Two tickets and maybe a no-go

Ai! Got two tickets for the Spidey premiere (me ain't lucky enuf to get a sneak like Jenny B) thanks to Maxis!

But I might not get to go! Another IT co is stupid enough to have a product launch on a much-awaited movie premiere night - bloody eejits!

Ah, the joy of being a junior in the team... you'll get the crappy assignments when everyone else in the coop gets to have fun...!

Forgive me for I have sinned!

The coop was having a betting pool for the Portugal vs England match yesterday. The pool started from heavy debating that took place in the department next to mine and after a lot of squabbling even the co's chief (the so called quiet character) got caught in the frenzy.

Me, I'm such a sucker for bets. I love betting! In college I managed to scrape through Finite Maths (bloody proud of my C+) simply cause there's a few chapters dealing with Probability - the only kind of math I can relate to besides plussing, minusing, timesing and devidising.

And when someone called my extension up and asked me if I'm interested to join the pool I said put my name under the Portuguese banner - simply because I adore this player called Nuno Gomes.

Back to bets, usually if I bet I'd look for a free meal (now does anyone still wanna ask me why my email is makan_free@yahoo.com?) or a free movie. I also bet for other bric-a-bracs, like a piggy back ride on someone's back or a massage session (so far my sister has won two massage sessions out of Euro 2004).

And that's it.

But this morning (hey, it was 11.22AM when I arrived) when someone handed me a RM10 and said "Golo!", I was a bit surprised. Sure, I know England lost and Beckham sux, but what's up with this RM10???

Then the so-called bookie of the coop said that yesterday's bet is no cheap talk, apparently each bet costs RM10. So my bet on the host team has made me RM10 richer...

The end of Euro 2004 as I know it...

I'm wearing black today (no, the All Blacks aren't in town, and I'm not going goth OK) cause it is the end of Euro 2004 - all cause my favourite team, Italy has ungracefully fell out of the tournament!

I'm blaming Vieri for his highly questionable performance during the match against Sweden! I'm blaming Buffon a bit for not having a bigger, more aerodynamic hairdo*!

Had Vieri carefully finish at least one of his headings, Italy would have won the game and comfortably walk through. Had Buffon sport a haircut with better air control it would have sent him flying back into that corner where Bang Berahimovic's "keldai kick" ball went in.

Speaking about Ibrahimovic's goal, I againt would like to blame Vieri for not liking Tarzan when he was a kid. Had he developed a liking for Tarzan he would have jumped and cling onto the goal post and block Ibrahimovic's goal with his chest or face - at least that would smooth over all his pathetic headings.

Speaking about Vieri not liking Tarzan, would it be possible to blame his aunties and uncle for not buying him Tarzan and Jane figurines and videos when he was a kid?

Uh, I better get my nephews Zafri and Zakwan some Tarzan stuff then!

* gotta complement Buffon's hairstylist though, he must have used Brylcream - the "masih tegak lagi?" gel - good staying power demonstrated throughout all of Buffon's outings...

Kisah Seekor Khinzir Gagah Yang Bernama Babe

HBO is showing Babe this month - ooh, I forgot how much I really enjoyed this movie. In fact, this movie totally changed my perspective on this animal called... ze.. pig!

When I first saw Babe, I only captured what the film projected on the surface - an orphan's journey alone in the big, bad, yet sometimes wonderful world and his heart-wrenching adventures on Farmer Haggert's farm, yadda yadda yadda...

Back then, I remember wondering why oh why is the hero a... ekhem... pig, of all animals? Were the film makers tired of Lassies and Beethovens and Garfields and Puss in Boots? Or was it cause the animators were monopolizing the insects category (remember Antz and A Bug's Life)?

Apparently not!

Let it be known that ze domestic pig, aka sus scrofa, is actually among the most intelligent species in the group of domesticated animals - in fact, more so than (gasp!) dogs! We're talking bout jumping through hoops and walking tightropes and opening bolted doors here!

So when George Miller (ze scriptwriter) made a pig - our adorable, "heart of gold" Babe - to play the main character who got them sheep posse doing his bid much better than the shepherd dog Rex (the antagonist character), it's got to be a well-researched decision. Yep.

As far as Babe goes, credits should also be given to the rest of the animal pack - especially the rodent trio for their harmonious, high-pitched rendition of Blue Moon. But personally, it was Babe's Jingle Bells tune that I still could not wash out of my head - ask any 1996 - 2000 batch of MCC Aishahan what they usually hear when I'm occupying the shower booth next to theirs... here I go again!

"La la la.. la la la... la la la... lala.."

Beam me up, Scotty!

I'm not a Trekkie, but I am a Crichton fan. So if you're either a Star Trek fan or have read Timeline or even Sphere (forget the movie versions mate!) I'm sure you at least have some idea what teleportation is all about.

Star Trek and Crichton books are considered fiction (albeit inspired by real science) and even dictionaries like Dictionary.com explains ze term "teleportation" as

"A hypothetical method of transportation in which matter or information is dematerialized, usually instantaneously, at one point and recreated at another."

Teleportation... fiction, hypothetical... get it?

But today in New Straits Times (in print) and BBC (online), some scientists declared that they've actually done it! Moreover, says Professor Rainer Blatt, of the University of Innsbruck, "We've done it for the first time with massive particles, with atoms*. We are able to teleport in a deliberate way - that is, at the push of a button."

I'm waiting till the day Scotty will really get to beam something bigger, maybe a bad cancerous cell out of someone's brain into those formalin tubes, then the famous Rapat Setia mosquitos off the grass on my parents' lawn into President Bush's Oval Office, then Faizal Hussein from Gombak into my bedroom eh! living room in Cheras (I'll pay any price!) then...

So on. So you know how a person like me would use such technology. What would you like to have teleported?


* According to the BBC report, Professor Blatt's team performed the teleportation on calcium ions.

A song for my Precious

This post is dedicated to my Precious aka Presh or P, who last night won a bet, lost a handphone, and graciously let a kiss slip away. Hit it Frank!

I Won't Dance
Frank Sinatra

I won't dance, don't ask me
I won't dance, don't ask me
I won't dance, Madame, with you
My heart won't let my feet do things that they should do

You know what?, you're lovely
You know what?, you're so lovely
And, oh, what you do to me
I'm like an ocean wave that's bumped on the shore
I feel so absolutely stumped on the floor

When you dance, you're charming and you're gentle
'specially when you do the Continental
But this feeling isn't purely mental
For, heaven rest us, I am not asbestos

And that's why
I won't dance, why should I?
I won't dance, how could I?
I won't dance, merci beaucoup
I know that music leads the way to romance,
So if I hold you in my arms I won't dance

I won't dance, don't ask me,
I won't dance, don't ask me
I won't dance, Madame, with you
My heart won't let my feet do things that they want to do

You know what?, you're lovely,
Ring-a-ding-ding, you're lovely
And, oh, what you do to me
I'm like an ocean wave that's bumped on the shore
I feel so absolutely stumped on the floor

When you dance, you're charming and you're gentle
'specially when you do the Continental
But this feeling isn't purely mental
For, heaven rest us, I am not asbestos

and that's why
I won't dance, I won't dance
I won't dance, merci beaucoup
I know that music leads the way to romance
So if I hold you in my arms, I won't dance!

By the way Presh, I'll make it up to you somehow, alright?

"Bye Sitiiiii!"

Hello! Was this morning one of the lousiest or wot!

OK, I was supposed to attend this PeeCee right, so I should expect to see other journalists right? Well, yeah, sure but I wasn't expecting this fella, he's a contributor for some foreign financial times.

Ugh, I still get shivers everytime I recall this incident which took place at this morning! But I gotta tell you guys a bit of history first.

I first bumped into this fella, let's call him Oz, at a PeeCee last year. He introduced himself - picture a gawky, geeky guy (not that I have anything against gawky geeky people), thick-rimmed specs and sport-shirted, complete with a schoolboy knapsack on his shoulder and an earnest grin on his face - and asked for my name.

He wanted to get to know all of us IT journalists, but as he approached our group of four, I seemed to be the only one left - the rest, I didn't think they were directly avoiding the guy, they were timely interested in food - so I had to give out my name.

As my friends returned they caught his ice-breaking remark to me, which goes like this, "You are soooo sweet! You have such a sweeeeet face!"

I knew at that point, there would be no ending to this. My counterpart from Chip mag, let's call him GG, said, "Whoa, even I ain't that brave!"

After that I bumped into him several more times at other PeeCee, but managed to slip in and out of the Q & A sessions unnoticed... till today.

I absolutely wanna blame it on our host company - the producers of Memory Sticks - for having such a weird PeeCee. It is weird cause they made us have tea break at 11AM, then proceed to lunch at 11.30AM till 12.45PM, just so the rest of the two-part PeeCee fits the bigwigs who came all the way from Nippon - actually I really should thank them for a lovely food festival, no?

Anyway, during the long gastronomical fiesta, I was having a good time with the other IT journalists - GG, Lin, Ime etc - talking about Euro 2004 and stuff, till one of them, the Chip writer actually, said "I think I saw your admirer.. hehe.."

I was thinking, oh, there's a big turnout of journalists today, surely ol Oz'll miss me again. But no, he happened to sit on the same table as a BH writer, my pal as well, and as I was saying hi to her on my way to the buffet table, Oz began to wave frantically (though there is really no need to do that!), and I had to smile back!

As I load the wonderful dishes onto my plate, I began to search for an alternative route - bloody hell, there's none! All I could do was wait till the guy was facing down to his food to manage a safe route back to my table.

Back at my table I cursed GG for not telling me the exact coordinate of Oz's location, what he was doing and an alternative plan on how I would get my food, enjoy it and have him not notice me!

By that time the incident about how Oz was picking me up at last year's PeeCee had reemerged. Shit, oh shit - if only he wasn't so weird and seemingly desperate, I would have been flattered.

But Oz is weird! He went to a veteran journalist's table and started talking to the old guy, at the same time pointing and waving at me... and repeated the same process at some other journalist's table as well!!!

I really should not outcast him simply cause he's a bit weird right? I can imagine an old friend of mine, Fathul repeating what he said to me about three years ago, "Korang ni bodoh la. Apa la dengan orang gila pun nak takut. Muka aje lawa tapi bodoh."

For the record Fathul's word sliced my vena kava at the right places - eversince that day, I began to see people with Otak Tak Center in a different light. Well, till Oz showed up again this morning lah!

Anyway, promptly at 12:30PM (the time we were told to get back at the PeeCee room), all the journalists began to wipe their hands on the hotel's nice napkins, collect the press kits and made a move to the PeeCee room (it's actually the hotel's night club). I begged my IT journalists pals to help me out - I just got a bit panic there, right after his fourth Mexican-wave to me.

GG agreed to be my walking wall and we ended up going round the mulberry bush trying to escape the lunch area safely. And safely we arrived in front of the club - only to be told that the hosts needed 5 bloody more minutes before they can let us in.

So we hung around the area, and when I didn't see Oz anywhere, I thought "Hey, safe!". Not.

He arrived, walked straight to me, stood as near as he could, and asked me again my name, just to be have that Man...-your-face-is-so-familiar-and-we've-met-so-many-times-but-for-the-love-of-?-I-just-can't-remember-your-name kind of chat, you know!

GG is already clearing his throat, but Lin's such an angel! She stood right next to me, and we huddled close, she to be my gateway against the malicious blended threat, me the harassed party.

Lin even grabb GG to her side, just to have a better "barrier" effect, and I already huddled towards old B and began a conversation about his health and (please forvige me B!) sort of made him my other "wall". By that time we were huddled so close together even All Black's scrum setting would have been put to shame!

But Oz was more creative than we all thought - hey I give credit where credit's due ok - and he began to shove his neck giraffely (this is not an insult, tis a verb, thank you very much!) in between Lin's and GG's shoulders, peering right into moi. That made even the angel in Lin shivered!

Lin swished-swashed her hair to shake him off, but that did not do much for GG. Oz, having his face swasched by Lin's hair, continued to huddled nearer to GG, pressed himself to GG's back, till GG had to ask with gritted teeth, "Is there anyone behind me?" to drop a hint.

Lin quickly suggested we go to the ladies - bloody hell, why didn't I think of that? Stupid! Stupid! Let's go!

Ime followed us, so we stayed in the ladies loo (I know this is redundant) for about 5 minutes and discussed a strategy for our upcoming entrance in to the PeeCee area. But I guess it could not get any worse, so with a soggy plan we braved it - thankfully the rest of the journalists were already seated by the time we got there, and we were just in time to hear three Nipponese speak about AVIT products...

Did I said I though things could not get worse? I really shouldn't have - cause it did!

Right at the end of the PeeCee, when the emcee had said thanks for coming and hope to see everyone in future events, Oz saw me again, and loudly(!) said "Bye Sitiiiiii!", right in front of everyone and waited dead on his tracks, his face all expectant.

I mustered a lousy half-smile and did a small, short wave-once-back - could not trust my mouth to say anything though, cause trying to recover from the shock of having almost everyone in the room turning to look at Oz and I...

Ode to Bob

Firstly, thanks Bob, for visiting my humble private blog. Tis' nothing compared to yours, ze Drag-Ass.

Actually Intan and I met Bob just a couple of days ago, at my favourite after-work hangout coop, ze Hameeds in Central Market. He eh, I think I've been frequenting Hameeds since my final year at ITM, which is 2000 - which means that it was almost 4 years ago that I first met Bob.

Whoa, that long, eh?

Back in 2000, Hameeds became ze meeting point for me and my mate Wan. She'll be arriving from the greeny UPM, me from the drylands of SS17/18 Shah Alam - both screwed and desperate for distractions and Hameeds became the coop where our teh tarik and maggi goreng accompany our bitch-about-school session.

The first two gentlemen who "adopted" us into the Love-One-Love-All Clan of Hameeds were Fari (who is now attending massage-technique classes is Adelaide) and Kolin (who is still around at CM, manning one of the souvenir stores). Thanks to them, we got to know other gems in the crowd - Bob being of them.

Bob, just like anyone who is part of the Love-One-Love-All Clan, is more than what meets the eye. Beneath his swanky get-up and serious stare, he has an eclectic persona only one who dares talk to him will ever find out.

A sharp observer of people and life, expect his insights and advice to hit the white/yellow/blue/red dot on the squasy ball (what, you all don't know a squasy ball has a tiny coloured dot on its surface?). Yep, he's one of a kind...

The family knows what's good for you

My Dad says, if you were to choose a guy to marry, ideally he should be:
*Melayu/Malay
*Sihat/Healthy
*Beragama/Religious
*Lebih tua/Older than thou
*Lebih tinggi/Taller than thou
*Tidak ada keturunan gila/Do not have mental case genes
*Tidak bermata merah/Do not have reddish eyes
*Tidak berbulu di dada/Do not have chest hair
*Tidak jalan menari-nari/Do not walk like John Travolta

My Mom says, it would be much better if the guy's also:
*Pemurah/Generous
*Dari keluarga sederhana/From an average family
*Hormat orang/Respects people
*Berfikiran terbuka/Open-minded
*Boleh dibawa berbincang/Can discuss and reason

My hippie aunt says, don't settle unless the guy is:
*Kelakar/Funny
*Berpengetahuan/Learned
*Pandai bawa diri/All-rounder
*Tahu menilai hidup/Knows how to live

My practical uncle says, better choose a guy who:
*Rajin baca suratkhabar kuat-kuat/Don't mind reading newspaper out loud... Cause then he would not mind sitting in the kitchen and keeping you company while you cook...

My five year-old nephew's vote goes for any guy:
*Yang berkereta/Who owns a car... Cause any guy with a car can drive and come visit him and let him be the navigator... cause you don't own a car and you don't drive in KL

Saya suka...

... Jikustik's killer song, Tak Ada Yang Abadi, which goes something like this:

Kau pernah menjadi detak dalam nadiku
Dalam hidupku
Dan kau pun pernah menyelamatkan
Seluruh hidupku

Kau pernah menghujaniku
Dengan butiran air matamu
Tapi kau juga pernah
Tertawa dalam dalam pelukku

Perubahan ini meyakinkan aku
Bahwa tak ada yang abadi
Sejak kau putuskan
Untuk melepaskan hidup

Kau pernah menjadi terang dalam gelapku
Saat tersesat
Tapi kau juga pernah menyentuh
Rasa sakitku

Kepergian itu mengajarkan aku
Bahwa tak ada yang abadi
Sejak kau putuskan untuk
Melepaskan hidup....

This song is a composition by Pongki, the band's vocalist, and the arrangement has the magic touch of Erwin Gutawa, if I'm not mistaken - a maestro when it comes to strings. Tak Ada Yang Abadi is not their latest hit, it came with their second album Perjalanan Panjang (they are now promoting their 3rd album already).

Jikustik's bassist, Icha and Sheila On 7's Eros used to play in the same band before they found their own niche. Check this group out at the Jikustik Official Website.

I also could not stop myself from repeating the song Eiffel... I'm In Love, which is the orginal motion picture soundtrack for an Indonesian movie of the same title. Composed by Melly Goeslaw and arranged by Anto Hoed, this track is only 2 minutes and 32 seconds long but if you set your player to repeat only this track, it can stretch to 5 minutes and 4 seconds, or 7 minutes and 36 seconds or.... wow, my math's good!

Actually this clarinet plus harpsicord plus accordian plus piano infested track reminds me of the songs I used to play when I was still studying organ. Other cool songs in the Eiffel... I'm In Love aka Eiffel... Aku Jatuh Cinta OMPS are Bercintalah Denganku, Pujaanku and Bulan Kedua, but I guess Indonesian music avids would be more familiar with Tak Tahan Lagi. I wonder when the movie will be released here?

Siti Ctea

Siti Nurhaliza is now officially a tea seller. Yup, she's branching out she said, so she'll be seeling her own brand of tea, called Ctea, from now on.

Her brand of tea was launched during the recent Pesta Kaamatan. Ctea, you should know this, is a product that does not contain chemicals of any sort - made from leaves plucked from the most suitable-for-tea-growing lands in Sabah, mind you. So if you drink Ctea, you'll be drinking pure tea.

OK lah. The point of this entry is: WHADDAHECK?

Hasn't she learnt from Sudirman that drinks just don't work? I mean, does anyone still remember Sudi? Or for that matter, Senario's drink?

And I think some other boyband/rap group/nashid group tried endorsing some kind of beverage too, some time back right? And where are they now? OK, they're probably still jumping on the stage but where's them drinks?

Anyway, if I were Siti Nurhaliza, I won't try to follow Sudirman to a T/tee/tea. If I were her, I'd probably capitalised on my exposure in the IT field instead (see Siti, there's a "T" in "IT" you know).

After her long contract with TMNet, and some with Minolta and now Samsung - you'd think she'd gotten the drift. After all these IT-based press conferences, surely she can tell the difference between Megahertz and Megabytes (like our darling Lina Teoh) already right?

I remember asking Samsung's PR why Siti Nurhaliza? She said the industry knows her already, that's why.

Siti, takkan no one told you this? Takkan lah main terima je contract and never ask what is it that they like so much about you?

You have to compile your intangible assets and use it, girl! C'mon, you have the opportunity, you just gotta seize it!

Imagine if Siti Nurhaliza were to produce peripheral stuff like mouse, joystick, keyboard, speaker and such. Call the brand CTtech, or something more flashy (and parallel to her image like..) CTbytes.

Put her face on everything (her true-colour image, icon image, whatever man). Then take it with her everytime she holds a concert - let it be her merchandise line.

After all, multimedia should be more relavant to her day-time job right? Well, compare IT gadgets to tea leaves, now do I make sense?

I wonder if all these while she's been eyeing the tea industry and making notes about Sabah tea plantations or if she'd ever done any research on this whole it's-time-I-diversified-from-entertainment-so-I-guess-tea-sounds-good venture.

OK, probably I'm wrong here, but... oh, someone tell me what's going on with Malaysia's rags-to-riches mega pop princess?

I mean, really, tea?

My handphone's battery's weak

I once interviewed a handphone user - just a trendy wendy I pick off the street, and she said that as her handphone's battery goes weak, she would feel her mood plummeting as well.

I became a handphone user in 1996, and back then I don't receive that many calls, except from my parents or sister. So even when the battery indicator starts blinking, it doesn't really bother me.

Today is a different story. My cute little sidekick who tries to wake me up every morning by belting out the tune Minuet is currently blinking its battery indicator, begging me for an electrocution.

I didn't bring my charger. No one else in the office has one that match. I'm beginning to feel desperate...

Happy Birthday to Cik Li and Sue

To Lize, antara orang-orang pertama yang menegur aku kat MCC dulu, Happy Belated 26th Birthday.

To Sue, who is among the coolest person I know, here's an early Happy 26th Birthday wish.

P/S: Got a small gift for you guys, so bila nak jumpa (Cik Li kau punye nanti aku pass kat Sue ekk) and Cik Tin, I finally got you a birthday gift! Sorry lambattt...