The Unpopular Opinions Challenge

Snagged from Tumblr:

"To be answered and completed with grace and understanding on both sides of opinions expressed: Let your opinions pour out, but you don’t have to be a dick about it now do you? And you may severely disagree with someone but are you really going to unfollow or bug them about it? That said, answer and read at your own discretion. "

1. A selection of television programs you do not care for.

Plenty, most which include a CSI in the title, and also NCIS, which my brother insists on calling NCISucks (real mature, I know) but I've decided to go for the one show I actually used to care for quite a bit ; Glee. I enjoyed the first half of season 1 immensely, but it has fell quickly and thoroughly from my favour, while at the same time the number of self-professed Gleeks around me seem to be growing by the day. If I really sat down to think it through, my beef with Glee would possibly take up a blog of its own, but instead, here are some of the issues off the top of my head.

Things About Glee That Bug the BAP (based on my having sat through the whole of season 1, and then a handful of season 2 episodes)


a.) No continuity. I'm willing to turn a blind eye to a lapse or two, but sometimes when you sit down to watch Glee it feels like last week's episode never even happened. What about the aftermath of Kurt's Beyoncelicious entrance into the football team? What about Artie and Tina's brief flirtation/betrayal, which was never touched upon after the episode in question, as far as I know? QUINN'S BABY, HELLO? Characters make huge breakthroughs, there are major plot upheavals, and then after that it's like none of that stuff ever happened,until another episode suddenly decides to bring it up again, and then the character/incident in question is conveniently brought back to the light. And it pisses me off.

b.) The show seems more interested in who the next big-name celebrity guest star will be, or which chart-topping song of the week will feature in an episode. I am not calling "sell-out", not at all ; by all means, bring on the famous people (the more Neil Patrick Harris the better). But what annoys me is that having a coherent or relevant plot appears to have taken a backseat in the process. In other words, they work the story (any story, whatever story, however repetitive or contrived) around the song choices, instead of having a good solid storyline with song choices that complement it.

c.) The songs performed on the show (with a few exceptions) are pretty much the studio recorded versions of the originals, but with different vocals. A little reinvention or re-interpretation wouldn't kill anyone, would it? I haven't been really truly impressed since the pilot episode's Don't Stop Believing, and then The Warblers' version of Train's ridiculously annoying Hey Soul Sister (but then I like everything The Warblers do; those matching blazers are HOT).

d). I simply cannot like any one of the characters, with the exceptions of Sue Sylvester, Puck, and maybe Kurt's dad. Based on my personal TV-viewing history, having a truly great character or two (and by "great character" I don't just mean "capable of inducing lady-boners") can redeem a show in my eyes, even if everything else about the programme has apparently gone down the toilet (hey there Supernatural). But no one on Glee fits that role. The Glee club in itself is meant to a be a refuge from the rest of the school, a haven of acceptance from the outside world which judges traits like being fat, or being an over-achiever, or being disabled, or having the wrong skin colour. But when the Glee kids themselves are giving each other shit for petty reasons , how am I supposed to muster any level of empathy for any of them? I don't get the impression that any of the Glee kids like or even enjoy being in each others' presence. The writers themselves are guilty of pushing certain characters into the background; for practically the entire first season, the character of Mike Chang was known as "Other Asian Kid", which was kind of funny but oh wow did it drive me up the wall. So when these kids get on stage and sing an empowering song at the end of the week's episode and are suddenly all bonding and everything, I'm supposed to buy it? Yeah. Not happening. I'm not asking for anything Hallmarkian and trite or High School Musical-ey (in which EVERYONE loves EVERYONE else); of course the Glee kids can have their competitions and conflicts. But the way it's being done now is making pretty much everyone (except Puck, because he is as adorable as he has always been) come across to me as being way too mean, selfish, bitchified and petty. And that's not cool.


2. A selection of musical artists you do not care for.
30 Seconds To Mars comes almost immediately to mind. I don't feel very strongly about them either way, and while I never change the channel if one of their songs comes up, they do leave me with an incredibly overwhelming feeling of "meh".


3. A selection of celebrities you couldn’t care less about.
Do you have all day? This could take a while.


4. A hobby you “don’t get”.
I am quite lax when it comes to what people choose to do in their leisure hours. Whether it be collecting umbrellas, or plane-watching,or Facebook-stalking, or cataloguing your DVDs by year of release, if it makes you happy for some reason, I am totally cool with it. Unless it involves something creepy like a scrapbook of historical serial killers. Which is actually pretty cool, so never mind.


5. A habit you find disgusting.
Dog-earing books. So it's not disgusting, exactly, but it is something that horrifies me, and as such I am exceedingly stingy about lending my books out to anyone. If you manage to be one of the lucky few, I will regale you with very serious and extremely specific instructions regarding how to treat my books-no lying them face-down, hold them at a specific angle so you don't crease or damage the spine, and yes, no dog-earing. Yeah I don't know how I still have friends, either.


6. Something in school you really liked doing that everyone else bitched over.
When we had to fill out reports on how many books we had read each school year. and the person who had read the most number of books would get a prize every month. I never won, but I didn't hate filling out those reports the way most of my classmates did.


7. Your favorite household chore.
Sweeping the floors. It's the most incredibly fulfilling (also the easiest) thing you could do in the house, and it makes me happy. Just for the record, my least favourite household chore is washing the dishes, because I hate having to touch other people's leftovers.


8. Popular video games that make you go “meh”.
I don't play video games (not since Street Fighter in 1998) so pretty much all of them make me go "meh".


9. PC or MAC?
Never used a MAC. I clearly have not done enough to earn my place in 21st century society.


10. A sport you don’t like, for whatever reason.
I tolerate Formula One racing, at best. My family digs it, and I keep up with it so I'll know what people on campus are talking about after a race weekend. To me it's nothing but noisy vehicles going round and round a track for two hours, during which something interesting may or not happen, like someone crashes and there's a fire, or a tire explodes, or a puppy walks out into the middle of the track (one can always hope). The only redeeming quality to F1 racing is that now and then someone reeeeeeally cute takes off his helmet (either because he won the race or his steering wheel dislodged and hit him in the face and now he has to stop racing [has that ever happened? No?]) and then I can ogle him and then google him and ogle some more. Everything has its upside. Everything.


11. A sport you really like, for whatever reason.
I like all the usual sports, I suppose, and know enough about all them all in order to carry on a conversation. Recently, however, my brother introduced me to the world of WWE Smackdown. I had always stayed away from wrestling, assuming it was juvenile, trashy, vulgar, fake and had too many smoothly-waxed men in colourful tight undies running around for me to be comfortable enough with it, and it definitely didn't qualify as a true sport, no matter how many times it was shown on ESPN, the manliest and sportiest of all manly sports channels. It was only a few weeks go that I gained appreciation for what wrestling is ; a beautifully orchestrated, highly entertaining, hilariously violent and very dramatic athletic soap opera. There are rivalries, and friendships, and betrayals and heartbreak, and plots so dense it would send Christopher Nolan himself reeling (well okay not really).Unfortunately no one in it could be called good-looking, which is a shame, since I can't think of anything else on ESPN with so much man-flesh on liberal display for your viewing pleasure.


12. Television programs you love but have gotten shit for liking.
Supernatural, because it has two ridiculously hot guys in it, which makes it like, I don't know, a superficial, half-baked, uninspired version of The X-Files. Vampire Diaries, because it's like Twilight but with Ian Somerhalder in it. Basically I get shit because there are extremely good-looking people in the shows I choose to watch and love, and that somehow makes me shallow and not at all interested in the plot, or metaphors, or subtext, or character development, or story arcs, or postmodernist narratives or serious stuff like that.


Clearly, I watch for the plot. Clearly.


13. Musical artists you love but have gotten shit for liking.
None. I have excellent taste in music, and everyone knows it. Except for that one time when I was 15 and people at school got on my case because I liked Sarah McLachlan and she was just so sappy.


14. A hobby you have/find interesting that other people bother you over/make fun of.
None. I have excellent taste in hobbies and everyone knows it. Except for that one time when - wait...No. I have excellent taste in hobbies and everyone knows it.


15. A habit you have that other people bug you over.
I'd like to think that my habits aren't particularly offensive to anyone (nail-biting, reading newspapers back-to-front, not talking to anyone in the mornings until at least 45 minutes after I have showered and breakfasted). One thing I don't do, however, is shave my legs often enough to be deemed fit to be seen in public. Being Indian, I already have a genetic propensity to be hairier than the average non-brown female, and I wear jeans most of the time, so I almost never bother with wax or razors or depilatory creams, except for maybe twice a year when I really feel like being silky-smooth for a few weeks. I've always been deeply embarrassed about it though, as if my extra follicles were somehow an offense in the eyes of the freshly-shaved, and a disgrace to womanity. My aunt's friends would constantly bring it up, and it was only this year that I learned to stop letting it bother me. When another aunt looked down at my shorts-clad legs, clucked, and asked "Girl, how often do you shave your legs?", I just shrugged and went (as politely as I could manage) "When I feel like it". The look on her face was the best thing ever.


16. Something in school you hated doing and it felt like everyone else loved.
Physical Education. I hated having to change in a narrow stinky bathroom, and then having to get all sweaty in the mornings and play some stupid game like netball in the mud and then go back to class all sticky (no showers, you guys) and have to somehow find the will to concentrate on Additional Mathematics. The horror. And everyone else had so much fun, it made me sick. I cannot count the number of times I left my tracksuit at home just so I could get out of Phys.Ed .


17. The household chore that makes you want to shoot your own face off.
Shoot my own face off? That's a bit much. I'm quite alright with most household chores, so no complaints. Nothing drastic enough to merit suicide, anyway. Seriously, it's just housework. I'll get over it.


18. A selection of video games that you enjoy that perhaps you really shouldn't.
Hey remember what I said earlier about not playing any video games since 1998? Yeah, that.


19. A celebrity crush that maybe even you don’t understand.
I take pride in the knowledge that I understand all my celebrity crushes perfectly (you could call it a hobby). So instead let's have my most recent TV crush, who some of you may or may not recognize as one of the contestants on Masterchef Australia 2.


This is Callum, he is 20 (a child! a child I tell you!), has a slight lisp and the most adorable smile I've seen on television in a long time. It is indeed a pleasure to curl up alone at the end of the day with a hot drink, after everyone else has left/gone to bed, and watch this piece of irresistible cuteness flitting around making a carrot zucchini bread with candied ginger or some other piece of fancy gourmet nonsense which I never get to taste. Food and cute Australian boys. Highlight of my holidays so far.


20. Free rant on whatever grinds your gears at the moment.
Cats. I could really do without cats right now. There are about 200 stray ones in the back alley of my aunt's house, and I don't mind it so much when they just laze around being quiet and furry and cute and meowing for leftover fish now and then. But it so happens to be Cat Sex season now, and I am sick of all the cat-sex sounds that go on at all hours of the day and night. Also all the noisy cat-fucking happens right in view of my kitchen window (which needs to be open while cooking or else we'll all die of Indian-spice inhalation) which means I need to watch cats get raped while I'm slicing onions or whatever. It's horrible.


I suppose the whole point of the Unpopular Opinions Challenge is to have really radical, contradicting-the-mainstream opinions, but what can I say? Apparently I am a big fat lazy conformist, most of the time.

A Blog Update...In Your Pants.

So once again I disappeared off the face of the blogging world, seemingly for no good reason. It's just that the last couple of months have been taken up completely with projects, finals, and coming home for the holidays to help my mom look after my aunt, who is in the final stages of ovarian cancer. We've moved into my aunt's (Internetless) house, and between dealing with the hundreds of visitors pouring in, and doing what little I can to help around, the shiny world of the Interwebs has held very little appeal for me over the past few weeks. I could probably wax philosophical about mortality and loss and things like that, but I'm not going to. It's hard enough trying to deal with the fact that my aunt has entrusted me with the honour of composing her eulogy. "You write it", she says "and it'll be a good one". I hope I can deliver.

So instead of watching adorable animals on Youtube, I've been spending my days catching up on my reading (some nice controversial Salman Rushdie for starters), like a good student of Literature should, and learning how to cook. Not just instant noodles, mind you, but the formidable and spice-drenched world of good proper Indian cooking, with its peppers and mustard seeds and cardamoms and chilli paste. And onions. Dear god, so much onion. Why, India?

In any case I have just acquired one of those mobile broadband wireless thingies, so I'll be able to surf the Net for at least a couple of hours a day, and be a better blogger and blogbuddy. Before getting into my usual foot-long posts, though, I thought I'd bring us all a litte bit of much-needed cheer by resurrecting my favouritest blog meme of forever ; the In Your Pants game. Feel free to play along, peasants. Just grab your iPod or other media player of choice, put it on shuffle, and add the words "...in your pants" to the end of the first 20 song titles that come up.


1. Benediction in my pants.
2. Summer In The City in my pants.
3. Southern Radio in my pants.
4. Sin-Eaters in my pants.
5. To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High) in my pants.
6. Valerie in my pants.
7. In The Middle in my pants.
8. Sunday Sunny Mill Valley Groove Day in my pants.
9. Hardship Acres in my pants.
10. Five Little Rooms in my pants.
11. There Was Light in my pants. (No. Kidding.)
12. Boys You Won't Remember In My Pants.
13. Corner Of The Sky in my pants.
14. Don't Stop in my pants.
15. Dull Life in my pants.
16. You're Going Back in my pants.
17. Hush in my pants.
18. Helplessness Blues in my pants.
19. Norway in my pants.
20. Pumpkin Soup in my pants.

Oh the joy of pants.

Zombie Apocalypse Battle Theme Song, You Guys.

One of the awesomer memes I have come across in a while.

1. Put your media player of choice on shuffle mode.
2. The third song that plays is your Zombie Apocalypse Battle Theme Song.




Um. Okay.

What be your Zombie Apocalypse Battle Theme Song, peasants?

Also this picture kind of made my day:


I am way too easily amused.

Make It To The End Of This Post, And I Will Give You A Hug, A Cookie, And A Canonization. In That Order.

After the very lastest episode of Supernatural's fourth season aired on local television some weeks ago, I wallowed in the Depression That Occurs When Your Favourite Show Stops Airing On TV And You Have To Wait Like A Year And A Half Before New Episodes Hit Your Shores Again (I bet the Germans have a word for that). That was until I discovered that you can actually stream fresh, brand new episodes on the Internet RIGHT NOW, and in celebration of my getting to watch Supernatural all day and everyday if I bloody well feel like it, I present to you this piece of lovingly-crafted and hormonally-induced nonsense.

This is taken from a really old meme I once did, so feel free to swipe if you're feeling a bit nutso. The following post contains more swearing than I am typically used to. I blame the subject matter.



1. The first character you fell in love with.
Dean of the Winchesters. Hard not to, really. I mean, LOOK AT THE GUY.


From the very first moment he crashed into his brother's college drom room, demanding beer and leering at said brother's scantily clad and soon to be doomed girlfriend's ass, that part of my soul that is usually reserved for Unreasonable Levels of Attachment To Fictional Characters was truly and completely OWNED for eternity and then some. I have already waxed fangirl-style poetic over him on several occassions, so I will bother repeating myself here. Just look at the guy. LOOK.

Ooooooh lens flare. Delish.

2. The character you never expected to love as much as you do now.

For almost 3 seasons, Sammy the Littlest Winchester was nothing more than an over sized boy child with cute bangs who was really good at Googling and wore too much flannel. He was also a little bit prissy. He wasn't particularly annoying or even lovable. He was just there to define and develop Dean's character, to Emo around, to drown the series in leftover teenage Angst, to make puppy dog eyes and to spew Latin swear words at ugly icky demons. Also there was that small matter of him being Satan V.2.0 and effectively carrying the weight of the entire Supernatural story arc on his wide and nerdy shoulders.

In season 4, Sam became simultaneously bad asser and more sympathetic, especially when you realize that the whole damn thing is really about Sammy and it is only Dean's tragic hotness that is distracting you from how this shindig is really going to end ; Sam is going to save the fucking planet, and he is going to wear five layers of flannel and Google the shit out of everything while he does it.


Oh Sam, in another time, in another place, and with your bangs still intact, we could have been such great friends.

3. The character everyone else loves but you don't.

John Winchester. I'm not one to criticize any one's parenting skillz (actually I am, but whatever). Papa Winchester, tragic vengeance-obsessed hero, a broken man, and a freaking psycho ex-Marine, successfully effed up his sons so thoroughly that even several lifetimes' worth of therapy would do no good. And it would be okay if he had just decided to go pyscho on his own, but he had to drag his kids into it and completely rob them of every chance at a normal life he himself once mindlessly enjoyed, and which Mama Winchester fought so hard to give her babies. So not hate, per se. More like the black bitter bile of resentment.

It was pretty sad when that demon killed him dead, though.

Aaaaah no! Extremely messed-up and angst-filled paternal dynamics! RUN!


4. The character you love but everyone else seems to hate.


Bela. She was ridiculously hot, British, bad ass and hot. Also she was smart, and had motives, and dimension and growth, and she spelled her name with the one "L" just because she damned well felt like it. I was a bit sad when the writers got rid of her so quickly, based purely on fangirl reaction. Seriously, us fangirls will piss poison on anything with a uterus that so much as eyeballs Dean Winchester. Stop taking us so seriously or THERE WILL BE NO GIRLS LEFT ON THIS SHOW YOU GUYZ.

5. The character you would shag anytime.

I'm thinking a three-way romp here. The freakishly tall one with the Emo hair waits outside. And tell the wimpy-looking one to keep the tie on. We have many fell and unholy purposes for it.

6. The character you want to slap.

God. Seriously. God. The Creator of All Existence. Where is he? He better show up pronto and he better be Robert Downey Fucking Junior or it's no dice.

Hallelujah.

7. A character pairing you love.

So much blasphemy! Yes, one is an angel of the Lord and both, for all intents and purposes, are male. But it is undeniable. The Epic Love Story of Dean and Castiel practically writes itself, like Apocalyptic-proportioned hints Kripke and his team of Evil Goblin Writing Minions keep gleefully dropping on our heads.

It's all there. The insane chemistry between Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins. The Dean and his uncharacteristic willingness to open up to this unearthly immortal creature. The Castiel and his ever-growing attachment to his boyfrie-uh Dean, and humanity. The Dean giving an honest-t-god Soldier of Heaven an affectionate nickname - Cas. Seriously. That's like one step away from Sugarlump or Gingercookie or something. The Castiel's habit of showing up at Dean's bedside in the night (sort of like the Edward and the Bella, only when the Edward does it, it is Fucking Creepy). The intense theological arguments they have, during which you sort of stop paying attention and start wishing they'd shut up and make out already and then hold hands and skip off to the nearest Home Depot to pick out matching curtains and bedsheets. Or maybe Target? I don't know, meme. Wherever it is fictional Americans go to buy bedsheets.

8. A character pairing you hate.

Dean with anyone, post-season 4. Because he is going to marry Castiel dammit, weren't you paying attention, meme?


9. Your favourite character.

Uh duuuuuuuuuh meme. I'm sorry, but did we just meet yesterday or something?

10. Your favourite things about your fandom.

(a) Trenchcoat
And the Lord said, let there be Trenchcoat, and let this angel of mine occupy the body of this ridiculously hot tax accountant from Illinois, wearing this suit and Trenchcoat, and let the angel never tamper with the Trenchcoat, not even to fix It's collar or do up Its buttons, and never let him take It off, and let this Trenchcoat swish and swirl about the angel's person as he makes his dramatic angelic entrances into places like hospitals and underground storage units, for the swishing and the swirling of this Trenchcoat is remarkably sexy and will make the fangirls happy, for that is all that matters to me, God, in the end. And the Lord made it so, and the Lord saw that it was good, and the fangirls too saw, and they sighed and they giggled, and they approved of its goodness. Because it was indeed, hot damn good.

(b) Misha Collins

Easily the best thing that could have happened to the show at this point in its evolution. They typical human male is made up of 75% percent water or something, but Misha Collins has replaced all that with umpteen parts raw Awesome and 6/7 pure charisma. So powerful was the impact of his character Castiel on the fanbase after just one season (in which he appeared in less than half of the total number of episodes) that he was able to amass a loyal and rabid legion of followers, which he christened "Misha's Minions", simply through the greatest Twitter page in the history of the Internet. And these Minions to pretty much everything he tells them to, including kidnapping the Queen and bathing in the blood of ponies. HE IS GOING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD. You wait.


Why yes, Misha, we would be more than happy to take all our clothes off, pour yoghurt on our naked flesh and dance around your lawn under the full moon singing God Save The Overlord. Like you even had to ask, silly little man.


(c) Sadomasochism
SPN fans, for the most part, seem to derive great joy from the Pain inflicted upon the main characters. The more depressed, broken, blood-stained, miserable and angst-filled our Winchesters are, the better we sleep at night. Kripke and his evil goblin show minions know this, and boy do they love treating our intrepid heroes like shit. And we, watching at home, lap it all up with unrepentant glee. Oh sick sick humans, we are.

11. Your least favourite things about your fandom.

(a) Wincest

It is pretty much what it sounds like; fan fiction centred around the Winchester brothers having sexual relations. With each other. This bothers me to no end. I realize that at the end of the day these guys are merely fictional constructs from the mind of a geeky, evil, slightly bald white man, but I seriously do not see where the joke is or what the advocates of Wincest possibly get out of the idea that Sam and Dean are buttsexing each other in between episodes. WTF people?

(b) The sad lack of nudity. Or at the very least, shirtlessness.

If I am not sorely mistaken , the last time Jensen Ackles took his shirt off was THREE SEASONS AGO. What utter fuckery.


There needs to be much much more of Dean and Sam lounging around seedy motel rooms, stewing in their fraternal angst, wearing nothing but boxer briefs. It would only enhance the already superior entertainment value of this show.

Don't Mind My Lengthy Absence, I've Only Been Busy Conforming To The Man

Have you missed me, peasants? I've sure missed you guys. Yeah so I got a job, like a responsible adult is supposed to and all. I sit in a cripplingly cold air-conditioned room for 8 hours a day and type invoices and stock inventories for a pharmacy and leave with numb fingers, bloodshot eyes and a litany of drug names running through my consciousness. I have also picked up the habit of obsessively checking the barcodes on everything I pick up, whether there is one or not. But here is not the place to whine about one's employment! It's only for another 5 months anyway. Instead, I will celebrate the new year by stuffing another meme down your throats. Ready? No? I don't really care.

The (Very Originally Named) New Year's Meme

1. What did you do in 2009 that you had never done before?
I went jungle trekking. The less said about that and my footwear failure, the better.

2. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, actually. An aunt of mine gave birth to a very large and very healthy baby boy. I never cared much for infants, except to admire their adorability from a safe distance, where I will not be exposed to stuff like tears, puke and snot. I'll wait a few years before I approach him, I think. Maybe in a decade or so.

3. What countries did you visit?
Stop making me feel inadequate, you. You know fully well I don't even have a passport yet.

4. What would you like to have in 2010 that you didn't have in 2009?
An unlimited supply of cash would be nice. You will work on that, won't you?
And my passport. Sort that out.

5. Your biggest achievement of the year?
Actually sticking with and completing my STPM exams. Props to me.

6. Your biggest failure?
Failure to get a driver's license (again). Failure to post up here as often as I should have. Failure to stick to unofficial diet (how do you say no to an Oreo milkshake with vanilla ice cream. No seriously. How?)

7. What was the best thing you bought?
Please. I shunned materialism in 09. Mainly because I was broke all the time, but still. Shunnn!

8.Where did most of your money go?
Again I say, WHAT MONEY?

9.What did you get really really really really excited about?
World Stage. Meeting Bawanie for the first time. My MUET results (kickassery personified).

10. What song will always remind you of 2009?




Well. That and Poker Face.

11. How did you spend New Year's eve ?
I don't remember. But I did have to go in for work on the 1st. Bummer, y'all.

12. What was your favourite TV programme?
Supernatural. Ridiculously underrated and unparallelled in depth, humour and Pretty since 2006. Heck, let us have a gratuitous example of that Pretty right now.
The Pretty. Let me show you it.

See? Purty.
Although you should know that on the actual show, the protagonists do not always lurk sexily in old warehouses and wooden cellars, looking for angles and natural lighting that show off the Pretty at its best advantage. That would be like so superficial you guyz.

13. The best book you read?
I unfortunately did not get much reading done last year, and the last stack of books I bought sits on my shelf, cold, lonely and forgotten. Vernon God Little was probably the best of the ones I actually read though.

14. Your greatest musical discovery?
This lot, purely because of how gloriously accidental it was. Also, I like the banjo. Like, a lot.



15. Your favourite film of the year?
Again, there wasn't much film-watching going on in 09 (gosh my life sounds like it sucked last year). But I did watch Holes on tv last week, and it was a suitable awesome way to spend two hours on a Sunday afternoon.

There are actually about a dozen more questions left, but this is boring me already. So I shall leave it at that. A happy belated new year's, peasants! Be nice while I'm away working hard to put symbolic bread on the metaphorical table, you hear?

Your Speakers Are Blowing, Your Ears Are Wrecking

Education is killing my brain. Seriously. Exams are just under three weeks away (two weeks, actually, but I round it up to make myself feel better) and I have been feeling ridiculously uninspired on all kinds of levels. So now I'll do what I always do when I get too lazy to blog ; swipe a meme from somewhere. This one calls itself the Magic 8-Ball Music Meme. So.

The Magic 8-Ball Music Meme

The rules are pretty much the same as most other memes of its kind - put your music player of choice on shuffle and use the song titles that appear as answers to the (very vanilla and unimaginative) questions. Unfortunately, my mp3 player currently has dead batteries and the Winamp thingie I have open right now does not support a shuffle option. Instead, I will open all my music folders and click around with my eyes shut. Living life dangerously and all that.

1. How does the world see you?
The Bleeding Heart Show -- New Pornographers
Yes, and one day they'll write an opera, a graphic novel and a Pulitzer-prize winning haiku about the profound, sorrowful beauty of my life.

2. Will I have a happy life?
I And Love And You -- The Avett Brothers
Your grammar is atrocious, Magic Music 8-Ball. Who hired you?

3. What do my friends really think of me?
Big Deal --Ezra Furman & The Harpoons
Damn straight I am! And not in the sarcastic way either.

4. Do people secretly lust after me?
Oh My Head -- Beerjacket
Your head? Your head reels and boggles with the knowledge of the sheer multitude of people dying to get in my pants? That's it, isn't it?

5. How can I make myself happy?
Coconut Skins -- Damien Rice
For licking, if we're taking Damien's advice here. Depressed Irish men who never shave say such ingenious things.

6. Will I ever have children?
Until The Earth Begins To Part -- Broken Records
That sounds like a lot of children. I hope my lady parts are up to it, Magic Music 8-Ball.

7. What is some good advice for me?
Boy+ Angel -- Doveman
Good one, that. Just give me a sec while I write it down.

8. How will I be remembered?
The Vagabond -- Air feat. Beck
That's quite a cool. Not particularly practical, but verbose-sounding anyway.

9. What is my signature dancing song?
These Are My Twisted Words -- Radiohead
Words. Fail.

There. You can go ahead and play along if you like (extra credit if you add some better questions in there - I would have done that myself on a good day but I claim academia-induced writer's block).

Also, on a musically-related note, the soundtrack for the new Twilight sequel? It's um, kind of sickeningly awesome. Yeah it's obviously trying too hard to drown itself in indie cred, but nobody ever says no to Thom Yorke. Ever.



I still have a hard time believing the man actually did this.
Don't get me wrong though, I still hate Stephenie Meyer and her creation with a deep, abiding, fiery hatred. And when that movie is released and ends up being just as crappy as I know it will be, I will be sure to tell you all about it so you won't have to watch it yourself. Although I will give the filmmakers premature brownie points for all those shirtless werewolf boy-things and their tattoos.
Yum.

Here Be One Long-Ass Meme

1. The phone rings. Who will it be?
Are we talking about reality or are you asking me to indulge in my very substantial creative powers of self-delusion? Because if it be the latter, then I am never going to get to the next question.

2. When shopping at the grocery store, do you return your cart?
No, I prefer to leave it in the aisles or the middle of the parking lot and watch people and cars collide into them. I have no sense of consideration whatsoever.

3. In a social setting, are you more of a talker or a listener?
Well it depends doesn't it? If I'm familiar with the aforementioned social setting, then I talk more.

4. Do you take compliments well?
Yes I do, for truly deserved ones. I'm not that messed up. And I don't do false modesty very well.
Really.

5. Do you play Sudoku?
No, because it involves numbers and because I never win.

6. If abandoned alone in the wilderness, would you survive?
I'd like to think I would, having seen all those episodes of Man vs Wild. For instance, I know that eating yak liver is good for you and you can actually drink your own distilled urine. But no.

7. Did you ever go to camp as a kid?
If I had, then the answer to number 6 may have been a little bit different.

8. What was your favourite game as a kid?
I didn't get into board games or dolls so much as a kid. I preferred making up things in my head and forcing my brother to play-act with me. I think he's forgotten all about those days, which is a blessing. Poor child. I was a proper tyrant before I hit the age of nine.

9. If a sexy person was pursuing you, but you knew he was married, would you?
Would I? Would I what? Stop being so coy, meme.

10. Could you date someone with different religious beliefs than you?
Of course. That would be half the fun, I think.

11. Use three words to describe yourself.
I hate this type of question. Seriously. So spirit-crushing. How can you even suggest that my entire person and existence can be condensed down into three measly words?

12. Do any songs make you cry?
Where got? I not that emo lah, okay?

13. Are you continuing your education?
Yes I am actually. On Monday.

14. Do you know how to shoot a gun?
No, but how hard can it be, really? You just strike a really cool pose, pull the trigger, kill the bad guy and then finish off with a really bad-ass one liner.

15. Have you ever taken pictures in a photo booth?
No. The story of my life.

16. How often do you read books?
If I dont at least flip through a few pages daily, then you know it's a really really bad week.

17. What is your favourite children's book?
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. It is made up of ridonkulous amounts of awesome, the illustrations are gorgeously quirky and it's smart and fresh and hilarious and sincere and not patronising in the least. And it doesn't even matter that I wasn't technically a child anymore when I first read it.

18. What colour are your eyes?
Brown. I think. And it doesn't even matter in this part of the world lah. They're either brown or black unless you go get violet or turqoise contacts (which people do). So.

19. How tall are you?
Not tall enough, meme. Not tall enough.

20. Where is your dream house located?
Somewhere on a volcanic plain in Iceland, with sheep and washing lines made of old guitar strings and a melting glacier in the backyard.

21. If your house was on fire, what would be the first thing you grab?
Um, I dunno. Fire extinguisher? Although if all hope was lost I'd probably drag my CPU out. All my music is in there.

22. When was the last time you were at Olive Garden?
Eh?

23. Where was the furthest place you travelled today?
The kitchen. There be chocolate cookies in there.

24. Do you like mustard?
Yeah sure, why not. It seems courteous enough.

25. Do you look like your mom or dad?
I have my mother's hair, my father's skin, my mother's teeth, my father's nose and god knows whose eyes. So it's all fair, I believe.

26. Can you do the splits?
No, and I don't think I want to try. I fear injury to my crotch area. I morbidly fear it.

27. What movie do you want to see right now?
I want to watch Rocket Science again. It's amazing how that D'Agosto guy could go from Rocket Science to something as crapfesty as Heroes.

28. What did you do for New Year's?
I stayed at my grandma's, ate apple pie and watched an X-Files marathon all night. Best new year's ever.

29. Do you own a camera phone?
No, and I don't particularly desire one either. I'm happy as long as I can text on the thing.

30. What's the last letter of your middle name?
S. Don't you want to know what it is, then?

31. What do you wear to sleep?
You are a creepy meme, meme. Why would you want to know something like that?

32. Do you like funny or serious people better?
Both are equally awesome in their own way, and both play their part in maintaining the balance of the universe.

33. Did you eat a cookie today?
Yes I just told you; I travelled to the kitchen to get one. Are you even paying attention?

34. Do you use cuss words in other languages?
Are you kidding? Of course I do! French is good. And also Spanish. It's very satisfying to swear in Spanish.

35. Do you steal or pay for your music downloads?
Hey look COOKIE!

36. What do you and your parents fight about?
This possibly makes me the weirdest adolescent alive, but I actually hardly ever argue with my parents. Ever.

37. Are you a gullible person?
No, I am cynical and jaded beyond my years, and the burden of premature wisdom weighs heavily on my soul. Now leave me alone.

I Come Bearing Insults, To Spread The Hatedom

The 19 Most Hated Meme

1. Most Hated Food
Fish, without a doubt. I don't know exactly why, but I've had a bone to pick (bahahaha! Pun!) with fish since as far back as I can remember. I will however, eat it if you cook it in a way that will make me forget that it is fish. Like, I don't know. Mash it. Defishify it.

2. Most Hated Person
Um. Most hated is quite a strong concept, and I'm not entirely sure I hate a human being as much as I do hate fish (and if I did, I wouldn't be blogging about it). So. Yeah. Hitler?

3. Most Hated Job
I've never had a proper paying job before, but I could probably mention a few jobs I've done for which I do heartily wish I had received some form of reward. Or compensation, more like. For instance, plucking grey hairs off my mother's scalp.

4. Most Hated City
I've never left my own country in 18 odd years, so I'm hardly justified to hate any city. Even the one I live in, because however filthy and disgusting it is, it is home.

5. Most Hated Band
Too many to list out, but Simple Plan has been grating on my nerves for a good fortnight now. Mainly because I have a very hard time believing that my 3rd Most Favourite Country On Earth is actually capable of producing music that is not awesome.

And I refer to Canada, by the way.


6 - Most hated website.
What, the concept of hate even extends to the Internet now? Gosh.

7 - Most hated TV program.
Koffee With Karan. Even the way it's spelled fills my soul with the black bitter bile of loathing. And it doesn't help that the host happens to be the smuggest, most self-satisfiedest jerk in the Southern hemisphere, whose guests are all Bollywood types who are equally as full of themselves and their own perceived awesomeness.

9 - Most hated British politician.
Hey what happened to number 8? Where is it? What have you done to it? And don't try to distract me with all this politics talk, you.

10 - Most hated artist
I don't hate artists. I just don't understand them a lot of the time, and I don't exactly begrudge them for it.

11 - Most hated book.
Twilight. I rue the day Stephenie Meyer and her agent and her publishing house and their distributors all combined their Evil Forces Of Evil to unleash the power of this glittery piece of puerile garbage upon the unsuspecting multitudes.

12 - Most hated shop.
The one at the end of my street, because it never ever stocks any Sprite when I want it. Stupid shop.

13 - Most hated organisation.
Um. Carrot.

14 - Most hated historical event.
I don't hate historical events. How can you hate an historical event? You're supposed to be all objective and distant and factual about it, however much personal interest or emotion you may have invested in it. Now, if you'd have asked me what my most hated event of the past is, I'd have an answer for you. But I is not telling.

15 - Most hated sport.
I don't hate any particular sport either, but I don't get a lot of them. Like baseball. That does not make sense to me. And boxing. And synchronized swimming, which is very pretty but also kind of pointless. Heck, all sport is pointless.

16 - Most hated piece of technology.
iPhone. Because I don't have one.

17 - Most hated annual event.
Manchester United winning the English Premiership. Because it's like a formality now. Like the sun rising, or the tides coming in, or my being awesome all the time.

18 - Most hated daily task.
Waking up in the morning kind of sucks, does it not?

19 - Most hated comedian.
I can't think of any that I hate, but I tell you what. I am developing a seriously unhealthy obsession for LOLcats. Those things are funny, and I hate cats. Hate them.

But Pickle Jars Are Just Pickle Jars. And Pickles Are Just Pickles.

I haven't updated in yonks, and I am bored. Therefore, meme it is. Maybe two.

The Soundtrack Of Your Life

Basically what this meme does is tell you what the soundtrack would be like if your life were a movie. Like all memes of this nature, it does not make much sense. But it seems fun, and definitely a lot more interesting than the infinite variants of "6 Random Facts About Me" floating around cyberspace. So, here be the rules:

1.Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press play. (No duh)
4. For the first question, type the song that’s playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button TWICE.
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool… just type it in. (I don't need to pretend to be cool, you asshat. I define it. Coolness, I mean.)

1. Opening Credits
*HTML - The Hot Toddies
ZOMG guys this is like the funniest song ever. In all seriousness. Although it rather points in the direction of my life turning out to be some sort of very quirky offbeat comedy with snappy dialogue and obscure pop culture references and a bittersweet ending. Aw.

2. Waking Up (in the morning, I assume)
*Magpie - Patrick Wolf
I refuse to wake up to this song. It is gorgeous, yes, but it also creeps the hell out of me, and it has nothing to do with waking up in the morning. I protest most protestfully.

3. The First Day Of School
*Elusive - Scott Matthews
Again with the utter irrelevance.

4. Falling In Love (Well, that was fast, no?)
*Fall Line/Sunshine - Jack Johnson & Matt Costa
This would work brilliantly. Just don't pay any attention to the lyrics.

5. Losing Virginity
*Hallelujah - Imogen Heap
Ooooooooooooooo. Leonard Cohen would approve.

6. Fight Song
*Great Dane - Mates Of State
Aww. I wanted some angst here. My life soundtrack needs ANGST, people.

7. Breaking Up
*Exo-Politics - Muse
AH, angst! Angst of a very political nature, but we'll take angst however we can get it.

8. Prom (OK, so I just broke up right? And I'm going to the prom? With a guy? By myself? What?)
*I'm On My Way - The Proclaimers
See, that works too.

9. Life
*Reading Time With Pickle - Regina Spektor
Uh huh.

10. Mental Breakdown
*Nude - Radiohead
Oh this is too cool. I get to have a Radiohead song in my life movie! And for the mental breakdown stage, too. I think I am tearing up now.

11. Driving
*The Life Pursuit - Belle & Sebastian

12. Flashback
*Spring Came, Rain Fell - Club 8
We'll have to make this a happy flashback. We need angst, I tell you. And emo. Where is the emo?

13. Getting Back Together
* Space And The Woods - Late Of The Pier
Boogierific stuff.

!4. Wedding
* The Plot - White Rabbits
A bit loud for a wedding. But hey, why not.

15. Birth Of Child
*To A Bond - Islands
AWW! I mean. Awww! I mean, the song's about bloodstains and leaves and ravines but whatever. Baby shall not get it.

16. Final Battle (so what are we now, LOTR?)
*Bodysnatchers - Radiohead
Another Radiohead track? Oh no way man. I is not worthy of their patronage, really.

17. Death Scene
*Lola Stars And Stripes - The Stills

18. Funeral Song
* New Soul - Yael Naim

Teh End.

And since it's all about music today, I thought I'd indulge in a wee pinch of pimpage, which I have not done in quite a long time.



Is it just me or does Jonsi sound very much like he is singing in English (and he's not, just so you know)? It is creepifying how the dude sings Anglais so well when he isn't even trying.

Also, ladies and gentlepeasants, you would all do very well to check out Fanfarlo, if you haven't already. They're a lovely indie folk band from London and they possess major pwnage and are also 1/6 Scandinavian and happen to be quite tight with the boys of Sigur ros. So tight, in fact, that their new album cover for Reservoir even features Jonsi Birgisson's younger sister on it. I developed mad love for these guys on the strength of just three demo singles last year and I am dying to get my ears on their first full-length effort. Also, whatever Sigur ros pimps, the BAP also pimps. Duh.



All this pimping, it makes my soul all warm and fuzzy.

I'm Only Doing This Because 7 Is A Magic Number.

Seriously.
Ask J.K Rowling.
And you should never ever ever deny the magic.

This is basically the same as the 6 Things Meme, which is floating around here somewhere, except that it's the 7 Things Meme. And not the 6 Things Meme, because that would've been reeeally confusing.

7 Things You Dislike The Most

1. I have a wisdom tooth growing in my left jaw and it's making my gums all sore and I can barely touch that side of my face. And the worst part is that I don't feel any wisdomisher.
2. Katy Perry and I share the same birthday.
3. This computer has no speakers.
4. Coldplay have seven Grammy nominations.
5. 6 different people should have died on last night's episode of Heroes. None of them stayed dead.
6. The only copy of In Rainbows at Speedy costs RM62.90. I call that obscenity! (Somebody go get me that for Christmas).
7. The fact that 4 out of the 7 things I dislike all have something to do with pop culture. I therefore dislike the fact that I am shallow.

7 Things You Like The Most

1. My purple faux-royal fingernails. (SHALLOW!)
2. Coldplay have seven Grammy nominations.
3. Pretty people.
4. The fact that I no longer have to share a room with my grandmother. I know I'm supposed to love her and everything but gawsh were those 4 years torturous.
5. I have finally acquired a copy of Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book which you should all go read like right now. It has pretty pictures in it.
6. I'm still on holiday.
7. Re-runs of The Simpsons on weekdays.

7 Important Things In Your Room

1. This computer. This speakerless, ancient, forcing-me-to-stick-the-keyboard-on-my-lap computer.
2. Books. No Bible, though. I'm a heathen.
3. The 9th edition of the Oxford Concise English Dictionary, which has served me well for the last 8 years. Thank you, Oxford Concise English Dictionary. 9th edition.
4. Mix CDs, the majority of which are from Grace, which are all serving me well in these dark days of no-music-files-in-computer.
5. Journals, paper scraps, magazine cut-outs and letters.
6. Dude, I cannot think of 7 very important things in my room!
7. Oh yeah I can. Me.


7 Random Facts About You

1. I had eggs for lunch.
2. I watched Twilight for the second time on Wednesday. (Judge not! I didn't pay for it this time. I was merely helpi4ng out a friend.)
3. I've discovered that I have a thing for Robert Pattinson's teeth. Meh.
4. I am extremely relieved that Brandon Flowers shaved his 'tache off.
5. I have only ever had Starbucks one time in my entire life.
6. As of the year 2005, I had never missed a single episode of Survivor. Not once. Man was I a sorry case back then.
7. I cannot ride a bicycle. But you already knew that.

7 Things You Plan To Do Before You Die

1. Move to Iceland.
2. Watch Slumdog Millionaire. They use Sigur ros in the trailer. It HAS to be good.
3. Acquire a Scottish boyfriend.
4. Learn to play the guitar.
5. Publish something. (One measley book review in the Sunday paper is nice and all, you know. But still.)
6. Watch Sigur ros perform live.
7. Get reeeeeeeeeally reeeeally drunk. Just once.

7 Things You Find Attractive In The Opposite Sex
*all 7 are totally arbitrary of course

And hey. What if I don't find the opposite sex attractive? At all? What then? Screw you, sexist meme!
Is "sexist" the word? No wait...sexuality-biased meme!! That's right, right? Right.


7 Celebrity Crushes

See? This is the sort of crap I thrive on. This is the brand of superficial gunk upon which the very foundations of this blog are based upon. Bring it.

1. Some dude called Jake. I may have mentioned him once. Or twice.
2. James McAvoy. Teh accent.
3. Jonsi Birgisson. I know he's gay but he's so fudging adorable I want to adopt him.
4. Robert Pattinson. He's awfully purdy. 'Tis a crying shame he can't act.
5. That one guy who was in that one episode of Doctor Who with lots of Daleks in it and we all thought he died and I was pissed at the Doctor for letting him get devoured by pigs and for the rest of episode I was left wailing "WHY DID YOU LET FRANK DIE???" but then in Part 2 he wasn't dead and the pigs didn't eat him or anything so I was happy and he's won a BAFTA and everything for some crazy psycho-shit movie he was in but I'm too lazy to google his name right now. Cute, though. Let us now have a gratuitous Italian Vogue photo shoot image.


Aaaah. Andrew Garfield.
Yum. Italian Vogue.

6. Cillian Murphy. Look into his eyes for too long and you will liquidify. Not just liquefy. But liquidify.
7. James Marsden. It's remarkable how he refrained from showing all those teeth while he was on X-Men.

7 People To Tag

Tag yourselves, peasants.

Weeds and Memes, They Grow On My Blog.

For the sake of a fresh post, I'll do anything. The BAP is all dried up thanks to exams coming up very soon. Onwards with the never-ending tagging!

The Very Edited Meme From Grace

Today did you..
Talk to someone you like: No. Well, my mom. I don't like her, though. I lyurve her. But I suppose you need to like someone in order to love them. My mom, then.

Kissed anyone: only the back of my hand. Ha! (I ditto, Grace)

Get sick: Only when I think of all the textbooks I have to swallow by next Tuesday.

Talk to an ex: Nope. If I had one, I probably wouldn't have, either.

Miss someone: Many someones, yeah.

Eat: I forgot to eat my lunch. It's become a worrying habit, this whole forgetting-to-eat-lunch business. It's never any other meal. Just lunch.

Kick a llama: Yeah, I did actually! On my way to school. I saw one by the side of the road and gave it a good smack upside the arse.

Drink asparagus juice: EW no.

Talk to a hot German boy: No, but I have dreamed of it. German footballers are quite especially hot.

Pay attention in lectures: Yes. No. Yes. I don't remember.

Meet the man of your dreams and end up finding out he likes your best friend instead and stabbed him with a spork till he bled and stained your shoes and made you cry: Darnit! That would have made my day a whole heck of a lot more interesting. Hey what's a spork ey?

Is there a person who is on your mind now: only the guy of my dreams who likes my best friend instead and so I stabbed him with a spork until he bled and stained my shoes and then I cried. But I didn't really mind because my shoes are black canvas, so you can't really tell.

Do you want children: I want Jensen Ackles' babies. Can that be arranged?

Do you like your hand-writing:Excessively. I always take the time to admire it after I finish an essay or something.

Are your toe nails painted: Uh huh. A combination of purple and silver. I'm a coward, so the only way I rebel in public is by wearing somewhat outrageous toenail polish. I know! I'm a wild thang!

Whose bed other than yours would you rather sleep in: OOoh. Do you want the whole list? Because I totally have time, you know.

When did you cry last: I forgot.

Are you a friendly person: On the Internet, I am. Meet me in real life and I'm a stinking snob. Really.

Where is the person you have feelings for right now: Beats me. Making love to his wife, I guess. Ick.

Have you ever crawled through a window: The windows are about ten feet up the wall, so first I'd have to climb up there, and then I'd find grilles. So no. No window climbing.

Can you handle the truth: I saw that movie too! Was it not awesome?

Who was the last person you cried in front of: Myself. Although technically I wasn't crying in front of a mirror or anything, so.

Do you eat healthy: Define healthy.

Do you still have pictures of you & your ex: Absolutely. I take it out and stare at it and show people and act all obsessive and then they get scared and leave.

Have you ever cried because of something someone said to you: Yes. Usually I get pissed when someone says mean stuff to me, but it's a genetic fallibility of mine that my temper is wired straight to my tear ducts. I get angry, I cry. It's annoying, and embarassing. And it makes me forget all the bad words I want to say.

Are you loud or quiet most of the time: in this head, i am loud. ( Ditto, Grace)

Are you confident:In this head, I am

And let's 'ave another one shall we?

the rules:
List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 surprising facts, & then tag 3 others.

3 Joys.
1. Grace got me a boombox t-shirt for my birthday, which I have not seen yet, but is bound to be awesome.
2. Heroes season 3 hath returned to the screens-eth of my idiot box. Eth.
3. I spent all afternoon reading fan fiction, which is lame. But it brought me joy. Of a very lame kind.

3 Fears
1. That AXN will never ever ever show season 3 of Supernatural. Ever. The thought of it, it paralyses my mind and my bowels.
2. That I will fail my exams in a very spectacular manner.
3. That I will run out of ink halfway through my macro economics paper. Oh my kingdom for a pen with INK!

3 current obsessions
1. Jensen Ackles. Or should I say, Dean Winchester? GUH.
2. Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah. I play it over. And over. And over. And over. And over. And over. Before school. After school. At meals. When I watch TV. My parents are concerned.
3. Doodling. I doodle more than ever these days. It's like the doodling phase of my late adolescence.

3 surprising facts. Be surprised. And if you're not, then just dig into your inner hypocrite and fake it, dammit.
1. I have not mentioned you-know-who (*ahem ahem*) one single time in this entire post.
2. I type only with two fingers at a time. And I'm fast, you hear?
3. I'm eating tuna sandwiches right now. And typing. With two fingers. And still not mentioning you-know-who's name.

3 people to tag.
Tag yourselves, folks.

Minimalism Makes The World Go Round.

I've never done one of these before, so what the heck.

The Google Image Meme

To answer the questions, do a Google image search with your answer, and then choose one picture from the first page of results to post as your response. Do this with minimal explanation if possible. Tag 5 other people when you are done.

1. The age you'll be on your next birthday.

And while we're on the subject, here is a list of things I want for my birthday ,(*cough* October 25) but have already resigned myself to probably never receiving until I'm making my own dough. Darn it.

1. Jake Gyllenhaal
2. Donnie Darko Director's Cut DVD.
3. Ballpens that actually have ink in them.
4. Sigur Ros' Heima DVD
5. A bag that zips.
6. Turqoise nail polish. Coz me funky like dat.
7. And if you can't buy Jake I'll settle for a really really really really big black and white poster that I can stick on my ceiling or something.
8. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. Because I actually do read books.


2. A place you'd like to travel to.


That's Iceland, see? So I can take Sigur Ros hostage and crush them with my will.

3. Your favourite place.


4. Your favourite food.


5. Your favourite pet.

Even though I've only ever had two dogs, and they both died.

No, it was nothing to do with me. They just snuffed it, is all.

6. Your favourite colour combination.

7. Favourite piece of clothing.
The only thing that makes me look even remotely awesome. I should erect a shrine to it or something.

8. All time favourite song.

This question is simply too ridiculously difficult to answer. Therefore I shall just go with the one song I've been listening to about 341 times a day since Saturday night; Gary Jules' hauntingly gorgeous version of Mad World from the Donnie Darko soundtrack.

9. Favourite TV show.
House m.d. Geddit? The only show on television that gets better with age.

10. First name of your significant other/crush.

As if you don't know. Really.
But still. Any excuse to post a picture.

Yes Jake, I know. Your own gorgeousness exhausts you at times. 'Tis a burden indeed, being so beautiful.

11. The town in which you live.

Look! It's the town in which I live! Or a little part of it anyway.

12. Your screenname/nickname.

13. Your first job.

14. Your dream job.

Not being Kirsten Dunst, oh god no. Being the Other Half Of Jake's Soul. Move your ass over, blondie.

15. A bad habit you have.


17. One thing you'd like to do before you die.

Write a book.

18. The first thing you'd buy if you had a million dollars.

I'm in a really pathetic place right now. I own this, and I die happy. The end. And consider yourselves tagged.

Depression Is A Flavour That Does Not Become Us

The BAP apologizes for her lengthy absence. It is only because she has been majorly depressed lately. Nothing serious, really, just the usual stuff; fretting over whether the decisions she has made have been the right ones, whether she has somehow effectively mucked up her entire future, afraid of letting down the Parental Units. It's simply that I am not happy with where I am right now. School nauseates me, the tedium of it, the blah-ness of it, the persistent nagging feeling that I don't belong here, that I've made a mistake, and yet if I decide to screw the education system and make a heroic escape, would that amount to a mistake much worse than the one I think I seem to be making right now? Why was I so so so short-sighted as to totally ditch college in favour of form 6? Why has nobody kicked Andy Roddick out of the US Open yet? Spending 6 hours a day, five days a week, swallowing textbook after textbook of subjects I take no joy or interest in learning ( except that thing about how a politician convicted of any crime and sentenced to more than a year in prison will be ineligible to take part in any form of political activity for five years following the date of their release. We won't name names here. I'm a coward and I don't want to get locked up.) only to regurgitate said textbooks when finals come around. And I keep telling myself that it's only another year and 3 months, but then it hits me how very very very long a time 15 months can be.

But depression is a flavour that does not become this blog. So we'll leave all that misery alone, and partake in a nice fat long tag. And for once, I did not tag myself. You have Lei Ying to thank for this.

Name
Vanessa, who also goes by BAP and will beam like the sun at you if you ever refer to her as Mrs J. Gyllenhaal.

Sisters

None. I heard they can be a real pain.

Brothers
One. He becomes less of a pain the older he gets.

Shoe Size
9, 9 1/2, 10 or sometimes 12. Never 11, oddly enough.

Height
The last time I got measured at hospital I was 165cm, but I totally refuse to accept this, because when I was 12, I was 169cm. Somebody has made a mistake. And they shall pay.

Where do you live?
Oh you know. Here.

Favourite drink.
Right now I am in love with this awesome kiwi concentrate juice my dad got from some store, I forget which, but it's really really good and it's supposed to be healthy and all that shit. So. Yeah. Oh and Kiwi! reminds me of these guys


who have finally hit the screens of HBO Asia, and have already helped me cope somewhat with my depressionism.

I think I already have a crush on Bret.
Oh well!

Favourite breakfast.
The kind I eat in the morning.

Ever been on a plane?

Yes...the astral plane. 'Twas psychedelic.

Swam in the ocean?
Dude, I am terrified of the ocean. It's so big, and so blue, and so..wobbly.

Fallen asleep in school?
Yes. It's too noisy to really sleep, but I take what I can get.

Broken someone's heart?
Uhm, yes, I believe I have. Not in the romantic sense though. It was the day I told my mom I didn't think I was quite sure I believed in God anymore.

Sat by the phone all night waiting for someone's call?
Oh please. I sacrifice sleep for nothing and nobody, except World Cup matches, and that one time I stayed up to watch tennis. And it wasn't even live tennis. I must have been under medication then.

What is your room like?
I don't know. My grandmother has effectively stolen it from me, so my "room" at the moment is probably half of the three-seater couch in the living room. Bummer eh?

What is right beside you?
Nuffink. Some Jake would be lovely though.

What is the last thing you ate?

I can't remember. I think it was rice. Check my intestines, will you?

Ever had chicken pox?

Yes, and it was so awful I can't even remember it now.

Sore throat?
I have one right now actually. On top of a recovering ear infection. Joy.

Stitches?
Not literal ones, but Jake was on the Ellen deGeneres show just a couple of hours ago, and boy did he have me in stitches. I was so busy wallowing in self-pity I forgot how funny he is.

I'm going to skip one or seven questions here, ok?

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago
1. Screaming at my brother. Boy, could I scream back then.
2. Getting pinched by my very mean Math teacher.
3. Being made to listen to ABBA.
4. Screaming at my brother.
5. Uhh...oh yeah. Screaming at my brother. I think I traumatized him. Thank goodness Malaysians don't get into all that therapy shit.

5 Things On My To-do List Today
1. Blog
2. Look at Jake. Excluding the Ellen show, I haven't gazed upon his mug for almost a week. It tears the soul apart. No freaking wonder I'm so miserable.
3. Watch all the US Open tennis I possibly can before I have to go to bed because of the stupid time difference. I mean, the day sessions go on when I'm asleep, and the night sessions take place when I'm in school. How sick is that?
4. Look at Jake.
5. Look at Jake.

5 Things I'd Do If I Were A Billionaire
1. I wouldn't be blogging. I'd have people to do that for me.
2. I'd have Jake cloned or something. So I'll finally have one of my own.
3. I'd buy Iceland and make Sigur ros play gigs for me whenever I want.

I am so freaking uninspired, so I'll cut the tag short, and I won't tag anyone either ( yes, I know. I sense your disappointment)


Oh who am I kidding? I could never clone Jake!! It would un-Jake-ify his Jakeness, somehow.