Funny Engrish again

Christmas '08 Wish List

It's never too early to start a Wish List!

Among the things I covet around the world, here are some that are at least, obtainable, and hopefully, in some of the wrapped boxes I receive :P

• L'Occitane fragrant candle/s
  
• Eiffel Tower wall decal
  
• A big, black, leather bag. Well, not too big
  
• A ticket to watch ZAIA in Macao
  
• More later.......
  

Cancelled???

I can't believe Dirty Sexy Money is gonna be cancelled!! (Well, technically, ABC is just not buying anymore episodes, but that's kinda the same thing). No no no nono no no no nono no no!! I LOVE that show, I love Brian and Karen Darling... I love Donald Sutherland... SIGH.

Into thin air

I have been spending so much money lately, it's not funny. And it's not even to clothes shopping! Once I get my hands on some RM50 notes, they literally fizzle away. Sigh.

First, it was a new PC to replace the old one which kept crashing. I keep this PC as a backup for... I dunno what for. But the little terrors love it, so...

Then it was that Amanda Brown dress which is splendid, but which still magically siphoned up quite a few RM50 notes.

After that, it was a new mobile phone (stupid Sony Ericsson S50i keys keep getting stuck and crack themselves, I'm fed up!). This one I'm quite excited about as I'll be going back to my beloved Razr, specifically, the Razr2, which is supposed to be better. It'd better be!

And, what? Christmas is coming up? I'm gonna start pulling some people's hair out if I don't get paid on time this month!

***

UPDATE

On the very day I blog on how much money is slipping away from me, Sunshine Mary very nicely takes me to Telawi to return her borrowed clothes to Mooie, and I end up purchasing some very nice stuff from there and Moca too! Grrr...... luckily they were all on sale.

DIY notebook

A few days ago I was quite restless. So I made a notebook.




That's the front and back. You may think it looks good, but... it can't be opened. Hehe. The ribbon I used was too short so I had to tie it really tight till I couldn't open the book fully. Haven't had the energy since then to replace the ribbon. Well, at least I made use of some of the stack of raw material I have stashed in my shelves.

Answerable? Or not.

A guy meets a girl in a bar. What goes through his mind? What goes through her mind? Is there such a thing as meeting people for friendship, or is there always that one motive that drives us? And if there really is only that one motive, when one party discovers the other is uninterested or unavailable, do they just lose interest and lose contact, or value the other still as a potential friend?

What are the dynamics between two people who meet in a bar??

fashfab #6 = absolutely fabulous

So I attended fashfab #6 at twentyone last night and it was great! First up, I always enjoy the music there. Sounds like house to me (what do girls know about music genres, eh? <-- according to someone I know), it's really good anyway, kinda like background music for clubs. You can talk over it if you want, and you can move to it if you feel like it.

TallJac picked the best spot at the bar because we were right in front of the bartenders, Ben from Sweden and Kelly from New York, who kept serving up samples of their specialty drinks. But even if we had to pay, it would've been alright, because their specialty cocktails were RM10 right up till... 11.30pm or somewhere there. Niiiiiiiiiice!

Since last night was a shoesshoesshoes thingy, there were 2 fashion shows displaying their shoes, and then some... corsets? But a word of advice to shoe models out there. Sure, you start your walk at the top of the steps and pose sexily with the shoes, but when you walk, do you have to walk as if you're Lewis Hamilton's car? Just a flash of... wait, was that yellow? And then a BLINDING flash from the camera, and then another flash of... maybe it was gold, after all?

Talking about shoesshoesshoes, we got a goodie bag from them which, as I wrote yesterday, I was pretty excited about. Obviously I didn't really think there'd be shoes in there, but at least something more substantial than... an RM20 voucher off their shoes. A bloody RM20 off shoes that are RM300? And only for the month of November? Eh, this is what I would enter in Wiktionary under the heading "grudgingly". I seriously would've expected more from them, not in terms of discount, but class. This disappointment was at least made better by twentyone's generous RM50 off their food. That's more like it!

On the whole I had a loada fun, just us girls out for the night. Can't say much for how they're feeling this morning at the office though, heheheh...

Past weeks in a nutshell

It's been a while, yes, but I've not been in the mood to type. I've had loads of things running around my head, for example, the existence and persistence of man (yes, it's true...)... and one other thing which has now completely flown out of my head.

Maxi peed in my room 3 days ago and was solitary-ed in the backyard for 2 nights. Darn dog still managed to find a way through the fence and kept pitter pattering into my room about 5 times a day.

I've also been out a fair bit... oh, I watched Quantum of Solace on Tuesday. Nice nice nice! Daniel Craig is awfully sexy, innit? Yeahh... he's GOWgeous :P

Also went to Quattro for the first time last weekend. Doesn't seem a bad place, except to someone's friend, who left early, saying, "The people here are too cheesy". Mmm... okaaaaaay! It's so good to know we've got a 'coolness' barometer to let us know whether we're at the right place or not. I thought it was nice anyway, and the people upstairs at Winter seemed pretty normal to me.

By the way, I just heard the advert on the radio for Quattro. The voiceover pronounces Quattro's 'Qua' like the 'quar' in 'quarter'. I dunno, but it seems to me that it should be pronounced like 'kwa' since it's Italian. However, as far as Malaysians go, most people would probably pronounce it with a super quick 'w' in the middle and make it sound pasar, just like how they pronounce Leona (Lewis) as if it's Liona instead of LeOna. So perhaps pronouncing Quattro as in 'quarter' mightn't be such a bad idea. It just kinda shivers me timbers whenever I hear people pronouncing foreign words wrongly.

I also attended 789's 2nd anniversary party on... I think it was last Thursday? And, well, it was free flow and that was nice, but the people there are so leery. They're all in their late thirties to fifties and all the guys are looking for a fling, and all the women are watching out for competition. I love the place and all, but the people there that night (and I expect, most nights) just seem a tad pretentious, wannabe urban crowd. Isn't this supposed to be a classy, chic place? Not some pick-up bar?

Tonight, however, I'm really looking forward to it... going off to Twentyone with some girls for the shoesshoesshoes party. No idea what it is, but hopefully we get some goodie bags hehe. With a pair of shoes in it, maybe????

Oh, and I know, I wish I had some pictures to post, but ever since I started using G's camera, I haven't actually been able to use it. It's a digital camera, not an SLR, but not a simple point and shoot either. Also the size is like a mini SLR and it's just so un-glamourous to hang around your neck when you're wearing a nice little dress :)

Super Saturday

I had an AWESOME Saturday night! It'd been so long since I went out clubbing/bar-ing and I was quite craving it in the beginning of the week, except no one was up for it. So I waited till Friday, when I hoped something fun would be planned, but in the end we went for a quiet night at La Bodega. Managed to get myself tipsy enough to feel happy though.

So last night I had a night out with Tequila Lin and Dan the Drinker, who are both keen and avid drinkers (totally didn't guess it from their names, I bet). Dan the Drinker had to attend a colleague's farewell thing at Twenty One, so I just tagged along. Tequila Lin and her friend arrived first and informed us that there was no table (at 11pm, obviously not!) and Dan the Drinker's smart friend hadn't made any reservations.

It was still great! That bar is so nice... the people look nice... everything's nice. So we just hung out at the bar, I had the most awful vodka martini, but managed small sips for an hour (yup!) and finish it. Anyway, towards the end, my tongue was already getting quite numb from the lingering vodka taste.

Dan the Drinker and his mate then went off to meet their other colleagues who were eating in the resto next door (looking very formal and, well, boring...), so the three of us hopped off to Frangipani. It was our first time there, but I loved it! Firstly, no cover charge. Brilliant stuff. And the place was just jumping, it was awesome. Went to the bar to order champagne, but they only had Bollinger and Mumm. We're not made of money, so we had a bottle of the good red stuff instead. Nice wine, horrible glasses. What the heck wine glasses were those? Looked like water glasses. No swilling for me then.

Anyways, Tequila Lin and I made a round of the place to scope out any eye candy. Lots of hip and happening people, but no one jumped out.

And then I turned, and bumped into Gwyn! Pretty surprised... well, not surprised to see her there, but surprised to see someone I knew there. I was already a little tipsy, so kinda tried to get out of the conversation quickly (natural reaction, I dunno why). She thanked me for the gift I sent her a few days ago and I tried to be gracious, saying that I wasn't sure she received it (because she never sent me a thank you note or text!), but yeah I had actually been a little ticked off that she didn't take the time to thank me for it immediately.

Moved on, ordered lychee martinis for me and the tequila lady and then decided I shoulda conversed more with Gwyn, so went back for another (longer) chat and I think we're back on good terms with each other. It was her boyfriend's birthday and he's pretty hot (of course). She invited me for a Halloween party at her office, themed "Dead Celebrities"... umm... okay, the first image in my head was Elvis. No way am I going as Elvis, I thought. Or said. I'm sure I didn't say it aloud.

Oh, talking about gays (...okay, I'd actually written a paragraph before this then decided I didn't want anyone reading it but was lazy to change the first four words in this paragraph. No, I don't think Elvis was gay), when I told Dan the Drinker we'd be at Frangi, he replied...

"Isn't that a club for gays????????????"

Hehe. No, it's not. And even if it is, it's still a bloody nice place to be.

Finally left Frangi at about 2.30am. Pretty proud of myself for leaving so early, actually.

Awesome Saturday night! Will definitely go back.

Turn, switch, push

Totally random.

You know how people used to say "turn the TV on, turn the radio off" etc? Well, that was from the times of televisions and radios with knobs. And then you know how people say "switch the light on/off" because switches have an up/down mechanism?

So why don't people now say "push the TV on", cuz they're now operated by buttons (on the TV/remote)?

What else should we change?

I ♥ Marton Csokas

I think he's so hot, so rugged, so manly... :) I just love his face! I just wiki-ed him and apparently he's dating Eva Green, who happens to be one of my most admired actresses. Lucky girl!

... Anyway, more interesting posts coming up. Just sorting through some photos first.

Product of a lazy, crazy Saturday :)

I actually managed to achieve something yesterday. Really quite surprised myself, as I only did it to pass the time and didn't even plan ahead. It's a watercolour I did, straight from the palette and onto the paper. Considered sketching out a rough shape first, but I hate pencil lines underneath painting, so decided to just jump right into it. And I'm honestly surprised it came out quite perspectively correct :)

I haven't finished the top of her head and below her shoulders. Unfortunately, the two little terrors are over and I persuaded them to do some painting instead of playing my computers so they've taken over the palettes.



Hey, don't pick at the painting and say it's this and it's that, cuz this is purely for relaxation, but I thought it'd be nice to document this as I paint so very rarely. I'm telling you... you and I will be very lucky if I actually finish it.

Running Down The Way Up

I woke up to a drizzling mid-morning today and it felt wonderful. I like the diffused light that comes with drizzly mornings. Also because there's a gap between my two curtains, and on normal days, the sun comes shining in, annoying me into consciousness.

So I floated around the apartment not really knowing what to do. I prepared cereal for brunch and considered turning the mac on, but decided to not do that at least one day this week. Switched my TV on instead and watched some not very interesting shows, finished my cereal, slid down the sofa and suddenly felt really lethargic. So spent another 2 hours watching even more lousy shows. Stupid Astro.

Finally decided to go online and see who else was on. Well I saw someone who made my spine tingle, but decided not to talk to him because I just couldn't handle that emotional rollercoaster anymore. Then surfed Etsy for a while. Which made me feel really inspired to do some painting.

Looked for some watercolours in my drawer and found a box from Marie's, which I believe was my mum's? Or did she only use acrylic? Mmm whatever. Found out I didn't have a palette so just pooh pooh-ed it and decided to just squirt the bloody paint straight onto the paper. What a great idea, huh.

So I fill up my cups with water, get my sketchbook ready and do the necessary stuff, and finally settle down to paint God-knows-what. I wet my brush, and reach for... wait, there's no light blue in here... okay some kind of teal colour then. Try to unscrew the cap and fail. That's when the feeling of dread crept up. So I reached for some weird orangey reddy colour, unscrew it and promptly squeeze the paint out. Except it doesn't come out. Mmm... I'm a failure before I even start!

Fine, I thought, I'll get dressed and go buy the bloody palette and some new watercolours from the local stationery shop. And while I'm at it, I may as well buy a new payment voucher too since it's been on my shopping list for the past month. So I reach the local town centre, park, and find that my shop's closed. Get back into the car, go down the road and find another shop, so I park again.

Ooh, I just love stationery, don't you? (Just reminded myself of Marjorie Dawes - "I JUST LOVE THE CAKE") Anyway, of course it's some little local stationery shop, so the only watercolours they had were Buncho and some other weird box I didn't even want to pick up. So I had to buy Buncho. It was only RM8.50 for 12 colours and I figure I'll probably use it only once anyway.

As I was walking to the cashier, I thought of how I used to paint with a special 50-compartment palette which could store paint so I didn't have to keep opening the watercolour tubes, and how I used to use Alpha Artists colours (okay, it's no Daler & Rowney, or whatever), but it was professional enough for art school, and how I now use...Buncho...?

Am I going up or down in the world??

(Incidentally, I only wrote the title of the post after I finished writing, and if it rings any bells, it's by BT and it's a nice song.)

VIKA agony

That's the tabletop that's been giving me trouble all last night and this morning. Quite literally, I've got blisters on my right hand from clutching and twisting the screwdriver. 5 screws x 4 table legs. And this is how all the screws look. I've decided to just screw two in tightly so that the plate doesn't move, and then just jam the bloody legs in and wait for a shining knight to come over and help me screw the rest in. Easier said than done though. Just tightly screwing one in is agony.

Just felt my right arm, think my muscle is a bit more toned now. Better start using my left arm's strength now. Which means the screws ain't gonna budge.

And now I'm just procrastinating having lunch cuz I'm too lazy to get up and cook something. Guess I'll have to do it before I start feeling whoozy. If only the cafe downstairs had nicer food. And not so expensive. Grr.

On another note, does anyone know if the Intel Atom processor (not the dual-core version) is any good for a low-end desktop computer?

First Anniversary!

Goodputty is celebrating its first anniversary the whole of October and November. Thanks to everyone who helped us in one way or another, and here's to many more fruitful years!

In particular, we'd like to thank:

• Mumsy Bumsy (who helped me register the company a year ago)
  
• Yelleh Belleh (who helped approve company names and mascots)
  
• Dad (who gave advice sparingly and never questioned my decisions)
  
• Slavedriver (although he will never read this blog, I just want to acknowledge him for his mentoring and work offloading)
  
• G (who is technically part of Goodputty, but deserves thanks for all the support and encouragement)
  

To celebrate this special occasion, Paperie is selling Ready-To-Go notepads at RM10 each (RRP: RM12/notepad) with FREE POSTAGE for the whole of October and November. So whatcha waiting for?!

I Heart NY t-shirt

Look what I got! A nice little present from Sharry Berry while she was in NYC a few weeks ago.

Always admired this design from afar (note: magazines and websites) and felt disdain for copycats (note: DIGI and Sony Ericsson... although SE is not as outright as DIGI is). But to many people, this I heart NY design is just a graphic, just something you know, recognise and overlook, and very often, with icons like these, people don't realise how much history it has and how it came about.

That's why I'm using this post to enlighten my readers :)

The I Heart NY, or I Love New York logo was designed by Milton Glaser way back in 1975 (I wonder if they had a 30-year anniversary of the logo and I missed it?). Like in most design fairytales, this iconic logo came about when he was doodling in a taxi. Sigh. (But of course, they never tell you how much he probably cried and sweated in his studio before getting this brainwave.)

So respect where respect is due. Awesome logo, timeless and inspirational for generations to come!

The importance of planning

I just realised a few days ago that Goodputty will be a year old in a couple of weeks. I need more time to plan! Banners, thank you mailers, gifts perhaps? Also planning a special promotion for Paperie products in conjunction with the anniversary.

Anyways, hungry now and wanna watch TV. Catch up later.

On your toes!

How difficult is it to stand on one leg?

Pretty easy as you get older because you know where to put your weight, right? Young kids find it difficult because they don't understand that they have to put all their weight on the one foot.

How difficult is it to stand on one leg, on tiptoe?

Bloody difficult! I feel like a young kid again, falling everywhere. It was only until yesterday that I really thought about the physics (?) of it. If you put all your weight on the one foot when standing on one leg normally, you can stay like that for a long, long time. So it only makes sense that when you go up on tiptoe, you have to put all your weight on the front of your foot! So why. can't. I. grasp. that?

Can you imagine me standing in the middle of my apartment tiptoeing on one foot, arms outstretched, as if I'm a Shaolin monk? Well, you don't have to now. Just use a telephoto lens. And sell the pics of me falling all over to the papparazzi :P

Fragrant flames

Started an obsession with fragrant candles recently. Well, ever since the dogs moved in and started leaving their own furry smell everywhere. Tried the cheapo candles before from IKEA and other places, but they don't work.

Last Christmas, Mumsy Bumsy's friend gave her a set of Marks & Spencer fragrant tealights which she passed to me. So I tried them out, and they were superb! Have only one left now :( but Mumsy Bumsy helped pick up a candle from L'Occitane earlier. It smells delicious, but I haven't lit it yet, so can't give a verdict. Judging by the price, though, I'd say it bloody well works :) You just can't skimp on these sort of things cuz you really get what you pay for.

Talking about skimping, I picked up the India Hicks fragrant candle in Crabtree & Evelyn and saw that it cost RM175! I hope my eyes were deceiving me though. Don't think I'll ever try that out unless I have a very generous friend who buys me that for Christmas.

I remember getting an Annick Goutal candle in a jar (which came in a zipped pouch!) a few years ago as a gift and by golly, did it last! It just wouldn't finish burning and the smell was amazing. Well, the strength of it anyway. The smell itself was one of their signature weird smells. Not bad, just... unique. Like their perfumes. But at least you get the feeling that they actually do do their work instead of sticking their name to someone else's fragrance.

Murderers. Plain and simple.

The murder of the student from Chad in Wangsa Maju is SHAMEFUL. And damnable! How could some Malaysians behave like this? Is it so hebat that there are twenty of you wielding metal rods, knives and sticks? I'm sure the person who stabbed him in the back didn't intend to kill, but kill him he did and he shall answer for it, if not to the Malaysian police (whom I very much doubt will do anything about it, as much as the woman who asked my sister if she 'mau ais' in her drink twice, brought ice in her drink in the end), then to God. For as they were Malay youths, they were Muslims, and therefore answerable to their God. Where did they learn that it was okay to stab people or intimidate them?

Sure, big black guys can be intimidating, I've seen them fight amongst themselves and make a lot of ruckus in public, but I've never seen them disturb anyone they don't know. And even if they did, it absolutely does not warrant an attack.

In fact, some of the most respectful Catholics I've seen have been black. I don't know where they're from, so unfortunately, I can only refer to them as blacks, but I'd never say it in a disrespectful way.

The poor victim was 22, he had a wife and a newborn, and he was looking forward to returning home to Chad to celebrate Hari Raya. The killer and conspirators must pay for robbing so many people.

It's getting more embarrassing every day to tell people that I'm Malaysian because everything they hear these days is bad.

On another note, I can't believe some Malaysians don't even know what's going on these days. Type 'Free RPK' on your MSN and see how many people ask you, "who's RPK ah?". It's embarrassing! And it really winds me up. Sign of trouble? "Go Australia lah". No wonder people call you pendatang.

Where else in the world would we fit in, really? Nowhere, I'm telling you, honestly. Nowhere else.