EmmaGoodEgg

Borneo Pygmy Elephants

A couple of years ago I did a post on Borneo Pygmy Elephants on my now defunct communityzero blog. At the time it was Bobby who told me about these cute bijou creatures (known to be more docile than their larger family members) that have a place on the island we call home.

Years later Bobby comes home from work and tells me another story about the north Borneo pachyderms. And it's a rather swell story.

Apparently there is no archaeological proof that elephants have been around our parts for thousands of years. A Reuters report on the Borneo Pygmy Elephants say:

The WWF said DNA tests in 2003 had ruled out the possibility the Borneo elephants were from Sumatra or mainland Asia, home of the other Asian subspecies, leaving either Borneo or Java as the most probable source.

New research discovers that the elephants come from Java. Although the species are now extinct on the Indonesian island, Malaysian Forester Mr Shim Phyau Soon says that "Elephants were shipped from place to place across Asia many hundreds of years ago, usually as gifts between rulers", so it is possible that the Borneo Pygmy Elephants trundling about in the Sabahan rainforests came from a Javanese pair of pygmy elephants that was a present to the Sultan of the day. This made me think of that elephant that was trundling about some empty houses in surburban Jerudong. The story goes that the King of Siam gifted it to our King some years ago, so apparently that custom is still going on strong.

Its nice to know we now have about 1,000 little elephants on Borneo. Just like the Clouded Leopards, a conservation of Borneo Pygmy Elephants ties in nicely with our Green Heart Of Borneo endeavours don't you think? A shrinking habitat would threaten the existence of these wondrous creatures.

How to see a Borneo Pgymy Elephant up close? Apparently there have been sightings of them at the Tabin Wildlife Sanctuary in Sabah and the Kinabatangan area. You can fly from Kota Kinabalu to Lahad Datu to get to Tabin Wildlife Reserve or from Brunei, you can also go by road. Royal Brunei Airlines flies daily to Kota Kinabalu, and since the Borneo Pygmy Elephant have a special place in our hearts, Bobby and I are making plans for a trip.

Ross & Rachel Nesting In The Eaves Of My Garage, K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Our resident swallows Ross and Rachel have built a new nest!

Is it a sign???

Speaking of signs, I went to the ObGyn late yesterday afternoon to check up on some pain I had on the left side of my lower abdomen. At first I wasn't really sure whether to make an appointment with the normal doctors but then I had a feeling it had something to do with my female bits so I asked for ObGyn and got my call put through. I asked the receptionist nicely whether it was appropriate to visit my Gynae even though I am NOT WITH CHILD. I think she didn't quite hear me, so when I turned up for my appointment everyone was full of smiles and congratulatory words. Poor things, I did so hate to disappoint them with a mere fluid-filled cyst diagnose.

So yeah, its not a sign after all...

Look folks, it's Wednesday. It's the middle of the week and its looking like ages till Friday evening, so bear with the inane post alright.

So here's a poll thrown in to whittle down Wednesday:

more at twiigs.com...

Smashed Chicken

Working in town may have its drawbacks, like a traffic jam whenever its the first Friday of the month, but a limited choice of food for breakfast, lunch or tea is not one of them. Nor is the ability to summon food right onto your work table. It has become second nature to us in the office to call up restaurants during breaks and "order" a Nescafe Tarik (Babu's Kitchen) or some Prawn Fritters (Amanina Restaurant) or Nasi Lemak Daging (Rashmina Restaurant) and even Pizza from the Pizza Hut on Jalan Sultan. When Fun Donuts opened at Yayasan recently, we ate them sugary carbs in the afternoon.

Bobby and I are lucky to be working right smack in the middle of town because we get to stretch our legs a bit in the rain or sun before having our lunch. Sometimes we'd walk to Yayasan for some dim sum at the Coffee Zone outlet on the ground floor, the RTB (Roti Telor Bawang) at CA Mohamed, the Tuna Pendesel at Jollibee, or some Indian food at Zaika. We head over to Fratinis at Portview when we feel like some Italian food while watching the speed boats go by on the Brunei River. We can hang out at Babu's Kitchen with those who work in the banks at the back of Jalan Sultan for some fast varied Asian food. We relax at Savy's Brasserie for a finer dining experience, or The Brunei Hotel if we're lunching with the folks.

If there's time, Bobby and I down double expressos in 5 minutes at Coffee Bean or De Royalle on Jalan Sultan.

There are days though when we only have time for our default lunch which is the Ayam Penyet or Smashed Chicken at Restaurant Arzy No. 206 at the 3rd Floor of the PGGMB Building. The rice is cooked right, the chicken served hot with crispy skin and the sambal deeelicious. We used to be just about the only people who patron the place, but since I brought a colleague for some Ayam Penyet the other day and she has told her BSM friends about it, the place is now rather full at lunch. The ladies work in the building so its convenient for them, but Bobby and I no longer seem to get out lunch quite as speedily because the kitchen seemed unaccustomed to all the attention. At least the lone waitress seem happy to be busy.

But if decent simple food is what you're looking for in town, the Ayam Penyet at $3-00 is a good choice.

Smashed chicken with vegetables and rice, soup included.

Miss Bimbo

Bimbo is defined by the freedictionary.com as "vacuous" or "as having an exaggerated interest in her sexual appeal". There's been some adverse publicity online about an internet game called Miss Bimbo, whose target audience are impressionable teens, aiming to be the the coolest chick on the online block by choosing the right clothes, having the most money, keeping the right boyfriend and staying thin. You know, think Paris Hilton.

Although my teenage years have long past, I've registered myself to see what the hype is all about. I entered a fake birthdate because I think one's chances of being a bimbo decreases with age but I could be wrong. After you register your bimbo, the game sets goals for you to achieve. My bimbo's goals were these:

While I think renting an apartment shows a degree of independence and undertaking some training shows commitment, traits that should be feted...buuut I can't go to the next stage and unlock new clothes et al, if I don't style my hair blonde and with pigtails. I also need to feed my bimbo. But not too much. There is a target weight for my 5 feet 6 inches gal. And apparently you can opt for some plastic surgery in higher levels of bimbo-ness (Level 11 - Bigger is better. Have a breast operation).

As you can see, I haven't figured out how to dress my bimbo. I'm slightly worried that she's going about in her knickers and unable to find a boyfriend because I get bimbo points for finding a sugar daddy.

What do I think of missbimbo.com? Its a pretty harmless site if you are an adult. For someone's whose faced peer pressure and discovered, perhaps painfully, that it ain't all that. The administrators have since taken off the diet pills option, quite rightly I thought. The site should restrict urderaged girls and instead promoted to adult females (I could see a Facebook version of it). Women who like a bit of frivolity and know that plastic surgery are best left for the hollywood types, what you wear can matter but you gotta watch what you eat, won't take it too seriously and might enjoy it for a while.

more at twiigs.com...

Speed Satu

Slooow intermittent speed plagues Brunei folks online. Its debilitating, so we need you to FIX IT, oh TelBru.

My Vote This Week Goes To...

Jason Castro. Who is back from his dealer's house and he's brought along the ukelele to sing 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' on American Idol's Top 8 Performancs. Sounds like plan? You betcha.

You kinda guess he'll do well when they spare no expense with the lights.

Ps/ Michael Johns did awlright with Aerosmith's 'Dream On', but he seemed a little bored. What is up with Syesha Mercado who sang Fantasia's 'I Believe' well but is not likeable? Boo to a sullen David Cook singing a God knows what song. Carly Smithson, looking tired and angry, sings 'The Show Must Go On' by Queen. David Archuleta is cute as an angel singing a song called Angels. My fav gal Brooke's tears are getting old but she did okay with 'You've Got A Friend'.

27 Dresses

[My cousin D has big boobs. Fact. She is also a girly-girl, good-natured and smiles a lot with round apple cheeks. D's got some time on her hands so I asked her nicely to write some content for the blog because you know...we can't live on quick quips alone.]

ROMANCE/COMEDY (U.S)
Cast: Katherine Hiegl, James Marsden, Edward Burns,
Malin Akerman, Judy Greer
Director: Anne Fletcher
Screenplay: Aline Brosh McKenna
Music: Randy Edelman

The romantic comedy formula is demonstrated in 27 Dresses very well. And it’s not just any romantic comedy, but one involving a wedding(s), which has been done an obscene number of times (see The Wedding Planner, lather, rinse, repeat). And while it does not offer anything new to the genre, it does not take away the fact that it’s still an enjoyable film. Plus Edward Burns is hella sexy.

Jane (Hiegl) is a woman who loves weddings (wait, I think I’ve seen this movie before) and loves helping her friends plan their own wedding (dress, cake, invites, the works), and has been a bridesmaid 27 times. She is a pushover, has the inability to say ‘No’ and is in love with her boss George (Burns) but lacks the courage to confess her feelings. Then flies in her fun, frivolous little sister Tess (Akerman) who meets George and they proceed to fall in love. Now Jane is faced with the daunting task of planning her sister’s wedding to the man she loves.

Jane also meets Kevin (Marsden) who is a Wedding Announcements writer for the New York Journal and is interested in doing a (secret) piece on Jane and her obsession (bet you can see where this is going). Kevin is a brash, cynical character (in case we didn’t get that, they call him ‘cynical’ at least a dozen times throughout the movie) while Jane is hopeful and sweet. The two are almost polar opposites, so obviously they are going to fall madly in love with each other.

The characters are quite two dimensional and the script doesn’t really help the matter. But despite these drawbacks you still manage to care for the two lead roles. This is because they display enough chemistry between them that you’ll want to know how they’ll end up together (it’s not a spoiler, it is merely inevitable) and what their happy ending will be (one imagines that it’ll involve some kind of wedding).

Hielg has proves that she has drawing power, that she can open a film almost by herself. Marsden has proved he doesn’t need to be a superhero of some sort or other. They both are charismatic and display a good sense of comic timing. The others do amicable jobs in their small roles, although I have to say Akerman’s character is quite annoying.

Overall, while it is not in my top ten romantic comedies list, it is still something I can watch again, which is a testament of a good romance movie as it won’t get stale anytime soon. Clocking at almost two hours it feels a tad longer than it is, nonetheless I would still recommend for you to take a night off, sit back and enjoy this lighthearted film.

I'd give it out of five.

~ D' GoodEgg

Call Bomba

Last weekend I found myself in the midst of weary bleary-eyed men and got a lowdown of what happens on a stag weekend in Labuan. Yes, that's right party people, a stag weekend in Labuan.

All ears for a possible fly-on-the-wall post, I tried to pry like a woman and listened to Bobby's tale:

Bobby: So we rented a car to drive around the island and the car rental company handed over the grungiest Proton Wiras they had in their inventory. It was dirty and smelled, and didn’t have a full tank of petrol. Well, for RM70 what did we expect eh?

Me: Right, it smelled of what?

Bobby: It was just dirty and on its last wheels. Anyway, on our last day we were running late and had to be at the ferry by 1.00pm. We were supposed to leave the hotel by 11.30am but we dawdled over breakfast so we left an hour later. We were in a bit of a hurry lah.

Me: So did anybody make it on stage last night?

Bobby, ignoring me and in a ‘griping the wheels of a shaking race car’ pose: I gunned the Wira down the Labuan roads, cranking the engine, with SP and MatBon in the car. Ari and the others were in separate cars a few minutes behind. We had this running joke whenever we saw a cyclist we’d say, “How many points for the cyclist? Heh Heh Heh.”

Me: I cannot believe nobody brought the house down in Labuan.

Bobby, still in his pose, eyes wild: So there we were careening down the road, turning this way and that, around corners, pointing out to cyclists heh heh heh, followed by Is It Your Grandfather's Road? when suddenly Matbon goes, “Dude. The car’s on fire.”

[And SP, who was in the car with Bobby and I when Bobby was telling this story, snickered.]

Me, wide-eyed: What??

Bobby: And we're like oh my God! There was smoke coming out of the air condition vents, and there was this smell of something burning! So we screeched to a halt in front of a bus stop, got out in a hurry and tried to call Ari who was driving the other car but oh no! He's taking the scenic route!! Gaaah!

SP, a man of few words: It’s true.

Me: You got to be fucking kidding me.

Bobby, arms flailing: So we came to a screeching halt in front of this bus stop, got out of the car, threw the boot open and grabbed our bags. There was this young kid hanging about the bus stop idly watching 3 men in the face of a potentially exploding vehicle, so I took out my wallet and said, “Hey kid. Here’s 10 dollars. If this car explodes and burst into flames, call Bomba.”

I had no idea Labuan could be such a happening place.

Ps/ Anyway, the car rental company was kinda expecting it. The boys returned the cars and got on the boat on time.

The boys de-briefing at the Serasa Ferry Terminal.

A Weekend Muse

Its just Mimi, Azim and me this weekend. Beloved Husband Bob is in Labuan with SP and a whole bunch of other guys on a stag junket. Whilst a stag weekend is celebrated by the groom and his mates to bid farewell to the single life in true neanderthal style, and Labuan may not be Phuket but it is another country. Its easy and inexpensive enough to get there by boat so its a destination for those in Brunei who are looking for unrestricted fun. And to prove it, Bobby's been to two this year.

I stayed home and watched the children and took some pictures.

My daugther on her brother's shoulders.

Mimi will be seven months soon. We started her on pureed vegetables, fruits and rice. She loves her food and she is her father's daughter after all. It was only a few months ago she was a teeny little thing in loose romper suits. I blinked and now look who's wearing her first pair of jeans?

And now its time for bed.

Oprah's Cottoned On Pregnant Man!

Bobby's gone off for a stud weekend in Labuan with groom/stag/best mate SP together with the baddest rent-a-crowd, Mimi's having her afternoon nap, Beloved Son is eating Planter's honey roasted cashew nuts $13.40 (!) from Supasave. So this seems a good time as any to bring you Thomas Beatie.

The pregnant man was a guest on Oprah, and someone kindly liveblogged it. Apparently we're not punk'd after all.

And Buzzfeed hits the spot, pun intended, when they say:

The pregnant man tells an intrigued Oprah that his enlarged clitoris grew into a penis, hence, he grew what we've now coined a "dickoris." Neither dick nor clitoris, the dickoris occupies a happy middle ground in the world of genitalia.

Oh dear.