Random Notes 23

1. I am so looking forward to the coming weekend and the Hari Raya holidays next week! It will be a long holiday for me!

Happy holidays everyone!



2. How many of you still do not have a smart phone? If you don't have one, do not worry. You don't need to have a smart phone cos it's smarter than you. What you really need is an iPhone! LOL!



3. I discovered something. Every time I eat a slice of pizza whether it's from Pizza Hut or Domino's, the slice of pizza will always turn into a fish! Look!







Does it happen to your slice of pizza too?



4. I think I have mentioned in my blog before that I don't really fancy McDonald's. That's why I love this T shirt which I bought from Bangkok last year!







Do you think it's appropriate for me to wear this T-shirt to McDonald's?



5. Talking about T-shirts, I have just ordered some T-shirts online at Threadless. I thought they were pretty !! You may want to check out their T-shirts HERE.



6. Still on the subject of T-shirts, and touching a little bit on marriage, are you married or still single? I am specifically asking this question to my male readers so female readers need not answer. Why's that? Cos if you are still single, let me give you a message from my T-shirt.







Get it? Haha!! This Graffitee T-shirt never fail to turn heads whenever I wear it!



7. Do you like guessing game? Here's something for you to guess. I think I have posted this on Twitter before so some of you who are following me on Twitter would know the answer already.



Anyway, look at this picture. Is it an orange or a lemon?







Scroll down to number 11 for the answer



8. I love fried rice! Do you?



Although I only eat 1 small bowl of white rice for dinner, I can eat 3 big bowls of fried rice if no one stops me! Haha! Usually I love eating the fried rice wrapped in lettuce leaves!







Yummy! I am thinking of having fried rice for dinner tonight. They sure help to put on the pounds but I'll worry about that the next day! LOL!



9. Have you ever heard a nice song on radio or somewhere but you did not know the title of the song and who the singer was? You were dying to find out so that you could buy the album or at least search for the song on YouTube but the radio DJ failed to mention the name of the song?



Well, if you have an iPhone, your frustration is over! Just download this app!







This is such an amazing app! Whenever you hear a song you like but you don't know the title of the song or who sang it, just click on Shazam and it will sample the song and figure it out for you! Now you know why I must always carry my iPhone with me everywhere I go!



10. Last night, as I was biting into a tomato, I had the shock of my life! This was what I saw!







Can someone please tell me what the hell are those freaking things inside the tomato?!



At first I thought they were worms but on closer inspection, they actually looked like bean sprouts or taugeh. What the hell are the bean sprouts doing inside the tomato? Cross breeding? Mutation? Genetic engineering?



This tomato was bought from an organic vegetable supplier. I threw the whole tomato away and did not dare to eat any more tomatoes after that!



11. OK, here's the answer to the "Orange or Lemon" guessing game.







It's an orange! Did you get it right?

Ghosts In My Photos

Over the years, I have taken many photographs with strange and unexplained objects or entities in them.



Since it is the Hungry Ghost Festival this month, I thought it would be the perfect time to show you all those "ghostly" photographs. It is especially timely as at the stroke of midnight tonight, the Gates of Hell will be thrown wide open to let all those hungry ghosts roam the earth!



Yes, if you do not already know, 12am tonight marks the 14th day of the 7th lunar month in the Chinese calendar, which is the peak of the Hungry Ghost Festival. Be afraid. Be very afraid...



All the photos shown here were taken either with my old Sony Ericsson C902 mobile phone or my current iPhone 3Gs, so please excuse the not-so-good quality photos.



This is a photo I took last year at the KL Convention Centre. Those of you who have been there will recognize this long corridor leading to Traders Hotel. I and my friend had gone to SkyBar at Traders Hotel that night and on the way back, we walked through this corridor.



My friend had gone to the toilet and while waiting for her, I snapped a picture of the corridor just for fun. It was only the next day I noticed there was something unusual with the photo. Can you see it?







That dark figure on the right side of the photo - what is that? It looks as if it's someone dressed in dark robes walking towards me. But I did not see such a person when I took the photo!



They say many cinemas in Malaysia are haunted. If it's the cinema in Summit Subang, I will be quick to agree as I had felt uncomfortable the last time I went there. But do you believe if I tell you now that GSC Signature in The Gardens is haunted?



Look at this photo which I took inside the GSC Signature lounge. Can you see someone standing at the end of the row of chairs on the left?







Or was that just the light playing tricks on my eyes?



And how about this picture which I took on the same night in the GSC Signature lounge?







What is that ghostly white figure flying out from the chair near the curtain?



That's not all. One night my friend and I watched a late night movie at GSC Signature. If you have been to GSC Signature, you will know that on leaving the cinema hall, you will pass by this glass window overlooking the Gardens Mall below.



It was past midnight when our movie ended. As we walked out of the cinema hall, we passed by this glass window and I decided to take a photo. As I was taking the photo, I suddenly saw that face reflected on the window! Can you see it?







I quickly turned around but there was no one behind me! When I turned back to face the glass window, the face was gone! Somehow I managed to capture that haunting face in my iPhone. My friend freaked out when she saw this photo!



Two years ago, I was at Genting Highlands with another friend. I was waiting for my friend who had gone to the toilet at Highlands Hotel near Starbucks. While waiting inside the lobby of the hotel, I snapped this photo. When I reached home, only did I see it! Can you see it - that white female ghost at the ceiling?!







Another time - probably 3 years ago - I visited Genting Highlands with yet another friend. We were resting at the lobby in Resort Hotel late one night. There were not many people at the lobby at that time. I accidentally snapped this photo where a white figure was crawling on the floor.







Surely that can't be my imagination? This reminded me too much of those "japanese" or "korean" horror movies so needless to say, I was totally freaked out!



I love to go jogging in the park. One of the parks I frequent is Taman Lembah Kiara in Taman Tun. I dislike crowds so I normally go when there are not many people around.



One afternoon, I went there to jog. There was no one around at the time. As I reached the suspension bridge, I saw this blue figure standing at the bridge!







At the sight of the blue figure, I froze in fright. It appeared to be slightly transparent. Luckily I managed to regain my composure and quickly snapped a photo of it before running the hell away!



After seeing all these photos, do you believe in the existence of ghosts? Did my photos freak you out?



OK, I have a confession to make.



None of the photos above are true. Haha!!!



Yes, perhaps I have tricked some of you but I am pretty sure I did not trick all of you. If you have been using the Ghost Capture app on your iPhone, you will know how I created those ghostly images on my photos! LOL!







It was quite a fun app! All you need to do is to snap a photo or retrieve an existing photo from the picture library in your phone, add in the ghost you like (there are over 30 ghosts to choose from in the paid app), manipulate the size and position of the ghost, adjust how sharp or blur you want your ghost to appear and voila! You have a ghostly picture to share with your friends!







The only qualm I have about this app is that all the ghostly images they provide are Western ghosts! I would have preferred some Chinese or Japanese ghosts as they are more scary! Haha!



There is another app which I would like to share with you all as it is quite a scary app. When I first downloaded this app on my iPhone, it gave me quite a fright. There was a picture of this girl.







I don't know about you but this picture of the girl already seems to frighten me. She looks like a person who is dead, don't you agree?



And then as I looked at the picture, it began to change...in a horrible way.







The face then turned hideous and it was accompanied with ghostly wail and screams that were too terrifying to describe!







If you have a weak heart, do not ever download this app! The girl has now changed into an ugly ghost that will send chills down the spine of anyone who look at her!







Now the fun part of this app is you can take anyone's photo (including your own) and change the face into a horrible looking ghost! Not that I want to do any such thing! No thanks! Haha!



The app is called HauntedFace available for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.



Although all the ghosts in the photos which I took and shown earlier in this post are fake and were created using the Ghost Capture app, there is however one photo in my collection that is genuine. I took this photo while walking the suspension bridge at FRIM 2 years ago.







Is that my imagination or is it a long haired lady in dark glasses wearing a robe or something on the tree trunk? What do you think?

FIRST COMMENTER

Random Notes 20

1. I am getting more and more upset with my current telco. I did a speed test of their Edge connection and this was the result.



It was so freaking slow I could not even get my Twitter timeline updated on my iPhone!

When I switched to 3G expecting a faster connection, guess what happened? My phone line suddenly vanished! Poof! People could not even call me after that! How ridiculous is that?!

2. I noticed more and more restaurants are installing this call button. At the press of the button, we can summon the waiter to our table to get the menu, make an order, pay the bills or make a complaint. How convenient!



The only problem is when customers misuse it when they let their children play with it. Can you imagine what happens when a young kid keeps pressing the button? I pity the poor waiter!

3. I normally eat nothing but fruits for breakfast. But once in a while, I like to go to OldTown White Coffee for my breakfast. I would either eat their Western Platter...



Or their steamed bread with butter and kaya.



But sometimes I rather go PappaRich to eat their half boiled eggs, toasted bun with butter and kaya plus a cup of hot coffee! Yummy!



4. Take a look at this photo. Make a guess. Do you think this is coffee, milk tea or Milo?



Hint : It is not sweet

5. I love desserts!!! Do you? My current most favourite dessert shop is Snowflake Taiwanese Dessert! For those of you who have eaten there, do you prefer the Grass Jelly, Taroballs or Soya Ice series?



I love the pearls, lotus seed and the chewy taro balls! A perfect dessert on a hot day!

You can take a look at the menu HERE.

Usually I would add more taro balls as it is my favourite topping! Want to learn how to make your own taro balls? Read HERE.

6. Last week, I watched the much anticipated movie, Kungfu Panda 2. It was pretty awesome. But somehow, I felt it was not as good as the first movie. What do you think?



The one thing I like about the movie is the very cute and adorable Baby Po!



Isn't he cute? I wish I can have a baby panda as my pet! Haha!!



Well, the movie was filled with lots of funny jokes and wisdom one-liners. So it was definitely still a good and enjoyable movie! Just that I went in the cinema hall with too high an expectation I guess.



7. If you have been reading my blog or following me on Twitter, you will know by now that I love the rain. One afternoon it rained so hard I could not get out of my own car! So I took out my iPhone and recorded a short video of the rain from inside my car.



Oh my, I just love the sound of the rain hitting my car windscreen! Call me weird but I find it so therapeutic!

Luckily I was not rushing for an appointment or any important event, so I waited for the rain to become less heavy. With such heavy rain, it would be pointless to leave the car even if I had an umbrella with me, don't you agree?

8. Talking about rain, I hope it would rain tonight. I just love sleeping while listening to the rain! But if it does not rain, I do have another option - create fake rain sound!

Yes, with this amazing Sleepmaker Rains app on my iPhone, I can select the kind of rain sound that I like and play it while I lie in my bed! Haha!



9. I don't know what's freaking wrong with me, but I am starting to get addicted to this song that features a flying cat called Nyan Cat, with the body of a Pop-Tart, and a rainbow trailing behind it!

Play this video and see if you like it. And read about the origins of Nyan Cat.



Well? If you like it, you can try the longer version (about 3 and a half hours!!!) HERE and see if you can sit through the whole duration without killing yourself! Good luck!! LOL!

FIRST COMMENTER

Loud Speaker Vs Redbox Vs Neway Karaoke

I love to go karaoke and sing my heart out! How about you?

Not that I am any good at singing, mind you, but isn't that what karaoke is all about? If I can sing like Adam Lambert or God forbid, Justin Bieber, I don't need to go karaoke, do I?

Last December, I went to Loud Speaker Karaoke in Kota Damansara for the very first time.



I usually go Redbox or Neway for my karaoke haunts, but I wanted to try this new kid in town.



The only thing I like about Loud Speaker is their touch screen unit where you can choose and key in the songs you want to sing! You can choose by country, language, top hits, new releases and many other categories!



I opted for language. Look! They have a wide variety of songs in different languages! OK, why is the word "English" spelt as "Englisd"?



OK I admit other karaoke outlets like Neway and Redbox also have all these options but they don't have touch screen units.

My problem with Loud Speaker is that their song selections were not as updated as Redbox or Neway. I tried to select Bruno Mars' Just The Way You Are, a relatively new song at that time, but I could not even find Bruno Mars in the male singers category! What a disappointment!



Now Redbox (picture above) may have the most updated songs compared to both Loud Speaker and Neway but I think their service sucks! The counter staff is rude (most of the time) and they like to disable the karaoke machine before your time is up! *

If you have ever been to Redbox buffet, you will know that their food sucks big time! If you are more into singing than eating, my advice is don't go for the buffet.

However, if you are more into eating than singing, then it's better to go to Neway as their food are much better. But seriously, if you are more interested in eating, why bother to go karaoke at all? Haha!!



Nowadays the newer karaoke outlets have wireless microphones. This is great because I hate all those wires hanging around that might cause you to trip over them!

But I hate it when I get screeching sounds from the mike! It's so irritating when I am singing my favourite song! Do you know how to prevent the screeching sound?

I was told that when the microphones and the speakers are too close to each other, they will cause an echo resulting in that loud irritating screech! So the solution is to move the mikes away from the speakers. Problem is, most of the karaoke rooms are too small for this, so perhaps you will need to turn down the sensitivity of the mike.

Well, I tried but it didn't really work!



Ok, I shall mention about the tidbits. Oh yes, I am never ever happy with the tidbits in karaoke outlets!

Now I am not complaining about the quality of the tidbits although they are not of high quality. Whether it is Neway or Redbox (I don't remember Loud Speaker has tidbits!), the tidbits are compulsory. Yes, like it or not, you are charged anywhere between RM12 to RM20 for the tidbits!

So when you enquire about the price, the counter staff will tell you the price per head, but that does not include the price of the tidbits! Why can't they just include everything in the price per head? Many people do not know about these hidden charges until they see the bill.

Would you like to hear me sing? I have recorded a small part of my own singing and would like to share it with you. I'll be singing my favourite Mariah Carey's song of all time, We Belong Together. Let's listen to it, shall we? Click below to play...(now don't puke!!! haha)



So how do you find my singing? Good? Bad? Pukey?

Of course it is not me singing! LOL!! It's actually Mariah Carey herself! But using this amazing iPhone app called Ringtone Maker Pro, I managed to change her voice into a male voice! Haha!!

This is my iPhone screen showing the fun Ringtone Maker Pro app.



Using the original song, I can create a ring tone for my iPhone. But instead of just creating a ring tone of the original song, I can speed up the song or change the pitch higher or lower to suit my fancy!

Notice the "pitch" buttons at the bottom of the screen? Mariah Carey's voice is at the "zero" level. To make her sound like a man, I tuned it down three notches to "minus 3".

That was fun!! Haha! I guess it's too late for April Fool's Day, but I hope you enjoyed this post! Now who wants to go karaoke?

*Based on my experience at Redbox The Curve

FIRST COMMENTER