised many of the Japanese here are), you can request delivery even if you spend less than $100.

Watched Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit on DVD, it's soo entertaining and awe-inducing! Gosh...five years or more for just over an hour of claymation...

After all the happy television-viewing, I have to do my month-end report now...sleeping late again...

Learning languages?!

2006-02-12T03:54:00.000+08:00

Mami just came today 'cos she's got to settle some administrative stuff for Marissa's schooling, which simply cannot be carried out in Indonesia. Sigh...anyway she brought lots of food and there goes again our dieting plans! I don't know whether to laugh or cry really...

Oh, and since she's here, I could start picking up Cantonese, seriously. Due to some sudden circumstances, my stay at the current department I'm attached is going to be extended for 2 months and I'm handed this big business partner from HongKong. Apparently those who'd handled them mentioned that they're not exactly the easiest of customers to handle and that English and Mandarin conversations don't really get your messages across to them...Oh well...the only Cantonese I know are those 'Good Morning', 'Thank you' greetings or 'Can I have this, can I have that' (for shopping) or 'Cheh! Gam ba bei' (a phrase we often use when we're put off by some irate people) and 'Hou hou mei' (delicious!)...err...that's about it (excluding some swear words that every foreigner would learn fastest). Anyway, I do understand chunks of Cantonese conversation listening wise but saying it out requires practice and practice. And since this purportedly demanding customer is the 吃软不吃硬 type，I must learn the art of tai-chi speaking (using the soft to balance the hard, so to speak-this is tai-chi kungfu philosophy), just like the One-Finger-Stroke (一指功) used by Chinmi in Kungfuboy or 鉄拳チンミ or 铁拳小子 (ahh I miss reading this series!).

The new season of Tekken Chinmi, 20th volume. I prefer the old one though, when he's still a young boy honing his Kungfu skills and travelling from place to place. But in the new season Maekawa-sensei's art is much slicker.

Back to the learning thing, so, I'm going to pick up whatever Cantonese I can from my mom before she returns to Jakarta, as well as my Japanese too; I want to watch more dramas and animes and read more! Speaking of reading, I've got the new Artemis Fowl series (yes, after waiting for so long since it came out) despite having tons of unread books (some overdue too - I hope the bookshop Auntie would give me more time to read the borrowed books). Artemis Fowl's going to be made into a movie I heard, though no concrete plans as yet. In my mind it's going to be way cooler than Harry Potter and Narnia and what-nots because of the technology gadgets and I want to see Foaly spouting D'Arvit every other scene, heheh.

Oh, and Death Note is going to be made into a drama too! Something to look forward to...hmm...who should act as Yagami? I think it'd be interesting if Yamapi's cast as him, and anyway he wouldn't have to change his hairstyle dramatically. And he'd win accolades if he could pull it off as the hypocritical, psychotic genius Light Yagami.

The hair fits, and he can look disturbingly diabolical, with the right acting.

Although my first pick would be the amazing Yuuya Yagira, if he's older he'd just be so right, what with his acting chops and dao look. He's my favourite Japanese actor (amongst younger ones) by the way.

Good luck if you had to share screen time with him. Wait. I think his face here looks perfectly like Yagami (just change the hairstyle). So I hope he can do dramas (which I doubt), if they have the ￥ to pay him anyway.

I'm very curious to know how it'd turn out. But I'd be even more curious should, if ever, Monster is going to be made into a real-life drama, which is difficult, because if they weren't speaking German somehow it wouldn't look authentic. Plus there's the need to find GREAT German actors (twins at that) who can actually potray Johan and Nina. And doesn't reading Monster make you so want to learn German and so in awe of neurosurgeons like Tenma all of a sudden?

Meantime, I shall just continue with my language lessons...hopefully I wouldn't get blur and end up learning a bit of everything but mastering none...the other day I just used hair shampoo as shower cream (luckily I realised that halfway)...that's how absent-minded I am...hohoh

Just the 2nd month of the year

2006-02-05T01:32:00.000+08:00

The year seems so long...probably because I've started working, and still in probation at that, I feel as if I'm dragging myself through. On the contrary, I actually think the todays seem to fade faster into tomorrows with work, 'cos everytime I come home I'm so lazy I just watch some TV and then head straight to bed. I've not been online at home for quite some time, obviously because my old notebook's still needs repairing. Now I'm bringing the office notebook home so I can surf the net sans the intranet firewall (meaning I can access my personal email accounts).

Actually, I felt bad enough that I use Skype and surf other websites *sometimes* in the office (not that I'm the only one doing it, but it's somewhat stated between the lines of the company culture that office is strictly for work) AND I've been caught doing so by the vice-president of the current department I'm attached in, no less. I guess she closed one eye but secretly she'd already sized me up...I get so scared everytime she walked past me...is this the guilt felt by 'a thief with a conscience' (because thieves with no conscience won't even bother abt the consequences of their actions on others - I say 'thief' as in the 偷偷摸摸 type, those who sneak in stuff and is afraid of getting caught; the nature somewhat resembles what I'm doing, I think, so to speak, even though the only stealing act I can remember is probably that windmill-deco candy from the supermarket back when I was like 5 or 6 - they don't have detectors back then, hohoh...ok this time I'm probably stealing working hours...by the time I start working for real I won't have the free time to even think about slacking I guess, so I figured I better make use of this opportunity?!)? Sigh...I guess this is how the bad rep of lazy Indons come about. Remember, it's not entirely true! I think a little relaxation here and there is essential for overall higher efficiency and productivity in work, if not you'll go robotic ballistic, wouldn't you?

Anyway...enough about that...went to Trina's house for her pre-Birthday party yesterday (her birthday's today! Happy Birthday), we played some cards (after a long hiatus, I re-learnt how to play Bridge and Dai-Di...and Uno and Bluff). I was really lousy at Bluff...Trina only bluffed once throughout that arduous game and somehow I flunked in that game, though in the end I still managed to get rid of a lot of my cards...only the guys, the Suets and I often bluffed so they never trust us. At one point me and the Suets were playing our own catch-and-bluff and the game kept revolving around our tricking and exposing. I shall just be a careful player of Bluff from now on and not bluff so many times, like Trina, who finished her cards first 'cos no one dared expose her.

Next, going to buy presents for Qw and Jw!

PS: Niki claimed she burnt about 700 calories today in the gym and pool. I think I must start exercising to burn away all those festive fat too and be healthier...exercise-a-holic Niki seems bent to attain Tyra Banks-like body.

Working days

2006-01-19T22:40:00.000+08:00

I've not been posting because of two reasons:

1. My beloved old lifebook (laptop computer)'s screen had gone kaput. Hence I've not been able to access my old files in the hard disk drive. Fortunately, the engineers at my workplace had agreed to lend me a casing so I can transfer the files to another computer..hoho...by the way, I'm thinking whether or not to replace the laptop screen...I'm not even sure if it's gone out of production or not...if the Japan factory had stopped manufacturing it, there's nothing that can be salved for my lappie, unless the problem lies not with the LCD, which I doubt so.
*Update: The service support ppl suggested it might be an inverter problem so I shd send it in for checking, free of charge of course! woohoo. The lifebook that Niki has her eyes on's super ex. Click for Virtual Tour

2. I've started work! True, I haven't been given anything much/too tiring really, just that I'm not allowed to use the lifebook at work for personal purposes and once I get home I normally am too lazy to go near the computer anymore...hoho...by the way, I will only stay in one department for about 1 month before my 'specialisation' field is decided...'cos the nature of my job is supposedly a 'grooming process'...the pressure is on the four of us (there are three others like me, and they seem so...eh...skilled? ahahahha...I feel like a total greenhorn) to get a first-hand, albeit not an in-depth one, knowledge of core departments and propose improvements in workflow and profits...so stressed!

By the way, it takes me around 10 to 15 minutes to walk to work so I can afford to dilly-dally in the morning...but I realise it's a bad habit. Anyway, one of the newcomers got driven here at about 730 am every morning 'cos her husband's got to work at 830, so he drops her off early everyday (a pretty girl, only a year older than me! By the way quite a lot of the girls in the office are pretty and petite (I feel like Shingo Mama now...gleghh)...and amazingly, everyone can speak Chinese! Even the Indians and Malays...they can even speak Cantonese...at least those that I know of)...we suggested that she could use the OSIM massage chair at her own discretion (because if you use it while other people are around it's a bit...weird, isn't it?) Hmm...maybe I should come early and surf the net for a while (some sites like email servers are blocked though, except for the access point at the pantry).

Oh, my handphone's (a hand-me-down from Mar) spoilt again. The person on the other line's unable to hear me; and this happening at a time when I need to book an appointment with Dr Poon because my retainer wiring is loose...I guess I could make prank calls...they couldn't hear me...bwahahahaha...somebody please sponsor me a mobile phone...I've used up my dosh on clothes and am intending to splurge on shoes...ackk...so frivolous...anyway, the thing I should really be considering is a new laptop. I initially wanted to buy iBook, but obviously after the impending launch of the Lifebook N-Series I changed my mind, because (it'll be launched next month here)

* It can double up as a normal TV (choose from the 15 inch or 17 inch screen model) , complete with remote control
* It can RECORD TV programmes (do you know what this means, Mar? I can record MTV Whatever Things! Oh, imagine if I was living in Japan...I'd burn loads and loads of DVD...wakakakakka...)
* It has a max hard disk capacity of about 200 or 300 GB...meaning 1 whole week's worth of TV programmes non-stop. *the couch potato in me salivates*

Only problem is...the price (plus it's kinda heavy but I'm using it as a desktop replacement anyway). So much for hankerings. Donations pleasee......anything mentah will do. Mar, if you want me to record Whatever Things, hurry deposit money to me. Hahahaha.

Late = No Tables!

2006-01-11T21:23:00.000+08:00

*Beat own head* Ackk...I'm going to get scolded by my parents for reserving the Reunion Dinner table so late into January (my Mom had repeatedly reminded me to book early but I was too lazy to get the brochures around Orchard earlier, thinking that people here won't be so kiasu. Big mistake.) In the end, I did get a table at one of the restaurants BUT it's an outdoors table, without AC. Eh...I can already imagine the torrent of reprimands coming my way.

PS: by the way, Mar, I've already put up the remaining Monster comics files at YouSendIt. Sorry for uploading it so late! Ha-ha...who asked you not to transfer them to your comp the last time you're here? I have the Anime too btw, it's a good representation of the manga.

Speaking of reunion dinners and any other Chinese occasions, you know that everytime there's a big occasion the exquisite shark's fin soup would always be served, right? Now, here's a clip showing Kusano and Shige sampling a 40, 000 yen/portion (about US$300/S$ 600) Fukahire Ramen, or, Shark's Fin Noodle, in Japan's Chinatown district, Yokohama! Can you imagine it? They even had to eat it in the restaurant's VIP room. At first they thought 'Fukahire ramen' means there'd be a big glob of shark's fin on top of the noodle; that's why it's so expensive (when the waiter asked them whether they'd order 2 portions, they immediately dismissed the notion and replied they'd just have one-guess JE only provided them with enough kitty to buy one). Witness the shock on their faces as they found out that the Ramen is made fully from shark's fin (and Kusano's reaction after eating the Ramen with the high-grade Japanese beef, which they thought was char-siew initially). Kusano and Shige were very kampungan (aka country bumpkin-like) throughout; I think I would, too. 40, 000 yen a portion! It even came in a gold-plated serving pot! By the way, after the Washington Convention the capture of basking sharks has been deemed illegal, so there'd be no more imports of sharks' fins into Japan. In the show they showed the very last piece of shark's fin in the restaurant (may be made into about 10 more portions of the ramen); after that last piece is used up, there'd be no more serving of shark's fin! Kusano and Shige are lucky brats, aren't they? I feel quite guilty eating shark's fin now, but all the same, who wouldn't want shark's fin soup? As for the fukahire ramen, I'll pass, but if I were allowed to sample it, I wouldn't refuse (just a bit).

愛Q劇場

2006-01-08T14:43:00.000+08:00

For Mar's and my convenience (cos I hate streaming videos and the way you have to keep searching for clips! arrggh!!) but aren't these clips hilarious? ha-hah...there are other episodes (Omu-rice, Quill, Cream Sichu- etc) not uploaded on youtube so here are those available. Maybe can search for these past year clips in vid stores should anyone go japan/taiwan. I love the '変わった' lines and the 'ちょっと待って!' cum bicep flashing scenes! If only we could catch all of Johnny's entertainment shows here (especially the skits)...hahahah...I agree with Mar that Massu is very cute! Dunno if they're still doing those skits or are there new skits shown now.

愛Ｑ劇場　『ドライ・カレー』

愛Ｑ劇場　『カレー』

愛Ｑ劇場　『お鍋』

愛Ｑ劇場　『ミートスパ』

愛Ｑ劇場　『ダーリンお留守番』

愛Ｑ劇場　『人々デート番』

New Year

2006-01-04T17:16:00.000+08:00

So, 2006 is here, what next? When December first turns January, there's always the anticipation that a pot of gold's waiting at the end of this rainbow (a.k.a. year). And when the whole year ends its run, you realize, well, maybe not this rainbow, but the year's passed on safely enough for you, and you say your thanks.

It's January again. As I've said before, I don't like the early months of the year (except on birthdays and angpow days and the very first day of the year, because that's when, at least imo, everyone genuinely wants to wish for the better), basically because...well I can't explain it; January reminds me of platitudes; February is vapid; as is March; April's a wee bit better, May is neither here nor there...June onwards it gets bearable because at the very least the names of the months sound better (and I always associate it with holidays)...I can't seem to get rid of this bias against months of the year. It's just that, the early months of the year always leave me with a limbo-esque feeling.

Enough with trash talk, now, things to look forward to this coming year:

* My first year working officially and that means I'll pay my first income tax! Wooow! Ok I might sound all excited now but I reckon this won't be the case once the workload sets in.
* World Cup!!!!!! Yayyy!!!! But then again, I remembered that I'd be working; in previous years I watched all these during the school holidays...and too bad I couldn't go Germany to watch it live! Should learn some German! Then can sing Schnappy the Crocodile song (one of the reasons to learn German, which sounds cool-but feedback seems to agree that it's a difficult tongue to learn)! Basically if you want to go Germany it's better to be able to speak German as English is toot-tooted upon I heard.
* It's my 太岁年 apparently so I must be extra careful this year and given my clumsiness, I must be extra extra cautious in everything I do. Even after saying all these, I have an inkling that I will forget about going about doing things gingerly anyway. So I'll just cross my fingers too.
* Err...that's about what I can think of for the moment. Other than that, I hope that this year too, will be a good and joyful year for everyone nice or whom I think is nice.

This is belated but Happy New Year!

N.B.: Char, thanks for the titipan from UK! Love them~

P.S.: Thank you to everyone who put up with me, made my days and made 2005 all right despite everything!

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-24T21:39:00.000+08:00

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! Here, an old but funny clip on Arashi's two members learning English Mar sent me.

MBDC Back (sort of)

2005-12-17T20:00:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was a weird day; had dessert buffet at Fullerton with my JC friends (coincidentally I missed my uni friends gathering which was held on the same day), had a battering of words thrown upon me by my brother, who said I'm seriously AP; I think so too; at the very least, I know that I have to change my erratic behaviour. Too many times had passed where I did things on a whim and not putting much rational thoughts especially with respect to consequences. So, on a rainy Saturday, I chanced upon this article (in Bahasa Indonesia), a new addition by the MBDC crew. Not read it yet, but I'm putting the link here to spread the cheer. After which, I'd begin to revert myself for the better. I'm still going to be the AP me that irritates logical people everywhere, but I'll try to mellow down. Give me time.

Mengunjungi Pameran SPG (Sekumpulan Peragawati Gagal)

Reading List

2005-12-14T20:25:00.000+08:00

Well, after , I have decided that I've not read for a long time and a lot of books at home are just waiting to be book bug fodder. So I will have to read the remaining ones here:

*Notes From Underground (re-read, because even though it's short, you can grasp everything better the second time and I wouldn't mind re-reading it again provided I'm able to withstand all the jabs...is this brilliant or is this brilliant? Please, if you can manage the mental overload, read this!)

*Chronicle of a Death Foretold (read it halfway and have to return to the bookshop soon...where did I put this?)

*Don Quixote (I really like this one but there are so many references involved that it's quite heavy on the brains...actually it's so famous you can read this one for free on the net...but I find this translation much more succinct and the references help in the understanding of the story)

*Crime and Punishment (because if you're read Notes you can't possibly not read this, followed by a possible Brothers Karamozof...ack. Ehh, I seem to enjoy reading translated books, no? I just know Russian books are always more cheem.)

*True History of the Kelly Gang (a bit like Mockingbird, only it's a humanisation of a notorious real-life criminal. Oh and it's Australian. And I forgot where I put this one too.)

*In the Miso Soup (I have to read at least one light one or else I'll go thinking too much-though this one's a thriller. I liked this cover, hehe...reminds me of Happy Tree Friends kind of violence-cum-cutesy)

*Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress (another lighthearted one...after all the heavy/tragic/depressing books)

*The Known World (Oprah says it's the best book she ever read, and if she says so, it must be.)

Then after this I can borrow Tales of Narnia and maybe Artemis Fowl's latest (haven't got the chance to read it yet! Ehh...when are they going to make Artemis Fowl movie?!)...I wonder when will I ever get to it, though. That'll be it for the next year, I reckon. In the meantime I'll just read comics, huuhuuh. Sadly the newest One Piece volume (the only comic I'm still faithfully following, aside from Conan...stupid no-brainer but addictive Conan) hasn't come out yet, so, yea, I'll read novels.

Birthdays

2005-12-12T10:58:00.000+08:00

Tomorrow's Niki's birthday! My little sister can finally watch M-18 movies...hahah...actually I haven't yet gotten her a gift...well, for one, I don't know what to buy for her, as her friends have already patungan to get her an iPod Video!!!! Lucky b*%$#, W forked out for almost 5/7 the price tag! Niki's so lucky to have a good guy pal like him. H and Niki both forked out $100 each...as Niki'll be celebrating her b-day with W (whose b-day is today), she and H bought presents for W too...erotic looking(PG rated still) cute plush caveman and bimbo angmoh beachwoman tissue holders...they had asked what W wanted, something practical or something useless but cute, since he can pretty much buy anything he wanted...he asked them to get him something useless so that's what they got him...it's v cute but I can't put the pics here 'cos Niki took the digicam away, haha. Mar and I were musing that we should've enrolled into Niki's secondary school. Kidding.

Oh, and Mar, MTV Asia must've sent you an email about a simple contest, can win tics to Liverpool vs Man Utd match next year at Old Trafford, fancy your chances? I know Stevie G is blah and blah but still...you know...going there is half the fun (Alright, Manchester might be boring but you can always sneak to London)!

Caught an episode of Whatever Things yesterday after not watching it for the last month. It's Season 3(1st ep.) already! That meant I didn't watch like almost the whole of Season 2. Either that or I'm catching a repeat of the first ep. of Season 2, which I probably didn't watch. I can't stand the Pain Guy section. Arm and Min are addicts for self-inflicted pain..Ouch! Edison and Josh as Tourist Police also played their usual mind games on tourists, this time for buying fake branded caps. Josh said he could sniff the fake caps from a mile and they had fun sabotaging those poor tourists in Bangkok. Edison's improvisation of broken Thai-English with Beckham-worthy quacky voice is hilarious and he threatened the tourists for exorbitant bribes! Still, they're no matches for the some of the ~~police~~ ~~extorters~~ 'a few wayward ones' in my hometown, I tell you; their technique is much more honed. Edison is lousy at accepting bribes, he's so obvious. Of course it's all a sketch so no harm's done.

Anyway, as if it's not the case already, yesterday again confirmed one thing: I don't like crowds (except in concert venues or the like). I guess I'm snobbish. Or anti-social. Whatever. Feeling quite emo now. But I don't want to listen to depressive emo songs either. Right, got to focus more on productive stuff like actually getting some work done in the house. Later.

Morning

2005-12-07T14:36:00.000+08:00

Woke up real early this morning to attend my dental check-up with Dr Peck (whom I think looks a little like Lim Sao Liong hohoho)...I kept remembering that my appointment's on Wednesday instead of the 8th (my original appt was on the 5th, a Monday (day 1), then it's changed to 8th, which apparently is equated to day 3 a.k.a. Wednesday in my brain...I'm not exactly a walking calculator to say it mildly.) Speaking of dental appointments, I'm in deep &*%$; I forgot the names of the two assistants at Dr Poon's! I'm not the only guilty culprit; Niki forgot too and Mar can't remember; we wanted to send them Christmas cards and I guess I'd have to tell them abashedly that we forgot when Niki and I send the cards (^^;)...by the way Dr Poon looked very cheerful because his Liverpool team's on a good run in EPL. Peter Crouch Hidden Dragon finally scored! Ok I'm digressing...for the record I'm not a Crouch fan and I used to mistake him for having the same name as Barty Crouch Jr. from Harry Potter.

Did a lot more step-climbing than usual 'cos all the escalators in the stations seem to be under renovation; my heart's working overtime from the exercise plus time adjustment (it's supposed to be sleeping time) ...but today's a nice morning, happy after reading the newspapers (a few nice pics! oh and for once I'm surprised Mr Tay Yek Keak did a serious film review) been ages since I woke up so early; anyway I have to do the same tomorrow 'cos I've to come for the actual dental check-up...and with me planning to watch late-night TV I'd have to catch forty winks whenever I can today.

Planning to watch drama DVD again later tonight or tomorrow 'cos Mar's asking me to take note of the exact quote spoken in the drama...a very nice quote which struck a chord on both our fragile heartstrings.

Random sightings

2005-11-29T21:46:00.000+08:00

Edited: Added lyrics to Morning Train (9to5), the song playing in the background + Quiz taken from cemel's blog.

Today, as I have nothing much to write (aside from the confirmation and personal statement for Mar), shall note down some of the random things I see (all after 8, I was in Orchard for scalp treatment-what a nice indulgence! hoho...I prefer creambath at Rudi's though):

- Two men photographing a teaser poster-board for King Kong which was placed at a dimly-lit corner of Shaw House. What were two men (dressed primly-suggests anything? might be just my wild guess) doing there? Either they are both avid King Kong fans, or...

- It's actually autumn! Was waiting for the bus home and looked up at the trees. (which are decorated with Christmas yellow and red lights, plus they're lit up in an ominous greenish shade-wonder whether it's Christmas or Halloween, or traffic lights.) Anyway being very restless I noticed leaves falling every few seconds...always overlooked that, it's like you never noticed that every few seconds a strand of your hair fell out, no?

- Wah! I never gave it a thought that fishes sleep too! While I was walking towards the lift area at home, passing by the fish pond, I noticed that they weren't moving! They can't be dead (I mean, they're not completely statuesque, there's still the flipping of the fins and such but they're not swimming at all!), and it's raining (cold?), so probably they're in a sleepy mood and were preparing to hibernate. First time I see fish (apart from stone fish and the like) laying immobile! And this led me to think, do ants sleep ('cos all the ants in the house are like, popping everywhere where there's food?)? If they do I'd ask them to sleep longer and stop being so hardworking and targetting my house!

All right...actually I need to help Mar write a draft for her promotional pamphlet to UC (UCB or UCLA? I hope it's not the spoilt rich kids school(I forgot the name), cos some days back I read a criminal case having been committed there (quite scandalous-I forgot what was it about though-my memory sucks). Huuhuuh.

Morning Train (9to5) - one of my favourite Sowelu songs!

Vocal: Sowelu (originally sung by Sheena Easton)
Composer: Florrie Palmer

I wake up every morning
I stumble out of bed
Stretching and yawning
another day ahead
It seems to last forever
and time goes slowly by
Till babe and me's together
then it starts to fly

'Cause the moment that he's with me
time can take a flight
The moment that he's with me
everything's alright
Night time is the right time
we make love
Then it's his and my time
we take off

My baby takes the morning train
he works from nine till five and then
He takes another home again
to find me waiting for him

My baby takes the morning train
he works from nine till five and then
He takes another home again
to find me waiting for him

He takes me to a movie
or to a restaurant, to go
Slow dancing anything I want
Only when he's with me
I catch light
Only when he gives me
makes me feel alright

My baby takes the morning train
he works from nine till five and then
He takes another home again
to find me waiting for him

All day I think of him
dreamin' of him constantly
I'm crazy mad for him
and he's crazy mad for me
When he steps off that train
I'm makin' a fool, a fight
Work all day to earn his pay
so we can play all night

My baby takes the morning train
he works from nine till five and then
He takes another home again
to find me waiting for him

He's always on that morning train
He works so hard
To find me waiting for him

A News/Arashi/Kanjani8 J-Dorama co-starring Tackey and Tsubasa or Kinki Kids by Nishikido_Ko
Name:
City:
Date
Your Dorama is Based Around:	An Office Building
You're Late to Work Again. Your Boss is:
You Tell Him You were Late Because:	Your Alarm Didn't Go Off.
Your Co-worker is Sympathetic. He is:
A Certain Teenager Drops By Unexpectedly. He is:
He's Here Because:	His Brother Works Here
Another Co-worker Severely Dislikes Him. He is:
In the Climax of the Dorama:	A Madman Holds All of You Hostage
In the Finale You:	Run Away with The Teenager to Tennessee

Quiz created with MemeGen!

Heh...the alarm didn't go off and my being late fits. I doubt if I'd have a boss like Tackey; haha, I wouldn't respect him, too boyish! (that's why I was late see?)...wahahaha! so mean. Woow, if my co-worker looks good sings good and has good brains like Sho, not bad not bad...I dunno who's the other co-worker and the teenager (Uchi Hiroki according to Mar...is he the one who's overworked by Johnny's?)...I can run away from the madman and with such a cute teenager, hohoho...then again...why Tennessee? All for fun.