Kampung Gal in the City

A New Era

2010-12-11T00:02:00.004+08:00

I am now blogging, after almost a year, on my new Sony Vaio EA36G, my very first laptop (happy birthday to me!)

Here's to the start of a new relationship. May it be free from hitch, kinks and defects.

Remaining Unread: Every booklovers' lament

2010-01-11T22:47:00.011+08:00

Inspired by Remaining Unread: The Top Ten Reasons We Don’t Get to Certain Books

Beth Carswell from Abebooks.com thinks these are the reasons why some books in our collection just don't get read.

1. It's a book I feel like I should read
Agatha Christie comes to mind. I bought 4 of her books way back when (at least 3 years ago) and so far I've read only one (1). I bought it when Popular was selling all these paperbacks at a cheap price. I think I got it for 2 for RM5.90 or something. I just couldn't resist. (See also point No. 7).

2. It's part of a series, and I haven't read the earlier ones, yet.
Tales of the Otori series. This one is the call of the warehouse sale. I was working at a children's section of a bookstore and I feel like I should expand my knowledge in the said genre. Lo and behold, 2 1/2 years after my resignation, I still haven't started on the trilogy. The books are now inside the "to give away" bin.

3. Everyone I know is recommending it.
I'm not much to listening to recommendations or looking at bestseller's list. So I'm quite safe in this area.

4. It's intimidatingly enormous.
Don Quixote.

5. It's a classic.
All Dickens. After reading The Pickwick Papers, I just fell in love. After that I've been buying all the titles that I could find. Again, courtesy of the warehouse sales. I have almost all of his books, including the obscure titles, about 7 titles I think and so far I think I've read 2. (See also point no. 9.)

6. My reading stacks get wildly out of control.
It used to be out of control. But I like to think that I have it under control even if just a tad since a got a bookshelf. Now, all my "too read" stacks are put on the shelf. While the rest (read and those that didn't quite make it on the list yet) are neatly packed inside boxes.

Some of the books on the "to read" shelf:
First row:
Kinfolk (Pearl S. Buck)
The World of Jeeves (PG Wodehouse)
The House of the Seven Gables (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Ken Kesey)
Second row:
1001 Books to Read Before You Die (Note the irony. Talk about pressure.)
Collapse (Jared Diamond)
Banker to the Poor (Muhammad Yunus) - this book is still plastic wrapped.
Reading Lolita in Tehran (Azar Nafisi)
Third row:
Dictionaries and Thesaurus (doesn't count)
Cartoon History of the Modern World
Complete Collection of Winnie the Pooh
100 Most Influential Persons in History

When I say just a little bit, sometimes it happens that books that I've always wanted to read will be taken out and then for various reasons that heaven only knows, it's put back on the shelf again. Good examples are Bruce Courtenay's The Power of One and Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel.

7. The siren call of the bargain bin.
See point 1, 2, 4, 5.

8. The author wrote something else we like.
Amy Tan's something about drowning fish, saving a fish from drowning. God, I can't even remember the freakin' title, that's how bad I am. I've read all of her books. She's the only modern asian author that still interests me. (I know she would have to something to say about me calling her "asian author" but I don't know how else to categorize her unless I say "author that writes about chinese people" but that doesn't sound too intellectual now, does it?)

9. It's a textbook or an assignment.
The Scarlet Letter and The Great Gatsby. Didn't finish when I took the class, still haven't finish now. To make matter's worse, I sold the copy that I used for class and a few years later, I bought another copy, thinking that I should read it till the end, them being classics and all. Well, no prizes to guess what happens next.

10. We have a friend/crush who works at the bookshop, or in my case…
"books ordered as a direct result of work-related book exposure."
Lots of children and young adult books. But I've read almost all of it by the way so it's not much of a problem. But thank God for public libraries. They do have some nice young adult titles. So I don't have to buy much.

I should say that most of the book that has been piling into my collection came from my bookstore career age (4 years). Staff discount and looking at books everyday helped fuel that itchiness to buy something. Most of my coffee table books came from this era. But then coffee table books are not meant to be read, right?
--------------------------------------------------

I think this list can be a 'meme'. Remember those? But I won't tag anybody. Maybe Eyeris if he's still reading this. But anyone who likes to give their take on this topic, do so and post me the link. I'm interested to know what titles that's been the bane of their existence as a booklover.

Interesting....

2009-03-09T13:24:00.002+08:00

Came across an interesting article about books and love....

Check it out!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/05/books-date-impress

81st Annual Academy Awards - A so-called review

2009-02-26T23:32:00.002+08:00

This is a so-called review of the 81st Annual Academy Awards. want to elaborate further but no time. so here goes....

I love the format for presenting acting awards. Having 5 past winners honoring 5 nominees could be very rewarding. Can you imagine Shirley Maclaine singing your praises in front millions of people. Even if you didn't win you still return as a winner. I wonder if the presenter wrote the speeches themselves? It would be great if that's true.

For the writing awards, they use the format that they used a few years back which I love. the presenter read a snippet of the screenplay, continued with the movie.

Things I don't like:
1) No Peter Gabriel :( John Legend singing Down to Earth? What the heck?
2) Why the stars of Slumdog Millionaire sit at the back?
3) Hugh Jackman and Beyonce do not go together. The performance looked forced. With the addition of High School Musical and Mamma Mia stars, the whole thing look gimmicky.
4) No speech by the Academy Director, I like his speeches. Maybe because they want to make time for the acting awards. that process take some time.

Not to be missed:
1) A clip by Seth Rogen & James Franco from Pineapple Express honoring (sort-of) the year in movies.
2) Tine Fey and Steve Martin as presenters.

NTV7 is showing the award show at 10 Friday morning.

A short post

2009-02-10T21:11:00.002+08:00

There's something wrong when you don't have the time to do the things you love the most.

I went through 17 years of school and this is what i got

2009-01-02T21:11:00.005+08:00

The one on the right was not even meant for me. It was supposed to be a token for judges but I took it because I want a souvenir for that event - College Open Day. Hey, give me a break. I was a bit of a nerd back then.

The one on the left is the one and only trophy I got throughout my entire school career. I got second place for a Scrabble tournament among librarians. Seriuosly, I'm not kidding.

I don't need anyone to tell me how pathetic my school life was. I was so average. I don't hold any position in class, not even AJK Kebersihan Kelas. I was not active in anything. I wasn't athletic and I wasn't brainy. I wasn't on the debate team, the choral speaking team and nobody knows about cheerleading those days. Even if we have a cheerleading team, I wouldn't be on it anyway.

The only position I hold at the time was librarian from Form 2 and stopped when I was in Form 4 because I went to boarding school. (I'm still puzzled how as mediocre as I am, I still get to go to boarding school.) I applied for the position in boarding school but I didn't get it. It was quite a relief though because they have to wear green uniform and we call them Katak (frogs).

I'd like to think myself as a late bloomer. When I was in primary school, I was a nobody and my teacher hated me. She didn't believe me when I said I got 3As for the main subjects (Malay, English, Math) and eligible to apply for boarding school. However, socialwise I was OK. I have friends and I was never alone during lunch.

Jump to secondary school. I still didn't hold any position but I join as many clubs as I can. I also became a librarian which was really fun. Still no problem in the social scene but still not one of the popular girls or the smartest student.

Form 4, I went to boarding school. I remember I made a conscious choice to improve myself and be more assertive. It's a new environment, lots of new people, a new beginning! Suffice it to say, those 2 years were the best years of my life. I learned a lot, made a lot of great friends who I still keep in touch with until today, hold a few 'important' positions (if you think AJK Biro Kaunseling and Secretary for the choir club as important), had a lot of fun. I was quite popular but I think it was only because I mix with the right people and I was in a gang (that story needs another post altogether). Oh yeah, I also won a couple of prizes for short-story writing, something that I'm really proud of, even though on hindsight the stories sucks big time. I also did volunteer work for a closed netball tournament, that was fun too.

That was my school life in a nutshell. A bit bland but I think I turned out OK. I don't do drugs, never got arrested or ended up in a back alley of a sleazy area. I have a pretty good job, pretty much well-liked by my friends (as far as I know) and so far all my bosses loved me (I guess). As far as life in general, I still think I'm not fulfilling my full potential yet but I'm working on it. In the meantime, I have these tokens to remind me of who I was before.

Guess which one is going to the bin....

Complementing Pictures with Melodies

2008-08-22T21:09:00.007+08:00

I love songs with great lyrics. After watching WALL-E, I found a great song which I downloaded as soon as I got back and has been in my "Favourites" list ever since. The song is great in itself, very meaningful with nice melodies. But it becomes even greater because it complements the film WALL-E.

Did you think that your feet had been bound
By what gravity brings to the ground?
Did you feel you were tricked
By the future you picked?
Well, come on down

All those rules don't apply
When youre high in the sky
So, come on down
Come on down

We're coming down to the ground
There's no better place to go
We've got snow up on the mountains
We've got rivers down below
We're coming down to the ground
We hear the birds sing in the trees
And the land will be looked after
We send the seeds out in the breeze

Did you think you'd escaped from routine
By changing the script and the scene?
Despite all you made of it
You're always afraid of the change

You've got a lot on your chest
Well, you can come as my guest
So come on down
Come on down

We're coming down to the ground
There's no better place to go
We've got snow up on the mountains
We've got rivers down below
We're coming down to the ground
We hear the birds sing in the trees
And the land will be looked after
We send the seeds out in the breeze

[This is my favourite part]
Like the fish in the ocean
We felt at home in the sea
We learned to live off the good land
Learned to climb up a tree
Then we got up on two legs
But we wanted to fly
When we messed up our homeland
We set sail for the sky

We're coming down to the ground
There's no better place to go
We've got snow up on the mountains
We've got rivers down below
We're coming down to the ground
We hear the birds sing in the trees
And the land will be looked after
We send the seeds out in the breeze

We're coming down
Coming down to Earth
Like babies at birth
Coming down to Earth
Were gonna find new priorities
These are extraordinary qualities

Peter Gabriel is a lyrical genius. If you don't believe me also check out Don't Give Up (used for another movie, The Bone Collector) and In Your Eyes (also a soundtrack for Say Anything). Don't forget Big Time, Mercy Street (I think this been used in a movie also) and the 80s classic Sledgehammer.

And you must see the movie. It will certanly makes you want to jump on that dusty treadmill.

This song reminded me of another soundtrack. This song played during the credits of Kate & Leopold. It's by Sting and titled Until. The movie is so-so but the song is great. One of the most romantic song I've heard.

If you've never heard the song before, just read the lyrics. While you're reading imagine this, a dashing and intelligent Duke unexpectedly travelled 100 years into the future where he meets a lovely but insecure girl. They fell in love but have to surrender to love's worst enemy, time. For the melody, imagine Sting during Ten Summoner's Tale's era, imagine Fields of Gold and the tick-ticking of a clock throughout the song. Genius.

If I caught the world in a bottle
And everything was still beneath the moon
Without your love would it shine for me?
If I was smart as Aristotle
And understood the rings around the moon
What would it all matter if you loved me?

Here in your arms where the world is impossibly still
With a million dreams to fulfill
And a matter of moments until the dancing ends
Here in your arms when everything seems to be clear
Not a solitary thing would I fear
Except when this moment comes near the dancing's end

If I caught the world in an hourglass
Saddled up the moon so we could ride
Until the stars grew dim, Until...

One day you’ll meet a stranger
And all the noise is silenced in the room
You’ll feel that you're close to some mystery
In the moonlight and everything shatters
You feel as if you’ve known her all your life
The world’s oldest lesson in history

Here in your arms where the world is impossibly still
With a million dreams to fulfill
And a matter of moments until the dancing ends
Here in your arms when everything seems to be clear
Not a solitary thing do I fear
Except when this moment comes near the dancing’s end

Oh, if I caught the world in an hourglass
Saddled up the moon and we would ride
Until the stars grew dim
Until the time that time stands still,
Until...

Isn't it great? Isn't it romantic?

Shanta...ummm?

2008-03-17T21:51:00.004+08:00

Intro:
Actually, I started this post in March. I finally got the urge to write because I hated this book so much. Isn't that so human? I still haven't started a review for The Book Thief, a book that I love but I already posted a review about a book that I hated. That's mankind for you, driven by hate...

The review:
I stopped reading halfway through the book. And I assure you this is quite a feat considering it has 900++ pages in it. So, page-wise you can say I read a whole book.

Shantaram is about an Australian who after escaping prison ran to India and settled there. He befriended a local man who started out as his guide but in time became the most trusted friend. Along the way he met other colourful and shady characters, and embarked on various jobs which include trading in the black market and a doctor. Yep, a doctor. And this is based on a true story. To me, right of the bat, it's like The City of Joy meet The Beach. A white man searching for salvation found it in a distant country in Asia, learn the culture, accepted as one of their own and became a doctor to them. I've also come to the conclusion that merging 2 great books DO NOT yield one great novel.

After 200++ pages I was already tired with his philosophical mumbo-jumbo. Actually, 10 pages in I got a bad feeling already. I just think he's trying too hard. And the philosophy he presented in the book, to me it's more like The 70's Show 20 years later than anything else. It's like a bunch of stoned dudes sitting around the table and discussing about stuff, which I can imagine since he's probably high most of the time when he was in India. Clearly a first novel, a novice attempt. But I kept reading because I have the habit of reading the book before watching the movie and I rarely drop a book.

Halfway in, I just can't stand it. The simile! It's just too much! "the forest of her brow", "lavishly perfumed with rain", "the monsoon was probing the village", yadayadayada... It's kind of cheezy after a while. and i thought a good piece of writing is one that holds back on the similes. I think it's like the first rule of writing. I'm sure Strunk and White mentioned it. Sure enough, Section 4. No. 18, "Use figures of speech sparingly." Not exactly first but still important enough to be written down. Heck, I learned that in Writing 101. But then, I gotta give him some slack. Maybe he didn't take any writing class back the, being busy with robbing banks and treating the poor etc. But then, his editor must have, right? God, somebody should fire him/her.

And the plot? What plot? The only continous theme throughout the book (at least the first half) is his obsession with this girl. I thought things would get interesting with the introduction of Khader Bhai, but no luck there. After a short introduction and a loooong discussion about the 'philosophy of pain', I never saw him again.

Another thing that I can't stand is those great reviews he's been getting. Check out Amazon.com. One person even said he should get a Pulitzer!

[imagine a smiley face puking here]

I don't know what those people are thinking nowadays. Pulitzer is Euginides' Middlesex, or Walker's The Color Purple, not a bunch of random thoughts.

Sideline:
A tip when choosing a book, if you see that the cover features any quotes commenting about the book, check who they are quoting. If it's by reknown journals (NY Times, New Yorker), you're okay. BUT if it by some magazine you never heard of or "other authors" no matter how famous they are, you gotta be careful. You've been duly warned.

I'm looking forward to the movie though. The book is way too long so maybe the movie can give it justice since most of the time the book got cut in the adaptation process. I also love Johnny Depp. The book kinda remind me of Sideways, average book, great movie. I hope it's the same with Shantaram. Anyway, I think Roberts should write screenplays IF he can 'reign in the multiplicity of his simile' (haha, had fun with that one. goes to show anyone can write cheezy prose).

If anyone wants to read about the slum/lepers life in India, read City of Joy. It's way better.

B Gone Mister, B Gone!

2007-12-09T23:11:00.000+08:00

I am a fan of Clive Barker, that’s for sure. I like his books, I like his art. But his latest work really disappoints.

Behold Mister B. Gone. The book supposedly contains the soul of a demon from the Ninth Circle of Hell, the lowest level in the worst place you ever want to be. When he was young, he was an abused child (if you can believe it) and forced into this world by ‘Fishermen’, people who purposefully went out to find creatures like demons, trolls and such. So, he was caught by one these people around the 15th century, I think and thus began the journey of Jakobok Botch aka Mister B.

Oh yeah, I forgot to explain my previous statement. When I said “contains the soul of a demon”, I meant what I said. When you read it, Mister B is actually telling you the story from within the pages. He lives inside the pages and at every moment begging you to stop reading and burn the book. It was kind of creepy and after a while I was tempted to burn the book but for different reasons.

For someone who has interest in good and evil, angel and demons etc, what could be better than having a demon reside in a book. However, I’m not really sure about Clive Barker’s execution for this one. The setting is very interesting. After he was caught (and escaped) he quickly found another demon who was travelling the world looking for great inventions that might/will change the world. Until finally they heard a man called Gutenberg of Mainz.

Everytime the story gets interesting, Mister B, the narrator and resident demon, would try to convince, scare or threaten me to burn the book. And he would just go on and on and on and believe me I almost obliged his request just to make him shut up.

All in all, this is a disappointment. But then, I’m not swearing off Clive Barker yet. I’m waiting for the continuation of Abarat. I just wished he would concentrate on that after this.

A sad year

2007-10-31T23:24:00.000+08:00

I remember 2004 being a year of weddings.

And now I will remember 2007 as a sad year.

There were so many deaths this year. Not particularly close to me but I still feel the pain.

First was my friend's father. I knew him when I had a sleepover at her house. Then it was another friend's mother. Then, it was the father of my ex-boss.

Last month, a school friend died suddenly. It was really hard when someone close to your age pass away. I didn't know him that well. He was in the class next to mine so I saw him occasionally. My close friend was very close to him. So me being the very empathatic person that I am can't help but feel the loss. He had 3 kids.

One day, I was visiting all the blogs that I haven't visited for a long time. I was so shocked when I visited Along's Blog. She had another miscarriage, this is the second time this year. It's like once was not bad enough. But she's a strong person.

Then there was this heart-breaking, never-should-have-happened tragedy with Nurin. I think everyone of us is asking the same thing...

How could anyone do this to a child?

We can't even do it to an adult, let alone a child.

I guess humans ARE capable of doing ANYTHING. We are the only creature on earth who could kill each other for sport. Even the most ferocious animal wouldn't do that to their own kind. They only kill to survive. But we...

I am this close to losing my faith in mankind. Watching Criminal Minds every week does not help either. But I still believe.

Help me believe

and remember...

Another update!

2007-10-31T23:14:00.000+08:00

Another step up in the world of Kampung Gal!

I've updated my blogroll. (What did you think? I'm taking it one step at a time.)

I have to delete a few, add some. Have to delete those that doesn't exist anymore. I found blogs of people that I know, so I added those.

Not being in the blog for a long time has its setback. One of it is missing other blogs that you like to read. I like reading Social Cafe. They're a bunch of crass guys but they do have a point sometimes. I kind of miss them. I don't know if they stopped or moved. So if anyone know if they have a new site, let me know.

I gues it's not too late to say Happy Halloween!

New Layout

2007-10-22T21:11:00.000+08:00

HA! HA! HA!

Behold! The new blogspot layout feature!

It took a lot of tweaking but it's worth it. I love the archive setting. Very easy. Now I can delete that sorry archive post. Also added Shelfari. Very cool application. Now I don't have to find picture and change the template manually everytime I read a new book. I wonder if there's a way I can put a song in there...

I finished The Book Thief, still planning to write a review but not at the moment. No mood.

Now I'm reading the Gorillaz autobiography. Wasn't such a huge fan. I mean I don't buy every single CD, DVD, merchandise from them (not that I can if I want to. One setback of living in Malaysia. Nothing cool is available here!) I bought the book it was on discount and I love to see the artwork, every page is illustrated. It also features a discography page and every cover that they've been on. Pretty cool to see.

But now after I read the book, I appreciate the band, the music, and the idea behind their concept. Now I can say I am a fan of Gorillaz.

And yes... I've downloaded the smiley program...

Smile away!!!

Quick update

2007-10-16T16:37:00.000+08:00

So!

My friend already make noise that my blog sudah "bersawang" already. Aiya... So hard to please everyone nowadays.

So!

I'll just make a quick post, record what's going on since I last blog, anything I forgot to mention, etc, etc...

First up!

I quit my job at the bookstore. Frankly, I like the job, I don't mind the workload (which is a lot!), I don't mind the hours (in fact I enjoyed it) BUT... I just can't stand the people.

I have to admit it, I'm not a people person. If someone were to come up to me with a stupid question, I get annoyed. If someone were to come up to me making unreasonable requests, I get annoyed, if someone get offended with something I said when I didn't mean to offend them, I get offended, if I pick up the phone and someone starts yelling for no reason, I WILL GET SUPER ANNOYED AND OFFENDED!!! I will also get super-duper annoyed if that caller started title-dropping, "Do you know who I am? I am Datuk *tttuuuuutttt*! I'm a professor!"

F*** you la, Datuk! I guess your 'profesor' and 'datuk' school didn't teach you any manners!

Ok .... ok.... deep breaths...

But...

That's all in the past now. I'm thinking I can still enjoy books without working at a bookstore. It's better for my mental and physical health anyway.

So!

Now I'm working at that TV station, doing translation or subtitles whatever you want to call it. Previously I was a part-time employee but they offered me a full-time position. It didn't come at a better time. I was so ready to blah....

Before, I may have dropped excuses that since I'm working 7 days a week, I don't have time to blog. But now... hehehe I still don't have to blog because.... because... because... okay just give me a day or two to give a good excuse. I need time to adjust. Yeah... that's my excuse. I need time to adjust my body clock to 9to5, 2 off days working mode. Ha ha ha... (bear with me, I haven't installed any smiley applications yet).

In the meantime, I also bought a new car, a Kelisa, black which I dubbed "The Grim Reaper". And since I got it on 30 Dec 2006, the poor thing got hit by a motorcycle when he was 3 months old. uhuk...uhuk... another sad thing is that I still haven't fix it.

I'm also a proud owner of an iPod video now. That thing is so great only those who have one know what it's like. I wonder what Pak Lah and Datuk Najib did with their iPods?

Coming up!

I'm hoping to update my photoblog with photos from my recent trip to Pulau Perhentian (We had so much fun) and maybe some photos from my upcoming trip to Singapore in November to visit that noisy friend of mine (I hope you're satisfied Nora Sakura!)

I may want to talk about a book that I recently entered into my favourite book list, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It was also the reason why I named my car "Grim Reaper". It is so wonderful, the best book I've ever read for such a long time. I can't stop talking and thinking about it. That's why I think the best way to let go of all this emotions is through blogging. If I've somehow incite your interest, you can go ahead and read it. I'm reading it for the 2nd time now. You can get the book at Kinokuniya for 25% until end of this month.

Lastly, you may know more about me in the future. I've registered to facebookand it's quite cool. I 'may' put a link to my facebook here. We'll see. I'm still shy la...

So that's it for now. See you in another... 6 months!

Just kidding or am I? (Shucks... there should be a smiley here)

Mission: Possible?

2007-04-03T22:55:00.000+08:00

I'm on a mission!

For those who don't know already, my name is Kampung Gal and I am a book-shopaholic-maniac.

I'm buying books faster than I can read them. (Buying that speed-reading book didn't help either.) And now (surprise, surprise) I don't have the space to stash them all. I'm short of stacking them on the floor. And I would've done it if I'm not living with my parents.

I was one of those people that won't get rid of the books after reading them. A lot of people has told me to give it away, sell it, throw it, do whatever but I still can't see the meaning of it. I bought the books with my hard-earned money. I'm not gonna throw it away, mom!

But now after some thought I finally understand. I can even pinpoint the exact moment when I change my stand on book-collecting. It was when I was browsing The Book Addict's Treasury about a month ago and I came across this quote,

I houseclean my books every spring and throw out those I'm never going to read again like I throw out clothes I'm never going to wear again. My friends are peculiar about books. They read all the best sellers, they get through them as fast as possible, I think they skip a lot. And they NEVER read anything a second time so they don't remember a word of it a year later. But they are profoundly shocked to see me drop a book in the wastebasket or give it away. They way they look at it, you buy a book, you read it, you put in on the shelf, you never open it again for the rest of your life but YOU DON'T THROW IT OUT! NOT IF IT HAS A HARD COVER ON IT! Why not! I personally can't think of anything less sacrosanct than a bad book or even a mediocre book.
Helene Hanff, letter to Frank Doel, 18 September 1952

I think this is taken from the book 84, Charing Cross Road.

After reading that I thought, God, I'm just like her friends. I read the book, I keep it and probably will never open it for the rest of my life. And then I bought the book, the Book Addict's that is.

But I'm not as drastic as her. I'm not about to throw anything away. I guess the most comfortable way for me to let them go is sell them.

My friend suggested we join a flea market but that was about 3 years ago. So... suffice to say I'm still stuck with the books.

I tried the various used bookstores around town. I think it won't even cover my transportation expenses. Anyway, some of the titles are quite unconventional so I don't think they want them anyway.

I tried e-bay one time. No luck.

So now I want to try this. I will advertise on my blog because I think blog readers are more diverse than e-bay visitors. Who am I kidding, I think blog readers are more sophisticated too. I'll figure out the logistic of it later. I just want to know if this can work.

I will start of with these first.

Title: The Art of The Hunchback of Notre Dame
ISBN: 0786862084
Format: Hardcover
Condition: Quite good. A bit 'kedut' at the jacket edges. But content still OK. No holes. Bought this during my Hunchback-crazed days.
Price: Selling price is US50 but just for you, I'm selling at RM50.

Title: Secrets
Author/Artist: Luis Royo
ISBN: 1561631620
Format: Paperback
Condition: Very good. Pristine. Like New. I can't remember how, when or why I bought this book.
Price: I know this guy is some famous artist and this book is still good so RM65.

And these....

1) Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl, 0679729895, PB, RM25
2) Books of Blood Vol 1-3 by Clive Barker, 075151022X , PB, RM25
3) Winnie the Pooh Collection by AA Milne, 0603560792, HC BOX SET, RM40

All in good condition.
Hey, I take care of my books very well tau....

I also have textbooks.

1) INTERNATIONAL MARKETING (10TH ED), PHILIP R CATOERA, 0071156739, HC
2) CALCULUS (5TH ED), HOWARD ANTON, 0471594954, HC
3) DISCRETE MATHEMATICS AND ITS APPLICATIONS (2ND ED), KENNETH H. ROSEN, 0070537445, PB
4) ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE FOR THE IBM-PC (2ND ED), KIP R IRVINE, 0023596511, HC
5) CONCEPTS OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES (2ND ED), ROBERT W SEBESTA, 0805371303, HC
6) DATA STRUCTURES AND ALGORITHM ANALYSIS IN C++, MARK ALLEN WEISS, 0805354433, HC
7) PLUG N PLAY JAVA SCRIPTS, KEVIN READY, 1562056743, PB
8) MARKETING MANAGEMENT: AN ASIAN PERSPECTIVE (2ND ED), PHILIP KOTLER ETC, 0130109800, PB

E-mail me if you're interested. We'll discuss delivery, payment etc later.

sigh

2007-01-19T20:50:00.000+08:00

Muahaahahahahaha! (Devil laugh)

So, I guess I've given up trying to update my blog regularly. Too many things to do! Books to read, shows to see, DVDs to see, games to play and then there's work.

I haven't put up any of my 'Current Updates' too. I can still do it but what's the point.

I'm using the beta blogger but so what *sigh*

I still haven't installed any of my 'smiley' program since I got the new PC *sigh*

There were so many things I could blog about: The Amazing Race, Amazing Race Asia! And now American Idol has started again *sigh*

But I will prevail. This blog will not go anywhere (unless blogspot decided it's not worth it and delete it in time.)

Until that happens 'Kampung Gal in the City' is not going anywhere *fingers crossed*

Current Update - 30/10/06

2006-10-30T23:50:00.000+08:00

Read: We Wish to Inform You...-Paul Gourevitch, *Sideways-Rex Pickett, Romancing Mr. Bridgerton & To Sir Phillip With Love-Julia Quinn, The Bear Nobody Wanted-Allan Ahlberg, *The View From Saturday-E.L. Konigsburg, *Clive Barker's A to Z of Horror, *Johnny Depp: Illustrated Biography
(*means I enjoyed reading them)
Reading: The Crimson Petal and the White-Michel Faber
CD: none (I'm collecting The West Wing so no budget for anything else)
Favorite song: When You Were Young-The Killers
Played: Diner Dash, Cake Mania
Playing: Aloha Solitaire
Watching: The Drew Carey Show, 2 and a Half Men, Medium, America's Next Top Model, Amazing Race 10, Apprentice
No. of times asked if I have a boyfriend: 8
No. of times asked when I will get married: 25
No. of times asked when I will have kids: 3

Current update 30/09/06

2006-09-30T20:46:00.000+08:00

Read: My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick, Bleed by Laurie Stolarz, Temping Fate bu Esther Friesner, The Doll People by Ann M. Martin, The Known World by Edward P. Jones, The Duke & I; The Viscount Who Loved Me; An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn, Rules by Cynthia Lord, The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip by George Saunders, *The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
(*means I enjoyed reading them)
Reading: We Wish to Inform You... by Paul Gourevitch, Sideways by Rex Pickett
CD: none
Favorite song: They Stood Up For Love by Live
Playing: Memory Loops
Watching: The Drew Carey Show, Desperate Housewives, Arrested Development, One In A Million, Medium and America's Next Top Model

No. of times asked if I have a boyfriend: 8
No. of times asked when I will get married: 24 (approx)
No. of times asked when I will have kids: 2

Happy Birthday, My Love

2006-09-02T23:09:00.001+08:00

My 2nd favorite guy in the whole wide world. He has a band, still single, plays ice hockey, has a debatable acting skills (but he is improving I must say) and he makes me smile everytime I see his face. All in all, the only guy that I'm willing to admit I love just for his looks.

Keanu as the bogus Ted

Keanu as him handsome usual self

Come on... What's not to love?

Happy 42nd Birthday, Keanu!

Current Update 30/08/06

2006-08-30T23:00:00.000+08:00

Read: *Dunk by David Lubar, Luna by Julie Anne Peters, Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
(* means I enjoyed reading them)
Reading: The Known World by Edward P. Jones
CD: The Distance to Here by Live and Under the Iron Sea by Keane
Favorite song: Who Knew by Pink
Playing: Luxor: Amun Rising
Watching: The Drew Carey Show, Desperate Housewives, Arrested Development, One In A Million, Medium and America's Next Top Model

No. of times asked if I have a boyfriend: 8
No. of times asked when I will get married: 24 (approx)
No. of times asked when I will have kids: 2

Other News:
1) Bought a new PC.
2) I decided to buy more Live cds after I heard their 'The Best Of' Album. And when I heard it I was banging my head saying, "Why the hell did I ever stop buying their cds?!?!?!?!?!" I love this album which came after Secret Samadhi. And now I have to buy 2 more cds to make my collection complete. Live is as close to hard rock that I can like. They may not be 'hardcore' enough for some people but it's enough for me.

Memory for sale

2006-08-13T22:27:00.001+08:00

Man, people are crazy about computers. The Pikom PC Fair was moved to the Convention Centre for quite some time now and if I'm not mistaken it's been there for 3 times now but I've only went there this time.

I went to the PC fair today with the strong mind to ONLY buy a PC and a 1G thumb drive to backup my data since I'm buying a new PC. Budget for PC = RM2,500 and thumb drive = RM100.

I got my heart set on a Dell PC but I still want to look around and see if other people have a better offer. Dell got some pretty good offers. They have this system with Pentium D805 with 1G RAM and DVD/CD-RW for RM2,399. Coming into the exhibition, a few brochures came across my path. There were more good offers but I don't like the brands. There are some I've never even heard before. I wanted to look for HP and Compaq. I found HP and grabbed a brochure but then it's actually a brochure for LG. What the hell!? Too late to turn back I just walked on.

I finally reached Dell's booth with a lot of struggling and hassling. My God, there's a lot of people. I deserve a medal for my feat. And then I found out the system that I was interested in has been marked down to RM2,299. Sweet...

But fancying myself as being a good consumer, I know that everything has a catch. You must read the fine print and inspect the thing you're buying really carefully. I asked the rep a few questions and I was so ready to buy it even though I don't like the look of the keyboard. I even asked for a form. After taking a second look at the CPU, I saw that it didn't come with a floppy drive (which is a common practice nowadays). I can still ask for one to be installed (with additional charges of RM44) but then I won't have the card readers which I think is pretty cool. It doesn't come with a speaker but I can still have one with an additional charges of RM24. And if I want to upgrade to 3 year warranty, I need to pay another RM100. Total for the ideal system = RM2,467 and I have to wait 2 weeks.

I stood there for another 5 minutes, looking at the form, calculating, while people come and go behind me. At last I gave the form back. I went back to the HP booth and saw their offer on a big banner. RM2,288 for something similar with Dell plus a 3-year warranty, the speaker is at the monitor, I like the keyboard and there's space for a floppy disk, memory card reader and 2 optical drive but it comes with 512 RAM only. The card reader floppy disk and whatever holes that can be found at the front has a sliding lid which makes it look tidy. Overall, I like the look and I like HP. My first PC was a HP and it never gave me any trouble. It still has a catch though, they don't deliver. You buy now, you take it home now. Yeah, right.

"We'll give you a free trolley."
The 'trolley' is something like those travelling bag on wheels without the bag.
"My car is like at the other side of the world!"
It was parked at Jln Yap Kwan Seng but still can you imagine me pulling 2 huge boxes from the convention centre, go through KLCC, crossed Jalan Ampang and then, hoist those 2 huge boxes into my car?

"Or you can pay now and pick it up from our store at Mid Valley."
Okay, that's better. I'm not working tomorrow anyway. But come on... Do I really have to bring it home myself?

Oh hell, why not? So I bought the HP system with a 1G upgrade for RM180 and a floppy disk drive for RM30. Total = RM2,489. RM11 below my budget.

And they throw in a free headset and a CD case, which might've cost about RM15. I'll take anything.

I'll figure out how I'll cart those 2 huge boxes tomorrow. Ala... I'm sure one of the staff will help a little lady with her new purchase.

That's done, I'm off to my second errand, the thumb drive. I've never bought a thumb drive before so I'm not sure how much it will cost. First shop that I saw sold 1G Pendrive for RM72. Oh, okay. That's below my budget but I still want to survey the area and I found out I can get a 1G drive for RM65. But then I came across PenDrive's booth.

They're throwing this offer, buy a 1G Pendrive for RM80 and they will give you a 'Penskin' for free. I checked them out, the skins are quite cool and I was sooooo tempted but I walked on, convincing myself that a RM65 thumb drive is good enough. But the 'good consumer' part of me failed me. I turned back and bought a Pendrive and I got my free Penskin. You have to admit, it does look cool, right?

"Tigger loves it. It's all stripy like me. Grrrr...."

Impulse Buying #1 = The most expensive 1G thumb drive sold at the fair.
Buy hey, it's still RM20 below my budget.

While searching for the thumb drive I saw a booth selling memory cards.

Impulse Buying #2 = 512MB mini SD memory card for my phone.
But then it's adaptable so I can still use it for my camera. Oops, scrap that. My camera uses a memory stick. Well, I can use it for any future gadgets that I might own. Total damage = RM55.

And I also saw MP3 players. I wanted to reserve my funds for an iPod, preferably limited edition iPod U2 if it's still available. I'm guessing by next year I will be able to get one but in the meantime...
Impluse Buying #3 = MP3 player with 256MB memory.
It's only RM63 and it's so pretty and cute. Look at it...

Tigger thinks it's cute.

What's done is done. This is my last post using my Frankenstein PC. Goodbye old PC. Wish I can say I'll miss you but I won't.

Current update - 30/07/06

2006-07-30T23:41:00.000+08:00

Read: The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw, *Witch Hill & Flood land by Marcus Sedgwick, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O'Brien, *Vengeance by George Jonas, *Daughter of Venice by Donna Jo Napoli, Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
(* means I enjoyed reading them)
Reading: The Known World by Edward P. Jones
CD: none
Favorite song: Is It Any Wonder by Keane
Played: none
Watching: The Drew Carey Show, Desperate Housewives, Arrested Development, One In A Million, CSI and America's Next Top Model

No. of times asked if I have a boyfriend: 7
No. of times asked when I will get married: 23 (approx)
No. of times asked when I will have kids: 2

An interesting quote

2006-07-30T22:46:00.001+08:00

To a considerable extent reading has become, for almost all of us, an addiction, like cigarette-smoking. We read, most of the time, not because we wish to instruct ourselves, not because we long to have our feelings touched and our imagination fired, but because reading is one of our bad habits, because we suffer when we have time to spare and no printed matter to fill the void.
-Aldous Huxley-
(Taken from A Book Addict's Treasury)

Kind of describing myself but I want to add one thing, at least I won't get lung cancer by this 'bad habit'.

Current update - 30/6/06

2006-06-30T23:15:00.000+08:00

Read: *Einstein Never Used Flashcards by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek et al, The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting, *The Giver by Lois Lowry, Hobbits, Elves and Wizards by Michael N. Stanton, Coraline by Neil Gaiman, The 101 Dalmations by Dodie Smith.
(* means I enjoyed reading them)
Reading: The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw
CD: none
Favorite song: none
Played: none
Watching: The Drew Carey Show, Frasier, Desperate Housewives, Arrested Development, One In A Million, CSI

No. of times asked if I have a boyfriend: 7
No. of times asked when I will get married: 23 (approx)
No. of times asked when I will have kids: 2

Other news:
Got a new phone, a Nokia 6280. Bought it from my brother-in-law who got it from his company director, the lucky devil. Even got a free 3G prepaid sim card. Most probably shift to this new number soon. For now I'm keeping it alive by topping RM10 every month, hehe.

I was thinking of upgrading my now-extinct phone that I was using, a Nokia 8210. But I was thinking of buying a PC first then maybe somewhere in December, I will get a phone. But I guess my phone read my thoughts and 'merajuk'. One day he took a swim and came back a little bit cranky. I can never get a signal. I can only get any when I'm near a Maxis building. It leave me no choice, I have to get a new phone now!

Fortunately, my brother-in-law is fortunate and I guess I get a little rub of that fortune. I bought the phone at a good deal, a very good deal.

A picture of my babies on my new baby

Talking about babies, my sister found out she's pregnant but a few days ago she suffered a miscarriage. I guess its for the best because my sister is over 40. I was kind of worried when I found out she was pregnant.

Current update - 30/05/06

2006-05-30T23:17:00.000+08:00

Read: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, *Raise the Red Lantern by Su Tong, Septimus Heap: Magyk by Angie Sage, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
(* means I enjoyed reading them)
Reading: Chronicles of the Chinese Emperors by Ann Paludan, Einstein Never Used Flashcards by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek et al, The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
CD: none
Favorite song: Hips Don't Lie by Shakira
Played: none
Watching: The Drew Carey Show, American Idol 5, Monk, The Amazing Race 9, Frasier, Desperate Housewives

No. of times asked if I have a boyfriend: 7
No. of times asked when I will get married: 23 (approx)
No. of times asked when I will have kids: 2

Other news:
1) Went to Kuala Selangor with friends and Port Dickson with family.
2) Got news that the store manager will change. The current one is going to a new outlet abroad. Hopefully the new one is not as tight-assed as the old one.

Ode to a chicken

2006-05-21T23:31:00.000+08:00

Why did you go in there? Of all places?

My air-cond was busted a few days ago. It wasn't like it was not cold enough, it was totally out, kaput, not working. I turned the knob to ON and not even a breathe came out. This happened on Thursday.

I finally got the chance to send my car to a workshop today. I wanted to go a shop I usually go to but it was closed so I went to the nearest shop around. He poked and prodded, opened that cover that's covering the air-cond controller thingy on that dashboard thingy and then pried open the radio cover, took out my radio and poked and prodded under there too. After half an hour the diagnosis was there's something wrong with the compressor. I have to change it. It will cost me RM380 plus the gas they will put in and I thought,

"Hell..... "

I'm not that well-versed about cars but I kind of get the feeling it doesn't have to do with the compressor. I think it has something to do with wiring because right before my air-cond konk-out on me I heard a crackling sound like a short circuit.

So I said, "Never mindlah. I'll come back later." I don't have RM380 in my wallet anyway.

So I went to another shop that I usually go to too in emergency cases because it was nearer to my house. The other one I usually go for service because it's near to a LRT station so I can leave my car there and traipsied to some other place more entertaining.

So, I went there and the guy opened the hood and immediately said,
"Ada tikus mati ka?" (Did a rat died in here?)
"Tak tahu" (I don't know)
"Ada bau la" (There's a smell)"
He took a torchlight and showed me. Sure enough there's a dead something right next to the air-cond compressor.
"Cuci dulu baru boleh tengok air-cond. Tak tahan bau la" (Clean it first. Can't stand the smell)

He had to take put my bumper before cleaning the engine and used a stick to shove it out while joking around how I don't feed the rat and it ended up dying in there and I laughed along.

It finally came out, a round, black, furry thing. I didn't look close enough but I don't think it was a rat. No rat that big can be found in my neighborhood. You can find in the Petaling Street but not at my house. And then I realized something.

"Itu tikus ke ayam?" (Was that a rat or a chicken?)
"Ayam" (Chicken)

When the late chicken was out and my engine is nice and clean (but still smells), he went off I don't know where. I guess he had to wait for the engine to dry a bit and I said a prayer for the chicken.

He came back half hour later and I saw that my air-cond is back on again. Of course, being the good sales person that he is, he started rehashing.

"Service air-cond la"
"Okla. How much?"
"Tengok dulu part mana mau tukar" (See which parts need changing first)

So he checked and he came back with a treatment proposal. I have to change 2 parts and it will cost me RM268.

"Hell..... "

I usually pay no more than RM100 for an air-cond service. Around this time I've been waiting for an hour. I really have to go to my part time job so after he cried and begged (ok he didn't cry) and convinced me that his is a professional service, he's giving me original parts...
I just agreed.

One hour later I still see no one looking after my car. That guy disappeared again to God knows where. When I asked the boss he said they guy went to get the parts. It took him an hour to get the parts. I was already pissed before he got back.

He came back still laughing, showing me the original parts that he got for me. But you know what, after awhile, even a clown's humor will run out. I just gave him a crooked smile.

He did his thing and I finally got my car back.
Total waiting time: 3 hours.

I paid what's due to the dollar (no discount at all, though he showed me a can of air-cond oil that he claimed to have cost RM45 that he's giving me for free). I just closed one eye and handed the boss the money since he did clean out that late chicken for me.

Oh little chick-a-dee
Where did you come from?
I thought I ate the last one of you last Raya
Why, oh why did you go in there? Of all places?
Where did you come from
But I hope you're in a better place now

I do hope that there is such thing as a chicken heaven.

Guys and dolls

2006-05-21T22:01:00.001+08:00

I'm so excited. My favorites always win this time around or almost win.

My favorite team in The Amazing Race won the million bucks. But not before they almost gave me a heart attack on that last Road Block. The Frat Boys got there first but the one who finish first counts and The Hippies got it!

A while back, in the studios of America's Next Top Model, I was really rooting for Kahlen. She's got an interesting look and take great photos but yet her innocence got in the way.

Meanwhile, in the American Idol arena my favorite guy Taylor Hicks got into the finals! I knew he had a chance to get into the finals but now that Chris is out I'm thinking he could really win this. I don't hate Catherine but I just can't see her doing a pop album. She is a good singer but I think she was born in the wrong era. You can say the same about Taylor too but give him a pop song, he will just put his soulful touch to it. But give Katherine a pop song she will just slaughter it.

Taylor can be the next American Idol but then once upon a time I thought Bo could be too. So you'll never know. But I'll keep my fingers crossed.

It's the final 4

2006-05-10T21:46:00.002+08:00

A great final four this time around for the American Idol show.

I'm guessing Elliot will be out tomorrow but based on tonight's performance I would rather see Katherine go out.

Kampung Gal also predicts Chris will be the next American Idol and he will go against Taylor Hicks. But I just loooooovvvvvveeeeeee Taylor Hicks. Did I ever say I love Taylor Hicks? Well I love Taylor Hicks.

Go Taylor Hicks!

She is also guessing that the MoJo team will be eliminated this week and BJ & Tyler will win the race. Forget those 2 horny toads. They may be ahead most of the time but I bet they will come up just a little bit short than the hippies at the finish line. I think the hippies are the best-loved team since the clown brothers.

Go Hippies!

You Know You're Living in 2006 When...

2006-05-10T21:42:00.000+08:00

1. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.

6. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.

11. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

12. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.

13. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

14. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list.

AND NOW U R LAUGHING at yourself.

(Courtesy of an interesting e-mail I got)

Current update - 30/4/06

2006-04-30T23:15:00.000+08:00

Read: East of Eden by John Steinbeck, Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin, *The Curious Inicident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon, The Secret Supper by Javier Sierra, *Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales
(* means I enjoyed reading them)
Reading: Chronicles of the Chinese Emperors by Ann Paludan, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Einstein Never Used Flashcards
CD: none
Favorite song: We Are One Tonight - Switchfoot
Played: another round of Luxor. I am so addicted to this game
Watching: The Drew Carey Show, The 4400, Apprentice 4, American Idol 5, Monk, The Amazing Race 9, America's Next Top Model 4, Frasier, Desperate Housewives

No. of times asked if I have a boyfriend: 7
No. of times asked when I will get married: 23 (approx)
No. of times asked when I will have kids: 2

Another month of unupdated blog. I think the part time job is really eating up my time. And I really feel the pressure of unread books piling up in my possesion. I guess it's even harder when you can only read an average of 2 books per month but you buy 5 books per month (10 if there's a warehouse sale). I'm not a speed reader. It's one skill that I want to learn before I die but then I'm so busy trying to finish as many books as I can that I don't have the time to teach myself how to speed read. *sigh* thus my dilemma....

Are you like a crazy person?

2006-04-18T20:13:00.000+08:00

Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.

Courtesy of imdb.com

I think this is the best introduction to a character ever.

Current update - 30/3/06

2006-03-30T23:26:00.000+08:00

Read: The Death Collector by Justin Richards, Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton, The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
Reading: Chronicles of the Chinese Emperors by Ann Paludan, East of Eden by John Steinbeck
CD: none
Favorite song: Talk by Coldplay
Played: Luxor and Tumblebugs (I finished all the levels!)
Watching: The Drew Carey Show, The 4400, Apprentice 4, American Idol 5, Monk, The Amazing Race 9, and America's Next Top Model 4

No. of times asked if I have a boyfriend: 7
No. of times asked when I will get married: 23 (approx)
No. of times asked when I will have kids: 2

The Last Stand

2006-03-21T23:32:00.000+08:00

I was surfing the net, looking for new kiddie movies to watch out for when I discovered that I can check other movies as well like X-Men 3 for example.

Hohohoho.... boy can't wait for this movie.

The third instalment is about a pharmaceutical company discovering a 'cure' to supress the mutant-x gene permanently. Of course, Magneto in protest, waged a war and it's not just talk this time.

Jean is back as Phoenix and if what I see is correct, she's joining Magneto. Beast is on the Xavier team with Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) doning the blue skin. He may have the poise but I don't think they make him big enough. Another new addition is Angel. For this you must check out the trailer. His wings is awesome. He's played by Ben Foster, the guy who played Russell, that blurry boyfriend of Claire in Six Feet Under. Interesting to see how this one turns out. But he can play that brooding, depressing character very well.

Unfortunately, Halle Berry is still Storm. She changed her hairstyle again. You can go bald if you want Halle, you still don't make a good Storm. What an insult to Storm, my favorite X-Men.

Another favorite of mine, Gambit will not make an appearance because Josh Holloway, whoever the hell that is (he's from Lost), turned down the roll because he thinks that this character would be too similar to his character on Lost. Mmmm... I don't watch the show, but does Sawyer (his Lost character) go around speaking French, calling people mon chere, and throwing energy-charged cards around the island? I know the show is weird but I don't think it's that weird. What bums me out is that the producers didn't look for any other actor. How hard is it to find a tall, dark, mysterious guy who can speak a decent Cajun and looks good in a trench coat? Maybe they want to save him for the next one. I mean, if they're going to throw out all their trump cards, what would they have left for the next one, right?

The only time that I love the mention of the word war is in terms of movies. With the raging war between man and mutant, between mutant and mutant, you can expect more characters surfacing in this movie. It's like that scene in Star Wars II, when we get to see a group of Jedis fighting. It's something that's never been seen before. I bet you're gonna have fun identifying all the different mutants and their powers. I remember being so excited when I saw Jubilee in X-Men 2. I didn't get to see her in action but I was still giddy. Which reminds me, I got to 'gilap' my X-Men knowledge.

I caught the X fever tonight. Suffice it to say, this is on my desktop now.

I want to post more pictures but there's a problem in loading. I'll put them up tomorrow or whenever I get online again, whichever comes first.

American Idol 5

2006-03-15T16:49:00.000+08:00

This year's American Idol Final 12 is quite good I must say especially the guys. I always look forward to guys night. And that Taylor Hicks is pretty something.

Top 12

There are may talented girls too but then I feel like I've seen them all before. Paris is standing on a very thin line between great and annoying for me. When she sings, she's great but when she speaks, she's annoying. She has a deep singing voice but where did that squeaky voice come from? While Lisa is just not matured enough to make some impact. Katherine was fine on the first few shows. But on the third week she was just..... too..... gedik! That's what my nieces would call it. I know she did well but does she have to be so.... so..... gedik! Kellie is nice and sweet but I don't think she's flexible. I can't see her belting any other song than country. And what's with the kangkang move? Mandissa has a very good voice, I must admit. Her rendition of I'm Every Woman was marvellous. If she can bring it on every single week, she might have a chance to win this. Melissa...sigh... why bother. She would be the first to go. I'd rather have Ayla in the top 12.

Bucky is an interesting person to have on the show but then he's like Kellie, not flexible. Ace... God! Ok he is cute but he's a Backstreet Boy. He's a boy band material. Nothing special in him. Hopefully he will go out quickly. Now Taylor... He's from a whole different planet and I mean that in a good way. Yeah, he's a bit weird with that Ray Charles move he makes everytime he's on camera. You know that slight tilt to the right (or left depending on where the camera is) and hugging himself. But he's from a different breed of singers. I don't think he can win this but I can't get enough of him and I want him to stay as long as possible. Kevin Kevin Kevin... he's another cute one too, in that 12-year-old-cute sense. And he does look like Chicken Little. And he's not gonna last long either. Elliot has the best voice in the bunch. He's Moody Mood was so amazing. It was even better than Brian McKnight when he sang it in Q's Jook Joint. He may look like a troll but he has an amazing voice. Hey, the World Idol looked like a hobbit right? He has a shot. He's biggest competitor would be Chris. He has a stage presence, he can sing and he looks great. All he has done so far is rock so I'm looking forward to see him do Stevie Wonder today.

All in all....I'm a fan of Taylor Hicks but I think Chris or Elliot will win this. But I always like the underdog so this year I'll be rooting for...

TAYLOR HICKS!

4 faves: A meme

2006-03-06T23:22:00.000+08:00

Four Jobs I've Had: (I thought this is about 4 faves. Jobs is not really a fave. Oh well.)
1. Student assistant - when I was studying in US I worked at the university library, the medical library to be exact. Have to shelve a lot of big books and journals. It's like getting paid while doing exercise. Wish I can say I met a lot of cute doctor but it never happened. I think I saw 1 cute doctor who looked like a better version of Sunjay Dutt. Then I changed to the Reprographics Dept. The dept responsible in turning newspapers into microfilms. Almost all of the Malay Malaysian students worked there. Interesting job, great colleaques, great boss. Good times.
2. Management Trainee - I sold those Domino's card, TGV cards. I could have knocked on your door once.
3. Clerk - at a local bank. Spent 3 boring years there until I can't take it anymore.
4. Bookstore assistant - my stepping stone into book retailing. I was fortunate enough to be given a chance to work at a small children's bookstore. Interesting job, helped a lot with what I'm doing right now.

Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over
This is hard. I definitely have more than 4. I will approach this question like this, if I stumble upon a movie while channel hunting, what movie will make me stop?
1. The obvious choice - LOTR. I lost count to how many times I've seen it.
2. Dead Man Walking - Sean Penn is superb in this one. Just can't help but feel sorry for him and be happy that he found redemption in the end even though he did a most despicable thing.
3. Finding Nemo - It's soo cute! and funny of course.
4. The last one... this is so hard! How do you chose one from many? OK. I will put my favorite movie from my favorite star - Benny & Joon. There.

Four Places I Have Lived
1. My current house
2. Muar
3. Shah Alam
4. Lexington, KY - I wanna go back!!!

Four Television Shows I Loved to Watch
Another difficult one. I definitely have more than 4 for this one too.
1. CSI
2. Law & Order - the original one. I never saw the spin offs.
3. The West Wing
4. Saturday Night Live, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien - I wanna go back!!!

Four Places I Have Been On Vacation
1. Grand Canyon - The most photogenic place I've ever been to. I don't have a better word to describe it. What you see in the pictures, is what you get when you're standing there plus the awe of being there in person.
2. New York - went there 3 times in 1 week. All because we always missed the ferry to Ellis Island where Statue of Liberty is located. Regretted that I didn't go to the NYPL and Art Museum.
3. Washington DC - on 4th of July some more. Went to Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial where Jenny ran across the reflecting pool to get the attention of Forrest Gump, Smithsonian Museum (of all the museums lined up over there, I walked into this one. I didn't know the significance of the Smithsonian at the time), took a picture at the FBI building, lepak at the field near the George Washinton Monument and wait for the fireworks to start. Didn't get to go to Arlington, a shame. Could've visited Kennedy's grave.
4. Toronto, Ottawa, Niagara Falls - after NY we drove to Boston and went north to Canada. Travelled westward towards Niagara Falls and made a few stops along the way. Best trip I've ever been on.

Four of My Favourite Dishes
1. Sweet and Sour Chicken
2. Nasi Pattaya - whenever I go to a new place, I will check if they have nasi pattaya.
3. Yong tao foo
4. Nasi ayam - when nothing is appealing, nasi ayam is the way to go.

Four Websites I Visit Daily
1. yahoo.mail (obviously)
2. imdb.com - the best resource for movie and tv lovers.
3. leoslyrics.com - it has the best search engine. You don't have to know the title of a song. Just enter a phrase and they will get it for you, provided that it's in their database. Even if they don't, you can send lyrics to them. They also have a Winamp plugin. Install it and it can display the lyrics when the song is played, like your very own karaoke at your PC.
4. FBorFW.com - homepage to For Better or For Worse, my favorite strip. I visit this monthly to catch up on the lives of the Pattersons.

Four Places I Would Rather Be Right Now
1. In a peaceful park, the weather's fine, sitting under a tree, reading.
2. In my room, in MY own house.
3. Somewhere in the past, witnessing a historical moment
4. In a movie theatre

Hope this is good enough for the whole month of March.

Current update - 28/2/06

2006-02-28T23:11:00.000+08:00

Read: American Indian Myths and Legends, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson
Reading: Chronicles of the Chinese Emperors by Ann Paludan, Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton
CD: none
Favorite song: can't think of any
Playing: Luxor
Watching: The Drew Carey Show, The 4400, Apprentice 4, American Idol 5, Monk, West Wing, Arrested Development and America's Next Top Model 4

No. of times asked if I have a boyfriend: 7
No. of times asked when I will get married: 23 (approx)
No. of times asked when I will have kids: 2

I know I haven't put up anything this month but I honestly didn''t know what happened in February. I was busy with the part-time job, I realized that I don't do enough reading, my book collection is piling up (and going to the Times warehouse sale didn't help either), I didn't even do my Oscar forecast. I got almost all of the nominated movies, but I only get to see Brokeback Mountain, Transamerica, Walk the Line (which I love by the way, yay! Reese!) and halfway through Good Night, and Good Luck.

My nights, if I'm not working, are mostly filled with watching TV or playing Luxor. Now that American Idol is on 3 times a week with 2 hours on two of those nights, my time gets even more limited to blog. When I'm not watching TV, I'll be playing Luxor. I am so hooked on the game. I was stuck at level 8 I think last month and this month I just can't seem to get through what I thought was the second last level (turned out it was the last stage). So, now I've graduated form Luxor and ready to get on with my life, which may include playing the next game I got .

Bittersweet

2006-02-01T21:26:00.000+08:00

Having three public holidays back to back was bittersweet for me. On one side, it was soooooo easy to get to work, you cannot imagine how easy it was. Well, maybe this visualization might help.

It makes working during the holidays not so bad after all. And parking is such a breeze and cheap. But then, that cruisin' feeling stopped the moment I stepped out on the sales floor.

Day 1 was fun. It was a Friday, just like any other Friday at the store. I just came back from my off day I was hyped and ready to serve customers with the best smiles.

Day 2 still ok. The place was busy in the early part of the day. After 8pm, we had the place all to ourselves.

Day 3. Gong xi fa cai! We were swamped with non-Malaysians and most of them I'm sorry to say are non-buyers.

Day 4. The crowd picked up a bit. More buyers this time. My level of enthusiasm was just enough to still give courteous services to some annoying customers. A bit sleepy because my shift ended at 10pm and voila! 10 hours later I'm back.

Day 5. Stampede!

Day 6. Happy Birthday KL! I thought it wouldn't be so crowded today but I guess that's just wishful thinking. The people starts coming in at about noon and it seems like they will never leave. I feel that the store should put a bouncer at the door.
Too many people! Cannot come in! Are you here to buy or what! Just looking? Just browsing? GET OUT! What's that with you? Your kids? No people under 3 feet allowed!

One hour to go, my enthusiasm was running thin, my patience was running out and I my smiles began to wane. By the end of the shift, the people are still there and I'm....
Just enough to pick myself up and get myself home.

There's my holidays for you. I'm off for two days after this so happy working for you.

Current update - 30/1/06

2006-01-30T21:33:00.000+08:00

Read: Nicholas Nickelby by Charles Dickens (yes! I finally finished it) and The Chi'Lin Purse by Linda Fang
Reading: American Indian Myths and Legends, Chronicles of the Chinese Emperors
CD: Hot Fuss by The Killers, Demon Days by Gorillaz
Favorite song: Check On It by Beyonce
Playing: Luxor
Watching: The Drew Carey Show, The 4400, Apprentice 4, American Idol 5, Monk, West Wing, Arrested Development and.... jengjejeng.... America's Next Top Model 4! (God, am I hooked on this show)

No. of times asked if I have a boyfriend: 7
No. of times asked when I will get married: 23 (approx)
No. of times asked when I will have kids: 2

Other news:
Got my confirmation this month. What do I get after 6 months of boiling and toiling, bowing and kow-towing, and holding my tongue? A RM100 salary increment, my pro-rated bonus, three medical cards and a new name tag.

Let's shake some dust

2006-01-21T22:54:00.000+08:00

Working as a part time translator really took up a lot of my time, just as the friend that introduced me to the job said it would. It will eat up a whole day if I have to do two 1/2-hour shows. But I got a break a few days ago when I found out that I don't have anything due and I have 2 days off back to back.

And the timing couldn't have been better because I recently bought 5 games and the complete second season of Carnivale. I know I said that HBO will show the second season shortly after the marathon but after months of waiting I'm guessin' it ain't gonna happen. So I went and bought the dvd.

It's a good thing I did because I finally realized that there may be some stuffs that I will never get to see if I wait for HBO to show it. You see, in US the censorship rules applies differently to different media. For national television i.e. free tv, the basic censorship applies- no cursing, no lewd acts, no nudity etc etc etc. But for cable tv i.e. pay tv like HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, you get to show, do or say anything you please. So series produced by these pay tv have free reign to shape their shows however they want it to be. In actuality, those shows that we have been watching all these years like Six Feet Under and Sex in the City were not really in their full version. Unless you're watching the dvds of course.

To date, I've only watched 8 episodes out of the 12 episodes season and it is such a riveting, out-of-this world mystifying experience. I can't wait to get to the end. But yet the 12th episode is also something that I'm dreading to see because it is the absolute last episode for the show. That damn HBO cancelled it after its 2nd season.

I don't know why HBO canned it. I guess the ratings were not high enough for their standard or they were not getting enough awards for it or the actors are not pretty and thus not worth their air time. I don't know. But fans all over the world (including me) were outraged. I must admit the show may not appeal to the general mass and I guess the number of viewers were not up to par, but it has the most compelling story I have ever seen.

Not pretty enough?
From left: Ruthie the Snake Lady who danced with snakes, one of the hottest acts in town. Samson is a midget who managed the whole act under the watchful eye of 'Management'. Nex is his ex-wife Sabina. Hot huh? Not sure what her act was but she was known as the Scorpion Lady. Oh, did I mention she didn't have any fingers?

I've mentioned before how I love to watch/read stories about the fight between angels and demons, good and evil and thing like that which was the reason why I love Constantine so much, it's the same with Carnivale just stretched a few more hours with more twists, turns and puzzles than the biggest book of sudoku that you can find. It was never clear who was good and who was evil. Who's holding the reigns? What's at stake? What do they stand to gain?

Dan Knauf, the creator did express his wishes to finish the series one day. Picking up the series again would be really nice but since HBO owned the rights, the chance might be pretty slim. Some suggest making a tv movie. But he said that 2 hours is not enough to wrap such a complex story, which I agree. There are hints of making a novel or graphic novel which would be really nice too. At this point, I'll take anything. I just want to know the ending.

Nobody told me

2006-01-12T00:00:00.000+08:00

To buy The Killers.

I rarely buy cds nowadays. I spent most of my spare money on books every month because I would rather spend RM40 on a book rather than a cd. It's hard to find good albums anyway. But once in a while I'll have one of those cd shopping spree. I'll just buy two at once. I think this has become a pattern for me. The last time it was Keane and Seal. And now it was The Killers and Gorillaz.

I bought Gorillaz because I loved their first album. I'm not into techno that much, but their sound is quite different and it was on offer. RM36 for a cd is the best price you can get nowadays. After a few rounds in the player I still liked the first one but maybe it needed a few more rounds, which is not going to happen soon because I've been spinning The Killers all day and all night now. I love them! They're just awesome!

To tell you the truth, I still have doubts even when the lady was ringing up my purchases. I was hoping it was also sold for RM36 but alas no luck. I was not sure if it was worth buying. I find that a cd that I don't enjoy is such a waste (I don't feel a book that I don't enjoy is such a waste however. I'm just a freak that way). But it flew away as soon as I hit the play button.

Their singles that's been playing in the radio lately have a retro sound. When I hear the whole cd they do sound like an 80s British band, even though they are very recent and very Texan. They even sound like U2 in the old days at times, especially in Jenny Was a Friend of Mine and the drums in Somebody Told Me which was great. I missed that old U2 sound.

Have you ever skipped the well-known songs because you've had too much of it from the radio that you can't take it anymore? Well, it was not the case with The Killers. I enjoy discovering new songs that I could like and still singing away to the old ones. After 4 days of listening, I still like Somebody Told Me, Mr Brightside and All These Things That I've Done. And I've grown to love Jenny was a Friend of Mine, Smile Like You Mean It, Andy You're a Star, On Top, Believe Me Natalie, Change Your Mind, Midnight Show, Glamorous Indie Rock 'n Roll.... almost everything la... Andy You're a Star is very interesting melodically. If you get a chance to download it, give it a try. It's not a song that you would normally sing to but yet every morning I woke up I'll be singing...

Cause Andy, you're a star!!!!!

Loving this album prove my own personal theory that if you like 3 songs from that album, and you never get tired of it even though it's played over and over again on the radio, then it's worth buying. This theory worked when I bought Keane and Jamiroquai.

I heard The Killers got a few nods from the Grammys this year. I wish them all the best and they deserve to get big wins. Heck, I wouldn't mind if they beat U2 (but I don't think they can beat Foo Fighters' Best of You). In the midst of all the rock bands rapping away and rap artist rocking away, they are such a joy to hear. Can't believe they didn't get best new artist nod. Who the hell is Fallout Boy and Sugarland? So not fair.

Another revelation?

2006-01-11T23:30:00.000+08:00

After the Xmas high comes the inevitable let-down, plus your annual pre-New Year self-examination. Don't be too hard on yourself. Some divine discontent is quite healthy - just don't overdo it!

Hahaha... I came acroos this horoscope for 30th December a few days after I wrote my last post. I don't want to say it but this time around it's quite dead on.

I was kind of analyzing myself on that day which was expressed in my last post. I was being a bit hard on myself. I felt that I didn't achieve much this past year. But I decided that I'm just going to suck it up and just live this year. Whatever this year's going to throw at me I'll take it like a woman.

And like any other year I won't list down some wishful new year's resolution because, come on, let us all face the facts here... no one ever abide by them anyway, especially me.

Current update - 30/12/05

2005-12-30T23:24:00.000+08:00

Another year another number... What's in a number anyway... I don't feel any different.

The past year has been eventful, for me at least. I finished my degree, though I don't feel any smarter. I got a new job, though I'm not sure if it's for the better yet. Got a part time job though I haven't seen the first cheque yet. My cousin got married, my brother got married, gained a new nephew, and I think I lost few kilos though I never intend to lose them.

Don't know what else to say so here's the normal monthly update...

Read: The Dumas Club by Arturo Perez-Reverte, The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Reading: Nicholas Nickelby by Charles Dickens
CD: None
Favorite song: Vehicle by Bo Bice
Playing: anything online
Watching: The Drew Carey Show

*No. of times asked if I have a boyfriend: 7
*No. of times asked when I will get married: 21 (approx)
*No. of times asked when I will have kids: 2
Note: * Since I started this blog of course. I've been getting these questions lots of times before but you can't honestly believe I would count them, right? I just thought of this lately. It's interesting to know the average number of times a single girl at a marriageable age get that million dollar question. I hope other single bloggers would do the same. Maybe we can write a thesis on it! I also change "ppl" to "times" since one person can ask all three questions.

Quesion no. 2 has turn into 'approx' because I lost count amidst the busyness of my brother's wedding. But man... can you imagine? 21 times a year? That's an average of almost 2 times per month. I wonder if it will increase when the age increases? Hmm... need more research.

I do have one conclusion though. Whenever I interact with a baby around a group of friends, the "Kau bila lagi?" [When's you turn?] question popped up. So I try to get as far away from a baby most of the time, especially when it's a friend's newborn baby. There are lots more people fussing over it anyway, I'm sure the baby can't stand one more.

Happy birthday to you too...

Eliza Dushku (Tru Calling, Buffy and one of my favorite movies, Bring It On)
Tiger Woods (Tiger who?)
Kristin Kreuk (Lana Lang from Smallvile)
Tracey Ullman (comedy actress)

and also to those who could have celebrated their birthday today but just didn't live to see the day...
Rudyard Kipling (author of The Jungle Book)
Davy Jones (of The Monkees)

And then there were three Part 2 - The Loot

2005-12-23T01:29:00.000+08:00

Attending a wedding also mean acquiring certain items, which may or may not have any use, disguised as tokens of appreciation. And having a close relation with the one who held the wedding mean you get to have moreof these things that may or may not have any use.

Behold...

From top then left to right...
1. (The green one) For those who 'renjis' [bless] the couple during majlis berinai which was held right after the akad nikah.
2. (The yellow one) For those who was seated at the main table during the wedding reception which was held the day after the akad.
3. For those who 'renjis' during the wedding reception.
4. Acquired from the 'hantaran' [gifts] from the bride to the groom.
5. One of the 'hantaran'. There was a bouquet of this.
6. For family members of the groom who came to the wedding reception.
7. I don't remember how we got this one .

I never really cared about these stuff unless it's something different or something that I can actually use. My mother would normally keep them until she got sick of the space they took and ended up throwing them away.

However, this time around yours truly decided that she will keep 2 of them i.e. nos. 4 and 6 because they are potpourri and they look kinda nice. And I loooove no. 3 (on the far left) because the flowers were made off pinang, kapur and gambir, something that I've never seen before. Very traditional. In this modern times I always love a touch of tradition. Here's a close-up and some guides if you don't know what I'm talking about.
I don't know their names in English but they do have a role in weddings, which I don't really know either. But we usually put them in the Tepak Sirih. They can be chewed together with sirih leaves kind of like tobacco. In the olden days the representative of the groom will bring the tepak filled with sirih, kapur, gambir and pinang to the girl's house. Both families would then discuss the wedding over a few sirih leaves. People don't chew sirih nowadays so I think it's just symbolic in Malay weddings.

For those who were not so closely related to the families involved would of course get something too. Guests who came to the bride's wedding reception still get their loot though not as many as I've showcased here. We, the groom's family members, would still get these in addition to those that I've shown earlier .

For the ladies...
Yes! A bag. I certainly can use that. But what's this? There's something inside...

Sweets (already opened because I ate one at the ceremony) and.... drum rolls please....

a big slab of DODOL!
I could definitely use that!

There's something for the guys too, though it was not as big as the bag...

And there's something inside these too...

More DODOL!

Hehehe....

And they were very nice too...

And then there were three

2005-12-10T23:44:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was the day that my brother officially ended his bachelor days. It has been so long since my family organized a wedding. The last one was my eldest brother's about 13 years ago.

This is my first experience of being closely a part of a wedding from the groom's side. During my first bro's wedding I was at boarding school. Though I was home when it was my family's turn to hold the wedding reception.

Overall, not so bad. Not as bad as the girl's side I must say. I think the most nerve-wrecking part about the whole thing was that small two-minute ceremony called the akad. So much so that some people had to do it twice... if you're lucky... like it was in my brother's case. Some had to do it a few times. Though two times is the most that I've witnessed so far.

After one hour of waiting, the most important man in the ceremony,
Tok Kadi, finally arrived.

Attending a wedding can be a nice experience unless you're holding a camera and would like to capture some significant moments for memory. You have to fight through these people first.

Eyes of the lense is on you kid

For each professional photographer and his crew there must have been 5 amateur photographers, including me. But I was so pissed off with my cousin when I tried to get a shot of this one important moment. She was so busy trying to capture the scene on her camera phone that when I finally asked her to give me a chance, all I got was this...

Supposed to be a picture of my brother kissing his father-in-law's hand.
Turned out to be a picture of my brother kow-towing to his father-in-law.

My new Sony DSC-T5's first night out was a bit bumpy. I'm still don't know how to adjust the setting to suit the surrounding. There was a lot of trial and error, and shots with people's backs. My shutter speed is pretty slow so my subjects still get to move after I press the button. A lot of blurry shots.

So I tried to minimize getting official group shots for anyone. I was afraid it would turn out ugly in the end and pisses everyone in the process. A lot of it were stolen shots like the time the couple took a picture with both parents. I mean you have to let the professionals do their job right? Why the hell we pay them for? So my job as the amateur photographer was to take snapshots from another point of view.

A train of people climbing towards the bilik pengantin.

This afternoon was the wedding reception and next Sunday is my family's turn to bear the headache. In the meantime My Sony (and me) will need more practice for its next day out on the scene.

See. Even a self portrait is blurry.

Hopefully after this I will update my photoblog more often .

Note: If anyone happen to recognize anybody, please feel free to keep it to yourself. Thank you

First Anniversary

2005-12-07T23:10:00.000+08:00

Today Kampung Gal in the City is one year old!

Wow... can't believe it's been one year already. I remember how it all started. I used the PC at the office to start a blog. Those were the days when I can still dawdle at work. Now, no chance in hell. I should be so lucky if I get to sit down for more than one hour without the constant interruptions from customers with stupid questions.

It all started when a friend advertised her blog to our group. And her name is Along of Along's Blog at http://alongsj.blogspot.com (enough mentioning Along?). I've known what a blog is all about at that time but I wasn't sure that I would have enough drive to update it regularly. But so far so good.

I used to be known as Silent Dragon because even though I'm a dragon who is supposed to have an agressive nature, I'm not. But then I changed it to Kampung Gal because it's easier to have the same name as the blog name. And I think someone called me Kampung Gal once instead of Silent Dragon and I thought it sounds much nicer.

I was a bit reluctant when choosing the name Kampung Gal in the City because it seems like such a cliche. I'm sure there are other Tom, Dick, Harry, Peter and Jane in the City out there. But I love it because it's one way to describe who I am. Even though I was born and raised in the city, I feel so kampung sometimes. For the record I don't watch the show.

Looking back on my first post, I thought damn I still have nothing to show. Still living with parents, with no savings and no boyfriend (still debatable). I'm still working at a bookstore, though it's bigger with better pay. Blog-wise still talking about the same old thing. Well, I guess in my case you can't change much in 12 months.

Aiya... suddenly I'm feeling depressed.

But one thing I like about blogging is that I get to be a part of this small yet wide community that connects people without putting much effort. Since I don't go out much, I still get to 'meet' and get to know people like Eyeris, Dina, The Visitor, Desparil, Yasmin Ahmad, Afdlin Shauki and many others. Without this blog I don't think I will ever get to meet these people let alone having them respond to my comments. Blog is such a wonderful thing .

I also tend to talk to myself less since I started this blog, which is a very good thing. Sometimes my thoughts became too much that I just had to say it out. Believe me, having a blog and typing it out is so much better (and saner) than talking to yourself.

Here's to another year of Kampung Gal in the City!

Harry Potter 4 x 3

2005-12-04T21:59:00.000+08:00

Book 4 has always been my favourite. It has more actions with a twinge of emotion in it. It also, for the first time, gave a glimpse to the readers of how big the wizardry world really is. Kids all over the world suddenly felt that the magic was not limited to the boundaries of the western world anymore. Oh, if you still don't get it, I do love the Harry Potter series and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Style-wise, Rowling does not offer anything new or great that's worth being studied years from now. It's strength lies in the story. The idea that a lone kid suddenly discovered that he has hidden talents is nothing new. But the story and characters that unfolds around him are pretty interesting. What I like most about the series is how one small detail mentioned in earlier book would suddenly become significant in later books. Spells and potions are not made up just to get the plot going. The same spell would appear time and time again under different circumstances. Readers are taken a tour through Harry Potter's eyes who, like the readers, are oblivious to the amazing world of magic. When he learn new things, we learn new things, when he met a new creature, he was as surprised and excited as we are which I think is why the books appeal to kids so much.

I find it interesting that when HP was adapted to the big screen, most of the time the characters, creatures and plots didn't suffer much changes in the transition. Which shows that the story works both on the page and on the screen.

I managed to watch the movie on the second day of opening at GSC Berjaya Times Square. I'm not so important as to get hold tickets for previews like some people do so second day is fast enough for me. Anyway, one thing I have to say about GSC-BTS is that it's a pretty cool place to watch a movie. The seats are comfortable and the stadium arrangement is great. The distance from the screen to the first row is quite far so even if you only get third row seats it would still be comfortable enough, not like TGV. I remarked to ST that we should come here more often for movies. I still hate the building but GSC over there is great.

The movie started pretty much like the book as do the rest of the movie actually. No major changes in the plot which is a great thing about Rowling books, the movie maker don't really have to change anything, it's all in there. But some things are cut too short especially the Quidditch World Cup. I was so looking forward to watch how professional quidditch is played. If the matches in school was such a thrill, can you imagine what the professionals can do? The beginning I felt was a bit rushed. You don't get to let the excitement of one thing settles in before the next one was thrusted in your face but the pace slows down once they get into the Triwizard Tournament part.

Half hour into the movie I noticed that the movie is pretty dark. No I'm not talking about the tone but the overall look. There was no color. I thought it was the cinema but I experienced it again when I watched it for the second time at TGV.

The second viewing was still nice. I still get to enjoy it. I can't complain about lack of excitement, no element of surprise or that sort of thing because the chance of experiencing that is evitable even in the first viewing having read the book and all. I think it was also because in this one there are more things to see like the Quiddith World Cup, the Yule Ball, dragons, other schools (and their method of transportations), other creatures like the merpeople, more fleshing out of smaller characters like Neville and of course the tournament itself. After awhile I forgot the non-existence of any professional Quidditch playing.

I can go without the third viewing but I promised my sister I'll take her kids so I did. Third viewing was not that bad either. But I have to admit it was a bit too much for one movie. I only get to see LOTR on the big screen twice plus one at the Starlight Cinema but that don't really count. Can't believe this one beat the record.

All in all, below is a summary of my thoughts on the movie.

What I like
1) More Weasley twins
2) Moaning Myrtle
3) The small yet important stuff are in there like the pensieve, Neville's efficiency with botany and the story of his parents.
4) The movie shows that wizards and witches still love to rock, kind of pulling the story closer to present time. Viewer/readers didn't get the feeling that Hogwarts is in another place, in another time.
5) More complexity on the Ron-Harry relationship, which is even more developed in the book.
6) My favorite line, "Fraternizing with the enemy" is in there.

What I don't like
1) Hermione is too emotional in this one
2) Cedric is not good-looking enough
3) Krum is not ugly enough
4) Too little Snape
5) No Mrs Weasley
6) Too much built-up to the Quidditch World Cup, the tents, the amazing stadium, but alas no World Cup
7) Didn't show how the first three champions completed the first task. Well it was not described in the book also but they can improvise right?
8) No house elves
9) How come they didn't show Krum's mini dragon?
10) No Bill and Charlie Weasley
11) No Pigwidgeon
12) No annoying Percy Weasley

Some things you should know if you didn't read the book
1) Cho Chang is a year older than Harry
2) Cho and Cedric are from Ravenclaw.
3) The Horntail that Harry battled was the dragon that Hagrid acquired in the first book.
4) In the book, Malfoy's house elf was the one who conjured the dark mark at the World Cup not Barty Crouch Jr.
5) With the lost of Scabbers, Ron got a new animal, a small owl named Pigwidgeon. Answers to the call of 'Pig'.
6) If you're wondering why the kids went out with Hagrid in the woods when they found what they found, it was probably because Hagrid wanted to show them the maze.
7) Fluer is a veela, beautiful and seductive, something like sirens on land. If the movie expanded on the world cup they might mention the word veela.
8) Madame Maxime and Hagrid didn't get so mushy-mushy in the book. She got close to him just to get some early scoop on the tasks.
9) The was a monetary reward when Harry won the tournament. He felt guilty of winning with Cedric's death and all and because he has more money that he could count, he gave them to the Weasley twins which they used to set up their own business of selling magical candy in school. Maybe movie no. 5 won't mention anything about their business but I feel it's important because it led up to a quite significant event at the end of book 5.

*Warning: May contain some spoilers*
The final task in the movie was a bit of a disappointment. For a competition that brings eternal glory to the winner, it was such a breeze. You just need to find your way through the maze while dodging some greenery. However, the maze in the book was much more complicated than that. There were creatures and illusions that really puts the champions' knowledge of spells and incantations to the test. You can truly get the idea that no regular witch or wizard can go through it and understand how students could've die in previous tournaments.

The ending, with the happy farewells betweeen the three schools and the threesome's light-hearted pact to write to each other was still a bit too cheerful for me. The most evil wizard was just resurrected and Hermione was more concerned about getting letters from her friends? I don't think so.
*End warning*

I can't wait for the next movie. I want to see the Ministry of Magic and more characters with the introduction of The Order of Phoenix. You'll get to meet some aurors, some sort of wizard police. Finally, some real action from real wizards and not just some small magic from amateur students anymore.

Well, I guess Harry said it better himself, "I love magic."

Current update - 30/11/05

2005-11-30T23:10:00.000+08:00

Why do I do this?

Read: Imajica, Abarat & Abarat 2 by Clive Barker
Reading: Nicholas Nickelby by Charles Dickens, The Dumas Club by Arturo Perez-Reverte
CD: None
Favorite song: Dare by Gorillaz
Playing: Luxor (MSN)
Watching: Desperate Housewives, Amazing Race: Family Edition, The Drew Carey Show, Monk

*No. of times asked if I have a boyfriend: 6
*No. of times asked when I will get married: 19
*No. of times asked when I will have kids: 2
Note: * Since I started this blog of course. I've been getting these questions lots of times before but you can't honestly believe I would count them, right? I just thought of this lately. It's interesting to know the average number of times a single girl at a marriageable age get that million dollar question. I hope other single bloggers would do the same. Maybe we can write a thesis on it! I also change "ppl" to "times" since one person can ask all three questions.

Other news:
1) Joined NaNoWriMo with no success
2) Started my part-time work as a tv show translator
3) Bought a digicam (more on this in later post)

Dah pancit dah

2005-11-28T23:40:00.000+08:00

If eyeris stated this as the reason for him not finishing his Nano, my reason would be this...

I had to place an order for the bookstore to bring this in, I don't know why. It is such a precious book, nice story filled with illustrations done by the man himself. Great artworks in my opinion.

I've waited for one year for the book to come into paperback and when I finally got my hands on it I was in the midst of trying to write my own 'precious' book. After 2 weeks of trying, I couldn't resist the temptation. Why bend your back creating your own crap when you can read other people's gems right? I just had to pick it up and start reading it.

However, it was postponed because I realized that, apart from the fact that the main character came from Chickentown and ended up in Abarat, I couldn't remember anything else from the first book. So I read the first book again before jumping into this one. So there goes my Nano.

I'm still blown away by Clive Barker's great artistry. I just cannot comprehend how these could come out from one person's head.

I wanted to scan my favourite illustration out of the two books but I can't decide which one I like the most, I love them all. So I gave you the most beautiful and the most gruesome and something in between, which describe the range of subjects in his art.

I can't explain why I like his paintings. But then it's not like you can always explain why you like some things and not others. They just struck a chord in me, that's all I can say. I just want to look at it again and again. He himself may have sold his soul to the devil, I don't know but I'm sure enjoying his sacrifices.

So imagine my delight when I found out he recently put out a book showcasing more than 400 of his drawings and oil paintings.
I've placed an order for it last week. The price is a bit steep but like they say, it's a must-have for all fans and that's certainly what I am. Can't wait for it's arrival. Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War is the second book out of a quartet. I can't wait for those too.

Now, if only he would think of making a graphic novel with his own drawings. Those that are already in the market are done by other artists and they just don't quite cut it for me. They include his other novel for children, The Thief of Always, the Hellraiser series featuring short stories inspired by The Hellbound Heart, and Tapping the Vein, a visualization of some of the stories featured in his Books of Blood. I might consider getting this one because some of the stories are so unbelievable I have to see it to accept it. Especially for In the Hill, the Cities. You just have to read the story to understand me on this one.

Anyway, I just want to make it official that I've given up on trying to finish my Nano. No regrets. I finished 3 good books this month and in the middle of another great one, The Dumas Club.

Will I ever do it again? Sure why not. Recently I opened my Nano again, albeit reluctantly (I was just too ashamed to face my own substandard work ). The experience was not that bad. In fact I think I will work on it again whenever the mood comes, just for my own personal pleasure.

The flesh is not willing

2005-11-11T23:26:00.000+08:00

Raya this time was uneventful like always. The only difference was instead of having nasi himpit and kuah kacang for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I didn't have any. I don't know why. Maybe I knew that this year's kuah kacang was tasteless. It turned out that the kacang tumbuk my mum bought to make things easier was spoiled. So there goes a pot of kuah kacang down the drain. Thankfully my sister brought some and the future in-laws gave us some as well. So I did get to eat nasi himpit and kuah kacang, just that one time. I prefer ketupat actually. But I compensate my breakfast lunch and dinner with lemang because this year my mum make rendang tok... very nice .

This year I also seem to have a hightened appetite for kuih raya. I didn't get to make any this year. I always make at least on type of kuih raya every year, except this one. I don't know why. Could be the new job or maybe it's because I'm blogging this year .

Kids coming over are a bit lesser. I don't know if it was because they've learn the value of being decorous or I wasn't around when they came. I went to work one fine Saturday morning, the third day of raya thank you very much . I don't know if it's just me, because I'm such an anti-social, but I find it annoying when kids from God-knows-where just knock on your door. I'm sure that they don't know who you are anyway and just came over for the money. I've even had some who came in with shabby clothes, sweating like a pig. I was wondering if they gathered for their normal playmeet and when they get tired they just thought,
"Wei, jom gi raya. Boleh makan lepas tu dapat duit lagi."
[Let's go visiting. Can eat and even get money after that]

So far I've only been to one house for raya, no open houses yet. But I'm sure the invitations will come any day now but then I probably would not be able to come because of the shift work. On the other hand, working here, I get to taste so many kuih raya ... even kuih Deepavali also got.

Other news...
To date I'm down to 11,446 word for my Nano... so far to go! And my spirit has suddenly dwindled. I felt like there's so many other stuff to do like finish the books that I started a long time ago, go out with friends with feeling guilty, watch more tv or take more naps. I kind of feel that no matter how hard I try, even if I write everyday, I won't be able to reach the target. But I also think that what if I got so close like getting to 45,000 words on the 29th? I know that I will bang my head for skipping a day of writing. If only they can extend the dateline ...

It's so hard to change your habit. All those years of doing academic writing has taught me to keep the sentences short and simple. That certainly will not work for Nano. My sentences don't make sense, my paragraphs are full of crap and discrepancies appear everywhere. Like would you talk a walk in the middle of the afternon summertime in New York?

Writing this post makes me realize.. I miss blogging.

Happy Holidays!

2005-11-03T00:01:00.000+08:00

The house is relatively clean, the rendang and nasi himpit has been cooked, the cookies are laid out on the table. Clothes are ironed, the takbir has been heard, money packed into small green packets and my nano is shelved for the time being.

I just want to wish everyone who ever visited me at this little corner of cyberspace a Selamat Hari Raya or Eid Ul-Fitr. If I have ever said anything that might offend anybody, I sincerely apologize. A girl do need to vent out sometimes.

Jobot says Selamat Hari Raya!

A ghostly tribute

2005-10-31T23:30:00.001+08:00

It's Halloween, my favorite day. If I was in US I'll be glued in front of the tv switching through channels, devouring whatever horror prgrams they're showing. Some of the channels would even have a Halloween marathon for 24 hours. Ahh.... a horror fan heaven...

Anyway, since this is the first Halloween that I have a blog, I would like to pay tribute to my favourite horror movies...

Night of the Living Dead (1968)
I saw this movie as part of a film course I took in US. I believe this is the first movie with the central plot of a group of people trapped with monsters or zombies or fog or birds or whatever it is that's threatening them gathered outside. They need to survive at least until the sun comes up. It's not enough that they have to face dangers outside their confinement, there's always a struggle within those protective walls. A very nice black and white horror film that started a whole new genre.

The Sixth Sense
I remember watching this movie alone because I was so bored and I haven't been to the movies for the longest time. The first half of the movie I was pretty bored and my mind even wandered off a little. But the story finally pulled me back in. The part that really got to me was when Cole peeked under the bed. Well, it was pretty obvious that he's going to see something there, but the girl looked creepy and sad. And that mixed display is something I cannot forget. I also love the part when Cole got locked inside the small hole by the stairs at the party. It wasn't as much as what happened to Cole inside that was scary but the fact that the mother outside couldn't do anything to protect him. Isn't that one of our worst fears, knowing that a loved one is suffering and there's nothing we can do about it.

Hellraiser
I love this one for its gore factor. It's a mystery how a man that looks like this

can create gruesome creatures like these...

Pinhead and Butterball

The Others
I liked this one because I didn't expect it will end like that. I liked it even more that they decided to stay and do whatever it is they were meant to do even though they were shocked with the nature of their existence.

Shadow of the Vampire
The story behind the filming of Nosferatu, the oldest vampire movie ever. Max Schreck the man who played Nosferatu was believed to be a real vampire and Willem Defoe played him perfectly. John Malkovich was also perfect as the eccentric director, Frank Murnau. My favorite part is when Max hang out with some of the crew one night and explained the sad existence of Dracula.

Dracula hasn't had servants in 400 years and then a man comes to his ancestral home, and he must convince him that he... that he is like the man. He has to feed him, when he himself hasn't eaten food in centuries. Can he even remember how to buy bread? How to select cheese and wine? And then he remembers the rest of it. How to prepare a meal, how to make a bed. He remembers his first glory, his armies, his retainers, and what he is reduced to. The loneliest part of the book comes... when the man accidentally sees Dracula setting his table.

And then he grabbed a bat out of the air and sucked its blood dry. Nice...

Amityville Horror
The ultimate haunted house movie. A classic.

Nightmare on Elm Street
Who wouldn't love good ole Freddy Kruger. Heck, even my mother knows who Freddy Kruger is. Being in a nightmare that never ends is pretty horrific to experience.

Poltergeist
A girl inside a tv, a sweet talking psychic, using the strong bond of family love to defeat evil, young actors die in untimely deaths. What more can I say.

Bram Stoker's Dracula
I like this movie more on the art rather than its horror factor. I love the book and I love movies that uses bright colors, and this one is a feast for the eyes. It has some great shots like the way Dracula's red amour contrasted very strongly with his wife's green dress in the flashback scene. In addition to its beautiful and lavish costumes, this movie is quite stunning indeed. I must admit that Keanu Reeves was particularly very bad that even I couldn't back him up this time. But fortunately Gary Oldman was there to level it out.

Ju-On
I've watched a lot of horror movies but nothing compared to this. I might be terrified by Freddy, forrified by Hellraiser and stupefied by The Sixth Sense but nothing compared to this. One simple reason, I couldn't sleep after watching this movie. I kept hearing the sound and seeing her face. I like to sleep under the covers and this movie covered that area as well. I considered chucking the blanket. But I'd rather have the blanket than leave my feet uncovered, so I kept the blanket and made sure that I don't peak under it.

It's 1:06 now and I don't even dare look for some stills for this movie.

So that's it. That's my list of movies that thrilled, chilled and scared the desire to sleep out of me, for a while. I'm not afraid to go to sleep now so goodbye and goodnight. I wish everyone a Happy Deepavali.

A pleasant doom

2005-10-31T22:37:00.000+08:00

Another game to movie adaptation. Hollywood has proven time and time again that they really are running out of original ideas.

This movie is not one of those highly anticipated movie of the year like Harry Potter 4, King Kong and Sin City was. So I didn't know that this movie is coming out until they started to run the promos on tv. I saw this weird scene where you can only see the front of the gun and monsters getting blasted one by one in front of you and I thought, that looks very familiar....

Oh yeah... I've done that before. I've had my share behind the gun and shooting a significant amount of monsters back in the day. I played Doom before although for a very short time. I was in US and just got my very first computer. Of course I was very gung-ho to try all those cool games I was only able to watch other people play. One of the perks of being in the US is that they sometime sell old game titles really cheap and that's how I got my hands on Doom.

I guess it's true what they say, there's nothing more satisfying than blasting the heads off of some stupid, ugly monsters without the risk of hurting yourself. However, I did kind of hurt myself playing Doom. The interface was a bit confusing and moving around the maze while keeping your eye out for monsters and crazed scientists gave me a headache. This was my first first-person shooter type game. After a few rounds I called it quits and decided that this type of game is not for me (I'm more of a role-playing, strategist, Gabriel Knight, Civilization, Zeus type of gamer).

I was excited that someone wanted to adapt the game to the screen. Finally, something familiar for a change . And I was excited that they brought in the first-person shooter view into the movie. I was even more excited to learn that The Rock is going to be in it .

But the excitement didn't end there when I got another pleasant surprise a few minutes into the show. This guy was in the movie too.

Hehehe... Karl Urban... aka Eomer aka Ceaser from Xena the Warrior Princess
He was like icing on the cake .

What was I talking about? Oh, the movie... yes... ehemhem... focus Kampung Gal...

The plot was as unoriginal as the basis of the movie. I don't remember the story of Doom the game but the movie is nothing new compared to other sci-fi action movie. A group of soldiers were sent to some far-way place to answer a distress call. The whole team seems to carry personal baggages heavier than their guns and survival kit. We got a psycho, a nervous wreck, the guilt ridden and a horny toad to name a few. For an elite team they don't look pretty elite to me. I wouldn't trust these guys to exterminate the rodents in my house. I'm afraid they'll end up blowing the whole house and the tenants along with it. But don't worry, they don't last very long. The only different thing about this particular movie was that a black dude was not the first to die.

However, they saved the best for last. It was what we were all waiting for... the first-person shooter view that they've been promoting left and right for.
I have to admit, it was pretty cool. I even remembered shooting this little guy,

Pinky Demon

But it was too long for my comfort, I started to get dizzy and I recalled why I stopped playing the game in the first place. I think it would be better if they didn't focus all the first-view shots at this one sequence. They could have used it a few times throughout the movie with different characters and different weapons, then the audience would really get the feel of the game.

To conclude, let me just add one more good thing about this movie, this makes one hell of a cool group photo

Shoulder your weapon soldier!

Current update - 30/10/05

2005-10-30T23:32:00.000+08:00

Why do I do this?

Read: Cerulean Sins by Laurell K. Hamilton, The Runaway Jury by John Grisham
Reading: Nicholas Nickelby by Charles Dickens, Imajica by Clive Barker
CD: None
Favorite song: Eleanor by Low Millions, Other Side of the World by KT Tunstall
Playing: Freecell
Watching: Desperate Housewives, Amazing Race: Family Edition, The Drew Carey Show

*No. of times asked if I have a boyfriend: 6
*No. of times asked when I will get married: 16
*No. of times asked when I will have kids: 2
Note: * Since I started this blog of course. I've been getting these questions lots of times before but you can't honestly believe I would count them, right? I just thought of this lately. It's interesting to know the average number of times a single girl at a marriageable age get that million dollar question. I hope other single bloggers would do the same. Maybe we can write a thesis on it! I also change "ppl" to "times" since one person can ask all three questions.

The weird bunch

2005-10-30T22:40:00.000+08:00

The other day I went out on a limb and join my friend for buka puasa with a bunch of strangers at least for my part. The event was organized by the guy she's currently dating and she wanted me to meet him. He's a doctor, good looking but supposedly confused about his sexual preference i.e. is he gay or not? He even admitted to my friend that he's attracted to her contract fiance.

You remember My Best Friend's Wedding where Julia Roberts made a pact with her guy friend to get married if they haven't found anyone at a certain age. I forgot the details. For simplicity's sakes I will call it a contract wedding, and the intended, contract fiance. Well my friend signed up for one of this contract wedding, her idea actually, with a good friend who happens to be relatively open about being gay. He has a boyfriend and she knows about it.

This friend of mine, let's call her N, seems to have a lot of gay friends because I met more of them for this buka puasa at Kelantan Delight KLCC.

We started the day by getting our hair done. Well, she had her hair done, I just desperately needed a haircut and this place I frequent is terribly cheap albeit quite far from my house. Wash and cut for RM17, where in KL can we get that? Then off we go to KLCC at about 4pm to catch a movie at 4:30. I wanted to watch Doom but she wanted to watch Goal. no football movie for this gal. So we took the middle road and agreed on Transporter 2. But I don't know what she did when she booked the tickets online, Transporter 2 was not at 4:30, it was 5:15. Not enough time until buka puasa.
"What's on at 4:30 then?" she asked.
"Doom", said the person at the counter.
"I guess I'm doomed then."
So that's how we ended up watching Doom. Hehe some things are just meant to be. More on the movie if I have the mood to blog about it.

After the movie, we met up with her friend who's going to join us for the buka puasa. Total, four guys and all of us headed to Kelantan Delight where another friend is waiting.

The next part might be confusing. Heck I'm still confused so just bear with me.

After a while, the table started to fill up minus a few. The doctor (the guy that N wanted me to meet) couldn't come because of an emergency operation and another girl, O was going to be late. N's fiance was invited but he couldn't make it. By 7pm there was 9 of us.

Looking around the table I thought, man I couldn't be with a weirder bunch than this. Keep in mind that not all of us at the table actually knew each other. Most of us just met each other for the first time that night. Me and N were seated next to each other at the middle of the table laid out for 12. On N's right are the four guys we met earlier consists of her friend with his boyfriend and his ex-boyfriend with his current boyfriend. Ok, let me rephrase that, beside N is B1 with his bf B2, in front if B2 is B1's ex-bf, B3 and next to him is B3's current bf B4. Got that? Good. Let's move on.

Seated in front of me slightly to the left, there's this girl who works at the same office as B1. This girl, as N described her to me, is a pengkit but not really a pengkit. If I'm not mistaken a pengkit is a tomboy lesbian (someone better help me here, I'm too kampung to know about this stuff). Definitions aside, she really looks like a man, if she doesn't go around with her real name I can go on the whole night thinking she's a man. However, N told me that she has expressed her desire to be married and have a family (with a man to set the record straight) but realized that her appearance doesn't help. Let's move on.

On the left and right of this girl sat her two friends. On her right is her old friend from school Juan aka Juanita (not his real name). Yes he's one of those effeminate guys. Ok, ok I'll say it... he's a maknyah, I don't know what's the politically correct term for them. And on her left is Juanita's roommate another maknyah. They sure do talk a lot. It was like they haven't seen each other for years. It's interesting listening to them. But after a while, their conversation turned into a friendly bicketing on who left the condom by the bedside table last night which was when I stopped listening and pretend I haven't heard that.

Then O finally turned up, better late than never. This girl I do know from my student days. But as time passed and we all went abroad and came back, she got more affiliated with N than me. She was a colleaque of N's ex-boyfriend and after awhile started to hang around with the same bunch of people as N. O also has something special going on. She's jealous that N has a fiance, no matter that he's gay, that she wanted a gay contract fiance for herself and she's got her eye on B1. I don't know if it's suppose to be a joke among friends or she was being really serious, but I was so overwhelmed with all these new people and strange lifestyles to believe that she was serious.

So there I was with four gay men, a pengkit who's not really a pengkit, 2 maknyahs, a girl short of her contract fiance and a girl who's looking out for a contract fiance. Where do I fit in with this picture? I was supposed to meet N's friend who didn't turn up and of course I was there for the food .

Hehe... If I was somewhere outside of Malaysia, I could turn this bunch into a movie.

Howhow.. Howwwwlllll!!!

2005-10-30T20:06:00.000+08:00

I finally ventured into Diana Wynne Jones after finding out Hayao Miyazaki did an animated adaptation to one of her books, Howl's Moving Castle. This happens a lot, I would read a book just because it's being adapted to the big screen which is also the one and only reason why I read The Da Vinci Code. Darn it, if they didn't think of making it into a movie, I'd still won't touch that book with a 50-feet pole.

The first rule of comparing one form of art with another is to evaluate it at its original form, in this case the book. I read the book last month. It's pretty short and not really my cup of tea. But I like some parts of it. I love the idea of a moving castle having the efficiency of going to four different places with a turn of the knob. I like the characters like Sophie with her newfound spunk after being cursed, Howl the powerful wizard with his eccentric and diva-like personality, and Calcifer the living breathing fire devil with an attitude.

After finishing it I have the trouble accessing the movie. But a solution arrived in the form of another book.

The movie was adapted into a comic book in four parts. A practice also done for Spirited Away and My Cat Tortoro. However the downside of 'reading' the movie is that it's very slow. To date the forth part of the film comic series still haven't come out yet.

One day, a colleague saw me reading the film comic number 2 in the locker room (something that's frowned upon around here).
"Hey, have you seen the movie?" she asked.
"No, I don't know where to find it."
"They sell it at S&M."
S&M! Why didn't I think of that. I thought the vcd is not available yet. Aiya... so slow la nowadays...

But I was saved again when she said, "I have it, I can lend it to you." hehehe

This is the forth Miyazaki film that I have seen and I love them all. His animations are always simple but stunning, the story a bit formulaic (sweet innocent girl thrown into a strange world, ended up doing a great deed) yet still interesting. His visions always save the day. Check out the details from this scene in Howl's room.

I'm grateful that his visions played a big part in this adaptation. I love the way he depicts the moving castle, the dog, Calcifer and of course, Howl the man himself. I love the way he played around with Sophie's various stage of ageing to coincide with the way she feels at the time.

The movie is claimed to be 'loosely' based on the book but the first half of the story is still intact. He still maintains some parts that I personally like, like Calcifer's fiery personality and paranoia of being put out, Howl's diva-like persona (though a bit toned down in the movie), and Howl's sludge-attack. There are some cute factors in here as well. With Spirited Away it was the three heads and baby that was turned into a fly (or was it a mosquito) and the fat mouse. In Howl's Moving Castle you can get it by watching the dog. He was so cute trying to roll over at the top of the stairs with his short legs flailing trying to get some leverage. Kawai! And the Michael's voice is cute too.

I'm happy with the way the story folds out in the movie. I'm glad that Miyazaki chose to totally eradicate the love triangle, quadrangle or whatever angle that was featured in the book. Instead he chose to focus on the war and Howl's struggle to get out of it.

Conclusion: I prefer the movie than the book.

Things to do before I die 1 Nov

2005-10-29T23:32:00.000+08:00

Send raya e-card to everyone
Finish Imajica
Buy kuih raya
Clean the room or try to, at least
Iron baju raya
Put money into raya packets
Blog as much as possible
Watch Howl's Moving Castle I borrowed from friend (and maybe blog about it)
Think of 50000 words for my Nano

I'm way overdue with the raya cards. The ideal time of sending the e-cards should be last week because most of my friends use their work e-mail. Since I'm working until Tuesday, I kind of assumed everyone is working as well. I guess they will get their raya wishes a bit later than usual. Kira ok la... raya is one month wat...

Read 200 pages in 2 days... that's impossible considering my reading speed. But I want to finish it as soon as possible because I'm overwhelmed with books that I haven't read yet. And I think like any other bookamaniacs, more books are joining that line. I have two books on hold at my office right now just waiting to be bought. I imagine if my books have lives they'll be screaming and jumping, "Read me! Read me!" like the numbers in the Digi ad.

I predict that I'll be spending all the free time I can get Nano-ing, so I won't be blogging as much. I hope I'll be too busy to blog. If blog a lot next month, it's very likely that I got stuck or gave up. So better pray that I don't blog next month.

Yes, I did it. I signed up for NaNoWriMo. I'm prepared to get stressed out, pressured, or just plain go crazy next month. What's my Nano?

I got the rough plot, got some character names picked out already, some possible outrageous plots in the event that the ending came before I hit the 50000 words mark. It involves a man who got it going (or so he thought), a hot mama, her angelic but obnoxious daughter, a stray cat and Jesper the Talking Hamster. One or maybe two of them will die.

Still haven't join? Still considering? Come la... let us all go crazy together this November.

Go K.G! Go K.G!

2005-10-26T22:49:00.000+08:00

*tut tut*

1 message received

"You can start on 15th Nov. Will notify u once de agreement is ready"

It's not easy to make this girl do the happy dance. But dance I did.

I am now a semi-official translator for a local tv station, one step towards financial stability, hopefully.

The pay is not much and the job is time consuming but this is something that I need to do. It may ruin whatever's left of my social life (like I have any) but at least I'll sleep better at night. But, this also tips my scale towards NOT joining the NaNoWriMo.

Dumb waiter

2005-10-25T23:47:00.000+08:00

No I'm not talking about that marvelous invention for the rich and famous so that they can spend more time on their ass than bring their own plate to the kitchen.

Why do waiters or anyone in the food service like to give these little remarks that are really inapropriate?

I went to Shakey's one fine day for buka puasa, and the waiter, instead of taking the order and walked away like he was suppose to went ahead and asked me, "Ni puasa ke tak?" [Are you fasting?]

I gave him a weird look and I hoped he saw it.

"Nak serve sekarang ke?" [Want the food now?]

Hell no! There's a guy sitting in front of me who's obviously fasting. Or maybe he thought he's so 'hip and trendy' to admit that not all Muslim fasts in Ramadhan month and this guy happens to be one of them.

The nerve of that guy to ask me that. No matter that he was right and I wasn't fasting. But did he really think that I was so disrespectful to eat in front of a fasting man. Some nerve .

This incident reminded me of another one.

I bought papaya from a food court at a major shopping mall. And when he brought my order, he said, "Untuk senang berak ye... ". That was his exact words, I swear to God, I will never forget it for the rest of my life.

I don't know what annoyed me more, that he used the word 'berak' while serving my food or that he was right (I was a bit constipated at the time ). But the fact remains, what goes in through your mouth and come out from your other end do not go together.

I don't understand. I don't know what part of their brain thinks that asking this 'little' questions is appropriate. Did they think it was cute? Did they think it was charming making those remarks? Is that suppose to be a pick-up line or something? Heck is not even funny.

Man, the things you have to go through for some decent food.

On the bright side

2005-10-20T22:35:00.000+08:00

With the death of Datin Seri Endon Mahmood we are getting the first single Prime Minister in Malaysian history!

Hehe... sorry... bad joke...

Even though I fancy myself being a smart, ambitious, free-thinker girl with this weird interest in the nitty gritty of the dirty world of politics I find that I don't really know much about the players, especially those playing in our own soil. If you ask me who's the Minister of Health, I would say...

Minister of Foreign Affairs?

What is the purpose of Dewan Rakyat?

I wouldn't be able to pick Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin out of a line-up. Yep, I am that sad when it comes to Malaysian general knowledge.

Even though I have this great vision of myself being a great leader, making changes left and right, and everyone hanging on to everything I have to say, I have never taken any step closer to achieve that vision. The least I can do is officially join a political party or any charity organization right? But nooooo... I guess the Malay part in me dominates that part of my life. Yep, that's me, I'm the typical Malay, all talk no action, angan-angan Mat Jenin je banyak.

I couldn't care less that the first lady of Malaysia had cancer. To me she's just another celebrity that the cancer society can use to further their cause. These celebrities are popping out everywhere and the organizations just gobble them up, milking their celebrity status for their cause. What I find funny about this whole celebrity spokesperson fad is that they (the celebrity) contract a disease then all of a sudden that organization becomes their main priority. They're suddenly promoting the importance of public awareness. Come on la... I know you don't really care about raising public awareness. You just want to help raise more funds to save your own celebrity ass. If they didn't get the disease in the first place, I'm sure they will never work so hard. I doubt that the celebrity even knows that the organization exists.

I think that her efforts to raise the status of batik and kebaya is a waste of time and over-publicized. She could easily use her status to highlight more important stuff like better education system or something, there must be other more important things than fashion, right?

Anyway, when my friend sms-ed me that Datin Seri Endon passed away this morning, I thought "Oh, okay". And then I hear the routine morning speech from a colleague. He announced the news to the rest of the staff and I heard some gasps from the back and kind of felt proud that I was not one of them. Then, he also mentioned that his aunt passed away recently because of cancer too. And the sadness finally hit me.

I realized that it is not death that makes me sad. I feel sad for the loved ones who were left behind. To my colleague's aunt, this stage of life is over. No more cares, no more worries. No need to think about the bills, about the kids, the husband, no house to clean. She just need to hope that her life's work and the strength of her faith is good enough in God's eyes. But to her loved one, they will never see her again, hear her kind words, feel her touch or her love. All they have is a memory which can fade away eventually.

Even though I don't really care about Datin Seri Endon in her living years, I do feel the loss. Only after her death does the news mention all the charity work that she has done. Only now do I know that fashion has not been her main agenda all this while. Her death means it's one less good person in this world. And we all know that we need all the good people that we can get.

My deepest condolences to Datin Seri Endon's family and friends and anyone who ever loved her. I'm really sorry for your loss. But remember every cloud has a silver lining, good things happen to people who die in Ramadhan month.

Al-Fatihah.

Please pity my nerves

2005-10-19T22:31:00.000+08:00

Boy I really wish I didn't have to work today. Like a colleaque said this morning,
"Don't you just wish you have a friend like Doraemon? Then you can make him duplicate you so that she will go to work and you stay home."
"Yeah that would be really nice. Then you wake up and realized it was all a dream and it's time to go to work hehe."

What makes today even more difficult was that I didn't get that much sleep. I tried to go back to sleep after sahur but I just can't. The egg caramel must have got to me. I finally dozed off about 15 minutes before I have to get up for work .

Warning: The following is for the sole purpose of me laying off some steam. My job really stressful you know!

This week is the week when my section has to do returns. Returns is an activity where you check your stocks for books from certain supplier that's been there for quite some time. You gather them, pack them in boxes and return to the respective supplier. It's a very tedious task especially if you work at the children section. You have to cover a very big area and it would usually take you a few days to cover the whole area. And it didn't help that one of the staff took 2 days annual leave and a part-timer was on mc. She really couldn't pick a better time to be sick .

To make it worst, it is also during this particular week that the backoffice rolled out trolley after trolley of new books to put up on the shelf. And guess which section has the most books to shelve . So I have to postpone doing the returns until I finished putting up all the books.

However, before I can even start someone came up to me and say,

Hi. Are you in charge of this section?
Yes .
I have a 7 1/2 month old boy. Can you recommend any good books suitable for his age?
You can try one of these story boardbooks .
I have this already. I have all this. (showing some of the ABC/123 books we have on the shelf)
What about lift-the-flaps?
I have that too. I also have those plastic books. (indicating the bathbooks)
Then maybe you want to try touch-and-feel?
Oh yes I bought those already. I got a lot from China.
Well, does your (deeply rotten spoiled) son enjoys all those things that you have?
Yes. He liked to see the colors. I like to come here because I know you have wider range of products compared to ***.
Maybe you should try reading him a story once in a while (you lazy parent!) .
Yes I do read to him. He likes to see the colors.
What about sound books?
Okay. Can I see those?
I showed her a few...
This is nice. But I think this is too complicated for him. He's just 7 months.
(Oh really now? He's just 7 months, I thought he's 70 years old already for you to buy him all these stuffs)
What about these then? It's soft so your baby can play with it. It has all these pieces that he can take out and put back like a jigsaw puzzle. It's soft so you won't worry that it will get damaged. And you can even bring it to the bath.
Yes I know this publisher. They make very good books. Hmm... made in China. All of them made in China nowadays.
They manufacture in China but the design still comes from the west.
This is good. But is it colorful? Do you think it's colorful?
I don't know ma'am... talking to you has made me color blind .

Of course I didn't say that to her face. But I wonder why she asked me for recommendations in the first place? It's obvious that she already have everything under the sun. She's just short of buying her 7-month old son the Encyclopedia Brittanica. I didn't know what the hell she wanted. What do you think? Is this colorful? I'm still color blind .

This is one type of customer that could really annoy me and believe it or not I meet them all the time. After a while, she started to wander off looking at other stuff and I ran away immediately.

The time was 12:30, still a long way away to my lunch break. I finally managed to get some work down. I went on with my work, happy that no more customers are bothering me with stupid requests. I looked at the watch again, must be time for my lunch break about now, 12:35.
This is going to be a long day...

I know we, the retail workers, are paid to attend to all the whims and fancies of the customers. The customers always right! But sometimes they can really get on your nerves.

Once, I was asked if we have a book that teaches kids how to tie your shoe. This is what I said,
"Sorry we don't have any"
This is what I would really love to say...
What the %&^$? You buy a shoe and then you teach them la! No need to buy a book for that. What? So now you want to know if we have a book on how to teach a child to tie a shoe? Go to hell!

And why do ppl keep coming to this bookstore to look for jigsaw puzzles? I mean, where do they get the idea that a bookstore must have jigsaw puzzles. This mall have two departmental stores. Why didn't it occur to them that they have a toy section, therefore the possibility of them having jigsaw puzzles are higher than a bookstore? I don't understand. Please help me understand. Did I miss a day in school when they teach bookstores must have jigsaw puzzles?

I hated it when they come up to the information counter and say...
"I'm looking for a book" long pause
Oh really? I thought you were looking for underwear . Just give me the damn title la... what are you waiting for? An applause?
"Can you help me find this book? I don't know the title, I don't know the author, but it has a picture of a baby on the cover."
Thank you for that detailed description. There's like a gazillion books in here with a baby on the cover. Where do you want to start? Oh wait, let me google that for you... book with baby on cover.... Yes, you're in luck, there's 40,600,000 hits for 'book with baby on cover'. Let me see one by one if one of it is what you're looking for .

I could have finish everything if I don't have to constantly tidy the same shelf over and over again and picking up books/magazines that are left lying around. Please la... if you have the energy to go round picking out all those books/magazines all the way from the other side of the store, why can't you at least bring the books/magazines to the nearest counter? It's just 3 freakin' steps away. You're not the only one fasting you know.

We have a section of self-help books for teenagers. You know, Chicken Soup, how to handle stress, drug issues, sex issues, bullies, those kind of books. Everytime I pass the shelf I will see books taken out and just left there. They didn't even bother to put it back properly. Books about prom la, flirtology la. I got something to say to you girls... if you can't even put one damn book back properly, why are you so busy reading books about flirting? Go back and study lagi bagus.

And customers nowadays are so quick to complain.
Why is it so difficult to find a book?
Why are your books so damaged one?
Why the books are not arranged properly?
Why is your system so slow?
I've waited so long for someone to attend to me!
Your books are so expensive!

Please believe me when I say this, we're doing the very best we can. If we're not so busy picking up after you or attending to your stupid questions and requests, I swear we would spend more time to improve our services.

Like I said, sometimes these 'paying' customers can really get on my nerves...

Please la pity my nerves...

I pledge my allegiance

2005-10-17T22:12:00.000+08:00

To not buy anymore Anita Blake books. So help me God.
-------------------------------------------------------

You cannot call yourself a horror fan if you haven't read the Anita Blake series. And you cannot call yourself a true horror fan if you still like the Anita Blake series after its 10th instalment.

The first book, Guilty Pleasures is one of those book that I could not put down. I couldn't even go to sleep. I remember reading it all through the night and I didn't feel tired at all. I didn't care that I have class the next morning and that I would most probably fell asleep in class. It was that exciting.

Before I discovered Anita Blake, I only get my dose of vampire stories from Bram Stoker and Anne Rice. They are all very good in their own right but Anita Blake is like being in another ballpark altogether. It's very action packed, there's no chapter where she didn't either pull a gun or draw a blade. And better yet when she started to use those guns and blades.

Anita Blake is a necromancer by nature. She has the power to raise the dead, for a fee. You see, in Anita Blake's world, magic and myth exist like religion exist. Preternatural is a science taught at universities. They even offer degrees for it. Werewolves and vampires have legal rights, within limits. Or maybe I should say wereanimal because apparently they can also have wererat, wereleopard and wereswan (though I think they call it something else in the book).

She's also the vampire hunter for St Louis area. If a vampire is found acting outside of its legal rights like changing a human to a vampire without consent, they get the execution order. No trial no juries, just Anita and her guns.

But then enter Jean-Claude, then Richard, then Nathaniel, then Micah, then Asher, then Jason, then Tom, then Dick, then Harry. The series slowly shifted from mystery-action full of blood and gore to........... porn that happens to have vampires and werewolves in it.

But yet I still keep a glimmer of hope that Laurell K. Hamilton would one day wake up and say, "What the hell was I thinking???" and went back to Anita in the good old days when she would shoot first ask questions later or when she can slay a roomfull of monsters without first having to witness or take part in some supernatural orgy.

So I waited for the latest and 12th book in the series with that glimmer of hope in my heart and I finally bought it last month. But after a few pages I thought, "Have I read the previous book?" So I checked my book journal and guess what, I didn't.

And I suddenly remembered something else, "Didn't I promise myself not to buy anymore Anita Blake books?" I hated the 10th book. It was so full of subplots that I couldn't keep track of what the whole book was about. But the damage is done. The book is bought and now I have to get the 11th book to get on the right track. I rented this one.

Halfway through the 11th book, I was reminded of why I hated the 10th book. If you bought the book based on the blurp on the back cover, you are going to be dissapointed big time.

When she is (sic) asked to reanimate the body of a long-dead corpse, it seems like just another case to Anita. What she will soon discover is that the corpse may hold the secret to an ancient crime that not everyone wants to be remembered...

It may say 'soon' but that 'soon' only comes at the 440th page out of the 470-page book. The book started with a man doing just that, asking Anita to raise a long-dead corpse which needed a human sacrifice. She can actually do it without the sacrifice which is why the man asked her in the first place. But she turned it down because the man didn't want to say the reason why he wanted to raise that corpse. This scene ends at page 11. There was a brief moment where she visited some crime sites but that's it. From page 12 to 439 you'll get this absurd 'subplot' of Anita and Jean-Claude having to entertain a representative from the vampire council who happens to have the most sadistic personality that no one has ever seen. And in between she gets a couple of new sex partners. She seems to get a new sex partner in every book now.
Just talking about it annoyed me.

Another thing that I don't get. The vampires in this book are so powerful they can project themselves into another being, they can posses you, they can force you to do things, stir up some crazy desire in you from miles away and yet they cannot dodge a bullet. So it's just natural that when Anita finally draws her gun, they start to listen to her. Yeah right.

And Anita Blake is really starting to irritates the hell out of me....
"I love Jean-Claude, but I love Richard but Richard didn't love me, and now I love Asher but I'm dating Micah... boohoo... I'm taking care of Nathaniel and I just had sex with Jason... boohoo... The most powerful vampire wants to posses me. Every man and monster wants to be with me... boohoohoo... I am a whore with high morals. I made a lot of money raising corpses.... boohoo... I have more boyfriends that I could count... I am the most influential preternatural marshall in the country... I own a pack of wereleopards. I am the only human who has ever been a queen of the werewolves, everybody bow down to me now.... boohooo...."

Just shut up and shoot someone Anita. And put your clothes on for God's sakes.

Now I'm stuck with book 12. Nothing left to do but read this one too. I got a feeling that my skin would start crawling the moment the story strayed off course. I'm sure that she's going to gain another sex partner. I just hope that this one will at least have a higher body count then Cerulean Sins, which was one and it was over in a few paragraphs.

Bring back the gore!!!!!!!!!!!!

-----------------------------------------------
This post is solely for the purpose of reminding me not to buy any more Anita Blake books. I may rent, but I swear I will never ever buy any of it ever again.

On the other hand, I got an idea on how to reach the 50000 words mark for NaNoWriMo. In a conversation, just make them explain the same thing over and over again in different variations, punctuated with a lot of whys...
worth considering....

The scale is tipping

2005-10-13T23:24:00.000+08:00

I love doing this crazy quizzes that don't really reveal shit about anything. After I dawdled with What Kind of Food Are You that I got from Desparil's blog, I tried some other stuff as well. A lot of other stuff

Apart from the revelations that I'm supposed to be the forth child, that my pimp name is Nurse Love and I have a music taste similar to The Cure, I also get some pretty interesting results like this one...

You Should Get a PhD in Liberal Arts (like political science, literature, or philosophy)

You're a great thinker and a true philosopher.
You'd make a talented professor or writer.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

Note the 'writer' part. Oops excuse me... the 'talented...writer' part .

And this,

Your Birthdate: December 30

Your birthday on the 30th day of the month shows individual self-expression is necessary for your happiness.
You tend to have a good way of expressing yourself with words, certainly in a manner that is clear and understandable.
You have a good chance of success in fields requiring skill with words.

You can be very dramatic in your presentation and you may be a good actor or a natural mimic.
You have a vivid imagination that can assist you in becoming a good writer or story-teller.
Strong in your opinions, you always tend to think you are on the right side of an issue.

There may be a tendency to scatter your energies and have a lot of loose ends in your work.
You may have significant artistic talent and be very creative.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Please note the "good chance of success in fields requiring skill with words" part and "have a vivid imagination that can assist you in becoming a good writer or story-teller" part .

What great timing. Okay, I did get my writer ego pumped up a bit after doing this but then I'm still too scared and nervous to join NaNoWriMo. 50000 words in 30 days, that's 1666.68 words a day! Not counting the days that you're too busy to write or worse still, you get writer's block . The longest body of work that I've ever written is about 10000 words and that's because my degree is on the line. However, in addition to some encouraging words from some good people (u know who u are), I can say that the scale is tipping towards joining the fiasco.

If only I can be good enough that I can make tons of money out of it. Then maybe I can own one of this...

Your Summer Ride is a Mini Cooper

You are all about unique, one of a kind adventures.
The only thing predictable about your summer is that it's unpredictable!

What's Your Summer Ride?

Beverly Hills
That's where I want to be
Livin' in Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills
Rolling like a celebrity
Livin' in Beverly Hills

Unbelievable!

2005-10-12T16:14:00.000+08:00

Question: How do you lose your most private personal thoughts?

Answer: You can either suffer amnesia or put it in a book and misplaced it.

Obviously I didn't suffer amnesia so no special prize to guess what I did.

It's mind-boggling! Where the hell did I put it! Of all the notebooks, journals and diaries I have ever own that one is my most prized possesion. That once empty notebook has evolved from an innocent journal as part of the requirement for an English course to become a diary where I write down the most outrageous things that could come out from this little head.

It contains all the weird dreams I've had, and that ridiculous crush that never will come up to anything, even the craziest thought that I'm going to be the next big thing that ever come out of Malaysia. It has everything that I'm pretty happy to keep just between myself and the book thank you very much.

And now I don't know where it is and I didn't even realize it until last night.
*un-freakin-believeable*

It started when I saw this in eyeris's blog and I thought, "Hmmm... maybe this is a good time to experiment that idea I got. Now where did I put that book?"

I've looked everywhere and I can't find it. I even looked behind the boxes, tables, and cabinets by chance that it fell behind one of it. I'm sure I didn't throw it away and God forbids if I give it away. I stopped writing diary stuff in it ever since I started blogging. But I still use it to note down some very private stuff not suitable for public viewing and ideas that could well possibly be the greatest novel/screenplay of all time (I told you there are some absurd things in there). It may have been missing since January and I only realized it now. So maybe I did suffer some degree of amnesia to lose something as important as that.

I was excited when I heard National Novel Writing Monthis coming again. I remember reading about it in The Star last November and thinking if I'd be able to pull it off. Ever since I won that Short Story Competition in school I have harbored this dream of becoming a writer. But you know the drill. You would start to give yourself excuses not to start. No time! Not original enough! What a weak plot! No one would want to read that! Who would in their right mind would publish that?

What's great about NaNoWriMo is it gives the opportunity for anyone to test themselves and see if their up to the challenge. No excuses. Just do it. What you write may not be great (most of the time it's not) and no one is there to judge your work. No prize is given to the best novel. The only reward you get out of it is the satisfaction that you can churn out the words if you put your mind to it. It might be a whole bunch of crap but you did it. You wrote 50000 words in 30 days, long enough for a short novel and pray that it's good enough that you can still work on it and make it presentable for public consumption. I finally had a chance to do it and this happens. I was so gung-ho to do it last night but now I'm not so sure.

So yeah I can come up with another outline. I still have the basic plot in my head. I know how it's going to end , just don't know how it's going to get there. But then... maybe losing that book is a sign. Maybe I'm not meant to be a writer. Maybe this is it. This is as good as it gets. I'm going to spend the rest of my life blogging mundane everyday stuff, talking about The Amazing Race at its 27th season.

I can't believe it. My first attempt to finally start writing something is crushed. Mangled. Destroyed. This is the end of my career as premature as it is.

The first meal

2005-10-09T22:45:00.000+08:00

Just got back from my first Ramadhan buffet this year and it was quite for a RM45++ buffet.

I was interested with Shrooms/Starz (whatever you call it, I'm not really knowledgable when it comes to hanging out places) at KLCC at the recommendation of a friend. She went there last year and she said it was good. Even though the price is a bit steep she said the menu is impressive. Since Shrooms also serve sushi, I can't wait to give it a try. Then, ST sms-ed me yesterday wanting to hang out. I was working today so the only 'hanging out' that we can do is buka puasa and of course I suggested Shrooms.

We reached the restaurant at about 6:55 because ST just have to buy a mini bookend from Kinokuniya. We were still picking out food for our first plate when we heard the azan. So yeah, we buka like 30 seconds late.

At first glance, I can see that what my friend said was true. There were many, many tables housing different types of food. I only get to check out the fruits, desert, mixed rice and sate (which was like next to our table). At second glance I saw yong tau foo, ice cream, and ABC. After a while when the plates in front of us are half empty, I finally get to get a really good look around. Then I saw the salad table, laksa, jeruk and sushi. Not a bad range.

However, sad to say that I only get to eat yong tau foo and some lauk from the mixed rice table i.e. roast beef, kung paw chicken and ikan bawal (oh yeah... no rice for this girl tonight ). I ate a lot of fruits, one scoop of ice-cream, 2 pieces of sushi, some jeruk and glass after glass of juice, I think I tasted everything from the drinks table. There were sugar cane, soya bean, mango, lychee, and orange). The usual hot drinks like tea and coffee are also available.

After we can't take another bite, I asked ST for a review of the buffet. The food is ok, she said, but the place is not really a place to sit and relax. It is a place to be seen. If you want a good place to eat while having a nice chat with friends while you lay back on the chair, wait for the food to digest so that you can eat some more, this is not the place.

I guess what she said is true. Especially when I have to strain my ears to catch what she's saying above the loud live band. It was like the band was singing for us to leave. The chairs are uncomfortable and the table arrangement is quite packed. It's a bit difficult to manouver around the tables with 2 plates in your hands and kids running around.

However, I think buffets are more fun if a bunch of people go together. Not just the two of you like what ST and I did. Whatever it is. the place was still not that nice. Not worth RM45++.

So for Shrooms Ramadhan buffet, I wouldn't recommend it unless someone is footing the bill .

PS: When will PPS starts operating again? I'm on a roll here. I've been blogging almost everyday this week but no place to show off. That Amazing Race post can easily get 100 hits

I know, I know, blogging is not for the audience. But I'm not famous like Kenny Sia or Afdlin (yet! q Beverly Hills song here ). They get hundreds of visitors without even trying. I can't help but feel a wee bit happier when the visitors graph spiked to the hundreds. Oh well, life's like that I guess...

The soundtrack of my life

2005-10-08T20:27:00.000+08:00

This song really grew on me. I didn't really like it on the first few times. But when I listened to it carefully, I thought "Man, this is my life!" with some variations of course. The words in brackets are mine.

Enjoy...

Beverly Hills by Weezer

Where I come from isn't all that great
My automobile is a piece of crap
My fashion sense is a little whack
And my friends are just as screwy as me
(And my friends are not as screwy as me)

I didn't go to boarding schools
(I did go to boarding schools)
Preppie girls never looked at me
(But preppie boys never looked at me)
Why should they?
I ain't nobody
Got nothing in my pocket

Beverly Hills
That's where I want to be
Livin' in Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills
Rolling like a celebrity
Livin' in Beverly Hills

Look at all those movie stars
They're all so beautiful and clean
When the housemaids scrub the floors
They get the spaces in between

I wanna live a life like that
I wanna be just like a king
Take my picture by the pool
'cause I'm the next big thing

Beverly Hills
That's where I want to be
Livin' in Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills
Rolling like a celebrity
Livin' in Beverly Hills

The truth is I don't stand a chance
It's something that you're born into
And I just don't belong

No I don't
I'm just a no-class beat down fool
And I will always be that way
I might as well enjoy my life
And watch the stars play

Beverly Hills
That's where I want to be
Livin' in Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills
Rolling like a celebrity
Livin' in Beverly Hills

Want to see some faces?

2005-10-07T22:10:00.000+08:00

When I started this blog I wanted to be as anonymous as possible therefore no real names no pictures of me or anyone I know. But I found a way to post some photos with people and yet safe enough that their identities would not be known (I hope). I'll just post these few for now and see how it goes. If anyone should manage to recognize anyone in these photos, let me know but don't go stopping people on the streets and asked, "Do you know Kampung Gal?"

I can definitely tell you now, no one in my family knows who Kampung Gal is .

This is the picture of 5 of my 13 'broods' or anak buah taken a few years ago. See that tallest kid? He's taller than me now and still growing. I don't know how anyone can grow any taller. See the shortest kid? She looks exactly like my mother when she was at that age.

She's the only third generation who shows any sign of being related to my family. The rest, all 12 of them, inherit features from the other side of the family including Mak Jr's elder sister who was standing beside her. The three boys, from right to left, are the eldest for my two sisters and eldest brother respectively. The first, second and forth from the left are siblings. Since then, 7 more members have been added into this family. And if you're curious as to how they look like, I can only say that they all look like their eldest brother.

A lot of people have said that I look like my mother. I was surprised when I had a friend said that I have my mother's features but my father's face shape. Before that I never thought that I could resemble anyone but my mother. In fact, every single one of my siblings look like my mother except for the eldest. But he doesn't look like my father either. He may look like my mother's real father. But there's no way for us to know since she was adopted when she was a baby and never knew who her real family was.

I still don't think that I resemble my father at all. But I do feel that I inherit his interest in music, photography and writing. He plays a few musical instruments which he learned on his own. I didn't inherit his talent with musical instrument but I still have great appreciation for any kind of music. He took a lot of photos of the family that we have a whole section in the cabinet full of albums and he writes in his diary almost everyday. He usually writes a detailed account of what happened everyday: what time he woke up, what he did, who he had seen. I don't know if they have any of his personal thoughts. None of us has really read his diaries thoroughly and we don't know if he minded us reading them. He never said anything and we never asked.

That's me... with my mother's look and sharing my father's hobby.

I'm a sucker

2005-10-07T19:26:00.002+08:00

Found this at Desparil's blog. It is sooooo tedious but then I'm a sucker when it comes to anything about books.
here goes nothing.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
- Bold the ones that you've read
- Italicise the ones you started but did not finish
- Add three books (that you have read) to the list

Note: Books that you have read do not include blurbs on the inside/back covers or reviews and/or movie adaptations of the books.
Kampung Gal adds: I think the list should be specified to include fiction novel only. Therefore, no poetry, plays, non-fictions. So no Shakespeare, The Crucible, Pygmalion, Sun Tzu etc. Just an opinion. I tried taking them out but my capability is limited to my knowledge. I think there's still some poetry/plays/non-fictions books left in the list.
You may also notice that the last number is much more than Desparil's. That was because there was an error in the numbering and I fixed it.

001. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien (love the movie)
002. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
003. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
004. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
005. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
006. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (love the movie)
007. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne (own it, haven't read it)
008. 1984, George Orwell
009. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis (can't wait for the movie)
010. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte (just the abridged version way back in school)
011. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
012. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte (in my to-read list)
013. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
014. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
015. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger (own it, haven't read it)
016. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
017. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens (own it, haven't read it)
018. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (love the movie)
019. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
020. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
021. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell (own it, haven't read it)
022. Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone, JK Rowling
023. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
024. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
025. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
026. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy (only the abridged version)
027. Middlemarch, George Eliot
028. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
029. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
030. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
031. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
032. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
033. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
034. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
035. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
036. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
037. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
038. Persuasion, Jane Austen (love the movie)
039. Dune, Frank Herbert
040. Emma, Jane Austen
041. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
042. Watership Down, Richard Adams
043. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
044. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas (own it, haven't read it)
045. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
046. Animal Farm, George Orwell
047. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
048. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
049. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
050. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
051. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
052. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
053. The Stand, Stephen King (love the miniseries, remember the one with Gary Sinise?)
054. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
055. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
056. The BFG, Roald Dahl
057. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
058. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
059. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
060. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
061. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
062. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
063. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens (own it, haven't read it)
064. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
065. Mort, Terry Pratchett
066. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton (can't remember)
067. The Magus, John Fowles
068. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
069. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
070. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding (love the movie)
071. Perfume, Patrick Susskind
072. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
073. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
074. Matilda, Roald Dahl
075. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding (haven't read it, but love the movie)
076. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
077. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
078. Ulysses, James Joyce
079. Bleak House, Charles Dickens (own it, haven't read it)
080. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
081. The Twits, Roald Dahl
082. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
083. Holes, Louis Sachar (love the movie)
084. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
085. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati
086. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
087. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
088. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbns (only the abridged version)
089. Magician, Raymond E Feist
090. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
091. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
092. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
093. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
094. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
095. Katherine, Anya Seton
096. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
097. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
098. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
099. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 1/2, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
119. Shogun, James Clavell
120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (own it, haven't read it)
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
134. George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker (love the movie)
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. It, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl (love the movie)
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King (love the movie)
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl (own it, haven't read it)
170. Charlotte's Web, E. B. White
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
175. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr. Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov (on my to-read list)
179. Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens (on my to-read list)
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay (on my to-read list)
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Gross-mith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence (own it, haven't read it)
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews
201. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
202. The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan
203. The Great Hunt, Robert Jordan
204. The Dragon Reborn, Robert Jordan
205. Fires of Heaven, Robert Jordan
206. Lord of Chaos, Robert Jordan
207. Winter's Heart, Robert Jordan
208. A Crown of Swords, Robert Jordan
209. Crossroads of Twilight, Robert Jordan
210. A Path of Daggers, Robert Jordan
211. As Nature Made Him, John Colapinto
212. Microserfs, Douglas Coupland
213. The Married Man, Edmund White
214. Winter's Tale, Mark Helprin
215. Time for bed by David Baddiel
216. Cry to Heaven, Anne Rice
217. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte
218. Equus, Peter Shaffer
219. The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten
220. Letters To A Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke
221. Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn
222. The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice
223. Anthem, Ayn Rand
224. The Bridge To Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
225. Tartuffe, Moliere
226. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
227. Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
228. The Trial, Franz Kafka
229. Oedipus Rex, Sophocles
230. Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles
231. Death Be Not Proud, John Gunther
232. A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen
233. Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen
234. Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
235. A Raisin In The Sun, Hansberry
236. ALIVE!, Piers Paul Read
237. Grapefruit, Yoko Ono
238. Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde
240. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
241. Chronicles of Thomas Convenant, Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson
242. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
242. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
243. Summerland, Michael Chabon
244. A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
245. Candide, Voltaire
246. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, Roald Dahl (on my to-read list)
247. Ringworld, Larry Niven
248. The King Must Die, Mary Renault
249. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
250. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L'Engle
251. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
252. The House Of The Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne
253. The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
254. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (love the movie, read this book many times)
255. The Great Gilly Hopkins, Katherine Paterson
256. Chocolate Fever, Robert Kimmel Smith
257. Xanth: The Quest for Magic, Piers Anthony
258. The Lost Princess of Oz, L. Frank Baum (on my to-read list)
259. Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon
260. Lost In A Good Book, Jasper Fforde
261. Well Of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde
261. Life Of Pi, Yann Martel
263. The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
264. A Yellow Rraft In Blue Water, Michael Dorris
265. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
267. Where The Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
268. Griffin & Sabine, Nick Bantock
269. Witch of Black Bird Pond, Joyce Friedland
270. Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH, Robert C. O'Brien
271. Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
272. The Cay, Theodore Taylor
273. From The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg
274. The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Jester
275. The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
276. The Kitchen God's Wife, Amy Tan
277. The Bone Setter's Daughter, Amy Tan
278. Relic, Duglas Preston & Lincolon Child
279. Wicked, Gregory Maguire (would love to see the broadway play)
280. American Gods, Neil Gaiman
281. Misty of Chincoteague, Marguerite Henry
282. The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum
283. Haunted, Judith St. George
284. Singularity, William Sleator
285. The Lunatic at Large by J. Storer Clouston
286. Different Seasons, Stephen King
287. Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk
288. About a Boy, Nick Hornby
289. The Bookman's Wake, John Dunning
290. The Church Girls, Stephen Dobyns
291. Illusions, Richard Bach
292. Magic's Pawn, Mercedes Lackey
293. Magic's Promise, Mercedes Lackey
294. Magic's Price, Mercedes Lackey
295. The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav
296. Spirits of Flux and Anchor, Jack L. Chalker
297. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice (didn't really enjoy the movie, but I love Kirsten Dunst in it)
298. The Diving-bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
299. Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace
300. The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
301. The Cider House Rules, John Irving
302. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
303. Girlfriend in a Coma, Douglas Coupland
304. The Lion's Game, Nelson Demille
305. The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars, Stephen Brust
306. Cyteen, C. J. Cherryh
307. Foucault's Pendulum, Umberto Eco
308. Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
309. Invisible Monsters, Chuck Palahniuk
310. Camber of Culdi, Kathryn Kurtz
311. The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
312. War and Rememberance, Herman Wouk
313. So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane
314. The Giver, Lois Lowry
315. The Telling, Ursula Le Guin
316. Xenogenesis (or Lilith's Brood), Octavia Butler (Dawn, Adulthood Rites, Imago)
317. A Civil Campaign, Lois McMaster Bujold
318. The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold
319. The Aeneid, Publius Vergilius Maro
320. Hanta Yo, Ruth Beebe Hill
321. The Princess Bride, S. Morganstern (or William Goldman) (love the movie)
322. Beowulf, Anonymous
323. The Sparrow, Maria Doria Russell
324. Deerskin, Robin McKinley
325. Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey
326. Passage, Connie Willis
327. Otherland, Tad Williams
328. Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay
329. Number the Stars, Lois Lowry
330. Beloved, Toni Morrison
331. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore
332. The mysterious disappearance of Leon, I mean Noel, Ellen Raskin
333. Summer Sisters, Judy Blume
334. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo
335. The Island on Bird Street, Uri Orlev
336. Midnight in the Dollhouse, Marjorie Filley Stover
337. The Miracle Worker, William Gibson
338. The Genesis Code, John Case
339. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevensen
340. Paradise Lost, John Milton
341. Phantom, Susan Kay
342. The Mummy or Ramses the Damned, Anne Rice
343. Anno Dracula, Kim Newman
344. The Dresden Files: Grave Peril, Jim Butcher
345. Tokyo Suckerpunch, Issac Adamson
346. The Winter of Magic's Return, Pamela Service
347. The Oddkins, Dean R. Koontz
348. My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok
349. The Last Goodbye, Raymond Chandler
350. At Swim, Two Boys, Jaime O'Neill
351. Jhereg by Steven Brust
352. Sati, Christopher Pike
353. The Interpreter, Suzanne Glass
354. The Moor's Last Sigh, Salman Rushdie
355. The Divine Comedy, Dante (on my to-read list)
356. The Apology, Plato
357. The Small Rain, Madeline L'Engle
358. The Man Who Tasted Shapes, Richard E Cytowick
359. A Passage to India, E.M. Forster (own it, haven't read it)
360. The Sevenwaters Trilogy, Juliet Marillier
361. Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
362. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
363. Our Town, Thorton Wilder
364. Green Grass Running Water, Thomas King
365. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
366. The Gunslinger, Stephen King
367. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
368. A Season of Mists, Neil Gaiman
369. Ivanhoe, Walter Scott
370. The God Boy, Ian Cross
371. The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Laurie R. King
372. Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson
373. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
374. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Philip K. Dick
375. Assassin's Apprentice, Robin Hobb
376. number9dream, David Mitchell
377. A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin
378. Five Quarters of the Orange, Joanne Harris
379. Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler
380. Einstein's Dreams, Alan Lightman
381. Dance On My Grave, Aidan Chambers
382. Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula Leguin
383. Hyperion, Dan Simmons
384. Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury
385. Checkmate, Dorothy Dunnett'
386. To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis
387. A Clash of Kings, George RR Martin
388. The Egyptian, Mika Waltari
389. Moab Is My Washpot, Stephen Fry
390. Contact, Carl Sagan (love the movie)
391. Mythago Wood, Robert Holdstock
392. Feersum Endjinn, Iain M. Banks
393. The Golden, Lucius Shepard
394. Decamerone, Boccaccio
395. Birdy, William Wharton
396. The Red Tent, Anita Diaman
397. The Foundation, Isaac Asimov
364. The Mask of Apollo, Mary Renault
399. Post Office, Charles Bukowski
400. Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck
401. Grass, Sheri S. Tepper
402. The Long Walk, Richard Bachman
403. Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
402. Sewer, Gas, and Eletric by Matt Ruff
405. Romeo, Elise Title
406. The Ninth Gate, Arturo Perez-Reverte (?? this one wasm made into a movie with Johnny Depp right? Would love to get my hands on this. Checked it out at Amazon, the actual title of the book is The Club Dumas)
407. Memnoch the Devil, Anne Rice
408. Dead Famous, Ben Elton
409. Scarlett, Alexandra Ripley
410. Dead Souls, Nikolai Gogol
411. Look to Windward, Iain M. Banks
412. The Colossus of Maroussi, Henry Miller
413. Branded, Alissa Quart
414. The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
415. Dharma Bums, Jack Kerouac
416. White teeth, Zadie Smith
417. Under the bell jar, Sylvia Plath
418. The little prince of Belleville, Calixthe Beyala
419. Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert
420. A King Lear of the Steppes, Ivan Turgenev
421. The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
422. Memoirs of a Revolutionist, Peter Kropotkin
423. The Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
424. A Canticle for Liebowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr
425. Villette, Charlotte Brontë
426. Steppenwolf, Herman Hesse
427. Ubik, Philip K. Dick
428. Neuromancer, William Gibson
429. Solaris, Stanislaw Lem
430. The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
431. Nausea, Jean Paul Sartre
432. The Island of the Day Before, Umberto Eco
433. The Elementary Particles, Michel Houellebecq
434. The Angel Of The West Window, Gustav Meyrink
435. A Farewell To Arms, Ernest Hemingway
436. Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs
437. Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut
438. In the Eyes of Mr. Fury, Philip Ridley
439. Consider Phlebas, Iain M. Banks
440. Into the Forest, Jean Hegland
441. Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
442. Go Ask Alice, Anonymous
443. The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
444. Waiting For Godot, Samuel Becket
445. Blankets, Craig Thompson
446. The Girls' Guide To Hunting And Fishing, Melissa Banks
447. Voice of the Fire, Alan Moore
448. The Geography of Nowhere, James Howard Kunstler
449. Coraline, Neil Gaiman
450. The Circus of Dr. Lao, Charles G. Finney
451. Jitterbug Perfume, Tom Robbins
452. Shosha, Isaac Bashevis Singer
453. A Long Fatal Love Chase, Lousia May Alcott
454. Road-side Dog, Czeslaw Milosz
455. Breakfast at Tiffany's, Trumate Capote
456. Skinny Legs And All, Tom Robbins
457. Written On The Body, Jeanette Winterson
458. An Equal Music, Vikram Seth
459. The Book of Three, Lloyd Alexander
460. Glory Season, David Brin
461. The Steel Bonnets, George McDonald Fraser
462. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, Roddy Doyle
463. My Dateless Diary: An American Journey, RK Narayan
464. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
465. The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux
466. Pages for You, Sylvia Brownrigg
467. The Changeover, Margaret Mahy
477. Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones
478. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
479. Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo
480. The Bloody Sun by Marion Zimmer Bradley
481. A hat full of sky, Terry Pratchett
482. The wee free men, Terry Pratchett
483. A game of thrones, George RR Martin
484. The Neverending Story, Michael Ende
485. The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck
486. Guilty Pleasures, Laurell K. Hamilton
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Phew... learned a few things after doing this.

1. I don't have a lot of unfinished books. Most of them are required reading when I took literature courses back in the day. By end of semester, still haven't finished until today. But I hope I can finish them... one of these days.
2. It confirms my beliefs that I own more books that I could read. It's not my fault! It's those damned warehouse sales!!!
3. Reminded me of a few books that I should add on my to-read list.

Tagged by Along again!

2005-10-05T20:20:00.000+08:00

Along tagged me for this meme.

The Rules:
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same.

My sentence:

That sort of thing just to keep track what I'm really doing with the time given to me on this earth.

It was a blog on my birthday when I decided to make 'Current Update' a monthly thing. I would most probably make a major 'Current Update' for this year's birthday. Something more than what books I'm reading and how many people asked me 'the' question. Any suggestion what a major update should include?

I would want to tag Desparil since he's the only one (apart from Along) who reads my blog regularly but then I don't think he has 23 posts yet . So I'll end it here.

Let the games begin!

2005-10-04T20:13:00.000+08:00

Tonight was the first episode of The Amazing Race: Family Edition. Thank God the Astro technician came in just in time.

This time, instead of teams of two, we'll have teams of four family members: parents and kids, in-laws, step-families, siblings, you name it they got it. But I only know one thing...

Double the players, double the complications,
Double the fights, double the fun

But this is no Eco-Challenge. Teams can be made up of all girls or all boys and it seems to have no minimum age since this time we see an 8 year-old kid competing, the youngest racer ever in the history of The Amazing Race.

I was surprised they allow teams to have members as young as 8. I do admit that it does add some drama to an already dramatic event. But I guess the families who chose to have a kid on the team would have to bear the risk. Not only will they be slower, there's the possibility that the child will get too tired to finish the race. And you know you cannot push a child to do something that he/she doesn't want to do. On the other hand, if one of the task involved carrying 2 of your team members, guess who will be singing, "They'll be coming 'roun the mountain" as they past the team with 4 big guys. In my opinion, the 2 families (Gaghan with a 9 year-old daughter and Black with an 8 year-old son) will not go far, but it would be very interesting if they do.

Another interesting aspect of having a Family Edition of The Amazing Race is the complexity of the relationships. I don't know if it's just me or other people experience this too, but don't you notice that we may be more civilized to other people than to our own family members? The Paolo demonstrated this point just in tonight's episode. They were trying to find a frankfurter in the middle of NY and of course you can expect a lot of bickering between the mum and 2 sons while the father is driving. When they did find it, a son stepped out and asked for the clue, as he gets it he cordially thanked the guy saying, "You're the best". "It's so great that he said that", said the frankfurter after the kid left not realizing that he just dissed the mother 30 seconds before meeting him.

I guess spending too much time together does effect the relationship. However, like what Mrs Paolo said just now after discovering that they're not last, "I felt like wanting to kill them an hour ago, but now I'm just so proud." That's the wonder of family. They may be hard to live with but you love them all the same. You can never get that in any other type of relationship.

Here are the rundown of possible millionaire family...

Black - the only African-American contestant (note the irony)
Paolo - Parents are Italian immigrant. And just like a stereotypical Italian family, they are loud and they fight most of the time. This family has had the most fights in the first leg.
Bransen - A father with three daughters in their 20s. I just can't shake off the feeling that there's something twisted about this team. Damn society today. I expect by the end of the show my views on father-daughter realtionships will be neutralized.
Godlewski - The only all girl team, four sisters aged 26 to 42. Already dubbed the 'Desparate Housewives' 15 minutes into the race, but later got upgraded to the 'Pink Ladies' when the Schroeders realized they're not as stupid as they look.
Schroeder - The average American family, the father with his 2 kids and their stepmom.
Gaghan - The almost-dying average American family. Husband, wife, a son and a daughter. They're positive and competitive, even down to the smallest member (a 9 year-old blonde). All in all, a cute family.
Aeillo - I would like to call them 'The Odd Bunch', a father with his three son-in-laws. Father trying to keep up, sons trying to prove they're worthy of his daughters.
Linz - Siblings with three testosterone-charged brothers and one sister hoping to be treated as one of the guys.
Rogers - The southerners trying hard to disprove the saying that all southerners are dumb. I don't think they're doing so well.
Weaver - Had a tragic past. the father died while working at Daytona International Speedway 2 years ago. A racecar hit him when he tried to pick up debris from the track. The widow and her 3 teenage kids hope that the race will help them to move on.

10 teams, 4 members, 40 heads, 40 personalities... man this is going to be fun!

Things that I'll be looking forward to: -

A lot more bickering
A lot more whining
A lot more love (and this time I know it's genuine since it' going to involve kids)
More sweet family moments, and
Picking out my favourite teams (so far, I got my eye out for Gaghan and Godlewski)

Missed it? Catch this two-hour premiere repeat on Saturday 8 PM. Or you can pull an all-nighter and catch the repeat at midnight tonight and go straight for sahur. Subsequent episodes will be shown on Wednesdays 9 PM. Don't know if it starts tomorrow, but just switch on to AXN just in case.

In the meantime, you can check out the official website.

Happy Ramadhan!

There goes the station

2005-10-02T19:51:00.000+08:00

Remember I mentioned Fly Fm a few posts back?

If you've been under the tempurung without access to a radio these past few months, our radio waves are hit with a new station recently called Fly FM. I think they broadcast from the KLIA because they keep saying, "Straight from KLIA, this is Fly FM"

The station's tagline is "50 minutes of non-stop music", but I guess starting tomorrow that's going to out of the window.

Right now they are pumping out messages that Fly Guy is making a comeback in the Big Bang Morning Show starting 3rd October.

First come the messages, then come the DJ, then come the advertisements.

Come on, of course they can say "no interruptions" now. But don't you dare tell me that they're going to say no if a sponsor is interested to give them some moola in return for a mere 30 seconds of their time.

Anyway, I got a question, does Fly Guy own Fly Fm? You know... Fly Guy, Fly Fm...

Day of dissapointments

2005-10-02T19:18:00.000+08:00

R-Mka came and went, and I didn't even see her. Not only do I not get the Japanese vcd, I didn't get to at least have dinner with her. So boring...

Came back to an empty house. My brother most probably went out with his fiance and my parents most probably went to my cousin's house for her son's birthday party. Man... the food must be great over there...

This is the second birthday party that this particular cousin of mine threw in 2 months. In September, she held a party for ther 2 adopted kids. It was great, the food that is.

There were lots of them. There were roti jala with curry, roti canai, murtabak, spaghetti, big chocolate chip cookies with sugar icing as decorations, a pot of chocolate gold coins, rojak, cendol, fries, mini sausages and 2 huge cakes. Of course the best part was the cakes.

Since they were celebrating 2 kids, there was of course 2 cakes and they were huge. Well, that's what you get when you go to a party thrown by people with money.

One cake was shaped like a rainbow while the other was made up of small colorful cupcakes arranged to form a rainbow. Nice...
They tasted good too.

There were a lot of left-overs in the end, so of course true to tradition we all helped ourselves . And I went straight for the cake, even though I was quite malu-malu (shy). But when we reached home and unpacked everything, I realized that I didn't take that much cake at all. I distinctly remember that there was still a lot of cake left especially the rainbow one (the cupcakes were the one to finish first). I guess I'm still not good in the art of tapau.

Anyway, the point that I want to make is I hope my folks would pull out all their tapau-ing skills and bring me something good for tonight. At least bring me some cake. If not, it would be another dissapointment on my list.

Oh, I must add another one. A few days ago my boss grouped us all together and discussed about Raya holidays. She mentioned that one of us Malay staff must work on the Sunday after Raya and I had this funny feeling that it was going to be me. And guess what, I was not dissapointed this time. So, only three Raya holidays for me.

Update: 8:08 PM: My parents didn't go to the party but they went grocery shopping. Among the rice and soaps, there wasn't anything special... except for a half of a watermelon. That's not so bad.

2 down 4 to go

2005-10-01T19:42:00.001+08:00

I gotta get thru this
I gotta get thru this
I gotta make it, gotta make it
gotta make it thru

What's worst than working on both weekends?

Working another three days after that.

I don't know how they arrange my schedule but I end up working 6 days in a row which includes both Saturday and Sunday, the 'black days' for any retail worker. I survived Saturday and now I need to get psyched up for Sunday... and Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday.

And this just has to be the time that R-Mka decided to come to KL. I don't mind that. I figure I needed the break anyway. I haven't seen her for a long time and we got a few unfinished business too. I need to return her Japanese drama vcds that I borrowed since February and give her the Antique Bakery manga that she ordered, and she promised to bring me another Japanese drama vcd that should be enough to keep me entertained for the next three months. It stars that guy who played GTO . I still can't remember his name. Come to think of it, it took me quite some time to remember Yutaka's name . I'm just not good with Japanese names.

But this weekend almost didn't happen when she told me she has to work.
Can you imagine? She would rather work than spend the day with me, the friend that she hasn't seen for a long time, the friend that desperately needs some form of entertainment right now.
What kind of lame excuse is that? "I have to work." There's a reason why the government makes it a law to limit the amount of hours that a worker can work. It's been proven that if you go beyond the limit you can go clinically insane. It's true! I would rue the day when I passed a chance to have fun for work.

Anyway...I just received an sms a moment ago saying that she can come over.

she also told me that she forgot to bring the vcd...

Who is The One?

2005-09-30T23:13:00.000+08:00

So, that's how it is, isn't it? Everytime I post about a tv show or relationship, Kampung Gal is suddenly flooded with comments.

Hehe just kidding, I wouldn't call 8 comments (including 2 of mine) as 'flooding'.

Anyway, I was struck with bawangmerah's comment.

But I don't think there is a perfect 'the one'

Which I totally agree. There's no way you can find that one person who can fulfill every criteria that you wish in a life partner. If that's what he meant by 'the one'.

Since I'm a woman I will continue the discussion from a woman's point of view.

I know the drill. Ask any woman about the kind of man she wants you would find some (or all) of these criteria in their list:- tall, funny, kind, sweet, sensitive, lean body, religious, share the same interests, outgoing, intelligent, has a succesful career, great smile, healthy, doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, has a great car, a house would be a bonus, gentle, affectionate, strong-minded, and good looking. Oh yeah, we must not forget the 'good looking' part.

If you ask me, of course I want the same thing too. I'm not going to lie. Who wouldn't want a guy like that? But you got to face the facts -

Guys like that DO NOT exist.

Even if you did manage to find one, I guarantee, he's either married or gay.

Frankly, I never had a set idea of the perfect man for me.

Honest! I try not to have that fixed idea of what kind of man I want to be with. But of course I do have a cynical idea of 'The One' (read this)

Well anyway... realistically, I do imagine the man I would end up with would be... kind, tall, lean body (give me some slack alright), smart, funny, do not think housework is a woman's job, worships me, able to accept all my faults and shortcomings and of course, I would also be able to accept all his faults and shortcomings. How's that? That's not so much to ask, isn't it?

I know these phrases has been used over and over again that in repetition, any significance got lost in the process
Love is blind ~~ Looks don't matter ~~ It's the personality that counts

But try to slow down and really take a good look around once in a while. You could be in the train, in the bus, on the street, or can just observe the car beside you while you're stuck in the jam. When you see a couple, try to see if they're compatible in terms of looks and you would find that those words are true.

Can you honestly say that every couple you see can be called a cute couple or hot couple? No right? I have seen couples where the girl was so damn cute but the guy was . And cute guys going out with girls. If looks really matter, how come these couples get together and be happy?

I'll just leave it at that.

I'm sleepy anyway.

Current update: 30/9/05

2005-09-30T21:28:00.000+08:00

Why do I do this?

Read: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, Hotel Rwanda edited by Terry George
Reading: Nicholas Nickelby by Charles Dickens, Imajica by Clive Barker, Cerulean Sins by Laurell K. Hamilton
CD: None
Favorite song: All These Things That I've Done by The Killers
Playing: whatever online games that looked interesting
Watching: Desperate Housewives, Arrested Development

*No. of times asked if I have a boyfriend: 6
*No. of times asked when I will get married: 15
*No. of times asked when I will have kids: 2
Note: * Since I started this blog of course. I've been getting these questions lots of times before but you can't honestly believe I would count them, right? I just thought of this lately. It's interesting to know the average number of times a single girl at a marriageable age get that million dollar question. I hope other single bloggers would do the same. Maybe we can write a thesis on it! I also change "ppl" to "times" since one person can ask all three questions.

Hmm... no additions to the statistics above. It's either no one really did asked me any of those questions or I was able to faze out when the topic came up. Cannot be...

Must be more alert! For the sake of the research.

Where were you

2005-09-29T19:24:00.000+08:00

On April 6, 1994?

I was probably at home preparing for my departure to the next big thing - college. I may be watching tv, or just lazing around reading a book. Where were you on that day? What were you doing?

As for thousands of people in Rwanda, they could be hiding under their beds, hacking a neighbor, listening to the radio in fear, drinking booze or even became the last day of their entire lives. And I had no idea that this was going on.

I never thought that watching Hotel Rwanda would affect me so much. My interest in this movie only lies in Don Cheadle who got an Oscar nomination for his role and the fact that it is a true story.

But this movie has proven yet again that one person can make a difference. In this case, one man's wit and courage made a difference to 1268 people who came to his hotel, the Mille Collines for protection.

Paul Rusesabagina's story is an amazing story. He's been called a hero, the African Schindler. But in real life he's just an average, working man who loves his family. But he has a gift of wooing and charming anyone he sees, be it a politician, soldier, journalist or the common cook. This gift was put to the test when the Hutus waged war against the Tutsis for 100 days in 1994.

The hotel was in danger of being raided at any time during those 100 crazy days. But Paul was able to charm his way with the Rwandan Police General, reached out all the way to Belgium to plead with the President of Sabena, the hotel's parent company. The president managed to contact the French, a main supplier for the Hutu Militia (the Interahamwe), and stopped a possible massacre at his hotel.

Another amazing thing about Paul's story is the great love that he has for his family. If all the events in the movie is true to life, I would say it's pretty amazing. His wife, Tatiana is a Tutsi so she was at grave danger if discovered but Paul is Hutu. There are many times that one of them could leave and take their 4 children to safety but the other would not want to leave the other behind. Paul, being a Hutu could travel in safety but he didn't want to leave his wife.

One time, the whole Rusesabagina family together with a few other families had a chance to leave Rwanda via special exit visas. But at the last minute Paul couldn't do it. he couldn't bear to see the people who was left behind. But the escape mission was thwarted and the UN convoy was forced to return to the hotel. Tatiana refused to talk to Paul and when she finally did she took off her wedding ring and threw it at him.

Take this. I don't want it. I don't want it. You said you'd never leave me and you left me.

They would rather die together than be apart and live. One of my favorite parts.

He finally lost it when General Bizimungu of the Rwandan Police took Paul out to another hotel that Paul used to work with, to collect his dues. At the Diplomate he revealed that the Interahamwe is on their way to the Mille Collines. Desparate and anxious for his family, Paul wanted to go back but the General suggested that he'd be better off at the Diplomate.

Paul: General... these are difficult times. We need to help one another.
Bizimungu: And what help can I get from you, Paul?
Paul: You are a marked man, sir.
Bizimungu: How so?
Paul: You are on the list. The Americans have you on their list as a war criminal.
Bizimungu: Paul, I am sick and tired of your lies.
Paul: Are you stupid, General? How do you think these people operate? You sit here with five stars on your chest, who do you think they are coming after?

The General, not being stupid, went back to the Mille Collines and stopped the Interahamwe from doing anymore damage. But he was tried and convicted of war crimes anyway. Another favorite part of mine.

What amazes me (and the whole world actually) about the whole Rwandan crises is that not one of the great superpowers (US, UK, French, UN) did anything to stop it. Their reasoning - they were afraid that what happened in Somalia will happen again. They were afraid that another 18 Americans will die. Yeah right. To prevent the likelihood of having 18 Americans die they would rather watch 1,000,000 Africans hacked to death.

The irony is, the then US President Bill Clinton actually dedicated a holocaust memorial just a year before the whole debacle started. Citing "Never Again", he said

Our task, with God's blessings upon our souls and the memories of the fallen in our hearts and minds, is to the ceaseless struggle to preserve human rights and dignity.

His office wouldn't even use the word 'genocide' when it comes to the Rwandan crisis.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Edmund Burke, English philosopher

But I guess we couldn't count the US as 'good men'.

But thank God for people like Paul Rusesabagina and other countless, nameless heros who did do something to stop any acts of evil. My hope is I could do the same thing if I was ever in the same situation.

A true gem

2005-09-29T15:24:00.000+08:00

I am so glad that I tuned in to Rockstar: Inxs when I did because the show introduced me to this great song.

I'm not really a fan of Pink Floyd though I'm sure they were a great band. At least I know that their existence brought life to this song with such powerful meaning. Lines in bold are the ones that really get to me.

Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

And did they get you to trade
Your heros for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?

How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been removed

2005-09-27T02:50:00.000+08:00

I decided to remove haloscan commenting system after I find out that after a while the comments dissappeared and the only way you can see it again is if you paid.

Anyway, blogger has a good commenting system now so I'm back to blogger.

Sorry to say that all your kind comments before this day are not visible anymore. But people don't really check on them anyway so no loss, I think.

I'm not desparate... yet

2005-09-26T23:43:00.000+08:00

I have always been asked about the M word.
When is your turn?
When can I eat nasi minyak?

And I always have the right answer
Not my time yet
If God's willing, next week also can.

Yeah stupid answers to stupid questions. Come on, let us all admit it, they are stupid questions. If you don't have a boyfriend/girlfriend, how do you know when you're gonna get married? It's not like you can pick a partner at Spouse 'R' Us if you plan to be married next month.

I may not seem to care when I give out these stupid answers but I do wonder sometimes, do I even want to get married?

Considering marriage at the most basic positive concept, having someone to love and support you (emotionally and financially ) all the time, I would say yes. However, considering the lengths you have to go through to find that someone who can love and support you (emotionally and financially ), the headache of organizing and funding the perfect wedding (for your family members), welcoming some extra people in your family (the in-laws), and the possibility that the extra people do not adore you as much as your partner does, I think I'll pass.

Confession time: Once, I even considered the possibility of me being gay and I thought about it and I dug deep in the deepest recesses of my thoughts and feelings and the answer is... no, definitely not.

But I know that all my happily married friends would say, "It's worth it", and I have to agree (provided that you manage to find 'The One').

So sure I do want to be married in the future, if and when I find the right guy. In the meantime I'm happy with the way I am right now. Yes I know that's the answer that all the single people give to justify being alone but I'm not one to lie to myself and I can honestly say, take away some minor glitches like still living with my parents and being financially unsecure, I'm pretty happy.

My normal week consists of going to work, return home, watch tv if there's anything worth watching, switch on the computer, check my e-mails, blog if there's anything worth writing about, surf the net, play some computer games or solve that su doku puzzle I found on the net. When I get tired, I get ready for bed, read a book until I get sleepy and go to sleep.

My off days are a bit more interesting . I try to wake up as late as possible but you know moms would not let you do that, try to watch as much tv as possible but there's nothing good on most of the time, try to clean the room but you know it's gonna get messed up again in a few days anyway so why bother, or try to finish the project that you started years ago but you'd rather do something else .

If I have errands to run or people to meet I would go out. If not I would watch tv, clean the house a bit, play with the cats, or dawdle with the computer, things that I would normally do working days, with a longer duration. It's mundane and boring to most people but I enjoy it. I can truly say that I am never bored. There's always that book that I want to read, those things that I want to write about, things that I want to check out, things that I can do quietly by myself. The perfect anti-social .

Which leads to a theory I have in mind...

Kampung Gal's Crazy Theory: I think that those people who decided to settle and marry the next person who accepted them are actually bored.

I'm serious here. They have it all, a great job, good bunch of friends, a house, a car, and great health. Their free time consists of calling up friends who would want to spent time with them, if no one's available they go to malls and movies alone, or just stay home and do nothing. One day, a friend/family introduced someone to them. He/she is nice, but there's no fireworks, no chemistry, they know he/she is not the one. But they surrendered to the calling and he/she seems to be willing so you get married. They have a nice marriage, have a nice kid, life is just as 'they' say it would be. Suddenly 'The One' appears and they crumbled, their life goes haywire and before you know it, they just destroyed the lives of two people (or more depending on how many kids they got).

But there are those few who did get that perfect marriage despite not being deeply in love in the beginning and to them I'd say, "I'm really happy for you". I wish I can have that but I'm not willing to take the risk. I'm content with the way it is and I'm not going to do anything drastic to change that like signing up for FriendFinder, Dateclub, mateclub, whateverclub, speed dating or something like that.

Well... not yet anyway.

Somebody better shoot me before I signed up to one of those clubs...

I'm only here for the food

2005-09-19T23:39:00.000+08:00

Last week my company held the annual dinner. For someone who only worked here for 2 months, there's nothing much, except for the food.

Annual dinners are supposedly the night when the company celebrates the staff but that night was short of any celebration. For one thing, instead of giving everyone a chance to attend by closing the store, they (the management) 'arranged' for those in the afternoon shift to 'take turns' to go to the dinner which was held in a nearby building. So each session will take about 1 1/2 hour. It will take about 20 minutes to go there and back to the store, which leaves them about 1 hour to eat and enjoy whatever the event promised. Luckily I was in the morning shift that day.

The dinner was abysmal, there was no theme, no games, no lucky draws, no outrageous antics, nothing fun about it. We get to eat, we watched a couple of movies (about the company, mind you), they gave out the awards (only staff who worked more than 2 years are eligible) and we get to eat some more (if you have the time).

The event started at 7:30 and ended at 10 sharp. Can you imagine? We didn't even get a second round at the buffet table! Not to mention those that has to go back to work, I pity them. They didn't get the chance to really sit down and enjoy the free food. And the food was actually quite nice.

The main table has roasted chicken, spaghetti, rice etc. The salad table was impressive. But the star of the night must be the dessert table. They have strawberry cheesecake, tiramisu in chocolate cups, lots of little cakes with adorable toppings, fresh fruits consisting of watermelons, papayas, dragonfruit, kiwis and strawberries! To close, we have 5 different flavors of ice cream, which are the usual chocolate, vanilla and strawberry plus corn and get this orange! They also have a variety of toppings like chocolate sauce, hazelnuts, normal nuts, and chocolate shavings.
Mmmm.... nice!

And I'm such a freak when it comes to ice cream. I can't take it straight up like that. I must have accessories. If I'm eating at home I will put whatever I can find to put on my ice cream. It could be the conventional chocolate sauce and chocolate rice, or whip up a decent banana royale if there's any bananas in the house. Fruits would be a nice addition. I like to put kiwis in my ice cream. At one time when I couldn't find anything in the house, I even sprinkled some Milo on my ice cream. I'm such a freak.

So, you can imagine how ecstatic I was seeing all the different toppings. I started with some kiwis and strawberries that I was able to dig up from the fruit platter. I asked the waiter to put 3 scoops of ice cream: chocolate, strawberry and orange, and I topped them with all the toppings offered on the table. I thought I could never finish it because I was quite full at the time. But I guess I found a new saying, forget the jello there's always room for ice cream .

There was a lot of talk among the staff after the dinner. There was the usual complains, the place was not that nice, the night was boring, the food was not much, yadayadayada. But personally, I thought it was a blast. well, considering that I was not up for any awards and I was only there for the food. However, until today I still have this nagging feeling, when will I ever get another decent meal like this for free?

It's down to the wire

2005-09-14T23:26:00.000+08:00

Another post about Rockstar: Inxs.

Man, I cannot remember the last time I ever felt so passionate about a show before. I guess I just love rock music and the contestants are sooooo good.

This is the only show so far that I can agree with the final outcome. Those that go before this are the ones I don't feel sorry to see gone. Three of them are the ones that I've been rooting for from the beginning, Suzie, Mig & JD. I'm even beginning to like Marty a bit. And this time around I even thrown in a couple of votes.
I can't help it, they're just great I can't just sit and watch.

There's no doubt that they all can sing and have the talent to put out great performances (if you haven't realized yet, there is a difference between 'singing' and 'performing', especially when it comes to a rock show). So how will Inxs chose the ONE person who will be their lead singer?

Today's clinic was one-on-one time with the band. This is the chance for Inxs to see how they are personality-wise. Watching their deliberation after talking to all four of them, I can understand their predicament if they want to make a choice based on the interviews.

Marty is not one of my favourites. For one thing he looks weird. He has this pasty white skin and deep blue eyes that kind of reminds me of a vampire. He's also known as the 'Conductor Marty' because he sometimes would wave his arm around like a conductor. He's also known to scream a lot throughout his performance. After taking Inxs' advice and toning it down a bit, he actually sounded a lot better. He likes to stick to modern rock in his song choices which I think shows lack of diversity. This issue has been raised before and he said that he hopes to bring Inxs to the next level and embrace the modern rock scene if he becomes the lead singer. I find that a bit cocky and self-centered which is what Inxs mentioned in the clinic. But they call it self-confident and controlling. Another thing that I don't like about Marty is that any answers that he gave so far always sounded nice and a bit rehearsed. His answers are always diplomatic, which makes me wonder if he's really sincere or just saying what people wanted to hear.
No of times in the bottom three: 1
My favourite performances: Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) and his original song, Trees

Mig. Mig Mig Mig. There's always talk of the 'bad guy in rock 'n roll'. Well Mig is the 'nice guy of rock 'n roll'. If Marty has all the diplomatic answers, Mig is the father of diplomacy. His very tolerant and nice to just about everyone and everything. I truly believe that there is no mean bone in that great body of his. Some of the rockers would sometimes fight over a song and so would Mig, at first, but later would relent to the other party. He's just so nice that way. This guy is so nice that when he had a chance to showcase his own song, he wrote a ballad. Mig Mig Mig... Inxs even commented that they couldn't see Inxs singing that kind of song in the future. After the one-on-one session, Inxs contemplate his personality. They admit that he's a very nice guy from the start but they need to see a little bit of edginess in him. They agreed that he does look like a rockstar but the question is, is he a rockstar? Another troubling thing about Mig is, he has never been in the bottom three, so Inxs (and the public) has never heard him sing Inxs songs. After all, it is about the band. He may be good at singing rock songs (and ballads), but can he take on Inxs?
No. of times in the bottom three: nil
My favourite performances: hmm.... do I have a favourite? All his performances have always been nice but strangely I cannot recall any one of them. I do remember him doing Baby, I Love Your Way (Peter Frampton) which was... nice, and got him an encore but I hate the song, so... I don't know.

Suzie. Sweet little Suzie may not be so sweet after all. Apart from her sweet demeanor she's also known for drinking beer from JD's toes and taking a bite out of a butt-cake. But she does have the strongest voice out of the whole bunch, which Inxs noticed. She also has the knack to give emotionally charged performances everytime. In one of the clinics, the contestants have to record a new Inxs single and she nailed it the first time. However, she has also been in the bottom three more times than any other contestants. But here she is, the only female rocker left to continue the fight. Inxs has a great respect for her and I think it's kind of cute when Kirk (or was it Tim?) stood up when Suzie walked in for her interview. She crumbled in the interview process. She fumbled over her words and at times draw a blank. She admitted that she cannot handle stress very well, which may not be good because she needs to handle the press if she wins this thing. She still got my votes anyway.
No. of times in the bottom three: 5
My favourite performances: Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen), Bring It Home to Me (Sam Cooke) and the first time she sang Never Tear Us Apart (Inxs)

JD. One thing's for sure, he's one very arrogant dude and very controversial. He's like the antithesis of Mig. However he is also the most focused. There is no doubt that he wants this job badly. Watching his emotions thorughout the show is like riding a roller coaster. He's very adamant on winning this thing and yet bumped out at some of the challenges thrown at him. At one stage, the rockers were divided into 2 groups and they were asked to write the melody and lyrics to a new music that Inxs wrote. The one who wrote the best song will be rewarded. They were some creative disputes in JD's group and he finally refused to be any part of the presentation to Inxs. "That's not being in a band," Jordis said. "We're not in a band, we're competing to be in a band," he replied. Jordis was right however. After assessing both groups Dave and Andrew revealed that they were not actually evaluating the song, but how they work as a group and so JD's group lost. Dave was curious about JD's version and asked him to perform it anyway. His version ended being the best of the three presented that day. In another clinic, they were supposed to record the new single with Inxs, everyone else was practising but JD took a nap so you might guessed it, he gave the worst recording session among the five.
He look like a tough nut to crack but there are always moments when he shows the other side of JD. Once, when he was performing We Are the Champions, he saw his sister in the audience whom he haven't seen for a year, and he cracked. He almost cried and he did when he went down to give his sister a hug. Can you imagine, you were singing...
We are the champions my friend
We'll keep on fighting till the end
We are the champions
No time for losers
and then you cried....
On the other hand, he's the most creative in both performing and songwriting. He always makes a point to make all the cover songs different. He rearranged California Dreamin' (The Mamas and the Papas), Hand in My Pocket (Alanis Morisette) and Come As You Are (Nirvana), and they all turned out great. His original Pretty Vegas has been performed three times, and you can see Inxs singing along and nodding their heads to the beat. It's not impossible to see this song featured on the new Inxs album if he wins. In addition, he sings Inxs songs really well. Take away his cockiness and arrogance he would be perfect for Inxs. He got my votes too.
No. of times in the bottom three: 2
My favourite performance: True to my theory that he's the antithesis of Mig, I like most of his performances: California Dreamin', Come As You Are, Money (Pink Floyd), and his original song Pretty Vegas, all three times that he get to sing it.

So, with Marty's great visions and sudden show of control, Suzie's great voice and lack of confidence, Mig's nice guy attitude, and JD's creative flair and cockiness, who will you pick to lead your band?

Apart from the great performances and drama in the show, I also get to relive some great songs that I forgot I liked (don't ask how). After watching the show I will always discover a few songs that I should have downloaded so long ago. From the show itself I was inspired to download....

REM's Everybody Hurts
Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody
Radiohead's Creep
Stone Temple Pilots' Interstate Love Song
Even though I never heard any Pink Floyd before (accept for The Wall) Marty got me interested in Wish You Were Here

In addition I also downloaded some of the rockers' performances like...

Suzie's By My Side, Never Tear Us Apart and Bring it Home to Me
Marty's Trees and Wish You Were Here
and JD's Pretty Vegas

Tomorrow is the final elimination and next week would be the finale where three rockers would get to sing some new Inxs songs. Should be a blast. But the finale also means the end of the show, where am I suppose to get my musical inspiration after that?

One thing's for sure, I'm gonna be so bored after this.

Engrossing

2005-09-10T23:31:00.000+08:00

The reason why I haven't updated my blog for quite some time is this...
I picked it up from Payless. I recalled watching the movie though I didn't recall being impressed by it. However, the declaration that it was the "Best book of the year" by Entertainment Weekly compelled me to buy it. It was only RM15 anyway. It did turn out to be quite an interesting read. I'm even prepared to say that it was 'unputdownable', if there is such a word.

I have always been interested with courtroom drama. Law & Order is one of my favourite shows and I wish someone could bring it back to Malaysia. They can even show the reruns, I won't care. I love court movies like JFK, Primal Fear, 12 Angry Men and Ghosts of Mississipi. But yet I never read much of courtroom drama books.

I did pick up One L by Scott Turow once upon a time. The book is about his experience studying at Harvard Law School, one of the best law school in the world. It was a great read and at the same time killed my insanely outrageous dream of becoming a lawyer. Just reading what they have to go through made me cringe and the book only covered the first year, which most people say is the toughest year of law school. The amount of reading they have to go through, the stuff they have to remember, papers to prepare, Q&A sessions in the classrooms, I think I'll pass. Everytime the mere thought of rekindling the dream surfaces, I would just think 'One L' and I will regain my sanity.

Enough of that, let's get back to A Civil Action. The book is about a real civil case in Boston back in 1980s. 13 families sued two major companies for polluting their drinking water and causing the high occurance of leukemia cases in their town whereby 8 children died. Kind of like Erin Brockovich without the 1 million bonus at the end.

One of the defendants, Beatrice Foods, got off while the other, W.R Grace ended up paying 8 million dollars as a settlement. Schlictmann spent so much money to pull this case together that he ended up bancrupt even after getting his share of the settlement. And worst of all the families didn't get any of the companies to admit their mistake and clean up the water.

He was a bit outrageous in his expenditures. Can you imagine paying an expert US200 per hour for consultation fees? One of the doctors even get US100 per hour as a discount sleeping rate i.e. he gets US200 when he's awake and US100 when he sleeps. Schlictmann would place these experts in 5-star hotels everytime they come into town. When questioned by his partner, he would just say, "They're worth it".

But Schlictmann did have a case against the companies. However, he was over-confident and got too cocky in the middle of the trial that he loose focus. I also blame the judge for making bad calls throughout the entire case.

Right after I finished the book, I watched the movie again and the first lines were...

It's like this. A dead plaintiff is rarely worth more than a living severely maimed plaintiff. However, if it's a long slow agonizing death as opposed to a quick drowning or car wreck, the value can rise considerably. A dead adult in his 20s is generally worth less than one who is middle aged. A dead woman less than a dead man. A single adult less than one who's married. Black less than white. Poor less than rich. The perfect victim is a white male professional, 40 years old, at the height of his earning power, struck down at his prime. And the most imperfect, well in the calculus of personal injury law, a dead child is worth the least of all.

I think it's kind of funny that they made this as the opening line because the part that struck me the most was the part when the author tried the explain the value of a life. Harr was not as eloquent as the writer of the movie but he basically mentioned that the bread winner of a family would have a higher value than one who's not like a child for example.

Yes, it may sound shocking but if you think carefully, it is the truth. Kind of makes you think the next time you hear, "Save the women and children first!" Is it because they have compassion for the women and children because they are generally weaker or is it because they don't worth much dead?

Sorry for the inconvenience

2005-09-01T20:23:00.000+08:00

I know I haven't update my photoblog for a long while now but recently I find it quite shocking that the number of visits has shoot up to 2000+.

I hope that they are all new visitors because if it's not that means some people have been clicking on it expecting to find something new. Sorry! Nothing new since... *gasp* March.

Very sorry if I caused you any inconvenience. I hope you realize that I'm very kampung when it comes to technology so I'm still using the old camera, you know, the kind that uses film. So I have to send it for developing, I have to scan it first, only then can I put it up.

I've been wanting to put more photos but I just can't allocate the time to do it. I got an idea of what to put up already. I was thinking of posting photos from my travelling days in US. I got a lot of those...

So, don't fret. And don't bother clicking on the link now if you have done so in the past *gasp* FIVE months. (Damn... is it that long already? I'm so bad...) I promise I will tell you when I put up some new photos.

Pengakuan seorang penyambung warisan yang terlampau

2005-08-31T23:55:00.000+08:00

Sempena Hari Merdeka ni, semua orang tgh cakap betapa bangganya mereka menjadi seorang anak Malaysia dan ini membuatkan aku tertanya-tanya, hebat sangat ke Malaysia ni? Oleh itu, aku nak cuba bandingkan, mana lagi best? Tinggal di Malaysia ke tinggal di US, memandangkan US adalah satu-satunya negara yg aku pernah duduk selain dari Malaysia. Takkanla aku nak bandingkan dengan Kazakhstan ye tak?

Mari kita mulakan...

Kat sana boleh sewa video (masa aku duduk sana takde vcd/dvd lagi) cite baru2. Bandar kecik tempat aku duduk tu pun ada 3 kedai sewa video, semuanya dalam kejauhan berjalan (walking distance). Kat sini ada jugak kedai video sewa tapi cite Hindustan, drama cina, drama korea banyak la. Baru2 ni ada yang mula buat khidmat sewa DVD tapi sewanya mak datuk mehel...

Kat sana dulu macam2 cita aku boleh tengok. Bukan saja cite baru, cite lama pun ada. Aku dapat tengok 12 Angry Men dan To Kill a Mockingbird. Sampai sekarang aku masih mencari dvd nya. Kalau aku ada kat US dah lama dah boleh beli kat Amazon.com. Kalau kau nak cite2 lain pun ada seperti.... cite ehem ehem tu... kalau muka kau tebal la nak masuk bilik "For Adults Only". Selain daripada tu aku juga berpeluang melihat cite antarabangsa seperti Seven Samurai, Harakiri, Ran, Cinema Paradiso dan lain2 lagi. Aku dapat sewa pelbagai Anime termasuk la yang ber-rated 'R'.

CD music jangan cakap la. Nak beli CD terpakai pun boleh. harga pun lagi murah. Jimat kos. Kualiti masih bagus. Sama jugak dengan buku. Buku baru murah la jugak. Kalau pergi Wal-Mart dapat lagi murah, pergi kedai buku terpakai lagila murah.

Kat sana boleh beli buku dari Amazon.com. Kat sini tak boleh.

Kat sana ada Saturday Night Live, Jay leno, Conan O'Brien, South Park. Kat sini ada David Letterman je.

Malaysia - kerja part-time RM5-50 sejam (kadar lumayan jugak ni) ~~ Harga purata CD artis tempatan RM35 ~~ Harga purata novel PB tempatan RM25 ~~ Dengan pendapatan satu jam boleh makan McDonald, itupun kena tambah sikit.
US - kerja part-time US$5-15 sejam (lebih kurang sama dengan sini) ~~ Harga purata CD artis tempatan US$14 ~~ harga purata novel PB tempatan US$6.99 ~~ Dengan pendapat sejam boleh makan McDonald dan masih ada duit lebih.

Kat sana ada panggung wayang US$1. Walaupun cite lama kira ok la tu, takde la terasa ketinggalan zaman sangat.

Kat sana perpustakaan awam dia teramatla best. Buku dia banyak... yang terbaru pulak tu. Jangan cakap buku, CD lagu pun boleh pinjam. Kat sini perpustakaan awam dia

Kat sini harga minyak asyik naik je.

Kat sana concert best2. Aku dapat tengok Live dan Dave Matthews Band. Kat sini paling best pun Alanis Morisette itupun 10 tahun yang lalu. Nak dapatkan CD Dave Matthews Band pun susah. Tah apa kena tah.

Kat sana ada kedai 24 jam macam Wal-mart dan Kroger. Kat sini tak ada.

Kat sana susah betul nak jumpa tol. Sepanjang dua tahun aku duduk sana pernah jumpa tol sekali je. Kat sini jangan cakap la. Nak pergi rumah kakak aku yang sejauh 15 km tu pun dah kena tol sekali.

Sukan kat sana memang seronok. Universiti aku ada kumpulan bola keranjang yang paling best dalam NCAA. Dah berapa kali dah juara. Masa aku kat sana, sekali naib juara, lepas tu juara balik Aku dapat tengok negeri kediaman aku lawan hoki ais. Walaupun dia kalah dalam sesi mati tiba2 (sudden death) pada hari tu aku memang puas hati melihat aksi2 hebat dan pantas dari team aku. Aku juga belajar serba sedikit pasal American football, juga satu permainan yang menarik. Kat sini ada bola sepak, ada badminton. Itupun tah apa2 tah. Kejap best kejap tak best. Kejap menang tapi selalunya kalah je la.

Kat sana penapisan tak ketat sangat. Kat sini macam 'tut' je dia orang potong sana potong sini.

Kat sana aku kena bayar cukai. Kat sini tak payah.

Kat sana kicap mahal. Kat sini murah. Ayam pun mana2 boleh dapat. Kat sana kena beli kat masjid je.

Kat sana makan kena jaga. Kat sini boleh lantak apa2 je asalkan ada tanda halal.

Kat sana kalau nak bercuti mesti kena naik kapal terbang. Kat sini naik bas je dah cukup.

Kat sana ada ribut taufan, ribut salji dan gempa bumi. Kat sini paling teruk pun ada banjir. Tsunami tu aku rasa sekali dalam seribu tahun la kena. Kat sana tiap2 tahun ada je kes bencana alam.

Kat sana ada bangunan kena bom. Kat sini tak ada.

Kat sana ada Ku Klux Klan. Kat sini ada lebih dari 3 kaum tapi tak gaduh pun.

Itulah hakikatnya saudara saudari sekalian. Sehebat manapun sesuatu negara tu ada jugak kelemahannya. Aku lagi sanggup menghadap jerebu tiap2 hari kat sini daripada orang letupkan tempat kerja aku atau tengok budak2 umur baru 13 tahun dah kena pegang senapang.

Aku pernah jumpa orang Malaysia yang tak suka duduk kat sini. "Duduk kat (apa2 negara) lagi best la. Banyak kebebasan." Macam ni la... Kalau kau benci sangat duduk kat sini, anda dengan segala hormatnya dipersilakan migrate. Kita orang pun tak hingin orang macam awak tinggal kat negara ni.

Yang mengaku bangga jadi anak Malaysia tu pulak mesti ingat, negara kita ni masih ada banyak lagi ruang yang perlu dibaiki. Kalau nampak sesuatu yang korang tak suka, cuba ubahkan. Jangan la sikit2 harap kerajaan. Nak tunggu ada kempen, baru nak ada kesedaran. Dah buat iklan baru nak ikut contoh. Jangan pulak setahun sekali je nak tunjuk sayangkan negara.

Sekarang sudah masuk waktu 11:55 malam. Nampaknya saya berjaya berbelog dalam BM. Setinggi tahniah dan terima kasih saya ucapkan pada Sang Mata kerana menganjurkan kempen istimewa ini.

Mari kita laungkan bersama-sama...

Malaysia Boleh!
Keranamu Malaysia!
Sopan Santun Budaya Kita!
Katakan Tidak!
Berhati-hati di Jalan Raya!
Gadis Kampung Celup boleh!
Mawi Benci Dadah!

Alamak... lebih2 lak...

Saya yang menjalankan tugas,
Gadis Kampung Celup
yang bangga bergelar penyambung warisan

WOW!

2005-08-31T22:11:00.000+08:00

Aku baru lepas tengok Rockstar: Inxs. Wow! Aku rasa inilah episode yang paling best. Sape2 yang masih belum tersangkut dengan rancangan ni cepat2 la sangkut pasal show ni memang best. Kalau ye pun korang tak nak undi takat tgk persembahan dia orang pun dah cukup dah. Aku pun bukan undi pun.

Antara persembahan hebat malam ini adalah dari Marty. Walaupun aku tak minat dia sangat tapi dia nyanyi lagu Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here memang best. Sungguh emotional dan ada feel. Mest dapat encore besok. Tapi yang paling best adalah Suzie apabila dia mengambil risiko yang amat besar dengan memilih lagu Bohemian Rhapsody oleh Queen. Aku takut jugak pasal dia ni macam minah sweet-sweet sikit, macam mana nak bawak lagu yang sangat gothic macam Bohemian Rhapsody tapi dia dapat melakukannya.

Aku memang minat dgn Suzie ni. Aku sokong dia seratus peratus. Suara dia memang kelas. Kalau dia menang memang aku beli CD Inxs yang baru ni.

Go Suzie! Go Suzie!

Merdeka!

2005-08-31T19:25:00.000+08:00

Aduh!!!!!!!!! Akhirnya aku survive jugak kerja pada hari merdeka. Memang betul la kata2 senior aku, memang seperti mimpi ngeri.

Aku tak tau la apasal harini teramat la ramai orang datang kat kedai aku. Tengok kat luar orang berpusu-pusu jalan sana jalan sini, angkut segala datuk nenek, anak cucu, ipar duai semua ada. Diaorang ni tak reti ke duduk rumah diam2 macam Sang Mata. Cuti sehari je, duduk je la rumah tengok TV ke, dvd ke, tidur ke, kan best. Kalau la aku cuti harini memang aku akan buat benda2 yg aku baru sebut tadi.

Lagi satu yang aku pelik, kumpulan kali ini macam lagi ganas daripada crowd cuti sekolah haritu. Macam diaorang ni sume pikir yang cuti kali ni satu hari je, so mesti go all out dan meruntuhkan segala shopping mall dan kedai2 yang bukak masa hari cuti. Gila betul. Penat aku menyusun buku. Satu rak tu agaknya beribu2 kali aku nyusun. Pusing je dah terabur balik. Lutut dah menggeletar dah. Tak pernah sakit sampai macam ni.

Walau bagaimanapun aku masih hidup lagi. Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

Aku berjaya drive balik ke rumah dalam masa 15 minit (satu rekod yang teramat susah nak pecah) dan sekarang aku dah boleh lepak2 kat rumah sambil berbelog. Tapi esok kena kerja jugak, dan esoknya dan esoknya lagi....

Aku cuba nak berbelog 100% BM tapi tak pandai la. Tu la... nama je melayu, ngaku budak kampung lak tu tapi bahasa sendiri pun tak boleh tulis. Akhirnya tercetus la Bahasa Melayu celup... Itu lah lumrahnya kehidupan di Malaysia ni. Sekurang-kurangnya aku boleh la bertutur dalam dua bahasa.

~~ Gadis Kampung Celup ~~

Should I care?

2005-08-30T23:27:00.000+08:00

Like I mentioned before, I went out with a couple of friends from my old workplace. One of them still works in the same office as my ex-boyfriend who just got married recently. If you're a bit confused, yes I dated a guy from the same company but from a different department. She went to his wedding so of course I asked all the neceessary questions any jilted girlfriends would ask like who he's married to, how he met her, bla bla bla... and she (SS) was happy to provide the information.

And the first thing she said was...
"She's fat"
"Wait a minute. You mean fat fat or just chubby fat?"
"She's... fat. Totally not someone we thought he would end up with."

That conversation may not sound right but you have to know him to understand. For one thing he's short, for a guy, and when I was with him he works out a lot. He jogs, he goes to the company gym, he joined most of the sporting activities organized by the company. All in all, not a bad-looking dude. From what I heard from SS and from all the stories that he told me, he has his share of girls chasing around his skirt, or maybe I should say pants.

So it was quite a surprise for his friends, and me, that he end up marrying a girl like that. I mean, since he dropped me so easily I would have imagined him to hook up with some hot chick. But yet he didn't. Well, she could be pretty. I didn't ask SS whether she's pretty or not. Fat girls can be pretty. She could be succesful. She's a dentist for the government. Maybe that's why he's attracted to her. But then, SS thinks that he's not really in love with her. But that's only her point of view.

But then, another weird thing about this marriage is that his friends didn't know much about the girl. You know... if you have someone you would bring her/him to weddings, open houses, hanging out sessions, whatever. But it seems that his gang didn't see much of her before the wedding.

According to SS, they were introduced by a friend. They got together for about a year and got married some time in April. He's now living with her in Seremban where she works. Can you imagine, commuting Seremban-KL everyday? Well, I guess that's what you call love. The wife is relocating to Senawang, which is further than Seremban. So she doesn't know what will happen then.

SS told me that he had some pretty tough time. His mother passed away about 2 years ago and his father got married again. He was quite dejected by this. He wished his father could at least wait a little longer. He didn't, he remarried within the same year.

Hearing all this makes me feel really sorry for him. I feel sorry that we were not together when all this happened. I feel sad that we were not 'friends' like we were supposed to be. I hope that he didn't go through that alone. And I do hope that he married for love and not because at his age he thinks he's supposed to be married.

He's not that old anyway. He's 31 this year, which I think is still fine for a guy to be single. I'm afraid that with all his friends getting married one after another he didn't want to be left behind. I'm afraid that he would think since both his younger brothers are married, it would be funny that he's still not. And he is the kind of guy who could think that way. God forbids that he has a 'deadline'.

I don't know how I should feel about this. But then, why should I be concerned? He has made his choice and I wish him all the happiness in the world. I only heard the story from one point of view anyway. For all I know, he could be ecstatically happy right now.

But I'm okay. It's not like he was such a big loss for me. I didn't have any feelings for him anyway. All I remembered was that we went out a few times and all of a sudden he was talking about marriage. I said that I don't know him that well and he said okay... yadayadayada... went out a few more times... a bit quiet for a while ... and suddenly, I got this SMS saying he wants us to be friends "So what the hell have we been doing all this time?" I answered back, NOT in those exact words. Tried calling him didn't pick up, SMS him to meet he didn't want to. So I thought, what the hell. He can go $#%& himself if he thinks that way.

Anyway, SS got some photos from the wedding. I think I'll wait until I see the photos before I say anything more.

Happy Merdeka!!!!

(If you're wondering why I didn't blog in Malay since it's 31st August when you read this, I started this post at 11:27 on 30th so this one doesn't count. But... saya berikrar akan berbelog dalam BM pada malam ini. Tapi tak tau la nak cakap pasal apa... hari special kena la belog special sikit.)

Current update - 30/8/05

2005-08-30T22:30:00.000+08:00

Why do I do this?

Read: Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling, Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire
Reading: Nicholas Nickelby by Charles Dickens, The Haunted Dolls' House and other stories by M.R. James, Imajica by Clive Barker (I've decided to drop The Haunted Dolls' House - not so thrilling la...)
CD: None
Favorite song: Cool by Gwen Stefani
Playing: none
Watching: The Apprentice 3, Arrested Development, Rockstar: INXS, Desperate Housewives

*No. of times asked if I have a boyfriend: 6
*No. of times asked when I will get married: 15
*No. of times asked when I will have kids: 2
Note: * Since I started this blog of course. I've been getting these questions lots of times before but you can't honestly believe I would count them, right? I just thought of this lately. It's interesting to know the average number of times a single girl at a marriageable age get that million dollar question. I hope other single bloggers would do the same. Maybe we can write a thesis on it! I also change "ppl" to "times" since one person can ask all three questions.

Other news:
1) Met a lot of old friends this month. And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT.... more than usual.
2) Saw J. Lo, Cheryl Samad and Yasmin Ahmad at my workplace

This just in!

2005-08-29T23:36:00.000+08:00

First some breaking news...

Kampung Gal's stat shoots up to the hundreds last Sunday (actually it was just 107) without her blogging about a TV show, thus discredits her theory. She is still wondering why.

But then, most of the visitors only spent less than 5 seconds at my blog so it's either they expected something else or they're really, really fast readers. Either way I'm still happy.

And now to other news of the day...

Yesterday me and some friends way back from school finally get to meet. We all live in the same city (except for one who lives in Johor) but after, I don't know, eons and eons, we finally get to sit down and have a nice long chat (thank God we didn't talk about work). Most of the time we were talking about a recent event that happened to one of us, which I'm dying to talk about. But we are sworn to secrecy so I'd have to think about it again. Along has the gist of what it was about though, you'll get the idea. Next agenda - karaoke! Right gals?

After meeting them I went straight to the Times warehouse sale. And just for you desparil here are the details,

Date: 26th August - 31st Aug 2005
(26th August TPC cardmember's preview day)

Time: 10am - 7.00pm

Venue: No.4 (2nd Floor), Jalan 13/4, Section 13, Petaling Jaya (behind Colgate-Palmolive)

Contact No: 012-237 5631

Total damage: RM113 and I was being very discreet in my selections. They are,

The Phenix and the Carpet - E. Nesbitt (RM3)
The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton (RM5)
Classic Horror Stories (RM5) This is an old publication but it has a lot of stories by great authors whom I never knew wrote horror stories like Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne and D.H. Lawrence.
VCD "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Starring George Clooney (RM11)
VCD "Elizabeth" starring Cate Blanchett in her Oscar nominated role (RM11)
Winnie the Pooh box set (RM42). Normal price RM59-90. It is cheaper buying it now than buying it from my workplace even with the staff discount.
Wild Swans - Jung Chang (RM25) I read the book before (borrowed from a friend). I really liked it. She was able to make me understand why the people of China can still support Communism and Mao even with all the hardships that they have to go through. Now I'm wondering if I should read her new book, Mao: The Unknown Story.

I was able to restrict myself from buying Sketches From Boz by Charles Dickens, Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotsons, a book written by a jury who was involved in a murder case and some horror classics VCDs like Daughter of Dracula with Bela Lugosi and Frankenstein with... I can't remember who but it was not Boris Karloff. Not worthing having... at least for now.(sigh) If only I have a bigger budget.

I also found Afdlin Shauki's blog last night.

Today I sent my car for service which is actually one month overdue. While waiting for them to finish with it, I went to a nearby shopping mall to kill time. Of course I ended up in Payless. Since I knew I have lots of time to kill i went and survey each and every shelf that interests me.

First, the children and young adult section with the intention of finding more books from the Oz series. I managed to find two of them, both from Payless for about RM25 each a few years back. They are the HC versions with color plates (pages with full color illustrations printed on special paper). Quite nice to add to my collection. So I was really hoping I can find more. No luck this time.

Instead I found an interesting find - Unforgettable Fire, U2's early biography (up to the year 1987). I know it's kind of old (and not that accurate judging from a review in Amazon) but if you check out the price of recent books on U2, you will get choked.

Afterwards I went straight to the next appointment, meeting my ex-colleagues from the bank. This is a different group of ex-colleagues. Not the ones that I talked about before who can't stop talking about work. Remember them? Well, these people are NOT them and thank God we didn't talk about work this time too.

Busy, busy week this time around and it has to happen on the eve of my first 5 days straight shift complete with a public holiday. That's life, right?

It is two days until "Belog Dalam BM" campaign and I still don't know what I'm going to talk about. What I do know is that I'll be known as Gadis Kampung Celup on that day since Gadis Kampung Dalam Bandar sounds so corny... Thanks to Eyeris for the idea.

Sorry PPS!

2005-08-28T01:44:00.000+08:00

PPS server is so the very fast one. The moment you click 'Send' your ping will surely go through. No turning back. Clicking on the 'X' a mere second after clicking 'Send' won't work either. Only because you entered the wrong URL.

Damn this is second time I pinged PPS twice on the same post.

I'm really really sorry PPS

Please don't ban me...

Bookstore dos and don'ts

2005-08-28T00:02:00.000+08:00

1) Don't come over the weekend if you expect excellent service
2) Don't come during school holidays and expect excellent service
3) Don't let your kids go off like chicken flying from the coup
4) Don't treat the bookstore like a playground.
5) Don't let your kids look through books unattended. They can be quite rough sometimes. I don't want to be the one to tell you, even your little cutesy chubby angel can be a monster at times.
6) Don't step, fold back, throw, take out the dust-jacket, tear, dog-ear or roll the books i.e. don't treat the books like library books
7) Don't open wrapped merchandise and leave it around. Please pass it to any of the staff. They won't scold you but they might give you the eye.
8) Don't cuddle up with boyfriend/girlfriend while browsing for books. You have your house to do that.
9) Don't dating in the bookstore
10) Don't hold any meetings at the bookstore
11) Don't open any merchandise that you bought from another store and starts playing with it.
12) Don't pretend you're treating the books nicely only when the staff are around. Treat the books nicely ALL THE TIME!

Phew!!! I just have to let that out my chest.

I never knew that working in a bookstore during school holidays could be so exhausting. We had busy days before especially on the weekends but this is ridiculous. It's like everyday is a weekend and I wish I can say that in a positive way.

The last rule is my favourite. I've noticed this lots of times. Just as I was walking around picking books up here and there I can see kids with a bunch of books strewn on the floor. The best thing is the parents/guardians are just right there with them. As soon as they see me they will immediately say things like...
"Don't take so many books out"
"Handle the books carefully aa"
"You better put everything back"
But of course, as soon as I'm gone they never do.

Just today I saw a kid about less than 2 years old, stepping on a book while the parent/guardian (two of them) just went on chit-chatting. As soon as they see me they immediately took hold of the child and picked up the book which proved that they did know what the child was doing before they see me.

I've seen babies 'reading' books that are obviously too old for them, unless they are genuises. I've seen kids peeling stickers off from a sticker book that they haven't paid for and sticking them on their legs. And today I found an activity sticker book with all the activities completed.

And another thing. I don't think maids are good watchers when you come to one of these stores. They would just sit there and do nothing. I don't know if it's because they're just lazy or maybe their employers specifically told them not to reprimand their kids if they're doing something wrong. I may be imagining this but I think the maids get a kick watching the staff picking up after them.

I think anyone who ever worked in the retail line will agree with me on this. Gweilos tend to be more civil compared to Asians. I'm not being prejudiced or picky here but it's true, we have to face the facts. If you're wondering why we tend to serve them nicer than anyone else, just observe how they speak to us. And then try to do the same. Of course, I'm not saying that ALL gweilos are nice and ALL Asians are rude but I do notice there is a general difference between the two when it comes to civility.

[from Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Tenth Ed.]
Civil - adequate in courtesy and politeness. syn polite, courteous, gallant, chivalrous

Please, do be patient with us. I say this on behalf of all the bookstore staff in the world. I swear we are doing the best we can to help you find what you're looking for and keep you happy. Just remember that not all of us are as well-read as you and you cannot expect us to know each and every title we have in store.

And so I survived the school holidays. I'll be off from work the next two days.
I'm planning to meet up with some old friends and go to the Times warehouse sale tomorrow

Next up, Merdeka Day holiday. From what I heard from senior staff it can be quite a nightmare

and of course there's the end-of-year school holiday - one whole month of weekends

Let it go

2005-08-21T23:55:00.000+08:00

Apparently everyone has problems at work. Everytime I meet up with some old friends that I haven't seen for a long time, the first topic of discussion is always problems at work: nonessential meetings, lazy managers, task overload, ass-kissing colleaques etc etc etc.

I just got back from a night out with some old friends from college. One of them currently works in USA and was in town for a visit. When I joined in they were talking about nonessential meetings. Last week I had lunch with my ex-colleagues from my banking days and they spent the whole 40 minutes talking about task overload and ass-kissing colleagues. All I can contribute to that conversation was, "Thank God I left when I did!" A few months ago I met up with some old classmates from school and most of the time they were talking about stress at work. Aiyooo.... can we talk about the good old times now?

So far I've worked for 4 companies, from direct selling company to a large local organization to a small business and now an international retail company. I must say there's a lot of room for bitterness and dissatisfaction but I can honestly say I don't hold a grudge with any of them. It's either I never had any problems working there or I'm just the forgiving type.

I was aware that while working for the bank, there was office gossip floating around but I was always the last to know or never know at all. I'm not sure if it was because people didn't bother telling me because the gossip didn't concern me or that I did heard it but never really cared to spread it around or because I was too blur to identify certain tidbits as gossip. I've had colleaques coming to me saying that they have problems with so and so because of this this this. But all I can do is listen because I didn't have this this this problem with that so and so. Even if I do have a problem with anyone I find that it was minuscule and thus didn't find the need to tell everyone about it.

The only thing that bugged me while working for the bank which leads to my change of department is the lack of recognition for my hard work. Among the clerical staff I was the second eldest and the only one who's way over-qualified since I have 4 years of university education. But I didn't mind that. I did my job, I got on well with the other staff and respected my senior who's 2 years younger than me. I did my work with the most minimum amount of mistake in a timely manner. I think you'll agree that this trait is very important for a clerk. But come appraisal time I always get 'Average' review which after some discreet investigation, is also what they (the appraisers) give to the rest of the clerks, whom I can see did not do the job as well as I did.

At one time my supervisor told me that other people in the department have a problem with me. I was so serious that they find it difficult to approach me to ask about anything. Okay I accepted that. I do admit that I'm pretty serious when it comes to work. I never realized that it affected other people that way. So I took note of it.

When the next appraisal came, they brought up the same issue. This time I rebutted and said that I find that the fellow clerical staff do come and asked for my help or to find out about something. But now they say that it was the officers who had a problem with me. Okay.... officers scared of a clerk. That's something new.

I couldn't understand that. I know the same thing that the rest of the staff knew, sometimes more. I know I finish all my work faster than the rest of the clerks and I have low amount of overtime. Isn't that all that matter for a clerk? The only think that I can think of which could lead to this observation is that I don't socialize as much with the officers more than I need to. I don't come over to their desk and chit chat with them, I don't jokingly slap or pinch them whenever they say something naughty, and I seldom join them for the afternoon teh tarik session. All I did was finish my tasks and made sure that I don't make stupid mistakes that can delay the officers' work. And I get 'Average' for that.

I was quite frustrated. I wanted to resign. But someone told me to consider transferring to another department first. If I still don't like it then consider resigning which was an acceptable option. I don't know what I wanted to do at that time anyway. When opportunity knocks I rushed to get the door.

It's just so happen around the same time the department organized a 'Bonding Programme' with the objective of making the people work with each other better and more effectively. Long story short I was quite the star in the programme. I represented my team to do a presentation and I was named one of the best participants (and all I got was a damn towel).

It was also during this programme that I was noticed by the Assistant General Manager. He knew me by name from that moment on. When he found out that I got approval to transfer to another department after a farewell buffet, he was shocked and expressed it quite openly in front of the whole unit which includes clerks, officers, senior officers, assistant managers, well you catch my drift. But it was too late. My transfer has been approved and the other department was expecting my arrival in two weeks time. So I just said...
and all the best to ya! Sorry you didn't see what you had before!

I also found out later on that he didn't stop expressing his dissatisfation that I left his department. He even voiced it to my new manager, which I must say gave quite a boost to my ego. Anyway, I was able to let it go and didn't hold any grudges for my old department. I just hope they learn something from this incident.

Today, everytime I meet up with my old friends and they started to talk about work problems, I would just listen and nod, gasp at the right places and laugh when I need to. I never really joined in because I cannot find any work-related problems that is much worse than what they have.

Is it because I'm so easily entertained that I could forget my problems just like that? Is it because I'm just too ignorant to know that I have a problem? Or is it because the higher your salary the more problems you'll get? I don't know. What I do know is I go to work when they expect me to and at the end of the month my salary is in my bank account like I expect it to. Even though I did have some minor glitches with my employers (another classic example is when my previous employer send me to do data entry for his brother), I never take it as a burden. I always think of it as a temporary thing and most of the time it is.

Anyway, the point of this post is we must not let our job dictate our life. Must our minds be filled with work-related problems that we must talk about it all the time? Even to our friends whom we haven't seen for ages. Do we need to bog them down with problems that they cannot help us with anyway?

However, I do agree that talking about it does help to relieve some of the stress. Just make sure that I'm not around to hear it. Hehehe I'm kidding. I'm a great listener. You can talk to me anytime. Really.

In the meantime, don't let your job define who you are. A job is just the thing that you do so that you can watch the latest movie at home, buy the cloth that covers your body (or not), get the daily caffeine jolt, take out your loved ones to a nice dinner or whatever it is that you like to do. So don't let your life revolves around your job.

Happy working!