December stands for a lot of things for many different people, year-end bonus, Christmas parties, a time for reflection, or even clearing of annual leave. I somehow love year ends. I dunno, maybe it’s a carry over from the old schooling days, when December (and November) usually meant the long 6-week holidays, and of course Christmas. Being from a Christian family, I always looked forward to Yuletide, even if we didn’t really celebrate it in any big way. But from a young age I had already understood the significance of the event from a spiritually point of view. Forget about the snow and Santa and stuff from TV, being in…

And the Word of the Day for today, Wednesday, December 20th, is: Manipulative (adj) Comes from the word manipulate, or the noun manipulation, which, wikipedia explains: In a psychological context, manipulation means to influence a person or a group of people in such a way that the manipulator tries to get what he or she wants or makes a person believe something in a calculating, indirect and somewhat dishonest way. Like indoctrination, it is a form of psychological abuse. For example, a manipulator will use arguments that the manipulator does not believe in himself use of false reasoning as with fallacies and paralogisms withhold or distort relevant information, provide false…

My office has a spanking new espresso machine, and boy, is it a lot of fun. I’ve never liked all these designer coffee with their fancy names (espresso? Latte? Cappuccino? Apa binatang ini semua?), except for one or two I usually order at [tag]Starbucks[/tag] or [tag]Coffee Bean[/tag]. You see ah, I like my coffee sweet, like the ones you get at the old town kopitiam. Nescafe is okay la, but getting a right brew is like Mission Impossible. Either too bitter or too sweet or too undrinkable. Plus drinking too much Nescafe will result in one of the following: Yeet hei (heatiness) My pee smelling, um, Nescafe. Any other condition…

Been listening to My Chemical Romance’s new album for the past few days. Good stuff. Looks like they’ve going for the rock opera thematic Queen-esque album here, with the phantom marching band and their Black Sgt. Pepper styled coats. (pic from wikipedia.) When I was A young boy, My father Took me into the city To see a marching band. He said, “Son when You grow up, Would you be The saviour of the broken, The beaten and the damned?” He said “Will you Defeat them, Your demons, And all the non believers, The plans that they have made? Because one day I leave you, A phantom To lead you…

For Your Boyfriend: Any pansy stuff like moisturizer, lotion or scented bath candles. You might as well flush your money down the drain. A necktie – if he’s never worn one. He’ll probably won’t wear it either. Gift vouchers. Try harder, woman. A book, any book. Especially if the last book he read had something to do with ‘Peter’ and ‘Jane’. Any kinds of tea. That includes green tea, oolong tea, fruity tea or any derivation of that healthy crap. Stick to coffee. For Your Girlfriend: Membership to any fitness club, slimming centre or any of that sort. Even if she’s slim or fit. You’ll die faster compared to swallowing…

It’s the Sultan of Selangor’s birthday today. It’s also one of those days that makes me hate working in KL… ***-*** My office is virtually empty today, although it’s a working day. The accounts girls are still on exam leave. But wasn’t the last paper on Friday? I guess hangover Monday (from too much partying Friday-Saturday-Sunday) still counts as exam leave. The other guys in the office are ‘out for meeting’. I bet some of them are still sleeping at home. ***-*** I saw my Senior Manager somewhere in Cheras yesterday bringing his family out for a Sunday brunch in his company car. Hah! And he has the nerve to…

From Your Girlfriend (if you’re a boy) – a box of Kleenex tissues, and a book entitled, “Being Dumped: Dummies Guide to Dealing with Break-ups”. There’s also a small letter attached… From Your Boyfriend (if you’re a girl) – He forgot a gift. From Your Kids (if you’re a dad) – A framed photo of your kids. Behind it, they wrote, “Remember us?” From Your Kids (if you’re a mom) – A cookbook. For beginners. From Your Parents (if you’re below ten) – Brand new PlayStation… One. From Your Parents (if you’re… never mind) – Free 2-week holiday. At Lose-That-Flab Fat Camp and Fitness Spa. From Your Boss (if you’re…

The other day, tired of wondering which new summer blockbuster to watch on DVD next, I found Pat’s copy of “[tag] The Breakfast Club[/tag] ”. What the heck, I thought, its been years since I watched that show… And the next 90 minutes, I was enthralled as I was transported by to the 80’s, to my secondary school life, to the great music growing up, to our teenage struggles with our identity, our parents, disciplinary teachers, and journey of discovering who we really are inside. For those grew in a different decade, or never got to watched ‘The Breakfast Club’, it’s a amazing teen movie by John Hughes. It’s about…

How to have a hit teenage TV series ala the [tag]O.C.[/tag], [tag]Dawson’s Creek[/tag] and [tag]One Tree Hill[/tag]: Get this group of good-looking, moody actors and actresses. Also ensure they look even better in swimsuits / trunks. Age downgrading is encourage, i.e. get 21-year-olds to play 18-year-olds, and similarly 18-year-olds to play 16-year-olds. Adults are limited to roles of exasperated parents and caring teachers. They too must be good-looking, or else cast them as janitors or gardeners. The teenagers must act like 30-year olds, speak like adults, have complicated love-lives, have emotional crises every 4th episode, etc. Always have another good-looking character to play your lead’s nemesis. Usually very popular and…

I saw one of [tag]Iron Maiden[/tag]’s albums recently, from their Bruce Dickinson era, I can’t remember which. I immediately recalled the criticism Maiden (mostly from the mainstream press) had to endure for their music, and also their album cover art especially the ones featuring Eddie the Zombie. These days, anyone can release an [tag]album[/tag] with a [tag]controversial[/tag] album cover art to shock / awe / disgust. Just look at all those albums by [tag]metal[/tag] bands and hip-hop artists in the last 20 years. But a good (yet controversial) one is difficult to find, especially one that reaches a wide audience, i.e. by a famous artist. People want to be controversial…