Rice for Breakfast?!

Yup, you heard, or rather, read me right. Rice for breakfast, but that is how much I can swallow though. Too much rice, too dry and I'll throw it all up. So, I like my rice drenched in sauces, like soup risotto. And nope, I don't just down everything with chewing it too.

And so, what's for lunch then?

Fried Carrot Cake is nice, but the cake variety is better though, not too much oil. But personally, I prefer the chili sauce to be fried with the carrot cake, not as a condiment dipping. Tastes weird, if you ask me...

Missy Donut

When the donut craze hit Singapore last year, everyone joined the long queues to buy donuts, just to look hip and stylish. I mean, confectionary shops were already selling donuts way back during the 1980s and I remember eating them. Of course, back in those days, the topping choices for donuts were really quite limited, unlike now.





And of course, my mother, upon seeing the snaking queue at Missy Donut decided to "tempt" fate by asking if any one of us feel like having donuts and I promptly replied, "You siao ah! People queue, you also queue. For what? We can come back and buy when people got sick and tired of donuts and you can have all the time in the world to pick and choose what, right?" And for the umpteenth time, my mother was like, "Yah hor. How come I never think of that?"





Mothers, when they see long snaking queues, they always feel an impulse to join and buy. Dissuade your mother from doing so, as I don't see a point in following blindly with the crowd. You will never know, some teenagers can jammed up the queue by only buying one, not 2, and not even 6. But one donut. Like, duh? The last time Beard Papa first set up their outlet at Takashimaya Shopping Centre, everyone joined the queue just to look hip and trendy too.

But well, sorry, I'm not into joining an already long queue, unless the shop itself always enjoyed good business and there is no long to avoid a long queue, like Candy Empire which is located at Vivo City. Despite browsing around the shop in endless circles, the queue is still there, so there's no choice. But still, it's not like the puff or donut shop will suddenly close down for good after 2 - 3 months, so it's perfectly sane in my case to just simply wait it out, until when people lose interest (yes, damn teenagers and I'm guilty of doing stuffs like these when I was younger too!) and that is when I can gracefully waltz down, take my own sweet time.

And you know what else do I care about in this issue? If there's a long crowd, the quality won't be tip-top. The staffs will have to rush to push their products out and that is when you'll start complaining about how the vanilla cream custard in your Beard Papa puffs are watery and your green tea donuts from Missy Donut suddenly tastes so sweet you swear you can get diabetes on the spot. Give the staffs some moments to catch their breath too, people!!

You call that a smile?

Several months back, while waiting to catch a bus to work, I saw this girl (Ah Lians in Singapore have evolved to... I don't know.. much lamer than before) taking camera shots with her boyfriend. And I was piqued by how she smile. Yes, I'm re-creating that smile in this photo. And when does this lips pursed together, half closed eyes count as a smile? A smile is when the corner of your lips (or mouth) creased up slightly and that is a smile to me. The most beautiful feature a person can have. So, yeah, to sum it up, I hated this kind of smile, so cam-whoring to the max. And now, sharing with my humble readers, this is what a smile should look like:




Image © of LGF Band

Pizza in Singapore

Well, sometimes my mother don't feel like cooking and we would buy miscellanous finger food and eat it with rice. And this shop happens to sell local pizza too, with a variety of toppings and I thought, "What the hell! I could use a snack" and decided on a mixed vegetable pizza. Turns out, it was a bad mistake. The staff never bothered to use a styrofoam box, but chose to use a snackbag, and by the time I reached home, this is what happens to my beloved pizza:

This naughty cat perched so high

Cat: Purrr


Pu Niao: I know you have 9 lives, but..


Cat: Purrr


Pu Niao: Eh cat, this is too much, come down!


Cat: Meow...


Pu Niao: Too much lives to use, is it? Naughty. Bad cat! Bad cat!


Cat: (leaps down and chases Pu Niao all over the neighborhood)


Pu Niao: Aaiiieeeeee....

Chocolates, not that sinful to me

I love chocolates to death and I always find myself at Candy Empire every month, once or twice, buying and choosing like a mice attracted to pied piper's flute. Well, I'm a very choosy person when it comes to chocolate. I like them dark and bitter, the bitter the better. That's how chocolates should taste like, at least to me, in the first place. My next favorite type of chocolates would be those that are filled with different alcohols. I can't take alcohol as I am sensitive and the last time I drank alcohol, I got rashes in under 2 hours time and I looked like I haven't shower for days. Imagine me looking red, sore and itchy all over and having a jumpy attitude. Not good!

So, alcoholic chocolates are good enough for me. The amount of alcohol isn't that much and I can take one piece every day, so that little amount won't give me terrible rashes. But given a chance, I'd rather have a hangover than rashes after one mug of beer though...

Only chocolate sauce, where's the whipped cream?

When it comes to dessert, I always ended up buying one item short to make it a truly dessert moment. This time, I got the ice-cream, the chocolate sauce but forgot the whipped cream totally. Only after I happily drizzled chocolate sauce onto the ice-cream did I realize, "Oh shoot! I forgot the whipped cream!!"

Well, I don't eat such sinful desserts every day, only once in a while when the weather gets really hot, but then, dang the forgotten whipped cream that always eludes my mind when I go grocery shopping...

Dinner was so different then

Back during my grandfather's Tiong Bahru days, I remembered dinner as a yucky moment. Well, I was young then and rice to me is definitely yucky, especially at such a young age. As a kid, what constitutes a meal would be junk food like, potato chips, crackers, ice cream, kuehs. Sorry, my family back then knew nothing about fast food restaurants like McDonalds and I only got to go to KFC just before starting school in Primary 1. So, the nearest form of fast food to me was this stall, located at the old Clifford Pier area that sells fried chicken.





The fried chicken part was the lame one. I would make a fuss about wanting to eat fried chicken and when the chicken finally arrived at our table. I'll take one look and go, "Humph!", not eating it. And the best part? There would be so much chicken drumsticks (my favorite!!) and I'd still throw a tantrum by not eating it. But seriously, I wonder what tantrum was I throwing back then to not eat chicken, my favorite dish??

Curry Puffs, Sardine Puffs, I like them all!!

If you have to ask me to choose between curry puffs and sardine puffs, I would still choose both. Why?





They are wonderful snacks when you are itching for something to munch on. And I like it best when there's lots of potatoes (curry puffs) and sardine (sardine puffs) in the puffs itself. That alone, makes a hungry moment fade to obscurity, at least for some time until I go hungry again.

But I don't really go for Old Chang Kee's curry puff. Sure, there's enough potatoes inside to satisfy my potato cravings, but the puff skin, it's so thick and flaky it's a sin to me. Just give me a puff with a thin layer of skin but with enough potatoes or sardines and I'll stop whining to your face about feeling cheated into paying for pastry than fillings.

Mee Reebus

Thinking about the racsit Roti Prata stall had me fuming for one whole day, just to even think about it. So, I didn't get to post anything the previous day as I don't want to make my blog sound harsh. I want it happy and positive for my readers. My readers might have a hard day at work and as a blogger, I need not necessarily give my readers even more stress. So, I'm keeping it happy, positive and cheerful so that my readers can leave my blog, after reading my posts, smiling and thinking, "Oh! That was really hilarious to even think or fathom about.."

So, on to my favorite food. Mee reebus. Ever since the previous chicken rice stall closed down and a new noodle stall took over, I've been sticking with my favorite Muslim/Malay food stall. Well, part of the reason is that, the new noodle stall sells mainly fish ball noodles. Don't really go for fish balls as I have a bad dream about choking on fish balls once. And once is definitely and positively quite enough to swallow..

Choosing Trainers That Are Right For You

Without a doubt or missing one beat, we always see TV commercials with celebrity players endorsing different brands of trainers for specific sports, and this only emphasize hot important it is for the sportsmen or sportswomen to choose the perfect trainers that will complement your sports activity.

Individuals should feel comfortable in the trainers he or she wears, especially when one is playing on the field. If you're a basketball player and everyone of us know playing basketball requires lots of running to and fro and jumping, then you definitely need to get a pair of trainers that have a very strong grip to prevent you from sliding which causes injuries.

And there are so many different companies that offer specialized trainers, with companies like Nike, Reebok, Adidas and Puma offer comfort, durability and style for all specialized trainers that they offer. And this is why when you search online for shoes, it is best to invest in good quality shoes with recognized and reliable brand names for the best deal.

This racist Roti Prata stall

There's a story behind this roti prata store in singapore. Actually, after reading a post over at A Singaporean In London and I was leaving a comment about Singapore food which a Singaporean will miss when he or she is abroad, I kind of thought about this stall for a very long time.

I remembered when I was in Secondary school, back then my brother was in primary school and he always eat roti prata without fail, everyday. But we would never consider buying our roti prata from this stall. Why? This roti prata owner (the guy looking towards me in the photo) is a racist, from his heart to his bones. But how racist can he be, you would ask? If you're an Indian and ordered roti prata from his stall, he'll send it over to your seat personally. But if you're a Muslim/Malay or Chinese who ordered from him, he won't send your prata over.

He won't even have the courtesy to at least say, "Sorry, self service". He'll quietly take your order and when it is ready, he'll leave it at his stall, expecting you to go back and take the plate of prata back to where you are sitting. We learnt this the hard way but we got our revenge. How? Simple.

When we first ordered, we didn't realise or knew that he was so racist towards the race of his customers, so we had to go up and take it ourselves. But true enough, the next time we went back to that coffee shop for breakfast again, my brother insisted on eating roti prata again. So, my mother went to made her order and came back to where we were sitting. We saw him prepare, cooked and served the prata onto a plate and left it on his stall counter, waiting for us to go up and collect. But by then, my brother was too hungry to care much and simply ordered something else from another stall.

After a while, no one from our table went up to collect and he came over and told us very harshly that our roti prata is already cooked and we can go and collect it. (Seems like he has the courtesy to walk over and tell us the prata is ready, but lack the brains to realise he could have brought the prata over as well, and bitch to our face) My mother promptly said, "You crazy! When did I ever ordered any roti prata from you? We are chinese and we are sticking to our fish ball noodles and chicken rice. Forever!"

Sure enough, the roti prata stall owner was very pissed. But what could he do? He knew he was wrong in not serving the damn plate of prata to our table, but since he got snubbed unexpectedly, he had no choice but to back down and forget about asking us to collect our prata. So, the score is:


Racist Roti Prata guy: 0

Us: 1



Anyway, not every Singaporean Indian person is that nasty. Some are really very nice and friendly. It's the "naughty" ones that are giving the rest of their race a bad name, that's all.

No! Not Hell Kitty??

Another time of hard times is when "Hello Kitty" has to take a paycut and got itself renamed as "Hell Kitty".. Seriously, just give me a regular kitty, it'll do. I don't really need any fanciful hell-bound cat for Halloween, at least not yet...

I'm @ Facebook too, add me if you want to.

Well, I've got my own domain at Facebook, and the URL is puniaopuniao.fluff-friends.com/, or alternatively, you can click on the picture of my fluff-friend below to check it out too.





I've got my own puppy too. Nope, he doesn't smell, doesn't whine, and he's virtual. And you can click on PuKun's picture to find out more about him too.

Times are hard at my workplace too

While taking turns to hide inside the cabinet, we thought of this wacko and sick idea to "scare" our customers. Here's the pitch:

Place a long-haired staff inside the cabinet and when a cashier sees a customer approaching the counter to pay, the cashier will leave the cabinet door opened with the intended "victim" pretending to be a victim of The Ring inside. My supervisor, Ah Chay, would walk past and loudly exclaimed: "Can someone please get rid of the corpse instead of stashing it away for Halloween?" Phoebe would innocently ask, "What happened to that "dead" person?" and Mark would nonchalantly answer, "Oh that? Asshole came up to the cashier counter to ask for book enquiry, so we dispatch the customer."

I would be sitting in a corner, holding on to a rag doll and laugh/giggle away at nothing. Then ...drumroll please... Taufiq, our hunk at Page One, dressed in a trench coat with shades, would walk in to the "crime scene" and said, "So, how do you guys want me to get rid of it? Burn it, bury it or... the swamp?". Meanwhile, Mark would then turned back to the customer who previously came up to the cashier counter to ask for book enquiry and calmly asked, "So, I hear you're looking for a book?"

Good imagination, right? Well, too bad I don't have the fees to pay my actors. Like I said, times are hard. But if this idea sells, I be treating everyone involved at Ben & Jerry's, no re-fill or free-flow. We have to save some for our next scenario, alright? Anyway, we'll see how it goes when we get to try this scenario out.

P/S: What happened to Tracey, you ask? She's the camera-women, poised to take everything down on the camera. Besides, corpses can't giggle (Tracey), don't have eye-bags (Fatin), shouldn't flash their pearlies and muscles (Taufiq) and neither can the corpse look too well-fed (Pu Niao), right?

I Smoked My Kitchen

Remember this previous post where I talked about "smoking" my kitchen?





Okay, everything happened like this. My neighbor bought some DVDs, partly due to my recommendation and decided to invite me over to watch them. As I had to work the opening shift the next day, I got to picked which one to watch. So, I picked You Don't Mess With The Zohan. Just before going over, I thought I would heat up the kettle of coffee first, run over to choose which DVD to watch, then run back to my house and the coffee would be heated just nice. Ended up, I was standing in my neighor's living room, choosing the menu, subtitles, language blah blah. And just before the movie start, I remembered about my coffee.

So, I run back to my own flat and saw a lot of smoke hovering near the kitchen ceiling and I was thinking, "Who the hell is having a barbecue in the middle of the night?" as it will take more than two electric fans to scatter the smoke. Then, when I turned to find an electric fan, I saw the kettle of coffee boiling away happily and I realised, "Shit! It's me!"

I know that photo looked a little grainy. But look towards the windows and you can faintly see some sort of haze. That's the smoke, created by me...

Dhoby Ghaut

I remember during secondary school, we had a school trip around Boat/Clarke Quay area. Damn newspaper only took photos of the Express class even though it was a Normal stream student who wrote in. Anyway, the guide that was assigned to our class asked us some questions and one was, "Where did the Dhoies came from?" and everyone enthusiastically answered, "Dhoby Ghaut."

Sound hilarious, right?

Hitler And ERP Woes from Singapore

All words are taken from YouTube:

Hitler and ERP Woes. Only Singaporeans will fully understand this.

Based on the Hitler Gets Banned series on Youtube. Footage from the movie "Der Untergang", "Downfall" in English, showing the final few days of Hitler's life.

Note: Please DO note that the original idea of using this Hitler clip for subtitles originated from the Hitler Gets Banned From XBOX Live video. Inspired by it, I came out with the local ERP version.
I also appreciate good films and good actors, so I didn't do this video in disrespect of "Der Untergang" which I like alot for the movie that it is and the fantastic acting of Bruno Ganz as Hitler.
Lastly, many thanks to Fizzy for alerting me to the problem of people reading newspapers on-board very crowded MRTs.

I was never a car owner and never will be. I am however a victim of several taxi ERPs and puke related incidents onboard MRTs

Times are bad, I hear...

Well, times are bad. First the Lehman Brothers, followed by the stock markets, Merrill Lynch, AIG and stuffs happening. I'm positively sure a lot of people are holding onto their wallets and purses tighter than before. The lame ones I've heard on radio ranged from:

1) "I used to buy branded goods 3 or 4 times per year. Now, I should only splurge on branded goods once a year in order to save money."

2) "I used to eat out at restaurants 3 times a week. But now, I think I should only eat out at restaurants once a week to save more money."

You know, I have a better suggestion. In fact, it's so foolproof that you will definitely save even more money, let alone spending any.

1) "You know, you only looked good when you are walking around Orchard Road with your LVs, Ferragamos, Guccis and Chanels. Without all those stuffs hanging around you, you are just plain ugly and stupid but still human. So, sell your LVs, Ferragamos, Guccis and Chanels away, even though you might be making a loss. Without hanging some of these dead "animals" on you, you would look more like a proper human, not some kind of hooker-wannabe."

2) "You know, there's no need to stuff yourself up like a humongous turkey just to get ready for Christmas. And besides, with that corpulent size of your tummy, I always get a back-ache when you think you are so goddamn skinny and tried to squeeze past me to get to the exit on buses and trains. So, do me and yourself a BIG favor. All those money which you are going to stuff yourself at restaurants, whether thrice or once weekly, donate them to South Africa, Johannesburg to all those poor starving families. Sure, you'll e skinnier than those fashion show models, but you'll feel less weight on your shoulders, conscience and mind when you know you can feed a hungry family for a week instead of splurging it all on a 4-5 course restaurant meal once or thrice a week or whichever comes first."

My even better solution? Eat only one or two meals a day and to really, really save money effectively, eat only bread. t gives you all the energy you need throughout the day, and there's endless ways to eat them too. And best of all, bread is so good you can even eat it on its own.

Payments for 5 Sept to 22 Oct

Here are the payments to my PayPal account from 05 September till 22 October.





Payment Details as Follows:

» Sept 05, Sept 10, Sept 24, Sept 26, Oct 01, Oct 14 & Oct 18. Total of USD96.00 from BlogsVertise


» Sept 29. Total of USD5.00 from Big Oak, Inc


»Smorty Blog Advertising


» Oct 10. Total of USD3.34 from Snapbomb Marketing

Reminiscing the old days

Grandpa, it's time for your meals.

Homecooked meals are the best!!

Well, when shit finally happens in your life, you could find someone to pour it out into. But, it won't bring any closure, that's for sure. You can scream, shout or even cry, but when fate has dealt its card, that's where you need to open your eyes and see where the next step is going to lead to. But, if I could turn back the clock, I sure would try and change the course of directions. But there's non turning back the hands of time if things are supposed to happen. And like what the saying goes, 'There's no use crying over spilt milk."





And sometimes, the best re-course would be to move on. But yet sometimes, I try to cling on desperately to that little glimmer of hope. Only to find that hope has abandoned me in its wake. That's when I have to move on, nothing can ever be the same again. The trust you place in people, the hope you faithfully believe in. It's sad, but true that life goes on, whether on not you want to pick up the bits and pieces and carry on with your life. And hence, I shall never look back at the wrongs and mistakes that have happened and move on and once again hope that everything will ultimately turn out well for me like it used to.

Well, I could add chilli if I want to...

Sometimes, I want some "spice" in my life and hence decided to throw in some chilli sauce to stir things up. But yet sometimes, it's not that good at all. As I realised, the chilli does add a lot of spice, but what if the adding of chilli sauce goes out of hand, that bowl of soup noodles might give you a scare when you least expect it.

It's like a double-edged knife, you want the spice but have to sacrifice something in return. It's like putting your trust in that spoonful of chilli sauce only to have it sting you back hard. No amount of cold water can put out that heat you created with your own hands. And there are times like this, I really and simply wish, I didn't put in that extra spoonful of chilli sauce. Sure, it's mundane but at least it's a safe journey to the end without any mishaps or sting to bring those tears to your eyes when you least need it, right?

My life consists of coffee stains...

Life is made of black coffee, where you have to deal with the worst life experiences here. Back-stabbing, butt-kissing, stuffs like that. I know I suck at doing all this ever since I was in school, but I chose not to. There's no point in joining a "fight" where you lose all humanity, only resorting to please yourself on other people's unhappiness and misery. It's not my game either as I don't like to see other people feeling miserable just to make myself feel better.

And like my mother always said, "It's fate that you and the people around you can be friends, classmates, colleagues, besties and everything else, so enjoy it or you'll never get the chance to." Only now do I realise the true meanings of these words. It's not too late, but I do wish I understand it earlier. Just as I try my best not to make a big matter out of it, but I can't help it sometimes. Especially when it concerns the people you love, like family, friends and colleagues. Some may pass through your life bringing you happiness while some choose to give you sadness. Yet, I want to take it all in and understand what life is about.

But well, sometimes I have to admit, I have the tendency to spill it out of the cup I'm holding on to. Especially when milk is involved. So, what do you, my humble readers think? Leave me a comment and let me know, okay?

Bastard @ #08-152

Well, this bastard who's living at my block kept making a nuisance of himself. How so? He's around 40ish, has a son, is a useless piece of shit who can't find a stable jo for himself and still relies on his aged parents to feed him. And yes, he's guilty of damaging our mailbox so many times my father have threated to beat the crap out of him if he strikes again.





I know violence is not going to solve anything. But imagine if our electricity bill comes and we can't check the mail in time and thus have to pay a fine even though the fault is NOT OURS. How would you feel? Pissed? Violent? Murder on your mind? Yes, I feel that way too. So to my faithful readers who are reading this, I would need your help. If I were to make a police report against him, on what charges (the more extreme the better, but it must be within the law, not ridiculous) should my family charge him with? All ideas, suggestions and comments are greatly welcomed and appreciated. I humbly thank you all in advance.

Organisers are not only for taking notes

Well, to me, organisers are not only for taking notes and important dates. Everytime I see something yummy-licious being featured in the newspaper, I'd jot down the address and shop name in my organiser for easy future reference if I ever pass by the place featured in newspaper. Here's a snapshot of my organiser in action, in-sync with the newspaper.

Oops, I did it (again like real....)

Nope, it wasn't intentional. I know I didn't blog yesterday, partly because I was careless in the kitchen. My neighbor invited me over to watch DVDs, and like a fool, I left the kettle of coffee boiling thinking that I would remember about it. And oh well, so that's why I didn't get to blog yesterday. Had to clear up the "mess" I created without realizing it. Don't worry, I'll blog about it in a few days time. And this, I'll promise!

One more dog to consider

This dog nearly gave everyone a heart attack at my neighborhood. It was sitting so still and quiet that a lot of people who pass by this mutt jumped up in fright. Seldom do I see a well-behaved dog. Hmm...

Roast Meat

Well, I don't really like pork for that matter. Always tastes funny to me and there's always this weird smell, even after you cook it. But I like the cahr siew and roast duck from this stall. We always patronise this stall, ever since I was in Secondary school.

Faith the Bipedal Dog

Read more about Faith at http://www.faiththedog.net/.

Wordle Word Clouds

I found this cool site Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds where you can generate “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.





To use, you can either:

» Key in a bunch of text, like your blog title, blog URL and tags or keyowrds for your blog/site

» Enter the URL of any blog, blog feed, or any other web page that has an Atom or RSS feed.

» Enter a del.icio.us user name to see their tags

and then click on Go or Submit to see your very own Word Cloud. Have fun!!

Sunglasses are the new accessory

Sunglasses are not just for movie stars and Secret Service agents. They're for anyone who spends enough time outdoors to get a suntan or even a sunburn. And they should be worn not only in summertime, but during winter as well.

People who are most vulnerable are those who spend a great deal of time in the sun, live near the equator or at high altitudes, have had cataract surgery, or take photosensitizing medications. If you're not in a high-risk category, you don't have to buy expensive sunglasses from an optician. Although drugstore or department store shades are of lesser quality, they will do fine.

Any sunglasses are better than none at all, but some types are better suited to certain activities. The goal is to block out the greatest amount of UVA and UVB rays. Here are some guidelines:

» Size: Choose lenses large enough to shield the eyes on all sides. Or buy wraparounds .

» Lens: Plastic lenses are lighter and safer than glass, but are less scratch-resistant. Mirrored lenses

» Gradient glasses, darker at the top and lighter at the bottom, are best suited for driving.

» Color: Gray and green lenses are best for drivers and pedestrians, who need to see traffic lights; amber for skiers, boaters and pilots, who need to see contrast.

Reverse Text Generator

?thgir ,ereht uoy toG

?ereh gnitirw m'I tahw teg uoy od ,oS .looc os si txeT esreveR

Text Translation:

Reverse Text is so cool. So, do you get what I'm writing here?

Got you there, right?

Well, you see, a blogger left a comment using flipped text. Right after seeing it, I immediately knew what is in store for me. The only thing I need to do is to flip it back in reverse to see what the message is. This is what A. had left in my comments:

.dnim elpmis ym rof gnisufnoc yreV .tfel ot thgir gninnur yrtne tnemmoc tuoba gnihtemos od ot ecvah lliw uoy dnA

.dexif eb nac ti litnu secivres laitnesse ssel emos tuo tuc evah yeht os dna dedaolrevo saw revres ehT .enoyreve s'ti , yrrow t'noD

And this is what I reply back in the same comments:

.niaga tisiv dna kcab emoc oD

.golb ym ta yats tnasaelp a evah uoy epoh dna gnitnemmoc rof sknahT

.oot taht ekil txet pilf ot looc etiuq s'ti ,llew dna noitamrofni eht rof sknahT .ees I

Anyone wants to figure that out without me giving it away? Comments are welcome and appreciated!!

You mean, this is Orchard Road??

I remember during my school days, when Orchard Road was such a "posh" place to be. All those buildings gleamed in the sun, while retail staffs are always attentive and carry a smile on their face. I would take a bus from my neighborhood and alight at Far East Plaza, where all the ah bengs (read: lanjiao beng) and ah lians (read: chee-bye lian) - I'd call them fucktards, 'cos they deserved to be called that anyway -would gather and act like they were supermodels, pretending to smoke their cigarettes when they don't even know how to. And just further down would be CK Tangs, where I would go down the escalator located behind the bus-stop to go over to Wisma Atria. While along the underpass, there used to be this blind man who would play popular songs on his electronic keyboard while trying to earn a living. It wasn't that bad honestly.

Although he sang out of tune, nobody complained. In fact, everyone understood his plight and would drop money into his "donation" box every now and then. And after the end of the underpass would be the lobby for the Orchard MRT station, where Wisma Atria is located just a few steps away. Yes, Wisma Atria is always crowded, but with shoppers mingling at the shops and human traffic was bearable. Walk straight along and you'll find yourself at Takashimaya Shopping Centre where there are even more shoppers. But more on the look-and-see variety, looking at the various shops and seeing if there's any discounts going on. That was the Orchard Road I remembered during my school days.

Compare that to the Orchard Road today.

Far East Plaza are still festering with even more ah bengs (read: lanjiao beng) and ah lians (read: chee-bye lian), who are still desperately trying to pretend to be supermodels but fail so terribly and miserably (Darlings, you lot are better suited to hang around void decks than to mar the image of Orchard Road, get it?) that I wanted to bury them alive for trying to. And further down would be CK Tangs where the floor tiles in front of CK Tangs sometimes decide to 'play punk' on unsuspecting female shoppers by making them trip. (Yes, CK Tangs have become a scary place to walk, due to the tiles.) And just before I can go down that damn escalator that is located behind the bus-stop, my hearing must be tested by these stupid, loud and blasphemous road-show(s) that chose to have a road-show just right in front of CK Tangs. Never mind, just go down the escalator to get to Wisma Atria.

Oops, the blind man playing his electronic keyboard is no longer there. In his place are various buskers trying to out-perform each other by turning up the volume of their freaking amplifier. Never mind, I have my MP3 player to keep out the noise that used to be music. And right after the underpass, at the Orchard MRT station lobby, just before Wisma Atria, there would definitely be all these Bangladeshi construction workers or some In**** (in case I get sued under the Semitic Law in Singapore, this particular race will have to be asterisked to protect myself) men would purposely block traffic by pretending to be oblivious to the traffic and talking right there and then. Yes, fuckers, good job at being a nuisance to everyone. Fine! I weave in and out of the crowd just to get to Wisma Atria's entrance and suddenly find myself somewhat blocked at the entrance.

You see, there are construction work going on. Which means I have to walk on the pavement, right next to the road. Never mind, I can deal with it. If the crowd gets too obnoxious, I'll just start my chain cigarette smoking to clear myself a BIG PATH to walk on. Everything went according to what I planned and just as I am closing in towards Takashimaya, I heard horrendous music blaring, voices trying to out-talk and out-shout each other into the microphones and those pesky people with fliers all rushed up to me like starving children and started thrusting their goddamn fliers into my hands. What do I do? I simply shoved both my hands into the pockets of my jackets just to avoid having the slightest chance to hold on to a piece of flier advertisement. There's a good reason for this. Just being these fliers-people a.k.a "starving-children-wannabe" is a rubbish bin that is so chocked full with their own bloody fliers that all the rubbish are dropping out of the bins and piling on the floor right next to it. So, instead of contributing to the mess that is already in existence, I chose not to by not taking a single piece of freaking flier that comes my way (or rather, my face, my arms, my chest, okay that's enough of flier shoving, you assholes!)

Looking at the chaos just in front of Takashimaya Shopping Centre, I think I should just abandon the thought of that particular stretch of road and go towards HMV Heeren opposite. And as soon as I crossed the traffic lights to go over to HMV Heeren, happily anticipating the cool air-conditioning and music CDs that would welcomed me with open arms and soothe my annoyance, I realized I had made a wrong choice that I found out too late. Just somewhere in front of HMV Heeren is another road-show for credit cards. Yes, those type which hire an outdoor guest noise-polluter, who speaks into the microphone thinking that he or she is some famous host akin to Ryan Seacrest when in fact no sane person gave them a glance at all. Seriously, do these people need to breathe at all? They speak so fast into the microphone that I really wonder if they are robots in the first place? Fine, just walk past those brainless talkers a.k.a noise polluters and into HMV Heeren and all would be safe, I supposed?

Wrong! Right when I stepped into HMV Heeren, I am suddenly bombarded with more humans giving out fliers. Aargghhhhh!! Forget about that damn CD. I'm going home. NOW!!!

Twilight

Image © of Stephanie Meyer


Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Cam Gigander

Director: Catherine Hardwicke

Release date: 18 Dec


Based on Stephanie Meyer's best-selling novel about the secret unorthodox love affair between melancholic high schooler Bella Swan (played by Stewart) and swoonworthy vampire Edward Cullen (played by Pattinson) who doesn't drink human blood. But the soul mates have to contend with the Cullen family's vampire enemies who come to town looking for Bella.

Not since Harry Potter has a book-to-film journey inspired so much enthusiasm. Twilight is the first installment from Meyer's immensely successful young adult collections, which has sold more than 10 million copies in the US and has over 100 fan sites devoted to it. It has also become a cultural phenomenon, with a rabid fan base that is eagerly awaiting the US37 million big-screen adaptation directed by Hardwicke (Thirteen, Lords Of Dogtown, The Nativity Story). Henry Cavill was Meyer's first choice to play Edward in the romance thriller, but by the time the film came to be, he was 25 and no longer looked like a 17-year-old. He was then offered the part of Carlisle Cullen, but turned it down due to his commitment with The Tudors. Over 5,000 actors auditioned for the heartthrob role.





Hardwicke has seen a picture of Pattinson, a 22-year-old Brit best known as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, but had been underwhelmed. So he flew to meet Hardwicke at her home in Venice, California, and his audition consisted of a love scene with Stewart on Hardwicke's own bed. To prepare for his role, Pattinson stayed out of the sun, wrote journal entries as Edward and shut himself off from his friends and family, but he had no formal training to perfect his American accent. Meanwhile, Stewart (Panic Room, The Messengers) was recommended by Emile Hirsch, her co-star from Into The Wild and whom Hardwicke directed in Lords Of Dogtown. Hardwicke then flew to Pittsburgh - where Stewart, then 17, was shooting Greg Mottola's Adventureland all night - and did an impromptu screen test with the young starlet, who learnt her new lines on the spot. And because Stewart didn't turn 18 until the middle of the production, Hardwicke was only allowed to use her for five hours a day. So for her big birthday, Stewart received a cake with a clock on it and the words "Now you're on nights".

The actors playing the Cullens wore topaz-colored contacts, while green-eyed Stewart wore brown contacts because Bella is supposed to have brown eyes. The initial 44-day production in Portland, Oregon - a location chosen in part because the skies are often overcast - was plagued by multiple weather-related difficulties, so the cast had to reunite recently to shoot additional scenes. One newly-redone scene shows Edward playing Bella's lullaby, with Pattinson playing the actual song which was written by veteran film composer Carter Burwell (No Country For Old Men). Hayley Williams, singer of US pop band Paramore and a huge fan of the Twilight craze, revealed they will have two songs on the movie soundtrack - Decode, which apparently details the inner workings of the protagonists' relationship, and a still-untitled track. A song from rock group Muse, Meyer's favorite band, will also be included.





More links related to Twilight (open in new window):

» The Twilight Saga

» Stephanie Meyer: Inside the 'Twilight' saga

» 'Twilight': Inside the First Stephanie Meyer Movie

» twilight teez: read the books wear the shirts

» Hollywood Backlot" Twilight Movie Photos

» MTV Movies Blog: Twilight

» Love at first bite

» No Sex Please, We're Vampires

» Mormon who put new life into vampires

» Fans of 'Twilight' vampire series pump new blood into Forks

» 'Breaking Dawn' release much anticipated in Forks

» Stephanie Meyer UK

» 'Twilight' author Stephanie Meyer unfazed as fame dawns

» Twilight: The Official Movie Site

Temporarily Disabled? What do you mean?: Part 2

Well, I was still curious if EntreCard.com knew what was going on, so I decided to go back and snoop around and I saw this instead.





» Drop rank: A dedicated dropper with a hint of addiction


» Drops: Temporarily disabled


So, I guess eerything's going back to normal, huh? But at least it's better than than seeing a message that says "Temporarily Disabled" though.

Zombie

In Haitian and West African Voodoo traditions, a zombie is a soulless, reanimated corpse resurrected from the dead by a Voodoo priest, known as a 'Bocor', for the purposes of indentured servitude. Etymologists and anthropologists speculate that the term is derived from Nzambi, a West African deity. A natural explanation may exist for this phenomenon. It has been suggested that the zombie may have been a person who was buried alive and only seemed dead through the administration of a drug containing the poison of various plants and animals and various human remains. The poison puts the victim in a death-like state. Not all those who take the drug survive; those who do remain conscious and witness their own burial and funeral.

After two days the Bocor raises the victim from the tomb and administers a hallucinogenic concoction that awakens the 'zombie', who is now so psychologically traumatized that he or she is willing to answer to a new name and follow the Bocor into a new life, which is usually to work in the fields. Not surprisingly zombification was once described as the African slave's ultimate nightmare, as not even death can release them from never-ending labor. Voodoo sorcerers are said to create zombies by capturing the souls of the deceased. If the sorcerer is able to capture the soul he can make a zombie ghost who wanders eternally in the astral plane at the command of the sorcerer. To prevent this happening, relatives of the deceased will often stab corpses in the heart or decapitate them.

All ye faithful readers @ Chopsticks

To all my faithful readers at -Chopsticks-, remember my old post stating that I had damaged my cellphone's memory card? Come on, you know you do, you have read the post, right? Well, good news for you all, readers old and new. I've changed a new memory card, which means, I'll be back to posting up shots from my cell-phone once again. Happy? Of course I am. I miss posting up photos of my life, my family and my favorite yummy-licious food shots for all my wonderful and faithful readers. So, comment on my photo-posts please, okay? Thank you all for your generous support at my -Chopsticks- blog.

Temporarily Disabled? What do you mean?

I don't know if any other EntreCard users have discovered something while dropping their EntreCards, but I notice something very "disturbing".





"Disturbing" to me, that is. Initially, while dropping back EntreCards on EntreCard users who have dropped on mine, I noticed some were displaying the:

» Drop rank: Temporarily Disabled

» Drops: Temporarily Disabled

and I thought it was random. I mean, who in the right mind would disable their own drop rank or drops without thinking of the consequences. Until curiosity got the better of me and I decided to clicked onto my own blog to check things out. Turns out, I believe, is that most and maybe all of EntreCard members accounts might be having the same problem too. But hey, at least I can see the amount of EntreCards I have dropped in total on my Dashboard. But still, it is nerve-wrecking to see this message though. Are you a member of EntreCard.com and are you seeing this message for your own blog profile on EntreCard.com too? I would like to know as I'm curious if it affects some blogs or is every blog listed on EntreCard.com?

More quizzes and tests... know me better

The Caffeine Click Test


Created by OnePlusYou - Free Online Dating



How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

85%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Sites

How much do you hate myspace?


Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Sites

Are You Lazy?

Well, I know I lead a very hectic life, with the occasional chance of "chasing" Taufiq a.k.a Beef Cake around for his nonsense. Okay, I admit "chasing" Taufiq around keeps me grounded most of the timne. But I do know I seriously need a break when I did a quiz and found out my results for the quiz...

Are You Lazy? - Includes Pics Busy Bee You are a total busy bee! Your life is filled with too much to do, and you feel like you have to do ALL of it! Gotta make the bed, mow the lawn, run these errands, cook dinner! When will the madness stop! You need to take a serious relaxation day and don't worry about ANYTHING! That's right, leave that bed unmade, go to a nice restaurant for dinner. You deserbe and need this. And I promise, it won't hurt! : ) Myspace Quizzes