Things Men Need To Know

My friend Joanna is this really great girl who's got a lot going for her...she's gorgeous, she's smart, she's outgoing and friendly and she's pretty much the successful young woman that we had hope to become when we were younger. I totally adore her. And the best part is...she's single!

For all that I am, I'm glad for one thing...that I'm not single anymore! Hahaha. Why? Well as much fun as finding a bf can be, it can also be one of the most frustrating things to do! Getting to know someone, trying to see if he likes you or not, if you like him or not, passing the inspection of the friends, meeting the family...God, its all so nerve-wrecking! I've like sooo passed these stages and now I'm at a stage where I'm comfortable with everyone.

So now here comes Joanna, who's pretty much ready for a serious relationship. And she's my gateway to the life of the modern, single woman. The problem is however, that with all the plusible and probable candidates she meets out there, she and I have come to one decision...men are totally clueless and dense on the very interesting and wonderful minds of females!

In this year, she has met some great guys who we think would be great bf-material - if only they weren't too slow to catch up! So she and I have listed a couple of things that men do which makes NO SENSE at all to us!

1. "I'll call you back" he says.

I totally believe she and I are not the only ones who are familiar with this line. Why is it that men end the conversation this way? You know, if you don't wanna talk anymore, there are like a hundred other ways to say it. You could try "I'll talk to you some other time" or "We'll catch up soon" or "We should talk again"... anything but "I'll call you back"! Coz when men say that, women wait! Yes we do, because when we tell people we'll call them back, we actually do it. Not only that, we call back the same day! So we pretty much expect the same thing too. When you don't call back, we think the worse things...from 'Did-I-said-something-wrong' all the way to 'You-died-in-a-car-crash'. So either don't say it, or stick to your word!

(I gotta give credit to Ash here, coz he so calls back when he says he will : )

2. Replying SMS-es

I have seen Joanna totally and completely frustrated when her SMS-es don't come back with answers. How hard is it to pick up the phone and text in a couple of words? Its considered polite, you know. If you're the type who don't like SMS-ing, then be courteous and send back one at least. If the girl can take the effort to do that, I'm sure you can too. SMS-es are important. Its less stressful than talking on the phone and we can judge his character by the way he replies, the language and style used and the speed at which it comes back! So its multi-purpose. Bottom line is - SMS-es are meant to be replied, even if its only with one word.

3. Being Dense

These days, even 6 year old kids know when someone likes someone. At our age, you really have to be completely dense to not have figured it out. Joanna actually got this totally complicated manicure thing done because he likes girls with manicured nails! How can that go unnoticed? Unless, of course, you are being ignorant on purpose. Playing hard to get is totally a girl's game. Men should not even bother doing it coz I doubt they can carry it off as well as we can. So if you think the girl likes you, do either of these two things :

(a) Acknowledge it if you like her too and move on

(b) Drop obvious hints that you don't see it happening and move on.

Its easier, faster and less stressful.

4. Asking Her Out

A date means this - you and her, meeting at a pre-decided venue, spending time together which includes conversation, jokes, laughter and fun, trying to assess each other not so obviously, you paying the bill and then parting ways. With a phone call the next day to either ask her out for another date, or simply to acknowledge the old one. A date does not mean asking her out with an sms at the last minute, its not a date where all your friends are there and you ask her to join you guys if she's free, and its definetly NOT a date when you get your friend to ask her out on your behalf to make it sound casual. Either ask her out the right way or don't at all. And if you're old enough to be her dad, chances are she probably is thinking the same too.

Joanna's experiences are something that can be transfered into a best-seller. Despite all the nice guys out there that she gets to know, men just seem to have forgotten the art of wooing! What's wrong with them? She does get a little exhausted playing this mind games with her dates coz she doesn't know what to expect from them. Life would be so much easier if people simply were straight forward and said whats on their minds, wouldn't it?

And I'm so glad I'm not in the game anymore : )

Clubbing?...So not for me!

A lot of people don’t get why I don’t fancy clubbing. To a lot of people, being young, modern, having your own transport and own cash automatically sums up to becoming a ‘clubber’ on weekends – voluntarily. Here, if you tell people that you don’t club, then its immediately assumed that either you’re the traditional type who stays at home, or your parents don’t let you go out and do ‘that kind of things’ or worse, then you must be really boring! Because if you’re not any one of the three then why don’t you club? Well I’m neither too traditional, or old-fashioned, I’m not boring and my family don’t give me a curfew. I still hate clubbing. Here’s why:

1. Its too crowded
There are like a limited number of clubs in KL. And there are like 50,000 clubbers out every weekend night. Do the math! When you walk into a club, there’s like a large battalion of people already there, with more coming as the night progresses. The toilets get dirty, messy and crowded, sometimes running out of water, the waiters take 20 mins to get to you and yet another 20 before your drink gets there, the dance floor is so tiny, but you get ¾ of the crowd pushing against each other, trying to find a spot to move (not dance), there is no place to sit so you end up standing the entire night – imagine doing that in high heels, and before you know it, you’re sweating, your hair gets plastered all over your face, your make up runs down and you start getting as uncomfortable as a human can possibly get!

2. Its way too noisy
I don’t get why do clubs need to blast the music as loud as it can go? What could possibly be the point of that? If they are trying to discourage communication, then I guess that is working. It’s the most frustrating thing to try and have a conversation in a club. You end up yelling at the top of your lungs, trying to talk into the ear of the person next to you, and yet half the story is lost out among the loud noise. The waiters don’t get your order right, your friends and you end up talking in sign and body languages, and your ears start begging you to be put out of their misery. By the end of the night, you’ve probably got a sore throat, an ear-ache and worse – a freakin headache!

3. Alcohol
Personally I have nothing against alcoholic drinks. If people want to drink, by all means go ahead. It really doesn’t matter in the least bit to me if someone is having 10 drinks or the entire bottle. Whatever. But I don’t drink. Alcohol is just not what I’d want to drink if given the choice. Why? Its too bitter for my taste. That goes for all the genres of alcoholic drinks. The most that I’d have is a glass of wine – and I can make one glass last 4 hours. Lager, brandy, rum, whisky or cocktails – they are all the same. You had one you pretty much had them all. And let’s not start on the price of these things! 35 bucks for a glass of wine? You must be kidding! I could get a whole new dress with that money, or go watch 3 movies, or go have a really good treat of dinner. So no I don’t drink simply because I don’t like the taste of alcohol. And in a club, telling the waiter to get you a glass of Coke or something earns you a really nasty look.

4. The hours
Clubbing regularly begins after 11 pm. And it can go on to 4 or 5 am. And what I really don’t get, like really and totally and completely don’t get is WHY do people find it necessary to stay in the club right until it closes? What is the point in that? Wouldn’t it be better if you went for like and hour or two, had a couple of drinks, talked and laughed a little and then left after that? Why stay until the very end? It doesn’t make sense at all. Saturday nights are usually the clubbing night, where everyone is out in hordes, trying to impress one another. People stay till late and then what happens the next day? You wake up after noon, your head hurts like hell, you feel lethargic and drowsy, you’re dehydrated, you’re moody and irritated and you get a couple of hours left of the day before Monday begins and its back to work! Why would you do that to yourself?

There are like a hundred other things to do when you want ‘fun’. Hang out at your friends’ place and party, go for a holiday and take a break, go watch a movie in a group, plan a wonderful dinner in or out, do some charity with your friends, hang out with your family for a change, do something crazy like ice-skating or rock climbing, do some shopping or play a board game. The list is endless. Anything beats a night out in a noisy, crowded, expensive and annoying place.

But despite my lack of love for clubs, I have no issues when my fiance or bro go clubbing. Just coz I hate it don't mean the whole world would too right? My fiance has all the freedom to go when he wants, with who he wants and how late he wants. He enjoys it, so that's all that matters to me. Just as long as I don't have to go as well : ) Of coz I do go when my presence is required..like my bro's and fiance's surprise birthday parties and some thing called a Traffic Light party..to support Joanna : ) Haha! Once in 5 months is good enough for me.

I’m a typical Aquarian, meaning I’m very much in touch with my aura and my surroundings. I need peace and tranquility to be able to function as a human. Sending me to a club is like a walk in field of landmines. Every step taken is extra careful, hoping not to step on some mines and blow myself up. That’s what clubs do to me. My inner self gets all jumbled up and confused and I’m disoriented for days afterwards. My idea of clubbing is simple – going for an hour with one drink – and then going back to civilization. But no one else seems to share this view.

Pammy's 25th!

Another one turns a year older! Hahaha!

Dear dear Pammy turns 25, and yesterday she had a little gathering and makan-makan at her place..did we have a good time!

Joanna and I were of coz one of the late ones to go, but that was coz I needed to sleep a little more at home : ) And was I glad to sleep...I so needed the energy later at her place.. Jo and I got there at abt 9-ish, and most of the friends were already there..Danny was half-way drunk by the time we got there...his excuse is that he's sad he's leaving! Yeah, of coz : )

There was this adorable chocolate cake, with little miniture football players on it, together with 2 goal posts - Pammy's passion of futsal! Definetly one of the best cakes I have had so far.. And someone had made brownies - really good ones. Though now Joanna and I have decided we are NOT gonna eat lunch thru next week : )

We pretty much waited for the uncles and aunties to leave - and then we started playing the card game! Lolz! I remember how much of fun I had when I first learned it, and now teaching the game to everyone was hillarious! Especially the 'make a rule' card! Imagine having a bunch of drunks making up crazy rules!

Michelle made the boys walk around the house in a single line, quacking like a chicken and saying "I'm gay!"...they did the chicken bit but mumbled God-knows-what! Then Selva decides to take revenge and make the girls kiss each other - unfortunetly, he forgot to SPECIFY that in detail - so we gladly kissed Pammy for her birthday!! My turn came, and I soooooo took my revenge on Danny for accidently pouring half a can of beer on my dress! What I made him do...I'll post a picture to show that : )

But there was pretty good news too - Pammy got her finals results yesterday, and she passed with 2nd Uppers - so there was a lot more to celebrate! Its good for her, with all the trying times she been thru the last few months.

All in all, it was a really good night. It says a lot about friends when you get to hang out with them, no matter after how long, and still manage to pick up where we left off the last. Its good to be able to feel totally comfortable and have some crazy laughs and good memories to remember, stories we'll think of later on in life. I wonder if I'll get these kind of times again - carefree, fun, fantastic - once Danny goes and Pammy starts work. It'll take more effort no doubt, but if every once in a while, if you get to have good and clean fun with really nice people, no fights and no trouble, lots of laughter and lunacy, and hope to do it all over again - then I must be a really lucky girl : )

Desperate City

Joanna made a really interesting observation today... she said how very similar the characters of Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives are...and she is so right... Now if by some chance you haven't heard of either one of the shows, do take the effort to remove your head from whichever hole you have had it buried in. And if you are not a fan of either one of the shows...please make an extra effort to go bury your head in some God forsaken hole.

In DH, we have 4 women - Susan, who's clumsy and sane at the same time; Bree, who has serious reality issues; Gabby - who would flirt with every and anything and Lynnette, who is this crazy power control freak! Now looking at SATC - we have Carrie, who is very much like Susan, except with better sense of clothes and shoes; Charlotte, who is similar to Bree in terms of being waaayyy off from reality; Samantha, who sees no difference in flirting with men or WOMEN and Miranda, who could be an alter ego to Lynette!

Both Jo and I are huge fans of these shows - not because they are chick flicks! (btw, that term makes no sense) but coz they really show some hilarious and out of this world topics! And I guess, most importantly, the whole show is carried by women..so expect no mindless-action-packed-testosterone driven ala Bond kind of a show : ) I doubt very much that any of the guys out there could understand the fascination of the 2 shows, though I do have my own guesses about what would make them watch it (read: Gabby and Samantha)

And I wonder if any guys would wanna go see the movie of SATC in the cinema, spend two hours watching 4 women discussing PMS, clothes and shoes, relationship issues, waxing techniques and diet and exercise! I'm pretty sure that would seem like some very carefully planned, women-oriented, sadistical torture chamber to them! Wont it be fun seeing the reaction of some men in the cinema! Sounds familiar to the scenario of Titanic!

Well anyhow, being such devoted and supporting fans of SATC , Jo and I are gonna go next week and completely enjoy watching 4 grown women worry and fret and discuss in length about all and every girly issues!

Whats with Zee?

What on earth is wrong with the serials on tv?? Some of them are sooooo ridiculous, that at times, I am so dumb struck that I need a minute to digest the stupidity of the directors, the producers, the actors...and of coz...the audience!!

I hate serials, I really do. The only one that I loved so much was Ugly Betty (the SPANISH version, not the copycat English one) and I completely fell in love with Juana in Juana's Miracle (notice they are both in Spanish). Now these two were waaayyy back in 2001/2002..so considering my age back then and the fact that I had nothing else to do other than attending classes, so naturally, I used to be in front of Ntv7 for these shows.

Now here's what was really good about these shows:
1. You get to learn some Spanish...seriously! Ke Pasa?...Porke?...Mia Culpa... awwww...

2. The storyline was pretty damn good...I mean, look at Juana! She was an average 17 year old, not drop-dead-traffic-stopping-not-a-hair-out-of-place kind of gorgeous, who did not wear make up to bed..and who had an actual, genuine problem.

3. Missing out on more than 3 episodes in a row did leave you behind on the show and it was frustrating!

4. The theme songs were very catchy and almost everyone in uni had downloaded Betty's theme song.

5. Everyone in the show did normal things that are within the capacity of a normal, regular human..no one became a brain surgeon and at the same time was also an undercover mafia leader wanted in 15 countries.

So not that I'm being bias or running down other serials (which I will in a minute), but serials that make sense are worth taking out an hour a day for. And then, humanity took a wrong turn..this was when Astro decided to come into the picture, and very unfortunately, bring with it the curse of all curses...ZEE TV!!!

If there is one thing in this world that absolutely guarantees losing your brain cells at an excellerating rate and adding more pounds on your butt...then take some time to watch the Hindi serials. They are beyond ridiculous! They are downright insulting to our mental capacity. See if these sound familiar:
1. All the worse things in the world that probably happens to 50 people if combined, ends up happening to one single person on the show.

2. Despite all the evil going around the hero/heroin, usually the heroin, she still manages to have utter and complete faith in goodness and is as generous and loving and forgiving as an angel.

3. The evil stepmother/stepsister/in-laws/husband/etc etc are people who are omnipresent. They amazingly find their way to every part of the house, hear every phone conversation, know all the evil gangsters/can change medical reports/spend 20 minutes on completely dumb monologues and constantly have this identical look of arched eyebrows and a malicious and sinister smile.

4. Just when you think that finally the show might decide to come to an end, you realise how wrong you are. Coz just when things start to look good, some long-lost son returns or some past ally comes into the picture with one aim....TO DESTROY THE FAMILY OF SO AND SO!! How dramatic.

5. All the directors on the serials probably graduated from the same directing school since all of them have the same method. Just when some dude or chick says the first part of the first sentence, the cameraman decides to zoom in on the mother, the father, the aunts and uncles, the grandma and grandpa, the butler and the maid...and as the second half the sentence is said, the whole process repeats itself...accompanied by some really annoying background score. 20 mins of each serial are spent on the zooming.

6. The heroins walk around in extravagant sarees, complete with elbow-length bangles and a full set of elaboarated necklaces and earrings...and they go to sleep like that, cook like that, fight evil like that. Sometimes they wake up with full make up on too. Amazing.

7. And if you happen to miss 3 months of the show....no problem! Just watch 2 episodes and its like you never missed even one!

Sigghhhhh... Isnt it simply depressing to think what the future of ZEE TV is gonna be? And what is even more amazing is the way some people are glued to their screens! Thank God people in my family realised the error of their ways and have now stopped flicking to 108 to even see whats on...there cant be anything on that is worth losing some brain cells over.

So my advice to bollywood serial creaters, scriptwriters, directors....do spend some time watching the Spanish professionals at work and try to LEARN something...
To the ZEE TV audience...go read a book!

Childhood

I do not drink!
I do business!
You talk only business..OK!!

Hahahahahaha!!! This really won't make sense to anyone other than my bro and me.
When we were really young kids, we spent most of our weekends and school holidays at my grandma's place. And I think we spent like 3/4 of out time there watching tv and videos (yes, there was such a thing as videos before) and then later, after the show, we would pretend to be the characters in the movie and act out the dialogues...hahahaha...it was hilarious!

And now of coz we are all grown up and everything, and we don't do this anymore. But sometimes we really have crazy laughs thinking about the kind of stuff we used to do as kids. Danny is a heck of a lot more weirder than me though..he can remember the exact words of dialogues and even the lyrics of some God forsaken and forgotten songs that we would have sung as children. He remembers heck of a lot more things than me, and its kindda freaky most of the times the way he can start singing something accuretly out of the blue!

Well today it was my turn to remember something. My mom and I were in the middle of watching a really old show on tv, something that I saw when I was about 9 or 10. Well, I wasn't watching it more than I was listening really, my attention was more on poking Ash on FB (love you baby) and suddenly I hear this dialogue:

I do not drink! I do business! You talk only business..OK!!

And I laughed and laughed so hard hearing that. I think my mom thought I'd gone mental.
It brought back so many crazy memories! Danny and I used to do that dialogue over and over and over again almost every day! We'd do it spontaneously in almost any situation...like when I might be talking to Danny and he'll suddenly recite it, or when we were walking somewhere and seeing people do business and I'll start it. I think we drove our parents crazy with it.

And amazingly I had forgotten all about it! And when I heard it again, I remembered so many many things we did with this particular dialogue...So I immediately called up Danny and recited the whoe thing to him! You can imagine how much we laughed over it...for once he had forgotten something of our old stuff! Hahahaha...

Wait till he gets back. He's gonna be hearing this line from me for a very longggggg time now : )

Crazy Charlie

While I'm writing this, I'm looking at Charlie. And he's looking at me. He's giving me a really cheeky look, like he's just thought of an idea which is not too good...and something which he knows he's gonna get yelled at for. And he's carefully watching my fingers running around the keyboard, trying to see if I'm playing a game with him...and thinking that perhaps jumping over the keyboard mght be a good idea..

Who's Charlie? He's my cat! His full name is of coz something typical of me... Charlemagne. Charlie for short. And he is such a freak. In March, I decided to go to SPCA and get myself another cat. My first cat, Shindu, died a day after New Year this year, and I spent 2 months in depression. When I finally said good bye to Shindu, I felt I was ready fo another cat. I didn't want another Siamese cat and I wanted to give a home to one of the many many stray cats around. So one Saturday, I took my darling Simi and we went to SPCA. We looked at all the cats there, some were jumping all around us, some were really hostile, some were not interested. I looked around and personally spend a minute or so with each cat. Then finally, in one cage, I noticed one cat sleeping right at the back. There were 2 more cats in there too, but this one had his face turned away from the cage and was facing the wall. I got him out, and he raised his eyes to look at me....and I fell in love.. Ohhh he was soooo sad, he had such pain and loneliness in his eyes... I lost my heart and asked Simi if she thought we should get him. Of coz she did. And Charlie came into my home. Its been almost 4 months now...and from I what I figured...my Charlie baby is a freak.

He follows me around every where. If I'm in the shower, he sits outside the bathrom..if I'm lying on the couch, he's sitting on the same couch too..If I'm outside, he's outside too..and when I go to sleep, he sleeps on my bed the whole night.. And he's a psycho too. He gets his favourite wet food at around 4 each evening, and if I'm late and he knows that I know I'm late, he BITES me! He really does. The freak bites my leg or hand, just to let me know he takes his food seriously! Hahaha... And right now, he's been staring at me for quite a bit. He thinks he's reading my mind, and it looks like he's figuring that I'm up to no good. And I'm giving him 5 more minutes to be suspicious of me (coz the laptop is taking my attention away from him for a bit too long now) and he's gonna jump right on it and sit there and look at me and I'm supposed to pet him for being such a clever boy : )

But what I see in his eyes now is a lot of contentment and peace. He runs around the house the whole day, he's happy when we get home after work, he's become really cheeky and is constantly up to something, and I'm so glad that I don't see the sadness there anymore.

He's a real darling.