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..........

Photos first, blog later.

This week will be a hyper busy week for me, but I did enjoy the trip to Pangkor last weekend. I have no time to blog about it, but pics do mean a thousand words.

Thanks you guys/gals for making this trip happen. Appreciate it so much.

Photos: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/cchivy/PulauPangkorTrip2324August2008

Love, Ivy

Minutes of Kuantan.

Kuantan airport --> Hired Car --> Wira Automatic --> "Wah, tak ada Kelisa meh?!" Wira expensive lah --> Sesat --> Found hotel. Too early. --> "Yay! - a Starbucks nearby" --> Chamomile-Tea --> Facebook --> text my colleagues --> "Eii, mana you all??" ---> "Sudah sampai" ---> Makan --> Gossip --> My professor thinks meal too expensive ---> taruh the restaurant: "Wei, though we are tourists, we're not stupid lahh!" --> Colleagues checked in ---> "creepy lah, your resthouse" ---> Register as participant at Hyatt --> "Wah, nice swimming pool!" ---> Short, but scenic beach --> East-Coast Mall --> "Wah, another Starbucks here. There's only 1 in Ipoh" --> Eat laksa --> You balik your creepy hotel; I love my cozy hotel --> Alone. Scared. ---> Watch HellBoy 2 pirated DVD ---> Olympics --> Ter-sleep.

L-R: Starbucks in Berjaya Megamall, Chamomile-T, Extremely beautiful beach of Teluk Chempedak

Aiya, late! Snoozed 3 times --> Drive recklessly --> Lost --> Alas, Hyatt --> Papers after papers; presentations after presentations --> Boring --> Found out that 'Yakult has human feces-bacteria' --> Lunch --> Dr. Tan found me --> become his kuli --> Presented posters --> Car missing, friends 'stole' ---> Swimming --> Pina colada by the pool --> Freestyle, thinking of Park Tae-Hwan --> Alone --> "So many ppl wanna tumpang my car arrr??? Please queue-up" --> Lost (again!) --> I forgo my Grand Dinner --> for Malaysia --> Watch Malaysia kena belasah in Badminton finals --> Dissapointed --> Alone --> "Should have just gone for the Grand dinner" :(

L-R: My poster; My new friend (she's soo nice), Lunch ALONE.

Hyatt --> Dr. Ting's presentation - My ultimate rival in research! --> Flirted with judges --> Later told me I win 3rd place (again! think AMC2007) --> Buy souvenirs --> Sleep in my cozy hotel --> Sleep --> Dream of Patrick, my doggy :P --> Sleeeeeeeeeep --> Prayed that I don't snooze next morning.

Airasia --> KL --> No place like KL. My home.

And it's not even Christmas!

You see, there are many surprises in life. My surprises came in a form of food and gifts.

So, a few surprises by friends. This one's from an newly known friend. It's a mudpie from TGIF. Maybe I've never eaten a mudpie before, but wow, does mudpie really look like this (see below)? This take-away mudpie really 'aroused' my palate and senses. Good 'first impression'. I think this friend knew I had to be reminded of my poo-poo, eh?

My housemate bought me gifts from Singapore. One was a devil's undie (no pictures of it, you wish!) and another was a PRINCE FROG-IN-AN-EGG. If you read Bea's blog, her latest post reminded me of this special gift. Nope, I don't have to kiss the frog (because obviously I am no Princess :P). I had to fill it with water and the frog will melt (euwww..) and voila!, it turns to prince charming. Now here's the catch: you need to wait for 3-4 days before it is 'fully grown'? Errr...

3 days after: What I thought would be Prince William, was a naked prince with distorted mouth and eye-piece. Thank God I didn't kiss it.My brother was the real santa: Bought me a Burberry Brit EDT. Wow, a genuine Burberry and it's not even my birthday?!?! I love the masculine smell. Wait, did I say masculine? Man, this is not good.
And a the best gift this month was a bouquet of dark red roses, sent to my lab, to the amusement of my colleagues and and the hoo-haa of the whole faculty. Oh man! I love them! Ya, buy Kian Ming and Tony Pua a drink, ya?! There's a reason why blogs are life-changing...