The rituals that matter

I have a few rituals that I share with my wife although I am not the type to show my affection in public up to the point she sometimes complains to me of these lack of these display. But she knows I love her (I think). Anyway, these rituals that makes my day, among others are :

1) A kiss (full on), before she went out the door to go to work (I rarely go out before her);

2) A kiss before any one of us goes to sleep; and

3) Calls throughout the day but once I reach my office or wherever I am that day, a call to tell her what is my plans for the day;

Not really that complicated but these can actually affirm my faith in her and us.

Shout! Awards...

...or How I got to stand just beside the stage and maybe my mom can see me on TV but I decided I was too old for an audience full of kids below 20 that I went up to the third floor of the closed stadium until all that I can see are these :

 

  

  

But don't get me wrong. I had fun. The show was great. And I just realised that Malaysian has a lot of talent. And now I also understand why the guy from a record company was plucked from his old job and put here to head a new TV channel a few years back which was the headliner for this inaugural Shout! Awards. There were so many weird but relevant awards like best couple, best radio deejays. And all were voted by the people themselves.

Comedy Club KL : A report

The Comedy Club KL had its first two days run last Friday with 3 stand up comedians trying to sell jokes to Malaysian audience. The event was held at the Velvet Underground in Zouk, one of Malaysia premier nightclub and it was nearly a full house. I was one of the first to arrive and I couldn't find a seat. I was with my wife and I saw a few bloggers whom I have tweet in my Twitter that I would be there. I waved them over and I actually learned a few camwhore moves. When I look back these pictures, I now know why I rarely took pictures of myself. I have the same smile in nearly all of them. Not just smile. Expression too. Should that be a trademark post?

Anyway, the show was good but I now realised how best to do a stand up comedy. To relate yourself with your audience. In term of rating, Douglas Lim, the Malaysian had the best reaction from the audience. Then Hung Le, the Vietnamese Australian immigrant and lastly, the Australian, Greg Fleet. The Malaysian was supposed to be the filler then the Vietnamese as the secondary act for the night before the Australian doing his best effort to bring the house down.

When it came to the crunch, it was the other way around. People was laughing more in the first act, puzzled by the second act (Fleet) and picked the pace again in the last one by Hung. Fleet seemed to be in Malaysia more for a vacation than really doing his job of entertaining the audience. Even Atherton was good at warming up the audience in between each slot. It was not a bad show, mind you. All have their umph! moment but if you are paying money for people to make you laugh, then it is better worth it.

And as I mentioned earlier, understanding your audience and connecting with them is one of the main ingredient in ensuring your punchline is laugh at and you are not being laugh at. I am still going to come to their monthly show, as promised by them and hoping as they bring in more and more comedians, we can get better and better quality ones.

Here are some pictures, taken by me :

Here is the moderator Jonathon Atherton

 Greg Fleet

  

Hung Lee, the Australian Vietnamese immigrant

Here are those pictures where I really don't know how to post, taken by fellow bloggers Euveng, Evo (and that lady is Perfectionista) :

 

With the wife

 

With fellow bloggers

 

With Malaysia funny man, Douglas Lim

For more (better) pictures and comments, here is Evo's blog : Euveng.com the guy just beside Douglas there.

My wife already know who I fantasize when I'm with her

A real conversation in our car when we discovered of some indiscretion happening within my family. My wife turn to me then asked :

"Do you fantasize about other woman when you are with me?"

I took awhile to answer. Then she add :

"Other than Angelina Jolie"

Pause. Phew....

"In Mr and Mrs Smith"

Hahahaha.....hah...

Dead on...

Comedy Club KL : A teaser

Went to see 3 (or 4) men selling jokes in Malaysia. Did it work? Wait for my post tomorrow. Here are some teaser pictures :

 

The front of the club

 
 

The tickets

Why 'Lazyboy'?

Yesterday I did post a picture of a very nice armchair which is being used in a cinema which can be considered as luxurious. But, just wondering. Why 'Lazyboy'? And why does no boy ever protested on the term. At all. They are more than happy with it.

It makes you wonder, huh?

p/s - thanks to my friend Daisy from In Love With Daisies for pointing it out

Luxurious cinema experience

 

  

  

  

 

Went to see a movie on Tuesday and for the first time watched it at this new luxurious cinema in town. Check out the pictures. 

The first picture is their reception area which has no queue at all. Tickets cost RM25 (USD$7.50) on weekdays and RM40 (USD$12-00) on weekends (Which I know is very much cheaper than the ticket prices at movie theaters across America). 

That second picture is the waiting areas with free flow of drinks, sofas, magazines, internet access, and a few massage chairs.

The massage chair being enjoyed by my friend in the third picture.

My friend brought her mother-in-law and sister-in-law and that is the fourth picture. Those are the seats offered. Adjustable and can make you sleep easier if the movie is really boring which is really a waste after paying that much. One complain is that if the movie is a romantic movie, you will be very far from your partner. And in the whole theater, there are only 18 seats. And it was full house then.

And if you are too sleepy, you can always call the waiter or waitress using a call button which is on the table in the middle of the chairs.

Oh, what movie that I watched? Just about some wizard kids in which one of them is the chosen one. And Dumbledore died... ;)

Without love, where would you be now?

Yep, that Doobie Brothers song, Long Train Running.

Ever try answering that question?

For me, I will be hopping from one bar to another at night. Maybe not bar, but more where you can find more than one beautiful girl. 

Not that it didn't happened like that when I was dating my wife, which is a story I am itching to tell. Especially coming to our 6th year anniversary.

Maybe that would be a good date to blog about it.

The Proposal movie screening

Went to watch the Proposal on Monday which starred Sandra Bullock and Mr. Green Lantern and Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds. I am still cannot believe this guy who played one third of a trio of friends in the sitcom, 2 Guys, A girl and Pizza Place before it became 2 Guys and A Girl. Remember that sitcom? One of favourite sitcom when it was aired. It is quite weird seeing him in movies which do not have the label chick flick as he seems to be in quite a few of them. Including this one.

Yep, the Proposal is a chick flick and I went to see it because it was free courtesy of Advertlets, that other blog advertising company in Malaysia. We had a small gathering before the movie (second picture) and then Josh Lim asked a few of the bloggers to come down at the front of the cinema and tried to propose to a few others. That kid in the third picture, if you can see beyond the dark, was so shy but tried to win something too. They got some prizes and then the movie started.

It was a good movie in a way but I complain a lot about Sandra Bullock being in it. I just think she is too old for the part. Ryan Reynold was too hot to be in such a movie which can filled with more young actress. He is supposed to be type who is a blabber mouth and here he was on the defensive. Which is not him at all.

It was about a proposal and it was not ordinary. One of the best part of it is the scenery. I would love to go to that place one day. The house where they filmed it will be another dream house of mine. It is big, spacious and can house 100 people. Nice.

Go watch it. Judge the movie yourself as I am a very sceptical person when it comes to love story. Not a good person to recommend such movie.

Male bonding

One of the best thing of being a man is the easeness of being able to bond together about mundane thing. Hey, if you go to a bar, you want to start a party, you can just join any group of men, maybe you need some money to buy them a beer, which is not necessarily the case, have a little fun with them, then you can go off to wherever you came from. Or you may to get into a fight.

It is just that as a man, I have always relate in breaking the ice just by talking to the other man that you see. For women, I am not so sure. I rarely see women straight away bonding when they just met a few minutes or an hour before that. Unless one of them is really friendly.

Men, they usually bond over some sport. It can be soccer, football, baseball or even any Olympic sports, if the Olympic had just finished. They can also talk about car, any hot girls they see and then the new beer that was just being introduced. Or maybe that Heineken commercial where the men shout like those women in the other room when they saw the beer lining up the room.

As for women, of course, they can also do the same but usually, what happened with my wife is the feeling of being left out if in the group most of the women have children. They will steer the conversation about babies and children and that will actually alienate those who has none. Or maybe they can talk about the new make-p or handbags or those shoes worn by Victoria Beckham or whoever is the current female envy then.

I may be wrong but I think men had it easy when it comes to bonding...

Building you pass by (and take for granted)

Everday, you pass by them and they are just there. You never really think about how long have they been there and what events have they seen. I always wonder that. Some are famous that even the tourist or people outside Malaysia know them by sight. Some are just forgotten relics. Here are some :

 

Iconic Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) - once was tallest, now just tall

 

Kuala Lumpur old train station which is now a hotel and a depot for bus

 

Sultan Abdul Samad building - once housed courts which have most been moved elsewhere

 

Some abandon building which I love to preserve if I ever have the money

Community hall, community mall

There is one matured township that I always admire in Malaysia whenever I go around that area. Granted, they are an exclusive area as there are a lot of VIPs and all types of well-off people living there but I bet being a matured area within a cosmopolitan such as Kuala Lumpur does help too. 

One of the thing that I wish for my housing estate to have in the future is a simple thing like a town hall where people can meet, organise event, rent for weddings and all those things that community do together. I was at a wedding on Sunday afternoon and was impressed with the town hall that the wedding was held. The acoustic was enough for one to do a mini concert there. This hall is located in a place called Damansara Heights.

As for a mall, just a few kilometers away, there is a neighbourhood mall which is frequented by most of those who lives near the area. Except for a few strays like my wife and I, usually the neighbouring area, which is full of condominium full with expatriates working in Malaysia. They have just renovated the mall to make it bigger but I hope it will still retain its charm as a small neighbourhood mall. The name Bangsar Shopping Centre also connotes the area which it serves.

Does your community have these ammenities? For my community (being new) it is still a far-off dream...

Seeing terrifying kids terrify us

We were invited to a kid's birthday party yesterday and it was the third year that we came to this particular kid birthday party as the parents are our close friends (just hope using their kid as an example as one of the kids who terrify does not adversely affect our friendship. Let me keep them anonymous). We went there and had a nice evening of barbeque which played hell on our scheduled diet and then we had a nice quiet evening at one of the condominium's coffeeshop. That was when we were regaled with the terrifying tale of child rearing.

As most of you might know, I have cats as kids. As terrifying they can be, they do not try to do things which only humans have the capability of doing. The capability which require opposable thumbs. Like picking up other cats and trying to drown them in water. Or squeezing them until that other cat shat green poo. Or pull their tail until they scream for mercy. All those terrifying things that I, as a child, once, was guilty off. It just brought back all those memories. Bad memories of myself and what I am capable of. 

We are actually in the midst of contemplating adoption. We think of it as a natural progression. So, we are asking around other parents of what is required of you to raise a child. The answers are more skewed towards their own experience. We get all those stories from parents ranging from the parents who has those kids we can lebelled as angel and those parents who called their kids the terrible twos. None actually has the first type of kids (angel) as most that I heard labelled their kids as something that rhyme with terrible. Not a very good way to describe their kids but I think they know better than trying to hide that fact. 

We know that child-rearing is not easy. No one will admit that as having kids is the next step in our evolution as a married couple. We were not blessed with it (yet!) naturally. We are not adopting with the intention of stopping in trying to get our own kids. We just want to help out those in need. There are too many wrongs in this world in which kids are the victim. Maybe we can lessen that with one life being given the best that a kid deserve.

We are also not some good samaritans who always try to contribute to society and such. We are kind of reclusive but sometimes life do crept in once in a while. That was why my wife who was terrified of cats forgo that fear and adopted these cuties :

p/s : and in no such term am I comparing trying to raise a child is as easy as raising cats or expect to do what people do to cats to pacify them to a child

If only choosing favourite jeans can be this easy

What you see up there are the jeans that I have chosen from this new online site by Armani Exchange. I chose the first pair, named New Zenith Boot Cut in indigo colour, as it is nearly the same as the one that I have and the worn look is always a favourite for me. As for the second pair, that is to me the classic blue jeans which is a must for any person who wears jean. If in my younger days, I have to alter and bleached it to make it look like the one you see, nowadays, even designer jeans are sold straight from the store looking like that. Easier right? As for the final pair, that is a back-up jeans for a night out after a day's work. It looks like a pair of khakis but is casual enough for after work. Hey, a man also need a wardrobe for a night in town right?

Everyone has their favourite jeans and shopping for jeans was never easy as everyone has their own preference. What if this problem has been solved? You can see what your jeans looks like before you even have it delivered to you. You can match it with a favourite outfit. You can mix it with a few accessories.

All these you can get with Armani Exchange where you can go into a dressing room and use your own creativity to mix and match. You can match that jeans with a t-shirt. A tie. A belt. For the ladies (who are always more fickle in their taste than men), you have skirts which you can play with. Jeans.Shorts. Handbags. Caps. Scarves. 

All thse are done by Armani Exchange, a youthful label by Giorgio Armani. With Armani Exchange, Armani has interprets his sensual and unique style to create a casual, yet sophisticated collection for the young, urban and sexy.Just go to their website Armani Exchange  and you can do a lot of these things. You  can do this feature called a Dressiong room. You can go into it like a real dressing room that you always find in shop. Try out the outfit then you can purchase the whole outfit or just any part of it that you want.

For me, who is always lazy or reluctant to go to the clothing stores and having to take off whatever I was wearing that day and then having to put on outfit, this is heaven sent. I can now do this in the comfort of my home and I can order the outfit that I deemed as the best represent me.

And get this, Armani Exchange currently has this promotion "New Premium Denim starting at $98". You can also win a pair of denim by entering text A|X SMS campaign. To win a pair of denim every day for the month of July just text the keyword "DENIM2" to ARMANI (276264). For more info visit http://clk.atdmt.com/K01/go/159833558/direct/01/. Customers who purchase a full price pair of denim from Armani Exchange, in store or online, between 7th of July 2009 until 19th of July 2009 will receive a gift card of $20 off you next purchase of $100 or more, valid from 30th July 2009 until 15th August 2009. Go fast to A|X Blog to see what they have to offer.

It's alive : A guide for men

Maybe the best time of your live is when you are still in your teens or twenties in which getting it up, when the need arises (pun intended) is never a problem and every morning you know the need to wake up when you are woken up with something stirring down below (no, there is no one there which is normal for losers like most men in that age, except for a few lucky one). So, you will know that your sex career is safe and you will be able to perform what is necessary, if given a chance.

So, as you aged, after a few uses, in which if you still have not have regular sex, then you are better off jerking by yourself. However, for those who have use their manhood regularly (for whatever reasons or alignments), there may be some tear and wear. Some maintenance maybe required (which is another post on another day) but before that can take place, you need to discover whether it is true or not. I think there is a brochure made by Ministry of Health or some condom manufacture on this already.

Just wrap some postage stamp at night around your sleeping partner (not the person sleeping beside you) after usage, preferably (in which if you put it on before usage, I leave it to you to explain why you lost a postage stamp in someone's whatever to the cop who comes to investigate why you are beaten silly by your spouse or partner. 

Anyway, when you wake up in the morning, if your manhood rise without you knowing, which will shows your age, that postage stamp would have been torn. If not, then try a few night before you go running looking for someone to fix your 'problem' which may range from the nearest pharmacist or doctor or to the nearest witch doctor or shaman in town.

Just make sure you try it out with a picture of a naked whoever the current centrefold of whatever porn magazine still surviving the current economic slowdown. That is if you do not have a lady willingly to get naked for you. 

Oh, and repeat the procedure a few years down the road as your age creeps up.

p/s - no postage stamp was hurt in the making of this post as I don't need to test it, yet...

Cats manipulate humans

I knew it...

It was reported by a few news agency yesterday about this research by a university's professor. They discovered cats use their purrs to manipulate humans to give them food. I believe my cats do more than ask for food. That is why I have been willing to wake up at 4 in the morning to let that little manipulator in.

She will be scratching the door at 11pm, just before I go to sleep, more often than not. Miaowing like there is some urgent matter that she needs to do (she has her kitty litter inside and that is not an issue) and then she will be back by 4am or 5am like the little party girl that she is.

But, who can resist her look or hurt animals like her is beyond me :

 

or her :

 

or her :

Him, I don't worry so much. Only that he loves to headbutt us if he feels the need to show some love (which I still need to capture on camera)

Would you love me any less?

Being insecured, I tend to ask this question when my wife and I were just falling in love. Asking and probing to get assurance that if one thing or another happens, our love will stand strong and we will still be together.

As I was still trying to get a firm grip on a career and was struggling to make money then (as I am still, now), I love questioning her whether if she will still be there if I became poor or not a lawyer or doesn't have a career or all those things that makes a man feel less adequate.

When we were nearing our marriage date, these questions became a serious issue as wouldn't these be the modern day equivalent of a caveman providing enough for his family?

Thankfully, after nearly 6 years, it seems that we have been through thick and thin, we are still together. And I have long ago decided that we have passed the stage of asking and it is now the time to live it...

Why is it called 'Wed Lock'?

Stop scaring the kids...

That is my advice to whoever trying to stop all the problems that teenagers faced. Teenage pregnancy. Teenage sex. Teenage angst. Whatever other 'teenage ' stigma that you are trying to impose on all the kids nowadays. Yes, we know that having to deal with unwanted pregnancy is scary and the best option is abstinence but who are we kidding. Kids will be kids and one of the thing they love to experiment is sex.

The problem when the kids have grown up enough for them to get married, we tend to scare them into not getting married as they have the whole future ahead of them. The best way we always try to convince them is by saying "You are too young". Er, were not in the olden days, people get married when they entered their teens. I thought we are the future and people can handle tougher stuff nowadays.

And then we call marriage as 'wedlock'. That in itself is a big turn-off and made those who want to legalise their love to not do it. Even the Britons have found that divorce is not a good solution to all arguments in a marriage. They are going to have a "cooling-off" period for couples who wanted to get a divorce so that they can rethink their decisions.

Just think of marriage as just another step in love then I think we can all feel how the bond become stronger when we say "I do" and not an obligation which we have to keep, whether we like it or not.

That is the best compliment I ever receive

There are a few scenes in the movie As Good As It Gets, in which the title of this blog is taken, in which it is one of my favourite movie of all time, with my favourite actor of all time, Jack Nicholson acting in it. It was a difficult love story where the people in it were real and they did not fall head over heal with each other at first sight. They were old, some were getting older fast, some were gay, some were criminals, some were unforgiving, and all of them were real. There was puke, there was blood and people talk like they talk in real life. They did not try hard to make the movie like a movie and the movie even starts in the middle of a scene. An important scene which became the central issue of the movie. And it involve a dog.

The relationship between Jack Nicholson's and Helen Hunt's characters were so uncomfortable with Jack being Jack at his worst and was very abusive and unreasonable. Hunt's character has a sick kid and she was haggard looking as she needed to take care of her kid at night. Jack never really cared for her but when she was absence one day he willingly pursued her to her house and even sent one of the most expensive doctor in town to look at her kid as long as she comes back to work. Her work? A waitress at Jack's fav restaurant.

The parts in the movie which I like was the few scenes in which Jack tried to give compliments. He announced them beforehand, said them and coaxed reactions. Once, he said "Knowing you wants me to be better", referring to his mental illness of obsessive compulsive disorder (I think).

There are other scenes which will make you think how life is really not a simple boy meets girl, fall in love and then live happily ever after or whatever version Hollywood tries to shove our throat. James L. Brook who wrote and directed that movie surprisingly is also the owner of The Simpson television series and that says a lot abouyt him. He does sees life as real and he does love making movie for old adult and not kids. Hope he will have some other features in the future as he rarely has a movie out.

What is the best compliment you ever received?

Women can't read map, men won't ask for direction

As I am not really that savvy with the island that I went for a trip to last weekend, I used GPS to find my way. It was through a program in my Blackberry which I have set from the start of the week as I rarely use the GPS application in it and I was curious on how it works. So, the whole week before, I used the Google Map application and another one which comes with the Blackberry as practice to get from my office to my house. 

When the day came, I already set both maps to get to the Vistana hotel in Penang in which the organiser of the event in which I was to moderate was staying too. We shot off from my brother's house in Subang Jaya around 8pm after picking up my mother who was there and stopped at the Guthrie Expressway to eat some satay. We only hit the North South Highway around 9pm. By 11.30pm (yes, I was driving quite fast), we were already crossing the Penang bridge going into the island. That is when trouble started.

I asked my wife to look at my Blackberry and read out what is the direction that the application has given. We were doing okay until we reached an area which looked pretty much very far from where we wanted to go. The map suddenly don't want to load and as we were very near the place, I decided we can find it by ourselves. I am quite apt when I need to get to Batu Ferringhi in Penang, which is a very popular tourist spot and we have driven there a few times. This hotel is very much on the other side of the island and we never even heard of its existence if not for its location which is very near the university ground where the forum I was going to moderate took place.

We got lost. I was still determined to find it using the Google Map and when we came to the same place for the umptenth times, my wife started to make those noises wives all over the world reserves for their husbands who are stubborn enough to be close to being lock out of the house if they did not do something to stop the foolishness. I gave up. I gave her the phone number of the hotel and she asked for directions which she let me hear through the loud speaker of her handphone.

We were still lost at 12.15am when I decided to ask a guy who was closing up his shop. Being barechested, he answered us from behind a tree (when he saw my wife and my mother) and pointed to the hotel which is just around the corner. We heaved a sigh of relief, parked our car and checked-in.

It shows that both though technology is good but good old fashion asking for direction can sometimes be as effective. Hey, I did try to be as stubborn as any man would be enough to still make sure I got lost first before I found my way.

Doing it while sleeping

This actually is a real advice from a tea lady in my wife's office.

If you are too tired or too sleepy or whatever 'too much of', as a woman, you are capable of having sex while you take your rest. You just need to sleep or rest or whatever, while your partner or spouse or whoever on top, do all the work.

Easy right?

For women of course but just wondering whether men can do it like this too?

Or wants to?

Bizarre divorce story

This is about a lawyer friend that I knew who had to go through a harrowing experience of finding out that his love was not real love. He married the girl and then found out that she did not really love him. They got married in a ceremony to rival any one-day kind and queen (a saying here in Malaysia) and then when the time came for them consummate the marriage, he was given a kick right at his crown jewel and nearly passed out from it before he decided to sleep on the floor. And all this happened right in a room in his in-laws. And yes, he was a virgin when it happened. The girl? I am not sure.

I was a divorce lawyer once. I have heard and read quite a few amazing reasons why a couple wanted to get a divorce but other than the one where the girl did not allow her husband to touch her at all as she was so afraid of sex, what happened to my friend really takes the cake.

And they have been going out for nearly 5 years as she was a students and he was waiting for her to finish her study. She did and it seemed that 5 years were too long. She actually had another boyfriend, who was rightly her age, unlike my friend who was 6 years her senior and I am not sure whether the fact that they really wait for their wedding night to consummate their relationship played a part.

They were divorced within 2 months and that was that. He married another after 3 years (it took sometimes for him to trust another woman) and I think the girl also had found her real love (which was not the guy she divorced my friend for).

Life, right?

Sex for your own satisfaction

This is for the women.

When you have sex, think about yourself and as much as you want your partner/spouse to get off, try to enjoy yourself. I have this theory, on why women rarely get off or do gets it butis far and in between. I mean, how many articles have been written about women do not experience the big 'O' when they have sex.

I think, being women, a supposedly emotional creature, they are more concern about their partner being satisfied more than they themselves being satisfied. I mean, women love to please and be pleased emotionally when they manage to do that. 

So, they rather not have the whole reason people have sex, especially for men, who will only be satisfied when they have reached that the women rarely achieved. 

That is why my advice is for the women, if not always, once in a while, let go and take control until YOU are the one who has had enough. It is even good for your mental health... (and then some)

A marriage proposal which nearly became a disaster

I dated my wife between 2000 and 2002 before I popped the question whether she wanted to marry me or not. Atcually we never had a proper proposal situation in which I (or she) bent down on my (or her) knee and ask her (or my) hand in marriage. It was more like a mutual agreement between us that we have dated long enough and has been exclusive long enough (which is a different matter altogether) that we decided it was better that we tie the knot. By 2002, it was a settled thing as when I went to England, I even shopped somewhere in one of their factory outlets (yes, I am that cheap) for our wedding gifts which Malaysian exchange with each other during the ceremony.

So, it was settled that we will not be having to go through that embarrasing and risky business (for the proposer) of proposing and expecting and answer. That is while the proposee had to look surprise and having to quickly decides whether she (or he) really wants to marry the proposer. Simple but maddeningly complicated, right? That is the perils of love.

In my case, as one who loves to spring surprises, I decided to do it although the matter is settled. I did it through a morning radio show in which I have a friend who was one of its deejay. He called me up and called her up and then I talked to her and I was supposed to propose. Before I was patched through to her, the deejays (there were 3 of them) and I sparred a little in which they asked me all sort of embarrassing things like why I like her etc. I was actually nervous and nearly talked nonsense to the benefit of nearly half of the nation (the radio station is government owned and broadcast everywhere and there were not that many stations unlike now then). I managed to get them to call her and then I nearly talked nonsense again before managing to do it properly. 

She laughed at first but then gets into the joke when I told her that I was actually proposing to her there and then through the phone on public broadcast and seriously need an answer from her.

Luckily, she did say the right thing (which was Yes! of course)

Don't Wanna Be Starting Something

Yep, another post using a song by Michael Jackson, though a bit different. The title of his song was Wanna Be Starting Something and it has something to do with his love for this girl who has an addiction (I think, his lyrics are always obscure and they still have not figure out what Bad really means). Actually this post is also about addiction. And again, it is inspired by my wife. Of course, nearly half of this blog has something to do with her. It really give a new meaning to the word "my other half".

I told her years ago when we started to know each other (I think if I can recollect, it was on one of our first dates) that I don't smoke and I don't drink alcohol. I also don't do recreational drugs. All these I managed to resist although I lived with people who did either one or all of the above. It was amazing, even for me, as I had been housemates and even roommates to people who has this addiction. I mean, they were merciless in trying to get me to join the darkside. As in really try. They even spiked my drink once. 

After all these abuses, I still never took up any the habits. Maybe smoking managed to come into my life for awhile when I picked up smoking cigars. I managed to stop as my rich clients don't smoke it anymore and I myself don't have anyone to smoke it with. My wife did mentioned she loved kissing me after I smoked cigars and that made me stuck with it for sometimes. But I think the last cigar I smoked was 6 months ago after it languished in my car for nearly 6 months before that.

However, for the past 9 months, I have failed. I mentioned this at a recent event that I moderated called eLawyers-Exabytes Blogging and Law Forum 2009, which you can read the posting here. I have a new addiction which I just cannot stop. The wife mentioned this a few nights ago and she even brought up about my "Don't wanna be starting something" mantra. 

What is the addiction? Why you are witnessing it yourself. It is of course,

BLOGGING!

in which I am not gonna stop anytime soon.

Do you remember the time?

I had the title written down for this post in November last year when I wanted to tell my wife about how we fell in love with each other. You do know that this is also the title for a Michael Jackson song which have Iman (David Bowie's wife), the basketball player Magic Johnson and Eddie Murphy. It was the early days of CGI and it was spectacular like most Michael Jackson's music movie videos. The sands that they used in that movie was amazing as they shifted and became people then swirl around as MJ dance.

I decided to write this post now as the death of MJ has brought me back to it and I talked to my wife about how we fell for each other. She told me, I told her once that it was due to her finishing her food unlike most of my other dates who always asked me to finish their food for them. It was true as I had problems with all this dates who tried so hard in maintaining their weight though some of them were already at their ideal weight (in my eyes). If we were having expensive dinner, they will still do it as if what I spent was just to get their heart (that is for men ladies!).

 

Food is never wasted when it comes near me

She actually told me the other day that is one of the story she tell her girl friends when they meet up as she finds it amusing. She also thought that food shouldn't be wasted especially good ones and expensive. I actually think that it was sweet of her as I did told her this and she still remembers it. I do remember quite a few things that we did together, either romantic things or just simple things which stuck to your mind although it was not intended to be so significant. 

I bet MJ was conveying that when he sang that song.

My guilty pleasure : The Sweetest Thing

I have this film which I cannot resist to sit down and enjoy, everytime it is shown on the television. I mean, if I suddenly found it while I channel-surf, I will at least enjoy a few minutes of it or if I know there are nothing else to watch, I will be watching it thoroughly.

The film : The Sweetest Thing, which had starred Christina Applegate, Selma Blair and the affable Cameron Diaz acting in it.

The story : About 3 single girls, where most of the film is on the characters played by Applegate and Diaz living the single party girls life in a big city until one day Diaz met a guy played by Thomas Jane. He split before she could connect with her and they went on a road trip to get the guy before finding out they arrived in the small town where the guy lives that the guy is going to get married. As they turned the marriage ceremony topsy turvy, Diaz decided to abandon her mission and goes back. That is until the guy came looking for her. 

A simple story but the frankness of how girls sometimes do things that you wouldn't see in public. Sending the dress which had questionable stains (in this case, it was sperm) to laundry. Wearing goofy type of underwears. Drinking until they get sick. Experimental sexual experience. All these and then some. The main story was just so and so, but the ancillary storylines were interesting in themselves. Selma Blair was supposed to have the small part but her scenes which really are scene stealers. What Applegate and Diaz discovered when they came back from looking for the guy was hilarious. 

It involved a well-endowed man, a whole emergency unit and some singing. That was the part where I will be laughing like crazy. 

Some guilty pleasure just make my day. 

What's yours?

Starting on a diet for health sake

If you ever is a follower or read this blog, you will notice, I love eating. I mean, I really love eating. And I love to try new food. Invite me for food and I rarely say no. I have been like this since forever. I was put up by my parents in a boarding school and due to my pickiness of the type of food that I eat, I usually went to the school's canteen and eat after I have my dinner at the mess hall of the school. Just imagine that. That is why my weight is always on the high side.

Some of the food I love, which some people hates :

 

Some Indian style cooking

 

Airplane food, in this case, Malaysia Airline System's or MAS's

 

Barbeque....

 

Some fine dining

So, you see, when I started off on this diet and I have to do a cycle of 45 days, I know it will not be easy but here is the motivation. I know I am prone to disease which is passed from generation to generation (not a sure thing, I know, but high probability) and I have eaten good food since I have been in school and university. And I have lived nearly 35 years and travel the world to eat good food.

Isn't it time for me to at least eat more responsibly?

All anniversaries roll into one

My wedding anniversary is coming next month (so, why am I writing this so soon? read on). I heard or saw a few blogs, twits and statuses which announced of the coming anniversaries that couples have when they are in love.

2 month anniversary. 

First kiss. First sexual experience. 

First time holidaying together. 

6 months anniversary. 

One year anniversary of the third date which they declare that they love each other and then consented to have sex and then move in together before deciding not then did it anyway. 

You get the idea. Couple who are so into each other will try to find all the excude in the world to have an anniversary for anything. Let us spell that. 

A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G.

Until they get married. 

For me, all bets are off. 

When you get married, there are only 3 events which need to be celebrated.

The day you get married (or solemnise your marriage)

Either spouse's birthday.

That makes it three.


That is, until you get children...

 

Just another celebration

How hard is it?

This is a sensitive question to men, in line with the one where you get an ego-deflating question like "Is it in yet?". This is more to those who are curious, what does it feel for those men who seem to spout a tree trunk when they are excited.

As most people know, except to those who has not yet knows, if there is such a thing in this time and age, men seem to have a hard-on in the morning. It is embarrassing when you are in your youth and living with your parents and you need to go to school and that damn thing just won't come down. However, as you become more experience, you will know what to do with it. That means either it has to be dealt in a D.I.Y way or if you are lucky enough to have someone beside you, use it to it full potential. If you watched The Bucket List, Jack Nicholson character did say, "Never Waste a Hard-On". Go figure.

This phenomena is an indicator of age for men. As you grow older, it may and may not arrive. The hard-on I mean. So, when it looks like a tent pole, what does a man feels? Does he really feels anything when the thing being as hard as that? To some, if their skin is sensitive enough, they may feel all the feelings that you feel when skin touches skin. For some, it is a numbing feeling. Just imagine all the blood that goes to that area to make it hard. That is why it made some men cannot think when it happens.

So, numb that you can go on and on and on... and hoping to match and satisfy that person (or hand) that lay beside you...

How to stay awake in long drives

 

The open road...

It was quite a tiring journey I had last weekend as I could only shoot off to Penang on Friday night as my wife was working and I had to wait for my mother to come from Seremban. So, as my mother was at my brother's house, somewhere in Subang Jaya, my wife and I settled the kids (which of course are the cats), decided not to put them in a hostel which would fluttered them and picked my mother up around 8 o'clock. As we drove off, my wife and my mother wanted to have dinner and we stopped at a R&R area in Guthrie Highway to have some satay. At least the skewed meat and chicken did not make me too sleepy.

We arrived in Penang around 12pm and the directions by the GPS that I have in my Blackberry, which is a Google Map and the direction by the person who answered the telephone at the hotel did not help. We were lost when we entered Penang island. How we got there is a classic example of why men and women are so different. Check tomorrow's post

As for the trip back, I had proper rest but quite a full stomach. As we entered the North-South Highway, I actually started to feel sleepy. In such situation, what does one do? Some tricks which I usually do, but does not condone in any way :

1) Pull nose hair;

2) Slap face;

3) Eat or snacks;

4) Talk;

5) Listen to my mom talks (she did not stop from North to South);

6) Listen to the radio;

7) Sings to the songs from the radio and as most stations were playing Michael Jackson's songs, it was easy for me;

8) Argue with wife about mundane things;

9) Stop at every rest stop; and

10) The thing that everyone should do, and I didn't do it, stop at a rest stop and sleep for awhile.

And this is a guy (meaning me) who was involved in a bad accident (no broken anything) on the highway as I slept on the wheel. That was nearly 10 years ago and is a story in itself (it involves a woman).

Some men, they just don't learn....

p/s - but my longest drive was still the one I did from Munich to Rotterdam in a compact car with another 2 persons. That one was memorable as it was on the Auto Bahn which has no speed limit!