R.I.P

The Blogger Nomad

2010-10-06T18:00:00.002+08:00

Hi everyone (or anyone). I'm moving to http://weiyeah86.tumblr.com/ now =)

R.I.P Blog

2010-07-26T19:23:00.000+08:00

Moving to http://weiyeah86.wordpress.com/

So go and update your links and check it out. Or not.

Whatever makes you happy.

Oh now I remember....

2010-07-20T07:17:00.003+08:00

Looking back at my blog post archives, I suddenly remembered why I was actively blogging back then. Good times.

I think I shall resume blogging soon, but I shall do things very differently this time, and in a brand new blog-site! But not just yet.

Stay tuned.

The Only Exception

2010-07-07T11:37:00.002+08:00

Maybe I know, somewhere

Deep in my soul

That love never lasts

And we've got to find other ways

To make it alone

Or keep a straight face

And I've always lived like this

Keeping a comfortable, distance

And up until now

I had sworn to myself that I'm

Content with loneliness

Because none of it was ever worth the risk

Well, You, are, the only exception.

le sigh

2010-06-22T23:59:00.002+08:00

Wasn't it only yesterday that I said we were drifting apart?

Told you I was happy, but I really am not.

O Lord help curb the desires of my selfish little heart.

Of lists and games

2010-05-28T21:52:00.020+08:00

Sound check 1, 2, 3.....

Ok this is for the ones who are still following my blog. Thanks for not giving up on me babehhhh~

Exam's over yet it seems like I'm busier than before. Work is certainly tiring and I have been active with church stuff.

But anyway, I'm sure everybody always writes a list of things they want to do/eat/visit etc after their exams are finished. People usually fail to complete them but I'll share my list and their current status here:

1. Finish Top Ten in our private Fantasy Football League

This screenshot was taken back in January. At one point in time I actually dropped to no.16 T__T

Fantasy Football and the stock market have alot in common. But if this was the stock market I would of been bankrupt in December.

It came to the point where I told Yong that I would be more than happy with a top 10 finish. Being the typical optimist, Yong told me to aim for the sky i.e top 4. Thanks for the support babehhh~

Well the season is over now and whad'dya know? =p

Let me clarify that I'm not posting this to lanci but rather to obtain immunity from kena lanci. So those who scored 2236 and below not allowed to lanci me kk. Oops I think I accidentally lanci-ed.

If this was the stock market, I'm Donald Trump (recovered from bankruptcy).

2. Learn about investments

People think that just because you have an undergraduate degree in Finance you know all the tricks of the trade about investments. But let me tell you something, most quants (short for quantitative analyst or researchers) in investment banks who price all the derivatives e.g options, swaps, futures do not have any background in finance.

If you have no idea what derivatives are its okay. An undergraduate in finance will know but we have absolutely no idea how to price them because its rocket science, literally. The famous Black-Scholes model that is used to price options was discovered by two NASA rocket scientists. Therefore the normal requirement for quants are PhDs but not in Finance or Economics. Most of them actually have PhDs in Mathematics or Theoretical Physics.

Thats right, crazy people like Sheldon Cooper will use crazy techniques to forecast risk and market conditions. Then the PhDs in Engineering will help them build the models. The math behind it is beyond any Finance undergraduate, or CFA holder or even Master in Finance (unless its from Princeton).

So anyway, I wanted to learn abit about investments so that I can make use of my money which was just rotting away in a bank account. But I'm no quant so there's no point trying to predict market conditions (actually the quants failed to predict the current economic crisis anyway), so I thought of a brilliant plan! Why not invest in a sure thing? Whats a sure thing you ask? There are only two certainties in life: death and taxes.

So I decided to fully invest in insurance policies. HAHAHA! Really wat. Everybody SURE die, its just a matter of time. And if you're someone like me who knows he's gonna die early (btw I just ate Burger King), its a no brainer. Insurance premiums are tax deductible too! Hehe.

Now more than half of my monthly salary is used to pay off AIA, Tokio Marine, and Great Eastern insurance premiums. Thats not even including the policies my father bought for me.

There is one tiny flaw about this plan though. You won't be one who enjoys the benefits of this investment. LOL! Since I no wife, the beneficiary is my mum.

REGRET NOT MARRYING ME NOW DON'T CHA??!!

Haiz. If I keep buying more insurance policies, when I die my mum can buy over the Taiwan drama industry (she sien of Korean drama liao).

Oh btw if your interested in becoming a quant (besides getting a PhD or Msc in Financial Engineering) you need to be very proficient in the programming language C++.

3. Learn Programming

Ask anybody who is working now and they'll tell you that only a small percentage of the technical knowledge they learnt in uni is used at office because computer software does most of the complex computations for them. Therefore learning a programming language is a definitely one for the future.

I'm signing up for a workshop in Microsoft VBA which can be used in my line of work. Its also because I want to hack into an Ivy League or Oxbridge university's website and access their lecture slides.

4. Understand Game Theory

Just discovered that MIT and Oxford actually gives free access to outsiders. Cheh! So I downloaded lecture slides on games. Don't get too excited Zhou, I don't mean video games. I mean the games based on Game Theory.

Game theory can be defined as the study of mathematical models of conflict and cooperation between intelligent rational decision-makers. Game theory provides general mathematical techniques for analyzing situations in which two or more individuals make decisions that will influence one another’s welfare (Myerson 1991).

Game Theory is widely applied in economics, biology, computer science, political science, international relations and philosophy.

There are all kinds of conflict scenarios or games. For example this game is called The Prisoner's Dilemna:

(click to zoom)

That is the first slide of the first lecture. 17 lectures more to go!

I'm sure you're wondering why I'm so semangat to study Game Theory. Apart from learning the interesting conflict-scenario solving techniques, I have 'nobler' intentions.

The Academy Award-winning film A Beautiful Mind is based on the true story of John Nash, who was one of the main pioneers of Game Theory. According to the movie, John Nash came up with his now famous Nash Equilibrium idea while he was at a bar with his friends. They were all trying to hit on a hot blond. But John Nash thought of a way so that all of them could 'score' with a girl. Do you see where I'm going with this?

I'm studying Game Theory so that......

WE DON'T DIE ALONE!!!

Told ya I had 'noble' intentions. You guys can thank me later.

I better get back to studying! Still stuck on Lecture 1 gg.

Might As Well

2010-04-24T00:04:00.003+08:00

Just got back from KL. Had Subway for breakfast, lunch and dinner (yes you read that right) yesterday, and for brunch today. Over 40 branches in Malaysia but not a single one in Melaka. Haiz. Its a long-distance relationship, but we're making it work.

I just realised that I always opt for Parmesan Oregano despite never having tried the other bread options e.g Honey Oat or Hearty Italian etc. But I guess I've always been like that. If I find something I like, I don't bother considering alternatives regardless of whether they are better or not. For example if I walk into a card shop and see a card I like, I'll just buy it straight away without even looking at the rest.

Lepak-ed around KLCC by myself. Having done so already at Sunway Pyramid, Midvalley, Timesquare, Pavilion and the Curve, that leaves me with 1Utama as the only major shopping mall I have yet to spend a day there all by myself.

* cues the part where all my friends say "ALONE MEH? SO SAD MEH??" *

No its not sad because I choose to be alone. Its only sad if I wanted company but nobody wan to teman me. But not like anybody want to teman me anyway. So its more of a "you can't fire me coz I quit!" scenario. In all seriousness lepak-ing alone is rather liberating, but its not for everyone.

First of all you need superb stoning skills. You need to be able to stare into space and "wake up" hours later. Secondly you need to have a thick face. You'll need to be comfortable asking "table for one please" or "just one ticket please" etc.

So anyway, UNICEF opened a booth in Kinokuniya so I decided to sign up and pledge.

Afterall, I won't have a family to support, no need to save to buy house or save up for children's education, and since I'm basically the least materialistic person around e.g iPhone is not on my wish-list (actually I don't even think there is a wish-list), I might as well do some good before I inevitably die alone.

Things I Find 'Amusing'

2010-04-21T00:23:00.011+08:00

I've been quite comfortable hiding in my shell lately, BUT FINE I'LL BLOG!

There are plenty of things people do that baffle me. I'm not being judgmental, so don't be offended if you fall under any of these categories. Just wanna give some insight into some of the things that 'amuse' me:

1. Chinese people who would rather learn more 'exotic' languages (e.g French or Japanese) rather than Mandarin (Chinese).

This also applies to people of other races that rather learn some other language than their own mother-tongue. BM is compulsory here so I won't go into that.

When I was growing up in Australia, some of the other Chinese families we knew sent their kids to Japanese classes instead of Mandarin classes as they regarded the Japanese language to be 'higher-class'. I'm really thankful that my parents made me go to Mandarin school on the weekends. 'Lower-class' or not, with China's emerging economy, Mandarin is at the very least, going to be more useful than Japanese.

French is indeed a beautiful language and I wish that I had some proficiency in it, but definitely not at the expense of learning Mandarin. Bottom-line, we should be proud of our own culture and language!

Disclaimer: Not like I speak flawless Mandarin and my Han Yu Pin Yin is a joke while I barely remember how to write my own name, but STILL...............

2. Overly health-conscious people

I think I've mentioned this countless of times on this blog but I can't help but bring it up again. Whenever people say "eh don't eat that will cause cancer" or "that thing has too much sugar" or "its so fattening", I can't help but think that I will laugh if that person dies before I do. There I said it. Wah I so evil.

3 . People who abuse the phrase "I Love You"

Its normal to see couples spamming each other's Facebook wall with lovey-dovey stuff. Even though I don't see the point of it, I can understand why. But the thing is that they butcher the phrase "I Love You" by not actually meaning it. After constantly spamming each other's walls , many of them break up and both sides act as if nothing happened and after a while (a few weeks or at most 2-3 months) they are dating new people and spamming their new lover's wall with lovey dovey stuff again.

I've read really sweet blog dedication posts of one professing the love for the other, but the hilarious thing is just a few weeks ago he/she wrote a really sweet post for another guy/girl too. I understand that some people just move on really quickly, but this just cheapens the whole concept of love, or in the words of Bon Jovi:

THEY GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME!!!

Observing some of the youth nowadays that just got into a relationship, I can't help but laugh when I see them professing those 3 words to each other (once again on each other's facebook wall). Do they really know what love is? Do they even know each other well enough to know whether they love each other?

Once again I hope I'm not being judgmental. Just wanna give you an insight of what goes on in my head when I see stuff like this. This barely skims the surface though.

Russell!

2010-04-12T23:08:00.008+08:00

I can't stop staring at this pic. It makes me happy. Somehow.

FYI, Up was surprisingly one of the best movies of 2009!

*POINT*

Laminin

2010-04-09T14:34:00.004+08:00

Friend linked this on his Facebook page. Its a message about a protein in our body called Laminin. This is so awesome.

You can't make this stuff up loh. Evolution where got so nice wan.

All Glory to God!

Don't Expect

2010-04-04T21:35:00.002+08:00

Its actually very easy to avoid getting disappointed: just don't expect anything. This applies to both people and relationships, and to Fantasy football (LOL Ade wth).

Like-wise, don't expect me to write up a nice long post. You'll just be disappointed.

P/S: Despite being a cynic, I can't really argue with the first 50 pages of "How To Make Someone Fall In Love With You in 90 mins Or Less" which Yong made me read while waiting for MU vs Chelsea to start.

Never thought that...

2010-03-17T12:11:00.006+08:00

For once in my life, I'm too happening that I have absolutely no time to blog.

Guess I'm cooler than I thought. o.ov

You'll Never Pray Alone

2010-03-01T22:59:00.001+08:00

Having just barely recovered from injury, Liverpool's star striker Fernando Torres will be joining up with his Spanish teammates for an international friendly with France this Wednesday. As we all know, Torres has an unfortunate habit of getting injured on international duty, so even his Liverpool teammate Jamie Carragher is praying for Torres's safe return:

""Please God, that (Torres getting injured) doesn't happen. He makes a big difference and you can see we are a much better team when he is with us."

Torres staying fit is also crucial for my fantasy football points too. So thats why have to go prayer meeting tomorrow and add this to my prayer list LOL!

Don't worry Carra...........

YOU'LL NEVER PRAY ALONE!!!

Confession

2010-02-27T23:56:00.008+08:00

I really really envy couples who have been each other's first and only love.

Today at Youth we had a belated Valentine's Day Special, where married couples came to share their testimony on how they met their spouse and the eventual courtship that led to their marriage.

One of the uncles ended his testimony by saying "She (his wife) was my first and only girlfriend." A statement that really made my heart sank.

Read this on a friend's Facebook status today:

"Sometimes I wish I could erase the memories, and take back all that I gave so I'll have enough to give again."

That's exactly how I feel most of the time. But just now at youth I was reminded that we should be prepared for single-hood until we are called to a life of marriage. Not the other way round as most of us may think.

It is my prayer that I will focus all my attention on my one true unfailing love, Jesus.

A Whole New World

2010-02-22T21:09:00.002+08:00

Hi.

I guess its been a while (a week?) since I last blogged. Special thanks to my dedicated follower (yes Daryl I see you) for constantly checking my blog for new posts. Sorry, just haven't been feeling very 'expressive' lately. In fact, you can say that I've been rather anti-social. Nonetheless I shall try to cough up a post today.

For those of you that have been asking, no I didn't watch the movie Valentine's Day by myself. I watched it with my sis. HA HA very funny -__-

Short verdict: Pales in comparison to Love Actually.

But I do like the idea of having an 'I Hate Valentine's Day' party. Next year I organise and invite you all kk? You guys can spam alcohol until you all puke while I will spam ice-cream until I vomit, again. Yes I literally vomited from eating too much ice-cream during CNY.

HEY DON'T JUDGE ME!

When your eating a buffet worth RM89.90 and it serves Häagen-Dazs ice-cream, spamming it seems the logical way to help cover the cost -__-

Note-to-self: Stay away from chemical-waste-looking flavours.

The end.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go watch Aladdin on HD. Took me almost two weeks to download it.

Lai sing with me!

A WHOLE NEW WORLD~

p/s: Zhou can borrow your HD monitor?

A NEW FANTASTIC POINT OF VIEW~

Happy Birthday Meow!

2010-02-15T00:00:00.000+08:00

Oh look its somebody's birthday today! Happy 23rd birthday to Melissa Leong aka Meow =)

I had to write this and schedule the posting before I left for KL this morning to ensure that this birthday post is delivered on time. Will be back on Tuesday but not like you guys care anyway rite? =(

Meow's birthday falls on Feb 15 which comes straight after Valentine's Day so she may feel that her birthday is overshadowed in a way. But what's so special about Valentine's Day anyway? Not important also. So you couples out there DON'T LANCI KK?

So happens that CNY falls on Feb 14 this year as well, so I guess the feeling of overshadowment (oh there's no such word in the dictionary but u guys get what I mean) must be even greater. But no worries! Coz Feb 15 is a very special day indeed!

She so the perasan rite? BUT ITS TRUE!

WUAHAHAHAHAHA!

Feb 15 is a very special day because it was on this day that God sent someone into this world to prevent me from remaining uncool for the rest of my life.

How I met her is a funny story. Actually it wasn't so funny. I introduced myself and she just walked away LOL! Ok its a little funny. Haiz.

But nonetheless she talks to me now, although she says I'm disgusting. She is actually the only friend I can say that I have chatted with every single day since we met. This is possibly because we work in the same field, share an interest in fashion (I have an interest in it coz I know nuts), share the same faith, into music especially praise and worship, and the fact that she likes to hina me all the time etc.

Normally I would upload a photo of myself together with the birthday person but as stated in point no.6 of "10 Reasons Why Its Not Okay To Be Fat": I spoil pictures =(
So I upload this pic lah.

Still very obvious who's the fatty though. Haiz.

Ok that's about it. Sorry it was a very lousy dedication post, but at least it wasn't as bad as my 'defamation post' for Zhou on his birthday. Haha.

Blessed birthday Meow =)

May you have fewer things to whine about and.....May you receive more 'signs' too! Just don't be so blur to miss out on them k? =p

Bitterness

2010-02-09T22:53:00.009+08:00

The other day my family tried this special tea that a client gave to us. It apparently helps reduce cholesterol. Seeing as my cholesterol level is well within the healthy range *coughs* I opted not to drink it. According to my poor family members, the tea was extremely bitter and had a very disgusting aftertaste.

It was then that I started taunting them, "Tsk tsk. You see. This is what happens when you don't watch your cholesterol. Have to drink bitter stuff."

Sidenote: Lately I've gotten several text messages from friends saying, "Hey I'm at McD breakfast now. Its awesome!" or "Eh Phillip, you are right. Sausage Mcmuffin is damn chun!"

Seriously never eat McD breakfast before meh? That's worse than not knowing what Converse shoes are. *coughs*

Oh btw nowadays I never get the chance to eat McD breakfast anyway. Now my breakfast everyday is Oat Bran cereal, which used to be my lunch everyday.

But now that my Coco Pops is finished, Oat Bran is once again my lunch. So yea, I have the same thing for breakfast and lunch 5 days a week. If this doesn't reduce my cholesterol level to an all-time low, I don't know what will.

Ok back to the story. I eventually pitied my family so I decided to relieve their suffering by helping them finish the tea pot. But when I drank it, it had no effect on me. It wasn't bitter and there wasn't any aftertaste.

It then dawned on me: I have 'eaten' too much bitterness in my life already, thats why immune liao.

*+100 to Perception*

Lame? =( But even my mum agrees with my hypothesis.

Ok here's something funny.

Filbert: I'm listening to English emo songs for the first time. I never listen before.

Me: Oh what emo song you listening to now?

Filbert: Katy Perry's Hot n Cold

-_________________-

Lost and Found (something else)

2010-02-04T13:05:00.007+08:00

I lost something important so I spent the whole morning looking through my post-apocalyptic wasteland of a table trying to search for it. And no I still haven't found it yet.

But more often than not, while searching for something we will stumble upon other things that have long been forgotten. Such as this note written by Mariel more than a year ago.

I believe its a gentle reminder by God to take some time out from my hectic work, to say a little prayer for her as she leads the Christian Fellowship at National Service.

P/S : You can tell by the condition of the paper that I didn't really have much appreciation for such gestures back then.

But now more than ever, its the little things that count.

Woke up at 4am for this:

2010-02-02T01:22:00.011+08:00

Was feeling a little emo today and there was nothing my "Inner Council" could do. So I consulted Dr.Phang, who apparently was emo-ing too.

Gotta follow Doctor's orders. Coz I don't want to be more stupid than I already am. T__T

What I have learnt from my numerous emo-ing adventures is that the less idle time you have = the less time you have to emo. So I'm gonna give a brief recap of the positives of this fun albeit short trip to Singapore.

1. Proved that my sense of direction is good

My mum always says that my sense of direction is horrible, coz I always fail to navigate around Melaka. But strangely enough, I have never gotten lost in a foreign city before. I think my 'navigation system' is only enabled when I'm outside my comfort zone. Left Melaka and reached Meow's house in an hour, and then got to LCCT without any mistakes (well apart from tat one roundabout, and the roundabout before that -__-). Then I eventually got us to Marriott Hotel on Orchard without breaking a sweat.

Taken by Meow in the plane.

2. We were at the right place at the right time

Why do I say this? Because the names of the first speakers of the two forums we attended were Philip and Melissa respectively. LOL! Coincidence?

3. Met up with old friends

Well not so much in my case, but Ah Meow certainly met up with several old friends at the exhibition. In fact they had to line up to talk to her. Serious. SHE SO FAMOUS WAN. I was like the bodyguard asking them to queue up.

But the most amazing thing was that one of them actually recognised me from Europe. *BREAKTHROUGH* I am actually memorable! Oh and her name is Melissa too -__- See that's why I call you Ah Meow instead.

4. Met someone new

Even someone as anti-social as myself acknowleges that its always good to meet someone new. Everyone say hi to Adeline.

4. Made contributions to unfortunate children.

So happened that Maggie Moo's (the no.1 selling ice-cream brand in US) were having their opening day at 313 Somerset. All proceeds that day were going to Make-A-Wish-Foundation. Needless to say, I made a lot of contributions.

5. Gained some knowledge about cosmetics.

Spent some time at Sephora trying to unravel the mysteries of the cosmetic industry. Like Meow always tells me, "You everything also dunno, how to buy for gf next time?" But then again, buying cosmetics for my gf would be insulting her natural beauty no?

Yes I have faith that my future gf will be gorgeous, but its far more important for her to be able to turn hearts and not just heads. I really liked the Vanilla-flavoured skin lotion though, made me feel like eating my own hand.

6. Learned to Smile (well kinda)

While waiting in the airport Meow was teaching me how to smile, since excessive pouting has obviously made me forget how to smile. She couldn't stop laughing at my failed attempts so I didn't get any clear instructions. I look like a ham sap lou in the last pic. Yea yea I'm disgusting.

7. Proved that I was fit enough drive back home

A lot of people were recommending that I not come home straight. After all I only had 3 hours plus of sleep (stupid fireworks) and I had a long exhausting day walking around in Orchard and Somerset. Oh and did I mention that we had to run like mad in Changi Airport to try catch our flight back. We were too early so we lanci and ended up stoning, cam-whoring and shopping before eventually realising that we only had 10 mins left to find the terminal, get past customs and unto the plane before the gate closes. Thank God we made it.

So yea I was really tired and felt like I could die anytime on the road back to Melaka but every time my eyes were about to close I chewed my gum faster and harder and I sang along with the praise songs all the more louder. Oh and btw it didn't rain anymore, so it was YOUR singing that caused the rain earlier k? HAHA!

Nuuuu joking nia please don't merajuk T_T, and yes thanks for allowing me to tag along. I had fun =)

So that's about it. Time to catch up on my sleep. Nitez~

Operation 4am

2010-01-29T21:47:00.007+08:00

It seems that the times when I could just sleep in are long gone. Ever since coming back to Melaka to start working, the latest time I have woken up is 9.00am. Yes even on weekends and holidays. Tomorrow is no different.

I'll be sitting on a plane to Singapore tomorrow, exactly one year after my last flight. (Wow time really flies!) In order to pick up Ah Meow from USJ and head to LCCT to catch the 7.20am flight in time, I will be leaving my house at 4am. Yeap -__-

Below are my tactics to stay awake while I'm alone on the highway:

1.Chewing Gum

Yes chewing gum increases alertness, focus and concentration. Thats why athletes are always chewing gum.

2. Listen to loud music

Not just any loud music though. I prepared a CD full of praise songs by Planetshakers and Hillsong:

3. Get a good night's sleep

This is by far the most important. But when you're so used to sleeping at 12-ish or 1-ish, how in the world can you fall asleep by 10pm.

With my stoning skills that can rival those of Tibetan monks, its highly unlikely that I can just lie on the bed and doze off.

Therefore I thought of all kinds of methods to tire myself, even resorting to watch seemingly boring stuff like Care Bears: The Movie.

But its actually quite kancheong wor LOL! Now I'm reading up about the Care Bears on Wikipedia. -__-

However its not the morning trip that I'm worried about, since I'll be excited to see someone (CHEH I GOT SAY YOU MEH? Dun perasan k!), its the return trip that I'm concerned about. I could always bunk at Yong's place instead of driving straight back to Melaka but I would rather much go home.

Just in case I don't make it back alive, here is my will. Yes you can take this to the probate court:

My face is to be donated for skin-care research. My internal organs are to be donated to research on the consequences of excessive consumption of fast-food. The rest of my body can be burned.

Money and car obviously goes to mum. She's the only woman in my life that never cheated me. Actually no she always con me too e.g "That's not egg, its just cheese!" Shi sang zi you ma ma hao?

WEB OF LIES!

Ok here is where you guys come in. Listen up.

Daryl you are entrusted with the save file of my Baldur's Gate 2 game. After countless attempts, I have yet to finish it because I failed to kao the sultry drow Viconia. Sad. Real life fail, gaming life also fail LOL!

Since you have finished Dragon Age multiple times and since Dragon Age is the arguably the closest game to Baldur's Gate 2, and since you are also 'successful' in real life, KAO HER FOR ME AND FINISH THE GAME DARYL! PLEASE!!

Ok next.

Zhou you are entrusted with my Fantasy Football account. Since God has obviously favoured you these past few weeks, and since Yong is emotionally unstable at the moment (LOL!), I'm giving you the responsibility.

Username = yeahyeah86
Password = the same as my WOW account and almost everything else -_-

HEY DUN LAUGH AT MY CURRENT POSITION!

Like Ms Cyrus says:

Ain't about how fast I get there

Ain't about what's waiting on the other side

Its the climb~

Ok I can't think of anything else to put in my will. Guess the rest are just unimportant.

I should really try to start sleeping. Haiz.

The things I do for you -__-

Edited: Its 11pm and I'm wide awake gg.com.

When you think your life sucks

2010-01-27T14:32:00.013+08:00

......just remember, there are others that are far worse.

Take the blobfish for example:

The world's most 'miserable-looking' fish

This is what you call face problem.

Dahlah look so miserable, going to be extinct somemore.

Results Speak for Itself

2010-01-24T22:56:00.003+08:00

Even though there's one more day to vote, I think the results are pretty much confirmed.

So the significant majority of you think I should focus on my fat round face instead of my blog =( That's a real reason to pout.

On the bright side at least my pout was voted the 'Best Pout of the Decade' lah!

Hey don't underestimate the power of pouting. According to Superdrug, Britain's second largest health and beauty retailer, Angelina Jolie was voted the 'Beauty Icon of the Decade' thanks to her special pout.

Imagine me being voted the 'Beauty Icon of the Decade':

LOL! Yea I know I'm lame =( That's why voted Moron of the Year too.

Ok that's all for today SINCE I SHOULD FOCUS ON MY FAT ROUND FACE INSTEAD!!!

Please Vote for Me

2010-01-19T20:21:00.006+08:00

No, I'm not running for election (yet?). Oh but this reminds me. Lets make sure we are all registered for the next election so that we can help people like YB Hannah achieve a better Malaysia.

Registration can be easily done in the Post Office. Lets not be ignorant children that only complain at the back and don't want to do anything about it.

Anyway, no I'm not participating in the annual Fairest of the Fair Pageants either. Yes there are such pageants held across the US every year. If Malaysia had one, I reckon I'll enter the pageant as one of the pre-tournament favourites.

The question is whether or not I'll come out top in the "Best Pouting Face of the Decade" contest.

Yours truly

The Main Contenders:

The EPL somehow feels less colorful without the Special One. Zhou even went on to say, "If Mourinho goes to Liverpool I will become a fan again." 5 years ago a statement like that was tantamount to blasphemy. Oh how things have changed. Love him or loath him, the Special One does have a special pout.

Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart will probably garner alot of votes. One thing's for sure, his hair owns mine. So he has the 'whole package'?

This little fella could seriously give us a run for our money though.

Last but not least, the dark horse of the contest:

My very own Avatar! Come on lets not be racist.

So faster go and vote in the poll on your right. And while you're at it, please take a bit of your time to vote in the second poll concerning the blog layout. Results will be released in 7 days.

Much appreciated. Thanks!

Happy Birthday Jie!

2010-01-16T21:19:00.011+08:00

Having written several birthday posts for people, I have an obligation as a brother to write a birthday post for my big sis too. But it has come at a bad time really, as I am semi-retired from blogging. My reasons being:

1. I am too lazy. (I think that's a very solid reason)

2. My lack of form.
There was a time where I would love to read my own posts due to the brilliance of it (LOL wth). But not anymore. My blog stinks now. Maybe its due to my departure from my swimming-in-my-own-sorrow posts. Guess that was my forte. But its a good thing right? You guys should be proud of me now. =)

3. I don't want everybody to know what's going on in my life.
Secretive woooooooo.......

4. I am very tired atm as I just got back from the lively activities of Youth Fellowship. What to do? Fatty Yeah no stamina.

Ok so I was thinking of writing a "Reasons why my Jie Jie is an ideal girlfriend/wife" post but then I remembered that no eligible bachelors read my blog anyway. I mean there are bachelors, they're just not eligible LOL! (yes offence). So I'll just write a sweet and simple post.

I dare say that none of you spend as much time with your sister(s) as I do with mine. Afterall, I live in the same house, work in the same office and pretty much share all our meals together too (except my cereal time where I enjoy my solitude). She has been with me since the beginning of my life and apart from uni, we have always been together.

I have always looked up to her and tried to emulate her in many things. In A-levels and even in my CPA now there is this "Mentor Program" thing. They pretty much fail to serve its purpose. But my sis has been my mentor for life really, always giving me the best of advices and ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS helping me regardless of the situation. But she doesn't pamper me like my mum, which is a good thing, as it teaches me self-reliance.

I'm really tired at the moment and I want to go watch my Liverpool get dragged through the mud, so I'll stop here. Afterall I'm giving my sis much more than this lousy birthday post =)

But here's some advice for you guys out there:

Don't take your sis/mum for granted. Many guys do all kinds of amazing things for their gf but don't even bother to write a simple card for their sis/mum. Trust me when I say that your mum/sis are pretty much the only girls in your life who will love you unconditionally.

Girlfriends and even wives can leave you, but mums and sisters are there for life.
Do your best to show them your love.

Love you Jie! And have a blessed birthday <3

A numbers game?

2010-01-13T23:50:00.010+08:00

Encouragement to those living in small towns:

People (myself included last time) are always saying that its very hard to find a partner in a small town like Melaka, and that we should go to big cities e.g KL to search for one. Afterall, its a numbers game isn't it? The more people you meet, the higher chance of meeting that 'special someone'. No?

Try telling Nemo's dad: "Aiya...there are so many fish in the ocean"

But that's just as stupid as saying "aiya there are so many fish in the ocean", a very common phrase spoken to comfort people who just got rejected/dumped etc. Fact is, only one fish in that big ocean is meant to be yours. And its very difficult to try search that big blue ocean all by yourself isn't it?

Therefore the best thing is to just position yourself where God wants you to be, and let Him arrange the encounter with your 'fish'. So in a way, being in a 'desert' like Melaka maybe better. Coz when that 'fish' comes, you'll definitely notice it.

In conclusion, its definitely not a numbers game.

To quote Peyton Sawyer:

"Six billion people in the world. Six billion souls.
All you need is one."

You just haven't met him/her yet =)

Regrets of 2009 and Resolutions of 2010

2010-01-07T08:22:00.006+08:00

Regrets first or resolutions first? Hmm....its kinda like choosing between good news or bad news first? Hmm.......Ok la. Resolutions first.

Yes I have to come up with new resolutions coz after 6 days I realised that my current new year resolution (to read more books) is going to fail so hard.

This is the month that I should really be burying myself in books as the CPA semester only starts in February. But every time I come back from work all I wanna do is kick back, relax and rot. Oh and it doesn't help that all the books that I wanted to read are deemed "Not Recommended" by the Discerning Reader.

I still want to read those books though as some of them are controversial, and I love to read/watch controversial stuff so that I too can have an opinion about it. I just need to find that self-discipline to stay away from the computer and read books instead.

However I really have been immersed in the writing of John Piper on his website, so at least there's a start.

My New Year Resolutions 2010:

1. Feed myself with intellectually, emotionally and spiritually challenging reading material.
So yes it doesn't restrict me to books only. But all these head knowledge is useless without applying it. So...

2. To busy myself in purposeful activities.
Yes I must reduce my idle (aka rotting) time. Not only would I be able to be contribute in things that actually matter, it would give me less time to do stuff which are....."non-beneficiary" to me.

3. To learn a musical instrument.
I'm constantly reminded of how good it would be if I knew how to play a guitar or something. With almost my entire praise band away on holiday this week, I really wished I didn't drop my guitar lessons all those years ago.

So yea those are my three resolutions written in stone. Constantly check up on me to see my progress ok?

Ok time for regrets. I know we shouldn't dwell on the past and blah blah.......But I couldn't help but feel sad that I missed out on something.

I really wanted a Toruk toy from McD Happy Meal =(

Oh and check this out. I have my own pouting face Avatar!

Now I'm ready to choose my woman.

But if she must also choose me, then GG!!!

Even Eywa can't help me there.

All's well that ends well

2010-01-03T22:08:00.017+08:00

Tootle-loo, au revoir, auf wierdesehen, ciao....ting tao tay!
2009 is gone!

I have learnt many priceless things from 2009. Unfortunately, some of those things were learnt the hard way:

1. Yong's Fantasy Football tips cannot be trusted. There is no coming back from that.
2. Just because someone says you look thinner, doesn't mean you can eat more.

Yea, the same person who at one time called me thin, said I was fat a few weeks later. =(

But overall I can say that 2009 was an eventful year by my standards. I traveled to several places (Europe being the highlight of course), I got involved in a lot of events and I met new friends (though they will rue the day they met me!).

So I guess I didn't really update you guys on what I was doing since Christmas. Long version or short version? Ok short version since I'm lazy.

I refused to stay in the office on Boxing Day so I walked to Dataran to watch The Treasure Hunter by myself. Don't get me wrong, I was fully aware that it was going to be a lousy movie, but I just wanted some brainless entertainment.

Jay Chou and Lin Chi-ling were hilarious (coz their chemistry was just so horrible).

With Jay Chou attracting the ladies and Lin Chi-ling attracting the guys, I was expecting quite a lot of people. But to my surprise roughly 90% of the people in the cinema were Malays. 1Malaysia anyone?

At night I attended the church Christmas Party and was once again touched by YB Hannah Yeoh's testimony. Many Christians just wanna pray about things without really actually doing anything, and she is an exception to that. She reminded me that God is only looking for availability and obedience.

The next day my sis and I watched Sherlock Holmes which was a good movie, but not quite up to my expectations.

On the 31st, Daryl and I went for Baskin Robbins but they ran out of pints. So we ended up eating single-scoop icecream, which is like nothing (actually 'nothing' doesn't even begin to describe the non-existence of the icecream). What a sad way to end 2009. Haiz.

We then went to watch Avatar again (but in 3D this time) with Yong and Filbert. The 3D version wasn't significantly different. There were only subtle enhancements to the non-3D version.

"She's blue but she's kinda hot." - Yong

Whether or not Avatar is the best movie of the year is debatable. But we unanimously agreed that the Na'vi girl Neytiri is chun! Hahaha. Serious. The pic doesn't do justice. She has that kind of vibe, you know -__-

MOVING ON. Went up to KL on New Year's Day to teman my sis who was attending her friends' wedding. I walked around the Curve and The Street by myself while she was at the wedding. How appropriate for the outside band to be playing emo songs like Barry Manilow's Can't Smile Without You while I was walking around pathetically.

Someone could of video taped me and made it into a music video. I think it would be very touching lo. LOL!

There were a lot restaurants that I wanted to try there but I didn't have the guts to go up and say "Table for one please.". Ended up eating Subway which I have badly missed. I felt healthier straight away. I also ate at Cupcake Chic which is a franchise started by an ex-churchmate. It was awesome.

Ok I'm getting lazy (more on this later).

Time for new year resolutions!

You know how in July I came up with a new half-year resolution to become an optimist? Well, although I'm still miles away from achieving that target, there's no denying that I have come a long way from where I used to be.

Its funny how God uses the people and circumstances around us, in ways that we don't expect, to change us.

Well my new year resolution this time is to read more books. Not those sci-fi or fantasy fiction books, but rather good solid material that will challenge me spiritually, mentally and emotionally.

Fleur's eyes lit up today after I answered what my new year resolution was. Haha. With much enthusiasm she immediately proceeded to recommend me books and websites of book reviews to check out.

The next few months are going to be really busy.

First of all the work is gonna pile up again, with the peak period just around the corner. The new CPA semester will start again. Then I'm also involved in a lot of things at church, namely the Youth Fellowship and the committee of the LIFE camp which is happening in June.

Just found out today that I was also asked to be on the Church Camp committee but as usual they never ask me directly. They will ask my sis. But I have to turn down that request anyway as I doubt I will have the time to do so many things. Which is why I won't be blogging as often, or even at all anymore. Have to see first.

I think I've proven my doubters wrong by lasting this long, but my laziness is finally catching up to me.

Tootle-loo~

Bye 2009~

Tis' the season to be........

2009-12-28T22:44:00.002+08:00

As you can see from my childhood photos, Christmas used to be about sitting on Santa's lap and receiving presents. Those were much simpler times.

But from a very young age, it was evident that I liked the camera, and the camera liked me.

I used to be very cheerful and would smile all the time. Take this pic for example. Btw, the other cute boy is my cousin, but if you say he's cuter than me, I will hunt you down. My former cuteness is all that I have (had?).

The Curious Case of Phillip Chong Wei-Yeah

Wo shi hungry 'tiger'.

Evidently I was a confused kid. One Christmas I was even Batman.

"Point me in the right direction and get out of my way."

Ronald and I go way back...

Oh today one of my friends messaged me saying, "Hey I'm going to McD breakfast now. I wanna try be as healthy as you." LOL! I'm changing the world one Sausage McMuffin at a time.

Fast forward 15 years. I suddenly feel the urge that this is the season to be 'camwhoring' again. Went up to KL on Friday and took several photos.

Just in case you didn't get the message, I <3 KL.

Oh and I forgot to take pic with Ah Meow after her church's production, Esther. But its ok. She was just a kelefeh anyway. LOL!

And of course since Christmas is a family day (as if every day isn't family day -__- ), there are some family photos.

Happy holidays everyone! (enjoy it for me T__T)

Feliz Navidad

2009-12-24T21:19:00.000+08:00

Yay its another birthday dedication post today.

Oh and just in case you didn't receive a birthday dedication post from me this year, don't feel sad. That's the great thing about birthdays, there's always next year. Unless of course you get hit by a bus or eat too much eggs until you die etc.

I shall now pass the time to Pastor Yeah (who is a ripoff from Pastor Prince).

Merry Christmas everyone! That's right its CHRISTmas, not X'mas ok? Seriously why do they even replace Christ with X? If not for Christ, it wouldn't even be a holiday to begin with.

Ok kids, if you have your Bible turn with me to Luke 3 (cheh...sound like real pastor).

Notice that in verse 1, there are a list of names of the so-called 'big-shots' during that era. There's the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar and Pontius Pilate the Roman governor of Judea. Of course King Herod is on that list along with the high priests Annas and Caiphas.

Notice that all these 'big-shots', whose works and feats and achievements are written in the annals of history, yet are not at all mentioned after that verse.

Take Tiberius Caesar for example. Tiberius was the ruler of what was virtually the known-world at that time (with the exception of China). You can easily google or wiki about him and there is definitely a lot of information concerning his achievements during his reign. Yet nothing about him or his achievements are mentioned in the Bible.

In fact, there are more verses of mere shepherds (which was considered among the lowliest of professions at the time), than there are of Tiberius Caesar in that chapter.

This goes to show that no matter what you do or achieve in this life, whether good or bad, is irrelevant and insignificant in the eyes of God, if it is not about Jesus. Lowly shepherds are mentioned far more times than Caesar due to their association with Jesus.

Would you rather be 'successful' and 'significant' in the eyes of men or in the eyes of God?

Here's something interesting. You know the inn that had no vacant rooms for Joseph and Mary to stay that they had to use the stables and place Jesus in the manger etc?

Well according to Pastor Prince (who did his own research), that inn originally belonged to Ruth's husband, Boaz. It was later passed down to King David, and when David moved into Jerusalem he gave that inn to his old friend. Jesus is a descendant of David and is therefore his heir. So in actual fact, that inn rightfully belongs to Jesus. Yet there was no room for him.

Its much like today where there is no room for Jesus in His rightful home, our hearts.

Are our hearts constantly filled with all the material things of this world? Short answer is yes.

We are in danger of allowing this commercialized world distracting us from the true meaning of Christmas and the real gift of Christmas: Jesus who was born to die for our sins.

There is a lot more that I want to share from last Sunday's message, but I shall save it for next time. Afterall, kids have a very limited attention span =p

So Merry Christmas everyone! Just don't forget, Jesus is the reason of the season!

Happy birthday Lord Jesus! =)

Singapore Trip

2009-12-21T23:57:00.012+08:00

Boring post ahead. You have been warned.

Its not that my trip was boring or anything its just I'm not really in a "story-telling" mood. Oh and its not coz I emo, but its rather due to fatigue. Ok here's a funny story.

On Friday we left Melaka significantly later than planned. We were delayed an additional two hours due to the fact that we couldn't find a place to eat lunch. We went to several places but they were either closed or full or we last minute change mind.

We were in Bukit Beruang when we suddenly realised that we forgot to take something: We left the camera in the office! HORROR OF HORRORS! How to blog without camera??!! So we had to drive back all the way down town to get it, which further delayed us at least 40mins.

But here's the thing. We didn't even take a single photo in Singapore (I'll explain why later). LOL! Ok fine maybe its not THAT funny =(

So yea there are no beautiful photos in this post. Enjoy.

Anyway, I reached JB in 2 hours, and no I wasn't speeding. My father was sitting next to me so I was shackled at 120km/h max. I was picking my nose, cleaning my teeth and digging my ears while driving. After that, I started to doze off.

I really stand by my theory that cruising at slower speeds is more dangerous than speeding. Serious. One day I shall write a post to elaborate on it.

120km/h is over the limit anyway: If you wanna do something wrong, do it right. Go 180km/h. Just kidding. I think 140km/h is a very comfortable speed to drive in lo. I remember I could still SMS people at 150km/h. Wah I'm setting such a bad example. Nvm, that's what the radio is for:

"Drive safely and leave the racing to us. This is Valentino Rossi."

Listen to the 9-times World Champion!

So kids, make sure you listen to Mr. Valentino Rossi ok? (see I did my part for the community liao).

Later that night I went dating with Daryl. We were supposed to meet up in Newton, but due to misunderstandings, I was in the Newton Food Court (and there was a girl in a babydoll dress sitting infront of me :O ) while he was in the Newton MRT station.

We then proceeded to try meet up in Orchard Road. I told him to meet at Louis Vuitton. Ya we were naive enough to think that there was only 1 Louis Vuitton there. Long story short, it took quite a while for me to finally see his dog face.

Orchard Road was very nicely lit up and there were performances on the side of the road. I had a "welcome back to civilization" feeling. Didn't take any photo with Daryl due to my strict I-don't-take-photo-with-dudes-only policy.

Took me almost an hour to get back from Orchard Road to the condo in Hume Avenue, where there was no internet or TV. That was a straight smack in the face of my "welcome back to civilization" impression. With nothing else to do, I read newspaper until fall asleep. Serious. -__- But hey, at least I didn't STONE okay? Hehe.

Damn boring right without pics. I feel bored just writing this. So to ensure that you guys don't get dizzy with all the words, I decided to upload some pics of plant and greenery. Yo I have an environmental-friendly blog! Looking at greenery is good for the eyes too. Or at least I think so -___-

The next day was shopping-with-mum-and-sis day, or to be more exact, stand-and-wait-like-stupid-with-all-the-bags-and-waterbottles-while-mum-and-sis-shop day. I think thats pretty much self-explanatory.

We went to Queensway for a while before finally heading to Orchard Road. We covered a lot of ground and we had to run through the rain frequently as well. On the bright side, I sighted several more babydoll dresses =p

After a very exhausting day, we headed back to the condo only for us to discover that the electricity and water had been cut. Seriously, welcome back to civilization.....

YOUR HEAD!!!!!

We then had to crash at our client's condo unit. At least there was internet there, so I quickly checked the football scores.

Oh the joy.

At least ManU lost 0-3 to Fulham =p

Later in the middle of the night, while drinking water in the kitchen, some random girl just popped out from the back door and came in. I was stunned for a while coz I didn't know who she was.

It was kinda like those meet cute moments you see in the movies. Anyway it was only during the next morning that I found out she was our client's daughter and she worked as an air stewardess for SIA. But she just got married. Shucks.

Sorry no pics coz of my strict I-don't-take-pics-with-married-SIA-air-stewardesses policy. Aih who am I kidding. Its because the married-or-not-SIA-air-stewardess-will-never-take-pic-with-me-anyway law was in place =(

Time for more greenery.

Was supposed to meet up with Daryl and his gf for breakfast the next morning but I opted to attend New Creation Church instead. They were having a special service at the Indoor Stadium, and I really must say, this service was the best part of my Singapore trip.

The service started out with the lights off and the screen showing a video of some of the church's overseas associates wishing them a merry Christmas then suddenly BOOM! The orchestra and violinists started playing Explosive by Bond.

The performance was, for lack of a better word, explosive! Violinists <3 What a way to start your morning service. Every time I attend churches like this, I will always merajuk to God, "Yer why am I not positioned in a church like this."

Didn't take any photos coz every time I took out my camera a no-camera sign will pop up on the screen. But it didn't really matter as the worship session started very soon.

The best part of service was the message delivered by Pastor Joseph Prince. I definitely want to share what I learnt from the message but I shall save it for my Christmas post. Even my parents enjoyed the service and Pastor Prince's message.

Oh speaking about Christmas, I will be going up to Subang to attend Acts Church's Christmas service and their Christmas production: Esther.

I always like musicals and productions of this nature, and I will seize every opportunity to attend them.

Ok its getting late. See you guys, whenever.

P/S Who wanna watch Avatar with me?

Big Announcement! (No I'm not getting married)

2009-12-17T00:01:00.004+08:00

December is naturally a busy month with so many events and activities happening around. So let me give a brief run through of some of the stuff that I've been doing for the past two weeks.

Last week I attended MMU's annual musical Another Christmas Thingy (ACT) with my sis and some church frens. Mariel couldn't go coz she had to sit for her last SPM paper the next day =(

Oh and btw, Mariel intends on using her birthday meal voucher at some place she describes as "a small little umbrella shop in a tiny little aisle near Capitol that is mamak-ish and people sit on small little stools and eat the best food in Melaka with rats running around." Anybody seen a place that fits that description? LOL!

Ok back to the ACT. Last year's edition was hugely entertaining, so expectations were very high this time. Overall I was satisfied with the performances and there were certain scenes where I just cracked up. One scene in particular was when the girls were singing and dancing to 'I won't say I'm in Love'.

On Wednesday I attended our Young Working Adults CG's Christmas Party. The food was delicious and we played some fun games.

One of the games we played was pretty interesting.

First of all everybody was given a piece of paper. We would then write our own name on it and then pass it to the person on the left. Then the game host (my sis) would ask us a question, and then we were supposed to answer the question on behalf of the person who's name was on the paper. Then we pass the paper to the person on the left again, and will answer a new question. Rinse and repeat. So I'll give you examples of some of the answers people wrote for me.

Question: Describe this person in 4 words.
Answer: He is an accountant. (Meh....that's the first thing that comes to their mind -__-)

Question: If this person were to write a bestseller, what would the title be?
Answer: My Christmas Gift, A Wife. (Ok that was so uncalled for =( But it was part of an inside joke.)

Question: What physical attribute of this person is the most attractive?

Answer: Hair. (Some ppl think my hair is nice! Nvr comb hair FTW!)

Question: What is something about this person that attracts the opposite sex?
Answer: His natural humorous nature. (Yea, those words exactly. So some people think I'm funny wor.)

Question: What is something you will like to know about this person?
Answer: How to act so cool. (Can you believe it? Some people actually think I'm cool!)

WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Ok moving along. Saturday afternoon I had a very exhausting worship practice. I chose two Christmas carols and 5 other more contemporary praise and worship songs.

Who would of thought that just two 'simple' Christas carols would take over 2 hours to practice? However we were singing a more modern version of Angels We Have Heard on High which I heard during the ACT. Its really nice!

I almost lost my voice by the end of the practice and I wasn't at 100% during the morning service the next day. But to quote one of my favourite phrases: Just do our best, and God will do the rest :)

After such a tiring week, I decided to just rot and watch a chick-flick. Scrolled through my movie collection and found 27 Dresses. It was about a girl who was seemingly never going to marry. I could relate alot to her.

Later that night I watched Liverpool vs Arsenal. Prior to the match, all the pundits and analysts were predicting a 2-0 or 2-1 or 3-1 win for Liverpool. My sis (who btw knows nuts about football) predicted a 2-1 win for Arsenal. And as it turns out, she was right -___-

So now, as her Twitter status says: I owe her a meal at Subway. Too bad Melaka don't have. LOL! Oh yea, I'm supposed to promote her Twitter. So erm, go check it out ok? Falalalalaa....

I was pretty emo after the match. In fact I was singing my own rendition of O Holy Night to sleep.

O emo night! Torres wasn't shining~

This is the night, where my Liverpool failed.

It was during this emo-ing that I received a revelation. So brace yourselves guys. I have an announcement to make.

Trust me its HUGE. Are you ready?

Ok. I have decided to................become a Liverpool fan.

WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Serious -__-

Ok before you guys laugh yourselves to the grave let me state my reasons.

Firstly, they have the best theme-song ever.

I was letting my sister listen to it today, and she said, "Why so emo wan? Sounds like they know they are going to lose."

You know I'm rather impressed by my sis sometimes. She can be very insightful.

My second reason is that Liverpool is full of jokers. Take goalkeeper Pepe Reina for example.

I will bet you RM1,000 he won't retire in a Liverpool shirt. At least he cracked me up with that statement.

However, the most important reason is that this is a club I can relate to. Most people like to associate themselves with winners, hence the large number of MU fans out there (I'm talking about those people who like to 'tumpang glamour', not you true blood MU fans la).

That is of course very normal. But the thing is, I'm not a normal person. I want to associate myself with losers.

You really have to respect the Liverpool fans lor. They stuck to their team throughout these painful years. I think its safe to say that MU fans haven't really had their loyalty tested in recent times.

Oh and unlike MU where anything less than a victory is disappointing, for Liverpool anything but a defeat is a relief. So its like, more exciting....in a way -__-

So those are my reasons. If any of you can think of a reason why I shouldn't be a Liverpool fan, speak now or forever hold your peace! (Somebody please talk me out of this -_-).

Ok time to wrap this up. Looking forward to the Singapore trip this weekend, where I will be meeting up with Daryl and maybe his gf.
Hi Su Yin! o.ov

For the rest of you, see you guys when I come back =)

Tata.

Happy birthday Best Fren!

2009-12-15T01:22:00.014+08:00

Wow I have just violated the sanctity of my blog by uploading a Paris Hilton pic, but don't worry there is a point to it.

Some time ago I was watching tv and I stumbled across the reality show Paris Hilton's My New BFF. I think Paris was kicking someone off the show and she finished her sentence with, "I'm sorry, but I can only have one true BFF." I seriously couldn't stop laughing.

Paris saying something like that is one thing, but saying that with a poker face was just hilarious. It really made my day.

But of course today's post isn't about Paris Hilton and her list of BFFs. No, today is about the birthday girl Mariel aka the Best Fren =)

Mariel illustrated the story of how we actually became 'Best Frens' to a few people during Henky's farewell. But for those of you who weren't there, I shall very briefly explain it here.

How Mariel became 'The Best Fren':

Ex and current Best Fren: Char and Mar

The story begins approximately 7 years ago at a camp at Lanjut. A bunch of us were playing water polo and Charmaine was full-time man marking me, obviously coz I was the opposing team's most dangerous player. LOL!

Ok that doesn't really make sense, but I forgot the real reason why she was man-marking me, so lets just say it was because I was the most dangerous player =P

So anyway after being continuously hustled by Char, I started taunting Char (think Zidane vs Materrazi but minus the headbutt) and asked her, "You wanna be my best fren is it?" Long story short, for the next few days Char was my 'Best Fren', and we started referring to each other as such.

I won't go into the details but it wasn't long before I demoted Char, and by the end of the camp Mariel became my new 'Best Fren'.

Why Mariel is still 'The Best Fren':

Charity carnival

Church camp '06

Streets of London

London train station (where she was shivering)

Spanning 7 glorious years, I can think of so many reasons why Mariel is such an awesome person. Where should I start? Her down-to-earthness? Her conviction and passion for Christ? Or what about her innate ability to brighten up any situation with her creatively-crazy-wacky 'Mariel-ness'?

I think her value in friendship can be illustrated in this one example when Fleur organised a pot-luck dinner upon returning from Germany.

I told Fleur I would be bringing cake and I asked her whether she had any preferences. She replied that her favourite was a pricey cake from Nadeje, but the cheaper option of cappuccino cake from the shop Italy was also a good choice. I replied to Fleur that I may just buy the Nadeje cake, depending on how generous I felt when the time came.

Few hours later I received a call from Mariel. She virtually prevented me from buying the Nadeje cake and told me to get the cheaper cake instead. Now I'm sure that most people wouldn't hesitate to simply receive the generosity of others (there's nothing wrong with that of course), but not Mariel. She is really considerate of others and their wellbeing. This is a mark of, in the words of Paris, a one true BFF =)

What present did I give 'The Best Fren':

Mariel's surprise birthday party last year

Well first of all I sacrificed my 1 hour lunch-time to buy her a card. It took my 1-hour because I couldn't find a card worthy of The Best Fren. Awww......

Just joking, its coz my sense of direction fail. I was literally walking round and round in Dataran then I gave up and walked across to Mahkota. I wasn't completely happy with my choice but Melaka has so few choices lor. Its like the time I went to Jusco to buy ice-cream, there was such a limited variety to choose from =(

So anyway, after buying the card I walked back to my office in the hot sun. Just in case your wondering, yes I am still WTF (way too fair).

Attached with the card was a meal voucher designed by yours truly:

Terms and conditions applied of course, but they are not posted up here. So yes, she can use that voucher to claim a free meal from me. There is no expiry date though I would recommend that she uses it before her next birthday, where she will get a new one. Awww........

Ok time to play our trademark 'theme-song':

THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR!!!

Blessed birthday Mariel!

God definitely has some mind-blowing plans for you! =)

10 Truths about me

2009-12-09T22:57:00.024+08:00

1. I am shy.

Camera-shy ler...

Ok fine I'm hiding because my face is so hideous due to my very recent (and cataclysmic) acne outbreak. I'm like the Phantom of the Opera now. Ya I know, "McD somemore la!" -___-

Some time ago I went out for dinner with my sis and a few Church people. I was sitting there quietly just listening to them chit chat and my sis commented, "My bro very quiet coz he is a shy person." Then one of the guys said, "He's a worship leader, always on the stage there. Where got shy?"

But its true. I really am a shy person inside. Its not in my nature to go around talking to people, and it takes great effort on my part to start conversations even with people I've known for years.

Unfortunately some people mistakenly take my shyness for sheer arrogance. Or at the very least I seem 'unapproachable'. So whenever people have something to ask/tell/comment about something I did, they would always go to my sis and mum instead.

You see! People don't believe I'm shy. Well if you agree with Danny, then you must be one of the lucky few who see the 'opened-up' side of me day in day out.

Unfortunately this also means that you are exposed to my daily lameness.

2. I am lame.

"Hou Yeah" pronounced in Cantonese not yeng meh? =(

Sorry loh I know I lame.

And looks like you guys will have to tolerate my lameness a little while more.

3. I am officially healthy.

Blood test results are out and guess what? My cholesterol has gone down ALOT and is way below the danger zone and far lower than anybody else in my family. Now I claim the bragging rights. Even my mum remarked, "Looks like have to follow Ah Boy go McD liao."

Nowadays my mum and sis everyday eat oats to try and fight with my cholesterol level, and I will always taunt them, "So health-conscious for what? Lose to me also." LOL!

But seriously, looking through the food content list the doctor provided, guess what food was on the top of the cholesterol chart? Thats right. Eggs.

4. I hate eggs.

Disgusting...

Man I had to make the pic smaller coz its just too disgusting. Yucks!

So anyway, if you aren't aware of my animosity towards eggs, you don't know me at all.

And as you just found out, it is not without just cause.

In addition to this, Mariel theorizes that my abstinence of eggs is the source of my legendary fairness.

5. I am fair.

Why bother? I'm all natural.

In high school one of my nick names was SK-II, coz my complexion was giving the SK-II models a run for their money.

Whenever I tell people of how I used to walk back from school everyday, or be punished to stand in the hot sun for 3-4 hours (coz I forgot to bring my school tie), or about the time when Danny and I walked back from Taipan to Sunway in the heat of the day......

Everybody, and I mean everybody had the exact same response:

WHY YOU STILL SO FAIR WAN?

Even after all the rigorous outdoor activities of church camps and stuff, all I do is turn pink and then I return to normal after 2-3 days.

So assuming the Best Fren is correct, abstaining from eggs is a smart choice. (Y)

6.I am smart.

Tomorrow the Young Adults CG is organising a Christmas party and everybody has to bring a gift to exchange. Since we are cheapos, the gift cannot cost more than RM5.

So anyone wanna try guess what's inside that wrapped up gift box?

Ok shhhhh....don't tell anyone...its actually a RM5 note. LOL!

I won't bother to come up with excuses: Yes its because I'm just too lazy to buy a gift.

7. I am lazy.

Forget it. I'm too lazy to describe how lazy I am.

But actually, money is the best gift lo. The recipient will 100% be satisfied with it, and he/she will definitely have a use for it. That is why money was invented in the first place to replace the barter trade system. Sejarah yo! See I so smart.

Haiz if only I was smart enough to get a girl.

8. I like girls.

Make my wish come true...

All I want for Christmas is you.

I want to clarify something: Just because I'm always (and only) seen hanging out with guys, it doesn't mean I'm into guys ok? Its just that I'm not cool enough to hang out with girls =(

In fact the only girl I hang out with is my sis, and ALOT of people think that my sis and I are a couple. Serious. That of course can mean either two things:

1. We look very warm and loving <3

OR

2. We're so sad that we only hang out with each other -__-

Needless to say, its the latter.

HAIZ.COM

9. I am a Christian.

Christmas season is upon us, with all the pretty decorations and all the anthemic carols and songs. But let us not forget the true purpose of Christmas, which is to celebrate the birth of Christ.

Being a Christian doesn't mean that I'm a self-righteous 'holier-than-thou' kind of person. It just means that I have come to the realisation that I am flawed beyond description that I need a gracious and merciful God to save me from my sins.

I'm worship leading in the Christmas party tomorrow in addition to the Sunday church service as well, but I'm not even close to choosing my songs yet. As always I leave it to the very last minute.

Takkan sing Last Christmas right?

10. I am a procrastinator.

Give credit where credit is due - Part 2

2009-12-05T15:13:00.007+08:00

Smoked salmon....*slurps*

Celebrated my CPA results by spamming Smoked Salmon at Sushi King. Smoked salmon is <3

I know of some people who prefer it raw e.g my parents, Ah Meow etc but the raw one seems tasteless to me though.

Amidst the celebrating, I was still anxious about two other results though.

Heidi Klum did the honours in the 2006 World Cup draw

The first being the 2010 World Cup draw facilitated by South African actress Charlize Theron (I didn't even know she was South African prior to this). I stayed up to watch it last night, and all I can say is good luck to North Korea.

They are in Group G together with Brazil, Ivory Coast, and Portugal. You really gotta pity them lo. Their first World Cup in over 40 years and they get this kind of draw.

The other result I am waiting on is my blood tests which I took yesterday to determine whether I'll live long enough to actually get to watch the World Cup next summer -___-

The thing was that while they were taking my blood I was thinking of the song Empire State of Mind (Jay-Z feat Alicia Keys).

Its been ringing in my head for the past two days now. Even while I was measuring my weight (to see whether my dieting got effect or not), I was thinking of that song. So I just stood on the weighing scale and then got off without looking at measurement LOL!

What can I say, I just forgot to? -__-

I only realised this later while I was talking to Yong about it. Haiz...why my state of mind like this wan?

The funny thing about this music video is that while the song is about New York, Alicia Keys is playing the piano in the middle of ancient Greece or something. But in any case, I have always liked Alicia Keys and her songs.

Ok thats the end of part 2.

Enjoy your weekends yo! =)

Give credit where credit is due - Part 1

2009-12-04T23:02:00.032+08:00

World Player of the Year in waiting.: Lionel Messi

Congratulations to Barcelona's Lionel Messi for winning the Ballon d'or (European Footballer of the Year) award of 2009. He fully deserved it.

While the debate of Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo will rage on (although in my humble opinion Messi wins hands down), it is safe to say that at the age of 21 (last season), he had already accomplished far more than what C.Ronaldo, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Zidane etc achieved at that age.

I was however shocked to find out that Ronaldo actually came in second, ahead of Barcelona playmaker Xavi. And based on a poll taken by Goal.com readers, its looks like I wasn't the only one:

Barring bubonic plague or nuclear war, Messi will be crowned FIFA World Player of the Year later this month. I just hope that Xavi and Iniesta will be standing next to him as first and second runners up.

We have to give credit where credit is due. They are certainly not prolific in terms of goal-scoring, but Xavi is the finest playmaker in the world and Iniesta, well he is so versatile that its difficult to specify a role for him, but basically he's the best in what he does too.

Oh and unlike Messi and Ronaldo, the two Spaniards shine for their country as well. FYI, Ronaldo didn't even score a single goal for Portugal during the World Cup 2010 Qualifiers, and apart from those 40-yarders against Porto and Arsenal, he didn't do anything spectacular for MU either.

But whoever those eventual three finalists are, the most handsome trio ever is still that of Luis Figo, David Beckham and Raul in the 2001 FIFA Awards Gala.

FIFA World Player of the Year 2001: Luis Figo

....Hey don't look at me like that. I'm definitely not gay. Trust me. I'm just giving credit where credit is due.

Throughout his career, Beckham was often considered overrated and was criticized for being a 'one-trick pony'. But his 'one trick' was brilliant enough to decide games. He is/was the best crosser of the ball in the modern game.

It is a crime that a few all-time legends (e.g Paolo Maldini) never won the Ballon d'or or the FIFA World Player of the Year, but only certain kinds of players will ever win such prestigious awards unfortunately.

Its just like how only movies from certain genres can win the Best Picture in the Academy Awards. LOTR: The Return of the King is the first and only fantasy-based film to win Best Picture in the Oscars.

Disney's Beauty and the Beast is so far the only animation movie to ever be nominated for the Best Picture.

Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme

Beauty and the beast......

I really think that Disney has lost its charm. Their recent film 'A Christmas Carol' was simply awful. I feel very fortunate to have grown up during the late 80s and early 90s where the Disney films were full of memorable characters and beautiful original songs.

I remember watching the Lion King in the cinema with my sis back in Melbourne. I think I cried when Simba's father Mufasa died T__T.

Looking through the latest Times Higher Education (THES) University Rankings, I notice that it still doesn't favour specialist colleges. Take the London School of Economics (LSE) from example. Its wallowing down at 67th, which is very poor for a university which is widely regarded as being at the forefront in the world in the fields it teaches and researches in.

While it should be noted that LSE does claim a top 5 position the Social Sciences table, most people only look at the overall ranking anyway. So credit hasn't exactly been given to where it is due. Students shouldn't bother with the overall ranking however.

For example, Harvard University has been ranked no.1 for the past 6 years now. However if you were a prospective Engineering student, as far as you're concerned the best university for you is the MIT, which is ranked at no.9 overall.

In fact I have discovered that the THES university rankings are seriously flawed and inconsistent with its own factors, but I'm too lazy to go into that right now.

My CPA results are out! So the time has come for me to give credit where credit is due. Ephesians 3:20-21:

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Oh btw SPM-ers, D stands for Distinction okay? =) All glory to God really.

Suffice to say that I didn't do my best, but God was gracious enough to do the rest.

Its been a long day. Sleep first.

Ciao.

Happy Birthday Dog....I mean Zhou.

2009-11-29T20:57:00.015+08:00

30th November Birthday boy

I think Yeow JinZhou needs no introduction. He is one of a kind. That pic says it all LOL! Haiz I so bad defame people on their birthday. Ok that's strike one. Nvm got two more strikes.

So I took it upon myself to dig up old photos of Zhou and I to scan them and upload here. I found this photo which was taken in the church camp that I first met him. See I very sentimental ok?

Zhou and his typical 'just-woke-up face'. Yes I'm also in the photo somewhere. I'm alot harder to locate coz I wasn't fat yet.

Hint: I'm standing in between Fleur and Aaron.

If memory serves me right, Zhou didn't really join us youngsters for the activities. Yes believe it or not, there was a time when I was cool and hung out with a bunch of cool people while Zhou was lame and mostly just hid in his room.

How things have changed. Now I'm just another lame person and Zhou is.....well....still lame. LOL! Strike two. Oh noes......

Anyway whilst looking through my photo albums, I stumbled across my old baby pics. Believe it or not, there was a time when girls wanted to hug me, kiss me and play with me. Now they won't touch me even if their life depended on it.

Therefore I decided to scan and upload some of my baby pics, you know, to immortalize my cuteness in all its former glory.

Tip: Listen to Stevie Wonder's 'Isn't She Lovely' while viewing my baby pics to double the effect! LOL LOL LOL!. But in your minds please replace 'she' with 'he' lah -__-

Cute.

Very cute.

Too cute.

Sigh....I used to be so cute! What happened to me??!!

This is how we 'did it' in the 80s.

Ok sorry getting a little carried away here. Ahem! This is afterall a dedication post to Zhou!

This was at our booth during a charity bazaar many years ago. I think we were selling second hand stuff of my brand 'Philips'. If memory serves me right, we failed to sell a single thing. Just look at us, we used to be sooooooooo thin. My face still round lah, but that can't be helped =(

I think I've mentioned before that there are very few things things we have not done together. We have studied together, played games and sports together, served in church together, shared hostel room together, and even worked together.

So off the top of my head, the only things we haven't done yet are walking on the moon together, and going on a double-date. Like that's gonna happen anytime soon. I just hope I attend his wedding before he has to attend my funeral -__-

However, the most important thing about Zhou is that, if he weren't for him, I wouldn't know any of the people in this photo of us taken recently in Penang, let alone being in that particular photo.

It is interesting to note that Zhou and I were never classmates, apart from tuition. In fact Mariel was baffled as to how people from different schools could be so close. I guess it was because God in his infinite wisdom had placed us in each others lives, to be each other's companion, you know since losers must stick together.

So what did I give him for his birthday? Three things actually.

The first being the gift of time: My time. Instead of playing Dragon Age or just rotting, I spent last night at his house playing the card game Citadels, with Daryl, PYH, Andrew and Chia Ying. Oh and btw, Chia Ying said that I was an interesting person.....

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

What a joke. Btw Chia Ying, if for some strange reason you are STILL reading this blog (coz Daryl and PYH told her to), seriously don't listen to them! My blog is crap and certainly isn't worth your time.

Anyway, my second gift is this pathetic excuse of a birthday dedication post. So erm.....enjoy -_-

Last but certainly not least, in order to show how much Zhou means to me, I named my dog (in Dragon Age) after him. Seriously I spent about 10 minutes trying to decide on my own main character's name, but it took me only 1 sec to know that my dog had to be named Zhou. Thats how much you mean to me. Aww....

Oh and you should know that the dog has very similar traits with his namesake.

First of all, he can whine. Exhibit A:

He also doesn't like to bathe. LOL! Thats strike three. GG. But hey at least I didn't mention the story about you not bathing at the church camp. Ehh....Oops? Haiz. There's probably a place in hell for people who defame their own friends on their birthday.

I must mention that my dog Zhou has saved me countless of times. He bite very pain wan LOL! Ok now I better choose Option 4: Leave Zhou Alone.

Just in case your wondering, I'm playing a Dwarf because he is short and fat and his face is round like me. Haiz.

I think I'm done here. I don't know how else to defame compliment you on your birthday. So happy birthday Zhou!

FRIENDS FOREVER? (Please?)

End of the world...or so it seems.

2009-11-24T21:18:00.018+08:00

Why aren't my latest posts titles updated on other people's links?

Why only me ar? Face problem? =(

But usually this kind of thing is supposed to happen to Zhou, not me!

Well at least its not the Statue of Liberty in this poster.

Watched the film 2012 on Sunday. Oh but first I must inform my critics that I walked, yes WALKED, from my house to Dataran Pahlawan downtown. Ok fine I didn't actually reach Dataran because my sis insisted (hey just noticed that sis is a subset of insist.....maybe coz sisters always insist?) on fetching me. She always sabotages my plans. Hmph!

My sis picked me up near Pay Fong 3 School at Bukit Cina which I took only 30 mins to reach. That's including my rendezvous at the petrol station to buy 100 Plus and all the long waiting at the big road traffic lights. Don't ask me why I wanted to walk to Dataran. Just acknowledge this:

I'M FITTER THAN I LOOK OK?

Back to the 2012. So alot of people have been talking about this film. Some people said it was excellent, while others commented that it was just mediocre at best. But most people agreed that the special effects were top-notch and that this film being something to do with the end of the world, will leave you appreciating your life a bit more.

While I agree that the special effects were awesome, the movie in general was rather predictable. Without giving anything away, lets just say that the people whom you'll expect to die will die, and those whom you expect to survive, simply won't/can't die.

Concerning whether or not this film makes you appreciate your own life more, well I still think that its nothing compared to 1 Litre of Tears. That Japanese drama was really touching and will certainly move you.

1 Litre of Tears is based on the true story of a girl suffering from an incurable degenerative disease. Its really touching because you see her slowly lose the ability to do all the things she loves. Yong actually cried in the second episode (or was it the first episode? LOL). At least I only cried around the sixth or seventh episode. Zhou didn't even dare to watch it -__- Yes its that sad.

Its Champions League week again, and it may just be the end of the world for big names such as Barcelona and Liverpool. I can't wait to wake up tomorrow morning to check whether these teams live to fight another day or whether they 'qualify' for the Europa League, or in Liverpool's case, maybe even complete elimination.

But forget Barcelona vs Inter Milan or Ibrahimovic/Messi vs Eto'o. The biggest clash of the mid-week matches is Hull City vs Everton and in terms of key player battles: Zayatte vs Saha.

In conclusion, its Yeah vs Yong.

May the least noob Fantasy Football manager win!

Oh yes, wait a minute Mr.Postman

2009-11-21T02:11:00.017+08:00

This month is a busy month at work in terms of having to print and send out letters to clients for CP204. Don't worry you don't have to know what that is. Just know that it takes alot of effort. HAHA. No lah, actually there's nothing to it. It just takes up alot of time.

So therefore I think its understandable that I got a little frustrated when I call up the clients and have this kind of conversation with them:

Me: Did you receive the letter I sent two weeks ago?

Client: Yes.

Me: So would you like to make any adjustments to it?

Client: Oh, I didn't read the letter.

Really sien loh. I type so hard....I mean...I print so hard...I mean I fold the paper so hard...WHATEVER. My blood and sweat gone to waste =(

Busy busy girl.

Speaking of letters, I know for a fact that my friend Fleur (the one on the left) really loves receiving snail mail. So I took it upon myself to write her one for her birthday which is next week. I must say it was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

First of all, you have to use hand to write. The convenience of technology has impaired my writing skills really. I just hope she can understand my handwriting, coz at a glance it kinda looks like Sanskrit writing. No joke. I really felt like giving up half-way and just typing it out on Ms Word and sending her a printed copy, but that kinda defeats the purpose.

The second issue was a real problem. The thing is I had no idea that I had no idea how to even post a letter. Serious -__- So I went to the post office and I had to embarrass myself by asking the personnel there all kinds of noob questions, which I rather not share here to ensure that you all still maintain a certain level of respect for me (if there was ever any in the first place -_-).

Roaming the streets of London

So anyway Fleur is one of my oldest friends that I am still in contact with. I was so happy for her when I found out she was accepted into University of Heidelberg's medical school, which is one of Europe's most prestigious medical schools.

Studying medicine is one thing, having to learn everything in a foreign language is a different story altogether. I believe that she is a true testimony as to what God will do when you place Him first and foremost in your priorities. I have no doubt that God has great plans for her.

Its been a while since I've played computer games. I don't think FM08 (Kochi where's FM 2010 T_T) really counts, which FYI I'm entering into the 2024/2025 season now. Nowadays a large bulk of my time is spent just chatting with friends on MSN. Exhibit A:

Oh and I must say that MSN Plus! Live is a great add-on. I stopped using it years ago (coz my social life was so disgustingly non-existent that I didn't need the tabs), but I really like it now, and not just for the tabs, but for the skins as well. I'm currently using a Windows 7-themed skin. I like!

In the midst of chatting I will also be browsing Youtube for either songs or replays of fabulous goals such as these:

Btw if you haven't already checked out Yoann Gourcuff's wonder goal against PSG last season, click here (embedding was disabled), its really worth it. Serious, watch that clip and tell me he doesn't remind you of a certain Zinedine Zidane.

Lastly, there are always the Korean actresses from the shows my mum watches that draws my attention away from my computer. She's currently watching this big-budget action series titled IRIS and its lead actress is none other than Kim Tae Hee.

My mum very funny wan. She will suddenly tell me, "Eh come see your Kim Tae Hee shoot people!" or "Eh come see your KTH chase people in high heels!". Man, if she really was MY Kim Tae Hee..........

Aih lets not waste time talking about IFs.

But all this can change very soon as tomorrow I will be getting the new game Dragon Age from Zhou. I know the name sounds kinda corny but I have read tons of reviews and the consensus is that this is one of the best RPG games of all-time.

Dragon Age: Origins

So thats right, its back to the path of a no-life gamer for me. But don't worry, I tend to lose interest in games pretty easily now.

However in the mean time, while I'm away killing dragons, you guys will have to try and replace me. For I know that the joy, love and positive energy that's been oozing out of me will be sorely missed =)

Till next time,

XOXO

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

2009-11-15T22:41:00.011+08:00

The Good:

Rosalyn in church told me that I looked thinner today. WOOOHOOO!!!

Looks like my dieting and gum chewing is finally paying dividends. And how did I celebrate? Had lunch at KFC with Yong (who my mum and sis both agreed looks thinner too).

I know what you're thinking, "Doesn't eating KFC put all my effort to waste?" Well I don't know how else to say it, but its kinda like after winning a lot of money you celebrate by spending it? I wanted to try the new Hot Rods anyway.

Verdict : Bad news guys. Its a new temptation I have to resist. Highy recommended to Zhou, since its boneless.

The Bad:

Sunday nights suck. You know why? Coz it means that Monday is only hours away. And once Monday comes, its followed by Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday....-__- I think you get the picture.

Question:
Why can't auditors die?

Answer:
They never had a life to begin with.

Ok its not like I'm really in the audit department. But those that understand my circumstances will acknowledge that I'm neither here nor there. I'm EVERYWHERE. But not all auditors are that sad of course. Check out these crazy auditors from PWC China.

The Ugly:

No I'm not really an Arsenal fan. Its my Fantasy Football team that I'm worried about -_-

Its not just RVP of course. Drogba is out too (according to the Star? LOL). At least I'm still better off than those people who have Lampard, Benayoun etc. And I still have my Wildcard unlike the rest of you guys. But in this injury-crisis, who else is there to buy anyway?

The worst thing is that the international matches are not over yet.

SEI LORRRR!!!!!

Fatty Yeah

2009-11-13T23:09:00.004+08:00

All of a sudden, I feel as if I'm back in high school, where people started teasing me with the moniker Fatty Yeah. The recent Facebook posts by my so-called 'friends' have made me doubt myself. And as always, the teasing is initiated by a certain big bully.

On the surface he's such a nice guy, but in truth he's just another big bully. What's worse is that he makes fun of me in front of my other friends too!

And because of that, suddenly everything I do is scrutinized.

I don't know why they like to tease me. Its like they bully me just for fun, and they seize every opportunity to do it.

Its not just the 'Usual Suspects' either. To quote Julius Caesar's last words: "Et tu, Brute?" which is Latin for "Even you, Brutus?" or in this case, "Even you, Kochi?".

Actually come to think of it, Brutus isn't a bad name for him. LOL! Brutus Koh. Yeng weh!

Evidently I need new friends. Friends who aren't shallow. The only reason why I tolerate them its because they are all I have T__T

So I tried to comfort myself by Googling 'fat people who are also successful'. I stumbled upon an article from this site called the Wisdom Journal and its title was 'Successful People Are Always FAT'. Instantly I felt a strong sense of hope and motivation as I proceeded to read the article.

But this surge of optimism left as quickly as it came, as I discovered that the word FAT was just an acronym. F stands for Friendly, Financially Minded and Forgiving. A stands for Accessible, Achievement Oriented and Attractive (haiz...). T stands for Teachable, Tenacious, and Trustworthy.

I didn't let this setback affect me though, so I continued to search until I discovered a site called the Big Fat Blog. I thought it would be a blog about successful fat people, but I was so wrong. The title of the latest post was "Fat People: Please Stop Existing". There was even a list of 10 reasons why its not OK to be fat. I'll only list down a few examples, coz the rest are just sick.

1. Public Healthcare - Why should the rest of us pay high taxes for you to eat yourself to death.

2. Nobody likes you. Except for, possibly other fat people.

5. Not only do you frighten children, you set a bad example.

6. You ruin pictures.

9. Because only aircraft are supposed to be equipped with flaps. Their flaps serve a purpose.

Ok you gotta admit the last one was pretty funny. Damn I so bad laugh at my own kind. But seriously I never knew there was so much fat hatred, which is sad really.

That's why God is so wonderful. He loves us for who we are. Who cares if I'm fat? Psalm 139:14 says:

I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Can't wait for praise band practice tomorrow! Its gonna be awesome.

I'm Already Gone

2009-11-11T22:51:00.001+08:00

Attending Acts Church last Sunday really made me miss being in the energetic and vibrant environment of a charismatic church. Just walking through the door gave me the feeling that I was going to experience something special during the service.

Unsurprisingly, worship was heartfelt and the message delivered by the Pastor (who is hilarious and his face round round like mine! I like!) was both meaningful and memorable.

Pastor Kenneth Chin

I later told Ah Meow (I refuse to call her Melissa!) that she was very blessed to be positioned in such a church. When I told my mum about Acts she asked me, "So you every Sunday want go up meh?"

Of course if petrol was free and there were no tolls to pay, I would definitely consider it. But God has positioned me in my church at the moment, and it is here that I'm supposed to serve. And there is no better place than being where God has placed me. After all, God is not just God of the big churches in the big cities, He is God of the small churches in the small towns too.

Anyway, after church we had lunch, and after lunch I kena ditch T_T. The period between the lunch and the AYA awards was practically the 'Dark Ages' for me. I basically 'stoned' for hours. Zhou later asked me, "How you stone so long? I dunno how to stone lo." Its actually pretty simple. Here are the basic steps to stoning:

1. Find a good place to stone. (For me it was infront of McD....train self-control leh!)

2. ......There is no step 2. Just.......stone.

On to the AYA Awards. It was held at KLPAC (Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre). Yong went there by himself while the rest of us squeezed in 1 car from Subang. Yong easily reached there in about 20 minutes, while we had some difficulties finding it and reached there after an hour plus. Seriously I'm rather impressed by Yong. 10-months KL boy owned three 20+years KL people. Anyway just in case your wondering, KLPAC is located deep inside a park, so you definitely won't see it on the road.

Felt a bit out of place as everybody (even Yong!) were wearing very formal while I was told by someone (Ah Meow!) to wear casual formal -_- Well nvm, at least I still better than Zhou who didn't even wear a shirt! LOL. Can't blame him though, he last-minute kena drag to go.

Dah lah nvr wear formal still want act cute!

Actually we also but at least we wore nicer! =)

Zhou jealous so he sabotage the camera.

Nvm its artistic in a way......I guess -_-

And of course, what would a photoshoot be without my trademark 'pouting face'.

The classic pouting face.

Overall I think it was well-organised. Good job by the volunteers. I was laughing like mad when the opening act (who were guys) performed the Gee Gee Song. The sit-down 'talk show' was pretty interesting as well.

Zhou, Ah Meow and I thought that the girl (diagnosed with cancer) who went to post-tsunami Acheh to help would win the "Most Outstanding Youth Award", but Yong guessed correct and it was the guy who was helping students in terms of scholarships and educational advice who turned out to be the eventual winner.

Guess that's why Yong's Fantasy Football is the highest, his gut feeling pro. But lets not talk about Fantasy Football. The fact that the much-maligned Lucas got the same points as Drogba and Rooney COMBINED says it all really. -____-

Despite only having 3 hours + of sleep I was pretty fresh the next morning. Traffic was clear so didn't take too long to reach Melaka. All the way down we were listening to Hitz.FM and the two Chelsea fans who 'took over' the studio. Its worth noting that no Chelsea fans actually called in to bask in the glory. Instead it was mostly MU fans and even Liverpool fans (to laugh at MU) that called in.

Once we reached Melaka we went to McD for breakfast! They were giving away a free cereal box along with the breakfast meals. For those of you who don't know, my lunch everyday is cereal. So if I go to McD every morning for breakfast, I will be getting free lunch everyday!

Like I told Zhou, I'm finding fewer reasons to not go to McD, or in his paraphrase version, I'm finding more reasons to go McD -__-

Ok signing off now. Its getting late....

I'm already gone~

Yay......

2009-11-07T23:45:00.008+08:00

There's nothing worse than following up a long busy week at work with an uneventful weekend. I know sometimes doing nothing is strangely fun, but its always good to have something to look forward to on Saturday or Sunday.

Fortunately for me, this weekend isn't going to be one of those typical, unmemorable, routine weekends that has plagued my life all too often in the past few years. Tomorrow I'm going up to KL with Zhou, but we are having slightly different programs. He's gonna go to meet up old friends while I'm going to go meet new friends(?).

We are leaving early morning so that we can make it for the morning service at Acts Church, which I am looking forward to. And leaving home early means only one thing..........

MCD BREAKFAST!!!

I know I can hear it already -_-

I'M HAPPY SO WHY SHOULD YOU CARE??!! But you can bet that I'll be chewing gum all the way up to KL tomorrow, which reminds me that I have to check out Yong's face fats to see whether or not chewing gum really does make one's face look thinner. Ok moving on....

At night we are attending the Asians Youth Ambassadors (AYA) Awards Ceremony, thanks to Shu Ning. Actually we're not really sure why we're going to be honest LOL. But this is part of the Losers Outreach Program, where we follow girl go happening places. Ok fine to clarify things, Yong is not a loser, I am. He is just the driver/fake bodyguard/fail-safe plan (only we know what tat means =p).

One thing I don't understand is how come the age of these candidates range from 21-35, which isn't really 'youth'. But nonetheless I am hoping to be inspired by some of these candidates that are contributing so much to the lives of others.

Its showtime!

Then of course we'll be watching the Chelsea vs Manchester United match at midnight. Don't worry for once I'm rooting for MU (especially Rooney) considering I just sold Keane (who has just scored against Sunderland) for the new father of Kai Rooney. I like the name Kai, it reminds me of Baldur's Gate 2, a game I tried to finish so many times but never came close. Kai was a skill of my Kensai where upon activating, all damage done will be maximum damage! You can literally 1 shot targets. Lets hope that Rooney is in 'Kai' mode tomorrow night.

Scoreline of 3-3 with Rooney and Drogba recording a hattrick each sound good? =p

Sad thing is that after the match I straight have to go sleep coz the next morning have to leave KL at about 6 something to rush back down to Melaka to work. Yea I know -_- But then again I will be reaching my office around the same time as most KL people anyway.

The good news is that I can go for McD breakfast again! HAHA. If only they would open Subway (the food outlet) near my home or office, my life would be so much better.......and longer too -_-

Exciting day tomorrow.....yay! Ok good night peeps =)

Some people are just mean......

2009-11-05T16:31:00.010+08:00

Babi indon-maid.

I'll be waiting by the phone for your apology.

Why do I listen to other people?

2009-11-02T00:45:00.009+08:00

The Basterds at work.

Finally got to watch the film Inglourious Basterds today. It wasn't quite like what I expected. Don't get me wrong, its definitely one of the best movies of the year with all the typical Quentin Tarantino traits (which is a good thing).

But I guess after all the hype and all the great reviews by other people, my expectations were a tad overinflated. I was also disappointed that there wasn't that many crazy Brad Pitt-Nazi-killing stunts. Still a very entertaining movie nonetheless.

Yesterday was 31st of the month but I did not go for Baskin Robbins. Yes you read that correctly. So why didn't I go eat my favourite brand of my favourite food (icecream is still food ok!) on the day there's a 31% discount? Its because people say I'm fat =(

Two people said they feel like slapping my face in this pic.
But is there a sadder image than this?

Someone even went and quoted scripture saying that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, so we must keep ourselves fit and healthy. Then I said, "Since our body is the temple, isn't bigger the better?" LOL. But apparently it doesn't work tat way. So yea I'm trying hard to cut down on my McD consumption as well.

Unfortunately my plan suffered a serious setback as Zhou insisted on eating McD for dinner just now. At least this time I ate Filet-O-Fish which feels healthier somehow.

I had also resolved to abstain from ice-cream just now and I almost succeeded until we bumped into Aaron and his parents on the way out. They asked us to go buy ice-cream and join them to chit-chat, which we did. Why do I listen to other people? Oh well.

Then comes my Fantasy Football fiasco. I had actually decided to sell off the so-far-useless-for-me Keane and buy back Torres but I rescinded my decision after I read this article from Soccernet:

............I know. But the story's not over yet.

In addition to this, I made a late change to switch my captain from Drogba to Van Persie. But after reading the article below, I decided to change my captain to Arshavin.

...........I know right. Haiz. Why do I listen to other people?

Usually I will laugh off comments of people bragging about their own team (like Keane's). Normally I'm fully aware that remarks of managers saying how dangerous their own players will be against the next opponent should always be taken with a pinch of salt (unless of course that player is Messi or Ronaldo).

So where did my voice of reason go?

Well wherever it went, it cost me ALOT of points.

Lesson learnt: Don't listen to other people.

Self-recovery

2009-10-28T00:50:00.008+08:00

Typical Hari Yeah activities...

Today was supposed to be Hari Yeah, a traditional self-declared holiday after exams or big assignments where I will celebrate by doing absolutely nothing useful, well apart from ridding Azeroth of foul demons, trolls, naga and what not.

But sadly once you start working, these self-declared holidays are nothing more than just a figment of your imagination. And contrary to popular belief, its not that convenient to take self-declared holidays, even when you're working for your own parents.

On the bright side, I gained a new skill today. This morning Yong asked me, "So why you emo last night. What happened this time?" My reply was "What you mean what happened? Nothing happened. Nothing can ever happen."

It took me quite a while until I realised that it was just so hilarious and I started laughing to myself. Without anything occurring, without any new developments to the situation, I can still emo. Its so sad that its funny really (remember that graph few posts back?). But the good news is that after laughing at myself for about an hour, I felt much better. *Gained New Skill: Self-recovery*

Afterall, I used to be pro-healer ok?

Ok on to more 'deeper things' shall we? The other day my mum and I had a discussion concerning relationships and stuff while having lunch at Delifrance (which btw I should stop going to coz thats just my emo-haven really). I forgot how the topic started but I think we were talking about how rich old men can easily find pretty young girls and how the girls will leave once the guy is poor. So then I told my mum, "Thats why I wanted to get a girl back in college or uni, who will accept me even while I am still a nobody."

My mum quickly commented that even so people can change.She proceeded to remind me of the story of people I knew. Long story short, the guy was from a poor family and the girl was from a rather rich family. They were both childhood friends and went to UK for studies and got together there. She even shared her pocket money with him. This guy wasn't brilliant or anything, in fact after 5 years or so he returned without a degree, but she stuck with him. Then he hit big in the market and became very wealthy.

Naturally he pampered this wife, never controlling how his wife spend money, even allowing her to take one-day trips to Hong Kong for dim sum. When she sick he cook for her etc. But once the economy went bad and he became bankrupt, she left him. So yea this isn't just your typical, "Oh she married him coz of his money mah so its not surprising...." People can change and its scary.

I was rather disturbed by this and I told my mum that maybe staying single is the best. Like they say, by loving someone you are giving that person the power to hurt you. Yea I know I'm a wuss, but can you blame me? Of course I want another chance at love but.......oh nevermind.

Anyway while I was alone thinking, 1 Samuel 8 suddenly came to mind. Background story: It was during the time where the nation of Israel still had no king, as God was supposed to be the 'King', and He would use certain people known as the Judges, to lead them in times of crisis. This particular chapter is about Israel asking the prophet Samuel to ask God to give them a King. Their reason being that all the other nations had kings and they perhaps felt that by having a king to lead them, they will be more powerful or something.

Sound familiar? I'm going to 'translate' it into context. We all want a girlfriend or boyfriend because we look around and see that so many people have them. We see the joy and love that they share and we want that for ourselves too.

Now the prophet Samuel was rather upset because of Israel's request, but God told him this, "It is not you they have rejected, but it is me they have rejected as their king." To me its like God asking Israel, "Am I not good enough for you that you need a king?" Somehow I felt as if God was asking me "Is the love and joy I give to you not good enough that you need a girlfriend?"

The next part was just funny. God tells Samuel to warn the Israelites of what a king will do to them. Basically their sons will have to serve the king as soldiers or as labourers, and their daughters will end up as servants, cooks etc. The King will also take the best of their fields, their flocks and then turn them into slaves etc. Somehow as I was thinking about this I could hear a voice in my head saying, "Why do you want a girlfriend? She will just suck up your time, energy and money." LOL!

In spite of all this, Israel still wanted a king just as we still want a girlfriend/boyfriend. We fail to realise that girlfriends/boyfriends can short-change us, but God will never short-change us. So yea these verses have been on my mind lately and it has really changed my perspective towards this issue.

The most amazing part of this story is that God still gave Israel a king. And I know we all hate the 'waiting part' right, but God's timing is perfect. So if we're still waiting, it just means that God doesn't think we are ready for it yet =)

Exam Over. So what?

2009-10-26T22:04:00.006+08:00

So exam for this sem is over and done with. Usually people will have a long list of the stuff they intend to do after their last paper, but not me. I intend to do all the same things that I do everyday, just minus the guilt.

But if there's one thing I'm looking forward to, is watching the film Inglourious Basterds. Movies with names like that are surely epic and its directed by Quentin Tarantino no less. I would of gone tonight had I not promised Zhou that I will wait for him to come back and watch together. Afterall, we only have each other =(

Trust you? LOL!

Now I actually feel like buying him McD Sundae just out of sympathy. LOL! Ok I shall not rub it in, especially since so many of my friends are MU fans *yawn*.

Really no mood tonight. Don't want to talk about it either, hence the really short post. Suffice to say there's nothing to look forward to really. People usually can sleep in and relax after their exam is over, but I have to go work again tomorrow. I know what some people will say: "Time to find a girlfriend."

More on that in my next post. Just too lazy atm.

Ciao.

If

2009-10-21T01:01:00.012+08:00

If I had more time......
I would of read finish my entire CPA syllabus from front to back three times and still be free enough to personally thank all those that wished me happy birthday.

Come to think of it, if I had more time I would of kept in touch with more friends so that I would have more people to wish me happy birthday -___- And instead of using instant messengers or posting on each other's Facebook walls, I would of written long letters and corresponded via snail mail LOL! Ok at least via email lah!

Might I add that Facebook wall posting is so impersonal anyway, and that combined with the use of urban slang especially while chatting through instant messengers, causes our English to decline.

Despite our best efforts, we gave up after two minutes. Cheers for propery english!

Oh and I forgot to mention, taking the time to keep in touch with old friends is important so that I have more people to invite to my future wedding (or funeral, whichever comes first),

If I had a wedding.....

I know that's a big IF....but still.....Zhou would be the worship leader (unless you are the best man). Mariel will be playing the piano for the wedding march (you can thank me later), oh but wait this is the most important part, in a BABY-DOLL DRESS!

Filbert once asked me who will be my best man. My answer was, "Whoever is the one who provides the assist." Assist meaning the one who spotted her, or intro-ed her to me, or was a positive influence in anyway etc. His immediate reply was, "Wah like that I die lah!" LOL. So let this be an incentive to all of you to quickly help me get a sweet young thing!

Unlike Yong, I don't really have a 'wedding song' in mind, because that is something only girls do (yes offence). But for the sake of conversation, if I had to choose a song, it will be Shania Twain's You're Still the One, because of the lyrics. The best part is the first line: "Looks like we made it......"
LOL LOL LOL! Bah. You guys have no sense of humour -__-

Alternatively, if my funeral comes first then, well Zhou will still be song leading. Mariel will still have to wear a babydoll dress (black one this time), and she will have to sing Leann Rimes's How Do I Live Without You. LOL! Just kidding, actually you guys have to play....

ITS CELEBRATION TIME!

Perhaps my time seemed all too brief,

Don't lengthen it now with undue grief.

Lift up your hearts and share with me,

God wanted me now, He set me free!

Oh forgot to mention that my wedding (IF I do have one) will be in Paris. Not because its romantic or anything, but rather because I have a grudge against those Parisians who were busy kissing/hugging/ making out right in my face the last time I was there. Its pay back time!

I wonder whether you can get married outside of the Louvre.

But then again........

If I was that ridiculously rich.....

The first thing I will do is fill up two forms. One being the form to discontinue my CPA membership and the other being my job resignation. Then I will travel to Japan, Korea, China, and Europe (in summer this time). Don't know why but I don't feel keen on going to America or anything. I rather go to the Middle-east.

Then once I'm back, I will set up a new company and employ all my friends to come work for me. Their job description is simply this:
Play game with me.

Then I will also buy over Facebook and remove the "Ignore Friend Request" button. That feature has caused too much pain and grief for some people (ok just one person -_-)

Then I will give away the rest of my fortune to charity and missions, and go join some crusades and make my life useful. And once all of that has been finally achieved, I will pursue my true passion in life: Rotting.

Attempt no.241 to get tanned.

Oh another thing I need to do is get an artificial tan.

So many 'if' and 'wants' and 'more of' in my life. I'm sure everyone has. But this has just dawned on me:

If everything went according to my own desired way, I wouldn't realise that I needed my Lord and Savior every single day.

Officially Missing You UPDATED

2009-10-16T00:26:00.027+08:00

If yesterday had a 'topic of the day' it was boy-girl relationships aka BGR. Not only did I have several lengthy discussions with a few people concerning this matter but my cell group decided to watch the film Fireproof last night as well. It is a movie about the struggles of this married couple and the measures taken by the husband to try save what is left of their marriage, in the face of divorce.

As the DVD menu loaded and the movie title was displayed, I felt so out of place. Afterall, the movie tagline is Fireproof: Never Leave Your Partner Behind. Once I saw that I immediately felt like telling my pastor: "Eh pastor, I don't even have a partner to leave behind. Let me go find a partner first then I come back and watch." But I didn't so I stayed and watched the film. I would say that it is a better film than Facing the Giants, and while almost everybody will be able to learn something out of this movie, it is still primarily for those who are currently in relationships. Nonetheless here are several of the things that I picked up from the movie.

The first point is this: If you have nothing good to say, then don't say anything. I'm sure we've all heard of this phrase before, but its not as easy as it seems right? Personally for me this is quite a challenge. I have always prided upon the fact that I am an honest and frank person, and if you can't handle the truth then TOO BAD! But the sad thing is that I've lost count of the times when my 'honesty' and 'bluntness' has hurt the people around me. We always hurt the ones we love the most =( Even my mum tells me, "Sometimes its just stupid to be honest." -__- Don't get me wrong its not like my mum is encouraging me to lie and con people, but honesty doesn't always yield the desired result unfortunately. Story of my life.

The second point that really stood out for me was :

Don't follow your heart, lead it!

Most of the time when we ask our peers for advice, their reply would be: Just follow your heart. This is based on the reasoning that one should do what he/she feels right at the time. But this is rather dangerous as following your heart means following your feelings and emotions, which can change in an instant. I think this really challenges the way we think about love. Is love only a feeling like The Darkness claims it to be? Maybe that's why there are so many divorces nowadays, because once the 'feeling' is gone, people don't 'love' each other anymore and they don't see the point in sticking around.

This film actually suggests that love is not a feeling but rather a decision, a decision to commit. So in a relationship, you have to decide to commit and stick to it by all means, which is basically 'leading your heart'. This I have always known and agreed on. But my question is now this: What if you're not in a relationship now and you're deciding whether to pursue a girl (girls have it so easy, you just need to sit pretty and say yes/no), do you just follow your heart or lead it? Do you wait until you're absolutely sure that she's the one and only one that you want before moving in? Then again no matter how sure you feel about it, there is no guarantee that it will turn out the way you want it to be. Oh well. All we can do is trust in Him that is in control of everything.

I'm a fan of these twins! They sing really well and are Christians too! Lets see whether I get rejected or ignored. Place your bets people!

Update:

I wonder what kind of odds you would of gotten for that result. O_o

My mum (and dad actually) have always encouraged me to find a girl that can do housework and can look after children, you know basically a housewife. I will always tell them that in this modern era (where girls are just as educated and qualified as guys) there is no point in trying to find a 'housewife' type of girl unless you go to all those kampung and find. But honestly I would rather search for a girl who would be my peer and equal, rather than just a 'glorified maid' (no offense). So anyway after my mum found out that I ate McD twice yesterday (breakfast and dinner), we had this conversation:

Mum: Wah you better find a wife that can earn a lot of money. You everyday eat fast food you will die early and then your kids will suffer.

Me: I thought you want me find a 'housewife' kind of girl?

Mum: No better not lah. No money your kids will die.

Me: Then how? You said before that if wife go out and work nobody will look after the kids!

Mum: Just hope that your wife's mum will help take care of the kids while she is out working lah. If not who going to look after your kids? The maid? Maid feed your kids shit also you don't know! So many of the housewives we know actually can earn money but they no choice have to stay at home to look after kids, because the grandparents don't want to help look after their grandchildren.

Me: So let me get this straight. Finding a wife that can earn money is useless if her parents don't want to help take care of the kids?

Mum: Yalor.

Me: So like that I shouldn't be looking for a wife that can earn money first. I should be looking for potential in-laws that are willing to help jaga anak and then only see if they got daughters that can earn money.

Mum: ......................

Owned.

Helpppppp.......

2009-10-13T22:32:00.011+08:00

Short post today. Why? BECAUSE I NEED TO STUDY THATS WHY! My exam is on 26th October 2009. Seems like there's quite a lot of time left but trust me when you're working and studying at the same time, its not nearly enough, especially when you factor in my other needs like rotting, socialising, and of course rotting. Due to the non-existence of classes and the unavailability of friends to discuss with, the self-study CPA program may seem like a cultural shock to some people, but not to me. I feel right at home LOL! Its exactly like uni! LOL!. There comes a point when its so sad that it becomes funny.

The Pathetic-Loser Relationship

If there's one thing my loser-ness has taught me, its self-reliance. So anyway I'm going to try this again, if I'm chatting with you on MSN, or on GoogleTalk, or on Hamachi (although this really isn't an issue anymore), please please kindly remind me to study. This message didn't work the last time, lets hope its more effective now. Filbert (who btw actually thought that audit was going to be fun ROFL?) told me that this is stupid, and asked: "Why don't you just off your MSN?" Well my enlightened friend, its obviously because I have NO SELF-CONTROL! DUH! So anyway Fil, welcome to the real world where your degree and formal education can only take you so far. The real learning starts now.

Hmm....there's nothing else I can say....eh eh........(damn tat song so addictive wan...)

Oh one more thing! Tomorrow I will be driving my Toyota Vios for the first time in almost 2 years. I'm already feeling nostalgic. We went through so many adventures together, through thick and thin.....

Its been too long, old friend.

Backstreet's Back

2009-10-11T21:01:00.003+08:00

Today's message was very appropriate for me. Isaiah 43:18-19 says:

Forget the former things;

Do not dwell on the past.

See I am doing a new thing!

While any psychologist will tell you the same thing that is in those first two lines, the last line is a word of promise that only comes from God. That promise is reason enough to have hope, and that new thing is something to look forward to.

I really love this song, been spamming it almost everyday. Definitely going to choose it for my next worship lead, so get ready guys! Oops forgot none of my worship team members read my blog -__-

Is it just me or does the lead singer look kinda like Megan Fox? LOL! But then again I'm the only one who thinks that Yong's lady boss looks like Son Ye Jin. Seriously my eyes can throwwww!

On weekends when there is nobody else in the office except my sister and I, we will tend to blast music to at least boost our morale as we continue to pull through the tough times. What we usually do is we would take turns to choose songs to blast and this weekend was no different. My sister chose the more contemporary music (Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Maroon 5 etc). I on the other hand, had a sudden urge to choose some old-school music, you know the music that I listened to when I was still in my old school aka the pop groups of the 90s era. Unlike the Spice Girls who were peerless in their genre during that era (and all-time in fact), there were so many boy bands e.g Backstreet Boys, 'NSync, 911 (lol remember them?) etc that were famous during the 90s. My favourite group was the Backstreet Boys. I mean they are perhaps the only boy band that fully utilized all members of the group, even though Nick Carter can't sing for nuts, although he does woo the girls (you know who you are LOL!). Check out this funny video which tries to reenact the Everybody music video using World of Warcraft characters. Pretty good!

Click here for the original, which is best music video of all time. Actually no, the best music video of all-time is still the Gee Gee song, but for all the wrong reasons -_- Do you still remember the song I Want It That Way? Man, within 3 secs of that video I couldn't help but burst into laughter (oh and btw check out Nick Carter's actions at 2.02 of that video DAMN FUNNY!). It brings back so many memories. During Form 2 I think, my friends and I joined the singing competition and we sang that song. Hey don't laugh ok? We actually made it to the finals and if not mistaken we got 3rd place! The following year I sang Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely , but first round knock out! Ok you can laugh now -__- Aih, I guess I wasn't emo enough at the time to pull off that song.

Tomorrow is Melaka Governor's Birthday but I still have to go office work. Haiz. See you fellow slackers (you know who you are) on Gtalk and MSN. Oh but at least I get to blast music and torture my sis again LOL! She's already complaining that I'm spamming all these 'funny music' way too much.

Too much of something is bad enough,

But something's coming over me to make me wonder

Too much of nothing is just as tough,

I need to know the way to feel to keep me satisfied.

ROFL! What is wrong with me?

Happy Birthday Yongie!

2009-10-09T21:00:00.003+08:00

Tomorrow October 10, marks 23 inglorious basterd years of Lim Yong Hsin's existence on this planet. Yong was one of two people who really encouraged me to start blogging, so I'm going to dedicate this post to him. Thing is Yong and I share A LOT of things in common. Its freaky really. First things first, we are both Librans born in October (and we all know that the Librans are the coolest rite? =p). We both hail from Taman Indah. Indah, just in case you failed your BM, means beautiful. So stop asking us why we are so gorgeous ok? Sure there are other guys who fall under both categories too (e.g Phang), but here is where we are virtually indistinguishable:

1. Food:

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

We were born with almost identical taste buds. Yong shares my disdain towards certain food, the most infamous being EGGS. I hate eggs. When this comes to the attention of other people, their eyes will pop out and they will ask: "You don't eat eggs? WHY?" Unfortunately I am unable to give a definitive answer, the feud goes so far back I don't remember how it started. Aaron (who btw does not have an academic background in psychology or anthropology) theorizes that the reason why I don't eat eggs is because when I was still small, I was traumatized when learning about Humpty Dumpty's story, and that it has somehow changed my perspective towards eggs. Eggs are friends, not food? -__- Anyway, so when I found out that Yong also didn't eat eggs, I was so overjoyed to find out that I wasn't alone in this respect.

King of Fruits? Not to us!

I just found out today that he doesn't eat Durian either. It always amazes me when people, especially the foreigners, rave about Durian. How can they tahan the smell....and the.....Ok lets leave it at that before the ISA comes and catches me. Tofu, bittergourd, petai are among the long list of stuff we both refuse to eat. What's funny is that there was a time when we both didn't like mushrooms either, but due to whatever reasons (for me it was erm.....oh nvm and Burger King's Mushroom Swiss Burger), we eat mushrooms now. A recent example of how we are so alike was at my sad graduation convo. At the buffet, despite the variety of food available, Yong filled his plate with just meat pies and he quickly tried to find me to give me some. Funny thing was that once he found me, he saw that my plate was filled with meat pies too. Guess that sums it all up.

2 .Philosophy in DotA and perhaps even in life.

If there is one phrase that characterizes the way we play DotA, it is:

NO GUTS, NO GLORY!

Its not uncommon to see us 1 take 5 (like in the pic above) or to chiong past enemy tower even at the low levels. Whenever we chiong together I feel a surge of optimism as I know there will be at least one person who will go with me to the very end, even to oblivion (aka our retarded deaths). The only problem is that, well even though we chiong together, sometimes the chiong timing is just wrong. Either one of us is too fast or the other is too slow. The other problem is sometimes we chiong together but aim different target. I guess we never really plan about how we were going to chiong.

This doesn't just apply to DotA but to our real life situations as well. We always have each other's best interests at heart but we never really discuss with each other, thereby jeopardizing 'the mission' with wrong timing. In short, what we have is a failure to communicate. Its not that we don't talk to each other, we talk A LOT. In fact we can open a talk show and invite people to just watch us chat. Seriously the stuff we talk about.....really -_- But we never really have a mission briefing where we discuss the specifics of the mission. In fact we only really talk about it during the 'mission debriefing'.

Exhibit A: When I chiong too fast.

Yong: omg....WHY???

Me: But you must realise, I'm in a 'I-got-nothing-to-lose' frame of mind. -_-

Exhibit B: When he chiong too fast.

Yong: Whoops <3

Me: Whoops ur ass. Aih.

So yea, having the same philosophy is not enough. If only we could truly communicate, who knows where we'll be right now.

And finally, the coup de grace...........

3. We both have whiny 'roomies'. LOL!

But why does it seem as if I got the shorter end of the stick? Haih. Yong type -swap roomie pls. So anyway Shu Ning this pic leng enough anot? Oh and btw I call her Shu Ning because Melissa or Mel is just too similar to my sister, which just feels weird somehow. She suggested that maybe she be referred to as Mel L while my sis be referred to as Mel C, but I just don't think my sister is cool enough to be associated with the Spice Girls.

With all things said and done, happy birthday Yongie! <3

Living to Make Your Name High

2009-10-05T23:33:00.019+08:00

Been wanting to write this post last week but my internet at home kept disconnecting. Just found out that the house phone line hancur for quite some time already. Didn't notice because nobody calls anyway LOL LOL LOL! (its really funny wat =.=). But I did have 5 minutes to spare for that Emergency Post in the office just before leaving for KL on Friday. To be honest, when I got back home I was quite surprised to find that there were no comments regarding that post. I guess nobody cares about Zhou, and here was the indisputable evidence, if any was really still needed, that nobody reads my blog. Guess I should stop writing like....right NOW! But its okay, at least it allows to me write whatever I want e.g: "Yong got shot in the arse during paintball coz he is too FAT!"

I went up to Sunway on Friday for my 2-day CPA workshop. But firstly I must say that things have changed. The first thing that has changed is my driving speed. Those of you who have sat in my car before on the highways will testify that I drive pretty fast, but the thing is I actually drive considerably slower when I have passengers on board. You know that long stretch just after the Ayer Keroh toll that has the 90km/h speed limit? There was a time when I would run on that track at 170km/h LOL! Which reminds me: I really thank God that I have yet to receive a speeding ticket in my life. But on Friday I was barely reaching 120km/h on that stretch. Sure I was purposely driving slower granted that my sis was on board, but even she noted that I drove considerably slower that day. I think I only peaked at 140km/h during that journey. Dunno whether its because I chicken already or whether I'm just growing old.

Miss Malaysia World 2009: Beauty is Power

Met up with Yong at Sunway Piramid and we had dinner at Kim Gary. To our surprise, Miss Malaysia World 2009 was being hosted at Piramid.One would think that Miss Malaysia World events would be more posh right? Naturally you must be wondering whether the candidates were really that pretty. Well, if beauty is power (thats the official theme, not I made up wan ok =.=), then most of those candidates were not powerful at all. Seriously, I have friends that have friends that are prettier than them. Eh wait a sec, I actually DO have first-degree friends that are prettier than them. You know who you are ladies =)

No more Delifrance T_T

One of the other things I noticed was that Delifrance has been replaced by Popeyes. Probably doesn't mean anything to you guys, but to me its very significant. I'm boycotting Popeyes for this very reason alone. Anyway, the next day at the CPA workshop I met Yong's 'roomie', Melissa Leong. I actually went up to her and introduced myself, which as you guys know, is extremely rare. But the way she reacted gave me the impression that she thought of me as some pro stalker. A stalker I may be, but pro I am evidently not. I even blundered when I introduced myself. I said something like: "Yea I'm Yong's fren and Melisa's sister...." Haiz. Really fail man. Anyway thanks again for participating in the Losers Outreach program.

Saturday night I met up with Garry and Alvin for dinner. After that they asked me to go cybercafe and play DotA but I told them: "Too lazy". Then they suggested that we go cinema watch movie but I replied: "No mood lah". So what did we do at the end? We went grocery shopping LOL! I guess really growing old already.

So anyway what I've really been wanting to write about all this while is the changes to my blog title and hopefully, and far more importantly, to the contents of the blog itself. For quite some time now I have felt rather disappointed in myself for some of the posts I have written, which have failed to testify God's presence in my life. All I do is complain and whine and while letting these stuff out of my system is good, I do not think that this is the attitude a true Christian should have. Mariel also wrote a similar post regarding this and it was an affirmation to what I was feeling at that time. Romans 8:37 says: "In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." We are supposed to be conquerors, but yet we live our lives as if we are defeated by the troubles and adversities that we deal with. And when you consider the fact that our very own lifestyle is the best testimony one could give to our non-believer friends, it is not good at all. Why on earth would they want to join us Christians when we are seemingly more pathetic than they are?

I remember that a few years back, Fleur sent me a sermon message CD entitled "Living a Life of Excellence" or something to that effect. It was basically about how Christians should excel in whatever fields they are in to bring glory to God. Among my circle of friends, I am synonymous with depression and emo-ness. I just got a random message from my friend Budi saying:

Wy. The song The Day You Went Away by M2M is sooooo you!

.....was my reply. That's really just sad. Therefore I have resolved to no longer shame the beautiful name of Jesus, I want to do all I can to bring Him glory. Praise and worship has always been my passion, so I thought it appropriate that I name my blog based on a song. At the moment I have been spamming the album This is Our God by Hillsong. One of the songs I really like is the opening song, Your Name High. I just can't sit still listening to that song, which is rather 'distracting' when I'm trying to study really.

Anyway, several people have come up and asked me: "Come lah I intro some girls to you. Whats type of girls you like?" Most of the time I'm too lazy to give a proper answer so I just shrug it off with some lame reply. Truth is ever since I was young, I already had an 'ideal girl' concept in my mind. It wasn't just some generic list with all the usual good stuff people want. It was in fact very detailed and specific, and I actually did find her. But what God has been revealing to me this past month is that basically there is no way that my tiny, puny brain could ever really figure out what kind of girl is ideal for me. Only He knows. Maybe the girl that I want, isn't the best one for me. Therefore I will choose to trust in Him in this.

I fully agree with Mariel when she said, "Work on being the ideal guy first, instead of trying to find the ideal girl." At the moment, I wouldn't say yes to myself either. I am flawed in ways beyond description. I do like this quote from Max Lucado though:

A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her.

Therefore I hope that as I turn my life's focus unto Jesus, he will eventually reveal to me the 'ideal girl' that was meant for me. On the other hand maybe......maybe I won't ever experience the true love of a woman, but I sincerely hope that I won't die before having made known that I have experienced the everlasting and unconditional love of my personal Lord and Saviour.

P/S: Happy Birthday to all my fellow Librans! And one more thing.....ROFL @ Yong!

EMERGENCY

2009-10-02T14:12:00.006+08:00

We are interrupting our regular scheduled whining to bring you some devastating news. Our friend Zhou, or Don Zhou as he is more popularly known as recently, has gone missing. He has not logged into Facebook today. I repeat he has NOT LOGGED INTO FACEBOOK TODAY. His last Mafia Wars update post was at 9.49pm yesterday. Normal protocol dictates that we can only alert the authorities after 24 hours. As of time of writing, he has been missing approximately 16 hours, but all of us know that these are some extraordinary circumstances.

Possible explanations:

He's actually got a life. Nah that's just preposterous!
Kena kidnap. Scratch that! He is of no worth.
He is still sleeping, which is possible. But still...16 hours meh.
The most probable explanation is, some classic Zhou "only-shit-happens-to-me" thing occurred.

You know maybe his net is down, or his laptop motherboard fried, or earthquake swallowed his house etc.

He is so hopeless without us. Please help us find him!

Anyway, if you have any information concerning his whereabouts, please notify....erm....the Godfather? =.=

Thank You, My Captain

2009-09-29T00:27:00.018+08:00

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

2009-09-24T16:45:00.000+08:00

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?

2009-09-20T15:40:00.000+08:00

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....

2009-09-11T16:00:00.000+08:00

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

2009-09-03T16:50:00.000+08:00

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

2009-09-01T21:19:00.000+08:00

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.

Up, up and away?

2009-08-28T20:10:00.000+08:00

Can't seem to find enough time to blog these days. This week I have been outside auditing a hotel. Due to the extra workload we recruited Zhou on a temporary basis. He seemed to enjoy it but I guess anything beats rotting at home after so long. But wouldn't I just kill to be able to rot at home too. It does make me think though, now that Zhou and I have worked together, there are very very few things that we haven't done together. Over the years we have studied together, played all kinds of games together, played sports together, served in church together, slept together (as roomie lah), cried together (ok more like I cry and he watch) and so many others. So that only leaves us with:

1. Walking on the moon together

2. Going on a double date

Out of the two, the former has the highest probability of occuring. Like how hard is it to join the Angkasawan Program anyway?

Yes we can!

Ok perhaps not THAT easy. But the double date thing will never happen, well not in this lifetime anyway. Its not entirely my fault though ok? Zhou has to shoulder some of the blame too. Contributing factor: Me=70% Zhou=30% or maybe more like Me=80%, Zhou=20%. Zhou how do you plan to get any girls if all you do is rot at home playing games? =.= I'm a lost cause but its not too late for you. Save yourself!

Speaking of lost cause, as Yong has so delicately put it, my "Letting it Out/Letting Go" plan has failed miserably. Some very late reporting on behalf of my insider has shed some new light into the situation. Hopefully its just a speed bump. However I do not want to talk about this now. I have spent enough sleepless nights thinking about it already. I only want to think of happy thoughts for now.

Up up and away!

Watched the movie Up on Sunday. Its definitely one of the most entertaining movies in recent memory. I really laughed out loud countless times during the movie, no mean feat. And for once, I didn't have to watch with GUYS only LOL. Some parts are just ridiculously hilarious but nonetheless it does bear some deeper meaning: Learning to let go of past burdens and dreams in order to pursue a new adventure.

Been thinking really hard about Fantasy Football. Dilemma: Buy Gallas and make him captain? Or not? Somehow I have a funny feeling that if I do that Gallas will break his leg and miss the rest of the season. Once again I shall be an advocate of the Virtue of Doing Nothing.

Leaving for Penang at 6am tomorrow. May sound very early to some people, but I wake up at that ungodly hour everyday anyway. I am a little bit sick though, so if I don't crawl out of my front door tomorrow, it means I have died in my sleep. Weeping is strictly forbidden at my funeral please, its a time of celebration! If however, I do survive and end up in Penang, can we please please please please not just stay in the hotel room and play mahjong all day in between meals? =.= Sorry for the boring post.

See you guys tomorrow?

Letting it Out

2009-08-21T17:41:00.000+08:00

So this week, I actually revived my Friendster account. Obviously I had to go and retrieve my password which has long been forgotten. But after about 5 mins, it felt as if I was back in the past again. Reading all the testimonies written about me 5 years ago by my A-level classmates and my dear housemates (Btw B0902 was the best unit ever!) made me very nostalgic indeed. This was before the Friendster testimony place became a spam wall. Rather it was when everybody wrote nice things about each other etc. Basically everybody wrote almost the same things about me:

1. I was a top student in A-levels (especially in Chemistry), despite hardly studying.

2. I had a very nice/pretty girlfriend.

3. I was a very caring/gentle boyfriend.

Its really funny to see how much things have changed. I am now doing something totally unrelated to Chemistry or the sciences. And of course I no longer have a very nice/pretty girlfriend because I was a very very lousy boyfriend. I can hear it right now:

Yong: Why are you doing this to yourself? Why torture yourself?

Jlo: Why are you swimming in your own sadness?

More on that later. It doesn't take a genius to figure out my intentions of reviving my friendster account. Thats right I wanted to view her profile and I wanted to read the testimonies we wrote for each other. Unfortunately, I could only read the testimony she wrote for me as she has deleted me from her friend list.

HAIZZZZ

So back to the Anti-depression Protocol. If hilarious tv shows like Friends, Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother (Barney scenes) do not make me feel better, I turn to emo songs. I know you're probably thinking what's the point in listening to emo songs? Well it doesn't sound very logical to me either but I guess: If you can't beat them, join them.

Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are
I had to find you, tell you I need you
Tell you I set you apart.

Tell me your secrets and ask me your questions
Oh lets go back to the start
Running in circles, comin' in tails
Heads on a science apart.

Nobody said it was easy
Oh its such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
Nobody ever said it would be this hard.

Oh take me back to the start.

That's just a glimpse of the well-written lyrics. Very meaningful and emotionally-moving, to me at least =.=

Its hard to remember how it felt before
Now I've found the love of my life
Passes things, get more comfortable
Everything is going right.

And after all the obstacles
Its good to see you now with someone else
And its such a miracle that you and me are still good friends
After all that we've been through
I know we're cool.

And we used to think it was impossible
Now you call me by my new last name
Memories seem like so long ago
Time always kills the pain

And I'll be happy for you if you can be happy for me
Circles and triangles
Now we're hanging out with your new girlfriend
So far from where we've been
I know we're cool.

Those are my favourite parts of the song. This song is about ex-lovers still being able to maintain close friendships. There are various reasons why this song is nice to me, but most importantly its because I hope tat one day, it would be true for both her and I.

Blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders.

There are so many other songs that I usually spam but all the anti-depression protocols in place are just temporary fixes, not permanent solutions. Enough is enough. People are always telling me to move on. I know this might sound silly but what exactly does moving on mean? If moving is going from point A to point B, then what exactly is point B? If point B is the place where I no longer think of her then that is impossible especially since I'm the kind of person who thinks significantly more of the past instead of the present or future. Only way out is if I go for one of those selective memory-erasing procedures like the one in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Sidenote: For those of you who have been in a serious relationship and experienced breakups before, then you'll concur that Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the best movie ever! For those who haven't, well then you will most likely fall asleep.

Virtually everything reminds me of her. I couldn't even begin to write a list as I have no idea where to begin. Its precisely why I haven't thrown away the stuff from the relationship. I don't see the point as there are billions of other things in the world that just reminds me of her anyway. Those relics of the relationship, and my memories, are all that I have left. Oh and btw Yong, my offer still stands: If you want me to throw them away, tell HER to call me to throw them away and I will duly oblige. But fear not, my mum has confiscated most if not all of those relics (I really think she threw away the Yeah & Li pillowcase T_T). Quite frankly, simply not thinking of her is equivalent to self-denial and I don't see the point in that. Surely there is another way.

I have read up on a lot of articles regarding this topic. It is very clear that talking to other people about my feelings is important. According to the experts, knowing that others are aware of my feelings will make me feel less alone with my pain and will help me heal. That is why I'm writing this post here. I also read that it is very important to allow myself to grieve the loss of the relationship. There are so many losses to cope with: the loss of companionship, shared experiences, support (be it intellectual, social or emotional). The loss of hopes, plans and dreams (which can be even more painful than practical losses) and many many others. Therefore this process is very natural and crucial, but I guess 3 and a half years is pushing it really. There are so many steps and advices that I can take from all these articles, but I find myself realising that ultimately only God can save me.

Its really sad that most of the time we turn to God as our last resort, I know I do. I'm such a terrible Christian and a poor testimony to non-believers. There were plenty of times where I just wanted to resign as worship leader in my church, but that's just the easy way out. I know my God loves me and doesn't want me to be tied down by the weight of these burdens. My sister always reminds me that I'm focusing on the wrong things in life: Seek you first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you (Matthew 6:33). God has great plans for me: plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). All these I knew right from the start but I think that deep down inside, I just didn't want to let go. I'm fully aware that God knows the desires of my heart and that he has somebody who is perfect just for me, but deep down inside, I didn't want perfect, I just wanted Her. I really have to learn to let go of this stubborn mentality, and just surrender all to Him who is control of everything. He is all I need and he is coming soon. He can't come sooner for me.

There is no one else for me, none but Jesus
Crucified to set me free
Now I live to bring Him Praise.

Everybody is hoping that I will get better, everybody has faith that the best is yet to come, even her. The last time I spoke to her, she also reassured me.

Me: I thank God that He healed your heart so quickly and gave you someone that is good to you. I pray too that in time, God will be as gracious to me as well.

Her: I know that He will be exceedingly and even more gracious to you.

That was the last time I heard from her, she hasn't spoken to me since. I guess in a way that was her goodbye, knowing that I was in 'good hands'. So even though she doesn't read my blog, I think I'll say my goodbyes in my own way here.

Siew Li, you are a truly truly wonderful girl, and you deserve all the good, lovely and wonderful things in life. I have no idea what is going on in your life now, but I will continue to pray that God will never fail to bless you and your lovely family, especially your parents, today, tomorrow and always.

The sweetest of them all.

Goodbye.

The Descent Into Madness

2009-08-16T17:39:00.000+08:00

Last Friday night, we went to The Loft KL for the FHM party. But the MOST interesting part was how we got there. Daryl and I took the bus up to KL to rendezvous with Yong and Kochi at Yong's office near KLCC. Prior to this, Yong wrote us a very descriptive email giving us precise directions as to how to reach his office. We followed the directions to the letter and did not get lost.

THE END

*Yawnz* SEE DAMN BORING RIGHT??!! Told you getting lost will have more blog material!

Haiz. It wasn't the only bad advice I got from Yong this week. He told me to sell William Gallas in Fantasy Football. AND THAT GUY SCORED!!! !!@@##?? Liverpool lose somemore. Aih. I really thought they would of won 5-0 or something since Zhou has officially stopped supporting them. Haiz.

The winners.

The loser (First on the right).

We got free drinks, a goodies bag, and considering that the cost was virtually zero, we walked away with a net profit. But overall I didn't have a completely satisfying experience. I have always believed that one cannot criticize or judge something that he/she has not experienced/done before. So having gone to clubbing, I can say with absolute certainty that it is not for me. Evidently some people were enjoying themselves (we all know who), oh and once again sorry for that tiny mistake ya! You got back at me with Gallas anyway =.= Anyway I really did enjoy most of the music that was played there, but for the most part I was just sitting down and looking around at other people enjoying themselves. Amidst all the fun, dancing, cheering, shouting I couldn't help but think how lonely I really was. After Yong ditched us to go VIP section, I was left with the already-attached trio, who had their hands tied. Fortunately I was preoccupied with Daryl's hilarious dance moves which really made me LOL (thx buddy, really needed it), nevertheless slowly but surely I was thinking about You-Know-Who again, just wondering what she was doing, and whether she was having a good time somewhere else.

The next day after returning to Melaka, I had to go back to the office and work. By night, I was extremely exhausted and knocked out pretty early. That night I had a dream. A really really really GOOD dream. In fact it was TOO awesome. Because ever since that dream, I have had trouble sleeping. I spent the early hours of the morning just walking up and down in my room. I just couldn't lie down still and its not funny when you have to wake up at 6am to work like this:

See how much I have aged?

Ok thats just my colleague. But that COULD be me very soon. So what do you do in a situation like this? Once again I tried some stupid things but to no avail. So I fall back on my anti-depression protocol.

Watch Friends:

I'll be there for You.

It has always been there for me. This is perhaps my all-time favourite TV series show. But unfortunately, even such a great series like this loses its effect after the countless reruns in the past 3 years. I really need to find a replacement to this as I am starting to feel the effect of its diminishing returns. And I think I have....well kinda...=.=

Watch the Gee-Gee video:

Gee gee gee gee gee.

Courtesy of DJslim. Love it or loathe it. This is a music video featuring a bunch of full-grown ladies trying to act cute. Add that to a repetitive song that is both likable and annoying in equal measure. However it does grow on you and in my time of need, it has surprisingly helped. If you are very curious or skeptical about it, then please turn off your mobile phones, pagers and sense of shame and watch this video at least 10 times.

Hope

2009-08-12T09:11:00.000+08:00

This week I have really been pondering about the message I heard last Sunday. It was about the tragic story that had befallen upon Grammy Award-winning Christian musician Steven Curtis Chapman and his family. About a year ago, his five-year old daughter Maria (very cute), the youngest of the 3 girls he adopted from China, was accidentally hit by a Toyota Land Cruiser driven by her elder brother Will. Despite suffering such a tragic loss, the reaction of Steven and his family towards this incident has been inspiring and has touched many lives. This resulted in the family appearing on live interviews including Larry King Live, Good Morning America and People Magazine. Below is the Larry King Live interview which include several very touching moments:

The Chapman family turned their lost and sorrow into something amazing that will save countless unwanted children in China and all over the world. Basically this has reminded me of how I'm such a lousy Christian, you know being depressed and all. Regardless of the circumstances, I should be able to find joy and draw strength from my Lord, Jesus Christ. I should boldly declare the promises bestowed upon my life and the hope that I have in Him.

About a month ago I set myself a new 'half-year' resolution to become an optimist. Lets go through the 9 steps and see how's my progression so far:

1. Let go of the assumption that the world is against you, or that you were born with a gray cloud over your head.
Status: I don' think that the world is against me.

2. Look for the source of your pessimism.
Status: I know what it is. Its my failures.

3. Understand that the past doesn't equal the future.
Status: This is hard. "Once bitten twice shy" anyone?

4. See yourself as the cause, not an effect.
Status: Of course I see myself as the cause. Duh!

5. Accept pain, failure, disappointment as a part of life, not the entirety of it.
Status: Still working on it.

6. Be thankful.
Status: Yes I really should be thankful for a lot of things.

7. Using positive affirmations.
Status: My DPS damn yeng. ^^V

8. Remember that life is short.
Status: ~~Not short enough for me~~ I mean I know.

9. Be a balanced optimist.
Status: Well I highly doubt I'll ever be an extreme optimist anyway.

As you can see I'm still not quite there yet. But oh well, at least I am trying a bit. Upon Zhou's recommendation I watched the final 2-hour episode of Prison Break. All that episode really shows is how ridiculously easy it is to break out of prisons. So if any of you ever get caught and thrown into jail, let Prison Break give you hope and reason for optimism.

Last night I finalised my Fantasy Football team and joined Yong's private league. So without further ado, let me present to you my team You'll Never Sux Alone: *cues Beethoven Symphony No.5*
HEY DON'T LAUGH OKAY?! MICHAEL OWEN IS FTW!!! That's optimism for you. Truth be told, I think that Owen is the best striker in the world. Truth be told, I'm lying. So yea about 1 hour later I made several adjustments.

Basically I pump my midfield, lets see how it goes.

This Friday Yong will be our centre forward obviously. The already-attached duo of Daryl and Kochi will be on the flanks assisting as wingmen, and I will be.......haiz...who am I kidding? I can't do nuts! I will be in the corner warming the bench. *WAIT OPTIMISM* At least I'm better than Zhou who didn't even make the squad! Wahaahahaa. No la, actually he pull out due to self-inflicted injury (brain injury). He rather rot at home. Wth? *MORE OPTIMISM* I can help you guys take photo! Just let me join in 1-2 photos PLS K THX BAI T_T

Party tickets

What else? Oh yea Zhou, Daryl and I have begun our Diablo 2 adventure (again) via Hamachi. Pretty fun although I surmise that my finger is going to require some operation in the near future.

Click-click-click-click-click

Well it doesn't take a genius to figure out who is using which character. Daryl's char is the easiest to guess of course. Our progress has been pretty good so far. We play about 3 hours a night. and have completed one act per night. I know you're probably still thinking, ".............DIABLO 2 ???!! SERIOUSLY??!!" But when it comes to mindless hack-and-slash to release stress, you really can't find a better game than Diablo 2.

Till next time.