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Blondie's 24th Birthday

I would be lying if I say I didn't take some pride in organizing this small celebration secretly from the birthday girl's knowing. Just a way to return the favor she did for my birthday earlier this year. Blondie and DD Ayi & Ben Ayi 2.0 & Fifi So all six of us - including birthday girl's new fierce hairdo - gathered in Decanter, PJ on one Saturday evening. Boy, how 1Malaysia we were yet had so much fun catching up with each other after not meeting for SO long. It was our first time there, except for Ann Jie, and surprisingly the food was really good with affordable price. Ayie had this thing (I completely forgot the name) which all of us agreed unanimously, it was really tasty. Then we headed to Jaya One and had drinks in Starbucks where Miss McChicken (her new nickname) Ami finally took time off her busy schedule to join us. To my bestie Ann Jie, happy 24th birthday to you and I certainly look forward for more awesome schmosome years ahead with you. Hope she likes

World Without End

Before I get down to business, let me give you an idea of what this book is about. Taking its title from one of the lines in a psalm, 'World Without End' is supposedly the sequel to the marvelousness, that is The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. It tells the story of Kingsbridge town some two centuries later and revolves around the lives of four children - Merthin, Gwenda, Caris and Ralph, from their childhood until 40 years later with many unexpected events occurring in between especially after they witnessed the killing of two knights in the woods by a runaway lord, Sir Thomas Langley to protect a secret that 'could kill everyone'. Okay, so over the next 1237 pages of the book, you would think that you're going to learn about that dreadful secret, the motive of the killing, some political struggle between monarchs or even know how the secret could affect the town of Kingsbridge, right? WRONG. That supposedly-momentous event occurring in the woods is nothing an

Take This, Dry Skin!

I've been battling dry skin for YEARS since I was a kid. It's something I blamed my mom/dad/both for since both my brother and sister face the same problem, although not as severe as me. Thus, it must be in the genes - I knew it . I've been applying all kinds of lotions and whatnots to prevent my skin from scaling (yes, it is that bad) and my lips from cracking. Since I can't afford La Mer like Angelina Jolie, I use Vaseline for my lips and it has been working so far for 10 years (since 1 was 14). Then comes the hardest part. No single product seems be able to retain my skin's moisture except for * drumroll * this! L'Occitane Delightful Cream. Oh man, I really, really love this one. It's made of honey and lemon with a small dose of rosemary and sunflower oil. The result is this wonderful and yes, delightful cream that successfully mends my dryness (for now). You should've seen my feet and my arms in an air-conditioned room (or maybe you shouldn't). M

Forgiveness

There are only three weeks to go before I turn 24 years young. Somehow, this time around, December doesn't promise relax and laid-back atmosphere as previous years. My favorite month so far has been tainted with some unpleasant things, causing the road leading to my 24th birthday rather bumpy. However, there's a silver lining to everything no matter how terrible the situation might look. Although I hate the idea of getting older as much as Cher loathes it, I finally realized that each new year does gets better. If not more, I become a little wiser with each passing year. I finally learned the most noble act one could ever foster - forgiveness . No matter how hard you try to understand them, there will always be some selfish, ignorant, ungrateful and obnoxious people around, trying to push you to the edge. Often in my case, it would result in bitterness, anger, frustration and ultimately, feeling sad on how such terrible things could happen and how such equally-terrible people c

The Pillars of the Earth

I'm not a big fan of fictional books except for classics by Tolstoy, Woolf, Steinback etc. Somehow, I had a big urge to pick up this one, what more with many recommendations by my friends who had either read it or watched the TV series based on the book. Besides, how wrong can you get with a book which had been endorsed by the Big O - Oprah Winfrey? In a nut shell, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett tells the story of the building of a great cathedral in a quite village called Kingsbridge during the 12th century. However, you won't be reading anything about its construction until you've flipped almost 300 pages. The author takes his time to give a beautiful outlay and introduction of the setting and the main characters involved before getting down to the real business. The next 700 pages unfolds the chronicles underlaying as the cathedral takes its shape - monarch rivalry, ecclesiastical politics, unswerving ambition, family ties as well as betrayal, manipulation, rev

Happy Birthday, My JS Wings!

On this Halloween Day, I'd like to dedicate a post to my most talk-about shoes - the JS Wings. The black pair turns one today, while the grey metallic pair is only a few days old. So, here are some celebrity photos wearing various versions of this quirky sneakers which I've managed to gather all around the net. Due to size constraint, some are not put up here (like the ones worn by Drake and Lil Wayne). Not that I care much about those celebs anyway but just for fun . Happy birthday, wings. To Mr Jeremy Scott, you're a genius. ... and the designer himself, Jeremy Scott

How Far Would You Go For Shoes? (Version 2.0)

Okay, I have to admit I'm a little over the moon about this one. It has been almost a year since I got my pair of Adidas Originals by Originals JS Wings sneakers in black, which was somewhere around 2009 Halloween. That pair is, perhaps, my most talk-about shoes among those who know me or have read this blog. They don't care about my other pairs, they just wanted to know " Where are the winged shoes? " Just my luck, as I was strolling around Pavilion on Monday afternoon, I saw these new version of JS Wings in silver reflective metallic. You guessed it right - I couldn't take my eyes off it. This pair would be the seventh version of the highly successful JS Wings line, after the gold, white, silver, black, rainbow and Swarovski-studded versions. It is a part of Adidas x Jeremy Scott Fall/Winter 2010 collection which had just debuted in Malaysia - get this - two hours before I dropped by the store. It is only available in Adidas Originals store in Pavilion KL. So

Tok Tot

Tok Tot and Little Kye (age 3) in 1990 Tok Tot was my grandmother's nickname, given for her small physique (' ketot ' means 'dwarf'). I never really thought she was small anyway and I always questioned why her friends (or her family) gave her that name. I wonder if those people were any bigger/taller than her. She had passed away eight years ago on this very date - October 25, at the age of 85. My grandma was one hella woman. Tok Tot was the only person, perhaps, whom I share much resemblance. I have a soft spot of imitating people's gestures and voices, often being misunderstood for my 'honest' opinions, prefer to be alone most of the time and never learn how to take 'No' for answer - just like her. I still remember spending every Raya eve in her big, august kampong house and listened to her stories about everything - from her days during the Japanese occupation to how my mother was when she was little. Even our weekends were mostly spent on her

Dreams

People dream because it's free Won't cost you money Won't cost your energy Some say it's a therapy In any way you wish or see Some dream of a prince charming Kneeling on the ground and hand out a ring White horse with armor shimmering And say sweet words, sweet things Some dream of big cars To take them around near and far Rolling around in Porsche or Maserati Maybe Escalade or in luxury MPV Going anywhere carelessly Picking up speed tickets like they're free Turning heads everywhere in the city Some dream about lots of money They want to be rich, they want to be wealthy Maybe even richer than Oprah Winfrey Live in Monaco, drives a Bentley They believe that will make them happy What's your dream? Ever had any? Do you have a place you want to see? What's my dream - if you ever ask me, There's only one and ever will be That I'll live long enough to be thirty. -K- October 18, 2010 11.16pm

Xbox 360

Two years ago, after successfully being frugal (some of the time) and saved up our coins dime by dime, my hommie and I managed to buy a digital camera. It cost us about RM1300 then but now you can get digital cameras with more than 10 megapixel for much, much less. Just what a difference two years can make. This year, after months of saving - only coins - we have managed to exchange it for another good. Since I have always been a game junkie ( which most people have hard time to believe ) and Ayi got smitten playing in one of his relative's house during the past Raya, we got ourselves a nice Xbox 360! Yay! * performs somersault * Actually we had wanted a PlayStation 3 instead (which costs almost the same as an Xbox 360) but PS3 only plays original CDs. And the original CDs are all in BluRay. And BluRay means expensive - I don't want to shell out some hundred bucks for ONE game just to find out it sucks big time. Since PS3 is not a feasible option, we decided to go with Xbox 3

Would You Like a Tight Slap with That Whining?

If Days of Delirium were a diary sitting on my already dust-ridden shelf, it would definitely be entangled with cobwebs and whatnots due to the long abstinence. My mind was boggling with the many things I wished to share here but I couldn't seem to drag fingers to run onto this keyboard. Whether you have missed me or not, I am back again. Yay? My blog wouldn't be completed without some rants every now and then, would it? So here I am again to deliver my thoughts across and tell me what you feel about this. I don't have many friends but some of the 'non-friends' consider me as their friend (isn't it weird?). The reason why I don't really acknowledged them as friends because - well - they whine too much. Yep. They kept on whining and whining and whining every single day and I can't stand whiners. Then again, maybe not everyday but most of the days. They just have things they would love to whine. They whine about loneliness. They whine about how ugly they a

Closet Transformation

During this long weekend of Merdeka, I finally got a chance to tidy up my study-cum-closet room. Being a well-known neat freak, I thought everything should be in its correct place and the loves of my life - my shoes - should deserve their special place. Off my hommie and I went to Ikea in search for the most suitable shelf to make this minor room transformation a success. Initially, we decided to go for the Kilby bookshelf (as normal shoe rack couldn't accommodate all of my sneakers) which cost RM149. Then, we decided to go for this Laiva bookshelves instead (the tall one in the picture) which cost RM75 each. We bought two of this and connect both with Laiva connecting shelf (RM20). In between the two, we put Laiva table (RM40). Tadaa, the early shot. Many sneakers are still left un-boxed yet. Oh, that's Mr Aboy inspecting the red cube box. It took us only an hour and a half to put everything together and I sure am proud of its result, though this room (and the rest of the hous

Nike Dunk Hi AC

On the 19th day of fasting, I went for shoe hunting. It was Friday and the cloudy weather throughout the day whispered, "You ought to get new kicks." Okay, I made up the whispering part. Anyway, it has been ages since I got myself a brand new sneakers and again, I'm using the Raya excuse to pamper myself. After a few rounds of browsing around the city, I settled with this one pair from Nike. Since my fascination with high-cut sneakers has yet to fade, I was happy with my choice. This one pair might seem white but it is actually not. It's in soft grey (although the photo couldn't the justice) with dotted leather finishing. The original pair from the store comes with white school-boy shoe laces but I paired it with grey ones I got from Nike Dunk Hi DJ AM. Credit to Mr Ayi for suggesting me to switch those laces. The grey laces match the line above its sole, co-incidentally. So, this is my.... (I lost count of my shoes) pair. Since I don't prepare anything for th

Have a Little Faith - A True Story

My book-reading libido has been quite high of late. Right after I finished Eat,Pray, Love I picked up Mitch Albom's latest book, Have a Little Faith and finished it within two days. Seemed like recent trip back to my hometown was a fruitful one as I managed to finish two books in a span of four days. All thanks to the gadget-deficient luggage - no laptop, no PSP (actually I brought it back but had forgotten to pack along the charger. Pfft). Only my phone and iPod to keep me entertained on the bus - I can't read books while being in motion. Have got used to Mr Albom's way of writing from three of his previous books (The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Tuesdays with Morrie and For One More Day), I must say it was a pretty, err, boring read for me as I expected more from this book which took eight years to be completed. Somehow I felt rather 'cheated'. As if his publisher was trying to milk out as much profit as possible by printing his name on the cover and selling i

Eat, Pray, Love

I had written a completely different draft for this entry but it didn't sound like what I really feel about the book. So I scrapped it all and replaced it with this one instead. If there's anything extraordinary about this book which enables it to sell more than 6 million copies worldwide, I would say none. The storyline is simple - about a woman's quest for joy, spiritual healing and balance of both - just how many times have we heard or read about it. But there lies a true simplicity in the storytelling for each page which allows you to connect with the whole real-life experience faced by the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, while she was in Italy, India and Bali, Indonesia seeking the three things mentioned earlier. Her pursuit for spiritual, especially, was written from a novice's point of view, sparing all the scientific and entangling terms which may turn this book into a 'Spiritual-101 Guide. Thankfully she writes as if she's right there in front of you over a

Congratulations, Bontots

There comes a time in your life when you really paused, realized everything has changed and how grown up you have become. Three years passed by so swiftly and my friends have graduated successfully (and stylishly) last August 4 in Dewan Tunku Canselor, Universiti Malaya. As what I've learned last year during my bestie, Ann Jie's graduation, convocation only means one word: HOT. Not hot as in fabulous. I really mean 'hot'! Lots of walking, phone-calls under the scorching sun and wandering around looking for your friends amongst thousands of people and crawling traffic. I didn't feel fun at all especially with sweat running down my 500 bucks Fred Perry Laurel. But all the un-fun parts was squashed away the moment I saw my friends. Oh, how it was so 2007 all the sudden again. Frankly, there's something about convocation that makes me emotional. Seeing my friends all with their robes, beret (is it called beret?), six-inch heels (Sakina) and bouquets made me so proud

Diablo 3

My PC (a.k.a Muchacho) desktop wallpaper has been adorned with nothing but images of the shoes that I wanted. There was the winged Jeremy Scott (got it!), the Stephen Sprouse's Louis Vuitton, the Givenchy studded gladiator sandals and many others. But from today onwards, I've reserved my wallpaper for this one game I've been waiting for oh-so-long. Blizzard, stop teasing me and just release that God damn Diablo 3 now, alright?! It's predecessor Diablo 2 has got to be my all-time favorite PC game. Tomb Raider, Prince of Persia, Age of Empires, Counter Strike, Star Craft, Red Alert - you can all suck it because Diablo is the bomb. I spend more than 10 hours a day playing that game back in my school days, until the CD exploded into pieces while still running in the CPU. Yeah, it was that bad. Bring up the word 'Diablo' to my family and not a single one wouldn't remember that. But, mind you, I still scored straight As during my PMR. Ehem, ehem. I was already exc

To Have and to Hold...?

August 1 is my parents' anniversary. As of this year, they have been married for thirty-fucking-seven years and I have no idea how they remained together for that long. They tied the knot when they were both nineteen years old. Again, I have no clue how people could remain being married for such a long time or for that matter, to be married at the first place. I see no imminent prospect of me jumping on that marriage bandwagon in this near future. Unless, on one fateful day, God point out to me and say 'Thou shalt get married'. That one, I can't contest. I've expressed my lack of intention for marriage to my mom on several occasions but she never seemed to get it. I'm happy for anyone who chose the married life than the single life but I never seemed to fully grasp the very significance of it just yet. I'm not one of those people who see marriage as the final path for the ultimate happiness in life. Screw that. If I want to be happy, I'll be happy - not

A Beach Retreat

God knows how desperate I was for a beach retreat. Give me a descent hotel with clean, sandy private beach any day and I wouldn't mind at all. So you can only imagine how ecstatic I was when a fellow UM pal invited me to accompany him to Port Dickson for some work. I leaped into the invitation immediately, nevertheless. We stayed at the one-year old Thistle Resort (previously known as Guoman Resort) and I couldn't be happier. It's sleek modern interior greeted us from the lobby up to the room, overlooking the pool and beach. When you have less than 24 hours to kill, you better make the most of it - and so I did. I have nothing bad to say about this four-star hotel. The staff were friendly, the beach was clean, the food was nice and the room was exquisite. Although I prefer Cherating beaches than all other beaches I had ever been here in Malaysia (Langkawi, Pangkor, Lumut, Batu Ferrighi), Thistle's private beach wasn't that bad after all. I really hope to return here

Thanks Yati

..for this Topman top. It was a present given by my fellow intern in Tourism Malaysia on my final day of internship (I told you I got truck-load of presents) and finally I had the chance to wear it. Thanks for the top and most importantly thanks for being a great friend. And yeah, I do love video games :)

Crazy

A thousand miles away An avatar An emotional fray A lonestar Like a sudden fall Came a call Now the unknown Has touched down Somewhat a while A sudden plan Ten thousand smiles From one single man Teasing, flirt Off the shirt I surrendered He conquered A heart melt A feeling identified So trapped So dignified But he left Dreams crumbled Like a broken shelf I trembled Don't be crazy Don't be feeble You're a goody I'm the devil What's the plan? Is there any? Assuming the man Am I crazy? No pledge No story Over the edge I am crazy Shouldn't dream Not too high Should've read Between the lines Crazy guy Hope so high Wanting star Too afar Dear crazy Let it be Silly baby The joke's on me -Khairizan.Yaacob July 28, 2010 12.21 am

Craving #657273

New semester has commenced few weeks back, minus the old, familiar faces of my regular UM bunch. Sadly, the same familiar face of one disgusting, obnoxious, back-stabbing, good-for-nothing, crazy bitch is still lingering around though I talk to her no more. I know, that's some mouthful adjectives for a person but trust me, she fits ALL of them nicely. Thankfully, there are still some good old mates around to keep me company on and off classes, although regretfully I had to admit that I need some other distractions to keep me from feeling lonely (God, I hate that word). By distractions, I mean beautiful, wearable, usable stuff like this bag. Suddenly I had grown tired of the first tier labels (except Hermes and Bottega) and I had my attention on this bag maker called Crumpler. They have a store in KLCC eversince Suria KLCC opened its door in 1997/1998 but I never paid attention to any of its goods - until now. I had my eyes on this multicolored messenger bag and although I know it l

My Internship

Miss Yante and I on the luscious sofa of PWTC Though I was counting days for this industrial training to end, it was surprisingly hard to say goodbye when the final day of my placement in Tourism Malaysia comes. I had called the International Marketing Division (Americas/Europe/Oceania) a.k.a AERO as my second home for the past 8 weeks and had bonded so well with fellow colleagues there. We shared inside jokes and other silly stories; not to mention, new ties are formed with other industrial training students such as Asif, Yati, Yante, Hizani and few others with each in different divisions. I must say, I was blessed to be placed in the creme-de-la-creme, most-sought-after division in Tourism Malaysia, under fantastic helm of its director, Datin Normasila Musa. The working environment was awesome, very co-operative and very accommodating colleagues. Working and learning in AERO were total bliss with no air whatsoever. On my last day there, they held a farewell party for me and frankly,

Crissy: My Cobalt Blue Tarantula

I spent my last weekend like any other single (and sane) person would do in KL – mall hopping, despite being sick icky icky poo. My body was so warm and I swear you could fry an egg on my forehead. Damn this fever. Anyway, while loitering around Mid Valley Megamall, I saw this cute cobalt blue tarantula and knowing how hard it is to find cobalt blue species here in Malaysia, I was ecstatic. Even if they are here, it would cost a bomb for a tiny baby tarantula of its kind. But this one was selling for RM150 so it was relatively cheap, considering it’s about a year old now. This gorgeous baby is well-known for its aggressiveness thus not suitable for amateur keepers like me. What the heck, I had always liked cobalt blue tarantula and there’s no way I’m not getting it right now. Besides, what’s the worst thing that could happen anyway? Actually the worst thing that could happen is being bitten by the five-inch-long tarantula and experiencing seizure-like pain up to your chest within

The Unsaid Words

The pursuit of love is pretty much similar to going to clubs. Sometimes you have a certain expectation before hitting the club, other times you just head straight to it without anticipating anything; you just go with the flow, as they say. Some might get lucky – they might get all the perks of both good music and good company in the club while the rest might not. They’ll grow bored and chose to call it a night way earlier than the last round of tune plays. Some might see the ones they would love to dance with but too afraid of making a move and waiting for the signal from the other end to do so (which often doesn’t come) but others just jump right into it, extending their hand for a congenial ‘Hello’ and let the night take its turn. If you chose to see the many facets of people searching for love, there it is - lying right in front of you on the dancefloor. From a quick glance, it is vibrant, full of life, jumping up and down, full of smiling faces. But take a second look – there are t

Mon Etranger

Mon étranger; French for 'my stranger' I am blessed to know and be acquainted to this wonderful human being although we have never met in flesh before. For the past a year and a half, Mr Akmal was just a stranger to me - my stranger. Sure, we've seen each other's pictures, blogs, become virtual friends on Facebook and exchanged text messages throughout this period but had never met in person. Truly, he was pretty much a stranger to me; hence, the name. The nickname was derived from 'Closer' when Natalie Portman saw Jude Law as soon as she regained consciousness after being hit by a car - ' Hello, stranger .' How apt. I blamed my pal, Chong Jin for introducing this movie back in school days and leaving a huge mark on my life. True story. My stranger had returned to Malaysia a couple of times before but we never had the right timing for each other. That was until last week when I insisted on sparing some ticks for him this time around and yes, it was all w