Adios 2005

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here....
Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun and I say...It's alright.
-The Beatles, Here Comes the Sun.

The past week has been FUN. Faz and Clara have been over in Penang, and it's been an all out chill fest. I was just sitting down outside the condo balcony with Faz, Clara, Llama, Erwin, Cicak last night and it made me happy....seeing my closest friends from Sydney, Nottingham and Penang getting along so well and just being together with them all at once. Never thought It would happen.

Currently, Clafaz are downstairs in the tv room, so I'd have to go down to entertain soon, but here's wishing everyone far far away, everyone I wouldn't be able to catch up with this time around etc.... a very very funky and happening New Year.

The only New Year's resolution I can think of this year is to limit my wardrobe to 80% black clothes (as opposed to 99%...currently). I need more colour in my life.

See you next year!!!

Monkey business

Ho ho ho! Just a bit of a break from the blog trend to say...The latest 'King Kong' by Peter Jackson is nothing short of FANTASTIC!!! Well, i thought so anyway.... I know a lot of you haven't watched it so I'll refrain from saying much about it... but it's definitely a cinema worthy film...(so those in M'sia, splurge on that 3 ringgit more, rather than getting the fake DVD.) Whooooohoooo..... here's a bit of history for those who aren't familiar with the previous King Kongs. This one is largely based on the 1933 version. (only this time, they got the scale right....amongst other things. I mean, how could they not, with a budget of $207m as opposed to $650 000 in 1933)....

Hooo hoooo..... I liked it. I really did. It was a lot of fun. Also a good mix of tender mush moments and RARGHHHH moments. 3 hours of gripping action. This is what I call epic-ism! Makes Narnia seem even more novicy! Wheee....I'm making up all these new words! GO watch.

Rocky Road & Turkish Delight.

Maybe I will never be
All the things that I'd like to be
Now is not the time to cry
Now's the time to find out why
I think you're the same as me
We see things they'll never see -Oasis "Live Forever"

New photos! Mostly Birthday pics in Sydney. More to come...

I love Sydney. I love the independence, the lifestyle. I love clean public toilets. I love the people that play such a huge part in my life. And then there is Penang. It's home. A huge chunk of me says 'this is familiar'. This is safe. There is a sense of belonging. There're old friends. And there is family.
Ultimately there is always this constant struggle to weigh up between what one is meant to do and what one wants to do.

I guess my favourite phrase of the week would have to be when I said to the llama the other day, "Lets just friggin' kill 10 birds with one stone." Sometimes that's all you get. One stone. Sometimes that's all you need. Make it a big rock baybehs.... a big friggin' boulder. And think before you fling it. Or there ain't gonna be any squished birdies.
I think I need more sleep.

I've kind of forgotten about doing my movie reviews. I guess I could make it short and sweet. Will try not give off any spoilers. 'tis a jist of what the Lin thinks about....:
Harry Potter. The Quiddich World Cup bit was really funky. I haven't read the book, so I thought the storyline was a bit confusing/disjointed...as in, the movie could have been a bit more linked and the plot was slightly overstuffed. But it was, I think probably the best out of all 4. I liked the darkness. It seemed like the producers were going wild with the graphics and special effects...which was quite a lot of fun for the audience. Dragons were funky. Cooler than that crawly green thingi Ewan rode in the last Star Wars. Watch it. Solely for the thrill of a ride. Like a rollercoaster...at the time, it's fun. But you leave it thinking... what was that ACTUALLY all about, really?
Narnia. I must say, I was quite disappointed with this one. When my parents asked me how it was, I replied "a bit 'gina hee' (a 'kiddish movie' in Hokkien). Maybe I was expecting too much, having read it and watched the cartoon and all. It had so much more potential!! I think someone like Tim Burton would have done it more justice. I mean It had it's moments, but I guess I expected a bit more depth to the movie. It was very literal (i.e straight out of the book), and safe. Effects were great, but I guess after movies like LOTR...it had to be impressive to sell tickets. Personally, the novelty of the 'one-BEEeeelion-warriors-marching toward-each-other-from-the-horizon-war-scene' has kinda worn out for me.... But having said all that, I WOULD watch it again if someone asked me to. :)

Shifting scales

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. - John Lennon, Beautiful Boy

Yes, today is John Lennon's death anniversary and I have seen Yoko's face on 3 different channels in one 'flick session' of the remote control...



Shifting on. Nicol David has been on the front page of the papers for 3 days in a row. I have decided that it is due time I blogged about her and how friggin proud I am of her, probably like everyone else who knows her personally. Sydney ppl, a bit of history...Nicol was from my high school here in Penang, she was in my basketball squad when I was captaining it and is also a good friend of my friends Elaine and Wombat, so used to see her around quite a bit...that is until she took up squash professionally. A few days ago, she beat this Dutch chick (Ranked W.N 2) and Aussie chick, (ex-W.N 1) in the World Open Championship in Hong Kong, not only making her the youngest and first Asian to win this title, but also making her officially 'World No.1' in squash.

Now to be World no.1, in any sport, I reckon takes more than training and guts. Personally, just from competing at mere inter-university level and experiencing a comparatively very mild dose of all that competitiveness, I can relate a bit more to just how much discipline and mental strength it would take to not only excel, but intimidate and beat other individuals who are out there battling on the war-field as well. She conquered the international squash war-field. I super respect this chick. Junior or no junior...

Next Shift. After reading a good friend's blog, I realize that yes, a lot of things do change even in a matter of months. Things left unsaid, matters left undone.... I myself had a lot of things planned for the year 2005 which I ended up not doing. (Perhaps I can slot it in somewhere along the month?) But isn't life great in that way as well? You plan it out, to a certain extent, but it surprises you along the way with little bonuses and unexpected occurrences that you could never have predicted or controlled. And these little 'sidetracks' might sometimes lead you to another path, a different direction, that might change your whole perspective of things....for the better? At least there are options....and aren't options....a good thing?

*Shift*. Going to watch Narnia with Al, Tanya and Ciaks tomorrow night! I guess it would be reasonable to say my next entry will possibly be a movie review. And if this possibility becomes apparent, it will probably be on Harry Potter and Narnia....

Final Shift. Just realized that 'The 4 Sydney East-ies' are nicely spread out around different continents of the world now. Me in Malaysia, Faz is in Sydney, Steve is in Japan, and last I checked, Clara is in Italy. Talk about global coverage....