Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Owl City

Stumbled upon Owl City while looking for music videos to watch on Youtube. The first song I listened to was "Fireflies". One word summarizes my thoughts on that song, "Wow!". After listening to that song, I listened to his other songs and as his other songs are as good as the first one I listened to, I ended up googling him, checked him out on his Myspace, became a fan of him on Facebook and also dropped by his official website. His genre is eletronica/pop and if you're tired of some of the songs you listen to on radio. Listen to his songs for a change. His music is like a breath of fresh air, like taking a vacation away from the polluted city where everyone looks and sound the same.

I quickly became a fan of Owl City within a few minutes or was it seconds. Listen to some of his songs and you'll agree that Owl City is simply amazing, like the one you've been waiting for all these years. Owl City isn't a band. Everything you hear is the work of one guy, Adam Young. Something like Secondhand Serenade, where there is only one guy behind it, John Vesely.

My problem now is if his album is available in Malaysia. Now I'm listening to his songs on his Facebook and those uploaded on Youtube. I hope I can find his albums in Malaysia because I'm not keen on downloading his songs from the Internet and I'm strongly against buying pirated albums, a topic I would discuss another time.

Merry Christmas and have a fruitful New Year!
Vicky

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Looking young

I had English presentation today so I had to wear formal. So when when I was walking out of Kelana Jaya LRT station, a UNICEF promoter stopped me and asked if I'm a student or working. So I guess with formal clothes, I do look a bit more older.

Anyway, I found another advantage to looking young from an article in Malay Mail ("Looking young may mean living longer, says study" 15 December 2009, page 13, World section). According to a Danish study published in BMJ, people who look younger than their years also live longer. The possible bioligical explanation to this is that people who looked younger also tend to have longer telomeres which is a key DNA component linked to aging. So I guess I must have longer telomeres. I wonder what my telomeres looks like. Any medical/biology student can help me with that?

Listening to an album I won yesterday from Broadcast Communication booth. "This thing called jazz and more...vol 1". Truth be told, jazz is not my cup of tea because everytime I think of jazz, I would think of slow songs that make me sleepy. Of course there's an exception to this rule, when Lee Hom sings jazz, it's never boring even though I heard that song a million times. Overall, some of the songs are pretty nice, though some are boring. Anyway, this album is not for sale, it's written there right on the back of the album. While listening to this album, I imagine myself having a romantic dinner in an upscale restaurant.

Some songs in this album are starting to become my favorite,
Vicky

Saturday, December 12, 2009

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Just finished reading this book which I borrowed recently from my college's library. I had to choose between Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. This book was written by Khaled Hosseini who also wrote The Kite Runner.

Set in Afghanistan, this book tells about the hardship of 2 women, Mariam and Laila. It's about family and friendship. It gives the readers a glimpse of what life is like in Afghanistan through these two women. While reading this book, we may recognize some of the events.

Overall, a splendid, moving story. Khaled Hosseini is a good storyteller. If you enjoyed reading "The Kite Runner" you would enjoy reading this.

Hope you would read this book and enjoy it as much as I did,
Vicky

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Big Thank You

A big thank you to my friends and family for birthday wishes, cakes, dinners, lunchs and what not. I really appreciate it.

Exams are coming, decided to take a rest today as I'm feeling mentally tired. Continue tomorrow. I plan to start with OMIS because it's the easier subject to study right now. Actually, English is the easiest is manageable in a good way, not that worried about English, it's my strongest subject this semester. PM will be fine this time round, not much problem with it. My biggest worry is Finance. It's really difficult. That's why I'm mentally tired today. The problem is not with the lecturer, she tried her best. The problem is with the subject itself or maybe me.

Before I get more pessimistic, tomorrow is my OMIS assignment presentation and next week, I'll be presenting on Apple's marketing strategy.

That's all for now,
Vicky

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Amcorp Mall after class

Stopped by Amcorp Mall after class today. Haven't been to that mall for a long time. Wait, the last time I went there was in January this year, but I was there only for a few minutes. I went to Victoria Music Station which is located near the entrance, to collect my Leehom album which I pre-ordered and left.

Today, I spent much more time in Amcorp Mall. I went to Popular hoping to find a book whuch I was looking for but couldn't find it at Popular. I guess I'll have to stick to my favorite MPH. It has every book I want unless the book is out of stock. I also planned to buy an OHP pen because mine ran out of ink but couldn't find any there. :(

Before leaving, I went to Victoria Music Station just to see if Carrie Underwood and Kris Allen album is available. Guess what? it's there. The price is pretty reasonable for an original album. Can't remember the exact price but it's around RM35-RM42. Then I asked for Leehom's Music Man concert DVD. I think so far, it's the cheapest, at RM68. The other stores like Popular, Videoezy are selling higher than RM68. I'll think about getting the DVD. Anyway, my birthday is just around the corner. *hint hint*

Bought a 6-inch Subway sandwich for lunch. I ordered the sub of the day which is meatball marinara. You get to choose your own vegetable and sauce. A 6-inch sandwich is enough for a meal.

Got to go watch some Apple ads for my English presentation.
Vicky

Monday, November 30, 2009

Distrated

I actually planned to do my English case study tonight. My lecturer uploaded a video on CSR and then we have to answer some questions based on that video. Nothing wrong with the questions. It's just that the video is more than 6 minutes long, and it take a long time to load and it's hard to pay attention and still remember the first line mentioned by the person in the video. Guess I have a lot of excuses/complains. In a nutshell, I hope that there is some transcript for that video.

Anyway, got distracted, since I can't keep up with someone talking about CSR, I decided to watch the new Lifehouse video, Halfway Gone. Nice song, but then again, I would say any song by Lifehouse is nice. I'm that biased. Their album Smoke & Mirrors will be released on February 2, 2010. I hope that includes Malaysia as well because I planned to buy their album around Chinese New Year time together with Carrie Underwood's and Kris Allen's. Yeah, and around that time I plan to watch that Jackie Chan movie starring Wang Leehom.

Guess what, next year Chinese New Year will clash with Valentine's day.
Vicky

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Day trip to Malacca

Went for a day trip with family to Melaka or Malacca (it is actually the same place. Melaka is the BM spelling, while Malacca is the English spelling)

Our first stop is the Butterfly and Reptile Sanctuary along Ayer Keroh. Actually, there are more than butterflies and reptiles there as there are also birds, monkeys, apes, a pair of leopard, fishes and insects. It's like a mini zoo.

Then we had chicken rice ball for lunch. The one we had wasn't that good, maybe we just went to the wrong place to eat. That's the same with cendol. So the next time you go to Melaka, bring along a Good Food Guide.

Wanted to go to the Ship Museum but it was closed. It seems that it is closed everytime I want to go there.

Next stop, Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum. It was formerly a Baba Nyonya house and the owner is a rich man, after he moved out, he converted it into a museum. There are guided tours but for only a small group of people at a time. I was lucky to get in, joined the last tour for the day. It costs RM8 for an adult. The guide will take you around the house, explaining about the Baba Nyonya culture. Parts of this museum was used as a setting for a Singapore TV series, Little Nyonya.

After that, we walked along Jonker Street. Bought some pineapple tarts and tried the not-so-tasty cendol.

Later on, we went to Menara Taming Sari which is a revolving observation deck from a height of 80 metres.

Had dinner at Ole Sayang for some Nyonya food, this restaurant is popular judging by the number of people who eat there. It's hard to get a table unless you're willing to wait or reserve a table in advance.

Last activity for the day is the Melaka River Boat tour. Take the one from Taman Rempah if you don't like waiting as there are less people taking this tour from that stop. There's another one near the ship museum (that's what I call it, I'm not sure what is its actual name as I never got the chance to go inside.) This stop has more people.

Enjoy your weekend,
Vicky