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Chinese Fire Belly Newts

Meet my chinese fire belly newts (Cynops orientalis). The name is derived from the newt’s bright orange belly, which is decorated by black markings and spots. These black markings or spots are unique to each fire belly. No two fire bellies will ever have the same marking.

What’s a Newt?

They are usually mistakened for lizards (which are reptiles). Newts are amphibians, just like frogs, which have the ability to breathe through their skin underwater or with their lungs when on land.

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1> The tank I used to house my first batch of fire bellies in my first office - Mangodotlime.

2> My current tank, in my current office - Arachnid. Tank and artificial rock purchased from Ikano’s Pet Safari for RM22 each.

3> Meet Monday, my ichiban petto He has the most perfect marking I’ve ever seen. He’s also the longest surviving newt since 2004.

4> "Monday here. Nice to meet you"

5> My #1 pet. Newts use their tail for support and balance, which sometimes serves as a fifth limb.

6> Monday really loves Paris yo!

7> 2 NEW NEWTS ADDED (25/11/06). Monday on the right.

8> This idiot actually killed Monday and then, here’s the best part.. killed himself by climbing several feet away from my office desk over the weekend. I no longer keep newts. The end.

Sensitivity, Origin and Diet

Fire belly newts are totally harmless, and eventhough they excrete
some toxin, it’s not sufficient to cause any harm. In fact, because they have such sensitive skin, the oil from our hands are even more harmful to them. So, wash your hands before handling.

They originate from the Eastern Hemisphere of China, in the provinces of Kiangsu, Tchekiang, Kiangsi, Nganhouei Houpe, and along the lower Yangtze River.

I feed them frozen dried worms, live worms and insects like baby cockroaches that I catch around the office table

^Monday eats baby roach

Love Thy Newt..

   
        [✗] WRONG!                   [✓] RIGHT!

Believe It!

Newts have the remarkable ability to regenerate several anatomical
structures and organs including their limbs, spinal cords, hearts,
tails, retinas, lenses, optic nerves, intestines, and upper and lower
jaws. Time lapse image here. More info here.

I pre-ordered him on 31st May for a special price of RM210 (RRP: RM238) from Shioktoys. He finally arrived, played dead and escaped, as I have predicted. If you’re a fan of hide and seek, come over my place. Chucky loves company.

He’s really the best Chucky I’ve seen, sculpted by Erick Sosa for Sideshow Collectibles. Take a look at this cool 360 view of Chucky, and check out the detailed quality.

Don’t know if it’s still there in Orchard, but being an avid Puma fan, I’m proud to present - the VBOX.

VBOX is a self contained unit that sits outdoor, sort of an ‘ambient meets retail’ effort. It is owned by VENUE - the exclusive distributor of  Raf Simons & Puma Fashion.

It also carries Puma by Alexander McQueen, 96 Hours, Nuala (Christy Turlington), Mihara Yasuhiro, and Starck.

I really love Puma! In fact, I was in my Puma Ribera in this pic ^__^ V

Visit VENUE here.

Flashback to the 10th of September 2006… It was a day I looked forward to. It was the day to test drive a Porsche. The unit, a sexy black Porsche Cayman.

First to hit the road, my best friend’s younger brother - Benedict. While he took off in the Cayman, Benjamin and I relaxed in the showroom and checked out the interior of this very lovely white 911 turbo.

Unfortunately, minutes later, Benedict crashed the RM 700k Cayman into a tree over a bend. I assume this was the 2.7 litre model with a top speed of 253km/h. Look at the pic.. the extent of the damage was awesome!! Though both alive, thanks to the airbags, TJ(passenger seat) came out with a bloody nose, and was admitted to SJMC for an x-ray. He’s fine, except for some cuts, bruises and shock.

What can I say? It was a smashing day. Oh well… next up on our list is the Ferrari showroom. Fast n fuyaaaaa!!!

Been listening to her debut album for a week now. Still kinda addicted to the Remix of "Turn It Up" by Paul Oakenfold (click to download).

Here’s 40 minutes of luxurious purring (*favourites):

1. Turn It Up
2. Fightin’ Over Me*
3. Stars Are Blind
4. I Want You
5. Jealousy* (I think this is dedicated to her ex-best friend Nicole Richie)
6. Heartbeat
7. Nothing In This World*
8. Screwed
9. Not Leaving Without You
10. Turn You On*
11. Do Ya Think I’m Sexy

The verdict? 3 thumbs up! (3rd thumb being.. you know..) ANYWAY, from the moment I hit Play, she immediately had her dirty flirty spell on me with all her Ooohs and Aaahss.. and the symptoms are showing - <1> I changed my wallpaper to Miss lazy eyed Paris.  <2> I watched her home made sex video again (and again).

I think, turning sleazyness into something mainstream and doing it with a whole lot of pride and confidence is her ultimate talent (not acting or singing). And she deserves credit for that. Nevertheless, track 2’s "I’m hot to death and so so so sexy" is no lie and my heart goes out to her.

P/s: UK-based guerrilla artist Banksy pulled off one of his biggest stunt late last month as he replaced some 500 CDs, debut album by billionaire heiress Paris Hilton,
with his own doctored versions at 42 locations in UK. Photos and
taglines on the album sleeves were altered. Music on the CDs were
edited to include songs like “Why Am I Famous?”, “What Have I Done?”, etc.

See how he did it. Click here.