Happy Merdeka, guys! :) It's a rainy day here in Brisbane and the end of winter here is always strange; it's colder than the core of winter itself! How temperamental, hey? Anyway, I completed the Project Happy Malaysia yesterday, and I hope you guys liked it and it instilled a bit more cheeriness in your day. All of you over in Malaysia have absolutely no right to sulk today; it's a holiday!

Anyway, I was going to write an emo post today because this one was written in a postcard by me a few days ago and I've been waiting and waiting to put it up, since Blogdrive has been PMSing. But then again, it's Merdeka. :) I shan't rain on everyone's parade just cause it's raining here. I wrote something less emotional during lunchtime.

Some confusion in the air,
a little disbelief to spare,
from the ones who slipped away,
to the ones that couldn't stay.

An echo of sentiments went silent,
the expectations altogether fallen,
with the water that drew its own course
and the found, no longer lost cause.

So.. afraid.. of.. you..

No indications to signpost my way
No idea what it is I'm gonna say.

I hate you illegitimately.
Love to hate you,
hate to love you.

Well, if you didn't understand that, believe me, that's perfectly understandable. Okay, you guys can all be my Thelma. I.. um.. got to know a guy at the party last weekend, and I gave him my number. After that, I refused to give him my name. See, I thought he wouldn't call. At all. Forgive me for sounding crass, but I thought it was a one-night thing. And that was that. But he smsed me on Sunday, which I didn't get, since he got the wrong number, and then through his friend, managed to get my number again.

He has called to ask if I would like to go on a movie on Saturday. The Malaysian part in me was jolted back to reality when Trinity reminded me that people go on dates to get to know each other better, unlike in Malaysia where only couples go on dates. I realised last night that so much in me hasn't changed. I might speak with an Australian accent, I might not know much about Malaysian news, but there's an essence about me that cannot be changed. It's the upbringing that did this to me. :) Aiks, digression!

Anyway... I am secretly quite afraid of what to say next if he calls, or if we go on that.. date. Thinking about it now, I've really never done dates. Lol. It really is disorienting! It's like having all my expectations ripped from me, and all these questions are hounding me. What does he want? He doesn't know what I'm like. I don't know him! And I keep reminding myself that nothing is going on. Absolutely nothing. Which is why he asked me on that date. Oh God, I am scared. to. death.

I'm going to be studying like MAD till 5 on Saturday (that's when my exams end). I hope that's enough to take my mind off this. Otherwise... well, just shoot me.

My blog over at Blogdrive is somehow suspended since Blogdrive won't load and I think I've lost my comments. So, this might be temporary, or it might stay. :) Let's see how Blogger fares against Blogdrive, okay?

Anyway, I've been asked by Vincent to write on Project Happy Malaysia. This couldn't have come at a worse time. Not that I'm unhappy about Malaysia, but rather, I'm still Internet-deprived for about another week, and I have two exams on Saturday that I have yet to study for. Not to mention the fact that I have a presentation in less than 2 hours and I'm definitely not in the mood to stand up in front of people who don't want to listen to me rambling on about nothing.

Rubbish aside, I can think of a story now. When I was much younger, possibly about eight or nine years old, my family and I were out on a Sunday at One-Utama, which is the most famous shopping centre in my area. Back then, it was big, but now after including another wing, it's a massive place. It was just grocery shopping and aimless walking around as our family time together. Unlike Australia where shopping malls are quiet during weekends, it was packed as sardine, and everyone seemed to be content with just being another random shopper, paying a dollar to park their cars there and walking around a big shopping mall with no agenda.

I don't remember who was pushing the trolley; I was standing on the trolley's horizontal legs and watching the people go by, wondering why the hell sales were that captivating. Then we noticed something amiss. My younger brother was missing.

Panic engulfed us all as we looked high and low for him. It was every family's nightmare in a crowded shopping mall. I believe my father went off to the information counter to page for him and my mother just continued searching and searching. Fast-forward, I was in the car, peeking out the window, thinking hard as to when I last him, when he disappeared from sight. He's two years younger than me.

We might've prayed, though not together; we're not religious. We tried brushing away horrid thoughts of possibilities that no one should be condemned to have. Almost everyday, there's news of these horrible things happening to children. It's a global curse, almost. Oh God, what could we have done? I wept silently as I continued to look out the window. Please, don't let anything happen to him.

And then my father got a phone call from him. A lady had found him sitting alone in tears and lent him her phone to call my father. She also offered him a lift to get to where my parents were. The details are a bit blurry now, maybe slightly inaccurate, but I believe that's how it went. To say that we were relieved was definitely an understatement. Overjoyed might just be the word to describe how we felt.

See, when I read that poll about how discourteous Malaysians are, I really was in disbelief. How could anyone have made such a large generalisation? When there exists people like that lady who pretty much in my eyes 'saved' my younger brother, I am not inclined to go with the flow and quote the statistics to anyone who will listen. There will always be defiant minorities everywhere. What, there're no rude Australians/British/Americans? Of course not. There's always that possibility that the chosen sample did not represent the entire population. In my case, I was so, so sure that that possibility rang true.

It's not hard to remember why I love Malaysia and my fellow Malaysians when I reflect on times like this. :)

Last Saturday, Trinity and I went over to Jed's to celebrate his birthday. Really, it was meant to be on this Tuesday, but who cares that it was a bit early? We bought him a book about beer and... *holds breath* baked him cookies. Oh. God. Who would've thought that we can bake?!!

Obviously, Betty Crocker was the best help ever. Hire her, everyone. ;)



See that solitary cookie shaped like a star? Trinity insisted on making it, lol. And I solemnly swear that maybe next time, I'll just eat one whole big bowl of cookie dough by myself. Forget baking!



It's not Famous Amos, it's just the product of 2 gluttons watching the clock impatiently. Yummylicious. ;)



Some serious cam-whoring at the bus-stop. I suck at using my Nikon, it's bad with shaky hands! It's either that or get blinded by the camera flash.



One word: POSERPAN!! There's something wrong with people these days, tee-hee.
(Trinity reckons he looks like Utt, the MTV VJ. What do you guys think?)



See what I meant about shaky hands?!!In any case, Jed does not look like Jed here. But the beer bottle ought to be evidence that we did not stuff him to death with cookies that night. ;)



Damn.
Damn.
DAMN.
Is this incriminating or what?!
I'm sure you noticed that we all look sober and awake and... sane.
Either that or maybe AA should be notified the next time we all group together again.

Blogdrive loves me again. ;)
I'm moving my Project Happy Malaysia post over here!

One of my lecturers can't pronounce dichotomous. You won't believe how she says it.

'Dick-tohr-nor-mers'

But I was the only one itching to burst out laughing. I suspect half the class wasn't listening at all. :P

And I've been tagged. Why, you evil man, Munak? Whyyyy?!

- what made you happy this week?
I got an extension for one of my assignments, and I got paid. :)

- what made you sad this week?
Remembering my grandfather. It's still surreal...

- are you contented with your life?
I'm not ready to die, if that's what you mean.

- has someone made u happy lately?
Trinity: "Your life has been so undramatic of late". Heheheh.

- what do you plan to do to him/her?
I bought her the best donuts in Brisbane yesterday. Definitely pwns Dunkin Donuts/Donut King any day!

- how are you feeling at the moment?
Relatively relaxed considering I have an exam in 2 hours. %^&$?!

- what/who made you feel that way?
I've memorised my stuff well!

- are you the type of person who easily gets hurt?
Hmm... a little bit. I don't know. I suppose I hurt when most people do.

- do you cry?
Your tear ducts are stuck if you don't.

- have you ever been to a point in your life that you’ve thought about giving up?
On life? Probably, but not seriously enough for me to even take myself seriously.

- last movie you watched?
Errr.. some silly mahjong Cantonese movie.

- with whom?
My family. :)

- last song you heard?
I had on the Chinese playlist last. I don't specifically remember which song.

- last thing you bought?
A book about beer for my friend's birthday.

- last place you went?
The city last night.

- last food you ate?
Weet-bix with milk and honey.

- last thing that made you smile?
This morning when Trinity asked me why I'm waking up at 6, 7ish. Like I have to ask for her permission to take a piss, lol!

- last thing you heard from your parent(s)?
Study hard. :P

- last thing you said to your parent (s)?
Bye, love you.

- last thing you said to one of your friends?
Whatever I last said to Trina. Something about exams.

- last thing you read?
Hahahha, like Munak said, this fricking question! (Okay lah, if it's referring to a book, it's Paulina Simmons' "Tully")

- last person you called?
My manager at work, telling her it's impossible for me to turn up at 8 am when the bus only leaves the fricking stop at 8.

- last person who called you?
My aunt.

- last person you msg?
David, telling him I'm done with his review.

- last person who msg you?
Trinity, to tell me my CD arrived (my other prize was the Dave Chappelle's Block Party DVD!).

- last person who gave you a testimonial in friendster?
It's either Kyels or Shi Yen. :)

- last person who messaged you in Yahoo Messenger?
I don't use Yahoo Messenger anymore.

- last person you’re with?
Trinity lah. She's still sitting next to me, studying so hard, lol.

- last person you kissed goodnight?
Probably my mom.

- last person you kissed goodbye?
My sister. Poor thing was crying at the airport... until my dad handed her the parking token to work the machine! =P I got pwned by a parking payment machine, for heaven's sakes!

- last person you think of before going to sleep?
Last night, it was Jeff Buckley singing 'Hallelujah' cause Westlife wouldn't shut up in my head when I needed some quiet song to fall asleep to.

- last thing you’re goin to do before going to sleep?
Err... brush my teeth! I'm oh so hygenic, kan kan kan?!

** Tagging is silly, so don't make me look silly by myself! ;)
Merv, Averdim, Trinity, and whoever else sees this, you're it!

Enceedavid claims I'm the first to own his album. Whee, it makes me feel just a little bit proud. But of course, I'm meant to review it too. Which means, I'm gonna have to dig up more adjectives and expand that limited vocab of mine. ;) Here goes nothing.

Emceedavid's debut didn't impress me. Cause I'm already at that point where I can no longer be impressed by him. I can only be surprised that he can continue coming up with songs that hits me where I want to be hit the most. :) There're plenty of good beats on this one, all shaken and stirred. Sweet. There was a noticeable trend of angry lyrics in a few of the songs though. Why la, David? Stop bitching! ;) Lots of other artists on this one too; the one who stood out the most to me was, of course, Joe Flizzow of Too Phat.

Progression of tracks for an album is very important to me, as I said in the Jason Lo review. Albums should be listened to at one go (to me), and although I did so with Emceedavid's, I didn't really like the progression much for the beginning, especially with 'Feels So Good' (feat. Joe Flizzow) and 'The Get Down' right after the intro. That's because I reckon the beat's pretty similar, but then again, I suppose the tracks that would get the most airtime should be featured first on the track list.

'Feels So Good' has a fitting title, and with the addition of Joe Flizzow, this track shines. The bonus track without Flizzow is also included. The Get Down has already been playing on radio, and it's easily addictive. Definitely a club/party track. 'What You Gonna Say' has a very interesting flavour to it, distinctively Eastern, and it makes me think of Thai/Indian dancers.

If you remember K-Town Clan who was on Hitz TV's Blast Off! last year, Roshan is featured on 'Do What I Do' and it took awhile for me to like this one. There's something loud about this one that's reminiscent of Ja Rule. If you ever thought that it took you awhile to like 'Always On Time' (though Ashanti ought to have sped that process up), then you know what I'm onto. But once the liking comes, it stays. :)

'Family Matters' (feat Wordsmanifest, Balance & Elvira) is not one of my favourite tracks. Something in the beat does not click with me (as I'm writing this, I skipped it over for lack of words to describe it fairly). Streetlights ft Jamntrix is one of my favourites. A strong R&B track, the beat is even slightly quiet in the background, so attention to the lyrics is easily given.

Wherever you are, whatever you do, i want you to know that I am always there for you...

I'm such a sucker for sappy lyrics. :P

'Perhaps You'll See' is the first track off this album I heard from Emceedavid around September or so last year. It has a haunting feel, and a beat that not many might like, but it really does go well with the lyrics. I like the chorus and bridge best. It's almost like... David's singing... Whoa. ;)

And then there's 'Everything Changes', which is one of my favourite tracks of this album. It might be Dhivia featured on this track (correct me, David). 'Wen Ying' was the first song by Emceedavid that I loved and still love, and Dhivia's contribution to it really set the fire. It's the same for this one, no matter who it is. A song like this really aces it with a female contribution. :) It's a sad song, but I'm always one for that flavour.

Unexpectedly, I really like 'Fancy Flow' (feat Altimet). Really, I would listen to it just to hear Altimet say 'I got a fancy flow, and you know this!' Madness. ;) Also, the contradictory 'he is I and I is him' and him calling people retards. Hahahha, I have a weird sense of humour. This track has a nice, jumpy tune to it that reminds me of 'Jump' (not the one by Pop Shuvit).

I did not like 'Bragging Rights' (feat AshG, GFlex, Naqib and Provokalizt), though I do like the occasional mixing in the song. 'Fly' is gooddddd! There's such a soft sweetness about it that makes me wanna close my eyes and just sway, the lyrics completely losing its meaning on me. But yes, what I catch of the lyrics is good. :)

'Home' being placed right after 'Fly' does not sit well with me, but anyway, it's also a good one. There's a very on-the-road beat to this one that evokes a memory of Avril Lavigne's 'Nobody's Home' video, which further adds to the effect of the lyrics. The chorus wasn't my favourite; the verses had more effect on me.

The chorus of 'Dear Music (Keep It Moving)' did not impress me. It's one of those repetitions that deliver meaning, yes, but at the same time, they annoy me enough for me to dissolve the fact that it's there for a purpose. Okay, I might've lost you already. :P The point is, the chorus overshadows the song for me, so I can't give a fair account of this track. The bonus track is 'Feels So Good'; this time, without Joe Flizzow's contribution. Personally, I think Flizzow enhanced it. :)

That's it from me. Now go off to Emceedavid's if you have anything to ask about the album. :)

P/S: This review isn't a professional opinion. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to know that. So if I mix up music terminologies, you don't like my review, well.. stuff your opinions where the sun don't shine.

If you heard me on the radio 2 nights ago, I won the '2nd hit bandit' competition! :) Basically, people call in to guess who sang a snippet of a song. The catch is they all made one hit wonders and therefore, the snippet was from their second flop.

When it was my turn, I had no idea who it was, and told the DJ so. He gave me the clue that it was an Australian white boy rapper but I replied that I've only been in Australia for the past 2 1/2 years. He asked where I was before and I said Malaysia. So he gave me another clue.

"When you were in Malaysia, did you ever hear the song 'Ice Ice Baby'?"

Omgosh, who the hell didn't?! So I screamed out 'Vanilla Ice'. The good part is I won something or other and he said Malaysian girls are hot. Hallo, kembang sial. ;) (Yes, this is the part where I ignore that he might not be able to differentiate Japanese girls from Malaysian ones) The not-so-nice part: I know besides something else, I won Nick Lachey's album.

=.=

I don't like him.

Bah, whatever!

Trina and I have been sitting at the second entrance to the library, entertaining ourselves as we had our lunch by counting the ratio to cute guys: non-cute guys in my university.

It's 2:140. We've been here for half an hour. Isn't that just bloody sad?

Strength: We were rather lenient on deciding who's cute and who's not. Really. Although all posers in sunglasses were eliminated. Need not apply, kthxbai.

Weakness: It was the fucking library.

Guys, you ought to be happy. Trina reckons the ratio for girls would be 5:15. But that girls who was flashing her butt clad in black stretchy undies at us can also count herself out.

On another note, I have an exam this Saturday and two more next Saturday. There's also a presentation on Wednesday and I've been working at a cosy little juice bar in the city that comes with a loud Greek owner.

Doesn't my life just sound like a ball?

Remember the makeover at Mid Valley?

Yeah, I got the pictures back. *wry grin* As in, the pictures taken by the professional photographers. I took a look at them and laughed. A makeover, photographs and me = too funny an equation to get over. It seems like I took those pictures a very long time ago when in fact, it was only over a month ago.

Anyway, time to embarass myself.

My mom liked this one and chose this one to be in A4 size.
=.= X 10000000
I hate this one the mostttt!
Trina said it doesn't look like me at all in this one and I replied that that's definitely a good thing!

I have absolutely no comment. Really.

And the finale... I swear, now I know why there were pictures of Amber Chia promoting the studio.

So Amber Chia it cannot get more Amber Chia-ish!