Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Remember, Remember, A Wedding In November...
Now, if anything, a wedding ought to be a memorable event for all involved. The effort, the ideas, the small things and the big things, the people involved - it all comes together to make the event special.
Even if during the actual event itself things may seem hectic at times, or every minute so full and busy, there's always time to just take a step back for a moment and just appreciate what's going on. We were thinking of using the line, "Things always look better in retrospect," but then again we find that that line probably isn't well-suited for weddings. Here things look just as great as it was while we were going through it.
Having gone through as a zhimui before, we now got to be a hengdai. And the bunch of us took a bit more effort - which paid off when you look at the photos that were taken. But more on that later.
So, how does one go about making a wedding memorable? Probably the best way is to let the wife handle it really - we're sure that many girls still fantasize of their dream wedding without reality getting in the way. Or maybe the groom may have some unique ideas himself too (as we'd seen recently).
Well, for Ethancya and Renzze, being part of their wedding as a hengdai was definitely quite memorable. :)
From arriving the day before so that all of us could participate in the video interview, where bit's from everyone's answers were put together in an excellent montage. Bernard from Reddot Studios certainly did a great job putting the video of the interview and the hengdai vs zhimui session.
Then there was the day itself. From getting up before the break of dawn, to performing hengdai duties and negotiating with the zhimuis when it came to giving angpows, to the church service (certainly saw how handy it is to have one of them printers specially made just to print 4R pictures!) - everything was on schedule (to our shame we were expecting some delay of sorts). For this half of the day the hengdais were also having quite a time, as we were all dressed up rather spiffily in matching shirts and in coats.
As you can see once the events for the first half of the day was done, the camwhoring took on another turn with calls of "Il Divo! Il Divo!" and the Gaya, Mutu, Keunggulan poses.
Of course the girls were wondering what got into the guys to camwhore to such an extent (admittedly a hefty amount of photos taken were of the guys in suits), to which 'Vin replied, "Because this time the guys dress better than the girls mah!"
True.
Not that the girls didn't get their Spice Girls moment. Or was it Il Diva?
Coats continued all the way during dinner, but with different shirts at least. A good dinner, everyone got to see the video interview montage finally, the subtitled hengdai vs zhimui scenes which included Etahncya's pole dancing bit and the confession outside her door, a live band (also memorable but maybe not in a good way was when our table joined in together to sing 'You're Just To Good To Be True'), the speeches, and the yamsengs.
Did the night end there? Not for us all. But unfortunately that's where it got all unmemorable. Erm. Lemon, lad, please tell us what happen? Over a couple of snow beers maybe.
But still, here's to Ethancya and Renzze. May your journey together be full of memories.
Even if during the actual event itself things may seem hectic at times, or every minute so full and busy, there's always time to just take a step back for a moment and just appreciate what's going on. We were thinking of using the line, "Things always look better in retrospect," but then again we find that that line probably isn't well-suited for weddings. Here things look just as great as it was while we were going through it.
Having gone through as a zhimui before, we now got to be a hengdai. And the bunch of us took a bit more effort - which paid off when you look at the photos that were taken. But more on that later.
So, how does one go about making a wedding memorable? Probably the best way is to let the wife handle it really - we're sure that many girls still fantasize of their dream wedding without reality getting in the way. Or maybe the groom may have some unique ideas himself too (as we'd seen recently).
Well, for Ethancya and Renzze, being part of their wedding as a hengdai was definitely quite memorable. :)
From arriving the day before so that all of us could participate in the video interview, where bit's from everyone's answers were put together in an excellent montage. Bernard from Reddot Studios certainly did a great job putting the video of the interview and the hengdai vs zhimui session.
Then there was the day itself. From getting up before the break of dawn, to performing hengdai duties and negotiating with the zhimuis when it came to giving angpows, to the church service (certainly saw how handy it is to have one of them printers specially made just to print 4R pictures!) - everything was on schedule (to our shame we were expecting some delay of sorts). For this half of the day the hengdais were also having quite a time, as we were all dressed up rather spiffily in matching shirts and in coats. Some pictures courtesy of otousan.
As you can see once the events for the first half of the day was done, the camwhoring took on another turn with calls of "Il Divo! Il Divo!" and the Gaya, Mutu, Keunggulan poses.
Some pictures courtesy of otousan and Puddy.
Of course the girls were wondering what got into the guys to camwhore to such an extent (admittedly a hefty amount of photos taken were of the guys in suits), to which 'Vin replied, "Because this time the guys dress better than the girls mah!"
True.
Not that the girls didn't get their Spice Girls moment. Or was it Il Diva?
Some pictures courtesy of otousan and Puddy.
Coats continued all the way during dinner, but with different shirts at least. A good dinner, everyone got to see the video interview montage finally, the subtitled hengdai vs zhimui scenes which included Etahncya's pole dancing bit and the confession outside her door, a live band (also memorable but maybe not in a good way was when our table joined in together to sing 'You're Just To Good To Be True'), the speeches, and the yamsengs.
Some pictures courtesy of otousan and Puddy.
Did the night end there? Not for us all. But unfortunately that's where it got all unmemorable. Erm. Lemon, lad, please tell us what happen? Over a couple of snow beers maybe.
Picture courtesy of otousan.
But still, here's to Ethancya and Renzze. May your journey together be full of memories.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Sporeland Wedding Post Mortem
It's been one heckuva weekend. And there're bits that're bugging us till we can do a proper post-mortem.- Must be prepared to sweat like crazy as we tend to walk more outdoors while in Sporeland. And there was plenty of walking, waiting for taxis, and in hot weather.
- Hainanese Chicken Rice. Where was it again? Then again, we're not so hardworking to go anywhere out of Orchard.
- NUM. Can you please sell your t-shirts cheaper? SGD49.90 is just too dear.
- Did we take our contacts off last night? Or are they still somewhere in our eyes?
- And someone please refresh us on what I said? We remember the topic but not the contents - and that's bugging me.
- Our best way of dealing with a hangover is to sleep it off. There wasn't enough sleep as we were taking the morning bus back to KL. And when Esteban asked why were we taking the morning bus home, we couldn't answer why.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Time To Pack Off
Great. All packed up now, we do hope that the coat won't get all crumply later on. Packing for a wedding or for a business trip we tend to worry more than, say, packing for a quick getaway to relax. Perhaps we should take a slightly more relaxed attitude - forgot to bring something? Buy a new one!
Yeah, right. As if our backside made of gold or something.
Given that we're leaving fairly early in the morning (at the unholy hour of 7.30am!!!) we take a more sensible view of getting ready for the journey. Well, at least sensible for someone of our nature. We're not going to sleep much till we step into the bus.
So we started by going for a movie after work and dinner. Wednesday night we finally got to watch 30 Days Of Night. Finally, a thriller that can be considered a thriller - no, it didn't scare us but it certainly does a better job than say, compared to that Thai show 'Alone'. And last night's movie was Beowulf. The story's rather good, the folk songs were nice, John Malkovitch was recognized from his voice rather than from facial similarities, and Beowulf really put us in mind of the (new) Prince Of Persia for a bit. Question: did Ray Winstone had to do any bodybuilding to prep for the role of Beowulf? :D
Back home, bathed, and start packing. Oh need to rip Britney's and Spice Girls' CDs for the iPod.
Well, everything's all nicely packed and ready, we'll leave the luggages in the hall, get some supper and nap on the chaise-lounge until lad wakes us up.
After all, there's time to sleep in the bus...darnit there's nine of us in that bus! :S Shall plug in our iPod if it's noisy. It's gonna be a long day once we reach Sporeland by noon, because today's the only day we're gonna get to run around shopping and such.
Yeah, right. As if our backside made of gold or something.
Given that we're leaving fairly early in the morning (at the unholy hour of 7.30am!!!) we take a more sensible view of getting ready for the journey. Well, at least sensible for someone of our nature. We're not going to sleep much till we step into the bus.
So we started by going for a movie after work and dinner. Wednesday night we finally got to watch 30 Days Of Night. Finally, a thriller that can be considered a thriller - no, it didn't scare us but it certainly does a better job than say, compared to that Thai show 'Alone'. And last night's movie was Beowulf. The story's rather good, the folk songs were nice, John Malkovitch was recognized from his voice rather than from facial similarities, and Beowulf really put us in mind of the (new) Prince Of Persia for a bit. Question: did Ray Winstone had to do any bodybuilding to prep for the role of Beowulf? :D
Back home, bathed, and start packing. Oh need to rip Britney's and Spice Girls' CDs for the iPod.
Well, everything's all nicely packed and ready, we'll leave the luggages in the hall, get some supper and nap on the chaise-lounge until lad wakes us up.
After all, there's time to sleep in the bus...darnit there's nine of us in that bus! :S Shall plug in our iPod if it's noisy. It's gonna be a long day once we reach Sporeland by noon, because today's the only day we're gonna get to run around shopping and such.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
We Are Going On A...Sporeland Wedding Holiday
Oh boy. Just one more day to yet another wedding celebration, this time participating in the hengdai bits too. Great. Checklist! Oh why do we bother so much with packing?
Haircut.
Shirt and tie for hengdai morning.
Passport.
Convert MYR to SGD.
Sporeland wallet.
EZLink card!
Wait, gave sis our EZLink card the last time we were down, because she lost hers. Buy new card for ourselves?
Coat, shirts and ties for church and dinner event.
Pants. Maybe two.
More miscellaneous clothes.
The other pair of leather shoes.
Crocs.
Toiletry bag.
Laundry bags. Note: go FF and get laundry bags.
Medicine kit.
4 pairs disposable lenses.
Glasses, and casing.
iPod.
iXus.
Phone charger. iXus charger. iPod speakers-cum-charger.
2 Million Dollar Home.
Nintendo DS. Hmmm maybe not necessary. Check if lad bringing his.
Anansi Boys.
List of places to go.
To write down list of places to go.
Curtains for sis.
Check itinerary if can meet up with sis.
Find where we kept all the phone numbers of Sporeland taxi services.
Hmmm was nominated as 'person most likely to bring boardgames on a business trip' in Facebook. Bring a boardgame?
Maybe buy a boardgame. Note: add Paradigm Infinitum to list of places to go.
No, not able to go for 2007 Euro Games Retreat, even if boardgame is already included in the- oh wait, just read forum update. Must reconsider if can go.
Oh no, our Scrabulous game! And just 4 tiles left between our game with 3-Seconder and NJAPF!
Dammit, we're hungry now. Tesco's chips! Food for bus ride?
Oh and while we sup. Attempt to convert DVD for iPod viewing!
Wait, gave sis our EZLink card the last time we were down, because she lost hers. Buy new card for ourselves?
Curtains for sis.
Check itinerary if can meet up with sis.
Find where we kept all the phone numbers of Sporeland taxi services.
Hmmm was nominated as 'person most likely to bring boardgames on a business trip' in Facebook. Bring a boardgame?
Maybe buy a boardgame. Note: add Paradigm Infinitum to list of places to go.
No, not able to go for 2007 Euro Games Retreat, even if boardgame is already included in the- oh wait, just read forum update. Must reconsider if can go.
Oh no, our Scrabulous game! And just 4 tiles left between our game with 3-Seconder and NJAPF!
Dammit, we're hungry now. Tesco's chips! Food for bus ride?
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Janvier's Uni Host Club
Well a good way of actually telling how well you get along with someone is by staying with him/her for a period of time - and we were good housemates with YMLau and Ants for 2 years. Vexing Vun became housemates with us during our final year, and the rest of us had a bit of trouble with him off and on during the year. It was a good thing that all of us spent most of our times in our rooms too, it lessen the chance of any friction.
Since our ex-housemates are from other states, namely from East Malaysia, occasionally they stay over at our place when they come over to KL.
Mum can be quite hospitable when it comes to playing hostess, and we try to keep her efforts to a minimum as not to trouble her too much when it comes to having our friends as guests. This normally means we'll do the driving and bring friends out for meals when mum doesn't cook. And the parents are normally good conversationalists so we don't have to worry about it being awkwardly silent.
Among them Vexing Vun is the only one able to irritate us enough to not ever want him over ever again, but normally we overlook the little things. After all, he stays far enough and doesn't come down so often. Still, thankfully for us, one day he finally crossed the line.
So - Vexing Vun was down in KL with his dad, staying at some hotel, and he planned to stay with us for a couple of days once his dad heads back home. This was during a time when we couldn't really layan him all the time either due to work. So we'd explained that we might not be able to meet him when he arrives, but mum says that she may be able to pick him up from the LRT station or something.
What we didn't expect, was this. The day before coming over he texted us regarding his plans.
Vexing Vun: Janvier, is ur mum at home 2molo morn.
Janvier: Yah, she can pick u up. Will catch up w you by dinnertime we go somewhere makan.
Vexing Vun: okie,my plan 2molo..wil pass my luggage 2aunty at KJ then i'll head 2 [old workplace]..wil spend afternoon there then back 2 KJ dinner w u..is tat ok?or u wana pick me?
Janvier: You might as well leave yr luggage @ da hotel we collect it 2morrow nite then? After work I'll b attendin gym classes 1st will meet u @ KJ around 9?
Now, we were actually puzzled at who this 'aunty at KJ' was really. We suggested he leave his luggage with the porters at the hotel he was at till we could pick it up later, rather than leaving it with the 'aunty at KJ'. Then he called to explain.
Turns out the bugger wanted our mum to head down to KJ station to pick up his luggage. After which he'll head off to do as he likes.
Hello? Just who do you think our mum is, to run and pick up your luggage while you gallivant about?
That took the cake. Didn't tell mum about it, neither did we blow his head off over the phone. Just civilly sever off all connections with him after his trip. And every time we mum asks about Vexing Vun, we say we haven't kept in touch. Which we don't plan to.
Why didn't we blow up and give him a piece of our mind? Well, maybe it's because we don't really get along with the parents all too well. We know that if we told mum, she would most likely have agreed to go down to KJ and picked up the luggage, but who knows what she would have thought about the thing. It just went against our sense of propriety.
Well, it's been 2 years, 5 months and 20 days since that happened. Yes, we still kept the texts in case we ever think about having him stay over.
Since our ex-housemates are from other states, namely from East Malaysia, occasionally they stay over at our place when they come over to KL.
Mum can be quite hospitable when it comes to playing hostess, and we try to keep her efforts to a minimum as not to trouble her too much when it comes to having our friends as guests. This normally means we'll do the driving and bring friends out for meals when mum doesn't cook. And the parents are normally good conversationalists so we don't have to worry about it being awkwardly silent.
Among them Vexing Vun is the only one able to irritate us enough to not ever want him over ever again, but normally we overlook the little things. After all, he stays far enough and doesn't come down so often. Still, thankfully for us, one day he finally crossed the line.
So - Vexing Vun was down in KL with his dad, staying at some hotel, and he planned to stay with us for a couple of days once his dad heads back home. This was during a time when we couldn't really layan him all the time either due to work. So we'd explained that we might not be able to meet him when he arrives, but mum says that she may be able to pick him up from the LRT station or something.
What we didn't expect, was this. The day before coming over he texted us regarding his plans.
Vexing Vun: Janvier, is ur mum at home 2molo morn.
Janvier: Yah, she can pick u up. Will catch up w you by dinnertime we go somewhere makan.
Vexing Vun: okie,my plan 2molo..wil pass my luggage 2aunty at KJ then i'll head 2 [old workplace]..wil spend afternoon there then back 2 KJ dinner w u..is tat ok?or u wana pick me?
Janvier: You might as well leave yr luggage @ da hotel we collect it 2morrow nite then? After work I'll b attendin gym classes 1st will meet u @ KJ around 9?
Now, we were actually puzzled at who this 'aunty at KJ' was really. We suggested he leave his luggage with the porters at the hotel he was at till we could pick it up later, rather than leaving it with the 'aunty at KJ'. Then he called to explain.
Turns out the bugger wanted our mum to head down to KJ station to pick up his luggage. After which he'll head off to do as he likes.
Hello? Just who do you think our mum is, to run and pick up your luggage while you gallivant about?
That took the cake. Didn't tell mum about it, neither did we blow his head off over the phone. Just civilly sever off all connections with him after his trip. And every time we mum asks about Vexing Vun, we say we haven't kept in touch. Which we don't plan to.
Why didn't we blow up and give him a piece of our mind? Well, maybe it's because we don't really get along with the parents all too well. We know that if we told mum, she would most likely have agreed to go down to KJ and picked up the luggage, but who knows what she would have thought about the thing. It just went against our sense of propriety.
Well, it's been 2 years, 5 months and 20 days since that happened. Yes, we still kept the texts in case we ever think about having him stay over.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Fairytale Wedding
You know, we thought that this would have been a bigger gathering of coursemates, seeing how the bride and groom are both from our batch. Yet oddly enough, while talking to some friends the question, "Are you going for Lee&Lee's wedding?" tend to be followed by the question, "How come you're not invited?" Well, those we expect to be going did go, after all they were most likely to be his heng dais or her zhi muis too. Just that we thought that there would have been more of our batch going, that's all.
It's nice to get to see everyone although we must say that it's not really conducive to really 'keeping in touch' when it's just a 3-4 hour wedding dinner. And gotta say that a fair number of them faces we have not seen save for weddings. Still. We must say that the attendance is more than compared to say going for an alumni meet.
Now Lee&Lee's wedding here had a twist we'd not seen - a Disney theme to things.
Makes better sense now why he asked us if we had Elton John's 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight'. It was their theme song. If they had more time and practise or lessons, who knows, they might have just waltzed into the hall all the way to their table instead of just a little dance.
For a while we felt just a pang of sadness. Comic scenes of people crying in church pews during weddings flashing behind our eyes. It was, of course, rather beautiful.
Oh well. We had our bit of fairytale story too after all in this wedding. As we walked into the hotel lobby (via the side entrance from the carpark) we were greeted by a very welcoming sight. Our hand reached out...
Only to find out much later that the drinks counter was for another wedding. Oh well. To the Lee&Lees!
It's nice to get to see everyone although we must say that it's not really conducive to really 'keeping in touch' when it's just a 3-4 hour wedding dinner. And gotta say that a fair number of them faces we have not seen save for weddings. Still. We must say that the attendance is more than compared to say going for an alumni meet.
Now Lee&Lee's wedding here had a twist we'd not seen - a Disney theme to things.
Makes better sense now why he asked us if we had Elton John's 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight'. It was their theme song. If they had more time and practise or lessons, who knows, they might have just waltzed into the hall all the way to their table instead of just a little dance.For a while we felt just a pang of sadness. Comic scenes of people crying in church pews during weddings flashing behind our eyes. It was, of course, rather beautiful.Oh well. We had our bit of fairytale story too after all in this wedding. As we walked into the hotel lobby (via the side entrance from the carpark) we were greeted by a very welcoming sight. Our hand reached out...Only to find out much later that the drinks counter was for another wedding. Oh well. To the Lee&Lees!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Field Trip: MIFW Men's World
Interestingly, Adrien, who was rather keen on attending the MIFW and was asking about for tickets, didn't come with us for this rather important field trip. Not like we had tickets too, but a call to the feller-in-charge and we were told that there's a good chance of being able to see the Men's World fashion show after all. So with that much hope we decided to go.
Turns out only Alex, Jin and us ended up going for the Men's World event, and it's mindblowing. This ought to be a regular field trip! Every designer had his own theme for the season's fashion, although we admittedly only like a few of 'em. Like Daniel Cho's 'aikido pants' as we think of them, those are interesting. There were some very snazzy jackets (we think they be Key NG), but the funky logo on the back of 'em jackets spoiled it for us, we can't wear those for most formal occasions then...ah well we aren't that extreme a fashionista to pull it off.
One hour went by rather fast. And we took very few photos. If you want pictures, head over to Alex's megapost. Interestingly the models, when looking at them on our screen, appear to shine a la Yvaine of Stardust...thus we labelled them as 'Runway Angels'. It's a good thing Alex had his DLSR then, which of course leads to our next point - we should have been led in as 'MEDIA' rather than as 'VISITORS'. Right? Right? After all, we'll be blogging about it what. :P Well maybe not as descriptive as actual media press but hey, just trying our luck here.
Waiting for the next field trip now.
Turns out only Alex, Jin and us ended up going for the Men's World event, and it's mindblowing. This ought to be a regular field trip! Every designer had his own theme for the season's fashion, although we admittedly only like a few of 'em. Like Daniel Cho's 'aikido pants' as we think of them, those are interesting. There were some very snazzy jackets (we think they be Key NG), but the funky logo on the back of 'em jackets spoiled it for us, we can't wear those for most formal occasions then...ah well we aren't that extreme a fashionista to pull it off.
One hour went by rather fast. And we took very few photos. If you want pictures, head over to Alex's megapost. Interestingly the models, when looking at them on our screen, appear to shine a la Yvaine of Stardust...thus we labelled them as 'Runway Angels'. It's a good thing Alex had his DLSR then, which of course leads to our next point - we should have been led in as 'MEDIA' rather than as 'VISITORS'. Right? Right? After all, we'll be blogging about it what. :P Well maybe not as descriptive as actual media press but hey, just trying our luck here.
Waiting for the next field trip now.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Gadgets And Gizmos
Oh we'll admit our love for the electronic stuff. They're one source of entertainment, a mobile sort to boot. It's just so unfortunate that gadgets don't tend to come cheap, so we normally hold back until impulse-buy takes over (yes well we all have our vices).
Now we likes our gadgets to have specific roles. This is our mobile, it's for calls and texts. This is our music player. This is our Nintendo DS, for mobile gaming. This is our camera. Of course nowadays it's the trend for gadgets to have their functions overlap which is good as one's not expected to bring all his gadgets around a la Dilbert.
But we have problems with the idea of an all-in-one gadget so far (mainly it's a phone/PDA with other functions). Battery where can tahan? Games-wise can't compare with the DS/PSP. Camera-wise nowadays phonecams are going 3mpx and better, although night shots may still be iffy and macros are out of the question. Music? Mobiles double up as music players quite well except we hate the fact that they require specific earphones so you can't simply use any kind of earphones you like. And so far nothing will beat iPod Touch's websurfing save bringing an actual laptop around.
We're just waiting for the day the Minority Report Glove actually becomes an affordable reality in our lifetime and while we are still young at heart enough to enjoy it.
Ok, enough of that and on with the meme.
What's the latest gadget you bought?
Our Nokia L'amour this year. And it has to last at least two years. Not unless Maxis decides to make like Vodafone and come up with yearly contracts and the offer for a phone upgrade.
What's the first gadget you owned?
Hmmm. Our Micro Genius! :P Oh good ol' days of Super Mario 3 and Double Dragon II...long gone already it is. If consoles aren't allowed then it's the Gameboy our cousin gave us. Walkmans technically belonged to our parents and not us so we can't say we owned it.
What's the most expensive gadget you owned?
We thinks it is our Nok7710, at 400 quid. Still serving us well!
What's the gadget you want to buy next?
Wii aren't too sure about that yet. :P Don't get your hopes up.
Do you follow the updates of the latest gadgets in the market?
Not unless Wii're planning on buying the gadget, then we look up everywhere, hound a few shops, ask questions which we have a rough idea of the answer already...mull mull mull.
What brand do you trust for handphone, camera, computer?
Handphone: Nokia!
Camera: Canon!
Computer: Apple! But not like we own one.
Yet asides from our mobiles, the most-used gadget we own (asides from our PC, which we don't really categorize as a gadget) happens to be our trusty iPod Video 30GB. Hangs from a belt loop and travels with us most of the time. Just got a note from Apple telling us the hardware service coverage is coming to an end (not like we ever did send it for any sort), sigh. We'll be keeping an eye now on battery life.
'Course, the iPod effectively replaced all our other music players...now resting in the 'Gadget Drawer' along the cables and chargers. Oh dear. And we're too attached to our belongings to think about getting rid of them.
Now we likes our gadgets to have specific roles. This is our mobile, it's for calls and texts. This is our music player. This is our Nintendo DS, for mobile gaming. This is our camera. Of course nowadays it's the trend for gadgets to have their functions overlap which is good as one's not expected to bring all his gadgets around a la Dilbert.But we have problems with the idea of an all-in-one gadget so far (mainly it's a phone/PDA with other functions). Battery where can tahan? Games-wise can't compare with the DS/PSP. Camera-wise nowadays phonecams are going 3mpx and better, although night shots may still be iffy and macros are out of the question. Music? Mobiles double up as music players quite well except we hate the fact that they require specific earphones so you can't simply use any kind of earphones you like. And so far nothing will beat iPod Touch's websurfing save bringing an actual laptop around.
We're just waiting for the day the Minority Report Glove actually becomes an affordable reality in our lifetime and while we are still young at heart enough to enjoy it.
You put your right hand in, you put your right hand out, you put your right hand in, and you shake it all about...
Ok, enough of that and on with the meme.
What's the latest gadget you bought?
Our Nokia L'amour this year. And it has to last at least two years. Not unless Maxis decides to make like Vodafone and come up with yearly contracts and the offer for a phone upgrade.
What's the first gadget you owned?
Hmmm. Our Micro Genius! :P Oh good ol' days of Super Mario 3 and Double Dragon II...long gone already it is. If consoles aren't allowed then it's the Gameboy our cousin gave us. Walkmans technically belonged to our parents and not us so we can't say we owned it.
What's the most expensive gadget you owned?
We thinks it is our Nok7710, at 400 quid. Still serving us well!
What's the gadget you want to buy next?
Wii aren't too sure about that yet. :P Don't get your hopes up.
Do you follow the updates of the latest gadgets in the market?
Not unless Wii're planning on buying the gadget, then we look up everywhere, hound a few shops, ask questions which we have a rough idea of the answer already...mull mull mull.
What brand do you trust for handphone, camera, computer?
Handphone: Nokia!
Camera: Canon!
Computer: Apple! But not like we own one.
Yet asides from our mobiles, the most-used gadget we own (asides from our PC, which we don't really categorize as a gadget) happens to be our trusty iPod Video 30GB. Hangs from a belt loop and travels with us most of the time. Just got a note from Apple telling us the hardware service coverage is coming to an end (not like we ever did send it for any sort), sigh. We'll be keeping an eye now on battery life.
'Course, the iPod effectively replaced all our other music players...now resting in the 'Gadget Drawer' along the cables and chargers. Oh dear. And we're too attached to our belongings to think about getting rid of them.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Tube Logs
OK. There are times when we're impressed at the way our friends can pop us links to stuff on YouTube, stuff that makes us wonder just what did they type on the search bar to come up with it. But first off, here's a link to an awesome video that you. Should. Not. Miss.
It doesn't really matter if you don't know who the characters are. Work like this deserves credit for the effort they put in. Oh in case you have to ask, it's safe for work. The reason we put a link rather than embed it is because we can't find an option in GameTrailers for us to do so. Sounds safe enough?
Now. First up, something we've just been introduced to by QR. The concept of a video blog, or vlog. This is Minouye, quite the comedian. And he does his videos rather well.
Most of his vlogs are rather good. Worth a look-through. Oh and check out Merlign's Magic Stapler, and the Obscenity Of War (and the LOL Jar!) too.
Now QR sent that vlog to us some time ago, to which we filed somewhere in the back recesses of our memory. Bouncing about YouTube today however we came across this vlog, and that reminded us of Minouye.
This, is TMerman. Well, this particular vlog entry's somehow interesting and brings up a good question. How do you react when someone comes on to you when you don't like that person?
Asides from that, at times we struggle with our bloglist and have nooo desire to add vlogs to it. Nor do we think of starting our own vlog.
Now onto much more sturdier ground: music videos. Well we'd rather if we could just find the song rather than watch a music video (not unless music video was really good for some reason or like that awesome choreography by a Korean kid for Britney's 'Gimme More' as on wingedman's). So we just happened to check back on Slutilla's blog and came across the most. Freaking. Disturbingly. Salah. Video. EVER. If ever we are to keep our happy memories of Eric Prydz's 'Call On Me' in BodyJam we need to Chlorox our brain.
But it did make us decide to mooch about for some BJam songs we haven't manage to get on mp3. Like Freemasons' Club Mix of Beyonce's 'Ring The Alarm' or Alibi vs Rockerfeller's version 'Sexual Healing'.
Can't stop moving to the beat. Legs aren't moving but arms are. Dammit. No control. Left Right Left Down Up Down Up (sounds like we're keying in some cheat code hor). How we miss the first half of BJ35! Black Legend and Stupidisco! T_T
It doesn't really matter if you don't know who the characters are. Work like this deserves credit for the effort they put in. Oh in case you have to ask, it's safe for work. The reason we put a link rather than embed it is because we can't find an option in GameTrailers for us to do so. Sounds safe enough?
Now. First up, something we've just been introduced to by QR. The concept of a video blog, or vlog. This is Minouye, quite the comedian. And he does his videos rather well.
Most of his vlogs are rather good. Worth a look-through. Oh and check out Merlign's Magic Stapler, and the Obscenity Of War (and the LOL Jar!) too.
Now QR sent that vlog to us some time ago, to which we filed somewhere in the back recesses of our memory. Bouncing about YouTube today however we came across this vlog, and that reminded us of Minouye.
This, is TMerman. Well, this particular vlog entry's somehow interesting and brings up a good question. How do you react when someone comes on to you when you don't like that person?
Asides from that, at times we struggle with our bloglist and have nooo desire to add vlogs to it. Nor do we think of starting our own vlog.
Now onto much more sturdier ground: music videos. Well we'd rather if we could just find the song rather than watch a music video (not unless music video was really good for some reason or like that awesome choreography by a Korean kid for Britney's 'Gimme More' as on wingedman's). So we just happened to check back on Slutilla's blog and came across the most. Freaking. Disturbingly. Salah. Video. EVER. If ever we are to keep our happy memories of Eric Prydz's 'Call On Me' in BodyJam we need to Chlorox our brain.
But it did make us decide to mooch about for some BJam songs we haven't manage to get on mp3. Like Freemasons' Club Mix of Beyonce's 'Ring The Alarm' or Alibi vs Rockerfeller's version 'Sexual Healing'.
Can't stop moving to the beat. Legs aren't moving but arms are. Dammit. No control. Left Right Left Down Up Down Up (sounds like we're keying in some cheat code hor). How we miss the first half of BJ35! Black Legend and Stupidisco! T_T
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Busybodyfying Meme
We near forgot all about this meme. After the last spate of memes we needed a break from memes but now there's more memes coming in and we aren't keen on a backlog of memes to clear. Annnieeewaaaysss...the sampat meme.
1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
Erm, Kate Monster! Singing 'Mix Tape'!
2. What were you doing at 0800?
Snoozing in bed!
3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Checking blogs and emails.
4. What happened to you in 2006?
This and that la. Change of job probably being the main event.
5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
"What does this mean?"
6. How many beverages did you have today?
Quite a fair bit...breakfast Earl Grey, morning Milo, iced Barley, afternoon Earl Grey, gym fountain water, 100 Plus mixed with Sprite, more water and goodness knows what for supper. Orange & Mango juice mix probably.
7. What colour is your hairbrush?
Skin-tone colour. That's because we use our hands to style our hair, and don't own a hairbrush or a comb.
8. What was the last thing you paid for?
The parking ticket at The Curve.
9. Where were you last night?
The Curve! Oh wait at Tony Romas Cineleisure too! Was meeting FeR and JoFo after we'd done with BJam and BCombat.
10. What colour is your front door?
The colour of wood. Now use your imagination.
11. Where do you keep your change?
In our wallet.
12. What's the weather like today?
It rained in the afternoon, which was lovely. But the rain caused bad traffic, which was unlovely.
13. What's the best ice-cream flavour?
Vanilla!
14. What excites you?
This is a toughie. A good upcoming holiday. The arrival of a long-awaited book or game. The prospect that someone's going to shower us with lots of money, and see to all our wants so that we could retire early without expecting anything from us will definitely excite us plenty too.
15. Do you want to cut your hair?
Oh yes actually. Probably a few days before Ethancya & Renzze's wedding.
16. Are you over the age of 25?
Hooooo-yeah. :s
17. Do you talk a lot?
Not the really.
18. Do you watch the O.C.?
No. Haven't been at the telly for ages.
19. Do you know anyone name Steven?
Yep.
20. Do you make up your own words?
Only when we need to describe how a doohickey is used together with the thingamajig when the watchamacallit doesn't fit. Oh well maybe sometimes.
21. Are you a jealous person?
We green! But not at everything. In fact we won't know what we're jeles of until we're jeles of it.
22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'A'.
Aaron who doesn't want a book for Christmas.
23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'K'.
Kenneth.
24. Who's the first person on your received call list?
Dad. And this was...Sunday.
25. What does the last text message you received say?
I'm already 26 for 23 hours and 55 minutes. Ha ha ha! :)
26. Do you chew on your straw?
No, but we do tend to use it as a makeshift toothpick when we can't get our hands on one.
27. Do you have curly hair?
Nada. Straight it be.
28. Where's the next place you're going to?
Sporeland.
29. Who's the rudest person in your life?
Some Indian customer in one of the Guardian branches last we remember.
30. What was the last thing you ate?
Jambu air. Juicy.
31. Will you get married in the future?
Erm. We is still keeping to bachelor-for-life.
32. What's the best movie you've seen in the past 2 weeks?
Stardust!
33. Is there anyone you like right now?
No.
34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
Just now, after dinner.
35. Are you currently depressed?
Not yet. Neurotransmitters masih cukup, and we've not come across anything emo enough yet to set us off.
36. Did you cry today?
Nope. Not out loud, not in pain, not in pleasure, not in frustration, not at all.
37. Why did you answer and post this?
Because the fingers wanted to exercise this way.
38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
Them who would, already have. But all are welcome to use do it!
1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
Erm, Kate Monster! Singing 'Mix Tape'!
Sometimes when someone
Has a crush on you
They'll make you a mix tape
To give you a clue.
Let's see...
"You've Got A Friend"
"The Theme From 'Friends'"
"That's What Friends Are For"
Shit!
Oh, but look!
"A Whole New World"
"Kiss The Girl"
"My Cherie Amour"
Oh, Princeton! He does like me!
"I Am The Walrus"
"Fat Bottomed Girls"
"Yellow Submarine"
What does this mean?
Has a crush on you
They'll make you a mix tape
To give you a clue.
Let's see...
"You've Got A Friend"
"The Theme From 'Friends'"
"That's What Friends Are For"
Shit!
Oh, but look!
"A Whole New World"
"Kiss The Girl"
"My Cherie Amour"
Oh, Princeton! He does like me!
"I Am The Walrus"
"Fat Bottomed Girls"
"Yellow Submarine"
What does this mean?
2. What were you doing at 0800?
Snoozing in bed!
3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Checking blogs and emails.
4. What happened to you in 2006?
This and that la. Change of job probably being the main event.
5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
"What does this mean?"
6. How many beverages did you have today?
Quite a fair bit...breakfast Earl Grey, morning Milo, iced Barley, afternoon Earl Grey, gym fountain water, 100 Plus mixed with Sprite, more water and goodness knows what for supper. Orange & Mango juice mix probably.
7. What colour is your hairbrush?
Skin-tone colour. That's because we use our hands to style our hair, and don't own a hairbrush or a comb.
8. What was the last thing you paid for?
The parking ticket at The Curve.
9. Where were you last night?
The Curve! Oh wait at Tony Romas Cineleisure too! Was meeting FeR and JoFo after we'd done with BJam and BCombat.
10. What colour is your front door?The colour of wood. Now use your imagination.
11. Where do you keep your change?
In our wallet.
12. What's the weather like today?
It rained in the afternoon, which was lovely. But the rain caused bad traffic, which was unlovely.
13. What's the best ice-cream flavour?
Vanilla!
14. What excites you?
This is a toughie. A good upcoming holiday. The arrival of a long-awaited book or game. The prospect that someone's going to shower us with lots of money, and see to all our wants so that we could retire early without expecting anything from us will definitely excite us plenty too.
15. Do you want to cut your hair?
Oh yes actually. Probably a few days before Ethancya & Renzze's wedding.
16. Are you over the age of 25?
Hooooo-yeah. :s
17. Do you talk a lot?
Not the really.
18. Do you watch the O.C.?
No. Haven't been at the telly for ages.
19. Do you know anyone name Steven?
Yep.
20. Do you make up your own words?
Only when we need to describe how a doohickey is used together with the thingamajig when the watchamacallit doesn't fit. Oh well maybe sometimes.
21. Are you a jealous person?
We green! But not at everything. In fact we won't know what we're jeles of until we're jeles of it.
22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'A'.
Aaron who doesn't want a book for Christmas.
23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'K'.
Kenneth.
24. Who's the first person on your received call list?
Dad. And this was...Sunday.
25. What does the last text message you received say?
I'm already 26 for 23 hours and 55 minutes. Ha ha ha! :)
26. Do you chew on your straw?
No, but we do tend to use it as a makeshift toothpick when we can't get our hands on one.
27. Do you have curly hair?
Nada. Straight it be.
28. Where's the next place you're going to?
Sporeland.
29. Who's the rudest person in your life?
Some Indian customer in one of the Guardian branches last we remember.
30. What was the last thing you ate?
Jambu air. Juicy.
31. Will you get married in the future?
Erm. We is still keeping to bachelor-for-life.
32. What's the best movie you've seen in the past 2 weeks?
Stardust!
33. Is there anyone you like right now?
No.
34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
Just now, after dinner.
35. Are you currently depressed?
Not yet. Neurotransmitters masih cukup, and we've not come across anything emo enough yet to set us off.
36. Did you cry today?
Nope. Not out loud, not in pain, not in pleasure, not in frustration, not at all.
37. Why did you answer and post this?
Because the fingers wanted to exercise this way.
38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
Them who would, already have. But all are welcome to use do it!
Monday, November 12, 2007
Starcraft Sunday
Everyone's a little bit racist
Sometimes.
Doesn't mean we go
Around committing hate crimes.
Look around and you will find
No one's really color blind.
Maybe it's a fact
We all should face
Everyone makes judgments
Based on race.
Sometimes.
Doesn't mean we go
Around committing hate crimes.
Look around and you will find
No one's really color blind.
Maybe it's a fact
We all should face
Everyone makes judgments
Based on race.
It's not hate crimes when all parties go to WAR. And theaters of war in space are always magnificent, because everyone is living in interesting times.
5 factions unable to tolerate the mere existence of the others:Heng Raynor and Arcturus Yap, Terrans;
Judicator Wong, Protoss; and
The Overmind Janvier and wolfx Kerrigan, Zergs.
Given the layout of the Systems Of Starcraft, the Protoss was first to settle down and build their base. How apt, as the Xel'Naga named them 'the First Born' after all. Unfortunately for the Protoss, their planet looked to be the center of all conflict. Just as well for the Protoss that the Judicator Assembly and Templar castes did not decide to take matters into their own hands and present a united Protoss front.The Terrans found bases on planets with few entry points, and had little in terms of contact with each other. Trust Terrans to take racism to the limits, as they decided to jeer at the other races rather even when they're not talking to each other.
The Zergs weren't too bothered with racism. They would gladly assimilate all into the breed and make themselves stronger. Only, wolfx Kerrigan had severed psychic ties with the Overmind Janvier and leads his own forces. Still, both have the aim of consuming, assimilating and expanding.
The Overmind, following its prime directives, begin by sending transporter overlords to colonize the neighbouring planet and giving the Protoss some breathing space first (the Zerg needs to assimilate the psionic potential of the Terrans before they can take them on, dammit!). Unfortunately that bitch Kerrigan, after killing off all the Overmind's Cerebrates and taking off with some confused troops, decided to drop back and harrass the Overmind's mineral fields. That would need to be taken care of later.Still, wolfx Kerrigan tend to run by emotions and found that his zergling rush tactic didn't pull off as intended. Kerrigan then started thwarting Arcturus Yap's Marines and Ghosts, to some degree of success. However, Kerrigan's decision to breed Queens were questionable as the Queens had yet to evolve to spawn broodlings or spew mucous to ensnare victims. Arcturus Yap, on the other hand, decided to show off the superiority of Terran technology of Vultures armed with Spider Mines - clearing off Kerrigan's Zerglings with deadly efficiency.
Heng Raynor, on the other side of space, was busy minding their own business. The quiet tactician did not display his warmongering flags for once.Judicator Wong, seeing how the Overmind was still leading in terms of Conquest - decided that that needs correcting and sent a small force of Zealots to deal with the zerg hatchery on Torus - only to have the Zealots meet their doom at the hands of some well-placed Sunken Colonies. The Overmind was slightly wary now of the Protoss but could not prepare a force to deal with them as he was sending Scourges to take out Kerrigan's Queen. Also, he picked up psionic signals that Raynor troops had intentions on landing on Tarsonis where the expansionary hatchery was.
Kerrigan's loss of his Queen was the least of his worries. He lost his first Ultralisk in a battle with Arcturus' Vulture - must have been some faulty Zerg breeding there. The Overmind had began spawning Mutalisks and was regaining control of the homeworld Torus, purging it of Kerrigan's helpless Zerglings.
However, as The End Drew Near (aka midnight), Protoss Dragoons overrun the Overmind's hatchery on Torus while Raynor's Wraith and Firebats began conquest on Tarsonis. Things look bleak for the Overmind, who was second in line in terms of Conquest, while the Protoss was victorious.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
We Are A Level 9 BodyJamming Halfling Cultist
It pretty much was an 'anything goes' kinda day for us yesterday, given how we decided to spend the night with the Prince of Persia as he retold us the story of The Sands Of Time.
As it turns out, we ended up heading to lunch with lad and Esteban - lad wanted to eat some roti canai from some store at Jalan Gasing, we have no idea where but just follow only la since he was driving. Plus he was nice enough to offer to lepak at the Curve after that while we 'Jammed. However, traffic was horrible even at noon already - we reached the (ex) Jalan Universiti roundabout only to be met by a near gridlock - and so we u-turned and headed back to TTDI for banana leaf rice instead.
BodyJam today was with both Tracy and Kylie, with a preview of BJ43. Yay! The few sentences we'd used to describe it?
More disco than cardio.
Less stressful than BJ42 (but that's because there's not much knee-stomping going on).
Complexity is coming back up but it's still easy to follow.
Songs, well, admittedly we only recognize the Timbaland one but we'll need time before the tracks grow onto us.
...The fact that there's a preview of BJ43 just reminds us that December's coming closer. Yikes. How time flies.
After Jam we'd met back up with lad and Esteban and dragged them to Outpost Cineleisure to view the Starcraft Board Game. Well, at least the shrink-wrapped box in any case. Set cost RM335 and isn't something we're too keen to just buy off-the-shelf. Heavyduty boardgames are under 'Nic and Ivan's territory, we only buy the light stuff. But it looks mighty fine. Then we had a call from wolfx - his friend has bought the game and is recruiting players for tomorrow. We couldn't raise our hand fast enough.
Somehow after looking at the boardgame we got sidetracked and ended up sitting down for drinks and a game of Arbos. Now this one we might get. It's a balancing game, where you're supposed to get rid of all your branches and leaves to win. However the tree isn't steady, and impressions are we would so be thinking of this as a drinking game (with disastrous results).
After a Red/Black dinner affair with the bloggers (with only Adrien's shy friend getting the fashion frequency mixed up and attending in brown) it was over to Akn's for some Munchkins.
So lad, Esteban, Akn and us did Munchkins comprising of Super Munchkins, Need For Steed and Munchkins Cthulhu. That's some 400+ cards altogether. Interestingly with three different themes going on, it wasn't long before our characters were rather funky, like being a Professor with Eye Beams powers wearing a Utility Belt Of The Middle-Age Gods battling the Plutonium Dragon. Surprisingly enough everyone got to level 8 or 9 fairly quickly compared to playing the game with just one set (e.g. playing Super Munchkins alone) probably due to the amount of cards and the vast difference between sets. Now if lad is interested enough to buy the base Munchkins set...? Or Munchkin Bites?
Argh. It seems that our only 'cave time' was while at Gua Tempurung.
As it turns out, we ended up heading to lunch with lad and Esteban - lad wanted to eat some roti canai from some store at Jalan Gasing, we have no idea where but just follow only la since he was driving. Plus he was nice enough to offer to lepak at the Curve after that while we 'Jammed. However, traffic was horrible even at noon already - we reached the (ex) Jalan Universiti roundabout only to be met by a near gridlock - and so we u-turned and headed back to TTDI for banana leaf rice instead.
BodyJam today was with both Tracy and Kylie, with a preview of BJ43. Yay! The few sentences we'd used to describe it?
More disco than cardio.
Less stressful than BJ42 (but that's because there's not much knee-stomping going on).
Complexity is coming back up but it's still easy to follow.
Songs, well, admittedly we only recognize the Timbaland one but we'll need time before the tracks grow onto us.
...The fact that there's a preview of BJ43 just reminds us that December's coming closer. Yikes. How time flies.
After Jam we'd met back up with lad and Esteban and dragged them to Outpost Cineleisure to view the Starcraft Board Game. Well, at least the shrink-wrapped box in any case. Set cost RM335 and isn't something we're too keen to just buy off-the-shelf. Heavyduty boardgames are under 'Nic and Ivan's territory, we only buy the light stuff. But it looks mighty fine. Then we had a call from wolfx - his friend has bought the game and is recruiting players for tomorrow. We couldn't raise our hand fast enough.
Somehow after looking at the boardgame we got sidetracked and ended up sitting down for drinks and a game of Arbos. Now this one we might get. It's a balancing game, where you're supposed to get rid of all your branches and leaves to win. However the tree isn't steady, and impressions are we would so be thinking of this as a drinking game (with disastrous results).
Skeletal hand tree. How Lovecraftian.
After a Red/Black dinner affair with the bloggers (with only Adrien's shy friend getting the fashion frequency mixed up and attending in brown) it was over to Akn's for some Munchkins.
So lad, Esteban, Akn and us did Munchkins comprising of Super Munchkins, Need For Steed and Munchkins Cthulhu. That's some 400+ cards altogether. Interestingly with three different themes going on, it wasn't long before our characters were rather funky, like being a Professor with Eye Beams powers wearing a Utility Belt Of The Middle-Age Gods battling the Plutonium Dragon. Surprisingly enough everyone got to level 8 or 9 fairly quickly compared to playing the game with just one set (e.g. playing Super Munchkins alone) probably due to the amount of cards and the vast difference between sets. Now if lad is interested enough to buy the base Munchkins set...? Or Munchkin Bites?Argh. It seems that our only 'cave time' was while at Gua Tempurung.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
iPoh Day Trip!
This Deepavali saw lad organizing a day trip to Gua Tempurung followed by lunch at iPoh. Given that we've done Gua Tempurung before (and sacrificed a pair of shoes there) we weren't so keen on doing the Grand Tour again. Among the group of people going, we think only Germ, Lemon and Esteban were entering Gua Tempurung for the first time (correct us if we're wrong on this).
So. Following them up but not entering the cave, what did we do?
We would have played checkers but it seems like someone else decided to play a sort of 'Harry Potter Wizard's Checkers' or something, so we decided on this:
And after Sleep and us were done (we couldn't resist flirting with each other in lad's car too), we started on Mark Haddon's A Spot Of Bother. Egads. When we're done with this book, it's going to be your Christmas present okay otousan? Mark Haddon seems to deal in dysfunctionality. The book's good and engrossing we'll admit, but we just couldn't tolerate George (yes yes terrible us). Oh we loved how George decided to deal with the lesion.
Well, another thing about not going into the cave was that we were delegated the job of being the jaga. Thankfully we had overcast skies and so the weather was comfortably cool till midday when the gang finally emerged (taking a total time of 3hr 15m). A quick rest, a shower and we were ready to head on to iPoh.
Chee cheong fun, salted chicken, hor fun, ice cream soda, rojak (we avoided this) and tau fu fa...at 3pm.
Then it was onwards to Kellie's Castle before heading home. What greatly interested us about the place was the minimal safety precautions to be seen. Sure, a few areas were grilled off to prevent accidental suicide (you're asking for it in the first place if you go put your own self in danger) but most areas were just marked with signs stating that since construction was never completed safety was pretty much at the tourists' digression.
Still, you have the rooftop areas which were also the most precarious. On the third floor you have the 'Rooftop Tennis Court' and on the top, an open area meant for parties to be held. Goodness knows what will happen when one has had waaay to many drinks. However, we must say that the view was plenty exhilarating. Well, actually not really. Gravity was exhilirating. View was not.
After Kellies Castle it was time to head back - and everyone was too full and tired to finish up the trip with Kepong bah kut teh, unfortunately.
So. Following them up but not entering the cave, what did we do?
We would have played checkers but it seems like someone else decided to play a sort of 'Harry Potter Wizard's Checkers' or something, so we decided on this:And after Sleep and us were done (we couldn't resist flirting with each other in lad's car too), we started on Mark Haddon's A Spot Of Bother. Egads. When we're done with this book, it's going to be your Christmas present okay otousan? Mark Haddon seems to deal in dysfunctionality. The book's good and engrossing we'll admit, but we just couldn't tolerate George (yes yes terrible us). Oh we loved how George decided to deal with the lesion.Well, another thing about not going into the cave was that we were delegated the job of being the jaga. Thankfully we had overcast skies and so the weather was comfortably cool till midday when the gang finally emerged (taking a total time of 3hr 15m). A quick rest, a shower and we were ready to head on to iPoh.
Chee cheong fun, salted chicken, hor fun, ice cream soda, rojak (we avoided this) and tau fu fa...at 3pm.Then it was onwards to Kellie's Castle before heading home. What greatly interested us about the place was the minimal safety precautions to be seen. Sure, a few areas were grilled off to prevent accidental suicide (you're asking for it in the first place if you go put your own self in danger) but most areas were just marked with signs stating that since construction was never completed safety was pretty much at the tourists' digression. That someone decided to lay the brick in the shape of a heart makes us think that they've probably lost the plot of a castle. The tree? The weird trunk shape was suppose to represent a bear hugging the tree.
Still, you have the rooftop areas which were also the most precarious. On the third floor you have the 'Rooftop Tennis Court' and on the top, an open area meant for parties to be held. Goodness knows what will happen when one has had waaay to many drinks. However, we must say that the view was plenty exhilarating. Well, actually not really. Gravity was exhilirating. View was not.
After Kellies Castle it was time to head back - and everyone was too full and tired to finish up the trip with Kepong bah kut teh, unfortunately.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Dear Sleep
Dear Sleep,
I'm sorry I haven't been spending much time with you nowadays. We're only together for four to five hours every night, which I admit, isn't quality time together. I do try to make it up with you on the weekends though, most weekends we spend nearly half the day together in my bed. Although yes, I agree with you that that's not the way how our relationship should be.
It's not that I don't love you anymore, I still do. You know how I don't want to leave you every morning. It's not as if I don't think of you anymore - I think about you everyday, especially when I leave for work, and even while at work too. I talk about you to my friends at times.
I admit, I wouldn't have known just how much I've been neglecting you if Alex did not confess to us about his relationship with you. I won't say that I was shocked, I knew we always had an understanding regarding our open relationship. You need to be with other people but you always came back to me, we have that special something. But I was a bit disappointed that you'd been paying Alex very regular visits too. I guess I've disappointed you one time too many too. Would a threesome with Alex be somewhere in our distant future, just to patch things up? I don't think so, people will object. Plus, I rather have you all to myself.
I'll confess that I've been spending time with your sibling Nap too. We met up during my lunch break, and we bond in my car. Yes, I admit I'm that weak, that I succumbed. Nap tried to see to my needs, but my mind was always on you! You, Sleep, You!
Just like how you need to be with nearly everyone else everyday (how lucky for you to be omnipresent), we too have to spend time with others, so that we aren't seen poorly by them. Internet is now our colleague at work, sometimes after work we do talk about casual matters. He also puts us in contact with other people. With Gym, well, we have a set timetable and he's never ever taken time away from you.
The Games and Hobbies families are a handful, and we need to dedicate time to certain family members every now and then. Boardgame is fine meeting up once every now and then. Console only calls us when he has something new that catches our interest. Portable is a keen kid, follows us everywhere to play with us when we're free. Reading joins us for mealtimes mostly. True, occasionally they all keep us from you. I'll have a chat with them about it.
All right. I won't make any more excuses. You know how I can't live without you. I'm addicted to you - I'm always reminded of your absence if I don't get enough of you. And I haven't been getting enough of you. Come back to bed. Be one with me again.
Yours always,
Janvier.
I'm sorry I haven't been spending much time with you nowadays. We're only together for four to five hours every night, which I admit, isn't quality time together. I do try to make it up with you on the weekends though, most weekends we spend nearly half the day together in my bed. Although yes, I agree with you that that's not the way how our relationship should be.
It's not that I don't love you anymore, I still do. You know how I don't want to leave you every morning. It's not as if I don't think of you anymore - I think about you everyday, especially when I leave for work, and even while at work too. I talk about you to my friends at times.
I admit, I wouldn't have known just how much I've been neglecting you if Alex did not confess to us about his relationship with you. I won't say that I was shocked, I knew we always had an understanding regarding our open relationship. You need to be with other people but you always came back to me, we have that special something. But I was a bit disappointed that you'd been paying Alex very regular visits too. I guess I've disappointed you one time too many too. Would a threesome with Alex be somewhere in our distant future, just to patch things up? I don't think so, people will object. Plus, I rather have you all to myself.
I'll confess that I've been spending time with your sibling Nap too. We met up during my lunch break, and we bond in my car. Yes, I admit I'm that weak, that I succumbed. Nap tried to see to my needs, but my mind was always on you! You, Sleep, You!
Just like how you need to be with nearly everyone else everyday (how lucky for you to be omnipresent), we too have to spend time with others, so that we aren't seen poorly by them. Internet is now our colleague at work, sometimes after work we do talk about casual matters. He also puts us in contact with other people. With Gym, well, we have a set timetable and he's never ever taken time away from you.
The Games and Hobbies families are a handful, and we need to dedicate time to certain family members every now and then. Boardgame is fine meeting up once every now and then. Console only calls us when he has something new that catches our interest. Portable is a keen kid, follows us everywhere to play with us when we're free. Reading joins us for mealtimes mostly. True, occasionally they all keep us from you. I'll have a chat with them about it.
All right. I won't make any more excuses. You know how I can't live without you. I'm addicted to you - I'm always reminded of your absence if I don't get enough of you. And I haven't been getting enough of you. Come back to bed. Be one with me again.
Yours always,
Janvier.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
They Will, Will They?
Recognize it, that is? Seriously we should stop with the silly titles but some habits take time to break. Anyhows.
We wanted to take a break from making ambigrams of first names, so we worked on something different for a while. In fact, it stumped us a fair bit on two parts for this ambigram, although we did make enough progress to actually draw it out tonight. What we forgot to factor in was size.
Initially all sketches are rather miniscule scribblings until we think it works. Then we'll template it out. Usually we try and make an ambigram fit in those notepaper. Occasionally it gets too big, like with Jennifer. When we started this one we weren't paying attention about size but thankfully we managed to fit the first half of it onto the notepaper.
Then we were rather thankful that the middle 'g' wasn't part of the first half template but had to be drawn separately on the empty space above the rest - while tracing out the entire ambigram we first drew the 'g' too high - it would have led the ambigram to be written on two levels rather than in a straight line. A little adjusting, and at least it isn't so bad.
In all honesty we think the first half is fine, but the second half needs a bit lot of working on still, especially on the u/n (we're to tired to Photoshop it to see the effects at the moment, but it definitely needs photoshopping as we cannot cannot cannot do this again). We don't know if anyone can identify this straight off? Guesses, anyone?
Now for the next two ambigrams, more Chinese names. More personalized compared to first names no? We came up with the basis for this while doodling at the Ongzebo while Lemon and Vin were ogling over a car catalogue. Unfortunately, we left the doodle in our shirt pocket, and the shirt made its way into the washing machine.
Thankfully we remembered how it was suppose to go and so scribbled this down. We find this fonts rather stress-free compared to the other ambigrams (oh wait Lieh Men was also stress-free) - because there's no rigid structure to the fonts. See how, for both names, we only needed three letters for each name? This is where we are thankful for the traditional Chinese naming of siblings. Of course, this only work for these two brothers.
Done with a ballpoint pen. We forgot how ballpoint ink stank, and realized for this particular style using the Stabilo inks would have been better. Ballpoint ink would have worked much better for William (like the initial sketch bit).
And even when we changed to Stabilo inks we neglected template alignment, leading to a horrendous clash between the g-n/e-h. Sigh.
We wanted to take a break from making ambigrams of first names, so we worked on something different for a while. In fact, it stumped us a fair bit on two parts for this ambigram, although we did make enough progress to actually draw it out tonight. What we forgot to factor in was size.
Initially all sketches are rather miniscule scribblings until we think it works. Then we'll template it out. Usually we try and make an ambigram fit in those notepaper. Occasionally it gets too big, like with Jennifer. When we started this one we weren't paying attention about size but thankfully we managed to fit the first half of it onto the notepaper.Then we were rather thankful that the middle 'g' wasn't part of the first half template but had to be drawn separately on the empty space above the rest - while tracing out the entire ambigram we first drew the 'g' too high - it would have led the ambigram to be written on two levels rather than in a straight line. A little adjusting, and at least it isn't so bad.In all honesty we think the first half is fine, but the second half needs a Now for the next two ambigrams, more Chinese names. More personalized compared to first names no? We came up with the basis for this while doodling at the Ongzebo while Lemon and Vin were ogling over a car catalogue. Unfortunately, we left the doodle in our shirt pocket, and the shirt made its way into the washing machine.
Thankfully we remembered how it was suppose to go and so scribbled this down. We find this fonts rather stress-free compared to the other ambigrams (oh wait Lieh Men was also stress-free) - because there's no rigid structure to the fonts. See how, for both names, we only needed three letters for each name? This is where we are thankful for the traditional Chinese naming of siblings. Of course, this only work for these two brothers.Done with a ballpoint pen. We forgot how ballpoint ink stank, and realized for this particular style using the Stabilo inks would have been better. Ballpoint ink would have worked much better for William (like the initial sketch bit).And even when we changed to Stabilo inks we neglected template alignment, leading to a horrendous clash between the g-n/e-h. Sigh.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Experiment Of Wit & Wisdom
OK. So here's the experiment. This book is sitting nicely in Borders knowing, just knowing that we will pick it up, cradle it in our arms and pay for it, bring it home and nurse it till the end of its days.
But we shall resist for now. If it was a new story (like Making Money) then it would have been zip straight into our arms within a second but since it isn't we could afford to take a second and take a closer look at what's the book about.
So, exerpts from all the Discworld novels up till Making Money. A sort of introduction to each book.
But here's what we're gonna do: seeing how we work in a building with a BookXcess bookstore, where with a bit of patience, we would be able to find books that are anywhere up to 50% cheaper, we would like to see how long it'll take till The Wit & Wisdom Of Discworld appears on their shelves, and whether it'll be RM50-something or cheaper compared to the RM89.90 price tag (with no discounts!) we saw in Borders. Oh, and also must be the Doubleday version (although admittedly the US version doesn't differ much).
Damn, that means we've to check the bookstore almost every other day. Not a good thing for a bibliophile to do, surrounded by cheap books. Soon we'll start filling our cubicle with books too. And if our patience snaps and we end up buying the book from Borders, we're sure it'll just show up in BookXcess the following day.
Just our luck, we'd walked into the place and picked up A Spot Of Bother and Moving Pictures paperbacks for RM17.90 each.
Oh, since we're busy pimping them.
But we shall resist for now. If it was a new story (like Making Money) then it would have been zip straight into our arms within a second but since it isn't we could afford to take a second and take a closer look at what's the book about.So, exerpts from all the Discworld novels up till Making Money. A sort of introduction to each book.
But here's what we're gonna do: seeing how we work in a building with a BookXcess bookstore, where with a bit of patience, we would be able to find books that are anywhere up to 50% cheaper, we would like to see how long it'll take till The Wit & Wisdom Of Discworld appears on their shelves, and whether it'll be RM50-something or cheaper compared to the RM89.90 price tag (with no discounts!) we saw in Borders. Oh, and also must be the Doubleday version (although admittedly the US version doesn't differ much).
Damn, that means we've to check the bookstore almost every other day. Not a good thing for a bibliophile to do, surrounded by cheap books. Soon we'll start filling our cubicle with books too. And if our patience snaps and we end up buying the book from Borders, we're sure it'll just show up in BookXcess the following day.
Just our luck, we'd walked into the place and picked up A Spot Of Bother and Moving Pictures paperbacks for RM17.90 each.
Oh, since we're busy pimping them.
BookXcess
L3-57 Amcorp Mall
18, Jalan Persiaran Barat
46050 PJ.
Tel: +603-79560455
L3-57 Amcorp Mall
18, Jalan Persiaran Barat
46050 PJ.
Tel: +603-79560455
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Sausage Madness
Yesterday we discovered that we can do four sausages in one sitting. As they were rather large sausages we couldn't stuff them all in our mouths at the same time (not to mention it would just ruin the taste of each separate sausage) but rather, we took little bites from each one in turn.
The juicy sausages were so good that we we couldn't finish the mushrooms we started on too. And given the saltiness of sausages we broke out in thirst pretty quickly. Halfway through our meal we'd to stop for juice.
Thank goodness Bundaberg Rootbeer and pineapple juice did the trick. And we were a bit disappointed that we only managed four out of the eight sausages on the rack: chicken garlic, chicken onion and chive, chicken jalapeno and chicken chorizo. How were the sausages?
Tastes like chicken. Honestly, save for the jalapeno we couldn't tell the other three apart. :P
And we still have the beef pepper, lamb jumbo, chicken cheese and herb and beef jumbo spicy to try out. If Marche still has the Sausage Madness going on. Heck, RM5.80 a sausage, four more to go. Probably it's time we learn to share.
The juicy sausages were so good that we we couldn't finish the mushrooms we started on too. And given the saltiness of sausages we broke out in thirst pretty quickly. Halfway through our meal we'd to stop for juice.
Thank goodness Bundaberg Rootbeer and pineapple juice did the trick. And we were a bit disappointed that we only managed four out of the eight sausages on the rack: chicken garlic, chicken onion and chive, chicken jalapeno and chicken chorizo. How were the sausages?Tastes like chicken. Honestly, save for the jalapeno we couldn't tell the other three apart. :P
And we still have the beef pepper, lamb jumbo, chicken cheese and herb and beef jumbo spicy to try out. If Marche still has the Sausage Madness going on. Heck, RM5.80 a sausage, four more to go. Probably it's time we learn to share.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Keeping It Simple, Spendthrift!
OK. It was because of this fler that we actually decided to drop by Guardian's Clearance Sale. Normally there isn't really much that'll pull us to their Clearance Sales, in fact, the last time we were there (which in fact happened to also be our first) was with our sis, and we were at Dataran Hamodal for the Times Warehouse Sale really. Since we were curious as to what could there be in the Clearance Sale both sis and us took a look-see while lugging our purchases of books.
Lesse, came out from there with...an apple scented Shaldan Pot (that we use as a car air freshener) and a St Ives Exfoliating Apricot Body Wash (RM14, which, till this day, still hasn't been open yet).
So with the banners hanging all about Jalan Universiti we initially ignored them till this fler posted that he found Simple products there. We likes the Simple range of products, because they're good for the folks with sensitive skin, soap-free, and, and...
...heck it we'll admit that the Simple product range's packaging is in green. And it fits our purpose of making all the toiletries in our bathroom thematically green.
Now, admittedly we don't use much in terms of toiletries - in fact till the end of our student days we lived using just: a bottle of body wash or soap, a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of face wash. Then came the Guardian days. Now, working part-time in a retail outlet, where when there's no customers we tend to get a tad bored at times. So we end up browsing the aisles ourselves - and end up buying stuff.
We dunno, but using the Simple face wash we were quite happy with the brand (not like we noticed any difference except that there was another green bottle in our bathroom) so we stuck to the brand. Unfortunately the price of the products meant we always waited for sales or such before indulging (the cash goes towards our gadget funds).
So finding them priced at RM10 instead of the usual RM30+? No-brainer. Got ourselves two.
Lesse, came out from there with...an apple scented Shaldan Pot (that we use as a car air freshener) and a St Ives Exfoliating Apricot Body Wash (RM14, which, till this day, still hasn't been open yet).
So with the banners hanging all about Jalan Universiti we initially ignored them till this fler posted that he found Simple products there. We likes the Simple range of products, because they're good for the folks with sensitive skin, soap-free, and, and...
...heck it we'll admit that the Simple product range's packaging is in green. And it fits our purpose of making all the toiletries in our bathroom thematically green.
Now, admittedly we don't use much in terms of toiletries - in fact till the end of our student days we lived using just: a bottle of body wash or soap, a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of face wash. Then came the Guardian days. Now, working part-time in a retail outlet, where when there's no customers we tend to get a tad bored at times. So we end up browsing the aisles ourselves - and end up buying stuff.
We dunno, but using the Simple face wash we were quite happy with the brand (not like we noticed any difference except that there was another green bottle in our bathroom) so we stuck to the brand. Unfortunately the price of the products meant we always waited for sales or such before indulging (the cash goes towards our gadget funds).
So finding them priced at RM10 instead of the usual RM30+? No-brainer. Got ourselves two.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Past Friends, Retrospect Review
Was chatting with Amiable Aix today and somehow the topics headed down the road to an old friend that we've long since lost touch with. And honestly we've long lost touch with this Medic friend we met since our first day at choir in IMU together. As friends go he was an interesting character, someone different to talk with (heck, he wouldn't have found anyone else that shared similar interests with him in our batch so thank goodness he went to the Medic batch). He was also the first person we ever met who knew how to play the violin - and what was more surprising was that he learned to play it all by himself (nope, he wouldn't let us try playing the violin, a smart move as anyone who doesn't know how to play the violin would probably just end up snapping the strings).
It was quite rare for us to actually mix with someone from the Medic group - after all Medicine and Pharmacy run on different timetables so the only way you get to know someone from the other course was to know them beforehand, like say since college or something. Just as well that we stayed there in Vista Komenwel - so we could pop by each other's apartments every now and then to say hi.
We find it interesting that, for the fact that both of us have nothing much in common, we managed to stay friends for a long time. After all we're not an extroverted person where we can really make small talk or remember details all the time. To say that we shared an interest in music, well, his level of interest is way up there (yes, very much like Amiable Aix we find) while ours is way down here. Definitely we didn't talk much on medicine and such. Maybe it's because he could talk and we could listen. Well we just clicked lah. If there's anything else to say about him we might have said it elsewhere already.
Funnily enough, after leaving IMU we've never really kept in touch - each going their overseas way to finish their twinning programme. And it didn't help that we forgot how his email was spelt, so we couldn't really correspond online. And that after a while even the festive greeting cards came to a stop (oh yes we were so stingy that we never bothered writing normal mails but waited to send a greeting card and then cram all we would say onto it). Since it's the family home address we're not sure if the family actually keeps the cards aside for him, or forwards it to him, or dumps it aside to be forgotten.
It's been some 5 years now that we've lost contact. In fact, our last reminder of him was when we were in the midst of our housemanship. A medic batchmate of his was collecting some medication and recognized us as his friend (yes well we're not too sure but we think it's not very easy to get to know him). However, she too didn't have an inkling of where he's gone and hid himself.
Google him up? Well luckily for us the first hit brought up something almost useful - an article he wrote (on music, which helped confirm we were looking at the correct feller). So unfortunate that it was dated 2001, we have no idea what's he been up to recently. The second just showed that he was in the Dean's List in the uni webpage. Again, not too much that's useful to us. Gotta resort to more direct measures (which we shan't say what).
Well he's someone we would like to catch up with after all these years. See how things have changed. More likely, see if he's alive or not. :S
It was quite rare for us to actually mix with someone from the Medic group - after all Medicine and Pharmacy run on different timetables so the only way you get to know someone from the other course was to know them beforehand, like say since college or something. Just as well that we stayed there in Vista Komenwel - so we could pop by each other's apartments every now and then to say hi.
We find it interesting that, for the fact that both of us have nothing much in common, we managed to stay friends for a long time. After all we're not an extroverted person where we can really make small talk or remember details all the time. To say that we shared an interest in music, well, his level of interest is way up there (yes, very much like Amiable Aix we find) while ours is way down here. Definitely we didn't talk much on medicine and such. Maybe it's because he could talk and we could listen. Well we just clicked lah. If there's anything else to say about him we might have said it elsewhere already.
Funnily enough, after leaving IMU we've never really kept in touch - each going their overseas way to finish their twinning programme. And it didn't help that we forgot how his email was spelt, so we couldn't really correspond online. And that after a while even the festive greeting cards came to a stop (oh yes we were so stingy that we never bothered writing normal mails but waited to send a greeting card and then cram all we would say onto it). Since it's the family home address we're not sure if the family actually keeps the cards aside for him, or forwards it to him, or dumps it aside to be forgotten.
It's been some 5 years now that we've lost contact. In fact, our last reminder of him was when we were in the midst of our housemanship. A medic batchmate of his was collecting some medication and recognized us as his friend (yes well we're not too sure but we think it's not very easy to get to know him). However, she too didn't have an inkling of where he's gone and hid himself.
Google him up? Well luckily for us the first hit brought up something almost useful - an article he wrote (on music, which helped confirm we were looking at the correct feller). So unfortunate that it was dated 2001, we have no idea what's he been up to recently. The second just showed that he was in the Dean's List in the uni webpage. Again, not too much that's useful to us. Gotta resort to more direct measures (which we shan't say what).
Well he's someone we would like to catch up with after all these years. See how things have changed. More likely, see if he's alive or not. :S
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