Category: My Abstract Life

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Everyday News Whacky Thoughts

Comic Relief – 5 Ways to Beat Electricity Price Hikes (And You Don’t Have to Sweat About It)

By now, you must have read 101 ways on how to cut back on this and that to save $$.  But do we have to go down that path?  All we need are some workable innovative ideas.  Something sustainable, something … fun.

What triggered my thought is probably this.  I have done what I can comfortably do (and no, I still love my air con) and yet I am slammed with this new 20%+ hike that cancels out all my effort.  If you are new to Singapore, our utility board actually charts our usage for us and tells us how far off we are from the national average.  As you can see, my usage has a downward trend, sort of.

#1 Office Electricity is Free (Duh!)

As duh as it sounds, we don’t pay for the electricity bill in the office.  It is already factored into the reduction of our salaries.  Most people I reckon reach home at 7pm, sleep at midnight.  So there is a window of 5 hours worth of light and air-con bills you have to pay for.  Imagine this.  Why not stay in the office for an extra hour to enjoy the air-con and light and pretend to work while browsing WilfridWong.com?  Your boss may even promote you for your dedication to work.  That is a 20% saving my friend.

Note: Feel free to replace the word office with library if that makes more sense to you.

#2 Make Love Not Waste Electricity

You may consider this if #1 has a negative impact to your work life balance.  And in conjunction, you can even achieve a 40% saving!  Unless you are the type who prefer to spend your romantic moments with your partner in your bedroom as bright as the F1 circuit in Singapore, chances are you will be able to save an hour worth of light and TV electricity bills on a near-daily basis.  If you need advice on how to extend your performance, there is even a book titled “How to Make Love All Night: And Drive a Woman Wild!” – 4 stars in Amazon.com.

Note: If #2 is not feasible for you, think of some candle light activities (perhaps get more sleep?)

#3 Blog (or Read) 20% Faster

Like it or not, our computers consume a lot of electricity.  My PC at full load consumes 650W of power – more than half of an electrical iron’s consumption.  And if you are busy procreating (#2), you may need to speed up your time with the Internet anyway.

#4 Buy a HDD Recorder

Asking you to cut down on watching TV is just duh.  I know.  So I am not going to.  Instead, buy a hard disk TV recorder especially if you happen to win that 60″ plasma TV from EastCoastLife.  Your favorite “Desperate Housewives” may take up 1 hour of air time but if you filter out the commercials, it is only a 45 mins entertainment.  Time-shift the program and fast forward all the commercials!  Viola.  This shortens the time you are in front of the TV while getting the same amount of entertainment.

#5 Fly Budget

I know, this tip seems a bit out of place but I do wish to earn some spare $$.  Besides, if I do win the Tiger Airways contest, I will have a pair of free tickets to a destination of my pick.  Every saving counts.

So I need to write about my most memorable holiday.  That is easy.  It has got to be my trip to Mount Kinabalu last March.  If you haven’t read my all time highest hit article, here is the chance.  I have included some pictures to share below.

Tiger Airways is currently celebrating its 4th anniversary by having a special birthday fares starting from S$0.04 to various destinations.

Tiger Airways is Asia Pacific’s true low fare airline. It offers passengers not only one of the lowest possible airfares in the market, but safe, reliable and convenient point-to-point air travel as well. Tiger Airways now flies to more than 27 destinations across 9 countries in Asia-Pacific on a fleet of brand new Airbus A320 aircraft.

PS. The proceeds from this ad (as well as any lucky draw wins if any) will be donate to a Charity of my choice – Christ the King at AMK.

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Music Journal Whacky Thoughts

Yet Another Road Trip, Yet Another Small Step Towards Our Goal

By the time you read this, Cynthia and I may have reached PJ Malaysia to meet up with Wieke for a band practice.  Nothing is going to slow us down for our November performance at the Heeren, Singapore.  Not even the temporary relocation of Wieke.

I have a theory I concocted decades ago and it has been recently supported by a research publication (look out for my upcoming book review).  It is not a complicated theory really.  More like an observation; a theory that I keep on verifying all these years.  In general, we need 12 years to master a skill by practicing it regularly and be good at it.  Depending on whether you are the half-filled or half-empty type of person, you either envy that someone who is what he or she is today and you are not.  Or if you pick up that skill today, at this very moment, 12 years later, you will get to somewhere you want to be now.  Because 12 years is usually what it takes from novice to adept.  And if you have the talent, the right guidance, and the right opportunity, you may become the innovator, define your own genre or domain of knowledge, and inspire the next generation leaving a legacy behind.

Why 12 years (the research result suggests a 10 years duration instead, which is close enough)?  I love to play music since young.  Having to put aside my (self-taught) passion with the piano due to my moving to UK for study, I picked up the guitar as my new hobby.  One day in UK, my good Malay friend played the lead guitar solo of “Sweet Child ”˜O Mine” from beginning to end.  I was thoroughly impressed.  I asked how long he has been playing the electric guitar and he said 12 years.  At that very moment, I knew that if I was to start back then, I would be some sort of guitar hero 12 years later.  OK, I did try but didn’t quite get there.  I discovered my passion as a songwriter composing music via my guitar instead with close to 160 songs written today.  Since that day of “Sweet Child ‘O Mine”, 12 years of acquiring, refining, and mastering any given skillset sticks in my mind.

Some say life is a journey, not a destination.  But then, to me, there is not much of a journey other than aimless wandering if we don’t have a destination in some forms and shapes, is there?  I wish to continuously share the music that I create, music that I create with others.  That is my end game.  And this journey has its ups and its downs.  Perhaps all of us in the band are consultants by day, we have tons of healthy debates, high level brainstorming and visioning, and our never ending gap analysis.  No, we can’t do that.  That is beyond us.  Yes, we can try that next time.  That will sound good.  And in the mist of all these progress tracking, ad-hoc practicing, we go around doing our own things, busy with our other hobbies and commitments.  At times I would ask myself: Where are we heading?

I think the answer oscillates from online broadcast to live performance to just having a good time.  And for now, we have lined up three practice sessions for a weekend visit to Malaysia.  It should be fun.  As a bonus, I am meeting one of my long lost best friends whom I met in UK.  Gosh, he and I have been through so much.  He was there when my heart was shattered into million of pieces time after time.  I was there tried taking care of him whenever I can, even if I have to experience my first time being inside an ambulance on siren.  Thank you Facebook.

Unlike many things in life, you always have 24 hours in a day.  And baring any unforeseeable divine intervention, 12 years will lapse and one day you will look back and say: Had I started 12 years ago …

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Snippet of My Life

Snippet Of My Life Episode 15 – I Wonder Why

I am literally the last man standing in my Spanish class.  All the girls proceed to the next level.  The guys have other plans.  It appears that the girls are doing much better in languages.  I wonder why.  Must be in our DNA.

Following AIG episode, I texted my Prudential insurance agent this morning.  Do I want to know Prudential’s exposure to AIG, Lehman, and Merrill Lynch stocks?  Certainly.  Where is the promised market update?  I have no clue.  Chances are they are scrambling to measure the exact losses like the rest of the financial institutions right now, as in now.

You would have thought with the Basel II Accord’s three pillars concept implemented in some forms or another across the financial industry, the risks are well managed, the system is more resilience to shocks.  Yet, right before our eyes, we see the collapse of the giants like dominoes.  Do practitioners have what it takes to deal with the complexity of the exotic products and the financial structures?  Do they have the agility to deal with shocks – scenarios that should have been tested regularly?  Are risks thoroughly understood and monitored from the front to the back office or are the front line people too absorbed in carrying on with their daily jobs and making money?  I often have my doubt.  Time for Basel III.

Besides being a coffee boy and a note taker, nowadays I have a list to administrate.  My new neighbor constantly on a conference call, and so are some others around me.  In this office with so much surround sound, with so many people making a living by talking, I feel as though I work in a call center.  Thank God I have my Nokia phone and my MP3 collection.

No doubt this list must have a certain level of importance since I need to deal with some rather senior people from different geographies, I literally doze off for a couple of seconds every time I scroll up and down this list.  I certainly haven’t heard of countries like Kazakhstan or Qatar until now.  But look, a list is a list and it still makes me fall asleep.  My vision would go blur (much like the picture above), I would doze off for a few seconds (no kidding), wake up, do the thing I need to do, and doze off again while scrolling up or down.

People in my industry are in panic mode (the closer you are to the trading portfolios, the more intense the panic is I suppose) worrying that jobs may be lost.  I have seen the up and down cycles and I have switched in and out of different jobs and industries throughout these cycles.  The only constant is change.  Wrong!  The only constant is that whatever we are holding onto, whatever we think we own, are not permanent.  All can be taken away in a snap.

A job is a job and I am concerned about my savings more.  Time to take out my cash, buy some gold bars, and hide them underneath my bed.

Categories
Whacky Thoughts

The Moon Against a Beautiful Blue Sky

Besides imaginary friends, I have scripts of imaginary thank you speech too.  I would picture this vision of “I made it” – not a bad end in mind I reckon – and I would give thanks to those who believe in me and to those who don’t.  Except, those who don’t probably become less significant so much so that their once upon a time significance may not even exist anymore.  Yet they have been as important as the believers who support me from one end of the ocean to another; their constant misconception, lack of faith fuels my obsession, propels me forward.

I believe not because I don’t have taste.  I believe because I can see the potential, because I want to care, and because I have hope.

I love the blue sky.  Everything looks beautiful against a blue sky.  Recently read a thought experiment of a baby being brought up inside a spaceship, with the absence of the color blue.  When the baby grows up, the scientists land the spaceship on Earth, and show the young kid a clear blue sky.  How would the kid react?

I love the moon too, against a pitch black sky, in the darkest hours.  There is something mysterious about this lone piece of rock that orbits around us.  It is like a dream so near but yet so unreachable; it is like something so alive but yet so lifeless.  Silently the moon creates the tide that creates the movement that creates the wind.  An invisible force that draws us into her.

I thank the believers, and I thank the non-believers too.  Above all, I love the moon against a blue sky most.

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Snippet of My Life

Snippet Of My Life Episode 14 – Being Supportive, 500 Below, And Two Quizzes

A Quiz

To the first person who can tell me how the above picture was taken, I will cook you a very nice Cantonese meal.

A Self-Reflection

A recent insignificant episode prompted me to self-reflect: Why do I enjoy being supportive to others, especially to those who are passionate in what they do?  Random thoughts as follows.

  • Maybe I am easily excited by the good things I see and the potential of what things can be.
  • I feel touched when someone is willing to (interactively) share a slice of their private lives with me.  And to that extend, I respect that piece of privileged information.
  • How many gold medalists are there out there?  We can still add meaning and purpose to what we do, in our daily quest of bettering ourselves even though we may not be legends.
  • Whether I would have spent my time doing something other than what someone is doing neither means that I cannot relate to the passion involved, nor respect its importance to that someone.  One friend of mine loves to jog.  Day in day out he jogs.  I wish I could have his passion and he recently took home a “silver medal” for a 10km run in his age bracket.  Dude, you are my inspiration.

This little self-reflection has a part two: How shall I negatively opine against what others are passionately doing?

  • Normally I don’t, unless someone is soliciting frank opinion.  And unless I have a good intend.
  • If it is my own skeptic thought with no constructive follow-on suggestions, I will bite my tongue.  Raising doubts is easy, helping others to break through to the next level is hard.  Unless I am asking someone to give up of course.  Huh?  Why would I want to do that under normal circumstances?
  • But if I have something constructive to say, I will share with him or her.
  • And If I do care about that someone and worry that he or she may be veering to the wrong direction, I will also say it.  For example, I am blessed to have friends who keep me in check knowing how I may, for instance, be prone to obsession.  You guys rock!

Another Quiz

Has anyone realized a common theme for all the August 2008 entries?  I won’t keep you in suspense: 500 Below.

All the entries published this month are having a word count of 500 and below.  Perhaps next month, I shall aim lower.  What do you think?

Related Post: Answer to That Quiz and My Spanish Class Continues with The World of Verbs And What Not

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Memorable Events

HBO Asia Premiere of Flight of the Conchords – A Blogger Event

I was invited to a blogger event hosted by HBO Asia.  And I grabbed Cynthia along to keep me away from the distraction of so many beautiful celebrity bloggers at the party.  It was a memorable evening, eye-opening to say the least, to tour the HBO compound from production to live broadcast.  Before we get into that, let’s talk about this new HBO TV series “Flight of the Conchords” premiering next Wednesday at 10.30pm.

Is there such a genre as comedy rock?  Apparently there is.  A New Zealand award wining comedy duo – Bret and Jemaine – that brings laughter to the audience through their witty observation and music, I find their new TV series much fun to watch.  Having New York City as the backdrop, “Flight of the Conchords” tells a story of two New Zealanders trying hard to achieve success in America.  The comedy materials are original, interlaced with hilariously over-the-top music videos, and beyond all these never-would-have-expected human behaviors, there is certain level of rawness and honestly from the comedian team and from the set.  Nothing is over-produced; it is what it is. 

Now, back to the blogger event, Cynthia and I had the opportunity to see the various processes involved in creating a promo clip.  How talented and specialized the crew members are in creating all those extra stuff you see on the HBO channel.  I for sure will not watch the channel the same way as before.  Since I too enjoy creating videos and recording music of my band in my leisure time, seeing how the pros do it is indeed inspiring.

The most dramatic part of the tour – besides viewing two episodes of “Flight of the Conchords” – is the dark control room that does the satellite broadcast to the countries in the Asia region (top right picture above).  TV programs are transmitted live with subtitles catered for different geographies, real time access of 120 TB worth of movies (I did ask if I could make a copy) – all monitored by one single person.  I don’t watch that much TV but for the TV loving Cynthia, I could only imagine what this tour means to her.

In a (secret) room somewhere I saw two huge flat panel TVs broadcasting HD signal.  Wow … HD testing!  Dear HBO Asia, if you need volunteers at home to test your HD signal, I would kindly sacrifice my living room to be the HBO HD test center.  I would even buy a flat panel TV for that purpose.

Big thanks to Karen and her team from HBO in giving us such a memorable experience, a wonderful host with such great hospitality.  And also cheers to the folks from Text100.  Stay tuned for more updates!

Related site: HBO Asia Flight of the Conchords Blog

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Whacky Thoughts

My New “It’s So Strange” Movement / And I Started Swimming Again

This is me, swimming in Backstroke.  It’s a strange drawing of mine, isn’t it?

Maybe I tend to influence people around me with my quirks and twists; maybe everybody is influencing everybody else with his or her quirks and twists.  Last year, I started the “Do It” movement.  Some colleague of mine told me that they have even started saying “do it” outside their work.  This year, I am starting the “It’s So Strange” movement.  I bumped onto my colleague this morning and he ended his comment with “it’s so strange”.  Uh oh.  What have I done?

“It’s So Strange” is a wonderful comment.  It could mean I-don’t-like-it-but-hey-who-am-I-to-comment?  Or it-is-crap-but-there-is-nothing-we-can-do.  How about OK-we’ve-tried-our-best-and-it’s-beyond-us?  Or simply, I-can’t-explain.  By saying “it’s so strange”, I find that people become less defensive and more curious about what makes me think that way.  Instead of hating me, they empathize or sympathize my puzzlement.  And for those who truly understand why I say “it’s so strange”, we all laugh at the dark side of the humor.

Today is a strange day.  I woke up this morning still having this backache.  Maybe I spent too much time at Azeroth over the weekend; maybe I spent too much time hunting mouse at Facebook.  I must have sat too straight, or stood too straight, I got a lousy backache.  Usually the backache would go away with my morning stretching ritual, but it didn’t.

On my way home I said to Cynthia, “I should go for swimming or jogging”.  Why did I say that?  Maybe I am inspired by some new blogger friends who are into sport; maybe I am inspired by so many friends out there who are suddenly into all kinds of sports.  Almost like a conspiracy.  It’s so strange.

So Cynthia offered to cook dinner while I headed for a swim.  Ah, the beautiful blue swimming pool.  I dived slided into the pool, inspired by Michael Phelps, I tried to rotate my shoulders while doing Breaststroke.  Breaststroke used to be a walk-in-the-park style for me but I was panting hard after one lap.  That’s no good.  Then I switched to Freestyle.  Couldn’t last the entire lap (small pool at my condo some more).  Uh oh.  I couldn’t even got my arms completely off the water with my Butterfly style.

Damn.

What I could do though, was Backstroke – one of my weakest styles besides Butterfly.  It was dark and I have to count my stroke in order to avoid hitting the wall.  By the time I got out of the pool, water droplets all over my body, there were ladies siting around the pool, young girls walking around the condo, businesswomen returning from work.  There I was hardly able to walk feeling all naked with my six …

Anyway, once I made it home, Cynthia greeted me and said, “So you feel like a rock star right?”  She always feels great after the exercise.  I was panting, my head was pounding.  Duh!

Good thing is, my backache is gone, for now.

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Fragments of My Dreams

Fragments Of My Dreams Episode 10 – A Job As a Spy

Fragment of my dream

I was innocent.  At least I think I was.  Apparently, in this dream, I was a girl.

It is a bright and sunny day.  I met this guy the other day and this new friend of mine referred me to this job opportunity.  It is not hard to find the office.  A wide open reception area with sunlight flooded into the interior of a modern design office space.  A few gentlemen in ties and formal dress code approach me at the front door area and ask if I know what this job is about.

“A classical vocalist,” I reply.

They exchange a few looks that I can hardly decipher and one of them ask me to sing a few lines.

The fact is, I don’t think I am qualified as a professional classical vocalist.  I told my new friend that I wish to be a classical vocalist.  There is a whole world of difference.  Nevertheless, he passed me a name card and asked me to turn up.

Maybe I am shy, maybe I am lacking of that confidence, my brief audition is a total disaster.  My voice is scratchy and thin.  I am about to leave this super massive embarrassment of mine when one of them says in  a casual tone, “Can you start now?  Our boss wants you to be in the job.”

*     *     *     *     *

For the past few months, my new friend – my boss – and I have infiltrated this new organization in separate capacity.  I hardly have the chance to see the sun and I hardly have the chance to see him.  I have a gigantic office for myself equipped with futuristic high tech gadgets blended perfectly with the minimalistic design that spells out the word “emptiness” so loudly, so in my face.  There is no life in this space.  I have no life in this place not of my own.

I have no problem working my way into this new organization either.  My apparent limit in my vocal skill seems to have been compensated by perhaps my earnestness?  Perhaps my …

So far, there is no direction, no instruction from the organization that I truly work for.  What am I suppose to do?  How am I suppose to infiltrate?  As I am leaving my office, a few men come up to me.  One of them say, “We want you to come us”.

Ushered through a myriad of hard to recognize lifts and corridors and rooms, we arrive at a room with blinking lights, no sound, and in the middle lies a huge mechanical cocoon.  What’s inside the cocoon?  I don’t need to wait long before I get the answer.

My boss is trapped inside this cocoon and he is wrapped with a mechanical suit and helmet that cover his entire body.  I gasp and take a moment to steady myself.  One of the men casts me a look of suspicion and says, “He is a spy and in no time we can extract all the information from his brain.”

*     *     *     *     *

Time is 7.42pm and I am staring through the large window inside my office as I strum my fingers on my desk.  It’s time to exit, I say to myself.  I pack my bag and leave.

Mission Abort.

2008.07.13

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Memorable Events

And the Excitement Continues (Nephew Nathaniel)

Let’s recap what goes on in July so far.  My band’s first female guest drummer, sister’s boyfriend proposed, 2nd book review at the McGraw-Hill’s website, nomination at Ping.sg, and – hold your breath – my nephew was born last evening and he has the same birthday as me!  Now, how cool is that?  Last night, during my birthday celebration, Cynthia told me that Julie might give birth on the 10th or the 11th.  I was secretly willing for a 10th.  Will and it shall happen!  Now, if you need some paranormal assistance, feel free to contact me.

My family is small so unless my own sister quickly fasten the pace of the production line (after she gets married of course!), so far I only have one niece Felicia whom I’ve met in Indonesia 2 years ago and now, baby Nathaniel.  I don’t really see myself as an uncle because, look, the age gap is not that significant, is it?  They are more like brother and sister to me.  I so see myself playing Monopoly or Scrabble with them.  I can certainly do tea party too and bring along brother Wilfrid’s own concoction of plastic muffins.

This is usually the time when people write something about the childbirth.  I am no expert of course and I hardly can hold any of such conversation with the young parents.  My idea of bringing up a baby – as some of my friends would have known – is to chunk him into a sound proof container or to equip him with an aqua mask.  I seriously value the sound of silence a lot.  Back to the childbirth process, erm … Cynthia told me that with one or two pushes, baby Nathaniel – like his elder sister Felicia – popped out of his mother’s womb in just over an hour of labor.  Nathaniel landed safely onto Mother Earth even before his dad Eric completed the paperwork at the hospital.  Is an hour or two of labor a smooth one?  I have no clue.  I stay in the cube farm eight hours a day pushing too.  I push out work every day.

OK.  It’s time to submit my household budget request form for that digital SLR camera that I have been dreaming of.  Now, I have one more reason to own that.  And maybe I shall start a tradition to celebrate my birthday with baby Nathaniel.

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Memorable Events

Me No Shy About Me Birthday

Thanks for all your warm wishes!  It is the thought that counts.  So, text messages are same-same to me.

I have two traditions when it comes to my birthday.  One, it will be a holiday.  Look, if we have holidays to celebrate the birth of the kings and queens and anniversary of what not, why should I work on my birthday?   And two, during my birthday week, it will be my treat to all the friends who join me for lunch or dinner.  I mean, look at it this way, I feel so blessed to have friends turn up for my B day celebration.  It’s on me, gladly so.

I guess it is hard to contain the happiness and I find myself telling the people around me the coming of my birthday.  Maybe I am a natural exhibitionist.  Most people I know are more comfortable keeping it low profile, which is cool with me of course.  One time, the colleague behind me was on the phone and you know how kids are when they get onto the phone.  As usual, the faint high pitch voice reached my desk and I heard a birthday song!  It was my colleague’s birthday and I congratulated her after her call.  Wow, I would have missed that and I would feel quite bad had I known that someone’s birthday has gone underneath my radar.  She is my neighbor in the cube farm some more.  Bizarre to say – and those of you who know me in person would know how animated I can be once I get excited – despite my rather excited words of congratulation, everyone else was so absorbed with their work and none noticed this little event.  Oh well.

The other day, one friend of mine in the office told me that she doesn’t think writing “I wake up, I eat, I sleep” as her journal (or blog) is interesting at all.  Well, I don’t know.  I also write “I wake up, I eat, I sleep” too.  Maybe if one day 3am in the morning and you can’t sleep, you should try reading my blogs.

I woke up this morning after an amazing 8 hours of sleep, looked in the mirror, and didn’t notice any difference.  I mentally timed my pee and it took roughly the same time.  Great!  It’s my birthday and I feel one year younger.  I did some memory test and I passed, remembering all the schedule blog entries all the way till I fly out of town next Wednesday.  Superb!  Good as new.

Switched on my wireless phone and went through the bunch of entertaining text messages.  One friend told me that men age like fine wine.  Wow, my first time hearing it.  So I asked this wise man what do women age like?  Cheese, he replied, as the taste grows on you!  Ha ha ha … OK.  I don’t know why, I kept thinking of the “Sex and the City” movie.  Time for Botox – the miracle of eternal youth!

Spent a fair bit of the morning doing vocal exercise.  Vocal exercise?  Yes.  Vocalists do vocal exercise all the time and it helps a lot in the actual singing activity.  I must have driven Cynthia mad this morning.  Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhhhhhh~

Another friend asked me to send a wild plant to her via Facebook after I told her that I was heading to the Botanic Gardens.  Sure I can do that.  I love the Botanic Gardens.  Always do, be it as in Hong Kong or Paris or Singapore.  It was sunny, it rained a bit, and we took some photos inside the lovely Botanic Gardens.

Time check!  OK, it 5-ish and I shall head to Orchard soon.  Catching up with my Movie Review Squad and I can’t wait to watch Hellboy 2!  I so have a big crush with Hellboy’s girlfriend.  Shhh, please don’t tell Cynthia.

Later!