Quite an amateurish style but mine nonetheless. I bought some cell-phone decorations and decided to paste them on my usb minus cover. Then on my door token. Thank goodness I ran out of stones before I could paste them on anything else. They looked quite festive and I can see them from a 100 miles :)

After watching this video, I thought just about anyone can make their own novelty usb drive. Its not all that crazy as long as you don't have headless soft toys usb drives. Those are just freaky. Come to think of it, you can also just get a very thin and plain usb and modify the cover with acrylic paints, sequins, beads or just about anything at all. This would be much easier albeit less imaginative. But start small...

Note from WillRockewell - the designer

Flash!! Divers salvaging the remains of the Nautilus have recovered what appears to be Captain Nemo's personal flash drive, or Pocket Memory, as they were once called. Even more amazing, the device still functions.

While it does look like something that came out of Captain Nemo's vest pocket, I assure you this drive has not been underwater. This is a one-of-a-kind art object, hand made of brass and copper. It contains a state of the art 4Gb flash drive. This beautiful object comes in its own period case and sits on plush velvet.

THE PRICE FOR THIS ARTIFACT HAS BEEN REDUCED

Today the painter (should have been 2 painters) arrived at my house. He was a cheery old man who seemed strong enough to do the work but he was very slow! He had to paint one living room , one tiny storeroom and 2 ceilings. I think that will all that he would be able to do by 5 pm today. He still has 3 rooms, 2 bathrooms and 3 ceilings (oh dear).

The living room colour is now rose from white-grey. I looked at my receipt and saw it clear as day and so I had no cause to ask the Uncle to re-check. The Uncle told me that sometimes colours in charts are different from colors in cans! But at least the colour is rather pretty instead of calm. maybe pretty is better. At least it would go with the rest of my furniture. At least my house would have some colour. However, the colour just looks white in the bright light. I think these colours should come with a warning label. Sigh!

I like buying things from Etsy as they are all handmade and I know that no two things would be alike. I also like the fact that the money goes to the craftsperson and not for middlemen. Tamar creates exquisite treasures for the whimsical at heart :)

I am glad that I had found the time to put my Etsy purchases together for the house. They look quite nice when put together. I am very glad that I had bought them all.

I chanced upon this old movie by P. Ramlee Ali Baba dan 40 Penyamun (Ali Baba and the forty thieves) while waiting for the Korean movie for grandma. I had always made a point to watch it each and every time it aired on public TV and now on cable. Its fun with great songs that had easy tunes and my nephews used to memorise the dialogue which they would play out in their numerous rounds of pretend.

I especially liked the part where all the 40 thieves decided to dance when they heard their BOSS (P Ramlee) or chief singing. Its funny so even when they got burnt by the hot oil, it was not distressing at all. I miss watching funny films like these.

I don't much like his tragedies though as they can be harrowing and melodramatic, the most harrowing being Ibu Mertua Ku (My Mother-in-law), where he pierced his own eyes with forks. OUCH!

Geylang Serai on Sunday was no place to be for the faint-hearted-people like me who makes only an annual pilgrimage, only once a year. The new market is spanking and neat, with neat rows of food stalls vs perishables and provisions vs rows and rows of baju kurung sellers.

The years upon years of stench that was Geylang Serai before is no more especially after the rojak tragedy early this year. Now you just have the faint fishy smell and of cos the smell of sweat- kind of horrifying for someone who shops at supermarkets and air-con shopping centres.

I went there to discuss my purchases from yesterday. I had bought a blind that I can put at the front door so we would be safe from prying eyes but this morning I had changed my mind as I thought the blind would also prevent the breeze from entering my house as well as sunshine from creeping in. Of cos the salesperson told me that it was not in anyone's interest for him to return my $185.00 and so I decided to get some curtains and new rods for my auntie for Hari Raya 2010.

We saw a Karaoke contest going on at Joo Chiat Complex but no one could actually sing in tune although the crowd was easily pleased and very kind. I liked this old man (in the video) most of all. His voice was weak and he carried the tune badly but the song reminded me of P Ramlee and I could even remember the lyrics :)

Cousin R wanted to buy kampong eggs for my auntie but both shops were closed. She told me that the Chinese stall holder would sell 10 eggs for $3.50 while the Malay stall holder would sell 10 for $5.50. I wonder why that is. So we ended up buying goreng pisang for grandma before we went home. I think it will be next year before I go to Geylang Serai again.

Anthony Wong, the naturalist and owner of The Frangipani had created 2 separate sections for his hotel. He believed that zoning is the answer to try to satisfy the needs of all. We were glad to be in this section as it was quiet and we could hang out at the pool and beach without being overwhelmed by sunbathers and err...topless ones too. We were in 108 and 110 :)

We were very excited to see this tree as it no longer grows in Singapore. When I was living in the Kampong (Kamping Wak Tanjung), there was a local cherry tree that grew in the compound and we used to race the birds to get all the fruit in the hot afternoon to eat. We would end up with very sticky fingers though but it was worth it.

Ok. Monkeys should not eat plastic. No one should eat plastic and it was disturbing to see this young monkey making short work of a plastic bottle. We were warned not to take plastic bags, food or water bottles when we were on the island but I guess people will do what they want to the detriment of the langurs. I overhead some people saying that the monkeys were naughty and would even harm you.

Of course they would harm you if you harm them in the first place or do not respect their habitat and if people insist on feeding them, they would think taking things rom people is the thing to do.

And what about this monkey? Of course no one did anything as no one wants an angry monkey on them, not even me. It would be dangerous for all of us. I think in no ime at all, these monkey would either be relocated or killed as money wins, every time. :(

I must say that this was one of the highlights of my trip. We took a power boat to go island hopping and stopped to feed the eagles. Actually we took pictures while the boatman threw pieces of chicken skin into the water. The eagles then swooped down to fish. It was a magnificent sight when Langkawi eagles (brown) and sea eagles (white) flew to get the chicken skin.

On hindsight, and I was a little troubled by the fact that fatty chicken skin was not the best thing to feed eagles but it was difficult for naturalists to persuade the boatmen to give the eagles the right food- fish presumably although of course eagles would eat a whole chicken if they can get it. We didn't know that this was what they would be given.

I did not go to the mangrove tour as a friend of my friend had told us that the power boats destroyed more mangrove in Langkawi than anything else because the boats went too fast and chopped off mangrove. That made me feel guilty about wanting to go and so changed my mind after the island hopping adventure. But whatever it is, this is the eternal fight that islands that depend on tourism go through. 90% of Langkawi's revenue comes from tourism but more and more, people are becoming more aware of environmental concerns and will take measures to protect the island.