Tonight

NKOTB – Toronto – Tonight

Watch two fathers (Danny and Donnie) ham it up at 1:59. So cute!

When is it my turn?

I’ve been watching all these videos of NKOTB’s concert in Toronto, Canada and from the look of it, the concert looks fun, fun, fun!

Some kind people got really good seats at the concert, taped partial/full performances of some of the songs and uploaded them on Youtube. Here, the group is performing Summertime.

You also have to watch them sing Tonight (I’ll post the video after this) and see Donnie and Danny hamming it up. Do know that all of ‘em (safe for Jon) are fathers…. to teenagers (I’m talking about Danny here)!!!

It is so surreal.

I still can’t get over the fact that they are pushing 40. They DON’T look 35 to be honest!

Anyway, I just want to say a big THANK YOU to the people who posted these videos!

I can’t wait for them to come to Malaysia. If they’re performing in KL, you can bet that I’ll be there.

I just wish they’ll hurry up and announce their Southeast Asian tour already!!

Sleepless ramadhan

For some strange reason, I feel like today is Sunday and tomorrow I have to go to work. I even ironed my husband’s shirt just now. I only realised that it was Saturday night after I finished ironing. Weird!

I think Ramadhan not only messes with my sleeping pattern but also my sense of time. On weekdays, I sleep only about 4 hours. I’m half awake between 7am and 10am. I perk up after that but fall into a slump again around 3pm. Either that or I get really hungry and start fantasising about food. I remember watching an advertisement for a soy drink one afternoon and thought to myself, “I absolutely must drink this for buka puasa!”

I get to make up for lost sleep during weekends. But even then, I can’t always do it in one go. I get my rest in blocks of time. Four hours here and there, that kind of thing.

As I was washing up just now, I thought to myself how nice it would be if I only need to work every other day. For instance, I work on Monday and have Tuesday off and then work again on Wednesday. Wouldn’t that be nice — a 4-working day week!

I wouldn’t mind working on Saturday because I get Sunday off. Besides, there’s always Tuesday and Thursday!

Although I’ll be off on Tuesday, I foresee myself doing work for about three hours and being 80 per cent more productive then I could ever be at the office.

Well, until I get to determine my own work schedule, dream on!

Speaking of working from home, I promised myself earlier this week that I’d spend 1.5 hours per night on clearing up my backlog — hence the 4.5 hours of sleep. So far, so good. I managed to finish one story this week. I’m currently working on another one and from the looks of it, I can complete it by Sunday night. Sweet!

I know this clashes with the idea proposed in the Homing From Work article — where the message is to finish work at work and not to bring home work.

Believe me, I am focused at work. But when projects No 5 and No 6 have to be completed before projects No 2, 3 and 4, I don’t really have a choice but to devote a small portion of my personal time to complete No 2 to No 4. I’m not happy about it but I have to do what I have to do. I can get compensation for it but to me, rest is more important than money.

Anyway, if I don’t this, a lot of people — not necessarily my boss — are going to be unhappy. How do you expect me to rest well knowing No 2-4 are still pending?

Well, I’d better stop complaining and start doing. At least that’d get me nearer to clearing the backlog. Easy does it.

Musabahah

{Warning: Cryptic blog entry. Comments off.}

This time last year was a roller-coaster ride for me. Allah tested my patience last Ramadhan like he had never done before. I was paranoid and on the verge of insanity. But thankfully, I hung on with every little bit of energy that I had left. It was hard but I’m glad everything turned out alright in the end.

I wouldn’t wish on anyone what I had experienced last Ramadhan. But if there is one thing that I learned, Allah will never give you more than you can chew. Although I don’t wish to be tested like that again, I’m glad that it happened because I learned a lot about myself and the people around me.

I came away from those dark days with the knowledge that people can change for the better. The best part about it is that the transformation happened on its own. I think that’s how it should be.

I prayed for this change to happen last year. I only saw it take place this Ramadhan, when I least expected it. This has made the transformation all the more sweeter. I prayed for something simple but what I got is above and beyond my expectation. I’m humbled by the powers of Allah.

The biggest test, I think, is once Ramadhan ends. Can we carry all the good work we’ve done this Ramadhan once Syawal appears? Or will we revert to our old and oh-so-enticing ways?

I worry about this but I don’t think I should worry about the future, something that is beyond my control. All I can do is pray and hope for the best. Allah will never give us more than we can chew.

Getting digital

Guess where I’m updating this blog from? A broadband internet connection from a pc in my kampung :-)

The PC is a little slow — what do you expect when the RAM is less than 400mb? — but I’ve fixed that temporarily. I just uninstalled all the rarely-used applications; changed the wallpaper to a blank, solid coloured background and put all the shortcuts into one folder on the desktop.

I learned from my husband recently that all those shortcuts on the desktop slow down the pc/laptop. I didn’t believe him until I saw the difference after I started putting them all in a folder.

Now, I’m dowloading updates for an anti-virus. It’s only 33% done and I have an hour more to go. This PC has gone without an anti-virus application for far too long. Maybe with some “protection”, we can do something about speeding up the system. My husband has advised my brother to upgrade the RAM to 1g but we’re not sure how much that would cost (for a PC). When I have extra money, maybe I can belanja the RAM.

I’ve also introduced Mozilla Firefox to this PC and taught my brother how to use it. I really recommend Mozilla to anyone because it uploads faster than any other browsers I have used. My second favourite browser is Safari but I think my brother can do with just one right now. Honestly, no one REALLY needs the extra browser. But having said that, do keep your Internet Explorer browser installed for emergencies.

Anyway, now that we have streamyx at my parents’ house, I don’t really need to bring my laptop back, unless absolutely necessary — like when I have a pressing deadline to meet. With the anti-virus software is installed, I don’t have to worry about spoiling my thumbdrive after plugging it into the old pc.

After the anti-virus updates have been installed, I can defragment the C and D disks. I don’t think my brother has done that in a while. Heck, I use my laptop everyday but I’ve only started defrag-ing it again recently after 6 months or so.

Well, I’m going to do some blog surfing while I wait for the updates to finish. Later!

Who’s lame now?

I received this comment today:

Hey Suzie,
I was researching blogs talking about New Kids on the Block and found yours. I also love the new single by NKOTB and Ne-Yo. I don’t know about you but listening to nkotb brings me back to my childhood.

I’m from JamsBio, a social community to share your life through music, and we’re reaching out hoping that you might share some of your classic NKOTB memories from back in the day. Three lucky fans will be selected by drawing to receive a pair of tickets to see the New Kids in the city of his or her choice on the band’s sold out reunion tour.

You can share your stories from now until September 18th at http://jamsbio.com/contest/nkotb . Drawings for concert tickets will be held on September 12th, 15th and 18th.

On another note, we’re partnering with lots of other music artists and labels in the coming months, and would love to build a relationship with your site. My supervisor and I would love to get on the phone with you to discuss or provide more information via email, if you’re interested.

Thanks!

Ryan
http://www.jamsbio.com

P.S. JamsBio encourages full transparency; please feel free to share with your readers that we contacted you about New Kids on the Block promotion.

Thanks Ryan for the invitation.

Anyway, I duely visited the website and registered. I left a comment on a guy’s account of being a NKOTB fan when he was small. I thought it was refreshing for a guy to be so open about it especially as a grown man now. And he was right about the time in the late 80s when it was highly uncool to be a NKOTB fan, especially if you were a boy. To the haters, NKOTB spells l.a.m.e.

Now, NKOTB has duet songs with Lady Gaga, PCD, Akon and Ne-yo. Who’s the lame one now, b1tch!

I’m so jealous

Haih… so jealouslah. Kam is booking her ticket to watch NKOTB in London this January 09. She had told me earlier that she’d love to go to their concert and when I saw on their official website that they are heading to the UK early next year, I had to share the information with her. And it made her Monday afternoon!

I told her that I hope NKOTB comes to Malaysia for a concert. I would even consider going if they perform in Singapore or Jakarta. I’m THAT serious. It would be an excuse for me to go to Indonesia — because I have never been — and Singapore — because I love my weekened trips there.

Alas, they haven’t even announced their European tour dates, let alone their Asian tour. You don’t even have to be psychic to know that they are going to Japan. The biggest mystery is the destination for their Southeast Asian tour, if there is one.

Please, please, please, let there be one and let it be in Kuala Lumpur!

2 in the morning

I am seriously crazy. It’s 1:46am and I’m listening to NKOTB’s “2 In The Morning”, a new single from their new album, The Block. And I have to wake up at 4-ish again for bersahur. Why am I behaving like an infatuated teenage girl again?

Anyway, I’ve downloaded all but one of their songs (I couldn’t find it) and all I have to say is: “Interesting…!”

Before you say cheapskate, I promise that I will buy their CD once it hits local stores. I mean, this is a piece of history. I bought all their other albums. I’m not going to miss out now just because I can download it off a P2P site.

Anyway, the impression that  get from listening to the songs is that the group had a blast recording the songs. They tried different sounds and styles, all the while trying their personal best to adapt to the 21st century music.

The result, I would say, is very “eclectic”.

It’s both funny and mind-boggling to hear them sing ala Will.I.Am in “Grown Man” with Pussycat Dolls. Never in my wildest dreams have I imagined NKOTB duetting with with Nicole S, or Akon for that matter. Husband loves “Put It On My Tab” because he’s a fan of Akon.

I personally like “Officially Over” (a breakup song). And the duet with New Edition called “Full Service” is pretty good too. 

“Don’t Cry” sounds like something out of BSB’s last two albums. You know, one of those ballads like “Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely”. I can’t explain what that means but BSB fans would get what I mean.  

Two or three of the songs sound very European techno. “Looking Dangerous” and ”One Song”, IMHO, are two of them. Come to think of it, “Full Service” too.

Considering that they came out of the 80s and recorded a lot of Motown-type of songs (think “Popsicle”), I think NKOTB did a pretty good job with this album. It’s not perfect but it’s definitely a commandable comeback album.

And yes, “Single” is STILL my personal favourite. I wish they had duetted with Chris Brown too or Usher :) Maybe Diddy, Luda or T Pain. No no… Nelly. He would be perfect!

Well, maybe for the next album? I HOPE there’s a “next” album. I hope they retire when they turn 50 or 55 just like the rest of us *lol*.

Anyway, I’m signing off. Nite nite Malaysia!

The new me 2

Now, THIS is the new me.

Well, ok, my new blog template. I read a review on WordPress which said that “chicks would dig this (template)” and I have to agree.

Normally, I prefer a dark background (black or grey) because it’s easier on the eyes. (Heck, when I write on Word, I always set the background to grey or something pastel. White is so boring and a strain to the eyes). BUT I’ll make an exception for this one. I’m going to try it for a few days and see how I like it.

And oh… I just remembered what I ACTUALLY wanted to blog about last night.

I wanted to talk about Google’s own browser called Google Chrome. You can download it from this page. It’s very minimal and sparse. I haven’t taken the time to customise it to suit my taste but I’m digging the “new tab” feature.

Before you set your own homepage, Chrome gives you this default blank page. But once you have surfed using this browser, the next time to press control T (to create a new tab), you will get a default page with a thumbnail of the sites which you had previously opened. This tab is marked “Most visited”. It’s like a thumbnail view of your favourite/bookmarked pages. I like!

Another cool feature is that everytime you bookmark a page, the name of the website appears on the top of the new tab page and you can click on it. That means you can either click on the website name or click on the thumbnail view. The website name feature reminds me of Safari’s quick links at the bottom of the address bar. Speaking of which, I think Chrome’s address bar doubles as a Google search bar. Think Mozilla Firefox 3’s address bar (it does the same thing).

I know you don’t NEED an extra browser (I have four – Mozilla, Safari, IE and now Chrome. I hardly ever use IE now but I go back and forth between Moz and Safari) but do give it a try. It’s still in Beta, so that means there are new features to come.

Well, better get ready for work. Later!

The new me?

I wanted to blog about something else but I completely forgot what it was after I saw NKOTB’s performance on the Today Show on youtube. I’m not gonna bother uploading it here because the video’s going to disappear from youtube by tomorrow afternoon anyway. It’s really annoying when that happens. Which is why I have resorted to quickly converting them to iPod format, so I can save ‘em and watch them to my heart’s content :-) Aren’t I smart?

Oh yeah, now I remember what I wanted to write about. I just wanted to put on record that so far, I’m really enjoying this Ramadan. Granted, I’m sleeping lesser hours than I normally do. I sleep at 12am and wake up at 4.25am to help prepare sahur and I stay awake. I’m usually half dead by lunch time but I regain my focus after each prayer session.

Yes, praying helps (I think we all know that) and I have taken the opportunity this auspicious month to start doing it regularly. So far so good. I haven’t done any tarawikh yet but I take part in solat berjemaah during subuh and maghrib with the family now since the first day of the month. That’s a big deal for someone who can go for months without saying the kalimah syahadah. Believe me, that’s a H-U-G-E improvement for me.

It may not be a big deal for other muslims but praying together as a family has made this Ramadan extra special for me. I actually look forward to it.

My husband and I are not regular visitors to the prayer mat but this past week, he’s been the one reminding me to do my 5-times-a-day quota. Like the other day, I was ready to just sleep after watching CSI: NY but he told me to do Isyak before I hit the sack.

I like that. Believe me, I’m usually the one who has to nag him to do stuff. I think this “role revearsal” is very sexy. In the words of Paris Hilton, “That’s HOT”. I mean, who would’ve thought that performing your religious duties can be a turn on?

Ok. That was too much information.

Well, the challenge is to keep it up way after the fasting month. Would I be able to keep it up? I hope so. I hope the prayers that I say five times a day will see that this becomes a way of life for me. Insya-allah.

Anyway, I’m going to watch that youtube vid one last time before I hit the sack. I have an early day ahead.

Night and selamat berpuasa!