Yeah But No But Yeah But No

A woman has a close male friend. This means that he is probably interested in her, which is why he hangs around so much. She sees him strictly as a friend. This always starts out with, you're a great guy, but I don't like you in that way.

This is roughly the equivalent for the guy of going to a job interview and the company saying, You have a great resume, you have all the qualifications we are looking for, but we're not going to hire you. We will, however, use your resume as the basis for comparison for all other applicants. But, we're going to hire somebody who is far less qualified and is probably an alcoholic. And if he doesn't work out, we'll hire somebody else, but still not you. In fact, we will never hire you. But we will call you from time to time to complain about the person that we hired.

Sloshed

I'm on my last day of my 6-day break. And I have been drunk for all 5 days. Today I just cannot tahan anymore. I couldn't possibly drink another mug of beer (or another shot of tequila and so on) and not risk a major health crisis. The thought of taking a sick-leave put a little smile on my face. But hey, I would rather see-off the year proper.

Yesterday, at the peak of this insatiable drinking spree, we were at 68 to celebrate Christmas with Vig, Dasha, Adil (even Mark Ng showed up, the little pink piggy as Annie likes to call him) and our special guest artist all the way from Canada, Aiden. The 3 of them (Dash, Adil and Aiden) performed on this special night. I’ve been to 68 a few times and it’s often quite vacant. But of course, it’s Christmas! So it was a full-house. With Aiden on keyboards, Adil flowing the rhythm on his famous saxophone and of course Dasha blowing everyone away with her amazing vocals, it was a recipe for a good set.

While these talented bunch enchanted the nonchalant crowd, the slightly more UN-talented bunch, mainly me, Vig and Mark (and also Vig’s buddy, Kenneth) were having shots after shots of tequila. In which of course, was followed by squirming our faces and pound the ground with our feet, “Wah, bleeeurghh, damn nasty lah.” I would say. In fact, I think the only one who actually enjoyed the tequila was Mark. Since it was his idea to begin with. Aiden hated it the most running, hiding and going all 10-year old throwing tantrums, yet he drank the most. Strange.

Because of the salt, drinking tequila, “It’s almost like drinking bucket loads of sea water while drowning,” I totally agree on that. But hey, it gets the job done albeit a little nasty on the taste buds.

We moved on to Bagan later that evening and finished the job there with more beer. And also an air-ticket right at the end to justify the night. Oh you know what I mean. Yeah, that hit the spot for me and now, I’m my room feeling hot, cold, sweaty, lethargic and dry altogether. Oh man, I can’t wait to feel…sober again. Seriously.


Merry Christmas everyone!

What Do You Mean That's The Biggest Size?

Last month or so, I developed a rather scary and an annoying new taste in my fashion sense. Since I bought my jacket – which was supposed to be a bag – I’ve been scouring the country for a bag, which doesn’t have the brand name screaming on the front flap. Because frankly, that is just so bloody tacky and so 1990. I like my bag to be discreetly branded. Like this Adidas bag I’ve been carrying around for 2 1/2 years. There’s only one small teeny, weeny logo at the side, dark green on black. Tastefully hidden away.

So I’ve been looking and looking. So much that my shoe is starting to buka mulut. My year old Puma is desperately trying to yawn. No way am I letting that happen. Now I need to buy a pair of shoe also. Because the yawn is imminent and that this pair is my only pair, which means I play futsal, go to work, jog (well, not very frequent, but I still do!) and well, anything that requires me to wear shoes with it.

Thus, the change of plan. Now shoes are top priority. Close call lah as my bag is close to kicking the bucket too.

So…back to my annoyingly new and scary taste in fashion.

I was in KL visiting my Sis along with my folks. Of course, shopping was in the cards. In fact, shopping is the only thing we did the whole time there.

I came across this pair of Pumas. White base and nothing else but a Puma swish thingy on the side in gold. It was love at first sight, “Do you have size 11?” I asked the shopkeeper.

He gave me a perplexing stare, “Umm, sir, this is umm, for the ladies,”

DAMMIT! “Shit, haha, my bad…” Oh man, this is horrible, trying desperately to act all macho, “What about this one?”

“Umm, the guy’s section is this way, sir,”

WHAT. THE. HELL. “Oh!” of course, my mom and sis couldn’t stop laughing. In fact, I couldn’t stop laughing too, “Wow, the guys section are horrible…so ugly lah, bloody tacky…nothing..umm, simple? Like this one?” I slowly slide back into the other section, “I mean, how can this be only for the ladies? It’s so…unisex…”

Bah! Screw them. I left empty handed, ego severely dented.

However, my temporary and sudden soft spot for ladies sports wear wore off a few weeks later when I came down for an event at Flamingo, Ampang. We stopped by Sg. Buloh Over-head Bridge for Burger King before we dropped by a sport’s store. Being tall naturally comes coupled with big feet. I’m a size 11. I could squeeze in a 10 without socks and walk as if I just got ass-raped, so 11 is minimum, if not 10 1/2. And being a Malaysian staying in Malaysia where the average height is about 170cm, it doesn’t help make shoe-shopping any easier if you’re way above the 180cm mark.

I chose this neat looking Puma, it was beige with a dark grey stripe, “Umm, size 11 ada?”

“Oh, ini last, size 9 only,”

Oh for the love of god, “Har?” then I started jamming my big foot into this tiny size 9, “AHHHHHHHHH!!!! SAKITTTT!!! AHHHHH!!!”

“Wah, nak try juga?”

OK, no way I could force it in, “Sedih lah, memang cantik lah,” and for the record, it’s the MEN’s, “kalau aku pi outlet kat Penang ada ah?”

“Ini model dah lama, mungkin dah habis juga,” and he was right. I went to Queensbay the following week (which was 3 days ago) and on the dot, it was sold out. Every other shoe I intend to buy has size 10. Oh god, help me…

Punched

Yuuu huuu, I'm back.
Hang on, let me grab a quick smoke. BRB.

Alright I'm back. So what have I been doing of late? Well, I was in KL from Thursday till Saturday to attend an event hosted by one of our client in KL. Some annual dinner thingy. We left early Thursday morning (that means we left just before noon) and arrive at Sungai Buloh in just 3 hours. Yes, we had Burger King. It' a must for any Penangite visiting KL. Doesn't matter if its work or play. Must have!

Work aside, Kee's friend took us (in his shiny 5-series) to a reflexology joint somewhere in Bukit Bintang. To be honest, I was really trying to get out of it. The place scared the shit out of me. Dodgy looking lift, barely able to cramp 3 adults, a short walk in the narrowest hallway ever and entering a dingy room where the 'magic' happens. Apart from the 3 of us, the room was empty. I took my sit and the masseurs entered the room. 3 of them, 2 blokes 1 girl. All Thai nationals.

And when the girl brought a bucket - where its suppose to clean my feet - I thought, oh well, can't be THAT bad, right? A girl massaging my feet.

Oh man was I painfully, painfully wrong. She brutalize my feet. I'm new to this gig so I don't really know what's the procedure. She started punching my left feet from all angles. Punchpunchpunchpunch.

I looked at Kee, who was next to me, "Hey ummm," I look at her and look back at him, "Is this normal?"

Well, apparently it is. It's meant to loosen up the muscles. Soon, the whole room was filled with people. 10 minutes in, it wasn't as bad as I thought. No pain at all. Then she started on me toes. The biggy toe.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" yeah, I screamed a little bit.

She looked up, "Sakit yar?"

DUH! Didn't I just scream? "Ya, sikit. Pelan pelan yar..."

I swear, she did not yield to me desperate cry to go easy on me.

After a few more screams, JM called me as I told him to come pick me up at this joint. Assuming it would be over and done with by the time he arrives from Puchong. Sadly, she wasn't quite done with my left feet just yet, "Dude, umm, I'm still ARGHHH!!! kinda, AHHHHH!!!!, not done with this, AHHHHHHH!!! reflexology thing, OH FUCKING HELL!!!!, where are OHHH MAMA!!!! you now?"

"I'm near Bukit Bintang dude, so how?"

Crap. "Cik, boleh ahhhh!!!! cepat sikit ah? Kawan nak sampai dah,"

She seemed like she had no idea what I just said, so her colleague shouted from the other end of the room, the exact same thing I said. This time, she understood. And boy did she give me the nastiest look. Well, at least that's what I thought it was. For some reason, when she moved on to my right feet, she seemed to punch much harder. Like MUCH harder...

Swear to god I'm NEVER going for a reflexology ever again.
I'm quite surprise I could still walk after the ordeal. In fact, I ran.


I've got so much to write about so little time. Anyway, here's a look of what I have been doing. Took me a day to do it.

Caution: Long Entry

You wanna know something that's pathetically funny?

I could actually tickle myself.

And laugh.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

We were talking about weddings - ya I know, scary topic and no, we're not getting married, we're not even a couple! - and she told me, "When I get married, I want to have a garden theme!"

"Ooo, Lone Pine? Just like Zach's?" I say, "You won't believe how beautiful it was. The sunset, the beach, the seclusion. Though the heat is a massive bummer though,"

"Would you wanna be my wedding planner?"

What? Gosh, no, "Well, if you fancy a football themed wedding then I'm the man!"

"I'd kill you if you were my would-be husband,"

"You knew I was gonna say that, and yet you ask," I said, "But wouldn't it be lovely? Man, I gotta go to some football stadium and pickup girls next time if I ever wanna meet a football nut and marry her,"

I asked her what's her theme gonna be, apart from having it in a garden, but I couldn't wait for her to respond. So I loudly shared my idea, "You do the whole Adam and Eve thing," I suggest, "Think about it, you'd save a whole-lot of moolah with this. All you need is 4 leafs. Three for you, one for him. Maybe an apple also. And a pet snake to complete it,"

Startled, she replied, "What about the back? I don't wanna have it exposed you know,"

"You have 'em cheeks to cover mah! That's what butt cheeks are for!"

"..."

"OK, let's improvise. Think long lalang. Mother nature's G-string,"

"It'll get really itchy lah," she said, "Hahah, try say long lalang out loud,"

"LONG LALANG!"

"Nice ah?"

"No..."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

My mom is so into making muffins now, she bought a 2-thousand ringgit oven for it. And it's placed somewhere between the mini bar and the TV cabinet. Oh what an eye-sore.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

We were invited by some church on the first floor of the building today. And being a sucker for free food, we all agreed to go. As we step into the shoplot church after gathering our lunch, we sat at the plastic chairs they provided. Naturally, we stay in a group. We felt a wee bit nervous at how welcoming and courteous they were. We noticed, those who sit alone or those who just sat there and eat would have one of them sit right next to your and start asking you all these questions. Where are you from? Where's the office? What do you do? What this and what that.

I sat next to Drey and I noticed the pattern. We were hungry therefore all of us just concentrated on eating. Then one of them sat next to Kee and started the whole questionnaire thing, one down, "Drey, please don't stop talking to me. I don't want them to ask me to convert..." well, maybe they weren't trying, but I've been through it before and it can get pretty ugly.

Somehow we manage to avoid most of them, until one of them just picked up a chair and sat next to me. Despite being in 'conversation' with Drey, she butts in with utter delight, "HI HOW ARE YOU?! ENJOYING THE FOOD HERE?!"

Gosh, "Umm yeah yeah, food's great -munch munch-,"

"WOULD YOU LIKE SOME DESSERTS?"

Eyes wide open, slightly hunching, still munching on the fried chicken, "Umm yeah, thanks,"

"I'LL BE RIGHTTTT BACK!" and she strolls away to her happy ending. I swear, it seems like she hopped away to a rainbow with bunnies and butterflies and to the sunset.

"We should just chuck this all down and get out for a smoke," I suggest to her, in which she agree within a nano second by nodding her head in incredible speed, "You know Drey, at times like this. I'm so bloody glad that I smoke,"

"Yeah wei! I was gonna say that too!"


Well, come to think of it. We can be really mean at times, but hey, we've met so many nasty people in our lives in advertising. So when someone is so strangely nice to you and offer you food, you can't help but be suspicious at their hidden intent. If there's any. I have to admit, I felt extremely bad. Because there wasn't any. I'm so going to hell for this.

Going Green

It has been ages since I did something that got me all brimming with satisfaction and content. When would clients ever leave us alone and allow us total creative freedom? OK, I do agree there are lots of disgruntled and utterly incapable designers out there...

But haven't I proven myself enough?

Truth be told, when this client contacted us and handed us an account, (their RM2.8 Mil villas at Batu Ferringhi) after seeing what they already had done previously - which was incredibly tacky - I could only expect the worst.

But as it turns out...
They gave me creative freedom. And lots of it.

So I return the favour.

Cheapos at a Festival

So, the Jazz Festival is back again for this year. Like every other year, instead on spending time rounding a group of people to go with me or bitch about the ridiculous ticket price, I'm sourcing for new ways to maintain my cheapo standard.

You see, apart from the RM50 ticket, they only sell Heineken beers there. Ooo, premium beer, yummy, but at RM15 for a small bottle (that was last year anyway, could be RM20 this year), that's gonna burn my pocket big time, if not my entire trousers.

Last year, I came out with this plan called, Plan Cheapo, where we buy cheap Tiger beers from our trusty supplier - oh you know who - and cram it all into one miserable small Coleman cooler, "How are we gonna get this into the festival?" Annie The Little One asks.

Crap, I haven't thought this through. They have quite a tight security there, guarding both the entrance from the main road and the beach, "Shit, OK, here's how we are gonna do it," I immediately reach for a few cold ones and pass it to everyone, "Crack it open and let's start drinking," being the genius, I suggested, "Perhaps we should down it, at least we'll get a little kick out of it."

After 2 cans each, feeling extremely bloated, we marched it, albeit a little rocky and a few episodes of severe brain-freeze and enjoy ourselves at the gig. Every half hour or so, you'll see our group splitting into 2s and mysteriously disappear for a good 20-minutes before returning and feeling extra happy and redder.

Eventually each of us did buy a bottle there. To cover a bit lah. How can one get so much high on life? Or the music? Besides, after trip no. 3, we couldn't be arsed to marched out for a can of beer. And it's no fun walking that far while you're under the influence anyway.

So this year, Leena suggest instead of this, "Why not we share and get a bottle of JD or something? Wouldn't it be much more potent?" she suggests, "Think about the amount of walking we don't have to do..."

She has a point, besides, we could disguise it in a bottle of...say..Coke! Heh.

iJeles

"Meng, look at this," he proudly flashes the screen at me. Knowing him, he's been doing this to his Sony Ericsson P1 phone since the day he got it. Always trying to pathetically emulate the iPhone.

"Yay," I replied sarcastically and just glance as I was busy checking the designer's work.

It was when I heard, "Wah, iPhone!" from the designer, my jaws dropped.

Bloody wanker, how on earth? OMFG! No way! No way! "OMG! IT IS THE iPhone!!"

I hate Kee so much now.

Boarding Blues

It has been ages since I last boarded a plane. Couple of months back, sis invited us to crash at her brand-spanking new crib. Though I no longer remember, something did happened, so we ended up postponing the trip to last week. Alas, the date was set.

Then I remembered, the last time I ever boarded a plane, I remember dad saying to me the day before we depart, "Meng ah, make sure you don't bring anything metal with you. Otherwise you can't board the plane,"

But it has been a decade since and September 11 happened. Security should be much tighter these days, so I called up JM, the frequent flyer I know for some advice;

Me: Dude, I'm cleaning up my bag for the trip tomorrow and I think I have quite a few things they might not want me to bring on-board. Like this bottle opener, would they confiscate my metal-key-chain-shark-shaped bottle opener? Cos I damn lazy to take everything out...

JM: Why do you have a metal-key-chain-shark-shaped bottle opener?

Me: I bought it in Bukit Merah wan lah, I gave you the black fat fish one, remember?

JM: Right. Yeah, well, I think they would, leave it behind.

Me: I hear you can't bring bottled water too.

JM: Yeap, no water.

Me: What about pen knife?

JM: ...

Me: CDs? I mean they're all umm...you know...not originals...

JM: Batu Ferringhi?

Me: No lah, CDr.

JM: I dunno man...

Me: What about a pen?

JM: A pen?

Me: Yeah, you know, pens have a metal tip...I could like poke people or worst, draw on them, or write the word "DEATH" on them...

JM: ...

OK, maybe I was going a wee bit overboard, but come on. It's been ages since I flew so naturally I wanted it to be as smooth as possible. I even left my brand new pack of Mild Seven Lights behind, preventing any awkward moment I'll have when my parents sees it as I empty my pockets and walk thru the metal detector.

I slept at 3am and woke up at 5am. And when the plane took off, I swear I tripped out for like 3-seconds. For the whole 3 days I spent there, I'm quite sure I had only 10 hours of sleep. I'll report back later.

Does It Get Any Cheesier Than This?

Because clients in Penang are bloody cheapos, because they don't wanna hire real talents and because I quite fancy appearing on the papers again so...


I helped myself.
If only it was cheesier.

(By the way, it's on today's papers. STAR, Metro section, page 8)

Ad Slut

You know, I've always secretly wanted to write, produce, direct and hopefully star in my own little movie. A proper feature length movie. I've been bugging JM with this idea of a movie for a while now. To the point I've actually started on the scripts. Well, not an actual script, but you know, at least its in writing. I won't disclose anything here, but I can tell you it's not gonna be an easy one to make. For starters, this film is not gonna be filmed in Malaysia. Well, at least 80% of it isn't gonna be. It's a story about 2 friends + migration + spoofing a popular genre. How you can take the boys out of Malaysia but not Malaysia out of the boys sorta thing.

"Since you're starting to hate your job so much," I tell JM, "Let's take a monumental risk and take up a RM300K loan from some bank and go abroad to film," cos let's say if this monumental risk results in a monumental failure, we can remain there as an illegal immigrant and the banks won't be able to find us! Well at least I would like to think so.

"What am I gonna say to my mom?" he asks, "Like 'Hi, mom, you know I love you and all, but I sorta took this little risk and it kind off didn't like work out the way we expected it and all, so ummm bye! Love ya'?"

Well, maybe not.

And oh, I've got something coming up tomorrow. OK, I cannot tahan anymore. I'll just blab it out. I'm gonna be on the papers again! Go me! Though just the northern region. But this time, it ain't an article, but an ad! I'm gonna be on an ad. Hehe, look up for a picture of a truck next to some bags. You'll see my face and my name on the truck. Look it up tomorrow yeah? Feel free to frame it up if you fancy, heh.

Sharing Nightmares

My dreams never make sense. Just last night, I had a dream that didn't make any sense. Actually it was more than one, but you know how easily dreams can be forgotten as the day wears on. But I remember this particular one.

The scene was at my old house - it looked like it was 10 years ago when it was neater and not so packed with cars which owners have faulted their loans by 3 months - it was just about 100m off the gates as for some reason, I found myself standing there, waiting for something. I saw my car driving towards me. Someone else was driving my car. The car was parked next to this pondok near this kopitiam inside the fishing village of Tanjung Tokong. Of all people, I saw Ju coming out. I couldn't help but notice a monumental vertical scratch on the side of the car, "Hi Meng!" she greeted me as I slowly made my way towards her.

I walked pass her and went to check the car's interior - for some reason, I knew it was my car and was baffled that in this dream, I knew it wasn't exactly MY car - and picked up the mat and begin to smash it on the ground to remove all dust and debris, "Ju, I would appreciate it if you invested a tiny wee bit of time in the car's cleanliness," I snapped at her, "I'm not even gonna ask you about the bloody scratch!"

She gave me that pathetic 5-year old sorry look as I walked around and spot another thing, "Ju, didn't I told you about parking under a tree?!"

Still maintaining that pathetic sorry look, "Yeah..." she wiggled, "Bird crap will rain down on the car if so," she justified, "I thought you'd appreciate me keeping the car out of the sun."

"Well at least the sun won't shit on the car, right?" I snapped, "For god sake Ju, if we're gonna share a car at least keep in CLEAN on my behalf!"

WTF?! We're sharing a car? My car? And I still live in Tg. Tokong? To be honest, it was more like a nightmare. I don't think I want to know what this nightmare is trying to tell me. But there is some truth to it. Truth #1, I do keep my car clean but not obsessively. #2, Ju does have a dirty car. Her brand new Myvi looks much older than my 5-year old Kelisa.

Stolen Saturday

Nobody ever really fancies working on a Saturday. Let’s face it. No one really does but if you do fancy it, well, you officially have no life.

So, I did make plans for today, which sadly I had to cancel and drive 16km thru the Saturday traffic and head up to the office. Because on Monday we have a bloody presentation with a big-time client who’s kind enough to actually throw a project at us. Without needing to pitch for it.

Man, have we come a long way since then. I remember a time when we have to compete among other agencies to secure ourselves an account. I recall lots of late nights, overdoing the concepts, the ideas and the visuals just so we stand out. And the dreaded ‘being compared to the other agencies’ work.

The thing is, we kinda suck at pitching. OK, I admit it, we suck horribly at it. As far as I remember, we’ve never secured an account thru pitching. We try too hard. However, we relish the prospect when an account is thrown at our direction, without the need to pitch. Gift-wrapped and handed to us, “Here, our budget is X-amount, go crazy!” they’d say. Well, something like that anyway. And always, we’d soar. That’s how we secured the next account. Thru networking.

So here we are, another project handed to us, gift-wrapped and it’s Saturday. With 2 more days to go, our presentation is nowhere near completion. In fact, we haven’t even decided the range of logos for option 3. I haven’t quite got around finishing the bullshit rationale for the product name and the 3 sets of logos we’re proposing. Each set contains 3 options. To make matters worst, the 3 of us are completely clueless with PowerPoint.

You know me, I resent anything that’s Microsoft. Simply for its sheer unreliability, its tacky templates and cheesy attempt to emulate OS X, “Why not we use Preview? I mean, we’re using Macs, the average-Joe would be blown away just looking at the desktop,” I suggest. But for some reason no one agreed, “I mean, it’s not like we’re gonna type anything, right?” I tried to justify my reason, “Everything is gonna be in JPEG, so why the hell not?”

In the old days, we do our presentation the old-fashion way, print out hard copies and mount it on a black A1 size mounting board. I got the impression, since another client of ours have exhausted our resources when he demanded 3-5 sets of a actual sized, actual material mock-up of his booklet throughout the course of 2 weeks, we’re running kinda dry. Besides, digital presentations are way easier to prepare, and well, it doesn’t cost a cent.

However, right now, I don’t really care if it’s Powerpoint or whatever. I just want to get this over with and get on with preparing my presentation speech. Because the last outing we had was simply ghastly. Not only did the designer and I froze in front of the board of directors, the cat caught the boss’ tongue as well. On top of that, the last presentation I did that actually went well was ummm, shit, I can’t even remember. Yeah, it was THAT long ago. So…


Here goes. A working Saturday. And the 16-bloody-kilometers drive.


Happy Saturday. Or whatever.

Funny aaaaaaa!!!

Well, since I'm still out of materials to blog, Debbie (the new colleague) found this hilariously funny site that has a collection of spoofs of the movie, 300.

CLICK HERE.

One Way

"To put it bluntly," he says as he closed the lid of his brother's HP laptop -- in which he claims would be his when he moves to KL, "you're blog is getting boring dude," and placed the laptop on the sofa and starts wiping it with a throw pillow feverishly, chanting, "Let is shine, let it shine!" followed by a hysterical-psycho-ward-patient-type laugh. Then he got vain, staring at his reflection off the glossy HP laptop cover.

"Ya I know!" I say, sitting on the 3-seater sofa next to it, watching with a hint of worry at his random compulsiveness, "You should use a proper cloth to wipe lah, the type you use to wipe your glasses," I suggested to him, "I just don't know what to blog about anymore..."

To be honest, I really don't know lah. Suddenly dry. Unmotivated.

"Maybe you should put up more of your work," he suggested. He picked up the laptop again and logged on to his MSN, "You know, those arty things you do at work," he continues, "Oo! Zach's online."

Umm, fellow bloggers would agree with me that Photobucket is terribly unpredictable. It takes ages to load up just one picture file sometimes. While on other occasion, it just never loads. Also, on most occasion, I'm never entirely satisfied with the work I've done. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do. It is the clients that ALWAYS mess up my work. Sometimes they even have the bloody nerve to tell me I fucked it up. Hello? I presented to you a perfectly good ad/campaign etc and you're the bloody idiot that wanted a SCREAMING-RED COLOUR phone number splash across an ad that has cool tones (blue, green, etc...)

So yeah, maybe I don't post up my work as often as I should because it brings back bad memories. Stupid clients, stupid ideas and ridiculous deadlines.

"Why are you talking to Zach when he can only reply by typing?"

"He doesn't have a mic lah,"

"Hehe, it's like talking to a super high-tech computer with emotions and has some brilliant culinary advise."

Tagged: Here We Go Again

.1. The phone rings, who do you want it to be?
- Umm, people who fancy playing futsal or someone offering me a scholarship.

2. When shopping at the grocery store, do you return your cart?
- I'll look for someone dressed in the store's uniform and wheel it to them. With a smile of course.

3. In a social setting, are you more of a talker or listener?
- It depends on the amount of alcohol they have.

4. Do you take compliments well?
- If it's not about my height, yeah. I'm running out of ways to respond to the, "Wah so tall" statement.

5. Do you play Sudoku?
- I hate it. Sort of. Well, it looks boring. I prefer Photoshop, heh.

6. If abandoned alone in the wilderness, would you survive?
- With my nationwide coverage maxis line, of course I will! Rescue is just a phone call away. 

7.What song are you listening to?
- Feels Like Home by Newton Faulkner.

8.Did you ever go to a camp as a kid?
- My parents never really fancied it. So umm, no.

9. What was your favourite game as a kid?
- Pretending to be Spiderman or finding ways to annoy Ju.

10. Are you a single?
- Very much so.

11.Could you date someone with different religious beliefs than you?
- Sure. I don't have a religion to counter. So it's all good.

12.Do you like to pursue or be pursued?
- What about being pursued while pursuing? Damn Bollywood.

13.Use three words to describe yourself.
- Tall, erratic and umm, tall.

14.Do any songs make you cry?
- To the theme of Barney. Damn you purple piece of shit.

15.Are you continuing your education?
- Well, yeah. But funding is always the issue. Depressing.

16.Do you know how to shoot a gun?
- A paintball marker. Why is it called a marker anyway? 

17.If your house was on fire, what would be the first thing that you'll grab?
- My iPod. After dragging my parents out of the house of course.

18.How often do you read books?
- Whenever there's a book I find interesting. It's been awhile though.

19.Do you think more about the past, present or future?
- The future. No point thinking of the past, right?

20.What is your favourite children's book?
- Does the Amazing Spiderman count?

21.What color are your eyes?
- Damn black with a tiny pathetic hint of brown.

22.How tall are you?
- Very.

23.Where is your dream house located?
- Anywhere. You should ask me the design.

24.Have you ever taken pictures in a photo booth?
- Never. Too cheesy for me. Though I do use a software called Photobooth on the iMac.

25.When was the last time you were at Olive Garden?
- Ummm never. 

26.Do you like mustard?
- I prefer chili.

27.Do you prefer to sleep or eat?
- Sleep, of course. I "eat" in my sleep.

28.Do you look like your mom and dad?
- I look like my dad. 

29.How long does it take you in the shower?
- 20-minutes tops. Unless...its with someone else. Ooo!

30.Can you do the splits?
- And split me nuts? No. I don't see any reason it'll be useful skill for everyday living.

31.What movie do you want to see right now?
- Hot Fuzz, again. 

32.What did you do for New Year?
- A grey T that reads "HUNGOVER"

33.Do you own a camera phone?
- Who doesn't? Seriously, even my dad owns one.

34.Was your mom a cheerleader?
- Oh god. -blocking weird mental images- "No mom, nooo!!!"

35.How many hours of sleep do you get at night?
- In an ideal world, I'd would have a minimum of 10 hours.

36.Do you like care bears?
- Never cared.

37.What do you buy at the movies?
- A bloody movie ticket.

38.Do you know how to play poker?
- A bit. Can't quite remember.

39.Do you wear your seatbelt?
- All the time. I don't fancy smashing my head onto the windscreen or steering if I so happen to be damn chew cheng.

40.What do you wear to sleep?
- Some super old t-shirt and shorts/boxers.

41.Anything big ever happen in your hometown?
- Not always.

42.How many meals do you eat a day?
- A minimum of 5. Breakfast, Branch, Lunch, Dinner and Supper.

43.Do you always read friendster bulletins?
- Never. It's filled with corny lovey dovey crap.

44.Do you like funny or serious people better?
- Funny of course.

45.Ever been to L.A.?
- Yes, many times. Via Channel 707.

46.Did you eat a cookie today?
- I had fried bee hun and coffee.

47.Tag 3 people.
- Umm, Ian, since he's running out of materials to blog about. Ju, for tagging me earlier and umm, Russ.

Now, get to it. I'm done.

Classic Malaysian Mentality

Ahh, the good old classic Malaysian mentality. Never fails to amuse me. If it's being rebellious for whatever reason it might be, this is taking it to a whole new level. Or they just suck at this corny improvisation of basketball. In which I would like to say that they are, "Damn chew cheng."

Addicted

82%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?
Despite the lack of proper entries, I still chalk up quite an addiction. To be honest, I'm running out (or having a blogger's block) topics to blog about. Well, unless you fancy reading about JM's perpetual whining about life in advertising (which you would find it on his blog in due time, if he ever updates, or remembers he actually HAS a blog), or a vivid description of driving 16km to work every day thru 5 schools.

Guess not.

I hope I have a relapse soon. In the meantime, I'm tagging woman, Lulu and ummm, Russ!

Have fun!

The Matcha

Don't know what to blog lah these days.
The weather so syok. Rain, rain, rain.

Not so syok because I still need to work, work, work.

But what's even more syok is that I get to fully utilize my new bag jacket. Who says we don't need jackets here in Malaysia? It's bloody cold these days you know. Rain day and night. Spray, drizzle, downpour all that jazz.

So back to not knowing what to write. I called Liew 10 minutes ago, seems like we only hangout during lunch hours these days. Gone are the days where we meet up for snooker or buying pornography DVD movies in town. Well, the part where he has 2 jobs is one of the main contributing aspect while the long-hours in my 1 job covers the remaining bits.

"Matchaaaaa," he greets me on the phone, his usual style.

I could never resist, so I replied, "Matchaaaa," back at him, "Eh, wanna go buy Man U's jersey ah?"

"Why lah?" he asks.

It boggled me. Boggled cause he seem to not realized I'm the all-time No. 1 fan in Penang, if not Malaysia (or the world) and that I own at least 1 jersey from each season. And all of them are originals, well, almost all. Even at one point, everything I own was Man U. Wallets, bags, pencil cases, you name it, I have it, "Why not? It's about time! They've been winning non-stop wei!" I justified to him and also pycho-ed him to get one as well.

"Ummm, ok lah,"

Now I sit and wait for him to pick me up. And hopefully the shop's open.

It's almost 3 now, he's still not here and I haven't had lunch yet.

The Heritage Project

1, 2 and now 3!

3 years ago and 4 days ago...
I decided it was time. I've been hearing so much about it, almost everyone I know was doing it. So I took a plunge and went for it. Well, for everything, there's gotta be a first time, right?

I was staying in KL then, I wrote my first entry at my desk, in the office at KLue Magazine. With only 3 days left to go from my 2-month stint with them, my only regret is not starting earlier. So much could have been blogged, from the party of the year (Chivas' Launch at Eastin) to club parties at Atmosphere to to lecturing JM on the subject, How To Get Laid 101, assisted by his then housemate, Nads and Dimar.

Then again, they'll always be subjects to blog about. It's never too late now, is it? I did create a new contraption by accident, blogged about a senile flasher, somehow surviving the Final Year Exhibition with such a tiny budget, to my employment with this job.

Hey, I don't just blog about myself all the time. I do offer the occasional usual educational information as well. Even taking a trip way down memory lane to where our group of friends met. I've also learn ways of amusing oneself with simple creations to amuse simple minded people while I also went back to basics with Photoshop.

And of course, the wedding, the first to get hitched.


It's been 3 years. I've seen my fair share, lived it and now, I can only say, "Bring on the next 3!" Happy 3rd Birthday LIFT. The show must go on.

Bad Name

Quite possibly the worst company name, ever.
I bet the designer was fired. Or it was Roby who designed it.

I wish...

I've never been a big fan of chain-letters. Or those random messages you get from your friends on Friendster, saying, "If you don't forward this message to 96837682 people in the next few days, your account would be deemed inactive and thus deleted."

People actually believe this?
Come on, losing an account in cyberspace isn't the end of the world, you know. After all, there's Facebook!

This morning, I got a chain-letter. Of all person, it came from Juls -- Ju, I'm utterly disappointed at you! :P
It came with a animated GIF attached to it. It has 2 angels, one pulling, one pushing a snow sled while it is snowing. I didn't quite bother reading anything else apart from the I WILL RECEIVE A CALL IN 5-MINUTES AFTER I SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTOOM OF THIS EMAIL. I screw all the steps, I went straight to the bottom.

It tells me to make a wish and then I will get a phone call. So I just did for the fun of it.
To my horror, my bloody phone did ring. It was Naomie.

"Meng ah, how do I rip a DVD into my Macbook?" she asks.

Still shocked and recovering from it, "Ummm, go to download.com and lookup for a software called Hardbrake," I replied.

I could sort of hear her fingers tapping on the keyboard, "Oh OK, let me check see if I got Internet connection or not."

"You know, you scared the hell out of me," I said as I went on telling her about the chain-letter, how I would receive a call and my wish would supposedly come true, "Well, you're suppose to grant me of my wishes."

"Hahaha, really? What did you wished for?" she asks me.

I replied, "To go New Zealand!"

"Your wish is my command!" she grants my wish.

"Woo hoo!"



Man. If I do end up there. I'm so saving this email for later use in life.

Random Bits

Sometimes, I like to put on my earphones and pretend to listen to music. I don't know why.

I'm obsessive compulsive when it comes to thinking. When my mind locks onto something, I fantasize, romanticize and daydream.

Often I stuff myself with too much food just so I can gain temp-weight, "Ooo! 1kg gained!" and feel good about myself.

Due to the aluminum casing, I always get electrocuted by JM's Powerbook. It's not funny anymore.

Life without a desktop computer sucks.

We pay tolls and our roads aren't getting any smoother. Ooo the stench of corruption and wigs is in the air. Oh wait, thats the haze. Or is it?

Proton claim it took them a long time to design and conceptualize Persona. All I needed was Photoshop, a screen shot of Gen2 from Google and 15-minutes.

Has anyone notice Datuk Tony Fernandez is turning into a cheesy Sir Richard Branson wannabe? No? Come on. Not that it's anything bad. Just weird.

The Sony Ericsson Z610i phone isn't girly! No it isn't! And I'm a proud owner of one! Maybe it's sleek curves makes it a tad girly, but not overly feminine. Well, it says so here.

I would be lying if I tell you I don't have any regrets cutting my hair this short. Just a little. I find comfort in the fact that I sleep better at night these days. How do you girls do it? It's just so bloody annoying to have 'em hairs poking your face when you're desperately trying to clock in every minute of sleep you can master before the morning sun greets you with work to do.

I secretly want to buy the new 180GB iPod classic. But I can't afford it. And no one is buying my current iPod -- which I might add, it's 100% scratch-free! What? I don't fancy the iPod touch lah. Might as well get the iPhone, right?

I actually do make 3G calls on a regular basis. Not lately though. Because I only have THAT much to say to JM and Neh Neh.

It scares me sometimes that I have no idea who else reads this blog.

I should get back to work.

Lucky Pussy

"I hear your horny cat finally got some action, huh?"

"Yeah, what the hell man, I think she's knocked up!"

"Wow, looks like your cat had a better weekend than I did."

Sounds and Noise

I popped back into this office after having my photo re-taken, because I cannot tahan the one I took yesterday, made me look like a pedophile Roby. And I also had lunch, at 3pm, "I cannot tahan this tamil rap anymore," JM IM-ed me on MSN.

You see, apart from dealing with his mentally challenged intern who decided to take-on a job at some Fitness studio because Ben - JM's boss, my nephew - refuse to give him a pay-rise, which is just under RM200, "I'm gonna quit this job and go work there," JM told me he said that, "They're giving me RM1.6K per month!"

What an idiot. Most interns don't even get paid and they have to make coffee and buy back lunch for the employees.

So you see, he doesn't even realize that he's an intern. A bloody soddin' dumb fuck Mass-Com student who somehow thought that he had mastered Photoshop after having just one class, hence interning at an ad agency. And now he wants to finish off the remainder of his internship at a gym. Ain't that just brilliant? I would love to meet his mom.

Anyway, apart from this sappy dingbat, JM now endures the second-coming. The New Colleague. She's indian and according to JM, "She's your standard run-of-the-mill traditional Indian girl," in which he added that she basically keeps to herself a lot. Well, apart from shutting off the air-conditioner and cranking up Bollywood hit singles at full volume, that is. I can't imagine JM in that studio now. He sweats inside an air-conditioned room. And now it's shut off. Poor fella.

To make matters worst, he doesn't quite dare to tell her to change the tunes, "Dude, I don't want to sound like a racist to her lah," he tells me, "I don't know what to do with this music!"

I told him that why not be more subtle and go, "We rather listen to music we all can understand," which I think he hasn't done that.

For some reason, this made me reminisce an old part-time job I did when I was still in college. It was way before Apple and a year before my internship with KLue Magazine. It was some Interior Design firm. They placed an ad in our college. It pays quite well and I only need to work 2-3 days for 3-4 hours at a time only.

You might wonder what a graphic design student is doing in an Interior Design firm. Well, they needed our Photoshop skills to crop and place people in their 3D renderings. Which I think they could so do it themselves, but just too bloody lazy. So they hired us. It was a sweet job. We get to smoke inside the office, go in out whenever we please to take more photographs of random people while munching something, which we can claim back later via the receipt.

It was the sweetest part-time job I've ever had, until this bloke who sits next to me started cranking up cheesy and very tacky Chinese Hip-hop music. To further exacerbate things, it is one of those Chinese songs where they throw in the occasional few lines of English in it.

"Ching chong ching chong microphone ching chong ching I love you so ching chong ching chong ching chong chong!! Ohhh!!! Ching chong microphone chong ching ching I love you soOoOOoOo..."

OK I get it. You obviously LOVE microphones.

Somehow - though sitting next to him - I defied that mediocre music. I didn't let it bother me. Slowly, I swear, it got louder and louder, and he was even singing to it, complete and utterly out of tune. It didn't help that his collection diversified every hour, every day.


3-days later I quit. I'm not paid enough for this.

Sweet 16

I sat myself and looked at myself at the huge mirror placed in front of me, "The usual, please," I said to her.

She gathers her tools and starts molesting my hair, "Trim?"

"Ummm, nah, let's go short," I suggested.

As she snips away bit by bit of me long hair, "Finally sick of it, huh?" she asks.

Having long hair may be cool and it does add extra points to my credibility as a designer, but sleeping with this 'neither here nor there' length is just downright...annoying. Having a chunk of hair poking me eye lids, while the others are trying to slither their way up me nose, giving me the illusion of mosquitoes or whatever creepy crawly hiking up Mt. Meng's Nose, "Yeah, I have to wash it everyday, religiously," I justify to her, "Sometimes twice because it's so bloody oily!"

She starts feeling my hair and picked up a handful of my hair, "Oily meh? Where got?"

Well, of course not today. It's been raining all day and I did nothing apart from sitting at the office and attend a 1-hour plus meeting at 3pm, "Today cold mah, head cannot sweat."

20-minutes later, she not only snipped off a load of hair, she knocked off 8 years away. Is this a good thing? And man, I have not seen my ears for a long, long time.

I feel like I could get arrested for driving.

Here We Go Again

I went on holiday last weekend. Shame, I can't post picture of exotic beaches or pictures of sumptuous meals and so because it was just KL. Land of endless phantom jams and the melting pot for haze and the heat. I needed to unwind badly. At least Puchong was slightly less hazy and well, it was still hot, but Ian has a freezer for a room. So it's alright.

So again -- like I've said on number of occasions -- nothing works better to kick 'em stress away than to go shopping. So after spending some time surfing the web, checking my mails, art directing Ian (hehe) and hanging about. I decided to take a nap. About 30minutes later my phone rang.

"Meng, I just took half of Friday off," Ju breaks the news to me on the phone, as I hung out in her room, which was in this house where Ian works, we like to call it, THE AGENCY, "Wanna go Ikea ah?"

How could I turn such an offer down? I'm iffing to go myself, "OH YES, PLEASE!"

We left Ian at the agency and hit the road. After surviving the ride there without making one single remark about the state of her Myvi -- which was quite the mess, scattered snow-flake-like cigarette ash, nothing unforeseen -- we arrived and over-shot Ikea by about 1km. But it was intentional, Burger King is just down the road. People in KL make the effort to go to Penang for the sake of its sensational hawker food, we do likewise, but for Burger King instead. Cos KL hawker is just dubiously up in the air. It boggles me that we still don't have one in Penang. Why-o-why.

"Ju, I swear to god, I always thought your Myvi is off the apple-green range," I always tell her that whenever I'm in her car, "Champaign is just not quite YOU."

"Well, sorry that it's gold..." she states the obvious.

"You mean Champaign," I intrude to correct her.

"...I mean, yeah, Champaign, get used to it. Hey, at least it's not silver right? Such a stereotype colour cina colour," says her as her mom did ordered the silver version. She begged to have it changed. Good call.

We arrive at Ikea and proceeded to park and head straight up. On our way up, I spotted this bedroom setting, which was the ugliest piece of interior decor I've ever seen, "Ju! I don't think I'll ever shag a chick on this setting because it's so flamboyantly extravagant," I pointed that out to Ju, "Can you?"

"Ewww, so ugly, maybe if the lights were dimmer," she replied.

Commence shopping! After ogling and romanticizing on having my own place just so I can buy these beautifully design, cheap unreliable furniture and place it in my house, we made our way to the other side, where they sell the products individually.

They simply have too many beautiful lamps there. It doesn't help that most of it are so-bloody-cheap-that-I'll-buy-2-just-for-kicks. Ju is lost in her thoughts in front of the clock section. Both of us are on a tight budget. We do not intend to splash out any more than RM100. I tell you, it was one bloody cheap shopping spree.

And because we wanted to buy everything and anything pretty, we decided to be negative and focus on negativity. Like when Ju was contemplating on beautiful yet simple wall and desktop clocks, "Ju, let's test if it makes a loud ticking sound," I suggest as both of us stretch our bodies to have a test.

"Wah," Ju says, "damn loud hor the ticking sound."

I agreed with her, it was the loudest clock I've seen, so I told her, "Screw it, this thing will deprive you of sleep at night, not to mention it will also show the amount of hours of sleep you'll missed by listening to it going tickticktick," and spared her RM20.

"What about this desktop clock?" she asks, "It's so nice!"

"Well Ju, you can be quite clumsy," I told her, "just imagine how annoying it will be when you accidentally smash one of those hand."

"True."

This method is working well. Very well.

We arrived at the lamp section and my eyes spotted this beauty. It was one of those smoky glass type lamps. But unlike its rectangle counterparts, this one resembles a round vase, "JU!" I yell at her silently, "This is soooo nice!" It was, however, a tad pricier compared to the rectangle one.

I decided to apply the 'Find the Negativity" method on this. While Ju is still fixated on the lamp, I decided to shook it, to test its standing stability, "Ummm..." I placed my hand on the opening on top and went about shaking it, "Not very stable huh?"

She agreed, we shook it some more, and every other identical one just to make sure it isn't a one-off defect. We went back to the rectangle ones and contemplated some more, "Ju, should I buy one more just because it's so bloody cheap?!"

She had no answer, she seems to be thinking about buying 2 herself. However, about 20-minutes later, after endlessly debating on the topic, I took just one. Another 1 1/2 hours was spend just trying to make our way to the counter.

In the end, I bought a lamp (that rectangle one), 2 bulbs, a tea-candle light holder thingy, supposedly scented tea-candle lights, a plastic bag dispenser and umm, I think that was about it. RM0.50 shy of RM60. Not too bad. The next thing I know, I was holding my bag and discovered Ju has already placed an ice-cream on my other hand, the free hand. As we enjoyed the ice-cream, we did not enjoy not remembering where the car was...

"Ju, I don't see that ugly bed setting when we parked!" I told her, as that was the only sort of 'landmark' I remember seeing. It didn't help that none of us remembered what colour the floor was as well.

"The one that you said you won't even think of shagging on it because it's too flamboyantly extravagant?"

"Yeah, that one," I said, "I think we're on the wrong floor."

She insisted we were on the right floor and for some reason beyond my control, I thought so too. We walked around like a headless chicken, lugging our disposable Ikea plastic bags around, eating our ice-creams and got no where near of finding it. Then a revelation when I notice we were on ground-level, "Didn't we parked at the underground level?"

And we did. We found out 20-minutes later.

We made it back to the car, "Ju! There! Ugly bed setting, we're on the right floor!" I said as we walked past it again after walking down another flight of stairs. Both me and Ju threw everything to the back seat and left. By now, the fatigue has finally set in, "Woah damn tired lah," she sighs, "But it was so much fun. Meng, you should come down more often. No one here ever goes to Ikea with me!"

"Well, no one ever takes me there when I'm here!" I snap back.

"Now you have me!"

I found me a new shopping buddy. The uncle-niece combo. Woooo!!!

Note to Self,

Quick Buck

For the past 2-weeks; I've been driving around, passed 3 road blocks and got stopped once on the highway for allegedly speeding at 122km/h at a 110km/h zone, though the initial pull-over was for the boss' tinted glass on the back passenger side.

I remember the stop vividly, "Tuan, tingkap banyak gelap lor," the officer states.

"Boss, ini tingkap memang sudah gelap wan," I replied, as I passed him my driver's license, "Semua model pun macam nih. Standard-issue lah."

As I wind up the driver's window to show him that the driver's side isn't tinted, he lifted his writing pad and went, "Oh, tadi ah, kat Juru sana, you speeding, 122km/h."

Wait, didn't he stop us for the tinted windows? Bollocks. Confirm cari makan.

We gave him a blank stare, "Aiyoh tuan, boleh bagi chance lah, baru lepas 2km/h saja," the boss broke the awkward silence.

"Tak leh lah, sudah bagi extra 10km/h," he says, "So macam mana?"

Here we go, "Aiyah, ok lah, kena saman lah," I concede. But he didn't seem keen on this.

"Sure? Saman RM300+ tau?"

Ish. We were quite sure we hadn't exceeded the speed limit, or at least were cautious enough to not get caught. We actually thought of taking this further, demanded that we needed more proof. Yet again, that would involve copious amount of hours spend going up and down floors in the police department and endless forms to fill in and yada, yada, yada. "RM50 boleh?" we suggested. Because of the obvious inefficiency, taking the easy way out is favoured.

"OK," he agrees and asked me to place the bribe under my license.

"Tapi tuan, lesen aku dengan awak lah," I said.

"Ini bukan lah, ini IC ang!" he holds up my MyKad.

Oh shit, "Oh sorry tuan, haha," I passed him my license (along with the RM50) this time as he return my MyKad.

After he pretended to do some writing and secretly slipping the money into his pocket, he returned and passed my license back and said, "Lain kali slow ah."

"OK tuan," and we sped off.

Strange enough, none of them (and us) didn't realized that my driver's license had already expired. And he was holding it up to his face. Yet, -- to our benefit -- he still couldn't spot it. So much for them upholding the law. They seem to be more keen on something else, eh?

So...I've been driving around for 2-weeks with no license.

Now that was a close-call.

I Bought A New Bag, finally

Since last year, my beloved adidas green bag -- which I bought during a sale at a sensational price -- is falling apart bit by bit from the inside. Because this is my all-terrain, multipurpose bag, the outer layer is starting to dry up, causing it to fall off in all the compartments. Everytime I dig out my iPod or my wallet or camera or whatever, it's covered with a green sand-like debris. Refer to the picture. I got that bunch from just randomly sticking my finger into the one of the compartments. So you can imagine how much debris is in it.

And yeah, I've emptied it before. Just like people with dandruff issues, it just keeps coming back, unrelentingly.

So on a gloomy, wet Monday morning, I asked if she would like to join me on a quick shopping spree, "Hey, wanna go to Queensbay Mall or BJ for lunch?" I disguised my intention.

She replied, "Umm, sure, let's go Queensbay Mall," in which I agreed. BJ is kinda like the Mecca for Ah Beng apparels and accessories anyway. If it ain't for the Ah Bengs, then it's for the Ah Lians.

We arrive at Queensbay Mall (QBM) and proceeded to park the car downstairs, by now I've told her that I've tricked her into this by disguising it as a lunch outing, "Shall we eat first or go look for your bag first?" she ask.

Knowing how lunch makes people sluggish and sleepy, I replied, "Let's shop first."

The basement level is our starting point, we proceeded to the first shop in-sight, which was Adidas, after making a remark, "This is the weirdest looking McDonald's ever!" Well, it was. It's too fancy to be McDonald's. Fancy tables, fancy everything.

And I must say, the array of - or lack there of - bags in Adidas was terribly boring. There were only like 5 bags. Out of 5, only 2 were normal sling bags. And both were identical, one black one blue, "Ewww, no velcro! Don't want."

Next shop: Nike. "Ooo, look, Man Utd jersey! Wahhhhh *drools* I don't have this one yet."

"BAG MENG, BAG!" she nags.

"Right, bags, bags..." and I found none that appealed to me. Yet again, no variety. Ugly selections.

My attention quickly veered onto the shelves, "Ooo shoes! Look shoes!! So pretty...woah! Gold swish!"

"MENG! BAG!"

Then in a what-were-we-thinking moment, we went to the east-side of the mall, where all the hip and trendy stuff were located. Stuff like Radioactive and Tropicana, "Man, this is all to college-y lah," she squirms with disgust.

"Yeah, back in college I'd do anything to wear those!" says I, "Man, we're getting old."

"Don't you own like 2 Radioactive Ts?"

"Sha'up."

Even so, we walked in to each and every shop just to satisfy our curiosity and to see what kids are up to these days, in terms of attire, "Should we just buy our lunch and eat it at the office," she speaks to her wristwatch as if she's a mental patient.

I hated the idea. Ever since watching An Inconvenient Truth, I've minimize my take-away to a minimal, we do not need to pollute the world with more packaging, "Nah, we just chuck everything down and run to the car," then I realize we work in Advertising, where we print beautiful stuff for people to throw away.

"Yer, this is like what they wear during those Gay Nites at MOMO," her eyes gazed onto the shelves on the far-end of the Radioactive shop, towards a set of trousers.

"Does this bag look good on me?" I tried on one of the bags, the coolest one in the bunch, "Doesn't huh? I can't quite pull it off," I placed the bag back at the top of the shelve. The bag has some sort of pixel art on the front panel, on a beige base.

We passed yet another Adidas shop, the Adidas Classics, "Look! Shoes! OMG!"

Again, she yells, "BAG! MENG!"

In the end, we settle at Royal Sporting House. The melting pot for all sports brand. I have to admit, I was rather fussy but in my defense, it was all horribly ugly. Or too...Beng-ish, "Wow, look at this," I say as I picked it up, "Nice huh? I love the colour."

Her eyes popped out in amazement as well, "Woah, it is nice, the colours are beautiful!"

I couldn't believe it myself, it was sensationally perfect. The colour, the way it looked on me everything, "Excuse me," I called out to one of the sales girl, "Can I get a new one?"

She smiles at me, "Of course," as she pick it off my hands and disappeared into the store-room. She came back minutes later with a new one, "All good?" she asks.

"Brilliant lah, I'll take it!"

At the counter, the cashier asked me, "Are you Malaysian?"

Do I not look like one? My hair's black, my eyes blacker than night, heck, I just ended a sentenced with a 'lah', "Umm, yeah, I am."

"Oh, you're entitled for a 15% discount," she explains, "All you need to do is SMS this and this," she picks up a card with the eVoucher details written on it," And then send it to this number. You will then receive a number which I will key-in so you'll get your discount."

"Woah, cool..." still holding that card.

As I unleashed my phone to send that SMS, she noticed Drey was eyeing for a pair of slippers, "Why not you get the slippers too?" the cashier asks, "With that, you'll get even more discount!" she justifies.

So I got a pair of slippers for Drey as well. As her birthday present, "Umm, this is Brazil colours right?" she asks the cashier.

"Yes, it is." the cashier replied.

So here you go, a look at my brand new bag!



What do you think?

Pillows and a Car Chase

I'm having a blistering post-KL trip headache. Lack of proper sleep would be the main cause. Lack of an additional pillow played a huge role in the lack of sleep department. I grew up hugging something to sleep. I thought I'm old enough to finally take-on sleep with just ONE pillow.

Boy, was I painfully wrong.

Being the creative bloke that I am (or like to assume), I manipulated the comforter, folded it in such a way to form a makeshift bolster. It was terribly edgy. My mind is having none of it, I need a real pillow if not a bolster. To add insult to injury, the boss beat me to it. Why can't hotels place TWO extra pillows? Bastards.

---------------

On the drive back to Penang, we were somewhere in the middle of Ipoh, after having taking a nap I woke up and said to the boss, who's busy chasing down this Isuzu 3.0 Pickup which overtook his Hilux effortlessly, chanting, "Bastard, bastard, bastard," every single kilometer of the way as the Isuzu comfortably pulled further and further away. Eventually he conceded defeat.

We arrive at the mid-way point toll, "Dude, do you think Malaysia is the only country in the world that pays tolls?" I ask.

He zaps his Touch 'n Go card and floored the pedal, somehow I think he is still keen on chasing that bloody Thai-plat Isuzu, "I think we're the only country in the world that have so much tolls," he mutters out, "In New Zealand, you have tolls as well, but it's a rare sight."

And for some peculiar reason, the conversation veered into his ex-girlfriend in New Zealand, "Aaah, KT, oh KT," says he as he romanticize about the past which was subsequently followed by a sudden descend into depression, "Great, thanks for reminding me about this lah, just great. Now I can't thinking about it."

"Hello, I ask you about tolls and you went back all the way to New Zealand. How is that my fault?"

"I don't think we can catch that Isuzu anymore."

"I need a smoke."

Anymals 02

Click to enlarge.

Anymals 01

Click to enlarge.

Feist - 1 2 3 4

And It Was All Yellow

I actually bought the Malaysian Football Team jersey.

How's that for Merdeka Spirit?

Though fake, but come on. It looks as good as the original. But I don't care, I wear that jersey with great pride, as they did win the Merdeka Cup recently wearing the blue away strip. Unlike their senior counterparts, which they got trashed, and again, then again. In yellow.

Despite buying a size too big, shame, it makes me look like a 16-year old trying too hard to look cool.



The blue does make the logo look really, really horrible I must say. Like as if I got spit on by the FAM on the chest. And what's up with Malaysia and their strange obsession with yellow? Especially in sports. Isn't blue and red the more prominent colours on our beloved flag? Because as far as I know, the Harimau (Tiger, in Malay) isn't the most social of cats. Come on, they're solitary animals and only socialize -- well, not literally -- when they are horny and in need of some pussy (ooo, well said, pats self on the back).


No wonder we suck at team sports.

Dear Hotty,

Really wan.

The Super Sub

I remember back in August 1996, when Astro was still non-existent and football fans like us have to wait at the edge of our seats, hoping, wishing that Dunhill might just sponsor a game for us to watch on the tele. I remember my heart would skip a beat every time I see an Dunhill advert on tele. I would wish with all I got hoping -- with the power of my mind I could manipulate the future -- that they might announce a live game. In August they did. And not only that, it was a double whammy...they are showing:

Manchester United v. Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford.

My team is playing. It made my week.
Getting a chance to watch the likes of Eric Cantona, Schmeichel and co taking on our then arch-rival on home soil was lovely. I don't need to watch cameo shots of them in the sports highlights. Then a bombshell was dropped. Early in the second half, -- if I'm not mistaken -- we were trailing Blackburn and it didn't seem like we were gonna break out of it. Cantona was literally chain downed by the whole Blackburn defence. Well, it's Cantona, any team would do that. That was when Ferguson unleashed an unknown. I saw at the distance, someone wearing a no. 20 shirt was ready to come on. A certain Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is making his Old Trafford debut.

"Who the hell is that? Ole-what?" slowly accepting the fact that we're screwed. If Cantona can't score, we're proper screwed.

Barely 6-minutes after he came on, he scored and secured a 2-2 draw for Man Utd. He went on and score 19 goals that season, (roughly-lah, can't really recall). He consistently scores an average of 18 goals per season. Not bad for a sub, huh? Thus sealing his reputation within the Red Devil folklore. "The Baby-faced Assassin" as he is fondly called famously saved us in an FA Cup 3rd Round game with Liverpool, scoring a late winner, again, from the bench. That turn out to be his trademark as a super-sub. Which evidently lead to Man Utd winning the FA Cup that season. 1999 was Ole reaching his peak. Remember Nottingham Forest? Solskjaer scored 4-goals in just 19 minutes to trash them 8-1. That was off the bench again.

And who could forget the 1999 UEFA Champions' League at the Nou Camp. Which won us the unprecedented Cup and securing the treble. Again, he come off the bench.



Sadly, 2003 was a signal of trouble times ahead for the super-sub. Sidelined for the whole season with a cartilage injury after scoring in the 5-0 trashing of Panathinaikos. It didn't get any better for him, as he went under the knife 3 times in hope to finally shake off that injury. But it never entirely part ways with him. He made the occasional come-backs now and then, but never long enough before the injury start to haunt him again.

Somehow, in the previous season (2006/2007), magically it seems, as sudden as the injury came, it seems to have magically disappeared. Well, for the first half of the season anyway before the injury resurfaced. He did manage 11 goals in what proved to be his final season.

He announced his retirement yesterday, I couldn't believe my ears when I first heard it on Virgin Radio UK. I couldn't. I text JM about it. I think he fainted for a brief 5-seconds. Shame that it was that bloody injury. That same one that has plagued him for past 4 years. Though if you look at at. His last goal in the league is incidentally scored against Blackburn, when we beat them 4-1 last term. As a sub, on the 90th minute. A little bit poetic, no?

"I've been asked many times what's the greatest moment of my United career,' said Solskjaer.

"Scoring that goal in my first game and turning round to see that Eric Cantona was the first one coming towards me to celebrate, that just made me realise, 'I'm at Old Trafford now'."

I love that quote.
Well, here's to the Ole! The striker that won us the treble and our hearts.

We'll miss you.

Win Some, Lose Some

As far as you all know, the last 3 days was attempt No. 2 for 2007.

What is it I hear you ask? Attempt no. 2?

Well, my futile attempt to kick the habit. The habit of smoking. Yeah you heard me. I Tak Nak rokok lagi. But of course, it's easier said than done. Much easier. Zach's dad advised me to go on at it, the old fashion way. Cold turkey. It worked well, very well. For like 3 hours. OK, 2 hours. OK fine, 1-hour. (I've learnt that being honest to yourself IS essential to the quitting process).

So let's put it this way (and I'm not kidding).
I had one 2 on Saturday and another 2 3 on Sunday. On Monday I was under the weather (mainly due to the excessive eating to postpone the dreaded "after a fantastic meal smoke") I had another 1 (actually 4). That's not too bad now is it? That's terrible. As you can see, I'm only smoking the odd cig the intake increases each passing day, go me! how pathetic. So much for quitting, eh? This calls for celebration! Let's have a smoke! But hey, I ain't giving up just yet. Really. This attempt must be real! Screw it, I'm gonna have a smoke now Real dammit! Not just a weekend thing. And I don't know how much more food I can jam into that long stomach of mine.

But just out of curiosity, I wondered how much do I weigh now? I was at 64kg on Thursday (Yeah, I could literally be blown away by a strong gust of wind), I jump on the scale this morning to investigate. Honestly, I'm hardly a morning-person. Almost never. Simply because - like I've justified on numerous occasion - there's never a good reason to wake up unless you want to. So imagine me, all grumpy and grouchy when I hop on the scale. And it registered at 67kg.

WOAH!

3KG? (here we go again) WOOOAAH!!!

I have to admit, that made my day. And a reason to smoke!

And that made me into a morning-person. Well, at least for this morning anyway. Despite the rotten weather.

I think I found me a new motivation to quit.
I'm gonna be fat! Wooo...

Time for a smoke!

Gosh, I need more will-power.

Tagged, again

Now that I have some time to spare...
And in keeping with my promise to Russ, I will sort out this tag now.

Russ recently tagged me to list down 5 of my friend's blog. Russ, is it a top-5 thing? Because I'm just gonna list 'em in no particular order.

So here we go.

1. Ian the Jelly-Man.
2. Ju, the Niece Who's 5-months older than me.
3. Vonner the Neighbour.
4. David the Studio Manager

and last but not least...

5. BABE. The Hot One.

This is the most pointless tag I've ever done.
Russ, what were you thinking? lol

First Wave

For the past month and a half, I’ve been slugging it out to get my portfolio sorted out. Like I’ve said on many occasions, it wasn’t as fun as I would expect, sorting out my work, 2-years worth. Hence, my absence.

However, it was rather nostalgic. Seeing my progress from Day 1 till, umm, now. Am I happy with the progress? Well, yeah. But was it substantial? Have I got what it takes? According to them, I do.

I went over to the New Zealand Education Fair at Gurney Hotel yesterday to meet with the people of WSD (Wanganui School of Design), to discuss whatever options there is for me to undergo my studies there. Including scholarships. Funding has always been the issue. I enlighten them with some basic drawings.

I wrote me on one end of the paper and Wanganui on the other, contained in a box, “Between me and the Bachelor Degree, is this big highway driving straight towards it,” I dashed the pen across the sheet, “But I can’t afford the tolls, so I’ll have to use the trunk roads, winding my way around it.”

She smiled at me and placed my portfolio between us, on the table where all the brochures were placed, “Well, I’ve taken a look at your portfolio,” she said, lifting it up to show me the title, “and I must say, it’s really good!”

Hearing that, I felt a huge lift, the burden I’ve been carrying for the past month or so blown away in a flash allowing my confidence to soar, “Oh, thank you, I did the best I could,” I told her, “So, what do you think? My chances of a scholarship?”

It was a real shame though that they don’t exactly have a scholarship program. It has to be affiliated with another college or uni or something. This is where I felt they weren’t speaking English to me. But the Director did give me his word, “When I go back, I’ll see what strings I can pull to your favour,” and while he tries, he also suggested I look up for other scholarships, like the ones that the NZ government offers. And yes, they have a division for international students. That’ll be tough, very tough, but still worth a shot. On top of that, we also discussed other methods. Loans, stretching the payment and what not.

After discussing all possible options for me to explore, we veered back into my admission, “Seeing that she has approved your portfolio,” the Director said, “why don’t you fill up the enrollment form first?” Because apparently, I no longer need to sit for any entry-examinations and all that jazz which might take-up weeks most people go thru during application and put me straight into the 3rd Year. Skipping the first 2. They seem keen to have me onboard.

After filling up the forms, I walked back to them and hand it to them, “You should receive a letter from us in about a week, stating that you’ve been accepted to study at WSD.” She also told me that it’s not compulsory for me to accept it, should I still find myself struggling to find the funds needed.

So, after a month and a half of endless round the clock spent in front of the screen, I’ve gotten my first wave. The first step. Now I’m in. Only to discover there’s an intricate web of funding hurdles and endless paper work required during application process. I hope the ripple would go far. Really far.

We shook hands and exchanged beaming smiles, hopeful smiles, “I’ll see you soon at WSD,” she said. As if she knew, somehow, some way, I’ll find myself on a plane to NZ and straight into WSD. I love her optimism.

“And I’ll see you soon.”

I sure hope so. I really do.

Almost There

OK, OK...

I'm back. For now.
Just to jot down a few things before I resume being on hiatus.

With 3 days left, it's really starting to scare me. I've spent a ridiculous amount -- and I really mean ridiculous as in enough to buy me another 3G phone -- on me portfolio, printed on glossy paper. Over 50 pages and one whole day at the printers. What was sad is that I had to chop off 3 sections to cater my embarrassing budget. It was heartbreaking and painful but I had no choice. Running out of time, wallet running thin.

I have yet to see how to final outcome will look like along with the cover design on hard cover. It'll be ready by Monday, well, it better be. I need it by Tuesday.

Not to mention the weeks I've clocked-in to collect 2 years worth of work. I'm exhausted.

Well, I have to rush off work now and head to a book store to buy some supplies I'll need to get me second portfolio up and running. Oh how I wish my mom's copious amount of money plants actually grow real money...oh well.



I'll be back in 5 days. See you then =)
(Russ, I'll get on that tag thing soon, I promise!)

The Day I Edge Closer to Quarter-Life Crisis

And so today’s the day. My day. Strange enough, I did not even contemplate on taking the day off. Just like last year, I decided to work it off, since I don’t have anything planned, might as well, right?

[This is my third attempt on this second paragraph. I can’t help but whine about my dim-witted clients and their one-dimensional comments. They will not mess up my day! So here goes, happy thoughts, joyful thoughts, ummm…]

Just over 2 more weeks to go, 19 days to be specific. I’ve gotten my works from 2005 sorted out, with 2006 and first half of 2007 still to gather and assemble, I’m feeling it. The mixture of a nervous breakdown and a mental meltdown. Panicky. Anxious. Terrified.

So what better way is there to combat such torrent of horrifying feeling than to go shopping! OK, before you go all, “Oh, Meng’s such a woman,” on me, let me be more precise, I’m going techno-shopping! Nothing makes me feel better than buying techno gadgets that I don’t need. But I actually do need them. Really.

Remember the PC went all ‘Smokey the Bear’ on me? Now I gotta beef up my iBook G4 with a spanking new 1GB RAM to bring it up to the max capacity of 1.25GB so I could work on me portfolio at home, a wireless modem, finally (yes, I’m aware it’s already 2007) because not having Internet connection at home is just down right weird and not very wonderful and 2 external HD cases for the HDs that used to be in the PC. I have pornography important data in ‘em that I need for me portfolio. And maybe a couple of 'just for kicks' purchase, as long as they’re cheap.

The second half of 2007 has brought a mixture of extremely welcoming type good luck and of course the ‘every action has an equal and opposite re-action’ type bad luck as well. Just like when my cousin decided to sponsor my car’s insurance for this year which was about RM700.

“I can’t let you do that, that’s a lot of money, I have it right now with me, where are you?” I told her but she refused. I insist but she still declined. Saying that all I need to do in return was to treat her a sensational dinner. I gave in, eventually.

Then my car fucked up, again. This time is the engine mounting. As Vig would remember, it vibrates as if the whole engine is just gonna drop and bounced away into the sunset. That alone would cost me just about RM700. See the whole action-re-action thing going on? But for every mechanical fuck-up there's always a dad-in-shining-armour silver lining. Dad suggests he loan me the cash for first. I told him I might not pay him back until at least October. Because I have to invest a lot of money into my portfolio for this month, save some cash for my holiday trip which my other cousin is adamant that I take and of course, my dad’s surprise birthday present in September. A brand-spanking new mobile phone. Probably Sony Ericsson’s K750i since mom, sis and me are now on Sony Ericsson. I think it’s user-friendlier compared to Nokia. Maybe it’s just me.

I’m not quite done with this entry just yet.

Earlier, whilst on a cig-break, she asked me, “Would you prefer a cake or beers?”

Since she gotten me the least manliest of cakes last year, a pink watermelon shaped cake with smoky dry-ice, “It was either a pink cake with chocolate on the inside or a chocolate cake with some strange pink-filling on the inside,” was her justification. Seems fair enough. Though I ended up having more fun playing with the dry ice. The cake was so oddly done, even the cashier asked, “So how old is she? 3? 4?”

“No, he’s 23.”

I’m so glad I wasn’t there. So you can understand when I said, “Beers would be great,” to her. Cakes never really liked me anyway. ‘Cos I’ll still be stick-thin even if I devour the whole thing and risk diabetes. Thanks for yet another cool-shirt, Drey.

And to Na-o-mie – I never really understood why there are hyphens in your name – THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE iPod CHARGER (ORIGINAL SOMEMORE) YOU BOUGHT FOR ME LAST SATURDAY! Though I know she doesn’t know about this site, but what the heck. The perfect Apple-nerd gift for an Apple-nerd. I would give you a giant sloppy-ass kiss but Vig’s afro might go all Dragonball flaming yellow and throw a Kame Hame Ha on me.

I’m writing this long-ass (and seemingly quite random) entry because – after much thought and reflection – I’ve decided to go on a 20-day hiatus. Time is running thin, like me, and I really gotta focus. I’ve already set up an appointment with them and I even have the exact ETA in my room clock. Just to scare me the crap out of me and hopefully motivate me to push even harder as well.

As much as I would love to over-indulge myself with copious amount of alcohol and flirt with every girl I see in hope I might get some lovin’, I can’t. So bear with me for a bit. I’ve told most of my friends that I’ll disappear from the social circle for a good 2-weeks to sort out my life. And maybe another week after that for some me-time-type break.



So...
I'll see you all in Merdeka.
Ooo, serendipity! My project ends in time for the celebration!

25

It's crunch time. The countdown has begun. And my trusty Mac-expert in on-leave for the whole week. Which makes it easier to stand firm on my decision to hold-on and wait 'till they release the new iMac.

Time to look for a 1GB of RAM to slot into my iBook.

25 days left till my date on the 20th of August. Time to gather my things together and push thru. 2 deadlines, 2 campaigns, 1 side project, 1 video project and 1 portfolio with 2 years worth of work to compile. Sounds daunting, scary and almost impossible. Yet again, I did slave over 3 pieces of A1-sized paintings with 2 sleepless nights during my Foundation year. I managed, somehow. Barely. But nonetheless, I did it. And I really mean 2 sleepless nights. I did start to see things. Weird things floating. I started to hallucinate.

Sleep never felt so good after that.

After Futsal yesterday - a somewhat disappointing but yet fun outing cos though I scored only twice, I created half of Ryan's 15-goal rampage - I felt it coming. Impending sickness. Scratchy throat, cold-sweat and you know, that "one kind" kind of feeling you get before you descend into a full blown sickness. I got home and immediately took one bloody cold shower to cool off, chug down 2 panadols and passed out. I woke up the next morning with THE nastiest headache, thus I kept snoozing my alarm until 8.30am. I got up eventually, knowing if I don't make work today, everything I've been working on for the past month towards the 20th would be in serious jeopardy. I dragged myself up and made one bloody power cup of coffee. Followed by another even-the-penguins-would-freeze cold shower to wake me up and hopefully drive the headache off.

It worked.

And now here I am. 25 days left.

It's crunch time!

Pulau Pening

First, a little girl is murdered, chopped to pieces and scattered all over the island. Then some guy gets shot 7 times.

WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO PENANG MAN?

Now or Later

So, with my PC finally kicking the bucket - or in a state of a perpetual coma - I've decided to move on. I made my way to Apple's HQ at Hardwicke to meet up my ex-colleague, an old friend and a die-hard-knows-all Mac enthusiast, Mr. Kant. The guy with a English accent but full blown chinese-looking bloke who is half a head taller than me.

He was attending to a customer, who just bought a shiny white Macbook, he glanced up and saw me, "Hey Meng, be with you in a minute," he said.

I placed my bag on one of the sofas and made my way to the shelves, checking out the iPod accessories. But an open-case iMac caught my attention. Man, the insides of an iMac is so bloody intricate and complicated. I bend down a little to examine the interior. His customer left shortly after that. We started nerding about.

After we finish discussing the server problem we have at our office, I admitted, "Actually, that's not why I'm really here," I said to him, since I was coming here, might as well.

I folded my arms and looked up to him, "My PC at home finally exploded last Friday," I tell you, it's so strange looking up to talk to someone...so used to looking down, heh, "It's god-sent that it's finally konked, proper," but at the worst time. My neck is still aching from the Music Fest, so I suggest to him we sit down.

We sat on the sofa and his eyes popped out in disbelief, "Oh what happened?"

I explained to him that the motherboard had a mini Hiroshima, "So I'm in the market looking for a new system. An iMac to be precise," I pick up one of the brochures and pointed out to him, "The exact same one we bought from you earlier this year, but this time it's for myself."

What scared me was when he gave me this look, kinda like a Oh-man-you-should-not-buy-one-now, "Meng, ummm, how badly do you need a computer now?"

"Well, I kinda have to finish my portfolio by the 20th of August," I told him, and I've only have 30% of it done, "I'm desperately running out of time."

Kant took a long sigh, as if thinking of a solution, "You do know Apple recently announced the release date for Leopard (the new OS X) right?"

"Uh huh."

"If, if you can wait for just another 2-months, it'll be better," citing that they're gonna have the iMacs revamped, pre-loaded with the new and improved OS, along with a new keyboard and mighty mouse design, "On top of that, they might also phase out white and introduce a silver iMac!"

Woah! Thats waaay too cool.

I respond, "What about the upcoming PC Fair? I thought if the deals are sweet enough, I might just go for it during the fair." Because the last fair, they gave away free speakers (worth RM499 - RM799 depending on which model), wireless keyboard (worth RM200+) and a wireless mouse (worth just under RM200), which totals up to about RM1K in free gifts.

"Meng, you worked with us before, you know how this works. No promotions will be released or published until at least 3 days before the event itself. Heck, I wish I knew what they are gonna offer."

We discussed further on the possible new iMac, and I ask him to give me a holler the minute he has any information about the PC Fair promotion. I left Hardwicke about 10 minutes later.

Now I'm in a dilemma, should I just risk it and buy it at the fair and end up kicking myself 2-months later when they release a silver Mac - which could be possibly smaller, thinner and sleeker (and silver) or should I just invest in upgrading the RAM in my iBook to finish off my portfolio and get the silver Leopard iMac later.



Oh the predicament.

Very Muddy World Music Festival

Because I jumped and basically layan the music there...
now my whole body is achingly sore.

I shall let the camera do the blogging.


As you can so clearly see. Ju was already wasted before we got into the Festival. Thanks to 4 Vodka Ribena shots - which Vig's mom said is the most disgusting combination - and 2 cans of beers.


Dawn sponsored us Ice-Cream. I didn't quite fancy one, but I could use the sugar-rush. Thanks Dawn.


We manage to meet up Auntie Sue and gang as well. They were the VIPs. And our discount cards.


James decided to cancel his weekend plans and join us. Too bad he (and his girl) wore white shoes too.


"Ohmygawd, my feet is soaking wet with mud and it stinks here! Woooo!!!!!"









I swear to god, not a single soul at the festival understood what these Mongolians had to say in-between sets. No one!



Ahhh, of course, the aftermath. I was so drunk, so caught up. I couldn't care less. I wore slippers to work today.



Man, my Pumas are so fucked now. Like proper fucked.
But hey, it was waaay worth it.

I'm so going to Sarawak next year.