Utopia - Goldfrapp

The weather is less than inviting outside.

We all need this picture to transport ourselves elsewhere.

somewhere warm and nice.

Quelqu'un M'A Dit - Carla Bruni

a short tale:

today was a much anticipated day.
It was planned for N and I to go watch L'Auberge Espagnol at the EU Film fest at MV.
I love quirky French movies. Audrey Tatou is one of my favourite actress and I have almost all her works pre and post Amelie. so off we go. traffic jams and all ( a 630 show??c'mon GSC).
Only to find out after waiting in line for like an eternity:"Abang, Spanish Apartment sold out laaa..".
So my mood when from:

Park at Den Haag

to this:

The stormy NoordZee

I guess Malaysians are finally warming up to foreign movies. To my expense....
ahh shit...looks like Im gonna have to contact my friendly arthouse uncle ho dealer across the border

Sometimes you can't make it on your own - U2

Ahh..the wonders of laziness or plain procrastinating!

I have many things to write about BUT unfortunately, since coming back from the Eid vacation I am totally buried in work!Does not help that in a week or two I will be flying to several different locations in Asia. The pressure, the pressure...

Now, weekend was "planned" to be all day blogging day, now that we have wireless internet access in the house, which means I can blog while sitting on the toilet seat going about my business( now that's an idea defining moment isnt it?). That or reading Fade0's blog in the toilet. which can prove to be hazardous to the copius amounts of sexy ladies on his blog.But NOOoooO, we plunked our hard earn cash on a couple of DVDs and went on a DVD marathon this weekend and actually stayed home instead of doing the whole raya-open house thing ( how selfish of us....I think). Documentaries, art house films, campy sci fi B movie, overblown hollywood cliche, yup it was a mish mash alright. So there goes blogging weekend out of the window.

speaking of windows, at the moment, please enjoy this lovely picture ( so i think) of some fall leaves at the window of my hotel room in NL.

In the meantime, I shall try to cow udder squeeze any possible time I have left this week to write!

cheers!

Weak & Powerless - A perfect circle

I am back on my two feet in SOL-ful Malaysia.

Arrived yesterday evening after a tiring flight and i still cant sleep right.

Need to get back in the mode.

You and whose army? - Radiohead

A couple of highlights from the last couple of days in London:

- plane circled for at least 1 hour before it could land on the oh-so-busy heathrow
- London weather...BRRRRRRRRRRRR
-did not solat raya because we overslept. How could you not when you are snuggled beneath thick layers of comfortable duvets?
- Went to pick sis-in law in Brunel (5 of us) and brought her back ( 6 0f us....in a small Vauxhall Corsa...Kumars anyone? :P )
-did the whole raya thing and tagged along in laws to the ambassador's house and me, N, sis in law, bro in law stood in one corner looking like the mafioso because we dont know anyone ( or refused to acknowledge anyone...heh)
- did the whole raya thing again at the new MSD. We REALLY felt out of place in this sea of very stylo mylo London students.- Went to Camden Town. Most favourite place in London. Bought a nice German army re-issue jacket for 3 quid. A bargain or what???
- End transmission.

All You Need Is Love - The Beatles

Sorry folks. this is gonna be a quick one. Day one of the conference is already draining me ( business ops, e-biz, e-commerce bla bla bla...Hey I'm an engineer ok?? :P). NL weather is not helping and being the beach at this time of the year is no plus point either ( on a side note:i wished my room was facing the sea. Ini facing the tram station. apa kejadah....)

Lisa, saw Bazaar, took pictures of Bazaar, nice looking restaurant but unfortunately we did not get to eat in there because it was too full! 50 mins waiting period....pictures will come later...


Had dinner at one of my Dutch colleagues' house. Helped him and his gf get their new bathtub up the stairs. I love the simple Dutch designs. The first thing you notice is that their houses are not wide but memanjang ke belakang. And the big windows. and the little ornaments/decors that they put on the shelves facing the windows.
So my colleague was cooking some pasta with zalm last night ( nay varken en ren vlees, astujfblief(sp?) - no pig and beef meat , please...i think lah..my dutch is rusty), there were some day old newspaper on his gorgeous looking stainless steel countertop. Apparently regarding the backlash the Muslim (read:mostly Moroccans and Turkish) community was facing following the murder of film director Theo Van Gogh. I found out that the "nickname" for Moroccan immigrants were goatfucker. We had a lengthy discussion over dinner about this issue and for one, I cant blame the locals totally for the animosity against the immigrants. These people come to the country, dont even bother to learn Dutch, dont even bother to intergrate into the society, how do you expect locals to understand you?Misinformation is a very dangerous thing indeed.

Ok. sorry for the rambling. I need to figure out what to order for imsak. The zalm quiche sure sounds delicious....

ciao, dag.....

Stay(Faraway, So Close) - U2

Looks like this is going to be my last entry for this week.
Flying off to NL tomorrow and subsequently to ye olde England after that.
I wont be bringing my laptop, so , if Im not too lazy or if the weather permits me to go find a cyber cafe, no updates for the next 2 weeks.

Just in case, Selamat Hari Raya & Maaf zahir & Batin to all Muslims acquaintances on and offline. Happy holidays to the rest.


Ball shrinking weather, here I come!

Kill The President - Thom Yorke & Isabel Monteiro (Drugstore)

So, who's gonna ride your wild horses, Mr. President?

God shuffled his feet - crash test dummies

Ode to feet - Doug Tanoury

I have seen poetic feet so perfect,
The very smallest units
Of patterned stress,
Soft idioms of Iambic
And drum beats of Anapestic,
That march across the carpet
In measured meter toward full-length mirrors.
I am the bard of bare soles
And naked ankles,Of fallen arches and
Swollen heels,
Of toenails
Pedicured and painted,
That catch the light
Like so many cut sapphires,
All arranged
In descending order of size.
I have crafted couplets in Trochaic,
And started the heartbeat of lines in Spondaic,
For I am the poet of feet,
Perfect and imperfect,
Poetic
And otherwise,
Of bunions, bumps and bent toes,
Carried within or laid upon
A pump, mule, sandal or thong.

Eat Drink Man Woman

Last weekend N attempted to replicate the Vietnamese pho (beef noodle soup) that we normally have at our favourite Vietnamese restaurant. Here are the pictures ( with apologies to vegetarians out there):


thin beef slices


herbs: shallots, basil, mint and kaffir lime leaves ( coriander not in picture)


voila!

Verdict: it tasted fantastic, added with nam pla (nam nuoc) and hoisin sauce to the beef broth. However, we still did not get the same taste of the one we normally eat at the restaurant. Takpe...trial and error.

And to top it off, N baked some delicious bread pudding. Topped with choco chip ice cream. Bliss man bliss...

Wrong Town Wrong Planet 3 hours late - Dawn of the replicants

somehow , these photos of KL reminds me of LA in Blade Runner.

*photos taken with cameraphone. no clarity*

New Year's Day - U2

"All is quiet on New Year's Day
A world in white gets underway
I want to be with you..
Be with you night and day
Nothing changes on New Year's Day..."

Nothing changes on New Years Day indeed. True for me at least. I gave up a long long time ago trying to make up all these resolutions, which I never intend to achieve in the first place. But 2005 will be different...yes sir, 2005 will mark the year that this person in a 20++ shell will make the transition to the grande 30 shell. Big deal I know. But hey, when I was 20 I made some life changing resolutions and at least half of them were achieved during the course of 10 years. So for 2005, I shall make my ONLY resolution for the next 10 years. Here it goes:

1) I want to argue less and talk more with N
2) I want to constantly make her feel that she is proud of her man.
3) I want to take my parents for a well deserved vacation.
4) I want to buy a Fender Telecaster Custom 72 MIJ reissue
5) I want to practice a healthier diet
6) I want to do the Umrah
7) I want to be better at managing my money, my time and my sanity
8) I want to travel (properly) to Indochine and the middle east
9) I want to buy a nice diamond ring for N
10) I want to re-read the Quran
11) I want to earn EURO or USD
12) I want to learn French
13) I want to get to know God a little bit better
14) I want to open a restaurant
15) I want to stay calm
16) I want to learn how to surf
17) and how to swim ( properly)
18) I want to help N to forget about the horrible mistakes that Ive made in the past
19) I want to look into the possibility of children
20) I want to stay happy

Ive got 10 years.

Oceans - Pearl Jam

hold on to the thread
the currents will shift glide me towards...
you know something's left
and we're all allowed to dream of the next of the next time we touch...
you don't have to stray the oceans away
waves roll in my thoughts
hold tight the ring... the sea will rise...
please stand by the shore...
i will be... i will be there once more...

Head like a hole - Nine Inch Nails

I have a splitting headache.

Must the lack of sleep from last night.

I was having these weird violent dreams throughout the night and because of that I felt like I didnt have enough sleep. Does this happen to you?

I think Im going home in 10 minutes.

The Cat's Pyjamas - Isobel Campbell

cat lovers.

do yourself a favor and go visit this site:

My Cat Hates You

Naked Eye - Luscious Jacksons

Do you bath in the nude?
How you ever taken a bath in the nude with other members of the same sex and/or the opposite sex?
Im pretty sure at least 80% of the people will say aye.

You see, im pretty comfortable with my sexuality and my body, meaning that, yes, I dont mind skinny dipping or playing football naked. In fact, during my college days, I have taken the oocasional shower at the Uni gym. Imagine that. lotsa naked football players. I have also accidentally stumbled unto the women's shower room during one frat party. Thankfully a lot of those ladies were intoxicated at that time and were vomitting instead of showering sexily.

But its one thing to bath naked with people you hardly know or with strangers.
Its another to bath naked with your work colleagues. Somehow, seeing them in the buff and then going to work side by side the next day with them still gives me that uneasy feeling.

Looks like I have to pschye myself up for next week.

Out of time - Blur

It has been a hectic weekend. In fact this whole week shall be very hectic. Since I am flying off on Thursday and will be gone from the office for 2 weeks, so many loose ends to tie up.
There was the pre-raya buka puasa relatives from all over gathering ("Eh?You wont be around for Raya?Where?Europe? Ok, EUROs or GBPs for my kids duit raya please...)

And then there was the packing. One thing I hate about going to the Northern Hemisphere at this time of the year is the cold. not snow, but the cold. And the bone freezing, lip cracking, balls shrinking wind chill. Which means having to pack Baa Baa Black sheep have you any wool? sweaters.
And those humongous winter jackets. Me being me, I tend to overpack. Im one those (anal retentive to some people) people that will evaluate a worse case scenario and the solution:
"What if the coverall gets REALLLY dirty?"
"what if the dryer doesnt work?"
"What if they notice I am wearing the same short from yesterday???"
"What if they dont have an iron??"
That sort of thing. This despite me being a seasoned backpacker for donkey years. I have been known by my Uni buddies as "Mat Lengkap" *Closest Translation:Guy who tends to things ready for all sorts of situation*
Makes it even worse that Im having this sniffies ( Doctor:" You should get a jab before Europe" Me ( being macho and all): " Eh?isnt that for senior citizens only?") and body temperature has since tropicalized for the last 3 years Im back in Malaysia.
laptop lagi....wool sweater lagi...more wool sweaters...and then dah la Holland is one WET country during winter/fall....makes it even worse...so which means I had to include a waterproof jacket. Oh yeah...I'll be sheep in the city alright.....

*

My apologies to all who who have vistied my blog and commented and I didnt reply back.
I will try. Promise.

*

Something happened during the weekend that made my blood go upstairs.
You know those express checkout lanes at hypermarkets ? Do you think they have done a good job at putting adequate and BIG signage to inform the people what constitutes express checkouts?Well, I think they are doing a good job. Signs are everywhere and pretty clear AND bi-lingual too.
"Kaunter Express: Untuk 10 barangan and ke bawah sahaja!
Tunai sahaja!"
*Translation: Express Counter: 10 items or less ONLY!!
Cash Only!!*
You would think people can read. Esp in Mutiara damansara's Tesco.
Apparently not. I notice there are 3 types here:
1) The one who has 11 items ( Ala, boleh la...satu saja lebih). Excuse me potatohead, 10 items or less does not mean 10+1, 10+2 or 10 plus whatever number.
2) The one who forgets that cash means paper ( or nowadays, polymer) money, not plastic, not your stupid AMEX gold card which you cant really afford to pay the full balance anyway. ( Alamak, tak cukup cash la, card boleh?)
3) The innocent in denial que cutter types. This is even more worse. They go smiling "wee..i have 3 items only" but at the same time, they send out their minions to get so and so stuff that they forget and these slaves bring back stuff one by one as the slave driver approaches the counter. sneaky bastard.

Give me an Uzi already. No wonder some people can go postal over these kinds of stuff.