2006 as I would remember it (a delayed post)

On a personal front, 2006 is the year that

my love of reading (and hence purchasing of books) had been ultimately rekindled beyond the point of no return; anime DVDs started to make an appearance in my stack of precious DVDs and VCDs; I seriously under-rate myself and am not as invisible as I think I am at times; has tormented tested me mentally; I finally took a long break from the working world; I kissed goodbye to an amount of cash that was enough to pay for a tour to Europe since I was careless enough to lose a credit card and not notice it gone until almost 4 days later; I also lost my dear Sony Erisson T610 along with a hefty amount of contacts with it... but managed to get a free replacement in the form of a Sony Ericsson K510i since dad decided to coin it as a Christmas present... and besides, he got it cheap during his working trip to the US of A *muchos gracias dad*; and some of my closest friends got married and a few became (or will be becoming) parents.

In the world of sports, 2006 is the year that

the World Cup took place in Germany, the Italians won the coveted cup despite the high-profile Serie A corruption scandal taking center-stage back home, while Zinedine Zizou Zidane (in his retirement year and match) did the most unfathomable thing by butting Materazzi with his head during the finals match; Andre Agassi took a bow out from the world of tennis; the legendary Michael Schumacher, seven-time winner of the F1 GP driver's championship, announced his decision to retire from racing... while Alonso proved his mettle by winning the driver's championship for the second year in a row.

And as for other things in general, 2006 is the year that witnessed

a continued occurence of suicide bombings in various places around the world, as the fight against terrorism rallies on; the ousting of Thaksin Sinawatra as Prime Minister from our neighbouring country of Thailand; the worst flooding in a century in the southern regions of West Malaysia; Asia being literally cut out from the rest of the Internet world when two major cables in the sea (linking Asia to US and hence the world since there is no major direct link going through Europe) were damaged due to a post-Christmas earthquake in Taiwan; a circus of a court trial against Saddam Hussein in Iraq which resulted in his hanging *it was a matter of time, a highly inevitable event* on the eve of Aidiladha (Dec 30)... bringing about the divided reactions from leaders and civilians around the world.

Looking back, heading forward

It's been almost 2 months since I quit my job and I'm most certain that it had been the best decision I have ever made in my life. I've made it a point that my personal health (physical, mental, spiritual, etc.) will always come first.

It had taken me a long time to pin-point that enough was enough. I knew I was hitting a brick wall as thick and long as the Great Wall of China - I was putting in everything that I could to cover the immediate and apparent needs (a vast amount of it too) yet there was always another few things niggling at the back of my mind for the long term that needed detailed planning and analysis.

Honestly, I began to think that I should have three heads, six hands and three computers to work it all out... erm... huh? I don't want to become a super mutant workaholic. I just want to be a normal tween with a decent job that doesn't suck my soul into an endless pit.

Life should essentially be in a balanced equilibrium where your mind can go home with you to focus on all else that is important (e.g. family or friends or leisure) when you leave the office without having work being at the forefront of your mind (even when you are on holiday).

So now that I had time to think and all... it's time to housekeep and update my resume. All I need to do now is to crack my brain over what stays, what goes, and what gets added into that itty-bitty piece of information sheet that can help me gain some interviews and a new job sometime in the near future.

Until then... I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

"Cinta" by Kabir Bhatia: A Notable Local Movie

If you have been piqued by the trailers of Cinta on our local telly, have seen and loved watching Love Actually - this is one movie that you should not miss!

I've always waited for the day that Malaysians will be proud of a local movie and it is finally here!

In a nutshell, this movie unfolds five unique love stories - the most poignant story being about Cikgu Elyas (Dato' Rahim Razali) who has Alzeimer's and a kind shopkeeper Cik Rubiah (Fatimah Abu Bakar). You can read a little more about the movie from CinemaOnline.

Most importantly, the movie didn't feel like it was nearly 2 hours long. It was well-cut, not draggy (i.e. portions of Puteri Gunung Ledang and Rain Dogs), light-hearted, and easy to relate too. The cinematography is comendable but something could be done about the colour... at times the lighting appeared slightly poor and the actors looked like they are behind shadows.

Verdict: I love this movie and strongly recommend movie buffs in Malaysia to go watch this. You won't regret it unless you live only on action films!

ps: if Dato' Rahim Razali seems like a familiar name and face... that's because he was one of our foremost and probably the nation's best sports-caster. He is now retired from sports reporting and dedicated to the theatre and arts scene.

Robosapien v2 commercial

OMG.... hahaha...!!! This is really cute, funny, and entertaining.

You guys ought to go watch the Robosapien v2 commercial. A toy robot with an attitude indeed. *cracks up*

The Two Weddings... and a handphone

Mich C. finally said her vows and had her whole wedding do yesterday - a year after her whirlwind romance that led to a proposal within two months of her relationship with Paul.

Oh, and she's the second of my friends who decided to get married on her birthday.

Okay... that's one. Later on the same day, I was to meet up with project JD team (aka Dan's wedding planning sub-team consisting of ex-student councillors)... and because I texted the groom-to-be to confirm the venue... and conveniently forgot that I left my handphone on my lap before leaving from Mich's lunch do...

I lost my trusty old Sony Ericsson T610. Darn it! How careless of me...

So in other words, if I happen to ask who you are when you call me on my replacement (oh! it's still the same number - I just barred the missing SIM card)... you now know why :P

Goodbye braces, hello retainers!

This morning... my orthodontist took out my braces. It feels really good to feel the smooth front of my teeth again after 2.5 years!

Anyhow, I shall keep it in mind to wear my retainers once I get them this Wednesday. It would be a waste of cash to have my teeth moving back to it's all crooked-glory after spending a fair amount of $, time, and a little suffering.

How did the frog get into the house?

Seriously, I have no idea. This was what happened a few nights ago.

Mum: Girl, open the door. I need to take the frog out.
Me: ??? Frog? How did it get in in the first place?
Mum: <gives some theory about how it may have followed my grandpa in>
Me: <thinks mum made up that theory... it's crap>

Then mum came out from the back with a little brown frog in the dustpan... and we left it on the pavement just outside the gate... where it sat around for a while... before it hopped away into the night.

It's small enough to sit on your palm

Pseudo-spooked

As I was getting into my car to drive it into the house compound, it suddenly hit me that there were shadows in the night and candle lights floating in the air. What the...?????

Puzzled and startled for a second there but not freaked out to kingdom-come... I quickly figured it out. It was actually some neighbour with their family members (and a Taoist monk) coming down from up the road through the thick cloud of haze *yes! we are getting a second major dose of it this year*... and basically, they were just doing something to celebrate the Mid-autumn Festival

...and the floating lights? Those were just lanterns.

Mad About Mooncakes

Huwahahahaha!!! Stocked for the season I am.

Regardless of the moody bouts of rain, dad and I have managed to get to our usual joint to get a whole assortment of mooncakes... enough to last us for the next 2 weeks (I think...)

One thing about buying from a local joint - they don't put english labels on the individual packaging of these mooncakes... and basically... everyone in my house is not what we would call chinese literate...

Yet of course, having attempted to have learnt some chinese during my high school days, I could make out what each of these delicacies contain. Not mum or dad though... (I get the honour of labelling the cakes to tell them what they would be stomaching)

Anyway, I had a mighty good laugh when mum said that she always thought that whatever patterns and characters on the cakes were purely decorative. At least dad knew about the characters - he just couldn't tell what they mean.

Mist-no-more!

Oh yes! I'm finally able to breath in my own car and see where I am driving to during the night!

Having a busted air-conditioning system is not a good thing - ESPECIALLY when it is now more or less the rainy season.

You can easily wind down the window and get some air during clear blue skies but when it's raining, you won't want to wind down the window (even if you need the fresh air) because you and your car interior will get really wet... and whether you wind down the window or not, your windscreen will get misted over.

So, people... make sure you check your and service your car aircon periodically.

I scream. You scream. Everybody Scream!

It's finally done. THE letter has been sent out... and I am tying up the loose ends.

Aside from that, things are starting to roll in the "JD project"... where the old student council gang will once again be part of an event management project... except this time it is more personal - Dan's wedding.

So what's my role in this? It's very much along what I did best back in college... deco. So yeah - I'm once again the deco lead.

And so... that's my once in a blue moon serious update for now... and until then... check out the books & shows that I've been feeding on.

On the Entertainment front:

• The most recent movies I've watched at the cinema are both comedies... namely The Break Up starring Jennifer Aniston & Vince Vaughn; and Click starring Adam Sandler & Kate Beckinsale. Although both movies had messages that are easy to relate to... the latter was something that definitely speaks loud and clear to me.

  Imagine waking up one day realizing that life has gone by and you have nothing that is personally enriching... scary!

• and not to forget... there's also the Japanese animated feature length movies Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbour Totoro and Pom Poko.

  p/s: I still have like another 10 of these movies to go... there was a really good deal at CD-Rama for a box set of it.

• The bookworm in me had been taking in a couple of books by Malcolm Gladwell - The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference and Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.

  If you are looking for general knowledge, a new view regarding how news travels and how "intuition" works... look no further. Read these!

Turning Point or...?

The one question that plays on my mind now is am I truly at a turning point or is it just because I'm way overworked?

Anyway, I know some of you may already know that I'm considering to change jobs... but before that... to take a few months off to chillout from the stresses of being in the corporate world.

I really do look forward to having a nice long break... and who knows? Maybe I'll find myself a minimal-wage kind of job for a few months. Maybe a place like Starbucks? I'm just thrilled at the idea of this.

---

Most Recently Watched Movie
~ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Most Recently Read Book
~ Everyone Worth Knowing, Lauren Weisberger

World Cup 2006 Finals Looms Ahead

GERMANY 3:1 PORTUGAL
read more from the official website

With the spectacular 3rd-4th placing game over and Germany having claimed the Bronze, it's now on to the moment that everyone has been waiting for... THE FINALS between Italy & France.

Contrary to Italy's (legendary forward) Del Piero's believe that France will win the cup because France has less pressure against them (i.e. Italy has the shadow cast on them over the alleged match-fixing scandal within the Serie A) - I believe that those same pressure points expressed by Del Piero may actually be the factor that drives them to go on to win the 2006 WC.

But then who knows? The world thought the finals could have been Germany vs. Brazil (but that didn't happen)... I had predicted that the Germans would get to the last 4 (and somehow didn't seem to think they could be in the last 2)... and so... to quote my mum... "The ball is round". So let's all wait and see!

The Career Makeover Test by Tickle

And so... I stole a few minutes to amuse myself by taking a test to find out what I'd be profiled into... and it turns out that I'd be best suited to be what it says down here:

You're a Physicist!

The Career Makeover
Brought to you by Tickle

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You're the type of woman who believes that everything is reducible to facts and figures. When you live by logic, as you do, and are challenged by a search for truth, unsolvable queries are the bane of your existence. You're a true data head. You're the brain the world calls when it needs to pad a case with facts, get the numbers to add up, or explore some scary, uncharted place like your hard drive or outer space. You're an independent thinker, and because you contribute viable solutions without wasting eons in collaborative brainstorming sessions, you're smart to keep on the payroll. As long as you're free to retreat to your library or lab to ponder in peace, you can unravel life's darkest mysteries.

Who's like you:
Marie Curie (famous scientist of radioactivity)

Likely careers:
Physicist, computer engineer, lab technician, astronomer, mad scientist

---

...now ...if only I had a degree in rocket science... everything would be hunky dory... or maybe I should aspire to be a Dana Scully (as in X-Files) of sorts.

The Short-Term Checklist

Watch Disney Pixar's Cars	-	check
Watch A Walk to Remember	-	check
Read JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	-	check
Read Lauren Weisberger's The Devil Wears Prada	-	check
Take a week of to chill out, doing nothing	-	check

FIFA World Cup begins!

Let's get the party started

...said the official WC website. Back home, we have the Star showing us photos of the opening ceremony in print... including one on Il Divo & Toni Braxton (accompanied by an orchestra) performing the official WC song, "Time of Our Lives".

BBC shows us the World Cup Opening in pictures while Expatica (Netherlands) describes the opening ceremony in words.

And it begins with a GOAL FEST!

Germany 4-2 Costa Rica. This match will go down in WC history as the first match with the most goals since 1930 when France won 4-1 against Mexico. The 1934 Italy 7-1 USA is not being counted it was 1 of 8 first round matches that were being played simultaneously.

Disclaimer: This information is a result from a little bit of reading... I'm no walking encyclopedia on football.

The most impressive play in this game must definitely be the run up to Germany's 2nd goal where Bernd Sneider (the acting skipper while Michael Ballack sits out on the opener on account of injury) used some fancy footwork to find his way out of a corner and fed the ball to Bastian Schweinsteiger in the area on the right. The ball was then crossed over to Miroslav Klose who had sprinted up to the left side of the post and GOAL!! And what a fantastic one it is to bring up the score to 2-1 in the 17th minute.

Birthday boy, Klose, later went on to celebrate his birthday by scoring another goal in the 61st minute... and setting his pace in the race for the WC 2006 Golden Shoe (overall top scorer).

For those who remember Rudi Voeller's team of 2002 - you will definitely notice a huge difference in the Mannschaft of Jurgen Klinsmann. Attack vs. an effective team with boring play. Yet danger looms for the German-side who have been rather slack in their defence.

The 2 goals scored by CR's dangerman, Wanchope, were the result of a huge slack in the German defence line... and a close-up of the expression on (German goalie) Jens Lehmann's face at both occasions shouts out a frustrated, "What were you guys doing when I needed the extra support?!"

But above all, the German team has done well and set to give an even more interesting show when Ballack returns to the fold. Can the host find their way to the Final again? We shall all wait and see.

Updates (in a nutshell)

Hmm... going down the list:

Books I've completed reading in the last 2 weeks

The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown Angels & Demons, Dan Brown the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, Mike Haddon All are interesting in its own way. Regardless of what people say about Dan Brown's work - I believe that we should just allow ourselves to read it as a fiction although there are elements of the real world being thrown in to colour the landscape. Mike Haddon's book on the other hand was interesting in the sense that it was written in a first-person account - through an autistic teenager's eyes.

Movies watched in the cinema within the last 7 days

Over the Hedge - is not something I'd say something I'd remember in the long run... hardly a match up to Shrek and Madagascar... but if anyone is wondering... the funniest scenes hover towards the end of the animation. The Da Vinci Code - the movie wasn't as bad as the critics put it. The cheekiness portrayed by Audrey Tautou as Sophie at the end is reminiscence of Audrey in the French hit movie, Amelie. My only complain is that one portion of the puzzle had been left out. X-men: The Last Stand - like the first 2 movies, the audio-visual effects put into the movie is best enjoyed in a cinema.

Three On (almost) Everything

Courtesy of the one and only Kalamari... I've been 'tagged' to do this... and for the first time... I'm not ignoring a tag to complete a questionnaire. Check it out!

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
1. Lynn
2. Suans
3. SL

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. My left eye
2. My right eye
3. All of me

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU DON'T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
Totally irrelevant.

THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
1. Chinese (predominantly)
2. Siamese (a miniscule fraction if I remember correctly)
3. Malaysian (in summary)

THREE THINGS YOU CAN'T STAND:
1. People who won’t help themselves
2. The horrid sight of trash sticking onto plants on the road divider along the coastal highway
3. The putrid smell of rotting stuff

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
1. The number of times I almost fall asleep while driving to work
2. Not having a personal life (read: a proper work-life balance)
3. Shocking and abrupt changes (the heart attack worthy kind)

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SHOWS:
1. Whose Line Is It Anyway
2. Desperate Housewives
3. CSI

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE JAPANESE ANIMES:
1. Cardcaptor Sakura
2. Prince of Tennis
3. You Are Under Arrest

THREE OF YOUR CURRENT FAVORITE SONGS:
1. Hips Don’t Lie - Shakira (love the beat!)
2. A Love That Will Last - Renee Olstead (love the jazz!)
3. Walk Away – Kelly Clarkson

THREE MOVIES YOU CAN WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN:
1. Chocolat
2. Les Choristes
3. Beautiful Boxer

THREE MOVIES YOU WOULD LIKE TO WATCH:
1. X Men 3: The Last Stand
2. Cars (the animation)
3. The Da Vinci Code.

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
1. Cleanse, tone, moisturize
2. Specs (or contacts)
3. Sanity check

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
1. Specs
2. Loose T-shirt
3. Bermudas

THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:
1. Trust
2. Respect
3. Understanding one another

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITE GENDER THAT APPEAL TO YOU:
1. Nice eyes
2. What about the ability to communicate on the same wavelength?
3. Okay... will need to pass on this

THREE BAD HABITS:
1. Forgetting to eat lunch
2. Resting specs on my head like a hairband (and forgetting that its there...)
3. Fidgetting

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
1. Reading
2. Listening to music
3. Watching movies

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
1. Sleep
2. Find out what I want from life
3. Being able to keep regular work hours would be a nice touch

THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING OR CURRENTLY PURSUING:
1. Corporate Relations/Communications
2. Information Systems related
3. Eventually... could be something else but I haven’t quite figured it out yet

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
1. Angkor Wat, Cambodia
2. New Zealand
3. Korea

THREE KIDS' NAMES YOU LIKE:
Huh? Probably those that are not extremely common.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
1. Travel to all over the world
2. Learn to speak in a few other languages
3. Experience living away from home.

THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A GIRL (or guy):
1. Am not a sports expert (but I’m into F1)
2. Big on skincare (the anti-zit campaign)
3. I can’t think of a number three

INITIALS OF THREE CRUSHES:
1. L
2. T
3. M

THREE PEOPLE YOU TAG TO DO THE SURVEY:
1. Jase a.k.a. Infinitium, coz I’m sure you will put an interesting spin to this
2 & 3. Anyone who is interested to adopt this questionnaire

Basic Science and Sanity

What if you can equate sanity down to a science?

Yes... sanity and science. It's not a far-fetched equation really. Or at least, I have a couple of friends who could relate to this theory that I was toying with. It goes something like this:

A. The Solid State

This is pretty self-explanatory. The molecules in solids are stable and makes up an obvious shape. In terms of sanity - solid state can represent someone of sound mind. Perfecto!

B. The Liquid State

The molecules within the liquid form are not as densely-packed as in a solid but nevertheless you can contain the liquid in a container to put some form to it. In terms of sanity - we can probably say that one is not yet insane but could be on the way of getting there.

C. The Gas State

The molecules within the gas form is most erratic - literally bouncing off the walls (read: losing your marbles). And hence the idea is very clear... the gas state is (you got it!) INSANITY.

Ferrari vs. Renault

Ferrari scored a win through Michael Schumacher at Nurburgring, a week ago, and it sure looked like Ferrari is back in action after clinching two consecutive races.

Yet 3 hours ago, it appears that the Ferrari team could still work on improving the performance of their machines as Fernando Alonso of Renault scored an easy win in Barcelona, becoming the first Spaniard to win a race in his home country.

Now, if you are asking me how the Barcelona F1 result is different from the results from the Imola and Nurburgring races, I'd probably tell you that the result this time round did not boil down to a battle of pit-stop strategies. It was all about who had the better race car and tyres.

Obviously, Ferrari just didn't have a comparable package this time round - Alonso was able to continuously clock fantastic lap times regardless of whether he had a full fuel load or not; and he grabbed the checkered flag 18 seconds ahead of Schumacher.

But what about the other teams? Judging from the performance of the other teams so far, it doesn't look very convincing other than the folks working for the Ferrari and Renault garage are able to have a real stab at the Drivers' Championship and Constructor's Title.

They will just end up being the bridesmaids unless they are able to come up with some miracles to come up to par with the top two teams.