MDG 2 – The backstage experience

backstage

I have been backstage at the MDG 2 closed auditions and was privy to the…well, things that goes on backstage. Acha took the liberty of predicting that I would have 1 son and 1 daughter in my lifetime. I guess that that just leaves 1 daughter then, or none. I’m not too sure myself. πŸ˜‰

curtains

This is the girl’s dressing room. Yeah, being one of the official bloggers sure opens doors (or curtains rather). πŸ˜‰ It was fun to hang around with the girls and get to know them better. The 21 hopefuls have been narrowed down to a scant 12 girls. The Chosen (TM) will get to live at the MDG 2 Dream House.

girls galore

…all in all, it was a jolly good time.

Hey, I can’t say being surrounded by 21 girls is a chore. =D

Check out my MDG 2 post for more details. The names of the 12 finalists will be released soon!

Condominium mail

condo mail

The logistics of condominium mail is bound to produce some interesting results. The occupancy density practically guarantees it. The system at my condo is quite secure (if you trust the fallible homo sapiens) – no one gets in or out to deliver mail. The mail is passed to the guardhouse, who distributes it to the respective resident’s mailbox. I opened mine yesterday to get my Streamyx bill and was aghast at the sheer amount of correspondence inside.

There were four (4) different people’s worth of mail inside. I recognize one as my landlord, there were two other girls – Adeline and Siew Choon, and a guy named Suresh. There is  another envelope that was supposed to be delivered to Kelana Parkview Condominium (which isn’t my condo and is quite a distance away).

I don’t really trust the system so I prefer to have my mail sent to my mailing address in Sibu.

Anyway, about the fire, all has been resolved. My landlord asked me to pay for the cabinets, which is fair enough. The condo management didn’t ask me to pay for the damage and got an electrician to fix my power for free.

I guess that’s the plus point of condo maintenance fees. πŸ˜‰

Cherie

cherie

Well, those of you who’ve been following sixthseal.com for a few years would know Cherie. For some strange reason, she was the only girlfriend that was accepted, and even embraced by the readers. Anyway, Cherie is one of my ex-girlfriends that I have always maintained strong ties with. We broke up in 2005 but have remained friends. I met up with her again last night and it’s great how two people can not meet for two years, see each other again, and just be comfortable together and enjoy each other’s company, just like old times. πŸ™‚

…and get your mind out of the gutter, not in that way, in a strictly platonic way.

I didn’t bring my dSLR out last night so this was taken with the HTC Touch 3G.

Berry hearts Lemon: The Biggest Ribena Purple Heart Event

ribena top

The heart is the most common symbol for romantic love. It’s always been a dream of many a hopeless romantic to do something extraordinary for their loved ones…fly a plane with a smoke trail that spells your beloved’s name or something to that effect – an over-the-top display of love for all and sunder to see how much you love your loved one.

2

I have been following Berry and Lemon’s romantic relationship for the past few months, commented on Berry and Lemon’s blog, and participated in the contest. It’s been a wonderful journey – I brought them up to the Cameron Highlands to spend some time…a double date of sorts. I attempted to create the Most Romantic photo with the couple standing in the middle. Little did I know then that I was about to see more! Berry has a few tricks up his sleeves, that’s for sure. πŸ˜‰

gsk

I got a chance to see that on Valentine’s Day. I was at Sunway Pyramid and attended the Ribena Purple Heart event. Berry built a HUGE purple heart to profess his love for Lemon. It’s filled with Ribena Lemon bottle caps.

games

The Ribena Purple Heart event had a lot of games going on – plastic dice throwing, DDR style dance machines and throwing stuff at a target.

tattoo

Temporary tattoos were all the rage – the people on duty were all inked (stickered?) with “A Perfect Match – Ribena & Lemon”.

free flow

Ribena Lemon was on free flow. Well, kinda.

picket

There was a line of people picketing (?) the area, hyping up the huge purple heart event.

mc

Male MC: My hair is styled by the best in Bollywood. I’m kidding. πŸ˜‰ The event kicked off with the two MCs introducing the event and the attempt to create the huge purple heart – how Berry had to walk all over town to collect the purple bottle caps that it’s made of.

entrance

Berry and Lemon made a grand entry after that, waving to the cheers of the crowd. I was surprised that they actually could move in that costume.

kneel

Berry could even go down on bended knee in that suit, a remarkable feat indeed.

fill

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough…apparently the huge purple heart wasn’t filled to the brim, so Lemon was less than happy about that.

done

A quick solicitation from the crowd for Ribena Lemon bottle caps soon resolved that problem though…

good

…and all was good.

pose

We had a chance to pose with Berry and Lemon…

movie

…before being whisked away to a movie screening, courtesy of the good people at Ribena.

hotdogs

Anyway, the screening is the movie New in Town by RenΓ©e Zellweger. Free hotdogs, popcorn and Ribena Lemon were also provided. I had to eat two coz Tzia forced me to eat hers as well. πŸ™

tzia

It was fun and I loved how well the event was organized. I actually enjoy drinking Ribena Lemon, it’s probably the only source of Vitamin C I get, considering I don’t eat fruits. *shrugs*

end

Bust a move, Berry!

The mysterious physics behind my vehicular self-accident

car scraped

I’ve always trusted in my judgement when driving, despite my less-than-stellar history of vehicular safety. I have, in my slightly-more-than-a-decade-long driving experience, ran down a person, totally crashed my car, and have a static road sign pole run into me. Nevertheless, I’ve always believed in the rule of “If the front can pass, the side can too”. 

That theory was put to the test yesterday evening as I was making my way out of my lunchbox sized assigned parking lot. I’m located next to a pillar and have had no beef with said pillar in my three months of parking here. I pulled out of the parking spot, clearing the front, just to hear the sound of concrete scraping my car. I tend to accelerate so the scraping sound continued for a rather long time before I realized it.

car peeled

I got down to inspect the damage – it seems that the close encounter with the concrete pillar requires a trip to the workshop this weekend. It took a whole piece of paint off, revealing the alloy underneath. It also “repainted” the side of my car, making it a distinctive shade of yellow that doesn’t go very well with the black paintjob.
worrieshmm-car

I’m still pondering about the physics behind the unfortunate event.

The invasion of the MSN emoticons

I’ve never been a huge fan of MSN emoticons. I think they’re rather juvenile and nearly cringed when I saw my beloved ASCII πŸ™‚ being automatically replaced by thesmiley in MSN. I have become somewhat desensitized to the cartoonish nature of the emoticon in recent times though. It’s a little like how I used to cringe at the truncated πŸ™‚ in IRC and stuck to my fundamentalist smiley – πŸ™‚ for ages before relenting to the truncated smiley.

I’ve always found the default MSN smiley a bit corny but have grown to embrace it and even love it. I have recently grown fond of theworries emoticon too – a smirk of sorts capable of expressing a wide range of emotions from distaste to worry.

sideways-smiley

The one that takes the cake is a custom emoticon (Custom emoticons! OMG! I can’t believe how far I’ve traveled down this road!) I just got from a co-worker. I call it the sideways smiley and I’m growing to like it a lot. (!)

I’ve always thought of MSN custom emoticons as the realm of pre-pubescent teenage girls and now I’m experimenting with the cursed things!

karen-msn

I’ve even resorted to soliciting random custom emoticons!

(and putting up MSN conversation chat boxes – ZOMG!)

I’m worried.

I fear for my manhood. worries

25 Random Things About Me

I have been tagged so many times that I feel obliged to do this. This narcissistic meme has run its course, but that’s the best time to be doing it coz I’m not particularly a big fan of doing lists. Thus, without further ado:

1. I have a problem with time. It makes me nervous if I’m about to be late so I give myself a 15-30 minute “grace period”. Even if I know it’ll only take me 10 minutes to reach a certain destination I will leave the condo at 8:15 pm for a 9 pm appointment. Cutting it too close to the deadline makes me feel like my bladder is going to void itself. :S

2. I was locked in the toilet of the local public library when I was 9 years old. The library was closing and I went to take a pee and the guards didn’t know I was in there and locked the entire place up. My mom realized I was missing and called the library people to open up the place. I was in there for perhaps half an hour and it felt like an entire night! I think a lot of this has to do with my issues with time.

3. My mom used to lock me in the store room when I misbehaved when I was 5-6 years old. It was totally dark inside the store room – it’s the kind that goes under the stairs and comes sans windows. I was also afraid of our table fan (without the protective cover) so when I didn’t want to take my afternoon nap she would open the protective cover and put the fan next to me so I had no choice but to close my eyes. The naked unmoving fins – I remember it was blue – scared the shit out of me for reasons unknown.

4. I was punished by beatings via broomsticks, vacuum cleaner tubes and belts when I didn’t get good results when I was in primary school. I would get beaten if I didn’t get 80 marks, a scolding and a good twist of the ear if I didn’t get above 90 and a verbal lashing for anything above that. Even for 99. “It’s just 1 mark till you get 100, why can’t you even do that?”.

5. I got so sick of it I threw a kitchen chopper at my mom when I was 13. I really meant to hurt her. I faced off with my dad at around the same age and totally rebelled. They never did beat me again after that.

6. My mom started to pull out her hair and cry (reverse psychology) whenever I did badly in exams after that. I think my tolerance and seeming indifference to girlfriends crying and begging stemmed from that. It just doesn’t bother me anymore coz I have been desensitized to all that reverse psychology shit.

7. I think the way I treat my girlfriends has a lot to do with how my mom treated me when I was a kid. It’s a really bad thing, all the mistrust, the misplaced anger, the suspicion, the constant demand for perfection. It drove me nuts, and I imagine it drove many of my ex-girlfriends nuts too. πŸ˜‰

8. I started masturbating when I was 7 years old. I blame a faulty shower head at the public swimming pool for my early forays into the world of carnal knowledge. The faulty faucet caused a high intensity, high pressure jet of water into my swimming trunks and gave me a “funny feeling”. I kept it there and got the first orgasm of my life. I soon started emulating it at home, pushing away the bucket we use for collecting water and went sitting in front of the tap. It worked but it took me about an hour or so to come. My parents were always wondering about my long baths. I suspect they knew but didn’t want to ask.

9. I didn’t actually have a wet dream until I was 14. I remember it being the first or second day of Chinese New Year and I came all over my pajama bottoms (I wasn’t a fan of wearing underwear). I rushed out, feeling guilty despite all the sex education I had and tried to wash it off. My dad walked out, saw what happened, and sleepily told me to just dump it into the laundry bin and change my clothes and walked back into his room.

10. I have only really loved one person in my entire life. She was 29 and I was 25 and she was perfect for me. A series of unfortunate events caused her to break off the relationship. She’s a Senior Pharmacist in a private hospital and had a great education, speaks perfect English and is intelligent to boot. She cheated on her boyfriend to be with me and she’s the only one I really wanted to have kids with. The last I heard from her, she got back with her ex-boyfriend. I can still remember her cell phone number. :S

11. I had a crush when I was 17 on a classmate, but it was just a crush and we’re still friends now. I was also recently involved with someone whom I might have loved but unfortunately she was engaged. She revealed her plans to break off her engagement to her parents and that didn’t go down too well with her parents (nor the parents of the fiance) and she was forced to go to Singapore and be with her fiance. I haven’t heard from her since. These two are the only other relationships worth mentioning.

12. I have problems maintaining long term relationships. The longest relationship I ever had was with Louisa but it was more like a friendship than a relationship. *shrugs*

13. I hate coins. I never ever use them and it just piles up in my room and random places around the condo. I only use notes. The reason I hate coins is coz they’re bulky, heavy, scratches your gadgets and they smell funny. Once my friend harvested over RM2,000 in coins from my apartment in Kuching. No shit. Granted, I have been living there for over 3 years and my distaste for coins is bound to result in a bounty like that. I gave him 10% of the harvest.

14. My favorite comfort food is stewed pork leg. I love it to bits! OMG! The tender, soy sauce marinated flesh just practically falling off the bone, the chewy fat and skin with the creamy mouth-feel, the chunks of meat soaked in slightly garlic soy sauce marinate. I can eat a pot of this stuff. It’s gonna clog my arteries, but damn, I love the stuff! πŸ™‚ I’m drooling just from writing about it.

15. I’m a very poor judge of character. I let people get too close to me and trust people too easily. It’s a very bad thing and I’ve been burnt more than a few times but I still keep on doing it. I have learnt to be more cautious in relationships though – at work and off work. I’m sick of people I consider friends backstabbing me.

16. I have a problem with people who asserts their authority over me. I don’t like people who are loud and brash when talking to me, a sure-fire way to piss me off. On the other hand I’m not too bothered by this at the office coz the real people in power are usually tactful and polite. It’s just the wannabes who tend to be insecure that feels the need to be loud and assertive. I work well with people who are polite and respectful. I have no respect for people who feels that the best way to communicate is by shouting. I usually have to restrain myself from choking people like that. :S

17. I listen to a lot of ’94 Orange County bands like Green Day, The Offspring, and Rancid. I love NOFX and have listened to all of their albums (and know practically most of the lyrics). I used to hate Eminem coz I grew up listening to Tupac Shakur but tried him on for size and realized that I relate better to Eminem’s lyrics. I don’t think I’ll be “bringing terror with this Beretta I clutch in my paw” anytime soon. πŸ˜‰

18. I read a lot of books. I have loved reading ever since I started at 7 years old. I used to read a lot of Stephen King (and have read all of his novels except the Dark Tower series) but have diversified my interests to stuff like The Kite Runner. I’m a voracious reader and can go through a lot of books in a week – I read anything from Dan Brown style religious thrillers to science fiction/cyberpunk. I love books and I love reading.

19. I could drink 5 liters of milk a day (the huge 5 litre family bottles) when I was in Australia but I seem to have lactose intolerance nowadays. I can barely drink 500 ml without feeling slightly sick and getting diarrhea the next day. I blame that on my impaired liver function.

20. I used to drink every day. I would drink every single ni
ght right after work just so
I can sleep. I realize I have a problem with alcohol and have stopped drinking every single night. Nowadays, I tend to keep the drinking to weekends. I didn’t drink the past weekend though coz I was having a fever and not feeling all that well. πŸ™‚

21. I’m paying RM 1,100 for rent for a condominium all to myself. I’m wondering if I can afford it anymore and if I should be getting a housemate to share the expenses.

22. Time heals all wounds. I really believe in that. I have attempted suicide before in my deepest and darkest hours due to the girl I loved (see #10) when I thought it wasn’t worth it anymore, that I couldn’t live without her. I’m glad I didn’t kick the bucket then, coz it feels great to be alive! =D

23. I tend to be very sleep deprived all the time due to not getting my prescribed 8 hours. I wake up at about 6:30 am every morning and I sleep late coz I have to update the blog, and get involved with other social obligations.

24. My recent favorite emoticon is the :S in MSN. I’ve been using it a lot lately, coz I’m feeling :S in recent days. Heh!

25. I’m very lazy when it comes to doing household chores. I don’t like ironing, hanging out the laundry and sweeping. It’s just not my thing, thus the rapid degradation of my living quarters whenever I don’t have a girlfriend to clean up after me. :S

Nuffnang Bloggers Dinner @ The Apartment, Downtown

apartment downtown

Nuffnang invited several bloggers to The Apartment Downtown @ Suria KLCC for dinner. It’s more of a meet and greet social dinner as a prelude to discussing some Serious Issues (TM).

apartment starters

We were served Cranberry Juice (great for UTIs) and a variety of starters which includes stuffed squid, pita bread with a curious combination of butter and cheese, stuffed eggplant, and chicken liver pate.

apartment pamsong

I think the last one scarred Pam a little…she’s a very PETA type person. I hesitate to label her as a tree hugger coz the reason she doesn’t like pork and stuff like that is due to the offense it instigates to her olfactory senses.

apartment mains

The main dishes arrived after that with highlights being the lamb, creamy melt-in-your-mouth cous cous, salmon with udon noodles and mussels cooked in curry. I notice a distinctive apprehension at my table whenever I took a mussel. I realized it’s due to my poor motor coordination in opening up the shell and spearing the flesh inside. Pam actually warned me not to send the poor crustacean flying. I think she also mentioned something detrimental to my well-being if any landed on her. πŸ˜‰

apartment dessert

The dessert was individually served with chocolate mousse, meringue (reminds me of Pavlova actually), and some peanut butter infused creation. It was great!

We adjourned upstairs to have a discussion about several pressing issues relevant to the blogsphere…

apartment tzia

…before the camwhoring started in earnest. This is Tzia, featured blogger of the month.

apartment audrey

Audrey, of 4 feet nine fame!

apartment pam

Pamela Song a.k.a. my nemesis! We’re just pretending to be nice here one. Posing for the digicam, usually we can be seen disagreeing vehemently. πŸ˜‰

apartment carol

Carol Koh! I less than 3 you! =D

apartment cindy

Cindy

apartment ringo

…and Rin.

apartment camwhore

Plus a lot of other camwhoring shots!

apartment group

It was a great night of fellowship among the Nuffnang staff and the bloggers. It’s kinda like church and cell group meetings, except we don’t have a Jesus. πŸ˜‰ It’s great for building rapport and all that corporate speak. I’m looking forward to the next one already. πŸ™‚

MDG 2 Closed Auditions: Interviews Redux

natasha

I managed to interview the last batch of girls – including Natasha…

nurbaya

…and Nurbaya.

cincin

The next post will be Behind the Scenes (TM) stuff – watch the girls just chilling out. I’m going to write about fortune telling next – I was told the number and gender of the offspring I’m going to have.

Read more at the MDG 2 official blog.

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