Not at all if it’s at the front or behind the decimal point. When in the middle? A hell lot. 4,000 is way different from 40,000. The New Straits Time were quick to report there were about 4,000 people who took part in the commemorative march organized by BERSIH on November 10, 2007. The march was an appeal to our Agung to intervene and ensure our electoral process is fair and square. Something any country who proudly call themselves ‘Democratic’ would have done in the first place.

The permit for the peaceful rally was denied and nobody was surprised. In all honesty, I was pissed about the hard stance taken by our Prime Minister who went on paper to say anyone who join the rally is a direct challenge to him and will be severely dealt with if caught. If our PM’s words were meant as a kind of deterrent, I daresay it was a total failure. Reading his words just made thousands more determine than ever. What arrogance. Since when in a democratic country a PM cannot be challenged? He must had somehow mixed it up with Communism.

4,000? Yeah right. What more confidence do any ordinary citizen has when the government can’t even count. Put another zero there please. By the way, judging by how our mainstream media is reporting, thank God I’ve not bought any newspaper for the past year.

I am really mad. You cannot blame me when every 2 minutes there’ll be an ‘explosion’ going on opposite my house. Yeah, those kids from the opposite house are playing with firecrackers again. I know today is Deepavali. But then what the heck has it got to do with them? They’re Chinese for Christ sake.

What baffles me even further are those stupid parents encouraging them on. What right thinking parents would allow their children to play with firecrackers? Those little pests are no older than 8. But then they sure hell made more noise than an eighteen year old. Another hour of those noisy crackers my dalmatian will die in fright. Thankfully my poodle fared better.

I am just one phone call away from calling the cops.

A recent comment I made in Mr Endoh’s blog warranted an answer below. I asked the blogger Mr Endoh if he feels vulnerable meeting fellow bloggers in person when he is not one who is shy about exposing himself naked in his blog. No, I’m not talking about the ‘Penthouse’ kind of nudity. (yeah, I wish too :-P) I’m merely saying he is one who is not afraid to write down his inner thoughts and share his insight from virginity to religion.

This is a portion of the reply he gave me..

I don’t think I will feel vulnerable, since I have been honest with things I have written based on my own analysis and understanding. I could be wrong in thinking in certain ways, but at least it truthfully came from my heart. ……

This has got me thinking. Sure, I write alot of stuffs on my blog. I do open up alot when I’m writing to people I do not know. Yes, you can argue bloggers do in time develop a certain relationship with their readers or fellow bloggers. I agree. But then many would agree with me too that blogging acquaintanceship is still different from friends whom we know in person. Especially old friends who witnessed the ups and downs in our life real time. Another difference I can say off hand is the fact blogging on the internet give bloggers the advantage of ‘conditional exposé.‘

I stole a line from a book I read that best illustrate conditional exposé.

Leornado Da Vinci wrote every painter should begin a canvas with a black wash because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light. Most painters do the opposite and start with a whitewash and adding the shadows last. Leoarnado knew the value of starting with the shadows. The only things people can ever know about you are the ones you let them see.

Substitute the word painter with blogger and it still holds true. Personally, I believe it is liberating if I can just disregard the fear of people not liking what they see. The truth is, despite all the years, I still have the puppy mentality in me. Puppy likes to please. They’ll do the darnest thing just to be loved… or accepted. If I can overcome the hurdle, I bet I’ll be a much happier person. Not only in the blogospere, I meant my real life.

Damn, then I think I’ll start debating with my cell leader on the issue ‘are Roman Catholics saved?’ I had hold my tongue long enough….

My right template column that is. Hope nobody is expecting something else…. I’ve been looking at my right side column and it looks wrong. I guess the right column is too short and is making my template a little weird with a funny green thing hanging in mid air.

I’ve been thinking what I can do to the thing. I wanted some pictures but I try not to put ads there. I know many blogs look tasteful with ads, but since I’m already doing a little PP here, I don’t want to look like a money face.

Talking about ads on blogs, I have nothing against them provided they are tastefully done. Really, I don’t have much issue if it’s not exactly in my face. I can always ignore them and not click. The kind of ads that irritates the hell out of me are those that are pushed right into your face. I don’t know what those ads are called. Sometimes when you go into a blog, those ads will pop up in another window right in front of you. I hate that.

Some of the blogs I visit uses them. If you are one of them, I hope you can reconsider if you care zit about your readers. It’s just plain rude to have the thing pop up in another window and even more rude to have your readers close the damn thing everytime they visit your blog. In all honesty, unless it’s one great blog, I won’t even want to go again.

I had a few of them sitting on the shelves collecting dust. Really, some I bought more than 6 months ago and I did not even flip a page. I guess that is what happen when you force yourself to do things you don’t want to.

I love fiction. I love romance novels. I love mystery. But, in view of the fact I’m no longer that age where I should be daydreaming about being abducted by long haired, dark and handsome pirates with killer abs and wide strong chest, I forced myself to read up on financial books. I reckon I should wise up a little in my old age.

I bought a few financial books and the only one I can finish is Rich Dad, Poor Dad. The rest? It’s collecting dust. The worst part? I don’t even have a maid.

Honestly, I do understand why people don’t buy online. There are a hundred reason they are going to tell you from how unsafe online credit card purchases are to ‘what happen if I don’t like it?’ I had grew tired of explaining to them your card information is no safer being used over the net than handing the card to the waiter when you ask for your bill.

But, for people who relish the simplicity of browsing and purchasing items online like me, especially during the big holidays like Christmas and New Year, it pays to checkout those coupon codes from CouponChief. The coupons are free. Really, many people are still skeptical about the possibility of getting great deals from free coupons. I guess it’s human nature to question the inevitable.. how can anything good be free?

Better believe it.

I bought my clothes and shoes with Land’s End coupons. I get 70% off at times. I get great Old Navy deals too and this is one of the few shop that carry my size. Ahem, I’m no size 4 you know, I have to shop around alot to find clothes that fit. Nowadays, I just buy online.

I think the dilemma every blogger faces when they have blogged long enough is finding time to visit their commentators and people on their blogroll. Just the other day one blogging friend of mine lamented the said dilemma. I can totally relate to that.

Things were much easier in our early blogging days when commentators were few and our blogroll was practically non-existent. Well, we probably included a few popular blogs we visit on our blogroll just to spare us the embarassment of an empty list, but then I doubt these popular bloggers would care much if we drop by or not.

As our blogging days got longer, so did our blogroll. I believe most people on our blogroll are folks whom dropped by our blogs and commented. In our early blogging days, we felt so grateful somebody actually came to our blog, we felt compelled to include them in our blog list. Of course, we do hope in the dark corner of our mind somewhere these people would reciprocate our deed with a link back to our blog. Well, we’re only human.

As I’ve blogged before, I do think it is good idea to reply to the commentators on your blog. Of course it would be hard if you are those bloggers who are usually blessed with 30 over comments. But then I’ve seen some bloggers with 40+ comments actually replying to all their comments individually. Yeah, I guess this is one attribute that makes them popular. They earned it.

Personally, I do find it hard to visit everyone on my blogroll. It took me sometime to face the fact and draw the line. It’s not like I have much of a choice. Time is really an issue.

My take is, when I visit a blog, I make sure I got my priority right. Why do I drop by somebody’s blog? The only reason I drop by any blog for that matter is solely because I sincerely enjoy my read. I am not doing it out of obligation. Obligatory visits and comments are just lame. Do it long enough, you’ll start to loathe your routine.

No matter how I like blogging, I have to concur there are more to my life than blogging and going around leaving comments. Especially those comments and visits that fall short of sincerity. There are plenty of things out there which deserve my attention just as much. I just hope a balance can be struck and once again peace reigns.

Running and maintaining a few blogs really took up a big chunk of my time. I celebrated my birthday last month and husband was just as busy with his project. Time is a luxury we cannot afford these days. Romantic dinners and quality time together are far and in between. Well, at least until his project is finished.

My husband will be celebrating his birthday middle this month and looking for the perfect gift will be an inevitable task I have to face year after year. Let’s face it, it is not hard to get a gift, but then if you are looking for something a little unique, it is no easy task. If I can have my way, I’ll prefer to get my husband something with a personalized touch.

Talking about personalized gifts, I got to say www.visionbedding.com really has the most nifty gift ideas. From Personalized Graduation Gifts to Personalized Anniversary Gifts, their selection is never boring. All you have to do is to find your favorite photos and visionbedding.com will transform them into photo blankets and pillows. Talking about uniqueness, nothing beats having your memories immortalized on your pillow and blanket cases.

This is what I call unique and functional gifts. Looks good too for the house.

When I switched to this new WP theme, I relished the fact the codes are easy to change. Unlike my previous theme. I had however been told by my husband there is still something lacking about this new look. He prefers my old WP theme.

Seriously, it’s the best thing if aesthetic and practicality can come together and work hand in hand. In the worst case scenario, where I have to take a pick, practicality still rules. I’ve not given up on this new template and I thought I might as well try changing the default font from Georgia to Tahoma. Fonts do matter.

Don’t know about you, I do think it looks neater. Finally, my husband concurred. What a relieve.

This is my personal thought. Eversince I’m writing in cyberspace, I have lost count the number of websites and blogs I had visited. Some no doubt got my attention because the blogger has something to say, and I want to hear it, other times, I’m like every superficial being out there…. judging a blog, by its looks.

My preference is pretty straight forward. I do not like anything on webpages that move too much. Nope, you’re hearing me right. I’ve been to some sites that are so flash intensive, I got to pop a few painkillers after a 5 minutes tour. I do not have anything against flash. But then if the whole page is not keeping still, it’s a burden to my concentration. A liability.

Honestly, if you want your whole page to be flash intensive, just make sure you have nothing important to say.