Last weekend, we had a mini-minor gathering in one of our friends' place... for Christmas...
it all started when we found out that, he bought a Christmas tree... so, why 'waste' a Christmas tree standing there so lonely??? therefore, we came out with a small Christmas gathering plan... and he offered to cook... yeh!! ^_^V
Another reason was also, ever since we got back in town, we haven't really met all our friends yet... so, Christmas is always a good time to gather around with friends...
As for me... in fact, this year is the first year where we (friends) actually gathered together for Christmas... which is... mm... hehe... a good trend to start... among us... kekekeke!!!!
potluck, or some simple dinner prepared by somebody... especially the latter... is always a very warm thing to think about... huh???
Err... where are the people??? forgive me for forgetting to take the pictures of all the 'guests' around... ^_^;;
as i was putting all my soul and my heart on the food that night, we forgot to take pictures of the people, but only the food!!! keke!!
looked very professional huh???
there's one thing that i finished nearly half of the plate, but is not in this picture... it's tuna stuffed-cherry tomatoes... too handy for me to stop picking and nicking on them... as well as the platter of sushi... ^,^
maybe i'm old, maybe i'm too imaginative, maybe i'm too indulged to the festive mood... as i always think that Christmas has to happen in winter... therefore, in places with super hot weather... i just couldn't have my Christmas mood... however... this year, it's slightly different...
maybe i'm old, maybe i'm too imaginative, maybe i'm too indulged to the festive mood... Christmas this year... summer or winter, didn't really matter too much to me anymore... but, having a Christmas gathering in a very White-ly decorated house... did have its White Christmas effect... ^_^... ghee!!!
having close friends around, in a cosy little house (with cool air-conditioned) really did give one a very warm feeling... warmth in winter... (well... i know outside is damn hot!!! and i was sweating like mad!!! but as i said... maybe i was too indulged to this winter-white-Christmas mood!!!)
I know it's a little bit late.. but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!
2006-12-14
Small Car with the Big Personality...
haha!!!! i wonder if anybody can tell me, where my 'subject' came from???? i wanted to talk about something like this 2 weeks ago, when my little kancil hit the road again!!!! after 9 months without its beloved owner... my 'xiao p' a.k.a p-chan...
ya, 2 weeks ago, when we came back, when we started my 'xiao p', when i finally drove it myself... i somehow felt 'belonged'... my 'small car with the big personality'..... kakaka!!!! i like to say it, even though... even though... for those who still can recall... it's this commercial by the slutty Ruby Wax, for Vauxhall... (not sure if this car is still around though)
i like to call my 'xiao p' --- a small car with the big personality... kakakakaka!!!!!!
as... well... i practically drove it like a four-wheel drive, and stuff my guests in like it's a MPV... yo!!!!
maybe the one more thing that i've gotta try, is to DRIFT!!!! kakakakak!!! (in my dream)
today, i just sent it for services... a thorough check-up... woo!!! now, it feel even better to drive it.... it's like, it's been given this new energy jab by the workshop mechanic... a full dose!!!!
anyway, while i was waiting for the car to be 'serviced', i went to a small coffee shop nearby, to drink drink and eat eat, and read read newspaper, and talk talk on the phone, or send send sms... i am never a fan of 'wanton' noodle... or, maybe because of this reason, today... i actually thought that the 'wanton' noodle that i had, was good.... (i shall bring him there, to re-evaluate)... that shop was err... i think, was run by old people... the ONLY stall is the 'wanton' noodle stall... (now you see the reason why i, as a non-'wanton' noodle fan, would order a 'wanton' noodle)... the one and only stall was offering 1. 'wanton' noodle, and 2. prawn noodle... the stall is run by an old couple... and i saw that, the tea person, was an old lady... THAT's ALL!!! yep, plus a young guy who helps deliver the drinks...
ooh!!! by now, you can see that, i'm not even a fan of prawn noodle, and between the two, i suppose... 'wanton' noodle is still better... ^_^ at least, for me... ^_^
so... if you come to puchong... ^_^... at the big junction between puchong-LDP-sg.besi... the car workshop that i frequent is called Dinar Daya, and that coffee shop, apparently 'nameless'... is in the same row as dinar daya, facing the LDP, facing the fly-over...
... you can have a try of the 'wanton' noodle... ^_^V
hahaha!!!! as you can see... actually i want to talk about food, rather than my 'small car with the big personality!!'
ya, 2 weeks ago, when we came back, when we started my 'xiao p', when i finally drove it myself... i somehow felt 'belonged'... my 'small car with the big personality'..... kakaka!!!! i like to say it, even though... even though... for those who still can recall... it's this commercial by the slutty Ruby Wax, for Vauxhall... (not sure if this car is still around though)
i like to call my 'xiao p' --- a small car with the big personality... kakakakaka!!!!!!
as... well... i practically drove it like a four-wheel drive, and stuff my guests in like it's a MPV... yo!!!!
maybe the one more thing that i've gotta try, is to DRIFT!!!! kakakakak!!! (in my dream)
today, i just sent it for services... a thorough check-up... woo!!! now, it feel even better to drive it.... it's like, it's been given this new energy jab by the workshop mechanic... a full dose!!!!
anyway, while i was waiting for the car to be 'serviced', i went to a small coffee shop nearby, to drink drink and eat eat, and read read newspaper, and talk talk on the phone, or send send sms... i am never a fan of 'wanton' noodle... or, maybe because of this reason, today... i actually thought that the 'wanton' noodle that i had, was good.... (i shall bring him there, to re-evaluate)... that shop was err... i think, was run by old people... the ONLY stall is the 'wanton' noodle stall... (now you see the reason why i, as a non-'wanton' noodle fan, would order a 'wanton' noodle)... the one and only stall was offering 1. 'wanton' noodle, and 2. prawn noodle... the stall is run by an old couple... and i saw that, the tea person, was an old lady... THAT's ALL!!! yep, plus a young guy who helps deliver the drinks...
ooh!!! by now, you can see that, i'm not even a fan of prawn noodle, and between the two, i suppose... 'wanton' noodle is still better... ^_^ at least, for me... ^_^
so... if you come to puchong... ^_^... at the big junction between puchong-LDP-sg.besi... the car workshop that i frequent is called Dinar Daya, and that coffee shop, apparently 'nameless'... is in the same row as dinar daya, facing the LDP, facing the fly-over...
... you can have a try of the 'wanton' noodle... ^_^V
hahaha!!!! as you can see... actually i want to talk about food, rather than my 'small car with the big personality!!'
2006-12-05
When everything is down the drain, you're down the drain!!! ^_^V
guess what happened again?????????
ok... this started from the very beginning...
In the beginning of time... (ie. When we just got back from Oz/S'pore)
1. my astro, still can't view anything, even the basic channels... even though i have been paying when we're away... (cos, i've been paying the minimum while we're able to view some 'extra' channels, so, i thought i shouldn't 'touch' the subscription... see!!! there's never free lunch huh!!! now i got backfired.. which i hope not!!!)... in fact, we couldn't view any of them since this august... but i was not around... (he came back alone) so, only now, i called astro to try to solve...
2. and guess what??? i called astro, since last week... immediately after we got back, their system was down... then, i waited for a few days, called again, system still down, i couldn't stop myself from asking them, “your system has been down for many many days, doesn't your boss question any of you or scold any of you???” of course i won't be given any 'satisfying' answer... to date (2006-12-05) the system is still not up yet... i called them yesterday, they told me, TODAY!!!!! after 2pm... ya, hope you're right!!!
3. then, mid of last week, we went to IKEA and Harvey Norman, bought some new furniture, and a fridge, a washing machine, and a dryer... (washing machine and dryer came in a bundle, just couldn't resist!!! i know i know, i'm bad shopper!! ^_^)
4. so, later in the week, ikea sent the items that we ordered to our place, and we 'ordered' them to be assembled... however... half way through their assembling process... i noticed a scratch on the front panel... i voiced it out, they (surprisingly without any 'resistance') said they'd exchange it for me...
5. first, there's scratched door, second, there's one screw lack in the packing, so, they couldn't fix one of the 'legs'... ie. My cabinet couldn't stand!!!
6. then, we ordered that, our cabinet door could be fixed with extra key... it's called EFEKTIF A, then, we (including the ikea assembly men) discovered that, the EFEKTIF A, should come together with EFEKTIF B, ie. One is key hole, one is key~~~ goodness!!! now then we know that, ANY EFEKTIF B key will be able to open ANY EFEKTIF A keyhole!!!! SMART!!!
7. 3 unsolved outstanding 'issues' from ikea... however, the assembly men couldn't do anything, the procedure would be... i call the customer services (to launch a complain, i believe), then, the customer services will check with the delivery/assembly men again, then, they'll pass it on to the home delivery DEPARTMENT... THEN home delivery will call me to fix another time and date to come fix the 'issues'
8. however, let me tell you, IT'S EXTREMELY EXTREMELY difficult to get through the IKEA customer services line, and the customer services' staff was not really very helpful... or i'll put it this way... the first person that i spoke to, was not really THAT willing to help (huh!! i wonder why she want to be in customer services department... @#%@#^@^) mind you, her name is SHEENA... then, after zillions of time of trying, i managed to speak to another person again, called Addy... i complained to him about Sheena... this time, finally, he's willing to help and came back to me with something... ya, finally, to fix the second 'delivery' (the screw, the door replacement, and the key)
9. second time, ikea people came... after fixing the keyhole and replacing the door, one of them told us this... the screw that they're given, was WRONG again... so, they need to go back to change, and get the RIGHT ONE!!! oh, before they can proceed.. i've to go through the painful process of getting through their customer services phone line... ok.. this time, it's slightly easier...
10. finally, ikea people came, for the third time.. and finally, our cabinet is FIXED!!!
11. parallelly... our washing machine!!!! hm!!! see... when they delivered the washing machine, dryer and fridge the other day... i was basically over-joyed... at the fact that, i finally can do my laundrette easily (initially, we're using the super ancient twin-tub machine, ie. You gotta fill up the water... and stop the water inlet when it's full, then, start the machine, then, after a few round of washing, you gotta transfer the wet laundrette to the other tub to spin... ie. You can't sleep, you can't go out, and you've to be there to keep an eye when you're doing your laundrette... ^_^ ya, we've been using THAT for err... nearly 8 years!!) so... i was too thrilled to use the machine... i washed the pile of mountain-high laundrette... then, the next day... still thinking of continuing... however... i found out that, the machine refused to drain automatically, and even i forced it to drain.. it refused to spin... so, i called the harvey norman sales... as it was a weekend, he told me, he'll help me to get the electrolux guy on monday (the following day)... fine!!!
12. therefore, yesterday (monday) i called the same sales guy to make sure that he helped me to contact electrolux... (which i think, i can do it myself, however, since it's newly purchased goods, i guess, it'll be better if i go through the same dealer) ... in the afternoon, while i was taking my afternoon nap, electrolux lady called me up, to tell me the time when their engineer will come... mm... at least, she sounded much more helpful than the IKEA customer services... (huh!! i wondered... if if happened that we bought the item and decided to assemble ourselves... and halfway through, or upon near completion, then only we found out that, there's one screw less... what would we have to do?? arrgh... don't tell me, i've to dissemble the whole thing and bring it back to ikea???...)
13. anyway... at the moment, my washing machine is still 'hanging there', as the engineer is not here yet... but guess what?? last night, i boot up my PC (after the PREVIOUS REFORMATTING) ... it failed to launch the explorer.exe process... ie. After booting into the supposed OS.. i can't see anything but blank... can't see any icon, nothing!!!!! then i tried to see what's happening, by doing the ctrl-alt-del... another message popped up and told me that, the task manager was failed to launch (as well!!!) FINE!!!!!
14. the last thing i DIDN'T do, was to bash the keyboard, as well as the notebook... however.. maybe after all the 'events' since the past week, and a very recent reformatting of my PC... or maybe after a long night of watching TV/DVD... my brain functioned a little bit slow, as to feel anything about this... so, i relaxingly took out my rescue disk... (since the last reformat was not THAT far away... therefore, those CDs were still around my side)...
and there i am... happily typing away over here... ^_^
as this time, it's different from the last 'need-to-reformat' event, (my PC was hacked) i didn't know what really happened... as i mentioned, not far from the last reformat and re-arrange and re-configuration... somehow, quite immediately after 1.5 day of rest (for my PC) then suddenly the whole OS failed to launch the vital basic explorer.exe process........
but fine!! fine!! fine!!!!!!....
ok... this started from the very beginning...
In the beginning of time... (ie. When we just got back from Oz/S'pore)
1. my astro, still can't view anything, even the basic channels... even though i have been paying when we're away... (cos, i've been paying the minimum while we're able to view some 'extra' channels, so, i thought i shouldn't 'touch' the subscription... see!!! there's never free lunch huh!!! now i got backfired.. which i hope not!!!)... in fact, we couldn't view any of them since this august... but i was not around... (he came back alone) so, only now, i called astro to try to solve...
2. and guess what??? i called astro, since last week... immediately after we got back, their system was down... then, i waited for a few days, called again, system still down, i couldn't stop myself from asking them, “your system has been down for many many days, doesn't your boss question any of you or scold any of you???” of course i won't be given any 'satisfying' answer... to date (2006-12-05) the system is still not up yet... i called them yesterday, they told me, TODAY!!!!! after 2pm... ya, hope you're right!!!
3. then, mid of last week, we went to IKEA and Harvey Norman, bought some new furniture, and a fridge, a washing machine, and a dryer... (washing machine and dryer came in a bundle, just couldn't resist!!! i know i know, i'm bad shopper!! ^_^)
4. so, later in the week, ikea sent the items that we ordered to our place, and we 'ordered' them to be assembled... however... half way through their assembling process... i noticed a scratch on the front panel... i voiced it out, they (surprisingly without any 'resistance') said they'd exchange it for me...
5. first, there's scratched door, second, there's one screw lack in the packing, so, they couldn't fix one of the 'legs'... ie. My cabinet couldn't stand!!!
6. then, we ordered that, our cabinet door could be fixed with extra key... it's called EFEKTIF A, then, we (including the ikea assembly men) discovered that, the EFEKTIF A, should come together with EFEKTIF B, ie. One is key hole, one is key~~~ goodness!!! now then we know that, ANY EFEKTIF B key will be able to open ANY EFEKTIF A keyhole!!!! SMART!!!
7. 3 unsolved outstanding 'issues' from ikea... however, the assembly men couldn't do anything, the procedure would be... i call the customer services (to launch a complain, i believe), then, the customer services will check with the delivery/assembly men again, then, they'll pass it on to the home delivery DEPARTMENT... THEN home delivery will call me to fix another time and date to come fix the 'issues'
8. however, let me tell you, IT'S EXTREMELY EXTREMELY difficult to get through the IKEA customer services line, and the customer services' staff was not really very helpful... or i'll put it this way... the first person that i spoke to, was not really THAT willing to help (huh!! i wonder why she want to be in customer services department... @#%@#^@^) mind you, her name is SHEENA... then, after zillions of time of trying, i managed to speak to another person again, called Addy... i complained to him about Sheena... this time, finally, he's willing to help and came back to me with something... ya, finally, to fix the second 'delivery' (the screw, the door replacement, and the key)
9. second time, ikea people came... after fixing the keyhole and replacing the door, one of them told us this... the screw that they're given, was WRONG again... so, they need to go back to change, and get the RIGHT ONE!!! oh, before they can proceed.. i've to go through the painful process of getting through their customer services phone line... ok.. this time, it's slightly easier...
10. finally, ikea people came, for the third time.. and finally, our cabinet is FIXED!!!
11. parallelly... our washing machine!!!! hm!!! see... when they delivered the washing machine, dryer and fridge the other day... i was basically over-joyed... at the fact that, i finally can do my laundrette easily (initially, we're using the super ancient twin-tub machine, ie. You gotta fill up the water... and stop the water inlet when it's full, then, start the machine, then, after a few round of washing, you gotta transfer the wet laundrette to the other tub to spin... ie. You can't sleep, you can't go out, and you've to be there to keep an eye when you're doing your laundrette... ^_^ ya, we've been using THAT for err... nearly 8 years!!) so... i was too thrilled to use the machine... i washed the pile of mountain-high laundrette... then, the next day... still thinking of continuing... however... i found out that, the machine refused to drain automatically, and even i forced it to drain.. it refused to spin... so, i called the harvey norman sales... as it was a weekend, he told me, he'll help me to get the electrolux guy on monday (the following day)... fine!!!
12. therefore, yesterday (monday) i called the same sales guy to make sure that he helped me to contact electrolux... (which i think, i can do it myself, however, since it's newly purchased goods, i guess, it'll be better if i go through the same dealer) ... in the afternoon, while i was taking my afternoon nap, electrolux lady called me up, to tell me the time when their engineer will come... mm... at least, she sounded much more helpful than the IKEA customer services... (huh!! i wondered... if if happened that we bought the item and decided to assemble ourselves... and halfway through, or upon near completion, then only we found out that, there's one screw less... what would we have to do?? arrgh... don't tell me, i've to dissemble the whole thing and bring it back to ikea???...)
13. anyway... at the moment, my washing machine is still 'hanging there', as the engineer is not here yet... but guess what?? last night, i boot up my PC (after the PREVIOUS REFORMATTING) ... it failed to launch the explorer.exe process... ie. After booting into the supposed OS.. i can't see anything but blank... can't see any icon, nothing!!!!! then i tried to see what's happening, by doing the ctrl-alt-del... another message popped up and told me that, the task manager was failed to launch (as well!!!) FINE!!!!!
14. the last thing i DIDN'T do, was to bash the keyboard, as well as the notebook... however.. maybe after all the 'events' since the past week, and a very recent reformatting of my PC... or maybe after a long night of watching TV/DVD... my brain functioned a little bit slow, as to feel anything about this... so, i relaxingly took out my rescue disk... (since the last reformat was not THAT far away... therefore, those CDs were still around my side)...
and there i am... happily typing away over here... ^_^
as this time, it's different from the last 'need-to-reformat' event, (my PC was hacked) i didn't know what really happened... as i mentioned, not far from the last reformat and re-arrange and re-configuration... somehow, quite immediately after 1.5 day of rest (for my PC) then suddenly the whole OS failed to launch the vital basic explorer.exe process........
but fine!! fine!! fine!!!!!!....
2006-12-01
Feather Sleep
can anybody tell me how to sleep on a feather pillow??? gosh!!! i'm not the type of person who'll have problem with different places or different bed and so on... however, when it's a feather pillow... that's it... that's it... there go my good night sleep...
the first time we have to 'suffer' a feather pillow was in singapore...
however... these 2 days... over here... gosh!!!! there're many cushions, pillows in one bed... you know, typical marriott, reinassance style... but ALL OF THEM are feather-filled... so.. you can imagine... the sleeping queen can't sleep!!!!!!!! (cry!!! end of the world!!)
i really really have problem with feather pillows... no matter how i sleep... it'll get pressed to thinner and thinner... and then, you feel like, you're not sleeping on anything...
and it won't be shaped back like most of the other cheap sponge pillows, or cotton pillows, to the more expensive memory pillows... it just won't 'bounce' back to its original shape... that's what i hate about feather pillows...
and that's why, i've been blogging whole night...
this morning, near morning hour... i tried to get some sleep... but, no matter how i placed my head... upside down, inside out, right and left... etc.... whatever stunt i could do with my head and my neck, all i tried.. but i just couldn't sleep well...
now... can anybody just tell me... if you know the trick to sleep, on a feather pillow!!!!!
otherwise, i seriously doubt the usability of feather pillows... i guess, they're first invented purely, and solely, for pillow fight!! that's all!!!
ja!!
the first time we have to 'suffer' a feather pillow was in singapore...
however... these 2 days... over here... gosh!!!! there're many cushions, pillows in one bed... you know, typical marriott, reinassance style... but ALL OF THEM are feather-filled... so.. you can imagine... the sleeping queen can't sleep!!!!!!!! (cry!!! end of the world!!)
i really really have problem with feather pillows... no matter how i sleep... it'll get pressed to thinner and thinner... and then, you feel like, you're not sleeping on anything...
and it won't be shaped back like most of the other cheap sponge pillows, or cotton pillows, to the more expensive memory pillows... it just won't 'bounce' back to its original shape... that's what i hate about feather pillows...
and that's why, i've been blogging whole night...
this morning, near morning hour... i tried to get some sleep... but, no matter how i placed my head... upside down, inside out, right and left... etc.... whatever stunt i could do with my head and my neck, all i tried.. but i just couldn't sleep well...
now... can anybody just tell me... if you know the trick to sleep, on a feather pillow!!!!!
otherwise, i seriously doubt the usability of feather pillows... i guess, they're first invented purely, and solely, for pillow fight!! that's all!!!
ja!!
Beef Noodle and Tempura
whenever i see Jay Chou's MTV, or hear his song... they remind me of what momoko (matilda tao) has said about him...
she's one entry about Jay Chou in her blog... (i've posted her link in my link page... ^_^)
for those who don't read chinese... this is what she said... which i find it very funny and err... 'inspiring' in a way...
when i first saw the title of her blog... i couldn't quite understand... cos, she put Jay Chou together with Beef Noodle... err.... @_@?????
she said, she just couldn't understand why people like to complain about how Jay Chou never bother to change his singing style and so on... which, ya, i notice... since the very beginning till now... his songs are all the same style... ya... all these years... ^_^
that's how she put it...
"imagine, once upon a time, when there's no beef noodle at all in this world... and one day, maybe ah wong got struck by lightning and invented the famous beef noodle for the century... and after that, everybody started to copy ah wong and also sell beef noodle...
and now, you start to ask, 'hey, ah wong, you only know how to sell beef noodle meh??!!!'...
ya!!! don't tell me you now expect the famous beef noodle ah wong (the creator of beef noodle) to start selling tempura and waffles and so on!!!???"
further on... she said, style, and even a genre is very difficult to be invented..., ie. not everybody can do it... if you don't like beef noodle, then, go somewhere else!!!
ha!!! i like it!!! momoko!!!
since then... whenever i see Jay Chou... i just can't help but see him as THE beef noodle sometimes.. and i'll talk about it...
same as today... i suddenly thought about Jay Chou, so... i somehow thought of writing it down, to share with my english-speaking friends... ^_^V
she's one entry about Jay Chou in her blog... (i've posted her link in my link page... ^_^)
for those who don't read chinese... this is what she said... which i find it very funny and err... 'inspiring' in a way...
when i first saw the title of her blog... i couldn't quite understand... cos, she put Jay Chou together with Beef Noodle... err.... @_@?????
she said, she just couldn't understand why people like to complain about how Jay Chou never bother to change his singing style and so on... which, ya, i notice... since the very beginning till now... his songs are all the same style... ya... all these years... ^_^
that's how she put it...
"imagine, once upon a time, when there's no beef noodle at all in this world... and one day, maybe ah wong got struck by lightning and invented the famous beef noodle for the century... and after that, everybody started to copy ah wong and also sell beef noodle...
and now, you start to ask, 'hey, ah wong, you only know how to sell beef noodle meh??!!!'...
ya!!! don't tell me you now expect the famous beef noodle ah wong (the creator of beef noodle) to start selling tempura and waffles and so on!!!???"
further on... she said, style, and even a genre is very difficult to be invented..., ie. not everybody can do it... if you don't like beef noodle, then, go somewhere else!!!
ha!!! i like it!!! momoko!!!
since then... whenever i see Jay Chou... i just can't help but see him as THE beef noodle sometimes.. and i'll talk about it...
same as today... i suddenly thought about Jay Chou, so... i somehow thought of writing it down, to share with my english-speaking friends... ^_^V
Flags of "their" Fathers
^_^ i didn't mention that we went to watch "Flags of our Fathers"... while it was released in Oz...
mm... it's not a film that many like to mention after they watch it i guess... even though it's more 'mentioned' before it's in the theatre!!!
mm... nothing much to say about a wartime movie... besides death, and more death...
one thing worth noted was that, while we were in the cinema, we noticed, there weren't many people from the younger generation... the theatre was, err... 20% filled, or less.. and besides us, i guess, the rest of the 20% were mainly old men... which i guess, were directly or indirectly involved in that war, or other similar war that's being shown...
actually, for a moment, i felt sad seeing them, standing there, while the movie was finished and they started showing all the real-life photos on the screen, and those old men were just standing there, staring at the screen... i quickly moved myself out of the theatre, scared that, i'll break into tears again...
i wouldn't way i feel how they feel, but i more or less know what the movie was about...
as i said, wartime movie, nothing much to talk about and nothing 'exciting' to talk about.. besides deaths...
the only interesting part was the very end, where the main character John (young John played by Ryan Phillippe, he's still cute and still very Ryan Phillippe, (i thought he's sparks in his eyes ^_^) after all these years ^_^) finally passed away...
one thing he said... that, there's no real hero... when they're fighting in the battlefield, they fought for their friends, fought for those they loved...
Coincidently... i watched a japanese movie, called "Bokudachi no Sensou" (Our War)... it's slightly lighter and more towards those sci-fi storyline.. however, in the end, the leading actor also said the similar things... ie. "i don't care if i'm fight thing for a war, or for our country, but as for me, i'm fighting for my friend, for those that i love!!"...
i'm very much looking forward to the release of the japanese side of story, ie. "letter from iwojima", starring Ken Watanabe, and my favourite Nino-chan (pronounced as 'chyan') from Arashi... \(^o^)/ i'm sure he'll do the role well...
^_^.........
mm... it's not a film that many like to mention after they watch it i guess... even though it's more 'mentioned' before it's in the theatre!!!
mm... nothing much to say about a wartime movie... besides death, and more death...
one thing worth noted was that, while we were in the cinema, we noticed, there weren't many people from the younger generation... the theatre was, err... 20% filled, or less.. and besides us, i guess, the rest of the 20% were mainly old men... which i guess, were directly or indirectly involved in that war, or other similar war that's being shown...
actually, for a moment, i felt sad seeing them, standing there, while the movie was finished and they started showing all the real-life photos on the screen, and those old men were just standing there, staring at the screen... i quickly moved myself out of the theatre, scared that, i'll break into tears again...
i wouldn't way i feel how they feel, but i more or less know what the movie was about...
as i said, wartime movie, nothing much to talk about and nothing 'exciting' to talk about.. besides deaths...
the only interesting part was the very end, where the main character John (young John played by Ryan Phillippe, he's still cute and still very Ryan Phillippe, (i thought he's sparks in his eyes ^_^) after all these years ^_^) finally passed away...
one thing he said... that, there's no real hero... when they're fighting in the battlefield, they fought for their friends, fought for those they loved...
Coincidently... i watched a japanese movie, called "Bokudachi no Sensou" (Our War)... it's slightly lighter and more towards those sci-fi storyline.. however, in the end, the leading actor also said the similar things... ie. "i don't care if i'm fight thing for a war, or for our country, but as for me, i'm fighting for my friend, for those that i love!!"...
i'm very much looking forward to the release of the japanese side of story, ie. "letter from iwojima", starring Ken Watanabe, and my favourite Nino-chan (pronounced as 'chyan') from Arashi... \(^o^)/ i'm sure he'll do the role well...
^_^.........
2006-11-30
Coffee Depression
ah... i was telling my friends in Oz the other day, that after coming back from Melbourne, i started to have this "Coffee Depression"... like she used to have "Food Depression" everytime after she came to KL and back to Melbourne again... ^_^
after nearly 9 months of non-starbucks, non-coffee-bean type of coffee... i still don't have the urge to step into any Starbucks, or Coffee Bean over here, in the mean time (in the mean time only ^_^)
as i know, i'll not be able to get the same good and real type of quality of coffee... as well as, with a fair price..., therefore, i don't bother... for the time being... ^_^
however... while we're in Singapore... at least i've some other side choice... we went to TCC, we went to Pacific Coffee.. which is not so American... even though Pacific Coffee is also another near-American type of coffee... where you only find the typical common type of coffee... however... TCC (The Coffee Connoiseur) is slightly different... i'm not sure if i'd want to call it better.. as it's only an temporary "coffee depression" symptom of me, where i've lost all my usual and norm 'judgement' ^_^... but, at least, i find good decent Affogato in TCC ^_^...
back in KL... nothing....
today... i saw Chocz in KLCC.. (they've one in Singapore as well... but the one we saw, it didn't have seatings... however... why bother??? Singapore still have Max Brenner.. at least when i've chocky craving, i can go to Max Brenner.. but what am i going to do when i'm in KL??? so, i went on to try Chocz)
their menu wasn't THAT interesting or THAT norm to me... their range is too big and wide, they've almost everything, but lack of proof of their specialty in chocky products...
so, i order the bare minimum to see if they can do it right... "Madagascar Origine Rare"...
mm... surprisingly it's quite good... (ie. i'll go there more than once, in the future!!)
however.. besides this "Madagascar Origine Rare"... i didn't see other more varieties of chocky drinks or chocky products... (mm.. hopefully they'll improve one day!! or somebody please, franchise Max Brenner over!!)
mm.. ok... one reasonably good discovery for the day...
however.. my coffee depression is still not cured!!!! @_@
after nearly 9 months of non-starbucks, non-coffee-bean type of coffee... i still don't have the urge to step into any Starbucks, or Coffee Bean over here, in the mean time (in the mean time only ^_^)
as i know, i'll not be able to get the same good and real type of quality of coffee... as well as, with a fair price..., therefore, i don't bother... for the time being... ^_^
however... while we're in Singapore... at least i've some other side choice... we went to TCC, we went to Pacific Coffee.. which is not so American... even though Pacific Coffee is also another near-American type of coffee... where you only find the typical common type of coffee... however... TCC (The Coffee Connoiseur) is slightly different... i'm not sure if i'd want to call it better.. as it's only an temporary "coffee depression" symptom of me, where i've lost all my usual and norm 'judgement' ^_^... but, at least, i find good decent Affogato in TCC ^_^...
back in KL... nothing....
today... i saw Chocz in KLCC.. (they've one in Singapore as well... but the one we saw, it didn't have seatings... however... why bother??? Singapore still have Max Brenner.. at least when i've chocky craving, i can go to Max Brenner.. but what am i going to do when i'm in KL??? so, i went on to try Chocz)
their menu wasn't THAT interesting or THAT norm to me... their range is too big and wide, they've almost everything, but lack of proof of their specialty in chocky products...
so, i order the bare minimum to see if they can do it right... "Madagascar Origine Rare"...
mm... surprisingly it's quite good... (ie. i'll go there more than once, in the future!!)
however.. besides this "Madagascar Origine Rare"... i didn't see other more varieties of chocky drinks or chocky products... (mm.. hopefully they'll improve one day!! or somebody please, franchise Max Brenner over!!)
mm.. ok... one reasonably good discovery for the day...
however.. my coffee depression is still not cured!!!! @_@
Bondy Begins
Oooh!! i went to watch "Casino Royale" today... since i'm staying in the hotel.. didn't bring my notebook and whatever gears that're important to me... ie. nothing to do.. (and the TV channels in the hotel sucks... ya... goodness... why do we still have the superduper old Vision 4???? SHAME!!)
so, i pretended to be a tourist, took the hotel bus (while most of the hotels in other places, made this a 'service', but i gotta pay RM2 for this) to KLCC...
i knew i'll end up watching "Casino Royale", as at this moment, there's nothing much on show... (if they're still showing "The Prestige", i'll probably camp at the cinema!!!!!!!! but, too bad, this time, i'm not destined to be able to do that, while it was start to be shown in Oz, i left Oz, and as the whole world know that, Oz's movie schedule is slower than the rest of the world, so, when i'm back to m'sia now, it's already taken out of the cinemas... i managed to catched the LAST round, showing at 21:50 in Singapore!!!)
"Casino Royale", i didn't expect anything... just watch for entertainment... one thing with this type of film (at least to me) you'll never failed to be entertained, at least... at the same time, there's Denzel Washington's "De javu"... for this, i didn't know what to expect... "didn't know what to expect" and "didn't expect anything" is different... cos, i kinda expect to see something great out of Denzel Washington, therefore, i didn't dare to take the 'risk', as to walk in the cinema, without knowing a little bit what i'm watching!!! ^_^ anyway...
besides the FAMOUS Daniel Craig... i didn't know who else i'll get to see... in fact, i kinda didn't know what i would get to see either...
from the opening credit... ooh!! EVA GREEN, wait, this name sounded familiar... isn't that the girl from "The Dreamers"???? yummy!!! (oh!! if you wanna have a look at what "The Dreamers" is... come to me ^_^, it's Bertolucci's film..., but nothing too great!!!) so, i was wondering, hm... so, is EVA GREEN the bad or the good one????
one important thing to mention...i like the OP song... "You Know my Name", by Chris Cornell... mm... my type of song... ^_^
(ok, below will contains spoilers.. so, if you don't want to know the storyline at all, please don't read!!)
after nearly half of the show... then, only i realised... oh!!! it's another 're-installation' thing... ^_^ no wonder... no wonder this time James Bond fought more... i mean, real tough fight, rather than using all those fancy gadgets... no wonder, he was not so pro, and he sometimes, 'tripped and fail"... i see i see... then, i got the beginning lines, something like, he's promoted from 00 to 007!!! i see i see!!!!!!!!!!!
ok.. forget about Daniel Craig's head... ^_^ when i first saw him, i mean after seeing a few close-up shoot of his face... i thought.. ooh!!! a crumbled James Bond!!!! his face just somehow looked funny to me... mm... looked a little bit like one of the game's character, a monkey... can't remember the monkey's name, but i think, it's a game...
but in the begininng part, where he was chasing the guy with the bomb... there's this moment, this guy's gun ran out of bullet, so, he tossed it away... coincidently... he tossed it to Bond's direction, so, Bond picked it from the mid-air, and tossed it back to him, hit him... ie. the same bullet-less gun, one could do nothing but tossed it away, but with James Bond, he COULD DO something about it ^_^V...
after the first few fighting scenes and so on... i got it i got it... James Bond is a brainy person.. a more realistic brainy person, without all the fancy gadget... (but at that time, i still didn't get it as a re-installation of the 007 show)
mm... then... ooh... after i slightly figured out that, this is the "Bond Begins" type of show.. ah... i started to flow with the story... let's forget about Daniel Craig's head, for once, the 007 story actually is interesting.. by itself... usually, the limelight is on the James Bond.. however... i guess, this time, the story in a way, stole the limelight.. (or, am i wrong?? ^_^)
mm... for once... i kinda like the story of 007
for once... there wasn't a distinguishable one bad girl and one good girl where the bad girl always gotta sleep with Bond before the good girl... type of story...
and for once, James Bond is more serious about his relationship with a girl... (not that it bothers me too much, my favourite Pierce Brosnan also had already had an on-screen kiss with my disliked Michelle Yeoh, Teri Hatcher, Halle Berry... i'm already used to 007's disappointment!!)
then... ah!!!! the part where Eva's Vesper and Daniel's James checked into the hotel.. trying to enter the poker game... where, James prepared a sexy dress for Vesper, and then, in return, Vesper prepared a tailored suit to James... and he complained... and so on...
Ooh!! i could see what's coming next... i could see!! i could see!!! well... i'm pretty excited about what i was going to see...
when James Bond finally put on his tailored suit... HAHA!!!! i know what the story-teller was trying to tell already... cos, when he finally put on the suit... i suddenly felt that, oh!!! now only it's JAMES BOND... and i know, why the future James Bond always wears tailored suit... it must be....
the girl he love, ie. Vesper who prepared/introduced him the tailored suit, died... and that, from then on... he always wears tailored suit and that, he'll never get serious with any girl anymore... mm... that explained... and of course, that's my type of story... cos, i was just too use to the Hong Kong's "God of Gambler" type of story... where Gou Jun liked to wax his hair, and he liked to eat chocolate and so on... mm... interesting... and ya, regardless if it's Daniel Graig or not Daniel Craig... i found this character more interesting...
ok... i don't have to mention about this story anymore... the story progress.. more or less a what i've guessed... and ya, Vesper died...
i've to say... Eva Green was cute... she looked a little bit like the japanese Nakashima Mika, especially with her make-up while she's in the casino... the same type of eyes make-up... however, i have to admit that, she's really quite a pretty girl, as.. after all those heavy make-up, when she was 'honey-mooning' with James Bond in Venice... without all those heavy make-up, she still looked fresh and pretty... ^_^ yummy!!! ^_^
too bad that, she'd to die in the show... ^_^ but that's what created the real James Bond right?? ^_^
lastly... i've to say, which i hate to say... "Casino Royale" is actually quite good... ^_^ (thinking of the fact that, i was one of those who criticised about Daniel Craig being Bond and that Pierce Brosnan was tossed out fo the show!!! and that i supported all other candidates while they're still auditing instead of Daniel Craig... well... however... i've to say, i still miss Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, but i don't reject Daniel Craig as one anymore, BUT... i still can't quite equate him as James Bond, thinking of his monkey head!!! HOWEVER... now i got it... now i know why they've to choose another person... as it's meant as Bond Begins, so, they can't really get the same Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, then, we'll all feel like we're watching "Back to the future" sort of movie... where James Bond travel through time and showed us how he met his real love, and how he was promoted to the famous 007...)
^_^;; then... i don't mind watching for the second time... with him!!!
so, i pretended to be a tourist, took the hotel bus (while most of the hotels in other places, made this a 'service', but i gotta pay RM2 for this) to KLCC...
i knew i'll end up watching "Casino Royale", as at this moment, there's nothing much on show... (if they're still showing "The Prestige", i'll probably camp at the cinema!!!!!!!! but, too bad, this time, i'm not destined to be able to do that, while it was start to be shown in Oz, i left Oz, and as the whole world know that, Oz's movie schedule is slower than the rest of the world, so, when i'm back to m'sia now, it's already taken out of the cinemas... i managed to catched the LAST round, showing at 21:50 in Singapore!!!)
"Casino Royale", i didn't expect anything... just watch for entertainment... one thing with this type of film (at least to me) you'll never failed to be entertained, at least... at the same time, there's Denzel Washington's "De javu"... for this, i didn't know what to expect... "didn't know what to expect" and "didn't expect anything" is different... cos, i kinda expect to see something great out of Denzel Washington, therefore, i didn't dare to take the 'risk', as to walk in the cinema, without knowing a little bit what i'm watching!!! ^_^ anyway...
besides the FAMOUS Daniel Craig... i didn't know who else i'll get to see... in fact, i kinda didn't know what i would get to see either...
from the opening credit... ooh!! EVA GREEN, wait, this name sounded familiar... isn't that the girl from "The Dreamers"???? yummy!!! (oh!! if you wanna have a look at what "The Dreamers" is... come to me ^_^, it's Bertolucci's film..., but nothing too great!!!) so, i was wondering, hm... so, is EVA GREEN the bad or the good one????
one important thing to mention...i like the OP song... "You Know my Name", by Chris Cornell... mm... my type of song... ^_^
(ok, below will contains spoilers.. so, if you don't want to know the storyline at all, please don't read!!)
after nearly half of the show... then, only i realised... oh!!! it's another 're-installation' thing... ^_^ no wonder... no wonder this time James Bond fought more... i mean, real tough fight, rather than using all those fancy gadgets... no wonder, he was not so pro, and he sometimes, 'tripped and fail"... i see i see... then, i got the beginning lines, something like, he's promoted from 00 to 007!!! i see i see!!!!!!!!!!!
ok.. forget about Daniel Craig's head... ^_^ when i first saw him, i mean after seeing a few close-up shoot of his face... i thought.. ooh!!! a crumbled James Bond!!!! his face just somehow looked funny to me... mm... looked a little bit like one of the game's character, a monkey... can't remember the monkey's name, but i think, it's a game...
but in the begininng part, where he was chasing the guy with the bomb... there's this moment, this guy's gun ran out of bullet, so, he tossed it away... coincidently... he tossed it to Bond's direction, so, Bond picked it from the mid-air, and tossed it back to him, hit him... ie. the same bullet-less gun, one could do nothing but tossed it away, but with James Bond, he COULD DO something about it ^_^V...
after the first few fighting scenes and so on... i got it i got it... James Bond is a brainy person.. a more realistic brainy person, without all the fancy gadget... (but at that time, i still didn't get it as a re-installation of the 007 show)
mm... then... ooh... after i slightly figured out that, this is the "Bond Begins" type of show.. ah... i started to flow with the story... let's forget about Daniel Craig's head, for once, the 007 story actually is interesting.. by itself... usually, the limelight is on the James Bond.. however... i guess, this time, the story in a way, stole the limelight.. (or, am i wrong?? ^_^)
mm... for once... i kinda like the story of 007
for once... there wasn't a distinguishable one bad girl and one good girl where the bad girl always gotta sleep with Bond before the good girl... type of story...
and for once, James Bond is more serious about his relationship with a girl... (not that it bothers me too much, my favourite Pierce Brosnan also had already had an on-screen kiss with my disliked Michelle Yeoh, Teri Hatcher, Halle Berry... i'm already used to 007's disappointment!!)
then... ah!!!! the part where Eva's Vesper and Daniel's James checked into the hotel.. trying to enter the poker game... where, James prepared a sexy dress for Vesper, and then, in return, Vesper prepared a tailored suit to James... and he complained... and so on...
Ooh!! i could see what's coming next... i could see!! i could see!!! well... i'm pretty excited about what i was going to see...
when James Bond finally put on his tailored suit... HAHA!!!! i know what the story-teller was trying to tell already... cos, when he finally put on the suit... i suddenly felt that, oh!!! now only it's JAMES BOND... and i know, why the future James Bond always wears tailored suit... it must be....
the girl he love, ie. Vesper who prepared/introduced him the tailored suit, died... and that, from then on... he always wears tailored suit and that, he'll never get serious with any girl anymore... mm... that explained... and of course, that's my type of story... cos, i was just too use to the Hong Kong's "God of Gambler" type of story... where Gou Jun liked to wax his hair, and he liked to eat chocolate and so on... mm... interesting... and ya, regardless if it's Daniel Graig or not Daniel Craig... i found this character more interesting...
ok... i don't have to mention about this story anymore... the story progress.. more or less a what i've guessed... and ya, Vesper died...
i've to say... Eva Green was cute... she looked a little bit like the japanese Nakashima Mika, especially with her make-up while she's in the casino... the same type of eyes make-up... however, i have to admit that, she's really quite a pretty girl, as.. after all those heavy make-up, when she was 'honey-mooning' with James Bond in Venice... without all those heavy make-up, she still looked fresh and pretty... ^_^ yummy!!! ^_^
too bad that, she'd to die in the show... ^_^ but that's what created the real James Bond right?? ^_^
lastly... i've to say, which i hate to say... "Casino Royale" is actually quite good... ^_^ (thinking of the fact that, i was one of those who criticised about Daniel Craig being Bond and that Pierce Brosnan was tossed out fo the show!!! and that i supported all other candidates while they're still auditing instead of Daniel Craig... well... however... i've to say, i still miss Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, but i don't reject Daniel Craig as one anymore, BUT... i still can't quite equate him as James Bond, thinking of his monkey head!!! HOWEVER... now i got it... now i know why they've to choose another person... as it's meant as Bond Begins, so, they can't really get the same Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, then, we'll all feel like we're watching "Back to the future" sort of movie... where James Bond travel through time and showed us how he met his real love, and how he was promoted to the famous 007...)
^_^;; then... i don't mind watching for the second time... with him!!!
Rapid KL but KL never Rapid
RapidKL but KL never 'Rapid'
Another painful story about m'sian ticketing system arises today!!!
Guess what happened???
mm... mm... the story starts from the beginning!!! (i've always liked to start my story from the very beginning... i know i know, some people don't like it)
so, why do i end up in Reinassance Hotel today? (oh!!! for your information, it's a Mormon hotel!! ^_^)
well, i was just tagging along... ^_^ and tried to act like a tourist...
nah... not really.. just that, i didn't bother to drive my car out from the carpark, then, go to KLCC Suria, looking for carpark, and pay the parking, and then, need to drive back, look for carpark again!!! see????
therefore... after some shopping and chocky drink, and movie... and etc... i took the LRT back to Reinassance Hotel... mm... in fact, it's not THAT far to walk from KLCC to Reinassance... but i was lazy... at the same time, wanna see if my Touch n Go card still work after a long break...
First thing, i went to the LRT customer service counter in KLCC... a SMALL notice board put there, in front of the desk, saying that, the Touch n Go system is down!!! ($#^$%^#%&%^&@ why is every system in KL DOWN!!!!! toss them to the drain please, somebody!!! i couldn't watch Astro for many days, even though i still pay while i was abroad, and when i called the customer service, they said, their servers were down, asked me to call the next day, after 3pm, so, i did, and it's still down, so, next day, and i did, and it's still down!!! #!$#%@^%$ then, we bought some IKEA stuff, one screw lack.. i called their customer service number, nobody ever picked up the phone, and after zillion time of trial, finally some girl called BLOODY SHEENA, picked up, explained to her, she said she'll check with the delivery guy... later i try to call back to double-check... never get through the line, call the delivery guy, he said, customer service never called him back... then, after another round of zillion of time of trying... another guy called Addy picked up the phone... i complained to him about this BLOODY SHEENA bitch... finally this Addy helped, now, i'll have to wait till Saturday to see if the whole customer service thing is working, and that not all of them are walking dead bodies!!! !@#$#%#$@^%#^&^%&Y)
back to the LRT story... so, fine, i tested the Touch n Go card, it worked... so, i arrived at Dang Wangi... which is nearer to Reinassance Hotel on the other side, compared to KLCC on the opposite end of Jalan Ampang... i went to the customer service desk, asked if i can refund my LRT ticket... ya, in case my Touch n Go didn't work, i bought a ticket as well... then... to my SHOCKING!!! the sit-there-and-doesn't-do-much-thing guy asked me where i bought the ticket from... i told him KLCC (ya, i bought the ticket from KLCC to travel to Dang Wangi) and he told me, if that's the case, then, i CAN ONLY REFUND IT IN KLCC STATION... i 'ha!' very loud, stared at him... thinking that it's a joke... i came from KLCC... now you're asking me to go back to the origin point just to refund the ticket?? "Can i refund at the ticket machine then?" he shook his head... then, i told him, "what a system!!" and left...
gosh gosh gosh!!!!!!!! %#@%$%&*^$&%$%#%#%$#^&#%&$%&#^#$%#$#
there's a (i guess) some middle-eastern guy who's beside me, saw my 'situation', he asked if i want to sell the ticket (he thought i want to sell the ticket??) i told him no, it's ok... and when i came up the escalator, he asked if i what i meant was to sell back the ticket... i told him, "don't bother, i guess, one would have to go back to KLCC to be able to use the ticket anyway!!!" then, he replied, "i thought they said it's SMART system??" (Yeh!!! even a foreigner can see the SMAAAAAAAAAAAAART-ness in our system!!!"... God save the malaysian!!!!
ha!! i can't be bothered about the RM1.30 ticket... for a lesson.. it's cheap!!!
but, goodness!!!!!! really... what a system..
talking about ticketing system... i haven't been to many places to really compare.. however... the smartest one that i have seen up till now, is the one in tokyo... their ticket, made of paper, very small in size.. probably it's just slightly bigger than the label tag at the collar of your shirt/blouse/etc... but yet... say.. you bought a daily pass... then, to the next day, there's some value left, not enough for you to do a full trip... then, you'll go buy a second daily pass right? for the second day??? however... if you put the 2 little mini ticket together, into the turnstile, it'll automatically finishes off the first ticket with the little bit of remaining value, and start deducting on the second one...
we're very impressed... by such small little ticket... serious!!! maybe the system is not THAT smart afterall... but the small little mini ticket is definitely smart... whichever!!!! ^_^
frankly, so far.. i haven't seen any other system as smart as this... most of them, are the bare basic good ones, like the ezlink, or the octopus card (where, octopus slightly superceeds ezlink, as, you can use it as cash card, purchase goods from grocery stores and 7-11, etc)
ok.. i'm not really comparing apple to apple...
however... in most of the places that i've been... AT LEAST, we can refund all the extra value on the daypass or tickets, IN ANY STATION that uses the same system... oops.. sorry, but not in my own home country!!! GREAT!!!!!...........
Another painful story about m'sian ticketing system arises today!!!
Guess what happened???
mm... mm... the story starts from the beginning!!! (i've always liked to start my story from the very beginning... i know i know, some people don't like it)
so, why do i end up in Reinassance Hotel today? (oh!!! for your information, it's a Mormon hotel!! ^_^)
well, i was just tagging along... ^_^ and tried to act like a tourist...
nah... not really.. just that, i didn't bother to drive my car out from the carpark, then, go to KLCC Suria, looking for carpark, and pay the parking, and then, need to drive back, look for carpark again!!! see????
therefore... after some shopping and chocky drink, and movie... and etc... i took the LRT back to Reinassance Hotel... mm... in fact, it's not THAT far to walk from KLCC to Reinassance... but i was lazy... at the same time, wanna see if my Touch n Go card still work after a long break...
First thing, i went to the LRT customer service counter in KLCC... a SMALL notice board put there, in front of the desk, saying that, the Touch n Go system is down!!! ($#^$%^#%&%^&@ why is every system in KL DOWN!!!!! toss them to the drain please, somebody!!! i couldn't watch Astro for many days, even though i still pay while i was abroad, and when i called the customer service, they said, their servers were down, asked me to call the next day, after 3pm, so, i did, and it's still down, so, next day, and i did, and it's still down!!! #!$#%@^%$ then, we bought some IKEA stuff, one screw lack.. i called their customer service number, nobody ever picked up the phone, and after zillion time of trial, finally some girl called BLOODY SHEENA, picked up, explained to her, she said she'll check with the delivery guy... later i try to call back to double-check... never get through the line, call the delivery guy, he said, customer service never called him back... then, after another round of zillion of time of trying... another guy called Addy picked up the phone... i complained to him about this BLOODY SHEENA bitch... finally this Addy helped, now, i'll have to wait till Saturday to see if the whole customer service thing is working, and that not all of them are walking dead bodies!!! !@#$#%#$@^%#^&^%&Y)
back to the LRT story... so, fine, i tested the Touch n Go card, it worked... so, i arrived at Dang Wangi... which is nearer to Reinassance Hotel on the other side, compared to KLCC on the opposite end of Jalan Ampang... i went to the customer service desk, asked if i can refund my LRT ticket... ya, in case my Touch n Go didn't work, i bought a ticket as well... then... to my SHOCKING!!! the sit-there-and-doesn't-do-much-thing guy asked me where i bought the ticket from... i told him KLCC (ya, i bought the ticket from KLCC to travel to Dang Wangi) and he told me, if that's the case, then, i CAN ONLY REFUND IT IN KLCC STATION... i 'ha!' very loud, stared at him... thinking that it's a joke... i came from KLCC... now you're asking me to go back to the origin point just to refund the ticket?? "Can i refund at the ticket machine then?" he shook his head... then, i told him, "what a system!!" and left...
gosh gosh gosh!!!!!!!! %#@%$%&*^$&%$%#%#%$#^&#%&$%&#^#$%#$#
there's a (i guess) some middle-eastern guy who's beside me, saw my 'situation', he asked if i want to sell the ticket (he thought i want to sell the ticket??) i told him no, it's ok... and when i came up the escalator, he asked if i what i meant was to sell back the ticket... i told him, "don't bother, i guess, one would have to go back to KLCC to be able to use the ticket anyway!!!" then, he replied, "i thought they said it's SMART system??" (Yeh!!! even a foreigner can see the SMAAAAAAAAAAAAART-ness in our system!!!"... God save the malaysian!!!!
ha!! i can't be bothered about the RM1.30 ticket... for a lesson.. it's cheap!!!
but, goodness!!!!!! really... what a system..
talking about ticketing system... i haven't been to many places to really compare.. however... the smartest one that i have seen up till now, is the one in tokyo... their ticket, made of paper, very small in size.. probably it's just slightly bigger than the label tag at the collar of your shirt/blouse/etc... but yet... say.. you bought a daily pass... then, to the next day, there's some value left, not enough for you to do a full trip... then, you'll go buy a second daily pass right? for the second day??? however... if you put the 2 little mini ticket together, into the turnstile, it'll automatically finishes off the first ticket with the little bit of remaining value, and start deducting on the second one...
we're very impressed... by such small little ticket... serious!!! maybe the system is not THAT smart afterall... but the small little mini ticket is definitely smart... whichever!!!! ^_^
frankly, so far.. i haven't seen any other system as smart as this... most of them, are the bare basic good ones, like the ezlink, or the octopus card (where, octopus slightly superceeds ezlink, as, you can use it as cash card, purchase goods from grocery stores and 7-11, etc)
ok.. i'm not really comparing apple to apple...
however... in most of the places that i've been... AT LEAST, we can refund all the extra value on the daypass or tickets, IN ANY STATION that uses the same system... oops.. sorry, but not in my own home country!!! GREAT!!!!!...........
2006-11-29
So much yet So Nothing... @%$#@%@$^%#&^@$#^@$
a few days ago, my PC went down the drain... ^_^ horror story to tell... ^_^
just 1.5 days before i came back to KL (for good, hopefully!!) i found out that my PC was infected by virus, or hacked by people... well.. i can't really differentiate, but it felt more like being hacked frankly... however, i guess the procedure went like that... first... i somehow got infected by some malware or spyware, or whatever stupid rubbishware... then, by having these XXX-wares, somebody hacked into my system...
i was in s'pore.. doing my 'usual business'... ie. having my PC one for 24 hours.. (well, not exactly but, long hours!!!) and the bandwidth there was SUPERB... i guess, it's tooooooo superb that, it's similar to the door of your house is wide-opened that, the thief is just too tempted to come in and get something ^_^... see??????
let me tell you this horror story in cronological order ^_^V
first... around 04:00, i was monitoring my 'usual business'... then, my intrusion detection system informed me that, some services were trying to run by itself..., those services looked like this 9gnqx.dll, and 5ctmon(something something).dll... then, i went to see my processes... it's this extra run32dll in it... which usually doesn't happen...
so, i felt fishy about the whole thing... and since it was late, i decided to shutdown the machine and went to bed...
the next day... still thinking that, everything will be OK after a good night sleep... (duh!)
i ON my PC and again, check the process list... hm... really!! some extra services were happily running by themselves... including another new service, called test3
i killed them all... and went to check the programme folder... WOO!! one extra new programme suddenly 'reside' in my programme folder... ie. TEST3
i tried to delete it, it's locked...
and then, i tried to search for those funny .dll files, and i found them, again, couldn't delete them...
after many trial-and-error and many rounds or rebooting... i finally managed to deleted the test3 folder, and those .dll files..
HOWEVER... they 'regenerated' themselves... and forced it through the processes to become one running process...
and more horror events came up...
1. i ran all the available anti-virus, anti-spyware programmes on my PC... none of them managed to catch anything... fine!!!
2. so i thought maybe all these programmes just couldn't catch them... i downloaded more of the others... and try to install... to my surprise... ie. HORROR STORY NO.1, (as compatible as Ju-On, or The Ring) i discovered that, i couldn't run any of them, .exe files... ie. i couldn't install ANYTHING!!! (it's this 'error' message popup, saying that, the .exe is not compatible with this win-32 OS)
so, i went online to surf for more information, after surfing (still dare to surf) for a while... i gathered (from all the information that i read) that, i need to have a look at my hosts file...
3. i nearly fainted when i saw it!!!! my hosts file WAS SEVERELY modified... @%@#^%#**^$@%$#%$ and it's all those super-suspicious redirected web addresses... gosh!!! and the worst thing is... i couldn't modify it to the original version, as, i couldn't save the file... it's locked by whatever $@#@%$ hacker out there!!!!!!! !@#$@#%@^#!^&$^%@&%$^@#$%
after another few more round of trial-and-error and reboots... i managed to run those .exe files... install more new anti-virus, anti-spyware programmes.. however, still!! none of them manage to detect those funny proccesses!!!!!!!
ya... i'd better reformat the whole thing, and give it a good spring cleaning!!!!!!!!!!
the next thing i decided to do... (even though i have been trying to avoid) was to make sure that all my files were backed up properly... then, i shut down my computer... and prepared to bring home to reformat the whole thing... i guess.. that's the only way out...
SO, i finally really really shut down my PC and bid goodbye to it!!
for a while... (without a PC... or with a PC that's basically considered 'dead' or 'unusable') i felt... mm... goodly-empty... ^_^ this suddenly reminded me of an article that i've read before...
there's this guy, his house caught fire... of course, at the first instance... one would feel lost and maybe panic, or whatsoever feeling that one would have, when one's house was on fire...
however... quite immediately later... he felt relieved... according to him... over these years... he had piled up too many stuff in his house... wanted and unwanted, needed and not-needed... usable and unusable... etc... many time, he felt like throwing them away, however.. due to sentimental value, or whatever reason.. he didn't do it eventually...
and this fire...
in a way, helped him to re-new his house, re-newed his 'attachment' to those worldly belongings... therefore, he was kinda 'thankful' to such event...
mm... i thought, this type of people, will always raise up again, regardless what downturn, what disaster hit them... (of course, my case is nothing comparable to this 'house-burning-down' case though!!)
and i suddenly feel that, all the data in my PC were so unreachable, untouchable... so much of data... yet, so... nothing!!!
it's all so virtual, so unreal, and so... unphysical!! ^_^...
just 1.5 days before i came back to KL (for good, hopefully!!) i found out that my PC was infected by virus, or hacked by people... well.. i can't really differentiate, but it felt more like being hacked frankly... however, i guess the procedure went like that... first... i somehow got infected by some malware or spyware, or whatever stupid rubbishware... then, by having these XXX-wares, somebody hacked into my system...
i was in s'pore.. doing my 'usual business'... ie. having my PC one for 24 hours.. (well, not exactly but, long hours!!!) and the bandwidth there was SUPERB... i guess, it's tooooooo superb that, it's similar to the door of your house is wide-opened that, the thief is just too tempted to come in and get something ^_^... see??????
let me tell you this horror story in cronological order ^_^V
first... around 04:00, i was monitoring my 'usual business'... then, my intrusion detection system informed me that, some services were trying to run by itself..., those services looked like this 9gnqx.dll, and 5ctmon(something something).dll... then, i went to see my processes... it's this extra run32dll in it... which usually doesn't happen...
so, i felt fishy about the whole thing... and since it was late, i decided to shutdown the machine and went to bed...
the next day... still thinking that, everything will be OK after a good night sleep... (duh!)
i ON my PC and again, check the process list... hm... really!! some extra services were happily running by themselves... including another new service, called test3
i killed them all... and went to check the programme folder... WOO!! one extra new programme suddenly 'reside' in my programme folder... ie. TEST3
i tried to delete it, it's locked...
and then, i tried to search for those funny .dll files, and i found them, again, couldn't delete them...
after many trial-and-error and many rounds or rebooting... i finally managed to deleted the test3 folder, and those .dll files..
HOWEVER... they 'regenerated' themselves... and forced it through the processes to become one running process...
and more horror events came up...
1. i ran all the available anti-virus, anti-spyware programmes on my PC... none of them managed to catch anything... fine!!!
2. so i thought maybe all these programmes just couldn't catch them... i downloaded more of the others... and try to install... to my surprise... ie. HORROR STORY NO.1, (as compatible as Ju-On, or The Ring) i discovered that, i couldn't run any of them, .exe files... ie. i couldn't install ANYTHING!!! (it's this 'error' message popup, saying that, the .exe is not compatible with this win-32 OS)
so, i went online to surf for more information, after surfing (still dare to surf) for a while... i gathered (from all the information that i read) that, i need to have a look at my hosts file...
3. i nearly fainted when i saw it!!!! my hosts file WAS SEVERELY modified... @%@#^%#**^$@%$#%$ and it's all those super-suspicious redirected web addresses... gosh!!! and the worst thing is... i couldn't modify it to the original version, as, i couldn't save the file... it's locked by whatever $@#@%$ hacker out there!!!!!!! !@#$@#%@^#!^&$^%@&%$^@#$%
after another few more round of trial-and-error and reboots... i managed to run those .exe files... install more new anti-virus, anti-spyware programmes.. however, still!! none of them manage to detect those funny proccesses!!!!!!!
ya... i'd better reformat the whole thing, and give it a good spring cleaning!!!!!!!!!!
the next thing i decided to do... (even though i have been trying to avoid) was to make sure that all my files were backed up properly... then, i shut down my computer... and prepared to bring home to reformat the whole thing... i guess.. that's the only way out...
SO, i finally really really shut down my PC and bid goodbye to it!!
for a while... (without a PC... or with a PC that's basically considered 'dead' or 'unusable') i felt... mm... goodly-empty... ^_^ this suddenly reminded me of an article that i've read before...
there's this guy, his house caught fire... of course, at the first instance... one would feel lost and maybe panic, or whatsoever feeling that one would have, when one's house was on fire...
however... quite immediately later... he felt relieved... according to him... over these years... he had piled up too many stuff in his house... wanted and unwanted, needed and not-needed... usable and unusable... etc... many time, he felt like throwing them away, however.. due to sentimental value, or whatever reason.. he didn't do it eventually...
and this fire...
in a way, helped him to re-new his house, re-newed his 'attachment' to those worldly belongings... therefore, he was kinda 'thankful' to such event...
mm... i thought, this type of people, will always raise up again, regardless what downturn, what disaster hit them... (of course, my case is nothing comparable to this 'house-burning-down' case though!!)
and i suddenly feel that, all the data in my PC were so unreachable, untouchable... so much of data... yet, so... nothing!!!
it's all so virtual, so unreal, and so... unphysical!! ^_^...
2006-11-26
Once Upon a time, BIMB
In reference to the previously mentioned micromanaging bitch……
Once upon a time…
There’s this company, and in the company, there’s a BIMB (Bossy-Intimidating-Micromanaging-Bitch)… and there’s also a super-duper mummy’s boy…
What happened was… one day, this mummy’s boy, voiced out to the management, that his daddy mummy has moved to another country wo!! (he’s an employee in country A, and daddy mummy moved to country B) so, he demanded that, he would be posted to a project site, which happened to be in country B… NO. 1 RIDICULOUS BRAINLESS THING TO HAPPEN THAT ONE FINE DAY!!!
SHOCKINGLY… the BIMB, who never bother to listen to any humanly word, she entertained this stupid request!!! NO. 2 RIDICULOUS BRAINLESS THING TO HAPPEN THAT ONE FINE DAY!!!
So, BIMB asked one of her subordinate, who’s more senior than mummy’s boy, of course, to try to arrange… and poor subordinate eventually ‘sacrificed’ her role… letting the know-nothing-but-only-daddy-mummy guy to take over her role, to go to country B for the project… upon request, and poor subordinate, even prepared to ‘wipe ass’ if anything goes wrong… (of course, how can you trust an important project in the hands of know-nothing-but-only-daddy-mummy guy, right??)
Then… poor subordinate went to see BIMB, told BIMB the arrangement… and guess what happened???
Apparently, it’s not enough, it’s not what’s intended by the know-nothing-but-only-daddy-mummy guy, what he wanted… WAS EVEN MORE!!!
He demanded to go to country B, to join his dear dear daddy mummy, on a more regular basis… ie. ONCE A MONTH!!! NO. 3 RIDICULOUS BRAINLESS THING TO HAPPEN THAT ONE FINE DAY!!!
Oh!!! I bet whoever has read till this stage, will know what’s happened next right?? Or roughly have guess what’s happened…
So, after cracking her head off and so on… poor subordinate came to BIMB, told BIMB that, it’s basically not feasible… not feasible in the management point of view, not feasible in the project’s point of view, and not even feasible in their client’s point of view… (come on!! It’s not even feasible in any human’s point of view ok!!)
…… expectedly, she got scolded, and asked to be more innovative and creative!!! NO. 4 RIDICULOUS BRAINLESS THING TO HAPPEN THAT ONE FINE DAY!!!
So… she went to another supervisor, hoped to get some advice…
Well… even though with much willingness to help… it’s just plain struggle and pointless to even deal with the situation or the BIMB…
Conclusion… is… ask her to F**K OFF!!!
(Ya, I wish!!)
Once upon a time…
There’s this company, and in the company, there’s a BIMB (Bossy-Intimidating-Micromanaging-Bitch)… and there’s also a super-duper mummy’s boy…
What happened was… one day, this mummy’s boy, voiced out to the management, that his daddy mummy has moved to another country wo!! (he’s an employee in country A, and daddy mummy moved to country B) so, he demanded that, he would be posted to a project site, which happened to be in country B… NO. 1 RIDICULOUS BRAINLESS THING TO HAPPEN THAT ONE FINE DAY!!!
SHOCKINGLY… the BIMB, who never bother to listen to any humanly word, she entertained this stupid request!!! NO. 2 RIDICULOUS BRAINLESS THING TO HAPPEN THAT ONE FINE DAY!!!
So, BIMB asked one of her subordinate, who’s more senior than mummy’s boy, of course, to try to arrange… and poor subordinate eventually ‘sacrificed’ her role… letting the know-nothing-but-only-daddy-mummy guy to take over her role, to go to country B for the project… upon request, and poor subordinate, even prepared to ‘wipe ass’ if anything goes wrong… (of course, how can you trust an important project in the hands of know-nothing-but-only-daddy-mummy guy, right??)
Then… poor subordinate went to see BIMB, told BIMB the arrangement… and guess what happened???
Apparently, it’s not enough, it’s not what’s intended by the know-nothing-but-only-daddy-mummy guy, what he wanted… WAS EVEN MORE!!!
He demanded to go to country B, to join his dear dear daddy mummy, on a more regular basis… ie. ONCE A MONTH!!! NO. 3 RIDICULOUS BRAINLESS THING TO HAPPEN THAT ONE FINE DAY!!!
Oh!!! I bet whoever has read till this stage, will know what’s happened next right?? Or roughly have guess what’s happened…
So, after cracking her head off and so on… poor subordinate came to BIMB, told BIMB that, it’s basically not feasible… not feasible in the management point of view, not feasible in the project’s point of view, and not even feasible in their client’s point of view… (come on!! It’s not even feasible in any human’s point of view ok!!)
…… expectedly, she got scolded, and asked to be more innovative and creative!!! NO. 4 RIDICULOUS BRAINLESS THING TO HAPPEN THAT ONE FINE DAY!!!
So… she went to another supervisor, hoped to get some advice…
Well… even though with much willingness to help… it’s just plain struggle and pointless to even deal with the situation or the BIMB…
Conclusion… is… ask her to F**K OFF!!!
(Ya, I wish!!)
!!!Services Beyond Distinction!!!
last night, i finally set foot on malaysian soil again!!!!!!! while we're in still in the terminal, i didn't feel much that i'm back home yet... (felt like Tom Hanks in "The Terminal" ^_^)...
however... when we get out of the the baggage claim section, really really on OUR WAY HOME...
the first thing i saw, was the long queue, oh!! queues, each of them LONG, in front of the taxi ticket counter...
just another note, before we came out of the baggage claim section, we saw a signboard there, written "
the next thing, is the gist of the events that i want to mention about...
since we've no choice, i have to be one of the 'members' in the long queue... just picked either one of them, it won't be any faster anyway!!!
most of us, we were just standing there, waiting in the queue, without knowing what's actually going on in front, at the cashier counter...
i kept looking in front, trying to grasp what's happening... even handicapped person, probably would have already printed and issued many taxi tickets... but none of the queue was moving on with the supposed 'normal' speed... (i'd probably would have already eaten a dozen or maybe even more cup-noodles already!!!!!!!!!!)
i was really getting more and more impatient... i was thinking.. come on!! i haven't been home for nearly 9 months.. don't tell me, my country is still LIKE THAT... (oh!! i won't be bothered to describe what's "LIKE THAT!!")
and during that time, i happened to have this elastic band in my hand... i was very, i mean, really very very very tempted to snap one of the ticketing cashiers there, with my elastic band... well... i rehearsed that many time in my mind, but didn't really execute it!!! (shame on myself!!!)
anyway... finally, it's my turn... something 'interesting' happen…
i was already having an extremely black long face... i was actually contemplating, if i should show a smiling face to the lady in front, or i should just pull a long face… then, suddenly, an indian businessman came in, and started to scold, loudly… saying, “why are there so many budget taxi outside? And you told me there’s none? Is this the way, for you to cheat money??”… none of the cashiers there make a noise, and they quitely made sign to their supervisor to show face and helped tackle this situation…, so, the supervisor and the businessman went out…
the first thing the lady told me was, “wait for a while…”, then, she just stood there, like a stone, no movement, no expression!!! I was stunned!!!! Absolutely stunned!!!!!!!!!!!!!
then… a second noise came out… the man behind me, asked, loudly again!!! “can you tell me what are we waiting for??” (oh, he asked everybody’s question)
NOBODY CAME OUT TO TRY TO EXPLAIN THE ‘SITUATION’ (oh well… there’s a small placard there in front of the counter, that said something like, “due to the traffic in KL, we’re running short on taxis (or something like that) please bear with us (or please bear with the limitation or something…)” something like that… well… when I first read the ‘notice’, I thought fine, we’d have to have a long wait outside then, which is not the first time, in fact… but I didn’t know what WAS to come after this…)
The lady stared at me, and I stared at the board behind the counter, with the words, “Services beyond Distinction”
So, I asked the lady… “are all the machines dead or what?” (I spoke in mixture of English, and Malay, for eg. “machine mati ke??”)
The lady, looked like she’s offended or what, reluctantly said, “NO!! the machines are not dead, but I can’t print the ticket for you?” so, I opened my eyes even bigger…. Ie. Asking her WHY??
She said, “we can’t have more than 30 taxi ‘tickets’ waiting outside in the queue, so, you wait outside and you wait here is the same, you must as well wait here!!!!”
GOD SAVE THE MALAYSIAN!!!!!
I was speechless!!!!!!!!
And that businessman that was complaining came in… seemed like he won the ‘war’…
Cos, I saw the supervisor threw the ticket to the cashier, and asked her to re-issue one…
And then, the third wave came…
Somebody elses behind said loudly!!! “This is the worst airport in Asia!!”
Cool!!! Ya!!! I mean Cool!!!!! I was soooo agitated by the situation as well, but somebody elses scolded all the words before me… save me my job!!!
So… I tried to ‘speak’ to the lady cashier in front of me..
I asked her, “why can’t you just give us the ticket, if we see the queue is long, and if we don’t want to wait, then, we can at least go drink a cup of tea, or do some shopping, instead of keeping us here waiting?”
(what I actually mean was… instead of keeping people queuing up in front of you, pulling long faces, and start scolding people, including me!!!)
She said, “I’m just doing my job!!!” (what she meant was, “I’m just a brainless chick, who works without brain!!”
Finally, we got out ticket, and I tried to explain to him what really happened at the TAXI ticketing counter…
- the fact that, there’s actually still an airport that you need to buy ticket to get a taxi, that exists in the world!!!
- the fact that, there’s actually still an airport, where only THEIR taxis (which they shamelessly called it limo) are allowed to pick up passenger, and RUN WITHOUT METER, that exists in the world!!!
- the fact that, this brainless somebody actually gave instruction to this brainless bunch of workers, to ‘capture’ all the travellers in front of the taxi ticketing counters, whenever the number of people outside waiting in the queue, exceed 30, actually exists…
- and the fact that, there’s another bunch of hopeless and choiceless passengers/travellers, who need to queue up to face this type of nonsense, made exist…
- and the fact that, I’m soooo ashamed to tell any visitors, that “ya!!! You need to queue up here, buy expensive tickets, to be able to get onboard a taxi to go to your destination!!!”
- AND the fact that, the taxi vehicles that they used, are mostly DAEWOO (I thought they produce DVD/CD player??) which do not have big luggage compartment, ie. You can’t even put a huge piece of luggage behind!! Why? Cos, half of the compartment is occupied by the gas tank!!!
Conclusion?? Oh!!! Very simple!! PLAIN STUPIDITY!!
I wish I could have the guts to ask them to take down the writing, “Services beyond Disctinction”
The problem is… 20 years ago, our airports, or train stations, were mostly operated in this manner…
However… after 20 years, it’s still operated in this manner… while the whole world beside you is progressing…
Regardless how NO.1 you WERE before!!! If you only step at the original spot… eventually, the last will also overtake… isn’t that simple??? Even a 3-year-old kid will also know the story between the tortoise and the rabbit!!! And let me tell you!!! It’s only a THURSDAY night, where there aren’t that many commuters YET!!!
Ooh!! I’d like to see what’ll WILL HAPPEN on a Friday night… (where there’ll be many commuters between
Lastly!!! I felt that, KLIA that day, was very gloomy… it didn’t feel like a welcoming airport, where everywhere is supposed to be well lit!! however… maybe it’s because of the MAS ‘issue’ that left me the impression, that somebody or some place is going to close shop soon!!… I just felt that, the airport was gloomy… and the worst thing is, when you went to the domestic terminal… gosh!! Like a dead factory… cos, they kicked out AirAsia… and there’s no more domestic commuter (well… not absolutely NONE, but, you know what I mean right??)… SAD! SAD! SAD!
2006-11-22
Love is...
Most people who know me, know I like to sing, and I CAN SING!! ^_^ (well.. not quite... this is just self-praising!! ghee!!)
anyway... I used to be able to sing almost 90% of the songs of whoever or whichever singers that I liked, during that decade!!! (wow!! sounds like I am really old, as I speak about time, in terms of 'decade', not even 'year', or 'month', or 'day' ^_^)
for eg. I could recite, or wrote you the original copy of Samuel Hui's 90% songs' lyrics to you... by heart!!
Anyway.. one leads to another... what I am trying to say... ^_^ is not how well I can sing!! (faint!!)
it's about this song, with a tune I loved, and I still love... that I sang long time ago...
shame to say... I forgot almost half of the lyrics, or whenever I try to sing, I couldn't be sure of the all the lyrics...
The song that I love to sing, is in chinese...
(and obviously, if you know what type of song I mean, you'll know what I mean... ^_^;;)
"Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."
" 愛 是 恆 久 忍 耐 ， 又 有 恩 慈 ； 愛 是 不 嫉 妒 ； 愛是 不 自 誇 ， 不 張 狂 ， 不 作 害 羞 的 事 ， 不 求 自 己 的 益 處 ， 不 輕 易 發 怒 ， 不 計 算 人 的 惡， 不 喜 歡 不 義 ， 只 喜 歡 真 理 ； 凡 事 包 容 ， 凡 事 相 信 ， 凡 事 盼 望 ， 凡 事 忍 耐 。 愛 是 永不 止 息 。"
I like simple things... ^_^V
anyway... I used to be able to sing almost 90% of the songs of whoever or whichever singers that I liked, during that decade!!! (wow!! sounds like I am really old, as I speak about time, in terms of 'decade', not even 'year', or 'month', or 'day' ^_^)
for eg. I could recite, or wrote you the original copy of Samuel Hui's 90% songs' lyrics to you... by heart!!
Anyway.. one leads to another... what I am trying to say... ^_^ is not how well I can sing!! (faint!!)
it's about this song, with a tune I loved, and I still love... that I sang long time ago...
shame to say... I forgot almost half of the lyrics, or whenever I try to sing, I couldn't be sure of the all the lyrics...
The song that I love to sing, is in chinese...
(and obviously, if you know what type of song I mean, you'll know what I mean... ^_^;;)
"Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."
" 愛 是 恆 久 忍 耐 ， 又 有 恩 慈 ； 愛 是 不 嫉 妒 ； 愛是 不 自 誇 ， 不 張 狂 ， 不 作 害 羞 的 事 ， 不 求 自 己 的 益 處 ， 不 輕 易 發 怒 ， 不 計 算 人 的 惡， 不 喜 歡 不 義 ， 只 喜 歡 真 理 ； 凡 事 包 容 ， 凡 事 相 信 ， 凡 事 盼 望 ， 凡 事 忍 耐 。 愛 是 永不 止 息 。"
I like simple things... ^_^V
What did I see???
wow!!!! JUST got back from the cinema, alone, after having a full dose of Christian Bale,
what happened was... tonight, the 21:50 show, "The Prestige", will be the last showtime in this city... well... at least, among those 'approachable' cinemas around this area...
if you go on to the internet to see the showtime for this movie, tomorrow... NIL!!!!!!
therefore, by all means, I had to, walk, or crawl, or run, or whatever... to THAT particular cineplex, to see my first "The Prestige"!!!!!!!!!!!
ya... I will never be able to forgive myself, if I don't even spend a penny on Christian Bale's movie!!! ^_^
What can I say???
hm... ok... this will be the first run of me, trying to write something about "The Prestige"(or Christian Bale)
what I can say is...
too much to say, but nothing to say... (if you go watch the show, you'll know what I mean... ^_^)
can't say, can't say a thing... cos, the whole movie was basically full of twists and turns.. and it's past and present, interleaved with each others... and... every single word, or sentence that's said in this movie, meant something... arrgh...
see!!! can't say much... too much to say, but can't say a thing...!!!! you know how suffering I am at the moment?? ^_^ bittersweet suffering!!!! kakakakakaka!!!!
OK OK.. besides, the fact that, my eyes, and my specs were all LOCKED on Christian Bale..
what did I see???
next round, I'll tell you...
I don't think anybody will want to read a full passage of me, talking about purely, and solely on Christian Bale right??
mm.... just let me continue my sweet dream tonight...
will try to do a second 'run' ^_^
cheers...
what happened was... tonight, the 21:50 show, "The Prestige", will be the last showtime in this city... well... at least, among those 'approachable' cinemas around this area...
if you go on to the internet to see the showtime for this movie, tomorrow... NIL!!!!!!
therefore, by all means, I had to, walk, or crawl, or run, or whatever... to THAT particular cineplex, to see my first "The Prestige"!!!!!!!!!!!
ya... I will never be able to forgive myself, if I don't even spend a penny on Christian Bale's movie!!! ^_^
What can I say???
hm... ok... this will be the first run of me, trying to write something about "The Prestige"(or Christian Bale)
what I can say is...
too much to say, but nothing to say... (if you go watch the show, you'll know what I mean... ^_^)
can't say, can't say a thing... cos, the whole movie was basically full of twists and turns.. and it's past and present, interleaved with each others... and... every single word, or sentence that's said in this movie, meant something... arrgh...
see!!! can't say much... too much to say, but can't say a thing...!!!! you know how suffering I am at the moment?? ^_^ bittersweet suffering!!!! kakakakakaka!!!!
OK OK.. besides, the fact that, my eyes, and my specs were all LOCKED on Christian Bale..
what did I see???
next round, I'll tell you...
I don't think anybody will want to read a full passage of me, talking about purely, and solely on Christian Bale right??
mm.... just let me continue my sweet dream tonight...
will try to do a second 'run' ^_^
cheers...
STALKED!!
I guess, this is the problem with girls... only girls.. (well... if this happen to a guys... then, please pass my message to them... tell them, "YOU FAGOTS!!")
Anyway...
when we were still in school... ie. teenage, while we're still cute small little school girls... ie. hadn't really grown up...
we girls liked to stick to each other all days... shared everything, ate the same food... probably admired the same guy, etc...
girls... tend to get intimate with each others...
... time passed... we grew up... our relationship/friendship... luckily, had evolved to a more mature type...
we still remember each other, even though we maybe separated aparted, in different countries, different corners of the world... different time zone... we still give each other a ring, once in a while...
with this "once-in-a-while" type of contact... I guess, it doesn't mean that, our relationship is harmed, or jeapordized...
At the same time, we made other new friends... each separation, each year we grew up, we give our friends, each other, more space to grow and learn to be more mature, more independent, and knowing more new friends... learning more new stuff in life... and so on...
HOWEVER...
sometimes... we still hear, or come across those articles, posted by 'victimized' female, to the local magazines, about them, being stalked by their very own friends...
Friendship... especially between girls... tend to get funny sometimes...
I once read an article... about poisonous friendship... it mentioned about some of our friends, who only care about themselves, want more attention... or, rather, want your full attention and always act like a cry-baby... etc... simply, because they call you their friends, this type of relationship/friendship, has been crowned to be 'poisonous'... (details, I can't really remember!!.. but I bet, you can find tonnes of these type of real-life stories on the internet)
Recently, I also heard another story... which I personally have experienced the similar situation before...
we (the person in the story, and I) both have a friend, who expects you to babysit them, include them in whatever you're doing, wherever you're going... whoever you're meeting...
ya, you're just like a twin to them... maybe because of simple reason, either, they're too lonely, or, they haven't really grown up to learn to develope a more mature relationship with others, or they simply think that, they're part of your life...
by saying this, I'm not denying our friendship, or the fact that, I am part of your life (being a friend)
however... I guess... everybody should have a space for himself/herself... and everybody elses should try to grow up... and be independent, or at least, to act like an adult so others are not expected to babysit them!!
The difference between me and the person in the story... is that... well.. I managed to pull myself out of this relationship... even though, I do wish I don't have to...
however, until the day, we both agree on the same terms about 'friends', I may as well... enjoy, my lonely but full of freedom, do things based on my own freewill days...
The difference???
this other person, is somehow being STALKED by that friend...
the friend, will call on different phones, to make sure he/she will get the person...
house phones, office phones, handphones, friends' phones, and etc......
when I knew about the story, I thought, gosh!!! "You're obviously being stalked!!"
Sometimes, we may end up stalking some people we love and care about... sometimes... without knowing it...
cos, we're just too obsessed with the idea that, we need to get involved in the other person's life, we need to be seen, we need to be heard... that, we start to stalk...
friends, siblings, spouse, parents, colleagues, bosses!!!!!!!
from level 1 on the scale, to level 10... who knows??
The simplest thing to do, is pick up the phone, keep asking the person, "where are you?", "what are you doing now??"
The toughest?? I don't know... cos, I'm not a stalker... I wouldn't be able to share with you all the tactics, on how to stalk others...
Wife simply calls the husband thousand time a day...
or your admirer simply sms you thousand time a day...
or your over-protecting, or overly-micromanaging parents simply call you thousand time a day...
or your boss, simply call you, sometimes in the middle of the night, to stalk on your work, million time a day...
gosh!!!!!!!!
when enough is enough, when we feel awful, or uncomfortable, it's stalking...
we feel like we're being watched, we feel like A CELEBRITY (oh!! isn't that good?? ya, maybe that's one consolation that you can give to yourself!!)
The worst thing that I can think of... is somebody who stalks others... call the person and ask where he/she is... to wait to catch if he/she lies about whereabout he/she is... cos, this stalker is just right in front of the person, or somewhere behind the person, the next thing the stalker will tell you is, "look in front!!", or "look behind!!" then, the stalker will give you this successful evil look and smile!!! gosh!!!!! cliche!!!!
May I ask... "What do you get in the end??", it's either, thrill of catching you lie, right in front of you... or the thrill of proving that you don't dare to lie to them!!!
PLEASE!! SOMEBODY, GIVE ME A KITKAT!!
Please!!! give the person we care, or we love, a break... don't stalk!!!
Anyway...
when we were still in school... ie. teenage, while we're still cute small little school girls... ie. hadn't really grown up...
we girls liked to stick to each other all days... shared everything, ate the same food... probably admired the same guy, etc...
girls... tend to get intimate with each others...
... time passed... we grew up... our relationship/friendship... luckily, had evolved to a more mature type...
we still remember each other, even though we maybe separated aparted, in different countries, different corners of the world... different time zone... we still give each other a ring, once in a while...
with this "once-in-a-while" type of contact... I guess, it doesn't mean that, our relationship is harmed, or jeapordized...
At the same time, we made other new friends... each separation, each year we grew up, we give our friends, each other, more space to grow and learn to be more mature, more independent, and knowing more new friends... learning more new stuff in life... and so on...
HOWEVER...
sometimes... we still hear, or come across those articles, posted by 'victimized' female, to the local magazines, about them, being stalked by their very own friends...
Friendship... especially between girls... tend to get funny sometimes...
I once read an article... about poisonous friendship... it mentioned about some of our friends, who only care about themselves, want more attention... or, rather, want your full attention and always act like a cry-baby... etc... simply, because they call you their friends, this type of relationship/friendship, has been crowned to be 'poisonous'... (details, I can't really remember!!.. but I bet, you can find tonnes of these type of real-life stories on the internet)
Recently, I also heard another story... which I personally have experienced the similar situation before...
we (the person in the story, and I) both have a friend, who expects you to babysit them, include them in whatever you're doing, wherever you're going... whoever you're meeting...
ya, you're just like a twin to them... maybe because of simple reason, either, they're too lonely, or, they haven't really grown up to learn to develope a more mature relationship with others, or they simply think that, they're part of your life...
by saying this, I'm not denying our friendship, or the fact that, I am part of your life (being a friend)
however... I guess... everybody should have a space for himself/herself... and everybody elses should try to grow up... and be independent, or at least, to act like an adult so others are not expected to babysit them!!
The difference between me and the person in the story... is that... well.. I managed to pull myself out of this relationship... even though, I do wish I don't have to...
however, until the day, we both agree on the same terms about 'friends', I may as well... enjoy, my lonely but full of freedom, do things based on my own freewill days...
The difference???
this other person, is somehow being STALKED by that friend...
the friend, will call on different phones, to make sure he/she will get the person...
house phones, office phones, handphones, friends' phones, and etc......
when I knew about the story, I thought, gosh!!! "You're obviously being stalked!!"
Sometimes, we may end up stalking some people we love and care about... sometimes... without knowing it...
cos, we're just too obsessed with the idea that, we need to get involved in the other person's life, we need to be seen, we need to be heard... that, we start to stalk...
friends, siblings, spouse, parents, colleagues, bosses!!!!!!!
from level 1 on the scale, to level 10... who knows??
The simplest thing to do, is pick up the phone, keep asking the person, "where are you?", "what are you doing now??"
The toughest?? I don't know... cos, I'm not a stalker... I wouldn't be able to share with you all the tactics, on how to stalk others...
Wife simply calls the husband thousand time a day...
or your admirer simply sms you thousand time a day...
or your over-protecting, or overly-micromanaging parents simply call you thousand time a day...
or your boss, simply call you, sometimes in the middle of the night, to stalk on your work, million time a day...
gosh!!!!!!!!
when enough is enough, when we feel awful, or uncomfortable, it's stalking...
we feel like we're being watched, we feel like A CELEBRITY (oh!! isn't that good?? ya, maybe that's one consolation that you can give to yourself!!)
The worst thing that I can think of... is somebody who stalks others... call the person and ask where he/she is... to wait to catch if he/she lies about whereabout he/she is... cos, this stalker is just right in front of the person, or somewhere behind the person, the next thing the stalker will tell you is, "look in front!!", or "look behind!!" then, the stalker will give you this successful evil look and smile!!! gosh!!!!! cliche!!!!
May I ask... "What do you get in the end??", it's either, thrill of catching you lie, right in front of you... or the thrill of proving that you don't dare to lie to them!!!
PLEASE!! SOMEBODY, GIVE ME A KITKAT!!
Please!!! give the person we care, or we love, a break... don't stalk!!!
Action or Patience??
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace."
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace."
2006-11-13
Brunetti's Sweets
After Lemon Grass in Lygon, we're trying to find a place to sit down for a coffee and cakes...
since it's Melbourne Cup day, and since everybody was in this festive and pig-out mood... ^_^
We walked up and down Lygon Street twice... couldn't really find a place that we could decide on... we wanted to go to Koko Black, as I wanted to have more sinful chocolate drinks before we go home..., but at early hour like 21:00, Koko Black was closed... (cheh!!)
He suddenly thought about Brunetti, which we used to like... (before we found out that there's one Brunetti on Swanston, we came to this place twice... as there's no tram line along Lygon, that's the reason we actually seldom came around Lygon)
So, we went to Brunetti, in one of the small road crosses Lygon Street... (can't remember the name now, but I believe, I have mentioned about it, in another entry of my blog... m-.-m) it was near the quieter end of Lygon...
As this end was the quieter end of Lygon, we didn't expect to see a huge crowd there... however, there're still quite a number of people in this cafe... and most of the nice cakes and other desserts were sold-out... >_< I went to order coffees... and he stood at the sweets counter to decide what to take... at first, we both saw a tiramisu and a scone-looking, or puff-looking thing with some interesting topping and before I went to order our coffee... we decided on these two... However... later when we met up at the table... there's only one tiramisu in his hand.. >_< he said, when he turned around.. that cute puff-looking thing was gone!!!! (ahhh!!!! Da-me! Da-me!! だめだめ！！） Since I had longed for a chocky drink... I got myself a hot italian dark chocolate... mm... it's definitely a totally different version from either Max Brenner or Koko Black... (as Max Brenner's chocolate, actually has slightly less chocolate, that's why, lately I fell in love with Max Brenner's Mocha instead.. cos, MB's mocha, as compared to the rest of the cafes' it's more chocolate but not compromising the coffee taste... and for Koko Black's chocolate drinks... mm... it's actually richer, but we both felt that, it's a little bit too rich, that it's heaty... after we had our share of cocoa one time... we both told each other, for the next 2 months, we're not going to touch any cocoa thing!!) this Brunetti's Italian Hot Choc... mm... was one real hot choc... I guess... besides hot melted choc, there's nothing much left inside... not even much milk!!(I saw how the MB's barrister made the drink before... for normal hot choc, it's chocolate+full cream milk, if you order the thick choc, then, they use some full thick cream+choc... rather than add in extra dosage of chocky!!) I guess... it's really full cup of melted chocolate... ^o^ hurray!!! not very sweet.. but very chocky!!! good one!! and the tiramisu that we took... also, was not too sweet afterall.. but just nice, the err... liqeuer that they used with the sponge cake at the base, was also just nice, not too bitter, not too strong the liquor taste and smell... :-d
since it's Melbourne Cup day, and since everybody was in this festive and pig-out mood... ^_^
We walked up and down Lygon Street twice... couldn't really find a place that we could decide on... we wanted to go to Koko Black, as I wanted to have more sinful chocolate drinks before we go home..., but at early hour like 21:00, Koko Black was closed... (cheh!!)
He suddenly thought about Brunetti, which we used to like... (before we found out that there's one Brunetti on Swanston, we came to this place twice... as there's no tram line along Lygon, that's the reason we actually seldom came around Lygon)
So, we went to Brunetti, in one of the small road crosses Lygon Street... (can't remember the name now, but I believe, I have mentioned about it, in another entry of my blog... m-.-m) it was near the quieter end of Lygon...
As this end was the quieter end of Lygon, we didn't expect to see a huge crowd there... however, there're still quite a number of people in this cafe... and most of the nice cakes and other desserts were sold-out... >_< I went to order coffees... and he stood at the sweets counter to decide what to take... at first, we both saw a tiramisu and a scone-looking, or puff-looking thing with some interesting topping and before I went to order our coffee... we decided on these two... However... later when we met up at the table... there's only one tiramisu in his hand.. >_< he said, when he turned around.. that cute puff-looking thing was gone!!!! (ahhh!!!! Da-me! Da-me!! だめだめ！！） Since I had longed for a chocky drink... I got myself a hot italian dark chocolate... mm... it's definitely a totally different version from either Max Brenner or Koko Black... (as Max Brenner's chocolate, actually has slightly less chocolate, that's why, lately I fell in love with Max Brenner's Mocha instead.. cos, MB's mocha, as compared to the rest of the cafes' it's more chocolate but not compromising the coffee taste... and for Koko Black's chocolate drinks... mm... it's actually richer, but we both felt that, it's a little bit too rich, that it's heaty... after we had our share of cocoa one time... we both told each other, for the next 2 months, we're not going to touch any cocoa thing!!) this Brunetti's Italian Hot Choc... mm... was one real hot choc... I guess... besides hot melted choc, there's nothing much left inside... not even much milk!!(I saw how the MB's barrister made the drink before... for normal hot choc, it's chocolate+full cream milk, if you order the thick choc, then, they use some full thick cream+choc... rather than add in extra dosage of chocky!!) I guess... it's really full cup of melted chocolate... ^o^ hurray!!! not very sweet.. but very chocky!!! good one!! and the tiramisu that we took... also, was not too sweet afterall.. but just nice, the err... liqeuer that they used with the sponge cake at the base, was also just nice, not too bitter, not too strong the liquor taste and smell... :-d
Lemon Grass@Lygon Street
OK!!!!!!! The purpose of me having to write about Lemon Grass... is that... hm...
................................
How it all started was, 2 of his colleagues... mentioned to us that, this Lemon Grass in Lygon Street... Thai food... was great...
the price was GREAT too.... roughly AUD50 per head... for what?? a glass of alcohol, some satays, some pineapple rice (I really don't know why people like to order pineapple rice in Thai restaurant, instead of real good thai curries and other great dishes) and some other mini-minor small things... and it came out to AUD50 per person... I asked them... why?? why so expensive, cos, the thai restaurants that we've both gone to... no matter how expensive they were, it wouldn't come out to AUD50 per person...
however... they insisted the food was SUPERB... and the way they said and described about this place, was like... the food is just super-duper EXCELLENT!!!!!!!
2 of them said so..
so, on the Melbourne Cup day itself... we decided to try.. since it's festive, since we've waived off the AUD100 entrance fee...
The menu was simple, all the standard stuff was mostly in... however... all the main dishes (for eg. curries) cost AUD25 and above... (now I know why it would come out to AUD50 per person)
We told ourselves... since we came all the way here, in purpose... to see the real truth about Lemon Grass... we must give it a go... even though it's really expensive...
so, we ordered the standard dishes, to try... Green Curry Beef, Tomyam, and one seafood stir-fried... plus one Pad Thai...
Conclusion???????
Green Curry Beef... he took the first bite, and he told me, it's tasteless... (really!! we didn't expect it to be like that) and I tried, to make sure that, he's not being prejudice... however... really... it's a little bit lack of taste... it's SALTY... that's all I can say... cos, when he mentioned tasteless... I thought, it's not salty... ^_^ but, he said, it didn't taste like thai green curry... which was true... this Green Curry Beef didn't taste like any normal green curry that we had ever had before... it just didn't have any curry taste... towards to the end of the meal, I called it beef stew... if it's a beef stew... then, I'd say, the taste is not THAT bad after all... >_<
Stirfried Seafood... mm... just like any normal hawker style stirfried seafood... some hawkers may actually do it better...
Tomyam... of all, I've to say, the Tomyam WAS superb... ONLY THE TOMYAM... it's the best that I have eaten in this town... if not compared to KL's "Jimmy and Nong", or "Ayuthia"
and I told him... next time we should come again, and ONLY order the tomyam, and if the waiter asks us "is that all? not anything else?" then we should say, "ya, that's all... cos, the rest is no good!!"
Then, there's the Pad Thai... OK.. pass... but the portion was really really small... for... like AUD18.90??? it's really day-light-robbery!! ^_^
And the bill is??? ahh... really... just like what his colleagues said!!! >_<
................................
How it all started was, 2 of his colleagues... mentioned to us that, this Lemon Grass in Lygon Street... Thai food... was great...
the price was GREAT too.... roughly AUD50 per head... for what?? a glass of alcohol, some satays, some pineapple rice (I really don't know why people like to order pineapple rice in Thai restaurant, instead of real good thai curries and other great dishes) and some other mini-minor small things... and it came out to AUD50 per person... I asked them... why?? why so expensive, cos, the thai restaurants that we've both gone to... no matter how expensive they were, it wouldn't come out to AUD50 per person...
however... they insisted the food was SUPERB... and the way they said and described about this place, was like... the food is just super-duper EXCELLENT!!!!!!!
2 of them said so..
so, on the Melbourne Cup day itself... we decided to try.. since it's festive, since we've waived off the AUD100 entrance fee...
The menu was simple, all the standard stuff was mostly in... however... all the main dishes (for eg. curries) cost AUD25 and above... (now I know why it would come out to AUD50 per person)
We told ourselves... since we came all the way here, in purpose... to see the real truth about Lemon Grass... we must give it a go... even though it's really expensive...
so, we ordered the standard dishes, to try... Green Curry Beef, Tomyam, and one seafood stir-fried... plus one Pad Thai...
Conclusion???????
Green Curry Beef... he took the first bite, and he told me, it's tasteless... (really!! we didn't expect it to be like that) and I tried, to make sure that, he's not being prejudice... however... really... it's a little bit lack of taste... it's SALTY... that's all I can say... cos, when he mentioned tasteless... I thought, it's not salty... ^_^ but, he said, it didn't taste like thai green curry... which was true... this Green Curry Beef didn't taste like any normal green curry that we had ever had before... it just didn't have any curry taste... towards to the end of the meal, I called it beef stew... if it's a beef stew... then, I'd say, the taste is not THAT bad after all... >_<
Stirfried Seafood... mm... just like any normal hawker style stirfried seafood... some hawkers may actually do it better...
Tomyam... of all, I've to say, the Tomyam WAS superb... ONLY THE TOMYAM... it's the best that I have eaten in this town... if not compared to KL's "Jimmy and Nong", or "Ayuthia"
and I told him... next time we should come again, and ONLY order the tomyam, and if the waiter asks us "is that all? not anything else?" then we should say, "ya, that's all... cos, the rest is no good!!"
Then, there's the Pad Thai... OK.. pass... but the portion was really really small... for... like AUD18.90??? it's really day-light-robbery!! ^_^
And the bill is??? ahh... really... just like what his colleagues said!!! >_<
Demo of the day
Right after the dimsum session in KingBo, we went around town centre...
then, we saw a troup of people walking down the Swanston Street, and around Bourke Street...
Took a closer look.... it's demonstration, against the Chinese government!!! (I wish I could join!!)
all sorts of people, women, teenage girls, children, walk along with the members, or their family in the group, holding banners... or gears that would aid to their demonstration...
Basically, it's about how the Chinese government torture their people... I saw a hospital operation desk, with a dummy dead body, covered with blood on it...
and another guy who's tied to some beams, hanging there... looked all tortured and beaten up... (didn't get the chance to snap the photos) and many many other banners with different messages, for eg. asking those governmental chinese leaders to pull-off their asses from their seats now (oh! that's my own language, not from the banner... banner only said "please quit!"... and so on... meant for the Chinese government... interesting huh!!!
The most interesting thing was, there's a police car following them... ie. escorting them...
I like the idea... cos, back in my home country... once as long as there's any demonstration, picketing... there'll be police... to try to arrest you and later detain you...
they call our act as an act of threatening the national security...
ooh... which I guess, it's not much difference from the great China!!! (duh!!)
(sometimes, I do feel that, my country is in a way, very similar to the China... the mindset of the people... ie. thinking that people are stupid, and people are slaves, and people are nothing... and they themselves, who're in the authority... worth everything...
No wonder, our relationship is quite close, cos, we're like brothers!! : )
However... one true thing was... the demonstration happened in a faraway land, in Melbourne, Australia... I wonder how much effect it would have...
and maybe the effect was not that much, and therefore... the 'backfire' was not too much on them as well... that's why, they could have A police car following them... JUST IN CASE there're anybody who's against it, wanted to have some trouble with the people... and I also wondered, if this all happened in China... oh!!! if the idea of having it, could actually be initiated in China... @_@
then, we saw a troup of people walking down the Swanston Street, and around Bourke Street...
Took a closer look.... it's demonstration, against the Chinese government!!! (I wish I could join!!)
all sorts of people, women, teenage girls, children, walk along with the members, or their family in the group, holding banners... or gears that would aid to their demonstration...
Basically, it's about how the Chinese government torture their people... I saw a hospital operation desk, with a dummy dead body, covered with blood on it...
and another guy who's tied to some beams, hanging there... looked all tortured and beaten up... (didn't get the chance to snap the photos) and many many other banners with different messages, for eg. asking those governmental chinese leaders to pull-off their asses from their seats now (oh! that's my own language, not from the banner... banner only said "please quit!"... and so on... meant for the Chinese government... interesting huh!!!
The most interesting thing was, there's a police car following them... ie. escorting them...
I like the idea... cos, back in my home country... once as long as there's any demonstration, picketing... there'll be police... to try to arrest you and later detain you...
they call our act as an act of threatening the national security...
ooh... which I guess, it's not much difference from the great China!!! (duh!!)
(sometimes, I do feel that, my country is in a way, very similar to the China... the mindset of the people... ie. thinking that people are stupid, and people are slaves, and people are nothing... and they themselves, who're in the authority... worth everything...
No wonder, our relationship is quite close, cos, we're like brothers!! : )
However... one true thing was... the demonstration happened in a faraway land, in Melbourne, Australia... I wonder how much effect it would have...
and maybe the effect was not that much, and therefore... the 'backfire' was not too much on them as well... that's why, they could have A police car following them... JUST IN CASE there're anybody who's against it, wanted to have some trouble with the people... and I also wondered, if this all happened in China... oh!!! if the idea of having it, could actually be initiated in China... @_@
DimSum@KingBo@Russell Street
One weekend, instead of our usual Sharkfin House along Little Bourke Street, we decided to go to KingBo, another DimSum place that's just a little bit of distance from Sharkfin House... in fact, before you see Sharkfin House, you'll see KingBo first, it's along the main road, Russell Street... while Sharkfin House is in the small lane.
We got to know about this place, from one of his colleagues, who claimed that, the DimSum there is better than the one in Sharkfin House, so, we went to do our 'job' ^_^ ie. to 'evaluate' the food there : )
The place is pretty big and the main dining hall, after the entrance is definitely bigger and looks more spacious than Sharkfin House... Sharkfin House always looks very congested and crowded during the weekends, and it's not THAT spacious afterall...
We ordered our usual favourite dimsums... 'siew mai'(pork and prawn dumpling), 'har kao'(prawn dumpling), 'char siew sou'(BBQ pastry), 'pai kuat'(spare rib), 'lor mai fan'(sticky rice, the aussie called it that way)...
mm... the 'siew mai' was a little bit not fresh (a very polite way of saying ^_^), the 'har kao' was OK, 'char siew sou' WAS GOOD!! 'pai kuat' WAS GOOD...
overall... err... I won't say KingBo food is NO good, but Sharkfin House definitely is much better!! ^_^ (ghee!!)
Besides that, I guess, there's another reason why the crowd here is not compatible at all with Sharkfin House, is that, this place is catered for tour... when we were there, around lunch time, there was a tour bus coming by and a whole group of tourists came inside... well... I guess, this is one other reason, besides the food... : )
We got to know about this place, from one of his colleagues, who claimed that, the DimSum there is better than the one in Sharkfin House, so, we went to do our 'job' ^_^ ie. to 'evaluate' the food there : )
The place is pretty big and the main dining hall, after the entrance is definitely bigger and looks more spacious than Sharkfin House... Sharkfin House always looks very congested and crowded during the weekends, and it's not THAT spacious afterall...
We ordered our usual favourite dimsums... 'siew mai'(pork and prawn dumpling), 'har kao'(prawn dumpling), 'char siew sou'(BBQ pastry), 'pai kuat'(spare rib), 'lor mai fan'(sticky rice, the aussie called it that way)...
mm... the 'siew mai' was a little bit not fresh (a very polite way of saying ^_^), the 'har kao' was OK, 'char siew sou' WAS GOOD!! 'pai kuat' WAS GOOD...
overall... err... I won't say KingBo food is NO good, but Sharkfin House definitely is much better!! ^_^ (ghee!!)
Besides that, I guess, there's another reason why the crowd here is not compatible at all with Sharkfin House, is that, this place is catered for tour... when we were there, around lunch time, there was a tour bus coming by and a whole group of tourists came inside... well... I guess, this is one other reason, besides the food... : )
2006-11-08
人靠衣裝, Beautiful Look, we need!
Yesterday was "the race that stops the nation", ie. Melbourne Cup day... ya, Melbourne Cup = Horse Racing = Holiday!!
Since we're still in this city, around this time, so, we thought we should really go for a look, cos, even as a tourist, or other time, we may not bump into such a great day, and such a happening event...
Partying and tonnes of partying, drinking session, feasting, have been going on since 2-3 weeks ago, in fact... the first time (ie. 3 weeks ago) we didn't even know it's because of this Melbourne Cup thing... in Toorak Road, we saw some men with suit, all of them suddenly look so smart and good looking (AH!!!! Men!! the Suits need you!!!) and all the girls (though not beautiful, the opposite scenario when Men put on their Suits) in thin and skimpy dress, colourful and a funny, or LOUD hat on their heads!!!!!! Later, we found out that, it's ALL because of this Melbourne Cup thing...
Finally, yesterday, I managed to dig out something to wear, and luckily, he brought his pair of suits over here, so, we both kinda dressed up (except that, I didn't bring my hat over) and went to Flemington Race Course...
I checked online, there's dress code (all men gotta put on their suits) and girls, need to be decent, formal dinner clothing... that was what's mentioned on the website, and entrance fee... AUD50 per person... it's expensive, I know, but anyway, as I said, we don't have many such chances, right time, right place, right event... so, we really decided to give it a go... (and apparently, this is the world biggest racing event)
When we got on the tram, we saw some other people, who didn't really dress fully as according to the dress code (it said, "no zipper jacket, no drizabone, etc., no snickers, no waist length jackets, no cardigan") but we know all of us are heading towards the same destination, as we overhead them, upon coming onboard, asked the driver if this tram (no. 57) will go to Flemington Race Course...
So, we're whispering between 2 of us... "ah!! we actually don't need to dress according to the dress code so strictly, see!!! others are just wearing normally, some even with their jeans", "oh, we maybe overdressed, and that, we may look stupid afterwards"... "but then, I'm sure a lot of other 'ang mor' will take the chance and dress up!"......
When we finally got down the tram, there's still quite a bit of distance to walk, to the entrance...
in my uncomfortable heels (which are already not THAT high, but luckily I brought them here, however, I have not walk long enough in heels for nearly a year... so, I was already not used to it anymore, unlike when I was working) we walked down the pedestrian path...
then suddenly a mini van passed by, stopped beside us, the kind-old-man driver asked if we want to take a lift... oh!!! both of us happily hopped onto the van, I saw a "staff shuttle" in front of the van... wow!!! this 'behbeh' is really kind!!! ^_^... but I suspect, it's because we dressed up ourselves... in the van, there're another 2 smart-looking young men... and he didn't like... pick every single person on the pedestiran path on the way to the entrance... after us, it's just another couple that he picked up...
Well... finally at the entrance... as we didn't buy any ticket before we went, we're just taking our chance..., ie. buy those last minute available tickets...
then, we discovered that, the ticketing booth had been shut!!! wow!!! what an event!!! huh!! I read the online info, saying that, the tickets will be available there, since 07:30 on that day itself... and yesterday, the weather was not too pleasant, there wasn't a big crowd queueing in front of the ticket booth at all... just 2 of us idiots, trying to knock on the ticket booth window, and trying to buy tickets, at the very last minute (1/2 hour before the race)...
he went to the entrance and asked those guard... about the ticketing booth, about where those ticketing people are...
the man, asked his colleague... the man, ah... another nice old man... after asking his colleagues... getting no response, everybody there who guarded the entrance didn't know anything about the ticketing, about what to do in this situation (as almost everybody who went there, have already pre-purchased the tickets), he let us in... so, we went in FREE!!! ^_^V (yeh!!)... again, I suspect, it's because we bothered to dress up... imagine, if it's a guy who wears fleece jacket and a pair of snickers, or the girl who wears a pair of jeans, with a bumper jacket or something...
So, we went in to join the crowd, it's really like a big festival, just like the newyear festival we saw in Japan, near the Meiji Shrine... lots of foodstalls being set up... lots people people walking around with a tray of fish and chips in their hands, or bottle of wine, glass of wine in their hands... everybody dresses up, most girls with decorated hats on top of them.. guys with nice pair of suits and so on...
and the betting counters, all fully crowded with queues and queues...
we gave up immediately when we saw the queue... (but then we regretted for not even try to queue, to put bet on my japanese horse... apparently there're japanese horses in the race, and being such a big japanese fan, you know that, I'll just bet to show my support to the japanese, even though I know they may loose, I didn't read anything about those horses prior to coming to this event)
About 15 minutes before the race(15:00), the guards closed the gates temporaritly, to let those horses passed by, then, they re-opened the gates to let the crowd go nearer to the race course...
Woo!! finally the race was started... everybody was very excitedly shouting... (I guess, most of them shouted because they bet!)
I was excited because of the ambience, and also when the whole troop of horses went pass in front of me... (I took a short video of that)
All the fuss, for just this 1-2 minutes of race... finally... guess who's the winner? No.1 = Delta Blue, No.2 = Pop Rock... most importantly, both ARE japanese horses!!!!!!!!!!!!! (>_<) Wah~~~~~!!!!!!!!!! should have queued up and put my bet huh!!?????? but later, we consoled ourselves, as we've already been 'waived' with the AUD100 fee, so, we, in a way, have "won" AUD100 ^_^
Anyway... later we just went around the race course for a little while just to see how the whole thing is (there WERE really A LOT of people!!.. most of them already occupied a good spot, laid their picnic mat, laid out their food, and already many empty wine bottles on the ground!!)
Then, around 16:00 we decided to go back to our apartment, as there's nothing much for us to do... and since it's a holiday, we decided to go back, get change, to something that both of us feel comfortable and cosy... and head to Lygon Street to try out the so-called famous Thai Food, LEMON GRASS... Famous, as it being very expensive, ie. AUD50 per person estimatedly... however, we must go to 'evaluate' if it's really THAT good!! @_@
...... to be continued...
Since we're still in this city, around this time, so, we thought we should really go for a look, cos, even as a tourist, or other time, we may not bump into such a great day, and such a happening event...
Partying and tonnes of partying, drinking session, feasting, have been going on since 2-3 weeks ago, in fact... the first time (ie. 3 weeks ago) we didn't even know it's because of this Melbourne Cup thing... in Toorak Road, we saw some men with suit, all of them suddenly look so smart and good looking (AH!!!! Men!! the Suits need you!!!) and all the girls (though not beautiful, the opposite scenario when Men put on their Suits) in thin and skimpy dress, colourful and a funny, or LOUD hat on their heads!!!!!! Later, we found out that, it's ALL because of this Melbourne Cup thing...
Finally, yesterday, I managed to dig out something to wear, and luckily, he brought his pair of suits over here, so, we both kinda dressed up (except that, I didn't bring my hat over) and went to Flemington Race Course...
I checked online, there's dress code (all men gotta put on their suits) and girls, need to be decent, formal dinner clothing... that was what's mentioned on the website, and entrance fee... AUD50 per person... it's expensive, I know, but anyway, as I said, we don't have many such chances, right time, right place, right event... so, we really decided to give it a go... (and apparently, this is the world biggest racing event)
When we got on the tram, we saw some other people, who didn't really dress fully as according to the dress code (it said, "no zipper jacket, no drizabone, etc., no snickers, no waist length jackets, no cardigan") but we know all of us are heading towards the same destination, as we overhead them, upon coming onboard, asked the driver if this tram (no. 57) will go to Flemington Race Course...
So, we're whispering between 2 of us... "ah!! we actually don't need to dress according to the dress code so strictly, see!!! others are just wearing normally, some even with their jeans", "oh, we maybe overdressed, and that, we may look stupid afterwards"... "but then, I'm sure a lot of other 'ang mor' will take the chance and dress up!"......
When we finally got down the tram, there's still quite a bit of distance to walk, to the entrance...
in my uncomfortable heels (which are already not THAT high, but luckily I brought them here, however, I have not walk long enough in heels for nearly a year... so, I was already not used to it anymore, unlike when I was working) we walked down the pedestrian path...
then suddenly a mini van passed by, stopped beside us, the kind-old-man driver asked if we want to take a lift... oh!!! both of us happily hopped onto the van, I saw a "staff shuttle" in front of the van... wow!!! this 'behbeh' is really kind!!! ^_^... but I suspect, it's because we dressed up ourselves... in the van, there're another 2 smart-looking young men... and he didn't like... pick every single person on the pedestiran path on the way to the entrance... after us, it's just another couple that he picked up...
Well... finally at the entrance... as we didn't buy any ticket before we went, we're just taking our chance..., ie. buy those last minute available tickets...
then, we discovered that, the ticketing booth had been shut!!! wow!!! what an event!!! huh!! I read the online info, saying that, the tickets will be available there, since 07:30 on that day itself... and yesterday, the weather was not too pleasant, there wasn't a big crowd queueing in front of the ticket booth at all... just 2 of us idiots, trying to knock on the ticket booth window, and trying to buy tickets, at the very last minute (1/2 hour before the race)...
he went to the entrance and asked those guard... about the ticketing booth, about where those ticketing people are...
the man, asked his colleague... the man, ah... another nice old man... after asking his colleagues... getting no response, everybody there who guarded the entrance didn't know anything about the ticketing, about what to do in this situation (as almost everybody who went there, have already pre-purchased the tickets), he let us in... so, we went in FREE!!! ^_^V (yeh!!)... again, I suspect, it's because we bothered to dress up... imagine, if it's a guy who wears fleece jacket and a pair of snickers, or the girl who wears a pair of jeans, with a bumper jacket or something...
So, we went in to join the crowd, it's really like a big festival, just like the newyear festival we saw in Japan, near the Meiji Shrine... lots of foodstalls being set up... lots people people walking around with a tray of fish and chips in their hands, or bottle of wine, glass of wine in their hands... everybody dresses up, most girls with decorated hats on top of them.. guys with nice pair of suits and so on...
and the betting counters, all fully crowded with queues and queues...
we gave up immediately when we saw the queue... (but then we regretted for not even try to queue, to put bet on my japanese horse... apparently there're japanese horses in the race, and being such a big japanese fan, you know that, I'll just bet to show my support to the japanese, even though I know they may loose, I didn't read anything about those horses prior to coming to this event)
About 15 minutes before the race(15:00), the guards closed the gates temporaritly, to let those horses passed by, then, they re-opened the gates to let the crowd go nearer to the race course...
Woo!! finally the race was started... everybody was very excitedly shouting... (I guess, most of them shouted because they bet!)
I was excited because of the ambience, and also when the whole troop of horses went pass in front of me... (I took a short video of that)
All the fuss, for just this 1-2 minutes of race... finally... guess who's the winner? No.1 = Delta Blue, No.2 = Pop Rock... most importantly, both ARE japanese horses!!!!!!!!!!!!! (>_<) Wah~~~~~!!!!!!!!!! should have queued up and put my bet huh!!?????? but later, we consoled ourselves, as we've already been 'waived' with the AUD100 fee, so, we, in a way, have "won" AUD100 ^_^
Anyway... later we just went around the race course for a little while just to see how the whole thing is (there WERE really A LOT of people!!.. most of them already occupied a good spot, laid their picnic mat, laid out their food, and already many empty wine bottles on the ground!!)
Then, around 16:00 we decided to go back to our apartment, as there's nothing much for us to do... and since it's a holiday, we decided to go back, get change, to something that both of us feel comfortable and cosy... and head to Lygon Street to try out the so-called famous Thai Food, LEMON GRASS... Famous, as it being very expensive, ie. AUD50 per person estimatedly... however, we must go to 'evaluate' if it's really THAT good!! @_@
...... to be continued...
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