Short note from Singapore: Won't be able to blog till next Saturday!
I am reading Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert. Very good.
Our saham just went up.
Looks like bloggers are spoilt for choice these days if they are looking to associate with other bloggers. There's a new blog alliance in town, PABS (click here for Susan, and here for KTemoc - btw who's the president and who's the deputy?).
This will be interesting. On one hand, competition is good 'coz now bloggers can be vied by not one, but two alliances. Or maybe even join two if they want. 'Coz they don't have to be at loggerheads, ok. They can actually work together towards the common objective that they have. On the other hand - well, emotions tend to get out of hand and people get blinded when they're mad.
The blogosphere's gonna be choppy these days. (And I'm probably gonna miss the action 'coz I'm in Taipei!) But let's not focus the fire on shooting each other down, but on something constructive, ok? Why do we blog? For the country! So let's not get distracted, shall we?
On an unrelated note, this is how you should deal with blog wars. *Click*
WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!?!?!
Wahahahhaha.... I love KennySia!
This will be interesting. On one hand, competition is good 'coz now bloggers can be vied by not one, but two alliances. Or maybe even join two if they want. 'Coz they don't have to be at loggerheads, ok. They can actually work together towards the common objective that they have. On the other hand - well, emotions tend to get out of hand and people get blinded when they're mad.
The blogosphere's gonna be choppy these days. (And I'm probably gonna miss the action 'coz I'm in Taipei!) But let's not focus the fire on shooting each other down, but on something constructive, ok? Why do we blog? For the country! So let's not get distracted, shall we?
On an unrelated note, this is how you should deal with blog wars. *Click*
WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!?!?!
Wahahahhaha.... I love KennySia!
Holy Barnacles!
I love Spongebob Squarepants. We subscribe to the Astro Fun Package, just for me to watch Spongebob and his pineapple under the sea in Nickelodeon.
So imagine my ecstasy when I received this from XC (FreakfromUranus) who's in the states.
MONOPOLY SPONGEBOB EDITION!!
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG. I love XC so much. *dances, spongebob style*
So here's a barrage of photos to follow with minimal captions, and you just have to imagine me swooning at each and every one of them.
The figurines. In true Monopoly metal.
The Plankton coin. It's used for a special rule in this edition of Monopoly.
Pineapples (houses) and KrustyKrab's (hotels)!!!
Monies with Mr. Krabs on it!
The most expensive pieces of land: Krusty Krab and Spongebob's Pineapple.
Title deeds of the cheapest pieces of land! Chum Bucket and Plankton's Lab! Hahahahahahaha...
Community Chest and Chance! And following is some of the cards inside...
*sighs in happiness*
So imagine my ecstasy when I received this from XC (FreakfromUranus) who's in the states.
MONOPOLY SPONGEBOB EDITION!!
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG. I love XC so much. *dances, spongebob style*So here's a barrage of photos to follow with minimal captions, and you just have to imagine me swooning at each and every one of them.
The figurines. In true Monopoly metal.
The Plankton coin. It's used for a special rule in this edition of Monopoly.
Pineapples (houses) and KrustyKrab's (hotels)!!!
Monies with Mr. Krabs on it!
The most expensive pieces of land: Krusty Krab and Spongebob's Pineapple.
Title deeds of the cheapest pieces of land! Chum Bucket and Plankton's Lab! Hahahahahahaha...
Community Chest and Chance! And following is some of the cards inside...
*sighs in happiness*
Malaysia Travel Guide
I've been browsing this blog, Malaysia Travel Guide after its owner PK emailed me about it.
Not bad wei. I was rather impressed, seeing that this seems to be a non-profit blog (not an ad anywhere) which "aims to be the best, most user-friendly and most informative and entertaining travel guide website dedicated to the fascinating Malaysia". Site owner PK is an avid traveller himself, having been to like, 19 countries. *turns green*
There are some interesting bits on travelling in Malaysia covered by the MTG, such as "How to bargain and haggle in Malaysia" (I for one have never perfected the skill... always kena con) and other posts on topics which kinda surprised me (in a pleasant way), such as Malaysian music, Malaysian bloggers, best Malaysian bus companies, Commonly Used Words On Malaysia Road Signs, and Tips on driving a car in Malaysia (which is quite true)!
Some room for improvement: the site is obviously still under construction so there are some links which do not work. For example, I would like to see what kind of information would go under the link "Getting married in Malaysia"! Sitemap could be more organized. Hopefully more states will be covered soon.
But all in all, I think this is a great effort to promote tourism in Malaysia. Sokong!
Of Harassment and Personal Blogs
A week ago, I received this email from a guy named Anthony Pheng (from his Yahoo email name) or Mason Fitzerald Choo (the name at his signature), under the email abironchoo@yahoo.com.
Here's an excerpt from his email. I don't need to publish more than what is needed to give you an idea.
He continued to harass me within the email, ending with this:
I replied his email promptly with this, which I have not received any response to.
***
Another incident, which I don't consider as harassment but just a pain in the butt happened about a day later. I got a comment (here, scroll down) saying that myself, as a sociopolitical blogger, has replaced the substance of my blog with ego. Comment ended with a patronizing "Stay the course, June".
***
I spent the following week reeling in disgust and recuperating from blogging impotence.
***
I understand that most bloggers on Rocky's blogroll are sociopolitical bloggers. Thus some people may not grasp the idea of personal blogs, if all they have been exposed to are blogs of news and commentary. Both Pheng and Anonymous have one thing in common: they seem to be unable to fathom the idea of a "personal blog".
Pheng's email seems to insinuate that since I blog about myself, I am actually inviting perverts to come violate me as he did. Anonymous jumps to the conclusion that my blog is sociopolitical, just because of the tagline on "budding policymaker", and it doesn't matter what I blog about.
(My tagline was set a year ago when I was studying public policy, hence I thought with any luck I would become a policymaker in the future. Now I am changing fields to Communications but I malas to change the tagline.)
Examples of personal blogs that I read and enjoy: Suanie, Fireangel, KinkyBlueFairy, Zewt, KennySia, Boss Stewie, etc. Their links can be found at my sidebar.
If you just spare them a read, and all of them are wildly popular blogs in their own right, you would find that my blog is a whole lot more similar to theirs than say, Jeff's or Rocky's.
We blog about food, travelling, life. Sometimes when we get riled up by current issues we get emotional and rant about it. Sometimes not. And that's as sociopolitical as we can get. Period.
So don't come and harass me or preach to me because I am not conforming to the tune that you are familiar with.
***
Anyhow I feel much better that I've let this out, possibly ridding myself of the geli-ness when blogging in the future. Possibly.
There is one favour that I'd like to ask of you guys who may want to show solidarity through blogging about this: please don't. Just to tell you in advance =)
The reason why I am putting this up on the blog is because if I don't do this, I would not be able to blog at all. I have been staring at my dashboard for one whole week and I couldn't write anything. I need to let this out. BUT, I don't want this to be plastered over the blogosphere as I prefer to move on. So, thanks but no thanks =)
And thanks Politikus and SK for giving me the encouragement during my down times. And of coz best bud XC and best boyfriend KF too.
Here's an excerpt from his email. I don't need to publish more than what is needed to give you an idea.
You excitedly asked "Why do you read my blog?"
Ans : I was an avid surfer and happened to pass by.....Interesting? Yeah, for male chaperons who may request for 'escort service' or any1 lookin' 4 1 9 stands. My dear, look at what u wrote.......most bout urself.....why does that matter....2 any1....pardon me if I am rude.....mind if I do?...
He continued to harass me within the email, ending with this:
Sorry if I was impolite, but you are one the best blogger, only if you denature
your posting to happenings in KL and when I make my trip there soon, I'll make you tear my return ticket....
I replied his email promptly with this, which I have not received any response to.
I honestly have no idea about what you're trying to say.
Probably if you are man enough, you would post this email in my comment box for public scrutiny.
***
Another incident, which I don't consider as harassment but just a pain in the butt happened about a day later. I got a comment (here, scroll down) saying that myself, as a sociopolitical blogger, has replaced the substance of my blog with ego. Comment ended with a patronizing "Stay the course, June".
***
I spent the following week reeling in disgust and recuperating from blogging impotence.
***
I understand that most bloggers on Rocky's blogroll are sociopolitical bloggers. Thus some people may not grasp the idea of personal blogs, if all they have been exposed to are blogs of news and commentary. Both Pheng and Anonymous have one thing in common: they seem to be unable to fathom the idea of a "personal blog".
Pheng's email seems to insinuate that since I blog about myself, I am actually inviting perverts to come violate me as he did. Anonymous jumps to the conclusion that my blog is sociopolitical, just because of the tagline on "budding policymaker", and it doesn't matter what I blog about.
(My tagline was set a year ago when I was studying public policy, hence I thought with any luck I would become a policymaker in the future. Now I am changing fields to Communications but I malas to change the tagline.)
Examples of personal blogs that I read and enjoy: Suanie, Fireangel, KinkyBlueFairy, Zewt, KennySia, Boss Stewie, etc. Their links can be found at my sidebar.
If you just spare them a read, and all of them are wildly popular blogs in their own right, you would find that my blog is a whole lot more similar to theirs than say, Jeff's or Rocky's.
We blog about food, travelling, life. Sometimes when we get riled up by current issues we get emotional and rant about it. Sometimes not. And that's as sociopolitical as we can get. Period.
So don't come and harass me or preach to me because I am not conforming to the tune that you are familiar with.
***
Anyhow I feel much better that I've let this out, possibly ridding myself of the geli-ness when blogging in the future. Possibly.
There is one favour that I'd like to ask of you guys who may want to show solidarity through blogging about this: please don't. Just to tell you in advance =)
The reason why I am putting this up on the blog is because if I don't do this, I would not be able to blog at all. I have been staring at my dashboard for one whole week and I couldn't write anything. I need to let this out. BUT, I don't want this to be plastered over the blogosphere as I prefer to move on. So, thanks but no thanks =)
And thanks Politikus and SK for giving me the encouragement during my down times. And of coz best bud XC and best boyfriend KF too.
Of my unborn children
Ever since my steamboat kaki YKent had a conversation with God about how his (future) girlfriend is not born yet, we have been getting kicks out of imagining how things might be if he ended up with my (future) daughter.
We have fantasized in morbid delight about various potential situations, such as how they'd break the news to me (in Sungai Wang's McDonalds... don't ask why) and how we would have to avoid steamboat at that time (so I won't accidentally scald his face off).
Rather sick, I know. But a steamboat session lasts like 1 1/2 hours and we get bored.
Today our disturbing conversations probably reached new heights. We were talking about KF's adaptation to time difference (He's back to Singapore already and I'm going to meet him tomorrow =D).
Me in purple as usual.
KF is a heavy sleeper, so he should cope fine.
You know, good men are heavy sleepers.
Really? According to whom?
Because I'm a heavy sleeper too.
Cheh... I thought you would say because your man's a heavy sleeper.
*reflects about being gay* *cringes*
In that case I wouldn't have to worry and I could bear like 10 girls!
You'd better make sure that none of them are boys though.
....................
Note to (future) Daughter/Son:
Uncle YKent is a pervert. Stay away from him at all costs. Mummy loves you.
We have fantasized in morbid delight about various potential situations, such as how they'd break the news to me (in Sungai Wang's McDonalds... don't ask why) and how we would have to avoid steamboat at that time (so I won't accidentally scald his face off).
Rather sick, I know. But a steamboat session lasts like 1 1/2 hours and we get bored.
Today our disturbing conversations probably reached new heights. We were talking about KF's adaptation to time difference (He's back to Singapore already and I'm going to meet him tomorrow =D).
Me in purple as usual.
KF is a heavy sleeper, so he should cope fine.
You know, good men are heavy sleepers.
Really? According to whom?
Because I'm a heavy sleeper too.
Cheh... I thought you would say because your man's a heavy sleeper.
*reflects about being gay* *cringes*
In that case I wouldn't have to worry and I could bear like 10 girls!
You'd better make sure that none of them are boys though.
....................
Note to (future) Daughter/Son:
Uncle YKent is a pervert. Stay away from him at all costs. Mummy loves you.
A Survey, A Proposal and A Play
A Survey
I've been looking at my stats and apparently I have an average of about 100 unique visitors per day.
Hullo, y'all! *waves and blows dragonfruit-scented kisses* *burps* *oops*
The inner child, who incidentally is a researcher, immediately itches to find out more about my readers. I know that many hop by from Rocky's site, which readers I assume are predominantly males in their twenties, thirties and forties. I also know that some of my friends and relatives read this blog. But there's a question - why do you drop by every other day to this ill-maintained blog?
Humour me a bit can? I'm going to ask you three simple questions - will probably take you like 2 minutes to answer. But every answer would make me really happy, and when I am happy I tend to generate better posts - which would ultimately benefit you as a reader in the end =D
(And I don't mind anonymous commenters)
---
A proposal
Ze research proposal for NUS's application, due next Tuesday, is still unwritten. My head is totally blank. Thought of proposing a methodology for content analysis in blogs, or studying information transfer through blogs. Or doing a cross country comparative analysis in the effectiveness in blogs in democratization.
Sigh. All crap. None of them seems viable enough. *continues to crack head*
---
A Play
That Was the Year – A Tale of Unrequited Love.
Should I? Should I not?
Sigh... if I didn't need to work on the proposal I'd go straight... oklah I'll concentrate on the proposal and if I can finish it by 12noon tomorrow, I'll go.
I've been looking at my stats and apparently I have an average of about 100 unique visitors per day.
Hullo, y'all! *waves and blows dragonfruit-scented kisses* *burps* *oops*
The inner child, who incidentally is a researcher, immediately itches to find out more about my readers. I know that many hop by from Rocky's site, which readers I assume are predominantly males in their twenties, thirties and forties. I also know that some of my friends and relatives read this blog. But there's a question - why do you drop by every other day to this ill-maintained blog?
Humour me a bit can? I'm going to ask you three simple questions - will probably take you like 2 minutes to answer. But every answer would make me really happy, and when I am happy I tend to generate better posts - which would ultimately benefit you as a reader in the end =D
- Why do you read my blog?
- What kind of posts do you like the most?
- Age, gender, race?
(And I don't mind anonymous commenters)
---
A proposal
Ze research proposal for NUS's application, due next Tuesday, is still unwritten. My head is totally blank. Thought of proposing a methodology for content analysis in blogs, or studying information transfer through blogs. Or doing a cross country comparative analysis in the effectiveness in blogs in democratization.
Sigh. All crap. None of them seems viable enough. *continues to crack head*
---
A Play
That Was the Year – A Tale of Unrequited Love.
Unrequited love, a child born out of wedlock, a country in turmoil...
That Was The Year - A Tale of Unrequited Love is based on Beth Yahp's short story, In 1969. Set against the backdrop of that tumultuous time in our local history, the story revolves around a Chinese woman who has an affair with a married man, and who bears his child in the midst of the May riots.
Should I? Should I not?
Sigh... if I didn't need to work on the proposal I'd go straight... oklah I'll concentrate on the proposal and if I can finish it by 12noon tomorrow, I'll go.
Nightmare.
Bloody 4am in the morning and I am jolted awake by a nightmare. I was struggling to get away from a pair of very strong hands, whose owner I couldn't see. A monster beneath my bed. Bloody freaking afraid. It eats bananas as my room floor had boxes of bananas laid out. Kept taunting me with its presence, its ability to snare me but it wouldn't just yet. So that it could feast on my fear. Then it pounced. I struggled. Until I woke up in cold sweat.
Don't dare to see behind me. Shit.
Where's anyone at 4 freaking am when I need him or her or whoever.
I'm so gonna laugh at this post in the morning. But now I'm going back to cower beneath the covers.
Don't dare to see behind me. Shit.
Where's anyone at 4 freaking am when I need him or her or whoever.
I'm so gonna laugh at this post in the morning. But now I'm going back to cower beneath the covers.
12 Butterflies
Butterfly #1 brushed its wings against his favourite silk pillow, upon which he laid his lifeless head.
Butterfly #2 made its way around the funeral, drinking in gossip in hushed tones by relatives.
Butterfly #3 observed his wife and children weeping disconsolately as they gathered around his coffin, and his sister nodding off during the ceremony.
Butterfly #4 hovered above his youngest grandson who was fumbling with his shoelaces.
Butterfly #5 circled the prized stamp collection that decked his study, result of a lifelong hobby.
Butterfly #6 unravelled the mystery of the howling ghost - it was his neighbour singing in the bath.
Butterfly #7 followed the only woman he had ever loved while she shopped in the supermarket, blissfully oblivious of his demise.
Butterfly #8 landed on the Sudoku puzzle he had left undone the night before the night.
Butterfly #9 was fascinated by the soft glow of a lamp.
Butterfly #10 crept towards the old suitcase where he hid his life savings as he was suspicious of banking institutions.
Butterfly #11 visited his old foe who teared, surprisingly, when speaking of him.
Butterfly #12 flew tirelessly up a hill to see the last sunset he ever would.
Butterfly #2 made its way around the funeral, drinking in gossip in hushed tones by relatives.
Butterfly #3 observed his wife and children weeping disconsolately as they gathered around his coffin, and his sister nodding off during the ceremony.
Butterfly #4 hovered above his youngest grandson who was fumbling with his shoelaces.
Butterfly #5 circled the prized stamp collection that decked his study, result of a lifelong hobby.
Butterfly #6 unravelled the mystery of the howling ghost - it was his neighbour singing in the bath.
Butterfly #7 followed the only woman he had ever loved while she shopped in the supermarket, blissfully oblivious of his demise.
Butterfly #8 landed on the Sudoku puzzle he had left undone the night before the night.
Butterfly #9 was fascinated by the soft glow of a lamp.
Butterfly #10 crept towards the old suitcase where he hid his life savings as he was suspicious of banking institutions.
Butterfly #11 visited his old foe who teared, surprisingly, when speaking of him.
Butterfly #12 flew tirelessly up a hill to see the last sunset he ever would.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
My grandfather passed away this morning. He had been bedridden for about 10 years after having a stroke. I'm glad he does not have to suffer anymore.
May he rest in peace.
Busy busy busy.
Was busy, am busy and will be busy for this month.
Preparing the applications for PhD now, research proposal and recommendation letters and all that jazz. Does anyone know why a PhD application needs your salary figures? I don't see how it's relevant, and I resent having to put my meagre wages on paper for strangers to laugh at. =_=
I'm also doing some travel-related research because KF and I are going to Taipei end of this month! Setting the entire trip up 'coz backpacking is the only way to travel, hehehe. Any tips? Must eat? Must see? Must shop? We'll be there for around 6 days, 7 nights. We're staying at a hotsprings hotel for one night, and have spotted a hotel around 西門町(Xi Men Ding) to stay for the rest of the trip.
Can't wait!
Updates will be sporadic =) As life is mostly lived away from the screen. (Or staring at the screen watching HK dramas, which also leaves no time for blogging.)
Preparing the applications for PhD now, research proposal and recommendation letters and all that jazz. Does anyone know why a PhD application needs your salary figures? I don't see how it's relevant, and I resent having to put my meagre wages on paper for strangers to laugh at. =_=
I'm also doing some travel-related research because KF and I are going to Taipei end of this month! Setting the entire trip up 'coz backpacking is the only way to travel, hehehe. Any tips? Must eat? Must see? Must shop? We'll be there for around 6 days, 7 nights. We're staying at a hotsprings hotel for one night, and have spotted a hotel around 西門町(Xi Men Ding) to stay for the rest of the trip.
Can't wait!
Updates will be sporadic =) As life is mostly lived away from the screen. (Or staring at the screen watching HK dramas, which also leaves no time for blogging.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
