So what's new with you ?

Has it been a whole month already ? Gosh, how time flies.

What's been happening with me ? A lot I guess. Where do I begin ?

Well for starters, the holdiay that was supposedly scrapped did in fact happen after all. We went for a whirl-wind weekend trip to Chatuchak Market in Bangkok. I wish I had photos to show but apparently as luck would have it, my camera decided to "ascend to the great scrap-heap up in the sky" right after the plane landed.

Kat was going on and on and on about this place which to me sounded like nothing more than a glorified flea market. I was a little dubious myself. but to it's credit, Jatujak or Chatuchak is rather enormous. We went there over two days and we still couldn't cover the entire market. This sprawling labyrinth of stalls sells everything from kittens to teapots to fried sausages. (And I bet if I looked long enough probably somewhere there would be stall selling fried sausages made from kittens served in a tea pot.)

At the other end of the spectrum, we had a chance to visit this ultra-modern shopping centre , Siam Paragon, not too far away from the market. It was a bizzare experience to have shopped ( or rather window shopped - unless you have a lot of cash to spare, you're not going to be buying anything at Siam Paragon ) at both these places. The scale and overall swankiness of Thailand's malls put Malaysia's to shame.

I wish I had the photos of the food court. Imagine a hall full of designer food and snacks of myriad colours, shapes and flavours. All screaming for your attention. Damn tantalizing morsels ! I will devour all of you once I strike the lotery and have enough spare baht to get home.

The only complaint I have about the entire trip was that it was a bit too hurried. I was stupid to assume that I would still be able to turn up for work the next day . I ended up going to work the next day even though I only got home at 3 AM the day before. It took me almost 3-4 days to fully recover.

I was also in Kuantan last week doing my usual (and I hope my final) round of meetings for work. One of my colleagues introduced us to this club in Kuantan town called "Swing". At first I thought it was quite dull but amazingly god knows from where all these people started streaming in at 11.00PM on a weekday ! The live band wasn't too bad either although I wish they weren't that loud. It made it difficult to carry out any sort of meaningful conversation aside from the yelling sort. You know, the type that goes like "SDdfsdfwf!!!! " , " Whaaat ? Haaaaar ??" , " I SAID .... THE MUSIC IS VERY LOUD ", " Haaarrr ? I THINK THE TOILET IS OVER THERE !!! " , "NEVERMIND !!! " , " Harrrrrr ? " ... You get the picture.

I was at the beach at Hyatt Regency Kuantan and a funny moment was when I thought I was about to be the victim of an alien abduction. There I was on the beach , looking out at the night sky when suddenly I saw this white glowing shape zip-zapping around , heading right for me ! Oh crap I was going to be whisked away for god knows what twisted experiments oh it was just a bunch of birds. I felt kind of silly afterwards until I realised that if aliens really did abduct me they could have implanted false memories ! Gasp !

Anyway, my slippers also mysteriously disappeared. Coincidence ? One moment they were there and the next, poof. So if there is extra-terrestial life out there , we know that they value footwear more than human beings. When the mother-ship lands, don't be surprised if it's a really large flip-flop. Picture a giant slipper hovering above KLCC.

Rambling again. Oh by the way, I am desperately trying to switch jobs. So far, it looks like a partial success as I've gotten an acceptance confirmation. Now I'll just have to agree a release date with my soon to be ex-boss who is conveniently moving on to a new role as well. Just hope that he doesn't squeak away before he approves my exit date.

Watched any good movies lately ?

Saw "Death Note". Wasn't too bad. In fact it was a little better than I thought it would be. Can't wait for the sequel. For the uninitiated, it's about this student that finds a book that allows you to kill someone by writing down their name in a book. Sounds like a cheap horror flick no ? Surprisingly, it's a lot more of cat-and-mouse detective/intrigue than horror.

Read any good books lately ?

Actually, I watched the Russian flick, Night-Watch and I liked it so much I bought the book ( translated into English of course ) as well. It's about these magicians in modern day Russia. You see there is a truce between the forces of Light and Dark that is precariously kept in place by a 'police' force that enforces the rules of the truce. The Nightwatch keep an eye on the Dark Ones and the Daywatch keep and eye on the Light Ones. A lot of brinkmanship and clever plot twists in the novel but they dummified the plot-line somewhat when they adapted it for the big screen. So which did I prefer ? I suppose it sounds like such a cop-out but I think I like the movie more. Despite the simpler story-line, they didn't do that bad a job. I just wish I had the original Russian version instead of the Russian Accented English dubbed version.

http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/nwnd/

Bought any new albums ?

Through The Broken Window Pane by the Guillemots - I suppose a lot has been said about this band but truthfully, I want to like them badly but either I've gotten to mainstream lately or their stuff is just too far out. There are a handful of songs that are quite accessible but some of the songs are just plain weird. On the plus side, I can however say that they sound very original. http://www.guillemots.com/

Give It Up by the Postal Service - I really like the album. It's pop-electronica at it's best. Catchy tunes, clever lyrics. Doesn't take itself too seriously, which I suppose is rare these days with all this emo nonsense getting the limelight. http://www.subpop.com/bands/postalservice/

I am trying to look for some local Malaysian music but aside from Myspace, I can't seem to find any shops that carry stuff like The Ferns, KLPHQ, Telebury , Jerome Kugan . So this probably means that I'll have to start going to gigs and clubs. More on this in the next blog update I suppose.

Meanwhile I suppose Myspace is still the best source.