Ahh... Wine

I've been living the high lifestyle lately!

SLAP! #$%^&* PUNCH! *&^%$# KNOCK! #$#%^ *Ouch!*

Ok, now that I'm back to reality, I've really been living on bread and water. But I'm also keeping it healthy; and as they say, a glass of wine a day keeps the doc at bay. Yes, even though not having a job and not to mention even getting paid for helping my professor in research just because of my stupid interest in the research, I did have a few loose change saved up to splurge on Wine!

I went to Bar Barry's in West Lafayette on Wednesday (10% discount on Wednesday Wine ~woohoo~) and got myself some wine. Of course, not being well informed about wine tasting, my research on wine was mainly from magazines. So I got myself a bottle of Glen Ellen's 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon (a Californian wine) for $6.99. Glen Ellen because it was a familiar brand I had good experiences with (Su, Chia, remember?!) and 2002 because it was supposedly a good harvest year for Californian wines.

The verdict, smoothe, flavorful, wondeful!


At the same time, I was eyeing another bottle with a labelled "Award Winner". It was another 2002 Californian wine and being a sucker for commercial marketing, I bought it at $11.99 minus 10% Wednesday wine sale.
Verdict: REALLY GOOD... excellent in fact!!!
It was much smoother and has a very distinct fruity after-taste!

Maybe its because I'm a beginner therefore smoothe wines feel good to me as I've not acquired the taste for bolder wines. I've also learnt to eat pepperoni before drinking the wine to appreciate it! The spice in pepperoni lowers the bold taste of wine which makes it smoother to swallow yet enhances the after-taste.

If you have any wine tasting, buying, choosing or bargain tips, drop me a comment!

Keep Your Shirt On

Funny Story; it seems that the UK wants to pass a legislation for MEN to keep their shirts on! Yes, it seems that baring that fugly belly and disgusting droopy man-boobs is a threat to the eye's view. Read all about it here.

I know, I know... if it is only appropriate for women to leave their shirts on (or not) so it is only lawful that men too, leave their shirts on.






Can I say anything more than support this legislation after looking at this pic?!?!?!?!?!?!?! **runs to bathroom and puke**

Ok Go!

It seems like there is a dancing cult that is turning into a folk dance all over the world!

It is called 'Ok Go' dance and the following video shows the original dancers. It is pretty awesome; fun, interesting, catchy and more importantly... do-able!

It has been mimicked by people all over the world, and even YouTube organized a competition for people to post their 'ok go' dances and see who can do it best!

Enjoy~

Addiction

Confession: Now I know what it is like. The constant uneasiness, being fidgety without it, and the crave for more. You can't sleep as you think about it and it is your main source of pleasure as your eyes roll up and your head nods continuously to any audio or visually stimulating colors and sound.

Ok, maybe the last part is abit exaggerated, but NO, I'm not taking drugs! In fact I've been addicted to the action series '24' and have been feeling all the symptoms of addiction as I continuously glue my eyes to the screen with intense concentration, waiting to know who betrayed who and what is going to happen next.



I didn't manage to watch the first season of the series as I couldn't find it anywhere. But I just finished season 2 and I thought it was the best series that got my attention so wildly. '24' is about the action scenes within the US government from secret agents to counter terrorist units that focus on, well, terrorists (foreign and domestic) that try to create chaos. The president of the US is surrounded by the most intelligent and resourceful body's like the CIA and military, only to be betrayed by them one after the other. But you see, that's not why it becomes so addictive. '24' is portrayed in REAL TIME! That means, it takes 1 hour for one episode, which depicts all the events that takes place in that hour! The next episode will feature events for the next hour and so on. Hence the name of the series, '24' as there are 24 episodes in one season, depicting all 24 hours of the day. And you'll be amazed how much can happen in a single day, not to mention within one hour!


Time management at its finest! I can't wait until I get to watch the third season. By the way, it took me 3 days to watch all the events that happened in one day... get it?!

UPM squabble

It is quite amazing how the chinese newspapers in Malaysia have the dirt on everything and published so freely. How I wish I could read chinese!

This time, a dicipline case in University Putera Malaysia (UPM) has raised media attention and mine.

You see, apparently politics are actually quite active in the university scene in the local universities. These students form their own councils that back up parties of the government.

Watch this video first...



In the video, the group of bullies making a ruckus (malays) are part of the 'Aspiration Group' who are pro-government. The victims, comprising of a minority chinese are part of the 'Student Progressive Front' that backs 'Keadilan' another political party but not in control; 'Barisan Nasional' is the current ruling party. The whole incident can be read following this link and my remaining post will focus on my opinion. It will be harshfully truthful and could sound racist, but it is an opinion backed by known facts (although not presented), so LEAVE if you don't have the guts and an open mind.


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First of all, I am sad to see the mental state of these bullies, especially when they're malays. I say it because the predominantly malay comprised government has worked so hard to support them by giving them special incentives for everything. From education to business to politics! It wants the malays to keep up with the predominantly chinese that controls the economy, thus have an edge in standard of living and civility in society. All for one, but never really one for all for these malays (what a bunch of wussies!). They attack in groups as seen in this video and also in the parliment (I couldn't find the video). And because of this bunch of twerps uniting, they act their twerpish ways. It is a BLESSING that this incident was caught on tape!

Ok, the malays now have all the help and backup all the way to the government, but when can they stand on their own? How are Malaysians going to be productive and more importantly competitive if this keeps up? We are looking at the risk of a falling society because what one thinks could be helpful is slowly going to backfire; heard of 'Spare the rod and you'll spoil the child'?

Ugh, I don't know what to say anymore, just watching that kind of monkey behavior (LITERALLY), saddens me.

I know it is a sad fact for the minorities to see unequal treatment by the government, not towards the poor and wealthy, the sick and healthy, nor the abled and disabled; but towards color of the skin! No doubt, it is a prevailing matter faced by governments all over the world.
But we could be better.

I conclude this with a message sent not to insinuate anger towards the government, nor to throw hate towards any race, nor uncontentment towards my country (maybe the government). I have many splendid malay friends here at Purdue I'm proud of because they made it this far. I still love Malaysia however I may sound because it is where I was born and raised. When people are channeling their grouses into hate and anger, I channel it towards an emotion of sadness, and the motivation to do my small part by doing what I can to portray a good image not only to myself, but also my country. I just wonder why people can't channel their emotions to positive motivation. Isn't this the best thing to do to maintain peace and harmony?






These are just cartoon stamps. Why just cartoon when it could be real?

All in a day's work

What a day! I had a phone interview in the morning; which means I need to wake up early to prepare for it. It went pretty well, except that I wished I didn't say a few things shouldn't be said. But that's normal I guess, and I hope the employer will take that as honesty and give me an advantage.

Wen't for my research meeting only to be told why I didn't do some parts of the project in the presentations and collection of data. *bummer*
I didn't know what to say except to agree with the professor. Even though I'm not getting paid and they should thank me for being so dedicated, I feel that every time I meet the professors I learn something new. It's not exciting and its not fun, but it is something I need to know in the real world. I need someone to knock some sense into me as I feel very meat-headed most of the times.

My iPod broke!!! Stupid iPod! I never really had a smooth experience ever since I got my iPod. The whole system is really lousy and the only reason why I got it (for free anyway) is because of its design and the compatibility to many other products. But that is as much as the iPod can function and in my opinion is an overated stylish product.

My OPT card has not arrived and I've been waiting for a billion years! I can't get paid or find a job if I don't get it sooner or later!

Chatted with Beth Shimkat after almost 1 year, my good ol' EE360 partner on MSN today. Missed her a bunch as she was always listening to my ramblings until I resorted to blogging my thoughts over here. *hehe*

AirAsia just bought another 40 Airbus A320 with an option for 30 more at the Farnborough Air Fair. This brings their purchase of this aircraft to 100 units with 7 of them already delivered, and 1-2 delivery(s) every month! AirAsia also plans to fly to southern China.
AirAsia, now everyone can fly!

Received approval for many of the rebates I submitted, therefore my financial stability is starting to get on-track. I have been transferring funds from bank to bank to take advantage of the best interest rates, and with the interests earned, it helps pay the bills!

I've been a mouse-potato (we have couch-potatoes and mouse-potatoes, didn't you know?!) and working out by jogging, swimming and sometimes going to the gym has made me feel more alive because of activity, and dead due to exhaustion. A double edged sword!

Forgive my rantings today, but I just needed to share my day with you.

Movie Catch-up

This week has been especially boring for me... yet, I can say that I did manage to accomplish quite a bit. With all the extra time, it gave me a chance to catch up on some movies.

These are the shows I watched over the past few weeks and the rankings I gave:

Exorcism of Emily Rose



Batman Begins



Star Wars 3



Rain Man



Kiss Kiss Bang Bang



Having Fun With Dick and Jane



Meet the Fockers



Lord of War



Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift



Pirates of the Caribean: Dead Man's Chest



Can you imagine how backward I am with the movies??? Come on, Rain Man??? That was like a billion years ago! I come to think that I need to watch more movies as all these movies intrigued me in one way or another. Being busy in the semesters kept me from taking too much attention of the latest movies unlike when I was back in Malaysia, I would go to the theaters within the month of a new movie release!

So what do you think? Is there a movie that I'm missing? Do suggest a movie for me to watch to keep my brain from rotting due to insufficient activity!


Cheers~

Mermaids: Real or Hoax

It is quite taboo when we talk about the existance of unearthly creatures like ghosts, spirits and aliens or the supernatural. However, when proof is provided in front of your eyes, you sometimes fall into confusion as to whether you want to believe it or not.

A recent exhibition theming Ghosts and the Mysterious was held in Shah Alam Museum in Malaysia. The main feature was actually a mummified mermaid, claimed to be the real deal!


I was a bit overwhelmed when I saw that picture; so I did some research on it. It was claimed that the mermaid was verified to have human DNA and the tail has fish DNA. How could they fuse? I'm no chemist or biologist, but wouldn't the fusion of two DNAs produce another unique DNA of the overall creature?

There are hoaxes in history and the closest that I could find is the Fiji Mermaid. Click on the link to find out more. The main exposure to this possible hoax is that the two body parts have been stitched together using papier-mâché by a skilled Indonesian craftsman. The upper body was an orangutan and the tail of fish. Since the exhibit featured a small mermaid, it is very likely that the founder of the exhibit found this "skilled Indonesian craftsman" and revived the media hoo-hah of the Fiji Mermaid.

All in all, I think the exhibition lets our imagination go wild which is good, but the impact on society to believe such things is quite ridiculous. If these findings are valid, why doesn't it get international attention? I know why. And it could be highly likely that these exhibitions have been emulated all over the world but telling audiences the truth that they are fake. If the museum authorities knew about the authenticity of these exhibits as scams, shame on them to commercialize by challenging people's perceptions on the supernatural.

Friday's Dinner: Again, chicken prawns and some leftovers.

Update

It's been a week since my last entry... Not that I'm busy or anything, but the past week has been slow and sluggish for me. Worries start to loom as my status of being unemployed is starting to hit me. I take this as a good sign as I am no logger in the celebration mood after graduation, and begin my next phase in life.

Nothing much to say except a few opinions here and there from news the past week:

1. Protectionisme for Malaysia Airlines (MAS) really is neccessary by the Malaysian government even though it is not fair competition for AirAsia as the national carrier struggles to return to profits. It is in the national interest that MAS get all the help it needs in struggling times. That being said, I would like to stress it is neccessary to be helped DURING STRUGGLING TIMES. It is just inevitable...

2. Bullet train from KL to Singapore in 90 minutes. This is just a dream! What makes it a dream is going to be the Singapore government's protectionisme for its baby, Singapore Airlines and overall cash rich Temasek Holdings. On another note, they plan to use the existing ERL line and technology for this high speed train. It takes 30 minutes to reach KLIA from KL Setral, Singapore is easily more than 10 times the distance. Tell me how do you reach Singapore in 90 minutes???

3. E85 fuel costs more than regular unleaded! While I commend steps taken to reduce fuel burning emissions, it all boils down to the price tag of this biofuel. Nevertheless, it is a first step and everyone should support it and it is good to know the Bush administration's support for reusable energy is one of the few policies they've done right!

There's a few more issues I have opinions of but these are the ones on top of my head right now. I should have a notebook and jot down my opinions whenever it props up next time.

Past Week's Dinner

Baked chiken thighs: Tasteful to the bone, but fatty...














Chicken Breast: Delicious and healthy















Curry Chicken: Totally Marvelous!















Baked Rice under Campbell Soup: And you thought that was cheese??? Its Campbell soup! Mmm-mmm.....

Birthday Bash 2006 for Jin @ The Headquarters!

We celebrated Jin's birthday on Friday which was a great opportunity to start back the Friday night glories at The Headquarters. Oh, by the way, The Headquarters is located at the following address:

207 West Fowler Ave.
Apt 1
West Lafayette, IN 47906.

It is open on most weekday evenings and special occasions. Expected close/relocation of business is in August 2006. Reservations only!!! hehe...

Anyway, it has been a long time since anything happened here besides the daily dinners but since graduation, and the beginning of summer, it is time we go all out... somewhat...

The video says it all and comment on it as this is my second time editing a video. It is 4.7MB large so be patient...



For those who want pictures and video from the event as presented in the video, email me and I'll send it to you.

Tonight's Dinner: Stir-fried Bak-Choy and Baked Chicken