Fragmented Dot Com

these days i've gotten into this routine where i wake up, wash up, make coffee and breakfast, and while having breakfast i'll be on the laptop for a good hour or so, just to check emails, scan through news, blogs, Facebook, Twitter and Plurk. yes, i have become one of those who incorporate these technologies into my life and embrace the usage of social media with much ease. but before you throw me a scornful look, let me share with you my thoughts on them. then you can decide for yourself..

quoting Wikipedia's definition of social media, it is "an online content created by people using highly accessible publishing technologies... a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content... a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologues into dialogues and the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers." the beauty of these technologies is its fluidity--it accommodates those who are utilizing it. it could be used for anything the users want to. some people use it for business, like the taco truck that tweets about their location. others use it for political awareness/purposes, like the recent iranian protests and rallies. yet others tweet about their personal lives or to boost their popularity. you'd be surprised how many people actually follow, say, j.t., snoopdog, oprah winfrey etc.

so there. you have those who tweet and follow tweets because it's fun, not to mention it's an effective business tool. informative too. then we have the human touch (well, semi-human touch, considering it's done over the virtual world :P). human beings are essentially social creatures. we like to do things in a group, we like to bond with each other, we crave for intimacy amongst each other (physical and psychological). i wouldn't say i negate the existence of recluses who willingly choose to be away from any social settings; on the contrary, i think they actually accentuate my point. to what percentage of the whole population, i don't know of course. but ultimately, our inherent nature to be intimate to our kind led us to yearn for understanding and love from others. and that's precisely why Twitter and Plurks and all the other social networking sites can flourish.

parallel to this, mobile technology has become an affordable commodity (to some it's still a luxury but to more and more, it's become a necessity), so people start tweeting about their whereabouts, taking pictures of everything they do or eat and post them on facebook. in a way, it's really just a trend. but it's a trend to stay. so why then, you ask, do people out there who scowl at this whole phenomenon?

my dad will be the first to answer that. "it's a waste of time", he'd say. and it's true, i'm not gonna debate on that. heck, he thinks blogging is a waste of time too. "you're exposing too much of your personal life and your thoughts. beware that someone might just use it against you." that's what dad said. maybe. but my argument is, i'm not important enough for anyone to care about suing me for voicing my 2 cents. truth is, no one cares! i tweet about my musings or sometimes even what i'm doing. but really, no one gives a damn. and that's why it feels safe to just throw it out there without much thought. it's like sending out electromagnetic waves into the universe; knowing that it's out there feels good, even though it wouldn't be noticed. as for the time wasting issue, well, all you need is a bit of self control and it won't be a problem anymore. no one's putting a gun at you, nor is there a limit on how many tweets you have to update per day, so just do it at your own pace whenever you feel like it! simple as ABC. :)

now for those who're unfamiliar with plurk (check out my sidebar), it's kind of a social journal, 'your life on the line' sorta thing (it's designed on a chronological platform). you tell people your whereabouts or anything at all. and yes the Wall function in facebook, twitter and plurk fundamentally have the same function. so here comes the confusing part. you might ask, "uhhh. ok if all these sites do the same thing, what's the point of having more than one account? isn't it superfluous?!" yes. and you're right. you don't need all these overlapping sites. whatever for? unless, of course, you use them for different purposes. which is why i have them all and i don't sync them. this is how i (try to) segregate my updates: if i want response from friends, and it's not too personal, it'll go on facebook. if i want to say anything that's personal, say, to tell of my late night cravings, or frustrations, it goes to plurk. anything that's just pure random thoughts and musings go to twitter. yes it does make things more complicated, and a bit of a hassle. but i don't mind it, as do millions other users.

it's no doubt that twitter and other social networking sites have been quite pervasive and will only be more so as time pass by. and there'll always be people who love it and hate it. our lives have become more fragmented than ever, with pieces of us and our creativity going into 140 characters of updates in various websites. but the thing about technology is, it's here to serve us, not the opposite. so why be so wary about the cons so much and hold yourself back to try new things? it's only detrimental to [insert proper word here] if you let it be. wholy schmoly i didn't know i babbled so much on this!!!!! oh well. like anyone cares. :P

asked dad to follow me on twitter the other day. this was what he said me, "so should i update everytime i go pangsai or when i laosai? no one wants to know that lahhhh". -___- and then he pretty much told me to get a life. I HAVE A LIFE daddy!!! hmph.

end of post. sorry to bore you guys. :) if you get to this point, yay! :) and thank you ;)

Fluctuating Numbers on a Scale Part 1

these days stepping onto it only confirms my worries; every time i do so, the needle shifts to the right, in tiny tiny increments--but no doubt shifting on a steady rate. i shudder to think of the day when the needle would hit the highest possible digit and could move no further! what's worse, though, is not that it has reached the maximum of the scale, but that even though the scale would fail to measure the exact weight of the subject, it doesn't stop the subject to continue ballooning and transforming into a huge hippotamus! THAT, my friends, is the scary part!! can you imagine me turning into sum din har (aka 'feifei)'s size? or a sumo-lookalike?! gosh that's such a horrifying image! *gulps*

but of course, if you ask my friends, they'd probably roll their eyes and tell you i'm just stretching my imagination a little too far off. they're' right, in a way; i suppose it'd take me decades (and tons of fat-laden food) to get to that point. the thing is, i can assure you i'm not the only one of the many who has an imaginary scale in their heads, one that tends to amplify the "real" numbers on a logarithmic scale. heck almost all girls have it!

was gonna go off on how it's probably a psychological thing more than anything, and then justify our logic for doing so... but i'll save it for when i feel more philosophical :D for now, i'm too hungry to think of anything other than consuming some of my brownie cookies for breakfast. with oats. yummm.

what a way to add on to those extra pounds i've gained (in real life, not just on my imaginary scale). but who cares! i'll take care of it later. :D heee.

Hanging Noodles

So I was browsing the net and stumbled upon some interesting idioms used by various cultures. There's this book titled I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears by Jag Bhalla that shares with us about intriguing stories/idioms from around the world, and I happened to come across a few examples and a video posted on his website, so I thought I'd share. :)



Example Idioms:
Not hanging noodles on your ears: Russian - not kidding
To live like a maggot in bacon: German – live in luxury
To reheat cabbage: Italian – rekindle an old flame
Like fingernail and dirt: Spanish, Mexico – well suited
Bang your butt on the ground: French - die laughing
Plucked like a chicken: Yiddish - exhausted
To bite the elbow: Russian – to cry over spilt milk
Smoke from 7 orifices of head: Chinese – to be furious
To become naked: Japanese – to go broke, poor
An ant milker: Arabic – a miser, tight wad
Give it to someone with cheese: Spanish - to deceive
Squeezer of limes: Hindi – self invited guest, idler
To break wind into silk: French - live the life of Riley

See why I love languages so much? It's just so fascinating! Imagine learning to say all the above idioms in its mother tongue! :) Ahhh the mere thought of it gets me ebullient! If I don't become a doctor, I'm not gonna bite the elbow; I'll just be a linguist--and I can assure you I'm not hanging noodles on your ears. ;) Then perhaps when I've mastered about 5 other languages other than the ones I already knew, I'll write a book that will make you wanna bang your butt on the ground. The book's gonna be a success, and I shall live like a maggot in bacon, and watch talk shows that tend to give it to us (the audience) with cheese about the diet pills/lose weight programs/face-lifting surgeries etc. Then of course, I shan't be an ant milker and will set aside a huge amount of money for charity purposes, maybe even realize my dream of establishing my orphanage. And lastly, when I still have time left, I might think of reheating cabbage. Oh wait--can't do that, cuz the cabbage was never cooked in the first place! :P


p.s.: I have not read the book nor am I advertising it in any way. Just sharing what I found on the internet that I thought was interesting. Linking to the website is just a courteous thing to do. Enjoy the video!

Old Bean's Day

i called my dad last night, which was around 3pm Msian time, to do what all kids should do - wish him happy father's day. he thanked me briskly and then went on to tell me about the renovation at home, and that they're picking out stuff for it at the store. he said he's getting ready to welcome me home and will paint my room pink for me haha. he knows i won't be back until the summer of next year - and that's if everything goes well - and i know he doesn't really mean what he said but it's still nice to hear those from him. makes my heart smile :)

but happy moments don't last. it bothered me when he said oh by the way i'm gonna tear down all your posters you put up on your bookshelf's sliding glass, because according to him it's too childish and ugly (the color has faded from the posters, you see). and i was like, noooo you can't do that!! that way all my book covers will fade because of the sunlight shining through the window! he said no the sun doesn't shine through the window, which is an absolutely illegitimate argument, everybody knows that - how else did my posters fade in color!! grrrr! so when i argued that it's my room i should be able to put up whatever posters i want wherever and that he shouldn't tamper with anything in my room (i know this was a very immature statement to make but i was a little too agitated to think straight), he said uhh no it's not your room anymore since you're not around; it's a guest room now and it's unsightly to have those faded old posters lying around in the room. pssshhhhh!!! why is my dad liddat! so mean!

this was meant to be a nice little post wishing him happy father's day, yet now it has turned into a whiny post about how i should be able to keep my room the way it is. bah! no good. sigh, i only hope he was half joking and won't do those thing he said he would. and i hope my mom will be able to 'protect' the remains of my room (god knows what it has become since i left).

the phone call ended with me pleading my mom to do something about it, and if my dad insisted on having the posters torn down, then my bookshelf should be moved away from the windows. i don't really care about the posters; just want to protect my books from the sun. in hindsight, i guess my dad has a point. it's been 2 years 9 months and 9 days since i last slept in my room. i guess if you're not around for a time long enough, you're as good as non-existent. and so technically, since i can't claim that as my room anymore, he can do whatever he wants with it. but even so! it still makes me sad that i felt as if i lost my place at home. :((

lou dao, if you're reading this, just leave the posters the way it is larr harrr! pleease please pleaseeee? it's more work for you to take them down, and it's even more work to move that huge shelf! don't be so anal okay daddy! :P i will buy you coffee and marble cheesecake when i see you next time in exchange! deal? :)

lastly, i wish all fathers happy father's day!

Do You Have A Secret?

whaaaaat? you whaat? no waaay?!

hush, keep your voice down. the last thing i need is for you to broadcast to the whole world, thankyouverymuch!

no friggin' way...! seriously?!

.....

*********
why does the receiving end of a secret always seemed all hyped up, enthusiastic even, and extremely eager when told there's a secret to be shared, kinda like a 5 yr-old whose mom says "now be good and i'll give you a sweet"? can't say i know for sure, but its not too hard to guess. well for one, being the secret keeper makes one feel special. even if he/she is not the only person knowing the secret, the fact that it's one means it's forbidden to be spoken in public - and we all know that anything that's forbidden always make it more sexy/appealing/exciting/dangerous or even [insert your own adjective here].

secondly, knowing another's secret means you have extra knowledge that many others don't know. the notion that you know more than others and that you can trade it with someone else for your own benefit (if you're that kinda person) in the expense of others makes you feel good. or sometimes, one would even argue that it's not benevolent if the listeners don't know the subject of the secret: it could be a juicy gossip when conversations run dry, to prevent awkward moments of silence from filling up the crevices between you and whoever (most typically someone you wanna impress).

then there are those who needed secrets to "endorse" their friendships. secrets are, to them, a kind of bond that brings him/her closer to the friend, a sort of unspoken trust given to the secret keeper as an affirmation of their friendship. secrets relayed beneath layers of superficial conversations, private and confidential, something only important people/friends are privileged to know. or so they would like to think.

that's all good, but that's not what got me dwelling on this subject. if secrets are really what they are, why then, are they being told to others? isn't it superfluous for secret weavers to weave a secret only to undo them right after? why are people so strange!

and then, as soon as i began to wonder, i saw the light.. well almost. this is merely my speculation. :P you see, the first thing about secrets, is that they are comprised of something that shouldn't be known to all. i.e. there has to be elements of untruthfulness, lies, mistakes that shan't be spoken of due to possible self-embarrassment etc. in most cases, secrets are never any good (hence the phrase 'deep dark secret', no?). which led me to this conclusion: secret weavers, i.e. those who committed certain acts which they're not proud of, refuse to disclose the 'secrets' to most people, for obvious reasons; yet they need to vent. keeping it to himself would drive him insane, hence it has to be let out, one way or another. some kept them in journals, blogs, while others confess to their friends, priest etc. thus you have people who expose their deepest, darkest secrets to their friends, hoping that those friends would keep their secrets as promised (whether or not they usually do.. that's a whole topic by itself which will be discussed another time).

but really, if you ask me, secrets are meant to be kept. people who have secrets should keep them to themselves as a kind of repentance. because once it's told to one other being, it's lifted off your shoulder and you feel much better (believe me, i know, cuz i've been there done that, much to my chagrin). and it's very very easy to forget what mistakes you've done and what lessons you've learned from it. confessions remove the feelings of guilt and remorse from oneself, but how much was retained in that person so as to not repeat the same mistake is questionable. so if you ask me, i'd say, keep the burden of your wrongdoing in you as a reminder. so that you'll never repeat the same mistakes twice.

and oh, if you're wondering. the message is for yours truly.

secrets are overrated, really.

Underneath those Shells

sometimes when life gets too hectic or monotonous, causing one to sink into a humdrum existence, it is only appropriate to spice up one's life with some scrumptious aliment. this time, we decided to go for some seafood. :) sheena heard good reviews about this restaurant, and the gang was kind enough to wait for me (to finish my exam) for this food expedition.

stir-fry clams (lala). in canto - "lala cao zap". with basil leaves
that gave it good aroma and some green chilli that wasn't spicy at all. but it was hella good!

deep-fried squids, with a tinge of lemon zest. our favourite. :)

i think - i think this should be lobster?! so difficult to eat.
no tongs or pliers provided. im not a big fan of lobsters. so its ehhh for me.

fried fish in sweet and sour sauce. i liked it! its been a long time
since i ate a proper fish like that, and i loveeee anything with sweet-and-sour sauce!

kenna bear! finger-lickin' good eh?! :)

diggin' in! gotta be fast enough, before all the food is gone!

roy's so proud that he finally learned how to use chopsticks the proper way. :)
thanks to yours truly, ahem. :P and, another friend of ours.

what am i gonna do when you guys are gone for one whole month!? :(

wonder what's with the expression.
but frozen yogurt after seafood wasn't a bad choice. ;)
(the fact that it probably increased my waistline later on shan't be discussed here) :P

being hungry is preventing me from thinking, so right now i can't write any more than narrating the obvious. forgive me for being so.. boring. but it's 10 minutes to 2am and i'm really tired (not to mention famished) so i should be cut some slack, no? :) anyway. im going to bed now. good night people!

2-Minute Indomie and Comfort

i'm standing in my kitchen, doing my angkat-kaki exercises, with my laptop on the green kitchen countertop as i type this; multitasking, heh. just had a carb-heavy dinner - instant noodles and some not-so-successful vegetable curry with lots of potatoes in it. the angkat-kaki exercise is to make me feel less guilty, lest i feel depressed and binge more, resulting in another vicious cycle of unhealthiness.

on a rather random note, i learned something new today: did you know, the gravitational force everywhere inside a uniformly dense sphere or ring, due to the sphere or ring, is zero? meaning anything inside/within the sphere or ring will not feel any gravitational force; in other words, no gravity, no attraction. well okay it's not exactly something new; in fact, it's common sense/GK that we all know (or should). but if you use the same concept on matters other than physics, it works too! no wonder parents always warn their daughters, "don't give in to guys so easily; once they have you, you're of no value to them anymore." do you see the analogy, the wisdom here?? ok let me help you out a bit: once the subject is 'in' the sphere/ring, gravitational force (or in laymen's term, attraction) is lost. Newton's law of gravitational forces can even be applied in relationship/sex life! wah sungguh mengagumi Encik Newton now. :)

on doing physics questions the whole day today: i told roy about how frustrated i was and how i hated friction. i got 60% of all the problems wrong and i still don't quite get it. this is what he replied: "lol. friction is the source of all pleasures, honey. you shouldn't hate it." -__- mummy now you know who's responsible for mengotor-ing my innocent mind. :P

anyway. enough of hefty words. lets see some pictures of my friends. its been quite a long time since we hung out... everyone's always busy with something, so the other day we made the effort to go out for dim sum. :) love them to bits!

this is peng. :) ever so funny! the jokes he crack! you wont believe until you hear it for urself! :P

jessoms, and chris. :)

peng enjoying his food.

jess posing for me ;)

this is our usual dim sum place - New Capital at Rowland Heights; apparently there are other better restaurants, but we didn't bother trying out new places cuz this is closer and easy to look for. don't have risk getting lost. not the best idea especially on an empty stomach :P maybe next time we'll be more adventurous!

everybody meet chris, jess' boy. :)

this is JP. jessom's coworker.

this is the chocolate lover, who's ultimate goal, and i quote, "is to marry the guy who owns hersheys choc factory". also my ex-roommie and travel partner. and she moved all the way to san diego and left me all alone here. woman, when are you coming up here to share a piece of cheesecake/dessert with me?!

i miss seeing her smile, and jeanie's, and listening to their laughter on a daily basis. as cheesy as it sounds, they're my sunshine. no wonder my days has been gloomy of late. not just because of the strange LA weather.

the point of the picture was to show you how rotund peng's ass is. in a good way! ;P
oh yah, and also to show you our usual tong-sui place. :)
my usual drink is, ginger and red dates with konjac. or the konjac milk tea.

being silly and cute. :)

one skinny one fatty. :) the best combo.

Bug Central

so now that i know the peach bug is an earwig... its not making me feel any better. :(((( i wanna vomit. i'm feeling itchy everywhere now. do you know why it's called an earwig? because legend has it that, and i quote from wikipedia, "earwigs burrow into the brains of humans and therein lay their eggs"!!!!!! omg!!! well at least i know how an earwig looks like and will stay far far away from it. and if i do come across another one, you know what its fate is gonna be...

anyway, i came home today from work and all i wanna do is just get some rest before i start studying. but guess what i saw under my study table? aihhh another insect! whyyyy! why issit that wherever i go i find all these funny looking bugs? long time ago there was once in arena green i had 4 beetles in my room in one night!!!!! i had to ask my brother to exterminate them! and then in santa ana there were blue-greenish dead flies everywhere.. especially around the window pane area. and now an earwig and the long-feelers-muscular-hindlegs thingy? whyyyyy.


i hate bugs i really do. sighhhh. :(

It that Lived in a Fruit

there was a fruit, a peach to be exact, that found its way to my hand. long story short, i was enjoying it a lot, every bite of the fruit sends shocks of bliss to my brain,and i mused at how simple pleasures like these never failed to boost my spirit up. :))) that was, until i got to the core of the fruit. in about 1/324 second, the neurons that were previously firing happy signals to the brain came to a halt. i saw something moving! MOVING!!! in the core, which was 2 halves joined together but which can be seen through from its sides!!! omg! it was that thing below!!!

inside the core/seed, there's this bug! i don't know what bug it is, but i'll call it the peach bug. ginormous it was! more than 2cm long i assure you!!!!! i threw whatever i was holding into the bowl, soak it in water and thought i'd drown that fella. but no! it could swim!!! blardy peach bug could swim! so it climbed up to the sides of the bowl, crawled around calmly as if it owned the world and i couldn't harm it!

oh yeahhh? let's see who'll win! i turned on the tap, washed it down the sink. and so i thought, victory is mine!!!! :P 2 minutes later, i checked the sink... just to be sure. -___- you won't believe what i saw. i saw this arrogant little bugstard climbing out from the sink!!!! so i turned on the tap again, poured in huge amount of water and turned on the waste disposal switch! if it's not flushed down the pipe into the drain, it would've been ground into chunks or slime. i then walked away with a tinge of satisfaction mixed with truimph.

at the end of the hype, as dramatic as i was, i couldn't help but noticed, as nice and thoughtful anyone can be, there is always a dark and evil side of them hiding somewhere beneath all that layers.

Book of Fate

anyone who pays the tiniest bit of attention to the news would know that Air France 447 crashed into the waters of Atlantic last week. they're still looking for the black box, i think. how could any of them in the plane have known that everything will end there, in the midst of the deep dark water nonetheless? such is life eh.

the book of Fate dictates how our lives will turn out, no matter what you did or didn't do. doesn't it scare you sometimes, to know that you have no control over what's gonna happen in the future and that you can't predict or be prepared for it? am i gonna live to 50? 64? 78? am i gonna die young and be frozen forever at the age of [insert a relatively smaller number], or die of old age with wrinkles and flabby skin and toothless? if i could go online and buy this book of Fate from amazon.com or ebay that would be awesome. but of course, that would constitute as cheating. and that's the one thing we can never do, we can't ever cheat on Life (or Death)! :/

these days unpleasant feelings recur more frequently than the good ones. very often i forget how good it is to be living. to just be breathing. who cares about whats gonna happen tomorrow as long as we live today to the fullest, right? why worry when worrying won't do any good? yahdah yahdah yahdah. yes yes i know. i just have to practice them in real life. and i will! :) i just have to wait it out... for the sinking feeling to pass. so meanwhile, i have Breyer's fat-free (which we all know is a lie) double choc or haagen daaz' coffee flavor ice cream to choose from.

hmmm. life. it gets better with practice, and some getting used to. non? ;)
----
sidenote: may the victims of AF 447 rest in peace. my condolences to the families and friends of all victims.