f.0.u.R - I've been tagged!

I was tagged in Superfluous Babe's post.. so, here's my answer (Axuerra! I know I haven't posted the one you've tagged me, tapi yang tu macam susah nak jawap :( Tungguuuu.. hehe)

Four Jobs I Have In My Life
1) Currently - one local bank with HQ in KL. 'Nuff said :P (hmm.. diam tak diam, dah 5 1/2 years kat sini. how time flies)
2) Computer Teacher - on computer centre for kids in Ampang Point area (after graduate, while waiting for a "proper" job.. yeah I enjoyed this job, but well.. the pay wasn't enough and there wasn't any career prospect)
3) Strawberry picking - serious!! (Done somewhere in Newcastle area, while waiting for graduation day. Not that I made much money, but at least it bought some food home)
4) Temp clerk at one insurance company in KL (during 1998 summer break when I came back to KL. I flew to Newcastle in September 1997, spent Ramadhan and beraya there, got seriously homesick, decided to come back to KL during summer. So.. I worked laa... for about 3 month. Gaji kat KL at least supported my daily expenses.)

Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over
(Too many to list laaa... apasal 4 jer?)
1) Finding Nemo
2) Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham
3) The Wedding Date
4) 10 Things I Hate About You
(Also Mr & Mrs Smith, Ada Apa Dengan Cinta, 50 First Dates, Monsters Inc, The Matrix (the 1st movie only), X-Men and X-2, Lara Croft Tomb Raider (the 1st movie), The Sound Of Music, Just Like Heaven, You've Got Mail, Sleepless In Seattle, The Parent Trap (the one with Lindsay Lohan), Notting Hill hehehe... ni kes tak puas hati sebab boleh list 4 movies jer :P)

Four TV Shows I Love To Watch
1) Medical Investigation
2) CSI: Crime Scene Investigation / CSI: Miami
3) Monk
4) Amazing Race

Four Places I've Lived
1) Gombak / Setapak (Trust me, my housing area is really in the middle of these two places ehhehehe)
2) Fenham, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
3) Ampang (Can't recall the name of the place)
4) Jalan Maktab (not sure if the name of the road has been changed)

Four Places I've Been On Vacation To
1) Kota Kinabalu
2) Brisbane / Gold Coast (well, short as it was, the trip was definitely a vacation to me
3) Kota Kinabalu
4) London (considering I was living in Newcastle - up north - so a trip down to London is definitely a vacation hehe)

Four Places I'd Rather Be In
1) Makkah
2) Madinah
3) Scotland (I still cannot get over the fact that Sheils and I had to stay behind in Newcastle while some friends enjoyed themselves tremendously in Scotland. JEALOUSSSS tau! Sheils & I spent those few days watching one movie after another, until there's nothing left at Warner Village to be watched! LOLs...)
4) KL - well, here at home to be precise :D It's true.. I do love this place hehe.. although I wouldn't mind if there were less traffic jam. Hmm.. I wouldn't mind to be in Putrajaya too :D I'll put that as No. 5. Hehhee..

Four of My Favourite Food
1) Mak's cooking (LOLs..) - sambal goreng (daging, tempe, tauhu, udang. NO soohoon / kacang panjang pls. tq) / rendang daging hitam / ketupat daun palas (a.k.a ketupat pulut) / ayam panggang / sambal udang + petai / gulai kuning daging + cendawan butang / rebung masak gulai kuning / ayam masak merah (Eh, ini macam dah lebih 4 je ni.. LOLs!)
2) Baked macaroni / baked pasta - sorry.. walaupun sounds like angkat bakul, but I honestly love this dish I cook... Hhahahaha!!
3) Dome's Spaghetti Spicy Olio, with beef bacon bits (alamak.. terliur laa..)
4) Crispy potato skin (so far, the best is at Victoria Station)

Four Websites I Visit Daily
1) Err.. the company's website (ni by default kat office.. so terpaksa laa bukak website ni)
2) Bank Negara Malaysia (you can laugh, but it's true hehe..)
3) My blog
4) Sudoku (http://www.websudoku.com) and Kakuro (http://www.kakurolive.com) websites

Four Victims To Do This Tag
(ONLY if you're comfortable doing it. Hehe.. otherwise.. takyah, k?)
1) Sheils
2) Nour
3) Mel
4) Axuerra (LOLs.. girl, I'm tagging you back! ;D )

* * *

Have just finished watching "The Notebook"..
OMG OMG OMG.. I will SO blog about this movie.. soon!

Book: Love Rules by Freya North

I think a good writer is someone who can deliver his/her story - good storyline, good characters in the story, interesting writing, at least enough to get the reader flip to the next page.

A great writer has the above, plus the ability to make the reader / audience / listener connect emotionally with the characters. Feel the highs and lows of the storyline. Eager to turn the page to find out "What now?" and "OMG OMG! What's gonna happen?!?!" and "I can't believe she did THAT!! What if he knew? She is SO dead!" hehe..

The past few visits to Kinokuniya and MPH have led me to grab the book 'Love Rules' by Freya North, but every single time I would be putting it back on the shelf - I don't know why I didn't buy it before.
And after reading it, I thought to myself "Why the hell didn't I buy this book sooner??"

I like the storyline, I love the characters in the book. And the way Ms North writes, I'm sooo tempted to skip some chapters, just so I know what's going to happen. Hehe.. you can say sometimes I'm half mad with the suspense.

Littered with funny parts here and there, I even caught myself grinning while reading this book in the LRT (Ahh.. I don't care what people think. I'm enjoying the book! Hehehehhe..!)

The book tells of the lives of 4 main characters - Thea, Alice, Saul and Mark. And how their lives entertwined with one another.
Some moral issues were raised, and I must say there were a couple issues which I certainly did not agree - on the way they were tackled.

I cried reading some parts of the book, they were filled with raw emotions that I could help but feel sad for the characters involved.

This is a good read, of course.
In the end, love doesn't necessarily rule, but it sure plays a big part.

And if you do get this book, just be prepared for the rollercoaster ride of emotions.

Monday night outing

It's only Monday, and earlier today I made plans to meet up with Joy, Ta and Along hehe..

We went to Kg Baru for some long awaited dinner outing. Ingatkan nak suruh Ta "open table" malam ni - almaklum lah rezeki murah lately nih.. Tapi rupanya takder rezeki kitorang malam ni hehe.. Tunggu 3 months, kata Ta.
No worries Ta. Kitorang tuntut tau lagi 3 bulan. Justtt before Joy naik pelamin ahaks!!

Also asked Yus, Linda, Rock and Zief to join us for dinner at Kg Baru. But none of them could make it - perhaps another time eh?
Although.. the 4 of us who did make it to the dinner went for a drive to GE Mall - and met Zief for a while. Hmm.. dah lama gak rupanya tak gathering eh. We should do it soon. VERY soon!

After the impromptu visit, we went to McDee's drive through and got some desserts ehehe.. Kenyang-kenyang pun, still ada tempat for ice cream eh? ;P
And we also made plans for next week.
Wednesday night. Right?

Hmm.. should I stay off iced-drinks for the next few days until Wednesday? Haahahaha!! I'm gonna need my voice, kan? ;))

Movie Marathon - Prime, Derailed, Firewall

Although this happened 2 weekends ago, I'm only getting to post up something about my movie marathon with Lene.

We watched:

(1) Prime (11.45am)
Arrived at KLCC a bit late.. so we missed about 20mins of the movie. Duduk-duduk je diorang dah jumpa (Uma Thurman and Brian Green-something kot.. Hahaha..). Best movie ni.. some funny parts pun ada.
I can't believe that quite a lot of scenes tak kena potong hahaha.. If you ask me now, I can't recall what's the movie's rating, although I honestly thought it's U (which means.. it's a bit 'adult' laa gak if kids were to watch it). The ending was... well unexpected, and a bit thought-provoking la. It definitely made me think.

Verdict: Worth watching. I'm giving it a 6.8/10.


- (2.15pm) Lunch break. Then, book-reading session kat Kinokuniya - we had way too much time before next movie. Even managed to finish skimming through the book "The Dog Walker"! Hehe..


(2) Derailed (4.40pm)
Ni kira terpaksa tengok, coz we had soo much time to kill PLUS we couldn't get tickets for "Memoirs of a Geisha".
It starred Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston, and the girl from Alias, the one that Vaugh married tuh - the bitch ekekekekekk.. sorry, I love Sydney Bristow. So.. the girl that Vaugh married is of course to me the bad one - yeah yeah I'm biased here :P. But in this movie ni she's a good person, so.. hehehe.. I like her in this movie la :D
Based on title, I thought it was about keretapi terbabas. Tapi.. hmmm.. jauh panggang dari api laa.

I definitely DO NOT recommend this movie. Cukup lah aku sorang buang duit hahahaha..

Verdict: I don't like it. Dealt with too much negative vibes: Murder, cheating, adultery, lying, embezzlement, swindling, among other things. Of coz ada some good stuff also.. but sikit sgt sampai tak ingat what they were haha.. Lene said while we were watching the movie: "We are soo going to Hell with the kinds of movies we watch!!" Ouch.
Sib baik after movie that ada heart-to-heart session with Lene. Kira cleansing sket la tu hahaha...
I'm only giving it 3.5/10.

Hmm.. if this is the acting career Jennifer Aniston was talking about.. hmmmm... Kesian lah dia. I think this movie didn't do THAT well kat US. Collection of something around US$20mil je kot, or was it only US$2mil?? (by Hollywood's standard, that's considered sikit la kan?)
Anyway, she's still somehow too much of a Rachel la.


- (6.40pm) Dinner break. McDee je - I had Double Cheeseburger, Lene: Filet-O-Fish. Plus that heart-to-heart session with Lene. We both needed that!


3) Firewall (9.10pm)
With Harrison Ford (yummylicious!), Paul Bettany (I think this is the bad guy from Terminator 2).
Best la. Fast-paced jugak - with some funny parts, and some really frustrating scenes hehe.. sebab they don't turn out the way I expected. So frust laa...
Storyline.. I think most of us can relate to, well.. somehow.
Some twists in the plot, so I was quite on the edge of my seat gak lah. Pastu ada a few twists which led me to the wrong conclusions hehehehe...

Verdict: I like this movie! I'm giving it 7.5/10.

* * *

There...
It feels like I haven't done a movie review for quite a while eh? :P

Next up? Probably "Casanova".
Anxiously waiting for "Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest", "X-Men 3", and "Da Vinci Code".

Come Away With Me...

I'm in the mood for Norah Jones...

* * *

Come away with me in the night
Come away with me
And I will write you a song

Come away with me on a bus
Come away where they can’t tempt us
With their lies

And I wanna walk with you
On a cloudy day
In fields where the yellow grass grows knee-high
So won’t you try to come

Come away with me and we’ll kiss
On a mountain top
Come away with me
And I’ll never stop loving you

I wanna wake up with the rain
Falling on a tin roof
While I’m safe there in your arms
So all I ask is for you
To come away with me in the night
Come away with me

* * *

I almost broke rule #1 !!

Oh yes I did.

"What's rule #1?" I hear you ask.
Biasalah..

"Never contact the ex."

Relax lah Anne, I said I almost broke the rule. ALMOST lah.. hehe
I tak call him pun.

Err.. but I have to admit. Twice I stared at his name / number in my mobile's phonebook. Almost pressed the green button on my phone. Almost..
*sigh*

I'm blaming it on that blasted day in February, where ladies who carried hand bouquets or anything valentine's-gift-like, somehow have this look of pity / smug / poor-you-singles-out-there stare .. everytime they looked at girls who didn't have anything red / pink in their hands.
Where the gentlemen who bought these ladies the bouquets or v'day gifts.. either looked a bit miffed ('cause he had to fork out plenty of cash) or looked smug as he thinks everyone will think he's a good partner (well, in reality, would you even notice him? Or her? I'd be noticing the bouquet coz it's irritatingly huge hahaha...)

Oh my.. to give in to temptation last night..
I'm somewhat proud to say: I didn't cave in.
Thank goodness for small strengths.

* * *

Oh well. The day came and gone. And I survived.
And so did so many other people out there.

Hmm.. I survived despite the so many versions of this question: "So.. how did / are you going to celebrate valentine's day?"
*sigh*
All I could say: I didn't / I don't.
And smile sweetly (even if it's a forced one :P )

Post-AJL 20 ramblings

(hehe.. bear with me!)

1) What's with Zainal's "watchhaaa!" at the beginning of his song 'Gaia' ? Hehehe.. I almost fell out of the couch laughing at him. Zainal stole Hani's trademark!

2) My sis & I made this theory: Cheryl Samad and Ally Iskandar have something going on!! We both just cannot get this scene out of our heads...
(Ally was holding up the CD 20 years of AJL)
Cheryl: Terbalik tu, sayang..

Hehehe.. Imagine that. On prime time live TV! What a way to let the cat out of the bag eh? ;-))

(Although Anne said something along the line of: "Tak kot, she probably calls everyone sayang.." Alah woman, kasik chance laa hehehe.. I like them together!)

3) M. Nasir was in a good mood. Did you see him sing in the 'medley' session? Macam ceria je.. Or maybe he was happy with Mawi's performance that night? Hehe.. Entah lah..
Anyway, now I can't stop singing 'Phoenix Bangkit' in my head..

4) Ning's voice was amazingly good, I love it even more than in her album hehe.. I thought in the album macam nak semput je. Although I still maintain that she can't really hit the high notes.. But gotta admit, her performance was definitely different. She was dressed in her baju kurung (a quite simple one pulak tu) and without any backup singers / troops of dancers. For a while I didn't believe she was only going to wear that baju kurung - I seriously expected she's gonna err.. change costumes to maybe a diva-like evening dress. But that did not happen eh.
The performance? It's ermm... quite un-Ning.

5) Bergenang airmata bila dengar Jac singing 'Wajah'.. I didn't think she needed the children in the background - it was a bit distracting. But I love it still..

6) I was impressed with Hazami's performance and vocals, although I strongly feel that the unbuttoning-shirt-aka-chest-baring act was totally unnecessary. Eheks..

7) I somehow still think that Jac's vocal deserved to win. She hit the high notes without much glitch. And it felt like the song Gemilang was really made for her.. I think only Jac can carry the song wonderfully.
But Mak justified Hazami's winning by saying something like this: "He's a vocal / music teacher laa. That's his advantage over Jac. Probably his vocal control is much better than Jac."
Uhuks.. my Mak.. as always, she's got a point.

8) I cringed watching Dina and Pija singing 'Cinta Datang Lagi'. I blame those bloody outfits!

9) Hats off to Amy Search and Andy Flop Poppy for their wonderful rendition of Fantasia Bulan Madu. I thought Amy looked funky with his formal attire and unrestrained hair!
Andy pulak.. hehe.. ter"kenan" cerita Brokeback Mountain ke hapa? LOLs.. But he somehow managed to pull it off nicely laa (am talking about the outfit here :P )..

10) Still cannot drop the idea that Cheryl Samad and Ally Iskandar have something going on between them. Don't they make an adorable couple? Hehhehe..

Post holiday malaise, anyone?

After the looooooongg holiday last week, I think I need some time to get back on my feet. Need time to get my engines all up and running again eh?

Unfortunately time is not quite something I can afford right now.
I swear it, the montly meetings just keep getting set earlier and earlier with each passing month.
*sigh* Let's hope the late nights are kept to this whole week only. Hmm, do I have to come to work this weekend? Adoi..

* * *

OK lah, a few things to settle:

1. Remind Abah to make hotel booking for his trip
- Also gotta check when exactly is his trip hehe..

2. Bring Anne's DVDs
- Sorry babe! Ni bukan intentional tau hehe.. I memang completely forgot about your DVDs! hehehe... Sorry sorry..

3. Think about J's offer to find me a date
- Hahahaha! J, I can just imagine you.. grinning like the cheshire cat! Muahs, sweet of you to offer. But.. err... lemme think! Hehehe.. And don't hold your breath for my answer. Or the picture you want. LOLs!!

4. Movie marathon with Lene
- Hmm.. choices we have?
Prime: I promised myself that I wouldn't watch the DVD.. Hehe..
Memoirs of a Geisha: Some friends said "Go read the book! It's great!" while some others said "Do NOT read the book! Nanti you'll get disappointed with the movie!".. Hehhehe... So which one nih? :P


5. I've been tagged by Axuerra!
- Hehehe.. And the topic.. OMG. Girl, you're kidding right?!?!!? 8? EIGHT? LAPAN?!??!?!?! Hhehee.. ok ok, I promise to sit down and actually materialise my thoughts into writing OK? :D But, this is a heavy topic. So, don't expect any answers soon lah. Hehehehhe..

* * *

I'm ending this entry with a question:

When was the last time you went on a date?


Yours,
Yam


(p.s: When was the last time I went on a date? Hmmm....)

Movie - The Wedding Date

I love this movie, mainly because of the mega hottie Dermot Mulroney.

OMG he is so bloody hot, I can't stop thinking about him.. hehe..
And he danced! Oh my.. he really can dance.. ((sigh))

Ya and I were thinking of signing up for dancing lessons.. kekekeke...

* * *

OK, enough fantasy on Mulroney.. (I'll be doing that in my head ;D )
Now about the movie.

I think it's a simple movie, with expected fairy-tale ending.
But I loved it still..
(1) It's entertaining
(2) It's a love story with happy ending (Goodness knows I'm in need of that right now)
(3) The two leads - Dermot Mulroney and Debra Messing - had really good on-screen chemistry.. I love their dancing scenes. And the hen party. And the one in the bathroom ehehe.. And the baseball game. And the part where he held her after that bombshell from the ex-boyfriend (he's a class-A jerk!)

I'm giving it an 8.5/10 - simply because.. I love it.

* * *

Now.. if I can only influence my dreams tonight, and dream about dancing lessons with Dermot Mulroney... Hmm..

* * * * *

(Added on Thursday 2nd Feb 2006)
Hmm.. Can't resist to share some snapshots from this movie, all taken from The Wedding Date website and Yahoo! movie for The Wedding Date




Above: One of my fave scenes.. ((sigh)) I tell you, maybe I should take up Ya's offer to that dancing lessons. Hehhehe..







(Isn't he yummylicious? And isn't she gorgeous? I love seeing them as a couple :) )