Hawthorne

The temperature recorded outside should be between 18-21 degrees Celsius. The weather is sunny but in summer clothings, one can still feel a bit chilly when the wind blows. I am now in Hawthorne Boulevard, Los Angeles. Some would have thought whether this place has anything to do with the famous or rather infamous study of workers' motivation by Elton Mayo. Well, I am not sure. But according to the open-sourced Wikipedia, the study of Hawthorne Effect was done in Illinois. Hence, I don't think this place got its name from the study.

I always have this same feeling whenever I am in Los Angeles. I feel small in the bigness of everything here. The shops, the malls, the cars! Oh dear, everything is massive and unfamiliar to me. I always have this love-hate relationship with America. It is complex and I attribute it to my own ignorance. I can never really understand it. The Hispanics here whom I encountered, mainly as service workers, tend to put on a frown face if not, a standard, dreamy, "I don't give a damn" attitude. I begin to rationalise whether the recent report on CNN Black in America 2 has anything to do with such attributes. The Asians in America scored lowest in terms of unemployment, followed by the Whites, the Hispanics and then the African Americans (although CNN still use the term Blacks to describe this race). It would be interesting to know how the Hispanics view the Asians here.

The reports that dominate the headlines here are none other than Michael Jackson. Even the (probably) greatest victory over the white-collar crimes committed by Mr Maddoff couldn't match the sensations of this pop icon. It is the death of this pop legend that has generated his so-called greatest comeback in the media. It is truly a tragedy. But the mourning was somehow felt mildly only in this part of California, judging from only one retail shop amongst many others that played his music over the speakers.

Indeed, his death has put a new light into viewing who MJ actually was. Little that we know, he was indeed a brilliant business person and a even greater humanitarian. May he rest in peace...

RIP Michael Jackson

June 25th 2009 marked the day, the world stood still for the King of Pop to make his final farewell to the world he loved so much.

I woke up to the news at 9am on Channel News Asia, screaming at the bottom of the screen with headlines pertaining his death. It was a tragedy to the world. I was quite in disbelief.

On the same day, Farrah Fawcett also bid goodbye after her battle with cancer.

There has never been a day with two shocking news of the bereavement of two great souls, humanitarians, to describe them the least. May both rest in peace...

KL

I had a brief encounter in KL recently. I did two things, appearing in "court" and catching up with friends, whoever were available to meet me. And I was lucky to have met Flo at Harrods Cafe, KLCC the day I arrived.

While waiting, I ordered myself a blueberry apple crumble and a house blend to quench my craving for a cuppa. A dessert is not normally what I'll have but as tea time was near and I wouldn't want to finish my cuppa too soon, I decided on the crumble based upon the fanciful description in upper-class English. How would you not be influenced when you're in such an upmarket environment. As I was just arriving from the Budget Terminal, my attire would render me unwelcomed if it was in Harrods, London ( I just had that impression in my mind, not sure why ).

The blueberry apple crumble turned out to be the most delicious dessert I have ever had for such a long time! I really enjoyed every bits of it and I thought, it'll be great with a weak cinnamon tea. Nonetheless, the house blend served the purpose in a very unique way as well.

Flo arrived and our conversation started. While catching up, I was already almost done with my crumble and I thought it would be too rude to offer her for a taste (sorry, Flo!). It was a nice brief catching up session and it's always that nostalgic feeling of meeting an old friend after a long break. With social networking technolgy these days, sometimes it's difficult to detect where we have left off actually, in terms of face-to-face communication.

I often wonder, will the future ever be laden with sentimentality and a real sense of connection between people, especially with friends? I am a sentimental person and I enjoy savouring on wonderful memories shared and I hope, we'll all continue to enrich those encounters and experiences together. In that way, I felt that I've beaten the machines, as those memories are not stored in hard disks or DVD, but in my very own RAM that makes me feel happy whenever I am offline.

Godlessness?

I must apologise for my previous few entries which I must admit, are merely to fulfill my personal quota of three entries per month. Life is such where sometimes, we really need to prioritise. As my new home-in-making (at the point of writing) is taking a toll in my life, I seek every opportunity of time to think of the design, to monitor the renovation work and shop for a dream interior. Nevertheless, the joy of reading still manage to be filled with my current (at the point of writing) read, The God Delusion.

It was an accidental purchase, purely motivated by the price tag of just RM9.90 at MPH, 1Utama. After reading a few pages, I would have paid ten times more the price as I was introduced to a brand new thinking (not so, for the Atheist) which I never thought was possible.

In between my read and my so-called home-making activities, I got a trip to London. As usual, my eyes would be wary of any free copies of TimeOut or Where Magazines at the concierge. I must grab hold of one if I see any. To my great surprise, Where London was available. I couldn't believe my eyes that Darwin : Big Idea Big Exhibition was still going on at the Natural History Museum London.

I quickly made a vow to pay this exhibition a visit, not so much because of I admire Charles Darwin (which I do) but because of the connection with what I was reading. Does a believer in god and a believer in science, have to choose either or?

The entrance of the museum was packed, just like when the London Fashion Week was held some time back. Perhaps the crowd was due to the school break after the Easter Holiday. Like a curious open-minded soul, I was eager to find some answers to that question...

A Great Movie...

I recently watched a great movie with an unmistakeable title, "Slumdog Millionaire". With such a title, I wonder how it became a blockbuster success in the first place and with critics talking about it right-after. Furthermore, with those almost unknown names of the leads, to be a great success, it has to have a great story to tell. And the story was so original and inspiring that an Oscar is not even enough to award such feat. Then only I realised that Slumdog is one of those movies where you'll remember for the rest of your life, even if you've watched it only once.

I do urge people to watch this great movie as it entails many lessons in life which we take granted for. It reminds me that, not only big-budgeted movie can be a success, but the most fundamental quality is still the direction and originality of the story.

I love this story very much and it's unlike most of our current movies in cinemas today, where you'll walk off feeling unsatisfied or felt it could be better.

Home

Home, is not necessary where you came from but a space where you'll feel you're most at ease with being yourself.

Waking Up to a New York Morning

The sound of siren, ever so audible no matter how high you are at any hotel floor, is my usual wake-up call here. Then followed by the TV programmes that are all so entertaining, even the news. Gradually, to fully wake up, is to sip on the free coffee by the hotel's coffee machine. I am not really a fan of this kind of coffee but perhaps, just to have a taste of a New York morning...

I finished my retail therapy rather quickly this morning and afternoon, to be interrupted only by a really surprising appearance of my once, idolised Spice Girls. Not all five of them was there but one, who is special enough to made my encounter with her, so relevant till today. Yes, it was Victoria. She was at Macy's to launch the underwear line by Armani. Then, a visit to the New York Public Library, seems to be a must nowadays. It made my day perfect!