Entries from December 2007 ↓

If you have kids on hand and have no idea what to occupy their time with at this time of year, head on down to KLPAC for Aladdin - the Pantomime. In fact, even if you don’t have kids and are all adults with your head screwed on tight, head on down for Aladdin! I guarantee you a night of rollicking laughter and fun Beatles music.I was offered free tickets to see it last night and really, who can pass up free tickets to the theatre eh? Add to that the fun of watching a pantomime with a stellar comedic cast and wonderful music by the Beatles and you have a recipe for disaster all night laughter. Adults will appreciate the nuanced jokes and the music and kids will just enjoy the all round fun of audience participation. I’m not going to say more - just go see it. It runs from now to Jan 6 so there’s lots of time to catch it still!

My infinite thanks to Cheesey Poo for remembering that I love music and comedy and the theatre and I’ll even close one eye to the misrepresentation that Harith Iskandar was in it All together now!

We all live in a yellow submarine,
yellow submarine, yellow submarine,
We all live a yellow submarine,
yellow submarine, yellow submarine.

 ********************

On a totally unrelated note, I have finally… FINALLY activated GPRS on my mobile and can now send and receive MMS and check my emails on the go! Whee!!! I bet it’ll cost me a pretty penny, but I can now take a picture of something I like and send it along with a message of “Should I buy this?” or “Do I look fat in this?” - something I’ve always wanted to do! Better late than never yes?

I’m sorry for the silence. I was working on revamping the look of my beauty site because I was getting really tired of the way it looked previously. I’m not saying its perfect this time, but I think its a bit easier to read with the revamp.

It getting closer to the Christmas season and all, I went on a little spin of some malls to check out their decorations. To my surprise, most malls have opted for a very minimalist theme this year. Is it a sign of the times or just a sign of lack of creativity? Its hard to say.

Here is a brief spin around some malls to date:

Sungei Wang Plaza

Gardens at Midvalley

Suria KLCC

I was disappointed with the decor in Suria KLCC which I found uninspiring and repetitive from previous years. Also, Starhill Gallery went from having hanging Christmas trees and actual falling snow last year, to nothing this year. All I saw were the white hanging christmas trees recycled and placed on all the floors, but there was nothing in the main area.

Also, what has happened to the annual coffee and cookies treats at Starhill? Disappointing All that said, this is the run up to Christmas so one should not be languishing in grinch-like behavior, yes?

Oh and I’ve bought my Christmas present for myself this year Something I’ve been wanting and at a hefty discount. It still cost a pretty penny but it makes me happy so… heck! who cares eh? Its my money! Oops! Grinch behavior detected

Update: Yes it was taken with my phone camera - Samsung D900i and a little bit of help from Picasa

Picture credit of MarcelMasi

I chanced upon this small little article while reading The Sun a couple of days ago, and it struck a chord in me. I thought it made a lot of sense too.

Jack London, in his wonderful short story entitled To Build a Fire tells of a man caught in a freezing blizzard. The temperature dropped to 24 degrees Celsius below zero, and he tried to build a fire to save his life.

He had only three matches, and the first two were snuffed out by the wind. His life depended on that one remaining match. He managed to get a little fire going as he cupped his hands, and he held his breath.

Just as it looked like he would succeed, some snow fell from a limb overhead and snuffed out the flame. The man was doomed to freeze to death in the arctic night.

You know, there’s a lesson in this story that applies to romantic relationships. Nothing will snuff out the flickering flame of love more quickly than hovering too close and trying too hard to make it burn. You see, the bonding between two people occurs best in an atmosphere of confidence and freedom. Those who reveal their insecurities and attempt to force themselves on their lovers are putting everything on the line.

That’s like tossing snow on a tiny fire. How can you turn it into a roaring furnace? By giving it plenty of oxygen and trusting the combustion of the fuel. Love, you see, must be confident; it must be free; and it must be voluntary.

Que sera sera - whatever will be will be.

I was reading the Giddy Tigress’ plan of having a blue and silver christmas tree and then I came upon LB’s Christmas tree greetings and May’s Christmas mall decor. And I longed for my own little tree.

So, I went out and got one!

Mine is a little 5ft tree (although I really longed for a 6ft one!) and I opted for a red and gold theme, because I felt it fit with the warm earthy colours in my house. My other theme in mind was to be blue and silver, but I saved that for the office. So, there’s a lovely cool, wintry theme going on at the office, with blue and turquoise and silver balls and silver bells topping the tree, and for the home, I went for festive red and gold with lots of sparkly bits. There are little fairy lights but they don’t show up well in my pictures taken with my phone (I still cannot find my camera charger cable )

Now, does anyone want to contribute to the presents under my Christmas tree?

After all my hemming and hawing, I finally bought my replacement mobile phone over the weekend. Despite my dithering over the Sony Ericsson and Nokia phones and despite popping by many many times to feel and play with them, I decided against the SE and Nokia because when it came down to it, price mattered to me, and SE and Nokia were just too pricey for what was being offered.

I spent Saturday walking round and round the mobile phone vendors in Sg. Wang Plaza, comparing phones and prices and eventually, when I decided to settle for the Samsung SGH-D900i, it came right down to the price. I got the D900i for RM880 (without a memory card because I realised I never used my previous memory card) which I felt was a good deal for its specs. I just checked back, and realised that I bought my previous E830 for the exact same price! The upside however, is that the D900i is in fact an upgrade from the E830 so I’m a happy camper!

I was actually swayed initially by the sexiness of the U600 with its touch pad menu for only about an extra RM200. However, after playing around with it, I decided that I wasn’t stylish enough for such a stylish phone, and I did not like the touch pad. I have a paranoid fear of it not working and that I’d be unable to make phone calls when that happens.

So, do I like my new baby? Its early days yet, and it is essentially got the same functions as my previous Samsung E830 so I’d say I’m pretty ambivalent about it.  However, what I really love is the fact that the camera is a 3.0 MP and has auto-focus. I know a phone camera is no substitute for an actual digital camera, but this works wonderfully in a pinch! Here are some pictures I took with it yesterday.

Indoor shot

Outdoor night shot

Close-up macro shot

And I don’t know what shot this is, but its my Christmas tree - isn’t it pretty?

So, as a camera to work with in a pinch, I think its pretty decent. My brother has the D900 so I was no stranger to this model. Size wise, its about the same as that of the D900 except that this one’s thinner. It was Samsung’s thinnest phone at 12.9mm until the U600 came along at 10.9mm. The thin factor is great, and the screen is really bright and sharp.

The phone has a metallic shiny look to it but the metal bits (shiny plastic) are only on the front of the phone, not all throughout the body as the phone pictures seem to show) I’m not too enamoured by the metallic finish though. To me, it makes the phone look rather cheap. And it does have a plastic feel to it. When I held it together with the D900, I found the D900 feeling more substantial than the D900i. I’m also afraid of the metallic and shiny bits getting scratched so that doesn’t bode well.

The keypad again, seems to suit smaller fingers because the keys on the lower rung can be quite hard to get to. However, once you get used to it, I don’t see it as causing too much of a problem.

Mobile-Review has one of the better reviews I’ve read on this phone, so if you’d like to read a technical review, it would be a good place to start. I’m only able to give a lay-person user point of view - not that its a bad thing right?

Overall, I think its a pretty decent phone for its price. Its an interface I’m familiar with, and I know I won’t have a lag or joystick problem, which I feared with the Sony Ericsson K800/810 and Nokia N73. Its also slim, which is great. I actually toyed with the idea of the Nokia N95 but sanity prevailed in the end. I still don’t have wi-fi but as everyone pointed out before, wi-fi for under RM1000? I’ve got to be kidding right? I’ll leave that for my upgrade in a year or two eh?