It's A Man's World

If you think we rule the world and that we’re so special, big brains, bigger ambitions and probably the biggest personalities, check out what these creatures can do. 

The thorny devil lizard from Central Australia has an amazing feature that it’s born with. Only reaching the solid length of 20cm, and having to reside in the scorching deserts of Australia, it somehow needs to find enough water for its body. So what these little fellas have are feet with absorbing powers that allows it to absorb water from whatever surface it touches and during the odd occasion when it rains, capillary action allows it to absorb water from all over its body. Which I think is a pretty handy trait to have, especially when you’re thirsty.

From the same part of the world, residing more in the coastal areas of north Australia also lives the Taipan snake (Oxyuranus scutellatus). It can grow up to 3m in length, and one drop of its poison can easily kill a 6 footer. Imagine what it can do to an average sized human. In these kind of environments food doesn’t come by easily. It’s not Jalan Alor on a Tuesday night. So, anything that decides to stroll by this snake, can be potentially taken out in one nibble.

 

As humans, being the most dominant species on this planet, next to mosquitoes, the way we’re built is basically almost the same as most mammals when talking about the placement of organs and what not. The only gift, if you want to call it a gift, is the complexity of our brains. I suppose you can say it’s the most vital part of our bodies. Having been given this gift, we have the ability to think a lot quicker and more in depth than other living things. Although, sometimes our decisions and actions may contradict that whole statement completely.

As time has proved, the more we progress into the future, the more unaware we are of our insignificance in the world. What are we to the amazing redwood tress in California or the majestic blue whales in our oceans? Not a lot really if you think about it. So what gives us the right to log down a forest that’s been around for longer than our ancestors? I’m not even kidding those trees have been around for millions of years. Which I’m pretty shocked about myself.

If creatures like those mentioned above that have such amazing “super powers” are put on this earth purely for surviving, shouldn’t we do the same and not play the Dr. Evil game and try and destroy our beautiful planet with just one push of a button. I’m probably exaggerating, but that’s what it’s leading to slowly. If it means using our brains to create deadly and destructible substances against each other, then maybe we should find another planet to do so. Just like a fight at a bar. If you’ve got issues with one another, take it outside.

 

Check out my weekly column, TGIF, on Loyar Burok.
Also if you have the same problem as me figuring out what to wear everyday, and trying to justify that by telling yourself you've got no clothes to wear,  well, Loyar Burok would've solved your problem. They've just printed brand new t-shirts. Pictures and info on where to buy should be up on the website soon.

GOOD MORNING MALAYSIA!!!

Ah Ouiiiii!!!! Bon Jour!!!

Since I got back to Malaysia in 2009, my domestic and culinary skills have been dying down gradually. Being on my own for about 4 years in the UK, kinda forced me to learn how to cook, clean and all that jazz, and before I knew it, I was a domestic goddess!!!! (I'd like to think so)

Recently, and by recently I mean 2 days ago, besides making inconsistent cookie dough, I've managed to whip out a loaf of BEAUTIFUL banana bread. I think it was inspired by the Chimpanzee documentary I was watching on Nat Geo Wild :)

Unfortunately, this recipe was not created by my innate cooking skills, but cheekily stolen from an amazing banana bread website. It's a website devoted solely to banana bread. It has any banana bread recipe you can think of. But the one I chose was the "Ultimate Banana Bread Recipe". It even has a recipe for curried pineapple banana bread. I think that's taking "fusion" a bit too far. Well, check it out anyways.
http://www.banana-bread.biz/

The other thing I came across was a measurement for butter. Normally you would say 200 grams of butter, or if you want to work with melted butter, you'd say half a cup or something more realistic. This one just said "One STICK of butter". I stared at the sentence for a good ten minutes trying to make sense of this measurement in my head. One stick... does that mean a horizontal stick, a short fat vertical stick (No... that will make it a square), or just the whole slab of butter, which i thought would be a bit too much for just one small loaf of banana bread. Lo and behold, it is an actual American measurement for butter. It equals to 113.5 grams of butter. Oh yes!! I would've guessed 113.5 grams!!! That is a perfect stick of butter. Oh well, it's nice to learn something new everyday.

Anyway, I tweaked the recipe slightly. After finding out that this was an American site, I immediately reduced the sugar amount to half. And of course, ignored pecans in the ingredient list. Well, below are some shots of my pride and joy.

 What a beautiful perfect loaf :)

 

Everyone needs a profile shot.

Looks good, but it tastes better. Pah!!

About Me.. Hopefully with relevance

It's not that I had no intention on doing the "About Me" section on this blog.. I just thought I'd take my time and do it when I actually know what to write about myself. With all the relevance in the world still intact, just a small heads up to all the 13 faithful followers that I have (now), LoyarBurok has invited me to write a weekly column for their website. I believe it's going to be called TGIF regardless the day I submit my post and I have to do an 80 word write up about myself. So, instead of crowding my dashboard with applications, I'm using this as a writing platform. Ahoy! This is me on a mission to attempt to kill 2 birds with one stone :)

Well, these things are never easy to start... So this sentence will be a full paragraph in 5 hours.

(Content below edited and added on the 8th of Dec 2010 at 6:10PM. So 5 hours was definitely a lie)

 URRRGHGHHH!!! Have no idea what to write about myself. Anyway, gonna give it another try.

Well, these self description things are never easy to start, so don't judge my first sentence. I have a very strong hatred towards raisins, celery and YAM!! The worst is YAAAMMM.. If it had a heart, I would stab it with a butter knife, curse in its presence and feed it to my hungry pet bullfrogs. Urgh. Vicious yam. Besides that, I'm pretty much cool with everything else, like my umbrella not opening in a thunder storm and what not. I've got better things in life to worry about, than moan and whinge over small incidences that happen to me once in a while. Maybe every alternate day would sound more realistic. I actually believe that is what's fueling my passionate and positive drive about life. If you can create a problem, you can solve it, so there's never really anything to worry about.
I'm a Jack of all trades, but master of none. The only thing I'm pretty good at is dancing. Well, if I'm not, my parents will have my head on a stick, as I chose to go to dance college in the UK. Very expensive ballet shoes, reaching RM8 to 1 Sterling Pound, 4 years. Enough said. Well, I'm back in KL now, and loving life and all the commotion that goes on everyday. I've also got an "up and coming", I hate those words, Dance Theatre Company that I've set up with a really good friend of mine, it's called Dark Fabel Theatrics Sdn. Bhd. I promise you'll see more of that name in the future.
My next non edible love (second to dance) would be music. I know "favourite" means the best choice or something that is most loved, but I have to say my favourite bands are The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Sublime. At least I'm not like some people who list down all the artists they like, from 10 different genres of music.
So that's about it really and I've sooooo gone past my 80 word limit!!


Cocobananas!!! That took me 2 hours to write.

Game of The Year??

PAH!! To Arkham Asylum!!! Game of the year.. REALLYYY???!! Fair enough, it has pretty cool graphics and you can detect life signs through walls and what not, but I think LEGO Batman : The Videogame is so much better. Not only can you be the good guys and put away all bad in Gotham City, but after you unlock certain levels, you can become the baddies and create the havoc!! So, you can either obtain a Super-hero or a Super-villain status. I have to say the characters itself in the Lego version look far more exciting than the ones in Arkham Asylum. The story that comes before each episode is hilarious. The comic value in the game wins Arkham Asylum hands down. Yes, I am aware Arkham Asylum is not supposed to look cartoony.

LEGO Batman : The Videogame is not just some silly Lego game, to gain accomplishments and the effort it takes to unlock a suit upgrade or an extra is pretty tough. One accomplishment is to get Robin to do 20 backflips in a row. Trust me, that was quite a task.
Maybe it's just me, but every level I pass, I HAVE to collect every single minikit and most importantly, that bloody red Lego brick that's sometimes almost impossible to find. I'll rake every corner of the room before I move on to the next. Which can be quite annoying if you're playing it multiplayer and the person sitting next to you is looking bored to death.

Poison Ivy : One of the highest jumpers.

The other amazing perk in this game, even though it's not a big one, are those silly rides you get on. Some are shaped in a Lego bird, or a Lego seal. You have to use the direction stick to swing it back and forth to the music. Which I found soooo amazing the first time I got on one. ANDDD... if you continue to swing back and forth for a good amount of time, and mind you, the music gets faster. Lots of coins explode out. COLOURFUL COINS!!! That's the other thing the Lego Batman has that the "serious" Arkham Asylum doesn't have. How are you supposed to get rich without any COINS???!! At the moment, I'm standing at 293 million coins. I'm a high roller!! YEEHAAAA!!

Hahahah.. Robin's done something wrong.

I suppose when I do something for leisure, it has to either make me smile or laugh otherwise it's no fun to me at all. This Lego Batman game is perfect for when I come back from work or when I have a bitter day.

SO GET THOSE BATARANGS OUT!!!