Keep Trying
The Chinese have a saying:
“If you throw enough rice on the wall, some of it’s gotta stick. “
Hiatus (Pt II)
“Live for the moment, but plan for the future.” - executorlouis
Interesting times ahead. I will resume blogging in July. Ciao for now! 
Some Updates: April 2008
Some updates:
1. I am down with a flu, again.
2. I am officially addicted to Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
3. I want to learn to cook Korean bibimbap, but the sum of the parts is so much work that i think i’ll stick to ordering it outside.
4. HBO’s Rome is a great TV series. Download and watch if you have time. Even if you aren’t a medieval history buff i can guarantee you’ll like it more than all the crap that pass for TV programmes these days.
How to Win Arguments, As It Were
Dave Barry is one of my favourite satirical columnists, nuff’ said and enjoy!
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I argue very well. Ask any of my remaining friends. I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this, and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don’t even invite me. You too can win arguments. Simply follow these rules:
Hard To Let Go
I feel sick sometimes when it strikes me how much my adolescence still influences and spills over to my adult life.
The places i have been to, the brands i buy, the people i know, etc. The formative years.
Maybe i am afraid i will never get to experience them again, that’s why i keep holding on.
Now listening to: Why Not Tribute Mix [Part I]
Malaysian Elections 2008
It’s a pretty exciting time for Malaysia - the winds of change are blowing in the form of unprecedented voter turnout and election results. For the first time, the people are sending a clear message to Barisan Nasional (the national coalition) that they have had enough: things need to improve and PM Abdullah should bloody well stop embarrassing the country!
I am staying up till early morning here, reading as the unofficial results trickle in - Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan and Perak all fallen to the Opposition. The past couple of months have been extraordinary for Malaysian politics, and the trend looks set to continue.
The Barisan Nasional has had their go for the past few decades, and now its time to give the Opposition a chance. Never mind a modern Malaysia, let’s just keep our focus on a progressive and meritocratic Malaysia and the rest will fall into place.
People should not be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people!
CNY Holiday - Looking Back
And so, i have returned from my holiday - good times pass all too quickly. I managed to convince my parents to let me go to Malaysia for a week, so it was a week in Singapore for CNY and a week in KL/Penang/Langkawi. I think seeing me in person put them in good enough of a mood and reminded them that i am old enough to make decisions for myself. My family even invited Damien over for reunion dinner so in this unique turn of events he had the one-off opportunity to visit my home and parents.
Singapore was nice as usual - its always nice for travellers, though for the locals, living costs have gone up several notches. If it weren’t for the remarkable growth the nation experienced in 2007, Singaporeans would have a harder time like their neighbours across the border. Speaking of Malaysia, not as much has changed on the surface, but there are noticeably higher prices for everything and a couple more shopping centers.
I think the best way to go about this post is to just break it down into segments and i’ll elaborate on these aspects of our trip:
Shopping: Damien was very excited about shopping, and we got to visit the Pavilion (impressive) and the Curve (average). We also visited staples like Mid Valley, Times Square, One Utama, Gurney Plaza and bought much clothing to make up for scrimping on shopping in Melbourne! I also went through every BODS Bodynits outlet i could find - one of my favourite brands that is becoming so very hard to find. They always have a sporty and tasteful range that is also rather popular because of their wink-wink-nudge-nudge image.
Holiday Plans…Or Not
I just finished Persona 3, which is one of the last great RPGs on the Playstation 2. I must admit that i enjoyed it tremendously, with characters i truly cared for, even though the game did sucked up about 90 hours of my time. The anime sequel is shaping up to be really disappointing so far - some substantial cameos would be nice. Will burn a copy for Kian when he returns - being an avid RPG fan i think it’s something he can appreciate.
In less than 48 hours, i will be on a plane back to Singapore. My “holiday” has so far been derailed by my parents, who have used strong-arm tactics to prevent me from making a trip to Malaysia. Supposedly, its “unsafe” and they don’t like the undesirable elements that i hang out with, including perhaps Damien. Having grown up in Malaysia half of my life, i don’t see what is so friggin’ unsafe that i don’t already know about. Perhaps i have been too honest about my plans, but i would like to have a holiday with their blessing instead of having to sneak around all the time. Nonetheless, i had no way of knowing they would react the way they did. Well, they can stop me now but they can’t control me forever.
I might not get to put a blog post until i get back, so happy CNY everyone!
Too Young
Wow, Heath Ledger is dead. Died of a suspected drug overdose in his room. He was one of Australia’s big names in Hollywood but sadly he had to go in such a tragic manner. It will be really strange watching him play one of his last roles as the Joker in the new Batman movie now. RIP, cowboy.
Strange Days
There’s a wisdom tooth emerging on my right jaw as a third molar. It’s not painful, but i can feel a slight ache at times. It’s rather worrying, but i don’t want to go through a minor operation on the dentist’s chair as yet.
On the topic of bodily changes, my current weight according to our new bathroom scale, is 54kg. I am truly puzzled as i used to be a consistent 60kg throughout my teens. They say you put on more weight as you grow older and bigger, and this should be true for me since i definitely eat more now than before. Perhaps there is some truth when people remark that i have lost weight? 
HD-DVD, We Hardly Knew Thee
Warning: Geekspeak ahead
With the announcement by Warner Entertainment to support Blu-Ray exclusively, the HD-DVD format is all but doomed.
Blu-Ray has officially won the next-gen HD-format war, and Sony finally got their dominance after so many bouts of failure.
The future is now!
Goodbye 2007, Hello 2008
New Year’s Eve was a bit of a mixed bag. There was no private party to go to, so we just loitered around Williamstown. That’s a nice portside town happened to be packed with people that night in the ridiculous 40-degree heat.
Had an unexpected argument with the parents so that made me really depressed. Entertained a 30-minute phone call from mom while my udon soaked up all of the tasteless soup. Crappiest Jap food i ever had thus far.
Having a beer and a whole bottle of wine later, i still felt depressed, but slightly more oblivious to the feeling. Getting wasted is a great way to forget your problems for a bit.
Fireworks were a bit underwhelming in the distance. Went home, loving bf stayed up and listened while i belted out karaoke tunes to myself. At least i can’t say the night was uneventful.
Christmas Comes Early
Over the weekend, Damien and i were up in the woods near his parents’ place in the countryside, hunting for a small pine tree to use as a Christmas tree. Due to the geographical positioning of Australia, we have a peculiar situation whereby December is right smack in the middle of summer. Hence, we had to dodge flies, fresh kangaroo poo, and scratchy trees as we looked for a pine in the summer heat. We found it, stuffed it in the back of the car, and finally had it set up in the living room. Despite having a green bucket as a base (we later wrapped the bucket with Christmas paper), it actually looked decent. I remarked to Damien that its a pity we don’t get much guests, and he wryly replied that’s how it is when most of your friends are Asian and they all go home for the holidays! *lol*
I haven’t been doing any Christmas shopping. Perhaps i should, but Damien already bought an iPhone so i can’t think of anything he really needs at the moment. And i think i have pretty much splurged more than i should have this year - some very big purchases were made recently:
- Playstation 3 60GB unit
- 40″ Samsung LCD TV
- Ten of the year’s best PS3 games
- Blu-Ray movies *
Ok, being a student, how can i afford all these? Well, who knew selling part of your collection of Magic cards could be so rewarding? I sold all of the stuff i would never use, scrapped together some savings, and ditched my pimped-out PS2 for the PS3. Prices may go down in the years to come, but being able to enjoy next-generation entertainment right now is pretty cool. I think of it as an early Xmas present for myself.
Aside from fiddling with our tech toys, Damien’s friends from Singapore will also be dropping by in the week leading up to Christmas, and we’ll take a half-day drive to Mount Gambier for a 3-day stay. Beaches, caves, lakes, possums - i am looking forward to the beaches mostly.
Merry Christmas everyone!
* What’s this? You may have heard that Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are battling it out to become the next-gen successor to DVDs. Blu-Ray is currently the leading high-definition format, with the exclusive backing of 5 movie studios as compared to 2 (?) for HD-DVD.
Justified
I did well for this semester - 1 High Distinction and 3 Distinctions. Could have had more HDs, but somehow i either screwed up or my project mates fucked me over. Still, a large part of the satisfaction comes from being able to show those kind of results to your parents - justifying that their faith in you was well-placed and that you can make up for past disappointments.
New Government
On Saturday, Australian elections saw a Labor government swept into power through a landslide victory. We sat in front of the TV the whole night listening to commentaries while the votes were being counted. Elections can be exciting if you know what’s going on. Let’s hope the new leadership can deliver on their promises and improve on the way things are now. I don’t care much for politics, but i suppose you could call me a traditionalist - i am happy as long as the economy is strong, there’s job security, and the country goes in a direction with which i can be proud to call it my home.
Blood+
I was having a haircut at the local hairdresser’s yesterday afternoon, and he accidentally snipped off a small part of skin on my ear. It didn’t hurt, but the blood soon started to flow freely. You’ll be surprised how much can come out from a cut when it hits a capillary.
So, i took some tissue to staunch the flow and told him to carry on. A few minutes later, i was starting to feel light-headed from the blood loss and was close to blacking out.
I closed my eyes, slumped a bit back on the seat and managed to hold on. The haircut was done, i paid, and i stumbled out. There was no need to cause a scene. Grabbed a bar of chocolate from my bag to munch on - that helped.
Later that evening, the wound opened two more times, and blood just kept trickling down my ear if i stopped the pressure for a moment. Damien remarked whether i had haemophilia. Highly unlikely, but it was sure inconvenient as hell.
I started to feel dizzy again so i went to bed early. Had to sleep on my side.
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Edit: I am feeling much better now. Probably would need to use a shower cap.
Transcript: Interview with LKY (27th Sept 2007)
For those of you who have not read the most recent press interview with Singapore founder Lee Kuan Yew, i thought i would just reproduce it here. I believe a lot can be learnt from it. Throughout the years, my respect for him only grew, considering how shrewd and in-touch he is despite his age.
One only has to compare him with any one of our Malaysian ministers or the words that come out of their mouths, including the embarassingly incompetent PM Abdullah and his cronies, and you can only despair for our country. Mr. Lee may sometimes be bigoted and have put policies in place that screwed lots of people over, but at least he did it for the sake of Singapore and the greater good of its citizens, a matter of survival in the long-run. This is more than i can say for our own Malaysian leaders who screw the country over for their own sake!
As it is, i am more proud of my years in Singapore than those in Malaysia, because the former had prepared me so much better for the world.
This also the famous interview that made headlines, where Mr. Lee took a dig at UMNO for treating their minorities like dirt, and also dropped a hint on rejoining Malaysia. Look also for other nuggets of wisdom on YouTube, censorship, the Asian century, and current affairs in general!
Burnout: Dominator
This is so friggin’ cool. The Burnout series is famous for its dangerous driving and car-wrecking. I want to get this game just for its city-specific maps - zooming through the streets of KL!
Do Better Than That
I hate working in groups sometimes, but one small pleasure is that i get to do things my way sometimes.
I mean, you get stuck with some pretty hopeless people out there. And then there are those who think they are real smart.
Hey, i think i am real smart too. In fact, some might even think i am cocky and anal-retentive.
But i consistently get HDs for my reports - my hard work and dedication shows. I may not have age on my side (don’t need it), but i acknowledge talent and i’ll respect it when i see it.
If you want to come challenge me, make an effort or stay down. :evil:
(5am and i am off to bed now. Exhausted.)
Making Time Capsules
I was looking for a particular document when, on a whim, i looked through my mail and chat archives for the past few years. I could only smile and feel a peculiar bittersweet feeling when you think back about how things were like when you were much younger.
I also have three chat transcripts of me and Damien when we first chatted, circling each other warily and digging out morsels of information. I shall keep them from him until our 2nd year anniversary.
The moral of this story is, try to save a copy of your meaningful conversations, then go back to read them years later. You will be amazed at how much you have changed and forgotten.
It’s a snapshot of a period in your life that will never come again.
Ebay Negative Feedback
I just received my first negative feedback on Ebay. I never knew it could upset me so much - i tried so hard to build positive feedback and all it takes is one person to ruin it all, from 100% to 99.3%.
It was through no fault of mine either - i stated that the movie disc was Region 1, and the dickhead said it was fine print. Like, hello? Everyone didn’t have have a problem with it - they read the description written in Point 10 Arial font and were happy with the stuff they’ve received. And now this blind fuck blames me just because he can’t read something so blatantly obvious.
I don’t want to keep ranting and waste your time, so i am going to impart a gem of wisdom - if you trade on Ebay, never leave feedback first. Use it as a deterrant and insist that the other party leave feedback first if he wants yours. I was kind enough to leave him glowing feedback and look where it got me.
A Few Weeks Earlier…
My 23rd birthday occurred. Since i view it as a transitional birthday, i did not do anything particularly special, except go out for a buffet dinner.
The Langham Hotel in Southbank, and the Melba restaurant on the second floor.
The seafood was not very good, but everything else was ok.
Damien poses for the camera. He looks good in this one.
We will probably review this in depth in Candid Cuisine, but to sum it up, paying AU$79.99 per head for average food is just not worth it.
A Quiet Return
I didn’t intend to return to blogging just yet, but like everyone, i have things that i wish to get off my chest at times and i find writing eases some of these frustrations.
Question: Why did i return to my old blog template, and why don’t i design a new one?
Because this one always had more personality, and i can’t find time to design yet another one.
