jumping jiminy!

No it's not about a cricket. In case you haven't noticed already, I have this thing about taking pictures of insects. I find that it gives me some sort of satisfaction especially after I've captured a great clear shot of it because let me tell you, it ain't easy trying to shoot insects.

Today I went to the back garden to look at my herbs. The weather is too warm, my rosemary was drying up. So I picked it up and was about to to put it somewhere shadier, then I noticed something wriggling and jumping up and down at the side. I looked over. It was a centipede. It kept wriggling and jumping up and down, at one point I got a little scared that it might jump at me and go "Haiyah!!!" with a smashing sidekick in my face.

After a little struggle (god knows what it was struggling about) it settled in a little crevice and stayed there. So I took a picture of it. I tried to take an aerial shot of it then all of a sudden it JUMPED right up... I freaked, I screamed and I ran into the house.

Anyways I did a tad of research on the centipede and this is what I'm guessing the one I found is

Scolopendromorpha

Scolopendromorpha
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Subphylum: Myriapoda Class: Chilopoda Subclass: Epimorpha Order: Scolopendromorpha
Families
Cryptopidae Scolopendridae Scolopocryptopidae

The more primitive of the Epimorpha, the Scolopendromorpha comprise 21 or more segments with the same number of paired legs. Their antennae have 17 or more segments. Their eyes will have at least 4 facets on each side.

(got this from here)

If you look closely and count, the little fella does have 21 segments. I didn't bother counting the antennae and well I got a shot from it's rear end so we won't know if its eyes have at least 4 facets on each side. But hey it's cool isn't it?


I do get a bit of the creepy crawlies though when I stare at the picture for too long. It feels like it's gonna jump up at me anytime and go "Haiyah! Take that you silly person!"

Area 01 - Freeze Da Music @ Cameron Highlands

My big bro's co-organizing this cool music event up in Cameron Highlands... it is going to be a blast and soooo rock your world.  Take my word for it

Date : August 9, 2008 (Saturday)

Time : 9.00om (+0.800GST) till you drop

Venue : Sunlight House, Brinchang Cameron Highlands

Get more info from my facebook events here

i love rainy nights

It's been raining quite a bit these days at nights and it makes sleeping such a wonderful experience. Snuggling under my blankie and on my oh-so-IKEA fluffy pillows, feeling warm as toast and with the sounds of raindrops pitter pattering on the roof above me.... I almost never want to wake up. Except for this morning, but mainly because I dreamt that I was battling zombies and my mom tried to feed me pasta as I was running away............

Anyways... as I was saying.... rainy nights turn into misty mornings and with my office near the mountain range, I am greeted by a curtain of heavy mist the moment I get on the highway. One day, it was SO misty... I thought my office building had vanished........

This is almost 2 miles from the exit and my office building is usually visible come rain or shine


This is like half a mile away and just a TEENSY WEENY bit of the ground floor of my office building was visible....

*sigh* and I thought the rain had come and washed my office building away......

Well one can only hope and wish that some dreams will come true hahaha

choco chip cookies!

I love cookies. I love them even more if they're chocolate chip. I love them EVEN more than even more when it's got loadsa choco chips on them. So what does the babygirl do? She makes her own choco chip cookies.

Of course creativity carries the babygirl away now and then.... Yes I know it looks like little hamster/guineapig/rabbit droppings and I swear that those are Hershey's SemiSweets but it wasn't that all easy to knead and shape cookie dough with choco chips in them.... not too bad for my first attempt, eh?

My next cookie project will be another superhero logo thingamajigga... haven't really decided which one yet....

my osmanthus

I was named after this plant... well technically my grandfather gave me my name after counting the strokes in the characters because apparently a girl born should have a certain number of strokes in her name (I have no idea how many strokes there are). Anyhoo part of my name has this character in it... which by the way is also the name of this flower - osmanthus

One day I passed by a tea shop in the mall. I think it's an Asian thing to like drinking tea... it's like we're brought up with it or something. Anyways I saw these little yellow, pink, blue and green decorated jars and somehow I HAD to go up to the jars to take a closer look.
Lo and behold... the yellow jar had my name written on it (okay, okay, part of my name) so being the dinkus I am... I got totally excited and had to buy that jar of tea.

It's pretty nice tea by the way... smells sweet but doesn't taste sweet... it's kind of like jasmine tea but with a different type of fragrance/smell.

Then it hit me... let's wiki it! And I found out that it's a flower native to warmer countries like Asia and that it can be a little shrub up to a tree about 6ft or so in height. The flowers are produced in spring, summer and or autumn and the flowers are really teeny... about a third of an inch and has only four petals. Really cute looking flowers.

Then one time, I was with mum at the nursery looking at plants for the garden... there hiding in a little corner... voila - an osmanthus plant


Naturally I bought it. *duh*

Now every morning before I go to work... I stop by my little plant and take a sniff because it smells so darn good :)

And now it's trying to give a little bit of attitude... and growing leaves from out of its little flower.

Yeah, this was actually the whole point of writing this blog down.... HAHAHA gotcha!

Pentax Asahi ME

Found me dad's old SLR. I remember mum telling me that there's sommat wrong with it but she wasn't too sure (she's not too much a technical/camera person anyways) but I do know that she refuses to send it to a shop to get it repaired because the last time she did that, the guy told her that he'll have to keep it over night and well, she just couldn't part with it.

Also the paranoia of the guy ripping my dad's SLR apart and selling its parts away bit by bit kicked in. Pa-pa had paid over a thousand bucks for this little baby and not to mention 35mm and 50mm lens (no idea how much the lenses cost) for this as well as an electronic flash which cost 80bucks well over 25 years ago.


Anyhoo, I did a tad of research on it and turns out the camera IS older than me. The Pentax Asahi ME was circa 1976 - 1980 (that makes it approximately 6 years older than me at most) and was the first of it's kind to to have features like camera control of the shutter speed, stop exposure compensation, sophisticated aperture priority metering system and also a 1/100 sync speed. (Read more about it here.)

An amateur level camera for photography enthusiasts, this little baby boasts of being one of the most well received single-lens reflex cameras of it's time, that it influenced the design of 35 mm SLRs worldwide for years to come.

This spurred the creation of the ME F and the ME Super which then took over the ME bringing the level of SLRs to the next level.

Maker: Pentax

Dates: 1977-1979

Variants: chrome, black, SE

Camera Type: 35mm SLR

Focusing: manual

---

Lens mount: Pentax K

Shutter: focal plane Seiko MFC-E
metal curtains, vertical travel
from 8s to 1/1000

Exposure meter: TTL, open aperture,
center weighted

Exposure modes: aperture priority

ASA/ISO range: 12 to 1600

Finder screen: fixed

Shoe: fixed hot shoe

X sync speed: 1/100

TTL Flash: no

Motor drive: external winder ME I (1.5i/s) or ME II (2i/s)

Battery: 2 x 1.5V

Weight: 460g w/o lens

Number produced: unknown

The above information was taken from here

I can't wait to buy some film and do a little shooting this weekend!!!

sending and receiving

You know what I love... getting stuff in the mail. Seriously. I love it. Even if it's just a bill or a notification or whatever it is. I just love it.

But at times I'm the worst penpal ever. I have this penpal that I've been writing to since I was around 13... she's from Canada and we used to send each other so much stuff. Leaves, rocks, flags, photos of everything (even the stuff in our drains or on the front porch to our fishes in a tank) which was a lot of fun.

Then she went off to college... and so did I... and bit by bit... our letters started to slow down.... becoming less than once a month... then once every 2-3 months... to about 2-3 letters per year.

Another penpal I had was this guy... whom I met through The Star newspaper. They used to have this penpal thingie going on when I was in elementary school so I wrote in saying that I'd like to have penpals and voila.... it was like a mini matchmaking service. A huge load of people wrote in. This guy - Alvin, is the only guy that I've kept in touch with since then.

We've stopped writing for quite a bit after high school and moved towards e-mails. Then bit by bit we stopped writing. We keep in contact by phone quite a bit though.

It's funny, come to think of it. I only know these two people through their writing and thoughts but yet I feel so close to them... that I can tell them anything I want to and not worry about their judgement and yet trust them to be completely honest with me no matter what.

I miss writing. I just wrote a four-page letter to Mann today... it was fun... I hope to do it more often....

Actually the initial idea for this posting was an entry I wrote in for www.futureme.org but then somehow I got sidestracked and started writing about letters instead....

Sybil Kathigasu

I went to watch the play - sybil by The Actor's Studio. The story of this wonderful brave woman had always inspired me to stand for what I believe in. I had looked forward to it the entire few weeks and thought "Finally! Someone with some sense to come up with a good idea for a play!"

If you have read or heard about her, you would understand that for a person, let alone a woman at that time and age to go through what she went through, required a tremendous amount of strength, faith and perseverance. I find it rather unfair in a way, that doing what she had done and being the ONLY Malayan woman ever to be awarded the George Medal by King George VI, her name never came up in our history books.

Below is an article I found on the net when I typed in "Sybil Kathigasu" taken from here. This little sypnosis would help you understand who she is and what she did for the country.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sybil Kathigasu – new stories, same legend

James Wong Wing On | Jun 30, 06 4:15pm

Until early 1980s, the name and legend of Sybil Kathigasu was very well-known in Malaysia, especially in the Ipoh-centered Kinta Valley. The Christian Eurasian woman (pix) - who was very un-apologetically pro-colonial and spoke Cantonese - was particularly remembered by older generations of Chinese residents of Ipoh and its satellite township Papan as one simple, kind-hearted and extraordinarily brave soul who saved many lives and inspired those in despair during the 44-month Japanese occupation from December 1941 to August 1945. To those who are younger, her legend is preserved in her wartime memoirs No Dram of Mercy first published in 1954. According to the legend, the simple housewife of Dr AC Kathigasu, who operated a clinic at No.141 at Brewster Road in Ipoh, secretly helped to supply medicines and medical services to the anti-Japanese guerrilla forces in Papan where she and her family lived as war refugees. She also helped them to illegally keep shortwave radio sets and listen to broadcasts from Britain and the outside world. Because of those ‘subversive’ activities she and her husband were arrested, tortured and detained until the war ended.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The cast was great. Suki was fantastic as Sybil and Doppu did a great job as Sergeant Yoshimura. The setting was drearily real and the short noir film at the beginning was very cool.

Unfortunately, I felt that the play did not manage to portray her kindheartedness or her brave soul or what she actually did to help the anti-Japanese. I felt that the play did not do any justification to all she has done for the country except that she was very resilient and stood true to what she believed in.

I felt that the story should have evolved more around what the Kathigasu's actually did for the country/aiding the anti-Japanese to show the audience what they did, how dangerous it was, how did they manage to outsmart the Japanese at that time, and all the hardships they had to go through, doing their little bit for the country.

I have read the book "No Dram of Mercy" and I have read numerous articles about this brave woman and even visited the clinic in Papan. I know the story of Sybil Kathigasu. But because of that, certain parts of the story, got me rather confused.

For starters, it seemed rather weird that Sergeant Yoshimura could speak English well enough for his assistant and Sybil to understand but got me, mum and several others opening and closing our mouths like fish out of water because we had no idea what on earth he said (very thick Japanese accent, yes but after all this is a play).

Then the part where her daughter Dawn was tortured, only god knows what happened (if you didn't read the sypnosis in the programme book or have any knowledge of the story at all). The Japanese had caught Dawn and decided to hang her from a tree above open fire and burn her to break Sybil down and make her talk. Sad thing is, all we knew of "Dawn" was a child's voice which screamed "No!!!!" followed by a lot of protesting and screaming followed by what was supposed to be frantic screams and some purring machinery sound (the whole thing was acted out behind a huge wall with a bright red light glowing in the background as the actual scene would not have been appropriate for public viewing I guess)

Thing is, that part was significant. It showed her as a woman and as a mother and as a loyal subject of the country would not even break down EVEN though her daughter's life was at stake. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out too well.

It sounded more like the Japanese were trying to chuck her daughter into a paper shredder and I can't even start to explain what on earth the red light was. The least they could have done was to make it a flickering light. I'm pretty sure the art director would know how to do it, it's not that hard you know.

Anyhoo, I really felt that it was a fantastic story about bravery, love and loyalty to a country. But it just didn't translate too well into a play.

I must say I am disappointed. I paid 40 bucks hoping to watch a heart moving and inspiring play. Instead, I spent over an hour watching a Japanese man kick, torture, hurl verbal abuse and attempt to kill a woman during the WWII.

I guess this is what they mean by - if you have read the book, don't watch the movie or the play in this case.

i'm such a doofus

Jon's service is due (btw fyi Jon is the name of my car and YES I name pretty much everything I own) and I thought that I could catch up with some alone time... sit in a cafe while I wait for him. Then I was thinking to myself this morning "Oh yeah I have some photos that I wanna upload... I should bring my card reader along as well, ooh and don't forget the thumbdrive and headphones!!!"

Yeah.... doofus me... forgot pretty much everything. So the babygirl is sitting here in front of her notebook, with her brekkie.... and looking pretty... hahaha

Oh which reminds me, MNG went on sale 2 days ago... and I splurged.... *sigh* there goes my money....... there goes my shuffle.... *sigh*

crappy english

You know why I became a teacher in the first place. Partly was for the flexible time and the good money. The other was because I couldn't comprehend why, people didn't speak or write English properly considering that EVERYONE in this country has gone through years of English class in school.

I received this email the other day and I couldn't stop laughing at it. It just seemed SO amusing to see that these people who started the email in the first place was SO adamant on warning people about this "Cheating Group" but couldn't be bothered to write it properly in the first place. I mean, if you're no good in English, bloody write it in another language then. Malay, Mandarin, Cantonese... whatever rocks your boat.

Which also brings me to another point. Why do these people have all these information on this "Cheating Group" anyways? Like their photographs, their names, age, origins... like what do these people (the senders of the email) actually do? And if they were 'cheated' by these people... I am speechless. In this time and day you should KNOW better than to just trust strangers. Yes call me skeptical. Say that I have lost faith in mankind and trust and all that jazz. Yes I have. In a way, but not completely.

It's just that you have learnt as a child, not to simply believe people, especially strangers because they may do harm to you. Everyone is guilty until proven innocent. It's true. I should know... I fib ALL the time :P In fact I'm pretty good at it.

Anyhoo, have a read... and should you be one of those less skeptical kind of people. Please... be aware of this "Cheating Group" and let all your loved ones know NOT to borrow anything from them!

BEWARE OF THEM!!! THEY ARE CHEATING GROUP!!!

THEY ARE A FOREX ( FOREIGN EXCHANGE ) INVESTMENT COMPANY AGENCY, THEY ARE CHEATING A LOTS OF PEOPLE FROM ALOR SETAR, KEDAH. NOW, THEY ARE RUN AWAY FROM KEDAH, EXPECTATION THEY ARE CHEATING PEOPLE MINIMUM RM300'000!!! PLEASE DO FORWARD TO ALL OF YOUR FRIEND, DON'T LET ANYONE TO BEEN CHEAT BY THEM AGAIN!!!!

HEAD : EDDIE NG ( 26 YEARS OLD ) PENANG
IRVINE WONG KOK LAM ( 26 YEARS OLD ) ALOR SETAR
TAN LEE SA ( 29 YEARS OLD ) ALOR SETAR

PLEASE FORWARD TO ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS IF YOU DONT HOPE ANYONE BEEN CHEAT AGAIN BY THEM!!! THANKS

Blond Moments

I sometimes swear that I am actually blond underneath. Seriously.

I can change a light bulb, in fact I change all the light bulbs in the house. And no, nothing goes short-circuited after I change the bulb(s)

I know how to work a stick shift. And no, the car doesn't stall or blow up or anything like that. In fact I prefer driving a stick shift more than an auto drive. Auto drive always makes me feel like... I'm incompetent or retarded or something. Besides the pick up on an auto drive sucks big time. Not that I'm in a hurry to go anywhere.

But yet again, no matter how modern women are today. Much as they want to deny it, they are still women deep down inside.

Someone used my notebook the other day to check his emails and somehow the wireless down at the cafeteria was protected. Somehow through his non-blondness, he got in.

When I got home, I turned on my notebook to finish up some work and sure enough, the wireless just refused to work. The LEDs were lit and blinking. A little convo bubble even popped up telling me that I'm connected and the reception is "Excellent" but nothing could go through.

Being the blond that I am, immediately I panicked and called him up and asked (well demanded would be a more appropriate term but then let's not go there) "What on earth did you do to my wireless?!?! I can't go online and I've got a deadline today!!!"

I found out 5 mins after we hung up that it was my modem acting up and he did not do anything to my notebook.

Then he texted me past midnight, and since I was half asleep I decided to call him instead of texting him. So I checked the time stamp on his text before I called him and it said 2.26am.

Being the blond that I am, I asked him "What time is it?" and he fumbled for a bit and said "It's 1.30am" and I mumbled something else, and he said "You know what, just go to sleep... okay?"

So we hung up... then I checked the time stamp on the phone convo and it was written 2.28am so I texted him
"Liar :P It's way past 1.30"
"Well my watch said it was close to 1.30 when you called me,"

Then it occurred to me to check my watch. Turns out the clock on my cell phone was an hour ahead of local time HAHAHA

"Sorry... blond moment again, my cell's clock is an hour ahead.... hahaha,"
"Haha keep blaming me, it's okay. I can accept it,"

Geez... two blond moments in the same day with the same person.... gahh!!!!!

11 Januari

I realized I like Indonesian music more than Malaysian music.

Not that I don't support the local music scene... I do...

But gone are the days of ---->
Jason Lo (can you imagine how stinky either one of us was with all that mosh pit shit going on earlier) and John's Mistress (this was actually taken on a bet... because my besties dared me to hahaha)
So are gushing about how cute the drummer is with my bestie or sneaking around corners to peek at them.

Ahhh good ol' days of running around with not much of a care in the world.... just plain being 18.

Anyways back to my rant for the day. I heard this song and every time I hear songs like these, I have to search up the lyrics. Then the lyrics ALWAYS blow me away.

It's amazing how simple the lyrics are and yet how much meaning it carries.

Gigi - 11 Januari (Peace, Love & Respect)
Sebelas Januari Bertemu (Met on January 11th)
Menjalani Kisah Cinta Ini (And started on this journey of love)
Naluri Berkata Engkaulah Milikku (Instinct told me that you are mine)
Bahagia Selalu Dimiliki (Happiness which will always be mine)
Bertahun Menjalani Bersamamu (Years together with you)
Kunyatakan bahwa Engkaulah jiwaku (I swear that you are my soul)

Akulah Penjagamu (I am your guardian)
Akulah Pelindungmu (I am your protector)
Akulah Pendampingmu (I am the one by your side)
Di setiap langkah-langkahmu (In every step of your way)

Pernahku Menyakiti Hatimu (Have I broken your heart)
Pernah kau melupakan janji ini (Have you forgotten our promise)
Semua Karena kita ini manusia (We are human after all)

Akulah Penjagamu (I am your guardian)
Akulah Pelindungmu (I am your protector)
Akulah Pendampingmu (I am the one by your side)
Di setiap langkah-langkahmu (In every step of your way)

Chorus:
Kau bawa diriku kedalam hidupmu (You bring me into your life)
Kau basuh diriku dengan rasa sayang (You bathe me with love)
Senyummu juga sedihmu adalah Hidupku (Your smiles and tears are my life)
Kau sentuh cintaku dengan lembut (You touch my love with gentleness)
Dengan sejuta warna (With a million colors)

jell-o

It's a really warm day :(

Decided to make jell-o. Haven't made jell-o in ages especially since my grandma passed away. She was the jell-o queen. In fact she was the queen of the kitchen...
I have all these jell-o moulds from god knows how many years ago... which I love incredibly. It's amazing how these little things brought such simple joy to my life. It still does
I've poured the jell-o into them... chucked them into the freezer. Yeah I like my jell-o frozen. Makes it shit load better.

Now all I have to do is wait........

CLIPS

I am a self professed IKEA freak. I buy a shit load of things from IKEA from my quilt cover sets, bedding, curtains, boxes, drawer liners, dish rack, mugs, whisk, cutlery, cooking utensils... you name it, I probably might have it.

So the other day I made a trip down to do a bit of home shopping and I saw these picture frames - CLIPS and I was thinking that it would be fun to have something clear like that instead of the regular wooden frames that I always buy.

The CLIPS that I bought came in a 4-pack which fits 4R images. There's a glass front and a cardboard backing together with 4 metal clips for each frame.

Now the big conundrum is that I have no effing idea how to attach the metal clips... at all. I feel like such a blond right now...
If anyone who has bought this before, or knows someone who did... PLEASE (I beg you) tell me how to fix the damn thing.

reinjecting romance

with all the shit that goes on in my life... I felt that I had to re-inject some romance back into my life. I went to the local bookstore and zoomed straight in the best-sellers rack. I picked up Cecilia Ahern's ps I Love You.

I have heard SO much about the book. Just the other day Len was telling me that she cried her eyes out watching the movie. Angela bought the book 4 years ago and cried reading it. And since usually the book is always better than the movie, I thought why not. So then I bought my first romance/love novel. (Prior to this was mostly fiction - Anne Rice, James Clavell, John Grisham, you get my drift)

I have only reached 2++ pages in the book and so far, it's alright. Not a tear jerker yet... but let's see how it goes. The first few chapters up to the point she receives the 2nd letter from her dead husband was pretty good... after that, now everything seems pretty predictable...

Maybe I've been a skeptic for way too long.......

petrol hike

I received three text messages telling me that fuel prices were going to go up and that I should go fill up now before it takes effect at midnight tonight.

*pffftt* was my response. I thought it was a hoax. Unfortunately my ignorance was confirmed on my way home as I passed by three major fuel stations along the main road. I saw a massive traffic jam and being Malaysian, the first thing that jumped into my mind was car accident.

Fortunately, it was just a bunch of ignoramuses who were all queuing up to fill up their gas tanks.

People, especially those who DID queue up to fill up their tanks. Let me ask you a question. Were you really using your heads? Unless if your tank was really running low, fine, you're excused. If not, what was the whole effing point of this?

Did you really think that by filling up your tank before the hike would ACTUALLY help you?

Did you really think that queuing up like that was NOT a waste of time?

Did you really think that it was worth it all?

Think about it. You fill up while the price is still at 1.92MYR and so what? It'll last you the rest of the week and then? YOU STILL HAVE TO PAY 2.70MYR per liter until the next hike! Live with it okay? Ignoramus bunch indeed!

Big deal, make a big fuss. Malaysians are really uneducated when it comes to things like this. Yeah, yeah everyone's a university graduate local or overseas, but so what? We are all being surpressed about national matters. We're not allowed to hold demonstrations. We're not that all allowed to voice out our opinions when we are against something. The government has had several articles printed in the newsies out saying that we should not take part in illegal demonstrations about the fuel hike. That makes me say in disgust "Oh really? Wow... we should all just sit back and smile and pat the government on the back and tell them how appreciative we are of them because they are looking out for us,"

Another example was during quite some time ago where one major English daily published on their front page "Crime Rates Go Up x%" and instead of being worried, I over heard a couple of people say "Wah, x% not bad hor? At least not xx%," Not bad? NOT BAD?!

Seriously. *sigh*

Yeah so now we will have to walk to work. Cycle. Jog. Take public transport! Yay! Public transport here is the BEST in the effing world.

Now I'm not saying that I agree about the price jump but my point here is that there is nothing much we can do about it.

Demonstrate? Sure why not. Then get warnings from the police while we hold picket cards and huge banners because we are disrupting harmony and peace not to mention promoting negative behavior which is very un-Malaysian.

Write to the major newspapers and voice our dissatisfaction? Sure why not. Like that's going to do much except to get a mental response from the reader going "Yeah man... this is so unfair,"

WTF... Life is always unfair. So live with it. I've attached an article about the petrol hike taken from the Malaysian MSN website below and inserted pictures that I took that evening.

Malaysian petrol price to jump 40 percent: PM

Malaysia said petrol prices will jump 40 percent from Thursday, as it moves to cut the spiralling cost of subsidies despite the prospect of public outrage.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the price hike could suppress economic growth and drive up inflation as high as 5.0 percent this year, from current levels of 3.0 percent in April.

"The cost of petrol and commodities has risen drastically and so subsidies have to be restructured," he told a press conference Wednesday.

"God willing I hope Malaysians will not demonstrate over this," he said, referring to fury over earlier hikes in a country where public transport is poor and most people are reliant on their cars.

Abdullah indicated that further increases were in the pipeline as Malaysia moves to completely abandon fuel price controls that would have cost 17.4 billion dollars this year -- about a third of the national budget.

"We are moving towards a market price regime but it has to be step by step, we cannot do it immediately," he said.

The new pump price for petrol will be 2.70 ringgit (0.84 dollars) and 2.58 ringgit for diesel. Petrol currently costs 1.92 ringgit, among the cheapest in Asia.

Abdullah is taking a major political risk in removing price controls even as he attempts to recover from disastrous March elections that dealt the ruling coalition its worst results in half a century.

Rising prices of food and fuel were a major factor in the ballot, which has triggered repeated calls for the premier to stand down.

"It is not an attempt to be popular, we have to think in the best interests of the people," Abdullah said.

Fresh protests over the price increases are very likely, said Mohd Hatta Ramli of the Islamic opposition party PAS who led anti-inflation demonstrations earlier this year.

"This is a massive hike and will create big problems for all and sundry. It will have a knock-on effect of increasing prices of all kinds of goods," he told AFP.

"We strongly feel that it is a severe misjudgement on the part of the government," he said. "In all probability, there will be a protest."

The subsidy cut was deeper than anticipated, said Yeah Kim Leng, chief economist with research firm Ratings Agency Malaysia.

"A price increase has been seen as inevitable and expected, but what happened is way beyond expectations," he told AFP.

"We were looking at 20 to 30 percent but 40 percent means the government must be trying to make up for not raising prices last year as well."

Under a revamped subsidy system, drivers of smaller vehicles will receive a cash payment of 625 ringgit to offset the rising cost, equating to subsidising some 800 litres of fuel.

Yeah said the rebates were not large enough to compensate for average use.

"It is clearly only a partial subsidy so we need to see how the lower-income group will be able to now absorb all this," he said.

Domestic Trade Minister Shahrir Samad said the pump price could rise as high as 3.00-4.00 ringgit when price controls are completely removed in August.

Abdullah indicated that economic growth, which the government had tipped at 5.0-6.0 percent this year, would be clipped.

"We will be able to manage at 5.0 percent this year," he said.

Inflation "might go up by 4-5 percent for the year", he added.

Some 13.7 billion ringgit would be saved by the new measure, including 1.7 billion ringgit in a windfall tax charged to independent power producers and palm oil growers who have benefited from rising oil prices.

As part of the subsidy reform, industry and power producers will be charged higher prices for gas from July. Electricity tariffs will rise 18 percent for householders, and 26 percent for commercial and industrial users.

Malaysia has already moved to ban sales to Thais and Singaporeans who make trips across the border to fill up their tanks with fuel that is substantially cheaper here.

Sempurna

I heard this song over the radio the other day and the lyrics of the song just reached out and sucked me in... I couldn't imagine loving someone so much as the lyrics say.

I always find some sort of fault with every person I am with.

But after listening to this song, I realize, everyone, when in a relationship will feel that the other person completes the missing piece in their lives - whether you want to admit it or not.

It makes me realize that at the peak of the relationship, this is what I feel all the time.

Love conquers all.

I am a hopeless romantic.

I yearn for the romance spun in love stories, movies, poetry and songs.

I felt this rush of emotions surging through when I think of the most recent relationship. Not that it was really one to even consider a real relationship. But whatever it is, whatever I went through with him for the past 4 days, I felt invincible. I felt that nothing could go bad. I felt that I was on top of the world. It felt perfect.

The chorus touches my heart the most. Generally if it's translated into English and sung, it would be UBER cheesy but here, it is one of most beautiful lines I have ever heard.

I hope one day, someone.... will sing this for me... and not because I like the song.... but because he really feels this way for me....

Andra and The Back Bone - Sempurna

Kau begitu sempurna (You are so perfect)
Dimataku kau begitu indah (In my eyes you are so beautiful)
Kau membuat diriku akan slalu memujamu (You make me want to praise you always)

Disetiap langkahku (In every step that I take)
Kukan slalu memikirkan dirimu (My self will always think of you)
Tak bisa kubayangkan hidupku tanpa cintamu (I can't get used to imagining life without your love)

Janganlah kau tinggalkan diriku (Don't you leave me please)
Takkan mampu menghadapi semua (I can't face all this)
Hanya bersamamu ku akan bisa (Only with you, I can)

Kau adalah darahku (You are my blood)
Kau adalah jantungku (You are my heart)
Kau adalah hidupku (You are my life)
Lengkapi diriku (Completes me)
Oh sayangku, kau begitu (Oh my love, you are so)
Sempurna... Sempurna... (Perfect... perfect...)

Kau genggam tanganku (You hold my hand tight)
Saat diriku lemah dan terjatuh (At moments when I am weak and fallen)
Kau bisikkan kata dan hapus semua sesalku (You whisper words and rid all my regrets)

Janganlah kau tinggalkan diriku (Don't you leave me please)
Takkan mampu menghadapi semua (I can't face all this)
Hanya bersamamu ku akan bisa (Only with you, I can)

Kau adalah darahku (You are my blood)
Kau adalah jantungku (You are my heart)
Kau adalah hidupku (You are my life)
Lengkapi diriku (Completes me)
Oh sayangku, kau begitu (Oh my love, you are so)
Sempurna... Sempurna... (Perfect... perfect...)

Kau genggam tanganku (You hold my hand tight)
Saat diriku lemah dan terjatuh (At moments when I am weak and fallen)
Kau bisikkan kata dan hapus semua sesalku (You whisper words and rid all my regrets)

i hate relationships

I had just come back from one of the largest IT exhibitions/congress in the world. I've been working my ass off for the past few months preparing for this and we're JUST a state partner, I can't imagine what the organizers had to go through! kudos peeps!

Right before I left for the exhibition/congress, I had an argument with someone really close to me... it was partly my fault... but then again I had to get it off my chest. I knew I had to say something. I could not hold it in anymore. Keeping secrets to yourself only does damage to your soul.

Going off for work, one week away from home - good time to clear head. Or so I thought.

You know how things always happen or pop up when you least expect it? I hate it when that happens, because the optimist in me believes that "Oh my god... could this be it?!?!" and I get all excited for a teeny little thing.

I met a guy while at work. He was nice. Not super good looking but not too bad either. But then again everyone looks good in a suit. First day, things went well... everyone was getting to know each other... and he was charming, very gentlemanly.

Come first day of the exhibition, he was barely around but then again I barely noticed because we were all busy preparing for the Prime Minister's visit and all the delegates who kept asking the same questions again and again and again...

Second day of the exhibition, he started to hang out with me.
Then he asks
"Hey have you had brekkie yet?"
"Yeah, I ate before I came over this morning at the hotel... why? Have you not eaten?"
"Yeah I haven't.... I wonder who can I get to go eat with me," and he smiles at me
"If you want me to go with you to eat, just say so...."
"Hahaha you're good. Come let's go eat," and he pulls me by the arm and leads me towards the cafeteria.

After that we took a long walk back to the exhibition hall. He's a good conversationalist. He's politically active which kind of made me realize why he's such a friendly person but I dismissed it. Slightly before lunch, I was cleaning up and had to tie a ribbon to this gift that we were going to present to the King during his visit when he came up and asked me
"Hey, who are you having lunch with?"
"I don't know... it depends really..."
"Okay set. You're having lunch with me,"
"Umm okay..."
"But we have to go in like 5 mins...."
"Dude... it's like only 12.30 and at least let me finish this ribbon thing,"
"Yeah I kinda have to go back to feed my cats cuz one of them is preggers,"

So he drove back to this mini-mart near his place, bought some cat food, drove back to his place to feed his cats while I waited in the car and we had lunch and then he drove us back.

By then everyone was already questioning where the both of us had gone to and why did we take such a long lunch break. Geez.... can't a girl have a nice lunch date with a guy?

Throughout the rest of the exhibition hours, we were laughing and talking non stop and that got me thinking... could this work out? Not that I wanted him to be the one but I haven't had this kind of feeling in a super long time and I wasn't one to push that away.

All of a sudden, 20 minutes before the exhibition closes, he comes up to me and whispers
"Hey give me your resume,"
"My what?"
"Resume... your CV,"
"I don't have it here with me..."
"I know, email it to me... I found you a job in KL," and he looks at me with a smile lighting up his face.
"Really?"
"Yeah.... oh hey you know what, better yet... come..." and he held his hand out to take mine.
"Come? Where are we going?"
"Don't ask. Just come," and he grabs my hand and pulls me over to him and walked off.

Apparently he's not supposed to be doing this because the guys that he is about to introduce me to are his company's competitors. When we got over there, he was highly recommending me to this Director of Sales and Senior Manager and god knows what on earth he had told them earlier that they wanted me to send in my CV as soon as possible.

Then towards the end of the day, he invited me to go watch him play futsal after the exhibition. If you're not too tired, he added. So I told him that I have to go back to shower and change out of my business suit first and he told me he'd wait for me.

I saw his car waiting at the hotel lobby and I walked right up to it and opened the door. The damn thing was shut! Then he looked up and fumbled with his CD holder and quickly unlocked the door and smiled at me. "Wow, you know I didn't recognize you. I actually saw you walking across the lobby but I didn't know it was you... you look good..."

So we went to his futsal match. Saw his co-worker there as well and we had a quick chat and then we left to go back to his place. He made me sit in the hall because his room was in a real mess and he wanted to clean up first. Apparently he didn't want me to sit in the hall for too long just in case his roomies come home and ask a lot of questions yadda3x

So while he showered I busied myself with his computer and books. Then he came in and said
"So what do you want to eat?"
"Dude, you're the one from around here... you tell me... I'm pretty much up for anything,"
"Okay... are you hungry yet then?"
"Not really.... maybe just a tad, why?"
"Your feet still hurting?" while gesturing to my feet cuz the whole day I was complaining about sore feet and a blister
"Yeah they do..."
"Here... gimme your foot," and he grabs a bottle of baby oil and a chair and starts massaging my feet!

Right foot... left foot.... then moved up to my back because he could see that I had tensed shoulders (don't ask me how he knew) and the great part was that... it was JUST a massage... I kinda expected that he would try something but I wanted to wait and see.... and he didn't do anything. Even though we were alone in his room with the door closed.

So after that we went out for a late dinner, he introduced me to his roomies as we exited his apartment

We sat there chatting the night away during dinner and he sent me back to my hotel. The moment I reached for the door to get out from the car, he says "Hey!" as though I had forgotten something and when I turned around, he pointed to his cheek so I gave him a peck on the cheek and he smiled.

I changed into my jammies and crawled into bed. There I was lying down in the dark - thinking, replaying what happened today. Wondering if he's worth it. Wondering why he was so nice to me. Asking myself if he wanted to, would I date him. Then all of a sudden my cell phone rings *dammit I left it on 'Loud'*

Quickly I grab it and whisper "Hello?" I didn't even look at who was the caller...
"Hey... are you asleep?" it was him
"No.... just lying in bed... why?"
"Why aren't you sleeping yet?"
"Well if I were sleeping, why did you wake me up?"
"Nah, just wanted to tell you that I just got home..."
"Oh... okay,"
"Oh and my roomies did think you were Malay... you were right..." (I had told him earlier on that a lot of people have mistaken me for a Malay before and apparently they had grilled him about who I was)

So we chatted for a little while more and then he told me that I should go to sleep and he'll see me in the morning.

Third and final day of the exhibition. It was an uber busy day. I ran upstairs and downstairs (not to the lady's chamber though hahaha) and had barely time to spare at our booth - hence less time to spend hanging out with him. Fortunately and ironically he was busy too so he TOO barely had time to spend at the booth.

My co-worker approached me and told me bluntly that everyone in our exhibition booth thinks that me and him are dating and asked me if it's true or not. Of course I denied that something was going on between the both of us and said that we were just friends. So I texted him "Hey, everyone thinks that we're dating... hahaha" and he replied "Eh? Really? Hahaha did they know that you were out with me last night?"

Then later towards the evening he was rather busy and I overheard him telling some guy that he has a business meeting to go to after work. Then he walks over to me and tells me that he's got something going on tonight, his boss called and he has to go for a meeting and that we can only hang out later - after he's done with his meeting. So I told him I was fine with it and work is work. Besides, I had JUST gotten to know him, I didn't think that he would be at my every beck and call.

So after the exhibition ended... he walked me to my car, helped me with my bags and all and made sure that I had already sat in the driver's seat when he said "Hey..." again. This time, he kissed me on the lips lightly and gave me a hug and said "Bye sayang..."

Later that night when I was at dinner with my co-worker, he calls.
"Hey, watchu up to?"
"Eating dinner.... aren't you supposed to be at some meeting?"
"Yeah I am but I decided to call it off... wanna hang out?"
"Sure but you have to let me finish my food first..."
"Okay I'll wait for you at the hotel lobby then. Text me when you're done eating alright?"

So after that, we go back to his place... watched a movie... and made out a little... which was fine by me. He's not a bad kisser.

Later in the night he drives me back to the hotel and as I reached out to open the car door, he gestures for me and gives me a look. So I reach over and kissed him on the cheek... and he holds my face with his hands and kisses me slightly on the lips and says "Good night sayang,"

And that is it.... do you see the pattern? The same old pattern I go through every single little relationship in the past few years. And you know what's the worst part? I come home and decide to do a little e-stalking and guess what I find out. He's engaged to his girlfriend of at least 3 years.

Good one babygirl... give yourself another pat on the back because ONCE again, you have failed to see all the signs.

Okay you know what, let's rephrase.

You did not fail to see all the signs, you FAILED to acknowledge the signs leading to the big hole in the ground because of your ignorance. You have no one to blame but yourself....

(p/s : I know I'm being a tad harsh on meself but then again, that's the way it goes for being such an optimist and so trusting....)

baby Samuel

I just found out today that my cousin's baby boy who was born on April 7, 2008 had passed away. Baby Samuel was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome which is a rare congenital disease where the left heart is severely undeveloped. I read that there are cases where infants who are successfully treated for this have a good chance of survival though they may experience health problems which are chronic for the rest of their lives....

I guess it's all good... at least baby Samuel didn't have to suffer (because during his stay in the hospital he had no breathing difficulties and wasn't showing any signs of stress).

And he's now sitting up there in the clouds with Great Grandpa, Great Grandma, Grand Uncle West and Grand Aunt Mary... and god knows how spoilt he will be with the older generations with him!

My heart goes out to my cousin and his wife, little Emily and their immediate families for their loss... I can't even begin to imagine what Chun must be going through right now, having to go through what she's gone through...

Requiescat in pace, Samuel

i miss sayang :(

I miss my furball of a temperamental dutch lop bunny.... he died last year.... of what I can kind of believe is a stroke because the vets weren't too sure but since he was half paralyzed... I'm guessing that it was a stroke.... :'(
Ever since I was a kid, I've always wanted to have a white bunny for a pet... but mum never let me. Dogs, yes... guinea pigs, yes... bunnies... no.

Until the year I was 18, my cousin had bought his wife (then girlfriend) a little brown dutch lop bunny for Christmas. It was so adorable I fell in love with her immediately and then I looked at mum. *cha ching!!!* there you have it... that's how I got my bunny. Both Fondue (that's the bunny's name) and I looked at mum with pleading sad brown bunny eyes and the cute little sniffly nose, promising that I would clean up after the furball and the furball will create as minimal mess as a bunny could ever possibly do... mum nodded and I raced out to the pet store with my cousin.

Thumper bunny, was the first name that crossed my mine for a male rabbit. He was such an adorable little thing. He has a little bit of an ear defect when I got him though, but the store owner told me that all I had to do was to slowly stroke his ears daily the way it's supposed to look and his ears would fall naturally after a bit. I bought Thumper bunny a cage... with a water bottle and a food bowl... then I bought him pellets and treats.

I was the happiest person alive that day.... I had my own little bunny wabbit....

Years went by.... Thumper bunny's name changed to a diverse variety of whatever that ran through my mind. Usagi-chan, bun bun, brown ball, dutchie, and of course... Sayang.

He had his own room (yes you read right... he has his own room in my house, and no I don't mean a cage, I mean a room with four walls, a door, a ceiling fan and lights) and every morning when mum opened his room door, he'd run straight to mine and start scratching it to wake me up.

Then during dinner time EVERY SINGLE NIGHT... he'd be sitting either at my feet or beside my chair... waiting for me to finish and give him some fruit... or bread... or some treats... and if I didn't... he would stand on his hind legs and stare at me with his big beady eyes and sniffle as though he smells something wonderfully delicious.
I remember the year I left for my studies. I was so worried that he might go off before I come back. I really was....
The moment I got back home after being away for one year, was to rush in and yell "Sayang!!!" and there he came... galloping across the dining hall floor and drifting into the hall (the floors are marble and well, he's got a lot of fur on the underside of his paws). I scooped him up and hugged him and I kept muttering "I'm so glad you're still here... I'm so glad you're still here..." then I hear "Umm... excuse me... what about me?" and then I realized that I hadn't hugged my mom yet :P
Years went by and my Sayang was famous.... all my friends wanted to meet my rabbit. I know, I know, it sounds far fetched but then it was true. Not a lot of people I knew had rabbits... come to think of it, it was only me and my best friend.... yeah hers was Rocky... naughty little fella...

He used to have this thing, that when he naps... he'll nap on his side... and the first time I saw him nap that way... I freaked out because I thought he had died....
Last year I was just telling mum "Wow imagine... bun is already 8 human years old... that's gotta mean that in bunny years... he's ancient!"

Then it happened. You know bombs like these always drop on you when you least expect it.

One Sunday morning, mum came into my room asking me to wake up because she couldn't find Sayang in his room. Then I remembered he had a new sleeping place... he would hide into a small cranny and just sleep there with all his dust bunnies.... then after 5 mins, mum came into my room again saying that she still can't find him.

So I got up... walked into his room and searched all the corners and all the nooks... and then I saw him lying under the computer table with his back against the wall. So I called for him. He didn't move. I called again. Still no movement. We had quite some boxes around the area so I couldn't just reach in. So I stuck my toes between and wiggled them at his bum. He didn't move either. Panic crept all over me. "No wait, he's still warm and soft...."

So we managed to get him out after a bit... but then I could see that there was something terribly wrong about him. He was kind of bent in an unnatural way. His head was tilted... his eye was all crusty and he was kind of limp. Then when I set him down on the floor... he tried so hard to stand... but he couldn't.

We took him to the vet and the vet said that he had probably snuck into the corner and got stuck... and tried to struggle to break free but ended up tensing up his muslces and they spasmed.... it's probably just a sprain, just massage his muscles slowly and regularly and he'll be fine.
One week went by.... no improvement... he could barely stand but had a ravenous appetite... which I thought was a good sign.

Then I knew what I had to do. Sayang could barely lift his head, let alone stand.... he couldn't walk to his usual spot to pee so I'd sometimes find him in a puddle of pee.... then I knew, I knew that I had to end his pain.

That weekend I took him to his regular vet (who unfortunately was closed the day of his 'stroke') and he smiled as I walked in with Sayang wrapped in his towel in my arms and asked "So... how can I help you today?" then he put his hands on his hips and shook his head "What did he do now?"

"It's not good..." I told him. Then I walked into the consultation room, unwrapped Sayang and told the vet the entire story.

"Well...." the vet has been Sayang's doctor since day one.... even he couldn't mouth the words to me.

"If it's time then... okay...." I told him. Tears welled up in my eyes. I knew no matter what happened, I had to put Sayang to sleep. I wanted to hold him during the entire thing because I didn't want him to feel that he was alone. But I couldn't. And also because the vet told me that it's best not to.

He showed me the door and said "This will take a short while okay? Just wait for me here, I'll call you when it's done,"

I broke down and cried outside the room. Ten minutes later the vet came out and told me that I could go in and see him now.

There he was.... lying on top of his towel in a box as though he was sleeping. He looked so normal.

Mum and I took him home... and buried him in a corner of the garden and he is now known as the Keeper of the Garden....

That was August 2007. Up till now, I cannot walk into the bunny section in a pet store, eat mango or retell this story without crying...

I miss my widdle bunny wabbit so so much........

how do they know?

Someone sent me an email photo story about dissecting a croc who apparently had devoured someone....

It was pretty gross... they had the croc tied and flipped belly up... and I have no idea if they had killed it first or just slit its belly open while it was alive... and on the inside, they pulled out two arms (fingers all the way up to the shoulders) and two legs (toes up to the thighs) and there was a head peeking inside the intestines.

Ugly sight... sad sight... but also interesting at the same time.........

But what makes me really curious is that... how do they know?

How do they know that it was THAT croc? Did they catch and cut up a few large crocs to find out? Did they stick around to find out which croc wasn't hunting (therefore would seem suspicious cuz they don't do any hunting which would of course take a long time since crocs are cold-blooded and therefore have slow metabolism rates enabling them to go without food for an uber long time)? I don't think there would be only ONE croc in the river because they're not that all solitary creatures and I'm pretty sure they didn't tag the poor soul who was devoured....

Cuz as far as I remember, crocs like to drag their victims and drown them... and the occasional 'death roll' if it's too chunky/large for them.... and most of the accidents like these... are reported as attacks... and not swallowed.... where the victims are mostly maimed... and mauled....

Okay you know what this is getting icky and depressing and just plain yeurrghhhh... I'll stop now....

changing names part II

I was reading my morning paper during brekkie at the hotel today.... parents these days are radically changing names of their kids.... like shortening it... or adding an apostrophe... or spellling it phonetically... I'm telling you it's crazy!

It's like they're all becoming black rappers or something you know. Like from Cameron to Cam'ron, Anne to An... the list goes on.

But you know what hits the most? This kid... no wait, his parents.... were really estatic to see an ultrasound of their baby for the first time realized that they were really have a kid for real... which is of course great.... they decided to name the kid 4Real with the argument that if there are names with numbers at the end (like John Smith III), why can't a name start with a number instead. So of course the authorities rejected it with the reason that there's a ruling that states that a name CANNOT start with a number, the parents had no choice but to revert to their second choice - Superman.

Superman. Wow.... Superman Smith.... HAHAHAHA can you imagine what his siblings names could be? Spiderman, Wonderwoman, Supergirl, Cyclops.... OH MY DEAR LORDY! Apparently now the parents are considering taking legal action to the authorities to reverse that ruling.

Which reminds me, I was out with a friend the other night and we were talking about names and he wants to name his kid Shadow....

That I'm telling you... is bleeping laugh out loud.... Shadow.... might as well name a kid Plastic... or even better still Polymer, Polyvinyl, Polyethylene and Polymethyl :P

munching out

I miss hanging out at Maria's Cafe (Greentown)

Maria's Cafe is run by one of my closest friend's family and I'm telling you... the food is goooooddd.... and the countless hours that Aunty Maria has fed me with good food till I have no choice but to undo the top button of my jeans.... bangers and mash... rib eye... potato and leek soup with the little artsy fartsy thing on top... roast lamb... warm chocolate cake... carrot cake... pastries + afternoon tea ohhh and the list goes on...

I know, I know, you're probably thinking "Yeah it's her friend's place, of course she's promoting it," well you're damn right I am...

You know what makes me like a place? A restaurant to be exact?

Well I'm pretty picky. Especially about restaurants/cafes and fine dining kind of mumbo jumbo. Because there are plenty of places that people go to - to be seen. It's so cool to be seen hanging out at Posh Cafe. I feel so posh now. Ooohhhh.... oh posh schmosh. I can't be bothered. I live to eat and not eat to live... I think people who eat to live are somewhat depressing... and that everyone should be able to... and ALSO want to enjoy what they're eating... rather than just stuffing it down their throats so that they don't feel any hunger pangs... hahaha that's ridiculous... oh god I'm laughing at my own joke now....

I know this restaurant in Ipoh where EVERYBODY loves to go there to be seen schmoozing with poshness.

I've got four words for you people "HAHAHA, you'd think so!"

Every now and then, I"ll get someone who wants to go there just to have a cup of coffee... which by the way is pretty alright.. but then to drive all the way out there at night after a home cooked meal JUST FOR A CUP OF COFFEE... or is it JUST TO BE SEEN? But I guess to some people it matters.... shallow isn't it?

Going out for food means getting what you want out of a great dining experience and I want good food. Period. End of sentence.

You wanna know why? If the food is good, ambiance is cozy, decor is warm and the people are just fantastically well-mannered... voila! You have your perfect dining experience. Well for restaurants/cafes for that matter.

Maria's is the kind of place that I can literally sit there ALL day long... well partly because my friend's mum runs the place but that's besides the point. It's comfy... it's got great food and munchies to fill you up... illy coffee and it's WiFi enabled!!!! Ahhh I'd die for one of those afternoon tea pastries with a nice steaming hot cup of italian coffee right now....

Maria's Cafe recently opened up a second branch in Damansara Perdana... Aunty Maria and Mary are no longer in the Greentown outlet... *boo hoo* but heck... I still go there (not as often as I used to though) for lunch sometimes because to tell you the truth... the food is effing good.

Anyhoo... I'll continue rambling and rambling so I need to stop now... there's a link to the blog on the right column on my page so check it out... better yet... just swing by the cafe and munch... munch till you drop!

changing names

Very often people don't like the names they were given. In fact I know some people who detest their own names.

When I was younger, I didn't like my name... mainly because 8 out of 10 people I meet will never know how to pronounce my name. I mean, if I write it down on a piece of paper and thrust it in your hands and force you to pronounce my name, fine. Earlier this month, I met this girl... who had difficulty pronouncing my name even after I repeated myself three times.... THREE effing TIMES!!!

How hard is it to pronounce Claire? It rhymes with bleh.... or care... or blare.... or where... or chocolate e-clair (okay e-clair a little far fetched but you know what I mean)!

I disliked my name so much, that I contemplated changing it to something... more common when I finally turn 18... like... Elizabeth... or Amy.... or Christine... or maybe even Anne.

Anyways, people have found difficulty in pronouncing my name in the Eastern world not the Western, which reminds me of an article I read in the newsies some time ago about locals who had difficulties with immigrants who had cultural names.

Cultural names are beautiful. Especially when it is painstakingly researched by various members of the family who only wants the best for the newborn child. One of my youngest cousin sister's name was partly chosen by my mother, because she was born on a Wednesday and her Chinese name meant "Coloring of the Dawning Clouds"... so mom named her Wendy.... which of course she doesn't really it but unfortunately has to live with it :P

Unfortunately, when these names come across to the Western world.... they are often misconstrued... mispronounced... misunderstood...

So because of that, the world is slowly ridding itself of meaningful cultural names... and we have more Kevins, Michelles, Jasmines, Andrews, Michaels... you get the picture.

By the way, it's not just non-caucasians who are having this problem. Apparently many Brits who don't like their own names, have switched as well.

Last year, Joel Whittle changed his name. He is now known as Big Crazy Lester (this was taken from Reuters).

You know what? I love my name. I love the fact that my mom took forever to choose which would be the best name for me. I love it that my grandfather painstakingly chose my name over 6-7 choices ever since mom was preggers.

I love it that my name is one of a kind.

I just don't really like sharing it with people because it takes FOREVER to explain my name to them :P

growing old sucks

Yeah you heard me right. Growing old sucks, big time.

I just turned 26 a couple of days ago and I'm telling you... the older you get the more you think. I remember turning 16... gosh was I happy. "Yay, I'm older!!!Yay I'm no longer a kid!!! Yay, I have more responsibilities!!!"

Now, it's "Blehhh, I'm older.... I have more responsibilities.... and more crap to deal with..."

So for CNY, I did spend it with McStupid. We had a nice 24hours together. From 8.30am on the 3rd day of CNY all the way till 8-ish in the morning on the 4th day of CNY. Then... lucky for me, as I was lying in bed watching him sleep at about 6 in the morning, I realized three things.

a) He's not as cute as I remembered him to be.... when I saw him that morning, I had lost the whole 'pounding heart, loss of breath, oh my effing lord he's so bloody cute... zilch. It was just 'Hey, it's McStupid... gee that shirt is red...'

b) He's almost 30... well he's turning 30 next year and he doesn't bloody have any ambition let alone a career. All he wants to do is have fun. I mean, yeah I want to have fun too but I'm not going to just work to have fun. Maybe it's the whole pressure from society - get a job, climb the career ladder, be matured kinda shit. Maybe 8 years ago, I would do it... the whole work just for money so that I can go enjoy life and all. I guess I really am getting old.

c) He's not THE ONE. I thought he was. Or at least I was desperate enough to want to believe that he was. He came at the right timing. I had a new job, I had new friends, I had everything new... and he popped into my life. But I finally learnt that he's not. He's nowhere near being THE ONE.

So as I left (yeah I know this sounds drama-mama) but when I said "Anata, sayonara..." I really felt that I was really saying good bye to him, because at that point, I realized that it doesn't matter to me anymore if I see him again or not. I realized that I've had my fun and that it's over.
He was a season. Can't change that fact that he broke my heart. But I thank him for that. In fact, I thank all broken relationships for broken hearts because it is what's broken which I have mended makes me who I am. The person I am now... has been broken, picked up, dusted off and glued back together. Well, replaced, if not glued :P

Winds have changed. Times have changed. He has changed and so have I. It's over... it's soooo over. Thank god for that!

But heck... it was a shit load of fun while it lasted ;)