夢の扉

TOA Penang

2009-07-07T00:45:00.005+08:00

My workshop-type classes have recently begun at The One Academy (TOA) Penang. It's a pretty comfy place, but most of it is still under renovating work.

The administrative counter in the lobby.

Mysterious computer terminals sitting outside the classrooms.

The main hall, which is used mostly for Drawing 1 class and exhibitions.

Freakishly huge posters.

Freakishly enlarged mannequin sketches by former students.

The hall and stage, where we have our Drawing 1 class.

Figure Studies 1. A lecture on ideal proportions of the human face.

Watching some art history video in Drawing 1.

Drawing geometric shapes. Those easel-things are very uncomfortable to use ...

A demonstration by the lecturer on drawing with a reference.

A seperate group, also watching a demonstration.

Stuff the lecturer put on the board.

2009-06-16T02:40:00.002+08:00

Went to Butterworth to hang out with WenSee, her younger sister and her best friend, also commonly recognise as her twin, since they share the same last name and part of their first names.

Sorry, crappy picture quality because it's all from a phone camera.

Snack counter at the cinema. Movie: 17 Again.

Tops - White, turquoise, orange: sister, twin, AhWen.

Walking out of another store as they search for a new pair of pants for mei mei, since the one she was wearing was kinda slipping off.

A meal at Sunday's. Shh, they didn't want me to take their pictures, but they don't know I took this.

BAKUC, Gurney Plaza

2009-06-10T16:40:00.007+08:00

There's a Bandai Action Kit Universal Cup (BAKUC) exhibition at Gurney Plaza this week ... And since I've been doing Gunpla for quite a while now, I went to check it out.

The Art of Music by CLBWO, 8th May 2009

2009-05-10T02:51:00.005+08:00

Went to a concert performed by the Chung Ling Butterworth Wind Orchestra on Friday night.

But before that, I went back to CLHS to borrow a euphonium and a couple of music stands for them. They were having their annual Sports Day.

Went to Dewan Sri Pinang to watch their rehearsals in the afternoon, because, well, you know, I missed them so much and whatnot. I bought their lunch, a KFC Variety Bucket. Ying's order, obviously.

Went to dinner at Gurney Hotel's Subway with CY and ShihTong - my first meal of the day - and got back to DSP just in time for the concert.

Prelude for Band wasn't bad, albeit being a little rusty, and I felt Dvořák's Slavonic Dance could've been better without the brass. The junior ensemble was pretty good, considering that they're only juniors.

I could really feel the piece by the woodwinds ensemble and Mambo no. 5 had a really nice Japanese touch to it. Malagueña could've been better and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace had a rocky start but was awesome overall. Poet and Peasant was just perfect, topped off with the soundtrack from Lilo and Stitch as a encore piece.

We said goodbye and me and WenLoong went to a McDonald's just to have a nice chat and to catch up with each other. And I found out WenLoong's got himself a girlfriend! It's Little Miss Sunshiny-Lemon! Awww ... I think they're cute together!

The concert programme booklet. Nice and simple design.

The KaoYao gang reunites! ... Well, minus CY.

*Gasp* Oooooohh ... it's a ... thing-a-ma-bob!

I'm so gonna miss them ... :')

Tsuruya

2009-04-16T00:05:00.004+08:00

Mei mei suddenly decides that she wants to go out for dinner and asked me if I wanted to come with. She arrived at my house just moments after I agreed. I took a quick shower and we head out for Tsuruya, a Japanese (duh) restaurant where two of our old primary school friends are working at.

They were still preparing when we got there and was shoo-ed away by an employee whose English was horribly incomprehensible. We walk around the whole I-Avenue building before going back to the restaurant to ask if we could wait inside.

Opening time came and we made our orders. The dishes were awesome. Very nice. I highly recommend this place. Definitely a must for Japanese food-lovers. Heck, it's definitely a must for anyone who love eating.

Right, enough words. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I'll be rating the dishes out of 5 stars.

Some lighting to set the mood. Or for mei to play with. Atmosphere: 4 and a half stars.

WenLoong and HooiKhim a.k.a. Miss Smiley Lemon (or just Lemon) who were our waiters for tonight.

Having a nice chat since we haven't met in a while.

Taking our orders. Lemon still has that bright beautiful smile on her face. I wonder if she ever stops smiling?

Other customers have arrived and Lemon gets to work.

The garlic chahan (fried rice). 4 stars.

The Spider Maki. 2 and a half stars.

The Tsuruya Special Maki. 5 stars.

The Nama Ika Teriyaki. A whole squid. 4 and a half stars.

Again, mei won't allow a picture of her without me being in it with her. Oh yeah, customer service: 5 stars, but just because they're our friends.

Bake-Fest

2009-04-11T23:12:00.006+08:00

Saturday morning started out slow, dizzy and sleepy. Mei messaged me and said she's coming to pick me up for breakfast. I took a quick shower and nearly fell down the stairs. I got into her car and off we go!

We drove around for a while, not knowing where to eat. This is saying something, considering it's Penang, the so-called food paradise. We ended up having breakfast at Sunshine Square's McDonald's. How very anti-climatic.

After that, she dropped me back home and she went for some training for her job at the coming PC Fair. I crashed on my bed and slept the day away.

Later in the afternoon, mei and a friend, Yen, came to pick me up again to go to QB to look for the required ingredients. But first, we went to the food court to have lunch. Or was it dinner? Oh, well. Oh, and only one of us ate, the other two just watched. After the meal, we went off to Jusco to purchase said ingredients, which turn out to be a complete waste of time. It was kinda my fault. Sorry, girls. XD

We went back to my place and bought some stuff from the mini-market behind my house, much to the girls' frustration (again, I'm sorry!), before starting on the cookies. My mom supervised them and gave lessons on the first batch. The result tasted pretty good. Except that they didn't look anything like fortune cookies. On to the second batch!

The girls worked on number 2 on their own, without my mom's help. Again, the result tasted not bad, but they were stuck to the wax paper and they didn't have time to fold them before they hardened. It was all downhill from then.

We surmised that the problem was getting the cookies off the wax paper. They tried greasing the paper, which gave similar results to when they didn't. They tried greasing the pan without the paper, which became a total disaster as the batter stuck to the pan. They had to soak it in water and scrape the stuff off with forks and buttering knives. Ugh.

We gave up and my mom suggested cupcakes. Well, it's up to them. Cupcakes should be easier. I think. We cleared up and went out for dinner at Sungai Dua. Hidden Recipe was pretty good. After that we went to Tesco Extra to walk off our meal. We just strolled around, had a few laughs and went home.

Phew! What a day ...

At QueensBay Mall. Mei mei in red, Yen in white sleeveless.

Buying waffles. Mmmm ... smells nice!

A lesson of baking from my mom.

Time to try it out themselves!

Aww ... how cute! Oh, I was referring to the plushie, but the girls are cute too.

They're trying to make them as perfectly circular as possible. Okaaaaay ...

Half-baked cookie batter stuck to the baking pan. My mom's poor poor baking pan ...

Mushroom soup and buns. A part of the set meals at Hidden Recipe.

My main course. BBQ sauce fish fillet! Yummmm ...

Mei takes a picture of her every meal. No idea why.

5th April 2009 - My Birthday Celebration

2009-04-10T02:02:00.008+08:00

I woke up early Sunday morning, not knowing that today would be one of the best days of my life. It was my birthday the day before (4th April) but tradition requires that I join my family for ChengBeng, so my birthday celebration was postponed to the next day.

As usual, I boarded the ferry over to the mainland, alone this time, as CY had to join his family for ChengBeng. It took them a while to come pick me up as it turns out they got lost on the way to the jetty. No matter, I needed some fresh air to wake myself up and the sea air pretty much did the trick.

For some strange reason, we found ourselves in front of Pacific instead of Sunway, which is where we were headed. A few more lost and confused moments later, WenC finally managed to drive us to the intended shopping mall.

We bought tickets to Shinjuku Incident and were stopped by the ticket-collector to check if we were indeed old enough to watch this movie. Unfortunately, Ying wasn't and we got into a tiny pickle where the ticket-collector kept scolding us with an unnecessarily loud voice. Oh well, we got in anyways in the end.

We found out why it was rated for 18+. The movie was incredibly violent and had people's face being slashed and hands being chopped off. Well, it was pretty much expected as it was a movie about yakuza: notorious Japanese organised crime-gangs.

2 hours of violence and confusing plotlines later, we went to pick XinMay up at her house and headed for a nice cozy little place called Sunday's Café. And here's where it gets fun.

They made me open the small gift they gave me when they picked me up from the jetty. I wanted to open it at home but there were 3 girls and only one me. Many jumbled up illogical reasoning from them later, I gave up and started to unfold the paper wrappings.

I unwrapped. And unwrapped. And unwrapped. And unwrapped. This thing was wrapped beneath layers and layers of newspaper! I was getting mildly frustrated and a little suspicious. They told me it was a Jack-in-the-box. A trick. Yeah, right!

Countless layers of newspaper later, I came upon a small box which contained a small plushie of some weird black thing with a suction-cup thingy for you to hang on walls and one of those things you hang on mobile phones. I was like, okaaaaaaaaaaaaay ... It wasn't that I didn't like it. I did! I just found it weird that WenC deliberately wrapped it under so many layers of newspaper. Hmmmm ... something didn't feel right ...

And my hunch was right. The instant we finished munching on the toast we ordered May and Ying suddenly said they were still hungry and wanted to order something else. They scribbled something on the order form and showed it to a waitress, who then brought over a huge box with a ribbon tied neatly on top. At first my mind went blank and wondered what this is. And it hit me the next moment: this was for me!

I was speechless. What a surprise! No one's ever done this for me before and I didn't know how to express my feelings then. I was so touched that I could cry right there on the spot if it wasn't for my feeling shocked and surprised. The massive gift-box contained an assortment of items which ranged from plush-toys to T-shirts. The plushies, key-chains and other matter of collectibles had a similar theme: they were either in black or in white or both and most of them featured the skeletal character Jack from The Night Before Christmas.

After paying for our orders (which, to my annoyance, they did) we decided to go to Ying's place for some singing. Karaoke time! The karaoke room in Ying's house was a cute and cozy little in-between room upstairs. It's an in-between room because it's in between the upstairs hallway and the master bedroom.

We spent pretty much the rest of the day in that tiny little room singing whatever songs we find, which is a lot. It'd take us like 5 years to finish listening to every song they have. Non-stop. It was a really nice place to just sit, relax and sing so Ying, can we visit again sometime? XD

We went out for dinner, which was pretty uneventful except that I finally got to pay for something that day. WenC drove me back to the jetty so I can catch a ferry home. Heading home, I carried the huge boxful of gifts and an even bigger smile on my face, which stuck there until I went to sleep that night.

Thanks, girls, for everything ... It was by far the best birthday I've ever had ... *Sniff* :')

The gift they gave me for the first phase on their plan to surprise me.

The enclosed birthday card.

The contents of the card.

Picking out songs from a list of infinite choices to input into the singing list.

Some nifty lighting to set the karaoke mood.

Let's karaoke!

Singing got boring. Stuffed-doggie fight! That's WenC's head in my lap. *Blush*

This is Jack. He's uhhh ... gettin' jiggy with it. Whatever that means.

This is all the stuff I recieved from them ... I love you guys!

At the End of Penang Island

2009-04-08T22:52:00.003+08:00

WY a.k.a. Aisling a.k.a. my mei mei pulled me out from in front of the PC and out of my comfortable little cul-de-sac to accompany her on a search for a place that neither I nor her have heard about: a Penang National Park.

So we took off with her in the driver's seat. We took a wrong turn at PCGHS and wound up lost in a residential area for a while. We managed to find our way out on to the main road and just followed along it.

The journey was pretty uneventful from here on out. We had a little chat and repeatedly listened to a song called Our Song by Taylor Swift for pretty much the whole length of the journey.

I found out that HooiKhim had been thinking about making our next primary school class-reunion a hike or trek through said park. Yeah, as if those spoiled rich brats would want to walk through a dense forest in the early hours of the day. (Good thing none of them visit my blog.)

About an hour and half of driving later, and passing by many beaches that tempted us to stop, we found ourselves at a dead end and considered asking around for directions. But when we got off the car we saw that the dead end was exactly what we were looking for. It was the main entrance into the park. She went to collect some information at the counter and we proceed to lunch at the Gurney Plaza.

A modest meal at Kim Gary later and we headed for home.

We got lost and ended up on the Penang bridge! ... Yeah, right. Nobody's that stupid.

The Pejabat Taman Negara Pulau Pinang building.

The fishing docks.

Seaweed-flavoured fries and cheese-baked rice: My staple meal at Kim Gary.

Wasting some time by filling out a feedback-form. Mei mei made some pretty useful comments that they should observe.

She wouldn't let me take a picture of her without me being in it with her. You can see how annoyed I am with this.

Joey, the Demon Girl

2009-03-25T00:35:00.005+08:00

Boy, am I bored to actually post this up ... This is nothing ... just wanted to tell the world - or at least a small part of it - that I have befriended another weirdo ... I seem to attract these types ...

Her name is Joey and she's a self-proclaimed devil or something. She contacted me to ask about The One Academy (TOA), which is the college I'm going to.

We've only had about 5 online conversations so far, and I haven't even met the girl and we're already arguing about little things, of which I've mostly forgotten.

I still don't know much about her and I'm still trying to get to know her more. I want to see the extent of her weirdness, even though she says she's completely normal. Yeah, right.

You can go visit her blog. I've put up a link on the right, under "Take a Peek".

This is Joey. She wouldn't give me a clearer picture of her face. Yes, Joey, we all think you're cute. *Rolls eyes*

Sweet Sixteens

2009-03-17T03:38:00.002+08:00

Just wanted to give a shout-out to my favourite newly-sixteen-year-olds XinMay and HoayYing. Happy birthday, you two, and uhhhh ... well, keep being you!

XinMay: March 15th

HoayYing: March 16th

CNY Santa

2009-03-03T04:17:00.003+08:00

I found this floating about when I was doing some cleaning on the PC hard disk-drives. This was from early this year. I find this amusing and funny, even if it was only meant as a joke.

Haha, my dear Sheralyn ... I think we can arrange something in the future. But I'm not Santa. And even if I am, Santa don't do CNYs ...

Hike-Hike II

2009-03-03T02:52:00.003+08:00

T'was the day after WenSee's early birthday celebration ... I invited KuangHaw and SiauWei (also known as Eoywn on the internet. I wonder how do you pronounce that) to an early morning hike. I told them to wake up at 5am. How I very much regretted that.

They really did wake up at 5am and came to pick me up at about 5.30am. The problem was, I've been up all night chatting on messenger, mainly with WenSee, and only went to sleep at about 4.30am. As you can imagine, I was pretty unprepared when they came and rang the house bell and called me on the phone. Luckily, these morning things don't need much preparation.

We got there at about 6am and it was freakishly dark, although the fresh pain in our knees and lungs helped distract us from that. And the torches I asked them to bring were pretty useful with lokking for footpaths.

We got to the ledges or small cliffs in front of checkpoint 3 pretty fast so it was still dark. We climbed a rock and sat there to watch the sun come up. As usual, there was a thick fog or mist or whatever (sorry, I don't really know or care about the difference) and the sunrise wasn't perfect, but it was pretty awesome anyways.

When it was bright enough we continued on out way up, towards checkpoint 5, the Moongate. And so meet we, the challenge of the damned stairs. I've been up this mountain many times before and I still hate those stairs.

We reached the top pretty fast. Those two are pretty good, considering they've never been up there. I think SiauWei mentioned that she did once, but it wasn't the same path and the same checkpoints. So we just sat there and talked. Chatting about stuff that's mostly nonsense and past happenings and school life and heck-knows-what. We were there for nearly two hours before we headed down.

We went to McDonald's for breakfast and headed home. Oh, and KuangHaw almost killed us all when he took a wrong turn at the round-about and went onto the road heading for the opposite direction.

Once back inside my preferably dimly-lit house, all I wanted to do was just crash onto my bed and doze, seeing as I didn't get much sleep the previous night. But no, it was not to be. Mom wanted me to go take a shower so I don't stink for when we go visit the education fair at PISA.

We met up with JT there and we registered for digital animation at The One Academy (TOA). The course costs like RM60k total. RM60,000! It felt too early for me because I was thinking of taking up something else. Maybe culinary arts at KDU. But it's too late now. *Sigh* At least we'll be getting a 20% scholarship.

So after that was settled, we took a short walk around the whole fair and just went home. Finally I get to go get some much needed rest.

The magnificent view of the sunlight slicing through the clouds. Or fog. Or mist. Or haze.

Bad picture, I know. But I was sleepy so I was in no mood to make a good expression and the bad quality is due to my hand shivering. Not of cold, but of sleep deprivation.
From left: KuangHaw, SiauWei and me.

We finally made it! Bloody sairs ...

最棒的回忆

2009-03-02T03:44:00.004+08:00

One month of looking-forward-to.

Two weeks of planning.

Three days of discussions.

Twelve hours of excitement.

Ten minutes of last minute decisions.

One beloved friend.

One memory to last me to my grave.

The 6th of March was the pre-determined date to celebrate WenSee's birthday. Understandable, as it is her birthday that day. I had already thought of a birthday present but, unfortunately, it is very rarely found here in Penang. CY wanted to share in my idea so, what the heck, as long as I managed to get it to give it to her.

But then, disaster struck. HoayYing and XinMay suddenly told us they wanted to do it on the coming Saturday. Also understandable, as they're still in school and are preparing to sit their exams the following week. We panicked. All hell broke loose in my world. I love her, I wanted this to be perfect. But this seemed impossible as the days passed by and as Saturday looms closer and closer.

Then it came. The others suggested we just treat her to a meal or something. I agreed, but I never gave up. I was resolved to find that item for her even if Saturday has passed. But in the end, I didn't have to. Luck was on our side.

We continued on as planned. We went over on a ferry and met them at WenSee's place of residence, or, simply put, her home. We had lunch and proceeded to Pacific shopping mall to just hang around.

It was when we were heading for the cinema to catch a movie that me and CY saw it. The elusive item that I was hell-bent on giving her for a birthday present. Turns out it wasn't so hard to find in that particular shopping mall as the shop we visited had their walls literally lined with similar gift-items. We payed for it and left it there for it to be wrapped and went after the others to watch the movie: Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.

The movie was quite a disappointment as the fight scenes looked pretty lame. After the movie, we just stretched our legs and walked around for a while. We even played with the photo-booth thingies and I have to say, those things are very cramped and only 2 minutes in one of those caused perspiration that would otherwise happen only during outdoors when the sun is high.

We had one more stop before we headed back to the jetty for our ride home. It was the shop where we bought her present. WenSee even grumbled a little because we refused to enter that shop earlier so as not to ruin the surprise. It was perfect. Her less-than-happy mood, our last-minute luck and definitely the surprise awaiting her. Everything was simply perfect.

We loved her reaction when we revealed why we were being so secretive ever since we came out of the movie. She was speechless. Although it wasn't much, the look on her face was worth everything we've done up until now. For the first time for a very long time, I was actually sincerely happy that someone else is happy. It was truely the best feeling ever.

Playing around with the designs for the pictures we took in the booth.

And the result is ... total weirdness. What's with the baby? I have no hand in this.

"我跟你讲!"

Aww ... how cute! This was the surprise present. I suppose you were pretty curious as to what this hard-to-find item was, eh? Since I didn't mention what it was in all the text above.

Mami, I love you! Hope you liked our little gift! Uhh ... bad choice of words, since the thing was so frickin' HUGE. And I'm so touched at what you said in your blog that I couldn't help using the 5 words in your article that made me tear up as the title. I hope you don't mind ...

This is to all of you:

Mami, HoayYing, ChuanYong, XinMay and WenLoong.

21st of February

2009-02-22T00:23:00.004+08:00

What? I couldn't think of a title, OK?

Jit Sin High School is performing today and so we've got a chance to meet up with the people from CLB, namely our KaoYao gang. (I finally have something to put in my blog ...)

I picked them up from the jetty at about 5pm with WuenTing and her sister tagging along and we went to Queen's Bay to just hang around for a while before the actual performance. We overstuffed ourselves at Kim Gary.

There was so much confusion between seven of us while ordering fries that we bought one of each type.

Admittedly not the best idea we had.

We arrived at Dewan Sri Pinang at about 8pm and found it packed with people. People from other school bands, various school alumni, parents, teachers, etc. It was a frickin' full-house. I was very impressed.

But they played the first piece and I changed my mind as I sit at the top of the stairs. Considering their past achievements, I, no, we were expecting a little bit more. And we were disappointed.

Although they got better when they were playing without the strings, the overall performance is, to my (and probably a few others') opinion, a let-down to their previous gold medal-winning performances. Many of us (you know who you are. *wink wink*) think they no longer deserve to use the term "philharmonic" in their name.

There's more, but I seriously don't want to relive that anti-climatic performace in my head.

Again, another day they come and they go. Our KaoYao gang, I mean. To see them leave just like that is ... is ... well, it's unhealthy for my heart.

Aisling

2009-02-10T00:01:00.004+08:00

I lost a bet to Aisling. After many days of oversleeping our hiking trips, she finally decided to wake up on her own, without the help of my messages and missed-calls. I, of course, didn't buy it. But she did get up on her own and so it's another morning of chatting up and down the hill.

The damned stairs leading towards the Moongate rest-point.

The ineffably awesome view from the hill. It looks better if you see it in person.

Oh, and we argued over her choice of name for quite a while. She didn't think "Aisling" sounded as funny as I thought it was. She rants on about it being the name of some iconic figure in Druidism. Druidism?!

And so I did a little digging and what I found had nothing to do with the mythical Celtic priests (Hah, in your face!). The name, in fact, is an Irish term meaning "dream" or "vision", and is also a common name for girls.

Aisling (pronounced as "ash-ling") is also a poetic genre and has spawned names such as Ashlyn or Ashlynn. Oh well, that's OK then, as long as it's not pronounced "ice-ling". Now that sounds weird.

So there, Aisling, what about them druids, eh?

Reference: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aisling_(given_name)

Blade & Soul

2009-02-06T13:28:00.003+08:00

I like the trailer for this game. I haven't played any online games with so much blood spraying everywhere, so this is something new and interesting to me. This game is still in development, though. ETA: August 2008.

PS: I think it's better to watch it on the site (link below) because the dimensions don't fit my layout.

Video provided by video.mmosite.com

Happy Lunar New Year

2009-01-31T01:38:00.003+08:00

Sorry, the title of this post has nothing to do with the post itself. Just wanted to squeeze in a greeting somehow ...

WenSee came over to Penang and so we made plans to meet. We went to Gurney Plaza to hang out. We watched a movie, "Outlander". It was rated "18" so it took a while to get the tickets ... WenLoong even had to show the person at the ticket booth his IC! We kinda get why it was rated "18", what with all the gory scenes and the fact that the first English word we heard in the movie is "fuck".

I thought it was a movie about some alien crashing into Earth and ends up helping the Vikings fight some wars. Well, it kinda was, until they threw in a freaky alien monster and the story took a 180-degrees turn.

After the movie, we were wandering around aimlessly when WenSee's aunt and uncle called to ask if she can donate some blood. She has a hospital-ridden relative who needs like, 6 bags of blood everyday to keep him from dying. Wow. She asked me to go with her so I think what the heck, I'll accompany her. Turns out I was expected to donate some of my blood too!

How fascinating to see the needles go in like that. It felt kinda itchy, nothing more than a mosquito bite. WenSee looked as if she was about to cry though ... Couldn't blame her, the doctor put the needle in and kept moving it around since he can't find the vein. Owch ...

Island Hospital: the room where me and WenSee donated our blood. Her aunt's and uncle's blood had some problems so it's only us ... And it was my first time donating blood.

We met Cat at gurnet Plaza, who is on holiday from NS for the CNY. Nice haircut!

Hike-Hike

2009-01-26T00:33:00.003+08:00

Aisling (heck knows why she calls herself that) finally managed to wake up on time to go hiking. Ironically, this whole hiking thing is her idea.

We got there pretty much later than planned so the monkeys were already up and about.

There was one particular tree that was so smooth and shiny that she took a picture of her own reflection in it ...

More monkeys scrambling around for breakfast ...

... and I think she wants one for her breakfast.

And so it was yet another morning of chatting about nonsense that I can barely remember with lots and lots of lame cold jokes in between. I can't wait for our next one!

哭夭

2009-01-25T02:01:00.007+08:00

I had an AWESOME time with our 哭夭 gang (pronounced "kau-yau" in Taiwanese) in Butterworth ... I'll never forget the precious rare moments we spent together and ...

The 哭夭 gang, from left: WenSee, HoayYing, me and WenLoong.

... I love you all and long live the 哭夭 gang!!!

Mainland

2009-01-22T10:54:00.002+08:00

I should be able to post up the photos we took in Taiwan (finally) by next week, since I'm going over to Butterworth to visit my recently-formed "family", so I should be able to get my external hard-drive back from them then.

Unless our plans fail and we have to postpone our visit. Considering the fact that this has a huge chance of happening, well, we'll have our fingers crossed.

Thanks

2009-01-21T22:00:00.003+08:00

Just wanted to thank WY a.k.a. Aisling on getting me this awesome blog layout! And also to the website who made it, of course.

So when's our next hiking trip?

Lost

2009-01-03T02:30:00.003+08:00

My friend lost his 10-month old puppy the day after I returned to Penang, which is also new year's day. It's a tiny white and brown Shih Tzu and it escaped its home at around 9-10pm on said night. It's not wearing a collar and its name is Bansky.

If anyone finds a dog similar to the one shown in the picture above please contact 0164037800, or e-mail me at demonic_fyre@hotmail.com, thanks.

Return

2009-01-02T01:42:00.002+08:00

We touched down and entered Penang International Airport at about 6.35pm on the 31st from Hong Kong. The Taiwan trip is over and I've just finished my laundry.

Only two days and I'm already missing Taiwan, the new friends we made there and of course, the wonderful times we had together ...

The moment I got back home, my mom and sister felt my belly and I saw money changed hands. They told me they had a bet on whether if I'd come back thinner or fatter then before I went! Apparently, I got thinner because my mom won and my sister said I'd come back looking like a watermelon. Huh.

Anyways, we had a great time there, contrary to what I thought. Most of the performing wasn't that fun to me, but we had a pretty good one during the Chiayi festival. Scratch that, we were AWESOME.

I'll post up the pictures when I get them. I lost my camera, see? Problem now is that my friends whom I've taken the most pictures with are from the CLHS Butterworth band. It might be a while before I get to post the pictures up.

Anniversary II

2008-12-19T00:24:00.015+08:00

Thanks Cat, for the piccies. Check'em out.

This is Stella Maris, the err, "resort" on the beach we stayed at.

Lai Sin confronts Chuan Yong after the whole walking-away-into-the-sunset-with-Xin May thing. Fight, fight, fight, FIGHT!

The babes overlooking the silliness of the dudes.

I volunteered for this, so I can't talk. What? I was bored, OK?

The sand loads up and so does the uncomfortability level.

There better not be crabs in there.

So this is what I look like from above. Huh.

What the effin' hell are they shaping there?!

Hey! Watch where you're touching, bub.

Some finishing touches and patting ...

... and voilà!

Whoa, what's with the emo-ing?

Make of this what you will.

LOL?

Somebody is so gonna be pants'ed ...

Aww, what a lovely threesome ... Wait, that sentence didn't come out right ...

When a group of adrenaline-pumped idiots get together, let there be beach rugby!

"I'm open! I'm OPEN, you fuckin' arse!" Jeez, loosen up.

Look what the waves washed up. This calls for CSI: Batu Feringghi.

They found the lost piramid! More like the lost pira-mini-mid ...

Fish-men from the deep!

You really didn't have to take the phrase "play hard" seriously ...

Beach babes! ... maybe not.

The fish-men mutated together to become a tentacly freak-show!

"Git yer hands off me bag of Twisties!" Patience is low as we wait for the barbeque ...

Aww, how romantic ... I wonder what they're talking about. Let's get a close-up ...

Oh, they're just watching groups of half-naked teenage boys running around the beach ... I don't know how that can be romantic, but to each his own, I suppose ...

Now here's a stupid stunt waiting to happen ...

And there he goes, like some comic book-character bitten by a radioactive arachnid ...

Whoops-a-daisy!

And he's up! He could've taken the stairs but I suppose that'll suck all the fun out of it by decreasing the chance that he'll fall and break his neck ...

The sky dims as the burning orb of light sinks slowly out of sight ...

The fire's started so let's get this barbeque up and running!

Everybody's trying to get huge mouthfuls of everything while they can still see what they're actually putting into their mouths ...

Behold! As we open the forbidden gates of HELL! Now who's first in?

Wow ... why can't we be staying at that hotel?

The single burning eye gives its last glare ...

The native primitive tribe is having its meeting ... "Now who're we gonna eat next?"

A cool bit of photography!

Lai Sin gives a lecture on the many different positions in which baboons scratch their big red asses.

Since it's about 4am, a game which requires very much of eye-twitching and winking is in order ...

To sleep ...

... or not to sleep. That is the question.

They're all smiling but their eyes are twitching in pain as the torturous game continues ...

We've been asleep for barely 2 hours and this bloody church-group woke us up by dancing to the Madagascar movie theme.

The first thing they do after they awake is to play cards. Typical band-member behaviour. Seriously.

A few hours later everyone scattered groggily and went home to get more sleep ... and I don't need to tell you about when my car got all screwy and I had to ask Cat to help me look for a mechanic to set things straight ...

And that's about how our whole band anniversary celebration went. Boy, this is one heck of a long post ...

The next post will be on our upcoming trip to Taiwan. Yay. Whatever.

Anniversary

2008-12-14T00:40:00.004+08:00

Celebrated our band's anniversary at a place on a beach at Batu Ferringhi, Penang. Let the mad, mindless fun commence!

My group got there a little bit too early. Took a few (lopsided) shots of some beach scenery.

They found a dead (I think) monitor lizard lying around. They wanted to have it for dinner at our barbeque later at night. I wanted to preserve it and put it in a display case.

Ah, how love blossoms in strange and unexpected (not really) ways.

Aw, look at that, how cute. He's so gonna get it when he walks back.

And there, it's out in the open now and us Fifth Formers are having the time of our lives hating on him and messing with his psyche.

I'd have more pictures, but Cat insists that it's too many to send through messenger. Knowing Cat, I'm never going to get them. But if I do (really, REALLY, fat chance) I'll post'em up.

Situation Comedy

2008-12-06T03:10:00.002+08:00

Recently, I'm strangely addicted to sitcoms.

Favourites include My Wife and Kids, According to Jim, Friends and The Nanny. They're way, and I mean way, too funny to resist. Everyone needs a laugh now and then, but in my case, I need it daily. And in massive doses, too.

I think I'll just die if they stop airing all of these.

Fries

2008-12-06T02:34:00.002+08:00

I do a little cooking now and then (I know, big surprise) and most of them involves using the oven. I found a good recipe for home-made French fries and I thought it's easy enough for anyone to try it. Don't get the wrong idea, I'm no professional, some of my creations can kill.

So here's a fairly simple recipe I've tweaked for some healthy junk-food. Ah, the irony ...

Ingredients:
About 4 large baking potatoes (don't ask me what's the difference between a baking potato and a normal one, because I don't know) weighing about 200-250g each. Depends on how much you want but this serves from 1-2 people.
About 5-6 tbsp (tablespoons) olive oil.
2 cloves of peeled and crushed garlic. Crushed, as in punch it with something blunt to get the juices flowing. The side of a knife is fine.
About 2 tbsp rosemary leaves.

Procedure:
-Preheat the oven to 200°C (if it's gas, mark 6).
-Cut each potato into 12-14 chips.
-Put the chips in cold water and heat the water and bring it to the boil and let it simmer for about 3-4 minutes.
-Drain the chips in a colander. (Something like a sieve, but with more depth. Like the things fast-food chains use to deep-fry their fries.)
-Heat the olive oil in a roasting tray in the oven.
-Throw in the potatoes, garlic, rosemary and some seasoning (like salt, but I don't recommend it).
-Mix it all up and cook for about 45 minutes until crisp and cooked through (half-baked potatoes aren't very pleasant). Toss'em up every 15 minutes or so.

That's all and you can add cheese if you want. About 3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese is fine. Scatter over and let it cook for about 10 more minutes.

I think I found this in a magazine or something. Probably from Reader's Digest. The rosemary really gives it a strong aroma and oh, one more thing, the garlic is to flavour the oil, not for consumption. I learned that the hard way.

Dusk and Dawn

2008-12-01T11:47:00.002+08:00

I went to watch Twilight yesternight. We met Cat while waiting for the show time and he just bought a frickin' iPod TOUCH! *Sigh* Some guys have it all ...

Anyways, Twilight wasn't as bad as most people suggested (quote Cat, "Ewww ... ") although it started off pretty slowly. Beautiful, pale-faced, too-handsome-to-be-good vampires? Heck knows we've seen a lot of that in anime.

The best parts, in my opinion, was the "family baseball game" scene and the very short fighting scene near the end. With that being said, the movie was pretty boring overall. It feels as if they made a plain story of a high school girl and they suddenly decided to throw in a family of vampires and see how the story will turn out. And my viewing experience could be better if not for the complete ass in the seat next to mine (no, not Sher) who kept pointing out stupid things to his companion and laughed at the smallest things and said "f*ck" all the time, plus whoever seated behind me who was shaking his or her leg so it was like sitting on hundreds of vibrating phones. Annoying much?

I think I'm going to buy the book and try that. It'll probably better than the movie since the Harry Potter series gave me the same impression.

Anyways, if you haven't watch the movie, you might want to try it, especially if you're a girl. Seriously, Twilight is like 100% chick-flick, based on a total chick-lit. Some guys might enjoy it since there's some blood and exaggerated violence.

Rating: 4/10

Bored

2008-11-30T01:16:00.002+08:00

I was bored and was browsing around this stupid old PC and I found my old collection of LOLCATs and FAIL images. I think I'll put them up soon, if I have the time. No, seriously, I'm really busy with the band and all. And since us Fifth-Formers have only about one week to the concert, I'm studying scores and sheet-music at home. Bloody hell.

End

2008-11-27T16:16:00.003+08:00

It's finally OVER! And so comes to a pretty anti-climatic end our SPM exams and also our lives as high school students. In the coming years, we will brave the unknown dangers, horrors and adventures of college life and the real world! With a tinge of regret, I say goodbye to my high school days ...

And all the best to those who're sitting for Accounts and Economics and won't finish until next week!

Dawn

2008-11-27T04:56:00.002+08:00

Well, technically, it's not even dawn yet and I've had a horrible wakening.

I got hit in the face by a falling screw from a DIY shelf above the my headboard, and I'm not even suppose to wake til 9.30am! I cursed my way down the stairs and to the front of the PC. More cursing when the Internet couldn't connect properly.

Oh yeah, visit me in Plurk; I just started a new account and it looks kinda fun for such a simple website.

Modifications

2008-11-26T14:27:00.003+08:00

I've changed the whole layout for my blog. Somehow having Otsuka Ai in the background with her beautiful face plastered with words feels disrespectful to her.

And I've also added Nuffnang ads (www.nuffnang.com.my), just for colour. Besides, I see them on nearly every blog I visit so, what the heck.

SPM

2008-11-26T01:40:00.002+08:00

Wow. Another sabbatical since my last post about my grandmother. Well, she's passed away now (may she rest in peace).

It's the last week of our SPM exams! And I'm doing pretty good, if I might add. It wasn't all that bad, although, of course, it was kind of infuriating that there sometimes weren't any questions related to what I have actually studied but hey, at least it's almost over, right?

And so comes to an end our lives as high school students, soon we'll all be college freshmen or some might continue on to becoming Sixth-Formers, and a few short years later we'll all be in the working class. *Sigh* Where did our childhood and teenhood go?

Right, that's enough for now, I think. I'll come back later with more nonsense and unimportant stuff to post.

Terminal

2008-08-13T21:57:00.002+08:00

My grandmother's been diagnosed for stomach cancer and has only five to six months to live, according to the doctors.

She's currently lying in bed, not eating and not doing other stuff. Strange enough, she looks really healthy from my point of view and she stays in bed just because she doesn't want to walk around herself. She's as stubborn as a little child!

*Sigh* ... Every time I see her I don't know whether to laugh or to cry ...

Furry Fighting-Machine

2008-07-15T17:42:00.006+08:00

I find this funny. A bit disturbing, but mostly funny.

You may not be able to read the text, but the drawing pretty much sums it up.

男女2

2008-07-10T21:24:00.002+08:00

Here's another one. It's also with characters from Gundam 00 but this one's better-made. And it comes with subtitles, which I think are more accurate than my half-assed translations.

男女(DanJo)

2008-07-10T18:34:00.004+08:00

This is a really funny video. It's a music video of some sort, but I'm not sure ... Anyways, enjoy.

Here are the roughly translated lyrics (I'm not even sure if this is a song ...):

Teacher! The boys aren't listening to the bus attendants!
Teacher! The girls aren't back from shopping!
Shut up! Line up! Don't disrupt group activity!
Line up in the order "boy girl boy girl..."
Teacher! There are slightly more boys than girls!
OK! So line up in the order "boy girl boy boy girl boy girl."
"Boy girl boy girl boy boy girl?"
Wrong! Listen carefully! Make a line in this order:

Boy girl boy boy girl boy girl,
Boy girl boy boy girl boy girl,
Boy girl boy boy girl girl boy girl boy girl
Girl boy girl boy girl boy boy girl!

Leader! How should we decide the girls' seats on the bus?
Leader! Let's let the boys take their seats first!
Wait! Don't decide on your own!
Line up in the order "boy girl boy girl..."
Leader! A girl is going to arrive late!
OK! so line up in the order "boy girl boy boy girl boy girl."
"You mean, boy girl boy girl boy boy girl, right?"
No way! Listen, sit in this order!

Boy girl boy boy girl boy girl,
Boy girl boy boy girl boy girl,
Boy girl boy boy girl girl boy girl boy girl
Girl boy girl boy girl boy boy girl!

This video features characters from the anime Mobile Suit Gundam 00. There're other versions with characters from other anime, so look them up on YouTube if you want.

Spikes

2008-06-29T16:48:00.002+08:00

My cousin brother from my father's side of the family arrived in Penang on Thursday night and came directly to our house to deliver something. It was two whole crates of kings. The kings of fruits, that is. My guess three weeks ago was right: durian season was approaching. And now it's come.

The durians were of various sizes, from as small as the palm of my hand to as huge as my schoolbag! It was crazy. We carried them (and I can still feel the prickling on my arms) and dumped them on the porch table.

The next day, we started on cracking them open and filling plastic containers with the contents. I'm usually OK with the smell, but this time, I felt slightly dazed as we split them open one by one.

Now, the problem is, who's going to eat these? If we do, we'll probably be sick for about a month, so we sent them to other relatives and friends and such. But even then, we still have too much. Oh well, buy some medicine for fever and indigestion and pass me the fruit. Oh, and I need a new tube of toothpaste, or else everybody else around me will be screwing up their faces when they talk to me.

The Walking Dead

2008-06-26T22:37:00.002+08:00

Recently, a friend introduced me to a flash browser game called the Dead Frontier. I think it's pretty good, considering it's only a browser game which can run on pretty low specs.

It's a game something close to the Resident Evil series: hacking, slashing, shooting, bombing, and who-knows-what-else-ing zombies. The screenshot above I uploaded from the website should give you a pretty good idea.

You go around killing zombies (can you actually kill something that's already dead?) and picking up stuff for your survival, like food, weapons, ammunition, healing items and cash. The money is spent on buying things from other players in the forum. It's currently still in beta, so there're no missions or quests or a specific goal to the game, which also means there's no apparent reason why the players keep playing it.

Despite the complete lack of motivation, people are still playing it and are getting better and better at it. Even I play it. Of course, this may be just because I'm bored and since all my other online games which require a game client are blocked by my stupid antivirus program. And I'm to lazy to do anything about it. Sue me.

Anyways, if anyone finds themselves with nothing to do but to stare at the ceiling for hours on end, they should try this, of course, unless they're easily scared, spooked, creeped and/or freaked. And don't pee in your pants.

P.S.: I'm a level 9 Boxer and is currently using a lame nail-bat, a puny FN Five-seveN handgun and a stupid fire poker. Huh. Tell me if you get a good chainsaw and don't need it.

More Wheels

2008-06-26T22:25:00.002+08:00

I passed my driver's test today! Yay! ... But I still don't feel like driving. I still prefer to be in the passenger seat. Why? Heck, even I don't know.

Today was slow and stupid. Slow because I waited from 8.00a.m. to 4.00p.m. to finish the whole test, which comprised of two parts: the course on the track where we were taught and the real on-the-road experience.

Stupid because I took my road test early (about 9.00a.m.) and had to wait 6 hours to take the one on the track. Damn.

Anyways, I've passed and the load's off my back now. And then mom says I should take the one for motorbikes.

No. Bloody. Way. In. Hell.

Well, we'll just see, shall we?

Cat-Burglar

2008-06-22T00:12:00.005+08:00

I've finally caught you red-handed!

Piles of crap which are a little bigger than those left by the dratted sparrows have been appearing frequently on the porch and in the garden, and small blood-spatters were discovered on the lawn, which, I suspect is from said sparrows.

And now, after weeks of investigating, I've found this here black cat! Lounging about as though he owns the place! So now, everytime anyone catches it in the garden, it runs off, but then, it comes back again! There's no stopping it! Well, unless it doesn't exist anymore, but we're very strong against killing animals (which we don't eat) so we've decided to just let it be. But if we find a puncture in a car tyre in the morning, we'll have no choice, but to use The Solution! Muahahahahaha ...

Nectar

2008-06-21T23:53:00.003+08:00

Uh-oh. The supply of my sacred nectar is running low.

It's a bottle of Bacardi Limón, a lemon-flavoured rum. Yes, rum. I know, I know ... it's alcohol and I'm under-aged, well, for about one more year anyway. Besides, this thing is delicious! But if you can't hold your liquor, I don't recommend drinking it as is. Add about a tablespoon of this stuff to about half a cup of sugar water and it'll taste pretty much like lemonade, but with an extra kick. I take some about 2-3 times a week, to help me sleep better.

It's good, but I'm running low, and I can't just go into a shop and request it. What if they ask for my identification? Great. Oh well, time to nag mom into buying me a fresh bottle.

Slash

2008-06-17T17:07:00.002+08:00

Ow ... I accidentally cut my left thumb on the razor while I was trying to shave myself for the very first time. I think I hit a capillary or something because it didn't stop bleeding for two whole hours. The cut didn't hurt much, but it's pretty annoying to see the ruby red stuff flow out endlessly. It's like drawing a very good picture and then have someone else use it for themselves.

Anyways, the razors were sharp. A small brush can leave a scar. Now I know why they use the phrase "razor-sharp".

The bleeding has stopped, but now I've got patches of red on my sheets, one of my old joke books for reading myself to sleep, my pillow, one of my favourite shirts, the living room floor, the upstairs floor, all over the upstairs bathroom sink and the desktop keyboard.

*Sigh* Oh, well.

Cute, Cuddly, Kung Fu-ey Awesomeness

2008-06-15T22:07:00.002+08:00

Cat, Sheralyn and myself went to watch Kung Fu Panda on Saturday and I can tell you this: it was AWESOME!

That morning Cat and I went to school to, um, witness the position interviews and marching ranks testing for the members of the band who would take over after we've all graduated. And, of course, we're there to also try to mess with the hopefuls who're taking the rank tests. It's all about discipline.

We left at about 12 o'clock. I got home and had a bad migraine and passed out on my bed. I-don't-know-how-many hours later, I blinked and felt the phone vibrating against my face. It was Cat and Sheralyn, and they sounded pretty panicky. And so was I when I checked the dusty clock on my bed-side table: the movie's started.

I showered, changed (and apparently had no idea what I was putting on), and rushed out the house in under 10 minutes. It took me another 5 to 10 minutes to walk to the mall and when I got there, they told me they had bought tickets to the next show.

The first thing Cat did was to suck my wallet dry of the money that I limited myself to use per week. It was to pay for all three tickets and I gave it up since it was my fault we have to wait another 40 minutes for the movie.

The movie was great! For an animation, it was totally off the charts! The combat choreography, the story, the characters ... everything was beyond what anyone has ever seen in a computer-generated movie so far. The only problem was the audience. I'm not one to criticise, but a lot of the movie-goers seemed not to understand some parts of the story. They practically laughed during the whole movie, which was annoying when there were some really touching and/or dramatic parts.

Don't mind me, I wanted to become a movie critic but ended up criticising the audience, too.

Anyways, one awesome movie later and we had nothing else to do so we just wandered around for a while. About half an hour of walking around aimlessly and endless chatting, Cat went home and left me and Sheralyn to browse the shelves of Borders bookstore for about 10 more minutes before she said she was hungry.

Since I usually have my, um - can we call it dinner? - at about 2 o'clock in the morning on weekends, she went and bought herself something to take home. Her dinner comprised of a 1901 hotdog, some octopus balls from Tako Tao and a small tub of mocha-flavoured ice-cream from the supermarket. Wow, junk food for dinner. Interesting.

We went outside to wait for her mom to come pick her up and when she did, they insisted that they'd give me a ride home, since it was so near. I obliged and got in the back seat. It was fun to hear the pair of them talk. The way they're going, sounded very much to me as if they were sisters, not mother and daughter. It's probably normal for them but I'm unused to it, because me and my parents have a totally different relationship: live and let live. I don't bother you, so don't bother me.

We reached my place, said our goodbyes, and parted. I went straight up to my room and crashed, having finally felt my aching feet in the absence of someone to distract me from it. I just have about enough energy to take a shower, brush my teeth, ask my sister to download some stuff for me, send and recieve a few text messages and pull the covers over my head before I totally blacked out and wake up at about 3 o'clock in the morning.

It was one of my best days this year and did I mention that the movie was AWESOME? I must get it when it comes out in DVD.

Overload

2008-06-12T10:59:00.002+08:00

Damn! I came back early without taking the test. The place was overcrowded and they had one examiner in the booth for the hill, one for the parking and one for the three-point turns. The worst part is they also had only one for the test on the road, so that's about 15-20 minutes wait per person taking the test, depending on which route the examiner wanted.

One of the instructors from my driving school told us that today was the second test for many students, so it's especially crowded and we could skip this one and take the one next week. We decided to wait for about an hour more to see if anyone else was going to leave first, but ended up waiting for about half an hour longer than that and nobody seems to want to give up, so we took off.

Now I'm going to have to pay for overtime, since I've been learning for past 11 hours already .... Damn. Wel, at least I missed school, which I don't think is a cause for celebration, but I can sleep in my own bed instead of on the hard, wooden school-table. So, now I'm going to bed, good day to all.

Wheels

2008-06-12T01:30:00.002+08:00

I'm taking my driver's test. I'd probably fail, seeing as I'm so oblivious to my surroundings. I'm starting to hate driving ... ever since I almost crashed into another car on the road and, of course, the petrol price-hikes.

Anyways, if I fail, good. I have a reason not to drive myself places and also save some money, because mom said I'm paying for the petrol myself. But then again, if I pass, I don't need to go to driving lessons anymore, which is taking up a lot of my sleep-time.

Well, wish me luck ... or not.

Sabbatical

2008-05-28T02:02:00.003+08:00

Wow. February then May. Big gap in my blogging. Too bad I consider most special events to be boring.

Oh well, at least I've updated it now. So don't complain.

I'll try to get a few pictures of my family on my father's side. But it'll take a while. Maybe Chinese New Year next year. I still can't believe that the kid I used to mess about with grown up to become so pretty. She's still my cousin so I can't speak. Problem is, almost all my cousins (mostly the girls) are better-looking than the ones I meet outside. Can you say "worst luck ever"? *Sigh*

The Best (and worst) of Both Worlds

2008-05-28T00:51:00.002+08:00

First of all, I seriously hate going back to the village from where my father came. You'll see why in a second.

I had to go back to Kampung Kuala Rui, Perak, (where most of the family from my father's side live) to attend my cousin's or my father's cousin's wedding (I can't tell the difference anymore). I think she's my cousin.

Anyways, we got there at about 8.30a.m. and witnessed all the err ... "fun". Like most Chinese pre-weddings, they have to go through all those weird traditions. The bridegroom's party arrived at the house and had to go through the - what did they call it? - the "Three Obstacles" or something. And then - this is the fun part - the bridegroom had to fulfill all sorts of ridiculous requests from the bunch of girls in the room with the bride or else the bridegroom will not be allowed to see her. These requests included gulping down a quarter bottle's chilli sauce, sing a love song and twenty push-ups. Not forgetting the RM10,000 cash, though I doubt they were serious about this.

And then came the tea ceremony. And the couple gave out angpaus. The bridegroom's family recieved angpaus, too, but it was torture to try not to burst out laughing when the bridegroom's family asked what were they suppose to do with the angpaus. Oh well, they're from the Phillipines, so I guess our traditions might seem a bit strange.

The bad part about all these is that a guy and girl was talking to me and I didn't know who they were. Until I asked. They happened to be my cousins. Can you say "awkward"? And then I remembered. The girl's in my year and only a few months younger than me and the guy was her older brother. I don't remember much about the guy but I remembered I used to play with the girl a lot when I was younger. Much, much younger. When I lived with my grandmother because my mom was studying in the US.

Well, you can imagine my shock when the memories came rushing back. She's grown to be so good-looking now and is studying in a private school. And I don't even need to ask - a straight-A student. I also met my other cousin brother with his Japanese girlfriend (one of my older cousin brothers on my mom's side got a Japanese girlfriend, too. Hmm ... weird coincidence), his older sister with her husband and my nephew (cute kid, but I don't think I want to be called "uncle" yet) and a whole lot of people I only know by face (unfortunately, because I need to greet them when I see them. Good manners, see?).

Then came the wedding dinner at the village basketball court (most special events take place here) and as per usual for kampung food, it was delicious. No restaurant in Penang can match a mass-produced home-cooked meal. The entertainment was singing. Old people singing old songs. Not much, but someone who shares my surname and who I've never met before was quite good. Ater the dinner, we started on another an hour-and-half journey home.

Do you see why I hate going back there now? Even though it feels so close to Heaven? It's because of that that I don't want to go back there! Everytime I'm there, I never mix around. I keep myself to myself. But being there, you can't not mix. They are my family after all. But that's just it. When I start to feel comfortable, I never want to leave again! I like the feeling that I'm not alone, you see? My surname is not as common as "Tan" or "Lim", see? To see a family-gathering of nearly a hundred-strong sharing my own surname is very overwhelming. At school or outside in Penang, I have no one. There might be a handful sharing my surname but most of their's are written differently in Chinese, so we're not from the same clan.

My title says "Both Worlds". The second world is of my mother's. Her family are pure Penangites. City people. They are the exact opposite of my father's family, who are all rough and gangster-like (although I note that they never swear when they speak. Even when they're angry). My mom's side of the family are all softer and more refined. And since I've been living here for almost my whole life and have been communicating with my mother's side more, it's no wonder I find it hard to mix in with the rowdy crowd back at the village.

Why do I have to be born in between two very, very opposite worlds? I despise my ancestry but also at the same time, I can't help liking it. Even though I have a freakishly huge family on my father's side, I like my surname. Because over here, in the city, it's the only thing that sets me out from others. It's so nice to know that my surname is so rare and special. I can still see my teachers from primary school read my name with great interest, although the exam scores that came after weren't so satisfying.

Oh, yeah, I also like to note that the cousins (girls especially) on my father's side of the family seem taller compared to the most I meet here. The cousin I mentioned is still a couple of inches shorter than me but still ...

Maybe it's a Penangite trademark. Or we're just weird that way.

Faith

2008-02-16T01:12:00.005+08:00

This is for Christians. I got this from a blog by an Adelyn. I'll link this. Thanks, Cat.

Although I'm pretty much an atheist myself, this story is still very inspirational. Enjoy.

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"Let me explain the problem science has with Jesus Christ." The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.
"You're a Christian, aren't you, son?"
"Yes sir," the student says.
"So you believe in God?"
"Absolutely."
"Is God good?"
"Sure! God's good."
"Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?"
"Yes."
"Are you good or evil?"
"The Bible says I'm evil."
The professor grins knowingly. "Aha! The Bible!" He considers for a moment.
"Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?"
"Yes sir, I would."
"So you're good...!"
"I wouldn't say that."
"But why not say that? You'd help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn't."

The student does not answer, so the professor continues.
"He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?"
The student remains silent.

"No, you can't, can you?" the professor says. "Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?"
"Er...yes," the student says.
"Is Satan good?"
The student doesn't hesitate on this one. "No."
"Then where does Satan come from?"
The student : "From...God..."
"That's right. God made Satan, didn't he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?"
"Yes, sir."
"Evil's everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything, correct?"
"Yes."
"So who created evil?" The professor continued, "If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.

"Without allowing the student to answer, the professor continues:
"Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?"

The student: "Yes."

"So who created them?"

The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. "Who created them? There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized.

"Tell me," he continues onto another student. "Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?"

The student's voice is confident: "Yes, professor, I do."

The old man stops pacing. "Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?"

"No sir. I've never seen Him"
"Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?"
"No, sir, I have not."
"Have you ever actually felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus orsmelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?"
"No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't."
"Yet you still believe in him?"
"Yes."
"According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?"
"Nothing," the student replies. "I only have my faith."
"Yes, faith," the professor repeats. "And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith."

The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of his own. "Professor, is there such thing as heat?"
"Yes," the professor replies. "There's heat."
"And is there such a thing as cold?"
"Yes, son, there's cold too."
"No sir, there isn't."

The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain.

"You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit up to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it."

Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.

"What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?"
"Yes," the professor replies without hesitation. "What is night if it isn't darkness?"
"You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have Nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?"

The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him.
This will be a good semester. "So what point are you making, young man?"

"Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed."

The professor's face cannot hide his surprise this time.
"Flawed? Can you explain how?"

"You are working on the premise of duality," the student explains. "You argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it."

"Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?"
"If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do"
"Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?"

The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.

"Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?"

The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided.

"To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean."

The student looks around the room. "Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?" The class breaks out into laughter.

"Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain, felt the professor's brain, touched or smelled the professor's brain? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir. So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?"

Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable. Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. "I guess you'll have to take them on faith."

"Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life," the student continues. "Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?"

Now uncertain, the professor responds, "Of course, there is. We see it everyday. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil."

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens whenman does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light."

The professor sat down.

Links

2008-02-16T00:53:00.004+08:00

I've put links on my blog to some of my friends' blogs that I think is worth reading if you have a whole lot of time to waste and/or (why do I keep using this?) want to know the life of a complete stranger.

I'll add more links to other blogs that are interesting (to me, of course, but you might enjoy them, too) if I come across some. And I'm assuming that everybody would like a little bit of publicity so nobody is gonna kill me for linking them ... Right?

FAQ

2008-02-15T23:39:00.002+08:00

Ignore the title. What I want to say here is please comment on the posts, not to my face.

I mean, for those whom I meet on a near-daily basis, please don't give me comments personally because most of the time when I'm not in front of a PC, I don't like people mentioning what I put in the 'Net. It's like I have two different personalities, see? I'm one person in the real world and another on-line. I don't want my head to be on the computer 24/7.

To me, this is irritation and often leads to aggravation. And unless you happen to be a very close friend of mine and/or can run fast, don't talk to me about what I do on the Internet.

Reunion

2008-02-07T02:09:00.001+08:00

It's the Chinese new year! And what better way to celebrate it than having your whole family gather at one place to stuff themselves with belly-bloating, laxative-imitating, heart attack-inducing food? I know, stuffing ourselves with food without all the above descriptions! Except maybe the bloating, that's unavoidable with Chinese cooking. Well, my family's recipes at least.

1815 hours:
Cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents are arriving. The aunts arrived first so as to be able to prepare the dishes. Meanwhile the uncles and cousins who were unlucky enough to have mothers or wives who participated in the preparing of dishes lolled around the living room staring at various programmes on the tube. You can't imagine how freakin' hilarious the whole picture looked from my angle. A whole room of people focusing on a black box.

1915 hours:
Everybody's seated at the three tables in the garden. My cousin sister found the camera and started snapping. The dishes have started covering the tables. We had eight or nine courses; I was feeling too nauseous after the third to count. I can't list out all the dishes in order but I know what we had for the first. It was a five-in-one dish. It was all vegetarian and was decorated with tiny cookie-mice on the sides, in honour of the year we're celebrating. The dessert was an ensemble of fruits in a watermelon bowl. But since we had only one watermelon and therefore, only two bowls, so my table got the whole container instead.

2130 hours:
Everyone's cleared the food and've gone to the living room to stare more at the TV. We caught a movie halfway and when it ended, my third aunt brought out something which turned out to be the noise-making tube-things for the Project Superstar concerts. The tubes made annoying metallic sounds when slapped against each other. Everyone fooled around, played cards, board games or just plain chatting.

2315 hours:
Everybody went back home to catch some Zs for the home-visiting, angpau collecting trip which is starting at 7:00AM the next day. Did some cleaning and clearing-up. Mom got started on the broth for the steamboat dinner two or three days later that will officially end the celebrations.

My cousin sister took pictures but there was an error in uploading them and now my camera has problems connecting to the PC so I can't show you all the fun. I'm currently trying to fix this and hopefully I can get the pictures out soon. I'll post them if I succeed.

PS: I posted this late because I just realised I didn't publish it and saved it as a draft instead. Sorry.

Death

2008-02-02T19:25:00.001+08:00

Yeah, yeah, I know, people put exciting events, special occasions and/or a miracle or two in their blogs but let me start off with something I've been experiencing on an almost weekly basis since a few years back: Death.

Yes, death: noun, the end of somebody's life: the end of the life of a person or animal; in art: a creature that looks like a skeleton used in paintings, stories etc as a sign of death and destruction; the end: the permanent end of an idea.

Well, the death I'm talking about is the first one. The one meaning the end of a life. You see, ever since we moved into this house, mom got a garden for her own. After that, we got trees, bushes, flowers and all sorts of plants. But then we got pests, too. Rodents. Black, grey. Whiskers. A long tail. Rats.

And we also got a nice pond filled with shiny, orange Japanese kois. And even that became a problem. See, sometimes, not often, but more often than not, when it rains, the fishes take it to their heads that they'd like a good splash and one or two are sometimes unlucky enough to land on the lawn instead of back in the pond and we find these few dead and bleeding all over the grass from their oxygen-deprived gills. And it's always my job to pick them up and dispose of them. You can't imagine how sad I felt whenever mom finds one during her routine garden watering. And disgusted. Imagine holding something hard and slimy that you know was alive and moving only a few hours ago. Nasty.

We had about 10 kois and then they multiplied so we had about 13 or 14. A few months ago we had around 20. But after the horrible incident, the "Aquatic Masacre", as I called it, we were left only 3 fishes. Somehow, a rat managed to gnaw through the PVC tube for the filtering system of the pond and the mini-waterfall stopped flowing and therefore, no air for the fish. The whole pond and its contents decayed overnight and in the morning, the smell spread through the house. We went out to see the pond turned into a revolting swamp. Spider-webs were everywhere and murderous-looking insects spawned. The water became a disgusting greyish mixture of death and decay and the poor kois were bloated and afloat in the disgusting concoction. They made me fish out the "casualties" and put them into a huge garbage bag and toss it on the pile of junk not far away. The whole picture was so horrible I almost cried and I couldn't even bring myself to take a picture of it even if I wanted to. I was relieved when I saw one or two small ones still swimming in that muck. I got the survivors out and put them back when the pond is clean again.

I thought I've seen the worst but no, it was just the beginning. A few weeks later, rats started dying in the garden. Most of them were small babies which probably lost their way and starved to death. They were tiny so mom could handle them but just today, only about two hours ago, mom called me out into the garden for something. She usually calls me if there was raking to do or she needs me to take out the huge bag of dead grass and/or leaves out to the pile of trash. And since I didn't see any dead grass and/or leaves to rake or a huge black plastic bag of any sort, I got suspicious. And I was right to be. She wanted me to scrape the huge, balding, rotting rat from out of the corner of her vegetable patch where she plants her curry leaf trees, aloe veras and lime plants. The friggin' monster was stiff and had white-ish bald spots and flies all around it. And the only tools I get from mom is a small shovel. Damn.

We have at least one dead rat a month and it's not stopping. And most of the time, it's me who cleans up these messes which include dead lizards in the house but that's not so common, thank goodness. This is what I have to deal with every two to three weeks or so and I'm relieved that that this area is so urbanised that I have as much chance for discovering a dead garden snake as I have for joining the Vienna Philharmonic.

I wish this will stop and I wish the Grim Reaper will stop using me to clean up after him. If you're trying to train me to become the next Reaper will you please at least tell me so I can be more prepared to meet your "clients" after you've given them your "service"?

Damn.

Refresh

2007-12-18T14:56:00.000+08:00

Just a new blog I made. To throw in any interesting aspects of my uninteresting life. Hmm ... *sigh* Great, it's only the first post and I'm already out of words. Anyways, don't look forward to any fun posts. Though one or two may find their way in here. Bye for now.