PS: To navigate through my blog, move your mouse cursor over the words 'ME, SCRIBBLES, TAG, ETC' and just click on them :) i know. it's cool. Thanks, Fedoragirl ;)

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To take us lands away."
--Emily Dickinson

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-Is an English Language major undergraduate who likes to Take It Easy.

Words and languages, Jane Austen, period dramas/films, Vitagen, Korean dramas, good songs, better books, Green, wanderlusting, Culture, writing, Experimenting

Things I'd Like

- A Nitendo Wii gaming console
- My own set of rollerblades
- More nail polish (bought just one, neon pink in colour)
- Concert DVDs! (Back to Basics: Live & Down Under by Christina Aguilera, The Black Parade Is Dead by My Chemical Romance , Mika: Live In Cartoon Motion, Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live In Los Angeles )
- A cat

Old Stories

Deep-night
Day 4 @ the canyon
Day 3 @ Grand Canyon
Day 2 @ Flagstaff
To dad: Day 1 @ Phoenix
I feel like I should change my blogskin, as it's b...
A park affair
The real importance of being earnest
Firstly, let me get this announcement off my chest...
I've got a secret

Older Stories

March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
July 2009
August 2009
October 2009

Great Clicks

Twitter
Rapture
Heaven
Mraz
Mayer
Xiaxue
Andrea
Retro Music
Music blog

Thanks

Designer: fedora_girl :)
Image: Pride & Prejudice (2005) screencaps
Brush, Pattern: The Magic Box
Edit: Adobe Photoshop

This is what I am going to submit to a magazine who is looking for reader-editors, and asked us to write a 400-word essay...hehehe. I'm excited.

Worthy heirs for the title of ‘Teen Queen’.

The once-reigning teen queens are fast growing and moving on from their labels-stars like Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan and Keira Knightley. It is only natural that people start looking for a new batch of teen queens worthy enough to fill the shoes of their predecessors. Let's take a look at this slew of young talents whom we have handpicked and examine what they have to offer.

Candidate number one is Emma Roberts. Seeing as the 16-year-old is currently fronting a movie, Nancy Drew, Emma surely must have something good to offer! Previously acting alongside actor Johnny Depp in Blow when she was just ten and then having a considerable role in the teen flick Aquamarine, Emma now comfortably holds her own fort in Nancy Drew. We just have to hold our breaths to see if Nancy Drew will rake in the profits at the box-office. If it does, movie executives will know they have a star on their hands and we’ll be sure to see more of her. If her movie flops, she can always use the old trick in the book, her connections. Dad's a longtime actor and aunty’s the famous Julia Roberts herself. Or, Emma can have a go at singing, seeing as she contributed to a soundtrack for the movie Ice Princess. So we are pretty sure Emma will hang around no matter what happens. Of course, we like Emma as she is already, just from watching Aquamarine in which she played the bubbly friend role -and she said that role was too easy for her.



Candidate number two is Vanessa Hudgens, otherwise known as Baby V in her songs. This 18-year-old Eurasian (mum’s Filipino-Chinese-Spanish, dad’s Irish-American Indian) star started out doing musicals such as Evita and The King and I. This multi-talented girl then scored the lead in the made-for-TV Disney movie-musical, High School Musical. The movie was such a hit that two more sequels are in the works. Furthermore, the soundtrack album for the telemovie, which Vanessa sang on, was number one on the album charts. Vanessa went on to record her debut album, V, in just under two months. Her album was warmly received, debuting at #24 on the US Billboard album chart. We predict it is only time before Vanessa moves on to bigger things like starring in movies, and taking the same route as Hilary Duff, a former Disney star, did.


Candidate number three is American drama, Heroes’ breakout star, Hayden Panettiere. Acting for many years as Lizzie Spaulding on the US daytime drama, The Guiding Light, Hayden also appeared in considerable episodes of Ally Mcbeal. When she was just nine, Hayden voiced the character Dot in the animated movie, A Bug’s Life. For that movie’s Read-Along, she was nominated for a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for Children. She then acted in a various movies like Remember the Titans-alongside Denzel Washington, Racing Stripes, Ice Princess and Raising Helen. Acting in the hit NBC’s Heroes catapulted Hayden to long-overdue recognition for her acting skills, and a sign of more things to come. This 17-year-old sings too, releasing a debut album in July and previously singing in soundtracks for the movies Ice Princess and Bridge to Terabithia. We think this star can only get brighter.


Candidate number four is Joanna Levesque, otherwise known as Jojo in the music scene. Where do we start? This pop sensation was offered a record deal at the age of 6 but her mother turned it down due to her young age. With her incredible singing talent, she did not have to worry as she was again offered a recording deal when she was 12-and which she wisely accepted. The rest is history. She finished recording her debut album-on which she wrote three songs and started touring with the prince of R‘n’B, Usher Raymond, before releasing her single, Leave (get out). That number one song made her the youngest solo artist in America to achieve this feat. This16-year-old girl of French, Irish, American Indian and Polish blood have started trying to break into the acting scene, scoring a lead in Aquamarine with Emma Roberts and acting alongside Robin Williams in RV. We say she is a star to look out for.


PS: I wanted to include singer/actress Brie Larson but it's way over my word limit already...check her out performing:


Her song single, She Said:





It's atrocious. I thought I could get second-hand tickets or complimentary tickets through online sites(Yahoo auctions, ebay). And i thought I could get it cheaper. Well, turns out premium tickets are way way WAY overpriced(retail price is $350, and black marketeers are selling at $500). The concert? Christina Aguilera. She'll be in Singapore on Saturday, 30 June, and no way am I going to pay $100 for a seat at the back. Despite there being a bigger-than-normal stage and thus, a good view even for those seating behind, I am quite sure I will not enjoy the concert. Cuz I've been both right up front in the mosh pits(The Black Eyed Peas, Ashlee Simpson, Avril Lavigne, Stacie Orrico) before and in the back seats before (Good Charlotte, Westlife) and the experience is way waaay different.

Tickets are way overpriced. To me I think. I'm just a student, I'm not working, and I don't get much pocket money from my parents. You know what I'm saying? Right now, I don't think I have even $100 stashed somewhere.

Maybe popular performers should take a leaf from Clay Aiken's book. In his autobiography(that book rocks! Go read it), he says he consciously don't charge his concert tickets sky-high, because he wants the whole family to come enjoy his shows.

Hmm, maybe's cuz I've been getting free tickets for all these concerts that I have taken it for granted. Or maybe cuz I've just been to too many concerts and not being too impressed. or that I'm just tired. Too much of a good thing=a bad thing?

I don't know. I guess a private intimate showcase is the best.

Ah well, someone lend me a Christina Aguilera concert DVD already!






School is IN! That never sounded so fun for me before. Well, school's in for my brothers. No more tutoring the youngest one every single day and trying-my -darnest-but-getting-pissed-off-instead to talk to the less younger one.

Freedom? I don't know.

My mum has a mission now this remaining month of my break. To teach me Korean. Wish me...luck? patience and ethusiasm? haha.

My legs are aching, rollerbladed yesterday at wonderful windy East Coast from 6 to 8pm, reached home at midnight (wow, busstops are so inaccessible at East Coast Parkway). Do you know, the bike/blade outlet near McDs now rent out equipment for 2 hours?? You rent one hour, get another free. So cool so cool.

Congratulations L, for learning how to glide that teensy weensy bit :P and Mad, u need to oil your blades huh? Couldn't glide so gracefully with your plastic blades, u were saying? haha~ but it's so cool u have the same blades for so long(since 8 years old?!) and it's still working fine! You do take care of your things so well.

Can't wait for the housegathering on Thursday/Friday. Girls' Day in at Mad's! lolz

PS: Forgot to take pics.






I imagine cash registers are ringing at a higher than normal pace, now as we speak(are the midnight shopping hours still on?? someone tell me). Ka Ching, ka chinG! Well, metaphorically speaking. Cuz cash registers are now sleeker, more electronic, more efficient.

Well, shoppers are sure to try to make the most of the remaining period of the Great Singapore Sale (GSS). On everyone's lips will be, "What should I buy? Not what do I need. But what can I buy? Damn it! Better make the most of this GSS and the big two that's looming upon us all (being they typical Singaporean that I am)."

Who's the big two? It's the Great two percent.

8 more days till its upon us all, people! The extra two percent in GST (Goods and Services Tax) will be in effect from 1 July.

It's kind of a good move, as no one can escape paying taxes...but I wonder whether I really want to give up this extra 2% tax to the service at eateries. You know what I'm saying? Good service should get what they deserve. Not get their pay first. This reminds me of a story of how a tour guide(ha!) once told us to give him all his tips, on Day 1. and he did a bloody shoddy job for the entire trip. That lazy bum. He was from SA Tours. And our trip was to East US. And his name was Steven. He flies an aeroplane (couldn't stop boasting about it for the entire trip).

Shop till you drop this weekend! Me included, I'm going to Funan (the IT mall) to look for a better digital camera(Veronica Mars has such a cool one!) and probably extend my laptop warranty too.

Hmm, after that, maybe I'll try to sweet-talk my dad in getting me an electric guitar? A grrreen one.

Have a great weekend!


PS: GST is now 5%. Going to be 7% on 1 July.

I have a mini-version display of this in my room! Just got it from Penang...lolz





FROMMER'S travel guide (4th edition, 2005), says ," Although you have no risk of contracting malaria in Singapore, (the country’s been declared malaria-free for decades by the World Health Organisation), there is a similar deadly virus, dengue fever, that’s carried by mosquitoes and for which there is no immunization. A problem in the tropics around the world, dengue fever is controlled in Singapore with an aggressive campaign to prevent the responsible mosquitoes from breeding. Still, each year cases of infection are reported, almost all of them occurring in suburban neighbourhoods and rural areas. Symptoms of dengue fever include sudden fever and tiny red spotty rashes on the body. If you suspect you’ve contracted dengue, seek medical attention immediately. If left untreated, this disease can cause internal hemorrhaging and even death. Your best protection is to wear insect repellent that contains DEET, especially if you’re heading out to the zoo, bird park, or any of the gardens or nature preserves, especially during the daytime.”



Where I live now, my area, is a freaking Dengue Hot Spot. We have 14 cases just in my little small area, as reported on pg 4 of The New Paper today. Well, none of my family members have been affected so far, I’m thankful to say, and I hope we never ever get infected. Don’t you think it’s laughable when such tiny creatures can cause so much damage and mass mobilization from us humans?

I live on a storey, which is one-digit high. I used to live on the 13th floor in my old place and we got bugged by those mosquitoes every once in a while. And my old home was surrounded by dense vegetation. While here, in my new house, there is vegetation right outside my window, but considerably less dense. I don’t know if it has something to do with the difference in altitude, but mosquitoes soon became a major problem for us in our new home.

From day 1, I saw and felt the presence of those pesky buggers. They weren’t lean and harmless-looking as the mozzies at my old home were. The ones at my new home, came in all shapes, colours, sizes, and hariness. We got bitten a few times every day. For sure.

I used to be able to get through the night with just my windows open, and the cool light breeze of the night drifting in. But in my new home, when I slept at night, I couldn’t sleep, from the buzzing of the mosquitoes around my bed. So I switched on my standing fan at nights, blowing straight directly at my bed, and this kept those buggers away. As for my family members, my parents had to burn the mosquito coil nightly and my brothers installed the electronic odorless mosquito repellent in their room.

Every day was a battle against those mozzies. We started burning mosquitoe coils in the daytime, but They never seemed to stop visiting us. We soon got used to those uninvited guests hanging around.

Aedes mosquitoes hang around my area. That’s a fact. In my old home, the mosquitoes were relatively small and completely black in colour. Occasionally, very rarely, they had white stripes. In my new home, every single one of them has white stripes on its hairy body. My brother noticed this for the first time only a few months ago, and he went hysterical! He made sure every one of took a good hard look at the mosquito he caught, at the white stripes of the dead mosquito in all its glory. Silly boy. I already noticed that way long before he did. So to appease him, we placed the mosquito in a small transparent bottle and handed it over to the Town Council Office. Three days later, a town council person came knocking at our door and asked us a few questions on the potted planted displayed outside our home and of our house conditions. That’s all. That was a few weeks before the first of dengue cases broke out in my neighbourhood.

Those crazy blood-sucking bitches(the mosquitoes which bite are all females) are so prevalent that, they even bred in our own freaking home recently! In my home toilet, in a pail of water which my aunt didn’t clear out. A whole breed of them. About 20 plus. The day they hatched was the day we discovered them. The ones which hatched were really hairy, and flying drunkenly in pairs around the toilet. Others were still in the midst of hatching when my brother sprayed the whole batch with insecticide. Thankfully, he did the dirty job. Because he was the one who discovered our new family of tenants. I guess being mere guests were not enough for these pests huh?

One time last month, I woke up to a very loud sound. I looked out my window, and saw a person going up to every vegetation with a fogging machine, and fogging every branch. What a sweet scene it was. It was the first time in a year plus that I’ve stayed there that they’ve done fogging (in my old home, fogging was done almost every month). Nearby him, a group of inspectors were peering down the ground around a lamppost for more than 20 minutes. I guess they had just found a nest of mozzies there.

The mozzies at my house have reduced very much significantly. Hallelujah! I hope it’s not just at this period, where Singapore has reached the epidemic level of dengue (exceeding the threshold of 378 cases a week). I hope it would stay like this in years to come. Or we would just have to keep sending dead mosquitoes belly-up to the people at the Town Council. Or we would just have to keep stocking up on insecticide. Or buy plants like geranium or mint plants which are natural repellents( my mum researched on this weeks ago).

In Singapore, first-time offenders(mosquito breeders in homes, be it intentionally or unwittingly) are fined $100, while second-time offenders are fined $200.

While in Indonesia, ‘breeders’ will be fined up to 50 million rupiah ($8,600) or jailed for 3 months. In Hong Kong, breeders at home, work place or construction site is liable for a fine of HK$25,000 ($4,900).




Someone I know appeared in the papers today. The New Paper, to be more specific. As the papers say, "the 20-year-old is setting a record. He is one of two polytechnic students to receive the Global Merit Scholarship from the National University of Singapore (NUS)." And it is a big deal, because it is the first time the university has picked polytechnic students for this scholarship. His name is Quek Siu Rui, and he was my classmate in our neighbourhood kindergarten.

Now honestly, I don't remember much about him (I do have pictures of him though!). Except that he was always sitting two seats away from me, and that's not even something to note because our class size was small-about less than twenty kindergarteners. Over the years as we grew up, I still saw him around the neighbourhood, but sadly, we didn't talk. My mates in Kindergarten were girls, I still remember them, Polly and Esther. And they both moved out of my neighbourhood not long after we graduated, and, we lost touch.

Well, this Quek Siu Rui guy, apparently, he is a high-achiever man! His looks haven't really changed much over the years but he has been achieving all these things as the papers say...from being head prefect of his school, Ghim Moh Sec (now called Clementi Woods), to being the captain of his bowling CCA to scoring 7 points in his O levels. Whew. Who knew? I know he went to Ghim Moh Sec, a neighbourhood school (cuz like I said, I saw him around the neighbourhood) but I didn't expect him to be achieving all these things.

Come to think of it, it isn't really all that surprising. Cuz in my (old) neighbourhood, you see all these kids going to top schools, from Raffles Girls' Sec to River Valley High School to Singapore Chinese Girls' School, and that's just to name a few. Me? I was one of the odd ones, going to a neighbourhood school, but hey, my grades were fairly decent and now, here I am, a student enrolled in a local university.

Yup, so anyway, this seemingly ordinary guy, Siu Rui, got me thinking about my future and all that stuff. This guy, ok, he certainly looks like he is going to have a very bright future ahead of him. His life's plan seems to be all mapped out and yeah, someday, he will become some big shot person. But that's not the point.

Here I am, on my summer break, waiting for school to start in August. And how am I spending my holidays? Certainly not hitting the books, not doing some early preparation for next semester.

For about one semester plus already, I set my mind on majoring in Sociology. But only recently, from my dad's advice, not his expectation, and more serious contemplation, I have decided that I will major in English. and then i'll probably minor in Sociology.

My ambition was pretty straightforward all these years, to be a journalist-be it newspaper or magazine. Now I'm not so sure that I just want to merely report on events and people anymore. If I had my way, I would want to set up my own magazine in future and talk about social and health issues all the time. Live issues. That is why, I thought Sociology would equip me with the tools to knowledgeably talk and discuss about social issues. Well, apparently, having this knowledge is not that big a deal. and apparently, Sociology is a very hot potato kind of subject among students. Cuz hey, Sociology is very interesting to us impressionable youths going on the brink of adulthood and hence, very relevant to us. After saying all that, it seems that choosing Sociology would be to my disadvantage.

Choosing English would be pretty challenging, cuz there's all the technical and dry information to absorb. But having an English degree would be to my advantage in future. I can go anywhere and everywhere with it. it would be my weapon. English is a global language, and everyone needs someone who is certifiably good in English to settle all the legal contract issues and stuff. And I could travel. to teach English or something. I could be an interpreter, a translator, a writer, etc. On paper, it would definitely look like I'm good in something. and that would be English. and who can challenge me on that? Furthermore, English is not dead and set. There are various variations of English, Pidgins and Creoles around the world, and it would be interesting to know more about them, and constantly be updated on them. It could be fun.

So it looks like language is going to be all I have in future. So now, I'm thinking of taking German too next sem, maybe a little French in future and, brushing up on my Korean and Chinese/Mandarin these hols.

I can do this. My ambition is big in its own way and I can only hope for the best. And I know that I'll love my major. I always have, from young. Language is fun to use and play around with. If it wasn't, you wouldn't be reading this right now (cuz I'd definitely not be spending my time blogging). :)




How am I spending my time now? Decorating my laptop with stickers galore, stickers from sheets of stars like Korean singer/actress Jang Na Ra and also of Taiwan (are they from Taiwan?) rock band, F.I.R. Sheets of stickers which cost 20 cents each which I bought a while back at pasar malams (flea markets) at Jurong East. Pretty cool huh? The price of these stickers. and the fact that you can get these sort of things at pasar malams. Things which you can sell on ebay or yahoo auctions at ten times the price you bought it, I'm guessing?(I estimate this price cuz this is what I am actually willing to pay, and i'm not even a hard-core fan of them) You never know what you can find at your friendly neighbourhood pasar malam. I even bought a notebook of Korean actor Kwon Sang Woo of Stairway to Heaven fame (I loved him in that drama!! He's not cute or handsome but was such a gentle, tender swooning gentleman in the show...sigh. lolz). :D. At less than $1. Now that's a real bargain.

Now then. Back to the matter at hand. The stickers that I bought. Bet you never thought I was a fan of anything Chinese. Well, I think FIR is a really really cool band! They hardly have any typical sappy Chinese love ballad on their album. Which works very well for me. And the lead singer, Faye, can really sing, her voice is pretty unique! and strong and powerful. And she has quite good showmanship, she knows how to jump around, and moves so cool while on stage. Without even looking like she's trying hard. Their music, melodies, are all produced and arranged by the 2 guys. It's awesome. Just show that they are geniuses and FIR rock! Check out their MV for Revolution.



I also have one of Jolin Tsai's albums and also of Sylvester Sim. yes. that guy of Singapore Idol fame. and I have a VCD of our very own Stefanie Sun. I so wasn't impressed with Jolin's album and thought she was very lucky to make it big as a singer. But since her recent win at the Golden Melody Awards (the Chinese equivalent of the Grammys) for her latest album Dancing Diva, (the judges said it was cuz of her smooth and improved singing on the album) I'm eager to check out that album now! and at the same time, be exposed to more things Chinese! Yeah!

Stefanie Sun, now that's another girl with a unique voice. But a majority of her songs are melancholic. So I'm not a fan of hers. And she can't really perform. She's another artiste who has got people scratching their heads over her fame and fortune. She does not have a lively personality, she's not pretty.

But she's photogenic. and that darn girl-next-door image of hers. People can't help liking a girl with that nice image.



Sylvester Sim? His debut and only album was just ho-hum. Nothing outstanding, and this makes people despise his rocker rebel angsty image. Cuz his album is nothing like that. Only the intro to his album was. It's such a pity his record company didn't invest more in him. Cuz I thought Sylvester was cute, and he could have built up his rocker aloof image. I bet they are just looking for another JJ Lin.

Now Jang Na Ra. She's a real cutie-pie, can sing reasonable well, and can pull off her innocent girl-acting tough-in-the-world roles. She's something special. Enough said :P.



Hey girls, introduce me to more Chinese singers out there. Bring it on! I'm eager to be more exposed to things Chinese. And music is my first love. So start the recommendations!

At the moment, I have Vanessa Hudgens (http://myspace.com/vanessahudgens) of High School Musical fame playing in my CD player. She rocks! She sings really well for her age. She's youthful and exuberant in her songs. You'll love her album. Makes me feel a lil guilty how I got her album. From Malaysia. You know what I mean. Anyway, look out for Vanessa. She's going to be the next big thing in time to come.


Oh ya, and do u know Hayden Panettiere of Heroes fame, yes, the Cheerleader, has an album coming out too?? Yes, she sings too! Check out her music at http://www.myspace.com/haydenpanettiere. She may just be the next big thing too. She rocks in Heroes.

ok, back to decorating my laptop with stickers! There are a few neoprints sticked up and I notice I've taken more neoprints with my mum over the years than with friends! I have so many leftover neoprints with my mum of one particular design. That design has the words 'Best Friends' written on top of us. I don't cringe at that. I only wished it was more true, u know?

and now I'm looking for some Johnny Depp stickers which I know I have, safely stored somewhere in my room. I'll get to him.

Oh, where I got this idea of decorating my laptop with stickers? From Misa! Of the Japanese movie Death Note fame! I love how they portray her sense of fashion in the movie. Her room rocks, her handphone keychain rocks, her laptop rocks! Let me go find some stills of those scenes in the movie.


Speaking of Death Note, my bro bought the DVDs, 1 and 2 from Malaysia, and the subtitles for 2, the sequel, sucksss. Light is called Moon, Kira is called Very Happy, Misa is called Sea Sand and Light's dad is called Extraordinary Gentleman of the Night. WTh. yeah, wth. Throughtout the whole movie, you can barely decipher wth the subtitles are trying to say. bad translation with bad english. argh. Anyway, I think the sequel sucks. the story is too long and quite nonsensical, especially the ending. and how the death gods try to prolong Misa's life. I think Misa's a joke in the movie.

But L rocks!! Enough said.

These days, sequels can never beat the first movie. Why is that? Why is that?? Cuz I think the writers are overly-ambitious. Can someone tell them that already. Just take a look at the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Stick to human dramedy, emotions, depth. Not to plot. The Spiderman movies are successful in that. Sam Raimi rules. :) i mean, how much good action can a movie actually serve, how much good CGI? An ensemble cast doesn't give you an exuse to focus on action. For goodness sake, you have good actors involved, so make good use of them! Not on the props and set. You know what I mean? lolz

I think Cate Blanchett and Edward Norton should give a good telling-to to writers of sequels. Who is with me? If they can't do the job, bring on Judi Dench and Helen Mirren the Queen. All hail.




This is my second day in Genting Highlands...I just watched two movies today, Fantastic 4 and Shrek 3. Fantastic 4 is really not nice, it is a kiddy movie. They have so many one-liners and they are mostly corny. The characters don't have much depth too. They are way underused. (This movie totally can't be compared to Spiderman.) I would give it two and a half stars out of five.

Therefore, Shrek is more entertaining in that the plot is thicker. And I think it's the best of the 3 movies :)There is some singing in the movie and that was one of the plus points in the movie. One bad point was that there were way more characters in Shrek 3 like the posse of villains: like Captain Hook and the talking trees, the other princesses like Snow White, Cinderella, Rapunzel and Sleeping beauty and lastly, the new character voiced by Justin Timberlake (he played the generic, whiny teenage boy), and this sidelined the main chracters. Shrek the character becomes boring and Donkey becomes boring and a little irritaing too. I would give it 3 and a half stars.

Anyway, do u know Malaysia blatantly play pirated movies in public places?? Like in a shopping mall in Penang, one stall was playing Shrek 3 on TV for the whole day. And then on a ferry to Langkawi, they were playing Pirates of the Caribbean 3! Imagine that man!

Anyway, tons of stalls were selling pirated CDs and DVDs every night in the long stretch of stalls outside my Holiday Inn hotel at Batu Ferringhi in Penang every night and then they would hide all their CDs at erractic hours and periods. Those people are well-prepared man. They have walkie-talkies which are blasting loudly to alert one another of anything. Each audio CD was going at 4RM while DVD costs 5RM. and dramas, be it American, Taiwan or Korean in DVD discs, were going at 16RM. They even had the movie Marie Antionette- the new movie which Spiderman actress Kirsten Dunst stars in and which will be out in Singapore sometime in August (but has already been screened at the Cannes film festival).okok, so check this out, it's kind of big news.

On our last night, on Tuesday night in Penang, my mum saw American actor Bruce Willis shopping at the Malaysian stalls at Batu Ferringhi, Penang!! yes, she is 100% sure it was him. She confirmed with the stall owners and literally got in his face, closely examining cuz she was so amazed to see such a close 'lookalike' of Bruce and then saw that he was the real one. He was standing right next to her, browsing at some items. He has a new movie, Die Hard 4.0 coming out very soon and I wonder if he spotted his latest movie being sold illegally....lolz. My mum didn't get to talk to him, cuz she was quite shocked and then when she recovered from the shock, he quickly left, crossing the road and walking away.

Anyway, he probably was, or is, there for vacation because his presence certainly wasn't mentioned in the papers, and he is quite a big star, considering that his movie will be out later this year, 28 June in Malaysia, and that his movie, Die Hard 4.0, is your typical action-packed blockbuster Hollywood movie.

She says he is actually very good-looking and doesn't look old. He is 52 years old I think. Oh ya, and she saw him around the time I was posting up my previous blog in the nearby internet cafe. Imagine that. And then when she told me about her encounter back in the hotel room, it was one hour later. And the I called The Star newspapers, one of the major newspaper publications in Penang and which their papers have been delivered to my hotel room every morning in Penang.

I related the incident to one of the night reporters but she seemed in a hurry, merely asking how sure am I it was Bruce Willis and when did my mum saw him. She didn't even want to get my name and what they were going to do about this 'tip-off' but I gave her my name and handphone number anyway. Hmph. She didn't even said thank you.

Alright, so I'm now using the internet on my laptop in a cafe in Starbucks, Genting. and there's this guy sitting opposite across from me who's doing nothing but looking around, and he's apparently waiting for someone, but it's been about an hour plus already. and he keeps looking around and over to my direction but I'm ignoring that and trying to look tough. lolz. I mean, I'm here alone in the Starbucks cafe after my mum left 40 minutes ago. I'm gonna try to post up some pics right now. :)






This restaurant is also right outside my hotel. AAhhh...the pics in my thumbrdrive just got freaking lost! so I can't upload the pics right now. wth. This sucks. Hey, at least I blogged down what I did today:)



All of us ate steak, cuz The Ship is famous for it. Mine was fillet steak. What exactly is that? It's not fish right?? lolz. I know another name for it is Filet Mignon.

Check out the menu. We ate at 'The Ship' restaurant last night.



okie, I'm actually at an internet cafe right now doing this blogging thing :) The speed here is 100Mpbs. Anyway, today is my last day here in Penang, it's been 5 days spent here, so we're kind of tired. We originally wanted to go to either Kota Bahru in the East or down to KL Kota Bahru's roads are mountainous and we it takes 8 hours to drive there. and we heard that if your car breaks down, it will be difficult to get help. Also, there are flash floods in KL now, so my dad is kind of reluctant to go there.

Today, we had a fishing trip at the beach in front of my hotel, my dad, my brother and I. The sun was freaking hot, and I got really sunburnt. I'm like, really black now, after the snorkeling yesterday at Langkawi. So we spent abt 45 minutes fishing, we finished all the prawns (fish bait) and my brother was the only one who caught a single fish. Then after that, the boatman took us to a small beach (called Monkey beach) on the way back. I collected about hundreds of tiny seashells. They're the prettiest things! will post up pic soon and then I watched some other tourists feed monkeys, I saw three mothers holding their babies, which were black in colour. It was so sweeet. Renting one boat for 3 hours cost 250RM.

Then later on, went to the biggest and newest shopping mall in Penang, Queensbay Mall. I bought a shirt and a long-sleeve for ten ringgit each. :) It was on sale. It's good to shop in Malaysia man! haha





A cute restaurant building outside.



At the hotel terrace cafe restaurant, having coffee with cookies, Penang fried kway teow and chicken rice.



In my hotel room, Holiday Inn in Penang, Batu Ferringhi. Sweet right???!




This is the Penang bridge!! It's quite pretty.


Just some really cool views along the way to Ipoh...to the North of Malaysia.



Took this while passing by! haha!


The while driving on to the north in Ipoh, we saw this cute red sports car with two yellow vertical stripes on it.


Chilling out at the booth seats. Cosy ain't it?



And the very cute Shrek cat cups!! I love the green cat on it. What's its name in the movie?



Check out the Shrek cushions!



We stopped for brunch at this McDs, after abt 4 hours of driving. This McDs is just outside KL, and within a petrol station. Cute huh?



Early in the morning, around 7am on Friday. It got really hazy on some parts of the road. We thought it was the morning fog/mist at first but when we were driving through it, we could smell it strongly, of smoke smell. Obviously, it was cuz they were burning something.




Hey guys, I'll be away on a trip to Malaysia with my family from tomorrow morning till around the 17th of June!

I'll be going to Kuala Lumpur, Kota Bahru (Kelantan) and Penang! It's gonna be a long drive, so wish me luck X)

Till then, take care and I'll be thinking of you all :)




Hmm, ok, I have a travel blog (http://wanderlustyuen.blogspot.com), so I think I'll post my Japan pics there. Haven't been doing so because I want to do it properly and my internet usage is restricted. by that tiger mum of mine.

so anyway, moving on, I bought an ipod recently and I must say, I'm not impressed.

I can't shuffle the songs in my playlists, can't edit the info of my songs on the ipod itself and I can't tune in to the radio(the function is non-existent).

My verdict of it? 3 and a half stars out of five. the half is cuz of its cool, sleek design. Oh, and did I mention that my ipod is the fifth generation, or is it 6th? 30GB and it doesn't come in LIME GREEN (my favourite colour is green), only in 2 colours-black and white! So I got the white one instead. To my pleasant surprise, the box that came with it had a pic of Johnny Depp on the front :):) The pic below...



The ipod product is so snobbish, it doesn't even come with an instruction manual. I had to ask the service staff for help on how to operate it, at the stupid 'customer service-cum-conceirge' counter...

...and the service of the epicentre@Orchard which is the proud exclusive reseller of Apple products, SUCK! I waited so damn freaking long to be attended to, while the 2 staff were attending to only 2 other ppl. And then when the guy was teaching me how to operate the ipod, he freaking answered a call and walked away and I waited for him for quite some time. As he didn't come back, I asked the other service staff member about the warranty issue, and he looked like he was embarassed by his colleague's sudden departure, and told me to register online. But he didn't even apologise for his colleague's behaviour.

So let me tell you this, the staff at the Epicentre@Orchard at Wheelock place, yes, the building where the BORDERS bookstore is located,-the staff are young, unprofessional and they suck. And to think I saw quite a few foreigners at the store, I wonder what kind of impression they must have had.

Their bad service was all the more jarring to me because my mum was throwing a big fit about me buying an ipod. I was Using the $200 discount vouchers which I got from my dad's credit card rewards points and she was berating my dad on how he was encouraging me to enjoy luxuries and be idle. -_-

PS: Ipod may seem like something hip and cool but actually, it's not. (Anyone care to argue with me here?) I think I would have liked Creative's MP3 player better-and it's a local brand, so all the more power to them, and it should get the support it deserves from its fellow countrymen, Singaporeans :):).

Also, Apple products are assembled in China(as is clearly stated on my ipod) but the price is not going down...