Written by lainie at 05:53 PM on December 3, 2006 in Daily Life, Friends.

Had a very peripatetic day, the people, the walking. Walked around a bit of PJ, Bangsar and Brickfields going house hunting. We've found a place we're most likely moving into - it's a house in Bangsar. Jerng knows how to use the bus routes, so I can learn that from him.

Oh yeah, by the way, my new housemates so far are gonna be Zedeck, Jemufo and Jerng. January, we're moving in.

Zedeck's a failure-stalker turned friend, Jemufo is someone I met at the Freedom Film Fest, and Jerng.....Well I'd only encountered his writing in The Sun, and his philosophy blog (which I visited a few times and decided would be far healthier for my brain not to do so).

Before Zedeck joined us, the three of us were having lunch, and the talk somehow steered towards the issue of human rights. I had a terrible vision of the future.....and mostly, it involved my housemates endlessly debating over some political issue while I sit there vaguely, and probably, misunderstanding most of it. I told the two of them so.

Jemufo: I won't talk about politics. I'll talk about feminist theory with you.
Lainie: Oh noes! Oh my god! I'm voluntarily moving in with a feminist! AHHHH!!

[ Realisation of how true that is sinks in ]

Lainie: AHHH! Hahahaha!!! AHHHHHHH!!!

Holy crap, "My New Housemate is a Feminist" sounds like some comic title, no? Jemufo, in much danger, you are....of becoming bad Lainie joke. We decided on the house in Bangsar cause it's near public transport, it's central, and......well, by "central" I have no idea where it is, but...Oh whatever.

=====

We discussed housemate-y stuff. Someone mentioned something about wasting electricity by leaving lights switched on all over the place. I felt Zedeck glancing at me.

Lainie: It's a night light. It's. Not. The. Same. Thing.
Zedeck: Ah. You noticed my subtle gaze in your direction.

If it penetrated my bubble of blurness, it was not subtle, okay?

Jerng: Do you cook?
Lainie: I burn.
Zedeck: She burns kettles of water.

To be absolutely fair, it was only one kettle, and the only reason that happened was because I forgot the water. I mean, if I burn water I'd only be making a lot of steam. Unless it's superheating, but never mind.

Then I told Jemufo that after we move in, I'll cook them all a meal and fill them with pity at my culinary skillz so they'd keep me constantly fed. We walked to the Kakiseni office so Zedeck could get some work done while waiting for the busker festival to begin.

They eventually crowded around Zedeck's computer (though I wasn't paying attention because I was playing Chicken Invaders). Then I heard Jerng say something about Dragonball so I immediately went towards them to see what was up. Turns out Jerng was saying that the Bookworm, when it does a power-up attack and the head suddenly enlarges, looks like a Dragonball attack.

We played a lil while, because word games are fucking fun. Zedeck accused me of playing too much Text Twist. I gave that up at home because I couldn't beat my mother's high score and got frustrated (I mean, who has time to sit in front of the comp all day figuring out anagrams? Well, my mother, but who else?).

The only thing I dislike about wordgames is that I'm not awesome enough at them to keep the hi-scores on my computer. Really, I'm not asking for much, beyond completely pwning my own mini-domain.

=====

Busker's festival went slowly and I went over to Tei's place after dinner. Accidentally fell asleep on her bed (because it's too comfortable). This house is the only place where I don't feel it odd to fall asleep before midnight. At 3am, I woke up. She was studying.

Tei: Am I disturbing you? I'll study outside.
Lainie: No, I need to shower.

If I fall asleep after taking public transport, without showering, I occasionally start awake with the conviction that I am covered with too many germs and a compelling urge to soap them off. But Tei's room is such that I looked at the bed.......and flopped back down.

Lainie: Later. Too comfortable.
Tei: You know, we're only exchanging bad habits. We're bad influence on each other.
Lainie: Zzmmhmmmm...zzzz.

It's true too. She's learned my "What if?" mentality. Now Tei says stupid things right before she falls asleep (which is something I do, like "Hey, imagine how it'd look if jetplanes took off by running on two legs.......good night"). This is something all my roommates had to get used to. There were times when I'd not say a word the entire day, then just as the lights go off I start blabbing.

Rish used to complain, and we'd be snarking for two hours before falling asleep.

This was actually a result of me distracting myself to cope with being nervous sleeping in the dark, but it's become a habit after so many years. Wait till Tei gets a girlfriend, now that is totally sexy pillow talk. She'll thank me one day when she rolls over to sleep and feels the need to say something moronic, leaving a "wtf" expression on the other's face, right before she zonks off.

Uh......not that I do anything as uncool as that......

====

After the shower I read Gundam W. You know how at the end of manga comics they have the chibi 4 panels that make fun of their own storyline? Heero Yuy, in a fit of anger flies off to space in his Gundam (this is obviously Heero the protagonist, not the dead Heero Yuy), and the others didn't worry about stopping him because he has no sense of direction. Heero gets lost in space.

Lainie: You know, if I was ever a space soldier that's how I'd die. Lost in space...
Tei: *raises eyebrow* Space?
Lainie: Shut up.
Tei: I wouldn't bother. I'd just send you to Johor.

She's probably right too. Not that she had to say it, but what is this blog, but an example of a space filled with things I don't need to say?

Tei: I'm hungry. You want Maggi mee?
Lainie: No. Wait. Yes.
Tei: Coffee?
Lainie: Okay!

[ Since we're on the topic of things we don't need to say and all that. ]
[ Pause. Tei grinned. ]

Lainie: I don't know why you ask.

[ I've never said no to coffee ]

Tei: I've explained this before.

Something about how if she doesn't, we'd look like a very old married couple. Which I think is completely irrelevant, because I don't refuse coffee. I think you'd have to be some complete social reject in my mind to taint a cup of coffee in your hands.

Lainie: Is your house anywhere near Bangsar?
Tei: Uh. Noooooo.....
Lainie: Oh. Crap.

And here I was thinking Bangsar is so near all my friends. Now I'm not too sure if any of my friends stay near it.....? My problem with most all places is that I have no idea where they are in relation to each other.

This is the first time I'll be renting a room in a house though (the one now doesn't count since it's family). Cool. Without a maid. Crap. Not that I had one during the year in Cyberjaya.

====

Just had supper. While we were eating Maggi mee...

Lainie: Not bad, not bad, you can cook. I know! Want to be my housemate?
Tei: God Lains, you're so cheap. This is Maggi mee!
Lainie: It's nice Maggi mee.
Tei: At least if I had one of my grandmother's recipes, a porkchop, a vindaloo maybe...I'd understand. This is Maggi mee!
Lainie: But it's got...like, all these extra stuff in it.
Tei: It's Sausage. And cabbage. Chopped into little pieces.
Lainie: What? So I'm cheap. Come live with me.

Then she said something about not wanting to end up cooking for five other housemates for a year then moving out, leaving behind others like me, sniffing the air for food like hamsters at 2am.

Written by lainie at 12:28 PM on December 4, 2006 in Takebackthetech.net, Daily Life.

Wrote this yesterday, but yknow how Streamyx sucks balls.

======

I checked my site referrals today. On top of an overwhelming amount of image search hits for "panties", I also got amusing referrals about lesbians seducing straight women (you definitely have the wrong blogger, honey) and.....well. Something more disturbing. Someone's googling for nude pictures of a friend of mine.

My site was the only one that showed in the results. Dude. Cmon. If you wanna see her naked I think you'll have to go about the conventional way of seduction through charm, and make her wanna see you nude too - though given your choice of language I won't hold my breath.

Actually, maybe you should hold your breath. A nice, long, 1 hour. Maybe 2, just to be on the safe side.

I think most bloggers get a lot of disturbing referral searches. Scary, even, the things they'd like to see. Kinda makes me wonder what's up with people. I'll be warning her tomorrow. I think we both know who it is.

=====

I was in Sungei Wang earlier today. It's Red Carnival again. Some dude came up with a smile and stuck a red ribbon on my arm before I could protest. Later on, another overenthusiastic dude came over, and handed me a postcard on AIDs awareness.

As I took the postcard from his hand, he used his right hand to stick a ribbon onto my boob, and pressed down to make sure it stayed there.

I stared at him. Man's hand + my boob.
.............................................................................................

Doesn't anyone talk to the volunteers, or is it assumed that they should have the common sense to know most people do NOT welcome having their boobs pawed by strangers for whatever reason?

Told him I already had one. He paused grinning, then flipping his hand at me, said more is better. I don't think he would have done that if he was familiar with my usual verbal, much less physical, reaction to transgressions upon my personal space.......Or my added annoyance at people who don't understand they've already taken a big step in the direction of getting a kick from me.

Chanted to myself that this volunteer numbnut was doing this for a good cause, and was genuinely trying to be friendly and stick red ribbons on people. Mentally gouged his eyes out, and walked away. Discovered later two of my friends had been similarly affronted.

Dumbass. This had better not happen again.

I think the only thing that stopped me was that I was pretty sure he is gay. Don't ask me WHY that warrants extra patience. I don't know I don't know I don't know. Hmmm...but yknow, some judgemental behaviour made me not react too strongly.

Later recollections made me feel like a bull mastiff staring at a blissfully smiling chihuahua. Decided it was best not to analyse that too much either.

One day later I'm wonder if I should volunteer too. Let's ignore that cheaper side of me.

I like ignoring lots and lots of things.

====

Was arguing with a friend who insists that "salmon flaps" is a better term than "labia lips", sounds more polite and edible -- closer to something you'd want to put to your mouth, like cuisine, say. Well darling, in that case, why don't you use "beef curtains", at least it's a land animal too.

This in turn led our argument to a website where our disagreement turned into shared humour. Cunnilingus has some awfully stupid sex slangs.

barking at the ape
canyon yodeling
chew the she-fat

I wish I could say I'd never date a girl who used terms like that, then I thought about it seriously and you know what? Vertebrates must lead interesting lives, not that I would know.

This one, true or not, is extremely bizarre. Wonder if any of the emperors did stuff like this:

Empress Wu Hu
A Chinese empress from the T'ang Dynasty insisted that all governmental officials and visiting dignitaries pay homage to her Imperial Highness by performing cunnilingus upon her. Thus paintings from the period depict the empress holding her robe open while a dignitary kneels before her to lick her vulva. Cited in The Cradle of Erotica - A Study of Afro-Asian Sexual Expression by A. Edwardes & R. E. L. Masters (The Julian Press, New York 1963).

And then I complain about the kind of referrals I get, I know.

=====

I would have no use for this, but I should own one just so I can stare lovingly at it all day.

technorati tags: takebackthetech

Written by lainie at 01:06 PM on December 4, 2006.

Since I like to cater to my audience's requests, and since you want wank photos..... Allow me to provide.

Here you go:



May you and that box of tissues (if you're a dude, and clean) have much fun getting to know each other with the help of this smexy photo.

(pic source).

Written by lainie at 11:07 PM on December 5, 2006.

I love this comic, wulffmorgenthaler, that Dabido sent me (well he sent me one with midgets and tits, lethal combo for me).

Laugh. I demand you laugh.

Oh my deadlines. Oh my many, maaaany deadlines, how you suffer against the world of online entertainment.

In other news, my lecturer says he's moving too slowly and wants to speed up our course. O mattress, fare thee well! And if for ever, etc etc.

My eyes shall learn to stop blinking one day, it's evolution, baby.

If I make no sense, it's because Tei's house has way too many mosquitos. Didn't get much sleep. Bah.

Written by lainie at 11:31 AM on December 6, 2006 in Rants.

Someone saying very ignorant and frustrating things has just proclaimed himself my moral guardian. Hell, of the whole damn country!

OF ALL THE BLOODY CHEEK AND INFLATED BALLS.

I don't fucking want a moral guardian, and if I fucking needed a moral guardian, rest assured it would not be you, and it would not be based on someone invoking the draconian PPPA - which fucking violates international human rights to free speech.

FUCK. Morning morning SUCK MY BLOOD.

By the way, Mr "I don't want Western values".....

The PPPA is a revised version of the Printing Presses Ordinance - inherited from the BRITISH Colonial government, if no one has pointed it out to you yet.

link from Bibliobibuli

Written by lainie at 02:12 AM on December 7, 2006 in College, Daily Life, Friends.

We all have to work harder this semester. Wish I had more time for my assignments, then I can try to be more competitive with Cyril. I'm nerdy, I know.

Presentation went okay again, except I forgot to bring my typography work and materials, which kinda sucked. Bee told me after class that the concept I'd pulled out of my ass on the spot is used in Japan. Dammit. Nothing I come up with is new. Dammit, dammit, dammit.

Not that I'm sure what my obsession with "new" is, I thought I gave up all pretensions of originality years ago. Old habits.

Oooooh goodie. Bee just called, class (and therefore, fuckloads of assignments!) on Friday is postponed, which gives me time to catch up on the work deadlines. Which means I should have napped this afternoon after all, then I could have pulled an all-nighter today.

Bah. Gambled wrongly. Happens.

=====

Came home and had a lil bit of time to come up with a logo for Katagender....Was supposed to send it to Ez wayyyyyyyy earlier but I forgot.

Didn't help that I blew up all the pics I eventually sent extra big as well. Wahah...Sleep deprivation = Crack-o logic.



You win some....you miss some. An idea I was toying with ----cause I vaguely recalled something about gender being fluid, so I made the word flippy. At least I admit to being cheesy.

Animated to make it clearer what I mean...Justine says there's a name for it but I can't remember and goddamn if I'm.............Well. I just remembered it's an ambigram. So much for that.

Halfway through making it, I realised flipping a "d" pretty much gives you a "p", when I really needed an "n". Fucker.............(planning ahead, not a forte).

The pic's kinda distorted in the rotation, ah well. Reckon the word's not legible anyhow. Sigh. By the time I sent it to Ez, along with some salahs, it got an "Eeek" for a reply. Which I found kinda funny.

=====

I don't know why everytime I go for some Katagender thing I come home with an allergy attack. Hmmn. Cat fur, I suppose.

Anyhow, yes, went for a Katagender action thingie today. Which thankfully did not involve talking to strangers (otherwise I would have asked Joyce to go with me again --not that she's around to layan).

I was chatting online with Justine, and casually asked her if she wanted to join us. She said yes, which was surprising (y'all actually quite layan me ah?).

Justine was thinking she'd take photos and fuck off after. Sounds a lot like my initial plan first time I went to see a Katagender thing. Pfft. That so did not work out. And, since she was there she can't poke fun of me .

Anyhow, always good to meet her........sober. Without shouting over loud music. And wondering if I should hold her steady as she stares blearily and wavers about while she talks to me. Also nice to have someone asides from Kat to practice my crappy Cantonese with.

I thought she asked me to check out the person in Katagender in a white shirt.

Lainie: *leans over* Justine...No one's wearing a white tshirt..
Justine: What white tshirt?
Lainie: You asked me to look at someone wearing white?
Justine: No? What white tshirt?
Lainie: ??
Justine: ??

I'm not hard of hearing, I'm just in the wrong reality.

Jac has this expression I suspect should be deciphered as her "HMMmmmm...." look. Which usually gets a reply from me in the form of my "HMMmmmm....?" face. It's almost the same, bar a crucial diacritical mark that means one of us isn't very sure what's happening.

Jac asked me what I wanted to do. I said I wanted to be as passive as possible, which is about the most ironic thing I could have come up with if I tried, sitting amongst all the....activists........

Jac told the others they would wear clothes with these written messages on them, take them off one by one, and hang up the "dirty laundry" with all these personal stories where people could see. Basically, stripping in public. Kinda like.....Justine, meet Katagender people. KG people, meet Justine. Justine, take off your clothes.

Jac told me I was going to be tying knots for the strings the clothes would hang on. I had to hide behind Chi Too to laugh. I've never really been able to tie knots, most of my shoes are laced up for me by kind (read: impatient) friends.

Drove off to Hartamas for the action. My mother called just as we arrived. Like I said, fees for my college course aren't paid. Mom said college admin had contacted her to say I'm suspended by end of the week. I headache.......Ahhh well. So tomorrow, negotiations to keep my ass enrolled begins with the admin, however I pull it off, if I do. Which I doubt.

Otherwise, one soul for sale, hire my ass please. It's either unemployment, or I'll learn how to grow dodgy plants in my backyard and sell drugs......never mind that I can't even keep cacti alive.

Mother asked where I was - I decided "Hanging out with some friends in Hartamas" was the safest, as opposed to "At some VAW thing. By the way, unlikely, but I might be arrested tonight". She has a radar for all the wrong times to call, my mother, may I inherit all her talents.

Justine said since we were already in Hartamas, we could drink beer at Finnegan's before going about the action (so she could, of all things, keep a sober face throughout). Chi Too asked why the girls I bring to Katagender things all want some alcohol before doing anything.

*shrug*. It's not like I drink. Much. And, it's not my doing that these two like to drink.

Tied up the shirts, strung between trees and poles near a mamak (Devi's?). Watched Jemufo climbed a tree, ahhhhhh but will she come in handy as a housemate should there by any cats stuck in drains or something. Jac told us to look out for coppers, something I frequently forgot. I have no natural instinct for survival. Mistook Ez for a small policeman because she was in the distant walking around, and watching, in dark clothes.

[ Speaking of policemen, there were so many near my house today I asked one of them why - he said they were gonna have a monthly berkhalwat session, which I thought was a rather healthy outlet for them, sexing it all out. I realised later on the way to Bangsar that he probably meant berkawat (sp?) - To march? Not half as fun ]

I don't have pics, but I suppose if you check the Katagender blog it'll eventually be up. Pics of tonight, not policemen.

Justine and I got some clothes, pegs and raffia string, crossed the road and were stringing up a bunch of the clothes at the bus stop before Chi Too came over to say they might be removed quickly, since that's a structure.

So we ended up stringing them along trees and lamp post. Justine tied the knots. People were already slowing down, out of curiosity, reading the stories. I was more concerned that everything I touched looked dusty and.....germy............

Justine said germs were cool. I tried to tell myself the same, and you know what? There's a goddamn good reason why some friends say I'm germophobic.

I think it was decided not to do the stripping-clothes thing cause not many people were around to watch it, so they're gonna go pick another weekend, find a place more crowded, and do the stripping performance there.

Justine said it was really rude of us to ask her to take her clothes off, and then leave her fully dressed by the end of the night. I may be unenthusiastic, but I think the people I bring may just compensate on my behalf.

Fine then. Woman, action or not, next time you just streak around naked okay? I'll hold on to your clothes for you.

Written by lainie at 04:25 PM on December 7, 2006 in Family.

I'm in a really good mood today.

Was just thinking about the conversation I had with Chi Too last night, where I told him about the maid's occasional...eccentricities....

One of the weirder, but more tolerable, antics is connected to her obsession with plastic bags.



See that picture? That's digestive biscuits, in a plastic bag, in the jar.

She'd take the cookies out of the jar, put them in a plastic bag, before returning the lot into the jar. Sometimes she'll also wrap up the jar in plastic bags. I don't really eat biscuits at home because I know the jars are clean, but I'm not so sure about the plastic bags. She also does this with the fish food, and I think the only factor keeping her from packing up the dog biscuits this way is each sack's heftiness.

Ah. The kettle. She wraps it up with plastics and cloth. We don't know why. It doesn't insulate. It doesn't keep insects out. It doesn't do anything but make a lot of noise when you move it. Also, it looks weird when I pour water out, like I get water from plastic bags.

This kettle can look poofier, sometimes she gets really gung-ho about the plastic bags.

The picture at the bottom is the wastepaper basket. Even when empty It can't hold an egg carton because she lines it with so many layers of plastic bags and newspaper, we're left with the depth less than my hand by the time she's through.

Judging from the photo, today, the available height for rubbish is about 3 eggs high. And this is the main one we use, in the kitchen.

It took me a while to get used to, when I first moved in. Especially since I'm the kind that tends to go "WHY? WHY?? WHY???". And questions usually stick in my head if I don't get an answer.

We can't say the maid isn't industrious, perhaps just vastly unhelpful. We also can't get her to stop, which annoys my aunt.

I live in a weird house, and it's mostly the maid's contribution that it is so.

Written by lainie at 04:27 PM on December 8, 2006 in work?.

Was in college earlier, to negotiate my extended, fee-less stay in my graphic design course. I may be able to hold out a bit longer? Then I travelled over to the Kakiseni office to meet up with Zedeck, and so I can go for a farewell dinner later. A friend's going away, possibly for a long long time.

Zedeck: What's happening tonight?
Kat: Told you already....Lesbian gathering in lesbian place.

He says that doesn't describe much. How much more do you need to know? Then we talked, briefly, about the next story. He thinks it'll be interesting, I'd prefer to give the event time to develop (which should be soon).

Zedeck: Three hundred and fifty words by tomorrow evening.
Lainie: Fifty words? What?
Zedeck: Three fifty! Tomorrow evening.
Lainie: Fucker............

[ No, but I meant that in the best way, you know I have much love for you, Zedeck, even if I curse random parts of you to turn blue and fall off...not that I've ever done such a thing. ]

Then he walks out of the office, and along the way lunges at Kat with a short screech. I burst out laughing because Kat yelped.

Kat: You SIAO ah?

Zedeck left the office, I stayed back, still laughing.

And of course, I could get to work now, but there's Chicken Invaders on this computer. HUZZAH!

====

Finally Microsoft makes something sexy (and that's saying something, coming from a company whose name is a combination of "Micro" and "Soft").

I was spending time searching up stuff I don't need to know on Ms Dewey with an increasingly goofy smile on my face.

Finally there were some huffy blowing noises.

Zedeck: ....What are you doing?
Kat: BWAHAHAHHAA!

This coming from the 'editor' whose computer just totally blasted out some mmorpg music just now, he's working as much as I am.

In case any employer is reading this.....we're just...Uh. Taking a short, short break.

Now excuse me, Janina...I mean...Ms. Dewey...beckons....

Zedeck: Just what are you doing, Lainie?
Lainie: Shhhhh, you're ruining the experience....

YEAH MS DEWEY! LOOK UP CHICKEN INVADERS FOR ME! UHNNN!

[ By the way, try searching up in Ms Dewey, "Janina Gavankar" for fun, "Microsoft" for a forehead smack, and "open source software" for an Al Gore joke -- well, you probably won't get the same answers, but anywayyyy. You are so unimportant right now. ]

Lainie: Fuck Google. This is so much better. Google has like, six letters to look at.

Lainie: And, they repeat some of the alphabets, so it's like..four.
Zedeck: That's not four
Lainie: They capitalise a "G". Whatever.

Kat is wisely keeping very quiet.......Ms Dewey laughs about world domination. Oooh.

Lainie: Something about these dominating women...
Zedeck: You're so easy, my god.
Lainie: Shut up, you're every bit as cheap as I am.
Zedeck: Shameless! Shameless!

I can't stop typing in stuff just to see what she says. Bill Gates. World domination. I have no life. Alcohol. "Apple Computers" got me the evillest one so far about being able to code all those 1s and 0s, and yet, cannot create the woman of my dreams.........

Then she says if I can get into the computer I can do anything I want to her.

Zedeck: Shameless. Shameless marketing tactics, my god.
Lainie: I know....I heartily...disapprove...............

Types in "take off your clothes"
Hah...This is like those "make the chicken do what you say" games, but so much funnier.

Types in "dance"
....I'm gonna be here all day.

Sad, huh?

=====

BY THE WAY, and I'm only bothering to mention this because......don't think I don't know there are a damn lot of you lesbians out there reading this......I was at Janina's Deviantart journal, and she's gonna be Papi in L Word Season 4. She talks about it, a lil bit, in her blog comments.

Oh but she'll be seeing those questions for quite some time, I reckon.....

......I find it slightly disturbing that reading her posts about learning to CSS is kinda...like.....a lot hotter..... than knowing she'll be in L Word...........

(lights...camera....actionscript! Wahah)

Written by lainie at 02:14 AM on December 9, 2006 in Friends.

[ By the way, check out my url for this post, is it not teh l33t? ]

Some people evolve beyond their identity into the realm of "dinner topics", a shadowy place shared by the likes of the glitterati, politicians and 'hated blond of the year'.

Conversation during dinner:

She's gay.
No she isn't.
You're the only one who says that.
No lah she's straight.
She is so gay.
She's my best friend!
Gay. So gay.

All I'm saying is, if a row of lesbians sit across the table from you, and unite to tell you that your best friend is most likely to some larger degree a lesbian..... and you find no one else is willing to take your side...........

........There might be a reason why no lesbian she's met thinks she's straight. That's alllll I'm saying.

And no, it doesn't matter that she's practically swatting away such allegations with a big...straight...stick while demanding we recognise that she's "Straight! Straight, dammit! You lesbians leave me alone!". All we hear is....Gay. Gay. Gay. "I'm gay, free me, fellow lesbians!"

Now someone just needs to tell Lola.



Tch, lesbians. Terrible, terrible people. Tut tut tut.

Written by lainie at 02:41 AM on December 9, 2006.

Not even about whether or not you should do this...My question is, did you seriously think I have so much as an iota of trust in you?

"We are talking about creating cyber laws to control those who misuse the Internet," Kong was quoted as saying in the Star newspaper.
Malaysia mulls Internet laws against bloggers

Beg to differ, reckon we could do with laws to stop idiots who try to curb freedom of speech for their own damn political means instead.

Oh wait.

Haha, haha. Haaa.......

Written by lainie at 01:23 PM on December 9, 2006 in Friends.

Kaz and Isorule Jay are seriously tempting me....to reboot some plans for a website that I've put on temporary hold till I figure out some legal stuff.

Oh wait, I'm broke ass. Dammit.

Written by lainie at 01:56 AM on December 10, 2006 in Daily Life, Friends.

Received a call today from a private number. It was some telephone operator working for Maxis, a company that has already excessively pissed me off with its ridiculously horrible customer service. She asked if my phone was registered.

Lainie: No.
Operator: You have to register by the 15th or your line will be barred.
Lainie: Why?
Operator: You have to register it.
Lainie: Why do I?
Operator: WHAT WHY?

[ Pause ]

Lainie: Did you just yell at me?
Operator: No.
Lainie: Yes you did.
Operator: *sullenly* I asked "what why".
Lainie: Right. You were very rude.

Silence. I hung up.

=====

Went to The Curve today, to meet up with some friends and watch a movie, popping by Borders where there was a KLue Words & Tunes gig. Got FFKed by a few friends, as usual.

Heard weird noises coming out of the performance area, so I walked over to check out what was up. It was Ciplak. Giggled at the idea of a bunch of people in Borders trying to listen seriously to this band. Decided to check out comics while waiting for KA.

Later it was Jac reading some poetry while Mei Chern played the guitar. ........feministy....Rauf was standing next to me singing along to Mei Chern's playing. Then Estrella was up next. Suddenly, so many more blokes standing around listening. Just an observation.

====

Met Ez there as well, and asked her about a place to rent cause KA's looking for a room around her area. Turns out they know each other. Was a bit stunned thinking....HOLY CRAP Ez knows most of my friends (and a moment of "wait, how much do you know, that I don't know you know.......?")....

Also says something sad about how many friends I have, but okay.

Jac came along and declared to Ez I probably didn't understand the conversation. Oh, the faith, thanks. Or maybe I looked a lil dazed. Taking into consideration what I'll write next, best not to complain too much at any rate.

Met KA after that.

Lainie: Why didn't you tell me you know Ez?
KA: Uh...Because you already know this?
Lainie: No. How was I supposed to know you two know each other?
KA: .....You were there when WE met her, dumbass.
Lainie: We?

[ I search my memory..... ]

Lainie: What the hell are you talking about?

Turns out KA was right, we have met her before, I just didn't realise it's the same girl.

I got into a fit of giggles (possibly from shock) at the......... illumination.........That bald girl Ez, and....bald girl Ez.....and Ezrena (whose name I eventually shortened to Ez in this blog....)......are like....the same people. I mean person. It's...like...One person.

WELL, that explains the similar haircut. And...uh. Now that I think about it - Identical face. And all the same friends too. And stuff like that. I get a bit blur sometimes. I suppose I would have figured this out if I'd sat down to think about it, not that I had reason to.

Oh and they all have the same name, whaddya know. But it's kinda like knowing a few different Juliets, you don't really think about it? Or I don't, wouldn't know about you.

And now that I know they're all the same person, I just realised I've seen her around before at quite a few places.

What the fuck, I know.

=====

We went for lunch. Walked by some restaurants with ugly painted cows and snowman sculpture (with a carrot for a nose). I thought of something and laughed.

KA: Are you still laughing at that Ez thing?
Lainie: Yknow...If you cook cows and a snowman together, you'd get beef stew.

I have this elaborate kiddie's show in mind. It involves slaughtering cows in front of children, preferably traumatising them for a very long time.

=====

KA asked me a whole lot of other questions I didn't know the answers to - to be fair, they were all time-based questions, and I'm not too great with time. Actually, I'm arguably not too great at anything that involves organising or snapping out of a daze.

After her asking me a lot of "KA....I don't know" questions....

KA: Let me ask you a question that will justify your answers. Hey Lainie, what lotto numbers are coming out tomorrow?
Lainie:................I. Don't. Know.
KA: Okay. Hey Lains, how many boobs do you have?
Lainie: Two. But who knows? I may have more around dedicated to my name.
KA: Right.

[ Pause ]

KA: How many Ezrenas do you know? Trick question! Think carefully now!
Lainie: ..........Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha......Oh you're hilarious....

Then KA amused herself over the idea of me bitching to Ez. Like, "Hey Ez, there's this Ezrena out there, OMG, okay. I have to tell you something about her".

[ Disclaimer: I have nothing about Ez to bitch about. ]

[ Double disclaimer if Ez sees this: Honestly, nothing at all. ]

[ Triple disclaimer if Ez does NOT see this, but any of her friends do: You don't really need to share links. ]

[ Quadruple disclaimer to potential stalkers: Please don't stalk people through my blog, it's quite uncool. Hang around outside her house or office instead. ]

====

I have been informed that should I ever meet someone with three letters or less to their name, don't bitch to them about anyone with a longer version of their name. Might be the same person.

KA: Whatever you do, don't bitch to Jac about a Jaclyn. Don't bitch about any Renas or Ezs to Ezrena.
Lainie: ....How stupid do you think I.............never mind.

Actually, this kinda reminds me of when it took me ages to realise Kate's sister Phin, was my collegemate Iphin. Or rather, it was pointed out to me. Both of them looking exactly the same, with the same white stripe down their hair and all that. Hah. Oh, and having the same name, one letter apart.

Come to think of it.....I'm really bad at recognising different characters in movies as well, and I almost never remember their names. Hmm. Well, not thaaaaat bad, but worse than most of my friends. Mostly because I'm inattentive.

I'm actually kinda wondering if there are any more people I've not connected in my memory, cause I'd kinda assumed before this the Iphin thing was an isolated incident.

Actually, this is so not funny. I think there might be a crucial, missing, section in my brain related to recognising people. Must have run into too many walls as a kid and dropped it out my ear.

But, I'm probably just being inattentive.

=====

After movie, met up and had dinner with some friends.

Moxie and Didi was supposed to join us in The Curve as well, but had been late because they were busy boinking. I'd sent them a message pretty much asking "Ei. Boinking or what?". Got a call from them right after they were done boinking (after...after.....I hope).

I wish they'd stop doing that, but I suppose it's an improvement over talking on the phone with them while they're boinking. Or being in the room while they're boinking. Or having any communication with them at all while they're boinking. I don't know why these two are so eager to let me know they're boinking. Really, I don't need to know. And, I don't need to hear all those jokes about you two sharing juice.

For an exclusively dating couple, they're the most inclusive duo I know, particularly towards others who have no desire whatsoever to be included. Stupid lesbians.

Talked with Didi...

Lainie: If you were stalking me for over a year, why didn't you just go for one of the events I blogged about?
Didi: Because I needed to collect data first on the lesbian world.
Lainie: Oooo....kay.

[ Something about how she didn't know there were other lesbians in Malaysia till she found my blog, however the hell she managed to avoid them. ]

Lainie: Cause you can stop now, yknow, that we're....friends. You're already quite successful.
Didi: *throws arms out* I CELEBRATED when you broke up with Fip!!

[ Friends spitting out drinks ]

Didi: Sure. First I tried to go through Tei, but that didn't work out. Then I (censored: something drastic and expensive) even though I hated it to meet you, but that didn't work out. Then I tried to be friends with KA, to get to know Lola, to get to know you. Then I decided, I had to go for the weakest link!
Lainie: The weakest...?
Didi: So I dated Moxie to get to you. *Wide eyed* All just for YOU Lains!
Lainie: .....Right. I'm just going to switch tables now, don't take it personally.

Sick, sick sense of humour.

Freak.

=====

Travelled home, long journey. Talked with Rach on the phone for ages. She's gotten a job, so suddenly. And she'll pretty much be my neighbour by February.

Awesome.

=====

J - It's 2am, I just got off the phone. Wanted to ask how your day went, but ran outta credit. So uncool, I know.

And by J, I mean the J that just got to KL, and not the other J, I'll be seeing you next week. And by the J I'm meeting next week, I mean....Oh goddamn this will take too long.

Written by lainie at 01:00 PM on December 10, 2006 in Takebackthetech.net.

The other day, I was walking and aware that were some strange noises coming from beside me. I turned to look, and it was KA, staring right at me and making all these weird noises with her mouth. In your world, this action is known as a speech. In my world, it's gobbledly gook.

I started grinning. Josie hates it when I do that because it means I'm not listening, I can't, and I find the noises made really funny.

Stared smiling at KA till she stopped making those noises. After she was done:

Lainie: Haha...Sorry, I didn't hear a thing you said.

I got glared at. Hah...No, but really, I can't help it.

======

I read one of the blogs taking part in Take Back The Tech, about female contributers in Wikipedia.

[ Rant ]

Two articles I like and and used to be reliant on in Wiki kept getting deleted, revived, deleted, revived, and now it looks permanently fucked off, so guess what I think about that site right now? You userfier assholes, leaving high-five comments on each other's profiles on who edits / contributes / regulates more.

At its worst it was a "Weak Keep", okay? Otherwise it was a "Keep All", damn you. DAMN YOU!

[ /Rant ]

Anyway.

I used to get forwarded these ridiculously long Usenet style arguments on gender and computers. Mostly along the lines of male techies complaining "No one's stopping the women from using computers, and writing codes, what the hell are feminists complaining about??".

Then some coder will come along and say "Hmmm, I'm sure there's a reason, whatever it is", then another will take a stand and say "I'm female and goddamn, it never stopped me".

Then if the thread goes on long enough, eventually someone will leave some statistic about how "There are more women in the world and only like, 1% of all the coders in this forum / country / universe is female, which must mean something somewhere is not right".

Then there'd be some weak replies, because it was all rhetorics and polemics till some woman throwing feminist statistics comes along and everyone gets "teh scare", cause really, who had any idea what the issue they were arguing about was, anyway?

Haih.

I know a lot more male coders than I do women, and that's excessively weird for someone who hangs out with a lot more girls, okay? And because I tend to gravitate towards girlgeeks................Let's not go there.

So I wondered if the feminists were going on and on about ICT and gender equality, whether the techies were aware of the same. With that, I visited one of the NGO websites, Computer Aid International (the world's largest non-profit supplier of computers to developing countries).

First thing I noticed was all the photos of women using computers.

Then I checked out their "Where We Work" page, and I like what it says.

Most rural communities in Nigeria are made up of clans, and women in these clans, usually form themselves in a support group. When women-led groups act as gatekeepers to resources, this helps ensure that they are equitably distributed and reach those in greatest need in their communities - rather than reflecting and reinforcing existing societal power balances .

There you go. There's a reason for stuff.

=====

This is a bit late because I thought "16 days" was over. Turns out I was wrong (though as of today, I am right).

This website is starting to feel bloody pedagogic sometimes.

technorati tags: takebackthetech

Written by lainie at 05:26 PM on December 10, 2006 in Links / Email, Arty stuff.

I normally don't post about cars, it being more Paurten's thing.

Anyhow, while .....researching....design stuff for the 18 page book I have to churn out by Tuesday, not to mention like 20 bag designs by tomorrow, on top of the typography assignments (you know something is amiss when your workaholic friends think you work too much)....I headed over to Youtube to watch a video. All for research, I swear.

Anyhow, lookie what I found!

How To Draw a Car in MS Paint.



It was....okay. I didn't like the colours used, but if you want to draw a car the more technical way using MS Paint, this is pretty much how it's done. Then I checked out the video response by Picster and OH MY FUCKING GOD

This one is coooool:



I was watching the video going:

I HAVE YOUR BABIES.
I EAT YOUR CANCER.
I COOK YOU DINNER

Actually, the last one might not be such a good idea.

Then I calmed down and remembered I'm gay.....and that such reactions can be quite frightening.

Just a happy moment that people are using MS Paint. When Picster registers his URL as "Pixel God", there's a reason for it. I tabik. I respek.

MS Paint hasn't changed much over the years (anyone remember how frustrating it is when it stops reacting to you clicking "Fill with Color" just because you've changed the background colour so many times?), but much love, much love.

That's how you get crazy people who do stuff like this even with all the newer swishier programs around (one of them being called Swish, at that, hah).

That being said, there's a reason why some people title this video as "Getting this good with MS Paint is like becoming a world famous kazoo player."

====

Scribbled some stuff on MS Paint, because I get itchy hands after watching videos like these. Video is blurry because I'll kill my computer otherwise, considering how many applications I'm running.



And now, back to assignments and deadlines. Oh, happy world, etc etc. By the way, my account has been upgraded to Director's account (which I find kind of funny), but I get longer video uploads this way

Also, I uploaded some Ben's Bitches videos from the Remembering Jack Nathan time, along with Malika Booker's poem. You can check them out here, though I'll probably blog about them later. Much later. Maybe.

[ End note: My comp did die. Bloody video capture. ]

Written by lainie at 03:12 AM on December 11, 2006 in Links / Email.

Ah. So that's where all the links came from. Hello, visitors from Women in Comics, if you made it to the frontpage of the blog.

People, I present to you Women in Comics' There's no place to run: When Fangirls Attack! (it's basically just a collection of links to articles about women in comics).

I'm posting this so I'll remember to trawl the links later on. Links such as this lesbian comic. Or I was kidnapped by lesbian pirates from outer space.

If you sense a theme here, it is coincidental and all this woman's fault. Swear.

Written by lainie at 01:00 PM on December 11, 2006 in Links / Email, Arty stuff.

I'm just eyeing my blogpost title. *Facepalm*.

=====

Holy crap. I was reading Sequentially Speaking, about how Emma Frost's bewbies are spilling out of her costume. But that's not what this post is about. This most is about entertainment (and bewbs are not entertainment today, okay?).

Comic fans, you have to see this. Vertigo Makes Complete First Issue Classics Available for Free.

YESSSSSSSSS!!!

Books of Magic, Sandman, Hellblazer, Transmetropolitan, Sandman etc etc etc. I've read most of them, but people! Priorities! WHO CARES? COMICS ONLINE!!!

The inner geek purrs. The outer one might look just as happy too, if you could see her typing away at home.

You can also download posters, sneak previews of other graphic novels titles, and also other comics, and posters. Sneak previews are fun, you should get used to them whether or not they're tied in with free issues (alternatively, a lot of comic artists post up sneak peeks on Deviantart.com).

I didn't download the Books of Magic freebie, and I DO want to recommend it. Unfortunately, this seems to be the only title listed under "Sneak Preview" and not a complete download of #1.

Someone else check and tell me if the download was mislabelled it? Because this title is my all-time favourite, and this particular issue has a lot of art I love.

====

Speaking of awesome...The Format is pretty much what this woman calls my "new OCD band".

Well. They came out with this video which can only ensure I lovies them very long time:



And one more song, acoustic, just because:



Dear Malaysian audience, may I point out one crucial thing about this video? Check out how quiet the audience is during the performance.

I heart the innernets.

====

In other news, class is cancelled today which makes me le happy (no cab fare, no printing prices, no presentations). On the downside, I'm still required to email all my assignments in, so my deadlines have moved nowhere.

But hey, did I mention "Vertigo Makes Complete First Issue Classics Available for Free"?

You know this is awesome, admit it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to fit in assignments with all these comic downloads.

PS: Am I the only one who HATES the idea of registering her phone number?

Written by lainie at 05:04 PM on December 11, 2006 in work?, Friends.

The gratitude I show when my editor invites me over for dinner:

Kimberley
my food needs to be pretty

Lainie
haih. so ovary.

Kimberley
i take pains in arranging ok
ART!

Lainie
ovaries.

My deadlines for The Sun are done. And for Kakiseni, though what's the bet Zedeck makes me edit something?

If you ever see any arguments on my chat "status" messages about superheroes, particularly Daredevil vs Batman debates - it's probably her on the other side.

Daredevil and Batman have tumbled a lil bit before, but were pretty much evenly matched. That being said, Daredevil is cooler. Batman retcons? HAH. Simple example: Daredevil retcon got us ELEKTRA. Eat that.

Zedeck and I realised a while back that out of four housemates, three of us write for The Sun. Unless I am unaware that Jemufo does too, then it's a whole house of us.

Coincidental, kinda. I'm not sure how we all ended up knowing each other.

Written by lainie at 05:19 PM on December 12, 2006 in work?, Music.

Just testing this out to see how this Last.fm thing goes.

====

Just got a call from editor, suggesting I write something about online feminism for the Sun.

Lainie: Oh my god, cannot okay.
Editor: Why?
Lainie: I've made too much fun of the feminist writers on Freespace, I will kantoi myself habis-habis if I do.

It'll come back to me in spades. Cannot.

[ If you're a feminist, and you write for The Sun, rest assured you are not the person I made fun of. It was the columnist right before you. ]

Written by lainie at 11:13 PM on December 12, 2006 in Rants, Links / Email.

Watching part of a documentary, Richard Dawkins' Root of All Evil, which has Ted Haggard, the bloke that preached to, what, 30 millions Christians against gayness and gay marriage. Then the male prostitute he'd been boinking on the side outed him because he was being a hypocrite.

The wicked, wicked thing I'm thinking of for this Ted dude? Living in proper self-denial permanently, go for one of those "Stop Being Gay Through Religion" things, and tell yourself every morning that it worked. No more gay sex. Because hallelujah! You're straight now! .

I wonder how his wife is? I'd divorce him. So what if divorce is probably worse than being gay.

In the clip, he says he wants the people he preaches to, to think for themselves. This is followed by a clip where he yells out "True or false? True! Everybody say TRUE!" and then goes on to conclude "Alright then, that's the vote!".

Before being outed, he claimed to have weekly conference calls with George Bush. Well, you can see they do agree on some things I would say defines Bush's politics. Like how they count votes. And exploit religion. Oh and they both lie through their teeth, sigh.

I was also wondering would happen if he was my mum's friend and I was talking to him.......Well, we could agree that we're dealing with being gay in different ways. Wahah.

=====

The last poetry event I went for was the poetry performance organised by Project OMG with Malika Booker.



Anyhow, the last performance for the night was from Malika Booker. You can view it here (shaky hands, I suck, etc etc) - it's different from the version she did in No Black Tie. I preferred the one in NBT, but I like this one heaps too. Body language.

I do wonder if I seem rude, pointing a camera at performers. I thought it would be the last poetry event for the year, since December is a quiet time.

Then I got this in my email, from Sharon Bakar. Another poetry event is coming up and it looks interesting.

Dear All,

I'm writing to invite you along to a reading by award-winning Vietnamese-American poet Mong Lan, who will be appearing at the Indie Scene Cafe, Piccolo Galleria, Jalan Bukit Bintang, KL on Sunday 17th December at 5p.m.

Mong Lan's poetry has been anthologised in Best American Poetry, the Pushcart Prize Anthology, and in leading American literary journals. She has published two volumes of poetry, Song of the Cicadas and Why is the Edge Always Windy.

She is also an excellent performer of her work and won the Poetry slam recently at the Ubud Readers' and Writers' festival, against some very tough opposition!


click for flyer.

Who wants to go with me?

=====

Was talking with newly discovered nutivist, Jemufo, about what I had for lunch.

Lainie
jelly bewbies and almonds, not really nuts.

Jemufo
almonds are nuts

Lainie
i know, but i never shell them.
they're like undressed nuts.

Jemufo
but they're still nuts!

Lainie
no shell.

Jemufo
are you denying a nut it's identity just because it's shelless?

Lainie
are you denying a nut it's identity based on parts it used to have?

[ This is called arguing for the sake of arguing. ]

Also kinda tied in with our argument on labels, really. Since before you can call an almond a nut, you kinda have to agree on which definition of a nut to pick. I think they're like seed-nuts. So they are nuts. And they're not nuts.

It's like....woah....nuts.

Obviously I'm not a great person to get a straight (ha ha ha) answer from.

=====

Super Underwear Perverts: Alex Ross - Homophobe?

Since I like Alex Ross too much to wanna have the word "homophobe" go across my mind everytime I read his comics, I'm going to presume that if it was about the gay issue in the first place (Ross is known to dislike changes to established characters, sexuality or otherwise)......

.....It isn't something he said against gay people, just against Obsidian in particular being gay. Benefit of the doubt and all that.

Like how I don't have anything against lesbians, but I sure as hell wish they didn't make Batwoman into one (Ross designed her new look, which is kinda like...contradictory.....).

Please don't let Ross be pulling a Chuck Dixon on us all

The Dixon one is a whole other issue altogether - very much disagree with his views --why can your kid only know about straight relationships through comics and not gay ones? Why can't people just treat these relationships as normal anyhow?

Written by lainie at 02:41 AM on December 13, 2006 in Links / Email.

Occasional Superheroine (read from last post to the first) by a former DC editorial assistant is a blog about the ugly side of how Sue Dibny ended up raped and murdered. To sell comics.

Some excerpts taken from her blog:

My theoretical comic company, which, for the theoretical purposes of my theoretical memoir, I'll call Gilgongo! Comix, was tired of being "pushed around" in the sales wars and in the court of fanboy opinion (such as it was). So with all the red-nosed gumption and determination of Ralphie from"A Christmas Story" Gilgongo! Comix decided to go badass.

They needed a rape. Because there's nothing quite so badass as rape, lets face it.

So our books changed. There was rape, and murder, torture, death, and mutiliation. Superheroes did amoral or outright evil things and the line between good and bad was blurred.

It started with my associate editor running gleefully into our boss's office, several boards of art in his hand.

"The rape pages are in!"

=====

Awfully weird to read stuff like this. No! Comics world!

Written by lainie at 11:50 PM on December 13, 2006 in College, Family, Friends, Arty stuff.

Little Mission Impossible is from tomorrow till end of the week. I've been seeing Ai Ling almost every weekend because she's been helping out with the kids in the production and I told her I'd pop by to watch the play.

I'll upload some Katagender photos after they've been posted on Kakiseni first. Ezthetic might have some under "Activism", you'll have to check yourself (I can't tell, the flash doesn't load on my browser, which is weird cause my version loads just fine).

=====

I have three communications design classes this week, all cancelled, which saves me travel money! Not that this changes any of my deadlines, they're just all due by email.

I don't have the camera today, so I can't upload my sketched work. I didn't have digital art for how it's supposed to look, so I had to vector some out quickly.

The inner critic refuses to send any emails because "Nothing looks good enough". The more realistic one says "Let's hand in our assignmnts, and not try so hard to be suspended from college, shall we?". I don't know why, I certainly don't have the same qualms about doing so on my blog.

Some character style proposals for campaign:


Top: Front with badge. Bottom: Back.

I'll be widening the margins. Don't bother scrutinising the text, I wrote it in 2 minutes and it'll only tell you to recycle .

=====

Haven't met Tei for days.

Lainie: Wanna go out tomorrow night? Busy?
Tei: Yeah I'm busy tomorrow.
Lainie: Doing what?
Tei: W-
Lainie: With who?
Lainie: Where?
Lainie: What time?
Lainie: Why?
Lainie: Hmm? Hmm? HMM?

Then I laughed a bit manically (damn syiok sendiri) and Tei told me I had to sign our divorce papers. Cis.

I'd threaten to poison her meals, except I never cook anything for her, and I don't think she's silly enough to allow me to anyway.

Reckon Tei and I will have our phones cut off in two days because we still couldn't be arsed to register them.

Tei recently left her phone with Adrian by accident and made no effort whatsoever to retrieve it (Adrian was left to fend off her social life for days), whereas I've gone months without one (despite how I sometimes look like I endlessly have one glued to my ear).

Our habits combined, we'll never see each other again after the 15th. I still hate the idea of registering my phone number. Why am I supposed to? I don't trust anyone. I don't trust you I don't trust you I don't trust you .

[ This is possibly a very ironic thing for someone with a blog to proclaim ]

Was supposed to go watch Cinta with Tei today, but it rained and we both couldn't walk out to get cabs (I suspect we both slept through it as well).

I just called Tei - she's in KL alright.

Lainie: Where you at anyway?
Tei: Meeting up with...some friends.
Lainie: I have no faith in you, so I'll assume you mean "friend" when you say "friends".
Tei: Excuse me? More than one, okay?
Lainie: Wah! Burgeoning social life!
Tei: Ahaha, yeah!

Saddo. So I may be going out with her later, depending.

====

Living with my aunt and uncle can be cool. I'll be moving out soon. The people in my mom's family all talk to themselves without realising it, which I like.

I'm from the shorter (shortest, cept for being a lil taller than mom and Gazel) end of the family. And I'm quieter. And like my mother, I have a very passive temper in comparison with the rest, I think . Probably.

Hmm. I'll miss the dogs when I move out. There's something about being able to generate my own personal fanclub of three everytime I whip out a biscuit.

Unless I can train three housemates to do the same. Cookie! Cookie!

Written by lainie at 06:52 AM on December 14, 2006 in work?, Links / Email.

Dear, dear, dear, dear readers.

Writing an article, requesting favours: If you have know of any - do drop me the links to cyberactivism campaigns that are either local, or have heavy local presence (eg: Manuscripts don't burn).

Hmm. Someone works too much: All the websites I ended up on through *Googling*, has a certain Jac presence. Every. Single. One. So. Far. .....Just ever so slightly crazy, that.

====

Speaking of online, activism, and Jac being everywhere (including here, super hentaming clothes politics), the weekly blog on Kakiseni has been updated with the KataGender Dirty Laundry action thingie (alongside Malaysian shorts and Jakarta puppetry). It's 6.40 am, and both Zedeck and I are still online. Hah, tragic.

I'm burning up a slight fever (probably caught a bug from my coughing aunt), but I don't really mind cause as long as I don't move much I don't feel it. I still uphold that the best thing I learned from Cenfad is that sipping water with soluble aspirin allows me to keep it at bay while staying awake.

Whee assignments! I love you! I stay up for you! I fuck sleep for you! Fever? NO SUCH THING, BABY! HURRRRRRRR!!!!!!

Sweet, sweet, assignments. Niamafulat, what more could a woman ask for?

=====

I heart Tim Fite.

=====

I don't think I was even searching anything remotely close to this, but lookie what I found anyway:

Relation between neuroticism and dimensions of relationship commitment: Evidence from gay, lesbian, and heterosexual couples [PDF file], by Lawrence A. Kurdek (the dude who researched what we now call the 7 Year Itch, I think).

It's a bit hard to read because the page is slightly skewed. Anyhow, I gave myself some good giggles imagining what questions I would ask couples if I wrote that paper. Maybe:

"How psychotic are you guys with each other, and don't even pretend you're not, on a scale of 1 to 10? Ah, 1 you say.....*scribbles* denial.... repression.... delusional.... .... ......
What? Oh nothing, keep talking, keep talking, my friend Miss Tape Recorder will remember every word you say......"

Then I'd fail whatever course it was that required me to research something like that.

=====

Because I was looking at the ad for some architectural book for sale through Kakiseni (Concrete Metal Glass), I eventually ended up at this blog:

"An Architecture Science graduate from Malaysia, loves art & design, basic web designing and photograph"
mirage.studio.7

What do Architecture Science graduates talk about?

It is about time these Malays wake up and take a good look at their own culture and race, gifted with talent in wood crafting and beautiful motifs, they simply abandon what their forefathers has pass down through generations and adopt Arab's Architecture and Culture. Boy, you guys are confuse and got Culture and Religion all mixed up! YOU GUYS ARE NOT ARABS! EMBRACE YOUR MALAY ARCHITECTURE

From his post on the Putrajaya, Cyberjaya and South Johor Economic Region.

Though I'd like to think our Putrajaya's design shouldn't be restricted to just one source of inspiration, yah? Or do I make a mistake when I say "our Putrajaya"?

=====

I was staring at a sentence in this post that seemed to be an entire blogpost by itself. So I made it into one.

Written by lainie at 06:58 AM on December 14, 2006.

"Sweet, sweet, assignments. Niamafulat, what more could a woman ask for?"

Says it all, really.

====

From Sharanya, I found a link to a Malaysiakini video on Temple Demolitions in Malaysia. Watch it.

Do you guys even have any idea what it feels like to type out "Temple Demolition"? And it says in the video, a temple is unlawfully demolished every three weeks. I don't know how they do it. Or I do, and I dislike that.

I'd like to know there's coverage of this on the main local news. Newspapers. TV. Radio. In all the languages news gets covered in. Pffft.

Some of the video's in Tamil. But really, you don't need to know all the words to understand. "Demolished Temples".....says it all, really.

Written by lainie at 05:41 PM on December 14, 2006 in Arty stuff.

A video of Sharanya Manivannan reading her poetry, "The Ten Idylls", at Indie Scene Cafe. She'll be conducting a poetry workshop for children soon:

CHILDREN'S POETRY WORKSHOP

POETRY WORKSHOP
for 7 to 12 year olds
conducted by Sharanya Manivannan


APPRECIATION
WRITING
PERFORMANCE

When?
DECEMBER 27th-28th 2006 (Wednesday, Thursday)
2.00 pm - 6.00 pm
with a small presentation on
DECEMBER 28th 2006 at 7.00 pm

Where?
Indie Scene Cafe,
Piccolo Galleria, Bukit Bintang
(between Lot 10 and KL Plaza)

Overview
This workshop is a fun yet challenging introduction to the creative possibilities of poetry and has been developed in the hopes of fostering an enduring interest in writing in its many forms. An artistic interest is a life-enriching pursuit, and children who are encouraged to experience and explore their imagination can benefit from it greatly both now and later in life.

The course is centred around three main areas: appreciation, writing and performance. The appreciation module focuses on discussion and dialogue about sample poems, finding out what makes a poem work and what doesn't, as well as some basic technical discussion of poetic history and forms. The writing module focuses on finding inspiration, then discovering how best to express oneself. The performance module focuses on overcoming stage fright and understanding how reading aloud changes the dynamics of a poem. By the end of this workshop, participants can expect to take home with them a heightened curiosity about storytelling and reading, the satisfaction of having performed at a public presentation, as well as greater confidence in their own creativity.

A small presentation of their new original work on December 28th is so as to encourage participants to share their creativity, and to hone their confidence.

The content of the course has been developed so as to remain child-friendly, with all materials used selected especially for this age range. Sample poems have been chosen so as to represent writers both classic and contemporary. This workshop will be conducted in English. Please note that parents are not allowed to sit in during the workshop so as to encourage as focused and free an environment for creativity as possible.

The Coordinator
Sharanya Manivannan was born in India and grew up in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. Although she is very much a multihypenate with a myriad of passions - she is also a dancer, painter, actress, photographer, journalist and activist - writing is by far her greatest love. She began to write at the age of seven, beginning with poetry and then moving on to long and short fiction and other written forms. She has performed extensively at public readings in the last five years, and her work has been published in a variety of periodicals and anthologies here and abroad, garnering critical acclaim from writers and performance artists including Francesca Beard (Chinese Whispers tour) Leah-Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (Consensual Genocide), Shreekumar Varma (The Lament of Mohini), Malika Booker (of the Malika's Kitchen collective) and the Paterson Prize winner Indran Amirthanayagam (The Elephants of Reckoning). She is working on her first novel and a collection of poems, and recently published a chapbook of poems, Iyari.

Fees
RM100 per child (snacks and materials included)

Contact/Sign-up
Sharanya Manivannan
sharanya.manivannan@gmail.com

Jasmine Low
jasminelow@gmail.com


Deadline for application: December 25th 2006
Places are limited so don't disappoint your child, apply early!

Written by lainie at 02:58 AM on December 15, 2006 in Daily Life, Arty stuff.

Well. Motherfucker, my phone's been barred because I don't trust the government enough to register it. At a really bad time too. I may register it tomorrow. Fuck everybody, including my own stubbornead.

Why does Maxis think it's appropriate to text me at 630am to inform me I should register my line? I'll only be sleeping an average of 3 hours the next few days, I wouldn't appreciate having that disturbed at all.

=====

Some photos from the KataGender's nighttime Dirty Laundry action (A write up is also available on Kakiseni, because what better for me than blogging about the same thing over and over again?

[ Personal message ]

And. To you.

I'm so, so sorry about the effects it's had on you.

Babe. Stop reading here.

Much love.

Now stop, okay?

You're not being stubborn right?

You've stopped here right?

Because I'm stopping this talking bit to you, and after this, the photos with the statements will follow.

Okay. Your cue to stop ends at this line.

*hug*.

[ End. Go. Stop. Return another day. Please. ]

Everyone else can continue reading.

=====

Photos by Ezrena:


Clothesline. I think that's the line I help put up - I can't tell.


One of the mottos while writing the messages was "Don't ask who these panties belonged to once". Just and I were slightly more concerned with "Uh............are these clean?"


I have no idea who this is. The one of the left goes "I had 5 brothers. We shared more than a bedroom. I hated it".


Proof of Jac's bra burning.
Burn a bra around one blogger and look what happens. Told Jac that I would have laughed my ass off if the thing had burst into flames. *FooOoOoOoOOOom*.


Illumination..?


I'm not sure what the bra one says. *squint* It looks like it's asking for breast hair or breast eyes to me. The dress says "Just because I wore this doesn't mean I asked for it".


I don't know the answer.
Oh fuck wait, I'm not sure, but I think I actually wrote this one. X_X
What the fuck.


Weeks(?) after the action, I figure out that's a drawing of a pair of legs. I'd thought they were two ergonomically curved handles to canes before this. My mother tried this tactic till my legs bled, and it didn't work on me. Nothing did. I was the daughter from hell evil mother-in-laws wish for.

I like to insist I turned out okay.


Traffic lights nearby.


....Some people are fucked up.


This basically says that the person wearing the pants can fuck, dick or not.


Hanging Dirty Laundry.


Still don't know. I definitely didn't write this one, too many question marks. I would have stabbed my eye out with a marker asking myself that.

Two days later they went to check and see what remained of the scene...Clothes tied to the tree were still there.


I have a history of screeching at men on buses and scaring them off.


"Hi pretty boy" they call me. Don't they know I'm just a girl who thinks jerseys are comfortable.

No idea how long our addition to the landscape of Desa Sri Hartamas will last. Not sure what you people thought after seeing this.

=====

Compiled Links:

my blog
Kakiseni.com
KataGender (not updated yet..... if ever)
Ezthetic (for photos).

Written by lainie at 09:36 PM on December 15, 2006 in Friends, Links / Email, Stupid, but fun..

Dear reader,

This is to inform you I greatly admire Suanie for many things. Right now, what I hold in most high esteem is her ability to blatantly objectify and give women prizes based on their bewbies quality, and get away with it. Great sifu, I kowtow.

I won the Suanie Award 2005 for my Canines:


A year has passed, and Suan once again holds the (now) Annual Put My Face On Your Blog Awards!

Let's start again.

THE Annual Suanie Awards 2006! Head over over to see the complete list of winners - Oh, and you know what?


I win again! I win again! An award for each boob!

.................Don't ask what it implies if I win a third time.

Dear Suan, your face shall always be welcome on this blog - in fact, it has made more appearances than my prize winners. Clearly this can only mean I am deeply and severely infatuated with you.

I shall now do my Breasticles Victory Dance (uhhnnnn!!!), and it shall look something like this, but with puppies included:


Wholesome family entertainment.

Much love and now interviewing applicants for personal health programme,
Mother of Pups, (two).

====

Link of the day:

Ice-Cream Monster Toon Cafe: World Wide SketchCrawl 12 - LA

And with that, I need to deal with sleeping at ten thirty and waking up in three hours, a fever, and mounting deadlines. Mostly deadlines. Helping to facilitate some design contest thing in college tomorrow. Winner gets a scholarship (heck, I could do with one myself). Gnite!

Written by lainie at 05:42 AM on December 17, 2006 in College, Arty stuff.

Just came back from a night at Hard Rock Cafe, had supper, and now it's 5am. As sad as this is going to sound, I decided to stay up because BABY! Adobe Photoshop CS3 beta has been released, with a preview of the new interface they'll have now that they've joined up with Macromedia.

I'm really excited, which can't be too cool...But hell yeah, how can anyone not? It's 337MB. Ooooh, I hate waiting for downloads.

=====

Woke up to two pleasant surprises - no urgent deadlines (This Can Only Mean I've Forgotten Some Assignments), and my fever is gone. Decided not to go for Rock The World, because their poster was horrific, and I can watch all the acts I like at less crowded events. With better posters.

I spent the afternoon in college, helping Meifei, my lecturer from last semester, to facilitate a design competition. Cenfad is giving out full scholarships to school graduates who win this. I find this, in comparison with my own need for one, deeply ironic.

The afternoon required these students to collage an A3 size portrait that represent their characteristics, using magazine cut-outs. They were given complete freedom to depict themselves as they please through this collage.



I reckon a lot of arts people could do with an Exploration of the Self (is there any way to say this this without it sounding like wanking?). Paintings, poetry, books, film, music - you'll find a lot of examples. Could always argue that any art revolving around yourself (or any art at all) is entirely self-wanking.

It was interesting, watching the various expressions through their (possibly unconscious) use of concepts, composition, colours, semiotics, Gestalt, attention to detail etc (one seemed to be going for duality, even). Hmm. Well, that's what it seemed at the time.

Now I wonder if I'm thinking too much, and it was closer to a "Make Pretty Picture" competition.



While it was easy to find something to like in each entry, I only genuinely liked two pieces as a whole......But I'm not judging, so.