Thaipusam

Thaipusam from teen chan on Vimeo.

Last week I went to the Thaipusam festival with my Aunt Dina and her Mother, Eva (I hope I spelt her name correctly).  It was a lot of fun to see all of the different "costumes" and to listen to the different chants and songs people were singing. 

This is a short video I put together.  The amount and variety of footage I had was very little, but this was to practice my video editing skills.  I hope you enjoy it. 

Jenn Taylor VS Sheldon Cooper

Sheldon Cooper VS. Jenn Taylor: Battle of OCD-ites!

Recently I have been spending my evenings re-watching the very geeky and nerdy television show: The Big Bang Theory.  As many of you may know, it is about geniuses who are forced to face the normal world when a girl from Nebraska moves in across the hall.  I have recently discovered how much my girlfriend relates to one of the show's iconic characters: Sheldon Cooper.

This post will be a dedication to both of them.  I respect both of them, in their own ways and I am very excited to pay tribute to them.  Now, let's commence:

I will first state the characteristics that Sheldon Cooper has and then I will relate them Jenn. 

Sheldon

Sheldon Cooper:

• OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)
• Hypochondriac
• Mysophobia
• Stage Fright
• Obsession with nerdy things
• Asks annoying questions
• Child-like quality (ability to be controlled by mother)
• Neat Freak

Jenn in Bangkok, Thailand

Jenn Taylor:

• OCD 

Everyone who knows Jenn, knows she has OCD, just like Sheldon.  I still love her for it!

• Hypochondriac

Jenn is deathly scared of catching a lot of diseases, especially herpes.  Whereas Sheldon is scared of catching any sort of germ.   Either way, they both are Hypochondriacs.

•  Mysophobia

This is the fear of other people touching your food.  Jenn suffers from this sometimes, but more so when people who have herpes are near her food.  Whereas Sheldon is scared of anyone with or without aliments.

• Obsession with nerdy things

Jenn's obsession lies more with Joss Whedon and everything to do with Joss Whedon.  Sheldon has obsessions over every nerdy thing that exists, especially Spock.  He loves Spock.  Even though Sheldon does have an appriciation for Joss Whedon (he was angry when Fox canceled FireFly), Jenn and Sheldon both shared the commonality that they both have obsessions with nerdy things.

•   Asks annoying questions

Sheldon asks everyone annoying questions when it comes to his food preparations.  Whereas Jenn asks ME annoying questions when it comes to "aliments" on her body, sometimes food preparation and if anyone, thing or whatever has touched something that she could put her mouth on.  So, the only difference is that Sheldon doesn't ask ME annoying questions, but Jenn does. 

• Child-like quality

Sheldon can be easily controlled by his mother.  Jenn talks "baby talk", but it's so cute!  Both child-like qualities, just a little different. 

• Neat Freak

Jenn and Sheldon are both neat freaks.  Sheldon is a little bit more, because everything has to have a LABEL and it's place.  Jenn only needs things to have a place, even if it's a place that she will forget about later.

There you have it folks.  Many reasons why Jenn and Sheldon are similar!  I hope you enjoyed reading this tribute to both of them as much as I loved writing it!

Remember that song?

Hello boys and girls!

Well, remember that song that I so desperately needed to find....IT HAS BEEN FOUND!

The song about melting snow featured on Nat Geo Adventure Channel is (drum roll please)......:

SECRETS by ALEXA WOODWARD

Check her out on her Myspace @http://www.myspace.com/alexawoodward

Enjoy!

Kuala Lumpur: Teen’s First Solo Adventure

Monkey on the stairs at Batu Caves

This trip was my first ever trip by myself and I get to see how I travel... well... how I travel.  After traveling with various individuals: family and friends, I have come to realize that I am a great travel companion because I am easy going and want to do everything.  I am not a picky eater, I am athletic and believe I am capable of anything and I enjoy trying new things and experiences.  I will probably never argue with whoever I happen to be travelling with (because of the easy going part).  I may not choose the right battles, but otherwise I am an all around good travel buddy.  However, because of all these wonderful qualities about me I do not have any idea about how I travel.  So, this adventure is to find out what I do when I do not have anyone around while traveling.

View of the Entrance to Batu Caves

I went to the Batu Caves, Twin Towers, KL Tower, F1 Formula Drift (only as an outside spectator), Central Market, a zoo, an Aquarium and a nine story mall.  I obviously did some things in-between, but those were the highlights.  

HDR shot of the Twin Towers

After rehashing the six days in my head, I am very much a quiet person when I do not have anyone traveling with me.  I keep to myself and move around at pretty casual pace.  I was never in a hurry nor was I ever rushing anywhere.  Only to get a ticket for the Twin Towers, but even then I was pretty easy going in that 3-hour long line to get tickets.  I got the last “package 2” ticket which included both the sky bridge and observation deck (“package 1” only had the sky bridge). 

Fish tank at the Aquarium

The things that I really enjoyed were obviously the highlights.  Well, not so much the Formula Drift thing, but temples, buildings and animal-related activities I really enjoyed.  I love being on top of buildings and looking down at the city below.  Also being able to see how far the city goes is really cool.  It reminds me of when my Dad, grandparents and I went to China and we went to a few places where you could see the city go on for miles.

Albino Turtle at the zoo

The Batu Caves included some Hindu Temples.  They were beautiful.  I really like seeing the temples, how different people worship their different gods is always interesting.  I always feel bad taking photos or videos in those places because I don’t want to be disrespectful. 

KL Tower

The animal related activities: the little zoo and the aquarium were awesome!  The zoo was not big nor did I think all the animals were treated well, but a majority of the animals seemed content enough.  The aquarium was huge and amazing!  There were feeding times (all the time) and it was the first time I have ever been in one of those tunnels that goes through the tank.  It was amazing. 

Python at the zoo

This experience really showed me the things that I like to when I am in an Asian city.  I think the things that I like doing would change depending on where I am like when I am in Whistler I love to snowboard, but it’s not like I can snowboard in Kuala Lumpur.  I do recommend that everyone should travel alone at some point in time.  It will be an experience that shows you what you truly enjoy doing, when you have time to enjoy it.  I wonder if I will get to travel again, solo. 

Sky bridge between the Twin Towers

Reminiscing about one hell of a year!

So, inspired by Ellery's top 10 list, I have decided to do the same.  2010 was one hell of a year and I hope that 2011 can bring on a top 11 list.

Top 10 of 2010

1) Working for NBC Olympics (January 2010)

2) Olympics in VANCOUVER (February 2010)

3) Working on a movie set (March 2010)

4) Moab, Utah with Jenn (July 2010)

5) Moving to Singapore (August 2010)

6) Graduating from UBC (November 2010)
7) I have step in 10 countries in 2010

1. Cuba (January 2010)
2. Canada (Always)
3. USA (July 2010)
4. Singapore (August 2010) ** Side note: I have 7 Singapore stamps in my passport
5. Vietnam (August 2010)
6. Thailand (September and December 2010)
7. Indonesia (September 2010)
8. Cambodia (October 2010)
9. Brunei (November 2010)
10. Malaysia (December 2010)

8) Jenn MADE me watch Buffy and Angel
9) My first ever 360 on a snowboard
10) Celebrated two wonderful years with Jenn Taylor

*I got lazy with the pictures.  More updates soon as I have to talk about my solo adventure in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Jenn and mine adventures in Krabi, Thailand

Best wishes and happy new year!

Singapore Comic Con!

To promote how geeky I actually am:
SINGAPORE TOY GAMES & COMIC CONVENTION

This was heaven!  Well as close as I could get, here in Singapore.  Actual heaven would be comic con in San Francisco.  But this was still amazing to see!  There were so many toys that I had seen before:

Tokidoki

Dooodolls

And there were some toys that I had never seen before:

Sticky Monster Lab from Korea

There were some great toy displays:

There was also some amazing artwork by both famous and non-famous people!

Artwork by obviously famous people.

David Llyod, Artist of the above was going to be present at this convention.

There was even the artist, Phil Ortiz (artist of The Simpsons Comics) "Simpsonizing" people for a mere $50 per person!  Janette was very excited to see him!

And this is me with the Simpson family :)

I am alive!

Firstly, I must apologize for my lack of posting.  Once I explain you will understand why I have been absent for so long. 

My last post was about....Brunei, well before that was about my first job here in Singapore.  My job kept me very busy and posting was just not able to happen because of it...............................

Well that job is officially over.  It was over shortly after my first event.

Sadden by my now unemployment... But wait!  Not all faith is lost!

I got another job offer the same night as my first event.  

Yeah!!!!!!


I was offered a job at the largest hotel in Singapore (don't quote me on that, but I am sure it is damn close to being the biggest hotel), Marina Bay Sands (www.MarinaBaySands.com).  It has a Sky Park on the top and it towers over the downtown core of Singapore.  I will be the Events Coordinator for Technical side at the hotel.  I will be working out of an office in the Convention Centre. 

As for updates, that is about it for now.  I will be enjoying some unemployment time till I start work again.  They said I will start as soon as my work visa comes in.  It should around the end of December.

Random Stuff:

On December 10th, Jenn's colleague, Rob will be speaking at COMIC CON!!!!!!!!!!

I am super excited because everyone knows how much I love geeky things like clomic books, graphic novels and superheros!  I may even purposefully wear geeky clothing just to fit in!  Please remember that I do not wear geeky clothing....right?

Jenn and I are getting ready for our upcoming trip to Krabi and other trips that are in the near future.  Because all of our trips happen on the holidays, we have to book far in advance.  We try to every thing (accomadation and flights) handled a few months in advance.  We are looking into Sri Lanka right now for Febuaray.

Jenn wants my hair to grow out like Ramona Flowers on Scott Pigrim:

Do you think I can do it?  I am not so confident.  I got used to having short hair!  Also short hair in Singapore is nice because it is so hot here!

Well... 

Yes, I am alive and I will be sure to keep you more in the loop from now on!