Sex and the City movie

Just watched the movie. Told myself i couldn't wait till after my Jap trip. I was quite sad i couldn't watch it on Wed when it first came out.

Very glad i watched it, despite my crazy schedule today. I have barely another 2 more hours before i have to leave for japan. Japan - yoo hoo!

Anyway, back to satc, I'm still incredulous at how much a sucker i am for the show. I'm fascinated at how carrie can buy so many branded goods, and seemingly not need to work. The fashion were both good and bad. Some things i like, some "wat is that?!?"

Maybe I'm reading too much into the movie. But it has much to offer on being oneself, friendship, forgiveness, communication, and of course, love.

I also can't believe i actually cried during the movie. Not once, not twice, but a grand total of 3 times!! I think the last time i cried was when i watched all those people dying in titanic.

Hang in there!

Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things. They are not there to keep you out. They keep other people out.

Traumatised by birds

Photo courtesy of Forest and Field Bird Wallpaper

There's something with me and birds these 2 days. I had 2 incidents involving birds within 12 hours of each other.

Late yesterday afternoon, a small young bird settled on my lao di's car boot on our way home. My lao di promptly took out his camera and started clicking away. It was not afraid of us and refused to move despite our near-ness. It was also not camera-shy and gave my lao di plenty of still frames.

We took a long time pondering if the bird was old enough to fly away, and wondering how best to get rid of the bird. Finally, we decided to grab hold of the bird using a rag and our hands. And it promptly flew away at the moment our hands barely grabbed hold of it.

That was bird incident 1.

Bird incident 2 was a lot more dramatic.

Was feeling extremely down after talking to my big big boss yesterday and got a lil clinically depressed, I think.

Had no appetite but made myself eat 2 slices of the pizza that I bought from a new pizzeria near my place. I hadn't anything the whole day other than a small chicken pau.

Actually went to sleep straight after my 2 slices of pizza. If I'm not wrong, that was like 8 pm!

Got the required 5 hours of sleep and woke up slightly after 1 am. Felt much better after the rest and went to work looking for more information regarding the PDL and other admin nonsense.

Emailed some of my close friends for their advice. Hope they get back to me. I have more or less decided on my course of action but it's always nice to get different points of views from my friends instead of the constant bombardment of "stay, stay, stay!" from my colleagues. For one, the latter would be biased. Guess I should be glad that they wan me to stay instead of rushing me to leave? *grin*

Ok. Anyway, back to my traumatic incident with the 2nd bird.

So, I woke up real early just past 1 am and did computer work. Made my way to the kitchen around 5 am to prepare for work. Went into the toilet and hear some rustling. Thought it was some "large" lizards moving around and the sounds being amplified in the early morning quietness. Disregarded the noise and sounds. BIG mistake.

Walked out of the toilet after changing and saw this big black mass flapping its wings furiously and hitting everything in its wild flight path. I hurriedly hid back inside the toilet. I didn't have my spectacles on and I was so shocked! Immediate thought was that it was a bat. Hence the black mass, wild wings and crazy flying.

Waited a looooong while before I tried to get out of the toilet again. 2 steps out, thought the crazy thing was gone, started to brush my teeth and the thing flew out of onwhere! I yelled and ran back inside the toilet. This time, I saw a flash of blue and thought the wings sounded rather feathery. Hence, I decided it was a crazy bird, not a bat.

Shouted continuously for my grand-father and brother, but they chose this morning to be deeply asleep and my shouts were in vain. Hid out in the toilet for another looooon while before I took my towel to hit the toilet door and agitate the bird. Finally, it decided it had enough and promptly flew out the kitchen window. Thankfully, I was peeking out of the toilet door and saw it flying off. Immediately, I closed the kitchen window and went about getting ready.

Was still a lil paranoid though, until I left my place. Hope the bird doesn't show up again. But guess my mum is always the first one up. She'd scared off any birds that does find its way into our kitchen. Will ask her when my parents return from their holiday in Sydney if any bird have come in before... *sigh*

Ironman

Photo courtesy of Ironman Movie Website - Gallery

Ironman is a great movie!

I have not read the comics before but the movie really enticed me to grab a copy to browse through.

Watched it the first time with my lao di and he fed me with so much information about the background, the Ironman character, other Marvel hero characters, technical questions I had of Ironman, etc.

Watched it a second time with Jon and it was a quieter movie. The cinema ambience was definitely much better, with much nicer seats and bigger screen. Was pleasantly surprised when Jon decided to satisfy his craving for KFC and bought dinner for me as well. It's been such a long time since anybody made decisions for me - it's really nice. Pity he needs to go back early to rest - would have loved to spend more time out with him and get to know him better.

Anyway, back to the movie...

I have always loved Robert Downey Jr. I got more addicted to Ally McBeal after he joined the show. I can't wait for the other 2 episodes of Ironman. Yes. Ironman is gonna be a trilogy!

And all the engineering and technical stuff of the show just made the movie so much more fascinating for me! The sleek design of the arc reactor, the creativity and ingenuity of a guy kidnapped and trapped in a cave and his ability to build a high-tech suit of armor with his injury and limited resources, the 3D visualisations of Ironman prototype 2, etc, I can just go on and on...

I love the movie more also because the hero is not one with supernatural powers. He's just a "normal" guy with flaws, a dry sense of humour, smarter brains than most, and he's trying to make the world a better place with the tools and machines that he has at his disposal.

But of course, nothing beats the whole experience of watching a great movie with even greater company, with 2 of my favourite guys.

I hope to catch a number of movies before I go for my trips to Japan and Kinabalu... Movies like "Made of Honour", "Prince Caspian" and "Sex and the City.

Cleaning up my room

Yeah! Finally started on part 2 of my spring cleaning efforts.

Part 1 was cleaning up all my CDs, VCDs and DVDs collection. I would say that accounts for 10% of the bedroom mess in my bedroom.

Started on Part 2 last night. That was all the papers lying on and around my bed. Another 10% cleared.

Still have another 80% to go. Wonder if there are enough weekends to get to everything?

I truly am a HOARDER of the biggest magnitude. Really have to attach less value to the objects around me and be happy without material things.

Let's see what my other 80% of my bedroom mess is huh?

• 10% travel-related - souvenirs, maps, entrance tickets, pamphlets, etc
  
• 10% books - story books, self-help books, just books...
  
• 10% magazines - shape, cawaii, ff, cosmopolitan, red book, smitten, etc
  
• 10% fashion accessories - ear-rings, necklaces, rings, bracelets, etc
  
• 10% handicraft - beads, cross-stitch, knitting, craft stuff...
  
• 10% stationery - pens, pencils, erasers, scissors, rulers, more pens...
  
• 10% toiletries and make-up - sample sized facial wash, shampoo and body foam, face masks, loads and loads of make-up (sample size and full size), etc
  
• 10% everything else - sports, games, i dunno...
  

Dinner for 2

Cooked dinner tonight for my grandfather and myself.

White rice, fried fish, omelette with bacon and a chicken and mushroom soup.

Will put up the photos later.

Not too bad.

The rice turned out okay. Was afraid it'd be too wet or too dry. Yes. People can screw up white rice even with the rice cooker. Anyway, mine turned out fine - it was just nice.

Used a tad too much oil for the fried fish. I'd stick to my old fave of pan fried salmon next time.

The best dish is of course my omelette with bacon. I'm good with eggs. Steam eggs, egg soup, fried eggs, porridge with salted eggs, etc.

The soup was not too bad. Used canned chicken stock and sliced mushrooms. Dumped in fishballs and crab sticks just before serving. Some real shredded chicken bits would make the soup perfect.

And yes, like my mum always said. Always wash up as you cook. That way, you dun end up with a HUGE pile of stuff to wash at the end of the meal. I hate washing up. I may love cooking. But the thought of washing up always turn me off. However, I'm great at thinking ahead and manage to re-cycle the cutlery and crockery I use to contain my food prep. Hence, less stuff to wash up.

Bought some stuff to cook for tmr... Stir-fry pork with ginger slices, healthy steamed enoki mushrooms and baby carrots, sze-chuan hot and sour soup with tofu pieces.

By my side

When I'm sick,
I just want
Someone
To take care of me.

When I'm sad,
I just want
Someone
To comfort me.

Someone...
Where are you?

Someone
To stay by my side
In good times
And bad

Someone
To love me
Even when we fight
And argue

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer, gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving talk, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals. For more, visit www.cmu.edu/randyslecture.

"Journeys" are special University Lectures in which Carnegie Mellon faculty members share their reflections on their journeys -- the everyday actions, decisions, challenges and joys that make a life.

For those of you who aren't familiar with who Dr. Randy Pausch is, the short story goes like this:

He is a happily married man with three very young children. He spent years working for Disney as an Imagineer who helped them develop some of their theme park attractions. He then went on to teach at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pennsylvania where he still is to this day.

Abruptly, his life took a turn for the worse when he got cancer and fought it off after years of treatment. The cancer has since returned and has near-totally corupted several vital organs leaving him with mere months to live.

This video is his shortened speech on how not even death can bring this man down and how the dreams he sought to come true can inspire us all.

Several quotes I really appreciated from his talk:

• Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things. They are not there to keep you out. They keep other people out.


• When somebody is going to ride you for two hours, that’s because they care enough to make you better. When you’re doing a bad job and nobody points it out to you, that’s when they’ve given up on you.

This video below is a shorter version shown on Oprah which I was first shown during one of my staff meeting. Fate has it that I came across it as I was channel-surfing at home one evening and I got to see the whole show in its context.



This video below is a much longer version. It is the original version that Prof. Pausch gave in Carnegie Mellon University.



So, feel free to pass this video on to anyone you feel takes life for granted or just pass it to someone who loves to live.

A new beginning

Each second
You can be reborn

Every moment
There can be a new beginning

Hope is a gem
A jewel beckoning to us

Let us press on
And dig deep

See the sparkle
Of a new beginning

To a dear friend

You're lucky - For finding someone who doesn't want anything from you. Who loves you for your self. For being able to spend time, and hopefully the rest of your life, with this other person. So many others, like myself, can only dream of this chance.

Thank you for many things.

Being there. I'm also one of those people who always ask you for help. I'm not sure if I show my appreciation enough. But know that there's nothing (short of giving you my life) that I wouldn't do for you.

Being very insightful and teaching me a lot of things. When we meet up and talk, there are always things I can learn from you. I may not always agree with you, but your views are always synapse-triggering.

I'm concerned about you.

Being a moody person myself, I really hate the constant upheavals of my mood swings. I get affected mentally and physically and I'd hate for you to suffer the same.

Blading @ ECP photos

YES YES YES YES YES YES

One of the best days of my life!

Going to sleep now... Continue tmr...

A message to me

I'm in that in-between place right now...

Waiting for results again, picking myself back up from another low point in my mood swings, ...

My way is not one of wet dew and soft grass,
I've picked a mountain path
Strewn with lots of rocks and stones.

But I know that
It goes upwards and forwards,
Towards the clouds, the sun, the stars.

Retail Therapy

Not bad.

6 albums - 50 bucks.

The feeling after listening to good music - priceless.

Feeling blue

Oh dear, I haven't felt this down for a while. It's probably PMS...

My mind is going crazy and I'm feeling so blue. I hate it but i can't seem to help myself...

Be gentle with me
I may look strong
But I am fragile
For needing you

I need you
To remind me
What I was
What I am

I need you
To love me
What I was
What I am

Be my warmth
I am so cold
My pain in my heart
Like ice through my veins

I need you
To be my light
Guide me away
Guide me back

I need you
Be my courage
Say something
Say nothing

Look in my eyes
See my tears
My doubts
My fears

I need you
To feel you
Your scent
Your flesh

I need you
To hold you
My anchor
My harbour