3rd Anniversary

Today is my third anniversary in my current company. Never ever would I dream I would stay in this place for such a long time. Happy 3rd Anniversary to all my MSC friends. It's been a long journey for all of us, some left, some stayed, some got promoted and some went further than we ever though we could. But most of all, we still remember the 1st day we meet at 29th Dec 2003.

All the best to everyone as you are the one that crossed my path and left a unforgotten memory.

Met an old friend

About a week back, my company was doing some corporate video shooting in the office. Since my department's kamcheng very good with the communications department, I was forced to say some funny phrase in front of the camera. What's the phrase ar? Hmm... forgot, some mushy mooshy words that meant to present that I love HSBC.

Anyway, that's not the main thing I wanna say here. What happen was, when the Comms people (Noreen) was bringing me to the temporary studio setup in the office, she intro me to one of the guy taking charge in the shooting. And OMFG!!! It's my highschool mate. It's been years since I last saw him. Though I accidently bumped into his blog bout 1 or 2 weeks before I met him, such coincidence.

He's changed a lot. He used to be like a "close to nerd" but not. Maybe because that time he was mixing with all those nerds. He has become today someone who works in production and creative line. I couldn't even believe my eyes, but I have to. Ohhh... by the way his name is Isaac.

Anyway, am glad to see him. Couldn't chat much with him, but still happy can catch up a little and exchange our phone number. If you still have not know me enuff, I'm someone who don't like to lose touch with friends. I love my friends. After all no man is an island. Friends are important. But of course I love my sweetie too ler. :P

A day's life of a man who don't work (100th entry)

I'm clearing my leaves for the year of 2006. Hence I'm off from work this whole week till Jan 1, 2007. And what can I do at home?

Here's what I did today.

Throw garbage.
Wash clothes.
Sweep the floor.
Mop the floor.
Clean up the flower pots (like a bush) behind my house.
Now Blogging.
Later reading.
Later than later, go to Bangsar for dinner with colleagues.

That's 1 day. A fulfilling one. Most of the time sweetie do house chores. I help with a little. But whenever I have the time, I clean everything up all (at least most) at once.

p/s: This is my official 100th entry in blogspot. Yeah!!! Not much compared to others, but still quite proud of it. Bwuahahaha... Actually wouldn't have know until blogspot update their hostings and show it by the side. :P

Malaysia back to zaman kolot

It's actually the internet linkage of some Asian countries to the outside world got disrupted. This is has got something to do with that earthquake in Taiwan. Do know why. Go read here.

So, don't be surprise if you can't log on to your MSN Messenger and any website that is out of Malaysia. It's either damn slow or not accessable at all. Bummer... I will just have to go back to me's Freakonomic now. Fun book to read though.

Secret Santa

It's Christmas, my office area put on a really heart-warming tree last week. Since the tree was so heart-warming and doesn't have any decoration at the bottom of it, someone suggested to have the "Secret Santa" thingy. What's secret santa? It's actually getting everybody's name and put in a box. Once all the name is in the box, all will have to take turn to draw a name. Without announcing the name you draw, you will need to buy a X'mas gift (everyone agree to make sure the gift is below RM20). Then everyone is not supposed to sign off the X'mas card with their own name, instead is encouraged to sign off as "Your Secret Santa". Sounds fun, some people still wouldn't be able to guess who their secret santa is even after years.

So, I got the name of the person whom I should buy a gift for. Although it already passed Christmas, we all agree to exchange gift on Jan 2, due to last minute execution (hehehe). So I went gift hunting today.

I think book is the most ideal gift. After all, it's knowledge. And this is what I ended up with.

Yes, it's called SUMO (Shut Up, Move On). It took about an hour to decide. And I was still having doubt if this book makes a good gift. So when I reached home, I search in Amazon. It's 4.5 stars out of 5. I think it should be good. :P Actually heard of this SUMO word some time ago, thought it should be a nice book.

Alright, anyone in the office that sees this book, please keep a secret from the receipient aite. :X

Curse of the Golden Flower

My Rating: 6/10

My sweetie wanna watch this movie because of Kong Li. I wanna watch this movie because the theme song is sang by Jay Chou. It's quite a good movie. I like the content, I like the who cinematography. The only disappointment is some of the actor used. Chow Yuen Fatt is fantastic, but some of the china actors looks purely cinapek.

I gave only 6 because somehow or rather, the movie is played in cantonese. I think it's only in Malaysia and Hong Kong that it's played in cantonese. I can from the mouth movement that the original movie is in mandarin and I'm sure it will sound more realistic than now. Anyhow, worth to watch.

Basketball Tourney

More than a month ago, a few of us in the company form a basketball team when we got the comms mail of a basketball tournament. And this is the results of that.

Books shopping

Went to Borders on Sunday and bought books worth of RM130. First time in life I ever bought so much of books to read. It's been months since I pick up a book and start reading again.

This is how it happens. My aim to go to Borders was to get the Freakonomics, and have a look at George Soros' new book, called "The Age of Fallibility: Consequences of the War on Terror". I found my Freakonomics with a sticker written that buy 3 for the price of 2. Hence I proceed to the area where the books with this promotion is located. Looked around, seen none that I know of or interested in.

Then I continue to loiter around Borders and saw another book that caught my sight, iWoz. Picked the book up, read the back cover and find it interesting. I had always like to read bout successful ppl's biography and their journey to who they are today. Since this book come with another sticker of its own that say "20% off with purchase of any item", I took it as well.

Then when I met up with my sweetie who is loitering around in the bookstore as well. Asked her if she wanna take a look at the Buy 3 for 2 area have got something interesting for her. She took a look and saw the book "The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing" and it's quite interesting, so she decided to take that book. Since it's buy 2 free 1, or buy 3 for 2, I look around for another book and end up with another interesting book called "Blink".

And this is how I end up buy books worth of RM130. Was really excited when I got home. It's juz like when you go shopping and got yourself something and can't wait to reach home, open it up and try it on.

Why no update?

Reason 1: DO NOT Surf too much in the office
I've got a warning for surfing the internet too much in the office. Hence, to avoid being warned again, do not wanna update any blog during the office hour. Most of the time, when I had something that I wanna blog about, I forgot bout it when I reached home. Yah, I've got really bad ability to remember things.

Reason 2: Busy with work
Part of the reason why I used to surf so much at work was because I was too free. It's not that I'm trying to run away from work, it's just that most of the people that's involved in my project is either not free or just didn't show up for the appointment made. Imagine a VP couldn't even bother to give me a call or mail me to say "she's going for lunch" and have to cancel my appointment. So, most of that time was spent chasing for people.
But all the chasing pays off once I finally got the VP. My project can finally proceed and I am back to focus on my project again.
Unbelievably, it start all over again when I have to take up the task of a PA to arrange the travel plan of a visitor from Hong Kong (my Six Sigma trainer). I have to plan and schedule his itinerary for the visit and worst of all, I have to chase him meeting after meeting because he didn't wear a watch and always overshot his meeting and late for the next. Why I have to do this? Because my boss think that this is priority. Because I would rather believe in myself of doing the scheduling part than trusting my boss' PA. Errmmm... that's what happen when you are afraid to delegate in work... you become the multi-tasker and lose focus on what you really need to do.

Alright, that's basically why I didn't blog for a while now. There's so much to write about but I just couldn't think of everything all at once.

My Six Sigma Class

It's been fun to have gone thru this training class with this bunch of energetic and humble people. It's unbelievable to find that some of them are actually Assistant General Manager of some of the businesses in the corporation.

I'm gonna miss the hospitality, fun, cares and excitement these people brought to my life. I might cross path with them again some time in my life, but I might not at all as well. But with this picture, I'm gonna remember every single one of them, whether they are from China, Korea, Singapore, Japan, UK, US, India, Sweden or Hong Kong. Kudos to the Six Sigma Black Belt Wave 2 class!!!

And now off we go into our own project and save or earn our corporation the USD500k or USD1mil and get forgotten. But it will remain in our life how this methodology has change our life, attitude and perspective in our future job environment. To the future great leaders in the organisation...

p/s: "Organisation" is used in this context due to the fact that all of us come from different company/entity in this huge organisation, which at this point I'm still quite proud to work in (until my next rant about the company again). :P

Mum: "Sit up straight!"

I have always doubted that. Hehehe... Maybe due to my lazy nature. Alright, straight to the point. I found this news in Google News about sitting posture.

The study at Woodend Hospital in Aberdeen involved 22 healthy volunteers who had no history of back pain or surgery. They adjusted their posture while being scanned by a movable MRI machine, assuming three sitting positions: a slouch, with the body hunched forward over a desk or video game console; an upright 90-degree sitting position; and a relaxed position where the patient reclined at 135 degrees but kept their feet on the floor.

By measuring the spinal angles and the arrangement and height of spinal discs and movement across the positions, the radiologists found that the relaxed posture best preserved the spine’s natural shape.

Now I'm sitting 135 degrees on my office chair with my feet on the ground typing this blog. I should send this link to my mum & dad to read. Kekeke... Read the news here.

Uni Friend's Wedding

Just got back from my friend, KW's wedding. We went to Sheffield Hallam together and basically, we juz click eventhough we had not met previously due to his sense of humour and friendliness.

Tonight's wedding dinner is like a reunion for all of us. We really enjoyed ourselves especially with the presence of Keong, Eric, MK and Yuky.

These are the like the fond memory of my short UK life in 2003. Most of all, our 7 days Scotland road trip.

Casino Royale

My Rating: 7/10

Not a bad film. With all the critics and anti Daniel Craig website when the producer announced that Daniel Craig will be the new James Bond, he proved them wrong.

As usual, ever beautiful bond girl (this time Eva Green as Vesper Lynd). Action packed, romance, surprise and excitement. Not to be missed.

Yup, here I come again

Hong Kong, here I come again. This is my 3rd trip to Hong Kong this year. Should also be my last trip out of the country for 2006. It's been some fulfilling year. Went to Bali for holiday on April, India in June, and 3 trip to Hong Kong in Aug, Oct and Nov.

Don't have much to write about actually. So, since I'll be busy training in Hong Kong, my blog might stay quiet for a week or so. Till then.

Not Malaysia 'Boleh', but Malaysia 'Bodoh'

That's not Malaysia "boleh", that's Malaysia "bodoh" (stupid).

This is a quote from Michael Backman, a columnist who wrote for The Age, Australia in his article; While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry.

Even an outsider can feel and see the racial issue that's growing in the country, why can't the government? Instead, they try even harder to by officially announce that anyone who try to raise the racial issue shall be punished severely.

It's always not the citizens of this country that raise the racial differences and put a gap between the races, it's the politician. There are places I go that I can see all races being able to live together like their own races and accepting each other's believes and religions. But this kind of stuff does not exist in area when one race is more densed than the rest. Why everyone need to change their thoughts towards our fellow neighbours and schoolmates when influenced by others who think too radically.

It's such a sad things to see politicians bringing matter and new law but very clearly separate the policy into different segments according to races. They are the culprit of it all that clearly set a gap in between each race so that there is always a race that are more superior than the others. Shameless...

How I wish we still have Mahathir as the Prime Minister... He's the only leader that can look beyond his own race and look at the country as a whole.

Office Environ / Annual Dinner / Best Friend's Wedding

I've moved into the new office environment about a month ago. Two Heads of Department (including my boss) has their office facing my computer screen, hence I can't really blog in the office. I know, it's been very less updates in my blog nowadays. But there's nothing I can do.

Anyhow, out of the topic. Last Saturday was the Annual Dinner. The company booked 4 halls in MIECC (Mines International Exhitibition and Convention Centre). There were tables for 3000 seatings, though the turnout was not as much as 3000. Everybody put on their best night gown and suit. Girls went to saloon few hours in advance to set their hair and etc. It was a nice night out though I hardly know 10% of the people.

Here a picture of my and my ex-teammates. Best team I've ever worked with.
Last week during a game of mahjong, my best friend told me he's going to get married at the end of January next year. I was stunned. He's the last I would expect to get married first in our hood (the so called Bro From Da Hood). Nonetheless, I am feeling excited for him. Thinking of how we have grown together from our High School years and now he's getting married already. I know what you thinking, he's not getting married because a new life is coming to this world. It's more like a family pressure and partly they think it doesn't matter whether to get married now or 3 years later.

Anyway, I'm so happy for you bro. You're a grown man now. Looking forward to your bachelor party. Muahahaha....



Fark, my streamyx connection is killing while I'm writing this blog. It keeps disconnecting and take really long to connect back. What a farking country I'm living in. Can't even maintain some certain standard once these company dominate the market. Bloody TM.

Random Updates

Last weekend went to Kuantan for my cousin sister's wedding. It was fabulous. Got the company of my sweetie and suddenly the whole happy road trip experience from childhood is back. It's so fun taking our time cruising thru the new Karak-Kuantan highway.

It was like once in a decade event that I could see my mum's huge family. Everybody is my aunt and uncle from some far far side of the world. There were some glitches during the wedding and some disatisfaction too. But overall everyone goes home with a big smile becoz they got to see their cousins (my mum's generation) once in a few decades.

Alright, that was all the beautiful and happy stuff. The unhappy side, I spent RM140 the morning before I left for Kuantan to service my car. Change this and that, but at least it work smoothly and I was satisfied. And this morning, upon reaching my pickup point to work, suddenly all my barometer in my car went dead. RPM, temperature and fuel meter all went dead.

It means tomorrow I will have to spend money fixing my car again. $$$$. Anyhow, tomorrow night will be my company's annual dinner and after that, had set appointment with a few of my working colleagues to go for a drink at Laundry Bar in The Curve. Yeah!!!

Open Season

My Rating: 6/10

If you need a break, this is the movie you should watch. Hilarious and quite a little touching. Sure can watch.

OctoberFest brought to Malaysia

OctoberFest. One famous festival from Germany. It's all about food and beer. Now, it's partially celebrated in Malaysia since last year. The event will still be held in 1 Utama from 27th Oct - 29th Oct.

Click here for clearer view of the poster.

What are Friends for?

Everyone has been saying, "When talk about money, it hurts friendship". I don't find it true, except for just 1 friend. The rest of my friends has never got any problem with me on money. We don't tend to calculate that much with each other.

What happen is, I kinda in a way or another pay some extra money on some certain things for this friend in advance. Even helping him sounds like I owe him that money. "If you don't pay for me, and I don't have money, then how?" That what he said. Alright, as a friend and thinking for his convenience, I paid in advance with his promise to return me in 1 week time.

Hence, he got his opportunity to give his own money a turn and I have got no luquidity to spin when I'm in tough time. It's all ok as long as he return me the money as he promised.

1 week later, asking for the money and he will give me the next day. The next thing I know, he called up and say he will give me a check and ask me to bank it in by myself. For some of you who might have known, my working hours simply does not allow me to have time to go to a bank and the only account I have is with my HSBC bank. Yes, I don't believe in local bank and don't believe in owning a lot of bank account.

Then I got scolded, "What? Why you don't have local bank account want? Takkan you want me to go bank in my own account then withdraw the money and give u in cash?"

Did you see a reverse in role here? Does it seems like I'm the person owing him money?

It's really sad. Even quite a few friends tried their best not to have anything to do with him in monetary term. He's a great friend. But when come to small small stuff, anything at all he can relate them to money and in any term at all charge you if he can. He take him as the only few of my best friends that will come to my aids when I needed friends.

What are friends for?

Being a Tourist in Hong Kong

This is my second been to Hong Kong. But it is the 1st as a tourist. Sweetie went to Hong Kong with me. She loves the place with the massive shopping arcades. Eventually she became my tour guide, since most of the time I have to go training and she will go loitering around places.

Look at the bottom video. It's the Musical Symphony of Buildings' Lightings. It's fantastic.

Singing party before I leave for Hong Kong

I'm leaving for Hong Kong tomorrow. But Adrian came to KL from BP, and out of the blue, Adree ajak go Karaoke. Then we ended up in Neways at Cheras at 11pm.

Here's a sample of Choo's singing. Hahahaha!!! Have some good laugh.

The Bandits of Pantai Klebang

DBKL Rubbish Truck aka Tai

SebadohPop aka Neoh and Graham CORKson aka Andrew

Great-Wife-To-Be aka AhGer

The Stoner aka WY and Pikachu aka Choo

The Banker aka Aaron

The Pornographer aka @ptimistic

Lawyer Buruk aka Lawyer Lim

1-2-5 Posing Competition

Group Category

Single Category

and...

THE CHAMPION

Food Photos from the Historical Land

Arrival Dinner - Rojak Style Lok Lok

Hot and Spicy Lok Lok

Look at the variation of Lok Lok and the longkang-look-alike rojak kuah

Boon Heng, Chiat Lin and Sweetie @ The infamous Hainanese Chicken Rice of Malacca

Yup, this is the Hainanese Chicken with its famous rice ball.

With such delicious food, we finish it in no time.

We call him DBKL aka Rubbish Collector

Now you see what I mean?

All full and ready to go.

This Explains...

...why I don't blow my top on people and able to maintain my anger most of the time.

"Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength."

-Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

Mooncake Festival

It's Mooncake Festival today. In mandarin, it's "Zhong Qiu". In cantonese, it's "Zhong Chau". It falls on the 15th day and 8th month in the lunar(chinese) calendar. On this day, the moon will be at it's fullest, and I think it's bigger as well... maybe due to some angle the earth are nearer to the moon or something.

By the way, tradisional chinese spend this day together with the family at night under the moon to share the joy of watching to the full moon. In mandarin, it's called "Shang Yue". It's boring, I agree, but during hundreds and thousands of years ago, there were no TVs and movies, watching moon is the best entertainment.

However, in modern chinese society, we don't really "Shang Yue" together with the family. But rather we gather as a family. Because the moon is rounded, and rounded in chinese believe is unity and reunion, all family members will try to at least have simple dinner together.

It's been more than 3 years I have not spend my Mooncake Festival at home. Partly it's due to my work nature that has no public holiday at all. But I can't put the blame on that, maybe I'm just not as much a family person. I can talk to my mum and my dad and my siblings all the time. But I can resist going home once in a quarter of a year.

Nonetheless, this Mooncake Festival is a little special. It suddenly hit me that my parents are growing old each day, I should see them more. But still, my highschool friends had planned a trip to Melaka about 2 months ago. And I didn't notice that it actually falls on a Mooncake Fest. So again I miss the chance to reunite with my family in Batu Pahat. Since yesterday I had been feeling the kind of loneliness during festive season. I long to go home. After so long, I have the feeling of homesick again. But I can't do that either next week, because I will have to go for my 10 days training in Hong Kong.

So, I'm going to promise to myself no matter what, I will go home for the weekend once I return from Hong Kong.

Butt Face To Be My Mentor

Damn, this must be my karma. I was juz writing about this butt face and today, he called and told me he's going to be my mentor/coach for now.

He was the one initially tried to stop me from entering this training. And now, he has to be my mentor/coach. It's the worst news that I can stand this week around. Bad news about stuff in my life has been coming one after another. So far, I've been able to handle them but this one, arghhh!!!

DAMN YOU BUTT FACE!!!!!! God bless me.

Random

It's been some time since my last blog. Everytime I log into blogger and I forgot or lose my momentum to write a blog while waiting for the stupid screen to load up.

A lot has been happening lately in the office. Let's summarise it so I don't have to write so much and you don't have to read too much either.

1. Boss' previous PA is leaving and replaced by a new one. Since she's new, she's green to a lot of stuff and we will have to help her do her work or teach her how to be a PA. I have to remind her again and again on booking my travel flights and other stuff. She lose focus at the speed of light.
2. My project: people don't show up at meeting. I have to rush up to the VP and make a fuss out of it (a bit embarassing). Now finally got some commitment from these people.
3. My project: am suppose to get a mentor/coach before I start this Six Sigma project, but I have almost finish my 1st Phase of the project and I still don't a Master Black Belt. Screw the Functional Head in Hyderabad, small butt face and long body. Looks just like the alien that kept got his head shot off by Will Smith in Men In Black.
4. My project: after doing a Voice of Customer (VOC) survey, a surprising results came out. Although this kind of stuff is expected, but I juz lose track on how to look at it.
5. Moving house again. It's been exactly 1 year since I move here and I'm moving again downstairs. I'm moving in with my sweetie. Felt a little scary, but in the other hand, looking forward to it.
6. Linked to No. 5, registered a telephone line (coz I need internet) and the bloody lame ass in telekom don't allow me to register for Streamyx until my line is fixed. WTF!!! For my current place, we registered it together. He must have been fasting until his brain got burnt.
7. Linked to No.6, need to think of which Broadband package should I go for. Should I get the modem that comes with it, or should I get a Modem+Router? Man, got so much of decision to make in the head. Hahaha... But luckily got sweetie to be around to do my packing. Muacksss... Love ya.

Good thing, I'm going on holiday this weekend. My friends who's in OCBC got us 2 free bungalow at Pantai Klebang in Melaka. It's going to be a crazy trip. The last time we went for an outing together after highschool was more than 2 years back in Genting. This time everybody took the effort to show up, so the attendance is 100% this year round. I'm so looking forward to it.

Attendees: Andrew, Woei Yang, Ong, Kai Vyn, Adrian, Ah Ge, Boon Heng, Chiat Lin, Gan, Ke Wei, Tai, Adree, Me and sweetie.

We are definitely going for our favourite ABC and Chendol with mouth-watering gula melaka at Jonker Street. :P~~~

The map to heaven. Muahahaha... Melaka here I come!!!

Damn happy

Today's meeting for my project went better than I expected. Things went smoothly, participation level was high. And the progress went better than I'd planned.

01001101 01110101 01100001 01101000 01100001 01101000 01100001 00100001 00100001 00100001

If you are geeky enuff, decypher this binary code.























If you are not that geeky, click on this binary converter. And you shall find out.
http://www.sitinthecorner.com/binary/binary.php

The Devil Wears Prada

My Rating: 8/10

This is a must-watch. Based on a novel with the same name written by Lauren Weisberger, this is a great movie to go for. I had been disappointed by all the movies after the summer season craze until I watched this one. Starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway.


Best of all, Meryl Streep's acts was awesome. From time to time during the movie, she reminds me of my boss. Not to that extreme though, but in some demanding way. Hahaha... Yah, that's my boss!


Alright, I shall not spoil the story of the movie until you watch it. You may not find it as much a great movie as I do, but it's definitely going into my DVD-keeper movies list.

I had been coughing really badly for days. Hasn't been sleeping to well for days. Always having this fear of not being able to handle the project on hand smoothly and successfully.

Everyday I would startled from my sleep at 4am. That's how it has been for me for the pass few days. All I can think of is what kind of bump that my project might have and keep thinking of how to solve them. But still doesn't know if the solution I thought of can really solve it.

This is what's in my mind right now.

???

Thai Goverment Overthrown

Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin has been overthrown by the Military in just one night. So, now you know why you shouldn't sleep so much.

Here's a general link to all the news that can be found on Google News.
http://news.google.com.my/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&q=thailand


Wikipedia was updated as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_2006_Thailand_military_
coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

The Banquet

My Rating: 6/10

A very artistic movie. I could almost not understand the whole movie. The chinese language used in the movie are of very profound context.

However, I must give credit to the director, Feng Xiaogang for his great cinematography of the movie and some I-can-understand artistic performance in there.

p/s: My apologies for not giving too much of reviews due to the time constraint.

Snakes On A Plane

My Rating: 3/10

Sucks!!! It's a real disappointment for a movie starring Samuel L Jackson. It's more like movie industry has adapted the horror-movie approach in making film. Thrill, horrific but senseless.

You don't even know the all-so-loved, moral of the story after watching the movie.

Worst of all, I think after this movie, people's perception towards snakes are worsen now. Yah, of coz when we see snake we will run for our life. But this movie, somehow educate people to kill whatever snakes in sight, even if those are not dangerous one. It's juz like how people feels after watching The Jaws decades ago. Puke!!!

Blog hopping

I was kinda free while waiting for my 11.00pm confra call in the office. So, I decided to click on the "Next Blog" button on the top right hand corner of blogspot. I have seen more than a dozen of blogs. Some really fancy but content-less. Some are from little boys and most are from little girls that are trying to create some identity for themselves. The youngest blogger with very very fancy html design is just 14 years old. I can't believe it with my own eyes. At the tender age of 14 they know how to write fancy html codes already.

Anyway, one blog I love most is this.
http://broscheid.blogspot.com/

There isn't any fancy layout or javascript in it. Neither does it has any nice entries. It's all photos and I really love how this guy actually title these photos with less than 5 words and it still can bring out so much of meaning. So, enjoy yourself.

The Terry Fox Run - Kuala Lumpur

I first came to know about Terry Fox run in the late 90s. It was the time when I was still studying in highschool. The Singapore tv was advertising for people to join the marathon run for charity to this cancer foundation. I could still remember the ad was showing Terry Fox running using one artifical leg and followed by hundreds of people behind him all for the cause of charity. Alright, I will just stop the crap on the history of Terry Fox. I would not do research and retype everything here, hence to avoid me from plagiarism, please visit these sites and read more about Terry Fox's "Marathon of Hope".
http://www.terryfoxrun.org/english/about%20terry%20fox/default.asp?s=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Fox
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_of_Hope

I've juz read bout this event that is going to happen in Kuala Lumpur from JeffOoi.com. Ever since I had seen the ad from the Singapore tv, I'm so touched with this act of humanitarian. So, I have decided not to go for the run (because I still have an injured knee, and I don't like to run anyway), but to buy the T-Shirt which cost RM25 for the good cause of charity for cancer patients.

This year's event is sponsored by San Francisco Coffee (kudo!!!). So to get the cool T-Shirt for yourself, you can see the list of San Francisco Coffee's outlet that sell it. So, donate away for the good cause.

Hostile working environment

It's been feeling weird lately at work. Although I have got the once in a lifetime opportunity to go to Hong Kong for my Six Sigma training, it doesn't feel any good when I return to work.

I'm not sure why. Communications between colleagues has reach the minimum level, which is Yes, Nope, I don't know, Go ask about it yourself and Buzzz...(quiet till you can hear the mosquitoes flying around).

It might be me, I don't know. But it's definitely a very sad place to work in. I could still remember the time when I can't wait to reach the office to share everything with my friends (sounds more like colleague now). Somehow I juz have the hunch that I hated in the department.

It's really saddening. I think one day if I die on my desk no one will notice until my body rot. :P

Back from the Pearl of the Oriental

I'm back to the office. It was a very busy training indeed. Although I spent 10 nights in Hong Kong, I could only find about 2 hours to go shopping. But I kinda like that place.

Hong Kong is very crowded. All buildings are built tall and side by side like dominos. One thing I like bout that place? The ultra-convenient train system. You can get anywhere by train (MTR).

Another thing that attract me a lot, is the bar, pubs and restaurant. The trainers brought us to the "Peak" one of the day. Although it sounds like a place up high in the mountain, it also got a lot of shopping complex up there. We went to Cafe Decco. Trust me, if you are at Hong Kong, visit the Cafe Decco at the Peak. You will see the best Hong Kong scenery of all. But of course, sometimes it depends on your luck whether the sky is clear enough to see the skyline.

Pubs. We went to our company's headquarters in Queens Road one of the night after class. We need our trainers to tag us in and reached at the infamous "Level 28". Why is it infamous? Because it's a bar made specially for the employees of the building only. Still we have to pay for the drink ourselves, the ambience and the after-work people drinking there, it's phenomenon.

Then it's the also infamous, "Lan Kwai Fong". Who stretch of pubs and restaurants filled with "kwai lou" (foreigners). It's like Jln P. Ramlee (Live Centre) in KL. Except that Lan Kwai Fong close the street for the pedestrian to walk on. It's very happening.

Another interesting destination for drinking and eating, "Knutsford Terrace". It's just 5 minutes walk away from my hotel. It's fabulous. There isn't too much of "kwai lou" there, but it definitely has the ambience of quiet relaxing drinks.

So, this is my update of my Hong Kong trip. Nothing much to talk about.

In Hong Kong

I'm still in Hong Kong for training. There will be no updates.

Jimmy Choo

Heard of this name before? This is the first time I heard of it. Yup yup... I'm a little bit jakun. I was reading this article "Malaysia wants the Jimmy Choos to come home" on The Star and was wondering who is this Dato's Jimmy Choo.

I did a google on Jimmy Choo. Then there's this more than 2 million search results on this Malaysian's name. Hence, I started my background searching journey again. Wow!!! I'm actually so kolot. This man is famous!!!

He's a shoe and handbag designer based in London. The late Princess Diana loved his shoes most. Then I saw some of his products are sold in Saks Fifth Avenue and featured in one of the "Sex and The City" episode. Of my God!!!

This guy was born in Penang. He pursued his studies in London for shoe designing and today has made Malaysian proud. His shoes are so famous that I can't even seen them sold in Malaysia, only the fashion highstreet of London, New York and Milan.

He's like an example of the path I'm looking forward to. To work in London one day. His fame has brought him a Datukship, Professor title and an OBE honour from the Queen of England. Read here.

Girls, go browse here. It's his own online store. I saw something on the web saying that his shoes cost something between USD400 to USD1200. Bwahahahaha... Unbelievable. This is the normal price you always hear when you watch a lot of "Sex and The City". He's shoes is cool. Damn, I'm a man, but I really like his design.

I will attach his pix here. Please pardon the editing, am in the office so good pix editing tools to use.

Tie Da (Dit Da)

The itchy me when and play basketball again on Saturday. Since my knee wasn't 100% healed, I sprained it again... Yup... Itchy me...

I hurt my knee worse than before. Looking at the fact that I will have to leave for Hong Kong in another week, I have no choice but to look for a Tie Da (in chinese, which mean bone setting), which prove to you, I'm still very chin a pek. And for your information, that bloody Tie Da sifu didn't even set my bone or rub the wound, he juz apply on some oilment, then wrap my leg with his secret mixtures of chinese herbs (which sticks to the extreme). Then gave me a bowl of hot and bitter herbal soup to drink.

Green oilment + Red oilment + Herbs wrapping + Herbal soup = RM150

Yeah!!! That's ridiculous huh. He still have the bloody face to say, you must come back for another 2 wrappings to make sure it heal completely. Don't worry, it will be cheaper as the next time you come.

But in my mind, I think what I actually heard is, "Come again tomorrow, so you can stretch your neck very very long and let me chop on them again!!! Muahahahaha!!!".

So, if you ever ever wana go for a Tie Da in KL, I really don't have a recommendation. But bear in mind, don't ever go to this one that is behind the Mandarin Court Hotel near Dewan Bahasa.

p/s: Thanks Ah Keong for bringing me there, it's not your fault mate although I got potong leher. We went in and tried, juz that we least expect he dare to request so much. But at least we streamlined a list of which Tie Da not to go in KL. =)

Also called Dit Da in Cantonese.

FREE Wi-Fi Hotspots in Hong Kong unfound

I will soon embark on my training journey to Hong Kong. As someone who can't live without internet, I google for FREE Wi-Fi hotspots in Hong Kong. To my surprise, there is none. There are a lot of hotspots around in Hong Kong. But FREE ones, is zero.

Now I feel fortunate to be in Malaysia. Coz Starbucks with approximately 70 outlets in Malaysia have FREE wi-fi in all the outlets. This still exclude those other restaurants, cafes and food court that provide wireless connection everywhere you are. You will never be disconnected from the cyber world.

Disappointed...

Back to EPL mood

It's been a while since I'm thrilled bout watching English Premier League. It wasn't until my friend invited me to join one of the fantasy football game that I gave up for so long.

Sometimes it's this type of stuff, other than gambling that hike my interest in the game. And guess what? The first match of the season is Sheffield U. (where I studied) vs Liverpool (where my sweetie studied). Both of us might shout at each other if we are watching this game together. Hehehe...

Here's the time of this weekend's matches. I'm so looking forward to see the players I selected in my fantasy footbal to score. Muahahaha... Die you, Gan and Andrew!!! Bwuahhahahaha...
Time listed below is UK time (GMT). To convert it to Malaysian time, +7 hours.

August 19
12:45 Sheffield U. vs Liverpool
15:00 Arsenal vs Aston Villa
15:00 Everton vs Watford
15:00 Newcastle U. vs Wigan Athletic
15:00 Portsmouth vs Blackburn R.
15:00 Reading vs Middlesbrough
15:00 West Ham U. vs Charlton Athletic
17:15 Bolton W. vs Tottenham H.

August 20
13:30 Manchester U. vs Fulham
16:00 Chelsea vs Manchester C.

Most of the game will be broadcasted live on Astro ESPN. If you want the schedule, click here. Damn, I want Astro!!! But can't afford 1. Hehehe...

For those who can't afford Astro like me or find a company to watch the match at the nearest mamak, click on Livescore.com to check out the score. If you are desperate enough, watching EPL thru live text is the same as watching it thru television.

Some of you might already know, Livescore.com is livelier than the television. You will know someone score faster than the television bout a minute or more due to the slow tranmission that need to be shot thru the sky, then thru the atmosphere then touch the satelite, then shoot back to the earth thru the atmosphere, then thru the sky, and thru some stars (juz kidding) and back to the receiving satelite dish, then decode then broadcast back to your Astro satelite again, then the cycle goes all over again up and down before it reach your home tv. Phewww.... That's a lot of crap!!!

31,536,000 seconds still not enough?

I had been feeling maxed out for quite some time now. I've had the feeling that 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 31.5 million secs a year is not enough. Thus, I think it's this anxiety that cause me to stay up as late as 3am sometimes when I have to wake up at 8am the next morning for work. I'm worried that I might miss something while I am sleeping I guess.

Let's start analyzing my daily routine. Wake up at 8am, leave for work at 8.30am. Work the whole day, leave work at 7.30pm, reach home at 8.30pm. Go for a dinner, reach home at 9.30pm. Take a bath and look around my room it's already 10pm. Accompany my gf for a short relaxing DVD, it's already 12am. Sometimes it's juz so hard to even find time to just check mail.

I had already started to feel vexed over this job. The distance to travel to work is crazy. But still I can't do anything bout it. I have a career opportunity, I can't just let it go. I'm sure if I do, I will regret in the future.

Arghhh... How do I find a balance between my job, girlfriend, friends, family and most importantly myself? When more than 2 of the mentioned screwed up, I just fall.

I lost my balance...

Happy Belated Birthday Mummy!!!

It was my mum's birthday on Sunday. Yup, 13th August. How old is she? Hell if you ask me, she's 20. Actually, I don't really know which year my mum's born. Unfillial? Yeah I must admit in this sense.

Yup, that's my mum and my dad. I don't look anywhere like them huh. That's what people always say. My mum would always kid with me that I was picked from the rubbish dump. But I never took it into heart even when I was very very young. It is because I know my parents equally loves their children.

Wanna hear more unfillial things bout me? I actually don't know my mum's birth date until about a few years ago. I think it's our family tradition that we don't talk mooshy mushy stuff. But when you leave home for years and start your own life, you start to appreciate a lot bout your parents at home.

There's tough times that our family had went through, like any other families. But my mum had definitely pull through it like a superwoman.

Happy Belated Birthday Superwoman!!! You will always be the superwoman in my heart Mummy Boo.

p/s: Thanks to my little sis who secretly sent me a text to remind me and my bro that we forgot our mum's birthday. But I must say, the text comes in a nick of time. Another unfillial side of me.

Lake House

My Rating: 9/10

PLEASE PLEASE GO WATCH THIS MOVIE!!!

It's been a while since I felt I have watch a awesome movie. I thought of this movie a horror one at first, until my friend, Taikui told me it is actually a romance movie.

Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves are fantastic in the film. I would really like to accredit Alejandro Agresti in directing this movie so well. The facial close-up of the actors' expression makes it so... I don't know how to express it, but it's definitely going to be in my DVD collection.

Most critics were not astounded by this film. But I love it. Yeah, it might be a little illogical, but this is like a modern fantasy movie. Hey, give it a break, it's a romance movie, what do you expect?

As usual, I'm not going to be a spoiler. You will have to watch the movie by yourself.

Alternatively, if you are prepared, you can click on the link below to read bout the synopsis.


WARNING! Spoiler.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_lake_house_(film)

When logic can't solve...

Like I have said in my previous blog, I still can't find an answer of the downtime. Hence, I turn to the paranormal... astrology in Yahoo!. This quite explain everything. That's why I can't live without internet.

Work is not a cakewalk on Monday. Something is holding you back. It's possible that your head is not squarely in the present, and that a kind of general confusion is making even the obvious seem obscure. It's time to seek guidance. Tuesday and Wednesday are full of deep thought and clarity (bonus!), and you may find your understanding of your professional life taking on a startling new dimension. This is good. Thursday and Friday, none of the answers are at your fingertips, but you're asking the right questions. The weekend consists of round-the-clock social time.

Hmm... hopefully this will be clear by next week.

Underfiring pistons

I am not able to fire at full pistons since yesterday. My mind is blank, or am I? It's just like my body is in the office, but my mind is wandering off somewhere else.
Like my boss always like to say to us, "IT'S NOT CLEAR IN YOUR HEAD!!!", with loud clapping of her palms.

Now, I must admit, my head is NOT CLEAR!!!! Com'on... Smack my head a little!!!

Click

My Rating: 8/10

Went for this movie during the sneak preview over the weekend. It was a hilarious movie. But not only that, it's full of content as well. It got me almost tearful.

Adam Sandler, not only a great comedian, but also brought out the morale behind the movie. I better not break the pot here, it's worth watching. It's the kind of movie that put you back on track in your life when you lose track. Enjoy the movie!

End of week roundup

It has been a long week.

First of all, sprained my knee during a basketball game. Has been limping since then. Although the swelling has gone (because of my experience in massaging), I could still feel a very week knee. Can't really support my whole body weight (less than 60kg) with my left leg now. Worse of all, just heard one of my colleague who sprained his ankle during an island trip 3 weeks ago, had discovered the sprained ankle is actually a tear in the ligamen. Now he has to go for a surgery to rejoin his ligamen back to the bone. Hmm... I think my pain is still not as bad as his. I'm just scaring myself.

Then, it's some random thoughts during one of the sleepless night. I had a flash back on the friends that I had mixed around since I was in Form 3 until today. Then I was thinking, so what happen before that? My memory was a primary school friend by the name of Raymond. He was my schoolmate, tuition mate and my family friend's son. He used to cycle to my house everyday after school and most of the time, he will end up sleeping on the couch. We used to be so closed that sometimes we can chat on the phone for a long time. It's not that we were gay, it's just that we have so much of things to share with as friends. Sometimes when I heard of my current group of friends sharing their childhood story together, I just can't help but wonder, eventhough I see Raymond from time to time, does he still remember the childhood that we had together? Just curious...

Things change when we went to highschool. He started to mixed with another group of friends that hangout a lot outside and getting to know girls. Since my parents was more of a protective type, I didn't much leave the house and hangout with friends outside the house until I was Form 3. That was then I started to hook myself with this group of friends.

Then it's the, rest-at-home-mind-at-work days during the break. One of the project was kicking in so fast that my colleagues were swamped with work till late night and constantly on the phone with me when I'm at home. Even though I only work on Friday for this week, I felt so tired. It feels kind of a guilty as well for my colleagues to cover my work till wee hours very very early in the morning.

Now, I have loads of laundry to do and room to clean due to my lazy bum that got so heavy since my leg hurt. But what to do, the laundry will not get done by itself and the room will not return to the spicked and spanned condition before. So, Saturday will be just another normal weekend where I spend time doing laundry and getting stuff done.

On holiday?

I was on leave since Monday. It was actually a holiday for me to go to Kuching with sweetie. It was her dad's death anniversary.

However, since my sweetie is hot like pancake, she suddenly got unscheduled job assessments that clash this whole trip all together. So, we have to cancel the trip, partly also it's because I injured my knee during a basketball game on Saturday. It's really bad! But getting better now.

So, I take the opportunity and rest at home. But, it's not quite as it seems. I basically spent most of the time doing stuff that I normally don't have time to do due to most of the time spent at work.

It's not a couch potato kind of holiday so. I formatted 2 laptops, 1 whole months worth of grocery shopping, dvds shopping and some driving around to decide what to eat.

Hence, not much of a holiday actually, it's a break.

Stressed vs Pressured

Somehow I feel stressed over work, but not pressured. I know, this two words come hand in hand with each other. But what makes me think I'm stressed but not pressured?


Here's the definitions of these 2 words from AskOxford.com:

stress
• noun 1 pressure or tension exerted on a material object. 2 a state of mental, emotional, or other strain. 3 particular emphasis. 4 emphasis given to a syllable or word in speech


pressure
• noun 1 the continuous physical force exerted on or against an object by something in contact with it. 2 the use of persuasion or intimidation to make someone do something. 3 a feeling of stressful urgency. 4 the force per unit area exerted by a fluid against a surface.



Somehow, for the first time, I felt the two words are different from each other. Here's my own definition:

stress
• stretched out, tired, exhausted, sleepy

pressure
• can't breath (but not suffocating though)

Simple huh? Coz I'm a very simple person. Hiakzz hiakzz hiakzz.

Just My Luck

My Rating: 5/10

Not a bad film. Hilarious and fun. A totally brand new fresh idea for a stale industry. Money worth spending on.

From the director of another movie I quite like, "How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days".

Lindsay Lohan wasn't that hot though. That's the disappointment.