I heard Dean Martin’s rendition of “Memories Are Made Of This” used in an RAC insurance TV ad and loved it. It was apt and they don’t make songs like these anymore. I couldn’t find the TV spot so the above will have to do.

I then got thinking of how vintage songs have been used in my one big love: video games. And here are my favourites.

Polly Scattergood’s cover of “New York New York” in a trailer for Crysis 2.

B.o.B’s take on the same song, in the launch trailer for Crysis 2.

“Ain’t That A Kick in The Head” by Dean Martin, used in a trailer for Mafia 2.

Johnny Cash’s cover of the folk song “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”, used in the launch trailer for Splinter Cell: Conviction. Bang bang.

And my top 2 are both from the two Bioshock games released so far.

“Dream” by the Pied Pipers, used in the Sea of Dreams trailer for Bioshock 2.

“Somewhere Beyond The Sea” by Bobby Darin used in the launch trailer for Bioshock. <3

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.
… what if you don’t like lemonade? Or lemon tarts? Or lemon meringue pie?

You play the cards that you are dealt with.
… This dealer sucks. I’m moving to the next table.

There’s plenty of fish in the sea.
… how come I can’t catch any then?

Good things come to those who wait.
… what if you die waiting?

There’s light at the end of the tunnel.
… it’s an oncoming train.

Every cloud has a silver lining.
… behind every silver lining is a cloud.

Tomorrow is another day.
… thanks but you haven’t helped me at all.

The glass is half full.
… who drank my water?!

Of course, I was not always this pessimistic. But that was a long time ago.

What, me worry?

I Wish Skee lo by oublierleracismeskyblog

I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller …

So a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my mom and her ex-boyfriend. And at the end of that post, I joked about how if she had married him I may be taller than what I am now. That prompted a very earnest and concerned query about my mental well-being, and how I should not feel sad about it, and that I have so many other redeeming qualities. *ahem*

Hahah the concern was misplaced of course. I know I sometimes come across as very cynical here but I’m far from depressed, even when I wish and fantasise about a lot of things that I don’t get. For example, besides being taller I also wished that I was rich and handsome. But hey, 1 out of 3 ain’t too bad right? Hah! And besides, I have this winning (nay, bi-winning. Duh) personality that makes me at least a 6 out of 10. Amirite?

And you know how they say that if you are insecure about your weight, you shouldn’t stand next to thinner people? Just to show you how secure I am with being vertically-challenged, here are some photos of me next to taller people.

Woo, this photo deserves a special mention because I have almost forgotten how awesome that night was. Hint: take a look at the scenery behind us. Heh.

Emily Scott. Dayum.

This pic is here because of Sel.

Lastly, I am 164cm and I once dated a girl who’s 172cm. How did I feel about myself when I was going out with her? AWESOME.

It’s been slightly more than a month since I’ve got my HTC Incredible S and I’m still happy with the decision. Coming from the iPhone 3G, the bigger screen with colours that are more vibrant is an awesome change. And I like the slimmer feel of the HTC even though it’s about the same thickness at the back of the phone due to the bulge of the battery.

Even though it’s not fair to compare the nearly 4-year old iPhone 3G to the Incredible S – it should really be compared against the iPhone 4, I’m quite happy to have a phone that feels snappy again. The web browser which loads the text first and images after makes web pages pop onto screen; the caching also makes going back and forth between pages a very pleasant experience. The Safari browser on the iPhone (any of them) should be more like the one on Android.

Transferring songs onto the phone is one step easier than the iPhone and choosing any song on the phone as a ringtone is also simple – the Incredible S even has a tool to crop the songs into any length that you want. I miss the playlist management via iTunes but I don’t miss anything else about it. And the virtual sound enhancement makes my earphones sounds more expensive than it is.

One difficult thing that I had on the first day was transferring my contacts from the iPhone to the Incredible S but that was more the fault of the iPhone. It took a few attempts for the iPhone to recognise the bluetooth signal from the Incredible S even though the HTC could see the iPhone just fine.

And finally, being able to back up my contacts onto the removable SD card is brilliant.

Mom bites into a piece of mandarin and squealed. She takes the rest of the mandarin and gives it to me.

Mom: Here, have the rest of it.
Me: What makes you think I’d want it after seeing you spit it out?
Mom: Because you like being sour.

Oh snap.

It is always fascinating and interesting listening to my mom tell the stories of her love life. And whenever she gives me her thoughts about relationships, I realise that there isn’t much difference between our generations when it comes to affairs of the heart. Even though things happen quicker now and people are more impatient with their relationships, it’s still the same shit just with newer technology. Heh.

I once mentioned briefly about one of her more dramatic stories. She had broken up with her boyfriend of three years due to the persistent presence of his ex-girlfriend in their lives. Upon the persuasion of his mother and sister, and his written marriage proposal to her though (he was in Sydney and my mom was back in Penang), my mom decided to get back together with him.

However, his ex-girlfriend found out and wrote my mom a long letter. In it, she used the words “prepare for him to have a mistress” because she will never give him up. She also threatened to kill herself if she can’t have him. Long story short, my mom broke up with him again and he would eventually marry his ex-girlfriend.

It was all very melodramatic but this story showed how pragmatic my mom was. By breaking up with the guy, she took the painful decision away from him and it made for a quicker resolution. Whether or not the other girl deserves the guy is another story. My mom didn’t see the point of dragging out the fight with an irrational person. It may seemed like she lost but I think she was the winner.

She thinks with her head and not her heart and I feel that I share her logical approach to these things. For that I’m thankful.

Mom and grandpa, 1969

Mom’s 6-foot tall ex wearing a jumper that she knitted for him, 1970. If she had married this guy, I would have been taller and looked like Andy Lau.