Caption Competition!

Not that all that many people read this blog, but here, caption this:


No photoshop needed for this. Ah, I love it when the city council reserver planner have a sense of humour. :)

And this ends my very short and lazy blog update. :)

People who just won't take a hint...

I was spoilt by Trillian, never having to deal with random people pestering me on ICQ. That ends when I'm travelling and started using Meebo. Seriously, great service, but they really should add some sort of way to stop random people messaging like Trillian has. I never realise how many random messages one would get.

Most of the time if I ignore them that'd be the end of story. But then you get one of two that just keep messaging and messaging. Some even wants to meet up. And I was thinking, you ask a complete stranger to meet up because of their ICQ info? Just how much more desperate can you get?

I had a particularly disturbing case today. Seriously a few times I just handle people like that by saying I'm not interested or and I'm engaged. This one actually asked me to prove it. Hint: if a girl said she's involved with someone, asking her to prove it won't make her change her mind even if she was lying to start with, it just makes you more of a jerk.

The guy also had a classy opening line "wanna meet? i like asian girls". How some people decided that it's a great way to woo girls with intelligent words such as those I have no idea. Some people really need a life outside of internet.

It took a while for Petey to remind me that Meebo has indeed added the block user function a while ago. I almost feel sorry for that other guy though. He really doesn't have a clue.

Call me an elitist (and in a way I guess I am), but I just not at all interested in conversation with random stranger online who can't even sustain a proper semi-intelligent conversation. Granted I've been known to go to the other extreme (I have a thing for over-achievers), but I thought it's kind of reasonable to assume that girls in general don't get turned on by idiot-speak?

Great, now I'm a feminist, a racist, as well as an elitist who despise idiots online. Ah well, I guess that's nothing new.

My new celebrity crush

I probably should clarify one thing about my celebrity crushes: they're an obsession. I think even since I was 14 there's always been ONE celebrity whose photos occupied the space inside my locker door. Until I don't have a locker anymore and I just search for their wallpaper. Right now, seeing I'm a bit more mature (not to mention being engaged and all), I've toned it down a little.

Until now.

Honestly: Ekin Cheung lasted til I was about 16, then it's Koichi Doumoto, only to give way to Leonardo deCaprio, which was replaced by Hisashi from Glay. That lasted for about 4 years until I thought I found the perfect being called Orlando Bloom. (Seriously, you KNOW who Orlando is right?)

Now you might notice that all of the above are somewhat...what's the word...girly. And YES I do recall that and yes a lot of people do question my sexuality becasue of that.

Until now.

Honestly, my new celebrity crush is the single proof that I've grown up. Not only is my new official celebrity crush not girly, he has greying hair (which is surprisingly sexy), a fantastic sense of humour, and most of all he's so witty that he has a whole show because of his wit.

Ladies and Gentlmen: my new celebrity crush, Mr Jon Stewart.

Yes I know. Not exactly my usual type. I'd been following The Daily Show on YouTube back home in NZ. It's not until I'm in US and get to watch it every night (Mon - Thur) that I truely start to love him.

He's a lot cuter when you see him in his show, really.

But honestly, I surprised myself too. I thought when it comes to celebrity I have the taste of a 15 year old girl. Apparently, I have indeed grown up. Not to mention that this time I go for a guy probably more because he's incredibly witty and funny, not just because he's absolutely delicious in a suit. Or in a sweater.

There you go. It's now official: I'm not shallow and I don't only like girly looking boys.

Somewhat inappropraite entry for today, seeing it's 32 months today since Pete and I are going out (and we still celebrate our lunaversaries...) So Petey: Happy 32 months :D And I think you're A LOT hotter than Jon Stewart. But don't tell Jon that. :)

For the love of God...

The battle on the religious blog goes on, and I've decided not to get involved... yet.

Besides, Jesus already told us what it is he really wants us to do, I'm just surprised that there are still so much debate going on about it:



That is all.

psst: get that on a t-shirt here. You know you want to.

I'm Evil and a Heathen

I've been following a religious blog for about a week now, mainly because my fiance's writing on it and as possibly the only liberal contributing on the site, I feel like he needs back up.

Apparently I'm not a liberal, I'm attacking "The Truth" (accord to another author on the blog. I'm assuming God speaks directly to him and that how he knows).

That blog is also very different from other forums I've seen, where the liberal are the majority, and the few conservative Christian would have a problem trying to state their case. Where as in that blog, the church is "infallible" and therefore anything they say is true and anyone saying anything otherwise will go to hell. (Well, they didn't really say "hell", per se.)

How do they know that the church is infallible? Because the church said so. (And it's infallible you see...)

I don't recall Jesus saying now that you follow me you'll be infallible.

While I'm pretty much a liberal and pretty far 'left', I do feel that sometimes people aren't giving Christians enough of a voice. Anyone who talks about religion are labelled as being a fanatic. But honestly, if you want to invite others to join in a frank discussion on issues, and start that by saying "What I'm saying is truth and if you don't agree with me, you're attacking the truth", it's very hard to have an honest open discussion.

It's painful to watch that blog really. It's not so much that it's not aligned with my ideal, as much as there just seems to have so much hostility written between the line, in a place where it is supposed to encourage fellow Catholics to come together to discuss their faith openly. All this finger pointing and claiming who's right and who's wrong. It doesn't sound like the kind of church that Jesus had in mind.

It's probably not a very entertaining entry, but honestly, someone got to stop thinking about who's right and who's wrong, but start thinking about "what" is right and wrong. Stop telling people that THEY are wrong, but looking within ourselves to decide what is it that we can do to improve ourselves.

The Compulsive Forwarding Syndrom

I thought most people my age, being a bit more technical savvy and know not to abuse email. With the exception of one friend who constantly send emails that are ACTUALLY funny, I have emails that are really, majorly, so irrelevant that I either feel like I've just read spam (and they are), or that I want my electrons back. Grr.

I was stupid enough to give people my GMail address, and some time I just get Unsolicited Joke Emails. Most, if not all of them, aren't even remotely funny. I'm still glad that I didn't give out my normal email open to that sort of spam (Except for the guy I mentioned above who actually send funny things). But GAAA! I want to use my GMail address as well you know?

Sometimes I honestly wonder if people are actually SO overloaded with emails now that they just hit the forward button even if it's not even funny/relevant. I get stupid warning that a quick search on the web will tell you it's false. Jokes that are so old that I've heard them when I was in intermediate (or middle school for you foreign folks). I read it and go "AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!! WHY much they waste my time?"

Eventually, I just stop reading anything in that folder that I indentify as "stupid jokes" (which is anything that's not Border vouchers I've signed up for, or stupid warnings). Stupid warnings, on the other hand, are different. I'll ALWAYS try to educate people. Partly because I'm bossy, partly because I like to feel slightly superior, but mostly in faint hope that it'll just make people feel bad enough to not to forward it next time... and then I get an email about cooking eggs with mobile phones.

Am I living in a special world that I don't understand? Do people just stop thinking all of a sudden and decided if it's a email forwarded to them, they must forward it?

Do they think it's a chained letter, that if they don't forward they'll die a horrible death?

Come to think of it, horrible death is sounding more like a way to stop this problem of mine...

Inappropriate Songs

For some reason Pete and I always ended up having strange conversation topic. Now here we have: inappropriate funearl songs.

Until it sleeps - Metallica
Don't you (forget about me) - Simple Minds
I just died in your arms tonight - Air Supply
Zombie - Cranberries
Every breath you take - The Police
Stayin' Alive - The Bee Gees

And of course, strangely appropriate but probably would freak everyone out:

O Fortuna.

Man I still want O Fortuna to be played as my wedding procession, none of those wedding march business. Can you imagine how cool that would be, to be walking down the asile with O fortuna playing in the background? *sigh*. Alas, I don't think even Pete would approve. :P (My mum will kill me for that, I'm sure.)

I'm still not too sure why everyone wants to play Angel by Robbie Williams in funeral. To be honest I find that somewhat... strange to play that song in funeral. It almost sounded like that guy committed suicide if that song's played. There are tonnes of better songs to be played. My personal favourite of appropriate funeral songs is probably still Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) by Green Day. See? THAT got class. And it's not depression like Trouble by Coldplay. (Although that would be one kick ass song to play for a funeral, depressing as hell.) Obviously, if you want to do for the depression as hell look for your funeral, there's always Mad World by Gary Jules.

Of course, you can go the other extreme and have "Always look on bright side of life". It worked for Graham Chapman. And very appropriate too. Although I think Eric Idle did mention that he almost cried when he sang that at the funeral. Heck I almost cried watcing the clips. So you probably can't avoid the saddness of it.

Speaking of Green Day's Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) (and I still refused to call it simply "Time of Your Life"...), apparently it's actually a common choice for weddings. I suppose some newlyweds must be finding comforts in words like "It's not a question but a lesson learnt in time."

Weirdos.

A real pain in the butt, and why I don't date Asian.

After practically declaring I'm a feminist and pissed Birdie off, now I'm declaring myself to be a racist.

This morning I was walking down some stairs to head towards the engineering library, and since it's been raining pretty much all morning, I slipped and hurt my bum. Which isn't too bad considering that I didn't actually slip all the way to the bottom of stairs (I tried that once. REALLY not fun) and only slightly hurt my bum, thigh, and foot. But still.

And here's where I made this observation. You see, having ONE weak knee makes balancing a bit hard for me (Not to mention my right leg is actually slightly twisted in a strange angle), and I slip A LOT. Most of the time though really makes you love NZ for the place it is. People always stop and ask and see if you're okay, and some would help me up if I can't really stand.

And today, the only person who saw me was an Asian boy, who just pretended nothing happened and walked away.

Then I thought back, and realised that not ONE single Asian actually stopped to help me before. Even though we all know how many of us Asians are here in Auckland. Even in situation where I was helped where there were Asians around, they're never the one who helped me.

Ok. What's up with that?

I know that maybe in an Asian country stopping to help people may seem like a sign of weakness or something. But you can't blame people for being prejudice against you if you don't even help your own people! Honestly, how much work does it take to make sure someone who's fallen is alright?

Normally Asian guys get annoyed with me when I said I prefer not to date Asians because I've yet to find a polite, well mannered and cultured Asian boy. (besides bananas...) It's basic manner people. Make sure someone who's fallen is actually alright. Keep the door open for someone walk in behide you. That doesn't really take much! I know there's a population problem but you don't really have to make yourself obnoxious by being absolutely oblivious about basic manner people!

And people wonder why I have problems with my Asian idendity. Geez.

"I wish I was queer, so I can get chicks"

This is indeed a strange world. Really, guys like girl on girl actions, and girls are attracted to gay guys, and want our undeniably straight partners (well, most of the time undeniably straight) to be a "metrosexual", a word which I've always assumed to mean "still in the closet".

Now, there's a very interesting difference between the two version of "barking at the wrong tree". You see, guys like the girl on girl actions, and they think lesbians are "hot" because all those online video research always turned out to starred blonde gorgeous women making out. When in fact most of them would find "butch" rather on the unattractive side of things. Us girls seems to be in denials about gay guys. We just wish they are straight. Actually, no. Most of us wish our straight partner can act like gays, because they understand us girls. Or at least, the stereotype is that they understand us. I've yet to know a girl who spend time to do online video research on male homosexual acts.

I'm going to attempt to analyse the guys' case first, because it's straight forward. They like boobies. And what's better than one set of boobies? Two sets of boobies, of course. Plus watching girl on girl action gets rid of the chance of them seeing another man's tool. Guys are like that. There are things that they don't like to be competitive about.

The girls' case is a only a little bit more complicated. We like good looks. There's a reason why all you guys out there think all the male hollywood stars us girls are obsessed about are gay: they're all drop dead gorgeous, wear very smart looking clothes, and the actually care about how they look. Sadly, us girls are shallow that that. I'm not too really sure why paying attention to how you look make you gay, but apperantly it does. We like guys who look good. Oh and sensitive. That's the other thing, we like our guys to have feelings, like we do. And then there's the fact that we do find guys who aren't constantly trying to get into our pants slightly more attractive. Oh, and it helps to not stare at our breasts when we talk too.

So where do we find guys who aren't obsessed with boobies? Gay guys, of course.

In fact, it appears what women really want, is infact another woman. Perferably one who can open jars though. We still need guys for that. Which is why I think if I have a sex change and become a guy, I'll be a real good catch. Well, bar the openning jar bit.

And what guys really want, is p0rn.

Becasue Computer Games are Hurting Our Children...

Weeee! Another gem from the great free country of US of A: Nintendo DS Hurting Children!

Honestly, if you have a bit of time. Read that. I'm not too sure if I should laugh of cry really. The main point of the story is basically about ABC doing this story on NDS because it can talk to other peopel who own a NDS, and some games have WiFi capability.

I kid you not. doesn't matter that the "chat" program doesn't really connect you to the internet, or that you need a "friend-code" to play games with a friend.

I'm not too sure if they even do research for stories like these anymore.

People like to sensationalise stories, so here, are games to avoid to get you child. For they are truely harmful.

Pac-man: "Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music." Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989.

Enough said.

Katamari Damacy: My brother called this the most violent game in the history of gaming industry. You capture items, animals, and humans using your capture device called a katamari (those darn Japanese with their weapons), sending them to vacuum of space.

Super Mario World: Eating special mushroom to give you "special ability"? Riiiiight.

Dance Dance Revolution: Psychodelic colours in a disco setting, that can never be good. Are you sure your underage child isn't in a club somewhere?

Seriously though, Katamari is addictive. Recently I FINALLY got my hand on the game. My brother and I have been sizing up things when we're driving down road. It's not really a good thing. :P

I think I've gone off topic again. I guess my point is that people are really going too overboard with the whole "there's danger everywhere" thing. Honestly nonadays everything's a potential threat. What happen to living?

And more importantly: What happened to common sense?

Bachelor of Engineering: a four year weight loss program

Those who read my regular "diary blog" will know that yes, I finally bought "French Women Don't Get Fat" (It's pretty good so far). The book basically said that French women don't get fat because it's their way of life, and I was thinking about when or how I put on weight, adn then it dawned on me. I finished my degree.

It's then I realise that my bachelor degree is only a by-product of a four year weight-loss program that cost about $20,000.

It's true. I'll list all the activities we were forced to put through.

20m dash
Those who doesn't know my university (The University of Auckland. Unless you're from NZ I don't expect you to have even heard of it), the engineering building is seperated from the rest of the campus by one of the busiest road in the city. It's not just busy in the sense that there's constant traffic jam: that'd make it easy to cross you see, cars aren't moving. No, Symond St is busy in the sense that there's almost constantly car going at a speed that makes me wonder if it's even legal at all. (Oh, and students with flash cars. Best drivers ever...) So in order to get to just about anything else besides engineering, we have to cross that damned street.

Yes there's an underpass, which requires you to go downstairs and come back up about 200m from wherever it is that you want to get to (it's a magical underpass). There's traffic lights about 100 m up the road. But we're engineering students. We know the shortest distance between two points is always going to be a straight line.

I'm sure we had some pretty good sprinters by the fourth year.

More stairs then you can shake a stick at
There are two reason why you need to take stairs: to get away from university and venture into the "real world" to get food that doesn't taste like deep fried cardboard, or just to get to another floor in the engineering building.

I'll tackle the first rason first. It's no secret that the main cafe serve food that can be classified into these three catagory: deep fried cardboards, steal sandwiches, and left over form the sushi shop in the city (no, seriously. How could it be THIS dry?) In order to get food that would be satisfied by us young'uns (Yes, some of us have taste too), we have to get out of the university. The university is cunningly hidden by a park, situated on a slope. In order to get out of here, we need to walk down the stairs. You might not think it's much. Bu try racing that up just so you won't be late for tutorials.

The second point is probably why I'm more convinced the degree is designed as a weight loss program. The engineering building is designed to be a narrow, but tall building (except for the few bottom floors, there the labs are). We do like to see lectures every so often, if not just to make sure that they really don't want to give away exam questions. Now we DO have an elevator... built in the 60s. It's one of the slowest elevator in the university, going all the way up to 12th floor, and have a tendency to break down every so often.

The electrical and electronic department is on the 8th floor. Have fun.

Skipping meals
Did I mention a lot of us don't have linux at home and have to work at uni? Did I mention there are more students than computers? Did I mention you relaly NEED to work 7 days a week during the break to finish the projects? And did I mention if you got a computer and leave for lunch, you won't have a computer for the rest of the day?

Just saying.

Conclusions
The reason why I gained weight is becasue I stopped being an undergrad. The addition of new food outlets (not perfect... but it's slightly better then deep fried cardboard) makes me lazy as well. I need to live like an undergrad again to loss weight.

I put the "fun" in "fundamentalism"!

We've been having a few interesting episodes with some, err, let's say not so mentally flexible people, in the last week or so. While I still found it funny that Pete got accused to be a filthy liberal (tehehe... that's an understatment), I just can't help but to think what'd happen if I'm an fundamentalist as well...

So, I set out to look for the Holy Text that is the bible, and start to find out what I'm supposed to quote to people, to be a good bible quoter.

Judges 11:34-40
I won't quote the whole thing here, basically Jephthah promised that Lord that if he wins a battle against his foe, he'll burn the first person that come out of his house to meet him as an offering. He won the battle, and when he went home, his daughter came out to meet him. So after agonising about burning his daughter, his daughter said she understood and will die to be an offering. She asked her father for one thing "Do this one thing for me. Leave me alone for two months, so that I can go with my friends to wander in the moutains and grieve that I must die a virgin."

And that's what they did.

Moral of the story: Don't make promise of the Lord about burning people. He has an interesting sense of humour.

Oh, and don't die a virgin. 'Tis indeed a sad sad thing.

Proverbs 23:9
"Don't try to talk sense to a fool; he can't appreciate it"

This shall be the motto of all fundamentalist. It provides an excellent excuse for not explaining things that they can't explain.

I shall remember this to heart.

Leviticus 13:47-59
Wonderful passage about what to do with mildew on clothings. Did you know that if you have greenish or reddish mildew on clothing, you shoud show that to your priest? He shall put it away for seven days, and on the seventh day, if it had spread the priest would have to burn the article of clothings.

Moral of the story: Thou shalt use a dehumidifier. That was surely Lord's way to inspire us to invent it.

Leviticus 18:22
"No man is to have sexual relationships with another mad; God hates that"

I love the Today's English Version bible.

So they were right, God hates the gays. It said so in the bible. In the same section that talks about burning clothing with spreading mildew.

Lesbians are alright in his book. No mention of them anyway.

Seriously...
Being a Chrsitian myself, I realise some of the above might be a little bit harsh. The point remains: the Bible was inspired by God, and need to be read in context of the time when it was written. Listen to your conscience more, drink lots of water, eat well, exercise regularly, and love each other. Afterall, the word Christians implies following Christ's example, which is to love and serve each other, not quoting the bible and tell people they're wrong.

Torment you kids today - give them a strange name!

I thought as a first post, I should justify the name of this blog.

"Lucifer Cheesecake" has been a running joke between me and my fiance, as to what to name our kid. Look if Gwyneth can called her daughter "Apple", I can call my son Lucifer. Or Lucy for short. It's cute!

To balance things a little, we'll give him a not-so-evil sounding middle name. The first thing came to my head was "Cheesecake". (I was hungry)

Honestly, the whole weird name thing seems to be trendy now. What with celebraties naming theirs with things like Coco, Apple, and what about the Beckhams boys?

It's not just a thing for the rich and famous either. I blame it on the fact that the world is getting too crowded. What better way to be unique then a strange name? My music teacher from high school named her daughter Jaz. With one Z. I also know of a lady who named her daughter Liberty-Jane. (It kinda sound like a super hero name doesn't it?)

If you don't have enough heart to totally ruin your offspring's life, why not give them a normal name with creative spelling? I've dealt with someone called Leesa. That's the first I've seen someone spelling my own name that way. And for extra fun, name your daughter Kristine or Cristine, or Chrystine, even. (She'll learn to spell her name out straight after introducing herself to people. She might even develop an interest in spelling, you never know.)

And if you are stuck with a common name, you can be creative and change your own name! It's easier if you're Chinese, of course, since we pick our own "English name". Conveniently, it's not on any legal document, so we can change it whenever we want. I know a friend with two names that she interchanges between. Then there is this guy who changed his name because he started going out with a girl called Juliet. You can see where that is going. I guess this is a bit like getting your girlfriend's name tattooed on your arm. It's a bit less painful though, I guess.

I doubt I can get away with naming my son "Lucifer" though. A while ago I heard a story about a Japanese guy in the US trying to name his son Satan and he wasn't allowed to. Some freedom of speech huh. That and my fiance thought mentally tormenting our son might not be that good of an idea. We might name him something boring instead like Arthur.

At least I can name my blog whatever I want without ruining its life.