How I Wish...

After a day of extra 'special' people I encounter at work, I got rather frustrated. I really wish I can print this out and display it.

Clown & Beach sketch

Just a quick update on my latest sketches.

The Clown (Pencil)




The Beach (Inked)

Back To Basics

As you know I haven't updated since God knows when. I know, I know, I was keep up on my updating for a while and after that I just seem to disappear.

A lot has been happening at work and it just keeps on coming. If not the cycle of staff quitting and staff hiring and staff training and staff quitting again, then it's something to do with the big renovation of the shop. I'm actually happy with this because I've been frustrated with the junk that's been accumulating in the shop. I dunno about the other girls, but seriously, do you think it's worth saving every cute looking paper clip and almost used up roll of string?

I even volunteered to clear the junk out a few times and yet, I was told "oh, just sabar (be patient), wait till the renovation."

That was 6 months ago.

Ok, I admit that I'm something of a pack rat as well, saving everything from old receipts to broken door knobs. But hey, at least it's my junk in my room. Not my junk in someone's way. Seriously, the new girls leave their junk everywhere and my exec and I are getting increasingly frustrated with them. (Not that her Execness doesn't have her bits of junk here and there as well.)

These new girls. *bleh* There was this one time, she used my exec slippers at work while cleaning, then when she's done and changed back to her heels, she just toss the slippers into the counter. I was shocked! Immediately I asked her, "Eh...dang, bisai jua you throw ppl's barang, ah. Next time I use your barang I also throw throw here and there, suka hati ku, ok?"

Baru dia terasa.

I mean come on la, just because you're raised with your mother and amah picking up after you doesn't give you the right to treat your work place like your home.

Then there's the issue of one of them having transport problems, so she wants to live with me in the hostel for the next 3 weeks. Yikes. I should get my room ready as soon as possible. (Translation: Clean my shit up!)

Did you know that out of 4 lights, 3 of them konked out? I should get them replaced as soon as possible. I'm tired of romantic candle light. XD

Recently without a camera or photoshop, I have no digital outlet for my artistic self, sooooo, Back to Basics! I'm back using pencil and paper again. Not that I've stopped using them, just that for a long long time I've been using Photoshop to edit my sketches to make them look finished. I really miss photoshop, all the stuff I can do, all the brushes I had downloaded. *sigh* It just doesn't seem to work right anymore on my laptop.

Good thing about going back to basics is that I've started hunting up art supplies again which is always fun. I found this shop with great inking pens ranging from 0.1 to 0.8 and they are really good, quick dry, no smudge when erasing, pens. I'm planning on getting more.

Of course, as another artistic outlet, I've been scanning and posting my art stuff online for crit and comments in a forum called Manga Tutorial Forums. There's this thread where they present a theme each week and you are challenged to make an original character according to the theme.

Pirates


Angel


Steampunk


Musician


Atlantian


At the moment I'm working on last week's theme (I suggested it and it was taken! Woot! Fun!) which was 'clowns' and this week's theme which is 'Beach'. I'm wondering what I should do for beach though, cuz everyone just submits beach babes in bikini. I want to do something else.

Oh well, I'm sure something will come up.

Its Chinese Proverbize Time!

'Have a mouth as sharp as a dagger but a heart as soft as tofu.'

Meaning, 'Extremely difficult and dangerous situation.'

You know who popped in my mind when I read this?

Someone who's mouth is as sharp as a dagger but a heart as soft as tofu, and almost always put me in an extremely difficult and dangerous situation.

My mom! XD

GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out): Part II

I just finished watching Mama’s Boy last nite. Ok…you know, sometimes when you watch a movie and you go, “OMG, that totally reminds me of so and so!” Yeah, I got that moment as I watched Mama’s Boy. I won’t mention his name but I enjoy the movie more just because how much it resembles this guy I know. Shikin knows what I mean. She and I were just wandering around the Mall and we decided to catch a movie called Grandma’s Boy. God, one of the characters reminded both of us of my ex bf so much, we just laughed all through the movie.

That’s one major way of how a person can enjoy a movie I think cuz it’s just how this is a movie that the audience can relate to, maybe its because of something they have done or they have been through or just resembling someone they know.

Another thing I’ve watched is Bambino. Bambino is a short series about this eager japanese guy who wants to be an italian chef. So he goes all out in learning the tricks of the trade or training under chef. So he thinks. Instead he just runs into one wall or another. It’s interesting and makes me hungry for pasta.

Another reason why I watched Bambino cuz it’s Matsumoto Jun’s first series he acted in and if you’ve read my previous posts, you know he’s also acted in Meteor Garden Jap ver and Gokousen. I don’t think he’s a really good actor but he’s just so damn cute when he acts all eager. Sorry to say so but when he acts angry, especially as Domyoji in Meteor Garden, I just feel like going “awwww! Cute!” Rofl! I mean its like a 6yr old kid fuming that you bumped into him and made him drop his ice cream cone. I just think he’s still too young so his acting isn’t all that mature as all the other actors and actresses in Japan.

Speaking of series, there’s this weird Stephen King written series called Kingdom Hospital I just finished watching the last episode last nite as well (I slept at 3am) and I just like to say, it’s very easy to digest. It’s not complicated. Feels like a really long movie instead of a series. Entertaining and funny at times.

Serena says it’s scary but when I watch it with Stephen King in mind, it’s not that scary. Its creepy, with all these dark atmosphere and the spiritual characters walking about but being that it’s so well written, I find myself paying more attention to what they say or how they say it. They are times when they apply a scrub like moments like bursting into song while in ER but otherwise it just emphasize the weird factor of the series which is what I think they are aiming for. There’s no stuff jumping out in mid movie, or girls scrawling out of MRI scanners or lone pale little boys staring at you via security camera. Heck, the headless man running around looking for his head was funnier than anything else. I find that Paul, the evil teen, is hawt…kinda like younger Jonny Depp as Sweeny Todd. Or Edward Scissor hands but evil.

Cool quote from that series, “I do you a solid, you do me a solid.”

GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out)

Today is a lucky day.

It’s the 8th of august 2008.

08.08.08.

Yeah… just wait for 08.08.8008 or how about 08.08.8888. Shit, imagine that. I’m sure that by then, if the world is not ruled by (quote Austin Powers) ‘damn dirty apes’, it’s sure to be ruled by some human like kind of species that’s part chinese… or quarter chinese.

Or maybe it wouldn’t be chinese, but a totally new genre, like maybe Chinafrican or Indinanese, but still with chinese blood somewhere in them, and they would also hold the date 08.08.8888 sacred and hosting parties online where they could have actual tequila shots (think Matrix), then up having virtual one night stands and waking up to an empty msn chatbox.

Shit, by then ppl would have virus protection against STD online. You know, herpes.exe or aids.dll and you’d have some protection program like ‘Doc Durex’, protection 97% against virtual STD.

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You know lately I feel laggish. A lot of times I feel like I’m on top of the world, you know, able to be on the dot with work but at times I just feel like crap and kept dropping the ball at work. Which is not good.

Dropping the ball at work is never good. But what is good is to able to admit that I have dropped the ball and that I have apologized for dropping the ball and now I’m willing to pick up the ball and try again. Right?

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I’ve been playing this brain game on facebook which I totally suck at it but I keep playing it. Don’t you just hate that? It just pisses me off, but then after I logged off, 10 minutes later I’m loggin on again in the pretense to ‘check my other apps’ but before I know it, I’m cursing at the game under my breath again.

In the middle of playing these games, I’m downloading these podcasts from Halfpixel. Halfpixel are made up of a group of webcomic artists, talking about cons, their work, sharing their stories and tips and it’s just fun listening to them.

Especially if you, like me, have been a fan of reading one of their comics, in my case, I’ve been reading PvP Online (there's a link to his webcomic on the sidebar of this blog) for years now without complaint. Scot Kurtz and those other guys he work with at Halfpixel are absolutely entertaining to listen to. But then again, you’d have to be interested in the stuff they do and know at least the webcomics they create. Hey, or you’re just a fan like me who gets a kick just listening to them ramble.

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I’ve got this thing against talking about work but I can’t resist against talking about the characters that come into the shop sometimes. My mind kind of gets annoyed sometimes at some people who walk into the shop in the middle of the morning, something like 10-ish, in full office gear, you know, shirt plus tie plus dark pants and spanky shoes. Makes you wonder, do these people not work???

And this happens on Monday mornings even. It’s weird. You know it when kids are cutting school when they walk in in the mornings still in their school uniforms but its like these kids grew up, graduated from arcade shops of yore, don on their dad’s office clothes. It’s not cool to walk around like you can skimp off work cuz people know you’re skimping off work.

Then there are those people who just keep staring at the price tag and then read a bit about the products, asks a question or two, then stare a bit more at the price tag. I mean, it’s not like the numbers presenting the price of the item is gonna magically morph into something else (I assume a smaller figure) under your awesome psyhic powers. I dunno, maybe the person gets a kick out of it. He must be thinking, *Change dammit, change! I dun get it, it works when I use my amazing mind powers at the traffic light! I mean, it turns green whenever I willed it.*

Like this ‘_’ to this O_O to this o_O then to this O_o then back to O_O then finally ended with ‘_’???

Yeah, you can almost see the question marks popping up above their noggins.

Of course then you have those people who never bother to look at the price tag at all. I dunno about others but when I go shopping and I want to know the price about something, I just turn the damn thing over and *viola!* the price tag is right there. Be it panty liner, shoes, clothes or bags, 99% chance there’s likely a price tag attached on the item.

But noooooo, these customers apparently shop at those high end, high class, high fashion, 10th avenue, avant grande places cuz only those places have no price tags cuz normally people who shop there don’t bother asking for how much the item is worth, they just pick. Right?

Yeah, apparently, these people shopped there all their lives cuz every damn time they enter the shop, they would point at an item and ask me how much is that item. Not that I mind answering them but how lazy are you to not just pick it up and turn the item around kan? Seriously? Just flip it around and look, its right there. I spend a considerable amount of my time tagging each and every one of those items, so at least have the courtesy to actually turn-the-damn-thing-around.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Last off day I was hanging out with Rozi at her studio, something I haven’t done in a long time. She was suppose to finish off her latest rose painting but instead, we went out a got some of those air drying clay, cuz she wanted to repair this accesory stand which was wonky at the base. I ended up making a poring (creature from Ragnarok) and poring’s cloud. I know porings don’t float on clouds but this poring is now in poring heaven. I mean with the number of porings a character kills in Ragnarok, there’s got to be gazillions of them and since they aren’t aggro, they deserve heaven.

Rozi also taught me how to make ketupats out of ribbons and now I’m thinking of getting a bunch of ribbons and making a bunch to put into gift baskets or bags for Raya friends. Last year I got a case of drinks for Pat and Shikin and the year before that I got them cake. I am not exactly sure what to get them this year though, I mean, I would like to bake them something but mom’s oven is out of service.

I’m hoping my brother get his job so we can both share and buy her a new one. I didn’t even know that a gas oven could break down but apparently they can!

Okay, that’s enough rambling from me. Just a bunch of garbage dump from me, you know, garbage in, garbage out. Expect more of such posts from me because at the moment there is just so many mini things going on in my mind. Its like too mini to devote a whole post to and these multiple mini things do not relate to each other at all but then again too many to just ignore.

Oh Dear God, Why?

Sorry for not posting lately, just been so busy and everytime I sit down in front of Josey to blog, my mind just goes blank.

Instead I started watching stuff on youtube! Then I stumbled onto this!

One quote from Scott Kurtz of PvPonline comes into mind as I sat there in horror watching them...

'Oh dear God, why?'







Disclaimer : However this does not mean I disrespect cosplayers or anything that cosplayers do. Quite opposite, I admire and respect all the time and effort cosplayers put into making their costumes and perfecting their skits. I just can't appreaciate a cosplay performance such as the one demonstrated above.

However, if it is meant to make me laugh, then yes it was sucessful. I just didn't expect to be laughing and cringing at the same time, goosebumps and all.

Manga Review: Hana Yori Dango

Here I am sitting in a café trying to log into the internet but somehow I can’t, so I ended up staring at my laptop for an hour.

Today is such a rainy, easy breezy day, you know? Relaxing and quiet. I like rainy days. On rainy days, it’s cool and quiet. I like quiet.

Recently I’ve been reading a lot of manga thanks to my friends who download them and pass them on to me.

Hana Yori Dango

This manga first appeared in the weekly chinese comic magazine and of course since it was in chinese I didn’t particularly pay much attention to it back then. I stumbled upon the translated title ‘Boys Over Flowers’ which is probably wrong but I checked it out and was immediately hooked.

Unlike the usual manga about romance and love, this is about a ordinary girl, Tsukushi Makino, who goes to an elite school. There she met with F4 (I’ll explain this in a bit), a group of gorgeous boys, sons of extremely rich and powerful families. F4 stands for ‘Flower Four’ because the boys were so handsome, they were like flowers.

Ok, gag on that part, I know I did. The art work is alright and a bit outdated, so I’m guessing it was published around early 90’s.

Tsukusi was a down to earth and practical girl with a strong sense of justice and morality. When the F4 started to bully her friend, she couldn’t take it and openly challenged them, especially their leader, Domyoji. In the end, he fell in love with her instead but due to his weird twisted character and sense of pride (considering he’s one of the richest and most sought out guys), all his actions turn into screw ups.

Not only those two can’t seem to stop fighting, but they are constantly butting heads due to their pride. *sigh* But that’s why it makes for a really entertaining manga to read, instead of the usual girl likes boy, boy likes girl, they go out, then another boy like girl, try to break them up, in the end boy turns out to be the half brother of the other boy, or the long time ago childhood sweetheart. You know, the usual. XD

This manga can be sappy at times and makes me roll my eyes at out outrageous these boys are but then again their ridiculous and screwed up stories makes me laugh more than I ever had from a romance manga.

It was so popular in Japan and Taiwan, that by year 2000, Taiwan decided to make a series based on this manga. Only the series was called ‘Meteor Garden’ instead of ‘Boys Over Garden’. Hence, F4, the Taiwanese boy band, was born. The series was a hit and not long Japan had one made too.

I only watched the Japan ver but from what I read online a lot of people prefer the Japanese version because it stuck more to the storyline than the Taiwanese ver. But what I find most *ahem* appealing bit of the series was that they casted hunkster Matsumoto Jun as Domyoji. He also starred in another manga based series called, ‘Gokusen’ as ‘Shin’.

Ratings :

Comedy - 8.5
Romance - 8
Art - 5.5
Storyline - 7.5
Creativity - 6.5

Overall score - 7.2

ARGH! Alright!! Whatever! BRING IT ON!

Hey, remember last month I talked about how I had that car accident and how I dropped my laptop?

And the month before that they froze my bank account because they had doubts about my fluctuating salary?

Then before that I lost my Supa Save card?

Just two weeks ago I lost my atm card.

Now I got a new shiny one so that's not too bad...

What was it I was saying?

Oh yeah.

Remember my N80?



The pretty nice mobile I liked alot for its multiple functions and clear camera?

Last week it won't turn on and it won't charge... so I sent it to mobility care centre to check.

I called the centre up today and found out they dunno if they can fix my phone cuz they opened it up but found nothing wrong with it. They suspect that a part is KOed but even if they replace it, the guy said it's 50 - 50 chance it might work.



*sigh*



What did I do to deserve all this crap? Seriously? For fuck sakes la, what did I fucking do?!? Raped some diseased kid's cripple grandfather in my past life issit?

Fuck.

Aja! Gambatte! Jia Yew! Courage, woman, COURAGE!

Things haven't been going well for me lately.

As most of you probably know by now that I had an accident about a month ago. Don't worry, no one was hurt eventhough I rammed into another car rather badly and that car bumped into the car before it.

*depressing cloud hangs overhead*


Many thanks to Serena and her family. Because of them I've been doing well eventhough I don't have a car.


It's something in this month's air that seems to have drained most of us financially.

Mom was nagging at me about the car repairs. It's about $1400 in total, plus the previous repairs on the engine 3 months ago at about $900. So grand total is $2300.


* faints *




I already paid my parents $1000 and now it's left $1300.


*sigh* To think I just had my bank account and supa save card problems sorted out, now pops out another financial calamity.


It's been hard on my mother as well. My brother quit his job roughly the same time I had my accident and he's done nothing since. According to mom that all he does is sleep late, eat, hang around the house - annoying her endlessly - and play games till God knows what time. Rinse and repeat. He's stopped buying the house groceries and helping out with the bills.


It's all up to my mom and dad now. But these days it's difficult for my dad to find jobs. Mom works harder than ever and it's something I'm in awe about. She's really is the best something and really don't deserve such troubles.


I don't know what I can do to help other than to send in more money. Hopefully in my appraisal this coming June would improve matters somewhat. I don't expect much but every bit helps.




Sometimes listening to my mother I can't help feeling how trivial my problems are. I dropped Josey (BenQ laptop) a couple of weeks ago and now she's got a lovely crack on the left side of her. Thank God she still works the next day cuz the night before I was tears, she just wouldn't turn on that nite. Dark hours in my life.


Even before I dropped Josey though, funny things been happening to her. The left side of her screen has three vertical lines in green or sometimes they change into two green stripes and one yellow. I felt it's perhaps Josey's way of communicating me in visual morse code.


Then one day my Photoshop CS2 started to act funny. It was extremely slow and sometimes even freezes. I'm thinking now I have to re-install the program cuz my creative soul can't live without it.




*sigh* Gambatte, ne?

Bruneian Limmericks

Don't you just love limmericks sometimes? There's some innocent ones like...

'There was a man named Fisher,

Who loved fishing off a fissure,

One day a fish with a grin,

Pulled the fellow in,

And now they're fishing the fissure for Fisher!'

But then there are some not so innocent ones like that goes...

'There was a woman from Illin,

who had a perculiar feeling,

she laid on her back,

and opened her crack,

and peed all over the ceiling!'

I stole a bit from that one and with the help of some (*coughcoughserenacoughcough*) came up with a Bruneian version...

'There was a woman from Temburong,

who loved wearing baju kurong,

but she laid on her back,

and opened her crack,

and you can see her burung!'

I like that one, it was better than some others we came up with such as...

'There was a Jew from Peru,

who use to live in a zoo,

one day he was feeling funny,

and wanted a honey,

so he made out with the kangaroo!'

'There was a woman from Shanghai,

who had a pair of super strong thighs,

and every man who screw her,

never again will do her,

cuz she snapped them in half like a fly!'

If you can come up with more original limmericks, I would like to hear about them, especially if you can make up Bruneian malay ones. What a hoot that would be! ^_^

7 reasons why single women can’t meet decent guys

Courtesy of the script writers of the korean drama ‘My Lovely Samsoon’. I highly recommend this bloody funny romance comedy (think Bridget Jones).

1. Good decent men are butt ugly.
   


2. Good looking decent men have lousy personalities.
   


3. Good looking decent men with great character are married.
   


4. Good looking decent single men with good character are damn poor.
   


5. Good looking decent single rich men with good character won’t be interested in women like us.
   


6. Good looking decent single rich men with good character who are interested in us…those men are players.
   


7. Good looking, decent, single and rich men with good character who are interested in us and are not players…. are gay!

Haha! True or not dat?

Can turn to stone before meeting the man of your dreams if like that.

ROFL!

Knock, Knock, Sawadee Kha Bangkok!

It’s my first time to Bangkok, and truth be told, I expected the worst. Hey, as they say, if you expect the worst, then you will never be disappointed.

True, true, when I came to the First House Hotel, the staff were pleasant enough, and the room was alright. It was way better compared to the nightmare I had of a room back when Shikin and I stayed in KL. (Ugh, the horror of budget hotels in KL.) Although the closet was small and the bathroom tub is stained from age but the whole place was clean and cozy. There was no smell (esp from the toilet) and the beds were hard but still within the limits of comfort. Every morning there is breakfast (although it gets a little tired after seeing the same breakfast menu for the 3rd morning, blek.)

I loved Bangkok.

People keep telling me stories of either horror or happiness.

“I love the food!”
“The pick pockets there are terrible!”
“Riding tut tut is a blast!”
“Careful of what you eat, dun want to get food poisoning on your 1st day.”
“It’s a shopping haven!”
“Don’t get cheated!”

In truth the Thai people are generally friendly and very polite when it comes to handling others. Our tour guide kept saying 'excuse me' before he pointed out some interesting fact of the places we visit. They are proud for who they are and loves to joke about and laugh, generally have a good time.

My hotel is located near the Platinum Mall and the Indonesian Embassy. It’s far from any rowdy bars or sleazy clubs so at around 10pm it’s relatively quiet.

Good timing for us was that we were visiting when it was their King’s birthday. For all their political hum drum, the Thais were pretty united and respectful when it comes to the royal family. On the evening of HM’s birthday, small groups of people burned yellow candles and incense, offered flowers and candies in the streets, around temples and shopping areas where his portrait was displayed, all in prayer and respect for His Majesty. It was awesome.

First day, we arrived at the airport at 6 in the morning. So it was reasonable we crashed the afternoon, slept all the way till evening. Woke up hungry and ready to hunt around the area.

The streets and alleys were crowded with hawkers, food stalls, knick knack stalls, selling everything you can imagine. Although I was careful what I ate. I don’t want to end up eating kitten meat or something equally appalling and gross.

Food court is a good choice cuz they have the menu in both thai and english. You can buy a food court card (kinds like electronic card), order whatever you want, then hand over the card for them to swipe. I like this system cuz not only it’s faster but it’s also hygenic in a sense that those who prepare the food dun handle icky germ infested cash.

Ah, what I would do for some sticky rice and mango right about now...

Because it was the king’s birthday, all the tours were cut down 50%. So we went on two tours, one around the city visiting the palace, the sleeping Buddha and the golden Buddha, a thai massage (@#%^&$*#! Thai massage bloody hurts!), and finally ending with Calypso Cabaret show. Then the other one to the floating market, an elephant show, a crocodile show and wrapped up with a cultural show.

We saw some interesting stuff really. I mean it’s Bangkok for crying out loud. There were ang mohs with their arms around their ‘friends’ who would prolly give them happy endings after a full body thai massage. Lets see... there are thai guys who are hotter than most women.

Some are so natural looking that I can’t really tell them apart. There was one who worked at the food court. I asked how much was the duck rice and the pretty petite thing answered in his deep manly voice, “Three hundrad and fity baht.” It really shocked me for a second there.

Shopping was of course great but I hate to see those Buddha heads or hands or what ever parts of his displayed for purchase. They looked like antiques, which makes me wonder how many of them are legit. I hate to think they were robbed from temples or scared historial sites. Which is why I didn’t get any eventhough I love antiques.
If you can imagine this one. Or this spectacular one.
Being sold like this at the floating market! Unforgivable! If you knew they were taken from temples or historical sites, would you buy them?

Or many I have been watching too many indian jones movies. -_-" (But it's true! Historical sites are robbed regularly to be smuggled out and sold!)
In the Temple of the Golden Buddha, weighing at five and a half tons of solid gold. Made around the 1400s-1550s. The brochure wrote that the statue originally was covered with a thick layer of concrete to protect it from thieves. It was lost for a while (it's secret protected too well I guess) and was re-discovered in 1950's when they were doing some renovation work for a building belonging to the East India Company. Today it sits cozy in a small temple and gazes serenely at all that visits for 20 baht per entry.

One thing is for sure, got to bring my own camera next time I go Bangkok! XD

Racoons!

Half the time when I’m there, I couldn’t believe that I’m actually there, you know? The weather was balmy and breezy, kinda like mild version of the Bruneian weather. The sky was so blue, you wouldn’t believe and the sand was so soft. To think I was actually there seems kind of surreal now.

People there were really nice to me and eventhough we were advised not to roam around, we couldn’t help ourselves. We wanted to try exploring some near by strip malls. Well…they seemed more like run down shop building to me but hey, sometimes you dunno what gems you might find in all that dirt.

Victoria Secret. Where I got a bag, a blusher, a lipstick, a couple of card tags... and underwear. Hee. Very secshee. Sorry, cannot see. I'm shy.

Plus my blog insurance doesn't cover mental trauma caused by images.

So we strolled down one lane looking for dinner. Didn’t know what we would find, nor did we have the faintest idea what dinner we wanted. It was a fresh sense of adventure exploring the unknown in a foreign country. It was funny to think of me now looking at a laundramat and all the time feeling like I wanted to try it out, you know, washing the laundry at a laundramat. Hehe.

There was a family of racoons living in the bushes near the hotel. So we fed them some pizza. One wanted to sneak up to me to steal my tiny tub of Hagen Daaz chocolate ice cream!

Lets see…we ended up at a pizza place called ‘New York Pizza Place’. It was a tiny place tucked away at a corner and I felt kind cozy there, waiting for my order, watching people come in and out. They would place an order for a single slice and coke. Then gobble the whole thing up while standing. There was a middle aged couple, a tiny woman and a large man, both chatting over the counter with the staff. Dangerous? Well, maybe, I mean our neighbourhood was in the industrial area but it seems pretty alright with me.

I went to Aruba Restaurant where they serve really nice bread and yummy nachos. It was close to the beach and so we strolled around, taking pictures, testing out the water with the tips of our fingers. (I didn’t know we were gonna be going to the beach or else I would be wearing something else.) The girls and guys sun bathing there were hawt and I mean HAWT. *phew*

When we were leaving the place, we saw a plane flying the banner behind it with the words, ‘COLLEEN WILL YOU MARRY ME?’ which was the most romantic thing I’ve ever saw.

Then my sense of humour had to spoil it.

It kept thinking things such as

*What if Colleen didn’t see it?*

*What if Colleen was in the loo?*

*Or Colleen was in the middle of dumping the guy?*

*What if Colleen was in the middle of screwing with another guy and she thought the OTHER GUY was proposing?*

My God, my mind was falling down into a dark dank well at a funny farm.

Food For Thought

Ft. Lauderdale is more of an industrial/business area so all the tourist parts are a bit far off. Taxis there are bloody expensive mind you. A trip half an hour would easily cost you $45 - $50. Oh but the food was amazing. Whatever I had, I loved it. Well, except for rice. Their rice was terrible.

What did I have? Omg, my mouth is just watering already thinking about it. I had turkey (they just finished with the thanksgiving hols) with mashed potatoes along with a serving of mac and cheese. Heh, mac and cheese, how American can one get?

I had roast beef with sweet potatoes (that’s an interesting side dish, I mean I seldom see mashed sweet potatoes served with meat.) Their sandwhiches put ours to shame. Just rolls and rolls of beef/ham/chicken slices between burger buns, wholewheat bread or wrapped in tortia bread.

Of course got to try some of their pasta as well, oh god, the portions were just huge!

Even when I’m in the habit of polishing off whatever was put in front of me, but this time I just couldn’t finish everything, there were just too much! I was so full that I didn’t even savour their dessert selection no matter how tempting it looked.

Pizza! Spagetti and meatballs! We had them for dinner one night and the slices are just huge. So huge in fact that we saw several customers come in just to order a slice or two and eat them standing up right then and there.

There’s nothing like visiting an actual diner to have apple pie, a glass of milk and a hot fudge sundae! Felt like Archie and the gang were gonna walk in any minute! XD A shop full of candy! Sweet tooth heaven and a promising future for cavities!

Then there were the typical American novelties that I had to try, like candy apple (there were chocolate apples too! I didn’t try them but they looked delish!), gummy bears, jelly beans, gum balls and beef jerky. I got my brother some beef steak jerky, he was estatic. Ding dongs and pop tarts were really sweet and I think ppl just make too much of a fuss out of them.

Nothing like having a fun night out in Miami’s South Beach, however a meal there for 3 people were USD$180! I nearly fainted. All we had were some pasta for 3 ppl, alligator meat appetizer and two pina coladas. The service charge alone was around USD$30. Outrageous. Well I guess that’s Miami for ya.

I stole some Miami sand in retaliation and will distribute them amongst my friends when I can find those tiny glass bottles. Yes! You hear that Uncle Sam? I stole some of your precious American soil! Take that! Ha! See la! That’s what you get when you drop a bill with seriously overcharge service tips on the lap of a Chinese woman. Want a tip? Here’s a tip, next time give us tourist a warning when you’re gonna rip us off under the pretense of ‘service charge’, alright? Bloody real time robbery.

Oh but I had some nachos with cheese at Aruba restaurant at Ft.Lauderdale beach and they had salsa dip too. I would kill someone for those nachos right now. Mmmm, nachos…

Finally the final meal was juicy steak from Outback. Seriously the best steak I ever had. I’m a meat lover. I just sleep better when I had my meat for dinner. Sad but true. Oh, but that hunk of bovine was absolutely divine. *sigh~* I was smitten.

Oh, but the most disappointing was Taco Bell. I mean, having heard so much about it, I thought there would be a reason why it’s so popular. I can basically sum it up in two words, tasteless messes. That’s that.

OK! OK! Enough about the food! I’m hungry right now as it is. Gonna go dig up something to eat. *sigh* I had to blog about food, eh?

To be continued~!