Internet slowdowns

Ok, the rest of Asia is running slowly and the absence of cybergames are apparent thanks to reports via reporters saying that cybercafe operators are facing a slowdown in customers because a lot of people rely on fast speeds to play their MMORPG games.

Well I wanted to try out how fast World of Warcraft (WoW) was at this moment, according to my colleague, he mentioned that it was pretty good.

Yeah right! Oh well, sometimes I even managed to get a 20,000ms latency. Not too bad but after playing at relatively smooth latencies, I guess this is a stretch. I can already see the withdrawal syndromes from all of the WoW players, especially with all the ranting that they do online just to find a proxy to play WoW on.


Oh well, I guess we have to resort to other things, such as exercising, meeting up with old friends and going out and partying. Oh my goodness, have I fallen to the dark side? And it only has been like 5 days.

Vincent, I blame it on you!

p.s. I hope to be back online again soon!

Christmas, it came and left

Christmas is a time to celebrate for everyone, for me it all started last week when I was compiling a video for my cell members who got married over the weekend. It was a compilation of their stag night videos which we took. Looks like I managed to grow a small passion to edit videos and combine them to produce some wonderful clips.

Of course there were plenty of ups and downs when I tried edit those videos, one of them was that my computer was a little too slow to work with the newest video editing software and it took plenty of time just to edit a few shots. Then because it was slow, it took forever just to import in videos and caused my computer to crash and corrupted the software. Working around those errors I keep getting was a real pain. After that, I guess I was a little too adventurous by not censoring any part of the video, thanks to that I had to remake it again.

But when you actually sit down and see the final product, I guess all that effort was so worth it. Of course there was plenty I could improve on and plenty more I can add in but I guess that was where my creativity touch can reach.

To me, the big satisfaction would be to see the bride and bridegroom's face when the video was played and the whole incident of him standing up and pointing to me saying, "You guys, are next!". Now, that was totally a Mastercard Priceless moment.

One thing I learned especially on Saturday when we were helping out during the wedding, chairs are pretty heavy and it takes strong men like us to move them. But overall, I think I overate on both Sunday and Monday thanks to all the wonderful food at the wedding dinner, and of course my ex-colleague's Christmas open house on Monday and Chuen's family dinner on Monday night.

I just ate lunch just now and I couldn't finish my half naan, thats right, half a naan and I couldn't eat anymore. That shows how much I ate yesterday. But what Keat-Seong told me just now, I better start training for my 21km run in March.

So my New Year's resolution is to lose at least 10kg this year and to complete the 21km run coming up in March.

Sigh...

If images can show the exact nature of my feelings right now, I guess the image below should be able to speak for me. Well of course, you would happen to know or be a student majoring in astronomy.

As deep as the seas may be,
There is a cavern to hold,
A secret place ever so dark,
Might be where I want to hide.

A gloomy sky hovers above,
With the sun no where to be found,
It is dead silent around,
Not even a single chirp or sound.

Oh where, oh where can hope be? The very foundation of men who looks forward to or have trust in. Maybe it is there, maybe not, it could be shattered or hidden somewhere. Alas, every bit of my hope has been shattered, there is no future to look forward to.

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And when you thought you were good

If only I could play like he does....

And when you are hungry....

The weird things that people come up with sometimes just crack me up. Well for one thing is this toilet themed restaurant located somewhere in Taiwan. Not too bad considering that the customers actually have the appetite to eat at a location like this.

Look ma, the seats are soooo cute!

Well I guess when it comes to food and when you are hungry, I guess we can just about eat anything anywhere.

Hey, why doesn't my bowl have a back support?

Interestingly, in a restaurant themed in such a manner, how would one differentiate between a real toilet and private room in the restaurant? I guess maybe they might have a properly marked room to say, "Pee here only, not at your table".

Now I am guessing the ones hanging on the wall dispenses drinks?

From the looks of it, it seems like the bowl chairs are movable, well, if I ever wanted a nicely decorated toilet bowl, I would know where to look for.

Wow even the bowls are bowls

Besides just the chairs and tables, they even have toilet bowl shaped bowls to eat from, now I wonder how would a chocolate fudge would look like served in one of them bowls.


Well I guess the picture above explains it all. Yummy!

Weekend in Penang

Ah, the wonderful Island of Penang. Such a great place to be at, well, to be I guess for a couple of days because being bred in PJ and near the KL area, I would be pretty bored over there rather quickly. To be honest, if it wasn't for my manager's wedding, I wouldn't even be headed towards Penang as I am rather comfortable here in KL, but I was wrong.

The day began extremely early for me, wake up at 5.30am, get ready and head over to Chuan's house to pick him up. After driving out my house at about 6.00am, I was totally blur and the drive to Subang was rather peaceful thanks to the clear roads. After getting Chuan on my car and politely asking him to get me a couple of Nescafe tins from the 7-Eleven near his place, I headed down to Cyberjaya to pick my colleague Passara up.

By the time everyone had entered my car and all geared up for a fun road trip, it was nearly 7am and I thought, how could I ever make it to Ipoh by 8.30am and meet up with my other colleagues. Well I was right, I didn't make it by 8.30am because by that time, traffic was already building up and there was a constantly flow of cars. So I reached Ipoh by 9am and went into town for a lovely Dim Sum breakfast.

Trying to navigate through Ipoh town that early in the morning was not easy because everyone seems to wake up at the break of dawn there and ate breakfast at one dim sum shop, Ming Court. The crowd was crazy and finding a seat meant standing next to a table whom you think is finishing quick and give them a "If you don't move after you are done, you are dead!" stare. Well that is how the custom was over there.

After a huge breakfast and a cup of coffee from the mamak across the dim sum shop, it was time to head to Penang. Driving out of Ipoh and heading north, I made the mistake of not reloading my Touch'N'Go card which caused me problems when I arrived at the Penang Bridge. Well for one thing, that bridge is super jammed up on a Saturday morning and secondly, I had to wait in line to pay RM7 for the toll whilst the rest of the convoy sped through the Smart Tag lane.

By the time we arrived at the hotel where the wedding was held, it was already almost 1pm and trying to get changed (8 of us in a room) before the bride and groom walked into the hall was a big challenge. Thank goodness we made it just in time, well we did bump into the bride and groom at the door before they entered.

Lunch was great and still being full from a heavy breakfast, it was rather difficult to eat an 8-course meal for a table with only 4 people. Talk about overeating, to be honest, I felt that I totally overate. By the time the last dish came, I was so bloated up.

Ok enough about talking, we shall wait for part to arrive. Hopefully with pictures :)

Have DOTA will travel!

Last week was a pretty fun week, why? Well I managed to play in a DOTA tournament (and gotten 3rd place) as well as met up with my friends who returned from Australia. Well to start off with the DOTA tournament, it was pretty eventful as I learned that I do not react well under pressure, I wasn't the leader I meant to be and I couldn't carry the team as well as I would have hoped for.

The image may say one thing but the results don't

Anyway the entire competition wasn't meant to really pit skills versus skills but more of a way for us to relax after a long week of work and enjoy ourselves by meeting up and socializing with other colleagues from different projects.

There was a good crowd

As the night began, my team's first match up was a rather easy one where we beat them before time was up but our second and third matches showed our true skills. By that I meant that we lost to two other teams. Well that is our true skill especially with players who just started playing DOTA for the first time, I guess that getting 3rd place was a blessing instead.

Team Resources hard at work

With so much going on around us, I guess we can be considered lucky to be able to make it in one piece to the cafe, Clutch Gamers to be exact in SS2. Imagine trying to travel from Cyberjaya all the way down to SS2 on a Friday evening when it just rained heavily.

OMG! Who is that?!?!

Of course, every team in any game would require a mascot right? Our own little Dinghydog who decides to grace us with his presence all the way from Australia. To be perfectly honest, I was pretty touched that the whole gang was there to help cheer me on, Heng Leong, Lay Min, Adrian and Boon. Thanks to your support, our team managed to win a couple of close games.

Team Resources, RM50 vouchers?

The final game was quite close with us just beating the other team by a couple of points. Well thanks to the 35minute timelimit and our luck of draw, I guess we managed to reach 3rd placed because we did not face FS (who got 2nd) and we beat the Combo team by just 2 points.

The next time, I better start trying to get my game in place for the next DOTA match I undertake. By the time everything ended, it was a little close to 2am and I was extremely tired. Of course not without a burger at the SS2 mamak, delicious!

Tiring day

Finally I am back home in front of my computer resting. Well it doesn't really help that it is already 4.30am in the morning. I doubt that I can wake up for futsal tomorrow morning but tomorrow is the wonderful barbecue which will be held at Boon's place. Will try to take photos for tomorrow's event so that everyone can remember it.

Completed a 9-4 leaders planning session and there will be another one next week but I can't make it as I would be in Penang for my manager's wedding. Oh well, maybe I could try a teleconference call? Ok my head is buzzing and my eyes are about to close. I am so so tired but my feet stinks, I think I was wearing my slippers for way too long.