The year 2008.

January - Forgot what happened. Nothing happened la besides work work work, swim swim swim. Quit my gym membership.

February - CNY - balik bandar untuk raya. KL is my hometown. I remembered KL being void of human. Quit Aikido.

March - Forgot what actually happened, but my kwai low bf came back from London just to see me. Happy!

April - He left for the ultimate Oxford's interview. Can't stop him this time for not planning to return. Redang with my best buddy, Chris Thoo. Thanks Chris! Was a tan too dark....darn.

May - Was introduced to my Poppy clubbing kaki, Jessica and gang.

June - Unsuspectingly, I acquired a housemate. Introducing: Miss Fipink Yap :)

July - Every night talking with my housemate. If not, clubbing! Yah, whole day whole month. What a bond!

August - Still non-stop talking (with FP) and gossiping and talking and gossiping etc. with my girl friends. Developed the best-est friendship ever!

September - October - from Callie's to Fee Peng's b'day...non-stop birthday (and other minor celebration i.e. Leynard's six pack) months! Met Lenny, an unsuspecting motivator of mine.

November - All swimming classes stopped for school holidays. Stylo and Pall Mall's party of the year. Alan was there.

December - HK trip. Lovely Christmas. and I love you too, Alan.

To everybody,

This year 2008 was a extraodinarily memorable one. This year has taught me about my weaknesses and helped me developed a new-self. "If I can't change someone, I change myself, but still being ME"

This year is relatively a year of bad health - from shitless moments to fainting spells in the lab. But all is well now and I am glad the Lord has helped me through this all. Nonetheless, 2008 has brought me new friendships and bonds which I could have never thought of making in the first place. I wanna attribute this post to my besties from Toxicology lab - Yati and Dahlia, as well as Arshia, Callie, FP, Gary, cell group ppl and Jessica who led me through this year with their sincerest of hearts.

I miss this year 2008. Many big misses (in opportunity) for me but also gains that compensate for what I've lost. Therefore, I've lost nothing. I have learnt more instead. And 2009 is just another day (it's tomorrow anyway)

Love,

Ivy

31 December 2008.

Foods and Starbucks in HK

Below is the Starbucks  in Miramar Shopping centre at Nathan road. This Starbucks has a great ambience inside out, and when I was there, it was full house, inside out! Biasalah...ppl showing off their Airbooks and what not. What I liked about this cafe was that it was located adjacent to Knudford Terrace - a place where fine dining, caviar, red-wine and fresh seafoods are served with myriad choices of Italian, Aussie, Cuban, and Spanish foods. I can only pose with my fav beverage of the season - the ToffeeNut Latte:

I left Starbucks at Miramar and went hang-kai around the many many malls at the surrounding areas and spotted this Starbucks in Habourcity. What attracted me to this very Starbucks branch was both their Xmas and interior decor. I ordered a tall Americano (their spicy Christmas blend) and a mince-char-siew pie. Have to comment about their char siew pie:- 1. It's char siew, which is 1000X better than chicken 2. The crust was perfectly made. In fact, Ienjoyed the crust more than the char siew (but at the end of the day it's the combination) 3. You don't get it in Malaysia. Ever. Case close.

The interior was great. Look at the wall decor, I've never seen something like that before and I was awed! I am sure you won't understand why I was impressed. Again, have to comment: The huge cups decorated at the backdrop reminds me of Callie and her progressive Starbuck's let's-steal-a-L-size-Starbucks cup thoughts. I wish I could get her those. 2. See the man right at the middle? He's cute. 3. nothing to comment di. I kept reminding myself it's just another Starbucks... 

The KFC in HK was different too. Unlike ppl in Malaysia who use their bare hands to hold the drumstick, ppl in HK were provided with PE plastic hand gloves for hygiene purposes. See the guy (pic below) who looked like a lab-assisstant experimenting on his food??? Gloves provided! Why haven't our Malaysian franchise ever thought of that!? Maybe because the pure feeling of holding a piece of oily chicken with your bare hands and licking your fingers clean ("finger lickin good" marrrr) after eating makes food more satisfying. The feeling is different. How can you lick your finger with PE plastic over it? Feels like a condom over a *&^*# ....blowjob.....unnatural....okay....enuff!

Plus they have great cappuccino in a glass cup designed for coffee! Wow! And they have honey chicken also in addition to the usual fried chicken. But problem is they don't have the Hot-n-Spicy, which I absolutely adore back here.

Ate dim sum. Actually, only the char siew pau is good. Their loh-mai-kai sucked big time. 

Saying hi from HK

It's cool like Genting at night. Say 15C. I stay right in the middle of their so-called 'Orchard Road of HK' - Nathan Road. While I remembered being chased out from a cafe in Orchard Road at 10pm sharp, this place never sleeps!!! It's a city that really never sleeps (just like New York?) Maybe it's the Xmas/shopping period. I noticed Giordano Concept store here closes at 12am (everyday?).

Basically, I pakai taruh my Cantonese only. The only thing i make sure was never to say "ta-pau" as in 'take-away' and 'sah-mah' as in 'semua' in our adulterated malaysian cantonese. But when I first arrived at the airport and at Nathan Road, people started talking Japanese to me. "Konnichiwa". Oh well, used to it....

As far as I can remember, I've tasted their nai-cha, tau-fu fah and pau and Yong-Chow fried rice, Wanton mee, Mix beef ofal noodles and fish ball noodle and their version of chow-kuay teow. Taste: So-so or same with Malaysia only. One Penang island or one Ipoh beats the whole HK's hawker food industry.

Shopping was great, but one very very very big set back was that every clothes in the boutique and supermarket, even Adidas and Nike sells WINTER CLOTHINGS ONLY!!! Errrr.....I can't blame them; I can't blame myself also. Malaysia has only one big season called rain-hot-rain-hot. They have four defined seasons here, so though it's a bad time for a Malaysian to shop for clothes, the weather is one of the loveliest I've experienced so far..(think London on winter!)

Actually, I am in Starbucks. (where else?!?!?).

Crashers!

Astrological Signs Most Likely to Crash
"A September 2008 study of over 115,000 car insurance claims by Accident Exchange, a British accident management company, analyzed car accident rates by astrological sign. And sorry, Gemini, but your sign tops the list as the most likely to be involved in an accident. The next two most likely signs to crash are Taurus and Aries. Interesting data since that means drivers most likely to get in accidents are those born between March and June. Scorpions and Sagittarians were ranked the least likely to get in an accident.

So the next time you get in a car with a friend, make sure you know her sign before accepting a ride. And if you’re a Gemini, Taurus, or Aries, take extra caution behind the wheel."

I got this excerpt from an article when I hyperlinked around Yahoo! As a pure Gemini (not that I care about my horoscope :P), I have to agree! 50% agree. I had minor crashes around, one recently when I was parking, I terlanggar a divider. My front tyre got punctured at its sides and had to replace the whole thing. Ouch on my pocket! I still have to say my last comparatively huge crash was October 2006. Touchwood, but no crashes ever since.

The article is also quite hypothetical: I spend an average 1.5 hours on the roads daily; more practice means better skills. I still have to say that I have been a better and safer driver lately. If I was not the driver, I will put on my rear seatbelts. I have been practising putting on my rear seatbelts since September 2008. I love this ruling imposed. To my opinion, it's due time that we Malaysians put on our rear seatbelts. I always noticed especially Malay families (not biased but a visual fact) cramping their whole family into a van and if there's still not enough space, they will 'top-up'. I mean, everyone will seat on top of each other. Well, not a problem..., until if, a crash does happen: the WHOLE family is at stake. Please leave on or two out from your vacation! Or take the bus (which is also not safe). Double jeapardy! (learnt that from Pink). A rear seatbelt ruling ensures that we abide by the number-of-passenger-per vehicle rule. A ruling that also indirectly proposes birth control which screams: "Stop reproducing; else get a new car"

Malaysia has a ruling that I perceived of as pelik. Cannot hang my clothes outside the apartment/condo. Wahlau ehhh... me and my housemates undergarments will be lying around INSIDE the house to be dried with our fan. Thanks Kenny, for the surprising reveal. I didn't know.

In case whoever say I plagiarise:

Reference: http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22303/61394-traits-reveal-driver

Touching Kenny Sia and Raja Petra

You know, it's luck. I say luck because there's no way you can meet 2 super Malaysian bloggers in ONE DAY! I met, dance, chat and hugged (did I?!) Kenny Sia and I said "Nice to meet the man himself" to Raja Petra and shook his hands. Touches!

I was with my housemate makan-ing lunch at Dewi's Corner in Bangsar. We were at Bangsar for the very dissappointing warehouse sale for Club Monaco and Juicy Coulture and we left the dark, crampy area in no time. Back at Dewi's, as we were footing the bill, we spotted Raja Petra's wife and himself at Dewi's (his wife looked more familiar to me in person). I went up to him and said....yah..."Nice to meet the guy himself" and shook his hands! I am not a big supporter of him, but I am a great supporter of the Anti-ISA thingy that we should all be rooting for. Nahhhh, I didn't camwhore with him :P Btw, he was wearing a large cowboy hat that time?!

Arrrr....then let me tell you about how I met the ultimate blogger Kenny Sia. It's Stylo's 1st Anniversary at KL Plaza (it's not a big secret anyway...duhh). Thanks to Christian (muaks!), we got ourselves into the invitation guests list. Before I even start with Kenny Sia, there's Ida from Amazing Race and her now preggies race partner, many super models, Malaysian models and actors, small fries like us, and yah...Kenny Sia. He came in late into the evening, when I spotted the cute him smiling his way thru the crowd. When I saw him being alone, I dragged Pink to him and Pink was elated! - like a kid in awe of her idol! Kenny was very nice and Pink was talking to him about her fantasies (!?!) of him....and etc. etc. etc. You know, Pink...when she's in lurrrrveeee with someone, she can't stop!!!!

We three ended up dancing together!!! (picture courtesy of Vincent). And yah, Kenny took our pics too with his camera (habislah!)....etc.etc.etc.

We were there enjoying ourselves (nice to see you again, Lenny and Leynard! we won't post pics of you...no worries)

P/S: And get well soon Leynard.....

We both are soo happy! We met two renown Malaysian bloggers in a day!

1111

Nothing negative though. I just thought that many doings in these past weeks (or months?) were entirely out of my grasp. First was a series of numbers following me wherever I go and whatever I do. Still, nothing negative about that; just when you don't expect it the most, it cometh. Second, the harder I try, the worst the outcome. In fact, things fall into the right places when I least expected it to. Third...oh well, no third.

First, the numbers 111 or 1111 kept following me. Believe it or not, you'll be shocked. My housemate is a living witness to several incidences as such. I grabbed 2 random books from MPH's shelf. Add the amount and ta-da! -RM111. Oh well, this could be a coincidence. Now try this: I was paying for my MPSJ parking to makan nearby, and the slip that came out was, ya...you've figured that out: 11.11am

Then, there were uncountable times when I looked into my handphone (I don't really check the digital time when my lab has a analog clock). But when I DO CHECK the time on my handphone or computer screen, it was always 1.11 or 11.11. PM or even AM. An emailed I sent to a 'powerful' man was dated 11.11pm 1 November. Pretty creepy. Let me tell you, all these were not a purposeful act. I was watching the news on TV and something made me look at a clip on NTV7. I am always watching the news without looking at the details. Surface. But something MADE me to look that day. Some unforseen 'force' made me look closely into the TV screen - the real resignation letter of a Malaysiakini.com writter over her false report made over the website on Najib's so-called manifesto as PM - the letter was....timed 1111. A specky like me or you will never notice the small print. But I saw it. Why would I want to squint my eyes to look at the TV screen at that moment, eh??!?!?! 'Something' made me LOOK. Ask me housemate!

Skeptical, I am. But I was in the post office in Tesco Puchong to buy some stamps. As I do not need a calling number, I went directly to the counter to purchase a 3 ringgit worth. And then, I heard it! - the screen called out audibly : satu, satu, satu, satu. I looked at the officer and turned behind me. Well, the bad thing is, I was expecting this: Wanting to see who the hell has that 1111 number, but chehhh, it was some old Ah Pek. Aiya, I thought some divine thingy in these numbers may bring me to the man of my dreams.

Again, these numbers post no effects on my life. I just found it fascinating. Unless someone provides me some revelation about these stuff....!

Sepang Gold Coast.

Okay, so Callie got her bonus. Wow weeeesss!!! But oh no... Now, that the whole world knows, everyone's gonna rob you like I did! :P

So we went to survey Sepang Gold Coast supposingly for the seafood and ikan bakar. The place is nice. Nowhere close compared to Perhentian/Redang, but all it takes is a nice breeze and a good weather to make this place a perfect getaway. I spotted a wedding car and its convoy around. The coast was quite clean and just like Morib, the coastline runs far into the sea especially at low tide. It was about 5.30 in the evening when we arrived and the tides were beginning to rise. First was the formation of two separate streams from the sea towards the beachline. Then by 6.30pm, the two 'streams' met and engulfed the whole beach with seawater. If you see the pic above, Callie and I are gayish-ly walking towards the phenomenon. Nothing too scientific, just pure awe.

Gold: That guy was sorta God-sent! Look at his aura! :P

Why this place was called the Sepang Gold Coast was absolutely clear: the sun coloured the horizon with Gold as it imminently sets. Gold, though not as precious to women as diamonds, still induce romantism in our hearts. I envied the generosity of Callie and Arshia for allowing me to enjoy the view with them although such picturisque views are selfishly meant for 2 lovers. And 2 lovers only.

Though with due respect to Callie, I still 'luuuurrrve' Arshia. Oh well, just his body. Though I am smart enough to know what guys are right for me, no woman on earth would dare deny a man with a hot bod like his! Never will I be more daring to say that chest and facial hair do arouse me. Arshia, with his clothes off his skin, I can barely say no when he approached me for this pic. Lucky girl, Cal.

This trip was quite enjoyable. It takes two to rock the car. Me and Arshia's unstoppable mouths were contantly entertaining the driver (i.e. Callie) and also - ourselves. From irresponsible racial jokes to complains of hardships of hunger, there was never a quiet moment. And the journey felt short. We shall come again.

P/S: Sorry, no sea-food reveiws from this Bagan Lalang. We resorted to Bak Kut Teh. Malay Seafood was too halal for a crazy weekend such as this.

More pics: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/cchivy/SepangGoldCoast16Nov2008

Managing yourself.

I was being read like a book by a person I deemed powerful. Being skeptical but open-minded about such stuff, I did not demand for any revelation. Selfishly, I still do want to know. Nevertheless, the outcome was optimistic and at least I know there's nothing wrong about myself and my repelling nature. "Quit sabotaging yourself, Ivy. You deserve the happiness you are getting now. Don't distant yourself from the happiness and success you deserve all along."

My mum was 'busier' than me. She wants to believe (like I'm a X-Files creature/alien). I was dumbfounded. Anyway, I was glad she cared and I suddenly cared about her behaving in this manner. And at least she has something to do or think of besides eating, cooking or thinking about her sons abroad. I feel like the prodigal son (or daughter) whose initial expectation of me was so immense that I know I could not personally fulfill them; I 'returned' to my parents knowing they actually do accept me for who I am and not with their expectations. Unconditional love.

My so-called strong attributes, also widely perceived by the public and friends, was actually the weakest of all feministic of nature. I was soo strong physically but the physical compensates for my missing emotions. One good friend brought up the word 'bad-o-meter' and I laughed at the word, but I know my temper were raging, probably not as bad as his, but my emotions were cynical emotions. They were negative. I have sinned and cried so many times in church. At times, I felt distant from Him.

I am immensely grateful for people around me. I choose optimism and I choose to be happy. Change is for the best. If I can't change someone, I change myself. It's possible. There's no way you chose a balloon that is not to your preferred shape, you inflate it, trying to make it the way you want it, but initally you have already made the wrong choice of shape. From the beginning itself, make the right choice! At least, you know what you want, Ivy. It's alright to have that high standards for yourself. No compromise. Because happiness is what you deserve.

First trip to Kluang, Johor

Although my seniors went to Kluang several times to collect insects there, I've never followed. Most of the time, they come back with some insect larvae, I would gladly just take them and make them my OWN culture. What a pity - they were sweaty, tired and with just a day's trip there, and all credit goes to me.

There was no escape this time. I must go to Kluang. Kluang is famed for its agriculture and their coffee. I've one SIF friend that is a Kluang-born kid, now working in KL - O. Puay Seong (sorry, FFK during raya!). I've tried Ipoh Original white coffee, Kemaman's White Coffee, and now the original Kluang RailCoffee (but it's famous for the Kopi-O, not the white coffee). It's a buzzling town, selling loads of shoes and kain for baju kurung/Melayu. The main reason I went there, however, was to screen through the all Kluang's hardware shops for ONE particular pesticide sprayer that I desperately looked for.


Not surprising that small towns usually cooks good food. Not talking about the Kluang Railstation food but the Malay stall down the masjid which cooks the most delicious Kuay-Tiow goreng. My Professor, the driver, Arshia and I shared(!) a plate of kuay tiow goreng (everyone jaga health marr), but ended with each of us (except me) tah-pau another packet home. My Professor said, "Charge everything to our research grant. Tah-pau more. Buy more". I should have just bought a pair of shoes and charge it to our grant :P

We visited the kilang membuat sprayer - the ever worldwide famous JungChung Sdn. Bhd. World famous, but I bet none of you would have known :P Come on, who the hell does all this spraying experiments but me and my 7 other labmates. In this Malaysia, only 8 person cares about such company.

Reached UPM about 10.30pm. I was tired, but not sweaty. The van driver blasted the aircon. Arshia and I hugged each other behind the rear seat to sleep............





.........YOU WISH!

Animal Farm alone.

After church today, I dropped by my uncle's house in BU, read his yesterday's newspaper and suddenly spotted the column which mentioned Pentas Project's "Animal Farm" final day was today!!! Sunday matineee @ 3pm. I looked at the clock. It was 12pm. I had forgotten all about this play and I won't want to miss this chance.

I was never familiar with Sentul area but I remembered once Callie took me for a joyride around KL til 3am, she pointed to me KLPAC at Sentul West. Oh well..., I don't quite get it that time because (1) it was dark, and (2) I wasn't driving. When you're not driving, you just don't get it. I left BU about 1pm, lost my way round for 20 minutes but thanks to a Mobil station assistant, I found KLPAC. This assistant had this smirk on his face when he said that we both were actually standing just opposite the KLPAC's entrance! I blushed!! "Kemaluan saya besar", as Samy Vellu would have said.

Stage design and settings.

No tics. Sold out. But I was on the waiting list and was warned about the possibility of sitting on the staircase. Eventually, I got myself a seat (on a chair). The production was impressive. The cast was extraordinary as they played animals (difficult!) and their sounds were sooo accurate that my hair stand on ends. There was this girl who played a raven; I was so awed by her performance from start to the end. The script was in Mandarin but this was one reason why I came to this play too - to improve my Mandarin (I enrolled in a Mandarin class lately). (Actually, I didn't learn much Mandarin today but one word stuck to me 'til now: "Man-sui" = "Long live (Napolean, the dictator pig)". There were English surtitles for bananas and the surtitles were 'surprisingly' excellent. Flawless. I said 'surprised' because I always have this notion about subtitles. Based on my experience with pirated-DVDs, English subtitles were always ridiculous to the brink of me laughing on a solemn scene.

KLPAC's Hall

Sentul Park

Sentul Park has a lovely scenery. Trees are soo important. Reminded me of D.R park in Ipoh. There was never a problem for me doing anything ALONE because I am always loner by choice. However, today, as I was sitting at the park facing the koi pond, I realised the only problem of being alone was that my freaking chatty mouth wants to expressed the lovely scenery my eyes was lusting on, but there was no one to tell that to. How torturous! Plus, no one was there to take a pic of you with the lovely scenery. But I have a pic of myself captured by an anonymous:

Ahhh....doing stuffs ALONE. Biasalah....

Overhaul

First thing that flies thru' your shallow brains could be that my Kelisa failed on me. Overhaul.

But it's not. It's my looks. I did a overhaul on my hair... and face. I haven't had a radical hair change since 1997, hence today was historical. I never had a single facial treatment in my entire life. Last week was historical as well.

My aunt works as the manager in BSC's Leonard & Drake under Dermalogica and her clients include Najib himself, Mahathir's daughter-in-law and last week, I felt like VIP because not only she did she invite me to do it in her house but with service as good as what was given to Najib's f**ked-up wife. I felt more than a VIP because it's FOC and it was done in her house. All my blackheads and T-zones since my puberty were removed. The facial hair, sebums and pores were cleared-up. Not even 10 years of Lancome products could save you if you do not first remove these impurities which have been embedded inside the skin since I turned woman. Only now can my Lancome products work its way thru' me.

Then comes my hair. Mavis from high school harsh one-liner kept me wondering for 2 weeks++. She said my hair was conservative and has never left me since SPM. My housemate's 'fashion-nagginess' left me thinking of a new hair-do. I knew it was time:

After church, I went to the Curve and spot this chic looking salon and said just this: "I want a overhaul and it must be below RM400". I went home with an overhaul but poorer by RM500. After SIX hours at the salon with a phoned-in lunch delivered from Thai Express (wow!!!) as well as two coffees I personally requested for (instead of chinese tea), five women mags and 150 pages of Tyler Cowen's "Discover Your Inner Economics" plus the prologue of Tim Harfords' "Logic of Life" - I was made! Immediately, I felt a sense of relieved/renewed. Thank you: my hairstylist and washer (I had my hair washed 4 freaking times) - Daniel and Cat.

Permed and coloured. 

I will return to this hair salon as they were amazing ppl. I wanted to go somewhere else for my hairdo, but with due respect to Callie, I had to change my mind. Hahhahaa. JeanYip Salon was actually Plan B. I bet the rest of you knew what Plan A was, eh Callie..???

TWELVE is a lot!

Never been sooo enticed by the number 12. Thirteen, eight, seven, 666...yes, but not twelve. As of today, twelve is an evil number. One lesser than thirteen, it has now horrified me. Let's set the trend.



The twelve dams going to be built in Sarawak has again reminded me of the dirty money into destroying lives and the environment. Enough of development. Try maintenance instead!! Even the development of Bakun is a failure...what makes these 12 dams better?

During Mahathir's time, Bruno Manser has vouch his life for the local ppl against all logging and' development' of Sarawak's beautiful rainforests. He was presumed dead. Never have been found. Will all Penans (or other asli settlers) face the same fate in the long-run?

Cut-n-Paste syndrome

To my utter dismay, I will be attending the BioMalaysia at KLCC this October. What was soo horrifying was that earlier, I intended to register for the ASUM Swimming Instructors course in Bukit Jalil which commence on the same bloody day. What a clash! It's not like I don't like to attend conferences. I love to meet my peers (esp. those singles). Conferences creates networking sessions (tea-breaks) in which my talent in talking (actually, my bullsh**t talking) had caught the eyes of many corporate figures that hailed from Australia to Netherlands (maybe they were looking at me elsewhere :P). A rich (but balding..sighhh..) man even asked me if I am interested to join their company come Monday! However, conferences can be dead boring when you don't hear of anything but the word 'biotechnology' in every damn speech. The word is more annoying than James Blunt! And of course, I don't learn anything much from conferences; I basically just had the lenghty definition of 'Biotechnology' behind my head. I have never lived thru' any closing of any conferences because I might have had plotted the escape route even before they all started: The best escape route...to the shopping mall!

 

I clicked to www.biomalaysia.com.my to check on the programme. The website was great and informative. Got all the scheduled speakers and what I needed. But still eerrr...not too happy with Pak Lah merasmikan the whole thing. Now, HERE's THE STORY: I wanted to save the programme for the 3 day seminar, so I clicked on the Adobe Acrobat icon at the right hand corner. I was shocked!: Basically (please correct me if I'm wrong) this is totally cut and paste punya kerja! : (see below)

http://www.biomalaysia.com.my/v4/index.php?view=article;&catid=35:conference&id=50:conference-programme&format=pdf&option=com_content&Itemid=65

For once, I felt Malaysian. Everything we start, we finished it damn 'well'. :P Outside nice, inside: zero in substance.

Congratulations. Malaysia boleh.

Alamak, my fav candy kena banned!

Alahai, my favourite candy kena banned! 

And I thought it was made in Malaysia. 

I loved the outer film that melts into your tongue. Wonder if they still film-wrap it? Loved the milky taste too...and it's not tooo sweet either. 

 :( hooooooh hoooh :( Sob!

Also read: http://sunrise.jolmy.com/2008/09/22/china-dairy-based-confectionary-banned-white-rabbit-creamy-candy-included/

Bitch?

When I was in London, I insisted on entering the Tower of London even though the entrance fee cost my parents a fortune. There, the enthusiastic guards (their tour-guide) explained about the terrors of the Tower, in which I thought were highly exaggerated, but most of these were facts on the reign of Henry the VIII and his infamous scheming mistress - Anne Boleyn, who soon became queen of England with the consequence of the King departing from Catholism.

Natalie Portman was stellar in the movie. Who could be more suitable for the role of Anne, the smarter sister of the two, bitch and seducer that caught the eyes of the King, but himself couldn't even come close to touching her in the beginning. She acted well in V for Vendetta and I expect no less from her in this movie. 

What I've learnt from this movie is that being a bitch is okay. Being highly ambitious is fine. But finally, you will have your head on the chopping board, that is if you go-overboard. So, don't be too scheming. Do put in effort(s), but have this phrase in mind: Come what may. Don't try toooo hard.

I bought Starbucks.

Embeded 'Starbucks' wordings on the plunger

Callie just gave me the best advice ever for this year. Not even the most brilliant of CFPs would have given me this same advice. This is the best investment plan by a coffee lover herself. She probably loves coffee, but I'm addicted. "Since you love coffee, buy a coffee-maker". I heeded just that.

Today, in the year 2008, on Callie's birthday itself, I purportedly bought a quality Bodum plunger from Starbucks. Bodum writes that as a coffee-maker, but I think an addict-to-ANY-coffee like me won't bother. It’s a coffee-plunger. Actually, all I want is coffee and not any 3in1 Nescafe (in actual fact, any kopitiam beans would suffice). However, I couldn't ignore my favourite brew by Starbucks - the Kenyan Arabica beans and boubght a packet of those. Starbucks grinded them for me happily.

Sad but true, it was not all the time about the coffee; Starbucks was selling me their so-called 'Experience' all this while!! I believe what I'll be missing out next would be the pleasure of sneeking out in the middle of the night to buy a latte from Starbucks IOI Puchong (do that before 12am). Or even lying to my housemate I wanted to buy something from Jusco, but headed off to Starbucks first to get a taste of their coffee-of-the-week. I spent RM10 for the brew; bought RM3 Jusco tidbits, RM1 for parking (I could have just gotten them from the sundry). But my caffeine satisfaction was immediately guaranteed. How could I sleep w/o a perfect brew? (Well, I can't sleep anyway with coffee that late!).

I wanna attribute this post to the Starbucks staffs at Central Point, BU for being one of the most helpful Starbucks ever. Damn, they were soo kind to introduce me their most expensive coffee-maker there. They don't even have a price tag to their that featured coffee-maker, so I assumed it was freaking expensive. After much frantic searching for the price tag, I gave up, they gave up, and alas introduced to me their cheapest plunger (bought that) and let me taste their brew of the week (didn't buy that!). Yucks! I just want Kenya. As Yvonne would have said: Once black, never look back.

Now, Yvonne, you have just reminded me of something: I want the Jamaican Blue Mountain beans!!!

"When I grow up..."

Irritatingly (sorry people, neighbours), "When I Grow Up" by PSD has been our theme for the month. My housemate and I have no qualms dancing in front of my new Samsung when MTV plays them music video. But damn irritatingly true - we girls have always wanted fame. "So, u mean WE've grown up?" Not when you not famous....yet. I was never that ambitious to the brink of craving for fame, and never a bucket list too (read: Jonie). But having to live with her for a while, the darker side of me has emerged. Yes, I WANT TO BE FAMOUS. 

Singing isn't our forte, our brains (yes, we have brains) isn't doing us any good right now, can't dance, can't sports, can't catwalk. "now, lay low, ladies....." But now, remember we're both Masters and Ph.d. material. She's a pyschology major and I'm...errr....you all know what I'm up to (and I'm getting sick of that word).

Nope, we are not shiok sendiri. Serious business. You people should know. Especially when Ivy is involved. I have faith. You would have to concur that FP and I are one powerful combo. Different in character and taste - me: sporty, and independent while she: feministic in nature and an attention-seeker, our differences makes us a (hypothetically) good team. Me, having overworked my left brain have always looked up to her art-tish and creative taste. I love writing and reading political books or classics; she loves sleeping and reading Cleo. She eats nothing, I eat everything. She can't even run a mile, I can run (only) ten. She talks, I listen (nah! :P) 

But it is our similarities that makes us, us! We are both cunning in our own ways. We both adore guys; we love clothes (read: shopping). Plus, can't deny we're both vertically-challenged; giggle way too much; both cutey pies; height-phobics; love the pool; love bikinis; love sleeping on the sofa; love to watch Project Runway; love Chris Siriano (because he's fierce and gay) and we both love ANTM because we both know we can never have those legs. And we both can run on heels. Now, try that! But no, we're are not trying to be paris and nicole. We are friends, we love fun, and and it's our fate.

You've been waiting, I know. What's gonna make (or break) us? An audition tape and a book. (ask us about it).

At the end of the day, u should know it's not about being famous. It's about knowing what our fortes and our weaknesses are and you know you've tried. And at least, we want to grow up.

When I grow up 

I wanna be famous 

I wanna be a star 

I wanna be in movies 

When I grow up 

I wanna see the world 

Drive nice cars 

I wanna have Groupies 

When I grow up 

Be on TV 

People know me 

Be on magazines 

When I grow up 

Fresh and clean 

Number one chick when I step out on the scene 

But be careful what you wish for 

'Cause you just might get it 

But you just might get it 

But You just might get it 

TIME, FAST, and FLIGHT?

Time flies. As I am writing this posts, my friends are all counting their final hours before buka puasa. They claimed time flies when it comes to puasa. "Just keep yourself busy and don't sleep around". I think she actually meant: "Don't laze around" :P

I couldn't help but ponder at her words. I am always busy. Ask my colleagues, ask everyone. Even when it's relatively not busy (subjective!), I'll just SAY it out loud to everyone and myself that I am BUSY. "So don't kacau me". My friends in the lab kept asking me to slow down. Many ppl claimed that I'll wrinkle fast if I kept up with the current pace. There's little pressure, but I tend to do things fast. And sometimes, with one eye closed. Because to me, there's sooo much to do in life; so little time to waste. One step at a time??? Nah, can't do that.

Last week was just the Port Dickson trip and before I even knew it, it's already this week. Time flies when you had fun. Time flies when you're returning from a trip rather than when you're heading for somewhere. There were soo much to say, play, but soo little time! Before I can even say goodnight or goodbye to Ow's and Ian's Chivas and JD, my buddies have all dropped 'dead' :P Come on, I was the one losing almost every round!......give me more time to win back lahhh!

Time flies while clubbing too. Maybe it was just because we girls always arrive late all the time. Even before our erotic selves comes alive, they have turned on the lights. Potong stim. This merdeka celebration was a memorable one. I wasn't my usual self, the music kinda sucked, the crowd was one too many, and the DJ played a remix-disco version of Alleycats' "Aku Anak Malaysia" when the clock struck 12 (I thanked God it wasn't "Negaraku" because if that was so, hundreds of clubbers will be thrown into Kamunting jail). Though I had quite some fun that night, I came back home with a soreful heart and a confidence of the lowest low. At that time, I wish time flew....fast.

Well, time did fly. Next thing in the morning, without even brushing my teeth, I headed back to Ipoh. I had friends that really woke me up from my sad and self-despising mode. Thank you. Everyone made me laughed and Zohan made me laughed even more the next day. I did have a great time and sometimes I wish I hadn't had my own house in KL so as to bring me heart closer to my real HOME.

One Japanese haiku poem I've read had this to say (I am a history enthusiast). I dunno the exact phrase, but I know it meant something like that: Our life is like a sakura flower. It blooms rarely, but as fast as it blooms and before you can even appreciate it, it withers to the ground. Sad, but that's life. That's how I felt earlier. No time. Just soo unfair. Nice/pretty things goes away faster than you can even think..........