Still Being Random

My school gave us a long weekend after the Sports meet on Friday. So, knowing this, I flew off to Bintulu for the weekend and came back only yesterday.

Whenever I mention Bintulu to anyone here, they grimace and ask 'What's in Bintulu?' really distastefully. To which I will reply as innocently as I can 'My husband.', which I hope conveys the message of 'You're not thinking very well, are you?'.

When I got there, Shook told me the Bintulu Regatta was on. Now, I'm not a big fan of anything like this. I aways thought, and knew, it was an excuse for people to be out and be seen. Girls go to see guys and show off and guys go to see girls and show off. This was most evident when I saw a girl dressed to the nines and even wearing black stockings. Why was I horrified? This was because the sun was shining very brightly and it was HOT! The heat pricked my skin. That's how hot it was. But then again, this being a small town, I figured what else did the people have to do anyway?

And, being Bintulu and therefore there was nothing else to do, Shook and I strolled around the esplanade where the regatta was held. We saw some interesting things but I wasn't impressed enough to buy anything.

Anyway, I went all the way there to see Shook, which meant I didn't care what I did. I could have been cooped up in the room all day and I would have been happy. But as it was, we went to watch Hellboy 2.

I thought it was more interesting than the first one. Observe how I'm not raving about it. Doesn't mean I thought it was bad. I'm just not willing to be one of those people who seem to consider every movie they watch as the best one yet and it is awesome and kicks ass!

It was a good movie. The bad guy, Prince Nuada, and kin reminded me a lot of the Silvanesti elves from the Dragonlance series. He also looks a lot like the elves on the cover of Michael Moorcock books. Anyway, I thought he was kinda hot for a bad guy but I kept mum because there was something about him that looked painfully familiar. Then when we got back to our room, Shook did a search and found that Prince Nuada is played by Luke Goss. I was almost horrified. I came from the Bros era and the thought of me finding Luke Goss hot was...scary.

Then there was the sister to Prince Nuada and she was Princess Nuala. I thought she looked like Calista Flockhart but her voice was different. Of course, it wasn't her.

I'd watch this movie again although I won't pay to watch it again. It's one of those movies that's just there for entertainment sake and it worked for entertainment sake. I did enjoy it although I had to stop myself from making comments to Shook throughout the movie. There was a quote from prince Nuada where he said "I will call upon the help of all the children of the earth! The good... the bad..." and before he finished his sentence, I said 'The ugly". Of course, he said 'The worst.' but it was just too cliche for me at that moment.

I tried to talk Shook into watching Wanted with me. He had gone last week which I was rather annoyed about. He was willing to go watch it again at my behest but I didn't push the issue and I'm not selfish enough to make him go watch it again.

So I went to watch it yesterday instead after I got back from Bintulu. Turns out it was another of those movies where you have to leave your brain at the door and just watch for fun. I loved the chase scenes and the shooting scenes. I even loved the guns and the bullets. I did wonder how much of Angelina Jolie's tattoos were her own and how many were brushed on. I do want the gun she used though. And then, just as I was wondering at the loopholes in the plot, the movies covers them all up at the end. So, overall, I'd watch it again but, again, I just won't pay to do so.

I was tempted to go watch Hancock but I discovered that the more I watched the trailer, the more annoyed I got with the movie. I can't explain it. Kind of like my reaction to Get Smart. I always thought the series was dumb and goodness knows I can't stand Steve Carell. So I figured I'd wait for both movies to either get to HBO or for my sisters to buy the DVDs.

Other than that, I had a great weekend. I wish the break was longer then I could have stayed there longer. It's not the place but the person I went to see. Bintulu is a nice small town where everyone moves at half the pace people move here in Kuching. People there still smile at you and say 'sorry' and 'thank you'. The Malays still cook Malay style food and not try to copy Chinese style of cooking. It's just nice to visit and chill out at. But I'd go mental if I had to stay there too long.

So I don't envy Shook being stuck there but I do think he does have his share of fun, like he did last night. I still shake my head at it. But I'd still rather he was at home with me.

I get a daily dose of how-to pages on my iGoogle every morning.

I went to WikiHow today.

And even they didn't have a solution to handling callousness.

So what's a girl to do, except endure the hurt? And maybe walk away for awhile.

A combination of the two can be really annoying.

On Thursday, I woke up with a very sore throat. I struggled through teaching all day then drank lots of water before going for voice lessons that night.

It's bad enough that I've become really absent-minded. When Gette told me that a song from the Broadway musical made it into the 10th anniversary cartoon, I was actually trying to remember which song it was when I sudenly lost my train of thought halfway. So I had a very blank look on my face while I stared at her. Most probably because my mind was blank anyway.

Then, she ran off to dinner with Rin, Ivan and Shah at Tomoe while I went home and decided that I definitely was going to see the doctor the next day. Not only had I been running a fever on-and-off since the morning but my nose was getting stuffed and I was afraid I would go into convulsions and hurt the baby.

Then, when Friday came along, I wanted to go see the doctor at 10 a.m. I got busy helping the A-levels students to do their fundraiser and when we were done, it was too late for me to run to the doctor's.

I finally went to see my doctor on Friday evening. And he gave me 7 types of medication plus some Vitamin E for my lungs.

I spent most of the weekend trying to sleep the sickness off. Even then, this morning, I just managed to roll out of bed and get to work. Even now, I'm still feeling so drained, my mind is fluff and I'm just annoyed by loud noises.

So if I seem a bit bitchier than usual, it is really not of my own wanting. Too many things going on at once with paperwork and problems piling up on my desk. Not to mention, I'm being badgered by Holiday Inn for a confirmation that they themselves said is not needed until July 18th. And today is only July 7th. Desperate!

Then, there's my students asking for a class trip but they want to do shopping instead of anything else. And when I told them to arrange it themselves since they are the ones who want it, they can't seem to agree on anything. Again, they expect me to solve everything! When I give my opinion, they argue and make it seem like I am trying to stop them. Jeez!

So, personally, I just want today done with so I can go home and sleep. I also want this week done with so that I can get Sports Day over with and then go see Shook in Bintulu. Then if he wants to pick a fight with me there, I'll just come back to Kuching and wallow since I won't be going anywhere anytime soon after that.

Trust me, this is no mood swing. It's stress. Last night I dreamt a guy was keeping me under lock and key. I wasn't allowed to see or talk to anyone without him being there. Then I woke up and thought I'd lost the baby but that turned out to be a dream within another dream.

I'm sure there is some psychological explanation for it all but I'm too tired to think it out. I just want to go home and take a break. And, if I seem like I want to push everyone away, then maybe I do, if only just to get some non-judgemental peace and quiet without too much being expected of me.

Want to know exactly what is that insanity of my own making? It's feet.

No, I don't have a feet fetish. I have no idea what to appropriately call it.

It is this. Whenever I see people wearing slippers or thongs or sandals or whatever that shows their toes, or whenever I go to people's houses and we all take off our shoes, I tend to look at people's feet.

And what makes it worst is that, no matter how good looking the person is, if their feet are ugly, my opinion of their looks immediately drops. So when I meet someone who is too full of themselves but they have ugly feet, I am so very, very tempted to say "I don't care, dude. You have fugly feet."

And the hell bit? It makes me look at my own feet critically. Which is why I tend to cover them, not show them off.

And the ugliest feet I've ever seen. Orang putih feet :-P

Which is how I knew I would never marry one of them. I'm not willing to have those in my bed permanently. Haha!

Have you ever wondered why some people are able to take a comment and turn it into an argument? And then they get pissed off when you point out that you were merely stating a fact and not starting said argument. I've done the former but I've always managed to avoid the latter. Probably because with some people, especially those I regard as friends, I just prefer not to start an argument. It wastes my energy and breath and I'd just as soon not bother.

On the other hand, when you take the passive route and politely ask,"Really?", they gloat. Can't win in this world we live in.

Anyway, here are some pictures my sister took at Beauty and the Beast. I had to adjust some of it because it was very shaky.

Human Again scene

We liked this photo because Lumiere's flame was finally caught

I adjusted the size of the photos because I didn't want it to interfere with my blog's width. But you get the idea.

I went to KL last weekend just to watch Beauty and the Beast:the Broadway musical.

As far as musical goes, this one was good. I've watched more serious ones like Cats, Grease, Phantom of the Opera, Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and even M. Butterfly. So, to compare them to Beauty and the Beast would be unfair.

Beauty and the Beast is geared for children although the children need to be very well-disciplined to watch even a musical based on a cartoon. The musical tried to be entertaining to the adults as well as the children but some adults and children just aren't ready to appreciate this sort of entertainment just yet.

The one thing anybody in theatre knows is that a performance is always susceptible to technical faults and breakdown. In fact, any thinking being would understand this and be tolerant.

However, for that performance I went to, some people (and I'm sorry to say they were in the cheaper seats than I was) began making a big issue out of the delay. Granted, it was an hour late but technical delays cannot be solved within a few seconds. It did not warrant yelling and shouting from the balcony for refunds. One guy even started yelling for the Beast. He probably thought he was being very clever but it only made him look very homosexual and silly. Most of the yells sounded like they came from young adults, most likely college students who could only afford the RM100-RM200 seats.

I'm not being snobbish or anything but what they did was really uncalled for. And I figured if they felt that strongly about the delay, they could have walked out, although walking out would have meant forfeiting the money they paid. Then again, if you feel that strongly about something, what's a little money in comparison?

These people were very rowdy and uncouth. Not only did they dress very casually, they didn't even have the manners or the tolerance for which we Malaysians are supposedly famous for. I was ashamed of them, really. And if they claimed to be educated, where or when was this education shown in their manner? In additon to their behaviour, they also took numerous photos using flash during most of the performance and they started whistling and cheering. Very uncalled for.

Overall, I found the musical pretty good. I wasn't hoping for very much anyway and it delivered even that.

My sister did manage to take some photos but only after she switched off the flash and the viewer lights. I'll see if I could post them up later today or tomorrow.

It was generally worth it despite the crowd and shallowness of it. (What do you expect from a Disney production? No epiphanies there) I was pleasantly surprised by the children. Either they actually sat down and shut up or the songs and my focus managed to drown them out.

However, I do need to mention what I called the dancing werewolves. I know they were supposed to be the wolves that attacked Belle's father and later Belle and the Beast. But it was funny watching them dancing on two legs covered in faux wolf fur. So I called them the dancing werewolves.

And it was good to watch real theatre after so long where people actually realise it's a stage production and adjust appropriately.

Would you like to know what frustrates the hell out of me? Well, I'll tell you.

Ever since I got pregnant, I've been getting lots and lots of advice. Lots! Numerous! Some sound so ridiculous that I have a hard time not laughing out loud at them. Others are reasonable enough that I can accept, but not necessarily adopt.

But the ones that get on my fricking nerves are the ones that tell me I should not be going out with friends, that I shouldn't still be active in my social activities, that I shouldn't be watching movies or going out at night. Even worst, that I shouldn't be playing video or pc games now because I'm going to be a mother.

Then what in bloody blazes am I supposed to do?! It's bad enough I cannot move as fast as I usually do. (Then again, I still move a hell of a lot faster than some people in town!!) The baby is starting to kick up a storm when he/she is awake so I get more aches and pains. But it doesn't mean staying at home makes it all the much easier to bear! And since when is motherhood so boring?! Some people sound like it should be.

Oh! Oh! I almost forgot the all-time clincher! I should be eating more now that I'm supposed to be eating for two! How on god's green earth am I supposed to eat more than I can when the baby won't accept gluttony?! Granted, I do have to think about the baby when I eat but I'm eating so healthy due to baby's preferences that I'm not worried. In fact, baby's gaining weight normally while I'm losing weight incredibly! So what if other people want to use being pregnant as an excuse to never stop eating? Doesn't mean I have to as well.

So explain to me why I MUST chug down at least 3 glasses of milk a day when I always end up throwing up half the one glass of milk I do drink? I can get my calcium and proteins from other sources, like cheese and fish. Both of which baby can accept!

People like this, as much as I appreciate their 'helpful' advice, just don't seem to understand that every pregnancy is different! The best advice I got is from Shook's friend who said to listen to my body and the baby. And bloody hell, I am going to keep doing that!!

I never realise how stupid some people get. Then there are the people who defensively say that every parent is different but then turn around and make general remarks about pregnancies. Oh geez! Please! For once in your little life, use the brain god gave you! If every parent is different, don't you think it is logical that every pregnancy would be different too?

Aaargh! Rant over. This has been simmering in me for awhile now. I don't stay annoyed very long because baby is so injecting me with happy-happy-joy-joy feelings. But once I explode, it is short and sweet and...explosive.