069. Oohlala

My internet is back! We are so dependent on technological advancement these days it's crazy. For the past couple of days, I thought that both the TV and internet was down. Which turned out it was not after all. And over at my place, there really is very few other forms of entertainment. 

Could you imagine the boredom?

So, when one is bored, you turn to movies! A couple of days ago, I caught Brüno!

Personally, I thought the movie was wrong in so many degrees, that it was absolutely funny. 

Go watch it, if you don't mind some horribly obscene scenes that you would laugh off! It's weird to think about the things I laughed at. Because, thinking back, it wasn't laughing material?

I cannot imagine Malaysian cinema's showing the uncensored version though. Naked people = Malaysia = Nah. Maybe it is even banned really.

You know, when there is a fine line of what you consider to be wrong, and pornographic, etc. And when you take that and cross it by 100 mile, I think things becomes really funny. This was one of it. It was so over the top it defies reasonable thinking.

The show also made me rethink the frequency of my usage of the word, über 

I am also very intrigue as too, how this was filmed? How did they manage to gather all those people?*Google to the rescue!*

Well, that was a couple of days ago, yesterday I watched The Strangers with Torbjørn.

I don't know, it was scary. But all horror movies are blu-deh scary to me anyways. No horror movie has yet to be scary enough as Child's Play though. 

Tor also had a copy of Silence of the Lamb. I wanted to watch that since I have read the book, but maybe some other time as I read that Silence of the Lamb was one of the scariest movie ever made. 

And Torbjørn isn't exactly the best person to watch it with. Haha!

Tor's dinner of ice cream. Seriously.

Right, besides my movies, yesterday my aunt thought it could be nice to go strawberry picking "around the corner" to kill some time.

I jumped at the sight of that idea, I mean, I have never seen a strawberry plantation! And it was within walking distance! Mind you, 2 km's. Plus, I was bored to no end. So why not?

Basically, means strawberry. 

Strawberry plantation

Can you guess which buckets I help filled?

Winner gets some strawberries!

Aunt, Leks's hard work. All 8kg of it.

So, I guess we would be eating strawberries with everything for the next few days. Or maybe I could give, another attempt to taking that excellent strawberry picture! 

068. My little walk

Sometimes I wonder too. What a retard :)

May 17th really was a good picture day!

So, I spent almost the entire day yesterday basically watching The Anne Frank Story on Youtube. And, really if ever you could find the time, I think this is a show one should watch. 

Let me rephrase that, have to watch. And if your not moved by it by the end of the movie, I don't know. Your amazing. 

There are very little show that can generate an emotion from me, I don't like crying or feeling vulnerable/sad/whatever, but this one somehow managed to make me a blob of mess. By Part 16 or something, I felt so much emotions bubbling inside me, it's ridiculous. I could definitely drive myself into depression. And this coming from me, it's rare.

And I am not even sure, if I was mad at Hitler, or if I was just sad at what happened. 

Thoughts went rushing through my mind, how could it be possible? It cannot be true, and above all how? why, why and why? No amount of History books can answer this. How can one be that cruel? Is there really a way to justify it?

I was so worked up that I vowed, once my voice is louder and clearer, I shall make a difference, I shall educate people, I shall make sure people never ever forget. And, if that is the last thing I do. I shall do just that. My voice is not loud enough now, and I simply don't know enough. But, one day, I am positively sure, I will make a difference.

And, as much as the Europeans are aware of what happened, it was not the same in Malaysia and I am sure many other countries as well. Could we blame them? We had other things to worry about. Hitler didn't bother us. That is why we didn't know/care. 

It is also possible that I was just ignorant and everyone else around me knew, but since there are people like me who didn't, I am quite sure there are others who still don't either. And that I want to try and change. 

It hurts me even more that I don't know what else is there to do now, but to create awareness. And, since I am still nobody, who is listening? This time around, money is not the issue. One doesn't just donate and that is it. It's the mentality and downright greed for power that caused this unbelievable nightmare! Only, in nightmares, we can actually wake up and life is normal again. 

Those 6 million people, didn't wake up. And more are going through all these every single day!

Sometimes, when conscience strike, I feel so utterly useless. Here I am thinking about what to have for dinner today? What dessert would I get? Hoping it's something I like.

How can I be so selfish? But, then what else can I do? Should I hate my life, because it really is great. Should I hate my parents? my aunt and uncle? everyone who cares for me because I have it good? Should I sit in the corner and cry forever? 

Definitely not. But what else is there to do?

I really don't know.

I suppose that is enough ramblings for today. Life is great. 

Life is really what you make it.

You can sulk and cry all day, or take that pinch of salt and enjoy today and tomorrow. 

I try and remind myself, whenever I am down. To look around, I know I have it better than many people, I have always got people who cared for me, and I am sure so does everyone reading my post right now. If ever once you think there is no one out there for you, I am always just a phone call away. 

Now, moving on. Enough gibberish talk. I would start to contradict.

"On a random note, what is the significance of today Boy?" *sniggers, inside joke. 

I usually make today a Magnar's day, but it has been 2 months in a row that we are at different corners of the world. 

My idea when we started was that we had one day that we would spend together regardless if we are free or not. But, then I realize, since we spend a lot of our time together already, what difference will today make? And the first months, we went for nice dinners and movies and etc, but now... things have just gone mellow. Though, not to be confused, I still enjoy it very much.

Why do you think I still talk to you everyday, if I weren't enjoying it?

Now just to wrap it up, should I upload really idiotic pictures of us? Because, seems like that is the only kind of pictures we have. Haha! 

Nah, I am feeling nice today. Since you called and all.

 And yes, I shall still pretend I forget why today is important. 

I am sure you would do the same too! 

Sometimes I think we are so silly, its cute. Haha! *hugs!

Maybe we will make it till next month. And then, we could do something cooler then? :)

067. Melodramatic

Now, have you heard about how the Malaysian government is going to revert back into teaching Science and Mathematics back to the Malay language? 

Honestly, I think that is stupid. I know many have voiced out their annoyance, but here is my 2 cents worth.

That is the problem with Malaysian government is that, the moment some VIP person say something, they get scared and back up! And I really hope this is not because of political issue. Because you should not mix the education of our people with some C-class drama that the parliament insist on putting out every once in a while.

Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Ex Prime Minister of Malaysia

We have only implemented this new teaching for less than 8 years? and already they are going back at themselves. They cannot possibly expect some kind of dramatic results in that short of a time? Were they expecting that we were all fluent English speakers by the time we graduate?

And heck, I thought we were doing so well? There was so much room for improvement! And we are not even going to try. :(

I was the first batch of students who had to learn Math and Science in English, and I thought it was a brilliant idea! How could I have understood a crap in University if I had continued learning in Malay? Were they going to translate everything for me, so I understood? We're they going to spoon feed knowledge for eternity? 

How could I ever understood a thing in Chemistry or Physics book the IB, if I didn't know the terms, if I couldn't use Google, or the encyclopedia? Heck, if I could not use the 90% of the resources in the library!

If I still used the words like "ciri-ciri". How do you then expect our students to be of a world class? Did you expect me to study in London/Australia/anywhere! and write up reports in Malay? Is that what you expect? 

Can't you see, our universities quality is degrading as we speak! Why do you think that is? 

 And does the Government really think Malay is that widely used? NO.

Are Malay books widely available? NO.

I know all these, because I can't even get hold of any of the old Malay literature books for my Malay A1. 

Their argument is that we are losing our identity. Is that really even an argument? 

I hate that they think its necessary to make us be proud of our own identity, instead of really embracing it. 

Propaganda, fail if you ask me. People will start resenting it even more. 

If really identity is the case, why not work on the segregation of the people first, then talk about identity issues! 

Look around! Do you really think, by speaking Malay suddenly we are all so together again? Crazy much?

By taking the English in Math and Science subjects, we are only subjected to 5 hours of English classes a week, that cannot possibly be enough! And for Malay, we have all the electives and we are already subjected to 30 hours of Malay teaching? Not enough? 

Globalization my ass! Ugh!

Now, that aside, I am glad I am not studying in Malaysia anymore and I am so glad I moved years back to study here instead. Thus, I don't care as much, but I have got friends who are studying there still. And really, sometimes the government DOESN'T know what's best. And we can only wish that they do.

Ahhh, that was my 2 cents worth.

On a happier mode,

Sometimes I do a lot of crazy moves, even I start to wonder wtheck?

Oops, my failed Marilyn Monroe impression

Attack of the hair!

Not like anyone really cares what I am tuning into :) But, since I have my blog page open almost all the time anyways. I shall take it as a personal satisfaction matter. Thus, I shall bombard you with more songs!

Today's mood seems to be a bit more melodramatic thus explains the song choices. 

Maybe I should go find Tor later today so we can argue his political party and their crazy ideas! Surely, that would be fun. :) If you think FrP is crazy, you have not been the the virtually dictatorial country of Malaysia. :)

066. Distraction

So, summer is here, and almost gone for that matter, I haven't gotten myself a job. Haven't done as much swimming as I have hoped for, considering the weather have been quite dreadful. So shucks™. :)

Everyone is either working or is on vacation, thus, I have been doing almost nothing except catching up on long lost reading time. Which mind you, I throughly enjoyed. So, no complaints here. It's a good bargain if you ask me. It's been a really long time since I have sat down and read without any distraction.

So far since the start of the summer, I have read. And all, I would highly recommend! 

• The Diary of A Young Girl, by Anne Frank
  
• Night, by Elie Wiesel
• The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman
• The Know-It-All, by A.J. Jacobs
• Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki

Since I still have some time left of the summer vacation, and the job interest is dying out by the minute, I have compiled a list of books I would hope to read by the end of this month. It's easier compiling books I want to read then to actually sit and read them, and every time you plan on reading them, something newer, better, (or so you think) comes up! Then you end up putting it on hold, and till now, you have never read it.

And this to me, is the case for Harry Potter. Believe it or not, I have yet to actually finish it. In fact, I honestly don't think I will ever. 

Currently, I am reading The Kite Runner. I am hoping this book is of the same quality of A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaleed Housini. Because, that book was really good.

After that, I plan to read Umberto Eco's, Name of the Rose. I have tried reading that book before, but that failed miserably. It was way too difficult language for my mediocre mind. And if that fails, I am then going to read either, (Note to self : all which I have to order over Amazon later today)

• Middlesex, Jeffery Eugenides
• The Prince, Niccoló Machiavelli ( I would so hate this book, but just because my sister insists its a good book)
• Perfume, Story of a Murderer, by Patrick Suskind and John E. Woods
• The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks or some mellow love story by Jodi Picoult (I have never read anything from them yet, but they seem to be the 'it' people lately. So why not right? I could always use some mushy therapy seeing that the Boy has abandoned me and left for Greece! and with only one telephone call a day, Wtheck?) Haha! Kidding! :) *coughsayangfirstcough*

Ahh, bliss :)

065. Changing Blogger templates

Just to keep to the theme. Its all about me. Haha!

Now, here is my LisaStyle tutorial on Blogger templates. Be reminded that I know nothing about any of these things, I just work them out as I go. So, I give no guarantees! :)

I personally have always wanted my blog to look different from the default templates Blogger provides. Mainly because the ones that are provided just looks so blah. Not mentioning the fact that a million other people have them too!

Thus, I am always on the quest of trying to make my own or at least take it from somewhere. Only thing is, after a day of messing around, I realized I have been messing too much and the key to HTML and XHML is really, simplicity.

And HTML is really like a language, once you understand it, it really is rather simple. So, my suggestion is, read the HTML's instead of just copy and pasting it, you would be pleasantly surprised at how they code their images and texts if you just read between the lines. And once, you understand it, it gets really addicting and extremely fun to see how altering the codes gives such a different results! :)

So, when I wanted to change my template, what I did first, was obviously to just to Google "Blogger templates", and below are the few blogger template sites that I found and the problems that came along with it.

• Pyzam 

As much varieties as this site gave, generally most of the options there I found to be really tacky. 

There was too much colour and patterns and all the combinations of the weirdest things. Plus, I thought they were a bit too pretentious for me and just simply wouldn't do. 

Of course, there was some hidden gems embedded in between all that! So, if your willing to scroll hundreds of pages of pre-made blog templates, this is definitely the site to go! 

Now, the downside to that is. You are asked to download the HTML from that site and open a zip file. And then your supposed to alter your layout. At least for the 3 templates I tried, that does not work! It looks so messed up and the HTML was written so, un-orderly that its hard to try and alter things. 

Thus, my advice, stay away from it!

If you really want a relatively acceptable blog template, I suggest you use what I used, 

• The Cutest Blog on the Block (Ignore, the tad cheesy webpage)
  

Heck, why am I even bothering explaining how to do this, they have one of the best and most comprehensive tutorial yet. And above all, it works! 

So there, tutorial failed. 

Last word of advice, if possible, choose flash embedding. In short, HTML is basically old school compared to Flash. 

064. Pictures

Another random collages of pictures from everywhere. A little distraction before I bombard you with a non sensical LisaStyle tutorial on changing your blog templates. :)

Parasailing gives happiness perhaps?

:)

I want that Nine West bag, back! 

I look so crappy here, but since the sister looks quite okay, I shall put this up anyways :)

I was just thinking today, maybe I should take that one year course in Photography after all. I don't necessarily take a good picture, but I love love love looking at pictures! I just spent like 3 hours yesterday looking at other people's Flickr pictures, and swooning all over it. Almost like what I did when I was window online shopping. Basically for now, photographs are at par with Tiffany, Coast, Coach and my Thomas Sabo. No way! Haha!

Damn, I am sure it's partly due to the people I hang out with. Grrr!

Lately, web designing, and photography seemed to be on the top my my list of things I love doing for fun. Maybe it's my version of a summer fling, but what if it is not? :) Should I perhaps take up that year course anyways? :)

063. Construction demolished

Apparently fizzing up my HTML and XHML is so much harder then I ever thought it would be. Thus, I am on the verge of just giving up and keeping to my nice minimalists-tic and functional template. Why will things not work out when I need them to work out most? And don't Murphy's Law me! 

Oh the joy.

I really am just looking for a really clean simple template, but that is obviously too hard to ask for. I just can't wait till I learn all these myself! 

So, any of you people out there wants to help me with this, your help is much appreciated. I might even consider showing my gratitude over some PayPal money. :) Simply because,the amount of hours I end up using to modify templates and then finding out that they do not work after-all, could really be used to do something more productive. Like finding a job. For that matter, I honestly would rather be cleaning my room. 

Hear me rant tomorrow about how my quest of finding a blog template failed miserably. I could probably also tell you which sites you can trust, and which sites which the templates are made so you cannot alter anything on it. Oh well. Seriously, Photoshop license anyone? I refuse to pay for it. Surprise, surprise. 

*I take that back, I found a better webpage to help me now. So stay tuned. I have higher and better faith this time around. Though, I still really want my own Photoshop license if you do have one! :)

062. A 'island' less taken

Usually when I speaks of Oslo, we are instantly reminded of Karl Johan and the few streets that are around it. And after making one trip too many to Oslo, I  can honestly say it really does get rather boring. 

But I came to realize yesterday there is more to Oslo than the usual tourist places, and if your up for an a road less taken, try one of the islands! Take a 20 minutes walk towards the ports, then take a little boat trip out to the surrounding islands in the surrounding vicinity of Oslo.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to take a trip to Gressholmen. About 10 minutes out of Oslo.

Ticket to the island weren't exactly the cheapest, about 60 NOK both ways. But if you carry a monthly pass for the trains, you could get there for free. :) 

You would be surprise the amount of people that are there though!

So maybe, it is not so much a road less taken, but rather a hidden secret the Norwegian people don't always reveal. *coughthosedarnNorwegianscough*

Though here are my 2 cents worth, before going to that island.

• Bring loads of water, they charge rip off prices for drinks, and the closest store is back in the mainland. 
• Would also be advisable, to bring some munchies along. Always nice to be fed.
• Once there, check when the boats brings you back too. You don't really want to be ship wrecked deliberately do you?
• Suntan lotion, a definite must as finding a shady place might be difficult. 
• If you have got small bladders, try and unload your bladder contents over on the mainland, as the only toilet on that island is a outdoor toilet. 
• It is also not necessary to bring along a boomerang, unless you know how to actually throw it. You might just end up needing to waddle in the icky waters to retrieve it.
• Swimming (at least at the place that we were at) is not possible. The bottom of that lake is, just simply gross. But I reckon, there were places that has a nice clean bottom. 
• Bring along some long lost friends, and there will be some catching up to do to fill your time.
• The birds there are friendly, if only you gave them some food. Though if you feed one bird, they tend to bring along 50 more *Damn those gate crashers. 
• Lastly, wearing a white skirt is not advisable, as they tend to get real dirty by the end of the day.

That was about all the things I can think of right now, if you complete the check list above I am sure you would have a great time and an awesome experience. 

Wow Lisa, suntan much?

Picture credit : Sofie's blog

Sofie and Thomas

He does tend to be a bit acrobatic

I knew Martin was too quiet to be true. His secret is so busted now. :)

061. Taste of summer

Photobooth vanity, what can I say?

A taste of summer, really is the taste of watermelons.

Believe it or not, I use to once have a fear of watermelons, if you know me, I generally have this phobia of seeds. I know its stupid, ridiculous and all, but a fear is a fear. My prophecy says that seeds are my worse enemy.

And you people who are laughing at my phobia of seeds, shattap already. You don't see me laughing at you who folks who have got phobia's of silly little spiders, heights, and what-not *giggles, heights (does a silent laugh) heights, Haha! *

A prophecy is a prophecy. Oh stop laughing already! I shall decide to not tell you after all! 

Let me tell you this though,

So, your boyfriend buys you dinner?

Takes you out to the movies?

Entertains your every tantrum?

Hrmph, mine does too. And he is über cute!

But you know what your my Boy does yours doesn't?

He burns gf's with a cooking pan! ("Accidentally")

Then the day after, makes you help him wax the car!

Take that beeches!  Does your boy do that?

Above all, somehow in all that I had a wonderful time. Haha!

Instead, let me bombard you with some "new" music, found from Magnar's Spotify playlists. And, the dude has got quite good music taste too!  Now, if only I can find that one song I heard over the telly a few days back. I would be happy. 

060. Hodge Podge

Was going to continue with my random bablings from last post, but then I realize, that really was getting nowhere. Thus, in order to preserve the very last bits of dignity I have left, I should stop.

It's so hard to stop being ridiculous. Almost as hard as it is to be more lady-like. The Boy should know my quest to stop cursing is really getting me nowhere either. Haha!

Us at Chowrasta Market

Mum's camera skills could use some improvement, definitely.

Meet Rohini, TGI Fridays.

Next post : Long forgotten pictures from ages ago. :)

*I was thinking lately, since I have really nothing serious to do this summer vacation, I could once again take up Mandarin, so I can officially claim I understand that language too! So, where do you reckon they sell basic Mandarin conversation books in Norway? 

** Other than that, I was also thinking of going by the river to finish up The-Know-It-All. That book really is hilarious. Loving it. I am almost tempted to start reading the Britannica after reading his book. But I am not crazy enough. Haha! 

Sitting by the lake or anywhere else but home could sometimes be the best place on earth to just get wallowed into a book. 

Or we can go waste our time over at Nebben! :) Almost just as good.

I had to make this more about me right! 

I want my hair to be like that again. :(

***Another random note : If you've read my Twitter status, you would have know how the uncle and I manage to somehow fix the surround sound so it now works with my Mac on Bluetooth. Yay! So now I can blast my music like crazy!

Now, only if we manage to figure out how to fix the TV back to normal. We kinda, messed it up. Yeah... 

***Last one, have you ever had the problem of remembering the lyrics to a song that was played on the telly, and when you want to Google it, you cannot remember the freaking lyrics!