Economic crisis on your birthday.

FOOD
As my birthday looms, I was wondering how I should celebrate it. It's my birthday so I can do anything I want, right?! Mmm...RIGHT?!?! Am I allowed to show off my cooking skills to my invited friends? Hmmphh...but doubt I'll be cooking. Not because I'm a bad cook :P but because I don't want to end up washing dishes ON MY BDAY! Maybe buy 5 large pizzas back.

STYLE
Should I go for a (expensive) hair cut? It's tooo long; my mum said I looked like a Punjabi (no offence to Punjabis! Mum said it, not me). Actually, the aunty in front of my apartment can do better stylin' and cuts than the one in 1Utama (I somewhat kena tipu before by the latter). Just that aunty has once pulled my hair too hard during treatment/styling that I went home with a headache. Sick! I thought of buying a blonde wig and act Paris for once on my bday. I've never played dumb before.

EVENTS
I thought of just a small outing to the P. Ramlee Musical 2. Dad and Mum aleady plan to buy me those tickets that I yearn for soooo long. I missed the previous musical. Or a birthday filled with books! I'll go and spend the whole day at the Popular Book Fest at KLCC. Anyone for those 2 events?

VENUE
Can I celebrate my bday in a mamak stall? Why not ehh...food prices are rising; Although roti tisu and teh tarik also naik harga, it's much affordable than some hype restaurant that serves (extremely) overpriced food. Worst - I don't even understand the menu! If my birthday was held in a mamak stall, I can get a candle stuck on a roti canai rather than a Secret Recipe cheesecake that costs a fortune (I am on a diet anyway - cheesecakes are a BIG no-no). I don't fancy cakes anyway. I prefer kuih. Can I eat kuih bengkang instead? I like the kuih bengkang from the fighting-couple-stall inside wai-sik-kai in SS2. Seriously, that would be the best bday 'cake'. Let's celebrate in SS2.

SHOPPING SPREE
Thought of going to Singapore. However, in this 'hard' times, thought of saving money a bit. And I know definitely I can't stop myself from splurging on everything and anything during this Great Singapore Sale. So have to scratch this trip on the basis of self-control. I still love you Jo; you know that.

PASSION
Maybe I can celebrate in Starbucks. I'll buy every guest a cup of brew. Hmmphh...guess not, because I'll be the ONLY person really enjoying myself there. Not everyone love Starbucks and its experience. :P To me, no coffee is expensive when it's Starbucks. To hell with economic crisis! To hell with zero oil subsidies! Starbucks, here I come!

Cook wins!

At press time: David Cook, my Idol, is your new American Idol!

IVY OUT!

ManUtd are Champions of Europe!

A short note here:

ManUtd won the UEFA Champions League! My heart skipped a beat tooo many (penalties after penalties); my eyes are puffy; my tongue is bland because of the alternating coffee and tea. But it's worth all the insomnia: ManUtd did it again!!

Viva ManUtd! Best team ever.

That was one annoying David!

I can't stomach him at all. Archuleta. Maybe he's too 'nice' as he smiles too often. Archuleta. His facial features reminded me of the typical creepy ventriloquist's puppet doll. Archuleta. He doesn't answer any question properly and shrugs them off by blurping 'I don't know'. Archuleta. He sang only emo songs. Archuleta. I am saying this not because I'm jealous of talented people, because anyway, Archuleta is too short for my liking. Archuleta - the annoying David.


There was never a doubt that he was the most talented singer of all 12 finalists. He could impress any tone-deaf person with his rendition of Lennon's 'Imagine'. I realised that he voice has not crack a bit nor has he hit a wrong note ever before. Never a pitch problem. They called him a singing prodigy. But is he Idol material? Well, not that I care because I'm not in America; I can't vote. To me, Archuleta is not Idol material as he does not have the package. He just sings well but this boy Archuleta, does not perform.

David Cook is Idol material. He is human and he makes mistakes (Archuleta made a blunder too - forgetting his lyrics during his Top 10 performance (ooooOOOO..). Cook is a soul rocker. My genre! He is calm. He performs and when he sang Phantom Of The Opera's Music Of The Night, I was moved and my heart sank. I also love his rock rendition of 'Billie Jean', 'Always Be my Baby' and 'Hello'. Cook had never intended to audition for Idol which made him even more special as he was found! He's 25 and he is by the way, my type. It's pure personal preference anyway.

Cook is also a talent. He's in fact more versatile than Archuleta and can even sing the whole phonebook (quoted by Randy). Simon told Leno that he wanted Cook to win American Idol 7 as he deserves it. Well, after soo many seasons of American Idol, I realised that you don't have to win to be famous or successful in this competitive industry. I believe more people will buy Cook's album than David's even if the former doesn't win (who has ever bought Taylor Hicks' album eh?). American Idol is, however, a popularity contest. Archuleta takes the popularity, but the real stage talent belongs to Cook.

(watching AI7 finale now. Archuleta did well. Annoyingly expected!).

IVY OUT..!

My 'Backyard'

...continuation from previous post...

Where should I be going depends on also the politics in Malaysia. I am glad that after BN lost 2/3 majority in parliament and they STILL DO NOT KNOW WHY they lost badly after 50 years kemerdekaan. I, as a non-political scientist also can give you an answer. BN has been setting up committees after committees saying that they lost because they never blog (duh!) and never get to influence web users (silly! because even if they blog, no one wants to listen to them except their cronies); or because Anwar's a threat; or because their own BN ppl sabo them (ask your own UMNO ppl why laa!?!); and even after March 8, BN still have never think for the rakyat because they tarik-balik all memorandum signed between the federal government and the previous BN-state rule now won by opposition (eg. Penang); even removed the mega projects that has to do with Opp. ruled-states. I know why. I really know why: UMNO only thinks about money. If opposition continues the Penang bridge project, UMNO will have no money to pocket-in. Everything is about money. But money has failed the government entirely. Why would a screwdriver cost RM400 when my hardware guy across the street says it's only RM50 to the most! I've experienced this myself form the purchase of my granulating machine from China. A barang costs RM12000 was RM20,000 at the end. Hmmphh....RM8,000 marked-up. Suspicious.

Another I know why: our PM is a problem. See, if a soccer club fails to deliver, who is the one who gets the boot?? - the manager. He's responsible for the whole team despite his players having injuries or failed to score goals. So, pandai-pandai lah...after this March 8, our PM still fails to acknowledge that he's the MAIN problem and still gave OTHER non-relevant reasons to why they lost badly. Not that I like our deputy PM, but at least, I think Pak Lah is irrelevant already. Again, let me emphasize: The whole BN is irrelevant at this stage. The people fear to vote the opposition previously because they are afriad of riots and curfews (i.e. 13 May 1969), but hey(!), the rakyat realised that even after this March 8 results, there's no chaos! Hmmph....I believe the people will continue to support the opposition because now they know they have AN OPTION (and realised that nothing will happen even if Opposition forms the government). My point is, even if opposition states do not deliver after 4 years there's no doubt that the people has no fear anymore to choose WHATEVER THEY THINK IS GOOD FOR MALAYSIA (which is NOT BN).

God bless Malaysia.

Over the seas

I went to see YP off at KLIA the other day. She was on her trip to Hawaii to see Bun. Hope the flight was great and being her first time on a plane (I think...), wow, it is a distant place to start with! Good luck and have fun there! If you're reading this from Hawaii or California or losing money in Vegas, please buzz me and tell us all about it. Blog!!

My younger brother has been received by Iowa State University and Kansas State Uni. He's leaving in August this year but he's still undecided between which uni to go. I was forcing him to take Iowa because I know KSU has no Entomology courses there (in case I wanna work as a post-doc there marr..). He dreaded me tagging along with him to US as he knows how temperament and clean-freak (I can beat you to this, Bun) her sister can be :P Plus, Kansas sounds more ulu than Iowa, but is it?!? I want to be in America to...as Yvonne said...have sex in the truck :P

My dad wants me to go London. My dad says that he'll pay for all my expenses (WOW!). But he's not in London anymore by the time I get there because he should be in wherever the Ph.D. interview gets him. He's begging me to go, but where should I stay??

Then, there's Australia. I heard they are opening several agriculture post-doc's places to work in Uni of Melbourne. It's a paid job, but my own professor in UPM is countering that offer and offered me to work as his post-doc (which includes lecturing too). He'll pay me high! I said I wanna work for him, but honestly I told him: I am sick of UPM. My Prof. just smiled.

Are you smarter than a Year 5 swimmer?

Everyone knows how bad my spoken Mandarin is. My cantonese was improved by speaking to Aikido dudes. My Mandarin has also improve MUCH since I started teaching swimming since 2++ years back. And what the hell...most of the words are translated for me by my 6 to 11-year-old students during swimming lessons. My MANDARIN ... aha ...see below on how those kids taught me how to speak new vocabs:

English = Mandarin (contoh ayat: "said by me")


1. Straight = che (contoh ayat: "Wah lau, please la, for God's grace if you don't want to drown, che your hands!)."


2. Bengkok = wan (contoh ayat: "Your hands, please la, don't wannnn; Ni yau sze arrr?? (you wanna die arr)"


3. Push down = aann or ing (??) (contoh ayat: "Wei, I will die, not you, if you aann my hands down."


4. Swimming = yu yong (contoh ayat: Wei, why the chubby boy never come yu chui today?? (Hokkein vocab already! :P)


5. Mouth open and blow! = (man, I thought this is the most explicit of all). Some kids literally translated this phrase for me! Innocent...


6. Open = kai (contoh ayat = "Wei, for breast-stroke, your legs are supposed to kai big big like a circle and then push hard ....!!" (Hope their mothers can explain to them when they get home).


Broken also my England after speaking to my students. Still, some parents forced me to speak broken English with their kids. And again, I wonder if they understood the rest of my rojak sentence; I don't even want to know what 'DROWNING' is in Mandarin, in case those gazing parents accuse me of spreading the negativity of death (wait, didn't I said the word 'die' all this time?!).

Because of the multiple languages Malaysians speak, don't you just love being the Malaysia?? But I don't want to spread a new religion in the pool. And maybe that's why most of the time I swim alone. :)

Could it be...

My white blood count was high. No fever. So, it's definitely not bacteria/virus whatever infection. It started with a body ache and some twitches while in the lab. IN THE LAB. All these symptoms within one hour of my handling a neurotoxic material - Acrylamide/bis-acrylamide. I don't mind getting sick due to skin contact with that chemical, but I think infertility is one of long term effects that I honestly fear a lot. Why I suspect that chemical was the culprit was because that was my first time handling it (though I did wore gloves) and I had no sore throat, flu, sickness prior to this. And the funny thing was - my body failure happened very quick (like a succession of fits within an hour) and there was no fever. If not, what is it that my body is trying to defend? Why did my body generate sooo much white blood!? That damn chemical...must be. Too bad I didn't tell the doctor about it as I have forgotten all about my handling of this potent chemical. My research colleague heard of 2 Ph.D. students in Biotechnology faculty being diagnosed with breast cancer recently due to high radiation exposure in their lab. *worried*

Another theory was stress. Hmmphhh...likely cause but I doubt anything could caused me to stress. I was not even stressed that weel! In fact, I just got back from a relaxing 4-day trip in Perhentian-Redang. And what's teaching swimming 7 days in a week compared to me having to go for swimming competition and trained twice a day for one month!?!??! WHAT STRESS DID I GET??? My uncle doctor called up to ask me not to drink too much coffee as the caffeine masks the body's tiredness. Maybe I didn't know I was tired. And I had lack of sleep though. Had to admit.

I prefer to blame it on the chemical. Stress?? - meh!!! If there's 6 billion people in this world, I dare declare that I, Ivy Chai could handle stress the best! (I've been pressured, but never been stressed-out)

Ms. SJMC

Ms. SJMC was the name given to me by my aikido instructor due to my frequent apperance in Subang Jaya Medical Centre. I worked there for 3 months in 2003, but I still think I don't deserve this nickname!

This time I was warded due to a mild fits. My body was overstressed though my mind was basically 'normal'. (No worries, I still am Ph.D. material :) I don't know how to define my disease but basically my bones and joins all got numb and my heartbeat was so quick i thought I had a heart attack. I just couldn't move and my body starts to ache like crazy (esp. my neck)!! Plus, my legs were wobbly. And I broke out in cold sweats. I thought it was denggi fever or some viral fever, but I don't even have a temperature to start with. Both the SJMC doctor and my doctor uncle added that it could be a panic attack or stress-related disorder. Maybe a nervous breakdown.

So, here I was in SJMC. Results showed that my white blood count was extremely high that I thought it was leukemia (doc didn't think so, but I'm soo 'proud' to query him about leukemia). Touchwood, hope it's not. Just my immune system went to its lowest low. Got some bacteria infection in blood and urine (could be due to low immunity) but still....weirdest thing....no fever!!!! Drink loads of water (coffee can ahh?) and rest (sleep) more was the advice. Hey, but I thought I slept a lot in Redang!??!?! Damn.

After a burst appendicitis and my initial Bell's palsy scare, I always know what to do first thing I feel ANY pain - GO TO SJMC! (because got insurance already marrr).

Fondue

Fondue - a foreign word that was familiar but I didn't actually know what it means. 'Til I met my girlfriends in Chilis, BSC one night, I didn't know it was a type of dessert. So here goes - all my chatty girlfriends were trying to describe to me with their own elaborative adjectives of what a fondue is. I thought: why don't we just stick to wiki, eh?

I went to Haagen Dazs at Bangsar Village to see/taste for myself what a fondue was. So it did look like what I expected it to look like (after I looked it in wiki) (warning: tongue twisted here). The presentation was absolutely charming Somehow I expected the chocolate to overflow like a lava (or like the banjir kilat in KL), but my wild imagination failed me again.

Oooooo...macam rusa masuk kampung, so here is what I did: dip in my fresh fruits, ice cream, cakes and whatever they've dumped me with! Oooo..I didn't know that earlier but I was glad to bring along a not-soo-kampung guy to teach me to fondue. I think I need a 'Fondue For Dummies' book.

I had a great time! Yeah, like the time when he messed my face with chocolate and ice-cream. The fondue was just enough for 2 people (he ate most of it). I think it was about RM56.90 but I would pay any amount for the fun and indulgence I had that moment in Haagen.