omg it's coming right at us!

breakfast #1 (5am) = a zone bar
breakfast #2 (7am) = another Zone bar

"brunch" (12.30n) = 1 pt of Ben&Jerry's Dublin Mudslide

"lunch" (6pm) = 2 small bowls of cheerios & silk soy milk

"dinner" (10pm) = About a quarter of a slab of Entenman's cheese-filled coffee cake

yummmmm can we say HEALTHY?!

* * * On to other news...

Hey, I may be getting the hang of Chicago, or at least a small part of the Loop area! I wasn't immediately lost/disoriented when getting off the L! I actually knew where west was!! Whoohooo!!! [don't laugh... in Malaysia streets are NOT laid out in a grid pattern! I'm too used to things NOT making sense!!!]

Good news too - it took a while, but in the end I kinda found the "jewelry" needed to "match" the "outfit" I have planned out for next week. I found it - at Claire's LMAO! Classy/high-maintenance, I am not, waahahahaaaaa!

Oh that reminds me - the past two times I've been on laundry duty, I feel my IQ points drop lower and lower... becuase the tv seems to be stuck on oh-so-intelligent shows like Jerry Springer [the "weddings" theme included this guy who's engaged to three women, and all three of them were appearing ont he show thinking they were gonna be married on the JS show. I think I heard the thump/clunk of my IQ while folding clothes!!] and Divorce Court [this woman who says she is a princess, a perfect ten, and therefore is deserving of hundreds of bucks' worth of new clothes every month week and she can't understand why her husband would actually *gasp* cut her off! She was so self-centered i just pray it was all an act for tv because if this person was for real, omg, she should be shot dead in an attempt to clear the gene pool a bit!!]

In other news, it's quite a relief that Ernesto didn't end up being the badass hurricane he was feared to be... tho I think tomorrow we'll be starting to feel his effects anyways - rain expected over the next few days. So it may be a wet start to the Labor Day weekend. Not that I/we have anything planned - i think Kosh is on call, and besides, he's got some applications to submit for another round of matching into a preferred ENT program. Of course, right now, Kosh is passed out on couch. Poor fella!

We were watching South Park Season One - the pink eye episode was still a good laugh :-)

Oh - then there was a few days ago where we finally watched Memento. Okay so we kinda knew what to expect because we'd gotten this after watching Butterfly Effect and enjoying it, then having a friend pooh-poohed it saying Memento was much better. Heh. I dunno about "better". Certainly warrants a re-watch to see if you could figure out what was going on if you had the advantage of having the end [beginning?] in mind. But not immediately lah. Oh, and thanx to looking these movies up on imdb, I've found out that there's a sequel to the butterfly effect due out in 2007? Hmmmm. Will it pick up where the first ended?? Might be worth a watch [on rental lah].

Speaking of rentals... ugh... Chicago is, errr,,, too cultured!! Within the entire Chicago Public Library system, there are NO Buffy DVDs! I suppose Netflix would be a good alternative [Kosh has said we've got this free trial offer thingy we need to take advantage of soon], if I want to complete my Buffy education. I think I made it up to Season 5. Two seasons to go! And I *so* wanna see the end-end, and how that dropped Spike into the Angel cast the following season. Yes, I like Spike, so sue me! :p

On that note... I suppose I'll help myself to another slab of cake, then get Kosh awake so he can go sleep in bed instead of the couch.

Cheers!

Forty-nine years,,, but how many the wiser?

Malaysia turns 49 on August 31st, 2006.

Although... technically... on August 31st 1957, the country was known as the Federation of Malaya, and consisted of only the states on the Malay Peninsula [that finger just south of Thailand].

It was only on 16th September 1963 that Sabah, Sarawak [on the island of Borneo] and the island of Singapore merged with The Federation of Malaya, to become Malaysia. [Singapore subsequently withdrew in 1965].

But that's... that's.... that's... minor.... Malaysia celebrates its independance on 31st August... even though technically Malaysia was only born on 16th September. But shhhhhhhh! Pointing that out might get you in trouble with the powers-that-be! "Sensitive" or something, may affect the unity of the country or something. Whateverlah. If we'd kept the name of the Federation of Malaya, then fine... but "Malaysia" only came into existence on 16th September 1963.

Why should Sabah&Sarawak be the only states celebrating Hari Malaysia [Malaysia Day] on 16th September??

If nothing else, the powers that be are kinda addressing this by declaring 16 August - 16 September as Merdeka [independance] month - that's been going on for a few years now... and the big celebrations in the middle of this "month" looks like a good compromise... but... technically... the big bang should happen on 16th September, should it not??

So... after you read all that... kinda funny to see that Wikipedia describes Malaysia as "... a federation of 13 states in Southeast Asia, formed in 1963" ... hmmmmm now *why* would I think that that particular wiki entry is not officially sanctioned by the Malaysian Government??

Oh - something else to ponder upon:

According to the CIA Factbook on Malaysia [thanx, Marcia!], the Malaysian Flag design [14 equal horizontal stripes of red (top) alternating with white (bottom); there is a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a yellow crescent and a yellow 14-pointed star; the crescent and the star are traditional symbols of Islam] was based on the flag of the US.


Heh.

Really?

I've always found it "neat" that the Malaysian & U.S. flags looked similar, but never have I heard/read that one was based on the other.


Whaddaya think? U.S. arrogance? Malaysian cover-up?

Eh, probably a bit of both.

Well, whatever it is... Malaysia has a long way to go in making the country a true to home to the 49% of people who are of the "wrong" race [and therefore religion].

Happy pseudo-birthday, Malaysia - here's hoping you get wiser as you age, as opposed to getting more and more set in your ways.

Rain rain go awayyyyyy!

Okay so it's more like a heavy drizzle.

... but it's been doing that ALL DAYYYYYYYY!!

* * * *

Anyways... so today was my appointment with that poor Personal Shopper person. The poor guy was made to work work work but in the end the session was a bust - i kept gravitating to a black jacket & skirt... and if I'm gonna end up in black then I might as well make do with my existing wardrobe!!

But, a good thing about the whole almost 2-hour session, was that I'd gotten some momentum and inspiration to actually check out what was on the racks, and to try some stuff on... So with a certain something in my existing wardrobe in mind, I found a certain top that should go with it, plus a belt. I suppose my theme will be black with some light green & silver.

We'll see how it all comes together: will try the combo on... after I shower and wash the rain heavy drizzle outta my hair!

Kinda cool that Kosh is on call, so he won't see what I've got in mind, teeheehee!

But gawsh I do hope this works... i do *not* wanna spend more time hopping in and out of clothes in dressing rooms... urgh!!

* * * *
On a totally different note: There's this page with some celebrities' yearbook photos... I usually suck at identifying them, but there was this one on the 4th Row, 2nd from the Left - I immediately dismissed as Matt Damon.

[I have to admit that I [well, Kosh and I] dismiss Matt Damon almost instinctively due to conditioning from watching Team America, teeheehehe!]

Anyways - go check out that picture on Row #4 2nd from the Left. (HERE)

That look like Matt damon to you?

Now, go see the real answer on the bottom of that page.

ROTFLMAO I was *so* wrong!

And how ironic, eh? One of my fave people in this world and I didn't recognise him immediately, LOL!

lbs > IQ

So nowadays when I hit the gym, I end up doing about 30mins / 300 cals on the elliptical thingy.

Then I usually follow that up with 2 or 3sets x 12 reps on the weight machines - no idea how long I take / how many cals burned.

All I know is, just like when I was in KL - my weight just seems to maintain where it is. On hand hand yay no gain. On the other hand urgh no loss!

I really would like to weigh less [in lbs] than my IQ.

Now, according to this Calorie Calculator, if I entered the info right, I need to be burning an additional 900 cals a day to be losing weight. And that's if I'm already doing an hour of "other" activities on a daily basis. Which I aint. Those gym visits are maybe 4x/week if I'm really good about it! I know, I just need to be a wee bit more active and just go out and explore the city or something... especially before it gets too cold, eh?

Or find some people to play tennis with!!!!!!!!!!! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh! I miss tennis!!!

On a related note - it's Agassi's farewell at the U.S. Open this year... man oh man, I remember totally digging his rebellious ways, neon green and black shorts ensemble, flowing locks of hair... and his tennis was pretty good too! All the best Andre, you will be missed. I'll be rooting for you to go out with a bang and win the title one last time. Cheers, dude!

The Checklist Meme and other things

From Kevin a few days ago:

The Checklist Meme

Just bold the things you have accomplished in your life.

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with wild dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain - Mount Kinabalu, baby!
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said "I love you" and meant it
9. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris - hardly counts tho, I was so young I remember almost nothing!
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower - yeah then I watched the meteor towel itself dry before putting on some flaming hot suit LMAO
23. Gotten drunk on champagne - just about every semester at the Alpha Chi Sigma initiation party - Cook's American Spumante baby!
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can - I was going to say no, until #34 came up...
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse - turn around bright eyes....
34. Ridden a roller coaster - with hands up and screaming my lungs out getting the maximum rush baby!
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment - it would be sad if no one has ever felt that, ever, if even for just a moment!
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states - I cry foul! US-centric question!! I've visited *all* states in Malaysia [including the state of denial], does that count?
41. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
42. Had amazing friends - I'm reluctant to label people too extremely, in either direction...
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country - on that crummy cruise ship in #94
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs - doesn't everyone??
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day - ah, the benefits of being a jobless bum...!
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater - yes, but was it in Oklahoma with my then-bf, or with NoAir when visiting her in Arkansas, or both?
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business - no, but the Malaysian Income Tax idiots seem to think so!
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken - Heh, not to jinx this, but yeah, wif Kosh!
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class - Tae Kwon Do [out of practice, was never really *that* qualified, yadda yadda yadda] 1st Dan black belt baby!
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married - ask me in two weeks!
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo - soooooo tempted, but nope!
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an expert
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage - all those times in school, that counts, right?
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark - i've had shark's fin soup, does that count?
88. Eaten fugu (pufferfish)
89. Had a one-night stand
90. Gone to Thailand - just Bangkok, for tennis
91. Bought a house
92. Been in a combat zone
93. Buried one/both of your parents
94. Been on a cruise ship - it cruised up the Rhine in crummy April weather
95. Spoken more than one language fluently - English, Malay, Manglish, French...
96. Performed in Rocky Horror Picture Show
97. Raised children
98. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication - so far I've written ONE article.. not *quite* there yet!
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart - probably too many times to count
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone - remind me to blog about this...
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon - not quite, just to one of the plateaus about 1 hr from the top
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat - crocodile, emu, and yeah i think the 3rd was 'roo - Oz @ Jan 2004
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey
135. Selected one important author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair - sure, many times! My fave shade is Light Copper.
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone's life

What have you done?

I count 38.5 out of 150 (25.6%).

But you know what, I'd like to know who has the "authority" to define these 150 things as noteworthy lifetime "accomplishments" ... so many are things i wouldn't really be bothered with anyway, LOL! But what the heck, was fun for meMEmememeME to do it, hopefully not too many of y'all fell asleep through it all...

Tag yourselves all you want, y'all!

* * * *
Other Things:

1. Today is the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's destructive visit to the U.S.

2. Kept falling asleep during meditation this morning, LOL!

3. Crummy weather today, guess I'm staying indoors :-(

Hairy & Fowl tales

This is one lame pic. But it tells the story.

The story of the badly-draining bathtub.

Which wasn't so bad before, but once I got here what with my long hair and the fact that I was/am shedding or something, it slowly got worse and worse...

to the point where unless you took a lightning fast shower, you were gonna be standing in a few inches of greywater. Ugh.

Yesterday the maintenance guy finally turned up to clear it out, whoohooo!

So after that, i tried to remember to not allow my hair to get into the drain again... so draped the loose hair on the wall instead.

Yum!

But hey, it's probably not clear at all - but that is actually a work of art! There's a female lying back with wild hair around her head giving birth to The Scream.

Seriously!

Now on the shopping list: bathtub drainage protector thingy.

* * * *
Last night was the SECOND aborted attempt to go to Greek Town for dinner with KTN: the first time Kosh got back at almost 10pm instead of 7pm. This time we'd postponed the meet from 5 to 7pm, hung out a bit, then made our way there,,, only to find the roads cordoned off - for some greek Festival going on this weekend! If we'd known about it we'd have planned accordingly, gone earlier, etc etc etc... as it was, we kinda circled around a bit, then decided we'd just head elsewhere.

Where?

Penang restaurant, in Chinatown - a Malaysian restaurant. LOL!

I gotta say, their belacan fried rice is pretty good!

And they serve roti canai as an appetiser??!! ROTFLMAO

KTN's Kari Sayur [vegetable curry] was okay, but overall curriness was not as good as the little bit of curry served with the roti. Kosh tried the crispy onion duck - which was surprisingly edible! I've tasted duck twice before, and both times have just been barely able to swallow the gamey smokey ickky fowl taste [pun intended], but this time around, I would have been hard-pressed to identify the dead animal as a duck.

Walked up and down one part of Chinatown - I'm surprised at how NOT happening the place was,,, I suppose I assumed it would be like Petaling Street or Chow Kit or something :p

So... that Greek Town meal? Maybe 3rd time'll be the charm?

* * * *

Today ... champagne & orange juice and leftover belacan fried rice! For breakfast! Yum!

Weekend email Laugh

I'm hoping I won't be actively bloggin this weekend. Kosh is actually off of work sometime this noon, and Sunday! so we'll actually have the potential of some quantity time?! whoohooo! :-)

So, to tide you over, dear reader, here's a recently received email joke that had me laughing so hard:

Are you a Democrat, Republican or Southerner?

Here is a little test that will help you decide.

The answer can be found by posing the following question:

You're walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children. Suddenly, an Islamic Terrorist with a huge knife comes around the corner, locks eyes with you, screams obscenities, praises Allah, raises the knife, and charges at you.

You are carrying a Glock, cal. 40, and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family. What do you do?

..................................................................

Democrat's Answer:

Well, that's not enough information to answer the question! Is the man poor! Or oppressed? Have I ever done anything to him that would inspire him to attack me? Could we run away? What does my wife think? What about the kids? Could I possibly swing the gun like a club and knock the knife out of his hand? What does the law say about this situation? Does the Glock have appropriate safety built into it? Why am I carrying a loaded gun anyway, and what kind of message does this send to society and to my children? Is it possible he'd be happy with just killing only me? Does he definitely want to kill me, or would he be content just to wound me? If I were to grab his knees and hold on, could my family get away while he was stabbing me? Should I call 9-1-1? Why is this street so deserted? We need to raise taxes, have a paint and weed day and make this a happier, healthier street that would discourage such behavior. This is all so confusing! I need to debate this with some friends for a few days and try to come to a consensus.

..................................................................

Republican's Answer:

BANG!

...................................................................

Southerner's Answer:

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! click.....

(sounds of reloading).

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! click

Daughter: "Nice grouping, Daddy! Were those the Winchester Silver Tips or Hollow Points?"

Son: "Dad! Can I shoot the next one!"

Wife: "You ain't taking THAT to the Taxidermist!"

Not sure where I'd fit in this 3-choice definition, LOL!

this had me stumped! [plus GOOD NEWS!]

figure THIS out, why don't ya?
(H/T: Andrew Hilkowitz)



Okay so I spent too much time calculating the area of a triangle that *gasp!* isn't a triangle even tho it damn well LOOKS like one! Slippery slopes indeed!

Want the answer instead of allusions? see here.

* * * *

Hey - on another note? Kosh owes some MAJOR favours now [bro, please take note - MORE/EVEN NICER CHOCOLATE BRIBE/TOKENS NEEDED!] [oh - and happy birthday to yooouuuuuuuu!], cos someone higher up reached down and rearranged next month's work schedule such that that weekend we need *is* Kosh's weekend off! Just found out like five minutes ago. Whoohoooo!! So at least the whole event is not going to feel like a "contrived for parents" affair anymore, and may in fact be what I'd hoped it would be. [of course, even tho the "walls" have been taken away, doesn't mean the memory of being backed into a corner disappears with them! But that's another story].

Next on the agenda? First, a related/allusionary [is that even a word?] story:

One time, back in bandcamp high school, my "gang" and I put on a dance number - it was a "set-up" thingy I'd thought up, where we had like 6 pairs of people dancing to the painfully slow and totally unhip Put Your Head On My Shoulder, had them spin the partner out, and had one of them accidentally/on purpose let go of the partner so that she bumped into someone else and screamed and interrupted the dance. Upon which the song would change to Twist and Shout and we'd boogey to the song right till the end. Now, the first set had me in the front as the "crooner", and during all the practice sessions we had, I'd turn around and end up kinda choreographing the "twisting" session, making sure the rest of the dancers we getting their steps right. Then, on the performance day itself, we were up there on stage, I did the croon, she did the scream, the music got switched, and i suddenly realised I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DOING! I'd been so involved making sure the others had their parts down pat, I'd forgotten about myself! At least we'd had the vague idea of my being "the singer-cum-guitarist" [said guitar being my tennis racquet, lol!], so my tennis racquet was there on hand... so i just kinda mimed the words to the song while tennis-guitaring around the stage while everyone else went through their well-rehearsed [and should I add, well-supervised? heehe] steps.

No worries, t'wasn't a big deal for me performance-wise, I could wing it with no problem... but it was definitely a shock to me to realise that I'd been blind to such a glaring hole in the sequence!

... and that is *so* me too: getting all caught up making sure others are on board, to the expense of my *own* arrangements...

... like, oh, wondering what I'm even gonna want to wear for that day that's coming up.

rotflmao.

good thing I know that no matter what I choose to wear, it won't meet with approval from most of the attendees [oh come on.. me???? in a dress???? you have GOT to be kidding, okay?!! make-up? hair??!!!??!?! eh??? what planet you from again?], so I'm aiming just to please myself. I have an appointment with a Personal Shopper on Tuesday 29th August, we'll see if he has any miracles for me. Otherwise it might just be jeans & our Meat Loaf t-shirts to mark the occasion, wouldn't THAT be a sight?! I'd do it too!!

[Hey Karl, I bet you wish I had video footage of that dance of my teenage years to share, eh? Maybe it might've been a rival to your Springfield / OK Go vids? Oh wait, I wasn't wearing boxers, ROTFLMAO!]

Blog Appreciation Day

It's such a great idea, and it got bigger with lots of other people hopping on board! ... but I can't participate in showing my appreciation for the blogs I do read... My phone can take pix, but it can't talk to Kosh's Mac via the cable hookup thingy; neither is there a bluetooth connection on this puter; nor IR; so no way to share any pix of your blogs on my [Kosh's] screen.

Bummer.

Maybe next time, eh?

* * *
[btw, to all: thanx for all the b-day greets!]

NOBODY puts baby in a corner!

Unfortunately, there's no happy ending like in Dirty Dancing that I can see right now.

You know, I tried to give certain parties [one in particular] a heads-up for an upcoming event while qualifying that things were tentative, not set in stone.

And watched in horror as things just got totally out of control.

And the cherry on top? Finding out just today that Kosh does NOT have that particular day off.

Now, if that certain party had not gone crazy and bought plane tickets already, I wouldn't think twice about rescheduling [no denying I'd be a bit sad, cos that date was kinda significant, but hey, I know I have to be practical mah!] our event - after all, NOTHING was set in stone.

Except somehow it *did* get set in stone by others. By their actions of cancelling presentations. Of buying tickets. Things that were not meant to be done until things were certain. But they were done anyway.

So even tho Kosh's now-known schedule for September shows two other workable dates, we feel constrained [backed into a corner, if you will, hence the title of this post] to make the "original" date work by hook or by crook because certain parties have already shelled out tons of dough on plane tickets to get here. And you and me know that chances are very high that these tickets are not changeable once issued, eh? Or, changeable but you pay thru the nose...

But hey, ever the optimist [haha] I'm now waiting for responses to see if there is any chance of changing the tickets anyway.

Can't hurt to ask.

But in the meantime, I'm going to have to go with the worst-case scenario of Kosh not having the day/weekend off and therefore having family visit for a faux-event.

Oh what fun.

okay, in reality, Kosh probably could get that particular day off, but that would involve poor low man on the doctor totem pole calling in favors he doesn't even really HAVE yet, y'know?

Like I said before - i will be SO GLAD when this is all over.

I *so* need like twenty tubs of Dublin Mudslide right now.

Would probably taste salty tho.

Bah.

[silver lining? at least the news came today instead of yesterday and ruining the day]

[btw - no worries, I ain't obsessing on this... after all, I'm taking steps to address all this - finding out options, then going from there. But right now? Right now I really just need to sit and steep in some rage, because I feel like hollering I TOLD YOU SO wondering if it can be heard all the way to Malaysia]

'tis msLeo's day!

August 22 is the 234th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (235th in leap years), with 131 days remaining.

Find out from Wiki all about various Events, Births, Deaths & Holidays and observances for this date.

Which happens to be my birthday :-)

And I share it with:

1964 - Mats Wilander, Swedish tennis player
1904 - Deng Xiaoping, leader of the People's Republic of China (d. 1997)

Perhaps a sign of my golden aura [despite my dislike for (yellow) gold (I prefer silver / platinum / white gold)], I found out that:

22 August 1851: Gold discovered in Australia
22 August 1926: Gold discovered in Johannesburg, South Africa

... and here's a blogthings birthday thingy:

Your Birthdate: August 22

You tend to be understated and under appreciated. You have a hidden force to do amazing things, doing them your own way. People may see you as strange and shy, but they know little. Your unconventional ways have more power than they (and even you) know. Your strength: Standing up for what you know is true Your weakness: You tend to be picky and rigid Your power color: Silver Your power symbol: Square Your power month: April

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

see??! I *wasn't* imagining it!!

I found it! "it" being yet another random thing from my early impressionable tweenage years...

Just click play. Trust me!

NOW you understand why that tune has stayed in my brain for decades??

How can it *not*, eh?

Man, Brit pop was L. A. M. E. at one point, eh?

,,,,, lame, and yet,,, strangely memorable...

[hope I haven't emotionally scarred anyone by exposing them to Black Lace!]

All together now! And get those actions memorised! This is better than the chicken dance! And easier than the Time Warp!!

Agadoo-doo-doo
push pineapple
shake the tree
Agadoo-doo-doo
push pineapple
grind coffee
To the left
to the right
jump up and down and to the knees
Come and dance every night
sing with the hula melody!

[more of the lame-o lyrics here]

... to quiet the mind ...

... it's quite the challenge.

it's also kinda amusing to see/observe the thoughts that run through your mind when you're trying to not think of anything.

I'm not keeping track of how long i take when I do take the time out of my oh *so* busy schedule of a jobless bum to sit down and meditate, nor do I beat myself over the head with guilt if I don't do it at least once a day... but hey, this morning's session was pretty cool. I managed to kinda disassociate myself such that I was kinda observing my thoughts rather than getting caught up by them. I forget what the thoughts actually were about, I just remember being quite amused :-)

I am reminded of the other side of the coin, when I was first exposed to Sahaja Yoga and was doing this solo-meditation,,, and got freaked out because at one point, I "saw" something red which seemed to come right at me, I "heard" like a roaring in my ears, and it was really freaky. So far nothing like that now, I think I'm a lot more "balanced" than I was in 2002 when I had this freaky encounter. Did I mention I found it freaky? Not meant in a literal sense, but I think I've gotten rid of a lot of demons between then and now. Besides, with a group meditation session on Saturdays, i think it helps keep me a bit more grounded/connected than if I was just kinda on my own all the time.

Anyways - this morning I did "regular" meditation plus a bit of "cleansing of the left side" .... if I feel the urge later this evening, I'll try out the "cleansing of the right side", after all, that's where there seems to be more "blockages" - whaddaya expect - that deals with the future, and remember I'd alluded to loads of stress that's probably gonna mount till maybe the 13th of Sept or so? Anything to help me deal with it without a meltdown will be g.r.e.a.t.!

Not gonna be blogging/surfing too much today. Feel like curling up with a good book, or getting caught up a bit more on those DaVinci's Inquest recordings, heehehhe!

Ciao!

Random Sunday Ramblings

So we got the futon... no champagne yet tho: the mattress we ordered isn't quite what we'd wanted. Kosh is fine with keeping it, I'm kinda keen on getting the one we meant. We'll see.

Saw this ridiculous bit of news today, thanx to Isaac Shrodinger. On one hand, I can understand passengers being nervous about the safety of flights... but to say "he looks like a bomber"??? that's kinda like saying this guy you wanna pick up "looks clean", eh? The only positive thing about this is the passengers didn't attack the "bomber-lookalikes". Ugh. Looked like bombers. Sheeeeesh!!!

Moving on.

Here are some quotes that made me go "hmmmmmmm" recently:

• He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words. - Elbert Hubbard.
  
  
• You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger. - Buddha.
  
  
• If you could get up the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed. - David Viscott.
  
  
• All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become. - Buddha.
  
  
• The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake - you can't learn anything from being perfect. - Adam Osborne.

Snakes on a Plane : the next audience interaction cult classic? Who knew? I still probably won't watch it in theatres tho.. maybe I'll take up Kev's suggestion about renting the DVD and holding a drinking game revolving around that moth*rfu*king word??!

Yeah.

On that note.. ciao!

... a good start to the day

1. slept till 830! [as opposed to being up at 5am lah!]
   
   
2. went to the gym, did the x-train aerobics setting & used 303 cals in 30mins
   
   
3. cleaned out kitty litter [ok so that's not *that* great a thing to do in the a.m.]
   
   
4. had a bowl of salad [smothered with shredded cheeze & slightly drowning in garlic vinaigrette dresseing, so sue me]
   
   
5. while eating, had the radio on: Genesis' Land of Confusion came on.. and reminded me of something *else* to hunt down on You Tube. If you've seen the video for this song, you know what I mean. [gawd I hope this doesn't date me too much, LOL!]
   
   
6. got online and checked email: and got accosted by two video greetings from the Chief Kodok and the St Marians wishing me a happy birthday in advance [they had a reunion / birthday bash on the 13th... I was, of course, halfway across the world...]; thanx y'all!
   
   
7. Then went to YouTube; found only one of the two specific items: so while the Ga-Baa-Chef / Mouth-Sheep-Tongue skit isn't there, the Don't Run Ron I've tried to describe to Kosh, is! Sit back and enjoy... Spitting Image!!

Now the NEXT best thing [after all those good things listed above] is if Kosh actually gets off of call at noon like he's supposed to.

... And if the futon guys call to say that it's ready for pickup.... and that it can in fact fit in Kosh's car... and that we can assemble it... and finally have a real place to watch TV from! ... and silly us, we're saving a bottle of champagne to mark the first real piece of furniture we've bought together.

No, we're not going to mark the futon with the champagne lah, silly!

Okay... off to shower now...

Ciao!

[hhheeeheh Kosh got back early! watching these vids now LOL. as braindead as heis, now he wants to search for Muppets stuff... helllpppp!! LOL!

Going hogwild on YouTube

So today was vegetate in front of 'puter day.

Played around with YouTube a bit.

Haven't like registered or anything.. after all, I need to minimise the chances of ever uploading something like this one day, LOL.

Anyways... so I hunted down some clips of a much-missed adult-oriented cartoon I absolutely loved during my university days : ANIMANIACS!!!!

My fave Slappy Squirrel skit: Who's on stage [blogged about it before HERE]


My fave skit involving the Warners themselves? Not sure... but I gotta say I'd visualise most of this skit while I had the CD playing in the car [yes I own two Animaniacs CDs] - i bet lots of Malaysian drivers wondered what on earth was cracking me up so much, LOL!


My fave Animaniacs character? Sure, I enjoyed Pinky & The Brain... but hands down it has to be WAKKO! Is anyone surprised at all by that?

But here's something I had never seen before,,, and I think if I'd seen it during my uni years I probably wouldn't have appreciated as much as now [especially when I only *just* watched the DS-9 tribble episode last night!] [and that was my first tribble episode EVAH!]. It's just under 10 mins, be warned!


Oh,,, and the best part of all this???? I found out that Animaniacs is FINALLY being released on DVD!!! Season 1 only, for the moment. 25 out of the 99 episodes. I WANNNNNNNNNNNNT!!!!!!

The end.

In less than a month's time it will be all over

That's what I keep telling myself.

In less than a month's time it will be all over.

But between now and then, stress is building up.

Something deemed tentative is kinda being forced by other parties to be "certain" instead. So now forced to plan for stuff when a major initial requirement is still not there.

How not to stress meh?

I feel my blood pressure up too.

Can we say F. U. N. ???

* * * *
The cat puked *again*. This time it wasn't just hair - looked like she'd regurgitated some totally unchewed food too. Urgh. It's kinda nice to have her puke on uncarpeted floors tho - *so* much easier to clean!! I suppose THAT's the silver lining to that story.

Last night, tho, she woke us up pawing [no, battering!!] the bathroom door demanding to drink water from the faucet. We didn't give her any face lah, but dammit she robbed us of sleep, especially poor Kosh!!

Right now she's making an atrocious amount of noise playing with the empty boxes piled high in the living room. Silly cat.

* * * *
Kosh is on call today. So he left at this morning 545am, and I won't see him till maybe 2pm tomorrow, and based on the other time he was on call, that's being optimistic. The folk would like us to head to their place for the weekend to mark my b-day a few days early, but seeing as Kosh needs to work on Sunday, I don't think I'd want to spend 4 hours of his one day off on Saturday driving to/from the folks'... see lah how...

* * * *
Need to get hair trimmed - once it gets to a certain length, I start to shed like crazy [too long, too heavy? who knows...]. Kosh already warned me in advance "Please don't expect me to notice if you get anything done to your hair... I probably couldn't tell unless you, oh, shaved yr head,,, and even then it might take me a while to figure out what was different" LOL okay not that bad lah, but glad he's practicing prevention LOL!

* * * *
Got some BBQ Beef Ribs last nite, from Hecky's. Eh. All right lah: certainly meatier and tenderer than at Porgy's... but also very fatty too, more expensive, and the sauce is nothing, NOTHING, I tell ya, compared to that of Porgy's!

And we were forced to get a full slab cos they don't sell halves like Porgy's. But if a half = 4 ribs, then shouldn't a full = 8? Cos we got only SEVEN ribs. We were robbed!! [I let Kosh have the odd one - I was full @ 3 anyway..]

Wonder if I'm gonna be able to talk Kosh into a trip down to Champaign/Urbana *just* for a session of their beef ribs?? [yup, that's a Malaysian talking (typing?) all right... we are willing to drive for hours for our food....].

But with gas prices to f*ckin high... maybe not for a few months, eh?

* * * *
On to other stuff.

H/T samantha burns for most of these links

1. Entertainment Weekly's 25 most controversial movies of all time: I was intrigued that there were so many I didn't know/hadn't heard of at all! Tho this also reminded me that I'd wanted to get a hold of The Message. Hmmm wonder if it exists within the Chicago Public Library system? Dunno if there's any other on that list that appeals to me, tho [yeah yeah so The Da Vinci Code is there... I still dunno if I wanna watch the movie.]

2. Poem Generator. And I don't mean crummy roses are red violets are blue poems. I mean this thing generates crap like

I lie on a bed of lust, on a pillow of tears, eternally bleeding from the cruelty of thy absence

Electric arcs firing within me are nothing compared to when thy tongue dances with mine

For one kiss from thy ruby lips, would drive any mortal being to drink thy absinthe from them again and again

For now, I leave you with untold secrets, forged in heaven and whispered within dreams

*cough!* *cough!*

3. Hair Bands. Bad Hair Days. Just keep clicking "next" and be ready for some good laughs.

4. Some food anomalies... sure some are so totally photoshopped... but still worth a looksee.

5. Kenny Sia's got some great comparative art pix.

Okay that's enuf websurfin for me for today. I need to go find some food. Ciao!

Another meme, a salute, lullabies and laundry

No worrries, this one is quite painless :-)

Here are rules of the 123/5/3 book meme, courtesy of SG:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest. (Like all my books aren’t intellectual)
6. Tag three people.

Okay, here goes nothing!!

Physical examination may reveal a pericardial friction rub, asterixis, hypertension, and/or decreased urine output. Hypovolemia suggests prerenal failure, whereas hyupervolemmia is consistent with renal or postrenalfailure. Other signs and symptoms reflect the underlying cause (see Table 3.12).

That fascinating bit of gobbledygook was brought to you courtesy of Dr Kosh Naranek and the book First Aid for the Wards: Insider Advice for the Clinical Years. And as usual, I do not tag anyone. :-)

Other stuff:

What a delightful find! Thanx to Eden, I've found the bestest stuff for babies, music-wise! By Baby Rock Records, there's this Rockabaye Baby! series of Lullaby Renditions of various groups like Nirvana, Metallica, Smashing Pumpkins and The Beatles!

Today I laughed and laughed and laughed till I had to wipe tears away from my eyes; Karl is such a brave brave brave man, I just *have* to share his bravery with y'all. See HERE. I salute you, Karl! :-) [am gonna watch the vid again - once I'm done with this post!] [watch the hands @ 2:07] [Karl i *so* want that shirt! not that particular one lah all sweaty meh; "where can i find a geek t-shirt like that?"]

And it's now 1130am. I should start on some laundry. After shower. After watching Karl again.

Ciao!

OK Go & LEGO!

I highlighted a weird music video of a great dance routine involving six treadmills in my earlier post. I enjoyed to song too, but couldn't concentrate too much on it cos I was just too fascinated by the video!

Looking thru some blogs I've neglected to read for a while, came across Matt's post that has *another* video by these guys. (Check it out here, and tell him i sent ya)

So my curiosity was piqued, decided to find out a bit more about these guys.

They are OK Go.

Wikipedia page here.

Official site here.

I kinda assumed they were some weird European group... but in fact they are from Chicago! I was waaaaay off, LOL!

But you know what? I have now more item(s) for my wish list! Any [knowledgable] OK Go fans out there who can tell me which albums I should consider adding to my collection? [and yes, I'm still kinda old-school - i'd rather have a physical album {albeit CD as opposed to vinyl} than download the MP3 versions, whether legally or illegally] I'm considering OK Go and Oh No, so if I had to choose just one, which should it be, or is there another better one? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Oh... and something else I found when looking thru blogs I'd neglected for too long: some awesome LEGO movies! THIS POST has three professionally made movies and if you search for other posts around that time you'll find more, less "slick" ones too. But my fave is the Star Wars Ep V 1/2: The Han Solo Affair. I burst out laughing at quite a few places! Check it out, hope you enjoy it too. And tell Hurty Elbow I sent ya :-)

Ah, the wonders of YouTube....!

Some fluff for today; your analyses invited

Was reading today's Dilbert comic strip and totally enjoyed it! Would post it here but that would so violate copyrights :-( Here's an attempt to capture the magic:

Pointy-haired boss is at a meeting/discussion with other staff. Box #1: He points out that the poor hapless employees would have noticed that their jobs are "hideous nightmares of frustration and underpayment". Box #2: "But what you don't know is that every company is exactly the same". Box#3 shows pointy-haired boss' thought bubble "Reduce employee turnover: Check".

Yes, I find that f*cking hilarious. Been on the receiving end of that kind of management brilliance way too often!

On another note, here's a H/T to Samantha Burns for this really great shop-at-home moron. I *think* I would notice a difference between a moth and a horse; wouldn't you? Check it out here.

Another H/T, this time to Spud for this cool video. Now, why can't gyms & fitness centers have something like this, it would certainly keep me entertained instead of trudging along to nowhere on the treadmill used in the conventional manner. Curiosity piqued? Check out the video here.

In other news - last night there was this really weird dream about a backed-up toilet *full* of, errrr, "logs" including a big floater... and something looking like a log-and-hair-combo but was alive and crawling slithering across the bathroom floor towards me/us [reminded me of something out of the Addams Family]. Kosh was all "What the hell is *that* thing?", and we both hop out of the bathroom and close [we didn't slam it shut, we just closed it. Does that mean anything?] the door well before the thing reaches us [which is strange considering the bathroom is tiny!]. I actually scream in this dream [I so do NOT do that in real life maaah], but not at the crawly thingy; I gave out a scream at the discovery of the backed-up toilet cos I was gonna take a dump when I lifted the seat and saw the surprise. LOL. Anyways, anyone wanna analyse all that for me?

And on that note... have a good day!

And try not to think of logs, ya?

Muuaahahahaaahahahaa

Oh, one more thing: the cat puked up a present for me this morning too. Grrrr!

For the Trekker in all of us!

H/T : Tyler at 45-Caliber Justice

This one is soooooo why Galaxy Quest's Crewman Number 6 (Guy) was freaking out!


These made LOL too:




not *all* of them are sex related lah...


Hope this helps get your Monday off to a smiling start!

All images taken from THIS website - click and see all three pages of awesome Star Trek inspirationalesque posters!


P/S: sneaking in this pic of Kosh & I from yesterday. Not very flattering, you say? True, but hey, I ain't posting no full-frontal pix, eh?

Anyways, what with the delay in getting out of the hospital and all, we only got there at 5... scarfed down drinks and burgers and hotdogs and cake and icing and .... yeah i think that's about it LOL! Got back at 11pm - tiiiiiiiiired!! Was good to see this side of the family after 5 months :-)

Poor Kosh had to be back at work at 6am today (i think he LEFT at 6am, urgh!)... and me? Not too zombified, but I *will* be taking a break from the gym today. But have a hankering for Thai food... maybe another round of Pad Thai? With Crab Rangoon appetizer? Yummmmmmm!

"One Book that Rules them All" Meme

H/T: Kevin for this Book Meme, tho I'm starting to see it pop up in other blogs too:

One Book:

1. One book that changed my life: Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. That first chapter [about the victim mindset, sphere of concern vs sphere of influence, active vs passive language] gave me my most profound "a-ha" moment ever, had me actively taking responsibility for my thoughts and actions, and put me on the path towards self-awareness [or personal mastery, or whatever you wanna call it].
   
   
2. One book that I have read more than once: Oh so many!! But to limit myself to a standalone book rather than a series, let me put forth Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. I've read it at least 3x now, and each time I still feel like an ignoramus, and yet I am also intrigued by the whole Rosicrucians / Knights Templar / etc etc world he paints so eccentrically! The Da Vinci Code is nothing compared to this tale!
   
   
3. One book I would want on a deserted island: Heh. Perhaps a survival handbook? Not that I've read it, but I suppose something like this one: SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea by John 'Lofty' Wiseman.
   
   
4. One book that made me laugh: Heh. There have certainly been a few, but all i can think of right now is Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden Book #7: Dead Beat. When you have a wizard, his half-brother who happens to be an emotion-vampire, a sex-obsessed spirit-helper, a pack of werewolves, a Faerie Queen godmother, and oh so much more, the opportunities for humor are abundant, and well played out.
   
   
5. One book that made me cry: Not many can make that claim to fame. The most recent one would be The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Well, made my eyes prickle, at least. Having as the narrator a young girl who was murdered and is now in heaven, but she struggles to accept her death and still clings to the lost world of the living, observing her murderer and her family over the years... a very different tale, well told.
   
   
6. One book I wish I'd written: Heh. How 'bout "Neither Here Nor There: Tales of a Half-Breed in a Supposedly Multicultural- and Multiracial-ly Tolerant Country"? Oh wait, I have the time, I *may* get around to writing that, eh? LOL. If you don't want a cop-out answer, well, I suppose I'd say Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, just because if I'd written Book 1, then I'd have gone on and written all those other too, eh? It's not so much the $$ [tho that would be niiiiiiice], it's more knowing that I'd created characters that so resonate with oh so many people of all ages!
   
   
7. One book I wish had never been written: Wow. I know there are some gawdawful books out there... but to wish one had never been written? Kinda harsh. But here's a candidate or five: Robert Jordan's not-advancing-the-plot-but-making-the-author-rich-by-milking-the-fans Wheel of Time books #6 - #10.
   
   
8. One book I am currently reading: Well, I'm kinda flipping thru it rather than reading-reading it: The Book of Divination by Ann Fiery. Can't sink my teeth into it. Oh well.
   
   
9. One book I have been meaning to read: Heh. Oh so many! I have over 50 books in my "to read" list. But of all of them, I suppose the one "burning" to be read would be: Wicked by Jerry Maguire. [A close second = The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green - Joshua Braff]
   
   
10. One book I think everyone should read: Heh. Again, something that actually really got to me/impressed me? Right now what springs to mind is The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. A fantastic retelling of the Arthurian legend, perhaps it's the feamle perspective that has me hooked? It's certainly worth a read, methinks!

Would love to hear your comments on my choices... but more importantly, I would really really like to know what you yourself would choose.. after all I'm always on the lookout for new/diferent books to read, and thanx to this meme, I've already got a few more books to add to my "to read" list, and it would be great if you can help add to it :-) So please, tag yourself, k?

btw; now = 215pm. We should be on the road heading for Kosh's sis & the nephews' b-day pahtay. Guess who's still at work. :-( Poor thang.

UPDATE#1: decided to list the blog posts participating in this meme that I've discovered so far... this'll be a reference for me when I get around to *properly* compiling my "to read" list!

• Kevin
  
• Karl
  
• Dawn

[plus Chanakin in the comments]

UPDATE#2: found someone who'd compiled the results of about 275 participating bloggers! And here's the originator of this excellent meme.

Movie Revue

Kosh needs his vegetation time in front of the telly to unwind from work. During the day I'm still catching up with tons of episodes of DaVinci's Inquest [but I wouldn't impose that upon Kosh!]; in the evening/night, we've watched a few movies.

Like these:

• SHAUN OF THE DEAD.
omg so f*cking hilarious! Get it! Rent it! Watch it!!!! i was howling with laughter through so many parts of this flick! I am so *not* a zombie-movie-type person, but then again, this is NOT a typical zombie movie. It's great. Go watch it! Go!!


• BATMAN BEGINS.
Eh. Wasn't very impressed. Slept through the middle half of it. The only thing going for it? The corny close caption description of the music - THAT had me LOL-ing and smiling [effectively countering the yawning. temporarily.]

Examples:

• In the solitary cell, Qui-Gon Jinn says "I counted six, Mr Wayne" : [ominous theme playing]
  
• When Bruce Wayne gets released from prison & dumped by side of the road, he gets up and studies the mountains : [suspenseful, meditative theme playing]
  
• Soon after Bruce Wayne arrives at the training place, Qui-Gon Jinn growls "Make no mistake : here you face death!" : [tense action theme playing]
  
• Bruce Wayne spray paints his first batsuit : [dark, thrilling theme playing]

Yeah, dunno how funny that strikes you reading it here... i just have to say that when you combine a sucky movie with corny captions, it makes the movie just a wee bit bearable!

Oh, and how's this for s.a.d.?

A few minutes ago the TV was on and I caught a few minutes of something that looked like George of the Jungle - except that it wasn't with Brendan Fraser. And Ursula looked [and sounded] very very familiar. I had an idea of who she was, and wanted to confirm it. So hunted high and low in imdb/amazon before finding the movie (George of the Jungle 2 : i think it was a direct-to-DVD release!). Looked up Ursula, who was played by one Julie Benz. Who played Darla in Buffy / Angel. I was right! Haahahahaaaaa! I am *so* proud of myself!

But wait! It gets better! I noticed Ms Benz is in a new tv series DEXTER, and after a few clicks here and there to get more information... whaddaya know... it's based on those alliteratively-titled books I totally loved last year, about a "moral" serial killer who helps hunt down "run-of-the-mill" serial killers. See here and here. Would be really interesting to see how they adapted that to the small screen. Pity we don't get Showtime. Oh well. [Oh - i *think* Ms Benz plays Dexter's "beard" of sorts. If you've read the book u know how/what I mean].

People encounters of the Chicago kind?

What is it about people riding the train and asking for money? This morning, the person next to me asked if I had 25c on my trip into town, then on my trip back there was this other lady loudly asking the entire car if anyone could spare her 60c. I imagine it's for the transfer thingy, but hey, you should have the $$ you need for your trip beforehand, eh?

Then there was that other time a few days ago when I hiked it over to a nearby library (0.6 or 0.8 miles away, depending whether I looked it up on mapquest or yahoo) - got asked for some spare change by two people: one just around the library area who kinda invaded my space, the other on my way back from the library: she was just sitting in a doorway and asking for money.

It upsets me to know that there are people who live off of the streets. I mean, I *know* this situation exists - but when confronted with it "live" [whether here or back home] it's a totally different bundle of emotions, eh? :(

But I'm not limiting this to money-related people encounters.

So today, around 1215n, there I was, walking back to the apartment from the train station. At an intersection, this guy in a pickup truck stops behind a car, and starts honking his horn, opens his door, leans out and shouts something. I'm assuming he's got some problem with the car in front of him or something, shut out the noise, push the pickup truck out of my mind, and wait for the lights to change so i can cross the street.

I cross the street, and then *jump!* cos that idiot is sliding up next to me as if he's going to park, still honking his horn loudly, peering thru the windscreen aggressively. I'm like dude I am so ignoring you man, and keep walking.

I spy that damned pickup moving along the street slowly. I pass a restaurant that happens to have a firetruck and police van in front [that other day it was an ambulance! Is eating there a hazard?]. I relax cos I spy a couple o' uniforms at the entrance. The pickup truck driver slows down and yells out to the uniformed guys "Hey, can you tell me where xyz street is?" OMG the moron was needing directions??!! And I actually knew the answer too! But dude, you certainly did NOT come across as someone needing directions! You seemed like you were road-rage ready!! No way I would have given you the time of day, the way you were honking the horn so aggressively!

ugh.

Anyways.

So, I mentioned I took the train into town: to a downtown library, actually, where a meditative yoga class is held. I'd been introduced to it a long long time ago (2002?) back in KL, but couldn't do much with it no thanx to the crazy work schedule. But now that I have lots of free time, and I feel the need to kinda get back into some internal/soul balancing / cleansing / nourishing stuff, AND there's a "branch" in Chicagoland, everything is set for me to get back on track.

Today's session was not outstanding, but that's okay, I'll be back.

But right now? I might grab myself some 40 winks.

Ciao!

I wonder whether the weather will...

It feels like I am still in KL / Malaysia because:

• it's gawddam hazy out there
  
• it's gawddam muggy out there

Did you hear about that fooiled terrorist plot to blow up 10+ planes over the Atlantic Ocean enroute from Heathrow to various locations in the U.S.?

Firstly: to all those involved in plotting to end all those lives - SHAME ON YOU! You are monsters. I don't care if you think you have religion on your side. You are monsters.

Secondly: omg they are banning all liquid/gel items - so no toothpaste, no face cleanser, no sunblock, no nothing?! No electronic devices [what, u want people to check-in their laptops? u gonna pay for allt he damage that is guaranteed to happen? just checking...] I also heard that no carry-on luggage allowed at all, tho later I heard they will allow stuff to be brought aboard - in clear, see-thru plastic bags only. Yikes! I can understand the need, but, omg, I am *so* glad I am already here and not just about to head over to this side of the world.

Ugh - VisaGurl! *You* be heading to Florida from Malaysia soon, eh? I wish you allll the best, beb! I do not envy you your guaranteed-to-be-hellish transit at all airports!

Okay so time to get showered and hunt some food down.

Later today - *if* Kosh gets outta work at a reasonable hour that is NOT oh 930pm - we might just end up getting that futon,,, plus finish up the shopping for the kids birthday pahtay this sunday.

Gawd the weather out there is awful today.

Ugh.

And yeah I know the title of this post don't make no sense - just felt like going on an alliterative spree. So sue me. :p

This and that

So I walk in to the apartment, only to spy with my little eye something on the living room floor starting with "p", courtesy of the cat.

p as in puke.

grrrrrr!

Getting myself *out* of the apartment was a joke and a half too! Kosh had asked for me to be on standby to head over to the hospital so we could have lunch together; his window of opportunity was between 11am and 2pm.

guess when he called? 1:52pm.

Anyways, so I make my way to the meeting place, but he wasn't there. had to page him, and he took a few mins to call back... said he'd be there in a few minutes... well i wasn't wearing my watch so I can't say for sure, but it was probably at least 10mins of waitin before he showed up! Headed to the cafeteria for some quality hospital grub [he had to answer at least 2 pages during that time], and then I headed back to the apartment.

To find said present from the cat.

Yum!

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H/T: Eden at so anyway...

I've written before about the classification of my personality from the Myers-Briggs angle.

I'm amused that I just got it "reconfirmed", with a Harry potter twist:


Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.


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Hey remember Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire"? It was choc-full of names that you may not have heard of, or didn't know what face to put to the name... well fret not! Someone with waaaaay to much time on his/her hands decided to help us all out. Check it out here. I was LOL-ing through most of it, be warned!

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How's this for a gag gift idea? It's like Twister, with a twist! A sexual twist. Imagine having a sheet which tells ya where to put your hands / feet / knees / butt in order to get into one of the Karma Sutra positions. Guess what it's called?The Karma Sheetra, what else?

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This Saturday should see me exploring the Chicago Transportation system, making my way to a local library where a meditative yoga class is being held. I was introduced to this specific "school of thought" around 2002 while in Malaysia, and it jived with me,,, but I was very much a slave to the work at the time, and therefore was barely able to find my way to just two intoductory classes before work pulled me under again. Practiced the little I'd learnt for a while, but slowly, I got lazy / stressed / distracted... Now that I pretty much have all the time in the world, I might as well get back in touch, eh?

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More wish list items:

• Johnny Cash Live At Folsom Prison - the one with the extra tracks. I remember listening to this on cassette, and really liking the 25 Minutes To Go song (then later the same title would get usurped by that gawdawful MLTR song!) specifically and all the songs in general. I was suring around for other stuff and stumbled across this at amazon: did you know that this item is #25 on its Top Sellers in Music chart? Amazing :-)
  
  
• Meat Loaf: Bat Out Of Hell III. If you recall, I found out that Bat III was not only in the works, but was going to be released in Sept 2006. Looked it up today, and found that it's now scheduled for release on October 31st, 2006. A Halloween release? go figure, LOL! Lookin forward to Mr Loaf's latest!! Whoohoooo!! :-)

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Whoohooo! I got a reply from snopes!! Okay so it took them 4 months to reply... but perhaps they needed those months to conduct their own experiments? Here's their verdict. See here for my mention of the microwaved water science project thing.

the unknown sister

Scenario #1

The day before the Daughter leaves the country for further studies, the Mother sits down and has a heart-to-heart talk with (more like "to") the Daughter. Among other things, the Mother "confesses" that there had actually been three children in the family - the eldest is NOT the Son, but actually a girl who hadn't survived for too long after being born. In the Daughter's 18 years of life, this is the first she's eveer heard of having had a sister.

Scenario #2

The surviving Son and Daughter know that that they are "missing" a sibling because the Mother gets all choked up every time the subject of children comes up. The Mother will always state that there were three children born to the family, but one didn't survive.

So, how *should* parents inform surviving childern about a "missing" sibling? Or should they be informed at all?

I've seen the above two ways, and I don't think one way is necessarily "better" than the other.

Scenario #1, it came as a huge surprise for the Daughter, who had never [consciously] suspected anything like that in the family history. The Daughter was struck by the thought of how badly it must have cut her Parents when, when she was much younger and perhaps as a result of being the subject of her Brother's bullying, she'd beg her Parents for an older sister. Had that request for a sister been her subconscious' way of trying to get the truth out of the Parents' mouths? Did the Daughter's Older Sister even have a name? And while most of the time the Daughter runs with the "default" programming of "i just have the one brother", occasionally some older-sister-related thoughts would run through her head at random times throughout her life.

Then again, the surviving siblings of Scenario #2 may be not just aware, but perhaps all TOO aware, of the "other" sibling's absence. Or "presence" - depending on how the Mother deals with her grief, how she treats the surviving Children despite/because of the grief... Will the survivors resent the place the "other" has in the Mother's heart? Or will they from early on appreciate that life is short, nothing can be taken for granted, and they should treasure the time they *do* have on this earth?

Yeah, for some reason I'm dwelling on this today. Hope your day also contains some introspection, tho perhaps a tad less morbid.