MacDonalds' or Maybe Not

Had Mac for lunch today, sweet old Mac, as tasty as ever. As I was munching on a skinny fry, the thought came to me. Why is everybody so hard on Mac? Why do Americans love to push their blame on it - them whatever? Why? Burger King sells burgers, lots of others sell burgers, fast food etc. And what about piazzas? Why is there a movie called SuperSized Me, targeting only at Mac? Seriously, everybody has a choice. They can eat more, eat less, eat others. The point is most people decided on Mac as their ultimate selection. You can love it, hate it, sit on the fence but you can never deny it even if you don't see the bright yellow M and red flashing in your eyes. This whole fast food bashing thing, which so obviously has its bullseye in the shape of a huge, rounded M really sickens me. Just because it's the more popular, it has to be the target board. Yesterday, Mr Smurfie messaged me on MSN to tell me that Xiaxue lost 2 of her endorsements because of some bad model boycotting campaign going on. He did his research and came up with a super long post that got me hungry coz I started before breakfast and ended only after the lunch hour, with an empty stomach - and HAD to eat Mac. Unlike him, I'm lazy and can't be bothered with most of the so called Singapore - or Malaysia - blogsphere events and thing-a-dongs. I'm not even sure if I'm getting the word right. My point is, Xiaxue and Mac are the same. Too famous and getting too much lime light, whatever you do, say or in this case blog will be the central of all bashing. I don't credit her for the nonsense she post sometimes, just like I don't praise Mac for oily, oily food. The thing is, I read her sometimes - see her link in my blog? - like I eat Mac most of the time. I choose to read her coz she's honest and I like to read gossip and stuff. The keyword, see it? CHOOSE. Don't like something? Go away, don't look at it. Don't go near it. Why make the famous go through ordeal - yes, in this case its an ordeal and the thing about SuperSized Me too - just so that you can sleep better at night? It is disgusting. Come'on people, how many of us really go out in the streets with a pure golden heart? We do the things she does, say the types of things she'll say too. The only mistake of hers was that she put them down into typed words for us all to see. Whatever it is, I'm stopping here coz I'm bored of the whole case as is I'm bored of SuperSized Me stuff. I'm still gonna read her once in a while and eat Mac real often. Bottom line: I'm still disgusted.

Something About Nothing

Things have somehow come to a standstill. I'm standing - or rather sitting - very stilly, except for my fingers moving, trying to tap onto the correct keys on my keyboard, I'm in actual fact, rather still. Gone are the ups and downs of actual working life - not that I'm missing it, nor am I not, really - just the stillness of life as I hear time passing by in a swish and a swash. I hear it in my very ears, though more on the left ear coz I've held onto this semi belief that my right is a little deaf. I'm taking certain things slow - a little too slow perhaps - and reading things not really of much importance rather fast. In the last 5 days, I've finished 3.5 books. Robert Silverberg, Neil Gaiman, Daniel Keyes, Douglas Adams and his Salmon of Doubt. In the last 5 days, I've learnt that Earth being conquered by aliens can affect our lives in ways not so different from everyday life, so forget World of the Wars. I've learnt that TV can be a God of the modern times and our sacrifices to it, time. I’ve peeked into the dairy of a man who’s IQ soar from 70 to 180 then purged back to 70 and wondered if ignorance really is bliss. Last Sunday, I’ve watched a mama giraffe in the midst of giving birth with a pair of baby hind legs dangling from her ass on National Geographic and my youngest cousin humping her elder sister trying to hao lian to me a stunt her dog can do but not mine, before my very eyes. Thank goodness for that though sometimes I wonder if my dog is gay. Then again as long as it does not hump harm anything in its sight, it can remain gay. Everything else apart from the above, fades away from me like background noise, soon enough, it doesn’t bother me at all - it does actually, some of it, I exaggerate. just not so much. I supposed, in a certain sense, I’m bored as it is that I am tired. I open my eyes up each day to see the world in pale water colors, no longer vibrant likely because I no longer am – or rather it could be due to my eyesight, my eyes continued to give me problems from time to time. I have slowed. Perchance, I’ve never in truth been particularly fast. I should recall that I left 100 and 200 meters race behind once out of Primary School. Abandoned them for the middle distances which I excel at coz I was not enduring enough for the longer distances. If you have been reading and wondering what is the point about this whole post, well congrats, me too.

Hip Hip Hipporay

I wonder if anyone still remember this little game coz I do. I sing their little ad song every once in a while and dreamt of having them in my possession, the hungry, hungry hippos. It was a simple game. Some plastic balls being released out, some young players pressing wildly on the catches on the backs of the hippos, grabbing as many plastic balls as possible. Simple as that. And yet, the memory of the game and song remained tightly in my head all these years. Sometimes I wonder if it's all because of the song. Let's sing it together, "Hungry, hungry hippos..."

The hippos are named Henry, Harry, Homer, and Happy. The names of the hippos can be found on the stickers next to each hippo on the playing field. Taken from Wikipedia Hungry, Hungry Hippos

And of coz, as always, airen has them, Henry, Harry, Homer and Happy while I was humming the song in silence all these years.

Thursday the 13th

Today marks a very special moment of my life and its life of 1s and 0s. Today, is the very first birthday of this blog - not the day of its creation coz that would have been yesterday - but the day when it was nurtured with a post from its owner - me. This blog though lightly frequented has been my pride and pleasure for the past 365 days and more in counting. It contains frustrations, shares my fears, cherishes joy, celebrates hope, the hope especially to never land in jail for it. It details my bits of musings and pieces of irritating illogics, haunts me with embarrassing grammatical and spelling mistakes. Most importantly it gave me the delight in knowing that I have written and I have shared and once in a long while, produced a smile, regularly for the past 1 year. Therefore to commemorate this day, I shall end this birthday post with a new found fact about myself! I breathe using only my right nostril most of the time – the aftermath of a freak accident in my early years – making myself only half alive and most likely half the height! So, it was the nose after all. I could have been 1.76m.

A Math Question

The flawed Math question during this year's PSLE Math exam caused enough concern for the public - mainly those who's someone at home had taken the paper rather than the ones who took it. For my mum, this was an outrage coz she has never heard of such. For us, students who has sat through enough papers to manufacture an entire community's supply of toilet rolls, this was merely one of a dozen times, no worries at all. Sincerely, bloopers like this especially if the paper in question was of mathematical nature never really meant much to me. Ever. In fact a normal conversation after the reporting of a mistake during the examination hours would have - and has ever - produced such a result.

Classmate A: No wonder I couldn't get the answer no matter how I calculate it, the teacher is wrong. Classmate B: Yah lor, yah lor, waste so much of my time. Classmate C: I was trying to [insert mathematical formula] but of coz couldn't do it. Classmate D: If the question were [insert mathematical question] then your formula would have been possible. Classmate A: Actually, we can calculate using [insert mathematical formula] also right? And so it goes, on and on and on and finally when they turned their heads to me... Me: Is it? I didn't even know the question is wrong heh heh, makes no difference they correct it also haha. walking away leaving a string of classmates staring at my back in disbelief.

Anyway, those who had taken but had no idea what the news was reporting about should simply pray to whatever deity nearby for the heaven sent 2 points and get on with life. So what if you didn't know what that particular news was about, so what if you didn't know that question had a problem. That was what I would have done. And if it were that fateful 'O' Levels Prelim in year 1996, I would have gladly welcome those 2 points for a total of 11 out of 100. Note: the blogger of this post - namely myself - did pass her 'O' Level Mathematics paper despite the booboo during the 1996 Prelims - see above - and recieved the results of her sweat and labour in better mood than her fellow schoolmates whose papers has seen better markings.

Coincidence

You know each time when someone logs onto MSN and there'll be a tiny pop up with their display picture at the side? I've been seeing this same picture logging in and out several times a day today. This particular picture has been used by this guy friend of mine - Eric - so I've always associated it with him, till I gave my blurry eyes a good rub. Apparantly, another friend of mine, Eternal Snow - who doesn't know Eric and vice and versa - has been using this rather obscure picture from Final Fantasy - I think - as well.

A Bath

Mum confessed bathing Siong Siong on the sly on countless regular occasions without my knowledge so I guess, it's my mistake. Siong Siong was never that dirty. I'm sorry Siong Siong for accusing you like that. This is Siong Siong, the hero of my many warrior dreams. In fact to demonstrate her point, mum drag both Siong Siong and Sheepish to the tubs yesterday noon. When I came back, they were out in the evening sun hanging for all to see. Siong Siong and Sheepish entwined around the bamboo stick. Refusing to sleep without Siong Siong, I rescued him from the evil crutches of the bamboo stick last night, only to wake up this morning seeing them like this... Hanging 6 storeys from the ground for all to see and birds to shit...my so very wicked mother.

The Culprit?

Mosquitoes, ants? After a lifetime of blaming it all on the flying insect and a night suspecting the grounded. Seems like my sis was the one who hit the jackpot.

Me: I'm having all these mosquito bites. Face, neck, stomach, thighs, fingers, everywhere. Sis after examining the 2 bites on my stomach: Do you think it's siong siong? Me: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAYBE!!! SIONG SIONG HAS NEVER BATHED BEFORE IN THE LAST 10 YEARS!!!!!!

Siong siong is the resident Sasha bear on my bed that accompanies me to my various warrior dreams.

Hairy Issues I

First off, there are facts and there are fictions here. So don’t flame me if you pick the wrong for one for your hair loss problem. Was watching this women’s program on TV some many weeks ago about hair dressing techniques and such, when the question on female baldness – if possible – was raised. I was rolling my eyes and going duh at their question till I realized hey I know gals don’t usually get that problem unless you’re really suay but why? Get this. Balding is caused by male hormones. Yes, I know it's strange coz time and again, gals with excessive facial hair - myself included though I never understood why they term hair on the limbs as facial hair too - are told that their "condition" is due to a massive gush of male hormones. Am I confusing you? Well, they’re confusing me. Some Hairy Facts:

Hair loss has been observed and studied for ages, and some interesting discoveries were made in ancient times. It was noticed that eunuchs: * those males without genitals-never went bald * men who were castrated as a result of accidents in battle also never went bald (ouch!) This was the first sign that testosterone had something to do with hair loss. It has also been found that the more recessive the hair gene, the chances you have of becoming bald. Taken from How Excessive Testosterone Leads to Your Hair Loss

Clearing typical transsexual women's facial hair generally takes about 100 to 400 hours of treatment time (some need even more, some less). This is spread out over approximately one to four years (some need even more, some less). Many variables affect this, and these numbers are based on anecdotal data rather than survey results. Taken from Transsexual Road Map

In men, testosterone is made in the testicles and travels in the blood stream to the hair follicles. However, testosterone doesn't kill off the hair follicles directly. It is first converted, inside the follicle, to a much more powerful hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT has a great effect on the hair follicles, affecting them in different ways in different parts of the body. On the face and chest, DHT stimulates the growth of thick curly hair. This contrasts with its effect on the scalp where it makes hair thin out and eventually kills off the follicles altogether. The skin above the forehead and at the temples and crown is quick to turn testosterone into DHT and is particularly sensitive to its effects. Taken from Hair and Hormones

Ok, if you've not read the above proper, let me summarize the points. If you're female and have excessive hair at the "wrong" spots, you're spotting an overdose of male hormones. Too much yet not too much enough to go bald at the top. Don't argue yet, I'm not done. Male hormones deal with hair at the head and other parts of your body differently. They also mean to say, if you’re a guy and balding early, you must be ahem pretty manly and vice versa. On the other hand, you might simply be watching too much porn. Either way, you might wanna try this site.

Nice?

A fictional conversation on a very true fact. A on the phone: He is a very nice boss, I ensure you that, so don't worry about being his Personal Assistant. blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Minutes later... B: So how nice is that guy that you mentioned is a very nice boss? A: I used to work under him. He's a very easy going person. Really. B: So what happened to his last 2 Personal Assistants? A as a matter of fact: Oh! He fired them. B: ...............................................................