car accident 2

This time I'm breaking my promise. No, National Pharmacy Sports Carnival post. Not as of now. And for a good reason too.

Take a look.

Front view.

Upper right angle view.

Shattered headlights, bonnet destroyed.

Full frontal view.
The number plate escaped unscathed, just to identify whose car is it.

Yes, Bernard and I survived this awful accident. We were heading back to Subang Jaya from Bangsar, using the Federal Highway. At 11:30 pm, Bernard put down his cellphone, just to hit the emergency break, before running head first into a Toyota Innova. And I looked up just to see the car moving towards the unfortunate Toyota in slow motion. I braced myself, partly putting my arms forward to prevent head from hitting the windscreen.

WHAM!

It was fast. It was a strong collision, loud. I felt a pain around my pelvis. I thought I was hurt. I looked down to see the seatbelt binding me securely to the seat. The inertia to dive forward from Newton's 1st Law was huge, hence the sharp pain I felt when Newton's 3rd Law of equal force acted on the seatbelt to hold me back. To say I was "Relieved" is an understatement. Without the seatbelt, a light weighted me would've been thrown through the windshield easily, and then head injuries wouldn't then be my only concern. For a moment I was so shocked i didn't say anything. A glanced at Bernard, he was ok, save by the seatbelt too. The front view however was awful. Half of the windscreen was obscured by the bonnet which folded into half. Damage to the car looks very bad, thank goodness we were ok.

The Toyota Innova is a tough car, despite suffering severe damage to Bernard's soft metalled Proton Wira, the Toyota merely suffered a small dent on its bumper. Proton Wira, being the shorter car, suffered on the engine, headlights and the bonnet; the lower part of the car, number plate and bumper, was spared of the torture, thanks to the tall Toyota. The impact was lessened by the emergency brake that was applied at the moment, and the shock mostly absorbed by the soft metal in the Wira that gave way on collision, increasing impact time, reducing impact force. Judging by the extent of bending observed, had the force been any larger, the windscreen would've kissed the ass of the Toyota. And God knows what could've happened.

View from the driver seat. Notice how bent the bonnet was.

Shocked as we were, we started to realise what a nasty situation was in. Guna, the kind owner of the Toyota was a perfect gentleman about it. Bless him. Within 10 minutes, there were more than half a dozen of strangers who stopped by the road, coming towards us. These are vultures who feed on your unfortunate event, chen4 huo3 da3 jie2 kind of people. They are spies, connected by walkie talkies, and working for towing services. No matter how convincing and persuasive they were, Bernard did the right thing by not giving in to their crap. All they want to do is rip us off, it's a lucrative business, this one. They have no mercy, wanting to take advantage of our distressful situation to make a hell lot of money, and yet not do a good job about it. The right thing he did was to call the insurance helpline, to engage in their accredited panel of towing services and garages. Or else, the insurance claim would've been messy. And I thank Aunt Lilian and Uncle Henry for teaching us all these, also for coming to our rescue so late at night.

After a police report, summon slip and a depressing ride home, there's still more consequences to come. Stuff like an appeal letter to reduce the summon, insurance procedures, and damage assessment with the vehicle. And the worse one? Having to live with the guilt, the cost of repair, and not having a car for 2-3 weeks.

I thank God for not letting me get hurt. Someone point me to the nearest temple/ church. Promise I'll do more good deeds to get more good karma. Fluffy dear you also have to accumulate good karma, cut down on the naughty stuff ya.

I beg everyone who's reading this, please do not talk on the phone while driving. I'm serious. Don't say,

"Nah, it won't happen to me"
"I'm been driving since I was 1 years old"
"I'm the best driver around"
"I'm the next Michael Schumacher"

because, no matter who or how, there's always a risk when you're on the road. Please be careful on the road. I wouldn't want anyone else to experience this kind of trauma. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. Especially if you have bad karma.

Malacca Day Trip

Alright, this is quite some time ago, sometime at the beginning of our direly anticipated CNY holidays. So frustrated with campus food, this time we were motivated to venture off to a faraway land, in search of authentic Malaysian food. It means somewhere not in KL, KL's Malaysian food is ciplak one. Coloured and flavoured artificially, seasoned with Aji, and packed full of chemicals and preservatives. Eat too much can die one.

First stop: Seremban Beef Noodles!
I thought it tasted odd, don't fancy it much. There's this weird smell that's too strong for my liking. Beef tastes better as steak. How did they make such a heavenly thing taste so unholy? Cows everywhere should stand up and protest! It's a violation of beef usage!
Charges about Rm6/bowl if I'm not mistaken. Daylight robbery I say.

Andrew seems to like it though. Bernard loves it too. Ahh, men. They just don't have tastebuds as sensitive as women's. They'll shove anything edible into their mouths, as long as their tummy is yearning for food.

Chicken Rice Balls!
They have my vote for Best Malaccan Food! Hands down. Whoever starts to argue with me, you're not getting a piece of my future cakes/cookies.

The magnificent Jonker Street. As vintage and classic as I had recalled back when I first landed in Malacca years ago. Current preservation efforts are so good, I felt like I was stepping backwards into the time stream. This is a piece of history, that will last longer than Bill Gates' fortune.

How can a post be complete with a poser picture of me. If Fluffy wants to put hot chicks on his blog, so can I! NAH! A big ass aimless picture of myself.

Our tour guide of the day, Mr. 31 aka Jay Chow aka See Chew. Genuinely Malaccan, yet atypically Malaccan. According to my observations, Malaccan are typically rough on the edges, live overweight seafood (quite la la), and love the pimp their cars into ridiculously shaped, and painfully fluorescent piece of metal. This one, well, is one of the most polite, soft spoken and cool person I've ever met, the aura around him is ala Jay Chow.

Now this is a really cool shop, it has all these really ancient antiques that look as if they've been fished out of the Straits of Malacca. I couldn't help but be amazed and intrigued by such authenticity.

Andrew too busy enjoying his ais kacang which was covered, not drizzled, with a generous portion of THICK, CONCENTRATED, GOOEY, DIABETICALLY SWEET gula melaka. Look at him, so happy to meet gula melaka in Melaka.

I swear this shot of him makes him look so much thinner. Reason? Good photographer. *smug*
They paid him to advertise the menu. Ahem.

I wasn't kidding about the gula melaka. Not suitable for the diabetic, hypertensive, and obese. Unless there's a first aid team on standby.

Weird thing I found on the wall.
Do you know him?
Apparently he's an "impostor", a "fraund" and a "swindler"!
For those who have inside information / sufferer, please contact,
012-2244999, 06-2851999, 06-2824704.

It gave me such a good laugh, I decided to help the poor fella who went through such great lengths, drawing a portrait that looks like every other middle aged chinese man, pasting it on pillars, just to find one person. Well, I shall give him credit for not relying solely on cops. Apparently, they're too busy fining policewomen who dates younger men, who wears tight jeans while off duty, and those who dyed their hair. Why burden the police with a common swindler right?

My name is not Bill, so that mean I can stick on the wall.
p/s: Fluffy made me pose like that.

In one the Malacca's latest mall.
Actually I was looking around to see if anyone would notice if I put my feet into the pond for a free session of fish spa therapy. Teeheehee.
Just kidding.

Stupid piece of staircase. Whoever designed it was a moron. There's a higher chance of a normal human tripping over the stairs, than a handicap on a wheelchair not being able to find a way into the mall. Plus, how can they expect the wheelchair to turn at such an acute angle. Absolutely ridiculous!

Andrew and his nose.

The day didn't end right there. Nope, there was a long, looooong afternoon and evening to follow, which wasn't very nice to blog truthfully about. Here's a simplified version. Determined not to revisit the boring historical sites in Malacca, (honestly, it's boring after so many times), we struggled to find entertainment, with disappointingly futile efforts. Other than food, which didn't take up much time, we ran out of things to do. On a brighter note, I was fortunate enough to meet Nicole, (some will know her as KennySia's pageant / travelling friend) who turned out to be more beautiful than her pictures, and was totally sweet and nice. So support her ya? Other than her, I also met some typical Malaccans. More stories on Fluffy's blog. The one day trip to Malacca was ended with a chorus of WE HATE MALACCA, expressed with confidence in unison!

Next post: National Pharmacy Sports Carnival!
(once I type this, I know there's no turning back. It's a way of forcing my future procrastinator self to write about it.)

Happy CNY

Gender discrimination nearly always gets me carried away. I apologize for being so rude, posting something miserable on CNY. Golly it's my last CNY in Malaysia before I fly off to a foreign land where CNY is just another working day and ang pows cease to exist.

Gong Xi Fa Chai
A big ass picture of a China-girl wannabe, dressed in red for the season. So nerdy okay? I can't believe I can look this nerdy. No choice, my fringe is annoyingly long, and salon prices skyrocket at this season.

Taught my Aunt Gaby how to camwhore with her phone at our Reunion Dinner. I'm really such a bad influence. Spreading my ajaran sesat everywhere =P

"Be home for reunion dinner, if you can"
That Petronas advertisement on Astro, look at this, that's my primary school in that advert! LM stands for Lai Meng. And I'd recognise that playground and school badge anywhere. I never knew my primary school is so photogenic, felt so touching, watching it on TV. All the memories just can rushing back *sob sob*

A beautiful empty road on the first day of CNY. Don't you just love KL on CNY. Haha, non-KL locals, go home, and leave me with my beautiful quiet KL!

And lastly at my grandparents place, The Historical Tap!
This is where I put myself out, when my dress caught fire on a miserable Mid-Autumn's Festival.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

Because I'm a Girl

Indulging in booze, Gambling exciting card games, strutting out in crisp new clothes, gossiping with relatives, and revealing that inner glutton devouring culinary masterpieces from housewives who enjoys that grand annual show cook off...etc.

That's what everyone looks forward to every single year. Except that this year I have something miserable to deal with. No, it's not the fact that my report is due when the holidays end. Something worse.

"You know you really shouldn't trouble yourself going out to work. Go graduate and get married to a well to do man, then be a good wife.", my grandfather said in Cantonese. In response to when I told him I'll be leaving in June for my Summer Placement Program with Boots the Chemist.

WHAT KIND OF F**KING RESPONSE IS THAT?!!! From a grandfather? Well I guess now everyone knows I'm not that close to my grandfather. I respect him and all, see him on festive seasons, I did all there was to do as a filial granddaughter. But we're not that close, like he raised me as a kid kind of thing. Don't ask why, it's a complicated family story.

Right. He's not entirely old fashioned you see, he still drives around in an auto car, uses a colour screen phone with camera and stuff. I totally understand that he said it for my own good. At least it's good, to him. But what kind of good will it do to me? Relying on men for the rest of my life? OVER MY DEAD BODY! Good, die already don't have to be a common housewife. I'm pretty sure my future hubby (if I ever get one, that is) will gladly appreciate a spouse who doesn't have to rely on him for marketing money, bills settlement and other that itsy bitsy stuff. But of course, if I get one, I will not let him get away without paying for any part of my life, say, the my credit card bill? And in that bill, there will be petrol, shopping, dining, spa, etc. Weh heh heh heh heh... I mean, even if I wanted to get married to a rich man just like that, he wouldn't want someone who will just milk him dry right? If he wants one, then he's very dumb, unless the woman he wants is Jessica Alba. Anyway, I'd hate to beg someone to give me what I want.

We're living in the 21st century and I cannot believe that my grandfather actually thought like that. But I'm not going to heed his advice this time. Because I don't believe that his experience as a China man is going to be of any help this time. I want to be proud being a woman who can provide for herself, someone who can survive independently. After all, men don't have a good track record for being dependable and generous. *shrugs* To put it simply, I found a job in the UK before graduation at the age of 19. What's not to like about that? Why is he upset about it and not proud of me? When I turn into a common outdated housewife who only thinks about the price of cucumbers and the number of dust balls sitting on the fan, is that when he will be proud of me? So does that mean the purpose of my birth is to suck my parents money dry then suck my husband's money dry, reproduce some offspring to carry the family name and then die? Ridiculous! If I'm ever going to have kids, it will never be for the sole reason of carrying the family name. I thinking of joint surnames, like the Jolie-Pitts, sounds nice *dreamy look*

I just don't know how to respond. No matter how I try to make him understand with all due respect, he doesn't seem to be changing his mind. Guess the stubborn genes really exist after all. *GASP* Does that mean that one day I'll be a stubborn old fashioned woman that says hurtful stuff to hurt her grandchildren? Yucks *slaps the gene out of my chromosome*

Lyrics for Sweeney Todd

Oh no, I can't stop thinking about Sweeney Todd. I have just watched it for a second time, and I'm badly hooked to its soundtrack. Thus I have decided to vent my obsession with this musical by writing out the lyrics that are already engraved in my sub cranium.

When it comes to music, I'm a Lyrics-kind of person. Of course, I couldn't help but notice how beautifully connected the words are in this musical. I like to think of each song as an individual world, crafted by its words, the mood carried by the sound orchestra. They make me sink into a virtual reality where only the music and the singer's voice exists, with me riding the flow of the musics. When it ends, I will realize that I'm back in my room again. This is how music should be enjoyed. To top it off, Johnny Depp's voice is so romantic, Pretty Women melts me like butter every time, without fail. I wish I could be his butter, because then I can melt on his lips XD *dreamy look*

Argh, JOHNNY DEPP I LOVE YOU!!!
(but Fluffy I love you more ok, muax.)

I know some has had difficulty making out the words, especially Severus Snape's (I can never get used to calling him Judge Turpin or Alan Rickman) deep deep voice. So check these out, these are some of my favourite bits from the song, courtesy of me =)

No Place Like London

"There's a hole in the world like a great black pit.
and the vermin of the world inhabit it,
and its morals aren't worth what a pig could spit,
and it goes by the name of London.

At the top of the hole is a privileged few,
making mock of the vermin in the lower zoo.
turning beauty into filth and greed.
I too have sailed the world and seen its wonders,
for the cruelty of men, is as wondrous as Peru.
But there's no place like London! "

"There was another man who saw
that she was beautiful
a pious vulture of the Lord
who with a gesture of his claw
removed the Barber from his place
then there was nothing but to wait
and she would fall, so soft, so young, so lost and oh so beautiful
And the lady sir, did she succumb?
Oh that was many years ago,
I doubt if anyone would know."

A Little Priest

"For once the sound of the world out there
What Mr. Todd, what Mr. Todd what is that sound
There's crunching noises pervading the air
Yes Mr. Todd, yes Mr.Todd, yes all around
It's man devouring man, my dear
and who are we to deny it in here

These are desperate times Mrs. Lovett
Desperate measures are called for

The history of the world my love
save a lot of graves, save a lot of relatives favours
is those below serving those up above
everybody shaves so there should be plenty of flavours
How gratifying for once to know
that those above will serve those down below"

Pretty Women

You see, sir, a man infatuated with love
Her ardent and eager slave.
So fetch the pomade and pumice stone
and lend me a more seductive tone
a sprinkling perhaps of French cologne
but first sir, I think,
a shave.

Pretty women,
fascinating, sipping coffee, dancing
Pretty women, are a wonder,
Pretty women.

Sitting in the window
or standing on the stair,
something in them cheers the air,
Pretty women,
silhouetting,
stay within you,
glancing,
stay forever,
breathing lightly
Pretty women, pretty women
blowing out their candles, or combing out their hair
and then they leave
even when they leave, they stay out there,
even when they leave you and vanish they somehow can still remain there,
They're there.

Ah, Pretty women,
at their mirror, in their garden,
letter writing, flower picking, weather watching,
how they make, a man sing!
Proof of heaven, as you're living
Pretty women!
Sir! Pretty women!
Yes, Pretty women!
Pretty women!


Sweeney Todd sings the lines in Black.
Anthoney sings the lines in Green.
Mrs.Lovett sings the lines in Blue.
Judge Turpin sings the lines in Pink.

Sweeney Todd

I had a really awful day on Wednesday. The day was spent nursing a diarrhoea in the toilet, bumping into stuff, forgetting things, all except for an exceptional 2 hours worth of a masterpiece. Sweeney Todd! TGV Balakong was definitely not one of the best cinemas around, thankfully the tickets are cheap, only RM6 without student discount! However, the movie made it all worthwhile. It sort of falls under the musical and artsy-fartsy genre, but I can assure you that Johnny Depp *screams* never disappoints!

SWEENEY TODD
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
(Click to see the official website & trailer)

DreamWorks Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures Present
A Parkes/MacDonald Production A Zanuck Company Production
Produced by Richard D. Zanuck, Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, John Logan
Executive Producer Patrick McCormick
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Based on the Musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler
Originally Staged by Harold Prince
From an adaptation by Christopher Bond
Screenplay by John Logan
Directed by Tim Burton

CAST: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall and Sacha Baron Cohen

SYNOPSIS: Johnny Depp and Tim Burton join forces again in a big-screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical thriller "Sweeney Todd." Depp stars in the title role as a man unjustly sent to prison who vows revenge, not only for that cruel punishment, but for the devastating consequences of what happened to his wife and daughter. When he returns to reopen his barber shop, Sweeney Todd becomes the Demon Barber of Fleet Street who "shaved the heads of gentlemen who never thereafter were heard from again." Joining Depp is Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney's amorous accomplice, who creates diabolical meat pies. The cast also includes Alan Rickman, who portrays the evil Judge Turpin, who sends Sweeney to prison and Timothy Spall as the Judge's wicked associate Beadle Bamford and Sacha Baron Cohen is a rival barber, the flamboyant Signor Adolfo Pirelli.

The above information was extracted from the official website, for link, please click on name.

Boy oh boy can Johnny Depp sing! The sound of his voice was so unique it sends shivers of delight through my body *squeals*The orchestra and the music is excellent, I guarantee you the music will stick in your head long after the movie has finished. Those who has watched Harry Potter, would recognize Bellatrix Lestrange, Severus Snape and Peter Pettigrew as part of the cast! Watch all of them sing! Lol... Imagine Alan Rickman (Severus Snape) singing! I think he has face problem, because he always play an eccentric meanie, a big time disgusting pervert in this one. Oh just watch it because there's Johnny Depp in it, savvy?

It would be a crime if you don't watch it!

Updated: I finally got the time to change the outdated Christmas song to Tamia-Officially Missing You. I hope it's better, because I'm downloading a lot of Tamia songs right now, and the Sweeney Todd soundtrack of course!