WK's Blag

Hello... I'm still alive!

2010-07-09T16:16:00.004-07:00

Just dropping by and saying hi.

Summer is here and weather is getting warmer these days - just slightly cooler than Malaysia I imagine. That being said, the air here is not nearly as stuffy as S.E.A.

Just wondering if I should get a fan - but then again, there's only less than 2 months left in summer so that probably wouldn't be a good investment. I guess I'll just get out of house when it gets too warm.

Been trying to cook more since I have lots of free time. Managed to find some pandan leaves in the local T&T supermarket (Awesome, was not expecting that) although the typo in naming is bordering on blasphemy (it shows the same thing on the receipt). They do smell nice though.

Anyway that's all for now folks. Signing off.

p/s: Flowa powa!!!!

D for...

2009-10-12T10:42:00.005-07:00

Death

Durian Pengat

Doggy

Distracted

Donation, pls?

Disregard

Dear

Doomz day!

Bonus:

Dust on lens (click to enlarge!!)

I have failed, beloved country

2009-09-15T07:04:00.003-07:00

Merdekaku
Kenapa mau pukul tujuh?
Tak leh bangun
Salahkan Terry-kun

Malam bute
Nak baiki komputer~
Apa macam?
Pergi makan dim sum (x2)

Today in the life of a nomad

2009-09-11T10:30:00.006-07:00

What? It's already time to check out?
Gotta fuel up before wandering the streets again
To salvation?
Promise of ascension...
I can resist anything but temptation. Bak chor mee? $2. Two-hour food poisoning? Priceless.
Attacking the poison with poison. Saved from murky defilement.
Nearly forgot that it's Hungry Ghost Month.
They are gone. But the lone girl remains. Waiting.
Looking at the vast field promising hope.
And he stared at the shadow of his former self.
Buddy, don't stand outside alone at this time ler~ 'Things' are walking
The bloom, yellowed by the street lights. Time to find a place to sleep.

Check the Facebook too! And I am coming back to Malaysia!

2009-08-22T21:16:00.004-07:00

Hey, just so you know. I split what was originally exclusive to Blogger to Facebook now. Since uploading pictures in Blogger is a Thousand-Years-of-Pain each time, I have decided to write picture-heavy posts on Facebook.

Yeah, so check out my galleries here yo! Pics taken with the old but reliable Sony DSC-P200. It is quite bad taking pictures under low-lighting and it flashes a bit slow, but it does take decent (still) pictures in my non-professional opinion (IMNPO - now you've learned a new acronym). You do need a Facebook account though.

House-hunting is still ongoing. This time I might settle for something more expensive since it is so difficult to find and most of the time the people offering rooms are such lazy bums it is so hard to deal with. Take this one guy for example, I have exchanged about 10 emails with him when he saw my posting on Craigslist. I am pretty sure the only part he read about my posting was "... single room needed" because he went on and asked about information which was already posted in detail on Craigslist. All the while I used "WK" to identify myself. When I texted him again while saying I am "WK", that idiot could not remember who I am. So he called me and I have to explain who I am. The next time I smsed him (twice before he noticed) he called me again to ask who I am. Cjb, so I have to remind him again. Since he said he is only free on weekends, I suggested viewing on the same night since I was around the area. That joker then told me he will only get the key for the place on Sept. 1. If I wasn't having such a hard time looking for a place (and his place was pretty close to NUS, I would have insulted him on the phone and hung up on him. Yeah, so many times get these indifferent/take-it-or-leave-it-I-don't-give-a-shit-about-you people or those who offer shitty places at such high prices you'd thought there was gold to be mined there.

OK. After delaying for such a long time, I'll be coming home in the end of this month. Haven't decided how yet nor have I planned my trip to Malaysia. But H1N1 is so rampant in Malaysia now (68 casualties and they even have some WHO experts to come and study it) I am having my doubts. Then again I might adopt devil-may-care attitude and go anyway. If I come back earlier, I might spend a day or two in Melaka, then stop by at KL for two days or so, and head back to Kuantan before bussing/flying back to Singapore. But I'll keep you updated.

[Update Aug. 26]
1. Apparently some people are having trouble accessing my gallery. So I'm going to post more specific links and see if it works. Here is the food gallery. Let me know if that works. But easiest is adding me as a friend on Facebook la. Just search my name and I'll be there ♫.
2. Going to KL on Saturday. Have not made any travel plans yet.

Rant on bus

2009-08-20T11:55:00.003-07:00

Annoyed at buses going to-from NUS. Last night went to watch a free jazz trio performance (piano, bass, and drums) - fell asleep through half of it due to lack of sleep and due to jazz music's lack of adrenaline-inducing beats unlike say, Korean percussion drums.

But best part is after the performance ended. I was waiting for #96 bus to get to an MRT station to get back home. 2 minutes passed, a completely full bus passed by. 15 more minutes, another completely full bus. Another 15 minutes, 3rd full bus. It was 9 something pm when the performance ended so I didn't realize it was that hard to get a bus at this freaking non-peak hour. So tried to walk to the MRT seeing that it was 4 stops away or so, not too bad what, ~30 minutes of walk ma. Guess what, got lost but later thought I saw road signs pointing to the correct direction that I need to go (because I roughly know the location but not the precise directions). So I walked on like a MFSH and somehow they don't have walking spaces beside the roads. I have no choice but to walk on the sidewalk that is not parallel to roads. When I get out, !@*&^$$# already on a different road. Luckily there was a bus stop nearby. Even then I waited for 20-30 minutes for one bus to turn up (there were 3 buses going to my destination, talking about efficiency). The rest was business as usual, 40-50 minutes of commuting.

Although I admit I am partly to be blamed for not knowing how to walk to the MRT, I am of the opinion that if you can't get a bus after waiting for 40 minutes in your World's Top University at 9 p.m. that is pretty screwed up (almost as screwed up as those Malaysian buses last time I was there). Anyway the latest strategy to improve commuting experience is to introduce a more accurate predicting system. Let's apply this to my case. The system detects the bus is full, so from saying "Arriving" it displays "15 minutes". Then after 5 minutes aiyo another bus also full wor, so from say "10 minutes" it becomes "25 minutes". So what am I supposed to do with that information? Call a cab and pay $5 for what you usually get for $0.69? Continue waiting? What if the bus is your only way to get there and you keep getting all these full buses for the next 30 minutes? Judge for yourself how useful the perfect prediction system is.

Then this morning, I only managed to get into the 3rd bus after about 30 minutes of wait (on a good day, it takes 10-15 minutes to complete the whole journey). If this is Malaysia, I won't be surprised. But this is Singapore wor, developed country wor. Another interesting thing that my colleague pointed out was that during university vacation period and now that school reopened, the bus frequency is still the same whereas passenger volume has increased by maybe four- or five-folds. In UBC, in the same case, there would be more bus services available and frequency will be increased. I guess it's not that flexible here.

Paise la. Another one of my rant and rave session. Recently commuting and lack of sleep has taken its toll on my temper. But very tired dy right now, so going back to sleep...

Tonight, walking along Serangoon Road

2009-08-06T07:24:00.002-07:00

Had dinner at 9 p.m. at the newly renovated Tekka market. Most of the stalls were closed, and I was looking for something healthier and cheap (a.k.a. fish soup) but no luck so I settled for roti prata (or more accurately, roti canai but you know the Singaporeans ah...) and a cup of masala tea (my first!). Masala tea is a kind of milk tea with a lot of spices (cinnamon and I don't know what the others were) and it tastes... different, not sure whether I like it or not.

Then I walked along Serangoon Road back to my place. The road is lined up with small Indian grocery stores selling different wares like Hindi DVDs (original one, don't play play), flower garlands, fruits, vegetables, jewelry, and Indian food. Nothing fancy really, it is like things you get from pasar malams. The street is pretty lively with Indians (duh), some Chinese like me, and tourists (with their typical tourist attire, map, and MCC look). True, this ain't Orchard road, but walking among these people and humble shophouses presents you with a different perspective of the highly urbanized Singapore. This place feel more like India (who am I kidding, I've never even been to India) than Singapore - a bit like when you go to Quebec from other parts of Canada and everything changes and you are wondering if you are still in Canada.

Anyway this place has a small-townish feel to it, and people feel more down to earth. And often you can see Indians sitting by the roadside or fields enjoying simple pleasures like the company of friends and a cheap but hearty meal heavy with Indian spices. Indeed this is a refreshing change from the sight of expensive-looking shopping malls and the self-conscious cosmopolitans.

More than anything else, I was enjoying my short walk back home, feeling free from the backbreaking workload from school and the weight of academic aspiration on my shoulders. Bah, to hell with university (at least for now)! Nowadays I occupy myself with food and travel.

Soon enough, I arrived at the 24-hour mart below where I stay. The durian seller, as always, was eating his rice with mixed vegetables (dripping with oil) from the brown parchment paper. Walked up the stairs, the walls decorated with brown stains from sources unknown, one or two dead cockcroaches, an old man gasping for air, and a baby barely able to breath. And I thought to myself, "This land is so rich. Why should we suffer like this?"

Inserting my key into its rightful slot, I gave it a slight twist. The door opened, the dog poked out his head, wagging his tail. I found out that my housemate is leaving for Beijing tonight (Oh, homeland of my forefathers! How I long to be in thy embrace!) and down with flu (ah, the irony). I sat my fat ass on the pitiable chair and started typing out this post, while at the same time looking for a place for dinner tomorrow at Clementi*

* Named after Sir Cecil Clementi, governor of Negeri-negeri Selat. Remember your Sejarah, guys? I don't. I saw this on Wikipedia.

Intrigues In The Qing Imperial Court by Chinese Theatre Circle (yes, very intriguing indeed)

2009-08-05T09:18:00.007-07:00

Warning: Long blog post ahead. Proceed with caution. Please mind the platform gap.

Last night I went to watch my first ever Chinese opera and it was in English. You've heard it right - it is actually performed in English.

I know this is done in bad taste, but I just couldn't help it.

Anyway it was one of the many free performances sponsored by ExxonMobil in NUS campus. I finished work about an hour before the opera started, went to the oh-so-cheap NUS canteen for a quick fix, and hurried back to get a good seat - I only managed to get one on the mezzanine.

I didn't really know what to expect from the show (although my heart sank when I saw that it was going to be performed in English). I just kept imagining how they are going to do all the opera singing in English and it was weird. Surprisingly, the real thing was even weirder than what I imagined it to be.

3 points to make:
1. Unlike Chinese, English words often have more than one syllable. So it is quite awkward to transpose English lyrics onto Chinese opera music. Singing out syllable-fraction of a word (English) instead of singing out a word (Chinese) in Chinese opera style not only takes away the sense of rhythm, but imparts to it an ill-fitting nursery-rhyme like quality.

2. The English in the performance was garnished with a hearty serving of Singaporean accent. Let's say it does not match up well with the characters (emperor of China, Empresses Dowager, and court officials) who are dressed in elaborately designed Chinese costumes.

3. The Chinese-to-English abdrigement/translation. The lines (e.g. the Shakespearean "I am more sinned against than sinning", the literal translation of "人之将死，其言必善" into　"A dying person always has kind words", and descriptions like "nasty and crafty" ) does not flow well with the overall feel of the performance. For one, the use of English is inconsistent - sometimes natural sounding English proverbs are used, and other times literal (cliché-sounding) translation of Chinese proverbs are used; sometimes classier English words are used, while other times basic/crude English is used. This is exacerbated by the need for the words to rhyme, hence lines such as "Throw her into the well/ Hear not what she yells".

Since I can't seem to find any videos on this performance, I have found a few clips to give you a rough idea of how it sounds like.

This comes pretty close to what I have witnessed, but you get Singaporean accent (and one guy with Malay accent) instead of Hongie accent

This is to give you a feel of the English they use in the script. Compare it with the concise and elegant 古文, if you please

While I am highly critical of the performance, it does have some merits. For one, the costumes look beautiful, so does the makeup. The props were decent - I especially liked the large drawings used as backgrounds. In fact, before they started speaking/singing, it looked like it had potential to be a good show. In a way, it is still enjoyable, just not in the way I had originally thought of enjoying a Chinese opera.

There was a scene where the Chinese was negotiating with the foreign imperialists and a Caucasian started singing Chinese opera (very entertaining). A bit later all the foreigners stood up and sang a song (a very familiar one but the title eludes me) with a adulterated (in a good way though) lyrics. Ironically that was the best point of the Chinese opera. One curious detail though: the foreigner who was supposed to be German spoke with a thick French accent - was it a blunder, or purposely crafted so? Either way it is still pretty awkward. However I must say the Japanese played his part exceptionally well.

Another nice touch: When the emperor was writing 斩袁 (execute Yuan Shi Kai) in the air, the subtitle screen showed the 笔划 (strokes of Chinese characters) one by one in accordance with his hand movements. Unfortunately around the same time, the playwright suddenly took a sudden change in direction and tried too hard to portray CiXi as a Shakespearean tragic-hero-like character (before that she was portrayed as a merciless, "nasty and crafty" "monster") which I find not very convincing.

I looked at the opera's website and was surprised to see that the cast consists of acclaimed and award-winning actors. But I think their acting that day was a bit weak (I think the actor playing 珍妃 gave a good effort, but could not make it when it comes to singing) - probably because it was performed in English.

Not the best pick for my first Chinese opera, but hey it was free. And despite its anomalies, it was an eye-opener and did ignite in me a desire to seek out a proper Chinese opera. While I think it can serve as an introduction to Chinese Opera for non-Chinese speaking community, I hope they don't take this as the gold standard of Chinese opera, because it simply is not a good representation. But then again, I am a total noob when it comes to Chinese opera, so why listen to me? Listen to the what the ministers say lah haha.

My neighbourhood

2009-07-09T08:29:00.002-07:00

Tell you more about where I live now... pretty interesting place. Basically this area feels more like India than Singapore - you see 90% Indians here, and when I go into restaurants it feels quite awkward. Most of the time I'm the only Chinese in the whole restaurant.

Downstairs is a 24-hour grocery shop that has sort of a durian restaurant. Basically they put up some tables and chairs and people will come to eat durians and watermelons. So far I haven't tried the durian yet - there's the 3 packs for $5 one, very tempting - because I usually overeat for dinner.

A bit further down the street another 24-hr supermarket. It's called Mustafa Center, very notorious for its narrow aisles and crazy crowds. But it has a mixture of cheap and branded goods. Hotbed for H1N1 too. But it is very convenient and the amazing thing is it's huge - it basically is a hypermart and sells everything from fresh to dry food, jewelries, clothes, shoes, electrical appliances, and even its own money exchange and travel agency. Although most non-Indians tend to avoid the place because it's stressful enough to squeeze among the crowds in the MRT and bus stops.

Besides that there are of course a ridiculous amount of place to eat here - and gold stores. The Indian food here are typically North or South Indian food with names that you have to check in Wikipedia to make any sense of (I actually did that and it was pretty helpful). Typical Indian food cost about $4-$6 (a bit of high end in Singapore) but portions are huge. I wish I have more refined tastebuds because frankly I can't really tell the difference between most of the curries they have.

And I have to stop writing since I'm feeling very sleepy now...

Singapore breaking news: It has been raining for more than 2 hours...

2009-07-05T04:27:00.002-07:00

Walau, just moved to the new place last night which is near Farrer Park MRT (anyone knows where that is) and which is very close to Little India which means there is a super high concentration of Indians around that area so much so that when you go to an Indian restaurant you feel like an alien (phew that was a long sentence).

The owners seem nice and pretty liberal about sharing kitchen stuff and others. There is this 7-month dog in the house leaving drool all around the place. And the place is just beside a large Indian temple (which can get a bit noisy at 6 a.m. - I think it goes on for 2 hours if I'm not mistaken - and about 6 p.m.) and a busy road (so far only certain motorcycles have been causing problems - you guys should be familiar with the really loud motorcycles right?).

But the thing that kills me is the heat. I have been living at this previous place near Bradley MRT without air-con and got used to it, but this room is on a totally different level. Have you experienced the feeling when you settling into the seat of a car parked under the sun for a long time - that is precisely what I felt when I go to sleep. I was quite surprised because I thought the place was pretty windy and the fan seems to working pretty well. Then I was checking around and I realized something - the cooling effect decreases exponentially away from the window. You see my bed is actually located at the furthest away from the windows. And if you are 2 steps away from the window it is pretty shiok but further and further than that it actually almost feels like there are no windows at all - even the fan doesn't help that much in bringing in the cooler air. So my plan is to move the bed right beside the window - even though it would partially block my door - but that's a compromise I'm willing to put up with.

Update: The guys just removed some glasses on top. So we'll see if there is any improvement..

Moving on

2009-06-11T18:21:00.003-07:00

Finally things are almost settled, or at least I have started trying to settle things. I will be going to Singapore next day, although the exact date still eludes me because of my weakness.

Still trying to sell my possessions. Seriously we accumulated too much unneeded junk. Look around you, how many things you have are not actually what you need? All those iPhones, PS3, gadgets.... I am ashamed of myself for falling for this temptation that was way too easy. In the end, all our needless consumption is going to bring this world that we know of to an end. Surely, technology has saved us time to time. All the prophecies of doom has, thankfully, not come true. But the more disasters we avert, the more sinister, deeper problems we uncovered - the diseases, climate change, depletion of resources, and all. Will we survive? I have no time to think about that. Heck, I have a final exam to write tomorrow and I have not even started studying yet. I derive guilty pleasures from pretending to prepare for my departure than having to study.

Today I phoned my phone company to put my phone plan on hold since I am leaving Canada for more than half a year. It was pretty straightforward, just press *611 then press 0, and wait for someone to answer your call. In the end my only option for keeping my line was to pay $10 every month, even though I will not be using it at all - great! To top it off, right after I converted to the bare-minimum plan, another person from the phone company was suddenly concerned about what I think about their service before bringing up the issue that I changed my phone plan to the cheapest plan. The phone companies are a devious bunch, I tell you. I think the hidden charges alone would set you back about $8-$10 a month. It is a global phenomena. I was looking at some phone plans in Singapore and what seems to me like a good deal actually had a catch. Always read the terms and conditions. Even though the font size are barely legible, it actually contains the most important information about what you pay. Free incoming calls (Font 20 or 30 - I don't know)! Terms & Condition: you must activate some free incoming plan which cost $0.49 a day (Font 8 and hidden at the very bottom). Free voice mail. T&C: you pay this and this after first month. Sigh, all these tactics to trick us into spending...

Anyway I might be able to pull this off - not resorting to summer storage (mine is actually more-than-summer storage since I will still be gone for 4 months after summer). That would save me about $300-400 maybe. Then I am staying illegally at friend's living room (the hobo-under-a-roof concept) saving more than $500. My concern now is that I won't be able to sell off my textbooks while I am away, while unethical publishers keep on churning out new editions with about 1% change from previous ones every year or two. That's why if you keep your perfectly good textbook for a long period of time, most likely it will end up with maybe 10% (or less, gasp!) of its original purchase value. Shucks!

Time to get back to work... zzzme#$%&zzz...

Goodbye, Love

2009-06-11T17:41:00.002-07:00

We met about a year ago. Before our fateful meeting I have been searching for you for months, waiting patiently and pursuing feverishly at the same time. Finally, I laid my eyes on you and claim you as mine.

School was busy. I waited for the weekend to indulge in our newfound relationship. I explored every inch of you, previously untouched by any man. It was my first too. Excited and nervous, my hands shook with the feeling of your smooth exterior. It was joy beyond words. At the end of those 2 days we were bonded so tightly I could barely breathe.

You were my family, my lover, my confidante, my friend, and my last piece of the puzzle called life. You accompanied me in my study and in my endless pursuit of pieces of knowledge that seemed of dubious value. When I have to stay up late, at wit's end trying to solve that physics problem, you stood by me, your silent but sturdy support upheld me. I was grateful. For without you, all those lonely nights alone would have been unbearable.

I learnt a lot of things from you - I am still amazed at how helpful you were towards my academics. Although sometimes I get distracted by your gentle and soothing murmurs and the colorful expressions on your flawless face. Hand in hand, we travel imaginary wilderness, banished darkness, and studied the history of forgotten civilizations. Those were the blissful days that I would cherish forever.

Time flies. Fate, that cruel mistress, forced me into exile to a far away land, so far that for all your courage, resourcefulness, and passion you could never hope to reach. Do I have a choice? I have always had a choice. But in my selfishness, I could never give up the opportunity to pursue my dreams, especially in such hard times. Even then, how could I relinquish this loving embrace of yours? I asked myself again and again, losing sleep over this difficult question.

It no longer matters now. Today, I gave your hand to another man. Yes, with these hands that have caressed you countless times, I led you to him. My heart was weeping blood, but my eyes stayed dry. I put on a strong facade, smiling but could not bring myself to say goodbye. As if uttering those words means giving up even the memories of you. You did not look back, even though in his arms I could trace the slightest trembling of your body.

Goodbye, love. I know we would never meet again.

Start Rek

2009-05-19T00:50:00.003-07:00

Just watch Start Rek in a cheaper cinema (I usually go to the one in downtown which costs about $12 or $13, this one - which I doubt many people know of - is $8 for students). Was feeling pretty tired - due to lack of sleep (surprise!) but gotta admit the movie was pretty good. One of best way to judge how good a movie is is by how much more awake you are after the movie. This one did the job alright.

One thing that I like about the film is that the humour was tastefully done. When I first saw that Asian guy who was in Harold & Kumar (and later Simon Pegg) I was preparing myself for some dumbed down scenes - I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was none.

Zachary Quinto was not bad at all as a logical being who only betrays his emotion subtly - and I have to say the provocation scene where he just let loose was pretty good, the provocation itself was a bit meh. Kirk feels a bit more generic - the rebellious genius who finally comes to his senses. The female characters weren't that prominent as well.

All in all, it was a pretty good film, in that it didn't sacrifice believability for epicness/heroism. The plot was ok-ok, the theme of revenge and wasn't as thought-provoking as Dark Knight. But yeah, go watch it, you'll probably like it.

Peace.

p/s: zomgz why did they make Rachel Nichols so ugly!?

My Days (In Vancouver) are Numbered

2009-05-18T04:47:00.002-07:00

Things in life work in a strange way. Life has been pretty mundane without some external motivation. I have verified the theory that if nothing is pushing me (e.g. exams, competition with another person) I hardly move - probably applies to a lot of people too.

The slightly more tangible things I have done so far would be finishing Elfen Lied and Death Note (manga) and I watched Machine Girl on crunchyroll (very brutal. very gory. Audience are advised to view on their own discretion). Talking about Elfen Lied, I actually thought that the anime was better, surprisingly. It is very likely because in the manga, the author keeps prolonging some character's life until the shock/pity factor wears out. It is also a convolution of many different genres - horror, suspense, ecchi, love - which is interesting sometimes but a lot of times the mundane elements get the upperhand. The third reason why the manga was not as good is because of the absence of the audio effect. Part of why the anime was moving is because they have good voice actors, hence the manga lost some of the emotional appeal.

Moving to Death Note. I re-read it from scratch after abandoning it halfway a long time ago. [Spoiler] The early volumes were good, where Kira-L rivalry was the main focus. After Kira/Light/Raito gave up his death notes and subsequently his memory of the death notes, things were pretty dull until we see what Light's scheme was. The death of L caused quite a stir. Then it was Light-Mello-Near battle which somehow didn't feel that impressive. It seemed kind of dumber. Maybe Light just got overconfident but at that point onwards the manga lost a part of what initially appealed to me the most - the intellectual and psychological battle.

Anyway back to the main topic, so I was just hanging around my friend's place as usual and eventually decide to try to learn PHP/MySQL. Then just right at the time I found a good book on the topic and was going to lose myself in the world wide web, I got an email from NUS (what a downer!) that my application has been processed (at least partly processed) and I might be able to start co-op on June 1. The problem (maybe just a minor problem) is, I have taken a class (restropectively it was a rash decision) which only ends at June 13th so I probably have to delay work by 2 weeks (and seeing that it has already been delayed a month - I was supposed to start in May, ideally - I don't know if I should do that). On the other hand, withdrawing from my course now would leave a 'W' on my transcript - I am not exactly sure what that would do to my prestige (not that I have much left)

So I have been staying up trying to figure things out, emailing people about questions, writing down things I ought to do before leaving Vancouver etc. I have already failed to do what I originally intended anyways, now it would just be damage control. I should probably get some sleep now.

Zzzz....must....watch....Star....Trek.....

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Spoilers)

2009-05-05T16:27:00.003-07:00

I watched this yesterday with some friends. If I need to describe the movie in less than 5 words, I would say "popcorn flick". Incidentally, yesterday was one of the very rare moment where I went into the theatre with a big-ass popcorn.

One of the main reason I was watching it is because part of the filming was done in UBC, although it turned out to be disappointingly short (1-2 minutes) in the film.

The director could have elaborated more on Logan's background, family conflict and stuff, flesh out the characters a bit. No, they just want action and more action, and everything that is non-action only seems to serve as a means to more action. I admit some of them are not too bad, like when he jumps up and destroys the helicopter's blade, or when the mutant team was just making their appearance with some flashy show-offs. But all those action have failed to disguise the fact that this is just a mediocre action flick.

For one, why the heck did they not erase Logan's memory before they fuse the adamantine into his bone and risking him going berserk - and sending Agent Zero who can't even hurt Wolverine to hunt him down? And there was the extremely cliched "you're not an animal" line. And there's the changing allegiance of Victor with his sudden brotherly love. Gambit was unremarkable at best, although I gotta admit the special effects were pretty cool. In essence, you can change the characters with anyone else and it won't make much of a difference.

In conclusion, if there were any good things about the action of the movie, it is more than negated by the lack of intelligence or genuine emotion in the film. It is (sigh) just another money-making machine.

Current status: Homeless and jobless

2009-05-05T16:04:00.002-07:00

What did I do today? I carried a backpack full of books - I think there were 20+ of them - to a few 2nd hand bookstores to sell them off, dirt cheap. To my chagrin/surprise, I only managed to sell less than 10 of them. Some that I thought would sell for sure - Silence of the Lambs, Lost World, Hamlet, etc. didn't interest them at all. So I made a new post on Craigslist to sell them.

It has been almost a week since my exile, and so far I have sold one fridge, one Math textbook, and some fictions which constitutes less than 1% of all the things I have right now. Funny how things that you hold dear can be totally worthless in other people's eyes. I also learned about the difficulty in selling stuff. You see, some people expressed interest in some of the stuff, and that they tell you on the phone that they were coming today to pick it up. And what happened? They disappeared, no explanation, nothing. There was another guy (who later bought my Math book) gave me a useless phone number that he doesn't even use. I decided to take a class yesterday so I called him with that number (no answer), left a text message (no reply), and sent an email (only got a reply 7-8 hours later) to change meeting time. In the end, I guess he just missed all of them and waited for me at the original meeting time. I waited for him during my proposed meeting time and not too surprising, he didn't show up. I was expectedly quite annoyed. If people ask you for your freaking phone number, you give one that people can actually get to you if there's change in plans, not some phone that you never answer!

Another thing that frustrates me is how long people take to answer emails. I can understand if they don't sit in front of a laptop most of the time (like me, since I'm busy selling my worthless possessions) but if it takes you a day to answer a simple email most of the time it puts me in this dilemma: Ok, this guy hasn't answered my email for 9 hours, but he seemed to be interested in this fridge, but the other one gave me her phone number and says she can pick up in 2 hours time, so what do I do? In the end, I just make up their mind, I give priority to those who can make up their mind and get things off my hand instead of those who asked the first but are tardy in replying emails.

I should probably zip it and suck it up. Next post is about Wolverine.

Time flies...

2009-04-30T19:37:00.003-07:00

Time flies, so clichéd, so true. I still remember vividly the year when I first arrived in Canada, so ignorant yet so optimistic and hopeful. The smell of barbecue so tantalizing in the cold air, leaving an indelible mark in my memory.

I was just reading my old posts. Why am I reading my old posts? I was just re-arranging my stuff, trying to discard as many things as possible to lessen my guilt of having to fill my senior's place with my accumulated junk. Looking through some of the stuff I wrote down during the blessed days in Taylor's college - I had always complained about the heat and the lack of extra-curriculum in Taylor's college, but looking back now, I realized that it was such a sheltered haven. It thus saddens me dearly to find that I have lost contact of 2 of my favourite teachers, Mr. Sarno and Mr. Joy. Is this a sign that I should just forget about the past.

Looking at my old posts, it was as if I'm looking at a different person. Now I truly understand that people do change. I am kind of happy that I had something to remember my old self, regardless of how or into what I have changed now. Sigh.

Anyway, my current status: I don't know when NUS is going to complete my application process. Reliable sources tell me that it usually takes more than 3 months but this maybe shortened, in other words, "dunno". So I still have a lifetime of maybe 2 months in Vancouver. Currently leeching at my senior's place again with my enormous pile of steaming hot crap in the living room. Don't really know how to get rid of them, so now I'm trying to sort out which stuff I need and what I don't really need. Because university Housing forces us to leave our place on Apr. 29, which is 2 days after my final exam. Since I was studying oh so hard for them, I couldn't pack properly. That's why all my stuff are mixed around. And scrubbing kitchen floor and the insides of oven (with all those burnt stuff) ain't fun. I passed out for 10 hours last night (which is actually surprisingly short if I think about all the work I have done for the past 2 days). Sleeping for 10 hours, when I woke up I was quite late for a go-kart session with a friend, and later I was too late to sell some books to a 2nd hand book store and bla bla....

Currently in a dilemma now. I'm selling some fridges and getting some response. Frustrating thing is, the first person who asked hasn't replied since his first email and then you have 5-6 person asking for the same item. So should I just sell to the person who can pick up the earliest or wait for that slowpoke who is the first guy to reply?

Somehow I feel that I am the only person who could understand this post...

Btw, my first year English TA published a book (wow!) http://www.amazon.com/Post-Human-David-Simpson/dp/1440136874/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241146759&sr=8-1 and I'm still trying to figure out why the same book is being sold at freaking $29 on the Canadian Amazon.

Ok la... update update

2009-04-20T08:35:00.003-07:00

Final exam season. Had 4 exams in 4 days in the first week. Didn't go well at all, given my lack of enthusiasm and consistent work in some of my courses. Just don't know why I don't feel the same way about my studies anymore. I used to work hard for each and every assignment/quiz/midterm, so I was quite shocked (well not really, given that my emotional sensitivity has been somewhat dulled) to look back this year to see how many lectures/assignments I skipped, and how indifferent I was to the quizzes/midterms (well some of it, not all). Hence now I suffer the consequence of my indolence - to make things worse, this term is actually the term with the highest number of final exams, ah the irony - well at least I'm not hooked up with games like last term's final hah.

[Break time!] Check out this video http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1907543.

Back to the issue at hand... I keep asking myself what I am going to do about this? I don't really know. I guess I can start by studying the course before I take it and try to revise my old stuff - first I gotta scan my notes so that I can access it easily. Well those two never really worked in the past but doesn't stop me from trying!

Btw, 8 months of internship/co-op after this term (phew! break from studies). I'm quite likely to be working in S'pore but details are still up in the air.

So yeah, I'll probably die alone....

2009-02-20T23:48:00.003-08:00

It is one of those nights where I get frustrated or emo, if you like. Seems like I am a human repellent. Probably true, judging from how deep my rejection to outside world can get at times. It is a chronic disease, I do not know when it started happening but I am very well aware of it right now. Everything just takes so much effort now. When I let go for a while, it all loosens and falls apart. Heavy workload is a very, very good excuse but deep down there is just some mismatched gears. It is a sorry state of mind to be in, and a sorry state to be constantly in such a state of mind. You probably would not get it, but then again you might. But is it my expressionless face, or is it my eyes that sees nothing, or is it my feet that would not stop for a familiar face for fear of being bogged down, or is it my mouth that never greets? Why does it take so much effort from me? Why isn't the reverse happening to me? There are still a few, yet it is getting fewer and fewer. The constant booming bass is not helping, curse them!

But no, I do not seek to take my own life. I just pray that I will be relieved of fear of solitude as the inevitable seeks me. I feel better now.

p/s: Thank god for Beatles and caffeine. Life would be unbearable were it not for them.

I'm ma need new earphones!!!

2009-01-28T21:05:00.004-08:00

Note to self: Buy noise isolation earphones asap, some cnmjbzzsbd Koreans who hang around with no one but themselves are getting unruly in the library, foiling all attempts at getting quality study time.

It's beginning to feel a lot like CNY

2009-01-27T12:16:00.006-08:00

'Tis global warmin', my friend..

People say Vancouver not only has White Christmas, but also White Chinese New Year. Maybe that explains why I haven't been able to wake up for classes.

You are what you eat!!

2009-01-24T17:07:00.013-08:00

Mmmm. Dog.

Urgh....

2009-01-15T17:36:00.000-08:00

Unusual sleeping habits

2009-01-14T01:36:00.003-08:00

Something weird happened today. After finish baking my 1st cookies, I feel so very tired (kind of usual recently) so I took a nap at 7 something, fully expecting myself to be alive and kicking at 9. But then I think I keep changing my alarm time and stuff that when I woke up it was 1 a.m. Zomg! So that's already about 5 hours - which is slightly less than my golden mean of 6 hours per day! I think I'm going to take another hour at 6 a.m. and work my ass off until then.

Anyway enjoy the video below:

And a comic strip from xkcd!

New template lalala

2009-01-11T14:30:00.002-08:00

After enduring the crappy broken template for n years, I finally beh tahan liao. Originally I was planning to whip up something cool with Dreamweaver but my skill is half a bucket of water and blogger isn't really that cut to customization so I stuck with finding a pre-made template (pretty lame I know)

Still haven't figured out how to customize some stuff and the whole process actually took me about 2 freaking hours. Gotta go liao, work to do, long road ahead of me.

Housemates

2009-01-11T12:02:00.002-08:00

This term I have 3 housemates. 2 are from last term. One of them is really close to another one who moved out. They always do stuff - study, play Left 4 Dead, go out for dinner, cook dinner, watch TV - together and the house was pretty merry. Sometimes I join them, steal their food, contribute a bit for dinner, and stuff. It was actually pretty fun and I enjoyed their company. Even though they were mechatronics students - easily one of the most respectable and "cream of the crop" even among engineering students - they always took time to have fun, play computer games, etc. They were the ones who influenced me into the new era of gaming, to make full use of my $1000-powerhouse. But this other guy moved out because he's working in an internship so he shifted to another place which is closer to his place. Ever since then, the guy who remained seemed to have lost his passion - at least when he's in the house. He is always in his room and he always eat instant noodles (stopped cooking altogether). We still talk from time and time, but it feels like the house has lost its youthful passion bla bla mojo bla bla thingy. It is as if a biological material that has lost its enzyme - kind of sad, really. And he might be moving out soon. So sad, so sad, it's a sad sad situation....

My second housemate is a really quiet quiet guy, at least in front of people he is not close with or chooses not to be close with (does it make a difference?). He rarely comes out of his room, like those Japanese/Korean (JK) student who comes here to study. <<<>>>. Anyway back to my second housemate. He rarely talks to any of us in the house. I think he spoke less than 10 sentences to the power duo during the last 4 months - the usual conversation consisting of mutual "hey"s (which is a mumble on his part) doesn't count, apparently. He doesn't seem to want to talk much even though I start a conversation with him - like when I ask him how he's doing, what's he doing and stuff, he never seems to have anything to contribute to lengthen the conversation. During the winter break last few weeks ago, he had 2 of his friends come over, and they cooked, they laughed, they watched TV, they played extremely bad music that makes your ear bleed - and for a moment, he seemed normal. When the break ended, he went back to his old self, maybe cooking for once every month (they used to cook everyday - and their mess still can be seen in the living room - lazy bastards).

Well, there's still hope in humanity even though the weather is cold and bleak. This term an exchange student moved in. The reason I like living with exchange students is they are usually very outgoing and they know they have only a short time in Vancouver - usually 4 months - so they will try their best to mingle and make the best out of their time here (how I wish I can share their mentality). This guy can cook pretty well, that day he shared some food with me, and hopefully I can extend the same generosity to him in the near future. And he seemed to be willing to talk to me, which is good - seeing the other two are getting increasingly reclusive in their warm cosy rooms. He's from another country, so hopefully I can learn some useful stuff from him, like what his country is like, some dishes, a bit of Spanish? etc.

So there you go. My 3 housemates for this term. I kind of wished I was the only antisocial in the house - so my housemates would help me be better, instead of the other way round. I wish I was more communicative - sometimes when I want to ask them to clean up the house, I will think about all the mess I have contributed to the house - well, they might have done no less, but usually I'm obsessed with my own guilt and inadequacy, my own shortcomings, that's why I'm not as sociable as I would dream of. Oh well, time to start working on my 8 courses. Time are getting tougher and tougher, better not dream about things that are hard to attain. I do have to admit, gossiping is fun. Wish there was someone where I can unrestrictively spill out all my insecurity, bitterness, and fears. Dreams... ah, the green light that never seems to be within reach... or is it even real at all?

Textbooks

2009-01-08T01:30:00.002-08:00

In university, textbooks can be really important. Many times (seriously, more than half the time) the textbooks are your only saving grace because a lot of professors are really imcompetent at teaching. I miss my Taylor's College days - those are easily the best year of education I have (or even will) ever had.

But textbooks here are very expensive - if you buy it in the bookstore anyway, which I never did except in those rare cases when the profs photocopied stuff and compiled them into a custom package. They cost at least C$100 and can go up to C$200. There are several things that baffles/annoys me about textbooks here (ot maybe everywhere else):

1. Answers to odd-numbered questions: Seriously? Only half the questions? I propose that they not only give that but the worked-out solutions for ALL questions. They claim that giving students solutions will make them lazy and too reliant on the solutions and not learning anything. I say, who are you to decide how students are going to learn the material. It's true that some will fail to learn, but IMO students should have the final say on how he wants to learn the material - I'm pretty sure we are matured enough to make that decision. I think the real reason behind this oddity (haha pun!) is two-fold: a) So they can make more money by selling solution manuals; b) So that lazy professors and TAs can use the textbook questions for assignments/midterms/finals.

2. Frequent revision: Students here are always experience the annoyance of having his major textbooks getting outdated so quickly (in fact, some books have new editions almost every 2 years) causing the value of the book to drop, and sometimes to buy the wrong (older) editions. And you don't know how much the "updated" version has changed. In fact, most of the time, the newer edition only adds some pictures and shuffles the number of questions around, and students will have to fork out extra $150 for the new edition. It's a scam I tell you.

3. Online resources bla bla: This is a recent outrage. In fact, it is so recent it happened just one/two days ago. Just found out that for one of my circuit analysis course I have to pay C$70 so that I can get access to my assignments which is worth 15% of the course. I get an ebook along with the registration code, and a lot of online resources. Even though I have 2 copies of the textbook I still have to buy the ebook, isn't it ironic? If I want online resources, I wouldn't have bought the hard copy of the book, would I? Online resources are more than welcome if they are free... but if you have to charge extra for that, that is just a rip-off.

So much for today's "What grinds my gears" section. You are dismissed.

Long time bo blog liao Pt 3: Food

2009-01-07T02:34:00.011-08:00

Food yum yum yum. I have been in stages in life where I lost passion in gaming, in studies, and in life itself but I have never lost passion in food. Yum yum yum (Y3)

Well this is supposed to be pizza....

This is gross.... pan-fried pizza dough

Chocolate muffins. Y3

Guess la...

Oh it's getting better....

Strawberry muffins Y3.

Nyonya-style tang yuan (with mutated purple ones)

My first picture post in a long time. Worth my trouble and head-ache in class tomorrow. It's all your fault, Hei.

[End of Me So Hungry post]

Long time no blog liao Pt 2: Snow

2009-01-07T02:23:00.002-08:00

It has been snowing for a long time. Long as if me love you long time that kind of long. Snow itself is not a bad thing even though it is kind of hard to walk - you can have snowball fight, you can make snow dessert, you can hide yourself under the 10+ inch of snow (for whatever reason), etc. Now people said Vancouverites are never prepared for snow, always complain about snow etc. I see now why. It rains a lot here. Rain is to snow is like gunpower is to fire or like Group 1 metal to water - a recipe for disaster. See, when it rains it creates slushies everywhere and that's like a mini-flood especially after it has been snowing for 3-4 days. The worst comes when it stops raining. The melted snow freezes again into ice and so you end up skating here and there with normal shoes. Everytime I walk I have to pray to FSM so that he doesn't deliver me too early.

But anyway I had a snowball fight this winter. It was short but quite sweet and we made an abominable snowman after that. I even have to borrow a friend's glove. It wasn't as intense as I thought it would be. For one, the snow was way too powdery to be a powerful weapon, only powderful. And I couldn't bring myself to spit into the snowball to upgrade my weapon. After that we drank hot chocolate, eat popcorns, and play mahjong.

[End of snow/global warming/climate change/we need to use electric car chapter]

Long time no blog liao Pt 1: Grades and studies

2009-01-07T02:09:00.002-08:00

In many blinks of an eye, the new term started again. It is going to be about the same workload as my previous term since I am taking 7 courses as compared to 8 courses. But since everyone else is taking a MATH 301 course (about complex numbers) so I also 凑热闹 and take it lorh. So now it's you die I die. But I sincerely hope that if I die this term then at least the following terms will be better.

Finally after about a month the grades for my remaining course last term is out. Luckily despite my increasingly decreasing motivation and effort I still managed to get about 80% average (we here don't use GPA, only averages). I'm kinda curious as to what my real grades were before the professors scale it (because the grades are usually terrible to behold before any scaling is done). In a way it's kinda delusional because you always see ok-ok grades even though you know you did pretty bad just because other people did worse than you. More than anything else scaling is for some administrative convenience I guess, than it id really reflecting the truth of how well you are learning. Because you only see how well you learn compared to others. But maybe the grades don't matter too much as long as you feel like you have learned the subject well (as long as you don't fail, that is). But a 高人only warned us of a certain illusion of knowledge.... Nevermind, I guess it is a neverending story.

[End of academic chapter]

Man you gotta hold yourself together

2008-11-25T23:24:00.002-08:00

Aih, I feel like this blog's sole purpose now is for me to vent my negative feelings. Sometime in the future, I will look back and laugh at myself for sure.

Anyway I got to know this one guy which is in Engineering Physics too through an engineering project. At first he was just alright to me, he seems nice but not too interesting to me. This year I happen to share some same courses with me. I am taking 8 courses this term (well effectively 6 since I basically ignored 1 unless there is midterms and another one is just a one-credit course) and I have been trying to be more involved in the Seri Malaysia Club's events. Anyway we just pulled off this event tonight with another 5 South East Asian clubs which was pretty awesome. To get a rough idea, see http://eatseafood.blogspot.com/.

But anyway back to the main topic, even though I'm busy as hell, I try to get my work done by myself right. And this guy has been asking me about assignments for these past few weeks now. And he has been asking me to just give him my assignments just the day before/on which the assignment is due. He even texted me, msned me and asked me face-to-face to give him my assignment, which is really annoying.... I mean once or twice it's ok, but if you keep asking people for their assignment solution it's unacceptable to me. I mean come on dude, how hard is that assignment that you are always so desperate to get the solutions right before it's due. You're in engineering physics man, and it's not for slackers. And if you wanna slack go ahead it's your choice, leave me alone. I don't care about your excuses, whether if it's bad time management yada yada.... Just stop harassing me! And he never talks to me unless it's about borrowing assignments.... I guess that's why it's bothering me so much... this guy is just using me for solutions. If it's a friend whom I usually talk to and exchange solutions with, then it's totally fine... because we complement each other. Whereas this guy, he's just a leech and it's a one-way interaction....

Aih, I know if I think about it rationally then his fault might be minor. But I'm so tired of thinking in other people's shoes. I just know that I'm really annoyed....

What would you do? Would you ask him to fuck off and go bake muffins, or would you just keep helping him? What do you think? Am I a selfish prick? Thanks for listening. I feel slightly better now.

Business as usual

2008-10-19T04:40:00.002-07:00

Time flies. It was kind of shocking when I saw that my last post was about 6 weeks ago. For some reason unknown, this term seems to be harder to cope with. All the while I have been stumbling after courses, struggling to catch up. It didn't use to be this hard. I think I'm losing my touch. I just can't concentrate for a long period of time now. I miss my time at college. Is my learning ability undergoing an exponential decay?

Sometimes I wonder why am I studying so hard. Is it going to make that much of a different in the future if I don't stress myself out trying to get good grades? What I am doing in my room all the time when I should be out there talking to people, chilling out, or sleep? I can't help it. It sucks, I know. I think I'm addicted because it sucks (haha pun).

The only thing that keeps me sane are songs. Whenever I listen to the Beatles it takes some edge off me. Plainly speaking, there's not much that I'm looking forward to. I'm staring at blank space, nothing particularly of interest. Screw studies! I'm getting have myself a good time here at Vancouver.

Or I can go back to my studies... Yeah, I'll do that.

Lesson learnt

2008-09-08T06:14:00.000-07:00

Never to make a promise that you are not sure that you can fulfill.

Starting of classes

2008-09-04T23:24:00.002-07:00

Classes have started again. Time to renew my motivation and revive my math and physics, weary as I am of the learning-and-forgetting cycle. Sometimes I wonder why do I learn all this stuff when I am going to forget them eventually. My friend told me it is so that when I need it I can relearn it faster. But to me relearning takes about as much effort.

I found that I am worse at talking to people. You heard me right. I found myself prefering to spend time alone with myself, and faced with other people, found myself lacking in interesting topics to talk about. My speech ability is degrading, I prefer writing things down. Like this increasingly depressing blog of mine.

I remember I used to laugh a lot when I was in Taylor's. Maybe because Bernard was there, and the profs are super good at teaching, or maybe because I used to go to church. Seriously I don't know what happened to me. I guess the main reason is because of me growing up. Everyone is changing. And the way my change (or rather, the lack of it) displeases me. Maybe I should talk to people.

Anyway lots of things to do. Am slightly behind due to lack of motivation (haha). Still have to buy textbooks, do my required readings, and start assignments - an extra curriculum stuff. Now that I think about it, I think a lot of my unhappiness is caused by my increased awareness of things outside performing well in school.

Anyway (again), I plan to finish writing about my trip to US in the weekends. Maybe some pictures (haih, have to update my facebook too - funny how these things are becoming somewhat of a chore that takes considerable effort for me to do). Maybe. That's the best I can promise nowadays.

Ciao.

My Nth trip to US Day 6

2008-08-19T00:40:00.002-07:00

Been settling down. Toured around my brother's new campus with my brother. I have always envied the campuses in U.S. They looked so beautiful, with varying classical architecture and old buildings and elaborate sculptures. My campus paled in comparison. Sometimes I wonder why people like me can live in such a nice place like Vancouver and not appreciate it, prefering to sit in my room watching movies on my PC. That is why I decided when I get back to Vancouver I am going to view it from a tourist's perspective instead of from a been-here-for-two-years-student's perspective. There must be more interesting things that I can observe and immerse in, in this city which is voted as best place to live in for years.

Could not stand the sun. I asked for the sun when it rained and the chilly wind howled in Vancouver, now I realized that I prefered the chilly wind.

Finished reading another book - Next by Michael Crichton, the guy who has written Jurassic Park. It is a book about genetic modification and its impact on lives on several characters. I have to admit it was a pretty interesting and thought-provoking book - which explains why I read it for more than 10 hours today. I wish I was so enthusiastic when I study. There are talking animals, mad scientists, and strange - and sometimes disturbing - journal articles in the story. Weird that my brother gave up on it after 5 minutes of reading. Anyway you should read it if you are into books.

Anyway I should go to sleep soon. Not looking forward to the head-splitting headache tomorrow.

My nth trip to US Day 3

2008-08-16T22:54:00.003-07:00

I think at the time of blogging it is technically day 4 (or Sunday) but since my laptop's time is still set to Vancouver time, so it is still day 3. Anyway, a few days after the camping trip, I went to Madison to visit my brother, and at the same time, to take a vacation. One thing about me, is that I am terrible at organizing events. I do not think I have ever spearheaded any event that I have attended. It is just the fear that people do not like what I have planned, and the fear of any possibility of screw-ups, so usually I just sit back and let other people take charge. Me? I will help out just a bit or find other stuff to pretend that I am busy. The same applies to vacation. Left by myself, I would probably just travel alone, or more probably stay in my room, watching some interestingly mundane stuff, or mundanely interesting stuff, depending on your perspective.

(I hope the lengthy text without pictures are not driving away my readers)

It is summer for god's sake! One month break - the longest break I get since I have signed up for co-op (since my used-to-be 4-month-long summer break are now occupied by a regular academic term or internship term)! And here I was sitting in my room, facing my computer for more than 10 hours a day! Jebus, what monstrous idiot have I become! I decided that I have to evict myself far enough from my greenhouse to avoid - or more accurately, to delay - this gradual path to ennui. To those who know what the heck Titan Quest is, I still play Titan Quest. And sometimes when I play it, I get so bored, and I ask myself why I am still playing it. I do not know. Then I continue playing for countless hours. Seriously I need a purpose. All these senselessness and directionless and bottomlessness is chewing away at me. I shudder to think how far I have fallen since my younger days, and why? I do not know. Is it because of the fall away from religion? But what is religion other than a way for rulers to manipulate common people? Is not religion just a creation of human's mind, and but a fantasy in the adult's world? Pardon my heresy.

Look at me, I am wasting the short period of elation that a cup of tea has offered me. So I was saying that this trip offered me a brief respite from my unhealthy addiction of locking myself up in a mental and physical prison that I have created for myself. So I bought a pretty expensive ticket - it was pretty last minute, a few days before the flight, so the price was understandable - and arrived at Chicago, and took a 2 and a half hour bus to Madison, where I was picked up by my brother, now a grown man. I look at myself, and again, shuddered at how little these few years have educated me, the ignorance largely remains and how long I have been stuck in the frame of the past, jealous at other people's achievements. My brother brought me to his soon-to-leave house, where his friends and we moved his and his housemate's stuff out of the house into a 16-feet Penske truck. The couches were a bitch, and they caused further impairment to my used-to-be-good-two-years-ago glasses. We stayed at one of his friend's house for the night.

Next day was a long drive to Ann Arbor, where his new home, and school are to be. It was a long drive, and I, overweight and less-than-useful, displaced his friend that would have been the second driver in this long journey. See, not having my driving license ( I honestly do not know where it is now, it is not in my wallet, and my parents claim not to have seen it at home. I have a vague feeling that I am going to resort to a bicycle or bus in the future, armed with the honourable excuse that I do not wish to contribute to global warming, rather than having it to have anything to do with my (lack of) driving ability) and of course, not having the required skills have rendered me helpless in this situation. As I looked into my brother's tired face (we woke up pretty early to watch Lee Chong Wei's victorious match) , all I can do is to dive into the world of Hannibal and forget all about my helplessness for as long as the book lasts.

The torture ended and we arrived at the city of Ann Arbor. It seems to be yet another American city that I will forget if I did not visit it often or did not write anything on it. My brother has a bunch of friends here and we stayed at Wei Chieh and Jason's place for a night. I laughed at myself for alienating myself and for weakening my capability for emotions for the purposes of my study. Or my study is merely another excuse for my strange nature? I finished Hannibal in less than 2 days - I was really pleased with myself.

Today came and we moved to my brother's new place. With help from his friends, the move-in was relatively easy. When it's time to arrange all the furnitures and accesories, I found myself less than useful. I do not know the layout that my brother prefers. So I wandered aimlessly, making guesses at which items should go upstairs and carrying them upstairs. But eventually I found nothing else and I just sat there with my laptop while my brother busied himself arranging items in the house. Now half of the stuff is unpacked. I wonder where will we go during this remaining 9 days I have in U.S. I hope things will go well. I miss happiness. I tell myself I'm just a little unwell. I think I should do some research now.

I hope I did not depress you guys too much in this post. Ah the madness. Will it triumph and consume me?

Camping at Golden Ears Provincial Park

2008-08-10T03:06:00.003-07:00

It has been a long time since I went camping. Since I did not have much to do ( actually I do have some pretty important things to do ) after the robotic course ended, I joined Auntie Linda and her family for a camping trip in Golden Ears, which is about 3 hours away from the campus. Auntie Linda has been there a day before of us, so everything was set up by the time we got there.

We did most of the usual stuff when people camp, i.e. talking and dozing off around the bonfire, playing cards, going to the beach, and eating. The food was really good, my friend even kidded that it was better than what we had at home, since Auntie brought a lot of ingredients with her, and a gas stove, etc. We had sate, chicken rice, cucur ikan bilis, eggs ( most important food ), chicken pasta with alfredo sauce, this and that. I must have gained at least 5 kg during that 4 days of camping. As for cards, we mostly played at night and we played Gin Rummy. Since I have abstained from any sort of card games during my stint of academic pursuit, I have to relearn the game. I am proud to say I did fairly well by the final night in the camp, having beaten everyone (even though I still suck at poker - and I blame my luck).

The beach? The scenery was pretty pretty (haha), and the body of water (dunno whether it's a creek or sea - never been down there) was surrounded by mountains. All was peaceful and serene, and for once, even though it was for a few minutes, I felt inner peace. And we went to another spot where there was this mini cliff where the kids and my friends jumped off and swam. The road there consists of rather steep slopes, and I have never overcome my fear of getting dragged down by gravity, taking small, cowardly steps forward while my companions jumped and hopped lightly and youthfully and nimbly, seeming oblivious to the fact that it was not flat ground. Fear grasped me, as there were no absolutely safe spots, and then all of them were jumping into the water, swimming, laughing, and playing with each other, enjoying the caress of the crystal like water, while I with a hunched back, tried to hid my face from the sun, as though hiding from shame and humiliation, read a book, the book was about a man's futile struggle against a permanent totalitarian government, and I struggled against my fear, and it was all the same, nothing was changed, I was dead, and they were in the water, laughing, and Auntie's son asked me to jump. Me? Jump? I can't swim. I have long lost the courage to take risks, it was being consumed, by what? I know not. But I stayed, the struggling getting feeble, and before I knew it, I was struggling against the struggle itself, and I won. But even though I won , I was defeated. And after some pages, we left the place for the comfort of the campsite.

Days went by. Food was good, and except for the first night in the camp, I did not get good sleep. The tent we stayed in had a broken zip, and with a broken zip it is almost the same as not sleeping under a tent at all, since thermal equilibrium was easily established. I underestimated the cold, and without a blanket, I woke up long before everyone did. I had nothing to do, so I jogged. For how long, I knew not, but I was trying to burn all the food that went emotionless into my stomach. I felt good. But in the end it was in vain, for the harder I ran, the more I ate afterwards. The temptation was irresistible. I told myself, I'd run again tomorrow, but that night it rained. All the towels were wet, my running shoes were wet, and rain leaked in through the broken zip, and I woke up with a wet sweater, and a full bladder. After numerous failed attempts to go back to sleep, I gave in and went out to take a leak. I could not go back to sleep so I tried to zip up the tent properly. Like many things I did in life, it was in vain. There was a limit that no one, regardless of sincerity and hardwork, could ever achieved. Then there was the aroma of food, and I deserted my post and swallowed food, not because of need but because of the unncessary desire.

But on the day before, we went canoeing. It was going well, and we went pretty far from the shore. I was with Auntie's son, I felt pretty safe because he seemed to know what he was doing. And then my friend's canoe capsized, she was covered by her tudung, she yelled for help, and I was not moving, I was just looking. But no, Auntie's son dove into the water, hats and sunglasses still on, going for her rescue. And I watched while he rescued her. Under Auntie's husband's command, I paddle the boat towards where everyone was and offered what meager help I could give, but watching nonetheless. I was supposed to feel afraid and worried. I supposed I felt afraid and worried. I was quiet and watchful. And she climbed up to our boat, and the boat was slanted to the other side, I was worried that my boat, now just me in the boat, might capsize too. But uncle did well in tying our boats together, making our boats really stable. And I paddled, and steered; she was cold and afraid, I was worried that she was sitting too much to the right, causing imbalance to the boat. We arrived at the shore finally, the boat rocking side to side. All the while I was wondering why I was so void of reaction, and so void of expression, and deep down, am I also void of emotion?

On the day when we were supposed to go home, one of the car died on us. I left everyone while they tried in vain to revive the car, clueless as to what was wrong. I wondered why we didn't get help. I went to sit by Auntie side, as she drove a few of us back home first. I sensed that something was wrong, but I did not know anything, I just wanted to sleep. We got back home, and two hours later, Auntie drove the rest of the people home from the camp site. I knew the car was dead. Time has past, and we are home now. Time has past, but have I matured, or have I just aged? Or have I grown bitter and increasingly impotent, insensitive? I do not know. Shall I sleep, or shall I do some work? I think I have work to do. We'll see.

Farewell.

The break

2008-08-02T19:23:00.006-07:00

Finally all my summer courses is over now. Everything turned out alright even though I was on the verge of madness over these few weeks. The last 2 weeks have been really tough. Lab was open from 8:30 a.m. to 12 midnight and everyone worked their asses off to get their robot working. I thought my professor was kidding when he said that half the robot would not work on the competition day, but that was the truth. Me? I was lucky to have the best group in the class.

My team - Thomas Zhou, Inderpreet Singh, me, and Brian Mah

Our group has been progressing steadily ever since the class started. Thanks to Thomas who designed a crazy chassis with Solidworks. And the picture below shows the result of his hardwork.

Our badass robot, Too Fast Too Fourier

Inderpreet Singh was our main programmer, and Brian was our main electronics guy. Me? I did some programming and some circuits, nothing too important. I wish I had done some mechanical stuff, but I guess we were too pressed for time to allow everyone to do what they wanted.

And here's a video of our winning round, against team Eigen-A-Win (Haha, we are such Math nerds). Enjoy guys.

Too Fast Too Fourier

A small update

2008-06-04T01:22:00.003-07:00

Just to let you guys know I am still alive. I feel busy but sometimes I am actually not that busy. I need to improve self discipline or else I will be screwed. Always doing the thing I always do - catching up with my studies.

Did I tell you guys I will be building a robot soon, starting in end of this month. Gotta be pretty hard, given my inexperience and inaptitude in practical things. I wish I have done more design stuff back when I was younger, e.g. science projects and playing with Lego. In fact that is one of the greatest weaknesses in Malaysia's education system. Everything is book book book, and there is no fun hands-on experience on building things (I don't count those art projects as really building things). Hopefully things will change soon. Or else Malaysia will be screwed.

Screw you guys I'm going to sleep.

Wei Kee

So tired

2008-05-15T23:20:00.001-07:00

Seems like the longest day of my life. 7 straight hours in the lab setting up a really cool analog infrared sensor. This is madness.

Gotta go to ... sleep ... can't .... hold on....

Finally, the beginning

2008-05-11T23:25:00.003-07:00

I have finished the machine shop course on last Thursday and then sat for the APSC 278 (a last term course) finals on last Saturday. The finals slightly kicked my ass becaused with so much going on I was not fully prepared. I know I will pass. Anyway that is ancient history now.

Now I can concentrate on the 5 summer term courses. I spent half the weekend building a PC (yes, a goddam PC by myself) - it is done but I still need to fix a problem - the fan on the power supply is making some faint clicking noise. I hope it is not serious.

Serious or not, seriously I got to get back to serious business here because I have an assignment due tomorrow. Now it is already 11:30 p.m.

Signing off.

It's business time

2008-05-07T00:17:00.002-07:00

So it's business as usual. Even though it's officially summer now (a.k.a relax and fun season), that's not the case in Engineering Physics. With 5 courses this term (to be finished in about 6 weeks) this is going to be a daunting task. No choice but to grit my teeth and take it like a man.

Hopefully I can maintain my healthy lifestyle and multitask properly. In the past, multitasking always ended up in me neglecting some stuff completely.

I should try to do revisions more often than just the huge one before final exams. There's one coming in this Saturday and I'm re-learning huge chunks of material every day. How does it feel? Try swallowing a huge chunk of wasabi

Signing off. Sleep time.

Work-to-study transition

2008-05-01T23:37:00.002-07:00

Finally my co-op work term has come to an end. Throughout the term I have become pretty attached to my job. Even though sometimes it is pretty boring and routine, most of the time I had fun and learnt tonnes from other people around me. The company I worked at - Plug Power - has a lot of employee from a vast array of disciplines. That day a colleague just educated me on piping, and another colleague taught me the basics of hole-drilling and deburring. I left in a hurry since I was working on a test stand abd I tried in vain to finish it. So it was kind of sad that I left my cubicle in a total mess and I did not say farewell to my colleague properly. I might do something about it though.

And I have moved to a new place, just a few units away from my old nest. Moving was extremely tedious and it occured on the night before my last day at work, hence I was experiencing serious sleepwalking on my last day. Anyway I am still unpacking and that would take a while.

Class is starting on 5th. I have a final on the 10th (for a previous term's course) and I have to read up some materials for a machine shop course. I should get a proper rest before hell breaks loose all over again.

Signing off.

And....

2008-04-29T01:04:00.002-07:00

I thought CK turned into a chick

http://lck87.blogspot.com/

.......NOT!!!!

2008-04-29T00:36:00.002-07:00

Last post was a half joke.

The truth is, I have been really damn busy and being the perfectionist, I always try to make my posts as satisfactory as possible. So I decided to take a break.

I'm so touched that people are still stopping by at my blog even though it's in ruins now. I'm not even sure if I have time to fix that. Summer classes are starting on 5th of May and I'm skipping first week of classes to do some kind of machine shop course - what a nice start! My internship (known as co-op here) is finally coming to an end on this Wednesday, but the bad news is I have to move out by Tuesday night since my contract for my old house ends on Wednesday noon. Moving my junk bit by bit, I might call up my friend to help me move.

It's almost 1 a.m. now and I probably should sleep now. Gotta get up for work at 7 or earlier. Quitted coffee a while ago so I can only rely on sheer willpower or tea (yes I do cheat once in a while).

Cheers,
Wei Kee

p/s: Cheer up! You know who you are

The end of story

2007-09-24T21:52:00.000-07:00

I have spent a lot of time and effort on this blog and it has been a pleasant experience to share my mundane thoughts with you guys. But I can't do it anymore. Real life is demanding a lot of me, courses, club, and projects are withholding my hands from the updates. I don't even get good sleep nowadays. So that's it. The end. No supernova. Just a faint pop in the cold night as fall approaches.

Thank you

Cheers,
The guy who gave away his soul for an ounce of rotten pork

Yakitate! Japan moments relived

2007-08-30T23:05:00.000-07:00

Since the proper posts are going to take a while, I'll have to whip out some appetizing filler posts to whet your appetite dattebayo (ep. 59 - excellent episode)!!

So a few weeks ago, my brother, his friends, and I went to a Japanese shopping mall in Chicago to grab some food and some junks (and one of his friends got so carried away with buying alcohol that he left the stuff he bought in the mall).

NEway, we passed by a Japanese bakery so I went to look for some Ja-pan. I don't remember a lot of bread in that anime but I did buy

Yakisoba bread (ep. 14)
I thought it tasted kinda weird. Bread was soggy and the sauce's too salty. Didn't really like it.

Melon pan (ep. 13)
Now this is a pretty tasty bread.

I found this too

Anpan man (ep. 63)
But I didn't buy it. You think I stupid ah?

Vancouver Public Library closed

2007-08-28T14:50:00.000-07:00

After a few weeks of travelling, I realized that I haven't explored Vancouver, the place I'm studying at, enough. So I was just browsing on Wikipedia for interesting places in Vancouver.

To my surprise, I found out that our beautiful public library

was closed since July 26 because the library employees were on strike, bargaining for pay equity, improvements for part-time and auxiliary workers, etc. What a shame!

Updated blogskin

2007-08-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody, sorry for not having updated in a while. I was busy travelling with my brother so I didn't feel like blogging because the schedule was pretty hectic.

Just found out about my screwed up blogskin last night thanks to alert by CK. Anyway, I've painstakingly substituted it with another decent skin. But it isn't really complete yet. For really long post, there'll be a glitch with the post borders. To see what I mean, click the "Read more" button on my previous post.

Hopefully I can tell the story of my travels soon but I can't guarantee it since school will be starting in a weeks time and I have to move to my new place on the 1st of Sept., and I have an interview (!) tomorrow for my internship program.

So bye for now and hope you find the new skin not too disgusting

My take on PIKOM PC fair

2007-08-16T15:52:00.000-07:00

Let's back track a bit for now. On the 3rd of August (2 days before flight to Vancouver), I visited the so-called largest ICT fair in Malaysia in KL Convention Centre hoping to get my hands on an external hard disk as well as to see what it's like in the fair since I've never been to one.

Maybe it's because of the fair, it's took pretty long for me get a LRT ticket to KLCC. It doesn't help that the ticket vending machine rejects 80% of the 1 dollar bills. They might as well make it coins if that machine is too dumb to recognize paper bill.

When I reached the place, there was a huge crowd. There were lots of well-known companies setting up booths - Acer, Asus, Dell, Maxis, HP, Edifier, etc. It's so damn hard to move around and I nearly suffocated in the midst of the maddening crowd. Even if some bugger stopped to check out some stuff, it'd jam the walkway. It's like 3x Petaling Street crowd.

People mountain people sea, what is in front I can't see

One of the main attractions of the fair was the MMs. And in terms of that, it didn't fare too bad. In fact, it might've been the only good thing about this fair.

Chic pic 1 (woohoo, it rhymes)

Chic pic 2

Chic pic 3. zzz...

Elva Hsiao lookalike.

And now for the babe among the babes....

Also featuring...

Mr. Shark

Le sexy nurse

Ms. Angel (not the face, just the wings)

There were a lot to see, from high-end graphic cards to dirt cheap generic pen drives. Major annoyance award goes to Maxis broadband 'cos they had stalls in every hall and they had like 50 people promoting the broadband service. I think I must've got asked a dozen times already. Anyway I bought a ciplak external HD at RM320, which had to be returned for refund the next day because it wasn't working. It took them about an hour to check that it's defected and they even discovered that several other external disks didn't work as well. Coming from a branch of a supposedly MSC status company, this doesn't bode well for Malaysia's ICT industry. Anyway, here's one "Malaysia Boleh" for you.

Well, my friend said (don't know who dy), nothing special about this PC fair. For cheaper stuff, you can get it from Lowyat, and without the maddening crowd too. How true it is.

On my way back, at KLCC Putra station

Shit. Damnit. Should've bought my return ticket earlier

KLCC = K.L. Complete Congestion

<--<< Go back

Flight to Vancouver - Part 2

2007-08-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

And so I arrived in L.A. about 40 minutes later than scheduled. I went through U.S. customs - meaning you have to take off your shoes, take out your laptop and declare your stuff and shit like that, which took a while and I got questioned a bit because I was bringing some herbs for my friend.

But, by the time (7.40 p.m.) I reached the check-in counter for LA-Vancouver flight (which is Alaska airlines), they told me I was too late jor. Unlike CK that lucky bitch, I got no first class or shit like that. I got stranded in L.A. instead. My first time missing a flight. It was pretty shocking and I asked the girl at counter what to do. She suggested that either I re-book for next morning (6.30 a.m.) or ask MAS what they could do since the late arrival was the reason I'm stuck here.

So I chose to ask MAS lor. Then walk back to the terminal where MAS' counter is. And hell, they're only gonna open at 9.40 p.m. With my left fist raised in the air, I said "Malaysia Boleh" went back to the Alaska counter to ask another person because you know, I thought miracles might happen and I might get to check in and get first class... cheh, turned out that I wasn't in luck.

Nothing to do, I walked around the terminal while waiting for MAS counter to open (damn MAS, why are you treating me like that?). I found a place that I can plug my laptop's power adaptor to, so I was kinda planning to stay a night at the airport lor. Why not, I'm a bachelor what, and pulling all-nighter is nothing new to me. Besides, I have tonnes of stuff on my laptop to keep me entertained for years. But internet was damn expensive so I couldn't like online for whole night. After this shitty planning, I went to MAS counter again but it wasn't time yet so I wondered around. Just for the sake of curiosity, I went to ask at the information counter whether I can stay at airport for the night. Surprise, surprise, it's a NO! According to that guy, if you do that, the police won't let you. So my master plan was foiled before it was put into action.

Finally the MAS counter was open. I went and ask the MAS people what I should do. Since my plan of staying at airport was thwarted, I was desperate. I have no choice but to succeed. So as a safety precaution, I hid most of my money and my ATM cards in my bag, so that if the MAS personnel won't help me I can use this reason to "persuade" him. But luckily I didn't have to. The officer gave me a voucher to spend a night at a nearby hotel complete with dinner and breakfast (which should usually be the case, according to the Alaska girl). Sadly I couldn't enjoy the dinner because by the time I reached the hotel, the restaurant already closed. And my flight was so early I had to leave before it was open. What the heck!

Anyway the hotel room was very nice.

TV, Nintendo, big fluffy bed, free internet, fridge, toaster oven, bathtub...everything! Too bad I was alone.

Next day woke up at 4 something to take a bus to airport then flew to Vancouver (finally!) A lesson for me: next time when choosing a connecting flight make sure there's at least a two-hour waiting time, or else who knows what might happen. Well, at least I got to experience missing a flight and it wasn't that bad, and it was a bit exciting in a way..

Finished: End of Harry Potter and Yakitate! Japan

2007-08-13T20:42:00.000-07:00

After about two days of intense reading, I've done reading the 7th book of Harry Potter. Well to be honest, it was a bit disappointing. Since I-don't-know-which-book, the series have been deteriorating gradually. I mean it's still a good read, but it isn't the first three books anymore. First of all, 740+ pages is too long. Sometimes nothing happens for too long, while sometimes too many happen at the same time. The archvillain, Voldemort is pretty disappointing in this book. He just becomes another ordinary villain, losing the mysterious coolness he exerted before his appearance. There were too many recycled stuff from previous books. The way the main characters act, it's not different from previous books - we don't learn anything new about the trio. And the conflicts - in this case, something about Dumbledore and some trivial, childish fight between trio (which is seen all too often in previous books) - felt strained and not deep enough to have any significant effect. Rowling seems to be reserved in pushing things beyond the borders, which I think would have made things more interesting. The maturation of the characters - mainly, the Trio - wasn't that significant. The way they speak, act, and analyse things is just like it was in the first book. So I guess my main point is that nothing much changes over the series, well concerning Harry and his friends, so it feels kinda repetitive after a while. And in this last installment, the turn of events weren't that dramatic, and even predictable at times. Besides Dumbledore, everybody's action seemed to lack subtlety. What I mean is that the scheming and the fight of wits seemed shallow and even laughable. There were some bright moments though, like the Hogwart's teacher showing their skills, Dumbledore's shady past (but Rowling watered it down a lot) and Harry getting chased by Death-Eaters in the beginning. And one thing I very beh-tahan is that the kids at Hogwarts can duel with the Death Eaters - adult wizards - wor. What the hell man? It's like asking a teenage to have a gun fight with a trained soldier, you get what I mean? In essence, what I'm trying to say here is that, this final book was alright, but it could have been so much better it's a slight letdown.

Now I'm gonna talk about Yakitate. It's been a pretty long trip for me. 69 episodes. I should have finished it while I was in Cyberjaya. But due to some unexpected delays, I couldn't and it took me a few days before I finally got to finish it. Finishing it is like saying good bye to an old friend. It's a pretty good anime, with outrageous events and plentiful parodies. Although really repetitive (Azuma's opponent getting all cocky >> Azuma gets his idea >> Competition day people amazed at Azuma's technique then at his opponent's and back and forth >> Opponent lets judge taste the bread + some reaction + opponent LC again >> Judge eats Azuma's bread + greater reaction >> Opponent couldn't take it bla bla...)and some useless characters (hint: Kawa~), it's really entertaining and refreshing. I especially loved the Lord of the Ring parody in ep. 68 - that's the best episode! Anyway, reluctant as I am, bye-bye to Yakitate nevertheless.

Now, what anime should I watch next??

Farewell to M'sia - Flight to Vancouver (Part 1)

2007-08-13T06:42:00.000-07:00

After 3 long months of (unproductive?) holiday, I've finally embarked on a journey back to Vancouver. There were happy times, depressing times, and maddening times in Malaysia, but I didn't manage to get done there. Maybe it's the comfort of home, or the good food, or just me trying to find excuses. But I'll dearly miss the durian (I think I had it five times or more) and my family (esp. my dear mum).

Anyway lets talk about my flight to Vancouver. It's pretty different from my usual flights. August 5: When I went to check in, there was some problem. From what I gleaned, there wasn't a seat with the same number for Taipei-LA flight as my KL-Taipei flight. So that poor girl in the check-in counter took at least half an hour to decide that I should have a different seat for Taipei-LA flight. Not her fault ~~that she was born stupid~~ really, though. Anyway my mum and I were so worried that we'd miss the flight (who knows?) but I got in alright. However I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't take photos with my family and the friends that came to send me off (hope you weren;t muttering, "Long and good riddance" under your breath). ANYWAY HERE'S A BIG THANKS TO HX, LIMYS, WAN NA, JENNY, CS, AND CK FOR COMING TO THE AIRPORT!!!! Wait, CK is in Tasmania...

The flight from KL and Taipei took about 4 hours, and I have to wait for an hour and a half at Gaoshiung airport for the connecting flight. Then the flight to L.A. took about 14 hours. MAS was good, as expected of one of the five 5-star airlines in the world. The served food is really good (not as good as first class though, ck) and I liked the air hostesses' tight-fitting kebaya, although their makeup (like what? 5-cm thick?) is too much. As usual, I was just chugging the movies all the way. What else are you gonna do? Sleep? What a waste of time. Lemme see, I watched Fracture (great movie), Next (Ok-ok), entrapment (Ok-ok), Yella (foreign movie, dunno what's happening), Mukhsin (by director of Sepet, Yasmin Ahmad - pretty good movie), and Seducing Mr. Perfect (not bad Korean movie). So I didn't get much sleep at the flight and feel like shit after it ended, and the dehydration didn't help either. So I landed in L.A. feeling sleepy and a bit sick....

Finished Half-life, finally

2007-07-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

After many hours of headcracking, cussing, save-loading, and sleep-skipping, I've finally completed the game. It's really a nice game. Despite its old age (it came out in 1998 if I'm not mistaken), it's still pretty enjoyable. The graphic cannot compare to recent games la, but it has solid gameplay, and blowing things up is always fun (but do not do it in real life please).

Despite its charms, it has some really serious bugs which nearly made me quit. First of all was getting stuck on elevator/elevating objects. I first noticed it at "Surface Tension" when the elevator just stuck and my armour keep on dropping for unknown reason. Since then, the bug's been popping out here and there. It's a royal pain in the ass I tell you, esp. when you're fighting the lass boss. Another bug was the Gonarch (fat mother spider) getting stuck on a shaft causing me to be unable to move on. Have to cheat through my way there.

Then again, I was glad I finally made it. I've played Half-life a few years ago until the point where I face the last boss (but I didn't knew the boss' weakness back then) and somehow my whole Half-life folder got deleted. The ending leaves much to be desired though. Next, how about Half-life 2? Yes?

Yakitate! Japan

2007-07-23T00:31:00.000-07:00

I'm currently watching and loving this anime. It's about a young boy, Azuma Kazuma who has "solar hands" and genius talent for making bread. Other countries have bread with their own name like "French bread" but Japan doesn't, so Azuma has a dream of making Japanese's own bread, "Japan" which is tastier than rice. This anime introduces many kinds of exotic bread which will make you drool. And it's so exaggerating that sometimes it's just plain ridiculous. But I guess it's one of the anime's charms. Because there's a limit of how only words can describe the delicious-ness of a bread, I think the overblown graphic reaction of the characters do a better job at showing people how good the bread is. Anyway, despite the anime's prevalent 废-ness, it does a good job at presenting some really touching plots. The main characters like Azuma are also portrayed in depth. Besides that, the characters are well drawn esp. Tsukino (drool drool..) and the anime does a decent job of not ruining the character's appearance as opposed to maybe Naruto and Saiyuki. (Anyway, Yukino is an exceptionally ugly biatch).

Definitely an anime that I recommend. And thanks to BenSen and Limys for introducing me to this anime.

Bruce Almighty: What if you were God?

2007-07-22T23:36:00.000-07:00

A news reporter, Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) is not happy with his life, mainly because he couldn't get his dream position of a news anchor. He complains about God being unfair and not doing His job. God (Morgan Freeman) meets up with him and gives him God's power to have a taste of what being God feels like.

This is another movie about guy getting into trouble, overcomes it and learns something about life. What's different is that it portrays God in an interesting way. Morgan Freeman played the character God pretty well. He is wise, witty, and composed and not downright ridiculous like typical comedies would do. The movie plays a lot with the idea of becoming God and doesn't lack parodies of biblical events like the parting of the red sea or in this movie's context, tomato soup. Jim Carrey is a good comedian and he doesn't fail to make religion fun (or make fun of religion) in this film. Although in the end, that is not the movie's true purpose. The main theme, as I perceive, is about humility and using your gifts to benefit others.

One really pleasant surprise is seeing Steve Carrell as Evan Baxter in this movie. I've seen this guy in the US "The Office" series and I liked his characters a lot. I heard he's going to be the main character in the upcoming "Evan Almighty" which is something I'm looking forward to.

Jennifer Aniston is pretty convincing in her character as Bruce's disappointed girlfriend. Generally speaking, this movie has its share of laughter and touching moments, but its plot is somewhat predictable and the jokes aren't that amusing/smart. And it doesn't have the emotional impact as say, Click. Despite all that flaws, it's still an above-average comedy that stands tall among the overproduced cheap low-taste comedies.

My perspective on the 31st Bon Odori

2007-07-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

NANI? WHAT IS SILVER SURFER DOING HERE?!

Before I start, some background info first: Bon Odori is actually a dance to honour the departed spirits of ancestor. It's actually a Japanese Buddhist event. For more information, please read this article on Wikipedia.

On the 14th of July, Jennings, Warna, Limys, I'm-not-grumpy, penunu Bensen, and I joined MMU's ~~Soul~~ Japanese Society in a trip to the annual Bon Odori at Panasonic Sports Complex (formerly known as Matsushita Sports Centre), Shah Alam. Jennings and I took bus B from Cyberjaya. Our driver was so confident of himself that he drove ahead of other buses before coming to a realization that he didn't know the road. So we waited like so chai for about 30 minutes before the other buses caught up to lead the way.

When I arrived at the complex, we were about an hour early. So there was nothing much to do besides camwhoring.

全家福

At about 5 p.m., we were let in and were given a ~~cheap~~ beautiful plastic fan each.

The FAN-tastic Four!!??

There wasn't much to do at that moment. We did see a few people rehearsing for their performance on the stage. It was pretty interesting... for a few minutes. So we visited the food department. There were a lot of Japanese delicacies on sale, like Japanese ice cream, sushi, dorayaki, onigiri, Terrymari, and other food ending with the alphabet "i". Despite the exorbitant prices, people rushed to purchase the food as if there was a famine.

Me wants Japanese food yay yay~

Reminded me of a guy named Takayuki

The self-proclaimed king of sushi also made an appearance here!

Japan got ais kacang meh? Nan-de-Yo!?

Special: Keropok, made from Japanese fish

Whale meat burger!!!

No la, no whale meat burger. Sorry to disappoint you guys. But shinpai nai, no whales mah, but got chicks le. We saw a pretty gorgeous Japanese girl promoting ja-pan. (What is ja-pan? Japanese bread lor, noob!)

Now you know why Silver Surfer is on the top of the post. To the right is a random superhero

After we bought some food, we sat down on the grass to eat and chat. Besides Malaysians, there were a lot of Japanese there too. Finally we got to show off the Japanese we learned from animes, like arigato, sumimasen, Mitsubishi, yamamoto, kusogaki, ~~Nokia~~, kimochi, yamete, etc. Many people were dressed in colouful yukata, including pork chops and Jurassic dinosaurs. Anyway, there were many cute Japanese kids around. All the Malaysians were like crazy liao, pulling every Japanese kid they saw to take pictures with them while the kid's parents were being totally ignored.

Japanese little girls having fun

The little butterflies getting ready to perform on stage.

Discovered Japanese Zhou Xun!

We didn't have to wait for long. After 2 hours, the 1st part of the dance finally started. The beautiful dressed dancers moved like butterflies, graceful and effortless. The drummers hit their drum with all their might, as if the drum was their enemy. The music played was pretty catchy too. It was a sight to behold. Like corpses suddenly rising up to be zombies, the crowd suddenly started imitating the dancers movement. Seemingly entranced, they danced with such zeal and religious fervency that is rarely seen in Malaysians.

mi ni koi sakura ah e oh come and dance with me

Their imitation was so lame this obaachan had to teach them the steps

They were so engrossed in the exotic dance that they didn't care about the air pollution that's destroying our world.

After the dance, we chatted and bought more food to eat. In the meanwhile, there was another cultural dance going on in another part of the complex. The crowd rushed there like there was some kind of megasale. By the time I arrived, all I could see was cameras, vidcams, and cellphones (noob sia) held high. So I sacrificed myself to let my camera watch the performance instead.

Later, while I was busy taking pictures ~~of a hot chick in yukata~~ of cultural learning of Japan for make benefit glorious nation of Malaysia, the second part of the dance suddenly started. I was a bit disappointed to find out that the dance was the same as the first part. Yet the people around me obviously didn't think so. They swayed, twisted, and whirled along with the music without any regard to the safety of innocent people like me. I would have been crushed and trampled to a pulp by those fanatics if it wasn't for my hirenkyaku. Anyway, I made it back unscathed but couldn't find anyone. So I wandered around like a brainless ape until the second wave ended.

We were a bit excited because there was going to be a special guest that day. Amidst wild guesses ranging from Ayumi Hamasaki, Utada Hikaru to BoA(??), the special guest turned out to be an ~~old fart~~ honourable Japanese official, which was a ~~disappointment~~ great honour to us.

The third part commenced after his speech, which, to no big surprise, was a repetition to the first part. My friends, who danced twice, was too tired to join in the fun again. So we bought more food and talked more crap. It was really exciting, I tell you

I bought an okonomi yaki and Beard Papa cream puffs. They were as delicious as they were expensive. Talking about the cream puffs, I noticed a weird thing: it's sold for RM10 for 3 pieces, but RM18 for 5 (if you don't see what I mean, use a calculator). I bet they tricked a lot of people using this dirty tactic. I only got away because I thought 5 were too many - I only realized the sketchy pricing after I bought them.

Anyway, Jenning's friend pointed to me something that really stood out.

O-kayyy, that's definitely not Japanese clothing

And I dedicate this to Limys and I'm-not-grumpy...

And I dedicate this to myself...

The event ended at 9.30 p.m. and we finally left at 10.00 p.m. which was a long waiting time. When we finally got back to Cyberjaya, something happened, throwing us all into disarray and dismay.

[END]
- Credits to myself and Jennings for the photographs

BONUS:

A very cool picture of the drummers taken by Joshua Teoh

Please check out his site for more professional looking pictures of Bon Odori 2007

If you're lusting for pictures of MM at B.O. 2007, you might as well check out this gallery at Jack Tan's blog.<--<< Go back

Malaysia, a democratic country

2007-07-15T12:36:00.000-07:00

I'm proud to be living in a beautiful country where democracy, such as press freedom is being practiced consistently. The media is very responsible in their function to make Malaysians obedient ~~sheeps~~ citizens by spreading positive news about the ruling government and the positive aspects of its policies.

For example, please read this article about Kofi Adnan's speech during the Khazanah Global Lectures.

And the following are the various interpretations of the same speech by Malaysia's mainstream media.
1. Bernama 1, Bernama 2
2. The Star
3. NST

Malaysia Boleh!

Freewares, yes yes...

2007-07-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

Just bought a new computer and don't know what to install?

In need of certain softwares but couldn't afford the exorbitant price for commercial products?

Then check this out!
The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities by Gizmo Richards.

It is a comprehensive list of freewares including Antivirus programs, web browsers, photo editors, and many more. So, check it out and pick up some handy softwares. I says, nothing beats free stuffs.

My perspective on the trip to Hermit Lagoon

2007-07-08T21:16:00.000-07:00

Warning: Long post ahead

(I know this post is oh so outdated. But better late than never)

One fine day about a month ago, me friends and I embarked on a journey to the unknown. The unknown was located near the Kuantan Port. The fellowship included me, Jenny, Tcherry, and STFU (Starfish Ultimate). Originally there were four people in the fellowship but a fellow comrade, McLum betrayed us in the last minute. But we were undaunted. So with a few rusty, ancient parangs and a staunch heart, we ventured into the mysterious forest that stood between us and our final destination.

When we were in the mysterious forest, we didn’t see any ferocious beasts but we were on guard nonetheless because like Chinese proverb says, “one ten-thousand is not as fearsome as ten-thousand one”. Got it? Good.

Anyway when we were walking on the hidden path left by adventurers from the past, we heard fearsome creatures growling, snarling, neighing, and bleating (!!!) in the background. Their cries were so horrible and blood-cuddling that we told jokes to each other. I was a bit afraid because there were some tricky slopes; I feared that if I slipped it will become a hatred of thousand bones and I’d become a Hollow. My comrades were lucky because they’re not as burdened by the force of gravity as I was. STFU wore shorts so his sexy, slender legs were being cut mercilessly by the bastardly evil plants. Other than that, there were not much problems besides sucker mosquitoes.

And we came across a 千年灵芝 which was rumoured to grant great power to those who eats it. But I didn't, because mom told me not to eat anything you pick up from the ground

After about 40 minutes of trudging through the dark forest, we finally reached the beautiful shores of a nameless beach.

A view of the beautiful beach

I saw the heaven and ...angels, but the angels don't show in the photo

There were morning glories growing abundantly zz..

Having suffered from certain bodily discomfort for more than an hour, I knew that this was the golden opportunity. Being not a stupid person, I conducted a number two million-dollar business in a hut so conveniently built nearby. Great success! I buried the nutritious elements I left behind meticulously so that now the flowers will grow. I felt proud to have contributed to the preservation of our natural environment.

We took a while to camwhore a bit...

One of the brave adventurers

Jenny’s tripod proved to be a really useful tool indeed. Not only did it help us to take pictures of everybody, but it also saved Jenny’s camera from a tragic death following an invasion by the thrice-damned ocean water.

Anyway, we threw our stuffs in a shady place and transformed into hot, topless Asians, and jumped into the lovely embrace of Mother Ocean. Because of the large number of hermit crabs discovered by my comrades, we decided to name this place Hermit Lagoon! We swam (well, at least I tried to float) and we found an undisturbed ocean life in the lagoon that wasn’t seen in places like TC3. It was a really beautiful places untainted by civilization or human pollution. We had a lot of fun just going round and looking under the rocks to look for fishes and other organisms. Unfortunately, STFU couldn’t find his species there. What a shame!

Le blue tank

Le stupid sea cucumber who wouldn't cooperate when I wanna take pictures of it

Le sea ~~slut~~ slug

Le crab with a foaming mouth

Le fish whose name must not be spoken

She sells sea shells by the seashore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells.
So if she sells shells on the seashore,
I'm sure she sells seashore shells

Le used-to-be fish

When we were having fun and getting wet and aroused, we spotted our possible-ancestors gathering in force towards the place where we placed our stuff. My comrades rushed to our place while I stayed behind because I was trying to track some fish (Reader: sanpa lou, never seen wild fishes before izit? Me: stfu! STFU: You call me a?). My comrades discovered that the ancestors had already landed irreparable damage to our assets (no, not our attractive physical assets you pervert!). It was a critical moment. Tcherry and Jenny weren’t able to summon the bankai of their parangs, so they were powerless against our more experienced ancestors who were also the local snake. STFU who was formerly the God of Nature was being sealed in human form, so his godly powers couldn’t be unleashed. I was too far away to help! We needed a strategy! After a long session of discussion, debate, cum insult-throwing, and whatever the Members of Parliament like to do, my comrades decided to retreat. And so we were forced to evacuate and move to another place among the rocks. I was on the verge of despair when I saw my food container being destroyed by the savage apes. I decided that I am going to take arms against those beasts and if I have free time, I will attack the Planet of the Apes. However I was relieved when I saw that my Big Bunny candies survived the onslaught unharmed.

Anyway we went to play again. This time Tcherry and Jenny used Shunpo to climb up the rocky slopes and explore the dark area beyond while I, having no such skills, couldn’t reach them and I ended up walking on the sharp rocks. STFU was having a good time soaking in the sea water which is rising rapidly. When I saw him in his eyes, I saw delight and an excitement that I had not seen since that time, that time when he floated all the way from Langkawi to Kuantan through the raging seas, through the fiery storms, and the legendary Kraken.

Le fabuleux kraken!

I saw a terrorist on the beach. He told me he's looking for Osama. Since crime rates are soaring, I asked him to show me his id to prove that he is really a terrorist. Guess what he said?

Terrosist: Ano, I forgot it at home.

Hmmm, must be a fake one. I just walked away.

The sun was getting hotter and hotter and the water level is getting higher and higher, we realized that if we don’t leave the sea soon, we would risk extinction. After having a debate and a vote, we agreed on a special policy that is biased to Chinese that we retreat to a more shady part on the beach. We also devised a security act to imprison and execute any animal without trial that we suspect is involved in the attack against us. As soon as we finished making laws to protect only ourselves, we took our supplies and walked to a bed of seashells on our bare foot (damn painful, who the heck suggested that) under some trees to rest. After taking a wink and having some obscene fun,

Ahem, no comment. Interpret it as you like

being deprived of all our food supplies (damn you gluttonous corrupt apes!), we decided to head back and have lunch.

After an arduous trip through the woods – this time it’s uphill, we finally made it back to the familiar environment – human civilization, exposed once more to the responsibilities, sanity, pollution, corruption, and the darkness of man’s heart. Being emaciated, we hopped onto the car and ate to our heart’s content.

To end this magical journey, I want to recite a poem:

The sky is blue,
The sand is white,
We all are hottie,
And monkeys are naughty,
KFC is yummy.

Sekian, terima kasih.

p/s: Phew, done. This is way longer than I expected
<--<< Go back

Die Hard 4: Yippee-ki-yay, motherfu-

2007-07-08T07:22:00.000-07:00

Well, there’s nothing new about this movie’s plot. It’s the usual clichéd, recycled stuff alright. Some bad guys hack into the U.S. intelligence network, controlling everything, siphoning money throwing the world’s greatest nation into an unprecedented havoc. The good guy cop single-handedly kicks the baddie’s ass real hard. Well, not really single handed: he’s got a young hacker comrade (or hackers, if you count that fatty Freddy warlock couch potato yang berisi). And there are the incompetent government bureaucrats who couldn’t do no shit when faced with the bad guy’s onslaught who always shows up late when action is over just to pick up the leftovers. Man this hacker thing is becoming a trend, isn’t it? They gotta do something about it because it’s getting more and more uninspiring and un-innovative with each time it’s used.

What’s nice about this movie is watching Bruce Willis in action. He may be getting old but he still packs a punch. Seeing him pulling those stunts like using a car to kill a freaking chopper is just pure awesomeness. He’s bad tempered, foul-mouthed – calling everyone names for one - and invincible - explosives, assassins, Chinese ninja chick couldn’t snuff him out; covered with injuries, he just stands up, shrugs off the dust, and gets ready for action again. One helluva badass cop if you ask me, and he’s enjoying himself.

Pause~ Check out the trailer if you haven't seen the movie (includes the car kills chopper scene)

Another thing I liked about this movie is that it doesn’t preach “noble” principles like justice and U.S. patriotism that bunch load of cheesy craps like many movies do…cough…cough….Transf…… When he was asked by the hacker Matt Farrell why he is fighting so hard, John McClane answers because no one else will do it, so he gotta do it. Just that, no didactic speech or moralizing. And this movie doesn’t go out its way to erect a ridiculous romance plot – while there were hints of romance, this movie doesn’t stretch it and strike out a couple just for the sake of it.

The action was great. Crisp and clear and your usual Bing! Bang! And Boom! Some scenes were pretty creative and overall, it’s fun. One thing that hmmm…shocked me… was how hard Bruce Willis pounded a young hot chick like Maggie Q. That's a very serious offense against women! The actions were pretty exaggerated, e.g. people standing up as if nothing happened after say, getting banged hard by a car, but hey, it’s Die Hard, and that’s the freaking spirit, I says!

About the other characters, they were alright. Matthew Farrell was sort of the comic relief. He sometimes overdoes it, but it’s kept in check. I usually don’t prefer young whippersnappers in movies, as they usually don’t have much acting skills, or they’re too wimpy or they become unimpressive heroes. But I’ve gotta admit, I liked him. The way he develops from being a scaredy cat to one who dares to defy the bad guys. About the bad guys, they’re just the stereotyped bad guys. Arch bad guy Thomas Gabriel has some hmmm… unpleasant history while the others were just cardboards.

To be honest, I was pretty disappointed with Mai's character. It wasn’t like I was expecting hot and steamy scenes, but just some show of flesh to please the eye. She’s not as hot as Megan Fox anyway. Thank God there wasn’t any lovey-dovey stuff between Mai and the bad guy or Farrell/Lucy. Superficial romance only makes me cringe. And I was pleased that the movie didn’t steer away from its path by setting up stages for just-for-show heroism and trying too hard to get emotional. It remained true to its action genre and gave the audience a satisfying serving of it. It didn’t bother trying to please everybody by portraying heroism and patriotism half-assedly like cough….cough… Transf….

This movie kicks ass. It’s honest and comfortable with itself and doesn’t try things out of range nor being what it’s not, unlike the world’s flashiest GM/eBay commercial.

Peace.

Stressed? Break some stuff!

2007-07-04T23:39:00.000-07:00

Taken from twincities.com
"Spanish hotel lets guests smash stress
By HAROLD HECKLE
Article Launched: 07/03/2007 06:01:41 PM CDT

MADRID, Spain—A few lucky people in need of a break from their stress got a chance at some unconventional therapy. A Spanish hotel chain planning renovations at one of its Madrid locations offered 30 "highly stressed out people"—selected by a team of psychologists—the chance to take up sledge hammers and battering rams and smash through its rooms Tuesday.
Rampage they did.

Wearing protective dust masks, goggles, white overalls, helmets and gloves, the amateur demolition crew swung hammers into television sets and bedroom walls and tossed beds and desks like hard-partying rock stars.

The NH Alcala hotel, part of a chain of 335 hotels on three continents, said it decided to forgo hiring professional demolition companies and let selected customers start its facelift as a way to generate some headline-making publicity.

"Who hasn't dreamed, in the middle of a stress attack, of breaking everything around them?" NH hotels said in a statement.

Psychologist Laura Garcia Agustin explained, "After a few blows comes exhaustion and with it the release of pain-relieving endorphins which make us feel much better."

Those picked for the stress-relieving smash-up will be invited back to admire the hotel's new interior in September, the chain said. "

My, my, isn't that just sweet? But wouldn't playing Postal 2 be better???

Shrek the Third: Is the third serving too much?

2007-07-03T23:09:00.000-07:00

Recently I've watched Shrek 3. I've been a huge fan of Shrek and Shrek 2 because there were so much fun and so many brilliant parodies in those film.

Shrek 3, in my opinion, was just so-so. Somehow it lacked the energy and momentum of ita prequels. Anyway, in this movie, the frog king of Far Far Away Kingdom has died and Shrek, not wanting to be king, tries to find Arthur who is another heir to the throne. Prince Charming, wanting to usurp the throne, rouses the bad fairy-tale guys to rise against the good guys.

The new characters, Arthur and Merlin wasn't that impressive. Moreover, the movie seemed to have become a children's cartoon instead of the grown-up fairy tale it used to be. Maybe the parodies weren't significant enough. I don't know exactly, but it's just much weaker than Shrek and Shrek 2.

Anyway there's still likable characters in the movie. My favourite scene was the interrogation scene where Prince Charming asks Gingy and Pinocchio where Shrek is. Oh man, that scene was absolutely the bomb. Gingy having those flashbacks and suddenly goes nuts, singing "On the good ship lollipop", while Pinocchio tries to avoid telling lies by making obfuscating statements. Catch Gingy in action here

and Pinocchio here.

Not a bad movie, but not a great movie either. It certainly has fallen below everyone's expectations. Maybe a third serving is straining our appetite too much?

Transformers: More than meets the eye?

2007-07-03T02:13:00.000-07:00

Kuantan, June 28:

My friends and I went to watch the Transformers. I've watched the Transformer cartoon as a kid, but unfortunately, due to some serious brain injury,

my poor skull...

I don't remember much of it. And being out of contact with things related to Transformers many years, it became nothing more than a shadow of my innocent, happy childhood.

It's entertaining alright. Oozing with metallic mecha-coolness, this movie boasts of fast-paced, explosive action featuring the ultimate showdown between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Watching them pounding and blowing each other up into scrap metals is an exhilarating experience, with all those explosions and the robots' unbelievably agile moves, not to forget car-chase scenes. The CGI animation is brilliant - all the robots are designed to the tiniest details and their transformation is pretty cool.

Besides that, it features an attractive and youthful cast. With her tight abs, curvacious body, and angellic face, I bet Megan Fox (as Mikaela) got a lot of guys (and lesbos) drooling over her - and I'm a hot-blooded, healthy youth. The few scenes where she shows some skin were really... ahem, pleasing to the eye.

Ain't she da foxx?

And the hot Australian hacker played by Rachael Taylor is not bad either. Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky is alright, energetic and lively as he is, and a bit on the cute side.

Yhis movie is filled with cheesy jokes and witty remarks, which, while not making the movie smart, manages to amuse.

Top notch animations, youthful lead characters, romance plot, funny scenes... Seems perfect.

Unfortunately, no. The plot is far from convincing, and the character development is practically non-existent. In this movie, the transformers are just impressive transforming robots without distinguished personality. Well, that's robots for you, I guess. And the romance plot is obviously just for the sake of being there. The lead characters jump from barely knowing each other to becoming lovers. And the scene when Sam was looking for his ancestor's glasses in his house: Although it's amusing, it's needlessly long and clogs up screentime which would have been better to flesh out the characters.

All in all, this movie is superficially entertaining. Well, just like many of the modern things, this movie is wrapped with an attractive package - pleasing the visual and auditory senses - but neglects the content. While it thrills the audience with the animations and explosions, it fails to contribute to his thoughts or rouse his deeper emotions of pity, anger, and sadness.

More than meets the eye? I'm afraid not.

Happy Birthday, Wei Ping!

2007-06-22T02:32:00.000-07:00

My brader, in front of the first Starbucks

Cheers to you my fellow traveller, friend, and brader! It's your 22nd birthday!

Hope you continue to enjoy life to the fullest, and all the best in your studies and everything you undertake.

Happy birthday, and God bless you son~

The house has eyes~

2007-06-21T11:03:00.000-07:00

I tried to sleep early tonight but failed. Maybe I've been indulging in late night life for too long.

Anyway when I woke up to browse the internet and download some stuff, I found my father reading my blog. I don't know how he found out my blog, but I was told by my mom some time ago that he knew its existence. A rumour confirmed.

Too many prying eyes. Like Kenny Sia's blog, for the audiences' sake, I have to tone down a bit. Nevertheless I've always restrained myself from blogging all that I desired. Maybe I should start another anonymous blog which will be read by those who aren't that close to me at all. Then they would read it non-judgementally.

Some things are better to be left out in the dark. Am I right?

Coming soon: post on trip to Hermit Lagoon!

Condolences to May Lee's family

2007-06-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

Just got news from a few friends that Tan May Lee, who used to be in SABS 5B, passed away in a car accident in NZ yesterday. May God bless her soul and may she rest in peace.

To her family and dearest friends, be strong!

Nankurunaisa

2007-06-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

It means that "everything will work out in time". And it is also the title of the last episode of Blood+

Since I have nothing better to do, I decided to pick up anime again. I chose Blood+ because... I don't really know why - maybe I remembered watching it more than a year ago and thought it was nice. It was. Very.

A nice Blood+ wallpaper with Saya, Hagi, and Solomon

Saya Otonashi is an average high-school girl who eats a lot and lives with her family in Okinawa. Following her encounter with a mysterious cello player named Hagi and the appearance of a murderous blood-sucking monster named Chiroptera in her high school, her past began to unfold. She, is anything but average. Is she a murderess herself or is she the saviour? As she learns of her strength and her role as a weapon against the onslaught of Chiroptera, she picks up her katana and fights her way to face her archnemesis, Diva? But, is Diva merely an enemy? What really happened in the past, in the massacre during the Vietnamese war?

It's a pretty engrossing anime. It took me about 4-5 days to finish this 50-episode series. It has a hot chick wielding a katana, off killing monsters. But honestly I don't really like the design of Chiropteras, because they all look generic and it seem as if the artist didn't bother to draw them so as to distinguish one Chiroptera from the other. Even some of the boss-type monsters weren't cool.

Anyway this anime has its fair share of touching moments about relationships, family love, friendship and those kind of stuff. It doesn't have as deep an emotional impact on me as say, Cowboy Bebop, Elfen Lied, or Gungrave, but it still manages to grab my heart sometimes, esp. at the later episodes. The fighting animation, while not the best, is fluid and good and there is no lacking in the spilling of blood. The gradual unravelling of Saya's dark past, as well as the mysterious nature of the events and conspiracies were captivating. But as expected, there were some cliched dialogues and scenarios (and emo stuff...zzzz...)

My conclusion: It's the shiznit! Recommended!

I have yet to watch it's prequel, Blood: The Last Vampire.

Spiderman~ Spiderman~

2007-06-15T21:46:00.000-07:00

I watched Spiderman 3 last night. I have mixed feelings about this movie. It started pretty well, with the usual stuff - the birth of a villain, Lelaki Pasir (is that the Malay translation in theater?) with a sad story. Which reminds me of an old song: Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream (bung, bung, bung, bung)Make him the cutest that I've ever seen (bung, bung, bung, bung)Give him two lips like roses and clover (bung, bung, bung, bung)Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over. by Chordettes titled Mr. Sandman.

Methinks this villain is extremely powderful hor because he is made of sand wor. How can you possibly destroy him huh? Water washes him away but he can easily regather his parts. Bomb him? The sand disperses but again, he can collect himself again. So I still haven't figured out how you can defeat him, permanently.

But anyway, back to the main topic: Spiderman himself. I think Toby Maguire couldn't manage the bad boy part. Especially the dance parts. He's supposed to be flamboyant, charming, but he just looks ridiculous without failing to remind me of

Ooops, that was the wrong picture. No, the bad spidey reminded me of

Peter Parker danced just like Austin Powers.

Anyway, I thought the development of the characters weren't detailed enough. For example, the inner struggle of Spiderman with his dark side could've been more fleshed out. And Venom was like a push-over. The ending fight was flashy and spectacular, but it's like Venom's so weak. While Spidey and his friend was pounding Sandman, Venom was nowhere. Conveniently he always appears for a second then get knocked away, hits something and faint until the guys finished off Sandman.

I thought there were too many characters and they wanna give a bit of attention to eveyone without really focussing on anyone.

Putting all of that aside, SM3 (haha SM) is not that bad. For viewing pleasure, it has all the eye candies. Slick actions, cool animations (sandstorm), cool new characters. Heck, what more can you ask of a modern commercial film?

p/s: I'm not an avid reader of Spiderman comic so I'm not in a position to comment about how the director didn't do justice to Venom.

My perspective of Sg. Lembing Trip (4th-5th June 2007)

2007-06-12T02:08:00.000-07:00

One afternoon on 4th June 2007, we went to Sungai Lembing. Jenny was kind enough to give me a ride. We put a night in McLum's grandma's house (free! yeah!). It's a nice wooden house which has a river behind it and surrounded by fresh air and has a collapsed house as one of its neighbour.

The house! zzz...

We started off the night with a barbecue. Since we don't have firestarters (a.k.a. fire seeds), we used solid fuel to start a fire in the barbecue pits - effective but smelly. Some idiots even tried to use newspaper to light the fire. When the fire started going, we barbecued the stuff that we brought - chicken wings (delicious! marinated by Qi Yuan's mom: thanks), chicken balls, chicken scallops (very nice!), fish chips, crab ball, etc. The girls brought lemon grass to spread butter onto the food but honestly I don't notice any difference in the taste compared to using a brush. I also brought buns and kaya to make some toasted buns ala-Meng Fong. It tasted really good. I'll be bringing that if there is a next time.

We drank the usual soft-drinks. One that stood out was the A&W root beer float which was brought by Jenny I think. Good stuff. The honey drink wasn't that bad either. Kudos to those who brought the honey.

Yum yum! zzz...

Everyone seemed to forgot it was Tcherry's birthday. In the end, we did sang him a birthday song but no cakes or candles. And he just sat there quietly, barbecuing food for other people.

The birthday boy! zzz...

After eating to our hearts content (or too much), some of us went out for a walk. Let me see: me, Tcherry, Jenny, Zai, WB, Taikor, Xuan, Liuck if I'm not mistaken. Actually it was quite a long walk.

What evil lies in the darkness, waiting to pounce upon the unsuspecting? zzz...

Mr. Little Vampire taking a rest on the ground. zzz...

We walked in a circle, passing two bridges, the Sg. Lembing museum. Liuck, Jenny, Tcherry, and I also went down walking across the river to feel the coolness of the mountain water brushing through the naked skin of our legs. It was really a moment to savour. There were a lot of dogs in the neighbourhood, maybe meant as a supplement to the absence of adequate security in the houses. Whenever we went, the dogs barked as if there was no tomorrow and as if we are going to invade Sg. Lembing. The girls were scared and we picked up little stones to protect ourselves, but luckily we didn't have to use them. It's all thanks to the aura of manliness emanating from Tcherry, who is respected to three degrees by the white and the black two sides. When we passed by the cemetery, everybody walked faster and talked less, but suddenly damn Tcherry and Jenny sprinted away, so I just followed them. As expected, the large group caught up with us pretty soon.

When we got back, we had a drink to relax ourselves. Non-alcoholic lah, just grape juice! zzz...

When we finally got to sleep it was about 2 a.m. I was lucky to have forced my way into a bedroom early so I got to sleep on a bed. Those who slept outside (in the hall) have to suffer from cold, but me, no, I slept like a log on the bed until I heard someone screaming "Fire! Fire!" in Cantonese but I slept on until Jenny woke me up at about 5 a.m. Some couples slept alone in a bedroom. Hmmmm...

Soon, we got ready to climb Lembing Hill or Bukit Panorama. But there was one problem. We couldn't wake Liuck up:

After numerous failed attempts to wake Liuck up, the guys walked away from the wretched sleeping beast. zzz...

Refusing to join us in our hiking trip, we left without him while he continued wandering in his dream world. Besides a minor accident involving car, fume, and collision, nothing much happened between our departure and arrival. It was really tiring climbing up the stairs, maybe because of our lack of exercise. We were sweating profusely and gasping for air when we reached the top, the four of us - Jenny, me, Englishman, and Tcherry. Others were caring and waiting for their loved ones, while Qi Yuan, ahem, I don't what took him so long.

The first four to reach the peak! zzz...

In front of an impending break of dawn, but the photographer couldn't capture the magnificent sky behind us so there you go! zzz....

Jenny: Captain! I see the sun ahead of us! Oh noes, we are going to collide with the sun! zzz...
Tcherry: No, you foolish knave! My compass disagrees with you! zzz....

In front of the marvelous sea of clouds

What follows is a series of pictures of the dawn:

Dawn 1

Dawn 2

Dawn 3

Dawn 4 ! zzz...

After camwhoring for several centuries and watching other tourists doing their camwhoring, we hiked down the hill.

Bonus pic:

Tcherry: Ooh... a pipe! zzz...
Venus Flytrap: Don't eat meeee!! zzz...

Next, we had noodles with Yong Tau Fu for breakfast. Genuine and fresh ingredients. Very nice! Then everybody except Tcherry, Jenny, and me went back to the house. Tcherry and Jenny were spending some quality time together AGAIN in some unknown secluded spot so I had to wait for them. We went to Jenny's grandmother(or grandma in-law)'s and aunt's house. They have a vegetable garden and they rear some chickens, fish, and tortoises, but NO DOGS! They even have an orchard behind their house (is it theirs?). All in all, it's a nice place although the road is not very kind toward cars. After the brief visit, (Digression: I don't know what language Jenny used to talk to his grandma), we went back to meet up with the other guys.

After lazing around for some time and discovering some "shocking footage", we cleaned up (acutally not we, I was taking a half-nap) and siam!! zzz...

My perspective of Genting Trip

2007-06-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

After a long time of procrastination, I'm finally blogging about this nice trip.

Statement: I'm not going to link to other people's blog.

Annie, Mei Shan, Xuan, Englishman, me, Tasmanian Devil, Miss Chuan, Tcherry, McLum took a 1:00 a.m Transnasional on May 25th to Kuala Lumpur and we arrived at 5:00 a.m. at Puduraya. The noob driver got saman halfway. Almost everyone except Miss Chuan got little sleep from the uncomfortable bus ride.

After we arrived, we went for some mediocre dim sum at Petaling Street then we took Putra LRT to Gombak Station to buy tickets to Genting. It was a pretty sweet deal - RM26 for two-way trip for bus ride and cable car to Genting and an outdoor theme park day pass (which by itself costs RM33, as I found out later)

The bus ride was very good with very old Chinese songs and old gamblers. I slept soundly because I was sitting beside Mei Shan. Then we waited for the 3 swordsmen - Jenny, Taikor Limys, and Chang Jing Lu (CJL). I took some pictures to show how depressing and sickening the lighting is in the cable car station.

MM Miss Chuan (Englishman and Xuan in the background) - looking sickly but not actually sick

The three swordsmen finally arrived after taking one turn which took about 20 minutes - must have been a gigantic turn. Then we took the cable car to the top of Genting. I've always enjoyed the cable car ride because of the pleasant top-down view and the cool breeze.

We decided to check in first before indulging in the theme park pleasure. We waited for about 50 minutes to check in bored to half-death. The time was about 11.15 a.m. (Yes, Jenny's post about this is slightly inaccurate). As soon as we checked in (we guys into a triple room, 3 girls in standard room), some guys decided to have some homo-fun.

A moment of true bliss! (Jenny is buried deep beneath the fleshes of joy)

We were starving by the time we finished bathing, resting so we went for lunch at Burger King. Chee K, Mei Shan, Annie, and I ordered a Family Meal but the cashier messed up the ordered and didn't deliver 2 apple pies which would have cost about RM6 in total. An example of Malaysian competency in general.

Then we went on to play in the theme park. First thing is the Spinner.

Spinner....duh

Nothing scary about this guy. But it's pretty nice being up there feeling the wind. The nicest part is pushing Miss Chuan up there and hearing him screeching like a her. (Oh, she's so hot)

Then something happened - maybe because Jenny thought we abandoned him while he went to the toilet, then he got cranky and lau kai-ed a bit. (Nah, say other people lau-kai). Then majority of us played Corkscrew. Afterwards we tried out Pirate Ship which is relatively new compared to even the Flying Coaster ("Superman" in layman terms). Tcherry and Jenny didn't board the Pirate Ship, but they spent quality time with each other while taking photographs. It was really exciting and I pretty much spent the whole time controlling my breathing to minimize the impact of gravity on my mental state. Other people? Well, they screamed and flailed their arms. And Xuan looked really scared. Well, to be honest, I was too.

Pirate Ship

After that we wanted to play Space Shot/Solero but it kept on raining, and the mists were gone. In the meantime, we went to the Pirate Train/Ghosthouse. It was so scary you guys will regret not going for it. It was so dark and scary. Then got those scary ghosts. And monsters. And scary scary.... And darkness... Oh so scary. Next, we went for a ride on the Cyclone. The rises and falls weren't the scary part but the most frightening aspect was that the whole structure looked like it'd fall apart anytime with all those creaking noises and the stuck car. Last but not least, we went for the Tea Cup. Seemingly the most innocent of all our rides, not to mention that it's a Family Ride, it turned out to be rather catastrophic. Taikor Limys' group which includes Miss Chuan and the Tasmanian Devil was the most serious with the record of two casualties because Taikor "Xiong guang da fa", "Kuang mo luan wu" and spinned the teacup like there was no tomorrow even the Tasmanian Devil also beh tahan the spinning, then you can imagine how fast the damn thing was spinning.

The aftermath of Taikor's aggression - I saw Miss Chuan gasping for air, and a Tasmanian Devil barely able to breathe. THE LAND IS SO RICH, WHY SHOULD WE SUFFER LIKE THIS!!

Watching the Tasmanian Devil puke

Oh noes! Miss Chuan got sick too!!!

The Englishman escaped with a mild injury

I was in the same group with Jenny and CJL. Since I was on the heavy side, my weight helped us to avoid the otherwise rather disastrous consequences like those of Taikor Limys' group. After this incident, most of the people went to play the Flying Coaster while Jenny, CJL, Cheng Chuan stayed back to tend to the ill Tasmanian Devil because we were afraid that if things go on like this, Tasmanian Devils would be extinct from our world. And our world would no longer has any Tasmanian Devil, and we would no longer see any Tasmanian Devil, and we would cry out, "Ohhhh...Whither art thou, Tasmanian friend?" and Tasmanian Devil would no longer be seen hanging around places like Tasmania, and when people want to see Tasmanian Devil they can only see it on cartoon and museums....

We went back to hotel to rest and bathe and had dinner. Since the non-fast food on Genting was so ridiculously expensive, we had our second fast-food-meal for the day. And we watched the Pirates of the Carribean 3 at the cinema. There were a few massaging chair on the front row somemore. The movie, like its predecessors, was excellent but there was so many things going on so rapidly it's pretty hard of keep track of what had happened. And I wasn't that satisfied with some characters playing non-existent part in the movie. (Spoiler) Like in the movie, they were saying how powerful Calypso is, and when they released her, she didn't really do anything and just became a billion crabs and disappeared. !!?? Maybe I missed something.

That night they played Truth or Dare. Those kinda of gossiping and such lo. And the Englishman keep asking hamsap question lidat lorh. Terry and I was trying hard to sleep but they are a noisy bunch liek. Luckily I brought my ear plugs hehe.

The next morning we had brunch at a restaurant in First World Plaza. The food was so-so. But one thing that annoyed me was that the waiter didn't return the change. Even if we want to give tip, we would leave the extra behind, right? It's not up to them to decide whether the change is tip or not. What's with these people's mentality anyway?

Chuen Gah Fuk (no C) in front of the restaurant

After the meal, we packed up and prepared to check out and....

Actually when I was changing my pants, one cent fell out 0f my pocket. But Tcherry, thinking that it was a wishing pond or something like that, donated one more cent into the shithole.

Next, we packed up and left. While we are at cable car station, we went to visit an animal fair. Since a few of us bought the ticket together, it cost us RM7 per person. We saw a lot of exotic organisms and I think the ticket price was worth it. Here are some of my favourite pics

The golden pheasant

Kangaroo

Froggie and friend

Apparently we were getting late for Wu Zun. Xuan's getting grumpier each passing minute so we fai fai dei go back KL. Luckily she got to watch Wu Zun nevertheless (whose singing skills make me shudder). Before we siam, we had a fabulous meal at Sushi King in Lowyat Plaza. Well, not too fabulous because CJM, Miss Chuan, KeeYan, and I took majority blue plates nia. And thanks to Englishman for being so generous as to share some of our cost. Then we siam!

~The end~ (Finally. I delayed posting this for so long. Apologies.)

Get your lazy, fat bum movin'

2007-06-07T07:29:00.000-07:00

If you're feeling like emo or shit like that, find some meaningful thing to do - get a job, read some books (not some brain dead yan qing xiao shuo), go out for hiking, play some sports, learn something; try to create some variation in your life, set some goals - long term or short - and try to achieve them.

No point in living a damn repetitive life, listening to the same old god damn song every day or sitting in front of the computer playing Diablo, Maple Story, and chatting - recycling gossips and talking trash all the time. Come on, spending infinite hours on those junks will only hinder your mental and intellectual growth. Even religion won't help you if all you do is rotting and nothing meaningful.

My point: Get a life and get some fresh air.

Away from home again

2007-05-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

After a short trip to Genting, I'm currently on a trip in Taiping. More specifically my family and I are putting a night in my mom's old friend's place for the night in Sitiawan. I'm having quite a good time here because of the good food. I've had the privilege to taste a type of traditional biscuit here called Kwong Piang (literally translates into "light biscuit"). The small one have pulut and onions as fillings while the larger ones have char siew as fillings. Then we had a really sumptuous seafood feast which consists of black pepper crabs, fried prawns with oats, some shellfish with a tail like chicken claw, some fish, and some vegetables. The freshness of the seafood is simply unrivalled by any of those I've eaten. And I never regretted eating too much even though I suffered some mild "consequences" because of the food. I'm going back to Taiping tomorrow. Taiping used to be a really boring place when I was younger. But now, armed with a book, I'm enjoying the laid-back, slow-paced lifestyle in Taiping which is occasionally spiced up with cheap and good food that people in big cities tried to imitate but failed miserably, not to mention the exorbitant prices.

Anyway, I don't have the convenience or time to blog in depth about the Genting trip and other sundry items for the moment. So stay tuned.

Life at home

2007-05-19T09:16:00.000-07:00

So, now I'm back at home, shaking leg and doing nothing. Being one year in Vancouver hasn't changed things much, most apparent one would be the increased disdain for the irresponsible and reckless drivers on the road. Home is still home. The decay is still there. Sometimes depressing, but what can I do. Sometimes you have to admit that some things are hopeless, and only God can help it, not that I'm having that much faith right now.

The root of laziness and inactivity is firmly planted in me. Gaming and idling is all I'm doing now. Struggling is futile as it was I who has allowed that infirmity to grow on me. Soon they will envelop me and in a flash of an eye the summer would be gone and I'd have done nothing and I'd regret it like at the end of any other holidays. Let's hope that would not happen.

This morning I woke up at about 10 a.m., having watched Lord of the Rings 1 until late at night. Terry sms-ed me about playing badminton in the morning. But the day was so hot and I was just trying to clean the house a bit (always trying to justify myself). So I thought to myself, screw that. And another opportunity slipped past me. Do I dare to stir the universe? Do I dare to break free of my fears and excessive anxieties?

Well I will put that aside for a while. Spoil not the anticipation for the Genting trip, however it might turn out to be. Let's plan after that.

Anyway, food is good at home. The best food is home-cooked food, cooked with love and your health in mind, and cheaper than eating out. I wish I could cook like mom. That'd be impressive. But (sigh) can I do it? Is this just one of the plans, that, after lengthy deliberation, would fade into nothing because of detrimental addiction and inertia? Well I'll be damned if I let it happen again. Or will it? Who knows? Anything can happen.

Hmmm, another gloomy post eh? How I wish I have pictures - like other people hanging out with their friends, eating expensive food, wandering aimlessly, doing camwhoring of the baddest taste, but fun? - to post. But I'm sorry, I have nothing of that sort to offer. And now you'll have to excuse me, I have .. mundane things to attend to.

p/s: Anyway, I have a cellphone number now. Ask hx or Terry or Xuan for it. It's too risky to post it here.

Home

2007-05-13T02:48:00.000-07:00

I've reached Malaysia yesterday (May 13th, noon).

Couldn't open my Malaysian cellphone. Someone messed with the SIM card and now it's blocked and I don't know what's the PUK code. Nice, because I think everyone's number is on that SIM card.

The air is hot and stuffy. I'm melting like a chocolate now. Damn I miss the cool breeze and mild sun in Vancouver.

I have to be careful on the road now because Malaysians drive differently from Canadians. In Canada, pedestrian's the boss; in Malaysia, driver's the boss.

I'm gonna miss the public transportation in Vancouver. I know it's unfair to compare transportation in a developed country to a developing country. But it's going to take a bit of getting used to from being able to get anywhere by myself to having to wait for people to fetch me by car (Did I tell you I can't drive? There are so many factors contributing to this that I won't even bother to elaborate)

Oh yeah, guys in Kuantan. Contact me if there's anything fun going on. Contact me through my house number or through Live Messenger alright? Haven't seen you guys for a really long time. Been wondering how's everyone doing.

Anyway, my flight from Vancouver back to KL was pretty enjoyable. Including the interval between connecting flights, it took about 27 hours. First I flew from Vancouver to LA, waited for about 4 hours, then flew from LA to Taipei, waited for about 1.5 hours, then from Taipei to KL. I'm loving MAS more and more now. The service's pretty good, the stewards and stewardess on the plane were courteous and they offer drinks frequently. I like the food too, I'm not that picky about food though. I was so busy watching movies on the plane that to a certain degree I wished that I could stay on the plane longer. Yes, even after the 27 hours. And the sight of early morning above the clouds is nothing short of breathtaking. Too bad I was too lazy to take pictures of it. It's the second most fascinating sight I've seen next to myself in the mirror.

Nothing much else to tell now. The heat is eating up my desire to blog. So that's all for now.

(Goes back to melting)

Breaking news: Done and done

2007-05-01T04:20:00.000-07:00

It's 4:30 a.m. now. I've just finished packing my stuff. It took me about maybe 9 hours to finish the job as I was constantly faced by the dilemma of whether to keep certain item or not. Tedious work - I wish I've had a maid to do the job for me.

I've written my last paper - Physics 170 about 16 hours ago. It wasn't too bad. Phew, I'm so glad that it's finally done now. Reminded me of a Chinese proverb "养兵千日，用兵一时". All this time I've been studying and neglecting pretty much everything else except gaming. I'm afraid in the future I might only do these two things.

I'm finally moving out in about 6 hours time. I'm gonna miss this place and my floormates with their idiosyncrasies and weird antics, and things that happened here during my short stay. It's true that the food wasn't that good and stuff was expensive and going up to my room on 4th floor was taxing, but I'm still going to miss this place. In 6 hours time, room 407 Cariboo, which once belonged to me, will be just another generic Vanier room.

I watched a movie while taking a break from packing up my stuff. Have you heard of Grindhouse? Blood, gore, nudity... you name it, you got it. Basically the film has 2 parts, one directed by Robert Rodriguez (Sin City), another by Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill). Pretty much a no-brainer movie - there's a joke/pun about no-brainer in the movie - but it's entertaining. Part 1: Planet Terror was about zombie invasion and how survivors - including a chick with a machine gun as right leg (how cool is that?) escape. Lots of cheesy one-liners and lots of action, it's an above-average zombie flick. Tarantino's part is called Death Proof. It's about a crazy stuntman who stalks hot chicks and kills them with his "death proof" car. It has a lot of dialogues, which I personally enjoyed, but are disliked by many movie-goers. And it has an exciting car-race at the later part where eventually the oppressed becomes the oppressor. Both parts features mutilation of body parts, and are suitable for minors and those faint of heart. It has some fake movie trailers in between and "missing reel". A really unconventional and innovative film and I can say it's fairly well done.

(I'm so going to have a headache tomorrow...) Another update: I've just discovered that I'll be back at Malaysia at 12th of May instead of 11th (I made some inaccurate assumptions). I'll be staying at my relative's place until then. Any plans? Well, I plan to get my glasses fixed - the 2 pads that support the nose for my glasses has fallen off for a few months now. I'm also going to repack my stuff again for my return to Malaysia. And I'm going to hang around my Canadian and Malaysian friends hopefully. And plenty of rest.

That's all for now, folks. Tata~

5 down, 1 more to go!

2007-04-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, you've heard it. One more paper left - Physics 170 on Monday. I've been working hard on this subject, because I've been neglecting it for a long long time. So, I've been having a lot of fun studying by myself in the library, while getting disturbed by sons of a bard that seems to forget that it's a library.

I've done my last Philosophy online test today. It's as ridiculous and random as the previous ones. But I'm glad it's over now. That was the toughest course I've ever had. Seriously, no matter how hard I study for a test, the marks are always based on luck. Not that I've ever failed it, but that the grade I get is disproportionate to how well-prepared I am. What an abortion of a course! The average was about 50% for this course taught by the professor who was reputedly the easiest professor..

Another good thing was that I found out recently that I don't need to file tax return. Took me a few hours to findout, but heck it saved me a lot of time. The guy on the tax office was pretty impatient though, even asked me if I have problem understanding English. That's the second person who questioned my proficiency in English. I should've said yes and asked him to explain the tax stuff in Chinese instead...

My last paper is one day before we are forced to move out. Seriously though, what the hell? I have so much to study (and procrastinate) I barely have time to pack my stuff. And everybody's already leaving! Damn it Physics 170 ka-ka-cau-cau. And stupid housing to ask people to move out one day after their paper. #^%&$^%^&%. I know I'll be able to manage it eventually, but still $^T&%^%&Y*&(*!!

On a brighter note, my papers have gone pretty well, especially both Math papers. And I managed to finish the ridiculous 19-page computer science paper. It's twice the normal thickness of usual final papers, nearly gave me a heart attack. I'm really getting old.

Ok, better not drag on, I still have tonnes to catch up with my physics. Talk to you guys later. Nappy time, yes yes...

Gearing up for finals

2007-04-17T00:47:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm sitting for my first paper, Physics 153 in about 11-hour time. As usual, doing some last-minute cramming. Very bored, so 忙里偷闲 update my blog. Nothing much to say (as usual), been trying hard to study. My room is not such a conducive studying environment ever since the addition of my laptop, so I've been to my friend's house or the library to study. Results are much better compared to that in my room, and feeling less guilty now. Tomorrow's paper should not be too hard, hopefully there'd not be any surprises, like giving us an unsolvable question - it's happened before. But hoping for the best.

Then 2 more papers, Math 152 on Thursday and Math 101 on Saturday for this week. Hooray, I love exams!

(Goes back to last-minute cramming...)

Small update

2007-04-11T09:45:00.000-07:00

Hey yo wassup? I'm nearly done here already. All the assignments and quizzes are done. Only the finals are left. The momentum of final preparations haven't really built up yet. Now I'm in a state of constant lethargy, sometimes from studying, sometimes from playing computer!

The sun is out again! Yeah, spring is come. But the problem is, sometimes it's hot and sometimes it's cold (like winter). I hope I don't fall sick under this global-warming-induced-extreme-weather.

Nothing much is going on (Boring~~). Oh yeah, I just bought a 1G memory card for my laptop, gonna pick it up in the afternoon. And, I'm coming back to Malaysia at May 11! Bought tickets already! I would spend slightly less than 3 months there. I hope I can achieve something meaningful during my stay, like learning how to cook, etc. Hopefully I can meet up with some of my friends - it's been a damn long while.

I've been trying to exercise a bit - my mom always tells me to do so whenever she calls. But I'm not sure if my energy output is greater than my input (food). Sometimes you eat so much and you don't feel like eating much because the guay lows eat much more than you do. Gotta check...

This post is kinda messed up, very inorganized. Heck, at least you know what I'm up to now. By the way, tomorrow is the last day of classes, but my first final paper starts 5 days after (next Tuesday) and last paper is at April 30. Really hoping that I can stay away from my laptop for that period of time, no matter how sexy it is.

Signing off...

Perkypie blog is revived!

2007-03-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

Nice to see something new on her blog after centuries of seeing her 1111 post.

As for myself, I've done my final compulsory midterm - Math - on Friday. It was pretty easy, contrary to my expectations. Did my Philosophy quiz on Saturday, and got 70% which pissed me off for an hour or so. That was supposed to be the easiest subject for god's sake! I hope I'm not the only idiot who finds the course confusing and obscure. Stupid course is eating my brain.

A lot of rubbish to take care of. I'll be back in my tanah tumpahnya kencingku by somewhere in May. There were some complications in obtaining the air ticket. (Sigh) Getting cheap stuff ain't easy.

By the way guys, download Dynamite Hack's "Boyz in the Hood". It's freaking sweet. The original, performed by a rapper named Eazy E, was rather distasteful to me.
You can compare both if you want. And you'll probably understand why I dislike negro's music in
general. It's not because I'm racist or what. Or maybe just a little bit...

Signing off. Peace (of sheet)

So sien

2007-03-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been studying a lot. In the future, when I turn back and reminisce about this year, especially this term, I'll pull at my hair and beat my chest and probably tear my clothes. It'll just a big blank space - myself studying in my room or library (when my laptop drives me
nuts), nothing else. All the dreams I had before coming to Canada remain to be dreams, all the great plans (yeah, like ruling the world) remain as plans. Everything is work in progress (WIP), nothing is a release (Relz). The lack of will power to complete what I've planned to do is really worrying me. Besides studying,
I don't get much done. Even studying is a problem now. I wonder if it's the professor or myself, but I can hardly
catch up with my studies. I'm gettting less and less efficient now. Take yesterday for example, I spent 1 hour and a half thinking in vain about the solution for a Physics solution and I only got it when I was about to go to sleep. I'm losing my touch and I'm worried. I hope I was (were?) a robot, so when I get less efficient I could update/optimize some my code to increase my efficiency. I wish it was that simple.

Besides this whole chunk of whining (which my friend reminded that I've no right to do because I do well in my studies), I've nothing much to tell. Nothing is really happening now. And lots of stuff to do - I haven't bought my air tickets yet, I haven't filed my tax return yet (a pain in the sorry ass), I haven't... the damn list just goes on. I'm tired. When will this have to end?

Current status: Trying to
get my Physics 170 assignment done, having a class at 8 a.m. which sucks. Wishing for a normal life.

Sorry mum, what you said is true. I'm living an abnormal life now...

p/s: Did I tell you Blogger sucks? Usually free things rocks, like Gmail. But Blogger sucks. Weird thing is, Gmail and Blogger are owned by Google.

An update, finally!

2007-03-09T16:53:00.000-08:00

After nearly a month, I finally found the time/mood to update the blog. Unlike perkypie who has abandoned her blog for 4 months, I'm not going to emulate her irresponsibilty.

I've been quite busy. Workload's pretty heavy. I've been having midterms for the past 2 weeks (one eachweek), and 2 coming up next week -Physics and Math. It seems impossible to catch up with studies - like what my senior said. You study for this subject this week's midterm and then another subject for next week's midterm, then you fall behind on the previous subject. It sucks but perhaps this is what they call "Engineering". Sometimes studying is very frustrating, e.g. in Physics 170, you take about 15 minutes to build up all the equations then solve them to find out that you are mistaken, take another 15 minutes to recheck everything to find that you missed out a negative sign, and stuff like that. While I was studying for the Physics 170 midterm, I was so pissed off because I keep doing exactly ONE mistake which screws up the whole question like chain explosions. Much to relief, I did pretty decently in the midterm. Weekend was extremely welcome but I still have a Philosophy quiz tomorrow so I'm studying again tonight.

Studying has occupied most of my time, maybe about 70% at least. It's extremely boring, and I don't have time for pretty much everything else, like exercising and shopping and hanging around. Ah, I wonder when will this agony end. Ironically when I have some free time, I play Titan Quest. It's depressing but Titan Quest is so addictive. I guess it's my social impotence (imPo...oweee!) that made me like video games so much, damn.

By the way, I was lucky that Chinese New Year coincided with my one-week spring break. Well I couldn't get back to Malaysia but still I managed to celebrate it with my family. He's quite a distant relative of mine, my mom's cousin. I had really good food there, and good wine (I don't know how to taste wine, but they said it's good; but alcohol = good anyways). His wife is a really good cook and she tried to prepare everything by herself. That night we ate 鱼生, 海南鸡饭, fish curry, sambal prawns, and other Malaysian/Singaporean food. And they taste better than the restaurant. Ah, nothing beats home-cooked food. Then I follow his wife and her friends to a New Year parade in Chinatown. There were all kinds of people wearing all kinds of costumes (or no costume >>> lousy) marching through the street, waving, dancing, and performing other sorts of things. Too bad they didn't have a stage or something so the lion/dragon dances were pretty lame - what can they show off when there are no poles (What the heck, no poles = lame dragon/lion). But they did have a 采生(is this the word - my Chinese is getting rusty due to disuse) session after the parade. And there were people giving ang pows (son of a bard, there were only chocolates with a wrapper that looked like a dollar in those pows!). And that pretty much sums up the parade.

Preparing for 捞鱼生

The excellent food and uncle's two sons (大煞风景, no la just kidding); see the wine?

The dessert. The ice cream is durian-flavoured. 赞！赞！赞！

财神！Did I mention that there's a 鬼佬财神？不伦不类

Kung fu performance. Pretty unpowderful and unimpressive, to tell the truth

The woman in red was extremely excited during the course of parade, even little girls couldn't match her excitement. I suspect she was on serious crack, but she was REALLY fun.

one of the best 舞狮 in the parade, too bad there weren't poles

Two hideous monsters

Found this when we are loitering in Chinatown... Yum yum!

A few day afterwards, I went to Vancouver Island with a Malaysian friend. We explored a bit the city of Victoria, capital of British Columbia (Vancouver's not the capital!). They have amazing architectures there - some of the highlights are the Parliament building, a hotel, and some other old buildings. I don't know the name of the building style but they look good. However, we couldn't go whale watching because it's not the season. We also went to a castle built by a coal magnate years ago. We also visited a very nice bookstore. And then that bugger of a friend insisted on going to a far away place which involved 30 minutes of bus trip and 40 god damn minutes of walking! Damnit stupid idiot! After we reached that cursed place, we only spent like 5 minutes there because we couldn't afford to go back to Vancouver too late (because there won't be bus to go back to UBC). A damn 20 minutes walk again. And about 5-6 hours trip back to UBC, with a deep seated grudge against that freaking idiot. But besides of his criticising my photographing skills 25/7 and that retarded decision to go to that Ford Hill Rock (the crazy useless walk), he's a pretty nice guy - and he's Malaysian.

Night view of the Parliament building

The day-view of the Parliament building

Craigdarroch Castle, built by someone who's too rich

The 5-star Munro's Books

The Parliament debate chamber

The magnificent Empress Hotel

Is that all I've done in this month? Pretty much, yes. I'm bored, but I have to study. To make things worse, I've got addicted to Youtube. I've been watching TheHill88 and boh3m3's videos lately. TheHill88 is an oh-my-god-she's-so-hot-and-mouthwateringly-cute-and-perky girl. She mainly does weird videos of herself doing/saying weird things, dancing, and she's got that cute Australian accent. See it for yourself . Boh3m3 looks like a guy from my church, and he's hilarious. He mainly does videos that criticizes or in a more mild term, commenting on EVERYTHING and some miscellaneous stuff. And.... back to work!

p/s: The retardedness of Blogger's photo uploading is unparalleled.

p/s2: I spent 1 hr and 15 minutes uploading the pictures, and 6 hours checking for cool words on Dictionary.com to use so that people will say," Ow, wow! Your English is so good that I can't understand the words"

Signing off~

Time to study... harder

2007-02-10T08:47:00.000-08:00

It's been a tough time indeed. I find this term much harder to cope with compared to the previous one. I'm taking 2 physics, 2 math, a computer science, and a philosophy course.

The physics are driving me mad. Despite my valiant attempts to understand the notes, enlightenment continues to elude me, and it takes me longer time than my counterparts to finish my assignments. So, I've decided: no more fun time - tasting good food or walking around - until I catch up with my studies. But how long is it going to take? I have no idea.

Now picking philosophy as my elective was one of the greatest mistakes I've ever done in my life. Now the professor's very boring, using the word "this guy" "that guy" for an average of 100 times each hour and a half lecture (yes, he was so boring that we traced the number of times he used this phrase). It might not be his fault, maybe he's born with it, but he gives me the impression of a grumpy old man trying to teach some kindergarten children. After attending a few lectures, I felt that it was such a waste of time that I skipped 4/5 lectures in a row (woohoo, a new record!), thinking that I'd make it up by studying the lecture notes at home. I couldn't be further away from the truth. His notes were so incoherent and disjointed that I nearly tore out my hair trying to comprehend it, and the best part is, I'm taking a quiz soon based on these "notes". I've decided to attend the lectures instead, since trying to stay awake in his lecture will be much more easier than understanding his notes. I've read some of the materials and they aren't that bad. It's amazing how some people can turn good stuff into garbage, and some garbage into gold. Once again, this emphasizes the philosophy that guns don't kill, men do (Postal!!!! Was it?)

My current state: tired, fat, and limping. Tired of studying all the time (mainly Physics, other subjects still manageable); haven't worked out for a month (since U.S. trip started), only exercise is walking from class to class and writing/typing/brushing my teeth; 1st ski trip without proper tutor and without knowledge of how to brake had left me with a twisted knee. My doctor told me to straighten my knee gradually and apply ice but I'm too busy to do that (and I'm busy playing Titan Quest when I'm not busy studying, how ironic). Now I'm walking as if my left leg is shorter than my right, because I can't straighten my knee....yet. How fun!

As of now, I'm having a Physics midterm tomorrow. I've studied quite a lot, yet I'm still pretty unconfident whether I'm going to do well or not. Unlike other people, I won't say that I'll fail for sure because I know I won't. But man, Physics is sure tough this term. I just couldn't figure things out. Maybe I'm afflicted with some kind of lost-of-focus disease, maybe I need to get a girlfriend, maybe I need to get some drugs, maybe.... back to work!

p/s: Uggghhhhh.... (zombie's noise)

Happy birthday to a special somebody

2007-01-30T00:33:00.001-08:00

Happy birthday Xin Yee! Even though I didn't send you an SMS, didn't call you, didn't send you flowers, didn't give you a RM100 necklace, I just want to tell you that you are special to me, and I sacrificed my sleep to dedicate this post for you. I hope you get prettier and grow more ~~boo~~ brains. And I hope you stop cursing and I hope your hair becomes bushy like it was a long time ago, when boys were boys and girls were girls.

And I want to tell you that my heart will also have a spot for you..............................因为你是公共电话，你是大家的.... muahahahahahaha

Vancouver, Food Haven

2007-01-27T01:13:00.001-08:00

Following my brother's short visit, I've learned to appreciate and embrace Vancouver's wide array of good food. So I've began to try out more food in and out of campus.

I checked out Afghan Horsemen on this Tuesday. Based on the good online ratings, I had pretty high expectation of the restaurant.

The restaurant was nicely decorated. Besides from the usual table and chairs, there is also more private rooms and a place that you take off your shoes and sit with cushions. Afghan music was played and methought it sounded like Indian music. Let's talk about the food there, I ordered Combo Kebab Plate that night which was supposed to come with a combination of chicken, beef, and lamb kebabs. It turned out that the lamb kebab was nowhere to be found. This plate comes with baked rice, salata (some kind of toasted bread) with feta cheese, batter fried potatos, and yogurt dip. The kebab tasted like any other Middle East (e.g. Lebanon) food, nothing too special. It was pretty good but not too appealing to me, not my taste I guess. I found the fired potatos extremely tasty, although it might not be very healthy. Staff was very friendly, constantly asked me if I'm doing alright and refilled my water from time and time. The food was a bit pricey, that meal cost me about $20. Oh yeah, I ordered dough, a kind of Afghan drink - a mixture of yogurt and salt. It was a very weird drink, I didn't like it.

The restaurant's design - good atmosphere

Another pic of the restaurant

My meal

On Wednesday, I decided to visit the restaurants in a place called "The Village" in my campus. For your information, it is a place where the banks on the campus, a Staples stationery shop, a liquor store, some privately owned restaurants, cafes, and a discounted textbook shop, etc. are located. I went to a stall named Yi Kou Xiang to taste their 杂饭. I got three dishes with 5 bucks. The food was very good, much to my surprise. I knew they have good food in the village, but I didn't expect it to be this good. The lemon chicken I had tasted like ku lo yuk, but the meat is very tender. I think this is the food with the best quality:price ratio I've tried. I'd certainly recommend it to anyone who comes to my campus.

My plate of rice

On Thursday, I went to an Indian restaurant called Akbar's Own. It looks like any other high class restaurant, albeit with Indian theme and background. The service is very good, the waitress is very friendly. I ordered saffron rice and lamb tikki masala. The serving was smaller compared to other restaurants, but the taste is arguably the best I've ever experienced. You can basically feel the spices at work and the richness of the flavour lingers in your mouth. It comes with a hefty price tag though - $16

Saffron rice & lamb tikki masala

Today (or should I say last night), I had dinner at the Hon's Wun Tun House for the second time. The service was pretty good. I ordered 牛杂干捞面-dry noodle with beef and cow's "spare parts" - and also 粽子 (glutinous rice w/ yolk and pork). Again, I ate too much and nearly puked after I wiped out everything. The slices of cow's heart were pretty gross and the smell wasn't very enticing, but pretty much everything else was ok. The glutinous rice was excellent, I haven't had this since I came to Vancouver. Everything for $11. Great value. Great success.

Glutinous rice

Dry noodles

Conclusions: Vancouver is a place of great food from a wide variety of cultures - Japanese, Greek, Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, and so much more. But everything's pretty expensive. If you ask me, I'd say, do away with all those ambience and atmosphere stuff and gimme cheaper prices! To me, they don't really matter: 1. You can't eat them. 2. They don't improve the taste of the food. 3. I usually forget about them after 5-10 minutes. I want the taste only, I don't even care much about the hygience as long as I don't see cockroach in my food or shit in the cook's ring. I'll have to cut down on my food tasting trips as it just cost too much. Vancouver = expensive (well, for the most part).

[Exeunt]

The untimely departure of Teoh Wei Ping

2007-01-21T07:15:00.001-08:00

Today, at about 3:50 a.m., my brother boarded a Yellow Cab Taxi to Vancouver Airport for a flight to Chicago, then back to Wisconsin. Originally I booked a MacLure's cab but it was 15 minutes late already, the operator didn't call back as she had claimed earlier and I couldn't contact her. Thinking that they might not even have a cab available, I called Vancouver Taxi and the operator told me one is coming in 2 minutes. After I end the call, a cab stopped by - a Yellow Cab. Don't know how it got there, but my brother took it anyway. 3.50 a.m. as opposed to the originally planned 3.30 a.m. So after hugging my brother farewell, I cancelled the Vancouver Taxi and went back. At 4.02 a.m., guess what? A Maclure's came, 30 minutes later than requested and without advanced notice, and my brother's catching a flight! What if he missed the flight? ~~What a mofo!~~ I'm really disappointed at their service, but I still said sorry - without meaning so - to the driver.

My brother's departure signifies an important event: the end of my winter break. Although it officially ended on 8th of January, but with my brother around, I'm still more or less in the holiday mood. We couldn't do much because I was studying. But we grabbed some really good food and walked a bit in Stanley Park. He also explored UBC and Gas Town - even I haven't been to Gas Town. Too bad the snowstorm during the winter screwed up our Capilano trip. I felt sorry that I hadn't had the time or initiative to bring him to more places. But at least he got to taste some really really good Chinese and Malaysian food.

It was nice to have him around. Although sometimes it's frustrating when his hearing fails, it feels so natural and ... I don't know how to describe it. And because of his visit, I got to travel to places I've never been before, and we even went to a Chinese supermarket.

Here's some pictures by the way:

Wun tun noodle, ngau nam min, loh hon zai, wok tip from Hon's Won Ton House. Cheap and nice!

Found some familiar products in the Chinese supermarket, T&T...

And some frozen durians....ewww... poor Canadians...

Some nice dim sums at Sun Sui Wah. The service and food quality is excellent, but the price is unfortunately directly proportional to those. Most expensive meal I've eaten.

We also tried out some Malaysian food at Orchid Delight and Banana Leaf. While the price is slightly higher in Banana Leaf, I think the food is better. The rendang lembu and coconut rice were excellent. The satay wasn't that authentic, but it tasted good in its own unique way. My brother's nasi lemak also looked very mouthwatering. Since my brother's visit, I've come to learn about one of Vancouver's strengths - good food. There're several good spots in UBC too, like Vera's Burgers and the village. The dining hall's seem like cut throat in comparison. ~~Poor white people....~~

Now that my brother's gone, I'm alone again. There'd be no people blocking my wardrobe door (my brother insisted on sleeping on the floor); my room would be colder; there'd no people washing my dirty dishes and doing my laundry for me; no people to help me carry shopping goods; no people to speak Malaysian Chinese with; no people to make silly jokes which only my closest friends would understand; no person ... I've lost a brother, a soul mate, a tutor, a partner..... a servant and a slave. Funny? I'm actually crying now.

Stupid old cliche: You'll never know how precious something is until you have lost it. I miss the company of people who talk to me in IM, who would want to hang out with me, who approach me even when I don't approach them, who truly want to listen to what I want to talk about, who doesn't pretend not to know me, whose conversation with me doesn't end with "Hi" or "How's it going?".

Perhaps I'm just imagining or exaggerating these things, just to find a reason to cry. To cry over the loneliness of typing a blog at 5.00 a.m. thinking of his old friends and his family, to cry over his social impotence, to cry over his reluctant indifference over things, to cry over the helplessness and the frustration and the powerlessness over the complicated problems that never ends...

Perhaps this is just one of the nights he gets emo or gay or whatever. Better wash his face and his eyes, it'd be embarassing if other people find out.

p/s: I'm just joking about the 4 last paragraphs. Nice eh?

Attempt at using Live Writer

2007-01-19T04:04:00.001-08:00

Unsatisfied with the editor in Blogger (which couldn't include strikethrough), I decided to try out other things to edit/post blog from outside Blogger with extra functionality.

Life's been busy. No major updates for this week yet. Weather's very crappy. Sometimes it snows, sometimes it rains, resulting in disgusting slushes everywhere. It's like swamp with ice and water instead of mud. I got my shoes totally drenched and my foot got numb with cold, so I got out and bought a pair of second hand shoes to aid me in my struggle against this hostile environment.

It's very late. Gotta sleep and wake up to do some work.

p/s: ~~Pang sai.~~ Testing strikethrough function...

Sign off.

Changed my template

2007-01-07T03:34:00.000-08:00

A useless post. This template looks quite good, no time to customize though. Lost the shoutbox in the process, but the site is down. So please, no yelling! Owee~

Edit: shoutbox back

A long overdue (and disconsolating) update

2007-01-04T03:19:00.000-08:00

I promised myself to do a lot of constructive stuffs after exams, updating my blog being one of them, which unsurprisingly was not done again.

For your information, I'm currently on a trip in U.S. with my brother until January 7. We visited several places, like Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Bass Lake, San Franscisco, Santa Barbara. The information input these few days has overwhelmed my puny brain that my memory of the trips were somehow marred.

I'm quite fresh from a train trip that took more than 30 hours. My brother and I originally planned to watch Casino Royale and The Office (U.S. version) to escape from the monotonousness of the ride but alas we failed to find seats that is adjacent to a power socket. To rub salt into the wound, I was so wise that I didn't bring my laptop battery for this U.S. trip. It took me a few seconds to realize that my argument that the battery wouldn't last long for a laptop such as mine was fundamentally flawed. A counter-argument would be: without a battery, I couldn't even use my laptop at all in this scenario where I couldn't find a place near to a socket. So we end up using my brother's laptop to watch a Taiwanese movie called "Snow in May" (direct translation). At last, his laptop battery ran out of power. And being the smartass, I went to some obscure place in the lower level of the train (we're on the 2nd level) to recharge the battery. Although the wire of the AC adaptor partially obstructed the passage of the passengers who were on their way to the washroom, I observed that all of them were able to pass through it without getting entangled with it, thus foolishly assumed that I'd be safe in this position, loosening my grip of the notebook and browsing the pictures on it relaxedly. Alas, my retardedness was duely rewarded, a woman didn't notice that the cable were there and got entangled with it and with a not inconsiderable momentum brought about the downfall of the laptop's hard drive and the joyful atmosphere of our trip as the laptop crashed onto the floor with a heartsickening thump. It took me only a few minutes to realize that the hard disk is most likely to be a goner. And the knowledge of the amount of pictures, videos, documents that is contained in the hard disk - which I'm sure is of immeasurable value to my brother - made me plunge into a state of despair and remorse. I could only pray that the data is recoverable, even if the hard disk may not be.

When I told my brother this bad news, he was just waking up from a nap and clearly anticipating another round of movie. He was dumbstricken, and tried again and again to boot the laptop to no avail. I regretted my imprudence, but what's the use of regretting it now? I couldn't bring myself to say sorry, because I knew sorry was no cure. He was enraged, but he didn't really throw his temper on me - no flying punches, no curses, and no whatsoever. He just questioned me on what happened and only silence ensued. He never spoke to me for half a day. Even now, I still feel tense when I'm with him alone. I feel so bad, so bad. It's the worst trouble I've got myself into in these few years, even though I myself suffer no direct consequences from it. I have forgotten my knack for getting into huge troubles because of my own negligence and foolishness or whatever you may call it.

I can only hope that the data is recoverable. Or else, this may leave a dark spot in my memory for many years to come. Nevertheless, this trip is more or less affected by my huge blunder. And I can only brace myself for the days in the future to clean up my own mess. Great, now I have to worry every day over the possible outcomes of my foolishness. What a great winter holiday this is...

Life must still go on, I remind myself over and over again. No point in worrying over something that is inalterable by worrying. Anyway, here are some pictures from my trip:

Some scenery on the way to Grand Canyon

In Grand Canyon

An amazing carver in Las Vegas

Night in Las Vegas

Status: Chaotic

2006-12-13T01:40:00.000-08:00

Life's totally getting out of hand. I sleep late at nights, sometimes because I'm studying, sometimes because I'm playing Oblivion, most of the time a mixture of both. Like the tragic hero who knows his actions will only lead him to his doom yet sadly and deliberately walking down the path to destruction. Hopefully I'll never have to face that.

So finals are going ok. Had my APSC quiz, it was so-so. English, for which I've studied very hard, didn't turn out as well as I'd hope to. One essay got out of hand, loss focus and consumed too much time, leaving too little time to brood on another short essay. Crappy, slightly, but I'm consoled by the feeling that I did better than my first in-class essay, which earned a B-. Physics was sweet, a lot of questions were actually from past year papers and assignment. I don't want a brag (note the paradox - am I even using the correct term?), but I finished the paper in an hour and a half and spent the remaining hour checking my answers and deriving a formula that I forgot. Slightly un-challenging, but at least I felt better than having done a crappy job after preparing so hard, e.g. English.

Tomorrow's Math. I've prepared sufficiently I guess, although there are still rooms for uncertainty. Hopefully no mental block this time. I've to sleep early (note the paradox), and it's 2.00 a.m. and exam's on 12.

Enjoying Oblivion frequently now, which is something that I wasn't supposed to do, at least for now. My character's getting stronger, but the NPCs' got stronger too and kicked my ass really hard it cracked for a few times (Reader: But isn't the ass cracked already in the firsy place? Me: shut up, will ya?). Just found out how to get the maximum out of leveling up, can't wait to try it out, but Math comes first.

Oh yeah, did I tell you guys I watched Borat. Crazy movie. Loved that part where he fights the fat director naked and running around naked. And when he exclaimed to the rodeo audience that "We support your war on terror", then spoils it all by singing Kazakhstan anthem in U.S. anthem's music (or was it the other way round?). And when he finds out from his driving tutor that you need woman's consent to marry her in U.S. Funny movie and very vulgar. Nevertheless my favourite movie is still V. It has a sort of elegant beauty and tragically heroic atmosphere unmatched by other movies I've watched, not to mention the depth and the frequent references to Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, one of my favourite books.

Haven't watched anything since then.

It stopped snowing and started raining again. Vancouver is known for largely snowless but rainy winter. But it's still snowing in my room because my hair is too long (Reader: ewww~ you're so gross. Me: Thank you.) My glasses are also slightly damaged because of paintball helmet and haven't fix it yet. So much is yet to be done, yet so little is the will to do it. Gotta curb my computer addiction, but as always, easier said than done.

Gotta get back to studies now. Sleeping really soon. This is all for now. You guys in Malaysia, I miss you a lot!

Why do I live in the shadow of the past?

[Exeunt]

Finals coming liaow!!!

2006-12-06T16:23:00.000-08:00

Walao, so long never update liao. How long a? More than 2 weeks!

I'm preparing for finals now. Having English on Friday and Physics on Saturday. I'm more afraid of English than Physics because there are 2 short (3-paragraphs) and 1 normal (~5 paragraph) essays in English. Previous experiences of getting stuck while writing essays in class have already left me with a trauma. I told my friend about this, guess what he said? "Die die lo~" Walau! Not yet die say die liao, you want die meh? No, I refuse to die! Even if it means no sleep, I have to fight on. A man's got to do what a man's got to do!

Current revision status: Still got 4 physics finals practice to do (each may take ~2 hrs 30 mins) and 45 poems to read and some brainstorming of ideas (for essays) to do and maybe practice writing essays....

God damn it!!!!!!!!! Arghhhhhhhh!!!!! Muahahahaha!!!! Nyuk nyuk!!!! Meh meh meh~~~~ Mooo Mooo MOooo~~~~ Zzzzzzzzzz.....

Good grief!

2006-11-22T00:48:00.000-08:00

Since I got my laptop, I've been pondering on which game to try on it - Oblivion, NWN2, or Gothic 3?

I've played Oblivion on my underperforming laptop and even with the heavily impaired graphics I enjoyed the game immensely. I've been thinking a lot about this one, but since I've played it before I thought I'd want to start on something new.

Maybe Gothic 3? I've tried the demo and things were pretty good. Some stutters here and there, jumping motion was still awkward (as always in Gothic series), the game hanged sometimes. But I liked it. Graphics were sweet, fighting animation were fluid, and there were a lot of new items (esp. herbs). I'd like to try the full version but since I'm time-constrained due to studies, I have to make the best choice.

So I turned my eye to NWN2. FYI, Neverwinter Nights 1 was one of my all time favourites. I spent maybe a few hundred hours on the game. I loved the 2nd expansion, Hordes of the Underdark too. 1st expansion was more of a filler too. Before I play any game, I check out the reviews for it. Turns out to be a high score, above 8. But looking at reviews, I saw some really great discrepancy between the user reviews (from 0-10). That's a crazy discrepancy!

So I checked the official forum, and guess what I discovered? In case you're not interested in following the link, there's one post titled "101 Things Wrong with NWN2". Consequent posts on this topic reveal greater details about the weaknesses of this game. Hence my great dissatisfaction. Obsidian has made the sequel to "Knight of the Old Republic" and it's not bad. But it's recycled a lot of materials from the original game and there's no major renovation. I'd say in terms of sequel it's rather mediocre. In NWN2 however, they have fucked up this game for sure. Here Obsidian are given opportunities to work on sequels for great, may I even add legendary, games. The worst they could do is to republish all the same materials with some slight tweaks or maybe some new packaging - new characters, new tweaks, etc. But sadly, Obsidian (incredibly) has gone below worse. True, they've not only removed all kinds of useful, loved-by-NWN-gamers features, but added all kinds of horrendous, ridiculous, buggy features fit for cow dunk and racist rednecks and Michael Jackass. The graphics are not as good as Oblivion, but even a rig that can run Oblivion at high-ish setting couldn't even run NWN2 with serious lags. What the fuck's wrong with you Oblivion? If you're so incompetent, don't even try to touch the legendary games. While Midas has the ability to turn anything to gold, you have the ability to turn gold into poop. And a long and smelly one too!

And this quote from a gamer is marvelous: "We're not your beta testers, you will get no more of my money. Goodbye."

Obsidian should go into Oblivion (pun intended!)

Finally, something (not a chick) to put on my lap!

2006-11-16T13:05:00.000-08:00

After 5 months of researching, planning, head-aching, delaying, and waiting, I've finally got my (spanking new sweet gorgeous) laptop. I can't believe I'm typing on this keyboard now, it's literally a dream come true.

Anyway, here are some pictures of my laptop:

For those who is interested in the specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz
1 GB 667MHz DDR2 RAM
100GB 5400 rpm HDD
NVIDIA GEFORCE GO 7700 512MB Discrete memory
DVD Burner
0.3 MP Webcam
14-inch WXGA+ Screen

This baby cost me a LOT. So, I'm going to be living in poverty for a while. Hopefully this state of poverty can make me thinner.

Uh oh, I've used up an hour and a half of my studying time setting up this laptop and typing this post. Still have Math mid-term tomorrow~ Back to study. I'll spend some quality time with it on the weekend, hopefully.

Signing off (with a wide grin on my face)

3 down, 1 more to go

2006-11-15T22:05:00.000-08:00

Phew, I have finished my Engineering, English and Physics tests by now. Only one more, Math on Friday remains. I'm just gonna chill tonight, even though I haven't started revising Math, because I have basically an empty day ahead. Just a lecture of 1 & half hour on 2.00 p.m. then I'm done. Plenty of time to revise. Haha!

Laptop's arrived at UBC and stuck in the sorting centre. So I couldn't have my hands on it yet. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Library's closing.... Signing off now~

I'm not dead yet

2006-11-08T13:36:00.000-08:00

For all of you who think I'm dead because of various undesirable and unforeseen circumstances, this post serves the function of informing you of the opposite.

Everything's well with me. Today caffeine has elevated me to a higher level of consciousness, so I'm feeling pretty good right now.

Last Saturday, I went to an open house at Malaysian tourism's boss's house. I ate a LOT of food, picked up 10kg of weight and packed bunch of food back to my house. I still haven't finished it and I think it's going to last me for this week, which is going to save me some money.

Talking about money, the notebook which I spent about CAD2000 (inc. taxes and shipping) on, Asus A8JS is going to arrive next week. I've already bought a multi-function printer and plan to buy a headphone and perhaps some games in preparation for its arrival. I can't believe after almost 17 months of waiting, I'm finally getting a laptop, and a darn good one.

Next week's going to be really busy - a quiz on Tuesday, English exam on Wednesday, Physics midterm on Thursday, and Math midterm on Friday. Crazy! But if I can just pull this off.... Bad thing I can't enjoy my laptop fully when it arrives since I have to study...

Weather's getting pretty cold (compared to the air-con rooms in Malaysia). However I observed that it's coldest after the rain stops. Oh yeah, it rains all the time now, the rain is not heavy, but it is continuous - raining, stop raining for 2 hours, then raining again, etc. Sometimes it's so cold that you can even see subtitles during people's conversation.

I have to halt this unorganized, poorly structured babbling because I have a class in 10 minutes.

Adieu! Adieu! Remember me~

Midterms & other stuff relating to studies...

2006-10-21T20:57:00.000-07:00

I took 3 midterms recently, Math on last Friday, Physics on this Tuesday, Chem on this Friday. Although I've been constantly revising on stuff that I don't understand, I've been so nervous that I've to do last minute revisions; and not being able to solve textbook questions do not help much.

So how did I do in the exams? Everything was ok except Physics. Just 3 mm from screwing up that paper (A bad analogy, I know). I managed to finish the paper just about 1 minute before time was up. It's both a good thing and bad thing, depending on how you look at it.

Just as I thought I'd be carefree for a few weeks, my English TA handed me an assignment sheet on some tough poems which is due in about two weeks. And I have an Applied Science Quiz on Tuesday, which is similar to a mini-Midterm too.

Guess I'll have no rest till the day I die.

p/s: In a state of utter despair as no one replies to my messenger messages, loaded with work, loaded with plannings (laptop, winter trip, etc.). No one listens~ Does God listen to a sinner who keeps sinning?

Vancouver Film Festival

2006-10-18T18:15:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday, I went to the Vancouver Film Festival in Granville with 5 housemates. You may wonder, "What's so special about this film fest? Do you see film stars or what?" I don't know about film stars (because I didn't see any), but the films here have never been screened before in any part of the world, have not been reviewed (or censored/cut) by the film board, and they usually have bizzare (or eccentric/mature) themes.

The movie I watched was titled "La Cou-I-forgot-the-second-part-of-the-second-word-in-the-title-Oh-my-God" . Before the real movie started, there was a random short (weird) movie. It was about a woman being anaesthetize by a weird-looking doctor, who cut her heart (in the movie, you can see the heart - eew!) out (by the way, we saw her naked breast too). Then the heartless (literally) woman moves around like a zombie (!!). Then the woman's mother dresses her up in cute red clothes. Later the red-clothed, heartless woman and her mother and her husband and her child and the grave digger and the doctor gather in front of a grave made for the woman. The doctor gives her heart back, which she put back into her body and she smiles and everybody smiles and they have a tea-party. Then the scene changes into the doctor, looking wretched, who meets the woman whom he treated once. The woman smiles but she doesn't remember him. ~The end~ (One of the weirdest thing I've ever seen in my life, besides a front-toothless God of Nature).

Now to the real movie: It started with a hot, steamy sex scene. Nudity here (no genitalia, sorry) but the heroine is not that gorgeous, methinks; I think perkypie, despite the fact that she is gaining weight, is hotter. I found out later that the heroine, who already has a husband and 2 not-so-lovely children, is frequently having hot, steamy sex with her more-good-looking-than-her-husband brother. The incestuous relationship started when they were travelling together as teenagers, ceased momentarily before and after her marriage, and continued a few weeks after her marriage. However, everyone around them turns a blind eye towards this damned relationship.

The heroine tries to get out of it by persuading her husband to apply for a position in a far away place (far from her brother), which he succeeds. So the family is about to move to another place now. A long, arduous, painstaking struggle ensued which sees the damned couple trying to separate coolly but unable to do so. Both of them tried to love another person (she her husband and the brother an extremely ugly girlfriend who somehow looks like her). To make things worse, her daughter (also rather ugly) fell in love with her brother and even offers to have sex with him (what!? a nece-uncle incest) which makes the movie more disturbing. When he rejects his niece, she questions him if it's ok to have sex with his own sister but not his niece? She then questions if the fact that she's his lover's daughter forbids him from having sex with her. He only answers, "I don't love you" and chases her out.

Later, the jealous daughter who is constantly being ignored by her uncle (who was always only eyeing the heroine) explicitly hints to the father (or heroine's husband) that the two commited incest. The husband gets jealous because the two females in his life never looked at him the way they look at the brother. Finally, the heroine admits to her husband that she loves her brother, something he has always strongly suspected/knew but never was willing to face. Unable to contain his jealousy and rage, he argues with the heroine (who promises him again and again that the problem is solved/will be solved when they move) and asks the brother to leave the heroine alone. But the husband and the lovers know it won't be resolved, ever, because the lovers need each other. And I forgot the ending.

The movie dragged on and on, and got repetitive, and got boring. And my feeling of surprise and horror (at the revelation of the incest) turned into agony and impatience because I couldn't wait for it to end. But then I realized, this was how the characters in the movie felt regarding the abnormal relationship, especially the lovers: they know that it is wrong, and they wanted it to end, but it wouldn't end, and they couldn't end it. The director did a good job by causing the audience experience the sort of emotions that the characters felt.

This was my virgin experience of seeing nudity and sex on theater. But that isn't the main point. I saw a good (although it's shocking and disturbing) movie, that's the main point.

Thanksgiving (Canadian version)

2006-10-09T22:48:00.000-07:00

Today is Thanksgiving day for Canadians, just so you know (not for Americans though, they have it somewhere in November). We (my JPA seniors, Zul, and I) were invited by a Malaysian (and fellow JPA scholar too), Kak Ayu for a thanksgiving dinner. She lives somewhere on campus too, but it's about 25 minutes away from my residence.

We had a great time there. There were good food - stuffed turkey, baked veggies, mashed potato, and later, chocolate cakes, cookies. Like a beggar who has been starving for years, I kept stuffing food into my mouth all the time. The turkey was so good. We didn't really finish the turkey, but we just left it on the table. So while we were chatting, we just couldn't resist the turkey temptation (alliteration) and carved out slices of turkey and kept eating and eating. I had more food tonight than the food I usually have for whole day. Guess I'll be putting on some significant weight.

Her husband (I forgot his name) is a friendly man and he plays good guitar. He can play piano by sight too. He even composes his own songs, and they were not bad. He's a fan of anime, just like I was back in the good old days (when girls were girls and boys were boys). He and his wife just started in Vancouver, like me. His wife, Kak Ayu is currently pursuing PhD in some kind of commerce course, while he's hunting for a job. They have 2 cute kids. And I also met a Malaysian whom I met during Gala, I still remember his email is nasirlemak. He spent a considerable time growing up in U.S. That's explains his un-Malayish accent.

It's a good Thanksgiving. I certainly look forward to a better one next year.

Cheers. (Looking at the weighing scale, "Oh no!")

Church

2006-10-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

Religion is important. Sometimes you feel down (because someone messed up your assignment), sometimes you feel lonely (because you don't have people to talk to or people won't understand, even your friends), sometimes you feel afraid (because mid-terms coming up), sometimes you feel tempted to do things you shouldn't do (because you're drunk and the chicks are hot, because your friends feel like smashing up a car just for fun)... You can easily become corrupted. That's why I need to find a church, because religion regulates your life, helps you to find peace in times of turbulence and distress.

Yesterday I went to a church at 10th avenue. It's better than the 2 churches that I've previously visited. I liked the interior design, I liked the music and songs, I liked the pastor. It feels like ACTS Church back in Subang Jaya. Yet, it lacks the warmth. Maybe it's because I'm new, but the church doesn't have a family-like atmosphere. People walk straight out after the service, only a few stay to chat and have fellowship. Maybe it's because I walked out straight after the service... I don't know. But this church is pretty good. If I go there with someone I know, maybe things would be different then.

Just a random thought as I was walking in the campus just now: Why does the given name of westerners come before their surname (a.k.a family name), but for Chinese, the surname comes before the given name? Maybe it has to do with the culture and the way people think. For the westerners, they tend to focus more on individualism, in which the individual comes before institutions (family, society, country); for the Chinese, the institutions come before the individuals (at least it was like this years ago). But I just thought of a counter-argument: what about the Malays and the Indians? Don't they, like Chinese, put more emphasis on institutions too? Hmmm...

This question arised when I thought about my lovely name, Teoh Wei Kee, being reversed to Wei Kee Teoh here. I wonder if perkypie and midget Ben face the same situation in Australia.

p/s: Hat-trick!

The celebration of mid-autumn festival in Vancouver

2006-10-09T13:02:00.000-07:00

After all my crappy classes for Friday finished, I went to the Chinatown to buy a mooncake. By the time I got there, most of the shops were closed. And I wandered around trying to find a mooncake. I saw a lot of poor and weird people, and they look so weird that I felt like I was going to be robbed any time. I realized that the poor is with us everywhere, even in one of the best cities to live in the world. People were sleeping at the street; people scavenging the garbage bags; people begging for money (I made the mistake of giving some money to a guy, and he wanted more; he looks scary and desperate so I ran away); people who smells like garbage; people who ate sandwiches from a truck offering free food for the needy (I nearly took one for myself, but my honour stayed my hand); people dressed up as if he's doing witchcraft, etc.

Finally I found a bakery and bought a green tea mooncake with yolk for CAD$7.70 (more than RM23). I was so hungry by then that I finished it even before I reached UBC (My initial plan was to eat it with beer).

When I reached UBC, I went to a feast, called OktoberfEUSt, an EUS (Engineering Undergrads Society) version of Oktoberfest. There were beer, food, German music, and drunk people. I got to know new people in my year or in higher years. I'm not ashamed to tell you that about 6 cans of beer got me drunk. I managed to walk back home, though. The next day I woke up with nausea and headache.

And that's how I celebrated mid-autumn festival a.k.a. mooncake festival. Sucks? Yeah. I wonder if it's just me, but the Chinese students (at least among my friends) don't see the festival as a big deal. Well, I hope I have a proper celebration next year (Sept 25, 2007) (Source: Wikipedia).

p/s: There's this weird guy sitting beside me playing around with his dentures. He's sort of pushing them out with his tongue then biting it or whatever. Whatever it is, it's damn gross.