Life in a Container

How's my fish, you say? No you didn't? I'll just go on anyway :)

I've decided on a theme: pink.

Since the fish came in a small tank with pink cover I figure why the hell not? But for the past two weeks all I've done is pretty much feed it twice a day and clean the tank once a week sometimes less. When I say clean, I don't mean throwing out all the water of course. I know fish takes time to adjust to new environment. In this case water. I may be new at this thing but I'm not dumb.

I do pity the fish though. It's placed on the left side of my desk by the wall and that area is a pretty lonely one since it is often neglected by visitors and the only friends are the stupid lizards that like to slide into the air con control box on the wall. So I try to make an effort to glance at the fish once in a while. It's just too bad I can't cuddle it in my hand like cats or dogs. I wonder what would happen if I do that.

Once I brought it into the dining room and placed it on the dining table. I was showing it to my family and we were talking and laughing. Then I realized right there on the table we were serving fried fish! I hope my fish did not see that.

It'd be nice if the fish has company wouldn't it? Well, that's something I will contemplate.

Isner-Mahut Made History

The world just witnessed history made on Court 18 at Wimbledon as the American John Isner (seeded 23rd) defeats the Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in what is dubbed as the 'greatest tennis match' ever. I initially did not follow this match and I doubt it was even shown on TV but after the second day, it is clear that this is the game to watch. These two players were in the spotlight and I even forgot Djokovic, Federer and Nadal at one point. It's all about Isner and Mahut. This match was one that was not to be missed.

The match ended and Isner emerged the winner, much to the disappointment of Mahut. But to many, they are both winners. They stood by and never gave up. They gave it all and it's hard to imagine this is just the first round at Wimbledon.

John Isner in action (photo courtesy of ATP World Tour)

The match lasted 11 hours and 5 mins which was played for three days. The final set itself went on for more than 8 hours. Here's the final score taken from tennistalk.com

Isner reacts to his epic win (photo courtesy of ATP World Tour)

Not only did the match breaks the time record, several other records were either set or broken, including Isner's 112 aces, which is followed by Mahut's 103 from the same match. Previous ace leader was Ivo Karlovic with 78. I'm not surprised. With this much time in hand, aces are bound to come their way.

Isner, Mahut and the umpire before the start of the match

(photo courtesy of ATP World Tour)

I really hope that there will not be another match like this because this is just too painful for the losing player to digest. But I hope for the sake of this match that Isner will go deep into the tournament and make it to the second week.

Ball and Field

I'll admit that I've never caught any World Cup matches on TV before this year's. Not being a fan of the sport, I've usually just switched channel every time a football match is on. Tennis is more like my kind of sport. No contact. Two players. Quiet audience. Many points. Well, football is just the opposite of that. I never thought I would ever sit down and watch a match but on came the opening game and there I was watching with puzzlement and interest at players kicking a ball across the field, accompanied by loud vuvuzelas. Honestly, if I didn't know better, I would've thought vuvuzelas blare is a norm in every football match.

A World Cup trophy sitting on my island

Before I knew it, I'm filling in match results on a World Cup poster I found lying around in my house. But that doesn't mean a thing really. It doesn't mean I found another sport. The best reason I could think of is that I have time to spare so I might as well see what's going on with this World Cup that everybody seem to talk about.

But don't you find it annoying that sometimes you sit for an hour and a half just to see zero goal for both teams? Isn't sports like basketball more exciting to watch? You can never NOT get any point in basketball. It's like wasted energy you know. So I still don't get the game, no.

Bottom of the Triangle

How healthy is our daily food consumption? I can't say this statistically but I can bet the average person consume more calories than they need to. I myself am guilty of such thing. All I can say is I love food. I don't think there's a point in living if I don't eat good food, that is to say there is no point to live if we only eat to survive.

Sometimes I feel like I gobble instead of chew. Sometimes I eat at a speed slightly faster than average, to a point that I can't taste the food because it disappear before my taste bud is ready to function. I guess I need to find a way to slow down and actually savor the food. Well, that will be my new project: taste food. That's pretty vague but I think I get the artistry of it.

This is a good way to start. My mom made this.

Since we're on topic, I would like to introduce to you a special menu that fuse western and Chinese food together, the wet fried spaghetti. There were leftover spaghetti with no sauce so my dad fried it the Chinese style resulting in this fusion thing I don't even know what to call it. It taste surprisingly good given that we don't know what to expect. The spring roll is actually a fruit salad spring roll and the cheese sausages are steamed. I think its a Chinese thing. We steam everything; sausages, nuggets, dim sum, fish balls, and even vegetables sometimes.

Olive Tree

Look at that peaceful old man sitting under the olive tree minding his own business. Doesn't he look wise just sitting like that? In case you are wondering, I have brought my current addiction upon you - My Empire, a Facebook game that is steadily gaining players everyday. I am currently building a pyramid and I need bricks. I need twenty of them. Well, there are plenty of FB games that are similar out there that you probably played. You might pick Treasure Isle or Hotel City. I chose to play My Empire and Happy Island. Of course, these games are only for those who has nothing better to do, someone like me.

So like the wise old man, I'm just sitting here under the tree minding my own business, playing My Empire. Add me as your neighbor and I promise to send you gifts daily. I'm not saying this out of desperation! I am simply describing my boredom in words.

Holiday Project

I made pancakes! But...they don't look like the ones I saw on Google. I didn't have milk or maple syrup when I made these because I suddenly feel like making them and I just used whatever there is in the kitchen. I managed to find some flour, baking powder and eggs. I guess the taste is a bit different. It's still good though considering it's the first time I ever made them. I usually try to avoid cooking/baking anything that requires flour. And I'm usually too lazy to go to the kitchen anyway so consider this a project well done :)

Now I'm looking for new projects to do. Hmm, what should I do?

Happy

It's kind of hard to play Happy Island and blog at the same time because I keep going back to my island to collect coins and rubbish. I literally meant trash that visitors leave on the island. We're like the virtual Beach Bunch, you know. I did mention how much I hated Facebook games and I still do but I play them anyway because I have nothing better to do. I don't like how they want us to actually pay for coins using paypal and stuff because there are actually some cases where kids maxed out their parents credit because of that. It's really unhealthy. I think we should just stick to the conventional way of playing, that is wait 24 hours before collecting your gem (or whatever it is you are playing) . Don't cheat!

My fish was beside me when I watched the Glee episode with Gaga songs and when they started dancing to Gaga's Bad Romance my fish got excited! I think it's the flashes from the screen that caused that. I was like, "Wow, I didn't know you're a Gaga fan!" It's really interesting because after that song, the next scene is a slow scene and the fish relaxed and stared transfix on the screen as if it was concentrating. Sometimes I wonder what is going on in its mind.

I finally get the chance to hang out with Mijah last Monday. We wanted to watch a movie but the schedules doesn't go with ours so we decided against it. We went to the arcade instead. There were a lot of people at the mall which is probably due to the school holiday. I didn't actually have any photos. I only managed to get these.

First Fish Ever

Today I got home from OJ Restaurant and got a pleasant surprise. Sharon got me a betta! I came home to find Sarafina sitting on my desk happily swimming about. It's the most wonderful thing I've ever gotten and it's my first fish ever! Now the problem is I have zero knowledge on how to take care of a fish!

The Rising Serpent

Robin Soderling (7) vs. Rafael Nadal (2)

Roland Garros is coming to an end. Just like last season, Robin Soderling is back to disrupt the perfect Fed-Rafa match. This time, instead of taking out the clay king, he took out his former final rival of last season's Roland Garros. If it wasn't for him, we might have seen a Fed-Rafa final last year. If it wasn't for him, we might also see a Fed-Rafa final this year. There has been talks about the end of Fed-Rafa reign and he might be the key to that. Bjorn Borg is right in predicting that Soderling may take the top ranking soon.

However, it may not be easy for him to win this tournament because this is the final, and Rafael is at the opposite side of the court. Final + Rafa = Disaster for Rob. At least that's what I think. My pick for the final is Nadal in tight 4 sets. Ideally, I would like to see Soderling win this in a five-setter for a change. But who knows, the rain prediction might be an advantage to Robin and he might take this opportunity to hit big serves and might actually produce another shocking result.

A Typical Weekend

A typical weekend for us is a drive to the mall to catch the latest movie. Last week was no exception. We booked the seats for a 2 o'clock show, which you might have guessed is Prince of Persia, the hottest show that week. Going to the cinema used to be exciting with the big screen and the surround sound but too much of something is never good so the more movies we watch, the less exciting they get. I noticed that it's getting harder and harder to find excitement in a movie. Nevertheless, I still watch them anyway for the sake of watching. I don't know what my verdict for this movie is. It's as if my brain can't tell the difference between the good and the bad anymore. But I guess it's not so bad.

We went to the arcade for a while and we three siblings played the standard size bball hoop game. After we're done we went looking for James and Stephen only to find them at the children section playing the same hoop game except it's built for little kids. Haha Just look at them go!

Sharon wanted to eat sushi so we decided to try a new restaurant. We chose Misato. It's funny how people here just love Excapade and hardly go other sushi eateries just because they're not that popular. It must be the food, right? We just had to know. And yes, we noticed that the food quality is different here and doesn't taste as good as the popular one. I'm not saying it's bad. It's just okay for me. But I wouldn't mind coming back simply because I'm not picky when it comes to food.

Before we leave, we dropped by KFC for a takeaway. Dine-in, it's excellent. Takeaway, not so much. The crispy chicken becomes soggy from the moist after a while so better take it while it's hot!