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OMG!

Coldplay is coming to Singapore!

July 10th!

Woooooooooooooo hoooooooooooooooooo!

Pimp My Snack - a site where people take their favourite mass produced snack and improve on it... mostly by making it bigger, it would seem.

Check out the pimped out Jammie Dodger.


And... pimp my Hobnob!

Nothing beats getting on the dance floor and actually being able to move after having been on an enforced rest for so long.

Well, actually, watching your friends go all "More Cowbell" during a tune dropped by Stacey Pullen does.

The J & S Project Meridium Mix of Now We Are Free from the soundtrack of Gladiator is absolutely fantastic. The melody is incredibly uplifting and Lisa Gerrard's beautifully haunting vocals make it perfect. The best part of the tune, in my opinion, is around the 4:20 mark. So calming and tranquil, it's like floating in a sea of serenity, and then two minutes later, bam! The driving bassline kicks in and it's just awesome.

Listen to a rip of the track at Chris Pork's beautifully designed site. It's also the opening track to Moshic's set at San Salvador in August 2005. The set can be downloaded from Moshic's official web site.

CEOs say how you treat a waiter can predict a lot about character (USA Today)

How others treat the waiter is like a magical window into the soul... Beware of anyone who pulls out the power card to say something like, "I could buy this place and fire you," or "I know the owner and I could have you fired." Those who say such things have revealed more about their character than about their wealth and power.

And of course, it's true. The same thing can be said of dating. When you're out on a date with a man, even if he treats you like a princess, if he treats the wait staff like crap, he's not a keeper.

As Bill Swanson, the CEO of Raytheon, says, "A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person." (Swanson's unwritten rule no. 32)

Incidentally, Swanson's Unwritten Rules for Management number 33 in all and include such gems such as "Work for a boss to whom you can tell it like it is. Remember, you can't pick your family, but you can pick your boss" (No. 6) and "Have fun at what you do. It will be reflected in your work. No one likes a grump except another grump!" (No. 25). Swanson has compiled these rules into a neat little booklet and you will be sent to you free of charge. Just go to his web site and request for a couple to be sent to you. I put in my request for earlier today.

In the most recent issue of The Economist: Women in the Workforce.

It is time for parents to think again. Girls may now be a better investment. Girls get better grades at school than boys, and in most developed countries more women than men go to university. Women will thus be better equipped for the new jobs of the 21st century, in which brains count a lot more than brawn. In Britain far more women than men are now training to become doctors. And women are more likely to provide sound advice on investing their parents' nest egg: surveys show that women consistently achieve higher financial returns than men do.

It used to be said that women must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily that is not so difficult.

Within half an hour of arriving home after having watched The White Masai, the following things happened.

My father told me that I need to take better care of my knees, and stop going out so late at night. Otherwise, I'll end up like Robbie Fowler and never be able to play football at my peak again.*

On MSN:
Friend 1: Why don't you carry her next time?
Friend 2: Only if she gets so drunk she p***es herself.
Me: Would you actually want to carry me then? Even I wouldn't want to carry me.

I rounded it off by explaining how Pokemon works to T.

*If you don't get why that's funny, it's because I don't play football in the first place. And yes, my knees are getting better, but I still have difficulty walking down stairs.

While at Carl's, Jr earlier tonight, I heard the best bad song ever. It was a euro-techno-trance-hard trance-dancehall cover of Sean Paul's Get Busy which changed genre every five seconds. Just when you thought the song couldn't get any worse, it would. And to make things better, whoever produced this tune brought in a mangled version of the synths from Usher's Yeah for good measure later on in the song.

I bet if they played that on the Ministry of Sound soundsystem, it'd get all the bengs and mats going.

Zouk's 15th Anniversary Crystal Ball was fantastic. Notwithstanding the fact that they kept people waiting at the door for more than half an hour even though the event was scheduled to start at 9 pm, the whole event was pretty much rather well-run given the sheer number of people inside. It was definitely the most crowded I've seen Zouk in a long, long time. Oh, and they ran out of vodka and tequila for the free flow by 10.15 pm, so the good thing is I didn't get wasted. The bad thing is... yes, you guessed it. I didn't get wasted.

What I liked most about the event was the fact that a fair number of people dressed up. The theme for the night was ballroom chic, and quite frankly, I do take the effort to look good when I go out, and I don't like that I turn up at wedding dinners and clubs and find that a significant number of people are dressed like slobs. And it's just Singapore. In Jakarta, Hong Kong and London, people put in the effort. They don't turn up in slippers and bermudas as they do here.

In Jakarta, for instance, they go all out for weddings. They go to the hair salon and get their hair styled, they get their make up professionally done, they get their outfits tailored or what not. They put in the effort to look good at other people's special days. Of course, they don't do the same for clubbing, but at the very least, they don't look like slobs.

I realise I'm still of the old school of thought in that I place a great deal of importance on people's appearances and manners. I'm not saying that I won't talk to you if you don't dress well - heck, that would have meant I wouldn't have gone out with a fair number of guys (note: not dressing well does not mean dressing badly) - but it's just that, when the occasion calls for it, please just put in the effort. It doesn't take much. Put on a shirt, as opposed to a T-shirt. Don't wear baggy pants. If you have to wear a T-shirt, then please make sure there're no holes in it. And so on.

[/rant]

Whoops, I kind of digressed there. So, yes, over the last two weekends, I've gone for two events which had dress codes, and it made me incredibly happy to be wearing my flirty, happy, beautiful dresses. And for once, I didn't feel out of place given that I was surrounded by people who were dressed up too. And for the clubbers who feel that a club is no place to be wearing beautiful clothing, I disagree. As long as you're able to have fun while in those clothes, and you're not off to the side, not dancing because the dress is too tight, or too short, or you're worried it'll get dirty, it's not inappropriate.

And once again, some great Internet how-to's (all via Lifehacker):

• Squash negative thought patterns - If you're a regular reader, I'm certain you've gotten the (correct) impression that I am a rather insecure individual, so hopefully, this will help.
  
• Sleep on an airplane - This is a pet peeve of mine, as I never quite manage to get more than half an hour's worth of sleep.
• Take great notes - I was renowned in university for taking good notes, and even now at work, I haven't quite lost that ability. Still, there are some incredibly useful tips here, especially for when my hand is incredibly tired from having written so much.
• Pull an all-nighter (more tips here) - I used to be able to do this in university. Ever since I started work, however, this has been getting harder and harder, and even when I need to do work, I end up in a complete state of sleep-deprivation, unable to work any more and taking a quick nap which ends up being for the rest of the night.
  

While at Good Friday service today with my mother, it occurred to me during the Gospel reading of The Passion (for non-Christians, that would be pretty much the story that's seen in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ), that if Pilate really was sincere about believing Jesus and wanting to release him, perhaps the best thing to do would be not dressing Jesus up in purple robes, putting a crown (of thorns, yes, but a crown nonetheless) on His head, and then proclaiming to the very people who headed Him over to Pilate because they were incensed at His claims to be the Son of God, "Shall I release your king?"

Rather incendiary and most definitely not reconciliatory.

Ha ha! This is so something I wouldn't mind doing (from The Meaning of Lila, an updated and funnier version of Cathy).

Speaking of alcohol, Martini Innercity 2006 is coming up. While I don't particularly fancy the bars that are participating in this event (all from the Wong San's Group), the idea of paying S$99 for 40 martinis (30 alcoholic, 10 non-alcoholic) over 21 days does make it seem rather worthwhile. That, and also because one of my best friends is coming back at the end of the month, and this will definitely be a cheaper way of keeping us both going!

Recent random cute things spotted on the Internet that I don't need but so desperately want:

Hershey's Kissables are "miniature candy-coated versions of one of the world's most recognizable brands. These colorful, fun-able candies, blue, red, yellow, green, and orange, come in convenient, single-serve packaging." Clearly designed to go after M&M's market share.

Spa Lights - to turn your bathroom experience into a truly gloriously relaxing one. What woman could resist? Available from I Want One of Those at GBP6.99 for two. A little expensive if you want to deck out your bathroom or shower so that it truly resembles a spa (I think it'll take six lights), but I say it looks well worth the money.


I think "oh my gosh! Ha ha ha ha ha! Sooooooo cute!!" pretty much sums these guys up.

I dreamt that my two most recent ex-boyfriends got married on the exact same day... and to other females, of course, not to each other. That dream disturbed me so much I woke up at 5.30 am, dazed and confused, before falling back asleep.

Maybe it was the aftereffect of having drank beer earlier that night, or perhaps, it was the result of what made me drink that beer in the first place - which was because I had just watched Oldboy. It's not an overly violent nor scary film, but it is rather sick and twisted. Usually I can catch plot twists coming from some distance away, but this time, it caught me entirely by surprised. In my defense, I maintain it's because I didn't think anyone could be that perverted.

Oldboy, if you haven't heard by now, is supposed to be one of the best films to have come out of Korea in the past few years. Directed by Park Chanwook as part of his "Vengeance" trilogy (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance are the other two films), Oldboy is shocking, violent, brutal and even funny at times.

Oh Dae-Su (Choi Min-Sik) is kidnapped and imprisoned by an unknown assailant after a night out on the town. Little does he know that his imprisonment would last 15 years. Upon his release, just as mysterious as his capture, he is told by his tormentor (Yu Ji-Tae) that he has five days to figure out the reason why he imprisoned Dae-Su. Immediately after his release, he runs into radiant Mido (Gang Hye-Jung) who takes it upon herself to help Dae-Su find out what's going on. The trouble is, that there are far too many pat coincidences, and Dae-Su finds himself both falling for Mido while not being able to trust her.

I won't say anything more about the story, as that would be giving away too much.

I have to say that I was definitely shocked by the movie. There were two scenes in particular which disturbed me, both of which involved physical violence. If you are able to sit through the tooth-pulling scene without once averting your eyes, then you are a far braver, stronger person than I am. Either that, or you're a sick b*****d. I can't talk about the other scene, but I'll just say that it occurs at the movie's climax.

While the acting is undoubtedly very good, and the cinematography inspired, I didn't find myself feeling very strongly for any of the characters. Also, I'm not entirely sure what the message of the movie was intended to be; whether it's supposed to be saying something about how the desire for vengeance ultimately ends up meaningless, whether truth is more important than revenge or whether love, originally intended to be the salvation of a person, turns out be as sick and twisted as everything else in one's life.

But was this a good movie? Without a doubt, everyone should watch this movie once. But once only. I'm not sure if anyone should subject himself/herself to that much perversion too often.

Question posed to global CEO of my company during the recent regional town hall (where we get an update on how the company's financial performance has been)

Q1: Do you read, and if so, could you recommend a good book to us?

It was such an inane question to ask during such an event. That ranks just below the question asked at the last town hall I attended where the CEO outlined his plans for the future of the company.

Q2: What are your goals?

Well, duh, woman. Weren't you listening? At all?

Please excuse me. I need to recharge my Stupidity Tolerance Shield (tm).

And on this week's edition of Overheard in Random-land:

Priest: On Friday, you have to abstain from meat. No chicken, no duck... turtle, can lah, because it's sea.

Me (in an SMS): Do you have so-and-so's number?
Friend: Yes, I think so... why?

I never realised how protective he was of his numbers. Next time that friend asks me a question, I'm gonna go, "maybe... who wants to know?"

I read quite a few comics when I was younger and this site on stupid comics just kills me (via Boing Boing).



And what once was innocent is now so incredibly nasty.

Another similar site is Superdickery (formerly known as Superman is a Dick), dedicated to all things related to Superman and well, dickery.

Conversations tonight:

Me: My knee is really hurting... and my foot keeps falling asleep whenever I sit. I'm kind of worried.
Friend: Oh, it's normal. Your nerves are fried.

Thanks.

Another friend: Go home, take care and don't strain yourself further... but you are coming for my party at km8 tomorrow, right?

Worn this dress today for the Chic! party at The Jewel Box.

There's a big bow tied in front of the dress and I went up to some male friends and said,

"Hi, I'm Christmas come early. Would you like to unwrap me?"

All males surveyed responded in the affirmative. I'm such a tease.

Even though I've been taking the doctor's advice and have been resting my knee and wearing flat shoes, the knee pain hasn't quite gone away. Instead, it feels as if it's getting worse... especially when I'm sitting in my office chair. All the doctor gave me were painkillers (which I prefer not to take because that way, I can't tell whether I'm doing something which is aggravating the pain) and a non-steroidal anti-inflammation drug in the form of a gel, which works rather well but only for a short period of time. I'm getting a little worried as to whether I should demand a second opinion and get an MRI, but it's only been four days and I don't want to seem like a hypochondriac. That's me, I either overreact or underreact. I never quite manage to get the right balance. Maybe I should go back to the acupuncturist. But I'm thinking that if it's a muscle tear, as the doctor diagnosed, then what can acupuncture do? For that moment, what can anything or anyone else do? But that's assuming the doctor's correct in the first place, and given how complicated a knee injury is to diagnose, I'm not 100% certain he's correct.

This was going to be a post about investing because I met my financial advisor yesterday and have over the past few months, become a little more investment-savvy thanks to the CFA Level I exam, but instead, because of my aching, throbbing knee, I decided to blow off some steam instead. I don't complain about it in real life unless it's really painful, so please indulge me here.

A new Threadless T-shirt: Hypotamoose!


I don't know why, but it made me laugh quite a bit.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not the kind of person who particularly enjoys being asked to comment on her ex-boyfriends' pulling prowess.

I never quite know how to respond. If I answer negatively, it could be construed as bitterness, or an admission that I once dated someone who few would ever date. If I answer positively, for me, personally, I'll feel as if I'm one in the long list of many that that guy has and will date. And I've never liked feeling like a statistic, like a notch in someone's bedpost. And truth be told, I'm not the kind of person who likes thinking about how soon my ex-es will get someone.

So whatever answer you get from me will not be entirely truthful and it will almost certainly be flippant. As I said before, it could just be me, but I would like to think other girls feel the same way I do about these situations.

Sometimes, you find happiness at the most unexpected moments.

For me, today, it was at the upper floor of Starbucks at Holland Village. I was sitting at a table, flipping through the latest issue of Indigo, while sipping on a iced jelly mocha, a drink I'd been meaning to try since Friday. Sunlight was streaming through the glass door and I was surrounded by university students revising for their year-end exams. It reminded me so much of the time I was studying with my then-boyfriend for my own final exams in London just a couple of years ago.

This time though, I wasn't doing anything serious, nor intellectual. Instead, I was planning my outfit for the upcoming Zouk anniversary ball (assuming I get tickets) and trying my hardest to get the jelly out of my cup.

That was it. That's all it took. I was quietly happy, basking in the brilliant weather and happy memories.

After having gone the whole of April Fool's Day in Singapore without encountering a single reminder that it was indeed April Fool's, I checked out Slashdot only to be confronted with this.

Heh. I especially love the "OMG!!! Ponies!!!" comment at the top of the page.

On an unrelated note, the orthopaedic surgeon told me that I've torn a (the?) muscle connecting the thigh and the knee and consequently, need to rest it for the next four weeks. I've been told "no dancing, no stairs, no squatting and no running."

So yes, this explains what I'm doing at home on a night when Felix da Housecat is playing at Zouk and LTJ Bukem is spinning at Home.

Four weeks?? Why couldn't that have been an April Fools' joke?