It's the Year of the Dog!

Well, I got up at 9am. As I walked past the front door, I noticed the clay dog figurines that I had bought on a trip to Southern Thailand on the coffee table. Mum found them on the display cabinet and put them on the table, in the spirit of New Year. =)

Wished my parents a Happy New Year and then had my breakfast of baked beans while I read the Sunday papers.

Mum was busy doing her kitchen stuff as usual. And then a little later, she got the circular candy tray out and added some of the ingredients for the 'Ais Kacang'.

I'm trying to write a little more so that the next photo posted is 'after' the pic on the left. I'm eccentric like that. Anyways, I just took an antihistamine tablet earlier. The itching is a memory now. I think I'm allergic to something. Had the Itch for three days and it started getting unbearable last night. Maybe it was the Prawns from Cambodia. Mum's been adding them to everything. And the Shark's Fin Soup she made last night had some prawns too. Please note that we didn't buy the shark's fin, it was a gift from the sister-in-law. Yaay, I've reached the end of the first photo! I did it! Yes, I am indeed crazy...

Okay, so here are three of the main ingredients of 'Ais Kacang': Cincau (black jelly), Cendol and Attap seeds (attapchi). I wanted to resize this, but apparently, I can't.


Then I went to the garden, since it was still bright and early. Took a few more photos of flowers and a bug.

You can click on the bug pic to read the caption. My attempt at being witty, and probably failing. *g*

Enjoy! ;) Off to have lunch now. Hmmm, so much done and there's still a whole day ahead! Mornings are pretty convenient.

Okay, I'm back after a lunch of Indian rojak (sorry, no pic for that). After that, I had 'Ais Kacang'!

The ice shaver

Best thing about this is that I can have lots of helpings! Not much of an expense, when you make it yourself. Unlike some unfortunate souls who don't have the time or the resources to get it all done themselves. I guess you pay for convenience, eventhough what you get isn't half as satisfying. Why eat out when you can eat in and save so much money? *big grin*

Anyone who marries me gets to have such a wonderful mother-in-law. How's that for bribery? ;)

Gong Xi Fa Cai!!

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all my accidental Chinese visitors a very Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year. May the Year of the Dog be a barking success for you, with happiness up to the woof.

*cringe* Okay, I'll stop doing that now.

Mum tried out the ice shaver yesterday, while I was in my room, sweating while ironing the laundry. Yes, the volcano erupted and I had to appease the Goddess of the Household. I sacrificed my sweat (now I am itching, even after a shower and ointment applications).

Will be waking up at 9am tomorrow, eating a breakfast of baked beans and hot dogs. I can't remember the last time I had breakfast. I think it was Dec 8th. I had to go to campus to see the coordinator. Wait...it was later. I remember waking up to see the Golden Globes. I had breakfast then too. Heh...

Tomorrow I'll take pix of the 'ais kacang'. And an orange or two. *s*

Take care, all! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Of contests and prizes

I figured out the other day why I was having trouble uploading my pix to Blogger. They were way too huge. *g* All better now, but I do get too lazy to crop and resize my pix.

Went out to the garden again in the afternoon. Got bitten by mosquitoes til my legs itched. Took photos of the starfruit blossoms, the passionfruit bloom, the little sprays of mango flowers. 'Tis the season for fruits soon. *licks lips in anticipation*

The pix on the left was taken yesterday. Part of the arrangement my mother made for church this morning. I only used the available light from the open door. I miss the golden glow of the setting sun.

Anyways, on to the title of this blog. I noticed a new contest on a certain site (I'm not telling where, because I don't want to lessen the chances of my winning the prizes!). The first prize consists of two Nokia 6111 phones and a Photography Package (for a couple) worth RM4,000, from a certain Studio. The second prize consists of a Nokia 7370, a Bluetooth Headset HS-26W and a Photography Package (for a couple) worth RM3,000 from the same studio. Third prize consists of a Nokia 7360 and a Bluetooth Headset HS-26W. There are 50 Nokia goodie bags with 'super-chic Nokia merchandise' up for grabs too.

Last year, I won second prize in the Valentine's Day contest organized by the same site. I won my Kodak LS755 digital camera (as you can see, I'm putting it to good use) then. Not wanting to sound presumptuous or anything, but ... I'm single! If I won first or second prize, I can't just pick a man off the street to take photos with me, right? And I can't exactly call on my best guy friend to accompany me (the rumours were flying on campus just because we hung out together. We did nothing but chat and cycle! Tsk...imagine if we took that photography package). I read the Terms and Conditions, they never mentioned anything about transferring the package to anyone. If I won, perhaps I could just transfer it to my parents. But what a waste of RM3,000 - RM4,000 though. I could start paying off my student loan with that money. It's quite unfair, wouldn't you say? Valentine's Day is not just for lovers any more! It's for friends and family! Why presume that all the contestants are part of a couple? Or do I aim for the third and consolation prizes just because I'm single? What ever happened to cold, hard cash?

Oh well...I mentioned this to my Mum this 'morning' and she said not to worry about it until it happened. What's wrong with a little contingency plan? Do people wait for a real fire to happen before they start discussing evacuation procedures? I ask you, do they? I think not.

Here are some of the pix I took today. I went back into the house when I noticed something floating in front of my face. It was a little caterpillar, spinning thread from its butt and flying in the wind. If one can fly in front of my face, there's always the possiblity of one landing on ME! Maybe some have...and were washed down the drain during my shower. No...maybe they just got stuck to my clothes and jumped off again for a better destination. Yes, that sounds better. *relieved*

Passionfruit bloom

Unripe Passionfruit

Starfruit blossoms

Close-up of another starfruit flower cluster.

A cluster of mango flowers

Another cluster of mango blossoms

Mum got all the ingredients for 'Ais Kacang', just need to make the cendol. Will try to get pix of the preparations and the finished product when it happens. And try not to get in the way. *g* Well, I guess that's all then. Take care.

A Quiz-filled day

Overall, you scored as follows:



95% scored higher (more stupid),
2% scored the same, and
3% scored lower (less stupid).

What does this mean? You are 3% stupid. This means...

You are our next Einstein. Wow! Keep up the great thinking.

Ahem, I've never felt prouder to have obtained such a terribly low score. =) No wonder I'm still single, anyone intellectually inferior in my presence would feel so ... intellectually inferior. I wouldn't blame them for being intimidated by my English proficiency and quick wit. (Note to reader(s), please take with a fistful of salt). ;)

Well, let's have a quiz-filled day today!

You Are An Invisible Ex

You're so over your ex, you hardly even remember you have an ex You prefer leave all of the baggage behind you - far, far behind As they say, indifference is the opposite of love!

What Type of Ex Are You?

Your Birthdate: July 25

You excel at anything difficult or high tech. In other words, you're a total (brilliant) geek. It's difficult for you to find people worth spending time with. Which is probably why you'll take over the world with your evil robots! Your strength: Your unfailing logic Your weakness: Loving machines more than people Your power color: Tan Your power symbol: Pi Your power month: July

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Darn it! This quiz uncovered my dastardly plot of taking over the world with my legion of nanobots (think the smoke monster on Lost). Next, how scary am I?

You Are Scary

You even scare scary people sometimes!

How Scary Are You?

Muahahahahaha! You should read the comment I left at someone's blog last night. This guest blogger was writing some rubbish about preparing 'Spiced Kittens'. And my somewhat disturbing comment was asking about effective methods of rendering them lifeless. I could lead you to that comment, just don't reveal my 'identity'. Then again, if I was so paranoid, would I have left my blog url there? *g* Here it is: I am Shhh (#4). Re-reading it, I think I scared myself! I sounded like I was serious and interested in preparing said dish. I hope the SPCA (phew, none here in my State) don't come knocking at my door, expecting to see skinned cats and kittens hanging from the ceiling. Naah, I couldn't do that...imagine the stench and the flies. I'd rather do that in a chilled room with a sterile environment. ;)

What Your Face Says

At first glance, people see you as driven and ambitious. Overall, your true self is engaging and outgoing. With friends, you seem logical, detached, and a bit manipulative. In love, you seem mysterious and interesting. In stressful situations, you seem cheerful and optimistic.

What Do People Think Of Your Face?

Notice how it says, "You seem". That's right. I look...it doesn't mean that I am. In stressful situations, I seem cheerful and optimistic. Deep down, I am plotting on going postal, shooting those responsible for making me all stressed out in the first place. Hmmm, good thing I don't reveal my identity here...oops, maybe I shouldn't have linked to my other blogs. Hmmm... and I scored a 3 in the Stupidity test? I think that's where the 3 comes in. D'oh. Heh heh.

Guys Like That You're Sensitive

And not in that "cry at a drop of a hat" sort of way. You just get most guys - even if you're not trying to. Guys find it is easy to confide in you and tell you their secrets. No wonder you tend to get close quickly in relationships!

What Do Guys Like About You?

Okay, that was my last quiz. Have a good day! =)

Venturing out into the garden

I had noticed the blooms of the jambu air (pink guava) tree outside my window yesterday. Time passed so fast (and I was too lazy to do anything) and so I ventured out today. Took two shots of the blooms. Here's one of them.

I knew there were those big red ants (referred locally as kerengga) about, and luckily for me, they weren't on the ground, near my feet. I approached the trunk of the tree...and there...

... all ready to attack me should I get close enough. That's when I realized that the leaves and branches were hanging low, and I felt a leaf on my head. I ducked and backed away. Looking up, I saw ...

... a caterpillar covered in kerengga ants. I wasn't sure whether they were attacking it for food, or protecting it from predators. The caterpillar might just be one of those that produce a sweet liquid that the ants crave. Like a nectar dispenser, perhaps.

I saw some growth at the bottom of the chopped up main trunk. And I took a shot. The three little leaves kinda remind me of the three fingers of the aliens in War Of The Worlds. What do you think?

Yeah, I have an overactive imagination. =) Took a few more shots of the same thing, just different angles, then I moved on to the Feng Shui plant.

As I looked at the other blooms, I noticed a familiar fluff I'd seen some weeks before. And true enough, I saw them on the edge of threads, jumping off like a group of bungee jumpers on a record-breaking bid.

You can see those little wrigglers on the petals of the flowers. I looked at the nearby leaves and stems and they were there too. Wriggling away happily.

Well, it was getting hot over there, so I returned to the back of the house. I looked up and saw this ...

One of the things that gets to me is this, almost every time I try to get a nice, clear shot of something, the wind will start to pick up. I'd strangle the wind if I could. I don't have a lot of patience, and with the wind, there's no telling when it'll die down. For instance, when I tried taking a photo of the little flowers on the Starfruit/carambola tree. Wind started to blow. It was taunting me.

I took three shots and looked for more flower clusters. And that's when I saw a solitary flower. I knelt down close to the ground, my camera pointed up. I was trying to get more sky than the neighbour's banana leaves.

I had trouble taking this photo because the flower kept getting blurred. I don't have steady hands, and the wind wasn't helping much.

Well, I guess that's it from me. It was a real snapping fest this evening. Good thing I decided to add another three-gang plug into my room. Now, I can keep my photoframe dock plugged in and just attach my camera when I'm ready to transfer my photos. I can only save 10 five-megapixel shots using the 16MB internal memory. It sucks not having an xD Picture card.

Went insane earlier and visited There.com. Something about a virtual world where you can meet and make friends. I was curious, so sue me. I downloaded and installed the 54MB application and then it changed my screen resolution! Got all ugly (like in Safe Mode). But the virtual world was alright. Saw a few other avatars and chatted with one. Just before I made the fatal mistake of resizing the window, we exchanged YM IDs. I crashed after that.

I VOW NEVER TO USE There.com AGAIN! Good thing joining and registering were free (no credit card details were requested). Anyways, that's it for me.

Take care all!

I'm an English Genius, baby!

English Genius You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 93% Expert!

You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go! You scored higher than 60% on Beginner You scored higher than 37% on Intermediate You scored higher than 69% on Advanced You scored higher than 80% on Expert

link

Ahem! And I only got one question wrong in the Expert section. Anyways, I hadn't planned on using this result to update my blog today. I just saw it an hour ago.

What I really wanted to blog about was what my British cousin-by-marriage wrote about the best reasons to visit Malaysia. I figured that the only way to convince a Brit to visit Malaysia is to get a fellow Brit with experience. E-mail edited for clarity and to protect the guilty (me).

What I can say is that the food in Malaysia is the best in the world (and Tigrrr's mum, MUM is one of the best cooks in Malaysia!). What makes Malaysian food to fantastic is the variety. There are so many dishes, I usually need a long check list when we go there for holidays just to make sure I cover everything gastronomically!

Contrary to belief, not everything is spicy. On the off chance that you find the local cuisine a tad too much to handle, even KFC in Malaysia is worth visiting! If you're a fan of sushi, that too is very cheap and you can sample to your heart's content. Delving further into the western tastes, the american coffee chain, Coffee Bean (aka just another Starbucks) sells fabulous iced coffees. Just the thing to cool down from the heat.

So thats food. It's the social scene of Malaysia. And as Tigrrr would no doubt have also tried to convince you, everything is cheap in Malaysia, especially the food. Food is literally RM to the pound, so in essence food is almost 7 times cheaper. Imagine breakfast for 20p. You can't even get a slice of toast for that here.

Everything else is pretty reasonably priced. Accommodation, taxis etc etc. Of course you have to be wary of being ripped off, but as long as you know everything ought to be cheap you'll be fine. So once you've stumped up the airfare to get there, you'll get a pretty good deal for a holiday.

Unless you plan on going jungle trekking or hiking Malaysia is as safe as most tourist destinations.

So can I emphasise anymore? Go for a visit! I haven't heard anyone wish they hadn't gone there. To further prove a point, we took my parents over there for a visit last June and they loved it, despite usually preferring their holidays to be more of the European/Cruise variety.

Convinced?

Wonder if that'll seal the deal. Simon loves his food. He almost sounds like Wallace (of Wallace and Gromit fame) when he's raving about cheese. *eg* He just mentioned that he might be able to have a vacation this year. And I suggested Yugoslavia and Latvia, and he got confused after my past 'Visit Malaysia' promos. He's not made his mind up. So there's still a chance. Hmmm...

Take care, all! 2007 is Visit Malaysia Year! ;)

Some people...

Steve, you don't have to keep checking my blog for updates so many times a day! =Þ

See, if you subscribed, you needn't waste your time checking and looking at stale entries. Nothing happening here, hence the lack of updates.

Mum's been spring-cleaning. Something to be done before Chinese New Year (CNY) on the 29th of January. Doubt if I'll be going to my granny's this CNY. The Year of the Dog will be less festive, but it'll be a break from the temple burning firecrackers next door. Constant "Crack-crack-BOOM!" every night. No Ang Pows for me, then again, I AM getting older. But the rule is, "Married people give money in red packets (ang pows) to children and single people!!!" No thanks to my siblings marrying non-Chinese, I don't get any from them, either. *sigh*

Was wondering about this nasty smell in my room three hours ago. And then I remembered seeing Mum drying the seat of the chairs in the sun this morning. They weren't completely dry and she put them back on. I removed the seat from my room. Even with air freshener sprayed in my room, the smell still manages to permeate the air. All better with the seat out. At first, I thought something had died. Checked windows and sides of door for any signs of more gecko carnage. Found none, thankfully.

Some news about Ty. He got back to me and said he hasn't been using MSN Messenger for the past three weeks. Still, he apologized for making me feel like the 'Flavour of the Fourth Quarter'. That was nice of him. Yes, having him write a nice, long e-mail after quite awhile is making me warm towards him again. Strange about the MSN Messenger doppelganger. I've been seeing it online at 3am, using the Web version. Tried to transfer a file, to which it cancelled. So it HAS a brain! I figure I'm going to pester it with "Who Are You?" messages (cue The Who's "Who Are You" song - Tell me, who are you? Who? Who? Who? Who?) until it tires. Or until I start that job and I can't stay up late anymore.

Anyways, his PC is busted indefinitely. He won't fix it. He has plans to get a laptop, but priority right now is for his coming 1.5-week vacation. So the laptop will have to wait. I won't make any judgments until he's around again. If I overreacted (which anyone would have in my shoes), well...he's seen what a Nutjob I can be, eh? I don't know if I'd date me myself (sorry if you don't understand the previous sentence). But I know I'd be at least best friends. I might be a little off-center, but I'm fun and caring (personal experience may differ according to individuals and their actions towards me).

Listening to Pandora. I just love it! Open it on one tab and keep surfing other sites and you don't even have to see the ad on the site.

That it from me. Take care, all!
p/s: One downside to calling my blog 'DNR' (not going to type the whole thing out - it'll just show up in the search results), is that there will always be a stream of people looking for information on the order. It's already #4 in the search results at MSN Search (Use Google, people!!).

Delayed

Oops, sorry for the delay. Time goes by so quickly when you're not doing anything. Let's see...I saw the live telecast of the Golden Globes on Tuesday. Was first watching it on cable, and then realized that the telecast on NTV7 was live as well, and in fact, was ahead by several minutes!

Didn't like the renaming of Pierce Brosnan to Pierce Bronson by John Travolta (all that Xenu Scientology crap must have affected his brain). And Teri Hatcher jinxed it at the start of the show when she said that they were all going to lose to Mary Louise Parker. As superstitious Chinese people would say, "Sway". Saying something bad because it just might happen.

Then the next day, I watched the premier episode of American Idol. Let's face it, most of us watch it for the weird and wacky antics of the delusional. I'm sure that none of those who sang badly have ever heard a recording of themselves murdering a Whitney Houston or Paula Abdul song. They just trust the compliments and assurances of well-intentioned (or are they just being evil?) friends and family members. I was wondering if there was going to be another Mary Roach...and there were quite a few. The stubborn, reality-challenged 'singers' who are convinced that they are truly the next American Idol and that the judges had made a mistake.

I am so rooting for that cowboy from a town of four. I sure hope there will be a Good Samaritan who will offer to give him vocal lessons for free. Imagine the publicity if he gets into the finals.

Spotted what I thought was a woodpecker on the side of the avocado trunk. It's almost in the center of the photo. I was in my room and there was a mosquito screen between us. Hence the blurriness and not being able to get closer. Showed the pic to Dad and he said it was a Barbet (I think that's how it's spelt). Barbut? I think the former looks more accurate.

Okay, that's it from me for now. Take care all!

Flavour of The Fourth Quarter

I will update this within 20 hours. Nothing much happened today. Mum squealed-screamed in the kitchen before lunch, she hadn't seen a squirming earthworm on the kitchen floor. We have NO idea where that came from.

Bro called almost two hours ago, at 12:14am, he thought we might have called him earlier. He had been carrying a heavy box and hadn't seen a hole in the ground. Twisted his ankle. Mum told him to eat some painkillers. I figure, why not just go to the hospital?

Had written e-mail to Ty the day before, saying that it would be my last to him after his igtnoring me on MSN Messenger. I made myself visible when I saw him online, but I didn't say 'Hi'. I gave him a choice. When he opted to go offline, that just made me irritated and angry. After all those daily chats and e-mails, this is the treatment I get? I said in the e-mail that I didn't even want a discussion anymore. It was over and I didn't think we could even be friends.

Two hours ago, he replies. In the e-mail, he responded that he was on a break at work and that his PC was busted since last week. He said he would be going to the library to get online and that he would contact me within one or two days. He said that he didn't want me to not write or chat with him anymore.

I can't help but wonder, if I hadn't e-mailed him, would he have had the decency to write back? I doubt it. I think he may have been happy with the fact that I would always be there, for him to talk to if the mood struck him. Well, he underestimated me. Nobody treats me like that. I don't like people who give me grief. I stay clear of people like that. I'm no sucker for punishment. After those 'whirlwind' three months, I do feel like the 'Flavour of the Fourth Quarter'. Past my expiry date and ready for the dumpsite.

Oh, looks like I've written what I planned to write tomorrow. Hehehe. Silly me.

Okay, sleeping early tonight because I want to be up by 9am to catch the live telecast of the Golden Globes! =)

Take care all!

School Opening

Well, I woke up at 9a.m., to Annie Lennox's "No More I Love You's". Then I wondered what time the thing was supposed to begin. Lay in bed until 9:15a.m., when Mum opened the door to my room. I asked her what time the ceremony was to start and she said that I had to be ready by 10:15a.m.

Did the usual bathroom rituals, made myself toast and margarine and Mum's homemade strawberry jam. Was 'reminded' (read as 'nagged') to apply make-up. Had to change the outfit I had on because both my parents thought it didn't look nice. Changed. Applied lotions and potions and foundation. That's it. Our ride had arrived and I just remembered to wear my watch, my rose quartz bracelet (supposedly effective in drawing out all those prospective suitors and make them fawn at my feet -- hasn't worked yet) and my glasses.

Parked the car in the Yen Tin Midtown Hotel guest parking after explaining to the friendly police officer that we were there for the opening ceremony. We walked for about 20 metres until we reached the tent where the VIP tables, buffet table and chairs for the 'common people' were.

I saw two unfortunate souls dressed as the school mascots (a big-headed kid and a giant strawberry). It was hot by 11am. They must have sweated buckets. Small kids were sneaking up behind the strawberry to get a feel of the material. It seemed like the strawberry was being molested without its knowledge. (If you look closely at the pic below, you can see the impression of fingers above the black 'seed').

Soon, the sirens of the police outriders were heard. The Sultanah arrived in a car fit for royalty, walked on the yellow carpet and was greeted by the awaiting VIPs. She cut the ribbon (I think it was ribbon, I couldn't see anything behind the throng) and entered the brand-spanking new premises of the Smart Readers school. Went back to our plastic chairs. I was coaxed by Mum to check out the back entrance and get a pix of the Sultanah if I could. No, it was blocked with kids waiting to perform. And there was a police officer there too. So I just took a pic of the kids.

Then, it was time to eat. All there was was 'mi goreng'. And jellies and doughnuts and curry puffs. I had a small helping of noodles, a very hard doughnut and a curry puff before Mum talked to one of her many friends who works there. We were then brought upstairs, where it was cooler and had another spread of food. I think it was actually meant for the security detail. But there was plenty for everybody. I didn't eat much, just a fruit tart (had slices of peach, kiwifruit, half a grape, dragonfruit and whipped cream), a piece of 'roti jala', and a packet of Chrysanthemum Tea.

Later, we went upstairs to check out the dormitory. Incidentally, the floor we were on was to be the reception area. There was a room that could fit seven occupants and the door was two steps away from the reception desk. Upstairs, were two more floors with better rooms. Some had twin beds, other's had a double and a single, or a double and twins. Looked like there was a room for every preference. One room had a bathroom attached with heated shower, while the rest had a common bathroom (with heated shower) and kitchen area. All rooms were air-conditioned and had a TV. Looked comfortable enough. I'd have taken a pic, but the rooms hadn't been prettied up with bedsheets yet.

The Sultanah left by 12:30pm and we left soon after checking out the school proper. As we passed by the head honcho of the franchise, the family friend told her, "These are the parents." Only Mum's friend in the middle was a parent. I'm sure she must have thought me an unlikely parent.

It's time for dinner. Take care all!

Having problems uploading pix

Geez, it's getting tougher and tougher to upload pix to Blogger! On Opera, there's only the Add Pic and Spellcheck function available and even then it's impossible to upload. No matter, I'll try uploading some other time. At least I managed to add the flower arrangement photo.

Attending a school opening ceremony in the morning. School is owned by a close family friend and will be officiated by the Sultanah of Terengganu (she's the wife of the State Ruler, the Sultan of Terengganu -- Terengganu Royal House).

As usual, Mum was insisting I try out outfits beforehand. No jeans as it would be somewhat formal (what with royalty and all). I suggested, "What about a dress?" and Mum just about snorted with amusement at the thought of me in a dress. I think it's been more than a decade since I've worn a dress.

Tried the two cheongsam tops (I lost weight and the chest part was all hollow), a multitude of blouses and shirts, skirts and pants. At one point, I saw Mum handling a shirt and it looked like she expected me to push my head through. Of course, when I did that, she left the shirt on my head! She said I could dress myself! Hahaha...of course. *grin* Please forget what my actual age is.

No rain today, survived Friday the 13th. Wasted money SMSing/texting my bids to Channel V's Bid It! Such suspense when I received a confirmation message saying that my bid was the lowest and unique bid and that the item was mine if no one had outbid me. That lasted all of three minutes when I got another notification stating that my bid was no longer the lowest unique bid. Three more times did I get lowest unique bid after numerous tries. And that's where I got stumped. I had tried all the possible denominations from 0.01 to my previous lowest bid. So when I incremented the bid by one sen, it was unique, yet NOT THE LOWEST! How could that be? I stopped after that (still have five bids remaining), because it looked fishy to me. What am I bidding for? An iTECH Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard! It's a small cigarette lighter sized gadget that projects a keyboard layout onto a flat surface such as a table and it knows what key you've tapped when your finger obscures the key. It's meant to be used with handheld devices such as PDAs, mobile phones and certain laptops (with Bluetooth capabilites, of course).

Do I really need one? No. So if my bid doesn't win it, that's fine. I really just needed to decrease my credit. I've been accumulating too much and due to a lack of a special someone to waste my credit on, I decided to try my luck with the bids. Just so you know, I have donated credit to charities in the past as well. The Tsunami relief as well as several 'Suara Hati' causes.

Take care all and have a good day, wherever you are (Islington or Stockholm or Pudu or Damansara or Cheras).

Slept three hours earlier...

...and woke up three hours earlier the next morning. I figured I had to be dreaming when I saw the time, 9:15am, so I went back to sleep. Didn't get out of bed til 11:30am. I won't have such luxuries in a couple of months' time, so I might as well enjoy it while it lasts, right? *grin*

Anyways, I went to the kitchen after my shower and started reading the paper. On the second page, was a report about sleep inertia. According to The Times,

A study by scientists at the University of Colorado suggests that the performance of people immediately after waking up is as bad as, or worse, than if they were drunk. The study claims that the performance of someone who has just woken from eight hours sleep is actually worse than that of someone who has been awake for 24 hours or longer.

Trust me to complain yesterday about being woken up suddenly in the middle of my sleep and trying to remember my Dad's cellphone number. It's a miracle I actually remembered it. But I was more angry than forgetful. I could have snapped that pencil, but I just threw it out of my room (through the open door).

I guess my ex-roomies did the right thing by burning the midnight oil then. I was the one who slept at 1am and got up early-ish to study. I avoided the caffeine, used my airline face mask to shield my eyes from the light. I'm one of those people who need darkness and relative silence to sleep well. And I'm a light sleeper too. If someone opens the door, I'm awake. If someone turns on the light, I'm awake. But if I'm really tired, then I'll sleep through anything.

And on rare occasions, I talk in my sleep too. Usually it's in response to conversation I'm having in my dream. I know this because I woke myself up mid-sentence. I was speaking in Malay too. Nice to know that I'm also bilingual in my dreams.

I watched Pride And Prejudice today. I don't know how they could cast Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet and be 'plain'. They could dress her in drabby greys and browns, and she's still so beautiful. If they really tried, they could have just picked ME! Then again, I doubt if I had the pride to decline Mr. Darcy.

Anyways, bedtime for me. Have a good night/day to the regulars, to the ones who found their way here after searching for 'Do Not Resuscitate' on MSN Search (please try looking for the information at the sidebar *points to the left*) and to the ones who just clicked 'Next Blog'. =)

Got up this morning...

... and felt sick. Had that cotton wool for brains feeling. Had lunch and had a nap. Was rudely interrupted 30mins later when Mum burst into my room, demanding Dad's cellphone number. Apparently, somebody was waiting for it and she couldn't find it in the addressbook by the phone. Dad's had that phone number for a YEAR! I was in the middle of looking for it on my cellphone and Mum was pestering me to be quick.

Fine, I just wrote whatever looked 'right' and gave her the piece of paper. My head was pounding and I couldn't be bothered. When she left, I saw that his number was clearly written in the book, albeit slightly above Dad's name. So I wrote his name in huge letters next to it.

The number I wrote was correct, by the way. So even in my dazed state, it was still working.

Hmmph, Simon still has that pic of his American 'friend' on his desk at home. Nope, doesn't work for me. And HE was the one who said that I couldn't make up my mind. MEN!

I bet my wotton cooly (I mean, cotton wooly) brain was a result of this mess. I was better after my nap, but now, eight hours later, I feel my vein pounding against my temple.

I think I'll be a good girl and sleep right now. No more playing First Class Solitaire at Pogo.com.

*yawn*

Take care, all! Sorry, nothing much happening (as usual), except for the containers falling off a ship and the locals opening them and carting away the goods, such as frozen processed shrimp, cartons of cigarettes, clothing. The shrimp are being sold for RM12 - RM15 per kilo. Apparently, the police are arresting those who are in possession of said goods. I had the opportunity to see the packaging for the shrimp. "Product of Cambodia". It looks like it was headed for the American market.

More people coming by this site looking for "Do Not Resuscitate" via MSN Search. I think I'm listed seventh. It's so obvious that the link is to a blog and not medically related. And yet... Maybe looking for a personal account of a family member faced with the decision? I read somewhere that a nurse has tattooed her chest with the words, "Do Not Resuscitate". She's seen how medical professionals, EMTs try so hard to bring a person back to life. According to her, if she's dead, she doesn't want to be brought back to life only to face Death yet again. I never thought about it that way before.

Okay, off to bed for real now. Oy, my head.

If I knew then what I know now...

...I still wouldn't know what I'd do. We all know that if we repeated past events the same way, we'd be where we are now. Me in front of my laptop, tapping keys in the dark on my bed, with nothing to illuminate the keyboard except for the lit monitor screen (unless I did nothing for a minute and then it'd shut off by itself -- I set it that way so that I could sleep in peace without turning it off).

If I did things the same way, I'd still be dumped by e-mail...but I could still say that I got to travel to Seattle and expand my horizons. Sneak into Microsoft HQ without signing a thing (ah, the advantages of having a workforce from ethnically diverse backgrounds - I could blend in nicely). See pansies in 3D, as opposed to seeing them on the pages of books. I never got to touch them though. I didn't want the locals seeing this weird-looking, skinny (but bundled up in three layers of clothes eventhough it was in the middle of Spring) girl standing transfixed and fondling the plants (with a silly look on her face). Oh, those yellows and purples! It's too bad that I didn't have a camera with me then. A shame.

If I changed a single thing in the past, I might be worse off than I already am. Must think that way if I was to have some kind of semblance to sanity. I don't want to imagine me being happily married with a handful of adopted kids, nice comfortable house with dogs running in the yard, guinea pigs in a run with plenty of hay. No, none of that.

Anyways, should I have mentioned to Mum yesterday (or was it the day before?) that Simon was interested in me? I was e-mailing him earlier today, saying that I wasn't going to mention him at all. So I didn't. I was at the Chip forum and smiling at an entry that someone had posted and Mum saw me (my room door is usually open), and she asked, "Why are you smiling like that? What did he say?" JUst because I'm smiling to myself doesn't mean it's got anything to do with Simon.

But wait, it gets worse. She comes in, plonks herself on my bed and says, "Let's have a look at Simon again!"

So off we go to JustJobIt. He's got family photos there, and pix of trips to Iceland, Austria, Switzerland. I don't know. Was she checking him out for 'suitability'? I hope not! We're friends for now. And I'm not going to think of anything further than that until we actually meet. The date of which is yet undetermined. It might even help if I renewed my passport. *grin*

In the news the past few days was the so-called US$1 billion 'donation' by a Dr Elie (something) Najem, a self-professed billionaire worth $46 billion (which would make him the third richest man in the world -- and yet, unlisted in the 'World's Richest' List) to MAKNA, the National Cancer Council. He claimed to have brain cancer and has no need for his billions. After the media investigated his claims, they found that he's been passing out bouncing cheques and has been charged for fraud and cheating in other countries. He is Lebanese and arrived last year. Which means that he's overstayed. In that length of time, he married a 19-year-old girl and she is now three months pregnant. In her pictures... why don't you just go to the Star and read about it. There are other links to related news as well. Anyways, did you see that 'embrace' between them? It looks like he's got her in a head-lock. It's almost as creepy as the Oprah TomKat pix. *shiver*

All I can say is that the girl doesn't have enough neurons to make a synapse. What kind of billionaire would hair growing wild like a weed? Oh well...

By the way, I have a better idea for the 'regulars' here. Just leave a comment (post mortem) and as it is moderated, I can see the contents first (your e-mail address), note them down and delete without publishing it. Easy! Privacy secured. =) And another thing, if you run out of stuff to read, you can always check out the other two blogs. Both in various states of abandonment.

Take care, all!

If you write it, will they come?

I update and what happens? The regulars go missing! Since I only have about three, and nobody seems to be interested in subscribing to the feed, how about giving me your e-mail address (just write it in the comments box) and I will personally let you know when I've updated. How's that for service?

Hand on my heart, I will not use the e-mail address(es) for nefarious schemes, evilness, forwarded e-mails about so-called viruses, jokes, chain-letters, invitations to join contests or referrals. You can trust me. I'm so honest, I don't even take coins I see lying around in the house. *points at halo above head* I also have that. *grin* *finds a little tarnish on side of halo, spits (no, Autoglym) and uses edge of shirt...err, no, cloth to rub it away* I also have a conscience the size of Saturn, rings included.

What happened today? Mum arranged some flowers for an non-existent Mass tonight. Somebody misinformed her. As she was wondering what to do with the flowers, a sister mentioned that there was going to be a funeral mass tomorrow night, for a man who passed away due to complications related to AIDS. Mum kept saying he was a lucky man because he got such beautiful flowers (fuschia carnations and off-white chrysanthemums + ferns) for his funeral mass. He had no family and the church had arranged it for him. I told her, "He's not lucky, he died!"

But I know what she meant.

*yawn*
Feeling sleepy. I think I'll sleep earlier tonight. Take care all!

Ice shaver!

Man, it sure is a hassle uploading pix to Blogger. Third time's the charm. Phew.

Pic is of Mum's chok kodok/chokodok, minus the chilly sauce. I only eat the thing, so I don't know what the complete recipe is. I know there's flour, salt, water, sometimes corn, sometimes prawn.

Mum bought an ice shaver last month but couldn't bring it back by bus. Yesterday, someone from the Prison Dept came by to pass it on to us. The prison network is really extensive, one in every state if I'm not mistaken. Better than a chain of hotels if you're a higher up in the dept. You get to stay in air-conditioned comfort in VIP rooms.

Anyways, I looked up possible ingredients for 'Halo-halo' (use the ice shaver to produce shaved ice for desserts), a speciality from the Philippines. It means 'mix-mix' and you're supposed to mix the bits of pineapple, mango, jellies/cincau, yam, syrup, etc, for that (my stomach is growling) kick.

Mum says making Halo-halo is only worth it when there are a lot of people around. Opening the tin of mixed fruits or filled milk is just a waste for two - three people. I told her that there'd be more to go around. And she said I was greedy! I am NOT! I just appreciate my food more. *grin*

Been adding more quotes to my website. Hate it when there are no Ascii codes for those special characters (vowels with a line above them) that I need for a few Greek proverbs/quotes. Yes, I am geeky that way, I have some of the quotes in their original language as well as the translation. I do this so that whoever is looking through my collection can impress the socks off their friends when they quote the sayings.

Oh yes, I am sure I am not the only one feeling like this. My problem is, I feel inadequate enough as it is. Early thirties, just done with her degree and no career to speak of. When I happened to see a mention of a childhood friend online, I did a little digging and managed to contact her. Just as I expected, she was successful, a manager in a firm. Has her own house in a swanky part of Kuala Lumpur. I guess if I were in her position, I'd be bragging too. Graduated a semester early (and I was shameless to say that I am graduating a semester late) from one of the local universities and earned her Master's degree. *sigh*

Sometimes I wonder why I bother. I know on paper I look like a dismal failure. Heck, off paper I am one too. I am sure that when I tell people what I am doing now (or the lack of it), they just go "Hmmm, poor thing. Pity her parents!" inwardly. You can tell from the sympathetic smile they give. Which is why I prefer to be anti-social. I prefer avoiding people than to suffer the indignity of explaining what I am up to now. What would YOU do? If you had the chance to reconnect with a 'friend' (and by friend, I mean the occasional, "Hi, how are you?"-type of friend and you didn't even know when their birthdays were), and you knew the probability was high that they would be more successful than you were, would you? Or would you just point to the screen and say, "Look! I used to know this person in school" and leave it at that. Then again, if you need to network, the more friends you have, the better, right? Guess that's the time when you need to thicken your skin ad smile.

Perhaps my self-esteem will increase when I finally get a job. I might start in two months. I won't divulge anything right now for fear of jinxing it.

Sorry for the delay in updating. See, it's so much more convenient to subscribe to the feed. You don't need to keep coming and seeing no new updates. =) And I don't need to feel guilty when I see the stats and notice people coming by three times to check for updates. So sorry! A person like me who has no life outside of my home needs to find stuff to blog about. And my online friends can rest assured that I won't take full sections of IM chats to use as filler.

Take care all!

Promises Like Pie-crust

Promise me no promises,

So will I not promise you;
Keep we both our liberties,
Never false and never true:
Let us hold the die uncast,
Free to come as free to go;
For I cannot know your past,
And of mine what can you know?

You so warm, may once have been
Warmer towards another one;
I, so cold, may once have seen
Sunlight, once have felt the sun:
Who shall show us if it was
Thus indeed in time of old?
Fades the image from the glass
And the fortune is not told.

If you promised, you might grieve
For lost liberty again;
If I promised, I believe
I should fret to break the chain:
Let us be the friends we were,
Nothing more but nothing less;
Many thrive on frugal fare
Who would perish of excess.

(Christina Rossetti, 1861)

I would like to dedicate the poem above to Ty. Yeah, it was inevitable. I knew it was coming. Played James Blunt enough times to know, "But it's time to face the truth, I will never be with you." It was either my subconscious telling me what I knew all along, or it's...The Curse of The "You're Beautiful" Song!! Aiieee...run for your lives! Cover your ears!

I can't say that I'm crushed. He never gave me a photo of himself. He seems a little less real to me. Only words in e-mail and the IM window. What was I thinking?

And trust my other friend to tell me that he's interested in me last night as well (before I chatted with Ty and found out that this is how Ty feels about me: "I like you as both a person and a friend...very much so"). The three dots was my saying "Ok".

I've known Simon for a long time (online). I think we met sometime at the end of 1996. The usual 'Hi, how are you?' type of relationship one has in a chat room. According to him, his interest has been off and on. And apparently it's on again. Hmmm, methinks he's settling for me after the non-relationship that he had with this other girl in the US. Well, we did take that compatibility test for fun and we were 74% similar, 81% complementary. I don't know. We seem to have fun teasing each other in one- to two-line e-mail exchanges. Note to Simon's employers: "He's e-mailing on company time!" *evil grin*

I hope he doesn't read this. I've been discouraging him from coming here. Glad that he's heeding my advice.

Rainy today. For a change, here's a pic of an orchid I took some time back.

Take care all! Life is short, smile! =)

Airplane biscuits

Behold! The airplane biscuit photo I promised several posts ago. Doesn't look at all biscuit-y, does it? More like crunchy, sticky-red-saucy coated 'pappadums'/'poppadoms'. Do they look like planes, or headless birds? It's very mildly spicy (hardly spicy) compared to the biskut cili (chilly biscuits), which look like hard, thinly sliced swiss rolls. Those stick to your teeth like leeches.

It rained today and as usual, I took my camera to the usual spot behind the house when it stopped. After snapping some shots of raindrops on leaves (deleted them later, turned out blurry), I decided to squat down to look for anything interesting from that angle. I look to the left, I looked down, looked to the right, to the -- . Hang on, what's this then?

An army of baby butterflies (baby caterpillars?), okay, okay...we'll go Discovery Channel and say, an army of butterfly/moth larvae were spotted under a leaf, surrounding the egg mound (don't know what to call that furry thingy). I snapped a few pix, making sure the lens was nowhere near it. I was watching them crawling and squirming and then noticed one using its self-spun thread to fly away with the wind. Suddenly, it hit me. If they're travelling... I immediately looked at the ground close to my feet. And heaved a sigh of relief when I saw no advancing caterpillars. I checked my bare knee closest to the leaf, then my arm, thankful that I had arm hairs to let me know if there were foreign entities crawling on my skin.

Ewww...I think I just creeped myself out. *shiver* Anyway, I quickly moved away from that spot. Took a too-dark pic of fresh shoots emerging from a cut anona branch. And then...

I heard the heavy tapping of rain against the aluminium awning that covered the front porch. I ran towards that direction (because that's where the front door is!), hoping that I wouldn't fall, drop my precious camera or get drenched. I made it safely inside, and two seconds later the cloud passed, bringing the rain with it.

Checked my other e-mail account and noticed one from Nokia Malaysia announcing a blog contest dated the 16th of Dec. I signed up anyway. It's a two month-long contest and I don't know how many days of competition are left. I suppose I'm way behind. Oh well. If I get even one curious reader-by-accident, I'm happy.

Saw Wallace And Gromit: The Curse of The Were-Rabbit last night. It was a hoot! From the very start til the very end, it was a laugh-a-minute. I love those quivering bunnies and especially the part where the were-rabbit howls at the moon and the other bunnies howl and beat their chests as well. I could tell they were making fun of King Kong too, with planes and all. A great movie, tons better than Chicken Run.

That's it from me. Take care, all!

Website updated

After years of neglect, I finally updated/added more quotes to my site. Unfortunately, it took longer than expected due to the special characters I had to use (which the character map did not help at all), and thanks to Simon, I found a site with an ASCII table. I plan to add more in the days and weeks to come since I have two months free.

I never had this 'update the website' mood in a long time. It's fun to code in html again, and seeing the changes and additions. I had to check the site stats to remind myself that people DO surf by to look for information about 'The Meaning of Flowers', or browse through my personal collection of quotes and proverbs, or a list of birthstones and flowers as well as anniversary information.

It's late. I should be sleeping. Good night/morning and take care!

Theft and Capture?

This pic was taken on the 23rd of Dec 2005. The first time the telephone cable (you can see the cut cable in the middle of the pic) was cut off was in the wee hours of 2:30am.

Last night, they were at it again. It must have happened around 9pm last night. My dad had wanted to use the phone and noticed the line dead.

Parents walked out and true enough. This time, it was the telephone pole in front of my house. The cut cable had been left by the side of the road. Dad used the cellphone to call Telekom Malaysia (TM), but there was no answer. Dad called the police and made a report.

Went out again and the cable had been taken away. We suspected that the culprits had run up to the Chinese cemetery. Today, the TM repairman came by and Mum made small talk. Rumour has it that four men were caught with the stolen cable last night when they turned up at the 'center' that buys scrap metal (conveniently located near the Vietnamese cemetery, which is at the end of the Chinese cemetery on the way to town).

According to the repairman, the neighbourhood has been affected more than TEN times! Well, I hope that it's true that the men have been captured and that their crime spree has ended.

The past few days were spent tweaking this site a little. Signed up with Feedburner. Click on the appropriate link on the sidebar and then when you're on your usual site, you'll be able to see at a glance if I've updated my blog. Saves you the effort. Time for dinner. I'll be back.

===========

And now I return. Watched some TV. There was 'Faking It' where they transform a church minister into a car salesman in 30 days. He really didn't look like he was going to be able to fake it enough to fool the three judges in the end. But after the test, he managed to fool two judges.

Then it was 'CruiseLine', about a Greek millionaire who had been in the no-frills airline industry having a dream of venturing into the cruiseline industry. Offering no-frills cruises, with the twist of arriving at (for example) Monaco or St. Tropez at night for the young and hip to party the night away, and then leaving port in the morning. This is not a cruise for those who want to enjoy time ON the ship, but OFF it. Hence, the minimal decor in the cabins. No closets, no proper loo with a door (frosted partition!), no WINDOWS. And ORANGE walls. *shiver* Looks like it's worked. The site, EasyCruise.com is up. He's got easyJet, easyCar and easyPizza among his stable of companies.

Well, no cut telephone cables tonight *touch wood*. I hope the baddies were caught and the news has travelled through the telephone cable-stealing gangs. No hanky-panky in my neighbourhood. I'm paying RM66 for unlimited broadband and I want to make sure I'm online 24/7!

Took a nap in the afternoon while waiting for the phone line to be restored. Dreamt I discovered that I owned two guinea pigs, a hamster, a rat and some other furry creature. Was kinda sad that I woke up. I miss having something soft and cuddly to pamper.

Oh, I had wanted to write in the past that after five straight days of sunshine, it wasn't the rainy season at all here. Then the next day, it rained all day. Normal rainy seasons would see at least a week or 11 days of non-stop rain. Not any more. Perhaps the situation is unchanged in the interiors of the State. There still are reports of flash floods. From the CNN Weather broadcast, it looks like there might be more rain headed this way. Hope the leaky roof has been fixed. Thank goodness, it's just leaking in the wet kitchen (it's practically outside, an extension to the original kitchen).

Also updated the year on my website. It's an annual event where I change all the ©2005 to ©2006 on most of the pages. Took me between 45min and an hour. I have about two months before I start a job, so I might just be able to update my website and tweak this blog some more. =)

Saw King Kong last night. Although I didn't watch the original, I knew of the Empire State Building scene and the inevitable sad ending. But I still wasn't prepared for the scene in this movie. The emotion, the connection between 'Ann Darrow' and Kong. I just bawled! I even had that feeling at the back of my throat (the start of an ugly cry?). I tell you, Peter Jackson can do no wrong. He deserves another Oscar or 11.
Take care!

A New Year Memory

I was supposed to have posted this yesterday, but I procrastinated. Time flies too fast these days too.

Anyways, it was New Year's 1997. A few days prior to that, I had entered my details to participate in a radio contest. I had to give them a reason to call me at the last part of the entry form. I didn't think too hard and wrote something slightly humorous.

New Year's Day 1997, and I was home alone. The call came at around 5pm. Chatted with the producer (I think his name was Andrew) and he let slip that he called a lot of numbers before mine and I was the only one home. This was before handphones were a dime a dozen. Everybody else were out and about, I stayed home...and I got to be on the radio!

This contest was organized by Jaring, an internet service provider and I either had to guess a tune hummed by the two deejays or I had to hum a tune for them to guess. When I was on air with them, I had to give the password, which was the URL to the online mall (I almost got it wrong in my excitement, but managed to correct myself as soon as I realized my mistake) and then I made the choice for them to hum me a tune to guess. They started humming and it sounded so familiar. I somehow knew the lyrics to that but didn't quite know the title, only until they got to the most identifying part of the song. It was 'As Time Goes By'. I gave them my answer and I was right! Had to give them the answer to 'What's the square root of nine?' (Three) and then ... when they asked me if I wanted a free Jaring account, I said, "But I already have a TMnet account!" (TMnet, rival ISP). This is when I get booed by the deejays. Hehehe...well, they never warned me that it was a forbidden word! I hung up after they said goodbye and then slapped my forehead. I was supposed to hang on for the producer! Well, luckily for me they already had my details and Andrew then admonished me for hanging up. I asked him if they were giving me the free account, and he said that he didn't think so. Hahahaha...Anyways, I still won RM200 in virtual cash to spend at the online mall.

There wasn't much to choose from at the time. I wanted X-files stuff but it was out of stock. So I bought shampoo, a box of chocolates, a Braun Silk Epil (the painful way of ridding leg hairs) and I think that was it.

See, it pays to stay home on New Year's Day.