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Once, I had to attend a function at St Regis Hotel. The taxi driver didn’t know where that was, so I turned on Google Maps. It led us to a small field, with some private houses a short walk away. No hotel.

But Google Maps insisted that I was where I wanted to be, so I paid up and alighted, rather than circle around blindly in the cab.

I called the event organiser and realised that I was about 10-15 minutes’ walk away from St Regis.

Annoying! Because I was all dressed up and in high heels!

I wish I had a Garmin-Asus M20 then.

Garmin is the world’s leader in GPS devices. Asus is a trusted and reliable computer hardware brand.

Put them together and you get a kickass smartphone with smart navigation!

You can also turn the phone around to view the map in landscape.

I like how the phone looks so sleek and compact!

The Garmin-Asus M20 is made for people like me — always on the go, sometimes get lost… okay, fine, always get lost, and sometimes stuck outside for hours between meetings.

So, this smartphone makes itself useful by telling me where I am and how to get where I want to go. If I start grasping at straws, it will even suggest nearby venues for, like, food, ATM, carpark, places of interest, taxi stand, whatever I want.

What a handy lifestyle tool!

The great thing is that there’s this feature called LocationLink, which automatically hyperlinks addresses found in my MSN, web browser, calendar, task list, SMS, e-mail, etc.

Like, when I click on an address, I will get to choose whether I want to do a search for an address or point of interest, from a list. Then a map will open up and a voice will tell me how to walk or drive!

Er… I mean, like, “Turn left, turn right” and not, like, “Lift your left foot and place it a little forward.”

Hey, if you have the M20, too, we can locate each other easily using the Ciao! service and geo-tag features! Like, I could call you and transmit my geo-tag to you, and you could GPS your way to me instantly! Well, assuming we’re in the same country and hopefully not at opposite ends of the island.

And while you’re on the way, GPS yourself to a gift shop to buy me a present first! Cool, huh?

There’s more that the M20 can do, but I’ll come back again with a field report once I’ve had the chance to give it a proper test run.

Stay tuned!

I was a little iffy about visiting Kitty Lab because of the $38 price tag and the lack of information on what we’re actually paying for.

Photos and videos are not allowed inside so it’s kind of hard to find information online.

But it’s like a rare thing (in celebration of Hello Kitty’s 35th Anniversary) plus I was quite curious, plus Minou wanted to go. So we went!

Because it’s Sitex weekend, and there were cars queueing up to go into the Singapore Expo, Kerrendor (our assigned chauffeur for the day) dropped us off at a nearby roadside. We kind of ended up at the back of all the halls and had to pass through a long stretch of loading bays and rusty containers to get to the front.

But I’m sure you don’t want to see photos of rusty containers.

We found Kitty Lab eventually!

It wasn’t very crowded. Today is the second last day of the show.

Well, it’s not exactly a show. It’s more like an experience.

I’m so sad that they don’t allow us to take photos inside because everything is SO SO SO SO CUTE! I would take a zillion photos!!!!

I guess that’s why they don’t allow photo-taking. Nobody would ever want to leave!

But we saw a few people wilfully neglecting the “NO PHOTO / VIDEO” signs liberally pasted all over the lab and nobody stopped them.

Unfortunately, I’m not one to blatantly flout rules, so I didn’t take out my camera.

Here’s the entrance to the lab:

We were each given a map and a Hello Kitty lanyard.

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Once we entered, we were reminded that photography and videos weren’t allowed, and then we were ushered into a lab-like area. It looked kind of kiddy futuristic. Like metallic plate walls with bolts and strange looking equipment but all made of plastic or something.

It was very nice, though. We felt instantly transported into a magical place! (It was quite cold, too, but luckily I went prepared with my thick coat.)

The ushers all wore white Hello Kitty lab coats and guided us every step of the way.

There was a short presentation on our purpose for being there, which didn’t make a lot of sense. Something about Dr Kitty inventing something called KTA (Hello Kitty DNA), which allows researchers (us) to customise our own Hello Kitty.

Inside, we were given one KTA each. It’s a plastic blobby Hello Kitty with a strap so we could carry it easier. This was to be our tool for collecting Hello Kitty DNA or something like that.

Inside the lab were 11 stations we had to progress through to complete our quest, which was to create a Hello Kitty.

At each station, we placed our KTA on a scanner and played a mini game. If we won, we could pick one item, such as an accessory, clothing or shoe and the scanner would transmit our choice into our KTA. (If we lost, the computer would pick for us.)

Some of the mini games involved motion and voice sensors. One of them made us hold a KTA and shake it up and down vigorously for like 10 seconds.

In another game, we had to dodge oncoming cars on the screen by moving our bodies.

The entire area was quite small. One building to the next was only like three steps away.

After each mini game, the computer would tell us which station to go to next. It’s different for every guest but if you’re with friends, the “lab technicians” will make it so that you share the same sequence.

The games were pretty easy, suitable even for kids. But it was still fun for us because of the novelty factor.

Oh, and there’s, like, a Kitty Police Station for people to go to if they get lost. That’s so cute! It’s hard to get lost in there, though.

Everything was so cute inside! I mean REALLY CUTE. Cute and wonderful in unexpected ways. The statues, the props and the buildings were all so pretty and creative. Each station was an actual building! It’s sort of like stepping into a movie set, I guess.

Minou’s and my favourite were Kitty Cafe. Inside was a big display shelf full of fake Hello Kitty pastries, bigger than normal size, which made them even cuter. You know how cute fake Japanese food can get!

At the start, we were told our quest would take 45 minutes. But if we completed it within 35 minutes, we would receive a Good Citizen Badge.

We completed it in 23 minutes.

And then we were out the last station.

Even the exit was cute! We walked out of Nekosen Station, which was made to look like a subway tunnel. From there, we emerged into a customs area. There were a few counters with the word CUSTOMS on them, each manned by a HK lab-wearing person.

There, we turned in our KTA and received our Good Citizen Badge.

The last stop was the souvenir shop but there was nothing there we felt was worth buying.

Including the briefing and presentation, the entire process took us only about half an hour.

Our customised Hello Kitty were presented to us in the form of cards.

And here’s our Good Citizen Badge!

I think $38 is really pricey for half an hour of entertainment, but I felt it was worth every cent because it was so magical and beautiful inside. Totally nothing like what I had tried to anticipate. Trust the Japanese to come up with such delightful creations. I totally do not regret going!

But I felt they could have given us more souvenirs. Or had more worthy souvenirs for us to buy.

I don’t know if there will ever be more Kitty Labs in the future but I hope so because I want to go again!

Okay, now I have time to work on my Desaru post! I’m in a bimbotic chirpy mood today cos I’m happy for no reason! I can feel my heart smiling. For no reason!!! So I’m going to make lots of exclamation marks today like this!!!!

I’m kidding. Too many exclamation marks are irritating!!!!!!

Plus it’ll be a bit ironic cos the post I’m setting out to write is full of rants. HAHAHA!

Okay nevermind we’ll see how it goes.

We did an impromptu trip to Desaru last weekend. Me and Nanny Wen, the Goonfather and Unker Kell. Well, okay it wasn’t that impromptu. We planned it like two days before.

The road trip was as fun as all our past road trips have been. We had cushions and stuffies this time!

In the car, Nanny Wen was busy BB-ing away, so I decided to camwhore myself.

But she, being a consummate camwhore and multi-tasker, will abruptly abandon her Blackberry and stick her face into frame, every time her peripheral vision catches sight of a camera about to take a shot, never mind the camera wasn’t planning on capturing her.

That’s why you can only see half her face, cos I was aiming at myself when she stuck her head in! LOL!

We booked rooms at The Pulai Desaru Beach Resort because the Goonfather said it’s the best and biggest in Desaru, being the first resort to be listed in Google.

DO NOT BELIEVE IN GOOGLE RANKINGS.

Well, okay, maybe it IS the best. I wouldn’t know because I’ve never visited the others. I might never find out.

The first thing that greeted us after we parked at the open-air carpark was Thomas the Train!

Damn cute lah! But we didn’t get to sit in him cos we didn’t sign up for any resort activities.

My first impression of the resort was okay. It was spacious and the decor was decent and everything was neat and tidy. But I had a feeling it was, like, old and dusty, as if nobody had stepped in the place for a long time.

When we first checked in, we didn’t see anyone else (except the staff lah).

Our room, although large and seemingly clean, smelled old and musty.

But we had a great view!!

Beyond the swimming pool is the beach.

I took an obligatory camwhore shot on the balcony while Nanny Wen took a moment in the bathroom.

It was around noon. We were waiting for the boys to settle into their room and then tell us what they wanted to do next. So we went to bed while waiting.

Then we received a call. The Goonfather said he wanted to go to the beach, so we changed into our beach wear!

HAH. No bikini pics for you!

The pool:

We each get a towel card to exchange for towels. If we lose a towel, we have to pay RM50!! Crazy lah daylight robbery. Who wanna steal your lousy towels anyway!

The beach:

The water was a bit murky cos of the rainy season. But the waves were nice! NO ONE ELSE AT THE BEACH.

We’d only been there for two minutes when it started to drizzle. Hahahaha so loserish.

Nanny Wen and I hid under a shelter while the Goonfather and Unker Kell went to sit at the shore to let the waves hit them. They ended up with pants full of sand.

They finally gave up the beach for some reason and went back to the pool, where the two of them spent 20 minutes showering at the public shower, trying to get rid of all the sand without stripping.

Nanny Wen tried to get a tan but the sun kept alternating with the drizzle.

You can see the rain clouds gathering!

Another 10 minutes or so and we totally gave up and went back indoors.

It was an epic phail.

Before heading back, though, we made a small detour to the resort’s mini farm, which turned out to be a small chicken coop plus a cage with, like, three bunnies. Hahaha.

With nothing else to do, we went to the resort spa and booked a two-hour package each, consisting of 1 hour massage and 1 hour scrub.

It was a total rip-off! It was RM180 each but it was so bad I expect them to pay me money to compensate!

Firstly, the massage wasn’t very enjoyable. My masseuse didn’t hit any right spots and she kind of glossed over everywhere quickly. Not only that, because we were in a couple room, the two masseuse kept chatting.

I didn’t mind the chatting because they were speaking in low voices. But at times, she would suddenly concentrate on chatting and STOP MASSAGING for like half a minute! Very unprofessional.

And there was one time she stopped in the middle of massaging my shoulder and disappeared for five minutes.

I don’t think they did a full hour because, very quickly, the massage was over and they started on the scrub.

She said, “I leave the scrub on you for seven minutes to dry, then I’ll come back later to scrub it off.”

The scrub beads were cold and I was shivering the whole time I was waiting, even though covered in blankets.

I estimate that we waited at least 30 minutes before the two of them came back, giggling, to massage the scrub away.

That was done quickly AND THEN WE HAD TO TURN OVER TO DO THE OTHER SIDE.

Once again, they left us shivering with cold for 30 minutes before coming back again, giggling.

It was the most horrible scrub experience in my entire life!! Okay, not that I go to scrubs a lot. I’ve only done it twice in Batam and I think once in Singapore. The Batam one was so awesome I fell asleep.

After the scrub was done, as we were freezing, they slathered ice cold yoghurt all over us (to soothe and moisturise the skin). Nanny Wen and I shrieked in tandem each time the yoghurt splashed onto a sensitive area.

Once our whole body received the yoghurt treatment, we were able to rush to the bathroom to wash off and hopefully get some warmth back into our shivering bones.

THE BATHROOM HAD A DEAD COCKROACH WITH ANTS SURROUNDING IT.

And the shower was a small drizzle when turned to hot. And hot wasn’t even hot. It was warm. The shower was horrible and there was only one bathroom for us to share.

At the end of the ordeal, I didn’t feel relaxed at all. Bah.

We visited a nearby fruit farm after the massage! It somewhat saved the day.

Giant jackfruit!!

But we didn’t get to see the actual farm. I think you have to book a tour for that. We only had access to the store, which sold fruits, tidbits and souvenirs.

After the visit, I was forced to play Monopoly with the guys at the resort lobby. WHYYYYYYYY?!

The Monopoly set provided by the resort looked pirated!!

By the time we finished our game, it was, like, 8 pm and time for dinner. We were starving so decided not to drive out to search for food. We went for the BBQ Buffet at the resort’s restaurant.

It cost RM65 per person and the food was bad.

It looks decent but when you start biting into things, everything is bland. Even the sauces provided are weird.

Only the satay was good. And the satay sauce.

Unker Kell asked, “Can I eat RM65 worth of satay?”

The answer was no, because the satay (only chicken and beef) kept getting snapped up really fast.

And the bread and butter pudding looks like this:

Small piece of it:

You probably think it’s nice because it looks edible in the photo, thanks to my kind photography and the cute dollop of custard on it.

But bread and butter pudding is not supposed to be like that!! You can actually taste the bread, which tastes just like bread straight off the loaf!

Anyway, we tried to fill ourselves with the satay, and then Nanny Wen and I retired to our rooms early while the boys stayed in the lobby to enjoy the complimentary movie at the lounge, played on a dodgy projector screen.

And that was when the real trouble started.

After staying in the room for an hour, I realised that the tip of my throat was feeling very itchy and irritated, and my eyes were almost watering and feeling strained (like it feels when you have fever fatigue). I thought I was coming down with something because I had only slept two hours the night before, and very little the nights before that.

Two hours later, when it became really uncomfortable and I started sneezing, I realised that I was getting an allergic reaction to the oldness of the room. You can’t see or feel the dust, but my body was reacting to something.

I didn’t think of it earlier because I seldom go to dusty places where the allergy will act up.

But I finally remembered the time when I was filming at this rented HDB flat. Nobdy had stayed in there for ages, so it was musty and dusty. For weeks, I suffered exactly the same thing I felt that night in Desaru.

I also get it sometimes when spring cleaning for Chinese New Year.

That horrible itch and irritation, fitful sneezing and watery, tired eyes. My lungs also felt irritated from the stale air I was breathing in.

I was planning to blog that night since there was so much time, but feeling the way I felt, I just wanted to curl up and pass out.

Anyway, the night passed. I read myself to sleep.

The three of them went to the the beach the next morning while I slept in, because I don’t like getting a tan. After that, I joined them for breakfast at the same place we had the horrible dinner.

Breakfast was complimentary.

And it was actually edible!

Well, I suppose you can’t go very wrong with toast and eggs!

The soft-boiled egg was a bit of a failure but maybe this is how Malaysians eat soft-boiled eggs. I don’t know.

BUT I LOVE IT. I love too-cooked soft-boiled eggs!

There was also nasi lemak and it was good.

This was Unker Kell’s original selection:

Nasi lemak with potato wedges and fried egg. No sambal!

When we pointed out the lack of sambal, he was, like, “YAH HOR, HOW COME I DIDN’T TAKE SAMBAL.”

CRAZY GUY.

And that ended our very quick vacation because Unker Kell had to be back in Singapore by noon to attend his grandmother’s birthday party.

We ended up reaching Singapore around 3 pm or 4 pm, delayed because we made a stop at the fruit farm for more fruits and tidbits to bring home, and then at JB for lunch. Haha.

Anyway, despite the dodginess of the resort, I enjoyed myself because, as always, it’s the company that counts!

I’ve never touched any LEGO videogames because I always thought they were for kids. I mean, like, the only time I ever played LEGO was when I was… five?

But I received a copy of LEGO Indiana Jones 2 for review so I thought I’d give it a try to see what the fuss is about. I mean, if they keep making them, there must be something really good about them, even if it’s only for kids, right?

Right. And Wrong.

The game is definitely innovative and fun but it’s not entirely for kids. Well, it allows two-player co-op so you could technically pair up with a kid to play it. HE will enjoy bashing up everything in the room to get coins (bolts?) while YOU can do the tough puzzle-solving part.

In fact, I think the game has a bit of everything to thrill different kinds of gamers.

There’s the senseless bashing up of stuff. These are usually LEGO furniture (and sometimes LEGO people) which disintegrate into delightful showers of “coins” and LEGO bits when you smash them up

There are stages you have to puzzle out to complete. There are sometimes no clues and can be quite challenging especially when you don’t know what’s happening. Throughout the game, you will get cutscenes with LEGO characters miming a background story which can be quite hard to decipher.

There are exciting car chase scenes where you get to zoom around in LEGO trucks and bikes and other vehicles, either in pursuit of baddies or in escape from them. When you run over baddies with your vehicle, they disintegrate into — YES — delightful showers of “coins” and LEGO bits.

You use these “coins” to unlock more characters and vehicles. Basically, you can scroll through any available character to play them at any time by pressing a button. Each character has a different weapon or tool that will help with different puzzles.

But I like playing Indiana Jones cos of his awesomely evil whip. It’s fun tying baddies up and whacking them senseless!

There are lots of cute and funny things in the game. My favourite is getting Indiana Jones to dive into a trash can, which will overturn around him so that he becomes a walking trash can.

There’s LEGO building for LEGO fans. The process is largely automated, but sometimes you get the opportunity to build a bunch of LEGO blocks into a contraption that will help you in your mission.

And, finally, there’s the rousing Indiana Jones theme music and the trademark Indiana Jones humour, as well as suitably well-represented characters to satisfy Indiana Jones fans.

I think this could be a great game for couples. The guys can do all the car chases and bashing up of baddies while the girls can do the LEGO building and solving of puzzles.

I mean, like, you could do it together, but you can split the tasks.

Or maybe parent and kid. The kid will love running around bashing up stuff while the parent does the work of solving the puzzles and getting them through the stages.

It’s also possible to complete the game solo but it’ll be a lot more fun playing co-op.

In fact, you can also beat up your “friend” in the game. If you beat him enough times, he will disintegrate into — YES — DELIGHTFUL SHOWERS OF “COINS” AND LEGO BITS!

LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues is available on Xbox 360, PS3, PC and DS.

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By the way, want to win some exclusive Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 collectibles?

Click this poster to find out how!

It’s a bit hard to explain.

When I don’t post a blog for days, sometimes it’s not because I’m too busy. And it’s not because I have nothing to write.

It’s because I have too many things to write.

I get an internal conversation.

“Let’s write A today!”

“Alright…. No, wait. How about B? I think we should do B today.”

“Nah, B is boring. Maybe C?”

“Mmmm. Okay, but D is as important as C if you think about it.”

“Oh I just remembered there’s E!”

“Great.”

Then I get stressed about it and go do something relaxing, like stare at the buttermilk pancakes cooking in Cafe World.

I’m not joking. I do that. Looking at food in Cafe World fills me with some kind of profound joy. That’s why I can’t quit the game even though people are cheating in it.

Time flies when I’m messing around Facebook. And before I know it the day is over and I didn’t write a blog.

It’s the same as when I have too many games to play or too many books to read. I end up spending half the day deciding which to start on first, and then time flies away and I haven’t decided, and the day is over and I haven’t done anything.

After two recent book shopping sprees, I have acquired a large collection of books for my inbox. Well, call it inshelf.

These are books I just bought and haven’t read. Not counting the four books that are currently in progress of being read.

It’s very hard to decide what to read next. Sometimes I start reading a few pages, but my mind keeps yearning for the other books, then I will start on another. And it kind of goes on.

It’s like going to a buffet and wanting to eat everything at once.

Likewise, games.

These are the games I haven’t played.

And that’s not counting the seven new games I have lent to my friends.

Not counting the countless other games I have started and want to continue but have no time to because all these new games are waiting for me.

It’s like, which one should I play first? I want to play them all!

So, blogs.

These are the blogs I haven’t written.

And that’s not counting those for which there are no photos, therefore aren’t represented in my photos folder.

In the end, instead of trying to clear the stuff already in my inbox/inshelf/infolder, I invent new rubbish like this entry to write.

Woe.