You Are 54% Addicted to the Internet

You're somewhat addicted to the internet - but who isn't? You can keep it under check, and you're by no means a hermit.

Finally, I'm back from my vacation!!! And hey, I missed the internet and blogging while I was away. I will post about my trip once I have the pictures ready!!! :)

You Have Good Karma

In general, you like to do the right thing when it comes to others. Your caring personality really shines through. Sure, you have your moments of weakness - and occasionally act out. But, all in all, you're karma is good... even with those few dark spots.

About Karma.

Whoa, this is a great fantasy novel! There are so much details in this book (a total of 576 pages for your info) that you feel you want to devour it! Take me some time to finish it, but trust me, you wouldn't want to skim any pages. I absolutely love Talyn and I hope Holly Lisle will write more fantasy stories like this!

For centuries, the Tonk Confederacy have fought against the Eastils, but that is about to change when the Feegash diplomats stepped in and asked for peace. Before the peace talks are held, the Eastils have sent one of their warriors Gair on a secret mission but he ends up as prisoner-of-war together with his two soldiers. As the Tonks and Eastils agree to the proposals by the Feegash, Gair and his two men are left forgotten in the dungeon.

Talyn is a soldier to the Tonk Confederacy. To her, fighting battles and defending for her nation is her life, and she can't imagine how it will be like if they are to stop the fightings. She manages to flee Gair and his men and put them at her house, with the assistance of her healer. She also meets the handsome Feegash diplomat Skirmig, and is quickly taken in by him. Skirmig offers to teach her Hagedwar, which is the magic of the Feegash and she learns quickly. She then moves in with Skirmig, under his magical influence although she doesn't really like their ways of treating women and children (i.e. treating them as pleasure or sex slaves by torturing them), but whenever she gazes deep into Skirmig's eyes as he whispers lovey words to her, she will brush the horrific thoughts away. Soon she is lost with his mind controlling powers and becomes his slave.

Gair, on the other hand have been having bad dreams about Talyn as he is recuperating. He feels she is in great danger, and he tells himself he has to live on if he wants to save her, as she has once saved him despite they are enemies. Soon, the Tonks and the Eastils came to realise they are under the threat of the Feegash's treacherous plan and these sworn enemies have to unite to save their nations from succumbing to the Feegashs' who have hideous magical control.

The story alternatively narrates between two POVs: first person Talyn and third person Gair. Still, it doesn't confuse me with this unusual style and I absolutely enjoyed this thought-provoking fantasy story where the characters must set their differences aside to save their respective people and nations. This book is definitely a keeper for me!

Finally, we will be going for a vacation!!! Can you believe that our last trip was to New Zealand during our honeymoon in 2003?!

There is an ancient Chinese Proverb that says "Better to be deprived of food for three days, than tea for one."

I don't know why, but I seem to be addicted to green tea, the way a coffee lover needs his or her regular fix. I drink it almost every day... hmm...must be the caffeine in it. Better still it benefits our health as well (at least most articles I read said so).

I am also obsessed with anything that links with green tea. My perfume, handwash gel, dishwashing foam are all associated with green tea. You must think I'm insane, but I just love the fresh scent. Ah...

General Instructions on Brewing Green Tea:

• Fill a kettle of water and bring to boil
• Use one tea bag per cup
• Once the water is boiled, pour it over the tea bag and allow to steep for 3 minutes
• Remove the tea bag and allow it to cool for a minute or two

Not as complicated as preparing a cup of good coffee in my opinion. Hehe. And now, will you believe me I am enjoying my cup of green tea as I am writing this? ;P

You Will Keep Your New Year's Resolution

You planning on making a resolution that's smart, attainable, and perfect for where your life is.

Well, I don't really believe in resolution. I mean, if rules are meant to be broken, then it applies the same here. Hehe. Anyway, I don't ask for much: Health and Happiness are what most matters to me.

Everyone loves a haunted house story, and so do I. Have you ever wondered what makes a house haunted? Is it the spirit of the dead which occupies the house? Or does the house has a life of its own? Some time ago, I watched Ju-On (or known as 'The Grudge') where the story tells about a man who murders his wife, son and cat in the upstairs room of their suburban house. When the new owners occupies the house, they feel something isn't right - as if someone is living under the same roof with them. Sounds creepy huh?

In Monster House, every kids in the neighbourhood fear about 'that' house. They will scramble whenever they bypass the house but can't help wondering and fascinating with the mysterious Mr. Nebbercracker who is staying in it either, for he will yell and stare menaciously whoever that comes near his house or even touches his lawn.

D.J. and his best friend Chowder have always been intrigued with Mr. Nebbercracker and his house. When they see Jenny, a girl who's new to their neighbourhood and is selling cookies to their weird neighbour, they try to stop her. She thinks they are nuts, but later discovers they are telling the truth and they decide to investigate when no one seems to believe their stories.

Soon, they discover there is something more behind the house and that Mr. Nebbercracker isn't as scary as they think.

Well, I enjoyed this animation. And what most enjoyable thing is, the ending isn't what I expect it to be in the first place; and what is most intriguing to me is Mr. Nebbercracker himself, that I find this phrase 'Never judge a person by his looks' sounds oh so true.

Well, this is probably my last post for 2006! And in case I won't be logging on until 3 Jan, I would like to wish everyone a...

At a graduation night ten years ago, Katrina Spencer finally musters her courage to seduce Brock Denton, a bad boy whom she likes but knows they are not destined to be together. But Brock turns her down, sending her away and deeply humiliated. She never forgets that night, until ten years later, she meets him again on a deserted island.

Brock Denton is now an undercover FBI Agent. Things are going smoothly with his job until he answers to his real name accidentally and has his cover blown. Now he has to flee before the smugglers catch up on him. He manages to escape and ends up on an island, and is equally shocked to meet face to face with a grown-up Kat.

Kat wishes she is with her friends at a bachelorette party at Vegas, instead of spending time to herself at a family private island before marrying to her fiance, Ian whom she admires but doesn't love. When she sees Brock again, he reminds her of the night when he had turned down on her, but Brock thinks otherwise, for he has never forgotten about her. Now Kat doesn't know what to think; although she tells herself she is going to get married within a few days' time, still she can't fight the yearnings she still have for Brock.

But danger catches up on Brock and he vows to protect the woman whom he had let down once, as well as to deal with the sparks that fly between them.

Will Kat allow herself to be seduced and follow her heart? Or is this just part of Brock's remedy of the past?

Toni Blake has weaved a wonderful romance suspense story. Readers will be Swept Away with this book.

Now I know why the server is extremely slow (or at times not even responding) yesterday!!! It was due to a 7.1-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Taiwan last night; the underwater cables in the Asia Pacific region that carry internet traffic were damaged and the internet service in countries like China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and even Australia is jammed.

My heart goes out to the Taiwanese, and I'm hoping there won't be too many casualties. I feel there are more natural disasters in this year as compared to the others, and wonder in a way if the earth is about to change... Yeah, I know, it's a scary thought but well, one just can't help thinking about that if too many things happened in a year!

Anyway, just to share this with you regarding our internet situation here; I can just imagine how this will deeply affect the stock market traders or other businesses who rely on telecommunications. Let's just hope this matter will be resolved soon.

(Note: It seems to work fine with me this morning...keeping fingers crossed!)
Read more from AP Yahoo News and AFP Yahoo News.

You Are a Kinetic Learner

You learn best by doing, and you have a talent for complicated, physical tasks. You excel at athletics, drama, and fixing things. You would be an excellent Olympic athlete - or a Broadway star!

I almost laughed out loud at the result. Me? An excellent Olympic athlete? I never like sports in the first place, haha. And er...Broadway star? Too funny. But I admit I prefer to learn things by doing (or I prefer to call it 'experiencing'), and I have no comments about having the talent for complicated, physical tasks, as I think that should leave it to other people to judge me rather than judging myself.

Pete Trayhern is a marine combat engineer Major and is in charge of a construction project in Afghanistan. He is requested to work closely with the construction companies, but he never expects the head of the construction project to be a female civilian by the name of Calandra Roland, not in this unpredictable third world country. He has involved in several military projects and though he thinks Cala is attractive, she is definitely not the person he thinks will be in charge of building a power station in Afghanistan. But he tells himself he will ignore the sparks between them to ensure that the work will go smoothly.

Cala is one courageous lady, and together with her directness she is slowly making him drop his guard. But as they try to ignore their attractions towards each other, danger is slowly creeping upon them. And the most critical thing they have to do is to finish the project and find out who is behind the destruction before they embrace their love for each other that is worth a lifetime.

Beyond The Limit sizzles with actions, excitement and intrigue, and is part of the Morgan's Mercenaries series. Lindsay McKenna is one talented writer who knows how to write great military romances and suspense. Ah...how I love reading them.

Today is the day of Dongzhi, one of the chinese traditions and we celebrate this festival by eating Tang Yuan. I love eating Tang Yuan. I remember when I was younger, I used to watch my mom making Tang Yuan from glutinous rice flour with a small amount of water added to form the balls. Usually she will put chopped peanuts or rock sugar inside the balls as the fillings. Then she will boil them in soup (with a little sugar added) and it is ready to serve. Other fillings also include sesame paste and red bean paste, depends on individual's preference.

I also remember fighting with my younger sister for the pink Tang Yuan, as the glutinous rice dough comes with two colours: white and pink. (White is the most commonly found in the wet markets, since it's considered the 'traditional' colour for Tang Yuan, although most would like to add in a few pink balls to create a more 'colourful' effect).

Tang Yuan can be eaten all year around, and is most commonly associated with Chinese New Year, Lantern Festival and even at Chinese weddings where the new couples believe it will bring them luck and all the good blessings.

I just watched this movie last evening and have not read the book yet (in my TBR pile) but I did read several reviews - both the book (it was first published in 2003) and movie and just don't understand the fuss from the reviewers. Most of them said the movie isn't as great as the book (doesn't this applies the same to the others as well?), and compare it with the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars (fair enough - a little comparison is good after all).

It begins with a farm boy named Eragon when he finds a polished blue stone in the forest while out hunting. Thinking it is something special that can exchange some meat to his poor family, he soon discovers there is more than he thinks, and when he brings home he is astonished to find a dragon hatching from it! Soon he finds himself raising the highly intelligent creature which he names Saphira, and that they are able to bond mentally and soulfully. With the advice and guidance of the storyteller Brom (he was formerly a dragon rider but lost his dragon as it was killed!), Eragon learns he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself, and that he will avenge for his uncle and fight the dark enemies which is ruled by an evil King, where the world of magic and power reigns.

Although the plot isn't new, but still I will give credit to the author, Christopher Paolini who first penned this novel when he was only fifteen (never mind about the clichés and all!). After all, writing a book isn't considered an easy task especially at that age, and that there is always room for improvements (and hey, editors play an important part too!). Yes, I enjoyed the movie as it is entertaining, and will definitely read the book.

This is actually the second book of the Lords of Avalon series. I enjoyed reading it that I had to search for the first book (Sword of Darkness), and which is now lying amidst my TBR pile.

Varian de Fey is a hitman for Merlin for countless centuries. He is raised with hatred and anger, and is able to walk between Camelot and Avalon. When Merlin informs him there is a traitor amongst them and shows him an image of Grail Knight Tarynice being dead; he decides to seek the truth and ensures that Grail Knight Tarynice didn't release the secret which involves the remaining five knights who each holds a clue to the sacred Grail. He then meets Merewyn and helps her, who has earlier made a deal with Narishka that made her a deformed hag for eternity.

Meanwhile, his mother, the evil Narishka and right hand of Morgen Le Fey, wants Varian to join their forces. He refuses and is captured by her where he is locked in the dungeon where he is tortured, but Narishka knows his weakness - pity, when he has once showered on Merewyn and decided to use Merewyn's charms to lure him (Narishka has to turn Merewyn into a beauty due to this plan).

Merewyn is delighted to be a beauty again, but she also understands that she will never get out of Narishka's evil grasp, thus she decides to flee Varian and leave with him. But there is nowhere for them to go, except Val Sans Retour (The Valley of No Return) and they have heard rumours that whoever goes to that path never returns, but they have no choice and that it is better than to stay in Narishka's territory. While they make their escape, they are accompanied by Blaise, who is able to turn into a dragon, and through this dangerous journey Merewyn and Varian began to fall in love.

Kinley MacGregor has weaved a great romance fantasy in this series, which is unlike her other historical romances, and I'm sure readers who love reading fantasy will enjoy this as well.

You Are Best Described By...

The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh

I enjoyed reading this book! It makes me laugh, and well, Fred the dog in this book is just so cute that I wish I can adopt him! LOL. Well, you can say this book focuses a lot on him, besides the hero and the heroine as well. In fact, Fred plays an important role between them and he is almost like a 'matchmaker' to them.

Just turning forty and divorced, Nina Askew wants to have a new life. She wants freedom, and be happy staying on her own and getting a perky dog. But instead she gets Fred, who is overweight, middle-aged and depressed. She feels pity for him; and decided to take him home, and they begin their new life together.

Nina then meets Alex Moore, a single ER doctor who happens to be her neighbour and is ten years her junior. He seems perfect to Nina, but the thing is she feels their age gap is too wide, and that they will have no future together. Alex, on the other hand, thinks otherwise. He is attracted to Nina, and he doesn't give a damn about the age gap or the funny dog that gets between them.

He decides to follow his father's footsteps and be a cardiologist, thinking that it will earn him big bucks and please his father as well; and on top of that Nina's ex-husband does well with his career and he thinks this is what Nina wants - by providing a comfy life for her.

Besides this, Nina is also trying to get her best friend Charity to publish a memoir (where Charity lists her past relationships with different men), and she encourages Nina to go after Alex. Then Nina has a small accident and when she is in the hospital, she begins to see Alex in a whole new light, while Alex tries his best to banish his 'kid' image and pursue the woman who invades his mind day and night.

Anyone But You is actually a reissued copy and was first published in 1996. I love the characters in this book, and great (amusing) dialogues too.

These are some of the pictures we took while shopping at Orchard Road on Saturday. The streets were packed with people, and most of them carried shopping bags in their hands. Don't you love this festive season? :)

This is a Thai horror movie. Oh yeah, I love watching horror movies (I guess most people do anyway). Don't really understand why we will spend money scaring ourselves, but I admit it's kinda fun isn't it? LOL. Anyway, this movie has been released some time ago, and I watched the DVD.

Tun, a photographer and his girlfriend Jane have a car accident after having a drinking party with Tun's closest friends. Jane is terrified that she has hit someone, but Tun stops her from helping the girl as he is scared of having caught. They ran off, not even bothering to check if the girl is still alive or not.

Then, something 'unexplainable' appears on the photos Tun has taken. At first, he thinks it is just a bad picture, but he continues to see these 'bad' pictures subsequently and he comes to realize there is something more behind with these pictures.

Tun and Jane began to investigate the pictures, and to their horror find the supernatural image looks very much the same as the girl whom they hit during the car accident. Jane later discovers that Tun holds a secret; and that the girl she hit is actually his former girlfriend Natre. Natre met Tun while they were in college, and she liked Tun. On one occasion, Tun and his friends stayed late in the laboratory, and they were delighted to find Natre in the lab as well. The boys' teasing has turned to rape, and Natre watched in horror as Tun did nothing to help her but took pictures of them under peer pressure from the friends.

One by one, Tun's friends began to die mysteriously...leaving Tun the only left amongst the group. Tun begins to realize he couldn't escape from his past, no matter how far he runs or where he goes...

I enjoyed this movie, although I have to count on the subtitles to understand the whole plot. It sent chills down my spine, especially the ending part. {shudders}