Photo opportunity

Time to Wii

Was at Fatt's house last night playing with Nain's new Wii.

My right arm now hurts SO BAD from playing tennis! Fun games but I don't find them very addictive. The thing about the Wii is that it's physical, so you can't really be playing it nonstop for hours like how you can with other consoles.

Wii design is really nice and sleek though, almost (dare I say it) Mac-like.

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I'm getting quite fed up about thinking of the best dates to celebrate my birthday next month. I've 3/4 of a mind to just cancel the whole bloody thing and ask Malaysian Devil to come up for the weekend!

PHOTOS: At work and at play

Pics of me working during my stint at 789, the bartender par excellence :P

Haven't been there in a while now but I love the peeps there, so friendly, so... as Mel would say, "Cappucino!". Mumsy Bumsy was so great to ask them to celebrate my birthday early during my shift. I rarely get huge birthday surprises with so many people so it was brilliant! After our briefing for the night ahead, they asked us to wait a bit, and then out came a huge brownie cake JUST FOR ME! Wowowow :) Thanks Mumsy and all you guys at 789! It was special!

Liza, BabyAmanda, Sham, Mel (behind), me and Mumsy Bumsy.

Liza and moi. Great chick she is.

Me and Atun, I call her Big Lady Boss cuz she always knows everything that goes on.

Professional bartender me.

CoolFrankie the bartender who won 2006 Cocktail of the Year. Love that guy.

PHOTOS: Official Launch of 789 @ Ascott KL

April Fool's Day 2006, official launch of 789, the chic new resto/bar in town.

The theme was white and boy, oh boy, was it dazzling and dripping with beautiful people! I didn't take many personal pictures. I remember taking a picture with Elaine Daly but can't remember which party at 789 that was. Think it was a watch (clocks and watches) party.

Anyway here are some beautiful people...

Some weird space vintage creatures from Planet Aluminium et moi. Love those slippers. Unfortunately I tore them apart a few months ago.

Dancers from Planet Plastic. What the heck are they using as props? Still, they were funny.

Edwin Sumun and me being all intoxicated and stuffff. Sexy!

Don't sue me, these two may not have any relation to each other at all, but don't you think they're so good-looking they belong together?.

Sofia and Julia who were seniors in my school although they probably don't remember lil ol' me.

To old friends!

So I hear that old Kiangs is back for a bit.

I haven't seen him in years! Fatts says they're going out tonight for dinner at Mid Valley. Tempting, but... I'm off to Penang tomorrow for CNY with dad, so need to pack, spend some time with Mumsy Bumsy and spend the rest of the time with Heroes and Elleh Bo Belleh.

Hey, Sharry Berry and all ya peeps out there, call me for drinks/partying with Kiangs... cuz I'm FREE I'M FREE!!!

OTE closed yesterday during normal working hours (gasp!) and I was in such a good mood yesterday I patiently let several cars into my lane after work. Which, I might mention, didn't even receive a single wave of thanks from them rich buggers (all in BMWs and Mercs... unforgivable!).

Oh before I forget, I must display my first OTE cover here for all to see. Hmm, I guess I'll put it on the sidebar like Nicky C does on his egomaniacal blog - can't remember the URL now, refresh my memory!

Cheers all! (in a relatively good mood today)

Bienvenue à Asie, Charly!

A big shout out to Charles who has just stepped foot into the jungles of Southeast Asia for the next 6 months.

HELLO CHARLY! WELCOME! SELAMAT DATANG!

I will be coming to see you soon, at the end of March. Quand tu habite confortablement dans la Singapour, viens me visiter, ok?!

Another round of the Birthday Wish List!

As my birthday's coming up soon and people will be asking what I want, here's the Ultimate Birthday Wish List of the Year of the Boar (for me, anyway)!

In no particular order...

Birthday WIsh List 2007 #1

• A standalone oven big enough to bake cakes and muffins
  
• The new iMac desktop
  
• Funky or vintage home decor
  
• A payrise
  
• Lots and lots of interesting, humourous books to read à la Jeremy Clarkson (but I've read those already) and Susanna Clarke (also read both books)
  
• Venice and Paris again. Alternatively, another romantic place in Italy or Mykonos in Greece.
  

What NOT to get

• Earrings
  
• Photoframes
  
• Damned useless and ugly ornaments
  
• Food
  
• Cups and mugs or any other cutlery and tableware
  

Yves Saint-Laurent or a wooden contraption?

The word YSL crossed my mind this morning and got me thinking.

Do we all have to pronounce it as individual letters à la "Why Ess Ell"? Can we start pronouncing it like how it's spelt, ie "Eezel"? And if it's pronounced "eezel", doesn't that sound like another word - "easel"? And if the word "easel" can be spelt with 60% of the letters (meaning 3 letters instead of 5, tsk!) and still be pronounced the same way, why didn't they spell it that way? It'd be easier to engrave (18th century), easier to write (19th century), easier to type (20th century and onwards) and on the whole, much bloody easier to remember during spelling tests...

Maybe someone should petition the Royal Academy of Spelling to change the spelling of "easel" to "ysl". Then maybe someone in Hong Kong can start a clothing brand name called "YSL" and if he gets dragged to court on copyright issues, he can just claim that he wanted to use the word "YSL" in the sense that it is a wooden contraption used to hold canvases for painting.

But why go through all that trouble, actually? There are probably a dozen "YSL"s already in Japan.

Blood Diamond

Watched Blood Diamond last night.

It was so stirring and I was still deeply affected by the scenes of rebels and the plight of the refugees and victims in Sierra Leone when I was trying to sleep later. Blood Diamond is a really powerful movie and shows the atrocities of civil war and the horrible realities of neighbours killing neighbours. I would say the worst situation pictured in the film was the situation of child soldiers being brainwashed and used to kill fellow citizens. And I mean child soldiers, children as young as 8 or 9 being dragged away from their families. And other children being massacred on the streets just because they were born in that country.

The Sierra Leone crisis may be over but you can help those in Iraq and Sudan now by visiting the UNHCR Donation site. UNHCR is the United Nations Refugee Agency. Can you imagine your city being ripped apart and being all alone, separated from your family? A one-time donation of USD50 registers 150 exhausted refugees in order to assess their needs and trace their families. Families' names are printed on several lists and fortunate people who manage to find these safe refugee areas are given the opportunity to look for their family's names and be reunited with them.

If you're thinking, 'Why should I help people so far away when there are people suffering in my own country so close to me?", then don't be like the majority of people out there (including me, embarrassingly), just feeling a bit of heartache when you see a slideshow, visit the Malaysian Charities directory and scroll down for a list of charities you can help.

Oops! They did it again!

The lawlessness of motorcyclists in KL has found new bounds.

This morning I was in my car, waiting at a red light. It turned green and the cars started moving. I was probably about the fifth car in line and just before I passed the traffic light, a motorcyclist comes from another set of red lights slowly, while holding up his hand to signal me to stop - WHILE HE CROSSES RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! Do I even have to mention that my light was still green?

What the hell is his problem? There are TOO MANY reasons for me to toot my horn these days and it annoys the living daylights out of me. Yesterday after work, a van cuts into my lane, just milimeters apart from my own car. And he got it. The big HOOOOOOONK.

Back to this morning and I'm just round the corner from my workplace. In front of me is a taxi who's squeezed as near as possible to the left side of the road as he can. And going at 20km/h. Man, the bloody driver may as well get out of the stupid taxi and walk. Then he can at least do his part in saving the environment, even though he IS a taxi driver. KL taxi driver, that is. And yes, you may argue that he was squeezing all the way to the left, but what difference does it make when the lane itself is only 10 inches wide?

Can this situation ever, ever improve? Only if these irresponsible road users cease to exist. And so, what a good idea it would be to put them all in a roundabout, close off the other roads, put up some cameras for live feed, and watch them drive over each other?

MPPJ Sucks!

MPPJ has the uncanny ability to choose the best times for their damn road works.

Thursday morning, 11am - A workday. So why the hell are they blocking off 2 out of 3 lanes on Jalan Gasing, an extremely busy road, without any warning? Radio, newspaper, TV announcements I don't care about. But the right thing to do is to place signboards AT LEAST 500m (1 km would be better) away to inform road users of the impending bottleneck so that they can turn off and use another road if they want to.

Why are there always incapable people in such positions? People who don't know how to use their brains (or perhaps don't want to because they're not expected to) and who are so bloody inconsiderate and self-centred. Can we please get more people-friendly employees in power for the MPPJ?

PLEASE?

Thank you Astro!

Hooked on the BBC Entertainment series, Judge John Deed.

It's not a reality or talk show like Judge Judy et al, it's an actual 1 1/2 hour long series with a brilliant storyline, great characterisation and awesome acting by Martin Shaw (John Deed). I've only seen 2 episodes but it's got me by the collar and it won't let go :P

Another series I'm starting to get hooked on, embarrassingly, is Waterloo Road, which is *gasp* a soap! This is horrible! And there I was, sniggering at those Cory and Emmerdale freakazoids. Admittedly, Emmerdale is worse than Cory, but only because of the awful accents. Completely hideous.

Thank you Astro - for giving me BBC Entertainment. And lack of sleep because of it.

Happy New Year 2007 @ Somo

Happy new year everyone :)

I hope you've enjoyed the past year of photos and articles. My New Year's Eve celebration pix will be up as soon as I've got hold of all them people who were snapping away that night. Which might take quite a bit of time, so be patient. We celebrated at Somo, next to Coffee Bean Mont Kiara - I got fizzed with champagne, challenged with tequila shots and various other activities that you can imagine would occur. I heard a guy actually broke a glass table??! I don't remember much from that night but just take it from me - Stolichnaya vodka - HORRID!

Weh Weh!

My good friend Malaysian Devil is finally moving to this part of the world!

I can finally see him more than once a year haha... well, he's moving to Singapore which isn't quite as cool (uh huh uh huh!) as Malaysia but *sniff* apparently I was uncontactable when he wanted to come to visit Kay Elle. He might have moved here instead if he'd seen this super super cool place. :P

February 8, le diable!

Hey amigo, je ne peux pas visiter ton website! Je pense que c'est parceque le earthquake à Taiwan...

It's All About The Music

It's frustrating that I can't connect to the site that I upload music to.

So although you can see there on the right that "Familiar Feelings" by Moloko is playing, there is in fact, NO MUSIC PLAYING AT ALL! Yeeeesssss... ye now know TOO much (in the style of that Scottish hotelier dude in Little Britain)!

Talking about music, I bought the new All Saints album, Studio 1 today. It's less melodious and R&B compared to their last album Saints and Sinners but it's pretty funky. Heard the whole thing 3 times already and cool tracks are Rock Steady (of course), On and On and Fundamental. I should really be putting those tracks on my blog but hey my connection to the site is down and by the time it's up again I'll probably forget.

So settle with Moloko.

This is my job.

I do layout design for a magazine.

According to some people ie. AA Jase and Curly, apparently my job is to put a picture here and place text there, and voila! A magazine sprouts up from there.

Not!

There is soooo much more to layout design than moving pictures here and there - like choosing fonts, choosing colours and even making pictures bigger (or smaller).

Yes, I definitely don't get paid enough to do what I do.

Me no get drunk...!

Last night an institution was born!

It has no name but loads of people are trying to crack it haha...

Last night was the night we discovered I can't get drunk!

AA Jase was buying Flaming after Flaming (while chatting girls up at the Loft) but they couldn't topple yours truly. I was so apprehensive - I hate feeling drunk (I know, I can't get drunk yet I know what it feels like? Yes, I do). Maybe I should have told them that wine does it :P

Tis the season to get merry - and very, very, VERY friendly...

Howdy ho folks! Hope your Christmasses were as merry as they should be!

As for mine, haha! Managed to stay puke-free for another year! Which is great, man... really great, all things considered. I still have to return the favour of two pairs of puke-stained shoes to a certain friend of mine. You know who you are!

Lots of fun things happening around town, one of which was the incident where my car keys and house keys were in a friend's car, who was incidentally completely gone; and my phone, IC and driving license were in a friend's purse (and she was completely gone as well). It was complicated, but with lots of running around (and driving without my license, yikes!) everything was settled.

Basically, it's been a fun Christmas season for partying, but I also really enjoyed the decorations they've made an effort to put up around town. Very nice! And of course, we must always remember why we celebrate Christmas in the first place. I hope none of you missed out on your church celebrations for the birth of baby Jesus with all the boozing you're getting!

I don't have any photos from the parties, so I'm trying to get a friend to send them over to me, hopefully I'll be putting them up here before the next Christmas...

But here are photos from my mum's family celebration last night!

It really bothers me

It puzzles me how people can get so wrapped up and enthralled by feng shui, ba zi and face-reading, future-predicting methods such as these. It strikes me that many people don't want to be religious because it involves self-sacrifice and following a certain lifestyle. But what about feng shui? Does it not involve reading your horoscope frequently, buying ugly ornaments and living your life a certain way, for example, not going out on your "bad luck" days, wearing lots of metal to counter-balance your very earth-heavy element - and those are just the simple things. Do you really want your whole life to be dictated to you just because you have certain marks on your body and because two or three stars out in space have died and no longer shine? And I say dictated because if you don't listen to these signs, the price of petrol may rise yet again next year...

Maybe it's because it allows those people to believe they have some control over what happens to them. Although, most of the things that they believe come true are really self-fulfilling prophecies. Think about it.

What about predictions for the coming year? Will the country be politically stable or will there still be immature bickering among parties? Why ask Joey Yap? Ask a political analyst. Ask an economist. Ask a real estate agent. Ask people who are experts in their field. Why ask the stars, who were put there eons ago and are merely living and dying, not caring what earth people do? Why consult our moles and scars about our future? Does that sound right to you?

A friend of mine who follows this closely believes that her relationships will never be as fulfilling as she would like them to be because of some facial feature or some self-element she possesses. What does that tell me? That she will always settle with second-best. And that she will be dissatisfied but say, "What can I do about it?" then subsequently grow old crying in front of her life-sized, 8-legged golden frog.

People need to be educated

One of the most basic driving skills taught and tested on is how to drive in a roundabout. Okay, so we shall disregard the 'kiasu' Malaysian drivers who deliberately jump the queue and get into the wrong lane because we shall assume that they know the rules but choose to be extremely RUDE and still cut into people's lanes and disrupt otherwise smooth-flowing traffic.

Yesterday on my way to work, a woman in a Kancil was on the outer lane of the roundabout. Picture this: a clock with its 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock and 9 o'clock angles. I'm at 6 o'clock going to 12 o'clock. From the outer/right lane, I enter the roundabout's inner lane (which incidentally, is the correct way to enter a roundabout from the outer/right lane - unless you drive on the left side of the road, if so, don't listen to me).

So there I am, obediently following traffic rules and as I pass 9 o'clock I indicate that I will turn off at 12 o'clock. I notice the aforementioned Kancil coming out of my 9 o'clock and into the outer ring of the roundabout, which means - if she follows traffic rules and therefore does not disrupt people's driving and potentially cause an accident - that she HAS to turn off at my 12 o'clock as well in order not to cut into people turning in from the inner ring.

But OF COURSE, being one of the 40%* of Malaysian drivers who blatantly disregard or who are ignorant of the traffic laws, she tries to pass the 12 o'clock turnoff and go right round the roundabout on the outer ring!

You know, this occurrence isn't very unusual to me, except that when she realised I was turning directly into her car, she stopped her car and gave me an ugly face, probably scolding me from the comfort (or however much comfort you can get in a Kancil) of her car. I guess she was kind of shocked as well because I was so close to her. I'm the sort that will not brake in advance just to avoid your illegally driven car and I don't give two hoots whether you piss your pants or not when you see me bearing down on you.

So since she stopped her car - in the middle of a moving roundabout, I might add - I had to stop mine too and see her give me "the face". We both got honked so I honked her back to scold her and she finally drove off.

In the end, I don't think her problem was blatant disregard of laws, but rather that she did not know at all what the laws are regarding roundabouts... hence the diagram above. Just a simple one to illustrate where people on inner and outer lanes must go. Of course if you're on the inner ring of the roundabout you may go round and round and round without ever turning off. Entirely your choice. But if you're on the left lane of a turnoff, you MUST always, ALWAYS enter the outer ring of the roundabout and turn off at the next turnoff. Simple!

*this is not statistically accurate but a general observation from my time on the road

Amateur professional photos. Hiring, anyone?

Hello there everyone,

Today we will be looking at some photographs taken by an amateur-professional photographer. If you like what you see, don't hesitate to leave comments on the photos. You may even request a certain type of shot to be taken for your own business or personal use. Take note that the categories will be English countryside, English canals, English people, English countryside, English ducks and so on and so forth.

But seriously, if you have an opinion about the photos, do leave a comment.

Melaka on the menu

Here are pix from when Gary and I were in Melaka last year. Unfortunately we arrived too late for lunch so there wasn't much choice for food. The place didn't seem to have changed much from the last 20 years. It really seems to be stuck in the past haha. Sigh... okay I didn't mean to offend any staunch Melakans. It's just been a long day at work. Here goes them pix!


View from inside the local museum


Still inside the museum


I think this was on top of St Paul's hill just outside the ruins


In another museum


Really really nice pic taken by Gary of the shutters in the museum (yes, museum again)


Gary's booty


Me looking out some really nice green windows of... yes, a museum


Out on the streets of Melaka and away from them pesky museums haha


Lots of cool shopping in Melaka for traditional crafts and food items


An image worthy of being a part of my Motorcycle Chronicles

Snapshot time!

I know I promised some pictures of my moving house but I haven't had the chance to take any. So, going through my photo albums, I've picked some random yet engaging photos for your enjoyment.



An ode to the coming Christmas. Last year's Christmas tree.

Our Penang trip (2005)

Last year, on the drive up to Penang. Sleepyhead.


Munching on "crips" helps relieve travelling boredom.


Sitting on the sand, taking a "snappy" break from watching the sunset.

Gary's first Muslim Wedding (2005)


Gary looks excited... well I'm sure he is, deep down.


Yes, I've seen all this before.


I think Mumsy's trying a Tai Yee pose?

Other Randoms


Ron, Penny and me. Penny's the blue one on the left.


Don't they look so cute?


Walking in KLCC park just after visiting Aquaria for the first time.

Changing addresses!

On Saturday 4th November, my mum and all of us moved out of the place in Damansara Heights to somewhere in the vicinity of OUG. We actually used to live there before we moved to DH and all of us loved the place cuz it's a really nice and spacious apartment unit. But we moved out cuz it was too far from all our workplaces. However, the DH house has really old wiring so it's pretty unsafe to be there especially now during the stormy season - so we're back in the nice old place!

I'll take this opportunity to snap some photos with Mum's really nice digicam of us unpacking stuff and upload it here soon. Not today, but soon. So don't hold your breath... you know how long I take to upload pictures. Haha!

What? Another maid story!

So yeah, I know I've been devoting a couple of posts to this maid in the office, but honestly, when I don't see her, she's not in my mind at all.

I think she knows that.

Which is why she's now keeping ominous reminders around the place to cast a shadow over my life here at work. What am I talking about? Well, I came to work this morning, all awake and sipping my packet Milo drink. When I got to my desk I remembered that I had to pass the HR people something so I went out of the office again. They're located in another block of offices.

Waiting for the lift, I pondered various important world issues. Like how I'm getting to the bank later to retrieve money. And whether the Interbank Funds Transfer at Public Bank online is working yet. They're taking far too long. One wonders if there's something wrong with the system.

Then the lift doors open and what do I see? "Someone" has kindly left their mop bucket full of soapy water and some objects floating around in it right in front of the lift buttons. I guess I should be thankful "someone" was considerate enough not to just plonk it in the middle of the lift. Thing is, the lift buttons are only placed on one side of the lift so everyone who steps into the lift has to lean over the bucket and press the buttons. Why not just move your bucket 3 feet to the left and not block anyone at all?

Well, I may not have seen The Maid today but she is definitely on my mind.

What a silly entry

Oh no I'm becoming one of those people who have loads of time on their hands and nothing in their heads! Offence intended.

"I had such a good day at work today. All I did was sit around painting my toenails and trimming my ear hair. I have to trim it because Jake/Josh/Brad/Brett/Brandon loves it short and fluffy, not long and wiry like those other girls at school. Gosh, I wonder which magazines tell them that that's acceptable? Like, maybe Geek Glamor?"

By the way, the wallpaper comes from Pixelgirl Presents.

Right now another please

Another day at the office, another day to complain about Malaysian attitudes.

This in no way means that I think people of other countries behave better, but as a Malaysian I would rather complain about fellow Malaysians than have "furriners" complain bout us, man.

So here I come, merrily driving to the office, no stupid jaywalkers in my way this time - oops! I nearly rammed into another car. Shit... here comes the "sorry" wave. I'm genuinely sorry. I usually don't drive so recklessly, but it's the combination of holding a Milo packet drink in one hand and trying to take a bend with the other. Very unsafe. Please please don't try that, especially if I'm near you (my car is the nice, sultry, smoky grey "toot toot" car). You know what? Malaysians should learn to use the "sorry" wave more often, considering how many times one gets into other people's way on the road.

But here comes the main complaint. I park my car in the basement, collect my bag and laptop, open my door to step out and lo and behold! I am greeted by the not uncommon sight of three sad lumps of damp tissues on the floor right where the driver should step out. I have a friend who calls them "won-tons" because of the way they look. Eew.

Anyway, look here, the floor is not there for your rubbish okay? Why do I get the feeling that it was a woman who threw it out? Most probably took her Spritzer bottle filled with water from the office, grabbed some tissues, wet them with the "Spritzer" water and cleaned her shoes/mouth/steering wheel/bag then threw them out next to her just before she drove away, leaving me and my smoky car looking like I had done it.

So much for female unity. Thanks a lot, woman.

Malaysian Men!

The men here will be the death of all! They think the world belongs to them, oh they don't know how wrong they are.

Maybe you aren't one of them, but well, I nearly knocked one down today because of his stupidity and arrogance!

There he goes strolling across the busy street in front of my office. Does he not have two eyes? Does he not have a neck that he can turn to look for cars? Oh, apparently he does, because he used his neck to turn to me and his eyes to glare at me, the insolent girl who DARED to come so close to his precious, "i make the world a better place" body. What utter rubbish.

So after I nearly knock him down, my car has stopped in the middle of the road. I wave a "sorry" to him cuz naturally I didn't mean to give him a scare. But oh do I so regret it! He just looks at me with that stupid face and continues strolling across. This uglily tanned, fat ass dares to think that the world revolves around him? What happened to your upcoming joyous religious celebration on the 24th? Oh, right, maybe I'm not supposed to stress you out while you fast, is that it? Damn! Just pay attention on the road! And it wouldn't hurt your silly face to be polite once in a while. I hope your glaring eyes itch for the rest of the day, idiot!

Still on the subject of maids, I was in the lift yesterday (as I am every day from Monday to Friday, what joy) and it stopped on the 6th floor. After waiting a few seconds, the person outside, who seems to have the reflexes of a jumbo jet, came strolling in and lo and behold - it was the Maid.

There I was at the back of the lift and she in front. Me hoping she wouldn't flick something else at me and she hoping I'd... I dunno, give her my car? So, like I said before, my office is on the 7th floor and I thought, okay it's only one floor, nothing will happen. And just before the lift door opens I hear... a fart? a burp? an internal clearing of the throat? I'm holding my breath whichever one.

She has definitely left a lasting impression on yours truly. Now I know I can always expect something from her. What a great thing it is to have some consistency in life, isn't it?

Why do maids have to be so noisy?

I walked into the lift today at the office and we happily made it past all the basement car park floors without stopping. Yippee, no one's gonna stop my journey today from the lowest floor to the second highest. People usually do.

Unfortunately, just as I thought me and the lift were safely past the ground level, it turns out that the levels appear on the screen before we actually arrive there. So when I thought we were about to touch 2nd floor, my lift stops at the first (ground floor). After a few seconds of silence while the open lift doors were waiting for the ignorant person outside - in walks a maid.

She makes a grunt and smiles at me so I give a warm smile back at her. Nothing wrong with being friendly to fellow human beings. That is, until she starts scratching her ear? hair? I thought at first that she was digging in her ear. But the scratching sound was really loud. It could be her hair... but then it could be her ear too, who knows? After digging/scratching in there until the 6th floor (mine's the 7th), she finally releases her finger from its job and looks at it.

I can tell you honestly, now, I was so, so afraid she would flick that whatever away from her, in the direction she was facing... which is in my direction. Thank goodness no such thing happened. She was civilised enough to just wipe the whatever onto her uniform. Which made me realise the germs that must be on the lift buttons. When you're in an office you sort of just assume that the only people who touch things are fellow office workers. Granted, some of them may not wash their hands after the toilet (I have seen it right in my own office), some of them may flick whatevers, but... you somehow assume that they will be relatively "clean".

But, well, we can't avoid pressing lift buttons, can we?

Anyway as I reached the 7th floor, the maid came out with me and I just stepped into my office. I sat down at my computer and started sorting articles for Monday's paper. Now, my desk is next to the pantry which has cutlery, a microwave oven, a fridge and a water dispenser. A few minutes after sitting down, the maid walks in, flings open a few drawers, rummages around the cutlery, throws some on the counter, takes a mug from goodness-knows-where, wrestles with the water dispenser, grunting and throating, gurgles down the water, punches the mug into the wall, gives a whoop of congratulations (to the wall, I assume), slams the mug down on the counter in a headlock and promptly leaves.

Now is that making your presence known, or what?

Portuguese folk... Fado music

I attended a world-class performance by Fado singer, Mariza, last night. I don't think I have ever experienced a true diva like her before. From her vocals to her body posture and the way she moved around the stage, even the deep, slow and quiet way she spoke, it was all first rate, true drama and emotion.

The music was brilliant too. To me, it was like a mixture of Spanish guitar-type melodies and Middle Eastern influences. Mariza's voice control was also truly amazing. I have heard this sort of music before mixed into other recordings, like a bit of Conjure One's Damascus (but Fado is not as Middle Eastern as that) and even on the Prince of Egypt's "Deliver Us" where Moses' mother (the singer Ofra Haza) sings a bit Fado-like. Don't yell at me if it isn't - it just has strains of it.

Here's a picture of her I pulled out from her official website : English Version
An album review : World Music Central - Mariza Fado Curvo

You have to really experience her performance to realise what a true star she is. I would recommend you Google her and read some of the reviews she's gotten for her music. You might just find something new to listen to and get all that Beyonce and Fergie out of your heads.

Of sportspersons

So I was watching Top Gear on BBC World last night, which is a half hour show (depriving us of the full one hour version shown on BBC2 in UK). I guess we should be thankful they even show Top Gear. Brilliant, brilliant show.

Anyway, it was on for 5 minutes and I was curled up on the sofa getting ready for some much-needed giggles when suddenly... BREAKING NEWS came on. I was like "Whoa.. what could've happened in the world now?" And then this lady comes on and announces... "BREAKING NEWS... MICHAEL SCHUMACHER IS RETIRING AFTER THIS SEASON". And I'm like... this is breaking news?! you interrupt my Top Gear with news that this guy is retiring? Sure he's big and famous and successful and all that jazz, but is it really that important? Would you categorise this as "Breaking News" - the same category used for "Planes fly into NY's Twin Towers killing 10 000 people" or "War breaks out in Lebanon" or even "Croc Hunter killed"? Mr Schumacher is a great sports success, but not everyone is interested or affected by his retirement.

To make it worse, after the breaking news, they didn't even continue Top Gear from where they cut in! Well, c'est la vie.

After Top Gear came Parkinson. His first guest was Thierry Henry (I believe this was shot last year so it's a fairly old interview) and not only is this French guy good-looking, he comes across as a really intelligent character too and a guy so devoted to his game that it's hard to not like him. If most people in sport were like him, what a joy the sports world would be. So Thierry Henry, well done! I may not watch your games, but I know you deserve the success you have gained. :)

Writers and pseudo-writers

I had two ideas in my head today about what to write. I was gonna write about humans being multi-faceted and having many dimensions to them as opposed to only belonging to one so-called "group" for instance, "new staff" or "fresh graduate". There are also other dimensions to a "new staff" which could be "bright and intelligent", "independent and responsible" or also the opposite, "have to spoonfeed her" and "have to treat her like a dumb dog". I think managers and employers need to realise this in order to gain the respect of their "new staff" whom I don't expect them to know very well yet, but they have to be able to look into a person and gauge their level of maturity. Hmmph.

Anyway... my second idea was to write about pseudo-writers, if that's even the right word. What do you call a person who writes and calls themselves a writer but in actuality can't really write to an audience?

I really can't stand these sort of writers. Only one comes to mind at the moment - a young girl in her twenties who writes for the Actors Studio newsletter every month. I'd rather not write her name here but suffice to say that although her English is good, she intends to serve up detailed descriptions of everything using an Oxford dictionary and Roget's Thesaurus. Aaahhh... actually, using ambiguous words sparingly in an essay does not annoy me. But giving minute descriptions about mundane things that are not even remotely interesting, exciting, useful to know, or humourous is just plain irritating..

I don't think any of the people involved in my rants today will ever read this post so, well, hopefully aspiring writers who do read my post take my humble opinion into account when writing their own ramblings.

Nostalgic...

I miss walking around English streets and villages looking for scones and clotted cream.
I miss gliding on the waters in Venice at night, looking at the lights in the palazzos.
I miss Edinburgh.
I miss standing in front of the Louvre's pyramid entrance at night. In fact, I miss walking around Paris at night.
I miss Grandpa G.

Is there anything you guys miss during nostalgic moments?

Happy 10th Anniversary!

Wow, no way, I'm not talking about any of my friends here! Wouldn't it be weird to have friends together for 10 years? If you ask me, it's kind of sad to be tied down to that one person since you were 16. Sheesh.

Anyway, I was talking about SOULed OUT!! Visit their website at http://www.souledout.com.my (although their webmaster has been doing a crap job of not updating their website for the most important event of the resto's life). SOULed OUT is turning 10 this September and they're having a Mardi Gras themed Carnivale with lots of fun and games for all the family on September 9.

And I'm going to be BEAD GIRL.

Yeah... I'll be the one standing behind a (presumably) white table selling Mardi Gras beads. So come along and visit the outlet - it doesn't disappoint - I was there for New Year's and there were quite a few cute guys there ;)

My dogs are the perfect example

I think my two dogs' behaviours are prime indicators of human male and female personalities. Yes, indeedy-doo.

Here's a great example. When I bathe both of them, they display very different characteristics. Foxy, the girl, always sits still and doesn't move, as if she knows that water and shampoo in her eyes will most definitely sting. She also knows that a good and long rubdown with shampoo will make her fur smooth and shiny. And so she sits still. And waits patiently for me to finish.

Then I bring her upstairs to blowdry her fur. She trots dutifully to the drying spot and bravely endures the hot air blowing into her face, knowing that the more I dry and brush her fur, the nicer she will look. Oh, how sweet she is. You start to think it's not so bad bathing a dog.

But wait, I haven't brought Maxi in yet. He is so typically male, it's sometimes cute. And sometimes... the total opposite.

At least these days he trots into the bathroom after me, not like the early days when he would run a mile when seeing me walk into that bathroom (which I only use for bathing them, so he knows what's coming). So then I start rinsing his fur and that's fine. He hides his face from the splashing water but that's fine too. And he actually stands still while I rub his fur down with shampoo (with the exception of wriggling and twisting his body here and there). Thankfully he's small and I can push his body back into position.

So the wet part is over and that went alright. But now comes the blowdryer!

Firstly he takes some coaxing to get into the drying spot. After he's there, I have to block off all exits with my legs and corner him into a wall because he will definitely try to get out of the blowdrying bit. And he has succeeded at least once each session. He just can't take the pain and agony of hot air in his face! He'll hide his face under my knee, wriggle down under the table, put his backside down on the floor when I try to brush and dry his tail and bottom fur and just basically do all he can to wriggle out of this nonsensical beauty nonsense. Sound familiar?

Truly, Foxy knows what every girl knows - you have to endure some pain to be beautiful (think facials, waxing... you know what I mean).

Someone's hit the Big Time!

Listening to the radio now and it's playing Beyonce's Deja Vu... oh gosh and Jo Whiley just said she looks stunning in the video just as I was about to write how awful Beyonce looks! I have absolutely no idea what Beyonce's trying to do in that video, flinging her bits about here and there and looking like someone having an epileptic fit. And the song! I love Beyonce's voice, I do, but she's positively screaming in the song!

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Anyway, I wanted to write this post because I've hit the Big Time! Well, perhaps not quite so Big, but I've now got an "agent" assigned to me, whoa... doesn't that sound cool? Someone who'll get me jobs (hopefully) and things like that. Perhaps I should look at getting a bodyguard and a personal stylist now...