...remember my name, FAME.

In just this week, I got to know that 2 of my friends got a shot at fame (without the fortune unfortunately).

I have to mention them in my blog. If not, how else can I be associated with the "famous"? I do know of schoolmates and others who achieved national stardom but I wasn't really close to them. These two recent starlets are friends who I do chat, dine and well, occasionally do something else together with.

I'll give you a short personal introduction here. To read about their moment of fame, please visit their sites. Promise?

Ok... here we go...

Give a round of applause to... Chan Kok Fai.
Kok Fai is an old friend whom I got to know since ??? I really do not remember. He went through difficult times this year but still manage to remain cheerful. Must be all the coffee messing with his system. I'm happy that his passion for coffee becomes fruitful (an appropriate term since they are berries, not beans, right?) Read about him being cyberspotted here. After reading the article, I actually googled "coffee malaysia" and ta-da!

Now join me in standing ovation for... Sharon Tan Li Li.
Sharon and I met in university. We were coursemates as well as hostel mates. At one point we were even office mates. I'm proud that she has achieved so much in her love for photography. She shoots great photos (at least it's great in my unprofessional eyes). She even had a public exhibition of her photos this year (truly regret that I couldn't see that). This time round, she gets 2 seconds of fame appearing in a MTV. Watch it here.

I know I do have a number of friends who appeared in the media before, especially on newspaper. Hey, even my dad's face appeared in the Star Metro for winning a karaoke competition. I had my share of "fame" too. All in the past...

...falling in love with the queen's english.

I can fall in love over and over again...

...not with a guy... not with a girl either... not loving an animal nor an object...

... ... ... but with the english language. Mind you, not just any english language (not manglish, not singlish and not american english). It has to be the queen's english with all its rules, propriety and accent. Some call it the british english, some say it's oxford english, but whatever term it is called, I just love it.

I can't explain why I love it. Just like you can't explain what love is. I just do. I can sit and hear a person talk and talk in that english pronunciation and tone for hours. This recent spate of love affair rejuvenated when I had to talk to 2 English people over the phone for work purpose. One was a girl, and the other a guy. When they spoke, I felt myself going all dreamy eyed. I didn't want the conversation to stop. I didn't want to speak for fear of my voice disenchanting the illusion that I created myself. Sigh... it caused me to reflect on all those BBC shows that I watched. Remember dashing Mr. Darcy? (note to self: I must get hold of that Pride and Prejudice BBC series)

Then last week, I had to horribly bring myself back to the decadent language of pop culture. Yep, the american english. No offence, ok? I couldn't readily accept the fact that there are so many exceptions to the english language. Everything seem to be acceptable now. Double negatives. Redundant words. Short forms. I'm no whiz in the english language but I certainly pride myself in my ability to form good sentences and spell decently.

A few weeks back, my mom asked, "What's the short form for birthday?"
"Huh?", I replied in a confused way.
"I want to send a sms to wish my friend happy birthday."
"Mom, you can spell birthday as it is. Why is there a need to put it in short form?"
"Well, it's what people do nowadays, isn't it?"

I was utterly upset. The bee must have been retrenched in this current state of economy.