i heard my heart beating a little faster as i watched this time-lapse video "of the Perseid Meteor Shower and the galactic core of the Milky Way as seen from Joshua Tree National Park" (US).. *gushy*

joshua tree under the milky way
[via, check out his other vids]

and here's the awesome track that accompanied the video.. *still gushing*

sigur rós' :: samskeyti

i wish to behold such splendour.. of a billion stars sprawled across a pitch black canvas in all their sparkling & glittering (himym reference! =) glory. *gushy gush gush*

while we're on the subject, let's revisit switchfoot's stars, shall we?

when I look at the stars,

when I look at the stars I see someone else

when I look at the stars,

the stars, I feel like myself

:)

switchfoot :: stars

speaking of bands that would get me reeling in a frenzied fangirl babble, the chongy forwarded me this link. crossing my 20 digits to weave an awkward tapestry, that perchance jon et al would consider dropping by KL again. otherwise, count me in, southern island.

*squeals*

it's been a tiring week since i started my two-week crash course night class at BCM, studying the gospel of John. i don't hide my joy at being able to sit under mind-opening-and-blowing lectures (i seriously dare anyone to sit in one of these lectures and NOT be humbled by the depth and richness of the text), nor do i hide my disdain for coursework (we have to daily submit a short note on waht we've learned from the day's lesson, so i don't really get to rest when i got home -- need to send out the email before i forget stuff) but it's a good price to pay.

my head still hurts from trying to process the everything i've heard, at 3.5hours a night, that's like 14 hours.. it's like trying to finish one last plate of food at a buffet when you're already full. system overload -- i might just explode. heh. was soooo thankful for the day off yesterday -- i woke up at 1pm (partly also due to the insomnia bug that kept my exhausted body up til 4 the night before -- ARGH -- but i got to watch the latest ep of HIMYM tho' from tvduck.com -- whee!!) anyways, it's friday again!! oh happiness!

mm lemme share more of the music i like. happened to "bump" into mae this morning, so here goes..

i love mae.

is that understated or what? heh. anyways, they are one of the handful of bands that would get me totally gushing unabashedly at its mere mention. heh. but for now, going for the understated feel.

i've been totally smitten since i heard this first song from them back in 2006 (or late 2005).

mae :: the ocean

and i remember being in total delirium when i received the everglow album as a gift, and a just-because one at that! :) it's a lovely concept album, designed as a storybook complete with water colour illustrations.

mae :: the everglow

their songs have come to define a period of my life which i totally love and absolutely hate at the same time.. much like the paradox from the blog banner way up there, which btw comes from this song.

mae :: awakening

and i had this song as my phone ringtone for the longest time. and i really like the music video :) [kinda reminds you of the one i posted last week, eh? :)]

mae :: supension

i was kinda bummed out when their keyboardist left in 2007 -- his melodies were one main reason why i got hooked i think (the bassist left at the same time, but erm, didn't make any difference to me :P poor bassists heh. i appreciate my bassists ok :). but some of their newer stuff ain't that bad too -- this was one of the songs i looped the entire day -- but it just ain't the same! i just read on wiki that they are back together sometime last year so yay. :)

mae :: just let go

there are also the little things which i love.. like their three EPs which were named (m)orning, (a)fternoon & (e)vening.. do you see that? things like this make me thrill me to bits. ^__^

anyways, that's all from me for now. have a good weekend. i suspect i will. :)

i knew it!

[ADD] is characterized primarily by inattention, easy distractibility, disorganization, procrastination, forgetfulness, and lethargy/fatigue.

[via]

i wonder if there's a cure. i'm not very motivated to know what it is though. i've lived with it for so long, it's kinda a way of life now hahaha..

still.

tiredness fuels empty thoughts
I find myself disposed
brightness fills empty space
in search of inspiration
harder now with higher speed
washing in on top of me
so I look to my eskimo friend
when I'm down, down, down

minä kaipaan eskimo-ystävääni

damien rice :: eskimo

what can i say, i'm the gift that keeps on giving. hahaha..
so yeah, this is last one, for the road. happy friday!

what brings me to my third post today, you ask?

i remember now!
remember what?
remember why i went googling for the northern lights!!
erm, whaa--?
my previous post lah.
uh okay, what about it.

now where do i start? from christmas, i guess.

so, i downloaded this christmas album by this band called sleeping at last from noisetrade (it's free! and a great place to check out new acts :) in exchange for my email address.

Like! this album contains mainly reimagined christmas songs 
but it was one of my favs cos it got me into the perfect mood for christmas =)

so yeah, this morn i received an email (newsletter?) from them announcing their latest effort which led me here: http://web.sleepingatlast.com/news/2011/1/12/january-on-itunes-february-art.html

and there you will see this:

their latest EP cover, the artist's impression of the northern lights

so pweety :)

so yeah, that was how i went googling. breaking news right!

anyways, after that i went poking around their site (and myspace page) and my heart leaped when i saw this!

remember that??
i posted about it way back when this blog first started.. :D i think the artist, geoff benzing, is a friend of theirs. he seems to paint the cover of most of their albums.

i love, love these! *HEART*
would love to have these hanging on my walls.




these are the four covers of their most recent EPs -- the band is releasing an EP of three songs each month for one whole year (since Oct 2010).. check them out on iTunes. i don't think we can purchase their albums fr iTunes (iTunes sucks! i still don't get the working of the player. grrr..) so let's just admire these for now..

another post, and it's not even lunch time yet? i know, i know.. i'm in a giving mood. :D this is kinda a re-post, but for some reason i was suddenly googling about the northern nights a.k.a. aurora borealis (something must have ticked in my head, but i don't rber what), and with that i remembered this owl city song (love the song, but i always daydream when i watch the video :D): 

owl city :: vanilla twilight

don't you just feel giddy all over? haha.. i wish i could witness this phenomenon with my own eyes. yeahh that would be the dream.

here's another music video that makes me feeling like a kid all over again:

owl city :: umbrella beach

i just love how his songs and writing strike a chord with the eternal optimist in me. :)

it has been a couple of emotionally-charged (of the conniption variant) days. first, my never-ending saga with the tea lady who i srsly think has a thing for me. i could have spurned her love one time too many that she sees it fit to exact her form of revenge, which is to pick at every single thing that i do and telling me off loudly in front of everyone when i less expected it. she's stopped emptying my bin, so i do that on my own. did i also mention that she's stopped providing thrash bags in the pantry and that ours is the only office in the world without a garbage bin? and aside from her totally rude manner, she is also the gossip queen of the office, and we suspect one of my colleague's recent resignation is (partially) a result of her poisonous tongue. *shoots tea lady one of Lily Aldrin's you-are-dead-to-me look*

and the other thing that flipped me inside out was to see a usage charge of RM509 on my Maxis bill, RM438 of which was data charge. i had been monitoring my usage very closely, being careful not to overstep my limit of 1G -- which isn't a lot, apparently -- after hearing many cases of rude bill shocks encountered by first time smartphone users, so i practically imploded (might explain why i'm so tired these couple of days -- i'm practically yawning by 8 and in bed by 10).. and after a much-restrained call to maxis, i was informed that my quota for this month has been prorated due to the difference in bill cycle and the day i started using the phone. and i was like 'why didn't anyone tell me this?? i have been monitoring...' and blah blah blah -- i drilled the fella for 40 mins, but one reason why the call prolonged was every time i asked him a question such as, what was my limit?, he'd put me on hold for a good minute or two  -- and no, i didn't lose my cool and shouted at him, but i did sound mighty displeased.. anyways in the end, the cust svc agent told me that they would waive some kinda fee (some capping fee?) amounting to RM250 (i think they should waive the whole RM438, don't you?).. which reduced my phone bill significantly, but still. URGH.

so there you go, smartphone users-to-be, be sure of what your first month data limit is, or maxis is going to xxxxx you nicely. that, or switch to DiGi's unlimited plan. if you decide to stay with maxis, get the iDataUsage app from the iTunes store to help monitor your usage. this is the end of the PSA (public svc announcement).

as to my tea lady, hahaha, stay tune for the next chapter. God, teach me restraint and wisdom. and much as i don't want to, love. YUCK. *the battle rages*

i’ve been trying to figure out why i use my social network tools the way i do. i have almost every account out there, from facebook to twitter to linked-in, to a dozen registered blogs and a couple of photo sharing accounts.. and yet, i am always consciously maintaining the border of one with another. rarely the twain shall meet is my order for the day.. so i hardly mention one in the presence of the other. i perceive my usage to be an anomaly, a misnomer, a paradox, and half imagine that i were to be found out, the social network police would throw their books at me.

maybe someday i will understand why i scatter myself all over cyberspace, and my resistance to consolidation. for now, i present to you the latest box containing snapshots of my life (mainly food :P but hey, that's my life! ;), all the way over at tumblr -- life is one surreal ride.

ta-dah!

i registered it on a whim and didn't really know what to do with it until i got the Instagram app on my iPhone, and then it made sense (in my head, but of course). i just love it when things do, don't you? ^___^

my second last evening of 2010 was spent at neway karaoke in cheras, with some of my form six friends. we had been planning to meet up since Feb 2010 (as evident from the FB thread i created way back when), but never did. there were several attempts but they all fell flat. i guess that's what priorities and life do to reunions.

but we finally did, at huishi's dad's wake the Monday after Christmas. it came too sudden, she updated us of her dad's admission to the hospital from stroke just 5 days before Christmas, and receiving her SMS just after the thrill of opening Christmas gifts was quite a sobering moment.

i haven't met some of these guys since the last time one of them were admitted to the hospital from a road accident two years back -- i happened to call the dude (might have been trying to arrange for a reunion), and was told by his mom that he was hit by a car while riding on his bike to his second day of work. so yeah, it has been two years. just like that!

at the wake, we said that we should not come together only when something untoward happen, and before we went on hitting each other with another slew of FB msgs, decided that a karaoke session is in order.

had first decided on RedBox in Pavilion but they charge like 75++, which is roughly the cost of my arm and a pint of my blood. thankfully, hsue suggested neway in good ol' cheras (RM35++, free admission if your bday fell within the month, and we had a december baby among us, plus a 15% discount for each Digi number we hold, so the cost came up to RM40 which is wayyy more reasonable).. of course the ambiance is nothing like pavilion but it was good enough for us la.

it was awesome belting out "OLDIES" from michael learns to rock, westlife, a list of songs from the HK canto rock group Beyond & their king of pop jacky cheung (we sang so many chinese songs that i didn't know i knew! hehe), air supply, bon jovi, green day, oasis -- i feel soooo old and dated, and yet when we sang like the shower singers that we were in unison and in varying pitch, i felt like i was 17 again! :D

and i made sure we sang LEMON TREE by fool's garden cos that song came out when we were in form six.. it was a fun and loud walk down memory lane -- it was all 15 years ago and yet it felt like 5 or less.

some of us have lost/put on weight, are plagued with receding hairlines, changed jobs, bought properties, got married, fell out of love...it's was all very surreal.. but i like how at some level we were still the same (you know what i mean! if you don't, you are too young. ;)


the nonsensical 1-hit-wonder lemon tree by fool's garden -- which was blaring from every speaker in every mall and pasar malam in KL not too long ago :D

i imagine walking and walking one day and poof!, we exit from narnia, back to when we were all be our silly young selves again.

this is worse than a hangover, not that i know what that is like. ;)

but that's it. i'm swearing off coffee. i'm too old to be an insomniac. and while zombies are the craze (one that is beyond me), i can't take involuntary late nights any more.


@_@

well, hello there.. are you new in town?

we were playing with Shadow, Tab's lil doggie, over at Hoo's place on NY eve where Ruth threw a party with some very yummeh food (roast lamb, stuffed mushroom, pasta w pesto, chicken pot pie, brownies, cheesecakes.. she did most of all these, and more, by herself -- which made my christmas party looks like child's play in comparison :D).. where was i? oh yeah, playing with Shadow and Sunday and Sookie.. hehe yeah.. we were playing with them doggies (Shadow in particular) when this song came to mind..

for the times when i wondered what on earth is going on, and what is the point of all these, and why aren't things moving, and which road to take at the fork, and how could this happen, this song would be a reminder, an assurance, a promise.

i don't think i'd do a recap of the year gone by. a deceptively simple GOOD summarizes how i thought the past 365 days was. and i am thankful, for the ups and downs and the turning all around. as how the matt redman song goes: "every blessing you poured out I'll turn it to praise, and when darkness closes in, still I will say: 'Blessed be the name of the Lord!'"

2011 looks like CHANGE is going to take charge, so i strap myself in, arm myself with a prayer, and cue to the operator to let the ride begin!

david crowder band :: shadows

Life is full of light and shadow

O the joy and O the sorrow

O the sorrow

And yet will He bring dark to light

And yet will He bring day from night

When shadows fall on us

We will not fear

We will remember

When darkness falls on us

We will not fear

We will remember

When all seems lost

When we're thrown and we're tossed

We remember the cost

We rest in Him

Shadow of the cross