I Love You, Boy

If you thought I was going to discuss the trouble I had with male stalkers, well this ain't it. I was rummaging through my old drawers doing some archeology on my past because I was really effing bored. When I hit the 2000AD layer, I found some old and ancient-smelling artifacts. This is one of them:

Huh... almost forgotten about this

Awww... (blurred out the too-personal message)

Yes, females back then were very feisty. Most of them were really shameless about expressing their feelings towards someone. These girls broke the Golden Rule and initiated the first move themselves. I'm sure some of the male readers agree on this and may have experienced their own personal admirers or stalkers back in the old days. And what did I (and maybe most of us young boys) do? We ignored them because we were disgusted by such expression of emotion. YUCK! But 10 years after that we changed and yearn for female companionship thanks to our testosterone. Or not, if you find the similar sex appealing.

Anywho, we go back to the girls and their attitudes. So yes, when girls are young they express their love openly and share it with friends, making it an embarrassment for the target boy who will be ridiculed by his peers. But gradually this shameless attitude becomes silent as the girls grow older. You won't know their affection UNTIL you can take a hint of what's happening. Like from their Facebook statuses. Or from one of their friends who can't keep a secret.

I can't find specific reason for such decline. But maybe it is caused by our culture where it is expected for the male to make the first move first. Our females slowly acknowledge the said culture and wait for the guys to pop the question. Man, can you imagine how awkward it will be if the girls retain such bold attitude till adulthood? Imagine you are going out of the lecture hall and the girl kneels down in front of you offering an Xbox 360 saying "Be My Husband". What's your respond if you are a male?

WTF?!
Accepts Xbox 360
Accepts Xbox 360 & the girl's proposal
Syntax Error
WTF?!
WTF?!

I'm not gonna say 100% relationships out there started with male's initiatives. Somewhere some females did break the Golden Rule and asked the dude. I salute them, as much as I salute brave men who used up all their balls (metaphor for face, pride etc) to throw themselves into the front line with 50-50 chances of success just to ask the girl he admires to be with him. So dudes, appreciate the effort some of your admirers did to get your attention and your affection. Of course with the exception of crazed stalkers. You may be hunting in accordance of the Golden Rule, but rules can be broken and you may be the one hunted. Good hunting!

Bintangor's Legendary Tumpik

I finally had a taste of the much hyped about tumpik of Bintagor. This traditional baked rice delicacy is a rare treat for me, and if it's legendary enough to be featured in a newspaper must mean that it's worth the 40 minutes drive to Bintangor. It was.

Google Maps can't calculate the route, unfortunately

The 40 minutes drive towards the outskirt of Sibu includes going out of town using the treacherous roads of Lanang, pay some cash to please the Lanang bridge toll operators (RM5 for large vehicles like mine sienz) and finally some relaxing kampung style journey to the small pekan of Bintangor.

The said tumpik is available at Bintangor's central market which looks like a green church. This church-inspired market houses typical Sarawakian foodstuff, supplies and cafes to cater the denizens. You can't miss it, it's the biggest building in Bintangor. Bintangor is not that big to get lost in. And it's easy to find the stall that sells the legendary tumpik. The stall name is Tumpik.

The plain tumpik biasa

Tumpik special

I tried out 2 of the available tumpiks, the normal plain one and a special one (with prawns inside). IMO lah, the plain tumpik was ok-ok lah but the prawn special tumpik was amazing. Maybe because the prawns were jumping 2 hours ago. I jumbled up the order so didn't ask for the exact prices. But both cost Under RM7. Was it worth it? Yes.

3 Jedi Tricks Fruits Sellers Can Do To You

Fruits. We all buy fruits at certain points of our lives. Guava. Lokam. Bananas. Pineapples. Corns (vegetables). Etc. But after a few years, one may notice the methods certain fruit sellers do to cheat you. Remember how your mom/aunt/yourself said "Cilaka, the seller said was manis but it's not!"? Well here are other tricks they can do:

1. Unmeasured Wanderers
Okay, sometimes when you are eating at a coffee shop or restaurant you will occasionally be visited by freelance street vendors. These people walk table to table selling food, Buddhist trinkets or outlandish but innovative made-in-China toys. Fruit sellers are a sub-species and have different modus operandi. Unlike toys or packaged food that can be quantified and sold at a standard price, fruits are usually sold in a plastic bag and customers are told that it's 1KG or 2KG of XXX fruit. They won't carry a scale to confirm that the plastic bag really has 1KG of fruits. EVER. So you are taking a risk of buying a bag of fruits that may be less than it's worth. Score 1 for the Dark Side!

2. Two Face
This applies to both stall AND freelance wandering fruit sellers. Some fruits are well packaged in the white netting thingy. The half part that faces you looks delicious and sexy, but once you bring it home and undress it you'll find the other half rotten. If you do this mistake often, do not go to any Red Light District.

3. Keep-Promoting-A-Certain-Fruit
Similar to "No worries, this fruit sure manis one" trick, the fruit seller might try to promote a certain fruit many times before and after your purchase. When you arrived at the stall he promoted to you durian, when you have bought rambutan he promoted durian, and when you wanted to leave he shoved durians at your face as you ran towards your vehicle. I'm sure you can tell something is wrong.

So be wary and be more careful out there brave fruit seekers!

Maroon 5, Taio Cruz & Linkin Park's New Album Review

Artist: Maroon 5
Album: Hands All Over
Ham's Rating:

Adam Levine and his crew are back with their 3rd studio album. This is supposed to be their last album as Levine believed Maroon 5 have reached their peak and he doesn't wish to do similar gigs when he's in his 50s [Rolling Stone (1029):16]. Although this is a sad news (and I wish there'd be another one), I personally enjoyed all their tracks and think they'd would be enough to mark the band's exit. Personal favs include Never Gonna Leave This Bed (mmm reminds one about being lazy to get up for morning classes), Misery and How.

Preview: Maroon 5 - Never Gonna Leave this Bed

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Artist: Taio Cruz
Album: Rockstarr
Ham's Rating:

I heard him for the first time on the radio with the song Break Your Heart back in Perth. After getting his album I was hooked with Taio's musical beat and lyrics. My top favourites from his Rockstarr album are Dynamite, Dirty Picture & No Other One. Lyrics in songs like Break Your Heart really made me more optimistic about love life and reminded me on greater things; CELEBRATE MY LIFE. A good album to listen at night in your car, loud.

Preview: Taio Cruz - Break Your Heart ft. Ludacris

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Artist: Linkin Park
Album: A Thousand Suns
Ham's Rating:

???. ???. ???. I first heard The Catalyst from the radio and I could barely recognize it's actually Linkin Park. Then I got the album, and my definition of Linkin Part was thrown out the window. Sadly, there's not much memorable songs from this 4th album unlike their predecessors. All I heard are just digitalized voices, outlandish un-LP techno rhythms, strange scriptural choirs and chimes. Simply put, the whole album is monotonous.

Now some LP fans will point out that the band is 'maturing', but I a fellow LP fan says that this radical shift of style sounds like unfinished, experimental songs with chao ah beng techno. Just listen to alternate studio versions of LP songs like Points of Authority and you'll know what I mean. Even the album cover is unimaginative. Expecting better results for the next album. C'mon LP you can do it!

Preview: Linkin Park - Waiting for the End