27 posts tagged “vanity”

1. I've rediscovered point-and-click games - needed something that wouldn't needlessly abuse my 'z' and 'x' buttons on the keyboard. (thanks shu!) Of course, I still need walkthroughs, but am proud to say that I only need them as the occasional reference? Currently am working through Submachines. Summation of my geekery: in preparation for replaying Submachine 2, I redrew my map of the sewers in proper grid format, complete with shaded cells. Needless to say, I am very proud of myself.
Recs:
Aztec's escape games - it's actually a series, with one totally random cat, lasers and GIANT ROBOTS.
Takagism's Crimson Room and Viridian Room - I think this was among the first that I played.
Neutral's rooms - Next to Submachines, I love Neutral's rooms. Vision is awwwwwwwwesome.
MOTAS (Mystery of Time and Space) - I remember this well. THIS GAME ATE MY LIFE
To play soon: Samorost and Trapped: Part One & Part Two
And: Top 10 point-and-click games.

2. Raya is almost upon us. MUST SAVE MONEY FOR ANG POWS AND BAJU RAYA STAT.

3. Today I'm wearing a t-shirt that has ants crawling all over it. Bro bought it at Bangkok as souvenir. OH HE KNOWS ME SO WELL.

4. I just realised that when I type in all caps, I'm not implying that I'm shouting as per convention, but I am in fact SPEAKING LIKE DEATH. I wonder if the paperback for PTerry's Making Money is out yet....

5. LoL Google Sari.

6. The most adorable anecdote of the week, possibly month, possibly year.

And not a political post either.

I shan't talk of the petrol subsidy cut and how, coupled with the power hike, will definitely result in a snowball effect in prices and a growing inflation, not in the least mitigated by any news of any meaningful wage increase (saying that our prices are still among the lowest in the region has no meaning when in relation to the actual spending power of the people, it's a hike that hurts their wallets). Taking the long view, I believe this is for the best, even if it really is world trends that's forcing our govt's hand. In any case, Malik Imtiaz's post on subsidies and corruption makes good reading.
In any case, I am seriously considering dusting up my brother's bike and using it around the neighbourhood and to the gym (no point talking abt my bike, he had gotten it involved in an accident yonks ago, so...) - speaking of, had a round with a trainer yesterday, who proceeded to pwn me so thoroughly my legs are like jelly today. Which is a splendid development to have I tell you, when it's post-petrol hike and everyone and their mother thinks it's a good idea to take the LRT to work today.

....Man, checking my Vox neighbourhood makes me realise I'm seriously slacking in posting pictures.

Let's see, on the vanity front, I've stopped using mineral makeup, for the simple reason that despite the natural coverage it gives me, it still has poor oil control for me, and it doesn't do favours to the dry parts of my skin either. For a change of scene, I bought Revlon's ColorStay, instead of my usual L'oreal True Match, which has good oil control I have to say, and man they weren't kidding about the lasting power of this foundation. You need to blend quickly though, it sets pretty fast. On impulse, because there was a 50% with-purchase discount, I got myself Revlon's Molten Metal Liquid Eyeshadow (I got the one in copper, despite my initial instinct for gold). Now this is one impulse buy I don't regret. Good golly, Miss Molly, the lasting power of this eyeshadow is unbelievable. And I look good in copper! I shouldn't be surprised.

Anyway, as you have no doubt guessed from my Twitter posts, I have picked up crocheting. And how! With a Ravelry account and everything. And Yasmin's proven right too -- at this v. moment I'm designing my own scarf pattern...  yay, go me?? In any case, it's for Cin, who's leaving for .au for work. Goodness, it truly has been a season for job changes for people I know.

In the meantime however, welcome, to the exact centre of the Internet. Also, would you like to know how to spot a doctored photo? Here's 5 ways how to!

And for me to read later: How the Web Was Won.

Let's get the venting out of the way first. Following local news, mixed with news on various reforms (that really REALLY should've been instituted at least a term ago, but playing 'shoulda woulda coulda' is neither here nor there) are various demonstrations that either my fledgling understanding of politics and governance is really shallow, or do people REALLY DON'T UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOVERNMENT MACHINERY/AFFAIRS AND PARTISAN MACHINERY/AFFAIRS?? From Lee Kah Choon having to resign from Gerakan simply because he had the gall to accept the appointment to an arm of the state economic development apparatus, the dissolution of Selangor's MP Wives' Assoc and channeling the funds to the National MP Wives' Assoc as well as further examples of punishing opposition states by rerouting funding meant to them through to federal-level mechanisms instead, gives me no real optimism of all other reform measures being trumpeted right now. How can I? To carry out such reforms requires maturity in thinking, yet our BN politicians are acting like five-year-olds stamping their foot and threatening to bring all their toys home just because their portion of the sandbox got smaller. And it's not like it's even their toys - be that as it may that they may be developed by the BN govt, the key term here is 'GOVERNMENT'. I know 50-odd years of being in power may have blurred the lines, but BN/Alliance != Government. Parties leading the government may come and go, but the civil service remains.

Gah. To be honest, it's not like they haven't done it before. Kelantan and Terengganu are pretty much textbook examples of how the Fed Govt punished state opposition through economic structural barriers. And I never made that much of a fuss simply because I don't live in those states, though I have ties there. So, this venting is really me being selfish.

Protip guys: You want to recapture the electorate, it's not through the creation of moaaaar blogs. I don't give a flying fuck if you have them or not, if you people don't grow up.

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

Over at the US, it's Sexual Assault Awareness Month, which means there're some interesting posts being made right now. I didn't pay much attention to it, until this happened: The Open Source Boob Project.The Open Source WHAT Project? Yeah. The original project itself seemed pretty empowering, started by women and participated by women, more than men. Unfortunately the post that started a maelstorm was written by a man who was there, who phrased it in such a privileged white male way that I literally could not continue, the mental slime dripping from the post was so thick.

At Penguicon, we had buttons to give away. There were two small buttons, one for each camp: A green button that said, "YES, you may" and a red button that said "NO, you may not." And anyone who had those buttons on, whether you knew them or not, was someone you could approach and ask: "Excuse me, but may I touch your breasts?

Anyway, this whole kerfuffle happened to take place during this month, which gave more impetus for more people to post about the overall issue, as well as this particular incident: This is a good rundown and list of reaction posts dealing specifically with boob-gate.

A couple of other posts:
Thoughts of Men and Rape - The more I think about it, the more it pisses me off. How pathetic is it that, in our culture, the only thing you have to do to be a good guy is say, "Hey, one of these days I'll write something about rape." Even that sort of vague, empty comment about rape is enough to make you stand out. Because that's already more than most guys seem willing to say or do.

I noticed the same thing when I worked with Take Back the Night years ago. Practically all I had to do was show up, and I was some sort of freaking hero.

(incidentally, it made me compare and contrast with this post by a local blogger: But, is it possible that things can sometimes swing too far to the left? Where the burden of proof on a rape victim just becomes too low for justice to be served?)

Don't be 'That Guy' -

2. Entitlement (part two.)

Related to the first: if you make me think that you're coming from a place of "but as soon as she sees how awesome I am, she will of course see that I am not one of Those Guys and want to reward me", that's entitlement too. This is what a lot of women mean when they derisively say "Nice Guy™" -- because, and sadly to say, a lot of men who say "I'm a feminist!" carry the distinct undercurrent of passive-aggressive "I'm a feminist! I'm one of the Good Guys! So it's totally okay for you to sleep with me, and in fact, you should do so right now and as often as possible."

In more vanity-related news of my life, reading this article You Walk Wrong: It took 4 million years of evolution to perfect the human foot. But we're wrecking it with every step we take, reminded me of the Adidas Kampung, and how much I would like to buy one. But the places I've heard where it is easily available is too out of the way for me, le sigh.

Also, I tried to curl my hair with the rag curl method. It's incredibly kind to your hair, all things being relative, (AND CHEAP!) but my hair's too short and layered for me to properly wind it up, so though it has incredible body today, I also looked like a veritable fright. XD

And this Overheard at NY post cracks me up:

Teen girl #1: Don't read it.
Teen boy: Really?
Teen girl #2: It's so overrated. Everyone's like "Oh my god, Frankenstein is awesome!" but it's not. It isn't. Frankenstein sucks so hard.
Teen girl #1: Victor spends half the book sick and the monster spends half the book spying on a family with a hot Arabian chick.
Teen boy: What about all the torches and Igor and everything?
Teen girl #2: Not there.
Teen boy: For real?
Teen girl #1: Just a lot of a Swiss guy crying and lying on the floor. I even have it in my notes, "Victor says: 'When in doubt, pass out!'" And there's a stick figure giving a thumbs up.

The other day at a supermarket bakery (which has to be one of the most depressing places on earth - stale refined carbs going for cheap!), I was entertaining one of my pet hypotheses for the use of temporal manipulation technology, in the F&B industry. Outlandish flights of fantasy over the use of hypothetical tech is one thing, but I tend to be more interested in the prosaic applications. Anyway, time travelling on a scale larger than an atom may not yet be possible, but the capability to freeze time may be more within reach. (Well, I guess, it's not like I have a degree in theoretical physics or anything). And I was spinning yarn with myself about how it'd be adopted by the F&B industry: for one thing, it beats conventional freezing for freshness. And how at the start it'd be prohibitively expensive tech and it'd only be available at high-end swanky joints, and that's the selling point, how the ingredients would be fresher than fresh. And then of course, the tech would grow to be more and more affordable (in the meantime, the poor or less able to afford could only have staler and staler (is that even grammatically correct) food). And of course, by the time the tech is readily available, there would be a backlash, with the ultra-elite renouncing this tech as being too... whatever (I'm sure they can think of a reason). And there would be a movement back to fresh food, that's not temporally frozen and 'unnatural'. I bet by this time the tech for time travel would eventually arrive, and thus nothing could be fresher than food that was teleported straight from the source! XD

I should stop hanging around supermarket bakeries so much.

If not for my boss bringing the subject up, I would not have given thought to the matter of local coffee at all. Not that I'm necessarily snobbish about local coffee, hell naw: I'd rather hang out at kopitiams or mamaks rather than Starbucks et al (same caffeine rush, cheaper price!). But as she used to work in Indonesia, she explained to me how prevalent it is to find local coffee grounds/blends for one to brew at home, rather than the case over here, where 1) it's just easier to get imported coffee, due to local preference/assumptions; 2) coffee-drinking, like many things food-related in this country, is something of an art only when it's consumed outside of one's house; 3) we tend to prefer instant coffee crap for our homes, and this explains Nescafe.

(A note on terms, 'kopitiam' is the Malaysianised term for the chinese phrase for 'coffeeshop', and as you can probably discern from that explanation, it's operated mainly by those of Hainanese Chinese descent. 'Mamak' refers to Indian Muslim-operated eateries/stalls, and the coffee-making tradition on that side is more of the 'masala chai' sort.)

So I've been keeping an eye out on local blends (this is also in the self-interests of my wallet, XD), because I figured, what with the current boom in the 'modernised' kopitiams (brilliant reinvention of a Malaysiana feature for the first few players maybe, but it's simply jumping on the bandwagon for everyone else...), they must be selling local blends too, right?

Well, I'm sort of right anyhow. Where I'm staying, Oldtown White Coffee kopitiams is shaping up to be our local Starbucks in terms of its ubiquitousness... that's not necessarily a compliment by the way, since all of the blends they're offering for sale are mostly of the 3-in-1/2-in-1 instant sort.... <.<. They do seem to take a page out of Starbucks's playbook - usually being the first shop to open in a new development/shopping area. (though looking at the website, the Nanyang range seems to be closest to what I'm looking for)

Which comes to my find of the week: Kluang Station Coffee. Now this is the real deal. I usually tend to find myself at the Ikano outlet, but it's usually so packed I don't really bother to go... until yesterday afternoon. The coffee is still excellent as I remembered, but dear management, your Ikano outlet waitstaff is totally crap. I have no problems with foreign labour, but if they're going to be part of your wait staff, a proficiency in more than basic BM or English is called for, don't you think? And the girl who was manning the cashier -- well, she redefined the word 'rude'. I tend to be optimistic regarding human nature, and sales staff are among my favourite people to deal with (what? I like idle chit-chat), but I haven't wanted to punch someone in the service industry in the face in a long time. In any case, her rudeness put me off wanting to purchase a bag of the Kluang Station hand-roasted coffee. Rude Girl, YOU'RE ON NOTICE.

Anyhow, found myself in 1 Utama, trying in vain various dresses to wear to San's wedding, and lo, I completely forgot the Kluang Station outlet there. The experience this time is more pleasant... though of course this time I knew exactly what to order and I was having a SMS convo with Haz regarding Blade Runner mostly. So this time did get myself a 200g bag (for only RM5.50! Compared to what I usually pay for a tin of Illy's....). So what's the verdict? It's a coarse-ish grind, not recommended at all for an espresso machine (XD) unless you grind it up further, but it's good enough for a percolator or a french press (which is what I used). AND DAMN IT'S GOOOOOOOOOD.

Am now nursing a mug of Kluang Station coffee since 8.30pm, and holy crap, I'm buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzinnnnnnng.....

(of course my mum, who'd do the 'East Coast REPRESENT' dance at a drop of a metaphorical hat, would like to remind me the other famous local coffee would be the one from Kemaman, though I forgot the name of the kopitiam. There's a Kemaman Classic Kopitiam over at Section 14, but it felt more like the numerous knock-offs that's mushroomed since Uncle Lim's.... Anyone can tell me if the real Kemaman coffee has made its presence known in the West Coast Peninsula, or is the Section 14 one the real deal.)

A note on make-up tools
I don't like to sound like a brand chaser, but when it comes to make up tools, translating the main advice to invest wisely very often means going upmarket. In terms of brushes, I'd recommend Make Up Forever, because it's a professional (i.e. by makeup artists for makeup artists) line, but relatively more affordable than the tools sold by MAC, Bobbi Brown and Stila for example. That said, my experience with the sales staff at the KLCC outlet has generally been mediocre. I would suggest arming yourself with knowledge before stepping into their area.

And by the way, holy cow, the hype over Shu Uemura's eyelash curler? TOTALLY DESERVED. I have to say, it's the Japanese you ought to look to when it comes to eyelashes. To use another example, I swear by my Dejabu Fibrewig mascara. It's crazy awesome.

And by the way, to my Benefit-wearing peeps (HAHA ALL THANKS TO MEEEEEEE), an outlet is opening soon in 1U on 31 March. Yay!

Ever since I got my new Sony-E W810i, I've decided to follow JQ's example, and make this a semi-food blog. Semi, because I'm too scatterbrained in my interests as well as the fact that I'm a lazy bugger. Why, in fact this post shall be my usual mish-mash, but with added pictures! \o/??

In any case, as the food section shall be pic-heavy, I'll put that last. Though, I have to say, the paiola papayas Haz got for my family are DE-LI-CIOUS. I didn't manage to take a picture, because I ated them!! OMNOMNOMNOM. She says you can get them at Carrefour and selected Jusco outlets, as well as some high-end fruit shops, though it is not organic. Get them if you can, seriously. I usually only get this kind of papaya scent out of a bottle.*hearts* It's smaller than the average papaya, so keep an eye out for them.

(The thing about trying to keep a food blog, I personally find, is try NOT TO EAT THE THING BEFORE TAKING THE PIC. ^_^;; Like the yee sang I had at Hakka Restaurant, at Jalan Kia Peng. Steamboat very reasonable price of RM20/pax btw. It serves pork, tho, but you can ask it to not be included in the standard set.)

(and why we, the office, went there:

me: haaahaa

  tmr have office dinner

  we're having an american guy over

11:39 PM who apparently keeps kosher

  so we're like, ok ok, no pork no pork

  but then we have this filipina lady here too

  and she can't take spicy

  which pretty much decimates .... 90% of malaysian dishes

  so... *thinky thinky

11:40 PM then: seafood! steamboat!

  *make reservation

  today, boss comes in, hey you know, kosher also means no shellfish

  (i completely forgot!!!)

  so we're like, <.<

  >>.>>

 Tracy: omg UR DOOMED

  DOOM

 me: "....so, how kosher is he??"

11:41 PM Tracy: RUN SCREAMING

  HAHAHAHA

  oh my god that's like a JOKE.'

 me: "maybe it's just no pork!!"

 Tracy: FOR SERIOUS.

(Hold on, that didn't sound right... correction: 'only white people of the Jewish faith would have dietary restrictions.' White people at large, despite past history, do not in fact eat Jews.)

This part is about make-up
Hani accompanied me to the Pavilion yesterday, since we both had the day off, thanks to FT day. It was a very pleasant day trip, much like a tourist-y kind of outing (we even took silly pictures with a mascot guy. In this case, the Carl's Jr Happy Star). I wanted to go as part of my personal 2008 photo project. Anyway, I was testing out my Lumiere mineral makeup sample, which finally arrived, and I convinced Hani to spend most of the day with Giorgio Armani's Luminous Silk foundation applied to half of her face. Lumiere's foundation is USD18 (plus USD5 for shipping), which is about RM60, while Armani's foundation is RM149. The reason why I convinced her to try the Armani one is due to Paula Begoun's positive review for it. The foundation claims to give a silky, skin-natural finish, and good for combination skin (it addresses oily and dry skin concerns), iirc. In any case, it became a test run for makeup on opposite ends of the price range, and in both cases, we respectively love what we had on, which we subjected to an almost 8-hour wear, which involved a lot of walking, indoors and outdoors (though it must be said, we walked in post-rain afternoon KL, so the humidity may be high, but not the heat). We both loved the finish of both, and Hani said that there is a noticeable difference between the side with the foundation and the side without, in regards to the shine control. I was wearing a Lumiere foundation in the Cashmere line, and while I think I need a better primer than the Veena Veil sample that I wore, for my nose (always an issue), the shine isn't too noticeable and the finish is as comparable as the Armani one (very creamy, silky look, which I think can definitely be attributed to the silk powder in the ingredients). It definitely was more wearable for fairly vigorous use than the Signature Minerals one that I tried (tho I've decided to order a SM finishing powder as well, to use as a primer of sorts, since it has kaolin clay).

So evidently, in regards to performance, they're both comparable. So I'll take a plunge into mmu and will probably order a Lumiere starter kit. And Hani did say she would consider buying the GA foundation, if she decides to splurge (for the moment she's much too taken by the ease of Benefit's Some Kind-a Gorgeous though, haha).

Cons for Lumiere: online retailer - shipping takes about 10 days != instant gratification; foundation and blusher shades need guesswork - this is where samples come in, and let's just hope you're the sort who can guesstimate your own shade based on the website.

Cons for Armani's Luminous Silk: all the usual fiddly things with liquid foundation applies; the price.

Paula Begoun, ever since I was introduced to her by Maybs, have been such a valuable personal resource. It's really helped me a lot in becoming more savvier about the cosmetics world. Which is good, since I'm such a pushover for marketing. XD

This is the part about the food

FWIW, McDonald's has come out with the Prosperity Foldover, which made me glad I haven't got time to have the Prosperity yet, because the pita bread is a damn sight better than the buns. And that leaves me enough justification to have the curly fries, mwahaha.

As for other stuff that I've had lately:

The very excellent cheesecake Hani and I had at the Times' Pavilion cafe. (Let's not waste time with a base, onwards with the cheese!). It was the teatime set (for RM10) that we had. She had the coffee, I had the English breakfast;

The Sunday meal we had at Silarasa Cafe in the Curve - Mak Milah's Nasi Briyani and the Laksa Johor. I actually wanted Laksa Penang (sourish broth; glass noodles), but my brain glitched and I ordered the Laksa Johor (creamy gravy, spaghetti noodles). It was very good though, but my family weren't so satisfied with their fare - our home-style briyani would replace ghee with olive oil, corn oil and butter, and we're more used to having more dishes to go with the rice;

Chef Loong in SS2 - Lil took me to this place, and we also had the mango-pomelo-sago dessert, but I accidentally deleted the pic. Yes, I am made of win. It's a chilled mango puree/soup, with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, with bits of pomelo flesh and sago pearls. Omnomnomnom. The durian pancake above was not too shabby either. Though now I'm actually hankering for the durian creampuffs I had from that small shop in Petaling Street.

But instead, it's shorthand for mineral makeup.

I've always been a on a perennial hunt for that 'natural makeup' look (and no, you don't have to point out how oxymoronic that sounds). Benefit, the brand, was the closest I got to that look I'm searching (Some Kind-a Gorgeous and Benetint are excellent for it), but the price tag was a huge issue.

In my online 'researching' though, I stumbled upon the world of mineral makeup, which I only vaguely knew of before. Anyway, read up about it enough, I girded myself and embarked on a fruitless quest to find it in the local shops. No luck. Except for the big brands (Laura Mercier, and I heard Shins in Midvalley carries Bare Escentuals), which are not just prohibitively expensive to me (I mean, might as well take a deep breath and buy Benefit proper), but contains bismuth oxychloride, a well-known irritant. But I was in one of my shopping moods, and was *this* close to buying it anyway.

Well, thank goodness I didn't. Thanks to my google-fu, I found a couple of useful threads at the malaysianbabes and lowyat.net forums. Which lead me to Simply Naturale, a local small-time distro for Signature Minerals. They're offering starter kits at RM29.90, and the postage's free (though I suspect it's possibly already included in the price). Delivery's through Pos Ekspress, which means 1-day delivery period (if you live in the lucky postcodes).

The challenge for any makeup I wear is that I have combination skin and I walk to and from the LRT and my office. So far, it's holding up well, and I do feel my skin can breathe. Oil production *and* moisture retention remains an issue, and for crying out loud, I need to get a better blusher brush. But hey, this is only my second day. Once I get the hang of this, it should be fuss-free application, which is also the other thing I'm looking for (shaving off minutes = more time to eat/sleep!).

But I do like the finish. It's not ashy or particularly flat, it has a satiny feel to it. One thing I will say, its feel on your skin doesn't turn to 'yuck' even after a particularly sweaty activity (er... Hot Yoga, if you must know -- I had to test this claim out; ALWAYS remove regular makeup before exercise). The choice of foundation shades seem particularly Asian-friendly, and Simply Naturale offers combination packs that provides with all that you need to start in mmu should you decide to take the plunge. For that, I highly recommend it.

That said, I was surfing around, and Lumiere, whose foundation finish is highly touted, is offering a sample starter kit of four foundation shades, a finishing veil and blush, for only US$9, with free shipping worldwide and a US$5 coupon that you can use for your next order to cancel out the shipping costs. It also accepts Paypal, not just credit cards.  So give that a go too, if you like, but just remember, if you're unfamiliar with mineral makeup, or even makeup, research research research. There are key differences in terms of application and concerns. For example, an investment into a good kabuki brush (what their applicator brush is called) or a good facebrush is required.

--------------
Now, after all that vanity talk, onwards to other things in a vain attempt to prove to this empty space wot is my blog that I'm not as shallow as... as... *grapples as witty simile that is not a cheap shot at plagiarists-cum-poet/model/actors/slashes, Britney Spears, Datuk V.K 'What, I wasn't drunk!!' Lingam; gives up*

- In the world's ongoing attempt to not disprove of my personal theory that Malaysia, being a nation that started its life pirating its national flag* and its national anthem, is a land whose people have no problems with piracy whatsoever, I am presented more stories of plajiariztz. (previously: Sri Cempaka staging 'Wicked', except it's called 'Witches of Oz', because if you change the name, no one will know, amirite? Amateur school production my ass!), I have learnt that local model/actor/professional slash Natasha Hudson IZ A PLAJIARIZT. (classic wanky behaviour includes: defensive replies and deletion/locking of own journal. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Someone needs to do a write-up of this for otf_wank. OTOH, fandom_wank's hot with reports of various plagiarism wanks at the moment, all of which brings a joyful tear to my eye.)

This N.Hud wank is supremo man. Basically she's been found out, that instead of original Malay poems, her book of poetry (for children! WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN??) contains a number of poems that sounds suspiciously like they've been translated from well-known English poems. Mind you the samples I've been reading sounds like someone did it with a slightly superior Babelfish engine, but anyway: Someone should make a makro, with a pic of th DBP Kamus Dwibahasa with the caption: ICANHAZPLAJIARIZMNAO?

- Blogging the Quran - a no less wanky, but substantially more brain-building avenue. :P This Guardian blog is interesting because the Quran is approached by two commentators, one Muslim, the other a non-Muslim Westerner, though neither, it must be said, are specifically theological or exegesis experts. Still, here's the explanation for the project.

- Stephen Fry's blog - just because!

*To play the broken record, I only wish I'm kidding - I read the 1957 newspapers (and other non-57 materials) dude, and the guy who won the flag-design contest, pretty much admitted he was inspired by USA's flag. Oh, like that wasn't obvious at all. Oh ye, buy the 'Chronicle of Malaysia' book! And remember, I may be part of the editorial team, but any factual errors aren't my fault at all! :P

(that's not an acronym but a sound of disgust)

This is what happens when one didn't have time aside from work -- one forgets to buy tix to the P.Ramlee musical in advance, and now it's all SOLD OUT. *SAD PANDA FACE*

Also, CHEIT to my gmail connection. And a helping of PTUI as well.

Oh yeh, I shall take a cue out of my best friend's practice and present you.... my birthday wishlist:

- Supernatural S2 DVD (with all the special features. no need ori lah. :P)
- A BETTER GMAIL CONNECTION
- THE WILL TO GO TO GYM
- An mp3 player FM transmitter so I can listen to actual music in car and not godawful morning show djs.
- Better skin. BEGONE FOUL ADULT ACNE. (zomg, tmi??)

Heh. That's it?

And that, in a nutshell, is my winning strategy to playing arcade games.

I don't usually entertain materialistic daydreams, but in the middle of my particular favourite (setting up an arcade in my house), I realised that while I'm generally chickenshit when it comes to the horror genre, I have a deep and abiding love for zombies. Blame George Romero? Also, screw a diamond ring, if anyone wants me for (a good part of their) life, get me a House of the Dead machine.XD

Anyway, right, my dream house would have: a swimming pool, a pool table, and an arcade section. Haz wants a bowling alley for hers, but that's strictly optional for me. I want lots of comfy sofas and furniture and huge screen tv. And an awesome kitchen. As for the arcade, let's see:

• House of the Dead I, II, III and IV
• Keisatsukan
• Time Crisis II
• Daytona
• Dance Dance Revolution!!
• Para Para Dance
• Mortal Kombat III
• Tekken III
• Playstation and a big screen to play Final Fantasy VII upwards (if I'm rajin lah... I like short-term commitment games...) and THE RESIDENT EVIL SERIES.

Camnilah... aku buat list jer, yek?

Ok, Nina, apakah perkembangan terkini hidup kau?

- Pagi tadi aku bawa Bush pergi klinik. Mulanya nak kembirikan si mamat tu, tapi rupanya kena vaccinate & deworming dulu. Bush ni, memang pantang tengok benda lain, mula nervous semacam. Btw, anak kucing kuning yang adik aku selamatkan dulu dari longkang (yes, namanya masih lagi Drain) sekarang tinggal dengan kawan dia. Bush tak boleh nak dekat langsung. At least aku dah tahu umur Bush: 6+ bulan. Huyooo, maksudnya bila kita jumpa dia memang baru dilahirkan.... kecian.... Anyway, habis aku kena cakar dengan kucing bertuah tu. Who is btw, semakin hari semakin manja, pantang nampak family balik rumah. EEEEEEEE rindu... nak balik....

- Khamis ni, sebab dapat tiket free, akan ku tonton 'Tunku: The Musical' dengan ibuku. Tunku dikatakan tak muncul dalam pementasan ini... apa, dia ni macam Nabi ke, takleh tunjuk muka?

- Aku naik gila, beli Skin Food products by the dozen. Korang macam tak tahu je, tahap perasan lawa aku ni. Dah almost two months, aku buat facial pakai bahan tempatan - nak support industri tempatan satu, lagi satu murah hihihi. Tetapi AG2000 tu buat kulit aku break out.... kwaaaa, tak rela. Aku makan lagi produk gamat Healin yang lain, not bad juga, tetapi quite pricey juga. Just so aku boleh makan pati gamat yang payau tu. MMMMBESTNYA.

- Berbalik kepada Skin Food, mari aku senaraikan apa yang aku ada. Sumpah lillah takkan buat perbelanjaan sebesar ini lagi. (...well, Benetint nak ku beli tapi itu boleh KIV) Untuk kosmetik/skincare. At one go. (Kereta nak tak nak duit akan tetap terlayang -- wtf wtf bulan Nov road tax kena renewwww). Sorry ya, tak boleh nak link... English-language website dia asyik down (well, you can try here), the Malaysian one still under construction (sampai bila? apahal sama cepat dengan MBSJ? :P), dan sorreh, aku fail Korean & Thai. :D

• Honey & Black Tea milk cleanser
• Honey & Black Tea bubble foam cleanser
• Potiron Au Lait Toner
• Black Bean Essence
• Peach Sake Pore Serum
• Potiron Au Lait Emulsion
• Black Bean Moisture Mist
  
• Black Sugar Mask
• Black Sesame Hot Mask
• Papaya Yoghurt Mask
• Watermelon Mask
• Nail colours (Base + Topcoat + many many colours)
  

heh. ^^. Kulit aku combi-dry, jadi pore serum for the t-zone and everything else for my dry skin. Korang tengoklah banyak mana... sampai salesgirl ingat aku and I managed to fill up the loyalty card to the max -- moisturizer ada lagi so aku angkut nail colour sampai 4. I'm wearing now a shade I call Sailormoon Pink. :D

- Apa lagi yang baru ya... banyak lagi, tetapi sampai di sini jer ler. Malas. But one more thing, semalam aku sakit hati dapat forwarded email... sebab it's that chain mail lapuk yang Microsoft-AOL nak merge and tracking emails and rewarding them. Lapuk, sebab it's almost 10 years old! And yet, sebab ada joker yang tambah message before the body yang kononnya diorang dapat duit, habis inbox aku. AAAA nak aku gigit je... benda ni kira legendary, among the common urban legends netizens should know, and yet.