Still Being Random

From what I heard, at 4 a.m. today, Sarawak Club caught fire. Apparently, between a gas leak and the fact that most of the Club is made of wood, the fire spread almost instantaneously and razed the building to the ground.

As of now, there is nothing left of this 130 year-old establishment except for the basketball court and the new parking structure. Oh, and the front porch. Looks almost funny if it wasn't so sad.

Another funny thing is, the first thing everyone said after they find out that the Club is gone is "Oh no! No more buttered prawns!"

My first thought was "Shoot! I should have borrowed those World War books!"

What everyone is wondering now, I'm sure, is 'What happens next?'

I was just told tonight that more cars got broken into along Jalan Song. This time, it was at the Friendship Park. Some ladies went to the area for line dancing classes and when they came out, some cars had the windows smashed. I don't know if anything was stolen.

So...yeah...no Jalan Song until the police decide to do something about this.

Let's get back to my original rant before I got sidetracked and decided to wish death and mayhem upon certain retarded individuals.

Shook and I bought Metal Gear Solid the other day. It was number 3, I think. Not too sure since I was never that impressed by Metal Gear Solid to begin with.

So yesterday, when I went to Shook's house, the first thing he asked was if I want to watch the longest cutscenes ever. Being of a curious nature, I naturally said yes. So he played the game for me.

Now, at the same time, I brought KFC for him and Yodie. So he lets the cutscenes play while I sat down, arranged myself, arranged the chicken for Yodie, organised her and the chicken so that the right stuff goes into the right end of her, feeds her a whole breast of chicken, watch her walk away then tried to get her back again to continue eating. Through all this...throughout the entire Yodie drama, the cutscene is playing. One cutscene.

The furthest Snake went was to hunt a snake in the bush. This means he is already in the midst of his mission. His top secret, stealth, we-shall-deny-all-knowledge-of-your-existence-should-you-get-caught mission. And what happens in the middle of his mission? His current boss decieds to brief him. About his equipment, his defenses, his mission. And then who else gets on the link but this female called Para Medic! And they go through what I can only call a long-distance sexual tension (not!) with lots of hints and double entendre. And to add to it all, his previous boss (a female) comes on the comlink and they go through this entire drama of why she left him, why he did what what he did, his idea of a soldier's duty, her idea of a soldier's duty. And they finish it off by saying it was good to hear each other's voices!

I was "What the...?!"

One thing I do know is that no matter what mission you get, the briefing is BEFORE you go out into the field. Any briefing done in the field is if the incident happens then and you need an update. Next, who has ever heard of having a heart-to-heart moment while in a mission?! Shouldn't that be for the debriefing? Or even the psychiatric counselling after a particularly hazardous mission? Or even later at the bar? Definitely not while you're in enemy territory!

Now, for as long as I can remember, everyone has always likened Splinter Cell to Metal Gear Solid. I am a fan of Splinter Cell. I like slow, stealthy games where I can take time to look around and hide in the shadows. Sam Fisher is my idol. So, naturally, I compared Sam Fisher to Snake. Now who did I find wanting? Well, duh! Sam leaves Snake so far in the dirt that Snake won't know what hit him!

If you play Splinter Cell, you get the training courses at the very beginning under the tutorial! The moves are precise, the briefing is straight to the point and business is business. Communication is short and no touchy-feely. In Metal Gear Solid, the mission is the tutorial and, in all honesty, it's like watching Desperate Housewives in camouflage.

Someone once said Metal Gear Solid should be made into a movie. I think they made it already and far better. I call it Commando. I know there are talks of making Splinter Cell into a movie. I say 'Go for it!'. They just need to make sure the guy they pick to play Sam Fisher is as impressive as Micheal Ironside.

However, to be fair, I have the feeling that people who like Metal Gear Solid probably don't like Splinter Cell and vise versa. It's sort of like how people who like playing Counterstrike will not enjoy Medal of Honour and how people who love Medal of Honour would find Counterstrike a little dumb in comparison. I think that sums up what I feel about Metal Gear Solid.

But hey! If you're Counterstrike kind of guy and think Metal Gear Solid is the greatest game ever made, go knock yourself out on it. I just think Sam Fisher makes sense and he knows what he's doing.

I wanted to rant about something but when I got home and checked my email, I read from a fellow Toastmaster that a few more cars got smashed into and had their stereos stolen.

This happened last night at the S.I.B. church near Iris Garden. When the people it happened to was reporting it to the police, they met another man who had his Pajero broken into the same way. He was at the Pizza Hut at Jalan Song. Do you think the police would do anything about it? Not if they have nothing to work on. My father and my fiancee always promote awareness. If there are suspicious characters around, make a point of looking at them. Let them know you see them. Take a photo of their car. So if anything happens, they can be the first suspect. Don't just park somewhere else and keep quiet!

Maybe we should just regard that as a high crime area and avoid it and just keep wishing these thieves would get themselves killed one day? Or just paralysed from the neck down? Or limbless? Or just plain suffering from an endless agony that would last them the rest of their 30 years of life. And killing them would be considered a crime so euthanasia is out of the question.

Do you think I thought about this? Oh yeah! I did. I detest feeling insecure about where I am or where I park or where I want to hang out. I hate having to worry about my own property wherever I am at.

In my current state of mind, I want these people to suffer. I want them alive. Not in jail, not in custody or anything. I want them alive, free but not mobile. I want them to watch while they are destroyed. Slowly. Due to their own work. And if their children hate them and their wives leave them and nobody would ever look at them with kindness ever again for the rest of their lives, I would sleep happy knowing that justice is served.

Forget Superman and all his crap! I'm a city dwelling human. I'm jaded, just like Batman. Which is why I'm not self-righteous. Which is why I Iove Superman, because I wish I could be like him. Unlike all those heroes, I want the criminals to suffer. I would watch them get caned 50 times for petty theft. I heard that 5 times is heart-wrenching enough. Well, 50 might make me smile. I could begin cheering by the time they get to 100. So what?! My car, my emotions, my security. The criminals better bloody pay me back in blood. I ask for no less.

And maybe their first born child to sell off to the slave market somewhere in Asia. Where they cut their limbs and make them beg for money which will not be used to feed them. Where they'll curse their fathers with their dying breath as they lay on some cold,wet floor, gangraped by 20 men.

Have I thought about this? Oh yeah! Will I do anything about it myself? Nope. I believe good things come to those who wait. Hell waits for those who steal and lie. Hell is more painful than I can ever imagine.

You know how people say things like 'When it rains, it pours' or 'Things happen in threes'?

Well, don't I know it?!

After my car got smashed into, I've been waiting and waiting for something else to happen.

Well, today something did. Suffice to say, I'm not sure whether to tell my parents and I'm not sure who to tell or what to tell. All I know is that I broke down and cried in school, my co-ordinator calls the whole thing just mean-spirited and if there is anyone I want rotting in hell, it's people who have nothing better to do than conspire to be childish in their envy.

Think your life sucks? Want mine instead?

If this is number 2, wonder what number 3 would be? *Touch wood!*

One good thing came up fromthe incident that night - I found another cousin. Who blogs. Who rants like I tend to. Yay!

He can be found here. He writes really well and he's a good Toastmaster,too.

I was at Jalan Song last night for a meeting at Borneo Chess Academy. It's just a few doors down from Chilax and Pizza Junction.

Anyway, we were just about to leave for the night when one of the Toastmasters came back up to tell us some cars were broken into. One of them was my car.

Well, we went down and I saw that my passenger window was gone. It wasn't shattered. It wasn't in a million pieces that I have to clean from my car. It was just gone! No sheet of glass, no debris, nothing.

Then I looked to see if anything was stolen. Well, it's not as if I keep a lot of stuff in my car anyway. The only things I have in my back seat were 2 jackets and my plush toy tiger (which thankfully was still there. Thieves really do have no sense of value!). What the thieves did try to steal was my car stereo. Between you and me, that piece of crap was lousy and if they had stolen it, I would be rolling on the floor laughing my eyes out at the justice of this universe we live in.

The stereo was still there although there is evidence of them trying to pry it out. They didn't succeed probably because the damn thing is heavy as hell, it's weirdly fixed to the car and they'd have to pull apart the entire gear shift to even budge it, much less remove it! So I was left with a disjointed stereo and the covering parts on my passenger seat.

I still have no idea where the glass went to.

Everyone, bless their souls, were so worried about me. I got an escort home, everyone walked me to my car and I'm allowed to take time off from Toastmasters work for the week, I think. Haha! I wish!

The other car was an SUV of some sort, I think and the CD player is either gone or partially pried out as well. I don't know. So while everyone was wondering why only these two cars, the conclusion was they were the two expensive looking cars around.

So my advice is don't bother with an expensive stereo system even if you do have a non-descript car. Just get a run-of-the-mill system and you're done.

Oh, the thieves did yank out my ashtray though. Which only had barely RM1's worth of change in it!. Yeah...nice expensive car driven by a cheap skate who has a fiancee who keeps telling her never to keep anything in her car! Unless it's a weapon. Or a poncho and some duct tape. And my mom always says neevr to keep bags in the car. See? I do listen when my mom grumbles. Never know what I might learn!

Oh, and I told Shook that I actually halalkan the stealing of my small change and the attempt on my stereo because I figured stupid thieves need all the 'help' they can get.

Donnie Yen has a new movie!!!!!!!!!

Double, triple, quadruple, ear-shattering wheeeee!

And he looks so good for a guy who is younger than my beloved cousin by only 4 months!! Then again, my cousin does not have ah beng hair which incidentally only suits gorgeous buffed men who look lustily good in tight fitting sleevless shirts!

And the hair...I always love the hair...hair is such an asset. When it's good hair which has that beautiful flyaway look and does not lie flat on my skull!

Anyway, before I turn into a slobbering moron, I'll just state what movie he is in. It's so beautifully named. It's Dragon Tiger Gate. It's a martial arts movie. Kung fun and a bit of fantasy. My favourite combination.

Somehow I think Donnie Yen will overshadow Nicholas Tse. Next to Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse looks so paltry and sissy-ish.

And that is my girlishness for the day. Thank goodness I didn't do this with Shook around.

I'm blogging while watching Numbers. I enjoy that show. It should be used by Maths teachers more. I know that in the US teachers can request education packs to be used in the classrooms. I'd do it if I were a Maths teachers. But I teach History so I make my students watch war movies instead.

Before I go into the reason for my post title, I'd like to promote Yodie's very own blog. I think she might have been partly inspired by Dexter but she'll probably deny it. Yodie's too smart for bandwagons. And Dexter went and made himself a bed in a suitcase. Talk about living out of a bag! Haha!

Anyway, to get back to mood swings. I had forgotten how bad mood swings could be until my girls got into a mood swing today. One of them goes from moody to happy in the blink of an eye and another one just absorbs it all and gets all moody as well. Another girl is rather matured about it and told me she's always careful to control her mood swings until she gets home where she can't affect her friends. I wish I had that much maturity when I was younger. But at her age, I was not moody at all. I just didn't care enough to feel moods.

Sometimes, it's good to take care of teenagers. You know how girls tend to 'follow' each other's menstrual cycle when they spend too much time together? well, my girls do too. So I can almost predict when they'll get moody and sulky and whiney one minute and happy and hyper the next.

Today Mohd Azlan Iskandar, a squash player came to school today and gave a talk. And I assigned my 3 girls to interview him. By the time he was done, he had 3 more fans and I had to deal with giggles and hops and squees. If I was less patient, I would have either been angry with them or I would have snapped at them. But I have 2 giggly sisters so 3 more giggly girls are no problem.

And it turns out that I know his family for a long time. My mom says he was cuter then but after doing a search for him on the Net - and discovering he has a Wikipedia page - I think he looks better now. I have some pictures of him in my laptop but I'm too lazy to upload them.

My girls got all excited to get his autograph so I told them I can get my 2 cousins to sign for them since they're kinda famous too. Haha! But I just want Axl Rose's autograph or Sean Connery's or Brandon Routh's or even Donnie Yen's.

Luckily, I've long given up on being starry-eyed. Saves me a lot of trouble and disappointment.

So I'll go see what Dexter has been up to and be more lighthearted now.

I am not a football fan. I am a social football watcher. Since there are social drinkers and social smokers, then I am a social football watcher.

I only watch football if it's in front of me and I am absolutely nothing else to do or watch. And the only part of it I'll follow is to see who won.

So, with that as a warning, I can easily say, I don't understand some people. Recently, I heard one guy in China saved his TV from his burning house and let his wife save their child just so that he could run outside, find an electrical outlet and watch the World Cup! I'm not going to bother to find the links because...I can't be bothered! Then there are people who resigned from their work just so they could watch football in peace.

And last night, there was this asshole who kept whining to his wife about how long Superman Returns was and how it didn't seem it was going to end soon enough for him because he wanted to watch football. His exact words were 'Eeh, cepat agik eh! Aku nak nangga bol!' (To translate loosely : 'Be quick. I want to go and watch football) He said this over and over again throughout the last half an hour of the movie. And he was sitting right behind Shook. I was so tempted to turn to him and yell for him to bloody leave the cineplex if he was going to be THAT pathetic. Why couldn't he take his wife and children to watch the movie another time then?! And his poor wife had to keep him quiet and then, before the movie was actually over, once he saw the line that states who did the subtitles, he got up and drag his poor son out the cineplex while the son was still looking at the screen!

You see, as far as I am concerned, if you want to be a fan, then be a fan. Go watch it, go bet on it, go live it, go die for it. But just go! I don't care how you go, just go! Don't torture the rest of us with your poor, loser existence and attitude. Don't sit there and whine about how you're missing the all-important event of your life like you had nothing else to do. And if you're going to whine then do it somewhere quiet (like in a room with padded walls) and learn to organise your schedule properly.

It's people like these that give all football fans a bad name. Most fans I see and know will sit and enjoy the game. They will arrange their lives properly. Granted they arrange it around the matches but it's still properly done.

And want to know what's even sadder? The pathetic fuck was a Malay! If it is possible to be racial discriminating against my own race, then I might be it! There are some great Malays out there who work hard for their living, who can juggle their lives perfectly, who can not rely on the government for everything. Yet they are the few. The general masses are sad people who have an inferiority complex and a kiasu attitude that would rival all Singaporeans!

And this was my only sore spot during Superman Returns last night. But it didn't stay sore for long because Superman solves all my problems ;)

We went to watch Superman Returns last night.

I had long known that I would go watch it regardless of who came with me or not. What I didn't expect was the major rush of fangirlism that hit me as soon as the theme music played.

I was having serious palpitations. I got into the movie so bad that I couldn't stop grinning at many, many points and I almost cried when the unnerving bits came out.

I'm not going to reveal the plot, people!! BUT...I do recommend this movie to anyone who has ever liked any superhero. You may like Superman, you may hate him but this version you have GOT to watch.

Forget football (although one guy sitting behind me and Shook could not but I'll write about him in a minute), forget your other responsibilities and just come in and watch this movie.

Superman had long ago become a basis for a lot of superpowered heroes. I fell in love with Superman when I was 7 years old. My father, who was studying in the UK at that time, always had Superman comics with him when he came home or when we went to visit him. So. amidst all my family and childhood problems, I got myself lost in this American ideal. For me, Superman became exactly what the creators wanted him to be: the hero who swoops in to save the day. In my case, he was the one who saved my sanity and my emotions. When my father's relatives did what they called a boycott of my mom and I while my father was away, I knew what was going on but as long as I could open up a Superman comic and read it, I was fine. So in a strange way, since my father would bring back new supplies with him or when my mom went to visit, she'd bring them back for him, I felt as if my father was around again. But I was always aware that Superman was not real. Unlike lots of other dumb kids who think they could fly when they wear the cape, I knew I would never look up at the skies and see a blue and red streak go by. All he was, was an escape mechanism from selfish, useless and mean relatives.

So for years after, I hung onto Superman, even when I didn't need him as much. When the first two movies came out, my father took me to watch them and I loved how Christopher Reeves played him. And this made me like Christopher Reeves and I followed hhis movies after that as much as I could.

Then somehow when I got too old to depend on Superman, I naturally turned to Clark Kent. Well, I think Dean Cain had a lot to do with it.

Through all the movies, TV shows and comic books, I followed Superman's evolution as much as I could. When I was old enough, I began to buy the comics myself. When he 'died', I am ready to admit I cried. When they created those other Superman substitutes, I ranted a bit but accepted them. When he came back, I cried. When he got married, I grinned for weeks. I always liked Lois Lane. She was daring (a bit reckless but daring), she was persistent, she was a career woman and she was brunette. How great is that!!

So after years and years of not seeing Superman I was jumping for joy when I knew they were making Superman Returns. When Christopher Reeves got that riding accident, I figured there was never going to be anymore Superman movies. But when I saw Brandon Routh, it was like the sunshine coming through the clouds!! During the movie, I grinned and did a bit of the jig on my seat and basically annoyed anyone within a two seat radius. He is cute...in a geeky way, as my sister would put it.

Brandon Routh not only looks like Christopher Reeves, he sounds like him too. His Clark Kent is not as painful to watch as Christopher Reeves's though, thank goodness. And Kevin Spacey being Kevin Spacey was phenomenal. He was mean. He was generally someone you'd love to hate and would hate to love. He was so nasty that I was on the verge of hating Kevin Spacey for life. But then, we're thinking adults so we should be able to differentiate between the actor and the characters they play. (Speaking of which, I watched First Daughter the other day. Mark Blukas is cute. It was Riley I hated. Those who follow Buffy would know the meaning of this)

So, yeah, I grinned and almost did the American thing by clapping my heart out and jeering in a cinema. When we got out, I practically floated, as Henrick said it. He also said I was flushed. But I was grinning until my face felt like it was splitting and I was gleeful. 'Squee' is too mundane a word for what I was feeling.

I am going to buy the DVD; original if I have to.

Last night, Superman again launched his American propoganda. He was again the ideal American man - selfless, patient, generous and sacrificing. He's like MacGyver in a cape and tights.

What I might do next is to find all the Superman comics I did miss and get them. Hard copy or PDF, I don't care. I've already got some of the X-Men saga so I might as well do the same for what really counts with me. And since I bought a DVD writer yesterday, I can burn them all into DVD later.

And what I might also break down and get is a Superman T-shirt (just the logo) and maybe after that keep an eye out for Superman Returns calendar at the end of the year. Those wall calendars are a tradition with me since I got back from the US. Last year, I got French Kitty. The 3 years before that it was Buffy and Angel. So next year, it looks like it'll be Superman Returns.

I don't make a good movie reviewer because I don't want to spoil the movie for some people (unless I hate the movie, of course. Then I'll just say so and refuse to talk about it ever again). But for Superman Returns, I'll recommend it.