Kenny's Cafe Corner

I cut and pasted this from an email...

A woman wrote this and it makes for an

interesting read. Somewhat reassuring too, i might add!

Ten Things You Don't Know About Women That Every Man Must Know 

1. When considering whether or not to ask out the girl you're afraid
to talk to, keep this in mind: no matter who you are or what you

look
like, it's always flattering when you hit on us. Always.

2. Feminism and chivalry are not mutually exclusive.

3. If you wait for a week to call us after a date, we know you're
playing a game and you're starting off on a bad foot. No, we won't
think you're needy. There's nothing sexier than a guy who doesn't
play games.

4. If you suggest we go dutch on a date, we won't think you're
modern, progressive, or respectful of our feelings. We'll think
you're cheap.

5. Don't sleep with us on the first date. Keep your penis in your
pocket for a while.

6. It REALLY REALLY hurts when you cheat on us.

7. The whole metrosexual thing is not sexy. You're GUYS, act like it.
Don't give in to the pressure of being feminine.

8. When we ask if that gorgeous woman passing by is attractive, the
best response is always, "Who?"

9. We love sex as much as you do. Make us feel special. Compliment
us!

10. We like a guy who smells good but dousing yourself in cologne is
never sexy.

Subject: How business is done.





Jack, a smart businessman, talks to his son.



Jack: I want you to marry a girl of my choice



Son : "I will choose my own bride".

Jack: "But the girl is Bill Gates's daughter."

Son : "Well, in that case..."







Next Jack approaches Bill Gates

Jack: "I have a husband for your daughter."

Bill Gates : "But my daughter is too young to marry."

Jack: "But this young man is a vice-president of the

World Bank."

Bill Gates : "Ah, in that case..."







Finally Jack goes to see the president of the World

Bank.

Jack: "I have a young man to be recommended as a

vice-president."

President : "But I already have more vice-presidents

than I need."

Jack: "But this young man is Bill Gates's son-in-law."

President : "Ah, in that case....."



This is how business is done!!

Missing You Guys
Seems like Stan's getting a job already...CONGRATS dude!
I guess we will be hanging out together less often from now on...sigh!
My dad cautioned the other day that i'm gonna get even lonelier when all my friends get married and settle down with their own families....that doesn't help at all!

Korean Movies and Weekend Thoughts
Seen 'Taegugki' during the weekend. It's a Korean clone of "Saving Private Ryan" and executed quite well. It's emotionally manipulative and melodramatic but overall, it worked because all the girls in the cinema were bawling their eyes out. The one sitting behind us was so loud Alan said it was as if her own brother died!

As long as you could stomach the extreme gore common with most Korean movies, it's quite a 'moving' err..movie and soon after we came out I was wondering why can't Malaysians come out with movies such as 'Shiri', 'Musa' or 'Taegugki' or even 'Ju-On'(Japanese picture i know, but low budget)....instead we have 'Puteri Gunung Ledang'...over-hyped and plain boring.

Two other things were on my mind during the weekend:
One, i feel guilty about neglecting some of my friends. One came over to KL from Sabah only for a few days and invited me to chill-out in Genting but I couldn't....my dad was visiting, that was the Malacca trip weekend and it seems that we need to spend time together as a family since I don't get much time off during weekdays.
And still another, an old time buddy from Secondary school...he's back from New Zealand even and I didn't get to see him much. It was Providence that provided us the 'chance' meeting last Friday lunch time though but I didn't eat lunch with them anyway. :-(

The other thing on my mind was how sick and tired I am of being single! I just feel that it's time for a change...It's been a while of licking my wounds now and I think it's healing...Right now i'm reminded of that John Cusack movie "Say Anything" in which his gal pals were telling him not to after this girl. "She's too smart for you....she's too pretty...we don't want to see you get hurt." To which Cusack said, "I wanna get hurt!"
I think it's about time i get hurt again! :-)

Chee Keong and Catherine's bday trip

Spent last saturday with Stan, Chee Keong and Chok Loon in Klang. Stayed the
night at Ah Loon's house. Took us to a night cafe that evening. Stan
and CK too enraptured by the Bolton vs MU match while Ah Loon and I
enjoyed the singing by this very cute singer. She just took requests after requests singing in Mandarin, English even Malay! We were on the second floor looking directly down at the band and every once in a while she'll look up at us to gauge our reaction.
Then we went back to Ah Loon's place...tested out Doom 3 on his comp...slept.

Woke up 7 the next day, picked up CK's friend, had 'bak kut teh' and started off to pick up Catherine. Apologized for being so late, it was almost 11.30am before we left for Malacca.

Malacca was hot as expected..first stop was the Flor de la Mar ship replica cum musuem. Entrance fee was only 50 cents since we used our albeit expired student cards!! We were all sniggering when we presented our cards at the ticket booth. Each of us got plastic bags in return. Some of us speculated that the bag is for use in case any of us gets sea-sickness, only to discover that the whole ship replica was on stilts...on dry ground!Turns out the plastic bag was for containg our shoes and sandals that we're supposed to take off when we enter the museum.

A few photo opportunities later ...(group shots with cannons) we were accross to take a breather...check out the souvenirs and trinkets. Cat wanted to get a wind chime but didn't find one to her liking.

Next, the A Famosa ruins...seems to me all that was left of the Portuguese fort was this arch and a church on a hill....St. Paul's. Ah Loon's kid brother pestered him for one of those bird whistles that cost only a buck....big mistake....The kid blew and blew the darn whistle for the whole trip...sometimes really loud and shrill...much to the pain of our ears. At least there was a breeze blowing while we were up the hill...Cat complained all the way up of course....she's averse to any form of exercise. I just completed the 'Da Vinci Code' so i kept telling Stan...look...Rose window...see? Rose cruciform...looking at every gravestone marker as if it held secret symbols of the 'Blessed Feminine'...heh!

By the time we came down the hill we were sweating so profusely we stumbled into the Malacca UMNO museum. Of course we just wanted to be somewhere air-conditioned without having to pay an entrance fee! LOL! So there we were...feigning interest in Malay politics....though despite ourselves, we did learn a thing or two from the exhibits....The girls quizzed us about our history afterwards...and much two our surprise...we passed.

We had 'Pearl' chicken rice for lunch then walked about Jonker Street...checking out the Baba Nonya houses and souvenir stores....Ah Loon's mom told us about a spy hole up in the ceiling that the house occupants use to check out whoever's knocking at the door....a few interesting antique stores....Some of us bought puzzles and pineapple cookies....Visited Kling mosques, temples and kuils....then headed back for home.

Gosh, I was bummed out when i reached Cheras...skipped dinner (we were well fed, thanks to Ah Loon's generous dad)...showered...and ZZZZzzzz.

An Afternoon with the MPO
Hope all of you had a nice restful weekend. I spent saturday with the family since dad came over to stay with us. Sis regaled us with gossip from everywhere including a story about how a certain politician of our country had this weird pronunciation:
"Marilah kita menderma darah" sounded more like "Marilah kita menderma dara". So let's all start sacrificing virgins eh?
One could imagine him saying instead of "Jangan hisap dadah" and the rest of us thinking "what? jangan hisap dada??!" What about babies and their mother's milk?

Anyway, here's a short report of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) concert i attended...It started off with a Gymnopedie by Satie which was an odd choice for a warm-up coz it's so soothing, dreamy and might 'cause some of us to doze off even before the real thing started. I don't mind it though 'coz i just love the French impressionists!

Then the highlight of the concert came on...Joshua Bell showing off his virtuosity on violin with Kees Bakels conducting the MPO. The piece is the oft performed Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77 by Brahms. My friend said Mr. Bell chose to play the original cadenza but i thought he played it rather folksy...as if he was fiddling. Which wasn't bad and unsurprising if he chose to bring out the American identity in his performance. My friend's foster 'dad' mentioned that through his binoculars the Grammy-winner played with his eyes closed throughout the concerto, choosing to ignore the conductor. Not the first time i've seen soloists do that...an over-animated fellow with a baton can be real distracting after all!

During the intermission a whole bevy of females queued up for autographs in the foyer. The more studious types (you can tell by the pale skin and thick spectacles) sorta sneaked up behind Mr. Bell standing all in a row at least a meter behind him smiling geekily away while a friend snapped photos. And then there were the tarty types...ya know, dressed up as courtesans
(i'm being kind here, it's obvious they thought they looked classy) with low-cuts this and that, hugging and kissing poor Mr. Bell as if he's some long lost dear friend.

The people were still lining up when the next part of the performance started so you could imagine some seats in the concert hall were vacant when Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 in E-flat started. Now this i enjoyed even more. I'm not so familiar with Anton Bruckner's work but i heard he studied under Beethoven and had 9 symphonies just like the big B himself. According to my friend, this work is also known as 'The Romantic' because it conjures up images of knights, courts and all the elements of medieval romance.
For me, the third movement was most memorable because of the 'galloping' knight horses and heroic sounding brass section. The latter half of it sounded really Wagnerian (Flight of the Valkyrie-like string tremolos) and again i was informed by my friend that Bruckner worshipped Wagner.He had to go tell his foster 'mom' that i'm a Wagner fan and she noted that Wagner's not the kind of guy you'd like to meet in person. I know that he's a racist egotistical bastard and a real pain in the ass. Which was why Hitler was a fan of Wagner. I'm just a fan of his music and there's no denying he's a truly original composer...a genius.

Anyway, now i'm looking forward to the next weekend...gonna celebrate some birthdays with you guys...be seein' ya! ;)