tilted behaviour

So back in 1986 Argentina won the FIFA World Cup, the movie Aliens was released and Mike Tyson was crowned the youngest world heavyweight-boxing Champion . . . and on this day in that year . . . I was born!

Yes today is my birthday, but I don’t really feel the need to celebrate as I’m soooooooo old!

Instead I’ve decide to let everyone that frequents this site an opportunity to peek into the early photo albums of the Duckworth household and most likely have a laugh at the young me.

Enjoy, and thanks to everyone for the well wishes!

Most people are aware of the devastation that hit Haiti on January 12th of this year.

Just like the case twenty-five years ago when USA for Africa released ‘We are the World’ to support African famine relief, another super-group of musician’s have teamed up together to lend their voices to the Haiti earthquake appeal by releasing the charity single ‘We are the World 25 For Haiti’.

Composed by Quincy Jones and Lionel Ritchie, the song features solo’s by artist’s such as Jennifer Hudson, Josh Groban, Tony Bennett, Mary J. Blige, Miley Cyrus, Wyclef Jean, P!nk, Usher, Celine Dion, Lil Wayne, T-Pain and many more, along with a rap by LL Cool J, Will.I.Am, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes and Kanye West.

There have been mixed reviews about the song, but the only way to voice your opinion is by checking it out.

Courtesy of my Malaysian heritage, my family and I tend to celebrate Chinese New Year more heavily then the conventional calendar New Year, so Kong Hei Fat Choi to you all!

Now most people believe that when you say Kong Hei Fat Choi (or the various derivations of the term) that they are wishing the receiver a ‘Happy New Year’, but in fact they are saying ‘Congratulations and be Prosperous’.

2010 is the Year of the Tiger – and since I am one – I feel that I should take a closer look to what it might entail for not only me, but everyone.

According to Chinese astrology, this year is one of the Metal Tiger, and people who like to talk about wealth will say that 2010 is a Golden Tiger year. However, when you look at the five elements, the colour representing metal is white therefore meaning that 2010 can also be regarded as Year of the White Tiger which can be considered to be bad as the White Tiger is connected to the symbol of jinx in Chinese history.

All very confusing.

Looking at your Chinese horoscope can definitely confuse you as there a countless explanations of how your year may pan out – but in comparison to the twelve Zodiac signs – it is something I tend to look into a little deeper.

Anyway, here are just two horoscopes for the Tiger for 2010.

The Tiger
Magnetic, passionate and grand! When the Tiger does anything, it’s noticed! Indecisiveness and stubbornness can mar the sparkle of the Tiger personality. On the one hand generous, on the other hand a little mean, it’s sometimes hard to know where one stands with the Tiger. Flexible, honest and truly entertaining, one has a friend for life with a Tiger.

The Fire Tiger (1926 and 1986)
Eccentric and dramatic, Fire Tigers are aglow with passion and verve. They are outgoing, expressive and look on the bright side of things. They have the Tiger’s natural ability to lead others and are able to excite others simply with their own gift of enthusiasm. They can be funny and have great senses of humour. Tigers are powerful speakers and have the ability to command and persuade crowds through speech. Their own seemingly endless supply of energy can make them appear a bit dramatic, and it may make them more sensitive to cautious or down-to-earth approaches in others.

Christmas (kri-smăs) noun. festival celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ annually on December 25th.

or as I see it

Christmas (kri-smăs) noun. a time to catch up with family, sharing laughs and presents, while devouring as much food as humanly possible before collapsing on the couch like a stuffed . . . turkey!

Wherever you are in the world spending Christmas, I hope it was a day full of fun and joy for you and your loved ones. I confidently expect that Santa paid a visit and that you all received what you wished for . . . because I did when my Nanna stepped up to the plate to deliver the goods by completing my Seinfeld DVD collection!

From everyone that has contributed to Tilted Behaviour over the year, and especially me, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Today I made another decision that will change my life forever.

Today I decided that I am going to get a new dog!

Just a few of the puppies I’m looking at

The three and a half people that read this website on a regular basis would most likely know that my family dog Goldie passed away a few months ago.

I do still think about Goldie on regular basis, and not having him round while I’m home is a really big downer. I’m really surprised that I miss him sleeping next to the couch snoring his head off or moping round the house slowly . . . but I do! Therefore deciding to get a new dog was an idea that has continued to grow and evolve until now when it seems so logical.

I would never want to get another Beagle – and after dog-sledding in Alaska with my Dad back in 2002 – I’ve always had a love for a Siberian Husky / Alaskan Malamute.

Now they are both slightly different, and I’m yet to decide on which one to get, but my only solid decision so far is that I want to get a female – but even that idea could change.

So I’m putting the call out there to anyone that frequents Tilted Behaviour . . . if you know of anyone or you yourself have some knowledge on these dogs, please drop a comment on this post or send me an email.

It has now been nearly ten days since I last played a hand of poker!

“That’s not a big deal” you must be thinking, but for someone that has played some form of poker everyday for the past few years . . . let me tell you . . . it is!

On the flip-side however is that I haven’t once felt the urge to play any form of poker. I may be only one click away from loading up a sit-n-go, about a ten metre walk to over twenty different decks of cards I can fiddle with and about an hour to Crown to get a live fix, but even with all these potential poker distractions, I still haven’t veered off course of staying away from the game for the remainder of 2009.

Friends re-runs, dominating FIFA on my playstation and cricket training have keep me occupied in those boring times of the day, but it is my new addiction to a computerised board game of Risk that has kept my ass glued to my chair and eyes firmly set to conquering the world as poker drifts far far away!

For those of you that don’t know, Risk is a strategic board game released in France in 1957. The primary object of the game is world domination by occupying the world or to complete a mission on a board that is divided up into six continents and forty-two territories. Normally played with an actual board, dice, armies and reinforcements, the computerised version was shown to me by my mate James who introduced me to the original version of the game.

Completely addictive due to its varying nature of scenario’s, dilemmas and strategy needed, there is great personal reward when you can capture the world by owning up to seven computer opposition souls; and in the picture below . . . world domination was an understatement!

He just never stood a chance! C’mon Western Australia . . . FIGHT BACK!

If you have something on your mind, download the game, boot it up, and you’ll totally forget about whatever it was once world domination strategy goes swirling through your head at a 100-miles an hour!

There are about fourteen different officially licenced versions of the game, but I think I might try an add a fifteenth . . . Risk: Shuffle Up and Deal*!

* name needs lots of work

I was forwarded this link from a friend Tania . . . and if you had any thoughts on the 2009 AFL All Australian Team then you have to check this video out!

It definitely every nail on the head!

Continuing on the footy theme, the Brownlow was on tonight and (unfortunately) Gary Ablett won.

Just like everyone else (this statistic may not be correct) I also put some money on who would take Charlie home for 2009.

With Ablett being favourite at something ridiculous like $1.75 there was no point putting money on him. Instead I took some bets that would make me the most money, and were realistic . . . however they ended up being just a waste of money.

Gary Ablett 27-28 Votes @ $5.50 . . . . . . . . 30 votes
Gary Ablett 25-26 Votes @ $6.00 . . . . . . . . 30 votes
Nick Dal Santo 15-16 Votes @ $7.50 . . . . . . . . 17 votes
Adam Goodes 0-14 Votes @ $4.75 . . . . . . . . 17 votes
Dane Swan 19-20 Votes @ $7.50 . . . . . . . . umpires forgot what he looked liked
Matthew Boyd To Poll In Most Games @ $18.00 . . . . . . . . daylight

I thought my bet on Boyd could be likely since we won so many games and he was easily the best player for the year – therefore I thought he would feature well. I looked at the form guides for the other three players and predicted where I thought they may have finished.

Didn’t lose my life savings in those six bets, but will have to find a way to win them back soon!

So as we all shared a lift up to our room’s we decided that tonight was the night for some pampering at the Grand Waldo Spa.

Thirty minutes later GG, Lynn, Craig and I met and made our way to a cab – Heath and Kirsty pulled out, while F-Train was uncontactable – and HK$80 and fifteen minutes later we were outside the Grand Waldo Spa.

With everyone apart from me being a noob we consequently had to spend ten minutes looking at the spa menu, even though I had informed them on exactly what to get. Finally we were able to get to our lockers to get changed and head into the spa and sauna area.

GG went and had a haircut and shave while me and Craig jumped in a shower before making our way to one of the sauna’s. We sweated it out for about fifteen minutes before having a shave ourselves and another quick shower before getting changed into these sailor-type pyjamas.

We joined Lynn upstairs in the communal area and headed straight to the buffet and tucked into some noodles, toast and chinese tea. At about 1am we decided that it was time for our Shanghai Oil Massage and made our way up a level and were all allocated separate rooms facing each other.

Everyone seemed nervous while I was just ready to get every bone, joint and muscle cracked, stretched and bent!

My massage was . . . eventful . . . as the lady I had at one point just stopped massaging my back and pulled out this pumice stone type of tool and began rubbing it on my back. It didn’t really hurt and felt like she was cleaning it, and once she finished that, and the remainder of the massage, my back felt really smooth.

However when I saw what it looked like in the mirror, and after showing the guys, we were more then a bit shocked. Basically it appeared as though where she was rubbing she had popped the blood vessels under the skin so that it looked like I had been cut up. It kind of looked cool like it was a tribal-style tattoo, but Lynn and GG thought I had been scarred for life!

We returned to the communal area and all took a seat in the recliners and watched an assortment of National Geographic, MTV and Fashion TV before enjoying a foot massage. Me and Craig enjoyed a few more cups of Chinese Tea while I decided to join Lynn with the pampering and get a manicure and pedicure as well.

4am ticked round and Lynn, GG and Craig decided enough was enough and made their way home, while I decided just to sleep in the recliner because . . . I could . . . no other real reason.

I woke up around 10am and headed to the buffet for a breakfast of toast, sausages and orange juice before heading downstairs to have a sauna.

For some reason however the sauna’s were off, and I couldn’t be bothered waiting round, so I just showered up and got dressed. I went to pay my bill and was shocked to see that it cost me all of AU$105!

Grand Waldo Spa Bill
Cover Charge – HK$188
Shanghai Oil Massage – HK $120
Foot Massage – HK$78
Manicure – HK$100
Pedicure – HK$100
Service Charge and Government Tax – HK$87.90
Total – HK$673.90 or roughly AU$105

A very cheap and relaxing night . . . and now off to cover the HK$88,800 High Rollers Event