Post New Year Blues

I started the 1st day of my New Year with a flu instead of with a Bang! By the time i reached home, it was around 2.30am. As i had promised, i went to the gym for SGP BC. Back to the same place after leaving it for less than 12 hours! The class was not too packed but i was too strained to do it properly. Went home after shower but forgot to bring my house keys so had to loiter at the cyber cafe for awhile to wait for my family to get back. By the time i left, the pasar malam had already started so i went jalan-jalan at the pasar malam before going back. Used to go when it's almost closing so it was good to go at an earlier time. However, the famous 'tong sui' as usual have already finished so i just browsed the cds and dvds.

Got "Confessions of Pain" and "Happy Feet". Confessions of Pain is really good. I had no idea it was about a murder and even though we were shown the murderer early on the show, it was absorbing as the story unfolds to tell us why the murderer did it and how the investigator finally managed to solve who killed the victim. Tony Leung, being the consummate actor was in his element as a very cool police cop who commited a murder. Takeshi Kaneshiro as usual, is rather wooden in his acting but i still liked to watch him as he's good-looking. Yeah, i know so shallow of me...hehehehe

I drifted off to sleep by the time i watched my 2nd dvd of "Happy Feet". Not really a fantastic start to the New Year eh....

I woke up the next day having a sore throat and a running nose despite taking a flu med before i went to bed. After moping about for half a day and busy updating my blog, i finally dragged myself to the doc and get some proper medication as i had ran out of supplies. Took the med and slept really early as i had to go to work the following day.

New Year's Eve Celebrations

On New Year's Eve, i woke up really early to park my car in The Curve carpark, nearest to the exit so that i could vacate the place immediately after the countdown! Yeah, talked about being super-kiasu! Anyway, i got my friend to drive there with me and dropped me off for my Basic Steps class afterwards. It's been quite awhile since i last went for Basic Steps so i was a bit lost initially. LM and sis made a surprise appearance but as they were late, they had to stand at the corner. I was standing towards the far end too so i couldn't really see what BCow was doing and had to rely on the aunty-pro in front of me.

After awhile, kinda got the hang of it, though minus a lot of steps in between...hehehe...but still managed to keep the rhythm and kept moving. Caught a glance of MIL who stood near the front. Hmmm, what's she doing here? I thought she usually goes to Subang on sundays. Anyway, i did my own thang and got really SS.....Whoppeee!!! Sweat was practically dripping off me and it felt good!!! After the class, changed to a dry top and sat down for a rest before my BC class. Bcow and fans came out and sat at the table behind us. MIL came up to LM's sis and chatted with her and offered some fruitcakes to us. She told us the fruitcake was made by BCow and his partner!!! Not only that, apparently, BCow and partner has a part-time business baking cakes and his cheesecakes were said to be good! Wow, i was amazed! I mean, fruitcakes generally are hard to bake and his was not too bad and there were a lot of raisins, just as i like it. It's not too moist or too dry either, which some fruitcakes turned out to be. My fave is Big Sister fruitcakes but since only me and my dad loves it, i seldom buy them nowadays.

Went for Hooligan's BC afterwards cos SGP told me that he was planning to ffk the sun class. Not sure what happened, either he couldn't find a replacement or something, in the end, he apprently went for the class. Anyways, it's been awhile since i went for Hooligan's BC class too since after steps and BP, my strength is usually zapped and i can probably managed the most of 2 BC tracks. Hooligan's chory was flawless that day and i really enjoyed the class! I must say that among all the instructors, i have always preferred to go for her launch classes as she always execute the most complete chory and detailed explanation...

After the classes, went for lunch at Food Foundry http://masak-masak.blogspot.com/2006/09/food-foundry-section-17-petaling-jaya.html, a little cafe in Happy Mansion which the wookie brought us. I had the marinara seafood pasta as i was famished! Apparently, their speciality is their dessert, mille crepe but i was too stuffed to taste it. Maybe next time lar....the nasi lemak that the other are having looks good too. Mmmm....cannot be too greedy as i'll be having my dinner in a few hours.

I was dropped off home by the wookie and took a short nap before CC picked me up to goto another friend's place to hitch a ride to The Curve. We arrived nice and early at TGIF before 6.15pm and as promised by one of the managers, was given a table without the need to queue. There was a fixed New Year's Eve set served on that day and as there were 4 of us, we picked one of each to share, well almost anyway...2 grilled salmons, 1 Jack Daniel's chicken and 1 Friday's Shrimp. Oh, we had starters as well, 2 mushrooms, 1 buffalo wings and pizza-like something. The food was only so-so on that day and the portions had somehow shrunk from the normal days....hmmm....perhaps they are rationing to make sure all the customers get to eat, huh? Dessert was either the mudcake or the New York cheesecake so we got 2 slices of each. The mud cake doesn't taste good with me tasting more of cocoa flakes and ice-cream rather than the actual moist brownie-like cakes as usual...Uggghhhh....the price we pay for such food....goes to show that we are usually ripped-off on special days....

After that, we went to Ikea as one of our friends wanted to get some stuff before we went for our movie. Initially, i wanted to watch "Confessions of Pain" as i heard that it was really good but the Cineplex doesn't show it so we had to settle for "The Curse of the Golden Flower". The whole movie was OTT, with the opulent deco coming across as gaudy as the strong colours of yellow and red dominate the palace surroundings. The highlight was obviously the female actresses costumes, which seemed to go lower down the bosom as the show progressed. The 2nd lead actress practically had three-quarters of her bosom hanging out in the entire show, ready to pop literally and it made me wondered whether there was any 'wardrobe mal-function' during the filming? The show finished earlier than expected and we were left stranded outside the cineplex for almost an hour waiting for the fireworks and countdown to start. There was a big crowd gathering by now and some of the teenagers were spraying those party poopers like snow and strings at each other. Those stuff stink and we didn't relish the thought of those getting stuck in our hair for the night so we kept moving around to avoid the sprayers!

It was comical spotting a family who were dressed in pajamas waiting for the fireworks as well. Finally, the fireworks started but we stood at the wrong place as they were behind the Cineplex so we moved to the back where we could see the fireworks which were being let out in 1U as well as the Cineplex. It was fantastic!!! Lasted about 6 to 10 minutes then it was a rush to get out of the place!! By the time we reached the carpark, there was a long queue to the autopay. Then, we were stucked from the carpark to the exit for an hour and a half before we managed to get out to Ikea!!! The cars were practically stucked there!! Really pity those who parked further in....That's it, next year, no more celebrating in Curve or 1U....

Super-Size Me

Anyways, since my dad was hogging the tv, i couldn't watch my dvd and waited till yesterday to watch "Super-Size Me" after i got home from gym. I was supposed to do BP but as i was late (again) and chatted with LM, i hit the stepper instead and did some cardio workout...not that i fancy but better than just bathe and go back rite? I wasn't feeling that great as i got some 'disturbing news' that day so it wasn't really a TGIF kind of thingy...

Right, back to the documentary. It was filmed in 2004 and followed the legal case of 2 girls who sued McDonalds for making them obese. The director who also wrote the film, put himself through a 30 day McDonald's diet, 3 meals a day, where everything has to be ordered from the menu, even the water! At the end of it, he put on like 25 pounds (which took him more than 9 mths to take off!!!) and his body fat and cholestrol level went sky-high!!! He had to take the super-size option (which was way larger than our local large size..*shock* *shock*) when offered which he ate and puke at one of the meals! It was utterly gross as they showed the puke too. I wonder how many of the Americans can actually stomach such monstrous proportions?? hmmm....would have taken me 2 to 3 meals i think....ironically as i was typing this, there's a McDonalds just right opposite from me.....hahaha....oh, just to share an interesting trivia....apparently, their salads, which by the way is not served here, contained more fat than Big Mac!!! Just wonder what kind of 'healthy' eating they are serving?? Hmmm, anyways, i haven't had McDs for awhile now. I remember previously i practically took McDs almost every week while i was collecting the Pooh soft toys!! yeah, yeah, yeah...that was some donkey years ago when i was still young mah...hehehe....well, i still have them and i'm proud to say that they are still in absolute 'mint' condition....muahahahaha

Recently, there was an article in the local dailies on the increasing obesity in the Asian regions with M'sia topping the list!!! And i quote here "Malaysia has the most number of fat people in the Asean region. In fact, the number of fat people here exceeds that in many developed countries, including Germany and France." Question is how did we get so fat? Was it due to the lack of exercise or are we eating way too much fast food due to the easy availability and fast-pace and unhealthy lifestyle that we are leading??? Hmmm....something to ponder on...

As for the legal case, McDonalds won and there was a Cheeseburger bill that was passed which ban lawsuits against the food industry that makes the people fat!!

Casino Royale

Woo-hooo…went to catch the preview of the new James Bond movie on Wed…Cheeky Chick (CC) had a few free movie tix so I and another fren went after work lor. Initially when I knew Daniel Craig (DC) was gonna be James Bond, I wasn’t enthusiastic about watching the movie as he urm, doesn’t look like the ‘archetypical’ Bond, if you know what I mean…anyways, I changed my mind after my bro showed me the movie trailer and it looks quite good…and well, he uhhh got quite a nice body too….hahahahaha…As the movie was a preview, there were some securities involved eg. we were not able to bring our mobiles into the cinema as they are afraid that we might ‘filmed’ the entire movie and duplicate it into pirated vcds and dvds to distribute to society….(yeah, rite…like what’s the capacity of a camera phone lar??? Can filmed the entire film meh? Duhhh..tat’s like unless u have a camcorder lar) Anyways, we were ‘scanned’ by metal detector as well just in case we didn’t feel like surrendering our mobiles to them…of cos, we were smart enough to dump it in the car…I mean who’s gonna guarantee that any ah chu, ah kau won’t take our hp wor?? Hmmm, don’t trust lar this kind of thing…plus, my whole phone book is in there so if I lose it, I’ll not be able to contact anybody liao since I only remember my own hp no….kekekeke

There was a trailer on “Dukun” which was a local movie about the Mona Fendi case…looks very gory and violent...anyways, I kept my eyes averted cos I can’t watch horror movies without getting nightmares!!! Right, then the movie started. Hmm, DC still don’t look good though he has the bluest eyes! He looks haggard and crinkly but beefy-licious…LOL. Okie, overall, the movie is pretty violent but it definitely has a better storyline than the rest of the Bond movies (I watched most of them…hehehehe) and the lead actress has a meatier role than the usual bimbo character. She’s an accountant with brains…*ahem* *ahem*…whom Bond fell in love with so the movie is kinda romantic and funny at times as both of them exchanged witty repartees initially before falling in love. Ummm, the sceneries are breathtaking as well as it was filmed in Venice, Switzerland and Prague…ahhhh, sooooo beautiful!!! Daydreaming….How I wish I could go there now….

This movie, which is the first Bond novel that Ian Flemming wrote tells how James Bond got his ‘00’ Licence to Kill and how he became more refined as the movie progress. The actions are really spectacular and the opening chase scene had us clutching to our seats cos very ‘kan cheong’!! DC seemed to have done most of his own stunts as there were close-up shots of him performing them…of cos, there was a very ‘painful’ torture scene which I think most guys will go “Ouch” when they see it…hahahaha… surprisingly, this movie doesn’t have very high-tech gadgets like the previous ones though the Aston Martins are real cool…ok, spoilers ahead…

The ending was really sad as the girl died even though Bond tried to save her….i reckon that’s why Bond became a womanizer and doesn’t really trust anyone anymore cos the love of his life actually betrayed him! Well, I believe she does love him to a certain degree even though she has a boyfriend who was kidnapped by the terrorist in exchange for the monies that Bond entrusted her with…ahwell…maybe I’ll go get the book to read..it should be better than the movie gwa….hmmm