prince Sid

had always had a thing for the tales of prince siddhartha... the mortal prince who eventually achieved enlightenment and became the lord buddha...

the ignorant` in me who knew nothing much of buddhism, let alone its principles and all... first got hooked thru the vivid retellings in this movie back in 1993~

had i not remembered wrongly, Sis was the one who took me to the cineplexes then, to catch this on show. i guess she culdnt reali find anyone else of her fren to go with her, so i was naturally of choice. bless her and blessed me then.

it was a light tale... a light version of retelling, starring Keanu Reeves as the prince. nevertheless, that point not withstanding, i remember i enjoyed it immensely. so much so that when the vcd version came out (yea.. back then, vcds were still the thing), i had no qualms getting myself a copy for keeps.

fast forward a decade plus now... i am still, kinda fascinated with the tales of siddhartha. although not yet feverish to the extent of actually visiting the sri lankan buddhist temples in brickfields, yet, i was still kinda intrigued with what i saw in the star papers last weekend...

there is currently a musical staged at the Istana Budaya.. and it all ends this 31st may..

a rush suddenly came thru... after randomly goin' thru the names i culd instantly recall in my brain, i culd still.. only.. came to think of Sis. who else wuld wana go watch this mandarin production with me i figured.

either way, a rush being a rush, it quickly frittered into mere thots. and soon, forgotten. until i saw Sis on tue. i told her what i thought of, and she instantly offered, 'Me!'... but soon after i told her that the cheapest ticket is not that cheap (rm68..) she added, 'if you're buyin'... =)

so again, it became another mere conversation piece.

today while taking the lift up to our 3rd floor office, i passed through the Ann Perreau Music School, our tenant at the 1st floor. some kids had shared the lift and were getting off. as the lift doors drew slowly to a narrow gap, i saw it. the poster. of prince siddhartha the musical... pinned, right smack there on their bulletin board =S

is this what you call fate? or do you call that karma? or dejavu? or wuteva?

or perhaps, simply .. i'd just been thinkin too much lately.

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another itch scratched...

smitten~

by the cool 80s... ^^

::Johnny Hates Jazz::







wahahhahhah~!!!....

another itch scratched...

part of the ocean~

it all started one night after some dinner & drinks ended 9-ish at The Curve..
having had a lil' sumthin' alcoholic for drinks, and it being a friday.. the weekends approachin' yet with the night still so young, i deliberately skipped the elevators down to my car, 'stead walked aimfully towards Borders...

like i said, havin' had a lil' to drink, i was finally in the mood to part with some hard earned cash on some 3 for 2 'bestsellers'...
this is not at all me... the last that i've ever finished a book was Amy Tan's the bonesetter's daughter, many moons ago. that and of course, plenty of sweet valley highs back in SMK time... =P

seriously, as sad as this may sound like, as i aged, or grew, should i say?.. i found it less gratifying finishing a book. heck, that is if, i could even finish a book!
the patience and peace within, required to simply sit down undisturbed to finish a book... hmm, pretty daunting.

that pretty much explains why, it took me close to exactly more than a month to finish just 192 pages of a 'bestseller'. sigh... well, at least i've managed to finish it today, even that.. was after all other futile attempts at hogging the tv (dad beat me to it), withstanding the afternoon heat (my lappie's in my hot, steamy room)... all which failed miserably. so, with the sunday papers done and nothing else on hand, i sat down on the rattan chair in the living room with the stand-fan blasting at my face... to finish Mitch Albom's tuesdays with morrie (heard it was good, and.. it was the thinnest book available there that nite..)

to sum it all up (the book), i'd like to quote the following paragraph(s) from page 178++, of a story of a little wave:

"the story is about a little wave, bobbing along in the ocean, having a grand old time. he's enjoying the wind and the fresh air - until he notices the other waves in front of him, crashing against the shore.
" 'My god, this is terrible,' the wave says. 'Look what's going to happen to me!'
"then along comes another wave. it sees the first wave, looking grim, and it says to him, 'Why do you look so sad?'
"the first wave says, 'You dont understand! we're all going to crash! all of us are going to be nothing! isn't it terrible?'
"the second wave says, 'No, you dont understand. you're not a wave, you're part of the ocean.' "


wishin' all who's reading this, a good week ahead... :)

another itch scratched...

the Real Thing ...

You To Me Are Everything





believe it or not...
this is the song i "ran" to those days when i still go to the gym...
you cannot imagine my drive then, goin' into hyper-mode whenever they blast this song on the speakers... i'd wish the song NEVER end!!! hahahhah!!! ^@^
the speed was just right, the rhythm complementing...
heck, i might just go get myself an ipod and subscribe to gym once more yea?? =P



another itch scratched...

reality bites..

you know how sometimes things go 360?
yup.. reality bites... what a BIG UPSET!!
just finished American Idol on a thur nite... yup.. results nite.
Adieu`!.. Danny Gokey... again, waht a f*cking Big Upset.... darnn!!..
no offence to Kris Allen... he was great coverin' kanye's heartless... he's gud with the newer smash hits no doubt. but like kara, i've been a fan of danny since the audition rounds too!!!

well.. childish sulkin' aside..
cant help but feel amused with the opening act featurin' Ben Stiller...
yeah.. Night @ the museum 2 is out (... Battle of the Smithsonian) .. like waht in the world??
but the most uncanny of all things is...
dig this:
had been infatuated with Lisa Loeb's "Stay" for the past few days, playin' repeat on my dell and my sony ericsson endlessly...
so i dug up what's with this song... wat was the story about and all....

wikipedia splashed across... the motion picture "Reality Bites" ... release date: Feb 18, 1994.
starrin' Winona Ryder (i knew that), Ethan Hawke (of coz i remembered him)... and Ben Stiller! (like, really?)
and this was also, surprise-surprise!:
the directorial debut of Ben Stiller!!

so this was how ben looked like in '94. Gosh! can you even recognize him there? well i really had no idea seriously... hahaha!!

cuz for all i know, i onli remember ben stiller in forms like these...

or maybe something like this... this is kinda neat actually... dapper~

and more recently, something like this... (with jack black, 1 of the Frat Pack)..

so when it wuz just at a time, when i 'am' bombarded with so many things ben stiller, i came across ben in his latest form . . . this morning, on msn news. . .

~U.S. Actor Ben Stiller arrives at the World film premiere of 'Night at the Museum 2', at a cinema in London, Tuesday, May 12, 2009.~

looks kinda rod stewartish no? with the small pecks of whites at the sides?
well i guess 15 years on and with over 50 films under his belt... this is what you'd get out of a man.
An accomplished man.

like, when you get to a point when .. you dont have to crack a single joke and people's faces still lighten' up when they just need to see your face... you know you're there.

and oh, since i'm at it... i'd like to pile on the creditations to fellow bright star: Will Smith.
(i especially liked him in I Am Legend)



so i guess this is after all... some scribblings on revelations i find stunnin' n amusin'...
=D




another itch scratched...

gibberish...

i dunno why, but these few days i just like to write (or type..)
it's only like the 8th day of the month and ive already got a few posts here...

anyhow... it's finally the weekends, Sis and Yang finally left for home after hanging around the house for a week.. Yang went for his follow-up check at the clinic today, i'm sure he should be doin' fine now... =)

coffeebreak ended kinda early today... 2am to b exact. well it started at 10 tho, so 4hrs is actually more than enuf for a break i guess... haha! and did i mention before that Starbucks closes at 2am in the weekends now? well at least the one at Mont Kiara does... "cost cutting" measures, thats what the barista said to us previously... heheh...

drivin' to Mont Kiara on my own earlier, i took a slow ride and tried to absorp in the atmosphere of Kepong at nite. i mean, this is where i live but seriously, there's been a lot goin on here which i never knew of. like how KB now has a spanking new Ba Xian vegetarian restaurant, at the stretch of shoplots where Bank Simpanan is. that bungalow opposite my ex-boss' too, it's all well-done by now, spanking new too with all the fancy lightings and high walls... and i didnt know that King's confectionary at KB houses a kedai kopi Pak Hailam too. all these wouldnt hav escaped me if i were still working at UHSB.
well, not that i'd like to be still working at UHSB... =)

our topics tonite covered mostly on songs. the fever now is to go back on songs from yesteryears. yes, indeed some songs used to be (and still are) so nice to hear. we tend to forget about them with all the new ones from the beyonces and katy perrys of today. anyhow, yea.. i shall go hunt for Lisa Loeb's 'Stay' soon...

a friend will be leaving for his hols in europe soon... amid the recent scare of the Influenza A (almost pandemic). but oh well, even though, the virus is now officially in 29 countries, but still, the Star did report that: "The WHO also repeated its guidance that international travel should not be restricted as a result of the outbreak." Good to hear no?

hmm... there's nothin' much new on FB... guess i shall retire early for a saturday nite..
and wake up in time to meet up with Ling over lunch... (if all goes well...) =P
another round of healthy bitchin' is to be ensued... !!!



another itch scratched...

what's wit the weather?~

it's thursday... am countin' down to the weekends (again) so painstakingly..

work at the office had been hectic as usual, but everyone's taking things one at a time... at least that's how i felt, and saw of my dear colleagues...

yatie lamented one day at 6pm sharp "arh, mampui-lah!.. cerita besokk!!" and left just like that.

poor darren... anyhoo~

the buzz ard the office these past 2 weeks or so had been about the big B.
yeap.. our 'year end' bonus is only makin' its way to us now.. crawlin' in fact...

and oh!, no more the word 'Big'...

they've come up with some 'performance-based' bonus appraisal 'system'...

50% is appraised based on your performance, the rest of the 50% basically on your attendance, your Medical Leave rate, your days of Emergency Leaves, and your punctuality to work (we actually do have warning letters for every 'late days' exceeding 3 days per month)...

and the latest? heard of one colleague who took ONE day emergency leave throughout the year, and he's down by 400 bucks!!! GULPPP......

now what would that leave ME with?????..... =.="

oh well~ i sort of understand the co.'s DESPERATE measures to cut costs.... but this is really... to the very least, verrry de-motivating.... now dont start with all the crap about giant lay-offs and companies hittin' bankruptcy... i know i know.. they're all happening around near and dear... but when you're the one hit with such @!#%$, you just wont bother about 'understanding' and putting in more efforts to 'grow' with the company...

"kerja berlambak... rasa nak balik aje..."

^^ that's normal reactions goin' thru the workplace, they're like some chain-reactions goin' round... igniting little fires everywhere around the office buildings.

my fate?

shall be known come next Monday... but i wont bet on it too much...
steven said "100% you'll be getting 80%".... some words-twisting eh??
but uhm, i think at least 50% wouldnt be too much to ask rite???????............

and herewith, i'd like to very much, post some pictures of dear nephie, which i stole from sis' blog... during his 'pre-HFM' outing at Malacca...

hurry up now, sis! snap away.. before he grows up way too soon~!!! ^^

another itch scratched...

H.F.M.

nephie's down with HandFootMouth... Waht the??
yeap.. he is. that's what the doc said...
"gosh.. 'the' handfootmouth disease u mean? for real?"
yup... sis replied while scrubbing him up, down and all over in the orange tub soaked with leaves from a papaya tree.
"where'd you go to find papaya tree leaves?" (like, do they sell them or??..)
somewhere near our home apparently... B drove 'em around to pluck.. here, there and everywhere...

sigh... the perils of parents with a sick kid.
'the' handfootmouth to boot.. sheesh~!!
jaw-dropping initial reaction aside, sis told me he'd be away from kindie for at least 3 days...
good... "you should go tell Teacher Cinta (Jacinta) too... you know, just to make sure they make all of 'em there wash more hands at the very least!!"

how fragile... all of us are...
just take care, everyone... keep the hygiene level up, eat a balanced diet, too much of anything almost always ends up backfiring the system (you know, even "healthy" food like soy beans.. vitamins.. you name it).

this'll be a short one... gotta go check 'em both out trying to put some bonjela-thingy into his mouth... one's doing a bear hug on the floor now, the other tryin' darn hard to pry open his mouth.. while risking a painful bite or two...

and oh, to my dear frens, i think it's about time now for the long overdue body check... Gulpp~!!
=S




another itch scratched...

may day

May 1st~
... Labour Day... May Day...

leafing through the star papers today, i just came to know that "millions of workers around the world celebrates International Workers' Day with traditional May Day rallies." like seriously? rallies? on a public holiday? ... how ignorant of me! why, i'm a worker too! but still, i just couldn't fathom doing that... and i bet i'm not the only one, considering how me and the gang had spent our May Day at a resort in Cherating... =)

had texted in on FB before leavin that i'd be hitting the east coast for the Labour Day hols~one texted back -No hols in London (really? ... ain't this something international?) one said she wants to go too... one even reminded that i drop by the kedai kopi Hai Peng in Kemaman... lolz! which we did by the way, for breakfast on Saturday... true to its fame, it was packed!!! nothin much changed since the last time i went there a few years back.. the busloads still come around, the out-stationers still drop by.. but the nasi lemak, kinda disappointing. i remember shoveling down 2 packs of it the last time. but now.. hmm... i think it's safe enuf to say it's becoming more like a tourist-trap. sorry...

drivin down all the way from KL to Cherating... in Kent's crv, was another 'adventure' in itself to me. not that this was the single road trip that i'd ever made... but, can i blame it on recent events maybe? that i find it a tad unnerving havin to sit in a spot for close to 4 hours doing nothing... being able to do nothing... confined to a moving vehicle (fortunate: moving... Unfortunate: periodic bumper-to-bumpers...) sounds kinda panicky but, it really took some effort psyching up, or rather, psyching down, to just enjoy the ride... all close-to-4-hours of it... after all, this was no drive-to-genting-distance. am so used to getting things happen at emergency speed... i guess the unwinding process really started here...

Impiana... our destination resort. only a few kilometers further from Holiday Villa, where Galaxy had its company family day in '07..
the beaches are still okay~ the waves were great.. no shore-paddling advised for the 'scaredies'... unless if you could really swim. only they lack beach chairs... you'd hav to pull 'em out to the beaches yourself from the pool area =.="

the pool area... nothing marvellous there. did appreciate the fact though that there werent really anyone there when we went for our dip.. we basically had the whole pool to ourselves. perhaps it wasnt a fav for the other guests to go dipping at 2 in the afternoon. anyhow.. i guess i must say the most decent of the trip was these few hours spent at the poolside. you see, we took charged of the most strategically located deck chairs, set with light canopy (those at the orchid farms kind), filtering the rays overhead. each equipped with our own muses.. some novels, some ipods, some NST papers, some sunnies, and some ciggies... we whiled away those few blissful hours... completely minding our own businesses.
the backdrop? some kinda strong sea breeze blowing directly from the ocean. some gentle sound of waves breaking as if set on clockworks. coupled with the sound of some hundreds of leaves rustling non-stop. all these, marred only by the incessant whirring of the lawn-mowing machine...

oh well~
it was a long weekend anyways... and getting away from it all, the mud & grime of kay-el... seemed the only right thing to do then... until of course, when you start missing the laptop and the astro channels... =)

another itch scratched...

"kuli" day~

another itch scratched...