Loopie - Joop

because thursday and friday are public holidays - yay! it's the cup match long weekend. a lot of people have already left the island for a break today. and i'm looking forward to a long 4-day weekend... yay to more books and TV!

The Daily Mail has this article today: Mother awarded £800,000 after 'six pints of water a day detox diet' left her brain damaged By Luke Salkeld Last updated at 10:22 PM on 22nd July 2008 A dieter suffered permanent brain damage after being advised to drink six pints of water a day and cut salt intake to lose weight. Dawn Page, 52, has been awarded £810,000 in damages from her nutritionist, although the practitioner denies fault. Mother of two Mrs Page, who weighed 12st, became ill within days of taking up the Amazing Hydration Diet. She had been told by the nutritionist to drink four extra pints of water a day and drastically reduce her salt intake. The first stage of the regime left her suffering from severe vomiting and stomach cramps, but she was told these were just part of the detoxification process. She was told by her dietician to increase the amount of water to six pints and consume still less salt. Days later she suffered a massive epileptic fit and brain damage caus...

i've just looked at my grades and i must say, it is a joyous occasion.

I took this off the bbc website. First the title makes no sense. After skimming the article, the only thought in my head is "WTF? ANOTHER WEIRDO!". And of course the title still makes no sense. Farm ban for sheep sex arrest man A man arrested for allegedly having sex with sheep has been banned from visiting farmland. The 27-year-old was arrested on suspicion of bestiality by officers at his home in Dulwich, south-east London, on Thursday morning. It followed several complaints about a man molesting sheep in Botany Bay Lane, Chislehurst, in May and June. He was bailed on the condition that he does not enter farmyards within the Metropolitan Police area. The arrest was made when witnesses reported a man sexually assaulting sheep before running off, often leaving clothing at the scene. DNA tests It is understood the man was traced after forensic scientists identified DNA recovered from a pair of jogging bottoms found at the scene. Two sheep were found dead in the field during...

Good news - i've passed both prelim exams! Not so good news - the job search intensifies!

As you know, i'm living on the opposite side of the globe from singapore - 11 hours away to be exact. So there are only that many hours a day where the "godly" hours on both sides coincide - to be exact, it would be 9am - 1pm for me and 8pm - 12mn for you guys. The rest of the day, i am left to fantasize and imagine what fun you guys must be having... without me. When i don't catch anyone on msn on a friday morning, i'm imagining that you guys are out partying at clarke quay or the newest "in" place... i can just smell the smoke (has smoking been banned yet?) mixed with dried-ice and the sweet smell of alcohol. i can hear the heart-pumping bass, coupled with some shrieking and shouting of the lyrics of the songs. oh, have i already mentioned the sweet taste of tequila shots (we used to have those by the dozen), and other ultra-tasty treats from the bar?! one gulp of cool liquid fire - i'm all excited just thinking about it. Those were fantastic times...

Last Sunday - i found an unopened set of VCDs. that's like a miracle in itself. and the best part of it was, it has remained unopen since Jun 2007. yeps. i'd clean forgotten about it. it's a korean TV series with no one particularly good-looking. that could have explained the neglect. but anyway, i tried watching it. in fact, i had finished 10 of the 16 episodes by Tuesday and then all of a sudden, i didn't have the urge to finish the series. in fact, at some point between episodes 8-10, i started skipping through the CDs to get ahead. it was enjoyable (i guess) but i could just predict where the darn story was going. and the remaining 6 hours was going to be a waste of time anyway with i reckon 3 episodes full of flashbacks. and why would i want to sit through 6 more hours looking at imperfect looking people?! i think i've had enough of not so good-looking korean actors. i mean, if they're going to go under the knife, better get it right and perfect!...

koolim is now banned at work. i'm on meebo. thank God for meebo.

I saw this on a website (author is presumably male or assumes a male-ish role.. nowadays you never know.) Men's Rules - We always hear the rules from the female side. Now here are the rules from the male side. Breasts are for looking at and that is why we do it. Don’t try to change that. If you think you’re fat, you probably are. Don’t ask us. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials. Learn to work the toilet seat. You’re a big girl. If it’s up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don’t hear us complaining about you leaving it down. Sunday = sports. It’s like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way. Crying is blackmail. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! JUST SAY IT! "Yes" and "No" are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every qu...

Yesterday, we experienced Tropical Storm Bertha as she passed us around 40 nautical miles to the east. it was rain, rain, rain and wind, wind, wind. nearly thought i wouldn't be able to get back home - with the debris flying about, trees falling over, water everywhere. was driving at 20km/h to hao-e's office to fetch him. wow, it took me almost half an hour to get there, instead of the usual 10mins. it is supposed to be an active hurricane season this year. but we are fine.

HURRICANE BERTHA - Advisory #33 Issued: 6 am Fri, Jul 11, 2008 Note: Forecast track may be liable to large error - please monitor for further updates HURRICANE BERTHA is a potential threat to Bermuda. Current Position: 28.0N 61.7W approx. 306 nm SSE of Bermuda Recent Movement: NW or 315 degrees at 6 kt Central Pressure: 980 mb / 28.93 in Max Sustained Winds: 75kt gusts 90kt Closest point of approach to Bermuda within 72 hrs: Date: 1 am Sun, Jul 13, 2008 Distance: 153 nm to the ESE

Just had to share this - was browsing through the web this morning searching for the correct spelling of the icelandic national (alcoholic!) drink brennivin (snapps made from potatoes) when this site popped up. haha - i got excited. i can smell the sweet, sweet scent of alcohol just by reading the articles. BTW, more photos from Iceland have been uploaded onto FB. Hope I don't get caught by IT. Pray for me.

We are movie buffs. period. No question about that. Caught 2 shows while in Iceland - one is the much-anticipated-long-awaited-well-reviewed-box-office-hit-chick-flick SATC the movie. I know EVERY person claiming to have an ounce of estrogen in their bodies have hit the theatres to catch this. (Psst.. if you haven't, it's time to consider whether your soul is truly female or not.)Of course i thought it tough to turn this great TV series into a 2.5 hour movie, i mean, c'mon, it wasn't written for the big screen. so i will only concede i love the bags, clothes, and shoes. i especially like the mexico part and the asian girl acting as Lily learning the 's' word. story-wise, it was everything as expected - no biggies- so the fans remain happy and loyal. truly enjoyed looking at the fashion displayed. The second movie we caught was nice- because of Ben Barnes, Prince Caspian (with weird accent). heh. thought it was a kiddie show -it is! - but he helped sav...

Headlines that caught my eye: Suicide bombing in Afghanistan G8 summit opens in Hokkaido Nadal wins Wimbledon Wildfires in California I have never heard of wildfires being described as a big, hairy black animal - Fire chiefs overseeing efforts to quell the blaze near Santa Barbara, which has claimed nearly 10,000 acres, said the fire was far from under control. " This is still a gorilla ," the fire's incident commander Wally Bennett was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times. "We have a lot of work to do on it, and a lot of bad country to work on it in. It's just one step at a time, and we're going to get this thing." Now that's a new one. Trust the californians to come up with this. geez. the next thing we know, torrential rain would be called a chimpanzee or something. Leave the poor animals out of this business i say.

ok now, yesterday when i published the new entries, they looked alright. this morning, the alignment has gone! yikes!

Besides Japan, Iceland is another country that does commercial whaling. Its quota ain't that high - just 40 whales a year. To those animal activists/whale protectors, 40 may seem a lot though, given that almost the entire world has pledged not to whale no more. We saw minke whale meat being served on skewers but didn't dare try it after our very enjoyable afternoon stalking the whales on the high seas. They are really smart and adorable creatures - so stop whaling before they go extinct.

Here's something we've never seen before - Basalt Columns. Rectangular blocks of basalt formed by the cooling of thick lava. Reynisdrangar, that's what they call these basalt stacks found at the bottom of Reynisfyall near the town of Vik in Southern Iceland. The Icelanders use these columns extensively in Reykjavik city. I initially thought they were carved by masons, but they turned out to be formed by nature!

Can you believe that huge, burly Vikings used to stay in such short, cute houses? Reminds me of Hobbiton if you ask me. This house was used all the way till the 70's. When we went in, the doorway was barely tall enough for Hao-e (and he's not tall, mind you). Just imagine. Skogasafn Museum near Skogafoss Waterfall, tries to replicate the life of Icelanders from Viking days till present. We were amazed at the creativity displayed by the early Icelandic people who struggled to survive in the harsh conditions with minimal resources. Fish hooks, double-thumbed gloves, waterproof garments stiff with oil (no goretex in those days), they braved the icy winds and unpredictable weather on this fishing boat to bring in some fish for food. More hobbiton-like houses. They are really short and cramped. The 2nd photo shows the interior with a fairly modern gas stove.

Here is the first series of photos we took in Iceland - there, you'll find all those stuff from Geography textbooks. (Geog buffs alert!) This is a simple one - a thundering waterfall formed by melting galciers - Skogafoss - on the south-western part of Iceland. This waterfall has a legend attached to it relating to Iceland's Viking heritage - apparently there's Viking treasure hidden in the waterfall but it's located at the end of the rainbow. See if you can find the booty.

Ooh.... this entry should gather some response from the ladies. Don't you just love the shiny hair, broad shoulders, winsome smile, perfect straight teeth, etc. etc. This man has taken my heart along with the Euro 2008 Cup, he's Spanish (i hear whistles already!), he's into sports (one in particular with 22 men chasing one ball), he's tall and he's talented. what can i say? We were trying to catch as many games we could on this trip and of course we sacrificed MY shopping time to watch the final game the night before we were due to fly back to bermuda. and my dear boy (he's born in 1986) here was part of the team that won the cup back for the spaniards! His name - Sergio Ramos Garcia - man of my dreams...

My dear folks who never leave messages for me - hey people! you are reading this aren't you? - just a short note on a show i enjoyed on the way back to Bermuda... The Bank Job. Brit flick, fast-paced, conspiracy theory-laden, burglary. Go rent it. it's pretty good.

Arrived back in Bermuda on Monday evening. Was warmly welcomed by the Customs officer who rummaged through all our stuff, dirty, smelly laundry included. Will be posting the pictures online anytime soon. What has everyone been up to recently?