SONbl0gg3r @nd Lumix

This is how he did it ?!

2009-03-31T18:23:00.000+08:00

There were three reasons why we survived.
We had no money, we had no technology, and we had no plan.

-- Jack Ma, Founder of Alibaba.com

In Love Again

2009-03-25T11:47:00.003+08:00

龚柯允-In Love Again

作词：Choi Sung-Wook、Yoo Yoo-Jin
作曲：侧田
演唱：龚柯允

When you smile
My life becomes a ray of light
Sing me a lullaby
To sleep at midnight
I’ll be hypnotize when looked into your eyes
turn off the room light
Let’s spend the night

Take me to far away
Away to your secret place
Take my tears my fears
Take all my pain for which I’ll repay someday
With a kiss and say
Can’t believe that I’m in love, in love again

When the stars don’t shine
And when the birds don’t fly
And when the flowers cry
And when the rain runs dry
When the violet’s red and when the rose turn blue
Baby I’m still in love with you

Take me to far away
Away to your secret place
Take my tears my fears
Take all my pain for which I’ll repay someday
With a kiss and say
Can’t believe that I’m in love, in love again

Research

2009-03-10T16:26:00.005+08:00

Just did a random research, to see the response of my friends via MSN.
I started the conversation saying :" 我，26 岁了，一事无成。。。" (I'm 26 already, yet I've achieved nothing), and these are some of the responses I got.....haha
___________________________________________________________________

我，26 岁了，一事无成。。。。
"kenot say like that, at least u have ur dream"
梦想，成不成真？谁知道？
"人因梦想而伟大"
希望梦想可以当饭吃.....
(I need to be very hungry then....)

我，26 岁了，一事无成。。。。
"why? "
(Good friend ! )

我，26 岁了，一事无成。。。。
"所以还有4 年就30 咯，不能白白得过咯,
要做好好咯
我没有什么时间发呆了
哈哈
好为自己好好计划哦
不然的话，白活了
浪费生命"
(Didn't expect this from someone who is so weird....)

我，26 岁了，一事无成。。。。
"no ah.. i know u r doing some researches in sg"
(when did I tell anyone I'm doing research?)

我，26 岁了，一事无成。。。。
"ooii, sick ar"
发表一下感想罢了
"too free izit, sometimes thing cant be rushed"
唔通我急过头了？
"well, it is right to keep on pushing, always stay out of comfort zone"
(Okay......)

我，26 岁了，一事无成。。。。
"dun crazy first
i gotta run out a while
26 is young!!!
i look up to you!
gimme few hours
ttyl "
(Caring but interesting yet busy friend)

我，26 岁了，一事无成。。。。
"wat u wan to say"
just trying to see what u have to say
"i 28 years leh
but stil got nothing
wat u think
let u own the world also useless de
better have a meaning life
live ur life with meaning than u wont b regret
life doesnt count what u have or what u dont
is whether u can live u way and with meaning or not
got it"
听君一席话，胜读百卷书
"knn"
(Haha!)

我，26 岁了，一事无成。。。。
Your comment: ?

A Business Guide for Dummies

2009-03-05T10:26:00.003+08:00

Old story, but nevertheless still meaningful.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say, "I am very rich.Marry me!" 
That's Direct Marketing.

You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a gorgeous girl.
One of your friends goes up to her and pointing at you says, "He's very rich.Marry him."
That's Advertising.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and get her telephone number.
The next day you call and say, "Hi,I'm very rich.Marry me."
That's Telemarketing.

You're at a party and see a gorgeous girl.
You get up and straighten your tie, you walk up to her and pour her a drink.
You open the door for her, pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her a ride, and then say,
"By the way, I'm very rich.Will you marry me?"
That's Public Relations.

You're at a party and see a gorgeous girl.
She walks up to you and says, "You are very rich.."
That's Brand Recognition.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party.
You go up to her and say, "I'm rich.Marry me"
She gives you a nice hard slap on your face.
That's Customer Feedback !!!!!

You see a gorgeous girl at a party.
You go up to her and say, "I am very rich.Marry me!"
And she introduces you to her husband.
That's Demand and supply gap.

You see a gorgeous girl at a party.
You go up to her and before you say, "I am very rich.Marry me!"
She turns her face towards you ------------ she is your wife !
That's competition eating into your market share!

Artistic Perceptions

2009-02-16T23:39:00.002+08:00

I always thought arts = creativity.
I had the impression that arts = freedom to express, regardless of your audience.
My concept of good piece of art = a piece of artwork that could reflect on an artist's feelings.

Turns out, I might be wrong.

Arts = A fix set of rules applied on different mediums in different density.
Arts = Work that your target group could understand.
Good piece of art = A piece of artwork that fulfills the fixed set of rules that the target group could understand.

How sad to know!

Little space

2009-02-16T11:45:00.002+08:00

I just realized, I miss this feeling.

The calm and relaxing feeling.

Listening to the daily morning radio programs.

Singing along songs, and laughing to jokes of the DJs.

There might be traffic jam, but at least I have my own little space,all by myself.

Missing it.

Lou Sang!

2009-02-05T23:42:00.002+08:00

How often you can stir things up and be happy bout it?

This is one of the moments :

What money can do?

2009-02-05T01:08:00.002+08:00

WITH MONEY YOU CAN BUY A HOUSE, BUT NOT A HOME.

WITH MONEY YOU CAN BUY A CLOCK, BUT NOT TIME.

WITH MONEY YOU CAN BUY A BED, BUT NOT SLEEP.

WITH MONEY YOU CAN BUY A BOOK, BUT NOT KNOWLEDGE.

WITH MONEY YOU CAN SEE A DOCTOR, BUT NOT GOOD HEALTH.

WITH MONEY YOU CAN BUY A POSITION, BUT NOT RESPECT.

WITH MONEY YOU CAN BUY BLOOD, BUT NOT LIFE.

WITH MONEY YOU CAN BUY SEX, BUT NOT LOVE.

Chinese New Year

2009-02-04T00:28:00.003+08:00

It was a busy Chinese New Year for me.
But it was good. It was great.
It was never enough.
Life here is just too dull. I just can't be myself in this foreign city.
I need more moments like this :

Year 2009, two thousand & nine things to accomplish

2009-01-12T09:23:00.002+08:00

Yup, you read it correctly, I've got a list of two thousand and nine things to accomplish this year.

Want to see my list? Maybe you should come up with a list of to-do for yourself first.

We can always exchange opinions.

Come on, let me know !

Pain and no gain....

2008-12-08T19:33:00.002+08:00

Ok, I spent SGD 70, to participate in a half marathon.

A first real marathon I ever took in my life.

Bad decision to only train for twice before the race.

The consequence, 4266 out of 6000+ participants.

And, a pair of limping and swollen feet.

Happy though!

贪新忘旧

2008-11-15T01:19:00.001+08:00

我是一个贪新忘旧的人。
我会忘记你昨天的任性，爱上今天可爱的你。

Move!

2008-11-01T12:31:00.001+08:00

Sensei said: " If you don't move, you cannot throw ! If you move, you don't need to throw!"

Guess I have to move more. To achieve more ?

Childhood Dream

2008-10-11T11:29:00.003+08:00

It's been 6 months since I started working in Singapore.

My boss told me that he will have a performance review meeting next Tuesday.

When I think about it, I haven't been doing anything that is bringing in income to the company.

Looks like the best candidate to be retrenched if the company is having financial crisis.

By then I shall start pursuing my childhood dream of starting a Nationwide Fried Kuey Teow chain......hahahahahaha

The art of acception

2008-09-27T11:39:00.005+08:00

Last night in training, Sensei gave me a great lesson.

Among the highly philosophical quotes he mentioned are :

" Old habit is in the blood, difficult to change. Persistence is needed to change."

" If you resist, you will face more resistance. "

"The more negative enery you point towards your opponent, the more negative energy he will return to you."

"If someone bump onto you on the street, do you blame him? He might be in a rush, therefore unaware, but you are the culprit yourself as well, as you are not aware. It takes two people to create a conflict."

Simple, but it did make me thinking!

Harry Ng Sensei, Shosin Aikido Singapore (6th Dan)

Life and How to Survive It

2008-09-08T11:09:00.011+08:00

I don't normally do this, but good things are to be shared. Thank you Jo-Anne for sharing this with me.

It's a bit lengthy, but its worth your time, I guarantee.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adrian Tan, a litigator from Drew & Napier and author of "The Teenage Textbook".

"Life and How to Survive It"

I must say thank you to the faculty and staff of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information for inviting me to give your convocation address. It's a wonderful honour and a privilege for me to speak here for ten minutes without fear of contradiction, defamation or retaliation. I say this as a Singaporean and more so as a husband.

My wife is a wonderful person and perfect in every way except one. She is the editor of a magazine. She corrects people for a living. She has honed her expert skills over a quarter of a century, mostly by practising at home during conversations between her and me.

On the other hand, I am a litigator. Essentially, I spend my day telling people how wrong they are. I make my living being disagreeable.

Nevertheless, there is perfect harmony in our matrimonial home. That is because when an editor and a litigator have an argument, the one who triumphs is always the wife.

And so I want to start by giving one piece of advice to the men: when you've already won her heart, you don't need to win every argument.

Marriage is considered one milestone of life. Some of you may already be married. Some of you may never be married. Some of you will be married. Some of you will enjoy the experience so much, you will be married many, many times. Good for you.

The next big milestone in your life is today: your graduation. The end of education. You're done learning.

You've probably been told the big lie that "Learning is a lifelong process" and that therefore you will continue studying and taking masters' degrees and doctorates and professorships and so on. You know the sort of people who tell you that? Teachers. Don't you think there is some measure of conflict of interest? They are in the business of learning, after all. Where would they be without you? They need you to be repeat customers.

The good news is that they're wrong.

The bad news is that you don't need further education because your entire life is over. It is gone. That may come as a shock to some of you. You're in your teens or early twenties. People may tell you that you will live to be 70, 80, 90 years old. That is your life expectancy.

I love that term: life expectancy. We all understand the term to mean the average life span of a group of people. But I'm here to talk about a bigger idea, which is what you expect from your life.

You may be very happy to know that Singapore is currently ranked as the country with the third highest life expectancy. We are behind Andorra and Japan, and tied with San Marino. It seems quite clear why people in those countries, and ours, live so long. We share one thing in common: our football teams are all hopeless. There's very little danger of any of our citizens having their pulses raised by watching us play in the World Cup. Spectators are more likely to be lulled into a gentle and restful nap.

Singaporeans have a life expectancy of 81.8 years. Singapore men live to an average of 79.21 years, while Singapore women live more than five years longer, probably to take into account the additional time they need to spend in the bathroom.

So here you are, in your twenties, thinking that you'll have another 40 years to go. Four decades in which to live long and prosper.

Bad news. Read the papers. There are people dropping dead when they're 50, 40, 30 years old. Or quite possibly just after finishing their convocation. They would be very disappointed that they didn't meet their life expectancy.

I'm here to tell you this. Forget about your life expectancy.

After all, it's calculated based on an average. And you never, ever want to expect being average.

Revisit those expectations. You might be looking forward to working, falling in love, marrying, raising a family. You are told that, as graduates, you should expect to find a job paying so much, where your hours are so much, where your responsibilities are so much.

That is what is expected of you. And if you live up to it, it will be an awful waste.

If you expect that, you will be limiting yourself. You will be living your life according to boundaries set by average people. I have nothing against average people. But no one should aspire to be them. And you don't need years of education by the best minds in Singapore to prepare you to be average.

What you should prepare for is mess. Life's a mess. You are not entitled to expect anything from it. Life is not fair. Everything does not balance out in the end. Life happens, and you have no control over it. Good and bad things happen to you day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. Your degree is a poor armour against fate.

Don't expect anything. Erase all life expectancies. Just live. Your life is over as of today. At this point in time, you have grown as tall as you will ever be, you are physically the fittest you will ever be in your entire life and you are probably looking the best that you will ever look. This is as good as it gets. It is all downhill from here. Or up. No one knows.

What does this mean for you? It is good that your life is over.

Since your life is over, you are free. Let me tell you the many wonderful things that you can do when you are free.

The most important is this: do not work.

Work is anything that you are compelled to do. By its very nature, it is undesirable.

Work kills. The Japanese have a term "Karoshi", which means death from overwork. That's the most dramatic form of how work can kill. But it can also kill you in more subtle ways. If you work, then day by day, bit by bit, your soul is chipped away, disintegrating until there's nothing left. A rock has been ground into sand and dust.

There's a common misconception that work is necessary. You will meet people working at miserable jobs. They tell you they are "making a living". No, they're not. They're dying, frittering away their fast-extinguishing lives doing things which are, at best, meaningless and, at worst, harmful.

People will tell you that work ennobles you, that work lends you a certain dignity. Work makes you free. The slogan "Arbeit macht frei" was placed at the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps. Utter nonsense.

Do not waste the vast majority of your life doing something you hate so that you can spend the small remainder sliver of your life in modest comfort. You may never reach that end anyway.

Resist the temptation to get a job. Instead, play. Find something you enjoy doing. Do it. Over and over again. You will become good at it for two reasons: you like it, and you do it often. Soon, that will have value in itself.

I like arguing, and I love language. So, I became a litigator. I enjoy it and I would do it for free. If I didn't do that, I would've been in some other type of work that still involved writing fiction – probably a sports journalist.

So what should you do? You will find your own niche. I don't imagine you will need to look very hard. By this time in your life, you will have a very good idea of what you will want to do. In fact, I'll go further and say the ideal situation would be that you will not be able to stop yourself pursuing your passions. By this time you should know what your obsessions are. If you enjoy showing off your knowledge and feeling superior, you might become a teacher.

Find that pursuit that will energise you, consume you, become an obsession. Each day, you must rise with a restless enthusiasm. If you don't, you are working.

Most of you will end up in activities which involve communication. To those of you I have a second message: be wary of the truth. I'm not asking you to speak it, or write it, for there are times when it is dangerous or impossible to do those things. The truth has a great capacity to offend and injure, and you will find that the closer you are to someone, the more care you must take to disguise or even conceal the truth. Often, there is great virtue in being evasive, or equivocating. There is also great skill. Any child can blurt out the truth, without thought to the consequences. It takes great maturity to appreciate the value of silence.

In order to be wary of the truth, you must first know it. That requires great frankness to yourself. Never fool the person in the mirror.

I have told you that your life is over, that you should not work, and that you should avoid telling the truth. I now say this to you: be hated.

It's not as easy as it sounds. Do you know anyone who hates you? Yet every great figure who has contributed to the human race has been hated, not just by one person, but often by a great many. That hatred is so strong it has caused those great figures to be shunned, abused, murdered and in one famous instance, nailed to a cross.

One does not have to be evil to be hated. In fact, it's often the case that one is hated precisely because one is trying to do right by one's own convictions. It is far too easy to be liked, one merely has to be accommodating and hold no strong convictions. Then one will gravitate towards the centre and settle into the average. That cannot be your role. There are a great many bad people in the world, and if you are not offending them, you must be bad yourself. Popularity is a sure sign that you are doing something wrong.

The other side of the coin is this: fall in love.

I didn't say "be loved". That requires too much compromise. If one changes one's looks, personality and values, one can be loved by anyone.

Rather, I exhort you to love another human being. It may seem odd for me to tell you this. You may expect it to happen naturally, without deliberation. That is false. Modern society is anti-love. We've taken a microscope to everyone to bring out their flaws and shortcomings. It far easier to find a reason not to love someone, than otherwise. Rejection requires only one reason. Love requires complete acceptance. It is hard work – the only kind of work that I find palatable.

Loving someone has great benefits. There is admiration, learning, attraction and something which, for the want of a better word, we call happiness. In loving someone, we become inspired to better ourselves in every way. We learn the truth worthlessness of material things. We celebrate being human. Loving is good for the soul.

Loving someone is therefore very important, and it is also important to choose the right person. Despite popular culture, love doesn't happen by chance, at first sight, across a crowded dance floor. It grows slowly, sinking roots first before branching and blossoming. It is not a silly weed, but a mighty tree that weathers every storm.

You will find, that when you have someone to love, that the face is less important than the brain, and the body is less important than the heart.

You will also find that it is no great tragedy if your love is not reciprocated. You are not doing it to be loved back. Its value is to inspire you.

Finally, you will find that there is no half-measure when it comes to loving someone. You either don't, or you do with every cell in your body, completely and utterly, without reservation or apology. It consumes you, and you are reborn, all the better for it.

Don't work. Avoid telling the truth. Be hated. Love someone.

You're going to have a busy life. Thank goodness there's no life expectancy.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brilliant, isn't it ?

A quick search shows its from a book published in 1988. Would like to get my hands on one of the copies, anyone help?

The Reason I Love him

2008-09-05T18:38:00.004+08:00

Had a ball basketball and recalled this player called Hakeem Olajuwon.

Watch the video, and watch top plays #1 and #2.

Amazing, spectaculor and that's what inspires me how to play basketball.

http://broadband.nba.com/cc/playa.php?content=video&url=http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/top10s_specialties/top10_olajuwon_careerplays.asx&video=

But, I respect him for his other side in life most, as quoted from Wiki:

"Olajuwon was still recognized as one of the league's elite centers despite his strict observance of Ramadan (e.g., abstaining from food and drink during daylight hours for about a month), which occurred during virtually every season of his career. Olajuwon was noted as sometimes playing better during the month, and in 1995 he was named NBA Player of the Month in February, even though Ramadan began on 1 February of that year"

No excuse for Muslims to feel lazy in the month of Ramadan isn't it?

Be a Malaysian

2008-08-30T01:09:00.001+08:00

Regardless of being in mamak stalls, fastfood outlets, fine dining restaurants or pubs,wherever you see Malaysians gather, the current political scenario is one of the topics of discussion.

With Malaysiakini, Malaysia Today, Chedet.com, and blogs of various politician, suddenly, every internet-abled Malaysian is a political expert.

We spend time discussing issues, debating bills that was tabled, talking about policies that should be abolished/ created, and at the end of the day, we the so called "Mamak Political Experts" have ZERO conclusion and not to mention, ZERO actions.

For those who all talk no action, like myself, here are something we could do, and should start doing to ensure Malaysia is a better place. Take your pick.

1. Help out in political events / campaign for your local candidates
2. Donate to political parties
3. Be a political leader among your family and friends.
4. Do what a Malaysian should do.

After seriously evaluating all the options, I found that:

Option 1 is not my cup of tea. Also, this option is only applicable during campaigning period, which only happens once every 4 years? or sooner if there any by-election. Plus, its just too labour intensive, and shall leave this option for those who are highly motivated, not me.

Option 2 is a noble thought, and a costly one. What will my RM100 do towards a better Malaysia? Maybe can pay for a few of option 1's volunteer's meals and transportation? Nah, Unless I can donate something like RM 1mil, I won't bother. People always think they contributed by giving money, but patriotism is more than that.

Option 3 is great and you have to have some creditable knowledge in the current political scene to do it.I know I can do it. But, I would rather be a source of information that a political leader/ adviser among my family and friends. Debating with people who supports different parties is tiring! And I don't hope to be charged for defamation or sodomy.

Option 4 poses a great question, what should a Malaysian do towards a better Malaysia? Firstly, you need to imagine what your 'dream country' should look like. Seriously, I do not know how living in a dream country feels like.I definately do not know your defination of a dream country. After traveling quite a bit around the world, I still think Malaysia is the best place on earth for me. The food, the people, the natural scenarios, the way people speaks, the political jokes and the so called 'discrimination' claimed by everyone, its just too unique.

I like Malaysia, and over the years, things change, and the country needs some tweaking. Every Malaysian is expecting a major change, but as a normal Malaysian who cannot bother to act upon option 1, option 2 and option 3, I would do what a Malaysian should do, which is -- Be a Malaysian.

However, being a Malaysian is no easy feat.

You need to:

Thoroughly understand the history of our country.
Know the reason why Independance is sort after?
What happened before and after independance.
Understand why various political parties exists?
Understand what happened during May 13 incident.
Understand what NEP is really about.
Understand the plight of other fellow Malaysians.
Understand how the parliment works.
Understand and practise your rights as a Malaysian.
Think for yourself if petrol prices in Malaysia can really be as cheap as Saudi Arabia?
Learn the basics of inflation and growth.
Think for yourself, when things get bad, is it because of a race, a religion or its because of a few people who has misused their authorities?
Make friends with everyone, learn more about each other. Share your opinions between your friends of all races.
Find out if there's any country in the world that have no prejudice, racism and is fair to everyone?
Question yourself, how can you be part of a better Malaysia.

In fact, the list could just go on.

Even though born and lived in Malaysia for 25 years, I am still trying be a Malaysian.
Better start late than never,or worse yet, complain and do nothing, right?

Why so BIG?

2008-08-18T15:01:00.002+08:00

The only reason I could think of, for them to serve in such a big bowl is:

To soak and wash my face with the leftover soup !?

To force or to follow

2008-08-08T16:41:00.003+08:00

When I was young, I was hoping to do things my way, and have everything done in favour of myself.

Some years later, I discovered it is simply impossible to have everyone following your instructions, and things don't change because you want it to.

So, I started to learn the art of influencing.
I learnt different skills, the skills of persuasion, skills of motivation, skills of speaking, skills of deceiving, skills of lying and even the skills to threaten.

Alas, after years of trying, the world is still round, I still can't have free food in MacDonald's, can't get the stray dogs to listen to my stories and can't have a free Hull City FC jersey delivered to my doorstep.

Finally, after years of trying, I gave up. Instead of having people follow suit, I try to blend and follow suit. To follow whatever others are doing, is never difficult, but to follow and to maintain your own principles along the way, while not losing your own identity is.

I hope I can do it better.

我怕

2008-07-22T11:23:00.003+08:00

幼时，总是爱挑逗她。
从她身边走过，看她依然潮气蓬勃，仿佛每天都睡得很好。
从她身上散发的快乐气息，让我不禁上前搭讪。
天真的我，还以为她会与我对话。
我靠上去，她吓着了。
低下了头。不敢望我。
好可爱！

去了英国后，不再与她见面。
还一时忘了她。
时隔多年，竟然在新加坡重逢。

这个偶然的相遇，让我不知所措。
是感觉陌生了，还是受狮城生活节奏影响？
我竟然只是呆呆的望着她，快步的从她身边赶过。
说不出一句话。

是怕她不认得我了吧！
如果我靠过去，她不害羞了，也不低头了，我会否很失望？

我怕。
我怕失去童真，我怕失去纯真。
我怕失去美丽的童年回忆。

Perceptions and Deceptions

2008-06-29T09:41:00.006+08:00

When mentioned about how much more fun it is to live in Malaysia, my Singaporean friend immediately responded :

"It's more dangerous in Malaysia-leh and politically it is so unstable now-leh, can easily get killed on the road or on the streets-leh! "

"But I have no problem staying there throughout my life!"

"You might just have been lucky! Look at all those media reports in the newspapers and TV, you must be joking to say its safe there! and to drive on PLUS highway is never safe......and ....."

"....................................."

As a seasoned traveler, (although most of the time for business) I am well aware that every country has crime and their social problems. Yes, each and every one of them, the Brits have too many drunk people on the streets; the Americans can virtually buy a gun from their supermarket and start shooting people at will; the Japanese commit suicide as often as we eat ice cream; and murder/rape/traffic accidents DO happen in Singapore!

Someone get killed in Singapore

The only major difference is, what kind of perception does the people have on their own country and on other countries. Top that up with the microscopic coverage of the media, be it CNN, BBC or Channel News Asia, a small incident that does not affect anyone could sound like a disaster for that country. However, when the country is peaceful and doing well, it will not be reported, as the news will not sell, true?

Someone get killed in Singapore, again

No news means good news for the citizens, but not to the media.

Luckily, Malaysia is not the only victim, and it's not the worse victim.
One of the worse victim, due to the irresponsible bias media coverage is Pakistan.

Being assigned there for a week for business, I managed to "interviewed" several working-class Pakistanis.

Local Pakistanis are generally very friendly,even if you do not give them money!

"Do you think Pakistan is a safe country?"

Local #1:"Why is it not safe? Do you see any sort of violence throughout your stay?"

Thousands of devotees visiting the Tomb of Abdullah Shah Ghazi

"How is the political situation affecting your daily activities?"

Local #2:"Nothing, people are still busy with getting money to feed their family, and the political system does not directly affect the bureaucratic system over here. For example: the Prime Minister can change, but the Ministry of Education still runs, the Ministry of Finance still does it work, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority still ensure the development mobile phone networks."

"What do you think about your President?"

Local #3:" There's a President and the Prime Minister. The president is not holding any actual power, he's the one who is always in the media spotlight, but he does not do anything. In contrast, the Prime Minister holds actual governmental power, and he keeps the country running."

A sneak shot of the President's Office, highly secured!

Though I've only visited two cities in Pakistan, Islamabad and Karachi, but I could confidently conclude that, despite all the negative reports on the country, the people here are too busy to plant bombs in the city where they can easily kill their own friends and relatives. (Bombs only planted at certain foreign offices). The Talibans are not from Pakistan, and the people here are well fed due to overwhelming agriculture produce and there's a lot to see, eat and experience in Pakistan.

Busy scenes on the streets of Karachi, climb the bus!

There's briyani rice,mangoes, bananas, peaches, Pashmina shawls, Cashmere carpets, the colourful buses and trucks, the small un-metered yellow taxis, the more than dirty streets and the out-of-nowhere huge shopping malls.

Taxi ride here could not cost more than RM10 no matter where you go!

With good agriculture conditions, and a strategic geographical location, there's every reason to believe, that the country of Pakistan could emerge as a powerhouse in the future. Just do not write them off yet!

Ride on the bus instead!

Land without Landmark

2008-06-07T00:58:00.008+08:00

Was sent to some weird place in another part of the world.
This is the land where you can find good Arabic and Indian food.

Mutton Briyani Rice

This is a place where most of the locals dress up in Kandura and Keffiyeh.

Back to school?

Streets are small and old, and are usually crowded.

Gold is said to be cheap here, I wonder why?

Another tourist imagining all those golden bracelets are his....

Abra is a local name for a small wooden boat, used to transport people over the creek.

Hell yeah, lots of people using the water taxi!

I had some free time before leaving this place, and asked the taxi driver to bring me to some interesting place, and he took me to.......

This is so sad......WTF!

And he 'accidentally' drove pass a couple of buildings by the name of Emirates Towers.

They are building MRT also......

And I was told this is the most interesting place in this city.....how sad is it to have a self acclaimed 7 start hotel as your city's landmark......at least we have the Petronas Twin Towers in KL ! Haha......

Oh, in case you do not know already, it's called Burj Al-Arab and it is in Dubai!
And no, Dubai is not a country! Dumb ass!

Henderson Waves

2008-05-25T11:55:00.009+08:00

New things attract attention, and new buildings attract crazy Singaporeans and its foreign workers, like us, who have nothing better to do during weekends.

Its advertised in the local papers that a new pedestrian bridge was built somewhere in one of the nature parks, and was named Henderson Waves. Its the highest pedestrian bridge in the world, wow, that's some selling point and thus became a 'must-see' item in Singapore !

Four languages on a signboard, shame on you Malaysia.

We started our journey near Harbourfront MRT station. We have to track uphill towards the jungle.....and was amazed by our first 'sight'. A weird looking tree.......that resembles....something.

A tree?

The old saying of "There's two sides of a coin" sounds very true when you can think that :

There's nature within the hustle and bustle of the city of Singapore.
There's no escape of the view of the city even though you are in any nature park of Singapore.

It depends on how looks at it though....

Concrete Jungle within jungle?

Nevertheless, we dragged our body towards the peak of the hill......which is around 65m above sea level......

Old liao......

We still go on with our main business, taking photos along the way.

You know you see an artistic person when he takes photos in weird angles.

The bridge is crooked, no wavey, no, it straight.....urgh...it confusing !

Trying to be an artist

A wavy bridge?

Good day out, some light workout and some good photo shooting.
It's considered an excellent outdoor trip in Singaporean term, or at least to foreign workers like us.

Anyway, too lazy to write a lot,(maybe nothing to blog about)so read the description in the photo here yourself!

Spice up your life !

2008-05-21T10:52:00.004+08:00

It was a normal Thursday evening. Was off from work early, took a swim and had dinner at Tiong Bharu Plaza with friends JC and JA.

First timer to the restaurant, I was quite amused by the name in chinese 别府面馆 (Benpu Menkan) and its decoration which resemble Hell.

Only then I know they are well-known to serve spicy Japanese ramen. Being adventurous, and to accept the challenge of a dare from JC and JA, I ordered the Oniyama Jigoku (Ramen with Fried Chicken from Hell) and with a spicy rating equivalent to 8 chilli padis. For your information, there are choices from 1 chilli, 2 chillies, 4 chillies, 6 chillies and a maximum of 8 chillies.

Notice the chilli rating under the food description

Me:" I would like to have Oniyama Jigoku, 8 chillies please!"
The waiter even suggested :" Are you sure? I suggest you to just take 4 chillies la...."
Me:" Why? 4 chillies and 8 chillies same price woh......8 chillies la!"
Waiter: "ok ......"

JC, in fear I could not finish the spicy noodles, ordered Tatsumaki Jigoku with 1 chilli so that if the worse case happen, we can mix both noodles together and create a 4-chilli noodle.

JA ordered a seafood paperpot and promised to finish a bottle of sake if I could finish the 8-chilli ramen.

The noodles arrived shortly, looking and smelling spicy.

Looks intimidating

Looking at the shock across the table, the waiter kindly asked :" Do you want a glass of ice cold water?"
Me:"Wah, look down on me? I want hot green tea instead!" (actually its better to drink hot drink when you take spicy food la...)
Waiter: "Ok....."

Picking up the unusually large spoon, I tasted the soup for a start, and man, it's spicy, but still tolerable after my hell-like spicy food eating training in Indonesia.

Then I started eating the ramen....and I started to feel the burn in my mouth.

Couple of minutes later, my stomach started catching fire.

And after 10 minutes, I was virtually crying while eating ramen.........

Amazingly, after like 15 minutes, I don't feel anything anymore.....and I managed to finish the whole bowl of ramen, not including the soup of course.

Job done! Viva King of Spice!

Disappointingly, JA did not keep her promise to drink down a bottle of sake.......and I sacrificed without any returns.

JA, you owe me a bottle of sake!

JA's Seafood Paperpot

They even mention the spicy rating on the receipt! Don't play play!

Batu Caves

2008-05-14T22:40:00.004+08:00

I got to admit, I've not been to Batu Caves, until last week.
If its not because my colleague Dr.Stefano from Italy insisted, I won't be there.

That's how an Italian PHD holder in Transmission Network looks like when he drinks from a coconut.

The entrance to Batu Caves is impressive, with the world's tallest statue of Lord Murugan blinding our eyes with its shiny gold paint.

The smart Italiano challenged me to run up the stairs.......not knowing there's a couple of hundred of it............

Ok, its just 272 steps in exact. But it did made us sweat a whole lot!

Why did they ever tried to number the steps?

Looking back from inside the cave

There's not a great deal inside the cave, just a couple of shrines and some monkeys wandering around. Not too interesting.

I did manage to capture this funny picture of my colleague though......haha

This is how he got his PhD....determination and dedication

A wonderful day!

2008-04-25T08:51:00.003+08:00

You just know its a wonderful day when:

1.) There's no one in the MRT train when you board it.
2.) You can sit throughout the 30-minute MRT trip.
3.) You meet a friend in the MRT and you manage to have a conversation.
4.) The sun was hiding behind the clouds when you walk towards your office.
5.) The traffic lights turn green whenever you intend to cross the road.
6.) You are the earliest to reach the office.
7.) You are being assigned to an "overseas" assignment in KL for one week.
8.) You know you have a bus ticket going towards your home country tonight.

When it comes to the extreme, don't you just appreciate little things like this?

*************************************************************************************
Random pictures taken by my company sponsored Samsung D880 (Dual Sim Card function oh...)

This is the machine that gives us 8Mbps of Internet juice....

The real chrysanthemum tea.....with lots of chrysanthemum in it......

Yunan Guo Qiang Mi Xian.....if you know what it is.....

Stir fry Nian Gao .....haha

Scene in Ministry of Manpower on a Monday

Have to say the picture quality lacks way behind Sony Eriksson and Nokia phones.

Time to move on

2008-04-16T10:17:00.003+08:00

It was time to move on.

And I moved on.

The future is uncertain, but uncertainty makes human better human.

Certainty makes human robots.

People question me, but I have more than enough strong valid reasons for my actions taken.

For the time being, I just fancy sleeping with a pillow on a Singaporean SMRT bus.

How far will you go?

2008-03-17T21:43:00.005+08:00

How far can you go to meet a friend?

How much time and money are you willing to sacrifice to meet a friend of the same sex?

Ok, maybe he's a friend since 7 years old, and maybe he's the first person who also writes with his left hand that I knew.

But still, if it's ain't for UNESCO World Heritage Site No.592 near where he's currently residing, I won't even bother!

(dear friend, if you are reading this: I never meant to be so mean, I actually went there to see how your girlfriend looks like!)

Nevertheless, its worth every penny and all the time + effort to be able to witness one of the greatest building in the world -- Candi Borobudur.

Tell me you never heard bout Candi Borobudur and you have to be ashame of yourself. It's in the history textbook! Sejarah Dunia, form 4, remember?

I was told that the top of the building resembles a folded Bohdi leaf.
But due to ligthing damages,it now looks more like an overturned wooden bucket.

You can't get enough of the beautiful architecture, even the rain could not stop people from getting the best shot of Borobudur.

After Candi Borobudur, its time to visit the Prambanan Temple.

To be honest, I myself did not hear much about Prambanan Temple before my trip here, but it's a crime not to pay a visit to this place once in your lifetime.

The Indonesian government did a heck of a good job in turning the historical sites into cultural parks with acres of trees and grass, even Bambee likes it.

After all those unimportant visits to the blocks of old stones, its time to do the "main" thing that brought me to Yogyakarta.

To meet up with my long lost friend and take a picture with him and his girlfriend....haha......
That's how far I will go, just to do this! What a true friend I am........

Ice Cream, the story of a .......

2008-03-08T10:29:00.004+08:00

It was raining heavily.

What's better than to have an ice cream while stuck in the rain.

This is Choco Crunch.

Its description read :" I'm Choco Crunch. I am 10 minutes old, I am made of 2 scoops of chocolate flavoured ice cream, together with handful of crispy crunchy chocolate biscuit. Topped with some corn flakes and cherry, I feel sexy. However, I am a male ice cream, as you can see I have a dick."

Choco crunch was obviously not prepared to be consumed. He was afraid. He was sweating heavily. He wet the glass and also the table.

"Come on, torture me, bite me, kacau me! I am not to be intimated" he said in a desperate attempt of reverse physcology.

"I paid 20,000 rupiahs for you, you have to die."

"Enjoy yourself while dying. Hahahaha!"

That was the end of the story of the brave and big-dicked ice cream.

It's time to 'jual mahal' Edward Beruang

2008-03-02T16:49:00.004+08:00

*Copied without permission from a letter posted in Malaysiakini.com, but its too good not to share:*

Malaysia is like a marriage. We, the rakyat, are the wives and our husband is the Barisan Nasional (BN) led by Pak Lah. The question is: Has our husband been faithful to us? Kept his promises to control crime, corruption and the cost of living? To care for our children's safety? Or has he taken us for granted - like a doormat - because he knows we will still love him no matter what? Despite whatever neglect from our husband, most Malaysians are not ready for divorce - yet. There are other boyfriends who want to woo us, but we will cling on to the BN like a faithful wife, hoping he will change for the better.

When we tell him that we've been hurt by widespread corruption and inflation he says, ‘Okay, Okay, I'll launch five more corridors just like the Multimedia Sleepy Corridor.’ We tell him criminals are snatching handbags and slashing women on the streets, kidnapping children like Sharlinie and Nurin just 20 metres in front of our homes before raping and killing them. And he says? ‘Okay, Okay, I'm setting up another royal commission.’ The first royal commission on the police had already emphasised four years ago that we must clean out corrupt cops from the force by setting up an independent complaints body called the IPCMC.

Our husband promised to do it, then U-turned, just like how he U-turned on the crooked bridge to Singapore. And what about the current Royal London Circus, er...I mean royal commission on VK Lingam? Bet it will ‘look like justice and sound like justice.’ And then conveniently four years later, ‘cannot remember’ what the hell justice is. So like frustrated wives, three times last year, 2,000 lawyers, 40,000 Bersih folks and 30,000 Hindraf people who could not tahan anymore and went out on the streets to ask our husband to improve himself.

Did he say, ‘Darling, what's wrong? Why are you upset? How can I help?’ No. He slapped us with water cannons and told us to shut up. ‘You have no right to scream out your complaints on the streets. You cannot embarrass me like that. You will jeopardise the stability and harmony of our marriage,’ he told us. ‘You can complain quietly in the backroom. But I'll listen to you only once every five years.’

It's our only chance now. And maybe it's time for us to jual mahal and play ‘hard to get’. Politics is something like the pasar malam. The hawker ‘opens price’ at RM18 but we want to buy something for RM10. As long as we're still standing at the stall, looking a bit ‘too interested’, the price will only go down to RM15. But the moment we walk away, there the hawker comes, desperately chasing after us, ‘Ok, Ok RM10 can-lah.’ So please don't get me wrong, this is not about hating husbands, bashing Pak Lah or being anti-BN. Even real life husbands often lose respect for a housewife if she just smiles even when she's regularly lied to and cheated on.
Our BN husband is not doing his job well simply because there’s no pressure on him to do so. He’s just being human. As it is, Pak Lah even lied about the date of elections when asked by reporters the very day before he announced it. He didn't need to at all. He could just have said, ‘Oh I can’t reveal the date yet.’So why did he lie so casually about it? Because he just doesn’t respect us? So maybe it's time to merajuk and throw a little tantrum.

We can't bear to leave him, but maybe we should tell him: ‘Honey, I ain't gonna wash your clothes or cook your dinner no more till you change your ways. ‘Cos you been hurting me real bad.’ In other words, let our BN husband lose 40 or 50 Parliament seats - in the desperate hope that he will wake up (!), reform and come running back to us - not just with sweet words, but real love. That's the way life is - in both romance and politics.

Remember the Sabah state elections of 1995? The opposition was then in power and the BN went all out to court Sabahans with fantastic promises of a ‘Sabah Baru’ where ‘poverty will be wiped out by the year 2000'. Well, that BN ‘welfare state’ promise has been so, so broken with the government's own Ninth Malaysia Plan admitting that BN-ruled Sabah is the country's poorest state with 23 percent of its' people living in poverty compared to PAS-ruled Kelantan's 10.6 percent.

But at least Sabah got their own university - Universiti Malaysia Sabah. Now in 2008, the BN is promising ‘Kelantan Baru’ where, if only they turned their affections away from PAS towards the BN, they would be loved with hundreds of millions of tax cuts, projects and other goodies.
On Feb28, Najib told the Kelantanese: ‘Just give us a term and see what we can do in that four or five years. If you still feel that we have not delivered, then you have the power to choose others. Four years is not a long time. But if you remain with PAS, you will get more of the same...we are thinking of the Kelantanese and their future.’

Okay, rewind that. Substitute the word Najib for Anwar Ibrahim. Change the word Kelantan for Malaysia, and PAS for BN. What is that called? That’s what the opposition is telling Malaysians! To try them for four years! And what does Pak Lah call that? A ‘dangerous experiment’. An ‘irresponsible’ and ‘unrealistic’ welfare state.

Think about this for a moment. If Kelantan and Sabah had been loyal wives, voting BN time and time again, would our BN husband have taken so much trouble to charm them back with all kinds of tempting promises? Or would he have taken them for granted and forgotten their birthday and wedding anniversary? That's what usually happens when a woman loves a man ‘too much’ despite the man’s glaring faults. The proof of this is in the 2006 Sarawak state elections, the 2007 Ijok by-election and now, the Hindraf awakening.

The Chinese of Sarawak were deeply unhappy that the state government wanted to charge them a whopping 50 percent renewal fee for leasehold land in the name of ‘development’. Imagine paying RM200,000 for a Kuching home, and then being asked to pay another extra RM100,000 or else the government could grab your land and house. Did the state BN care about the Chinese discontentment? Whatever for? Except for one or two seats, Sarawak was a BN ‘fortress’ and most Sarawakians were ‘devoted’ supporters.

In other words, they took the voters for granted. Then came the ‘shocking’ loss of nine seats (out of 71) in the state elections. Result? That renewal fee has been ‘magically’ lowered to 25 percent. Similarly, Ijok in Selangor had been a BN ‘stronghold’ for decades. Like an old wife, it was semi-neglected despite being just one hour's drive from KL. And then another ‘boyfriend’ showed up. When Anwar Ibrahim wanted a showcase opposition victory there, he pointed out that some people did not even have water and electricity supply. Lo and behold, suddenly tens of millions in projects and hand-outs were poured into Ijok within just two weeks.

Did Pak Lah then call it ‘financial irresponsibility’as they are now calling the opposition's generous promises? S Samy Vellu was giving out Singer sewing machines to the Indian estate folks like Santa Claus (like Sabah 1995, this was another ‘welfare state’ campaign). Abracadabra! He waved his magic wand and instantly, once potholed roads were gleaming in fresh tar. A huge rubbish dump that steadfast pro-BN residents had complained about for years (to no avail) was finally relocated.

What a fairy tale ending to one of the biggest ‘buy elections’ ever! And now Hindraf. Why are the Indians pissed off? Well, what did they get for being a faithful wife, solidly voting in the BN for 50 years? One of their landmark temples was torn down just two days before Deepavali last year, along with dozens of others around the country in the past few years. As an American Negro might say, ‘Brother, we don’t get no respect.’

Oh yes, of course, the government says there is ‘no discrimination’ against the community. Haha. You and I know better. And so did 30,000 Indians who said Dey poddah! to that on the streets of KL. They had the guts to stand up for their rights despite repeated warnings and police beatings from Pak Lah (who had promised back in 2004 to ‘listen to the people’ as he wanted them to ‘work with me, not for me’). The Indians call Hindraf makkal sakti (people's power). For our discussion, let's call it the biggest merajuk ever.

Suddenly, all kinds of leaders and academics are publicly analysing how, where and why the BN and MIC should ‘improve its delivery’. Even the demi-god Samy Vellu is sweating and for the first time ever we are seeing full page advertisements in English newspapers avowing that ‘MIC Cares’. And my oh my, Thaipusam was even declared a holiday in KL. What a lot of achievements for just one day of demonstrations!

Of course Pak Lah tried to disguise the real reason for the extra Thaipusam giveaway by limply saying it was because ‘KL ada trafik jam-lah’ during the festival. Poddah to that too. And what if Indians massively vote against the BN this time? Our dear husband can't leave a permanent block of opposition supporters out there, can he? He (or Najib) HAS to try to win them back. Maybe more government jobs? Some scholarships? Amanah Saham India? At last, no more dry leftover crumbs of murruku but some proper mutton curry.

The lesson in romance and politics is clear. We have to play a little ‘hard to get’. We all know what happens when a woman ‘gives in’ too easily to a man, it’s ‘wham, bam, thank-you ma’am’ (pardon my language) and he then rolls over into a snoring sleep, losing all interest. In other words, stop selling ourselves cheap and let’s start to jual mahal. Only then, will our ‘value’ go up.

"How true! Please tell your friends and family members to think like that before they cast their votes!"

《宣言》

2008-02-25T15:26:00.000+08:00

这里的言语，和那里的不一样，
这里的孤单，比那里的更平静，
让我内心激起想你的涟漪。

人生即将进入另一个单元，
而你，
依然与我在一起，
就像以往那些年，
从不投诉埋怨，
偶尔的撒娇，
是爱我的表现。

我知道，我明白，我体会，我感激，
只是我可能不懂得如何表达。

未来的几年，和从前的有分别，
未来的人生，要咱们分多聚少，
这种安排会否使你常流泪？

爱情考验带着非凡的定义，
而我，
希望和你心连心，
闯过以后那些年，
永远死心塌地，
难得的邂逅，
是守候的奖赏。

要相信，要坚持，要享受，要感恩，
距离与时间并非永远的障碍。

Valentine's Day with an Un-romantic Boyfriend

2008-02-18T15:46:00.000+08:00

For V-day 2007, I brought my girlfriend to Putrajaya.

Roses were absent. Gifts exchanging never cross my mind.
There were no candle light fine dining in the cruise around Tasik Putrajaya, neither had we a romantic stroll along the lake.

We had McDonald's Prosperity Meal instead, and a car trip along the main boulevard of Putrajaya.
We got lost getting there and got lost coming back to KL.
I brought her there just because she has not been there before.

It was a great trip with lots of expectations to Putrajaya,
and a trip back to KL with a tired, annoyed and disappointed girlfriend on the passenger seat.
How memorable.

This year, again, we're not heading to any nice and classy restaurant.
Roses were absent.
Gifts exchanging never cross my mind.
I decided to drive my girlfriend 50KM outskirt of KL,roam pass 3 tolls,
towards the small Town of Jenjarom, just next to Banting.

We're there for the display of lights and lanterns in the famed FGS Dong Zen Temple佛光山东禅寺.

It's a yearly event, but this year it is bigger and better and brighter! (might not be true, it's my first time there as well)
Anyway, there's lots of lanterns and exhibition items on display.
Without a second thought, I pulled out my camera and started shooting pictures.

Statues of Kuan Yin
Red red lanterns
Lanterns are cool
Lotus river?
It's not real......

Cute little monk

Brightly lit temple compound
Giant Lantern

After some good full 30 minutes of photography session, I realised I forgotten something.
My girlfriend. Oh sheeeeeeeeet!!!!
Please imagine the physical abuse I received later that night.

Anyway, it was a great trip with high expectations to Jenjarom,
and a trip back to KL with a bored, annoyed and grumpy girlfriend plus some nice photos in my camera.
How memorable.

Couldn't wait for Valentine's day 2009.

Crisis in Jakarta

2008-02-01T16:11:00.000+08:00

Woke up this morning, to my horror, it's raining.
And it's raining heavily.
Worse still, I remembered it started raining since last night!

In KL, you might expect something like a flash flood in a few major roads.
It's bad.
That is KL, you might say.

In Jakarta, things are a little different.
You get nothing less than a city-wide flood.
It's freaking-horribly-crazy bad!
That is Jakarta, the locals nod in approval.

A quick check on my apartment's balcony, and saw the road in front became a canal.

Turned on the TV, and virtually every TV station is reporting about flood throughout Jakarta.

Best still, they kept on repeating the footage of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's car being stuck in a traffic jam.
Its amuzing to see the poor fella switching cars(from S-Class to some SUV) in slippers in the middle of the road.

Anyway, the main point is, I got a plane to catch tomorrow.

I need to go back to KL and then Ipoh to celebrate "Imlek" (CNY as referred by the Indonesians).

And the airport is closed!!!!!

I don't want to celebrate Imlek....I want to celebrate Chinese New Year!

Help!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, despite the horrible flood and traffic jam, I managed to get to Soekarno-Hatta Airport and return to Kuala Lumpur at the same day.

Gladfully......I hope not to return to Jakarta again!

Super Heros of Bandung

2008-01-29T01:07:00.000+08:00

Annoying.
Do you know how irresponsible is it to leave a comment:" XXX, update , update!"

What is that suppose to be?
It's a place for comments, not for instructions!
I don't like that.
This is my blog, "MY" blog....and I can do whatever with it!

I'm so pissed, I ran away to Bandung.
Things were not so well, as I need to wake up by 6.30am to catch the 8.00am "travel" to Bandung from Kelapa Gading.

You just know the day will not be a good one when you have breakfast at some place with a name like this......

Ok....for those who don't know...it literally translates as :" Karapitan Unlucky Meatballs".
How lucky can one be after eating those unlucky meatballs?
Worse still, they even differentiate GOOD unlucky meatball from BAD unlucky meatballs.

Then I was like a mad, excited 5 year old who keeps on screaming out loud the only characters he knew .

" Wow, Spiderman!"

"It's a bird, its a plane, no, it's Superman!"

"OMG! It's Wolverine! Highlander! Terminator!"

(What do they have in common that makes them stand together anyway?)

I lost control......
WTF.......what one earth is SonGoKu standing besides Bruce Lee and Wolverine?"

Anyway, these are just the attention seeker of the factory outlets concentrated on Jalan Chihampelas.
I got so frustrated with all those shit, I just head home and update this blog without buying anything in Bandung.
So, are you happy I updated my blog?

Now go do your work, and don't post me instructions!

and no, I did not go up on the London Eye!

On top of the world?

2008-01-13T10:32:00.000+08:00

It's New Year's eve to 2008, everyone opted to go partying.

Some went Sungai Wang, some packed towards The Curve, others go to Midvalley.

The PM and their men were in Dataran Merdeka, but I, against all odd, went to Taman Tasik Titiwangsa instead.

The reason, simple:

It would just be a once in a life time opportunity, and I shall not miss a photo session with the ferris wheel!

So I took this.....

And this..............

With the 'aiyah-nvmlah-once-in-a-lifetime' mindset, I reluctantly took a ride in the ferris wheel as well.

The view we could see up there was so AMAZING and I could see:

and this!

and this!

why are so many people are queuing and pay RM15 for it!?????

KLCC has been quite stingy and wasteful.

Their fireworks can't even go higher than 400m ??

I was hoping the fireworks to be something like this.....

but it turned out just there!!!! ( as shown with arrow)

WTF.......

But it's still a good way to enjoy the New Year's eve....despite all the traffic jam and 'toilet jam'.

Eid ul-Adha, 冬至, Christmas

2007-12-21T09:57:00.000+08:00

In a well diversed multi-racial, multi-religion country like Malaysia, there's always a chance that a few different festival and special occasion falls within a same period of time.

December 2007, most notably the week starting from 20 December 2007 to 25 December 2007 marks three very important day for three different group of people.

To a lot of the modern day Malaysians, festive seasons = public holidays = more time to sleep at home = time to do shopping.

Ask your indian friend what is Eid ul-Adha (Hari Raya Haji) and they will reply you :"some Malay festival lah!" ( Not exactly, its Muslim, not Malay!)

Ask your malay friend why is Christmas celebrated and they will say :" Kerana Santa Claus akan memberi hadiah?" (Because Santa Claus will give away gifts?)

However, the most embarassing thing to happen is, when you ask your Chinese friend what is 冬至 (Dong Zhi), their reply will be :" Time to eat Tang Yuan !" (which is true, but WHY?)

Maybe its time we ask ourselves these questions:

1.) What is Hari Raya Haji (Eid-ul-Adha) and why do Muslims celebrate it?

2.) What does Christmas mean ? Why is it also known as Xmas? Who is Santa Claus?

3.) Why celebrate 冬至 (Dong Zhi) and why eat Tang Yuan?

With the power of the internet, its never too difficult to find answers to these questions. (I recommend using Wikipedia as a one stop solution!)

Celebrate with purpose, share the joy!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-18T12:20:00.000+08:00

Not that I celebrate christmas but it's always nice to see the major shopping malls coming out with innovative christmas decorations every year. This toy soldier is definately something special , which you can see in One Utama Shopping Mall (New Wing) !

Cool eh?

Have you got what it takes(to get into self employment)?

2007-12-10T16:02:00.000+08:00

Came across this while surfing around http://www.prospects.ac.uk/
I guess these are a few important questions that one should answer before deciding to venture into self-employment.

Could you be a risk taker? No business is risk free, so you need to judge the level of danger correctly and then be sufficiently well prepared to live with the consequences.

What is your response to uncertainty ? Do you find this exciting rather than worrying? Are you prepared for changing markets, competition, economic fluctuations?

Do you see change as a challenge? Can you minimize its downsides by careful thought and planning?

Are you opportunity aware?Given even half a chance do you take it? Better still, can you see it coming before anyone else does? Or are you too cautious or over-analytical?

How hard can you work?Being self-employed is not an easy option especially if you are working on your own. Results are often only produced by working long hours, doing routine tasks rather than high powered business deals.

Are you a realist? Can you gauge in practical terms what it’s possible to achieve or produce within a certain period? In business terms this translates into: being aware of limitations; striving for speed, efficiency and quality; pricing your output so that it appeals to clients but at the same time pays you a realistic wage. Are you able to visualise the product or service you are offering through your customers’ eyes?

How well organised are you? You’ll need to be an excellent time manager. If you don’t already possess this skill, it can be learned! How else will you juggle tasks, meet multiple deadlines, prioritise conflicting demands and cope with basic administration such as sending out invoices? No one is going to pay you unless you remind them.

Do you plan ahead? You need to do this to minimise uncertainties and maximise your chances of success. You may have enough work now but unless you inform more people about what you do, it may soon dry up.

Will you be able to network? It is essential to be able to market yourself and your business, often in social situations. Constantly putting yourself in a position to meet potential customers or contacts is a prerequisite.

Are you literate and numerate? What’s your relationship with computers? If you are not totally familiar with any of these functions you may have to pay other people to help with bidding for funds, doing the accounts and dealing with IT.

Do you possess commercial awareness? Do you know how to attract and retain customers, make a profit and corner a share of the market?

What’s your level of commitment? Do you believe in yourself and in your own business idea? Self-employment is not always a comfortable option or an easy alternative to finding regular work. Doubts or a half-hearted approach can be disastrous.

Are you self motivated? Running a business can sometimes be a lonely occupation. No one is going to motivate you other than yourself.

What does professionalism mean to you? Will you turn up to meetings on time, present a businesslike image, and do the necessary homework?

What do you think?

A) Better stay put and working in my lovely cubicle 9 to 5 !

B) I'm all geared up to get rich (or get very poor) and achieve a lot more!

Thoughts on Jakarta

2007-11-28T01:08:00.000+08:00

Jakarta, a place where people literally lived in traffic jams

A place where people drinks coke with condensed milk

It's a place where people will sing your favourite songs when you eat in a food court

It's a place where businesses could be done anywhere, anytime

A place so crazy they built antenna towers all over the city

There's so much culture differences where their pharmacy is called Apotik

A place so hungry it has so many varieties of food available:

Rujak

Satey Padang

Sate Kambing

Don't know what is this, but its a delightful street snack

Cendol with avocado+ nangka

Nasi Ayam Bakar

I've seen,tasted and tried so much in Jakarta.

But most of all,

I've seen life.

Life of others which amazes me.

To be drunk or not to be?

2007-11-24T16:07:00.000+08:00

It's our best friends's wedding dinner.

You just get happy on these occasions and tend to say "Yummmmmmm Senggggggggggg" alot
And the end results, as expected.....the bridesgroom father sitting in weird postures
Drunken sailor moon look a like in PK................
Drunken master in action demonstrated by JC ......
Pushing and jostling to reject help from others on one moment,

and on the floor the other moment !

Really unpredictable!

Drunken master seeing no new challenge after a while....starts to sleep like a kitten

KC, although not drunk, took over the role of a loving wife.

And isn't a miracle that the drunk uncle can still shoot such nice photos in the end?

p/s: PK and JC don't kill me for this

Wedding pictures !

2007-11-23T12:42:00.000+08:00

Yee Chung's Wedding Photos could be found here

Pre-wedding-- http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahkumm/

Wedding -- http://picasaweb.google.com/wongjiaching4/

Congratulations mate!

Falling, anyone?

2007-11-22T00:58:00.000+08:00

Have you ever asked yourself:

How well do you know how to fall? (yes, into that hole)

How well do you absorb the impact of your fall? (breakfalling, therefore no broken limbs, only scratches)

How well do you rebound after your fall? (get back on ur legs?)

Do you realise that because of your fall, you will actually affect someone else? (poor guy who lost his bedroom roof)

How do you make sure the impact on others are minimum? (pay him RM50 to kau dim)

Instead of asking yourself, can I suceed , maybe, you should ask yourself:

Do you dare to fall? ( I don't, I accidentally fell)

If your answer is yes, then congratulations, you are one step closer to suceed in life!
(I'm feeling successful now! Do you?)

Die for your country!

2007-11-18T13:11:00.000+08:00

"Smoking is unhealthy,but I smoked because I love my country."

That's a very patriotic statement made, but maybe not a healthy one.

But how does it make sense ?

"Hey, you know, I pay RM8.00 everyday for a pack of cigarette, and the country is getting extra income (through tax) from my consumption!"

Oh.....how come I didn't think bout it in the first place?

"I sacrifice my own health for the country, I love Malaysia!"

That put me into shame, what have I done to show that I love my country?

Maybe I should start drinking,smoking,and buying new imported cars, don't you agreed?

He's just serious bout it isn't he?

The Toad in Jakarta!

2007-11-15T23:48:00.000+08:00

3 Days.

That's all it takes for me to feel guilty.

Guilty for not expecting anything in Jakarta.

And I am so wrong that I felt like a toad under the well.

I did not expect to find some of the most tastiest, dynamic, exciting and surprising food in Jakarta!

First up, there's this Nasi Goreng Komplit.

Its complete with all sorts, shrimps, beef, mutton, chicken, eggs,crackers, sausages, and vege.

Ok, it's not fantastic, but the name is funky enough to worth a mention.

Great drink, never expected this combination!

Es Kelapa Jeruk ! Coconut meat with orange juice?

Why didn't anyone back in Malaysia do this?

One of the king of Indonesian food -- Soto Betawi.

Coconut soup with beef. But that is just too short a description for it.

Too delicious.

My personal favourite and I just can't find words to describe it!

Buy a plane ticket to Jakarta to try it, and you'll know what I mean. It's worth it!

Just when I thought I've seen enough, I stumbled upon this!
What the.....Kopi Krim Soda?

Am I still in planet earth?

Ok, maybe I think so since I'm a toad.

What do normal human beings like u think?

The Waiting Game

2007-11-14T00:40:00.000+08:00

I don't know what is the main cause for this overcrowded hospital pharmacy.

But isn't it a bit too much to ask someone to wait for 94 numbers (!!!) before getting his turn?

If each number takes 2 minutes to process, it'll take 3 hours !!
If each number takes 1 minute to process, I'll still have to wait for 1 and a half hours.
Call me impatient, but I do believe no one deserve the long wait!

There are things that the authorities could surely do to improve this, not only on the current situation, but maybe on a national level as well?

One tip: Try referring to how the NHS of the UK deal with the situation!

Views of Kuala Lumpur

2007-11-09T13:00:00.000+08:00

I always think Kuala Lumpur is an unique city.

I never know there's such a view for this amazing city.

There's KL tower and Petronas Twin Towers

Breathtaking, especially at night

That's why I love my country more everyday, wouldn't you?

Sg.Gabai @ Hulu Langat

2007-11-09T11:56:00.000+08:00

If you think this is just another banana tree in Malaysia, then you might want to rethink.

Because, besides the tree, there's this amazing natural waterfall !
With these kind of veiws ! Waterfalls!
It's not a hidden treasure, it's just need some effort and directions to be there!
People can't resist being amazed by the waterfall, the sound of water flowing and the dynamic power of nature !
Some preferred to meditate and relax in the running water .
Some just tranformed into little kids once touching water!
Some are just crazy about jumping into the water!
No matter who you are, you'll definately like the scenes here
If you're just not that adventerous, having nasi lemak while listening to the music of waterfall might be a good choice?
Now don't tell me :

there's nothing interesting,

nowhere to go,

nothing exciting in Kuala Lumpur.

You just have yet to find it!

Run for Charity, Run for Bread ?

2007-11-05T17:32:00.000+08:00

Shame on me, never knew where exactly the Lake Gardens is although I've been in KL for 1 and a half years.

And shame on me again, for not knowing that Lake Gardens is indeed a very interesting place for relaxation, and leisure and also dating (maybe).

Worse still, never know bout Terry Fox Run until 2 weeks ago when Jaynce bugged me over and over again to participate.

I participated, and invited Vincent along and he took beautiful photos as shown. (Thanks Vincent for the lovely pictures)

Getting the crowd warmed up!

Participants getting really excited bout the event

Not exciting for you, young lad?

He ran for his life since 1995!

Great event, lovely t-shirts, lots of healthy looking girls in gorgeous sports gear (and guys, as well).

And of course, some sponsored Hi-5 breads and drinking water after the race.

Some ran for charity,and some for cancer patients; I ran for the bread and the babes.

Shame on me.

Something we should not laugh on (It is not funny)

2007-11-05T09:23:00.001+08:00

There are three major races in Malaysia - Malay, Chinese and Indian.

The Malays have the political power and so they set up the party UMNO, which literally means "U Must Not Object".

The Chinese, on the other hand, controls most of the economy and they called their party MCA which means "Money Conquers All".

Then there are the Indians who have no say in politics or economics.

They set up their party called MIC.

Hence, every parliamentary meeting the Indians would ask: "Must I Come?"

*UMNO = United Malays National Organisation
MCA= Malaysian Chinese Association
MIC= Malaysian Indian Congress

體諒

2007-11-01T14:37:00.000+08:00

事情發生在美國的一所大學。

在快下課時教授對同學們說 :" 我和大家做個遊戲，誰願意配合我一下。"
一女生走上台來。
教授說:" 請在黑板上寫下你難以割捨的二十個人的名字。"
女生照做了。有她的鄰居、朋友以、親人等等。
教授說:" 請你劃掉一個這堶惕A 認為最不重要的人。"
女生劃掉了一個她鄰居的名字。
教授又說:" 請你再劃掉一個。"
女生又劃掉了一個她的同事。
教授再說:" 請你再劃掉一個一生中最不重要的人。"
女生又劃掉了一個。 ......
最後，黑板上只剩下了三個人，她的父母、丈夫和孩子。
教室非常安靜，同學們靜靜的看著教授，感覺這似乎已不再是一個遊戲了。
教授平靜的說 :" 請再劃掉一個。"
女生遲疑著，艱難的做著選擇 ......
她舉起粉筆，劃掉了父母的名字。
" 請再劃掉一個。" 身邊又傳來了教授的聲音。
她驚呆了，顫巍巍地舉起粉筆緩慢而堅決的又劃掉了兒子的名字。
緊接著，她哇的一聲哭了，樣子非常痛苦。
教授等她平靜了一下，問道 :"和你最親的人應該是你的父母和你的孩子，因為父母是養育的人，孩子是你親生的，而丈夫是可以重新再尋找的，為什麼丈夫反倒是你最難割捨的人呢？"
同學們靜靜地看著她，等待著她的回答。
女生平靜而又緩慢地說道:" 隨著時間的推移，父母會先我而去，孩子長大成人後肯定也會離我而去，真正陪伴我度過一生的只有我的丈夫.

Balls of life

2007-10-30T11:11:00.001+08:00

A ball.

A toy to some.

A shape to someone.

A private part of a man.

A way to say woman breast in cantonese.

A represantation of something perfect to someone positive.

A defination of someone being unpredictable to someone negative.

Having a bowl of fish balls, makes me thinking.

Thinking about football.
Thinking about how the earth looks like.

Thinking about my balls.

Thinking about the curves of the leng lui on the next table.

Thinking about yin and yang and the harmonious feeling.

Thinking about that as*hole who used to bullshit all the way throughout his life.

It just got me thinking. Ah....fish ball......

Oh by the way, did you know the Yong Peng (Johor) is famous for its fish balls?
I just did.

Love your country by knowing more of her

2007-10-16T14:33:00.000+08:00

I am never someone who likes to criticise my own country. But neither am I someone who turns a deaf ear over other 's comments and critics.

I read this article forwarded by my friend. It's an article about the views and opinion of an Australian journalist on the current affairs in Malaysia.

I must admit, he did all his homework, at least he know that Suria KLCC is not run by a Malaysian company (which I did not know until reading this).

I had to ask myself a question, could this Australian & other people all around the world know more about Malaysia than most of the Malaysian do. Maybe a tourist could tell you what is fun in Malaysia than most of our Malaysian Chinese youngsters could ? (Ask yourself this please!)

If you do not know about your own country well enough, are you in the position to critic your country? Are you in the position to even say you are a Malaysian?

If you do not know the names of the following food, or if you had not tried them before, then shame on you. At least you should know the delicious food in your country, isn't it so?

A quick survey among my friends shown that 4 out of 5 do not know this exist in Malaysia.

5 out of 5 have not tried this before.

Amazingly, 5 out of 5 got this name of this dish half wrong!!!!!

We Malaysian Chinese are just as naive and snobbish as the Malays isn't it?

Thats some similarity being Malaysians.

Refreshing ! Bali !

2007-10-12T12:10:00.000+08:00

Amazed, Bali Airport looks like this..............

Friendly, helpful Taxi drivers in Batik shirts......

Fancy looking petrol pumps!

Everyone is cleaning up the beach themselves, no wonder the beach is so clean!

True Bali style exterior design ...............

Duck is Bebek in Indonesia

Babi guling, a famous local delicacy

Bali, a shopping heavan for some, but not for us