Tag: Complete the sentences

I was tagged several days back, but have not managed to get it done until today. Wasn't feeling very well for the past few days.

The assignment is as follows -

Rules:

1. Answer the questions below and put the link of the person who tagged you
2. Tag 5 people and let them know by leaving a message in their blog

My idea of going on a date would be...

The worst punishment my parents gave me was... because I...

My most extravagant splurge in the last six months is...

If I can have a super-ability, I'd want to have...

KL is...

My influences in life are...

I have climbed the highest mountain on earth and found the wisest man in the entire galaxy. And I can ask him only one question. I am going to ask him...

My wishes for 2009 would be that...

Lastly, I'd like to be remembered by...

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My idea of going on a date would be.....a dinner and a movie and a supper - on a weekend.

The worst punishment my parents gave me was.....when my mom beat me with a rubber hose because I.....was playing at the playground till late evening and refused to come back home. Kids those days...

My most extravagant splurge in the last six months is...paying RM1600 for a new phone - Sony Ericsson W902 yesterday. Yay!

If I can have a super-ability, I'd want to have....the ability to know other's thoughts and feelings so I can do what it takes to make them happy, or at least try to minimize gaps between my needs versus theirs.

KL is....still the only city for me, despite the traffic and boycot and stuff.

My influences in life are...people who apply Servant Leadership and those who I'm closest to.

I have climbed the highest mountain on earth and found the wisest man in the entire galaxy. And I can ask him only one question. I am going to ask him.....nurture or nature?

My wishes for 2009 would be that.....I'd sing more, write more and listen more, not necessarily in that order.

Lastly, I'd like to be remembered by.....my kind gesture and my caring thoughts. And as the one who never could gather enough courage to dance. hehehe...

1. I was tagged by Face. I'm sorry, I do not know how to put a link here. Thanks for tagging me!

2. I am now tagging Jazzy, Gidong, Bobby and Beruang Madu. Yes, I am short of one, but at least it's one more than the last time.hehehe...

Life and Chains

I saw the movie Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans for the second time the other day. It was still awesome and it drew my attention to this:

LIFE & CHAINS; You can't have one without the other. The line was uttered by Victor when he demanded respect from Lucian for giving him life.

"How true" - I said to myself. I mean freedom is sought at so many levels in our life and how many of us out there can truly claim that we have total freedom in our hands? Sure, as adults we are free to do many things, but can you really do every single thing your heart desires? Whenever your want? Wherever you want? For as long as you want? I know I can't.

• There are words I wanna say, but I won't.
• There are challenges I long to do, but I won't.
• There are things I wanna change, but I can't.
• There are experiences I wanna share, but I can't.
• There are ideas I wish to put forth, but I'm scared.
• There are things I shouldn't be scared of, but I am.

So while I embrace the freedom I have as an individual, I long for the rights I'm entitled to for being human.

Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans (spoilers alert!)

This was my third movie of 2009 and it's one helluva prequel!

It seems like some movie prequels share similar approach - first movie being a combination of style and action, then the sequel injects a more elaborate action sequence and then comes the prequel, with plenty of brutal and hard-core action with a much higher gore factor. Which I like. A lot!!!

One of the effects I like is the Lucian's roar. RROOOARRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very cool. Don't think I've heard such good werewolf roar before this. In fact it reminded me of the first time I heard the sound of that T-Rex in Jurassic Park. Memorably impactful.

Rhona Mitra as Sonja was good, but I kept remembering Kate Beckinsale's Selene (not sure if I spelled that correctly) for some reason. I think it's because Selene had a way cooler outfit - stylishly sexy. And I think Selene's blue eyes looked cooler against her vampire-pale face.

Besides focusing on bites and bloody sword fights, this movie, like any other action movie, touches pretty heavily on the big four letter word that is LOVE.

One of the cliche line uttered in the movie was this:

Sonja: "But you were free"
Lucian: "Not without you"

There's also a funny line. Common, but still funny given the premise:

Lucian: "Are you afraid of me?"
Husky-voiced guy: "Yes"
Lucian: "Don't worry, I won't bite.................much"

By the way it ended, I think we should expect another sequel or two.

Yay!!

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen - Teaser Poster

Ever since the first word got out about Hollywood making a real life action movie of Transformers, my excitement towards it never cease.

I saw the first Transformers movie 3 times at the cinema and then countless more times on dvd, which I booked pre-sale from the US through the dvd shop at Cineleisure. I remember gasping in the cinema hall when the Dreamworks and Paramount logos came on screen with that signature robotic scramble sound. The special features on the dvd rocks!!!!

The movie blew me away. And that doesn't happen often. Cos I'm heavy. hehehe. ok,ok, bad joke. Seriously, it did. That's why I'm super excited to have found this teaser poster. REVENGE IS COMING. Sounds like a bad-ass decepticons vengeance in full force. COOL!!! Looks like the robots are evolving too, which is even COOLER!!! And if you add Soundwave to it, now that would be COOLEST!!! I am personally an autobot fan myself, but it's hard not to be awed when most of the decepticons are all military vehicles and equipment.

We should be able to see a teaser trailer in February or March I think.

Can't wait!!!!

Of culture-leading, movie-fasting and failed dvd hunting.

Last week was a little different for me, but in an interesting way.

The discussion I had with my superior led to me leading a certain aspect of the work place, which was really great, since it's an area which I'm very interested in - Culture. I know it's no small feat, but I am all for it! Of course, I'm also very glad that I have the very person I need to co-lead (here comes the setting of expectation!) all the efforts that needs to take place from the year 2009 onwards. That would be none other than Titu. hehehe.

Well obviously, just us two won't be enough. So we'll be collaborating our efforts with others in the workplace. After all, it's been a while since our last cross-functional committee. All aboard!!!!

Movie-wise, it was an uneventful week for me. Nothing interesting to watch. Decided not to see Outlander since someone told me it's not very good. So yeah, I've been movie-fasting for more than a week now.

The dvd-hunting didn't help either. I wonder why my 2 regular dvd shops were closed last weekend. Hopefully it's not because of you-know-what. And they better not be taking an early CNY break!!!!! not before I get my stock for the festive period anyway. Or else I'd be forced to watch those unwatched dvds I got stacked beside my TV. Poor me.

Tag: 2008 Cute's 3LOGGER AWARD

1. Copy badge "2008 Cute's 3logger Award" di atas untuk diletakkan di blog anda.

Done!


2. Link/ceritakan kembali siapa yang memberikan award ini kepada anda.

I was tagged / awarded by Sankai. Thanks Sankai! :)


3. Setiap blogger mesti menyatakan 10 fakta/hobi diri sendiri sebelum memilih penerima award seterusnye (anda di-tag).

i) I hate vegetables. Always have, always will. I steer away from them as much as I can and when I can't, a dressing, mayonnaise, or any kind of sauce would help to make it bearable for me. It's a little weird though, take for instance, beansprout. If at a Teppanyaki restaurant, I'd never touch them, but have them rolled up in a spring rolls, I'd gobble them all up! Yeah, like I said, weird.

ii) I love driving fast. Maybe because I have the tendency to doze of behind the wheel. It's either that or some other unexplained reasoning. So that also means I am not in favor of those who hogs the right lane driving 60kmph.

iii) I don't watch ghost movies, not since I started staying alone. I blame my awfully vivid imagination for that. I can deal with slasher / monster / zombies movies (they're actually my favorite genre!) but not ghosts ones. And no amount of persuasion is gonna make me change my mind.heheheheh. Seriously.

iv) I have this wish that I must see Andrea Bocelli live in concert before I die. I guess we'll just have to see won't we?

v) I have a bit of OCD in me. Am not telling you what it is exactly - only a few know about it. Let's just say that some involves counts and others involves movements. But then again it wouldn't be called OCD if it didn't eh. hehehehehe. Nothing major though............I think.

vi) I love to sing! My mom said that I used to sing non-stop in the shower. I don't really do it that much anymore, in the shower I mean. Sometimes I think I can tell what the next few words would be in a line. I listen to R&B, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Classical, Dance, a little techno, a little country, and Motown.

vii) I am a MOVIE FREAK!! I think movie marathons are cool; I saw the LOTR - extended versions marathon 3 times and loved every single minute of it! I watch movies that I like multiple times; at the cinemas and of course on dvds. I'm always on the look out for memorable lines and scenes for me to remember each movie by. I dislikes very few movies so far in my life because I normally manage to find good bits in almost all the movies I watch.

viii) In my family, I am the youngest of age, biggest of size. Actually I was a skinny kid at first. So skinny that my neighbors would wonder if I was eating at all. In fact so skinny that my mom got worried (also due to peer pressure from the neighbors I think) that she got me some pills - pills that would increase my appetite. And so it did! Hahahaha!!

ix) I enjoy playing badminton a lot! In fact, that's the only sport I'm into. If it's up to me, I'd play badminton every single day! Any takers??

x) I joke a lot, I laugh a lot, I tease a lot, I sleep a lot, and I talk a lot. For all these lots, I apologize :)


4. Anda perlu memilih 5 penerima award seterusnye dan menyatakan nama mereka di blog anda.

Hmmm.....that's gonna be difficult, since I'm not linked to many bloggers, so I'm afraid I can only tag 2 of them. So I'm tagging Gidong-Noumad and Jazzy.


5. Jangan lupe melawat blog kawan anda dan meninggalkan komen yang menyatakan mereka telah ditag.

Done! Yay!

Of long and short

I was at Old Town today, getting online. I wanted to show a friend of mine something on facebook, but it took ages for the page to load. I waited..............and waited and then I waited some more. The screen didn't even blinked. And I lost my patience. So I screamed!!!!!!!!!.........in my mind, of course. I do wanna be able to go back there. hehe.

The incident got me thinking about my attention span and my patience. Here's what I know so far:

1. I prefer playing Ridge Racer 4 than some other car race game cos in RR4, you can just accelerate from the get-go without having to worry about crashing into other cars or getting stopped for repair, which means longer race time.

2. I'm not crazy about strategy game or those that has 15 levels and the only way for you to advance is to unlock tons of mysteries along the way. Perhaps it's because I lack in genius brain matter, but I'd like to think it's because of the long wait.hehe.

3. I often stop viewing YouTube halfway because it takes so goddamn long to fully download. It keeps buffering!! and I don't have the patience to wait.

4. I normally hates it when someone would tell me something and then keeps on explaining and explaining and giving me reasons for it even after I've said yes and have totally agreed to what they were saying.

5. I hate driving slow and long-distant driving cos it takes a long time to get to wherever it is I'm going. But that doesn't mean I'm a speed demon. Cos I'm not.

I guess about the only thing I like longer than shorter is...sleep. And you know why - The body needs to rejuvenate, that's why.

Seven Pounds

Jenn, a colleague of mine, told me about a movie titled Seven Pounds the other day at breakfast. Today, I found it at my usual dvd joint.

As usual, the first thing I do when I got home was to test it out to ensure it's working fine, quality and all. I normally pick a mid point scene for the test. For this movie, that a-minute-or-so scene I happened to pick immediately drew my attention. So I straight away clicked Menu and then Play.

Now, if you're not into spoilers, this is where you need to stop reading, wait till you see the movie and then come back, read the post and then comment. Hehehehe. But if you don't exactly live for surprises, then by all means, read on. And I thank you for that.

The movie doesn't let on much from the very beginning. It's interlocking plot gradually unfolds, scene by scene, character by character. What it does, however, is giving you hints of how it might all ends. The storyline touches on a variety of human feelings and emotions; regret, hope, determination, sadness, patience and trust among others.

This story tells of a man who seeks to redeem himself from his past mistake, a mistake that has taken 7 human lives. He now dedicates his life to finding 7 other lives - 7 good souls who need help the most. And to help make their lives better.

As you get closer to each character, you'll see means and ways of how the human spirit can touch and change a person forever. You'll be reminded of how easy it is at times to make someone happy. And that at other times, it requires the biggest act of sacrifice. Therein lies the ending - he gives up his life to save 7 souls, in redeeming himself againts those 7 lives he took away.

The final scene was very emotional as 2 characters, one having his heart and another seeing through his eyes, hugged in tears of overwhelming gratitude and sadness.

Anyway, all these words doesn't do justice to the movie so I suggest you wait for when it screens and see for yourself. Oh yeah, don't forget that box of tissues, even if you don't need them, cos the person sitting next to you might ;)

Tag: 2008 stuff list

I was tagged by Face, so here goes!


1. Where were you on midnite Dec 31, 2007?

• I honestly can't remember!

2. 5 favorite movies of 2008?

• Sepi
• The Dark Knight
• The Mist
• Speed Racer
• The Happening

3. Worst movie(s)?

• 10000 B.C.
• The Spirit

4. 5 songs you played to death in 2008?

• Chasing Pavements - Adele
• American Boy - Estelle
• Seribu Tahun - Imran Ajmain
• By Your Side - Sade
• Dirty Little Secret - Sarah McLachlan

5. 5 games/activities you did in 2008?

• Badminton - once or twice weekly
• Massage - less often than badminton
• Hiking - less often than massage (actually it's just that one time)
• Going to the movies - probably more often than badminton
• Conducting phone screening and interviews - for work

6. Number of crushes you had in 2008?

• A couple

7. Number of heartbreaks you had in 2008?

• None

8. Number of hearts YOU broke in 2008?

• One. And I'm sorry.

9. Number of people you made cry in 2008?

• One - my mom, during Raya (does that count?).

Yes Man

I arrived in Kota Kinabalu (KK) today for a meeting at 1Borneo. The meeting went ok and right after it ended I went straight to GSC to check out what the cinema has to offer. I got two tickets to Yes Man, one for me and another for my colleague, the cookie monster.

I'm not exactly a big fan of Jim Carrey and his facial contortions, but the trailer looked nice and I was pretty sure that he has evolved from all those a-little-too-funny-that-it's not-funny-anymore characters of his.

Throughout the movie, I laughed out loud several times, which was so unlike me. Hehehe. There were also parts that were kinda predictable and a tad un-funny but it was all saved by Zooey Deschanel, whom I really like nowadays. I've been a fan of hers since the movie Elf, which happens to be one of my favorite xmas movies.

A few take aways from the movie:

1. It is important to say what you mean and mean what you say, no matter how hard.

2. Life is never just black and white, it is often grey.

3. Jogging photography is very in nowadays. Hehe.


This was my second movie for the year and yes, I'm saving the stub!

Of birthdays, coffee and ghosts(!!!!)

Monday was Tuty's mum-in-law's birthday and I got invited for dinner at Hokkaido at Pekeliling. I've never been there before (chances are, some of my close friends probably have) but was pretty sure it's a good pick, knowing Tuty and family. Tuty's like a walking food google by the way (See it as it was meant Tuty, as a compliment! hehehe....)

And it sure was good because it was an air-conditioned dining area. Kidding.... I mean the food was really good. My particular favorite was the Ikan Goreng 3 Rasa. C'est magnifique!!! I gotta go back there again sometimes. And you should join me.

We always have pretty good chats, me Tuty and family. However that night, our conversation took a wrong turn (no, not the one with Eliza Dushku, but pretty close). Somehow, the topic of supernatural being (my favorite........NOT!) came up and I could have sworn I saw dad-in-law's eyes light up! He started telling me these ghost stories and some recollections of his own experiences. He was very enthusiastic but I just wanted to finish up the fish. hehehehe... Tuty came to my rescue, telling him I'm not into these things, or hearing bout them, or seeing them, or having anything to do with them.....so after a couple of attempts, we changed topic. Phew! A little more further and I was gonna walk in backwards! Sorry I couldn't be more enthusiastic uncle Ross.

All in all, dinner was excellent, thanks to Tuty and family. Happy Birthday Eve!

Today, Tuesday, I met up with a friend at Jaya One Starbucks after work for some Iced Venti Hazelnut Latte and whadda ya know? Ghost stories came up! Wha??? It's like the topic of the week or something! But Syp was quick enough to stop (cos I made sure he did! hehehe..). Sorry Syp.

So I'm taking the opportunity now to set some expectations okay people:

Meet up for chats - Yes.

Birthday dinner - Yes.

Starbucks Coffee - absolute yes.

Ghost stories - NO thank you.

Sharing is so not caring when it comes to that. Just not a fan, that's all :)

Of chats, dvd and Aji Don.

After about a week of sleeping late and waking up early, I was looking forward to redeeming all that lost sleep last Friday. I have arranged to meet with an ex-colleague at Plaza Damas at 3pm the next day, so there's plenty of time to sleep in. And sleep in I did. All 12 hours of it. Good to know I have the will power when it counts the most. Hahaha!

We agreed to meet at Aji Don, which happens to be one of my favorite place for food. I like a lot of the foods there; Mee Rebus, Popiah Basah, Chicken Rice and Char Kuey Tiaw, but since I'm not there often enough, I always end up ordering the Mee Rebus and Popiah after which I tell myself "next time, I'll order the rest". And then the next time, I'd end up ordering the same thing. That's how good the Mee Rebus and Popiah are! The only setback is that they close on Sunday (business must be real good huh!).

We got talking about our past experiences together and it was fun looking back. Plenty of laugh. We also talked about what we want out of our jobs and times when we consider making a change, and so the conversation took a more serious turn. I guess everyone have those moments when you'd take a step back, pause and ask yourself "Am I happy?" "Do I want more?" "Can I wait?" and a host of other questions. I think it's what makes us human.

We were joined by another friend of mine later and after my ex-colleague left, we went to look for a dvd. My friend has been looking for this particular movie for a long time and I knew just where to get it! Strangely enough, I was hungry after that. Well, half an hour of dvd browsing can really drain you, so I had no choice but to go for a second helping at Aji Don. Poor me. hehehe. This time it was CKT and more Popiah. and a bit of Murtabak. Blame Syp, not me. hehehe.

Saturday is just 5 days away now....................................................Aji Don anyone? :)

Australia (spoilers alert!)

I started the first day of the year with a breakfast and a movie.

I saw Australia with Jazzy at MBO. I was a bit worried that it might be draggy since it is 2 hours and 45 minutes long, but hey, i'm an optimistic movie freak, so i went ahead and got the tickets. hehe.

It turned out to be a good movie. It does have more romance than war action but it wasn't a problem. One of the elements I like in the movie is its Aborigine's tale and perspective, particularly Nullah and King George.

Here are some memorable lines from the movie:

"I'll sing you to me"

"Just because it is, doesn't mean it should be"

"I can say your name!"

I kept Australia's ticket stub in a box where I'll be saving all other ticket stubs of movies I'll watch this year. I plan to have a summary of 2009 movies at year end.

It'll be cool..........I think.

Consistently inconsistent

That's what came to mind when i was thinking of how i would maintain my blogs - consistently inconsistent. After all, that's how it's been so far - big gaps in between posts. It's not writer's block coz you actually need to be one to have one. And I'm not one. So call me lazy. hehe.

However, in the spirit of a new year and all, here i am, starting yet another blog, confident as ever. And am feeling good about it. Don't get me wrong, this is not a new year resolution. It's just something I'm setting out to do and starting it on the fourth day of the year sounds about right.

You see, my other blog; sirenbrewedforlife.blogspot.com is where i talk about the life i had as a Starbucks partner between September 1999 until March 2007. It's about that and nothing else. So, naturally, i need another platform to talk about other things in my life.

That is what My Life, My Voice is created for.

Ready, set, go!