Happy Birthday Mommy!

Yet another special birthday. April 20th, my mom’s birthday.
She doesn’t like big celebration. I think I got that from her.
My brother sent her some orchids. I called to wish her “Happy Birthday.” Bruce asked me to convey the same message.
I hope we’ll get to celebrate a very belated birthday, just with the few of us here, when my parents visit the US in July.
Until then, “Happy Birthday!”

Happy Birthday Girly-girl!

tache.JPG

Our girl is one year old today. I stilll remember how small she was when Bruce brought her home from the vet approximately ten months ago. Her head was way bigger for her tiny body. She was curious and very sweet. HYPER!! And at the end of her tail, there’s a little kink, like a lightning bolt. Her favorite place was under the bed.

Today, one year old. Her head and her body are almost flipped. Her head seems small for her body. She’s a long cat, but loves to sit with her front and hind legs together. That makes her body look even bigger. She’s still very curious and very sweet. Much calmer. Her ligtning-bolt tail is now even bigger. You can see it clearly in this picture. She still loves sleeping under the bed. And one of her favorite sleeping positions is the one you see in the picture.

Happy Birthday girly-girl, Tache (her nicknames, “Tah-tah-shah koo-look-koo-look,” “Geh-wei-wei,” “Gurluh-gurl” and more)

G-E-E-K

For the past few weeks, I have been having so much fun with
my new home studio.

I have recently purchased a small mixer. On my birthday I
sort forced everyone around me to get me
things. My brother got me a condenser microphone, Bruce got me a mic stand, and
my cousin bought me pop filter.

I cannot express how much fun I have been having since I
got  my mini studio set up in the
basement. I have recorded a few cover songs, composed and recorded an original
song (no, I?m not sharing.) And definitely will try to compose more original
tunes. One of my closest friends, Henry, who lives in San Francisco, is working
on the lyrics (he?s a great writer.)

I ordered most of my equipment from Zzounds.com.  They sent me the wrong color mic stand. The black one is
arriving today, and the chrome one?s going back to Zzounds. By the way, Zzounds
have great customer service. If you want to buy any audio equipment, I?d highly
recommend them. On top of that, if you are a thorough shopper like me, and if
you find a cheaper price from another site, they will match that price for you.
And many of their items have free shipping. And no, I don?t get commission from
them.

To earn my status of a ?GEEK,? I am on pins and needles,
awaiting my VERY backordered Keystation49e,
a keyboard that my parents and my sister ordered for me. Oh I can?t tell you
how excited I am!

And of course, all these won?t be happening if Apple didn?t
come out with their new hot application, GarageBand!

Oh, I guess I have already earned the title of a ?GEEK? even
before my Keystation49e. Oh well, I?m a geek with pride.

Woohoo!

The Midnight Plumber

So, after owning a house, I have miraculously turned into a
plumber of the house. I don’t do major plumbing work. But when it comes to
small little fixes, I have been having great lucks. I seemed to be able to fix
up small plumbing problems for the past year.

We had a plumber over to our house one day (this project is
too big for me), he got one part of the basement sink leakage fixed. But since
then, we’ve been feeling something different about the water pressure.

On Wednesday night, I went downstairs, right before I went
to bed to check on the main valve to see if it has been turned all the way on.

Blurry memory…blurry memory…it’s turned
on…blurry…I better turn off and on again to make sure…blurry…no, don’t wanna
mess with that…the filter on the ice-maker might pop open (that happened
before) and flood the kitchen (exactly what happened)…blurry…I?ll just
leave it alone?blurry?went to bed.

Cut to the next morning.

?We have no water!?

Jumping out of bed, I mumbled to Bruce that I have gone
downstairs last night to check on the 
main valve. But I could have sworn that I didn?t even turn the valve at
all.

I was very certain that I left the valve unturned. But I
went downstairs anyway to check on the valve, it?s turned all the way?oop?to
off. I turned it back on, hearing the water flowing back into the pipe. I
quickly went to the intercom and told Bruce that the water is back. Embarrassed
and confused.

The next thing that came into my head was, ?if this happens
again, the next day, I?m going to be really scared.?

But it didn?t. It was all the midnight plumber?s fault. And
I?m relieved. There?s no ?basement monster.?

Bye bye 20’s HELLO 30.

On March 31, 2004. I turned 30.
Age has never been a big thing for me. To me it’s just a number. I have always felt younger than my number age is. I am stuck with 24, and I’m going to be that way for a while.
But, this year, for some reason, it’s extra special.
I had so many birthday wishes from all over the world. Friends, siblings, and cousins through phone calls, emails, cards, gifts, and in person.
If turning 30 is always this good, I’m looking forward to my 40.
Thank you everyone for your wishes and gifts. This is definitely one of my BEST birthday.

Wallpaper or Curtain?

I took this picture (can you see me?) when I was in St. Louis this weekend visiting the St. Louis Bascilica. I know if I send this picture to her, she’ll make it her desktop picture (Mac term). Or in the Windows land, they call it wallpaper. Regardless, my mom always has her own terminology. This one, she creatively called it the “curtain.” After so many years of teasing her creative misusage of certain terminology, I finally have a general observation. She would learn the term, then she forgets it, but still retained the concept in her head. She would then creatively recall the term, usually something close to the original concept, but an entirely different word. Nonetheless, often very amusing. Here’re a few pairs of her creative errors:

Stella Maris (a motel/vacation lodging own by the Catholic church in Penang)
Mom’s version:
Sheila Majid (a Malaysian singer)

100 Plus(pronounced “Hundred Plus”, a sports drink)
Mom’s version:
Code-10 (a brand of hair styling product)
Note: You can imagine how I reacted to that when I heard her telling me: “There’s an open can of Code-10 in the fridge, it’s cold, you can finish it.”

KTM (Keretapi Tanah Melayu, our train system in Malaysia)
Mom’s version:
RTM (Radio & Television of Malaysia)

MIA (Malaysian Institute of Art)
Mom’s version:
MIC (Malaysian Indian Congress)

I love my mom. I find myself doing the same thing as I’m getting older. I’m sure the gene is in me.

Spring Break at STL

Last week my brother invited Bruce and I to join them in a three-day-weekend in St. Louis for a short and relatively inexpensive weekend. I liked the idea, and so did Bruce.

But after finding out that the hotel is going to cost about $120 before tax for one night. I decided not to go. Unless I can find a cheaper hotel, even if it means we’re not going to be in the same hotel. It really didn’t matter, because they have their car, and we have ours.

So, before giving up, I tried Priceline.com. I put in $40 as my first bid, and a response came back asking me to add $12. So, I did, $52. Not only did I get a room for $52, I’m staying in the very hotel my brother and Eric are staying. Lucky me.

We had a great time there. And I’m still enjoying the fact that I get a hotel room for $52/night, almost as much as I enjoy the trip itself.

It’s all goooood.

Found a friend in iTunes

Last Thursday, Bruce sent me a funny album by Mrs Miller, well, that’s a whole other story. But, through that, I found myself browsing on iTunes, which I rarely do. But today,  I found one of my favorite singers, Ning Baizura listed on iTunes. Ning is a Malaysian singer whom I enjoy since her first album. Being away from Malaysia for so long, trying to keep up with the music industry back in Malaysia could be a little challenging. I was excited to see Ning listed on iTunes. I didn’t buy her album. This is the reason why.

While I was browsing under the “World” section of iTunes, which is where I found Ning, I stumbled upon this Malay sounding album “Tekad Redha Tabah.” So I clicked on it. Listened to a couple of tracks, it really sounded great. I was going to check to see if this album is indeed Malaysian or Indonesian (the Malay language and Indonesian language are very similar). Looking up on the artiste’s name, Hazami, I thought it sounded familiar. After reading on more, I found out that he is indeed a Malaysian singer, and began to suspect that the Hazami could very well be a friend of mine from Malaysia. After listening to all the sample tracks, I love the album, and I bought it.

Hazami was my good friend Henry’s best friend. I was introduced to him through Henry when I was studying in Petaling Jaya. Hazami and I both love singing, and we would sing and chat on the phone for hours. He is fun, smart, and definitely a wonderful vocalist. His trademark was his high pitch singing ala Mariah Carey. (A few tracks on his album have those singing style, but only as backups, which I thought was wonderfully done. Really not many people know that’s him singing) However, we have never met in person. The last I heard about him was from Henry that Hazami was in engineering school in England. That was at least six years ago.

After a few more research online, and getting Hazami’s full name and a few chat sessions in some Malaysian chatrooms, I finally was convinced that the Hazami I know, is indeed this rapidly becoming very well known singer in Malaysia. Another factor confirming the fact that he is the one I know was his singing. He was nominated for the best new male artiste and the most popular male artiste in the Malaysian equivalent of the Grammy Awards. And he won the best new male artiste.  I try to get back in touch with him. I wrote an email to him, but haven’t heard from him yet. I hope he’ll be able to get my mail and finally get back in touch.

I am so proud of his success and would definitely love to share his success and reminiscing those days when we were just dreaming about our success being famous singers. And today, he has made it. I’m still a singer, famous only in the vicinity of a few miles. Nevertheless, enjoy every bit of the singing that I get to do.

Syabas Hazami! (Congratulations Hazami!)

p/s: Buy Hazami’s album if you like R&B. As far as I know he wrote most of the music and lyrics himself.

Learn Chinese

I love music. I appreciate music. I enjoy music.

Some more than others. Hiphop is definitely not one of my favorite genre. But ever once in a while I do find a few hiphop songs very captivating.

Today, when I was flipping through channels, I landed on BET. What caught my attention was definitely entertaining, but he is definitely not black!

It’s a hiphop video. Nicely shot. He sounds black. But this Chinese kid is singing:

Ya’ll gonna learn Chinese

Ya’ll gonna learn Chinese

Ya’ll gonna learn Chinese

When the pumps come out, ya’ll gon’ speak Chinese

It’s Jin’s new hit single Learn Chinese.

He was good. I probably won’t buy the whole album, but perhaps buying that one track. There’s Cantonese (which is one of many Chinese dialects) in the song.

I actually enjoyed the video, and surprisingly enjoyed and appreciated his rhymes and the entire song.

It’s probably the “Asian Pride” in me. I feel like I should support the first Chinese rapper who made it to the mainstream. After all, he is the first to make it this big. You an find his video on MTV’s site.

Go Jin!

About

Ongline Podcast documents the life of a gay Malaysian-born Chinese American. Immerse yourself in the life of a not-so-typical individual. Expand your horizon by experiencing the topics, issues, stories, and simply, the life of a gay Asian man. Until now, the voice of a minority individual has not been this loud!

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