Everyone has a dirty little secret…on Wisteria Lane.

For those who have no clue as to what this show is about, I will hereby give a short preview. Don’t worry, no spoilers included. Basicly, Desperate Housewives revolves around the lives of five housewives living in Wisteria Lane, namely Susan, Bree, Lynette, Gabriel and Edie. They are friends of Mary Alice Young, their neighbour, who killed herself in the first few minutes of the first episode. The rest of the series then proceeds to find the reason of her suicide as well as to slowly reveal the skeletons behind the closets of each of these characters. Creepy as the background music may be at times, I would say it’s a fusion between a thriller and a comedy.

I finally finished watching the first season last week. Apparently, Season 2 will be starting today, 25th of September 2005 with the episode entitled “Next”…

“It’s an odd thing to look back on the world, to watch those I left behind. Each in her own way so brave, so determined, and so very desperate. Desperate to venture out, but afraid of what she’ll miss when she goes. Desperate to get everything she wants, even when she’s not exactly sure of what that is. Desperate for life to be perfect again, although she realizes it never really was. Desperate for a better future, if she can find a way to escape her past. I not only watch, I cheer them on, these amazing women. I hope so much they’ll find what they’re looking for. But I know not all of them will. Sadly, that’s just not the way life works. Not everyone gets a happy ending.”

Fooji’s tag ‘curse’

7 things I plan to do before I die
1) To eat ramen in Japan
2) To open a ramen shop
3) To draw a comic series
4) To own a pair of Nike shoes
5) To pass my final MBBS exam
6) To produce an atlas of medical signs
7) To tell my beloved ones that I love them (copied from Fooji)

7 things I could do
Does this question mean things I can do or things I could plan to do? I think I’ll answer it as things I could plan to do in the future…
1) Sleep less
2) Talk less
3) Listen more
4) Pray more
5) Love God more
6) To have more patience
7) Be more optimistic

7 celebrity crushes
1) Kakashi
2) Naruto
3) Sasuke
Hmm…I guess I’m just not into celebrities…

7 Often Repeated Words
1) Hey…
2) What
3) Time
4) Is
5) Class
6) Tomorrow
7) ?

7 physical traits I look in the opposite sex
It’s a secret

7 victims I can tag
1) Adeline Wong
2) Sheena
3) Gerrard
4) Day N Nite
5) Shawntae
6) NickCan’t
7) Whoever wants to be tagged

So Daniel won in the end…with 1.2 million votes. Majority of which were probably from young gals and older aunties who just love his pretty-boy look. Hehe. I guess as Kak Ji always likes to say, “pakej itu penting”.

After much thought, I finally voted for Nita at about 9.15 pm and guess what? I got a reply after the show ended saying my vote didn’t get through. Argh! A total waste of 50 cents!

During the last performance before the results were announced, Daniel, Nita and Jaq were screaming in different keys! Was it the sound system or perhaps the transmission made it sound that way? What a horror!

Somehow “Mimpi” just didn’t sound as grand as “Gemilang”. In my humble opinion, the song suited Nita more, and I felt that she sang a better version of the song compared to Daniel. What a pity that the song is now his. I guess as Abang Lan says, we shouldn’t compare. They are all talented people. Hmmm…

Anyway, MI 2 is finally over…will there be another one?

I’ve never really been a die-hard fan of American Idol or Malaysian Idol. As in, I don’t watch them every week and I don’t vote much. I usually watch the preliminary rounds, just for laughs and of course, the finals. I never miss the finals.

Yesterday, there was a large swarm of slippers outside the TV room in hostel as everyone hurdled together to watch the finals. Nita fans, Daniel fans, ceiling fans, oh no…I’m getting as corny as Jien. Anyway, somehow it didn’t feel as exciting as the previous season finals. Jaq had set such a high standard last time, that these two pale in comparison. In fact, after the show, when Adam interviewed Jaq and she sang the chorus of Gemilang, she sounded so spontaneous and mesmerizing.

Daniel is multi-talented. He can play the piano, guitar and violin. However, I somehow feel that he is more suited to join the Astro Talent Show thingy and probably cut a chinese album which might break into the Taiwan market. As for Malaysian Idol, I don’t think he really suits the image, cute as he looks.

Nita, is tall and pretty. However, she also doesn’t seem to have the aura of an Idol. But then again, I’ve been watching from behind the glass screen, so perhaps she sounds much better up close and personal. She makes Daniel look like a small kid when she stands by his side. I wonder if she’s tall enough to slamdunk? Haha.

I guess as Paul says, this makes the show more interesting, as both the finalist are so different in style and no one seems to have the upper hand. It will be a close fight. Definitely a close fight.

Who will win?

I still can’t decide who to vote for. Perhaps I’ll just save the 50 cents.

Cooking room-made ramen is easy…

All you need is a packet of ramen, some extra ingredients (vegetables, eggs), a cooking pot and a hot plate/portable stove.

1. Chop up as much vegetables as you can eat.
2. Throw them all into the pot, as well as the seasonings (with water,of course) and boil them until they are soft.
3. Add the instant noodles and a hard-boiled egg if you want, and boil for another 5 minutes or so.
4. Pour it all into a bowl. Itadakimasu!

Saw this post at the MMR.

Yes, you heard me correctly. That cool iPod that is stuck to your ears 24/7 can lead to noise-induced hearing loss. CNN reports that a random examination of young people have shown a loss in the ability to hear higher frequencies, evidenced at times by mild ear-ringing or trouble following conversations in noisy situations. More people in their 30s and 40s — many of them among the first Walkman users — has been shown to suffer from more pronounced tinnitus, an internal ringing or even the sound of whooshing or buzzing in the ears. It takes multiple exposures and years to develop, so by the time you find out it is often too late. Nowadays this has been made worse by portable music players with long-lasting rechargeable batteries, which means people are listening for longer periods of time, and music these days is certainly louder and noisier than before!

Come to think of it, I’ve already noticed some form of hearing impairment in myself. While listening to the radio in the car, I used to turn up the volume to 16 but nowadays, I’m listening to it at 20. And I doubt it’s because the radio stations are broadcasting at lower volumes.

Obviously my ears are getting less sensitive nowadays. Speaking of which, I did recently hear wooshing sounds in my ear. Oh gosh. Good thing I’ve been able to stay almost headphone-free for about a year since moving into a single room. Though I doubt that will reverse any of the previous damages to my hair cells, which are the cells in the ears that are responsible for hearing.

Oh, and by the way, don’t ask me why they’re called hair cells. Someone just named it that way. Like how someone came up with the brand “Nose” for shoes.

What is ramen? All Japanese instant noodles are ramen, right? Wrong. Not all Japanese instant noodles are ramen. Apart from instant ramen, there are instant Udon, Beef noodles, etc. Infact, those instant noodles which are ramen are the closest they can get to the original, which can only be appreaciated in specialized shops where they use fresh noodles and cook the soup from scratch. However, the instant version is fairly popular in Malaysia as the original can be rather costly to eat on a regular basis, ranging from RM 12-20, per bowl.

Ramen is a noodle dish that originated from China, where all noodles seem to have come from, and are called “Lo-Mein” in Chinese, which means boiled noodles. The Japanese then modified it and turned it into their own special dish which is popular both in and out of Japan. It’s essentially a particular type of noodle made from cereal flour, about the thickness of spaghetti, served in soups of various flavours and toppings.

I was hooked on this dish after watching the anime series Naruto, in which the main character, Naruto loves to eat ramen. The uniqueness of ramen is the differing soup bases and toppings.

Here are some of the different soup bases:

• Shoyu Ramen: Brown, transparent, soya sauce based.
• Miso Ramen: Brown, non-transparent, miso based.
• Shio Ramen: Transparent, salt based.
• Tonkotsu Ramen: White, milky, pork based.

As for the toppings, the more famous ones are:

• Chashumen: BBQ pork ramen, something like our chinese “char siu bak”
• Tanmen: Vegetable ramen.
• Wonton ramen: Ramen with small Chinese dumplings, similar to our “wantan”

From experience, the ramen I’ve eaten so far are usually served in huge bowls, with a huge ladel known as renge. They usually serve it together with green tea, which is refillable. My friends and I love to spend hours on ends chatting after enjoying the meal and drinking tons of green tea until our bladders are full!

As for instant ramen, I’ve tried many brands, namely Nissin, Otogi, Nong Shim and Samyang and so far, my favourite is the Sutah Ramen by Samyang. I used to eat them as they were, but nowadays, I’ve learnt to add my own garnishing, such as cabbage, carrots and egg. Anyway, below is a picture of my home-made room-made ramen…

Itadakimasu!

I received this SMS from NiCkCaN’t at about midnight…

Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah (09/09/04) : 5 pelajar perubatan telah berjaya menawan puncak Gunung Kinabalu. Syabas atas pencapaian yang membanggakan ini

Haha. Actually, there were nine of us altogether. A toast to survival! Lollies for everyone!

Our harrowing experience may be re-lived here:

• Above All
• Post-mountaineering Allergies
• Sheer Determination

One year later, I’m still sure of one thing…that I’ll NEVER attempt it again!