The long awaiting ... Book 6

I've ordered Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince yesterday at MPH book store. By using a MasterCard, the other perk to it is, you get to choose whether you want a red or yellow teddy. They also gave me a 10 dollar voucher. I thought I could use the 10 dollar for book 6 but it is only valid from 3 months. Should have order somewhere end of April! Oh, I also get to choose whether I would want the children or adult cover.

Children cover:

Adult cover: Of cos I chose this. It look so much more sophisticated. Moreover, if someone who has no idea what Harry Potter is, sees me with a children cover will be thinking 'What's she doing with a children book?!' .

The book will be out on July 16th (worldwide release)

Post-quake

A friend sent me this...she read it in the Star newspaper. So, it wasn't me alone who thought it was some supernatural power. And yes, we should be educated.

Name : john

Location: klang

Story : The bed swayed from left to right. I thought it was my high blood pressure playing tricks on me. One moment I thought something was under my bed. It was so strange! People should be taught to cope with this unfamiliar phenomenon in our country. My neighbour called a pastor to drive away evil sprits that he thought entered his house. They were reciting prayers all night until they got the news it was an earthquake.

My sis's colleagues felt another small tremor this afternoon..somewhere during lunch hour.

The tremor

I was half-awake when I felt the tremor. My sis was on the net. I woke up and said, there is something on our bed. That nearly scare-her off.Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Truthfully, I really thought it was a ghost climbing onto my bed. I looked up the ceiling and I saw the fan moving. It was rocking. It couldn't be the wind! My window is closed and the air-con is on. I asked my sis, could that be an earthquake?

My sis woke my parents up and I texted my friend who stayed nearby (10 mins away). My friend said she actually thought she was having a bad headache. She asked what are we supposed to do if there's really an earthquake. I can't answer her. I have no answer to that question.

My sis then told me there's an evacuation in Bukit Jalil. I asked, 'evacuate to where?'. Giggles followed.

I was told in school, Malaysia is the safest place on earth. With our strategic location, we won't be hit by earthquake or tornadoes and we don't have volcano so there wouldn't be any eruption. Thus, it never occurred to me, 'what are we going to do if there's really an emergency'.

added: 23:30

Details as follows:

1) Quake kills hundreds

2) New quake makes only small waves

3) Readers' earthquake stories

Raindrops keep falling on my head...

The sky pours heavily this afternoon. I was rather glad. I like to sleep when it is raining. I like to snuggle under my blanket with the cold wind blowing .It feels so comfortable. It seems so peaceful...apart from my dog barks. There was thunder & lightning as well...

I was on leave today. Sent my car to the workshop ... it will take 2 days. So with a given excuse, I applied for 1 day leave and it got approved.

It has been ages since I get to take my afternoon nap while it is raining. Whenever it rains while I am working, I will be thinking ..'why can't it be tommorow, when I will be at home and not at work'.

Thank you, thank you for the rain.

American Idol

I was driving home yesterday and I received a sms from my close friend, whom I've not seen since Christmas eve. The sms has been written in the way I have been reading from my mobile.. and my expression throughout reading it.

Im going 2 US nxt mth. Gv u my number when i get there. Hope 2

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(me thinking: apparently, I was very shocked at this point. I mean, why would she suddenly want to go US. She is working with a local telephone operator and I don't think they have business over there. )

c u at least b4 i leave. Sori 4 short notice..hv no choice..They

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(me thinking: maybe she is migrating..or maybe her husband decided to go there or maybe I should just call her up! While my imagination was running wild, I read the rest of the sms ... Gosh! Luckily I never call her... or she would be laughing all the way till we next meet)

wanna hv me at... AMERICAN IDOL!

Phrase I fell in love with...

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should

Weather Pixie

I have added a WeatherPixie at the side-bar. It reflects the weather at my current location. I have been changing the outlook of my blog ... a little of here and there. Hopefully it will spice things up.

Today is Friday and I am supposed to feel good because it is already weekend. Yet, I am sleepy and can't wait to go back to my bed. I have been walking around the office, meeting client with dark circle under my eyes...for the whole week - due to late night reading. I wasn't even that hardworking when I was in school. hehe

Blog Counter

I have changed my Blog counter from Blog Patrol to Branica. It has not been functioning for quite some time and I never even realised it. Branica is free but there's a catch to it.

In order to use Branica free counter, you must copy the whole HTML code given and put it in your site. No amendment allowed. See, the HTML code comes with a sponsor's link. They don't care where you place the link, as long that it is on the page with the counter.

I saw something about a map which shows the place where the blog surfers is currently at. Just say, if you are in Thailand and you visit my site, a tiny dot will appear on the map. And of cos the dot will be reflected on Thailand. BUT they have stopped taking new registration. Spoiler~!

Rumble Mumble

Don't ask questions if you don't want answers.

I want answers but I want my "kind" of answers. Isn't that what everyone wants?

We hear things that we want to hear. We mentally filter out what we deemed 'rubbish' ... sometimes, just to protect our weak soul. Could it be due to insecurity? Sigh. We are lying, even to ourself.

I sometimes (most of the time more to it) wish I live in a fairy-tale land. Imagine the joy of waking up to beautiful weather, beautiful place, chirping of birds ... and never have to work.

Coming to work pains me. I do not have the drive anymore. People start pushing work to you and I was told to push the work to someone. You have to learn tai-chi (a chinese martial art and also a form of exercise).

Can you trust the people you work with? How can you trust anyone? How do you know they don't badmouthed you? If they can do it on other people, why would they single you out? Why people say different things in front of different people?

Is Michael Jackson guilty? Innocent till proven guilty. Did he or did he not molest the kid? Even he is found not guilty, do you really believe he is innocent? I mean, Why would the lawmakers suddenly go after him? Isn't it bizarre why an adult will want to spend so much time with a kid. Is it really because he loves kids so, thus the affection. His dad were saying, this happened because of race issue. Hrmmn....

Is the law made for the rich (and famous)? Are the poor kowtow-ing to the rich? Gary Glitter was expelled by the Cambodian authorities after a public outcry at his presence. He is a paedophile. Some parents will bring their kids to him for a couple of dollar. Yeah, they actually drag their kid and go knock-knock on his door. Sigh. After a couple of months being expelled, he went back to live in Cambodia again.He even bought a house there. In case you are scratching your head thinking who this guy is: Glitter was a British rock and roll performer in the early 1970s. He took his computer to a computer store in UK to be repaired. The staff there found pornographic images of children on the hard drive and called the police. Glitter was arrested and, convicted on child pornography charges; he was sentenced to four months in prison. How can a person deemed dangerous to kids be allowed back to the country? How can an expelled person be allowed entry?

An interesting title of a blog site - How do we bribe God? I never thought we can bribe God. Do we do some good deeds to replace the wrongs? Isn't this just a way to pacify ourself, to make us feel better.

I used to give money to charity. No, not thousands nor hundreds. Just a few bucks. I stopped giving after newspapers were splashed with news about people using the name of charity to cheat. Moreover, charity now do not entertain $1 or $2 - they want $10, $20 and in return, they will give you a Christmas card or a toy. We give what we desired. Why set a minimum? We do not donate because we want something in return (eventhough sometimes we give because we want that certain toy).

First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win. --Mahatma Gandhi

Suo gan

I was reading Harry Potter 5 - Order of the Phoenix and it mentioned that Hermione gave Harry a musical box which tune to see-o-gan or suogan: A lullaby which Harry's mother used to hum to him when he was still a baby. He also heard Aunt Petunia humming it to Dudley before.

No, it is not in the JK Rowling's version. This was in an e-book given by my friend when the book store went out of stock with Harry Potter. I started quite late with Harry Potter. As mentioned in my first few posts, I did not read HP until I watched Prisoner of Azkaban (never watch Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets yet that time). I started to quite like that show and later bought HP 1 and 2 DVD.

e-Book 1 - 4 is the real JK Rowling's copy but not book 5. Eventually someone made an effort to re-write book 5. And people like me, who could not wait any longer for Half Blood Prince to be released (can't blame me actually. Have read the whole set for about 4-5 times)... I eventually started on this non-JK Book 5. I have been keeping the e-book for some time but did not indulge in Book 5 because I have read the REAL book and find it ridiculous to read a fake-one. Yeah, so ridiculous me is now reading an e-book which I used to think was ridiculous.

I went searching for See-o-gan or suogan frantically. I typed see-o-gan: No luck. Is there really such word like See-o-gan or Suogan? Is it really a Welsh lullaby, as mentioned by the author?
So I typed suogan(which was supposed to be in Welsh): Oh, we don't have suogan but maybe you meant 'Suo gan'?

Great.

So suo gan is a relatively well-known Welsh lullaby. Some people might know it from the movie "Empire of the Sun,". Heard of the movie but have not watch it before. Even if I did, don't recall a thing about it. Downloaded 'suo gan', one was the version from Empire of the Sun and another one was by Ambrosian Boys Choir. It sounds exactly the same but I prefer not-the-choir version. Deep down,I think they are of the same version just different name but ... whatever.

This is how 'suo gan' goes (top is in Welsh and bottom is in English):

Huna blentyn yn fy mynwes,

Clyd a chynnes ydyw hon;

Breichiau mam sy'n dyn am danat,

Cariad mam sy dan fy mron;

Ni cha dim amharu'th gyntun,

Ni wna undyn a thi gam;

Huna'n dawel, anwyl blentyn,

Huna'n fwyn ar fron dy fam.

Huna'n dawel, heno, huna,

Huna'n fwyn, y tlws ei lun;

Pam yr wyt yn awr yn gwenu,

Gwenu'n dirion yn dy hun?

Ai angylion fry sy'n gwenu,

Arnat ti yn gwenu'n llon,

Tithau'n gwenu'n ol dan huno,

Huno'n dawel ar fy mron?

Paid ag ofni, dim ond deilen

Gura, gura ar y ddor;

Paid ag ofni, ton fach unig

Sua, sua ar lan y mor;

Huna blentyn, nid oes yma

Ddim i roddi iti fraw;

Gwena'n dawel yn fy mynwes

Ar yr engyl gwynion draw.

Sleep my baby, at my breast,

'Tis a mother’s arms round you.

Make yourself a snug, warm nest.

Feel my love forever new.

Harm will not meet you in sleep,

Hurt will always pass you by.

Child beloved, always youll keep,

In sleep gentle, mother's breast nigh.

Sleep in peace tonight, sleep,

O sleep gently, what a sight.

A smile I see in slumber deep,

What visions make your face bright?

Are the angels above smiling,

At you in your peaceful rest?

Are you beaming back while in

Peaceful slumber on mother's breast?

Do not fear the sound,it's a breeze

Brushing leaves against the door.

Do not dread the murmurring seas,

Lonely waves washing the shore.

Sleep child mine, there's nothing here,

While in slumber at my breast,

Angels smiling, have no fear,Holy angels guard your rest.

This fake JK is quite an author himself/herself. Should be an adult .. cos there's a paragraph or two about wars fought by muggles. Could he/she be a Welsh or is 'suo gan' famous all over Britain? I've not finished reading e-Book 5 yet but I think he/she is quite good with his/her imagination. Maybe he/she should write a book of his/her own. Easier said than done I guess.

The Empire of the Sun version and Ambrosian Boys Choir version = Same thing.

I find Breakaway - Kelly Clarkson listenable. I like the part "I spread my wings and I learn how to fly"...blah, blah..

Something worth sharing

Something I read from the paper yesterday... I am not sure how real this story is but it is pretty touching.

A soldier was finally returning coming home to the US after having fought in the war in Vietnam. He phoned his parents from San Francisco and said: "Mom, Dad, I'm coming home but I have a favor to ask. I've a friend I would like to bring home with me."

"Sure," his parents replied, "we'd love to meet him."

"There's something you should know", the son continued. "He was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a landmine and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us."

"I'm sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live."

"No, dad. I want him to live with us."

"Son," said the father, "you don't know what you're asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a teribble burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can't let something like this intefere with our lives."

"I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He'll find a way to get by on his own."

At that point, the son hung up and his parents heard nothing from him. A few days later, however, they received a call from San Francisco police: their son had died after falling from a building. They believed it was suicide.

The grief stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify their son's body.

They recognised him, bu to their horror, they also discovered something they didn't know - he had only one arm and one leg.

Today's strategies for work 

Monkey Business

A monkey is sitting in a tree smoking a joint when a lizard walks past and looks up and says to the monkey "Hey! what are you doing?" The monkey says "Smoking a joint, come on up and have some."

So the lizard climbs up and sits next to the monkey and they have a few joints. After a while the lizard says his mouth is 'dry' and is going to get a drink from the river.

The lizard is so stoned that he leans too far over and falls into the river. A Crocodile sees this and swims over to the lizard and helps him to the side, then asks The lizard, "What's the matter with you?" The lizard explains to the crocodile that he was sitting smoking a joint with the monkey in the tree, got too stoned and then fell into the river while taking a drink.

The crocodile says he has to check out this pot smoking monkey so he walks into the jungle, finds the tree were the monkey is sitting, finishing a joint, and he looks up and says "Hey you, monkey!"

The Monkey looks down and says "SHITTTTTTTT dude....... how much water did you drink?!!