Island / Peninsula

“No man is an island; but some are peninsulas.” – Robin Williams

I find resonance in William's quote. I started to think that I maybe the peninsulas. Definition? Not entirely isolated but may opted for better choice being remote occasionally.
Laymen term? Part-time antisocial freak.

Wings Beneath My Feet

Dreamland

Brilliant Ad

i am a fans and sucker for good advertisement.
recently saw a brilliant one by durex. very brilliant. pics above is self-explanatory.

isn't that brilliant or what?????

P/S : sorry for those who dun get it. go to 7/11 and see what is durex.


MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

Stupid Lame IQ Questions

Q : What is a chicken outside and a fish inside? (Guess a type of food.)
A : Ikan sardin cap ayam (ayam brand sardine)

LAME OR NOT?

Free Tickets

Yeah.... the free airtickets from Air Asia are extremely tempting. However, money takde! That's the most frustrating part. With CNY around the corner, etc..... hmm.......

What's the Difference between a White Rapper and a Black Rapper?

A white rapper wouldn't rap till he dies like the black rapper. Think eminem and tupac.

Self Centred Me - I'm Trying to Change That

I am becoming more and more self-centred nowadays. I seldom notice what really happen to my friends, even those who's close to me and meet frequently. I will not be able to spot my friend's changed hairstyle or color. I can't tell if he/she's slimmer or put on weight. You may say these are trivial matters but I think it's a barometer to gauge my sensitivity to my friends around me.
I would like to change this. I would like to pay more attention to my friends and care about them more. I would like to listen more and talk less. I would like to go out more and get away from my little apartment world more. Haha.... sounds like I'm developing some symptoms of depression.....

Year End

Again, I was still bugged by the premature middle age crisis. I was complaining about my boring life in my previous post. Then the next question comes...... What kind of life I want?
It's a big question and it had become like a ritual for me to ponder about that question and the related ones when the yr end approaches. This will cause a lot of abnormalities to my routine life. I tend to sleep more, eat more, think more, keep mum more but at certain times, couldn't keep my mouth shut. My sleeps, though were more but of less quality which is obvious and can be seen from my tired eyes.
OK, I think it will be fine at the end of the days or rather at the end of the year. "Wake me up when december ends" I should be OK by then.

細路哥 - Jan Lam Hoi Fung

某一年，一班刚刚考完会考嘅同学约埋一齐唱K
流行曲唱到一半嘅时候 其中一位朋友问左隔离个位一个问题
喂，你估二十年后嘅今日我地会变成一个咩人？
What did I do when I finished my government exam? Tat was like 10 yrs ago. I had limited memory on that but I guessed after SPM, a group of us rushed back and had a battle on the square table. What a way to celebrate? By the way, I think we did the same also when we finished our PMR. 20 yrs after that? What I become after that?

二十年后，可能已经变成一个西装骨骨嘅中环人
手戴劳力士，银包有好多张信用card
放工嘅时候就一齐系酒吧度一边望住个烟灰盅
一边望住隔离台果个女仔 睇下距条裙几时会走光
Haha... I started as a normal working class employee... wearing shirt and slack and occasional khakis in a MNC manufacturing plant but not in 中环, not in the Malaysian equivalent of KL city area. Of cox, since it's only 10 yrs, definitely not a Rolex on my wrist. Well, I'll never don a gold Rolex cox it's too uncle. Haha.... chinese said, grapes not ours always tasted sour. Credit card? A few only but not gold card, though it's not difficult to apply for it. Happy hour after work? Not really a happening guy so never do this.

二十年后，大概终于买左个部好想拥有嘅汽车 但是仲有二十几期要供 Yup, bought a car but definitely need more than 20 monthly payment to settle off the loan.
二十年拉，应该转过好多份工 Changed a few jobs already but I guess it's still going to happen.
识做嘅野越来越多，但是同时发觉学识越来越少 This is spot-on.
系果个时间 间唔中可能会去下gym 但是做来做去都是减悟到个肚腩 This is another damn spot-on.
当然，二十年来你间唔中都会捻起一段一路都未能放低嘅感情
女朋友越来越多 但是爱嘅越来越少 Why this is not happening to me?


唱： 细路哥，你得到什么？ 你失去什么？ 你知道 what are you looking for？

独白：
大概系果个时候，可能会有身边嘅亲人离开
而是果阵时，你会有好多讲唔出口嘅遗憾
同时间，你会发觉，原来人生已经过左一大半 同年，终于结婚拉！This is still far.... not even a stroke of a word.
用左半生嘅积蓄 俾左一层楼嘅首期 有车位，有泳池、会所 Never thought of this at all.
娱乐越来越多，但是快乐越来越少 This is so right. We have lots of entertainment around, but does entertainment = happiness?
两年后，可能会离婚 回复单身之后嘅一个晚上 一个人系床上面，
抓住遥控不停甘转台 食左两粒安眠药 跟住点起支薄荷烟
然后淋左一滴自亲人离世之后嘅眼泪 When is the last time we cry or have a drop of our tears to break our hard-defended dam of our eyes?
突然之间你又捻起
系二十年前你是一个咩人
系果一晚，一大班同学约埋出来一齐唱K 唱到天光
仲记得系果朝早番到屋企嘅时候 打开门系台面 见到有一碗屋企人留低嘅汤碗汤，已经冻左啦。

唱： 细路哥，你得到什么？ 你失去什么？ 你知道 what are you looking for？

So, did you get what you're looking for? Or rather do you know what are you looking for? I hope I know what I'm looking for and wish you do too.

Here's the Deepest Secret No One Knows

Here's the Deepest Secret No One Knows

Here's the Root of the Root

And the Blood of the Blood

And the Sky of the Sky That Trees Called Life

Which Grows Higher and Higher Than A Soul Can Hold

Or Mind Can Hide

It's the One That's Keeping the Stars Apart

I Carry Your Heart With Me

I Carry It In My Heart

Taken from In Her Shoes starred Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette and Shirley Maclaine

Early Middle Age Crisis

I changed my blog title again. Yeah... again. It's the end of the year again, and hence, my routine self-review process kickstarted again. It's actually an involuntary process which I can't help and control at all. It's a package indeed whereby the weather is some sort like a catalyst which will make the process start earlier and faster.

I had been living my life like a middle-aged man in general.
I started my day with a sumptuous breakfast, not to mention that I wake up very early (at least earlier than the average time for ppl my age).
I had breakfast almost at the same place each morning just to ensure that I had a chance to read the local newspaper, failing which will made me feel incomplete or lacking of some energy to start a day. (OK, I did buy my newspaper but in addition to the national English and occasional national Chinese dailies, I would like to keep abreast with the local news)
Had my lunch wherever nearby to the place I am, mostly around the place I stay. Needless to say, I frequented the similar place though I tried to diversify the place by asking some of my friends to join me for lunch.
I had resort to do some exercise at the same lake-park which I did some hike up the small hill.
Dinner is another routine involving those few restaurants/stalls around the place I stay. Though I did skip dinner sometimes, just to add some spice and introduce some variety to my already scheduled routine.
At night, I watched TV which fortunately with more channels to choose from courtesy from Mr. Ho Bau. Not really obsessed to TV but at least it's a good way to spend away the excessive time. Talking about excessive time, I remember Sky Wu's song 一半.
Not only those listed above. I think I lost my passion. Putting work aside, I think I lost my passion. Passion, drive, whatever you call it, I lost it. It's gone to nowhere. It's pathetic indeed. Everything you do is just to pass the day and all you get is the dreading feeling. Sometimes I did try to add some spice to it, i.e. watching a movie in cinema (didn't qualify indeed as I tend to make it a ROUTINE again to do so every Wed or Sat), watching DVD (I seriously think I lost my passion for film as well, due to overexposure), reading........... Damn boring right?
Am I anti-social? This is a confusing question. I think I am sometimes but at other times, I don't think so. But one thing for sure, I don't have lots of friends, let alone new friends. I have a fixed group of friends who are supporting and good people. But sometimes I still feel lacking.

Disgusting Ad

It's the worst advertisement I watched/listened all my life!!!!
It's the latest Pokka Green Tea!!!!!! The Mandarin version of the ad even worse. Those who did the voice-over for the Mandarin version (the voice talent, producer, everyone who's involved) should be banned from working in the industry to stop annoying the audiences.
OK, my Malay bug bites again..... JIJIK!

Tie that Bind?

I dunno how to tie the darn piece of accessories of men clothing but I had been wearing it for 7 years during my teenage years and ok, I always depended on others to tie it for me. Haha.... no sexy compromising positions of some gals tying the knot in front of me, or with our body facing each other and a gap of only 5.23cm between each other bodies. 5 yrs of secondary school years and another additional 2 yrs of Form 6; I was dutifully bound to have that piece of tie around my neck, all because I was a prefect during my school years.
Luckily I was never in any job that requires me to wear a tie all the time. My first job was a manufacturing sector with no necessity to meet clients and no need to dress up. My 2nd job was a short stint of service engineer and that as well need not to be well-dressed. A plain decent shirt is enough. My current job is a sales job, a very technical sales indeed. So, being a technical job, I may not need to put too much effort into impressing my clients with my outlook or attire, in fact I think if I dress casually (or technical-savvy), I may portray the best image of someone technically-sound person. Or is it just another excuse for me to dress as shabby as I can for my own convenience sake? Haha... I can't deny tat. However, I find that gals wearing tie can be attractive.

林嘉欣 vs 林嘉华

Just heard from the radio some interesting facts.
We only see half of the moon surface all the while coz the moon is circling the earth. As we know, the moon surface is rough, like the volcanoes. So, Chinese always like to say if you have pimples all over your face, you'll have a face like the moon's surface! However, one will wonder how will it look like, the other unseen side of the moon? Is it the same or different?
The fact was, it was completely different, as the other side is hilly and full of mountains.
So, conclusion? 林嘉欣 vs 林嘉华

The World Had Gone Wrong

Below is the proof why the world had wrong:

1. We had bombing everywhere.
2. The season had changed. You can get durians all around the year.
3. We had natural disaster more frequent. Katrina and her gang and her other colleagues came visiting more and more frequent.
4. We discover more and more disease with more and more virus mutate to adapt to the vaccine or medicine we made.
5. Aaron Kwok got Best Actor in 42th Golden Horse Award?

Andrew's Prediction

OK, I know I ate myown words of not going to talk bt Aaron's win but below is Andrew Lian Kai's comment on the nominations of the Best Actor. He's one of the member of a music group called Alive consists of Daniel Wu, Andrew Lian Kai, Wen Zhi Wei and Chen Zi Chung.

Here is the list of the nominees: 梁家輝 (黑社會) 張震 (最好的時光) 陳坤 (抹茶之戀味) 郭富城 (三岔口) Although I have only seen 2 out of the 4 films from the nominees. But I have already pick out my winner from the list. I've been watching films of 梁家輝 since younger. I always respect him as a very good actor in the business. Although his luck was not as good as his acting skills. I feel he should get more awards and recognition for his abilities. He got a Best Actor for "愛在他鄉的季節" many years ago, after that he got a few nominations for 人約黃昏 ,天台的月光 and A-1頭條. But never won. I really hope this year he would get it for "黑社會". His performance was outstanding. I'd watch 三岔口 because daniel is in it. But I was very suprise Arron Kwok got nominated as best actor for this film. (6kakibawah : I was puzzled as well) I have to agree this is his best performance out of all the films he had done before.(6 kakibawah : Well... this is very relative as his films like wat we chinese said, can be counted using ur fingers. But giving him credit, I kinda like him in a feel-good love story, Loving You "Xiu Chen Chen" where he starred opposite Kelly Chen) But I'm not sure if that deserves a Best Actor award. (6kakibawah : Exacto mundo. Well said) Sometimes, it really depends on who you are going against with, if the other nominees are strong. I don't think he will have a chance, But the nominess this year is definetly weak. That is just my opinion, it has nothing to do with Alive or any other. Who do you think will win??? Andrew
Above were excerpt from http://www.alivenotdead.com/node/760

The italic font were my comment on Andrew's comment.

42th Annual Golden Horse Award

Aaron Kwok? Best Actor?
Never ever cross my mind that he will snatch the Best Actor. Well... reason given by the jury is that it's his best performance ever in his acting career???? I dunno whether it was but I am certainly sure that HIS ACCEPTANCE SPEECH itself IS HIS BEST PERFORMANCE EVER IN HIS WHOLE CAREER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The pause in the middle of his speech, the pause again to land his gaze to his fans who's screaming upstairs (singers esp HK singers can't escape from this syndrome, the "san deng siong bin ge peng yau"/literally translated as "my friends on top of the hill"), his fake expression of joy-mixed feeling and it WAS VERY OBVIOUS that he's trying to squeeze some tears to his eyes as a final touch of his so-many-times-practised speech. I tried to respect the jury's pick but I think I have some difficulties on that. And I am so sad that I have to resort to vent my frustration here in my blog where I seldom write so badly about someone, let alone someone I don't even know. But I have to.
However, to be fair, I think he acted VERY HARD and it's so OBVIOUS you can see he's trying very very hard in the movie "Divergence". I watched Tony's Election but haven't watch Chen Kuen and Zhang Chen's. So, technically I only have Tony's as comparison.
OK...Shu Qi finally got it after 4 times nomination and I think she deserved it. Bravo to her as she really transformed from the much loathed III-movie actress into someone being constantly roped in to star in movies by famous director like Hou Hsiao Hsien. It's a good motivation story on determination indeed.
OK... I gotta stop or else I will be bogged down by the whole Aaron Kwok is Best Actor thingy. Bless Golden Horse. (I wonder how the horse feel)

Finding Neverland - Be An Adult, Not A Grown Up

Fantastic! Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Julie Christie??? Kalau tak fantastic apa lagi? Story is so touching and it brings out the child in everyone of us. We can be an adult, mature and deal with lots of concerns, commitments and burden we have in life but there's a children in everyone of us that we keep inside waiting to be taking it's form, whatever it may be. Another thing about the movie.... British accent is DAMN sexy!!! And the child actor portraying Peter, Freddie sth... he's definitely the next Dakota Fanning.

Bottle in the Gayana Aru

Taken at Gayana Aru restaurant during the launch of the Christmas album by Double Take. The ambience is nice with sparkling reflection of glass and dimly lit light.

Rose Rose I Don't Love You

I never like rose. Not that I like flower but I think it's over-rated.

Anything Amusing?

Amusement Centre : I found the name itself is amusing.
I came from a small town, which translates into less grandeur hanging out places to hang out at or rather lepak (tis word is so commonly used in our era and it's also a favourite topic in the karangan question which may goes like, "Bincangkan cara-cara untuk mengurangkan gejala lepak di kalangan remaja masa kini") By the way, do they still have questions like this? OK, back to the amusement centre.... So, when I was in the not-so-boring-bigger capital of the state, I am thrilled by the "amusement centre" in one of the shopping complex. I still remember the trip, it's actually a school trip to climb Mt Kinabalu and island hopping in Manukan. And that was the first time I got on a bumper-car and being the pathetic boring kid I was, I was thrilled by the whole thing and hence I still remember it till today. In fact I remember the whole trip; my failure in scaling the mt. peak which I kinda compensated by scaling it twice after that and plan the 3rd time next year; the fun of taking stupid pics in the island with my partner-in-crime (well, we still do that now! what a bunch of immature kidult?); the long journey in an old school bus listening to songs like Cranberries (yeah... you guess how long is tat) and Sandy Lam's "Wound" etc.....

OK, below is the definition of AMUSE; see whether you find it amusing or not?
a·muse ( P ) Pronunciation Key (-myz)tr.v. a·mused, a·mus·ing, a·mus·es
1. To occupy in an agreeable, pleasing, or entertaining fashion.
2.To cause to laugh or smile by giving pleasure: I was not amused by his jokes.
3. Archaic. To delude or deceive.

Jukebox Karaoke

I used to see this in Bangkok, it's everywhere; near the bus-stop, inside the shopping malls etc.... And when I was lepakking around in Centre Point, I saw it!!!! There're few of these around. I was kind of tempted to go in and belt out some numbers to impress myself and satisfy my own dream of holding a concert but they're swarmed by tonnes of our other brothers and sisters, so I decided to give up the thoughts. However, if I'm going to try it out I may have to belt out some nice Malay numbers I think, looking at the kind of crowd there. And hey, I have no prob on that as well.... haha............

Can you Depend on the Security Guard

This pic was taken in the ATM counter in Standard & Chartered Bank in Sandakan. The security guard was sleeping soundly inside, just the snoring is lacking. Can we depend on him if we were being attacked and robbed? No way.

wat do u think???

I'm watching Astro WLT's show.. I think the title is something like "All started from the missing" (literally translated). The character played by Cheong Hor Yi was being courted by a so-called rich man and he used the following pick-up line:
"what do you think of the current social-economic scene in HK?"
hahaha...... tat ranks as the worst pick-up line I think... unless she's some economics PhD i think.....
guys... try that to any gal you met in any bar.... who knows the result may turns out to surprisingly effective?

Wakarimasen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. To cover or not to cover
The issue is simple. Non-Muslim's right is protected in the constitution and hence, they have the right not to wear the tudung in IIUM. What's the issue here? Even the worker in Parliament is allowed not to wear tudung... and the non-Muslim undergraduate wasn't allowed to attend her convocation just because she refused to comply to the biased regulation? And not even allowed to take her transcript after the convocation? This is definitely a violation of the rights protected by the constitution.
So, taking this logic whereby the right of non-Muslim can be ignored, can we assume that the other rights stated in the constitution can be violated as well? Or only this particular one? This is definitely a backlash to Pak Lah's non-extremist religious policy.

2. Congratulation for dropping from 89th place to 169th place?
We should be happy as UM was listed in the Top 50 and Top 100 in "some" courses??? And proudly erect such a big billboard to boast his own confidence and pride in the vicinity of the university? I leave this to the UM students to comment.

3. Deepa-raya an Insult? Kong Xi/Gong Xi Raya an Insult?
I really didn't understand why insult came into picture!!! I think the fact that it was brought up itself is an insult to the country. What's wrong of the phrase used widely? Maybe should we change the sequence so that it will not belittle the narrow-minded groups who shouted insult? This is the same when the brilliant advertisement on Kempen Budi Bahasa done by the very talented Yasmin Ahmad was being criticised for insensitivities, hurting the race known to be berbudi bahasa. So, it's only right if other race was being chosen to portray the tak berbudi bahasa character in the advertisement??? Aku memang ndak paham.

Riots in France

© Rodolfo Cartas (sourcecraft) Attribution-ShareAlike Eiffel Paris France

France is having such a troubled time now, with the race riots reaching the 12 days and emergency measures were approved by the Chirac government. It's not the first time this is actually happening, with the most recent ones being the infamous 1953 Bastille Day Riot. Let's pray that the riot will stop and no more car torching etc.

It prompted me to think, the riots in France was due to the the oppressed race groups, i.e. immigrants which leads a sufferring life with minimum education and living condition. What about in Malaysia? Hm... our leader should really think about this and reflect.....

Double Take : Gayana Aru Christmas Album Launch : One Voice, Six Strings and Twelve Days of Christmas

OK, I can't capture Roger's image well coz he kept moving. Nice showcase featuring some Christmas songs and other jazz standards. Good rendition of Michael Jackson's Billy Jean. Surprised to find that they included Wat are You Doing New Year's Eve. Bought the album without hesitation

Track List as follows:

1. Deck the Halls

2. All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)/Santa Claus is Coming to Town

3. I'll Be Home for Christmas

4. The Turkey, Me and the Christmas Tree

5. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

6. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer/Here Comes Santa Claus

7. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve

8. Silent Night

9. Sleigh Ride

10. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

11. The Twelve Days of Christmas

12. The Christmas I Know

Double Take Largest Jazz Concert by a Duo

Go support our local Malaysian musician, Double Take. Yea.... the largest thing and Malaysian Book of Record thingy is kinda gimic but hey, it's Malaysian ok??? Forget that and enjoy their good music.

Double Take in Coffee Bean, Damai, Kota Kinabalu

Double Take, my favourite local jazz duo held a pre-launch show for their coming Christmas album in Coffee Bean, Damai, Kota Kinabalu. Served as a teaser for their album launch the next day in Aru Restaurant, Tanjung Aru, a combination of songs (from debut album, coming Christmas album and other familiar tracks) were performed; Mia her usual self and Roger with her fantastic finger guitar. Tracks performed:
1. Christmas song (sorry... forgot title)
2. Close to You
3. All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth
4. A Brazilian Portuguese number
5. Black Coffee
6. Final number (some song for goodbye)
Hahaha.... I know I'm not a good reviewer, and bad memory as well.

We Don't Live Here Anymore

A story about two couples, Edith (a fantastic Naomi Watts) and Hank (Peter Krause of Six Feet Under fame), Terry (Laura Dern) and Jack (Mark Ruffalo). Edith and Jack started an affair; Terry and Hank followed suit. I was dumbfounded by the fact that Hank knows it all the time and was INDEED happy as someone love his wife Edith in the way he can't. Instead he finds himself drawn to Terry. Jack was in guilt having an affair with Edith, who was some sort of alive from the affair, unleashed the passion suppressed all these while. Terry was in the dark all the while and she was puzzled why her husband, Jack was not showing any reaction knowing and noticing something started to grow between her and his best friend, hence she went hysterical but became amazingly cooled off when she knows everything.
+ : actings were natural as these are fine actors. it's not really acting as the way the arguments and reactions were portrayed in such a realistic way, sans the over-the-top and dramatic reactions which we were fed all the while. one of the scenes at the end, a dialogue between Jack and his children (2 of them) is so natural, the way the parents always tend to brush off their kids' questions and suspicions are so real. naomi is so convincing as a depressed, emotionally and sexually housewife, without overacting, which is the hardest part.

Compensation? Or preparation?

Melinda and Melinda

OK, I always wanted to watch a movie by Woody Allen and recently I got his latest work, Melinda and Melinda (M&M). Oppss.... I forgot that I watched The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (TCotJS). Heard a lot of his works before but never really watched his classic work like Hannah and her sisters etc. TCofJS is quirky and I love the music used, it's jazz. In M&M, jazz is featured prominently and I love the setting. The New York thingy always blend well with jazz and he did it effortlessly. Not having watched a lot of his movies, I dun think I'm qualified to criticize anything but I have some feeling of lacking something after watching M&M. It's like half-way through your throat, which is frustrating coz it's not really satisfy your hunger but at the same time, it will be too much to have another meal. Got it? OK, I'll get his other works and watch.
Some interesting but cliche quotes :
Comic or tragic, the most important thing to do is enjoy life while we can because we only go round once, and when it's over, it's over! (Could this be more cliche?????)
We laugh trying to mask our fear for mortality. (OK, this seems deep)
Finally, I think this applies to me; Get out and reinvest your emotion. Don't indulge your depression. (Yeah... I gotta reinvest and is my depression an indulgence?)

My List

1.Finding Neverland
2. The Corpse Bride
3. Melinda and Melinda (Woody Allen)
4. Broken Flowers (the excellent Bill Murray)
5. The Sea Inside (Javier Bardem)
6. We Don't Live Here Anymore
7. My Little Airport (a HK indie group)
OK... I'm broke. Not counting the snacks I bought and ate during those lonely and busy nights of my outstation for the past 3 weeks!!!!! Officially broke.

What's next for our ex-?

If I'm not wrong, I think yesterday was the 2nd time national English papers have Sabah on their front cover news!!!!! The 1st time was our ex-CM gambling case, which was overshadowed by the London blast. Lucky for him? Then yesterday we made the headline again.... One of our ex-Minister was detained by the police for suspect of involvement in a fatal gun-shot case of a 20 yo boy. I wonder what's next for our ex-?

Things

I think it's near. I mean the end of the world. I wonder how will it end. OK, I'm not a religious person though I respect people's religion very much; so I dun know how each religion describe the way the world end. But with Katrina and her gang comes to visit more frequently and with the bird flu starts to sweep over as epidemic (or pandemic?? gosh... i forgot my biology).... I really wonder.
So???? What should we do? More charity and live everyday to the fullest.... treat everyday as the last day...... though they sounded cliche, but they're damn true. So.... enjoy life!!!!

As I checked my email I found out that one of my coursemates did the irritating in this junk-filled-IT world now. So many forwarded messages.... I mean really loads of them and she conveniently send it out as mass email to everybody. 1st, she sent via mass email, which is so unthoughtful as some of the people use company email and this will lead to overloaded of the mailbox. 2nd, all her contact's email address were revealed and we got spams due to her inconsiderate actions. So, I decided to banned her from sending anything to me anymore. This will be the 2nd time I do this as I banned her before when she's still with her previous company. So, I opened her forwarded email and stumbled upon the below horoscope/zodiac description abt Taurean... yeah... me, a Taurean. Needed some confidence boost and the description on the art part sounds nice hihi.....

Taurus 21/4~20/5
Day of the week
Friday
Birthstones
Emerald, Sapphire, Turquoise
Colours
Pink, Emerald Green
Flowers
Lily, Hyacinth, Rose, Peach Flower
Essences
Rose, Sylvan Pine
GENERAL FEATURES: Earth sign ruled by Venus. Taurus represents art, beauty in all its forms, and strength (not only physical). Taureans are realistic, security loving (both on the material and psychological level) and they like routines, also in their love relationship. In order to obtain this kind of security, they use all their qualities: resistance, quietness, patience and practical intelligence. They seldom lose control, but when they get angry they can be violent. This is the reason why it is necessary for him to find the right partner. Taureans live love in a complete manner, they are constant and never vain. Among their most suitable careers: interior decorator, teacher, cook and any job concerning earth and nature. This is the sign of the Zodiac which most of all likes relaxing, but only after having reached a prefixed goal, of course.
SEDUCING TAUREAN MEN: With Taurean men you mustn't be in a hurry or over-hasty. In fact, Taureans need a long time to understand if they have finally found the right woman. The secret to win their love is being first a good friend. If you invite him for dinner, remember that he likes eating and prepare abundant helpings.TIP: at your first date use romantic music and lights. (so, dun hesitate..., I'm ready)
SEDUCING TAUREAN WOMEN: If you are determined and patient you're the right man. Taurean women are jealous, extraordinary and fascinating, they love being flattered and courted. They like perfumes, so give her the best you can find and don't forget to use one when you're with her, because she will smell your skin. TIP: at your first date don't ask her to play tennis or to go for a walk: she's rather lazy!!!

Posh Place to Blog

OK, for the 1st time of my professional blogging experience, I'm blogging not from the comfort of my own "little" comfortable apartment. I'm actually in Miri airport and enjoying the facility of the executive lounge for business class and 1st class passengers. Haha... yeah... naive me bought a business class ticket so... here I am.

National Integration

OK, I figured out that the best way to foster national integration is via FOOD!!! We saw the proof of our multiracial society fighting TOGETHER for food during the open-house session in the festive season. I saw another way just now, after a jogging session with my parents. We went to the pasar buka puasa and as what you can expect, it's full of people. Besides our Malay friends who are searching for delicacies to buka puasa, there are lots of Chinese and non-Malay too. Is this a way to foster national integration? Maybe, but for sure, I think the appetite is definitely integrated!!!

Taking a Hiatus

OK, I'm going to outstation starting tomorrow and hence, I would not be able to update and blog as frequent as I would love to. Things were not going that well around the world these few weeks with the blast again in Bali. The terrorism stuff seems to be getting out of the Indonesian's government hands and our neighbour in the north also seems to be plagued by the same trouble with a magnitude comparable to those kat Indon.
I wonder what will be the next? And being the citizen of the bolehland, I really felt grateful that I'm at this side of the Borneo island and not the other part of the island.
God Bless.

Stupid Jokes II (Mandarin)

Q1) Ah Mei's dad has 7 wives. The 5th and 7th are Africans. Guess a Chinese idiom.
A1) Wu Qi Ma Hei

Q2) There's a party in the forest. Who didn't get to eat the cake!?!
A2) GRASS because Cao Mei Dan Gao

Q3) Ah bao was murdered! However, the police quickly found the killer. Who was it?
A3) Ah Dou because Dou Sha Bao

Q4) Xiao Bai and Da Bai are bros. As Xiao Bai grows older, he looks more and more like his bro. Guess a Chinese idiom.
A4) Zhen Xiang Da Bai

Q5) Osama, Bush , Blair and Saddam play mahjong. Who will win first ??
A5) Saddam Hussein because Saddam Hu Xian

Q6) What's the panda's 2 biggest wishes?
A6) i. Get rid of dark eyes ring
ii.Taking colour photo

Q7) Who will pick up the dumpling (ba zhang) on the floor?
A7) Xiang Long because Xiang Long Shi Ba Zhang


Q8) There are 3 Male and 1 Female pencils in a box. The Female pencil got pregnant!! Which Male pencil is responsible?
A8) The one without the rubber

Q9) Xiao Ming drinks milk to grow up. What does Da Ming drink?
A9) Alcohol because Jiu Yang Da Ming

Microphone Stand

OK, I admit I love karaoke. Maybe it's an unfulfilled dream of being a star hahaha... which is definitely a no-no due to tonnes of obvious reasons, so I resort to singing all my heart out in a small but comfortable rooms to a group of victimized friends who have to endure hours of mediocre singing. So, what's lacking in those karaoke joints ? Yup, they were decorated nicely, comfortable ambience plus great package deal including some lunch-hour or happy hour package which enable the patrons to sing for hours! So, again, what's lacking now?

It's the microphone stand!!! Imagine if each room is equipped with the microphone stand, the rooms will be turned into a small concert hall!!! Those rockers can sing their heart out in style parading with the mic stand as if they're holding their own concert! I read sometime ago about a rich middle-aged man in China (yup, now you can read tonnes of weird news happening in China) who forked out almost all of his lifetime savings to hold a concert by himself. He engaged an event company to organize "his" concert and I mean IT"S A REAL CONCERT! Complete with tickets and fans (yup, they're being paid to scream and cheers and shouting "anchor - haha.. the chinese version) and proper venue, the concert was deemed to be a successful one. The "singer" himself send some tickets to his friends to "enjoy" his concert and I guess it's like the best gift the "singer" gives to his fellow friends hahahaha.....

So, while we still haven't heard of the similar news in Malaysia, I seriously think the karaoke operators should think of this and maybe include it as part of the package.
A : I wanna book a room for this Sat lunch hour package.
B : With or without mic stand?
A : With mic stand please.
B : How about fans? Do you want fans? We can arrange flowers to be sent and we can play some audio effect of people clapping and cheering and even shouting your name if you want. But of course, there will be extra charge.

Wouldn't this be great? Haha.....

Politikus? I salute this particular politican

OK, if you are familiar with the local state political scenarios, you may know who am I referring here. He was one of those few who rose from bottom in such a short time, being elected as cabinet minister after winning his first state assembly election and I saw him on TV taking oath in front of the state ruler. Being the bad-mouthed me, I still remember I made fun of him when he was "melafazkan" sumpah. Yup, the bad me laughed at his squeaky voice. And that was very bad, thinking that we share the same surname.

However, I felt ashamed last Sat (not to say I was not ashamed of my other wrong-doings) when I saw him spending some quality time shopping with his wife. He was so simple in dressing, just a polo T-shirt with a simple jeans and a sandal, flashing his smile but not the pretentious-oh-they-recognize-me type which normally celebrities will condone on their fake face! He was totally blend-in with the crowd with ease. Definitely something different from the cliche stereotype perception we have (sorry... should I drag all of you in???) of politicians (or rather politikus). He was so down-to-earth and I was instantly impressed and at the same time embarassed thinking that I made a mockery of him before. I started to think of his current portfolio in the state government, a portfolio least desirable if you wish to lead a hassle-free and bo bun te minister-life. He has to deal with the chronic problem that had been bugging the state and especially the hometown of both me and him, i.e. the electricity and water supply. And mentioning about electricity, I had 3 times disruption on the same day on Sunday!!! Not to mention the some people in Sandakan had to endure a week plus having no power supply!!!! We Sandakan people always made fun of ourselves, saying that "no problem, we are now Nature City mah". Really go back to nature! What's next?
The poor state of investment, not to say foreign but the local domestic capital is definitely had the biggest factor to do with the pathetic condition of basic amenities. Well, I am not a businessman but I guess that's pretty obvious. So, praises aside, I think our Mr. Down-to-Earth has tonnes of burden on his shoulder and I really hope he can manage and turn the table around. So, Mr. Tan..... all the best to you!!!

Working from Home

I stumbled upon an article written on Working from Home, which I felt very much related. www.christopherhawkins.com/08-04-2005.htm

Bukan Idol Biasa

It's confirmed. My idol is neither Daniel nor Nita!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's the malay gal who sang Siti's "Bukan Cinta Biasa". She exudes soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much emotion with that song and yeah....... I had goosebumps all over my body!

Pay Your Deeds

I committed a crime. Yes, a crime that may end up me being caught by the police. So, to avoid that from happening, I went to the police station and settled a summon (settle legally, not with the traffic police coaxing me to settle with me inside my car and negotiate with him with my car window down). Surprisingly the summon is due to SPEED LIMIT (and I always proud of myself driving very slow?) and the original sin (no pun intended) cost RM300!!!! Yup, that's a whooping figure and I can almost pay my car installment with that amount. But normally it will be reduced to RM150 which is 50% discount (kind huh?) and the latest promotion is another whooping 50% discount which means I only paid RM70 for my wrong-doing. I only get to know about the summon when I checked it via sms after receiving a call from my paranoid mom. Yeah... she's a schoolbus driver so she's having a greater risk of being issued a summon without her knowledge. But it was me, the "usually-slow" driver who got the summon. The crime was committed on May 14, 2005 and I think it was during m y driving journey back to SDK on the way to Kalimantan for commissioning of a new system my company sold. What to do??? Pay and get over it lor... furthermore, the discount made it sounds not that bad at all...... but RM70 can buy like 10 times lunch/dinner, 8 times watching a movie on Wed, almost 3 times haircut, 39 days of Star newspaper supply and the list go on...........
Expectedly, the queue is quite long especially now during the promotion period and I indulged myself in listening to the conversations surrounding me and get some laugh from it and this ah pek (uncle - middle-aged man) topped it all when he settled his summons with the cashier. He was queueing in front of me and when it was his turn to pay, I was amused by his conversations with the cashier:

A : Ah Pek C : Cashier
A : Aiyo, sia endak manyak lah (Aiyo, mine is not tat much lah - what he means is his summon, which is 5 altogether)
C : (she just smiled i guess)
A : Ini lakat midika sana mana ada parking? Susah cari parking lah. (It's near to the Merdeka Shopping Complex, where got parking space? Difficult to get a parking space lah)
C : Yakah? Mahu terus bayar? (Is it? You want to pay all now?)
A : Midika sana manyak susah lah. Sia susah mau cari parking, itu malam hari enam sama itu malam hari minggu manyak susah lah (The place around Merdeka is very difficult to get parking. Esp on sat and sun night)
C : Mahu terus bayar? (You want to pay all now?)


That uncle repeated his dialogue for at least 5 times before taking out his wallet and paid his deeds. Gosh...... I was glad he finally do that instead of repeating his reasoning for n times. I mean what's the point of telling the cashier where or why he got the summon???? It's not like she's gonna cancel it or sth like that!!!! He's delaying the process which caused the people queueing behind him had to stand sweating under the hot sun (I didn't really complained about this coz I thought it's some way to punish us for the summon and the pay back we get. I dun mind since I got the discount). However, next time when I saw the same uncle again, I will make sure I won't be queueing somewhere behind him!!!!

Drink Drank Drunk

I watched the 7.15pm show of Drink Drank Drunk by Miriam Yeung and Daniel Wu. Being a film by Derek Yee Tung Sing, it's actually kinda under his par but enjoyable as a whole. For demanding audiences who hope something like One Night in Mongkok - Mong Kok Hak Ye or Cest La Vie, Mon Cheri - Sen Bet Liu Ching, they will be disappointed. But with standard romantic comedy format, there's nothing much you can do (Keeping the Faith with Edward Norton and Ben Stiller is exception so OK, I am biased here cox I like Derek). It's NOT like I LOVE the plot or something like that but I guess it's an entertaining watch and I felt good being able to pull off some laugh along the movie. What else can you expect from a HK movie nowadays? Miriam and Daniel had quite some chemistry and being the 3rd movie of them pairing up, they got the "mek kei" we talk about. Miriam is her usual self but I guess she toned down her comedic type of acting, which is good. Well... even Sammi Cheng opt for meatier role now, I guess you need to be versatile and diversified in roles choosing. But I want to watch "Sam Gang" as it was being touted as Miriam's breakthrough role.
Daniel is his usual handsome attractive self, perhaps too much despite dressed rather snoobish but that can't really hide his charm. The limelight was stolen by Alex Fong Zhung Shun by his "dai lou" character, which surprisingly departed from his usual cool and serious roles but instead brought most of the comic relief for the film. Guk Dek Ciu portrayed the campy gay character which had been all the while being stereotyped in most HK movies. Maybe it's because of his rather plump physique, it reminds me of Eric Tsang's role in "Gem Ji Yuk Yip".
I am listening to the HK radio now and the 3 most awaited movies will be released soon. "Perhaps Love" a musical by Peter Chan Ho Tsun (of Tim Met Met fame) with Jackie Cheung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhou Xun and the male lead in the hoo-ha Korean series, Jewel in the Palace; "Cheong Hen Go - Everlasting Regret" by Stanley Kwan Gem Pang with Sammi Cheng (too much attention had been given to her till she outshines her male co-star) and ...... sorry I forgot!!! It's my age getting in again.

Six Feet Under Season 3

I got my 3rd season DVD but I can't play it in my DVD player!!! The cheap DVD player can't detect it and I'm so angry. Now I have to get another player to watch the whole season! And that means I will be robbed from the luxury of watching it at the comfort of my own little flat with food and drink within reach.................. OK, it can go on and on.................shit

Do you listen to music or read anymore?

(That was a great album, mentioned in Ahmad's blog as well. Ray's duet with Diana Krall is flawless, and another track to be paid attention to is his duet with Bonnie Raitt, Do I Ever Cross Your Mind)

Yup, it's related to Ahmad Izham's posting in his blog. There's this entry of his made me reflect on what's happening to me as well. He mentioned the dying habit of teenagers nowadays, i.e. listening to music due to more choices of entertainment available now. But I think the habit got hit most is reading. Myself for instance had find it hard to sneak out some time to indulge in the rich world of books. Even if I have time, I would choose to read lighter material or shorter ones for that matter so I can finish it faster and opt for other entertainment mode, yup... the idiot box.
And another thing about listening to music, it's very true. When we bought CDs in the heydays, we read every single lines, captions of the album and even the lyrics of each songs. I was always amazed by myself in memorizing, whether intentionally or unintentionally the lyrics of the songs I like. That's why during karaoke session, when the music starts, I can sing without much difficulties. Maybe it's the age thing and hence, our hard disk hardly have any space to slot in new memories. But lyrics aside, like what Ahmad mentioned, we seldom get those goosebumps when we listen to the songs in the albums we bought. I think it got to do with our financial state. I mean, when we were young, buying CDs (oppss... it should be casette) is not something regular and hence, we tend to treasure them more. We read every page of the lyric booklet and immerse ourselves in the nice photos but nowadays songs can be downloaded anytime and pirated CDs are everywhere. Can we say it's like taking it for granted? Hmm..... gonna listen to some goosebumps-inducing music tonight.

Stupid Jokes

OK, I just checked out the 8tv website after reading an interview on Ahmad Idzam, the super cool CEO of 8tv, checking out his rant in his blog and stumbled upon his entry asking for stupid jokes. Here're some I cracked some laugh of:
1. What is common between Saddam and panty hose?
Both irritates Bush.
2. If Adam and Eve were Chinese, we are all in heaven cox they'll ignored the apple
and eat the snake instead.
3. Why did Catherine went to the cinema with her 18 friends?
Because according to the advertisement, below 18 is not allowed.
4. Why do cows wear bells?
Because their horns doesn't work.
OK, the others were too long. I'm too lazy to type plus I think the shorter the funnier.

Sandy is back

Finally Sandy is back to the HK music scene. With a new album in progress, I got to listen to her latest single called "Bun Sik", familiar style of hers, combining the urban groove feel which can be traced back to her previous songs like "Wui Guei" etc.... Another artiste I wish to have her back to HK music scene is Karen Mok though I think it's not going to be happening soon coz Karen is nowhere near to where Sandy is yet. Sherry, I think you will like Bun Sik.

Wong Kar Wai's 2046

This is one of the movie that I yearned to watch and at the same time, scared to watch. Maybe the expectation is too high on Mr. Wong and another factor is ZhangZiYi. Not really a fans of her. Sophia said that the movie disappoints her even though she has low expectations and she said she even doubt whether it's really Mr. Wong who directed it. OK, what am I going to do with the original VCD that I borrowed from PT? OK, I bought the DVD for The Days of Being Wild so, in case 2046 sucks... I have another movie to compensate my disappointment. Stupid huh???

It had been 3 years................

First of all, what would you do if you get a message like "sweet dreams" around 11pm-12am from a long time buddy??? OK, I gotta say I'm speechless and believe it or not, I ignored the msg. Not freaked out but I wonder how should I reply to that and knowing him so well, it's not easy to handle hahahhahahaha.....
It's only yesterday that when another buddy told me about his birthday.... gosh I forgot his birthday!!!! This brings out another question, is it OK for a guy to forget his other guy buddy birthday??? I mean girls are naturally-equipped with the ability to remember their frens' birthdays and not to forget their idols' birthdays but guys??? I mean I am sorry to V for forgetting his birthday and here, I would like to wish him a belated Happy Birthday. Though I'm very much aware that this will not help much, but at least I am wishing him something, which he said..... it had been 3 years.... hahahhahahaha.... Happy Belated Birthday buddy!

You wanna die? Better be fast and dun waste my time

Read or listen from somewhere on a suicide case in China. A woman/man was trying to jump off a building and suddenly lots of people gathered at the bottom of the building, waiting for some great show. The worst thing is that the Chinese flexed their entrepreneurship skills and started to sell binoculars and drinks (it's hot there). Some who stays around the block even went back and brought back some stools and chairs!!! It's like watching some chinese opera during the Ghost month in lunar 14th July!!! Even worse is that there're some people interviewed actually kinda blamed the police for being able to discourage the woman/man from jumping down. Reason??? Because they had been waiting for so long and it's not worth at the end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There goes our humanity, went down the drain.

Shut Up! I can't take it anymore!

I took this during the torturing train journey to the Pangi station for the whitewater rafting. The subject facing the camera was a local native woman. Opposite her were a Dutch couple who talks endlessly during the whole journey. What I deduced from this photo? The native woman can't stand the endless conversation and you can sense it from the obvious and penetrating gaze. Wish I am more observant to take more pics like this.

an eventful holiday weekend

I went to the Whitewater rafting in Padas on Sat and wow.... it's amazing! I'd never done anything like this before so it's the 1st time and like they always say.... it's always memorable the first time hahaha...
There were 4 of us, including the fun Kiwi I hosted, Mark, J and Mavis. The whole program actually spanned a whole day, from 7am till 7pm. We were picked up in a travel van to Beaufort, from where we took a train to Pangi. OK, the travel van is comfortable enough but the train journey was a TORTURE. Being touted as the last surviving train service in Borneo, the train was described as "dinasour" age monster by Mark and I totally agreed. The train is very old, purported to be in operation since before WWII. It was jerky (no pun intended) and loud all the way; not to mention noisy. But tat aside, I think it's a GREAT journey hahahha.... tat is after the rafting thing. The whole train journey took 1.5 hrs. Hot sticky weather made it even more unbearable. We reached the Pangi station and there were lots of other rafters as well, mostly from HK (spot-on recognized from their Cantonese). After briefing on some techniques and safety measures, we were on the raft!!! It was exciting and our experienced rafter was the 1st one to be thrown to the water when we were at our 1st rapid (sorry dude for revealing this hahahaha....). The rapids came with funny names, BBQ Rapid (coz it's the last one before we have our BBQ lunch), Cobra, Washing Machine, etc. We did some body rafting as well, i.e. rafting using our life jacket. Yea.... I'm a non-swimmer but with a life jacket, I have no problem trying. All in all, it's a fun trip and definitely worth the 150 bucks we paid. However, I din take any photos so I posted a pics I took from the Sabah Tourism website.

Busy Busy Busy

I started to hate the traveling part of my job. It's so hard t o have a worry-free weekend, e.g. I have to drive 6 hrs back to my hometown to settle some customer problem and that means I will have to spend around 1 week there. My schedule changed again and this certainly made a mess of my existing malnourished sales figure. Wat the heck??? It's still my job.
Looks like this blog is going to suffer from malnutrition as well. I yearn a holiday!!!!!
Good luck to all of you and HAPPY MERDEKA!

How do you define the chinese word on the left? It's pronounced as "jian" in Mandarin or "jin" in Cantonese or "qian" in Hakka. But in English? OK, in Malay is keji. Upon surfing for quite long in the online dictionary & translator...
despicable, shameful, contemptible (deed).
However, I still find that the translation is not really as per the chinese meaning. In chinese, esp Cantonese, the word may or may not be tat despicable. Contradicting you're saying? Nope.... one can actually feel the familiarity or some sense of closeness being called "jin yan" which means despicable person. For instance, when I called my boss the other day, the 1st word he uttered when he realized it's me, its "jin yan". I was not angry but relaxed straight away instead. I was listening to HK Commercial Radio tat day and the DJs (I really mean DJs with plural "s" because there were 3 DJs on the mic at the same time) were talking about this as well. The radio station known as "siong toi" in Cantonese is staffed with lots of exceptional and unique DJs, which is politically-correct descriptions for the characteristics better known as outlandish, foul-mouthed and unsympathetic. I mean they're brave in their words and has no reservations in expressing their own opinions etc... well.. to be fair to the local DJs... they have more voice freedom there in HK.
Then I thought about myself.....and I thought I am one of those jin yan as well. Oh.. one thing for sure... I have a jin mouth.

A new-found home

OK, I know I had moved a few places before but now finally I found this new home. I had moved my old posts here. More new ones to come baby.

It had been a fruitful and eventful week. Maybe it's my age craving in, I decided to stay home today (OK, it's Sat) after some nights out. I went for 2 movies these week. 1st of all, it's The Island on Wed and then it's 7 swords yesterday.
OK, The Island. Hm...... not really a fans of Mr. Bay due to his over-the-top plot and bombing-blasting scenes in his movie.... (yeah... Armageddon n etc???) but surprisingly, I think the movie starts of intellectually hahaha.... Yeah, it's kinda boring especially if you're not really interesting on the premise of the movie, clone. And Mr. Bay tried to spend the 1st half explaining to audience on the cloning thingy with some nice eerie scenes of the cloning process and also poking fun on the "perfect" lifestyle of McGregor and Johannson. But suddenly the pace change altogether whereby Mr. Bay back to his usual style and blast it all!!!! I guess he's having fun at tat but hey, he's still Mr. Bay ok? The actors need not be too meaty in their acting as what you expect from action movie? However, Steve Buscemi is his usual self stealing the scene with his minor 10-15 minutes appearance. McGregor get to exercise his comic muscle in his portrayal of 2 Ewan. British accent is as elegant as usual.
And 7 swords. Lots of my friends brought up a valid topic. Who you wanna watch when you watch this? I mean some go for Mr. Cruise in War of the World, etc.... but in 7 swords??? The bygone era Leon??? S even said he spoilt the movie. But I guess there're still Charlie Yeung and Donnie Yen. Emily n Sophia said go for Mr. Tsui Hark hahhahaha..... The movie itself is OK. I think it's always a big problem when you want to adapt the martial arts novel into a movie. It's a tough job given the time frame you have the most is 2.5 hrs... Yeah... 7 swords is 2.5 hrs though you still felt that it's not well-utilised as there're lots of loopholes etc - loopholes or not, it's hard to say sometimes as HK movies tend to leave sth for the sequel, tat's another story. To add salt to the wound, there're 7 main characters with their respective swords, not including the baddies! Somemore there's a subplot with characters of the Kung Fu village as well. Too short a time in fact. We made a mistake of watching the movie at 10.50pm which spanned till 1.20pm!!!! And out of 10 of us, 4 slept someway in the movie! Leon is forgettable in the movie. However I admire him for taking the roles coz obviously he's not the main lead. Charlie had even more roles than him. And in the making I saw just now, he's #3. The Korean actress (forgot her name.... Kim sth) is actually taking too much time of the movie. She took lots of airtime actually. No complaints of her actually but more to Tsui's script. Donnie comes off as the main fighting star, esp when compared to Leon n other non-KungFu-esque actors. At times, I felt the 7s are not being given much airtime, as well as their respective swords!!! And to give the movie title as 7 swords!!!! Ini aku memang tak paham. Aft the movie, I only remember the shape of Donnie's, Charlies, Leon's and Duncan's sword but only Leon's sword's name. I think this is a failure. It's like ice lemon tea without lemon or tea! Another mistake is a miscast! How in the world Mr. Tsui can think of getting Michael Wong Man Dak to play the Qing Dynasty King????????? The moment he blurted his dialogue kills off the character already. Mr. Tsui, this is another mistake after your "The Legend of Xu". But I felt it's watchable.

A weeks' rants

Wow.... I was overwhelmed by last week. Having just came back from strenuous mid-year meeting, I was stressed out and pressurized. Gotta get some pressure relief valve to vent it out. Yeah.. it's normal as being in the sales line, target is sth that keep you moving and at the same time, keep pressing you to the maximum. Hard to say but what to do? It's your job, take it or leave it!
The whole last week was very much interesting, having the UMNO annual assembly, the AP thingy and the whole MCA and Gerakan annual meeting was overshadowed by UMNO proceedings. Being the biggest party of the nation, it's not unusual that the whole media attention was diverted to it. Being the first changeover of the meeting with Pak Lah as the penghulu and without the ever outspoken Mahathir... it's kinda refreshing. What I would like to say is that racial remarks were everywhere during this whole eventful week. I was never a fan of Lim Keng Yaik but I kinda salute him for daring to comment and actually "suggest" that we should analyze and review why our Malay brothers still unable to achieve the 30% target as per the NEP wanted like wat, 34 years ago??? Well, personally I would say Dr. Lim's suggestion seems to be logical to me. When something's can't be achieved, we must review and analyze before embarking on a plan to rectify them. Small people like me, for example, will review my performance and plan when I can't achieve the target for my mid-year sales figure. But sad enough, Dr. Lim's remark was being marked as racist by one of the Menteri Besar. Wow.... racist??? A mere suggestion is racist? I just don't understand, we heard more severe remarks by our UMNO Youth friends and we never brand that as racist. Memang membimbangkan. Then Dr. Lim's remark was being "asam-jeruk"kan till I saw a paper showed Dr. Lim's comment as "it can't go on and on". Well... I'm asking the same question. When? Dr. Lim's added some other interesting suggestion.... asking our brothers to compete with other global players and not focusing the other races.... Hahaha.... muhibah lah kononnya!!! Another interesting facts about muhibahness as we like it. Go and pay attention to the latest ad on our merdeka day by RTM. Small kids were featured in the whole ad but if you notice and scrutinize carefully, some of the races are not represented. Haha....... muhibahlah kononnya. But I can't help but wonder since last time, it's always politically correct and feature ALL the major races in any national-celebration ads. Yeah... maybe we are racist after all!!!! If we remember Yasmin Ahmad's ad on the Budi Bahasa campaign was being criticised as racist and not protraying the truth coz the actor who's obviously without budi bahasa is our brother's race. So, how should it be done? Put other races' as the bad guy then it'll not be racist????? Gosh.... I dunno what's the logic of these of group people. I bet they're those who climbed up the wall and gate of Selangor Chinese Chamber's premise few years back after the Dong Jiao Zhong stating their stand on the Chinese education policy.
Then another is AP vs Proton. I read with full interest on Kak Dah's (supposed to be nama glamour given by her Youth brothers) attempt to rest down the critics that condemned her openly in the meeting, It was reported that she was booed and jeered when she mentioned at one time the quality of Proton cars. And the crowd shouted out "Hidup Proton"???? Gosh.... I'm wondering are those who shouted own a Proton car??? If it's not the cheapest car in the market (just comparing price without thinking about the quality and reliability), I wonder how many of us will buy it. Minta maaf???? Haha..... Dr. Shahrir Samad mentioned one interesting facts regarding our Kak Dah and Tun's relationship. "She was his favourite minister and now they are quarelling. It marks the end of something but don't ask me what" Isn't this better than the paparazzi surrounding the Taiwanese star, Lin Zhi Ling????
Then what else??? Yea... the MCA election was like peanut compared to the big hoo-ha of UMNO assembly. What to do? Like the HKies says...... "admit your fate" lah! De-peg of RM. Finally. Let's see what're the effect...... Pak Lah say kita boleh mah
On lighter note, had a fun night karaoke with ex-classmated. We managed to get 10 of them to gather and sing our heart out. It's always fun to get together esp when we're going to have our reunion next CNY....
I'm still reading The Lexus and The Olive Tree. 2 more new books is coming, thanks to Sophia who supplied them to me. I read the Haruki Murukami's Norwegian Wood before and I think now it's better timing to read it as I was too young at that time. Another one is a book on Wong Kar Wai's film, should be nice and informative as I love his movie.
Yeah.... watched divergence by Aaron Kwok, Daniel Wu and Ekin Cheng. Memorable "trying-too-hard" performance from Aaron. Female characters are just "flower vase" as in the films of the Mou-Gan-Dou-esque theme. But Ning Jing is shining; not only her bald head look but her Beijing-qiang-esque Mandarin is attractive. Haha..... Wat else to ask for??? A Sunday afternoon entertainment. No complaint.
Tomorrow gonna watch The Island. Starred by Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johannson, two bankable actor-ish type of artisan, it was mixed-reviewed as some says it's good but some says mediocre. Yeah...another Michael Bay's flick, for me, it's just for the sake of Ewan and Scarlett.
Currently listening to Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" and Buble's latest album. Maybe I haven't listen to Carey's song these latest few years, it sounded OK lah. Buble ah...... OK and I love his "Home". It generated some mixed feeling in me, a lonely soul who had been staying out for more than 10 years!!!!

Love Thy Neighbour

Yeah.... the Desperate Housewives series is really captivating and it made me think do we really know our neighbour well enough? Yeah.... now I'm staying in apartment so it's literally no need and less chances of bumping into your neighbours at all.... It came as a shock to me as I found out that my neighbour had move out temporarily few months ago!!! Yeah... I can blame it to my neverending outstation trip but today, I happen to see their door opened... looked like they have some trouble with the floor tiles. They were getting off from the floor and hence, they move out temporarily to get it done. So, I have to endure endless hours of knocking from now.....

OK, I admit I'm a boring person. My idea of Saturday? Meeting up with friends and have a good chat over coffee; browsing bookstores and CD stores and that's all. Boring right? Of course if I'm not out, I'll stay in my house doing the ever-tiring housekeeping such as sweeping and mopping the floor. I'm sick of these actually but what else can I do? Enrol the swimming lesson, go to gym to buff up, go and help out in the Kiwanis Down Syndrome Centre. OK, I got it, there's lots to do.
Went to meet an old friend with some of his colleagues from WM. He was quite persistent in meeting us up and I accepted it. Well, what can I say? It's not easy to meet up with some strangers and hope to get the "clicked" feeling. To be frank, I'm not really looking for this kinda feeling, just open up myself and getting to know new friends. I need to enlarge my circle of friends.
Gonna finish some of my piled up reports and proposals. Next week is my training in KL and this time around, lots need to be done and it needed to be done fast and good

Yup, London blast. Literally! Just fresh from the great joy and celebration mood of successfully gaining the organizing right for Olympic 2012, several explosions occurred in the underground tube and dampened the joyous mood to the zero ground. What can I say? The world had gone wrong, like what SA said. Watching the news coverage and the follow-up, I had some feeling that some of the British is not totally shocked like what v saw in 911 few yrs back. The level and intensity of the shocking faces is definitely toned down comparatively. To certain extend, I believe the British in some way is kinda expecting something like this to happen, but the timing is totally unexpected, which is just after a great celebration moment. Given Blair is the big supporter of the Iraq war, UK is one of the last countries where the extremists haven't really launch any revenge as others such as Paris, Madrid etc had already been "revenged" in some way or other. Just hope that things will change.Peace still rules.

Hitch Hiking Anyone?

driving 5.5 hrs hilly one-lane road is no easy feat so i'm extremely tired. on the way passing the Mt. Kinabalu, i saw a minah salleh waiting for bus and being a friendly sabahan, i offer her a ride. haha....
having enjoyed the hospitality of my hosts during my trip in Italy, I made a promise to do so here in Malaysia and promoting the whole idea of it. she asked me do i charge anything and jokingly asked whether is it safe or not. yea.... i looked too safe and she went in my car without further questions. she turns out to be a friendly tourist as well. so v chatted all the way from the kinabalu park till i dropped her at the tourist information centre.
her name is jane and she's from sydney. working in spore on a boat. no questions asked further on that but she told me the boat traveled around the world so i guess it must be some kind of cruise maybe smaller in size or private owned. she was in China for 3 wks before coming to Borneo, and she climbed the mountain. went to Kinabatangan River and stayed there and Sepilok as well. haha.... it's not a surprise if many sabahan never did wat she did in 1wk. an avid traveller, she and her bf have the priviledge to travel as they both on that boat. very chatty and she's gonna take off back to spore tomorrow so she'll go to the Pulau's in the morning. wish her luck and enjoy!
Ciao Jane!

SICK

OK, I'm not asking for sympathy but I am SICK. Hopefully I will recover soon, gotta go back to KK soon and I believe I'll be able to recover sooner. Shit! Tonnes of things piling up!
Ciao!

Books and Signal

OK, it's not that I dun like books, in fact I'm sort of like a book worm though I kinda abandon this liking for books after I started working a few years back. But lately I bought lots of books, at least that's a lot to my standard as I tend to borrow from either library or my endless resource of well-read friends. Lots to what extend you may ask, 5 in 2 months? Haha... it's like compensation to the lack of it the few years back, fueled up by the thought of tax exemption up to RM700. Haha..... si kui me comes in the picture again. I bought mostly chinese books with one exception, a book by Thomas Friedman called The Lexus and The Olive Oil. Evidently, he's a good author and his pieces touches on his feeling as a journalist and facts about globalisation. Good book for those who reads the world news and not phobic about political scenarios around the world (for those who even ignorant to our own country's political scenario, forget abt this, ok, no offense). Bought 2 bookagazine hahaha.... (i donned this word myself (hybrid of book and magazine). It's actually published by Taiwanese publisher under the series of Net and Books. Each copy will emphasize on different topics and the entries and articles are very nicely packaged with illustration and you will find very ecletic choice of correspondence submitting their opinions on the specified topic each issue. The two copies I bought was on Greece and Music. I am always fascinated by the Greek mythology since I was small and I remember I used to have a pen-pal from Greece but we lost contact these days. I was always dumb-strucked by the breathtaking sceneries of the blue-Santorini sky and sea decorated by its cluster of nicely built and painted houses scattered around the cliff of the islands of Greece. I always wish to remember each specific Greek mythological figure i.e. Zeus, Athena etc... but being older each day, my memory turned me down in such a speedy rate hence having a book is way much easier. OK, my next dream destination is Greece, actually it was always my dream destination but somehow got detoured for my own trip after my UK training, due to mostly economical and logistic reason. The next volume is on music and it covers quite a complete range of music and entries of ppl like Lin Qiang (folk rock singer turned electronica-punk singer from Taiwan), Luo Da You and Chui Jian (godfather of Taiwan and China rock scene respectively) plus an entry by Lei Guang Xia surely made it a sure-buy. Haven't read yet. Actually I want to buy the volume called "Alone"/"Yi Ge Ren". Wouldn't it be more appropriate??? Haha.... gonna read the book and match it with my own life now and I think the similarity will be at least 80%. MC, one of my friend mentioned that it will be more depressing to read this kind of book but who cares??? We can't be any less depressed by not reading that right? Haha... Saw another book in Popular by this Japanese gal, I think called "Five Years of Living Alone" (sth like tat lah). It's again the illustration book which caught the hit bug lately (or maybe since few years ago) after the success of Jimmy Liew (known fondly as Ji Mi) about life of living alone. Well... come to think of it, I can actually start to write something like tat. However, my drawing sucks so I may opt to use image/photo instead. 4th book is an illustration book by Miao Ru, famous for her Exchange Diaries series. The title is My Life in Seattle, of course about her life in Seattle after moving there with her Norwegian husband. Seattle.... the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan classic comes in mind but after n-times of watching the reruns which was repeated-shamelessly in our local TV stations, it lost the ummpphh.... Only my fascination with the soundtrack stays as it was a good compilation of nice jazzy tunes, not to forget it did revive the Nat King Cole's classic, When I Fall in Love. Nice and light, the book by Miao Ru. The 5th book and the latest is the one on Stephen Chow. Yup, u read it right! The book actually opened my eyes on Stephen Chow's film though I kinda develop likings for his recent film esp "Eat God". Very impressive fanbase and big names submitted their entries to this book as well, e.g. Wakin Chow, Nan Fang Sth (dunno how to pronounce but he's a very famous social commentator), Tsang Bao Yi and Stephanie Sun the singer, famous film critic Men Tin Siong and his amazing fans. Some interesting facts here, Yu Fa, the famous ugly sidekick of his films, fondly remembered with "her" nose-picking (digging more aprtly) antics is actually Stephen's classmate!!!

sig·nal ( P ) Pronunciation Key (sgnl)n.
An indicator, such as a gesture or colored light, that serves as a means of communication. See Synonyms at gesture.

The above definition was taken from dictionary.com and I guess it must be sent to millions of drivers in Malaysia as they don't know what's the meaning of it and how the little device in our cars which normally on the right hand side of the steering (sometimes left side e.g. Proton Waja) can perform the function as SIGNAL!!!!!!!!! Imagine you are waiting at the junction, trying to get into the main road... not any main road but seriously busy main road with continuous stream of cars. You are there, patiently waiting for a chance to move thinking that if there's any car which want to turn into ur junction, that's ur chance to end ur patience-testing wait. But those drivers are just too ignorant abt that little device in their car called SIGNAL, just drive elegantly into the junction without considering the feeling of the other party who may have been waiting for ages!!!!!! Seriously, the traffic police should be stationed at those strategic junction and send the summons to those drivers who failed to give SIGNAL!!!!!! It can cause a major jam with cars queueing endlessly trying to get out to the main road and I'm sure the consequences such as time wasted, fuel wasted, temper provoked, foul words and swearing shouted are enough to justify the station of traffic police. Come on, friend!!!! Do give signal when you want to turn into any direction if it's not your current direction!

Initial D

OK, 1st of all, I have to admit I never read the original comic series. And I never watch Fast and Furious. Hence, I have nothing to compare with regarding this movie. What can I say? As usual anthony wong is his usual self. I think it's always assuring to have him as one of the cast in a movie. He can portray anything, if it's not the best, it's enough to outshine others or "enough homework". Again, Chapman is his usual comical self, providing most of the comic relief of the movie. However, sometimes it's a bit too much, e.g. the scene where he vomit after being a passenger of Jay's driving... the 2nd and 3rd time vomitting action is just overdoing it. No comment about Jay's acting but I felt that he should leave the acting to those who knows better and concentrate on his portrayal of the "selamba" character. The later scene whereby he cried gosh.... he just can't do it! And that scene is not short man!!! Tears and all??? After that scene I think it's better Jay continue to sing instead. And what happen to the only female cast? I believe there're more cutie Japanese gals around. Oh.... mayb it's me. I'm getting old now. Gotta blend in to the younger crowd huh? Speak or rather blurt out words unclearly you want to speak like Jay or maybe speak like Edison in monotonous tone..... Abt Edison, I prefer Shawn indeed. Like his goatee and moustache, suits him.
However, the way the movie is shot is interesting. I dun know how the car racing scene fared compared to Hollywood's Fast and Furiuos but I quite like it. I dunno whether I'm oversensitive or watever.... but I noticed some elements of Mou Gan Dou in the movie... notably the 1st racing scene between Chapman and Shawn. The buddha statue reminds me of the same in the 1st installment of the Mou Gan Dou trilogy.
Though the movie is entertaining but I think it actually highlighted the problems faced by the HK film industry. It's still those few others around, is there any other actors in HK??? No wonder they have to find someone in Taiwan. Not to say Jay is the right choice but he's really a crowd puller. Good marketing ploy here.

Naive Me

OK, I know I'm naive and stupid at the same time. The previous blogs that I posted was actually comes with picture which I had pre-typed it in word format and when I finally logged in during this outstation period, I conveniently copy the whole thing and paste it here forgetting that I can't upload photo here since I'm not paying for this blog :( Stupid me.
So, gotta think of some other ways to link the pics. OK, I will settle it when I'm back from outstation. Again........ my travelogue is still in the way.................

Tonnes

ZSG’s (Zheng Shuo Guan – MCA Public Speaking Class) Bits and Pieces
During my rare-once-in-a-blue-moon housekeeping, I found some memento from my ZSG’s class sometime in 2003/4. It’s the comment notes from the other members of the floor after my presentation speech for Stage 1 & 2 respectively. Yea...... my speech is aptly titled “Sneezing” for the Stage 2. But it didn’t pass the 2nd round indeed.


I had to admit I post this to somehow boost my own confidence especially those comments I got after my 1st round presentation. Haha…. Straight admission passing the 1st round is no easy feat my friend haha!!!
It brought back some memories of the whole ZSG thingy, the good time shared with all the coursemates, the trip to Sekinchang (I love the Chinese name of the trip as you can see in the picture),

Cameron Highlands, Fraser Hills, the presentation night a.k.a. Fa Biao Hui, my unexpected beat of heart, the charity visit to the Old Folks Home, etc…. Thanks guys and gals in ZSG and all the best in your future endeavour!

9:01 pm
FAREWELL OUR CHEF DE FORCE

OK, I’m gonna dedicate this post to our Chef de Force in Jalan Bundusan, Peggie Briones. Having found a job in the isle of her love ones, she left KK leaving us (the poor souls of Beverly Hills) craving for the good food she cook; delicious dishes, cakes, liong cha, prawn crackers, desserts (nicely colored lai lou fa) and etc…. She did her cooking finale in KK before leaving for Labuan and some lucky chaps have the opportunity to taste it. Haha…..

Peggie, all the best to you and Tshing Teng. Ciao!

8:53 pm
Fun Fair

Any of you guys remember FunFair (FF)? Recently, I saw one during my tiring driving trip to Lahad Datu. It was in Kinabatangan area and I like the pics I took. It was taken sometime near "senja" so the lighting is just what I like most. The most recent recollection I have of FunFair is the one in SimSim (area in Sandakan, famous for its seafood and around-the-clock mahjong session) almost 10 yrs ago. Oppss...no, the last FunFair I went was during my undergrad yrs in Parit Buntar, so now you recognize the trend here? FunFair only exists in small towns (yup... for every single reason... Parit Buntar is indeed very small!!!!!!). I bet the city people would not know what a fun fair is, having only visited big grand theme-park all the time. Back to the fun fair, it's always signified by the big "mo tin lun" (ok... I dunno how to call that big round thing rotating up in the air, which is the fav scene of typical HK/Jap drama with brave hero calming the height-phobia heroine). In those time where only 2 channels of national TV available, FF is like the grandeur event of the small town. Children were not exposed to any PS games etc at that time. Their obsession may only be the Ksatria Baja Hitam (I always wonder how this name come about.. especially the Baja part or my memory gone wrong?), Gaban and other superhero.... FF is the only place whereby the children will get a late night out (hey.... I slept at 9pm so.... maybe it's only me) once a blue moon and enjoyed their heart out. Of course plenty of other knacks of games such as throwing-metal-ring-in-a-board-full-of-nail (or sometimes replaced by rubber one). Of course, there’s lots of food for sale. “Min fa tong” (OK, I admit my English vocabulary is in a critical need of supplement due to malnourishment) is surely one of those rare ones where we didn’t get to eat frequently (of course I mean at that time…). OK, gotta stop going down the memory lane, it’s depressing.

I don't know how to say about the American Idol. I prefer Bo to add some spices to the "stereotype" AI. But at last, Carrie won! No comment but I don't know whether it's the deteriorating excitement or "sen sin gem"in the whole fiasco but I just think that I didn't feel the goosebump when I heard Fantasia's "Summertime" before this. However, the result show brought back some finalists. Having said that I felt some of them really proved the audiences were right to vote them out. Mikalah and the other gal (not Jessica Siera) who sang with Babyface really need some help in their voice department. It's good to see Anwar, Jessica and of course my fav Nadia. Of all the segment with the big stars (well... except for Benson and Babyface I dunno abt others...) I like the one with Jessica, Nadia and Constantine the most. OK, tat's the end of the AI and OK... I hate to admit that I'm a TV junkies but I'm kinda looking forward to our very own Malaysian Idol and hey.... I heard someone is saying we're gonna have our own Sabah Idol!!!! OK... this is dangerous.

Sarawak + Dun Flock to Rome

I think I did wrote a lot on Miri, Sarawak and my admiration on the oil town. During my recent outstation to Bintulu, Sibu and Kuching, I surprised myself! I think I start to like Kuching more, and of course Bintulu and Sibu, even Sibu is flooded. Bintulu - being the gas town and recently I was impressed by the fact that Bintulu is the 3rd largest port in Malaysia, after Port Klang and Tg. Pelepas, Johor. The road condition is so impressive, wide road (I'm talking road in town friend!) and well-lighted (I think they dun owe money to the SESCO like what we did in Sabah haha.... municipal council owing to SESB.... hey, if government is a penghutang, who can be blamed for not paying taxes, fees etc?????? Lead by example man!!!!) The coastal road is nicely lit. Though the night life is not that booming (maybe I dunno the place...)... it gave a serene feeling indeed. Personally I have yet to discover the library... hope it's as nice as Miri's. Parkcity is the best hotel in town so far and given it's location near to the seaside, it's very scenic. Sibu - wow... the town centre is nice though it was flooded the time I was there. The centre is dictated by a nicely-paved square with some fountains and light, which looked beautiful at night. The town is still filled with walking people (they really walk or relax but not squatting suspiciously along the road side) even it's already 10pm (which to us EM people, it's sleeping time). Tanahmas Hotel and Premier is strategically located at the centre. Kuching - I gotta take back my comments about Kuching which I had lamented a few times to my friends. I mentioned that it's boring town with nothing to do at night besides strolling along the riverfront which is just lights and lamposts without life. OK, I take it back..... with action. Sometimes we tend to like something only after knowing it better and for my case, I made my assessment too early without having the whole picture. In addition, I tend to form first impression on sth I encounter (haha.... who dun????) for the first time. I remember the first thing I know abt Kuching is the airport. It's old and tired from even the outlook itself. SO, tat made the pathway for my not-so-fond memory of Kuching. However, this time around, I get to travel more around Kch and manage to sneak into the old town at night. Wow... the area is so enigmatic at night compared to let say... KK. (Sorry KK folks) I like the way some new cafe giving some facelift to the old street in Kch. The fusion of old architecture (sth like old Ipoh) with some new beautifully and artistically decorated cafes is so enchanting and it provide some great places for the youngsters to hang out. Bing Coffee Company is nice and I like the way the owner write the orders on the aluminium-like table with white-board marker on the order bar, which can be erased once the order is executed. Cool. Nice place with cosy sofas but mind you, most of the time, the sofas are reserved for regulars. Given the fact the place is more of a hanging out place, the patrons normally seldom leave early leaving lots of people have to leave due to unavailable seats. It will be even better if the place is being renovated to cater for patrons in the 2nd floor... open air... with flexible shades... that would be nice. Then there's SOHO and Grappa.
Both more like bistro pub type which unfortunately I haven't go in yet. Will definitely check it out next time around. The Grappa shot is a bit smeared due to my shaking hands with the camera. I'm starting to feel worried with the current condition of the congested Rome. The pope's death and funeral had inticed almost million of people flocking to Rome and almost paralyse the traffic system in Rome. I'm quite worried that I'll have trouble getting tickets to Rome from Florence and all the places will be overbooked by the time I reach Rome. Of course, increasing rate is one thing the availability is another thing! I have to rethink or even replan my scehdule to visit Vatican City. Secretly I just hope that whole election process ends ASAP then it will be nice. But I know... chances are slim. :(