Written by lainie at 11:11 PM on July 1, 2007.

Holy shits my alcoocol level tolerance is down, heck it's gone. One beer and i was red and slurring.

couple or founds later and shites, i have a headache. i think it's gonna split open and birth alein athenas. carlsbergs. they always always make me feelliek crap i hate them.

trying not to sleeps before m mother, but i think i'm gonna goddamn. and it's not midnight. i feel weird sleeping before it.

must not talk. or use phne. or chat. i probably shouldnt be blogging eithr. hrmm. lalala.

i always get in trouble when ly alcohol tolerance is low -_-" fuckies.

Written by lainie at 01:27 PM on July 2, 2007 in Daily Life, Holidays / Road Trip.

Went for Transformers with some relatives yesterday, most hyped movie of the year, but don't let that turn you off . The autobots look awesome. I've been told not to ruin it for anyone, so I'll stop here.

Laughed at Louis, being trained by his sister Sabrine to stand outside dressing rooms holding a handbag and lacey clothes while waiting for her. I escaped with Judah for a while.

=====

Nessa is back from America! She has bangs now, it makes her look different. Also has a tattoo on her back, with a late friend's name hidden in it.

Six months in America, she tries to get into the wrong side of the car - worse, she drives on the wrong side sometimes. She got me a pouch, a Hooters tshirt, and Reese's peanut butter cups (which made me think of teh Suan).

It's so good to have the nerd back. I took some awesome photos of her on Jusco rooftop, we went for dinner at Pakeeza, with her family, the boys and her workmates. Met Claude, French Canadian dude who told us he ate five durians the day before. Not bad, considering he reported a gas leak the first time he smelled it. He stays in Gopeng now, and misses Ipoh.

Then we went beering and talked about psycho girls and other...stuff.

Rach is gonna be on tv soon, she joined some reality contest thing. Considering her history of wit and...standing on tables to rev up a crowd...I'll be rooting for her, whoo!

=====

I admit the timing could be better, what with the bombs and all, but I've also been told I should take some time out far, far away (I doubt they meant that far, but hey) - so I shall be on a two week holiday in London this weekend - unless they won't let me into the country because, as some relatives have worried:

1) I look like potential illegal immigrant
2) I look like a terrorist, so I must smile at everybody at the airport and not whisper to anybody, because otherwise the CCTVs will zoom in on my suspicious, Asian From Muslim Country face and....er. I don't know.

.................I actually have no idea how to react to that. I mean, I know I study graphic design and that doesn't help, but......

Anyhow. I get the nagging feeling I'd look creepy if I smile all the time.

I have no plans, as usual. Merely the Tate Modern, some galleries maybe, museums, check out what the indie arts are like there. Mostly just a getaway, meet some people.

Anyone knows where I should go around London? Poetry? Art? Literature? Yknow, the usual I'm interested in, but in London this time. I'll probably also be hitting Oxford for a day visit. Suggestions from anyone, welcome .

Will be bunking with my cousin Debbie, though she won't have time for me beyond the first few days, since she's moving apartments soon and graduating and working and packing up stuff and whatnot. Ah, free accomodation, no complaints.

People who have said they can layan: Owen (I remember finding him on IMDB many years back, for some shows he acted in) - he emailed saying the "Malaysian embassy" (read: Rach) had informed him I'd be there.

Also - Rainee (ex-classmate), and Josil (another ex-classmate - we were surprised to discover we'd be in London at the same time).

People I have contacted: Munyan (she sat next to Rainee) and Shu (ex-housemate).

Any of my friends out there who wanna meet in London? Beep beep?

Written by lainie at 08:42 PM on July 2, 2007 in Family.

Recently got in touch with an uncle of mine, Ian. I've never met him, but my mom told me he'd been working on our family tree, and I was curious how it was turning out, so I emailed him. He forwarded a pdf of the work so far, and hey, I'm listed in it!


There I am, a speck amidst almost 300 people. I'll be sending in our family photos soon.

You see everyone on my row, 2nd from bottom, all those bits spanning left and right? Let's just say those are my cousins, and this family tree is nowhere near close to complete. The one that was produced a few years back for our family reunion had a lot more names. But this one has pictures of some of the people, and the kids that have popped out since.

I've been looking at the photos of the kids my age. Bizarre.

Just came home from hanging out with Nessa.

We talked about her friend who had passed away while she was in America, did some shopping, hung out on rooftops as we did yesterday, then on the drive home did a pitstop to do something irresponsible but fun.

Mom's getting on my case cause I wanna go out with Nessa again later, but I haven't packed my bags for London, and I'm back in KL tomorrow. I think I missed the London Pride Parade by like, a week. Dammit...........

I want friends who know where all the gay stuffs are, but Rach is already back in KL.

Written by lainie at 01:38 PM on July 3, 2007 in Daily Life.

I'm back in KL. Bored and touching up photos (because I actually find this fun) while waiting for something.

Was on Parkson Grand rooftop with Nessa, talking, bumming, drinking orange juice, watching sunset and the girls from my alma mater pour out onto the streets.

The traffic has increased heaps since I was last back.

Tired of waiting. Well. I guess I'll head out instead. Laters!

Written by lainie at 03:11 AM on July 4, 2007 in Arty stuff.

Sometimes, you're bored, you whip out the colouring pencils and A3 sketchpad. And then you don't finish what you started. Then you move on to other arts stuff. This is one of them.

 I am currently sketching other stuff (a girl, actually) I probably won't finish.

-----

DAMMIT.

Athlete, Ash and Stereophonics!

I want tickets..... T____T.

Written by lainie at 04:25 PM on July 5, 2007 in .

Quote of the day comes from Juliet Jacobs, Events Editor of Kakiseni:

Juliet Jacobs: is u saying I is unsmart?

Why would I bother to point out something like that? I am not that tactless.:D

=====

Kofi Annan speaking in KL on 12th July.

I know a small group of people thinking of going.......heh.

=====

I've been playing Scrabble on Facebook. By the first game I got my arse totally whupped by a friend, first with her bloody triple word score "Quotes", and so on. Must admit, very nice, dammit.

=====

I'm so hungry. I got my new IC on Tuesday, lost it on Wednesday, and found it again today (after many hours of fear). I haven't packed.

It seems I am making plans for London after all. Loose ones, but still more than I've ever made before. I should probably write them down somewhere. Gonna visit some gay places, some art places, maybe both combined. I have no particularly strong desire to go see stuff like changing of the queen's guard. Not much of a "see monuments" person, unless it's a style of architecture I like.

I'm gonna watch Mamma Mia, maybe Wicked and Othello, if tickets aren't sold out. I expect to be hitting the "very broke" category most of my stay there. But if I can....Avenue Q. "The internet is really really great...for porn". I'm so hungry...

 Gonna go get food

Written by lainie at 04:33 PM on July 5, 2007 in Friends, Holidays / Road Trip.

Quote of the day comes from Juliet Jacobs, Events Editor of Kakiseni:

Juliet Jacobs: is u saying I is unsmart?

Why would I bother to point out something like that? I am not that tactless.:D

=====

Kofi Annan speaking in KL on 12th July.

I know a small group of people thinking of going.......heh.

=====

I've been playing Scrabble on Facebook. By the first game I got my arse totally whupped by a friend, first with her bloody triple word score "Quotes", and it didn't stop there. Must admit, very nice, dammit.

=====

I'm so hungry. I got my new IC on Tuesday, lost it on Wednesday, and found it again today (after many hours of fear). I haven't packed.

It seems I am making plans for London after all. Loose ones, but still more than I've ever made before. I should probably write them down somewhere. Gonna visit some gay places, some art places, maybe both combined. I have no particularly strong desire to go see stuff like changing of the queen's guard. Not much of a "see monuments" person, unless it's a style of architecture I like.

I'm gonna watch Mamma Mia, maybe Wicked and Othello, if tickets aren't sold out. I expect to be hitting the "very broke" category most of my stay there. But if I can....Avenue Q. "The internet is really really great...for porn". I'm so hungry...

 Gonna go get food

Written by lainie at 12:50 AM on July 7, 2007 in Daily Life.

I'll be off to London tomorrow (near midnight), for all of two weeks. The past two, three days I've:

1) been getting my arse majorly kicked in Scrabble by Ding, for a few consecutive games and playing Scrabble with other people (attempting to keep my arse from being further flattened). I really shouldn't allow such distractions, I've been communicating with editors, employers, peers jobseeking, negotiating some stuff, flooded with work and..........playing Scrabble.

2) met up with two lovely friends in PJ, for some coffee and supper. And do discuss how some certain straight ladies find Shane of L Word hot.

3) Stiffed a cabbie preposterous RM75++ cabfare (including midnight surcharge), because he has no sense of direction, and won't admit it.

4) met up with another two friends for coffee and breakfast at a cafe that resembled an airport departure lounge.

5) lost my IC a day after I got the new one, found it a day after, misplaced various other objects of importance towards travelling, and found them after.

6) been invited for many parties, of which I've attended....zero.

7) had a surprise visit from Nessa, in KL to go for some student exchange reunion thing.

8) talked to two boys I've not heard from in a while, one of them got arrested twice in a week during his holiday and I'm looking forward to listening to that story, because knowing him, that ought to be fricking interesting.

9) made a huge mess in my room that I really want to clean up before I leave.

10) been pleasantly surprised by housemate, Jemufo, who came back sweaty after lugging a few huge, heavy design books home, and left them in my room for me to ogle at.

11) had dinner with Rach, who gave me some tips on where to go in London, before leaving for yoga.

12) sat on my balcony at night with Nessa.

13) talked with Zedeck about the music he's listening to now - Metric, w00t. He asked me what I was doing tomorrow ("Er. London?", and told me to get him something he can't get anywhere else.

14) bumped into Danlim in Bangsar Village, where I was shopping for earrings, and he was going for dinner.

15) not slept much, between meeting deadlines before going off for my holiday, and....meeting deadlines before going off for my holiday, and some other stuff here and there.

16) realised my packing skills are shite now.

17) been googling up gigs in London, but all the ones I want to go for seem to be sold out.

18) been looking at notepads, I like travel journals.

19) nearly vomited lightning at the RM88 moleskine travel journal, while drooling over stationery in some megastore of pens, pencils, and paper.

20) started playing Rubik's cube again. I suck at it. Jerng just got home and he almost has it solved . Nessa broke my smaller one.

21) had junk food for lunch / dinner.

22) been dismayed at SLR #2's lens, fungi problem. Fuckety. No time to fix.

23) talked to Zheng over Gtalk and asked him again to bring a girl home for me, from Germany (he says customs might not allow it).

24) had the subject of my singlehood, and how it can be cured, discussed by......holy crap, almost eight people. In two days. Wtf.

25) received the news that Gazel Yeoh is marrying her cousin in January. Woahness.

26) Cancelled on meeting two other boys tonight, since I have work (when I'm not making lists on what's been happning to me).

27) had the second nightlight in my room fixed, yeay.

28) been drawing, drinking orange juice, and watching people around me fall sick.

29) been bitten by mosquitos. LOTS. Fuckers.

30) tried to keep my inbox manageable, but it's hit 400 unread emails, and yknow what, I need more storage.

31) not had time for a lotta websites I wanna check out.

32) been out of touch with the local arts scene (though I do wish I'd made it for Tempered Mental's album launch, I can't remember what came up that I didn't go).

33) dodged some stuff people want me to do that I don't, missed some stuff that I wanna do that others don't.

34) told Nessa she was distracting my neighbours parading around in her underwear (and flashing Zedeck, not that that's a problem), because really, now they're gonna look into my room and expect to see someone like her.

35) been contemplating removing the monkey keychain from the Kipling bag. I don't care -_-".

36) Eaten at Nando's, where the service was very, very, fucking slow.

37) lived in some super humid environment. Why's it so hot? -_-".

38) had vegetarian food where the waiters so friendly, but I don't mind because that meant complimentary dishes. So cheap, I know.

39) just had coffee with a friend, who has a blackeye (or rather, natural, physical trauma induced purple eyeliner) from falling out of bed, to open the door for me. Friend told me there was a dead cat outside the house, when I exited, the cat got up and started sauntering off, and I felt like miracle worker (having no qualms about taking credit for such things).

40) Crap, two days, huh?

Written by lainie at 03:17 PM on July 7, 2007 in Music, Holidays / Road Trip.

Shit. I am...in...such a bloody rush. I think I've forgotten some stuff. Will bell when I get my number there, some of you. Others, I'll be back before ya know it! Sorting out luggage now.

Meanwhile, a song a day while I'm gone? A very surface theme, something I stumbled upon tthe first few songs I chose, and continued for the rest.

 

Lainie Album #2:

1. Beth Orton - Concrete Sky
2. BC Camplight - Blood and Peanut Butter
3. The Magnetic Fields - All My Little Words
4. The Magic Numbers - I See You, You See Me
5. Ryan Adams - Rock n Roll
6. Stars - Calendar
7. Girl Camera Obscura - I Don't Do Crowds
8. Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks
9. Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer - Plays Pretty For Baby
10. Handsome Boy Modeling School (feat Miho Hatori & Mike D) - Metaphysical
11. Gerhana Ska Cinta feat Radhi - Senyuman Ragamu
12. Gael Garcia Bernal - If You Rescue Me (Chanson Des Chats)
13. Bebel Gilberto and George Michael - Desafinado
14. Sergio Mendes - Berimbau Consolacao
15. Esthero - Everyday Is a Holiday With You

 

 

Downloads probably won't survive my return. Unless, that is, something nastisome happens to me while I'm on holiday, knock wood.

Questions, anyone?

Written by lainie at 02:26 AM on July 10, 2007 in Holidays / Road Trip.

[ Written Sunday, 11pm over here ]

Hello from London!


travel journal.

Arrived at Heathrow airport 6am. Immigration dude was an unfriendly brat-man, though to be fair, it was 6am. Thirteen hours in the air, not recommended. Inflight entertainment - Meet The Robinsons, which was kinda fun (if totally predictable), and Blades of Glory, which made my brains melt and oozle out of my ears. That being said, I totally loved the scene where the poofy Ice boy in the llama movie rocks out and sticks his tongue out.

Cab to Deb's place took almost an hour, so I watched the scenery, architecture, and increment of graffiti as we drove there. I only really remember passing through Notting Hill and Kensington.

It's cold here, twelve degrees in summer. Couldn't rest after the flight because Deb had a guest in her bedroom, Eliz, who just got home as well and needed a place to crash. Dropped off the luggage, then Deb and I set out walking. Headed towards Covent Garden - everything was still closed so it was well quiet. We didn't mind the walk, lovely weather.

Saw a lot of theatre stuff I wanna check out - Wicked, Spamalot, Avenue Q, Billy Elliot. There's no bloody way I can afford everything, but I'll go for what I can. Had brekkie at Pret a Manger, this chain of sandwich bars that looks like its infested London. I keep seeing "Prat, Mangy".


Got some Oyster travel card thingie, 20 pounds, one week of travel. My cousin thinks I'll lose it. Got my UK number, I keep texting people because I forget / cannot calculate time difference.

Got to Tate Britain at 11am. There were high alert security measures there, guards checking bags - I breezed right through guard and bag check because I noticed neither of them, and somehow snuck by. I only realised this at 4pm, as I was walking out.

We walked in Tate Britain for five continuous hours (my feet hurt), and only managed to cover one part of the building - Separate exhibitions in 17 rooms, under the British Historic Art (1500 - 1900) section. Was thrilled because had done zero research, and ended up being surprised that a lot of paintings I like - well, used to like, back in secondary school, were exhibited there. Pretty cool to have my nose all of 5cm from the paintings I used to look at for hours. Also saw another exhibition (State Britain?), a protest against Blair (Bliar).

Gonna return again tomorrow, hopefully cover the rest of it in one day. The Clore Gallery is showing JMW Turner's watercolours (rooms T1 - T10), Art Now Space has Goshka Macuga, and for 7.50 pounds, "How We Are: Photography Britain" is also being shown - first major exhibition of photography in Tate Britain. After that, hop on the Tate boat, get to Tate Modern. w00t.


We were hungry after Tate Brit, so we walked around and ended up at James Street, in a French bistro, drinking coffee and snacking on sandwiches. After our lil rest up, we hit Oxford Street, where all the departmental stores were. Shopped a lil while, checking out clothes in Next, briefly walked round Muji, and went to Paper Chase to look at stationery. Then the shops started closing at about 6pm?

We also headed towards Leicester Square, Chinatown, and Soho (which I'd wanted to visit). Leicester Square had people queueing up outside Haagen Daz, strange mystic-wannabe buskers, and portrait artists. Chinatown smelled bad and oily. Soho is so gay.

All porn looks generic after a while, all that crap about gay men having fabulous taste clearly does not apply to the sleeve design of porn flick DVD covers - though in comparison, the penis sleeves on display are quite...vibrantly coloured. Most shoppers there were men (I think women were only a small target group in the market). I ended up looking at toys.

Took a photo of some signages, one without realising it was a stripper's club, till the mamasan made some remarks about Chinese people as she ducked. Talked with the bouncer a bit, meanwhile. The woman seemed quite crass and made broad racial generalisations, including hairdressers in her example. Bouncer took my photo with his cellphone, friendly chap. Asked me if I wanted to see girls (no), or if not, boys (no). Mamasan didn't give me any more attitude about being Chinese, which was good, because otherwise I'd have brought out the blond jokes and that would have been nasty.

Saw a lot of knick knacks I wanna get in Soho. And heaps of books I wish I owned. Dollar for dollar - if they sold books like that in Malaysia I'd be bloody happy (also holed up in my room all the time reading, but hey).

I sent Josil, who is in Malaysia, some texts (at 2am her time) to let her know my new number, not because I forgot the 7 hour time difference, but because jet lag makes me stupid and all my calculations told me it was 10pm. Don't ask where all the other hours went.

Took a bendy bus home, Debbie wants to clean out her bedsheets for her bed, so we have to wait a few more hours for them to be washed. I'm really sleepy. It's 9.21pm now, so that makes it......4am? I think?

Yknow, for night, it sure is damn bright out there. Looks like 4pm back home. Summer. Eliz, whom I'd met in the morning, was the first to return home after us. She and Debbie talked about college. Eventually met Debbie's housemates and housepet (ie: I'm considered a housepet too, now). One of them, Horng, is actually from Ipoh too, but two years younger than I am. Then her other housemate, Carmey, came over with her two brothers and sister - Carmen. Poor Carmen lost her luggage in Barcelona airport, of all the shitty things to happen to her.She's just waiting now to see if she can get her stuff back. Must be awful, losing luggage like that.

Gonna go over all the leaflets and stuff I brought back now, see what shows I can watch tomorrow, if plans for Othello don't happen.

Basically, I've either been sitting up (in plane or cafes), or walking, since a few horus before my flight here on Saturday. I don't even know what day it is now, I can't for the life of me calculate it. Everything aches. My nose is running.

Holy. Crap. My. eyesight just wavered. Massively. Can't sleep yet because Deb wants to use bedsheets, and they/'re in the wash. We're actually gonna wait for them to come out. Sheets, pillowcases, etc.

Zzzzzzzz.
Gnite.

Written by lainie at 02:47 AM on July 10, 2007.

For those who want / need to contact me in UK, my phone number is...

012 (malaysian number)
07 (UK number)

so without using the 012, or 07 codes
my malaysia number (7 digits) + UK number (9 digits) = 951329904

Really not that complicated, right? So if you have my local number, you can figure out my London one too.

Written by lainie at 06:45 PM on July 10, 2007 in Holidays / Road Trip.

[ Typed out last night, before going to bed, possibly screwing up names of places ]

2nd day, London.

Set out from home.
Stationery shops. EVIL.
Royal Opera House.


Monday flea market at Covent Garden.


Tate Britain. Walked hours again. Awesome. Am outside, eating an orange I took from a sculpture that was part of exhibition for alternative history of sculpture from Central St Martins.
Chelsea College of Art And Design stationery shop. Evil.
Late lunch at some cafe near the Pier.



Tate boat on the Thames.
Millenium bridge (or whatever it's called).
The International Shakespeare Globe Centre (tickets for Othello purchased, YAY!). Awesome.



Tate Modern. Awesome. Evil Giftshop of Temptation.
Southwark - middle of nowhere.
Home, warmed up, got extra jacket, changed shoes, updated blog with previous two posts, internet dies here regularly.


Dinner at Thai restaurant, Busaba, in Tottenham. First rice meal since arrival.
Grocery shopping at Sainsbury, liked packaging for "innocent" smoothies. Juice cheap here, goodie.
Visited Deb's parents briefly at hotel. Nearly conked out, so comfy. Watched local tv - not impressed. Ads sucked.
Came back, typed this out.

I love some of the soft nib coloured pens. Like, more awesome than markers. I want.....I want them all..... .

It's so cold today , I clang when I walk because my balls have frozen into little brass bells. Weather switches from sunny to windy to cloudy to rainy without warning - pissy little sky here could learn from our polite clouds back home, that have the good sense to look all grey and impending doom before actually raining. The skies in London have no manners.

Of course, while in tube station some voice over the intercom annnounces that "in this hot weather, it is advisable to carry a botte of water around", super windy, rain 2 minutes, cold cold cold cold.

I'm eating sandwiches a lot, drinking coffee...it's so convenient. I happy.

I've never used so much lip balm and hand cream in a day before (NOBODY make any jokes about this). My hair is fritzing up in scary angles. Early morning, groggy, combed my hair and watched in horror as clumps start rising into the air and pointing like many many hands on a clock - went out with pony tail instead.

Their buses here have a lot of junk on the floor - not impressed. Cashiers charge me cheaper prices for food, they're so nice here. I might look really really poor and reluctant to hand over money, I guess - I can't recognise the notes yet.

Tentative Itinerary for 3rd day:
London School of Economics (to sort out some stuff)
Trafalgar Square (briefly, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery).
Woseley for afternoon tea........which sounds a bit pretentious and probably is, but heck.
Mamma Mia! at night, ABBA music! :D

=====

Am updating this from LSE computer lab, need to print out confirmation tickets for Mamma Mia.

Written by lainie at 11:47 PM on July 18, 2007.

Forum: No to Police State in Blogopshere KL/Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall

I'm all the way in England, talking with someone from the Netherlands about stupid laws we inherited from the British, and I hear from someone I just met, that blogger Nat Tan got arrested / detained under the OSA? Dude.

oh wait, he's out.

No time, bus to catch, ciao. Will catch up when back in Malaysia.

Written by lainie at 04:51 AM on July 24, 2007 in Holidays / Road Trip.

I'm back, jetlagged, and whoo, isn't it hot here. Rain is good.

My room is a mess, I almost can't stand it, but being tired helps.

5am.

Mostly this means I'm awake while everyone else is asleep (exception of Zedeck, whom I am about to bug soon so tak layan, fuck it).

I need to turn off my brain.
I need to start applying for internships.
I need to do a lot of things.
I need to meet someone.
I need to tweak my body clock.
That's an awful lotta need.

=====

Condensed update of 2 weeks!!:

Visited:

Tate Modern
Tate Britain
Hayward Gallery (if you're there, check out the Gormley exhibition)
Design Museum
British Museum
National Art Gallery
Sotheby's
Aicon Gallery
Medici Gallery
Modern Art Oxford
Amora Academy of Sex and Relationships
Christ Church Picture Gallery
Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery

and possibly more.

Theatred:

Mamma Mia!
Dancing in The Streets
Othello (best acting)
Billy Elliot
Chicago (disappointingest)
Wicked
Phantom of the Opera
Spamalot (funniest - and one way or other made fun of all the other shows I watched - excellent

Missed (theatre):
Avenue Q (no time)
Betrayal (no tickets)
some lesbian theatre show I saw in the papers (no directions)

Also some castles, malls, sculptures, casinos, lots of monuments, bookstores, Soho / Noho (very gay shops), Tower Bridge, Chinatown, yada yada blabla.

Drool:
Art shops, stationery shops, bookstores, bookstores, bookstores, poster shops, print shops, candy stores, comic stores, toy stores, manga shops.

Bought:
more art magazines than I should have, badges, sweets, clothes, shoes, and stuff.

and ate:
Some English food, a LOT of coffee, too many sandwiches, and you learn awfully quickly that asides from pub food, or very expensive meals, the English people aren't really eating English food anyway. So I had a lot of Chinese / European / whatever food.

Missed:
my friends and wondered what they were up to.

Met:
Some new friends. Some grumpy strangers. A lot of future bankers.

Discovered that people line up in the rain outside Haagen Daaz so they can warm up from the cold with ......a very tall glass of ice cream. Cousin says this happens in winter too. Nutter people.

And, London has a huge international gathering of nutter Harry Potter fans.

And, I was cold throughout. In Oxford, Shu waltzed around in a single layer of clothing while I was bundled up, trailing behind, teeth audibly chattering, and demanding hot food.

Pics and long ass update up when I get my laptop back.

Written by lainie at 03:13 AM on July 25, 2007 in Daily Life, Home.

Took some online dating persona thing and ended up as a nurse.

I used to be RBLD, but I guess some things have changed. Then again, I could do this test tomorrow and probably get different results again.

====

Jetlag + PMS = Perpetually tired.

I wake up too late to buy groceries, even. Which sucks cause I want to eat vegetables...I want my mushrooms, and asparagus, and bacon, which is not a vegetable but let's ignore that.

Made simultaneous plans for dinner / post-dinner, got FFKed on them all (it's getting to the point where I make the plans and don't expect to see anyone), ended up going for dinner with Zalina, where she yelled a few times to the staff in Delicious Cafe that I was "bengkak".

I thought she was calling me swollen, but apparently it means stupid, or something. *shrug* I don't really know the slang words. Had pasta, shared dessert, made a little dent in Zal's pockets :D

Talked with Zal about musicals, and gay bars in London. That all the gay bars I went to were very male. Then she took me to Attic cause she wanted to talk to someone - we stumbled upon lesbian night. And I thought I'd just walked into a really lesbian bar with nice paintings.......

I met some women, one of them saw the Gormley exhibition too, accidentally broke a glass, talked with Rach on the phone (asked her to call me cause we had some stuff to iron out, and to arrange for her to get her darling SLR back from me), did I say I met some people?, saw my friend's relative, declared myself "gay enough", Zal played the piano and sang a song, I owe someone a drink if I cannot pronounce her name the next time I meet her drunk.

Went to pick Zal's friend up. Squished my boobs into her back but she said my bra was too good and she couldn't feel it so I somewhat boobslammed her, and pretty much regretted it because they hurt like hell - eventually was dropped off home with coke, wacky chicken funkees, and allergies from perfume.

Look, I could pretend I'm drinking wine at home, or I could admit it's junk food and sniffly nose and at least I don'tcomplainaboutbeingsingle(much).

=====

I gave Zedeck the present I got him from London - a fly swatter. I saw it, tested it out, and was so strongly reminded of him I just had to.

"What am I supposed to do with it"
"I don't know, kill flies?"

He accused me of passing stuff from the dollar store off as gifts I don't think I saw any dollar (£?) stores in London, but heck. Also got him a Spamalot poster.

I mean, what did he expect, a "My housemate went to London and all I got was a Flyswatter" tshirt? Tch, Zedeck Siew.

At least I can get you the actual flyswatter, as opposed to getting you some sand I dug out of the neighbour's garden along with some cat poo and going "Here, something from London!"

:D I somewhat marvel at that idea myself. Dammit, should have given it a go, brought a mini spade and several baggies to London.

Yknow, I was so groggy when I exited KLIA, I have no idea where the customs is. I collected my bags, saw the exit and.......exited. Where is the customs anyway? Airports and I never get along.

I'm gonna try to get some sleep now. Bah.

Written by lainie at 01:03 AM on July 27, 2007 in work?, Daily Life, Friends, Home.

Had dinner witih Josie and Rach last night - as we were dropping Josie home, I confidently declared she had changed homes. Of course, I was wrong.

Rach dropped me off at Attic again, cause Zal was performing and I wanted to watch it. Got a Moonflower cocktail - drinks are expensive there, heck, but I really like the place.

Invited Lola over, and she (to my surprise) agreed. She also banned me from quoting any of the silly things she said, which leaves little else to report except that yes, she's still capable of speech.

No sense discouraging her from coming out more (no pun intended, swear).

Met some friends, saw the Mindvalley group there (Tim said I was always at events, but that observation only works because he's present to make them ). Met a DJ from Indonesia, touring KL. Lola told me to show the girl where to find yummy chicken wings, so I handed over my number.

Came home, was about to cook dinner / supper when Zal swung by with Janet and brought us out for McDonalds. Yay.

After supper, I was sitting on the outer part of my balcony, drinking Bailey's and reading a poetry book I bought in London under the moonlight. I like reading in dim lighting, might explain the remarkably horrible eyesight.

Later, while trying to climb back inside, instead of going over, I kicked the balustrade and nearly propelled myself down to a quick hello on the porch. My thoughts as I lurched back towards safety - Holy shit the boys are asleep I'll look ridiculous if they find me this way in the morning. Yknow, it's like my ego comes out when I'm tipsy.

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Today: Went to aunt's place, FINALLY got my laptop. No posts of London photos yet, I have some work deadlines I want to meet first.

Cooked Zedeck some food - he requested "healthy", I said no guarantees for anything beyond chewability. Ie: I will cut everything bite-sized, and put it on the pan, the rest is up to luck.

Worked, worked...worked. Met Farid for dinner (since we were supposed to meet up the night before, for Mr Teh's exhibition, but couldn't make it). Didn't meet Tei as suggested, but briefly saw the Scrabble Night friends, and discussed leprechauns (Farid did a dance).

He also told me I am to be interviewed tomorrow, and he'll film it. I agreed, referred to him as "master", and sent him on an unhealthy power trip. This is not the cue for certain other people to start complaining about partial treatment.

Got to the train station.

It was close to midnight, so I took the longer, relatively brightly lit way while walking back home from the station - was followed for a while by some potbellied dude on a motorcycle (WJG 7427 - back license plate with "W" missing). The first time he harassed me a while, riding in circles and talking to me - it didn't work and he went away, waited further up ahead at the road.

Then he harassed me again (I'm speaking generally because I didn't understand most of what he was saying beyond "amoi*" and "tiu"), then eventually left. I didn't see any police scout cars around........... as usual .........so I came home, called the nearby police station, and informed them there is possibly a prowler with that license plate number around.

If they don't follow up on it then....well. I hope they do.

*girl, right?

Am okay, not particularly fussed. I've had way worse creeps follow me, which is not to say this couldn't have turned out bad....I'm just so...Immune...to this type of incidents I get exasperated more than anything else.

====

Journalist friend asking if I'd do an interview, answer some questions related to Merdeka, conversation went something like this:

Friend: It's okay, you don't have to worry about having to sound patriotic, just answer!
Lainie: But...I'm quite patriotic what...
Friend: Really? You are? ---- sounding way too surprised -_-"
Lainie: Uh....Well yeah, I like Malaysia a lot.

[ Pause ]

Lainie: I'm just not very fond of the government.
Friend: Ah...

Heck, don't gotta like the politicians to be patriotic, yknow?

Actually..... Depending on who our next PM is, against job opportunites, there is a chance I might seriously consider jumping ship. Much love from a safer distance, and all that. Does that minus some points?

====

Right. Work. And sorting out email, almost 900 unread, and I know there are at least 3 deadlines buried in there. Fuck. Luckily can search in Gmail. -_-".

Work!

Written by lainie at 03:50 AM on July 27, 2007 in Links / Email.

Did any of you guys (excluding my housemate, Zedeck, who would hardly post a reply here anyway) know that Kakiseni has a forum? Only five topics so far, but one interesting column:

Questions for Experts: Young people in the arts ask ... national poet A. Samad Said

Questions for Experts. Sounds like a good idea. It still looks like a baby forum right now. Just thought some of you out there might be interested in participating.

Right. Back to work, distractions, tch.

Written by lainie at 03:35 AM on July 29, 2007.

Was at Bernice's place yesterday with Farid, who wanted to cast her daughter for a film he's shooting, and to interview her for a documentary he's working on. I like her home, it's................homey. And she has good coffee there. And chocolates. And her daughter has a cute hamster called Fluffy.

Helped her update her blog with some photographs of musicians and her travels in Italy.

Sat on the balcony for a while, sorting out some stuff, then went to Loft at night. Was supposed to show this Indonesian tourist, Kiara, around, but we didn't meet in the end. It was okay though, because quite a lot of people were there, including Winnie, Meesh and Zedeck - they showed up later. Also saw Smile, Bee, Tei and Tim.

Tried to get Tim into Loft, but the first thing he did was tell the doorbitch he's underaged -___-". Let's try this again - Tim, how old are you?

Loft was so packed they stopped allowing entry after a while. Went to Velvet for a while, I haven't been there in a long time. By virtue of playing Nirvana and having an easier to handle crowd (much roomier there) it was actually better than Loft.

Two friends stayed over at our place after that, and Zedeck actually cooked instant noodles for them. Fed them some Baileys and they eventually went off to sleep.

=====

Tea in the morning, tea in the afternoon, Baileys in the evening, Baileys at night.

Gave Jemufo a "Feminists are cute" badge I found in London.

Watched Menopause the Musical in Putrajaya with some Scrabble Night mates because I was given free tickets to the show. I've watched this before, I preferred the one I saw in BSC. Putrajaya is so far out of the way, I don't foresee myself paying expensive ticket prices to watch a show unless I expect it to be stellar.

Went for mamak with one of the Scrabble friends after, talking about relationships. She made an accurate observation through my blog that somewhat surprised me, not because it was a secret, but because I had not realised (at all) that I phrased some things so obviously - maybe she's just superperceptive. Then she came over for a while to have a drink, because she likes Baileys too. She left, after making plans for our next Scrabble night with Jemufo.

I continued the drinking, watched adverts, Bernice came over at about 3am from Rimbun Dahan to hang out for a while. She looked at Zedeck and me, giggled a lot at Idon'tknowwhat but I presume I was partial source of the humour.

Bernice invited us to WOMAD in Singapore, she wants to see Sheila Chandra and Youssou N'Dour. It's pricey though. Le ouch.

Zheng is back from France / Germany. Came home dressed all swanky cause he was at some dance event. Two of the Hwa cousins are over. Interesting family, that.

Getting a bit tipsy, but hey. Gonna sleep soon, I guess. I'm falling sick, I tthink. Lack of sleep, possibly should cut down on the drink, and is there a bug going about?

I can barely breathe.

Written by lainie at 03:55 AM on July 30, 2007 in Daily Life, Links / Email, Home.

I'm typing now cause I can't use the internet, and I can't do much else because I'm running a heavy duty app in the background, and it....crashes...at slight aggravations.

====

Fell asleep drunk. Woke up wondering if I was drunk (I had my spectacles on skewed, so vision was trippy when I woke up).

Went through some of my London photos. Found some recordings I didn't recall doing with the camera, but have since found / developed memories for.

While doing my various duties as typing monkey, on my laptop (now in living room because my desk is overrun with luggage and laundry), a group of.... concerned citizens.... visited us in the evening, invited by Jerng.

I wasn't part of the discussion, since I have some work I want to clear before Monday, in case I have to get interviewed by Farid - however, I do think I heard some snippets concerning harnessing communication tools and CMSes and user generated info. My ears are all stuffy so I'm even worse than usual at listening right now.

Snuck into Zed's room for a while to drink some Baileys. Came out and sat with them for a while. I only know two of the visitors, the others were, I guess....webgeeks and lawyerly personalities. Not to say the two I know aren't geeks either. Hmm.

Went out at night to watch The Simpsons movie...It's awesome. It's so funny, and I love comedies and cartoons so what the hey. You'll come home with stupid songs stuck in your head, after having laughed a lot. It's a good way to spend the night

Friends dropped me off home after I unsuccessfully tried to get a cab. Apparently I looked like a cabbie would assrape me. Was told that there are some videos from Nat Tan's detention under OSA online, so I looked it up.

It's kinda strange, watching a video Jerng recorded of some activists camping out and having a solidarity party - with snarky commentary. Jerng's behind me, so that pretty much

The video is here: Nat's Night 1

Literally, the god of the voice of god is sitting behind me, so I hear him twice.

You can hear him laughing at the photographers telling people "Jangan senyum! Marah marah marah! Gerammmm!". You can't hear me do the same, but I did.

Nathaniel gets called Saudara Natalie............. hee hee. S'okay, I get called Leonard.

Zedeck is grumpy about the internet connection being down, I reckon he needs it for work..and more. Jemufo is upstairs in her room playing the guitar and singing. Jerng and I are sitting in the living room, dim lighting, using our laptops.

-----

Jemufo joined Jerng and me downstairs and is sitting beside me now, both of us with laptops propped on our door-table.

Zedeck came out and observed that we were all hard at work.

I told him I was discussing duck rice with Lola.

He went back in, after saying that at least we appeared to be hard at work.

London photos coming soon.

I'm eating pork I fried that may have gone bad but I genuinely can't tell because I can't smell anything. Jemufo held up a rotten egg to my face last night and I couldn't even smell any of the pong.

Written by lainie at 06:06 AM on July 30, 2007 in Holidays / Road Trip.

From first three days of the holiday in London:


On the escalator in the tube station, a place I will return to every frickin day.
(Many more photographs to faff time away)
Photographs by me unless my face is in 'em, then they're by Debbie.

And I just remembered that Rach told me someone we know, Kim Ong, made it through to StarCelebs. Same school in Ipoh and all that. Josie, I think the Bodyshop discount deals there ngam you very much.

Written by lainie at 03:49 PM on July 30, 2007 in Links / Email.

I looked at the sky when I woke up today and thought "Hmm. Apt."

Anyhow, check out what I've been getting in my email inbox:

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Egypt's Grand Mufti Says Muslims Can Change Faith; 'No Compulsion' In Islam
July 25, 2007 10:52 p.m. EST

Manar Ammar - AHN

Cairo, Egypt (AHN) - Ali Gomaa, Egypt's highest religious adviser said
Tuesday that Muslims have the right to change their religion, adding that
only God can judge them on Judgment Day. Gomaa also discussed women's rights and the meaning of jihad in Islam.

"The essential question before us is can a person who is Muslim choose a religion other than Islam? The answer is yes, they can, because the Qur'an says, 'Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion,' and, 'Whosoever will, let him believe, and whosoever will, let him disbelieve,' and, 'There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is distinct from error', "the grand mufti said in a posting on a Washington Post-Newsweek forum entitled On Faith.

The statement came a few weeks after an Egyptian court ruled that Copts who converted to Islam and wish to return to their original faith would not be allowed to state so on their official identification papers and would remain Muslims on paper. The case is being appealed.

Gomaa also spoke about the true meaning of jihad in Islam, saying that there are different types of jihad, quoting the Prophet Mohamed that the grand jihad is between one and himself, the jihad of the soul.

"Here the term jihad refers to the spiritual exercise of opposing the lower
self. This is referred to as the greater jihad since people spend their
entire lives struggling against the base desires within them that can harm both themselves and those around them," he added.

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I wonder what he said about women?