Sweet surprise

As soon as I got home today, I realised that I had absent-mindedly left my mobile phone in the office. Not exactly my first time, but in my defense, it's not something I'd do very often on purpose. Sometimes, I just forget and don't even realise that I don't have my phone or my wallet with me in my bag! I can be quite terrible at such things and always forgetting where I put my stuff. This time though, I'm blaming it on my feverish brains for the past 2 days.

It's not until I needed to call Silver Bullet to tell him he doesn't have to pick me up on his way back because I'm already home, did I realise I didn't have my cell phone with me. The thing is, I can't quite call him from home because we do not have a land-line phone in our apartment. How convenient right! I wasn't worried or anything as I'm certain my phone is somewhere on my desk. But, I logged on to MSN anyways, just to check with my colleague who was still in the office. The moment she saw me online, she informed me of my cell phone and that she picked up a call from Silver Bullet and talked to him. Apparently, Silver Bullet told her he's gonna drop by my office to pick up my phone.

My first thought is thinking that Silver Bullet is mad! It's insane because the route from where he comes from and going to my office just doesn't make sense. The roads here are just illogically constructed - add traffic to that...boy! Goodbloodyluck! To add to that, there's no way of me contacting him either. Usually, when I said "he's picking me up after work", I mean that he is picking me not at my office, but rather on the opposite side of the road, about 10 minutes walk from my office before I can hitch a ride with him towards home.

Picked up my phone sweet Silver Bullet did, and all this while I'm chatting with my colleague online telling her to tell Silver Bullet to forget about it if he calls again. I know I can retrieve it back the next day anyway.

I'm still thinking it was unnecessary of him to do that, illogical route and crazy traffic and all... but, really, it was such a nice gesture that I'm counting my blessings, and falling in love all over again. It's a small gesture, but it says a lot. I'm not getting all emotionally wired, but I'm just blogging it so if I ever forget (which I just might and I don't want to), I can then remind myself and remember this little act of the husbandly kindness from this very post.

Silver Bullet is the sweetest, shiniest silvery bullet ever! Perhaps I should fall sick more often...this way I get pampered to no end! Sweet. ;D

Fish Spa

This was a pretty strange experience...weirdest 30 minutes dip in a tank I'ever had in my life!

We decided to try this natural exfoliating experience of the feet by these Garra Rufa after our foot reflexology session just out of curiosity. Otherwise known as the Doctor Fish, these tinies will immediately nibble away on those dead skin the moment you put in your feet and hands into the water.

I was a little hesitant at first; mostly because of the icky factor governed by my head and the fact that I'm skeptical of its healing benefits, but decided to give it a go nonetheless. It wasn't the most comfortable feeling, but it wasn't really as bad as I thought it would be. I felt ok as long as I looked away from the tiny fish nibbling away on my feet, but immediately felt an utmost sense of ickiness the moment I look down and concentrated on what they were trying to do. I guess it really is about mind over matter...

It's hard to describe the actual experience, except that it felt really, really strange. I have to admit that at the end of the half hour session, my feet felt so clean and sanitised as if I have just been given a fresh layer of skin! Still, it was just amazingly strange...

Playing Tourist

We decided to play tourist in Bangkok for a little bit over the long weekend this time by checking ourselves in a hotel along the Chao Phraya River for just a weekend of sloth and gluttony! I do think we have perfected laziness to an art form. We woke up really late, had breakfast in bed, ate really late lunches, and went for a few massages in a span of 2 days. Apart from doing the touristy thing like going for a rip-off dinner cruise (thank heavens for free dinner vouchers! :p) and getting on free boat rides at the riverside from hotels to hotels just so that we can check out their terrace cafes, we never really did venture out on foot beyond 1km radius of where we were staying! We almost did not make it the pool even, dipping in there for less than an hour one evening before we decided that it's already almost time to feed our stomachs again.

We did really well stuffing our faces the moment we open up our eyes though. Not having a good meal would otherwise be a crime...and so, true to our calling, we both inadvertently ate so much, we could hardly move!

What a fun and eventful weekend full of nothing! It was just lovely for lazy farts like us. ;D

View from our room:

Disgustingly savouring desserts post lunch buffet:

Scenes by the river against the moonlit sky:

Pet dies while being groomed

Tell me that pets just passing out while being groomed and then die without rhyme or reason doesn't sound suspicious to you? I was speechless upon reading the news article which Aunt Antsy forwarded to me today.  There is every wrong with human beings who manage to give the dog severe brain haemorrhages just from a grooming session and that "there is no way anyone would abuse the dog". Yeah, right! I'm sure I would believe such blatant lie if I was born yesterday or if I am a certified idiot!

Reading that article reminded me of a status update on FB from one of my ex-colleagues who posted that his dog was hurt after a grooming session here in Bangkok. I just had to find that post; and good thing is, it took me no time at all search for that very status update from a few months ago:

I did naively thought that such "accidents" would be more prevalent here in Thailand. While it isn't exactly acceptable, you tend to "accept" that things like that DO and can happen in Thailand. And when it does, while you might get angry, you hardly bat an eyelid. You try not to lose your cool, you negotiate, failing which you move on and boycott the place. You then tend to comfort yourself by accepting that this Thailand, and shit happens. When shit has already happened here, there's really nothing much you can do because it is more than likely that your whining will fall on deaf ears. Not only that, they are more likely not to take any responsibility and probably make all sorts of excuses that it is never their fault in the first place. It definitely is easier to make a fuss if you are a Thai. Heaven help you if you are a foreigner here and you can't speak their language!

But when you hear of such things in Singapore, it suddenly becomes completely unacceptable! Singapore is too sterile, clinically clean and too "straight" for such things to happen. Singapore has "standard". I hope the couple will not take the case lying down. And if the groomer is not a Singaporean, I hope he gets the maximum jail time and then deported back to where he came from. Maybe he oughtta to be the one being mauled and maimed by the dogs instead. Bloody bastards!

Do these people really think that they would and could just get away with just saying "sorry"? Is life really that cheap to these people? Injuring and killing those who can't fend for themselves is an act of sheer cowardice. Me so sad for human kind and very damn angry on behalf of the animal kingdom!

How do I love thee...

For Andy, her preference and means of getting attention from the alpha furball couldn't be more subtle. Like Chandler said: Can it BE any more subtle?!

Andy is quite the cat and Silver Bullet is the only person she would snuggle up to like that. The moment Silver Bullet stops petting her, she would essentially nudge him with her head and then look up to him as if questioning why he has stopped. On the contrary, even if I as much lightly pet her head or give her a scratch behind her ears, she would immediately start biting my hand. Every damn time! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

She pretty much does this regularly with Silver Bullet whenever he's home. To say she's not really taken to me is an understatement. I think she probably secretly hates me for reasons I don't really know. Unless of course I have ice-cream, chocolates or cheese in my hand, she would hardly ever come up to pander me.

I'm sure she misses him to bits whenever he is out of town. Pretty endearing actually.

Just the other night, she came up to bed from Silver Bullet's side, and probably didn't already realise that Silver Bullet has left for his business trip. I'm pretty sure that she possibly is looking for some cuddle time as she usually does ( I'm only too happy to oblige by the way!), but as soon as she saw only me in bed, she looked at me as if she got a rude surprise that Silver Bullet was not there. To add salt to the injury, she quickly turned around, jumped off from the bed in no time and not to be seen again till I come home from work the next day!

Sigh...talk about feeling insulted by a cat. It is loud and clear that she's really not that all into me. Good thing for the other two cats being around and giving me some attention, I tell you. It makes me wonder what cats use as a criteria to choose their favourite human. I honestly don't think it is the body smell, because I'm certain that I defintitely smell much better than Silver Bullet at the end of the work day! Unless of course, Andy likes smelly stuff. Come to think of it, she likes to play with used socks and likes to bury herself in the shoe rack, and for some reason, used sneakers drive her crazy! I think she just might have a thing for smelly things and smelly people! :p

Fresh fruits

The morning hustle and bustle in the streets of Bangkok has its charm.One of my favourite is stopping by one of the many mobile carts on the streets for some fresh fruits on my way to the office.

I love to peek into those transparent casing as I pass them by. I'm always curious as to the type of fresh fruits they have for the day, with each piece of fruit costing only a mere 10 - 20 baht per piece. They may be from the street-side, but they are really fresh and mostly quite hygienic - so don't you worry.

I have but been lucky these few days as there's a now a street-side vendor selling those elusive, yet tasty Farang Dongs. He is not there all mornings, but if I do see him (or rather, after much scrutiny from afar trying to figure out what's in his cart!), I usually end up buying 2-3 of those plum guavas and start munching them right away as my breakfast while walking to the office at the same time. Those things are really yummy. My Farang Dongs are actually being sliced up in that white plastic basket looking thing, while the uncut ones, if you look closely, is right underneath that white cutting board.

I snapped these pictures with my Sony Ericsson T700 mobile phone too, by the way. The images ain't that bad at all, eh!

Hitler in Thailand?

Shame on BOTH the ad agency who came out with this campaign and the client who actually approved this!

I had to roll my eyeballs backward when I read this: "In the museum we don't show him with other world leaders, we show him in the scary section."

WTF? Another one of those Thai logic. It goes to show how ignorant people here can be. Impactful advertising? Yes, most definitely. But in a very bad taste.

I fail to see the coolness of this billboard. There's a lot of wrong in this.

Chapatis & Keema

As I found out, making the chapati flat bread is all about the flour. I attempted making chapati a few months ago after feeling inspired , and failed miserably. Somehow, the flour just wouldn't stick together and my attempt at frying it turned out to be disastrous. It turned out like flat biscuits instead.

I have not given up on the idea of trying to make chapatis, though. The online demo I found looked so easy-peasy that I think I'd be an idiot not to be able to make it. I figured the type of wheat flour I bought and attempted with earlier was probably the wrong type. It was coarse. And nooooooo, I couldn't see what the flour looked like when I bought it because it was packed in a non-transparent brown bag and royally sealed. Somehow, buying the right type and good quality wheat flour is quite a feat in this country. I was ecstatic to finally get my hands on what seemed like the right type of wheat flour recently and re-inspire myself to try it again. With the finer type of wheat flour, all I did was just adding olive oil, water and a little bit of salt to make it into dough. It's all in the flour, I tell you.

It didn't turn out all that bad, surprisingly. I actually successfully made a bunch of chapatis and...and...and along with keema too! I'm having such cheap thrills that we can have chapatis anytime we want now.

The only bit I did not quite enjoy is rolling it out flat. It bores the hell out of me, and I dread it. Good thing Silver Bullet enjoys this task and the fact that he is hell-bent on getting it round makes it easy for me to let him do it to get its round shape and just the way he wants it. The power of "partnership"...I dough it, he rolls it flat. Works for me!

Oh my food, glorious food. I'm still basking in my cheap thrills of my chapati success! :D

1. Flattening the dough

2. Ready for the pan

3. Into the pan. I know it's done right when the bread starts puffing up

4. Ta-da! Serve with beef and vegetable keema.

Contentment is...

me waking up to two snoozing cats when the husband is away; each flanking me on each of my sides, and both purring away with their faces underneath my armpits and seemingly without a care in the world.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Singaporean White Boy

This is epic! The angmoh's Singlish is really damn power. Unbelievable!


Courtesy of Vicvanvinkle

Here fishy, fishy, fishy

The only time I get to cook myself a seafood dish is when Silver Bullet is away as he is not particularly big on seafood. So, given the circumstances,  I hardly ever cook any seafood dish at home or I'll end up making too many dishes just for the both of us.

I love my fish and there's this one dish my mom always makes that makes me crave for more. Honestly, I have no clue what it's called. When I asked my mom, she said it's the "chemplang" dish. I don't exactly know what the word "chemplang'' really means, but in her term, it means chuck-everything-in-dish. I simplify it to the "Rubbish Dish".

It really is easy to make in no time at all and completely vegetarian friendly too.

I have improvised this dish a little by adding in toufu (lightly fried first), and added in the Japanese fishcakes (just because!). For the fish, I used seabass fillet and coat it with tumeric powder and a litle salt before frying them up for a bit and set them aside.

The base is just pounded garlic (2 pieces), fresh ginger (1 inch),  fresh tumeric (1-2 inches)  and about half a cup of fermented soy beans (rinse to reduce its saltyness and then mash).

Other ingredients include 1 big red onion (sliced), 3-5 red and green chillies -  first sauté before adding the pounded ingredients in. After about 10 minutes, just add in the earlier fried fish and toufu. Add a little water if it gets too dry. Then just cover the pan and simmer over small fire for about 5-10 minutes before serving it with rice.

This dish tastes great with  fried egg and a little kicap manis (sweet black sauce) over it. It tastes better when eaten with the bare fingers! Reminds me of my growing up years at home.

Misplaced concerns

Just reading the first paragraph of this news article makes my heart boil. I can feel the smoke oozing out of my ears as my eyes darts out angry flares of fireballs!

"A couple being denied of marriage license because they are of different races and "out of concerns" for their future children?"

Oh seriously! Come on. Gimme a blardy damn frigging break. First off: what business is it of the Justice of Peace to deny such union? And secondly, what is it to him and how would the damn Justice of Peace know that any kids the couple might have will suffer in their lifetime? Excuse me, Mr Justice of Peace, did I just hear you marginalise the freedom of human right and the birth right of a child who might just be human?

"Justice of Peace" my ass! He even has the cheek to claim that he is "not racist" and that he "tries to treat everyone equally". Honestly, the damn Justice of Peace oughtta to be shot for even conceiving the idea of denying interracial marriage in the first place. I really wanna break this guy's neck. What an ignoramus, numbskull, imbecile dunderhead rat-sucking pig! I'd say remove him from the office and strip him off his title and power with immediate effect. No good things will ever come out from such idiots and no one should ever tolerate such nonsensical beliefs. Who is he to judge? 

If he is a white guy, man...do I have news for you! If traces of the family tree of human holds true (an interesting documentary, by the way, from NatGeo), then this guy would probably be ashamed of his existence if he ever finds out that we human descended from a single man who lived in Africa around 60,000 years ago! Given the hypothesis, I'd say the probability of the first human being black is pretty high. Now tell THAT to all the white supremacies and those who feel superior just because of their skin colour! 

What a freakhead this guy is. I am appalled and disappointed at such biased and low-life human behaviour. What makes people act or think this way is beyond me. Just goes to show again that the world is full of idiots and that part of the world there is filled with a bunch of arrogant and ignorant pricks.

Dog adopts lion cubs

This is just too cute! Talk about playing with your food at such a young age...



Who are we to question interspecies relationship, eh! Even animals look beyond colours and species. Although, I do wonder:  This video was from 2002. Eight years on, I wonder if the doggies have all been ingested and digested by now.

In the mood for Singlish

My brains have been giving me Singlish waves these days; with my recent postings consisting of haphazardly formed words which I did on purpose like:

"how excitedly exciting" and "don't anyhow poke poke" and "anyhow poking peole"

And I really have to laugh out loud when I stumbled upon this video posting on FB. The epitome of Singlish with Mr PCK who takes the piss out of Miss Singapore World:



It's bad English I know...but I miss Singlish! Crazy as it may sound, I know that I'll end up speaking Singlish to myself, in my head, for the next few days since there's no one else to talk to with Silver Bullet away on business trip...

Damn cock right? Si beh bo liao also. But, hor...I tink I like can oredy. :D

How excitedly exciting!

This is how I found out about Green Day's upcoming tour in Singapore:

You really gotta love FB for the users' speedy updates. This is especially useful for people like me, who generally is a little bit slow to catch up with news that appeared in Singapore's newsprint or even check the online version of the newsprint. (The latter is just plain lazy!)

This is a long awaited and waaaay overdue concert from Green Day for me! I grew up with this sort of music, and at this day and age, I still think the band is phenomenal!

I'm so excited of the fact that they are finally coming to Singapore, that I'm all psyched-up like a psycho to purchase the tickets immediately. So kiasu that I even called my best friend in Singapore to go get the tickets for me, cause I really, really want those tickets B.A.D. Come rain or shine, busy or sick,  I would take a day or two off work just to fly back to Singapore to catch these guys...

and then...

...something struck me....

and I realised....

as usual...I'm being...

an idiot...

...and just plain stupid!

Good thing for voices in your head, I tell you! And those little voices are excitedly speculating:

If they are coming to Singapore, what are the chances of them coming over to Bangkok for a stop-over to perform?

I have to give the voices in my head some credits and leave it to the power of Google. From their tour dates here, they are indeed making a trip to Bangkok!

Even better, Thai Ticket Major has also published online stating that the tickets for their upcoming concert will be available soon!

This is too darn cool! I'm onto those tickets as soon as they are available for sale, I tell you. One of my favourite bands is coming to town and no way in hell I'm gonna miss this one.

I'm already looking forward to January 2010!

Don't anyhow poke poke....

...even in FB, they'll arrest you for anyhow poking people.

But seriously, how ridiculous is this? It really is getting godawful senseless and plain idiocy. Child's play! This world is governed by morons.

Cow Juice

This is one of my favourite episodes from the cult classic "Mind Your Language".

Simply hilarious!

Bungee Nightmare

Nothing is ever 100% safe, and expecially not in Thailand. Exercise some wits about you whenever you have the urge to tempt "fate". Gamble only if you are prepared to lose. With this case here, it's like playing Russion Roulette with your life.

In all honesty, the accident is just not pure bad luck. This is Thailand and in Thailand, safety is somehow never the #1 priority. Life is cheap here. A lot of things that can go wrong, WILL go wrong. The video at the bottom of the page gives me the shivers. You have been warned.

Quality of life

There's a nice ring to the word "quality of life", don't you think? In many respect, too, life is what we make it to be. Day in, day out, we try to live life as it is and as best as we possibly can. We try to get by, and we look forward to the end of the day for whatever little quality time we have for ourselves, family or friends and make the best of it. We need to make the best of it to make us feel alive. It's about finding that mojo for ourselves, regardless where we are in the world, in whatever state of mind we are in.

If there's one principle I live by, it's the very fact that I cannot make others happy if I, myself, am not happy. Cliché as it sounds; I do believe that happiness needs to come from within. (Yep! Go on; roll those eyeballs to the back of your eye sockets! :p) I realised that in my own reality, I can't and will not do things well and right if I resent the entirety of it all and not be able to find happiness or satisfaction whatever I'm doing - first, for myself, then as a consequence to others. Obviously, I am not about to please everyone, but perhaps, if I can, I would. However, there's no way in hell I would ever want to please everyone and I know I don’t have to. Most certainly selfish…yet, we do have the right to be selfish for the sakes of our own well-being. Self happiness before selflessness.

I’d like to believe that quality of life is a state of being. At this point, my state of being to a better quality of life is to find that elusive work-life balance. A feat, nevertheless, but not entirely impossible. I realize that I may not mean everything to the world, but knowing that I do mean the world to the select few of people I know means the world to me. It makes for a nice, dreamy thought. What’s nice about it is that it makes my time in the world all worth it, knowing that if I do get to spend some time with them, it would be time worth spending.

I guess it’s just one of those littler things in life that makes me feel alive.

Obama wins again!

This time for the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize for 2009, as reported in the news here. Isn't it just amazing how he is able to achieve this in such a short span of time after becoming the President?

He really is a rare breed, this guy. I like his attitude, his demeanour and everything about him so far. I just really like how he seems to be such a humble person while holding his position of power, and at the same time, burning the candle of hope for everyone else. His job is definitely a tough one, yet inspiring. This is one man I'd like to have a chat with over burgers and coffee, just to find out what goes on in his pretty little head.

I wonder if they would ever, ever in this lifetime, feature him on Hard Talk opposite Stephen Sackur. That will definitely make my day!

From the inbox

These photos are really just too darn amazing that words are beyond me. I think it's a crime if I don't share them. These are the Best of NatGeo, courtesy of Vicvanvincle.

Isn't nature such a wonder? The world is really just awesome!