NOTICE: This blog will be moving

I would like to officially announce that I am moving to my new home at http://www.bedtimestorie.com/ beginning today, 21st of September, 2010.

If you don't want to miss my ramblings, kindly update your blogroll/feed with the new URL.

Comments are disabled for this post. Appreciate if you leave your comments at my new home! And worry not about culture shock because the new home feels as gloomy as this home anyway! :P

Nuffnang Sharing Session

First of all, yeahh, Netherlands lost to Spain in the finals. I’m still mourning so please do not add insult. As a matter of fact, if Spain had lost, I would’ve congratulated them anyway in the name of spirits of the game. Why can’t you Spain hardcore idiots do the same too?

Moving on, last Friday I attended the Nuffnang Sharing Session at Pak Li Kopitiam in Setapak Indah. Although invites were sent out to 20 bloggers, less had turned up. YOU who did not turn up will be in “Naughty list” and will be banned from any invites FOREVERRRR!!!!

Okay that was an exaggeration. ;p

For those who do not have the slightest idea what a sharing session is, well, it’s a session where you share your foods with everyone in the kopitiam. LOL, NO! *although it is encouraged* It’s a session where you share your ideas and passion on blogging. Friday night’s guest blogger was Eyriqazz and he spoke about his passion in blogging and how he made some (if not much) money and friends through blogging.

I also had the chance to meet two nice individuals, Justin and Hana. Thanks for being such a great sport. I’m not a very chatty person in the beginning so it’s nice to have you both to come over and start a conversation with me. Haha..

Oh, since I had the Samsung Galaxy S phone with me, I can’t help it but to snap, snap and away! Here are some pictures I took (all except one are food-related pictures, LOL).

They definitely have some sense of humor!

Hainanese Chicken Chop - gravy taste like tomato paste :p

Nasi Ayam Lemon

Snowy Ice - Kacang Merah

Eyriqazz Sharing Session

Overall, the food was OK la. Hahaha.. But since they have wifi in the premise, I don’t mind sitting there a bit longer. I was updating Twitter and checking Facebook in between conversations with the bloggers. Hoho~

I wanted to take a video of Eyriqazz giving his thoughts and ideas on how to improve blog traffic but I reckon it was going to be a pretty massive file so I think the best way is; you guys can just head to his blog for more tips on blogging, okay? Haha!

But you know, tangan gatal, so must take at least one video that night and so here is Robb of NuffnangMY explaining about CPC and CPM campaigns for you NOOBS. LOL.

It's recorded on HD video format oh yeah and by the way, I still hate the noise from the surrounding due to poor audio quality. It’s like vuvuzela, annoying but you can’t do anything about it. Samsung better improve on the audio quality if they want the HD video feature to stand out as one of their selling features.

And then when everyone was about to take group photos, the phone battery died. Yeay. You doing great Galaxy S. 7 hours and you’re down??!! #$%^@&*!!!

I will grill the phone in another post. Sigh.

I just don't get you meleis

I was blogwalking and someone posted results of a contest organized by you-know-who. Three names. All Chinese. All whom I have visited their blogs in the past. And rest assure, they DESERVE THE EFFING WIN. They are a talented lot and definitely most creative. I envy them big time for being so imaginative with their entries. At times when I see them entering contest, I had to crack the juice out of my brain to beat them. And most of the time, I fail. Haha.

BUT YOU KNOW MELEIS. They see the races more than anything. I was EFFING ANNOYED when I saw some racist comments on that post simply on the basis that the winners were all Chinese. I don't know what goes through their effing mind. What, you meleis expect some kind of quota in the contest as well ke? C'mon la. If you don't deliver a good contest entry, you expect the organizers to make you a winner just to please you meleis???

IF YOU MELEIS NAK SANGAT MENANG, STOP BEING EFFING IGNORANT, KIASU AND WHAT NOT. PUT YOUR THINKING CAP ON, LEARN FROM THE WINNERS, USE YOUR IMAGINATION, DO SOME RESEARCH, WHATEVER IT TAKES LAH!!!

Stupid meleis.


* Siapa yang makan cili, dia yang terasa pedas. Kalau tak rasa pedas, kau diam je, ok?

* Credits to Obefiend for the term 'meleis'. I do not want to be the subject of your "So Some F*cker Stole My Blog Content #XXX" series. LOL!

Gatsby Deodorant Street Fair

For those who had missed all the fun (yes, you have), more than 500 bloggers participated in the Gatsby Deodorant Street Fair in Times Square, KL on Saturday, 17th of April to be part of the “Largest Gathering of Bloggers”. And since this is the first largest blogger gathering in Malaysia, we made it into the Malaysia Book of Records! Yeayy to all!



That’s not all coz we had FUN bebeh! There were just so many interesting games to play like shooting cans, snake & ladder, gladiator battle, rodeo, inflatable wall climbing, coconut bowling, dart throwing, and mini basketball. Ok, I may have made up all the names, BUT that is, among others, what we played!



We manage to play ALL the games and some played for several times! Haha. The boyfriend and I fought in the gladiator ‘battle field’. We both agreed that we should whack the hell out of each other and NO MERCY whatsoever. But I didn’t know I should not hit the face coz I was doing that most of the time. LOL. But I fell first anyway! Dang.

And what d’ya know, the organizers were just SO AWESOME AND GENEROUS, that for every game we played, we can collect points and redeem Gatsby products with the points accumulated!



Below are some, I repeat, SOME of the Gatsby products that we redeemed with the points. So damn generous of Gatsby wei!



There were lucky draw as well. But I wasn’t expecting anything *lie* coz I’ve never been LUCKY with lucky draws. LOL. But I had a great time, hanging out with my besties, met some bloggers and all.

A big round of applause to Nuffnang and Gatsby for making this happen and HAPPENING! LOL!


Picture credits to the boyfriend. Huh.


*Grammar still like tongkang pecah and I refuse to proofread! =.=

No sweat!

I’ve been talking about Project Alpha for the past few weeks and you’re thinking, “Why the heck would you be bothered to talk so greatly of Project Alpha when ONE, you’re not the featured blogger, and TWO, you seriously think by mentioning Project Alpha every where, you’d finally be noticed and get a chance to be the next featured blogger in Season 3???”

Wahh, damn harsh wei your thinking! LOL.

But psst, how would you like to be featured as a guest blogger in Project Alpha Season 3? Oh yes, Season 3 got auditions wei! See, there lies a chance at the end of the tunnel… WTF.

ANYWAY, if you wanna be a guest blogger in Season 3, just come up with a video (60 seconds or less) in your most creative way and say why you should be on Project Alpha and get your friends to ‘Like’ it! Looks like an easy task, but hey, there are so many creative bloggers out there who would just go the extra mile to show cast a really good video so if you plan to audition, make something damn appealing okay? No, not stripping! Uhh, puhleez! Maybe you could show some of your crazy moves like, dance to a beat, or do tai-chi while cooking or sing while juggling apple on your head – wahh, crazy idea!

I’m thinking of submitting a video too. If you ask me, no sweat lah brader! If you want me to dance, sing, juggle apple on my head and tai-chi at the same time oso no sweat lah brader! You just wait for my video okay. I just need to spray on Adidas deodorant (to keep me fresh coz my moves are tough and only tough people can do it okay) and I’m ALL READY to make my moves! Yeahh!



Oh wait, I don’t have a video camera to begin with. Zzzz…



Project Alpha Season 2 is presented by Adidas Action 3 and supported by P1 and MAS. Auditions are now open! Check it out at www.projectalpha.com.my/auditions

[Twitter] Having followers is serious business yo!

So there's this person in Twitter that I use to follow, and recently she posted several tweets mentioning something like "I will know if you unfollow me after I follow you back. then 100% i will unfollow you!". I got a bit annoyed because she thinks it's super important for others to follow her when she follows you. So I took the first step to unfollow her simply because I think it is inappropriate to force people to follow you. And soon when she found out that I unfollowed her, this is what I got in reply.

What the..??!! Can someone explain how I ended up as being the cheater here? Come to think of it, great sense of humor she has! LOL.

So tell me, how does the number of followers represent you in Twitter? You have more power? You become super duper awesome? Or you can go invisible if you hit the highest number of followers among your friends???

Foot note that will not self-destruct: To whom it may concern regarding THIS TWEET, sorry friend, I can't tolerate your friend.

Best Bits of Project Alpha Season 1

What’s Project Alpha? Trust me, I was asking the same question half-a-year ago. It was on the blogs, on the radio, in the papers and on the tv. On some videos that I manage to catch, I see Jojo Struys with a bunch of people who do not look like celebrities. I even thought to myself, why the hell is Jojo hanging out with people who aren’t cool at all???

Haha. Ok, that was a bad joke!

Project Alpha is actually Malaysia’s first TV show about real-life bloggers. We get to see who they are, what they do, how they live life, and how they can inspire others. The first season featured 7 bloggers (i.e. the bunch of people who do not look like celebrities): Kennysia, Sixthseal, Fourfeetnine, Nicolekiss, Redmummy, BeautifulNara and Budiey. I personally like Fourfeetnine (Audrey), Redmummy and Nicolekiss. Why? Simply because they are females lah! Haha. Yeahh, I can be pretty sexist! If Project Alpha was made into a competition between bloggers, I would vote for the girls too! Lol!

From left: Nicole, Audrey, RedMummy & husband

But seriously, I watched the show because I get to see them play dress up! Nicole’s fashion is normally simple and casual; probably because she travels a lot, but I like it nevertheless. Eh, I like her voice too. Very feminine. She gets excited when Jojo asks her about her blog and the places she had traveled to. Audrey’s hair is always looking neat. And RedMummy; she’s a hot momma! They got style and I sooOoO envy them! I don’t want to be them, but I watch to get some fashion tips from them. You see, I have NO STYLE. *sob sob*

Anyway, Project Alpha is back with Season 2! Featuring 7 bloggers again: KY, Niki Cheong, Ninie, Cheesie, Shaolin Tiger, Klubbkidd and you wouldn’t believe this – AZWAN ALI.


With Azwan Ali being featured, I’m pretty sure more people are gonna watch.

And as usual, the girls rule! But I wonder why the number of featured female bloggers has decreased???


* Project Alpha Season 2 is presented by Adidas Action 3 and supported by P1 and MAS.

LinkWithin

Thanks to Luvly Mya, I have finally installed the LinkWithin widget without further procrastination! What's that? Ouhh, it's that thing were you get to see a few related posts below each post in the form of thumbnails. Get it?

All you gotta do is, go to LinkWithin's website. Find the box like below. Fill in the details, and it will prompt you to install the widget.

From then onwards, just follow the simple steps as given by the site. Like seriously simple wtf.

And walaa! Here is an example:

Ouhh, you might wanna customize the text that appears above the widget because surprisingly, the automated text would be "Anda mungkin juga meminati:". Ehh, in Malay language? It probably recognized my blog as a Malay blog or something? Whatever it is, I changed mine to "Have you not fallen asleep bla bla.." to add more personalization to this blog. If you wanna add your own text, just go to Blogger Dashboard>Layout>Page Elements>your LinkWithin widget, and add the line below to your HTML code. Eh, this one for Blogger aaa..

Okay, done. Let's grab some lunch people! Ikan masin with sup sayur. Wah wahh!!

*It doesn't matter where the widget is in your Page Element, somehow it'll appear below your post.

Cuaca panas, entri pun panasszzz!!

Aku perasan ramai bloggers dah pasang iklan Nuffnang (NN) kat blog diorang. Yang pasang Innity pun dah semakin ramai, tapi blog picisan mcm aku mana layak lah kan. T__T

Aku jugak perasan ramai bloggers yang suka meninggalkan komen atau mesej chatbox kat blog yang dilawati yang berbunyi lebih kurang begini:

"Nuff tdo"

"Zzz..."

"Jom klik2 nuff!"

"Hai, dtg bertandang dan dh klik iklan tu".

Bagi bloggers yang dah biasa dengan NN, aku rase korg tau kan mesej mcm ni merujuk kepada iklan NN yang perlu diklik melalui kempen CTR (click-through-ratio) untuk mendapatkan sedikit earning.

Aku nak tanya korg lah kan, adakah korg klik iklan NN kerana earning semata2 atau sbb korg btol2 minat ngan iklan tu?

Kalau btol lah korg minat ngan iklan tu, korg mesti perasan kebanyakan blog dapat iklan yang same, so xkn tiap kali korg masuk blog yang baru, korg still nak tgk gak iklan tu? Mcm menipu kan?


Aku tak cakap takleh klik lgsg, aku klik iklan NN jugak nak tau pejadah diorang nk promote. Tapi klu tiap blog korg masuk pun nak klik, korg mesti tak fikir lgsg perasaan advertiser tu sendiri kan? Diorg tumpang letak iklan kat blog kita sebab diorg harap iklan tu boleh memberi informasi/ mempromosi produk diorg/membuat pengumuman/bla bla bla.. Tapi kita, jahanamkan promosi diorg! Diorg bayar kita tanpa was2 sebab diorg ingat mmg ade unique visitor yang giler babeng unik yg klik. Pdhl, orang2 blkg tabir jugak yang klik sana sini.

ETIKA. Mana pegi etika kita? Ape nak jadi ngan bloggers skang, sume pun mengejar cash out semata2?



p.s. Sblm komen, sila fikir masak2 ttg apa yg aku tulis kerana ini teguran ikhlas dari aku.
p.p.s. Entri ni tidak bertujuan menghentam mana-mana pihak mahupun individu, tetapi adalah baik jika kita berfikir bersama apa yang kita lakukan.
p.p.p.s. Tibe2 cuaca jadi mendung. Dem.

Rundown: Color Me Corby Carnival

As promised, this is the wrap up post of the Color Me Corby Carnival which has taken place on the 16th of January, 2010 at Sunway Lagoon Extreme Park. Here's the entry I wrote to gain entry to this carnival.

Everyone was really excited. When I got my goodie bag, I was pretty disappointed that I did not get the orange t-shirt. I got a white t-shirt instead. Haha. Ok, that was A LIE. C’mon, WHO DOESN’T WANT TO BE IN THE ORANGE TEAM AT THIS POINT???

So anyway, we were divided into four teams; the distinction by Samsung Corby colors. Introducing;


Lucky thing they provided breakfast for us. I was starving; hence the empty sandwich box in the picture below. Haha.


I took part in the first and second game. First game requires us to tie a balloon around the ankle; then charge towards the opponent team and try to burst their balloon by stomping on it; to which the organizer later decided hands can be used as well. I sustained a slight bruise on my knee, nothing major.


So as you see in the picture above, we have the yellow team going against the pink team and a red shirt - oh shhiaaattt, forgot to introduce! Introducing our excellent emcee of the day:


Next game is tarik tali in the water! We lost in the first round, but won the second round. Super excited about getting wet (although I did not bring any change of clothes!).


Then, off we go to the wall climbing section. I did not try this game though coz I thought, “LET’S LEAVE IT TO THE PRO BEBEH!!” And our team managed to grab THREE, I repeat, THREE BALLOONS when suddenly the organizer decided to change the rules here. (Team Yellow, take note here; as you are not the only team that FEELS you were judged unfairly).


BUT you know, being the modest, kind, calm, gentle, soft-spoken and peaceful team that we are (stop puking, will you?), we just abide by the judge’s decision and let loose. Besides, we gotta show Nara yang sibuk kontrol macho sana sini that we're such cool people. Ohh, such an adorable team we make! *giggles*

I believe that the final game is the most awaited game. Oh c’mon, who doesn’t want to hurt another being in a game of PAINTBALL??!! That’s plain quack, quack, chicken and duck quack! Almost everyone in my team wanted to play. Although I was picked to play, I decided to switch my place with another team member. Seeing some disappointed face is what I dislike most especially when we’re suppose to enjoy the moment. As they say, “Giving is better than taking”. And it DOES feel better. *Gosh, I'm so adorable - haha!*


So, at the end of the day;

Orange team went home with a brand new Samsung Corby each.
Yellow team went home with much bruises; mentally – so I’ve heard.
Pink team pretended like nothing happened.
White team was missing in action.


MISSING??!! WHERE THE HECK DID THEY GO???!!

We went to have some fun playing archery, flying fox, and kayaking! After all, it’s FREE ADMISSION BEBEH!!! And a great way to mend a broken heart for not winning the Samsung Corby. Gaaaahhh!!!


THANK YOU SAMSUNG! THANK YOU NUFFNANG! PLEASE INVITE ME AGAIN!! HAHAHA!!!



Pictures credit to:
Shahroll Photography, Vivien S., Nuffnang Fan Page, Google Image Search.

Susah aku, susah lagi mereka

Pagi tadi masa nak keluar rumah, aku seperti biasa bagi mak aku RM50 untuk belanja mingguan. Aku dah angkat beg nak blah gi kerja, adik aku cakap, "Akka, I need to buy the PBSM pants."

Mengeluh kecil. Dalam hati.

"How much?"

"Should be around RM30", mak aku menyampuk.

Mengeluh lagi. Dalam hati juga.

"Ma, I only got RM40. No more money in the bank. We buy the pants next week. I try to borrow from someone later." Dalam hati terfikir the boyfriend. Tapi hutang kereta beliau harus setel dulu. Tak boleh.

Pini, kau mesti boleh tolong aku kan? Thanks! Hak hak hak..




But that is least the point yang aku nak highlight dalam entri nih.

Aku nak mintak bantuan korang semua sebenarnya. Bukan untuk aku. Untuk rakan blogger. Aku dah lama mengikuti blog dia. Banyak informasi menarik, terutama bila dia memberi nasihat. Kadang2 sependapat, kadang2 aku tak setuju 120%! Tapi aku SANGAT jarang meninggalkan komen. 100 kali visit, 2 kali komen. I stalk the blog, but am a silent reader.

Baru-baru ni ada satu entri bro Megat yang betul2 buat aku tersentak. Buat aku fikir masalah aku di atas tu takleh nak compare LANGSUNG dengan masalah dia.

Bagi yang tak pernah mengikuti kisah bro Megat, beliau mengidap satu penyakit yang sangat sukar diubati. Sakit apa? Persoalan yang bagus. Kerana beliau sendiri masih tidak mampu menjawab. Yang pasti, keadaan kesihatan beliau telah banyak memberi impak kepada pekerjaan beliau sehingga dipaksa untuk berhenti kerja. Kalau dah sakit, kena berhenti kerja pula, mana nak cari duit? Takde duit, macam nak bagi duit belanja anak-anak? Makan bagaimana? Rumah pula?

Walaupun aku dilanda macam2 masalah keluarga, aku tahu masalah dia memang jauh lebih teruk dari aku. Aku baru dicabar untuk 8 bulan. Beliau dicabar Tuhan hampir (atau lebih?) 2 tahun. Dia sakit, aku tak sakit. Dia tak bekerja, aku bekerja. Memang tak adil kalau aku mahu mengeluh panjang pun.

Aku pasti entri itu adalah jalan terakhir untuk beliau meminta bantuan dari rakan2 blogger. Dia TAKNAK isteri dan terutama anak-anak yang suffer! Dia seorang bapa. Dan dia seorang bapa yang bertanggungjawab. Aku benar2 respek bro Megat dan mahu membantu sebab aku PERNAH mempunyai seorang bapa yang bertanggungjawab.

Tapi, nak belikan seluar PBSM adik aku pun takde duit, ni kan pulak nak memberi sumbangan kepada bro Megat. Bagaimana mahu tolong?

Nasib baik ada plan baeekk punya yang dimulakan oleh Ir. Hydir!

Setiap blog yang meletakkan ribbon yang macam kat sebelah tu akan secara tidak langsung menyumbang RM1 kepada bro Megat. Letak kat sidebar ke, mane2 yang visible selama seminggu sehingga 17/01/10 dan pastikan kita maklumkan kepada Ir. Hydir menerusi blog entri beliau.

So, aku letak ribbon ni untuk seminggu dan harap dengan RM 1 ni anak dia dapat enjoy makan pisang goreng yang panas2 dengan kawan2 kat skolah!

Korang taknak tolong ke? Nak tolong, baca sini.

Kalu korang ada duit terlebih-lebih, masukkan terus sumbangan yang berjuta-juta lemon tu ke akaun bro Megat ye!

No Akaun CIMB – 0123 0015 4575 21
No Akaun Maybank – 1010 7541 8124
Nama Penuh – Faisal Amirul Othman

Korang takut aku tipu ke? Aku tak paksa tapi dah ada banyak gila testimoni dari rakan2 blogger bro Megat. Plus, ia sangat mudah dilakukan. Cuma letak ribbon kat blog dan inform. Tak perlu pun tulis blog entri macam aku nih. Aku tulis pun sebab aku terfikir nasib diri sendiri. Uhuk2..

Psst, taknak tolong aku ke? Kwang3~


p.s. Nama sebenar bro Megat adalah seperti di atas. Megat hanyalah nama pena.

Does your blog contain annoying elements?

Confession: I do blogwalking religiously.

I do it almost everyday. Okay, maybe not religious enough? Haha. Well the thing is, I find that a number of blogs contain somewhat annoying elements. Some elements are too annoying that I would not hesitate to close the tab the moment it appears. Some elements are bearable, but staying too long on the blog may cause diarrhea. Sheesh!

Because I have kept this to myself for a little too long now, here goes a list of what annoys me most during my spree of stalking blogs in no particular order.

Auto-play music

Leave the Myspace users in Myspace, and your blog in a BLOG! Your blog SHOULD NOT be a Myspace!

This is one of the most annoying features in any blog. People could be in the office, have the volume really loud, playing iTunes on their desktop OR they just don’t have the same taste in music as you! Be considerate and don't force your taste of music on your readers, please.

Pop-ups

Whether it is a pop-up to greet your readers when they first open your blog, or advertorial, pop-up doesn’t interest people at all. In fact, I would quickly click away from any pop-up because it is a distraction from the subject of interest.

Disabling right-click

I just don’t get why bloggers love to disable right-clicks for the external links. Wouldn’t it be better if you just leave it as it is? By disabling right-clicks, you are only making your readers LEAVE YOUR BLOG earlier because they would just left-click and go (unless whatever they click opens up in a new tab). I normally do right-clicks because I prefer opening multiple tabs and reading each blog carefully. So please, don’t chase your readers away.

Too many ads/widgets/items on the sidebars

Your sidebar should be clean and simple. When there are too many ads and/or widgets placed in your sidebars, your blog might as well experience a slow loading time. This can frustrate new readers and they might leave even before the contents load. Plus, I would not bother to browse through your sidebars if it’s too crowded, or colourful. You’re trying to hard to impress, but it’s not working!

In-text advertising

In-text advertising is sort of like a combination of two annoying subjects above – pop up and ads. It's the pop-ups that show up when you hover over a link.


Another example I came across is when you hover over a link and it displays, “You have the nth most popular outgoing link.” Seriously, why would I care? Oh, same goes to snap previews. Enough said, google it.

Self-playing videos

Honestly, I don’t like it when Nuffnang’s blog writes about a new movie preview that comes with a self-playing video trailer. I prefer it to be optional because; don’t we read the content first before looking at the video??? It’s worst when you open up several posts in new tabs at the same time, and EACH video is playing at the background! Plus, it EATS AWAT my bandwidth. It would be nice if Nuffnang could re-consider this option. Heh.

Too much embedded crap

Like I have mentioned, you’re trying TOO HARD to impress us, the readers. But seriously, I wouldn’t bother to continue reading if your blog loads slowly or TOTALLY STOPS loading because you have too many embedded crap like external gifs that won’t load anyway!

Blinking text

HELLO, blinking text is SOOOO YESTERDAY! Ouch. Mah-eyeszzz!

So tell me, does your blog contain any of the so-called annoying elements? You can BEG to differ! Haha!

Adding Wings to My Writing

Ahaa. Not really. I'm simply in the process of revamping my other writing blog. View to read.


Credits to RoseOnTheGrey for the wings.

Ho-Yeahh!!

*say it with the Chinese slang*

How do you like my new template? The original template can be found here and it looks like below:


Yeahh, it WAS a clean template. I thought of using the white one, but when I tried inserting my articles into the template, it looked SUPER-awkward. Too many emo posts aren't suitable for such clean look. So, I figured I should just stick to the same old EMO me. Alas, this edited template you're looking at!

Yet, I am NOT done. The header above is just temporary. And my sidebars are in a slight mess. Will get back to it tonight.

* Dem. I didn't do a screenshot of my previous template! All is lost. Uhh~
* Fortunately, I didn't have to re-do my widgets installation. Thanks to this article.
* Sepeket, time to change your templates!