Which Glee Character Are You?

 

Is it considered “blushing”, if no one’s around to see it? When Mr. Schuester was dancing to The Thong Song with Emma… I kinda did. Hehehehehehehee….

Right???

How cute is he?? Or how about this one:

If any of my high school teacher looked and acted like him (so kind!), I would probably have the hardest time concentrating on my studies because I’ll be thinking about my teacher ALL the time.

*Gleek = fan of Glee

This boy:

Look at him giving the side-eye to Winnie the Pooh while forcing his way through the rumble of destruction that was his birthday presents.

Sayang you, Mikail!

This week might just be the worst week of my entire *cough*SIXTEEN*cough* years of life…

On Tuesday, my SIM card decided to die on me. I was trying to send a text to someone, when suddenly an error message came up: SIM card is missing. I thought it was the stupid phone that couldn’t detect the SIM card. The next day, I tried my SIM card on someone else’s phone, and the same error came up. CRAPPPP. So I called Celcom from my office line, and they said I had to go to their branch and get it replaced, but because my line is a supplementary line, I still need an authorization letter and copy of IC from my principal (my dad). So I did a mad scramble and luckily dad was accommodating enough, so I got a new SIM card and I broke the old one into 10 million pieces… padan muka!

On Wednesday night, my washing machine stopped working.. again! It broke down two weeks ago and I had a technician to fix it, but it broke down again this time, while in the middle of a wash. Since the clothes were all wet and damp, I couldn’t just leave it in there and stink up the place. I had to wring out the water from the clothes and put them in the dryer, thinking that after the washing machine is fix, I can just wash it again.

THEN, after 120 minutes of drying, the clothes were still semi-damp! So now I know the dryer is broken too because 120 minutes were more than enough to dry out the size of the load. BLERGHHHHHHHHH.

I called the respective technicians to make an appointment for them to service the machines. The washing machine guy said he could come on Friday at 930am, but the dryer guy could only come next week. Okay, fine. At least I can wash my clothes on the weekends (or so I thought).

Yesterday (Thursday) before leaving the apartment for work, I grabbed my keys on the table and rushed out the door, simultaneously locking the doorknob from the inside as I normally do. When I was outside trying to lock the grill, I realized that the keys that I took was the car keys!! And the door was already locked from the inside. I WAS LOCKED OUT OFMYOWNFREAKINGHOUSEEEEEEEEEE. Science, grant me patience. I called all my siblings to check whether any of them have their copies of my house keys with them, and luckily my sister had one with her, so I arranged to used hers when she got back from work. Disaster averted, but feeling of stupidity continues.

So last night after my lovely and beautiful sister helped me out with the keys, I was feeling like some Glee. I LOVE GLEE. I will marry the creator of Glee if I could. Anyway, I tried to d/load the most recent episode, but suddenly the internet got disconnected. I checked the router and the router was fine, and I waited for another hour but the internet was still down. I thought, OK streamyx, you idiot. I’ll let you win tonight, but tomorrow morning while waiting for the technician to arrive, you better be working.

And guess what? The internet was still down this morning! I wanted to call streamyx, but I was waiting for the washing machine guy to call me when they arrived. BUT GUESS WHAT. Someone from the service centre called me to confirm an appointment for their technician to look at my machine next week.

………

SHUT.THE.F.UP. I was so pissed, I ranted a whole 15 minutes at the… whoever they were, because the technician already confirmed with me that he’ll come at 930am today, and now you’re telling me that no one is coming?? Then their supervisor had to talk to me, saying that they’re sorry for the misunderstanding, but their technician swore that no one made any appointment with me, so basically they’re calling me a liar. IDIOTS.

So NOW, I have the Streamyx hotline to look forward to tonight (sarcasm), have to go to a laundrette because if I don’t I won’t have any clothes to wear for next week, AND I have to arrange for appointments AGAIN for the washing machine and dryer guys.

Science!!

I was in a meeting when this guy called my office line and left a voicemail. Because of Microsoft Unified Communications Email and Telephone Integration, any missed calls/ voicemails from my office line will be directed to my inbox. Isn’t that cool? Almost Star Trek-ky. This is all fine and normal, but today’s edition is extremely LOL-worthy, as I received a voicemail from this guy, who left his message in Malay. Basically he was inviting me (ie my company) to his company’s Raya open house in Putrajaya tomorrow. The Speech engine ‘read’ the Malay message as English, and the results were hilariously disastrous (in blue):

Cynical Sharifah Maryam!

I re-play the voicemail over and over again just to see how his pronunciation could be interpreted as the above. Wasn’t successful at identifying the similarities because i was DYING from laughter every time. But you know that ‘So cool’ in the end? It was actually for ‘assalammualaikum’. Ahahahahahahah!

*wipes tears*

With that, folks, So cool.

From Pah Rahmah and family!

Pah Rahmah is my grandmother, the matriarch of our family. She was, unfortunately, sick the whole morning, so it really was a feat that she was smiling when this pic was taken. This is not the whole clan, but we take what we can get!

And I just can’t hide it!

America’s Next Top Model is back!! This “cycle” Tyra is exclusively featuring under-5”7 girls, again deluding herself that her show can change the fashion industry’s perception of beauty. Her Fashion-God-like complex is the reason why we… ehem.. I love Tyra. You just don’t meet people like her everyday, you know.

And the girls themselves? Just because they’re short, doesn’t make them less crazy than all the other contestants before them. YES! I know I can always count on ANTM for the reality tv drama.

For every “cycle”, the episode that I’m waiting for most is the Makeovers. This time Tyra didn’t even make me wait! The girls got their makeovers in the 2nd hour of the show. Does this mean that I have nothing to look forward to for this cycle? We’ll see. And I love how Tyra thinks she gave the best makeovers for the girls. Some of them look better, I admit, but most of them? Downgrade.

And Ms. Jay seriously need to retire from the judging panel. He’s only funny when he’s teaching runaway, anyway. Tyra, reevaluate your judges!

Let’s start with the synopsis:

Great Britain circa 1985: time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. Baconians are trying to convince the world that Francis Bacon really wrote Shakespeare, there are riots between the Surrealists and Impressionists, and thousands of men are named John Milton, an homage to the real Milton and a very confusing situation for the police. Amidst all this, Acheron Hades, Third Most Wanted Man In the World, steals the original manuscript of Martin Chuzzlewit and kills a minor character, who then disappears from every volume of the novel ever printed! But that's just a prelude.

Hades' real target is the beloved Jane Eyre, and it's not long before he plucks her from the pages of Bronte's novel. Enter Thursday Next. She's the Special Operative's renowned literary detective, and she drives a Porsche. With the help of her uncle Mycroft's Prose Portal, Thursday enters the novel to rescue Jane Eyre from this heinous act of literary homicide. It's tricky business, all these interlopers running about Thornfield, and deceptions run rampant as their paths cross with Jane, Rochester, and Miss Fairfax. Can Thursday save Jane Eyre and Bronte's masterpiece? And what of the Crimean War? Will it ever end? And what about those annoying black holes that pop up now and again, sucking things into time-space voids. (source)

Weird, right? And AMAZING. I haven’t read anything this wacky since Douglas Adam’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (mad love). Imagine, a world where people actually read more than watch tv. A world where people are passionate enough about the written word that hundreds of people would change their name to their favourite poet (eg: John Milton 432, means the 432nd person who officially changed his name to John Milton). A world where time travel and cloning exist. Vampires and werewolves live among us. A world where the line between the literary world and the real world can be crossed only by special people with untapped abilities. A world where the literary characters are self-aware that they are part of the book. Even with the advancement of technology, the undead, and magic, the people are still… people. Crime still prevalent, no flying cars, and single career ladies of mature years will always be at the receiving end of When-are-you-going-to-get-married lecture from the mother and well-meaning but inappropriate aunts.

You can still enjoy the book if you haven’t read the classics, but the ‘inside jokes’ will be funnier if you have. For me, the best part of the book is when Thursday transported herself into Jane Eyre (the book) to capture the evil criminal Acheron Hades, who tried to escape prosecution by transporting himself into the book. To read her adventures there, while the story of Jane Eyre is unfolding is… I don’t know, felt intimately connected to the book. Gad, I have to stop now because I’m thisclose to reveal some very important plot device that can be considered as spoilers.

Sometimes, you have to suspend logic and rational thinking when you read this book because if you try to make sense of the shenanigans, your brain WILL explode. Oh yeah, I logged on to Fforde’s website, and look at the funny shit he has on it:

See the text in the blue-lined box, reads: To Initiate Emergency “Boss Approaching” Procedure, Press Here

And when you click it, this come out:

LOLLLLLLLLLL I almost peed myself.

The next book in the series is Lost in a Good Book. Can’t wait to get my hands on it!

I love Sandra Bullock. Though some of her movies do suck, I’d still watch them. From her imdb page, let’s see how many of her movies that I’ve seen:

1. Speed
2. While You Were Sleeping
3. The Net
4. In Love and War
5. A Time to Kill
6. Speed 2: Cruise Control
7. Hope Floats
8. Practical Magic
9. Prince of Egypt
10. Forces of Nature
11. 28 Days
12. Miss Congeniality
13. Murder by Numbers
14. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
15. Two Weeks Notice
16. Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous
17. The Lake House

HUH. 17? I impressed myself.

Yes, I haven’t seen The Proposal yet. But I will, either when it’s out on HBO/ Cinemax/ Star Movies or DVD. She’s a busy girl, as there two more movies coming out this year too, All About Steve (doesn’t look too good), and The Blind Side (looks very promising). The latter… oh, I think this’ll be a tear-jerker. I’m totally going to see it. Trailer below:

*sobs!*

Mikail is such a big, rambunctious boy now. The only time I can take my eyes off him is when he’s sleeping. Like below:

Cutie pieeeeeeeeeeeeeee

And I taught him a word! He can say “Ouch” now. Actually, it’s “AAaaOoocchhs”. Before you call Child Welfare Department, he was only repeating after me! See rambunctious.

His Mama asked him whether he wants to come again to my apartment next week, and the little bugger shook his head! Amboiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii…

You’re stuck with me, Mikail. Muahahahahahah…

Mindless entry for a mindless Monday…

The damn cult again, people.

Hehehehehe… ok ok, because so much time has passed, and since I’m already back in Malaysia, I’ll just make it brief and spare everyone the headache from reading my word diarrhea.

Last leg of London trip:

We went to:

- Portobello Market, the famous flea market in London

- Westminster: Big Ben, Palace of Westminster, Southbank (enjoyable afternoon watching the street performers)

- Harrods: decor soooo gaudy, it kinda worked.

Paris

We went to Paris via Eurostar. I find Paris… dirtier… than London. The Metro was totally confusing (and stinky). But the architecture of the old buildings are definitely beautiful and awe-inspiring. I love the pastries!!! Science I’m so fat now.

We went to:

- The Louvre. Étonnate! It’s hugeeee, lotsa artifacts and paintings. I know I know. I have no appreciation of the arts, but what amazes me was the fact that I’m actually looking at the same paintings that another person from 200 years ago would, standing at the same spot. At the risk of repeating myself, amazing.

- Disneyland Paris. Queues were longggggggggggggggggggggggg… *takes deep breath*.. gggggggggggggggggggg. But the Castle looks really good pastel pink.

- Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame.

- Chataeu De Versailles. LOVE the place. But don’t love that the royals that built it at the expense of its people. I’m so conflicted, because on one hand, they built a really beautiful place, but I cannot believe that they could live in such decadent splendour when their people are suffering. I’m going to go and rent/ buy Marie Antoinette DVD now.

And that is it from my trip! I’m broke and I’m tired, but am superbly happy. Oh, to be rich and do this all over againnn…

Day 6: Wednesday, 22nd July

Did the laundrey again. This time, it felt like I walked into the set of Oliver, because people around us were talking with a Cockney accent. Thanks, luv! That's alright, darlin'! Tuppence? Nancy! Fagin! Wott?? You want summore???? Ok I'll stop.

After laundry, Abah and I took the tube to the London Bridge station. Honestly, I didn’t know what I was expecting, but I certainly didn’t expect London Bridge to be… a bridge. I mean, a normal bridge that links two points across a river. Eh. But the day was nice. It was sunny, and the breeze was cooling but not to the point of freezing. We walked through the Tower Wharf, a waterfront-like walkway, towards Tower of London. We passed through HMS Belfast, Hay’s Gallery, which is an outdoor-concept shopping area where they even have lawn bowling and a Jules Verne-like structure in the middle of it, the City Hall, which has a futuristic architecture that looks rather weird when juxtaposed with the ancient Tower Bridge, and they also have free musical performances at the courtyard.

We didn’t go into Tower of London, because… well, didn’t feel like it. It’s one of the most famous prison in the world. To walk along the paths of the dead, the wrongly prosecuted… I mean, I watched Ghost Whisperer enough to know that tortured souls can haunt you if they choose to. I know I know. But STILL.

After the Tower, we went to Malaysia Hall for lunch (again), and since Abah was feeling sleepy, he went home while I continued enjoying the sunny day by myself, walking through Kengsington Park and Hyde Park again. They are such beautiful parks. And it’s not even a chore to walk, despite the distance, because the breeze is cool and you hardly sweat. I wanted to sit and read my book, but I realized that it was already 530pm, and I wouldn’t want to go back too late because… hmmm. Actually there was no reason for me to go home early because it only gets dark after 9pm. I guess old habits die hard. At least by going back at 530pm, I get to see if there were any cute mat salehs coming back from work in the tube. Oh, I saw a young Brad Pitt lookalike in the tube once. What’s uppppppppp.

Day 7: Thursday, 23rd July

Oxford Street again, this time with Mak. Again, while going through the shops, I only bought a DVD from HMV. Again. This time it’s Oliver: Special Edition, for £8. Arrghh I have a problem!

Someone please recommend a DVD-addiction support group, asap.

Day 5: Tuesday, 21st July

What?? It’s day five already??

Today we went to Madame Tussauds. Didn’t expect that there’d be so many people going here, since it was a weekday, but there were. It was 1 hour and 15 minutes queue to buy the tickets. Though it was a long line, Madame Tussauds was clever enough to put a lot of camera-worthy attractions along the line, so that people won’t get bored. Did you know that the real Madame Tussauds was only 5ft tall, and her palm is slightly bigger than mine? Yeah, I read that from the info wall that they have along the line. Did you know that Obama is 6ft and 1.5inch? Now you know. Anyway, we finally got our tickets and proceeded to enter the first room (theme: A-list Party), and OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGG… I’ve never seen so many people crammed into one small space! If it wasn’t because of the cost of the tickets, I would’ve bailed. So this room had some wax figures of famous celebrities, but the one that I really wanted to take a pic with was Johnny Depp’s wax figure. Apparently seven hundred thousand girls had the same idea too. I actually had to push my way in to get a pic with him. AND GUESS WHAT? When it was finally my turn:

IT’S OUT OF FOCUS. THANK YOU ABAH.

But nevermind. At least I have a pic of Johnny Depp and myself. Why do I look so short???

There were other wax figures but really, only Johnny Depp deserves to be mentioned here. We continued to another room, and this time the theme was Hollywood Movies or something, again had to go through the maddening crowd, to get a picture with abang Daniel Craig!

I think you can actually feel the discomfort coming through from both me & Cici in the pic. Abang DC (eceh) is one of the more famous wax figures, so both of us had to actually fight for a place. Then, we continued to another hall, and there were some wax figures of old Hollywood icons. Poor James Dean, no one wanted to pose with him. So I did my civic duty:

Why do I look so excited? And James Dean isn’t very tall, right? I could totally pass for his girlfriend. Shut up, I could!

There were other rooms, but I rather not go into it all because OMG the crowd!! I cannot stand the crowd. By the time we finished through all the rooms, I was ready to QUIT. LIFE. Ok, dramatic.

After Madame Tussauds, we walked to Sherlock Holmes Museum which was a couple of blocks away. This, I loved. As you know, I’m a giant nerd, and Sherlock Holmes was one of the literary figures that filled my childhood. Wah wah. But seriously. The museum is at 221b Baker Street, which is Holmes’s address in the story, and it’s just a three-storey townhouse, that’s furnished with Holmes’s things. They had his bedroom, his study, Dr. Watson’s bedroom, the sitting room… it actually felt like a real house that Holmes’s actually inhibited. They even showcased letters from all over the world, mostly written by kids, that was addressed to ‘in the care of Sherlock Holmes’. They were all very funny, and endearing, that the children thought of him as a real person. Oh yeah, Dr. Watson greeted us when we came in, and apparently he has been to KL. Impressive, my dear Watson. Beside the museum is their souvenir shop where they sell expensive but unique Holmes’s related items.

We left the museum to have lunch at Malaysia Hall (again), and it started to rain. After lunch, it was still raining. From Malaysia Hall, we took a bus to go to Trafalgar Square, where we intended to visit the National Gallery. It was almost a 40-minute ride, because the bus went through Oxford Street which was massively jammed. Riding the bus is rather soothing, actually. Cici even fell asleep. Anyway, we came down at Piccadilly Circus, where we walked to Trafalgar Square. By the time we reached the Gallery, it was pouringgggg. And, you know, I tried. I tried to appreciate art. But all I can come up with were “Oh, that’s nice”, or “Yeah, that looks like a person”, or “Ok, another painting”. Then we went to see the Corot to Monet exhibition, and at least I added “Oh, nice brush strokes”, and “Wow, how could they painted that from just observing”… that sorta thing. So I guess we can established that I’m not an art appreciator at all. It looked like the rain had stopped, so we went outside the Gallery to the infamous Trafalgar Square, but I guess because of the rain, there were no pigeons on site.

And then, we went home because Cici needed to leave by 6pm so that she could catch her bus to Heathrow, before flying off to Malaysia. Bye2 Cici!

I realized that my mood went down exponentially from the time it started raining. Am I now a Londoner, now that I have weather-related depression? Perasannnnnnn.

Yay, I managed to sleep after Isya’ this time!

Day 3: Sunday, 19th July

We were so tired from yesterday that we didn’t feel like doing anything much today. After breakfast, we went to a local launderette a couple of blocks away from our place to do our laundry. There was an old man in a suit and an earflap hat, an Australian backpacker, a normal english dude who opened the door for me when I was struggling with the laundry bag while my dad who was already in the launderette just stood there watching me struggle (typical, tsk), a group of big brawly guys who of course used the large-load machines, and other interesting characters. It was fun just observing people in the launderette. And now I’m one of those people who know how to use a public launderette, woo-hoo! I feel so urban.

Our original plan was to go to one of the parks and maybe have a leisurely afternoon tea after laundry, but that didn’t happen because my parents had their daily quarrel and my Mum decided that she was just going to stay in the room. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only grown-up sigh. So, after my dad ranted his side of the argument while I dutifully listened, we decided to go to Oxford Street because one of my to-do list was to go to HMV and get some BBC-made DVDs. From Euston Station we took the subway to Tottenham Court Road and walked towards Oxford Street. Being this a Sunday, there were sooooo many people at Oxford Street, especially in Topshop/ Topmen/ Miss Selfridge… it’s like every European teenage girls and their boyfriends were there. I didn’t even try to go in. We found HMV a couple of shops away, and of course spent the bulk of our time in there, just browsing along the aisle and wishing that I had more money and more luggage space to buy the things that I wanted, but I settled for 4 movies (well, three tv mini-series, and a movie). All of them were on sale, ranging between £3 - £12. The normal priced items were quite expensive, if you convert them to RM. Cheaper to buy them in HMV Hong Kong, actually. Oh, Hong Kong. I have to plan for a trip there next time. Borders were having 50% off on everything because they were closing down, but I couldn’t find the books that I wanted, and the whole store was in a disarray so I really didn’t know where to look at what. What? *shrugs* After that, we both felt there really wasn’t any need to hang around Oxford Street much, so we went home at around 430pm.

I slept at 7pm up till morning. Still jetlagged, obvs.

Day 4: Monday, 20th July

Cici came from Southampton because her flight to Malaysia was supposed to be on Tuesday, so we picked her up at Victoria Station as she was arriving by coach. Victoria station is where the Apollo Victoria Theather is, where they are playing Wicked right now. Science, I sooo want to see it, but the tickets cost a friggin bomb! My cash is just enough for food, yo. Anyway, since Cici has never been to London, we decided that we’ll do the official touristy thing together. We walked a bit to Buckingham Palace to catch the Changing of the Guard. The thing was supposed to start at 1130am, but when we arrived there at 1030am, the place was packed with all the tourists like us, standing near the gates to get a better view. Dayyymn. My mum, having seen the changing of the guards before, decided to sit at the fountain, while the three of us decided to go squeeze ourselves in nearer at the gate. Didn’t happen. Then my dad went off somewhere, so myself and Cici just went around the fountain and sat facing the St.James’s Park entrance where the procession was supposed to start. It was a sunny and warm day and I even took off my jacket. I think I have a tan now. When the thing finally started, we got some good pics of the guards coming from St. James’s Park, but after that it was all a blur. Couldn’t see anything because there were so many people in front of us. Exhibit A:

Click for larger pics. The first pic is people at the fountain. The second pic is people at the gate (and beyond). The third pic is the view from my camera when I extended my arm above everyone’s heads. Yep. Couldn’t see a thing. But we did hear the guards/ marching band played some songs.

So after the whole hoopla finished, we decided to go to Malaysia Hall at Bayswater because Cici wanted to see if they have a room for her for one night, even after we tried to convince her to stay with us instead. Also, we wanted to have lunch. We walked through The Green Park, which was lovely and green, straight to Hyde Park which was amazing (so amazing), but by the end of the park, all of us were pretty tired from walking, and Mak was especially hungry, but there was no tube station in sight! We had no option but to walk through Kensington Park to get to Bayswater. Itu lah, perasan terel. Even though my feet were aching, I can’t even imagine how Cici must have felt, because she was carrying a backpack with her laptop in it, and she was wearing flats. OMG, I would’ve thrown a temper tantrum if I were her. Nevertheless, all the parks were beautiful, even the un-manicured part of Kensington Park. Pics below:

Click for bigger pic 

We finally reached Malaysia Hall, unfortunately they couldn’t confirmed if there was any room available for Cici until later in the evening, so she finally agreed to just stay with us for one night. The food at the canteen was good, cheap and fulfilling. It’s like we never left Malaysia. After lunch and prayers, we took the tube from Bayswater to Euston Square to our place. After dumping everything in the room, and resting for awhile, Cici, myself and Abah walked to the British Museum which isn’t that far away from our place (but our feet still felt like exploding), and spent some time at their Egyptian exhibit. So cool. They had so many stuff: mummies, ancient documents, ancient wall paintings which they brought from one of the pyramids of course, ancient statues of their deities, etc. They even had a mummified alligator which was wrapped in its original linen wrapping. One of the exhibition was described as a typical grave of a low-class person, and the mummified body was not wrapped in linen. I could see the hair and eyelashes of the mummy, yo! Disturbing. Since the museum was closing at 530pm, we went out and took some pics of the front entrance of the building. Very impressive. Pics below:

Click for bigger pic

By the time we reached home, my feet couldn’t take it anymore, and I announced that I was finished for the day. I don’t know how they get their energy, but Abah and Cici went out again to catch the London Eye. Hmmmmm, view of London at sunset, or resting my aching feet. Feet!

I drifted in and out of sleep after that, but managed to not only did my Maghrib prayer, but also Isya’ this time! FYI, over here in “summer” time London, Maghrib is at 9pm and Isya’ is at 11pm. Yeah, I pity those who has to fast for Ramadhan during summer time. Oh yeah, Subuh is from 315am – 5am. I KNOW.

Ok, that is all. Mind the gap! <-- I’m so lame…

Day 1: Friday, 17th July

We arrived at London Heathrow at 330pm. I immediately realized how cold London is the minute I stepped outside the airport. I thought this was supposed to be summer? I brought along only thin cotton shirts, expecting that it would be hot. I only have the free jacket that the company gave me, which I initially planned to wear only in the plane. Now I have to wear it outside, all the time?? By the time we checked in at our rented studio apartment in Bloomsbury, it was already 530pm. The weather aside, I gamely thought that we (Abah, Mak and I) would go out and walked around a bit before getting our dinner. I was super excited, as this was my first trip to London and by science I would act as fangirly-ish as I wanted. As we were getting ready to go out (this was around 7pm-ish), I felt this sudden exhaustion came over me. Like, I NEED TO SLEEP RIGHT NOW. So I laid on the bed, thinking that I’d just rest my eyes while Mak and Abah were getting ready, and whaddayaknow, I slept throughout the night and only woke up at 430am the next morning. This, people already in the know except me, is called jetlagged. 7pm London time is equivalent to 3am Malaysia time.

Day 2: Saturday, 18th July

You would think that at 430am it would still be dark outside. But no, the sun was already creeping out of the horizon at this time. By 5am, it felt like it was 9am in Malaysia. You know when you watched tv, and the mat salehs would say that they wake up at 5am to jog, and I always thought “How can you see anything at 5am??”. Well… now I know better. After a shower, I cleared up the table, made some tea and laid out a modest fare of muesli, toasts, fruits and yogurt for breakfast. Apparently my parents went out groceries shopping while I was knocked dead last night. We were supposed to meet up my cousin, Kak Nyah and Cici, at Southampton after breakfast. Kak Nyah is a student at University of Southampton, and Cici is her sister who just finished her internship after graduating from… a university in USA (in Seattle, I think), and was visiting Kak Nyah before she went back to Malaysia. So from the Waterloo station, we took a train for Southampton and got comfortable for a hour and a half journey. It was a scenic route... I saw the suburbs outside of London, the rolling hills of the countryside, the farming territory, the ‘Dutch Lady’ cows, horsies… even the wildflowers here are pretty and colourful. They were all a mix of yellows, purples and whites. Where are the lalangs, I ask you?

When we arrived at Southampton, Kak Nyah and Cici picked us up and drove us to Portsmouth, which is super nice of her, because it was two hours away! In Malaysia, that’s equivalent to a journey from KL to Ipoh. But with the pretty scenery along the way, it didn’t feel like a two hour drive. Kak Nyah took us to Gunswarf Quays, which is an outdoor shopping concept along a waterfront. Kak Nyah even packed us some nasi lemak, to eat picnic style by the waterfront. FYI, I didn’t shop much because… eventhough the price is cheaper than normal (or so I was told), if you convert them to RM it will still be expensive. And I don’t have enough cash with me.  For the whole trip. So only my parents did the shopping (souvenirs for the family), while I bought a couple of boxes of tea. For me. Hahahahahah.

After the retail therapy, Kak Nyah drove us to Lulworth Cove, which was a one and half hour drive away (I think) from Portsmouth. This time, we went through the countryside, and there were giant trees ‘protecting’ both sides of the roads, quaint little cottages, pebble stoned roads, village pubs, churches, roses… science, it was straight out of Midsomer Murders! I almost couldn’t believe that I was actually going through the English countryside! When we reached our destination, it was raining and the wind was blowing hard, and my teeth were chattering. It was that cold (for me). But the view… wow. You don’t get views like these in Malaysia:

click for bigger pic 

It almost felt like I was in a Jane Austen book. Perasannnnnnnnnnnnnnnn…… tapi mahu.

We had to do a bit of hiking to get to the beach, but nothing too strenuous. At least I broke into my new walking shoes (which btw is a size 1 1/2… FOR KIDS). I thought it was too cold for anything, but I saw some people swimming in the sea. Must be from Norway or somewhere freezing because they could swim in a weather like this. There was even a wedding reception held at the cove… oh man, I envy their wedding pictures. In the pic where there’s all five of us, at the left corner of the pic you can see an arch-like stature, which is called the Durdle Door. Actually they even have a Lulworth Castle along the way, and we tried to get in, but it was closed for a private function. I think it’s for the same wedding party. Damn those people and their beautiful wedding!

We then went to Kak Nyah’s place in Southampton for our prayers, then dinner at this Muslim fast food shop (service with an attitude), and finally she dropped us off at Southampton Central.

Kak Nyah is the best host ever! Thanks, man. We had a tiring, but exciting day. SO. MUCH. EXCITEMENT. Maybe too much, because when we reached London, we konk-out immediately after that. That’s British for knock-out. Ehem.

Day 3 & 4 to come….

Too funny! This is some big budget sh*t right here:

I remember when we had to do a video marketing campaign too with zero budget and skeletal resource for Heroes Happen Here… oh memories.

I told just about anyone who would listen that I love Johnny Depp. After watching him play John Dillinger, I think I will marry him.

My personal and inappropriate feelings for Johnny Depp aside, the movie itself… leaves me unsatisfied, like there’s something missing. The movie starts off with John Dillinger (Depp) in the process of breaking into a prison to liberate his gang, and continued immediately with crime sprees of Dillinger and his fellow outlaws. Along the way he met Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard) whom he courted rather charmingly aggressive; only “charming” because we’re in movie-land, but if it was reality his courting method will be on my radar as POSSESIVE SERIAL KILLER RUN AWAY RUN AWAY. FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) is the disciplined, intense and focused lawman who is put in charge of apprehending Dillinger and crew to justice by J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup).

Aside: I watch Criminal & Investigation channel a lot, and it has some programs that features J. Edgar Hoover, and though the programs were independently made, it seemed the unanimous consensus is that JE Hoover is an asshole, who founded the FBI. Most reports about him would go, “J.E. Hoover founded the FBI, but nobody liked him and he’s a jealous SOB, but he founded the FBI without which justice would not be as it is today” or something to that account. I would’ve thought that someone who is passionate about law and order would be an upstanding, moral guy. Was he really an asshole or were some influential yet corrupted top hats were pissed off with his attempts to stop crime at a national level hence cutting off their ill-begotten income? end Aside.

I think Marion Cotillard’s attempt at American accent failed. Big time. Her voice had a squeaky quality to it, and I could hear french-tinged words and rhythmic pronunciation in some of her dialogues. Of course, this could all come from jealousy because she’s so pretty and perfect and Johnny Depp was romancing her, but seriously I think they should’ve casted a normal dark-haired American beauty to play Billie Frechette. Would’ve been less amusing that way. Other than her accent, I think she’s an awesome actress because she managed not to hyperventilate or faint from happiness everytime Johnny Depp talked all sexy and romantic to her. Gah!!

Also, I unintentionally played the Spot The Cameo game during the movie. I spotted Stephen Dorff, that Step Up guy, Faramir, Phoebe of Friends half-brother Frank, Diana Krall… and a couple of faces that I recognized but couldn’t put a name to it. I think I was most excited when I saw Stephen Dorff on screen… remember when he was the IT-boy of Hollywood and how he had so much potential but then he just… disappeared? And then randomly appeared in Britney Spear’s music video and disappeared again? Yeah. Whenever I think of Stephen Dorff, I would think of Christian Slater. I don’t know why, but where the heck is Christian Slater, eh??

I read somewhere that while filming, Bale didn’t socialized with Depp because he’s a dedicated method actor. Bale, dude, waste of opportunity! Who doesn’t want to hang out with Depp?!

ANYWAY. This movie had everything going for it. Why isn’t it great, though? Why?? I can’t figure it out. 3 out of 5.

OMG you guys, that damn cult kidnapped me again. I don’t know why they even bother letting me go.

Ok, honestly I was just busy. Work is… piling up, and my brother got married. The latter filled me with more stress than the former, no lie. But I’m glad that everything is over. OVERRRRRRRR. Until next year when it’s my other sister’s turn. Blergh. I mean, alhamdulillahhhh. Hehehehehe.

In chronological order:

1. Solemnization ceremony of my brother (Husain) and his wife (Shamsiah) in Marang, Terengganu.

We stayed at one of the chalets. Very basic (totally not worth RM300/ night that we had to fork out), not properly maintained, but spacious. It was right near the beach, but the weather… science, the weather. It was so hot! At least lil’ Mikail get to swim wade in the ocean. Supervised, ok. Didn’t gorge out on keropok lekor or nasi dagang much because I wasn’t in the mood. In fact, we went to Kuala T’ganu (40 minutes away from Marang) to look for McD. McD breakfast… how I missed thee. I didn’t take a lot of pics during the ceremony, because let’s not fool ourselves that I have skillz in photography. Few pics:

2. Husain + Sham reception at Dewan Melati Perbadanan Putrajaya, Putrajaya.

This is a week after the solemnization ceremony. The night before the reception, all of the family (relatives and immediate family) came to the Dewan to oversee the preparation. Since I was superbly sick by this time (fever/ sore throat/ cold – not H1N1!), I was rightfully cranky and made everyone miserable. Oopsie hehehe. Actually, I think even if I wasn’t sick I would still feel sakit hati because the pelamin people were supposed to come at 830pm, but they only came at 11. ELEVEN. I could’ve infected them with my virus, but I didn’t because I’m a human being and to infect someone with a virus is not a humanly behaviour. Even when those people deserved it. Oh yeah, so the theme colour was, and this is a direct quote from my Mum, “mercury gray”. Rrrriiigght. Silver la kan? Moms. I feel obliged to put some pics of the newlyweds since this is their day.

Pics were taken from Sham’s fb, because when I checked my camera, there were more pics of me and Mikail then the newlyweds hahahahah. Anyway, what I really wanted to show you is my makeup on that day, which I did on my own:

Yes, I look more like a scared nenek than anything else, but look, I got eyeliner on! Baby steps!

Congrats Husain and Sham! As your older sister, Husain, I don’t feel the least slighted that you didn’t give me a car or anything to placate my insecurities, because I know you guys are meant to be together (ie you’re a slob, Sham’s a neat freak), forever and ever. Amin.

This is the kind of book that is taxing to your mind. It's basically an emotional investment when you read this book. This is why it took me six months to actually finish it. On days that I felt too tired, physically and mentally, I just couldn't make myself read the book.

I know, drama queen.

My first book by Gregory Maguire was Wicked, of course. HIGHLY recommended, btw. I didn't even want to read the sequels because I don't think I can handle another emotional experience with Maguire's Oz. Duh-raaa-maaa. So I happily picked up Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister because I still wanted to read Maguire's writings but without prior 'awareness' of the world that he has created. Fresh eyes, so to speak. Beware, spoilers galore.

Don't say I didn't warn you!

Confessions is the re-telling of Cinderella, from the point of view of the 'ugly' stepsister. As a fantasy novel, the story is without any magic/ supernatural elements at all. Superstitions were implied, but everything is reality-based and... humanized. The ugly stepsisters, Iris and Ruth, are neither ugly nor evil. Iris, the main POV of this story, is not a conventional beauty, but she is multi-faceted and relatable. Ruth is mute and incapable of taking care of herself, almost autistic, however towards the end Maguire surprises us with a twist concerning Ruth. Clara i.e. Cinderella, is potrayed as an outer-worldly beauty, but she loathes the attention that falls upon her, and feels imprisoned by it. She is always fearful and resentful, for in her mind her beauty is more of a curse than a reward. She prefers to stay by the fire in the kitchen, and will leave Iris to shoulder all the responsibilities outside of the kitchen, and bear the brunt of Margarethe (Clara's stepmother, Iris & Ruth's biological mother) schemings. I am still conflicted, however, on whether to judge Margarethe as evil, because she is only doing what she does for the survival of her children (and herself). At that time, the only career option available for a respectable lady/ widow is marriage. And to survive, you need to marry a wealthy man. Is being a gold digger wrong, when you only want to put food on the table for your family? Should I, then, excuse Margarethe's often heartless schemings? I'm so conflicted! Clara is more of a brat, which in turn brings out the worst in Margarethe, because she is used to obedience by Iris & Ruth. During the infamous ball, despite her fervent confidence that she would never be the object of interest of the Prince, Iris did manage to capture the Prince's attention with her wit, until Clara comes in, and the Prince's attention immediately turned towards the beautifully clothed masked lady. Men.

I think with this story, Maguire is trying to highlight how we, as a society, would focus on the physical beauty of a person, and how we often judge positively towards those who has the advantage of being conventionally beautiful, while those who lack what society deemed as beauty, would often be judged harshly. Beauty = kindness, Ugly = evil. With this book, Maguire highlights what is often the reality of the matter, that more times than not, it's the other way around. It's like the theory of evolution: when you're considered as ugly and gets mistreated by society, out of sheer need you have to develop a good personality to gain the approval of others. Those who are considered as conventionally beautiful, do not need to work as hard at gaining approval. It comes to them rather easily, therefore they don't need to develop their personality. Ok, massive generalization, and I'm guilty of making the same assumptions based on physical looks. I guess this book is just pointing out the reality of the world, and maybe one day we as a society will be evolved enough to realize that physical beauty is irrelevant without substance. 

Apparently, this story was made into a tv movie back in 2002 (source). Not sure about the casting, because they're all... pretty. 

Hollywood, FAIL.

Other than that, another great story by Gregory Maguire. Highly recommended. Read Wicked first though, if you haven't.