2008 Round Up

This time last year, I was going on about how great my life was and how scared we were of the inevitable fall that would come. It came, again and again, in sizes and magnitudes that almost overpowered me. This time, I may be just grasping at anything that will keep me afloat, but I've decided to make a list of things that make me thankful for this year.

I'm thankful for

1. My family being alive and strong. I'd like to say healthy and well, but that'd be a lie. I'll take alive and strong.
2. Being able to lean on my friends when I need them.
3. Being able to survive on my own financially thus far.
4. Finally being confirmed staff at work in a department that I really like.
5. The sights that I've been able to see throughout Malaysia.
6. The experiences that I've had that have made me stronger.

I survived 2008*

*Heartbreak and heartaches excluded

TV is bad for you?

In the world's most obvious news article, BBC has declared that romantic comedies have created false expectations for people throughout the world. From BBC: Rom-coms 'spoil your love life':

Watching romantic comedies can spoil your love life, a study by a university in Edinburgh has claimed.

Rom-coms have been blamed by relationship experts at Heriot Watt University for promoting unrealistic expectations when it comes to love.

They found fans of films such as Runaway Bride and Notting Hill often fail to communicate with their partner.

Many held the view if someone is meant to be with you, then they should know what you want without you telling them.

No shit, sherlock. I could've told you that. I could've told you that in real life,

• love is hard work
  
• love isn't all you need
  
• there isn't always a happy ending
  
• there isn't always a silver lining to a dark cloud
  
• time doesn't heal everything
  
• 2 hours isn't enough for the world to shift just a little bit for your life to come to a complete and well-presented finish

Malaysia's greatest website

Integrated Transport Information System: http://www.itis.com.my

Nuff said.

The urge to put on a scarf

I don't like Gray's Anatomy. I know this. It makes me emo. I know this. It makes me want to sit down and cry and look at the sky screaming, "Why, god? Why?" I know this. And yet, last night as I was ironing and the remote control was too far away, I watched it and got sucked in.

What I've learned from Gray's Anatomy:

1. Doctors will always get too emotionally involved.
2. All doctors are inordinately pretty.
3. Doctors will always cry and get depressed when patients take a turn for the worse.
4. Doctors will get depressed if the patients are having a hard time.

Excuse me, while I go put on skinny jeans, a mildly baggy t-shirt, and a scarf in 35ºC weather.

Ultimate security plan

I've always loved Malaysia's mysterious ways. From The Star: Grocery shop owner brushes off claims of sorcery:

KEMAMAN: The owner of a house in which a starving burglar claimed he was trapped has brushed off any claims of sorcery.

Grocery shop owner Che Ibrahim Che Abdullah instead believes it was punishment from the Almighty for the burglar who claimed he was mysteriously trapped in the shop for three days.

The 57-year-old Che Ibrahim said he was a constant victim of burglaries whenever he and his wife returned to their village in Selising, Kelantan.

“This time, I asked for divine intervention as I could no longer tolerate it,” he said when met here.

He said he had recited some prayers before leaving for Kelantan with his 52-year-old wife to celebrate Hari Raya Aidiladha.

Last Friday, Che Ibrahim returned to his shop and found the 36-year-old man lying in a room, starving and dehydrated.

The man, who begged for forgiveness, claimed he had broken into the house-turned-grocery shop three days earlier.

Upon entering the shop, the man claimed he was immediately blinded and the place felt like a cave.

“Each time I wanted to flee, I felt a ‘supernatural figure’ shoving me to the ground,” he told police during interrogation later.

He added he had no choice but to stay put in the room for three days as his shouts for help were in vain.

Meanwhile, Kemaman Deputy police chief Supt Abdul Marlik Hakim Johar said the burglar had been warded at the Kemaman Hospital for the last four days.

It is learnt that the burglar was still traumatised after the incident.

That's the way to prevent burglaries, man...