Mars, no not the chocolate

On Wednesday - August 27, 2008 - Mars will be visible to the naked eye from Earth. Although 35.67 million miles away, it will orbit closest in two days. The highlight is at midnight (GMT +7.00) and the next time you'll get to see it this close will be in the year 2287, so look out for it!

All these little snip its of what's happening, well, is because I'm so free these days (ignore my pending GMAT).

Food, Glorious Food

So what's the difference between a cook and a chef? They say cooks are those who can cook the same dishes over and over no matter how often and it'll look exactly the same and taste exactly the same. Chefs, on the other hand, are those who can use the same ingredients used to make the same old foods to create new menus changing how it looks and how it tastes developing it to meet all the senses.

Maybe one day I really will have my own restaurant and I swear mangoes will be used. I've discovered that really thinny sliced semi-ripe mangoes and actually really tasty. Maybe I should hold my tongue for god knows someone with money may randomly come across this blog and steal all my glorious ideas.

"Oh food, wonderful food, marvellous food, g l o r i o u s food."

Olympics 08-08-08

Well, since I've managed to not blog about the now-ended Olympics 2008 during the entire event, it's about time I do. I only watched bits of the opening ceremony, which I still promised myself I'll find it on youtube or something for later, because I was karaokeing -.- Today, lucky me, I'm home to watch the closing ceremony instead of being out at dinner at some lousy hotel (it's my grandma's friend's birthday...yes, why would I ever go). Having caught just glimpses of the opening ceremony and a large part of the closing ceremony as well as seeing their bird's nest stadium and water cube, how the hell will London out-do this?! I couldn't help but clap in front of the TV >.<

That's Beijing's stadium. And here's London's.


N.B. Neither photos are mine nor do I take credit for them.

Forgot what I was gonna blog about but

So i got me a haircut, it's a little overdued, maybe not a little but well now it's cut. I think it was a big, big, while ago since I got it cut and that was in England...so at least 3ish months now. That's way too long. I'll be in England for another 3 months...should I wait to get it cut here? They do a much better job here. Anyways, the point is not about my hair shortening in length but about my face looking (not actually turning) rounder. Every single time the hair's cut the face morphs into a circle all over again. And the worst part of it is I'm heavier everytime too. Since I've been working, aka sitting around at the office until lunch and then sit around in the afternoon until the day ends, I have inevitably put on weight. I get home way too late to swim and I don't have the energy (or will) to play badminton either.

People in this office, although doesn't apply to everyone, are quite smart! They either got full on the math for GMAT or fall into the 99th percentile. Geniuses. That said, there's a thief amongst us. My green highlighter has vanished. Why mine?! I need it to highlight my GMAT book! If you wanted to use it, borrow it, but give it back damn it!!!

Less than 6 days left of this, that's not enough time to read for the GMAT.

Smart office people

Get nasty

Ok, it's nothing new to me, but it may be to you. Meet Edible. They may not be very popular (due to its insane(ly unique) range of products) but they are something. Just to name a few:

• Beverage: Lizard Wine, Scorpion Vodka
• Snack: Worm Crisps
• Dinner: Crocodile Green Curry (pictured below)
• Dessert: Chocolate Covered Giant Ants
• Skincare: Queen Ant Royal Jelly & Expired Fruits Wash

It's the most bizarre commercially available (e.g. at Selfridges in the UK) consumable products ever, to me anyways. For more, visit their site at http://www.edible.com/

Well, if that doesn't gross you out the way it should, try MeatWater. Simply put, it's 'dinner in a bottle' - what do they sell you ask? Well, here goes (in clear liquid form, literally):

• Beef Stroganof
• Cheese Burger
• Chicken Teriyaki (pictured below)
• Dirty Hot Dog
• Fish'n Chips
• Texas BBQ, and many more

See it for yourself at dinnerinabottle.com - I really, really ought to be getting paid for advertising, as long as I avoid words like 'gross' or 'nasty' and the like.

Stupid.

Ok, so, evidently I'm smarter than a lot of people. Cocky? A bit. True? You can't deny it. Am I the smartest person you'll ever meet? Well, hopefully you're smart enough to figure that out. At the end of the day, you'll meet those smarter than you, and yes, those dumber than you. Annoying it may be to try to get them to get you at times but you make peace. They could, who knows, be smarter than you at certain instances. None of us knows absolutely everything. I just need to make my peace.

I can't stand it. Why must it be this way? No, not the stupidity crap.

Uncertainty is certain

Cliche. Nevermind. I somehow reached 180kmph on my car. That's new. Who knew it went over 160? It handled itself quite well too but I was beginning to freak out knowing it's no Mercedes. I reached 200kmph with a Mercedes, and that felt safer. I should go find a car review to see what they say about the top speed for my car.

I have an awesome sense of smell. There, said it. I smell too well, in fact. I hate popcorn and the smell is just unbearable. And with a nose like mine, it's worse. I can smell things people take forever to notice and smells that sometimes they don't even pick up at all. A gift or a curse? Having watched The Perfume (and thus will never read the book)...it's probably the latter.

GMAT. The four letter abbreviation that is taking its toll on my livelihood. After finishing the diagnostic test (because I didn't even know what it was until I read it, I'll explain it to you - it's a test designed to cover all the topics and your performance will reveal your strengths and weaknesses in each area), I began reading the math review. In the 5 topics for the diagnostic thing I was categorised as 'Average' in all of them. In 3 I was borderline abover average, and that's as good as it got. Ok, I'll admit it, I find it a little bit difficult to digest the fact that 'ok K, you're average' but then again, in my defense, the math crap were all "first year high school math." And we all know how good my memory is. The English part? Well, let's just say that score is hardly justified.

9 days left at this office. They're planning on going to see the 'siam tulips' up north, should I bother?

2 more weeks

It's been what? 3 weeks? since I've worked at the office. It's been getting stuck in traffic day in day out in the morning and on the way home. It's been sitting at my desk waiting for the clock to excruciatingly slowly reach 5.30. That said, there's only 2 weeks left of this. And besides, I have all the time in the world (since they give me nothing to do) to read the GMAT book. One of the guys at the office got 710/800. He got full on his math (!!!!!!) so that's already 400. He studied here before he left to the US as well so getting 310 on his English my god I am impressed. Then again, his bachelors was in Engineering, if his math wasn't oh-my-god good then something's wrong.

I really want to go to the beach. It's the low season now and thus the cheapest time to go (can't believe I actually could appreciate the value of money...hmmm). That said, it's not very difficult to be a cheapskate when the hotel/boutique resort you want to go to is ฿32k/night per one-bedroom. Want two bedrooms, cough up ฿40k a night and it's yours. What money-thirsty gut-ripping hotel is this? Go see www.sripanwa.com - Gordon Ramsay went there with his family for two weeks. I wish I was the owner's kid or something, it couldn't hurt to have a place like that (and like this www.aleenta.com) as part of your property. I really ought to be paid for all this (lousy) advertisement but since the daily hits here is like what, 1/day? I really don't have a valid argument.

I think I'm slightly mental sometimes, really. Shrink me, anybody?

Pain

Ok, so I thought the math part of GMAT was gonna be nothing. First shock came when I found out ok no calculator. Second? Well, I died on the second question I attempted. It is complete high school maths, something I've given back to the teachers as soon as the last maths paper ended in IB. It's out of 800, I need at least 650, better yet, 700...how now?

Went to play badminton yesterday, for 3 whole hours! My last match I played with this guy who's meant to be really, really good...and I won! To be fair, he's paired with someone that's about my level and I'm paired with quite a pro too but that said, it was probably the longest game yesterday. I was already tired to death, my feet were stinging from all the rubbing with the trainers, and I could have collapsed as soon as we reached the 9th point. I kept playing and by the tenth point I really want to lie on the floor but damn it I pushed on and by the match point I can barely breathe. But all that endurance was worth it, we won. I'm happy. The worst part, I'm aching all over. My right arm hurts, my thighs hurt, my calves hurt, and my ass hurts. Who knew we used our glutes when we play badminton.

6++kgs left to go before the target is reached. It would have been so much easier if I was to gain them.

I hate.

I hate it when someone says 'never mind' to me. In the simplest context, it's just 'it doesn't matter'. Fine. But then more often than not it feels like you're being told to forget about it, for reasons like oh you'll never get/understand it or just forget it you don't need to know. It's just another one of those things I can't quite get used to. I've made my peace, kinda, ish.

I STILL HATE GECKOS. And since the topic came up, i hate everything that takes its shape (reptiles?). Why? I think it started when one ran up my leg when I was younger, or that's just me cooking up a childhood memory out of thin air. It got worse when I saw one glued to the fridge's door with a bulging ball under one of it's leg so it only clawed on with the other three. Then, one freaking fell onto my head - plain wrong. And yesterday, there was one relentless gecko on the car's window as I was driving. It's already bad enough to have it claw around the glass but then the worst part of it was when I saw that its tail was split into 2 ends! Of all things I must witness, it happens to be that. And the other damn day there was a monitor lizard [and via some wikipedia research - I believe what I saw was Varanus salvator salvator] strolling across the road as I left the house, AGAIN. It looks like a small crocodile and it's hideous and it doesn't respond whatsoever to the car horn.

I can't stand LaCoste. Of all the animals, why? Tasteful. Their ads are cool, though.

Sing Sing SING!!!

4 hours of it. And the funny thing was my voice didn't die by the end of the first hour. That was probably because I was probably busy eating the rich-in-MSG food. Anyhow, it was fun. I got 97 on one of the songs but then the one I thought went really well said 10, I'm convincing myself it's 110 (because the display is a small little separate double-digit thing). Half my weekend's gone already, what the heck? Tomorrow is gonna whoosh by and here comes Monday, and I'll actually have work to do (so I was told). It's probably better than not having anything to do but it's just the whole getting up and getting stuck in traffic 5 days a week thing that bothers me. I still don't know if I'm gonna get paid. What if I'm not, I already have a negative 2,032baht for the parking fee during the internship. SIGH.

And I have endowed myself with a brand new watch. The most amazing, which is actually also a good thing, was that there wasn't a single 6-digit (and over, not that I could afford it to begin with) watch that I liked (to be fair there's this one I saw in the newspaper that was apparently only 1 of 8 in the world - I can imagine the price - I just didn't see it at the watch fair). I am extremely happy with my orange watch (not the new one) and nothing tops it, nothing. Makes me extra happy to have browsed through all the brands from the quite-cheap's to oh-my-god expensive's and not find a single one that I liked more than my current one. Ok, yes, nothing was as nice but then I needed something that I can wear that can be worn on them days that I'm a little more active (although rare, exists). I don't want to freak and shriek every time I hit the orange watch into something or be extra cautious so as to avoid any sort of contact with hard objects - thus a new one that is a little more appropriate for those days when I will move more than usual and/or those times where I stay out in the heat for longer than I'd prefer.

Hmm that's long. I'm wasting the evening watching Academy Fantasia 5 again - disappointing.