SIGN No More

What can you do in 11 hours and 5 minutes? Pretty much a lot, I’m sure you agree. In that amount of time, I can fly from Asia to Europe, another person can do his 9-5 job plus some overtime, and yet another someone out there could be in labour and perhaps even deliver her first child into the world. Well, you get my drift. But did you expect a tennis match to last that long? Well, one such epic match took exactly that to conclude before Isner finally emerged triumphant after the match was resumed after being tied at 59-59.

In that same amount of time too, Les Blues went back to France and Thierry Henry paid President Sarkozy a visit.

Eleven hours ago, Azzurri was still in contention but now, Ciao Azzurri, Cannavaro and team. And ciao Bendtner too. The good thing is Robin van Persie finally found the net for Oranje’s first goal. The All Whites drew a goalless match against Paraguay and were out too. So no more SIGN for me at this World Cup as the I in the SIGN had left. So I mourn along with Italy at their short-lived World Cup campaign, at the exit of the defending champion and the end of the hawt Italians. It’s something I’ll have to get used, just like I have to get used to an Azzurri team bereft of Alessandro Nesta, Pippo Inzaghi, Alessandro del Pierro and Totti.

RvP scores for Oranje
Ciao, hawt stuff *sniff*

Malice

It was unfortunate, to say the least, to have to witness two unsportsmanlike behaviours exhibited by two athletes over the weekend. One was by Serena Williams, in her US Open semi-final match against the comeback queen Kim Clijsters. She ranted and raved at the line judge and even threatened her. Honey, money just can’t buy class, can it?

The other was by none other than Adebuyout who just couldn’t stop issuing statements about his time at Arsenal, about Arsenal’s fans and much more (for your info Adebuyout idiot, showing one’s displeasure at a player who doesn’t show enough love for the club to begin with DOES NOT make one any less a true fan. And speaking of fans, did you know that rich Man Sh*tty have poor fans while not-as-rich Arsenal have the third richest fans after Chelsh*t and Spuds?), about how Arsenal will lose Cesc if we finish outside the top four, about the fans who drove him out of the club... he just cannot stop and shut his gob. Oh but that’s not enough. He decided he would take out his anger on his former team-mates on Saturday and leave his mark on them. Have a look at this and try not to smash your PC in the process. And again, even the new-earned Sh*tty money is not enough to buy one class and composure, unlike van Persie whose statement on the incident is simply eloquent, concise and brimming with posh class elegance. What a mindless, malicious, mean, spiteful piece of sh*t you are Adebuyout and I’m mightily glad you left. I only wish you had been sold earlier to another club not in the EPL so we can be spared your antics. And, FA, I beseech you to do your stamp duty.

(You mindless idiot, I hope you get banned for a dozen matches if possible. That’s for being selfish and mean and spiteful. And that your new club will discover how selfish you are to rob your new team-mates of you in the coming matches.)

I may be biased towards Arsenal but we should not tolerate any childish behaviour from athletes. They are supposed to be role models, they should behave well and when they cross the line, they should be punished rightly. Yes, sportspeople suffer from bursts of anger due to the intensity of the match, but as former top British player Andrew Castle put it: ‘Controlling your emotions is what training is about, what being a professional is about.’

On another development, the Dudú diving saga has finally ended. It was a debate that went on ever since he was slapped the ban and culminated last week before England met Croatia for the World Cup qualifying match (and who does Terrier the Terrible think he is anyway?). I think he did dive and I do not like to see anyone dive especially a Gunner but really regardless of whether or not the penalty would hardly have changed the result. Kudos to Tony Mowbray – he of all people could have chosen to harp on the dive but he hardly ever mentioned it. And anyway, there are all the other divers whom UEFA has chosen not to penalise so why the particular obsession to Dudú? It was after all much Edu about nothing of particular significance.

Oh, and we bid farewell to Patrick Swayze who died of pancreatic cancer yesterday.

Mad World

Adam Lambert performing Mad World at the season finale

My parents went on a trip on my dad’s birthday and came back from on Friday afternoon to find the house had been burgled in their absence. The burglars ransacked two rooms and my dad’s book cabinet. So I had to go back on Saturday to help out (despite being notified on Friday, the police only came at 1 pm on Saturday and you cannot touch anything until they have come and looked at the crime scene). I got so angry just looking at the trail of destruction they left. Luckily my sister and family were home to help too.

What they took from my room: all the fragrances (EDP, EDT and EDC); Mummy’s brooches and jade bangle (that she bought when we went to Korea and Shanghai respectively) and the pearl necklace that I gave her (they didn’t take the pearl earrings though). I lost some money (a few hundred Ringgit and some foreign currencies) and a special edition coin, Christian Dior fashion jewelleries which I bought in London, an Anne Klein brooch and my old Olympus camera. Stupidly enough, they didn’t take the British pound coins that I stored in two film containers.

And thankfully they didn’t enter my parents’ bedroom or my handbags would probably be gone too.

It has always been a Mad World, exacerbated further by the financial crisis.

~~~~~~~~

Before Akak left later that Saturday afternoon, I found out that Big Brother does indeed have the dreaded C-disease.

Stage 4 C-disease, mind you, Stage 4.

He’s refusing surgery because that would subject him to post-surgery chemotherapy.

When I heard it, I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream and howl out my denial - surely it can’t be that bad, surely the disease is not that advanced, surely the doctors have made some mistake. I wanted to march over to him and shake him by the shoulders and scold him for his fatal addiction. But I didn’t. I wanted to turn back the years and undo everything. But I couldn’t.

I did cry myself to sleep later that night and on Sunday night. And I remembered the past. ‘I’m going to chase him around the housing area!’ I declared to my sister when she told me she heard that he had taken up smoking. I didn’t of course. He never smoked around us so we never knew if it was true.

And I remembered our past conversations way back when, after we knew for sure that he really had taken up smoking.
‘I’m going to quit smoking,’ he told me.
A few days later, I caught him smoking.
‘I thought you already quit smoking?’ I asked.
‘Yes, I stopped,’ he replied.
‘You stopped?’ I was confused.
‘Yes, I stopped the quitting,’ he said and gave me a wide grin intended to silence me.
Funny how I can still remember that conversation word-by-word today.

How I wish I had thrown up a tantrum then, to demand that he stopped there and then, to choose between his kid sister and the stupid stick. But would he have listened to a kid sister’s plea anyway?

And I remembered other bits of the past. He would call out only to me to open the door for him when he came back from anywhere. He would lie down and ask me to step on his body as a form of massage. I would look forward to him coming home during the summer holidays. (My brother was hardly at home as he went to boarding school at 13 - I was really small then - and flew directly to the UK after sitting for his O-Level-equivalent exams).

And I remember asking my parents when they took me aside one morning and told me I could not share a bedroom with him anymore. ‘Why?’ I asked confused. I didn’t know then.

Oh if only I could turn back the clock on that.

He’s refused chemotherapy. And what now?

What would you do if you know your days are numbered?

~~~~~~~~

Roger Federer finally won his first ever French Open at Roland Garros to become only the sixth man to win all four Grand Slams and equalling Pete Sampras’ total of 14 Grand Slams. Congratulations FedEx for delivering!

To me, he’s just the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time). Even on his knees, he’s just the bee’s knees.

Fit Flop

I have heard of the above brand of flip flops before but only had the chance to really examine some pairs on Sunday. Apparently, they will help give the wearer a workout just by walking in them by toning and trimming the wearer’s legs. Hmmm, it sounds too good to be true to me. I need a more convincing reason before I invest in a pair because they sure don’t come cheap. And they are not that pretty, at least not to me. So, no, I’m not sold yet. Are you?

~~~~~~~~

I watched a bit of The Biggest Loser a few nights ago. It’s a reality TV show where eight pairs of overweight contestants compete to win $250,000 by losing the highest percentage of their starting body weight. There are trainers assigned for designing and teaching the contestants comprehensive workout plans and nutrition plans. Any of the contestants who don’t keep fit run the risk of being a flop so to speak.

I haven’t watched any episode in its entirety but what little I saw disturbed me. Essentially, I am reminded that we are truly what we eat and if we eat damaging, toxic, bad food, our bodies will suffer the consequences. So what we eat will determine how fast our bodies age, plays a part in our life expectancy and the likelihood of us having healthy, fully functional bodies in our later years. Just like how what we consume can affect how old we look on the outside, it can affect our internal biological age too.

Some of the contestants are really pretty and young. There were two 26-year olds but their biological ages were actually 41 and 47 respectively (one was a heavy smoker and one a heavy drinker or something like that). Pretty scary, huh.

It also scares me to see that people can eat so much, punishing their bodies in the process (obese people have difficulty breathing and their hearts have to work much harder to pump more blood to the lungs and to the excess fat throughout the body, result in high blood pressure and life-threatening erratic heartbeats). Of course there are other health problems to be worried of (risk of high cholesterol level, cancer and diabetes just to name a few). So while it is comforting to turn to food when one is stressed etc, remember, too much of a good thing is really bad. This is a reminder to me too to reduce and stop eating all those junk food.

~~~~~~~~

I was humming the song ‘I Still Believe’ to myself when I watched Federer play Thomas Haas on Monday evening. Switched the channel over to the French Open and stood gaping in shock to see he lost the first two sets. I watched him battle his way through the third set, drawing at 4-4 before eventually winning it. Then he all but steamrolled over Haas in the fourth set before winning the match with a win in the fifth set. Last night, he played local lad Gaël Monfils and while the latter gave him a run for his money in the first set, he was no match for FedEx in the second. Monfils did try to come back in the third set but FedEx eventually triumphed.

Shrieking Sharapova and Murray had joined the other casualties.

~~~~~~~~

And finally, there were the power failures last night. The first time lasted all of five minutes: I know because I turned on the light of my hand-phone while I searched for a candle, candle bowl and some matches. Electricity was restored briefly before it went kaput again, this time lasting about 45 minutes.

I would have hummed to When The Lights Go Out if only I wasn’t starting to drown in perspiration.

How The Weekend Was Spent

It was an early start to Saturday as I had to make the cross-city trek back to Ampang for my 10 am dental appointment (yes, I know there are other dentists out there elsewhere but I prefer my dentist). I pride myself on my diligent dentist visits (and, ahem, my dental hygiene though alas, my pearly whites are not white) – although this time my visit was two months late. Of course I can think of better things to do on Saturday mornings than sitting on the dentist’s chair with my mouth open wide (I don’t know why I keep having this image of a lion with its mouth open wide, wait, maybe it’s because I once saw a lion with a tooth job) but I like the comfort of knowing I have no tartar build-up and more importantly, no cavities. Actually I find it very awkward being on the dentist’s chair because I can never figure out what to do and what my tongue is supposed to do while the dentist is working on my teeth. I try to hold keep still and hold my tongue in place if I remember but sometimes I can’t focus on anything besides bracing myself against pain (I’m too tense. And I hate pain. I have low pain tolerance level). And there’s the thing about trying to swallow too; my throat got so dry and wanted to swallow so badly but I couldn’t, not with my mouth open wide like that. It’s a good thing the dentist has good music taste. I note on every visit that the clinic tunes in to this cool music station and it helps take my mind off the dental work.

After the appointment, I popped over to the second-hand book shop at Ampang Point, my source for second-hand books. It was having a sale over the weekend; unfortunately it was the Moving Out Sale. According to the girl behind the counter, there would no longer be outlets of the second-hand book store anywhere but there will still be the occasional warehouse sale at selected venues (which may not be convenient for me to go). I ended up buying ten books (three comic books, three travel guide books and four novels). Guess my main source for second-hand books after this will be the SPCA jumble sales (which are only held semi-annually).

My parents then came to pick me up and we went to KLCC for Abah’s birthday lunch. It was either the late night or the early morning or the generous lunch portion but I was already trying to control my yawn even before my meal was completed. We are not big eaters and rather than let the untouched food go to waste, we asked the waiter to pack it up for us.

The rest of Saturday was spent watching TV – the French Open (I was cheering for the local lads Gaël Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga – he’s Charles N’Zogbia’s cousin! What a small world! - and they both won over their respective opponents), Project Runway and a bit of the FA Cup.

Sunday was spent on a bit of retail therapy at my favourite store. I consciously tried not to spend too much as I’m planning to buy my tote. It was a hot and humid Sunday but despite threatening to rain (with thunders and all), it eventually didn’t.

Watched Robin Soderling beat Rafael Nadal in the first set before losing narrowly in the second and beating him again in the third. I had to switch off the TV half-way through the fourth set (heck, I have to work today) but as we all know now, Rafael Nadal will not be lifting the French Open trophy for the fifth time. Who would have thought that? Yes, footie season has ended so we might as well watch other sports now. And tennis can be very mesmerising indeed especially with all the upsets; Nadal has joined Novak Djokovic and Venus Williams to be among the casualties so far. What’s next after the French Open and Wimbledon?

Oh and while Soderling has dimples in both cheeks (how unfair is that? For a bloke to have not one but two dimples!), he doesn’t look very cute (nowhere as cute as Messi or Shava).

~~~~~~~~

It doesn’t look too good for Big Brother. There is a high possibility that he has the dreaded C-disease. I don’t know what stage he is in – that will only be confirmed tomorrow I think – but I hope he’s strong enough to acknowledge the fact and fight on. Because it’s in times like these that mental strength is as important, if not more, as physical and spiritual strength.

I wonder how my dad is taking it all in. He had already lost his eldest daughter to the C-disease many years ago. It’s a cruel thing for any parent to survive his/her child(ren) instead of being survived by the child(ren).

If you can find the time, please make prayers for my brother for him to get well soon. Thank you in advance.

~~~~~~~~

I left Abah’s birthday present at home this morning and surprise, surprise, he has already opened it. Apparently the sandals are one size bigger and as such he doesn’t want to wear them outdoors. So he will wear them indoors instead (like the Koreans, we wear slippers indoors too) – and Crocs sandals at that!

~~~~~~~~

Oh dearie me. It’s already June. Wake me up already - though I doubt I have been sleeping all these while. Where did all the months go?

Oh and belated congratulations to Nando for tying the knot, oh la la, to Olalla Dominguez (she’s seven months’ pregnant, mind you).

Oh and even Pato is getting married. He and girlfriend Sthefany Brito will marry on 7 July 2009.

~~~~~~~~

Another blogger has announced that she may not be updating for some time, in fact she may not update ever again. Not great as I have one less blog to read/follow and the few who do still occasionally blog don’t do it very often too.

*Sigh* What’s a girl to do?

Lunch Squawk Box

Had a farewell break fast yesterday with my mates at Planet Hollywood: one of them would be leaving for Blighty next week to pursue his Master. I haven’t been to the Planet for a while and miss the place. We had good fun and enjoyed a good meal. The ambience was great and the spread was fantastic, generous and varied. My minor complaints are the porridge was wayyy too salty (I abandoned mine after four scoops) and the pasta queue was wayyy too long (so much so I missed the call for prayers). And for prayers, I just sauntered to the Millennium Hotel across the street.

I reached home after 2130 and hence missed Hooping Dulcinea, the Taiwanese drama I’m currently glued to. Yes, I’m a sucker for Korean/Taiwanese/Chinese/Hong Kong dramas (modern ones please, I don’t favour those set in ancient times). Not for me are Bollywood films.

~~~~~~~~

A girl who I always meet at the bus stop had her handbag snatched on Monday morning. The eye witness, a Chinese lady who is also a bus commuter, told me about it yesterday. Apparently, the girl fell onto the road, gnashed her arms on the asphalt and soon had blood on her arms as a result of the fall.

Times must be so bad that people have to resort to such lowly act of cowardice. I know how it must have felt like - because I was once a victim myself. One minute I was walking without a care in the world, the next I was on the road and I even hit my head on the road as the cowards grabbed me from behind, sent me spinning before I landed on the unkind surface of the road. Heck, I even have scars today to serve as an unpleasant reminder of what happened then.

My ‘controversial’ wish is for this country to embrace hudud to curb and arrest crime. Heck, even my Chinese neighbours opine that hudud law would solve most criminal offences. But unfortunately, we have people protesting to these and (so-called) Muslims too (surprise, surprise). Who are we to defy God’s word? Heck, I believe that even borders on doubting God or syirik (go on challenging God’s word and one might even be an apostaste without realising it). And these are more or less the same people who readily declare Pete a blasphemous Muslim... duh! So please pots, all you self-righteous buggers who label things and people as you see fit, please stop calling the kettle black.

I also don’t want to meet my Maker and be held accountable for not performing my duty as a khalifah in this world by upholding my religion and all it stands for.

~~~~~~~~

On to a lighter topic: as we already know by now, FedEx silenced his critics and recorded a lucky 13th Grand Slam by beating Andy Murray in the US Open. I don’t have anything against Murray but am delighted with FedEx’s win. What did I say before, the world does love a beaten hero who rises and fights back despite earlier setbacks. And he is such a humble person, delivering his post-match speech with praises for his opponents, the crowd and the game.

The Real Deal

There was a massive traffic jam in downtown KL on Friday and Saturday and all because a departmental store had a sale for its members (how low the prices were slashed and how real were the so-called deals, I have no idea). I always find it funny that over here we are more prepared in the material aspect of life when it comes to celebrating Ramadan and Eid – as evidenced by the annual thronging of shoppers along TAR Road and Masjid India come rain or shine and the purchase of cookies and decoration items– than in the spiritual observance of fasting and celebrating Eid. Another example: over here, we are actually overjoyed when Eid arrives, whereas the more knowledgeable among us would actually weep and wonder whether he would see Ramadan again.

Anyway, I went out early on Saturday morning and headed for the MATTA fair. I was pretty sure that when I last visited it in March (yes, I’m a regular visitor and never fail to attend one unless I’m away), there were banners saying that the next fair would be in October, i.e., after Eid, so I was surprised to discover that the fair would still be held in September as usual despite it being a fasting month. I decided to take my time to browse as I did not want to unduly exert myself: from previous experiences, MATTA visits would leave me feeling knackered and hungry. I’m happy to say that I managed to secure some deals, alhamdulillah.

A rainy Saturday afternoon greeted my exit and I thought, just the perfect weather to be in bed under the duvet!

Later that evening, I made my way back to Ampang.

On Sunday Morning, I walked to SPCA to check out its Jumble Sale. There were a lot of things on sale, some in good condition, some not so. There were piles of used clothes (whether gently used or not, I could not tell) with Indonesian and Filipino ladies excitedly rummaging through them (I did buy ‘gently used’ clothes before from Oxfam in England but they were in mint condition); shoes (I spotted two pairs of Bruno Magli!); knick-knacks; small ornaments; toys; kitchenware items; and books and magazines. I ended up buying three books – a paperback Memoirs Of A Geisha, a hardback The Kitchen God’s Wife and a paperback The Wrong Way Home – all for RM7 (or about USD2/GBP1.15/Euro1.4)!!! All three cost less than a single second-hand book at Pay Less Books store, and I dare say, they cost less than some food items too (but alas, you can’t eat books of course. I remember Mummy getting annoyed because I was such a bookworm and would be engrossed in my books that she asked if my books would fill my appetite).

I am so chuffed with the deals I made over the weekend! One thing though: the area where the books and magazines were arranged was the nearest to the animal cages and area and I tell you, I almost gagged at the overpowering stench. I had to cover my nose for the first fifteen minutes before I became accustomed to the smell. Now I’m having second thoughts about volunteering for animal causes (is that bad of me?). I then went to pay some cats a visit: they were so cute and adorable, purring and greeting me from their cages but I can’t adopt them. Because they will all die and leave me alone.

~~~~~~~~

It was also an International football weekend. England won unconvincingly 2-0 over Andorra and my hero helped David Villa to score for Spain. While I’m delighted that Andy Murray beat Nadal to meet FedEx, I think it’s outrageous of the F1 stewards to penalise poor Hamilton. And so the race for the driver’s title continues.

The Fourth Of July Weekend

The weekend started early. My mate came down at 10 something on Friday morning bearing a package and wished me happy birthday. I let out an ‘Oh s***’ - a little inappropriately I know. Turned out the ‘package’ contained a birthday cake (which she ordered) and a container of jelly pudding which she made herself. She had wanted the birthday cake to look like a Scrabble board but it didn’t quite turn out that way. Anyway, we had lovely cake and jelly - I forbade them to sing me Happy Birthday as it was not my birthday yet! - on top of the nasi lemak breakfast courtesy of an acquaintance who celebrated her birthday the day before.





Headed off to the airport at lunchtime and met up with my parents. We then boarded the afternoon flight to Phuket. Arrived at the hotel after 5 and rested.

Woke up early on Saturday morning as today, we would be taking a boat trip to Phi Phi Island located to the south-east of Phuket Island. The boat set off at 8.30 am and it took more than an hour to get to Phi Phi. It was a lazy day out in the boat and we had lunch at Phi Phi before heading back. Those who wanted to swim or snorkel could do so at another island that we visited.

Sunday was spent shopping with my parents. Also had a facial (with light massage thrown in) before heading back to the hotel. Started to feel some pain in my neck literally after that and it gradually became worse.

Returned back to KL on Monday and while everything was on time, we had to wait a blinking hour before we were reunited with our bags. Hence we only reached KL when most people were also braving the evening traffic on their way back from work.

Dang it, my neck still hurts. But it was a good weekend nevertheless. Thanks to everyone who wished me Happy Birthday!




This puss doesn’t have everything of course. At the moment she is lusting after Gucci by Gucci - and has been lusting after it since sighting it in Europe - though it hasn’t yet reached Malaysian shores (and stores).


Any takers?

P.S. Bloody hell, this idiot was also born on the 6th of July!

~~~~~~~~

There is a circus in Malaysia at the moment and it revolves around political backstabbing complete with murder, the statutory declaration which was retracted a day later etc, etc. I think this other blogger does a better job at telling it. For more of the stinking ‘S’ story, go here and here – because we know that mainstream media is biased.

~~~~~~~~

Fantastic drive by Lewis Hamilton at the British Grand Prix but alas at Wimbledon, Federer was overcome by Nadal.