I love this new skin! =)

I feel so cute and girly...like I normally am not. LOL! Ok, actually I am girly at heart, I'm just also very lazy. Too lazy to be girly.

What? It takes a lot of work! Ask those girly girls! They know!

Anyway, I know I haven't posted up any pictures for a while now, although I've promised to.... (Sorry, Rob!)

I was supposed to post up pix of my new cute little puppy, Lucky the Pomeranian, and I wanted to post up pix of my birthday and my presents too, but my birthday was weeks and weeks ago already and I still haven't gotten those pix up.

It's not my fault! Really!

Oh ok, it is a little bit my fault, but only a little!

As we have already established, I am lazy.

The other thing is, since my birthday, Lone had been borrowing my camera off and on. Mostly on, so I seldom had my camera, and when I did, I was....lazy.

Now the camera's back with me. =) Yayy!

So forget the old pix, there wasn't much to see. I'll take a whole lot of new pix and post them up for you! Ok?!

Apparently, my last blog template was giving people a lot of problems with downloading the contents and all, so I finally decided to change the layout. The thing is, it's really really not easy to find a layout that works the way I want it to, and still look the way I want it to.

I used to design my own templates, but I don't have the time to do that anymore, so I just use whatever I can find.

So anyway, I ended up switching to the new blogger layout design, which isn't all that bad once you get used to it.

It's the initial learning part that gives you the headache, but after that, it's all very easy to handle.

And it's easier still to change designs now if I want to, because I used to have to cut and paste almost everything on my sidebars from the old layout to the new, but now all I have to change is the template. =)

So....

Do you like my new puppies? =)

As you all know, I've been spending a lot of time at home; studying, working, reading, and basically just being really dull. So I decided to go to 1 Utama yesterday to treat myself a little, watch a movie, buy some stuff, eat some delicious food...

I even made a list:

• Watch Stardust
• Eat the delicious lamb shoulder at Chili's
• Buy 2 new tops and 1 skirt
• Buy toothpaste
• Buy pillows to match the sofa in my library
• Buy wall clocks for my bedroom and library
• Buy shoes

Here's what I did:

• Watch Stardust
• Eat at B.B.Q Plaza
• Buy 3 Chinese children's books for study
• Buy 1 Stephen King novel
• Buy 2 chick lit novels
• Buy 2 coloring books...

Well... I managed to accomplish one task on the list at least. Here are my excuses...reasons: =P

• Chili's chose yesterday of all days, to close for their company party. For goodness' sake, why?! I hadn't had lamb shoulder in months! Why couldn't they have chosen another day? Why yesterday? What do they have against me?! Arrghh!! Well, obviously, Chili's lamb shoulder was one of the main reasons for going to 1U in the first place, and it wasn't even open. Sigh...
  
• Once I got there, I totally didn't feel like shopping for clothes or shoes. If you know me, you so wouldn't be surprised. I planned to shop for clothes and shoes because I know I desperately need new clothes, and shoes, but it wasn't like I wanted to shop. Everyone knows I hate shopping. So I didn't.
  
• I totally forgot about the toothpaste, dammit!
  
• I did look for the pillows for my library, but when I found the one I really liked, there was only one of it. Who would buy just one? I wanted a pair! And there weren't any others I liked, so being the *ahem* patient person I am, I decided that if I couldn't find a pair of pillows I liked, I would just wait til I did.
  
• I looked for the wall clocks as well, but I didn't find any I like for my rooms. I wanted nice cutesy, sweet ones that matched the decors of the rooms. And since I couldn't find any I liked, as per above, I would just wait til I did.
  
• Buying the 3 novels, do you really need a reason?
  
• Buying the 3 Chinese children's books, well... the ones I had were way above my level, so I decided to get some that were in my league. I am doing so so so well! =) *proud*
  
• About the coloring books... What?!! I couldn't resist! I used to love coloring books when I was younger, and these two had such beautiful pictures. Anyway, it's a great way to relax and unwind. Seriously! While your fingers are doing the coloring, your mind wanders and think of all sorts of wonderful things. It's like a sort of meditation. Really! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

As for Stardust, it was wonderful!!! Beautiful!! Amazing!!! Spectacular!!! Breathtaking!!! Enchanting!!!

Oh wow!

I'm a great fan of Neil Gaiman's and I would buy everything he writes without even caring what the book's about, he's that good! And he does graphic novels too, (the Sandman books are amazing!) and even screenplays adaptations. By the way, Beowulf, which is showing now in the cinemas too, is Neil Gaiman's adaptation.

So I read Stardust a couple of years ago... ok, more like maybe 3-4 years ago, and I loved it! And when I found out it was going to be made into a movie, I was thrilled. Of course, by then I had already forgotten most of the details of the book, as I am wont to do, but I remembered I loved it, and I know I love all Neil Gaiman's stuff, so obviously it would be the one thing on the list I managed to do. LOL!

Neil Gaiman worked on the movie too, which is why it's so amazing, and I so admire him. Unlike so many other authors who sell movie rights of their books away and then watch helplessly as the producers/directors/actors/whoever else mercilessly mutilate the story, Neil Gaiman gets involved in the process himself.

Is there anything the man can't do?!

I love him!!!

I think I want to marry him... *swoon*

If you haven't seen Hairspray, go out and get it now! It's great! But even if the show sucked big time, it's worth it just to see John Travolta shake his booty!

He acts as a fat dancing momma; fat suit, high heels, and all, and even in his fat suit and heels, he shakes better than Shakira! I'm serious! I'm not even exaggerating a little bit!

Anyway, Shakira doesn't know how to shake her booty, what she does is... I don't know, wiggle? 

Ok, back to Travolta.

Hairspray is a musical, with all the big names attached to the cast; Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, James Marsden, Queen Latifah, Amanda Bynes, Zac Efron... just to name a few... and there's a whole lot of dancing and singing in the show. So maybe it isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it's worth watching just for Travolta's booty shakin'! Me no tell lie!

Travolta is by far not the best singer on the show, but he certainly is the best dancer and booty shaker!

I'm not forgetting that he used to act in Saturday Night Fever and he's a great dancer by right, but in high heels and a fat suit?! R-E-S-P-E-C-T!!

And he never shook his booty like this in Saturday Night Fever! He does it better than any girl ever shook her ass!

OMG!!! I am so in awe of John Travolta! If I tried shaking my booty like he did... I can't even imagine it! People might think I was having a seizure or something!

Watch it! Watch it! Watch it!!!

Pros:	Cons:
You are in control of your own time and pace.	People think that they can call on you whenever they want, because you can always work later.
You can work in your pjs, or even naked if you really want to.	You start to not care about how you look, coz no one is there to look at you.
You can take as many breaks as you like, as long as you like.	You sometimes end up going the whole day without doing anything productive.
You don't have to deal with difficult colleagues, bosses, classmates, etc.	You don't get to meet a lot of great people either.
You don't have to deal with the traffic jams, and you save a lot on petrol.	Hmm...no con here, this is all good.
You don't get interrupted in the middle of some important project by colleagues asking you to go for a drink.	It gets really lonely sometimes.
You get a lot of quality work done and sometimes you can finish two days' work in one day.	You don't know when to quit and go on a much needed break.

Well, there's pros and cons in everything. Right now, working at home suits me, and I really enjoy my independence. It's just sometimes when the cons rear their ugly heads that I feel just a little down.

I just need to get myself some social activities and I'll be fine. I'm just trying to think what those activities should be.

I'm hesitating a little also because I have so many activities already, at home, and if I add some social activity, it may take up too much of my time that I'm not willing to give. This is what I mean about not knowing when to take a break. I'm really pushing myself to achieve as much as I can in as little time as I can when it comes to my work.

Head knows I should take a break. Heart thinks I already take too many breaks. =P

LOL! I love it!

I just took a facebook quiz thingy, about how normal I am in comparison to everyone else.

The results: Congratulations! You are 21% normal. Everyone has a right to be weird, you just abuse the privilege!

How very true! I enjoy being weird/different/special/unique! Just semantics, baby!

It's a testament of how much books mean to me when I remember any little detail I ever learnt that has to do with books.

Lone was testing my Chinese knowledge a few days ago, asking me about the 'penjodoh bilangan', you know, like, a loaf of bread, a pack of wolves, and etc.

So he asked me, what 'penjodoh bilangan' do you use for a person?

一 (blank) 人?

I said I didn't know. He asked me to guess. I couldn't, coz it wasn't something I studied recently, he asked just to see how much I knew.

He ended up telling me, 一个人, yi ge ren.

What about for fish? 一 (blank) 鱼?

I didn't know. He answered, 一条鱼， yi tiao yu.

So far so good, I'm learning new words.

Then he asked. What about books?

And I surprised both of us by jumping up and saying, "I know, I know!!"

"一本书！！" yi ben shu!

I replied so fast that I startled the both of us, and he laughed at me because he found it hilarious that I knew the answer to this particular one.

What does that say about me? That I don't remember the 'penjodoh bilangan' for everything else, but I remember the one for books!

In fact, the main reason I'm even trying to learn Chinese now, after all these years, is just so I can read Chinese history books in their original language! I didn't want to read the English translations of Chinese history because too many things get lost in translation, and there are many imbedded meanings in the Chinese language that can be stories in and of itself.

And god help me if I don't love stories.

The things I do for my books...

Lately I've been thinking about a lot of things... you know, life and stuff.

I'm happier now than I've ever been. I'm content and peaceful and all that, and this is what I wanted. But it feels a little boring...

Ok, not boring exactly, but we all need a little excitement in our lives once in a while.

I was just thinking, earlier today, contemplating and reminiscing about my youth (as if I'm really so old now) back when I was fresh out of high school, and all the mishaps and drama I got myself into.

You know those soap operas that most of us drama queens love to watch? Well, I lived them.

Not all of them of course, but I had more than my fair share of drama. And you know what the funny thing is? While there were many tears and fears and love and hate and many things in between, and it really really hurt while I was going through many of those dramas, I can't help but look back now on all those amazing experiences I had, and say to myself, "That was fun, wasn't it?"

If I had to do it all over again, I would, and I'd do much more of it too!

I guess the saying is really true, you don't regret the things you did, you only regret the things you didn't do. And you know what I regret? I regret that I didn't do more of what I did. LOL!

But I'm content with leaving it all in the past. That's the good thing about being really wild and childish and free when you're young, you don't bring your childhood with you into adulthood.

I'm an adult now, and while I still enjoy being childish (as opposed to immature) and having fun, I know my limits, and I don't go wild the way a teenager would. I did all that as a teenager, and I'm ready to grow up now.

I still wish I was a little more carefree and wild, but I'm ready to grow up.

I know some people who didn't have enough fun or freedom when they were young, and they spend their adult lives trying to live their childhood. It's sad coz they never really live their lives, they just spend it trying to capture the feeling of being alive.

And then there's the other kinds of people, who have had so much fun and freedom and yet they don't know how to grow up. It's like they're stuck doing the only things they know how to do, and can't move to another level. These people are so afraid of not being able to live their lives to the fullest, that they spend it in fear of growing up, and live so recklessly that they may just get their wish of never growing up.

But then again, who am I to judge? Maybe these people got it right. Maybe we are just meant to live hedonistically. Or maybe we are all meant to live it the way we want our lives to be. That's what makes everyone different after all.

Contradicting what I said earlier about wishing I had done more of what I did when I was younger, I feel sometimes that I had a little too much drama in my life. Too much pain, anger, tears, betrayal... whatever. And I'm not the kind of person who handles all these stresses well. That's the reason I decided that I didn't want anymore drama in my life.

I don't want stormy relationships where I scream and fight with my bf every other day, and then make up with sweet words and kisses on the other days. I don't want to stab my best friend in the back because I'm in love with the guy she's with, or have her stab my back when she's telling all my secrets to our other friends. I don't want to be the other woman who ends up becoming friends with his girlfriend and feeling bad that we're fooling around behind her back. I don't want ten guys, all of whom are friends, fighting over me and then hating me and each other when I favor one or the other. I don't want anyone attempting suicide or threatening suicide coz I dumped them or I stole their bfs.

Not that any of the above actually happened, but you know what I'm getting at.

It's all really dramatic and great to watch on tv, and probably fun to imagine too, but really... I just want a nice, normal, simple life.

Which I have. Now.

Which is kind of... uneventful. (Read: boring.)

You know, I'm glad I don't have anymore drama in my life, but that doesn't mean I don't want some excitement or adventure.

I'll still take boring over drama anytime, but I really gotta get myself some adventures.

Know where I can find some?

As you can see from the previous test post, I'm doing 43 things. I used it a couple of years ago, but then priorities changed and etc, so I ended up slacking on it.

I've continued planning my goals and all in my daily planner, but I remembered 43 things, and I thought it might be a good idea to use it again. Right now everything I have there is outdated and obsolete. But I'll update as soon as I get everything organized.

It's a really great way to keep yourself on track. It's not just that it's organized, but there are also many people there who may have the same goals as you do, and they help motivate and inspire you to follow through with everything. And it also motivates you when you keep track of how you're progressing with your goals, it helps you see where you are, and how much further you have to go, and how far you've already gone.

I can't wait to see how far I'm gonna go. =)

I am doing 43 things.