Tuesday, January 31, 2006

goldfish turns tide on memory myth

sunday times, january 29, 2006



"they are said to have a memory span of three seconds, but you can forget that myth."
oh really?

"despite having brains that weigh only a tenth of a gram, they are capable of remembering and learning and they beat trout in intelligence."
wow, trout must be stupid.


the next thing we must ask ourselves is WHO THE HELL RESEARCHES THIS KIND OF STUFF?

"the findings were made by scientists at Queen's university, belfast. researcher rachel dunlop looked at how goldfish and trout reacted when given electric shocks in a tank"
oh, there's the answer.

and if you're worried about animal cruelty...
"the experiments, which complied with animal welfare rules, were done in a tank divided into three sections."
so no worries, eh.

""fish have been regarded as driven by instinct and reflex. this study shows that fish learn to avoid a painful stimulus based on spatial clues and show evidence of spatial memory." says rachel dunlop."
you know, this means that goldfish are not only smarter than trout, they're smarter than humans too.

"behind the glassy eyed stare of the goldfish lie hidden depths, research shows."
hmm... wonder if this excuse would work for me.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

WOOHOO

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR
to all you buggers out there

Saturday, January 28, 2006

long long post

PART ONE
let's talk about the australia day celebrations. people here are really big on australia day. in the words of my beloved cousin,
"it's just another excuse for them to get drunk and beat each other up"
yes, the citizens of australia really know how to enjoy themselves. the lotterywest skyworks are proof of that. and damn, the government has enough money to not only put on fireworks every year, but they can afford to do THIS.


so we went down to watch the fireworks... and this is our story.

we walked around the place before the skyshow started and,
andrew being andrew, he stepped on a piece of crap.


which he tried to pry off with a stick...


when that didn't work, he tried rubbing it off on a rock.

that didn't work either and it's still on his RM3.50 slippers. conversion: that's $1.50 over here.

moving on, we continued walking down this pleasant path where the people were few and the trees were many.


we found a really nice spot where we could just sit down and... well, we just sat down.


but not before andrew posed for a couple of photos.

he's sucking his tummy in, i tell you. and no, he does not look so thoughtful in real life. the sky is damn nice though.

after that, we went back to our spot under a tree and watched this adorable little kid try to impale himself on a spike in the ground. good thing his dad had a strong grip on his jumper. i saw many great photo opportunities, primarily of little kids playing in the river, and one of two little little boys holding hands [i really really wanted to take this one, but i am not a pedophile and will not take pictures of little kids who do not belong to me].

the skyworks itself was not as good as expected. the ending was the only part that seemed slightly worth it. oh well. the trains going back south of the river were jammed full of people. there was one in particular that had more people standing up in the aisles than in the actual seats.

PART TWO
sorry, no pictures for this event.
on to the chinese new year celebrations at church last night. they were good. most performances were last minute [which means the only time they practised was before they had to go on stage] but the quality was definitely there. my favourites were the slide presentation by rick and the michael buble song.

rick's slide presentation was only completed a little while before he had to show it to us. it was really good. he said after that, "it makes us all look much better than we really are", but then we all realized that we're actually a pretty decent bunch of people. goofy at times, and very cheeky, but we have good fun together!!

the michael buble song was done by jason, cheng loon and sean. "since tan and jono are not here, i imported two new people" said jason about cheng loon and sean. [inside joke, he sang with jono and tan before]. all three of them can sing. jason has a great voice for singing blues, cheng loon has a classic boy band voice [i mean that in a good way. not all of them are crap, OK?] and sean just has a bloody fantastic voice.

do you know what happens when you take time to socialize before moving on to the dinner? half the food is gone by the time you get to the tables. sucks man.

ken left for johor this morning. we won't see him for another year at least. rick incorporated a tribute to his slide presentation for ken, and it was really nice. we've lost a great friend and a really good cameraman. but only for a year [hopefully, he'll come back so that we can tease him about wearing that pink shirt].

we sang really funny chinese new year songs too. the 'gong xi gong xi gong xi ni' one, and the 'qi ga long dong qiang dong qiang' one. i got the 'dong qiang dong qiang' one stuck in my head. there was a little kid who started buzzing around me like a cow fly.
he pulled a face at me, and [do unto others what you would have others do unto you] i pulled one back. thsi caused him to run away. i have never seen him before in my life, and i have no idea who he belongs to, but he just started pulling rabbit ears behind my head, and mock-punching me and I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE HE WAS DOING.
"what have you done to incur his wrath" this from joshua, laughing at my predicament.

sorry to bore you. this is the end. again, i say, we have the stupidest conversations in the car.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

on hair

as far as i know, baghdatis does not suffer from mental illness, does not suffer from any physical deformities, does not suffer from a case of lleyton-ism [i.e. COME ON!!] and he loves his girlfriend.

so yeah, jon, no reason for you to dislike him besides the fact that he beat our favourite player. but he actually played really really well against A-rod. and he just beat ljubicic, so he's justified his talent. and he's THROUGH TO THE SEMIS. ah, all is well.

---- censored ----

sorry about that. i actually wrote all this really sad crap about my awful day, but i decided i really don't give a shit anymore.

anyway, tomorrow is australia day. too bad i'm not patriotic. i was actually thinking about asking a bunch of friends to just go to the foreshore [shelley] for picnic then watch the awesome skyworks [which i really love]. yeah, you guys. but then i realized.... i'm too bloody lazy to bust my ass organizing. i mean, it would be fun, but... i'm just a slack arse.

so, national day of australia. the day that something important happened for australia in 1901. sorry, i can't remember what the event was. was it australia becoming a commonwealth? dunno. i dont know how to sing the australian anthem, and i dont know how many stars there are on the flag. i dont remember how to sing the malaysian anthem either, but at least i remember the flag.

jess is lamenting about her haircut, which is really short this time. i swear she'll look good with any hair, well almost. what bugs me is that i severely need a haircut but i havent had time to go get one, and i wanna chop most of the hair off. short. i dont care what it looks like. ok, that isn't entirely true, but as long as it's not too bad, i dont care. so long as it's short. and if you've cut your hair and it's not what you like, there's no use complaining. cause in case you've forgotten, HAIR GROWS BACK!! at least it should when you're at this age.

words of wisdom from terry pratchett. on balding...
"less hair to comb, more face to wash"

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

rum and raisin

i've noticed that for the almost two months i've been working, my hours have been steadily increasing each week. [not cause i'm a good worker, it's cause i'm cheap. my wages aren't bad, but they are at their lowest at their moment]. anyway, this week, i got less hours than the last three weeks, so i was like "AHA. not so much work this week!" then the boss gives me two extra shifts which brings my hour tally up EVEN HIGHER THAN IT WAS LAST WEEK, which i thought was pretty high. shockingly, i'm not complaining. cause, me being the pathetic jellyfish that i am, it's not like i have anything BETTER to do. so sad, but so undeniably true.

half proceeds go to the unreasonably-expensive-but-totally-kick-ass-camera foundation which shall eventually help buy the said unreasonably expensive but totally kick-ass camera for a would be ecstatic girl*.

*the 'girl' fact might be
argued by some, as this particular 'girl' does not display half as many 'girl' traits as she should. e.g. the ability to distinguish the colour maroon from the colour burgundy from the colour scarlett. who the hell can do that anyway?

so richard and jane drove my mum's car to pick me up from work at 9.30 just now. MAN, i must've looked so surprised cause they both just cracked up. then, i very generously donated my rum and raisin ice-cream to richard, which might not have been a very good idea cause it contains alcohol and he was the driver.
i went over to their house, where i got my first glimpse of ANDREW since he touched down. his head is still massive. and that is all i will comment on for the moment.

my tongue hurts cause i just ate very very hot maggi soup noodles - oriental flavour, in case you're wondering. baghdatis is kicking ljubicic's butt on court right now. he's become one of my favourite players to watch cause HE'S SO GOOD. he beat roddick, but he really deserved to win that match the way he did.
marcos baghdatis winning a point off andy roddick. courtesy australianopen.com

i want him to win, then absolutely cream federer in the final. that would be AWESOME. cause he's such a good player.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

style over skill

there's been this sudden hype over tennis in recent years. no, it's not just cause a six foot tall seventeen year old girl won wimbledon, and it's not because there's a man who defies the normal laws of tennis and works magic out on court. no, it's because it's no longer just about the speed and the skill. it's about the brand of your shoes, the colour of your wristbands, and the style of your dress.

the latest thing people have been picking on is maria sharapova's nightie, which she sports at this year's australian open. i forget who designs it. personally, i didn't notice it looked like a nightie until my sister pointed it out. but everyone's saying it, apparently. maria kirilenko looked dressed for a party in her outfit, frillier than sharapova's costume.

maria kirilenko

and what about serena williams' well talked-about boots at the 2004 US open? if any player deserves to be mentioned in all time most innovative tennis attire, it's this woman. see for yourself.


i do have to say though, it's an improvement over the attire a century ago.

yep, that's may sutton in all her tennis glory, 1905. she then went on to shock the world by showing up for a match wearing one of her father's oversized t-shirts, saying it allowed her "more freedom to move".

and check out suzanne lenglon in this outfit. it was a scandal, it was. her showing up in a SHORT SKIRT like that, not to mention, she wasn't wearing a cap. the people of 1922 sure were conservative.


she looks like a nun next to daniela hantuchova though.


and this frenzy doesn't just extend to the female players. the men are affected too. rafael nadal's three-quarter length shorts spent their week at number one for most used conversation starter at one point. too bad the trend wasn't picked up.


well, at least guys nowadays dont dress like THIS.


and gone are the days of the all white shirt, shoes, pants, skirt, socks, headband, wristband, hat etc etc. hardly any player wears an all white outfit at tournaments nowadays, wimbledon being the exception. they insist on the traditional virginal white for all outfits. but STILL, some players manage to find a loophole.


i now leave you with MORE PICTURES. well, ones that i like. i'm guilty of paying more attention to the way a picture is taken more than the subject itself.


andy roddick celebrating


daniela hantuchova celebrating


maria sharapova in her nightie. great perspective!!! the photo, i mean.


fans of marcos baghdatis. awesome player. AWESOME PHOTO.

many thanks to the websites that provided me with these photos. i'm not pro enough to take any of them.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

peas and peanuts

i'm eating curry nuts, wasabi peas and wasabi peanuts. no, wasabi peas and wasabi peanuts are NOT the same thing. peas are green, they're vegetables. peanuts are brown, they're.... nuts. but they are both covered with wasabi.

today i saw an old man who was cleaning his ice-cream with a piece of tissue. no, i'm serious. he was rubbing his serviette all over his ice cream cone, including the ice cream itself. and then i saw a tiny little kid running around. and he was short and chubby so he looked like he was gonna fall down, roll around on his stomach, and not be able to get up again.

second post of the day. third if you count the one on two guys. oh crap. the wasabi peas, curry peanuts, and wasabi peanuts are almost totally gone. wait, did i do that by myself? couldn't have. i didn't notice eating them at all. hang on, it could be like the time i opened a box of cheezels and just ate and ate and ate and ate till there were none left. oh well.

oh, i just remembered something. sarah/jon, does matt have a little brother who's about six or seven?

my sister just blamed me for the sudden depletion of the butter cookies in a tin. did you eat all this? she demands. i shake my head. come on, the sun is setting. you can't expect me to remember something i did in the MORNING!! that's just outrageous.

you're not so big

yes, no, maybe
i don't know
can you repeat the question?
you're not the boss of me now
you're not the boss of me now
you're not the boss of me now
and you're not so big
you're not the boss of me now
you're not the boss of me now
you're not the boss of me now
and you're not so big
life is unfair

i started singing this song for no good reason at all during the barbecue at steven's place the other night, and esther joined in halfway. at the end of it, she said "i love that song. you know, kim, it suits you really well." kim said "what?" esther continues "yeah, it describes you. sort of like what you're all about."

>.<

what?

Thursday, January 19, 2006

missing lunch

went to work today with my sister. i emptied my purse last night [offering plus buying planet shakers shirts. kinda expensive] so i told her to bring money for the bus ride.

got to southlands and suddenly i remember something. did you bring money for the bus trip back? i asked her. she looked at me for a while. hey, i'm new at this bus thing. you can't expect me to know this stuff. i turn to her. what? if you take the bus here you have to take the bus back, stupid. how can you not know that? forgive my harsh words there. come on, what would you do if you had no money to go back home after working to lunch? duh~ you'd be concerned about dying of starvation. pft, stupid question.

start praying that you'll see someone you know, she says. i start praying that i'll see someone, ANYONE, so that i can - and i hate doing this - borrow money. 10 minutes till my shift starts. i walk from woolworths to coles without seeing anyone i know. 5 minutes till shift starts. nope, no luck. 3 minutes, NOTHING NADA ZILCH. all the time i am praying that by some miracle, we'll find a way back. thing is, while i was muttering insults at my sister, i actually didn't really worry. i dunno why. my stomach was of course, feeling slightly nauseous at the thought of missing a meal, but that's besides the point.

2 minutes and i'm about to head up the escalator. SUDDENLY, i see a blonde head of hair. nothing wrong with that, but it was a FAMILIAR blonde head of hair. SALLY COOPER, HERO OF THE DAY. thank you Lord. so i asked if i could borrow a dollar [i'll pay you back when i see you again, i won't forget, thank you thank you etc etc]. no, God has a sense of humour for sure. he has to humble me by dragging me upstairs to sally's mum cause she doesn't have money on her. and her WHOLE FAMILY is sitting up there and i have to apologize to her mum for the trouble and i thank them profusely while the uncles and aunties chuckle discreetly.

point being, prayer really works. i'm reading this book on shortest but most effective prayers now. it's kinda true. except some of the other things i've been praying for havent come through yet. oh well. they'll happen in His time.

the right, the wrong, and the non

WARNING: long and potentially controversial post. also, religious content.

DISCLAIMER: everything in this post is OPINION. my opinion. i am not saying that what i say is correct. nor am i trying to influence anyone else into my way of thinking. i am merely voicing my views on this event.

that said, i went to the planet shakers rally last night. man, i was pumped and i was excited. having gone two years ago, i knew this year would be better than the last cause, come on, you don't expect them to get worse, right?

got in there [i shan't elaborate on things like parking and trying to find seats, cause that's not what i'm trying to say] and waited for the thing to start. the atmosphere was good - people all around were excited and happy. then it started and there was cheering and clapping. we started to sing a new song and even though i didn't know it, i sang along and clapped anyway.

then we sang jump around, one of the most awesome songs to get excited about - EVER. even before i went into the rally, i knew that this song would be the one to get the crowd pumped. so i sang along and jumped for a bit, then i stopped. cause for some reason, i wasn't as excited about it as i thought i would be. after that, the songs were all good, but something wasn't right. i mean, everyone was excited and clapping and singing and cheering, but there was something that felt slightly off.

i didn't know what it was until someone told me halfway through the rally. the guy on stage was asking us to jump if we loved God and some people didn't so he said some people weren't ready. my mate told me we weren't jumping not because we weren't ready, it's because we didn't wanna be like all those people pretending to be Jesus. [something along those lines]. come on, the guy didn't exactly give us a choice.

coming into planet shakers, you're expected to be pumped about being able to express yourself in front of God. last night was more about making loud noise than praising God. people were cheering for no reason at all. the whole thing became totally irrelevant. i mean, makes you wonder exactly WHY these people were there. not to glorify God, but to have some fun. youth rally morphed into rock concert.

i'm not saying this without grounds. the thing that really made me realize that these people were just out for a night of fun was when mike guglielmucci stood up to preach. he said "in 1788" WOOOAAAAAAAAAH "under a gum tree" WOOOOOHOOOOO. i mean, what's the point of whooping after the guy talks about a gum tree. THERE'S NO RELEVANCE WHATSOEVER. i'm not saying it's wrong to cheer, but do it for the right reasons, at the right time. to really express your love for God and your love for being in His presence. cause in the end, anything else is just noise pollution.

i went to this rally two years ago, when i had first moved to australia. let me tell you, that was a truly AWESOME experience. having come from a town where church service was limited to about 50 people each week, this event was something that i found AMAZING. amazing that people gathered in thousands to praise God. i loved it, and everything was so real. standouts were henry seely leading worship, jurgen matthesius speaking about offering [now there was a true motivator] and Reggie dabbs preaching.

last night wasn't a total disappointment though. the point where i felt it was really all about God was when we sang evermore. nobody was making unnecessary noise, and it was good cause everyone was really singing from their hearts and lifting their hands to God. in stark contrast to the slightly artificial cheers and whoops of the crowd, this song made me question my own reasons. i'm not gonna pretend that i was totally there for God; part of it was the excitement and the awesome music but while i was singing that song, i prayed really really hard that i was doing this for the right reason: to glorify God.
it's all about Jesus

we discussed this in the car during the long trip back home. in rick's words, this event has been an eye-opener. we weren't greatly moved by the presence of God [except mebbe during evermore] but we've definitely received something different. again, i am not a saint and i will never profess to being one, but i am trying to be more like Jesus. i will never be like Him - won't come close, and i know that. but i also know i love him and i want to live my life for Him. and i'm not saying this just to make me feel good either. truth is, i haven't felt a really close connection with God in a while.
it's all about You, it's all about You Jesus

i'm turned off the song jump around at the moment. nonono, it's still a really great song with really good music, but seeing the display of people jumping to it without thought has disappointed me. i'm gonna say something that i know i will regret one day, but at the end of the night, my feelings for the rally were slightly disgusted. great night out if it was for any other reason. rargh.
i'm sorry Lord for the things i've made it

i will not jump just cause everyone else is doing it and i will think before i make loud noise. i also have to learn not to judge people so soon. cause in the end, I may be the one in the wrong.
i'll bring you more than a song, for a song in itself is not what you have required. you search much deeper within, through the way things appear

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

WHO DA MAN??

i went to watch king kong with sam and richard last night. long long LOOOOOOONG movie. but the action bits were BLOODY COOL.

those of you who told me the movie was really awesome and only-stupid-people-think-it's-crap, suck on your words man. the movie was good but i wouldn't call it awesome. awesome can be used to describe the action, but not the movie as a whole. in rick's words "it could have been slightly more dramatic". hmm.. i reckon it was the action that carried the movie through [this is proven through the characters' limited dialogue] because really, you wanna watch king kong cause you wanna see him rip the dinosaurs to bite sized pieces.

retrospectively...
kim: i think at one point, i started clapping. the part where he [kong] was mashing the dinosaurs with the rocks.
rick: no, it was the part where he was tearing the skull of the t-rex apart with his bare hands.

there's one bit where the vegetarian dinosaurs with long necks are being chased by little raptors, and they're all thundering through the jungle. suddenly, one falls, and then another, and they all start rolling down the slope. i'm like damn, they're stupid. rick's like no wonder they got extinct.

wanna know the most shocking part of the movie to me? i didn't blink when kong fought the t-rexes, yawned a bit when naomi watts was being chased around, but i let out an AUDIBLE GASP when kong grabbed a human and bit his head off. ISN'T HE SUPPOSED TO BE GENTLE? ok, maybe not, as the dinosaurs will tell you.

most disturbing part was the guy being devoured alive by the giant mutant leeches. you could actally hear him screaming as his face disappeared into the pink gullet of the creature while his limbs disappeared into the pick gullets of MORE GIANT MUTANT LEECHES.

the cinematography was good though. you know, one of my favourite parts was when kong sat down on top of the building with naomi watts to watch the sunset. no, not because it was touching and moving and not because he understood what 'beautiful' meant. it was cause of the AMAZING SCENERY AROUND THEM. seriously, ok, even before they sat down, there was a 2 second glimpse of the city of new york below them and the fiery sky above the horizon. and immediately i was hooked. YOU KNOW WHAT GREAT PHOTO POSSIBILITIES THERE WERE?

another really good part was when the sun was rising in the forest and shafts of light broke through the lush greenery and illuminated the stunted growth below. i bet you anything it was computer generated. why is it that normal people never get to witness moments like those and yet they appear in movie after movie after movie? it's cause they have this useful and moderately recent development called CGI.

king kong is my kind of monkey. he's got EGO. did you notice after he beat the dinosaurs into piles of crud, he stood up on his hind legs and went "ROARGH!!!" while thumping his chest? he's going who da man? who da MAN? WHO DA MAAAAAN?!?!?!

stop cringing, people.

planet shakers tonight. can't wait. don't expect me to have a voice tomorrow.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

chicken and sausages

i have just returned from a dental appoinment which dragged me out of bed at the ungodly hour of ten past eight in the morning. considering i slept around one last night, i think i have grounds to complain.

hmm... esther's really really psyched up about taking her driving lessons. you can tell she really enjoys driving just by the way she talks about it.

we were goofing around last night at steven's house. ching can do this thing where she folds her legs up underneath her and lifts herself up using her arms and then swings forward and backward like a pendulum thing. we were all cheering her on and she got a little excited and swung too far back and toppled forward. then everyone started trying to do it. jason could do it and HE COULD WALK. everyone else who could manage it was only jumping around but HE COULD WALK. he could do handstands too. rachel tried doing it but she could only do one leg. richard tried helping by pushing her other leg, and sean started pulling her foot to the right position by the TOES. in the end, ching was the one that got her legs folded up.

i, on the other hand, tried a variety of techniques - all suggested by my dear friends - to fold my legs up that way. i could hook one leg, but not the other. esther tried yanking my foot. sam tried holding the other leg in place. ching told me to stretch out my legs and fold one then the other. i tried that one. folded one leg, couldn't bend the other. so ching tried pushing the outstretched leg to bend it. it wouldn't bend and i ended up falling backwards.

wow, the chicken last night was REALLY REALLY GOOD. [i think ken did the marinade] it was awesome. unfortunately, the barbecue pit was very small and very weak and the chicken was taking AGES to cook. people started going round to the back of the BBQ pit with bits of cardboard to fan the fire. that's the true face of desperation. audrey was having a blast standing by the pit with her tongs.

at some point, sean suddenly said "hey, my chicken's not cooked". i got paranoid and asked my sister if mine was cook [i have no idea what's cooked and what's not]. i asked rachel too and she said it was ok. i continued eating but i realized something was wrong. look, ok, i may not be able to tell cooked chicken by looks, but i can certainly do so by taste. and my chicken tasted raw. i asked joe, who had a good look at it, then proclaimed it TOTALLY UNCOOKED and advised me to throw it away. after that, i ate salad.

sean was putting sauce on his sausage. and i look at it and i'm like "i don't think that's mayonnaise" he goes "yeah, i don't think so either." take a look at the bottle. CEASAR SALAD DRESSING.well, at least he knows how to use it for salad as well. the salad had raw broccoli in it. -________-

i don't actually remember what we did, but i remember having a lot of fun. whatever, though, we ended up leaving the place just past eleven. which was kinda late...

richard threw the cushion footy in my face - on purpose.. then threw a basketball in my face - not on purpose [or was it]. he's such a loving cousin.

Monday, January 16, 2006

the bottle analogy

i have decided that today i shall buy the rest of the presents that i need to buy. regardless of how lazy i am and how much i DETEST shopping.

let me make a point here. some people [i.e. most females] actually ENJOY shopping. they will walk around from shop to shop and spend TIME looking at all the merchandise and bargaining and and and SHOPPING. me, on the other hand, if i could, i would go in, buy what i need, and get out quickly. unfortunately, that requires you to have MONEY. enough so that you don't have to spend time shopping around for cheap stuff.

quote of the day:
A: my life is like a water bottle and all the water has been drained out of it.
B: when the water bottle is empty, just fill it up with water again la!
A: yeah, but who's gonna fill it up? i've been empty for so long.
B: the bottle can't be filled if the cap is still on!!!

that was so pro. pat on the back from me.

hmm... one good thing about shopping, though, is that shopping centres have AIR-CONDITIONING. something that is truly beneficial to one's well being on a hot day such as today. i need to eat something. i'm hungry. i finished all my cheezels yesterday, so i think today i'm gonna have to eat shapes or chocolate. mmm...

got barbecue later at ken's house. FREE FOOD!!! and get to hang out with friends and stuff.

rargh. hot. cannot stand.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

lamentations

i have not blogged for nearly a week. you know why? haven't been using the computer much. not much by normal standards, anyway. i didn't TOUCH the computer AT ALL the whole of friday. not at all. i was so busy with my intensely active social life i didn't have time to use the machine.

i wish.

the sad truth is, i had to go to work pretty much the minute i woke up. pathetic people like me have shifts at 10.30 in the morning because we've got nothing better to do besides sleep. i dont know what i did after work. i think i ate. yeah, i was eating. and then richard came to pick us up for youth which is actually a dinner at pastor's house. that was fun. except at the end we were subjected to the intense torture of listening to an extremely repetitive converser. i shall not name names. i'm above that. it's called class [cough cough choke]. right, i'm so classy for having mentioned it in the first place. stupick.

Auntie kim preached this morning. it was really good [short and simple enough for my brain to comprehend]. oh, before that, i have to mention this. KJ, ken and audrey sang "one day at a time" and it was bloody nice. Audrey just has this amazing voice and KJ's sweet voice sounds really good singing the harmonies. ken provided the male voice [well, duh] and the three of them singing together sounded really nice.

anyway, moving on to the message. James 3:13-15 if i'm not mistaken. about not worrying about yesterdays and tomorrows. the bit that i really thought about, though, was when she said [and this is something we've ALL heard before] "take things one day at a time. yesterday is gone, tomorrow may not come. so if you love someone, TELL THEM. if you feel a calling to do something, FOLLOW IT. you can't change yesterday, and you don't know what tomorrow will bring, so make TODAY count. do what you want to do and live a fulfilling life." not in those exact words, but close enough.

WARNING: the following contains lamentations of the author that may seem very out of character. she was high on cheezels.

rargh. i'm having internal struggles. wow, that sounds dramatic. INTERNAL STRUGGLES. no, it's not dramatic and i'm not trying to make it sound like it is. i've just realized that my mum has been right all these years about me. the problem with you, kim, is that you don't know what you like and what you want. shit la. knowing what i like and what i want means growing up. and i'm not ready for that yet.

and i have no basis whatsoever for liking what i think i like and wanting what i think i want. i'm having jessica simpson moments when i go i'm turning 15 which is, like, mid teens, which is like, nearly 20, which is practically mid 20s which is OMFG 30! ok, that was very exaggerated and i actually NEVER think like that. i'm not the kind of person who looks forwards to birthdays but i'm not the type who dreads them either. they come and go and in the end it's just like every other day. presents are just there to make up for those stupid birthday songs that people feel compelled to sing every once in a while.

when i was in primary school, i had all these great ambitions of becoming a taxi driver or a firewoman or BOTH. at some point i wanted to be something more pro like an architect or a surgeon. other possibilities included engineer, part time genius, some sort of sportsperson [this stemmed from never having been good at sport], yogi bear [think KINDERGARTEN], fighter pilot [i would so love that although i have no idea what i'm gonna bomb], professional food taster, robocop [omg, i can't believe i just admitted that. i'm such a DORK].

point being. there was never any pressure for me to decide what i wanna do when i grow up. i dont have to know what i want to do NOW, but i'm thinking i should have SOME idea, right? i mean, even SARAH knows what she wants to do. and jess and karina and may and them all know they want to do pharmacy or something like that. me, on the other hand.. well, i think i know what i like and what i want, but it doesnt seem very uhm... what's the word... useful? look, people wanna do pharmacy, commerce, PSYCHOLOGY, science. i look lazy next to them. and, ok, it's also very un-chinese.

wow, long post. sorry for having bored you. it's upsetting that the only thing i can talk to is a BLOG. congrats if you've made it this far without actually mentally calling me a retard at all.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

bimber

i've had dinner now and i think i can settle down to post a slightly more light-hearted entry.

i nearly missed the bus today cause i was busy chatting to jon. thank God there were other people waiting and they hailed the bus for me. God loves me. i know. i feel special. ANYWAY...

slept at one something last night and woke up at nine something. WAY too early. damn. stupid phone. and NOBODY went to answer it. sigh~ work started at 12.30 and when i got there, i was still a little bit blur. the boss took one look at me and said "you look tired, you tired issit?" and i'm like "huh? what? oh, yeah. uh huh."

i did the STUPIDEST thing. supposed to make a smoothie. i put ice in the blender and blended it. by itself. causing a huge racket. and i didn't realize what i was doing. and james had to switch off the blender cause i was so out of it. not only that, i then poured the wrong amount of milk into the blender. how retarded is that? making TWO mistakes on the SAME smoothie. this caused james to call me 'silly' and has added one more point to his side of the scores. james 2, kim 0. lovely.

boss actually told me today that she was gonna call me 'KIMBER' for the rest of my life. she will not call me kim. she will call me KIMBER. forever. full stop. i was surprised that she was actually AWARE of it. i can hear karina going "kimber bimber"

after my shift, i went downstairs and sat on a bench while i ate my ice-cream and donut. this adorable little kid came and plonked down next to me. then he got up and ran away. i though, shit am i that scary? but no, he came back with a nintendo gameboy. and he starts playing. i watched him while i ate my donut [a little stale]. blond hair under a sun visor and blue eyes. the most GORGEOUS brown eyelashes. seriously, it's like he curls them everyday. they're AMAZING. they're... AWESOME. oh man, they beat william's eyelashes, and william's eyelashes are like.. high class. this kid, his were PERFECT.

damn, i sound like a pedophile. i didn't talk to him, though, because i know there are all these stupid laws about child abuse and stuff. and also cause i don't go up to random people and strike up conversations [even if they're like, six]. and he was eyeing my donut a little and i didn't feel like sharing.

live

i saw on the news today that andy caldecott, an australian motorcycle rally rider crashed his bike and died an instant death. the first thing i thought of was the conversation i'd had with jon earlier today - we'd been talking about stuff that we wanted to do and mine included para-sailing and various other moderately dangerous activities.
don't let age catch up

jon wouldn't do those things - not that he's pro-safe, it's cause he's pro-life. conversation moved on to life expectancy and how long we thought we'd live. i was guessing 60 [God, let me live longer] but as long as i filled it up, it'd be alright. andy cadecott died doing what he loved, but he was only 41. he had [hypothetically] another 41 years to live, but he lost it all in one moment of rallying.
be consistent, safe and steady; or risk it all for happiness

value life. God created us to die in the end, but not before we'd actually DONE something. something could mean anything - we don't all have to be edison or gates. we have to be kim, and jess, and sarah, and... jon, and richard, and... uhm...kevin.
when you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice [quote from someone]

choice: do what you want [fighter pilot, photojournalist, professional footballer].. or be safe [accountant, economist, librarian].
the most important thing is to keep yourself alive

Sunday, January 08, 2006

polar ends


photo by Norbert Rosing; taken in Arctic, Canada.

i found this picture on national geographic. oh man... how cute is that little ball of fur covered flab? i mean, LOOK AT IT.. sooooo endearing!!! the mother doesn't look to happy with it though.. the little guy probably discovered the use of his NAILS. i can just hear the mother going "why was i blessed with an idiot kid whose butt finds it hard to resist the pull of gravity?"

damn cute, but.

Saturday, January 07, 2006

effing weather

i feel like shit

no joke. i've gotten heat stroke three out of the last four days.

for those of you who are lucky enough to never get heat stroke or who do not know what it feels like.... it's when your head hurts and pounds when you move; thud thud thud like the drum beat of a blink182 song. it's when your stomach keeps churning like there's a roller coaster in there, and you feel like puking even though you know there's nothing to puke. it's when you feel really warm and you start to sweat [although this might come more from the heat part, not the stroke part]. it's when you just wanna curl up and sleep [or die, depending on how depressed you are] so that you don't have to feel so cruddy.

i feel like shit. have i told you yet?

armageddon

i heard the song "tide is high" by atomic kitten this morning and i was struck by how chick-y it is. i mean, if 'just like heaven' is a chick flick, 'tide is high' is a chick song. proof? i distinctly remember hilary duff singing it at the start of one of her movies. i can't remember which one, but ANYTHING that appears in a hilary duff movie has got to be for chicks.

half an hour ago, i was spread out on the floor trying my best not to move because of the overwhelming heat. i don't know what it is with this house; hellishly hot in summer but unreasonably cold in winter. i tell you what, NO INSULATION. wanna know a really good method of insulation? use books. there was a book on the floor and i picked it up. surprise! the floor underneath the book was COLD. well, not cold, but it was cold compared to the rest of the carpet. i quickly put the book back down [not sure why i did this. i guess i just thought preserving ANY coolness in the house would be a start]. of course, the book was isobelle carmody's 'darkfall' which is about 600 pages long.

has anyone read 'good omens' by neil gaiman and terry pratchett? it's one of the FUNNIEST books around. i know some people don't like terry pratchett because they think his books are weird, but this one is GOOD. let me type you the blurb on the back of the book:

"we hear the world will end on a Saturday. next saturday, in fact. just before dinner. unfortunately, sister Mary Loquacious of the Chattering Order has misplaced the Antichrist. the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ride motorcycles. and the representatives from Heaven and Hell decided they actually like the human race..."

armageddon. great subject to write about. it's one of those books you sit down to read and have a lot of fun with. can't tell you how many times i've caused people to think i'm schizophrenic by laughing out loud to myself all of a sudden. my friends don't get it when i do that. we'll be sitting in the library during english and i'll be reading terry pratchett. suddenly, i'll erupt into laughter and sarah and amy look at me like i'm chris mo in drag. [sorry mo]

Friday, January 06, 2006

pot luck? pot bless?

jane's back from kuching. i saw her today. wanna know the first thing she said to me? GUESS.

no, it wasn't a polite hello. nor was it an oh no, not you! it's not something that's generally said to people after you haven't seen them for 35 days. she said...

"oh my gosh, kim, did you get FATTER?"

i found this hilarious, because she is the first one to have noticed. and even if she wasn't, she is the first to have pointed it out. i love my cousin. sheesh. ok, moving on.

today was the first time i'd been over to their house in a long time. i missed eating their food, and i said as much. so jane made me kaya bread XD. and i thanked her by planting my butt on her freshly changed sheets.

went to pastor's house for youth fellowship today. caught up with a lot of people; suleen, for example. haven't seen her for AGES. irene and catherine; see them in church but hardly talk to them. irene's going off to JAPAN on sunday. lucky bugger. Osaka for three weeks. smart person, gets chosen for exchange. Joe; we've got this brother-sister thing going on. i'm his big sis and he's my little bro. so i'm lording it over him [on account of me being the BIG sis] and this conversation ensues.

joe: OK, then, grandma with BRACES.
kim: fine! little brother with BEARD.

he's 29 and i'm 14.

for some odd reason, jane and samuel started comparing feet. so i joined in with my own feet [no contest there]. then richard came and stuck his massive feet in my face. pig. before that, he went outside and played with the dog, then came in and hugged me - while i was holding my precious ice-cream. wouldn't let me go cause he wanted to get dog on me. andy better not be like that.

the dog's name was Rocky. how original.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

i am, apparently..

i took a bunch of quizzes. only the ones that interest me, mind you. they were.... enlightening, in a slightly redundant kind of way.

You Are Mexican Food
Spicy yet dependable.
You pull punches, but people still love you.

What Kind of Food Are You?

do people really still love me?

Your Brain's Pattern
Your mind is a creative hotbed of artistic talent.
You're always making pictures in your mind, especially when you're bored.
You are easily inspired to think colorful, interesting thoughts.
And although it may be hard to express these thoughts, it won't always be.

What Pattern Is Your Brain?

artistic my butt. colourful, interesting thoughts - maybe. mostly to do with how to word me next threat to sarah.


You Are a Little Scary
You've got a nice edge to you. Use it.

How Scary Are You?

just a little scary? come on! my fans will be disappointed. [shut up, i know you're thinking "what fans?"]


Your Personality Is
Rational (NT)

You are both logical and creative. You are full of ideas.
You are so rational that you analyze everything. This drives people a little crazy!

Intelligence is important to you. You always like to be around smart people.
In fact, you're often a little short with people who don't impress you mentally.

You seem distant to some - but it's usually because you're deep in thought.
Those who understand you best are fellow Rationals.

In love, you tend to approach things with logic. You seek a compatible mate - who is also very intelligent.

At work, you tend to gravitate toward idea building careers - like programming, medicine, or academia.

With others, you are very honest and direct. People often can't take your criticism well.

As far as your looks go, you're coasting on what you were born with. You think fashion is silly.

On weekends, you spend most of your time thinking, experimenting with new ideas, or learning new things.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! now THAT, is pro. how much of that is true? "you seem distant to some, but that's only because you're deep in thought". uhmm... yes, that's very.. true. very true.
ah... the wonders of multi-tasking. as i sit here typing this, i am cooking lunch at the same time. and no, i am not just boiling instant noodles or making a sandwich as some of you might think [i know you all look down on my non-existent cooking skills]. i am, in fact, cooking curry. that's right, i'm capable of - oh, hang on, it's done. lemme just pop it out of the microwave.

OK, fine, so my mum cooked it. but i had to heat it up!

yes, curry tastes good. omg! OMG! do you know what gisela dulko just did? do you? she just saved 4 match points [to stosur] and came back to win the tiebreaker in the second set after being down 5-3. how great is she? [btw, i'm talking about tennis, in case you weren't sure. don't worry, it's not just you]

i got this thing off my cousin's blog. she's on the side bar there on the right. right there. see where it says 'charz'? yeah, that's her.

The results of your analysis say:

You plan ahead, and are interested in beauty, design, outward appearance, and symmetry.
You are a person who thinks before acting, intelligent and thorough.
You are diplomatic, objective, and live in the present.
You are a talkative person, maybe even a busybody!
You enjoy life in your own way and do not depend on the opinions of others.

MY ASS!

no way they can get all this out of looking at crappy handwriting. and i know they don't, they just randomly generate some stuff based on the stuff you said. i like the bit about my being intelligent though XD. not sure about the busybody bit, though, but i'll take it as a compliment anyway.

you enjoy life in your own way
what a way to say that i'm a weirdo!

who here has read the 13 and a half lives of captain bluebear by walter moers? and no, that is NOT a lame book.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

shock horror

i couldn't do this yesterday. i started to blog..... but then.... you know how sometimes you're doing homework and you just fall asleep? no? fine, that's what it was sort of like. only i didn't fall asleep, i went off to watch Numbers on channel 10.

what was the point of the doing homework and falling asleep analogy?

anyway, yesterday, i was soooo freaking tired. rargh! comes from standing around and scooping ice-cream for six hours. to be fair, i had a half hour break in between which i spent stuffing my face with a late lunch and browsing through [what i felt was] a terribly inadequate bookstore.

the work wasn't all that bad - it wasn't toooo busy [unexpected considering it was a tuesday]. the thing is, i had to work with pregnant-goldfish guy. sorry, dude, i'm forever gonna connect you with pregnant goldfish. it's your own fault ok? btw, this is the guy who told me that 'twit' means pregnant goldfish. it's something that i am yet to verify.

anyway [and you're gonna have to have the logic of a 3 year old to follow this next part] something funny happened. we were on the first shifts of the day so he asked me "do you know who's working later?" and i said "no". and he goes..
"you know Apple*?"
"which one?"
"the one you always work with."
"uh huh."
"she scares me."
"how come?"
"cause she's always grumpy. i don't like working with her"
"=.="
"she never smiles, and she always looks grumpy when she works."
--then [and this is the funny part] he does an impersonation of apple*. her face is always set in this certain way, so he copies it and starts swaggering around--
then he continues "and Banana* scares me too." at this point i laugh really hard, cause not only is banana a really nice girl, she's also way way way smaller [and smarter, might i add] than pregnant-goldfish.
"are you serious? how come?"
"cause she's always doing this [jumps around on the spot] for no reason."
"so? that's cause she's happy."
"and you scare me cause you laugh too much."

at that moment, Banana walks in for her shift.
"noooooo."
later... boss says to me "ey, you can go for your break when Apple* comes in for her shift"
i start laghing cause pregnant goldfish has a look of absolute horror on his face. he has to work with the three people that scare him most. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

and the worst thing was, when Apple* came in, i started laughing everytime i looked at her cause my mind kept throwing up the picture of pregnant goldfish impersonating her. >.<

and after he finished his shift and left, this adorable little girl came up to the counter. me and banana were gushing at how cute she was while she was talking to the boss. and then she left. the boss turns around and tells us "that was pregnant-goldfish's sister, looking for him." -_______- me and banana were both thinking "how the hell can something so cute be related to something so... fishy". and, no, the boss did not actually call him pregnant goldfish.

but the scariest thing that happened was....... I SAW ARSEWIPE.

no, really, i shit you not. HE WAS THERE. i came out of the little kitchen at the back [you know, i don't understand why they don't just call me 'dishpig'] and i saw this guy walking away with his little kid brother in tow. i looked at the back of that ugly head and thought "HAHAHA. doesn't that look like arsewipe" then he comes back to check if his waffles are done [thank God i didn't take his order] and i realized "freaking hell. that IS arsewipe." of course, i just continued my work, wiping down the counter.. with my back turned to him.

sarah, he's even skinnier when he's out of school uniform. a bit more awkward looking too. the kid brother's a little hyperactive, though, i would think. or maybe he was just really, REALLY hungry.

we have to write little descriptions of customers on the orders so that we know what to give who. one such description was 'stripe boy' so when the order was done, i started looking for 'stripe boy'. couldn't find him so i asked banana. she couldn't find him either. i mean, how hard could it be to spot an eight year old boy wearing a striped shirt, right? bloody hard when he doesn't exist, i tell you, cause then 'stripe boy' comes to claim his food... and he's not 'stripe boy' at all. he's bloody full-grown 'stripe man'!! ok, so he exists, but he's certainly not a kid. i promise you, 'stripe boy' was the boss's description.

i died at 10.30 last night, which is why i could wake up at 8.30 this morning after a good 10 hrs of sleep. usually, i sleep after midnight and wake up around 10. later, if nobody drags me out of bed. this is a problem, especially on sundays cause now church starts an 9.30!!!! argh. part of the reason i slept so early was cause me feet were killing me. i wore my lousy flat-soled shoes - in fact, what shoes? for all the good it did my feet. even my socks offered more padding and support.

i think i should go back to sleep, aye. sounds like i'm still in my cranky-morning state. i've only spoken one word since i woke up, which was 'hello' when the phone rang. the rest have all been grunts going like "ngh" or sometimes "mmh" for variation.

*names have been changed to protect the identity of those in question

Monday, January 02, 2006

hopman cup 2006: so far, a brief summary

WARNING: contents may induce sleep in non-tennis-freaks.

not sure how many of you follow the tennis, but the hopman cup is being held here in Perth, Western Australia from the 30th December 2005 to 6th January 2006 at Burswood. as i type this, argentina's mixed doubles team [Dulko/Gaudio] is battling for a spot in the finals against Krajicek/Wessels of the Netherlands.


krajicek and wessels, hopman cup 2006 session 1. courtesy http://hopmancup.com.au

argentina is down by two games in the first set and i'm not too happy with that. granted, the dutch team is really good. michaella krajicek totally dominated gisela dulko in the second set of their singles match [sheesh, i sound like a newsreader]. dulko had a really great start, leading the match all the way till the ninth game of the first set, when krajicek broke her serve and went on to win the set with a smashing ace. the second set wasn't much of a contest, with dulko serving first and krajicek breaking immediately.

dutch 16-year-old michaella krajicek. courtesy http://hopmancup.com.au

ok, honestly, i wasn't expecting dulko to win her singles match - any singles match, to be completely honest. she lost all four last year but was amazing in the mixed doubles which she played with guillermo coria [one of my fave players]. oh man, she was awesome! i don't watch a lot of mixed doubles, but i swear, the game dulko/coria played against groenefeld/haas [germany] was one of the best i've ever seen. unfortunately, they eventually lost to Slovak republic's hantuchova/hrbaty, but it's ok, cause hantuchova and hrbaty rock too.


gisela dulko and guillermo coria [female and male, respectively, in case you didn't know] in hopman cup 2005, session 2 mixed doubles. courtesy of http://hopmancup.com.au

anyway, gaudio lost against wessels [second set tiebreaker, 7-5 to wessels] which means the dutch have a 2-0 lead against argentina, seeded second only to russia. i'm really hoping dulko will win the mix for argentina like she did last year [forget about her losses in the singles. coria was there to make up for them last year]. gaudio's a really good player. unfortunately, he made at least 2 foot faults in his game against wessels -_________-

the dutch came into these matches after beating the team from china, made up of Peng and Sun in the first session on friday [i think it was friday].

china's shuai peng in action. courtesy http://hopmancup.com.au

usa's lisa raymond lost to ana ivanovic of serbia and montenegro yesterday while team mate taylor dent smashed novak djokovic. the americans went on to cream their opponents with a 7-6 [7-3], 6-2 win in the mix.

novak djokovic of serbia and montenegro. courtesy of http://hopmancup.com.au

the australian team [stosur/arthurs] lost to germany's groenefeld and kiefer two days ago, stosur winning her singles match but arthurs losing his before they fell to the combined forces of the two german players. [damn, i really sound like a newsreader].

stosur/arthurs [facing us] against groenefeld and nikolas kiefer. courtesy http://hopmancup.com.au

tomorrow sweden's sofia arvidsson and thomas johansson will face ivanovic and djokovic from serbia and montenegro. i have absolutely no idea who arvidsson is, so i can't say who's gonna win.

i just checked the game, and the two teams are in a tiebreak with argentina leading 4-1, dulko to serve. the dutch won the first set 6-4, but the second went to the argentines 6-3. hope i didn't bore you people. congrats if you actually read the whole thing. forgive me if i misspelt any names.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

for everyone

for everyone out there...... who happens to read my blog...

heck, even to the people who don't know my blog exist...

since i'm in a sharing mood, i'll extend it to all the people in the world, whether i know you or not [cause there's obviously no way i know you all >.<]

anyway, my point is...

HAPPY NEW YEAR

i would use a larger font size, but that's the biggest it can go.

forget about last year - wait, remember the good bits, cause those are always funny... just a tip: the key to ot breaking a resolution is never making one in the first place.

anyway, have a great and productive year. may God bless all you lovely people - not so lovely in some cases, but.....

here's wishing you lot an awesome year ahead. you know what would contribute to making MY year a really great one? if every one of you out there gave me some lovely free food. now wouldn't that be nice?

happy new year-
happy new year-happy new year-happy new year-happy new year