I Put What?! On My Face?

Location: Beauty supplies shop, Sg Wang Plaza, Jalan Bukit Bintang, KL.


Auntie: Yes, can I 'hepchu' (help you)?

Me: Yeah. Auntie, I want to try out a new shampoo. Can you recommend a good one for me?

Auntie: (after analyzing my dry hair) Sure! Why don't you try this one? This one 'vely''(very) good one. It's imported from Amelika (America). Very guuuuud (good) for dry and damaged hair..

Me: But Auntie...

Auntie: Please aa...you can call me Glace (while handing out her business card. It actually reads 'Grace')

Me: Okay Glace, I mean ...Grace. But Grace, my hair is not damaged. It's only dry.

Grace who was formerly known as 'Auntie': Haiyaahhh...see, dry meaning its damaged 'lah'. Actually aa, I see your skin also needs help. See, got 'black, black' (I think she was referring to my spots). Sayang (dear), you know, You must take care of your skin (as if!). I have this cream, vely (very) good for your 'black, black'.

Me: But Grace, I am looking for shampoo, not face cream!

Grace: You want shampoo you take this one 'lah' (shoving 4 bottles of hair care stuff into my arms). but this face cream you have to try also. I see you wear a lot of 'pancake' (?!). Haiyah,..don't wear pancake, it 'bites'(she gets scarier now) into your skin, making it dry.

Me: 'Pancake'? You mean compact powder?

Grace: Yes 'lah', the powder like the cake that one (excuse her *Manglish).

Me: Don't want 'lah'. No thanks. I like my 'pancake' better. I'll just take these stuff (a.k.a. the shampoo, etc. Those stuff later set me back RM250!)

Moral of the story: Never lose control eventhough people say you look like you put 'pancake' (of all things!) onto your face. Your patience maybe your saving Grace. You are as beautiful as you think you are.


*Manglish = 'Malaysian English'.

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....Excellent. Now what am I supposed to do in the office?....*&%@#

For The Fallen Soldier...

Around this time every year, an especially cheerful birthday card usually arrives, wishing me another year of happiness and joy.

But since last year, I kept reminding myself that the card will not be here.

A truly caring person, he touched the lives of people around him in his own special way. The last I spoke to him was years ago, but still, the routine birthday and Hari Raya cards never fail to show up at my doorstep every year.

Everything happens for a reason. And I believe his was simply because God loves him more.

Al-fatihah and may you rest in peace.

My name...is Hygieia

20 Things I Didn't Know About ... Hygiene

Gee, I didn't know that dirty hands killed a U.S. president...

1. Hygiene comes from the name "Hygieia," the Greek goddess of health, cleanliness and ... the Moon. Ancient Greek gods apparently worked double shifts.
2. The human body is home to some 1,000 species of bacteria. There are more germs on your body than people in the United States.
3. "Not tonight dear, I just washed my hands": Anti-bacterial soap is no more effective at preventing infection than regular soap, and triclosan (the active ingredient) can mess with your sex hormones.
4. Save the germs! A study of over 11,000 children determined that an overly hygienic environment increases the risk of eczema and asthma.
5. Monks of the Jain Dharma (a minority religion in India) are forbidden to bathe any part of their bodies besides the hands and feet, believing the act of bathing might jeopardize the lives of millions of microorganisms.
6. It's a good thing they're monks.
7. Soap gets its name from the mythological Mount Sapo. According to legend, fat and wood ash from animal sacrifices there washed into the Tiber River, creating a rudimentary cleaning agent that aided women doing their washing.
8. Ancient Egyptians and Aztecs rubbed urine on their skin to treat cuts and burns. Urea, a key chemical in urine, is known to kill fungi and bacteria.
9. In a small victory for cleanliness, England's medieval king Henry IV required his knights to bathe at least once in their lives -- during their ritual knighthood ceremonies.
10. That's their excuse, anyway: Excrement dumped out of windows into the streets in 18th-century London contaminated the city's water supply and forced locals to drink gin instead.
11. A seventh grader in Florida recently won her school science fair by proving there are more bacteria in ice machines at fast-food restaurants than in toilet-bowl water.
12. There's no "five-second rule" when it comes to dropping food on the ground. Bacteria need no time at all to contaminate food.
13. The first true toothbrush, consisting of Siberian pig-hair bristles wired into carved cattle-bone handles, was invented in China in 1498. But tooth brushing didn't become routine in the United States until it was enforced on soldiers during World War II.
14. Please don't squeeze the corncob. In 1935, Northern Tissue proudly introduced "splinter-free" toilet paper. Previous toilet paper options included tundra moss for Eskimos, a sponge with salt water for Romans, and -- hopefully splinter-free -- corncobs in the American West.
15. NASA recently spent $23.4 million designing a space-shuttle toilet that would defy zero gravity with suction technology at 850 liters of airflow per minute. That's a lot of money for a toilet that sucks.
16. In 1843, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. campaigned for basic sanitation in hospitals. But this clashed with social ideas of the time and met with widespread disdain. Charles Meigs, a prominent American obstetrician, retorted, "Doctors are gentlemen, and gentlemen's hands are clean."
17. Up to a quarter of all women giving birth in European and American hospitals in the 17th through 19th centuries died of puerperal fever, an infection spread by unhygienic nurses and doctors.
18. TV kills! University of Arizona researchers determined that television remotes are the worst carriers of bacteria in hospital rooms, worse even than toilet handles. Remotes spread antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus, which contributes to the 90,000 annual deaths from infection acquired in hospitals.
19. It is now believed President James Garfield died not from the bullet fired by Charles Guiteau but because the medical team treated the president with manure-stained hands, causing a severe infection that killed him three months later.
20. What on earth made them think manure-stained hands were remotely acceptable to treat anyone?

Read the article here.

Money, money, money

This morning, after my car broke down again for the umpteenth time, I did a quick math about how much I have been spending on my car and in general in the past year. The result was not at all good. I had a rude awakening.

As I was browsing some sites on personal financials, investment, etc, I came across an article about financial independence and since I know my beloved friends are like the White Rabbit , I summarized it for you with the hope that you take some time off to read it and share its wisdom with others:



8 Secrets To Achieving Financial Independence

1.Income Is Not Wealth

Wealth is the part of your net worth (asset minus liabilities) that generates capital gains, income and dividend without your labour.

2. You Must Have Surplus Funds To Invest

The only way to have more money left over at the end of the month is to either increase revenue or decrease costs.

3. Taxes Matter - A Lot

The basic premise is that those with little or no wealth generates a lot of taxable income, while those who end up financially independent generate large unrealized gains in the form of real estate appreciation, unrealized capital gains and profits made through tax-advantaged accounts.

4. True Wealth Is Control Over Your Time

You are truly wealthy when you have complete control over how you spend your day, i.e. by doing what you love. As the blog suggests, you should feel like you are unwrapping a Christmas gift when you turn the key into your office every morning. (AB: I know HL, I know,...This was what you have been nag, I mean telling me...)

5. Grades Have No Correlation With Wealth And Financial Independence

Creative intelligence can push you further in life rather than relying solely on artificial intelligence. According to a study, the grades earned in school have no correlation with economic wealth and success other than in the medical & legal profession. (AB: A penny for your thoughts, legal eagles?)

6. Financial Intelligence Takes A Complimentary Spouse

No matter how successful you are, unless your spouse is equally disciplined, frugal and investment-oriented, your efforts towards a better, financially independent life are going to be like struggling in quicksand. (AB: Bart, looks like we have to put the 24-70mm f2.8 and the 70-200mm f4 L lens on hold, dear.. hehehe)

7. Niche Markets Aren't Glamorous - But They Are Lucrative

Did you know that most of the big money is in industries such as waste management, pizza, clothing stores and candles?! Highly paid professionals tend to be pressured to buy status symbols to convince people that they are successful. As a result, the will put less money into their retirement account. (AB: Makes a lot of sense.)

8. Support Your Productive children, Not The Losers

Parents who want their children to be financially independent should give more to their children who successfully invested and grew their wealth. "You are a damn fool if you give more to the unsuccessful ones because you have successfully managed to effectively turn them into a financial and credit junkie. It is unlikely they will get over their addiction. You become, in effect, a crack dealer providing one more hit". (AB: Ouch. Not that I have any kids yet, but I think this will put more stress on a luckless, underachieving kid.)

The article can be found here in detail.

I'm gonna whip up my calculator and buku 555 now...

Pointless New Year Resolutions

My Pointless New Year Resolutions for 2009 (PNYR):

1. Shed the last 8kg which seemed to have found its final resting place on 'specific' areas;
2. Actually love what I am doing professionally;
3. Start saving for retirement;
4. Rarely skip the gym (and swapping it with the karaoke hub conveniently located next door. Remember PNYR#1);
5. Never to use my bursting vocabulary of profanities again whenever stuck in horrendous traffic jams, especially when trying to carry out PNYR #2;
6. Never to buy another gadget just because it comes in a stylish glossy white finish which I can't take my eyes off from (Must always remind self of PNYR#3. Never to justify such desire with "but I need it for my PNYR#2");
7. Drink less 'teh ais'. Detrimental to teeth (and waistline. Embed PNYR#1 in memory. Wait, what was PNYR#1 again???);
8. Watch less Spongebob except on Sunday mornings when TV3 is not doing reruns (note: carried forward from last year's PNYR);
9. Read intelligent stuff more often and not because it's the only thing you can find on the toilet rack while doing you-know-what ( but how can I get enough time and energy if my life will be mainly focused on PNYR #1 to #8, and oh yeah, the you-know-what too??!);
10. Get married (note: also carried forward from last year's PNYR. Well, these ARE Pointless.New.Year.Resolutions anyway. So, unaccomplished past PNYRs are allowed to be carried forward).

I hope you all have better luck with your PNYRs this year!