My Epitome of Manliness

This is not just any dog. This is Serdang, THE dog.

I met him at Paws Mission (now renamed as Second Chance) in August last year and have been 'in love' with him ever since. He is not the type of dog that I would normally like but there is something about Serdang that really keeps me so attracted to him. And when I went to the shelter today to check on him after so long, he looked better than ever! 

He has grown taller and he looks more handsome than ever. That asides, he was the same old fella. I know it feels kinda wrong to call a dog, man. And it might be a little weird to hear a human girl blog so passionately about a dog but I really cant help it. 

If you ever asked me to describe what attracts me to a man, well.. Serdang has it all. (despite not being hu-man). 

He is cool. 

He is laid-back. The way he carries himself is so.. Serdang. Very relaxed. 

He is calm and collected. While all the dogs get excited with each new visitor that comes to the shelter, Serdang will bark wisely and selectively. And he NEVER jumps on people. Something I find very cool as most dogs that get excitedly easily normally do that (and though you might enjoy the attention, it can get exasperating if their paws are wet and muddy!)

He has the most beautiful eyes. AND the cutest pair of ears. 

He knows when to listen and when to stand firm on his stance. Read: A great leader! As I was the one that trained him last year over a span of three months, I can say that Serdang is an alpha-male. (A term to indicate that a dog is the leader of his pack). He knows when to lead and when to let his followers have a say. Totally such a turn on! 

 Oh.. here's a picture of me walking him. He's such a joy to walk to compared to most dogs. He rarely pulls and drags you wherever he goes. (Most dogs are like that). Perhaps what makes me attracted to him is that he is different from most dogs I know.

And most importantly, I know that I can trust him. I know he wont snap at me. Or smudge my shirt with muddy paw prints. I know he wont forget me. And he never drags me everywhere. There was once, another trainer was holding him and when he managed to get out of the leash, he ran to me!

So yea. Although guys and dogs are two different things, but I think if you read between the lines, you can get a rough idea of what I think makes a man, manly. No, not the muscles or that six-pack. Manliness goes beyond skin deep.

Mississippi Mud Pie - Accomplished!

Managed to complete my mini mud pie project over a span of 24 hours. As you can see in my previous post, I did attempt it a few days back but didnt quite complete the entire mud pie. So this time round, back with a vengeance, I was determined to do it right to the end. 

And.. here it is. Mississippi Mud Pie.  

Half A Mississippi Mud Pie

I couldnt resist attempting to bake a mississippi mud pie, especially after seeing the caffeinated kitchen blog post about it. Theirs look so tempting I had to try to make it for myself!!!

But of course, spending my day baking as well as visiting the animal shelter yesterday, comes at a cost.. I ended up not doing the slightest bit of reading up on my books! I really REALLY need to start after lunch. Anyways, a few comments on the mud pie that I made.

Why I call it HALF a mississippi mud pie is because it is an unfinished work. I had only completed the oreo crust as well as the flourless chocolate cake (picture above) and my mom was in a hurry for me to serve it to everyone to try. She wasnt too keen on me making the pudding layer as it will just be more calories for my dad to consume. Lame but yea, true story. I promise the next time I bake this I wont just do the cake and the crust. I will complete it right to the very end. That asides, I got mostly positive feedback from my family. This is a very chocolate-y cake, suitable for chocolate lovers. Thick oreo crust with moist goeey chocolate with each bite. I can only imagine how heavenly it would taste if I went all the whole and made the complete mississipi mud pie. Dont worry, it will be real soon. ;)

On a different note, the cramps steathily crept in since last evening. First I felt the muscle cramps on my abdomen, then my back and when I woke up this morning, the entire 'cramping' process was complete. Thighs, hips, shoulders, you name it. Except (of all places!) my calf! Totally zomg. My mother thinks that I must be walking very fast on normal days to not experience cramps on my calf after yesterdays run. Lol, oh no laughing makes my abdominal muscles cramp.

Sporty Saturday

Another three weeks have passed since he came back and once again, he leaves. I cannot imagine how I endured the past one year, or even the past six months. Just so many ups-and-downs the whole time. And now, the third leg of five semesters over there begins for him. I really dont know what to expect this time round. The first leg witnessed our break-up as well as me picking up the pieces, second leg.. I began to find my feet back again and this time... well, it has just begun. So I dare not say for sure. Experience has told me not to raise my hopes high or even dream of things that are too far ahead.

So.. that's all I will say about it. I rarely blog about it anymore and this is one of my few posts I will share with you all about him. He isnt my boyfriend, but he is still nevertheless, an important friend to me. Probably one of my oldest friends (in terms of years of friendship) I have ever had.

Just finished the UM Law Fac Run. Havent ran like that for a long time. But I just kept on going, even if at most times, I was merely walking (how pathetic!). haha. I started off alright but eventually ran out of stamina and then people started overtaking me. Mostly maintained at 6th position throughout the run but around the end, I got 5th. Then when I reached the finishing point, I found out that the original person who got 3rd place didnt want to receive the medal (or smtg like that.) So yea, I got 4th. Grateful for everything I could achieve today. Afterall, it really has been a loooooong time since I did any competitive running.

That's all from me today. Thinking of baking a Mississipi Mud Pie (lots of chocolate-y goodness!) but then again, I'm pretty left behind in my studies. Really need this weekend to catch up. And tonight I will be going for another round of distributing food to the homeless around KL at midnight!! This Saturday is awesome!

Self-Pity

No guessing. Self-pity is probably one of the worst medicines out there in this world, for a broken heart. Not only is it less effective, it has many side effects as well.

Done, Done, and Done

Note: Read any further only if you are interested in reading rants and whines about life.

The past few days have been extremely hectic and I suspect that will be the case for the next few weeks. Oh, how I hope for the mid sem break! But I know even that will disappear within a blink of an eye. My life goes by that fast.. or wait, does everyone else's life go at that same bullet train pace too???

Anyway, just wanna express a teeny weeny bit of relief for the things I have settled today. Drafted a ton of letters for ALSA (various activities going on in April and each activity on its own has multiple stuff to apply on - and yes, applying need letters. Things dont get applied while we facebook!) Also, sent in the proposal to set up Taekwon-do GTF Club today. What a relief that the first step has finally been taken, considering that it was Chinese New Year when I first went to acquire about setting up a club. People really need to know how to be more efficient. But nevertheless, thankful for the people I am working with. Also managed to do a little bit of reading up on Islamic Banking and Finance before I came online to blog. This semester has been really harsh on me so far. Compared to previous semesters, I am really having some difficulty catching up on lectures. I keep telling myself that I can do it by reading it on my own but when this becomes too overwhelming.. I am not too sure. As it is, the time I have reserved for revision is spent staring at the computer screen. I am that unmotivated to read on Land law, I guess. Seriously have to get into that studying spirit fast or I will be soon left behind.

Moving on.. things that I have yet to deal with.

There will be a Criminal law test next Tuesday. Will need to start my reading VERY soon. Was totally clueless in criminal tutorial today.

All the letters for ALSA are still pending. probably will need to do lots of follow up work next week and the week after. oh well.. life of a Secretary. That's what they do right? :p

Tutorials. Do I need to say more?

Will also be starting my new stint as a blogger for Paws Mission, now renamed as Second Chance. First meeting this Saturday afternoon.

My life is crazy. I know that. TQVM.

In Their Shoes

It's never been easy to not judge someone based on their looks, behavior, outlook in life, the things they do and so on so forth. Actions, after all, are the clearest indication of what a person feels or thinks about a certain subject matter. And hence, most people would say that it is fair enough that we interpret a person based on their character and the things they do and how they behave in life.

I would too. It is only the next most sensible thing to do. After all, people decide the person you are based on the things you have or have not achieved in life.

A drug addict finds it harder to be employed simply because most employees would fear that he might fall into the same old circle again and cause them more trouble in their employment.

Most people would turn down a poor homeless guy for fear that he might spread some communicable disease to them, especially if he looks filthy with unkempt hair, and clothes that look like they have never touched detergent in their life.

Once a cheater, always a cheater, the saying goes. Your wife/girlfriend might never be able to trust you the same way again.

But do we really have the right to decide what type of person one is simply by their past (or even, their present) actions? Is it really fair to them? After all, what we see is the surface. And ONLY the surface, nothing more. We will never know their true thoughts nor their intentions regardless whether it is good or bad. We might not know the things that this person had to go through which has led to his eventual choices in his life. And most importantly, we must not ever underestimate the feelings of that person, thinking them to be trivial or merely an illusion.

What I am trying to say is that there can be many reasons a person chooses to behave in one way and not another. It is easy to tell someone to do something, but being the actual person doing it is altogether a different matter.

It takes strength to come to a decision on a difficult matter but what is more difficult is sticking to that decision.

I shall end this post with a quote from Brian Tracy, a self-help and motivational author.

Your decision to be, have and do something out of ordinary entails facing difficulties that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else.

Meat Cake

Wait. Does the title of this post makes you go all ewwwwww or do you sit up in delight?

As for me, when I stumbled upon the recipe for bacon brownies I was slightly disgusted but still I went on reading because the recipe did remind me of a friend who is particularly obsessed with meat. He always told me to bake a meat cake but I never took it seriously. I mean, meat? Dessert? It toally doesnt match man.. That was what I thought, until today.

Introducing.. beef brownies.

Initially, I was planning to try out the exact recipe. Bacon and all. I was so spirited to the extent that I got out of my house just to go shopping for the ingredients! Unfortunately, the place I went did not sell bacon (bacon being pork). They only had beef strips so I grabbed what I could grab and brought back home a packet of Beef Breakfast Streaky.

Immediately got to work! I was very enthusiastic. I could not possible fathom what meat would taste like with chocolate. But unfortunately all the while, I was thinking that the beef strips I had substituted for bacon was bacon itself. There IS a difference. The most glaring difference being that beef has a stronger smell than bacon. It's redder and leaner too. The other not so obvious difference is that all chinese can take pork but not all can take beef. So anyways, I went about with my brownies happily combining the ingredients and all.

Baked them and just when I was cutting the brownies, planning on who to give, my heart sinked with dismay upon the realisation that one of my closest friends would not be able to eat it because it is BEEF and not bacon!!! Beef is NOT bacon. Seriously, the whole hype of meat cakes got me so excited today that I conveniently categorised the both of them together. How sad.

Anyways, here is the recipe that I used. Adapted it rather quite dramatically (since bacon is NOT beef) from the recipe I got from 17 and Baking.

Beef Brownies

113g unsweetened chocolate, chopped

8 tablespoons of butter

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

2 tablespoons of natural cocoa

5 strips of beef

1. Preheat the oven to 350F (177C). Grease a 8″x8″ pan and set in parchment paper, letting the two ends hang over the edge. This makes a “sling” that will make lifting the brownies out of the pan very easy. Grease the parchment.

2. Heat a large pan over medium heat. When hot, lay in the strips of bacon. You want them to be crispy. Let them cook on each side until sufficiently cooked, then transfer to a plate with several layers of paper towel. Once cool, cut or rip the bacon into bits about the size of your fingernail.

3. Place the chopped chocolate and the butter in a metal bowl, and set it over a pan of gently simmering water. Stir the mixture until the smooth and the chocolate has melted completely. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly, then whisk in the sugar, salt, and vanilla. Then add in the eggs, one at a time, stirring until smooth.

4. Sift in the flour and cocoa, and whisk to combine. Stir in the bacon bits.

5. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake brownies 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the brownies cool in the pan for a few minutes, then use the parchment sling to lift the brownies out of the pan. Transfer them to a wire rack and let cool completely before cutting into bars.

Yes, that red strip is beef.

My brother was the first to try. He said they were alright. The beef chunks were like raisins, apparently. lol.

The Metta Frenzy

Just as quickly as it commenced, the pet contest thingy ended today.

I would have posted a fb status to thank everyone but to be honest, I really feel that a status alone would not have been able to depict the amount of gratitude I felt towards everyone who was involved in getting Metta his 250 likes on fb as well as the people who voted for him as the cutest among the top 5 in the faculty today. It goes to show how much a little effort by everyone can make a big deal to a person.

When I sent in Metta's picture, it started off with just doing it for the fun of it. I didnt imagine myself going about trying to get people on my friends list to 'like' Metta's picture nor imagine attempting to make Metta's picture the most popular picture. But the competitive feeling started to kick in especially when I saw how other people's pets were reaching 120+ 'likes' while mine was just maintaining the feeble, measly 30+ likes. How sad for such an adorable boy like Metta, right???

So the frenzy began.

The rest of the story does not need any further explanation. You know how fb works, you know how competitions like this annoy the hell out of people when random friends start msging you just so you can like their pet's picture.

I honestly tried to avoid that. Initially I started by just telling those who I chatted with on a regular basis. But when that wasnt enough, I got more into it. So.. so, if I did annoy anyone whom I havent spoken to over the past year by asking them to like my doggie's picture, please forgive me for being getting too into the whole game. If there is one thing I learned from this event, I will never brush people off when they ask me to like their picture in future because I now know how precious each and every 'like' is. I dont approve this business of liking-photos-to-win contest but I dont think it can be helped.

Yet just as how challenging it was for me to overcome my normally quite "un-thick face," I want to thank everyone, from the bottom of my heart for all your genuine likes and support. Those who liked it even without me going around promoting Metta to you, to those who shared Metta's picture without even me asking for you to do so,( I had a stranger who even shared Metta's picture for me!), to a particular person who asked his close friends to like Metta's picture and as well as those who told me that Metta is adorable. Thank you to all of you. You have no idea how much it means to me, even if Metta did not win in the finale.

Anyways this is another equally adorable picture of Metta. Wouldnt be participating in these type of popularity contests for some time. :p

Date A Girl Who...

*Note: this entry has been refined so the meaning of my words can be expressed better.

When I read an article that was shared by a friend on Facebook, I found it both fascinating as well as amused by the way the author put perspective about girls who travel. As much as I am a girl who wishes I could travel the world, I couldnt entirely agree with what the author had to put out. She seems to be implying that girls who travel are thrifty, always on the go, forgiving, and the likes. And I cant really agree.

I know plenty of girls who travel because they can, because they have the money, and because their families always have that opportunity. No doubt, these girls have travelled much and definitely have seen a lot of the world that most of us who never travel may never see. I wouldnt say they are spendthrifts and prissy. But this does not mean that they automatically acquire qualities the author seems to equate with travelling!

Those qualities undoubtedly come from experiencing a lot from life. And it does not mean that she has to travel all over the world just to get that quality. They MIGHT. But they might also not.

Personally, I think when it comes to picking or dating a girl, no one can really tell you who to pick. Ultimately, the decision will come from yourself. If it were me, I would choose someone whom I can understand, trust and rely on even at the most difficult of times.

Choose a person who shares the same sense of humour as you. Because that would mean that you will never have to experience another awkward moment with them because no matter how embarassing or silly it was, the both of you can have a good laugh about it.

Choose a girl you almost never have to explain yourself to. Because when times are hard, she will understand (or at the least, forgive) the reason for your actions and will not badger you for the things you do. She will know how it feels like to be in your shoes, even without you asking that of her.

Choose someone you can spend the day together without saying a word. If you are both on the same wavelength, since when did words ever become necessary?

Choose someone you can spend days, weeks, even years apart, and yet when you meet, it seems like nothing had ever ended.

Choose a person you will always feel comfortable with. That would mean that the both of you have a mutual understanding of each other. You will need her when your days are sickening and you feel like you have no other reason to live.

Choose a person that you know you can always count on. Those who have earned your trust are probably the ones who have been through the thick and thin with you. And if you have found someone you know you can trust with your life, cherish them, and dont take them for granted.

Choose someone who has seen the best and the worst of you, and still think you are the best. Because that would mean that she is in love with you.

And that is how you know that she is right for you. Well, I dont have to be right. *excuse the pun* As usual, just saying my piece.