I No Understand - The Little Toe

Above: Why are you still there??

I've always wondered why we still possess five toes instead of four, like a bird. Perhaps we have evolved in such a way that God had invested so much in human-brainpower that he forgot about a bird's; or a bird's feet that he forgot about our feet. To make you understand what I'm trying to make you understand...about what I think I understand, our little toe is useless.

    Yes, the little toe, the fifth metatarsal and smallest toe on our feet. It is the one toe that always gets in the way. Slamming itself into corners of walls, doors and anything slammable you can think of. Everybody had been there, and everybody can remember the agony and pain associated with accidentally hitting your little toe on something. Apart from being a pain in the ass, the little toe also acts as magnet for deformities, especially associated with wearing shoes (which 90% of civilized people have on their feet), of which you can see it all here.

    Being such a burden, what benefits you may ask, does the little toe carry?

    It doesn't act as balance, as I believe I can very well balance myself if my little toe is amputated, so will you. It is also lazy, not being able to move by itself without moving your four other toes, even so only moving a miserable few degrees in a horizontal plane. It doesn't help keep your nostrils clean, which is taken cared of by your pinkie, or more formally known as your little finger. In short, it doesn't do much benefit other than getting hurt and diseased, much like the appendix lying in some of your abdomens today, including mine.

    So why is it still present? My theory is that the little toe is nothing more than a remnant of our evolutionary past. To put simply, a vestigial organ. Very much like our appendix, which was once used to aid in the digestion of cellulose but today just swells up spontaneously, or otherwise, our coccyx (assbone) which brings much pain to our behinds when a friend plays the pull the chair prank on you or even sometimes when you do situps on the ground. Maybe sometime long ago our little toe was used to dig out grubs from a rotten log, to grasp onto branches of trees, to make us hang upside down and sleep. All we know is, it doesn't serve it's previous function anymore.

    So where do we go now? How do we deal with our little toe? For me, I would let God and nature act. Maybe someday, thousands of generations later, the little toe will shrink in size, which I think it has for mine, but not for a few of my friends. Maybe, just maybe, future humans will have four toes and birds can speak and the little toe will be embedded somewhere in our feet, much like a whale's vestigial hind legs, a reminder for us of its past. We never know.

    However, if your little toe is too big and unbearable, you can either head down to the clinic or hospital to get them amputated or save costs and do a little DIY at home. DO NOT forget painkillers and ice!!

Source: Medscape

Makaning - Instant Noodles

Instant noodles, you might hear people around you always telling you that instant noodles are carcinogenic and unhealthy. However, think about it, how would life be like without instant noodles? If ever you have one of those days that you just woke up late and have no idea what you would want for brunch, and at the same time you feel lazy as hell to just walk a few feet outside to your car, instant noodles are always the saviour in such emergency situations. Pop the bag, boil some water and 5 minutes later you have chicken soup noodles in front of you. It is no doubt that instant noodles are one of mankind's most brilliant creations and one of the most underlooked.

    In Malaysia, instant noodles are no doubt a hit, a staple diet among locals. Breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack, you can find people eating instant noodles at anytime of the day, even 3am in the morning at the mamak stall. Unhealthy? Who cares?

    Instant noodles also form a base to brush up our cooking skills. The first step in cooking every Malaysian child has to take is to learn how to cook "Maggi mee". They also serve as a base for food experimenting, you can fry instant noodles, boil'em and eat'em with home cooked soup, add any leftovers to them for added "nutrition" and nowadays some can even be eaten out of the pack when you feel too heavy to move more than 6 inches. Ask any Malaysian and they'll all have their personal preference how their instant noodles should be like and what ingredients are to be added. Same story with every mamak stall, they all have their different styles of Maggi goreng.

    Personally, I like to add my ingredients according to what is shown on the picture on the packet. I don't like to add seafood to chicken noodles or meat to seafood noodles. You might think that I'm mad but I don't care. Here, I am to share with you one of my favourite style of cooking instant noodles.

    I like seafood noodles and on this particular packet of instant noodles I had today, I see prawns in the picture. Furthermore, it's a Thai product and it's Tom Yam flavoured and Tom Yam always goes well with prawns. Dug out some massive prawns from the freezer and defrost them. Peel them and devein.

    Keep the prawn shells and head for seafood broth. Throw them into the pot with some fish bone and ikan bilis(dried anchovies) and boil them for at least 20 minutes.

    Orangey red broth will form. Drain the broth into another pot and throw away the shells and shit.

    Add some water to broth and cook instant noodles. Add any seafood, for today(prawn, scallop and fish). You can also add vege but I ran out of vege today. Thank God.

    Done and serve. Might look like a bowl of rubbish but trust me it's fine fine food.

  

My Denim Adventure - New Purchase!

Above: Finally my 1st pair of APCs, Petite Standards.

Got a pair of new denims all the way from the USA to break in after I'm done with my Dr Denims, and they are none better than APCs, which are famed among denim enthusiast for producing great fades. The difference between this pair and my Dr Denims is that they are much much more stiffer, more starch, better fades and they are also selvedged, a method of sewing associated with quality denim. Can't wait to get them smelly and break them in. =)

Above: Selvedge...my 1st pair of selvedged jeans, finally. =)

NY > Dubai > Home

Above: My last proper NY meal. Pita brad with loads of meaty shit.

Above: Still confused. Did I misplace my HK photos in my NY album?

Above: So this is how it feels to be on stand-by. Like shit.

It was a very tense moment while waiting at the airport for our tickets to be confirmed for the flight to Dubai. I could only sit down at one corner of JFK International and pray that we can get on the flight. I didn't really want to leave NY yet but I didn't wanna go back to NY after traveling all the way to the airport with our luggages all packed and ready. Went to the toilet and walked back to the place where my parents were waiting and our prayers were answered, we are going home after all. Exhaustion overwhelmed me. The only relief came in the form of the Airbus A380 that we were going to board to Dubai. Basically a really huge, double decked plane with massive wings that you can literally fit a futsal court onto. Got on the flight and it's 12 hours of agonising sleeplessness, stress and air sickness. I was so tired that I suggested to my parents that we should stay over in Dubai for at least one night, since my sister was also free at the moment, they agreed.

Above: Airbus A380. Two bridges, one connecting to the upper deck and one to the lower. Brilliant, and I sound like a geek now.

Above: What huge wings you have Mr Plane.

    Reached Dubai at about 8 or 9pm Dubai time. Waited at the carousel for our luggage but it never showed up. Dad then checked the boarding pass and found out that they actually checked us right into a transit flight on the same day back to KL, which means that we will not be able to stay back in Dubai which got me really pissed.

Above: Hi Dubai....bye Dubai.

    Anyway, went for a dinner with my sister and then took some shots and headed to my sister's apartment to clean ourselves up. Rested for a while and went back to the airport. Another agonisingly slow 7 hour flight back to KL. Felt sick and uncomfortable throughout the whole journey. Finally reached KL and 2 hours later, home. Home Sweet Home! Phew...nono....PHEW!

    I really hate flights. I wouldn't wanna get back on another plane for the next 5 months at least. Plane flights are torture for me, they are as comfortable as being stabbed. For now, I need some good rest. Jet lagged and feeling unwell.

NY Day 4 - Going Back??

Woke up this morning to find out that my sister had just informed us that our flight which was supposed to be on the 11th was overbooked and us, having bought unconfirmed tickets had a very slim chance of boarding. The only flight not fully booked is tonight's, so this left us no choice but to board the flight tonight, which we....hopefully can make it. Another few hours of sightseeing in NY and on to Dubai. =( I'll be back.

* Until I'm back in Malacca, there will be no further updates here.

NY Day 3 - Down South Manhattan

Above: Now...how have I ended up in HK?

Mr B. came and took us to visit Chinatown today. Had another Dim Sum breakfast today. Nothing much to talk about, but the Dim Sum is really as good as those in HK. Chinatown really reminds me a lot of HK. The sights and smells, it's really just HK with the streets widened and with more rubbish.

Above: "What cold, steely balls you have Mr. Bull"

    After our meal, walked a few blocks away from the Chinatown area to Broadway, a long street which spans almost the whole length of Manhattan from north to south. Along broadway lies many designer stores and the famed Wall Street which is a few blocks away from the site of the 911 attacks. Walked down  Broadway to Wall Street to look for the famous Charging Bull. Apparently grabbing it's balls will bring good luck. So, all of us did exactly that for a few snaps of the camera. =)

Above: Manhattan skyline.

Above: Need I say more? Statue of Liberty you idiots.

    Later, we walked a short distance to the pier to take a ferry to visit the Statue of Liberty. Bought the tickets, sailed over to Liberty Island. Although it wasn't snowing, the weather was freezing cold today which made it hard for us to enjoy our walk but what the hell, we were on Liberty Island after all and it's not like we can get here everyday. Walked around the island, snap snap and back to the pier.

Above: Big pieces of joy.

    Went back to Broadway, walked along Broadway up north, shopping along the way. Stopped by a restaurant for some very good pizza and lasagna. A taxi ride and ended up in our hotel room watching tv to find out who was murdered today. Decent day just because I came back empty handed. =)

NY Day 2 - Factory outlet shopping and shit

Above: Suede desert boots in snow....bad idea. These were as new as my boots looked before the snow totally ruined them.

We were supposed to be visiting Chinatown and the rest of the Soho district today but then as we woke up in the morning, it snowed. So at the last minute, we had a change of plans.

Above: Woodbury Wonderland.

    We will be going outlet shopping today. Basically, factory outlets are stores that sells clothing and other stuff that are either on clearance or already off season so you get better deals there especially for designer items. I'm a frequent visitor to Hong Kong's Citygate outlets near HKIA, however the USA will always be the country with the best deals all around and I was going to realise that I was right after all. I did some online research and Woodbury Commons Factory Outlets seemed to be the closest to NYC and also the biggest, it's also rather famous among tourists visiting NYC. We were told that in summer, the place would be packed with tourists, particularly Asians...lol. However it's snowing and it's winter now, so the place is less packed. The only thing bad is that the place is an open air mall, I knew this all along but I kept quiet just to prevent my dad from changing his mind. So...we went over to Port Authority Bus Station (which is kinda like Puduraya because both are near the Times Squares in their respective cities =.=) and went on an hour long journey to Woodbury Commons.

Above: It's getting dark? We've been shopping for 6-7 hours?

Above: Our haul for today. =) 

    I've always believed that I have a curse on outlets. I'm never able to find something that I really like at outlets and sometimes I just end up getting stuff out of desperation, which I will sell off in the end. It was the same here, I really couldn't find anything that I really like and those that I really like are always out of my sizes or out of my reach. In the end, I ended up with a pair of shoes bought by my mum.

Above: I swear I was at Times Square NY.

    Another hour of bus riding back to Port Authority and walked two blocks down to the legendary Times Square. Times Square is great, it really has a certain vibe and aura, it makes people feel happy and is just a special special place. There's just an indescribable feeling about being at Times Square, like the heart of the great city itself where all the activity is taking place. Hard Rock cafe is here, Madame Tussauds...great!

Above: A very big building called Madison Square Garden.

    Anyway, made our way down the streets back to our hotel and stumbled upon a big building named Madison Square Garden. =) Reached hotel, relaxing and preparing for tomorrow.