Let Me Show You My Latest Line of Bullsh*t August 27, 2009

I can’t believe my last blog was written 5 freaking months ago! Holy mother…I didn’t actually realize this sad sad truth until J gave me a virtual whipping over Facebook chat (or was it Gmail chat) yesterday for abandoning my poor blog. It was an orphan blog for 5 months but orphan blog it is no more!

*grits teeth in determination while making a silent vow to myself to keep on slogging to me blogging*

But because I have absolutely NO IDEA what to write today, I’m just writing for the sake of writing. Which I could be very good at – just ask my English teacher Mdm Lim who used to always chide me for writing a novel when all she asked was for a 300-word essay. Well, all I can say is a LOT of things can happen when your essay starts off with “It was a dark and stormy night…” It definitely warrants just a tad more than 300 words. Of course, in Manju lingo, ‘a tad’ could mean 3000 words over limit.

I re-read my earlier blogs in my attempt to be inspired but alas, I’ve hit the all-time dreaded writers’ block. Most days I feel I’m more of a blogduh than a blogder. Some days when I am extremely optimistic bordering manic euphoric, I say to myself I COULD be the next most popular blogder in this side of the world, one with a million hits a day (ok, perhaps a wee bit of a stretch, even in a fantasy) because people just can’t get enough of me and ne’er complain about me going over the 300-word limit.

Sheesh. Is this how writers feel when they’ve got absolute zilch to fill in the blanks of their yet-to-exist book? I wonder how Shakespeare felt when he couldn’t show off his latest line of bullsh*t.

Earth Hour 2009 March 25, 2009

Saturday Mar 28, 8:30pm.

The world will be plunged into darkness.

On purpose.

What started out as a modern battle cry against global climate change by 2 million people in the city of Sydney in 2007, has quickly gathered momentum in people around the world and now stood recognized as a global initiative, coordinated by World Wildlife Fund (WWF). In 2008, more than 50 million participated and in 2009, a billion people from 1000 cities are expected to join in.

Today, 2 days before the actual event, aptly named Earth Hour 2009, individuals, governments, businesses and communities from 2400 cities and towns in 82 countries have signed on their commitment to send out this message of hope and message of action.

The action? Simple.

Switching off lights for an hour .

The message? Even simpler. We stand united against climate change . We want to be part of the solution, not the problem.

Major iconic landmarks around the world have signed on. Over here in Malaysia, KLCC Twin Towers (once the tallest in the world not too long ago), KL Tower and Dataran Merdeka (where the Union Flag was lowered and the Malayan flag hoisted for the first time at midnight on August 31, 1957), will go dark in their virgin support for Earth Hour 2009.

Others include the Sydney Opera House, the Coliseum in Rome, Stockholm’s Royal Castle, London’s City Hall, New York’s Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

The famous Cola-Cola billboard in Times Square will be dark.

The Google homepage.

National Geographic will be suspending air time for an hour.

Tottenham Hotspur, White Hart Lane will be turning off their lights!

Even the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids of Giza will go dark for Earth Hour this year, becoming the most ancient monument (5000 years is a long time) to stand as modern day symbols for action on climate change .

Heck, my mom’s house in Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu will be dark. (Though my dad is praying there’s no live telecast for football at that time)

And I will be walking with family and friends, along with hundreds of other Malaysians in Earth Hour Walk of Hope in Kuala Lumpur, probably carrying a candle and wearing a shirt that says “I’m Not Trashy, I Recycle”.

In the dark, of course.

Anyone and everyone should join this movement. This is my bit for Earth Hour, spreading the good word to join in!

‘Turn Off. Take Action”.

The One March 18, 2009

“Find a guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot, who calls you back when you hang up on him, who will lie under the stars and listen to your heartbeat, or will stay awake just to watch you sleep… wait for the boy who kisses your forehead, who wants to show you off to the world when you are in sweats, who holds your hand in front of his friends, who thinks you’re just as pretty without makeup on. One who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares and how lucky he is to have you…. The one who turns to his friends and says, ‘that’s her.’”

Ever After March 10, 2009

1 Union. 4 weddings. 3 weeks.

L, the Sandbox Bully aka ‘Chin Chea Hoh Peng Ewe’ , finally got hitched 2 weeks ago. Her nuptials were celebrated over the span of 3 weeks – 1 religious (Muslim) ceremony ‘akad nikah’, 1 traditional Malay bersanding ceremony in the northern Chinese heartland, yet another traditional event – the Chinese tea ceremony followed by a Chinese banquet dinner in the west Malay heartland.

Photographer skodeng the 2 lovebirds...

All 4 events were beautiful but what struck me the most was not the decorations or the food, or even the dashing (to some) tall dark (and bald) hotel event manager (!) but the pure happiness that seemed to radiate from everyone who attended those events – especially the bride and groom.

The bride, who seemed to be on the brink of being Bridezilla in the months before the actual wedding (no thanks to certain fickleness and ‘tidak tahu’ attitude of persons who shall not be named), was practically shining with such joy on the actual day- it was pure bliss.

Never mind the 3 compadres who were getting cross-eyed from staring too long at wedding checksheets (all 9 of them, including a flow of events with automatic time calculation based on activity duration and a flow chart for flowers delivery). But we enjoyed every minute of it – being the eyes, ears and hands (and feet) for the bride. For 2.5 decades worth of friendship, we’d even do the cha cha and the twist with L’s grandmother (which we did, and which L’s grandmother outshone us, without breaking a sweat!).

And most eyes were glistened with tears during the bride’s speech at the Chinese dinner, of which I paraphrased and do no justice to it :-

“To my dad, my hero – I worship you;

To my mom, when I have kids on my own, I want to be the mother that you are – perfect;

And to S, there’s no one else I’d choose to be my life partner – I want to grow old with you”

Then the song that Adam Sandler sang in the ‘Wedding Singer’ on the plane “I Wanna Grow Old With You” came on.

My heart bloomed. Yes, bloomed.

I do love weddings.

I love the notion of it, I love the sanctity of it, I love the simple truth of it.

I just love Love.

And the thought of couples so much in love with one another that that’s all they want to do – grow old with each other.

Ever after.

What would you do…? March 6, 2009

This is the ‘game’ I promised to post up earlier (refer to the post on 3D).

Players : R & M

Venue : At our respective offices using our desktops

Note to blogders : Obviously, we were not skiving. These were very important questions that had to be answered in the span of a single working day. Productivity was all-time high on this date. Because we looked like we were working really really hard typing away furiously on our keyboards.

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

a) On a rainy day?
[R] If I’m at home, probably snuggle up with a good book. If I’m at
work, dream that I’m at home snuggled up with a good book.
[M] Will blame it on climate change. Damn the weather these days.
Then if at home, curl up with a good book. oh, and a good piece of dark
chocolate. If at work, open my pdf file on harry potter series or gilmore girls
script (yes I actually have this). start reading. but no curling up.

b) If you lost your luggage
[R] Panic. Then go lodge a report. Then mope about it.
[M] Curse. Ask to see the manager. Demand the clothes voucher (and
hotel room and whatever perks I can coerce from them) as compensation.
Perfect excuse to go for a shopping spree in a foreign place. Why mope
when can shop?

c) If you got all your wires messily tangled up?
[R] Panic. Then it depends on my mood. If I’m in a good mood, I’ll
TRY to sort it out. If mood not so good, sorry la. wires tu bernasib
baik kalau tak kena potong!
[M] Curse. Count to 10. Then painstakingly try to sort it out. Make
mental note to get those IKEA wire organizer thingymajiggy.
If unable to sort it out, will leave it and tell to self that wires are
meant to be tangled anyway.

d) If you found out that there are bona fide aliens out there?
[R] interesting one. Seeing that I have exactly three friends, I’d
probably think about extending my circle. Oh and also, I’d get
permission to study their brains when they died … if they died.
[M] Seek way to communicate and request to get on board just to
check out their cool gadjets. If the movies are right, they’re supposed to lightyears ahead in terms of technology. Cool.
Oh, and tell them I come in peace.

e) If you saw yourself at the bar?
[M] Say to myself “Holy crap! I look that good??” Then watch myself
for afar, looking out for possible habits that ppl may make fun of behind
back. And write a secret msg to myself posing as secret admirer. Watch my
reaction. And snicker.
[R] I would probably watch myself for a bit, and decide that I’m not
as weird as people think I am. Just for the heck of it, I’ll show up in
front of my other me for a glimpse of a second, make my other me think
I’m crazy and order two more rounds of drinks. Then because my other me
can’t hold her drinks, probably throw up on the floor and have a bad
case of hangover the next morning.

f) if the ozone layer was so thin, it was gonna crack open tomorrow and
suck all of us out into space?
[M] Say ‘ I told you so’ to my three friends.Then ask permission
from the bona fide aliens for a free ride out to space.
No need for unpleasant sucking sensation.
[R] Listen to your ‘I told you so’, so I can follow you out with the
bona fide aliens.

g) if every book on earth was burnt chairman mao style?
[M] Train up at a nearby terrorist camp for assasination lessons.
Form a special SWAT to assasinate Person Who Decided To Be Like Chairman Mao And Burn All Books on Earth. Assasinate said person quickly and effectively (he/she wont know what hit him/her). Celebrate the rescue of every book on earth.
[R] Call Achmed the Dead Terrorist.

h) if we lived in a less cultured world where we had to wear leaves for
clothes?
[M] Who says wearing leaves makes us less cultural?
But in the spirit of leaves for clothes, I’ll choose daun helikopter and
daun pisang. Daun nipah gatal siket. And sharp at the edges, dont you
think?
[R] Thank God for for the un-invention of cloth. Take the
opportunity to cuci mata

More questions
i) If you found a mysterious looking lamp that says ‘Rub Me’ in the
middle
of a desert?
[R] Rub it and hope the genie of the lamp appears dan bukan singa
ataupun lord voldermort ataupun the clown from the movie IT. Dan kalau
diberi wish, aku akan wish la. kalau tak diberi wish, aku rub the other
way and hope the fler goes back in.
[M] How does one define ‘middle in the desert’? But since I came up
with the question i better shut up.
Anyways, I look for instructions for How to Rub Me first. No SOP No
Rubbing.
But knowing my inquisitiveness, I will rub the lamp.
saje nok tengok ade genie ke dok. But first think of the wishes I want
granted. nanti genie marah sebab make him wait while I think up wishes.

j) If you found a a mysterious looking lamp that says ‘Dont Rub Me’ in
the middle of a desert?
[R] See i)
[M] Are you kidding? Rub la in true spirit of my Rebel Without a
Cause manner. The more you say DONT rub, the more I want to do so. Must be some repressed childhood memory that helped form my useless rebelling.

k) If you stumbled upon an ancient tomb and over the gate entrance it
says “Slow & Painful Death Upon Those Who Dare Pass These Gates”?
[R] Probably pass through, because I’d be damn intrigued to know
what’s on the other side. It’s probably a lame prank pulled by the bored
gatekeeper anyway.
[M] Depends what awaits me the other side. Why risk slow and painful
death if all that awaits you on the other end is just a couple of bones
and dust??
If got gold and diamonds, lain cerita. Then I’ll tell myself it’s just a
lame prank pulled by the bored gatekeeper.

l) if I were to ask you what is your most influential, important,
life-altering book of all time.
[M] Damn hard question. Does magazine and guidebooks count?
“National Geographic” and “Lonely Planet” series. For opening the world
to me and daring me to take the roads less travelled.
“Gandhi” – Man. What a man. His virtues clearly outweighed his flaws.
“Mighty Heart” – the story moved me but it wasnt the story that affected
so much, rather it was the ending caption that stayed with me:-
>>    I swear I will not dishonor my soul with hatred,
but offer myself humbly,
As a guardian of nature,
As a healer of misery,
As a messenger of wonder,
As an architect of peace.
“Desiderata” for teaching me humility
[R] wow, hebat. Anyway, yeah I agree, this question is too hard. I
don’t think I wanna answer is my answer

m) if you found a puppy at your doorstep and he didn’t have an owner’s
tag on.
[M] I’ll be thinking ‘Wah the fella quite pandai ambik lift huh’ not
bad. I adopt.
But got to hide him from the guards and tape his mouth so don’t whine
sampai dengar kat luar by security.
Plus I need to get my hands on some guidebook on ‘how to raise a silent
puppy’.
And feed him. Nanti feed nyiur dan air, the fella die then how?
[R] pick the fler up, ask him what his name is and ask how many cats
he chased that day. Then ask him what he’s doing at my house, where he
wants to go. Probably feed the fler a bit (definitely not nyiur and
air). Then put the fler in my car and take him to my sister’s house to
make friends with my sister’s dog. Then my sister’s dog can teach him
how to chase the cats in seremban and how to scare away the pigeons.

n) if there wasn’t a need to sleep anymore, so you have extra 8 hours to
spend on anything you like.
[M] Do everything I usually do for fun fun fun but now with
additional 8 hrs each day- this means fun fun fun. Carpe diem!! all 24 hrs of it!!
[R] I’d probably regroup my old band and start writing songs again.
Then maybe we can put out our cd and tour the world!

o) If you could stop time?
[R] I’d do it at night so I can sleep longer.

p) If you had to choose a single superpower?
[R] The ability to make people believe whatever you wish them to
believe (like the nightmare man in heroes)

q) If you could create clones?
[R] I’d create a clone of my dad.

r) if you were given the chance to watch your own funeral from afar?

s) if you had one question you could ask God?

t) if you were really caught between the devil and the deep sea?

My Dream Car March 6, 2009

My Precioussssss...

The Prius 2009 Model.

If there’s anyone out there clamoring to buy me one, I greet thee with open arms.

Features I particularly like, among a million others, are :-

1. Remote air conditioning – first in the world to operate solely on battery power and can be activated remotely (and hence the name ‘remote air conditioning’), giving me a chance to cool the interior from afar (before getting into the car). No more sweating like a pig as I try to crank up the engine. And I can do it in an eco-friendly way!

2.Cleanest aerodynamic profile – less wind drag means less engine power required. Prototypes were subjected to the most wind tunnel tests than any other Toyota in history.

3. Sliding glass moonroof – with SOLAR PANELS. Solar power is used for ventilation system and air circulation fan runs on electricity. So engine power is not required.

4. Intelligent Parking Assist – no more headaches on parking. And that stereotype comment on how women cannot do side parking is so untrue! I know at least TWO whole women who can do this without breaking a sweat. And I am one of them. Sometimes. Occasionally. When no one’s breathing down my neck and barking orders on how to do side parking properly like a MAN.

5. Lane Keep Assist – every car in Malaysia should be equipped with this. How can this be possibly eco-friendly, you might ask? Well, this will drastically help reduce noise pollution that arise from irate drivers honking away at idiots who can’t seem to decide which lane they wanted (or rather which lane seemed faster because they want to be on the FASTEST lane ala Malaysian kiasu style so they stay in the middle just in case…)

Above all, the Prius is the symbol of eco-consciousness. Celebrities like Leonardo di Caprio and Cameron Diaz who are famous for their green support, all have one. And snooty greenies like me would love to advertise that fact (ie. we’re snooty greenies) at every possible waking moment.

And the Prius is a stylish, practical and in-your-face way of doing so.

I can’t wait for the launch of this car in Malaysia this coming 3rd quarter.

Oops. Did I let the car out of the bag?

Cruising along in my Prius...

3D February 14, 2009

I have an extremely anal email system at work. I call our server ‘The 3D (Draconian, Despotic, Dictatorial) Server’, henceforth referred to as ‘3D’.

Among other tyrannical habits, 3D mercilessly kicks out emails containing ‘Unacceptable Language’, complete with rating and weightage of the words used eg. ‘Shit’ is ‘unacceptable’, rated 5 (descending order of unacceptability) and weighted 1 (if used once). The Malaysian Censorship Board would be so proud of 3D. In fact, I believe 3D could a honorary member, no no…given 3D’s overzealousness, 3D could very well be Chairman of the Board (of Directors).

My 7-year experience of trying to dodge 3D, and failing miserably each time, has taught me one thing : I just can’t. After many sleepness nights, and spending many a dreary morning opening my emails just to be bombarded with smug messages from 3D ie. ‘Your email has been blocked’, I finally chanced upon a solution – the symbol ‘*’. Now the birds are singing again, and the sky is blue once more. ‘*’  has since been voted ‘Most Useful Symbol’, stealthily and most cleverly used within Unacceptable Words, to render it ‘Acceptable’ once again eg. F*ck, Sh*t, Di*khead…you get my drift.

But my knowledge in what is acceptable and vice versa in the world of 3D has grown exponentially. Not that it will accelerate my career path, nor help me break the glass ceiling. It can be entertaining sometimes. ‘Damn’ is acceptable, strangely so is ‘Ass’ (though I suspect only because this word is too close in semblance with my company name). But recently ‘Blow Job’ got the boot from 3D so fast it barely had time to blink, let alone land on its feet, dust itself off and slink away miserably with tail between its legs. Why am I getting emails containing such wonderful words at work is a whole different story.

But I have seriously digressed..

I actually wanted to post the results of a ‘game’ I was playing with my friend, R via email. But I got carried away with my deep, strong, not necessarily ambivalent, sentiments for 3D when the word ‘email’ crossed my mind. I was spending what felt like eternity to delete unwanted emails from my inbox when I came across that particularly interesting ‘game’. (Oh, and I was only deleting because 3D was shrieking at my ineptitude to maintain email storage capacity within authorized limit and was threatening to cut me off from the email world, and hence civilization, once and for all).

I took the liberty to cut and paste the game on my blog, just for the heck of it. I guess it’ll be on my next post then, because if I write too long in a single post, I may risk another form of shrieking from WordPress saying “It’s a blog! Not a damn novel, you dumbass!”

Or it could 3D…the Zeus of the World Wide Web, Ruler of All Servers, Father of All Centralized Data Storage and Mortal Network Communications Resources.

*Oh, and ‘Heck’ is Acceptable, ‘He*l’ is Unacceptable, rated 5, weighted 1.

25 Random Things About Me February 2, 2009

I am about to list down 25 not-so-random things about me. This is just scratching off the surface, really. I thought it would be a good start for my blog. Rather than a post that’s entitled ‘Hello World’ and then..*blank* which could potentially lead to an impression that I’m a total nitwit who can’t write for nuts (Hey, I could be a total nitwit but still CAN write if the stars are aligned correctly), I prefer to bore my blogders (I know you’re out there somewhere, all 2 of you!!) to tears on me, myself and I.

Warning : Read the following with preferably parental guidance or with an adult of some sort.

Note : If you’re pushing 40 and insist you are indeed under the ‘adult’ category, you may still be living with your mommy. In which case, you are automatically disqualified. Having her sleep in the next room doesn’t rake up your ‘adult’ points. So invite her to read the following with you. The more the merrier, I always say.

*25 RANDOM THINGS ABOUT ME*

1. The Equation is the pulse of my life.

2. I am a professional tree-hugger. But when I was 13, I declared to my parents that I wanted to be a forensic scientist. Till today, I do not know where THAT inspiration came from. I also wanted to be a stem-cell researcher. And for a moment in time, an air hostess!! (So I can travel)

3. I celebrated the last day of my 20s era with a great big bang. Or at least that’s what it felt like in my head. Let’s just say, Bubbly + Me = Wheelchair (courtesy of a 5-star hotel in KL).

4. I believe in “Unity in Diversity”. And that all humans are created equal, born free and deserve a chance to pursue their happiness. And get over the color and creed thing already!

5. I love eating my bread in cube shapes.

(What the…?! Directions : Eat the crust first. Fold the bread into half. Fold it into half again. Fold it into half again and again until it can’t be reasonably folded. Compact the bread ‘cube’ so that it’s nice and chewy. Proceed to feed on it. Yum! However, a friendly note to those of you who wish to try this at home, only use sliced sandwich bread. It does not work with other kinds of bread. Don’t even think of doing it with a french baguette).

6. My favorite color is pink. As Aerosmith so eloquently said, or rather screeched : Pink is My New Obsession. Pink It’s Like Red but Not Quite. (Though my hair will never be Kelly Osbourne pink nor will my name ever be changed to Pink)

7. I am a self-proclaimed green tea connoisseur. In descending order of greatness, Kawahara Seicha gyokuro, Shizuoka Deep Steamed sencha, Kawahara Seicha genmaicha, kikucha…they all reign supreme. Green tea bags, however, could be the pariahs of the lot.

8. I eat danger for breakfast.

9. I’m known as Rogue, not because of my links to the X-Men team, but because I can ‘absorb’ accents of foreign tongues speaking English. And my favorite past time is to ‘collect’ these accents and add to my entertainment repertoire.

10.Fresh milk from any source of the animal kind + Me = Gag (unless it’s somehow mysteriously laced with vanilla essence or chocolate, but then again it’ll not be so ‘fresh’ anymore?).

11. My favorite karaoke repertoire, in no particular order : ‘Hijau’ by Zainal Abidin, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen, ‘I Will Survive’ by Gloria Gaynor, ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ by Bonnie Tyler, ‘Lose It’ by Eminem, ‘Sunday Morning’ by Maroon 5, ‘Fly Me to The Moon’ by Frank Sinatra and , forgive me O Fellow Unfortunate Singing Companions of mine, ‘Ice Ice Baby’ by Vanilla Ice…(!!) (Did I just initiate a professional hit on my own self?)

12. I have 3 best friends since kindergarten. L, who is my faithful accomplice in all the things Dumb and Dumber (we started young); another L who ostracized me from the sandbox back then (if we could find one to fit us right now, she would still do it) and last but not least, R who goes “Hmm/OK” to everything we say because she can never get any other word in when we talk (blame the Chinese ‘Loud’ Gene, I can’t find a more politically correct term).

13.Speaking of the number ‘13′, my SPM (high school final examinations) registration number was 0013. How…interesting…(*yawn*)

14. I think Love makes the world go round, not Money (yes, that’s how naive I am! So sue me!).

15. I love celebrations of most sort, especially birthdays! (Anniversaries, New Year’s, Chinese New Year, even Valentine’s Day…yes, so sue me! Again! My my, you lawyers are loving me now eh?)

16. I was once part of a dancing group who performed, get this, ‘Cover Girl’ by New Kids On The Block!!!! I think we did more than 1 song but my mind has blocked out most of that memory, much to my relief (In my defense, this was done when we were way too young and foolish to realize the dire consequences of our actions).

17. I am a cheap drunk. So cheap, that eveyone’s clamoring to buy me a drink so I can be their entertainment for the night – their very own performing monkey!

18. Will work for nuts. Wasabi macadamia nuts to be precise.

19. I also go weak in the knees when I see dark chocolate with orange rinds and almonds. And then it goes straight to the tummy. Forget the knees.

20.I think there’s a travel bug proliferating somewhere in the deep dark recesses of my mind.

21.I’m a member of Tardiness Anonymous at work. It’s an underground network of flexi-hours extremists, blacklisted as ‘Most Wanted by HR Dept’ and, needless to say, unrecognized by the authorities. Total Membership to date : 2, but we aim to recruit more (Interested? Apply within).

22.I love to read, sometimes 2 or 3 books at once. Currently it’s ‘Dreams from My Father’ by Barack Obama, ‘The Weather Makers’ by TIm Flannery and ‘What Einstein Told His Cook’ by Robert L.Wolke.

23.I wish I could be more artsy; have an eye for amazing photography, or be part of a bossa nova band, or paint naive art…but alas, my creativity stops at color-coordinating my wardrobe (which , by the way, it IS).

24.I think the Muru family can be in a cartoon sitcom, like the Simpsons or even the Family Guy, except we’re lacking in a highly intellectual walking talking dog that answers to the name of Brian, and an anti-Christ disguised as a baby with a British accent plotting on killing both parents and dominating the world while he’s at it. (Hmm, maybe I could dress up my brother…)

25. Speaking of which, my family’s notion of greeting endearments, is kicking each other on the ass (not the parents) and rubbing my father’s tummy for luck.

Could I be stranger than fiction? Perhaps.

Stay tuned for my next post, hopefully slightly more interesting than watching a foreign movie without subtitles or taking bets on whose paint coat dries faster.

My virgin post February 1, 2009

Hello world indeed! This is my very first blog entry, and I have absolutely no idea what to write about. What DO people write in their blogs anyway? I’ve read some on the Net before – I was absolutely horrified recently when I found out there was another blogger with the SAME name ‘Ecobutterfly’ who blogs rather obsessively about..of all things…KNITTING. Gasp shock horror! Might as well hang a placard on your neck ‘I WEAR GRANNY PANTIES FOR FUN’. Oh dear, did I just start a knitters’ revolution and get raw eggs thrown at me by screaming ranting knitters demanding for their rights to knit in peace (and blog about it)?

If I write the way I think, then be forewarned, readers of my blog (well, there should be at least ONE person in this world of 6.7 billion who reads my blog – voluntarily or otherwise, and the plural usage is an indication of my ever optimistic self, there could be a whole lot of you Ecobutterfly fans out there)…hmm, where was I? oh yes, the forewarning – be prepared for a literary collection of (seemingly) aimless ramblings and anecdotes showcasing the writer’s wit, charm and worldliness.

P/S : The reason why this first blog was published AFTER my second blog, is I’ve only just figured out the ‘publish’ function for my drafts.