My best and worst drinks in 2010

A list of the best and worst drinks I had this year

This year was full of precious moments and as you probably know by now, I did a lot of traveling. And since my best food of 2010 post was quite popular, I decided to make another list, this time about the drinks I tried. The post is divided in two parts: First is my top 5 of the best drinks I had followed by the top 5 of the worst drinks I tried this year. Don't take the latter too seriously, though, those drinks weren't that bad, well most of them. This is just for fun. Enjoy!

The best drinks I had in 2010

1 The best: "Frogs hit in milk" bubble tea, Taipei, Taiwan: Every time I bought one of these, I gulped them down like a lost wanderer in the Sahara would gulp down a glass of water. They're made of real milk and for me this is the best bubble tea in Taipei. My article here>>

2nd best: Oolong tea in Jiufen: I remember how my girlfriend and I drank this exquisite tea on the terrace of one of the beautiful tea houses in Jiufen. It was a cold and foggy day and this tea warmed us up and we enjoyed one of the best moments of the year together. My article here>>

3rd best: Wine on top of Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan: I don't remember what kind of white wine it was. It wasn't so much the taste, it was the fact that it was my 30th birthday and I had the pleasure to dine and drink exquisite wine with my dear girlfriend on top of one of most impressive structures in the world. That made this glass of wine special. My article here>>

4th best: Fresh unprocessed milk, Izola, Slovenia: I remember how hot it was that day, when we walked around this lovely seaside town and we looked for something to drink. Then my girlfriend spotted a milk vending machine called Mlekomat and she immediately got us fresh and cold unprocessed milk. We were so thirsty, we probably finished it in a minute. It was so refreshing. Definitely one of the most memorable moments of 2010. My article here>>

5th best: Oolong Alishan with Cherry, Taichung, Taiwan: I met my then online friend Cherry for the first time when I came to Taiwan this year. We've known each other since 2008, but only online. She invited me to a lovely traditional Taiwanese restaurant. The tasty Oolong Alishan tea she treated me was one of the best drinks I enjoyed this year. A memorable moment. My article here>>

The worst drinks I had in 2010

1 The worst: Breakfast tea in Macau, PR China: I wanted to be bold one morning, so I decided to go to a restaurant, where only locals go. We were like chicken and duck inside, but people were friendly and helped me with sign language. With every meal, you also get tea. But when I saw my tea, which had a grain of rice swimming inside the cup and the dirty plastic spout on the teapot, I felt a little uncomfortable. But since I was the only westerner there, I didn't want to offend anyone. I finished my meal and drank a little of the tea. My article here>>

2nd worst: Sugar cane drink in a dirty can, Macau, PR China: I was so thirsty walking around the old part of the city. The southern part of Macau is stretched along a hill and you have to go uphill and downhill, before you reach a famous spot. I very close to the famous Penha church, where I saw an uncle selling drinks. I was so thirsty, so I chose a can of sugar cane drink, which was swimming in a small box with cold water. The drink was of course overpriced, but that didn't bother me. The can was so dirty. The photo above was taken after I wiped it with my shirt. However I was so thirsty, so I drank a little, but then I threw it away half full, I just couldn't finish it. And the taste wasn't really good either. My article here>>

3rd worst: Soju in Hyehwa, Seoul, South Korea: Those who know my blog, may be surprised to see a big Korea fan not liking soju. I'm sorry, but I don't like liquor in general. However, during my Seoul trip, I really wanted to try soju, since it's so famous. I went to have Korean barbecue and ordered soju with it. I only could drink a little, didn't like the taste and it was too strong for me. Not sure, if I'll drink it next time. One small glass would be ok, a whole bottle not.

4th worst: Kofola in Bratislava, Slovakia: This drink is advertised as the communist Coca-cola. It was very popular in Czechoslovakia decades ago, so when my girlfriend and I had to try it. However, we were charged 2 euros for one Kofola, which made us really mad and affected my judgement. When I tried it, I didn't like it that much, I expected more, but my girlfriend thought it wasn't bad. It was definitely one of the most memorable moments of the year. My article here>>

5th worst: Tea from an urinal, Taipei, Taiwan: Ok, this tea was not really bad. But I never had tea from an urinal before and now every time I see this photo, I'm shocked at myself, haha. Ok, no, not really. This was actually fun. I just added it on this list for the effect and because I didn't find anything else. Guess I had more good than bad drinks this year. My article here>>

What would be your best or worst drink of the year?

[All photos by MKL, 2010]

10 honest things about me

Welcome to 2010! How was the transition for you? 5 pounds? 10 pounds? Haha... Then you're like me. Let's work out, babes! These holidays are always brutal, because there's no ban on cookies. I wish there was one. Argh... Let's distract ourselves and focus on my new post: Numero uno of 2010. Isn't it fun to start off with a little bit of honesty? Toothy was tagged last year and she wrote 10 honest stories about her- [puppet collection] -self, be sure to check that post, because Halloween is just around the corner. Sort of! :P She awarded me, because she's got great taste and intelligence, good common sense and a pure heart. ^_~ So I'm supposed to write some honest stuff about myselvz. Alrighty, here we go:

01 I can keep secrets. Therefore a lot of people come to me and confess a lot of things. I'm so full of secrets I might burst one day and spill out everything :P Nooo.. Don't worry, my friends. Your secrets are safe with me. ;)

02 I get watery eyes, if I watch an intensely emotional movie with a touching story. Some examples would be Schindler's list, La Vita è Bella, Ghost, Sixth Sense, Apocalypto, Spring Summer Autumn Winter ...and Spring, E.T. and so on...

03 Sometimes in the morning, I allow my cat to hop on my bed. She'd usually go under the comforter, where she purrs like crazy. We cuddle a little and then I go out of bed... and she usually follows.

04 I hate when people say I'm obsessed with Asian women. Yes, many Asian women are beautiful to me, but I'm not obsessed. Simple as that. I'm just connected to this part of the world, it's just so interesting to me there. And guess what? I'm flying to Asia next month. Yay! :-)

05 I like to keep and store stuff. Be it old letters from my pen pals in the 1990s, be it letters and gifts I received from my ex-girlfriends or just random stuff from my trips. I even keep newspapers I bought in Singapore, Malaysia, HK and Qatar. Anyone reads Arabic here? I just can't throw away things that have some memory attached to it. Same goes for my computer, I save a lot of stuff: Pics, music, videos... Should do a clean-up, now that I think about it.

06 I have a 'problem' with chocolate. It's the only thing that I seriously can get addicted to (Manju, you understand me, right?) No kidding. When I was a bit younger, I would eat 1 chocolate a day. Recently I learnt to control myself and I'm able not to eat a chocolate for few days. But then the craving becomes so strong that when I get one, I usually eat the whole one in a very brief time. What can I do? It just tastes so damn good -_-

07 Although I love my two sisters, I always wished to have a brother. It sucks to be the big brother, I never had anyone to look up to. I had to figure out many things by myself. And in the past, my sisters would depend on me and listen to my wise words. Now, being in their twenties, their boyfriends are more important than me. Nobody listens to the big bro any more -_- So I had to adopt sisters Selvy and Stefanie and I'm happy that at least they listen to me :-)

08 I prefer Pepsi over Coca Cola, but I started to like Pepsi just this year. It's never too late, friends ;-)

09 I 'had something' with a woman 8 years older than me. ;)

10 Sometimes, when I drive, I talk to people, be it the ones in other cars or people walking on the street. It's more like blurting out random stuff like: "Damn, will you move already? Who did you bribe to get the driving licence?" Or to some pedestrians, who look at me, I'd say: "Why are you looking at me? Do you expect a cookie from me or something?" Of course these people don't hear me, because my radio is on, hehe. It's just my way to release, because being stuck in traffic sometimes really makes me tense.

I give this award to every one of my readers, but I'm just tagging some. I tag Lily, Stefanie, Shingo, Manju, Ejann, Sharon, Steph and Pinkpurplelizard. Of course you can ignore this tag, if this post doesn't appeal to you. I do this, because I just want to be a law-abiding citizen blogger in 2010 ;-)

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Alright. Hope that my [brutal] honesty didn't bore you. Thank you for reading and your feedback is appreciated :-) On a side note: I put Google Friend Connect on my left sidebar, if you added yourself to other bloggers, please add yourself to me, it'll make my day :-) And because one of the new people on my blog asked me how to follow my blog, I wrote a post that explains how to use Google Reader to follow my blog. Here's my How to use Google Reader post for those who still don't use this most convenient way to follow multiple blogs at one place.

I was there, when...

Here's another awesome list for you. I was watching TV and they showed some events from the past years. And that reminded me, that I am residing in this world for nearly 3 decades and a lot of things happened during this time. So I wanted to make a list of 8 world events, that happened in my life time and affected me somehow, can be literally or just emotionally. Here they are:

1. Slovenian independence (1990/91): My small country Slovenia was part of a big multi ethnic country Yugoslavia, but 1990 we voted for independence and majority was for an independent state. I was too young to vote, though. In June 1991 we became independent and a 10 days long war started. I remember hiding in the basement of our block, while tanks rolled through my hometown. That was a scary moment, but lucky me, the war was over very fast and I didn't see any shooting or killing... Pheew...
2. Guns 'N' Roses (1992): I remember that at age 12, suddenly all my class mates defined themselves by the music they listened to. You could choose among rock, metal, punk, grunge and rave or techno. I was pretty late in that regard, but one day a friend borrowed me a cassette of an Guns 'N' Roses album and I copied it and listened to it every day until I knew the songs by heart. Yea, that's how we did it. I really liked their songs and then I was one of the rockers. And in my heart, I'm still a rocker, although I don't classify myself anymore, I like all kinds of music, even pop, yes, even Asian pop. But at that time the music you liked defined you. It was serious business, hehe.
3. Total eclipse of the sun (1999): I remember, it was August, I was home alone and I went out and saw how the sun got slowly covered by the moon and how the degrees dropped. Wow, it was definitely a goose bumps moment and I'm so glad that I've experienced this in real. Kinda made me feel how small and insignificant we are compared to the planets, stars and the whole universe.
4. Millennium (2000): I remember, how hopeful and anxious people were in 1999 anticipating the year 2000. We all thought it will be a new Millennium, although it actually started in 2001, but nobody really cared. That 2000 was really a magic number for all of us. We felt like we'll suddenly be in the future, that everything will be so advanced... well, nothing really happened. I remember, how some people were afraid that the whole internet might crash, haha... That was funny :P
5. 11th September (2001): That was really scary! I was 21, at home watching CNN, like I always did. It was 1pm here when it happened, suddenly the changed to breaking news and talked about an accidental plane crash. I remember how confused everybody was (including me). When that second plane crashed, it became creepy. What's going on? What's happening? Someone attacked America? Will there be war? I was seriously nervous. Then the twin towers collapsed and my heart was pounding like crazy. I was sooo pro America soon after that, we all were... then Bush screwed up... -_-
6. Tsunami (2004): Ok, that was equally scary like 9/11. It happened just 1 month before I planned to fly to Singapore (and Asia) for the first time, in the region, so to speak. The images of the casualties and all the destruction, especially in Banda Ace, were excruciating. Another moment, where mankind saw how fickle nature can be and how powerless we really are on this planet.
7. Barack Obama's historic win (2008): I followed US elections almost a year, I was for Obama since he started his campaign in 2007, I always watched his stump speeches, followed the campaign, the ups and downs up to the election day, where I stayed up until 6am to listen to his victory speech, which really really gave me goose bumps and I probably teared up a little. It's a moment where one just had to be alive and hear that speech live (even if on TV). And I'm not disappointed with what he has done so far, I mean, look at his plate and look what Bush has left behind.
8. Death of Michael Jackson and Twitter (2009): Ok, his death didn't really had such a big effect on my life, but it was definitely a shocker. I will always remember the day it happened, because 25 June is our independence day. It's also the first time that something major happened and I found out about it on Twitter's trending topics. It was quite an emotional day for the whole world. I had the feeling we were a bit united for a short while by looking at his fans from all over the world how they loved him and his music. And it was the time, where I realized that Twitter has become such a powerful news source. It definitely changed internet and affected my life a bit this year.

Ok, this is my list and it's gotten quite long :) I dare you to make your own list or just comment here in my comment section and tell me which events in your life time had the biggest effect on you or your life.

[Photo: Source]

7 things about me you didn't know

We have first snow today! Bummer :( [Manju, do you wanna change?]

The incredibly talented Mauritian blogger Manju dared me to write 7 things about me you didn't know before. Manju says that according to the rules of this award I'm supposed to tell you 7 things you might not know about me, and then tag 7 other creative bloggers to do the same. So here are 7 random things about me you didn't know before:

1 When I was 3 years old, I already knew how to spell, read and calculate to 10. I was considered a prodigy in that regard. Mum told me that her colleagues, who came to visit us, couldn't believe their eyes, when they saw me reading from the newspaper fluently. Keep in mind that the language was Slovenian, which uses 1 letter for 1 sound. Nevertheless, it was still exceptional. [I do wonder now where my genius went after that... -_-]

2 Although I speak German fluently and I have a Bachelor's degree in German language and literature, up until today I have never been in Germany. [Ok, before you start tearing out your hair like a crazy professor, let me tell you that I live 1km away from the border with Austria, which is also a German speaking country. I'm sure I've been in Austria more than hundred times.]

3 Last year I would stay up very late just to listen to an Obama speech, which was broadcast live during prime time in America, but due to the difference in time, it was aired at 3 or 4am in Europe. Yes, I could! And yes, that's how much I believe[d] in that man.

4 I never dated someone from my hometown.

5 I collect chopsticks.

6 I'm allergic to pollen, so every spring [usually from February to June] is my worst time of the year. I sneeze every day, my nose and eyes are red, it feels like a constant flu. That's one of the reasons I felt so good in the tropical Malaysia and Singapore, because I'm only allergic to the blossoms in our climate with 4 seasons. And it would be one of the reasons for me to consider emigrating and settling in a warmer [allergy-free] place [most likely in Asia].

7 I hate reading books. I would read a book only, if it was really really necessary. I do read a lot of stuff though, but online.

Now, don't worry, I won't tag anyone, but you can do the same list, if you want. And sorry, I didn't reveal anything scandalous here. Hope you know a bit more about me now :)

Always be positive!

My life is lately a little different than it used to be. I remember writing about an up some 1 month ago. That up was short lived and an emo phase followed soon after. But today I can say that in the recent 2 weeks I'm feeling great :-) And there are several reasons for that. Mostly it's because I changed my perception on things. I know when people are emo, they take every single thing so seriously. I had my share of these days, especially on some rainy August days. And I did write some posts or comments that I really regret writing. But hey, I am just human, I make mistakes. But more important is that I learn from them and that I can apologize sincerely.
And so it happened that I slowly crawled out of my depressing period and just today realized how much more optimistic I am. Of course I didn't do that all by myself, far from that. It's because of people who came into my life unexpectedly and taught me a lot of new things, shifted my views and put back a smile on my face. You know who you are and you know you mean a lot to me. And even if it seems too good to be true, I'm living for the moment. I'm truly positive. It's so easy to fall back into emo mode, that's why I'm enjoying my happy days as much as I can. I even got some awsome new Twitter followers, among them the Singaporean celebrity blogger Dawn Yang, who not only follows me, but even tweets/DMs back sometimes and I don't have a clue how come. I've been following her blog for few months now and sending her some tweets and I guess she liked it. I'm happy that she follows me back, because I like her and I think she's an awsome girl. In addition to that, our (read Slovenian) most famous and popular blogger Had also started following me on Twitter and I have no idea why, but it feels great, too. Twitter and blogging really connect people and it's very easy. Here's how I do it. If you want to befriend people,

• be just yourself - be honest, mean what you say
• be positive - instead of criticising, focus on the good points
• be loyal - if you follow someone, be there for them if they need you
• try to give good advice - but put yourself in their shoes
• be patient - don't rush, focus on quality not quantity
  

That's how I do it lately and it works. It may stop, it may change... But that's how life is: full of ups and downs, constant changes, people come and go. But some things always stay the same, some people will always be there for you even when the majority leaves you behind.

When you stand in rain and need an umbrella, they will hand it to you.

So be positive, give and recieve, don't look for trouble. If people offend you (offline or online), be above it all, don't feed the trolls, you can be so much classier than them. Ignore them, block them, delete them. If I can do it, you can do it, too. :-)

It's all in our minds.

[Photo Kang Yui: Source]

My Murtaugh list

The faboulous Andhari asked me, if we could write a blog post with the same topic today. I asked her what would that be? And she said let's write our personal Murtaugh list. I was like: What is that? Well, to put it simply, it's a list of things that you would do when you were young, but now you're too old for them and you wouldn't do them anymore. If you want to find out the whole history of the Murtaugh list and about the name, check this blog. It's explained very well. To read Andhari's interesting Murtaugh list, go here. My dear sis Selvy made her Murtaugh list, too. Check it here and my new friend Wenny made her list here.

So here's my Murtaugh list:

01 I'm too old to watch the Smurfs on TV. [I was hooked on them when I was 12]

02 I'm too old to judge people by the music they listen to. [This is so teenager-ish]

03 I'm too old ask my mum to fetch me from a party. [Oh, that happened when I was a teen]

04 I'm too old to fall in love with someone based only on her looks. [Teeny crushes, right?]

05 I'm too old to get wasted every weekend. [When I was 18, that was my life!]

06 I'm too old to wear a nose piercing. [I had one at 18, I was quite something then :-P ]

07 I'm too old to forget brushing my teeth regularly. [At age 3 I totally didn't care :-P ]

08 I'm too old for one-night stands. [Wait, I never had any :-P ]

09 I'm too old to get upset about what someone blogs or comments about. [I've matured!]

10 I'm too old to get drunk after a break-up. [I miss the teen-years sometimes]

11 I'm too old to be mad at someone for a long time. [I forgive, but I may distant myself]

12 I'm too old to impersonate Michael Jackson moonwalking.

13 I'm too old to forget fixing my hair before I go to town.

14 I'm too old to ride a tricycle. [I drove one at age 4]

15 I'm too old to brag about the amount of ear butter in my ears. [Kids in the 80s]

16 I'm too old to chew gum and make baloons with it. [Kids in the 90s]

17 I'm too old for a tamagotchi. [I never had one anyway]

18 I'm too old to bedazzle my handphone. [And wrong gender ;-) ]

19 I'm too old to hide behind the corner and scare people (and laugh).

20 I'm too old to wear white tennis socks. [So early 90s].

21 I'm too old to laugh at racist or gay jokes. [As kids we thought it's funny...]

22 I'm too old to get fooled twice. [Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice...]

23 I'm too old to like just one band and obsess about it. [Like some do with Jonas bros.]

24 I'm too old to believe in Santa. [Hey, I'm almost 30! ;-) ]

25 I'm too old drink whisky and pretend it tastes good. [At 18 I did, maybe now I'd like it..]

26 I'm too old to write another Murtaugh list.

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So this is it. How do you like it? What would be on your Murtaugh list?