Following djes' addiction...

I don't know why the font becomes big when I add more than one results.. I'll edit it later when I have time.. IF i have time.. :p

Your Personality Profile

You are sexy, powerful, and bold. You're full of passion and energy... Sometimes this passion has a dark side. You feel most alive when you're seducing someone. You never fail to get someone's attention. Quick minded, you're also quick to lose your temper!

The World's Shortest Personality Test

You Are a Fortune Cookie

You're a rather normal person, except that you have extraordinary luck in life. People want to be around you (even when they're a little sick of you), in hopes of being lucky too!

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

Ha ha.. so I'm lucky heh? I think I am.. I know I am.. :D This is soooooo true.. :p

You Are 28% Cynical

Generally you give people the benefit of the doubt. But there are exceptions. You buy into many of the things that mainstream society believes, but you're not anybody's fool.

How Cynical Are You?

You Have Fantastic Karma

You are a kind, sensitive, and giving person. And all your good deeds will pay off - if they haven't already. But you're not so concerned with what you get in return anyway. You have an innate caring nature - and nothing can change that!

How's Your Karma?

Huh? What what? Fantastic eh? ;)

You Are a Good Friend Because You're Accepting

No matter what a friend says or does, you try your best to understand it. And your friends feel like they can tell you anything. You don't judge. You know that friendship is a journey - with a lot of ups and downs. If you and a friend grow apart, you get over it quickly... and leave the potential for future friendship open. You tend to have many friends from many walks of life. Anyone you meet is could become a friend. In fact, you are especially interested in people who are a little different than you. Seeing life from another perspective is something you cherish. Your friends need you most when: They can't turn to anyone else with their secrets You really can't be friends with: Dogmatic, stubborn people Your friendship quote: "Love is blind, but friendship closes its eyes."

What Makes You a Good Friend?

But, I think, instead of doing that quiz, to find out if you're a good friend or not, you should ask your friends.

You Should Be a Song Writer

You have the ability to evoke emotion, tell a story, and hook someone... In a very small amount of words, perhaps with some deft rhyming. Even if you can't write music, you can sure write compelling lyrics. Lyrics so good, people will have them stuck in their heads!

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

A SONG WRITER??? To make everyone who hear it deaf??? :o

People Envy Your Compassion

You have a kind heart and an unusual empathy for all living creatures. You tend to absorb others' happiness and pain. People envy your compassion, and more importantly, the connections it helps you build. And compassionate as you are, you feel for them.

What Do People Envy About You?

What is this?? Me being so kind in all the quiz results??? It's not true, people,... it's not true!! I can prove this:

Your Blogging Type Is the Private Performer

Your blog is your stage - with your visitors your adoring fans. At least, that's how you write with your witty one liners. And while you like attention, you value your privacy. You're likely to have an anonymous blog - or turn off comments.

What's Your Blogging Personality?

Look around. Look at this blog. It's exactly the opposite!!!

You Are 28% Girly

You are a pretty hardcore tomboy, and a very free spirit. Gender roles be dammed, you like to do things your way.

How Girly Are You?

You Are Low Maintenance

Otherwise known as "too good to be true" You're one laid back chica - and men love that! Just remember that no good guy likes a doormat. So if you find your self going along to get along... Stop yourself and put up a little bit of a fight.

Are You A High Maintenance Woman?

You Are a Peacemaker Soul

You strive to please others and compromise anyway you can. War or conflict bothers you, and you would do anything to keep the peace. You are a good mediator and a true negotiator. Sometimes you do too much, trying so hard to make people happy. While you keep the peace, you tend to be secretly judgmental. You lose respect for people who don't like to both give and take. On the flip side, you've got a graet sense of humor and wit. You're always dimplomatic and able to give good advice. Souls you are most compatible with: Warrior Soul, Hunter Soul and Visionary Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

Your Values Profile

Loyalty: You value loyalty a fair amount. You're loyal to your friends... to a point. But if they cross you, you will reconsider your loyalties. Staying true to others is important to you, but you also stay true to yourself. Honesty: You don't really value honesty. You do value getting your way, no matter what. And if a little lying is required to do that, no problem. A few white lies never hurt anyone (at least, that's what you tell yourself!) Generosity: You value generosity highly. So much so that you often put your own needs last. There's nothing wrong with having a caring heart... But you may want to rethink your "open wallet" policy. Humility: You value humility highly. You have the self-confidence to be happy with who you are. And you don't need to seek praise to make yourself feel better. You're very modest, and you're keep the drama factor low. Tolerance: You value tolerance highly. Not only do you enjoy the company of those very different from you... You do all that you can to seek it out interesting and unique friends. You think there are many truths in life, and you're open to many of them.

The Five Factor Values Test

How You Life Your Life

You have a good sense of self control and hate to show weakness. You tend to avoid confrontation and stay away from sticky situations. You tend to have one best friend you hang with, as opposed to many aquaintences. You tend to dream big, but you worry that your dreams aren't attainable.

How Do You Live Your Life?

You Are 44% Open Minded

You aren't exactly open minded, but you have been known to occasionally change your mind. You're tolerant enough to get along with others who are very different... But you may be quietly judgmental of things or people you think are wrong. You take your own values pretty seriously, and it would take a lot to change them.

How Open Minded Are You?

You Are 30 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

OK.. enough of this tests for now.. otherwise I'll start behaving like 13 something.. heh heh..

I must be lucky !

I get an email like this everyday. I am not joking - every single day. I go into auto mode in the sense any email that starts with a salutation, I automatically delete.

Check this email out [below]. The only reason why I blog this is to find out if any of you receive something like this "as frequently" as I do.

Dear Respected Mr. Mahalingam,

I am Mr. Steven Boado a personal attorney to the deceased (Engr. Jeff Mahalingam) here in Accra Ghana West Africa . I am compelled to write you this email for the following reason:-The above named person, who is now deceased, in His Will, left for someone who bears your name his entire Estate and Cash deposit valued fifteen million and five hundred thousand United State dollars (US$15,500, 000.00) in International Commercial Bank of Ghana.

Mr. Mahalingam ,the truth is that, l do not know if you are the beneficiary or not. For two years now, l have tried effortlessly to locate a name on the will without success and now I have contacted you, Can you please get back to me urgently if you think you are the one or you desire more information about this matter. Please let me know if you can be of help by giving me your confidential Postal address and your direct telephone and fax numbers so that we can discuss the issue properly. I look forward to hear from you.

Regards,

Steven Boado (Esq.)

Now think of this: Who the fuck is Jeff Mahalingam ? Actually, I am surprised: You go out there and find one "Mahalingam" from West Africa for me, I will stop talking for the rest of my life !

"Respected" Mr. Mahalingam ? Jeff is an Engineer ?

Also, he goes on to say "he has been looking for a Mahalingam for 2 years". For 2 years ? Can you do me a favour and just search for "Mahalingam" in Google ? See for yourself how many Mahalingam(s) there are. This moron seems to tell me he is lucky to have found me finally after 2 years.

It is 12:18 in the night; I have not had a laugh at this. It is junk as stupid as it can get.

Good night.

Songs and prayers

I'm putting them here because I'm going to lose it soon otherwise.

This is given by Agastya's teacher so I can sing/recite with him at home.



Opening prayer:

Dear God,
Guide us / as we learn,
Bless our teachers / and friends,
Amen.


Snack time prayer:

Thank you God,
For the food / and juice.
Help our body,
Grow healthy / and strong.
Amen.


Closing prayer:

Thank you God,
For teaching us today,
Guide and watch,
Our way / home.
Amen.



Number song (before opening/closing prayer):
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
1 5 6 6 5 4 3 3 2 2 1



Other number song (English):
One, two, three, four, five (2x) 3 1 33 5 / 2 7 22 4
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten (2x) 3 1 33 5 / 2 44 3 2 1



Number song (Chinese):
Yi er san si wu liu qi
Wo de peng you cai na li
Cai ce li... cai ce li..
Wo de peng you cai ce li.

La la la la la la la (2x)
La la la (2x)
La la la la la la la.



The wheels on the bus

1.The wheels on the bus go round and round
Round and round, round and round.
The wheels on the bus go round and round.
All through the town

2. The horn on the bus go toot toot toot
3. The wiper on the bus go swish swish swish
4. The door on the bus go open and shut
5. The people on the bus go up and down
6. The baby on the bus cry aaa aaa aaa
7. The mommy on the bus say sst sst sst



My eyes, my ears, my nose, my mouth (3x)
Let's everybody clap hands.
{tuning to "The wheels on the bus"}

Aga's debut on YouTube

First appearance due to popular demand:

Lila - my first video blog

Let me see if this works, fellas. Half way doing video blogging, I thought it was more difficult than I thought, but in the end it turned out to be easier than I thought. Huh I'm not making sense. Who cares. MY blog, innit?

The video file produced by my Sony HD AVCHD Handycam was something like ***.m2ts and ***.modd. Ugh! What the beelzebub!!!

Luckily there's a "Convert to mpg and save" in the viewer menu - so I did that. It did what it said in the menu item, however the file was still 85MB. There's a "Video trimming" but I did that before converting to mpg, and it was an easy task too. However, 85 MB would be too much for me to upload an under 2 minute video! What a waste of bandwidth since I'm only allocated 100 MB per month - meaning only 15 MB left for the whole month! I can't even check my email everyday had I done that! Nonono. I needed to resize this monster.

There's a "Resize and save" in the menu item, but when I clicked that it came up with "Cannot resize video file". Why not?! &$^* Now what to do? Quick search in the web, found this Windows Media Encoder (from Windows website), cost me 9.5 MB download quota. That's quite all right, and it was a quick download too, surprisingly.

With Windows Media Encoder, I converted the mpg into wmv, and the output was 3.5 MB in size! Hooray, I'm so happy. I didn't have to do anything else and I uploaded this wmv file on youtube, copy-pasted the embed code into this blog entry and that's it! Wow I'm impressed with my self :p

Here's the result. Enjoy!

Time for more photos

The pictures speak for themselves :D
(They scream "CUTEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!" in unison.. hihi..)













































































































Yes, she's cute.
Yes, she can lift her head up high when she's on her tummy.

Lila is a good sleeper too. She sleeps after last feed at about 10 pm and won't wake up for 6-7 hours!

2 months statistics (for those who wants to know - and for my record-keeping):
weight: 4.77 kgs
height: 57 cms

Travel page updated

That doesn't mean I've been anywhere. In fact I've been no where, so bored that I have to amuse myself - and this is how.

Since I'm going to be in Semarang for another 2 months or so, I'll write things about Semarang, places to visit, etc in this blog. I'll write little by little, and when it's updated I'll link it with the Travel page. I don't know how much and how often I can write considering my busy schedule, but it's something I've been meaning to do for a while so I think it's a good time to start. [Read: I'll add more entry to it when I'm bored.]

I'll start with cuisine, because it's what Semarang's famous for, and it's what I'm passionate about. I'll make some sort of 'recommendation' of eatery places, things like that. It's going to be a bit tricky translating some of the name of the food, but I'll try my best.

Hmm.. I'd need a way to rate these places.. like star rating-system or something. Help, anyone?

Cute overload!!!

Anyone could say it, but only Aga could make it sound so cute.

"Dik... minum susu..." (= Sis... drink milk).. -- while sitting on the spot on the bed where I usually feed Lila and lifting up his t-shirt.

Arrrrrrrrrrrr... so cute! I even took photographs when he did it - but it's too 'revealing' for public viewing, I don't want my son to hold me responsible and send me hate-email :p

However, I do have some cute pictures of Lila. This girl has a LOT of hair which is growing very quickly and although it's long, it tend to look towards the ceiling. Huh. Difficult to manage. I thikn the ceiling has some kind of a hair-magnet or something. Or it's the heaven? Whatever it is, hair doesn't seem to follow the law of gravity.

My little princess smiles a lot lately, I even saw giggles once!

Amazing, but it happened

I was on my way to Nishi-Kasai to spend the weekend with my cousin Hari and his friends. I took the JR Tokaido line from Kawasaki to Tokyo and I am to change to Tosai line on the Tokyo Metro.

[JR and Tokyo metro are different companies - so the need to change]

I had just come out of the platform when an elderly smiling gentleman stopped me. He desperately was trying to show me something. I am already late for my meeting, I tried to be patient .. and then he unfolded his passbook style wallet.

He was Tokyo Metropolitan secret service. Police !!

He spoke with me in Japanese. Seeing I did not understand what he told, he flashed the badge again and said "Polisu". I said, "Oh. Ok."

He continues "May I see your passport please?" - very good english

I said "It is in the hotel."

"Hotel ? Why ? Do you have any Identification ?"

I said "I have my drivers license" and then proceeded to open my wallet.

He has one look at the license and said "Where are you from ?"

I said "I am from England".

He said "Ah. It is ok then. Sorry to have bothered you, Have a nice day"

That ticket me off, not really pissed off - but I wonder why "I am from England was more of a satisfactory answer ?"

I asked him "Why is that ok ?"

He explains the recent "attempted bombings in UK and the arrests in Australia".

Surely I look Indian and he wanted to check me out. That part is ok with me; Actually makes me feel safe that they are really doing their jobs well !!

I enquire "Sorry. But can you tell me why it is ok after just one glance at my driver's license."

He said, "No sir. Not just your license. I saw the photo of your son in your wallet. I knew straight away you were no trouble.".

It hit me, he must have seen "Agastya's photo" on my wallet just when he was checking my driver's license. Tell me, is he smart or not ?

I felt immediately happy. This is the way asians think. He knows I am a family man. He is a gentleman. He "thinks" with his heart and acts on his impulses. I am happy Japan is safe with people like him.

Hats of to cops like that.

Japan, the land of funny people.

I have been here for 3 weeks already and I have at least one more month to go. Things are a bit involved this time but really are working out in my favour. You see, NEC Australia gets their work and their bread from NEC Communications Japan.

However, I am deputed to NEC Electronics Japan. As a matter of fact, NEC Communications and NEC Electronics are entirely two different companies. For argument sake, they are like Nokia and Ericsson – no connection what-so-ever except that their parent organisation happens to be NEC Japan under the Sumitomo Corporation.

So, what does it meant to me? I have all-inclusive confidentiality of what I do here. It is awkward that I cannot disclose in great detail to my bosses in Australia what exactly I do here. Add to this, this scrupulous trip, I have been requested to come to Japan by one of the senior most managers in NEC Communications – for NEC Electronics. I have no idea why he ‘chose’ me explicitly to come to Japan. I have been warned this noteworthy trip to Japan will be about 2 months. It is ok with me and with Monica; Lila would have been weaned by the time I return back to Melbourne.

My boss here, name withheld, is a total ‘people man’. He is technically brilliant. He gives enough time for all his people and he is one of the most Senior managers in NEC Electronics. He only addresses me as Dr.Nagi-san. I do not know why I occupy a position of importance here; if he is ill or away he sends an email to me cc:to other managers. Normally, I would have thought he sends an email to other managers cc: to me!!

He is a happy chap.

I am not sure if you have heard of this. No one beats a Japanese group – together they work very well. As a matter of fact, I have not seen teams who so explicitly trust each of its members – except in Japan. Oh yes, Kojima-san – yeah, he will handle this. Oh! Hayashi-san is taking care of that, we will receive input from her on Wednesday. On Wednesday, as promised, there will be an input – it would not matter if it good or bad news. They never panic. They smoke their fears and worries off.

Ah. One bad thing about Japan – You are allowed to smoke; Yes, inside the building. As a matter of fact, each floor has its own designated smoking area.

On a table, discussion table, the Japanese are cool headed. Ok, to be fair I don’t know crap about what they are talking about. It is all “Fukushima Takashima Hokaido Kashimada Mukaigawara Hirama des” type of nonsense to me. But, all of a sudden they will turn to you and say “So, …what is your opinion Dr.Nagi-san?”

Ah .. my opinion about “what” des ??

Hello !! You guys have been talking so fast in Japanese as if you are bullet trains. You think I understood you?

“Ito” .. sumimasen !!!! Oh. Sorry .. Japanesu .. I tranasaletu fora you.

Communication is the best part in Japan. You do not have to go to the gym in Japan if you a foreigner. You get more aggravated and burn more fat and sweat profusely by talking to Japanese than if you were to go to the gym. Train stations, security guards at the office, McDonalds, hotel reception: All of them give you a top notch work out. I am sure I have lost 3 kgs in the last 3 weeks.

Ok ! About the people at work; It is true not all of them speak English but the people I speak with, most of them have ‘satisfactory’ knowledge of English. To be fair, my skills with Japanese language are nothing compared with their adventures with English. They try very hard to accommodate me, the foreigner. I have to be patient. To cut it short, I actually do well at work. No miscommunications mostly; no worries there.

There are 7000 people working at the main office at Tamagawa; 5 mins from Kawasaki. [no typo there, yes 7000 people in a single location; 2 towers – NEC Japan’s main office]. NEC employs 100,000 people worldwide.

So, how big is this Tamagawa? It has 2 towers – North and South; about 50 floors on each tower. There is a sky link connecting the two towers at the middle somewhere.

How tall are the buildings? I cannot equate – but I get dizzy in the lifts [all glass]. Even from the middle, you can see the skyscrapers as far as Tokyo and Yokohama. On a clear day, yes, indeed you can see Fuji-yama. You can see Tokyo Haneda airport from here. So, they are 2 really tall towers. They have helipads on top of each tower for helicopters to land. The views will become rare sights in the future. There are many other sky scrapers coming all around. It looks like a concrete jungle.

There are 36 lift systems in total – all high tech. You cannot accidentally push the button in the lift – say for example, your laptop bag pushed ‘15th floor’ by accident but you wanted to go to 32nd floor? This can never happen. The buttons have ‘heat’ sensors. A ‘part of your body’ must push the button – else it will not go to that floor. If you accidentally pushed 40th floor you can just toggle it by tapping it again.

They have a massive restaurant, Starbucks, 2 convinient shops, Post office, ATM machines and blah blah.

Restaurant serves 6 different styles of food – Each style has its own menu.

The restaurant can seat 1000 people at a time – but it cannot seat all 7000 during lunch, can it ? So, they have a clever plan!!

Starting at 11:30am, the computer chooses 5 floors at a time and plays a “special music” when it is time for those “occupants of those floors” to go and have lunch. To force them to go out, the computer automatically “turns the lights off” when it plays the music. Ofcourse, there is manual override – But that is useless in Japan.

After 15 minutes, the computer selects another 5 floors and so on. The lights automatically come on ‘one hour’ after it was turned off.

When that music is played, the Japanese do one of two things.

1/ Rush to the restaurant.
2/ THEY SLEEP ON THEIR DESKS

Rumour has it that it is a good thing to sleep on your desk in Japan. I thought it is insulting to sleep on your desk. But in Japan, your boss thinks you are a hard worker if you slept at your desk!! What the bloody fuck? You must have been working all night that the next day at lunch you are overly tired?

Funny though: I only work 9 to 10 hours here. The previous trips, I used to put in 14+ hours each day!! Out of the 9-10 hours, I am in problem resolution meetings for 4 hours every day!! The other times, I am identifying the logical course for technical problems that need to be fixed.

Weekends are a drag. I think I may go to Okinawa or Seoul or some bull place for a weekend. Actually, where is Okinawa?

I am not in a hurry to get to work – I take the 9am train from Kawasaki and I am at my desk 10 mins later. There is this platform announcer for the ‘Nimbu line’ at Kawasaki station. I have nicknamed him GOAT-san!! He speaks properly – except for the last word. Hmm. Imagine, a goat saying the last word. He is hilarious. I am not the only one who thought it was funny. You should see all the Japanese folks. They giggle offcourse, cover their noses as if they are embarrassed! What the heck? I think this announcer has some sense of humour.

That is all for now.

My cousin handed me a spare mobile phone. I have 3 phones with me in Japan now. My personal PHS from NEC Electronics, my Optus Australia phone on roaming, my cousin’s Vodafone Japan WCDMA phone. Jolly good I should say !

Sankyu.

Some songs Aga likes..

I decided to post the lyrics of some songs Aga loves to sing - for when he grows old I'll ask him to read this post and sing all the songs! Heh heh, not really, it's for me so I can sing along with him.

Thomas the Tank Engine Theme Song

They're two they're four they're six they're eight
Shunting trucks and hauling freight
Red and green and brown and blue
They're the really useful crew

All with different roles to play
Round Tidmouth sheds or far away,
Down the hills and round the bends
Thomas and friends

Thomas he's the cheeky one
James is vain but lots of fun
Percy pulls the mail on time
Gordon thunders down the line
Emily really knows her stuff
Henry toots and huffs and puffs
Edward wants to help and share
Toby, well let's say, he's square

They're two they're four they're six they're eight
Shunting trucks and hauling freight
Red and green and brown and blue
They're the really useful crew

All with different roles to play
Round Tidmouth sheds or far away
Down the hills and round the bends
Thomas and his friends


Barney Theme Song

Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination
And when he's tall he's what we call a dinosaur sensation

Barney's friends are big & small
They come from lots of places
After school they meet to play and sing with happy faces

Barney shows us lots of things
Like how to play pretend
ABC's, & 123's
And how to be a friend
Barney comes to play with us
Whenever we may need him
Barney can be your friend too
If you just make-believe him!



Dino stomp
(I don't know the title but it's on the ABC Live Action DVD)

The dinosaurs were dancing round the prehistoric swamp
They shook their heads ... swished their tails ...
And did the dino stomp... stomp... stomp... stomp...

Dance dino
Dance dino
Stomp stomp stomp

Dance dino
Dance dino
Stomp stomp stomp

They shook their heads ..... swished their tails .....

And did the dino stomp!



Fruit Salad
(From The Wiggles tunes)

Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy
Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy
Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy
Yummy Yummy
Yummy Yummy
Fruit Salad!

Let's make some fruit salad today (Uh huh uh)
It's fun to do it the healthy way (Uh huh uh)
Take all the fruit that you want to eat
It's gonna be a fruit salad treat!

The first step
Peel your bananas
The second step
Toss in some some grapes
The third step
Chop up some apples
Chop up some melons
And put them on your plate

Now we've made it, it's time to eat it (Uh huh uh)
It tastes so good that you just can't beat it (Uh huh uh)
Give everyone a plate and a spoon
We'll all be eating it very soon!

The first step
Eat up the banana
The second step
Eat up some grapes
The third step
Eat up some apples
Eat the melons
Now there's nothing on your plate

Now we've had our fruit salad today (Uh huh uh)
It's time to put the scraps away (Uh huh uh)
Wash the bowls and wash the spoon
Let's do it all again real soon!

Fruit salad, Yummy yummy
Fruit salad, Yummy yummy
Fruit salad, Yummy yummy
Yummy yummy yummy yummy
Fruit salad!



Hevenu Shalom Alechem
(From The Wiggles tunes - Greek)

Hevenu shalom alechem
Hevenu shalom alechem
Hevenu shalom alechem
Hevenu shalom shalom
Shalom alechem

Shalom shalom shalom alechem 3x
Shalom
Hevenu shalom
Hevenu shalom alechem



Everybody Clap
(From the Wiggles tunes)

Everybody clap
Everybody sing ( la la la la la )
Bow to your partner
Then you turn around
Hands in the air
Rock-a-bye your bear
Bear's now asleep ( sh sh sh )



D.O.R.O.T.H.Y
(From the Wiggles tunes)

Well who's that in the garden
Eating all our red red roses?
(Its Dorothy! That's me)
She wears a floppy white hat and
Has yellow spots galore
(Nice spots Dorothy..Thank you!)
Well look at those big green paws (wow)
She's a very friendly dinosaur

D.O.R.O.T.H.Y Dorothy the Dinosaur
(Talkin' bout)
D.O.R.O.T.H.Y she's my favourite dinosaur
Romp-bomp-a-chomp, hey!
Romp-bomp-a-chomp, hey!

(Oh I think Dorothy's doing some gardening guys)
She's a really helpful dinosaur
She works so hard in the garden
(She's got her mower, she's mowing)
Yes, she pulls out all the weeds
Plants more roses and she mows the lawn
(She's mowing, she's mowing)
When the music starts she dances on the floor
Yes, she's a really groovy dinosaur
(Man, she's groovy)

D.O.R.O.T.H.Y Dorothy the Dinosaur
(Talkin' bout)
D.O.R.O.T.H.Y she's my favourite dinosaur
(Groovy!)
Come on everyone, let's dance and sing
With our friend Dorothy


Wake Up Jeff!
(From the Wiggles tunes)

Wake up, Jeff, everybody's wiggling
Wake up, Jeff, we really need you
Wake up, Jeff, you're missing all the fun now
Wake up, Jeff, before the days through

Dorothy the dinosaur is munching on some roses
Wags the Dog is digging up bones
Henry the Octopus is dancing round in circles
Wake up Jeff, we need you for the show



Hot Potato
(From the Wiggles tunes)

Hot potato, hot potato
Hot potato, hot potato
Hot potato, hot potato
Potato, potato, potato, potato

Cold spaghetti, cold spaghetti
(Cold spaghetti, cold spaghetti)
Cold spaghetti, cold spaghetti
(Cold spaghetti, cold spaghetti)
Cold spaghetti, cold spaghetti (spaghetti)
Spaghetti, (spaghetti) spaghetti
Spaghetti, spaghetti

Ooh wiggly wiggly wiggly
Ooh wiggly wiggly wiggly
Gimme that, gimme that, gimme that

Mashed banana, mashed banana
(Mashed banana, mashed banana)
Mashed banana, mashed banana
(Mashed banana, mashed banana)
Mashed banana, mashed banana (banana)
Banana, (banana), banana, (banana)
Banana, banana, banana

Hot potato, hot potato
Hot potato, hot potato
Hot potato, hot potato, potato
Potato, potato, potato

I daily write to iDailyDiary

Lately I feel like I need to write a diary. I used to have one when I was a teenager, like all the teenage girls, pouring all my emotions, happy and sad, but I stopped doing that when I graduated from high school, just because I thought it was too childish and I was too lazy to write a diary. With this blog, of course, it doesn't serve as a diary because I can't say a lot of things that I want to say - some things are better left unsaid, some things are to keep within yourself. I'm not very good with 'keeping things to myself' when regards to my emotions. I can go wacko if I don't let it out, and the best way to do it is by writing a diary.

Then I saw this Korean series, 18 vs 29. Oh ! - Nothing to do with the diary, but I have to mention this - there was a cute boy, Choi Si Won, starring this drama, but he's not the male lead. The story was about a 29 y.o. woman who suffered from amnesia after a car accident and thought she was still 18. She lost all her memory from when she was 18 until she woke up in the hospital surrounded by people telling her that she's 29. This woman happened to keep a diary, which she kept in her computer. Until then I never thought of that idea keeping a diary on my computer. I then quickly search online, and found a journal application "iDailyDiary", which encrypts data files, allows the use of password to protect the journal, and the best part of it is, it's free, unless you need to use features such as spell checker, smileys, etc, which I don't really need. I just need a simple, usable, encrypted, password protected journal.

I've been using it only since yesterday, but I have nothing but two thumbs up for this application. I'm sure the professional version would be great and complete for those who need the advance features, but for now I'm more than satisfied with the free version.

One of the things I like about this application is that when I minimise iDailyDiary, it goes to the system tray, and when I double click to bring it up again, it prompts for my password. Now, I just have to remember that I need to minimise it so that people can't read it!

Barney Lost in Translation

Today was the first time Aga saw Barney. In form of a DVD, of course. Turns out, Aga LOVES Barney. However, this particular DVD I bought was the cheap skate one, dubbed in Indonesian with Indonesian subtitles for the songs. Thank God they didn't dub the songs too, otherwise I won't be able to stop scratching my ear when I hear the Indonesian version of Hickory Dickory Dock! (Actually, Hickory Dickory Dock was some of the rare songs that had English text, but it was translated to "Hickory Dickery Duck")

The dubbing was fine, because I didn't know what they really said in the original English version, so I can't really complain. But the songs, oh! I'd probably rather have the English subtitles for the songs so the parents can teach the kids to sing-a-long. Instead, the subtitle contains the translated version of the English songs into Indonesian. A bad one too. Well, there were 3 episodes in that DVD, and one of the episodes has a decent Indonesian subtitle, but the other two episodes had appalling subs. I was annoyed because you can't even turn the subtitle off so I was forced so see how bad they've done the subs. Oh and because "Mary Mary quite contrary" was a rhyme, they dubbed that one too... grrr... It was one of the things you can't really translate very well because then the rhymes were lost in translation.

Here are some of the examples of how badly done the subs are:
"Do you know the muffin man who lives on Drury Lane?" was translated to "Do you know the muffin seller who lives near the lake." (Lake? What lake?)
"Old King Cole was a merry old soul and a merry old soul was he" was translated to "Old King Cole was a guarding soul and a guarding soul was he!" (Guarding whose soul?)
"Dancing Dancing till you all fall down with me" was translated to "Dance and dance I say dance with me" (Why are you forcing me??!!)

I was too appalled to continue listing the mistakes they did. Too many to mention.

BTW, The Mahalingams are now available in Facebook. Yep, blame Nagi for that.