You know you're in Malaysia when...

1. You see two cats eating a dead snake at the side of the road.
2. Nobody wears seatbelts.
3. When stray cats sit under your table at the restaurant... you feed them.
4. A whole day's worth of food, including drinks and snacks, costs about $5. Love the exchange rate.
5. Every second shop is a shoe shop.
6. All the meals are Laura-sized.
7. People get time off work/school for Chinese New Year.
8. You can live in a golf course, and people don't think that's weird.
9. Piracy is the norm.
10. No one buys anything at full price. Wait two weeks for a sale, or bargain, dudette.

I am insanely happy! Last night I got a suitcase worth of clothes from my aunt, who warned me not to pack a lot. So because my suitcase was half empty, we put a 20 kg box of kilos in it. And because it was my suitcase, I had to carry it :/ Bitter, me? Naturally.

I have photos to upload, but I left the camera at my other uncle's house (the golf course one).

This computer is weird, and everything on the Blogger site is showing up as a series of unintelligible squares. I hope the blue square means "publish now."

Edit: I don't think it did.

Dinner at Rowda ya Habibi

I've got feedback from half the people about the KK(K) dinner, and generally the results are:

A month was plenty of time to prepare.

$50 was an appropriate amount to spend.

It's better hosted after Christmas, though really it depends on when everyone's in the country.

The questionnaire was somewhat helpful in deciding what to buy. Future questions could include "Who is your style icon?" and "Clothing size?

The Yankee Swap idea is tres unpopulaire (Franglais is so pretentious, non?)

Spa and I did a good job, yay us.

The food wasn't really my taste. I thought it was a little weird, and a little dry. The people however, were fantastic -- very homey and motherly. On the upside, the Deluxe Banquet had exactly the right amount of food for us -- no repeat of what happened at the Indian place (where we were full after the entree).

When I told Mum about the belly dancer, she asked, "Did anyone give her tips?"
"Tips?" asked I.
"Did anyone stick notes in her cleavage?"
I was horrified. Belly dancers are not strippers (unlike pole dancers...?)
Belly dancing obviously keeps you(r body) young, and I think it'd be a better workout than pole dancing.

After dinner, the Kylie car people went down the street for gelato at Gelatomassi (suddenly I felt I could fit in a scoop, despite being stuffed). I had a scoop of cinnamon, which had a distinct but not overpowering flavour. Alas, they did not have any of their famous "savoury" gelati. Being too lazy to google, I can only presume that these include fabulous flavours like capsicum, salmon, asparagus, and cheese. Must make an effort to go on the appropriate day.

Gelato cakes are very reasonably priced, starting at $34.95.

When I got home, William said to me, "Starship Troopers is the worst movie ever. I'll laugh at you if you like it."
But I did like it. I thought it was a comment on America's post September 11 mentality. Plus things blew up.

Edit: Sophia says, "But it was made in 1997."
Oh well. It's some nice anti-war satire anyway.

I think this is the correct order of gifting, but feel free to mock me if I'm wrong.
Julia -> Leana -> Sophia -> Donna -> Johanna -> Rena -> Kylie -> Juliana -> Me -> Ying -> Julia

I want to see what Johanna got! Someone take pictures for me.

Mark Ruffalo and Vincent d'Onofrio
I still think I was completely right.

Okay, what do you think of this?
Eerie resemblance no?



Colonel Sanders and Rolf Harris
Yeah, I'm good at this game :P

Some questions (answers welcome)

1. Why do men insist they like women who are shorter than them, don't have eating disorders and don't wear a lot of makeup... but still lust after models?

2. What's up with those furniture ads with the women lying on the tables? Are they supposed to make the furniture sexier (cringe) somehow? Or is that the recommended method of use?

3. How many packets of two minute noodles do you have to eat before you get a ball of wax in your stomach?

4. Why do little girls think that dolls that cry and poop (just like real babies!) are fun?

5. Who invented those ads where words flash on the screen too quickly for you to read, and a man yells something unintelligable? REALLY, who thought those were a good idea?

6. Why does L'Oreal have a BLACK semi-permanent dye specially formulated for black hair? Why would you want to dye your hair the colour it already is? It can't be to touch up roots, because it washes out in about six washes.

7. Why are shows like Scrubs, Arrested Development and Buffy reruns on at insane times? (Btw, has anyone seen that box set of the whoooole series of Buffy, and if so, how much does it cost?)

8. Why are Zen Micros so shoddy?

Edit: In case you were wondering, I've cheered up considerably and have had a good time writing, mudding and watching Elvis movies.