Monday, December 18, 2006

Ruminations: Part II

1. I have recently discovered a new allergy that I suffer from that unfortunately does not seem to be letting up anytime soon. It is potentially lethal, I feel, and any help given in curing it will be much appreciated. This is it: I am allergic to teenagers of the younger-teeny-bopper variety. It's school holiday season now in Malaysia and the damn kids are out in packs of at least six at a given time and they take up seats at restaurants, giggle excessively in not-really-funny scenes at the movies and block my walking path. You could point out that I too am a teenager, albeit one in the final year, but then I'd have to de-befriend you.

2. To the kids who haven't got the memo and think Heelys (those shoes with the wheels in the heel) should still be worn, please know that your parents don't love you and you were adopted.

3. I got into my first driving accident couple days back. It was at a stupid turning to a road which I stupidly assumed was one-way and my mum was in the front seat giving lousy ass, stupidly confusing directions. Suffice to say, I've now given my mum enough nagging ammo to last a few generations. When last questioned, my mum could not have a bigger smirk on her face.

4. For the life of me, I cannot get into Faulker's works. I've so far attempted 'The Sound and the Fury' and that ended with me exchanging the book for store credit. Yet for some reason or another I purchased 'As I Lay Dying' two days ago, thinking I'd give the guy another shot. I plead temporary insanity. Luckily it only cost 12 ringgit which if I think about, isn't really that much.

5. I went to a Pay Less Books book clearance and came back with 14 books for less than RM50 which of course put me into a complete high today. If there's one thing I love more than a good buy is the good buy being books at a reasonable price. Any regular reader in Malaysia will tell you that that reading here is quite an expensive habit to maintain. A
fiction novel in paperback form would normally sell for 35 bucks (and when I say bucks, I really mean ringgit) and that's not even including the non-fiction, science, astrology, hardcover stuff. Which is why after I discovered Pay Less Books, a secondhand book store chain with outlets in among other places, One Utama, Carrefour and Atria, I only ever buy second hand books now. It's heaps cheaper and they have a pretty wide variety of books (especially the Atria branch). It might be a little less presentable looking than a fresh, plastic-wrapped MPH bought one, but really, what matters is between the covers, right?

6. That being said, I couldn't find any Neil Gaiman today. So I might actually have to purchase them from MPH. Or maybe I should go to PLB in Atria, since I haven't checked them out yet. Yes.. I should do that.

7. Unfortunately I have also yet to find any manga series on the shelves of Pay Less Books. Which means that I am going to have to fork out an exorbitant amount of money for the Battle Royale and Death Note series if I do decide to get it. Which I probably won't. Because gosh darn it, RM 300+ for manga is something I'm not willing to pay. So I'll just keep moaning about them with the hopes that maybe some charitable do-gooder (ie. friends -ahem-) will decide to help out and fix me of my want. No pressure, or nothing. It's not like my birthday is coming or anything. Oh wait, yes it is.

8. I've been very lazy with email lately, so Charm I promise that my email is coming. Although I fully expect you to be busy in the land of old people and swamps so I guess I could hold out a little more. Alright, alright.. I'm on it.

9. If you're reading this, hello Li Yang! I didn't know you go by Daniel too until Jon filled me in. It was great seeing you during the dinner although I didn't get to talk to you much. I should actually reply in the comments but I'm much too lazy to do so.

10. I am trying to create a Guilty Pleasure Mix CD (tm) and it is surprisingly hard to do so. One CD allows for 18 songs, 19 if you're lucky and fitting in 18 of the most embarrassing, but totally awesome songs is taking much longer than I expected. This is what it looks like, with commentary (re: my defense), since it's Christmas and it's supposed to be time of giving. Before you mock and ostracize me forever, what's yours?

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Fernando - ABBA
A must have in my mix CD since I normally despise ABBA, but really dig this song. I usually break out the funky Saturday Night Fever move whenever it plays on my iTunes.

Lala - Ashlee Simpson

She may be the unholy spawn of living-off-your-famous-sisters-name, capitalism and unhinged consumerism but this song still makes me dance and sing-a-long like a squirrel on fire, or what I imagine a squirrel on fire would look like, which is unbelievably ghastly and funny at the same time. Basically, my feelings toward this song too.

Quit Playing Games With My Heart
- Backstreet Boys
If you've been visiting my blog regularly, you know that I actually quite like the BSB. Which is why for me choosing only one BSB song as a guilty pleasure was simply too hard and complicated for words. I had to factor in level of cringe-worthiness and how loud I sing the chorus along too to get the final two. In the end the totally gay video for this song made me choose it over 'Everybody (Backstreet's Back). I'm still a little torn.

One Week - Barenaked Ladies
A one-hit wonder if there ever was one. Actually no, scratch that, Deep Blue Something's 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' remains the yardstick for all one-hit wonders that ever existed and any future hits that will come.

Kokomo- Beach Boys
It's so bad, it's effin' fantastic and you know it!

Sugar, We're Going Down - Fall Out Boy
Pete Wentz's exploits with his camera phone may have scarred me for life but this song remains one that I sing when no one is listening and I'm all alone. Eyeliner aside, the line "I'm just a notch on your bedpost/but you're just a line in a song" is really effective in using your band to slag off an ex, no?

Faith - George Michael
Another must-have for the mix CD. I'm so in love with this song I've even got the Limp Bizkit and The Boy Least Likely To covers. I'm risking social pariahness, but whatever. This song is total gold.

Get Right - Jennifer Lopez
Yeah yeah.. at least it wasn't from that 'Jenny from the Block' CD.

Give It to You - Jordan Knight
I think he was an ex-member of a once famous boyband, possibly New Kids. I don't know why I like it.

Ocean Avenue - Yellowcard
It's the damn violin that puts them above other pop-rock bands.

Since You've Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson
There must be a level of hell that is specially reserved for people who admit to liking songs by a reality TV star. I suppose, I'll be seeing at least one of my friends there?

Everything - M2M
I think I gave Chen Chou so much flack for liking them in high school, but at least they're not Mandy Moore, right? That's my rationale and I'm sticking with it.

Just Another Phase - The Moffats
Actually liking Mandy Moore might not be so bad in comparison. Hmm. The song is really good and matured for the band that came out with some of the gayest poppy-sounding 'lite rock' in the 90s. It's like Hanson's 'Weird', a different sound which worked for an innately lame band.

Mother We Can't Get Enough - New Radicals
It was on the soundtrack of A Walk to Remember, which unfortunately really detracts the song from it's really kick-ass riff.

One Girl Revolution - superchic[K]
Lame band name. Lame song title. Really good 'girl power' song without the tackiness of Spice Girls attached.

Move Your Feet - Junior Senior
It's not really a guilty pleasure since I'll gladly tell anyone that I really like it. So it might not end up on the final mix after all.

Bust a Move - Young MC
This song shouldn't be on anyone's guilty pleasure, but it's the kind you end up feigning ignorance at whenever it comes on. Oh, I don't know. It might not be in the final cut either.
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11. The baristas who work at coffee chains in Malaysia are a pitiful lot. The get absolutely no reprieve from the horror that are frappes. At least in Melbourne, winter ensured that only the odd psycho would buy an ice-blended drink. Baristas don't even get the option of a shift without making frappes over here due to the tropical weather. Heh. That's bloody hilarious and absolutely not going to stop me from ordering a mocha at Coffee Bean or a Java Chip at Starbucks!

12. Since everyone here dresses in a jeans and a tee, people-watching here is absolutely depressing. Echoing Sophia's sentiments, people of Malaysia really need to funkify their wardrobe please. As a serial people-watcher, I am at a terrible loss and know not how to continue my voyeuristic tendencies.

13. For some reason or another, whenever I'm in Malaysia my knowledge of Bahasa Malaysia and Cantonese improves substantially. Maybe it's the environment or the simple fact of using it more but I find my usage less awkward. In fact today some guy even asked if I was from Indonesia which pleased me so since I've been trying to speak BM in the style of Bahasa Indon since Trinity. Of course, my Cantonese remains completely anglo-accented which my dad seems to find immensely amusing. It's Daniel-Wu-in-his-early-days bad. Which I suppose is kind of funny.

14. I'm all for Malaysia, but really, don't bother watching Cicakman. The really sad thing about the movie is that the effects were utterly impressive, almost Hollywood-material, but the long, unfunny sequences made the viewing a complete pain. The film had potential, no doubt, and with harsher editing it could have been really something. Unfortunately, 'humour', which you can tell by my use of the apostrophes isn't really humorous, was littered abundantly throughout the movie much to merely test the patience of the audience. Another one bites the dust, eh?

15. It kills me that I'll be missing Beastie Boys in February. I flipped on MTV to come across the MTV$2Bill program with Beastie Boys performing live, and I'm afraid that's the closest thing to a watching them live for the foreseeable future. How utterly depressing.

16. Also another downside to my holiday in Malaysia is the fact that I'm probably going to have to give up a potentially awesome job because I can't make the interview. There's no need to go into specifics since it'll just depress me more but I'll just say that that job would have been a real resume booster. Here's hoping something great comes along later in the year when I'm actually in Melbourne.

"I'll toast to that, Karen."
"You can't toast yourself Kaz. That's lame."
"Oh, and talking to yourself and debating the lameness of toasting yourself is what exactly?"
"Pathetic and borderline creepy, but not lame!"
"I bet our parents never loved us and we're adopted too."
"Nope, just a middle child, dude."