Ichthus

You can be what you want to be.

2008-11-20T16:36:00.004+08:00

"Look! I'm a giraffe. Woof!"

Is this the new 'Happy Meal'?

"Grrr... I am your father."

"Hug me like a teddy."

Erm... I have a strong feeling that this dog doesn't wanna

be Incy Wincy Spider.

Sweeter than sweet.

2008-11-05T10:49:00.005+08:00

When fiance chauffeurs me to work (or to everywhere else),
I have the habit of checking my reflection in the mirror
when I enter the car. (Ahem... me = vain pot).

Anyway,
guess what fell out when I opened the compact mirror
on the passenger seat on Monday morning?

Inside the envelope is fiance's 'Declaration of Romantic Intent'.

After he filled in the blanks, it reads:

Dear Ciss (name of recipient), I wish to inform you that
I consider you to be a beautiful & amazing (superlative)
human being, a quality which I consider deliciously (adjective
of magnitude) attractive. Frankly, the world is filled with
many sickening (undesirable human quality) people, though
you are far more lovely (remarkable characteristic) than them.
I find myself daydreaming about waking up next to you
(plotline of your fantasy). Your eyes (body parts)
are like pearls (rare or precious thing) and your lips (body parts)
reminds me of piranhas (something desirable).

I would happily give you all my money (an extreme act) in order to
spend my life with you (goal of such an absurb action), I can
only hope that you feel the same attraction (euphemism
for attraction) toward me. I eagerly anticipate your candid reply.

Sincerely, your fiance (relationship to recipient),
XXXXXX (name of sender).

Ahhh.... absolutely melted my heart.
(even though he doesn't know what is a
superlative and described my lips as piranhas!)

Hhhmm.... Can't wait to get married.
Looking forward to the 31st of May 2009.
^_~

Head scratching incident.

2008-10-20T10:16:00.003+08:00

Took a flight last Fri.
(Pssst. It's NOT the 'Everyone can fly' airline).

Anyway, while the plane was still flying above
the South China Sea, the seat in front of me started
shaking semi-violently.

Curious, I tried to peek in front but because
I'm not that tall and was strapped with the seatbelt,
I couldn't see what's going on in front.

Few seconds later, the shaking stopped.
So I closed my eyes and my mind
wandered off to lala land for a good half an hour.

The flight landed shortly after,
seatbelts were heard unclipped
everywhere in the aircraft.

The guy in front of me got out of his seat.
And took on a half-standing posture,
waiting for his turn to get to the aisle
and collect his belongings from the cabinets above.

That was when I almost fainted.

My eyes were locked in horror at the guy's head.
Gazillion tiny white spots where seen nested in
his crown of 'glory' (more like gory).

And I assure you,
THOSE ARE NOT DANDRUFF!
I was looking at FREAKIN' A LOT OF LICE EGGS!!!!!!!

YES!
You read correctly.
Kutu!!!!

Man! He was 'happily' sitting in front,
scratching his head, which explains
why the seat was shaking!

ARGHHHHH!
That thought was enough to
send 3 shudders down my spine.
Correction. Four shudders.
Another one just went down my spine as I type this.

Grossed out completely,
I kept thinking and hoping and praying
no one with lice sat in my seat before the flight.
Or that when he scratched, no lice had jumped
and landed on my hair. ARGGHHHH! MY HAIR!!!!

I tell you. Straight away,
I lean no more in my seat.

I sat up sooooo straight while
trying to get out of the plane. FAST.

Why did this happen to me?

How can people not know they need help
when they can see so many many many
tiny eggs are in their hair?

Can't they put disposable head rest cover
or something in airplane seats?

ARgh!

A job that kills.

2008-10-14T11:21:00.004+08:00

5 hours.
5 hours.
4 hours.
4 hours.

That was the amount of sleep I had
from Monday - Thursday last week.
All in all, 18 hours of sleep in four days.

Finally, the hurricane in office
has subsided (for now).
So, I got to catch up on my sleep
over the weekend.

Unfortunately, my happiness is shortlived.
Check out what I read this morning:

"Those whose nightly sleep fell from
seven hours to five hours or less were
1.7 times as likely to die (compared with those
who stayed at seven hours)
over the next 11 to 17 years.

Their risk of cardiovascular-related death
was DOUBLE."

Grr.... Oh great.
What I wanted was rest.
Not 'rest in peace'.

511

2008-10-05T05:11:00.002+08:00

5:11am, Sunday.
I'm still in office.

Was here since 2pm, Saturday...
So tired.

Help.
Eye. Lids. Are. Heaaaaaveeeeeee...

Dampening.

2008-09-30T17:54:00.002+08:00

Work has been crazy.
Been slaving away everyday.
On weekends. And on weekdays.
Many times, even past midnight.

Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow
are public holidays. But not for me.

To those who are travelling,
have a safe journey.
Enjoy your holidays to the full.

Now, let me get back to work.
Sigh. Crap.

Humanity.

2008-09-22T19:05:00.004+08:00

Oh great, after countless centuries,
this is how far we have 'progressed'.

The most brilliant.

2008-09-17T11:34:00.003+08:00

Kim Ung-yong.

He's a Korean child prodigy. And is still alive today.

He's recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as having the highest IQ (around 210) on the planet NOW (used to be someone else, but he died). An average person's IQ is around 85 to 115. If yours is 136 and above, you're considered pretty brilliant.

He was able to read and write in Japanese, Gernam, Korean and English by his fourth birthday. Also, at the age of four, on November 2, 1967, he solved a complicated differential and integral calculus problems on Japanese television.

Kim entered university as a physics student at the age of three. Later at the 'ripe old age of seven', Kim was invited to the United States by NASA to study (I think he was invited because they suspected him of being an alien).

Hahaha.

Colour me mad.

2008-09-16T17:53:00.003+08:00

Tough questions.

2008-09-15T18:15:00.003+08:00

If you suffer a miscarriage,
how would you react?
Will it affect your marriage?

If you discover that you can't
have babies, how do you think your
husband will react (if he's been hoping
to have children of his own through you)?
Will it affect your relationship?

If you are unable to work
due to whatever reasons,
and your own family needs you
to provide for them, how will
your husband react if you were
to ask him to provide for your family
on top of providing for his own family?
Will it cause any grudge between you two?

What will you do,
If you discovered that your
husband has been unfaithful?
If your child pass away?
If your husband got into a huge debt?

ARGH!
Pre-marital counselling is a lot
tougher than exams!

Trauma

2008-09-11T09:27:00.003+08:00

Ate dinner with fiancé last night.

On the way back,
near Atria Shopping Centre,
we saw a four-wheel drive stopped
in the middle of the road,
under its front tyres was a motorcycle.

A guy (motorcyclist) was lying
on the floor few feet
away from the vehicles.

Fiancé stopped the car.
Told me to stay inside and wait,
while he ran over to check on the guy.

A lady in white (driver)
was standing nearby.

In less than a minute,
more people pulled over to help.

I saw fiancé and a few men
gingerly carried the injured dude
to the side of the road
to make way for the incoming traffic.

The guy sat up for a few seconds.
Then slumped down.

I called fiancé from the car.
He told me it’s quite serious.
I quickly locked the car
and ran over to them.

Then I saw.
The guy’s eyes, nose and ears were bleeding.

I think he also dislocated his jaw.
Coz he can’t really talk.

Fiancé took out the guy’s handphone.
He whispered, ‘A-b-g…’!
Must be ‘Abang’
(means ‘brother’ in Malay)!

We tried calling his 'abang' on his phone
but he has no more credit left in the phone!

So, fiancé used his own phone
to call the brother, informing him
of what happened.

Others called the ambulance
and we all waited.

Two Christian ladies
were next to him.
One checking his pulse,
the other just held his hands
and prayed for him.

While waiting for the ambulance,
fiancé continues talking to him
to keep him awake.

His name sounds like “Faha…”
Hmmm, he can’t speak properly.
So we're still not sure.

Anyway, the ambulance finally came.
One man came out from the vehicle.
Walked near the victim and
slapped him very hard on his legs
while saying, “Ui ui ui…”!

I was shocked!
ARGH! SO RUDE!
Is that how the hospital trained you
to check if a person is alive?

It was only when “Faha”
moved his head to look at the him
then only he asked the others
in the ambulance to come down
with the stretcher.

I tell you!
If “Faha” didn’t move,
those jokers (from the hospital)
would probably have left him to die there!

Sickeningly unsympathetic!
Hhmmph!

After they ‘loaded’ him into
the ambulance, we headed for home.

Fiancé called “Faha’s” brother
few hours later.

Doctor did an X-ray on “Faha” and
he was already sleeping
at that time of the call.

I just pray and hope he’s ok.
Fiancé will call again later
in the afternoon.

Sigh.
I think I just lost my faith in the
paramedics of this country.

UPDATE
"Faha" was discharged from hospital already!
Praise the Lord.

SELF-DISCOVERY III

2008-09-10T13:30:00.002+08:00

I have an unsual pet hate.

Being very sensitive to sound,
I'm super irritated when the car window
is not wound up properly. You get this
stupid humming sound of the wind trying to
squeeze itself in through the gap between
the car door and the window.
ARGH!

Also, I hate the parking ticket autopay machines in the malls.
THEY JUST CAN'T SHUT UP!

"Please pay the amount shown on the display...
Please pay the amount..."
ARGH! Shut up, stupid machine!

SELF-DISCOVERY II

2008-09-08T09:28:00.003+08:00

I wanted to write one thing
about myself last week.

But it didn't happen because that 'one thing'
which I've discovered about myself is -

I like to procrastinate.

SELF-DISCOVERY I

2008-09-03T12:02:00.003+08:00

I realised that I am weird...
And I like weird-looking stuff.

Extra for the day...

2008-09-02T13:54:00.004+08:00

Hillarious Top 10 Moments of the 2008 Olympics.

Hehe. It just doesn't feel right
for me to not share it with you.

Fashion or Fetish?

2008-09-02T10:37:00.006+08:00

Got me lol when I saw the
bananarama shoes and fish slippers!

Enjoy!

Cute-sy Olympics

2008-08-27T12:03:00.003+08:00

Phantom Jam

2008-08-26T09:33:00.002+08:00

I can never figure out the KL traffic.

You're stuck in a jam for like 45 never-ending minutes,
speculating that there might be an accident upfront
or a road block etc...

Then all of the sudden,
the jam clears up.

Doesn't make sense!
What caused the jam in the first place?

ARGH!
WEIRD!

A Special Colleague

2008-08-22T11:52:00.007+08:00

Oh colleague,
Your 'great work' so invisible.
That eyes have not seen, ears have not heard
of your 'capabilities' month after month.

Oh, I fear for you.

Oh colleague,
Your decisions so daring.
That you applied for a senior position
in this demanding industry though you're
unable to bring anything to the table.

Oh, I fear for you.

Oh colleague,
Your greed so incomprehensible.
You earn triple the salary compared to
most of the people in the department,
yet failed time and again to deliver a simple job.

Oh, I fear for you.

Oh colleague,
Your mind so insane.
When you couldn't think of
an idea for a 5-second
frame on TVC, you called me to
come back to office at 6am
to solve it for you.

Oh, you're so incompetent.
I fear for you.

Does beauty still exist beyond perfection?

2008-08-21T13:44:00.006+08:00

Have been reading about Liu Yan,
a 26 year-old Beijing Dance Academy dancer
is one of China's best classical dancer.

That's why, it's not unexpected that
she was chosen to dance a solo
during the Olympics opening ceremony.

During rehearsal on 27 July 2008,
Liu Yan who was part of
the Silk Road dance, fell more than
three metres from the moving platform,
landing on her head and back after
a miscalculation by other performers
who were supposed to catch her.

She suffered a dislocation of her eleventh vertebra,
causing nerve and spinal damage. As a result,
she has lost all feeling below the waist.

The Olympics opening ceremony director
Zhang Yimou was quoted saying:
"You're the deepest pain in my heart,
if I could see you stand on your feet again,
it would make me much more excited
and happier than any praise I've received."

On the day of the actual opening ceremony,
her solo was danced by a replacement.

This is Liu Yan,
a year before the accident.

So beautiful.
Yet so fleeting.
So sad.

Hope she can walk again.

Gymnastics

2008-08-19T10:56:00.003+08:00

Since the Olympics is on, thought it would be nice
to show you one of my favourite sports. Enjoy!

6,000 Over Steps of Love

2008-08-15T10:14:00.015+08:00

Over 50 years ago, Liu Guojiang was a 19 year-old boy
when he fell in love with a 29 year-old
widowed mother named Xu Chaoqin.

In a twist a lot like Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet,
friends and relatives criticised their relationship
because of their age difference and the fact that
Xu already had children.

At that time, it was unacceptable and 'immoral' for
a young man to love an older woman.
To avoid the gossip and scorn of their communities,
the couple decided to elope and lived in a cave
in Jiangjin County in Southern ChongQing Municipality.

In the beginning, life was harsh as they had nothing,
no electricity nor even food. They had to eat grass and roots
they found in the mountain. But with his two hands,
Liu created the necessities to build a home.

Xu had always felt that she had tied Liu down and
repeatedly asked him, "Are you regretful?"
Liu always replied, "As long as we work hard,
life will get better."

It was also during this time (year 1949) Liu began and
continued to hand-carve steps on the mountain
so that his wife could get up and down the mountain easily.

Half a century later, in year 2001, a group of adventurers
were exploring the forest and were surprised to find the
elderly couple and the over 6,000 hand-carved steps!

Liu MingSheng, one of the couple's seven children said,
"My parents loved each other so much, they have lived
in seclusion for over 50 years and had never been apart
for even a single day.

He hand-carved more than 6,000 steps
over the years for my mother's convenience,
although she doesn't go down the mountain that much."

The couple had lived in peace for over
50 years until one day,
in year 2002, Liu returned from
his daily farm work and collapsed.

Xu sat and prayed with her husband
as he passed away in her arms.

So in love with Xu was Liu, that
no one was able to release
the grip he had on his wife's hand
even after he had passed away.
He was 72 year old.

"You promised me you'll take care of me,
you'll always be with me until the day I died,
now you left before me, how am I going to live without you?"

Xu spent days softly repeating the above sentence
and touching her husband's black coffin
with tears rolling down her cheeks.

In 2006, their story became one of the top 10
love stories from China, collected by the
Chinese Women Weekly. The local government
has decided to preserve their '6,000 over steps of love'
and the place they lived as a museum,
so that their love story can live forever.

This sure tickled my funny bones.

2008-08-14T11:21:00.004+08:00

This can be to you, a funny joke or an enlightenment.
Good entertainment nonetheless.
Enjoy!

Let eat at erm....

2008-08-12T14:31:00.003+08:00

I have a perfect website address to suggest to this restaurant:
http://404-not-found.com

HAHA!

Give me a break.

2008-08-11T15:38:00.003+08:00

Chill k? Work can wait till tomorrow.
I need some zzZZZZzzzz.

Save your face.

2008-08-08T16:18:00.005+08:00

There are a few words in English, that if mispronounced,
can result in SEVERE, traumatic embarassment.

To avoid being labelled a moron / idiot,
learn the correct pronounciations.
Sadly, I've learnt how to pronounce
some of the words below the hard way. Sigh.

Don't make the same mistakes I've made.

Here they are:

1) Lingerie - If you pronounce it "Ling-ger-ree", congratulations,
you've just made a fool out of yourself.
Unfortunately, I did! ARGH!
Until I found out it's actual pronounciation is "Lawn-jer-ray".
My friends never let me forget this.

2) Jewellery (British) / Jewelry (American) -
Don't pronounce it as "Joowel-la-ree" or "Joowel-ree".
It's "Jool-ree", k?

3) Realtor - Many people pronounced this as "Real-uh-ter".
Nope. Wrong. Don't complicate things.
Keep it to two syllables please. It should be "Real-ter".

4) Rendezvous - Bury yourself alive if you've got a huge ego.
Coz this word should never be pronounced as "Ren-dez-vous"
(yup, sometimes pronouncing it like how you should
spell it is misleading). It should be pronounced as "Ron-day-voo".

5) Beau - A 'beautiful' word to describe your lover BUT this word
is NOT a short form of 'beautiful'. So, don't pronounce it
as "Beeyou". Correct pronounciation is "Bo".

People,

Hold your head up high.
Get the pronounciation right.

Your 'Million-dollar Response'.

2008-08-07T16:00:00.011+08:00

This is the 'Million-dollar Question':

"Should I or should I not post the video
of how fiance proposed to me on this blog?"

I've been contemplating this for a long long time.
Can't decide. Please leave me a comment / response on this.

Aiks.

2008-08-05T16:37:00.013+08:00

Hahaha....
The video which I've posted yesterday has
ALREADY been posted in November last year.

Blur me.
Don't worry, I've replaced it with this one:

ENJOY!
Psst... Check out the cute nose bubble in 00:10!

Press 'Fullscreen Toggle Button'
on the bottom right to see hi-res video.

Like royal. (PART IV)

2008-08-01T09:24:00.013+08:00

On the 3rd day in Honeymoon Island,
we had an 'outing'.

Honeymoon King & Queen arranged for all
to board their ship and took us to another island nearby.

That island is called 'Egg Island'.
Sounds so weird right?
But according to them, if you take a picture
of the island from a plane, its shape resembles....
AN EGG! (well, a no-brainer there)

Anyway, in a horizontal view,
this is how Egg Island looks like:

It's a really small island, probably take you 15 minutes
to walk round the entire island. Yup, THAT small.
I think it's more like a HUGE pile of sand in the sea,
not so much an island. HAHA.

It's also super crowded.
Lots of Phuket's tourists go there for 'outings'.
Some were playing beach volley, some were sunbathing,
some were swimming around the island,
some were just chilling out at the bar.
BUT most of us who went there felt a bit bored.

I mean, it's nice that they took us island hopping,
but many of the reps still have yet to present their work.
So, a lot of them couldn't fully enjoy.

Not only that, because we didn't know what to expect,
or had any clue what was on the Egg Island,
MANY of us didn't bring $$!

So, we sat there and just 'look at'
people enjoying their corn on the cob,
ice creams, beer, fresh juice,
trying on swim wears, sarongs etc.
Without $$, we couldn't savour or
buy any items on the Egg Island.

This is where I'll tell you a little about
Honeymoon Queen.

She's such a sweetie.
Even though she's rich,
(well, her husband IS a millionaire / billionaire after all)
there wasn't a hint of arrogance in her.

Maybe it's a Thai thing.
She was really hospitable to all of us
throughout our entire stay in Phuket.

When she found out a lot of us didn't bring $$,
she quickly announced this to us,
"We have baht (Thai currency)! We have baht.
Don't worry. What you want we'll buy".

She then whispered something in Thai to her staff
(our helpers). Like I said before this, all the country reps
were assigned a Thai helper. Mine was Orawan.

Right after she spoke to them,
our helpers came and told us to just
POINT at what we want, they will buy for us.

Wow, what a statement.
POINT at what we want,
they will BUY.
(Aww... How I wish my fiance will say this to me in a mall!)

I was wondering,
if I POINT at Egg Island,
does that mean Honeymoon Queen
will buy the island for me?
HAHAHAHA....

Anyway, I wasn't greedy,
I merely 'pointed' at a Wall's ice cream.

An hour or so after, we hopped back into our ship
and journeyed back to Honeymoon Island.
Just in time for dinner.

Let me show you the ambience we enjoyed
while having our dinner:

This is EXACTLY what I saw. I didn't photoshop or
did anything to the picture.

To prove to you I didn't retouch it, I've included another
picture of the sunset with the other country reps in it.
The lady in red is a representative of
an ad agency in Shanghai, China.

Dinner was buffet style.

Check out the food. Hhmmm... YUMs!

Now, let me tell you a little bit about Honeymoon King.
He's a brilliant man. Not as friendly as his wife,
but still very hospitable.

Remember when I first arrived on the island,
I was alone, and I had lunch with Orawan?

Our conversation went a little bit like this:

Me: Orawan, I came here by speed boat,
How are the others going to come here?
(So many of them!) By speed boats too?

Orawan: No... Mr. Kun XXXX (referring to Honeymoon King)
owns a ship, they'll come here with that.
You came alone, so we used the speed boat.

Me: Oh, so Mr. Kun XXXX (Honeymoon King)
will be coming with them on the ship too?

Orawan: No no no! (She looked shocked when I said that)
(HAHAHA... And I was shocked that she was shocked!)

Orawan goes on to say:
"Mr. Kun XXXX is the owner of the island.
He is very important. So, he'll come FROM THE SKY."

FROM THE SKY? WHAT THE?!!
This was what Orawan meant.

HELICOPTER!
I took this after Honeymoon King and Queen arrived.
His pilot was cleaning the helicopter.

SERIOUSLY!
Now you understand why I named them
Honeymoon 'King' and 'Queen'.

Fuh-yoh! This was what I felt after witnessing their arrival:
We COMMONERS travel by land or sea.
For the REALLY IMPORTANT people,
they must descend from the sky.

Below are some close ups of the helicopter.

They used the helicopter quite often.
I think on the 2nd day,
they took the helicopter to Phuket for lunch.
(While we, the COMMONERS ate on the island). Haha.

Every time the helicopter comes near,
there'll be a surge of strong wind,
something like a baby typhoon.
The trees and plants will sway left, right and centre,
And my hair will look super messed up after. Haha.

Anyway, just before they landed,
I took the opportunity to take this series of photos:

From afar, it looked like an insect
that's going to land on the flower, right?

I must say,
I had on heck of a trip in Phuket.
Even though it's work-related,
it felt more like an eye-opening 'holiday'.

I have to thank the person who made
this trip so much fun.
He is none other than - the Honeymoon King.

Now, to end this four-part post,
I've decided to give your eyes a little treat.

Allow me to show you a glimpse of the
owner of Honeymoon Island (also owner of
the helicopter, the ship, a worldwide business
and many many more things!)

Ladies and gentleman,
I present you,
Mr. Kun Honeymoon King.

(Picture taken while we were on the way to Egg Island)

Pssst... He shared the ride with us on the ship,
because Egg Island doesn't have a helipad!
HAHAHA.

Like royal. (PART III)

2008-07-30T11:01:00.014+08:00

I've always had an eye for strange things.
When I look at an object or place, very often,
I'll discover things that 'normal people' don't notice.

For example,
one fine morning, on the Honeymoon Island,
I decided to go for a morning walk near my chalet.

The faint sound of the nearby waves gently hitting
the seashore was super therapeutic and calming.

Suddenly, I decided to look up. This is what I saw:

Two love birds on the roof of my chalet.
Maybe they too are on a honeymoon. Hehe.

For the presentation,
I was scheduled to be the second to present.
Having worked till late for weeks preparing for it,
It took only about 20 minutes to present.
Was super relieved when it was over. It went pretty well.

Anyway, I was happy I get to sit back and
enjoy the rest of my trip while others still
feel nervous about their presentation.

From the 2nd day onwards,
I didn't bother using the buggy dy.
The resort has limited buggies to cater to everyone.
So, I opted for a bicycle instead.
Haha. Yup. Cycled here, there, and everywhere
on the island for 4 days. It was fun. And great exercise too.

See my red bike? =)

On the 3rd day, I woke up late.
Rushed out of my room, and
cycled like a mad woman to grab a quick breakfast
before going to the conference hall.

Below is the seaside restaurant
where I had most of my meals.

While I was busy stuffing bacons and scrambled eggs
into my mouth, suddenly, I heard 'Honeymoon King's' wife,
(let's call her - 'Honeymoon Queen') shouting.

"Dolphins, dolphins!"

Time stood still for a while.
It took me a few seconds to register what she was saying.
Then, I looked out into the ocean at where she pointed,

There, I saw them.
Not just one, not two, not three....
but SEVEN dolphins.

It was such a great moment.
My only regret was not having
my camera with me to capture the moment.

The dolphins were swimming so near to the restaurant!
Cute greyish blue creatures
in the light bluish green ocean.
Nice.

Needless to say, I was glad I woke up late that day.
(I saw them again after I finished my breakfast.
They were hanging around the red round floats -
probably playing with them, like water volleyball).

It was my first time seeing dolphins.
And at such a short distance! God is so good to me.
=)

Anyway, the climax of my 'business trip'
will be posted in Part IV (the last part of Like royal).
Till then, enjoy the pictures of the island:

A corridor from the conference hall to the pool area.
If you look closely, you'll see a tree grown
in between one of the beams.
Told you I notice weird things. Haha.

A 'gazebo-looking' building by the poolside.

Pool area.

On the 2nd day of my trip, I was super semangat.
Woke up at 5am, wanted to watch the sunrise.
(But silly lah, I later realised that I was on the
wrong side of the island!) HAHA.

While waiting for the sun, I took the below pictures:

I named this last picture 'Devil-In-Disguise Chalet'.
Check out its fiery 'eyes' (windows) and 'horns'.

Please... No More...

2008-07-29T09:55:00.005+08:00

WHAT!
I just found out that Malaysia is playing Chelsea tonight.

Why can't they just lay low?
And not have these sort of 'friendly' matches anymore?

So embarassing.
I have never heard them won before you know?
When was the last time they win a match?
1950s? 1960s? Does anyone know?

Anyway, I want to be proud to be Malaysian-lah.
But if we lose to Chelsea like 10 - 0 how?
WHERE TO FREAKIN' HIDE MY FACE?

Argh... fingers crossed that
Chelsea players will save us a little face.
"Please don't score so many goals ah..."

On my way to work, the radio DJs wanted to discuss
10 ways Malaysia can win Chelsea tonight.

In my opinion,
there's only THREE ways Malaysia can win:

1. Chelsea kicks the ball into their own goal. (Realistic mistake)
2. In our dreams. (Unrealistic hope)
3. Miracle. (Unlikely incident)

* UPDATE
Oh, goodies.
Just got news that Chelsea beat Malaysia (2 - 0). Not too bad.

Like royal. (PART II)

2008-07-28T16:41:00.010+08:00

Like I said in Part I,
the island is not small.

The picture above shows you the distance
from the jetty to the lobby.

Behind the lobby is a small hill.
You need to hike to get over to the other side.
The people who works there told me that's the side
where the sun rises every morning.
And the beach there is a lot nicer.
Quieter.

Did I hike to see the beautiful side of the island?
Nope. Couldn't be bothered.
HAHA. It was so darn hot ok?
I'm happy just exploring one side of the island,
this side also not bad what, got sunset mah.
Haha.

Once given the keys to my room,
they escorted me to the buggy again.
(You'll keep hearing me talk about the buggy,
because it's really QUITE far to walk from my room to
the conference hall).

Anyway, let me show you my 'room'.
Turns out, ROOM 2102 really means CHALET 2102!

Yes.
That whole block you're looking at was where I stayed.
ME ALONE. ONLY.
I was given the freakin' WHOLE CHALET to myself..
WOOHOO!

Upon entering the chalet, this is what you'll see:

Hmmm... it's a bit small in the picture, but if you
look carefully, you'll see a fresh fruit platter
on the table next to my bed.

Ahh... I'm sure you can tell by now that I had fun.

Anyway, the chalet came with a TV and a fridge
(all packed with water & soft drinks for me to drink
to my heart's content. At NO CHARGE of course).

Behind the wall where my bed is located,
is the walk-in wardrobe. Next to it is the toilet.
A relatively huge toilet.

Also, here's what I found out later on:
Some Creative Directors or Marketing Directors
from other agencies had to share rooms & beds!

BUT me, the little nobody, the only representative
from Malaysia had the whole chalet to myself.
Ahhh... Feels soooo good remembering that now.
Who says you have to be a big shot to enjoy a bigger space?

Anyway, after changing to something more 'island-friendly,
I called the lobby to send someone to pick me up for lunch.
Lazy to walk mah. Haha. Too much.
I could really get used to this kind of VVIP treatment.

Lunch was served by the seaside.
The thai lady who was assigned to take care of me
is called Orawan. That lunch, she ate with me.

Speaking of that seaside restaurant.
I had a spectacular 'unexpected' encounter there which
I must must must tell you. But will only let you know
what happened in the my next post.

During lunch,
Orawan told me briefly about my client, her boss,
the owner of the island - Kun XXX
(for his privacy, I won't reveal his name)
Let me give him a name - Honeymoon King.
Haha.

Initially I thought 'Kun' is my client's surname,
but Orawan explained to me that in Thai,
'Kun' is used to address someone you really respect
but don't know very well.

It is NOT an equivalent of 'Mr.' or 'Miss' because I heard
some Thai personnels greeting someone like this,
"Mr. Kun Benjamin".

The climax of my trip will be told
when I write about my meeting with the
Honeymoon King.

Trust me. It's really DRAMA one.
You'd never expect it.

Will tell you more and post more pictures in Part III.
Stay tuned.

Absence.

2008-07-24T09:21:00.004+08:00

Oh great.
Just when I kicked start the engine
to blog regularly again, I fell sick.

It all started 2 days ago.
I had a sneezing frenzy since the morning.
By noon, I couldn't take it anymore.
My trash bin was packed with my mucus-inhabited tissues.
So I went downstairs to the clinic in my office building,
to consult a doctor.

This clinic is part of my office's panel doctor.
Meaning, when I go, I just have to give them
my name and office I'm working in.
No need to pay (they'll bill my office direct).

Here's my experience with the doctor
that's on duty that day/hour
(they have a few doctors rotating shift).

Doc: Hi, what's wrong with you?
Me: (AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO TELL ME!?)
I'm having a sneezing frenzy. Maybe flu is coming?

Doc: Oh! Must be allergy.
Me: Allergy to what?
(MIND YOU, he jumped to this conclusion
even before taking my blood pressure!)
Doc: Oh, could be anything. Anything also can cause allergy.
I have that problem also.

* WHAT! Seriously, I felt like he's just making assumptions.
I think I'm allergic to you, DOCTOR!

While taking my BP, he tested my temperature.

Doc: See? Everything is normal.
Me: Sniff sniff. But I really don't feel too well.

Doc: You don't have fever. You just have allergy.
Since you're scared, I'll give you flu medicine.
But I don't think you're sick.

Me: Can I have the rest of the day off?
Doc: You only have allergy lah. It's not contagious.
You want to have half day off
even if you're not so sick ah?

JUDGMENTAL like nobody's business.
My eyes were watery.
My nose was running like a tap.
My body felt hot inside cold outside.
And I'm sweating in AIR-CON ROOM!
Tell me! HOW CAN I NOT BE SICK?

You think I'm SO FREE to come down here to
CHEAT YOU OF A PATHETIC HALF-DAY MC?

I finally got half-day off.
That evening,
my body felt like it's being roasted on fire.
I broke into cold sweat from head to toe.
My whole body was aching.
And I only managed to sleep at 3am.
If this is not sick, tell me what it is!
IDIOTIC, UNSCRUPULOUS DOCTOR!

The next day (yesterday),
I couldn't get up from my bed.
My whole body was aching like mad.
And my world was spinning in my head.

Slept until noon.
Then fiance brought me to see my
favourite doctor nearby my place.

First thing he said when he saw me is this:

Good doc: Hi, long time no see! Very good!
Me: I laughed and said not so good lah.
(Refrained myself from telling him
my horrible encounter the day before)

Good doc: Let me check your pulse.

IMPORTANT:
Did you notice, he didn't ask me this:
"What's wrong with you?"

He then took out his gadgets.
All electronic and high-tech looking.
Pretty cool stuff.
Well, he's a young doctor, so I think
young people prefer high-tech stuff.

That aside,
after he checked my pulse and BP,
he said this:

Good doc: Oh! You BP is a bit low.
You should feel a bit dizzy.
Are you dizzy?
Me: (OH PRAISE THE LORD! I'm not crazy)
Yup, I am.

Good doc: Hmmm... heartbeat is rather fast.
This tells me your body is fighting.
Should be a virus attack.
Let me check your temperature.

Took out another electronic device,
tapped my neck left and right, and said:

Good doc: Temperature is a bit low.
Is your body aching all over?
Me: (OH THANK YOU for diagnosing correctly)
Yeah, I am. But keep sweating.

Good doc: Yes. It's normal.
All these are symptoms of viral fever.
Your body is fighting.
So, you'd feel dizzy, and your body will
sweat, ache, and even though your body temp is cold,
inside you'll feel very hot. (WHOA! BINGO!)

Do you have sorethroat?
Let me check.

After showing him my throat, he said:
A bit red.
Take more Vitamin Cs.
It'll help the fight.
If your body lose this fight,
you should anticipate high fever.
But LET'S PREVENT THIS.

Ok. we're done.
I'll write you an MC.
(Do I have to beg and argue for an MC?
NO! Why? Because this is a DOCTOR, not an ASSUMER)

I waited outside for my medicine.
When they called my name, I was feeling apprehensive.
Coz I saw so many medicine!
* But no antibiotic (I noticed he rarely gives that).

5 packs of medicine in total.
I saw some are imported from Australia and Singapore.
Wah, quickly check purse to see if got enough cash.

But when the nurse handed me the bill,
I was pleasantly surprised. RM50!
(I was expecting an exorbitant price)

My gosh! It's the normal price!
Some doctors who are so-so charges even more,
and gives local cheapskate medicine
(the ones in SS2 usually charges RM50 - RM60).

Ahh... my purse felt good after leaving that clinic.
And so did my body. =)

This good doc has restored my faith
in the medical industry once again.

* If you want to know where his clinic is,
let me know.

Weird people inspire blog posts.

2008-07-21T17:45:00.014+08:00

I can't stand weird people.
In fact, this post is the result of my encounter with one of them.

(Even though I'm also not the most
'normal' human being around).

One Sunday,
after a good dose of praise & worship + sermon,
I waited for fiance after service while he answers nature's call,
Outside the hall was a huge 'after-church-service crowd'.

I stood there while staring into thin air
(Super tired due to lack of sleep).

Suddenly,
an unfamiliar voice called my name.

Before I can make out the source of the voice,
a lady whom I barely knew emerged from the crowd,
ran towards me, and said,
"Hey! I didn't know you got engaged."

DUDE! That was in February!
And who are you anyway?

Then, it all happened so quick.

Next thing you know,
without saying anything else, she grabbed my hand.
Stared at my engagement ring for a good 3 seconds or so.
Then let go of my hand and WENT OFF!

WHAT THE!
Pffttt!! So rude ok? No manners!
I can't stand weird people!

Like royal. (PART I)

2008-06-25T10:05:00.008+08:00

An 'event' which I think is 'blogworthy'
was my trip to Phuket.
It wasn't a holiday but a business trip.
My first overseas trip representing my agency.

A very special client from Thailand
requested my company to send two representatives
to present fresh TVC ideas in
his new private island in Phuket.

Yes. You heard me right.
PRIVATE island.

So freakin' rich that he bought the island for himself.
(I thought these kind of purchase are only
popular amongst Hollywood celebrities).
Guess I'm wrong. Ha!

Anyway, he named the island "Honeymoon".
Haha.

So, besides my company, other agencies
from around the world that handles
his account were also invited.

According to his email, he specifically requested for
a GM and/or Creative Director or Group Head.

Who ended up going in the end?
Nope. Not the high-ranking big shot
but me - the erm, Copywriter.
And yes, I went ALONE.

Haha.
Don't ask me why my company decided
to send me. And me only.
My client actually offered to pay for everything for TWO.
Yet, company still decided to only send one representative.

Oh well, good also lah.
I got an all-expense-paid trip to a private island.
YIPPIE! So, off I went.

When I arrived at airport,
a thai lady assigned to take care of me
was already there.

She escorted me straight to the jetty,
Then, I was told we'll be going to the
private island by speed boat.

Speed boat! *Gulp.

Being a Sabahan,
islands are nothing foreign to me.
Back in my hometown, we also take speed boats
to the nearby islands.

But I was feeling stupid because I felt 'overdressed'.
Kept thinking I should have worn t-shirt and shorts lah.

This was the equation in my head:
SPEED BOAT = SPLASHING SEA WATER ALL OVER.
I thought I'd be soaked by the time I reach the island.

But when I arrived at the jetty,
that 'speed boat' turned out to be quite different
from what I expected.

It came with zipped-up transparent PVC 'windows'.
Much more luxurious and a little like the ones
you see in movies. Ahh... Classy.

Outcome:
Not a single drop of seawater landed on me.

About half an hour later, I arrived at Honeymoonn Island.
A lady in traditional Thai costume
was standing at the jetty, waiting for me.
She placed a flower ring around my neck,
and said, "Welcome to Honeymood Island."

Seriously, that moment felt like a scene
from the Amazing Race or something.
Haha. So funny.

She handed me a golden plate with lots of
cut-out bread cubes, pointed at the fish in the sea,
motioning me to help myself with feeding the fishies.

I glanced down.
That was when I realised just how
crystal clear the water was.
It was amazing.

After throwing a couple of handfuls of bread into the sea,
I hopped onto a buggy, which they used to
chauffeur me to the lobby.

The island isn't very big.
But it's definitely NOT small (more on that in next post).

Minutes after I arrived, I realised that 8 other countries
have sent their reps to that presentation.
I was the first to arrive.

So, I had the island to myself
for a few hours before they come.
Loved every minute of it.
=)

Psst... Stay tuned for Part II.

Rare disease.

2008-05-23T16:06:00.003+08:00

I think I'm sick.

As a writer,
I read maybe more than 10,000 words a day.

Starting from 9am (on weekdays) till night,
my eyes will scan through, stare at and
speed read words. A lot of words.

So much so, by the time I reach home
at night. I feel so resistant to see, read or
even just catch a glimpse of ANY WORDS.

Which explains why I am so un-inspired to blog.
I don't even feel like typing, because I'll need to read what I typed.

I'm sick.
Hope this sickness goes away soon.
I make a living through words.

Help.

This is it.

2008-03-27T10:55:00.005+08:00

This is my 200th post!
I made it. I persevered.

Perseverance pays.
A little like relationships sometimes.
First, you wait. --- Suffer like H-E-L-L
Then, you get together. --- Enjoy. But not for long.
Then, you stay on. And on. And on.
--- Suffer long time. Enjoy long time.

Spoke to my office receptionist this morning
while walking to the pantry to take water.

"My dear! You got engaged?" -- pointing at my ring.
"Haha... Yeah." -- nervous laughter, I'm so not used to this!

"I never had that, my father arranged my marriage." (She's Indian)
"He rushed everything..."

This is how he did it for her.
"First wednesday, the guy side came over." (To discuss marriage terms)
"Second wednesday, our side went over."
"Third wednesday, I finally met him."
"Fourth wednesday, we're married. One month only. Very fast."

Hhmmm... I wonder why Wednesdays ah. So weird.

Anyways, she never 'suffered' nor 'enjoyed' the waiting, and courtship.
I suffered... but now I enjoy. =)

Thank goodness my God and my father is not like her father.
Wouldn't want to rush these things.
They are meant to last for a lifetime.

A pat on my back. Yay.
So proud of myself.

When life gives you lemons, STARE.

2008-03-18T13:50:00.005+08:00

Cravings for corn-in-a-cup led fiance and I

to the SS2 night market yesterday.

We ended up buying more than just corns.

While walking back to the car,

with my hands full, holding onto food and drinks,

a bunch of people suddenly pushed against me from the back.

Fiance was walking pretty far in front.

And I was left behind.

Suddenly, I felt my handbag being tugged.

Sensing something was amiss,

my immediate reaction was to turn around.

And stare.

Not even looking at anyone else from the group,

I stared at just one lady with a ponytail.

Time stood still for few seconds,

then suddenly she held up her right hand,

showing me her palm, she told me

in a strong china-chinese accent:

“我的手没有拿东西啊！”= "See, my hand's empty!"

WHAT THE... YOU THINK I'M STUPID OR WHAT?

It's like saying:

“此地无银三百两”= "I didn't steal anything"

I just kept staring at her,

while walking faster ahead to join fiance who's buying

sugarcane drink in front.

After she walked pass,

I told fiance,

"I almost got pickpocketed".

Reaching into my bag to check my belongings,

we discovered this (picture taken this morning):

It dawned onto us at that moment,

the severity of the whole event.

Her knife was so sharp,

it sliced through my bag (from front to back).

If I had placed my hand in front (I usually do),

it would have sliced my hand too.

My cut-opened DKNY bag contained:

RM130++ cash in purse
Two-week-old Sony Ericsson handphone
Handphone cover
House keys
Namecard holder
300ml water bottle
Office access card
Plaster

Pens

* Highlighted are my most priced possessions in bag.

MOMENT OF TRUTH

After rummaging through my bag,

I realised that I've lost nothing.

Nada. Zilch. Absolutely nothing was taken.

Praise the Lord.

After this episode,

remorseful fiance promised to walk beside me,

wherever I go.

Keep an eye on your belongings, ladies.
Try not to carry your bag when visiting

night markets or other crowded places.

And of course, don't ever underestimate

the power of a stare.

What's up?

2008-03-13T15:57:00.003+08:00

This is gonna be a quick one.
In fact, I'm typing this because I need a breather.

After the engagement:
I've been swamped with work.

Plus:
Wedding plans are underway.
Editing the super blur proposal video is not easy
(yes, the whole 'Will You Marry Me' is recorded on a camera phone)
Renovations for the new house is up & coming .
(thank goodness I'm not the one who bought the house)
Money in the bank account takes forever to grow.

Argh! I cannot afford so many things at one time!

Conclusion:
Go ahead,
Get married.
Just don't go crazy doing that.

New name.

2008-02-25T11:54:00.004+08:00

Well-deserving events that took place in February,
forced me to pen (er... type?) my thoughts down.
To pry into my not-so-secret experience, read on.

Since I was a baby, till I was about 15,
Chinese New Year's ang pow 'earnings'
get me around RM800 - RM1k++.

No thanks to George Soros,
since 1997, the ang pow 'market' plummetted to
a dismal average of RM600.
I even cried during 1998's CNY.
(Really, I did. I thought the end of the world was near).

This year, the tide has risen
(btw, so is the temperature of our mother earth).
My ang pow collection has once again reached the RM1k mark.
This is a good year.

=============================================================

Then, there's my birthday,
which took place on the 22nd.
What I won't forget would be my family's love.
+ SMSes of friends' birthday greetings.

=============================================================

Those were the highs.
But nothing beats the climax.
Just before the clock struck 12am on 22nd of Feb,
Bf decided not to be my bf anymore.

The result:
My fourth finger was introduced to a 'stone' called estrella.
And I'm engaged.

A new season of my life has just begun.
It's so daunting. So sudden. So overwhelming.
Yet so good.

I'm happy.
Fiancé, (ahem, notice the new identity) is happy.
Our parents are happy.

Hey! The world became a happier place now.
For now. =)

Hit it, Mr. DJ!

2008-01-31T19:02:00.000+08:00

Lift up your hand.
Nod your head.
Repeat till dawn.
It's time to party, woohoo!

I'm going off for my Chinese New Year holidays.
Will be going back to the Land Below the Wind,
then to the Pearl of the Orient.

Ahh... can't wait.
My cravings for the steam groupers,
cheese crabs and deep-sea tiger prawns etc
are finally coming to an end.
Hallelujah!

Here's an early Happy Chinese New Year to all!

Gals. Keep it in.

2008-01-18T18:32:00.000+08:00

Was eating sometime ago with a bunch of friends,
and the most unusual lunch topic came about:
Uterine prolapse - 子宫下垂

Uterine prolapse means
the uterus dropped from the pelvic into the vagina.
Mentioning it already sounds gross, can't believe we
were actually crazy enough to discuss it OVER LUNCH!

Anyway, the topic came about when I was telling my friends that
many women suffer from incontinence (losing control of the bladder,
e.g. accidentally wetting their pants, need to constantly pee etc).

And these women often think it comes with old age,
and it doesn't have a cure.
WRONG! Sometimes can cure one.

But I think maybe they think it's shameful.
So, don't dare to voice out or consult doctor.

There are many causes of incontinence,
one of them is uterine prolapse. Other factors include:
pregnancy, childbirth, hysterectomy etc.

In average, women have a higher chance of
getting this than men.

I heard many older women lock themselves in the house because
jumping, laughing, coughing or standing up after sitting down
can cause them to accidentally pee in their pants.
And, not surprisingly, they're often a very depressed group of people.

So, if you're a relatively young female reading this,
prevention is better than cure.

A word of advice (from a medical knowledge-limited brain)
Practise 5 minutes of Kegel exercise per day.

Let me explain.
Kegel exercise is an exercise for the pelvic muscle.

This is what you do:
When you go pee pee,
try to stop the flow of urine.
Squeeze your pelvic muscle.
Loosen, relax and pee.
Squeeze again.
Loosen.
Till you finish your pee.
Easy peasy. This'll help strengthen your pelvic muscle.

Another point to note.
I heard that forcing out your poop or pee
can also cause uterine prolapse in the long run.
So, take your time. Don't rush!

Guys, this post is not so relevant to you.
But it's good to know. =)

Boredom kills the brain. Blogging revives it.

2008-01-16T20:28:00.000+08:00

Yup. I'm bored.
Not that I've already finished my work. Nope. I haven't.
Just that the people I work with had already gone home.
In short, work can't proceed.

Why do I stay back and not go home?
Very good question.
I'm waiting for my chauffeur of many years.

The cheapest and the most expensive chauffeur.

Cheapest.
Because he asks for little to no pay.
And occassionally does the work of a masseuse
when I have a sore neck.
He can't cook but he brings me to the food.
So the monster within me won't punch my stomach lining.
Also, my chauffeur never complains of
listening to me rant about work.

Yet, he's the most expensive chauffeur I'll ever have.
Because he can't be bought with silver or gold.
In exchange, he demands my loyalty, my faithfulness,
my love and my companionship
- in other words, almost everything I have.

Bf, faster finish up your work lah.
I feel so hungry dy. =(

Lesson to be learnt
Blogging keeps the brain active.
But doesn't pacify the tummy.

I've never seen anything like this.

2008-01-15T16:03:00.000+08:00

This dude is freaky. Must watch.

There's more.

Surprise.

2007-12-17T18:13:00.000+08:00

This is my last day of work.
For year 2007.

Was supposed to go on leave 2 days from now.
But since I have annual leave left, might as well FINISH 'EM OFF!

So, WOOHOO PHEWEETT!
I'm free!
Holiday starts the moment I step out of the office.

Now, let me drain out my remaining '2007 brain juice'.
Need to finish everything on my desk.

Gulp. Late night tonight.

What's the meaning...

2007-12-14T10:36:00.000+08:00

On the way to work this morning...

Bf: Let's go get breakfast.
Me: Ok.

Bf: This shop's 'siew mai' (steamed shrimp + pork dumpling) is not nice.
What do you wanna eat?
Me: Anything.

Bf: So, you want 'char siew pao' (pork bun)?
Me: No.

Bf: I thought you said "Anything?"
Me: (Silent)

Bf: What do you wanna eat?
Me: 'Siew mai'.

Car door opens.
I heard Bf mumbled in bewilderment,
"Argh... What's the meaning of 'Anything'?"

Haha. In this case, I also don't know.

Counting the days...

2007-12-13T19:16:00.000+08:00

It's been months since I last saw my family.

My mum and I are those super 'emo' type of people.
Sometimes, we miss each other so much, that
over the phone,
I can hear her sobbing.
Of course, upon hearing that, I'll cry too.
Wanted so much to give her a hug. But can't.

Sigh.
But I sure can now!
In a few days, they'll be in KL.
It's like the best Christmas gift. Ever.

And yes.
I'll be taking leave to spend some quality time with them.
Now, I just have to pull through 4 more working days!

Four.
Less than a handful of days.
And I'll be reunited with my family.

When was the last time you see your loved ones?
I can't wait to see mine.
Can't wait.

Why I love Christmas - Part IV

2007-12-11T15:14:00.000+08:00

He couldn't tie his shoelaces.
Nor could he feed himself.
But Alonzo Clemons can mold clay
into amazingly detailed animal figures -
they are correct in every detail.

Every fibre, every muscle is accurate.

Alonzo is an artistic savant.
"He was always trying to sculpt things as a child.
But I didn't realise what he was doing", says Alonzo's mother, Evelyn Clemons.

Suffering brain damage after a fall,
3-year-old Alonzo became severely disabled.
But even as a child, he can see a fast-moving image of an animal on tv,
and in less than 20 minutes, sculpt a perfect replica of that animal in 3D.
Only with his hand. 100% accurately.

According to experts, Alonzo, like other savants,
can't help but do what they do (e.g. some could resist counting).
In Alonzo's case, sculpting is a compulsion from his brain.
It's not a choice. He can't help but sculpt all the time.

Take a look at Alonzo here:

Pam Driscol, owner of Driscol gallery has been helping Alonzo manage his career
as an artist by getting his work featured in the World Premier.
This has increased Alonzo's self esteem tremendously.

The most famous piece from Alonzo is the
life-size bronze sculpture - Three Frolicking Foals.

Alonzo's artistic ability has sort of 'reclaimed' himself.
Now, he is an established artist.
His vocabulary has expanded,
he supports himself well by selling his sculptures.
and he is more and more comfortable socially.
Not only that, he now lives independently.

"God takes, but God gives so much in return, "says Mrs. Clemons.

Argh! I'm going crazy.
(Gasp! Maybe then I'll turn into a genius!)
These people are so amazing right?
I never knew they ever existed.

We live in such a breathtaking world.
Everyday, there are new opportunities to prove that.
There're such much that we don't know,
Things about our world. About this whole universe. About others. And ourselves.

Why I love Christmas - Part III

2007-12-07T16:57:00.000+08:00

My friend finally gave birth to a healthy baby girl on Sat!
So happy for her.

Now, let's continue.
If you want to know the context of why I'm writing what I'm writing,
scroll down to read Part I & II before you read on.

In this post, I'd like to blog about
the most famous savant on earth - Kim Peek.

If you've watched the movie, Rain Man,
well, Kim Peek was the inspiration of that 1988 Oscar-winning movie.
I highly recommend that you watch it.

"I may be the star, but you are the heavens"
That's what Dustin Hoffman, the main actor of Rain Man said to Kim.
Dustin subsequently gave his Oscar statue as a gift to Kim.
That was also the movie which has changed Kim Peek's life.

Prior to the movie, Kim can never look at people's eyes when communicating with others.
After the movie, he's found the self esteem to look at people's eyes.

He was born on November 11, 1951.
He had an enlarged head,
an encephalocele (brain defect)
and an absent corpus callosum (the connector between the left and right brain)

Fran Peek, Kim's dad was advised to dump him in an institution,
and forget about him.
Because he's described as 'severely mentally retarded',
and will never ever be able to learn.

But Fran was determined to raise him up with his wife, nonetheless.
Kim did not walk until he was 4 years old.
But Fran said, at the age of 16 - 20 months,
Kim was already able to memorise every book that was read to him.

When he's slightly older, he was also obsessed with numbers and arithmetic.
He read the telephone directories, ZIP codes, calendars,
and enjoys totalling up the numbers on car no. plates.

His parents would move Kim's finger along each sentence being read.
Kim would then memorise a book after a single reading.
Then, he'll put it aside, upside down. So no one would read it to him again.
He still does that up to today.

The local library is Kim's favourite place in the world.
He reads up to 8 books in a day. And he reads at a phenomenal speed.
One page which takes you or I three minutes to finish,
Kim take 10 seconds.

That's because he reads the left page with his left eye.
And the right page with his right eye.
After reading, they tested his memory.
His brain retained 98% of the book.
He even remembers the page numbers correctly!

He's really good at calendar calculations.
If you tell him your birth date & year,
He can tell you this:
1. Significant events that happened on the day of your birth
2. The day which you were born on
3. The day on which your birthday will fall on that present year
4. The day which you will turn 65, so you can think about retiring

Today, he is called, "Kim-puter".
Or described as the "Walking Google".

He's now 56 years old.
And he's a genius in about 15 different subjects.
(To name a few, history, literature, geography, numbers,
sports, music and dates).
But he's still severely limited in other ways,
e.g. not being able to dress himself.

Here's a video about Kim:

After reading and posting about all these people,
I realised that many of them are highly at risk
of being aborted, dumped, given away or institutionalised (some of them did).

But because their parents (or either one of the parent)
refused to give up caring for them, God rewarded them by
giving amazing gifts to these children.
It must have taken a lot of courage to take these kids in.

Sometimes, I wonder,
"What would I do,
if God has given me a defected child?"

I have to admit,
I shuddered at the thought.
Christian or not, at this moment,
I still struggle to come up with an answer.

Why I love Christmas - Part II

2007-12-04T15:38:00.000+08:00

Scroll down to read Part I if you haven't done that already.

Just so you know, my next few posts will still be about people.

Less than ordinary people.
People who makes me feel thankful for what God has given me.
People who helps me stop complaining.
People who humbles me.

Today, I'll talk about Ben Underwood.
His eyes are removed because of cancer 2 weeks before his 3rd birthday.
He has no guide-dogs.
He doesn't use a cane.
But he can see. With his ears.

Ben makes a short click sound that bounces back from objects.
Amazingly, his ears pick up the echo, letting him know where the objects are.
This ability is called echolocation,
the same skill that bats or dolphins have.

God is gracious.

For Ben, his eyes were taken away from him. But what was given back to him was another form of 'sight'.

Why I love Christmas - Part I

2007-12-03T15:52:00.000+08:00

Met with a dear friend last night.
Merely few hours of meeting.
But I've brought home bucket loads of blessings.

My pregnant friend is going to pop anytime soon (most probably within the next few days).
Time flies amazingly fast.
I last saw her during her wedding end of last year.
And within the next few days, she'll be a mummy!

All of us, girls, fascinated by her bulging tummy,
gathered around to 'attempt' interaction with the 'soon-to-be-born' baby girl inside.

It was a great experience, feeling the movement inside a layer of skin.
Ahh... the human anatomy...
The genius of it... I can never comprehend.

Which brings me here to this 'partially-forsaken' blog.
Since Christmas is near,
I want to 'pen' (ahem, ok, type) down some thoughts about it.

I figured, what better way to start than to document on how I feel about my amazing God,
the creator of all things, the One who sent Jesus to die for us.

Yes, very religious I know.
But I can't help it. Shoot me.
My heart is just overwhelmed with thankfulness.

What inspired this post is my soon-to-be-mother friend,
But what pushed me to the point of no return to write this is - Leslie Lemke

Leslie was born prematurely in America, and was diagnosed with
glaucoma (optic nerve disease),
cerebral palsy (a disease that affects human development),
and brain damage.

His eyes had to be surgically removed in the first months of life.
And his birth mother subsequently gave him up for adoption.

A nurse named May Lemke adopted him when he was 6 months old.
She forced food down his throat because he doesn't know how to swallow,
and taught him how to make sounds so he could communicate.

When he was able, May literally strapped his fragile body to hers,
teaching him how, one step at a time, to walk.

She put his hands over hers as she played simple tunes on a piano she got for him.
And she sang to him.

7 years passed by, Lemke showed very little progress.
He made no sounds, shows no emotions, and little movements.

He first learnt to stand on his own two feet when he was 12 years old.
First step was taken when he was 15.

But, one day, when he was 14,
May Lemke woke up early in the morning,
when she heard someone playing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 on the piano.

It was Leslie.
Someone who is blind, severely retarded, and can barely walk,
playing the musical piece from start to finish without any mistake.
He had only heard the piece once on television.

God's miracle, May said, came into full bloom that day.
From then on, Leslie was playing all styles of music.
He never had any piano lesson.
And all the music he played, he only heard them ONCE.

Today, he not only plays, but also improvises and composes.
He is identified as an autistic savant, though severely retarded, he'd shown that he too can create. If you've been watching the tv series, 'Heroes', I think Leslie is a hero with an amazing ability too.

May has passed away in 1993. But her daughter Mary continues to take care and cared for Leslie. Because May has vowed that Leslie will never be institutionalised, and he never was.

This is the most recent video that I can find of Leslie.
Accompanied by Mary in his performance.

Before she passed away, Morley Safer interviewed May and asked her how can Leslie do what he does. She said, "Well, I think, because the brain was damaged, a part of the brain — but the musical part — God left it perfectly healthy and beautiful so that Leslie could have a talent. And he got it!"

* A savant is a handicapped person who has skill(s) that would be remarkable even if they were to occur in a normal person. There are probably less than 100 savants described in this last century. Leslie is one in a billion.

I give praise to God for Leslie,
and I thank Him that you and I are born perfectly normal.

Beautiful Colour Blindness

2007-11-09T10:24:00.001+08:00

I love this TVC. =)

Nada.

2007-10-31T13:54:00.000+08:00

Can't believe I haven't posted in more than a month.
It's just so sucky. Trying to juggle between life, work, and well, everything.

But I'm alive.
So, it's just a matter of time for me to get back to this discipline.

It's a real comfort to know that there're still people clicking on this blog during my absence.
Faithfulness? Yeah. I think it is. Thank you.

Fight for kisses.

2007-09-17T12:33:00.000+08:00

This ad is so cute! Must view.

Psst... I'm quite free. Which explains why so many posts are up today. Since chances like these don't come very often, thought I should fatten up my blog with more posts while I can. =)

Yum-mice

2007-09-17T12:27:00.000+08:00

I think the pictures and title are quite self-explanatory.

Lesson to be learnt:
When dining in China, make sure they serve you real chickens.

Play hide-and-seek with your bald patch

2007-09-06T16:12:00.001+08:00

Say buh-bye to expensive hair transplants, hair growth or hair restoration treatments!

30 reasons why I love Malaysia

2007-08-29T14:29:00.000+08:00

Some time ago, Wai Nyan suggested that I write this (since it's Malaysia's 50th Merdeka this year). He suggested 50 reasons actually. I tried. But got stuck by the time I reach 30. Maybe I'll add if I can think of more. =P

For the longest time, I've been procrastinating (but National Day is coming in 2 days' time. Can't do that anymore!) So, here goes, my beloved land. This post is for you.

Reasons to love my country:

1. Food - Colour, spices, variety. You name it, we have it.

2. Multi-racial - It's not easy to live together in peace but Malaysia is really quite harmonious compared to other multi-racial countries.

3. Rich culture - The cultural heritage in this country is very captivating. That's why we see so many tourists during the festive seasons.

4. Holidays - While we're on the topic of culture and festive celebrations, how can I not mention the numerous holidays in this country! Love 'em.

5. Fashion - Yes, I know our fashion is no houte couture here. But hey, don't you think batik and nyonya kebayas are really lovely?

6. Language - Because this is a multi-racial country, most of us can speak/write more than 1 language. Definitely comes in handy when you wanna criticise 'ang mo's, just use a language they don't understand lah! Ahh... dialects = mos codes.

7. Islands - We have one of the most beautiful islands in this country.

8. Mount Kinabalu - Be proud. We have the 2nd highest mountain in South East Asia.

9. Orangutans - One of the smartest in the animal kingdom.

10. Exotic meat - Ever eaten crocodile meat? Dog meat? Cat meat? Monkey brain etc? Find it on a Malaysian's plate.

11. Forest habitat - About 70% of Malaysia consists of tropical rain forest. I'm proud of that fact. Psst.. Singapore has no forest! (Booo...) =p

12. Water - Yup. We have enough clean water for consumption. Ahem, don't need to buy from other countries.

13. Cool caves - We have the Largest Cave in the World - Mulu Cave in Sarawak. And also numerous small ones that are formed over 40,000 years ago!

14. Sabah - Yes. I'm biased. But a country with a state like Sabah must be loved and appreciated.

15. Petrol - Darn. Hate the price hike, but truth is, petrol prices here is still one of the cheapest in the world.

16. Cost of living - Consider quite manageable. World's most expensive country to live in ranking: 1. Norway, 2. Denmark, 3. Japan.

17. Weather - Apart from the occasional haze, weather here is pretty straightforward. One season only.

18. Passport - One of the most flexible passports in the world. Hhmmm... must plan my next holiday trip.

19. Natural resources - That's why our country is considered 'rich'.

20. Hot springs - This is a crazy land with natural saunas. Some are even free! That's why I love it.

21. Religion - Freedom of worship. Can't complain. Compared to other staunch muslim countries, we have much more freedom.

22. Tropical fruits- Ahh... Durian, Mangoesteen, Banana, Langsat, Pineapple... Slurp*

23. Pirates - Not the ones on the sea but the 'angels of entertainment', supplying your daily dosage of TV series and movies.

24. Twin Towers - The world's 2nd tallest building, the world's tallest twin towers.

25. Ringgit Malaysia - Our currency made a 'comeback' (well, sort of) after the disastrous economic downturn in 1997.

26. No war - From 26 - 30, it's all quite self explanatory.

27. No killer earthquakes

28. No typhoon

29. No sandstorm

30. No volcanic eruptions

Mercy.

2007-08-17T17:25:00.000+08:00

My heart resonated with a picture I've stumbled on the net.

Sometimes, I feel exactly like that baby seal at my workplace.
Sigh... O poor soul of mine, if Ye my light, salvation and strength, whom shall I fear?

Why, oh why?

2007-08-15T16:48:00.000+08:00

I think I'm tired.
It's so hard to blog without motivation.

Don't know why but I keep feeling I have other things to do,
even though I'm not exactly doing anything.

Not making any sense, I know. Maybe because it's just an excuse.
Funny thing is, I don't even know why I'm typing away now.

As in the case of many things in life.
I realised how much I tend to act depending on how I feel.

Sigh. Totally hate that side of myself. Sounds like someone who has no discipline. Whatsoever.
Coupled that with an 'even more serious issue' and what you get is a prolonged hiatus of blogging inactivity.

That 'even more serious issue' is called - sense of insignificance.

Particularly today, I feel extremely small.
Totally insignificant.
It's one of those days that I'm thinking:

"What have I done today that has added value in anyone's life".
"Is advertising even important? Can it free Taliban hostages?"
"Can what I blog about make any difference in anyone's life?"
"Why are biographies of others' lives so much more interesting than my own?"

I'm quarter of a century old.
And I'm starting to get restless about life.

E.g.
If I read about some young high school dropout earning 3 zeroes more than me selling organic vegetables in his father's farm, I feel as if someone's punched me in the stomach and wrote "This is what you get for being a writer!" on my face. =(

And if I see someone around my age, waving her hand with a ring sitting on the 4th finger, I feel like pulling my eyeballs out and have someone send me to the monastery.

Crap! I'm so not thinking straight right now. Can't blame me!
A wisp of smoke from someone's nostrils just rested on my head.

Conclusion:
For clouded judgment, be a writer in an advertising agency.

How hard is it to win cash? How hard is it to copy & paste?

2007-08-15T13:00:00.000+08:00

This is undoubtly the craziest thing I've ever seen (almost too good to be true, but faith and greed tells me that it is FOR REAL!)

Over at Ashwin’s blog, you will find one crazy blog owner!! You can win $2500!! To enter just copy this text and paste it in your blog!! But hurry, this competition will not last long! So get posting!

Competition ends 20th August 2007. So, if I didn't win it already, you can still stand a chance to grab the cash! =]

Can you do that?

2007-07-27T14:18:00.000+08:00

Na-ah. Gosh, it's harder than I thought!
You try?

PIGeon.

2007-07-18T14:05:00.000+08:00

A row of dodgy electrical components shop in front.
Sitting in the car.
Waiting for bf.

Suddenly, two creatures caught my eye.
A slender, reddish-feathered pigeon.
And a fat male. (I presume no gay-ism among them, if not, pigeons extinct lor)

Poor little birdie was being stalked.
She looked terrified.
Can't blame her.

Fat male looked like he just came out from a shower in the drain.
Black-ish, dirty-looking plus ruffled feathers.
I bet he didn't look in the mirror this morning.
Like that how to 'kau' (court) pretty girls?

Anyway, poor birdie 'ketam-walked' (walked horizontally) along the electrical wire.
Fat dude quickly followed.
She walked one step away, he walked 3 steps closer.

Until his fat tummy bumped her nice sleek tail. She can't tahan dy.
* Imagine a fat, oily old man touching your butt. Eww... * shudder.

She flew off to escape him.
Fat dude took up pursuit.
But not before taking 3 running steps to pick up momentum.
(Sigh, long time never fly izzit?)

Poor little pigeon lady... FLY FOR YOUR LIFE. (plz don't get raped!)
After circling few rounds, she landed around the same spot.
Excited fat dude swells his throat and calls out to her.

She quickly hid herself behind the signboard of the shop.
Fat dude crash landed and tried to squeeze himself in. Ahahaha... Cannot.

His hormones kept him guarding the entrance.
Preventing other 'real prince charming in white feathers from snatching her away.

Circling like a big bad wolf outside the little pig's house,
He calls out to her and dances clumsily outside the signboard.
To no avail, girl won't come out.

Meanwhile, nearby, another pair is doing a little courtship dance.
This female is slightly plumper.
The male is handsome.
Feathers neatly groomed, he stood like a gentleman and sang to the lady.

She tried to look away, pretending he's not there.
But I think she's really interested. Because she often steals glances at him.
Ah... Handsome bird, looks like you won't be sleeping alone tonight.

Finally, bf came back.
I smiled at him and said, "It's mating season".
His wide eyes glow with delight.

Talking about birds lah. You think what?

I have a soft spot for dogs.

2007-07-16T18:15:00.000+08:00

Aww... Can you blame me for loving them?

An update on life:
Life sucks a little on weekends (coz it's so short).
Life sucks a lot on Mondays (and every week day).
- Now you know why I don't feel like blogging -

This can be disturbing. (Yet humbling at the same time)

2007-07-04T11:19:00.001+08:00

Jaw-dropping guaranteed.

Think. No, don't think.

2007-07-02T19:00:00.000+08:00

Worry.
Doubt.
Confusion.
Depression.
Condemnation.

I've got to destroy all this, or risk losing my mind.

Some smart ass said this sometime ago, "The mind is the battle field."
How apt! Sheesh... why am I worrying / thinking about things that are seemingly important when they're actually not?

Seriously! Am I nuts? Try looking at them in comparison!
Writing a kick-ass headline vs. Helping starving down-to-bones kids

Self-centered me. Get lost.
My heart demands that you give me back my beautiful mind!

A Week's Dosage of Drama

2007-06-21T15:19:00.001+08:00

The past few days have been so unbelievable at work. Here, have a moment with chipmunk.

Power Voice Friday

2007-06-15T16:05:00.001+08:00

Everyone, let's hear it from Britain's Got Talent's 6-year-old contestant, Connie Talbot.

Slug.

2007-06-15T15:04:00.000+08:00

Just came back from Bangkok.

3 random questions came into my head when I mention that place:
Why do they provide better public transport, when we're supposed to be richer?
Why is their country cleaner than ours?
Why did they link few of their malls together and we can't?

Why, oh why?

The trillions of cells in my system scream in response:
"Sorry dudette, you're not born in a smart country."

Please. Marry merrily.

2007-05-28T11:07:00.000+08:00

Girl,
Do you really know who you're marrying?
You're so pretty, you can have many options, why marry someone you barely know?
Is he really the one whom you want to spend the rest of your life with?
Do you know him enough to let him take care of you for as long as you live?
Do you think he'll be a good father to your children?
Can he be faithful to you till death do you part?
Does he know the real you?
Will you be happy?

All these questions kept screaming in my head for the past few days. I just flew back to hometown last week to attend a 'I have no choice' wedding.

Everyone seemed smart enough NOT to say anything, but it's pretty obvious, she's pregnant. And they knew each other for only 6 months.

Holding a wedding became a pressing 'need', not an option. And this breaks my heart.

Guy,
Only one question for you.
Do you really love her?

My thought thereafter:
Many loved. But few loved enough to wait.

In my opinion, love is first patient, then only it is kind, does not envy, does not boast etc... Take away that first prerequisite of love, and 'love' is no longer love.

What has the world become?

2007-05-16T09:54:00.000+08:00

This article shocked my being when I first read it on Monday. Have been trying to think of what I want to say but somehow feel too distraught to even blog about it. However, I feel it's foolish if all of us continue to live lives, not aware of things that are happening near us, slightly further from us, or on planet earth itself.

So, what exactly disturbed me till I'm lost for words? BUG CHASING.

Read on. No one writes it better than what has already been written in the article in Oracle.com. What I merely did was reparagraphed and highlighted it, so that it becomes a more bite-sized read for you.

Bug Chasing: The Shocking Quest To Become HIV-Positive

“Conversion” is a term invented in the 1990s for the fetish of a small minority of gay men wanting to become infected with HIV. Various gay websites have chat rooms devoted to “Bug Chasers,” looking specifically to have unprotected sex with HIV-positive men.

According to Didier, who tells this story, and others, there are "conversion parties" are where these like-minded people gather together to pursue their goal. It is thought that these men wish to become infected with HIV because they feel guilty or left out because many of their friends are HIV-positive.

Others have a fatalistic attitude about becoming HIV-positive and want to stop worrying about when they might become infected in the course of time. I interviewed two habitués to conversion parties, Luis and Didier. Here they give the inside story to Orato:

Didier: I had to look for a while before I found a way to get HIV. Then, finally, I got the “opportunity” I was hoping for. I read in one of the chat rooms for gays I used to check out that there was going to be a "conversion party" on the weekend. I told them I wanted to go and, after a few e-mails back and forth, I was given the green light.

We agreed to meet at a council flat in south London. The night was cold. The furniture in the flat had been rearranged in order to accommodate the crowd - fourteen muscular gay men in their mid- thirties. A flat screen television, which dominated the room, was playing porno movies. Drinks and snacks were set out in a big coffee table, just as in a regular party. Six frenzied hours of uninterrupted sex, drugs and alcohol.

At the end of the night, the crowd began to slowly dwindle. Some left, a few fell asleep on a couch, the master bedroom, or any other suitable corner. But I was in the toilet. Even though the small tiled room was cold, I was sweating because of the cocktail of Ecstasy, cocaine, marijuana and vodka I had taken. As I looked at myself at the mirror, I knew that I had got what I had come for.

Two months later, the doctor in the Saint Mary’s Hospital told me I was HIV-positive.
Why did I do it? It’s never been because I wanted to commit suicide and end my life just like that. I guess I was going through a very difficult period in my life on a mental and spiritual level.
I arrived in London in 1998, when I was 25 years old. Born in a small provincial town in southern France, I decided to move to London attracted not only by its trendy gay scene, but also by the prospect of getting myself started as a professional interior designer.

After a couple of years, I realized that London was too tough a place to start my career. Instead, I immersed myself in the gay underworld.

The distractions of the gay Mecca of Europe were too many. My life turned into a series of sexual escapades that spiraled into a circle of self-destruction.

Now I see that I was hoping to get HIV in order to value more the life that I had been given. When my sister had an abortion and decided to terminate my nephew’s life no one wrote an article about it. Why? Thousands of women do the same every day all over the world and that’s not news. I’m not saying that what I did was the right thing. All I’m saying is that at least I was dealing with my own life, not somebody else’s.

*****
Didier is not, unfortunately, an exceptional case. Not long after I met Didier, I encountered Luis. Travelling twice or three times a month around Europe, Spanish-born Luis is a regular attendee at bareback parties.

He said he had looked for HIV without really knowing it:
“How so?” I asked. “Barebacking,” he said.

Luis explained me that barebacking is a term gay men use to refer to having unprotected sex. Even though mostly kept a secret from the gay mainstream, barebacking parties in cities such as London, Berlin or Paris are becoming quite common. Most of these reunions are usually linked to the roughest side of the scene, where sexual fetishes such as leather and S&M are aboard.

Here’s what he told me:

*****
Luis: I understand why these barebacking parties are becoming so popular. Ever since HIV/AIDS stopped being a death sentence, the virus slowly became another fetish. If someone produces a condom during the course of one of those parties, he will kindly be asked to leave the premises. His behavior doesn’t meet the dress-code criteria of the group.

I confess I have never used a condom. I was with a partner for 19 years and during the last seven years of our relationship, when my partner was diagnosed with AIDS until he died, we never stopped having unsafe sex.

It was my responsibility if I got it or not. But after thirty years of barebacking, I hadn’t got the bug. Then doctors discovered that I am immune to it. I have a protein in my T cells called Delta 32CRR5 that stops the virus from infecting me. They say I’m one in a million.

This didn’t stop me from attending barebacking parties. Maybe it lost a bit of the appeal, but it’s still thrilling. I believe that barebacking will continue to increase. Since AIDS is no longer such a deadly disease, lots of people are simply fed up with using condoms. There will come a time when there will be more positive than negative people, at least among gay men. The reason? As far as I know, the vast majority of heterosexual people are very puritanical and they don’t give sex the same priority we gays do. And on the other hand, they tend to be much more hypocritical.

Most HIV-positive heterosexuals don’t disclose it, whereas most gay men do.
In my particular case I get incredibly excited when having sex with HIV-positive men, even knowing I can’t get AIDS.

In bareback parties, you don’t talk about HIV because is not necessary. However, discussing about the topic during these parties adds to the eroticism of the experience.

Didier: The danger of getting other sexually transmitted diseases such as Hepatitis B or C does not frighten me. The risk is always there, but I strike a balance between having what I consider to be a low quality sex (with condoms) and risking something else. And I choose the latter. I am fully aware of the consequences. I take it as a game, and I play my part.

I do think all barebackers are a bit crazy, but on the other hand there are so many things that you shouldn’t do because they are dangerous, like smoking. With HIV re-infection, you are always gambling. They say that it is possible but not easy. See: if a person is re-infected with a strain of HIV that is different from the ones already present or if a mutated HIV type is introduced into the body through unsafe sex, treatment will be much more complex and potentially ineffective.

You can also try to get infected with the Type 2 HIV by having sex with people from Central Africa.

I know heterosexuals do bareback, but bug chasing and conversion are exclusively gay. Gays have a wider range of sexual behaviors. It is very different in the heterosexual community because they are mostly driven by what society tells them to do when having sex. Women are told not to have sex outside marriage and control when heterosexual men have sex and when not.

Luis: On average, heterosexuals get less than half the sex we gay people get, and in a much more irregular and controlled way. It is a parallel world we live in. They live in a shoe box and we live in a big room. For straight men, women are the biggest impediment to more sexual variety because women don’t allow it. That forces men to go with prostitutes. We gays are completely different.

I also know there are many people who think that we, the so called “bug chasers,” are absolutely mad. I once met one of those people. His name was José María González. He regularly attended meetings at Barcelona-based “Gais Posisitus” (Positive Gays), an organization that fights HIV/AIDS and teaches gay men about safe sex. José María had suffered from full-blown AIDS since 1991. He said once that if any gay man knew what’s like to be through what he has been through, we wouldn’t dream of playing such a dangerous game.

I don’t think he gets it. The closeness to extreme danger gives me a high. I get checked by my doctor regularly. My T-cell count is quite high and I have a manageable viral load. To be honest, I just don’t know what I will do the day science finds a cure for the virus. I guess I will have to find a new fetish. Being HIV-positive will be like having the common flu. But I can’t think of this now. Today, we still live in a society that’s very afraid of AIDS. It is possible that someday barebacking will be much less erotic. I would like to say that I’m not afraid of death anymore.

Some people choose to drop themselves from the Niagara Falls inside a barrel, others play Russian roulette. I chose to get HIV.

Bravo for reading till the end. One of the reason why this story sends a chill down my spine is because of this: If in my generation, people are already so peverse and twisted, what will happen in my children or my children's children's generation? Sigh. That's why I titled this post 'What has the world become?'

My conclusion? Change the world, or be changed.

Too ambitious? Yeah, perhaps. Well, at least I'm going to do something about it. Haha.

Hey, I'm not trying to change the world only for myself and my children. I'm doing for yours too... Think about it.

Cool Discovery: Advertising isn't just a sin, it's SINS.

2007-05-14T17:40:00.000+08:00

The 7 deadly sins just got 'deadlier'.

Quite an interesting way to put things. According to the brain behind this diagram, Advertising is a combination of Greed + Envy. How apt.

Anyway, maybe it's time I look for a new job.

Ahem, anyone hiring angels?

Weird-ies

2007-05-10T14:07:00.000+08:00

Interesting things I've found on the net.

'Mini' desk.

Radio Toaster.

Talking Lips Speakers

(It synchronises with the sound of your mobile phone or online chat conversations).

Rat race clock.

Cup Noodle Stove.