Happy Deepavali/Diwali and Selamat Hari Raya

If there's anybody reading this blog right now who celebrates one of these two festivals, I hope you have a joyous and satisfying time. See, I have no skills to make it as a Hallmark card message writer. I don't write stuff that make people go, "Awww..." as they wipe away a careless tear from their eye.

Anyways, I've been having a little Quantum Leap marathon. Season Three. 1990-1991. I never saw any episodes in that season. And I was a diehard fan then. I remember one time, after a tiring 8-hour journey back from Kluang after the Chinese New Year break, I burst into the house to turn on the TV. Just to catch the last 20mins of the episode. I think Sam was a woman in that episode.

How could I have missed an entire season? Tuition classes!! Those classes were in preparation for my SPM exams. I took Additional Math, Physics, Chemistry. Sacrificed a season of Quantum Leap and I failed my Add. Math, got a C6 for Physics and a C4 for Chemistry. And look at me now. No use for Add. Math, Physics or Chemistry in my life.

Anyways, I can understand why I had such a crush on Scott Bakula. He was 36 - 37 then and he sang, he danced, he acted his way into my heart. *swoon* He was goofy in an endearing way. I haven't seen a full episode of Enterprise, even though I know he's the Captain. I did a little research and he's Capt. Jonathan Archer in there. I IMDB-ed him (think this word will follow the footsteps of Google and be turned into a verb?) and found out that he's been active in the theater and musicals. Both his parents are musical. His little patch of white hair appeared when he was four. At the time, he was also at a neighbour's house that was undergoing painting and his mother thought the patch of white was a result of the paint. Hope she didn't try to turpentine the white out of his hair. *g*

I had forgotten the close rapport the character he plays (Dr. Sam Beckett) had with Al. The writing is just superb: witty, intelligent and thought-provoking. What makes this series so much better than Tru Calling and Sliders is that he gets to be somebody entirely different (yet still be him) every week, and there's always that hope that he finally gets to leap home in the end. And then there are times when he gives ideas to people who eventually end up being famous. He told a guy in one episode that he saw/heard that someone had used slabs of beef as punching bags when that guy told the priest ("Leap of Faith") that he couldn't make it to boxing practice. The guy closes his locker and the name on the locker was 'S. Stallone'. Brilliant! I love this show.

Met my super today. She tells me that my presentation will be sooner than later. And that I'll be presenting with the juniors. I told my mum this and she said I must be embarrassed. I told her I shouldn't be ashamed, because the mess I am in is not my fault. I wasn't the one who changed my title 6 weeks before the final presentation. Okay, I admit, I am feeling a little nervous about the thought of presenting. But I'm usually nervous presenting in front of people. Anyways, I've done this three times before (but in front of my coursemates) and all I did was focus on my lecturers. I ignored everybody else. I spoke English (everybody else in my course spoke in Malay) and that does intimidate some of the lecturers and the ones who usually bombard the others with questions are strangely silent. I shouldn't assume thing will be the same way this year though. Hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.

That's it from me then. Kinda missing someone I know. By the time he gets back home, I'll have to prepare my proposal and powerpoint presentations. Arrghhh...

I wish I could leap like Sam into the future and end up being in KT Nov 29th, watching and experiencing the Monsoon Cup '05. Datuk Michelle Yeoh, her fiance Jean Todt (Ferrari racing team boss), Michael Schumacher, Jackie Chan and a host of others are expected to be here too. Now I wish I was back to working at the hotel. It's so easy to talk to VIP guests like that. I remember Sheila Majid was the best. I sent her a note and she came down to the lobby with a poster and asked for a marker pen. She handed the poster to me personally. How humble is that? She's the greatest. As for Ning Baizura... errr, no comment. ;-)

Take care!

Snap-happy at the beach

My sis decided to drag me to the beach a few days ago to keep an eye on the kids, but I found out soon enough that my Dad and sis' maid were tagging along too. Anyways, I needed some fresh salty air after being cooped indoors for ... ages, and I brought along my trusty camera. The Chip Online Malaysia forum had recently opened their Photo Gallery and I needed some fresh shots of anything.

Dad drove to the usual spot behind the religious school (near the old government quarters) and there was hardly anyone around. Then again, it was after 5:30pm, during Ramadhan. There was a group of boys crowding around three other boys on ponies. As the beach had recently been reclaimed (much farther to walk towards the beach), I told my sis that perhaps it would be a better idea to rent the ponies to get to the edge of the water. It was tough walking on uneven sand. Halfway there, one of the ponies got free. Trotted towards freedom, with one boy running after it. He managed to catch the pony soon enough.



The kids got down to business and started making sand castles. So did Dad. I admired a big cloud in the sky (the bit where the sun's rays shone through created a spectrum of colours). As Nephew #1 was building his tower of sand ...


Can you detect some evil intent in that little fellow's brain? No? Well, guess what happens after this shot?


Funnily enough, he didn't crush that tower of sand. Instead, he threw the spade somewhere else. And his attention was taken elsewhere. And so was mine.

Looking towards my left, I spotted a blue plastic basket and a frondless coconut leaf. Nothing of note on the basket (a lightbulb and three seashells). So I took pix of the frondless palm leaf. I don't know how photographers do it. Do they wait for the waves to come close or just snap away? I think I took more than 5 shots.

Further away, I noticed a makeshift shelter made out of bamboo poles and coconut palm fronds. As I walked towards it, I noticed an adult and child further away in the center of this makeshift shelter. I tried to be arty, but my camera is only 5MP and has no powerful telephoto lens. I gave up that idea.

Took several shots of the shelter.

Then I noticed the ships.

And then I realized that I could use the makeshift shelter as the frame! Refer to first photo. Well, I was happily snapping away.

As it was getting dark, I started walking back towards the others. I saw the horses' tracks in the sand and I took pix of those too. I told you I was snap-happy! We heard the fireworks go off, indicating the breaking of fast. We walked back towards the car. Fast-forward the other bits and we got home by 7pm. It's less than 10 mins drive to home. The advantages of living in a small town, everywhere is considered 'close'.

I must apologize to the dial-up users (if any) who realized too late that this post was image-laden. Well, at least be happy I haven't used another shot of a raindrop-encrusted anona leaf.

Bye!

** Thanks go to Simon W for providing the thought-bubbles. ;-)

Which Lost Character am I?

While checking out Doubleout.com's site, I found the link to a Lost Quiz. The spelling of 'mysterious' became 'mysteries', so beware of that. The last question was a decoy. I wanted to be Kate, but I got:

Take the quiz: "Which LOST character are you?"

Jack
You are Jack. You are fighting your inner demons, but deep down inside you know you're doing what you think is right.

Oh well, better Jack than Claire or Locke.

My sister's family will be driving up tomorrow. They will be around til Sunday (sis, hubby and the maid), and then the kids will be staying til mid-Nov. Mum lamented that the church was organizing a trip to northwest Malaysia (Perak, Kedah...) during Raya; five days, RM200, all food and lodging provided for. Arrghhh...I wish I could go! But I need to finish my final year project and writing my thesis. Grrr...

That James Blunt tune keeps ringing in my head, especially that last line, "But it's time to face the truth, I will never be with you." The story of my life. People I like, I can't be with due to:

1. Age/Religious differences
2. Distance

To be realistic though, I like the first guy as a friend. I know I can't give anything more. So it's not really about him, is it? Okay, maybe it's about guys in general. Am I in denial? Nooo, I can't be. ;-)

Wonder how Plan_B is doing in the Philippines. He'll be there for two weeks. 6 + 14...hmm, he should be back by the 21st. Maybe he got enthralled by the experience, a new country, finally being with his lady-love and using the Tagalog he learnt from a ex-co-worker.

Why do some people have to be so sensitive?

This happened to me yesterday. I was chatting with this guy I had played online Pool with and he had the impression that I no longer wanted to chat with him. If I didn't, would I have said 'Hi' to him while I was invisible?

Perhaps I made the mistake of telling him that I had been chatting with another online Pool partner the night before, because he started asking me to explain myself. I'm thinking, "I played a handful of games with him and he's asking me to explain why I didn't send him messages?" Huh? I don't know why I actually tried to explain to him that I did reply to his messages, but he wanted me to send him messages first. He was usually idle and I would rather send him a message if he was online, but that didn't pacify him. He seemed convinced that I wasn't planning on chatting with him any more and he asked if he could delete me from his contact list. After all the explaining I had to do, I agreed. I think my answer surprised him a little. Maybe he expected me to apologize profusely or something. But as I saw it, I don't have to explain anything to anybody, much less someone I only knew for a few days.

I closed the window and thought he would delete me, but later I still saw his handle there. So I did him a favour and deleted him. If he was so set on deleting me, why didn't he do it immediately?

Am I wrong in wanting friends on YM I can just say 'Hi' to? Or perhaps vent to once in a while? I don't expect people to message me all the time (okay, so I'm invisible and they wouldn't know I am online, but that's besides the point) and I don't message my friends that often. Why? I figure they're busy. I'm invisible because sometimes I have a lot of things to handle and having an IM chat would be frustrating to somebody who has to wait for my replies. When I do have a decent IM chat, I get antsy. I need to do something else besides chat. It developed during my dial-up per-minute charges stage. I feel guilty spending time chatting.

I saw the guy I wrote about in my previous post (the one who used his grandfather's name) online on YM. I made myself visible and there was no response. So I deleted him too. It these kinds of situations, I'm not the one who goes running to people who say they don't want to chat with me anymore.

I decided to update today because I realized (from the counter) that there is more than one person reading this. All this while, I thought the counter was logging my own presence. I'm sure there are no repeat visitors though. It would help if you left a comment and I know there are repeat visitors such as yourself.

*yawn* I should sleep. Good night/day wherever you may be.

It rains

It's been raining after 10pm these few nights. Thunder and lightning. Don't like the lightning much because when I sleep, I like everything to be dark and quiet. Oh yeah...I could always use those eye covers they give out in the airplanes.

Was a little snap happy this afternoon. Took a shot of the wasp/insect on a leaf, that you see in this post. It was quite by accident that I saw that little fellow buzzing around the leaf. For a few seconds, it was under the leaf. I waited (thank goodness there were no mosquitoes biting) and soon caught this pic before it decided that the leaf had nothing to offer.

Plan_B is off to the Philippines to meet his *cough* friend for two weeks. Maybe after this he'll have something to write about in this blog.

Off to sleep, it's past 2am and I have to see my super tomorrow about my final year project. I have to present next month, on the 20-21st of Nov. *sniff* I want to be done with this once and for all!

Take care, reader of this blog.

How did they know??

Darn it! How did they know? There was no question that asked, "What was your birth order?"

You Are Likely a Third Born

At your darkest moments, you feel vulnerable. At work and school, you do best when you're comparing things. When you love someone, you tend to like to please them. In friendship, you are loyal to one person. Your ideal careers are: sales, police officer, newspaper reporter, inventor, poet, and animal trainer. You will leave your mark on the world with inventions, poetry, and inspiration.

The Birth Order Predictor

This one is SO true! My personal motto is "Friend to all, lover to none". =)

Your Ideal Relationship is Friends Only

Honestly, you're not really ready for a relationship right now. And you prefer to keep things platonic, for now. That's not to say that one of your friends could be dating material. You're just taking a break for now.

What's Your Ideal Relationship?

Okay, for this one, I'll need to believe with a fistful of salt.

Your Seduction Style: Fantasy Lover

You know that ideal love that each of us dreams of from childhood? That's you! Not because you possess all of the ideal characteristics, but because you are a savvy shape shifter. You have the uncanny ability to detect someone's particular fantasy... and make it you. You inspire each person to be an idealist and passionate, and you make each moment memorable Even a simple coffee date with you can be the most romantic moment of someone's life By giving your date exactly what he or she desires, you quickly become the ideal lover. Your abilities to make dreams come true is so strong, that you are often the love of many people's lives. Your ex's (and even people you have simply met or been friends with) long to be yours. No doubt you are the one others have dreamed of... your biggest challenge is finding *your* dream lover.

What Kind of Seducer Are You?

Inner Thoughts

A certain somebody in a forum I frequent requested for posts about my inner thoughts. Sorry, I don't answer requests!


5 reasons why I don't do inner thoughts:

1. I usually try to keep my mind off things.
2. Dwelling on things I cannot change is just pointless (forgotten about that fellow I posted about earlier).
3. If I worried, it'll just add more lines to my forehead. I already have two.
4. If I wrote about my inner thoughts, I'd be mortified to realize that I'm opinionated, childish, pampered, egotistical (I've got the pride of a lion and the temper of a Tiger), etc. I prefer to keep quiet and let people guess.
5. I don't have much to think about.

Hmmm, does the list count as an inner thought? Darn, I guess I did fulfill that request after all!

It's late. I'm off to bed. But first, I need to rant a little. The results of the Star Merdeka Contest are out. It's not so bad that I didn't get anything, but to lose to entries with atrocious English is just disappointing, to say the least. Ugh... I've been told that organisers don't look at the quality of English, but the message conveyed. So typos and bad grammar are allowed. It makes me cringe though.

And in yesterday's paper, this local girl won a Mercedes Benz in the monthly Premium Savings certificate draw. From my town...with the name, "Sharleen". She's only 16 and she can't drive yet! I don't drive myself, but at least I have a driver's license!

*yawn* Okay, off to bed now. Good night.

Lost, Season 2 Episode 1

Figured I'd update since I got sick of looking at 'Dead Gecko In The Bathroom'. Heh. Where's that Plan_B fellow? I was hoping somebody else would keep this alive.

Anyways, Lost premiered on US tv on the 21st. I suddenly remembered and managed to d/l it just now. All I can say is 'Whoa!' My goosepimples were up 80% of the time. It's so nice not having to watch another repeat on Astro. Gosh knows when it'll finally arrive here. My Dad noticed me watching on my laptop (dubbed Keanu), and said, "Not fair!"

It didn't help when I kept exclaiming, "Ooohh...!" and "Oh!" while he was watching TV nearby.

Jack's flashback episode, this one. We see how he first met Sara, the woman he was marrying in the first season. Did he marry her in that episode? I forget. I remember him giving an impromptu wedding vow.

Should I give out a spoiler? I'm good, I'll just confirm that everytime something is revealed, more mysteries abound. They descend into the hatch, meet somebody that Jack met in his flashback (that fellow told Jack that he was going to participate in a race around the world). How did he end up there? The inside of the hatch door was emblazoned with the word, 'Quarantine'. Woooo....

Oops, just revealed more than I was supposed to! My bad. *eg* Can't wait til next week. :)

* Ran out of nice 'raindrops on leaves' shots, so don't blame me for using a lousy pic with TOO many raindrops. No time/too lazy to crop.

Dead Gecko In The Bathroom

Two mornings ago, I saw what I thought was a dead gecko just under the sink. I tore off some toilet paper, slightly dreading the thought of holding it between my fingers. If there's one thing I do not like, it's creatures that can stick to walls (and your body). Geckos and tree frogs fall into this category.

As I was gently positioning the TP over the body, letting the edge caress it, the gecko sprung back to life! It scurried slowly across the green tiles, close to death. I recoiled in horror/disgust. It wasn't dead yet, despite a tear that exposed its flesh and a stain that ran from the site until the middle of it's body. I took an old contest entry form (the paper is really thick and sturdy), trying to scoop it up, and it moved again! I dropped the piece of paper, which now shielded the gecko from sight.

I left the bathroom. Left the paper and the TP and the gecko in there. I figured that I would wait til it died.

Several hours later ...

The gecko had moved towards the loo. It wasn't moving. As I tried to scoop it back into the piece of paper, it indicated that there was still some life left in it. I gave up, and left the bathroom once more.

Fast-forward to 11pm. I entered the bathroom and stared at the motionless body. I hoped that it had finally given up the ghost. I saw a couple of ants near the body. I gave it a few nudges with the contest entry form, and it lay there with unblinking eyes. Mustering the courage that had left me twice before, I scooped up the gecko and threw it into the bin.

Mission accomplished! There's no way I could be a contestant in Fear Factor.

In other news, I figure that the person whom I was wondering about in the previous posts is as good as yesterday's dead gecko. People who don't appreciate the way that I think/am, well, they don't know what they're missing, especially after having some enjoyable conversations.

Time to concentrate on my Final Year Project.

Plan_B, where are you?

Update on previous post

I did a little background check on the grandfather's name. There is a listing for that name and the location is where he said it would be. I had asked for his grandfather's age in an earlier conversation (just small talk, I wasn't writing anything down) and it matched the info. Could it be possible that he could still be lying about the pic and the rest is true?

I am at a loss. I do enjoy the friendly, flirty conversation and if I was wrong to jump to conclusions...I'd hate to be the one to crawl back and apologize. I know, pride shouldn't come before a friendship. But I don't want to do that on the basis of one photo. I want more pix. Then I'll apologize.

I'll see if he leaves a message tonight. But if he does, what should I say? "Thanks"? I know not to ask for another pic. Heh.

Only time will tell.

Update at 9:48pm - He was online for a few seconds (or he could have just gone 'invisible'). I guess that's the end of it then. The pic is here*. So, what do you think? I have to admit that seeing it a few times increases the sleaze factor. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just paranoid. I usually take everything I read with a fistful of salt. Do you think I overreacted? I was just floored that he'd actually say he'd stop chatting with me.

* Update (25th April 2006): Since losing my Yahoo ID to a phishing scam, some links and photos are no longer accessible. Sorry for the inconvenience.

A Matter of Trust

I've been online since November 1996. I'd like to think that I know much better now compared to the early days when I got duped by that e-mail purportedly sent from TMnet asking me for my login details.

I've made many a friend (and foe) online, via Skype, IMs and chatrooms/forums/online games. A few months ago, I even met a Vietnamese online who tried impressing me with a shot of him in a silver Ferrari and another with him standing next to Dustin Nguyen (known most of all for his role in 21 Jump Street, beside Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise). His story was that he owned a company selling souped-up fast cars, and that Dustin was working for HIM. After a little chat session on MSN, I decided to check out Dustin's bio on IMDB.

Read about tragic car crash that involved his wife, which resulted in her being a quadriplegic the same year they were wed. The bio never mentioned him working for any company that involved cars.

So the next time I met that fellow again, I asked him what his company name was. He ignored that question and so I said that it was a pity about Dustin's wife, being involved in an accident and all. I added that there was no information about him being employed in a car company. Suddenly, he seemed very interested about how I knew this. I told him about the bio on IMDB. He wanted the link, which I gave with this query, "You want to read about your employee?"

Well, I think all blood vanished from his face when he read it, because as soon as he returned, he high-tailed it out of the chat window. Looks like he underestimated me and needed to change his M.O for meeting and impressing women. I hope Dustin practises his martial arts skills on that loser one day.

Cut to several days ago. I met this fellow while playing against him in the Yahoo Games Pool room. Since I enjoyed the games, I added him to my 'Pool Partners' contact list. We chatted and he seemed nice enough. He sent me a photo of himself and well...he seemed like one of those catalogue models.

I'm thinking to myself, "Phoooarrr... this can't be true. Cute fellow like that chatting with me." So I asked for another pic. He said he didn't have one with him. Fine, he did say he was on leave from the navy (stationed in Japan) and was using his grandfather's PC. The handle he used on YM was not his, he explained. It was his grandfather's. But he also said that his grandfather never chatted online, just knowing how to e-mail family members.

Little sirens were starting to blare. Why use his grandfather's name for a handle? Why couldn't he use his own name or handle?

I kept asking him a photo and said that I was just being cautious. But he apparently felt 'offended' that I would mistrust him. So he said he didn't want to chat with me. This was two nights ago. Last night, I got a 'Have a nice night' from him. I replied with a 'Thank you'. Tonight, I got another 'Have a nice night', which I then responded with a 'Thanks, you have a nice day then'. Figured that would be the end of it, but he replied again with a 'Will try'.

No, I didn't reply back. He said he didn't want to chat with me because of my trust issues. Why should I be the one to crumble and start chatting like nothing changed?

Sure, I enjoyed chatting with him. But surely somebody who easily feels offended (and doesn't buy the fact that we girls have to stay on our toes to avoid being played for a fool) has something to hide and is playing some mind game? I don't know about you, but when somebody's game is up...they tend to pretend that it's really us who's done a crime. A reverse psychology kind of thing. You know what I mean?

Anybody reading this have any comments? I'm tempted to give him a link to this just so he sees my side of the story.

But what's the use, right? As if he's really in the navy and flies fighter planes in Japan. Darn, too bad the www.navy.mil site is chock full of stuff and I don't know where to start.

Hmmm... and on second thought, it wouldn't be a great idea to give him this link. What if I was wrong?

Horrible long hair

Woke up this morning and was getting ready to have my shower. A certain member of the family was getting ready to go out (as usual).

Family Member (FM): "You should cut your hair. It's horrible."

Me: "I'm the one 'wearing' it (I just got up, okay? My speech skills need time to warm up). I like it!"

FM: "But it's other people who are the ones looking at you"

Me: "I've had people see me and they say they like it."

FM goes off and I go have my shower. Hmmph. I've never let my hair grow this long before. And it's quite short compared to those models who hawk shampoo on TV. My hair is just a little more than shoulder-length. Some people don't know what to say, and so they say something mean. Some people need to watch that Bambi movie ("If you can't say nothing nice, don't say nothing at all.") a few times.

Then I go to the kitchen ... and am told to sweep the floor. You can call me lazy, you can call me anything...but the truth is, I HATE sweating! The only sport I don't mind doing is swimming. And if you think I abhor housework, it's really the sweating I hate. When I was on a month-long holiday in Seattle, I learnt with glee that I could vacuum a whole house without breaking into a sweat! It helped that it was in Springtime (17th April - 15th May 1999) and the thermostat was somewhere around 72F.

What was I doing vacuuming a house on a holiday? I was bored to death. The person I was visiting had to go to work. I had NO TV (person's housemate kept the TV in his room), and just the radio...which kept playing Tal Bachman's "She's So High" every five minutes. No kidding! Now you know why I decided to forego the bedrest (I had a whiplash-type injury on the 2nd day that I was there) and vacuum instead.

But back to the present, I'm still trying to solve my VB6 coding problems. Yes, yes...I know there's a VB.NET and it's starting to get ancient. And I did try using it. Problem was, I had bought 4 books on VB6. Which hasn't really helped much.

What I need is a VB6 expert. Most people I've contacted are too busy with work. What to do?

What? Another blog?

Ack!

I didn't sign up to get the fourth blog in my blog collection. I wanted to be able to leave comments in my friends' blogs. Please stand by while I figure out what to do and what section of my life this blog needs to cover.

Innermost thoughts: part of my name is there, some people might know me (if you don't, just google "Sharlini"-lah, my surname is not Sankaran), so maybe not.

Wild escapades: Eh? What wild escapades? This is "me" we're talking about. I live in a small town, just about everywhere is five minutes away from my house. The cemetary is a 20-second walk from my front gate. And this State is part of the Malay Heartlands (boy, do I feel country right now), just escaped the clutches of the opposition government in the last elections and still no real nightspots to go to. Not that I care to go to these places anyway.

Acts of crime: Yeah, sure...whose? The closest I've been to crime is Kajang Prison. I was doing my practical training in the HQ (IT Dept) and the pre-release prisoners were cleaning the office. Let's see...have I committed any crimes? I'm so good, I used to write grafitti (very small) using a pencil (just so they could rub it off with an eraser if they wanted to). Oh, wait...there was one time I used 'Liquid Paper'/'Pentel Correction Fluid' to write something about a guy I detested. XXX is an MCP. Unfortunately, nobody knew what an MCP was. If I had written it in full:
a) people would recognize my handwriting
b) people would know it was one of two or three people (and that included me) whose English was far advanced than the rest of them.

I wonder if I can change the title of the blog. Thinking on my feet was never one of my better qualities. But it's short and sweet. No drama, unlike "Friend to all, lover to none".

I hope people won't think I simply jumped into the blogging bandwagon. My first blog was started early last year, so there! Other blogs are on Friendster, Yahoo 360 and... umm, oh yeah... that's a secret. The last one (which I started early last year) is a secret. Let's just say that it's Numb. If you can find that, then you are one clever fellow/person. Word of caution though: plenty of rambling, venting, boasting and gushing over this particular person that I know. So don't go there.

I am not going to whine, moan or be pathetic on this blog. No pitiful attempts at poetry, or fiction-writing (I save all that for the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest). I will try updating this as frequently as I can, but I'd rather not post if it's just a half-assed "Really didn't do anything today. I feel so sleepy. Bye!" entry.

That's it from me for now. Ta!