Hear the finalists of MRSC 2007!

Thanks to the recommendations of Little Miss May and the Giddy Tigress, here are the uploaded mp3 recordings from the MRSC concert (click here for pics) I attended earlier this month.

Disclaimer: I have to say first that they aren't superb recordings - some are better than the others, there's a lot of noise interference and I was only using a simple (read: cheap!) mp3 recording device.

If you really need me to pick my favorites, listen to You, Wo Yau Chang (I Want To Sing), The Way Of Life and Where Is The Love. *grin*

Four Walls by Jane


Don't Ever Say by Lawrence


The Way Of Life by Lawrence


Perpisahan by Hendra


What If by Sam


Air I Breathe by Sam


Wo Yau Chang (I Want To Sing) by Vincent


You by Allan


Where Is The Love by Anson


And... as a bonus, here is the intermission performance by Vince of Akademi Fantasia fame!

Breathe Again by Vince


Hope I'll be at MRSC 2008!

Addendum: Rinnah would like to wish all her blog readers and visitors, a very Happy New Year 2008! Thank you for all your visits and love for the past one year. There'll be some changes for 2008 so stay tuned!

A penny for your thoughts...

I said previously that I had something to ask my blogders about. Well, coming on the heels of my year in retrospect post, rinnah would like to ask:

~ Could you describe my blog in three words?

~ Longer posts (like what I've been posting in December) OR shorter posts?

~ An average of a post a day OR a longer post every other day or two?

~ Do you like the funny stuff OR the posts that make you think/feel?

~ More pictures / videos / uploads to keep things visual OR stick with the wordsmithing because that's what I do best?

~ Do you come back and read the comment replies?

~ If there was one suggestion you could make to improve this blog, what would it be?

~ Should I abandon Blogspot and just move over to my domain completely?

I've been thinking a bit about the above questions, but I just can't seem to make up my mind (or to be frank I need some agreement with what I've kinda decided?) without consulting those who matter - my readers! Don't be shy, let me know what you think (even silent / anonymous readers included!).

Christmas ain't over yet!

Note to self: The surest way to get more tags is to either: a) do 'em really well so that everyone loves reading the way you answered it; b) do 'em so fast that people love tagging you because it's sure to get done; OR c) announce that you have no more tags to do... guess which one method I used? *grin*

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We're now into the 4th day of Christmas and the Giddy Tigress is still spreading the Christmas cheer! And being my very giddy galpal, she couldn't help but to give me some cheer for my blog. So, specially for the giddy one, here's an extended Christmas tag!

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? I would love to say egg nog and pretend that I'm celebrating Christmas ala foreign country style but my conscience won't let me so I choose hot chocolate lor. But seriously, hot chocolate ain't my drink. Gimme iced chocolate instead!

2. Does Santa wrap the presents or just sit them under the tree? I seriously doubt that Santa does anything besides check and recheck his lists. I mean, the elves slave away at making the pressies, wrapping them and loading them in the sleigh. The reindeer have the tough job of hauling that heavy sleigh (just imagine, millions of pressies and one very overweight Santa - it's a wonder the sleigh can even take off!). Mrs Claus probably maps out the route for Santa. All he has to do is visit every house and consume milk and cookies. You say leh? *grin*

3. Colored or white lights? White is subtle, understated and classy. Kinda how the light reflected off the silver decorations in the picture below. (Taken during Christmas dinner at my church.)

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No. But I don't mind standing under the mistletoe with *ahem*.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Most years it will be up by the second week of Christmas. By the by, my car is perpetually decorated for Christmas because I have a Christmas beanie baby (a present from my goddaughter, who happens to be older than me. Lawl.) hung up all year round.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? I would like to say stuffed turkey, but I haven't eaten a really delish, drool-worthy gobbler candidate in Malaysia, so I'll take roast lamb. Yes, I know. Poor little lambie gave up his/her life to be my Christmas dinner. So cruel, isn't it?

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? I can't remember it per se, but I have the proof! My favorite memory is the precious home video clip of a two year old rinnah ripping open a load of presents on Christmas Day. I love that video. I should get it converted to DVD before the film goes! *fingers crossed*

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I never believed in the existence of that jolly fat man. Even when I was a tot. I always knew whom my presents came from - mostly from my mum and financed by dad. Ho ho ho.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? I don't ever recall doing so, but I know that I'd shake and feel up my presents in the days leading to Christmas morning in an attempt to guess what I was getting.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? With non-twinkling twinkling lights, oodles of red velvet ribbon and golden gauzy ribbon, golden bells and the occasional artifical cherry. Don't ask me why it's cherries, they've been there as long as I can remember!

11. Snow: Love it or hate it? I have yet to experience snow so I'll go with lovin' it. But if it's hard as ice, I take it all back!

12. Can you ice skate? Urm. No. Like hello? You're asking the girl who can't even stand up with rollerblades on. And you want me to ice skate? Wuahahahaha. But I love to watch figure ice skating though. Competition skating or Disney on Ice skating, I'm game for it!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Sure I do! It's from that precious home video clip above - my biggest present ever. How often do you get a present that's as big as you are? (No L B, I did not get a Real Doll for Christmas. Wahahaha.) I got the coolest ever battery operated scooter (the box it came in was big enough to fit 2yo me inside. LOL.) and I was still tootling around on it until I was seven plus. Now that's what my parents call value for money. Teeheehee!

14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Is this a trick question ah? I love the holidays because they are holidays! Wheeeee....

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? I don't have a favorite holiday dessert, but I do have a favorite dessert! Gimme some of that Hard Rock Cafe brownie chunks with vanilla ice-cream and I'm in foodie heaven...

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Eagerly ripping open the pressies on Christmas morning. I love the sound of tearing wrapping paper and unveiling the mysterious presents under the tree.

17. What is on top of your tree? The tree top la. No really. There's no decoration on top of the tree. I'm thinking of a star for next year though.

18. Which do you like best: giving or receiving? When I was younger, I just lived to receive. Now that I'm older, I work just to give. Lawl. But I love to give... it's the warmest feeling in the world to carefully select a present that (hopefully!) suits the recipient.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? I love all the Christmas carols and have been part of a caroling group before. This year, current playlist favorites are All I Want For Christmas Is You and Let It Snow.

20. Do you like candy canes? Not to eat, but I like 'em as decorations.

Whew! That is one really long tag... and since Christmas is over, I'm not passing it on... unless anyone wants to pick it up and do it again next year? *grin*

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p.s. Oh, I'm postponing my scheduled post - the one where I'm supposed to ask my blogders something - until tomorrow!

How long are you going to live? and the year that was...

Wouldn't you like to find out? Visit this site and find out your virtual age and your estimated life expectancy.

Based on these results I got when I took the test, I am *seriously underage* with a virtual age of 9.7 years and am expected to live up to the ripe old age of 87.3 years. Uhm. So, does that mean that virtually I am but a kid?

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Okay, so lemme cut to the chase. Each year, come year-end, I start thinking about what happened in the past year and whether or not did I achieve my goals set. This year I...

~ Finished my undergraduate degree course with the honours qualification I aimed for. Not bad at all, considering the fact that I did it part-time while working full time.

~ Found myself a church that I can see myself being happy in, after years of being a 'rolling stone'. One of my goals was to attend church faithfully each week and find a church I can call 'home'. I'm finding it easy to do so with this church so, mission accomplished.

~ Got meself a job that I can really be good at and love.

~ Set myself a target to earn a minimum of USD500 with my blog and while I'm not revealing the true figure, yes, I did exceed that amount with my PPP activities this year. Thank you for putting up with all my sponsored post nonsenses. *muack*

Didn't complete the full list of resolutions, but hey, I'm pretty happy with what I've accomplished so far. Time to reset the bar for next year!


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And to round it off, here are some of my favorite-st highlight posts from the past year:

~ Blogging about the Oscars. Waaaaay too much free time back then. Don't think I'll be able to do it again next year, but I had fun doing 'live' blogging on that day!

~ The grand opening of THHC at my humble little blog! I'm glad so many 'stars' graced the ceremony... Waaa....

~ The A - Z tag based upon the Imperial saga... some of my best spinning evah!

~ And Chapter 9 of The 48 Concubines (whatever did happen to the storyline? I wanna finish up the tale leh...) which was the fun-nest thing to write... yup, gotta work on my goal for 2008 - write my own novella!

~ One of my emotional posts... no, narrowband, this is not about M_ B_ _ _, but the one who preceeded. *grin*

~ Diagnosing myself with blogivitis... I think I'm still infected to this day!

~ Another spin story... this time the fairytale of Cinderinnah! (And that is not a typo. Hahaha.)

~ Got my own domain. Now I really should make better use of it, ya?

~ Pictures galore from my trip to Putrajaya for the Flora Fest. One of the rare occasions that you see tons of pictures on my blog.

~ The few posts on Freddie's short stay with us. His arrival and departure, his life story told here.

~ My Nokia loyalty... another tag I enjoyed doing.

~ My first deep thinking post... I don't do too many of these. Heh.

~ The happy memories this post brings back. I want more days like this!

~ Surprises keep me happy too. Lawl.

~ Another thinking post about why I blog... like I said earlier, I don't do many of these posts.

~ Doing some good deeds with my blog and saving the world. Heh.

~ My dad's hospitalization this month. 'Twas an ordeal in spots, but we got thru it.

~ Review of the MRSC concert. My first review evah! Hehe. I still need to upload the mp3s though.

~ Christmas Day post. It's pretty meaningful for me.


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Righto... I have something to ask my blog-ders (blog + readers) for the new year, but I'll do that in the next post! (Gotta do something to keep you coming back, rite? *grin*)

One tag to end 'em all...

I was tagged by this lovely momma and it seems like a good tag to end the year with (I've finished my pending tags list and provided no one else decides to tag me between now and 31st December 2007. Lawl.).

Favorites
Color: I think I answered this in my last tag, but I'll answer it again anyway. I'm currently in love with baby blue, although baby pink runs a close second.

Food: Junk food. Must eat healthier nowadays, so I'll go with sushi. Yum!

Movie: Lord of the Rings trilogy. I've grown to like it even though Peter Jackson didn't follow the book exactly to a T but I guess he did what he had to do to keep it more 'acceptable' (i.e. fast moving) to the masses.

Sport: Pro-wrestling! *giggles* Football aka soccer. I have been a ManUtd fan since 1990 (so no wisecracks about me being a Beckham groupie - Giggs is still my idol!). Anyone wanna pick a fight? *grin*

Day: Tomorrow. Because you never know what you're gonna get (I'm paraphrasing Forrest Gump a little here). Oh, you meant day of the week? Okay. Saturday then. Because Saturday's the start of the weekend.

Season: Malaysia has four seasons too - Sunny, Rainy, Hazy and, uhm, Cloudy? I wish we could have a temperate climate that's not too hot nor too cold. *after much thought* Sunny la.

Ice-cream: Cookies 'n' Cream rock my socks! Ahahaha.


First
Best Friend: I think that would be Clement in Standard One. Until the other boys teased him mercilessly for hanging out with a girl and he ditched me. Yeah, I got dumped at age seven! Wuahahaha.

Crush: Hmm, that was also in Standard One. All of us girls thought that Alex was the cutest guy in class. Yes, I started looking at eye-candy at a young age.

Movie: Wah, how to remember this one? I'll give a variation of my answer to this one - my first movie in movie theater. That would be Disney's Beauty and the Beast and I drank too much soda and had to go to the little girl's room midway thru at the most exciting point when Belle was being chased by the wolves. *grin*

Music: Probably the nursery rhymes that my Mum sang to me. But again, lemme do a variation - first male and female artiste. Johnny Mathis and Whitney Houston. Still favorites to this day.


Last
Drink: Water. Aqua. H20. Very boring and healthy loh.

Car ride: To the LRT station for work and back again.

Crush: *ahem!* I dunwanna answer this question, can? Oh, but it says last crush and not current crush. Okay, last crush was errr... Elijah Wood?

Phonecall: Mum. Asking when I'm coming home.

CD played: My own Christian compilation of songs in the car coming home.

Gone out with good friends: A few weeks back, when we went to check out The Banquet in Bangsar Village II. Oh yeah, I'm supposed to blog about the food there. Now where are those pics?

Broken a law: Hello? I is law-abiding citizen, you know... Okay, I ignored the one way direction sign (I only saw it after I turned) in a shopping mall carpark to get a space. (No, I did not steal that space from anyone. LOL!)

Been arrested: Hello? Refer to my answer above. I have never even been stopped by cops, k?


Taggees:
Who wants to do this year-end closing tag? Any takers? Anybody? No? Okay, I'll give you guys a break... until next year! *cue sniggering laughter*

One Life. One Day. One Celebration.

A little something meaningful to think about on this Christmas day...

Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office.

He never owned a home. He never set foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He had no credentials but Himself.

While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves.

His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth while He was dying -- and that was His coat. When He was dead, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone and today He is the centerpiece of the human race and the leader of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever were built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as that One Solitary Life.

by James A. Francis

A reminder to myself that Christmas is not just about the festivities, the gatherings, the feastings and the presents. It is about the greatest celebration by many people about the greatest gift ever given.

'Tis the season to be jolly

Fa la la la la la la la la...

Rinnah would like to wish all her readers...

A Blessed Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happier New Year!!!

Hope you have a wonderful time feasting with family and loved ones. Now remember, don't get fat ya? Teeheehee!

Picture credit to Lloydyweb

I is vanquisher of fats

Chicken fats, that is. Muahahahaha. Lemme say it now that I hate cleaning chicken fats. And urgh! the smell! *puke* Okay, it's not *that* bad, but the smell of the fat tend to linger in my nose until long after. I am the official chicken cleaner in the house now. *grin*

If you read my other blog, you'd know that I managed to somehow bruise and cut my hands while washing my car. Check out my newest war wounds - a mysterious skin blister (sort of?) on my finger! The strangest part is it affects only the middle finger on my left hand, and appeared almost instantly. It's not painful, but it's like the skin decided to let go of its moorings and is now a waddle of loose skin hanging on my finger. I'm in two minds whether to let it be or get out the trusted scissors and snip it off.

Just goes to show that rinnah and daily housework do not mix. Heh.

Why did my character get killed?

I AM
59%
JAZZ

Take the Transformers Quiz

I know the Transformers craze this year is long over (until the next movie), but I found this fun quiz on the Net and decided to do it for kicks. Why oh why of all the Autobots to be I ended up as Jazz? He's the puny one with the wise-crack mouth that gets ripped into two by evil bad-@$$ Megatron. Eeeesh. Must be because I was most upset when I saw that scene (taken from YouTube below) - I kept on going, "Oh no, poor Autobot!". And like Humpty Dumpty, they couldn't put Jazz back together again. Shucks.

MRSC Concert 2007 - Compose, sing 'n' perform

Man, I was supposed to blog about this earlier, but I clean forgot! (Until I spotted the pix languishing in my Photos to Edit folder.) What with the happenings in my life over the past two weeks and all I hadn't had the time to get to this. So, this is a backdated post with tons of pics - a rare occasion at It's all about the spin...

On the first Sunday of December, I was at the MATRADE Hall to lend my support to Allan, the Giddy Tigress' brother, whose composition 'You' was one of the nine finalists for this year's edition of MRSC. I have mp3 recordings of the performances but I don't know how to upload them onto Blogger. Can anyone help me? So, I only have photos to show... (sorry for the blurness - I was sitting some distance away from the stage and using maximum zoom)

Ze emcee (the bald guy) who kicked things off with fun & games - I never screamed so loud before in my life! We (the spectators) had to scream / yell / cheer for whoever we were supporting. Of course, my screams were in support of Allan, and we did quite well too... only losing to Hendra's (another contestant) groupies...


Errr... some singer dedicating a song to a lucky girl who ran onstage fast enough. The song was quite nice, actually.


Another singer from an Indonesian band... (I cannot remember any of their names!)


Performance by Blister - a band from Thailand. Now I can only remember the name of the band because it's in the photo! I like their tagline, but I don't see what it has to do in relation to the band name. :P


The hosts of the show - I didn't get their names. The guy did dual language duty - English and Mandarin.


Putting all the finalists on stage - Allan is the guy on the far right whom I've circled. *grin* They later presented tokens of appreciation? to the seven finalists (there are nine songs in the final, but two finalists have two songs each). My pics for that part of the concert are waaaaaay too blurry so I won't embarass myself further by putting 'em up. Lawl.


Someone singing the winning song from previous years.


Jane and her band - from City Harvest Church. Btw, Jane is not the lead singer in the picture. Hahaha.


Adorable Jessica (10yo) who sang on behalf of Lawrence, one of the finalists.


Vincent who plays the sax - his was the only Mandarin entry out of all the nine songs. I liked his composition.


Intermission for performance by Erra Fazira


Sam - the eventual winner. He and Lawrence had two songs each. Very energetic rocker performance, but his drummer nearly stole the show with his beatboxing! Oh, and it doesn't hurt to mention that he's *ahem* very good-looking. Too bad he's too young for me. Muahahahaha.


Hendra - there were a lot of Indonesians supporting him


Another intermission for performance by Vince - I've never heard him sing before and he's not bad...


Allan being interviewed on his composition - sorry the pix is blur!


The Wesley Methodist group singing Allan's composition for him - a very nicely done ballad.


Erm, I forgot his name but he's from DUMC. Poor chap was all alone, don't know if anyone came with him and he sang to a minus one track. Maybe the occasion overwhelmed him but he forgot his lyrics in three places. Pity, because his composition was another one that I liked too.


Plucky Jessica performing her second song for Lawrence - you can see him in the right of the photo holding a guitar.


Intermission again for performance by this chap - he rapped in Mandarin and Cantonese. Apparently you can see him on 8TV?


Performing some of the winning songs from last year in Redzuan - The Musical as the judges deliberate over the winner.


Still performing songs from Redzuan - The Musical. This is Sam (again!) and a girl who has a really lovely clear voice. I'd like to hear more of her singing.

2nd runner-up - Hendra
1st runner-up - Lawrence (for his second song)
Winner - Sam (for his first song)


Chaos onstage as Sam's band members mob him after they announce the winner.


The end

Overall it was quite good and I really enjoyed myself (save for one awkward moment outside the hall where I saw someone who doesn't like me and pretended not to see me. Bummer.) and would definitely love to go again next year. Hopefully there'll be someone I can support!

My new NEC baby

Short note: No, this baby is NOT the M_ B_ _ _ that I've been hoping for this Christmas! That one, is... human. Lawl.

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After many weeks days of false hopes and interminable delays, my long awaited NEC laptop arrived yesterday! (kyh, I have joined the NEC gang. Hehehe.) Those who are pat enough can read the earlier saga here. (See, Signor LB, you are not the only one with new tech toys! Lawl. Okay, okay, so it's not a Forbidden Fruit and therefore not as lust-worthy, but I love having new tech toys to play with.)

Anyway, this laptop is given to me by my new company so that I can slave away at home for them be a more productive worker. Heh. As I told the Giddy Tigress, I'm still very much in the honeymoon stage of being able to lug around a laptop and thankfully this is a light one! But I'm getting ahead of myself. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the...

NEC Versa S970!!!

Ahahaha, it's not as canggih as kyh's because this is a strictly business model - even the reviews by TrustedReviews.com and PCPro say so. Don't ask me what the specs and performance is like, I've just started playing with it!

You Ask. Me Answer.

20 questions. It's almost like an interview questionnaire, no? Or perhaps 20 questions one has to answer at a speed-dating session. *grin*

Instructions:
Remove 1 question from below, and add in your personal question, make it a total of 20 questions, then tag 8 people in your list, list them out at the end of this post. Notify them in their chat box that he/she has been tagged.

1. What color do you like the most?
I love many colors, but right now I am fascinated with baby blue, just like my personal blog. Baby pink runs a close second too though.

2. You like rainy or sunny day? Why?
Neither. I like cloudy days because I get sunburn if it's sunny and wet if it's rainy. But if I really had to pick, I'd take a rainy day, provided I'm indoors. *grin*

3. Where is the place that you want to go the most? Why?
Paris, to see the Eiffel Tower. Saja-la. Because it's really romantic and is an excellent place to practise my photography skills.

4. Which part of you that you hate the most?
Eeeee! Must I answer this question? Off-hand, I'd say my butt, but that can be rectified with lots of toning exercise!

5. When you encounter a sad moment, what would you do?
When I am sad I... make like a Taiwanese serial actress and not express myself, but just let the teardrops flow silently. Ahahaha. Drama queen, hor?

6. What is it that you are afraid to lose the most?
My sense of identity. If you can figure out what I mean by this very cryptic phrase.

7. If you win $1 million, what would you do?
Pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming. Then spend it all on the things listed here.

8. If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her? Or would you keep it to yourself and observe from afar?
The last time I fell in love, I didn't confess it to him because I wasn't sure whether or not it was love or just a puppy crush. If I'm truly sure, next time 'round I would.

9. List out 3 good points of the person who tagged you.
The Giddy Tigress is kind-hearted, funny and sexay! lovely.

10. What are the requirements that you wish for your other half?
He has to be someone I can trust and respect. Of course, it also helps if he's got a great sense of humor, good-looking and loaded. Lawl.

11. Till now, what is the moment that you regret the most?
I regret giving up my ballet lessons to this day. I love to dance!

12. Which type of person that you hate the most?
Rude people. Ewww!

13. What is your ambition?
To be a rich tai-tai mommy.

14. What is the thing that will make you think he/she is bad?
If he/she is a hypocrite.

15. If you can have 1 dream to come true, what would it be?
Find Prince Charming. Win a Nobel Prize. Be a tourist in outer space. Live happily ever after.

16. Christmas is coming, who do you like to celebrate with?
Family and loved ones. Friends too!

17. What do you think it's the most important thing in your life?
My family and loved ones. Can I add that blogging is a loved one too?

18. If you have a choice to choose your gender, which would you choose to be?
No change! I wanna be a girl cause... Girls just wanna have fun... plus we get to make guys turn cartwheels with the merest lift of our little finger! ROTFLMAO.

19. What is your perfect theme song, based on this quizlet?
Same as GT, I got Don't Cha by the Pussycat Dolls.

20. My Question : If you could, who would you like to trade lives with and why?
Ha, trick question, this one. Lawl. I'd love to be Natalie Portman because she's so brilliant at acting (Star Wars aside!) and is one of a minority: an intellegent actress in Hollywood. Plus, I'd get to look like her! (Dunwan her vegetarian diet though...)

Eight candidates to tag:
Eight is too many... I'll give this tag to the first three chuppers for this post!

Meet Hafiz!

Today, I'd like everyone to meet Hafiz, the super-friendly male nurse in training who made hospital life last week so much brighter for the family. :o) Now, Hafiz is a first semester student in a medical assistant programs (eh, I 'upgraded' the program name. Med. assistant sounds more professional than nurse. LOL.) run by Pantai Medical College. Every semester, they 'farm' out the students to each of the Pantai Hospitals for a week or two to expose them to real-time nursing life. I think they like the 'free' labour. Lawl. Nah, I'm just kidding. They actually pay these guys an allowance to come for a shift a day, and since Hafiz is under a scholarship by Columbia Asia, they pay his allowance lor. And, not only does he have excellent bedside manners, he's also capable enough to be elected class rep. Woot! Way to go Hafiz!

Heh, we enjoyed talking to Hafiz so much (and we hope he enjoyed our company too!) that we monopolized him for stretches at a time and his other coursemates who were on the same medical assistant training programs as him would come and poke their heads in as if to say, "Don't take so long!" or "What are you still doing here after fifteen minutes?". Lawl. Or maybe they were just jealous that we got along so well? *grin*

I'm pretty impressed at the amount of stuff Hafiz already knows after just one semester at medical assistant schools, it sure sounds a whole lot more than what I remember learning in my first semester at business school. Heh. All the stuff about how to position a patient, learning about the different parts of the body and how they function, even a bit of pyschology thrown in to boot. And I can't believe that they're so strict! Can you imagine writing out a formal explanation letter if you're three minutes late? If that were the case when I was studying, I'd have a whole file's worth of explanation letters leh. I was normally 5 minutes late for class because my lecturers were always 15 minutes late! Ahahaha.

Anyway, all the best to Hafiz in his studies and future career - I'm sure all your patients will love ya. I know we did. Cheers mate!

All I Want For Christmas Is...

ROTFLMAO.

*picks self up from floor*

Okay. Laughter IS the best medicine but too much of it at one go makes my tummy hurt from laughing too much!

Anyway, I present to you the funny attempts at guessing M_ B_ _ _ from my last post on my Christmas wishlist 2007 and they are:

My Ball(s) by LB
Mr Bean by May
McBoob by May
My Boob by the Giddy Tigress

And the answer is... ... ... watch the video and you should get the answer in the lyrics.

All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey

I don't want a lot for Christmas
There's just one thing I need
I don't care about the presents
Underneath the Christmas tree
I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
All I want for Christmas is...
You

I don't want a lot for Christmas
There's just one thing I need
I don't care about the presents
Underneath the Christmas tree
I don't need to hang my stocking
There upon the fireplace
Santa Claus won't make me happy
With a toy on Christmas day
I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
All I want for Christmas is you
You baby

I won't ask for much this Christmas
I don't even wish for snow
I'm just gonna keep on waiting
Underneath the mistletoe
I won't make a list and send it
To the North Pole for Saint Nick
I won't even stay awake to
Hear those magic reindeers click
'Cause I just want you here tonight
Holding on to me so tight
What more can I do
Baby all I want for Christmas is you

Ooh baby
All the lights are shining
So brightly everywhere
And the sound of children's
Laughter fills the air
And everyone is singing
I hear those sleigh bells ringing
Santa won't you bring me the one I really need
Won't you please bring my baby to me...

Oh I don't want a lot for Christmas
This is all I'm asking for
I just want to see my baby
Standing right outside my door
Oh I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
Baby all I want for Christmas is...
You

So there you have it. The mystery behind M_ B_ _ _ is solved. Doncha just love this song? But actually (it's a pun, geddit?) I like this version too. Especially the ending bit. Lawls!

Merry Christmas, folks!

My Christmas Wishlist 2007

Short note: Idea copy-cat 'garfielded' from nadnut's post here and in parody of my post on expensive wishes here.

All rinnah wants for Christmas is...

1. M_ B_ _ _
2. For dad to get better quick
3. All the love in the world
4. To lose ten pounds by New Year's Day
5. Be a part of church life again
6. Snow?
7. A long holiday
8. Bonus
9. A pair of Aldo / Nine West / Guess super kao high heels
10. A DSLR camera
11. Increment
12. Something sparkly in a Tiffany blue box
13. A smaller butt
14. Kenny Sia's blog popularity
15. LB's creativity
16. Better photography skills
17. The entire Heroes season 1 & 2 DVD set
18. Novels by Stephanie Laurens or Mary Balogh
19. An Asus EEE PC
20. Traffic-free days
21. Limitless credit card for shopping sprees
22. A bedroom with an ensuite bathroom and walk-in closet
23. For my little car to be brand new again
24. Plasma TV
25. A proper storage closet for my numerous pairs of shoes
26. To take my MBA
27. A night out at the movies
28. To attack Haagen Dazs ice-cream buffet
29. Not gain anymore weight
30. Good hair days, all the time

Now, do you think Santa still has time to fulfill my wishlist? *grin*

Daddy's home!

Actually, the doctor said yesterday that Dad's well enough to be discharged. Hehe. It was suggested that he be discharged yesterday, but Mum and I decided that it would be better for Dad to stay and get one more night of rest and another physiotherapy session today morning. Plus we thought it would give us time to get the house in order (logistics matters) and whatever stuff we need for him at home (purchasing matters). Ahahaha. We just managed to order the house but I still haven't done the shopping yet. *grin*

Dad's physio is progressing well, and he proudly told us that he stood up unassisted this morning! Wah-lau. The physiotherapist provided us with a four-pronged walking stick and it's another mini-miracle that Dad shuffled unassisted from the bed to the wheelchair, then from the wheelchair into my car, from my car into the house. Whoopee! Of course, it was rather tiring for him since he had a physio session this morning.

I'm the unofficial pharmacist now because I'm in charge of making sure Dad gets the right medication and at the right time. So I drew up a chart for Mum to follow whilst I'm at work tomorrow.

Righto, I'm off to do grocery shopping for Dad now. Tata!

It's a minor, not a major

I spent the evening in hospital with Dad yesterday. All throughout the night the nurses kept an hourly watch on his blood pressure level and dropped by to give him blood pressure medication. The chart above shows the blood pressure levels - as you can see it goes up and down (but the latest reading is around 170/105). We were rather entertained by getting to know a male nurse trainee who's doing a one month attachment with Pantai Medical under a Columbia Asia scholarship. He's such an affable and friendly chap with excellent bedside manners. Heh. A number of relatives came a visiting that night itself and we left around 9.30pm at the end of visiting hours.

This morning, we got the news around mid-morning that the specialist was ordering an MRI scan for Dad. In between, friends dropped by and more relatives came in the afternoon. Of course, we had to listen to the, "Why didn't you take better care of him / why did this happen" mini-lectures. Lawl. Like anyone ever wishes for these sort of things to happen?

Anyway, the specialist has classified it as a minor stroke and they are monitoring Dad right now because this is the most crucial period of time - the five days after. It is a mini-miracle in itself already that he has no problem whatsoever with his speech and his thinking faculties (not like this list - only the motor control part). He is still able to grip things with his right hand and move about, just that the control is not quite all there and little things like aiming to reach out and touch something might be off by one or two inches. The physiotherapist came by today as well and made Dad run through a series of exercises to test the range of his motor control. His walk is now a shuffle with the walker and lifting his hand above his head takes an effort but I am glad that his spirit is not dampened and we are all holding strong.

Well, now I'm back home to collect some stuff for Dad before we head off again to the hospital. I'll be back at work tomorrow (haha, parental orders!); hopefully they discharge Dad soon.

A tumultous day... emotionally, physically, spiritually

If there ever was a day and time that I need the Lord with me, it's today.

It started out like any other day - I was knackered as usual from a late night when I woke to the news that my Dad wasn't feeling too well. He felt dizzy and off-balance with lesser sensation of being able to control his movements. No problem, I thought, I'd send him to the clinic before heading off to work (we suspected an inner ear infection).

Off to the clinic at 8.30am we went, where it was becoming a bit more evident that it wasn't just a balance problem because the limbs on his right side weren't responding very well and my Mum had to support him as he walked. The first thing the doctor did was to check his blood pressure which was sky-high - 210/113. We were advised to take Dad to a hospital for a further check and the doctor wrote a letter advising admission.

From the clinic to Hospital University Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM) we went, where we were told that they were not seeing anymore patients for the day (walk-in ones, that is). We were referred to the HUKM Premier Clinic in Bandar Tasik Selatan instead. I tried to call ahead to see if we could ensure someone looked at Dad but were told that we should just 'try our luck' to see if they were full or not. Plus we had to make sure we got there before 11.00am. (But that's a rant for another day.)

Another drive to the HUKM Premier Clinic, where we got 'administratively shuffled' from one counter to another just to get registered and to see the doctor. As we were waiting for our turn, Dad said his face felt a bit numb / tingling sensation. Not a good sign. (See MayoClinic's signs and symptoms of stroke.) That was where I called Chen (so sorry to have disturbed her in the middle of a lecture!) to ask if it was symptomatic of a stroke. We decided that it wasn't worth the wait, and left immediately.

The nearest private hospital in Cheras was Pantai Medical Centre so I drove there pronto. Dad was whisked into the emergency ward while I did all the registering stuff after which we waited for the doctor-on-duty to finish examining him. His blood pressure had gone even higher then - 230/141 - and the attending doctor said that it was the highest he'd ever seen. It was thought that it could possibly be signs of a minor stroke in progress, so they would conduct further tests - a CT scan of the brain for blood clots, an ECG test and a blood test. In between, my Mum and I were praying really hard and contacting all we knew for prayers as well. Our thanks to all who responded to our phonecalls, SMSes and messages. We really appreciate it.

When the tests were over, we were called back to the hospital to do the admission procedures and hear the results of the tests. Praise the Lord that Dad is alright - the CT scan was clear, the blood tests were fine, everything was alright except for the blood pressure which was still high. (It's come down to 170/98 now.) So he is warded for monitoring tonight and we'll see how things are tomorrow.

Thankfully we remained calm throughout and the grace of the Lord is sustaining all of us. Please keep us in prayer, ya?

I hate KL traffic!

The cops were crazy in KL today. Yup, you read that right. The cops. The guys in blue, black and white and neon yellow vests. Who ride in Wajas or on bikes. Who are supposed to be anti-rasuah.

Does anyone know anything about a protest / rally / march / whatever planned for today? Because it certainly seemed like something was in the air today. Early in the morning on the way to work, I encountered a police roadblock on a busy highway, no less. Then I got in to office (barely on time) to chat with my friend in another office who told me that traffic was madness from PJ to KL. Then I heard from my mum that she got stuck in a traffic jam going to PJ in the morning. Leaving office today, I got stuck in a 2 hour jam going home because traffic was at a standstill in the heart of the city. Bah.

And that brings me to a list that Chen asked me to make. I have to list out the ten things I hate the most and today, traffic jams take the cake!

1. KL city traffic jams, especially when it rains
2. Rude, inconsiderate drivers who weave in and out and steal parking spaces
3. Smokers in a non-smoking area
4. Stewpig erratic Screamyx connection in my housing area
5. End of the month bills that drain my bank account
6. People who think they know it all and are arrogant about it
7. Animal haters
8. Getting caught in the rain
9. People who sing off-key and loudly too
10. Caramel

Okay, so I was running out of things to list. Lawl. I'm not going to tag anyone on this because it's pretty long overdue and I think this tag has already made its rounds a-visiting to your blogs.

Xpensive wishlists

I am thankful that I've never had to be in a position where I have to rely on the kindness of strangers for my existence. (Yes, my job is dependent on my boss, but at least it's assured from month to month. *grin*) But the kindness of strangers is the only thing keeping less fortunate children with roofs over their heads at children's homes, food on the table and clothes on their backs and enabling their caregivers to look after them. Luckily, the kindness of strangers is overflowing during Christmas time and most, if not all homes will find a corporate benefactor or two who will provide some much needed item or funding. As for the children, they'll get to make a wish or two for presents that are few and far in between the rest of the year.

Maybe it's because of the rarity of having presents, but I'm sure that the children are wishing for the sky since Christmas is a season of giving and also known as a season of miracles. Perhaps the sky might be a tad too far to reach? I don't want to sound like the Grinch here, but I was reading the wishlist of the children from a number of homes in UParkson at 1Utama over the weekend and was literally dumbfounded at the specifics of what they were requesting for. Among the rather more 'unique' and memorable items requested:

~ Disney's High School Musical CD / DVD
~ Football and football jersey
~ Make-up set and perfume
~ Billabong t-shirt and cap
~ MP3 player
~ Adidas sport shoes (size 4 & 5 respectively)

I'm not saying that they should be denied gifts and presents for Christmas and it is so much nicer to receive stuff that you want instead of something a total stranger picked out for you but I found the wishlist to be rather commercialized, high-end and pricey. What ever happened to the simple stuff like books, clothes and toys?

What say you? Or am I just being a Grinch? *grin*

This post started out as a draft on charity for The Giving Hands then evolved into a rant on commercialization for Just Being Malaysian and ended up being heavily edited for It's all about the spin...

I'm a 'fraidy cat...

I have never subscribed to the theory that one should pay perfectly good money to be frightened out of one's wits and neither do I buy in to the other theory that it's thrilling to be scared / shocked / creeped-out by scary flicks. However, I got dared tagged by the Giddy Tigress to tell you the scariest movies I've ever watched.

Ghostbusters
Ah, an oldie but goodie. Mind you, I was a tot just around 2 - 3 when I first watched it and very believing of ghosties and shadows lurking under my bed at that point of time. The thing about me is that once I get scared, I don't sleep for fear of nightmares. So there I was, poor little me, afraid of the dark and whatever lurked around my bed, desperately wishing I'd never watched it. Oh, and to make matters worse, my Dad had a casette tape of Ghostbusters theme music which he tended to play at night, adding to the suspense just before bedtime. I think it was a week or two before I dared to sleep again. *grin*

Jaws
This one again, I watched when I was small. Slightly older, but with a vivid imagination, I was convinced that the shark could get me even though I was no where near the sea. There went all my beach holiday fun until I reached teenhood. But nowadays, I like watching scary creature movies (especially those B-grade flicks cause they're so corny and cliched).

Enough of the past... let's talk more recent movies. Oh wait. I don't watch any scary movies to make the list but I did watch...

The Village
The suspense in the beginning was just killing me (like the part where the kids were playing a 'dangerous' game of chicken beyond the fence) cos' I never knew when the creatures would strike. But all was made clear in the end, so it wasn't that scary after all. LOL!

Now, let me hear these guys scream like a little girl!

L B
Narrowband
Leonard
Adrian (After reading your 'see ghosts' posts I think you won't be scared at all la!)

A bloody affair

It's out! My upper left wisdom tooth is officially no more existing in my mouth. Gee. *feels gaping hole in gum experimentally with tongue*

It was relatively fast - jab in the anesthesia, wait a few moments, grip the tooth with pliers, twist twist twist and yank - ta-dah! and the tooth's out. It was over within ten minutes. Kinda like 'Wham bam thank you ma'am'. The only scary part was watching the huge needle at the beginning before my mouth went numb and when the dentist swopped the smaller pliers for a bigger pair halfway through!

And it didn't help matters in my brain that I kept on thinking about horror stories of olden day torture methods where teeth were extracted without anesthesia by sadistic torture chamber masters. Of all the things to think of while the dentist poked and pried and twisted and yanked to get that stubborn tooth out of my mouth. Tsk!

The dentist said the bleeding should stop after an hour or so, but I still had bloody gauze wadded up in my mouth up to three hours later. But I'd already expected that, since I knew from experience that my blood tends to clot a bit slower than others - e.g. cut / blister / scrape. Amazingly, there was no pain throughout the whole extraction process and even later on (might be due to the Ponstan I popped) plus I was happily chowing down on kaya toast like two hours later! Lawl.

I wanted to put up a pic of my bloody tooth, but decided against it not for privacy reasons, but to protect the faint-hearted who might be reading my blog. Hehehe.

My thanks to Eastcoastlife for her kind concern on Facebook yesterday. ^.^

Mysterious night prowler

Photo credit to Sally Jane

We were visited on Wednesday by a mysterious prowler in the night. Big. Hungry. And bold. Even stalwart Kelly (my dog) was not a match for this battle of wits. The reason for the visit? That tantalizing bowl of dog biscuits sitting on the porch - an open invitation to hungry cats and birds to help themselves to the biscuits Kelly deemed beneath her to eat while she emotionally blackmailed begged us to buy her chicken rice to end her hunger strike. And the prowler? One very big and bold tabby cat, a newcomer to the street. Heh.

We were first alerted to his presence by an unearthly yowl issuing from our front porch just before 11.30pm. Then a second yowl followed by the sound of Kelly's claws clicking on the floor as she raced to protect her food. Naturally being concerned for Kelly's wellbeing the kaypoh that I am, I opened the door to see what was happening and saw... the bold intruder, looking as comfortable as you please, perched on the fence, out of Kelly's reach. (I'm now wondering why I didn't reach for the camera immediately to snap off a shot or two.) His tail twitched as he considered if it was worth it to jump down and attempt for the biscuit bowl. And what was Kelly doing? Looking everywhere but up as she tried to locate the intruder. *slaps forehead*

In the end, we kept the bowl of biscuits and the prowler vanished silently into the night. So anti-climax, hor?

Don't forget your furry friend!

Since it was Ah Boy the mini pinscher's birthday on 02 December 2007, I am sure he received a lot of love, well-wishes, good food and pressies from all the korkors and jiejies in the blogosphere. I wonder if anyone gave him a present like pet gift baskets? I really should put that on the list for my dog Kelly's Christmas present. Oh, and I need to get her a collar too. Her last collar (a silver chain collar) rusted after some time, so we took it off. She doesn't look as nice in leather collars though, so I guess we'll be getting her another silver chain collar and perhaps a little silver ornament dangly too to make her look more feminine (people keep on mistaking her to be male in gender). But pet gift baskets aren't just for the pets, they're for the owner too. A cute pet-themed ornament, yummy cookies on a chewy rawhide stick for your best friend and maybe a toy or two all prettily packaged for you. Yup, the perfect gift for the pet lover in us all.

This little light of mine...

Wordless Wednesday

Note: Picture taken during the big blackout on Monday.

Santarina is giving out free hugs!

Wow! Time flies. Can you believe it... it's already December and time for me to publish another The Hug Hug Club round-up. I'm sure you're waiting to find out who's been naughty or nice topping the chupping charts, eh? Since we are at year-end and so near to the X'mas season, I shall adopt the role of Santa-rinnah Santarina and hand out free hugs (it is called The Hug Hug Club after all) for the lucky chuppers who made it to the top of the X'mas tree chupping chart... so boys and girls, this is Santarina's list:

Mistletoe smooches and candy cane hugs for LB
Angel tree topper hugs for Angel
Reindeer hugs for Mistipurple

They were very good and quick to beat the rest of the pack who were following behind...

4th - Ehon
5th - KYH
6th - Giddy Tigress & Mudpie
7th - May
8th - Wennnn
9th - Adrian & Chen
10th - Misha & Paris Beaverbanks
11th - Doreen, Pelf, Simple American & Zewt

Consolation milk 'n cookies hugs for all! No lumps of coal since you were very productive. :o) The coals are reserved for and given to light a fire under those who didn't get to chup last month. Here's hoping you manage to do so this month!

For more about The Hug Hug Club and it's many resorts, visit here.

Wishing all a Blessed Merry Christmas in advance!

Blacked out!

Malaysian inefficiency strikes again. For reasons still unknown to us, my housing garden and the areas surrounding it were stricken with one of the worst electricity shortages yesterday. Imagine this, if you will - an electricity outage that happened at 2.30pm on Monday afternoon that lasted till 4.30am on Tuesday morning. Yup, a grand total of fourteen (14, count 'em!) hours without electricity. Almost as bad as the Great Malaysian Blackout which happened I think twelve years back when the whole of Malaysia suddenly lost power for roughly 10plus hours. Malaysia memang boleh.

We had to have dinner outside yesterday and even though we spent as much time as possible dawdling until the shops were closing, there was still no electricity when we returned home. Pffffffft! Several calls to the TNB hotline were met with, "You are caller number 64 / 68 / 54 / 46 / 32." You say 'kek hei' or not?

And I had my whole evening planned out so nicely summore. Early dinner, bath, do some long overdue blogging, blog-hop a little, work on a sponsored post or two... all my well-laid plans washed down the drain! Ah well, it was an early night for me yesterday. :o)

I wish I had more time

I was having a quick chat online on Thursday night with the Giddy Tigress and she mentioned that I hadn't been commenting as fast and as furiously as before. I also hadn't been blogging at my previous level of output ever since last week. :o(

I wish I had more time to blog!

I have so many half-finished blog topics in my mind that I hope to get into some electronic format before it's lost forever - gone with the wind and pushed out of my mind by the next set of documents that I have to review. Mind-blogging is very much what is happening right now and I don't have the luxury of drafting my thoughts into my next blogpost like before at my previous job. That's the only drawback in my new job. Other than that, I'm loving it! *wink*

I also wish that some kind of auto-transcriber had been invented that could take my thoughts and input them into a word processing document as I think so that all I have to do is just go back and edit it later - all ready for posting. My laptop hard drive is bursting with a great many photos that I want to put up too, but I have yet to edit them. :o( I owe my other friends to upload photos of past outings which I haven't gotten around to doing either, even though no editing is required there.

So, my apologies if the posts and comments have been few and far in between. Real world life is eating up my blogging time!