As promised, an avalanche of crap is coming your way. You have been warned. ;P
***
Alter Ego

See this watch here? Isn’t a beauty? It’s one the watches in the Alter Ego range, by Tag Heuer. So sleek, so stylish... the price is beautiful, too. SIGH.
             Don’t we all have an alter ego, too? Especially to fellow bloggers out there. Or practically just anybody who uses the Net to communicate with others. I noticed that people in real-life may not necessarily be the same as their personalities online. A person could be chatty, friendly and/or witty online... but when you see the person in real-life, he/she would behave completely opposite sometimes. What is this barrier in the real world which makes certain people more difficult to connect to?
            Are really who we think we are? Are our Internet personalities true reflections of who we really are... or just merely a projection of what we THINK we are or WISH to be? Are our Internet personas merely another mask, subconsciously designed to comfort our own inadequacies and insecurities?
            These quotes from a particular movie clearly articulate the idea of an alter ego:

“You were looking for a way to change your life. You could not do this on your own. All the ways you wished you could be... that’s me! I look like you wanna look, I f*ck like you wanna f*ck, I’m smart, capable and most importantly, I’m free in all the ways that you are not.”

“People do it every day. They talk to themselves. They see themselves as they like to be. ...”
(first person to tell me which movie these quotes came from will get a stick of Choki-Choki chocolate. The Roommate is not allowed to participate. ;P)

Or are our online selves our pure, unadulterated version of ourselves, let loose and unguarded due to the safety and security provided behind the computer screen?
            Masks... is it inherent in human nature? People are so afraid of getting hurt, afraid of rejection and long to be accepted by others. I suppose masks are a form of defense mechanism, to somehow survive in the community.
            So how do I know if you are really who you said you are? Which one is the mask? Is there any?
            Just a thought.
***
THBT* Formula One racing is not a sport
*stands for 'This House Believes That'
The Roommate and a batchmate recently went for a debate and this motion came up. I find that ridiculous because it is a non-issue. Formula One racing IS a sport. It is a fact. A statement. And no matter how a person may want to argue, in the end, the human element is still the driving factor (pun intended ;P) behind the sport.
            Trying to argue that F1 is not a sport will be like trying to argue that the sun does not rise in the east. The only thing arguable would be ‘Is East really in the east?’ or other philosophical crap as such, but the fact is the sun would always rise in the same direction, regardless of what the direction is called.
            Here are some fun facts about F1 racing:
F1 drivers are among the fittest human beings on this planet. The amount of training they do keep fit to drive 60++ laps could rival the training for athletes preparing for the Olympics. Racing totally punishes the drivers’ body. In a race, a driver could suffer from dehydration, and hallucinations, if driving in extreme heat like in Sepang. These people work their staminas by going mountain-biking, running cross-country, and going to the gym, almost everyday. They take really good care of their diets. In terms of their bodies, they are quite muscular and strong, especially their necks since they are literally driving at breakneck speed, where they may experience the force of up to 4G at certain corners. While racing, the adrenaline level is upped, the heart is working overtime. If the heart isn't strong enough to withstand the increased workload, the driver may collapse and die. If not by heart failure, then death by racing accident. Driving round and round a racing track is not as easy as it sounds.
            Still unsure about F1’s sports status? Apart from being physically tough, a driver gotta keep his wits about him. While driving up to 330 km/hr sometimes, the driver has to manipulate 7 different gears, do defensive maneuvers when the fella behind tries to overtake, devise a tactic to overtake the fella in front, be completely aware of the conditions of his car (the most experienced drivers would really know how to take care of the tyres and bring the best out of their machineries. Case in point: Michael Schumacher) and his surroundings (in case an accident occurs in front of him) AND maintain his focus to drive all out, at the greatest speed possible.
              To put it simply, if you put Alex Yoong/Antonio Pizzonia in a Ferrari, do not expect Michael Schumacher results just because the Ferrari is fast. There is more to F1 racing than its technology.
               Not convinced that it is a sport still? Well, as DC (not David Coulthard—this is the lesser known one ;P) always says, “If you don’t get it, forget it.”
              Anyway, the recent German GP was brilliant. My Schumi won in front of his home crowd. The racing between Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso was just fantastic. Towards the end stage of the race, something went wrong with Button’s helmet... and he drove with ONE HAND ONLY for 1/3 of every lap from then on, at a speed which could slightly threaten the leader (Schumi actually responded by going faster) but no real challenge was mounted because he prioritised his life first than a GP win. ;) And Button drove from 13th place on the grid to clinch 2nd place. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Alonso got third.
                  The Roommate came in to watch the race in the middle of it and the following conversations ensued.

TR: Actually, F1 race is quite fun to watch, huh?
Me: Err, yes. That’s why I try to watch every race.

TR: Hey, what’s he doing there? Get out of there lah! Wasting time only!
Me: Err, it’s called a pit-stop.
TR: Huh? For what lah?
Me: To refuel and change tyres.
TR: Change tyres for what lah?
Me: The tyres get worn out after driving many laps at high speed.
TR: Really ah? Why so ganas one?

TR: How come Michael Schumacher starts from the front and others are behind him?
Me: The grid positions are determined by the Qualifying sessions the day before.
TR: Oh. But then a bit obvious who’s gonna win, right? A bit unfair, right?
Me: Not really. The pole position gives him the advantage but he doesn’t necessarily wins. Other factors, like pit-stop strategy and luck, comes into play as well. 

              The Roommate may win various debate tournaments and discuss intellectually about the current political and economic situations in the world, but when it comes to F1 racing... FINALLY, a topic I could realistically beat her in debate. Yes! ;P But then again, it’s not really a debatable topic as I mentioned earlier. Dang! ;P
              So to those who never had an interest in F1 before, I hope you have been enlightened by this particular ramblings and hey, why not spare 2 hours of a Sunday night to catch a race in action? Watch the reigning F1 King, Michael Schumacher in action before he retires, which is speculated to be in 2006. He is awesome. There is no one like him (except for Mika Hakkinen but he’s retired. *sniff* *sniff*) .
Schumi and his wife, Corinna
              The Hungarian GP will be on August 15. :)

***
Sing-Along Songs
I  was listening to Jason Mraz (You and I Both, The Remedy) the other day and was singing along to one of his album songs, Curbside Prophet. And the chorus goes like this: “I’m just a curbside prophet/ With my hand in my pocket/ And I’m waiting for my rocket to come.” And suddenly it hit me—what exactly is he singing about?
            If you are not sure what I’m talking about, maybe this would be clearer:
           
            “I’m just a curbside prophet
            With my HAND IN MY POCKET
            And I’m waiting for my ROCKET TO COME.”
           
            If you still don’t get it, your level of innocence is applaudable.
            If you do get it, chances are, your mind is as screwed up as mine, muahaha!
            Other songs with ambiguous lyrics include:

Bent by Matchbox Twenty (thanks, Ad!)
“Can you help me?/ I’m BENT”
Sure, dude. The gay bar’s just down the road.

I Could Not Ask For More by Edwin McCain
“I could not ask for more...”
This song is a typical Diane Warren-penned romantic ballad... or is it? It could also be another way to say “I’ve already had enough.” Not so romantic now, eh? ;P

Any other suggestions for songs with ambiguous lyrics?
***
Goodbye. Flush.

Haven't been blogging for a bit.  Wanted to, but I type incredibly slow (another aspect to add to my SLOW-ness :p) and I'm not exactly fond of the school's e-lab... so I shall shelve all my blogging ideas aside and have a blogging diarrhoea later instead. Right now I rather sleep. Or whatever. I just wanna leave this e-lab. Someone has this strong, stinky perfume on and it's giving me a headache. Bleah. If wanna put on perfume, please-lah save some money and invest on a good quality parfum/eau de toilette rather than using the cheap imitation designer perfume or one of those el cheapo Cap Mawar Merah 'scents.' Buy just one bottle also enough already. Aiyoh, saya punya kelapa manyak sakit oh.
    Toodles!

As I was watching Sophia Coppola's 'Lost In Translation' (which is a very good movie, btw. It didn't make it to my favourite movies list-- the script was only so-so, I felt. However, it was a nice bit of storytelling about two individuals who are at the point of lives where they ask themselves, "What's the point?" and somehow came together and found a kindred spirit in each other. It wasn't much of a comedy as it was tagged, I felt. I think the gags were supposed to be the culture-shock/-clash scenes, which aren't really funny. And THAT reminded me of 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' which was supposed to be a comedy too. Most people I know also didn't find it really funny. Maybe it's because we are already exposed to many different cultures, and we know that it's RUDE to laugh at different cultural practices. You can tell a lot about a person's/country's mentality just by their movie tastes... But I digress. The direction and cinematography were pretty good as well. Thus, I enjoyed the film, not like the complete-waste-of-time, Scary Movie 2. ) last night after updating myblog, I was tapping my tummy, practicing my percussion technique.

And suddenly I realised that I got it right. Yay.

After one whole day.

Damn SLOW, man!

But at least now I got it right. :)  Better late than never, hehe.

Thus ends today's pointless update. Thank you for your time.

Slow is...

... the title of a Kylie song, which I happen to like.

... the speed at which I read (fiction, school textbook). I comfort myself that I sedang menghayati the text, thus understanding what I read better. That's what I tell myself.

... the word I exclaim when a friend doesn't get a joke or gives a delayed response to a joke. All in the name of teasing, no malicious intent whatsoever.

... the speed I pick up new things. Namely, my practical skills.

I was struggling with auscultation and palpation. I just recently managed to locate the apex beat (the most tepi and bawah heartbeat that can be felt, to put it simply) of 5 different people on different occasions ALL BY MYSELF. And that, my friend, is a milestone. Yes, sad but true.  But there is hope yet. My blood pressure taking skills were pathetic when I first learnt how to. Now I'm quite good at it. As for auscultation (listening to the heart sounds), well..... I'm SLOW-ly getting there.

The Partner and I just did 2 days of GP posting. It was a very interesting experience, I must say. We learnt more than we did in the Rabbit-Hole. Probably because we had one-on-one attention from the GP, and he didn't have THAT many patients. Saw this cute 'supplements' on his table...

Cute, leh?

Anyway, he taught us new practical skills, including percussion (detecting abnormalities by listening to the sounds made by finger tapping). I couldn't get it. The Partner got it immediately. Somehow, my wrist action was all wrong. I got it after awhile, but when I got home and tried it on The Guinea-Pig Patient (aka my dad), I got it wrong again. :(

No use having all the medical knowledge if I can't apply them in real-life. As for relating to patients... I know I can talk to them (and I do) but somehow...

I know the exact reason behind my hesitations-- in practicing my practical skills and talking to patients. 'Tis called Lack of Confidence. I hate this crap. The thing is, I know I'll definitely be more confident if I'm good at it. I can only improve if I practice more. But I will practice more on real patients if I have more confidence.

Must break the vicious cycle. Must let go of fear of looking stupid. (if memang stupid, just accept it and learn and try to be more clever, lor... SIGH). Ini semua ego punya pasal. Must not be egoistic.

Most importantly, must work very hard.

Nobody said it was easy.

Where's the grindstone? There goes my hidung mancung... ;P

"I am a slow walker, but I never walk backwards."-- Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865); "The Great Emancipator" and sixteenth President of the United States.

The freakin' tortoise won the freakin' race in the end, right?

"PA!!! Faster lie on the couch... be my patient for a while!"

 

Ever wondered why bunnies mate so frequently? It’s probably because they didn’t have much interesting things to do, so “Hey! Why not propagate the species AND have fun at the same time?”
 
The 27 of us did NOT mate. (“Ewww...”) However, we did a lot of the activity bored people usually do: go to Lala Land.
 
In the daytime...

 
In the night-time...

 
Actually, it wasn’t THAT bad. As Alice had discovered many enchanting and interesting happenings in her adventure after going down the rabbit-hole, so did we. Perhaps, not as enchanting but still interesting, nevertheless.
 
For starters, we already got lost before reaching the place. Our nice, friendly driver thought it was on another route, so he drove past the bus, drove at a speed he was more comfortable with (the bus was moving quite slowly), paid RM8.60 worth of toll, and then we waited. And waited. Then we waited somemore. As the 5 of us waited in the car, 2 of ‘em were telling stories to keep ourselves entertained. And we waited.
 
After waiting for 20 minutes...
“Eh, where’s the bus ah?”
“You know lah, the bus drive damn slow. Wait for a while lah.”
 
After another 20 minutes...
“What happened to the bus lah?”
“Maybe it crashed...” (someone said in a small voice)
“Eh, all our friends are in there!”
“CHOI!!!x10”
 
Called up our other driving friends. Turns out that they took another exit (which cost them only RM3.30) and are driving through trunk roads to get to the rabbit-hole. So we all have to tour around a neighbouring rabbit-hole first, then only we arrived at the right place. Lawaks. Anyway, thanks again to Daniel, our nice, friendly driver for driving us all safely to and around the rabbit-hole. I owe you lunch! 
 
Our nice, friendly driver
 
As mentioned earlier, the place was not so bad after all. I was expecting much worse, honestly speaking. It has old-looking buildings (like the ones you see in Melaka) but there were quite a few of modern-looking buildings too. The town area is the only place we could get food... this particular Chinese restaurant has very delicious food. And it’s cheap too. The Guiness Stout chicken, the Champagne Pork Ribs, the Assam Fish (to name a few dishes), were fabulous. The Roommate was hankering for the last piece of Guiness Stout chicken so I gave mine to her. She thought it was an occasion that should be commemorated and recorded on camera. Sigh. :)  And after dinner, we would always hang out at ‘the most happening place in ***’ for cheap but very yummy waffles and ice-cream.
 

 
One person did not pack casual shoes/ slippers and was forced to wear his formal shoes everywhere he went. He bought a pair of el cheapo slippers the very first night, after deciding that he looks incredibly ridiculous wearing the leather shoes with a pair of bermudas. Err... wasn’t that fact kinda obvious, even BEFORE wearing them together?... Just teasing, friend... ;P
 

 
We played Risk for 3 nights in a row. It became like an addiction of some sort. It’s an excellent board game, really. It requires a lot strategising and thinking, as well as luck. Mr Formal Shoes won the first night, second night was moi, and third night was won by this particular Risk kaki:
 

 
Watched ‘Scary Movie 2’ at another house. I thought the spoof on ‘The Exorcist’ at the beginning of the movie was very funny but that was it. I guess by the first 15 minutes of the movie, I was already desensitised by its lameness. I felt as though all electrical activities in my brain were suspended within the 80 minutes.
 
On the last day, the temporary housemates and I went to check out the stream within the mini jungle opposite our house which was supposedly 100m away. Hmmph. 100m, my foot. I didn’t really mind getting there, to tell the truth (unlike The Roommate who was complaining all the way) but it was the destination that got on my nerves. Giant jungle mosquitoes almost immediately attacked us when we arrived. I took a few pics and that was it. I have no patience whatsoever for mosquitoes. The idea of climbing Gunung Tahan for the coming elective was quickly chucked out of the window.
 

 
It’s great to hang out and bond with people I don’t usually do back in school. People say that we can only know a person’s true nature by living with them, but overnight trips like this definitely provide a good glimpse. I was pleasantly surprised by many of my batchmates, of how nice, friendly, fun and generous they can be. Not all of them were as described, though. ‘Nuff said.
 
Down the rabbit-hole... it wasn’t magical at all. But it was most definitely educational.
 
P/S- the whole hospital bit was fun and interesting too. Learned quite a bit. Saw 2 deliveries... it was the only experience that was remotely magical. I didn’t realise how big the vaginal opening could dilate for the baby to come out. Sure, I’ve read about it, but seeing it before my eyes, the baby coming out of the body, was just... incredible (“I love you, Mummy!”). In fact, it was so BLOODY amazing, it literally took the breath away of one of us... which left him sprawling on the floor. *snicker*
 
Toodles! ;P

Or rather, on a school bus. Will be leaving for a rabbit-hole on the edge of The State for a whole week to gain some mandatory experience. Ah wells. At least there'll be 26 other people with me.

Jamie Cullum will be down in Singapore for a showcase gig on July 16. No performance in Malaysia. Sigh. Singapore is only a coupla hours drive away, right? But you see, I'll still be stuck in the rabbit-hole. Double sighs.

Kimi Raikkonen is back! Got 2nd place in the British GP... woo hoo! My Schumi won, of course. Absolutely fantastic race. Kimi, at one point, was putting Schumi under pressure. The Ferrari pit-stop strategy worked brilliantly as always. Ross Brawn is a genius. And Schumi just drove flat out-- qualifying-style laps all the way, man. I just admire his focus power. If I could focus as well as him when I study... I am so glad that Kimi is back on the podium. He's a really cool dude. When Schumi retires, I shall pledge my allegiance to him. BTW, I heard on the radio that Ron Dennis (McLaren boss) has had talks with Mika Hakkinen (retired super driver-- the only one who could give Schumi a run for his money) about Mika's possible comeback. If that is true... F1 will be more awesome than ever (now that McLaren's MP4-19B is finally competitive).

On a totally unrelated note, anybody feeling like a goat lately? Fancy munching on charred paper shaped like a stick? It's a trifle expensive, though.



See you in a bit.

Remember this song? It’s quite a nice, fun summer song released by the one-hit wonder (this song was the only hit), OMC. I think it was released back in ’96 or ’97.

Anyway, The Roommate and one of The Housemates and I went to Sg Wang Plaza yesterday for some retail exercise. The Roommate was craving for a California Roll so we decided to eat at this place called the Sushi Station which is located at the T-Hop Zone (kononnya some hip and trendy zone for teens) at the 6th floor. En route to this place we passed by these two eating places which had this message-leaving notice boards. At first we thought they were messages to look for a place stay or something, but the messages on them turned out to be quite bizarre.



The messages were pathetic and desperate in nature. Basically it’s the Lame-O version of personal ads. And they’d leave their hp numbers for people to call or sms them. Some were looking for one night stands (“Sex—cannot be kayu.Must be very experienced!!” or “Don’t worry, I dun have AIDS!!”) but this particular message stood out as the most bodoh-fied:

“I can be your lover.
Oso (sic) I can be your brother!”

What kind of sick, incestuous relationship is this fella looking for?



The ones here are less lame and more innocent in nature. There are more of dedications to friends/family... one girl related her experience donating blood in her college (ICSI—what college is that?). She donated her blood, fainted and the kind doctor on duty helped her regain consciousness... and ‘twas love at first sight. Or maybe not. But she has the hots for him-lah. And the next time her college had a blood donation drive, the same doctor was there. But she didn’t want to donate blood again because she didn’t wanna faint in front of him. End of note. If you guys happen to be in Sg Wang any day, go check out the notice boards and have a good laugh.

We went into this collector’s toy shop too (also on 6th floor) and I encountered these bizarre dolls for the very first time:




Scary-ness! I wouldn’t want to have them anywhere in my house. They just look positively evil! They look much scarier in real life, honestly. And the shop was dim. I could just imagine them coming to life at night, with a kitchen knife in one hand, going on a stabbing rampage. Ini semua Puppet Master and Child’s Play punya pasal. You know what? I never watched Child’s Play in my life. I just saw the trailer when I was in Std 2 or Std 3 and already it scared the shit outta me. To make things worse, I just so happened to own a doll similar to the one in the movie (her name was.. *ahem* Sabrina :P) and my bro cleverly told me that she’s actually Chuckie’s cousin and that she’ll come after me if I piss her off. I quickly put my doll away in the drawer but I kept an eye on the drawer for a looooong time before falling asleep for many nights... Funny-ness. :)

Goodbye. :)

A New Start, A New Blog

Hello people. How are you doing? Looks like I just jumped into the blogging band wagon, huh? Not quite true. I've been blogging for about a year already, but none of you coursemates knew about it (or the URL) save for one person, ie The Roommate. Why not? 'Cos I was bit embarassed to let you guys read it, actually. The content of Fliegender Zirkus Version 1.0 was a bit too private and embarassing for public reading. For example, the way I gushed about Clay Aiken. OMG. You'd think that the blog belonged to a 11-year-old girl who just hit puberty. And the weird, inane stuff I post up sometimes. Like how I banged my toe during Futsal and it turned purple. Or how I once dreamt that Quentin Tarantino is a pirated VCD peddler. (Don't ask me how I could dream until so canggih-fied.)

But you know what? Since you guys are my friends, and I love my friends very much, why not share my thoughts and feelings online with y'all? And oh yeah. Since I had unwittingly allowed my stalker to read it, why not you guys? You guys are harmless... right? And I already edited out some bits which I thought not suitable for public consumption, so if you decided that the crap I write is actually worth your time reading, and the sentences seem disjointed, the Censorship Board aka MOI had a hand on it.

Speaking of Censorship Board, the Malaysian one is so bodoh-fied. My main grouse is the censorship on both Spiderman and Spiderman 2. Why-lah they have to censor the kiss between Mary-Jane Watson and Peter Parker? In the first movie, the upside-down kiss was so nice and imaginative, and the 2nd kiss in Spiderman 1 was important and significant as to giving a clue to Mary-Jane about Spiderman's identity. In Spiderman 2, they happily showed Mary-Jane kissing her fiance but when it's Peter Parker's turn to kiss her... CENSORED! And it was so bloody romantic somemore. Stupid!! As you can tell, I like watching kissing scenes in the movies. I think they're very nice and sweet. But not in the pornorific context. Or when Asians kiss. I dunno why, but when I watch Asians make out on tv (you know, one of those Cantonese/Taiwanese/Korean series) it feels like I'm watching porn= YUCKS. Double standard, I know.

Spiderman 2 totally rocks! If any of you haven't watch it, get your heavy butt off the chair now and go to the cinema near you!! This time, we get to see more of Peter Parker the person as he struggles with his inner demons. He began to experience self-doubt, which I so totally could relate to due to a very recent experience, and we get to see him weigh his options and sort out the priorities in his life. The action sequences were fab.. and Tobey Maguire is so cute! Peter Parker is such a hot geek! I dunno why but I sorta have a thing for hot geeks... For eg, Ryan Phillippe. My girl friends thought he was oh-so-hot in 'Cruel Intentions' but I didn't even bat an eyelash. But I was practically drooling over him when he acted as Milo the hacker in 'Antitrust', messy hair and glasses and all. Hot geeks are the best! ;P

Okay, I can see that I have regressed to my pre-pubescent self... better stop now. Goodbye. :)

If you still rajin/too bored and wanna read my old blog , go ahead lah. ;P