The Day I Talk About Appreciation

We never truly understand what loss means until the ones closest to us leave abruptly.

On Thursday, we celebrated the Commando 38th Anniversary. In the opening speech by Col. Lam, he told everybody present to observe a minute of silence for one of the five deceased dragon boaters who was a former officer of the formation. It was a long, morose five minutes and that got me thinking: must there be a tragedy before we slow down from whatever we're doing to appreciate those around us?

More often than not, our lives revolve around trying to fulfill our physical needs so much so that we tend to neglect the nourishment of our relationships with others by the form of appreciation. How many times have we actually told the ones who are close to us just how much they mean in our lives? How often do we show our appreciation and acknowledge their existence? Are we so blinded by our obsession with rising vertically in life that we pay no heed to our stagnant horizontal interpersonal development?

I'm sure that we are all guilty of certain forms of neglect for those around us. We constantly take people for granted with the mentality that "we can always talk some other day". But some times that "other day" just doesn't come, and it'll be too late for regret by then. Completing tasks, performing well at work, striving for our personal goals etc can only get us so far in life. At the end of the day, what matters most are the people who've touched you and whom you've touched.

It's not too late to start appreciating now.

When you get home from work or school to the warmth of your home, with mummy's home-cooked meal waiting impatiently for you on the dining table, give her a hug and tell her how much you love her. When daddy makes an effort to crack a joke, no matter how lame it may be as Dad-Jokes are, put on a smile and appreciate his effort. Cherish every moment that you can spend with the ones who matter to you.

I certainly don't wish to hear nice words about myself only at my wake. They would be empty and worthless by then.

The Day Of Movie Reviews

After weeks of movie-fasting, I have finally gone on a movie rampage! I've caught not one but two movies within a short span of two days! Two movies! One cost $9.50 (stupid of me to catch it on the eve of a public holiday), the other cost $9.00 (weekend price). I am so broke. But to tell the truth, both movies were worth their respective ticket prices.


~ AFTERSHOW REVIEW ~

Movie #1: Lions For Lambs



Director: Robert Redford

Starring: Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, Andrew Garfield

Synopsis & Review:
Set in the post-911 climate, the movie explores media responsibilities on political agendas as well as the human sentiments and costs of the "War on Terror". Streep is outstanding as usual in her portrayal of a revered but weary journalist, while Cruise plays the role of an ambitious senator with much charisma and conviction. Redford himself takes on the role of a professor of Political Science who tries to reinspire an apathetic star pupil (Garfield) who has lost confidence in the American political system.

The tone of the movie is obviously anti-Republican and is overly talky and disjointed. It is very heavy on its political agenda and gets too preachy as the show progresses. The outstanding performances of Reford, Streep, Cruise and newcomer Garfield are overshadowed by its choppy intercut sequences. However, it is a very good movie as a prelude to discussions.

Rating: 3/5

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Movie #2: Stardust



Director: Matthew Vaughn

Starring: Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rebert De Niro, Sienna Miller, Mark Strong

Synopsis & Review:
Based on the novel by renowned author Neil Gaiman (Sandman, Anansi Boys), the story revolves around a young man named Tristan (Cox) who wants to win the heart of Victoria (Sienna Miller), his beautiful but cold object of unreciprocated love by going on a journey to retrieve a fallen star, personified as Yvaine (Danes). Also in search of the star are Lamia (Pfeiffer) and Septimus (Strong), for by consuming a heart of a star can guarantee immortality. Along the way, Tristan and Yvaine encounter and ally themselves with the eccentric Captain Shakespeare (De Niro) and encounter various interesting and unforgettable characters.

The show is well balanced with light and intense moments. It provides the awe-inspiring fantasy that usually attracts children, but also contains elements of more adult nature like murder, black-magic and adult jokes. After a couple of months of clichéd summer blockbusters targeted at testosterone-charged male teens, Stardust is a breath of fresh air. Grown-ups and children alike will enjoy this magical tale that will definitely stay on their hearts and minds for a long time to come.

Rating: 4.5/5

The Day I Talk About Leona Lewis

My life has been revolving around divatism lately. First of all, myself. I realized that I have been quite over the top recently (and especially so when there's alchohol in my system) and it scares me. So no more drinking until further notice. Secondly, Mum (who is always a little over dramatic about everything, but I love her anyway). We got into a big fight a couple of days back about something really stupid (my fault actually). Last but not least, my new favourite female singer, Ms Leona Lewis.



Leona's the first female winner of X-Factor (a UK reality show similar to Idol) and she will finally release her debut album on the 12th of November. As Simon Cowell's favorite protégé (right now), her star is surely shining bright.

Simon Cowell: "Leona has the opportunity to be a major, major world wide star. We are not going to make an album quickly, we are going to make the best possible album and try and make everybody proud who voted for her. We have found a British girl who is up there with the Mariahs and the Whitneys. So I take this very, very seriously."

Note the above emboldened quote. She has, without a doubt, an amazing range as well as emotions, but has yet to step out of the shadows of other well established divas. Case in point: her whole image and performing mannerisms. Don't you think that photo above bears an uncanny resemblance to someone we all know and love (ok maybe not love, but we all know who she is, that's for sure)?

How bout a picture for good measure?


Is this a shocking similarity or what?

Let me illustrate my point further below.



MUSIC VIDEO BREAKDOWN: LEONA



Welcome to yet another episode of MUSIC VIDEO BREAKDOWN: where the fun begins after Music Videos are screened! Today our focus is on X-Factor 2006 Winner, Leona Lewis and the music video of her latest single, "Bleeding Love". The plot of the video is simple: A guy cheats on three different women, who each find out about the unfaithful Cheater and in turn fall into various depictions of heartbroken depression. Girl #3, however, is revealed to have a boyfriend that runs in on her passionate make-out session with the Cheater. The video is interlaced with shots of Leona singing in a variety of poses a la Mariah Carey.

I found many similarities between the two whistle-ranged divas:
(Pictures below are taken from "Bleeding Love" and "We Belong Together" respectively)


#1: They Like To Sit In Similar Poses


Leona cross-legged


Mariah cross-legged



#2: They Like To Lean Against The Wall


Leona sprawls against the wall


Mariah leans against the wall



#3: They Like To Lie Down


For comfort


For her fat ass



#4: They're Wet


"Raindrops keep fallin' on my head *drip-drip*..."


"I can make it through the rain..."


#5: The SIGNATURE Pose



Who's ripping off who?

If I could write a letter to Leona, I'd say:

Oh Leona Leona LEONA, you need to get yourself a new pose (as well as a new everything else), because ripping off poor ole Mariah's not gonna get you to the top. You need to be bigger and better than that yesteryear Christmas Cake! You gotta bring more to the stage! Cut your hair, dress down and go without the make-up, and you'll be a completely different person!

Love you long time! :)

XOXO,
Justin

I swear if they continue this mimicry, they'd one day end up like Britney and Madonna:


"Yo ass is older than mine!"
"Well yo ass is FAT!"

Or something like that.

The Day I Talk About Gimme More

Britney's latest single Gimme More is like a metaphorical drug. Like SexyBack, when heard at first, it sounds cloying and repetitive. But on subsequent tries, the song really starts to grow on you, and you realize that it's the repetitiveness ("Gimme gimme more, gimme more, gimme gimme more...") that makes it so irresistably good. Makes me wanna groove along to the beat every time I hear it.

Song-wise, I really enjoy it. However, Britney's performance of it has been pretty disappointing. By now, I'm sure everyone has either seen or heard about her amazingly dreadful "live" performance at the recent 2007 MTV VMA's. If you haven't seen it, please do:



Bitch couldn't even be bothered to lip-sync properly! And she looks very confused. Like "Where am I? Maui? Why are all these people looking at me?" confused.

But thanks to that performance, we've got parodies like this:



It's hilarious!

Oh, did I mention she's got a music video out for it as well? It's just as confusing as her behaviour! Basically, she's showing just how schitzo she is in her messed-up, disillusioned head.

It starts out with her looking as cute a button like her former self during her Baby One More Time era that it's scary. Horror-film scary. Makes you think "She looks like that now? Seriously?"


Pretty and innocent-looking. Kinda like Ashelia from FF XII. But we know that's not the real her now, is it?

She's got herself a couple of BFFs (aka lackeys) too!



Looking at them kinda reminds me of the Stepford Cuckoos. And Ursula from The Little Mermaid:


What an uncanny resemblance!

Anyway, that's not the main focus of the video. And neither is this:


"Every time they turn the lights out..."

The main focus, everybody, is...


The pole.

Britney's getting upstaged by a pole? Bitch is seriously losing it, credibility and all! Sadly, that's what happens when your dancing pole is slimmer, shinier and brighter than you. Case in point:

Specimen Screenshot A


Specimen Screenshot B


She might as well have been hawking the damned pole!



The video's so dark and all-over-the-place that most of the time, all we see is her hair and her flabbylicious body.



Oh Britney, come on, is it so hard to show your face once in awhile?


*gasp* Gyaaaah!

The Day I Talk About Moving On

Changes. That has been a pretty big thing in my life recently. As most of you may already know, prior to going to Brunei, I was given the red light by doctors for the trip. And I ended up getting me attached to the Medical Centre for the duration of my company's trip.

Now, I've been officially posted out of my company and the battalion. I went back today in the afternoon to collect the rest of my things and to say my final goodbyes. Sadly when I got back, no one was left except for the duty personnel in the office. I really wanted to see my friends again, but I guess it was for the best.

I wouldn't say that change is bad; I've always believe that in any given scenario, there is definitely something positive for me to hold on to. In this case, a new place and a new environment would surely allow me to mature and better myself, and to grow as a young adult.

Moving on is always difficult.

On a lighter note, I caught Heroes episode 2!

[SPOILER ALERT!]
In the latest episode, we discover more about Takezo Kensei's history in feudal Japan, as well as the repercussions of the explosion at the end of season one. Still in 1671, Hiro dons the mask of a drunken Kensei to save Yaeko (the swordsmith's daughter). We also discover Kensei's power of healing (or is it the fan-speculated immortality?) as he heals automatically from a fatal arrow to the heart.

Mohinder Suresh is pulled deeper into his deception with The Company as he is sent to Haiti to heal the Haitian of the same virus that killed his sister. However, his mission is foiled by the memory manipulation of the Haitian, who returns to the US to find Noah Bennet.

Noah Bennet reveals to his wife that Isaac Mendez had left behind eight paintings which depicts yet-to-be-fulfilled prophecies, but he only possesses one (which painted the death of Hiro's father, Kaito). Simultaneously, Angela Petrelli is attacked by the same man (who killed Kaito) while in custody, only to be saved by nathan and Parkman in the nick of time.

Peter is still suffering from amnesia in Ireland, and rediscovers his abilities when he tried to protect his captor's sister (who helped him clean his wounds and could possibly be his love interest for this season) from two attackers, fatally killing them.

Maya and Alejandro are still on the run in hopes of travelling to the US. We then find out that Alejandro's abilities not only prevents Maya's powers from manifesting, it can also undo the effects of her power on the affected victims.

Claire continues to have problems trying to act ordinary and has an antagonised relationship with West in school due to his presumptuous attitude. At home, Claire's curiosity leads her to cut of her own pinkie toe. Unsurprisingly, it does grow back in all its boney, cartillage, bloody, muscular glory. To her shock, she notices West looking in from the front door. As she chases after him, she only finds a copy of Chandra Suresh's book lying in the driveway, cleuless to the fact that West was just hovering directly above her.
[END OF SPOILERS]


Other than Heroes, my other favourite TV show is Chuck.


Top: Major John Casey, Sarah Walker
Centre: Chuck Bartowski
Bottom: Morgan Grimes, Ellie Bartowski

Synopsis (thanks Wikipedia!):
Basically, Chuck is a socially awkward twenty-something who works as a computer expert at the Nerd Herd at his local Buy More, a local electronics retailer, with his best friend, Morgan Grimes. Chuck's sister, Ellie, is a doctor who is constantly looking out for his best interests and wants to help him find a girlfriend.

On the night of his birthday party, Chuck receives an e-mail from his former Stanford University roommate, Bryce Larkin, who was a CIA agent. When he opens it, he unwittingly downloads an entire server of sensitive data, once only private to the Government of the United States, into his brain.

Both the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency want the intelligence returned to them and dispatch agents of their own, Major John Casey and Sarah Walker, respectively, to retrieve the data. As Chuck experiences flashes of memory activated by certain subliminal triggers, he must use the knowledge he now possess to help the government thwart assassins and international terrorists, thereby upending his previously uneventful life.

Chuck's decision to keep his newfound occupation a secret from his family and friends and to live his life as normally as possible forces Casey and Walker to establish an uneasy alliance with the shared goal of protecting Chuck at all costs.

It's really good! A must watch!

The Day I Went Grocery Shopping And Talk About Coinicidences

I had dinner at my grandparent's place just now. Before leaving, my aunt passed me a couple of canned tuna that my dad bought but forgot to bring home in a plastic bag. Since I needed to grab some necessities for my daily usage (and consumption) in camp, I headed off to the Cold Storage opposite the condo at Heartland Mall to pick up some granola bars and fresh milk.

Then, I joined the really long, hypothetical express queue (hypothetical because the big, bold "express" is a HUGE oxymoron) with my few items in hand. Before I knew it, I was one customer away from the cashier lady who looked like she kill me with her gaze (she was shooting daggers at all the customers. I guess it kinda works out to long queues=more customers=pain in the butt. Oops, I'm digressing) .

Cashier: "You need a bag?"

Customer-in-front-of-me: "Er, ya."

Cashier: "Sir, do you have 10 cents? It's Wednesday. You have to pay for your plastic bags."

Customer-in-front-of-me: *drops coins into the coin box*

I'd totally forgotten that it was "Bring Your Own Bags" Day today! To make things worse, I had no cash on me and only intended to make my payment by NETS. JUST THEN, I remembered the two cans of tuna hanging idly off my wrist in an NTUC plastic bag.

Phew.

When it got to my turn, I just told the lady to dump the items into my bag while consciously avoiding her stare. Y'know, I really hate it when strangers look at you with the odd killer gaze. It sends shivers down my spine. Brrrr....

Anyway, I got out alive.

Must keep a mental note when going shopping on Wednesdays... Must must must...

The Day I Talk About Live The Dream & Heroes

I'm gonna be on duty tomorrow. Sigh. Gotta book in tonight.

Anyways, I've decided that I'll talk about Singapore's latest Idol-esque rip-off reality tv show, Live The Dream. If anybody's even bothering to watch it, it's only because of the three eye-candies who host the show. Thay are namely the former MTVAsia VJ Utt, MediaCorp resident hottie/actress Michelle Chia, and Girl-Number-10 Andrea Fonseka whose claim to fame was from yet another reality show rip-off, Deal or No Deal.

That aside, the show sucks. I haven't exactly been a fervent follower of the show, but I did catch it a couple of days ago. It seriously lacks talent! So they claim that it's not an Idol rip-off cos of the incredulous age limit (participants have to be 25 and over) and the promise of varying genres. But look who's in the semifinals. For the solos: two bar-singers (Robert Sunga and Fendi), a Joakim Gomez-who-can't-dance-to-save-his-life (Victor Tang), and a wallflower (Shauna Simon). For the groups: four rock bands (After The Rain, Revalina, Catsinecradle and By Definition).

I'm all for entertainment, but the "entertainment" stops at the point when whatever's entertaining becomes annoying. By annoying I mean annoyingly bad. Take Victor Tang for example: He's a pretty ok looking guy, but when he opened his mouth, I thought the tv had switched itself to a live telecast of a grade school talent contest, and a bad one at that. Take a look/listen for yourself. No offense, Vic, but you should really consider other career options.

I'll probably not be watching this show anymore due to it's inherent lack of entertainment value (oh my ears! MY EARS!). But there's one show that I'll definitely be watching. And I'll keep watching. And watching. And watching...

Yes, Heroes is BAAAAACK!!!

I just caught episode one last night. It's so good! Basically, instead of following it's season 1 theme of "Ordinary people with extraordinary abilities", it's gone all "extraordinary people doing ordinary things".

[SPOILERS AHEAD: YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!]

We are taken back four months after the season 1 finale, where the Bennetts have relocated to California and became the Butlers, where Molly Walker has been adopted by (the newly-divorced) Matt Parkman and Mohinder Suresh, where Hiro is still stuck in feudal Japan and finds out that his hero, Takezo Kensei, is British. On the Petrelli front, Nathan has became an alcoholic after Peter's disappearance post-apocalyptic-BOOM-in-the-air. Unknown to him, Peter's actually alive but he suffers from amnesia. He is found by a bunch of thugs in Ireland, mysteriously chained on the inside of a cargo crate.

Three new Heroes are introduced: Maya and Alejandro Herrera, a pair of twins from Honduras on the run for accidental murder. Maya has some sort of uncontrollable viral power that kills people around her while Alejandro's powers act has her power's suppressant. They are trying to travel to New York to find Chandra Suresh for help, but they don't to know that he is already deceased. The third newbie is West, Claire's new classmate with the ability of flight. He will most probably be Claire's love interest this season, judging by their on-screen chemistry thus far.

[END OF SPOILERS]

Can't wait for more of Heroes!

The Day I Talk About The Past Week

Life at the Medical Centre has been quite an eye opener. I always thought it was a really easy job, watching my seniors plod around in the air-conditioned building (24/7 air-con!), laughing and joking all the time. That all changed when I actually started working there myself.

Air-conditioning may seem nice when you're stuck under the hot sun, but it's not so when you're in it the whole day. I guess it's part of the eternal paradox about people not ever being satisfied with what they have. Nowadays, I basically wake up in an air-con room, work in an air-con room, eat, watch tv, even sleep in an air-con room. The dry air does get to you after awhile.

Aside from the air-conditioning, life has been pretty good thus far. I've learned a lot from my seniors (eg. working the computer system for all kinds of admin stuff, giving jabs, drawing blood etc etc etc...) and made a couple of new friends at the same time. But every night before I fall asleep, I always think about my mates who're in Brunei. I can't help it. I really really miss them. Sigh.

On Friday, we had our "cohesion day" where most of us from the Medical Centre went out together for a movie, Underdog. It's possibly the worst movie I've ever seen, akin to the horror that was Glitter and Son of the Mask. Basically, I think the Straits Times movie critic (I can't seem to remember her name off-hand) ought to be shot for giving it a passable review, because it definitely failed miserably in my opinion. It's unforgivable superhero clichés and bad puns were obviously made for movie-goers with the intellectual capacities of empty fish tanks. Please please please do not watch it.

On a happier note, I met up with Emmanuel today (it's been too long)! Here's us doing The V (in honor of V-Beck) and other assortments of poses on our way home:



I had a pretty nice long-weekend. Hopefully the following week will be just as good, if not better.

The Day I Talk About My Recent Life Changing Events

As you guys might already know, I collapsed during one of my training sessions bout a month ago. That's when I realized that my body's breaking down. After the incident, I was sent for further check-up at the National Heart Centre.

The doctor diagnosed me with possible PVC (premature ventricular contractions) and made me go for a blood test. When the lab results came back, imagine my shock and surprise when I was told that I had hyperlipidemia (it's basically high cholesterol in doctor-speak).

Look at me (in a recent photo I took with Dad. Please excuse my horrendously huge forehead.):


Do I look like I have high cholesterol?

I don't look it, right?

But I do.

The doctors could very well put me up as the poster child of this dangerous disease.



If I ever end up endorsing something like that, I'd die crying.

Anyway, because of the possibility that I may collapse again and not be so lucky the second time around (like the 25-year-old, fit-as-a-tree Captain who collapsed and died of heart failure about 3 weeks ago during our Army Half Marathon), the doctor and my superiors feel that I shouldn't take part in any strenuous activities. And that's why I've just been posted out of my company and sent to serve in our medical centre instead. I start work there tomorrow when my fellow friends fly off to Brunei.

Sigh. I'll really miss them.

This also means that I am not going to be able to get the red beret anymore. After so many months of slogging through training, it is a rather disappointing prospect. Right now, I just want to focus on getting well and not die young. I've got so much more to live for.

The Day I Talk About Rihanna

I used to hate her, but am now totally CRAZY about this woman.

Rihanna and I had a love-hate relationship because in many ways, we both share something in common: a huge forehead. I didn't like her in her Unfaithful days because she oh-so-blatantly displayed her montrosity of a head like this:



Had her hairline been any higher,


Princess RiRi of PocolocoLand. Grandma would've been so proud.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I mean, ok, we all have different perspectives when it comes to beauty, but when you've got a huge-ass forehead, it's definitely not beautiful. Thankfully, our dear little Princess RiRi finally saw the light (or her stylist, maybe), and decided to shelve that ten-thousand-head for good.

Compare Little Miss Unfaithful...


...with Madame Umbrella...


...and tell me, how did a monstrosity suddenly become an elegant lady? I'll tell you why. It has (almost) everything to do with the hair. When Princess RiRi decided to chop off her unglamorous locks, she boosted her career. Well, that and also when she stopped singing about being a cheating slut and started cooing about opening her arms and sharing her umbrellas (the "umbrella, ella, ella, eh eh eh..." really sticks in the head).

By the way, I can almost swear that she was thinking about her grandma when she was singing:


"I don't want this 'do anymore..."
Grandma would've told her to shave her hair off.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Anyway, I'm totally crazy bout her now, especially after watching the music video of her latest single, Shut Up And Drive. She can shake that booty a'ight! (And shoot a seductive smile at the same time)


Here's RiRi biting her glove. So HOT (with her forehead covered)...

On a side note, have you noticed that her latest hits are filled with repetitions? Eg. "Umbrella, ella, ella, eh eh eh, under my umbrella, ella, ella, eh eh eh..." and "Shut up and drive, ive, ive ive..." Maybe that's why they stick in the head somewhat annoyingly.

To end off, here's a collection of her from bad to hot:


Miss TenThousandHead to Lady FiveThousandTead to total HOTNESS

Grrrr.

The Day I Dish Some Dirt on The HEROES World Tour

As most of you may already know, the cast of Heroes is coming to Singapore this week. The whole ensemble won't be here, of course, as most of them are still filming for season 2 (which premiers on September 24th on NBC in the US). Four of them, namely Masi Oka (Hiro), Ali Larter (Nikki/Jessica), Greg Grunberg (Parkman) and Sendhil Ramamurthy (Dr Suresh), will be in town for the Heroes World Tour to promote the release of the Heroes: Season 1 DVD as well as the new season of the show.


Hiro Nakamura, Nikki Sanders, Matt Parkman and Mohinder Suresh

When and where will they be? Well, I've got the dirt right here, right now. Here's what I know so far:

- Their gala dinner will be at The Four Seasons Hotel (Singapore), which is also where they will be staying at.

- Their meet-the-fans session will be at VivoCity on 31st Aug 2007, from 2pm to 5pm.

For those who are going there, please don't be empty handed. Bring along some Heroes memorabilia for autographs and always keep your cameras at hand to snap photos of them. Because we can hardly get our hands on any Heroes stuff over here, what I'd suggest is that you guys go print out some photos of the actors from the screen shots of the show (if you wanna get their autographs). Photos are available free online at NBC's official website. Alternatively, just use Google.

The Day I Talk About Saying Grace

I'm on leave today and tomorrow! No I didn't choose to take leave; We were all forced to, or should I say, we weren't given a choice. Ah well, that's the army for you.

What I did while on leave today:
- Helped Mum out at the office with her e-mails
- Caught hairspray with Andrew D
- Bought sh*t-loads of comics

Onto my topic for the day:

I remember very vividly my first childhood mealtime prayer, which goes like this (with a rhythmic harmony) "Thank You for the world so sweet, oh hum, thank you for the food we eat, yum yum, thank You for the birds that sing-a-ling-a-ling, Thank You Lord for everything! Amen!"

It was such a cute kindergarten mealtime Grace.

Just had dinner at home with my 'rents and as usual, we said grace. Maybe it's because my mind is usually elsewhere when we say grace, but it was my first time actually taking note of what Mum said. "Thank You God for giving us these food. Please bless the food that we are about to eat and the people who have prepared this meal. Amen."

"...and the people who have prepared this meal" means herself! And herself only! I wanted to burst out laughing so badly.

I didn't, of course. I'm a good son.

The Day I Talk About My Cousin's Korean Girlfriend

My cousin Jowett came back to Singapore recently for a visit after years of studying in Australia. Along with him was his latest accessory: a Korean girlfriend. I don't know if this has anything to do with the Korean craze that's taking over Asia these days.


Gina & Jowett

Of course I'm kidding when I say that Gina's an "accessory". She's more than that. She's like the perfect housewife. By that I mean she's got all the 3 C's required: cook, cleaner, caretaker. Do you know that she randomly whips up good food with anything she can find in the kitchen fridge? And just the other day, I find my laundry folded perfectly 5 minutes after I brought it into the house (I had to rush off to the toilet, which explains why she had time to fold). The only thing that bothers me about her is her craziness for kimchi (Korean-style pickled vegetables in lots of chilli and garlic). According to Jowett, she needs to have her kimchi with every meal. To me, that's just scary.

[The following parts of this post in red will be what I suppose Gina is thinking.]

Before they went back to Indonesia, my parents (plus me and my other cousin Lenny aka Clara aka whatever-name-she's-using-nowadays) brought them out for a nice seafood dinner at East Coast Park.


Gina likes crab

What is black thing on crab? Oh? Is black pepper?! No squirt on me! My clothes pretty. Hair nice to flow in the air. Black pepper make dirty...


Gina loves Jowett

I love Jow! I love wind blow my hair! Make me more pretty! If only got kimchi here, food taste very better.


Mum, me, Jowett, Gina & Lenny

Kimchi!!

I swear that's exactly what's going through her mind.

The Day I Almost Died

Just some updates over here today. Not really in the mood to blog much. Last Tuesday, I collapsed during one of our training sessions. Thankfully, I'm still alive and well. The doctor's saying that it's probably some heart problem.

Please pray for me.

The Day I Talk About The Body & Piercings

I used to have 2 piercings on my right ear. But it was short lived. When my parents noticed it (and they only noticed it one week after I had it), they yanked it straight out of the side of my head.

That was 3 years ago.

In case you're wondering where I was once/want to get pierced, it's the "industrial" and "lobe" sections of the ear. Here's a diagram for your reference:



Just recently, I've been thinking about getting the same spots pierced again. It may be just another "in the heat of the moment" thing, but I still feel like doing it anyway. However, this time around, I sought my parent's advice on it before I did anything. As expected, they gave the whole "we gave birth to you not to let you do whatever you want with it and we have the final say and no we don't like you to have piercings cos only gays do it" argument.

This brings me to my topic today: Does your body belong to you and you only, or do your parents decide what you can/cannot do with it?

I feel that parents do have a say, but only to a certain age. You don't see your grandma telling your parents what not to wear, what not to do etc. What I'm trying to say is, when you've reached a certain age, what you do shouldn't to be dictated by your parents anymore. We need to be able to make our own choices. But of course the same doesn't apply to your parent's warnings about the vices in life (drugs, unsafe sex etc); it's for your own good.

Back to my point about getting body piercings: just how lame is it that I'm not allowed to get piercings because it's associated with homosexuality? I mean, fuck, it's the 21st century already. What's up with the stereotyping? I can't understand why they have to think the way they do. It's really difficult for me to condone such backward, stunted viewpoints.

It's a royal pain-in-the-butt just thinking about this.

The Day I Talk About "LoveStoned / I Think She Knows"

Justin Timberlake has never failed to surprise me with his MTV's. Remember the swift dance moves that transitioned from his N*SYNC days and into his solo career? I do. But it seems like he's kinda lost his groove recently. Maybe it's the stress of an über-successful album? Only God will know. His latest video "Lovestoned" basically promoted his tight schedule by the means of a low budget, made-for-the-sake-of-making thing that's supposed to pass off as an MTV.

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It starts off looking like this:


"Is that his heartbeat?"


Then it changed and became a series of complicated DJ pulse/beat waves you'd see on your old hi-fi sets (plus the "lousy graphics" effects faulty tv's have). And it's got Justin's face in it! I found it quite innovative that he fused his dance moves with the beat-like graphics so that viewers won't notice the lack of effort he's put into making this video. Kudos to the crew who did the effects.


Justin loves to stare, even when he's just lines and waves.


...and he fades away!

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Unlike his other videos, there were no appearances of girls in this, except maybe for this one and only unknown female:


Who is that? (Notice those lips!)

I'm guessing that she's either

1. Jan Dick

Look at those lips!

2. Whitney

Look at those lips!!

3. Jaslene Gonzalez

Look at those lips!!!

4. Jessica Biel (his new flame)

Look at those lips!!!!

One thing's for sure: He's definitely into "The Pout" (think Cameron Diaz).

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I was pretty ok with the video all the way until the ... / I Think She Knows Interlude part. If it's not annoying, I don't know what is. Here's the deal:



If I wanted to watch something that looked like that, I'd play songs on my Windows Media Player (which I don't use cos I only survive with iTunes now) and watch the visualizations. That is if I really am that bored. Which is never.

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Speaking of boredom, Justin finally emotes his song title towards the end of the song.


I think he's lovestoned...


...stoned stoned stoned stoned...


What the hell is the grey place he's in anyway? A stone?

This vid really leaves much to be desired.