This lady has changed her habit of how she lists her names on her mobile
phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her 
cell
phone, credit card, wallet... etc... was stolen.

20 minutes later when she called her hubby, from a pay phone telling 
him what had happened, hubby says "I've just received your text asking about our
Pin number and I replied a little while ago."

When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the 
money was already withdrawn.  The thief had actually used the stolen cell 
phone to text "hubby" in the contact list and got hold of the pin number.  
Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.

Moral of the lesson: Do not disclose the relationship between you and the
people in your contact list. Avoid using names like Home, Honey, 
Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc...  And very importantly, when sensitive info is
being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back.  Also, when you 
get a text from friends or family to meet them somewhere, be sure to call back to
confirm that the message came from them.  If you don't reach them, 
be very careful about going places to meet "family and friends" who text you.

I never thought about THAT!  As of right now, I no longer have 
"home" named on my cell phone.

This song is probably the song of the year. Not just because this song is played over and over by radio stations in town, but this song is re-sung by other artists.. from country to rock to ballad. I never really liked the song as I am not so fond of Rihanna's voice. And the part "ella, ella, ella" just makes me ilfeel of the song.

The first Rihanna cover I heard was sung by Mandy Moore, back in January. It's a ballad version and I really love it except for the now-and-then whiny voice of Mandy Moore. I am not really into soul music, a genre which, I think, Rihanna's voice belongs to..

A month later, I was browsing youtube for music by Carrie Underwood when I found another version of Umbrella. Carrie was singing alongside Keith Urban on a stage in Connecticut. Odd to see, Carrie was singing terribly. It's either the tempo that was too fast or the fact that she tried to sound like Rihanna. Carrie's has a wonderful voice, but this, she failed misserably. On the other hand though, Keith Urban was great despite the fact that I still see a little struggle accross his face, trying not to sound so country that will ruin the song.

This month, I heard another version of Umbrella. This time it's an alternative-rock genre of Umbrella. This version is perfect to me, not too fast not too slow, just medium pace. But I was having a hard time guessing who sang it. And today I went to ubek-ubek youtube trying to find the singer. I asked several friends online, and they mentioned "vanilla sky" and "gerald way" of "my chemical romance". I browsed their versions and was surprised with other versions I've never heard. And so I thought.. wow, there's much more to "Umbrella" than just Rihanna, Moore, Urban & Underwood, and the unknown singer.

I came accross Manics Street Preachers videos on youtube, singing "Umbrella". Seems like this is the version I've been wondering about. I still doubt it a little, 'cause there's a kick in the radio version than the youtube's one. But that might be just the difference in the radio version and an album or single version, if there's one..

The song itself has won a grammy for record of the year and song of the year in 2007. I had no clue why and I disagreed, just because I'm not a fan of Rihanna's sing. Having written this though, I changed my mind. Its lyrics is meaningful and great. And I agree, Umbrella is, until today, song of the year..

September 18th, 2007, Ahoy Rotterdam, Gwen Stefani's concert was a blast. I loved her voice, her cute motherly thoughts (she mentioned her son, Kingston, a lot), her adorable figure and beauty. Stupidly, I only bought her first album L.A.M.B. yesterday, a week after the concert.

The Sweet Escape tour, a tour of her 2nd album with the same title. 4 in the Morning, Sweet Escape and Wind it Up are very popular here. I also love her music Early Winter and Orange County Girl (apparently she's from the OC). And she also brought up songs from her 1st album like What You Waiting For, Rich Girl, Hollaback Girl, Cool, Harajuku Girls and The Real Thing. That last song was dedicated to her son. Gwen and her band played the slow version, featuring the backing vocal (I forgot her name), who has voice like an angel.

There was much more to the concert, Gwen brought her whole L.A.M.B. & FLaReS. dancers. Yes, her dancers are named by nicknames: Love, Angel, Music, Baby for the girls and Flea, Legacy, Remedy and Steelo for the boys. The girls are very international though, they come from California, two from Tokyo and one from Thailand.

I made a wrong choice of buying the 2nd highest price. We had the second rang, upstairs, to watch the concert from. Watching a concert is best to stand up among the audiences in front of the stage. Especially since she ran down the stage, and literally ran around the hall. Some people got really lucky to shake her hands, see her from 5 feet away and hear her voice so close. Where, my fault, I thought the highest price would be the best place. Again, wrong!!

It was great to see Gwen at her concert. She's a real beauty in spite of her fake blonde head. In fact, she looks much better and fresh in blonde. Plus her ability to go down to size 0 after giving birth to Kingston a year back. Her slender frame was wrapped with cute outfits and her blonde hear was tied back, giving her flexibility to dance her head around. She also performed mostly in high heels, very remarkable, as I would've tumbled all over the floor.

Ah, I really wish to see her again..