Back from Penang, the eat-a-lot island

As I have posted in yesterday, I just came back from this island which is known as a eating haven. What do you do when you are there? Eat of course. Whatever is your cup of tea, you name it, you will find it in Penang. You can get anything in Penang and then those same food can be found in a lot of shops in other part of Malaysia. There are nearly 4 or 5 franchises which were built on the culinary experience you get from Penang. Heck, I think (which a lot of people can of course disagree) if not for Penang food, the kopitiam or cafe culture of Malaysia would be very boring.

A normal kopitiam would have bread, toasted or steamed accordingly to make healthy snacks, served with Malaysian coffee. You can dip or dunk the bread in the coffee. You can eat the bread with butter,  a concoction made from coconut called kaya or both. That is basically what kopitiam is. For a cafe culture which can be found in Europe or the western culture, I bet that would have been enough. When it comes to Malaysia, we need food which can make us so famish that we nearly puke (of being full, not of the food).

In came Penang food. They have this concoction called laksa which is noodles with gravy. The noodle itself is unique. There are the rojak or pasembur. There are the prawn mee, which as you guess it, noodles with big fat prawns as the main ingredient. All these are the food which make kopitiam culture an enriching experience.

So, thank you Penang for the food and for the inches that you add to my already expanded waistline. 

 

The prawn mee. Again, nyums...

This is what I call seafood...

Just came back from Penang which is a seafood heaven and was looking for it yesterday night. I asked myt friend who was a native there and he directed me to a place just 10 miles from my hotel, which is not on the beach at all but is near the place where I was to moderate an event. It was a place where the fishermen bring down their catch. So, the seafood is always fresh. The place is call Teluk Tempoyak, at the very end of an inustrial area.

Here are some sample :

 

We picked a few kilograms of prawns, cuttlefishes and fishes. Asked them to be cooked accordingly and we actually finished it all. Except for one fish, which we took home to be eaten this morning as breakfast. It was heavenly fresh and we gained nearly 5 kilograms each after the meal...

The cooked dishes :

 

  

All I can is that :

NYUMS!!!

Eating out

"What to eat?"

That is usually the first thing that comes into a conversation when a couple decides to eat out. Either it is just the two of you or with group of friends. This will be the ultimate question when people go on outings. In Malaysia, this is not a problem but locality usually plays a part as where you will end up.

In Malaysia, we still have places which charge a fraction of what you pay in a restaurants. I usually eat at this place near my house when we are both too lazy to cook. Usually it is more if my wife is too lazy to cook. Sometimes we ate simple thing like sandwiches or anything which can be fried in a jiffy.

But, sometimes arguments do erupt about what to eat. Like any other couple...

 

 Some local fares

 

or Western delight

Immersing yourself in your spouse's hobby

I love football. The English Premier League kind. Not the American kind. This is something my wife does not share. Unlike reading which both of us enjoy. Immensely that we can argue over who gets to read first the new book we bought. Nowadays, as I am quite busy, she has first dip on all the new book except if we go away somewhere then it is fair game.

Another of my current hobby is blogging. Which has grown to another monster on its own. Maybe one day Stephen King will make a horror story out of it. There was this one TV movie in the local station in which blogging became a subject matter which I think has approached the subject more on the romantic side. After all the title was a giveaway. "Blogger Boys" it was called. In a few years or months, the Thailand filmaker will surely has one of their idea about how blogging can be a horror story. They already did a turn on handphone, cameras and even eyes. 

Anyway, this post is more about the issue of loving or at least understanding your spouse's or partner's hobby. Be it taking pictures. Watching football or some who go the distance and go watch LIVE game, live. Theater. Writings. Travelling. And then some. I mean, there are so many weird hobbies around the world that what I have mentioned are just the 'normal' ones. 

But (of course there is a but) if you are obsess with a hobby, chances are there will always be conflict between you wanting to an activity which you have to concentrate on your hobby and what your spouse would want to do. 

Unless it is like something called movie watching, which most can enjoy together. Except for horror movie, which I have not watch in movie theater for quite sometimes as my wife does not like it. But if it was movie like Transformers or Terminators, then she was as eager as me.

 

A hobby most couple can share

Another King dies!!!

Was surprised when reading the twitter news today and saw that the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, is dead at the age of 50. After hearing a few Hollywood legends, kind of, like Ed McMahon and Farah Fawcett have died a few days ago, this one is shocking due to his health which was not deterioting or anything.

Just that all his album, whatever people say about his weirdness is a kind of my own personal history. Thriller, Bad, HiStory etc have impacted my musical journey one way or another. How about those movie music video? How can one forgets?

Anyway, this is a short note and just to say :


REST IN PEACE. 

MICHAEL JACKSON, THE KING OF POP, WACKO JACKO, SON, FATHER, AND ALL THE NAME YOU EVER KNOWN.

p/s - as a Muslim, if it was through you embraced Islam, hope you will be put to ground properly... 

"More chicks than Kentucky"

That is supposed to be a kind of one-upmanship prank, heard in a morning show of a local radio. It was a prank call, in which the prankster called the victim and asked him whether he is dating this one girl. The prankster is supposed to be the rival lover and was egging the guy. As the victim was a very ghetto type of guy who deemed himself a tough guy, he used street slang to make his stand.

In one part he was off like in a rant of 100 words per minute and in one part of it, just to show that he did not really care for the girl, he said this...

I have more chicks than Kentucky..." in reference to Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC as it is known here. 

And I think that was the classic part. And as the prank was the first ever prank by that radio station, it was a classic and every time there was a flashback on how they started this prank which the call "Gotcha!", it just cracks me up. 

That guy is one motormouth...They should make a song out of that word. Maybe Snoop will think of one.

Hey, EC dropper! Have you adgitize?

Yes, you, who are dropping cards on this blog and my other blog, Legal Cat-asthrophe have you done it yet? Throwing two birds with one stone? Dropping under Entrecard AND getting paid under Adgitize? There are a lot of blogs which explained what is Entrecard (here is one example - Cornys Moneypage) and what is Adgitize (Entreblast) . As I might as well give my 2 sen (cent in Malaysia) of what both aggregators and internet earners website entails.

They both use the concept of dropping as the basis of meeting others and knowing each other blog within the network. The concept is for you to register as a member, put on a widget, which is generated through the normal HTML generator and through this 125 x 125 widget, people who has the same account and widget installed will know that you are a member of the same network.

For Entrecard, or EC as the members called them, there is only one widget, albeit of different size and type, for one to see. Which means that at any one time, the other member's widget which is shown at your site is one. You gain credit as you go to other side and click on the place which says the word DROP exactly under the widget or by the side, according to the one you installed on your blog or website. When you do this, the word DROP will change to Thanks for the first 50 blogs you dropped; Go! Go! for the second 50 and so on. The nirvana for the day is Awesome!. It limits the drop to 300 per site that you registered. That is the limit. 

You can only do 300 drops per day. So, you considered have visited 300 sites per day per Entrecard that you have. How you earn is when you drop, you get 1 credit and if people drop on your card, you gain another point. So, you can gain between 300 credits for dropping and more if you are popular enough, which usually comes if you are a consistent 300 drops per day dropper. You can cashout your credits for the price of USD1 for each 1000 credits but up until now I have not seen my money yet though I have nearly 12,000 cashout credits.

I bet all the Entrecarders are already bored up to this part. What all this have to do with Adgitize? Well, here is where you gain your money. With Adgitize, you can cashout fast, if you invest a little. The initial investment needs to be USD$14.00 and then you will gain nearly USD$3 to USD$4 over time. It will take the same devotion as you do with Entrecard and you will can do both dropping at the same time. And the best thing is, you don't have to request for the money.

It may seems easy but you still have to visit other sites. Your drop will be counted when you click on the word ADGITZE just under the widget or the widget itself. However, the widget can be long or full of nearly 9 widgets. Which means that there can be more than one website it leads to. However, your drop will count as one from any one you clicked. The most you need to do is 100 to gain a 100 points. If you advertise, with the choice of as less as 7 days to 31 days, you only need to click 51 widgets.

And again, best of all, there is no need top request for payment, especially if you have PayPal.

So, what are you waiting for, click on either the Entrecard widget or the Adgitize widget from my site and join!!!! And if you have, advertise...

No investment comes for free.

Bumblebee himself deliver me the Transformers tickets

I woke up yesterday morning and found this :

 

Bumblebee himself delivered me the tickets for Transformers 2. It was given by my better half and she gave me a surprise as I was trying to get tickets through contests but failed. It is not about FREE tickets but more about to watch it as early as possible.

She bought the tickets last week and this week I heard that most cinemas already sold out their tickets for Transformers 2. Wow! That is a first. To those who still cannot get tickets, go to the lesser known one like in Summit USJ or Puchong IOI Mall.

Anyway, when I have finished playing with it (it speaks!!!), look who decide to investigate whether  Bumblebee want to play with her :

THANKS LOVE!

Not all hotel groups are created the same

Have you ever travel and want to experience a simple 'hotel' room which you can just come in to sleep while spending the rest of the day in the city that you have been saving money, a lot of it, to go to. It happened to me when I was travelling to the City of Love, Paris. What I wanted to do when I arrived in Paris at 10pm at night is to get to that symbol for lovers the world over and we just couldn't wait to go to our hotel and then come out again. We made a bee line to the Eiffel Tower and took a picture some 30 meters away to get a picture of Eiffel Tower with the sign trying to promote their bid for Olympic 2012 (which they lost to London) and looking resplendent as ever. It was freezing that night as it was raining but it was worth it.

Just imagine coming into the city during the early summer days and the prices for rooms started to inch up north at a price which you know if you spend it on hotel rooms, you can easily have to pay through your nose. I was not willing to do this and decided to tell my guide that. The guide is a Malaysian who lives in German and he was the one who suggested we take a hotel called Ibis just a bit outside the city but accessible by train. We drove into Paris in a car he owned which was a Mercedes 500SL but as it was hard to find parking, we went around Paris using the underground train.

As for our hotels, it was a simple accommodation which had everything that a person need but very sparse. This was the first time I ever stayed in a hotel by the Accor group of hotel. I was impressed as a seasoned traveller who had stayed in all sort of hotels (there was no Tune Hotels then in Malaysia) I did not know anything about no frill hotels at all. When you are at an expensive cities, it is good to have choices like that hotel.

After that one time, I stayed in a few of their properties among others in Jakarta and Medan. If I go to any one of these cities, I would use their property again without a doubt as their locations are also very near the city centres.

 

The hotel room doors which are open by entering a code which you get when you register

However, don't get me wrong, the Accor group of hotels offered full service hotels which serve the high end traveller or the normal traveller with all the frills that you can imagine. It was just that they cater to a few type of hotels and they have thought out quite a few options. In Malaysia, they have a few hotel and one of it is the Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside Hotel which has just opened. Why not try them on your next travel? They are having a sale now called Accor Hotels City Super Sale. This offer is limited for booking between now and 29th June for travel between July 10 to September 30.

A 'K'arnival which I wouldn't miss for the world

My wife and I usually tend to shun events which involve lots of people. We are our own event by doing things which rarely involve other people. If we do want people to join, it is on our own terms and it is usually a dinner event at our house. This event is intimate and we would have time to talk and catch up with friends. Even this dinner event is something we haven't done for quite sometimes.

Last Saturday, it was different. We joined this event called PJ Challenge Bloggers 'K'arnival in a mall called Jaya 33. We hate going to event where there are a lot of people. This one was the same. Too many people and as we were a bit late, we did not have anything to do. Our event was at 1pm and we had 3 hours to kill. We went around watching kids doing their colouring contest. There were those who were so serious that it looked like they do this professionally and there were those who did it for fun.

 

These guys were serious

We were bored actually by the time it was 11++am but was not willing to drive back to our house as that will be too far and take too much time. We nearly take a spa treatment but the place was full. In the end, we ended up having coffee at one of the outlet there. Then, at 12pm, the food was served and that was when it started to get interesting as most participants for the bloggers talk were trickling in.

Queuing for the food

Then, when we joined in the Blog 411 class, both of us looked at each other and our thought was, it was a great event as we managed to catch a few of the amzing bloggers around. If you had missed it, pray that they will do it again next year as I think events like this is important to the development of blogosphere in the long run in Malaysia.

Is it important to come?

Women have been doing it for so long that there is already a dissertation on the issue. Men seems to depend on it that they will be considered as a failure or a freak even if they do not do it every time they have sex. Yes, it is about the issue of that final act which happens when you have sex. For men, at least. For the women, the end is when the men get off of them. And the women might not even near getting it off. It is call orgasm and to the women, some call it elusive. Some even swear by it and rate their lover according to their capability to get them there.

So, why is it so important? Scientifically, there are a lot of doctors nowadays who talk and write about it. They have explained and give term such as G-spot to let people find it and experience it. Most concentrate on the women as finding them is like finding the holy grail. How about the men?

Tantric sex is said to be the best sex that a man can have as they can stay within the state of not coming for hours and hours. They will experience it gradually and as the pressure increase, they will ultimately come in an intense explosion of orgasmic heaven (is there such a thing?)

The question is, would a man feel any better if they did not come when they have sex with a woman? And do all men capable of doing this? And yes, I know, usually after coming once, doing it again, you may not come again after a while. Heck, it is hard enough getting 'hard' (pun intended) or why not just sing "Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stone, if it ever happens to you.

In the middle of Kuala Lumpur

Just some more pictures from my night at the Ritz last week, which you can read here. Here is Kuala Lumpur (K.L. to the locals) at night at one of its famous tourist spot which is full of shopping centres, hotels and restaurants.

 

 A bustling place of gastronomic experience

  

 A new hotel which was an office building once. Yet to stay here

  

 A favourite place for sisha

  

 A middle-eastern restaurant franchise

  

A middle eastern bank (yes, bank) owns this mall

And yes, we tend to cater to middle eastern more nowadays along with the usual westerners and Chinese...

How any more eclectic can we be?

Flatulence

One of the joke that gets really old when a couple starts to live together and share the same bed is when the man love to just let it go without a care in the world for the person beside him. Usually, it is the man in the relationship, or those who wants to be a man in the same sex relationship. Disregard for the contamination of the air within a confined area is the first thing that man regards as his 'mark' on his domination over his woman.

You do know that flatulence itself is a fart in layman term, right? That act of adolescent glee which the male of the species love to  This is especially true when they grows up among fraternities which are full of boys. I know of a few of my friends whose sport every morning. I mean, every damn morning, they will race up the stairs to our lecture hall and whoever reach the top will fart down on the others. I mean, this was during college. Just imagine when they were in school.

When you are married, when you spend nearly hours in bed with the same person and seen them doing things that you can only imagine when you were still young, this part of you who had been 'trained' to not feel any shame in just farting in whatever direction. Including if that was your face in the way. Then, smile as if it was really a joke...

Consider it as a marriage hazard, if you must...

'Departures' can make you fly

It was a last minute decision to join a friend to see a Japanese art-house movie called Departures. Thanks to the power of Twitter, which you can follow me thorugh the button to the right of this blog, I have managed to get an invite from a fellow blogger on my updates when I saw him inviting anyone who was interested to see the movie. He stated in his update to be at this place which is an upscale movie theater for 'dinner and movie'. I thought it was just an impromptu gathering. I asked for 2 seats in which another was for my wife.

I arrived in a separate car from my wife but just behind each other as we entered the parking lot there. I went for my prayer as she went to look for the counter as I was running late. When I arrived later, I found my wife just sitting and she told me the counter that was set up did not recognised my friend's name. I went and asked. There were tickets and the people manning the counter gave me a weird look. They gave their cards which are for a PR company and then the person in charge told me the name of the company which was hosting the event. It was Xiao En. A bereavement company.

Huh? I asked. Bereavement? Yep, Chinese funeral company. Then, it hit me. I read the synopsis for the Departure which was about a guy who went back to his hometown and took the only available job which was available for a cello player like him. It was preparing the dead for their 'departure'. When I met the CEO later, I understood everything. He was introduced to the movie by his wife and he just had to share it with clients and friends. 

As for the movie, it was sentimental bordering towards melodramatic but it was a gentle reminder and the melody which came from the cello that the main character played and the people in it with the landscape, it was just beautiful. I saw Yasmin Ahmad there, the filmaker storyteller extraordinaire whom I know love Japanese movies (I know it through her blog - The Storyteller 2). It is the best endorsement for Malaysian fans of indie movie, especially Japanese to go and watch it.... 

Some images....

  

  

  

You can always fake it

Nope, this is not about sex. This is about faking that you really care and understand women. This is especially good to use when you are in the hunt for a potential lover, girlfriend or even wife.

Ever read The Game, the book about how a bunch of nerds use these knowledge to get women, bed them and then send them away as if they are Adonis incarnates? The first rule in their quest to be the best in their game, is to ignore any beautiful woman around and if they are with friends, you should talk to the ugliest of them all who is usually ignored by other men. And one other thing that they swear on, and seems to work on women, is to have confidence. According to the book, all these make these men get the women.

However, let us look beyond just snagging a date or bedding a woman. And I realised that this sound a bit sexist  but this is also a reminder to the women out there. There are men who are good at being able to turn on and off their emotional switch that they may seem to be emotionally affected by whatever you throw at them but they are actually doing it for their own selfish reason. Usually that reason has to do with sex.

Which I bet nearly half of the womanhood already know. Some just don't know this fact but some do and still want to close their eyes to this because of looks. 

As for the men, if you don't know how to do this, you better learn some skill, man...

A restaurant at a godforsaken alley

When we had my weekend at the Ritz, I brought my wife to this Thai restaurant at this alley which is situated in this one alley which one shouldn't go if it is after 10pm at night as the place is a bit dodgy. However, the place have some of the most delicious street food in Kuala Lumpur that most foreigner wouldn't mind going there. I know a few of my friends who lived within the area and will disagree with me on me saying this. 

I was introduced to this place 3 or 4 years ago and the food there was so good that I just had to bring my wife there. The restaurant was not air-conditioned and I was there with my school friends there after some wild time at a bachelor party for this one guy who now has a child. Just imagine how long that was.

However, I know that the food was great, I asked my wife to walk a mile to go there. She did not mind at all when she tasted the food. As there were only the 2 of us, in which is not how you eat Thai food, we were full by the time we finished.

I just need to take a few of my friends or maybe a family member the next time we go there...

A kind of Piccadily Circus in Kuala Lumpur

This road is so famous that when the City want to change the name there were protests

 

This alley is where restaurant is and the buildings on top and to the front are full of those offering 'extra' services

The food was delicious, spicy and full of spices

Weekend at the Ritz

We had a weekend at the Kuala Lumpur Ritz-Carlton as a reward for managing to make money out of a property and some shares we own. I know, it was not a wise spending habit, but, hey, where else should we splurge if not ourselves as we have treated our parents to a few other things the last two, three weeks ago, in our own way.

 

The lobby

I don't think I want to say much here of what we did at our weekend at the Ritz as we really utilised the hotel room, unlike if we travel abroad and hotel rooms would only be used for sleeping. We checked in as early as possible at 2pm on Saturday and checked-out at 1.45pm on Sunday. Between that we were only out of the room twice, for dinner on Sunday night at a nearby Thai seafood restaurant which I have always wanted to bring my wife to and for breakfast on Sunday at the hotel restaurant itself.

As for the other hours we were in the room and let me leave it at that. With a butler and a few perks unlike any other hotel, we had a fun weekend. You should try it out sometimes.

 

The bed (ahem...)

A South African man and his wife were in the lift when we were going down for check-out and asked us whether we were locals. And when we answer in the affirmative, he smiled. I wonder what was the thought behind that smile. But I bet it was not farther from the truth...

And it was not as big of a smile than mine. Hmmm...

 The other part of the room

Lipstick mark on my hanky

I know that it bound to happen one of this day. A lipstick mark on my handkerchief which was found by my wife when she exchanged it for a new one. It was subtle but anyone can see that it was lipstick, what with the red mark being a bit faded as if it someone tried to make it disappear. The mark of two lips were also there. It was unmistakeably a lipstick mark.

I was at the computer table then, and she suddenly came to me with it being held on the palm of her hand. I was engrossed with whatever I found interesting from the internet and nonchalantly I look up.

"What is this?", she said.

"Hmmm....???", I feigned interest, being too engrossed.

"Is this lipstick? Whose is it?", she asked.

"Isn't that yours?", I asked after I managed to look kind of bewildered for a split second before it dawned on me that was the real answer. "We kissed by the door when I sent you out to work> Was it yesterday? No, it was 2 days ago", I explained further dissecting the issue further.

"Hmmmpphhhh....", she looked at me, smell the hanky and walked off to our bedroom to continue with what she was doing.

And that my friends, is why I am called a lawyer.

But, seriously, it was true. It was her lipstick...

...and if I have to. If it was such a big deal and will make me being put on the dock, there is always DNA test.

Car OR wife?

Your wife called you telling you that she just crashed your brand new BMW into the divider....

What will be your question?

"Are you all right?"

OR

"How is my car?"

Real life situation, which happened to me once, and it was not even a BMW.

I chose the second answer.

...and in defence is that she still was all right enough to give me a call.

(I know, I am a bad husband)

Caged and left behind

Every time we travel, we had to add an additional cost for the borading of our precious cats. And how they hate it. The same happened when we had to lef them behind when we went on a trip to Singapore for 3 nights and 3 days (one night at my parent's house). We forgot that it was a school holiday and our favourite animal clinic which also offers boarding for animal was full. Especially when we have to put 4 cats there.

So, we found an alternative. Another place that we always buy food from (cheaper!) but does not have a big room reserved as cats hostel. We were a bit apprehensive but we can't do anything as there was no where else to put them. A few of my friends, either offline or online (thanks guys) did offer to keep them for us but we know our cats are the fussy type and will terrorise anything under the sun.

We caged the 3 girls in one cage and the male in his own cage. Here are the traumatised moments (for us and the cats) when we left them.

Gemuk in his cage

See how big Muffin's and Cookie's eyes were

This was how we left them. 3 cats in one cage

and one on top, alone....

When we picked them up we discovered they were left in the middle of the room as there was no empty cage. They seem to be a bit traumatised but otherwise okay. They took 30 seconds to change from being loud and uncooperative to chasing each other around the house. Now, all is normal again...

Sweaty, Sticky, Sexy?

Though it may sound from something which happens when you are in the bedroom, this is about me, early in the morning when I start to get dress for work. The problem of being on the heavy side, I tend to sweat when the I dress. I will be sweating regardless of the weather and this is especially bad when I just jogged 2 or 3 hours before that. I will be pouring sweat by the time I reached my car.

As I like to let my engine run before switching the aircondition though I read somewhere there is no need for that especially for new car. So, I will be sweating a bit for 2 miles before I will be like any normal human being, which is dry and good enough to face the new day.

That is why I always have perfumes in my car and my office to give me a semblance of freshness. The hot weather of Malaysia contribute too...

 

Sweaty brows...

Smudged lipstick

Usually the female of the species has this tendency to check their lipstick as they go through the day. Especially after they had lunch. And when once, checking lipstick will need them to go to the ladies as it was supposed to be more cultured for women to do that in the privacy of the powder room. Heck, there is no powder room in the whole world anymore except in a few hotels which are trying to give the impression that the Victorian institution is alive and well. 

Women nowadays will just check their lipstick by holding up a compact or even their handphone (which were made by smart marketing executive to be reflective enough to be turned into a mirror) and see that their lipstick is properly applied. Lipstick seems to be a central issue for some of my friends who have even said that even sharing a straw with lipstick on it is like you already kiss the girl. Go figure!

As for me, ever since I heard the conversation between Keanu Reeves and Monica Belucci with that French guy in Matric 2, I never think of women and lipstick in the same vein again. The scene where Belluci was angry at the French guy and the guy ask what was she angry about. Belluci said, "What about the lipstick mark then?". As the guy denies, she said "She did not kiss you on your lips".

As the girl whom the Frenchman made excited was wearing a very red lipstick, the image that you get when you imagine whatever the girl had done to the man will be just as well be shown in the movie, which was not, and that is where your wandering mind will be imagining as the words are said...

My eye is up here...

Men are always attracted to what is curvy on a woman and one of the things that they can't resist is a woman who have all the right curves in front of her. I have mentioned about this once in my posting but curvaceous women tend to attract attention, no matter her looks, her clothes or even whether she is sane or not. 

I mean, of course, it does not mean all men will suddenly go mad or start chasing her like a scene from a movie, but the roving eyes will suddenly focus their attention on the chest region. 

I think it is more of an instinct problem than just an attraction. Whenever men try to hide the fact they are looking, they will inadvertably look down and when they see the two globes which is naturally there, they will linger there a bit longer. At the risk of being caught looking.

And I myself would not be a straight man if I don't indulge in it occasionally. At the risk of being stared at by the woman and being given the look that says "Can't you look at me while I am talking and not my breast?".

Make-up while driving

One of the skill that I believe women are better than men at is multitasking when they drive. I believe that most women still hesitate and not that skillful when they drive on the road. However, when they have attain that confident, they have this extraordinary skill of doing a lot of things in the car. 

Men will always be texting or talking on the phone while driving, which is not something which require that much skill (unless like me who currently own a touchscreen phone which keyboard also require touching for words to come out as coherent SMS). In my post the other day, I did mentioned about women and their morning attitude when they are driving trying to send their children to school and arrive at the office.

And for single ladies, the skills that they will acquire first upon knowing how to drive a car, is the skill of putting on their make-up in the middle of a traffic jam. And some even can have their breakfast then. Some even put in another task of texting and having a conversation on their cellphone. All this while driving to work. 

To those who do all these things, I salute them and I believe women will always have the benefit of having more skills than men as men always rely on machine such as a better operating system or search engine to multitask while women mostly rely on themselves....

 

In a jam, people still try to multitask

The Night Safari : When all you need is creativity

I am not really a fan of animal in cages or seeing animal in captivity. I rarely when to zoos and the National Zoo in Malaysia is in a quite pathetic state though I heard they are really trying hard to remedy the situation. However, as our family holiday in Singapore is winding down, we decided to see what  is the hoopla about the Singapore's Night Safari is all about,

As they have promotion for Malaysian to visit sites and places which they have been promoted since early of the year, we got to get cheaper tickets than other nationalities. 

 

The brothers and my wife queuing for tickets

When we were on the tram and was ooh and awe-ing on the what were shown, somthing seems to gnaw at the back of my mind. It suddenly struck me, what they did in this Night Safari was broing 'other' countries animal and put on show. What is more amazing is that half of these animals came from MALAYSIA! My own country.

And here is the clincher, Malaysia never took advantage of it. Except for our zoo, which is squeezed into a very small area which is not visitor friendly at all. There is a night safari somewhere up north of the peninsular. I think I need to go there to see what they have to offer.

This is supposed to be a picture of flamingoes but my camera did not do it justice

 

The finale, a creature of the night show

What are those people doing in the other room?

Usually, when you are in a hotel room, noises in other rooms intrude your privacy. Whether you are in a budget hotel (like DiCaprio was in The Beach, where the rooms have openings on top) or a 5 star hotels, unless it is the penthouse at the Plaza, there are rarely hotel rooms which can shelter you totally from the outside world. If you are having adulterous affairs or even legal consensual sex with your partner, I think you should know that the other room usually can hear you loud and clear.

I had a few occasion being woken up in the middle of the night, hearing the occupants of the other room returning from late night excursions, either drunk or sober, making noises and then those who checked-in alone but in the middle of the night are visited by a partner which comes out of nowhere (not of those supernatural one) and then started to make noises inside their rooms.

Some did rent rooms just in order to make noise and these are usually those who have some wild parties and are willing to take the risk of being penalise by the hotels or authorities. Hmmm, I think I also have a distinct rememberance of such events along the road when I was in college.

My advice is, if you are 'doing it', do try to keep it down but, hey, where else can you scream as if you are on a rollercoaster if not a hotel room. At least the nighbours are not your real neighbours. And if you are really one those who have those parties, maybe you should just extend the invitation to your neighbouring rooms.

Isn't the saying goes, the more the merrier?

On a road trip...

For the first time, my whole family, which includes my parents and my 2 brothers who have 5 kids between them are going on a holiday. I think getting to the day itself without anyone bailing out is a miracle. We have never really have a gathering outside of my parents' house in Seremban except once last December without the parents.

The logistic itself is a nightmare. My brother who lives in Subang Jaya, will be going there by plane with my mom who is coming from Seremban. My brother will have his wife and 3 children.

I will be travelling by car with my dad who is a paraplygic (which I had to google to spell) and he hated travelling. We had to coax him to go and he finally agreed as long as he travels by car. So, I was it.

My other brother lives in Johor Bharu, the last town to where we are going. He will have it easy as he will be waiting for us before we cross the border.

Yes, you guess it, we are going to Singapore...

As this post is coming up, so will the sun and I am already on my way on the highway...

Men's chick flick

Do you know that men also have their chick flick? Love stories which are skewed toward men and they love it. Even if they have to watch it with their women. Among that made the list are those which have people like Hugh Grant and even Brad Pitt as the main character. 

Deny as they might, they cannot deny that these movies are chick flicks. They are love stories. Mushy one liner. Some sex in it to satisfy the men and make the women swoon.

Legend of the Fall where Pitt was Tristan (everyone wants to be him).

4 Weddings and a Funeral where Hugh Grant as the bumbling idiot but charming. 

Just to name a few.

Oh, and this theory is mine. Anyone believe these movies are exclusive for women and the men are not interested?

My side of the bed

Don't you always have that argument about your spouse conquering your side of the bed that you don't have enough room for yourself. They move around in bed when you are still at the doing something around the house and when you get to the bed, they have slept and conquered the whole bed. 

As for me, the bed is not just conquered by human. There are 4 cats to contend with and on certain days, they love to sleep within our folds. Count that. 4.

If we are lucky, they will really sleep by our side, at our side table. Like this...

If not, then it sometimes become like this :

 

So, for us, having any side of the bed is good enough...

Sorry seems to be the hardest word

Just to make things clear, I am not currently in trouble with the wife, I think. Just a continuation about men being very egoistic in their way of handling matters that make women nowadays being egoistical too and then makes men more violent as that is the only way they know how to handle a situation they don't know how to handle, then round and round it goes. Better you just go read my post the other day here.

The title for my post today is of course being taken from the song made fanous by Elton John which lyrics I do not really subscribed too but I bet all married persons (both men and women) can relate to this. Heck, even those in a relationship, whatever type of relationship that may be. Straight. Gay. Living together. Just met and still trying to find a rythm. Long enough to have grandchildren. All must know how hard for one person to say the word "Sorry".

The problem with having an ego (which may resides in either side of the sex), is the fact that the moment any one of the side said the word sorry, the other side will feel that they have won something. Not trying to be supportive or acknowledging the fact that trying to find to say it is already a big matter. No matter who said it. 

The problem with adult, you do tend to assess your own attitude. If a child did something wrong, some parents will instill a lesson with gusto and try to beat the point into the kid's head as if his life depends on it. As adult, you relish the freedom of making your own decision.

And deciding to say sorry or not is just one of them... (which you rarely do)

You're so vain but this post is really about YOU...

As today is your birthday and this blog starts with the relationship that I have with you, in all aspect, let me just simply say, this post today is about you. You can be vain about it unlike that song. And unlike that song, this post is really about you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

DEAR WIFE....

Hope to celebrate many more of it with you... (and if any of you are wondering, she does has a blog and the link is just to the left side of this blog, under the title, The Wife)

 

They did asked to be included in wishing you but they fell asleep (like always)

No more surprises

Tomorrow is my wife's birthday. Between tomorrow and October, I am just 1 year older than her. And usually for her birthday, I try to surprise her with something. Flowers being sent at the office. Elaborate plans with a few of her friends to throw surprise parties. Gifts in places she wouldn't expected. Etcetra. Etcetra.

Once, I brought her to the tallest tower in Kuala Lumpur, which has a revolving restaurant on top of it, as I told her the surprise dinner which was held with her friends the night before was the only birthday dinner I had planned for her. The front number of her age changed that year, so she was given 3 birthday parties.

This year, I stopped all that. I asked her what she wants.

I even gave her a choice.

Electronic gadgets in the form of a netbook and a phone which is known for it being trendy and its applications 

OR

Jewelleries.

Surprisingly, she chose the first choice. Although, she did say for birthdays, when her front number changed, she just wants things that glitter. Hmmm, maybe Apple really know how to attract consumers....

 

or maybe with a BB she can connect with mine cheaply...