Dog's Day Out

Hi everyone! *wags tail* My name is Kelly. I'm rinnah's doggie and I heard from her that Giddy Tiger wanted to know seven random things about me. So she very kindly let me guest post on her blog to answer GT. Uhm... where shall I start? I dunno wor... this is my first time blogging. A little help please? *looks up at rinnah* No? I have to do this on my own? Okie, so here goes nuthin'!

1. I am afraid of thunder and firecrackers. Very very afraid. I will whimper and whine and scratch at the door to ask my humans to let me in. But they don't. *whine* So instead I have to find my own shelter and security in my towels where I bury my head so that I don't see and hear the lightning and thunder.

2. I am a very discerning dog. Rinnah says I have a royal palate, whatever that is. I don't like to eat dog biscuits. I prefer human food. BBQ chicken, roast chicken, teriyaki chicken, percik chicken, fried chicken, KFC.... yum. And I make my humans buy me a packet of roast chicken rice every Saturday. Am I smart or what? And I don't even have to beg. Hehehe.

3. I am a bit confused about my species. I think I am a cat. Because I eat cat biscuits and not dog biscuits. But I still behave doggish-ly when I chase rinnah's adopted stray cats on the road. But that's just because I'm jealous she / rinnah's mum feeds them with MY cat biscuits. And they talk to the cats and stroke them and sayang them. Hey, what about me? I'm the pet of the house, remember?

4. I am the most cheong-hei dog in the neighborhood. Long after any strangers have come and gone, I will still be running up and down the house compound barking. Sometimes my humans tell me to shut up, but sometimes they let me bark. I think they're confused. And when I try to tell them what's happening outside, they say, "Kelly, be quiet. Enough barking. Stop."

5. I am a good girl. I will not venture beyond my kingdom unless there is a leash involved. Or there is a cat outside. Then I will cast caution to the winds and pursue that cat! Yes, but I only know how to chase and I can't fight. It's true! I got bested by a kitten before. But that's just because I was merciful. Yeah.

6. I am a reality show million dollar prize winner! I dunno how much this is worth in dog food, but I figure it's gotta be a lot. Rinnah says I should give it all to her and her parents because it costs so much to feed me. And to replace the pots that I accidentally knock over sometimes. And the plants of rinnah's mum that I destroyed as a puppy. And because I scratched her car when I put my long long claws on the door in my excitement to greet her when she came back from work one day. *sad* But anyway, I got my million dollars because I outwitted, outplayed and outlasted my nine other siblings. Ultimate Survivor! Woof!

7. Oh and I didn't want to put this down, but rinnah insisted. I am... *whispers* going to be a senior dog in 20 days time. *covers eyes with paws* Nope. Not admitting to my age. I'm still young. Only seven years old. Still available. Still wanted. See that neighbor's male dog there? He keeps on coming around, whether I'm on heat or not. Oops. Did I just say that out loud? *slinks away to hide amongst the flowerpots*

*peeps out from hiding place*

One last thing before I go. Rinnah says I'm supposed to tag someone with this tag. Huh? Like dog tags? Or like playing tag and saying "you're it"? I'm a real pro at playing tag. Woof! So I tag my fellow canines...

Ah Boy - Ah Boy, Ah Boy
Liucas

Buh bye, everyone!

Picture this, picture that

I have a soft spot for high tech digital toys, and this digital photo frame from Digital Framez caught my eye. With this nifty gadget, you don't need to print out your stacks and stacks of vacation photos just to look at them. All you need to do is save your desired pictures onto a memory card, insert it into the digital photo frame, and voila! instant slideshow of all the pictures you want to display. It's such a simple yet effective idea, it's got me thinking that I need to get me a digital photo frame for my room so I can put all my best headshots in there.

It gets better. Not only does the digital frame display photos, it can even play those video clips you recorded at your best friend's wedding or during that romantic date under the stars. Moving picture and sound, all without use of a PC! You're only limited on how many photos or videos you wanna show off by the size of your memory card. And I think I could stuff a lot onto a 1GB memory card, don't you think? It makes a great gift for all ages, especially for the males in your life.

The digital frame comes in a variety of sizes and finishes and prices start from $99.00 for a 7 inch frame.

Do you know the driver of this car?

I wanted to blog about this yesterday, but got sidetracked by the bride joke.

Anyway, I went to 1Utama on Sunday afternoon and was in the New Wing basement looking for parking. I had finally found one after about 20 minutes, and was patiently waiting with my signal light on for the other occupant to vacate the spot.

This big black Beemer drove by and suddenly reversed, plonking his car between mine and the parking space. He nonchalantly took the parking space which I had been waiting for! As Paris Beaverbanks would say, "How rude!" *thinks of fifty plus things to call the Beemer driver* Luckily there was another car about five spaces away moving out, so I took that parking space instead.

Anyway, I was so miffed at him, I whipped out my trusty digicam and took this picture of the rude driver's car and his number plate. I'm not going to blur out the digits, I'm so miffed at him. The driver is a Chinese chap in his early twenties, rather clean cut looking, not the Ah Beng type but his looks belie his horrid behaviour. Bah! So if anyone knows this chap, please do tell him off. And you don't need to be nice about it.

Here comes the bride!

Or so some people think. NOT!

Guess what? I'm getting married! *ROTFL*

The best part is? I DON'T KNOW about it.

Yup. I don't know when the date is, where it will be held and even who the lucky groom is. (Maybe it is because of this blogpost.)

But... apparently, my ex-company knows all about it. And the rumour is buzzing around that I'm getting married sometime soon. (I wonder who started this rumour?)

My aunt works in my ex-co and she called up my mum this morning to tell us of the latest rumour, which she came to know of when one of my ex-colleagues excitedly asked her about it. And when my aunt replied that it was most likely not true (seeing that we had just met for dinner last night), that person said she couldn't reveal her sources of the rumour. -_-'

Well, sorry to disappoint you guys, but it's NOT true. *grin*

A little Z before I zzzzz...

Z is the last letter of the alphabet. Some pronounce it "zach" whilst others pronounce it "zed". It's written with three strokes and it's also the mark of Zorro. Z is a very unique alphabet, and it seems fitting that someone very unique has a name beginning with "Z".

So today, I would like to wish ZEWT a very...

Zesty
Zelicious
Zonderful
Zurprising
Zpecial
Zirthday!

And also a birthday shout-out to King's Wife as I understand it's her birthday too!

Playing at secret societies

I overheard an interesting conversation amongst a group of young girls today.

They were sitting at the table next to me, young girls, between the ages of around 9 to 12. From what I gathered, they were going to set up their own secret club and were discussing the rules. They ran along these lines: once a member, always a member. If you left the club, you were termed to have "betrayed" the club (yes, they actually used the word betray). And as part of "registration" with the club, I heard them exchanging addresses and... get this... handphone numbers.

You say kids these days high tech or not? *grin*

Away with the mess!

I have an uncle who's an absolute handyman around the house. He has this storeroom that is full of every possible imaginable tool made by man. I'm not kidding, seriously! The last time I was poking around in there, I saw he used a metal pegboard to arrange and hold his tools neatly on the wall space. And I thought to myself that it's a great idea! I could use a smaller sized metal pegboard under my computer table at home to arrange/coil and keep up all the wires and cables that accumulate underneath all my electronic peripherals. No more mess, no more fussing with wires underneath each time I want to plug my laptop in!

This is a sponsored post.

And the lights went out...

It started pouring cats and dogs the moment we came back from some Friday night shopping. Rolling thunder and intermittent strikes of lightning shredded the sky. I paid no attention to the rain, being safe and snug in the house. And in the midst of it all… the lights went out!

Yup, the house had been struck by lightning, so the circuit breaker (do you call it that?) tripped as a precautionary measure. But in the darkness, there was still a bright glow… it came from none other than… my laptop! Muahahahaha. So laptops do have a second function after all. This entry was typed in complete darkness and silence with only the rain on the awning, the rumbling thunder and my tapping fingertips making noise. It reminds me of Snoopy, sitting on his little red doghouse, typing away on his typewriter. And all his stories start… “It was a dark and stormy night.” LOL!

Superlative Scandanavian scenes

Lately I've been thinking a lot about a trip to Europe. There's just so many things to do and to see there, and when I read about angel's Stockholm adventures in May, it really got me to thinking, why not a Scandanavian adventure? Beautiful country, beautiful people, beautiful (albeit cold!) weather... charming! And almost as if it was coincidence, I came across this website that promises Cheap Hotels in Stockholm. Fated? I definitely think so. *grin*

I was most drawn to the Columbus Hotel Stockholm, a reasonably priced 3-star hotel with the promising description of cosy accomodation in a building dating back to 1780 and places of attraction like St. Catherine's Church nearby. They even offer you wine tasting in the hotel cellar, which sounds like a most interesting vacation thing to do, yes? A bit of wine to warm oneself up before braving the chilly air outside in search of adventure. See the museums, the streets, the palace, the art galleries... The hotel is situated in Södermalm, which is reputed to be a scenic and attractive area of Stockholm... ah, that sounds perfect for some R&R. So, who's up for some superlative Scandanavian scenery?

This is a sponsored post that will hopefully earn me enough to go to Sweden. *grin*

Are you a potato head?

Oooh... another tag! The month of June looks like it is turning into my month of tags. This time, a kill two birds with one stone tag. I'm simultaneously paying off my tag debts to l b and may by doing my version called the Mr. & Ms. Potato Head tag. Heh! To recap...

~ l b tagged me with the sweet potatoes tag aka fan-si
~ may tagged me (after angel chose me to represent her) with the Double Happiness Fansi Association™.

What you're supposed to do is to name your blog's greatest fans. So here it goes - Are you a Mr. or Ms. Potato Head? (You know, the cute cute potato toys in Toy Story?) In order not to *ahem* step on anyone's toes, I list down my fan-sees in the order in which they began regularly commenting on my blog. See? Very fair. *grin*

When I first started my blog, the first evah commenter was none other than Simple American. So he is my number one Mr. Potato Head!

Next person to come along was May. In a single click, she doubled my blog readership. Hehehe. So Ms. Potato Head she is.

Then Angel came flying by with her angel dust. So she is an Angelic Potato Head!

Chen found me thru my Twitter twits! And where Chen goes, AhBoy follows closely behind. I would call them the Twin Potato Heads. Hehehe. Or is it Ms Potato Head and Slinky the dog? I forget.

And then to round off the list came LB! He is the Emperor Potato Head! I'm not sure if there is an Emperor version of Mr Potato Head, but if there isn't, I guess the Darth Tater will do just as well. *grin*

So there you have it, my five fan-sees aka Potato Heads.

**********
Next we move on to associate the blog, where I have to pick a blog and associate it with something.

Introducing, candidate number one.

She's happily married (sorry guys!) and a mummy of one cute, adorably BULAT boy. She possesses a secret talent for poetry and the ability to make me giddy with giggles with her cleverly written posts (even the sponsored ones!). Now taking up the advanced art of photography on her Nokia N73 to complement an already cool blog, you can be sure that this candidate will be taking her blog places.

It's..... the GIDDY TIGRESS! I always associate her blog with giggles (from Ethan Boy) and the imaginary pic of a bouncing Tigger from Winnie the Pooh.

Next, we have candidate number two.

The creator of the boing boing series™, and virtuoso vai-ling maestro, don't be fooled by the cute boy next door image (complete with dimple!). He can play musical instruments, he can bake, he can shop, and it looks like he may be the new Kenny Sia so quickly invite him to cover any events you may be holding. Remember, when his blog readership explodes, you don't want to be left behind!

It's..... A^BEN! Because he created boing boing, I associate his blog with the adorable boing boing and lately with lots of yummy food. TFFC™, anyone?

We move on to candidate number three.

He's huge (in heart lah! What did you think? *piak*) and immensely huggable. He's a novelist and gamer at heart even though he crunches numbers and counts beans for a living. Best of all, he has a great sense of humor and is a good dad to his two kids and his missus (sorry cute Asian girls!). And so many of the family idiosyncracies he talks about seem to be replicated in my family so much so I experience deja-vu whenever I read his blog.

It's..... SIMPLE AMERICAN! I think of SA and I think of Texas and BBQs. Mmm mm mm... yum! Fire up that grill, SA and we'll all do our darndest to meet the weight criteria for TFFC™. Oops. You're supposed to be on a diet, hor? *piaks ownself*

Presenting, candidate number four.

I've only known this candidate for some time now, but it seems like I've known him for a long long time. Maybe it's the fact that he is so friendly and cute (like AhBoy) or it's the fact that he's so YOUNG... (I heard he's only 16 and no longer counting) can be my didi already. Good boy, hor? *pat pat*

It's..... EHON! His blog will now be irrevocably associated with the fountain of youth. Dun believe me? See his now infamous blogpost on bloggers' age. Everyone sudah jadi young young. You'll love rediscovering the kid in you at ehon's blog! *wink*

We're at the last candidate now. Who could it be?

She's all about the pink, the blonde and the fluff. But she can dish up a meal or two, and her kind heart goes out to the needy and hungry! Not only that, she can be moved to tears by the voice of an angel... isn't she just luver-ly? Before you think she's all-round perfect, be warned that she has a Greeni or two in her cupboard. But she tries to keep him on a tight leash.

It's..... PINK ELLE! I got attracted to her blog because it's so pink and the Elle name sealed the deal for me. I'll always associate her with pink-ness, blonde-ness, fluffy-ness and parasols 'coz that's just who she is! Our very own Malaysian Elle Woods.

So there you have it, my five Potato heads and my five associated blogs. If you see your name up there, considered yourself tagged. If you've done it before, that's your get out of jail card. If you haven't done it yet, this is your gentle reminder to do so.

Happy Taggin' Friday, folks!

p.s. Could you do me a favor and do the Advertlets poll located behind the ad on the sidebar? Much appreciated! *muack*

**********

UPDATED:

ehon's "Once upon a time, in a land far far away"

Who knew cosmetic surgery was so hard to find?

No no, I'm not the one requiring cosmetic surgery... my baby is the one. See that pic above? You can find full details of the accident here.

So my baby needs a new set of tail lights, and the sooner the better! The perfectionist in me can't stand the sight of the ugly, jagged plastic and the naked eye of the bulb shining forth next to the dent and the hole. It reminds me of the Terminator's one eyed stare with the red eye socket and all...

So on the day of the accident, I left the office early in hopes of reaching home and the neighborhood mechanic in time. Nope, couldn't make it as the roads were super jammed and it took me 1 hour and 45 minutes to go home. By then, the mechanic was already closed. So I went to another workshop nearby. This one told me that:

~ They don't keep stock of tail lights
~ They need to order it from a supplier
~ It takes 1 - 2 days for the supplier to send them the lights
~ They don't know how much it costs

OK, so it looked as though I would not be able to get my lights fixed quickly.

The next day, I called up the nearest Perodua service center, which is like 5 minutes drive away from my house. Here, I get told that:

~ They don't keep stock of Kelisa tail lights
~ They need to order it from the warehouse
~ It takes 1 - 2 days for the other side to send them the lights
~ They do know how much it costs (approximately RM 187.00, rounded up for convenience)
~ That price is excluding labour charges (about RM 35.00)
~ I need to pay for the light first before they will order it
~ And I need to make an appointment for them to change the lights, even though it takes less than half an hour to do so

That spells out a whole lot of hassle! Either way, I need to make at least two trips - one to order and another to fix the lights. So mah fan, hor? I still haven't decided which route to take, so I'm cruising around KL city with my busted tail lights still. Good thing this isn't America where I could get pulled over and summoned! *grin*

Oh, and the cosmetic surgery bit hasn't extended to the search of finding out if the dent and hole is repairable. *sigh* My poor baby!

Beddy bye

Anyone who reads my daily rants and raves will know that I value my sleep a whole lot. And in order for me to get my forty winks of beauty sleep, everything has to be conducive. The temperature must be just right, not too warm or too cold, no noise to suddenly wake me up, and most importantly, a comfy bed that I can snuggle into and zzzzz my cares away.

What is the bed without the right bedding? I've had my share of itchy blankets and uncomfortable feeling sheets so I'm quite particular about my bedding. And at Terry's Fabrics, they promise terrific choice and terrific value on quality duvet covers and bedspreads for that perfect touch to your bedroom. From prints to embroidery and quilted duvets, I think there's something there for everyone. If you'll excuse me now, I'll be off to check both Terry's Fabrics and my bed now. Good night, all!

Why don't you give a little love instead

Ever wondered what your life would be like if it was different? I'm not referring to the fantasy life where you're rich, famous and gorgeous, but the other type. Like what if you were born say... in India or Africa? If there was something about you that needed help? *touch wood* The lyrics of Stacie Orrico's song Instead comes to mind for me...

A new point of view

A walk in your shoes

I wish I could get inside your head

To see what you see

When you look at me

Cause I could've lived your life instead

So when I got to know about The Giving Hands, I figured this can be my way of spreading the news and giving back to society. The Giving Hands is a strictly charity-based blog set up and run by Pelf Nyok (who's researching turtles on the East Coast of West Malaysia). Pelf writes about a variety of topics all relating to charity, conservation and volunteerism at The Giving Hands and somehow finds time in her busy schedule to also be an official PR officer of The Eye Digest. The latest event up her sleeve is the Blogathon, where Pelf is teaming up with Yvonne Foong to blog about Eden Handicap Service Centre for this year's edition of the blogathon. I think it's a really neat idea to build up some awareness and raise funds for a worthy cause. There's a catch to the blogathon though. It runs for 24 hours and requires blogposts every 30 minutes (so the bigger the team, the better 'cause there are more people to help out). Wooo... that's like the Ironman marathon! (Or David Blaine magician specials on telly.) Each team picks a specific charity to donate to, and sponsors can choose which team or charity they want to support - in Pelf and Yvonne's case, it's Eden Handicap Service Centre.

If you'd like to find out more about the blogathon or Pelf herself, do drop by The Giving Hands or her personal website (which I liked very much, it's now in my RSS feeds!) and give her some link love. We can all do a little bit to make society better, eh?

I The Spy

Ever wonder what it would be like to be a spy? Every kid has seen spy movies, no matter what their generation, from the good oldies like James Bond (the standard!) to Ethan Hunt and even the pint-sized Spy Kids. And I'm sure you played at being a spy too, when you weren't busy with Cops and Robbers or Cowboys and Indians.

For me, spies are just like ninjas, except they hide in plain sight and don't skulk around in the darkness wearing black outfits. Oh wait. Tuxedos do count as black outfits, right? That's why they call it black tie events.

When I daydream, I like to imagine that I'm a high-level operative, aka spy, who's tasked to infiltrate places whilst being perfectly groomed and clad in killer designer outfits. I'd use all my acting ability to create a cover for myself (so that I don't reveal my secret identity) as a rich spoiled heiress who seems to do nothing else but attend parties (where I would snoop around for dirty little secrets). To put it all together, I'd have a memorable spy name like Honey Trapp. *cue laughter* After all, the best cover is to be out there in the open, right? No one would think of looking for a spy in a blonde bimbo, right? *wink*

Yes, that's my secret spy ability. Remember, eyes and ears are watching you!

So, you think I can give Michael Weston, a CIA operative on USA Network's Burn Notice a few tips and tricks? You'll just have to watch it on 28th June to find out.

My Baby is Scarred!

I take a quick break from my tag debts to recount the sad tale of how my baby received a scar on Monday.

I was driving to work on a dull, dreary Monday morning like I do every Monday morning, muttering and grumbling inside my head about how I didn't want to go to work. As I was coming down the downward slope of the flyover at Makro (Taman Midah) that was where it happened. (Somehow me and Jalan Cheras seem to be at odds with one another - I had my first accident EVER just two months back on a different stretch of road, also in the morning as I drove to work.) I was travelling about 50km/ph on the middle lane and preparing to slow down since there was traffic to be sighted ahead when this big black Mercedes (I didn't catch the number! Dang!) decided that he needed to swing out into the middle lane from the fast lane, where the traffic had already stopped (the middle lane was still moving, albeit at a slower speed). At this point of time my car is less than 100m away and still going at around 35-40km/ph. No sooner than he thought he'd cut out, the Mercedes driver matched action to thought and CUT into the middle lane, forcing me to slam on the brakes just so I didn't end up piling into the side and rear end of his car.

I stopped just short of the Mercedes. The motorcyclist behind me did not manage to stop on time. I heard this loud bang at the back and felt my car jerk and when I looked into my side mirror, the poor motorcyclist had fallen onto the road in the slow lane. Thankfully the cars in the slow lane managed to stop in time, or else the motorcyclist would have been squished! *shudders at the thought*

And what of the big black BAD Mercedes? It sped away. *thinks of a hundred different things to call the driver* Of course he didn't care that he had just caused an accident due to his selfishness and that traffic was starting to pile up around my car and the motorcyclist. Selfish people are the scum of the earth.

So, I quickly manuveured my car to the side of the road and parked there. The motorcyclist managed to get to his feet and came over to the side of the road too. When I approached him, he was actually apologetic to me for knocking into the back of my car! Poor man, already bruised and he scraped his leg and knee when he fell, and he's still apologizing to me. (I think he was more afraid I was going to make him pay for the damage!) Whereas, I was worried that he had injured himself in the fall, and was quite prepared to take him to the clinic! (He's not that young already, in his early fifties and he was wearing a DBKL t-shirt, the kind that you see on the roadsweeper or maintenance worker.) Anyway, we both reassured each other that yes, he was alright and yes, it was the fault of the BAD Mercedes driver for cutting out like that. (Even his use of the signal light was unexcusable in this case!) So the motorcyclist went on his way and I went back to survey the damage to my baby.

Upper portion of tail light completely knocked out, but that's OK, because the bulb was still intact and tail lights are replaceable. What pained me was the sight of the dent on the right of the tail light, and the minute gouge and hole in the bodywork on the left of the tail light. A hole, for crying out loud! *cries* How to patch back a hole? Anyone know if it can be done?

So now I'm driving around with a busted open left tail light (the right has two patched up holes courtesy of my first accident, also involving a motorcyclist) until I can get it fixed, which isn't anytime soon. And my poor baby has a scar and scrapes on both sides of the rear bumper. So sad!

And in case anyone wants to know (but I'm telling it anyway! Heh.) this is my 3rd minor accident in 3 months and the only 3 times I've had an accident in my driving history! The first, the rear right tail light incident on 29 March. The second, badly scraping the rear passenger door of my dad's car on 12 May. And the third, on Monday, 18 June.

Is it just me or is this new job of mine the jinx? Yesterday makes it twice since I started work in March. *heaves a big sigh* So now I'm even more paranoid when I drive. If you see a Kelisa with a busted open rear left tail light, who knows, it could be me.

Oh baby baby

Baby face... you've got the cutest little baby face...

Looking younger than you actually are can be a pro or a con, depending on how you look at it and what kind of situation you're in. Over the past two weeks, I've been getting a lot of questions about my age from people whom I meet. Maybe it's the baby face or the fact that I meet them on weekends, when I'm casually dressed in jeans and tees. But no one seems to believe how old (or rather how young! Muahahaha!) I am nor the fact that I am working (and have been working for some years now)! The FAQs are:

~ Oh, is this your daughter? (to my parents) I remember her when she was just this high *motions with hand*
~ Is she still studying?
~ You mean she's working already?
~ How old are you? -_-' (Frequent age guesses at this point will range from between 18 - 21, which I have already left behind a few years back!)

So it's good that I look pretty young for my age (even a bit underage!) but it's not good when I want to get people to take me seriously! Like who's going to believe me when I say I've been working for x number of years when I look like a high-schooler? I do think I'm rather serious, responsible and matured for my age so much so that I sometimes feel like I'm having a yuppie's quarterlife crisis with my life years before time. But yet I know I am nowhere as matured as I like to think I am and can be childishly immature a whole lot of other times. As my mother never fails to remind me, she had me at a young age, while here I am still basking in my babyhood status at home. ;-P

p.s. And should I be flattered that a young, collegiate-age boy was *ahem* checking me out? LOL!

Because of you...

... there was me.

H A P P Y F A T H E R ' S D A Y , D A D ! ! ! ! ! !

And to all the daddies in the world celebrating this day too. *hugs*

Are you safe? Because no one is...

I'm still supposed to be on my hiatus, and I'm raring to get back on the blogging (war)path but I simply don't have anything to blog about! So what better way to ease back into the blogosphere than by doing a couple of tags? You guys lup me so much you still tag me even though I'm away, eh? Well, I lup you all too, so here is the easiest of the tags... a virgin tag from Paris Beaverbanks!

You guys ready for a ride? The Imperial Spindoctor is in the house! Woohoo!

**********
The story goes like this... Ms. Beaverbanks was mistaken for the more famous Ms. Hilton (because they share the same first name) and was rumored to have developed a serious disease. *gasp* *shock* *horror* No! *hears the gossip mill crank up a notch* And since the infamous Ms. Hilton is currently sitting in the slammer, one can only guess at what kind of infectious disease was picked up. Maybe it will require a shaving ceremony much like Ms. Spears? Hmm... I can already see the scrimmage on eBay for bits of those famous golden blonde hair extensions. What's that you say? Oh. This wasn't part of the story. Sor-wee... I got diverted by juicy celebrity goss... Must be because I joined the Giddy Tiger blur-blur tei club. LOL!

Now where was I? Oh yes, so of course Ms. Beaverbanks had to issue a web statement to deny that fact strongly and any remote association with Ms. Hilton (it was a simple case of mistaken identity). But she did reveal a shocking truth in her statement. She's got the dreaded Blogivitis virus! ( psst... I hear it came from Wuching... o.0 ) *hears screams as the crowd scatters*

Now now, calm down folks. It's not very infectious unless you don't have the necessary antibodies to fight it off. But the thing is, this virus creeps up on you so slowly that you don't know you're infected until you are. And if you are, saints help you... there is no known cure. I repeat, no known cure. Doctors are baffled by this epidemic that only affects a portion of society known as bloggers. (According to a certain Malaysian minister of Information, bloggers are evil. They spread lies and are mostly unemployed women. So if you are male and employed, chances are higher that you won't be infected unless you happen to be a prolific thinking blogger like this guy.) So what can you do to protect yourself? Check against this list of symptoms to see if you have been infected...

You KNOW you've GOT Blogivitis if you:

1. Turn on your computer/laptop/PDA/whatever-it-is-you-use-to-connect-to-the-Internet the first thing in the morning when you wake up. Your early morning thoughts are likely to be: Are there new posts to chup? Anything interesting to read? Has my comment on x's blog been responded to yet? I wonder how many comments have popped up on my website since I went to sleep...

2. You find yourself schlepping around your cameraphone or digicam everywhere you go (even to the mamak!) in hopes of capturing something blogworthy that you can blog about. It doesn't matter when, where, how or even who is with you, you MUST get that photo and quick. You may even take several photos of the same subject in an effort to get the best looking angle in the right light setting. If you have an extreme case of infection, you automatically grin and pose (even funny looking ones like a^ben did here) when you spy someone taking your mugshot. Super-extreme cases (which are unsaveable! = mou tak kau) will upgrade their equipment to the latest DSLR camera or what-not in search of that holy grail - the perfect picture.

3. You walk around in a perpetual state of primed awareness, ready to pick up on the slightest hint of anything remotely bloggable, be it the fact that you sneezed six times today (could it be something?) or that you had kali kai for lunch, dinner and supper (and thus make everyone drool together with you) or even that guy who was obnoxiously rude to you. Yes, even the smallest things are magnified when you succumb to Blogivitis.

4. You lust after tags - tagging and being tagged. Of course, this is limited to certain patients only who find a great deal of pleasure in the tag game. There are many methods of dealing with the side effects of tags. The normal thing would be to do the tag and tag others. Some, do tags but kill them after. Some, refuse to do tags. :o) Some, pick up tags even when no one has tagged them. Some, forget they are tagged. But after all, to tag means to be loved, hor? And so, tags are routinely swopped around the blogosphere into infinity.

5. You twit. No no, I'm not calling you a twit. Another rare side effect of Blogivitis is to twit using Twitter. Short, sporadic bursts of the Blogivitis virus are exhibited in the 140 character messaging system known as Twitter. This allows the person instant relief when an entire blog entry is not necessary. Twits can be informative, rambly or just plain nonsensical. You twit when you feel like it. You twit about the weather. The food. The people. Think of it as the Tiny URL answer to the blogpost.

6. You debate the benefits of various RSS readers (Google Reader, Bloglines, Safari) just so that you can get your itchy fingers on that all-elusive first place chup at l b's / may's / any THHC resort blogwide. Extreme cases may also debate on the pros and cons of viewing certain websites in different browsers.

7. You display actual physical symptoms of Blogivitis. Increased heart rate when you spy an unchupped post. Stress levels go up if you miss that all-important chup. Rapid eye blinks so as not to miss out on a latest post. Nervous finger twitches when you constantly refresh your screen / RSS reader. Dark eye circles / bags caused by getting too little sleep the night before because you were busy blog-hopping. You refuse to eat breakfast / lunch or dinner away from your computer. You sacrifice sleep to the bare minimum, earning you the title of Ultimate Chupper and zombiehead.

8. You begin speaking a strange new language. Liu liu! Teh-kors! *piaks*! Chup chop! Boing boing! Hug Hug! B O C O R! Neh! BBs! Moo moos! So powderful, hor? So YAATTAAA!!! Normal words take on very different meanings... like milk. Lor mai kai. CCF. Butt(s). Pinches. And if you have a most extreme case, you develop a split personality... like l b/Emperor. And kyh/brad. Or angel/angie/princess appearl. With may/Concubine M. And patient 0 of multiple personalities - misti/mistipurple/moisti/jaga/Concubine C/milkmaid/mermaid/moo/wolf. Even canines are not spared - e.g. Liucas/Tiucas.

9. And in a mutation of the Blogivitis virus, there are those who have gone over to the Dark Side. You can tell the difference immediately between Dark Side Blogivitis and normal Blogivitis. Those infected are the ones with the PPP badges, the Nuffnang ads and the Advertlets squares. They are Google Adsensed to the last degree and PayPal enabled. A whole new vocabulary is used to describe their symptoms. They talk of sidebar skyscraper ads and the intricacies of multiplying your pay-per-clicks. Affiliates are those who were infected by others already from the Dark Side. Kinda like Dracula, yea? This mutation is only found in people who already have Blogivitis and lack the money antibody.

10. In order to cope with the many myriad symptoms of Blogivitis, support groups have been formed. Known as the collective blogosphere or blog communities by others, those infected band together to comment on the latest developments in this mysterious epidemic and how to best cope in living life with Blogivitis. Remember, if you are one of those fortunate ones, you are not alone! There are others out there with you! Let us unite and YAATTAAA together! \(^.^)/

So now that you know the dangers and symptoms of Blogivitis, I do hope that you'll be more aware of what's happening in the blogosphere and that you'll do all it takes to continue to perpetuate it. We need more Blogivitis junkies/zombies/crazed fan-sees in this world. Do your part and spread the news (by listing out your individual 10 symptoms of Blogivitis), I'm doing mine by infecting the following people:

~ pinkelle - because she loves pink and has blonde moments just like elle woods
~ simple american - I know he's super busy but still I'm tagging him just because he is the king of memes and no meme should ever bypass him
~ l b - because me is his fan-see and all thanks to THHC my Blogivitis rapidly increased to an extreme stage! Wahahahaha!
~ ehon - because one tag deserves another, ah boy didi... I promise I will get to work on your tag as soon as I can install Photoshop on my lappie
~ leonard - because I'm disguising it as a welcome present to THHC! Hehehehe.

Remember, there is no cure! *grin*

**********
Wokay... I'm all blogged out now... but it was an absolutely fun tag to do! Thanks ParisB! *muacks*

Hope you guys enjoy it! No offense, ya? All intended in jest only... *ducks any missiles and brickbats*

**********

UPDATED:

pink elle's highly contagious Blogivitis symptoms

leonard's Singaporean Blogivitis symptoms

The center of the storm is the source

So I've been working on making the most out of my PayPerPost opportunities... the more opportunities taken, the more chances I get to make money from the nice people at PPP. But they are so nice, they're making it even better and easier for bloggers to make money blogging.

Introducing PPP Direct - the first time advertisers get to choose their bloggers direct. Are they smart or what? If the advertiser comes across your blog and they like what they see, under PPP Direct they can get you to write about their product/service with a single click of your PPP Direct badge. The best part is, you get to keep all the moolah because there's no middleman rushing to take a cut or markup your fee and there's no overhead to meet. Other PPP competitors like ReviewMe charge 50-100% markup (which is quite a bit) and means that you don't see all the money you are supposed to get for your post. That doesn't sound too fair, does it? Well, with PPP Direct you get to keep more of your hard earned money because PPP Direct only charges a 10% fee, of which 5% is transaction fees for PayPal and credit card processing. And did I mention that advertisers can actually pay via credit card? Advertising online has never been simpler. How sure are you that you're gonna get your money? Under the PPP system, both blogger and advertiser can rest assured that both sides will uphold their ends of the bargain. If you wanna know more, you can click here.

And all of this is made possible by the good people at PayPerPost. So what are you waiting for? Go get signed up for PPP Direct right now... I've already done so and got my PPP Direct badge right there in the sidebar. *grin* So, yoohoo advertisers! I'm here!

Starlight, starbright

... first star I see tonight ...

As a child I loved to look up into the sky at night, look for the moon and predict to my parents if it was going to rain tomorrow. But I never looked at the stars, just because there were so many of them and I couldn't really tell one star from another, no matter what people may say about all those star formations that have names like the Big Dipper. (I would think of the Big Gulp instead! LOL!)

But if I had the super-cool meade my sky gizmo, I'm sure I would have spent hours gazing at the sky and identifying all sorts of celestial objects. (I wonder if UFOs are included as celestial objects? Hmm...) It couldn't get any simpler than point-shoot-and-identify to explore the universe around us, and it comes with the ability to control a Meade computerized telescope. Not just for kids, this is something even adults could spend hours on and it makes for a great family activity, yea? So maybe when you're thinking about a birthday or Christmas gift for the science lover in your life, the meade my sky could fit the bill.

A not so impossible mission

It started out innocently enough. A slight drop in performance. Maybe a glitch or two, nothing too major. Then it becomes more frequent as the invaders start to take over the host. Before you know it, you've been infested! Whoah! No need to run away, this isn't any alien or zombie invasion. Just talking about that dreaded PC disease known as spyware. *grin* And that's when you know you're on a mission to search and destroy those nasty spyware programs. You gotta save your PC, right?

When this happened on my home PC some years back, I didn't know what to do. Except yell in frustration and tug at my hair as my PC got slowed down to a snail's pace and see irritating programs suddenly mushroom like fungi as they installed themselves in. I still wonder how they got in. Was it that innocent looking file my friend forwarded by email? Was it the download off the Net that did it? There are so many ways spyware can get it, and if you just get the type that shows irritating ads and leech off PC performance, I'd say that wouldn't be so bad as those programs that make use of your PC to send out even more of their troops into the open. The big bad buggers would be the ones that seretly root around your PC for your personal information, which could do some serious damage. The thing is, sometimes you don't even know that your PC has spyware on it! A random check the other day showed 67 of them hiding out. Grrrr....

So what does one do? My solution last time was simple. Just whine at my dad and ask him to sort it out. *grin* He is the PC whiz of the house after all. But it did require quite a bit of housekeeping and deleting of this and that, even reinstalling some programs over a couple of days before we regained control of the PC. Disaster avoided, but it wasn't enough. You still need to do something to keep those buggers out. I wish we had heard of Webroot Spy Sweeper software then. Because Spy Sweeper doesn't just remove the spyware, it actively blocks it from getting in in the first place and it provides continuous monitoring of your PC. Neat! It's kind of like your PC's personal bodyguard, eh? Plus they offer free automatic defense updates (like antivirus software) so that you can rest easy while surfing and downloading the Net. For $29.95, I think it's a pretty good deal.

School holidays are over...

Goodbye to sleeping later.
Goodbye to waking up later.
Goodbye to leaving the house late and enjoying relatively smooth traffic.
Goodbye to clearer than normal roads when I leave the office in the evenings.
Goodbye school holidays. I'm gonna miss you......

BUT

Goodbye to circling shopping mall carparks aimlessly and fighting for parking space!
Goodbye to rugrats and munchkins running around in droves!
Goodbye to traffic jams around major shopping areas in the Klang Valley!
Goodbye school holidays. I'm not gonna miss you!

Be L O S T no more...

Lost is back tonight! *rubs hands with glee* At last I will get to find out what happens to Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Sun, Jin, and everyone else on the island... but... I have already forgotten what happened in the earlier seasons 1 & 2! *makes funny Hiro-like face* Uh, no... still can't remember. Oh well. Astro will be showing the latest season of Lost (season 3) on AXN (ch 17) with two hour back-to-back episodes every Thursday. I can't wait...

And oh yeah, thinking about Lost always gets me thinking of l b's HO KWAI FANN resort (now christened the Good Ghost Rice resort, I hear) on a deserted island and all the bloggers who are gonna be on that island. How I wish it would be sooner rather than later! I could do with a good island getaway...

**********
Yesterday, although I was tired and a bit grumpy from having to stay back in office (because of my high and mighty senior colleague), I gave myself a little adventure by travelling the much talked about SMART tunnel on the way home. At least I can now say that I've driven thru the big storm drain and emerged unscathed! Hehehe. My drive took about 6 1/2 minutes, primarily because I was a good girl and kept to the speed limit of 60km/ph, unlike other drivers who kept on whizzing by at faster speeds. Hello, people? The speed limit is there for a reason - to keep you and others around you safe and alive. I wouldn't like to think of what would happen if a speeding fella caused an accident in the tunnel. *shiver*

Ding dong bell...

*we interrupt your commercial break to bring you the latest breaking news as it happens...*

I know I was supposed to be on a hiatus, but this piece of news was just too tantalizing not to blog about. Ahahaha.

The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Abdullah Badawi (or Pak Lah as he is fondly called), is getting married this Saturday. Yup, he's getting married for the second time. The official announcement by his office can be found here.

A colleague of mine says of bride-to-be, "Lucky lady. Overnight she gets to become the first lady." Well, I wouldn't want that by a long shot. Just think, you'll have to deal with all the protocol of being the first lady. You'll have to be with your husband meeting and entertaining foreign dignitaries and all the exhaustion of travel to boot. You won't be you anymore because you'll be in the public eye and subject to scrutiny of thousands. People will comment on how you act, how you dress, how you talk, how you treat people, even on how you walk. If it's not about you, it'll be about your husband and your family. Your life probably won't be your own also, because there will be a hundred and one public events to attend, as the First Lady. There'll be people following you up and down - especially that pesky security detail. There'll be the hangers-on and the apple polishers (read: politicians) and their wives surrounding you like buzzards on carrion. People will mouth platitudes to you and you'll wonder if they are genuinely being nice or are they nice just because of who you're married to. No sirree! I don't envy her at all (unlike my colleague).

*****

While I'm blogging, a quick birthday shout out to angel! Happiest Happy Birthday wishes for a special person! *muack*

A chupping we will go...

Heigh ho, heigh ho, a chupping we will go!

So who chupped what for the month of May? Let's see... there were 25 posts for you to chup, and 25 x 3 opportunities for you to get onto the scoring board.

1st place gold medal - kyh with a runaway score of 74 huggie points!!! (How'd you do that anyway?)
2nd place silver medal - l b with an even score of 44 huggie points!! (The founder of T H H C franchises has to be in the points!)
3rd place bronze medal - may with a cool score of 30 huggie points! (Even though she's in Oz-land, boy can she still can chup!)

You, you and you were also in the chuppers list for May...

4th - angel with 17 huggie points
5th - chen with 10 huggie points
A joint 6th place - ehon and narrowband with 9 huggie points each
And another joint 7th place - winn and a^ben with 7 huggie points each
8th - king's wife with 5 huggie points
9th - cutiepie with 4 huggie points
10th - mistipurple with 3 huggie points
And another joint 11th place - misha and paris beaverbanks with 1 huggie point each

It was a productive month of May and a month of birthdays! Happy Birthday to you, you and you again! Chups will be back soon for June... stay tuned!