if you change your mind

Central

2011-04-25T05:33:00.000+01:00

Abandoned

2011-04-06T17:29:00.001+01:00

When time flashes by

Departure

2011-03-28T21:20:00.001+01:00

Another goodbye. But will see you soon.

Capers

2011-03-24T23:01:00.001Z

It'll be nice to add capers to my dish. I need some spices

Can i say, amazing?

2011-03-20T17:28:00.001Z

Audi A1 is quite a looker. Wants

Nice Sunday afternoon

2011-03-20T16:53:00.001Z

Just watching people walk by and having a cuppa.

This train terminates here, or change

2011-03-12T23:21:00.001Z

4 years, 7 months, 20 days

2009-09-19T10:50:00.004+01:00

After 4 years, 7 months, 20 days, it's time to say goodbye.

Excited, but part sad. Heavy heart. All into one. 107 has been home in so many ways for so many years. Tummy is turning at the thought of leaving it. But every good thing sometimes come to an end. Don't be sad because I'm leaving, be glad that this happened.

Thank you 107. You will forever be in my heart.

Hello 2009.

2009-08-13T11:08:00.001+01:00

Just thought you'd like to know.

Hopelessly hopeless

2008-12-09T00:19:00.002Z

Coz I'm a Sony whore.

Here's a Sony Vaio Pocket VGF-AP1 (20GB)

Released in 2004, drooled upon 2005, lusted for it since 2006, and now finally got one in 2008...

For £13.50 off ebay! Talk about bargain, truly!

The unit itself has got heavy dents, scratches, looks like a very well-used unit. As this is a HD-based player, you can actually hear it spinning powering up whenever you switch it on. The G-Sense takes a while to get used to, but once you do, it's a quite a brilliant idea, all these before touchscreen stuff came into picture. Battery life seems to be holding out well for a few hours of use after a full charge.

Transferring music is easy. Since I still have my HD3, I have Sonicstage installed, and it is familiar ground for me. Sound quality is just amazing. Something that I have come to expect from Sony. And this was in 2004! Shame that they didn't go on and develop a full-fledged video player from VAIO pocket. I'm still waiting for their large capacity player that does just music playing. No need all those web-browsing shit, thank you very much.

Now that's crossed from the list, next up, a VAIO wireless digital streaming speaker!

Ideally to be placed in the bathroom, hehe.

There's a God

2008-12-02T23:32:00.007Z

Hallelujah! Thank you God for listening!

1-2 Step

2008-11-17T23:45:00.004Z

Tadah! In a simple 1-2-3 step. Fry some heavily marinated-meat, and then toss everything into a rice cooker with washed uncooked rice and 20 odd minutes later, you get a pseudo-claypot rice dish.

Hi, you have been Android-ed!

2008-11-17T23:38:00.003Z

And gladly so. Amazing, swift Android-operated phone. About time too. Anything, but an iPhone for me, please! Admittedly the web browsing experience is not as good as the Apple-patented multi touch feature, but the experience is still very very good, very desktop-like experience. Being such a Google-centric person, this phone is just perfect. Gmail, Gtalk, G-everything are all synced here.

Also the baby is not photogenic at all. Looks so much better in person than in photos.

Get Android-ed today!

Life thru E61i (1)

2008-10-30T01:58:00.001Z

Stop

2008-05-25T22:33:00.001+01:00

I have been, for a few months now, feeling rather tired, rather unhealthy. Seems like I haven't got the energy or the will to get things done as promptly, or to achieve as much as I would like. It feels like your body and mind have gone bonkers, and all it sorely needs a good long hot bath soak in a cold winter's night.

While a holiday getaway would be ideal (and probably much needed), I would think that is just a temporary measure. Let's face it, after days off work without worrying about the work and stress of life, you get back to the grind again after that quick getaway, and then it all starts all over again. Life has become such routine. Monotonous. It's especially true when I'm back here in London.

Then, it has got me thinking, all the rat race, this nagging daily worry of not being able to achieve what have been set out, and all these expectations, how pointless are they? Sure, these expectations do drive one to propel further, and you need money to survive, but why are we putting so much excessive pressure and stress on the one thing that we'll ever have once, our body and mind? How far should we push ourselves? Is there a limit we can see before we "break"?

There are times when I would feel this immense pressure, then to think back, how fantastic those college days were back then. Carefree and stress-free (except for maybe a final project or two) but they are so much more enjoyable. Felt that even driving my good old trusty Satria was actually quite a sheer driving pleasure. I was even happier with my crappy sub RM2000 pay at college. It seems that as we grow older, things become more complex, more stressful, and much more at stake. Is this all the part and parcel of growing old? So much so that we become so consumed in the race, we totally lost track of things. Or to even stop for a moment, to live your life?

I think I need a serious case of detox, destress, or whatever you call it. Perhaps, I would need to explore meditation as an option.

Wake me up before you go go!

2008-03-31T16:08:00.002+01:00

I am never a huge fan of coffee, but for some reason I always have this weird fascination towards coffee machines. Some coffee machines are really sleek and sexy, and they just calls out to you to grab them and head to the checkout. I would do that in a snap if not for the exorbitant prices. So usually, the sensible side of me will then start a heated argument with the other not-so-sensible side of me whether I should get one. I will then have to walk away for I know for a fact after purchasing it and using it for few times, it will then lie there one day collecting dust more than dispensing coffee.

However, I stumbled upon this sexy WMF 1 Coffee Maker which originally cost £95, but have been slashed for MANY times all the way down to £19! I thought “what a bargain”! This maker has won the prestigious red dot design award and you can clearly see why. This is definitely a style-over-substance kinda application but I'm so loving it. It comes in 4 different colors and I must say they all look fabulous. It only makes 1 cup of coffee and uses the pod system. Pods are not cheap either, but I feel like getting this as a décor piece more than a real coffee maker!

Decisions decisions…

Originally posted at www.flamed.2com

Rise from the ashes

2007-12-10T08:40:00.000Z

Fantastic, me fav doggie Aibo has been given a new lease of life, and its making a come back! While this is just a rumour, I'm hoping it's true so that it would mean I could still aim to get one!

i'm with stupid

2007-09-25T16:25:00.000+01:00

sunset

2007-07-27T14:00:00.001+01:00

Another one bids goodbye and walks into the sunset.

Gotta Get Thru This

2007-03-08T00:15:00.000Z

A few months ago, I remember how I was thrown into the sea with just a log to hold on. It was one of the most nerve wrecking moments I had to endure. The sea was rough, there was no island at sight. But as I picked up some courage and motivate myself, I did manage to paddle towards somewhere, and eventually I reached the shore, safely. It was a great feeling towards the end being able to get grip of things. For once I felt validated.

But this time around, again, I was thrown into a deeper sea. The water this round was even more rough, and what's worst there ain't no log or anything to hold on. Just me and my pair of legs. I think I'm almost having a nervous breakdown NOW, if I haven't already drown first...

Yes I'm talking about work. It's getting too complex, but I've done it before and I'm sure I can do it again this time around.

On a brighter note, check out this cutesy album by newcomer, Mika. Pretty good choons, kinda like a mixture of Fredy Mercury / Scissor Sisters. Ace!

G-L-A-M

2007-02-24T18:30:00.000Z

"Flying first class, up in the sky, poppin champagne, livin the life!"

OMG I just love this song, it's like a song that is dedicayted to me! However, why must she spell in all her songs I always wondered! As I blast this song through my stereo system ignoring my obviously annoyed Indian neighbors whose peaceful weekends are usually spoilt by my music (but hey, their kids are annoying too OK!), my weekend is already halfway through. :-(

Weekends are the time when I look forward to, every single day I wake up, I pray a quick day will pass, and then start counting the days til the weekend arrives. Work this week has been somewhat blissful, with many things achieved and learnt. However, what annoyed me was that when people start to bug you whenever there is a problem related to the area, which you were supposedly be an SME. What, SM-wha? Yar, I asked the same thing too when I was termed so. Subject Matter Expert. Uhm...thanks but no thanks! For this term coined at my face without my approval, everyone started to flock to my desk whenever there's a problem related to the area. While I tried my best to get most of them sorted, it has taken a toll at my own deliverable.

Like, yesterday after work (I left early at 5pm coz I couldn't wait for the weekend!!), I received a call from the office. I didn't answer it coz obviously I'm ALREADY off work, but that didn't stop my colleague to leave me a voice message. I find it extremely ridiculous to be asked to fix a problem that is clearly not related to my area. God, I totally ignored it and just don't care. Plus it's the weekend, so why don't you just wait til Monday!

This morning I was awoken by Mr Postman at bloody 8am. I remember vividly what I was dreaming that time. Damn funny, I was actually having an English exam and somehow my high school English teacher was actually in it. I wasn't sure why my mind was blank but somehow I couldn't write my Comprehension, and I had 1 hour left out of the 3. So I was really sweating and panicking! Then the loud buzz rang in my apartment and got me out of the night mare. WTF! Mr Postman delivered me my package. Ed had sent me his anniversary gift. It was a classic British Airways cabin bag!!! I loved it, it's very retro and actually very man-bag like! I love being different, hehe. But I think my gift is even wicked, you just wait yar! ps. thanks to someone's BF who spoilt the surprise!

yay! Another one! Hmm my old Concorde bag badly needs a scrub

Anyway, after the wake up call, I just couldn't go back to bed. So had breakfast, went to town to help my Ah Jeh pay her credit card bills. That woman is currently in HK and she missed her deadline to pay her bills. >_> But thankfully, visiting the bank here in the UK is different from Malaysia, at least I got everything done in like 1 minute. That's what I call efficiency!!

Every weekend I will start to search for places to go and visit. With a full tank of free petrol and an VERY under-utilised car, I decided to check out Factory Outlet Stores. These stores are usually 1 hour drive away from London. This weekend, I checked out the one in Ashford. It wasn't really worth that 1.5 hours drive though. Urgh, felt so cheated. Managed to get some Nike gears for 8 quid each. OK la...but was quite disappointed.

Ashford Designer's Outlet - nice setup, but boring labels

I also wanted to check out Bose' Quiet Comfort 3 active-noise cancelling headphones. While it looked great, but it was severely overpriced. That damn thing will set you back for 275 quid. Usually it's for sui yues but they do look good lah. Gosh, I posted this question in on of the forums, just asking for opinions, and I got bloody flamed for even thinking of buying BOSE. Apparently BOSE is nothing but overpriced shit. Gucci is also overpriced, but at least u get like good quality stuff, but with BOSE you actually pay Gucci price to get Giordano quality! Hmpf!

I tried on my colleague's Sennheiser PXC300, which wasn't too bad at all. That one will set me back for a good 70 quid...but then I think I shouldn't be spending unnecessary money since I already have a Sony MDR-NC11As...while it does cancel noise during my flights, the sound quality is quite bad. OK OK i know this is like my obsession of the week, but I thought I should reward myself with something every month, as compensation to keep my sanity!

Oh, speaking of splurgings, my Kath & Kim DVD for season 1 & 2 finally arrived. I got it off HMV and they were like 70% off! Awesome...I watched first 2 episodes and loved them! I have made plans to visit Australia now, thanks to Kath & Kim! Many classic moments that I just LOVE!

Damn, I feel damn unhealthy, I just had a quick snack at McDs! I just couldn't resist it as when I was driving home from Ashford, there is a Drive-Thru so I just had to make a pit stop! Their drive-thru here is quite different, there is actually a guy who stands in the cold weather to get your order, and this is sent wirelessly to the cashier.

And because I wanted to be healthy, I ordered the Sweet Chilli Deli Sandwich. Because of it's grilled, I had to wait for my order, so I was asked to park here!

Sigh, now I feel fat! This is so contrary to what I vowed. I spend 5 pounds on this MH's special, and it has some really good workout routines. Unlike the usual MH where you usually get 1 exercise, this a compilation of the workout and the routines. Even have a power lunch routine. I am so gonna try it on Monday!

ZOMG I want those ABS!

AS IF!

3rd world country people!

2007-02-01T21:12:00.000Z

My PS sister once told me that you can always take a person out of a 3rd world, but you can never take the 3rd world out of a person, like how so aptly! Today, I returned to the apartment today and was greeted by these 2 trolleys which obviously looked lost and out of place here. I don't know which idiot who actually pushed the trolley all the way from Tesco back to the apartments! I bet it was some 3rd country people, like some Malaysians or something! You know last time before I had the luxury of a car, I walk like, the same distance, carrying like 4 bottles of 1.5L mineral water back from Tesco?

Don't see me pushing the trolley!

Of course it would've been damn unglam to be seen pushing the trolleys lah, esp when you have to cross the road with it :D

HiC

2007-01-09T09:00:00.000Z

*HiC*

More champagne, please?

Life in the fast lane, seriously fast

2006-11-24T14:52:00.000Z

It’s already Nov, curtains closing in soon for the year 2006. Just a quik update:-
• I wanna go home for a break, a 6-10 months back home is nice. I wanna get into Aviation-related projects
• When I get back, I want to get VW Cross Polo, before changing my mind to Honda Civic, but now I think I want a Mazda 3. hehe
• Oh, All Saints are back. So are Take That. But where are the Spice girls! *upset*
• I still dig 20trees. I dun care if it’s in Melawati!
• Shanghai from 7-10 Dec, first time on Virgin Premium Economy!
• Oh, and I forgot I have to apply for visa to enter Mainland. Urgh
• “I don’t like like it!”. Tonight Little Britain live at Brixton with Wingedman
• Wii looks hot, I can’t wait to swing my Wiimote and break the TV! I wonder if we can play Mario with the motion Wiimote!

That's all

Ring the Alarm

2006-10-30T10:25:00.000Z

Ring the Alarm

I was sound asleep in my queen sized bed, tucked in comfortably in the huge quilt with half a dozen of pillows (yes i love pillows). The night before I was tired out from watching a marathon of Jang Geum where she and Pn Han managed to secure the position of the Head Chef of the Royal Kitchen in style! Anyway I digress...all I really needed that night was a good night sleep - which isn't hard coz I love sleeping :D ...But then suddenly, like in a bad dream, I reluctantly woke up in respond to the fire alarm that I believe had gone off for a few minutes now. Still not acknowledging it as being in the real world, believing I was still in my dreams, I ignored it. Urgh..but the annoyance got to me and I reluctantly woke up to see what is it all about that is costing me my booty sleep. Then I realised it was actual building fire alarm!! It was manic. I peeked outside my window and realised..all the occupants gathered outside! I don't believe it! Everyone was out there, and here I am, 'trapped'! The fire truck arrived to add more drama! But to cut the story short, it was a false alarm.

If it was a real fire, I wouldn't been eaten by the fire ALIVE. What is wrong with ME! *fat cow*

Krispy Kreme!

2006-10-24T21:49:00.000+01:00

It's so funny how a trip to Tesco to check out their newly renovated store nearby here saw me happily clutching a bag of Krispy Kreme doughnuts home! I was earlier complaining to Cookie that I really needed some Krispy Kreme shots. According to their website, the nearest shop was in Heathrow Airport Terminal Three. I almost wanted to drive all the way there! Imagine my delight when I was browsing through the new Tesco store and found a KK kiosk. Wahey. Instead of going to the gym as promised myself earlier, here I am munching away with some really heavily sugar-glazed doughnuts. Ah!

It won't be so funny when my triple chin makes an appearance. Bleah.

88

2006-09-15T11:14:00.000+01:00

88/100!!

Scored 88 out of 100. Damn he is good! My boy did so well in his certification exam that I slept so well that night that I woke up late for work the next morning. Ha ha! Congrats boy! You are the best boyfriend ever, now that you are certified :P

VH1 loves Spice

2006-09-15T00:08:00.000+01:00

Omg this is getting too deep too deep, VH1 is now having a Spice Girls day, they have been showing so many Spice Girls related videos, documentaries, and tours...it brought back so much good memories...it was actually the Girls that attracted to me to motherland here. I remember back then I vowed to visit the UK and perhaps if possible work here. 5 years later, when one of them got fucken fat, one of them went wafer thin (and then became pork chop again), and some of them I'm not too sure WTF they are up to, and a lot of dropped record deals, I am here where I wanted to be 5 years ago. It's amazing really to think back, but what I really really want is just one farewell tour. Just a closure, to that chapter in my life.

Til this day, I can still remember ALL their lyrics, their melodies to all the songs they have ever recorded. I just did a Stop dance when the video came on! Now I seriously need to rid the 100+ Spice Girls related CDs and DVDs! Anyone?

SAP

2006-09-14T00:27:00.000+01:00

懒惰星期天

2006-09-03T13:40:00.000+01:00

星期天开始与后醒在9am 。通常我醒在早期的时间在7am 附近。但是当我请叫醒了我感觉非常疲倦因此决定做某一措施抵抗疲倦。计划在我的菜单之外这个星期和请意识到多么困难它是。我是在想法外面。我投入很多绿色入我的饮食。裁减米。我的购物单这个星期: -

它现在是1.25pm, 将吃一些午餐和然后朝向对Sainsbury 购物。以后那或许, 和有希望地体操有一阵子。这将包括某一心脏我那么非常需要。并且以后有些读书在与工作相关的材料。那有希望地将带来我给晚餐并且这今晚是简单的膳食I 希望。电烙我的衣裳。准备好明天。我有其它月得到对我理想的重量。我以后上星期出去了以安培小时Jeh 、夏恩和纳尔逊对东方城市和然后对IKEA 当他们想得到一些家具。我高兴地志愿驾驶他们因为我有汽车、汽油和GPS! 纳尔逊评论了I 增长的许多骨肉, 他说看更好。恕我不能赞同, 我想要是真正地微小, 微小的意思减肥胖胃。无论如何, 4 个另外星期对家。我无法等待!

dinner today

2006-08-31T21:28:00.000+01:00

Baked stuffed tomatoes filled with lemon, basil and Parmesan cheese
Recipe from delicious magazine, august 2006.

Dinner today! Again, this week I managed to plan my menu ahead. And today I attempted a rather adventurous dish called, Baked stuffed tomatoes filled with lemon, basil and Parmesan cheese. The outcome? Fabulous! It tasted almost like risotto stuffed in the tomatoes. I never knew tomatoes came with such huge sizes. They are called beef tomatoes. Beefy indeed. The recipe was actually a vegetarian one, but decided to toss in some chicken breast filet to add some texture. Yummm...I think I'm ready to try more adventurous dishes in preparation of my first dinner hosting when my cousins' family come down to London mid sept. I'm sure my mom would be proud!

Parcel month

2006-08-26T13:33:00.000+01:00

Ah...the long bank holiday weekend has finally arrived and it's a much needed break from my crazy new role at work. It took me about 10 freaking months to get into this role, but I must say all the wait (and whining - just ask my boy, and gfs) is all worthy. I feel that I'm actually alive again with all these new challenges, actually feeling great going home after a day of hard work. Sure they were scary at first but my job doesn't really require one to have like rocket scientist brains, but just a good set of logical sense and seeing things from point A to B, and how to get from A to B (which coincindentally, my project's tag line - tee hee). The month of August saw me breaking the bank quite a few times. I think I'm addicted to receiving parcels. Yes, I squeel in delight whenever I find a lonely parcel in my mailbox that waits to be ripped open. Let's have a quik snaps of me lovely parcels, oh aren't they gorgeous? Esp the one all the way from Japan, I love Japanese characters (and boys too, of course...).

I think I'll take a break from all these online convenience. I think there's a vicious cycle to suck money out of us. They are all cooperating to just squeeze more juice from a dry lemon. First is the Singapore Airlines Krisflyer. Their frequent flyer program is affliated to American Express. I then subscribed to their card, which yields more miles, where for each RM3.8 spent, I get like 1 mile. And eBay now accepts PayPal, which enables me to pay via my credit card. So when I purchase anything off ebay, I keep thinking about my elusive first Business Class flight. Wherever I go, I just swipe it. Each swipe brings me closer that fucken Raffles class. I think I need help, or a new hobby. I spend money when I'm bored.

I need a new hobby goddamnit. How about sleeping for a change?

Jealousy, as told by Paris

2006-08-15T07:47:00.000+01:00

I thought you were my best friend
I felt we'd be together 'til the end
You're not the girl I once knew
Tell me where she is 'cause she's not you

You used to be that shoulder
That shoulder I could lean on through it all
But now it's getting colder
There's no love between these walls

Jealousy, jealousy, jealousy
It's such an evil thing to watch someone like you
Jealousy, jealousy, jealousy
Nobody wins when you're full of envy

I was always happy
When I was watchin' you become a star
But you were only happy
When the world was openin' up my scars

And now I'm like the devil
Well if I am then what does that make you
You sold yourself for your fame
You'd still never walk a day in my shoes

Jealousy, jealousy, jealousy
It's such an evil thing to watch someone like you
Jealousy, jealousy, jealousy
Nobody wins when you're full of envy

Download Jealousy! :D

Confessions

2006-08-09T15:44:00.000+01:00

How many times does one need to watch Madonna's concert to feel satisfied? Once? Nah, make that twice! Yes, you bitches, I'm going to see Madonna's rocking concert tonight for the second time. Tonight it'll be on behalf of Willa! Everyone hail eBay, the bestest online application ever invented! May help myself to a third serving next week if tickets are going really cheap, think £40! Tonight I got a even better bargain, it's just £50 for a £173 ticket and the seat is much closer to the catwalk. Thought of smuggling in my camera, but quite risky as me camera is just too big to hide in me boxers.

Last weekend I managed to download the fabulous Golden Girls disk 1 DVD. It was a DVD rip and looked extremely crisped on my laptop, but when I burnt them into DVD and played them, they were in black and white! I believe it is because of the region setting shit, something to do with PAL and NTSC crap...totally shizz man! Even though it was B/W, the quality was really immaculate, and boy did I have a great laugh. Ya know screw Sex and the City, Friends, and all that because Golden Girls is the original one! If you don't believe me, go and have a go at demonoid.com. It's all about girlfriends sticking together, having fun times like late night snacks together, chatting till the sun comes up, supporting each other whenever one is down. I think Samantha's character is stolen from man-eater Blanche! Charlotte was very Rose-like...innocent, sweet and dumb! :D Damn...if I can't find the converter to convert NTSC format to PAL, I think I will just get it off HMV!

Speaking of HMV, I had yet another bargain! I think I'm hitting rock bottom this month with all these spending...I blame it on the abscene of me BF. He should pay for all this in place of his abscene!! Hmpf! Anyway, I wonder...if you check out at the counter with the below items, do you think I'm way too...rainbow-ish?

"I swear I'm buying ALL THESE FOR MY SISTER...I don't even like Kylie.."

Oh and shut up Willa, I bought you a copy of Audrey as well, so stop whining!

A last bit of happy news...my company has finally approved my car hire application. Was hoping to get this fantastic looking Toyota Corolla hatchback, but they aren't available at the moment. Most likely will get a Vauxhall. Time to head off to eBay to sell me bike off! ;)

Can we get together?

2006-08-01T13:58:00.000+01:00

Impress me, M. Can you outdo Saint Kylie?

Update: I just got back from the concert, and I tell you, you gurls are so gonna be jelez (like you gurls aren't already!:D)! The show was simply fantastic, the whole show set up, the amazingly high-resolution screendrop at the back, and of course, her Majesty herself in flesh! What's great is that the track list consist tracks mostly from her Confession CDs, so if you enjoyed that CD, and boy are you in for a treat! I'm so glad she didn't sing that MINGING VOGUE, or Justify my Crap or something! I think she did all the tracks from Confessions! OMG i'm so tired now from dancin non stop throughout the concert, it feels like I was in a Madonna-theme night, except of course Madonna herself was on stage singing!

However, I must say, while I absolutely adore the Lucky Star + Hung Up mix, I still think Kylie's Cant Get You Out of My Head is the best live dance song, like EVER? Best giler concert tu!!!

Anyway....

Have you confessed?

And the countdown begins

2006-07-26T00:48:00.000+01:00

The weather in the Queen's land is getting increasingly, well, Queeny. Everyday we go on complaining about the scorching hot weather without fail. It has become the topic of conversation every single fucking day. Truthfully, the weather has become a bitch. And the problem is, the sun never came out to play whenever I go plane spotting at Heathrow during the weekends!! Just earlier this week, we have just moved to a temporary office which is actually a warehouse-converted in to a ~~porn~~ office. As you would imagine, it's baking hot! Fucking hell, it felt like I'm working in a 3rd world office condition! Under the hot sun, many have started to don sunnies and it suddenly I felt like I'm working in the office for the blinds. Gsus, cries.

Funny thing was, that both the big bosses showed their support by saying, oh we will suffer wif u all, we'll move down there too. Right. On the first day, after the second hour, one of them were nowhere to be seen. Heh, looks like he did his little runaway into the nearby office, with the air con reportedly on full blasted. Smart move, u naughty minx. On second day, the second manager decides to leave at 3. Go home ya all, she commanded :D Awesome start to the week. Looks like we are going to move office, again! And I'm praying with all my might that this would be true, as moving anywhere but the current office site will mean I will have to drive, which means I will be granted a car! All to meself! Ah, this is making me lose my breathe. Being the Frequent Flyer miles fanatic that I am, I've already started to check out Hertz, and Avis. Looks like I will have to return the car weekly in order to be accrue the miles. Fantastic!

I just can't wait to see what will happen tomorrow. BBC says it's gonna hit 34 degrees. Perfect buttons ready to be push!

Hot, like me

2006-07-19T11:09:00.000+01:00

I feel so cheated. The weather here is just like home, I can't believe this! What's worst is that I don't have airconditioning at home, so you can imagine how third world it'll be trying to sleep at this sweltering weather! I demand a full no-question refund, the whole reason why I'm here is to avoid the weather back home, but it seems like it's even hotter here. Bah, Winter, I miss you, come back come back!

Wanna go home

2006-07-12T22:52:00.000+01:00

Maybe surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel alone
I just wanna go home
Oh I miss you, you know

Another aeroplane
Another sunny place
I’m lucky I know
But I wanna go home
Mmmm, I’ve got to go home

Let me go home
I’m just too far from where you are
I wanna come home

Of Sticks, and Rudders

2006-07-08T11:22:00.000+01:00

Is this just a phase of obsession or is this for real? Been buying books related to aviation rather than on SAP. Where is this heading to?

An All Nippon Airways Boeing B744 soars ahead towards runway 29R in London Heathrow. One of many of my plane spotting pics.

Bread experience redefined!

2006-06-27T09:51:00.000+01:00

Ok, this must be one hella weird posting. Was shopping at Tesco yesterday and found this new interesting packaging and had to have a look at what's the deal about! And then I saw ... bread without the crust? OMG! I totally loved the idea! I never like taking bread mainly because of the plastic-like crust, but with this new bread, I'm sold! I just had 6 slices for breakfast...a bit too heavy for me I think ...

Apparently, using their state-of-the art baking technology and 125 years of baking experience (WTF), Hovis has managed to gently oven-baked these bread in special tins that will create minimum crust...although I must say it is quite a costly loaf of bread. This one costs well over £1, where my usual Hovis thick cut costs around 78p, and cheapo Tesco brand is just 30p.

Just wanted to share...my bread experience, redefined! Thanks to Hovis :P

"Live" trip report KUL-SIN-LHR

2006-06-25T04:15:00.000+01:00

Am currently transiting to LHR in about 2 more hours, so I have been walkin around, nothing much interesting so I might as well just go online do some posting here. Hehe, right now I'm at the...well i'm not too sure but there is a nice gallery for me to snap pics of planes. Changi is wet wet wet this morning. Not a great day to take pics, but that ain't gonna stop me from trying my first spotting pics with my new camera. It's very amatuerish, nevertheless, I have just started learning! Anyway, it all started with a cuppa latte venti size to wake me up at KLIA Starbucks....my taxi came at 5.30am and by 6.15am, I am at the airport, zombie-fied! So I needed a wake up call.

Then, the triple seven Jubilee is all ready to take us to Singapore...

The flight was really empty...I must say that the SIA girls and boys are rather better looking, but some of them seems to ooze...cockiness...one of the better looking Girl was not smiling during the whole flight. Sorry, no pics of them! I haven't master the art of taking pics of them without them noticing...heheh..so here's a random shot. The steward as actually cute too! Very rare in MAS flights...

Not sure which airplane, but I think this one is going to Singapore as well. 10 minutes before my flight.

Finally arrived at Changi!

More to come later when I try to be online onboard of the flight!

It went blank

2006-06-09T16:18:00.000+01:00

This morning I had the latest Nelly Furtado album Loose downloaded and promptly got it transferred into my Sony Walkman, and then while I was placing the player back into its snugly casing, it fell and got a slight bump. This was the second time I dropped my precious player and my heart broke everytime it happens. My precious! Anyway the first drop was more severe but it didn't cause any damage then, so I was relieved but this morning, after I dropped it, the database went blank! :( All me music files are all wiped out for some oddest reason and having just lost my laptop's harddisk data, I have lost all me backup songs! :( How can one live without music...sigh..

Meanwhile, i'll be flying back to KL finally, after a gruelling 10 weeks in the UK on a MH flight. Will be flying out back to the UK on a SQ - my first time and am looking forward to that. Oh and they have Connexion on board so I'll see you guys online, on air! That's just brilliant...wondering how long will my new laptop last. Vaio, naturally.

I will spending quite a lot this time when I'm back in KL, mainly to get a new camera and MAYBE a new laptop. Am dead settled to get the Sony DSC-H5 even though Cindy's dad was offering Canon PowerShot S3 IS at only RM1.6K. Laptop, well, might not get it after all, after all that mouth watering moments.

Also, will need to check this one out. No joke. Need to check me eyes when I get back to KL.

Kelab Seni Filem Malaysia: www.flamed2.com/ksfm

Snap!

2006-06-01T22:58:00.000+01:00

London Heathrow, Myrtle Avenue, here I come!

Come fly with me

2006-06-01T00:07:00.000+01:00

Best shot of the beautiful Malaysian babe 747-4H6. Awesome shot.

Will be heading back to KL next weekend for 2 weeks, and boy I certainly can't wait for the day to arrive! Been waiting for it since the day I got back into UK :P Please please let my flight be the above one! But usually MH3 flights will get the above aircraft not my MH1 flight :( Such beautiful babe!

I wonder if this will be my last MAS flight since I'll be switching to SIA soon. Gonna miss MAS. Great airline, stewpid management.

Shiny and new!

2006-05-24T13:48:00.000+01:00

It's out! Actually I'm 10 days late! The most anticipated game like ever is finally out, after weeks of teasing previews. I personally can't wait to eat that giant mushroom to supersize Mario! Anyway, I got to know that the new Mario Bros was out (in the form of ROM of course) and quickly I had to rush back to my apartment during lunch time to download it so that I may be able to play it later when I got back. So I went home, fire up eMule, and did a search...tada, there are a few ROMs too! So in just 10 minutes, I've got the ROM and quickly converted it for my Supercard. Then there it was..the new Mario Bros! I didn't have much time as my lunch time was going to be up, but I did manage to eat the Giant Mushroom, omg, it crushes everything in Mario's path! Damn cool! And it's they are now much much cuter!

Can't wait to play it later tonight, and tomorrow's flight to Geneva!

Stuck

2006-05-24T09:53:00.000+01:00

Oy, Roh-berh-to, pass the Pringles!

Dunno why, but this kept replaying in me mind. Stupid TV commercials.

Ah ah! Lose me breath!

2006-05-17T00:27:00.000+01:00

Boy I have not been this excited for a very long time now! Sony has recently announced 2 new Vaio machines for the U and A series, both of which are not new series, but new versions of it. The new U series, WOW, the earlier models are rather bland in design but this new version is really something. Slick, isn't it?

Type U

The A series - which is Vaio's largest screen size laptop (apart from the L series with 19", only in Japan at the moment) and meant as a desktop replacement, is rolled out with some heavy duty specs, including a version that includes the Blu-Ray drive, and it costs almost double as the one without a Blu-Ray drive. Wow. This is a mean mean machine!

Type A

Still, I will have to settle with the either FE series or SZ series. The SZ, for those who have seen it, could probably imagine wanting to buy it the moment you've seen it, it's THAT HOT. The Carbon Fibre and the finishing made it immaculate. It's so bloody light! But alas, it's much more expensive and the screen for me is a wee too small, esp if you are planning to do some programming work on it. So FE series would be the perfect one.

With the recent specs bump to include Sony FABULOUS XBRITE screen with Core Duo I'm sold! Stay tuned for the next post!

U & A

2006-05-16T14:35:00.000+01:00

Type U
Type A

Ooo, what is it?

2006-05-10T00:10:00.000+01:00

Come back tomorrow for more!

It's really pushing me now!

2006-05-05T07:58:00.000+01:00

Look like Sony's giving their European laptop releases some spec bumps to fend off the summer slump. The most interesting is the FE line's new FE20, with Sony's new 2nd gen X-black display (aka XBRITE, some of the nicest laptop displays money can buy), which finally addresses its most typical complaint with an anti-reflective surface layer, and also throws in some extra brightness with a dual lamp backlight; the FJ line's new FJ3 gets a dual layer DVD burner, 1GB DDR2 SDRAM, and a 100GB drive; the SZ series gets the SZ2 with the upgrades are the least exciting, and from what we can tell they'll just have a version with a 2.16GHz T2600 Core Duo chip, which is already available as an upgrade on the Sony Style configurator. Keep an eye out for these in the states sometime in the near future (with different names, of course).

The world of difference

2006-05-02T22:13:00.000+01:00

There's a reason why one is making money and the other one, dying in red. Here's why.

3 months

It took me 3 months to get my membership card, after a few attempts. Last year, I was asked for the membership application form while I was checking in before my flight to LHR, but was asked to go to the MAS Customer Service counter. When I reached there, the girl told me that they ran out of form. WTF? She asked me to go online and apply, and I was promised my milleage will be accrued. So later when I arrived, I went online to apply, and it stated that that it'll take bloody 2 weeks to process my application. Fine. 2 weeks have passed, nothing was sent to my email. Then I rang up the customer service and was told they didn't receive my application! I was certain that I had submitted the form and reached to the confirmation screen. FINE. I re-apply online again and this time, I purposely pressed submit like 20 times. I waited for 2 more weeks...and NO REPLY. Frustrated I rang them up AGAIN and screamed at them. Finally, after 3 months, I received an email. And when I saw my miles accrued, it was only 70% of the total miles. Discounted ticket it seems. And it costs more than the usual SIA full economy ticket. WTF.

3 minutes

Yesterday, I decided to explore other airlines other than MAS. Of course there are only 2 viable airlines which is SIA and Thai. I think it's time to ditch MAS' lame Enrich programme and their horrible customer service information system. I went online and applied for SIA' KrisFlyer. It was a BREEZE! I got my membership no, and my temporary e-card within minutes. This is how things should work! How hard is it to validate your details, insert them into a damned database, and then send an automated email back to the customer? It's so bloody simple! I've decided to switch to SIA from now onwards, even if it means I have to fly to Singapore before to London, and vice versa for transit. I might have some time visiting Singapore too! And at least they give 100% milleage for the price we are paying for MAS fare. And not to forget SIA are in Star Alliances, and MAS? Skyteam...?? Uhmm...

Am thinking of getting the American Express - SIA Gold Card, it's like the fastest way to get more milleage. I'm kinda obsessed with these loyalty program thingie!

Goodbye Oslo!

2006-04-30T20:15:00.000+01:00

Am at the low budget terminal right now at Torp but it so does not look like a budget terminal at all. It looks like, thatæs right, a disused IKEA warehouse and it actually does look pretty damn nifty Iæd say. Iæm now on a free internet kiosk and this will definitely help me kill of time before boarding, but I am having problems loggin onto MSN because of the weird key arrangements here and the Nordics have pretty damn weird keyboard layout and I canæt get those keys I wanted in my password! Anyway, I actually really like Oslo! The architecture is fabulous, even thouse in the country side, so like...uhm, IKEA ish! Yellow, maroon and blue are not exactly the colors you would paint your house with but some how the way they did it just made them so right! However, Oslo is quite an expensive city...VERY. Toilet also cost 10 krons, thatæs like 1 pound which means access to toilet cost 7 bloody ringgits. How come the toilet dun have like, gold seat one>!

Hotel was FABULOUS. Itæs like KL Hilton, but since it was not in the city centre, it costs half as much. Oslo is so damn small, and we didnæt even need to take a sight seeing tour to see the whole of Oslo. Their transportation is quite effecient, and with a daily pass, and grabbing any available tram is more than enuff to see the city. We bumped into the same Malaysian girls like 3 times!

At the end, I really do like Oslo, and it was fabulous!! Canæt say the same of the boy though!!!

Off to Oslo

2006-04-28T23:36:00.000+01:00

Will be going off to Oslo for the weekend, since it's another long bank holiday weekend! I'm not sure exactly why I chose Oslo and the fares aren't exactly cheap either so I still can't find an explanation for this. Thing is if I didn't make a decision, I'll never travel at all. Will be put up at the Radisons SAS at the Nydalen. The hotel looks good from the photographs and pretty much got the nods from the nice peeps over at TripAdvisor so I think I'm more excited about the hotel than Oslo itself!

I just realised just now that RyanAir lands at Torp, 150 bloody kilometres south of Oslo. Have to take bus from the Airport into Oslo lah, which takes another 2 hours! WTF man! Grrr...anyway, time to get packing. Gonna go to Central London to have supper at HK TPT Diner and burn time till 3am where the bus to Stanstead Airport will depart. Flight at 6.25am. Crazy? I think so.

OK before I go, here's one great tune I wanna leave you guys with...it's amazing how the original version, can be turned into this massive dance anthem, courtesy of some fantastic rework by Wamdue. Credits should be given to the original song itself, it's got such a strong melody, throw in a club fix, we've got a massive thumper. In the process of getting the whole promo CD for this Natasha track. Meanwhile, heads up to David Morales' take on Mariah's Say Something with new resung track which proves yet another David/Mariah classic collab. And oh, doesn't Kaci Brown sound very much like Britney in the Gomi mix of Instigator? Mp3s to follow up soon.

Wiiii!

2006-04-28T10:20:00.000+01:00

Sho cute! I sho like the new name!

50 Nintendo games that changed the world

2006-04-26T22:12:00.000+01:00

50. Tales of Phantasia

Format SNES
Released 1995

What is it? Do your bit to defeat dark forces in this epic RPG that's bursting with magic and monster.

How it changed the world Never mind that Tales of Phantasia is really rather good - lots of games are. What's important is that this was the first game to appear on a 64Mb cart on SNES. And the developer put that extra space to good use, as the game featured voice-overs (the first in a SNES RPG) and a real-time battle system that was unheard of in other RPGs at that time. Just a shame it was never released outside Japan.

No wonder I never heard of it before! :P

Urbanfunking

2006-04-26T15:22:00.000+01:00

Of course we didn't do this, I might break the floor

Who would’ve thought that a Chinese boy would be able to funk with these urban dancers? I so totally owned it. I finally gather enough courage to join those group exercises at the local Fitness First here. Right, so they don’t have Body Jam. Jewnowha? Screw Jam. I don’t care about Body Jam no more because Urban Funk dance is so totally my kinda jam! Urban Funk is a very much like Body Jam, except that the moves are smoother at the same time much more edgier, and it’s all hip hop for a full 60 minutes. When I was back in KL, they had Snoop Dogg dropping while it’s all hot, but the moves were probably something Snoop wouldn’t not do while it’s hot, or not. But this Urban Funk, was my cuppa.

Entering the class, I was kinda worried at first…I mean being the stand out, the only Chinese guy there and everyone else were like looking tough and gangsta-like I felt odd and definitely out of place. But once I managed to get on with it and then groove to their moves, I was given this uhm…fist-thumping-on-the-chest kinda thingie which left me bewildered for a while but at the same time, it was sort of an acceptance to the gang. It was awesome!

Ok, all I need now is to look the part. Now I really need to find that extra baggy shirt somewhere.

A year ago, this week

2006-04-20T16:41:00.000+01:00

A year ago, exactly this week, I was sent to Austria to fix some urgent pre go-live change requests / issues. Our go / no go decision relied on how many major and critical issues can we close down before the meeting. This will determine whether we will go live or not. At first I felt it was damn glamour lah - from being selected to the trip to the airport and to the Austrian office, everything - until it was down to work. With our luggage tagged along, we went straight to the office and then got down to business.

For the first time of my life, 12 hours felt like 1 hour. We went overdrive and we had a deadline till Thursday 4pm to close down the issues. Fucking hell, that day, we worked non-stop from after lunch for 12 hours and only decided to call it a day after midnight. The next morning I had to arrive at the office at 7. That said I totally didn't get any rest as my mind was perpetually thinking about possible solutions to the problem. That time, as beautiful as Vienna was, I totally didn't have a minute to stop and enjoy its beauty. My mind was just on the issues I had in hand. The same thing happened for the next day...7am til fucking midnite, with absolutely no rest in between. Still we had yet to close down all of the problems, there was a point where my mind totally went blank and was almost threw in the towel, it was really that stressful. And I wondered if it was worth it at all. I was at the brink to walk out of the project and just leave because of the immense pressure...and my Project Manager did sense my frustration (as well as my colleagues). I told her that I need to take 5, and I went down to this lovely riverside overlooking the River Danube, and just basically breathe. Then I realised how beautiful the city was from there. I wish I had my camera with me there. Miraculously, we managed to close down those important issues, and then finally, the decision moment. All the top shots went in to the meeting while we just waited for the verdict. We were damn confident that we'll pull it through this time.

In the most dramatic fashion, while most of the issues were closed down (esp mine! Hehe) the auditors from E&Y had decided that it was too risky to go ahead and go live. Fucking hell! When the news broke, I was close to a tear. The past 2 days you've been mentally unstable and then being told it's not going to go live after all! After the decision sunked in, we then realised we finally had some time to breathe. Funny thing, our manager decided to celebrate the decision by treating us to a really nice fancy dinner. Nothing's lost as champagne and wine flows free! While most of the consultants decide to fly back tomorrow, I on the other hand asked to stay and was granted to stay for the weekend, on the company's expense! Sweet! I had to ask coz Ed had planned to join me in Austria for the weekend!

I have to say, I really loved Vienna after exploring her, she's really beautiful and what's best is just sitting at the outdoor cafes and enjoy the fabulous view. I definitely will return there one day!

It's not easy, is it?

2006-04-19T16:15:00.000+01:00

So like I said yesterday, I have decided to enrol into an actual gym. I went to enquire about the membership fee and then I realised, it would be so much cheaper to be a register as a member back in Malaysia instead of signing a contract here. Here's the low down.

Gold Membership (3 months contract) £52 RM 340.836
Lifestyle Passport Membership (12 3 month contract) £41.95 RM 274.939
Lifestyle Home Membership (12 month contract) £36 RM 235.943

The prices are really WTF kinda prices man, and on top of that, an additional £70 for admin fee...I tried to rid that with the sales guy. Managed to bargain for a month free, but it is still way too steep. If I didn't convert it to ringgit, it IS actually quite OK. It would actually feel like RM52 for that stupid Gold Membership. But of course when I convert it, it becomes ridiculous! The idea now is to use my International Passport (membership of which has already expired in Malaysia) when accessing the gym every time. My only concern is that if they noticed me doing it everyday (as I intended), they will obviously suspect me! I guess I'll take a risk and go ahead and act all bimbo when caught upon. And when the next time I return to Malaysia, I will re-subscribe to FF Malaysia. And renew my International Passport every 10 weeks that I'm back. What's the price like nowadays anyway?

Dust

2006-04-18T17:43:00.000+01:00

When too much, is just too much.

For the past few months, I have been happily binging on food without much thought on how bad it'll be. OK, I lied. Surely, Marjorie from Fat Fighthers would have thought me a thing or too, but I kept on continue binge on anything at anytime because I have got nothing to do. Seriously. Plus I would have thought physical activities on bed would help me burn off some fats. Obviously that didn't turn out the way I expected. At the rate I'm taking food in, I'd need to be having sex with 1000s of different people. Anyway, I digress.

Time to eat some dust...

Today I felt that I reached to the point where I needed to do something about it. I just feel very unhealthy and it was just the time to get my act together. Heck, Fitness First is just opposite my apartment, so I should have no excuse! So here's my schedule. As you can probably guess, my aim is to lose fats, hence all the cardio activities.

Monday
Body Combat 12.15pm - 1.00pm (Optional)

Tuesday
Step 7pm - 8pm (Mandatory)

Wednesday
Spin 6.45am - 7.30am (Mandatory)
Body Combat 6pm - 7pm (Mandatory)
Body Balance 7pm - 7.45 (Optional)

Thursday
Aerobics 7.15pm - 8pm (Mandatory)
Spin 6pm - 6.45pm

Saturday
Kick Boxing 2pm - 3pm (Mandatory)

Sunday
Body Combat 10am - 11am

Let's see how it goes, tonight I will be gracing the Step class. I'll show them how Steps is done! I hope it's not the basic around the world, stradle shit! :P

You are so sexy I so want you now

Elsewhere, my laptop decides to kills itself off. It must've been the bittorent activities. Looking back I'm not even sure if I had switched it off for a moment for a few weeks. It looks like the HD had enough of all downloads and calls it a day. While I have backed up most of my stuff, I lost some web-related stuff, which is a pity :( Data Recovery services is just not an option as that's just too expensive! I wonder if this is a sign that I should be getting the Sony Vaio FE series that I've been longing? :D

Playin catch up (again)

2006-04-18T16:52:00.000+01:00

"Sony continues to milk the Walkman branding with the release of their new portable DVD player line-up. Introducing the D-VE7000S DVD player (pictured) which brings the coveted Walkman branding in a compact package sporting a 7-inch display, a couple of headphone jacks, and a dock with integrated speakers capable of charging the unit in about 3 hours. Also announced is the DVP-FX810 which is just a regular ol’ portable DVD player with two headphone jacks for snuggling up against that 8-inch display for up to 6-hours at a time off battery. Yup, that's it... no DivX, no network, no USB, no tie-in to Sony’s Japan-only Portable-TV service or up-coming HUB PlayStation Network Platform. Just a couple of portable DVD players shipping in June for undisclosed prices. Come on Sony, we’re waiting to be impressed again."

Shouldn't this come out like, years ago? Looks like Sony's again playing catch-up again!! I mean who wants to watch DVD on the go nowadays, no DivX support, no network...it's all about connectivity nowadays. No doubt it looks slick, but we need something better.

Meeting up with an old mate

2006-04-16T02:12:00.000+01:00

So Ed and I decided to give our old friend Queen Lizzie a visit at her crib over at Windsor Castle. We had wanted to give her a visit for a long long time and always had to turn her invitation down due to either busy schedule or most of the time, we had better things to do, like sleep? So this time around, since it was Easter Weekend and we've got lots of time to burn, we decided to to call up dear Lizzie give her a visit. We arrived in about that time and made our way to the Castle's entrance. And found out the queue was fucking long and the Queen didn't roll out her red carpet for us! Gsus.

I wonder which planet she arrived from?

Golden Ones

2006-04-15T09:38:00.000+01:00

Anyone seen this DVD boxset in pasar malam / Sg wang before? Cannot find in emule or torrent lah :P

DS me up!

2006-04-14T15:33:00.000+01:00

There was a point of time that I was seriously gonna ebay off my Nintendo DS if I didn't find another game that is HALF as good as Mario Kart DS. Plus, at that time, I was seriously getting bored of Mario Kart DS. My DS was setting idle for months as I couldn't afford those expensive original games here (20 - 30 quid per game, and pretty limited releases here), so naturally I had to either really sell it off, or invest on another on-off 90 quid Supercard package which is inclusive of a 1 gig SD card. I finally did buy the Supercard after Willa forced it on me, but actually it was a good move! I could play all the games I can imagine (and download!)! So since it was Easter weekend, I spent some time exploring some games!

I started off with the highly anticipated Metroid Prime Hunters. I'm not a big fan of these shooting game, especially those with grandmother story lines, but I was intrigued how the game play control will be like. The combination of the stylus, the directional keypad (to move forward, backwards, etc) and shooting (L) was new to me, and it gave superb control of the movement etc, but after a while, I felt that it was too tiring! The DS console itself is already heavy and relying only on your left hand to hold the console was just too much! I gave up after a while! Oops! Next!

I just simply selected this game, Brain Age randomly from the odd 50 games ZIP package. Oooo this game I truly enjoyed very much. It's kinda like a brain exercise, which requires you to solve various logic questions, memory games, and even involves you reading (sometimes shouting) at DS. Very addictive, and it's funny because you will end up shouting at your DS when some of the words that you pronounce is not recognised by DS. Ed's fake accent fared better, DS picked up more of his than mine. Bleah. They even have this chart to keep your progress and they actually expects us to play it everyday, kinda like an exercise regime. Oh.

Another random choice. When I loaded this game, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, I had no idea what it was all about. I thought it was gonna be some detective game (errr, Ace Ventura?), which turns out to be quite similiar. This is the first time I've heard of this kinda game: I'm actually playing a new lawyer, taking on his first court case! The game itself was really really grandmother story teller, which so many script of lines, and I was so gonna give up like really immediately. There was even flirting lines with the mentor, seriously. However I tried to stick to the story and at the end it turned out to be quite fun! You are presented with a case for each level, for instance a murder scenario, and you will be presented with evidence, testimony, etc. You battle it out in the court and you are supposed to find contradictions during cross examinations. I did learn a few new law terms here! Wacky! But seriously, too much scripting. I'm tired of hitting the 'A' button. But this I will play!

Oh and finally! Tetris DS! I had downloaded this game earlier but was not able to load it, so I was really mad. But after downloading the latest firmware and the latest converter software, I managed to load this old skool game. This game is DA BOMB. I spent almost 4 hours fiddling with this game. There are a few modes of games other than the usual marathon mode. It also uses the old skool Super Mario World soundtrack which made it even sweeter.

How lah, tomorrow wanna go out also lazy now!

Easy Breezy

2006-04-13T10:37:00.000+01:00

Sometimes (well most of the time really) I'm really amazed how things here in the UK get done so easily. When I first arrived here a year ago, I immediately wanted to get Internet access, naturally...so I went online and did some diggin for best offers and found Virgin.net is the best deals. I was on broadband in no less than 7 days. And that also includes the ADSL modem which was delivered to my door step within 3 days. Was a far cry from Streamyx back home, wasn't it?

Another case in point. When I went back to Malaysia some weeks ago, I have misplaced my Virgin Mobile SIM card. I only realised it was missing when I arrived back from KL. There I was thinking I would be losing my phone number (which is pretty awesome number arrangement, something like 123-321-123) and having to lose all my balance of around £20 plus. So I decided to check it out online, and wrote to them about me losing my SIM card, so what should I do. Within less than 3 hours the email was sent...I got a reply. And these

Every day I'll check my mailbox coz I love getting mails (physical ones)!
And was pleasantly surprised with this one!

Oooh!

It's my replacement SIM card!

And best of all, it's FOC!

Talk about efficiency. 2 days after I've emailed them regarding my lost of SIM card, they immediately resend a replacement FOC. I reported the loss on Monday, and got a replacement on a Wednesday. My balance and phone number remain. And I'm just a pre-paid customer! I guess the competition here is really intense amongst mobile phone companies, so each and every single customer that they have is treasured dearly and will do what it takes to retain these existing customers. If only we are treated the same back in Malaysia (for whatever service it is...)

I need to Xer-OFF!

2006-04-12T16:09:00.000+01:00

I’m getting SO depressed I’m telling ya. Was just told that my project has been delayed yet again. That would mean real work will only begin end June, and bumming around is seriously demoralising me in all ways! I used to work full 8 hours when I was in the previous project, every day when I go home I feel satisfied having accomplish and learnt much, but for the past 5 months, I have been doing documentation and lots of workshops and many of which are rather pointless. Thing is, I rather do programming than anything. If Bree has an alcohol addiction, well I have a programming addiction. Okay so I’m a geek! I admit it, I need to PROGRAM for god’s sake! Looks I gotta re-assess my priorities. Money versus experience. Even if it means I have to go back to Malaysia!

To vent, I’m going to buy that damn fryer (and maybe a PSP, and a Vaio!)

Fryer's UP!

2006-04-11T11:06:00.000+01:00

I am so screwED I’m telling ya all! Last night, I was totally knocked off after dinner and a quarter of an episode of Will & Grace. I was supposed to wake up at around 9pm to watch the finale of America’s Next Top Model Cycle 5 but no, my BF didn’t wake me up! Or maybe I refused to wake up but if I did, I didn’t notice it. My excuse for last night was that my persistent headache was still lingering around and when I woke up this morning, it was still bugging me. I decided to down 2 aspirin to rid of it. It seems to have worked after reporting to work. Good. Tonight will be my second attempt to not sleep so early. I think my boy was so bored that he cleaned the house, again! On a totally unrelated note, since I was sort of laughed at for wanting to order fried chicken as and when I want to munch, I have decided to take things onto my own hands. Yes, that’s right, I’m going to invest one a…

Oh, frying chicken, fries, etc has never been this easy! Now to find recipes on how to make good batter!

Bad day

2006-04-10T16:48:00.000+01:00

Such a drag to get back into the grind after 2 weeks off. The weather here was colder than I had expected, double digits but still feeling as cold as it was 2 weeks back. What happened to the promised Spring? I wasn't sure if I caught a cold today cause I'm having a mild headache since lunch time. It could also be my close to 10 hour sleep yesterday. I headed to bed after 8 last nite, and then woke up at 12, then continued to sleep til 6 am when the sun started to rise. I also did steal some sleep during my afternoon lunch break (back in my apartment of course!). God, I'm such a log!

The flight back to London was quite a pleasant one. I had bought this traveler's pillow which provided much comfort during the flight. I managed to sleep through 70% of the flight time (naturally! :P) and didn't even manage catch some of the movies I had initially wanted to watch. Memoirs of Geisha, Good Night and Good Luck, amongst many! Malaysia Airlines Select In-flight entertainment system is actually pretty damn good. Now everything is on demand and the selection of movies, TV shows, albums are quite up to date! They even have Little Britain, and it was the latest season some more! Anyway, the flight was so disappointingly full, so there weren't any empty seats *sulk*. Oh btw, I acted bimbo and went through the First Class / Golden Class route while boarding and managed to get a glimpse of the seats! OMG it is like so spacious! Everyone was like smiling and was enjoying glasses of champagne! The air stewardess was very nice to direct me to the right seat as I was rather apologetic (act only lah!) instead of giving me faces. One day I am so gonna be in the Golden Class I swear! Now I just have to apply for Shell! HMp!

Immigration was a breeze, was so worried that my Visa on my Emergency passport was gonna give me problems!

Here I go again!

2006-04-08T15:36:00.000+01:00

It is now 9.50pm, another hour til boarding time, typing this from the Starbucks KLIA. Since I have got so much time to burn, I thought I’d do a QUIK! Update here for the past 2 weeks. There were a few things which I needed to do, primarily to renew my passport…was granted a new passport which is only valid for 2 years. That truly sucks coz that means I would have to renew it again and I really dread going to the immigration office again, or any type of Government services offices for that matter!

I had the most express ride from home to KLIA ever. The taxi driver…or should I say limo driver since his car number plate is like ‘LIMO something’, drove with an average cruise speed of 150km per hour! It took him only 40 minutes to reach KLIA from Sunway Damansara. Is that a record or what? Checked in with a baggage weight of 23.9kg…phew luckily the check in guy was quite nice to me, and he was saying the max he would give is 23kg, but he let me off the hook this time! Checked with him if the flight is full, and was told it was around 80% full, so I quikly asked for the 2 last row from the back. Hopefully I get all 4 seats to myself!

Last weekend was spent at Redang Island for my company’s annual trip. After working for about 2 years, this was actually my first attendance to ANY major company event back in MY. I have never had the chance to attend the rest, annual dinners, quarter community events…due to assignment overseas…so this time around, I managed to go make myself available, but Redang didn’t really excite me because firstly I have been there (same resort!) and secondly it’s so tiring due to the need to transfer from the airport to the jetty and the jetty to the island. And it’s actually not a fully leisure trip, we had to like do all these teambuilding shit. But I guess it was worth the trip at the end because I did enjoy myself, I did learn something new during the team building sessions and I did manage to bond further with my boss. The team building event, albeit tiring and somewhat lame, did teach me a few things which I can truly apply during work. Later that night, I was having supper with my colleague and then spotted my boss and asked him to join. My boss, who is like the bestest boss EVER and EVER (and we did throw him into the pool, and later into the beach ahhaha), bitched with us for a good 2 hours. God, he can really gossip I tell you. Elsewhere, I also managed to get to know some new faces. It was indeed a good platform for us to interact and get to know each other.

Elsewhere, my parents finally agreed to go for a holiday. And they had to choose China of all places, but naturally! My mom was ecstatic when I gave her some cash to spend for holiday and I knew I shouldn’t have when she did suggest earlier that she wants to buy this blanket which costs 1K. She better make sure that blanket is like made from the highest quality llamas in all provinces in China!

OK, I actually had a lot more to say, but alas, my brain is not functioning that well right now. Ta!

Sexual Feeling 06

2006-03-23T02:18:00.000Z

YAY, finally! Click on it you MOFOs!

Let me tell you a secret!

2006-03-22T16:06:00.000Z

Internet, as you know, is like blood and air for me, you and you and (yes, YOU). So the first thing I did when I arrived about a year ago was to search for all possible ISP around my neighbourhood. Most of them came with a 12-month contract, which is shite. But thank God for Richard Branson for his brilliant Virgin.net. Since then I have been a loyal Virgin.net (have since accumulated 2 free ADSL modems along the way) :D Recently I read that they underwent a trialling period for their new 8mbps line and was pretty disappointed that my area was not included. Harrow was my nearest neighbour who had the chance to trial this blazing speed! That was in December. And a few weeks back BT started to offer their new 8mbps line and is targeted to launch in April. And then, today I received this in my mailbox!

Wahey! It’s coming ya all! I just can’t wait to get on it! Please please let my line be compatible!

Going Beyond Expectations

2006-03-21T16:05:00.000Z

Two of MAS' Boeing 747-400s were painted in a red Hibiscus theme, and one Boeing 777-200ER was painted in a blue Heliconia scheme in a recent new refurbishment of these planes. The Heliconia one looks amazing I must say, but I have yet to see the actual airplane. I don't think it flies to London, but I've been in the Hibiscus one, I remember gazing at it while boarding the plane and thought, "Wow, this beast looks fierce!". Really eye-catching! Been snooping around and reading up on Malaysia Airlines and found out that the it's actually a great Airline when it comes to Customer Service (onflight I believe, because I have a lot to complain about their minging IT system - some rants that I have YET to get out of my system! My BLOODY ENRICH MILES...anyway...), despite being in red. Shame about it making lost, there goes my lettuce specially flown from Australia, now have to eat lettuce from Cameron Highlands!

It is also a certified 5 star Airline by Skytrax together with Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Qatar Airways. Am not sure now, since they will be cutting down the luxuries, esp the lettuce. And Gordan Ramsay-prepared menu!

It'll be interesting to see how MAS is going to turn around from making loss of RM1.3 billion to making profit of RM500m, in just 2 years. Their Business Transformation Plan is available at here

Silver Lining

2006-03-20T13:47:00.000Z

This just got in, dang, not another Silver! I have been closely monitoring the Games website. I thought he could pull something great out of his bag and get that first gymnastic Gold Medal for Malaysia. Shu Wai finished second in his pet event, the Floor Exercise, last Games at Manchester, losing to Kyle, who in this Games finished third. This time around, both were beaten by apparently newcomer Wong who is like 18 years old. And check out THAT body! I think he has some oriental blood, judging from his surname! I always thought Shu Wai is a cutie, but this time around, his hair is bordering beng-ish!

And how come our gymnastic gym gear for this year's Commonwealth Games looks like China mari one? I so prefer the previous one with the blue as a major color. Doesn't Shu Wai look cuter here? Stop dying your hair!

I'm so depressed!

2006-03-16T21:08:00.000Z

I can't believe it, first of all I have the most unsupportive boyfriend ever! When I came back today, I wanted to buy a Sony Vaio, he was so unsupportive about the idea! Hmp! I even printed out the reviews that I have been lookin at work. Then fine, so later I wanted to eat fried chicken and wanted to order an A2 set but he laughed at me!

Hmp! This is too deep too deep!

SOS

2006-03-14T00:06:00.000Z

Click to download mp3.

Dreams are made of these

2006-03-13T11:16:00.000Z

Earlier this year, I set myself a target, that I would like to see myself buying this car at the end of the year, or at the end of my project assignment here (circa 2007).

Second hand, RM150K, one year, low milleage. Truth is, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Yeah I know.

But it's so sexy. I quite like the butt. Everyday when I walk to work, I see a few. Of course there is this BMW Z4 that is parked there everyday. That car is a true beauty I tell you. Every single curve seemed so precise, such beauty. Lau hau sui lah!

More like, dream on lah!

Time to reach for something more attainable.

Ah.

RM118K. Now that's sweet. Looking sharp, let's aim for this this time, okay?

AI5 Top 3 This Week!

2006-03-09T11:25:00.000Z

Ayla Brown
Last week she did an amazing job taking on Celine's big ballad (I rewind the clip over and OVER again) and I was really looking forward to her performance this week. While all the other contestants trying to take on 'credible' (ie old) songs, she took on a current top 10 hit, Natasha's Unwritten. While this song is quite catchy but the truth is that it doesn't challenge her...I mean a song for Natasha (ie, can't sing), the writers couldn't possible write a song for her which is difficult. But I thought Ayla did pull it off at the end with the high note. I'm nervous coz I wanna see her through!

Kellie Pickler<
Am I the only one who really like her voice? It's a bit rough on the edges and you can actually hear her go off. I get so nervous when she performs! But at the end, her personality overshadows everything else! She's just this adorable Barbie you just wanna bring home. I bet the other girls are cursing her, especially those who can actually sing better than her. And to have Simon say he prefers her than Carrie Underwood? Oh my Cahlarmahri!

Katharine McPhee-VErrrr
I like the song, well that's about it! Especially when Mel B sang it before :P

Yay!!

2006-03-08T15:44:00.000Z

Woohoo, the brand new spanking Super Mario Bros. for DS is out / coming soon! Finally a game I grew up with is gonna arrived and the best part is it’s all 2D! I never liked those 3D games coz its movements get me dizzy and it’s so hard to control! You can see why I was never a PS2 fan. I barely touched the console at home. The only game I played was probably American Idol. Anyway, horray for Super Mario Bros! So cool, the last time I played this game was the one on Super Famicom, so I might not be familiar with newer features, like blue shell? And what is this Giant Mario about?!

Wah, got giant Mario!

I just found this and didchu know that we could control your PC with your DS? I think this is really something or nothing because I totally like the idea! Now I need to get my stupid ass wireless router (it’s not working with my DS now, apparently Belkin routers are not compatible, wha!!!) to work with my DS and then get the damned PASSME or M3 or something or nothing! Is we can control everything from DS, that would be like the coolest thing ever since sliced bread…

She take me money, when I'm in need (uhm)

2006-03-08T09:28:00.000Z

I have always refused to listen to this song and give it a chance, especially when this song denied Mariah her no 1 for the song Shake it Off (I love the Calgon line!). Whenever it comes on the radio, tv, etv, I’ll give it a few seconds before I turn my attention to something more important, like sleeping? At first it was hard to fathom this song because I felt the melody was nowhere to be found, but since it’s everywhere you can’t help but to slowly accept the song, and that few seconds grew into minutes and later a full listen, and eventually enjoy the godamn song! Damn it, I can’t believe it, it has now officially entered my player! Jamie’s chants throughout the song gets really addictive. I feel so dirty!

The Wedding Banquet

2006-03-08T09:27:00.000Z

Ang Lee winning the Best Director at the Oscars was a big thing. Prior to this, I only knew that he did Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but other than that I didn’t know much of his work. Gotta admit that I am not a big movie fan! Anyway, I read a bit of up on Ang Lee and it seems that Brokeback wasn’t his only gay film! He is also no stranger to the Oscars too. The movie, The Wedding Banquet, a comedy about a gay Asian American trying to dodge all attempts from his parents to try to get him married , was also nominated an Oscar for Best Foreign Picture in 1993. I immediately sourced for this movie, and the brilliant eMule didn’t disappoint. One day is what it took to download all 700 MB of this.

Then I realized I could’ve just ScreenSelect this DVD! But I think I derive more joy from downloading stuff :P

Stop, slow down, take a deep breathe

2006-03-06T15:35:00.000Z

I just ran a report on my work time-booking. I just realised that I haven't taken many holidays and I still have 11.5 days from last year. That brings my leave entitlement this year to 28.5 days!! I didn't realise that I have been this "hardworking" but truth is I didn't feel like I needed to take any leave. I think the fact that you have very flexible working hours contribute to this, ie you come to work and go as you like, LOL. However, thinking back, there were a few occasions that I was totally burnt out. But due to the nature of the project, you just have to go on. I have been billable for almost 95% of my time. I can't believe how dedicated i am! 95% billable! Top sales man! Karching!

And now, they better give me my promotion in April! HMP!

Home and Away

2006-03-06T13:29:00.000Z

The one thing that I truly miss about KL is obviously the food. Everyday when I do my grocery shopping I try to scout for the most suitable / closest ingredients so that I could try to cook these home food here. This has never been easy for me, at all. Even the soy sauce sold here taste different. It’s got this weird smell, and it’s actually more sweet than salty. Bah! Even more disappointing for me because there isn’t a Chinatown nearby, and the one in Central will set me on at a journey no less than 1 hour. Have been craving for Char Keuy Tiau for like weeks! My last attempt bombed!!

So last weekend, I finally found a place that serves the most authentic Char Keuy Tiau in London to date! Ed and I headed into town in Soho to try this posh restaurant called Yauatcha.

Designer gilerrrr....

Apparently Yauatcha was opened by one of the owners of the only Chinese Restaurant (Hakkasan?) to have Michelin awarded or some shit. It’s bizarre name was matched with an interior design was way …well, over-designed. It’s got this minimalist feel but I thought somehow it was overkilled. For instance, I couldn’t find the entrance to the restaurant. Or my experience in using the toilet (I couldn’t find a bin to throw my napkin!). Entering the door leads us to the tea place, which was rather bright. All the super pretentious people would sit and have tea and enjoy the fabulous patisserie. These patisseries were really gorgeous and cute but we are here for a full meal. We were rather lucky because apparently, reservations must made earlier (wanna act all posh lah), but the staff member managed to get us a seat where they serve dimsum, etc. While waiting, there was this super cute waiter who was walking up the stairs, but was so wasted, coz he turned out to be way too short. Especially for a gwailo!

Best giler...

Anyway, dimsum was OK la (I thought it tasted the same as the ones in China Town) but the Char Kuey Tiau was a winner! Of course if compared with the ones back home, there is no comparison! But when you are away from home, you are so gonna compromise. Even if it costs £8.80 per plate! The overall bill came at £40 (for 2 persons). It wasn’t as expensive as we thought it’d cost! Perhaps, we should try Hakkasan next!

YAUATCHA

1515 Broadwick Street, W1F 0DL

Tel 020 7494 8888

Put this Record On

2006-03-02T01:15:00.000Z

Corinne - Put Your Record On

Corinne Bailey Rae's the name, up and coming act from Leeds. She's compared to Norah Jones, except that Norah puts me to sleep, while this one actually makes me smile.

Miss Over-chirpy-Cheerful Kimmy

2006-02-28T15:10:00.000Z

Miss Sky Operator 1 with super heavy Liverpudlian accent: Could you please hold on as I transfer you to the independent Sky-appointed installer to set up the appointment, ok (or something to that effect)
Me: OK

*cross line effects*

Miss Over-chirpy-Cheerful Kimmy: *in an overly chirpy and happy tone* Oh sorry about that! That happens pretty much every time they transfer the line to me, 4th time this day! Must be me luck today!
Me: Oh…no worries. …just wanted to set up the installation dates for Sky subscription.
Miss Over-chirpy-Cheerful Kimmy: Oh definitely, that’s why I’m here! Let me have your address and I’ll get you fixed up in a zap!
Me: My address is…107…xxxxxxx –
Miss Over-chirpy-Cheerful Kimmy: Oh! Your neighbour has just placed an order too, in just like 2 minutes ago!
Me: Brilliant, then you could install both of ours toge-
Miss Over-chirpy-Cheerful Kimmy: Exactly, This has gotta be my lucky day, 2 in a row! That’s a record!
Me: Uhm..okayyyy
Miss Over-chirpy-Cheerful Kimmy: This is just too easy, same address, same postcode, don’t even need to re-enter!
Me: …good on ya! Now can we move on?
Miss Over-chirpy-Cheerful Kimmy: So what is your package selection? Could it be the same as your neighbour?
Me: …it’s Variety and Culture and Style mix…
Miss Over-chirpy-Cheerful Kimmy: Whoa, it IS the same! What, the tenants at your place think alike, huh?
Me: Funny, isn’t it Shut up bitch, can we move on? So is everything done?
Miss Over-chirpy-Cheerful Kimmy: yeap, I will send you the access card in 2 days and when you receive it, give a call to me, ask for the Cheerful Kimmy (she really SAID that).
Me: *slams down the phone*

This is actually a condensed version, I checked my phone, and my call to arrange for an installation took exactly 10 minutes. Not because they were inefficient, but it was because they were extra, EXTRA friendly. What usually takes 2 minutes, ended up in a 10 minute call.

try something new today!

2006-02-27T23:08:00.000Z

That's right, that is just what Sainsbury is trying to encourage their customers to do. And ya know what, it works brilliantly. Even if their customers are not trying something new. Here's an example.

See, garlics are very useful in Chinese cooking, and I usually need them. So as I was browsing at my fav Sainsbury near my place, I saw this string of garlic, all dolled up and nicely wrapped. The price directly below it was 80 pence. For a moment I couldn't believe it because at Tescos, for 80 pence, you get like 4 bulbs only. Happily thinking I bought the best garlic deal ever in my history of shopping, I took a string, and place it in my cart. So move along I did.

Upon reaching home, unpacking the stuff, so I went over my bill. I thought, "hmmm...today I didn't really buy much did I, home come it came up to so expensive one...". So I went through my receipt...

WTF! 3.89 pounds for a friggin strin of garlic?
That's 25 ringgit worth of damn garlic!!!!

I can't believe my eyes. My mom would scream at me if she knew about it. I can imagine her telling me I must make sure all the items scanned should have the right price, bla bla bla..! But the system here is different, you have to do the packing yourself, so u r busy packing and didn't have the time to check one by one.

What kinda garlic is this?! Scare ghost away one is it!

I am now not sure if I should even use it or frame it up! Sainsbury, try something new today!

Home improvements

2006-02-27T22:33:00.000Z

Ah, it was finally the weekend, and the problem was that it was way too short! Ever since we moved into our new place, I just found the place rather...how should I put it, looks rather plasticky. It hasn't got a fabric curtain, it has no carpet, and the sofa is leather! I could practically hear the echos when I speak! So I decided that we should do some home improvement, just like any domesticated gay couples would do. Of all the places we've surveyed, IKEA appeared to be the most affordable one, so off we go!

Woohoo, so colorful! I love the flags!

We made a trip to IKEA Edmonton, which appeared to be the closest to our place. And even that, we needed to travel for a good hour and a half to get there! Phew! The surrounding area was really industrial, everywhere looked so grey, it's killing me, ... until we finally stop at IKEA, suddenly life became colorful... it's blue!! It looks almost like the one in Mutiara Damansara... I reckon they have standard design for all their stores anyway.

Carpet, check. Star Ice Cube Tray, check. Unneccessary but nice bowls, check.
More unneeded scented candles, check...

The layout of the place was is quite resemblence of the one in KL. Well, I guess IKEA did really impose their corporate identity the way every corporation should. Nice fonts. Oh yeah. We wanted to get this gorgeous picture of NY City bustling city which is in black and white, but alas, it was just too huge and I don't even think we could get pass the ticket tills at the tube station! But it was really nice, and it was going for only 12 quid. A steal!

Our place that we can finally call our home

Ah, the rug/carpet is just so beautiful. The best is the price is even more beautiful. 7 pounds! Where to find! Now the next stop would be trying to get some curtains. That way when I blast my music/movie/avis, my neighbors wouldn't need to suffer that much!

26 Jan 2005

2006-02-27T21:52:00.000Z

A simple meal to celebrate what was 1 year since we met, and looking back, so much great memories in this very path that we have embarked together since. Feels like an epic marathon, but as long as there's a road ahead, I'll keep running with you

Happy 1st Anniversary, boy!

Some Joy over the weekend

2006-02-21T15:33:00.000Z

I had the most relaxing weekend, and I found myself enjoying the weekend and just don’t think about work for a while. I’ve learnt to just take things as they come, and not thinking too much of work and what’s ahead of me, like stupid workshops. My team lead did give me a call on Saturday asking for some documents. I was like, WTF, can’t he properly check before asking? The thing I realised is, the more efficient you are when doing your work, the more reliant your team lead is on you. This sounds good but when your team lead passes most of the work to you, and not to others, you know that’s NOT a good thing!

Ting tong!
Anyway, Saturday night was spent in Central London. Ed and I decided to venture out of Zone 6 for the first time to meet up with some friends, obviously in Soho. I too had to pass my camera that I bought for M. So as usual, like a ritual, before dinner, we would plonk ourselves in any café nearby. We settled down in Café Nero in Old Compton Street (like, naturally?). OMG guess who we saw! We saw Ting Tong’s brother working there! His name is Steven Lim. For Singaporeans, he may be recognisable from his show in Growing Up (well I haven’t seen it), and he recently appeared in the British hit comedy Little Britain as Ting Tong’s brother, waiting tables.

“I’m sorry, sir” is the only line I remember

Anyway he does look yummy in real life…but what is he doing serving coffee in Nero? There was also too many cute Asians at the Café that day. Is Steven pulling in the crowd? Probably.

So it was then dinner time! After having all the company arrive, we then decided that this time around we would do Korean. We went to Nara, and to be honest, if you ask me to bring you there, I would definitely be lost! We couldn’t find the place but luckily the weather wasn’t a bitch to us, so it was actually a lovely walk. It rained earlier, so I guess that brought the wind to a stop. I think. Anyway, I don’t remember having much Korean food, I think the last time I had was with Duff!, Wingedman and Dana Scully at a secluded unknown place, and I did actually walk out liking the food there. This time around, it was the same! The food ordered were fabulous, I especially loved the Beef Bulgogi that came with the big hot plate. The raw beef, which initially made me sick, turned out to be a surprise hit. It was finely stripped and it didn’t even taste like beef. But thinking back, it’s like, SO gross? I usually don’t do raw stuff, and the raw squid was quite vomit-inducing. All in all, it was a good dinner! After that, it was then time for dessert and we went into China town again, and had some Pearl Ice tea or some sort. I was disappointed coz me want to eat Tau Foo Fah! That stupid TPT (Tai Pai Tong) store doesn’t serve desert after 10! Bah!

So that was a Saturday well spent. Good company, good food, menstruating weather. Not a bad Saturday!

Some joy, and then some tears
Sunday night was a lie-in day. I watched numerous Project Runway episodes from season 1. Like, I just love cat fights? A few days earlier, I managed to download The Joy Luck Club, after watching Memoirs, and wanted to watch more of these Asian-influenced Hollywood productions.

Okay, maybe Joy Luck isn’t exactly Hollywood, but it was in English. I was gonna keep this and watch this on my latest Sony toy, but since it hasn’t arrived yet, so I decided to go ahead and watched it. I remember watching this years ago, but it was good to just re-watch it now, now that I probably appreciate and understood it more. I love the way the story started, and the way each character’s story is interweaved with each other. Each of these stories is truly strong and I felt really moved by each of these stories, as it is being narrated by both mother and daughters. The smooth transition was like Oscar worthy? Uhm…

“I dunch wanna play chest anymore!”

The performance by the cast was strong and I was amazed especially by the younger cast who just know how to roll their eyes at the right time. Like I like! I think one of the cast members, Tsai Chin, was also in Memoirs. I just love her performance, it does remind me of my kumah, but of course my kumah is less drama than her lah. There were so many lines that are so abstract but painted the real picture of life. The best line of the movie, which totally wrecked me, was when June confronted her mom that she’s disappointed for not being born perfect. She was never born perfect and could never meet her expectations and making her proud.

“Waverly always take good quality crab. You take the worst quality crab. Because you have good quality heart”, her mom replied.

Ohmegod, call the MAYOR! Floodgates are open! That one line really wrecked me and since nobody was around, I flowed freely. Like, naturally. See, I don’t understand why people would be weeping from The Gay Cowboy movie. But this one, you better be drowning the cinema when you finish the movie! Giesha? I think I prefer some Joy Luck Club’s company.

Dusseldorf, I'll go

2006-02-17T17:07:00.000Z

Dusseldorf at night

Was supposed to be in Dusseldorf, Germany the next week to conduct a series of workshop. However, due to my Series of Unfortunate Events, someone else has to take over conducting them, as I couldn't travel to outside of UK. So what's my Series of Unfortunate Events is about?

I was back in KL during Chinese New Year to renew my Visa, which the Embassy in KL had erronously given a shorter validity term. One a nice evening, I had a conversation with my father regarding passports, and it shocked me. My dad pointed out that if your passport is less than 6 months valid, you are not permitted to travel. And I checked my passport. Shit. Expiry Jun 2006? Panic buttons were DEPRESSED immediately. Everyone said, it's a general rule. To me, I haven't heard of this shit before! What? When you are born, it's written in your birth cert in size 12 font is it?!! I was scheduled to fly back the Chinese New Year week, so, I had to postpone my trip back to the UK so that I could get my passport renewed. Good news was, it takes one day to renew.

Bad news was, it only takes one second to lose a passport. Yes, I lost my passport. All these happened on the day I went to the Immigration Department to renew my passport. The passport had my brand new Visa on it and I *beep*ing lost/dropped it! I was there early morning at 6.30am and was the 17th in line. As I needed to get money, so once I got my number I went to withdraw the money. Fast forward the story, when I came back, I realised my passport was not in my possession. I was using a folder all along and I guess it must have dropped out of it without me knowing. You could imagine, I panic the shit out of me!!! I went searching for it up and down, went all over the places, asked all the cleaner ladies, security guard, everybody! No trace of it. I even had bruises on my feet walking up and down! I finally gave up and lodge a report. To cut the long story even shorter, I went all the 3 immigration offices, begged for an Emergency passport. I went to Putrajaya, but the Idiot was telling me to wait for 3 days, maybe someone will return. Honey, if I can wait for 3 days, then what's the point of an emergency passport?! I don't wanna be sitting around and waiting for it to magically appear on my lap?! Argh, sheer frustration I tell you. I decided to try my luck at Subang. I had to beg, and explained my case, and my Bahasa was like so teruk, I don't think it made much sense. But to my relieve, there was an Indian officer, whom then I managed to convince (in English!) and she was so nice to help me through. Thank God! After producing my flight ticket, etc, she granted me the Emergency Passport. I told her, she's a star, after everything. For the first time, I think she smiled!

Next stop. Visa Application Centre of the British High Comm. After paying RM700 for the old Visa, they wanted me to make a new one instead of replacing the old one. Another RM700 gone. Basket! But I wasn't complaining since they agreed to grant me a Visa on my Emergency passport. So it took me another 4 days. Finally, I managed to get back into UK, a week late. And my Emergency passport only allows me to travel to UK and return. I wanna complain, but hey, I am back in the UK and that's what matter most. Had I not been granted an Emergency passport, I won't be back in the UK, and project might just drop me!

So no Dusseldorf and Paris for me for at least 1 month.

I tell you, the day I lost my passport was the day I almost lost my sanity! This is an expensive lesson, and I hope, and pray that everyone else out there, will NEVER have to go through what I've been through! So keep your passport inside your underwear!

ps. My Series of Unfortunate Events also includes: -

Tired punctured by a NAIL, on the day I went to collect my emergency passport

Car didn't start one morning

Being the Joke of the Company!

pss. I also wanna thank the Great Duff! for accompany me during my passport renewal. He's the TOPPEST guy u'll ever find!

Sony could have it so much better

2006-01-20T09:02:00.000Z

SonyStyle Japan Ltd. announced today that a special Franz Ferdinand NW-A1000/RM model will be available for sale via SonyStyle Japan at 33,000 yen (approx. USD$286) each in limited quantities beginning February 2006. To be precise, only 100 units will be available and pre-orders are divided into two groups: January 26 and February 9, 2006.

This limited edition NW-A1000/RM was designed to commemorate Franz Ferdinand’s visit to Japan (February 8-10, 2006) and it bears the album cover “You Could Have It So Much Better” with photographs of each band member on the back of the Walkman. The limited edition unit will be bundled with an exclusive autographed card by band members along with a special tote bag.

Culturised

2006-01-18T16:53:00.000Z

I admit I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to other people's culture. As mentioned earlier, since we moved the dev team to a secluded area, everyone seems to talk much more than they usually do. Of course when your big boss aint' around, you tend to laze up a bit. So my Indian colleagues asked me during our a-little-longer-than-usual coffee break, if I'm married. 'Gee', I thought, 'time to play it straight'. I asked if he's kidding, coz obviously, yours truly is still young (hello!? I'm so offended when he asked)! He went on to ask when is the perfect timing then. So I rolled out my generic answer: ideally when I'm 30, and when I'm financially stable to support my, ahem, wife and kids (I want!), and had my share of fun. Another Indian consultant chipped in, 'Hey, I was married when I was 24'. Another one went, 'Yeah, I'm done at 22.'. Amused, I then asked 'Don't you need to be financially stable to support her?'.

For a few seconds, there was nothing but silence. Then he asked again, 'Don't you have sexual urges?'. 'Well honey, we come out and play earlier than that, it doesn't mean you need to get married first!' was my first thought answer. Of course I couldn't say that. I told them, it's OK to play, as long as you are responsible, bla bla bla.

I can't believe it. They have to get married first before they can have sex? I didn't know they practice such culture in India. I thought only Muslim countries? And then, all of them are on arranged marriages. Which is still happening? When they told me, I simply can't believe it. At this age and time, they do that?

I didn't know they were so old fashioned. But hey, I guess it's time for me to open up and to understand their cultures too.

Coz it's not ALWAYS about me.

But sometimes it is.

Move it!

2006-01-18T14:28:00.000Z

Hi Quik!

Good news – at last! You are able to move into the above apartment today. If you contact Margaret at xxxxx she can advise you about collecting the keys etc. You may well get given an inventory when you move in to be checked against anything in the flat (fixtures and fittings etc.) -snipped-. Enjoy your new home! Take care and kind regards

Maureen

Today I finally got the good news that I'm all ready to move into my new place! Great! So excited I decided to go and get the keys during lunch time. Will be moving tonight after packing everything off at my current apartment. Now my office is just 5 minutes walk away - how great is that! Just when I was gonna start enjoying a 5 minute walk to work, they decided to spoil the party for me. Now, we are moving offices too. We are now shipped to a warehouse turned into offices. It's horrible!! It's now 10 minutes from the old office, that means, I will now have to walk 15 minutes to the office instead of the good old 5. And this new office is crampy, stuffy, and there are no windows! I feel like I'm being suffocated right NOW.

Everyone is so far away. While the development team has been shifted here, all the other functional consultants are now miles away. Now I can't just pop by and ask them if I've got any question. How pathetic is that? Might as well work from home lah like that! But there are certain good points, mainly your manager not being at sight to kacau you and you now don't have to pretend to work! No more Kit-Kats from the Vending machine. Bah, this IS pathetic.

Meanwhile, I'm glad I'm AOK to move into my new apartment. I truly think it's a great place, as it's got a very nice window from top to bottom that will provide sunlight (if that bitch ever appears) to the living room. Now I feel as though I can breathe. But there are certain things that will need to be set up. Firstly of course is Broadband! It's gonna be £29 per month now for wireless broadband, coz me and Ed can then share the connection. He can browse his g-dar, and I can browse my fridae! Woohoo...and then have to get Sky plus. Another £20 monthly I think. Have to lah, coz otherwise damn boring. Even though British television TRULY suck, at least you can still catch Tyra talk nonsense and watch Will and Grace like over and over again.

The new apartment is located just opposite Fitness First. FINALLY. I haven't been feeling healthy for a couple months now. Apart from the obvious bedroom activity, I haven't sweat for the longest time. So I can finally jump into the gym and get it going. I could just go home and drop my coat, bags, and get into my gym gear and then run towards the gym. I did try to go to the gym last time, but there are just too many things you carry. You have your work shoes, coat, jacket all need to be stuffed into that small locker. Leceh lah! The best part is I don't even need to pay coz i'm carrying my FF passport from KL (which I have already cancelled hhehe) and I can use it all the time here coz they don't even bother checking your FF passport. So tomorrow night, I'll start to try to get fit!

Another attraction nearby would be the fantabulous Sainsbury. When Ed and I first went there, I was gobsmacked! As I saw from afar how large store was, I was getting even more excited! It is really huge! This baby carries a wide range of groceries, and they even have Milo, etc! I'm so gonna have so much shopping joy here!

Meanwhile, it looks like Germany and France are calling!

Ta for now!

Good morning, Drayton

2006-01-14T08:57:00.000Z

Time to head out and buy some eggs, bread and cook breakfast, and not forgetting the newspaper! Be right back!

Now if only the Sun try to make an appearance, I need u sunshine!

They sew, she cuts!

2006-01-12T09:51:00.000Z

Lazy buggers! That's right. Damn those lazy American buggers! Was checking torrentspy.com this morning to find the latest episode of Project Runway 2 but damn, it's not there yet! It better be there when I get back home!

I personally think this Reality TV show is the best yet so far. I've gotten really bored of Amazing Race, or America's Next Top Model (I love you Tyra), or those singing competitions. Project Runway, hosted by the gorgeous Heidi Klum, is a refreshing reality show that brings 16 inspiring designers, well some are actually designers with their own boutique but obviously haven't made it big yet, to battle of for the prize of having their creations on a fashion spread of ELLE, and some extra bling bling for their fashion line. Well ya know when you have designers, we have lots of poofters, and boy when you put 5 gay guys together, you can just imagine the drama! Oh, totally!

Basically, they sew. Heidi cuts! Coz one day you are in, the next day you are out!

That's hot

2006-01-10T13:52:00.000Z

Few of my absolute favourite from PS' new collection.

Need.
To.
Slim.
Down.
Like.
Nicole.
Richie.

NOW!

That's hot.

The missed train

2006-01-05T15:56:00.000Z

Sony Vaio Pocket

First announced in Summer 2004. Could you believe it? That time when it was first announced there wasn't anybody in the market who had the similiar offering. On top of my head, the Sony Vaio Pocket plays music as well display images, stores 20 gig of music, is able to connect to digicam and snap pics, image viewer, and photojacket display capability. It's color screen is crisp, pretty much inherited its gene from its Vaio Laptop siblings. Isn't it beautiful? The 5 x 5 grid of weird buttons you see on the right forms a pad where you control the device. It's kinda like the touch pad you have on your laptop. It was kinda weird handling it, but looks brilliant.

I first saw and played with this unit back when Duff was shopping for..uhmmm...was it a webcam?... in one of the Sony stores in Lowyat. I was amazed by the sleek design, and the sheer quality of color images it produces. For once, I thought Sony was doing it right. Even though it has this weird "handle" on it's right (where the cool Vaio brand is being printed on), that baby still look sexy. That little thing houses it's battery, and it's given the device a long battery life, something Sony always is proud of. Anyway, as usual with any Sony audio devices, the drawback is it's inability to play native Mp3, instead playing it's own Atrac3 format. To be honest, I don't mind the Atrac3 coz I'm so used to doing it with my old Minidisc. But the price was a corker. It was tagged at RM1999. Wow.

Fast forward today. Saw this unit going for £130 on ebay. Am itching to get it. The product has been discontinued since. Not sure to invest or not. Tick tock, time ticks and the auction's gonna end. ARgh!

Update: Sony's gonna have it's online movie download services via Connect. I wonder if this signals for a new Sony Walkman Video.

Wah...

2006-01-04T19:58:00.000Z

Tash Aw won some book award and was featured damn big in the Evening Standard. Malaysia boleh! So terror lah...

When my mama yell at me it was because she LOOOVES me!"

2006-01-04T15:17:00.000Z

Was watching The Tyra Banks show on Living.tv aight. That episode was about drags, drags of Britney, Gwen and Cher. The ultimate one was the one with lots of Tyra. These Tyras were required to act like Tyra, and they had to re-enact the above scene from America's Next Top Model. Yo yo yo that's fierce! Go Tyra, I love you! Move over, Oprah!!

"When my mama yell at me it was because she loves me!" :D

the great housekeepers!

2005-12-29T13:15:00.000Z

Every week, there's this housekeeping servicing people (let's call them housekeepers) who come in and does all the cleaning at the same time keeps the rent of this apartment really high. Usually I'll be at work, so I wouldn't actually know what they do, or catch them in action. Since today I'm working from home because obviously, nobody will be at work anyway, I finally had the chance to look see who are these people and how they clean the apartment.

*huge knocking on the door* Santa maria, I thought, who could it be! As I peep out, there's this huge group of people outside, arriving my place like to have a party or some sort. All of them are pussies, but one guy, who is kinda huge kinda cuteish guy caught me eye! Ah, so I quickly whipped out my...uhm...camera and tried to snap a few piccies while he is in action!

Uhm...yeah, him in action...

Then I started to realise he keeps stealing glances at, *gasp* me! And no, Ed's NOT around, if you are wondering.

Ok, let's have a butt shot! Yummmyy...............

Okay, maybe all the staring was because copies of Gaytimes and Attitudes are all over the place...ooops, I wasn't prepared ya know when they came knocking!

Live Walk-Cast wit Quik!

2005-12-21T15:27:00.000Z

What a better way to stay awake than by listening randomly in my Sony Walkman, 18 gigs worth random mp3s and Atrac3s. So here it is, a live broadcast, of the songs currently playing!

3.18pm I Want You Back - N sync
Omg, how did this song get into my walkman? Hmmm anyway, it's quite catchy and it ain't all that bad. I quite like this song. This song is probably form the late 90s or something. That's all.

3.30pm Bring It All To Me - Blaque
I think this band Blaque is an all-girl group managed by Lisa Left Eye Lopez (R.I.P). I think this band is also R.I.P. already lah...

3.38pm Should I Go - Brandy
This song is about Brandy contemplating whether she should get lost from the industry or not. What's great about this track is that it samples Coldplay's Yellow. And that's probably the highlight of this tracks. Oh, and the cashing in on Aaliyah doesn't stop at Missy Elliot. Brandy had to mention about working with Timbaland and wishing she was here. Bla bla.

3.43pm Devil Inside - Utada
This track, off Utada's debut English album under Def Jam Island Records, is quite a corker. Musically, Utada is probably one of the best composers ever. She likes to experiment with various instruments and usually her latest works have a variety of instruments thrown in. This is so evident from this track. It's bloody unique and if you listen properly, you get a wide range of sounds forming this dance anthem. I think this track was No 1 in the US. Well dance chart that is. LOL.

3.48pm Koko - goldfrapp
Sexy, seductive! Usually you can't hear what she's singing coz she's whispering to make her sound sexy. Like, when Mariah does whispering, she gets the axe. How unfair! Anyway, this is nice, but is a bit bored after a while...

3.53pm Crying Like a Church on a Monday - New Radicals
One hella sad song, i feel like crying already! "So do me a favour baby, put down ur new God, and love me like Sunday again..." ...*WEEPS* Gregg Alexander (or something) has got one of the most mellow-est voices ever. Too bad he decided to write songs for people instead. I think he had initial successes with Texas and Ronan Keating. But the last time I heard his songs were disasters, like the one with Mel C, a track called...shit, I can't remember!

4.13pm Get Right (feat. Fabulous) - JLO
OMG I really hate this woman, but I really love this song, it's quite addictive and I hated her with a passion because Mariah's got a new record out and so did J-HO. But luckily J-HO's record sank and stank, can't even remember what's her flop album title name. LOL. But I really did like this song when they used it for Bodyjam session. It's FABUHLUSH!

4.18pm The Importance of Being Idle - Oasis
Off their latest album, this track has all the classic Oasis sound. The it's really important to be idle. How rubbish. But when it comes to any Oasis track, it's rubbish lyrics, but great melody. That's all that they care really.

4.24pm All for You - Janet
Oh, this is the song that actually turned me into a massive janet fan! Now I know how can I not like her control era, or her Velvet Rope era. Hello, last time I don't have MTV, don't have internet, don't have money to buy tape, how am I supposed to know what's the latest on the radios? G-sus WEPT! Anyway, this fabulous Jam & Lewis track shot str8 to number 1 in the Hot 100 just by radio airplay. Omg she was hot and I so totally loved the dance moves, and oh how can I forgot that HOT dance break in the video!

4.37pm Home - Will Young
Yes another slowie from Will. This is off his latest album which hasn't been selling too well. Is this gonna be the start of a huge flop? I hope not, I still like this sound that he has polished himself into. It's those jazzy, mellowish tunes that just go very well in certain mood. I like it!

4.40pm X&Y - Coldplay
Yeah. I like this. Uhm. "You and me are floating on a tidal wave, you and me are drifting into outer space"

4.45pm So Far Away - Staind
My goodness, seriously how did THIS get into my player??

4.48pm Peanut Butter & Jelly - Christina Milian
Yeah, peanut butter and jelly...ok i'm kinda getting tired of this...

Mariah's homecoming

2005-12-21T11:55:00.000Z

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