Oh, how I forget about my annual American Idol post? Yeah well, this time round I won't be making such detailed predictions of who's going to get through week by week coz' 1) I'm too lazy, and 2) most of you fellas reading this probably don't watch AI anyway, so you wouldn't know what I'm talking about... but for those who DO watch it (or at least read about it), here are my takes so far:
1) Thank God Tatiana Del Toro didn't make it through to top 12 last week. Not that she's a bad singer, in fact, I concede that she's a fantastic singer. But for one thing, I can't stand her drama queen antics, and I can't stand her hyena-like laughter either. Buh bye, Tati!
2) I'm sad that Nick Mitchell/Norman (or Normund? No one seems to know how to spell his name right!) Gentle didn't make it through this week. Not a great singer, but certainly the most entertaining idol contestant ever. Certainly more entertaining that what's-his-name who sang 'Man in the Mirror' and managed to get through to the top 12. You certainly can't disagree after watching this:
They better bring him back on Wildcard night!
3) Dunno where this dude popped out from, but as soon as he started his rendition of 'Can't Get No Satisfaction', I fell in love with Adam Lambert:
I hope he wins American Idol!!! But it's more likely that...
4) Danny Gokey will win the whole show. He can sing darn well, he's pretty cute, and his pretty wife just passed away recently. So he'll get the good-singer votes, cute-guy votes AND sympathy votes. How not to win like dat??
Sorry the vids are rather crappy though. Apparently Fremantle International removes any videos of original clips from the show for copyright infringement. Yeesh, like they're already earning gazillions from the show, they could at least let people enjoy the real vids on Youtube for free. >:(
Saturday, February 28, 2009
The Un-traumatizing Process
I'm kind of sitting here not really sure what to write about and kind of updating my blog for the sake of assuring people who actually bother to read it that I have not disappeared off the face of the earth. Unfortunately I've been going through a phase of kind of wanting to keep a low profile and not my usually blab-about-whatever-I-feel-like self here... as weird as it may sound, I'm pretty sure it's the side effects of my experiences at my previous job, where I got nitpicked on by my boss for so many stupid things that I became rather withdrawn, tense and paranoid that anything I do would somehow or another turn out to be wrong... and even now at my new job, where far as I can see my bosses and the culture is much better, I'm still having trouble 'un-traumatizing' myself from past experiences. Fine example is sending emails... one of the things I got into trouble for before was sending emails to 'outsiders' (which includes people WITHIN the company, but not under my bosses' team) without going though my boss, which ticked him off coz' he was afraid that I would say stuff that would ruin the image of his team, and he was also mad coz' I refered to him as 'my manager' instead of by his correct position in one of my emails. Later on, I realized that this culture of fear and image protection isn't just his problem, but really stems from people at the top. Anyhow, after that, I was super careful about whatever I wrote in my emails, and was always wondering if I should check with him first before sending anything... even for small minor things that bosses shouldn't even be bothered about. Naturally, repeated scanning through emails for mistakes or anything that could 'ruin company's image' was quite a waste of time when I could be doing more important work. Certainly, being paranoid is far from productive.
But anyhow, so far things have been good at my new office. I'm still enjoying the fact that it's only 7 minutes drive from my house (would be less if not for a patch of road at the shortcut that's not tarred and full of potholes, which I would rather avoid), I can wake up after 8am and be at office in half an hour, and when I'm sleepy, I can come back during lunch hour and nap in my cozy bed. Hmmm... So far no problems with bosses and colleagues are all great (no office bullies. Whew!) and the one of the German directors who only comes in once a month or so just loves going around, hugging and kissing all the girls (on the head, yeah!) everytime he sees them. He didn't do it to me the first time we met, of course, he just shook my hand hard enough that I thought it was going to fall off!
I can't really say everything will continue being hunky dory since I've only been here like 2 weeks. Usually I figure out whether I love the place or not within 6 months... so I hope and pray I can do well here and be here for a loooooong time. And even more hopefully, I get my groove back and post more interesting stuff here. :P
But anyhow, so far things have been good at my new office. I'm still enjoying the fact that it's only 7 minutes drive from my house (would be less if not for a patch of road at the shortcut that's not tarred and full of potholes, which I would rather avoid), I can wake up after 8am and be at office in half an hour, and when I'm sleepy, I can come back during lunch hour and nap in my cozy bed. Hmmm... So far no problems with bosses and colleagues are all great (no office bullies. Whew!) and the one of the German directors who only comes in once a month or so just loves going around, hugging and kissing all the girls (on the head, yeah!) everytime he sees them. He didn't do it to me the first time we met, of course, he just shook my hand hard enough that I thought it was going to fall off!
I can't really say everything will continue being hunky dory since I've only been here like 2 weeks. Usually I figure out whether I love the place or not within 6 months... so I hope and pray I can do well here and be here for a loooooong time. And even more hopefully, I get my groove back and post more interesting stuff here. :P
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Monday, February 09, 2009
If the China Chinese could sell their souls for $1, they probably would...
I got a link from a friend on Facebook to this site called Animal Saviours that are creating awareness on this trade of live skinning of cats and dogs in China for their fur. Skinned. ALIVE. And the poor creatures are left to die in agony after that. For what? $1 per pelt or some ridiculously small amount like that. Heck, even $1 gazillion a pelt doesn't justify this inhumanity. I have no reason to believe this is a hoax, and there's a even a video of the skinning being carried out on the site, which honestly I couldn't watch because I know it would give me nightmares after that. Just reading the description of what the poor animals have to go through is horrifying enough. I mean, seriously, the human race can-NOT get any sicker than this.
They have an online petition asking for signatures to get the Chinese government to end this trade. If you feel signing it will make some sort of difference, please go ahead. Fact is that most online petitions are pretty useless (as explained in this article here)... and I signed it only coz' there's really nothing much else I can do except maybe hop a flight to China and bash in the heads of the sickos doing this. A better thing you can do is:
1) Never ever EVER buy any clothes/bags/shoes/ANYTHING made of fur. Even if it says it's made of mink or some other animal, it may actually be made of dog or cat fur. And if it ISN'T a dog or cat, other animals shouldn't be treated like this either!!
2) Tell people about this and make sure they are sickened enough to decide to never, ever buy fur products too. Yes, people, I am telling you to go forth, be annoying and SPAM all your friends with this message!!!
Unfortunately people don't treat chickens, cows, pigs and other animal we eat much better either. One day I hope I have the willpower to become vegetarian.
They have an online petition asking for signatures to get the Chinese government to end this trade. If you feel signing it will make some sort of difference, please go ahead. Fact is that most online petitions are pretty useless (as explained in this article here)... and I signed it only coz' there's really nothing much else I can do except maybe hop a flight to China and bash in the heads of the sickos doing this. A better thing you can do is:
1) Never ever EVER buy any clothes/bags/shoes/ANYTHING made of fur. Even if it says it's made of mink or some other animal, it may actually be made of dog or cat fur. And if it ISN'T a dog or cat, other animals shouldn't be treated like this either!!
2) Tell people about this and make sure they are sickened enough to decide to never, ever buy fur products too. Yes, people, I am telling you to go forth, be annoying and SPAM all your friends with this message!!!
Unfortunately people don't treat chickens, cows, pigs and other animal we eat much better either. One day I hope I have the willpower to become vegetarian.
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