Proof That Cats are Evil

Nearly a year ago I blogged with glee a video that had me in stitches everytime I saw it. As I have a natural aversion to cats, I thought I'd spread the hilarity on my Grab blog:

http://blogs.grab.com/hellykwee/214566

And while most people also found it funny, I was chastised a few times for my active dislike of cats. So, I present to you today: proof that cats really ARE the spawn of Satan himself. Cover your ears (and Scot-- please don't kill me! ):




(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/266076245)

Lisa's Soulmate, Part 2

Hehehe... I swear, my Myspace blog is turning into a "Working Daze" repository.

This entry is sort of a continuation of this one, where I found Lisa's BG-loving soulmate in the form of a geek cartoon character on the comic strip "Working Daze". Here he is again, putting it all into perspective once more:



(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/265781559)

Road Rage, justified

Snippet of a phone conversation between me and Allan a while ago:

Allan: I love you
Helly: IDIOT! Freakin' moron!!

Surprisingly, we have conversations like this fairly often.

More surprisingly, Allan hasn't been deterred from talking to me on the phone. Why? You'll see...

Inspired by Ryan's blog entry about the top road rage cities in the country, I decided to compile a few personal incidents that illustrate why Los Angeles deserves its spot in the Top 5.

Of course, in my stories, the person suffering from acute road rage is... me.

Long ago, I blogged about some of my pet peeves. It wasn't until I'd finished and re-read it that I realized how many of them were traffic-related (and categorized the list accordingly).

As you can tell from my "pet peeves" entry, cruising in the passing (or left, here in the US) lane really irks me. I find it riskier to have to pass someone on the right, and hate having to be in such a position. Then one morning on the way to work, someone decided to take that concept to a whole new level. After having driven on German roads and the Autobahn for 4 years, I was very appreciative of the fact that California freeways have practically endless merging room for on-ramps. I was cruising merrily along in the rightmost lane, spied a pickup truck getting on the freeway, and sped up a little so I could get out of his way, as he wasn't going fast enough to pass me by the time I reached the on-ramp. He merged behind me with plenty of room to spare. Next thing I knew, he shot out to try to pass me. Not in the left lane, which was empty. But to my right (the lane was still in merge stage and hadn't completely narrowed). You can bet that I leaned on my horn for several seconds straight while he was passing me. If I hadn't been watching him in my rearview mirror the entire time, I wouldn't have slowed down to make way for him, and we would've collided. Needless to say, the adrenalin was still pumping by the time I arrived at work 25 minutes later.

Every once in a while you find yourself in the wrong lane. Sometimes you're lucky and can shoot over to the correct lane (be it a freeway exit, or a right-turn lane on the street, or whatever) without impeding traffic because there's no cars behind you. No problem. But if not, does it really hurt to continue on until you get a chance to turn around and get back on track? Apparently not for some, who seem intent on nosing their way into the correct lane while inconveniencing those of us behind him. Like the time I pulled up to an intersection, going straight, while the cars in the right-turn-only lane next to me made their turns. When the light turned green, the guy in front of me decided to to try to turn right anyway, from OUR lane! Of course, he had to stop and wait for pedestrians to cross. I honked my horn at him to no avail, because now he was blocking me. Worse yet? He had the nerve to flip ME off for honking at him-- when he was making an illegal turn!!

Then there was the time I basically played chicken with a guy who apparently couldn't read all the road signs telling him he was going the wrong way down a one-way street. I flashed my high beams at him, tried honking my horn at him-- still didn't get the message. So I stayed my course in the middle of the very narrow road, head-on towards him, until, at the very last minute, he finally swerved into a parking lot along the road and got the hell out of the way. You can bet I was cussing up a blue streak all the while!

But motorists aren't the only ones out there who cause aggravation. Pedestrians can be equally bad. I will never forget the group of college students not only jaywalking, but ambling SLOWLY across the street. They moved so nonchalantly that I actually had to take a second look at the traffic light to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me and that I actually had the green light, not them. I had to slam on my brakes to avoid hitting them, and when I blared my horn angrily at them, they simply looked up and stared at me with vacant expressions. They must've been either drunk or stoned, or both. Or maybe they just had a combined IQ of a pinhead.

I miss driving in Germany, where the majority of drivers had a healthy respect for the road. At the very least, with no speed limits in most parts of the country, you were bound to never get stuck behind granny doing 40mph in the left-most lane of the freeway!

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/265323986)

Roles Reversed

Yesterday's "One Big Happy" comic reminds me of Scot-- except with the roles reversed. Hee hee! ;-)



(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/264549216)

The Answer is "One Week"

Scot was the first to notice. Then came Lisa. We know that the age on the actual profile itself is updated on the correct date, the actual birthday. So we mused about how far in advance the blog info is updated before the profile. Scot guessed 3 days. Turns out the answer is: one week. I just checked my blog yesterday, and it had the correct info. Today it does not-- I'm not quite 30 yet! I still have a week to go! As Lisa would say, cheeky...

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/257636683)

Happy Birthday Lisa!

A jolly Happy Birthday to Lisa!

Here's a little personalized birthday greeting from Toddy.
Hope your day is a great one! 

Now come join me in wishing Lisa a very wonderful birthday! :-D

♥ Helly

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/256102900)

Social Networking at its finest

This "Working Daze" strip from a few days ago really cracks me up. So true, how something as insignificant as the ordering of one's "Myspace Top 8" can have such undue consequences and reactions.

I'll bet that when the creators of Myspace first implemented this feature, they never predicted effects and repercussions this far-reaching.

Myspace: USA or UK?

Jenna's latest blog entry prompted me to post this, especially after realizing that not all of my friends had the capability of creating photo albums to organize their Myspace photos. Worse yet, unless their Myspace was set to USA, they couldn't see MY albums (or anyone else's), either!

I figured this out with a bit of experimentation. I discovered that I could change which Myspace country I wanted by going into "Account Settings" and selecting from the short drop-down list (I thought I would have to change my registered address-- nope, simple as this, it turns out).

So I selected "UK" and went back to my homepage. And I noticed a number of differences. First, the spelling ("favourites" vs. "favorites"), as discussed in Jenna's blog comments. Second, the date format (day-month vs. month-day). Both are circled in red in the below screenshots. Third, the ads for Myspace Mobile (which only applies to AT&T (formerly Cingular) customers-- hence will only show up on the US sites).

But most importantly, the ability to create photo albums, as evidenced by the differing name of the photo link (circled in pink) next to my avatar.

So-- if you're wondering why you can't create photo albums, and why you can't view other friends' photo albums when they've created them, this is why. I still don't get why it only seems to be available on Myspace USA. But hey-- at least you can get around it by pretending to be an American, LOL!

Helly on Myspace USA:



Helly on Myspace UK:




(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/247043411)

More Pictures from Lisa's visit

Okay, so I've written a nice summary of the weekend with Lisa, I thought I'd post a few more pictures taken while she was here.

First up, here's all 4 of us during our "Girls' Night Out" at the karaoke bar in Hollywood: Anna, Ev, Lisa and me:



Here's Ev and me belting out Joan Jett's "I Love Rock and Roll"



Sacked out in the limo on the ride back home-- hey, it was getting late!



Next day, at Universal Studios-- here's me (in my Grab polo shirt!) with the Access Hollywood reporters. Yeah, I'm famous and on the red carpet ;-)



This one cracks me up to no end, because it showcases quite perfectly exactly how freakishly tall Allan is-- notice how he, in his sandals, is nearly eye level with Frankenstein (who, by the way, is wearing big clunky shoes!)



Finally, Lisa's last night in LA, Ev and I joined her for dinner in Old Town Pasadena:



And now that you've finished reading all that, hightail it over to Lisa's blog, where more pictures await you :-D

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/241841402)

Lisa does LA

Just as Lisa beat me in blogging about my visit to the UK, I'm gonna blog about our weekend together, when it was Lisa's turn to fly into LA :-D

Unfortunately, I don't have very many pictures to share, so those will have to wait until Lisa returns home and posts them in her own blog (and hopefully zips up the remainder and emails them to me :-D)

Saturday I took Todd with me to pick up Lisa at LAX, after which we stopped by the Northridge Fashion Center, had an early dinner in the food court, and watched Todd play in the indoor playground. Then it was back to my parents' place to quickly change and get ready to go out.

Evelyn and Anna arrived to pick us up-- ostensibly to "carpool"... but when we got out the door, there was a limo waiting for us at the end of the driveway! And moreover-- flowers and booze waiting for her inside the car. It was truly a great way to highlight Lisa's week of living like a princess-- all that was missing was a tiara!

Here's Anna, Lisa and me inside the limo:

We ended up going to a karaoke bar in Hollywood, which was a little quiet at first (and that was a good thing, as it allowed me to totally bomb a song before anybody got there, thus making a fool of myself only in front of the girls) but soon picked up after about 10pm. The place was soon packed with what looked like regulars, and some damn talented ones at that. Like Lisa said, it was like American Idol-- and quite a sharp contrast to when I went out on the pub crawl with my British friends in Wales.

The night was quite entertaining with a variety of performances that never failed to bring the house down, such as "cute guy"'s rendition of "Let's Get it On", Ken's dedication to "Lisa from Wales", and a guy-- that's right, a guy-- doing Britney Spears' "Oops I Did it Again"-- he rocked! Evelyn and I wrapped up our evening with a duet of "I Love Rock and Roll", and thankfully didn't get booed off the stage ;-)

Made it home safe and sound by 1am. Well, it was actually 2am, as that was the night we moved forward to Daylight Saving Time. Talk about an inopportune weekend to lose an hour-- on the very night when I need my sleep the most!

Next day Allan, Todd and I took Lisa to Universal Studios (Ev was feeling poorly and stayed home), where we got plenty of sun and behind-the-scenes views of how movies are made. At one point, during the "Sounds and Effects" studio show, I volunteered for one of the segments that showcased how the blue screen works, esp with one actor playing multiple characters. Here's a shot of me interacting with Eddie Murphy's character on "The Nutty Professor"-- in real life I was sitting on a chair in front of a blue screen. It's not very good quality because it was taken with my phone's VGA camera-- my digital camera decided to die on me upon arrival. That marks the THIRD time in a ROW that a camera has broken down on me as SOON as I get inside Universal Studios. I swear, that place is haunted. Next time, I'm bringing two cameras, one as backup for the one that's sure to break down as soon as I step inside the gate :-P

Blowing kisses at the Nutty Professor in front of the green screen:

And this is how it showed up when mixed with the rest of the movie:




It was a long day full of walking, but we lucked out in not having to wait in many lines. Afterward, we went to Buca di Beppo on CityWalk for dinner, where Ev had laid in reservations for us.

In the parking lot I spied an amusing sight-- a Hummer cramped inside a space marked "Compact". The sad thing about this picture? The owner of this vehicle actually did a much better job of parking as best as he/she could within the tiny space, than most SUV's I've seen-- SUV's that are much smaller than a Hummer! What gives??



All in all, a busy but fun-filled weekend. It was nice seeing Lisa again, and having fun showing her my neck of the woods. On more than one occasion has she shaken her head and said "Only in America".
That's right, babes. It is one unique country :-)

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/240611958)

5 and 10 years ago

Swiped from Scot:

10 years ago-- March 1997:
1.) How old were you?  19
2.) Where did you go to school?  I was winding down my senior year at UCLA
3.) Where did you work?  Full-time student
4.) Where did you live?  With my parents (I commuted)
5.) Where did you hang out?  In the (Army ROTC) cadet lounge :-P
6.) Did you wear glasses?  Yes
7.) Who was your best friend?  Hmmm, Ella and Jenniper?
8.) How many tattoos did you have?  None
9.) How many piercings did you have?  None
10.) What car did you drive?  My mom's 1984 Toyota Corolla
11.) Had you been to a real party yet?  Just some military balls, those were always fun!
12.) Had you had your heart broken?  Nope
13.) Single/Taken/Married/Divorced/Bitter:  Single

5 years ago-- March 2002:

1.) How old were you? 24 :-P
2.) Where did you go to school?  Wrapping up my first year at UCSB
3.) Where did you work?  UCSB, as a teaching assistant
4.) Where did you live?  Santa Barbara, CA
5.) Where did you hang out?  The computer lab on campus :-P
6.) Did you wear glasses?  Yes
7.) Who was your best friend?  Didn't really have best friends per se, had my little "gang" of friends that I spent the most time with, though-- Wayne, Darren, Dallas and Ly.
8.) Who was your regular-person crush?  What, as opposed to an irregular person? :-P
9.) How many tattoos did you have? None
10.) How many piercings did you have?  None
11.) What car did you drive?  My beloved baby-- a 1998 Plymouth Neon
12.) Had you had your heart broken?  Nope
13.) Single/Taken/Married/Divorced/Bitter:  Single

Today-- March 2007:

1.) How old are you? 29, going on 30 VERY soon
2.) Where do you work?  Amgen
3.) Where do you live?  Split my time between my parents' house and Santa Barbara
4.) Do you wear glasses?  Still do!
5.) Where do you hang out?  At home, with my son
6.) Who is your best friend?  Lisa :-)
7.) Who's your crush?  No crushes
8.) Do you talk to your old friends?  Not really
9.) How many piercings do you have?  Still don't have any
10.) How many tattoos?  Still don't have any
11.) What kind of car do you have?  2003 Mitsubishi Galant (my poor Neon is kaputt)
12.) Has your heart been broken?  I plead the Fifth
13.) Single/Taken/Married/Divorced/Bitter:  Married, though still in denial and disbelief over that fact :-P

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/237594794)

More Working Daze

I think I'm starting to become a fan of this comic strip. This is today's comic, and this time it reminds me of none other than: me.

Not that I would consider myself "bad with computers", but here's the deal: I have a "reverse Midas touch" when it comes to computers. Every single computer I've ever touched goes kablooey at one point or another. Doesn't matter what kind of computer. Desktop, laptop. Mac, Linux, Windows, even Solaris. Bring on the blue screen of death. Or simple freezes.

Hmmm... perhaps I should rethink my chosen profession, which deals solely with computers.... eh?

Lisa's Soulmate

I was catching up on web comics while eating lunch, and had a good laugh when I came across this one, because it sooooo reminds me of Lisa! I can relate to the girl in the cartoon, too, there's been a couple times where I've been left in the dust in a daze, after Lisa dashed off a quick "brb" email to me before scurrying off to catch BG.

So, Lisa-- I guess this is evidence that you are, indeed, a bona fide geek! :-D



(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/235322229)

Unexpected Free Food

A few minutes ago I stopped by the vending machine to get a snack. I made a beeline for the bag of Sun Chips that had caught my attention yesterday. As I plunked my coins into the machine, my eyes wandered over the rest of the selection, and I noticed that in the same column as the chips, a Kit Kat bar hung precariously from its holder (I could just hear the frustration of the person who had attempted to buy it and left empty-handed).

When my bag of chips fell, it knocked the Kit Kat bar down along with it, so I ended up with two snacks for the price of one. Cool little windfall :-D

Okay, so it isn't really much to write about, but I've been having a pretty crappy week (and it's probably going to get worse before it gets better), so I thought I'd revel in the small rewards while I can!

Yum :-9

(originally posted at:  http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/230622190)

The Smell of Gasoline...

... assaults my nose as I sit here at my computer. Unlike most smells that you grow accustomed to, this one is still annoying the hell out of me.

This morning, I arrived at work a few minutes early, so I decided to pull into the gas station next to my office building and fill up so I wouldn't have to bother with it when I go home tonight (and when it's guaranteed to be colder outside).

I topped off my tank as I normally do, but this time, instead of causing the handle of the pump to switch off automatically once the gasoline reached a certain level with respect to the nozzle in the tank, it didn't. Next thing I knew, gas was spraying out like a geyser. Most ended up running down the side of my car, and a little bit ended up splashing on my pants.

It dried quickly enough, but the stench remains. Obviously, since I'm at work, changing my clothes and chucking my jeans into the wash is NOT an option.

So... anyone have any ideas for how to quickly and effectively get the gasoline off my jeans? Any household hints? Or at least-- something to mask the smell?

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/229621596)