The shocking truth about electricity

Recently had power cut in my house. It did not really bothered me until the battery ran out on the notebook. Drat!! So I was reduced to caveman lifestyle that night.

So what do you do in times like this? No tv, no astro, no computer, no air-con or fan... Battery dead on mobile phone. Double drat!!

But when the electricity's gone, you realised there's a stillness in the room... everything seems very quiet. Too quiet. Gone are the whizzing sound from the air con, the soft buzzing from the notebook fan and even the water dripping sound was gone as all the air cons are not working.

So what do you do in times like this? Well this was what I did. I sat down with my mom and sis and we began to talk. Just about everything.

I guess with all the technology that electricity brings, it also took away our interaction with fellow human beings. Even as I blog, who am I communicating with?

There is a wonderment in technology but will it ultimately cause the downfall in civilisation too? So I hope I will not see the day where people know more about their "friends" on facebook than people in their office or even in their very home.

The Expendables

Recently watched The Expendables. Really enjoyed some of the wisecrack between the characters especially the ones involving Jet Li. Blame it on my asian genes but I am really proud of him, what he stands for and his achievements.

You can see from the poster he was the shortest among all the "kwai lo" but he made it up with his presence. I also liked the fact that he continue to wear his trademark 2 long sleeve shirts over a white tee. Hehe so conservative considering the rest were all showing off their biceps with sleeveless or short sleeves.

It was also interesting to note that some of them had made some plastic surgeons filthy rich especially Sylvester Stallone. He look so good now. Everything's firm and in place ;D

Some may say this is a guy's show but it's not too bad for gals. After this show I am thinking of watching RED. Kind of nostalgic to watch all these familiar faces on the golden screen again. At least I know I am not alone in growing old ;D

Friends... for life!

Just had lunch with a long lost friend recently. She found me in Facebook and we met up after 15 to 16 years of not seeing or talking to each other. So I am really grateful that technology helped me find a piece of my history.

Being a W or X generation person, without any mobile phone, emails during our schooling days, it is inevitable that I lost contact with friends from school or college. I think children of this generation are so blessed cos they can keep in touch with friends through so many ways.

Also you can tell which generation a person is from their text messages cos I still use full sentences. I just cannot bring myself to use too-short forms... I do use the usual BTW, FYI, OIC but I have many friends who have yet to catch up with LOL and other latest acronyms out there.

Actually when this friend call me up for a 2nd lunch date, I was actually quite reluctant to go cos I have gotten too used to my schedule - in my comfort zone and was content with just communcating through facebook messages but I am glad I did as it was good to meet up with friends to talk and basically see each other face to face.

So if you are thinking of catching up with your friends by just communicating through the computer screen, just remember that no avatar nor any technology in the world (gmail yahoo facebook twitter skype blog and etc) can take the place of direct human interaction.

 

Driving etiquette in KL

Just an observation that I believe many would concur:- generally drivers in KL love to stop and look at accidents or anything that remotely resembles an accident or police stopping a pedestrian or car.

Everyone seems so curious about the extent of the accident, how it happen, any fatality or basically just trying to get the plate numbers to buy 4D later.

Another interesting observation is that drivers no longer have any respect for ambulance. The siren could be blaring from far away but no cars will give way. Every driver will suddenly turn deaf or mute. Otherwise they will take the opportunity to tail the ambulance so that they can beat the traffic jam.

I remember those days when there will be short documentaries on tv1 and tv2 (that's the only tv channels we had then) teaching drivers how to react to ambulance emergencies. It also explain why the word "AMBULANCE" cannot be read directly but through the mirror so that drivers looking at their rear mirror will immediately pull over but I forgot which side of the road, either to the left or to the right to give way to ambulance. Meaning you actually have to stop your car at the side of the road to give way to the ambulance.

But in reality nobody does that anymore. Really pity the patient in the ambulance as well as the ambulance drivera. I think the retirement age for ambulance drivers must be really low given the amount of stressful maneuverings through KL traffic they had to endure.

This brings to memory an incident in Turkuaz in year 2009 when one of our staff who was not having an easy pregnancy fainted in the shop. We immediately called for an ambulance and fortunately KL general hospital was nearby. So the ambulance arrived in less than 10 minutes.

The thing that was amazing was the immediate scene the very loudly blaring ambulance created. Within seconds, there were throngs of people at the shop. We had to form a human barricade to stop the nosy people from entering the shop and looking at our pregnant staff being transferred to the stretcher.

Amazing despite all the commotion, one person manage to get into the shop and we did not even realised when he entered the shop! Boy he was fast and that guy was the indian mamak stall cook from next door. He was grinning from ear to ear, so proud of himself for getting the latest gossip news of the day.

So to all the "sam pat" (chinese saying for busy body) people out there, we would greatly appreciate it if you could just mind your own business and not create traffic jams for the rest of us ;D

Talent... must you been born with you for it to count?

Was really intrigued by a dialogue in a japanese drama which I watched recently. From it I realised that there is a statement which is oh so so true. The statement is "If you are 5 year old and you can play the piano well - you are considered a genius but the same cannot be said when you are 20 year old". I guessed it meant you cannot fall into the category of a child prodigy anymore.

How great is it to burst out into the world with all your talents and gifts when you are young and talented - like Messi in the recent world cup, Jaden Smith but if you are old, then you are expected to retreat into the shadows and not be seen nor heard till you are no more.

The world even laughs at Susan Boyle when she took the stage. She was too old to have any talent... so they think.

It may be that we already have this talent within us but amazingly dont give much thought to it. We always think that our talents are never good enough. So we never take the time and effort to improve it.

Well I hope before the end of 2010 you will find the resolute within you to improve on your talent and never let age be a factor to stop you from discovering yourself.

If you think that you do not have any talent, then why not learn a new one. One is never too old and time is never right nor wrong to expand your horizons. It could be piano, typing, dancing, setting up a online shop or even a new language as language has always been the most effective bridge in getting to know people from another part of the world.

Everyone should find something to learn from this world as there is always something new to be learned every day and hopefully one day you would have mastered it to such an extent that it can be appreciated by others as well ;D

New form of Turkish Ice Cream

The latest kind of ice cream to hit Kuala Lumpur scene is from Mado a turkish company.

Their tagline is "the first ice cream eaten with the use fork and knife" and it's really true, as you really need to use utensils to eat this as hard as rock ice cream. Made from goat's milk this ice cream is really different in terms of taste and texture.

Personally I prefered the flavoured ones as I am not a big fan of goat's milk. The pistachios flavour is good but Mado's ice cream since made with natural flavour and milk can be really filling if you have a small stomach.

All in all it was a good experience as Mado's also sells turkish delight which was suffice to say a delight to savour. You can find Mado's ice cream in Pavilion KL.

Dramas - can happen in real life...

Recently I watched a drama series. In this show the 2 main characters had the joy of starting a relationship. It was all so sweet and nice especially in this show as the male character comes from a rich family background and very intelligent whereas the female character even though smart would not have stand a chance to be in the social group of the guy.

But as all dramas, the two of them end up being together. How sweet...

Having watched many dramas, Japanese, Hong Kong and Korean and even American, this kind of storyline is a sure win formula to get all the girls rooting for the drama. Picture "Pretty Woman".

Hey which girl wouldnt want a rich, smart not to mention handsome guy who is so out of her league. And this guy turn out to be not just your average boyfriend but a loyal one who only have eyes for the lead. (cue drool and all the girls in the house go "Ahhhh...")

There is just something in a girl or woman that make her yearn for that. However I think this yearning for this kind of fantasy turn to reality to happen to herself... I mean if it's her girlfriend who hooked this guy, I'm not sure if she's that she'll be rooting for her... Though this is quite debatable but I'm sure there must be a reasoning for the word "catfight".

Anyhow as the story of this drama series progresses, we see the both of them facing a lot of oppositions (how else can they stretch the movie to 25 episodes right without any opposition) and they end of breaking up (cue tissues and removing of glasses to wipe tears).

Depending on a lot of factors, they could be on their feet very fast but then I guess not all men (or women) are created the same. Some are more emotional than others and it's the emotional ones who will suffer the most. Do women suffer more than males in breakups? Again this is debatable.

But like all shows, in the end they always patch things up, which gets the ratings up and running but is life that simple? But the undeniable fact is that all women love happy endings especially the happily ever after endings. Sigh will women ever change? I guess not unless we change the dramas which we watch. After all many times dramas imitates life and vice versa.

But till then, I'll be on the lookout for other good dramas to watch. I guess I'm content rooting for the lead actress rather than go find one lead actor. So that means there's no catfight, breakup and make up for me ;D Now where did I put my remote control...