Finally

I did it!!

Today, I tendered my resignation!!

After months of bitching about my current job, I am leaving the Bank, hopefully, to greener pastures. Monetarily its waaaay greener but the job scope is also waaaay more. I know it will be more challenging and probably more exciting. Two words that I have not used to describe my current job. It is also two words that I usually thrive and perform better under. Hopefully I will thrive as I think this is the opportunity that I have been waiting for.

The smily face above is a true reflection of how I feel right now. Overjoyed.

SECRETS

ADJECTIVE: 1. Kept hidden from knowledge or view; concealed.

We all keep some. Some ours, some on behalf of other people. Some people keep secrets better than others, some you learn never to tell secrets to again. I am true believer that information given in confidence should be kept such. These people (who can’t keep secrets) I will still smile and talk to, but they definitely will not get anymore private information from me. You see, I am a truster. I trust everyone until that trust is broken. Then getting that trust back is damn hard.

Anyway, for the past few weeks I’ve been keeping a secret or two. Somehow, people like to confide in me. I’ve kept secrets that I myself have forgotten about. Here is a thought to ponder. Is revealing someone’s secret in a blog breaking their trust in you? I’ve never done it and it has never happened to me but I’m just wondering.

The 100 Greatest and No Flow

Babe’s blog today had a link to Time’s 100 Greatest Novels and 100 Greatest Movies. Not surprisingly I had only read one book from the list. I must have read 100’s of books when I was growing up as my dad ensured I read a book a week. Every weekend we would go to the bookstore and buy a book for me to read.

This got me wondering, are those books on the list actually that damn good. Are they better than the spy novels I read and loved reading so much even until I entered university? Would these books have had the same affect on my imagination? I desperately wanted to be a spy growing up. I still think I’ll be a damn good one.

As for the 100 Greatest Movies, there was an improvement in the numbers I had viewed (circa 20 movies). My #1 movie of all time would have been Pulp Fiction. Is it normal to watch a movie you really like close to 50 times? I reckon I have watched Pulp Fiction that many times. I even downloaded the script from the internet and read it line by line.

Reading back the posting above, I realize there is no flow at all to my writing. This I blame on the low blood-sugar levels due to fasting. Anyway, I’m also too lazy to edit and correct it.

The Sloth in Me

Someone actually asked me to update my blog today. I realized that during this whole fasting month I have had no mood to think, write or even speak at times. I’ve done minimal work in the office and have not been my usual self. Is it due to the lack of carbohydrates, proteins and irons? Or is it just a subconscious excuse… “Mana larat buat kerja… puasalah..”

It hasn’t just been updating my blog too. For the past two weeks I’ve read and researched less on sports. Read less blogs. Done less work. All in all, I’ve been a sloth. A hungry, thirsty sloth with a greater hunger and thirst for nicotine (and alchohol*) that is movingg eeevvveeerrrr ssooooo ssslllooowwwllllyyyy....

*This will have to wait...

Malaysia Boleh Bersukan

It’s not often Malaysia makes headlines in the sporting news. Today there are two results that deserve its credit.

Story 1
Place : Manchester, UK.
Date : 16/10/2005
Sport : Squash

Nicol David became the first Malaysian to reach the Finals of the prestigious British Open when she defeated World No.1 and two time defending Champion Rachel Grinham of Australia. Nicol, 22 years old and World No.3, has won all the other age-group titles at the British Open. This is her first attempt at the Senior class and she enters the Finals as favourite as the other two semi-finalists are ranked 4th and 7th in the world respectively.

Story 2
Place : Maaspoort, Holland.
Date : 16/10/2005
Sport : Badminton

Malaysian men dominated the Dutch Open with Hafiz Hashim crowned the Men’s Singles Champion and the combination of Choong Tan Fook & Lee Wan Wah winning the Men’s Doubles title. Although some of the higher ranked Chinese and Indonesian players chose to not play in the Dutch Open, the win is still something to be proud of.

Now, lets hope that Nicol wins the British Open and the A1 GP team have a good race in Estoril, Portugal this weekend.

Oompa Loompas and Remakes

“Oompa, Loompa, doom-pa-dee-do. I have a perfect puzzle for you.”

A couple of days ago I finally saw the remake of Willy Wonka/Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. I was expecting the same emotions I had when I watched the original version as a young boy. I was truly disappointed. They made an excellent children’s movie into an arty-farty trippy movie.

The remake would have been awesome to watch after taking a tab of acid, coming down from a night out on ecstasy or being completely stoned on hash but I would rather let my daughter watch the old Gene Wilder version than the Johnny Depp version. Even without the help of computer animation the Oompa Loopa’s looked better, the music was better and in general the storyline was better (although adapted from the same book) in the old version.

The arty-farty people might not agree with my assessment of the remake but to me it was supposed to be a children’s story and not an art project. This made me wonder why people invest money in remaking movies and music without improving the quality.

Below are a few remakes that to me have not improved form the original version:
1) Uptown Girl by Westlife – Why the hell do you remake (more like duplicate) a song to sound exactly the same as the original? Just play the Billie Joel original I say.
2) Psycho – never touch a classic.
3) Planet of The Apes – never have one of your character to look like Michael Jackson

Some that are actually better redone:
1) The Lord of the Rings – did anyone see the animated crap they did in the 80’s?
2) The Italian Job – the original was good, the new one was awesome.
3) Emotions by Bee Gees – redone very well by Destiny’s Child.

I know there are plenty more good and bad ones but due to the lack of food in my system my brain could only muster up three each.

p/s : as usual its Friday and I’m in a good mood and listening to The Cure.

Call Me "Bruce"

I usually don’t dream when I sleep but during this fasting month I have been dreaming quite regularly. I guess its because my deep sleep (REM) is disturbed for Sahur. I have also been able to remember these dreams vividly, something not common to me. Again I believe this is because I never had a dream to remember to begin with.

Anyway, last night I dreamt that I was some sort of ‘Protector Against Racists’. I was walking through a city similar to L.A. or Sydney and around corners were people screaming racists abuse towards the minority that were walking the streets. What I did was go to these racists and beat them up. Bruce Lee style. I was kicking Ass big time. Funny I did that because I’m one of the least likely people to be in a fight.

A couple of nights ago a dreamt that I woke up bald. I only had hair on the sides and the back of my head. I could see myself in the mirror and I remembered thinking to myself. “I’ve got to go shave the sides off, there’s no way I’m walking around with a ‘comb-over’ hairstyle”. Does that mean I’m going to get bald?

I reckon I should start documenting these dreams and see if there’s any resemblance of it when I’m awake.

At least for now I still have hair.

7 / VII

Seven.
My wife's favourite number.
The day my daughter was born.
Supposed to be the 'easiest' golf club to hit.
The number of inches in my.....

I was tagged by Pseudo. Please note that religious stuff are not on the list. Safe to say it is assumed I will get it done (god willing), like performing the Haj.

7 things to do before I die
1. Go Skydiving. Once mastered go Base Jumping.
2. Learn and master the art of Tantric Sex.
3. Play 18 holes at the home of golf, St Andrews.
4. Go to a Superbowl, preferably when the Redskins are playing.
5. Visit all the Wonders of the World.
6. Find the ultimate porn movie. The one porn that will make me watch no other porn coz it fulfills all my requirements to make it perfect.
7. Start a Sports Freak Sports Foundation to assist future champions of sport in Malaysia.

7 things I just can't do
1. Be motivated to do something I care nothing about. Like Banking (my job).
2. Eat Taugeh. I hate Taugeh and will always hate Taugeh.
3. Have Zero debts.
4. Play the piano. Why did my mom send me to learn violin and organ but not piono I still wonder.
5. Sleep early. Normal sleeping time is between 12.30am to 1.00am.
6. Draw. Art is not my forte.
7. Sit in one place long, unless I'm playing my PS2.

7 Celebrity Crushes
1. Maria Sharapova (Hottest lady in sports)
2. Siti Nurhaliza (Malaysia Boleh!)
3. Dian Sastrawandoyo (Indon pun Boleh!)
4. Eva Longoria (The Hottest Housewife)
5. Cytherea (My Favourite Porn Star)
6. Tyra Banks (Yummy...)
7. Alyssa Milano (where do you think my daughter got her name)

7 Often repeated words/phrases
1. Fu#k!!/Fu#ker!!
2. What the Fu#k?!?
3. "You know what I mean?"
4. Huh?
5. Somebody 'roll'lah!
6. I know
7. ZZZzzzzzz......

7 Things that attract me to the opposite sex
1. Tits
2. Ass
3. Intellect
4. Common interest
5. She enjoys porn too. i.e. Horny.
6. Good undergarment collection. (No grannies, just thongs and g's)
7. Independent. i.e. not clingy

Tagging
No one, I think all the patrons of of this blog have been tagged. If you haven't then you've just been tagged.

The 10 Million Dollar Girl

"I'm finally happy to say I'm a pro starting today,'' said Wie, wearing a pink Nike shirt and high heels that made her stand even taller than 6 feet. "The first time I grabbed a golf club, I knew I'd do it for the rest of my life. Some 12 years later, I'm finally turning pro, and I'm so excited.''

Wednesday marked one of the biggest day in Women’s Sport. 15 year old (turns 16 only next week) Golf prodigy, Michelle Wie announced that she was turning professional. Upon announcement she signed endorsements from Nike and Sony reported to be worth over $10 million per annum. This automatically makes her one of the highest endorsed sportswomen behind Tennis’s Maria Sharapova and the Williams Sisters.

At the age of 7 in her first round of golf she shot a very respectable 14-over par. A score that many weekend golfers still dream of getting. At the age of 10, she shot an amazing 64 or 8 under par. For those that play golf, you will know that 8-under is an amazing score. Even the Malaysian Pros would have lost to the 10 year old Wie. She has redefined success since winning the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links at age 13, the youngest champion of a USGA title for adults. To list all her golfing achievements would take up too much space. Suffice to say Wie would be a name to grace the sporting world for years to come.

Her ambition is simple. To eventually play in the PGA (Men’s Tour) not the Ladies PGA and to play and eventually win the US Masters.

Michelle, you have 15 years to win as many events as possible then my Ally will come and whip your ass...

My Quest for the 'Perfect' Murtabak.

Every fasting month there is only one item I look for at every “Pasar Ramadhan”. It’s the ‘Murtabak’. I think last year during Ramadhan I had on average one murtabak a day. Some days I had two.

For breaking fast on the first day yesterday I had two pieces from a stall in Bangsar. It was decent, nothing special. I'd give it a 5.5/10. It had too much onions and not enough meat fillings. Anyway, I wasn’t expecting it be special as it was the least busy murtabak stall there. I was too lazy to wait in a non-existent line (people were just shouting orders and getting their murtabak in no orderly way) at the busiest stall which I assumed to be the best.

I guess, its become a mission for me to find the ‘perfect’ murtabak accompanied by the ‘perfect’ onion sauce. By the way, I don’t eat my murtabak with curry, it has to be with the red onion sauce/vinegar. So far, the best Ramadhan murtabak I have found is the one at the Pasar Carpark in Taman Tun Dr. Ismail. It’s the murtabak done by the Malay dude and his wife. If you get there late the queue for the murtabak would be 20 people long. The TTDI one i'd give an 8/10.

If any of you know of any good murtabaks please tell me. I'm still looking for the 10/10 murtabak. Oh ya, I only take murtabak from the Ramadhan stalls. I don’t enjoy the thick, full murtabaks from you local mamak outlets.

Damn.. writing a posting about murtabaks during lunch when you're fasting is not such a good idea..

The No News Sporting News

My usual routine is to watch ESPN's Sportcenter whilst having dinner and watch a comedy or a drama series thereafter. Tonight I decided to watch the last half hour of TV3's Bulletin Utama to catch the sports news after Sportscenter. Now I remember why I don't watch the local sporting news.

The sporting news wasn't really about sports. It was questioning why the Selangor players didn't stop celebrating their FA Cup win when "Negaraku" was being played. Firstly, Malaysia is the only country to play their National Anthem after the Trophy has been presented to the Champions and whilst the players are celebrating by parading around the stadium*.

If I had just slogged my ass for 90 minutes to win the damn trophy I would be celebrating with my 60,000 fans too. I doubt if anyone expected or even heard the National Anthem.

The second item in the sporting "news" was some parties unhappiness that Bambang (Selangor's striker from Indonesia) was parading around the stadium with an Indonesian flag and not a Selangor flag. I agree with the discontentment of these people. You don't see Henry or Robben parading around with a French or Dutch flag after they win a match for their clubs. The Damn Idiot was playing for Selangor and not Indonesia.

But the cream of the non-sporting news was the interview given by one of the Head Honchos of our FAM in relation to Item 2 above (Bambang & the Indonesian Flag). This was what he said when questioned.

"Kalau saya main untuk Chelsea saya pun akan 'celebrate' dengan bendera Malaysia" or something to similar effect.

What the Fuck?!?!?! Yes, you can be patriotic but there's a place and time for everything and celebrating with the Malaysian Flag at Stamford Bridge is just plain stupid. More so if the other 15 Non-English international players are not running around in their countries flags. In all reality though I doubt he could run the length of the field and back without getting a cardiac arrest. Chelsea my Ass!!

And that was your local sporting news.

*Negaraku was played to mark the leaving of DYMM.

Best Friends & 18 holes

Last weekend I played golf with my two best friends. Each of us were Best Man at one of the others wedding. Anyway, when we meet on the golf course the rivalry goes through the roof. You see, I met my best friends at the golf course when I was 15 and we have been playing golf with each other for the past 15 years. Nobody wants to lose. We play by the rules scripted in the Rulebook and there is no negotiation. We trash talk and give shit to each other like there is no tommorrow.

Best Friend 1 : There’s a small stone under my ball, can I move the stone? I’ll put the ball back to exactly the same spot.

Best Friend 2 : Yes, you can but you have to take a 2 stroke penalty.

Best Friend 1 : But then I might break my club if I don’t move the stone.

Me : Too bad, you want to move it, take a penalty.

So, Best Friend 1 hit the ball with the stone. Anyone else, we would let them move the stone but not one of us.

Last weekend was even more enjoyable as we “psychoed” Best Friend 1 into playing some really bad golf (by his standards). He was hitting balls "out of bounds", he was missing putts and he was stressed. The things that were coming out of our mouths really got to him and he lost money all around. Nevertheless, it wasn't the money that made the game enjoyable it was the joy of winning and seeing a really good friend struggle and I have never seen him struggle that bad.

He later stated after the game when we were having drinks. “Its no wonder I do well in competitions, playing with you guys is worst than playing in any competition”. True… very true. I just hope things don’t change between us in the next 15 years.