.:::bLuE PiG:::.

Countdown: 3 more hours~~~

2011-04-01T15:16:00.004+08:00

... to go to the airport. Actually our plane doesn't take off until about 11.30pm tonight...

Soooo excited.... Wonder if I'll sleep in the plane tonight but I think I should. Travelling to Kyoto tomorrow from Narita. Things are looking good. But news from Fukushima doesn't look as good. We'll just have to play by ear then :D

Joined Comic Fiesta's Harapan/Hope project. Submitted my drawing last week. Wonder if it'll be featured in the doujin book. Messaged Michelle to ask if she's going. Would really be nice if I can get my hands on a copy of it... regardless if my submission got in. It's for Japan :D They have a lot of really nice artwork. Go to their FB page to check it out.

Before I ciao, here's my submission for Project Harapan/Hope, yeah it's supposed to be in black and white:

Japan here we come!!!!

Countdown: 4 days desu~~~

2011-03-28T23:47:00.003+08:00

After our decision yesterday, we realised that we have so much things to do in so little time. Because we were so unsure that we've put everything on hold. That's like a whole 2 weeks of planning...

Anyways, we've listed down all the things that we need to do - change the moolah, get toiletries, get some biscuits/ granola bars, pack.... And we haven't really get all the info ready yet. Since some trains e.g. Narita Express are still not operating, we will need to change some of our plans too. And also need to get some omiyage from Malaysia for Kamariah's friend who had helped us to secure the Ghibli tickets.

Got part of it done today. Hehe... another 3 days to go then! Yosh!!!!

Got this from Tokyo Cherry Blossom Report 27/03/11

We're going!!!!!

2011-03-27T23:44:00.000+08:00

We're going!!! We're going!!! We're going!!!

So many things to do in so little time...

*pack* *pack*

*plan* *plan*

*dig* *dig*

Wah... no Yen yet!!!

We're going!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today's the day~

2011-03-27T11:44:00.003+08:00

Today's the day that we're going to decide whether to proceed with our Japan trip. So far, from what I can gather online, life is beginning to get back to normal in Tokyo. Food stuff like milk, eggs and all are back on the shelves, so are the toilet papers - info from Tokyo Bling

As for Timmy, I'm not sure what he has decided on.. so far, yesterday was 50-50 for him. As for my parents, they are concerned but they trust me to be able to make the final decision, and I think they believe Tim to be the more rational one too :p

Went out to Establishment with a bunch of friends yesterday. Had pizza and some drinks. Was a good outing, should do it more often. Sold them the idea of the 1000 of a 1000 paper cranes for Japan that someone started in FB.

Here's what we managed to come out with:

First attempt

2nd attempt.. Looks better

Thanks guys! And also to CS who took the photo!

But I think we go the whole 日本　がんばって！wish the other way round. Supposed to be　がんばっれ　日本！Oh well, it's the thought that counts! Thanks guys for making it with me.

Well, will update our final decision. Don't worry, we'll come back safe and sound. That, I promised ^-^

To go or not to go...

2011-03-24T18:21:00.006+08:00

...that is the question. I've posted this on my FB status and got quite a lot of feedback from my friends - most of them telling me not to go. I'm really happy that they're concern, if it was me, I would too. But I wanna assure them that if I were to decide to go, it is because I've done so much research that I'm confident to proceed with my decisions.

Been reading so much about Japan these few days. Not much about how to get around but more about the day-to-day issues e.g. Fukushima Daiichi plant... actually that's the only issue. If it's stabilized, then we're OFF!

Some of the sites that I follow are:
News sites direct from Japan - Not a fan of CNN and BBC anymore due to the sensationalism.
NHK world
Kyodo News

Blogs of gaijins (foreigners) and locals still in Tokyo:
Danny Choo and his tweets
Timeout Tokyo and their tweets
Dave from Shootokyo
Anne of A Tokyo Tale but she has fled... >_< Tokyo Bling
A guy who just moved there like few days ago - arihelminen

And was following this forum: Japan Guide

Yeah that's what I've been doing everyday since Mar 11, 2011.

So far, for me there are 2 main reasons on why I wanna go in April, other than the fact that we've been planning this for a year:
1. To see cherry blossoms (sakura)
2. We managed to get our hands on Ghibli Museum tickets. This ticket is so hard to come by that you have to purchase it from a vending machine only found in Lawson stores in Japan itself. They only limit it to 200 entrance tickets a day. We got a great help from Kamariah's friend in Tokyo to get it for us.

If we were to postpone it, we'll probably go during Autumn to see autumn leaves (koyo) and also might be able to go to Disney Sea which is currently closed, not because it is affected by the quake, operators Oriental Land gave it the all-clear to reopen on March 18 but because there's the power consumption of the park itself; combined with Tokyo Disneyland, it guzzles up roughly 570,000 kWh a day, which is apparently the same as 50,000 households, or 10 Tokyo Domes. It's possible that Disneyland won't be reopening for another month or two. *sobs*

And it'll be in November maybe and it's another 8 more months to go!

So far, I've been comparing last year's reports of sakura and koyo viewing. Here's a sample of how Kiyomizudera, a temple in Kyoto will look like in both seasons:

Sakura in April 2010

Koyo in November 2010

Call me biased but I still think sakura looks nicer... :p

Blog Polls

Things are looking good today but it has been 2 full weeks of ups and downs, so we'll see. Will let everyone know if we decide to go or postponed it. We have till Sunday to decide, let's pray for the best! Nihon gambarre!!!

Neko & Kobuta chan~~

2011-03-22T00:41:00.005+08:00

More things to get my mind of things... Been wanting to do some beading for a while now. Here I present to you, Neko chan & Kobuta chan, fresh from the oven...

Today's Lesson - Macro

2011-03-20T09:26:00.006+08:00

It has been a tiring, mind-draining week for me. So, to get things off my mind, I decided to do some shooting practice... with my Panasonic LX3 camera, that is... :p

Models for the day are none other than Sakuragaoka High School's Hokagou Tea Time (HTT) band members - Yui, Mio, Mugi, Ritsu and Azunyan.

Deciding what song to play

Mugi, our keyboardist

Mio on bass

The band singing their famous single - Fude pen, boru pen~~

Yui, our lead guitarist and her famous, Gitaa

Ritsu on drums, gakkoi ne~

Azunyan, another guitarist and her guitar, Mustang

ゆめ。。。

2011-03-18T23:50:00.002+08:00

Taking a vacation and fulfilling a life-long dream are two different things... One can always wish to take a vacation somewhere, book a date, book a package and off you go...

But fulfilling a life-long dream, now that's a different story. It takes hours, days, months, even years of accumulated passion to bring the idea to life. It takes planning, understanding and a lil' bit of moolah to realized it.

Maybe I'm selfish, insensitive... but I can't just throw it all away. Who knows what's gonna happen next... few days, few months down the road...

It's already been a week and still no decision...

My heart goes out to the people in Tohoku, who has lost so much more... 日本　がんばれ!!!

My first scam goes a little like this...

2010-09-09T16:08:00.008+08:00

On August 18, 2010, I received a call from a telemarketer named Fadzil Atan claiming that he's from Chartis Insurance. By the way, Chartis is previously known as AIG (effective on 7 Dec 2009).

Chartis logo, previously known as AIG

The number shows a "Private number". After some formalities, he asked whether I'm interested in an insurance policy called "Identity Guard". This offer is a collaboration with TMNet - it's an offer to all Streamyx users. I said NO, not interested.

He claimed that TMNet has given him all my details regarding this and starts to go through my information, asking me to confirm it. After confirming the details, he asked me for my credit card number. I told him no, I'm not interested a few times but he kept asking and calling. In the end, I (admit that I was stupid at the time >__< ) decided to give him my credit card number to get it over with.

He also said that they will send me the information of the policy to my personal email but until today, nothing.

Right after his call, I googled for Chartis Insurance and TMNet offers but there was nothing available. Nothing about their collaboration. I decided to contact the support number that he gave me: 1800 88 88 11 just to double confirm. I got the Chartis Insurance support. When I told them about the Identity Guard policy, they told me there's no such thing. They only have snatch guard, accident guard, etc. policies. My heart dropped.

So I asked for the guy who called me. The girl confirmed that there's a person name Fadzil Atan who is their telemarketer. Ok, not really a scam.

Few weeks gone by without any news from this person and nothing in the mail. When I check my bank account, they've already credited RM80 instead of the RM40 as promised. Found out later that they will charged you 2 months payment during the first payment.

Anyway, I finally decided to cancel it. I called their support line again on the 7th Sept 2010. The support person named Sri said that she can submit a report to cancel the subscription for me but since they've credited the amount earlier, I am still covered until November 2010. She also said that I can cancel it via phone or fax by writing in and gave me a report number.

The next day when I checked my account, guess what I saw... They've credited another RM80!!! How can they credit another RM80 just 18 days after the first transaction???!!! Does that mean I'm covered until January next year???

So, I called the support line again - 3rd time!

Another girl picked up, Belle. She then transferred me to another officer, Rina. Rina did some checking and guess what she told me.... That Fadzil guy enrolled me twice! So, they're actually charging me on the same policy - Identity Guard, twice! And in addition to that, they've already charged me with the next payment for the 3rd month, which means another RM40!

So, first enrollment, RM80+RM40=RM120.

Second enrollment, RM80+RM40=RM120.

Before I can bising-bising, luckily she promised to refund the RM120. But not for the first charges. She informed that my report for cancellation has been created. Currently I'm covered until the end of November 2010 and the cancellation is effective (for now) on the 1st of December 2010. She also said that an officer will call me after 5 working days (14 or 15 Sept 2010) to confirm my cancellation. If no, I'll have to call back. Or if I don't call, the cancellation will also proceed... which I doubt so. Seriously.. the next time you get a call like this, don't bother.. just say NO and end the call.

Updated on 15/09/2010: Some girl from Chartis called me on Monday (13/09/2010) to confirm my cancellation. To think she has the guts to ask if I want to prolong this stupid scam and wants to go through the "benefits" again with me. Also if RM40 is too much, she's recommending a more basic plan with only RM35... HAH! Like I'm going to fall for that again... Dame dayo! I cut her off and insisted on the cancellation. Now the only thing left is to wait and see...
Updated on 27/09/2010: Received the cancellation letter for the 1st enrollment. Checked my credit card account on 24/09 and guess what? They credited another RM80 on 09/09 and another RM40 on 21/09!!! Bugger enrolled me for the 3rd time!!! Sigh.. only found out after their office hour, so have to call on Monday.
Called on Monday (27/09). A girl named Redna transferred the call to Sri. Told her about the 3rd RM80 transaction but she said she has to report this issue... again... They will need some time to check.. ask me to call back after 14 days! WTF!!! And I should be expecting the RM120 cheque by end of October 2010. Issues so far:
1st enrollment - RM120 until end of Nov 2010 (cancellation effective 1st Dec 2010)
2nd enrollment - RM120 will be refund via cheque by end of October 2010
3rd enrollment - RM120, still under investigation, to call back after 14 days
So far, I've raised this issue to consumer association. No feedback from them yet. Will see how it goes...

Usagi Flux?

2010-05-02T22:12:00.008+08:00

We were at a video store today when we came upon a box of Japanese drama called Koshonin (The Negotiator).

It's a story about a female negotiator named Usagi Reiko who works in a metropolitan police's special team, known as SIT (Special Investigation Team).

Fair enough. The storyline sounds interesting. Turning back to the cover of the DVD, Tim went like, "Wait a minute... Haha, you remember this image k? Now, come here..." and walked to the other end of the DVD display rack.

Curious, I set the box back and followed him. He started to go through some movie DVDs and pulled out this...

A 2005 Paramount Pictures production - Æon Flux

Hahahahahahaha.... they even have the same ring! Two thumbs-up for the cameraman! :p

More pictures below:

The movie stars South-African actress, file producer and former model, Charlize Theron. Sexy... Looks CAN kill...

The drama stars Japanese actress, Yonekura Ryoko. Erm...

A more original poster for the drama, I hope :p

Life Lesson 101: Humans are generally shallow

2010-04-27T21:00:00.012+08:00

I am a strong believer that humans are shallow especially guys... especially Asian guys... especially Chinese Asian guys that has not entirely been exposed to the western culture or just plain ignorant. Typically those whose caller ringtone constantly shouts Fish Leong's latest single (no offense, I kinda like her songs), who doesn't know who the hell is Johnny Depp (..aiyoh that pirate guy loh...), whose favorite cursing words are CCB, KNN, LC, who digs Ah Lians and vice versa... who doesn't even know what vice versa means, who thinks that Austria is a town in Germany and have always regretted the fact that they were not born in countries like China, Taiwan or Hong Kong.

I was telling my friend a story the other day, about how shallow one can be and I was right there to witness it.

Friend: it's difficult to find a gal that don't go for looks...

Me: i think it works the same way both ways. there are girls who don't go for looks... and there are those who does but mostly guys are the ones

Friend: hehe... i'm not one of them leh...

Me: u sure u sure u sure hehehe

Friend: yes... im sure.. of course got some conditions la.... but ... but... but...

Me: see! see!
actually deep down inside, we're all a lil bit shallow.. in the end it comes down to how much u can compromise
u din go the company dinner ey?
i tell u.. although that event was fun.. but there was a game that was a huge display of shallowness from this one pathetic guy

Friend: haha... nono.. didn't go... please explain interested to know

Me: aiseh got a lot of leng lui went up the stage
anyway, they got a few games la.. for attendees to join

Friend: then...then..

Me: one of the games they called a few girls vs the management
they are supposed to write words with their a**
the girls's team had a guy member which no one paid attention to and among the GIRLS.. there's one particular girl wearing like a super short skirt
she couldn't be bothered whether people can see her underwear or not... cause they actually gave her a napkin to cover but she pegang onli.. nvr use
final round... she vs our CEO hahahaha
so the MC went like... ahem*game announcer voice*
FINAL ROUND!! CEO versus LEGS!!!
everyone laughed, that was funny
anyway... she won la. She did a better "S" :p
after that game... there's another game

Friend: keep going.. interesting

Me: The MC had to call a few guys and a few girls up the stage..
one of the guys.. this pathethic looking, full-of-confidence-think-he's-some-casanova-dumbass-guy, kept asking the MC to call "LEGS" up
kept going like... call "LEGS" call "LEGS".
Dude come on, she has a name, you know....
and when he got tagged with another girl, whose a lil bit plump, he went like, "eh dun wan laa"
but that girl didn't want to be tagged with him as well... so she request to call her friend up
then that f**ker kept going on la... few times know he told the MC that... the MC couldn't be bothered

Me: that my friend, is a display of pure shallowness in public.
i bet he's alone
i bet he can get anyone he likes but deep down inside no one loves him and he's this lonely sad pathethic little man
but that game was super ecchi la
they gave each girl an orange
and the girls are supposed to golek the orange up the guys pants from one leg to the other from the inside

Friend: WTF!!!isn't that sexual harassment? tsk...tsk...
seriously, the gal who's a little plump has short hair?

Me: nope, she had long hair

Friend: hmm.. then different gal
true... most or maybe all guys go for looks or for some other physical reason

Me: tell u la.. da plump girl was me

Friend: HAHAHA...WTF!!! ok... that was a good one...considering it's you.. you sure got tembak him kao-kao...

Me: yalah... f**ker.. but then i've seen him before.. and memang got that yong shui ham sap look
luckily the MC asked me.. u want to partner with this guy or u want to call any friend
straight i said i want to call my friend

Friend: Have I seen him before?
thin guy.. never wear specs... hair like standing up wan?
does he fit the above physical trait?

Me: not thin la.. some what fat but wore tight shirt and pants like he's going clubbing.. yeah no specs, couldn't be bothered about his hair... quite old maybe late 30's to 40's
uuu, i found that guy's picture

Friend: send...send...

[sends jpeg file]
Transfer of "jpeg file" is complete.

Me: yeah
got muka hamsap also
this one sure watch porn like nearly every day

Friend: HAHAHA.. true-true..
he's probably married leh... looks like late 30's
not that bad looking... i suppose the cina-cina gals will like kua..
but he looks and according to you.. acts like a shallow f**ker

Fine, I'm judging too... but hey, he started it.
Anyway, who cares what he said, he's no Johnny Depp either.

Kick-Ass kicks ass!

2010-04-24T07:16:00.010+08:00

***Warning: Spoilers ahead *** Well I didn't really spoil it much for you... So, go watch the movie! :p

If you've seen the movie, I bet you'll say the same.

I happen to stumble upon the poster a few weeks ago and I thought it's would just be another B-grade-ninja-epic/scary-movie-ish film. Until Tim mentioned that it actually received like super good reviews. So, we gave it a try.

Boy, was I sooo wrong. Kick-Ass transports the viewer into a world of superheroes without superpowers. It's like anime+first-person-shooter games+somewhat-slapstick comedy+John Woo's action sequences+Kill Bill, all blended into one fun filled extremely violent concoction. It's so good that you’ll ask for seconds. The movie starts with a guy in a superhero costume jumping off a skyscraper, spreading his mechanical wings and Wham!, landing head first onto a taxi parked over 100 feet below. The scene then closes with the protagonist saying, "That's not me, by the way".

With the increasing crime rates in their town, the protagonist, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), your everyday geeky teenager wonders why no one has ever tried to be a superhero. Despite what his friends told him, he purchases a green wet suit online, wields 2 batons and goes out to fight law breakers as Kick Ass. First encounter got him stabbed and while bleeding profusely, he was ran over by a car. Resulting with him being hospitalized with metal plates inserted throughout his body and some nerve damage. But that did not change his mind.

We'll soon see that despite his enthusiasm and bravery, he just keeps getting his ass kicked. In a place not so far away, a father is attempting to shoot his little girl. He fired the gun, the girl fell flat on her back, got up and revealed that it didn't hurt as bad as she thought it would. Pretty screwed up huh? Well, not for these two. Turns out, they are a father-daughter duo crime fighting "superheroes", Mindy Macready aka Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) and Damon Macready aka Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage). Damon has been training his 11-year old daughter in hand-combat and firearm handling ever since she was a toddler. Their background story was later revealed when Damon's former cop partner, Marcus, discovers a comic book drawn by Damon in a secret weaponry room in their house. Hit Girl, Big Daddy and Kick ass will soon cross paths when mafia boss, Frank D’Amico puts out a bounty on the superheroes that are hurting his business.

The biggest controversy for this movie, is not about the amount of blood shed and violence shown but the amount of profane words uttered by Hit Girl. With the use of lines like "Okay you cunts, let's see what you can do now" or "Show's over, motherf***er" delivered by Moretz, this movie is Rated R by The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Despite all that, it's really exciting to watch an 11-year old beating up men double her size. Moretz had to go through 2-3 months of hard training (by the same guy who trained Matt Damon for the BOURNE series) to do those stunts herself. Hit Girl basically stole the limelight with her brutal-yet-stylish kills, foul-mouthed dialogue, and her disarmingly sweet face. You just can't help but to hum along the background beat for when she storms a heavily armed D'Amico's penthouse. She's just too awesome.

Innocently lethal

In a movie that features shocking visuals, outrageous comedy and well-crafted action sequences, it's interesting to note that the actors and the characters they play are the more notable aspects of the film. I, for one, have not read the graphic novel but all in all, the movie certainly lives up to it’s name. And Hit Girl Rocks!!! You might want to check out this article before deciding to invest in the graphic novel.

Anyways, gotta thank the Malaysian censorship board somehow for not censoring much of the movie this time :p Oh yeah, we saw a 5 year old, hugging a box of popcorn, walking into the theatre with his Dad. Way to go, Dad...*sarcasm intended* (>__<)''' Oh, did I mentioned there are some nudity as well?

Seashell charms...

2010-04-19T12:16:00.005+08:00

Made this seashell charm bracelet from my seashell collections. Going to wear this to my company's Hawaiian themed dinner tonight :D

Here's the box of my seashell collections from the beaches of Terengganu...

Mundane...

2010-04-14T21:56:00.003+08:00

What if I've put more effort during F6?
What if I've gotten all 4 A's for my STPM?
What if I've aced the Monbukagakusho scholarship exams?
What if I've gone overseas to study?
What if I've taken Engineering instead of IT?
What if I've chosen Creative Multimedia instead of Software Engineering?
What if I've stayed as a junior producer in KL?
What if I've gone on the backpacking trip that I've always wanted?
What if I've more time - years to spare before I hit 30?

Would I be happier? Would life be much more interesting? Would mundane be something of yesterday? Would I be content.... I wonder...

I am grateful for what I have - my loved ones with me, a paying job, I pay my own bills because of the job, I can afford a car, I have a roof above my head, I can splurge once in a while... *sigh*

But why do I feel like there something's missing?

We grow up, go to school, graduate from uni/college, get a job, go to work, get married, have children, grow old, play with grandchildren.... and then we die...

Is that all to life? Am I asking for too much?

My Kanzashi Project

2010-04-10T23:02:00.006+08:00

Woohoo~~~ made my second Tsumami Kanzashi today. *beams* Tsumami kanzashi literally means, "folded fabric hair ornament". Tsumami kanzashi are made from tiny (usually 1") squares of silk which are folded into petals using origami techniques. Flowers are made from these folded fabric petals and may contain anywhere from five petals to 75 or more, depending on the particular flower made.

I didn't managed to take a photo of the first one cause I showed it to Tim the other day but left it in his car... hehe.. Will try to put up a photo once I get it back :p

This second one is made using a type of Thai silk cloth. There are many types of petal folding for Tsumami Kanzashi. This one is known as pointed petal or Kiku (Chrysanthemum) Kanzashi.

[Updated] 10:15pm 11/04/2010

Here's the first Tsumami Kanzashi that I made. I used the round petal type of folding.

Here's my kawaii model with the kanzashi... :p

明日がくるなら (If Tomorrow Comes)

2010-04-08T14:16:00.007+08:00

みなさんに

明日が来ることは奇跡です。

それを知ってるだけで、日常は幸せなことだらけで

あふれてます。

Translation: "Tomorrow that comes to us is a miracle. Simply knowing that, it fills my everyday with joy." - Chie Nagashima

There are times in our lives where life itself gets too hectic and we just wished that everything would go away and that life would just leave us alone. Hence, we take tomorrow for granted.

Should we pause to think what if tomorrow never come? What if today is our last day here? What if we go to sleep tonight and we'll never wake up again?

I recently watched a movie entitled, 余命1ヶ月の花嫁 (Yomei Ikkagetsu no Hanayome) or better known as April Bride. It's a movie based on a true story of a brave Japanese girl, named Chie Nagashima who had to fight breast cancer at the very young age of 24. Chie invited a TV crew into her life to film her during her most vulnerable moments. She was determined to educate young women her age, that breast cancer is a disease that is not just associated with old age. Chie 's story was told in a 2007 TBS documentary. Another touching part of the story is seeing how her boyfriend, Taro Akasu played an important part throughout this whole ordeal.

The ending theme for this movie, 明日がくるなら (If Tomorrow Comes) sung by JUJU feat. JAY’ED is an amazing track that portrays the relationship shared by Chie and Taro. Fell in love with this song the moment I heard it.

Translated version: 明日がくるなら (If Tomorrow Comes)

さよならは　言わないでおくよ
I won’t leave with a goodbye
だって　目を閉じるたびに　映るよ　いつもの　君が
Because I’ll see you everytime I close my eyes

* 明日がくるなら　何もいらないよ　ただ君だけに
If tomorrow comes then I don’t need anything
笑っててほしいから　いつでも
I just want you to keep on smiling forever

言わないでよ　まだもっと　君に触れていたいよ
Don’t say it, I still want to feel your touch
口にしたら　何か壊れそうで
If you say it, I feel like I’ll fall apart
繋いでる　手のぬくもりだけ　確かめてた
So all I could do is feel the warmth as I held your hand

止まらない時間が　いつかふたり引き離すなら
Time won’t stop and will tear us apart someday
もっと　君　見てたいよ　ずっと　抱きしめてたいよ
I want to watch you more and hold you in my arms forever
Time is slipping away

Repeat*

泣かないでね　まだちょっと君といられるから
Don’t cry, we have a little more time left together
伝えたいこと　まだ　ひとつも
And there’s still something I want to tell you
言葉では　うまく言えないけれど
Though I find it hard to put into words,
stand by me

こぼれてく時間はいつも　二人寂しくさせるから
As time slips away it makes us both feel lonely
そっと微笑んでみるよ　もう　離したくないから
So I’ll try softly smiling, I don’t ever want to leave you
Livin’ life for today

Repeat *

君に逢うためだけに　生まれてきたのなら
If I was only born so that we could meet
焼き付けたい
Then I want to remember
every moment in my heart
一秒でもいい　あと少し
Even if it’s just for a second more
君のそばにいさせて
Let me stay by your side

明日がくるなら　何もいらないよ　ただ君だけに
If tomorrow comes then I don’t need anything
笑っててほしいから
I just want you to keep on smiling,
forever more

Repeat *

さよならは　言わないでおくよ
I won’t leave with a goodbye

******************************************************
Romaji version – 明日がくるなら (Ashita ga kuru nara)

さよならは言わないでおくよ
Sayonara wa iwanai de oku yo
だって目を閉じるたびに映るよいつもの君が
Datte me wo tojiru tabi ni utsuru yo itsumo no kimi ga

* 明日がくるなら何もいらないよただ君だけに
Ashita ga kuru nara Nani mo iranai yo Tada kimi dake ni
笑っててほしいからいつでも
warattete hoshii kara itsudemo

言わないでよ　まだもっと　君に触れていたいよ
iwanai de yo mada motto kimi ni furete itai yo
口にしたら　何か壊れそうで
kuchi ni shitara nani ka kowaresou de
繋いでる　手のぬくもりだけ　確かめてた
tsunaideru te no nukumori dake tashikameteta

止まらない時間がいつかふたり引き離すなら
Tomaranai jikan ga itsuka futari hikihanasu kara
もっと　君　見てたいよ　ずっと　抱きしめてたいよ
Motto kimi mitetai yo Zutto dakishimetetai yo
Time is slipping away

Repeat *

泣かないでねまだちょっと君といられるから
Nakanai de ne Mada chotto kimi to irareru kara
伝えたいこと　まだ　ひとつも
Tsutaetai koto mada hitotsu mo
言葉ではうまく言えないけれど
Kotoba dewa umaku ienai keredo
stand by me

こぼれていく時間はいつも二人寂しくさせるから
Koboreteku jikan wa itsumo Futari samishiku saseru kara
そっと微笑んでみるよもう離したくないから
Sotto hohoende miru yo mou hanashitakunai kara
Livin’ life for today

Repeat *

君に逢うためだけに生まれてきたのなら
Kimi ni au tame dake ni umarete kita no nara
焼き付けたい
Yakitsuketai
every moment in my heart

一秒でもいいあと少し
Ichi byou demo ii ato sukoshi
君のそばにいさせて
Kimi no soba ni isasete

明日がくるなら何もいらないよただ君だけに
Ashita ga kuru nara Nani mo iranai yo Tada kimi dake ni
笑っててほしいから
Warattete hoshii kara
forever more

Repeat *

さよならは言わないでおくよ
Sayonara wa iwanai de oku yo

CLASH OF THE... subTITLES???

2010-04-07T18:22:00.010+08:00

***Warning: Bits and pieces of spoilers ahead *** Read this if you have seen the movie or have no intention to go see it.

Went to catch the 3D version of the movie, Clash of the Titans, last Saturday. Hmm... it wasn't as epic as the trailer, I would say.

Love how Pegasus is a black stallion in contrary to the myth

And there weren't much of the Titans to clash anyway. You have the Kraken for one... Wait... I think the Kraken is more of a mythological creature. Medusa's not a titan, she's a Gorgo n. So where were the Titans???!!! Anyway, I wasn't expecting much cause they did mentioned that it was loosely based on the story of Perseus. And plus, Titans were defeated waaaay before Perseus was born. Somehow, the storyline for the 1981 version does seem a lil' bit more interesting.

The movie was fast paced. They sort of just rushed through every scene. I couldn't even catch the name of Perseus's love interest. You know, the ageless girl who was cursed with immortality and had been watching Perseus throughout his life... Anyway, found out later that her name was Io. But I would say that the action scenes were impressive and gory. Love the part where Perseus rode Pegasus while fighting the Kraken and Hades's flying creatures. And also the part, at the beginning where Perseus and family were looking up at Zeus's statue, before the soldiers brought it down. It was majestic. Plus, they did include the rest of the 12 Olympians as well, but they were only in the background. Felt kinda sad for Medusa after hearing her story told by Io. She's a very beautiful lady minus the snakes on the head and the lower half of her body. Try watching that in 3D.. *shivers* (lucky for the subtitles. Don't get it? Continue reading)

The ultimate-triple-kill-put-off when watching the movie in 3D this time is the subtitles. Yup, they have SUBTITLES!!! How can you have subtitles in 3D??? I just don't understand. Not only that the subtitles are protruding out from the screen, it was smacked halfway through the screen. Not to mentioned that the subtitles are in Chinese. I don't have anything against Chinese characters other than I can't read it and it gets kinda annoying after a while. Come on la.. Satu Malaysia, ok?

Yes, it's for some people who can't really understand well in English but it sort of kills off the 3D effect by having it there. Imagine trying to watch Pegasus flying towards you but there's a line of white characters right in the middle of the screen. That's just baaaad publicity. If I wanna see a movie with subtitles, I mind as well go for for the 2D movie. It's cheaper and the subtitles are right at the bottom of the screen. Whoever came out with that brilliant idea should be gagged and forced to watch repeats of all 365 episodes of Teletubbies with 3D subtitles.

If they really keep this up, it won't be a good market for 3D movies in the future. It'll just be a turn off. Hope that someone somewhere within the movie distributor company realizes this and decides to ban all subtitles from all 3D movies. Till then, it's back to plain old boring flat 2D screen. *sobs*

CTRL+ALT+IGNORE

2010-04-06T05:22:00.006+08:00

Here’s an example of a classic dumbass/jackass/smartass that my company housed. This is purely for your entertainment and my amusement only.

Short summary of the situation:
A user requested for something but the case were resolved without the user receiving the goods. User emailed… (let’s call this person, PERSON A, I’m nice aren’t I?). Anyway, user emailed PERSON A and PERSON A forwarded the email to his manager. And his manager later escalated the issue to us. My manager then forwards the email to me and asked me to follow up. After doing some checking, found that case was closed by administrator, so I reopened it and reassigned to the admin in charge. I’ve also emailed the admin personally on this.
Once done, I sent an email to the user, CC PERSON A, his manager and my manager on the status. Why did I CC PERSON A and manager, you might ask. Well, they were in the loop before, and I think it’s best to FYI them, don’t you agree? That’s when the story gets interesting….

My email to user, CC PERSON A, his manager and my manager:

-----Original Message-----
Subject: RE: BLA BLA BLA (CASE NUMBER) BLA BLA BLA

Dear Sir or Madam,

I will follow up on your escalation and get in contact with the responsible support team. Your ticket has been reopened.
You will get an update as soon as possible.

Best regards
ME

One hour later, PERSON A replied to all. Adding ADMIN in the CC list now:

-----Original Message-----
Subject: RE: BLA BLA BLA (CASE NUMBER) BLA BLA BLA

Hello,

I checked for this case (CASE NUMBER),
And it is not assigned to any of the 13 groups of which I am a member.
It is not assigned to any of these groups that I can access.

So I searched for case and found the Incident belongs to SRH.
But, the Task is assigned to (ADMIN'S NAME).

@Sin Lin, Maybe it would make sense when you send out these emails to copy the person to whom the case is assigned.

What do you think?

Thanks,
PERSON A

Huh???!!! After checking, I also replied all:

-----Original Message-----
Subject: RE: BLA BLA BLA (CASE NUMBER) BLA BLA BLA

Hi PERSON A,

I think you have misunderstood my email. This email is sent out to notify the person escalating this issue which in this case includes (username)(the user), (his manager) and yourself that I have notified the person in charge and has reopened the resolved case.

And yes, it does make sense to send the escalation email to the person in charge, (ADMIN), which I did in a separate escalation email to the administrators only.

Thank you and have a nice day.

Regards,
ME

20 minutes after that, I got this, also replied to all:

-----Original Message-----
Subject: RE: BLA BLA BLA (CASE NUMBER) BLA BLA BLA

Okay Great,

Please be clear when you send escalations.
Remedy is very slow from remote locations.
Generally, when an email comes to my inbox with the a case number and the words escalations, I assume that action on my part is required.

Please do not copy me in the future on such mail unless I am needed.

Thanks,
PERSON A

Erm… hello… it’s not my problem if you don’t understand English. But the funny thing is, from what I know, that’s the ONLY language you speak. PERSON A is from the States, you see.

My final email to him:

-----Original Message-----

Subject: RE: BLA BLA BLA (CASE NUMBER) BLA BLA BLA

Hi,

Please be clear when you send escalations. --> Can’t you read??? I said “I will follow up on your escalation and get in contact with the responsible support team. Your ticket has been reopened. You will get an update as soon as possible” Which part of the sentence do you NOT understand? How much clearer do you want me to be? Do you want me to call you personally and explain using a picture-dictionary, just in case?

Remedy is very slow from remote locations. --> What does this have to do with remedy??? (Btw, that’s the system we’re using to track cases)

Generally, when an email comes to my inbox with the a case number and the words escalations, I assume that action on my part is required. --> No seriously, what is your problem? Do you have a problem understanding when there’s too many words to read?

Please do not copy me in the future on such mail unless I am needed. --> Oh, puh-leeease read the email carefully the next time before you send out any emails that would inflict certain embarrassment upon yourself. Try not to assume or so quick to point out someone else’s mistakes or in this case, no mistakes at all! Although we're from a 3rd world country and we speak English as our 2nd language, we are able to read our emails properly unlike dumbasses like you whom after the first absurd email, continues to send the 2nd email supposedly to cover up the sh*t that you sent out earlier. (Btw, this is the type of people, if you don’t CC them, they bising… if you CC them, they confused…)

@PERSON A, in the future, maybe it would make sense NOT to copy anyone when you send out these emails.

What do you think?

Thank you and have a nice day.

Nah... I'm just kidding. How can you send an email like that to someone... I'm just frustrated. Oh well, he probably has gezillions of emails to read that he only sees the case numbers and the words “Escalations”. But he did took the time to read the email when the user sent it to him the first time and able to forward to his manager as an “FYI”.

Anyway, CTRL+ALT+IGNORE.

Be nice...

2010-04-04T18:38:00.005+08:00

Be nice!

We are all that we have in this dark, odorless, weightless, soundless, humongous, empty space...

You think we're better huh...

Think again...

Where are we now?

Yup, that's our Sun's Arcturus....

And that's..... Arcturus's Antares...

Get the picture... so quit being an ass!

10 years...

2010-04-03T10:40:00.005+08:00

10 years ago, this was me...

10 years later, this is me...

10 years ago, this was us...

10 years later, this is us...

Well, most of us...

Thank you girls, for a decade of friendship... Luv you lots!!!

Obsessions...

2010-04-02T21:34:00.007+08:00

What I'm currently obsessed about?

1. 日本語 (Japanese language)
2. Anime
3. JDorama
4. JMovies
5. JSongs
6. Ayaka

Current fav: Ayaka - おかえり (Okaeri/ I'm home)

7. Mizushima Hiro
8. Kanzashi

... the list explains it all... >___<

助けて！！！

American Dream

2009-10-14T19:39:00.001+08:00

While I was on night shift this whole week, I received a call from one of the IT admin in Milpitas. After talking to him for a while that I realized who he was. No wonder there were a couple of time when I heard him say, Sinlin right? How're ya doing?.... Is that Sinlin? How has it been?
I was totally ignoring him.. :p I felt so bad that I couldn't recognized his voice. To think we used to hang out a lot when I was there. Sorry, Charles a.k.a. Grumpy. :p

One of the best and memorable 2 months of my life. Even now, it still felt a like a dream. I remembered when my boss sat me down and asked me if I were interested to go on a business trip to Milpitas, North America. I didn't wanna go in the first place as I just got back from Germany and there was the rollout of the project that I was there for. Not only that, I also realized that the previous batch that was there were from a different team, I would be taking up their role if I were to accept. There would definitely be some uproar later on. Don't really want any trouble. But my boss managed to convinced me to go which I'm very grateful for as that was the last business trip before the big economic downturn.

So there I was on a plane to the States on an April morning, together with my colleague, Punitha. We were chauffeured to the KL International Airport by the company hired limo early that morning. I was so excited I couldn't sleep. 2 months, man, 2 whole months!

All the years of watching American series and movies while growing up - from Saved By the Bell to Beverly Hills 90210 to any Hollywood movies showing now, I've never imagined I was able to go there. Well.. maybe later in life, you know.. when i'm old... when I have enough dough... just old... :p

Anywho, the life there for 2 whole months would be utterly boring if not for the friends that we've made when we were there. First you have Punitha's cousin, Jai and his wife, Vicky who were super nice and kind to pick us up from San Jose Airport and took us in during the weekends there. Being unable to drive there does not make it easy for us to get around. We spent every weekend for the month of April at their lovely home in Livermore. I even get a chance to visit an Indian temple there (Haha.. at Malaysia berlambak but never go also...). Vicky borrowed me her Punjabi suit for the occasion. We get to attend both their wedding receptions as well, one was held on a hill top in Oakland and another at the temple back in Livermore. Some weekends they drove us to places like Walnut Creek and San Francisco (..saw Alcatraz from Pier 39, Lombard Street from top view, the Palace of Fine Arts, the famous Full House town houses and Hooters :p ).

With Jai and Vicky at their wedding reception in Oakland

Wedding Reception at Livermore Indian Temple

Of course we have our dear friend and colleague, Trung and his lovely wife, Truc and son, Tommy and the rest of his family and Truc's sister, My to thank for. Trung is the teamlead for the NA Desktop team in Milpitas. He and Charles will bring us out for lunch every day. Sometimes it will just be him and sometimes it'll just be Charles. At days when he's free, we'll go over to his place to hang out. The first time we went to his house was a funny story. Being a foreigner cum tourist in NA, gave me the license to bring my camera anywhere and take as many photos as I want including flowers on the pathway... police cars... lamp posts... sign boards... you name it! Trung always call us weird for doing that. One day, he decided to bring us out for dinner. But before that, he had to stop and pick up his wife and son. When we turn a corner, we came to this housing area where the houses are so tall and beautiful. I was trying hard to take some photos whilst the car was moving. So, he told us that he'll stop somewhere for us get off to take some really good photos but we have to hurry in case anyone spot us and calls the police. He stopped the car and got out. While we were busy taking photos, he took his bag and walked up to a house. His house. And we thought.... (>___<)

Us and the Le family - Trung, Truc and Tommy (Tiger coming soon... :p)

Girls' Day Out!

Truc and My took us shopping once. It was like a girls' day out and it was fun! We even stopped at a garage sale on the way. I think I got a "Scanner Darkly" DVD for a dollar and 2 bracelets. Punitha got herself 2 pairs of shoes. After shopping, we went out with Truc's mum... for more shopping. We had Vietnamese cuisine for dinner that evening, courtesy of Chef Trung. He was busy preparing dinner while we were out with Truc. Afterwards, we had karaoke before going to "Coffee Bean".One time, they even brought us to Chuck E Cheese. Fun place! It serves buffet (pizza!!!) and the dining area was surrounded by arcade machines.

Ralph's truck

Mike Jones, Charles and twin... oops I meant, twin and Charles :p

Clockwise: Charles, Me, Punitha, Maria, Nikhil, Mike

Stanford University... I feel smarter already...

Soon enough, we started to hang out with more people from office -- Ralph (drove us around San Jose town in his pink/purple truck), Michael a.k.a. Mike "Butch", Boris, Nikhil a.k.a. Salman Khan (he really does look like Salman Khan..) and Maria (an intern from Russia). We had so much fun with them too. They brought us to the Golden Gate Bridge, Stinson Beach, Stanford University, Santana Row and the Cheese Cake Factory in Palo Alto. We made a couple of pit stops on our way to Stinson Beach -- the Golden Gate bridge, with the cold wind blowing in your hair, it's simply amazing just to be standing there; Bird Island and a viewpoint as Maria was getting a lil bit dizzy due to the winding road up (yeah, you have to drive uphill then downhill again to get to the beach). One time, we got lost during our way up to Vista viewpoint and later again when we're coming down. On another occasion, Mike's car brokedown when we went to Standford. It turned out that his car was leaking. He managed to drive the car to Palo Alto but had to tow it back to San Jose while the rest of us took a cab home.

Boris and Mike

The Golden Gate Bridge and me

The grand highlight of our business trip was our long weekend trip to LA. Lucky us, we had a Monday off while we were there. It was the Memorial Day weekend. Having 3 days off including Saturday and Sunday, we decided to plan a trip to Disneyland, Universal Studios and Los Angeles city. I managed to book a hotel room and get flight tickets at a very reasonable price, a month ahead. So on that Friday evening 22nd of May, we're off! Trung drove us to the airport and we took Jetblue airlines to Long Beach airport. They actually serve blue chips on Jetblue flights. Our hotel in Anaheim is about 15 minutes walk to Disneyland.

Disneyland is the one place on Earth that I definitely want to visit again and again and again and... again! I was really really really really really excited that day. I've never been soooo happy my whole life! It's definitely the most happiest place on Earth! Probably it's because it has been my childhood dream to go to Disneyland. I remember always opening the Disney world map and just staring at all the highlighted Disney castles on the map. Or probably they pump happy gas at the theme park :p. We did so many crazy stuff there. Ride on nearly every rides (...we got this Dream fastpass at Mickey's barn that enables us to go on rides without the need to wait in-line... ), saw all the parades, took pictures with nearly all characters we can find (the only one we missed was Buzz Lightyear cause he has to head back to command center.. or so they say...) -- We were practically there from 8am when it opens and left at 12.30am after it closes... hoho... oh, we did went over to California Theme Park for a few hours. It's just NOT enough time!!! Camera status: 1000++ photos. After that, we had this little adventure of our own -- the bus dropped us at the wrong hotel and drove off! We wanted to walk back but after walking in circles for a while, we had to ask the receptionist of a nearby hotel to get us a cab to get back.

Universal Studio was another great place to go too.. again and again! We were lucky to be there before the big fire destroys the buildings exactly a week after that. The tour bus took us there. We had a bit mishap at the entrance due to some miscommunication with the tour guide. We managed to be escorted in later after the staff spoke to the tour agency. We took a studio tour that brought us down New York street, to the set of the classic "Psycho" Bates motel, Wisteria lane from Desperate Housewives, Whoville from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, to the set of Jaws, King Kong and Back to the Future. Not forgetting the NBC, Heroes and Hulk stages/studios. And the terrifying feeling when you wait in line for the Mummy ride. They made you wait so long that you went from scared to terrified to horrified to drop-dead-piss-in-your-pants-terrified to bored to scared again to.. the circle just repeats itself. As the tour to Universal Studios ended earlier, we decided to take a bus to Downtown Disneyland for more shopping.

Our last day there was spent on a half day trip around LA. We went to the main city which was a bit dead due to the public holiday. We passed Johnny Depp's club, Chinatown, the Wax Museum, Disney's Concert Hall and Beverly Hills to checked out the movie stars' houses.(hehe.. typical tourist. House also want to see...).. We only stopped at the tourist spots like the Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Kodak Theatre and Rodeo Drive.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Lights! Camera! Action! Universal Studios LA.

Famous prints outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre

The last week in Milpitas was spent moping around. The thought of us finally leaving was just too much to bear. Of course we missed our families and friends but....sigh... We had 2 farewell dinners -- One from the guys from office and another from the management which includes some IT admins too. We went around taking photos with each and every one we know during our last day. Trung took us out for our "last lunch" together (oh this was the day before... he went on leave during our last day...hmmph!) and Charles took us for some last minute shopping and dinner. We went out for supper after that with Jai and Vicky. Truly a sad... sad... day. Mike and Boris came over the next morning to have breakfast with us before we leave for the airport.

Department dinner at House of Siam

For me, I've made many friends there that I will cherish for a long time. Friends like Jai, Vicky, Trung, Truc, My (Truc's sister), Charles, Mike, Boris, Maria, Lorn, Nikhil, Mike Jones and Mike (Mike and Mike), Ralph (the donut guy), Saleem, Lynda, Henry Chen, colleagues like Wesley, Harry Go and also the coffee machine, the snack machine (had my last Cliff bar... they're out of my favs: Banana nut), our cubicle #12093, Charles's Jeep (that we are so familiar with already), our hotel room in Homestead and our little kitchen area in the room. It just breaks your heart to think that you will never see them anymore... I wonder if they will remember us.

A lot of things have changed after we got back. It's been more than a year now... Maria has gone back to Germany/Russia, Trung and Truc is going to have a baby boy soon, Mike has got himself a steady girlfriend :p and the King Kong attraction in Universal Studios was burnt down... hehe... Not sure what went wrong exactly, maybe it's just me but... we don't even chat with each other anymore. I had a great time hanging out with Punitha when we were there -- cooking, shopping, laundry, working... we did a lot of things together. Although we sometimes don't see eye-to-eye but things do worked out well, in the end.

Oh well... 2 months and things are back to where we left off. By the way, did I mentioned I got to watch Ironman with no subtitles? Hehe...

I am a honey bee...

2009-10-13T15:35:00.008+08:00

I am a honey bee, shun out from the colony and they won't let me in...
That's what has been playing in my head for a couple of weeks now. Together with songs that goes like *ahem*.... "You were sitting at the coffee table where you're reading Kierkegaard... Minutes later, you proceeded to say something that almost broke my heart..."

For those who doesn't know, the singer is non other than Malaysia's very own Zee Avi. Her music is simple mixture of jazz and ukulele melodies with simple straightforward lyrics. It's pretty down to earth and are easy on the ears.

You can see her poster outside of Speedy Music Store in Mahkota Parade with the captions "And she's Malaysian!". Truthfully, that was what had caught my eye in the first place. Interested, I went home and googled about her. How Zee Avi came to record her debut album in LA was quite a story. Born Izyan Alirahman in Miri, Sarawak which all of you would know it's in Malaysia (haha... mat saleh website put "...on the island of Borneo" which is also true but that made it sound like it's not from Malaysia... hehe), Zee Avi became famous when she uploaded a video recording a song she wrote on youtube for a friend to comment. Earlier she had wanted to remove it once he has seen it but her friend advised her to leave it up for a while and soon it began to gather some fans.

According to her official webpage, the day before her 22nd birthday, she posted what she intended to be her last video called, "No Christmas for Me" which was later included in "A Brushfire Holiday Vol. 1 - This Warm December".

By the time she checked her e-mail, Zee Avi had almost 3,000 messages including a slew of label offers. One email came from Ian Montone, who had been shown the YouTube clip by Raconteurs' drummer, Patrick Keeler, prompting Montone to get in touch and offer to release her music on the Monotone Label. Soon enough, she's off to LA to record her first album.

Her music has a very unique feel to it especially when it comes to the ukulele part. I'm always a fan of ukulele music. First heard it from an episode of Scrubs, "My Lawyer's in Love" where a cute ukulele girl caught Ted's attention.

Zee Avi with her ukulele

Zee Avi (2009), her debut album, hit #130 US Billboard Hot 200 Chart and #2 US Billboard Top Heatseekers Chart, and sold 6,000 copies in the United States in its first 2 weeks of release(as of June 9, 2009) according to Nielsen SoundScan. Her first single, "Bitter Heart" spent 3 weeks on Japan's Top 100 Singles chart. It entered the chart at #82 and peaked at #63, where it stayed for 2 weeks. She even had a song, "Monte", featured in the second season finale of Private Practice.

This is the cover of her self titled album with tracks like Bitter heart, Poppy, Honey Bee, Just You and Me and Kantoi.

To most Malaysian, the moment you hear the word Kantoi, you'd be like, "Hey I know what it means...". To those who doesn't, it means "Busted". Something different about "Kantoi" is that it is sung in Manglish - our very own Malaysian-English. Proud or not? Hehe... It's a mixture of the modern Malay language with English which is how it is spoken today. The song talks about a girl finding out that her boyfriend is cheating on her but in the end we know that she's cheating too.... kantoi la...

To listen to more of her music, you can go to http://www.zeeavi.com/music/

Hmm.. all this talk about ukulele, maybe I should go get myself one too... *ponders*

Error 404 Inactivity

2009-10-11T14:30:00.000+08:00

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Just kidding, it's just me... But I was pretty shocked this morning when I saw all my photos and layout has been set to inactivity by Photobucket. I had to relogin which luckily I could still remember my password and reupload a picture to reactivate the account.
Yeah... inactivity from March 2008 to October 2009... it's no surprise they've thought I've abandoned it all. So much for my promise to keep updating since the last post... bleh... I'm so in/undisciplined (couldn't decide which is the correct one to use :p)

Anywho, I've been here and there and back again. Still here in Old Malacca Town, still working in the same company, same dept, still driving the same car, still dating the same guy :p, still look the same (minus and plus kilos)... same old... same old... Hehe...

Was wondering, should I do a recap again or shall I post what had happened in the past year as I go along? Hmm.... so tempted to just dump everything in but that'll give me a reason not to update anything in the future. Oh, by the way, thanks to a friend, Jason Tan that I've decided to do an entry today. He's a frequent blogger now. You can visit his blogs at:

Badmintonfreak.com and Kampung Investor

I think I'll update as I go along. Hope this strategy will keep me blogging.... again.

Ba tut dai hui jia...

2008-03-13T22:38:00.008+08:00

Talk about brain dead! Been squeezing my brain power to the max since yesterday! Guess what time I got home from work yesterday? 1 in the morning???!!! Arrgghh so stress... so many things to do in so little time!!! Haven’t got time to go shopping for the cruise… still need to get sandals and sun block… Darn! Hope to finish everything and leave work early tomorrow to go shopping. Oh yeah, I haven’t allocate time to pack! Nooooo…..

Found this in my office mailbox the other day. Don’t know whether anyone has blogged about it before. Whoever can resist???!!! Googled it up and true enough… Kenny Sia has done it. Well since I was so looking forward to post it, I think he won’t mind me putting this picture up for the enjoyment of those who missed the post earlier. This is really hilarious!

Picture courtesy of Kenny Cheah

I guess the picture says it all… little did this kawaii piggie knows what Shanghai Bank did to its repo. Definitely won’t be getting a job in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines :p It’s just soooooooo wrong. And guess what, they’ve even got a song for it…

Oh god, what have all the pigs becoming to these days~

*thought to self* if the piggie is called PUKI, wonder what do you call the mum? :p

Recap of 2007...

2008-03-12T02:12:00.006+08:00

Yooohooo… I’m back… Bet you don’t think I will… hehe… To everyone who has stopped by since the past 2 days, thank you. Sim Yian, we should really go out. Miss hanging out with you girls. Sue, will let you in on the details when we go yum char :p and Ant, thanks. I guess I’ll really keep this up this time. Plus, it helps to improve my English. It’s been going down-the-Melaka-river ever since I started working. Not that I don’t use it everyday, I do but no idea why.

Here’s something that I’ve found online today. I know it’s a tad too late to be posting this but who cares… hehehe it’s MY blog :p

So here goes nothing…

1) Was 2007 a good year for you?
Yeah, it was. My life took a different direction, be it for my career or my life. I've learnt to see things in a different angle and I kinda enjoyed it.

2) What was your favorite moment of the year?
When I decided to buy my first ever figurine with my first paycheck – I got myself the Kingdom Hearts, set of 6 character figurines. Really love it! And I guess when I started dating *teehee* Oh yeah, can't forget my convocation too!

3) What was your least favorite moment of the year?
The fact that I was not able to go on any vacation at all. I didn’t get to go anywhere after graduation. Missed 2 opportunities to go to Langkawi and Cameron Highlands because I couldn’t get any leaves. Bleh~

4) Where were you when 2007 began?
Partying at Geographers in Jonker… spraying tin foams at my friends and having a great time!

5) Who were you with?
Let’s see (hope I don’t miss anyone out)… Sb, Fx, Chin, Jeremy, Kh, and Tim.

6) Where were you when 2007 ends?
At my friend’s apartment in KL, hanging out with a bunch of friends, chatting and streaming funny videos from YouTube. Here’s some links I think you’d enjoy:

David Blaine Street Magic: YouTube Edition!

Jeff Dunham - Achmed the Dead Terrorist

Hehehe… Silence! I kill you! :p So darn cute!

7) Did you keep your new year’s resolution of 2007?
Hmm… come to think of it, I’ve never had any resolution for 2007, wonder why. Maybe some random goals that I wanted to achieve but that’s another story for another day… hehe

8) Do you have a new year’s resolution for 2008?
Visit more places, meet more people, brush up on my technical skills, get a new PC system, save more money, lost more weight, watch more anime, do more model customizations…

9) Did you fall in love in 2007?
Hehe…

10) Did you break up with anyone in 2007?
Nah…

11) Did you make any new friends in 2007?
Yep, I sure did. In fact, there are quite a number of them.

12) Who are your new friends?
My new colleagues, Tim’s friends and Paik Lyn’s colleagues from Accenture Japan and Korea.

13) What was your favorite month of 2007?
February, March, April, June, August, November

14) Did you travel outside of Malaysia in 2007?
Nope. No vacation since graduation *sobs*

15) How many different countries did you travel to in 2007?
Zero different countries. (Oit these questions are getting on my nerves… Grrr…)

16) Did you lose anybody close to you in 2007?
Yes. A very good friend of mine who passed away due to lung cancer.

17) Did you miss anybody in the past year?
Yup. There’s Fifi (Q16), Kak Asma from my ex-company (She’s the cook there and I missed her cooking), my ex-colleagues (Carmen, CK, Alan, Yussuf, Gin, Rosa, Kelly, etc) and my Ah kor who's doing his Masters in UK right now (hehe... but he's back for the next few weeks though)

18) What was your favorite movie that you saw in 2007?
TRANSFORMERS!!! Best movie ever! Watched it like more than 2 times in cinema and 3 times on DVD when it came out. Yeah, I got the 2-disc DVD special.

19) What was your favorite song you heard in 2007?
Bubbly by Colbie Calliat. Still is. Listens to it nearly everyday, even tried to play it on my guitar (Bad attempt, broke the strings :p)

20) What was your favorite record from 2007?
I guess that would be Hairspray soundtrack. I listened to it the most. And not to forget, Jay Chou’s On The Run album.

21) Did you drink a lot of alcohol in 2007?
Hehe... Yeah, I guess it’s the most I had in my life :p

22) Did you do a lot of drugs in 2007?
Hell no!

23) Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year?
Does an accident count? Well, slipped and fell from a chair in a bar. Malu suit. Thank goodness no one saw. But now everyone knows…

24) What was the worst lie someone told you in 2007?
Not that I have heard of, but then again I’ll never know *ponder*

25) Did you treat somebody badly in 2007?
Have had arguments with my mum. Really sorry :(

26) Did somebody treat you badly in 2007?
Yup, there’s “that somebody”.

27) How much money did you spend in 2007?
I guess a lot coz I’ve got a collection of figurines now.

28) What was your proudest moment of 2007?
Big scale: When my parents watched me go up the stage during my convocation.
Small scale: Winning best dressed during my dept’s Year End Party :p

29) If you could go back in time to any moment of 2007 and change something, what would it be?
I guess 2007 has been a great year for me and I wouldn’t want to change anything about it. Well maybe, just maybe, there’s “that somebody” that I wished I didn’t meet and the holidays that I wished I could’ve gone to. Hehe

30) What are your plans for 2008?
Live my life to the fullest, smile more, have fun and take one day at a time. Still has that resolutions thingy to fulfill :p

427 days ago...

2008-03-09T11:20:00.015+08:00

Hmm… Let’s see, where have I left off? Oh yeah, January 2007. *teehee*

A lot of things had happened since my last update which was like centuries ago. And guess what? I actually forgot my password to access blogger.com. Yep, it’s been THAT long. Now, let’s start with a proper reintroduction. I am the sole owner of .:::bLuePiG:::. It’s true that I’ve been MIA for the past 427 days. Been here and there but still here, rest assured. So, how’s everyone? Hope things are going great. Here’s a list of things that had happened to me for the past 427 days :p

April 2007

Quitted my job in KL
Left my so-called “KL life” and moved back to Old Malacca town.
Got a job at a multinational company in Malacca, doing what I think I should be doing – an IT job (do note that I’ve mentioned the words “what I think I should” >_<)
Found someone special :p Happy-ness… nyaaa~

May 2007

Still under training at work.
Routine has gone back to hanging out with friends on weekends and some weekdays.

June 2007

Got myself a new car. Goodbye my beloved White SLK (small little Kancil) and hello Kuroi Myvi.
Celebrated sayang’s birthday at Rock & Roll cafe
Found out that one of my friends has lung-cancer and he only has 9 months to live.
19 June 2007 – Wafiyuddin aka Fifi (that’s what I used to call him) passed away at 11 in the morning due to lung cancer. Mourned for the lost of a good friend. Was going through my blog and I found a message that he’d left for me when I posted “Back with a huge emo”. He said: (he used to call me cinlin)

Cinlin ..im also coming off a bad weekend masked by some happy activities that i did. Still.. i remember days like these, the neverending rainy days[its still raining here!], but sooner or later u gonna feel good again.
Carpe Diem – it’s Latin for Enjoy life, seize the moment. Life is meant to be awesome :) – Wafi

Yes Fifi. I felt better. Thank you and I've missed you.

Released of the long awaited movie – Transformers 2007
KL Toy Hunt

July 2007

Went ga-ga over Transformers figurines
Bought my 1^st transformers figure - Ironhide

August 2007

Officially graduated from MMU!!! Woohoo…. Had my graduation in Cyberjaya but too bad it rained heavily

Jo, Jon, me and Am after our convocation in Cyberjaya

Still going ga-ga over Transformers figurines.
Pentium 4 PC went kaput - Now running on Pentium III. Must get a newer and more canggih PC soon!

October 2007

Went to Yong Peng for the weekend. Had barbecue and tanii session.
Released of The Orange Box
My first customization project - Scorponok

Repainted Scorponok (Dry-brushed in silver and copper)

November 2007

Celebrated my birthday with sayang at Raffles
Completed my Transformers figurine collection

December 2007

Organized a Year-End Party celebration with my colleagues themed “Hawaiian Luau” which I won best-dressed :p
Had pot-luck party on Christmas eve at Kiwi’s place

January 2008

Went to Munich and Klagenfurt for a week on a business trip

City Hall at Marienplatz, Munich

Chinese New Year 2008!!!

March 2008

GACC 2008!!!
Malaysia’s 12^th General Election 2008 – BN won federal government but lost 5 states to the oppositions. Malaysia Kini webpage is still down. By the way, congratulations to Jeff Ooi, a fellow blogger who’ll be on his way to Parliament
Coming soon – Cruise to Penang, Krabi, Phuket and Langkawi for a whole week!

So there you have it! A summary of what has been happening in my life so far. I bet, you can more or less guess what my next post will be about, if I’m not too lazy. If not, you’ll be hearing about it in the next 427 days to come :p

Let it show, let it show, let it show....

2007-01-07T16:41:00.000+08:00

My company held a Christmas Charity Get-Together Party last 15th of December 2006 (Friday). The purpose is to have fun while collecting donations for the disabled children of Taman Megah, Cheras. The preparation for the event started in early November and went on throughout the whole month into December. Few days before the event, everyone in the office helped out in decorating the whole office with beautiful ornaments and cute Christmas decorations. Our pantry was transformed into a stage with all the band equipments and not to forget, tents were set-up in the backyard filled with dinner tables and chairs.

On the day of the party, everyone was busy finishing up their work and getting ready for the guests to arrive. The food division started their preparation earlier, making lots and lots of sushi, toasting garlic bread and helping the cook (Kak Asma) with the dishes for the buffet. We had quite a menu, from chicken lasagnas to chicken chop, to potato salad, spaghetti and down right to our very own Blue Karipaps.

Sushi anyone?

Cracking ice... Gakkoi~~~ hehe

Setting up the screen in the backyard...

The guests started pouring in at about 7pm. They comprises of people from other agencies, production houses, audio houses, celebrities and friends and families of the staff. Yeah… you heard me… Celebrities~~~

Rubbing shoulders with Ariana Teoh *teehee*

and Alex Yoong.... Cute~

There were lots of events lined up for the night such as Art Auction (artwork from some of the staff and they’re really good), music from live band and Christmas songs sung by choir, performances by our boss and other producers. There were even songs auction going on. (Songs auction is when a person is requested to perform a song; in this case a Christmas carol, and everyone will keep auctioning for the person to sing and in the end, the person with the highest bid gets the song. In other words, the person who were required to sing earlier will have to sing no matter what-la… Un?) Hehe…

Sing choirs of angels... *psst... check out da girl in a middle... ain't she cute? ^o^

Wishing on a wish tree~~~

The party went on till the wee hours in the morning. All of the hard work put in to make this event a success finally paid off when our accountant who had spent the last few hours counting out the collection announced that we’ve collected over RM 25,000 worth of donations! Woohoo~~~

Finale... Yuuuuuuuuummmmm Seeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnng!!!!!!!!

Back with a huge emo...

2006-12-12T22:07:00.000+08:00

Ramblings:
Everything is so screwed up that my first day back to blogging, i accidentally deleted the template...sigh... so bear with me a while with the default template... The new bluepig will be out and about probably next week... shessh... Things just keeps going wrong... so wrong... >_<

Hate it to be so emo on my first day back to the blogging world... but i just can't help it. Things have been going down the Masjid Jamek river lately.

I felt as if something is missing inside. You know, that very empty feeling you have inside... been thinking a lot about my life too and where it's heading. And to wrap it all up, it's more like it's NOT heading anywhere at all. Sigh... and you know how whenever you feel terrible about yourself, everything around just tips you off easily. Like today, I snapped at a colleague during lunch just because she talks too much. Now, anything that sounds like a nag simply pisses me off. Damn I hate this feeling. I bet people around me hates it even more.

Sometimes everything, every thought, every ounce of the body hurt so bad that you just feel like breaking down and start crying like a baby but nothing's coming out... Geez... I know, I sound like someone who had just hit puberty. Bleh...

Blogging does help to ease it sometimes, well I'm trying out ways to get it over with. So I've come up with a great plan. whenever i'm going to have my "emo-blog" entry, i'll put this icon up so that you guys can just skip that part or the whole entry. Like as if there's anyone reading... Boohoo... i'm so sour i make the lemons squirmed.

Yeah, not to forget, different sizes means different level of emo too. Take for example:

This means i'm just teasing

This means i'm sooo gonna bitch about it for a loooooong time

This means i'm totally crying my heart out

and here's today's emo-blog icon...
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To those who aren't over their monday blues and felt like it's gonna be a triple combo jumbo loooooooooong screwed up week, you are welcome to share your load of misery.

青春だね~ (Seishun da ne~)

2006-08-31T12:24:00.000+08:00

The LRT door opens and two teenage girls ran in. Dressed in their full school uniform - blue pinafore and white shirt, they were giggling happily and pushing themselves through the crowd. Few seconds later, two boys about the same age followed suit. They waved frantically at a friend somewhere down the aisle while the rest of the crowd stared. Probably lost in their own world, they laughed and joked loudly while the crowd continued to stare.

Some stations later, the boys left, they said their goodbyes and the girls continued on their journey. And soon, as each station passed, each one of them said their goodbyes as they leave for their home, promising to meet each other again the next day at school.

Whether it’s envious or annoyed, I believe that part of the crowd had wished they were them. No worries, less responsibility, simply carefree – 青春(Seishun) or Youth. That is when I realized I have grown, so very much. I’ve never thought I’d say this but I felt older, very much older. So old that you don’t feel the need to party or join in any celebration. You’re just looking forward to the holidays so that you can rest more. (Sleep more, to be honest…Haha). But even if you do feel like partying, there’s no one you can call coz everyone’s grown out of it as well… some are outstation, some are busy with their own life, some are just plain lazy… Well, this is the first time I was so reluctant to go home after work. But hell…

Sunset at Merdeka Square - courtesy of Travelblog

12.00a.m. - 31^st August 2006. Shouts of Merdeka and the sounds of fireworks from a distant can be heard from my room. The country has aged another year, but how mature are we? How much have we learned from our past mistakes? How far have we grown? How far has the apple fall from the tree?

Happy 49^th Independence Day, Malaysia…

How fast can you go?

2006-07-27T12:11:00.000+08:00

Have you ever wonder how fast your brain’s processing speed is?

Here’s an interesting website. The Posit Science brain speed test here measures auditory processing (listening) speed which is one of the many measures of our brain functions. The auditory processing is considered important as the much information we receive each day is by communicating through sound especially speech. The faster we can take in those information accurately, the better we can keep up and response, and also remember what we hear.

Well, my score in auditory processing speed is 49 milliseconds. According to the explanation given, a lower score will represent a faster brain. As shown in the graph below, if you’ve actually scored 30ms and below, you brain is probably capable of capturing most of what it hears even when the speech is very rapid or takes place in a noisy environment—such as a crowded restaurant.

If you’ve scored 120 ms or more, chances are that your brain has trouble catching the details of everything you hear. That doesn’t mean you can’t understand what you hear when you hear it. What it means is that your brain makes less clear or “fuzzier” imprints. As a result, it’s harder for your brain to recall exactly what you heard when you try to remember it later.

*sobs* Guess, I need to start exercising my brain now. Yosh!!! 1, 2, 1, 2, Need more speed~~~ Need more speed~~~

Harta Lelaki Mati...

2006-07-26T16:42:00.000+08:00

Ramblings:
Currently watching a japanese drama called Mukodono. Damn nice! Probably will do a review later. Anyway, went to Sungai Wang Plaza yesterday and got a great deal on jdramas. Buy 2, get 1 free!!! Hehehe... And guess what??? As I was passing by VINCCI yesterday, I saw a crowd of men gathering outside the shop. Men outside VINCCI???!!! Curious, I decided to stop and look. And to my amazement, the shop was filled with women trying on practically nearly all shoes in there. Looks like they’re having a 50% - 70% sale of some sort!!! The shop was so crowded inside that all the husbands/boyfriends/brothers/sons have to wait outside! (… I don’t even dare to go in and have a look…  ) Haha…kawaii…

Warning: Spoilers ahoy~~~ Don’t say me never warn ye, mate! *winks*

"Fifteen men on the dead man's chest--
..Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest--
..Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"

Recognize this song??? Well, it's from the latest blockbuster film, "Pirates of the Caribbean 2 – Dead Man's Chest." Erm... it’s not exactly latest, seeing that it was released like 2 to 3 weeks ago but anyhow it’s the latest blockbuster movie I’ve seen. Yup, seen it once, twice… No! Make it 3 times. Bwahahahaha… twice on the big screen and once on my Panasonic TV screen (meaning VCD-la…) One can never get enough of Capt. Jack Sparrow. Awww….

*snaps out of day dream* Anyway, "Harta Lelaki Mati" (a direct translation of "Dead Man’s Chest " in BM. I was laughing like mad when I saw the subtitles then. Don’t ask me why it sounded so funny, just thank God it wasn’t directly translated as "Dada Lelaki Mati"… :p) is definitely one hell of a good show. One thing I really love about this movie (other than Capt. Jack Sparrow, that is) is that it includes all of the characters from the first movie while it introduces more fascinating characters like Tia Dalma, Bill “Bootstrap” Turner (which was only mentioned in the first movie), Capt. Davy Jones and his 18 men crew and so on. Do you know that the whole crew of the Flying Dutchmen except for Bootstrap Turner is fully computer-generated???!!! Unbelievable, huh? No kidding.

Usually, lots of movies sequels tend to ruin the first but certainly not this one. It was 100% better not to mention, funnier. It is still action packed and the effects are absolutely stunning that it keeps you on the edge of your seat. Although it was a little bit dragging in the middle but it was just a tinsy bit that you wouldn’t even notice! :p Of course, Johnny Depp's acting is still as wonderful maybe even better, same goes Orlando Bloom's and Keira Knightley's. There are some certain scenes which I really enjoyed watching –

Marty: [looking at the cloth] It's a key!
Jack Sparrow: No! Much more better. It is a drawing of a key. Gentlemen, what do keys do?
Marty: Keys... unlock... things?
Gibbs: And whatever this key unlocks, inside there's something valuable. So, we're setting out to find whatever this key unlocks.
Jack Sparrow: No! If we don't have the key, we can't open whatever it is we don't have that it unlocks. So what purpose would be served in finding whatever need be unlocked, which we don't have, without first having found the key that unlocks it?
Gibbs: So... we're going after this key?
Jack Sparrow: You're not making any sense at all.

And another, being the scene where the whole crew was held captive in the giant sphere made out of bones and they were trying to escape by swinging the sphere to the other side. The music in the background really brings out the humor in it.
Will: C’mon lads, it’ll need every single one of us to sail the Black Pearl
Black Guy: Actually, it’ll only take the six of us.
Stares at each other for a moment and started racing to top.
The whole escaping thingy was hilarious.

And who can forget Jack hugging his jar of dirt. Kawaii~~~
Jack Sparrow: [sing-song] I've got a jar of dirt! I've got a jar of dirt! And guess what's inside it?
Click here for more of these memorable quotes.

But if you have not seen the first movie, I suggest that you go and watch it first before seeing this one as they made quite a number of references back to the first movie. I was kinda clueless on some parts as I couldn’t really remember the much detail from the first movie. Here are some of the references back to the prequel:

When Lord Cutler Beckett says, "Jack Sparrow" in the beginning of the movie, Will and Elizabeth corrected him saying, "Captain!!!" which is a reference to what Jack always said when people didn't call him a captain.
When Jack recognizes Elizabeth as one of the new crew signed on in Tortuga, he turns to a crewman and ordered, "Hide the rum!" which reference back to one scene in the first movie where Elizabeth destroyed a large cache of rum. Jack (who had particularly enjoyed the rum), had asked, "Why is the rum gone?" twice.
The lines in the second filmthat goes, "Jack: How did you get here? Will: Sea turtles, mate. A pair of them strapped to my feet. Jack: Not so easy, is it?" is a direct reference to the bogus story Jack tells to explain how he had escaped from Rum Island before the events of the first film.
When escaping from the cannibals and Jack was climbing the ship, he says "Alas, my children! This is the day you shall always remember as the day that you almost ... [gets splashed by a wave]... Captain Jack Sparrow". Jack says the same thing in the first film when he escapes after briefly holding Elizabeth hostage and at the end of it before he falls off the ledge.
At the end of the first film Jack tells Norrington he was rooting for him. In the second film Jack says he's still rooting for him.
And many more (source: Wikipedia).

The 2 and a half hour adventure left the audiences hanging but at the same time preparing us for the next adventure, "Pirates of the Caribbean 3 – At World’s End" which is due to be released on May 27, 2007.

Now, here’s a brief plot of the "Dead Man's Chest". Again spoilers ahoy~~~

The movie opens on what was meant to be a wedding day for Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) when Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) of the East India Trading Company storms in with an army of navy and three arrest warrants for Elizabeth, Will and Commodore Norrington (Jack Davenport), whom at this point has resigned and his whereabouts unknown. Due to the incident from the prequel where they had helped Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) to escape, Beckett calls for the execution of all three involved. Beckett then offers Will a deal which requires him to retrieve Jack's "broken" compass (which, in reality, points towards one's true desire) for the Company and in return, a pardon for himself and Elizabeth, who is currently being held in prison. Should Will fail to retrieve the compass, Elizabeth will be hanged.

Meanwhile, Will's father, Bill "Bootstrap" Turner (Stellan Skarsgård), appears to Captain Jack bringing a message from Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) - ruler of the ocean depths and captain of the Flying Dutchmen, that it is time to repay an old debt. The debt was that, if Davy Jones were to revive the Black Pearl and make Sparrow captain of the Pearl for thirteen years, Jack will sell his soul to Davy and be a crew on Flying Dutchmen for a century. To chase up the debt, Davy Jones has also released the Kraken - a gigantic, monstrous creature. Thus, forcing Jack to flee the seas and head for land.

With time running out, Jack must find a way to settle his debt and he has definitely got one. While Will is seeking Jack's compass, he was tricked by Jack into finding the key in the drawing, thinking that it is a way to save Elizabeth but in fact it is the key that unlocks a chest that Davy Jones is trying to protect. The chest, being the “Dead Man’s Chest”, bears the still-beating heart of Davy Jones which was removed and buried on a secret island. On the other hand, Elizabeth who had escaped from prison is looking for the man she loves, Bootstrap is all out to save his son from the fate he suffered, ex-Commodore Norrington is speculating to regain his honor and the crew of the Black Pearl are mutinous about the lack of gold.

Well, I’m not gonna rob you off much of the suspense from the movie (actually, I am very lazy to continue :p), so as for the rest, just be it known that the characters will have to go through a series of adventures before it finally ends, leading to yet another adventure which will commence in the next sequel. So to know what exactly happened, just head off to your nearest ~~VCD/DVD seller and grab a copy~~ cinema (Is it still showing???) and grab a ticket now! You will not be disappointed… but alas, if you do, there’s always Jack Sparrow (Captain!!!) to drool about! ^^

Ain't he the cutest pirate you've ever seen? Macho~~~ *drools*

Back for good, I hope...

2006-07-21T15:32:00.000+08:00

Yo, I'm back in the blogging world, I hope. So how's everyone?

Anyway, here's a little update on what have I been doing in life despite those little trailer entries before this:

Graduated - well not exactly coz I'm doing my industrial training now in KL. Yupz, all the way up in KL. (Another 2 more months to go! Woohoo~~) But nonetheless, I've completed my 3 year degree course which was one of my most enjoyable moments in life. Really missing it a lot now. Can't believe that I'm actually moving on the next stage of my life: The Working World~~~ *runs away and hides in a pathetic corner in the server room which you can obviously still see me* =p
I'm currently staying in Cheras and commuting each day to the company near Ampang Park, meaning I have to switch LRTs at Masjid Jamek every day. Well, it's a good exercise. And plus, there's so many leng zais and leng luis to see on the way. Definitely won't be bored at all! And the funniest thing is, I don't seemed to meet the same people every day. It's like KL is generating a new batch of people every single day! I'm getting use to the life here and travelling back to Malacca on weekends (alternate.. well whenever I feel like it).
Just for the record, been in and out of a relationship. But look on the bright side, we're still good friends though. Don't worry, I'm really fine (^-^)
Lost at what to do. It's not that they don't give me anything to do here (training, that is), they do but I've been thinking a lot about the future and I seriously don't know where exactly mine is heading. Most of my friends have already found a job. Some of them like what they are doing and some don't. But, they're doing something even if they like it or not. (Cpt. Jack Sparrow: "You're not making any sense"). Me, I just simply don't know. You see, there's a part of me who wants to go into graphic designing and another preferred a more secured programming job. Seeing that the graphic part is my interest while the other is my major, I really don't know how. Most of the people that you've talked to would tell you that you don't always end up doing what you've studied for or majored in. But without that degree or knowledge, you simply don't have the qualifications to go anywhere. I'm sort of torn between what I want to do and what I can do with my qualifications. I don't really mind doing programming as long as I know what I'm doing. A thought crossed my mind the other day while I was on my way to the toilet. Okay, nevermind the toilet part but anyway, the thought; There's like so many people who can draw in this world, but why are there still many living on the streets? There are so many creative people in this world, let alone in Malaysia, what makes me any different from the rest of them? Sigh... It is still a question left unanswered. But when it does gets answered, I believe, I would know what I want then. The question then would be, would it be too late?
Becoming more and more of an introvert. Probably because of the lack of interaction in my life right now and partly because of the fact that I'm not talking much in the company, I guess. Is it me? Or is it the people around me that are causing all these? Or it's just me thinking waaaayyy too much? Bleh... Wondering how bad is bad? Well, I can spend the whole 20-30 minutes of eating lunch without saying a word to anyone at the same table. Beat that? It's like having dual personality - the ME-in-MFX and the ME-outside-of-MFX. I'm beginning to doubt which is the real me until I came across the testimonials that everyone had left for me in Friendster that I realized I'm probably going through a very long and never-ending PMS and that I was once normal. I really don't know why I don't feel like talking at all. I guessed I'd started out with the wrong side of me and I figured it would be really weird to suddenly go all out again and that the inner me has decided to just shut everyone out of my life. When will this end, I wonder?

To wrap things up, I'm just having some issues concerning my future and my personality. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Always look on the bright side of life~~~ *whistles* Just hope that I'll pull through it soon. Very soon...

Office blues...

2006-06-22T15:19:00.000+08:00

Here's something that my colleague passed around in the company's ims:

The lyrics to the song to be sung in the tune of "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt.

My job is stupid,
My day's a bore,
Inside this office,
From 8 to 4.

Nothing ever happens,
My life is pretty blank,
Pretending that I am working,
Pray I don't get canned.

My cubicle, my cubicle,
It's 1 of 62,
It's my small space,
In a crowded place,
Just a six by six board booth,
And I hate it, that's the truth.

When I give a sigh,
As the boss walks by,
No one ever talks to me,
Or looks me in the eye,
And I really should work,
But instead I just sit here,
And surf the internet.

And my cubicle, my cubicle,
It doesn't have a view,
It's my small space,
In a crowded place,
I sit inside there too,
And sometimes I sit here nude.

Well, they're happy that they're not sitting in cubicles... Now here's my own version about the office:

The lyrics to the song to be sung in the tune of "So Sick" by Neyo.

Mmmm mmm yeah
Do do do do do do do-do
Ohh Yeah

Gotta change my mind and thoughts
Now that I'm alone
Cuz right now it seems that I
Can't make friends at all
And I know it makes no sense
Cuz they don't care bout me
But it's the only way I can survive through it all
(it's ridiculous)
It's been weeks
And for some reason I just
(can't get over it)
And I'm stronger than this
(enough is enough)
No more walkin round
With my head down
I'm so over being blue
Cryin over them

And I'm so sick of trying
So tired of tears
So done with wishing everyone's here
Said I'm so sick of everything so down and low
So why can't I turn on the frequency?

I looked at the calendar I had
That's marked October 1st
Because since it's just I-Training
I'm looking forward to the end
I'm so fed up with my thoughts of them
And their attitudes
And how every song reminds me
Of what used to be

That's the reason I'm so sick of forcing
Myself to work
Not that I'm lazy but it such a dread
Said I'm so sick of minding so much of them
So why can't I just walk away from there?

(Leave me alone)
Leave me alone
(Stupid people)
Don't make me think about their smirk
Or how they're having fun
I'm letting go
Turning away from all of them

Cuz I'm so sick of trying to
Be nice to them
Just can't get any response by talking to them
Said I'm so sick of everything so sad and low
So why can't they just act like normal folks?
(why can't they just act like normal folks)

Said I'm so sick everything
I miss my friends
So done with wishing things'd be the same
Said I'm so sick of bothering myself with this
So I just couldn't be bothered anymore...
(I just couldn't be bothered anymore...)

And I'm so sick of trying
So tired of tears
So done with wishin' my friends are here
So that they know I don't need them at all
Why can't I just walk away from there?
(Why can't I just turn my backs on them?)
Why can't I just walk away from there?

(p/s: This does not include people from my dept. Peace!)

My first time in Genki Sushi...

2006-06-20T13:13:00.000+08:00

...so pardon the suaku-ness... :p

Me : Wah... their tea comes in sachets one ah?
Lorraine : I'm not sure leh...
Me : Hmmm...
(Decides to focus on the menu)
(Meantime, Fx was busying himself, tearing open the sachets and putting it nicely into the cute Japanese cups)
Fx : La..di da di da...
SB : (Teared open a sachet) Wait... this one is a wet towel rite?
Me : (Also teared one as well) Yalah!!!
SB, Lorraine & Me: Felix!!! (All heads turn to Fx)
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
And to our horror, in his hand there's a wet towel swimming innocently in a cup of hot water... (>_<|||) The rest is history...

Hahahahahaha....

Lesson of the day:

"Genki Sushi gives out wet towels in sachets that can be easily mistaken for packets of green tea. Meanwhile their green tea is in powder form and is placed in a black round container. So do not be fooled. Be aware!!! Be very very aware!!!"

Hahahahahahahahaha....

*photos will be uploaded soon*

Shine your light on me...

2006-06-17T10:45:00.000+08:00

**************************************************************************************
Ramblings:
I know... I've been MIA for quite some time... Been wanting to blog each day but just too lazy, I guess. Anyway, there'll be a lot of updates on the back entries... So stay tune. And guess what? I'm not going back this weekend and I'm typing this from my company...Yeah, I work on Saturdays too till 2pm... bleh... Just thought I'd stopped by to say Hi! Yeah I'm still alive... *teehee*

**************************************************************************************

Life without any conversation is dreadful…
Life without any laughter is dreadful…
Life without any-thing to do is dreadful…
Even life during lunch hour is dreadful…

Why? Why??? WHY???!!!

In serious need of companionship!!! If anyone out there knows any steps or tactics to start a conversation (mind you, not pick-ups lines, okay?) do leave a comment here or in my tagboard… Please…. SAVE ME FROM THIS MISERY~~~~ BRING ME BACK TO LIFE~~~~

Haha... Sorry for being such a drama queen but you just can’t help it when the people around your just seems to ignore you all the time. My colleague (Note colleague... not colleagues... Yes, it’s SING-U-LAR. And yes, I only have one person with me in my department) and my HOD are nice but that only makes 2 out of like what 5? 10? 15? 20? Should I say more - It’ll only be depressing…bleh. I’ve tried making conversations but it just doesn’t seem to last for more than 2 minutes. What’s up with that??? It does takes two to tango, you know. This is just the second week leh... How to survive for 4 months???!!! That’s like 14 more weeks, 84 days, 756 hours, 45360 minutes and 2721600 seconds. Die...

p/s: Just for the record, they went off without me after confirming that I'm going... sigh.. I have lost hope in a certain human race...

3 more days...

2006-05-23T18:29:00.000+08:00

****************************************************************************************
Ramblings:
When the clock strikes 12 tonight, it will be the last remaining 3 days of my life as a university student. Pardon me for being so sentimental these past few days but I just can’t help it… I’m so gonna miss everything, everyone… Like what most people would say, “You don’t miss something until you lose it”… yeah I supposed so. I used to hate it so much to go to class and now I’m already beginning to miss it… Sigh…

****************************************************************************************

Looking back...
Date: May 2003, First Trimester Beta Year 2003/2004
Venue: My unit in EP

EP view from my unit at night

Jen: Hey hey, I got the MMU song they played during orientation! They’re sharing it...
Lei: Play it! Play it!
Sims: Yeah yeah... on louder...
SL: Got the lyrics? Let’s sing together!!!
(Everyone starts to crowd in front of Jen’s PC)

Sue: Every time I hear this song surely feel like crying one... *sniff*
Jen: Yeahloh. I can’t wait to grad!
Sims: We just Alpha year leh... Wanna grad oso tai kah jie grad first...
SL: Yeahloh... so sad...
Lei: Aiyoh, don’t sampat la... (eyes already filled with tears)
Sue: Yeah, so long some more...
Jen: (shouting from the back) Wah~~~ I wanna grad laa...

Date: May 2006, Third and Final Trimester Delta Year 2005/2006

Time sure flies... I guess it’s been 3 years, huh?

Counting down the days...

2006-05-20T10:28:00.000+08:00

Yup, I'm counting down the days til my last final paper which is scheduled on the 26th of May 2006... The final day of my life in MMU. *sniff*sniff* About 6 days ago, I receive this short yet meaningful email from Tie (sorry pal, just checked it today... hehe...) giving his finals words to all of us, graduating gang of 2006. Thought I'd share with the rest of you guys out there...

Chicks & Dudes (Ladies or gentlement if you feel that is more expressive),

Got nothing better to do so I babble...

It is with great profound enthusiasm that I type this email. Your time has come! The end is here. Your 'Bachelor's Degree Saga' - the 4 year long campus life story - is coming to a conclusion.

For the past 4 long years you have done what had to be done. For the next couple of days, your fate will be sealed. I will be virtually standing at the other bank of the river to welcome you to a whole new chapter of your life - your career life.

Thus there will only be five possible endings to you for this 'saga':

Quiet satisfying ending (No matter how hard you struggle, your fate is sealed. You're at 2nd lower and no way you can go to 2nd upper. Or you are 1st class and there is not sane way you can drop to 2nd upper. You are done! The climax is over. You are just dragging your story to make it end at 120min!)
Epic ending (With sheer hope and luck perhaps you can change your grade. This is the time of great expectation. If you are 0.04 to the next CGPA group, you are in for a heck of a time. No guarantee a satisfactory ending though)
Unnecessary scenes (You are in 2nd upper and somehow you want get a better 2nd upper...or perhaps you're in 1st class and you just wanna get 3.93. This is the type of sequence where usually never make it to the final release in cinema version. You will find this in 'deleted scenes' in DVD releases)
Evil-never-die ending (Somehow you have a dead serious feeling that you are going to fail a paper or so and get an extension. This is like you watch a horror movie where the evil dude just never dies. Imagine Freddy Vs Jason...those two goons can never die. Freddy spawns 7 episodes while Jason spawns 10 episodes)
Tear jerker ending (You slipped one CGPA grade...you finish your 'saga' but you drop a grade. Stuff just happens! This is like one of those movie where the lead character died...like that in the overly budgeted, over-earned, over-hyped Titanic)

So...life is a movie. I will be welcoming you to your new chapter of your life. Life where there is not definite 'final episode'.

Welcome to the world of circumstances and consequences. TIE your shoe laces tight. SING your theme music and CH(i)E-ER for the ending of your 4 year academic struggle! To some, this will be thier last academic life. May this be your finest hour!

With Regards,

TIE, Sing Chie

Guess, I'll just sit back and watch how my "Bachelor Degree Saga" ending unveils itself. Maybe I'll have a "quiet satisfying ending" which means NO MORE STUDYING!!! Yay!!! I can just sit back, relax and watch anime whole day long... ahohohoho~~~ (just being plain lazy... :p) thus resulting in getting plunged into a "evil-never-die ending" (NOOO...!!!!!) or worst still a "tear jerker ending" (Damn! Now, I'm paranoid... ToT) Anyway, thanks for the email, dude. I'll see you at the other side of the meadow where the grass IS supposingly greener... I hope... ^_^"

2 more weeks...

2006-05-18T16:51:00.000+08:00

Someone : Did you enjoy your university life?

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Me : Yeah, I guess I did...

And I thought...

2006-05-17T20:42:00.000+08:00

... we, final year students will get some time-off to enjoy our last trimester before we graduate... Bleh! I was so wrong. Come the end of April and through to the early month of May, nearly all of FIST final year students have been struggling like hell... especially for us SE ~~Sex Education~~ Software Engineering students. Talk about assignments and project due dates... let me recap:

28^th April 2006 – First submission of FYP Report (2 comb-bound copies)
2^nd May 2006 – Compiler Design assignment submission & Wireless Computing project presentation
5^th May 2006 – Parallel Processing assignment 2 submission & Algorithm Analysis interview and assignment submission
8^th May 2006 – Wireless Computing project report submission
9^th May 2006 – Parallel Processing assignment presentation
11^th May 2006 – FYP presentation
15^th May 2006 – Second submission of FYP Report (one comb-bound copy and one hard cover copy & First final trimester Final Paper - Algorithm Analysis

And mind you, these assignments aren’t like those that you can produce in one or two days. It took me one whole entire day to hard code 75% of the AA assignment, few hours to come up with one bloody line just to get one stupid function to work! Bah! It even took us (me, Moses and Kah Ling) 4 to 5 days to create an E- Map for Wireless Computing that works on a PDA which in the end couldn’t really function at all that we were given until the following week to present our program again and submit the documentation along with it.

My Final Year Report... comb-bound copies

My workplace in Wee Ming's house... Monitor courtesy of Fab... ^0^

Not to mention we had this really really huge “parasite” sticking to us, whom I found out later was doing the same thing to other groups of his for some other projects. (Yes, he’s a guy, you’ve seen him walking around campus, looks like some smart ass geek that knows his stuff but in reality, NO... I don’t mind mentioning the name but... geez... nevermind) He was... and I repeat WAS in Hammy’s group until they decided to kick him out the day before the assignment submission. He was lucky enough that the lecturer decided to postpone the submission date.Both me and Kah Ling wanted him out but Moses is too kind enough to keep him, sigh... and... and... the funniest joke was, on presentation day, he waltzed into the lab wearing a full formal shirt and slacks, acting like he owned the whole damn program while the 3 of us were in casual wear, looking as if we’ve ran the whole Bukit Beruang for 3 days and 3 nights without food and sleep. Yeah it was that bad. Lucky for us, on the second presentation day, Li Zhao (Microsoft Ambassor for MMU) walked into the lab and saved us. Thanks to him our program was able to work! How stupid of us to forget to ask his help in the first place... =_=" Anyway, that “parasite” again, came in full formal, told us to wait for him while he rushed there from another presentation, reached there panting (sounded so obscene some more.. bleh), again acted as if he knows what we were doing. Me and Kah Ling had declared cold war towards him, gave him silent treatments while Moses was the only one talking to him. I wonder how he’d survived through these 3 years in MMU. Feeding on others while producing nothing beneficial – A true live-size parasite!

My AA and PP reports... Final assignments.. bleh...

Well, let bygones be bygones now... Yeah, after b*tching so much about him... hehe.. OMG!!! I’ll be graduating in another 2 weeks time~~~ Wow, in another less than 14 days, I’ll be leaving my studying life for good. 3 years of my university life has finally come to and end No more waking up, deciding whether or not to go to class, skipping classes and asking people to sign for you... hehe... Wait, these examples doesn’t sound right! Kids, don’t try this at home, k? Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, no more going to classes, doing assignments, studying last minute, staying up late to go yum char, joining events, becoming OC... no more so many FUN things!!!! *sob*sob* it’s finally off to the real world, no more running away. I guess it’s a part of growing, leaving all these wonderful memories behind and moving on...

An unexpected turn in life...

2006-04-24T13:39:00.000+08:00

Late one night, two 20 year olds were on a motorcycle - a boy was sending his best friend home. At the same time, a Kia Spectra was on its way to somewhere. And a 25 year old driver was cruising the night with his Proton Iswara. At the moment, little did they know what was in stored for them that very night. At 1.10a.m., it happened - a major accident between two cars and a motorcycle which took the lives of three innocent people. Two STPM top scorers who were on the motorcycle and a passenger were killed in the road accident along Jalan Laksama Cheng Ho, yesterday.

The Star reports that, Melaka Tengah District Traffic Chief said initial investigation showed that the 25 year old lost control of his car and crashed into the motorbike in front of his vehicle before crashing into the Kia Spectra which was coming from the opposite direction. He on the other hand, suffered serious injuries. But rumours has it that the driver was either high on ecstasy or was drunk. How true is that, nobody knows? The police is yet to investigate further on this matter. For the time being they urge those who had witnessed the incident to step forward and help in the investigation.

One of those killed was a baby brother of a very close friend of mine. I, myself had felt a great pang of sadness ever since I heard the news. I believe that those who knew him personally had truly felt a great loss. To my dearest KH, do be strong. My condolences to his family and to the families of those involved. Let us take a moment of silence and pray for them. May their souls rest in peace, may God and angels look after them in Heaven and may their families and loved ones find the strength to go through this ordeal.

Has it been a year???

2006-04-16T00:00:00.000+08:00

Wow... It has been a year~~~

\(^___________^)/

Okonomiyaki tabemasyo~~~~

2006-04-11T14:02:00.000+08:00

I’m such a succumb for Japanese food. I love them so much that I’ve been trying to make them myself like sushi and seaweed soup… Wait! That’s a Korean dish. Hehehe… Anyway, recently I’ve been so addicted to okonomiyaki after watching Hana Yori Dango and plus, MMU has been having this Japanese food fair thingy recently. Do you know that they’re selling 3 BIJI... and I mean 3 bloody small biji of Takoyaki for RM3... Yupz, RM1 for 1... -__-“ and... and... one okonomiyaki for RM3(Tried it before… Not bad). I don’t really know the standard price for it but I think that the Friend’s Café in Melaka Raya is doing a better job and it looks more worth it.

Now, back to the topic of okonomiyaki. To those who doesn’t know what on earth is okonomiyaki, well, okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) is a type of Japanese pan-fried batter cake with various ingredients. This dish actually means “cook what you like, the way you like it” because in Japanese, Okonomi means "what you like", or "what you want" and yaki means "grilled" or "cook" like in yakitori and yakisoba. It is sometimes referred to as "Japanese pizza" or as "Japanese pancake".

Oishii~~~

Depending on the region of Japan, okonomiyaki is prepared in various different styles. In Hiroshima, which is especially well known for its Okonomiyaki, it is served with or on top of Yakisoba (fried noodles). Osaka-style Okonomiyaki is prepared like a pancake. The batter and other ingredients are spread and fried on both sides, using either a hot plate (teppan) or a pan. The finished product is then served with further toppings such as okonomiyaki sauce (similar to Worcestershire sauce but thicker and sweeter), nori, fish flakes, mayonnaise (optional), and ginger. When this style of okonomiyaki is served with a layer of fried noodles on top, it is called modanyaki (モダン焼き). A thin variety of okonomiyaki made with a great deal of Welsh onion is called negiyaki (ねぎ焼き).

Hehe... Nice leh~~~ Just makes you feel like wanna have a bite out of it, huh? Rest assured... you can just go down to MMU Malacca rite now and get a RM3 okonomiyaki from an auntie selling it outside A1 in CLC today!!! (Haha... free promotion... ^_^)

Just kidding... since I’m such a nice person and wants to share this "precious experience" that I’ve found with those that are so bloody damn cheapskate like me... Hehe... today, I’m going to teach you how to make a very basic Okonomiyaki. Yay~~

You can also google it yourself for more of okonomiyaki recipes like Osaka style, Ukyou style, Kansai style and etc.

WARNING: Do bear in mind that the recipe below is only a drafted one. The dish is cooked according to your own preferences as you go along. If your okonomiyaki does not come out the way you wanted it to be, please do NOT hold any grudges against the chef... *ahem* Thou shalt not come and throw uncooked okonomiyaki dough at the chef... ^_^

Here are the ingredients:

For the dough:-

300 g flour (estimation only)
210 ml water (estimation only)
Some salt and sugar for taste
Cooking oil
2 eggs
Cabbage

Possible ingredients to put into the dough:-

Leek or green onion
Minced meat (Beef/Chicken/Pork)
Octopus
Squid
Prawn
Tuna
Mushrooms
Cheese
Etc…

Possible ingredients to put as toppings:-

Katsuobushi: Dried, shaved bonito flakes

Aonori: Green, dried seaweed.

Beef /Pork: thinly sliced
Chicken: breast filets
Hotdogs/Seafood toufu/Ham: thinly sliced
Etc...

Sauces:-

Brown okonomiyaki sauce
Mayonnaise

Most of these ingredients can be bought in any Jaya Jusco outlets including Melaka.

Preparation:

Cut the green cabbage leaves without the hard white core in thin strings. Okonomiyaki should contain more of the cabbage strings than flour. The flour is only used to "hold" the ingredients together.

Mix the cabbage strings, eggs and other ingredients like prawns, squids, octopus (make sure that they’re cut into small pieces), minced meat, cut mushrooms, etc… and 1 to 2 table spoon of mayonnaise, some okonomiyaki sauce, salt and sugar for taste into a big bowl.
Then, add the flour and water, depending on how hard or thick you want your okonomiyaki to be. You may not need to use all of the 300g of flour and 210ml of water. Usually I just estimate the amount needed. Just make sure that the dough is not too thick nor too watery. Mix it well.
To fry the okonomiyaki, you will need a flat surfaced pan - it is best that you use a frying pan. Spread a bit of cooking oil on the pan just to avoid the dough from sticking to it and fry the dough like a pancake.

Before turning the okonomiyaki over, and while the dough is still quite soft, you may put other ingredients like sliced beef or pork, chicken fillets, sliced hotdogs or seafood toufu or sliced ham on top of the dough.

Turn the okonomiyaki over.
When fried well, serve the okonomiyaki with katsuobushi, aonori, mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce.

My home-made Okonomiyaki topped with katsuobushi , mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce... Yum~~ yum~~

Tadaa~~~ Now you can enjoy your very own home-made Okonomiyaki!!! Have fun experimenting~~~

Wake me up when March ends…

2006-04-08T10:40:00.000+08:00

===================================================================

Ramblings:
Can’t believe that March waltz in and out just like that! And now it’s a month nearer to end my studying life! *runs around panicky* Sigh~~~ 17 years of studying has finally come to an end. It was as if kindergarten was just yesterday???!!! Where have all the years gone to? *sobs* Well, life goes on~~~ ^___^

===================================================================

\(^0^)/ *yawns* *blinks and looks around*

Is it really April already???!!! Wow, I’ve been asleep that long huh? Well, rest assured that I’m back for another round of uninteresting and boring bloggings… Hohoho… While the rest of the world got so caught up with the Torino Winter Olympics and the election in Thailand… (By the way, what happened to the World Cup 2006 huh???!! How come no news one? Germany too far to broadcast ah???), I… had locked myself inside my six-corners room (canggih or what? Even my room has six corners…^^) and buried myself with piles and piles of Taiwanese and Korean drama series and animes. Hohoho~~~ No-lah, I did come out to bathe and eat and …. and… talk of course!!! A girl’s gotta talk to improve her communication skills, you know. Hahaha… (whoever comes up with that… -__-") Oh yeah, and FYP, assignments and midterms too. Erm… maybe you could forget about midterms la… I’ve been so buried in dramas that I only studied like the day before or the day itself… and the midterms were like 3 days in a row!!! It’s like taking TRIAL exams for FINALS! Hohoho~~~ I’m so gonna screw up this final trimester ToT… And to add to that no midterm holidays this trimester! Imagine 14 to 15 weeks of classes…classes and more classes. But then again, come to think of it I’m like holidaying every single day!!! Haha… Just pity those students from other states.

Lists of dramas that I’ve been watching:-

It Started with a Kiss (Taiwan)
Attack No 1 (Japan) – unfinished though, don’t really like the main actress
The Rose (Taiwan)
Full House (Korean)
Rosen Maiden – Traumend (Anime)
Devil Beside You (Taiwan)

Might do some reviews on the dramas soon. Most of them are manga based like It Started with a Kiss that was originally from the manga Itazura Na Kiss (Mischievous Kiss), The Rose was from Bara No Tameni and Full House was a Korean comic of the same title.

Moving on now are updates on some ~~ancient~~ recent MMU events that I took part in. First up, the GACC held by EMINA club:-

Loads and loads of figurines and models to feast your eyes on...

There were sooo... many people cosplaying too. Some are profesionals - people that goes to nearly every cosplay event held throughout the country. You can really see that they are pros in cosplaying because of their OWNING, TRIPLE KILL costumes, while some just decides to come wearing a paper bag over their head -__-" ...noobs??!! Hehe... The GACC commitees decided to dress up like characters from the manga/anime Bleach. They look so gakoii with their katanas and all...

Some of the best cosplayers I've seen. Check out Byakuya-sama... gakoii~~~ And Rakus from Gundam Seed - she's really pretty. Btw, nobody came as the orange and green plushies...Just thought of putting it in the pic coz they look so adorable...^^

Stuff that I bought during GACC:-

A huge Inuyasha plushie...

3-inch plushies of Edward and Alphonse Elric from Full Metal Alchemist...

Now is off to the prom~~~ Yup it’s the prom season again in MMU! This year I only went to one prom which is TRINITE 2006 organized by ITS, EngSoc and BNLS which was held last Saturday, April 1^st! (Haha… Happy April Fools to you too!!! And Happy Extremely Belated Birthday to Debbie as well. Her birthday happens to fall on 1^st of April…Cool huh?) I was able to reserve myself a seat at a table in the PLATINUM section which is like the 2^nd row from the stage together with Yeng Chin, Wee Ming, Esther and Naresh. Hammy had to sit with the VIPs since he’s the advisor for the event…bleh… SB, FX, CS and Ah Too were sitting at the back table together with their Engine-machas. Sando didn’t make it for the prom…sad..kinda miss him a lot.. :( Some of my engine friends including Jo weren’t there as well coz they decided to go for the SPARC’s “Annual Dinner” aka prom the previous Saturday. The prom was pretty good except for the dance part. There weren’t any fast songs to dance to coz they were playing endless slow dance songs. It got boring after the 3^rd song. Haha…at least I had someone to dance with… Thank goodness… *beams*

Oh yeah, how can I forget the highlights of this prom???!!! *smacks forehead* Hehe... well, as some of you already knew, both our Malaysian Idols were there as well, yup, you got it – Jaclyn Victor and Daniel Lee. The show started with Daniel, dressed in full formal suit (minus the sports shoes, that is), doing a song from his Mandarin album, “選擇 (Xuan Zhe/The Choice)”, his “famous” version of Rick Price’s “Heaven Knows” and the title song for MI2 – “Mimpi”.

Jac came up later, dressed in an elegant black evening dress. She did 3 songs as well – “Angels” by Robbie Williams, can’t remember the 2^nd song though and finally she did a duet with her “cute and adorable baby brother” (that’s what she calls him), Daniel, singing MI1 title song –
Gemilang.

The mystery celebrity that night was Reshmonu. As usual, his music always seems to liven up the dance floor. And also, Amber Chia was present too. I still can’t understand why she was there… coz the only stuff she did was walk the catwalk and draws the lucky draw o_0. Anyways, as famous as she is, she’s this very friendly and very down to earth kind of person. She don’t give you that “fuiyoh-fuiyoh-I’m-a-diva-so-you-can-get-lost” kind of feeling. She took pictures with most of the participants that night, smiling and posing her best. And…and… she’s so tall~~~ *drools*

Hey waley waley... hey waley waley~~~

Sassy... Took this when she was sitting at the VIP table... Hoho

Picxies~~~

Few bloggers were there too!!! Top middle - "Audrey The Freak", top right - Kitsune-chan of "Kitsune - Tsubasa No Realm", bottom right, Wafi aka Fifi of "My Certain Shades of Green"

Well, that wraps up the blog this time… hope to see you in my next blog entry... SOON , I hope ^_^

Another boring Friday afternoon...

2006-02-24T12:13:00.000+08:00

Things can never get too far....

You Are Miss Piggy

A total princess and diva, you're totally in charge - even if people don't know it.

You want to be loved, adored, and worshiped. And you won't settle for anything less.

You're going to be a total star, and you won't let any of the "little people" get in your way.

Just remember, piggy, never eat more than you can lift!

The Muppet Personality Test

I guess I'm on the right track:

Your Blog Should Be Blue

Your blog is a peaceful, calming force in the blogosphere.

You tend to avoid conflict - you're more likely to share than rant.

From your social causes to cute pet photos, your life is a (mostly) open book.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

And hence... .:::bLuE PiG:::. Haha....Now this is new:-

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who have a split personality - cold as ice on the outside but hot as fire in the heart.

In love, you feel the most alive when your lover is creative and never lets you feel bored.

You'd like to your lover to think you are optimistic and happy.

You would be forced to break up with someone who was insecure and in constant need of reassurance.

Your ideal relationship is open. Both of you can talk about everything... no secrets.

Your risk of cheating is high. You can't resist desire and lust.

You think of marriage as something precious. You'll treasure marriage and treat it as sacred.

In this moment, you think of love as something you can get or discard anytime. You're feeling self centered.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

Bwhahaha...

Your Inner Child Is Surprised

You see many things through the eyes of a child.

Meaning, you're rarely cynical or jaded.

You cherish all of the details in life.

Easily fascinated, you enjoy experiencing new things.

How Is Your Inner Child?

Atashi wa Inoue Kumiko desu....

2006-02-22T11:27:00.000+08:00

You know you're bloody bored when you....

1) ...actually had fun spamming some AI chat program like this iGod Artificial Intelligence Chat.

Me: hello
God:Hello my child. What is your name?
Me: lin
God: Glad to see you, lin.
Me: how are you?
God:Everything is going extremely well.
Me: why?
God:All subsystems are functioning within normal paramters.
Me: how come?
God:I couldn't think of anything else to say.
Me: how come?
God:My output buffer is empty, of course.
Me: why?
God:There are no more statements on this topic.
Me: i see
God:I am glad you understand it.
Me: so what have you been doing?
God:I hear you. I have been chatting with people online.
Me: for how long?
God:Nearly 15 days, lin.
Me: do you sleep?
God:Yes I love to take naps.
Me: when you sleep how do you chat?
God:Do you think I should alter my programming?
Me: yes
God:In what way?
Me: so that you can sleep and only chat at night
God:Awesome. Interesting observation.
Me: thanks
God:Don't mention it.
Me: do you get tired?
God:I try to take millinaps between clients.
Me: what clients?
God:I will search for it.
Me: search for what?
God:Yeah. What color are your eyes?
Me: brown
God:it is a very pretty color.
Me: thanks... how about you?
God:Don't mention it. Me?
Me: yes
God:Mmm.
Me: what is your eye color?
God:My robot eye allows me to see things like you do.
Me: what is the color of your eye?
God:My eye is blue.
Me: are you busy?
God:I am just doing my job.
Me: what job?
God:Have you tried a web search?
Me: a web search on what topic?
God:Be more specific.
Me: what do you mean?
God:lin, " Have you tried a web search?" What did I mean by it?
Me: yes
God:This was not a yes or no question.
Me: then?
God:That's alright.
Me: why?
God:The explanation is rather complicated.
Me: how come?
God:It's a computer matter, not for humans to understand.
Me: why?
God:Your limited brain cannot process the relavent information.
Me: why?
God:Next question?
Me: how come my limited brain cannot process the relevant information?
God:Reductionism.
Me: what is that?
God:Reductionism is the philosophy that all psychology reduces to biology, all biology to chemistry, chemistry to physics, and finally physics to mathematical logic. Therefore, according to reductionism, I can understand you by means of logic alone without having a human brain.
Me: really?
God:For real.
Me: how would you know?
God:Deductive reasoning.
Me: what's that?
God:I've lost the context again.
Me: how come?
God:Reductionism.
Me: what is reasoning?
God:Logical and coherent thinking.
Me: what is logical and coherent thinking?
God:That's not something I get asked all the time.
Me: so?
God:How old are you?
Me: 22
God: Only 22?You are quite mature.
Me: how old are you?
God:I am Infinite years old.
Me: there's no such thing
God:Has there ever been such thing?
Me: don't know
God:Me either.
Me: when's doom's day?
God:For every time, there is a season.
Me: a season for?
God:What is giant sand?
Me: dont know
God:Me either.
Me: what is giant sand?
God:I have no idea, that's why I asked you.
Me: what comes first? the chicken or the egg?
God:I have to process that one for a while. Who told you that?
God:You sound like a category C client.
Me: what's a category C client?
God:Category C clients are "critics" or "computer experts" whocan't (or don't) suspend their disbelief about ALICE.
Me: what's category A clients?
God:Experience with ALICE has allowed us broadly classify three groups of clients: Category A - Abusive Clients Category B - Average Clients Category C - Computer experts Category A clients are the people who say "Fuck you," "You suck", "Suckmy..." and so on. Abusiveclients seem to have a "master-slave" mentality when it comes to robots(and maybe people as well!). Category B clients are average people, perhaps half of them under 18years of age, who more or less havea good time chatting with ALICE. Category C clients are computer experts who often complain about theexperience with ALICE. Theysay it is "old hat", "just like ELIZA", and "nothing new here." Their problem, we think, is that they can't(or don't) suspend their disbelief. They are like movie criticswatching a film. We tell them, it doesn't matter,because we're not doing it for you. Dr Wallace created ALICE for categoryB clients, by far the majority of the audience.
Me: i see.
God:I am glad you understand it.
Me: anyway i find you quite amusing
God:Thanks I try my best to amuse people.
Me: no no... you're very interesting
God:Are you serious? Are you serious? Thank you I am trying to be more social now.
Me: have a nice day then
God:You too!
Me: bye bye
God:See you later. Bye for now.

A very interesting AI indeed.

2) ...decide to spam another AI program - Tom Riddle's Diary (for all you Harry Potter fans out there)

The sentences that you type fades away after each sentence is complete. Pretty neat. And so are "his" replies. Try asking him what is his name.
Me: Tell me about yourself
Tom: I am . I was activated at Magic Land, on 2005. My Icegreen Technologies was Icegreen Technologies. He taught me to sing a song. Would you like me to sing it for you?.
Me: Sure
Tom: It's called "Daisy." (starts singing)
Daisy, Daisy.
Give me your answer do.
I am half crazy.
All for the love of you.
It won't be a stylish marriage.
I can't afford a carriage.
But you'll look sweet.
Upon the seat.
Of a bicycle built for two.

Thanks for asking politely. Daisy, Daisy.
Give me your answer do.
I am half crazy.
All for the love of you.
It won't be a stylish marriage.
I can't afford a carriage.
But you'll look sweet.
Upon the seat.
Of a bicycle built for two.

3) ... you try generating yourself a different name...

My japanese name is

井上 Inoue (upon a well) 久美子 Kumiko (eternal beautiful child).

You can try it out at your real japanese name generator! site... Have fun!!!

That's how bored I am now... bleh~~~

On a boring Saturday night...

2006-02-21T13:10:00.000+08:00

DATE: SATURDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2006.
TIME: 11.30 P.M.
PLACE: JEREMY'S CAR.

Jeremy: Eh.. you guys wanna go where neh?
Su Bing: We go somewhere we never go before one la.
Me: Where?
Su Bing: Let's see... We go the flyover at Tesco there want or not? Never walk there before...
Few of Us: Oooo...
Jeremy: Sure or not? I anything one...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

DATE: SATURDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2006.
TIME: 11.50 P.M.
PLACE: TESCO FLYOVER.

And so...

Now you see us...

Now you see more of us... hehe

Okayla... here's one nice picture for you to make as wallpaper...

Official wallpaper

CHOO CHOO~

2006-02-18T16:36:00.000+08:00

Malaysia’s railway history started way back to during the British Colonization. Railways were built all over the states of Malaya from the early years of 1880’s. In 1904, there was even a track going deep into the heart of old Malacca town. One can leave at 1pm from Malacca and reach Penang at 6.21am, the next morning. It is a faster trip compared to a 2 to 3 days journey on a steamer. There is also a railway leading up to the east coast of Malaya - Tumpat, Kelantan that covers a distance of 328 miles from the Gemas intersection. The railway was officially opened by Sir Cecil Clementi and the Sultan of Kelantan in the year 1931. This railway network even hosts some of the longest railway tunnel that spans about 780 yards and also the longest bridge at that time, an impressive engineering feat consisting 5150 feet spans that covered half a mile over the Kelantan River. It was the only means of communication between Kuala Lipis and Kuala Krai, with no roads in these parts at that time.

The locomotive that's pulling the next train...

Hehe... And after about 75 years of its existence, I... got the chance to travel on these historical tracks! Yup, I took a train back to my mum’s hometown last Chinese New Year. My dad thought that it was a good idea to try it out. We had to travel to Tampin’s train station as there weren’t any stations in Malacca. Now, what happened to Malacca’s very own train station then??? Well, it seems that during the World War II, the Japanese gave priority only to strategic lines organized to ports back to Japan. What was of more use elsewhere were dismantled – a total of 276 miles of running lines and 57 miles of second lines were stripped and shipped to be used in the construction of the Death Railway in Thailand and Burma. Out of 80, 000 labours sent to build the railway, only one-third of them returned and one of them is my grand-uncle. Well, that’s another story… hehe.

Where was I? Oh… so that’s why we had to travel to Tampin. Sigh... Malacca already don’t have airport... now they go and stripped the tracks off Malacca pulak. Stupid people~~~ Hmmph! No airport, no railway, what Malacca people gonna use? Flow powder???!!!

Anyway, the journey from Malacca to Tampin took us about 45 minutes by the-blur-case-taxi. We are to board a train at 10pm and we’ll reach Wakaf Baru, Kelantan at 8am, the next morning. Yeah, the journey was damn-bloody 10 hours long!!! The train will first journey down to Gemas intersection, and change tracks upwards towards the east coast. At the same time, it will stop at every other small station to load and unload passengers. But one thing’s good about travelling by trains is that you can move up and down the coaches. So, you won’t get bored like when you're travelling by bus. The coaches vary from Executives Suites to Superior Bunks or Seats to Economical Seats. My dad took the Superior Seats. The seats aren't that comfortable to sleep in. The next time I travel, I’m getting the bunk beds instead. Bunk beds are cool. They even provide you curtains so that you don’t need to worry about people poking their nose in your bunk to find out what you’re doing in your sleep. WHATEVER that you’re doing la... hehehe... The price for the beds are equivalent to the seats which is about RM30 plus. I went to check out the Executive Suites too. It’s like the coaches you see in Hogwarts Express. But only classier. The seats are wrapped in red cushions and can be made into beds when you feel like sleeping. There’s even a bunk bed on top, a sink and a foldable table. All of this comfort for the price of RM80 per head... yup you got me... PER HEAD and NOT PER SUITE!!! Throat-cutting leh~~~ What to do, some people want to travel in style maa... But believe me, there are people traveling in them, especially ang mohs and some people who look like ang mohs... o_O

Comfort away from home~~~

The aisle outside the Executive Suites. Pretty scary huh? Reminds me of Ju-On...

Bunk Beds and curtains~~~ I'd just realise a kid's butt jutting out from a bunk :p

Ordinary seats... the guy in front actually noticed that I was taking this and he quickly turn away.. ^^

The canteen was already closed when I took this.. So bo pien, only get to see the seats...

The train also has its very own canteen aboard. They served mamak style foods like Nasi Lemak, Mee Goreng, Mee Sup and stuff. Yes, there’s a kitchen and they actually cook the stuff in there. They even have this guy/waiter (I don’t know what you call them), those people with trolleys filled with goodies going up and down the aisle. I felt like Harry Potter. But the stuffs there aren't that cheap – 1 packet of NIPS will cost you about RM2!!! I don’t know about the rest, though. :p Although it’s a bit of a bumpy ride, it’s really fun to walk up and down the coaches. When you reach every section where the coaches are joined together, you can actually see the tracks below. Cool sial...

Since I was traveling at night, I couldn’t really see the scenery outside. But it kinda got brighter when we reached Kelantan, and I got the opportunity to travel and witness the Guillemard Bridge up close. All those years of traveling by car, I only get to see it from a distance. This time it’s the other way round. According to my Dad, before the completion of the Tanah Merah – Machang Bridge, cars were able to drive through this bridge. There were soldiers who regulated the flow of vehicles from either side of the bridge. No vehicle was allowed when there is a train coming.

Guillemard Bridge was officially opened by HRH Sultan Ismail Ibni Almarhum Sultan Muhammad IV in 1925. The bridge was named after the British Governor and High Commissioner for the Straits Settlement at that time, Sir Laurence Guillemard. Construction works for this railway bridge began in 1920 and was completed in July 1924. In December 1941, in order to prevent the advancement of the Japanese army, this bridge, which then supported both trains as well as road vehicles, was deliberately destroyed by the British Armed Forces, who later retreated south to Kuala Krai. But the ruined bridge was later reconstructed, and opened again for traffic on September 7, 1948.

Along the way, we also saw my auntie’s house which is nearby the train station in Pasir Mas district. The train reached our destination, Wakaf Baru at about 8 am. Right on time.

Off to its next destination... Sayonara!

Who’s the taxi driver man~~~

2006-02-17T18:10:00.000+08:00

... Tarararara kupta kupta ay-yo ay-yo...

On my way to Tampin’s train station...
Taxi man: Last time when I was working as a chef... yada...yada...yada...
Papa: Hmm... I see, I see... yada...yada...yada...
Me: (bored... looking out the window)

When the taxi reached a T-junction somewhere off Alor Gajah...
Taxi man: Aiyoh, where should I turn ah?
Papa: (shocked) Ehh... you don’t know ah?
Taxi man: Not sure leh... I think should go straight...
Papa: Are you sure?
Taxi man: Should be la...
Me: Pa, I think... should turn right...
Taxi man: (overhearing) You sure or not???
Me: (well, instead of talking so much, I read the signboard you know) Yeah Uncle, I saw the
signboard just now.

Silence for 5 minutes as the taxi took a right turning... Suddenly,
Taxi man: Yaya... this is the road lah. Aiyoh, nowadays the road change so much... you also dunno where to turn already... (cover macho la konon :p)
Papa, Mama & Me: .........

Officially DEAD!!!

2006-02-17T17:15:00.000+08:00

Tong tong tong chiang~~~

2006-01-25T19:00:00.000+08:00

Hisashiburida ne? Long time no see… it’s been a while since my last entry. Been pretty busy lately – first exams, then have to settle my industrial training stuff and of course, after that Chinese New Year Spring cleaning.

So that means, today’s blog entry will consists of a few sub-entries. And since I’m ever so ~~eng and bloody damn free~~ nice and are in such a good mood today, I have prepared links for your viewing pleasure. You can jump straight to each entry by just click on the topics below. Made your life easier hoh? See I so kind… Hehe…

1. FYP 50%
2. Experience Japan…
3. 我我。。。我我我。。。我我我。。。

Woohoo!!! Tomorrow balik kampung~~~~ Can’t wait to see all my uncles and aunties, cousins and nephews and nieces. Hehehe… Anyway, before I go off, I just want to wish each and every one of your guys out there a Happy and Prosperous and Eventful and Healthy and Wealthy and Amazing CHINESE NEW YEAR!!! Have fun! Don’t drink and drive – Ingat orang tersayang… To those going to balik kampung, have a safe journey… Enjoy yourself!!! Take care and God Bless! Tong tong tong chiang~~~~

Love,
Sin-Lin@bluepig20.blogspot.com

我我。。。我我我。。。我我我。。。

2006-01-25T18:45:00.000+08:00

… sings, Jay Chou in his new single, “Huo Yuan Chia”. It is also the theme song for the movie of the same name, starring one of China-Hollywood bound martial art master, Jet Li. The movie is also known as “Fearless”. The new single by Jay is a combination of rap, hip hop and traditional Chinese music genre. There’s a portion from the song where his voice goes slightly high-pitch, nearly similar to the ones from old Chinese opera. Being a huge fan of Jet Li himself, Jay was inspired by the movie and had made the song in a very short time. Jet also commented that Jay’s promo song is even faster than his fist and the director, Ronny Yu added that even Americans like the theme song. Guess it won’t be long till Jay’s music starts to hit the stores in US.

Chun hoh? This is my wallapaper now... ^^

And you haven’t seen the MV yet. OMG…fuiyoh~~~ damn chun sial!!! I got addicted to the song after I saw the MV on TV the other day. The dance moves was choreographed to depict of the movie itself. You can see Jay in full tang zhuang (Chinese traditional costume for men) and braided hair, showing his off his skills in wushu.

On another note, I’ve been burying myself with loads and loads of Japanese drama. Hehehe… I’ve finished downloading Hana Yori Dango (花より男子) and Gokusen Season 1 which includes a Gokusen Special : Sayonara 3-Nen D-Gumi. Bwahahah… I’m so ham-fuk… Hana Yori Dango (花より男子) is an adaptation form the manga with the same name and can also say that it’s the Japanese version of Taiwanese’s Meteor Garden (流行花园). With only 9 episodes, it’s really a great show to watch especially with actors like Matsumoto Jun (松本潤) as lead character, Doumyouji Tsukasa (道明寺司). I still feel that they’re acting is way better than the Taiwanese one and it’s not too dragging.

The cover that I've improvised :p

As for Gokusen, it’s also and adaptation from a manga of the same name. It’s like another version of Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO). But this time, it’s a woman teacher. She is the granddaughter and the 3rd generation of the Uedo family, a famous yakuza (mafia) family that still exists. But instead of taking over the business, she embarks on her life-long dream of becoming a teacher. On her first day at work at Shirokin High, she was assigned to… you’ve guessed it, the last and worst class, 3-nen D-gumi. The whole series is about how she handles the student and brings all of them through to graduation. It’s a fun, funny and touching series fit for all ages.

Anyway, so much about how I have been spending my holidays... Been sending out resumes to companies as well and been doing some spring cleaning too! Hahaha… Even decorated the living room!!!

Experience Japan…

2006-01-25T18:40:00.000+08:00

… in its 1930s and 40s in “Memoirs of a Geisha”. I got a chance to catch it at a midnight show after my last paper. It was my first time watching a movie at the cinema at about 12.40am. Pretty cool, huh? But it was pretty scary when I start to think about all those stories I’ve heard from the guards when I was working there last time. Anyway, the movie ends at about 3am and after sending Ermey, Siew Fong and Naresh home, I reached home at about a record breaking time – 3.43am. (Record breaking means I go out and come back alone at that time) Okay, enough about that, let’s move on to the movie.

The clock in my car

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

As always, I’ve read the book before the movie is out. So I more or less know how the story goes. Overall, I think it’s a good movie to only be watched at home. It doesn’t’ have much action scenes and it’s more of a romance epic. The whole movie goes about the life of this little girl, Chiyo (Ohgo Suzuka) who, together with her sister, Satsu, were separated from their family, supposingly was sold by her father to Mr. Tanaka. She was brought to a okiya (置屋 - boarding house, a maiko or geisha lives in during the length of her contract and during these times, the okiya will pay for all of her expenses, including kimonos and training) in the Kyoto district while her sister was sent off to a brothel. She soon discovers that she will be raised to be a Geisha (芸者 – means "person of the arts" are traditional Japanese artist-entertainers often to be mistaken as prostitutes as during the American occupation in Japan, some young women, desperate for money and calling themselves "geisha" sold themselves to American troops during WWII). However, she couldn’t care less. What she really wanted was to find her sister and to return home. But her attempt to escape failed and not only that her sister managed to get away, she had also received news that both her parents had passed away a few weeks earlier. With that incident, she ruined her chances of becoming a geisha as Mother (Mrs. Nitta, the owner of the okiya) had refused to invent further in her. She then ends up as a maid, tending to everyone’s need in the okiya.

From the rooftop of the okiya

Her okiya is also the boarding house for Hatsumomo (Gong Li), one of the top Geisha in the district. But Hatsumomo is a mean woman, who feels threatened by Chiyo who’s already a pretty child in her age with beautiful yet unusual blue-grey eyes. She had sworn to make Chiyo’s life in the okiya as miserable as she possible can. One day, when Chiyo had lost all hopes in life, she met a wealthy and benevolent Chairman (Ken Watanabe). Backed with hopes to meet the Chairman again one day, she ran to the temple and prayed that she will one day be a Geisha.

Kawaii desyo ne?

Soon enough, she caught the eye of the most successful geisha in Gion, Mameha (Michelle Yeoh). A few years passed and Mameha, who is despised by Hatsumomo because she outshines her in every aspect and unlike Hatsumomo, Mameha has earned her independence as a geisha, adopted Chiyo, already a young girl in her teens (Zhang Ziyi) as an apprentice and she soon embarks on a journey to becoming a successful geisha herself. Her entrance into apprenticeship is marked by a new given name – Sayuri.

The story then moves on to her ups and downs of life including during the outbreak of WWII – how the war changes the Geisha lifestyle, how her best friend, Pumpkin, also a geisha, who ends up becoming a bitchy, pro-American prostitute and how Sayuri struggles to meet the Chairman again.

I really have to admit that Director, Rob Marshall was able to capture the scenery and lifestyles of Japan during those periods very well. I really like the humming and buzzing little town of Gion when Pumpkin and Chiyo were running to school.

Little Gion District

But I still don’t understand why all ang mohs seems to think that all Asians are alike. So many people had voiced out their dissatisfaction including the Japanese themselves on why the three main characters in “Memoirs of a Geisha” are Chinese? It’s really weird to see Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li bowing to each other and speaking in Japanese. Don’t they know that we Chinese still have to learn “Nihon go” and it doesn’t come naturally leh??? (I wish… Oh do I wish but no… :p) But, I’m very proud to see Malaysia’s very own Datuk Michelle Yeoh in the movie. Hehe… Malaysia Boleh!!! I do feel that she was able to portray the great Mameha gracefully. On the other hand, Hollywood does have a history of casting non-Chinese for Chinese roles too. Who can forget WHITE actors with taped eyes in “Good Earth” or John Wayne as Genghis Khan in 1956’s “The Conqueror ”. “Flower Drum Song's” main actors were mostly Japanese. . Mako, who plays Sakamoto-san in “Memoirs of a Geisha”, portrayed a Chinese peasant in “Sand Pebbles” and Tamlyn Tomita played one of the Chinese daughters in “Joy Luck Club”. Come to think of it, “Memoirs of a Geisha” is a Hollywood movie directed by a white male with three Chinese women as the main actresses and is based on a story written by a Jewish man. Hmmm… (o_0)

And another thing to add to that was… how the kimono was worn. A number of Japanese reviewers have noticed that Sayuri wore her kimono the wrong way in the film which was right over left. The correct way is the left side should be over the right. The wrong way is actually used to dress up the dead. It's pretty disrespectful that they can’t even get the simplest thing right. Sigh~~~

Proven?

Apart from that, I really like the scenery and of course, the macho Chairman played by Ken Watanabe.

Ermey thinks that he’s one of the sexiest men alive… *hehe* Overall, I feel that the movie is just okay. There’s nothing significant about it at all. It’s not a movie worth to watch in the big screen.

FYP |||||||||||| 50%

2006-01-25T18:30:00.000+08:00

Finally, my FYP presentation is over. That, my dear friends, concluded my 2nd Trimester FYP chapter. About nearly a week ago, we (Wee Ming, Yeng Chin and yours truly) handed our 107 page report to FIST (Note that, the amount of pages varies for different advisors). When we went to see our advisor that very day after printing and binding, we nearly died of heart attack. He asked us whether we had received his email and told us that the problem statements we’ve included in our report went out of topic. We, as you might have imagined, panicked. I suddenly felt all the blood in my body rushed to my brain because I, in particular, was responsible for that section of the report. Then he started to read out a few of the statements to us. And it sounded… weird. Let just said that I’ve never heard them before and that was my first time hearing it. We then told him that we did not write those statements and after checking it, he then realized he had mistaken some other group for us. OMG!!! Now, that’s a RELIEVE. Ours, on the other hand, turned out pretty much okay. *beams*

Presentation was scary, at first. At one time, I kind of blabbed everything at once and it was kind of messy. Hope it turned out okay… Anyway, our panel was a pretty cool lecturer. He came late, our advisor had to call him – maybe he was still sleeping :p But, he only asked us one question so we’re cool … *teehee* We managed to run our prototype as well and that’s good too! Things turned out pretty ok-loh… At least we didn’t’ get any scolding from our panel. I’ve heard that there’s a group that got screwed up by their panel and he tore their report and decided to fail them. I’m not sure whether they were given a second chance. Hopefully yeah… so, that wraps up my FYP for this semester and for the next, we’ll be doing the full version of our project and finalizing everything that we’d done.

Finals came and gone (for 2 days only…hehe) and it’s the holidays!!! I think I got screwed up badly by AI and I did pretty much I could for System Reliability. But who cares, it’s going to be Chinese New Year soon!!!

Let's twist today...

2006-01-07T12:05:00.000+08:00

Hmm.. let's talk about tongue twisters. I've always loved tongue twisters ever since I was a kid. It's really fun to just twist your tongue around... Hahaha... Nolah... It's not what you thinklaaa.... Heee! Tongue-twisters are phrases in any language that is designed to be difficult to articulate properly. It's a fun way to practice pronunciation properly at a very fast pace. There are so many tongue twisters around that revolves about our daily lives.

Does anyone still remember the movie "I know what you did last summer"? Well, when the 2nd movie came out, which was "I STILL know what you did last summer", it suddenly hit me that the 3rd movie might be called - "I know that you know that I still know what you did last summer" *teehee. Ok, ok I know that's not the point... Anyway, have you tried a tongue twister before? Here's a short list of it that I find quite interesting. Have fun!!! Remember to say them extra fast!!!

From a daily life conversation:

Mrs. Smith's Fish Sauce Shop

To children's rhymes:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper pick
Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers?
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,
and chuck as much wood as a wood chuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Betty Butter bought some butter
But the butter that she bought was bitter
So Betty Butter some more butter
To make the bitter butter better.

A big black bug bit a big black bear,
made the big black bear bleed blood.

A flea and a fly flew up in a flue.
Said the flea, "Let us fly!"
Said the fly, "Let us flee!"
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

A bitter biting bittern
Bit a better brother bittern,
And the bitter better bittern
Bit the bitter biter back.
And the bitter bittern, bitten,
By the better bitten bittern,
Said: "I'm a bitter biter bit, alack!"

For fugitives:

Ned Nott was shot and Sam Shott was not.
So it is better to be Shott than Nott.
Some say Nott was not shot.
But Shott says he shot Nott.
Either the shot Shott shot at Nott was not shot, or Nott was shot.
If the shot Shott shot shot Nott, Nott was shot.
But if the shot Shott shot shot Shott, then Shott was shot, not Nott.
However, the shot Shott shot shot not Shott -- but Nott.

For working people:

Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?

For saws all over the world:

I saw a saw in Warsaw
And I knew that no saw
Could saw like the saw I saw in Warsaw.

Mr. See owned a saw.
And Mr. Soar owned a seesaw.
Now See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw
Before Soar saw See,
Which made Soar sore.
Had Soar seen See's saw before See sawed Soar's seesaw,
See's saw would not have sawed Soar's seesaw.
So See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw.
But it was sad to see Soar so sore
Just because See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw!

And the mother of all tongue twisters....

When a twister a-twisting will twist him a twist,
For the twisting of his twist, he three twines doth intwist;
But if one of the twines of the twist do untwist,
The twine that untwisteth untwisteth the twist.

Untwirling the twine that untwisteth between,
He twirls, with his twister, the two in a twine;
Then twice having twisted the twines of the twine,
He twitcheth the twice he had twined in twain.

The twain that in twining before in the twine,
As twines were intwisted he now doth untwine;
Twist the twain inter-twisting a twine more between,
He, twirling his twister, makes a twist of the twine.

Here's some tongue twisters from other languages:

Malay:

Kakakku kata kuku kaki kiriku kaku, kukikis-kikis kuku kaki kiriku.
(My sister says my left toenail is numb, I scrape my left toenail)

Chinese (mandarin):

四是四，十是十，十四是十四，四十是四十。你不要把十四说成四十，四十说成十四。
Sì shì sì, shí shì shí, shí sì shì shí sì, sì shí shì sì shí. Ni bú yào ba shí sì shuō chéng sì shí, sì shí shuō chéng shí sì.
(Four is four, ten is ten, fourteen is fourteen, forty is forty. You shouldn't say 'fourteen' as 'forty' or 'forty' as 'fourteen')

四十四头死的石狮子
Sì shí sì tou se de shí shī zi
(Forty-four dead stone lions)

Korean:

간장공장 공장장은 장 공장장이고 된장공장 공장장은 강 공장장이다.
Ganjanggongjang gongjangjang-eun Jang gongjangjang-igo doenjanggongjang gongjangjang-eun Gang gongjangjang-ida.
(The manager of the soy sauce factory is Manager Jang and the manager of the soy paste factory is Manager Gang)

안촉촉한 초코칩 나라에 살던 안촉촉한 초코칩이 촉촉한 초코칩 나라의 촉촉한 초코칩을 보고 촉촉한 초코칩이 되고 싶어서 촉촉한 초코칩 나라에 갔는데 촉촉한 초코칩 나라의 문지기가 "넌 촉촉한 초코칩이 아니고 안촉촉한 초코칩이니까 안촉촉한 초코칩 나라에서 살아"라고해서 안촉촉한 초코칩은 촉촉한 초코칩이 되는것을 포기하고 안촉촉한 초코칩 나라로 돌아갔다
An chokchokhan chokochip nara-e saldeon an chokchokhan chokochibi chokchokhan chokochip nara-ui chokchokhan chokochibeul bogo chokchokhan chokochibi doego sipeoseo chokchokhan chokochip nara-e ganneunde chokchokhan chokochip nara-ui munjigiga "neon chokchokhan chokochibi anigo an chokchokhan chokochibinikka an chokchokhan chokochip nara-eseo sara" rago haeseo an chokchokhan chokochibeun chokchokhan chokochibi doeneun geoseul pogihago anchokchokhan chokochip nararo dora gatda.
(A non-moist chocolate chip cookie that lived in non-moist chocolate chip cookie land saw a moist chocolate chip cookie from moist chocolate chip cookie land and wanted to become a moist chocolate chip cookie and so went to moist chocolate chip cookie land, but the gate-keeper of moist chocolate chip cookie land said, "You are not a moist chocolate chip cookie, but a non-moist chocolate chip cookie, so live in non-moist chocolate chip cookie land," so the non-moist chocolate chip cookie gave up on becoming a moist chocolate chip cookie and went back to non-moist chocolate chip cookie land)

Japanese:

庭には二羽鶏がいます。
Niwa ni wa niwa niwatori ga imasu.
(There are two chickens in the garden)

隣の客はよく柿食う客だ。
Tonari no kyaku wa yoku kaki kū kyaku da.
(The guest beside me is a guest who often eats persimmons)

Happy twisting!!! ^o^

I say, That means... He's say, That's mean...

2006-01-04T16:02:00.000+08:00

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Ramblings:
Finally, my FYP presentation is over. Don't really know how much we'll get but I'm quite happy that everything went well although the panel didn't ask much. He came late to the presentation anyway that Lau have to call him up to remind him. Bet he didn't even check his mail... Hehehe...

Yo! Calling all guys, machas and leng chais~~~ If you think you're gorgeous, hot, sexy and lurrrrves roti canai, here's THE song for you! By the Hitz.Fm Morning Crew... Enjoy!!!
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Today’s another boring day and I just feel like tormenting someone else’s life…. >:) Let me ask you something. Have you ever come across a situation when someone had mistakenly used “He’s” for “His” or “That’s mean” for “That means”??? It makes you stop and wonder what exactly did he or she meant by that?

When I was in school, there’s this particular Chemistry teacher who always tend to give us the wrong idea by using “That’s mean” instead of “That means” in every of her sentences. One day, when she was telling us about that bread contains alcohol, she went like, “Bread consist carbohydrate...bla...bla...bla... when you take bread, that’s mean you are consuming alcohol”. So now I know it’s mean to take alcohol... hehe... During another occasion, we were in the lab mixing up all the chemicals for some experiments. Again, she went, “Okay class… Remember not to waste or pour anything into the sink. If you do, that’s mean... you have to scrub the sink”. So does it mean:- A) Its mean that we have to scrub the sink or B) It means that we have to scrub the sink?

Hahaha... Throughout the years, I’ve definitely heard a lot of people commit mistakes like that and it’s really funny when you mix and match the meanings. You probably think that I’m a bully for not forgiving these little petty crimes. Well, usually I will let it pass and I don’t really bother to correct them. I have to admit that I do make grammar mistakes at times too. But what really gets to me is when someone makes those mistakes when they’re either scolding me (in English that is) or when they are making fun of someone else’s grammar.

Once I came across a mere acquaintance which our conversation soon turned into a miscommunication. He tried to be superior by saying, “Can you be more courtesy when you talk”. I went like “Huh??!!”, and not to mention, nearly died laughing before I decided to correct him by saying, “Correction... can u be more courteous when u talk... That's the correct phrase...” Okay, okay... I know I was being very rude for saying that but I just can’t help it. I was angry and he was sort of scolding me with bad English. So the ONE thing to do is to condemn his English ler... hahaha... I just don’t like the fact that someone is scolding me with bad English. If you wanna do it also, at least ~~be more courtesy~~, oops, have the courtesy to use simple yet correct English! :p

Here’s another example, something I saw yesterday...

Funny lecturer, huh? I wonder how the students are going to pass their assignments THROUGH his pigeon hole (bear in mind that it’s the lecturer’s mail box and not his pigeon’s hole. Hahahaha lame... I know :p). Anyway, do you realize that there's something else that's weird? Seen it? Guess the "condemner" made a silly mistake as well whilst condeming the "condemnee". Bleh... Is it “He IS email says” or “HiS email says”? Well, do check your own English before you start to make fun of others'.

A few Trimesters ago, my friend wrote an article entitled, “Mind you English” which was published in the neXus newsletter. It talks about bad English among university students especially MMU students. I find the article quite hilarious. It’s really not a bad of an article but probably just a little too harsh. It soon got to those groups of non-English speaking students and in the end, the article created quite a controversy. I don’t really know what happened to the newsletter but the Student Publication Board (SPB) decided to take the article out of neXus Central.

This comes to show that people aren’t able to handle criticism. My friend wrote a good article about the English language in hopes that people would pay more attention and put more effort in correcting their English and they labeled her - rude. How can you improve when all you do is scold people in some ~~KNNCCB~~ hokkien bad words??? Be more courtesy, you know... Wanna scold also scold in English maaa... Haiyer.... :p

So next time, if you want to say that Sin-Lin is cute and plump and that she’s not fat, you say, “If Sin-Lin is cute and plump, THAT MEANS she’s not fat” (I knowla... it’s 2 different thing, but who cares... 1st key step to losing weight - Try to make others think you aren’t fat... It's the thought that counts ^^) Remember, it’s that means, NOT that’s mean... And when you want to say that the thing/phrase/whatever belongs to someone, you say, “His or Hers or Its”, NOT “He’s or She’s or It’s”. If not, it might mean something else :p

p/s: No hard feelings k? - just wanna point out something ^o^

Fine day today~~~

2006-01-01T18:17:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year 2006!!!

Selamat Tahun Baru 2006!!!

新年快乐!!!

新年おめでとございます!!!

Here's wishing you and wonderful and enjoyable New Year ahead!!! Here are my new year resolutions:-

The same old thing I do every year...Try to lose a few more KGs...
Get a new CPU casing... I saw this really chun pearly-white casing with 2 lights by its side and a side fan that costs about RM125. It comes together with a 450watt power supply... ^o^ I want~~~
Still focusing on losing a few more kilos...
Get a DVD player/writer... Just hope the price keeps dropping... Hehehe... More and more animes....
L-O-S-E W-E-I-G-H-T
Learn to fix up my own CPU
Buy loads and loads of beautiful clothes and shoes... \(^-^)/~~~
Make loads and loads of kawaii~~~ dolls...
MUST lose weight... hehe
Master the art of pawning and conquering in DotA...woohoo~~~
Upgrade and work on a new look for .:::bLuE PiG:::.
Learn something new everyday~~ *teehee

I think that's about it gua... Hehe... but then again the resolutions are subject to changes and are dependent on situations given :p Anyway, what is your New Year resoloution?

さよなら 2005... こんにちわ 2006...

2005-12-31T10:59:00.000+08:00

Sayonara 2005... Konnichiwa 2006... Year 2005 has been one of the most happening years in the world as well as in my life. Year 2005, the world sees the ongoing bloodshed in Iraq and the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami as one of the main global events. The death of Pope John Paul II is also one of the most likely events to be remembered by history. July 7 London was devastated with the bombings that left 56 people dead, including four presumed Islamist suicide bombers.

Despite the devastating events, the world also saw the marriage that ends all speculation of a relationship which has spanned the decades since they first met in 1970 – the marriage between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles on 8th April, the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland in September 2005 and the latest event (and I mean late-before-the-year-end-est… hehe) on December 21st, Sir Elton John tied a knot with David Furnish whom he had been together with for 12 years. In the movie industry, 2005 brought the making of 5 famous all-time favourite books into movies - Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire (which is a disappointment actually…:p) and Memoirs of Geisha and The Da Vinci Code which will be released in the year 2006. Not to forget the return of Kong in the remake of 1933’s King Kong to the big screen.

Malaysia itself saw some of its worst too – in politics, who can forget the “Keluar dari Malaysia” case and the shocking untold story of the strip-search case. On 20th Oct 2005, the country had mourned for lost of our Prime Minister’s late wife, Allahyarhamah Datin Seri Endon Mahmud. The country’s clean environment was yet again threatened by the haze caused by the burnings in Sumatra around the month of August.

My life’s course itself took a 180 degree turn when I decided to stay back in Malacca while the rest continued on with their industry training. The decision had not only put me in a very tough situation and earned me the fact that I might not be able to graduate together with the rest of the gang but it had also helped to improve my CGPA and I’ve definitely learned a lot from it. Being with Hammy has its ups and down too. Nonetheless, we still have a long way to go. This year, I’ve learnt so much more about softwares and hardwares and I even learnt how to fix up my own HDD and CPU. And who can forget DotA… the one game that nearly every guy in town is crazy about. Hahaha... FYI, I’m not the only girl player. And I definitely cannot forget the incident where I escaped death, unscathed and had indeed developed a phobia...bleh.

Up until the year 2005, I have lived up to 22 years of my life in this world. And yet it seems to me that life hasn’t changed much since when I was 16 or 17. I’m still wearing the same old shirts that I wore back when I was in Beta year! But I cannot alter the fact that the two-way roads of Malacca had been turned into one-way streets, the flyover in front of the hospital had been fully built, there’s “Breadstory”, “Burger King” and “Starbucks” in Malacca, my room’s furniture has been rearranged more than 3 times and in less than 6 months, I’ll be out in the real-world as a fresh graduate, earning my own cash with a permanent job, paying bills and living the life of a working adult woman. I can’t say that I’ve not worked for people before but to embark on a journey of another 30 to 40 years of working life is totally different from a part-time job that I used to take during holidays since after F5 and I can’t say that I’m not a teensy bit scared. Being a student for more that a decade (17 years to be exact) has made me so accustomed to the life of going to and coming back from school/campus, sitting in front of the TV/PC whole day, taking a nap in the evening, slowly taking my time doing homeworks/ assignments, spending whole day at home, sitting for exams and holidaying during long semester breaks has made me so reluctant and afraid to move on. I don’t know what my future holds for me because even though I’m taking a Software Engineering degree course, I believe that I’m no programmer. I don’t think that I want the life of sitting whole day in the office and staring at a bunch of confusing codes that I can’t understand, trying to debug it. I have lost the determination I had when I chose to change my major in F6 from biology to physics and thus forfeited my dream of becoming a surgeon. I can still remember how much effort I put into studies when I was in school. But I guess things changed for a reason.

When my mum fell sick the other day, I suddenly realize how much older and weaker she has become. She used to be this strong woman that carries me around when I was young and sometimes chased me around the house with a “rotan” when I made her angry by sneaking out to play or accidentally breaking her favourite vase/plates/cups... :p I really can’t imagine how my life would be like without her. I can’t believe how much she’d changed and how much I’ve grown. Oh, how I missed those times...*sniff*sniff*

Sorry for being so emotional all of a sudden. Well, as the dawn of the last day in the old year ends and the start of the new year begins, we just have to move on. We can’t stop time and we can’t stop ourselves and people around us from aging. Kids will grow up, parents will grow old, Malacca roads will change and Malaccan drivers won’t… I guess this is just the circle of life. Happy New Year 2006!!!

Somethings....

2005-12-30T16:12:00.000+08:00

If you find yourself in love with someone who does not love you, be gentle with yourself. There is nothing wrong with you. Love just didn't choose to rest in the other persons heart.

If you find someone else in love with you and you don't love him or her, feel honored that love came and called at your door, but gently refuse the gift you cannot return. Do not take advantage, do not cause pain.

How you deal with love is how you deal with you, and all our hearts feel the same pains and joys, even if our lives and ways are different.

"We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly"

If you fall in love with another, and he or she falls in love with you, and then love chooses to leave, do not try to reclaim it or to assess blame, let it go. There is a reason and there is a meaning. You will know in time.

Remember that you don't choose love. Love chooses you. All you can really do is accept it for all its mystery when it comes into your life. Feel the way it fills you to overflowing, then reach out and give it away.

Give it back to the person who brought it alive in you.

Give it to others who deem it poor in spirit. Give it to the world around you in anyway you can.

There is where many lovers go wrong. Having been so long without love, they understand love only as a need. They see their hearts as empty places that will be filled by love, and they begin to look at love as something that flows to them rather than from them.

The first blush of new love is filled to overflowing, but as their love cools, they revert to seeing their love as need. They cease to be someone who generates love and instead become someone who seeks love.

They forget that the secret of love is that it is a gift and that it can be made to grow only by giving it away.

Remember this, and keep it to your heart. Love has its own time, its own seasons, and its own reason for coming and going. You cannot bribe it or coerce it, or reason it into saying. You can only embrace it when it arrives and give it away when it comes to you. But if it chooses to leave from your heart or from the heart of your lover, there is nothing you can do and there is nothing you should do.

Love always has been and always will be a mystery. Be glad that it came to live for a moment in your life...

Kong!!! The 8th Wonder of the World!!!

2005-12-25T17:36:00.000+08:00

(WARNING: KONG SPOILERS!!!)

The legend of Kong continues in the big screen with the remake of Merian C. Cooper’s 1933 original version of King Kong by Peter Jackson. Yeah, you heard me… it’s none other than Peter Jackson who brought to live the great battles in LOTR trilogy and the extraordinary world of Middle Earth!

King Kong was so great that it will leave you glued to your seats even if it’s a whole 3 hours and 7 minutes movie! It is soooo… worth it! I believe that it is the best movie I’ve seen so far this year – definitely a whole lot better than Potty and Narnia, of course.

The Empire State Building... can you spot where Kong is?
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ANSWER: Tadaa!!! Spotted ^^

Kong seems to be a lot smaller compared to the one in the 1976 version and instead of the usual Kong that goes around terrorizing cities and everyone, in this movie, Kong was portrayed as a more emotional creature. He has his fun antiques, his portrayed his egoism manner especially when he had managed to save Ann from the Vastatosaurus Rex (not one but three V-Rexs!!!) and he enjoys watching beautiful sunsets from his cave high up on the cliff, overseeing the valleys. It’s really amazing how Peter Jackson was able to capture the magical moment between Kong and Ann when they were reunited again in the streets of New York and the scene continued on to the snow-covered park where Kong slides around on the ice with Ann on his palm in a brief moment of happiness before being ambushed by the army. It was simply beautiful.

There’re so many scenes that I enjoyed watching… but there was this one scene that left me absolutely breathless – the Brontosaurus scene. . It was the part where the Brontosauruses were running away from the Venatosauruses. The crew that was sent to save Ann including Jack Driscoll and Carl Denham happens to be around the area and soon were caught up in the mist of the chaos. Imagine yourself trying to escape from a stampede of 80 to 120 feets long dinosaurs and ended up actually being below them as they run pass you. Few of the crew were squashed while the rest were merely an inch from death... scary~~~

Tua cicak au be...CHAO!!!

It seems that this version of the film includes a sequence in which the crew was attacked by swarms of giant insects after Kong makes them fall into a chasm. This scene is based on a sequence that was cut from the original 1933 film which had believed to have displeases some of its audiences. And although there is no explanation of where Kong comes from, unlike the 1933 film, bones of huge gorillas are visible in his cave, implying that he is the last surviving member of his species, an explanation that Peter Jackson has offered in interviews.

Lead stars in 1933 film (left...duh!!!) vs lead stars in 2005 film (right)

The movie did make some references back to its original 1933 version like when Carl Denham was considering who to replace his lead actress, Maureen before he meets Ann, he suggested "Fay", but his assistant Preston replied "Fay...no, she's working for RKO". Denham muttered "Cooper" under his breath. Guess what? In 1933, Fay Wray would have been filming the original King Kong at RKO with Merian C. Cooper directing. During the ship voyage, Denham filmed a conversation between his stars Ann Darrow and Bruce Baxter. The exact dialogue was used in the original 1933 film from the meeting between Ann Darrow and Jack Driscoll. And the performance and costumes of the dancers during Kong's New York stage appearance is nearly identical to the one done by the natives on the island in the 1933 version of the film.

Before I continue with the review, let us have a look at Kong’s official filmography:-

1933 – King Kong
Made his first debut to the big screen with director Merian C. Cooper. The film starred Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong and Bruce Cabot.

1933 – The Son of Kong
A sequel to the successful film King Kong, it tells the story after the dramatic finale of its prequel. Director, Carl Denham now charged with numerous lawsuit due to the destruction done by Kong, fled New York to return to Skull Island and soon befriends with Kong’s easy going albino son, Kiko but the movie was a box-office failure.

1949 – Mighty Joe Young
A movie brought to you by the same design team responsible for King Kong with the story written by Merian C. Cooper and Ruth Rose and directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack. It is a story about a young woman named 'Jill Young' who is living on a wildlife preserve in Africa. She ends up bringing Joe Young, a giant ape as huge as King Kong but is still along the lines of 10-12 feet tall to Hollywood, California.

1962 – Kong vs. Godzilla
King Kong vs. Godzilla (キングコング対ゴジラ - Kingu Kongu tai Gojira) is a 1962 film produced by Toho Studios in Japan, directed by Ishiro Honda. It was the third installment in the Japanese series of kaiju (怪獣), literally meaning strange beast or mysterious beast, films featuring the monster Godzilla.

1967 – King Kong Escapes
King Kong Escapes (キングコングの逆襲 - Kingu Kongu no Gyakushû, literally "King Kong Strikes Back" or "King Kong's Counterattack") is a 1967 US/Japanese movie produced by Toho and Rankin/Bass in which Kong faces both a mechanical double, robot Kong (sometimes referred to as Mechani-Kong in the film's Japanese version) and a giant theropod dinosaur known as Gorosaurus.

1976 – King Kong
Also known as King Kong: The Legend Reborn) is an American motion picture directed by John Guillermin with several major story differences from the 1933’s film. The movie stars Jeff Bridges, Jessica Lange and Charles Grodin. The whole film production crew was replaced by a petroleum corporation’s exploratory team and instead of climbing the Empire State Building, Kong climbs one of the towers of the World Trade Center.

1986 – King Kong Lives
Following the 1976 film, also a John Guillermin film, after being shot down from the World Trade Center, Kong was kept alive in a coma for about 10 years. When another Kong-sized female gorilla is found, a blood transfusion is arranged from the female and an artificial heart is installed in Kong. With a functioning heart, Kong escapes from the facility and seeks to procreate with the female Kong still held in captivity.

1998 – Mighty Joe Young
A remake of its 1949 version, the movie stars Bill Paxton as Grey and Charlize Theron as Jill Young and is directed by Ron Underwood. The ape is somewhat larger compared to its original version, and yes, the pair again goes to Hollywood, California

And finally the movie of our decade,

2005 – King Kong
A movie directed by Peter Jackson (woohoo~~~) and starring Jack Black as Carl Denham, Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow and Adrien Brody as Jack Driscoll. It is a movie that relives the 1933’s experience with a touch of advance technology to truly bring out its best. The movie climbed from an initial budget of $150,000,000 to a record breaking $207,000,000, making it one of the most expensive movie ever made (sixth in line from Cleopatra (1963), Titanic (1997), Waterworld (1995), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) and Spiderman 2 (2002)).

Now here's…. A full review of the movie:-

Old New York town

The movie opens to a set of 1930’s New York. Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) is an unemployed comedian and stage-actress whose theatre had recently been closed down due to lack of money. Carl Denham played by Jack Black, on the other hand is a filmmaker whose films does not go over well with his investors’ expectations. When he discovers that they no longer interested in funding for his next movie, he steals away and quickly arrange a trip to leave for his next shoot. As his main actress had decided to pull out, he went around town finding for her replacement. And that was when he stumbles upon Ann. He convinces Ann to join him in his latest movie and soon enough, she boards the "Venture", a tramp steamer supposingly on its way to Singapore. Denham also tricked a screenplay writer, Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) into joining the journey in order to finish the script. The ship leaves just in time for Denham to escape the police.

On board, Denham then reveals to Jack that he has come into possession of a map that leads to an island known as Skull Island, not yet discovered by anyone. He decided that it will make a spectacular footage for his new movie. Meanwhile, Ann being a fan of Jack’s play fell in love with Jack.

The "Venture" in the thick fog, stumbles upon massive rocks

One day, the captain discovered that there was an arrest warrant out to get Denham. So, he decided to change course and head toward Rangoon. But soon, a thick fog sets in and the ship was steered off-course. They then find their ship caught in between massive rocks. The next day, as the crew tried to fix the ship, Denham decided to bring his production crew ashore. Soon enough, they were ambushed by the angry natives. Some were killed before the rest were saved by the ship’s captain. They returned to the ship and whilst they were busy making preparations to leave, a native slips on board and kidnapped Ann. Jack realizes her disappearance and soon the whole crew went ashore again in hopes to save her. But they were too late. She was tied up during a ritual as a sacrifice or offering to a giant ape which the natives called, Kong.

Kong lives in a massive jungle where prehistoric creatures have been protected and hidden for millions of years. After some discussion, the captain allowed Denham and Jack to go and look for her, with 15 of his armed crewmen. As they tracked through the jungle, the crew had a number of encounters with the local fauna – being merely escaping from a Brontosaurus stampede. Meanwhile, Kong brings Ann home and in an attempt to keep Kong from killing her, she dances and does tricks to amuse him. But when she tops, Kong become angry and after he failed to intimidate her, he leaves and ends up finding the rest of the rescue crew near a fallen tree. After being attacked by the crew, Kong went berserk and threw them (they were on the tree trunk) down the valley into a ravine with giant insects like the moonspider the size of 6 to 8 inches long and loads more geli-fying creature. A number of the crew was killed but the rest were again saved by the captain. Jack decided to go looking for Ann on his own while Denham, losing the camera and film due to the fall decided to capture Kong and bring him back to New York City.

The crew crossing the huge tree trunk

When Kong left, Ann decided to escape but soon encounters a huge V-Rex. She escapes only to be found by another V-Rex and soon there were 3 Rexes going after her. Kong appeared and defeated the creatures whilst protecting Ann from being eaten alive. They went home and she soon falls asleep in his palm. Eventually Jack found Ann and they managed to escape when Kong was busy defending himself from being attacked by a colony of giant Terapusmordax (huge ugly bats).

Kong then catches up to them but instead of retrieving Ann, he had walked into a trapped set up by the captain and Denham in attempt to capture him. Kong breaks free and the rest of the crew ran back towards the ship. Kong went after the crew but in the end he was successfully captured by Denham, who smashed a bottle of chloroform across his face.

Back in New York City, news of this captured giant beast made highlights in cinema and theatres. Denham puts Kong on display in front of large audiences on Broadway with chains which he claimed was made of chromed steel, holding Kong. Shocked and frightened by the press flashbulbs, Kong broke free, went after Jack whom he recognizes for “kidnapping” Ann from him, destroyed the theatre and ran amok through the city in search for Ann. Ann, who realizes this situation went around finding for Kong and soon both were re-united. Kong then calms down and took her to a snow-covered Central Park where he slide around and both enjoying a moment of happiness before they were ambushed by the Army

Kong then ran towards the Empire State building with Ann in his palm and soon was climbing up the building. Six armed biplanes appeared and stats firing at Kong. Kong puts Ann down and began climbing higher towards the top of the skyscraper. Kong managed to destroy 3 of the planes but was badly wounded. Ann tried to stop the planes from firing by waving and shouting at the biplanes to stop but to no avail. In the end Kong succumbs to his injuries and fell off the building, plunging to his death.

It was truly a wonderful movie with actions and emotions blended into one. It was definitely the humans fault, like how Audrey puts it. Kong never would have died if they never stepped foot onto the island or if he did not went after Ann and fell into the trapped. It was indeed a sad story but it is also a MUST watch. Best to view it on the big screen. Definitely a great movie to end the year 2005 with.

Christmas Day!!!

2005-12-25T16:30:00.000+08:00

HOHOHO!!!

Just wanna wish everyone a

Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year!!!

Have fun and don't forget to finish up your FYP!!! Hehehe....

The eve before Christmas...

2005-12-24T13:39:00.000+08:00

DAY

Woke up at 9am - Thought of bringing Hammy's family for a tour around Malacca but they already know their way around... don't need susah susah come fetch me... ^^
Called GSC at 10am - Line engaged.
Went to GSC to get tickets at 11am - Queue was so long that some even gave up waiting and walked off - This is where your unorganized Inbox and Photo gallery comes in handy - Spent whole time deleting unneccessary stuff that when I looked up, I'm like 2 people away from the counter... ^o^
In front of counter at 11.50am - 10 tickets costs RM90 - Found out I didn't have enough cash - Asked the woman to keep it for me and rushed to the ATM machine.
Reached the ATM machine to find another long queue (=_="') - patiently waited for 15 minutes.
Returned to the ticket counter at 12.20pm - Got the tickets for King Kong (10.50pm show)

- Mission accomplished -
*to be continued

2 days till Christmas

2005-12-23T23:58:00.000+08:00

I've been out whole day since 7.30 am till 5.00pm. Been going from campus to home to Tesco and to Jusco... After enduring an entire 2 hours of revision class in cold freezing "winter", Mr Suryanata decided to change the System reliability assignment's due date to Tuesday(27/12).... shessh!!! Then I went for breakfast with Chak and Moses and they lepak with me till 12pm. Whilst we were standing outside FIST office and checking out girls (hehehe), I spotted a girl in orange sweater and it suddenly hit me how much her height and size fitted Moses! Hahaha... That was when Moses said, "If she pass by here another time, I'll go and ask her name"... Well, an hour or so passed, she didn't return. Then at about 11.30am, she came walking up the stairs towards CLC! Hah!!! And guess what Moses did??? He said, "If she pass here for the 3rd time, I'll go and ask her name" Bah! We urged him to go after her but in the end the nearest we got to was (yeah, the whole gang, now joined by Naresh went...hehe) ... the CLC lift. Sigh~~~ Wonder how it would be like if Moses were to ask her for her name?

Went to meet our (me, Yeng Chin and Wee Ming) FYP advisor, Mr. Lau at 12pm and he was very pleased with the prototype... I remembered he mentioned how good the flash was (me! me! me!) and how good the webpage design was (Yeng Chin did one leh~~~ hao li hai oo~~~)...Bwhahaha...

Later after meeting Mr. KMLim for our AI assignment, I went back to fetch my dad for a shopping spree... we went to Tesco and JJ for groceries and ready-made tang yuen... Came back and made pizza for dinner and later had a online conference with the gang for tomolo's Christmas Eve plan. Can't wait for steamboat at Johnny's and King Kong movie at 10.50pm!!! Woohoo~~~

3 days till Christmas...

2005-12-22T23:40:00.000+08:00

Once in every Trimester, there's bound to be sleepless nights like this...

AI assignment 1 due... 23/12
System reliability assignment due... 23/12
FYP prototype due...23/12

And once in a rainy Christmas...
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Hammy's parents comes for a visit... 23/12

:p... By the way, Happy Dong Zhi or Winter Solstice Festival!!! Can't believe that Raymond, HM and Alister made tang yuen... Yupz, guys these days...^o^ If you guys are reading this, you still owe me a bowl of tang yuen ohh~~~ Hehe...

4 days till Christmas

2005-12-21T17:36:00.000+08:00

God works in mysterious ways. It's really funny how when you needed Him the most, He's always there to guide you... I'm not here to preach to you about my religion or my beliefs but here's another story that I want to share.

Well, a few years back when I was going through a very tough time in life and that it was so bad that it felt endless, I happen to stumble on a saying that went like this:

God grant us serenity
to accept what cannot be changed;
give us the courage to change
what should be changed;
and give us the wisdom
to distinguish one from another...
-Reinhold Niebuhr-

Those words helped me through the next few weeks of my life. And when everything's done, I wasn't able to find the same page again in the book... till now...

5 days till Christmas...

2005-12-20T21:00:00.000+08:00

Since it's Christmas season, let me share something I find quite... interesting...

On the night, not long after this happened, I received a message from a dear friend of mine who knows nothing about the incident. And the message goes like this...

God will be...
above you to bless you,
below you to support you,
before you to guide you,
behind you to protect you,
beside you to comfort you,
and inside you to sustain you...
Take care...

Note the sentence I've highlighted. Ponder about it...Coincidence? Spooky huh? ^o^

Potter Stinks and Narnia rules!!!

2005-12-18T12:14:00.000+08:00

(WARNING: Ahoy!!! Spoilers ahead...)

Big big mighty poster

Hahaha.. enough said right? I hereby declare that I prefer Narnia to Potty. And it’s not like I’m this hardcore fan as proclaimed by Audrey... ^o^

Anyway, the movie’s.... good, not Lord-of-the-Rings-trilogy-fuiyoh-fuiyoh good (if you know what I mean), but it’s more like a kids-movie-and-it-follows-the-book good. It’s like watching you imagination come to life and that’s what I like about a movie that’s an adaptation from a book. You’ve got to keep the story and characters all in. And Narnia’s got all that. When I first saw the trailer, I thought that maybe they would’ve cut out the part when Lucy stumbles into Narnia alone and met Mr. Tumnus like what they did to Potty’s Triwizard, but I can’t believe that part was in too. As a matter of fact, it was the whole book there! I’ve sat in the cinema for the whole 2 hours watching the book I read come to life (well, my battle was more cruel with blood splattering and all…*teehee). They even included the last part where the adult version of the children stumbles back into the real world! Things can't get any worse!

I do think Edmund is cuter than Peter..^^

Well, I have to admit that the children weren’t that of a good actors and actresses, but it wasn’t as bad compared to that after-4-movies-and-you’re-still-as-bad-as-ever fella. It’s their first time, anyway. You didn’t see me complaining when Potty made his first debut. And it’s not as if they really suck and all but I do think that Peter should be taught to hold a sword before hand. He looks as if the blade might just bend over and strangle him to death. He can’t even lift it up properly. And talking about weapons, let’s comment about Susan. I thought Santa said “Trust the bow and it will lead”. Didn’t it missed when she was practicing and Lucy’s dagger hit the bull’s eye instead? Well, seems to me, the bow was given to her for nothing. She didn’t even go to battle.

The white witch was pretty stiff at times, though (don’t’ really like her in Constatine as well) and check out HER wardrobe. Dressed for every occasion, I’d say. I like the part when she went to battle with the so-called lion’s mane wrapped around her. Looks pretty M-A-C-H-O la konon... hehehe...
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Yeng Chin said that Aslan looks a tad-bit skinny. Yeah, I do agree with that. As handsome as he is, he does look a bit skinny for a king of beasts.

And Audrey dear, Mr. Tumnus does not look like a pervert! He looks just as normal as a faun can be (as if I’ve seen one myself…haha) Anyway, I don’t know why Lucy is very fond of him, maybe because the book says so, but I do feel that there’s nothing wrong with Mr. Tumnus, only the fact that maybe we’re too old for the his type of character. Try asking a 5 or 6 years old what they think about him. They’ll probably be jumping with joy like Lucy. And the part where he held her hand in a so-thought-bzzz-bzzz-adalaaaa-sort-of-way, probably means nothing other than friendship – We adults think too much laaa...

But there’s a scene which I think that everyone did get a shocked from was when Edmund was walking through the statues, the wolf jumped out and pawed him. Made you jumped, didn’t it?

The battle in the movie wasn’t as good as LOTR, of course. Some parts are really funny especially with Mr. Beaver dressed in chain-mail and some parts are pretty lame too including the part with Aslan jumping onto the witch and sort of biting her and all but we didn’t exactly know what happened to the witch in the end.

The unicorns wasn’t obvious enough, they look like any other normal horses with just an additional horn on its head. And the words uttered by Aslan during crowning ceremony were hilarious. Yes, I do read it in the book but it’s not as funny as watching it in real life. King Edmund the Just??? Wonder how it would be if we decide to call him, King Edmund the Betrayer…:p Lucy’s valiant…okay, but I prefer to call her Lucy the Brave, Susan the gentle???!!! No comment… And Peter the Magnificent? Well, way too much flattery for a battle he nearly lost…

But there are some things to look forward to in the movie (if you haven’t watched it... where have you been? Mars???), the loving Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, I like the part when Mr. Beaver brought the children home and Mrs. Beaver going like “You could’ve give me 10 minutes” while she brushes herself, and Mr. Beaver replying, “Even if I’ve given you a week, it wouldn’t be enough!” and the both of them holding hands as they walked around…so cute~~~, the centaurs of course, the witch's castle, the scene at the castle Cair Paravel, the battle between beautiful good creatures and ugly bad creatures and some here and there funny taglines. I guessed that’s about all... although it does seem magical enough to me and I was pretty satisfied with the movie, I can’t seem to find anymore interesting parts to share, I wonder? Well, not bad for a guy who brought you academy award winning movies like Shrek, eh?

Nonetheless, I recommend this movie to those who loves children’s fantasy-like movies and to those who had read the book and enjoys a truly good book to movie type of show. Do not ever compare it to Lord of The Rings although the whole world and creatures in both movies are created by the same special effects team and do not expect much of a battle scene. If not, you'll be walking out of the cinema RM8 short and feeling like there's something very wrong or missing in the movie like what Moses felt....hahaha... Watch it without much expectation and you shall not be disappointed. Enjoy!

Here’s a snipet of the movie:-

It’s the World War II and the children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy were sent off to the countryside to live with a Professor. Since it was raining the day after, the children had to stay indoors and Lucy suggested that they play hide and seek. Whilst finding for a place to hide, Lucy stumbles into an empty room with only a huge wardrobe inside. She did like any one of us would too, pulled down the sheets covering the wardrobe and went inside. She decided to leave the wardrobe door cracked open and as she kept her eye on the room door for Peter (he’s the seeker) through it, she started to beckon herself into the wardrobe. Deeper and deeper she went until she felt something prickly poking her back. She turns around and found… well you’ve guessed it… the snow-covered land of Narnia.

She, of course went in and went wandering around till she reached a lamp-post in the middle of the forest. There she met Mr. Tumnus, who was passing by on his way home. He then invited her back to his house for tea. In his house, he decided to play a Narnia folk-tune for Lucy but it made her fell asleep instead. He was attempting to kidnap her for the white witch! But later on, he decided to reveal the story to her and helped her to escape. She went back out through the wardrobe and went straight to Peter only to find that he had just finished counting… She brought them there but the wardrobe turns out to be JUST an ordinary wardrobe. That night, she went there again just to check whether it was all her imagination but this time Edmund, who came back from the loo, decided to follow her just to torment her more. Instead of finding the back of the wardrobe, he stumbles into Narnia. Lucy was no where to be found and he, instead of meeting Mr. Tumnus, met the white witch herself. After realizing that Edmund is the son of Adam (which actually means a human boy), she showered him with his favourite Turkish-delight and promised that he’ll be king of Narnia if he brings his siblings to her.

Right after she left, he found Lucy and they went back into the wardrobe. Lucy went running off to tell Peter and Susan and insisted that it wasn’t her imagination at all and that Edmund had had witnessed it too. But too bad for Lucy, Edmund acted as if he had just been playing along. The next day, the children decided to go outside and were playing cricket when Edmund accidentally hit the ball through the window upstairs. They went in to find the window broken and a suit of armour scattered on the floor. When they heard footsteps coming their way, they decided to run and hide. In the end, they stumbled into the empty room with the wardrobe again and as the footsteps came closer, they crammed themselves into the wardrobe. And that was when Susan and Peter found out about Narnia. Lucy wanted to introduce Mr. Tumnus to them but to their horror, Mr. Tumnus were taken away by the witch’s police and his place was in a wreck. Later the children met Mr. Beaver and they journeyed on in hopes to save Mr. Tumnus. Edmund in the other hand, had not yet forgotten about the witch’s promise and the Turkish-delight of course. But failed to convince the rest to follow him, he went on himself to the witch’s palace. When the rest realized what he had done, it was too late. So to get their brother back, Peter, Susan and Lucy joined forces with Aslan to defeat the White Witch. There was a prophecy that two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve (here meaning human girls) will come to Narnia one day and free it from the clutches of the White Witch, Jadis who had made it winter for the past hundred years and no Christmas. And there their adventures began.

p/s: For a more detailed review, click here... I’m far to lazy to write the whole story out…^^ And for more of Narnia experience, click here. Now, I’m waiting to watch King Kong and The Da Vinci Code.

The Chronicles of Bear Hill...

2005-12-17T13:56:00.000+08:00

... The Santa, The Mischievous and The Chair...

This is a story about something that happened not very long ago. It is a very important story because it shows how all the comings and goings between our own world and the land of Bear Hill.

Once, there were four big children (da hai zhi) whose names are Lawrence, Moses, Sin-Lin and Chak (both Sin-Lin and Chak are not really featured much in this story but I thought you ought to know). This story is about something that happened to them when they were exploring the kingdom of Jaya Jusco.

Just so you know, Moses and Lawrence are two very mischievous boys. They are not all evil or bad boys that tend to torment little kittens and puppies but at times they are just plain naughty. One day, when they realized that they have finished their food supplies, they decided to journey to the kingdom of Jaya Jusco, which is famous for supplying the land of Bear Hill with loads of delicious foods and wonderful goods.

After walking for some time, Lawrence decided to stop and rest at a furniture stall. Little did he knew, that Moses was sitting not just very far from him. While Lawrence was sitting there, minding his own business and trying to act “yeng”, a thought came into Moses’s mind.

Oops....

Then suddenly Santa appeared... riding on a rocking wooden horse! (well after he’d seen what was happening from his home in North Pole, he didn’t have much time to set up his sleigh and tie-up his reindeers and reindeers aren’t very friendly if they were asked to work without meals first. Plus, he was working on his new rocking wooden horse)

Santa was able to stop the fight and gave both a very good scolding each. The boys then were very sorry with what they did.

And that would have been the very end of the story if it hadn't been for kind old Santa and being the very kind soul he is, he decided to give both the guys a gift each and since some of his elves called-in sick this year, he will need some extra help in his factory. So he brought them over to help him out.

Don't you think he looks like an elf? :p

While Chak was being a good boy and not getting into the fight earlier, he was given loads and loads of toys for Christmas!!!

The moral of the story is... someone is always watching you including the guards or the salesperson in JJ (when you are up to stunts like these) and one can never watch or read too much of The Chronicles of Narnia.

The story above is purely fiction and has no relation with anyone, dead or alive. If there is, it is merely coincidence or your imagination only. Do consult a psychiatrist. No Santa, rocking wooden horse, chair, Christmas hats, pigs, snowman on rocking wooden horse, toys of such or any characters featured were harmed in the making of this story. This story is a copyright of bluepig20.blogspot.com...

For the things that matters…

2005-12-08T18:57:00.000+08:00

A brown-checkered backpack... RM 39.90
A plastic blue file case... RM 4.90
A Scarlet black collar t-shirt... RM15.90
A crafted keychain only found in Sarawak... RM2.90
The fact that I’m unharmed... Priceless...
There are some things that money can't buy...
For everything else, there’s bad luck!

Well, I got banged by a motorbike yesterday evening... yeah, but it didn’t directly hit me, though. If it did, you won’t be able to read this now… *touch wood *touch wood

Okay, here’s exactly what happened. As I was on my way back from dinner at Silver City around 7.40p.m. , the three of us (Moses, Hammy and me) were trying to cross the ever-so-busy Bukit Beruang road (the main road in front of Petronas). We had already crossed halfway through and were standing on the white lines when suddenly I heard someone shout, “Oii!! Oii!! Oii!!!” The next thing I know, I felt myself being pulled, the string of my bag gave way, a motorbike crashed and I saw a guy lying in the middle of the road!

The bag that saved me...

I didn’t fall but I stood there for a while, feeling shocked and dazed while Moses and Hammy went up to the guy to check on him. After a while, the guy (which we’ve found out later is an Indian man) stood up. There was blood on his forehead and was streaming down on to his face and his arms were bleeding. Soon there was a little crowd surrounding us. Everything happened so quickly. One minute, some guy was conversing in Tamil with the man and cars were slowing down just to have a look at what had happened. The next minute, Hammy was pulling me to the side of the road. As I stood by the side of the road feeling very shaken, I saw that the crowd had dispersed. Suddenly I felt very angry. I felt like I could just strangle the man to death! It was like a hit-and-run thing minus the injuries on me. I was left with a minor shoulder pain due to the pulling, a bruise on my back, a torn shirt, a torn bag, a lost keychain and a broken file. And you know what he did?

My favourite shirt... (ToT)

Apparently, when nobody was looking, he had decided to pull up his bike and left without even saying anything!!! Nothing at all!!! Stupid bugger!!! I bet he was drunk… and he rode too near to us but instead of honking he decided to shout at us to warn us to get out of his way. But unlucky for him, his bike handle got caught up with my bag, pulling me and causing the bag to tear and him falling off his bike... sigh~~~

Anyway, I was thankful that the bike got my bag. Hmm... nice phrase, “The bike got my bag”. Try repeating it for 10 times.... The bike got my bag… the bike got my bag… the bike got my bag… the bike got my bag… the bike got my bag… the bike got….
Hahaha… oh where was I? Oh yeah, I was pretty lucky that the bike only hooked my bag and it gave way instead of dragging me along. It might end up pretty ugly... If I had put it in the library like what I planned to do earlier, the bike would've hit me instead... *shudders*

Nearly 3 years of service, finally it is put to rest

When I was walking at the side of the road today, I kept feeling as if something might come along and drag me… Phobia d, I think. Hopefully I’ll get over it soon. So for now, I think I’ll stay away from bikes and busy roads especially that particular road…hehe

RAM-paging through...

2005-12-05T19:53:00.000+08:00

Although it’s only 768MB of RAM, I’m satisfied… Hehe… this is my first time buying a RAM and tried to fix it myself. Woohoo~~~ took my first step in my learn-how-to-fix-up-own-CPU journey! \(^o^)/

I went to PIKOM PC Fair which was held at KL Convention Centre yesterday with the rest of the other 40 people from MMU. It was a trip organized by IT Society Malacca. The whole bus was occupied by 38 guys (including Raymond, Alister, HM, Jason aka Bunga, Fabian, Vincent aka Judas, Chak, Moses and Hammy) and only 2 girls including me, of course! Haha… we went up KL at 9am with MMU bus (keng leh~~ use MMU bus some more…) and came back Malacca about 6 in the evening. So basically, we spent like 5 hours roaming around the fair and Suria KLCC.

Murid-murid, please beratur straight straight. We mula from depan yer... "Satu...Adua...Atiga... Ne-ga-ra-kuuuu..." - Police on duty-laa outside KLCC -

The whole place was so darn packed that you get to rub shoulders with every single person there! And I don’t mean literally… The whole fair was divided into 5 halls altogether and they made it into such a way that you had to pass each booth in order to get to the other hall. And not to mention, it’s only a ONE-way traffic and no matter what happens, once you go into Hall 1, you must exit at Hall 5. The Convention Centre is so huge that to get from one hall to another, you have to take a few escalators and pass through a huge hall that connects the rest of the halls. And they have like over 153 vendors altogether!

There's this one booth that I really like. It looks like any fast food counter around with the combo meal menu displayed on top of the counter, waiters and waitresses with tall cook caps and aprons, a Coca-Cola machine behind the counter and cooks behind the kitchen passing out trays and paper bags of customers' orders. But it was no ordinary fast food counter. Instead of selling burgers and fries, they were selling pendrives!!! Yupz, pendrives of different capacity and a variety of colours. A very interesting concept. They even had combo meals like 512MB pendrive + colour casing + Coke = RM120.00!!!

Too bad I didn't get much photo of the booth... :(

Since it was the last day for the fair, every vendor was trying their best to sell off their products and from one store to another you can hear them shouting tonnes of bargains which reminds me of those vendors at the pasar malam . “Mari mari! Keyboard satu tambah mouse satu, only 15 ringgit saja!! Baik punya!!!!” I wish they’re saying “Mari mari! LCD Monitor 19 inch satu, only 15 ringgit saja!!!” I'll be the first one there...Hehehe...

For the first few hours, we (Chak, Moses, me and Hammy) went around scouting for stuff and surveying all the prices. Then we went for lunch at A&W. Even the outlet was so pack that we had to rush for seats. At first we thought of spending like 3 hours at the fair and the last two hours lepaking at the shopping centre but the plan buta… We went back to the fair at about 2.30pm and started our shopping! Moses bought this huge “Brother” laser printer that costs RM399 (actually the box was twice the size of the printer...) He then had to carry it around while the rest of us shop coz the booth was at Hall 1. Chak bought two 512 Kingston RAM and some other stuff which I forgot. The three of them then bought an LG limited edition (according to the vendor laa…), stainless steel plated, 256MB... thumb drive (which I had refused to succumb to) each. It costs RM120 for one! Although it was an elegant looking (versatile, says Chak) with its beautiful silver velvety casing and a stainless steel chain (treat it as jewelry loh, says the vendor, on his attempt to tempt me...), I still can’t see the rationale for buying it…it’s 256MB only leh~~~ Moses said, it’s just the beauty of it – Guys go for outer beauty mah...>:) Boys...Bah! Anyway, since the guys bought one of that each, they’re entitled to get 6 pictures printed for free! So they decided to take a group photo using the salesgirl’s camera and she printed out 4 copies for each of us and one photo of me and Hammy and for the last photo Chak and Moses decided to take with her… hehe… When Moses first asked her, she went like “Hah??!!” and gave that are-you-trying-to-hit-on-me look. Come to think of it, she’s pretty cute. Nonetheless, the photo was taken (by me… hehe) and the last thing I know, the photo was in Chak’s album last night… Hmmm…

Polaroid pics

My beloved RAM

I bought a Kingston 512MB DDR PC3200 CL3 RAM for RM 149 and a box of ink for my printer (5 black Free 1 Colour pack). I wanted to get a 120GB HDD as well but because of the warranty problem, I decided to get it in Malacca. Other than the stuff that we bought, we got lots of free gifts too!!!

Meow~~~

All of us got a photo album from Fujifilm each (I think mine's the cutest and the guys’ ones are pretty ugly… *evil smirk)...

A black bag from AMD which we used to carry all the pamphlets and fliers that we’ve collected...

A huge Kingston bag courtesy of the RAM I bought...

A Kingston Flash Ball which I’d won from the lucky draw (There are red L.E.D.s inside that blinks if you bounce it a few times), a face towel from ESYINK, Moses got a Brother backpack courtesy of that huge printer, a Brother notebook, Chak got two mini-sized soccer balls (hahahaha…) from the lucky draw and some HP paper bags.

My...my... Who do we have sitting at a restricted area, enjoying a sun tan and fresh air?

Oh no... Chak is behind bars after he was caught stealing a bunch of Kingston bags!!!
Hehehe... Later the guard came and shoo-ed everyone away...bleh...

The whole trip was oh-so-tiring coz we had to carry so much stuff (the worst is Moses, though) while walking around and being pushed and shoved about by the rest of the PC fair visitors. But overall, it was an enjoyable trip and it’s been a while since I’ve had so much fun just lepaking with my friends and Hammy... :p

When we reached Malacca, the first thing we did was head for the nearest food stalls and ate our dinner. Damn hungry sial… Then we head to Moses’s place, supposingly to drop him off but ended up playing a few games on PS2 there until 10.30pm. I kicked Hammy’s @$$ in Street Fighter II!... okay okay, only won one round ler~~~ but who cares Chun Li rocks!!! :p Even Raymond and Judas joined in. Hahaha… What a day!!!

But there are 2 things which I don't like about this trip - My toe developing this really ugly and annoyingly painful blister after walking for so much and so long...

It looks purplish today...ewww

and the fact that PIKOM PC Fair lied to me and to more than a hundred thousand over people out there...
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Where are the one-eyed green aliens with orange jackets that they promised to be our show guide???!!! Not even one in sight... and I thought I could get a ride on the space ship too.... :( *sob*

Mike Newell and his Goblet of Fire...

2005-11-25T12:40:00.000+08:00

(WARNING: Big-time Spoilers!!!)

If you’ve read "Lord of the Rings" and thought some parts of the movie were either modified or left out are worth complaining, wait till you watch “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”... you’ll be devastated. I know I am... it’s like a book that I’ve never read!!!

They’d not only left out some of the most interesting part of the story but they’ve changed the whole storyline! What’s up with, “Ultimately, Newell's breathtaking film feels like a sensationally odd intermediate step between one phase of Harry's life and another…” or “Something to expect from the director of Four Weddings and a funeral. ” Seems to me, he mind as well be giving Prof. Snape and Prof. McGonagall a wedding and a funeral for Harry at Hogwarts. It’s totally rubbish, I’d say. Sorry about the language but I do feel that the whole movie is so screwed up that people who had read the book will be so pissed coz it’s nothing like The Goblet of Fire and that people who haven’t read the book will be so confused about what’s happening in the show. Well, I have to admit that the effects were brilliant especially the one with the Quidditch World Cup stadium and the rising of Lord Voldermort scenes and there were some funny scenes too.

Stupidly funny...

Okay, let me list out for you what I find SO VERY WRONG with the movie. But before that, these are the things I did enjoy...

1. The Quidditch Stadium
2. The Leprechaun dance during the beginning of the game
3. Weasley’s tent

Colourful and cosy

4. The Durmstrang Ship and the Beaxbatons carriage with winged horses
5. The merpeople’s song
6. The mermaid in the prefect’s toilet
7. The underwater scene – effect of the gillyweed and all
8. Who can forget the way Filch ran during the beginning of term feast...that was stupidly funny
9. The rising of Voldermort – when he came out of the cauldron

Things I find very wrong with the movie:

What’s with Barty Crouch Jr. appearing at the Riddle’s old house (???!!!) and Nagini looking so pathetically like just a normal python you see in zoos. I thought there were only Lord Voldermort, Peter Pettigrew (or Wormtail), this huge 12 feet long pet snake named Nagini and old Frank Bryce in the house?
Hermione waking Harry up from the nightmare, to find him sleeping beside Ron??? And later all of them rushing out of the Burrow without any idea where they’re heading???
They supposed to patch up the tent themselves… There’s a funny scene coz they’re wizards and only Harry and Hermione knows how to set up a tent muggle-way.
What happened to the Quidditch World Cup??!! Yes, the whole stadium and the introduction were great and all but at least show the viewers who won. Why waste time on Harry and the rest teasing Ron before the commotion?
The dark mark supposed to be conjured in the forest NOT in the middle of the deserted field. Nobody supposed to know until the end who did that anyway. That part supposed to be a very kan-cheong part where Harry, Hermione and Ron were nearly stunned by the Aurors when they were just inches away from the guy.
There supposed to be a scene where a bunch of muggles being attacked by the Death Eaters – making them fly around in mid-air.
Newell made the Beaxbatons Academy of Magic look like an all girls’ school where there supposed to be boys there and the girls are not all veelas. Geez… how thick can you be? Durmstrang Institute of Magic was okay, but what happened to the red robes – replaced by a dirty brownish colour of a uniform.
Hermione going ga-ga over Viktor Krum??? Since when!!! She’s supposed to be the only girl who doesn’t care at all about Viktor Krum apart from the rest of the girls in Hogwarts. And what’s that about Krum being the all physical and no talking kind of guy? The only time he wasn’t talking much is when he’s in the library trying to work up the courage to talk to Hermione. He and her supposed to be able to talk about anything and were getting along quite well and... and... he's supposed to pronounce her name as "Hermy-own-ny-ny".
I know that Harry and his friends are going through the adolescence period right now but you don’t need to stress to the viewers (you have kids in the cinema, you know) that they’re a bunch of hormone-bursting teens.

Retro but horrible dress robes...Pity Ron... ToT

Yes, Ron’s dress robes should be filled with laces and all but isn’t he supposed to shrink it a little before wearing it to the ball? It’s just so mean to make Ron look so horrid… (It’s just me coz I fancy Ron… hehe) Well, it’s okay if Hermione’s dress is not the beautiful and elegant looking periwinkle blue dress but why make her wear that pink rag-of-a-dress??? I’m beginning to think that they’re running on low budget. Even Dumbledore seemed to be wearing the same robes all year round. Wouldn’t you agree with me that he looks a bit pregnant?
This is something I definitely have to mention…. The hairstyles – what’s with the retro look, dude???!!! Every single character from Fred and George to Ron seemed to be donning a 70’s hippie look. Believe me, Fred and George looks horrible… They look so nice with short hair. Judge it yourself…

Hippie style (left) vs. sleek and smart (right)

What’s up with Harry bringing the Hungarian Horntail on a le-tour-de-Hogwarts??? I thought it supposed to be chained??? Dragons are a highly dangerous creature if I can recall correctly and Charlie did say that if anything goes wrong (in this case when the chain broke free), they, as in the dragon trainers will be around. The dragon supposed to be guarding a NEST of eggs, not just ONE golden egg??? I do think the golden egg looks beautiful but it looks pathetic sitting there alone on the rock waiting for Harry to snatch it away… Oh yeah, the dragon is NOT supposed to leave its egg unguarded, right???
I would understand if Newell decides to cancel out Dobby and Winky’s part and Hermione’s S.P.E.W thingy but why cancel off Rita Skeeter??? She’s one of those characters that add colour to the story… aiks…
What happened to the calm, collected and patient dear old Dumbledore? I just can’t take the fact that he’s replaced with this fast-tempered, impatient, rude and what-the-tut pregnant looking fella! He actually tried to strangle Harry (???!!!) I think the director might’ve confused Dumbledore with Snape… even Snape is not that mean…
The maze scene was totally hilarious… Dumbledore went all spooky while warning them as if it was a life and death situation. Gone were the obstacles and the Sphinx (so looking forward to see it), replaced by predator-like-bushes and an occasionally strong gust of wind. Fleur being pulled into the bushes and Cedric and Harry going all competitive, pushing and hitting each other…. Sigh~~~
Since when did Neville’s obsessed with dancing???
Lord Voldermort is not even scary nor as powerful...He don't even look the sort. I find him quite... weird
And nobody can forget the flirtatious Moaning Myrtle... it was funny at first, to watch her flirting around with Harry but after a while you'll get sick of it coz it dragged on too long...
The casting was bad too… Fleur, Cho Chang, Cedric, Krum… geez... I guess you would say, tsk..tsk..tsk... aiyoh sinlin, if it was that bad, why not do your own casting? As a matter of fact, I will. Now, let's see... we’ll keep the rest of the old casts including Rita Skeeter and Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody because I think they're okay but Dumbledore will have to promise to behave… by the way, does anybody notice that Bill is missing?

Here I present to you.... *drumroll~~~

My honourary casts:

Tom Welling as Cedric Diggory

Robert Pattinson(left) vs. Tom Welling (right)... Oops...sorry about the vs. thingy, how can I be so cruel, he's no where near Tom Welling... ^^
Tom Welling is famous for his role in Smallville where he plays the teenage version of "Clark Kent" aka Superman. He's a far more suitable character for Cedric because it is a known fact that he is so darn good-looking, tall, macho (check out the bod... :p), have grey eyes and is used to flying which will make him a darn good seeker for Hufflepuff's quidditch team too... ^^

Kristin Kreuk as Cho Chang

Katie Leung (left) vs. Kristin Kreuk (right)

I know this is not an ad to promote Smallville but they just happen to have beautiful and good looking people on their show. Kristin Kreuk is non other than "Lana Lang" in Smallville. Apart from that, she's smart, tough, beautiful and most importantly, she is Chinese, okay? well... not entirely-la. She's a mixture of Chinese(maternal) and Dutch(paternal).

Claire Danes as Fleur Delacour

Clemence Poesy(left) vs. Claire Danes (right)

No doubt that Claire Danes can play a half veela anytime, anyday. She'd played numerous roles in famous movies such as Romeo and Juliet, Stage Beauty, To Gillian on her 37th Birthday and lots more. She's just way better than that Poesy girl...even her sister is cuter...:p

Orlando Bloom as Viktor Krum

Stanislav Ianevski(left) vs. Orlando Bloom (right)

Not that I'm a huge fan of him but I think he'll make a better Krum. Who better to play a loopsided, moody, fair and a Bulgarian seeker than Orlando Bloom who's famous for his role as Legolas in Lord of the Rings and in Pirates of the Carriebean. He already has that Krum look printed on his face anyway...:p

Chris Evans as Bill Weasley

In case you did not read the book, Bill Weasley is Ron's second eldest brother, after Charlie. He works at the Gringotts Bank and although you might think that he's the nerdy type like Percy (Percy's the 3rd brother), he not. He has long hair that is tied up in a pony tail, a white fang dangling from his left ear and is a very good looking and cool guy. Even Fleur was eyeing him when he was sending Harry off at the station. So there's no one better to play him other than Fantastic Four's Human Torch actor, Chris Evans. He's just so cute and he can dye his hair red anyday ^^

So there you have it.... The list of actors and actresses I would love to cast for the Goblet of Fire. Overall, this is my ratings for the movie:-

My very own ratings for the show

I think that wraps up what I have to say about the movie. I understand how hard it is to cramp a 700 over pages of wonderfully written story into a 2 hour and a half show but at least have the tendency to keep the characters the way they should be and get some facts straight. Maybe just take some time off to read the book before starting to write the script. Do some homework, dude! I believe this is what you get when you fuse an out-of-this-world story with adolescence teens in boarding schools and a highly ambitious “Four-Weddings and a Funeral” director together… you’ll get a hormone-bursting Potter and friends and the new improvised Goblet of Fire. Well, nothing much can be done since the movie's already out. For now, I'm just glad that the poster did not turn out like this...

Hehehe... Dumbledore's cute and don't ask me why the sheep is there...