Stumbling my way to the MTV World Stage 2010

My computer tech uncle said my PC motherboard is spoilt. He added that this is normal for any "chicken-brand" component. "Chicken-brand" is the term coined by Malaysian youth for "non-high-branded items". Well, the PC had served me well. Too bad it reached its expiry date in June which is the month that I usually need extra money to renew my road tax and car insurance. I had spent hundreds on repairing my car before that.

There is ONE very big problem not having a PC. There will be an MTV World Stage Concert in July and the only way to get in is by winning the pass from MTV website. Confirmed artists so far are Katy Perry, Tokio Hotel and the Wondergirls. The catch is one must go to the page linked by MTV from the email they sent out and wait for the small JavaScript Icon to appear in the shape of this character named Junior or this Bumble Bee.

I have no choice but to resort to my light-duty Samsung N150 netbook for my Internet activities. This is where I came to a stumbling block.

1. MTV pages are c***load full of heavy graphics, JavaScript, ads and what-nots making them very slow to load.

2. The netbook screen size of ONLY 1024 x 600 pixels means one is not able to view the page in one full view at a time. You have to scroll up and down just to read everything.

3. The Junior or Bumble Bee icon is supposed to appear either at the Top or the Bottom of the page.

4. I am able to view only HALF a page at a time!

5. In order to constantly watch out for Junior or Bumble Bee, I have to keep scrolling up and down in case they appear at either Top or Bottom.

6. Since the page is darn heavy, scrolling gives slow refresh rate meaning the probability of catching Junior or Bumble Bee is double difficult.

7. Nothing I could do to speed up even after upgrading to 2Gb RAM as the processor of the Netbook is only 1.66GhZ.

8. The next PC Fair is in August.

9. The concert is on 31st July!!!!


Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup....I missed Tokio Hotel first concert in Malaysia

That is so right. After all my blog posts about this band and even a blog Tag for them here plus the money spent on imported CDs and DVDs, I did not go to Tokio Hotel's first Malaysian concert on 1st May 2010 which was free, btw. What an irony. I really am nuts, huh?

I don't know why I was somehow unenthusiastic about their trip here. Not only my workplace is a mess but my finances aren't in the best situation at the moment. So, it was a choice of mine not to find a way to go see the boys. My hardened ego failed to stop me from feeling quite depressed though.

It started when my sister asked me to drive her over to the central bus station. As I was driving, a Tokio Hotel song called Hilf Mir Fliegen came on my MP3 player. That's one of my absolute favourite TH song as the lyrics speak to me.

On hearing the song, my sis had a huge grin on her face and told me that she was actually going to the capital city to watch TH live. I was shocked but calm. What?! Apparently, a friend of hers who's a TH fanatic won a bunch of tickets to the show and invited her friends to go. I said to my sis about her not telling me about going. Her reply was, her friend just told her the night before.

So, I dropped her off at the station and took my nephews to enjoy some chicken rice somewhere away. Trying to take my mind off it. This really sucked. Not only I am not able to go catch Deep Purple because no hotel room is available on the dates concerned. Now, my sis got to watch TH for free courtesy of her friend.

I struggled a bit to be matured about it. Yes, I survived the little depression by going on the net browsing through Amazon for rock n roll books I am planning to buy.

Oh, Hilf Mir Fliegen. I told you the lyrics speak to me. Help Me Fly.......


Come and help me fly

Lend me your wings

I'd trade them for the world

Against all that's stopping me

I'd trade them tonight

Against all that I have

That late noon, my sis texted me saying that she and her friends actually had extra tickets. Huh?! Well, what can I say other than, it was just not written in the sky for me.

Another good reason for me to adore Tom Kaulitz ..... ;-)

I have another good reason to adore this honeybun :-)

I just have a soft spot for multi-instrumentalist musicians. There's just something about being able to handle more than one instrument that just fascinates me. Chris DeGarmo tinkles on the piano very well. I know even Ingo Schwichtenberg kept a keyboard in his apartment for him to play.

I know Tom is not the best of musician there is but that's not what he is about. He's just a guy who loves playing music the way HE wants to play it and NOT what others think he should. What he does is just perfect for the music his band is playing. It's those haters who are missing the point.

This is Tom practising the piano piece he has to play to accompany little bro Bill for the song Zoom.

Sure, this being Tom, he was talking dirty. That's ok with me. He isn't as vulgar as some guys/girls I know. Besides, I don't think he wants people to see his more serious side. It's his right to keep his real persona private.

Way to go Tomi :-)

Another German fix........Königsberger Klopse

It's that German fixation moment again for me ;-)

Trying to self-teach myself German so far has not produced any good result despite trying since 1998. So, let's see what I can do in the culinary department.

I have always been a little wary of trying Western food especially European ones as the taste is usually too rich and heavy for my Asian taste bud. But a little bit of something wouldn't hurt.

I decided on this recipe. Koenigsberger Klopse. German food, as I have noticed from poring through recipes has similarities with many Eastern European recipes. I think it's the history which goes back to old and even ancient times. These meatballs are named after the formerly German city of Koenigsberg which now belongs to Russia (Kaliningrad). So, there you go.

I first saw this on YouTube (about 2 years ago I think) when Bill Kaulitz declared that Koenigsberger Klopse was his favourite food. That boy sure has a strong willpower when he gave this up to turn vegetarian. Been wondering what the dish must taste like as I believe he wouldn't eat something if it wasn't appealing to his taste.

Yes, he's a vege now.

I do have certain challenges when it comes to cooking International dishes as I am restricted by religious dietary requirement. So, I have to adjust the recipes a bit to suit my 'halal' and non-alcoholic rules.

You can find good guidelines for alcohol substitutes here on About.com and here on What'sCookingAmerica.com.

After searching for many recipes, I settled for this one I found at Recipezaar.com by user BecR.

Koenigsberger Klopse Recipe (My non-alcoholic version)

I served mine simply with boiled potatoes and parsley :-)

Meatballs

3 lb ground meat (I used ground beef. BecR mixes sirloin, pork and veal)
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/4 cups fine plain breadcrumbs (I used plain white bread shredded and soaked in milk, BecR uses Progresso plain breadcrumbs whereas her grandmother used a ground up hard roll)
1/2 cup milk (to soak the shredded bread in)
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
1 lemon, zest of, finely chopped
1 lemon, juice of
3 tablespoons capers, chopped
3 tablespoons anchovy paste or crushed anchovy fillets (Alternatively you may use sardines or herring. I'm a Malaysian, so I used ground 'ikan bilis'. That's the Malaysian anchovy! Now available in powdery granule form.)
1/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt (any salt will do really)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Flour (for rolling the meatballs)

Broth

1 (32 oz) box chicken stock or vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup cider vinegar (I used apple juice as that was what I had in my storage)
1/2 cup good quality dry white wine (I used sparkling white grape juice)
10 black peppercorns
2 tablespoons capers

Sauce

The remaining broth after simmering the Meatballs
1 lemon, zest of, small finely chopped
1 lemon, juice of (extract the whole juice)
1 cup good quality sour cream (I replaced this with evaporated milk. I mean, fruit juice, lemon and sour cream? How sour do you want this to be?)
1/4 cup snipped fresh parsley, for garnish


Directions:

For the Meatballs

1. Shred the bread and soak in milk. Then add to the ground meat.
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients (except the flour) to the meat.
3. Mixture should be sticky.
4. Shape into balls and roll in the flour.
5. Carefully place the meatballs into the simmering Broth (DO NOT BOIL! The Meatballs will fall apart)

You can see the a few look better. The breaking ones were cooked a little bit too high on heat. The good ones were simmered on the right medium heat.

For the Broth

1. Heat all the ingredients in a pot.
2. Simmer over medium heat.

For the Sauce

1. Take the remaining Broth after cooking the meatballs.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients for the Sauce
3. Simmer and stir gently.
4. Pour over the Meatballs

Serving suggestions

Garnish with parsley
Serve with Potato Dumplings (if you have too much time in your hand) or simply boiled potatoes (if you're too lazy to make dumplings....xD)
Normally served with Rotkohl (Braised Spicy Red Cabbage)


So, my verdict?

Not bad.

I won't eat the Meatballs without the Sauce honestly. After all, the lemon juice made them a bit sour. Sour meatballs don't taste very nice to me. With the Sauce, the Meatballs tasted good.

However, I was a bit disappointed that after all the PRICEY ingredients I put together for the Meatballs, they actually tasted a bit like our CHEAP Malaysian 'chekodok bawang' or 'onion/anchovy fritters' which is a recipe for breakfast we make when we don't have that much money. Just flour, water, salt, dried anchovy and sliced onion. Fried and eaten with chili sauce.

Overall, I can still understand though why Bill Kaulitz raved about this dish and Ingo Schwichtenberg was proud to be a German homeboy.

Proud of their homeland and the food :-)

Introducing.........my new office workspace

I have a new workspace in my office!

Let's just say that when my Division management instructed us to 'relocate' our workspace according to our Sections, I was far from thrilled to hear it. I was happy with the location I had been occupying since 2005. It was perfect. I could see people at the corridor. I had easy access to our pigeonholes. The air-conditioning vent wasn't too cold. Also, most importantly, I was surrounded by my closest officemates whom I shared banters and laughter with everyday. 'Relocating by Sections' meant we would be separated.

I came on Saturday on OT hours and helped around with the relocating. The guys had already 'relocated' our desks accordingly.

I am now seated by the door to the gent's room. That's restroom if you're American. That's the boys' toilet if you're from the rest of the world.

Got to tell you, the new location was my own request as I refused to sit right under the air-conditioning vent they originally planned for me. I can't stand cold temperature. My years in the UK had failed to take the Tropical girl out of me.....ha....ha.

As a compromise to my 'unwilling move', I cunningly asked for a computer at my workspace. The Management had no problem with it as my title actually had given that privilege which I never took advantage of. I shared PCs with everyone else.

The floor is dirty coz apparently the synthetic tiles have been there since mid-90s.

Anyway, this time I asked for a PC for my own use with the excuse that the new location did not have enough space for 5 PCs. Only 4. So, 1 had to go to my desk. Yes, with the LCD screen too. Yes, our factory can be such cheapskate that CRT monitors and 1st Generation Pentiums from the 90s are still used. hey, they ain't broken. So, why throw 'em away?

So, here comes the surprise.

I think I actually like my new workspace despite loathing the idea originally. This is why.....

I finally get to have my chosen wallpapers on the Monitor after years of staring at that blue Windows standard desktop display.
Wahey...!

I think I'm going to change wallpapers everyday. I think anyone who's familiar with my ramblings here will know that those wallpapers will definitely feature some Teutonic cuties named Ingo and Tom and a Seattle-ite named Chris.

♥ Tom, Ingo, Chris ♥

I think it's fair to celebrate. Yeah!!

When fan obsession gets too far....the Tom Kaulitz story

First of all, I AM a fan of Tokio Hotel. I like their music the first moment I heard Monsoon and Durch Den Monsun. Then, I began to explore more songs such as Ich Bin Nicht Ich, 1000 Meere, Schrei, Rette Mich and I liked what I heard. They are not the best of musicians, admittedly but musical craftmanship not what they are about. It's about playing music simply because they love it and they are well aware that they cannot please everybody. My favourites are Ich Brech Aus, Hilf Mir Fliegen, Wir Sterben Niemals Aus, In Die Nacht and 1000 Meere. However, I must say that what turns me off a bit sometimes is the crazy obsessed teenies following and screaming everywhere they go.

I also have a soft spot for cutie Tom Kaulitz. What an adorable honeybun. He's incredibly funny. Quieter and more masculine than his twin. Seemingly protective over his brother.

*Pic: Tom at age 15

In the midst of my birthday week, as I was moping for not being remembered, this young man I greatly admire, who is still at the early journey of his life, was faced with a situation that stretched his normally friendly and calm demenour to its limit. That was when he was caught on a gas station CCTV hitting a girl in the face somewhere in the city of Hamburg. Ist Tom Kaulitz ein brutale schlager?(*My not so good German there)

Frankly, it wasn't too shocking for me because if one has seen footages of these boys especially Tom and his twin Bill being mobbed by rabid fans, one can only imagine the kind of "personal space intrusion" that they have to go through everyday. There are footages from fans who hunted them down to their then-school, recording studio, their apartments and even their parents' home. Some of the footages/"paparazzi" shots are not even from fans, just people who have nothing better to do. Harassing celebrities just for the heck of getting their reactions. How can I forget that footage of Tom and Bill at a MacDonald's drive-through being harassed by a bunch of MEN with cameras. The twins were extremely polite given the situation. I didn't know whether the twins managed to get their food or not.

*Pic: Smiley Tom back in the days before the pressure of fame and crazy fandom turned to danger

The gas station incident immediately caught the media attention. It was quite suspicious to me as to how quick the TV crew got there. I wonder who were called first, the police or the TV people, knowing there was a hot scoop too sensational to pass. There were about four plus-size girls covering their faces there. Why would you want to conceal your indentity if you're the "victim" of a celebrity assault?

As I delved further into the story, it was further revealed that the girl in question belongs to a group of stalkers, a bunch of French girls who call themselves Le Afghans on Tour. The band's management claimed that the girls have been following the band for 6 months. Even moving to
an apartment on the same street with the boys. Somebody managed to capture their MySpace screenshot on cache. There was a slideshow with pictures of the girls with head scarves covering their hair and faces to cover their identities mimicking the way the Muslim girls cover themselves in Afghanistan. Thus, Le Afghans. Also, it's hard to ignore their greeting motto of giving "nightmares to everyone".

*Read about the "stalker gang" here at Tokio Hotel Network. Creepy stuff.

On a personal side, as a Muslim, I am highly offended by the use of Muslim image to engage in their insane activities. It's sad enough to me that Muslims are misrepresented as terrorists and now a bunch of people are taking advantage of the situation.


Then, there was also the chilling picture of the girls with face masks reminding one of serial killers normally depicted in movies. Furthermore, the girls even attacked the people close to the Kaulitz twins most notably their mother Simone. Then, threatening to attack their best friend. Also, sending letters with sentences "We are impatient..." and implied on giving more nightmares. Looking again at the MySpace screenshot, I wonder whether these girls are in fact Tokio Hotel haters instead of fans because they had embedded a video of the band with the title "Tokio Hotel - Wir sind scheisse" or "Tokio Hotel - We are shit". That makes the whole incident even more bizarre as to why would a bunch of haters take the hard work of moving to another country to where their objects of hate reside and spend all their money on making the hate objects' lives miserable?



After reading this, I believe that the CCTV incident wasn't just a spur of the moment but rather the outcome of a series of unpleasant events to Tom Kaulitz. How would you feel if the same people who attacked your mother, threatened your life and followed you around came to your car demanding for a photo? Tom threw out his cigarette to make her go away but she took it and pressed the stub out on his window. Given the ill-treatment he received, I'd say Tom's action was justified. In fact, it was still a lot that he held back as far as I'm concerned. To me, if somebody attacked my mother and dared to touch my car like that, that person would have received MORE than just a punch on the face.

I'm a woman and I'm against violence but so am I against mental abuse, provocation and harassment physically or sexually. Would I regard the Kaulitz twins case as sexual harassment? Yes, I would. They are being harassed by members of their opposite sex for being cute and pretty. It doesn't matter which gender perpetrates the act. Harassment is harassment. When the news first broke, a lot of people were highly critical of Tom. However, now it is clear that the young man acted out of a long series of provocation. The constant pressure finally made him snap. It's an amazement that he had withstood it all this long.

Leave this young man alone!

Tom's problem now is the possible charge of causing bodily injuries which carries a maximum penalty of 5 years. Sure, women have struggled for years to get to where we are today. However, in this case, I find it insulting that a woman can be allowed to be a loony and get away with it simply because she's a woman. Also, I do not support any law that allow a woman to stalk a person, invade his personal space, harass him endlessly, attacking his family and then send him to jail for protecting himself. All these simply because a woman is deemed as the weaker sex?

Now the TWO camps are pressing charges against each other. The stalker girl who got punched didn't want to accept a peace offering whereby the band asked her gang to stay away from the twins and their family. This is the new low for women all over the world! It's humiliating that a girl can be so boy-crazy that she willingly transform into a monster just so she can catch her object of lust. It's humiliating to me as a woman. Duh!

On a more positive note, let me say that, as a woman, I know how girls feel. When a girl looks at her favourite star, she would also look at the possibility of him being her real man. Him as her boyfriend. Him as her husband. Even to have his babies. Notice how fangirls tend to observe just about every aspect of her “man” from the way he laughs, the way he walks, every word he says and how he says it, his favourite food, his favourite colour, the car he drives, which brand of toothbrush he uses (if she can find out, she’d buy it!) etc. Ditto for the way he looks because we want to imagine how our future babies would look like.

However, our favourite rock stars are humans too. That’s where many girls blurr the line. Face it, would a guy fall for a girl who keeps on screaming for his attention and follows his every move? No. Guys are genetically pursuers. No matter what, he is highly likely to go for a girl he chooses to pursue. Even a fan. Guitarist Nuno Bettencourt technically married his own fan, singer Suze DeMarchi. I’m sure ALL three Hanson boys married their own fans too.

Who says a popular celeb wouldn’t approach a girl he likes? Sure, he can’t choose everybody who comes his way. Like the way we say it in my native tongue, he only has two arms and two legs. Multi-tasking can go only too far. The thing is, a guy, even a famous one, just wants someone who is just a normal human being and not sees only his outer shell. If you’re lucky enough to be in his circle and he still doesn’t go for you, then just accept it that it isn’t your fate. Just remember, being a lunatic would only shut yourself out and he’d rather lock you up and throw away the key into an ocean too deep to dive in.

As for me? I can only make wishes. Let the Almighty pick one :-)

My take on VMA 2008

Well, it's been more than a week since the VMA 2008 in LA and it's been a week since I last posted anything on this blog. I watched the recorded show last Saturday on MTV and it was heavily 'beeped' for Malaysian TV. Duh!

The minute host Russell Brand opened his mouth, I could sense the uneasy feeling from some in the audience (it must have been that strong since I live thousands of miles away). I knew immediately that this wouldn't go down too well with the Americans. After a few minutes, I turned to my sister and said "I don't think the Americans understand British humour".

If one thing I knew about the Brits is that's the way they joke around. Mostly poking fun at themselves and their aspects of life which include politics, sports, food, public transport, the weather (ha..ha..!). Of course, when they go out, they apply the same thing and it may not necessarily work out the same way, unfortunately.

Chill people.......relax. No need for controversy.
He pokes fun at everybody including himself when he said his hairstyle in normal situation would immediately brand him a lunatic.

....OR.......

do it like the Malaysians.............BEEP everything........pah!

It was obvious Russell knew what he said would create controversy and somewhere in the middle of the show, he talked lengthily about 'pissing off teenagers' which actually was a sarcastic go at the way you have to be 'politically correct' all the time in the America. The 'purity ring' jokes would have been laughed off in the UK but apparently they didn't in the US.

The Jonas Brothers are cool about it.

I guess the old-fashioned upbringing is paying off as they've been choosing to deal with it like gentlemen.

Britney's back!
Back in business and back into her fit curves......jealous......jealous..

The media loves 'shooting stars' and quite literally too. I do feel sorry for the way they treated Britney Spears for the past 2 years. When MTV started promoting the VMA event on the channel showing host Russell Brand and Britney chatting together, I saw the sweet girly Britney who won the world over 8 years ago. Her warm laughter and her down-to-earth persona. Personally I blame the media as being partly (major part!) responsible for her breakdown. Honestly, her VMA performance last year wasn't bad at all. It was the way the choreography was designed. Slow and slinky to fit the feel of the song. Did anybody even watch the dancers' moves? Oh, but then people would read more if they put a title 'Britney sleepwalked through her performance'. Her triumphant wins this year screams to people that her fans stuck to her side yet MTV still couldn't resist 'shooting' her like they do in this article here. I mean, rhyming her surname 'Spears' with 'Schmears'?

BTW, to be fair to both sides, I found this link to a video supposedly showing 'how she really sounds like onstage' at PopWrap. Not sure about the authenticity of it. That's ok though as she's never been a good singer but she's a great performer first and foremost.

Lastly, the 'creme de la creme'. The best reason to watch, at least for me. Tokio Hotel....!

My babies won!

Tom, Bill, Georg and Gustav.
These young lads have the most enviable hardcore Internet-fanbase in the world right now.

Just last year, MTV edited out their EMA 2007 performance (the only one they chopped out mind you) from American MTV for being unknown in the USA (what a reason!). With the power of fandom ruling, they have just become the latest US MTV darlings after less than a year.

The 'big' arrival on a Bigfoot

Who needs a limo? This is America. Go for the Bigfoot! Blast your own song on a super woofer monster speaker too. It couldn't get any grander than this!

They immediately caught the attention of the American media who eagerly asked them to speak their native tongue.

A little brotherly support wouldn't hurt


......and the Coolest Outfit award goes to Bill Kaulitz........

Bill's red carpet outfit


Bill's award-receiving outfit

......... TWICE....!

...and of course, no other contender for the Coolest Hair Award
.......except maybe Russell Brand? He...he....

My Helloween & Tokio Hotel CDs are here......yeah!

Hey, something good can come out of today too.

Something arrived in the mail today!

Look at what greeted me on my bed upon my arrival home.

These are my recent purchases on eBay. Tokio Hotel Schrei so laut du kannst CD and the Helloween CD I successfully bidded on, the Expanded Double CDs of their album Walls of Jericho.

I don't care what people think of my musical tastes. I do love heavy metal music along with pop, rock, classical, country whatever. Regardless of the fact that typical fans of Helloween would normally hate Tokio Hotel and most Tokio Hotel fans probably have never heard of Helloween.

The pumpkin is a Halloween souvenir belonging to my sister. I envy her for owning the thing.

The inner sleeve of the double CDs. It's weird that the record company put in singer Michael Kiske's picture here as he wasn't part of the band when this album was released many years ago.

Helloween during the Walls of Jericho era back in the glory days of 1980s metal.
How I miss those days.......me a little child dreaming of marrying a metal musician one day. It came true in my dreams only...... :-)

The bidding left me with a much lower price than I would have to pay at the CD shop (if they're available here anyway).

Ok. At least, I have a reason to smile today.

Happy 19th Birthday dear Tom and Bill Kaulitz!

I would like to wish these two very special boys Happy 19th Birthday.

It's amazing how far they've come.

The humble beginning of a pair of identical twins who knew they wanted to do music for life since age 9 (if I'm not mistaken). Young Bill started writing songs and lyrics since age 7 while older brother Tom learned the guitar at age 9 and found his destiny.

Tom (left) and Bill, when they still looked indentical, performing together in this old pic.

They had their share of hardship for many dreamy musicians out there. Performing at small functions for whoever wanted to listen. They did the small clubs gigs together. Bill went through the humiliation of entering the German Star Search singing, of all songs, It's Raining Men and lost.

They recorded their first album as Devilish and changed it later to Tokio Hotel for the subsequent albums.

Shooting their first video with no fancy props. Not knowing that the song would land them on the #1 spot on the German chart.

When success started to come knocking, so did the paparazzi.



They each found their own identity

Appearing on JB Kerner after the twins turned 18 last year.

They just won an award at the MTV Europe Award 2007 at the time. They were booed by the crowd (it was held in Munich after all) when they appeared but the performance erased the booing and they received a huge applause at the end of the song.

That performance was edited out when the show first went on air on States-side MTV on the basis that the band was unknown in the US. Within less than 1 year, the boys are slated to appear at the VMA 2008 in the USA. Amazing!

One of those rare moments nowadays when the twins look identical

Happy Birthday boys!

Your journey has been very inspiring to me.

Beating the Murphy's Law

Ok. Things have not been going great for me since yesterday. It's the Murphy's Law! Things start going bad one after another.

1. My Division was audited on our Environmental Quality Control System by the guy I myself audited on Wednesday. Haha. I think he took the chance to get back at me for 'grilling' his division's control. Oh, he really did get me. I accepted it with an open mind. Ok. So, now we're even!

2. My car stalled at a busy traffic light on the way home. I had a colleague with me in the car. Usually I would drive her home when she needs transport on the occasional stay-back-at-work days.

It was embarrassing! I turned on the emergency light. Steadily rested my right foot on the accelerator and after some feel-like-ages minutes, I managed to drive the car to a compound of a Chinese praying house next to the traffic light. I had to call my father and my colleague called her hubby. We joked about it while waiting.

3. I came home to log in on my eBay account to bid on the Tokio Hotel CDs I wanted.

Man! These boys are hot cakes or what? I was defeated badly in every bid even to the last seconds. Huaaah! :-(

I guess I have to resort to the "Buy Now" listing. The only sure-fire way to get the things you want.

4. I got stung by a bee this morning! In my own bedroom.

I know this sounds weird but animals have the knack of turning my parents' house into their homes. We have at least 9 cats (all strays). Sometimes frogs 'visit' our outdoor shower.

I have bees living in my bedroom. I don't know where they actually put up their home but they're in there all the time. They don't come out as a swarm. Instead, they appear as 1 individual at a time........on my floor, on my desk.

This morning I thought I saw a dead one on my floor and tried to pick it up. It was alive! I got stung and the bee died. The worst thing is it stung me on my right index finger....... my most used finger.


Why I think I kinda beat the Murphy's Law?

1. Two more colleagues told me they are open to accepting Mr.B into the other section that needs manpower.

2. While waiting at the Chinese praying house, a few friendly Chinese guys helped out checking my car. 1 guy actually had the same car model. Another guy was a mechanic. They said my car was OK. Just the engine oil level dropped a a bit and the brake oil needs topping up. The car had difficulty probably due to 'contact point' wear and tear. My brother drove the car home without a hitch last night.

3. So, I didn't get the Tokio Hotel CDs last night but I did win my bidding for a Helloween expanded album Walls of Jericho. Then the guy whose Tokio Hotel's US version Scream CD I successfully bidded sent a message saying my CD had been shipped out yesterday. Yeah!

The Helloween boys back in 1989. I was too young for any of them back then.
Ingo (♥♥my sweetheart♥♥), the gorgeous drummer in the sunglasses sadly died in 1995.

Now, I'm hoping to bid for another Helloween CD Chameleon. Bought it twice on cassette years ago and it's time to upgrade. If I fail again, I'll just resort to buying it straight away.

Hope things go well today.

Batman and the Dates from Hell

Talking about Batman, I would like to share with everyone a book I bought more than a decade ago called Dates From Hell by Maryon Tysoe (published in 1994 by Headline Book Publishing) which is basically a collection of her readers and her friends/family's accounts of horror dating stories.

Ever since I became a working woman, my attention span has got shorter and shorter everyday. My love for reading is still intact though. Thus, this book is perfect for me.

The following is a story from it which has "Batman" as an unwelcomed character. This is not my story. I didn't write this. My intention is to share an example of how hilarious this book is.

Let's read the story..............

"Nigel was tall, thin and my boss - and not to my personal taste. But when he asked me out to see the newly released Batman I didn't hesitate to accept. After all, a cinema date, if not conducted in the back row, could hardly be a romantic minefield.

He turned up at my flat promptly. When we were alone, he announced that he had a surprise for me but first needed to use the loo. He was in there about 10 minutes, during which I heard a lot of mysterious fumbling noises and started worrying about that.

Finally Nigel called from the bathroom for me to switch off all the lights and turn to face the window. After assuring me it would be harmless, I duly followed. When he told me to turn round, I saw.......

BATMAN.

Nigel stood in the doorway, the only light coming from the street lamp outside. He raised his wings and there he was, fully kitted in a replica of Batman's suit complete with black rubber mask and pointy ears and underwear outside his tights.

He swooped towards me but I was too busy laughing. I jumped out of the way and he almost fell out of the window. When he recovered his composure, he informed me that we were going to the cinema in a hired 'Batmobile'. And no, he would not be changing out of his outfit.

With that, we motored toward the city centre, me with my eyes tightly shut, dying of embarrassment. He drove slowly in an open-topped old black Cadillac adorned with a gigantic Bat motif, acknowledging the very excited pedestrians who surrounded us at every traffic light stop.

We parked 10 minutes' walk from the cinema. I trailed as far behind Nigel as I could while he swooped along the pavement, stopping people and buses in their tracks.

When we took our seats in the cinema, practically the entire audience applauded him. I sank lower and lower into my seat. When the film started, he knew every damn line Batman spoke - and joined in with him, much to the annoyance of everyone within earshot. Apparently Nigel had seen the film 10 times, and it had only been out there 3 weeks!

When we eventually got home, he kissed my cheek and his rubber mask stuck sweatily to my skin. I went to bed shellshocked, grateful at least that The Shining had not been his favourite movie."

While the above story isn't mine, the following picture however is mine.

I drew this inspired by the story above. The colours were painted in using Microsoft Paint. Hope you like it :-)

Dating in a Batmobil!

(Note* Kaulitz twins are here ....wink...wink.....)

Doodling in the Office

Talking about the office, I've been a bit adventurous with pencil and paper lately.

Different people do different things to relieve stress.

I've been reminiscing of my younger days when I was always lost in my own world when I drew or painted.

One day, I was feeling the pressure at work and I started to doodle.

This is what I ended up with.

He just came to my mind.......Bill Kaulitz. I love the fact that he actually looks like a Manga character in real life and I'm inspired to do this.

The most fun part is the hair of course!

I want to do more and more of these. I've been in this Engineering job for too long, I'm missing my arty roots.





Bill Kaulitz in a doodle

Animals don't mind your Grammar....!

In an attempt to sing and understand those German songs and interviews I've been listening to on You Tube, I have become quite attached to this Learn German book by Charles Berlitz. Bought it in 1998 from a discount bookstore in Sheffield, UK at a bargain of GBP1.99. Cheap!


There's this one section in Chapter 14 which makes me laugh every time I read it that my stomach hurts. It's on using the formal "sie" and informal term "du" for "you".


Here it is:

The use of "du"
.........the informal du is used between members of a family, close friends, young people talking to each other and generally in informal situations...........

When speaking to animal
As we recommend using the du-form when speaking to animals one might ask whether animals would notice if you use the right form - du for the singular and ihr when speaking to more than one. Although animals don't care about grammar ............................................if you used the formal "Sie" to talk or give orders to a pet or a horse, the onlookers, if not the animal, would certainly give you a curious look.

Ha...ha...ha.....

This reminds me of this cute cartoon strip by Gary Larson from his Far Side Gallery collection.

Copyright belongs to Gary Larson - The Far Side Gallery

My uncle brought this book back from the States many many years ago and I remember him explaining this strip to me.

Yeah, those animals don't mind your Grammar.



More lessons........

....but watch out for the "party animals" though!

This vid will tickle your funny bone....

Thanks for the lessons...............................love and kisses!

Russicher Zupfkuchen (German choc cheesecake)........finally the recipe works!

This is a type of Chocolate Cheesecake which I first saw on a video of the German band Tokio Hotel. Yes, it's Tokio Hotel. Not a a recipe site or anything.

It was the lady cook in the video who was responsible for the catering on their Zimmer 483 European Tour who showed the cake in the video and I hunted for the recipe in no time.

I'm hoping to find the video again on You Tube and I'll link it here once I found it.

This cake has been described as "the grand way to expand your waistline in style"! Haha, with that chocolate base and the cheese with butter. Sure, it's not kind to the calorie-worriers.

The normal version of the cake. Click here for its origin.

In Germany, it's called the Russian Cake whereas in Russia, it's called the German Cake. Hence, the name. Weird, huh?

I made mine in Cupcake form so it would be easy to divide the portions.

Recipe from Dr. Oetker.

Ingredients:

For the base and top sprinkles:
375 g flour
40 g cocoa powder
200 g butter or margarine
150-200 g caster sugar
1 medium egg
3 level teaspoons baking powder
3 drops vanilla essence

For the cheese filling:
250 g melted butter (use pure butter....it's decadent)
500 g soft cheese (I use Philadelphia cheese)
200 g caster sugar
3 drops vanilla essence
3 eggs
40 g custard powder, vanilla flavour or corn starch plus 1 or 2 egg yolks (I totally forgot to add any of these in mine which explains why the batter was so runny and my cake turned out like this picture)

I halved this recipe actually and the cupcakes lasted a few days enough for me to take to the office daily. I highly recommend the cupcake form.

Method:
For the base:
Mix the ingredients starting with wet ones before the dry ones till you form a dough. Mine turn out really soft that I kept adding flour to it. The original recipe asked for 30mins refrigeration which I did not bother to do because I was too impatient.
Divide into small balls with enough left to be the sprinkles. Flatten the balls into the cupcake paper-lined muffin tins. Leave enough dough to be the sprinkles!

For the filling:
Add all the ingredients together. That's easy because they're all wet.

Putting them together:
Pour the filling into the base and pinch the leftover dough and drop them on top of the filling.

Heat the oven to 180 degree C and bake about 50-65mins. Ok. I never monitor my baking time actually. I monitor by eyes only. When it looks cooked, I take it out. That's it.

Taste? There's only ONE word for it. DECADENCE! It's rich and delicious.

Get to know the fans of this cake. The super-skinny Kaulitz Twins. Did I say about the cake as "the grand way to expand your waistline"?

Expanding your waistline? This is proof that we are not created equal.

For those unhappy about why these pretty boys can eat for Germany and remain in those figures, just accept the fact of life that we are so NOT created equal. Deal with it.