how random?

We have moved!

2007-10-18T00:54:00.001+08:00

This blog has been migrated over to a new location.

Check out the new blog at http://www.MarkLeo.net/blog.

Two Videos to make you laugh

2007-10-11T11:14:00.000+08:00

The Raya holidays are here and here are two videos to send you off with a huge smile on your face.

This one here is especially for you Bollywood fans out there. I am sure most of us have a little bit of Bollywood in ourselves don't we?

And this one is a little preview of what is to come with the local TV gameshows, human tetris. What will the Japanese think of next? Human jenga?

Have a great Raya holidays this weekend!

Basic Studio Lighting with Ted Adnan - Part 2

2007-10-04T17:02:00.001+08:00

As mentioned in my last post, here are more photos I took during my workshop with Ted Adnan. I've gotten brutal criticism so far, but I am loving it as I can improve my shots and think deeper before just snapping away. I guess the perfectionist in me would want me to be able to take stunning photos and not mere sub standard quality ones.

Ok, well the shot above was just a shot of the participants trying to get certain angles and shots right and working with the pocket wizard.

Hair tossing in action? Man I need to get the lighting correct as well. Comments I have received is that the hair and background blended too well. Perhaps it would be better against a white background.

A smiling portrait for everyone.

This pose looked a little familiar but I just can't nail it on where have I seen it before. Comments received for this shot was that there was too much empty space above her head and at the sides which I totally agree.

Haven't received any comments for this picture yet though. Perhaps that is a good sign.

Of course, a nice group picture of us all who participated in the workshop including the model and Ted of course.

And finally, a picture together with the model as well. Please note that the camera I was holding was not my camera. Ted used my camera to take this shot.

More exciting things to come including a whole new blog as well as my online portfolio.

Stay tuned.

Basic Studio Lighting with Ted Adnan

2007-10-01T10:53:00.000+08:00

Over the weekend, I was one of the 6 participants in a workshop on studio lighting workshop held by Ted Adnan at his studio in Saujana Impian, Kajang. Traveling there was actually a worry for me as I was totally unfamiliar with Cheras and Kajang altogether so I practically Googled my way there. I definitely need to get a map of KL and Selangor.

The workshop started at about 11am and it started off with Ted teaching us about the basics of studio lighting by showing us slides of pictures he took and asking us questions on how many light sources are there in these pictures. His photos were awesome and it was amazing, especially the outdoor on location shots where we can't bring any studio lighting and had to rely on portable flashes.

Next, we were thought the basics of the lighting equipment and what each equipment does and how do we use the various filters and softboxes for studio lights. It was rather interesting and I definitely did learn a lot yesterday as I never had any prior experience shooting in a studio. Studio equipment is definitely expensive.

After many hours taking loads of shots and trying to get the perfect composition, the workshop came to an end with my being extremely tired as I had little sleep the night before but brimming with excitement and taking home more information about the whole field of photography.

The good thing about this workshop was that not only did I learn something but I also met other budding photographers and enthusiasts, both professional and hobbyists. The networking between the participants were great and we exchanged our name cards and gotten to know each other's photography background. Who knows, if one of them makes it big, I might be able to get some jobs from them.

Of course we didn't shoot any products but we had Hayda as our model of the day. She was extremely professional about it. I don't think that this picture is the best one I took but since I took most of my shots in RAW, I got plenty of post processing ahead of me tonight. I still owe Ted some of my best shots to see whether I made the cut to produce the best image during the workshop.

I definitely can't wait to learn more about shooting people and event as that is my goal in the area of photography. Wedding photography is never easy although some professional photographers feel that it is just photojournalism but to me, all of this is still a challenge.

More photos from the workshop to come!

Check out Ted Adnan's blog here.
Check out Ted Adnan's online portfolio here.

Lionel & Gek's Wedding

2007-09-27T00:04:00.000+08:00

Last weekend I had the pleasure of helping Lionel and Gek Sim on their wedding day shooting photos for them and helping them run stuff during the dinner banquet. Believe me, it was extremely tiring, waking up at 5.30am and then heading over to the bride's house and only to sleep at 2.00am the following morning.

I took this shot at the church hoping to capture in the best man holding the rings as well.

After the vows were done and the rings were placed, I caught them holding hands while they were listening to the reverend preaching.

This was shot at the bride's house just before the tea pouring ceremony started.

Managed to catch this shot of the bride's gown in the reflection in the mirror.

View of the flowers in the main church hall with the cross in the background.

Considering this to be my first wedding shoot, I really did learn quite a bit from the professional photographer and his two assistants. Watching them shoot and learning their style of communication, it was like a wealth of information for me.

More to come, especially since I shot like over 800+ shots that day.

Bye Bye Modem

2007-09-20T10:48:00.000+08:00

After 4 years of serving me faithfully, my ADSL modem went kaput on me. To be honest, last night, I made a call to Streamyx's customer service and spoke to their technician on why wasn't my modem being able to pick up a line. He did some checks and said that they would send a technician over.
Being extremely skeptical, I thought that I might as well fix the problem myself when just a hour ago, I got a call from my dad at home telling me that a TM Net technician is at the house ready to check my phone line and modem.

So after some checks, my guess was just as correct. The modem is dead! Anyway its a bout time we changed the modem as well as change the line splitter. Kudos to Streamyx for quick service. Now if only they might just increase the bandwidth and uncap those lines.

Patience with photography

2007-09-17T09:51:00.000+08:00

As many might have known, I've recently taken interests in the area of photography and have invested in this new hobby of mine considerably. Definitely not an easy hobby because at some points I do demand a lot from myself especially in the photos I take.

On Saturday, I had the wonderful opportunity to join a group of photography enthusiasts at Batu Caves. I didn't have much time as I had to head towards my colleague's birthday party at 12pm so here I was at 9.50am walking about the courtyard at the bottom of the 100+ steps leading up to the caves.

By the time the group arrived, it was already 10.30am and I had only an hour to browse through the place. Thanks to that I kind of rushed through many areas and walked up the steps fairly quickly together with Kaz and Visithra while Vignes and Nagen was slowly taking their time learning about cameras and shooting about.

I guess every bit of myself wanted to take my own sweet time taking shots of the surrounding area and I am trying my best to take shost in JPEG so that I don't have to rely on post-processing to alter my shots. It is definitely a discipline I need to follow in order to up my game. I know Sze Yoong has been hounding me for a date to take her products as well so I definitely need to make time for that.

To sum it all up, Saturday was a busy day for me. Shooting at Batu Caves in the morning, rushing over to New Life church to shoot my colleague's surprise birthday party where I met some photo enthusiasts as well (unfortunately they were from the light side) and finally at night, shooting my good friend's stag night at The Curve.

Another week to go and Lionel's wedding is coming up where I managed to squeeze my way in to help them take photos as well. For free of course but I definitely hope to make a good impression as well as perhaps get some tips from their own professional photographer whom they hired (someone who used to work at Photoz).

Everything

2007-09-14T09:02:00.001+08:00

Something to watch.

Cheers

Complete Worn Out

2007-09-10T10:26:00.000+08:00

It's rather rare that I would usually talk about what I did over the weekend. Well, I am going to do just that. Saturday was supposed to be jam packed (schedule wise) for me as I had my company's futsal tournament in the morning and then a model photoshoot from 3.00pm till 10.00pm. A few days before that, I got a sms telling me that the photoshoot has been postponed.

So on Saturday morning as I was all blurry eyed and sleepy, munZ came over in the morning and surprised me with two hash browns and a cup of coffee from McDonalds, sort of like a good luck breakfast. Driving all the way to Endah Parade (near Bukit Jalil), I finally reached the tournament venue only to be told that the Shell team had been drawn against the Petronas and Synergy Drive teams.

Horror to horrors came true, we were drawn up against strong teams and guess what? We got our butt beaten the hell up. At least we managed to draw against Synergy drive but we have been shooting blanks all this while. We lost 2-0 to Averis and lost 7-2 to Petronas who then went on to win the tournament.

By the time I got back home in time for lunch with munZ and hoping to get some DVD's, I was completely wiped out. A quick rest at home and then I headed to out State PJ where I had to drop munZ of at her grandma's place while I decided to drop by this camera shop which is rather popular called J-One at Amcorp mall. There I spent a good amount of time chit chatting with Jason who is the owner and talking to him and getting price quotations from him.

J-One is located at the bottom floor of the mall, I seriously thought it would be located upstairs so I went everywhere except the ground floor. By the time I found it, there was a customer over there buying the new Nikon D40x and I just went about browsing (tempting myself with the Lowepro Slingshot 200AW and the Manfrotto tripod). Prices were very reasonable and Jason was extremely friendly. I also met two other customers there and started chatting with one of them who swears by Pentax cameras (Malaysia has been dominated by Nikon and Canon).

After leaving the mall, I thought of heading out to Putrajaya/Cyberjaya to take some night shots of the surrounding area but I was totally disappointed by the way how my pictures turned out. I guess I don't have the flair for night landscape shots. Definitely have lots to learn and practice! I definitely won't give up that easily.

Senget shot of the bridge

I think the toughest part about trying to get these shots was that my dad's tripod didn't work too well and I couldn't extend it any higher so some of the images had to have some sort of foreground. Also, walking around lugging all my equipment was not easy since I am a law abiding citizen and all of the proper parking allocations were so far away!

View of the administrative row at night

For now, I shall just relax before writing out what happened on Sunday. It was equally tiring!

Check out more of the Putrajaya photos on my Flickr set here.

1957 Album

2007-09-06T14:39:00.000+08:00

After just celebrating our nation's 50th year of independence a week ago, I chanced upon a photo album which contains pictures taken in the year 1957. That means photos taken without the use of DSLRs and everything is in black and white.

Looking through some of these photos really makes me feel that the nation has grown so much and yet the troubles we face right now, thanks to certain individuals, just makes the whole idea of a huge celebration going up in flames.

Image by Tan Swee Lian

There is much bickering in this land and with an ever increasing population who has access to knowledge and a generation that may not necessarily be blinded by false pretense and lies, there is also much to look forward to.

How so can we as citizens of this country attempt to make this country one that is just, fair, technologically advanced and achieve our dream to be a developed nation by the year 2020? Do we still maintain our own pride of "Malaysia Boleh" when that might just be a phrase which has no actual weight in our everyday lives. Or perhaps we are just waiting for this country to fall down flat on its face and then we stand by and say the ever common phrase, "Didn't I tell you so?".

Who knows but do check out the Flickr 1957 Photo Album to browse through this blast from the past.

Image Source: Flickr

Marketing Gimmick?

2007-09-05T23:58:00.000+08:00

I was at Lowyat over the Merdeka weekend browsing through some camera shops as well as trying to find a good deal on DVD+R discs when I chanced upon this store which thought that their marketing gimmick might just attract more customers.

Well, judge this for yourself. Personally, I think this photo eventually made me never want to bring my business to this store again. If you are so curious as to guess which store this is, just look around Lowyat and you will find it yourself. Don't worry, its not hard to find. Just look for the most empty looking store.

Also, their lenses there aren't cheap but they do have a fair range and selection of Tamron and Sigma lenses. If you were in the area looking to buy a camera especially in the DSLR range, I would recommend you either head over to Sungai Wang and look for this store called Boeing. Else, take a drive to Pudu Plaza and search for YL Camera.

Starbucks Revamped?

2007-09-04T16:44:00.000+08:00

My favourite shop has been changed, my usual coffee fix and free wi-fi service has been removed completely. Now the place has become the haven of what used to be a haunt of many things you want forgotten.

I know this image is probably doctored or photoshopped but what if it were true?? I guess I have to stick to my Nescafe 3-in-1 then.

When all planning fails

2007-09-04T10:08:00.000+08:00

Trying to surprise someone on their actual birthday is never an easy thing to do without any proper prior planning. Even if it is just to go over to their house and surprise the birthday girl with a nice piece of ice cream cake from Baskins at night.

The rain was really pouring last night and after crawling home from Cyberjaya and getting stuck numerous times on the LDP thanks to heavy traffic and rain, I finally reached home and prepared to head out to surprise the birthday girl.

There we were, all gathering at our meeting point at Centrepoint Bandar Utama and then we get a call.

"I can't get her to stay at home"

"Why not?"

"I told her that I didn't allow her to go out but she insisted"

"Oh darn it, looks like we can't surprise her after all"

"Guys, tonight's plan is canceled, let's have dinner instead"

So here we were sitting at Cagayan's (a nice Filipino restaurant) eating pork like nobody's business (ok, I am rather pork deprived in Cyberjaya). Well I guess pretty much that Jon went back home and ate the ice cream cake.

Birthday plan surprise, postponed till Wednesday.

p.s. Eventually we found out that the birthday girl went out on a date. I guess we could have been mean and crashed in on her birthday date but we are gentle souls after all.

Happy 50th Merdeka

2007-08-31T00:04:00.000+08:00

To all Malaysians who are here in Malaysia as well as those abroad, Happy 50th Merdeka! Continue to strive hard for our nation as we celebrate our golden anniversary as an independent nation.

Dating Wooden Chicks?

2007-08-25T00:39:00.000+08:00

Now I just don't know if the name of the shop is hilarious or bamboo and wooden chicks really takes the cake. Call me dense or stupid but what in the world are wooden and bamboo chicks? I think it has something related to this. Maybe not, or it could just be some random item.

Maybe a Google might solve the answer. Anyone out there wants to explain this to me?

Completely torn up

2007-08-22T16:38:00.000+08:00

Recently I have been bogged down by thoughts of whether I should move towards a Mac OS platform and work on my photo editing there or should I stick with the all familiar Windows. I was convinced at one point to actually purchase a MacBook but after this incident, I thought maybe I should be sticking with Windows.

Of course before actually making the final decision, there are two upcoming events which I am eagerly awaiting from both sides of the camp.

Firstly, on the Apple side, the eminent launch of Leopard is due in October and rumours have it that a new MacBook is also due at the end of the year with Santa Rosa.

Secondly, Vista is eagerly awaiting it's first Service Pack which offers vast improvements over it's current state of bugs and problematic driver issues.

What makes Vista appealing is that I don't have to spend a bomb on it and I get a better system. For example, the current price of the MacBook is RM4,999 which is pricey for a small laptop which offers meager performance. For RM3,500, I could actually get a Quad Core desktop system ever since Intel has released the latest pricing for the Q6600 processor which costs RM985.

The question now returns to me, mobility versus desktop processing. With a desktop, you can definitely get better and faster components for a cheaper price and the Apple equivalent of a portable powerhouse comes in the form of the MacBook Pro which is offered at RM7,299 for the lower end model.

Then again the whole idea of being able to work with a Mac, a machine and OS which has proven itself to be strong in the areas of visual and stunning performance and runs with the tag line, "It just works" is something which is of interest to me. I guess it could be because of the whole new environment which I am eager to try out.

At the moment, time can only tell as I continue to do a little bit more research between the two platforms and figure out what are the benefits and pitfalls.

Machines offer zombie service?

2007-08-20T23:13:00.000+08:00

Every single day you would have read in the papers about complaints of poor service by counter staff, sales clerks or while waiting in a queue. Snobbish, rude or completely useless are the usual types of comments you might receive. Well to me, in the past, I haven't been one to really complain about service, usually shaking each bad experience with the phrase, "Ah, its just Malaysian service la".

Up till the end of last year, when I started work and was working in the area of a service provider (being completely on the other side of the fence), I realised the importance of why providing quality service really matters. It became critical in my job that the quality of service is to always ensure that the customer should always be happy and no matter how bad of a day you might be having, the customer should never get the brunt end of your emotions.

So now, whenever I do walk into shops, I really notice the really nitty gritty details of how poor each store's service is especially when it comes to sales people and dealing with customers. One of these shops I would love to highlight is the Apple Premium Service Provider, Machines located in KLCC.

Launched at the beginning of this month, I opted to drop in to check out the store. Boasting two huge 30" Apple Cinema Displays, the store looked incredible and it was packed with sales staff. Notice, that I bolded "sales staff" because the store was filled with a couple of other customers. To be frank, I was extremely tempted to buy a spanking new MacBook and I checking them out which were on display.

I did my homework on the internet, checking on the pitfalls and downfalls of the MacBook but it just looks incredibly sexy and too irresistible to resist. So I stood next to the MacBook and looked around for a sales staff. One saw me, and instead of coming over to me and being cheerful, he seemed to be frowning as though his Pokemon died on him!

So, he might have had a day. I didn't mind that and smiled at him. Gesturing towards him, he came over with the face of a living zombie and the stance of a slouching chimpanzee. I asked him how much would it cost to bump the MacBook from 1Gb to 2Gb and his only answer was to not say anything but to grab a calculator. He started punching out some numbers and then after much consideration, he showed me the price, RM6,299.

The original price of the MacBook (White & 2.16GHz) is RM4,999 and the extra 1Gb would cost more than a thousand ringgit extra. Hoping to strike a conversation with him or maybe find out why did it cost so much, all he could do was shrug his shoulders and say, "yeahlor, that is the price". After that, he just left and went on to ignore me while giving me the 'you cannot afford that' look since I asked him why was it so expensive (that really took the cake!).

Wow, I thought that the Apple store which boasts superb design (it did look great) and friendly staff would have been a great experience. I guess this is only exclusive for Apple Stores as Machines is just an Apple Premium Reseller. I wonder how they managed to get their Premium status.

Ok, maybe I was having a bad day that day. No, I went to the Machines store at Mid Valley over the weekend and was faced with the same problem. Well, same in terms of getting poor quality of service. Not a single staff attended to me, I guess they were busy entertaining some rich looking dude.

I guess I would probably take my service to MacAsia.

Other experiences on the Apple Store:

I've been tagged, again..

2007-08-18T00:40:00.000+08:00

I was busy minding my own business and then I came across this site telling me that I was tagged. Oh wow, another tag. Well, if it weren't for these tags, you all wouldn't have known me any better right?

[one] what is your natural hair color?
honestly:- Black

[two] where was your default picture taken?
honestly:- Unfortunately, I do not have a default picture

[three] what's your middle name?
honestly:- Cheng Phang, no wait, does that even count as a middle name?

[four] your current relationship status?
honestly:- Attached :)

[five] does your crush like you back?
honestly:- I sure hope so

[six] what is your current mood?
honestly:- Feeling a little sleepy but thirsty

[eight] What makes you happy?
honestly:- Being a little more carefree and less pressured

[ten] if you could go back in time and change something, what you would change?
honestly:- Nothing, everything happens in God's perfect plan for me. How can we improve on something that is already perfect?

[eleven] if you must be an animal for one day, what would you be?
honestly:- I would love to be an eagle to enjoy what it means to fly about naked

[twelve] ever had a near death experience?
honestly:- Well, considering there are plenty of near death experiences like the world almost exploded. That counts right?

[thirteen] something you do a lot?
honestly:- Surf the web, watch TV series, relax and work

[fourteen] the song stuck in your head?
honestly:- Hey Hey You You, I don't like your PM

[fifteen] who did you copy and paste this from?
honestly:- James

[sixteen] name someone with the same birthday as you?
honestly:- No one I know

[seventeen] when was the last time you cried?
honestly:- Can't remember when exactly la. Also I don't want to sound like a girl online

[Eighteen] have you ever sung in front of a large audience?
honestly:- yes of course, just in March 2007 in front of my drunk colleagues. Thank God they were drunk to listen to my horrid voice!

[nineteen] if you could have one super power what would it be?
honestly:- Shape shifter

[twenty] what's the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
honestly:- Their face, usually the eyes first and then see what comes out of her mouth.

[twenty-one] what do you usually order from starbucks?
honestly:- My two favourites, mocha latte (hot) or a mocha frappucino

[twenty-two] what's your biggest secret?
honestly:- I have a secret, that is my secret.

[twenty-three] favorite color?
honestly:- Blue, see the theme of this blog?

[twenty-four] when was the last time you lied?
honestly:- I think I lied too many times to even remember. Now I did say that I liked nasi lemak but in fact I like chicken rice more.

[twenty-five] do you still watch kiddy movies or tv shows?
honestly:- Well, only if there isn't anything showing on the telly.

[twenty-six] what are you eating or drinking at the moment?
honestly:- Drinking 100 plus

[twenty-seven] do you want to learn to speak any other language? if so, what?
honestly:- First up is to learn my native tongue, mandarin. Second, another chinese dialect (hainanese). Other than that, maybe some Italian, Dutch or French

[twenty-eight] what's your favourite smell?
honestly:- Would you believe if I said my own fart? Nah, its McDonald's banana pie!

[twenty-nine] if you could describe your life in ONE word what would it be?
honestly:- Random

[thirty] when was the last time you gave/received a hug?
honestly:- Less than an hour ago

[thirty-one] have you ever been kissed in the rain?
honestly:- No, unless if it is raining and I am indoors.

[thirty-two] what are you thinking about right now?
honestly:- How many more questions I have to answer

[thirty-three] what should you be doing?
honestly:- Sleeping I guess or chilling out since I have an early day ahead tomorrow.

[thirty-four] what was the last thing that made you upset/angry?
honestly:- Some stupid argument

[thirty-five] how often do you pray?
honestly:- Every day and whenever I am desperate and in need. Sounds awful right?

[thirty-six] do you like working in the yard?
honestly:- I don't have a yard

[thirty-seven] if you could have any last name in the world, what would you want?
honestly:- Leo is pretty special already to me

[thirty-eight] do you act differently around your crush?
honestly:- I try to be more patient and loving.

[thirty-nine] name one song that reminds you of an ex?
honestly:- That Japanese song which was sung at JVC. It reminds me of my ex company :S

Anyway, I won't tag anyone but if you feel like writing something about yourself, feel free to post it up on your blog. Now, back to my own personal reading time online.

If only I could do this

2007-08-14T20:19:00.000+08:00

After watching this clip on the net, I found a new desire to play a piece such as this.

glumbert.com - Guitar never seemed so hard

If you are a serious musician, you must check this out. Else, just check it out for the sake of checking it out.

How do you react in an Emergency?

2007-08-07T18:49:00.000+08:00

When facing an emergency situation, the first reaction one might do is look around for a phone or pull out your hand phone. The next thing one might do is then dial the wrong number! Apparently I find this article a little weird.

A customer at the shop said the old man had just called out to one of the workers in the shop for a cup of coffee and suddenly went limp before falling on the floor.
A police team from the Muar police station was rushed to the shop to investigate the incident before taking the body to the Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital for a post-mortem.

If you see a man falling on the floor and being completely limp, would you call the police or call the ambulance? Looks like the people in the coffee shop did the former.

Either that, the people in the coffee shop must have thought that the old man was trying to make a run without paying his tab.

Read the full article here.

Photo Updates

2007-08-06T00:29:00.000+08:00

Here are some photo updates for the mean time. I took these pictures at KLCC Park but from the comments I've been getting about them, I definitely need to improve.

More updates to come soon!

8 Things About Me - I've been tagged

2007-07-27T11:43:00.000+08:00

If you noticed in my previous post, Gracey has tagged me with a title called, "8 Things About Me". Well there are rules to it and I would have to tag 8 other people, etc, etc, I've decided just to write 8 things about myself and tag the other people next time.

I've recently found a passion in photography but am seriously trying not let my over addictive impulsive nature to control me and buy so many equipment such as a new camera body, lenses and other items. I need to learn how to master with what I have at the moment first before buying more stuff. Favourite subjects are nature/landscapes and street photography.
I'm currently lost between wanting to upgrade my old PC or getting a MacBook or MacBook Pro altogether. I know that I would only use a computer to watch movies and TV series as well as practice my post processing with Photoshop and Lightroom.
I just renewed my bet with Seng to see if I can lose weight till I reach 77kg by next year January 2008.
I've just signed up to run for the Mizuno Wave Run (10km) in September, and I need to submit my form for the Subang Jaya 10km run at the end of August (26th).
I love to eat "char siew & siew yuk" rice at the chicken rice shop in Sri Kembangan.
I play the guitar once in a while now depending on how much time I have. I have quite a number of guitars at home but my favourite one would be my acoustic guitar.
I am a rather techy kind of guy, not too detailed on programming stuff and web based stuff but more on a higher level scale.
I love to drink coffee, mainly from Starbucks. My favourite coffee from Starbucks would either be the Banana Frappuccino on a hot day or a nice hot Mocha Latte on a cold day.

Well now you know a little bit more about me.

When the Thought of Fear Grips You!

2007-07-25T13:07:00.001+08:00

Sometimes we have a fixed image or mindset which send forth a feeling of fear. For example, when we think of prison or a nightmare which we may have, this thought causes us to fear things and this feeling of fear can grip a person and cause intense emotional stress. So how do we overcome it?

Let this video below do the teaching for you!

With this in mind, we don't have to fear anything!

Fun at the Rainforest World Music Festival 2007?

2007-07-24T10:14:00.000+08:00

From my past two posts it is rather obvious that I was at the Rainforest World Music Festival 2007 held at the Cultural Village in Sarawak, which is about a 30 minute drive from Kuching.

The crowd was mad!

Of course as expected, I am sure there will be plenty of people blogging about it but here is another person's account of the festival. Me and my friends took a night flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching Sarawak aboard our trusty low cost carrier airlines, Air Asia. The flight was on time and thank God it wasn't delayed.

By the time we touched down in Kuching, we took a cab straight to our Inn where we quickly dumped our stuff and headed out to a nearby "makan" area to grab some supper. We ended up eating by the waterfront which was pretty cooling but of course, the food wasn't that superb.

Everyone was hungry!

The food was rather interesting because they served something called "Nasi Lemak Goreng" which I thought was some concoction thought up by one of my friend back in PJ.

But enough about food, let's get back to the Rainforest Music Festival. Arriving at 11am at the Cultural Village (yes, our good friend Andrew thought that the workshops started at 9.00am), I was extremely surprised to see the place entirely empty!

No crowd at all?

People were setting things up around the place, and it was pretty clear that we were there too early! On the bright side, this allowed us to actually tour around the cultural village itself to take a look at the traditional homes and enjoy the peace and quietness.

Well after 10 minutes of doing so, I got a little bored with that and was feeling quite tired from all the walking and heat. It isn't too fun walking about lugging a huge bag filled with mineral water and my camera.

How Ulu was this?

The workshops only started at 2.00pm and there was plenty of time to kill. By the time the workshops started, I decided to attend the one which was located in a super packed theater with minimal air conditioning which made the entire place so stuffy that I nodded off a couple of times.

Guitar workshop

The only workshop I enjoyed was about guitars and stringed instruments, well, they were mainly guitars there. It was truly refreshing to see the various styles and music from different cultures, it really broadened my view of how the guitar is played in different continents!

Now when you decide to go to a event way too early, this is what you find, an empty stage.

After a couple more hours, more people start to arrive at the place.
And of course, by the time the concert starts, the place is extremely packed!

Till the next post, more pictures and stories to come!

Related posts:
- Kuching, Sarawak - Part 2
- Kuching, Sarawak

Check out the entire photo collection here.

Kuching, Sarawak - Part 2

2007-07-21T23:41:00.000+08:00

I've finally gotten around to converting one set of photos from my point and shoot camera and uploading it to Picasa Web albums as well. Well, its not much but I plan to convert the photos I took with my Nikon D40 later tonight to JPEG form.

Kuching, Sarawak

2007-07-17T23:38:00.000+08:00

I finally managed to edit a couple of photos which I took over the last weekend when I was in Kuching to attend the 10th Annual Rain Forest Music Festival. Work has been extremely tiring and busy for me so trying to find the time to edit these photos while working on a super slow PC (it takes about 5-10minutes to edit one photo due to the slow loading times) has not been easy.

This shot was taken at the Kuching Waterfront during the day time on my final day in Kuching.

Another shot taken at the Waterfront during the day time on my final day in Kuching. I waited for the boat to come in a little closer before I took the shot. Man, do they travel slowly on water.

Took a picture of this flower outside the Inn where we stayed on Green Hill Road. The beauty of the flower cannot be compared to the "beauty" of the surrounding area. For those who are from Sarawak and is familiar with that area would know what I mean.

A shot of Hilton during the afternoon after visiting the Chinese Museum. I thought it was a pretty good shot and I was wondering if I could sell it to Hilton. Nah, they probably got more interesting pictures of the hotel to use.

I took this last shot as I just arrived in Kuching on the first night, after flying with Air Asia from Kuala Lumpur. I can't remember why I took the shot, but oh well, here it is.

Stay tuned for more pictures to come of the Rain Forest Festival!

Malaysians and Our Manners

2007-07-17T10:01:00.000+08:00

Every single day we hear about incidents of road rage, rude counter staff, unhelpful people and poor quality of service. We pry our noses in, give some comment and complain about the "state" we are in but in evident, are we doing anything about it or are we just going to sit back and watch our nation continue this rut while we again give our "criticism"?

Tackling the problem at its root is always the method one might approach but how sure are we really tackling it at its root or could it be another branch in disguise? Two colleagues of mine, one from the land where men wear skirts and one from a small town, said that they take the highway instead of the ever congested LDP to travel to work everyday.

Why is that? Well the reasoning that both of them gave was that, on the highway, traffic is clear, they can drive as fast as they can (within the speed limit of course) without the worry of an impending traffic jam. Because of that they felt less stressed out when they arrived at work and seem to be in a more cheerful mood.

So why isn't everyone taking the clearer route? Well as usual, the clearer and faster route comes with an expensive price to pay. The travel distance is longer and the toll charges are crazy. The normal route on the LDP would cost RM6.40 for two ways but on the highway, it costs RM10.80 and not to forget the extra petrol charges as well. Is this a money issue now?

On a day to day basis, it is quite pricey to fork out RM10.80 on toll charges a day for the usual paper pusher sitting in an office located so far away from his/her home. So, they travel through the usual traffic and hopes to get in to the office in time before their bosses starts shouting at them for being late.

The freedom to choose how we live one's life is truly ours, whether we want it to be one of that is less stressful and less complicated. People tend to show their bad sides when they are physically and mentally stressed out or worn out. The entire working culture here causes many people to endure a lot of stress causing a breed of workers who are easily getting burnt out and how do they release their stress and tensions? On the road? Who knows?

Even with the emergence of our local public transportation system, traffic jams are unavoidable. We can complain and complain wondering why buses take so long to arrive and when they do, they usually come in groups of three, but ever consider that the fact that the drivers are constantly plagued by shoddy equipment and trying to get through traffic jams while being under the pressure of keeping to schedule?

How can one stay relaxed and stress free? I think if that is the case, we live in a dream world. But what we can do is make choices for ourselves that leads us to a better life, one that is less stressful but of course that comes with a price. We got to truly ask ourselves what is it that we want out of life? Is the stress, pain and suffering worth it? Have we ever sat down and thought of that?

What is your Transformers name?

2007-07-12T15:41:00.000+08:00

With such a huge and growing success, Transformers the movie was superb and two weeks after the official launch, cinemas remain to be packed and even GSC Gold Class tickets were fully sold out. So much for a movie which impacted the lives of those who were kids in the 80s and 90s.

Of course that is not the end of it, I've even heard of collectibles being sold at a high price on eBay with the old Optimus Prime toy going for quite a hefty sum. Well, being as broke as I can be, I would just have to resort to some freebie offering on the web with any sort of relation to the famous Transformers brand itself.

After scouring through the web (to be really frank I stumbled upon this), I found my Transformers name. Sounds interesting right? So here I go inserting names and being the cheeky little bolehland kid, I decided to try out more than just my name.

Mark = Electrostreak (Autobot)

It seems that I am destined to be a goody goody guy. But I think Electrostreak sounds weird, I wonder what are my special abilities though.

Leo = Battlebolt (Decepticon)

It seems that my family name is way cooler! I wonder if this shows my true evil nature? Haha, who knows about that.

Since GMC were the car sponsors for Transformers the movie, I wonder how would it fair with our national cars.

Proton (our wonderful national car maker) = Magnoburst (Decepticon)

Sounds just about right, driving a Proton is rather scary as it might burst into flames when you crash!

Perodua = Magnoblast (Decepticon)

Wow, a great match as Perodua has been kicking Proton around in the local car market by capturing significant market share.

The kid inside of me tempted me to type even more funny words so I decided to try with the word "butt" and the results are......

butt = Cyberquake

I guess this refers to someone whose butt is as huge as an asteroid...

If you want to have some laughs yourself, check out this link here.

Its Raining in the Forest??

2007-07-11T08:56:00.000+08:00

Life for me has become increasingly busy and stressing at times but I am making do with all of that especially with a huge super milestone for the project I am coordinating occurring next week on the 18th of July. At the mean time, I will be trying to rush through quite a bit of work so that I can complete them before I fly off to Kuching, Sarawak tomorrow night (yes I will be attending the Sarawak Rain Forest Music Festival!!). With any luck, I can complete my work by then and ensure that I have everything ready to go forward.

I have been looking forward for this trip which we planned out since the Charge Up! Conference which I attend sometime back in March. Unfortunately my project Go-Live was then set to the 18th of July which is next week thus causing me to be a little stressed out at the moment. As they always said, work will be work but I can't help it thinking of all the issues and problems that always seem to come up at the very last moment.

On another totally unrelated matter, I won't be migrating my blog. The features found on Wordpress was rather lacking and it frustrated me quite a bit. I like to have a chat box on my blog but unfortunately it isn't available or maybe I am just too daft to set it up there. Until then, any sort of blog migration will be kept on hold.

Anyhow, I managed to finally upload the photos I took at the CYZ Leaders Retreat at MBS, you can view the photos here.

Drowning

2007-07-03T10:16:00.000+08:00

Currently drowning with too much work. Need time to relax. Blog on hold at the moment, migration could be in progress...

Of Marmalade and Quality Times

2007-06-20T13:01:00.000+08:00

Last week, I really couldn't wait for Sunday to arrive. Keeping my bubbling enthusiasm inside within myself, I was actually waiting for a surprise someone special promised me. Of course being the manly man I am (haha flabby man more like it :P), I kept my excitement hidden and at the same time, looked pretty cool about it.

Anyhow, Sunday came and it started pretty early in the morning with a ZL meeting at 9am, followed by service at church and then lunch! Wondering where I will be heading for lunch, I finally got a clue that it would be at Bangsar Village 2. After a quick drive over to Bangsar, I stepped out of my car in excitement and when the lift opened, I was quickly amazed by this new place which I've never been to, Marmalade.

Chicken Stew

A quick look at the menu and I decided to try out the Lamb Shank with brown rice while munZ took the chicken stew (picture above). Both dishes looked great and scrumptious and it tasted as good as it looked good. I tried taking more pictures from a different angle but the lighting and my IXUS 70 camera couldn't just cut it . Now where was my D40 when I needed it.

Lamb Shank with Brown Rice

The lamb shank with brown rice was extremely filling and it was great. I've had some wonderful lamb shank in the past (back in the days when I was in the UK) and this tasted pretty good. For a more comprehensive review about the food over there, you can head over to "a whiff of lemongrass" and "masak-masak" which are two dedicated food bloggers. I'm not much of a food critic and can't tell the difference between marinara sauce and seafood sauce.

The surprise really made me happy and I was filling full and contented and extremely happy and joyous. Activities after helped me settle my stomach especially after such a heavy meal like that. The shops in Bangsar Village 2 are way better than the original Bangsar Village.

After lunch, I went and watched Music and Lyrics which was a good movie and might probably write a short review on it. Had a lot of fun watching the movie too. Sunday ended with a good family dinner at Chilli's to celebrate Father's Day , the place wasn't too crowded and we managed to get seats pretty quickly as well.

All in all, last weekend was a blast!

My Favourite Chicken Rice Stall

2007-06-19T23:29:00.000+08:00

If there is one place I frequent the most, it would definitely not be McDonalds or Starbucks. Actually it is one of my favourite stalls near my workplace. It is my favourite chicken rice stall. Well I don't usually eat just chicken of course, pork is a definite yes to my ever saddening diet because Cyberjaya is such a lousy place for good food.

Located in Sri Kembangan, near Jusco

If you asked me why do I love that place so much, I really can't tell you why. The food is excellent because there is also a mixed rice stall in there where I can still get some dosage of vegetables and fried egg and more fried pork!

I frequent the place quite often, well at least once a week that the chicken rice lady knows me pretty well. All I have to do is tell her how many people are in my group that day and she would just bring the food to us.

Super chicken rice lady in the middle

I really have to salute the chicken rice lady as she recently gave birth to her baby (I should ask her what sex her baby was), and previously while she was pregnant, she would still go about and serving chicken rice. Really, she always looked as if her baby was too heavy but she would go about serving people.

Now if you are wondering why there aren't any photos of the food here, lets just say that it is that nice that my colleagues can't wait to dig into the food. If you ever want directions I would be more than happy to give them to you. If you are ever stuck in Cyberjaya and you are craving for some chicken rice or good food for that matter, drop me a message and I will definitely guide you to this wonderful stall.

My colleagues think that there are drugs in the chilli because I consume so much of it and every time when we drive back, I seem a little "high". But then again, I think its because I had just fulfilled my pork cravings.

Of Sales and Quality times

2007-06-18T11:13:00.000+08:00

I had an awesome weekend and in the words of Barney from the CBS TV series, How I Met Your Mother, it was "Legen....no wait for it....dary!". It all started out with me crawling out of bed at an insanely hour on Saturday morning after spending the night chatting on the phone. Of course a wonderful wake up call did the trick and I sped off to KLCC where I had a meeting there at my office.

Climbing up Tower 2 of KLCC was not an easy task going through the usual security check, figuring out why the stupid express lift wouldn't shut the doors and figuring out from the 41st floor why doesn't the lift register odd-numbered floors. So I had to climb down a floor and took the lift which only went to even-numbered floors, took a lift to a floor below my intended destination and then stepped out of the lift and pressed the up button so that it would enable the so-called even-numbered lift to travel to odd-numbered floors as well.

Entering my office, I dashed towards the pantry where the coffee machine was located only to see that the machine was down for maintenance. There goes my plan for a dose of caffeine until my eye spied a couple of tins of coffee mixture. "Manual mixture this time" went through my mind as I happily stirred sugar, cream and coffee into a coffee cup.

Sipping on coffee, the meeting went by pretty quickly and by the time the shops at the mall below were open, I was there at Isetan with munZ, browsing through the items which were on sale. The sale was pretty good and I managed to buy three items for work, a shirt and a set of cuff lings. Next on the list was Marks and Spencer where I spied a couple of nice shirts and ties but there wasn't any sale going on at the moment.

A quick lunch break at Madam Kwan's was good, ate Nasi Lemak over there but I realised that the nasi lemak served at Old Town Kopitiam tasted slightly nicer. The problem with Madam Kwan's nasi lemak was that it missed a fundamental ingredient which was the deep friend "ikan bilis" and peanuts.

Taking photos at KLCC park is not an easy task because I was using my point and shoot camera this time and I couldn't fit the entire twin towers into the view unless I stood super far away. Also its not easy to take pictures of me and munZ whilst holding the camera as well. Lets just say I got shaky hands.

A quick walk through the park and I arrived at the outdoor car park which was where I parked my car in the morning. Next on my agenda, my cell member's surprise birthday party which started at night and I had to buy ice for them. Trying to carry 5 bags of ice in the rain wasn't the easiest thing to do and I got soaked in the process.

The party was quite well planned out with caterers, decorations and a blue theme which I totally forgot about but thank goodness I was already wearing a blue shirt and blue jeans. Food was aplenty and the card/poster was pretty cool. The concept was to actually take pictures of the guests who were there, print out the photos and stick them on a huge decorated cardboard and everyone writes the message in there.

By night time I was totally wiped out and I really was looking forward to getting a good night's rest. Sunday was going to be awesome as well but right now, I am just too tired to blog about it.

Till then...

p.s. All images shown on this post was not taken by me and I "borrowed" some of them from images.google.com

Of Trinkets and Gifts

2007-06-12T16:24:00.000+08:00

So whats a guy got to do to find a nifty little gift for their girlfriends or maybe something nice for their mums, sisters, cousins, family members who like jewelry or little trinkets? Prowling through countless of shops and stalls around the city is probably going to kill you because your feet would have been sore and you get pushed around by angry mobs scouring through the streets.

Why not head over to this place called Sze Accessories and do your picking and shopping there? Currently the official website is not up yet but I can already see wonderful products there for sale. Not something I can wear myself but definitely a great gift (from a guys point of view that is) for your loved ones.

At the prices they are being sold at, its a steal and worth every penny spent on it. So why not head over there and start your shopping! I'm saving my time by shopping at home, wouldn't want to bump into you all out there with that angry look on your faces ;)

Image source: Sze Accessories

Something interesting about me

2007-06-11T14:58:00.000+08:00

I got this survey over at GooGurl's page and so I decided to fill it up and blog about it.

1) Name one person who made you smile last night.
Oooh....that's a secret ;)

2)What were you doing at 8:00 this morning?
I was still sleeping in bed reading an sms. Yes I can read in my sleep :P

3) What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
I was sitting at my desk in the office.

4) What was something that happened to you in 2006?
I changed companies. Finally left that God forsaken place in Shah Alam, JVC!

5)What is the last thing you said aloud?
"I need an XS sized shirt, I love body hugging jerseys!" - (said this while lining up to collect my sports jersey at the pantry 20 minutes ago)

6) How many different things did you drink today?
Water, Nescafe White Coffee, Old Town KopiTiam white coffee and more water.

7) What color is your hairbrush?
I don't own a hairbrush, I got short hair.

8) What was the last thing you paid for?
Lunch at Old Town Kopitiam, Cyberjaya.

9) Where were you last night?
Sitting at home, watching Greys Anatomy and chatting on the phone.

10) What color is your front door?
Dark brown.

11) Where do you keep your change?
At home, in a box which sits on top of my bedside table.

12) What is the weather like today?
Good, not too hot and not too cloudy.

13) What is the best ice cream flavor?
Chocolate Strawberry.

14) What is something you are excited about?
Everything!

15) Do you want to cut your hair?
Maybe in 2-3 weeks time.

16) Are you over the age of 25?
Nopes, I am exactly 25 ahhaha.

17) Do you talk a lot?
Yeah, my faculty at CAS said that I was full of crap. In my defense, I thought I had very "interesting points" to put forward. Note the air quotes :P

18) Do you watch The O.C.?
Nopes, only when they show it on tele and I have absolutely nothing else to watch. Longest view time, 15minutes.

19) Do you know anyone named Steven?
Yes I do in fact.

20) Do you make up your own words?
Not really, do I sound like Willy Wonka to you?

21) Are you typically a jealous person?
Yes, I can be insanely jealous sometimes.

22) Name a friend whose name starts with the letter “A”
Adeboyega. I am not kidding you!

23) Name a friend whose name starts with the letter “K”
Katherine Keta Kones

24) Who’s the 1st person on your received calls list?
Oooh....that's a secret ;)

25) What did the last text message you received say?
Something about someone being 3 months pregnant :P

26) Do you chew on your straws?
Yes, I do that when I am bored.

27) Do you have curly hair?
Nopes, not interested!

28) Where is the next place you’re going?
To the gym downstairs.

29) Who is the rudest person in your life?
Rudeness cannot be measured. Usually if they are rude, I just slap some sense into them.

30) What is the last thing you ate?
Kaya and butter toast and two half boiled eggs for lunch.

31) Is marriage in your future?
Of course

32) What is the best movie you’ve seen in the past two weeks?
Shrek 3, but it was a tough choice choosing between that, Oceans 13 and Pirates of the Carribean.

33) Is there anyone you like right now?
Yeah of course. All my friends!

34) When was the last time you did the dishes?
If dishes meaning my coffee cup and water tumbler then just now when I got my coffee refill in the pantry.

35) Are you currently depressed?
Not at all.

36) Did you cry today?
Nopes, can't think of when was the last time I cried. (please don't kick my in the groin to prove a point!)

37) Why did you answer and post this?
I haven't done a survey in a while already.

38) Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
Whoever reads this and blogs.

Kanna Curry House

2007-06-10T18:34:00.000+08:00

It was a wonderful Saturday evening when Jon and I decided to go eat at a place called Kanna Curry House somewhere in section 17 and I thought, wow, banana leaf rice. Something I haven't eaten in a long while. We agreed to meet there for some nosh and after digging through my memory banks (yes my brain), I remembered someone telling me where it was (located somewhere near the Rothmans roundabout).

After reaching the restaurant, Jon arrived slightly after and we headed in. The first thing I said to him was, "Wow, the food smells great here. Oh, did you know this is my first time here?".

And that was when it all happened. Jon being Jon, he started throwing a fit especially for a PJ boy to not come and have banana leaf rice at Kanna Curry house.

In my defence.......well actually I didn't have any defence. Nothing came out of my mouth, so I said, lets eat. Using a strategy known as "the diversion". I mean what best to fill your opponent's mouth with mouth savouring food than to go head on and debate about which curry house is the best and where can you find excellent banana leaf rice.

But to be perfectly honest, Jon was right in every word he said. The food tasted great, looked great and smelt awesome. The fried chicken and the squids were fried to perfection. If any of you decide to go there again, please give me a call and I will gladly bring you there.

More shots from Teluk Batik

2007-06-06T22:00:00.000+08:00

As promised, here are two more shots I took while I was in Teluk Batik. The first one was taken somewhere at Kampung Koh while having breakfast in the morning. The second one was taken at the famous Sitiawan "Gong Pian" shop.

Some funky tasting noodles, yummmm!

Guy peeling onions

Ok, I got a lot of more photos to edit and I definitely don't have that much time to do that.

Sunrise At Teluk Batik

2007-06-05T23:50:00.000+08:00

Here is a picture I took at Teluk Batik over the weekend. More to come, my PC is too slow to do quick processing.

Sunrise at Marina Cove

Of Traffic Jams and Impatientness

2007-06-05T13:47:00.000+08:00

When I read in the newspapers that they were going to widen the highway stretches and the project should be completed by next year, it reminded me of the crawl I faced on Friday night and Saturday. Friday night was when I left PJ at 9.30pm towards Teluk Batik and it took me 5 hours to get there.

As soon as I hit the NKVE and went pass Sungai Buloh, the jam started there and it crawled on all the way to Bidor. I was glad that once after exiting the highway, driving towards Teluk Intan and Sitiawan was so much better. By the time I arrived at Marina Cove, it was already 2.30am. By the time I got to bed, it was 3.30am.

On Sunday, the traffic was worse. It took me approximately 8 hours from Teluk Batik to reach back to PJ. Crawling through the ultra congested NKVE, I could only wish that the road expansion would have been completed earlier.

Right now, I am just too tired to edit the photos which I took during the trip.

Bah, traffic jams, give me a bullet train anytime...

Boleh Cakap English?

2007-06-01T10:36:00.000+08:00

The rise of globalization and the push for an integrated market has really taken shifted a paradigm mindset in terms of how we continue to pursue with the use of English as the main medium in the business world. Thanks to that, trying to converse with my colleague in Bahasa is really tricky as I can't seem to remember many words already (oh the shame!).

Well, what I heard today sort of made me realised that Bahasa is not too behind as well. It all started with me having to work in the KL office today located in KLCC. Being all gung-ho and ready to get out of the doldrums of Cyberjaya, I took the LRT and arived at the office earlier than usual only to find out that all the available hot desks were unavailable!

Ok, so I thought I would just sit in the pantry area and connect to the Wi-Fi and then my colleague told me that the Wi-Fi service is unavailable as well. That took the cake and I then decided to head downstairs to Starbucks to work there (pays to work in KLCC I guess).

So here I am sipping my coffee while connected to the local hotspot when an Australia couple sat at the table next to me (I guessed that they were Australians from their slang and their dress sense, beach wear in KLCC). Anyhow I was happily minding my own business when the Aussie dude got a phone call.

"Hello, good morning"

(some voice over the phone which I obviously cannot hear)

"I'm sorry, but could you speak in English?"

(some voice over the phone which I obviously cannot hear)

By this time I was guessing it was some wrong number and the person on the other line was either speaking in another local language.

"Boleh cakap dalam English?"

That caught my ear, he knew how to speak Malay? Wow, I was impressed that he was rather fluent in that.

"Saya tak boleh dengar atau faham kamu, boleh cakap dalam English?"

Amazing, that was definitely what went through my mind.

"Maaf, saya tak boleh faham, mungkin salah nombor" and he ended the call there.

I was just blown away. Interesting fact I learned today with most tourists, either he has been in Indonesia or working for a long time now in Malaysia to understand the local language and to speak it fluently.

What-eva?!!

2007-05-31T11:43:00.000+08:00

Ever wondered what is the most irritating answer you might get from someone? Check out this video!

Thanks Jon for sending me this link! LOL

Of Guitars and Practice - Part 1

2007-05-30T15:56:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday was an extremely fun day for me, went to church in the morning, headed to Ikano for brunch, shopped a little bit at Ikea and finally relaxed with a nice cup of coffee at The Curve. That took up the entire morning and afternoon and I decided I wanted to do something which I have been too lazy to do for a long while, restring my three of my guitars at home.

What's the scope of this action?
Electric guitar - Les Paul Gibson Studio Gem
Acoustic guitar - Talman Inter City
Classical guitar - Yamaha CG100

To be honest, the very thought of that made me want to procrastinate as I knew it would take quite a bit of time because I am definitely not good at restringing guitars. So I thought, why not give it a go and to do that I needed to gear up.

Heading straight to 1 Utama, I remembered seeing certain items at the Guitar Collection I could get to help me. So into the shop I went and picked up the following items.

1) A set of Elixir strings, I bought a medium set.

2) A set of D'Addario Pro Arte strings (EJ45C - Normal Tension Silverplated Wound Clear Nylon)

3) A Planet Waves Pro winder - definitely a must have to improve stringing efficiency! This is definitely a God send, the time it took me to restring two strings on my Les Paul, I took the same amount of time to restring the remaining 4 strings on the Les Paul and my acoustic guitar as well!

4) A Planet Waves Lemon Oil - something to clean my fret board with to sustain the wood on the fret.

In total, the entire cost came up to about RM160+ with the strings alone costing more than RM100. To me it is an investment since the last time I changed the strings on my classical guitar was more than 10 years ago and the last time I took my old acoustic guitar out of the case ever since it flew in from Sheffield was 2 years ago, I guessed I have procrastinated long enough.

To be continued.......

These cards tell a certain story

2007-05-30T00:41:00.000+08:00

As the title says, these 4 pictures tell a certain story of whats been going on recently and it has been a rather interesting journey for me.

First Image: Dropping a bomb maybe?

Second Image: A head on collision, with destiny?

Third Image: Should I change my mind?

Fourth Image: Definitely not, its time to game on!

Makes no sense at all? Oh well, who says life is not complicated?

Disclaimer: I did not take any of these pictures nor made them, I just scanned some copies of postcards

Early Morning Frustrations

2007-05-24T11:40:00.000+08:00

Just when I thought that losing 5 games in a row at badminton on Tuesday night was frustrating enough, watching Liverpool play AC Milan was much worse. Why? Because I sacrificed sleep to watch the match in the wee hours of the morning only to be welcomed by a disappointing and lackluster performance by Liverpool.

I could say that Liverpool seemed to look like the better side with more shots at goal but their accuracy was a totally different subject. Wasted efforts and wide shots seemed to be the life long mission for Liverpool's players.

Without the emergence of a black sheep that is Steven Gerrard within the ranks of the Liverpool team, the team seemed lost and mistake after mistake emerged as they try to bring the ball past Dida. Zenden should have been removed earlier as I thought he played horrendously while Gerrard was pretty much quiet most of the time.

I can only rant and rant about this team but if Benitez does not do anything about Liverpool and their players (I am hoping that the new owners are willing to spend on quality players), we can only see Liverpool fighting for a 3rd spot again next season as Man Utd and Chelsea continue to rampage the Premier League.

On another note, I read an article on the web that Proton Dealers are having a tough time because apparently the implementation of the National Automotive Policy early last year, in addition to the tightening of hire purchase loan approvals by Bank Negara, had further affected sales.

My take is that we are moving towards a globalism and fighting on near-fair grounds against competing car makers, Proton falls extremely short in almost every segment except for price here in Malaysia. But that has already been shot at by the emergence of Perodua.

To no end will we see the decline for Proton Dealers unless Proton itself starts to bolster its already sorry line-up of cars and start to manufacture quality cars to compete in an ever competitive market.

Life is Beautiful

2007-05-22T16:02:00.000+08:00

Indeed this song has been playing non-stop on my iPod thanks to Aunty Ooi for introducing this song to me. The lyrics just speak right straight to me, "Life is beautiful, but its complicated. We barely make it, we don't need to understand it, there are miracles". It just boggles the mind that such a simple statement can make complicated and stressful things disappear. Well not entirely disappear but you feel less stressed about it. Either that or I am just living in a dream world right now.

Life is Beautiful - Vega4

Life is beautiful
We live until we die

When you run into my arms
We steal a perfect moment
Let the monsters see you smile
Let them see you smiling

Do I hold you too tightly?
When will the hurt kick in?

Life is beautiful
But it's complicated
We barely make it
We don't need
To understand
There are miracles
Miracles

Yeah, life is beautiful
Our hearts
They beat and break

When you run away from harm
Will you run back into my arms?
Like you did when you were young
Will you come back to me?

And I will hold you tightly
When the hurting kicks in

Life is beautiful
But it's complicated
We barely make it
We don't need
To understand
There are miracles
Miracles

Stand
Where you are
We let all these moments
Pass us by

It's amazing where I'm standing
There's a lot that we can give
This is ours just for the moment
There's a lot that we can can give

It's amazing where I'm standing
There's a lot that we can give
This is ours just for the moment
There's a lot that we can give

Looking Forward

2007-05-21T11:14:00.000+08:00

Quick update:
Do my eyes deceive me? Is Dell offloading their 30" LCD Monitor for a measly RM3,999? Wow, absolutely amazing. Check it out here.

Ever had that time and feeling whereby your mind seems to be inter twined in between both space and time? The feeling of hopelessness mixed with fear and anxiety wandering about in darkness only to see a ray of hope in the horizon, beaming through and cutting through the very shadow that enshrouds our vision?

I wondered why I felt lost, maybe it was because I watched all of the episodes of Lost season 3 over the last couple of days. Made me even more confused because someone told me that season 3 would be the last season and the answers will be revealed but no, it wasn't! So much for finding out the answers to that ever complex series.

What I am looking forward to this week is watching Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End in the cinema this Wednesday together with the rest of my mates.

I was surprised that I managed to get tickets last night for the screening at GSC 1 Utama. Hip hip hooray for GSC's E-ticketing service! Always a loyal customer of that service, buying tickets at the very convenience of my home.

And right after the movie, there is the match of the year, the Champions League finals between Liverpool and AC Milan! Come one Reds!

Another thing which I am really looking forward to is the upcoming release of Starcraft 2. Well it isn't coming anytime soon with rumours saying that the Beta version is only coming out at the end of the year.

Recently announced last week, the hype has started and Blizzard would be trying to fill a pretty large pair of shoes that is Starcraft which has become sort of an icon in terms of RTS gaming. So much so, the screenshots of the in-game graphics weren't exactly that appealing to me because it looks pretty much the same and I was hoping for some uber graphics since technology has advanced pretty much but I guess it is Blizzard's style to concentrate on game play rather than graphics intensive games.

Of course there are other things which I am looking forward to at the moment, such as eating chicken rice for lunch together with my colleagues and collecting my guitar back from the Acoustic Shack. I really hope that it wouldn't cost me an arm and a leg to get it fixed (apparently my guitar's neck has warped a little and I was quoted about RM120 to have it fixed back). Oh well, it better sound good when I get it back. I really miss playing with it after two weeks of not having it around.

Morning ramblings

2007-05-16T10:43:00.000+08:00

Quick update:
I just realised that the biggest match of the year is coming up. Come on Reds, its about time we showed Milan that we have the better team and that the last match was not a fluke in Istanbul.

The weather this morning was absolutely superb, a light drizzle, a cool breeze and a wet road for me to drive through. Definitely one that made me think three times about getting out of bed and getting ready for work. Thanks to the rain, getting up was the most difficult task for me this morning.

My usual morning routine would be to get up, get changed, pack my things and drink my juice (some funny blend of carrots, celery and apple?), today I totally forgot to drink my juice and I opted to stop by McDonald's for a hash brown (130 calories!) to munch on. I even stopped by the Shell petrol kiosk to grab a tin of Nescafe before heading off to the Damansara toll.

Traffic on the Elite was pretty smooth, it would really take a lot to slow it down (well it was rather heavy but once I passed the Subang exit, everything was completely smooth sailing). Also I happened chance upon a post on Gracey's blog and thought I would give it a go as well. Results are as shown below, not an entirely accurate survey because how in the world would a program would know how my soul really looks like if they only have 5 questions to answer!

What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are a warm hearted and open minded person. It's easy for you to forgive and forget.

You are a very grounded, responsible, and realistic person. People may not want to hear the truth from you, but they're going to get it.

You see yourself with pretty objective eyes. How you view yourself is almost exactly how other people view you.

Your near future is likely to be filled with great successes and accomplishments. You just need to figure out how to get there.

For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust.
Inside the Room of Your Soul

But since it says nice things about me, I believe it :P

Pre-U Getaway Photos

2007-05-13T23:11:00.000+08:00

I've finally decided to sit down and learn how to edit photos using some online tutorials which I did find pretty useful as well as my stack of Digital Camera Malaysia magazines. Proved to be quite useful or maybe my pictures could do with a little bit more work in terms of post processing.

Anyway, J-mes has been commenting or asking me where the photos are so here are some of them which I picked randomly from the entire collection of photos I took in the period of about 6 hours. Since I drove there alone, I had my new companion in my car to keep me company on the way there.

Of course I needed some shades as well because the sun was shining directly right into my eyes.

Also thanks to me being sleep deprived, this is the best thing that could keep me awake as well.

One of the games which was ongoing when I arrived on the scene.

Winners posing for something, not too sure what :P

Interesting host I took, trying to get emphasis on the sky. Maybe I could have edited the sky nicer.

The games organizer getting his just reward

Chicken little, hoping that the sky doesn't fall on his head.

The super sifus!

Well these are all the shots which I managed to edit but if you want to see the entire collection (unedited), I've uploaded them into my Picasa Web Album, click on the link below to access it.

Yesterdays by Switchfoot

2007-05-07T11:50:00.000+08:00

Lately I have been listening to this song quite a fair bit on my iPod. The lyrics doesn't seem to suit me of course because I haven't lost anyone for that matter but the tune, arrghhh, its playing through my head quite often. So enjoy, "Yesterdays" by Switchfoot.

SWITCHFOOT - Oh! Gravity
"Yesterdays"

Flowers cut and brought inside
Black cars in a single line
Your family in suits and ties
And you're free

The ache I feel inside
Is where the life has left your eyes
I'm alone for our last goodbye
But you're free

I remember you like yesterday, yesterday
I still can't believe you're gone, oh...
I remember you like yesterday, yesterday
And until I'm with you, I'll carry on

Adrift on your ocean floor
I feel weightless, numb, and sore
A part of you in me is torn
And you're free

I woke from a dream last night
I dreamt that you were by my side
Reminding me I still had life
In me

I'll carry on

Every lament is a love song
Yesterday, yesterday
I still can't believe you're gone
So long my friend, so long

p.s. I just realised that this song seems to be a rather sad song and talks about a passing of someone. In any way, the lyrics does not reflect what I feel right now but I just like the tune of the song!

Half a Weekend Away

2007-05-07T11:03:00.000+08:00

The weekend sort of flew by for me, considering that I start my weekend on Friday nights with the usual cell group and then leading up all the way to Sunday night. This time, I was stuck with quite a fair bit of work on Friday night causing me to arrive home at about 10pm, only because the office was getting a little stuffy (so much for saving electricity and letting all the employees who work the night shift suffer from a heat stroke!).

In contrast to that, I was of course greeted by my ever cool room (with the air-con turned on of course) and instead of working on some documents, I ended up chilling out instead. A much needed rest from a tiring week. Of course I ended up sleeping quite late on Friday night but with the fact that I could sleep in on Saturday morning.

That led to me waking up super late on Saturday itself; almost close to 12pm but I welcomed the much needed sleep. My plan was to head over to Malaysian Theology Seminary or STM to check out the Pre-U Getaway which started on Friday itself.

Well thanks to me waking up late and running a couple of errands in the afternoon (lunch, buying lunch for my sis, checking out Canaanland for my mum, buying tickets online for the Sarawak Rain Forest Festival), I finally left my place at about 3.30pm and headed towards USJ where I decided to drop my guitar off for de-humidifying at the Acoustic Shack.

After dropping that off, I decided to take an easy and comfortable drive towards Senawang which ended up me being lost trying to find out where in the world the place was. 10 minutes of senseless driving about figuring out that I am definitely going the wrong way, I decided to retrace my route and finally found a small road leading towards the seminary.

Armed with my Nikon D40 with a standard kit lens, a 70-300mm lens and my 50mm F1.8 lens, I went ahead and started snapping shots when the happy campers were playing their tele-match games. Not often do I get to actually take shots of events and I guess it is good practice for me. Unfortunately I do not have any of the photo's yet because Grace borrowed my camera from me to use at a wedding she is attending.

Once I get it back from her, I will definitely post those pictures up. So I stayed in Senawang till about 12am, waiting for uncle and aunty to finish their extremely interesting session on relationships. Of course not without practicing to take some indoor pictures under fluorescent light with the 50mm lens without the use of a flash. I do hope that the pictures turn out well, still managed to shoot most of the shots at 1/60 shutter speed.

The drive back was good, I kept to the speed limit as well as had company so it didn't feel at all lonely and quiet. Took me about an hour to reach back home and traffic was quite smooth along the highway.

Sunday on the other hand was a relaxing day with the usual McGarage in the morning followed by 2nd celebration and then lunch, the sun was searing hot and even in my air-conditioned room, I couldn't take a short nap. So much for my plan to go for a 7km run, I was just too stoned out and irritated that my C&C 3 crashed on me for the 3rd time on the same mission.

Now, I feel the need to do more running because the Pacesetters 15km run is just two weeks away and its a hilly course and I had little training before this. I really need to start tuning my run!

Another Web Album Update

2007-05-02T00:49:00.000+08:00

I am finally in the mood to upload all the pictures which I have taken and are just sitting in my PC. I guess with the help of Picasa it has been a breeze to upload my photos to online web albums.

Capturing Malacca

This album contains several photos I took while I was in Malacca during the Chinese New Year Holidays.

Lake Gardens

This album contains several pictures I took while I was at Lake Gardens in Kuala Lumpur.

Click here to view my entire photo collection.

Quick Update

2007-04-30T11:32:00.000+08:00

Ah the holiday mood has set in but I don't have the time to really enjoy it. So much work to do, not enough time. I've updated a couple of links on the right bar and I am pretty sure Shu Shu will ask me again why I changed my blog template.

3 new photo albums updated and added into my Web albums.

KLRC Inter DTE Bowling

FLARE Outing March

Annual Dinner and Dance

My celebrities look alikes

2007-04-27T17:15:00.000+08:00

http://www.myheritage.com

It's rather interesting that I managed to find out about this funky site from Fun Fun. In a way it is quite funny because I resemble a number of celebrities whom I don't even know. Of course, thanks to Wikipedia, I can find out more about them.

Let's go through the list of celebrities and find out what do I have in common with them.

1) Jessica Harp
She plays the guitar and so do I but not in the same manner.

2) Gael Garcia Bernal
Well, being a Mexican actor, he dated Natalie Portman and I thought she was hot in Episode 1 of Star Wars.

3) Michelle Williams
Actress for Lassie, Baywatch and Home Improvement. I definitely watched those shows when I was growing up. So I guess the more you watch TV the more you end up looking like them.

4) David Beckham
The former footie captain for England, well I do use Brylcreem hair gel but I don't usually reapply it during half time of my futsal matches. Well I guess I do play a decent amount of football. to consider this the link.

5) Jesse McCartney
Interestingly enough I don't attract girls like him but I do love to sing.

6) Dieo Rivera
As a painter I consider him to be an artist and right now I am in the midst of learning how to paint, with my Nikon D40 that is.

7) Daphne Zuniga
This actress once stayed with Meg Ryan as they were trying to start their acting career. Can't find any links to her.

8) Anita Mui
The only Asian celebrity which so happens to be dead! A singer and a pop star, well the only thing I can remember is that I was listening to her songs while I was eating at the Malaysian Kopitiam in London and for the entire time I was there with my friends, her songs were playing on the CD player.

9) Victoria Beckham
Its weird enough that I look like her husband (yeah right, I am being rather positive about this) but to look like her as well? Now that is pretty weird. My only link to her other than me thinking that the Spice Girls were overrated is that I look like David Beckham hahaha. Want to see the Beckhams? Come over to PJ and we can meet :P

Looking for clues at the right spot!

2007-04-23T15:13:00.000+08:00

After a full day of hunting on Saturday, I am totally exhausted and even right now I can feel the effects of it up till now. Being it the first time participating in a treasure hunt, my tactic was that I drove because I felt that I had a good sense of direction and I needed my two other colleagues who had more treasure hunt experience to help solve the clues. In total, 4 of us left Kelana Jaya Seafood Center and ended up 8 hours later at Corus Hotel Port Dickson completely exhausted.

It doesn't really help that it starts at 7.00am and my trusty Toyota Vios has to travel around all day to ferry us around searching for the clues. The route brought us from Kelana Jaya to our first destination which was SS15 in Subang where we spent almost an hour looking for 3 clues. I guess it was rather difficult because no one managed to solve it in the end!

After SS15 we headed towards Kota Kemuning and then finally towards Nilai Utara. After taking a quick break at the Seremban R&R, and receiving the next set of questions, we headed towards the small town of Mambau and from there onwards the clues led us all the way to Port Dickson where we were greeted by a cool sea breeze and warm sand.

The weather was quite good with the exception of a little rain here and there but I managed to trot about on the beach with my camera and took a couple of random shots, some of the people in the area and others of my colleague who was just standing there.

Nominate Louis Pang for best photoblog!

2007-04-21T00:35:00.000+08:00

In case you haven't read about my earlier post about a photography conference which I attended led by Louis Pang, his blog was recently nominated as Best Photography blog at the Blogger's Choice Awards. Do check out his blog and the photos which he has posted up and believe me, you won't regret it.

An extremely humble and down to earth guy and an awesome photographer so head over here and vote for him!

Registration only takes less than 5 minutes, so what are you waiting for? Go ahead and vote for him!

Find out more about Louis and his services here.

Movie Review - Wild Hogs

2007-04-18T15:21:00.001+08:00

Only when men reach the age of 40 do they think of living the life and trying to fight their mid life crisis. How true is that? Well to play to the normal cliche of how middle aged men are portrayed when going through a mid-life crisis, Wild Hogs just shows the true nature of it.

Boasting a star studded cast of Tim Allen (Doug Madsen), John Travolta (Woody Stevens), Martin Lawrence (Bobby Davis), and William H. Macy (Dudley Frank), the movie starts off by showing these four individuals in their own personal life, living in a not too perfect lifestyle where everything may seem fine on the outside but they are crying a river inside. Not entirely satisfied with their life, these guys look for the very thing that changes them from being pussy cats into hungry lions.

The one thing that they all have in common is that the four of them love to ride their bikes and hang out at their local bar. Forming a group and calling themselves the Wild Hogs, they set out every week to have a drink and ride around hoping to find that very adventure deep within their souls. They got rather tired from just riding in their town's national day parade and wanted to do more than just that.

The story begins when Woody (played by John Travolta) was declared a bankrupt and his wife is leaving him. Feeling extremely down in the dumps, he then manages to convince the rest (Dudley, Doug and Bobby) to embark on a road trip all the way to the other end of the country in two weeks just on their bikes.

From there onwards they start their journey with plenty of hope and with their funny and hysterical antics along the way, they found certain bit of trouble with a gang of hells angels. Of course it didn't help that Woody blew up their bar as well. From shy encounters with gay policemen to giving families the wrong impression, their journey is definitely far from boring.

Of course a comedy wouldn't be without a little love interest especially with Dudley who has trouble with women and ends up falling in love with a local bar owner in a small town where Sheriffs were hired based on availability rather than qualification. From there on, the group went and saved the town from the evil clutches of a proper biker gang.

A good blend of funny antics and jokes coming from four grandmasters in their own comical right, this show is definitely one of the funniest shows to be released this year. A must watch and great for the family and kids.

Rated at 4 out of 5 stars.

I tell you, no pork!

2007-04-17T10:05:00.000+08:00

The past four days have been just absolutely wonderful for me because I managed to get a break off work and headed down to Singapore with Boon for a short holiday. If you asked me what the purpose of my trip is, I would say, it was just to chill out and relax and most importantly, eat some pork!

Instead of the usual shopping which people head down to Singapore for, I hardly looked at any gadget stuff (including the Nike+ Ipod running thing which I wanted to get) as well as looked at any shops selling computer stuff or guitars. What I ended up doing was visiting several restaurants such as Marche's and Tony Roma's and of course other shopping complexes as well other than the ones that I've visited previously.

If you are asking me why I would head all the way down to Singapore just to eat at those places especially since Marche is found at the Curve and Tony Roma's at Sunway Pyramid, I would just say that I wanted to eat pork!

Yup that is right, pork sausages with rosti at Marche's (although I wanted to eat the roasted pork knuckles but by the time I saw it, I already had my pork sausages) and roasted pork ribs at Tony Roma's. Price was no object and I believed it was worth every cent I paid. Finger licking good! Absolutely delicious and the servings were way bigger than I expected. The Marche's over there had more variety and the place was packed, I had to line up for about an hour before I could get a table there.

The trip was a great way to just relax and forget about things. Shopping was definitely on my to-do list and after trotting about in my old worn out shoes, I knew I needed a new pair. So I headed over to Queensway to get myself a pair of walking shoes. The best part about the last four days was that I received a nice hand made silk tie which made me extremely happy.

Will definitely blog more about it and post up some photos. If only my computer at home didn't take so long to edit a single photo, I think I would have posted more photos. So please, if only I can get a gazillion people to click on my Google Ads, I guess I could get my new computer pretty soon.

Funny quote of the day:
Boon: I get darn scared when my boss sings Justin Timberlake
Me: *slaps forehead with my hand

Pass the Awakening

2007-04-16T11:50:00.000+08:00

I stumbled upon this on the web when I was checking out Switchfoot's website and it is their new single! Even right now as I listen to it, I think its great. Definitely a great preview to their upcoming album?

Song dynamics are superb offering a wonderful blend of high and low tones throughout the song peaking at certain parts of the song.

Movie Review - TMNT

2007-04-12T16:03:00.000+08:00

Remember the good old days especially during Sundays when TV3 was showing the cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at 7.00pm? Remember you singing to the tunes of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and remember craving for pizza right after that? That was definitely the era of when most young adults now can relate to. A piece of history, which we grew up with, and now, the turtles are back with a vengeance in full CGI graphics and hitting the silver screen.

The build up and anticipation towards the movie was rather large for me personally and to be frank it has not been lost to hype. With the emergence of recent technology, gone are the days where we see cartoons taking the stage using old technology unless you are extremely anime inclined.

Our favourite characters are all back, Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, Splinter, April, Casey and of course, the very food which keeps the turtles happy, pizza! It has always been Pizza Hut's best effort to have their pizza commercials when this cartoon was shown, definitely made me want to order pizza using their age old number, 755-25-25.

The story starts off with a scene dating back 3 thousand years ago talking about a king and his legendary warriors. The king has opened a portal bringing in 13 beasts from other dimensions and his 4 best warriors were turned into stone. Not only did his army got wiped out, the king was hit with a curse as well, immortality.

Meanwhile back in the city, the once feared team of turtles are no longer a team with Leonardo gone away hoping to achieve to know what it is to be a leader. Because of his absence, the rest of the turtles resorted to trying to live "normal" lives but the turtle blood (ninja blood) within them still flows freely through them causing them to itch once in a while hoping to kick some ass.

The story goes on to tell about how Leonardo returns from his training and reunites the turtles against the beasts that were released over 3000 years ago who are currently terrorizing New York City. Of course, we wouldn't want the fearless turtles to be still stuck within an unknown cliche of uncertainty.

Meanwhile, the warrior king who was cursed with immortality is now trying to gather these beasts and his warrior friends (still in the form of a statue). To do this, he recruited the help of the foot clan (Shredder’s old group of ninjas). Well who wouldn't want to miss them out of any Ninja Turtle storyline especially since Shredder is supposedly dead and the foot clan is now being led by some quirky female with an Asian accent.

The story takes a turn when the statues agreed that the warrior king has indeed gone soft and turned against him. This time, the turtles finally decided to work as a team to banish the beasts and the enemy and at the same time broke the curse of immortality for the warrior king.

Now if you have the time, do take a breather from your everyday life and catch this movie. Definitely one you will not regret especially if you are a Ninja Turtle fan or just someone who wants to relive part of your early childhood memories of this series.

One more day left

2007-04-12T12:15:00.000+08:00

Yes, I will be heading down to Singapore tomorrow for the 3rd time in my life for a holiday. Yes I am totally jakun and yes I am extremely noob about Singapore and the places I should visit. What I don't seem to anticipate is the long journey I have to take just to get there. Sitting in a bus for half a day is not what I call an exciting adventure. None the less, I intend to make this trip a little worthwhile for me by taking as many photo's I can.

Thanks my colleague, I've managed to get a free accommodation there so that is much easier on my pocket but I do know that I want to go and eat pork ribs at Tony Roma's over there. Hopefully I wouldn't be too disappointed with it considering that I ate the Lord of the Ribs at Checkers in Bangsar. This time again I am heading down there with my partner in peril, hoping to savour the moment of sinking our teeth into succulent roasted pork ribs.

Yesterday I wasn't feeling too well at work and the fact that I had to rush about didn't really help. Worse of all, it was extremely hot here in the office and the fan I hijacked was used by my other colleague. Best way to get rid of the heat is to take a cool refreshing shower, which I did (pays to have a gym in the office) and after that I felt refreshed.

Of course by night I was already reeling from all of the work which had piled up and running from meeting place to meeting place was taking a toll on me. Then came a blessing of unseen proportionate, a good friend passed me a lovely cup of chamomile tea, medicine and cake. This was totally unexpected and after drinking the tea and taking the meds, I felt much better and feel exhilarated. Thank you sooooooo much!

By the way, I went to Saisaki at Wisman UOA yesterday and noticed that the place has changed a bit. The decoration looks slightly nicer but unfortunately the taste has not improved. So much for RM52++ per head, definitely not a place I would want to recommend to eat Japanese food unless its the buffet that you are after.

Another hot day again.....I am just melting away.

At least there are somethings I can look forward to in the coming months.

May:

Spider-Man 3 (Sony) - 5/4
Shrek the Third (P/DW) - 5/18
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (BV) - 5/25

June:

Ocean's Thirteen (WB) - 6/8
Fantastic Four 2 (Fox) - 6/15
DOA: Dead or Alive (Wein.) - 6/22
Evan Almighty (Uni.) - 6/22

July:

Transformers (P/DW) - 7/4
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (WB) - 7/13
The Simpsons (Fox) - 7/27

August:

The Bourne Ultimatum (Uni.) - 8/3
Daddy Day Camp (SonR) - 8/10
Rush Hour 3 (NL) - 8/10
King of Kong (PicH) - 8/17

Random Shot

2007-04-09T01:10:00.000+08:00

Another day, another week at work and here I am, sitting and staring at my laptop screen wishing that the day will pass by soon. No meetings with the folks in Netherlands today because its the Easter holiday weekend for them (lucky guys got Friday and Monday off.....grrrrr). I need to be productive today, that is what I try to remind myself but here I am trying to listen to some songs on my Ipod and trying to concentrate.

The weekend went by pretty quickly and it was fairly productive. I've finished a book off my reading list and I can continue on the next book, well 3 other books in my list. Definitely been a long long time since I last went to Starbucks and chilled out with a book and a huge cup of mocha on the table. This time was a little different than the last time I did that, if I am not wrong, the last time I actually sat down at a Starbucks was during the time I visited Sydney. What a great way to chill out.

Anyway here is the review for the book I read. It was an interesting book, I learned quite a few important points in there and I would definitely recommend it to any of my friends. But unfortunately the copy I have with me is not mine so you might need to find one out there. The book mainly talks about the pitfalls on relationships (mainly for married people) and how it usually stems from the guys. Interestingly enough, I seemed to realize that it was completely true (ok guys, you can hang me but once you read it then you would be hanging right next to me).

A guy's action may seem to be fairly normal but it can mean a totally different thing to others. I felt as if my eyes were opened and a whole new thought process is being formulated right now. Of course issues mentioned in this book totally relates to married couples but why use it as a cure when you can actually read it to prevent simple mistakes from happening right? As a good doctor would say, prevention is better than cure.

Most importantly, I would recommend that when you read this book, read with an open mind and be ever ready for direct and hard hitting facts. Learn from it and think about the issues because sooner or later we might be in one of those situations and we wouldn't want to be caught off-guard right? A solid read, 4.5 stars out of 5 stars.

In your face!

2007-04-05T10:37:00.000+08:00

Today I woke up feeling extremely happy, why? Firstly, the past three days were great for me in almost every aspect, personal, work and church. Secondly, Liverpool beat Arsenal over the weekend and beat PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League which did totally surprise me. And finally, Manchester United lost to Roma last night. Talk about sweet glory for those devils!

Now isn't that the best combinations around?

Three verses which was spoken to me over the three days and I thought really did lift my spirits up.

Philippians 4:6-7
⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:13
¹³I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Hebrews 11:8
⁸By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

Totally feel that my faith level has increased and my confidence level has risen. For that I have to thank my friend for giving me plenty of encouragement yesterday and helped me realise a couple of obvious things about myself. Cheers to you mate!

Another day ahead to conquer!

Patience, focus and unmotivated

2007-04-03T16:26:00.000+08:00

I need to remind myself that I should be patient. Always be patient, patience is a virtue, patience, patience and more patience. Even my own self-conscience is driving me up the wall because it speaks to me in a little voice which keeps reminding me that I am not patient enough. "Mark, are you being patient?", or "Mark, patience is a virtue!", these very words ring through my head all day long. I wonder if someone is trying to tell me something. Who knows?

Focus, focus, focus! The next word that hits me like a bullet, shattering the very train of my thought. Well, that train isn't too long anyway, about 10 seconds of focus time at most without getting distracted by things like, "Ooh that car is coming close, I better give way to him" or "Hrm, what should I eat for lunch today" or even work matters! How does one discipline their own minds to stay focus?

Sometimes when our minds start to build an image in it, whereby in that image you see something you really want happening in your life, you tend to put your whole life and effort towards trying to achieve that reality. We can try with all our might but definitely certain things are beyond our own capabilities and sometimes these things we cannot control them.

The journey of finding out the truth or a possibility can be one that is difficult and sometimes one that is sorrowful. At times you might feel the moment when you thought that things are going right and there is hope and at other times, you feel as if you are lower than the gravel on the road. A man searches for hints but sometimes to no avail could it be clear to you. Judgment could have been clouded by certain thoughts and actions controlled by mere emotions rather than logical thinking. But you can't blame him sometimes, because try maneuvering a stretch of road coming down a hill on a bicycle and not have any street lights!

I find it tough especially at this moment, not knowing how things are going. Anything could happen at anytime and just having a negative thought about it and my soul is crushed. I wish it would be easier but then my other sense thinks that this is a challenge. Its not easy weighing possibilities and planning for the worst but I trust God in all of this. Well I try to tell myself that I think so.

But faith means having total reliance on God and I know my heart and mind sways from the 100% mark as we ourselves are not perfect. I may think I have put in effort, but all of that effort and time might have not gone to good use. That's the negative side of me thinking right now. I tried to see some sort of signs, some that might at least give me a glimmer of hope but whenever I think about it, I am sure to have negative thoughts about it and it just sends my spirits right into the pits. So much for saying that I am a rather positive thinking person.

Some people had it easy and some people had it tough, my previous experience was quite easy considering it to be purely on God's grace for me but now I yearn for that very grace. Focusing on other things is tough right now, motivation is low because of a negative mindset but perseverance is absolutely needed, just as much as my morning coffee fix (Nescafe white coffee ftw!). I need to continue to strive harder and harder. But what if striving harder means pushing back that which I seek? Is it truly what I deserve or has the very potter who created me not molded me well enough? (I doubt that since He is perfect in every single way!)

Is this the part when a potter sees that his product is not to his desire that he completely destroys the clay, turning it into nothing but a lump? Am I that lump right now, have I been completely broken down by the potter? Will I be built up again? I truly believe that whatever person that we have turned out to be, God has made us unique in our own individual ways.

I guess what I can't seem to take right now is total rejection and failure. With this, I look at myself and see if my heart and soul, and wonder if my heart is in the right place. It could be, it could not be. But the very fear and worrying that I've been so accustomed to, is totally wearing me down.

I think I need a clear cut sign, I am just too blur, negative and worried.

If only there was one.....

D-day, 1st September 2007

I never knew.......

2007-04-03T10:03:00.000+08:00

I never knew that Women were like irons and Men were like light bulbs.

The simplicity of this statement really boggles the very core of my mind. Now if only the rest of the world realizes that.

3rd Generation Toyota Vios Advert

2007-04-02T09:25:00.000+08:00

Check out this Toyota Vios advertisement. The car looks really cool and the style suits the new Toyota line-up. I wonder when Toyota might start selling this car here in Malaysia. Of course, even with my current Toyota Vios, I feel that the space within my car is rather limited especially since I am rather large and I sit with the seat moved all the way to the back.

Of course, the next car I wouldn't mind seeing here would be the new Toyota Altis, could it be the Toyota Axio which was launched in Japan last year or could it be the same one as the European Corolla. Who knows, who knows.

Corolla Axio: Image Source

European Corolla: Image Source

From the two images you can see a slight difference in the design. I wonder which one might arrive on our Malaysian shores.

Random Shot

2007-03-30T17:24:00.000+08:00

Three more hours and the bowling tournament starts, I need to prepare! Why am I taking random shots now. I guess maybe I am just toying around with my camera before heading for the event tonight.

Random thoughts - Part 2

2007-03-29T15:56:00.000+08:00

After a couple of days running around with plenty of activities allowing me very little time at home and sleep, I've come to realize that I could do with a little more planning in my life. Not time management skills but rather planning or putting aside time for reflection and rest. Having that time is really important knowing that is where I draw some strength from especially to justify the actions which I have done.

So what have I done lately which has totally consumed most of my time? Well for one thing, I am glad that my company's annual dinner and dance has passed (last Friday to be exact). Why? Because I was rushing through in editing a video (a trailer video to get people hyped up about our company trip) which was shown at the dinner itself whilst balancing my remaining time for band practices (and yes the band was playing during the dinner as well). Sleep was a luxury over the past two weeks and right now I have one more task to go, the bowling tournament this coming Friday.

Even so, this is rather relaxing because there isn't so much in terms of preparations but of course not everything comes easily, there were other things that can just appear anytime. Things such as new work to do, or finding the time to prepare presentations, organize dinners and basically having fun. In the midst of all this, I ask myself again, where is the time I have to myself?

Also I've just found out that I am way behind in my reading schedule and I have plenty of books to cover. Three more books to be added in my to read list with the latest one which Jolene gave to me last night.

If only I could bend space and time like Hiro Nakamura.

Random thoughts

2007-03-27T18:36:00.000+08:00

Apart from just going through life every single day, going through the routines you sort of gotten used to, someone once said that the sabbath is a day of rest and to just reflect upon your life. I never really did that too often and a most of the times I just let things go by without giving it a second glance.

Recent reflections:

Personal life:

Right now there are so many things going on at the same time but whose life isn't riddled with complexities and anxieties? I guess maybe I can break it down to specific portions within my life.

Fitness level:

I guess this is the only positive thing I can see right now. In the midst of getting back in shape or how my friend would say to me back in college, "Mark its about time you started working out and fit in to your bicycle shorts". Managed to run two 10km runs and will continue to strive for a faster time in the next run. But because I had to train for those runs, I haven't had the chance to play badminton and futsal recently.

Diet:

Not too good, there is just too much good food here in Malaysia. It pains me to sit down at the "mamak" and be able to control myself to drinking two cups of "ais kosong" especially at night. Worse is when everyone orders their favourite dishes like "Nasi Lemak ayam" or "Maggi Goreng Ayam", I just have the immense cravings for food. Even driving back on the NKVE highway and I see the KFC outlet which I use to frequent often back in my JVC days, my stomach calls out to it yearning for a piece of action with a dinner plate.

Confidence level:

Not too sure about this at the moment, at some times I can be super confident and handle things easily and at times I can be totally down in the dumps with zero confidence in my own capabilities. Even when it comes to driving, I scratched the car numerous times and was careless with my driving causing a lot of damage to my car.

In dealing with people, its not at an all time high either. That's because of several incidences in January and February, I guess it really hit me that things can be so uncertain sometimes and it caused me to lose confidence in myself. But then again there are times when I am just bursting with enthusiasm and nothing could stand in my way of my tasks and targets.

Stress level:

Where stress is a concern, I seem to be able to take it well. After all I am the kind of person who works well under stress except for some outbursts which may occur especially in one of my emails to the BUM communications team. Other times as well I might have accidentally have been too harsh but I am slowly learning how to be patient.

Discipline level:

Two things I am in the midst of learning, learning how to discipline my mind and my heart. I learned that Jeremiah 17:9 says that "The heart is deceitful above all things...", definitely an eye opener for me and I got to learn to discipline it.

Another thing is to learn how to discipline my mind, to learn to keep it still and not wander around and be filled with anxious and distracting thoughts. Last but not least, patience is the area where I need to concentrate on. I got to tell myself to constantly be patient, take things slow, don't be so hesitant and take quick and stupid actions.

Guitar skills:

I've stopped going for lessons because I can't seem to get home in time on Tuesday nights. I need to reschedule them and start practicing consistently again. There are plenty of things I've been meaning to do with my guitars, one of them is to restring them, another is to send it for a check-up or tune-up.

I am still considered a total noob after playing recently in my company's annual dinner and dance compared to my super guitaris, Zul. But with nothing to look forward to, I can't seem to bring myself to sit down and play the guitar. I need to set some goals for myself in this area.

Photography skills:

Haven't had the time to properly go out and take more scenery and landscape shots. I had a ball of a time playing with my 50mm prime lens over the weekend at the Curve but I am still quite slow in my manual focus so a lot of my shots were out of focus. I guess that is the disadvantage of using a Nikon D40.

Though I was struggling that day interchanging between my kit lens and the prime lens, I definitely need a proper camera bag where I can just store all of it in one single place. Really seriously considering getting a new camera bag when I am down in Singapore next month as well as checking out the prices of the SB-400 flash.

Blurness level:

Completely and totally off the charts. I am super blur when it comes to friends and when it comes to certain "people". No idea whether they are happy, sad or what is going on with them. For one thing is that I totally get blurred out when some of my friends use acronyms which I had to ask them what in the world they were talking about. Even my current contact lenses are getting blur because my power went up. Shucks!

Well I guess this is it for now as I can't seem to think of anything else. This seemed more like a stock take but it allowed me to actually look at myself and rate my levels. There are definitely more areas which needs rating but I guess this is it for now.

Here It Goes Again

2007-03-27T11:09:00.000+08:00

This video is hilarious!

It is friggin hot!

2007-03-25T18:28:00.000+08:00

Today is definitely the day where I felt that Earth's atmosphere has finally been breached and my body is being constantly beaten down by UV rays. And yes, I am still sitting in an air-conditioned room at my local Starbucks utilizing their free Wi-Fi service and sipping on a cool cup of Mocha frapacinno.

Of course, everyone else in my area had the same idea so here I am sitting at a spot with the sun shining directly at my face. I guess this is still better than where I was previously sitting (outside by the walkway with the sun still hitting me straight in the face but without any air-conditioning). So much for having a quiet and peaceful moment where I can actually work on some interesting CBT's (Computer Based Training).

So what am I doing on a Sunday evening working? Well I don't really consider it work but I always wanted to learn more about Service Oriented Architecture, so here I am sitting at Starbucks waiting for my CBT to load up. Why Starbucks, one would wonder? Well that is because I have this weird condition that whenever I step into a comfortable place (my room for instance), the desire or will to work fades away faster than light.

Ever since my uni days, the library has always been my best place to study and my house mates can really attest to that. In the library, I have the chance to constantly switch my seating area and explore parts of the library I've never been before hence a new environment which means totally no distractions!

Anyway, in the midst of all this typing, my CBT has finally loaded up. Geeez, it's estimated time to complete is 2 hours. Looks like I shall be late for dinner.

Panda Eyes

2007-03-22T02:04:00.000+08:00

Its two in the morning and I am still sitting at my computer waiting for the Ulead Video Studio software to finish encoding the video which I edited. Completely exhausted from a long day, all I want is to lie on my new bed and sleep. Unfortunately the program fails to inform me of some of the sizes the encoded video files will be, so here I am up awake in the middle of night trying to encode this 3 minute video into a format which is readable by most computers as well as being presented at a suitable quality.

My first attempt, I encoded the file into a DV format which is totally uncompressed and the file extension was *.avi. The size of the encoded file, 6.3Gb. Ok, totally out for a 3 minute video. Next I chose something smaller, a *.wmv format and the file came to about 66mb which was fairly reasonable but the dimensions of the video were 320x240 and when I blow it up to a widescreen mode, the quality was unacceptable.

Finally I managed to encode it in an MPEG format and guess what? Windows Media Player can view it but there wasn't any sound. I tried Power DVD and it works but I cannot risk this as most laptops/PCs may not have Power DVD. So here I am waiting for the video to be encoded into MPEG2. Hopefully the size wouldn't be too large, as long as the video fits into a DVD disc, I am sure things will turn out fine.

For that matter, I am getting extremely tired now and it sucks having to wait for your super slow PC to encode the file. An Intel Quad core system is much appreciated so please either donate one to me or teach me how to find enough cash to actually afford one. Till the next morning when I see the results of my encoded file.

It is really driving me nuts, bonkers and giving me panda eyes....

Men and women in orange

2007-03-19T18:03:00.000+08:00

Here it is, my way of showing proof that I completed the KLIM 10km run. Well, I got my certificate of completion but my next target would be to achieve top 500. I need really to run faster!

To be frank, I only started running because it was a great way for me to relieve some stress and I ended up enjoying running by the lake in Cyberjaya with my colleagues. Of course we don't all run at the same pace (me being the slowest of course) but the constant encouragement and support from each other is what I enjoy.

Signs, they bring some meaning..

2007-03-19T14:32:00.000+08:00

Ever wondered if the things that occur around you could mean something? Could these instances be pointing you towards a different direction in your destiny or maybe sometimes towards what might be a better path to take in life? Even in the movie Signs starring Mel Gibson, it captures the essence of what might be a preordained take on events to come.

Well unfortunately for some people who actually take the time to make signs for certain areas of the public, these are definitely not evidences of creatures from outer space nor signs from our God almighty.

In a toilet:
TOILET OUT OF ORDER. PLEASE USE FLOOR BELOW

In a Laundromat:
AUTOMATIC WASHING MACHINES:
PLEASE REMOVE ALL YOUR CLOTHES
WHEN THE LIGHT GOES OUT

In a London department store:
BARGAIN BASEMENT UPSTAIRS

In an office:
WOULD THE PERSON WHO TOOK THE STEP LADDER YESTERDAY PLEASE
BRING IT BACK OR FURTHER STEPS WILL BE TAKEN

In an office:
AFTER TEA BREAK STAFF SHOULD EMPTY THE TEAPOT AND STAND
UPSIDE DOWN ON THE DRAINING BOARD

Outside a secondhand shop:
WE EXCHANGE ANYTHING - BICYCLES, WASHING MACHINES, ETC. WHY
NOT BRING YOUR WIFE ALONG AND GET A WONDERFUL BARGAIN?

Notice in health food shop window:
CLOSED DUE TO ILLNESS

Spotted in a safari park:
ELEPHANTS PLEASE STAY IN YOUR CAR

Seen during a conference:
FOR ANYONE WHO HAS CHILDREN AND DOESN'T KNOW IT, THERE IS A
DAY CARE ON THE 1ST FLOOR

Notice in a farmer's field:
THE FARMER ALLOWS WALKERS TO CROSS THE FIELD FOR FREE, BUT
THE BULL CHARGES.

Message on a leaflet:
IF YOU CANNOT READ, THIS LEAFLET WILL TELL YOU HOW TO GET
LESSONS

On a repair shop door:
WE CAN REPAIR ANYTHING. (PLEASE KNOCK HARD ON THE DOOR - THE
BELL DOESN'T WORK)

Now didn't that just make you smile? Got this off from my colleague. Have a great week ahead!

Random Shots

2007-03-18T12:04:00.000+08:00

Here are some totally random shots which I took last week. I am still in the midst of trying to learn how to use Photoshop to edit my photos. In the meantime, Picasa will have to be my temporary editing tool whilst in the midst of trying to read more online tutorials on basic photo editing.

Both of these shots were taken at Bukit Kiara park whilst the one below was at the Bandar Utama golf driving range. I was watching my friend Boon trying out his golf swing and managed to capture him in action.

And finally, a shot of the wonderful fried oyster with egg which I ate at Jalan Alor as well. Totally delicious!

Well from the theme, you could see that there were 3 black and white images and I was just merely trying to learn how to create those nice black and white shots. To be frank, I am not a "pro" photographer but everyone has to start somewhere right?

Completing the mark

2007-03-18T11:30:00.000+08:00

Ok, the KL International Marathon ended a while back and I am glad to say that I managed to achieve my target of completing the 10km run within the qualifying time of 80minutes. Suffice to say, I did it in 80 minutes on the dot with a few seconds to spare. Of course it isn't the fastest but for an overweight guy, I think its a big achievement for me personally.

The last 10km run which I ran, which incidentally was my first run as well, I completed it in 95minutes with me walking most of the way and being completely left out from everyone. The sun was out and it was really hot that time. The route was interesting, I never thought that I would be running through Jalan Bukit Bintang and Jalan Sultan Ismail.

This time I made sure I could run within the qualifying time and at the same time be a little faster and complete it within the qualifying time of 80minutes. I am proud to say that I managed to do that as well as lose about 11kgs whilst training for it since January.

Only 12kgs more to go until I win my RM50 from Yee Seng this coming June.

Till the next time, my aching legs need some rest.

Noob shots!

2007-03-13T17:05:00.000+08:00

Over the past couple of days I had so little sleep because I was attending a conference over the weekend. The workshop which I attended was on the subject of photography as I just purchased a Nikon D40 sometime over in January. Armed with my kit lens and an open mind, I was rather excited to learn more about the whole area of it. Only having the knowledge that I need to be "there" at the "right moment" and that photography is a hell of an expensive hobby, my mind was enlightened as if a bunch of midichlorians entered my brain.

Photo: Taken at Blaze City Damansara Utama

Cool things I've learned from the workshop is to always be thankful with what you have, no matter how lousy you think your camera is, you definitely need to know how to use it. I had trouble trying to learn the features of my camera and was constantly using it on "Auto mode" because everytime I moved to Aperture priority or Manual mode, I kind of sucked at it.

Photo: Taken at 1 Utama Driving Range

This weekend was the very first time I went on a photo-shoot assignment with the theme being based on Genesis 1 on how the Earth was created in 7 days. Of course that didn't stop me from going about and taking some random shots as well. I thought overall I managed to learn a thing or two about taking photos and I think .

Photo: Taken at Bukit Kiara park, TTDI

One of the things I enjoyed most was learning from people who has similar interests in photography and being able to just learn how their minds think and how they shoot some of their shots was just a blessing to me.

Photo: Taken at 1 Utama Driving Range

Of course the next step for me is to learn how to edit some of these shots which I took. Still have plenty of areas where I can really improve on but of course, it is a learning progress. Because I have been hanging around people who enjoyed photography, I think the worst thing that happened to me was that everyone was showing me their lenses!

So much for self control that I am actually searching around for a new 50mm F1.8 lens. Get the cheapest one first, that would be my first step and of course I need to get a couple of UV filters as well to protect that lens and my dad's 90-300mm Nikkor telephoto lens.

Anyway here are the photos which I submitted for my assignment.

A great thanks to the LiveWire team for organizing the conference as well as Louis Pang for being such a wonderful teacher.

Bleeding fingers

2007-03-09T15:24:00.000+08:00

I think chords are flowing out of my ears, why? Because of all the chords and tabs I try to remember, I seem to forget all of them by the time I arrive at the jam studio. So much for a super memory. If only I was like Charlie from the TV series, Heroes.

This studio is definitely too small for us and there was barely enough space for all of us. Thank goodness this Sunday we managed to get a bigger studio. It was too small to even fit our drummer into the picture but no worries Hazlee, here is one just dedicated for you.

So many songs to learn and so little left. I think I am going bonkers. I definitely need an idea or maybe have a lightbulb like this over my head to indicate ideas popping in.

I really am going bonkers now....

My first experience

2007-03-06T16:01:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday was the first time I was exposed to such an experience. It was totally unexpected but it was totally worth it. I've always heard about it and heard a lot of people talking about it enthusiastically but I've always been in the dark in that matter. I have to thank Boon for the initiative and actually getting me there early.

Upon arrival near Taman Jaya lake, I was shocked by the amount of traffic there was. Cars were parked on both sides of the road and volunteers were ushering cars through the heavy traffic.

I had to park at the nearby housing area and walk for about 5 minutes to the lake. The place was filled with people, young and old alike and plenty of food vendors were taking advantage of the festival/celebration to earn a hefty profit.

If you are wondering what I am talking about, this is the "Chap Goh Meh" festival which occurs every year and my mates were interested in picking up oranges with girl's names and numbers on them.

The occasion is marked by feasting and various festivities, including the consumption of Tangyuan. In traditional Chinese culture, it is also celebrated as the Lantern Festival or the Shang Yuan Festival. In Southeast Asia, however, it coincides with the Chinese Valentine's Day. It is also when young unmarried women gather to toss tangerines into the sea, in a hope that their future spouse will pick it up - a custom that originated in Penang, Malaysia. In the past, this is also the only day that unmarried ladies can be seen with their partners.

This was definitely an event to experience once in a lifetime for anyone, and it should definitely be more publicized and to attract more tourist to this special occasion. In case you didn't bring any oranges, there are stalls set up to sell oranges, flowers, small paper boats and even cold drinks.

Maneuvering through the crowd was tricky especially if you were carrying a camera and a camera stand at the same time. I reckon there were about almost a thousand people at the park celebrating the event.

Set amidst a wonderful backdrop of Amcorp mall wonderfully lighted up, I guess the main agenda on some people's mind is to find their other halves at this event or just enjoy the atmosphere or maybe you are there to have fun with your friends, laughing and finding interesting things to do. To others, love is definitely in the air with many couples clinging on to each other very closely.

Of course, one thing that me and Boon couldn't resist is doing something funny at the event. So lets go through it step by step.

Step 1: Bring some old oranges (expired ones)
Step 2: Write your friend's name and number on it with a permanent marker pen.

Step 3: Get into angle and try to warm up your hands a bit

Step 4: Throw it as far as you can into the lake and start laughing

Then of course to be even more prepared, you definitely need to bring a couple of fishing nets with a long pole in order to reach those oranges that are quite far in the lake. I guess this guy over here is no newbie in this sort of thing.

Then if you did forget your huge fishing net, you could always make use of some local resources there like this guy who took a branch from the ground.

Or maybe you could try using a basket to pull in those oranges. But believe me, it didn't work too well for that dude because I saw him try for about 15 minutes and failed every time. Hehehe

But nothing beats a good old fishing net I would think. Just throw it into the lake and start pulling in oranges. I would really be amazed if someone actually came in a wet suit or someone might rent a kayak and start rowing through the lake looking for oranges.

Amidst the hustling and bustling of the many people at the event, we started getting tired thanks to the high humidity and heat from so many people that I decided to head to the nearby mamak to chill out.

Of course, I wouldn't just leave without trying to take a nice picture of the scenery over there.

Man I definitely need to improve on my photography skills especially when shooting at low light conditions such as this.

Woah, thats huge!

2007-03-04T20:32:00.000+08:00

When you expect about 20+ people to show up at your place for a Chinese New Year celebration, trying to get a huge enough "yee sang" for everyone to toss about is never easy. Well that was until I met Kevin and Jolene who came up with the idea of using the table as the plate.

Definitely a huge spread and by far the biggest I've seen in real life. Well of course you can't really compare to those which are used during MCA's open house events, but I would like to give my friends a big hand for getting all of the ingredients and also being the host for this fun event.

Now you would notice that the "plate" is just an aluminium foil so people who get overly excited need not try poking through the foil with their chopsticks.

So once everything gets a little crazy and everyone is just screaming and shouting phrases such as " Biiiiiigggggg boooonnnnnusssss this year!!!!!" or "Goooooooddddd healtttttthhhhh!!!", you know things might just get out of hand. What do you do next?

I just finish eating my own share. Buuuurrrrrppppp!

Fast food? Nah, we got mamak!

2007-02-28T10:56:00.000+08:00

With the recent hype of people talking about banning fast food commercials on television, one would think that this only happens in western countries because obesity rates are ever increasing. I guess it is always easy to blame food companies for supplying food saturated in pure fat and providing it to a market which loves it.

This goes the same for our own country, Malaysia. We notice that children nowadays (myself included) are gaining weight rapidly and becoming out of shape. As usual, we do what we do best and point fingers at the suppliers, fast food chains. Why? Because we think that burgers and fries are a lot unhealthier compared to our wonderful local food.

I want to know is that why are we comparing ourselves with these western countries and following them equally in terms with the so called ban on fast food advertisements? I guess it is easy to not brainwash our kids with fast food adverts but it totally defeats that purpose when we bring them to our own local style of fast food, yes I am talking about our local food and delicacies.

What is the use of staying away from burgers, fries and soft drinks when we feed our children with so called healthier food such as "nasi lemak" (rice fats - direct translation), "mee goreng" (fried noodles) and drink "teh tarik" (pulled tea) which contains 50% condensed milk. Wow, I feel so much healthier instead! At least McDonald's are beginning to take health a little more seriously and putting nutritional facts into their menus. I don't see many products in our super markets showing nutritional facts though.

Image Source

As much as I love to eat, I really believe that the solution does not come by just banning advertisements but the an active drive to promote a healthier lifestyle. To be frank, this issue is never easy when we are just so used to our wonderful Malaysian food that staying away from it is far from easy. The key is discipline, eat within our means and not overeat. Indulging ourselves once in a while is ok but lets not make it a habit.

Image Source

Well this coming from an overweight guy, I guess it is time to put my words into practice!

Crap! Literally!

2007-02-21T13:09:00.000+08:00

Did I ever mention that I was sort of like training for the upcoming 10km run? Well if I haven't, I managed to run just about 10km yesterday at an alarming pace, 1 hour 40 minutes. Talk about super slow and of course the rain didn't help one bit and stopping at every junction waiting for traffic to pass really did slowed my momentum down.

So I thought why not run through the village, near the seaside and you even get to enjoy the sea breeze to boot. Ok, I chose a path which I liked, near my house but it still involved running all the way to Mahkota Parade and Dataran Pahlawan and through A-Famosa, most of the route would be sectioned to walking paths with a couple of traffic sections.

Happily running along the route I chose at my own slow pace (really slow!), a bird decides to give me his ang pow!

All I can say is, "You stupid %$#^@&! bird!!!". The best response I got was from my aunty, "Wah, you are so lucky!". Hrm, statistically speaking yeah, but having crap bombarded on me, I would think otherwise!

I guess I would rather be sitting at home eating some lai chee, yum!

Updates:
Look at this link which my friend had on his MSN.
http://stuff.co.nz/3968583a4560.html

Happy Chinese New Year

2007-02-19T18:11:00.000+08:00

The one thing I miss in Malacca is an internet connection, so here I am sitting again in Starbucks using their free Wi-Fi connection and linking my very being back to the virtual world. But of course there are other reasons why I chose to sit at Starbucks for a couple of hours, one is to be able to read through some emails and another is to chat with some of my friends online as well as do a little bit of planning work.

Hopefully by the time I am done, the sun would have set down at a good level so I can walk to the beach and take more photos. I am planning on setting a photo blog but once everything is finalized, I would send out the link at this site.

This Chinese New year is a little difficult for me, well, for one thing I am trying to lose weight and the other thing is that I have access to so much food, too many goodies lying about and I can't savour them. Talk about superb willpower. Secondly it is my first time ever in my entire life that I jogged in Malacca, and do I ever regret not doing it earlier. The scenery and view is wonderful and I definitely love it because I ran twice on the first two days I got here. Although I did it in a rather slow time (75 mins for 8km), I did enjoy my run except for that little incident where a stupid bird decided to bombard me with his feces.

Alright, time to start going under the sun, have a great and wonderful Chinese New Year!

I've been tagged!

2007-02-17T00:40:00.000+08:00

Ok after reading My GooGurl's blog, it seems that I have been tagged. So here are 6 weird things about me.

1) I use a British style keyboard so the icon "@" is not obtained by pressing "Shift+2" but rather at another weird position. Reason is that I bought this keyboard while I was studying in Sheffield and it has served me well over the years.

2) I recently only developed a liking for chilli, previously I never eat my noodles or other chinese dishes with the chilli given. I used to hate eating even my "wan ton mee" with those green chillis. Only recently did I try eating some "chili padi" during lunch with my colleagues at a Thai restaurant last week.

3) I put on weight as fast as I lose weight. I lost 6kg in three weeks but I can also gain that much in 3 weeks or even more sometimes. It depends on the situation I guess.

4) I like and miss Budajovicky Budvar. It was the beer I drank when I was visiting the Czech Republic when I was in university. The beer tasted so good and it was so cheap, it was only RM2.00 per pint. Try beating that Langkawi!

5) I have more than 2000 posts in the Lowyat.net forums. Not that I am a geek or anything but I learned that the vibrance and the randomness of certain posts keep that forum alive and interesting to an active reader base of 50,000 members.

6) I liked the TV series, "Joey". It was a pity I can't seem to find it anymore. Really, it was so funny that I could just laugh non-stop to that series.

Now for all of those who read this post, you've been tagged as well. Go on ahead and try to write 6 funny things about yourself.

Honey, why are you calling me so late?

2007-02-16T13:50:00.000+08:00

Lips of an Angel - Hinder

Lately I've been listening to this song quite a lot, well not because it reflects my life or anything but I like the way this music was composed and played. From this you can probably guess that I like rock songs with a touch of alternative and my favourite instrument would be the acoustic guitar. Austin Winkler's vocals are solid for this song and not everyone can have that sandpaper style type rocker voice.

The lyrics talk about a guy who is actually seeing someone at the moment but receives a call from his ex-girlfriend. During this call he seems to think that he misses his ex-girlfriend a lot and wishes that his current girlfriend was just like his ex. Definitely not a song you would want to sing to a girl you like currently. It will give her the wrong idea!

One more day before I head down to Malacca for the Chinese New Year holidays where I don't have an internet connection! Seems like I have to hijack the Wi-Fi connection at Starbucks at Mahkota Parade and hope I get away with it. Well thanks to that, I guess I've got more time to continue my 10km run training (quota is to run 8km) and take more photos of my surrounding areas. Its interesting because I've already lined up a couple places I intend to scout and take photos.

Beach side near Mahkota Parade
A-Famosa and the surrounding areas
Jonker Street at night with plenty of lights
My housing neighbourhood (please pray that I don't get chased by wild dogs!)

My main objective is to be able to bring Malacca and show it to the world and show everyone how beautiful it looks. I do hope I remember to bring my tripod back as well, the last time I brought my tripod but without one crucial part. Hopefully I can find a day where I've got the time to spare to take those photos.

To everyone out there, have a great and wonderful Chinese New Year!

Lost and confused

2007-02-13T15:28:00.000+08:00

Over the past couple of months I have been fighting the urge to have a complete makeover. This involves redecorating my room, upgrading my computer at home as well as moving my current PC parts to my parent's PC outside and of course, losing weight! I think right now, things are about to change drastically.

I guess being in a coordinator role at work allows me to plan and think about the changes I need to make. One of my bad habits is to basically plan a lot of things in my head but never go about doing those things. So I think I need to prioritize the order of which I need to start working on.

1) Upgrading my computer

At the moment I think this has to be done at a different time, one thing is that I don't have the money ever since the Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 is going for RM1155 at the moment and by going through that route, I would need a new power supply, a new PCI-E graphics card and hopefully I can use my existing DDR1 ram modules. Let's put this as the lowest priority.

Action Plan

Save money
Plan upgrade (choose components within budget)
Buy items

2) Losing Weight

Yes the most important issue and it costs much less because I think in the long run, I actually save more money instead. First things first, cutting down on my food intake means eating less rice during lunch and dinner, eating breakfast on a daily basis and not drinking any sort of soft drinks. Besides dieting, exercising regularly in the gym and playing more sports is another must. Target to reach, to lose at least 15kg by July so I can win my bet with Yee Seng.

Action Plan

Constant exercise
Eat less fatty food
Reduce carbohydrates
Reduce soft drinks

3) Redecorating my room

Ok, most of my stuff in my room has been around for about 10 years and they are getting really old and they are literally falling apart. I guess I would need to remove that queen size bed and put in a large single bed while totally removing that build in table and start buying some furniture from Ikea. I would definitely like 2 large book shelfs and cupboards to store all my books and junk. First action plan would be to get my room measurements and make sure that I can fit in all the new furniture before deciding to get rid of my current furniture.

Action Plan

Obtain room dimensions
Create floor plan and find out available space
Check out Ikea for some bookcases and desk designs
Clear my room and relocate stuff

Conclusion

The plan is up and can be changed in time but the next thing I need to do is set the deadlines for all of these action items. I think I am a slave to my own planning.

Weekend blitz!

2007-02-12T11:02:00.000+08:00

I managed to have an extremely busy weekend and it was totally wonderful. Right from 12.00am Saturday morning all the way till Sunday night 11.59pm, everything was just great for me. And no, I wasn't at Blitzone or anywhere near a cybercafe.

Saturday started out the perfect way and even though I had like 4.5 hours of sleep, I woke up with a very blur look on my face, a quick rinse and steadied my way towards Sunway Lagoon to attend my project's family day. Did I mention that I was so blur? Well it proved to be apparent when I missed the Subang toll exit on the highway and continued my way to Cyberjaya only to realize that when I was about to turn off towards KLIA.

Of course after a quick (a rather large) U-turn through Shah Alam, I finally arrived at Sunway Lagoon and was greeted by the hottest and most humid weather I've ever encountered.

At this moment, Sunway Pyramid is undergoing extensive renovation and it was a long walk from the car park all the way into the lagoon itself, the sun didn't help one bit by burning me up though. And to think that I forgot to bring my sunblock.

To be honest, I went for the family day with the intention of being the photographer, hoping to capture certain moments of the wonderful event on camera and then showcase it to the rest of my colleagues. The fun part was being able to capture everyone when they were playing the tele-match games.

The atmosphere was apparent that they enjoyed themselves throughout the day. Fun filled laughter and screams filled the air as adults and children, father and son, mother and daughter participated in the games.

Then again, there were some of those who were left out of the games because they were a little too young but they didn't let the day go by without acting all cute and running around.

You can check out the entire album by click on the thumbnail on my right side bar. Till next time, cheerios!

Right on track

2007-02-09T00:59:00.000+08:00

I finally managed to run all 6km around the lake in Cyberjaya today non-stop but at an extremely slow pace. It took me 60 minutes exactly to run 6km. I guess I am slowly reaching my target of being able to run the KL International Marathon, 10km run in under 80minutes which is the qualifying time. Next week, my target is to try to achieve that distance within 50 minutes.

Anyway aunt grace was kind enough to direct me to this song (Homesick) by Mercy Me which is very nice but unfortunately it is a funeral song or a song that was sang during a funeral. You can either hear or view the video clip at YouTube or over at aunt grace's blog. Its a nice compilation and the melody is nice, I guess that is one song you would definitely not sing to the girl you like.

Anyway here is another Mercy Me song which was a hit. I like this song very much. Enjoy!

An interesting lunch

2007-02-06T13:06:00.000+08:00

I always look forward to having a good meal over lunch and spending that time building relationships with my colleagues. Today was something unusual for me, we went and ate vegetarian food. Basically in Cyberjaya, there isn't any decent restaurant within a 10km vicinity and we always drive outside to eat some good food whether it may be chicken rice or even at McDonald's.

Not today, we went to the wonderful lego building located right next to the Shell building and next to the plaza square where companies like Maybank, IBM and Prudential are housed. From the image above, you can see why I call it the Lego building, well everyone here calls it that.

The food court located on the 1st floor in this building is not exactly the best place to eat in Cyberjaya, there are probably better places around Cyberjaya such as the Street Mall and the recently opened Old Town Kopitiam restaurant. But there is a ray of hope within it and it shines in the form of an Indian vegetarian restaurant.

As most Cyberjaya is basically an IT hub, most of the workers here come from India and most of them are vegetarian. Now if you know me well, I am a meat lover and for me to head over there for lunch is a surprise for many. Today was one such day which I went with a bunch of my colleagues and I found out that the food there was excellent. Plenty of dishes to choose from and fruits are available (yes I am still sticking to my New Year's Resolution which means fruits aplenty during meals) as well.

So if you are ever in the vicinity of Cyberjaya and you have no idea where to head out for lunch, try out this vegetarian restaurant, its located on the ground floor of the Lego building right next to the BCB-CIMB bank.

New Updates

2007-02-05T11:24:00.000+08:00

Finally some new updates for this site. Yes I've changed the site layout a thousand times and the reason why I finally changed it again to one of the Blogger standard theme was because I was given a chance by Blogger to upgrade to their new version. Now I can update my sidebar with better ease and with more content.

Here are the new changes for this year, 2007.

1) New title and new theme

I've changed my title from "all in a nutshell" to "How Random". Why did I do this? Well mainly because I thought that things are becoming more and more complex as you grow older and as you begin to take more on responsibilities, you learn a lot of new things and life so happens to just give so much back to you in such a random way.

2) New page layout

As I mentioned above, this was to take advantage of the page customization tool which Blogger provided with their new web application.

3) Photobook links

I've just gotten a new digital camera and I would love to start sharing more pictures with everyone. I am currently in the experimental phase with a couple of photo sharing websites, namely myPhotoAlbum, Flickr and Picasa Web Albums. Personally I like Picasa Web Albums because of the easy interface for photo upload using their Picasa software (free of course).

From my side bar you would probably see links to all of the web albums there. The newer photos are located at the lower section of the sidebar though.

4) New Chat bar

I ditched the old chat box and decided to go with Chatterbox. Why did I change this? I have totally no idea, I made a mistake by totally forgetting what I used in my old template and I really couldn't find my Javascript code. Oh well at least its new but it is missing the emoticon function which Boon did point out to me.

5) 1 Year Older

Yes, I've finally turned 25 today. Another year older and this can be considered a milestone for me. After 25 years I look back and then think of what I have achieved........My mind is blank for some part of it but I guess I need to look forward to another 25 more years.

It's Friday, time to review "Blood Diamond"

2007-02-02T13:59:00.000+08:00

The end of the week is finally here but it doesn't feel like it really is. I guess that is because yesterday was a public holiday here in KL and PJ which means I had the entire day off to spend with my friends.

So what did we do? Well I decided to catch up on some movies which I've missed and one of them was "Blood Diamond" staring Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou. What is it about this movie that made me choose it?

Well firstly there was a statement which I heard from my colleague saying that Leonardo DiCaprio deserved to get nominated for the Oscars for this but the what made me decide was when he said that the supporting actor should be the one nominated, that got me curious.

Convincing my friends that it was a good movie was no easy task. The first thing they usually ask me is, "Who is the star of the show?". And when I answer, "Er, its Leonardo DiCaprio", they just get all freaked out. I guess that telling them that this guy here is the star of a 2 hour 15 minutes movie would probably put them to sleep.

And believe me, some parts of when he was talking did make me yawn a little but it was his supporting actor that made the show interesting. When I say that he could act, I really meant it.

In fact most of the show revolved along his life and how he tried to make a difference by being what a true father should be, longing to be with his family and trying his utmost to protect his son from going to the dark side. Totally opposite of how Darth Vader ended up to be.

The movie talked about the whole issue of conflict diamonds in Africa. If you have no idea what conflict diamonds are, please read this first. But in short, it is basically diamonds that are harvested from countries to fund their civil wars. The show showed much of how life is in Africa from how villagers were killed or their hands chopped off by rebels to prevent them for voting for the government.

It is movies like this that makes us think how real situations like these are, and they are happening right now even as we go through our normal lives. Thousands of children suffer each day due to poor conditions or some even as young as 10 are thought to be rebel soldiers. In the show they mentioned that the word "Infantry" was derived from child soldiers, I guess it may be very true.

To be perfectly honest, I would rate this show 4 stars out of 5 stars. A very good movie which should not be watched by children as it may prove to be extremely traumatizing due to its violent (yet true) nature . There are plenty of action scenes as well as scenes that will touch you to your very core of your heart.

Random shots

2007-01-30T14:09:00.000+08:00

Guess what? I've sold off my Canon S3 and went toward the dark side and bought myself a Nikon D40. Everyone was telling me that the switch is bad but I totally support my own move and the results are spectacular. I guess I can enjoy using a proper SLR now but of course there are a couple of downsides to it.

Anyway I shall let me pictures do the talking. Mind you, these pictures have been resized, I still have the full resolution pictures in my hard drive.

Here is a picture of KL Tower which I took when I was walking towards the Dang Wangi station from Sheraton Imperial.

This was taken from the Pasar Seni LRT station, it was about sunset and I was heading towards China town when I chanced upon this beautiful scenery.

Same scenery as the previous one but I zoomed in a little to avoid seeing the LRT tracks.

Of course, I couldn't resist not taking a picture of our beautiful Twin Towers, currently the tallest building in the world.

Over here are a couple of pictures which I took at Sheraton hotel. While waiting for the rest of my friends to arrive at the lobby, I guess my trigger finger was a little itchy. Totally random, I would say. It is just to test out the camera's macro functionality.

And last but not least, the chocolate cake which I do miss the most. So much to eat during training, that I must say. I think I can't fit into any of my pants anymore.

Overall I guess it wasn't so bad that I could actually bring my colleagues from Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia around and allow me to test out my new camera at the same time. Believe it or not, I looked more of a tourist compared to them.

The things in life..

2007-01-18T13:59:00.000+08:00

Its great to work with a multi-cultural group of colleagues. One of the funny things that happened today during class was when we were playing a game of charades and the clue to the question was a movie theme. My Chinese classmate was trying to get us to guess that he was acting out "Mr. Bean" which was absolutely hilarious.

The best part started when our faculty started teaching us about Metrics and asked the class what was Metrics. Our sleepy eye Korean thought we were still playing a game and answered, "The Matrix is around us".

.............

Happy New Year

2007-01-03T12:58:00.000+08:00

The New Year started out great with two days of relaxation and hanging out with friends. And for once, I think I will definitely take on a couple of New Year's Resolutions and see at the end of the year how much I have achieved.

Resolution #1:
Try to lose at least 20kg or drop my weight down to 85kg. That was my plan throughout the year but as the food gotten better, so did my waist size. Also it would be good to lose that double chin of mine, it definitely isn't that appealing.

Resolution #2:
To run a half marathon and to compete in another 10km run which I did last year. My target would be the upcoming KL Marathon which I will attend with some of my colleagues.

Resolution #3:
To properly save enough money and to follow the advice I've gotten from my personal financial management workshop which I went for last year. That means having at least 3-4 months of salary in savings in the event I ever lost a job and to continuously save more than 30% of my income.

Resolution #4:
To practice on my electric guitar and to play correctly and going back to the basics. This means I need to either purchase a metronome or download a digital version to work on my timings. Expectations would be to practice at least 3 hours a week.

Well so far these are the only things I can think of right now. Hopefully I might add in something else but for now, I guess I know what I need to achieve. Let's make the next check point at the next quarter.

Internet slowdowns

2006-12-29T02:25:00.000+08:00

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

2006-12-26T13:13:00.000+08:00

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...

2006-12-18T15:50:00.000+08:00

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.

Source

And when you thought you were good

2006-12-14T10:44:00.000+08:00

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

And when you are hungry....

2006-12-13T13:11:00.000+08:00

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

2006-12-12T13:21:00.000+08:00

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!

2006-12-06T13:41:00.000+08:00

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!