A Muddle

Not so fast! Yes, I'm referring to the (short-lived) euphoria over my latest phone purchase via ebay ... so it did arrive shortly after I uploaded my last posting and when the postman pressed the door bell I was already bouncing up and down like an eletcric Easter Bunny. Then came the most exciting part of receiving a new phone: the unboxing ... As I cut open the packaging I saw the box ... which is NOT the original box for the phone. Heart skipped a beat ... did they send me the wrong model? Then opened it and was relieved to see it is the phone I'd ordered. It took me a few minutes to open the battery door and when it finally did, my heart SANK ... "Made in China" ... HAR?!?!? How can it be? The phone I ordered is a Made in Japan Sharp!!! Then once the phone was up and running, it hanged several times so it was one disappointment after another. As the result, I decided to leave a Negative Feedback and ... impulsively bought another one - same model but definitely Made in Japan - from another ebay seller ... now I am worried the phone is NOT unlocked ... Bwah. Anyway, last night I got an email from the first seller, who appeared really upset by my negative feedback and said I could send the phone back and trade for another one!!!

Which is cool. So I asked for an unlocked Sidekick ID, which is an older model but one that I'd always wanted. The new LX is also on its way so ... now I have enough phones to open a shop.

A Good Old Sidekick

One of my all-time favourite phone models that is not available locally... one of the kind and Made in Japan!!! Just ordered one online (Danger is apparently stopping, or has stopped, production of the Sidekick line) for my collection ... a lot cheaper than when it first came out and it is now unlocked. The Sidekick LX (2007) looks a lot better than the SK3 that I used to have, though, like the SK3, I can only use it to make and receive calls/sms ... but I have other phones that can do other amazing things ... it should arrive any minute now!!!

Other phones I have: Blackberry Bold, Nexus (Google Phone), Nokia 5800, Sharp/ Docomo SH906i and the old Samsung E600C. The Bold is for work, super functional but boring. Nokia 5800 is by far the best phone despite crap camera ... it has touch screen and its text input methods (English, Chinese and Japanese)are unbeatable. It also has a voice dictionary that comes in handy (I think it is programmed in such a way that only the male voice will come on when you type in the word "fuck" ... I know, very juvenile...) The Japanese Docomo phone is just ... pretty especially when the multi-colour notification lights come up. The Samsung is just a piece of antique that reminds me I used to own LOTS of Samsung phones when I was really into Korean movies and TV dramas ...

Another Question - One of Etiquette

Last night I was at this Core Class (confession: I have masochistic tendency) and on the mat next to me was this middle age bloke (maybe a bit older than me, judging by his bald patch) who looked pretty keen to get started. Good on him. I think yoga is for all, and anyone/everyone can benefit from practising. Well, until I started to smell ... his feet. Oh yes. Stinky feet. To spare everyone the details, these are feet that had he washed them before hand, they would STILL smell ... (oh God, don't ask why) ... Anyway, I was already going "fuck, fuck, fuck" in my head while trying to stay calm and spiritual (and holding my breath, which kinda defeated the ENTIRE purpose of practising yoga) ... but WHAT could one do/have done? And to make things worse - A LOT WORSE - was that our instructor (the perfect human specimen), of all weeks, decided to have lots and lots of partner work yesterday ... SO, needless to say, Smelly Feet was my one and only partner for this class. Again, what could I have done? Tell him to bugger off? That is not nice. But so was partnering up with him. Anyway, as diplomatic as I could be, I told him to PLEASE stay on his own mat but he did eventually make his way to mine because ... welll, we had to partner up, right? Then there was this pose (really, I wish Perfect Human Specimen knew about my predicament) where I had to move over to Smelly Feet's mat and to MY UTTER HORROR AND DISBELIEF, he (his feet) was/were, like a snake during the winter months, PEELING. Yes, so there were *scream* bits of dead skins all over his mat and I was, like, OMG, OMG, EWWW ... I later also noticed he scratched himself A LOT.

If I catch ANYTHING from this guy I am gonna sue the yoga studio!

Anyway, I eventually survived the class, which concluded with the "Happy Baby" pose. Let me tell ya, I was one Pissed-off Baby by then and never before had I showered so hard and long after a yoga class.

This Question:

"Does it really matter?" Yesterday I stumbled across a blog thread that trashed a theatre review I wrote some years ago. He said my review lacked research, was contradictory and poorly written, apparently. Yeah, it was not the best review I'd filed but this wanky blogger, a certain Fernand* Gr*s, actually wrote to the publication that carreid the piece and complained (more to elevate his own self importance I feel). I remember this complaint and it bugged the hell out of me, even for a few seconds, not least, in the thread, he went on to suggest (what an ass) that his complaint had led to the downfall of the publication's editor some weeks later. Gee, get a life. First, he has no understanding of how newspapers work and of the editing process and, second, like many arrogant twits, he probably (just probably) thinks how dare an Asian person criticise English theatre?

Then I thought, does it really matter? (Have to admit this STILL bugs me after all this time... cos it is on bloody Google!)

Rewind a few days and I was in this yoga class. It was almost over - we were taking the savasana (resting) pose - and because I had to dash off to (wait for this) a theatre review, I got up and tiptoe-ed to the door. The instructor was standing by it and I thought he would just let me sneak out quietly. NO-O, Sir. He actually stood there looking ... fierce. I was, like, please get out of my way/face and he was, like, what the hell do you think you are doing ... then he whispered: DO NOT LEAVE EARLY IN THE FUTURE!! Gee, what is this? Military camp? Couldn't believe I got told off a yoga instructor! Then I thought, does it really matter?

Sorry for breathing ...

The thing is, life doesn't always go the way we want or expect and there will always be bumps along the way and, my belief is, I will keep doing what I do and as long as no one dies as a result, it's O.K. Besides, it's a free world so there will bound to be conflicts/wankers/stern yoga instructors etc. out there.  

Anyway, onto something completely different: the game I ordered - Yu Gi Oh Ultimate Masters - had finally arrived and, boy, is it a great game worth waiting for or what? Ultimate Masters is purely for trading card game geeks (like me ... I also played the fantastic Marvel Trading Card Game) because it offers no tutorials or explanations as to how to play it. You just get into it straightaway. Since I've spent about five years playing the earlier Yu Gi Oh Eternal Duelist Soul, this edition is not going to be a problem and will certainly keep me entertained for another five years ... yah, crazy!!!