Me Myself and I

My Little Paradise

2007-01-10T08:48:00.000+08:00

After lingering around Gua Musang town, we continued our journey to Kota Bharu. We left the town at around 11.30am and headed straight to our first stopover, Dabong. It is here where you can find the tallest waterfall in South East Asia, the Stong Waterfall, with 270 meter tall.

As we were driving towards the waterfall, we could already see a glimpse of the waterfall from out far. I was excited to see such a magnificent view. The road leading to the waterfall was narrow. It is basically a small trunk road cutting through the thick jungle. Interesting enough though, there were a few kampung houses just besides the trunk road.

Surprising enough, this place was rather commercialized. Well, commercialized in a sense that there is a guard house at the entrance and also a resort besides the waterfalls. But I am not sure, the resort although looked quite grand, it seemed to be not well maintain. In fact, come to think about it, the resort might as well have been abandon. Not even a soul could be seen.

Anyway, back to our main subject, the waterfall. There are two parts to the waterfall. Travelers could either stay at the foot of the waterfall or hike the hill to a higher ground where they can have a closer encounter with the waterfall. Unfortunately, only the self-proclaim Lord and I decided to hike the hill. The two remaining heavenly kings remained at the foot of the waterfall.

The hike itself was not difficult. However, there were leeches all over. Yes, I have this thing about leech, I loath them. The hike seemed to be taking forever as I could see leeches eagerly waited to suck my blood. But we got lucky; our blood is safe for now.

Once we reached the end of the hike, we were presented with a magnificent view. This is really like heaven. I am not kidding. I have been to many waterfalls throughout my life. This is the best one yet. The first thing we did was to explore the area. It was pretty huge. The landscape was pretty diverse too. There was a cave, smaller waterfalls, huge rocks, streams, trees etc. It is truly a small paradise. So we chatted, drank beer, took photograph and above all enjoy the surrounding.

What really amazed me was that once we hiked back down and reached our car, it was already 6pm in the evening. It was unbelievable. I really though that we were only about 3 hours max at the small paradise. Instead we were up there for more than 5 hours. And can you believe it? In that period of 5 hours, we did not even dip ourselves in the water.

I will probably plan another trip here again. The serenity, the quietness and the surroundings make it worth the visit despite the long journey.

The second day to the unkown - Morning

2007-01-09T22:51:00.000+08:00

After a rather peaceful and uneventful night, we woke up early to continue our day two drive. Top of the to do list was to find a good breakfast. I was hoping for Nasi Dagang, an East Coast popular breakfast. Unfortunately the store that we went to, despite queuing for 10 minutes, I was left disappointed. Anyway, this was just the start of the journey, I reckon there are many more opportunities.

After a decent breakfast, we roamed around the Gua Musang town to see what this small little town can offer. As mentioned in my earlier post, this town is situated right besides the limestone hill and besides the limestone hill, is the train station. The train station although looks pretty rundown, it does add some charm into the town. We spent about 1 hour at this train station. Walking up and down the railway tracks we did just to get that picture perfect photos. Stood on one spot for minutes we did just to get that picture perfect photos. Risk our life on the middle of the railway track we did just to get that picture perfect photos.

The first day to the unkown

2007-01-08T23:40:00.000+08:00

The plan for our budget, photography and venture into the unknown trip is... to have none at all. Well, that is not totally true. We did do some planning. We did know where we are headed to. But what we did not know was what to expect along the way. In order words, we do not plan the itinerary along the way. What we know is what we have been hearing from our friends. None of us has been traveling using this specific route before. We sort of know there are some breathtaking sceneries along the way. We sort of know there are some astonishing waterfalls along the way. We sort of know there are some mystical caves along the way. We sort of know there are some mouth watering foods along the way. But how breathtaking? How astonishing? How mystical and how mouth watering? We have no idea. The expecting of the unexpected added some thrill to the trip I must say.

So the journey began on the early Tuesday morning 7am. First stop was to pick up two of the four heavenly kings at the office: the self proclaim Lord (who got himself a D50) and the publicly acclaimed Java guru. Then we went on to pick up the fourth heavenly king: the dark and a little (just a little ok) over sized heavenly king.

First, each of us took up RM200 and handed over to our treasurer, the self-proclaim the Lord. With a total of RM800. our first stop was to get some tit-bits. After breakfast at approximately 8:30am, we started our driving north journey.

We have planned to overnight at Gua Musang, which is our Day One stopover. We first passed by Bentong, Raub and Kuala Lipis. We stopped at Kuala Lipis for lunch. For you out there who does not know, Kuala Lipis is actually the kampung of our very own Malaysian song bird Siti Nor Nurhaliza. Our dark and a little (just a little ok) over sized heavenly king was pretty excited. He is a big fan of Siti. Well maybe not as crazy as before but still he is excited, especially when we passed by Siti old school.

After lingered about 2.5 hours at Kuala Lipis, we continued our journey up north to Gua Musang. We reached our final destination of the day at around 4:30pm. Gua Musang is not small town (if you compare it to my hometown Pekan) and yet it is not big either. It is divided into Bandar baru and Bandar lama. And yes, there is a cave in this place where the name of the town is named after. But according to the local people, the cave is no longer being visited by people for many years. This town is actually pretty amazing especially with the huge limestone hills as its backdrop.

Our first mission is to get a reasonable but cheap place to sleep. It was not difficult to our relief. We have been seeing the motel signboard, The Kesedar Inn along the way from Kuala Lipis and to get to the motel was also not difficult as the signboard is big and clear. Since we wanted to keep this trip cheap, we opted for a twin sharing bedroom with an additional bed for four of us. We kept nodding our head despite being asked few times whether the arrangement was comfortable or not by the hotel friendly staff as the room seemed to be overly crowded in her opinion. So, the room charge for that night was RM97, which was about RM24 per person. I thought it was a pretty good deal as the room come with a satellite TV (yaba-daba-dooooo!).

We couldn't do much after settling down in that motel room as it was raining outside. We went out for dinner that night and tried to explore the town a little. The dinner was average but rather expensive. We had satay, omelet malay style, veggie, tom yam, white rice and keropok as starter. The dinner cost us RM46, which is unexpectedly over budget.

The night life in Gua Musang is pretty much the same as the other small towns in Malaysia. Don't expect too much. After making few rounds around the town, we headed to our motel room and called it a day.

Not a particular interesting first day, especially with the gloomy weather. But we are lucky enough to have dry weather during the drive. The scenery along the way was pretty amazing though. We passed by numerous kampong. We passed by many rubber and palm plantations. We passed by many unique and extraordinary limestone structures. As such, we drive drive and stopped for photograph. Then, we drive drive again and stopped again for more snaps.

The birth of an idea

2007-01-07T20:03:00.000+08:00

Some ideas behave like the titanic, they started big but due to some reasons, the ideas vanish and they eventually sink into the deep blue sea and people would talk about it every now and then, but the ideas never took off. Some ideas, on the other hand, behave like the big bang. They started small, very small. But due to some unknown reasons, which I like to call it the factor X, they exploded into something very big, huge and enormous.

The birth of the idea is conceived pretty innocently. The self proclaim Lord wanted to try his hands into photography. So the idea is to have a short photography session. However, the factor X is the destination. We lingered around that subject for a few minutes. As we were discussing, the factor X became uncontrollable.

And so, from around KL area, we started to mention the east coast and the capital of Kelantan state, Kota Bharu. And as the conversation continued further, we ended up talking about thailand and massaging. I believed if the conversion were to continue further, sooner or later the idea of driving all the way to Tibet would eventually arise. Well, maybe much sooner than you could imagine... :P

Anyway, the trip was set:
The smart and cool travelers: The Four heavenly Kings
Trip transport: My small small cheap cheap but very reliable four-wheel
Trip Date: 27th December ~ Until we are sick of seeing each other face
Trip theme: Budget, Photography and Venture into the unknown
Trip bonus: Massage, Dip in Waterfalls, Beer, Beer and more Beer
Trip route: Go north all the way to KB and make detour to Thailand and back to KL

For the next few entries I will be blogging about the trip... and how it eventually unfolded... stay tune can...

Back to blogging...

2007-01-06T18:55:00.000+08:00

Many things happened since the last update of my blog. It is impossible to recall everything in this single entry, but I will try to pen down bits and pieces of what happened over the past 3 months in the coming entries.

Life is unfair... Get over it

2006-10-07T12:12:00.000+08:00

I have yet to finished the book... I do hate myself for that. Sometimes when I am a little busy with my work and my mind is occupied with some other "things", I tend to struggle with my priority list.

Anyway, every Saturday morning, besides watching my favorite cartoons in the Disney channel, I am now looking forward to watching CNN. Don't play play can...

Every Saturday morning, if we in Asia are lucky enough, CNN international might broadcast Anderson Cooper 360. Well, since reading his book, I am a total fan of him. I think his job is cool. Able to go to remote places and see first hand how people live, how people earn a living and how people survive.

This morning, there was a special edition of Anderson Cooper 360, Killing Fields: Africa's Misery, The World's Shame. The show got me glued to the tv. I must be honest that not every word or scene stuck in my head but the reports were enough to make me think.

Today's episode focuses on Congo, one of Africa's richest countries with natural resources. Despite the enormous wealth of natural resources, the country is slammed into poverty no thanks to the endless wars and corruptions.

The one particular report that struck me was when hearing most of the Congo people were earning around USD0.20 per day. Bicycle is a luxury left alone a motorcycle or a kancel. The people would build their own transport, a bicycle but motorcycle look alike. The entire bicycle is made of wood, including the wheel. The kind of stuff you would only see in the Flintstones cartoon. Riding that bicycle but motorcycle look alike must be a challenge on a dirt and stony road.

There is this other scene, whereby a soldier was laying in a small bed in a small clinic. His hand was ripped apart by gun shots. Unfortunately the clinic was so poorly equipped that no pain killer was available. The soldier kept yelling "I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die". I think we might sue the doctor if he failed to provide us with any pain killer in situation like that… don’t we?

Frankly, I am not sure why I like to watch reports like that. I don't think it will change my life. As much as I hope to go over there and see myself the situation and maybe land a helping hand, I know it is just a wishful thinking. To give up my life here is just not possible and unthinkable. Don't ask me why, I don't know.

Maybe I should appreciate life better. The pay is low and the work is stressful, but I do have a job and I do earn enough to pay my rent. I do able to slot in some entertainment once in a while. I also owned a transportation that is comfortable and reliable enough to bring me anywhere I want...

Life is indeed biased. Life is indeed unfair. Get over it?

Anyway, after the show, I have a strong urge to get myself a camcorder. I want to record my life and the people around me. Maybe I won't be able to sell it to CNN or National Geography but it is something worth exploring...

Let me save up some money first…

We celebrate...

2006-10-06T22:10:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was a rather special day. It was our office uncle's daughter full month day.

The office staff was invited to a dinner at Sg Buloh. A restaurant seems to be owned by our office uncle. Regardless what occasion, year end dinner, Chinese new year, or any "official" dinner, our office uncle would recommend that restaurant. (well, I still wonder despite being there so many times, some of the colleagues still got lost...)

Anyway, the baby was really cute. She looks like the mother, to our much relief... lol...

I drank a little too much though. I was pretty "wing" when leaving that place. I am sure I was loud and very vocal. I was so loud that office uncle said it was as if I was the one having the celebration… hehehe… but I enjoyed myself la...

May the baby grows up happily and healthy...

I saw Fred...

2006-10-05T23:26:00.000+08:00

One of the many fun in bowling is to see how people bowl. The style of bowling is very unique and personal.

I am pretty self conscious when it comes to bowling style. It is just a thin fine line between awesome and weird bowling styles. When nothing is going on that day (meaning I play real sux) I would just try to improve on my bowling style. Try to imagine I am one of those national bowlers and mimic their style.

Yesterday, as me and my fitness girl went bowling, we had an interesting sight. I am not exaggerating. I am not kidding. The guy playing next to us... really played like a real life Fred Flintstones playing bowling... the only thing missing was the yelling of "yaba daba doo" part before each throw. He played really well too. Many strikes and many converted spares.

I really felt disappointed that I do not have a camcorder with me. It should be a great hit in youtube I reckon... lol...

I miss the game...

2006-10-04T23:42:00.000+08:00

It is a game of speed and power. It is a game of concentration. It is a game of self-discipline. It is the game that I like, bowling.

I have not been playing bowling as regularly as I like. Besides being busy at work, I simply can't find kaki to go with me. Isn't that strange? I must say every time I go to bowling alley, I can see that place is packed with people. People mountain people sea can… but, out of that many people, how come I do not know any of them? Life is strange... isn't it?

Today, however, out of blue, my fitness girl colleague asked me to go bowl. Playing bowling can... how to reject... Anyway, we both played 4 games each. Boy, I was sux. My ball didn't curve as much as I like. My ball didn't hit the pocket as accurate as I like. My ball didn't hit the strikes as perfectly as I like. Instead, I got splits pins. I got air ball. I got endless brooklyn throws.

Sigh... playing like that how to meet my 300 target ler?

The Power of music

2006-10-03T21:19:00.000+08:00

Music is a powerful thing. Besides being the universal language, it can be a very good stress reliever. When you and down and you are feeling all tense up, music help you to relax. Well, it actually depends on what kind of music you are listening to and that's pretty subjective.

Me and music go a long way. I first started playing the organ when I was 7 years old. Although my taste in music has since changed, music has been a great part of my life. Heck, I even did my final presentation for public speaking class on music during my college time. And I got an A for the class.

A song is as powerful as a photograph. Whenever I listen to a particular song, all the memories would come back to me. It is as though you are being sucked back in time.

Last Saturday, my pig fren dog fren and I went to K. That night, I did not select any of the Mayday songs (although I managed to sing one of their songs), which is out of ordinary for me. Instead, I picked some oldies. Songs that I have not listened to for some time.

Throughout the k session, I seemed to be flying back in time... back to my secondary school time, back to my university time, back to my early working time. When I was singing Y.M.C.A, I actually had a flash back of the time when I was maybe 5 or 6, making the YMCA moves in the small living room with my bro.

Time does fly...

Mr. Borat

2006-09-27T23:11:00.000+08:00

I woke up at before 6am today. After few failed attempts to get back to my dream world, I started to switch on ASTRO to watch.

In the early like this, I like to watch news. Just to have a glance of what happenings around the earth. Nothing really new though. Later I found myself laughing away watching CNN news. Strange? but is true.

The news channel was showing a clip of the movie trailer by Borat. Borat? Never heard of? It is really hilarious. It is a movie about this guy, named Borat from Kazakhstan, who went to US. The culture shock that he experienced is so hilarious...

I really hope I could get hold of a copy of the movie. It will be so funny la...

Don't believe me? try this... http://www.borat.tv/trailer.html

my 100th Post

2006-09-27T22:50:00.000+08:00

Congratulations!!! I have reached a new milestone today. This is my 100th post. Hopefuly there will be 100 more to come.

Clueless...

2006-09-26T22:45:00.000+08:00

I can still remember how my uni-mates converted their bedroom to one big game room so that they could play games all day long. My colleagues also talk about games at work, during lunch break, during dinner time. It seems like you could hardly survive in the world out there if you are not computer games savvy.

Well, I guess I am among the minority when it comes to computer games. I used to play Sim City. That's about the only game that I truly like. I always like to build my own city. A city with my own vision. A city with balance, the ying and the young. A city with high rise building together with great national parks.

Besides Sim City, I am completely clueless with any other games. Few weeks back, my colleagues asked me to try a new game called spacecowboy. The game sounds simple enough. It is a game of shooting airplanes. Well, after installing the game, I tried a few clicks and decided not to pursue it anymore. So boring can.

Today, knowing how bad I am with my gaming skill, my dog fren insists on coming to my place not only to install the game but also to teach me how to play. How to reject lar you tell me.

So in order not to make a fool of myself again, please excuse me as I need to start my warcraft III tutorial game.

The Amazing Race of my own

2006-09-24T22:55:00.000+08:00

I have a sever hang over yesterday. Whole morning, I was in Zombie mood. Right about lunch hour, I got a call from my brother. And he, has a mission for me...

Listen carefully he said, I need you to do me a favor. I need you to get the following items to me before 3pm today at a hotel in Subang Jaya:
1. 3 watermelons
2. 3 bunches of bananas
3. 8 pieces of moon cakes
4. 6 packages of rolled cakes
5. 8 bottles of cokes
6. 1 old putter

I think I completed my mission pretty well despite the hang over. I was at the hotel around 2.30pm.

Bravo to me!!! Maybe I should consider joining the Amazing Race...

Rabbit got drunk...

2006-09-23T20:22:00.000+08:00

My internet connect at home was completely destroyed over the weekend. I was not able to update my blog. Luckily I am a Astro person and not a Internet person...

Anyway, Friday started off usual. First I went to my client site to visit my makcik makcik and pakcik pakcik. After that it was back to office and continued with the work. In the evening, my x-project team was having a departmental meeting cum birthday bash.

The departmental talk was rather interesting. My superior is always able to put things in perspective. She was able to twist the words in such a way that everything seems alright. To be frank, I felt much better after the talk.

That night, me and my pig frens dog frens went for dinner at One-U. That place was alright. It was rather cramp for me but the environment was nice. The music was nice as well. However, the dinner somehow turned up to be rather nasty after few jags of beer. We started to play dice. As simple as the game sounds, I was not very good at it I supposed. I got so drunk that night that I couldn't drive at all.

The way I got drunk was so not cool. I think when girls see me drunk like that sure run far far away lor... how sad...

The zombie in me

2006-09-21T22:12:00.000+08:00

"I wanted to see the starvation. I needed to remind myself of its reality. I worry that if I get too comfortable, too complacent, I'll lose all feeling, all sensation." ~ Cooper.

Human is a funny being, when we are too comfortable with the moment, we tend to forget a lot of things. We are self-engrossed. As long as I am ok, my family is ok, my friends are ok, then my life is a-o-k.

Maybe that's not the way it supposed to be. When we are comfortable with our way of life, I do feel bore with the life. Everything is just so normal, so predictable, so dry. Maybe that's when you start losing all the feels and all the sensations.

Losing all sensation will be like a living zombie. Lately I am feeling like a zombie myself. Well, not entirely true. I think I am suppressing my emotions more than usual lately. Many people have left or are leaving the company and many more have gone for interviews (gossip gossip) do not particularly make you feel good about the place you are working... yet I find myself able to carry out my work as usual... maybe that's not true also... unusual, definitely unusual... yet I find myself able to carry out my work in an unusual way. Besides that dealing with unusual events cum people also can take a lot out of you. But again I am able to ignore all these people in an unusual way. Is this the new me? I am not sure...

Is this the calmness you experience before the big wave? Is this the clear sky you get before the hurricane? I don't know. I hope not. I want to be able to feel the sensations again like a 5 years old boy who can't sleep at night, too excited, knowing that his parents are bringing him to the park the very next day...

Experiencing life

2006-09-20T21:29:00.000+08:00

"There are no slow-motion falls, no crying out the names of your loved ones. People die, and the world keeps spinning."

It's taking awhile for me to read the book. I am not reading as fast as I like. Somehow you need time to digest what is being said.

Maybe I like to be in the author's shoes. Maybe I should be witnessing the war with my own eyes. Maybe I should be there to capture the moments, to experience the war myself.

Hm... I think life is cruel. Everyone knows that the world keeps spinning regardless what... The world would not go slower or faster because of you. I know this fact well. But I guess without experiencing the reality of war, the statement remains just a statement.

I seriously think that I need to experience life more. You see the funny thing about me is that I know what I want, but I think too much. When you weight the pros and the cons, 9 out of 10 times you would take a step backward. Once you do that, you tend to just get over it by hypnotizing yourself over and over again with all the cons in the head. I think many people have the same tendency as me.

The truth is if i were to die tomorrow, I know I have regrets. And I don't like that. Then, how could I experience the life that I always wanted to?

Let me think it over tonight can…

My Super X-girlfren

2006-09-18T23:45:00.000+08:00

She has no wing but she can fly high. She has no big ears but she can hear whispers from 10 blocks down the road. She has no muscle arms but she can easily pick up a giant shark. She is pretty she is cool. Thanks God she is not my x-girl friend.

I went to watch a movie today regarding a girl with extraordinary power. Overall the movie was ok. Not particularly hilarious. Not particularly touching. But it was rather entertaining. It is one of those movies where you would chuckle a little when you remember some bits of the scenes.

I am thinking, why does Hollywood always portray superheroes this way? Look at these comparisons: Clark Kent and Superman, Peter Parker and Spiderman and Nelson and Mr. Incredible. It seems like all superheroes must either have no fashion sense like superman (you know, wearing red underwear outside and all), a nerd like Spiderman or a loser like Mr. Incredible to disguise themselves from being recognized. There must be a better “secret identity” for our superheroes, don’t you think? Maybe not for batman though, Bruce Wayne is pretty cool... hm... but wait, batman doesn't have any superpower... hm... my first conclusion is still valid.

Maybe Hollywood should consider making a cool person a superhero. This person can have great fashion sense, straight As student, successful entrepreneur and save the world all in the same time.

Yeap, I like that idea...

He is now 15 kg and 92 cm

2006-09-17T21:09:00.000+08:00

I am not a very good father. Well, I am not really a father yet. Theoretically I should be. But I am not. About one and half years ago, me and my colleague who nowadays fly all over the world decided to do some charity and thus adopted a child each. It is a pretty noble thing to do I thought.

We went to the charity office to acquire more information on the “adopt a child” program and decided to go ahead with it straight away. I picked a child from Xin Jiang, China. The reason was simple, I would like to go there one day. We were given some pictures of the children that were available for adoption. It didn't took me long to choose my current child. I really wish to share his picture here but that would against my blogging principle.

I am not a good father because I have never written a letter and send him any gifts after one and a half year adopting him. I bought some stickers for him but never got the chance to send to him. The envelop containing the stickers is still with me until today.

I checked my mailbox today and got a letter from the charity. It is an annual progress report from the Charity on the development of the area where my adopted child is living. I am really happy to see that the progress is going well.

What makes me really ecstatic was when they sent me a recent photo of my adopted son. He definitely looks different from the only photo I have of him. Definitely taller, in fact he is 92cm and 15kg. Besides that he is also in good health. I am really happy. I promise my self to send the envelop with stickers to him by this month.

Happy living...

The Triangle - The Conclusion

2006-09-16T23:58:00.000+08:00

The series Triangle came to a conclusion yesterday. I am not sure if I like the ending. Just wonder why it always comes down to the American Government when dealing with the great mysteries surrounding the unexplained? First you have the cover-up of the UFO crash down at Roswell, 1947 and now you have the Bermuda Triangle. I am not sure if I like that idea at all. Maybe the series try to explain the mystery in a more scientific way or maybe by involving the American Government, in this case the US navy, people could comprehend the subject better. Maybe involving aliens from outer space no longer convincing to the public.

However, I do like the idea of Parallel Universe and multiple realities which the series try to explain the whole mystery surrounding the triangle. It is really cool to know that somewhere in another dimension and universe, across the boundary of space an time there is an another me who is doing much better than I am here.

High Tech place

2006-09-15T11:30:00.000+08:00

I have to go to my company's sister office located at a so call the most high-tech place in the nation. It was a long day workshop.

This so call the most high-tech place in the nation is pretty "dead" if you ask me. Not much there to see except for the multinational companies buildings. The entire place is pretty dreadful.

Sick of the food being served at our workshop, three of us decided to go out and explore this so call college of creative technology, which is about 5-minute drive from our office.

This was my first trip to this college. The first impression I get when we first reached there was the amount of taxi parking outside the gate. Here we were in the office always thinking how difficult to get hold of a public transport in this area. Now we know where all the taxis are hiding.

There are three separate buildings that I could observe. One admin building, one classroom building and one dormitory building. (I might be dead wrong on these classification though) Anyway, we went to the cafeteria to have our lunch. There were like few hundreds of students there. Mostly black. Yeap, standing behind the line waiting for food bring back memories of my uni days. And in fact you do feel like you are in a foreign country with all the multi-national people around.

As usual, I ordered fish and chips. Pretty good for RM7. As we were chatting, I noticed there are plenty of pretty chicks. Some of them really look like models. Nice. Very nice indeed.

I was inspired by what I saw. So inspired that I decided to take up any part time courses they might offer. After the lunch, we went to the admin building to check out the courses they offer.

Damn... they only have full time classes. Not a very smart strategy if you ask me!

That's the way it is...

2006-09-12T21:05:00.000+08:00

Working in IT software house is different from my previous experience. In IT environment, it is rather mobile and dynamic. Unlike working in a manufacturing environment me explain a little further. In a manufacturing environment, your scope of work is pretty defined. The people that you work with are pretty much defined unless you have a turnover. The product that you work on is pretty much defined too. There might be variation on the product but you won't be expected to work with apple one day and durian the other.

I was attached to a project for the past two years. It was in an industry where it involves pretty girls, tight security, high flying and always considered as the gateway to a nation.

Today, I am involved in the industry where it focuses on export and import, enterprises development, grants and always considered as the pillar to continuous economy growth in a nation.

Yeap, my current project is pretty different from what I am used to. Although I am dealing with mostly makcik but it is surely dynamic. It is so dynamic that I find myself meeting different different makcik, talking different different issues, writing different different contents. I know this is just the tip of an iceberg. I should expect more different different things in the future.

It's time to adapt. Luckily I am used to change. I have gone through so many changes in life that this is just another hurdle I have to overcome. Only time will tell if I can succeed.

The Day Uncle Sam Got Wounded

2006-09-11T23:11:00.000+08:00

I was doing my assignment during that time and as usual my Astro was on. Once in a while I would do channel surfing. I was rather engrossed with my assignment then but I remember Astro was stopped at channel 90.

Once in awhile I would just lift up my head and watch the report. Then I remembered seeing thick smoke coming out from the famous twin towers, the World Trade Center. At first I thought I was watching HBO or Cinemax. It took me awhile to sink in what I have just seen. Then I stopped everything and started to glue onto the TV. Not long after that, my phone started to ring. Confirmation of what I have just witnessed... It was shocking. It was horrifying. It was horrendous. I was speechless.

The date was 11th September, 2001. Today, after five years have passed, I still wonder. How could such a thing happen? Talking about civilization! I guess something is really wrong with the way the world is heading today. It is bad enough that we have to endure natural disasters such as tsunami, earthquakes and hurricanes. It is bad enough knowing that we might be wiped out abruptly by asteroids or solar storms. It is bad enough that we have to fight against diseases such as bird flu and AIDS. Despite all these, despite knowing how vulnerable we are, we still try to kill each other by plotting attacks and waging wars.

Why are we doing this? Is this God's way? Is this one of the many ways to keep universe equilibrium? I hope not. There must be a better way to control our human population than allowing such barbaric incident to happen.

Sunday Sport Update

2006-09-10T23:59:00.000+08:00

Both of them have done it again. Both involve in high speed but in rather different kind of way. Both require high fitness but in rather different kind of way. Both require power but definitely in different kind of way.

One is named Federer and the other Schumacher. One is in the sport of tennis and the other is in the sport of Formula One.

On Sunday, Federer has successfully retaining his US open championship. This is his third win in a row. I am a fan of Federer. Watching him play in the court is spell bounding. Unfortunately, watching him play doesn’t translate into playing the game myself.

On Sunday, Schumacher has successfully winning the Monza GP. That win gave him the 90th career Grand Prix win. He then announced his retirement from the sport during the post race press conference. I am not a fan of Schumacher. Don’t ask me why. But I do respect him as a driver. Winning GP after GP is not easy feat I must say. They even say that he has a heartbeat of a normal person in a resting state while racing. Is human or what?

Perseverance prevail

2006-09-06T22:10:00.000+08:00

If you are patient enough, you will be rewarded. If you don't give up easily, you will be rewarded. If you are persistent enough, you will be rewarded. In many ways, God tries to test us. If you can pass His test, sure enough you WILL be rewarded. Unfortunately the reward can come either very soon or very slowly. It is all about persistent and endurance. Then again, it is really unfortunate that we are not living in a parallel universes (at least not that we are aware of). Sometimes after we have given up and decided to change the course of life, new hope arises. Who to say that persistent always triumph at the end?

Well, something told me not to doubt God's way today. About one month ago, I saw this famous CNN anchor being interviewed by Oprah. He was promoting his new book. Something struck me. I think I do take reporters for granted in some ways. When we watch the World news in CNN, we watch it as the audience. We try to absorb the news. We may be stunt when we saw how the airplane crashed into the South tower of the World Trade Center. We may also grief when we witness thousands of life being washed away by the tsunami in Phuket.

If we felt the grief, the frustration, the amazement, the pains when we watch the news on TV, imagine how these events affect the people that actually reporting them?

After the show, I decided to get a copy of the book. Look at these events from a reporter's perspective. It should be interesting I believe. I went to MPH, the Curve to search for it. The sale girl told me that there's only one copy left in the MPH chains, but it is at Midvalley branch. The weekend, I purposely went to the MPH Midvalley to get the book. Sorry to say but the one and only copy was no longer available too.

I was not happy. The worse part was the sale person told me they won't know how long before the new stocks would come. I would have to wait a little longer.

After one month and another 2 trips to MPH Midvalley, I was ready to give up. Waking up early just to go there to ask for the book is not really pleasant if the only answer you get starts with “sorry sir...”.

Today, I have to go to KLCC for a meeting. However, after the meeting was postponed and have a little time on hand, I decided to go to Kinokuniya for a quick check for the book. Guess what? Just as I walked into the bookstore, I can see the book immediately. Yeap, it is the book that I have been searching high and low. This is way too easy and I am happy.

The feeling of getting the book after such a long search is really fantastic. I am still not sure whether the search is worthwhile but I do hope I gain some insights about life after reading this book.

Perseverance and a little help from God do make life more meaningful I think…

End of a legend

2006-09-04T22:52:00.000+08:00

HE is one of the greatest tennis players. He is one of the few that managed to capture all four grand slams in the modern era. He is cool, He is bold, He is Andre Agassi.

Tennis is a very time consuming game. For a grand slam event, the men's game can take up more than 5 hours of on court time. To sit on your couch and glue to the TV for that whole entire time is not easy. However, there are a few players that have the ability to do that. For me, Adrea is one of them, along side Federer, Sampras, Becker, Edberf and last but not least my favorite player of all time, Steffi Graf.

Today saw him in action in the US Open. Unfortunately it is also his last time in action. It is really sad that his career does not end in a high note. Being booted out of the tournament like that to a lowly rank player seems unjust.

I believe he deserves better.

The mystery begins

2006-09-02T23:20:00.000+08:00

Many ships disappeared mysteriously here. Numerous planes vanished mysteriously here. Countless human lives were loss mysteriously here. Even Christopher Columbus experienced strange occurrence when he sailed through "Here". "Here" covers approximately 500,000 square miles of the Atlantic Ocean. "Here" forms a triangle which covers Bermuda, San Juan Puerto Rico, and Miami Florida. "Here" is Bermuda Triangle.

Bermuda Triangle is mysterious. I have always intrigued by the mysteries, the stories surrounding this triangle. I am real excited when this mysterious anomaly will be the main plot in the new series "The Triangle".

The series has some pretty strong casting, which include Sam Neil, Eric Stoltz and the beautiful Catherine Bell. I watched the first of the three series tonight and was glued to the TV for the entire time. It is really good. I hope the show will not disappoint me and that it will provide an unexpected and surprising twist at the end.

Lets the mystery begins...

Happy Birthday

2006-08-31T11:55:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday... Today is the day. I am officially 31. Older but wiser. Had a crazy night at the K-session. I got to sing many of May Day's songs which make me happy. hehehe...

I wish for good health, a love life and smooth sailing in the work place.

One year anniversary

2006-08-29T22:05:00.000+08:00

It is amazing... I have been updating my blog for exactly 1 year today.

I can't remember how I started writing blog, but I have been enjoying writing it.

In some way, blogging is addictive. It started of as a mean to improve my English but it gradually becomes more personal.

I think writing blog is a way for me to capture my emotions. It captures the moment. You might feel strongly about a person at that particular time but the feeling may change in a matter of days. Well, that shows you how human’s emotions fluctuated.
It also allows me to think about my past. I have been having some hard time to think of the stuff I have done... imagine if I decided to write a memoir in my sixties... I would probably end up with a piece of white sheet.

Writing blog forces me to think hard, to think what I had achieved and to think what I had missed out. I believe the more I write the more I can find myself. Sometimes when we are too engrossed with our daily pursue of materialism, we forget. We forget to stop. We forget to smile. We forget to live the moment.

I hope to continue writing blog. I hope to be able to write down my thought and my emotion more.

Happy Anniversary to Me!!!

5 more days to my brithday

2006-08-27T13:30:00.000+08:00

Is the weekend. It is not any normal weekend as me and a few colleagues had planned a getaway. Get away from the hustle and bustle of the city life to a more tranquil and serene rural paradise.

However, we started off with the wrong foot when we all played until wee hours the day before the journey. With less than 3 hours of sleep, it was pretty difficult to keep yourself focus on the journey. After 3 hours of driving, we finally reached our paradise.

The weekend escapade started with caving and flying fox. The caving was ok. As usual, you can't enjoy much due to the darkness but the going high and going low made it fun. The highlight of the caving trip was the flying fox. Although it was not too challenging, I had a good time sliding down the rope. Maybe I am ready for the bungee jump?

Right after the caving, we went straight to nature spa. Well, that’s a nice name for a broken pipe. It felt really good after the "spa". Later in the afternoon, we went to the waterfalls. I managed to shoot some photos and being shot too.

At night, after heavy bbq and durian, we all proceed with the drinking session. I must say my five-ten skill is pretty bad. I kept pouring down the beer into my tummy. I seriously need to improve my five-ten skill if I were to keep myself sober every drinking session.

The next day, we went jungle trekking and then back to the waterfalls again. It was not long before we have to pack our stuff and headed home. I must say I like the outdoor very much. The two days getaway made wonders to me. I felt fresh and stress free.

I should plan for outdoor activities more often.

9 days to my birthday

2006-08-22T22:30:00.000+08:00

Another has passed and I am one day closer to my big 31. Below is the list of the top 9 English songs of my all time list.
Number 9 - Mariah Carey: Love takes time
Number 8 - Bee Gees: You win again
Number 7 - Daniel Powter: Bad day
Number 6 - Oasis: Stand by me
Number 5 - Aerosmith: Angel
Number 4 - Richie Sambora: The answer
Number 3 - Deep Blue Something: Brerakfast at Tiffany's
Number 2 - The Wallflowers: One headlight
Number 1 - Firehouse: Love of a lifetime

To come up with the above list is tougher than I expected. I started listening to English songs when I was in form 1, following my brother's foot step then. The first song that I learned to sing (by listening like at least 100 times) was A Groovy Kind Of Love, by Phil Collins. The first album that I bought (original ok) was Debbie Gibson's Electric Youth.

After years of listening to these songs, I realized I like slow rock songs more than the others. After putting the top nine list, it comes to no surprise that about 7 songs are in the category of rock or soft rock.

My favorite song of all time is Love Of A Lifetime. I can't remember how I came about hearing this song but I have decided long time ago that it will be my wedding's theme song. This song is perfect can!

10 days to my birthday

2006-08-21T21:33:00.000+08:00

Ten days to my birthday. Yeap, another year has gone by. This year would be my 31st birthday. That's quite a lot of birthdays I have had since my existence, if you ask me...

Time like this make you wanna reflect yourself. Below are the three events that I would probably think twice before making the same decision again:
1. Leaving my job in Penang to continue my master studies in KL. If given the chance I would probably get a job first and do my master part time. In the same time, I would change my attitude then about working and settling down in Penang. The "this is not my place" attitude will not get you very far, career wise.

2. I didn't study hard enough for my form 5 examination. I must admit I wasted too much time on TV during that time. If given a chance, I would do anything and everything to ensure I nail the examination. I shouldn't start studying 2 weeks before the exams. That's suicidal.

3. Leave the one I love in Penang. I still miss her after 5 years making the stupidest decision.

Some bad decisions lead to good things... eventually. I think I have my fair share of making mistakes in life. The three incidents above are just few of the many many bad decisions I had made. However, I think I did what I did base on the situation I was in. I shouldn't have regrets. I might be paying the consequences now but I believe God has the final say in all these. He shall lead the way for me. He would understand me and He knows my life path, my destiny.

Life goes on ok...

Star Trek Anniversary

2006-08-21T16:30:00.000+08:00

Wow... Star Trek will be 40 years old on the 8th of September. Imagine that, 40 years of journey, exploration to places where no man has gone before.

I am a Star Trek fan. I started watching Star Trek when I was in secondary school and it was known as Star Trek, the Next Generation. The main reason why I love the series was that it is thought provoking. Most of the series left me wonder. I wonder about meeting the new alien species and understanding their culture. I wonder how I could be "energized" from one location to another. I wonder about the high-tech machines and technology. But above all, I wonder about time travel. I think the "time" factor always keeps me intrigue with the show. The time paradox is something I really wish I could comprehend some day.

But one thing is strange. None of my friends are star trek fans. I have not been able to discuss any of the episodes with my friends. It is rather strange for me and rather sad as well.

Surprise can...

2006-08-16T23:56:00.000+08:00

I have dinner appointment with my APIIT frens this evening. I met them when I was pursuing my master. I don't know how, but none of them was from my batch. I got to know them through pure fate. For example, I got to know my photography guru cum APIIT fren after I joined his class (I delay that class due to unforeseen circumstances at that time) for one semester.

But they are really a bunch of good people. The six of us can click quite well. We share knowledge. We help each other through the toughest time. I must say, without their supports and constant encouragement, I might not be able to complete my dissertation so smoothly. Without their help in providing me the notes and exam tips, I might not be able to pass my exam with flying colors.

After our graduation, we still make the effort to meet up, maybe like once every 3 months. We all almost never talk to each other during this period. It is fortunate that we have the Raleigh cum photographer cum researcher lady who is very very good in arranging get together dinner. Without her I doubt the group can sustain.

So today, we have our usual meet up. We have not seen each other... well I am not sure, but at least for 6 months already I reckon. Frankly, I was a little reluctant to go at first. Maybe is the headache (I have difficulty sleeping again the night before). But I know I should go, for good old APIIT time sake.

As usual, I was late. I got the time wrong. Everyone was there. We started to chat. Since there are 4 photographers (including me.. ehm!!!), the photography topic will be the main course. Then we chatted about what's everyone is doing. I was rather shocked to hear that the Raleigh cum photographer cum researcher lady is applying for phD. Is she crazy or what? Well, I deeply respect and admire her determination. But no way I am going to endure another madness like I did while doing my master.

After about one and a half hours, I can sense that the topics are getting dry. I think it is time to go home. I can sense everyone's body language that it is time to leave. Some looking at phone’s watch. Some making stretching (me me me). Some giving plain look (I think me too).

So finally someone signaled the waitress to bring the bill. Then, out of the blue... a cake was brought to our table, and my APIIT frens started singing happy birthday song... to ME!!

What a pleasant surprised! I didn't even know they knew my birthday is coming! We all never celebrate birthday together before neither. Although they’ve kindly forgotten my age, I was happy. Although I was embarrassed that they sang birthday song in front of so many people, I was happy.

And you know what, I don't even know any of their birth dates. I feel guilty and I feel ashamed. I have to improve my skill in maintaining friendship. No choice can, must learn ok.

I think I am always lucky to have good friends around. Although I do not have many friends, but my friends are good friends!!

Science is like a thin sheet of ice

2006-08-15T00:23:00.000+08:00

The debate has been going on for some times now, at least for a few years now. The news appeared in the headline again today. Is it a planet or is it not? Yeap, the ninth planet in our solar system seems to be in shaky position after a new icy rock was discovered. What so intrigue about this icy rock, known as "2003 UB313" or "Xena" is that it is actually bigger than Pluto. In fact it is 70 miles longer in diameter than Pluto.

The big question now... to demote Pluto or welcome Xena as the tenth planet?

Come to think of it... science is rather vulnerable... a principle or a theory is true until it is proven otherwise.

This is scary... yet this is exciting. Imagine, someone might discover some new evident that may just refute the Einstein theory of E=mc^2. What about if someone was able to create negative mass, travel faster than the speed of light and thus allowing human to travel back in time?

No doubt, we are in an age where science is at its most exciting stage. I believe we are no way near the end of Science. The reason is simple, we still can't find a unified theory or the fundamental law that governs our world and universe. But yet, we always seem to discover new things everyday and more experiments are carried out in labs around the world to strengthen Science and to bring Science to the next level.

dream will be dream...

2006-08-13T23:40:00.000+08:00

I got my hair cut short... I got my hair cut bloody short. My hair stylist (ehm!!!) keep asking me "Are you sure you wanna do this?" throughout the session. But I was determined. I was determined to change my hairstyle after having it for more than 10 years.

Why do I decide to change it after all these years? Maybe is the feeling of reborn. Maybe is the feeling of change. Maybe is the feeling of don't bother. Well, I don't think that I am not bothered with the way I look. I am no metrosexual man... but I do like to look my best... yea I guess that's how we human survive evolution... We always try to look our best to attract the opposite sex... damn, how do I come to this statement...

Anyway, I really feel that I need some changes in my life. My life is not pathetic. Not yet at least... but it is getting no where either. I really need to go backpack and trek the mountains soon. I seriously feel that I need to get that part of my dreams fulfilled before I can move on to other things...

Now I wonder, is that an excuse? Is that stopping me from moving forward? I am not sure... I am good at contradicting myself. I guess too much thinking will do that to you. Arghhh... I think I should think less, exercise more, and work towards my goal... I'll do "almost" anything to step my footprint on the basecamp of the Mount Everest and take photos so nice that even National Geographic also can't resist.

Pina Colada

2006-08-12T14:43:00.000+08:00

I have not drunk a sip of liquor since my last oversea trip. It was not intentional. But during the dinner with my dog fren pig fren, the topic of chill Carlsberg was brought up. Somehow or rather, another 30 minutes later, I found myself sitting at a bar drinking beer with my dog fren pig fren.

It was pretty early when we reached there. So, not "much" is happening. After a class of chilled Carlsberg, I continue with Pina Colada (For some weird reason, I just love this drink). It was getting no where by this time, I think all of us were sort of getting bored and so we started to play five-ten. That was painful for me. After a beer and Pina Colada, it is not easy for me to think, to strategize or to act wisely. Although I didn't lose every time, I did manage to get myself in the state of intoxication.

So today, I woke up with a little hang over. My head felt heavy. My eye lid felt heavy and my legs felt heavy. Astro was on the entire time. I remember I was watching tennis when I must have dozed off. I switch to CNN. Hm... news on terrorism. For the past few days, the world was shocked again after the UK authorities have managed to halt a suspected "terror in the sky" plot by the Islamic extremist. 24 people were arrested for investigation and most flights were cancelled. I think as 9-11 date approaching, the western world leaders are getting panic. Well, who wouldn't be? If the plot for "terror in the sky" does happen, I am sure more wars will be waged.

People people, grow up can...

Eureka!Eureka

2006-08-07T22:30:00.000+08:00

He jumped out from his bathtub, run naked in the street of Syracuse and shouted”Eureka! Eureka!” He is one of the great Greek mathematician, physicist and inventor. He is Archimedes (287-212 B.C.)

His principles on buoyancy make him famous. But I must tell the truth. I always get mixed up this person and the foremost Greek hero of the Trojan War, Achilles, the son of Peleus and Thetis.

Huh? You might think that you do not know who Achilles was but you must surely hear of the Achilles' paradox. The paradox stated that the "faster runner can never catch a slower runner because he is forever arriving at a point the slower runner has just vacated". Very interesting paradox… simple but it does make you stop and think for that few minutes.

Anyway, I was thrilled to learn from the news that the researches at Stanford University's Linear Accelerator Center have successfully using the X-rays to decipher a fragile 10th century manuscript that contains the copies of some of Archimedes' most important works.

This is very exciting. With the modern technology we are able to rediscover some of the greatest works that defined science and humanity. The discovery might not change the way we talk or how we live our life, but it is the discovery of human history and how we evolve. Without people like Archimedes, our human history will be less colorful... sounds a bit dramatic, but I firmly believe so lor...

She grew up...

2006-08-06T21:11:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday I got a surprised call from my old old classmate. It was a surprised as I have not heard anything about this dark skin, thick hair, pretty but very “garang” look person. To tell you the least, she did make my life in those primary school days interesting. I can't recall much but I think we never see eye to eye much. Maybe she had a crush on me or maybe she really loathed me, she always asked the girls not to talk to me. Yeap, that’s how much I can remember…

Anyway, the reason she called was to ask me to go back for our school's gathering or the so call alumni.

Apparently she has been doing very well to her life. She is driving a BMW now. Oh wait, let me rephrase, she goes around places in her BMW... yeap she doesn't drive because she has a driver okie... She has a condo in Mount Kiara, and is one of those people that buy a house and decided the house looks so not to her taste that she would tear it down and rebuild again from ground up. This is not all, she knows all the top people in this country. She has private numbers of top executives of many big corporations which include those in the dragon marked bank. She would tell you all the inside stories nobody knew.

HM... I am rather shocked to hear that at first. Deep inside, I do admire her capability. From what I heard, she no longer the person I remembered. She was no longer the girl with dark skin, thick hair, pretty and a “garang” look. Maybe she is still pretty. But she is very fair nowadays and you will not find any coarse hair in her hand, face or legs (I am not sure of any other places okie...). Hm... life sure has changed.

I am. I am really happy for her. She just ditched her boy friend and is single... and she kept asking me to find her for hi-tea at her place. Hm... Well, I know what you guys are thinking. But I am not sure... I think she is not that simple. How can a single lady able to be so "powderful" by just selling dresses... if you know what I mean...

I think sometimes when we are too focused and eager in achieving our goal, we lose our own identity along the way... I do hope to see her again... as an old friend. I would love to hear her stories about all the places that she has been too and how she has transformed herself. But I sincerely hope that she is truly happy.

Alfie

2006-08-03T23:46:00.000+08:00

Despite the medication and whole day of working, I found myself not able to sleep yesterday night. This is a bit odd. Yes, I was thinking about work and my future but it was not very intense.

Anyway, after 1.5 hour of trying to sleep, I finally gave in and turned on my Astro to watch whatever program showing. As I was surfing the channels, for some unknown reason I ended up at HBO and started to follow the movie. The movie was entitled Alfie, starring Jude Law.

Jude Law plays a womanizer who was forced to question what he really wanted in life after a series of fail relationships. After finished watching the movie, especially at the end of the movie, it started to make me question about myself too. Maybe not about relationship, but life in general.

"What have I got? Really? Some money in my pocket, some nice threads, fancy car at my disposal, and I'm single. Yeah... unattached, free as a bird... I don't depend on nobody and nobody depends on me... My life's my own. But I don't have peace of mind. And if you don't have that, you've got nothing. So... what's the answer? That's what I keep asking myself. What's it all about? You know what I mean?"

So, do I have peace of mind?

I think God purposely not letting me to sleep so that I could watch that movie... how cruel okie, now I have to use my brain to think even more...

Me and my contradiction

2006-08-01T22:18:00.000+08:00

I am feeling a lot of negative energy coming my way. This is bad. The vibe is just plain weird.

I am assigned to a new project. And on top of that, I will have to support my current project. This can't be good. This can't be true. This can't be happening.

Getting calls at night from your colleagues oversea is very stressful. Getting popup instance messengers from your colleagues oversea is very stressful. Getting emails from your colleagues oversea is very stressful.

My dog fren pig fren kept telling me to relax and don't too stress out. Don't run in a circle one would always said. But what can I say, I am just a damn easily stress out rabbit.

Although I am worried about the coming weeks and months, deep down inside I am still excited of the new project. Excited about the opportunity that was given to me. Sigh, talking about contradiction. Sometimes I don't even know what I want.

This is sad. This is pathetic. This is pitiful. Somehow I feel like I am not the captain of my own life voyage. I need to be the captain that has purpose. I need to be the captain that knows what he wants. I need to be the captain that able to explore the world with vision and determination.

My photographer guru has started his own company. My x-colleague who is not very pure Chinese has came back from UK and work in the environmental companies researching on worms. I think they are following their dream.

To say that I am not living my dream is a bit unfair. I have worked hard to be where I wanted me to be today. I was in manufacturing industry be fore I decided to switch to IT. I should be proud I think that I am able to do what I had planned 4 years ago. In a way, I am able to make thing happen too. I might not be the best captain but I am not too bad either. I think at this moment, this captain just need a little more patient. The voyage is only a damn good one if it sails through the thick and thin, the high and the low, the stress and the excitement, the frustration and the happiness.

Maybe a little patient and a lot of determinations can bring me to a voyage where no man has gone before...

Mclaren... Slowly but surely...

2006-07-30T20:48:00.000+08:00

After 5 months of racing, my favorite team and driver Kimi finally gets his first ever pole position in F1 qualifying.

Although sensing that it was too good to be true... I was still happy. I was still thrill. I was still excited.

Well, true enough, due to low fuel, Kimi was able to run a very good lap during the qualifying. During the race day,however, the strategy proved to be not very wise as he was dropped to third placing after the two red scarlet.

Nonetheless, It was a good showing overall. Kimi is back on the podium and Mclaren gets valuable points for the championship.

Go Kimi! Go Mclaren!!

Flu flu go away can...

2006-07-29T20:28:00.000+08:00

I sick again. Yes I am. Somehow it seems like I am always sick.

But after looking through my blog, I am quite amazed. Guess what? I last MC due to flu or fever was way back in early March. That's 5 months worth of healthy living. I must not complaint.

I used to sick like at least every 3 months. 5-month is a rather good number for me. I used to get sick when friends around me got sick. Yea it was (hm... maybe still is) that bad. I wonder why. Maybe is the work stress. Maybe is the irregular meal intake. Maybe is the lack of exercise. Maybe is the filter apartment.

It is always time like this make me feel like I need to change my style living. Exercise 30 minutes daily. Eat healthy food. Sleep early. Learn to de-stress. And clean my apartment everyday.

Somehow I believe these thoughts will vanish once I get back to my own feet again. How I wish I could really have a healthy life style...

Life without Astro

2006-07-23T11:44:00.000+08:00

I woke up considerably early (09:30) today after working until the wee hours the day before (technically is this morning la). I knew I have about two and a half hours to kill before I heading to the office again. I was happy. I can unwind a little I told myself.

The first thing I did was to switch on my small small old old cheap cheap but square sqaure silver box to watch Astro. Sunday morning means more cartoons for me. To my shock, there was nothing on in my small small old old cheap cheap but square square silver box! I was panic. Then I tried to check the configuration and found out that there's no signal coming in! This was like Paris Hilton having a bad hair day. Life without Astro is unthinkable to me. I am doomed.

After being stoned and stunned for about 15 minutes I gave up and started to read the newspaper. Although feeling empty, I read the newspaper as slowly as I could. After another 45 minutes though, I felt lost again. So I decided to go and take a dip in the swimming pool. After that, I found myself starring in front of my small small old old cheap cheap but square square silver box which read "Services Currently No Available".

I miss my Astro can...

The service industry...

2006-07-22T23:05:00.000+08:00

It started well. I woke up fresh after hectic work in the office the day before. I went on the pick up the Java Guru to play Malaysia most popular sport and in the same time send my small small old old cheap cheap but tough tough vehicle for servicing. I have not sent her for servicing for a long long time... way over due if you ask me.

I had some good games today. I don't play pretty well this so call Malaysia most popular sport. Maybe is my height. Maybe is the old racket. Maybe is just not in my blood. I don't know. But I do enjoy playing this so call Malaysia most popular sport. After two hours of running, hitting and jumping, I was very very tired. My shirt was soaked with my sweat. But it does feel good. At least I felt I have done something healthy.

Then I went on to have sumptuous lunch - porridge fire wok with my Malaysia most popular sport kaki. Yeap, nothing beat a good meal after exercising I tell you. I ate and I ate. All of us are so full that we felt guilty right after that. It seems like the hard work of running, hitting and jumping has gone down the drain.

After the sumptuous lunch, I went to pick up my small small old old cheap cheap but tough tough vehicle. To my shock, the mechanics still have not serviced my small small old old cheap cheap but tough tough vehicle. This is like after 5 hours can. This is so unacceptable. I have to cancel the service as I need to go back to the office. This really spoiled everything and I have to make another appointment. I am not happy. My small small old old cheap cheap but tough tough vehicle is not happy either.

relax? ticklish

2006-07-17T23:51:00.000+08:00

After we have completed our assignment on our oversea trip, few of us decided to relax and unwind at this looks 5 star spa hotel.

After negotiating for time and package, we all went our separate room for the massage service. This is my second massage. I did once like 5 years ago when I went to our neighbor country up north for a short holiday.

Compare this time and the last time I went for massage, I was definitely more prepared this time. I was determined not to get embarrassed again this time because of the ticklish sensation. I couldn't help but giggling every time I was being "touch", the tights, the stomach, the neck, well it was really embarrassing. It was more embarrassing when I was called "baby" and the masseur kept saying "Baby don't laugh, baby don't laugh"

Having that experience in mind, I went in the small chamber with a. The masseur was a sweet girl... I was happy. After I changed to this disposable undy, and pretty much see through, I let the masseur does her thing. She started with the right leg. She started with the toes and started to move upward. I was lucky I think. Oi... not that kind of lucky can. I was lucky because my face was facing downward. When she massaged my right tight, I started to chuckle laaaa. Luckily I was able to control it and I am sure she didn't notice that I was giggling. Steady I must say!

After she has done with my back, she started to massage the front. Oh no... There's nothing to cover my face already. Everything seemed fine up until my upper body. Aiyooo I tell you... very very ticklish can!!!!! I was no choice but bust out a laugh. Seeing me giggle, she smiled back. So embarrassing I tell you.

The whole session lasted about 1.5 hours. It was really relaxing. Although kind of embarrassing on my part, but I felt rejuvenate after that. Will I be going back there? Well you bet I will. And I am really determined not to embarrass myself!! And who knows, maybe I'll be ready for the Turkish bath one day...

The girls are back

2006-07-17T22:18:00.000+08:00

To my surprise, the reality show hosted by Tyra Banks was back on Astro. After season finale of Ghost whisperer, I am glad that my Monday night is back to action. Well, not really action’s action, but I am happy that I will be looking forward to Monday night again.

The great dutch painter

2006-07-16T23:00:00.000+08:00

Yesterday marked the 400th birthday of one of the greatest painters of all time, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (July 15, 1606 – October 4, 1669).

You must be wondering how come I know this painter. I took the Introduction to Art class in fall 1996. It was one of those classes that you choose to take because you heard from your seniors that you can pass easily.

It turned out to be quite and enlightening class for me. Although I cannot remember much from that class, there are a few names that I am able to remember even now: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Rafael and Rembrandt.

I believed the fact that the Rembrandts, the band who sang the Friends' theme song chooses the same name as Rembrandt made me paid extra attention in class.

Queueing

2006-07-15T21:53:00.000+08:00

While onboard a plane for my oversea business trip, I came across an interesting article. This article talks about how bad luck keeps falling into you. Particularly the most interesting staff was how he was always queue at the wrong line.

While I was reading it, I keep nodding my head. I can't agree more. In fact I just experienced it again this morning while waiting in line to get my movie ticket. There I was waiting at the cinema ticketing area. I tried to observe a little while before deciding on the line I should join in. After few minutes of scrutinizing the lines, I decided to join this particular line as it seemed to be moving quite reasonably and that the queue seemed to be the shortest. Happy with my decision I waited patiently in line. Just as I joined the queue, the unthinkable thing happened. The line stopped moving!!!! It stopped for at least 10 minutes (seemed eternity). Nothing was moving but the other two lines.

I was getting desperate inside. I was struggling whether I should jump to the other moving lines. As I was thinking, more and more people joined the other lines. Seeing no choice, I stayed put on my line, waited patiently. The decision seemed fatal when I saw people came and went off in front of my eyes.

This really sux can...

Getting bored...

2006-07-15T20:56:00.000+08:00

I am always willing to give my all to the work I am doing. Although I might not be the best person for the job, you can be rest assured that I will give my all. A wise bold man once told me, don't just think that you are working for the company, but rather to think that you are working for yourself. That's how you learn and how you grow as an individual.

Well, it make perfection sense. Most of the time. If the situation is not complex and there are no other variables affecting the contents, then everything will be fine. When the money you earned is not enough, the situation gets a bit more complicated. When you do not get along with you colleages, the situation gets more complicated. When your hard work does not follow with appreciation, the situation gets very very complicated.

Sometimes I am wondering whether I have worked too hard? and my best is just not good enough... this is definitely not very motivating.

Rushing...

2006-07-08T00:45:00.000+08:00

After returning from my very first business trip, I was flying off again to the same place in a span of less than two weeks.

Before this, I always wonder how it feels like to be able to attend oversea business trip regularly... Now that I am in such situation, I can seriously tell you that it is not as glamorous as I thought.

Everything is in such a rush. I was told about the trip after lunch. Then immediately I have to fix and test a bug. After the bug was fixed and tested successfully, I have to rush out to get a Malaysian copy CD to be brought over to the client site. Then I was expected to go back to the office and test the new deployment. Finally I have to burn CDs with all the necessary information for me to bring over to do my work.

After rushing this and that in the office, I still find myself rushing things at home. I was trying to pay online bills and credit cards debts in order to keep myself away from embarrassment if I need to use my credit cards during the trip. After that I have to do my packing. Now, how do you pack your bag if you do not know how many days you will be away? It was a bit tricky for me. If I packed too few I might find myself wearing the same clothes over and over again. If I packed too many clothing then I might face teasing from my colleague for taking too much. You know, colleagues can be very cruel sometimes ok!!!!

After everything is in placed, I only got about 5 hours of sleep before rushing to the airport to catch the early flight.

Life is strange

2006-07-04T22:35:00.000+08:00

Life is strange. Life is unpredictable. Life is perplexing.

Could it be the aura surrounding people that making thing so complicated? Is it due to the birthday date or the position of the planet surrounding your birth that is making life so complicated?

Although we are in the same project team, I do not have much contact with this person. I believe I have never spoken much about this person to any other person I know. In other words, this person is just a colleague and nothing more.

Yet, time after time, I find this person just being plain nasty. I tried to be nice, and this person will give harsh comments. I tried to reason with this person and this person will get frustrated and refused to at least digest what I have to say. I try to start small talk with this person and this person would just give me the "couldn't be bother" attitude.

It is getting more and more frustrated and difficult to work along with this person. I am blaming the star sign, the birth planet and the human aura for this condition I am in... as I can't figure out a single clue of what's going on here...

my first business trip

2006-07-01T21:13:00.000+08:00

After working for about a decade, I finally got my first oversea assignment. Although this is not my first business engagement oversea, this time is really about work. It used to be just attending training before this.

Am I excited? Well, to be frank, I wasn't. I was there to interview potential candidate to work in our country and to solve some technical issues on the system I was building. As you can imagine, there are a few things at stake here. One thing for sure I won't have the time to snap around the city.

Fortunately all the anxiety diminishes when my colleague who is one crazy and self-proclaim the world most unpredictable person keep sms me asking me to bring my camera and swimming trunk. I guess sometimes it is good to be less uptight and be more relax. And towards the end, I found myself getting more excited as I was doing my packing.

The trip lasted for 4 days. I am happy that I survived the trip. Another Triumph!!! Thanks to the great accommodation and "nice" colleagues, I must say my first oversea business trip was pretty interesting.

end of a milestone

2006-06-30T22:00:00.000+08:00

I have not been updating this blog for about 2 months now. For the past 2 months I have done nothing much but work. I am happy to say that the LAT testing is finally over. Although the project is not yet over, but I am really happy that a milestone has been achieved. As much as I am glad that the systems my team developed is accepted by the client at this point of time, I am even thrilled that I am able to endure the constant critics and harsh comments that I received for the past 4 months.

China won the Uber Cup

2006-05-06T15:26:00.000+08:00

Spearheaded by world number player,Zhang Ning and world champion Xie Xing Fang, it is not surprising to see the China Uber cup team eased passed the Netherland to win the bi-annual team event.

Congratulations!!!

Top ten tv series

2006-04-19T01:32:00.000+08:00

I have to be back to office in the wee hour of the night to ensure the deployment of our latest application is being send over to our client side.

At this time of the night, I have zero intention to look at my codes or do any office work. My mind is totally blank. Well, blank on work. I was already taken my shower and lying on my sofa bed unwinding and happily watching Charmed... when I was asked to come back to office. In this kind of situation, my mind only having images of that 3 sexy hot babes of the series.

Since I can't think and I can't do much now, I might as well write about my top ten lists of "thing" in my life. I know perfectly well that in every stage of my life, I preference and liking differs. So this might be a good way to write down my top ten list of "thing" at this stage of my life.

hm... as a start, the top ten of my favorite tv series (western):
10. Star trek - Enterprise
9. Stargate
8. Early Edition
7. Quantum Leap
6. Ally McBeal
5. MacGyver
4. LA Law
3. The bionic woman
2. Star trek - The Next generation
1. Star trek - The voyager

The above list came as the top ten series that I could remember. I am sure I might have forgotten some other series that I love watching ages ago, but I am pretty happy with the above list. If you notice it, which I am rather surprised is that these series are either sci-fi or law related. Thinking back, my first ambition was to be a astrophysicist and my second ambition was to be a lawyer. I am not quite sure how I ended getting an engineering degree and now working as a software developer, but I guess life is always unpredictable.

American Next Top Model

2006-04-14T23:09:00.000+08:00

These gorgeous girls have the face of angels and the devil's figures. They can walk, they can dance and they can steal your soul away man... I like...

After weeks of following the reality show, which is in its season 4, the day finally arrived to see who actually won the top honor. Like many people, I have my favorite. To me, she is sweet, she is hot, she is plain awesome. Although she was a little bit soft spoken (which led her to lose out in the end, I reckon), to me that actually added some charm to her character. Well, I guess when you like someone, you won't see flaws in them.

Thanks to astro, thanks to the multiple repetition of that show on tv, I was able to watch the series without fail each week. Due to work, I always missed the first episode on Monday, then Thursday then Friday and then Saturday. My last chance was on Sunday. I would insist on watching the Sunday's episode before going back to office if I missed all the earlier shows.

Anyone who is Kahlen look-alike, please contact me can...

work work work

2006-04-07T22:34:00.000+08:00

The past few weeks was really hectic. I was really busy doing support work for the airport project that I am involved in. I was so busy and so frustrated that I am not sure whether I can keep on doing what I was doing.

I have been working past midnight almost every day, 7 days a week. So, needless to say I am kind of piss with my current situation.

About one and half years ago, I was given this opportunity to develop a new system for the airport. I took up the responsibility as I needed the career advancement. It was the beginning of a very busy working life for me. I must say the work was very satisfying and fulfilling. However, it has many ups and downs, well mostly down to be exact. I have to deal with design difficulties, operation issues and technical complexity. However, the things that I learnt most were scheduling and resource management. I think these two items were the most difficult things to grasp.

Here I am now, at the final stages of the project. To give up now is a pretty idiotic thing to do I must say. After going through what I've gone through, I have no choice but to stay strong for that extra few miles and pray really hard.

Regardless, as the end of the project approaching, I think I have come to another cross-road in my life. I am really looking forward to the future and what it has installed for me.

A fruitless night

2006-03-20T22:08:00.000+08:00

After whole day working in the office, I was really tired and started to feel restless. So when my photography guru asked me to go for a night outing, I agreed without objection.

Our first stop was Petaling Street then we walked one big circle passing Central Market and Dataran Merdeka. It was really a fruitless night. There was zero artistic juice and we no matter how we tried to scrutinize... high low left right top bottom, neither of us was impressed by what we saw. So after walking for about one and a half hours, we move to our second destination...

Our next destination was the famed lake, Titiwangsa. It was our desperate attempt to get some shots as this location was famous in providing great shots of KL skyline. Not sure what happened but unfortunately some idiots decided to turn on the fountains. That was disastrous for us... the fountain basically created ripple effects that have adverse impact on our photos. chao chao chao... For those who don’t know, what so special about this location is that the lake actually gives a mirror effect of the twin towers. Without the mirror effect, the entire shot just tak boleh jalan can… arghhhhhhhh

So it turned out to be a very disappointing night indeed...

A day of mixed fortunes

2006-03-19T21:16:00.000+08:00

The day started on the right note. I woked up fairly early to have breakfast with my bro and my sis-in-law. My bro and I were excited as we were all geared up for the F1 race today. He, a x-Ferrari fan was wearing the F1 polo shirt while me a hardcore McLaren Fan, was wearing Kimi shirt and Kimi cap.

This year was our 7th straight year going to Sepang. It is like an annual event for both us, some sort of a brothers-bonding day.

We didn't go early this year. We figured after so many years, we could afford to go a bit late, just for the race. We managed to reach there at around 1pm. It took us 1 hour this time... which was not too bad. As usual, we would first head to the the merchandize shops and our first pit stop was McLaren store. We were shocked to see many people were gathering there this time.

Just when we were wondering why, the crwod started to cheer "KIMI KIMI KIMI....." I gave the "WTF... It couldn't be..." look to my bro. He then gave me the "Dont dream lar... I don't think so lor" look in return. Not long after, the cheered got louder and louder then suddenly a loud wooooooo and aaahhhhhh... Then I gave the "Well, you better believe it lor" look to my bro...

The crowd started to push and I found myself sandwiched by all these kuai lows... all damn tall and all damn big size lor. It was difficult to get a glimpse of Kimi with all these kuai lows around can... Kimi stayed for about 3 minutes. But it was really cool to be able to see your idol in person I must say... So, one down… and my next target will be either 林志玲 or Stephen Hawking...

After gotten yet another Kimi cap ( I already have 4 caps and 5 shirts) me and bro parted as we were having different seats this year.

The much anticipated race started at 3pm sharp... I can feel my adrenaline rushing my entire body just listening to the engine ro... but guess what? I didn't even get the chance to see Kimi in action as his car was hit by Christian Klien's bloody car on the very first lap... all the adrenaline disappeared to nowhere after that... chao Red Bull!

Arrggghhh... another disappointing day!

Looking forward to Sepang...

2006-03-18T23:50:00.000+08:00

Thanks to my very lucky and very good in Java buddy, I got myself the Grandstand ticket to watch F1 in Sepang this weekend.

Talking to about this very lucky and very good in Java buddy, he is really one hell lucky guy. He gets prizes from lucky draws every single time, I tell you. So far he has gotten a watch, a camera, tickets to watch 3D soccer movie and now F1 ticket that worth RM500.

Anyway, thanks God this very lucky and very good in Java buddy has no passion for F1. I haven't bought the ticket for this weekend race so needless to say I was thrilled with the unexpected surprise. I have not missed any of the Sepang races since 2000, and I wasn't ready to miss it this year. My brother already has a free K1 ticket for the weekend. The plan was simple, I was to go down to Sepang this Saturday with the K1 ticket to watch the qualifying race and buy another K1 ticket for the Sunday race. But the hustle of driving all the way down there alone and watch the qualifying alone wasn't my idea of fun. So I just waited, hoping for some kind of miracle to happen. Well, everything seems to fall into place today.

Although I won't be sitting with my bro to watch the race... although I have to watch the race all by myself... although the grandstand sit will not be facing the pit stop... at least I will be there lor...

So 10Q very much to my very lucky and very good in Java buddy...

I seek and I search

2006-03-17T23:08:00.000+08:00

He writes songs. He makes films. He sings and he surfs the waves.

His music is refreshing. His music is relaxing. His music is unique and his music is distinctive.

After bumping into his name in the internet while browsing for guitar scores, I started to download his songs as I was curious why his songs were in the top five, not one but two... Very impressive can…

After listening to his music, I was intoxicated. I am not sure how to categorize his music but it makes me feel calm and relax. It is neither rock nor classical. It was neither country nor RnB. It was neither alternative nor pop. Maybe, just maybe it was contemporary... hm...

So after downloading his mp3 from the net, I knew I had to get a hold of his album. So, I started the journey of tracking down his albums. It was not easy to find his albums since he is not a main stream popular singer here in Malaysia. Well, at least none of my friends heard of him. I seeked high and low in not one but two record companies. I looked right and left in not two but few record companies. I examined front and back in not few but many record companies. Unfortunately I was disappointed not once but again and again. The surprising thing was that all the shops' assistants knew who Jack Johnson is and more surprising thing was that his album was all out of stocked. Maybe I was too ignorant. This guy can really sell albums man!

After two months of hunting, I finally saw the album I was looking for in a local bookstore. I was thrilled I was excited I was a happy man. I have been listening to his music for the past few days and I must say the patient and never give up attitude in getting his music was worth every seconds.

Oh by the way... he is Jack Johnson.

Not well

2006-03-01T20:24:00.000+08:00

Have not been feeling well for the past few days... I have been coughing so loud in the office that it is getting very very embarrassing.

This is not cool lor...

Bad Day

2006-02-24T21:40:00.000+08:00

Where is the moment we need at the most
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost
They tell me your blue skies fade to grey
They tell me your passion's gone away
And I don't need no carryin' on

You stand in the line just to hit a new low
You're faking a smile with the coffee to go
You tell me your life's been way off line
You're falling to pieces everytime
And I don't need no carryin' on

Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

Well you need a blue sky holiday
The point is they laugh at what you say
And I don't need no carryin' on

You had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day

(Oh.. Holiday..)

Sometimes the system goes on the blink
And the whole thing turns out wrong
You might not make it back and you know
That you could be well oh that strong
And I'm not wrong

(yeah...)

So where is the passion when you need it the most
Oh you and I
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost

Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
You've seen what you like
And how does it feel for one more time
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

One Step At A Time

2006-02-23T22:48:00.000+08:00

Motivational talk is good sometimes. We need inspiration, encouragement and some fire up from time to time.

I always believe in self control. I have only read a motivational book in my life, entitled "Who stole my cheese?", and that's about it. The reason I read was because I was bored and at that time my brother sort of made me read the book by saying how good it was.

I always believe that one should control their own destiny. I believe no one in the world knows me better than myself. I know my strengths and I know my weaknesses. And most importantly I know what I want to achieve in my life. I think when you know your goals in life, may it be short term or long term, that in itself could motivate one person to do well in life.

Having said that, human being human, we tend to get lost while trying to make ends meet in our daily life. When things do not happen as we planned, when things get too complicated and when things start going ugly, we might lose our concentration and the motivational mercury ball could hit rock bottom.

Today is one of those days. The big gun of the company was emphasizing of taking things one step at a time when we carrying out our duties. It is simple and yet it is powerful. We should all not visualize or anticipate the end results but rather taking things one step at a time.

So I will not envision myself playing Mayday songs for now. I will now concentrate on mastering the chords C, F, G, G7, Am, Dm, E7, Em.

So I will not envision myself with 6-packs rock hard abs. I will now concentrate on having one pack rock hard abs.

I am a changed man... I think... I hope...

Just do it

2006-02-22T22:16:00.000+08:00

The tick company has done it again. Its latest tv ad was so cool that it had a profound impact on me. For the past few days, the tv ad just keep lingers in my head.

The tv ad was quite simple actually although it managed to gather many top athletics in the world which include Liu Xiang and Maria Sharapova. So you must be thinking what so big deal about this ad…

Well, the ad can be divided into 4 segments. The first segment started with the alarm clock went off at the break of dawn. The second segment, showed all the athletics started to wake up and in the third segment, we see these athletics practicing in their respective fields. And lastly the 4th and the last part, which I though was the best was when it displayed nothing but only the company's slogan in the screen with the alarm clock buzzing in the background.

Believe it or not, this ad has been helping me to get up early in the morning for the past two days. Without this ad, I will not be able to drag my sleepy ass to the gym and shed 0.4kg!

Just Do It babieeeeeee...

and the result is...

2006-02-21T22:14:00.000+08:00

I am a person with determination. I am usually a focus person when I set my mind to it. I have achieved great things in life by sheer strength of mind, no kidding.

Then again, determination can be so fragile and frail sometimes. Determination can be so overly used that sometimes the strength of mind doesn't seem to be effective anymore. I sometimes do take determination for granted. The strength of mind could be strong but without converting it into action, determination remains in vain.

Last week I was determined to lose 2 kg that I gained over the festive holidays. I was determined but unfortunately I wasn't able to convert my strength of mind into action. Just because I went to the gym once, I thought I could eat as much as I like. Just because I skipped one dinner I thought I could eat more the following days. Just because my mom bought many different kinds of cookies for me, I thought I was obligated to finish them in the shortest timeframe possible.

This morning I went to the gym and found out that not only I didn't manage to lose that bloody 2kg, I actually gain another 0.3kg.

How la like that, how to look good in the swimming trunk la, you tell me! No wonder no girls like to be with me...

Green Photography

2006-02-20T23:02:00.000+08:00

I was excited about the photography session with my photography sifu. In was a short notice but we were determined to make it work. The last photography session was ages ago and I really need to have more shootings in order to improve myself.

We decided to go to this beautiful place of flora and fauna. This place is about 30 minutes drive from PJ. It promised to be a place with mountains, trees, waterfalls and a lake. I was very excited.

Despite waking up damn early, despite it was damn warm and damn cozy in my bed, I dragged my firm ass to pick up my photography sifu and to the beauty place of flora and fauna. As this is my first trip, I was pretty amazed by its greenery, serenity and the freshness of the surrounding. It is difficult to believe, but just 30 minutes drive away, there is such a place where you can unwind and chill out away from the hustle and bustle of the city life.

After spending 4 hours in this beautiful place of flora and fauna, we called it a day. This beautiful place of flora and fauna is so inspiring that me and my photography sifu promised ourselves to revisit this place again in the near future.

Hopefully I will equip myself with better shooting techniques and improve on my composition skill.

An 85 year-old lonely man

2006-02-15T22:46:00.000+08:00

Thanks to the heavy traffic, I was stuck in the jam for more than 20 minutes. It was not all bad actually. With the extra 15 minutes, I was able to listen to 2 full songs, the morning news and the DJs talking about the sky the sea and everything in between the two.

Something struck me today though. The DJ was talking about a website that could calculate the life expectancy by merely answering some questions.

I am the kind of person who never like to know the future. What the future holds for me is an adventure, a journey and a path that I should discover by my own, I reckon. I do think that the greatest gift in the journey of one's life is the uncovering of the unknowns.

Knowing what the future has installed for us in advance will ruin the fun, the excitement and the mystery.

However, since the website mentioned by the DJ was hosted by a renowned news corporation, I decided to check it out.

After finding out my BMI and answering the list of questions, my life expectancy came up to be 85 years old.

Wow, that's quite good I must say. Although I never thought about how long I should live in this lifetime, 85 years is more than I was expecting. If I can live until 85 years old, I should at least plan something. Maybe I will have the time to travel up north to see the Northern lights at least once in this lifetime.

Whatever the plan is, I must make sure I have someone to share my life with... Just imagine that, an 85 years old man at the old folk's home, spending the entire day either in the bed or the rocking chair... so pathetic and so lonely can...

The V-Day

2006-02-14T22:13:00.000+08:00

The Valentine's day is a day of celebration. It is a day of joy. It is a day of sharing the love between two souls.

Well, that's only true provided you have someone special to celebrate it with.

For single, unattached, lonely folks like me, Valentine's Day can be dreadful, can be cruel and above all very sien one okie...

Everywhere you turn your head, you can see women are carrying roses and teddy bears.

Everywhere you walk passed by, you can hear people are talking about the plans for their dinner.

And Everywhere you go, people will try to make small talk by asking you about your plan for the Valentine's.

If that's not cruel... I really don't know what is can... You tell me la...

Anyway, I would love to plan something special for that special someone next year today...

Please go away

2006-02-13T20:27:00.000+08:00

After avoiding the gym for 2 months, I made an effort this morning to pay the gym a visit. It is a huge effort nonetheless. I have to wake up very early in the morning and drag my charming ass to the gym.

The first thing I did was to weight myself. Thanks to over eating and over eating and under exercise and under exercise during the long festive holidays, I put on extra 2 kg. Let’s face it, it is not a matter of life and death and for heaven sake, I am man with inner beauty can. Physical appearance is always secondary, okie. Although I am not trying to bitch about the extra 2 kg, I am determined to lose that 2 kg by the end of week.

As the day gone by, the determination and focus get weaker and weaker. Yes, the dark force is too much to resist. Looking at the cake and bubur pelut, as if they were the Borgs telling me "Do not resist! Resistance is futile". How to resist la you tell me!

Anyway, I still have 6 days to throw that 2 kg away... and I will be back tomorrow, stronger and tougher!

New Car Revealed

2006-02-12T08:04:00.000+08:00

The McLaren Mercedes Formula One team has officially unveiled its new car, MP4-21 two days ago.

Phew! What I relieve! After seeing the new testing car in action, it was shocking to see her wearing the Orange! Somehow, orange and fast car is not the best combination one can imagine. It was so hideous and revolting that I was very tempted to switch to another team.

The new car is stunning. The new car is dazzling. The new car is glittering. Her body iscoated with a shiny display of chrome livery. The livery has an innovative surface coating that yields a high level of reflectivity.

"I have only seen illustrations of the new livery until now but they do it no justice," Kimi Raikkonen said. "It looks fantastic and should create a bit of a stir when we drive it on tracks around the world. If we can make the car as fast as it looks then we will be in good shape."

Now I am very excited about the new season. With the car like that, how to not win can...

The Winter Game

2006-02-11T09:16:00.000+08:00

The XXth Olympic Winter Games officially begins at Torino, Italy.

Living in the hot and humid climate whole my life, the Winter Games doesn't lure much of my attention. The only sport that I am interested in will be the Figure skating.

With the charismatic Kristi Yamaguchi, the conspiracy and hullabaloo between Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding and the ever elegance and lovable Michelle Kwan, it is hard not to like the sport can... Come on guys, Figure skating has all the elements that make good TV series like the Las Vegas, it has pretty gals, it has actions and it has conspiracy plots! How can you not hook to the sport?

Well, good news to Michelle Kwan's fans, she will be competing on her 3rd Olympics. Let's pray together that she will win the gold this time around.

Angels and Demons

2006-02-04T00:03:00.000+08:00

Thanks to the long holiday, I finally have the time to finish the novel. I have been trying to read it ever since I first lay my hand on it… it has adventures, it has mysteries, it has intrigue plots… the international bestseller, Angels and Demons.

Angels and Demons, was Dan Brown first adventure novel before the international bestseller, The Da Vinci Code.

Between the two books, it is not easy to distinguish which is better, which is more intrigue… The Da Vinci Code provides many intrigue facts about the Holy Grail and the secret society that trying to protect the Jesus’s bloodline. Angels and Demons on the other hand, filled with actions and adventures, although it didn’t shorts of interesting facts regarding the underground organization, the illuminati, trying to take over the Catholic Church.

I would say I was really amazed by the facts cited in the Da Vinci Code book while the adventure mentioned in the Angels and Demons navel kept the pages going until the end. The ending of the Angels and Demons was exceptional.

I was so fascinated by the books I have read, I ended up buying two more books today… the first book was Da Vinci for Dummies. I was so captivated by the Da Vinci Code novel that I have the strong urge to get to know Mr. Da Vinci more in-depth. I did have the chance to read about Da Vinci’s works when I was in the University, during Art 101 class. But I need more facts about the person in order to satisfy my curiosity. Hopefully it is a RM70 well spent.

The second book I bought was a navel, The Rule of Four, by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason. I bought this novel just because it stated “If you loved THE DA VINCI CODE… dive into this” on the cover of the novel.

I can’t wait to read… but I need another long holiday I reckon….

After The Big Wave

2006-02-03T22:11:00.000+08:00

If you have been locked away from civilization for a couple of years, you might not notice that this island, just over a year ago had been devastated by the mighty tsunami. From the airport to the highway, to the hotels and resorts and to the beaches you can see kuai lou luai poh everywhere. The beaches are packed with these kuai lou kuai poh.

This was not what I expected but nonetheless it was a good surprise. At least I wouldn’t feel eerie when swimming in the sea.

The government has definitely done a good job to turn the table around within the short period of time to lure back the tourists. There’s even a big billboard outside the airport that read “Phuket is Back”. And I couldn’t agree more. Furthermore, everywhere you go, you can see signboard alerting the people of the evacuation spot if the tsunami ever occurs again.

So far, however, we have only managed to explore Patong, Kamala and Phuket town. These are the places considered to be tourist concentrated. The impact of the tsunami seemed irrelevant. On the forth day, we drove up north to the main land… to Khao Lak crossing the Sarasin Bridge, which connects the island and the main land.

Khao Lak, drew a different picture as those seen at the Phuket island. The stretch of beaches up north here is filled with many 5 stars resorts and hotels. But the number of tourists was amazingly small. Most of the resorts we visited were so deserted that it felt peculiar and ghostly. Big resorts such as Merlin saw a handful of tourists sun bathing at the beach but other than that, the lobby, the restaurant (lunch hour) and even the pool side was totally empty. Some smaller resorts especially those nearer to the beach were totally destroyed. Some of the resorts look brand new but most were still under reconstruction. It is here where the impact of the tsunami seemed so profound and overwhelming. I reckon it will take another few years before this place could emerge back to its past glory.

Say No to tsunami okieeeeeeee…

oh my eye...

2006-02-01T13:42:00.000+08:00

Already two days in Phuket, the weather is perfect. The sand was silk white and the sea was crystal blue. Something is not right though… Despite the awesome settings, I have eye jump needle. Arghhhhh… not a good time to have a swollen eye I reckon, especially when there were topless and naked body of kuai poh at the pool side… jumping up and down, running here and there, swimming left to right and making circles. I couldn’t believe they were so open and bold lor… especially when they are only… I would say maybe 2 to 3 years old? I can’t wait til they get older. Maybe when they are 18 years old… wah seh… sure mengacam one…

Gong Xi Fa Cai

2006-01-29T10:14:00.000+08:00

Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!! Today is the first day of the lunar Calendar. This year will be the year were you can feel free to bark in KLCC, stick your tongue out in the public, scratch your ear in the LRT and lick your body... any where any time. No people will give you the WTF look if you do that in the public... yes yes... it is the year of the DOG... everyone is allowed to behave like dogs and bitches okieeeee!!!

I am now at the airport lounge awaiting for my flight to Phuket. Not sure what to expect yet but will definitely try to enjoy the sun, the sandy beaches and the gals in bikini...

The music prodigy

2006-01-27T10:54:00.000+08:00

He exhibited musical abilities at an early age. By the age of 6, he was composing and performing in front of royalty and religious echelons. His works, written in almost every conceivable genre, combine luminous beauty of sound with classical grace and technical perfection. He is none other than Mozart, the prodigy everyone revered.

His full name is Johannes Chrisostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. phew.. that was long. He was born in January 27th, 1756. If you counted correctly, today marks his birth 250 ago.

To be frank, I don't enjoy classical music that much. That was one of the reasons why I stopped playing the piano and concentrated on playing the organ. Maybe I was too young, but I just couldn't relate to the grace, the elegance, the sophistication of classical music. I was so much into pop music that time. People like Paula Abdul, Debbie Gibson, Gun and Roses, Aerosmith, Gearge Michael, etc...

Everything changes when I had the opportunity to visit Austria when I was studying in the States. It seemed like a local thing to do at that time, without thinking much I bought ticket to embrace myself to the world of classical at this very nice place, Schonbrunn Palace. I can still remember, it was snowing outside the palace and me together with a bunch of kuai poh and kuai lou sitting inside the chamber listening to the musician playing the violin score after score. And the whole night, he was playing nothing but Mozart's brilliant works.

Not sure what happened that night though, maybe it was the snow, maybe it was the palace, maybe it was the kuai poh sitting besides me... that night, I was spellbound by Mozart’s music.

Nowadays, whenever I felt pressured at my workplace, you can see me listening to the Mozart. Anyway, Happy Brithday Mr. Mozart!

The Australian Open

2006-01-18T23:20:00.000+08:00

The Australian Open is back. I love watching tennis on tv, I must say. Watching tennis game is exciting, watching tennis game is exhilarating, watching tennis game is thrilling.

The Australian Open was known as The Australian Tennis Championship when it was first held in 1905. The women's singles tournament was added in 1922 and the competition was renamed the Australian Championships in 1927. During the Open era, this event was again renamed to the Australian Open, in 1969.

Past men winners of the Australian Open include great tennis players like Stefan Edberg, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and more recently Roger Federer and Marat Safin. I personally love seeing Federer plays. The way he plays is just breath taking... and I have no doubt or what so ever that he will win the Championship this year.

Past women winners of the Australian Open include wonderful players like Steffi Graf, Monica Sales, Christ Evert, Martina Navratilova and most recently Justine Henin-Hardenne and Serena Williams. In the women's games, I think it is rather an open championship. I can't think of any player that is so dominant last year that she can be tipped to win the championship. Having said that, however, I personally hope that Kim Clijsters will win the championship... although I love seeing Maria Sharapova plays... (for the obvious reason laaaa)

This year we also witness the comeback of the former number 1 player, Martina Hingis. I am not too thrilled about it so I really hope she loses in the early rounds. If you wonder why I say that, well, it is because I am a big big big fan of Steffi Graf. Hingis came to the scene and later claiming the top of the ranking during a time when Graf was nursing her injuries. I still very much doubt that Hingis could be number 1 in the world if Graf was still healthy and playing... Hingis is just happened to be at the right place at the right time if you ask me...

Final Home

2006-01-15T23:20:00.000+08:00

They play their own instruments. They write their own songs. They produce their own albums. They can sing they can entertain... they are the 5 people band from Taiwan... They are Asia number 1 band... Mayday!!!

As a fan, I waited eagerly for the concert. I know their songs by heart... I memorize their songs by heart... I sing their song in the shower by heart... I listen to their songs while driving by heart... I even dreamt of the concert man... how to be not excited you tell me.

Come Saturday and I was excited. I wore the one of the two red shirts that I ever owned. This particular one has been hanging in the closet and accumulating about half a centimeter of dusk. By the way, red is the theme of the concert. At 2pm I left to pick up my pig fren dog fren. At around 4pm we reached the stadium. WTF... we saw all small kids wearing red queuing at the stadium front gates... This is embarrassing can... This is very very embarrassing can... Although I regard myself as a bright and promising young adult, I did feel damn old when around those secondary school ah beng and ah lian can...

Anyway, after a quick bite, we found ourselves soaking wet from the pouring rain while lining up at the gate. Suddenly Mozart seems to be a better alternative than I had to endure. I imagine wearing formal entire with a tie and hand holding a cocktail drink chatting with my date (who look like the taiwan model, ehm!!!) while waiting at a sumptuous hall completes with a 15th century chandelier hanging down from the ceiling...

The concert started at 8.30pm... forget about embarrassing... forget about old age... forget about the soaked jeans and shoes... forget the fact that the band was only 5 inches tall from where I was standing... I find myself singing and shouting the entire time, song after song. The concert lasted for 3 hours...

I must say, I did nothing but enjoyed myself... the energy was high and the atmosphere was high. I did felt like a 20 years old again...

The island in the South

2006-01-11T23:01:00.000+08:00

After not seeing his sisters for more than a decade, my dad finally made the decision to visit them in Singapore over the long weekend. I thought it was a heartwarming decision I thought... and to show my parents how good of a son I am, I volunteered to be their chauffeur.

The island of the South has a total area of 692.7 sq km with population approximately 4,425,720. This island was founded as a British trading colony in 1819. It joined the Malaysian Federation in 1963 but separated two years later and became independent.

Over the past 40 years or so, this island has positioned itself to be one of the wealthiest countries in this region. It is a developed country and having the strength of economy that makes all its neighbor countries see red.

Despite all the good things you hear about Singapore, I am just not very keen about this country.

When think of this country, first thing that came to my mind was the arrogant people. Other subjective include kiasu, "as if", ah beng, ah lian, money oriented, selfish... (please don't sue me for this ok, I am merely practicing my right of freedom of speech).

For one thing, does the country have a culture that she could be proud of? Singlish? Kiasu culture? I think she is just another country which has been molded to resemble its counterparts in the west. So much so that it has lost most of its charm and charisma. Sad but is true. Furthermore, with all the rules and regulations being imposed into the daily life, do you get a clean place or a happy face?

Despite that, I still think that the government did a tremendous job in making her the jewel of the orient (this is me trying to suck up, just in case, if you know what I mean...), but for now, the island remains a holiday/visit location.

Hope I'll not slap my own mouth in the future...

p.s. The island has many pretty chicks... I was not a bit but very xin dong you know...

dilemma...

2006-01-06T21:16:00.000+08:00

They say health is the most important asset that a person can have. We human however, have the tendency to be ignorant of our health, if you know what I mean... Very simply example, does smoking bad to your health? Ask any Tom, Dick and Harry and they will tell you yes. However, knowing the answer is one thing but doing it is another. Asking a person to quit smoking is like asking Jessica Simpson to differentiate between chicken and tuna, if you know what I mean...

Year 2005 is not a particular healthy year for me. I had at least one running nose 100m style every one month and running nose marathon style at least once every 3 months. How to enjoy life like this, you tell me. How to court the girls when you kept sneezing and your hand, your shirt's pocket and your Calvin Klein jeans’ pocket had nothing but tissues. So not appealing, so not cool, so not manly lor... if you know what I mean...

Determined to live a healthier life, determined to be more macho and determined to keep the nose crawling instead of running all over the place, visited a Chinese doctor I did before the end of 2005.

After paying RM90 for the consultancy, this is what I get..
1. Sleep at 9pm
2. Wake up at 6am
3. Stop eating meat
4. Stop eating seafood
5. Eat only veggie
6. Stop eating garlic, onion, celery and kai lan
7. Don't do excessive exercises, which include running
8. Stop drinking tea

Now, is it still worth living? Please tell me can....

New Year New Hope

2006-01-02T22:58:00.000+08:00

A new year has begun and the calendar is reset...

This year I spent the New Year eve with my pig fren dog fren and together with the sms wishes of my friends from Penang, Perak, Kuching, Kuantan, KL, Selangor, China and US. It was sweet. It was warm. It was touching.

A new year has begun and instead of committing myself to resolutions I know I can't fulfill such as:
1. score 300 points in a bowling game
2. hike the Himalayas
3. go the gym daily and build a six-pack
4. have my photos publish in National Geographic
5. play Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D with my guitar

I am going to settle with the following resolutions:
1. to play at least 30 games of bowling
2. to travel to Jakarta and possibly visiting the Borobudur temples
3. go to the gym at least 4 times a month and hopefully I don’t look like a Michelin baby when I go naked
4. Build my own website and hopefully there will be enough people accidentally clicked on my website to make it to the top of the Google search for best photos
5. play any of the Mayday songs with my guitar

As you might see, it will be a very challenging year ahead of me. With little determination, I am sure I can achieve my goal with flying colors. Let's wait and see...

Happy New Year!!!!!

The Da Vinci Code

2005-12-30T23:18:00.000+08:00

Life can be mysterious. Life can be mystifying. Life can be incomprehensible.

I am always fascinated by the intriguing stories/facts/fictions/explanations to the puzzles and mysteries existed in the history of human being. I love reading about the ancient pyramids, the riddle of the sphinx, the Bermuda triangle, the Somerset Zodiac, the Easter island, and the Atlantis, just to name a few.

I am also always fascinated to know about the life of the people that have done great things in their life, which led to their placing in the history book. I love reading about people like Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, Aristotle, Plato, Michael Angelo, Mozart, just to name a few.

After hearing much about the Number One New York Times Bestseller, I have decided to get my hand on the book. The book is entitled The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown. This is the perfect book for me to read. It talks about the mystery surrounding the Holy Grail, and how the masterpiece of Leonardo Da Vinci's works could have given clues to a secret that might change the history of Christianity. It is a "story" between the keepers of the Holy Grail against Opus Dei—the ‘keepers’ of the Catholic church.

I finished reading the book today. Frankly, I am a bit sad (but satisfying) to have finished reading the book. For the past few days, it has been the force for me to get home early every night and stayed awake until at least 1am (which is against my doctor's advice).

The most interesting part of the book is the claim made by the author, which was "all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate". I find that fascinating. That was a very bold statement. It seems like the author is challenging the believes of Christianity. How many authors out there are bold enough to do that, you tell me?

No matter what, whether the book provides us with "accurate" or "false" information, Dan Brown has earned my respect. His knowledge in the field of Art and the work of Leonardo Da Vinci definitely impressed me.

I reckon, I will be searching information on Leonardo Da Vinci for the days to come... and I will never see the Mona Lisa the same way again...

P.S. The Da Vinci Code, the movie starring Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard will be coming to a cinema near you in Summer 2006... yee pee!!!!

Year 2005

2005-12-29T21:37:00.000+08:00

When it comes to the end of the year, you can't help but reflecting on the things you did, the joy you experienced and the sadness you feel. But most importantly, the history you made.

Year 2005 was not at all dull and uneventful for me. It has many ups and downs.

I think I owe myself to write what I have endured over the past one year. It will be like a summary of my life in year 2005, just in case I decided to write my memoirs in the future (who knows, it might be the national number one bestseller).

Year 2005 is the year I saw the departure of my two beloved grandparents. Facing the death of your love ones was never easy, and will never be. The only good thing came out of it was that it helped me to realize how fragile our life could be. We should appreciate life and never take things for granted.

Year 2005 also saw me took up a hobby. I bought my D70 early of the year. It is hobby that has lingered in my head for quite some time. Photography is exciting. Photography is a way to express your emotions through the eyes. Photography is a way to release your frustration and tension. However, photography is expensive. I have spent quite a fortune in my camera, together with a new bag and accessories. Besides that, I have also attended a course in photography and managed to receive a certificate to brag about it. (bravo to me)

Year 2005 is the year I received my graduation scroll. I am officially a master holder. It took me 4 years to complete my studies. And I was damn proud when I received my scroll. I must admit it was really tough to juggle between work and studies. I find myself burning mid-night oil almost every night and the entire weekend just to complete the dissertation. Credits to a few individuals (which I will not name here) that have helped and provided me with necessary information to complete the dissertation. (Your help will never be forgotten)

Year 2005 saw me traveling to places I have not been to. I went to Myanmar in the beginning of the year, during Chinese New Year. The highlight of the trip was actually visiting the majestic land of Bagan. This land is filled with pagodas. I must admit, Bagan is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. Besides the astonishing scenery, the friendly people of Myanmar also a complement to the joy of the trip. Besides Myanmar, I also got the chance to step foot into China. I went to Kunming in November with both my dad and mom. It was the first trip for me to China. The sceneries there were just breath taking. For the Christmas, I got the chance to go to Hong Kong. It was my third trip to Hong Kong. The last time trip was about 10 years ago when I took a transit flight on my way to the States. Hong Kong has changed a lot since my last visit. I am glad to have the opportunity to experience Christmas in the pearl of the orient. That place is really packed with people. Anywhere you go you see mountains of people. Hong Kong actually also provides great sceneries shots. The only different between Hong Kong and Kun Ming or Bagan, is that in Hong Kong, the scenery is made up of high-rise.

Year 2005, I have also taken up guitar lesson. This was my second attempt to learn guitar after I failed miserably on my first attempt. Besides that, I have also changed to a new 4WD vehicle. Work wise, it was really a tough year. It was the first full year I took up the role of team leader. Dealing with people seemed to be the toughest of all.

And of course, year 2005 is the year I decided to start blogging. I believe blogging is a way for me to record my life so that I could read back when I am in my golden years. I intend to continue with writing blog for many years to come.

MTR Hong Kong

2005-12-25T02:04:00.000+08:00

It has been an interesting day for me... It was packed with people... really was people mountain people sea... cb (Cyndi)

Merry Christmas

2005-12-25T02:02:00.000+08:00

Merry Christmas!!!! I am now in Central MTR Hong Kong!!!!!

The chicken story

2005-12-19T22:40:00.000+08:00

Life can be weird somtimes. There might be events that not even Stephen Hawking or Roger Penrose could explain. On the other hand, there might be events which you think that ought to be just coincidence but you still hope that it is not.

My grandma's funeral was held for three days. Something weird did happen. Everyday in the evening, a cock would come to the funeral and jumped on to a lorry. The weird thing is not because of the cock itself nor why it jumped on to the lorry. The funny thing was how the cock would look straight into the direction where my grandma's coffin is placed. The weirder thing was despite the rain, the cock just stared to the only direction from 6pm until 4am, before moving away.

The next day, the same cock came and did the same thing again.

It might be a coincident. The cock might be sleeping the entire time while facing the light. The cock might have even been doing that every day since last May. But to the family, it is still something to ponder about. We would like to think that someone was missing grandma and coming to see her. Or someone was waiting to bring her to another place, where everything would be worried free and beautiful.

hm...

The circle of life

2005-12-19T19:39:00.000+08:00

After spending most of her time dedicated to the family and raising 7 children, she passed away peacefully. The date was 16th of December. The time was 7.15am (Ironically, that was the alarm time I set every morning).

It didn't come as a sudden shock. My grandma's health has been deteriorating since I visited her a week before. She could no longer speak and her heartbeats had jumped from 110 to 150s. She breathed heavily. She was suffering.

I think life is cruel. Life is merciless. Life is pitiless. But if you think a little bit deeper. Life is actually very fair. It treats everything fairly without prejudice. It is us human who have been oblivious and taking it for granted.

We only appreciate health after falling ill.
We only appreciate food after experience hunger.
We only appreciate the sun after a long period of raining days.
We only appreciate life after death.

I think after what I have been through for the past one week, I am learning to appreciate life more. I must appreciate what have been given to me and cherish the moments. I must spend more time with my family and friends. I must go to the gym more regularly and keep my body healthy. I must travel to places I wish to go and see the world and experience life to the max.

hm...

2005-12-13T22:28:00.000+08:00

It was a small gathering. It was a small reunion. It was raining cat and dog and I was damn tired after a long drive from my Hometown. However, since I had given my words, I dragged my solid ass to the restaurant situated somewhere in Taman Tun.

It was a usual gathering. Everyone gaves a brief updates of themselves. One of them, the APIIT Financial Controller was kind enough to give me a copy of the college latest brochure, where my graduation picture appeared in it. It was really a bad picture of me lor, I must say. I looked fat and the angle showed the weak side of my face and more importantly, my double chins looked damn obvious can... Chao APIIT...
Hm...

Then another one of them, the young and damn lucky accountant started to talk about his next company trip again. It seemed just yesterday he told us about his trip in South Africa. This young and damn lucky accountant has been working in the construction company for the last three years. First year, he went to LiJiang, Kunming, and Dali in China. The following year, he went to Cape Town, South Africa. And this Wednesday, he will be flying off to Hokkaido, Japan.

If that's not lucky, tell me what is man!!!! According to this young and damn lucky accountant, the trip costs RM6k per person and the entire workforce (30 of them) will be going. The company is damn good lor. The company is damn generous lor. The company is damn giving lor.

Hm...

worrying...

2005-12-12T23:46:00.000+08:00

It was supposed to be a relaxing weekend. It was supposed to be a family gathering weekend. It was supposed to be a weekend where I walk down the memory lane again when I return to my hometown.

It has been almost one year since I last time stepped into the place where I grew up. I was looking forward to a weekend where I could unwind and chill out. Unfortunately, all these were not meant to be when I found out that my grandmother was hospitalized.

My grandmom is about 70+ years old. She has always been healthy. The news came to me as a shock and I was not quite sure how to handle it. After I reached home and the shop was closed, me and my mom went straight to the hospital to visit my grandmom. Her condition were said to be critical. Her blood pressure was 18 (forgot the unit), which was really bad and she could only breath with the assistant of the machines. And apparently, she has been repeatedly asking when my mom and I would be arriving after she was told that I would be coming to visit her.

This is not a good sign. This is bad. This is very worrying...

After I reached the hospital room, I could see her lying on the bed. I called her and she looked at me and gave me a smile. She sat up and trying to chat with me and my mom. I could see that she is breathing heavily. The oxygen mask she was wearing must be consistantly put on. After awhile, her heartbeats became stabilized and the blood pressure also went up gradually. I was happy and mom was really relieved. We were there the entire night to accompany her. Her condition stablized but not without unnerve moments. But everythig seems ok...

The next day was spent accompanying my grandma at the hospital too. My bro and da sao also came down from KL to visit her. And the whole morning, grandma has been asking about his arrival. Today, grandma looked much better than I first saw her. She could eat and drink. She could talk and laugh. She still depended heavily on the machines for breathing but she looked much more healthy.

For the last two days, I have been worrying. I worried about my grandma's health. But I was more worried about my mom. It takes no genius to see that mom was really
anxious and troubled with the whole thing.

My grandma will still be in the hospital for the next few weeks I reckon. I pray for her recovery and good health for many many years to come.

A Brief Histroy of Time

2005-12-08T23:59:00.000+08:00

Thanks to great mind like ALbert Einstein, we know that time is is not universal. In fact everyone would have his or her own personal time. Do you know, if you wanna life longer, you can actually do that by taking a plane and keep on flying to the east. By doing so, the plane's speed would be added to the earth's rotation and the flying time would be shorten. (If you are reading this paragraph and finding it hard to understand, I just wanna say this, "Don't continue reading la Thinsatgusing, you are only wasting your brain juice... that's if you have any...")

So what is time? According to Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton, time and space wer background in which events tool place but which weren't affected by them. Time was separate from space and was considered to be a single line, that was infinite in both directions. Einstein, on the other hand, believed that time and space are interconnected. One cannot curve space without involving the time. Thus, concluding that time has a shape. According to Stephen Hawking, time has a beginning and an end.It wiykd make no sense to ask what happened before the beginning or after the end simple because such times would not be defined. So what is time to me? Since I am a admirer of Stephen hawking and a great fan of his work, I do believe that there's a begining and and end to time and that time is in deed relative.

I remember when I was younger, time seems eternal. I saw all the things that my bro did and wished that I could be older so that I could do the things he did. To me, time crawls like a snail.

Nowadays, I found myself talking about the pass a lot. Talking about the good old time is always a good topic when a group of friends get together. We can talk about childhood time, schooling time and college time. Nostalgia can be fun. Nostalgia can be memorable. Nostalgia can be spell bounding.

On the other hand, nostalgia can be cruel. Nostalgia can be brutal. Nostalgia can be vicious. It seems that the more you think about the past, the more things you can think about. And the events that you accumulate increase two folds as time flies. And we are not talking about a forker plane but rather a supersonic, ultrasonic, megasonic jet.

Nowadays, I really wish time can crawl like a snail.... chao timeeeeeee

I am proud to be a Malaysian

2005-12-05T21:50:00.000+08:00

I woke up early this morning. I got a morning call from Fitness gal. Well, I should rephrase that, it took her three morning calls before I decided to answer her phone. I am just not a very morning person. But promised are made to be kept I believe. So I drag my heavy ass to the gym, 6.30 early in the morning and it was drizzling. Chao...

On my way to gym, I heard a great news. Nicol has just won the world championship in Hong Kong! In that very brief moment, I was truely proud to be a Malaysian. She has made the entire nation proud I think. She is a mere 22 years old and to climb the summit of the world ranking is no chicken feet can?

Bravo Nicol!

A peaceful nite

2005-12-03T23:55:00.000+08:00

I anticipated a hectic day ahead despite today being a Saturday. I anticipated a hectic day ahead despite today being my off day and I am supposed to stay at home processing my Kunming photos.
I woke up early on the sofa. Great, it was only 9am and I was just in time to watch my weekend morning cartoon on the Disney channel and Cartoon Network. I would start by watching Totally Spice at 9am then continue with Kim Possible, Justice League and Tutenstein.
I planned to go to office after I've finished watching all my favourite cartoons. Well, you can always plan but it doesn't mean you can execute the plan right? I received a sms at 9.35am. I was not happy. From my experience, to receive unexpected sms this f**king morning usually means bad luck.
Sure enough, after reading the sms, I have to drag my cute ass from the comfortable sofa to the office. At the office, i saw myself battling a stormy weather. It is a civil war that will not stop for many many days to come I reckon. The storm abated at around 3.30pm and I excused myself from the office as I had to get ready myself for another battle field.
I rushed home and started to practice my guitar. I haven't touched it since my last lesson and I am pretty sure it would die rather ugly on the battle field if I don't start practicing.
Off to the battle field I went after an hour or so of practicing. Again, I had to battle the stormy weather all alone. I tried to play the guitar with the acted smile and confidence. This time around, I nailed it! Yes! The guitar captain seemed to be impressed with the work of this "young" ensign. So impressed was the guitar captain that he decided to promote the "young" ensign to next rank, a full ensign. I was happy. I was thrilled. I was excited. I had just pulled off one master illusion. Then I was puzzled. I still having problem changing from one chord to another. My strumming sounds like the chicken trying to sing in an opera. And for goodness sake, I can't even play the Happy Brithday tune without intermittent breaks. But I guess I must trust the guitar captain. The captain must have seen some latent talent in me, which I am not fully aware. Anyway, why argue with the captain when you can cheerish the moment.
Then, the truth came out. Before I leave, he managed to remind me, oh by the way, you do realize that by becoming a full ensign, there will be an increment in your monthly fee. At that brief moment, I could swear I feel the entire sky tumbling down on me. Sadly, this guitar captain had pull off a much better illusion that I did. Chao guitar captain...
Despite all that, I still managed to keep a smile on my face and bough a C315 classical guitar as a gift to myself for moving up the rank in such a short period of time.
I rushed back to the office to help my comrade in the civil war. It is one battle I determined to win. The dark side might be strong, but thou shall not underestiamte the force.
The war halted at 10pm. It has been a long day. I was beaten up down left right. The spirit is beat and the energy is low. I look forward to nothing but a peaceful night at home and hopefully in time to watch Startrek Enterprise.

Dun wake up so early okieeeee

2005-11-17T08:59:00.000+08:00

Today i woke up damn early... The alarm clock was set at 7.10am as usual but I managed to drag my lazy ass off the bed after 2 snoozes only.
The reason I woke up that damn early is because of mr bruno who has been nagging about me coming to work late and making him waited for me to go breakfast. I mean come on lah... 15 minutes where got late... still acceptable right? Furthermore, the traffic from my house to the office is horrendous can? Anyway, I determined to make him happy today by reaching the office 45 minutes earlier.
At 8.03 I stepped into the office with pride and a smile on my face. Yes.. I did it and mr bruno should be happy. I saw his bag on his table. Good sign... but he is not at his place. Must be doing business in the toilet I told myself. And I waited... 5 minutes passed. He must have eaten something nasty last night I told myself. Yet another 5 minutes passed. He must have eaten something very very nasty last night I told myself. And I waited... At around 8.30am I saw him... I have gone eaten already coz I have meeting with the big boss at 9am was the response I got. Chao Bruno... all my effort of waking up early gone down the drain.... arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I am strong

2005-11-02T23:39:00.000+08:00

Once landed in Kunming International Airport, I was worried. I was worried because I saw all the passengers started to put on thicker sweatshirt and overcoat. I was worried because I was only wearing a polo shirt and my jacket is in my luggage.
Kunming's latitude on our mother earth is 25 degree and 4 minutes North of equator. As it is situated so much higher from home, I reckon not carrying along some sort of jacket is pretty unwise. Well, if you really think about it, I would say it is bloody stupid. Then I realised... all I needed to do was to grab my jacket once I've gotten my luggage. No sweat, No big deal, No problem.
Then, the unbelievable thing happened. I looked out of the airplane window and I got shocked. Just great... with all the empty aerobridge stands, the aircraft decided to park at the remote stand. Come on MAS, pay more for the comfort of the passangers can? This is not good. This is not cool. This is not fun.
Well, I guessed I couldn't do much at this point of time. I would just have to smile at the hot airstewardess and pretend that since I look young, I can brave through the cold weather.
I took a deep breath and made my first step to the steps. Hallelujah... the weather was surprisingly pleasent!!! I think the mercury ball must be around mid twenty instead of high tens as announced.
I looked at those people wearing thick winter clothing and I can't help but laughing inside. Yes, I was that evil. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...

On the plane

2005-11-02T22:52:00.000+08:00

2nd November is the date. 9am is the flight. On this day I'll be flying to the Spring City of China.
The company will be closed for the entire week for Deeparaya celebration. I was looking forward to the break. I need the break. I need the break badly. I need the break very badly indeed.
The family woke up very early that morning... as early as 5.30 am. We need to reach the airport around 7am in order to fully utilize the lounge.
Once aboad the plane I was impressed. It is the first time I ever seated in such a comfartable seat. My legs can streth straight I tell you.

After taking off, I started making myself comfortable. I like taking the plane. I think in the brief period of time, I can enjoy doing things I normally can't do, like reading a book or listening to the music. Funny, isn't it. It is really difficult for me to find time to read book in normal days or really enjoy a good song. My mind is usually lingered around work and it can't settle down enough for me to enjoy a good book or good song. In that brief moment of time, I can really let go of myself because I know I can't do anything but to enjoy the brief moment of total freeness.
Besides that, I like taking the plane because I could see the world like a bird. A bird eye view can make the adrenalin rushing the entire body. I also like to see the cloud. You can see a different side of cloud when you are 40 thousands feets above the sea level. I like to take the photos of the sky when I am 40 thousands feets above the sea level.

And of course, I like taking the plane because I can be served by the hot babes. These hot babes always very generous with their smile and politeness. I likeeeeee. I was caught red handed when I was taking one of the hot babe with my D70. "mr, I hope you didn't take my photo ok?" "I was juz trying out my new camera, I didn't even press the shutter, you can be rest assured" that's how I answered her with my fingers crossed tightly. Yeap, I have this hot babe pics, but I will not post them here, since I think she doesn't want be to post her pics in the internet and since I am a gentleman, I will just keep the photos for myself.
Last but not least, I like taking the plane because of the inflight food. Ok, I am just lying. But this is pic of the food being served.

y China

2005-10-30T22:40:00.000+08:00

Going to China has been my "must do" list since I started working. I have been fortunate enough to be able to travel to many places since I was small. Somehow, China was not part of the itinerary. Although I have been to Hong Kong and Macau, but if you never been to the mainland, I don't think you can announce to the world that you have been to China.
As I was growing up, I always dreamt of travelling around the world. I would look at the world map and dream of visiting big metropolitans like New York, Tokyo, Sydney, Los Angelas, London, Paris, Chicago. I used to like the high rise. Tall buildings please my eyes, thrill my bones and send the adrenalin rushing my whole body.
By the time I reached my 21st birthday, I was fortunate enough to visit most of the big cities in the world. When I studied in the States, I took all the opportunities to travel. Spring break, summer break, winter break, thanks giving break, memorial day break and whatever school break that I have, I would drag my buddy to go explore new cities together. It could be a one day trip to the nearest city from our uni town or as long as one month trip to the entire south west of the States covering more than few thousands miles. It was always a greart feeling to be able to feel and see the hustle and bustle of a new city.
After so many years, people change and I changed. Megacities do not please my eyes, thrill my bones or send the adrenalin rushing my whole body. Nowadays, I long for small town, rural kampung or primitive countryside that offer great sceneries, great landscape and great portrait of children running around bare footed and having the most precious smile on their face. This change has helped me to relook at China. I have started to look at big land, China in a different context since then. I believe China will be able to please my eyes, thrill my bones and send the adrenalin rushing my whole body.
As such, when my dad asked my to go to accompany him and mom to go to China, I suggested the Spring City or better known as Kunming rather than the more familiar cities such as Beijing or Shanghai. Although Kunming is by no mean a small town, a rural kampung or primitive countryside of any standard, I am still pretty sure it's surroundings can offer great sceneries, great landscape and great portrait of children running around bare footed and having the most precious smile on their face.
I can't wait to go... I need this break badly... yes I am!

Blessed

2005-10-28T22:58:00.000+08:00

You know that you are blessed when you wake up in the morning and find yourself still breathing and your nose is not blocked.

You know that you are not blessed when you wake up in the morning and find no one waking up besides you.

You know that you are blessed when you have to wake up early in the morning to go to work

You know that you are not blessed when you have to wake up early in the morning on a Sunday to go to work

You know that you are blessed when you have a cool hobby that keep you occupy when you are sien

You know that you are not blessed when you have to spend thousands to upgrade the equipment of the cool hobby that keep you occupy when you are sien

You know that you are blessed when you can channel surfing on a Saturday night

You know that you are not blessed when you can channel surfing on a Saturday night, farted and there is no one around to give you that "wtf" look

You know that you are blessed when you have a good working team at work

You know that you are not blessed when you have a good working team at work and you still find yourself wondering why the supposedly intelligent application not intelligent oneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

You know that you are blessed when you are down and there are people around you who are kind enough to lift you up.

Boyz Night Out

2005-10-22T23:54:00.000+08:00

It was not planned. It was not supposed to happen. But my photography sifu managed to convince me to drag my ass from the office to take night shots.

It was already 11am when we reach our destination. Surprising, the place that we went was full with people. There were so many people that I was shocked. It was shocking because there were at least 300 people I reckon. It was shocking because there were at least 300 people I reckon and they were doing nothing. These 300 so people I reckon were juz standing by the road side... I was shocked.

I was shocked when I found myself standing amongst the 300 people witnessing these heroic yet idiotic motocyclists displaying their stunts on the main road. It was not spectacular. It was not breathtaking. It was not cooooooool... okieeeeee. Say me old fashion lar but someone can get hurt okieeeeeeeeee.

Anyhow, my photography sifu and I spent about 2 hours there to shot and snap and feeding the blood sucking loathing flying insects.