Thank You, My Captain

Few days ago I abolished the Virtue of Doing Nothing Policy in favour of active changes and have seen several positive results. First things first, I am officially ditching Firefox 3.5 for Google Chrome 3 now. Its not that there's anything wrong with Firefox (only Zhou got problem, but that's his face problem), in fact its the most customizable and feature-rich of the web browsers that I have tried. But here are several factors why I'm joining in the Google Chrome band wagon:

• Because lame people must stick together (only lame people use Chrome or so it seems)
• Not only does it feel very snappy, it really is the fastest. Many reviews have concluded that it takes the shortest time to load, be it multiple tabs, Java Script Apps etc. 
• It has separate processes (in Task Manager) for individual tabs. Meaning that if one of the tabs hang, you can just End Process it. But then again for people like me, there will be 60+ over Chrome processes listed in Task Manager =.=
• Very clean interface. The Tabs Bar replaces the useless Title Bar (as if we didn't know that we were using Mozilla Firefox and were browsing whatever website) on top. There is no separate Bookmark side bar, but I don't have a gazillion favourites like Yong so the basic Bookmark Bar suffices. In addition, the Bookmarks Bar and the Status Bar can 'auto-hide', leaving plenty of viewing space. 

I don't use RSS feeds or additional plugins so Chrome is in almost every way better than Firefox for me. One thing is that Chrome does hog more memory than Firefox, but less than Microsoft IE 8 and Safari 4. I have tried Safari 4 before and its basically an all-rounder that doesn't excel in any particular area. The fact that Microsoft received so many feedbacks requesting that IE be removed from Windows 7 goes to show how failed it is. In fact in compliance with European anti-trust laws, Windows 7 will not be shipping with IE included (Europe only).

Last Saturday night, my sis and I watched the film Facing the Giants. Its about a high school American football team and the struggles that they and their coach have to face. Facing the Giants is a story of faith, trust and dependence on God. The moral of the story is basically this: If you win praise God! And if you lose praise God!  Obviously praising God after you've won is easy; praising Him after you've lost is extremely difficult. But we will reap the benefits!

My favourite sports drama movie is still Remember The Titans, which is also about a high school American football team but centres more on struggles of racial tensions that threaten to cause disunity in the team. Its also based on a true story, which always makes it extra touching. When I was young, my favourite sports drama was The Mighty Ducks trilogy!

I think the person who introduced this to me was Brendon Buntain.The Mighty Ducks are not based on a true story, but it was still hugely entertaining for me then. In fact, like Kochi mentioned, they even inspired Walt Disney Company to create their own NHL ice-hockey team, The Anaheim Mighty Ducks. These movies are about a bunch of kids who learn to play in an ice-hockey team and you watch them grow up as the story takes them from the junior league, to representing their country and all the way up to college life. I used to re-watch them all the time. Sadly the tapes are spoiled already =(

Curiously both these movies are based on sports which I have never played before and do not even watch. To this day there isn't a good movie that is based on football (real football not American football). The Goal trilogy was pretty much rubbish, I didn't even bother to watch the third movie. I don't understand why they must use footage from real football stars and real matches instead of making their own scenes like in Remember the Titans or The Mighty Ducks. I guess the only draw to the sport is the stars, and I do feel that the gameplay style is somehow less dramatic than say American football or ice hockey. Maybe the directing was just awful. Who knows?

Thank you, Captain.....

....for this.

I placed my faith in him, and he did not disappoint. By making him Captain, he contributed 34 points out of the 59 points I got this week. By differing from Yong, I managed to leapfrog from 7th to 4th, while he dropped from 1st to 3rd =) I should take this time to thank my 'Captain in Heaven' for it too. Yes, we should thank God even for the small and unimportant things. HEARD THAT ZHOU?? Its small and unimportant! So don't lah emo. It is such a strange thing that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing.

You shall not WHINE!

I am proud to say that nowadays I have stopped whining and have in fact looked at the brighter side of things. When I chat on MSN with The Nobodies now, it is I who seems to provide the surge of optimism while they are the ones who are whining. It is now I that tries to bring comfort and hope to the whiners needy. Nowadays all the conversations are about the hardship and stress of the working life, the seemingly uneventful routine life that comes with it, and of course the enigma of the female mind. Gone are the days when we only needed to worry about Kerrigan and her diabolical plan to use her massive Zerg Swarm to invade and infest our home worlds, destroying everything that we hold dear to our hearts.

Courtesy of Yong (Nvr enable archives =.=). This conversation took place years ago. We tried to act out as characters from the game Starcraft. Yong acted as the its-not-a-crime-if-you-don't-get-caught Zeratul, Danny was the I-need-to-check-my-eyes-coz-I-look-retarded Jim Raynor, Zhou was the only-I-got-face-problem Fenix (seriously why only he kena gb by hydralisk) and I was the No-guts-No-glory Tassadar. The funniest was Danny tho. Every time I message him, he would reply: "This is Jimmy." LOL.

How I wish we could go back to those simpler times. But if there's one thing I've learned recently (yalar I slow), there is no point dwelling in the past. Everybody have an awesome week ahead!

Cheers.

Need for Change

Few days back my mum and my sister were talking about how guys like to boast to their other guy friends about what they have and what they are good at. It got me thinking: My friends are the total opposite. All we do is compare who is more sad and pathetic (FYI I always win ^^V). Most of the conversations are very similar actually. It starts off with someone sharing whatever problem he is facing. The 'listener' then proceeds to inquire more about the details of the problem:

Just so you know. we are not talking about computer games and if it doesn't make any sense to you its okay. This is because very often we use 'encrypted terms' from gaming or other references to illustrate the situation. Sometimes these terms help shed some light from a different perspective, but most of the time it just goes to show how we simply have no life. Anyway this is followed up by the 'listener' whining how his situation is far worse:

And just like that the roles are switched. It is the 'listener' that needs all the comforting and advice now:

I guess this is one of those times where those 'encrypted terms' give a better angle to the situation. But it was the next part of the conversation that really made an impact on me:

Don't worry I didn't throw away 160 minutes of my life spamming that video. But nonetheless it got me thinking: I do not want to be whining to Daryl on MSN 40 years from now. That is highly unlikely though as in 40 years time, Daryl will be busy bringing his grandkids to see the modern-day skyline around in his private helicopter and would by no means associate himself with the likes of me anymore. Of course MSN would be obsolete by then, just as Facebook will be as well. But you do get a funny feeling that if there's one person in the world who is still using Facebook it is our friend, Don Zhou.


Anyway I have always known that the best thing to do is to busy myself with activities. Problem was I busied myself with the 'useless' activities. That needs to change. Earlier this week Mariel asked me to go for this MYPG Prayer Rally that was being held on Monday night. I won't lie to you, I went there to check out the girls. Afterall it was a gathering of young people from all over the country. But I went! So its all that matters. Even better was that I inspired my sister (who was feeling kinda lazy) to come along as well. Yes, for once I was motivated to go out and do something while she wanted to rot at home. It was an awesome rally with moving worship, powerful teaching, and lots of prayer for this nation. I haven't been to such powerful sessions since coming back to Melaka so it definitely was refreshing. One of the speakers was YB Hannah Yeoh who was sharing straight from her heart the difficulties she was facing. I think we all know how lonely it can be to strive for good when evil is lurking all around. Its never easy to try and be a good politician in a government, least of all ours. She also got me thinking, that I am no longer a small boy who can just afford to mind my own business and stay at home and play games. Evil triumphs when the good men do nothing, and Malaysia does have good men. Hannah also shared how she really wished that all the good and capable Malaysians, would actually return from overseas, to help build this nation.

One of the other speakers was a Pastor who once swore that he would never return to Malaysia. He traveled around the world and settled down in Hawaii before eventually being felt compelled by God to return home. His message really spoke to my sis and I as he shared that he too once hated living in the 'small towns' and used to describe them as 'boring and almost unlivable places'. I can say that I look at my circumstances a lot differently now.

The other night Mariel and I were talking about the prayer rally. She pointed out that all the men that were on fire for God, were still single. I guess I can really learn from these guys . There are several things I need to change. I need to reset my priorities straight. By glorifying His name, God will send all the girls that are on fire for Him TO ME! WAHAHAHAHAA!

AMEN! (Let Your Will be done)

Anyway Mar, you still haven't answered my question: Are those girls that are on fire for God all single? =.=

Short and simple. I like!

Courtesy of Audrey Ooi (Yong I'm really happy for you, but Audrey is one of the funniest bloggers of all time!). Anyway I am not at all offended by this picture. In fact I think its genius. It tells you everything you need to know: Jesus is gone, but will be back again very soon.

But if there is one thing that I really need to change this week, it is my Fantasy Football team. As you can see I am struggling in 7th place (out of 24) in our private league. Sitting pretty at the top is Mr.Lim (don't so lanci yet! long season more!). The thing is Yong and I have almost identical teams, therefore if I don't make any significant changes, I won't be able to overtake or even catch up with him. Physics 101. Its like his car is ahead of me now, but we are both driving with the same 'v' (velocity). Actually not same velocity also, his p/w (points per week) is slightly higher =.= So without any 'a' (acceleration, points per week square) I will forever be eating his dust.

This is for you Form 4 Physics teacher! (sorry forgot ur name liao)

Good thing there isn't a Spanish La Liga Fantasy Football, coz I never would have bought Cristiano Ronaldo LOL! I have to say, he is proving me very wrong. Things are shaping up nicely into making this one of European football's most exciting seasons in recent times. I really can't wait for the Champions League knock out stages.

Anyway I have decided that I shall stop blogging about useless things. I only want to strive towards doing useful things that will actually contribute to this world. I am not going to waste time here by blogging about the things that I intend to do, I shall do them first then blog about it. So if you don't hear from me, it means that I have failed to do anything useful.

Good luck! (to myself)

Useful or Not?

Guess it was only a matter of time before I started slacking on my blog. Sorry but Rotting, Gaming, Rest, Work & Study must take precedence (in that specific order) in my time management. So in a desperate attempt to keep this blog from dying, I'm going to throw another useless post to you guys.

Its no secret that I'm a pessimist. But very often I take it a bit too far as I see the 'uselessness" in everything just too frequently. While I do believe that I am often correct, I admit that my views are sometimes distorted and for lack of a better word, wrong. So I will try and go through several items and objectively decide whether they are useless or not. Starting with:

1. Long Weekend, Short Holiday

I need a holiday. A long holiday.

For some people this is an opportunity to go away on a trip. For others its their chance to catch up on their sleep. But for me, I have to spend the next few days just studying for my CPA which I am lagging behind in. *Whines* There is just too little time to do all the things that I want. I want to go bowling (yea lol), I want to watch movies/series, I want to play DotA, but most importantly I wish I had so much time that I could afford to do nothing. Unfortunately that day will never come. Study during holiday meh......haiz.

Verdict: Holidays are useful, but not in the way it was intended.

2. Whining

While whining isn't exactly my niche in the group (that role belongs to Zhou), I do tend to whine over certain things too. Remember my last post where I kinda whined that nobody messages or calls me on my handphone? This week I received significantly more messages from other people (apart from the usual 'nobodies'). Some asked how I was doing while others messaged me to plan certain things. There were even certain people who shared certain secrets with me (which is useless btw, but more on that later). I received messages and calls from the Indon-Maid in particular, but oh wait he falls under the category of 'nobodies' too. He unsuccessfully tried to convince me to go up KL to see his dog face. The Sorry-I've-Been-Busy Best Fren also messaged me and left me a standing order: Don't Emo So Much This Week. That itself is a very contentious issue so before I go into it lets have the......

Verdict : Zhou is right! Whining is useful.

3. Telling Me Not to Emo

Actually this week was rather good. Most of the nights I was busy DotA-ing so never really thought much about my sad existence. Its only when I study or rather when I pretend to study, that mind starts to wander. I must say, Google is a damn good search engine. You can find news and pictures of almost anybody. Unfortunately the convenience of such modern technology does not bode well for me. I don' t know why I like to torture myself by doing these things. Its like I know that a wall is there but I just like to relentlessly bang my head into it. Haiz. At least the babydoll dress you wore at church today did help somewhat LOL!

Verdict: A worthy effort Mariel........

BUT FUTILE!

4. Trying to Stop Me From Doing Stupid Things

Birds of a feather flock together. We obviously have to share something in common. Unfortunately there is nothing anyone can do about it. Yong can vouch for this. The stupid things just naturally follow after the emo-ness. Slightly off-topic here but I must say that something really stupid that you guys can do is to pay RM10 to watch the movie Gamer. Seriously I don't understand how they didn't ban that movie. It wasn't just because there were too many things to censor (that they gave up censoring for the second half of the movie), but rather because it sucks so bad. The Censorship board would of done us a favour really. RM10 can buy alot of McD Sundae Cones woi! So ok back to the original topic. Hmm I don't think there is anything left to say here. Those that know me will testify that....

Verdict: Its S.I.R.I.M chopped-sealed-stamped USELESS!

5. Telling Me Secrets

Remember just now I mentioned that some people actually messaged me to tell me secrets? Well, first off I will have you know that I am a good listener. I will patiently hear your story and will not attempt to judge or ridicule you in any way. I am also proud to say that I can keep secrets really well. So many secrets have been stored inside me over the years. But here lies the uselessness of it all: I must inform you that I suffer from a short-term memory condition. So as you share your 'delicious' secret with me, chances are I have already forgetten it the moment it left your mouth.

Verdict: I won't take your secrets with me to my grave because I won't remember them. USELESS!


6. Putting In Effort to Look Good

Its not even pink. Failblog material? Its ok. She's forgiven coz she is chun.

Almost everyday I will have this conversation with my mum.

Mum: Did you comb your hair?

Me: Nope.

Mum: Why you don't want comb your hair?

Me: Comb for what? Look nice for what? Can get money? Will win award?

Mum: Self-satisfaction.

Me: But I don't get any self-satisfaction.

Mum: Then for my satisfaction. I like to see handsome boy.

If for some reason I die before my parents, ( I sincerely hope not, no parents should bury their kids), I have every confidence that my mum will the do the best she can to make my corpse look awesome. I remember in the movie Liar Liar, Jim Carey's son said: "I thought that we are supposed to like people who are beautiful in the inside?" Jim Carey replied: "That's something only ugly people say." But I really believe that 'ugly' people have a much easier time finding true love (if it even exists). As much as girls want guys to focus on their 'inner beauty', I think they fail to realise that it is the girls themselves that put so much focus on their 'outward beauty'. I mean who made the fashion and cosmetics businesses into multi-billion dollar industries? So if anything, we guys are just making the time, effort and money that you girls spent in, worth it.

Verdict: I still think that putting in effort to make myself look nice is useless, but you girls keep up the good job!

Wow there are still so many useless things to blog about. But I shall save them for next time. I have to go and do nothing now.

Sayonara.

So many useless things....

Those that know me will acknowledge that I get really annoyed when people ask me to do things that I consider useless or stupid. Yet all of us, especially myself, tend to do the useless/stupid things as if we didn't know any better. Very often these things are done because everybody else is doing it, or because society deems it to be necessary. But sometimes its because we really are plain stupid. So I'll give a brief glimpse of some of these things that I consider useless or have done recently, and may even continue to do perpetually:

No.1 Attending the Graduation Ceremony

Correct me if I'm wrong, guys attend their graduation ceremony for two specific reasons.

a) It is the culmination of their hard work and the moment to celebrate their achievement.

During the ceremony, I couldn't help but laugh when I was listening to the speech given by the Deputy Minister of Education. He opened by saying, "After the many classes you attended (LOL?), after the countless hours spent working on assignments (LMAO?), and of course the exams (oo at least I went for those yay ^^V). After meeting plenty of friends (counts with fingers *one hand also enough*) and maybe even a certain special one (Haiz...), you are finally here (wow I really shouldn't be here =.=)." Those were the thoughts running through my head as I sat there listening to that guy talk about the qualities of a graduate and what all universities should be striving towards. So yea those that know me will probably be laughing now as well. I do not consider graduating as an achievement because in a sense I didn't really work hard for it. But what is infinitely worse is that this is not the culmination of my 'hard work', this is just the beginning. Apart from the stupid CPA, one can never stop learning in life. In my profession, one has to always be updated on the latest tax reforms, thanks to our brilliant government consistently changing the law (which is useless). While the tax reforms do solve certain issues, it also creates whole new problematic issues at the same time. Seriously, they should appoint me in charge of the tax committee, then I will implement the Virtue of Doing Nothing as my policy.

b) Take photo with girls.

Now I won't go into the number of girls that I have actually befriended during my uni life. Trust me, even for somebody as pathetic as me, it is really sad. So sad I lazy upload the pics in Facebook.

No girls.

Still no girls. Haiz.

WHY NO GIRLS WAN??!!

Damn sad. I was almost falling asleep during the ceremony until I saw ADLIH (not too hard to decipher isn't it?). But oh how far she has fallen from her OMG-WHY-ARE-THE-EYES-STARING-AT-ME days. She was once the epitome of the term hauntingly beautiful. Oh well. So anyway thats uni life and since I'm on this topic, let me take a swipe at.....

No. 2 Formal Education:

While I agree that formal education is absolutely necessary for certain professions (mainly medicine & health-related) and to a lesser extent certain other subjects, formal education only serves to give us a certificate in order to provide us with an easier time in finding a job. But how much of the stuff you learn in uni is actually relevant and fully applied in real life work? In fact big-name multi-national investment banks/consultancy firms/actuarial firms/Big Four do not require applicants to have the relevant degrees. They only require you to have a good academic record (2.1 or higher) and to come from a prestigious university (Ivy League, Oxbridge, LSE, Imperial etc). This goes to show how useless the stuff taught in university is. You only really learn when you start working. But most importantly, there are certain things that just can't be taught. For example taking a course in Creativity or Entrepreneurship is a joke (no offense). Because being creative or being an entrepreneur requires you to think out of the box and be special. If you go for courses like these, then you end up 'factory-made' and hence not at all special. You can't learn to be creative, you are either creative or not. In the book Rich Dad Poor Dad, the writer mentions that formal education is only for normal people, who want to become good employees. It doesn't in any way help you to become good employers. Taking courses in investment-making is just as useless.

The other day I was talking to Danny about this. I said that if formal education was really all that good, then how come the PhDs from Harvard, LSE and Cambridge in the fields of mathematical economics/econometrics, computational finance, financial engineering etc, are not multi-billionaires? I mean these guys are all geniuses and obviously have very good understanding on how the market works and are definitely capable of constructing forecast models to help project future results. Actually for all its complexity, the concept of earning in the market is very simple. To quote Warren Buffet (who once dethroned Bill Gates as the world's richest man): Sell when people want to buy; Buy when people want to sell. Obviously its harder than it sounds as Mr Buffet's company suffered a $96 billion loss in shareholder value during the recent recession. Looks like he bought/sold at the wrong time too. Basically its useless to try and predict the market, just like it is useless to try.........

No.3 Predict the winner of World Cup 2010

England fans must be in euphoria after their 5-1 victory over Croatia in the WC 2010 qualifiers reminiscent to the time when England trashed Germany 5-1 in Munich. The media was raving on how England were going to win the World Cup and that hattrick-hero Michael Owen deserved to be knighted (lol?). Yet during WC 2002, it was England who went out in the quarterfinals while Germany reached the Final itself. Fact is that the performances in the qualifiers are useless to take into account when the tournament itself begins. The favourites this time around are Brazil and reigning European Champions Spain, both having qualified impressively. But Brazil shouldn't be too happy because when they last triumphed in 1994 and 2002, they barely qualified on the last day. So qualifying early is a bad omen.

The great Schmeichel in action. He saved Van Basten's penalty in Euro 92.

Best example of how the qualifiers are useless indicators is Denmark in Euro 1992. They didn't even qualify for the tournament but ended up winning it LOL. This was because Yugoslavia, who qualified ahead of Denmark, was forced to withdraw from the tournament following UN sanctions resulting from the Yugoslav wars. So the Danes had to cancel their summer holidays (except for star player Michael Laudrup who refused to participate) and head over to the tournament to play three group stage games 'for fun'. Somehow they reached the knockout stages and thanks to Peter Schmeichel's goalkeeping they upset defending champions Holland and reigning World champions Germany to lift the trophy. So in conclusion, the winner will most likely come from one of the teams that is struggling to qualify, but guessing who among those teams is the most difficult part and that itself is the beauty of football. Saudi Arabia does look like a good bet as North Korea will probably get sanctioned by the UN soon.

No.4 Peace Talks Attempts

When I mean peace talks I don't necessarily mean the negotiations between two conflicting nations, although that is often useless too. How often have Israel and the Palestinians sat down and 'agreed terms', and how long after those terms were 'agreed' did some crazy suicide bomber do enough destruction to make what Zhou and I did to Daryl (in CS) look like hugs and kisses? I read yesterday that the Hamas objects to the UN's plan to teach Holocaust to the Gaza kids. According to them, the Holocaust is just an excuse for the creation of Israel. Obviously there is alot of animosity between these two parties and no simple peace talks will achieve anything lasting. But hey at least they do communicate and one doesn't just ignore the other right? My 'peace talk attempts' are useless because the other party is ignoring me. I mean if parties that hate each others' guts can actually sit down and talk, why can't we? Haiz.

No. 5 Carrying Around a Mobile Phone.

Buy iPhone for wat? I should pay people to call/sms me instead.

Yes it is very useless carrying around a mobile phone, in my case at least. You see since I'm either in the office or at home there is a telephone that I can use in case of emergency. When I am outside I'm definitely with my family and they all got their handphones in case of emergency too. This week I did a little experiment. I didn't bring my handphone around with me and at the end of each day I check and see how many missed calls and messages I received. This week nobody called me or sent SMS to me. Oh and by the way, usually when I say nobody I mean no girls, and when I say girls I mean You-Know-Who. Understand? But in this case, no girls really mean no girls and nobody actually means Zhou, Yong and Kenneth (from Church). Yea sorry guys, you are considered "nobodies". Zhou messaged me regarding DotA, Yong the Harbringer of Bad News messaged me to tell me my Fantasy Football captain Arshavin is injured, while Kenneth asked me to go for some dinner (which I went in case your wondering). So yea bring around handphone for what? It gives me easy access to do stupid things which is not good for me. Not only is a handphone something extra to carry, carrying it around will supposedly reduce my sperm count too.

No.6 High Sperm Count

Actually seeing how the way things are going, I don't need a high sperm count also LOL! Ok, better stop as this is just too stupid (and pathetic too).

No.7 Stupid Things

When I say stupid things, I don't mean trying to swallow your own tongue or blogging about useless things, I actually mean stupid things.

Don't get it? Its okay. To quote Johan Cruyff, "If I wanted you to understand, I would explain it better."

OCKT Day 2, 3 and The Aftermath

Day 2:
So I woke up at 8am the next morning, probably because I'm just too used to waking up early already. I didn't want to disturb the rest so I read the newspaper in the bathroom =.= Stayed in the bathroom till Phang woke up and needed to use it. I spent the next 3 hours just lying on my bed, stoning. Haiz. I only realised that it was 11 something when Yong suddenly landed on Zhou's bed (which was adjacent to mine). Its funny that I didn't even notice that Yong had entered the room, it was as if he fell from the sky. That's how deep in thought I was.

Fortunately, we were on the move again. So at the behest of Daryl, our first stop was: 'Gorgle Aunty'. Yong's Hokkien seemed to be improving as Zhou finally got what he ordered: Kuey teow and nothing else! Oh which reminds me that I need to learn how to say "No Egg Please" in Hokkien. After lunch, the 7 of us (coz Dr.Phang had to go pretend to study) went to a cybercafe . Our original plan was to just play there for about 2 hours and then go eat again but we succumbed to the "RM6 for 5 hours" package.

First thing most of us did when we got our PCs was to check Fantasy Football. Haha. I was also busy checking the scores of the early morning matches especially the result of Real Madrid. So Real managed to win 3-2, with Ronaldo scoring on his debut (yes you guessed right, it was a penalty). It was well taken but I don't think that Florentino Perez broke the bank simply so that CR9 could come and score from penalties only. Unsurprisingly the best player of the team wasn't one of the big names but rather Lassana Diarra. Already dubbed the next Makelele, lets just hope Mr.Perez will not sell him off once Mr.Diarra starts asking for a bigger paycheck.

Random Fun Fact #1:

I am the second best!!!

Guess how many runners-up medals Michael Ballack has? Ironically it is his lucky number 13. This guy is the King of Runners Up! His claim to fame was the 2001-2002 season where he completed the Treble with Bayer Leverkusen, coming in second in the German League, German Cup and UEFA Champions League. Oh and he also came in second during the World Cup that summer. Following his transfer to Chelsea, he collected several other 'loser' medals including a second UEFA Champions League runners up medal. That same summer he was losing finalist in Euro 2008. He has really lost it all! The only thing missing from his record is runners up in the FIFA World Player of the Year and Ballan d'Or awards. While the debate will rage on as to who is the greatest player ever, the second best player of all time may just be Michael Ballack.

Ok back to the Cybercafe. We started off with 4v3 DotA. My side had Daryl, Andrew and the person closest in likeness to my style of play, Yong. We both believe in the 'chiong is ftw' philosophy. Think of us as the 'Barcelona of DotA'. The other side contained the likes of Zhou, Kochi and Tai Soon (who is probably the most up-to-date DotA player among the 7 of us). While it may seem that my group had the numerical advantage, Andrew is a new player, and required some guidance and nurturing under the tutelage of us 'pros'. First game I was stealth assassin and I pawned Zhou for first blood. From there on, Yong's Lion totally owned the game. The enemy team was still walking around in boots and bracers when I got my Butterfly (despite my extremely karat farming skills). GG. Next game, my Lina pawned Zhou again for first blood (LOL), thanks to an assist from Daryl. Although we made a good start, we lost the game due to some really poor 'chiong-ing' on our part, and just like Barca, we have no plan B. We just chiong until we win or get steamrolled. The next game I got Gondar, and that alone was enough LOL ( although Tai Soon's Undying gave us quite a hard time for most of the game). Seriously, ever since I played DotA, I have only lost one game (some pug game and my team all leavers) using Gondar. I think after that we played CS, mostly in the Estate map. Zhou, Yong and I were the terrorists.

Daryl's bane.

Initially, I was feeding like shit. I go to the door I kena own by Daryl; I try to go outside and outflank them, I end up outflanked by Kochi. My score was about 20 kills to 40+ deaths (keep kena scold noob by Yong somemore). But then I tried some paratrooper tactics. I threw flashbang out the window and then jumped off the balcony to backside them LOL. Eh it worked ok! By the end of the game I recorded 70+ kills and 60 deaths, even overtaking Yong's kills along the way. Hehe. Best moment during CS was of course when Daryl ate two grenades (courtesy of Zhou and Yours truly).

Background story: Inside the house I saw Zhou pull the grenade trigger and squat (I only found out later that he intended to kill himself coz he had no money to buy gun LOL). I honestly thought he was just waiting for someone to come in, so I jumped on top of him, pulled the grenade trigger and tried the squat-and-wait-for-noob-to-come-eat-bomb strat as well. In came Daryl who, must have been blur seeing two sohai squatting (on top of each other) with open grenades in their hands. He look at us, we look at him......

*Two grenades fly*

*BOOM*

Take your pick: Sayonara, Auf wierdesehen, Hasta La Vista, 再见

Bottom Line: Dee got owned hard.

After that we played one more game of DotA where Yong's Sandking owned so hard it wasn't even funny. What was funny was how my syllabear's bear bear could own Zhou's sniper with such ease. Honestly I have never ever had such luck with the entangle proc. What can I say Zhou? You face problem. Nvm la, at least you got first blood by killing me while I was trying to look for my bear bear =.=

Trivia: Zhou was involved (pawned or kena pawn) in all 'First Bloods' during that DotA session.

Andrew's Philippines Seafood Spaghetti

After that we went to pick up Phang who only studied for 2 hours and slept the rest (or was it the other way round?) and then headed to Nothram food court for dinner. Nothram is like Asia Cafe but next to the beach. And Penang being Penang, well you know the rest =p Unfortunately all the best 'scouting' locations were taken so we had to settle for a mediocre position inside where all we could stare at were sausages (German lah =p). My contract photographer didn't bring his camera so all I have from that trip is Andrew's spaghetti pic. During the course of the dinner we talked about the DotA and CS games and Phang finally gave into peer pressure and decided to join us for another 5 hour gaming session! Seriously Phang, 3% nia, I threw away 15% before oops maybe thats why I fail in life.

So yes, we actually spent 10 hours in the cybercafe LOL. But hey I'm not complaining. Its in the cyberworld that I am liberated from the pain and sorrow of the real world =.= I decided to join Zhou this time coz he always emo and I think only I can handle him LOL. I don't think the games during the second session were that memorable, although I do remember my Balanar caused some people to wet their pants during night. The other memorable game was the one where Zhou's Ogre Magi was so pathetic that Kochi mistook him for a normal creep. My use-Broodmother-to-contain-Yong's-Lion strat was pretty much fail too especially with Daryl's highly geared Drow shooting us from behind.

The last game was perhaps the most memorable tho. Tai Soon wanted to try some mass stunner combo: Tiny, Slardar, Tidehunter and Magnus. The emo-Zhou opted to play Keeper of the Light because he thinks that its the funniest hero to use to die. Like seriously, I know that I emo too but at least I emo about real life things right? Want emo over gaming meh LOL! So anyway I played Juggernaut and teamed up with Zhou in mid-lane. Already at level 1 I chiong past tower and together with Zhou's charge wave thingy, we forced Daryl and Phang back to the fountain with 0 exp. HAHA. If only I had discovered that Blade Fury shortcut key wasn't W or H or I or R or L, but F instead, I may have gotten a double kill. Oh well. Anyway their stun combo failed for various reasons:

No.1 Bladefury immune to stun LOL LOL LOL NOOBZZZZZZZ!

No.2 All aim old man but old man surprisingly cannot die wan. But seriously Zhou was in inspirational form that game. How often do you see old man chiong in front?

No.3 Yong's Witch Doctor is Gay Doctor. The healing is unbelievable. His healing made the old man unkillable.

No.4 Their combo stun timing was epic. Dee and Phang timed their Reverse polarity + Ravage combo to perfection. Only problem was:

THERE WAS NO ENEMY HERO EVEN
REMOTELY WITHIN RANGE!

All in all my team played very well. My omnislash took out Kochi's ever dangerous Slardar while the maledict+wave+deathward thingy took out the rest. Yong and Zhou were constantly pressuring the enemy (I really never saw them return to base) and even Andrew played a solid game with his Pit Lord following us around stunning and aoe-ing stuff.

So we went back to the hotel at 2am+ and that was the end of Day 2.

Day 3:

Daryl cheating on Su Yin one last time.

Good thing I didn't wake up early the next morning (no stoning yay!) Before we left Penang we completed our hattrick on the 'Gorgle Aunty'. Altogether our group ordered 13-14 plates during our last lunch there. From there we said our goodbyes but not before we met up again in the Tapah stop area for Baskin Robbins! 31% FTW!

The best things in life are meant to be shared, but not with dudes!

I only wanted to eat Jamoca Almond Fudge (sentimental reasons) but Daryl persuaded me to go with double flavour and since there was no Cookies 'n Cream I opted for Macadamia Nut 'n Cream. Had no girlfriend to share with, end up sharing with a bunch of dudes. =.= Oh and btw, Yong and I both hate mint flavour. So if you wanna belanja me any food (coz i'm so yeng right?), run it by Yong and see if he eats it or not. Because if he doesn't eat it, there's a very good chance I don't either.

On the way back, we listened to Boney M music. They really have the most random songs ever e.g Daddy Cool, Rivers of Babylon, Rasputin etc. We encountered alot of traffic jam especially in the northern area. We later found out that it was because there was a long-chain of car accidents. Funny thing was that those accidents were on the other side of the road, but Malaysians being Malaysians, all want to 'stop and see' what's going on. LAME!

In the car we also had a small debate over the phrase "It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all". I think I was the only one who disagreed with that phrase. Oh well.

Aftermath:
I think its safe to assume that neither of us are going to enjoy any other char kuey teow anymore. To quote Miss Perry: "Comparisons are easily done once you've had a taste of perfection." I for one will never eat char kuey teow in Melaka. However according to Tai Soon's friend, the 'Gorgle Aunty' is con job. There is a cheaper and even better char kuey teow somewhere else there apparently. Guess we have to go try. Oh and thanks to this Penang trip (and that long queue waiting for Roti Babi), I am now spamming the song I Will Be. Leona Lewis definitely has the more powerful vocals, but I just prefer Avril's version, it has more feel to it somehow.



In conclusion we didn't do anything that warranted the use of the cliche tagline "What happens in Penang, stays in Penang". We didn't do anything crazy like in the movie The Hangover. We didn't throw Yong's bed on the top of the hotel roof. Zhou didn't marry the Cybercafe boss's girlfriend. Daryl didn't kidnap the 'Gorgle Aunty' and hide her in the trunk. Phang didn't perform surgery on himself just to prove that he can. But nevertheless, we did fill up our stomachs with delicious food, we did collect some very fond memories, and ultimately were not given any reason why we shouldn't go again soon.

Here's to the trip that is to come!

Operation Char Kuey Teow: Day 1

Last Saturday, the eight of us (Kian Siang and Khai Lip didn't come) left for Penang to embark on a food/sight-seeing(girls)/mahjong/cybercafe adventure. As you can see, out of the 8 that went, only 4 of us were indispensable. The rest could just jump off the Penang Bridge for all we care. XD

The Indispensable Ones:

Yong - The Destined-To-Marry-Penangite Accomodation Specialist
Zhou - The Never-Break-The-Law Driver
Kochi - The Never-Say-Die Navigator
Myself - The Always-Say-Die Contract Blogger (wth? =.=)

Sesat right? But hey even in ancient times, there was always a scribe that followed the army to go and record the events of the battle. So here I am, fulfilling my duty as the 'contract blogger'. But wait there's one small problem: I forgot to bring my camera.

FAIL!

But no worries! Daryl brought along his state-of-the-art camera (AA-battery powered LOL LOL LOL!) Ok time for the story. Shall we?

Zhou came to pick me up at 5.45am. Oh and btw Zhou barely slept for a three hours before waking up at 4 something because he had a nightmare about AUDITING. Man, he work 1 week already dream of auditing, while I have never ever dreamed of my work before. Anyway after we picked up Phang and Daryl, we headed for McD breakfast. The journey was longer than I expected due to the fact that Zhou took it upon himself to abide by the speed limit, while Phang's excessive drinking served only to delay us with additional toilet breaks. While listening to Zhou's techno playlist, I felt sorry for Kochi who had to endure the pain of Yong's Korean pop songs especially track 153? LOL.

After we reached the very strategically-placed Sunway Hotel, we spent some time goofing around in the lobby. Seriously, the whole time we were there I think I only saw the Assistant Manager at his table for like 5 mins only.

Our self-appointed ASSistant MANager.

First thing we did after we settled down in the hotel was to visit the famous Char Kuey Teow stall that we have since nicknamed the 'Gorgle Aunty'. Daryl literally went high after eating his first plate.

Char Kuey Teow 'Gorgle Aunty'

Sorry Su Yin. This is Daryl's one true love.

Mine was without egg of course. Zhou's one was well, without everything except the kuey teow and egg LOL. After that we went for some laksa and ais kachang. While at that shop, I scouted a girl who I thought looked like Daryl's gf, only for her to turn up to be someone else that Zhou and Yong knew (actually I also knew who she was). Need to recalibrate my eyes seriously =.= After that we went back to the hotel to nap.

Yong trying to flatten his tummy after the meals?

I think Andrew and I were the only ones who didn't knock out. But then again, I have never been able to nap. What was I doing? Oh ya I was reading Daryl's magazines and stoning =.= At night we ate near the hotel. We ate a variety of food: Satay, wan-tan mee, hokkien mee, char kuey teow etc.

Me and my sworn enemy: Egg

All were happy with the food. I think.

More pics on Facebook of course. Saturday night is naturally football night and so happened that MU were playing Arsenal. Therefore we had to stock up on food so that we could watch the 12am match in the hotel. So five of us went out to tapao some food. Yong and Kochi forced the very lazy Zhou to come along to help navigate, while I was pushed to go along as well as I was the 'contract blogger' (seriously wth?). Since I didn't have a camera I also dragged Daryl to come along as well. We went to tapao the famous Frankie Pizza and Roti Babi.

Frankie Pizza - Looks like cheapo brand but tastes really good.

Don't think we have any pictures of the Roti Babi. Guess nobody wanted to waste time snapping shots while everybody else was already in the midst of devouring the delicious food. With our stomachs filled we were able to watch the match without any other worries. I think only the MU fans (Kochi and Yong) actually bothered about the real result. When Arsenal's Arshavin scored, Zhou and I leaped to our feet in celebration! There was more joy to come in the second half. MU were awarded a dubious penalty and Rooney made no mistake from the spot. Once again Zhou and I were on our feet cheering. Confused? Evidently Zhou and I cared more about Fantasy Football points rather than the actual game and since Rooney and Arshavin were both in our Fantasy Football teams, as far as we were concerned 'our team' was 2-0 up! I'm sure we would of gotten alot of strange reactions from both MU & Arsenal fans had we watched in a crowded mamak instead.

Why didn't you score more you dog!

I honestly thought that he would score 4 goals like he did against Liverpool last season, thats why I made him Captain =.= But oh well, that was perhaps very rare, albeit, extreme optimism on my part. Thats the end of Day 1. Gotta go sleep now.

Ciao.