Monday, June 29, 2009

MJ will be missed

True, he hasn't really made an impact to me in recent years, and so it's unlikely he would've made an impact if he hadn't passed, but all the same, it's sad that that skinny bundle of pure talent is gone. Makes it all the worse, really, when you hear his songs on the radio, or see his videos on TV. Some people aren't able to, but I always look past the image and controversy, and see his real achievements and legacy. His mistakes in society were due to a mentality that's so different from what you and I, so-called normal people, could experience. Child-abused and in the limelight since pre-teens would make anyone somewhat see things in a different way than what's considered the norm. And of course, everyone makes mistakes. Just when you're as famous as him, mistakes are seen a hundred times worse.

Well, rest in peace then, dear Michael. There'll be no more suffering on Earth for you.

(Btw, I was reminded on Channel V last night of his songs from the History album, which are so rarely played in favour of songs like Thriller and Beat It. I actually really like those History songs - Scream, Earth Song, Stranger in Moscow, Childhood... I had the cassette tapes when I was younger, but I guess the CDs will be re-released in some expensive package now.)

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Good morning Engrish

So I received an amusing email this morning.

I host my Goodputty Design website with a Company X (apparently will be sued for libel, so have to use Brand X... so sensitive!), and in one of their newsletters some time ago, I was attracted to and then signed up for a Blog X account owned by them, intending to migrate from here.

I ended up liking it better here, so I stayed, but my account with Blog X remained as well. Totally forgot about it till this morning, when I received an email from Company X saying that they're migrating platforms and informing me of the changes that would take place on my Blog X.

Was about to delete the email until I saw a few interesting 'Engrish' sentences, and I decided to read it for a few good morning smiles. Didn't disappoint! It slowly but surely got worse as the email went on. Here are snippets for your funny bone's pleasure.

See how many errors you can find!

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Dear Valued Blog X Users,

First of all, thank you for your continuous support over the Blog X.

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You may encounter difficulties on accessing to your blog during the entire migration process.

We truly understand the importance of your blogs to you personally or to your business. Therefore, we will strive our best efforts in this migration process.

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Due to both Blog X and WordPress are of two different platform, we are regret to inform you that the existing blog template is non-migratable.

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Please be sure that your primary blog URL will remain unchanged. However, your additional blog URL will be replaced with a new URL as per example below:

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If happen that your host name is being taken by others, an additional numeric characters will be appended at the back of the name such as

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We apologize for any inconvenient cause during this migration. We believes that by the end of this migration, you will have a great experience on hosting your blog with Company X.


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I counted 16 mistakes!

Actually, they are in the entire email. Oh gawd, and such kindergarten mistakes as well! One major peeve of mine in official emails is when people use "as per example" or "as per the email below"... stupid "as per"! Use it properly if you want to use it!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Your choices reveal your character

When people make a choice to do something, good or bad, it's their choice. Should anyone else feel responsible for it? No.

The choices people make are determined by their own character and mentality. If a person, for instance, needs money, do they steal? Or do they work for it? These choices are all determined by themselves alone.

You need money, you work. How hard you work depends on your character. If you're lazy, you don't work at all, you become a petty thief. If you can't stoop to stealing, you find something else that pays a lot for nothing (the concept of 'nothing' is also relative to the person).

You could become a mule (smuggling drugs for others), you could sell your body. The latter is more convenient, if you're the type who sees money as more important than yourself. I don't believe for one moment that one does not have a choice NOT to sell one's body. In this case, I'm talking about free-willed individuals, not people who have been kidnapped/trafficked and forced into this business.

Someone who'd rather work harder than he's ever worked in his life would rather clean dishes 18 hours a day in a dirty restaurant, even illegally, than sell his dignity. But then someone who'd rather sell their dignity probably doesn't value it.

It's a sad situation and I feel bad for people who feel they have to, but this is how some people are, and chances are, they don't feel as bad for themselves as you feel for them. Because everyone prioritises different things.

The choice you make is influenced by your own thinking, not the environment, not the situation, not by others.

There are always choices. We are all human, we have choices.

*Disclaimer: This post is about people who have free will and make their own decisions, not asylum seekers or victims of kidnapping and human trafficking.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

My Tree sketch

Arrived home from Penang this morning at 5am, after a tedious night drive. Crashed into bed at 6am till about 1.30pm this afternoon, and felt like a nice potter around the house and getting some things done.

So, on Schrobbenmaster Rik's suggestion some time ago, I decided to try and incorporate one of my many tree doodles into a new personal online portfolio that I could use to look for work if I ever need to in the future.

I only thought of doing a step-by-step tree-sketching process when I was halfway done, so I only have a halfway mark photo and a finished photo ;)





Hopefully work on my online portfolio won't take too long. Will continue posting photos here.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Day out with Maniacal Musicmaker

Met up with Maniacal Nick for lunch today at Chawan. Then went shopping at Village Grocer and he found this really weird yogurt thingy.


On one side of a decidedly ugly wrapper is a picture of food... I suppose to tell you how to use your yogurt on food. Hmm. And on the other side...


... a picture of a woman with a yogurt mask on her face. Uh, yeah... we should so get this yogurt cuz it has such multiple abilities. Gawd, it's just gross to eat from a yogurt tub that has a picture of a woman looking like that.

At another aisle, Maniacal Nick was checking out some... painkillers, I think... and in the same section was this:


Durex Play, a lubricant for intimate moments, placed between Panadol, SlimUp (shouldn't it be Slim Down instead, though?), mosquito repellent and a fever patch for kids. Yes, very good place indeed. So easy for people to find what they're looking for.

Strange things!

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Crossing my fingers and wishing hard

Received good news in the mail this morning, so am pretty relieved. Just waiting for the next step now with crossed fingers.

Once the beach towels dried on the rack, they stopped stinking. But I think I'm gonna chuck them in for another round just for luck.

Yikes, 1.30pm and I haven't had lunch!

Oh, and I've been meaning to update my readers on that supposed "park for pets" near my place. Remember a few weeks back, when I was chased out of the main playground because I had two little dogs with me? Well, I drove past the area where the guy said pets are allowed, and OMG....... it's just a square piece of gravel land, about the size of a typical coffee shop ground floor (it's actually a parking lot at night). And in there, I saw about 10 dog walkers, half of them Caucasians, just standing around pathetically with their really nice dogs. I felt so bloody sorry for them and their dogs. Gawd, I'm gonna be one of them.

Come on, man, give us a break! At least set aside, even a small space, a place with proper grass and benches at the very least!

Will try to snap a photo one day I'm there.

Monday, June 08, 2009

A Monday in the life of Me

Oh gawd, I just took the beach towels out from the bucket where they were soaking, and they stink like a sewer! The water was brown and was so so gnarly. And then I found out that someone had chucked in my bikini and Zara top in as well. Thank you.

Put them in for a good wash in the machine and they still stink. Not as bad as before, but hopefully after the second round that's running right now, it'll be alright.

Sent some compulsory work back for feedback this morning (that has literally taken MONTHS to complete, and wait, isn't completed yet), and can finally move on to something interesting. Working on something for the Souled Out group now.

Had a good rant with two friends (one of whom is frachely), who supported and assured me that I am doing the right thing in insisting that someone moves out.

Hopefully I get some kind of resolution by the end of the week. Or I might end up with severe sleep deprivation.

Mid-year resolution: Keeping my plants alive and well.

Sunday, June 07, 2009

PHOTOS: Melbourne May 2009

As promised, here are a few of them. The rest are on Facebook, and others are just not interesting enough for the general public :)


Bea in preparation for her wedding over the weekend.


Happy Janice and I walked to the supermarket one afternoon to get a couple of necessities. And came back with this lot.


My iBook's plug is quite loose when plugged into the international adaptor, so Happy Janice and I came up with the brilliant idea of using loads of cellophane tape to the plug to the adaptor. We'd succeeded in making it stay, when Marcus came in and said, "Why don't you just put a stack of books under it?".


Happy Janice and I waiting at the tramstop outside Julz's apartment.


Bea in her wedding gown and coat, after the superb wedding lunch, waiting to be sent home :P


The wedding entrée. So so so yummy. Forgot to take photos of the courses following this.


And a big jump to the Daylesford one night trip. Our four coffees at The Gourmet Larder.


Zlynn playing in the big autumn leaves at the Lavender Farm.


Sharry Berry and I camera syncing. Such superpowers.


Zlynn admiring a painting in The Convent Gallery. The girl in the painting does look quite charming.


Schrobbenmaster Rik camwhoring his own beautiful blue eyes.


Glorious blue and yellow Cirque tents!


Crowd in the Grand Chapiteau being entertained by the clowns while waiting for Dralion to start.


The Dralion stage.

A piece of uninspired writing

I don't think I've ever travelled so much in a short space of time as I have this year. First, Bangkok in early April, then Australia in late May and I've just come back from Pulau Rawa a few days ago.

Rawa was really nice. Very small beach, about 10 minutes walk from one end to the other, and yet even though Rawa Safaris (where we stayed) was probably about 75% occupied, it still felt very private. Accommodation and food was of really bare minimum quality, but good enough. I'd say it's better than Le Club though, which looked more backpacker and budget-friendly.

I didn't take any photos while there, unfortunately.

I still intend to put up some photos of the obstacle course Yelleh Belleh did a few weekends ago, which are on my phone, but my Bluetooth has very nicely decided not to work and I'll have to dig out the cable from the box. Will get to that soon. I guess.

Feeling quite uninspired to post at the moment so I'd better stop before my standard of writing seriously drops and I lose the two people who actually read this!

Monday, June 01, 2009

Do they exist?

Is there such a thing as a "boyfriend without issues"?

How could someone get into such a situation and bring these problems onto me?

Bloody hell, I hate female exes. Because I'm a girl, and I know how girls think.

How can you get entangled with someone so freaking crazy?!

One week from now, I'd better hear some good news.