This morning ...
I found...
A 5 inch long scratch on my front bumper, far right..
A dent next to the right headlight..
A gaping hole as a result of a dispositioned headlight..
A protuding headlight cover that will surely give me the advantage as if in a 100m sprint; two sprinters approaching the finishing line in what looked like a tight run, but in the end the one with a neck wins, cos he crossed the finishing line head first..

-_-'''

What You Call Travelling...

Not many of us have the privilege to travelling in and out of the country. For most people, it remains a dream until a time comes when your chance came.

Of course, there are plenty of travel agencies out there that offers attractive travel packages, which are affordable and covers most of the major attractions and must-see sites and landmarks of the each country.
No doubt that many would think that it is the best possible way to travel, in the most affordable way. To some, it is even better if the package offers visits to multiple neighbouring countries in the shortest time possible, at a minimal price.

Most of the pictures people snap are those of landmarks or famous sites, with them IN the picture of course, so that they can show the world that they have actually been to that place, with those pictures as proof. Hard
copy, if necessary.

How many of those people who brag and boast about their foreign experience actually learnt about the country itself? The different culture, the country's historical past, meaning of landmarks? I've heard of people who travelled around Europe in just 2 weeks, traversing and crossing borders of all the neighbouring countries, seeing all the things they should have seen while they were there, visiting all the sites and landmarks, snapped uncountable amount of pictures and so on...

When asked about what its really like being in that foreign land, common replies are mostly about the difference in the climate, oohs and ahhs about famous landmarks. Places they've been. Of which I'm pretty sure that all of us have read about, seen or heard in the wake of the internet, satellite tv and the easy access to information on other channels of the media. How many of them would be telling you about the difference in culture, how are they different from us and even the local delicacies. Must try food instead of must-be-seen-taking-picture with landmarks? Common. In fact I believe that everyone knows about famous
landmarks, so why share more of the same thing? Moreover, its just a pictures, like all others, and the only difference is that you're in it.

Of course all of these are just pieces of my mind. Before anyone wants to start throwing rotten eggs at me, perhaps you should ask yourself whether you really did learn anything more other than taking pictures with famous landmarks and crossing out more places on your list of Must-Go Countries?

I have to say that most tours that most agencies (read : all) out there only offer sightseeing tours of countries, I used the word sighseeing, because you are simply brought around,seeing places, perhaps learn about the famous place from what the tour guide has to offer. What if you get a rotten tourguide who only knew as much as a typical travel guidebook could offer?

Perhaps the best way to really learn about a country is to stay for a period of time. I've always admired those who had the luxury of studying abroad, who indirectly earned their chance of learning about an entirely
different culture, pick up a new language or two, learn about the place firsthand from the locals, and living like one of them. To even be learning about the street names and map the entire place in your mind
would be interesting. I'm not at all suggesting that we shun our home country for another, but I see travelling as an opportunity to learn more about other people, instead of just ourselves. Travelling can be eye
opener to alot of other things. Something that you cannot acquire and learn through books. You've got to be there to see and feel it for yourself.

As for me, I would not choose to travel to China, because I cant read. One of important things that helps you in finding your way and make a mental map of the place are the road signages. Not being able to read makes you feel like you're travelling blindfolded. Sis and Dad didnt get what I was trying to say when I told them that. They argued that I can always join tours offered by major travel agencies, cos most of the tourguides speak English. It's not like I cant understand Mandarin, just that I cant read. Not being able to understand wasn't the problem. Reading was. Not being able to tell exactly where you are on the map is next to travelling blindfolded.

It's frustrating at times when you constantly need people to translate the strokes of characters that doesn't make sense to you. Makes you feel handicapped. Plus, not everyone would actually take the time or have the
patience (or inequipped with enough knowledge to make the translation)(to translate the alien strokes to you you word for word, line by line. What I often get when asking people to read text messages written in complicated strokes of lines and curves, "AIyah..it's nothing one. Just a forwarded message." -_-''' I thought it would be better if they could just read them out to me, whether I understand it or not, rather than just tell me its nothing important (Hence the conclusion that not many people had the patience and expertise to do the translation). What amuses (and frustrates) me more is that, each time you try to ask someone to translate something, they are often at a loss of words. Which sometimes confuses me; its eitherthat person has such a vast vocab that he had difficulties finding the right replacement/ translation for a word, or he had limited vocab. Luckily I could still speak the language rather fluently, which makes up for the inability to read nor write.

Ignore if you are offended. High5, if you hear me out.

Mind of a Parking Ticket

You drive your car through the gates after you collect the parking ticket. Hunt around for a parking bay. "Stalking" shoppers spotted leaving the mall area to the parking lot. With a little stroke of good luck, you get a space before you even need to start stalking shoppers. Or spend minutes that tick away ever so quickly, while cursing under your breath on the car ahead of you who supposedly robbed you of the space that you've spotted from afar, which was rightfully yours (self claimed).

Then a lucky star came along, in the form of a shopper leaving the mall area, and walking towards that somewhere he parked his car at (Pardon the pronoun chosen (Him), just replace Him with Her if you were irritated by the fact that the Male are often regarded as the dominant gender.Whatever). So what we do when we see ourselves in such a situation is that, we car-stalk the shopper. Literal translation : we trail that guy and hope that he's leaving the place, not just walking towards his car and empty his shopping cart so that he can go back inside and buy more. (Malaysian style...) If he were to do the latter, he'd probably put a smirk on his face and waved at ya, handsignalling you that he ain't leaving just yet. (Perhaps at that point, you might wanna let loose some *beep* phrases...only to thank him for being such a nice considerate fella for letting you know before hand that he ain't leaving)

What are the odds that you lose your parking ticket even before you get into the mall? (read : drop it somewhere/simply lose it without you realising that it's gone..magically slipped through your fingers)

23 years of living, twice in my entire life, I misplaced (read : accidentally dropped) the parking ticket the moment I get out of the car. How can the same thing happened twice, both times when I was out with the same person (yes, you, the brokepocket halftermite), lost it in an almost a similar manner, both times at the parking lot?

It's almost hard to believe when I realised that I didnt have the ticket with me. Being a person of habits, it was almost a natural hand movement : to always put the ticket on the rubber mat thingy right in front of me, and to take it and slip it into my wallet first thing before I get out of the car, without fail.

I was spooked. SPOOKED. I was Completely Speechless. Words cant describe what I felt at that very moment I realise its happening again. It felt like it was a repeat of the first ever incident. Just that it was at a different location this time around, but it was the exact same story. I felt like banging my head against the wall. That is just silly. Sheer stupidity. Muahhaa..All I can do was to laugh it off, and thamby insisted that I should really blog about this..*slaps forehead*

Great day out. I discovered :
That all things black are considered Yuckie. Not edible.

The first CoffeeBean in KL that uses BM as the medium of speech. Rare sight and sound? There's always a start for everything. Perhaps this particular Franchisee believes in reaching out to customers, through the national language. Kudos. Two weeks old chocolate mud pie? Felt like tasting a piece of history. Yummy.

That we are supposed to look good enough for a timepiece to look good on ya wrist. Not the other way around. What I really meant was that, there are no such thing as an "ugly piece of work". To say that a particular TimePiece is not "cun" looking was as good as "you're not good enough for me, not the other way round".

*Enlightening..

Parking Incident

A : Eh..lu kelmalin park lu mia keleta sana ar, orang mau datang cali gaduh tau tak?
Me : *puzzled* Apa?
A : Kelmalin, lu pak lu mia keleta sana, lagi satu keleta datang nak pak tepi, saya kata tak boleh pak sana. Dia tanya kenapa lu mia boleh pak sana, dia mia tak boleh. Sudah mau datang cari gaduh lu tahu?
Me : *this is so F la..* Saya park sana tak block orang mia jalan, kalau dia park tepi saya dia block jalan orang la! You tak bagi tahu dia ka? Buat pa dia nak park tepi sayA? tempat lain tak ada ka? Boloh la dia.
A : Saya cakap sama dia, kata lu mia tak block jalan, dia sudah mau datang cari gaduh.
Me : Lu ada tumbuk dia ka? Kasi dia diam. *grins*
A : HAha. Takada la...Lain kali jangan pak sana la. Nanti olang cari gaduh, saya susah mia...

I want it too, because you have it.
I wanna eat this too, cos you're having it.
I wanna come along, because you're going.
I wanna park right next to you, cos you parked your car here!

WTF?!

I admit it was my fault cos I parked my car near a turn that was meant to be used to exit the parking lot. But I parked my car so nicely that a HUGE truck will have no problems passing by through without scratching/denting/crashing my car or others. Problem with the parking lot was that they didnt have lines that clearly define the parking bays. So we usually refer to the car next/in between a space and decide whether or not the car fits into the place.

Given my everyday experience with PS parking problems, I seize every opportunity (read : every inch of space) that my eye catches.

That donkey who insisted that He (I'm pretty sure that donkey's a He!) can park his car right next to mine is such a Moron. I'm already a half moron for parking my car there, and he wants to do the same thing and declare to the world that he's a complete Moron. If he were to park his car there, he will definitely be blocking the exit. What common sense does he need to make himself realise that?! Ugh.

Monkey see Monkey Doooo.

DVC Fever

Almost everyone got hit by the DVC fever. People flocking the bookstores, in frantic search for the bestseller, attempting to read (more like scanning through as fast as they could) the book before catching the most awaited movie of the year. Everywhere there were people holding copies of it, its a sold out. Even 2-3 days in advance. Thats how crazy people are about this movie.

Even those who normally wouldn't be caught dead reading a book join in the fray of last minute browsers/readers. 3 years back when the book was first published, most of the people out there weren't even bothered to read (except for fiction freaks and book lovers). Its the "in" thing; everyone is talking about it.

With increasing books-to-movies, comics-to-movies adaptions, at the rate it is going right now, we could only expect more to come in the near future. While animations seemed to have lost its appeal, book adaptions are taking over the silverscreen by storm.

With all the controversies surrounding the movie as well as the book, I reckon Dan Brown would be sitting back and enjoy the storm of controversies his bestseller managed to stir up.

Why is everyone making such a huge fuss over a novel? It only happened to be a brilliant novel written by genius writer. A piece so well written that it confuses the readers, get them lost in inside a story filled with clever blends of fact and fiction. What happens after one finishes the book is something very individual. Whether or not one let fiction becomes a fact does not matter to other people. This is something very individual. we cannot control what people can read or can't read, we cannot control what people can see or can't see.

If we were to say that faith towards a certain religion might change after reading the book, it doesn't work this way as faith always prevail over other elements that attempts to alter it. If it was that easy to shake a Faith that someone held, perhaps the question now is on the person's faith and beliefs,not on the book?

It's practically all over the news. The Church, Opus Dei, Albinos, Historians, fellow bookwriters, Plagarism and the list goes on.
By the way, reading all these stories are more interesting that reading about Bush and his plans. =P

Its a good book. There's no doubt about it. I guess people just have to kick back and relax a little. Life's is so much more fun than fighting over a novel.

When Cool Turns Cold

My unofficial claim that Low temperature prevents the body from functioning properly still stands (unofficially stood).
You do not need to get hypothermia to have malfunctioned brain and frozen limbs.
While hypothermia might lead to death, the accidental case of brain freezing is far from what defines hypothermia.
As opposed to natural coldness caused by seasonal changes (i.e Winter), accidental brain freezing is mainly caused by prolonged confinement in artificially cold air. (read : air-conditioning).

Cakes. Overly high temperature, you'll risk getting a burnt end product, inedible. Set it way too low, it might not rise nicely. Either way, you flunk baking.

Enzymes and other living organisms?
Just like many other living things on Earth, we; without exception, function the best at optimal temperature.

I'm freezing, uncomfortably cold...
While the hot sun leaves its scorching power on everything that catches its rays, it feels weird to be in this artificially cold office space. Not cool, its Cold.

Leone Bandito

Leone Bandito.
I drew this. I was holding Sis' marker, scribbling words of encouragement (Sis was going through a hard time with studies and exams) and scrawling things everywhere.
Then I lie on the floor as we were talking to each other, right next to a box where she kept her notes. Start to draw things on it, didnt anger her but laughed at my drawing skills. Kekek. Had a good laugh over it.
Draw something of your own. Amuse yourself.

Fly.Fm Troopers. Manage to grab a car sticker from them.

Seeing that smiley face simply makes my day. Damn, I'm so easy to please.

Half Pipe @ Surf Beach. Pro Skaters in action.

Ouch. I got another jab, left upper arm. *ouch*

Chance....or Choice?

Chance.... Or Choice?

When we meet the right person to love when we're at the right place at the right time. That's chance. When you meet someone you you're attracted to, that's not a choice. That's chance. Being caught up in a moment (and there's lot of couples who get together because of this) is not a choice. That's also a chance.
The difference is what happens afterwards. When will you take that infatuation, that crush, that mind-blowing attraction to the next level? That's when all sanity goes back, you sit down and contemplate whether you want to make this into a concrete relationship or just a fling.

If you decide to love a person, even with her faults, that's not a chance. That's choice. When you choose to be with a person, no matter what, that's choice. Even if you know there are many people out there who are more attractive, smarter, and richer than your mate, and yet, you decide to love your mate just the same, that's choice.

We may meet our soulmates by chance, but loving and staying with our soulmate is still a choice we have to make. Infatuation, crushes, attraction comes to us by chance. But true love that lasts is truly a choice. A choice that we make.

[taken from somewhere]
*
Simply mind blowing. I've read this long ago. Came across this again yesterday while I was clearing my Mailbox. Something worth sharing. =)

I got CheezeeeeeD!

I'm digging into my Melted CHeesecake.
Yum. It was supposed to be ChilledCheeseCake, but it melted. So what?
It still ends up in my stomach (then through the rest of my digestive system, you know what..)
Thanks to thamby + the delivery.
*I finish it, and I survived the day without any signs of food poisoning nor diarhoea. Kidding! You're the sweetest sh*t. =P

Akashi Kaikyo

Largest suspension bridge in the world, located in Kobe, Japan. (and also the most expensive)
I was watching a TV program on building this magnificient bridge.
The Japanese, are very much perfectionists.
Precise and accurate in every single inch of the structure.
They were the ones who came up with concrete that hardens in water, instead of dissolving like Panadol in water.
They also made the world's strongest cables, only made and produced in factories in Japan.
I'm amazed. I'm truly amazed.

*even sis who doesnt watch programs like this was amazed..haha

Uproarious Merriment

what was the craziest thing you ever did before?
Throwing away my first birthday present.
Thats silly.

I am amazed by how fast facial muscles could work to change an from an expression to another, in a blink of an eye. Both eyes.
Hopeless.
Ugh.

MobileConfessional. (as opposed to Dashbboard Confessionals)
MobileRanting?
Watever the name is.
I love the MobileConfessional. The name. I'm talking about the name.
Love how it works too.
OnlineConfessional?
Love this too. Power of words.
EmailConfessional?
Love this too. Words rules!

Perhaps people can come up with the term : MobileBitching?
Whether its about yourself or about others, its categorized under bitching.

Bitch about our lives.
Bitch about other's lives.
Bitch about every other person seen/never seen/heard of/never heard of.
Bitch about those who are living better lives.
Bitch about how much different the Numbers are on your payslips.

At the end of the day, you still go to sleep, get tucked in bed and have a sweetdream (or a nightmare).
Wake up the next day, you start your day the same way you did the day before, and bitch like you did the day before.
Worst part is that, you're still stuck where you were before, despite all those bitching.

Conclusion, bitching DOESNT work.

*pardon me

Saturday Through My Eyes

This morning...

Mr D: So whats wrong with you?
Me: Huh? I wanna do a blood test..
Mr D: Oh? Why so? Why do you need a bloodtest?
Me: Cos I thought that I should get one after 23 years of living; eating food besides homecooked food which is probably not so "clean" but downed them all anyway. After so many years, I guess its time to find out about my health status..
Mr D: Rite..
(Mr D mumbles to his assistant )
*takes out a medical glove, tied it around my arm
*tap tap Tap TApTAP TAP TAP ..
Mr D: AIks..right arm .. cannot (mumbles..what happen to your veins..)
*ties glove on left arm..TAP TAP TAP
Mr D: Ahh..ini boleh..
Mr D: You always do things with your left arm?
Me: I'm a righthander..
Mr D: But the veins in your left arm are more visible.
Me : +.+''' (thinking that I play badminton with my right hand??)
*takes a sterilized syringe... and tries to draw blood from my left arm as I looked
*after a while..blood ... came in drops.. =.+''' DROPS! damn..
Mr D: Rather small vein.. not good..
*removes syringe..
Mr D: Can we draw blood from here? (points at my the back of my palm)
Me: Yeah..sure
*takes out a smaller version of a syringe comprising only the needle, covered in a plactic case Thing(which I forgot the name, although I did ask what that Thing is) and another syringe
Mr D: So you watch this here, I'm gona put this in and take the needle out
Me: Ok..
Mr D: OK.. GOOd. Ball your fists and release slowly. Clench and release. Clench and release.
Me: Rite..
*now I see blood..oozing out..*grins* I'm such a sicko..
Mr D: Alright, we're done..
Me: When can I get the results?
Mr D: You can come back on Thursday.
Me: Alright.
Mr D: I'll need your urine.
Me: Grins. Yeah. Of course you do.
Mr D: You can pass it to my Girl at the dispensary.
*I gave a puzzled look
Mr D: My assistant. Hehe
Me: Grins. ( +.+''') *his girl? kekkeke..

He's a funny guy..

This morning...
I send my car to the workshop.

This morning..
I had my coffee fix..ahh...syok.

This morning...
In an enclosed space 25 floors up in the sky, I was shot in the face. Verbally.
But despite using the word Shot, I didn't feel anything. I'm too calm a person to be bothered about petty things like that. *grins*

Good day, People. Its a bright sunny day. Too bad Malaysia lost in the semi finals yesterday. And its too bad that I missed it, spending time in the office investigating problems faced. But I get a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction from what I do. It feels good.

When Fear is a Factor

Most of the time we tend to avoid things that we fear most. Learnt to avoid things we didn't like.
What if for once, you chose to face it? To deal with it, just so that you can get a better understanding as to why it remained a factor to be feared after so long.

What you see on FearFactor, which deals mostly with physical fears, creepy crawlies (including eating them) and downing disgusting "food"(which I must agree that it challenges the Mind and mental strength as well), feels somewhat different from your very own fear Factors.

We learn by dealing with it. Not to hide and run away from it.

Two Sides of Every Story

Every said and done has consequences that comes as a result of it.
Jealousy comes as the effects of Love.
Then comes Rage, Hatred and Anger.
Somethings that brings benefits to others, tend to bring hardships to others.

Alor Setar is well known for its traffic jams. No, not because of the traffic volume; it was solely caused by traffic lights. The Gov/MPKS (or whoever is responsible) took steps necessary to make most of the streets a Oneway. While motorists benefited from this move taken by whoever-is-responsible; for others, they see their business go down the now oneway street, and never come back. Sealing off part of the streets, simply means business is Less likely to come easy.

Talk about bad locations for shoplots. Inaccessible? Hardly accessible means people are less likely to drop by, cos its hard to make a "drop-by". Haha. So be extra cautious when you are looking for places, make sure its Easy for people to dropby! Perhaps they even bought that shoplot for a cheaper price, because its inaccessible, as compared to those nearer to the entry point. Hmm...

Heard about all these from Mum and Grandma. I just listen and thought..hmm..true enough +.+
Just one of the things that we sometimes overlooked. You might want to tell me that "Its not really my problem" but then again, its a simple example which proves that there are two sides of every story. Positive and negative.

I was heading to town on Sunday (in AlorSetar), it was drizzling. From where I was, I could see the Telecom Tower, the tallest structure in AS. I was looking at it, as I drive, and all of a sudden, lightning struck the tip of the tower. I've seen pictures of lightning striking tall buildings, only pictures, but for the first time, I saw it with my very own eyes. I was awe-struck. Unlike most of the lightning bolts I've seen, mostly from afar, this one was just 200m away. Blindingly bright and Fat bolt.

The next time that came into thought was about those people who were struck dead by lightnings. Burnt, charred, blackened remains of a human body. Seeing that Huge Fat bolt striking the tower, its hard to imagine anyone could survive such a hit. Hmm.

Nightingale

VRrrrrrOOOmmm..
Vrom vrom vrom vrom vrom vrom vrrrrooooooooommmmmm!

Sound of power. Men and machinery. Circuit racing, men and their machinery, were the main reason people watch. That's the reason it is hailed as the World's Hottest Race. Speed and Sound.

Thats top notch racing.

Other than that, the rest are called Trunk Road racers competing in trunk road races. (as defined by me). Whichever road with the slightest sight of being straight in a trunkroadracer's definition, is a race track. Just like NFS, more obstacles makes it a more difficult race, therefore, racers clearly has to be equipped with a quick wit and a daring soul, along with adequate skills to maneuver their little machinery. Under the cover of darkness (besides being lit up by lampposts that lined the roads), thats where the show begins.

Well..its not like people flock around to see them in action. Not most of the time. The reason that people don't actually watch these "races" would be because of the choice or racetime, which would be probably waaaaaaay past midnight.. (plus its not that..legal..you know what I mean)

Well..despite the fact that I; who doesnt have any interest at all to see all these night time races, still have to suffer from it. Vrooming at midnight would be the last thing you wanna hear when you were trying to get some sleep?! Hello! Its the middle of the night when its just right that people go to bed!

Vroooooom Vrm vrom vrooom vrooooom vrom vroooooooom..

I wont be surprised if all those vrooming ended with a loud sound of metal crashing against the ground. A loud thud? a loud explosion, end up in a fiery inferno? I think I would be smiling as I held my fluffy pillow close to me and have a sweet dream. (gosh im so evil).

I see that Malaysians are at their best at utilizing everything that's given to them.

Tagged by the Bloody Rodent

1) My mother once: baked alot of choco cookies for me just so that it'll last me til the next trip back to alorsetar.

2) Never in my life: I thought I'd do what I did

3) When I was five: I was that little kid who loves running around so much.

4) High school was: spent touring around malaysia for tournaments

5) I will never forget: the sweet memories I had while touring with the team

6) I once met: Asha Gill at IKEA

7) There's this person I know who: is obsessed with numbers.

8) Once, at a bar: I got a peck on the cheek by a transverstite..

9) By noon I'm usually: hungry.

10) Last night I: had another weird dream that I couldnt remember.

11) If I only had: ... I'm thankful for everything I've had.

12) Next time I go to salon: I'm gona dye it again.

13) Brad Pitt: Angelina.

14) I like: to see myself go somewhere from where I am right now.

15) When I turn my head left, I see: my bed.

16) When I turn my head right, I see: stereo set

17) You know I'm lying when: ...

18) In grade school: I spend alot of time playing sports

19) If I was a character written by Shakespeare: hamlet

20) By this time next year I: wanna be touching the sky.

21) A better name for me would be: I love my name.

22) I have a hard time understanding: why people love comparing themselves to others

23) If I ever go back to school I'll: try understand the Malaysian history, and addmath

24) You know I like you if: you catch me stealing glances, look away when being looked at when out in a group.. the rest, im not gona state here..

25) If I won an award, the first person I'd thank would be: mum and dad

26) I hope that: every step that im taking right now is gona take me where I want to be.

27) Take my advice: Nothing comes easy.

28) My ideal breakfast is: cereals and milk.

29) A song I love, but do not have is: Im in downloading business for quite some time. Whoops.. wil i get caught?

30) If you visit my hometown, I suggest: we go to langkawi, island hopping

31) Tulips, character flaws, microchips & track stars: Im not really a flower person. My flaws makes me human. Microhips were the best thing ever revolutionised, and trackstars? wtf is that?

32) Why won't anyone: stop asking me who Serena C is?

33) If you spend the night at my house: you'll be surprised at how early the rest of my family go to bed

34) I'd stop my wedding: ...

35) The world could do without: Nuclear weapons. Bombs. We can go Green.

36) I'd rather lick the belly of a roach than: being backstabbed.

37) My favorite is: uncountable.

38) Paper clips are more useful than: hairclips.

40) And by the way: I'm not what you think I am.

41) The last time I was drunk: I never got pissed drunk before.

42) My grandmother always: tell me stories on the Japanese occupation.

43) I'm tagging: thamby, Zu! and whoever that owns a blog.