Hey guys!

My review for Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist was posted up on his blog!

Check it out here!

This is sooooo cool! =)

I was doing some research for my assignments and I came across this article about coffee.

Stop drinking coffee! It's bad for you, people!

It's as bad as, or worse, than nicotine and alcohol. It causes heartburn, excess gas, bloating ulcers, and it is terrible for your digestion.

Drinking coffee increases your risk of getting ulcers by 72%! That's a lot!

If you drink a lot of coffee, and you have digestion problems, stomach pains, or heartburn... Well, what are you waiting for! Stop already!

It's actually very simple to me.

If you cause me pain, I let you go.

Simple.

Why do so many people keep sticking to bad relationships that cause them so much heartache and pain just because they've been together so long and it's so hard to let go and they love each other so much...blah blah blah...

I don't care if you love each other. If it hurts you to be together, and if you really loved each other, you'll let each other go so that you can be happy.

Yes, I'm a very selfish person. I care about myself very much. I care about my happiness. I care about my well-being. I care about my life. I love myself very much.

If everyone was as selfish as me, the world would be a better place.

We wouldn't have matyrs who 'sacrifice' their own happiness to do things for others to make others like them more. And then resent the people who 'made' them give up their own happiness. And then start arguing and fighting and making the world a less peaceful place.

If everyone would only put themselves first, and make sure they have everything they need before helping anyone else, the world would be a better place. If everyone loved themselves more than they want others to love them, the world would be a better place. Trust me.

Seriously, how many people do you know do things to make other people like them more, rather than do things to make themselves happy? It always ends up badly. I learned that the hard way.

Because I used to be one of those people who did everything so that other people would like me more.

Now I don't give a damn if someone doesn't like me. Why should I? As long as I'm happy.

I'll say it again, the world would be a much better place if everyone loved themselves more than they want others to love them.

Anyway, back to my point.

I love just as easily as the next person. More easily, in fact. I get attached easily, and I like people easily. But if it turns out that you only want to cause me trouble, pain, heartache or general bad feelings, then I let you go just as easily.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a heartless person. It will hurt me to let you go, it will hurt me to lose the good things and the good times. But if there are more bad than good, and if it hurts me to be with you. Then guess what? I'm gone with the wind.

Self-preservation.

I don't care if you're my best friend, my boyfriend, my father, my mother, my brother, my husband, even if you're my own child.

If you are bad for me, I'm gone.

Easily.

Just like that.

*Poof*

Like I said, my well-being is very important to me. And I love myself very much.

More than I will ever love anyone else, even my own child.

Don't deliberately miscontrue what I'm saying, by the way... You need to love yourself more than you love anyone else, I really believe that. Anyone who says they love someone else more than they love themselves, is either lying, or insecure, or otherwise psychologically impaired. And of course I'm not going to abandon my own child because I wanna have fun or whatever selfish meaning you wanted to read into my statement above.

I meant that even the strongest blood relationships will not be as strong as my own love for myself. I will still sever my relationship with my imaginary children, if in the future they chose to exploit me for the money I can give them.

And obviously, I'll have no problem cutting them out of my will, if they try to hurry me to my grave. LOL!

Anyway, the moral of this story is...

'Learning to love yourself, this is the greatest love of all.'

I don't get it.

I really don't get it.

How on earth did Harry Potter get so overhyped?

It's a great book, no doubt. It's creative and imaginative and exciting and interesting and fun, and all of that.

But so are a whole damn lot of other books!

And many of which that are much much much better than Harry Potter.

So what is it about Harry Potter which warrants the long queues and midnight camping and overpricing?

I mean, seriously, the book isn't that good. I can think of a few thousand other books which are much better, and none of them even got as much hype as this one.

Why?

I really, really just don't get it!

I liked the first three books, but I didn't love them. And from the fourth book onwards I thought that Rowling was starting to overdo things a little, but I still enjoyed the books.

I didn't buy the books, by the way, I didn't like them enough to spend money on them, not even on the first three books, which hadn't had their prices jacked up yet. My brother bought them, and I just borrowed them to read when I had nothing else better to read. My brother was way more into them than I was.

And yet he stopped buying them. He didn't buy the sixth book(I don't remember the suffixes, was it Harry Potter and the...oh, whatever) and the Deathly Hallows isn't on the shopping list either.

The prices are just ridiculous! Like I said, it's not that great of a book, and even if it is, why does it warrant a RM100 ++ price tag? It can't be because of the paper or the cost of printing, because I know the price of books, and since these books are in such demand, printing more of them should have brought the cost of printing down!

So the price must have been jacked up for Rowling's sheer genius in writing them, except, seriously... they aren't that great!

I'm really shaking my head in disbelief at this.

I'm glad for the hype of Harry Potter causing so many non-readers to start reading, and I'm glad at least, that it's one about wizards and witches and dragons.

Sighz...

I guess I'm kinda glad for the hype, but for the life of me, I just can't understand it.

Music is a universal language.

I believe it was the first language.

Music has been around ever since humans have been around. Without getting all technical, I'd say that cavemen had music too, however primitive their music may have been compared to ours.

Point being, there's something magical about music.

There's something about music that speaks to all of us. We use it as a form of expression, to show our feelings, our inspirations, our dreams... There are things inside us that can't be described with words. So we use music.

Everybody loves music. There may be a hundred different genres of music now, and perhaps not everyone likes the same kind of music, but we all love music. And we all need music. I don't think mankind could survive if we didn't have music. We wouldn't be human without music.

How much more respect do you have for the people who create music?

I have plenty.

Music is a part of everyone's lives, we've pretty much established that.

But for the people to whom music is their lives...

These people are different. These people are special. These people live in a world different from us. An alternate universe parellel but completely distinct from ours.

I wish I could go into that world.

I've seen glimpses of it in my dreams, and during my few moments of creativity. It's a beautiful world, a magickal world. It's a place where dreams come true and everything is possible. It's a place where you're always happy and nothing bad ever happens. Everyday is a sunny day and every place a playground for your inner child.

At least, that's how it was for me. I lived there for a while and I loved it there.

But reality crashed into my world like a bad car accident, and now I'm just as real, jaded, and cynical, as any other person.

Sometimes I wish I could go back into that world... but other times I think, I'm in the real world now, and I need to be real to survive here.

My question is... why is the real world so full of ugliness and pain? Why do we allow bad things to happen to the real world? Why can't everyone live in a beautiful, bright, happy world? Why can't I live in my dream world without bad people from the real world forcing me to see all the ugliness in their world?

These are all hypothetical questions, so don't bother answering.

I can live in reality just as well as in my dream world. But sometimes when I see glimpses of my dreams, it reminds me of what I gave up and what I gave it up for, and sometimes I really wonder why.

Reality is a poor substitute for dreams.

Alex was sweet enough to loan me this book, since I've always wanted to read it. I've heard so much about it that I was actually prepared to dislike it. I thought that maybe it was all just hype and that when I finally read it, I'd see that it was all overrated. But I loved it.

The Alchemist is a wonderfully simple story of a young shepherd who follows his dreams of treasure and encounters many experiences and people, learning wisdom and life lessons along the way. Paulo Coelho has skillfully woven many bits of truth and wisdom about life into this masterpiece, and it is a true delight to read. Just like it teaches, it is not the destination, but the journey with this book, that counts.

It doesn't matter if you're searching for buried treasure, or for love, or for the secret of turning lead into gold. It doesn't matter if you die trying, never reaching your goal. It doesn't matter if you don't find what you're looking for, once you get there. What matters is what you've brought with you on the way, and what you've learned along the way. The people you meet, the hardships and heartaches you go through, the lessons your experiences has taught you.



The Alchemist tells you how to turn lead into gold. It tells you of the wonder and the uncertainty of change and evolution, the secret of enjoying the beauty of life without becoming hardened by the harshness of reality, the art of living in the moment without worrying about the past or the future, and most importantly, the ultimate secret of the universe, that we are all interconnected. We are all one.

It has been compared to Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince and Herman Hesse's Siddhartha. I have read both, and while they both have their own beauty and teach their own wisdom, The Alchemist touches people in its own quiet way.

What I like about the book is that it teaches you to live your life well. Live every moment in the moment. Let go of anything that is an encumberance. Follow your dreams. Have fun and enjoy everything life has to offer, but don't forget the things that really matter. Let go of things that are not within your control. Live your life and let others live theirs, what works for you may not work for them and vice versa. There is something to be learnt in everything.

There is so much wisdom contained within the pages of this little book, but for me, the most important one, is to enjoy every minute of your life. We all have goals in life, we have dreams to fulfill and successes to achieve. We need to remember to stop once in a while, and smell each rose and count each star in the sky. It is not the destination, but the journey, that counts.

We went to Hard Rock again last weekend.

I know, I know! You're getting bored already, aren't you? But we're not! It just gets funner and funner for us! =)

Anyway, it's only for this month, coz of the band, and then they'll be going off to Jakarta after this, and I'll miss them all so much. =(

L-R: Isa(Jeff's wife), Erena and Paula(the vocalists), me, and Margaret.

Clockwise: Jeff, Raoul(keyboardist), Chris(drummer), Teody(guitarist), John, Margaret, Charmin, Ceaser, Lone and me.

L-R: Me, Raoul, Chris, John, Margaret

L-R: Erena and Paula, Lone, Charmin, Margaret, me, Ceaser, Alex(bassist), and John

Just for fun.

And because I'm too lazy to post any more than this right now.

Get Your Sexy Name

Alex, if you're reading this...

I was just joking! You are damn cute!

Margaret and I both love you! And we've agreed to share!

LOL! =P

Hugs and kisses!

(PS. We've got loads of good pix tonight, I'll post them up soon. Too tired and sleepy now... G'nite, peeps!)

On second thought...

Alex isn't that cute after all.

You can have him, Marg.

=P

=D

We went to Hard Rock again last Saturday to support the band, Redemption.

And...*ahem* also to see Alex. ;)

So....here are the pix!

(PS. Sorry Marg, I'm not putting up the pic of you and Alex! =P After the way both of you dirty danced on the dancefloor?! Hmmpphhh! How could you! *jealous* ;P He's mine ok!)


Oh okay, Marg...since you begged... ;P

Laurel Dewey's debut novel, Protector, is an exciting crime thriller that has a hint of the sixth sense. Detective Jane Perry is a disturbed individual who is struggling with demons from the past, and more recently the loss of the family she and her partner were protecting. Jane tends to take her job too seriously, and it hits her hard when the family dies in front of her eyes.

Spiraling slowly out of control, she is saved when nine-year-old Emily Lawrence enters her life. The child is put under Jane's protective care after both her parents were found brutally murdered in their home. Believed to have witnessed her parents' murders, Emily is in danger when the killer makes another attempt on her life.

What follows is an excellent tale of suspense that intensifies as the bond between Jane and Emily grows stronger and the killer takes more and more desperate measures. You can watch the trailer at Laurel Dewey’s website.

Protector seems to be almost too intense for a debut novel, but it is surprisingly realistic in depicting the darkness of the human psyche. Dewey captures the flawed personalities of the characters really well, especially that of the heroine, Detective Jane Perry.

Jane Perry is not your average likable heroine, in fact Dewey's personification of Jane's bad attitude is so realistic that there were many times when you just want to slap that sarcastic mouth of hers and make her show a little respect to her superiors and colleagues.

However, you realize that Jane is a troubled human being just like anyone of us, and is in the process of healing from her past. Jane's and Emily's journey through helping and healing one another in the midst of danger is a touching and emotional process.

There were a few things which bothered me though, among them Dewey’s tendency to be too obvious and repetitive when describing reading people from their body language, I believe that subtlety might have worked better in this case. There were also a few other details which didn’t exactly make sense to me and seemed unrealistic and unlikely.

It may be that Dewey is used to writing non-fiction, having written two non-fiction books, a variety of investigative reporting, celebrity journalism and alternative health research, but she has a knack for storytelling and was nominated for a Silver Spur Award for her western novella, In the Name of the Land. I enjoyed her debut novel immensely and I believe that with time and a sequel to Protector on the way, Dewey can only get better.

I'm currently studying about calcium in my course now. Did you know that astronauts lose about 200mg of calcium a day in space?

The point, actually, is that without gravity our bones loses calcium, and when we don't walk or exercise, or even when we're lying down at night to sleep, our bones lose calcium.

Now this is interesting and scary to me at the same time.

Interesting because I wonder if we only have as much calcium as we have because of gravity. Our bones lose calcium in anti-gravity, which I said already, and rebuilds the bones with calcium again when the body is under the laws of gravity.

Does that mean that if we lived in space, we wouldn't need half the calcium we currently need now? Or does that mean that we need to supplement our diets with twice the calcium we need now to build up our bone mass?

98% of calcium is in our bones, and only 2% is needed for other important functions of the body, like muscle contractions. So 98% of the calcium in our bodies could be unnecessary if we were living in space...

Ok, maybe not the whole 98%, but still...a huge percentage wouldn't be needed. Maybe. Well, what do I know? They're still conducting experiments on it.

The scary part is that we lose calcium if we're inactive for long periods of time, and even while we're sleeping.

Hey, I like to sleep. And I tend to be inactive for long periods of time when I sit and read, or study, or when I'm at the computer...

How much calcium have I lost already? And am I taking enough calcium in my diet everyday to replace what I lose?

I don't want my bones to be weak or brittle and prone to fractures when I get older... =(

That does it! I going to drink goat's milk (cow's milk actually depletes more calcium from your body) everyday now, and exercise at least 15 minutes a day, everyday!

Sighz... I'm so glad I have a badminton game tonight...

I HATE MOSQUITOS!!!!!!

Can't a girl get a decent night's sleep without pesky mosquitos sucking all the blood out of her?!

I itched and scratched and itched and scratched so much that even my dreams were full of itching and scratching. =(

It was terrible...

And now I'm wide awake... and going to have a tough time staying awake later today.

How am I gonna get my work done?

*yawn*

If God died and made me God, I'd kill all mosquitos. =P

I played badminton today for the first time since....um, I dunno... since a long time.

I sucked so much I don't even wanna talk about it.

We went to Hard Rock this last Saturday for dinner and the band. I did mentioned before that we loved live bands, didn't I? =)

Anyway, it was a really great night. We had a delicious dinner, and then we hung out and talked until the band started playing at 11pm and stayed all the way until they finished.

The band was really great! Loads of energy, and they were really friendly too. They danced with us during their breaks, we talked about music and stuff, and they invited me and Lone to jam with them too.

We ended up inviting two of them to watch Transformers with us the next day, because we happened to have two extra tickets. The movie was great, but I still love the animated movie better. I'm pretty sure they'll come out with a whole series of Transformer movies now...

Ok, anyway... Pictures! =)

Lone and I shared a B-B-Q'd Rib. It was huge! And delicious!
Margaret had a combo of B-B-Q'd ribs and chicken. Also delish!
John had steak, really tender.
Eng Kok had lamb, it had a dash of wine in it and it was juicy!
Charmin had fish. Healthy and delish!
The band, Redemption. This female vocalist is Paula, with a beautiful voice. In the background, the guitarist, Teody. You should see his fingers fly. He was one of the guys who went for the movie with us. He's the nicest, sweetest guy, he taught me and Lone some software to record our original songs.
The male vocalist, Bian.
The cutest bassist, and talented too, I love his energy. Alex. He's the one who introduced the rest of the band to us.
The drummer, Chris. If you watched him play, you'd be amazed at his talent and originality. He's one of the other two who went for the movie with us. Redemption will be playing at Hard Rock beside Concorde until the end of July. Go check them out! They are really good!

We'll be meeting them again next week for dinner, and we've all made plans to go back again to Hard Rock to watch them. And don't tell my bf...but I've got a little crush on Alex. *wink*

What?! He's adorable! =P