Happy New Year!

I'm a good 9 hours early, but I won't be able to get access to internet again tomorrow, so here's an early wish to everyone!!

2009 was a so-so year, I guess. But it taught me a lot, and I think I grew up just a little, lolz. Here's hoping that 2010 will bring me a job, and independence! Love... can wait. haha

New Year's Resolution for 2010: I will stop being clingy!!

I realised recently (yes, recently. I'm that oblivious.) that I am absurdly clingy. My life feels incomplete if I do not have somebody to give me attention. =__= I guess my realising it only now is probably a bit too late, I know I've annoyed my friends half to death with my clingy-ness. But better late than never, riiiight??

And so goodbye clingy Shira, hello to independent Shira..? lolz I shall try my best, but it won't happen overnight.

Owh, and about my internet. My internet connection at home is simply not working. at. all. My Dad is fixing it, since I'm too lazy and bimbo to bother with it. Something to do with the wiring, I believe. And my mum's OCD-ness means that no way in hell will anyone come into the house to fix anything.

Our house is soo sad right now. We have only one functioning toilet in the whole house, and the water heater stopped functioning. We now bathe everyday with ice cold water from a hose. >__> But, no matter what, NO REPAIRMEN OR OUTSIDERS OF ANY KIND INSIDE THE HOUSE. sigh.

Can't wait to move house!! lolz

And so the internet problem shall persist until my dad finds an alternative. In the meantime, I just make use of whatever random wireless connection I can find. Lately I've been accessing the internet from places like Starbucks, our club, Old Town... lolz

Today I'm accessing the internet from Mandarin Oriental's businesss centre. The internet connection is complimentary here for "Club guests", whatever that means. I only understand "internet" and "complimentary". hahahaha

My mum booked us a room here - we're going to watch the fireworks at KLCC tonight from the comfort of our room, instead of squishing in with the crowd like sardines in a can, as we've been doing for the past few years. lolz In the meantime, we've already checked in, and are making full use of the hotel facilities.

Gotta go soon, though. Mum absolutely insisted we use ALL the hotel facilities - which means Hasif is going to be dragging my sorry ass (which has grown double its regular size from bumming around the house all the time) to the gym, and Nina is dragging me to the swimming pool after that. lolz

Again, Happy New Year everyone!!

Goodbye, Cruel World

Internet down. Am resorting to using net on whatever free wi-fi I can find, be it Starbucks or Old Town or random coffeeshops. Saaaad.

Owh, and my battery is dying out now. Just a quick update before my laptop diiiiiiieeeessssss....

I'm Yours

This kid is sooo freakin' cute!! XD

A Little Birdie Told Me...

... that if I'm too lazy to update my blog, there's always Twitter.

Follow me, and you shall receive (hopefully) more frequent updates. lolz

Maaaaaybe.

Why I Hate Twilight

Warning: This is a very long rant.

Twilight used to make me think of couples walking home hand in hand, after watching the sunset together. Of families packing up to go home after a fun-filled day at the beach. Of birds flying home to roost after a day of flying about finding food for their young. But mostly of the sky, that glorious, beautiful sky tinged with the last traces of sunset. I remember staring into that sky countless times when I was younger, waiting for my parents to pick me up from school. It was never the same sky, ever. It was always changing, each sunset and subsequent twilight more beautiful than the next, even over the rooftops of this over-populated town.

But not anymore.

Now the word brings to mind hordes of squealing teenage girls with raging hormones and single-digit IQs, mindlessly worshipping idols in the form of sparkly, paedophilic bloodsuckers, or boys with overdeveloped bodies who cannot afford clothing and walk around shirtless all the time. Over-commercialization of tweenage wet dreams has completely ruined for me any romanticism that I could derive from twilight.

My first encounter with this book series occurred when my sister bought the books. All four books of the series, in fact. She had just started reading them, as they were the latest fad among her schoolmates, and she wanted to see what the hype was about. She was halfway through the third book by then, and was raving on and on about the characters, of the descriptions of good-looking males in the books.

Not entirely averse to good-looking males myself, I picked up the first book in the series, Twilight. I generally have a policy of finishing books that I start, however unbearable they may seem at first. But after reading the first few chapters, I gave up. The main character was very unlikeable. So far that I read, all of it was about her. How she hated her life. How she hated her new home. How she couldn’t relate to the people who were trying to befriend her, because she was too good for them. Whine, whine, whine. Nothing but teenage angst babble. I couldn’t tolerate teenage angst even from Harry Potter, why would I put up with it from this bimbo? And so far no traces of an interesting plot whatsoever. The writing style was as creative as a secondary school essay, and I could derive no pleasure from it.

I then put down the book and laughed, telling Nina I just couldn’t finish it. This book is too tweeny for me, I told her. You go on ahead, I don’t think I can.

Then the movie came out. My sister and her friend dragged me to the cinema to watch it with them. It was... an interesting experience. The girls in the cinema made very loud and obvious sounds whenever the leading male character appeared on screen. The dialogue made me wince, it was so cheesy. The cast had way too much makeup on; although it did add to the whole undead people feel, I still failed to find any of the characters attractive. And... sparkling vampires? Calling them gay would be an insult to the homosexual community.

Then the movie approached what I thought would be the climax: the showdown between the hero and the villain. The big fight scene. And so it happens. They toss each other around for what seems like five seconds, and then... nothing? The female lead faints, and when she wakes up, the villain is dead? Ahh yes. So this is what they call a cock block, or blue balls.

I left the theatre in a state of disbelief. Wow, I thought. This is a bestselling series? But maybe the movie didn’t do the books justice, as is often the case with movies based on books.

I went home and picked up Twilight again, this time reading through the whole book. There was little difference in the story, none of any significance anyway.

But maybe the story picks up in the other books, I thought. And I picked up New Moon.
More of the same. The main female character is a spineless, anti-feminist, angsty, pathetic excuse for what you would expect of a female of this time and age. A poor example for girls today. Your man leaves you, so you crumple into a ball and refuse to go on with your life. Mope for months on end, go on suicidal rampages, wander into dark and lonely places in the hopes that your hero will come and save you from the scary potential rapists. Indeed.

And as the book went on, there was more harakiri-inducing monologue, more angst, more of the same tedium. Then Meyer started a build-up to some sort of climax. Again, the anticlimax. Again, the promise of more interesting things to come in the later books. But I had had enough.
Nina eventually reached the end of the series, and complained to me about the ending. Finally, after all the build-up towards what is supposedly the ultimate climax, the battle to end all battles... there is nothing? All the characters get together, there is world peace, and bunnies and rainbows and sparkly people reign supreme. It’s as if Voldemort came to Hogwarts with his Death Eaters to tell Harry he’s sorry for all the bad, wicked things that he’s done, turned himself in, and then proceeded to do community service. It’s as if Frodo arrived at Sauron’s front gate, and Sauron surrendered without a fight. It’s as if... ahhhh, you get the idea.

And so, Nina lamented the money and time she’d spent on the Twilight series, and moved on to reading other things. She now happily joins in whenever I bash Twilight or Stephenie Meyer. As does her friend who had watched Twilight with us, and was previously obsessed with it herself.

It really annoys me to no end that this crap is popular. There are other books that are more deserving of popularity than this. And yet this. Urgh.

Someone recently tried to persuade me to go watch New Moon before criticizing it. FYI, I did not criticize the New Moon movie, as I haven’t watched it. I merely criticized the Twilight series in general. But I have no desire whatsoever to spend a single ringgit to go watch the movie. I already know the story, from reading the book. And from what I’ve heard, the only attraction is the Jacob character and his impressive abs. I have no interest in that particular actor, nor do I find any interest in abs (what are they useful for?). Therefore, I have no reason to watch the movie. End of discussion.

Even Stephen King criticized Stephenie Meyer, saying that she cannot write worth a damn. And he should know what he’s talking about. Numerous books of his have been bestsellers, and a large number of them have been made into movies. The literary awards he has won are numerous as well. He has been penning bestsellers since 1974. That’s over 30 years worth of bestsellers, to compare with Meyer’s four measly books. Jealousy is not a factor here.

King also made comparisons with J.K. Rowling, praising her writing skills over Meyer’s lack of them. No denying Rowling’s Harry Potter books have also made millions. I re-read her books recently, and noted with interest the difference in writing style from her first book to the last in the series. Her writing started out weak, but she got much better at it as the series went on. Consistently though, she had an excellent story. Meyer has neither the skills nor the story, and that’s where the difference lies.

Read carefully the physical description of her vapid main character, and then Google up her picture. You’ll find that the description matches Meyer’s physical appearance exactly. Yes, the book series is based off herself and her fantasies. One woman’s fantasy is another woman’s nightmare, and I’d rather not fantasize about sparkly vampires with unoriginal pickup lines and a dead sense of humour (not to mention a paedophilic interest in a girl over 100 years his junior).

Therefore, I will probably not pick up any of her books again (never say never, you might live to regret it), unless of course she writes the bestseller we’ve all been waiting for: ‘How to Write Over-Commercialized Crap and Make Millions’.

Cosplay?

I was randomly surfing, browsing cosplay photos (because I'm that bored). And then I found this.


Mind. Fucked.

o__O

How? How?? Her every strand of hair is exactly the same!!

Another cosplay lookalike that is also freakishly similar:

But if you think all cosplay is this cute, you're wrong. Dead wrong.

Here's one example of epic phail cosplay:


More here and here (if you're brave enough). I would've posted up some, but I didn't want to rape your eyes. Thank me, I'm so kind.

Okay, okay. Slutty cosplay girls? You want? Yes? See them here, here, and here.

Temptation, Anyone?

Today I went to buy pizza. The parking lots were all full, so I ended up parking in front of a fitness centre.

On my way back from the pizza place, I walked past the fitness centre again. And then I noticed the few people running on treadmills, facing the street.

Grinning, I walked past them, carrying my 14-inch pizza proudly.

I felt evil. And very happy. XD

Why No Updates?

Here's a sample of my daily activities:

10:00am:
Wake up.

11:00am:
Am still lounging around in my pyjamas, playing Farmville and Mafia Wars on Facebook.

12:00pm:
By this time, I will have showered, and will be playing Farmville and Mafia Wars on Facebooks.

1:00pm:
At this time, I will still be playing Farmville and Mafia Wars on Facebook.

2:00pm:
Lunch.

3:00pm:
After washing up after lunch, I will continue playing Farmville and Mafia Wars on Facebook.

4:00pm: By this time, I will have run out of things to do on Facebook. I will take a break by playing Mahjong Titans. Or reading a storybook (currently The Time Traveler's Wife).

5:00pm:
Still playing Mahjong Titans, and/or reading that storybook.

6:00pm:
Umm, yes. Still more of the same.

7:00pm:
Mum's home. Time to help out in the kitchen.

8:00pm:
Dinner time.

9:00pm:
Chores!

10:00pm:
Resume Farmville and Mafia Wars.

11:00pm:
Still playing Farmville and Mafia Wars.

12:00am:
Read a storybook (currently The Story of Edgar Sawtelle).

1:00am:
Sleep.

On certain days, I have the joy of picking up Nina from school after one of her SPM papers (she has two of those left, this Wednesday and next Tuesday), or sending Hasif to his piano classes (every Wednesday). On weekends we go out for lunch, then grocery shopping.

You shall by now comprehend that I have no life, and therefore nothing to blog about.

=__=

SOMEBODY GET ME OUT OF THIS HOUSE.

Who Reads Twilight?

I was at the Times bookstore in Bangsar Village yesterday, and Nina called my attention to something interesting.

The Twilight series was placed under the section 'Children Ages 9-12'.


How appropriate.

I also find it amusing that this Taylor person has a photo book. A male gravure model? I guess it's only fair. lolz