Shot taken while staying at Berjaya Time Square. Some of you might recognise the buildings in the picture. In case you don't, that building on the left is the Pudu jail (according to this site, the jail was built to resemble a St. Andrew's Cross). The unlit building on the right is the Hang Tuah district police headquarters and not Bukit Aman, as was previously thought (thanks to David for the correction). Those tiny ant-lookalikes are cars.

You know the drill- you wanted something a lot. Somehow, over the years, you forgot that it was something you would trade everything you owned to have. Then came a time when that old yearning was rekindled. Well, here's a story about one of those times.

On yet another Saturday, I went to Toys "Я" Us to check out the super pricey lightsaber I've read about on this fine blog. The toy store, in its bid to lure eager fans, had put up its collection of cheap-looking-but-the-pricetag-suggests-otherwise Star Wars action figures right at the entrance. The aforementioned lightsaber wasn't anywhere in sight, but I did see much less refined-looking ones lying around, waiting to be taken by some kid donning a Darth Vader mask and be used against the mother who would arm herself with a blue large thing-of-some-sort. It could have been an amusing shot if only I had the camera with me.

Anyway, not wanting to waste a rare visit to Toys "Я" Us, I allowed myself time to browse around despite having an important exam to read up on. As I was checking out the cool gem-making toy (it polishes stones and makes them all shiny like real gems), I saw it- the toy I wanted a lot as a kid. It's not exactly a "toy", but I would have traded every single sweets from my hoard to get my hands on it anyway.

Apparently, the sweets wouldn't have been quite enough. So, with what little amount of moolah left for the week, I bought myself an Uncle Milton's Mini Ant Farm. I could hardly contain my excitement when I finally got back to my room; it was like the time I finally got my hands on the super cool Captain Planet action figure (parts of the toy would turn brown when you put ice aka pollutants on it) which my folks held hostage to threaten me into doing well in my exam. Setting the Farm up was easy but messy (what with the sand). Getting livestocks for the Farm, however, proved to be tricky.

If you've bought the Ant Farm in the States, you could actually send in a mail-in coupon to have ants sent to you. No such thing if you happen to have bought yours in One Utama's Toys "Я" Us. So, I set out to get occupants for my precious Farm. I tried catching them one by one, but those little fellows are blessed with strong legs; they could really scamper. I tried setting a trap (using the tube that came with the Farm) but the ants were smart not to fall for it.

I ended up with a mearge number of 5-8 ants. It was fun watching them anyway; they would hold meetings (to plot against me, I reckon, for trapping them), carry the deads (a couple of ants might have died while in the process of taking residency in the Farm) to one corner and do stuff that ants do. Present livestock count, however, is a tragic nil. They were wiped out, somehow. That's why I'm reading this guide on how to care for your ant farm. Oh, ants are such fascinating creatures! Ant Farm Reloaded should be in the making soon.