When I was in primary school (back in the dawn of time…) every year towards the end of the school term, after the final exams and report cards have been dealt with, the teachers had this form to fill where they asked each student their ‘ambitions’ – what they wanted to be when they grew up. I don’t know what was the real purpose of the whole exercise, to be honest. Probably it was purely for the benefit of teachers and parents. Parent could forever hold it against their child, “See, last time you wanted to be a lawyer, how come you ended being an unemployed blogger?!” Or perhaps the…

Simon’s Top Twelve Songs to Listen to When Life Sucks… May it Be by Enya You’ll See by Madonna Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day Fade to Black by Metallica White Flag by Dido Carrie by Europe Forever Young by Alphaville A Tout de la Monde by Megadeth Feel by Robbie Williams Through the Barricades by Spandau Ballet Rent by Pet Shop Boys Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton *Sigh*……I need an iPod…

(Due to mildly popular demand, I have written the sequel to my earlier Sempit: A Malaysian Love Story. If you haven’t read it, you can do so here.)Vijaya: Here we are in my father’s very large living room. He’ll be coming down than grand staircase anytime now… Ray, are you sure you want to go ahead with this? Raymond: As sure as the sun rises in the… in the… (mumbles to himself) “Dong…Nam…Sai…Pak”…east! As sure as the sun rises in the EAST I will confront your father about our love! Vijaya: I’m just afraid he’ll do something to you. He is a very hard man, darling. Raymond: What’s the worst…

Excerpt from the Star yesterday: Malaysia’s pop princess aims for international stardom with London gig LONDON: Besides reaching the pinnacle of her dreams, singing sensation Siti Nurhaliza will carry the hopes of Malaysia’s music industry when she makes history with her debut at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday. I’m not a fan of Siti (not by a million light years…), our local ‘pop princess’ (I’ll scream if I hear that cliché again), but I have to admit, getting to perform at the Royal Albert Hall is some achievement for a Malaysian. Skeptics would say that the gomen would have lobbied and pushed for this event to promote Malaysia at…

To all those who affected by the earthquake tremors this morning, I hope that everything is back to normal in your lives by now and let us all continue to pray for and contribute to the victims in Sumatra. Many of you have commented and given personal accounts of the incident, so I won’t go into it. Instead let me cheer up your mood a little bit. (This isn’t a continuation of the Sempit blog. That sequel is coming soon, I promise…) Here are some questions you’ll probably hear from your children in the near future. If you’re not married or do not have children yet, just wait. One day…

Vijaya: Darling, we’ve got to stop meeting in the pantry like this. Kak Esah the cleaning lady is getting suspicious. One day she’s bound to find out about us. Raymond: Trust me, darling. This is the only way. Meeting in the director’s toilet was so wrong, darling. Vijaya: But there are no director’s in our office… And this pantry is so narrow and uncomfortable. Raymond: Let’s talk about us, darling. I don’t care if our colleagues find out about us, darling. I just want to be with you. Vijaya: You don’t understand, Raymond. I’m manager level, you are just an executive… I get 25 days annual leave, you only have…

Just read in the Star yesterday about this novelty restaurant in Melbourne called “The Dark Side”. The gimmick here is that everything in this eatery is pitch dark. The waiters are dressed in black and wear night vision goggles. Oh, yeah. Great idea. They could be serving you beef infested with maggots or the cockfight loser chicken and you wouldn’t even know any better. And the worse thing is that you’ll probably come out of the place with gravy stains and all over your shirt. And how much would a place like charge you? Not at cost price, I can bet you. With all the savings they make on the…

American Idol is really hotting up here. But one thing that gets me is that the judges don’t really know how to express themselves when commenting on the performances. Here are some of the comments they’ve used over and over again… Randy “The Dawg” Jackson: “It was just a-iight for me man.”“Listen, it was your BEST performance, so far.”“What’s up, dawg?”“How do you think you did?”“You da bomb, girl/dude”You’re just like a young Aretha Franklin, girl!”“What’s going down, dawg?”“Dude, it was a little pitchy, but it all came together in the end…” Paula “Not Really An Idol” Abdul: “You really owned the stage, well done.”“I’m a big fan of your…

Except from The Star today: Work for Jobless GradsThe Higher Education Ministry is considering to absorb jobless graduates into local education institutions to teach certain subjects. Minister Datuk Dr Shafie Mohd Salleh said yesterday that these graduates could take up these jobs in schools. “We need to look at specific areas in the education sector which can be filled by these graduates. Oh, yeah. I can imagine it now. Jonathan Chan the IT graduate from University of Nossex, United Kingdom is sent to Sekolah Rendah Kampung Ayak Tawak, Felda Kundang Ulu, in the interiors of the Johor virgin jungle. Jonathan, since he was from Lucky Garden International School and also…

Today is Good Friday. Two thousand years ago, one of the greatest tragedies of human history was unfolding outside the city of Jerusalem. On a lonely hill called Calvary, they led the one called Jesus Christ out to be crucified on a wooden cross. Hung between two thieves, the he was mocked and taunted by the crowd and Roman guards. Betrayed by a friend, hung out to dryAlone in the end, stretched across the skyEclipse the sun, they know not what they doThey say if God is love why would He be so cruel“Scarecrow” by Bride From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.…