Half-Baked

Top 10 Reasons why i have not updated my blog for the past the past 48 hours:

1. Could not get into blogger.com 2 nights ago most likely due to the quake in taiwan
2. I am physically and mentally drained at the end of the day
3. Felt it was not fair for my few readers to endure half-baked entries
4. Abducted by aliens
5. Time-traveled back to an age without internet
6. Had a lobotomy
7. Took part in the American Idol audition and was kicked out unceremoniously
8. Decided to commit internet suicide
9. Amnesia
10. A little voice in the head told me not to

Tarzan Boy

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Jungle life
I'm far away from nowhere
On my own like Tarzan Boy

Hide and seek
I play along while rushing cross the forest
Monkey business on a sunny afternoon

Tarzan Boy
Baltimora


The above is an excerpt of the song that was playing on the car radio on my way home. I do not know how many of you remember it and even if you do, i do not expect you to own up to it. The cheesiness of the words are only equaled by the cheesy synthesized-music that accompanies it. Despite myself it brought a smile to my lips. I also thank the maker that i was alone in the car.

The stupid meaningless piece of fluff actually dredged up a lot of memories. It is inherently tied up with the adolescent rush of seeing and buying the latest issue of the many teen-pop/fashion magazines at the news stand. The joy of hiding in your own room and scouring the glossy pages for bits of inconsequential facts regarding the latest pop sensation with their bizarre hairdos and clothing sense. The pathetic attempts at imitating said fashion just before the annual school ball and never getting it quite right. The sense of exquisite danger dancing for the first time with members of the opposite sex. Discotheques with deafening music and multi colored strobe lights. The first taste of alcohol.

A fact that might not have appeared in the pop magazines though : the singer and songwriter of this song, Baltimora, died of AIDS soon after the huge success of 'Tarzan Boy'.

the rookie and the veteran

not to complain about work. this is the latest edition to my new year resolutions for 2007. what is the point? nobody will lessen your workload just because you whine about it. in fact it might even play against you should your colleagues and superiors get wind of it.

"i came back from work at 8 pm!" i exclaimed to my sister 2 days ago. she shrugged her shoulders and gave me a bored look. "so?"

it is now 9.11pm and she is still at work. i guess she has made her point.

the truth serum

Many readers would have doubtless known about the sensational mass murder case currently under investigation in New Delhi, India. A wealthy business man and his man-servant are accused of luring street children into their house and killing them after sexual abuse. The thing that piqued my interest in the media frenzy around this case is the use of truth serum in an attempt to extract confessions from the suspects.

The first thing that came to mind was a drug which miraculously makes one tell the truth. This sounds like something straight out of a Hollywood B-grade movie. However this could not be further from the ........er.......truth (pun intended). The so-called truth serum is nothing more than thiopental sodium (from a group of chemicals called barbiturates) which is a common drug employed by anesthetist to put their patients 'under' before a surgical procedure. To make it even less exotic is the fact that its main function in an interrogation is to make the subject lose his or her inhibition so that he/she may be more forthcoming. This however does not make him or her lose self control. The subject will still be able to chose what they want to tell the interrogator. In the end they may only be very truthful about their lies!

family guy

never realized my potential for disruption. it started out as a simple statement of me not having breakfast yet. my friend and his wife decided that we must partake in the most important meal of the day together. the shit storm started that very instant. they had to put on the diapers for their new born and 2 year old boy. the latter decided to throw a temper tantrum right there and the father had to spend a good 15 minutes tussling with him. diapers were on and then yanked off just as quickly by naughty little fingers. eyes became red and inflamed. whining and sobbing filled the house. fingers and thighs were rapped which led to more mewling. after a while the small one decided to join in. the whole crying and screaming mass was bundled into the car and off we went.

upon arrival at the eatery, the 2 year old couldn't wait to explore his surroundings and the young parents had to take turns running after him. finishing breakfast as quickly as possible, the children were again put into the car and transported back pronto. more screaming ensued. as i drove away i saw the family in my rear view mirror standing in a huddle around the gate struggling with the lock. i rejoiced in the boxed-in silence of my car.

greetings to old friends

suddenly found some old friends appearing on the comments section of this blog. glad to hear from you guys and thanks for all the encouraging words. life is all of a sudden very different and i am still reeling from all the new experiences. some are sweet but they are the exceptions. change is always painful and i am in the thick of it right now. still a long way to go but i might just hang in there. i expected it when i made the move down but no amount of mental preparation can overcome the steep learning curve. i may slide down this curve occasionally but i will just have to pick myself up and start the uphill climb again. this is my lot in life and these are the choices i have made.

#4

disclaimer : for all those who are in the habit of shooting down show-offs and arrogant bastards blowing their own trumpets, proceed with extra caution. really. don't say i did not warn you.

i am putting this up purely for the novelty of it. i am and never will be under the illusion that i have a popular blog that millions around the world flock to daily for pearls of wisdom. this was never the intention of this blog and never will be. it is done purely in the spirit of experimentation and mostly fun. for people who measure the worth of a blog by how much moolah it garners, as of today my total earnings from google adsense is a resounding zilch . i signed up for it under the influence but thats another story.

all these makes it even more implausible when i keyed in the words 'days of our life' in yahoo search and the blog that you are reading came out 4th from a total number of 344, 000, 000 sites that has a reference to the phrase. i do not know how these search engines work but there you have it. the little cogwheels of the universe never fail to amaze me.

the new guy

'how was your first day at work?' i hope that there is someone out there who care enough to ask that of me. well you know me well enough to know that i will tell you any ways.

hungry and tired. work was especially heavy today most likely due to the backlog over the long holidays. worked right through lunch with no food or water. finished everything at 5 pm and made a beeline for the cafeteria for a very belated lunch of buns and soda. good way to shed some weight. all day people were giving me sideway glances usually reserved for the 'new guy'. guess they were all 'new guy's in the past and are exacting their revenge. no matter. like water off the back of a duck.

tomorrow's another day and i hope to live through it. wish me luck!

the year of the pig

just wondering how the retailers in town will decorate their outlets this year for the upcoming lunar new year. when even the use of the word 'jesus' is censored on tv, how in hell's name are they going to put up a giant cutout of a pig in their window displays? for those who do not know the pig is considered 'haraam' in Islam.

while driving around Kuala Lumpur a few weeks ago i happened to be in a well known residential area. when i turned into a narrow road i saw a makeshift tent jutting out from a house with total disregard for traffic. as my car pulled up in front of the house i saw the carcass of a headless pig roasting over a pit fire. a thick pall of smoke wafted skywards. no prizes for guessing the ethnicity of the guilty party. i have to wonder what the Muslims in the neighborhood were thinking about at that point.

so how to skirt the sensitivities of the local censorship board? would dressing the pigs up in cartoonish and cutesy costumes appease the powers that be?

i hereby throw down the gauntlet and challenge the retailers' ingenuity. oink oink!

in the city

i am in like flint! just got into kuala lumpur. decided to come a day earlier so that i have one extra day to explore before reporting for official duty on wednesday. you cannot dream of the amount of cables and wires that come with a desktop pc and all its peripheries (eg. modem, wifi router, speakers etc). anyways got everything setup now and ready to go. the drive was surprisingly stress free without the usual post-holiday mad rush back into the city. i pity all the suckers who have decided to make the pilgrimage back tomorrow.

my current situation reminds me of the childhood story of the town mouse and the country mouse. the country mouse decides one day to visit his cousin who lives in a big city full of bright lights and fancy things. during his stay he is accosted by big ferocious dogs, frightening lawn mowers and other modern monstrosities. at the end of the day he has had enough and runs back to his idyllic life in the sedate but peaceful countryside. in my case i don't have a choice and will have to stick it out here as long as it takes, lawn mowers and all.