Caprices & Requiems

New Ipod Nano

2008-09-11T10:47:00.005+09:30

Is it just me or is the new Nano a bit off in terms of design?

They kinda remind of me these imitations though..

Let's just hope the real thing isn't that bad!

Benzema

2008-08-11T09:15:00.002+09:30

For crying out loud,

Please replace this,

with this.

Pure Crap

2008-07-31T09:50:00.001+09:30

What a bucket load of crap.

"(It) looks the same, contents are the same,"
but can't say it's the same?? and claims not to have seen the report but knows they look the same and contents are same??

and he dares mention the infamous quote of
"Looks like me, sounds like me, but it's not me"

Kids, start learning this quote when questioned by mummy daddy for doing something wrong.

Here in my home - Malaysian Artiste for Unity

2008-05-28T16:17:00.001+09:30

More local stuff perhaps.

Tempered Mental - Honestly

Nice ad

2008-05-06T18:41:00.001+09:30

Once a upon a time....

2008-04-24T23:18:00.003+09:30

Reminder

2008-04-24T13:31:00.004+09:30

This is not typical of me.
But writing this serves as a reminder to myself.

In the event of a JUST victory;
Claiming it under your own name is just plain selfish & idiotic.
Claiming it under the name of others can be either selfless, appreciative, or plain idiotic.
Claiming it under God's name, is not merely the right thing, but of a show of gratitude, appreciation, and repentance.

Lingham/Lingam

2008-04-21T19:20:00.008+09:30

Looks like chili sauce, smells like chili sauce, tastes like chili sauce...
But I'm not too sure if it's chili sauce.
Better sent it to the food lab for verification =)

Interesting Read

2008-04-03T11:31:00.005+10:30

I don't read.
I'm a movie person.
I can sit through movie marathons like all episodes of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Matrix, and not to mention i recently finished the whole Heroes Season 2 + Two Movies in one day.

The last book i bought was way back in December 2007 when i was in Tasmania. In fact, i haven't even finished half the book (tsk)! Not to mention the book 'Blink'.

Anyways, i recently bought this book out of boredom.

Pretty interesting and on top of that, they are short stories which suits me rather well.

Although i skipped two that almost bore me to death, the other two i have read so far has splendid indeed, that of course includes a beautiful story by Haruki Murakami himself (although i didn't really like the ending).

Anyways, i read this on the bus this morning.

"Happy Birthday. Your thirteenth is important. Maybe your first really public day. Your thirteenth is the chance for people to recognize that important things are happening to you.

Thing have been happening to you for the past half year. You have seven hairs in your left armpit now. Twelve in your right. Hard dangeours spirals of brittle black hair. Crunchy, animal hair. There are now more of the hard curled hairs around your privates than you can count without losing track. Other things. Your voice is rich and scratchy and moves between octaves without any warning. Your face has begun to get shiny when you don't wash it. And two weeks of a deep and frightening ache this past spring left you with something dropped down from inside: You sack is now full and vulnerable, a commodity to be protected. Hefted and strapped in tight supporters that stripe your buttocks red. You have grown into a new fragility.

And dreams. For months there have been dreams like nothing before: moist and busy and distant, full of yielding curves, frantic pistons, warmth and a great falling; and you have awakened through fluttering lids to a rush and a gush and a toe-curling scalp-snapping jolt of feeling from an inside deeper than you knew you had, spasms of a deep sweet hurt, the streetlights through your window blinds cracking into sharp stars against the black bedroom ceiling, and on you a dense white jam that lisps between legs, trickles and sticks, cools on you, hardens and clears until there is nothing but gnarled knots of pale solid animal hair in the morning shower, and in the wet tangle a clean sweet smell you can't believe comes from anything you made inside you."

Forever Overhead
by Daivd Foster Wallace

The remaining part of course is equally nice to read as well.
As Murakami writes in the introduction of this story;
"The author minutely describes every psychological variation experienced by a boy at each stage as he climbs up the diving board and....."

But i couldn't help but amazed at his ability to put 'puberty' in such an artsy fartsy way. Not to mentioned the whole paragraph on having wet dreams.

If only textbooks have sections like these.
Perhaps it'll instill an extra certain amount of creativity to students.

Decisions

2008-02-23T21:06:00.006+10:30

Road Not Taken - Robert Frost

2008-02-23T15:32:00.006+10:30

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Well, i say merge the roads, or choose the third and better road.

Movies

2008-02-10T02:56:00.000+10:30

Been watching loads of movies this CNY, shows that i haven't been out an awful lot! Just felt like lazing at home and enjoy my break!

Apart from CJ7, these are the movies i managed to catch up last week on top of the 7 episodes of 'Gan Yan Gin'..

SAW IV; I think they should stop it now as they're starting to recycle ideas.
I am Legend; i thought the ending was too abrupt..
CJ7; rather disappointing...

Warlords; Nice!! But 'Hero' & 'House of Flying Daggers' was better! But i enjoyed this more than 'The Banquet' though.
Brothers; Boring! Same old typical triad movie.. but i've no idea why i still watch them.

Surf's Up; pleasant watch!So much better than the horribly lame Bee Movie!
Game plan, similar to the pacifier... but i enjoyed this more.
Chipmunks, quite boring/annoying as the show goes on..
Heartbreak Kid, damn hilarious... you've gotta watch this!

The illusionist; Quite similiar to 'The Prestige' although i liked this more.
Fracture; as always, Anthony Hopkins is just creepy when it comes to these kinda movies, excellent movie.
The Great Debaters, probably the best movie of the lot!

I still have these 3 to go though..

Just hope Sweeney Todd will still be showing in the cinemas next weekend!

Blues

2008-02-08T15:17:00.000+10:30

The heck with rats...

I like my CNY blue =)

my Desktop:

Happy Chinese New Year!

Toxic - Yael Naim

2008-01-23T00:49:00.000+10:30

Yael Naim is just awesome..

Check out these two videos ...
Same song, totally different arrangements.
Unlike what Alanis Morisette did, this is really amazing.

This song rings a bell?
Watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K84ySmoUUdk

Yael Naim

2008-01-20T13:40:00.000+10:30

Thanks to Macbook air's commercial -

'New Soul'

'Paris'

droolss...

2008-01-20T01:34:00.000+10:30

You gotta be kidding me...

??!?!

?!?!?

?!?!?!

ok.. it has a single USB port, requires an external optical disc drive..but who cares? :P
It's still thin and cool enough to make my macbook look like some obese-albino tramp ...

Chamber Concert

2008-01-13T23:36:00.000+10:30

me Latest work =)

And yes, this event is real.

I'll be playing ..tsk tsk..

Carol of the Bells

2008-01-12T13:55:00.000+10:30

Enjoy =)

On the Eve of New Year's Eve

2007-12-31T01:00:00.000+10:30

2007 has been very eventful.
I graduated from University, and started working.

This also meant that i went through the transition of "paying to get stress" to "being paid to get stress". Make no mistake about this, life in high school, and college was very very interesting. In fact, it was where i learned a whole lot of things that earned me this job. However, due to it's novelty, i fancy the working life for the time being. Of course, it can be argued that the excitement and unpredictability of the working life will wear off sooner or later. Well, i shall savour the moment shan't i? =) Having said so, I am confident that come next year, I will (and hope) that i still find work challenging. If i don't, then perhaps it is clear indication for me to switch jobs.

FYI, I am currently working as one of the administrators in the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. The MPYO is part of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, which of course is funded by Petronas. They sign my paycheck, so i suppose I am a employee or semi-employee of Petronas?

My job is to assist the administrator in all matters pertaining to the administration of the orchestra. I do have a specific job scope at the moment, which is to manage the library, the website, and chambers.

Now why is a psychology student like me taking up a job such as this, which on paper, holds no relation to whatever i studied?
My rationale is that, if there are humans, psychology is applicable. Simple as that.

After all, psychology is a study of human behavior and the underlying processes.

I hoped i answered the two questions that popped up as soon as you read that i am working for "MPYO".

The next question you might ask is, "Are you satisfied with your job?"

On a scale of 1 to 10, '1' being extremely dissatisfied and '10' extremely satisfied, I would give it a 7.

Why the 3 points deducted?
One, I'm not in the zone, yet.
Two, I have yet to see a clear path in terms of career advancement.
Three, There are rooms for improvement.

I would've rated a "6" if it wasn't for the recent national tour where i managed to foster (at least on my part) a better relationship with my colleagues and not to mention, the wonderful musicians. 12 days was all i had with them, and it was truly amazing.

Enough about work for now, blogging too much about work is just plain suicide =)

After the tour, i was back to Penang for a week-long holiday, which sadly ends today.
It was a pleasant break as the tour really took something beating out of me.
Shall blog bit more on my trip back to Penang with Ms. Yeong and some other new found friends/musicians from the MPYO.

Till then =)

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-22T19:36:00.000+10:30

It's sorta good to be back =)

Merry Christmas everyone and a happy new year!

Lousy movie + Adium

2007-10-09T17:02:00.000+09:30

Peeps..

DO NOT WATCH "THE SEEKER"

I have to admit i was totally fooled by the trailer..

Really gobsmacked by the horrible story line, horrible oneliners, horrible graphics and of course, the horrible acting..

It started off well..
mysterious build-up, some kinda evil scheme looming in the dark..
but as the movie progressed, everything went horribly wrong..

Redundant scenes keep popping up.. and the plot just went downhill from there...It got extremely predictable with cheesy one liners they kept using such as "Believe in yourself" and "the dark is rising"..brrrrr...

I'm was like wtf... can't they come with better oneliners? I mean.. the oneliners in the movie made Horatio (in CSI Miami) sound super duper cool..

This is one horrible terrible vegetable movie..It's like a combination of Narnia, Matrix and Dragon Ball parodies.

The final battle between the "Dark" and "Light" was a very bad imitation of Matrix..with the rain and all..And then the kid got super pissed and released huge amounts of energy while shouting just like in Dragon Ball and even did something like a "kamehameha" ..if u know what i mean..

Anyways... I just found this IM (instant messaging) app for Mac which is totally awesome..The microsoft msn for Mac is simply useless while Alvaro messenger is just weird..What i like about Adium is that it allows you to make wholesale changes to the appearance..Font type, font colors, backgrounds with gradient... anything....And the best part is Adium allows you to use multiple IM protocols...which means it can be used with MSN accounts, Yahoo, AOL, ICQ, and even Google talk! Not sure whether there's a PC version..but you can check it out at www.adiumx.com.

Here's a screen shot of the four views you can choose for the contacts window..Note that I've also customized the contact fonts, colors etc..

nice right? =)

The "Facebook" Song

2007-10-09T03:39:00.000+09:30

me bro found this.. Enjoy =)

"I can poke you..and you can poke me too"

wakaka....

Mate vs Maid

2007-10-09T02:45:00.001+09:30

Nicholas: eh..my mate ran away on laz sat
.aaron: ran away??
Nicholas: ya
Nicholas: so heartless
.aaron: wat do u mean ran away?
.aaron: "lei gah chut jao"?
Nicholas: lari la!
Nicholas: yaya
.aaron: wahh.
.aaron: with girlfriend?
Nicholas: we suspect they got one group

(Wahh..group summore)
Nicholas: i mean my maid la
Nicholas: hahaha
Nicholas: wrong spellin
.aaron: maid hior.. u idiot..
.aaron: hahahahahahha
Nicholas: tats y u r so blur
.aaron: u say MATE
Nicholas: lolzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
.aaron: you stupid..
.aaron: hhhahaha
Nicholas: too many ppl to chat wat
Nicholas: lolx
Nicholas: jz kidin
.aaron: hahaha..
.aaron: gonna put this on my blog
Nicholas: eh pls la! dun make me paiseh..

Dun worry.. no one knows who u r also =)

:P

Teehee..

2007-10-02T11:55:00.001+09:30

If this video somehow is unable to put the slightest of smile on your face...

Go see a shrink..:P

"TRADEMARKS"

2007-10-02T01:31:00.000+09:30

Took me a few days to get this right.. ish.

I AM FRIGGIN...

2007-09-29T16:39:00.000+09:30

Bored! [bôrd]

adjective
1. Feeling weary because one is unoccupied or lacks interest in one's current activity
2. Tired and uninterested from being unoccupied

Humility & Trust

2007-09-28T02:37:00.000+09:30

THE WINE ROOM

2007-09-26T17:18:00.000+09:30

Went for a couple of drinks at the Wine Room in Asian Heritage Row few weeks back..

Aside from the rather warm air conditioning, it was a nice place to hang out.

Band was awesome, seats were comfortable and pretty, not too crowded and not too noisy. Perfect.

My personal highlight of the night was this:

hehe.. tasted real good. Not as strong the 75%-alcohol Bacardi 151, but you still get some kick from it nonetheless.

In terms of taste, I think this one tastes way better than 151.

Still, whites and JD tops my list.

Well, Flaming Lamborghini-virgin no more =)

NEW LOOK

2007-09-26T02:26:00.000+09:30

I think this change in both the template and color scheme may prove to be the most drastic of all.

Despite making countless changes to the banner and color scheme prior to this, i just couldn't decide on one.

Black will always be my favourite color..
And coupled together with my not-so-upbeat mood right now. i think it's perfect.

Well...
hopefully this will last a lil' bit more longer than the others. =)

Food Blog

2007-09-20T18:19:00.000+09:30

Started a new blog... We call it Food Doof :P

Check it out!

www.fooddoof.blogspot.com

Sarah Montague vs. Malaysian Foreign Minister Dato Seri Syed Hamid Albar

2007-09-17T13:48:00.000+09:30

I believe kennysia.com has posted this as well..

But I'm gonna put this up anyways.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/hardtalk/6992908.stm

This is a video of a BBC reporter interviewing our Foreign Minister on the issue of "possible" racial discrimination in our country.

What interests me more is the conversation itself rather than the content of it.
I make no stand in this issue because i think it is redundant which incidentally is also the nature of most talk shows-
Redundant.

People talk, people clap their hands and voice out their support be it live audiences on those at home.

But are things done? Sometimes. It creates an AWARENESS of a particular issue. But followups?? hmm...

Well.. i suppose it can also be argued that talk shows address and acknowledge people's needs hence DELAYING certain reactions to a particular issue.

Anyways, i find it interesting that Sarah Montague presses hard with issues that is deemed sensitive in the country.
while our foreign minister is rather skilled in providing reasons that AT TIMES make sense (Shall give him a benefit of a doubt)

Not considering the issue discussed, I'm quite amazed at the way he conversed and manage not only to defend but pin the reporter back by mentioning their respective positions - ONE, breathing Malaysian air while the other is a COMMENTATOR who is a foreigner.

oh wells...watch it if you want to =)

Good day.

Enjoy =)

Grins*

2007-09-11T12:32:00.000+09:30

Nessun Dorma

2007-09-09T22:49:00.000+09:30

I know this is my third time posting up this song..but i just can't get this song out of my head.

"Nessun dorma" is an aria from the final act of Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot. The aria, whose title translates from Italian as "No one will sleep", follows the proclamation by the Princess Turandot that no one shall sleep: They shall all spend the night attempting to find out the name of the unknown prince, Calàf, who has set the challenge that if his name cannot be found out, the cold Princess Turandot will marry him. Calàf sings, indicating his certainty that their efforts to discover his name will be in vain.

source: wikipedia.

Anyways..here's a version sung by the 3 tenors.

Lastly, here's the final performance by Pavarotti in Winter Olympics Torino 2006.
Also Nessun Dorma.

Khoo Clan

2007-09-09T12:04:00.000+09:30

proud to be one.

a Tribute to Luciano Pavarotti

2007-09-07T13:23:00.000+09:30

Although Placido Domingo is my personal favorite..
Luciano Pavarotti is arguably one of best if not the best tenor who single-handedly promoted opera music.

I think it's fair to say that the world has just lost another legend.

Here's one of his performances.
Nessun Dorma sung by Pavarotti.

My love-hate relationship with Steve Jobs.

2007-09-06T12:25:00.000+09:30

oh Steve Jobs how i both love you and hate you.

visit www.apple.com

I won't say i'm totally obsessed with the new iMacs..
But these..gr..

hmpf*.. come to think of they're not that nice anyways...
i still love mine :P (yea yea yea..sour grapes)

Now, which letter should i set to Mr. Jobs?

Letter #1
Dear Steve Jobs,

It has come to my attention that you recently came with a series of new products, starting with the iPhone, iMacs and now the new iPods.

As someone who is very much interested in strategic management and visionary leaders such as you, I am very much intrigued at how you manage to strategically plan every aspect of the organization growth ten or more steps ahead, leaving your rivals licking up their wounds just by trying to kiss your ass never mind gaining the upper hand.

You started with the iPod.
Because of that, people started using iTunes and visit your apple site frequently.

You launched the MacBook and MacBook Pros.

With the mobility of MacBooks, these white/black shiny MacBooks are brought out and gets people drooling all over it. Of course, i once drooled.

You launched the iPhone and integrated the iPod in it to and retained previous iPod users
People complained about not being able to install non-apple softwares in the iPhone which of course was something you were fully aware of.

You then launched the Safari for windows at the same time.
Everyone needs an internet browser.
Now that everyone has Safari, they can use Safari to create new programs for the iPhone

You then changed your website interface and made it similar to the interface in iPhone which is also similar to Safari. Now everyone gets a taste of a Mac.

Now that every has their eyes on Apple.
You came out with new iMacs.

With the iPhone sales high up on the charts.
You came out with new ipods very much similar to the iPhone

All this came out when everyone was merely focusing on the iPhone and Mac OS Leopard which is due in October.

Whatever is next, I just can't wait.

After all, Apple created the mouse.

I wonder what is Mr. Gates doing. Zune with Vista in it?

a Mac Fan,
Aaron.

Letter #2

Hi steve,
Do you have trouble making decisions or are you just being plan impulsive?
Dude, make up your mind! I know this may be some marketing strategy...but dude...make up ur friggin mind!!

I got one of you macbooks not too long ago..and now you're selling them at a cheaper price with better specifications.

I got one of your ipods not too long ago, although i wasn't crazy with the 2nd generation ones, but these 3rd gens play videos and even with touch screen features.

What the heck is wrong with you?

and please, do not increase too much of the mac population.. why?

SIMPLE:
as Mac population increases, more people will hop on the Mac wagon..
as Mac wagon increases, profitability from Mac businesses increases..
as Profitability increases, people start making viruses to sell anti-virus softwares.
as result and most importantly, ME! I! have to live in fear and purchase anti-virus softwares.

(But then again, as the cost of maintaining a Mac increases, MAC population might go down...hmm..)

Anyways, please stop coming up with new products until i save some cash to get one of these new toys..please??

oh how i hate you at times.

Aaron

Recap

2007-09-03T23:32:00.000+09:30

Been a while since i last blogged...

well, i was sorta kinda "busy" ... =)

After coming back from Australia in June.. spend quite some time recuperating from the stressful exams..

The re-occurring thought of not passing any of the courses n not graduating was just plain crazy, went bonkers over it.

The thought of failing has never occurred to me in my 18-year 'career' as a student, hence you could imagine the magnitude of stress i had. Then again, what's life without stress?

anyhow, with all the stress i had...
I was contented with anything as long it's a "pass" and above =)

Well, all that is done & dusted as my previous entry have shown..so yeah,

bye bye to studies for now =)

Came back, rested, lepak-ed, and performed in what could be my last in performance with the Penang Symphony Orchestra

It was a pleasant performance although I was clearly disappointed with deteriorating playing..

I still had the fingers for technical stuff but just not the tone...

But hey, I was out of the orchestra scene for almost four years..can't complain much =)

On top of that, i manage to learn a lot from this performance not just as a performer but also as a person.
It was satisfying in the end. *winks

Prior to my trip to Australia for my convocation with my family, i was working with Apple (CG Computers) as a part-timer.
It was a pleasant experience although the pay was nothing to shout about.

But that wasn't the main reason i wanted to work as a part timer.
Figured rather than just sit at home, i might as well go learn a thing or two on the retail level.

CG Computers being the medium-sized company it is. i reckon that it will be easier to grasp how they operate on every level of the organization. It gave me a broad picture on how companies work and what are the essential elements. In the end, it was a valuable experience, learn what to do and more importantly what NOT to do. oh, and i just resigned today =)

oh, and did i mention in my 3 weeks there i sold 20,000 worth of goods? hehe... =) heck, i was even top of the sales performance at one point on 17,000.. hehe :P

Moving on, my family trip to Australia.

We were in Adelaide for 2 days, 3 days in Melbourne (again) and 4 days in Sydney.
Was in SIX different airports, TEN times altogether in TEN days.. tiring but fun =)
I love tiring myself...

My Australian adventure is almost complete now after the visit to Sydney..
With Canberra, Ayers Rock, and Perth the remaining places i have yet to visit...

My verdict for now is that, Melbourne ROCKS!
Simple, Classy, Clean, and Artistic.

Sydney, very happening..
but it's too similar to KL to my liking..
and worst, I fell sick in sydney!
but to be honest, Darling harbour, Circular Quay and all... it was really something special...
and dining along the cafes along Cockle Bay wharf was just superb..

(blowing me nose away in Sydney)

My mom however loves sydney though.. especially Paddy's market... reason being that it feels like home.
I hope she remembered that she was on a VACATION!! and feeling like home ain't sound like a vacation to me..

My dad...yeah you guessed it.
He likes Adelaide. Quiet and serene. He regretted for not staying in Adelaide for one more day..oh wells =)

It was a quite a pleasant trip although there were moments that i almost exploded.
Shall not blog about specific details =P

Here some pictures from the trip:

(Great Ocean Road- Twelve Apostles)

(Crown Casino, Melbourne. Me n my bro didn't tell my parents about the flaming pillars and the expressions on their faces when they saw the flames was really funny)

(me and the t-shirt painter herself)

Coming back from Aus.. i was in KL for 6 days.

On thursday nite, we went to Ikea and OneUtama till midnight.

NO, not for the Ikano Merdeka Celebrations but for the midnight sales which was rather disappointing.

What really irks me during these sales is the sight of shops that offers 10% or 5% discounts..they should just go kiss some wrinkled ass...

What's the friggin point of offering 10%...
yeah right... 90.00 and i get 9 ringgit off...now that's a lot of money saved! nincompoops ..

Although we didn't really join in the celebrations, i must say the atmosphere was pretty nice.
I mean, it was really quite nice to see peeps from all walks of life come together..
Lala(s), ah Bengs, the smart asses, the idiots, old & young come together...
Yes you might say they went there just because for the party, but hey! at least they were there celebrating it together...
and it was the first time in my life to see such an atmosphere on the eve of merdeka day..

After dinner at Absolute Thai in Ikano, we noticed in the bill that we were charged only RM1 for the green curry.

Me, being the honest and angelic person that i am =) (at least according to the color-personality test)

Of course i informed the waiter on the error..

Guess what.. the first 50 customer gets the green curry for RM1 ! ...talk about good luck eh? hehe... Happy Merdeka !!

Moving on,

we feasted quite a bit the next few days..
which explains my ever growing cheek and tummy.. horizontally that is :P

After some shopping at Bangsar (which i manage to get a D&G t-shirt that i simply adore :P),
we had tea at this place call 'The Banquet'.

I suppose they were inspired by the movie in which Daniel Wu and Zhang Zhiyi starred.
Now i know why Ashley wanted to eat there..ish.

They should come out with a poster something like this to attract customers though :P

That aside, i must say the food is pretty impressive.
We had tom yam soup with vermicelli, tiramisu and a dish call Tuna Toastado.

(click on the pic for a larger view)

The Tom Yam was miles better than the one at Absolute Thai although the best i've tasted was at Lygon Street in Melbourne..
That was really awesome..

The Tiramisu came with an extraordinary price with an ordinary presentation..
Having said so, the taste of it was really something...
We could smell the liquor as soon as it was served on the table.

The final dish was Tuna Toastado..
A dish they were rather reluctant to serve as it requires 20-mins to 30 mins to prepare..

And boy was it worth the wait...
It was a simple dish..
Bruschetta with tomatoes, tuna and cheese on top..
Boy was it good! The tuna tasted superbly fresh and the chesse was simply amazing..
on top of that, it was the cheapest of all 3 dishes.

it was so good that we even attempted our own version of tuna toastado the second day which turned out rather well.

Overall the Banquet was really a nice place to dine in..
Nice environment, good service with the waiters (yes, all males) offering excellent service and neatly dressed in those chef uniforms.

Shall try out the other main courses the next time we visit Bangsar Village II..

Having said so, for someone born in Malaysia with in-built taste buds well suited for local delicacies, nothing beats the humble hawker stalls at Wai Sek Gai in Pudu..

Ashley has been talking about this place ever since last year and we finally have the chance to eat there... And boy was it something to boast about..

You see, I come from Penang... obviously i have extremely high expectations for local food.
And Ashley being such a hard core fan of KL food (NOTE: KL and not Selangor).. she's being waiting for the chance to prove to me that KL food isn't that bad after all....

I must admit it was really really good.
we had the Curry Cheong Fan... awesome stuff *slurp..
the Koay Kak (Fried Lo Bak Gou),
the KFC-Like fried chicken... i'm not kidding, it really tasted like the original recipe chicken in KFC, and the Dan Dan (Egg Custard) which i will attempt sometime around this week..hehe..

They were all awesome stuff...really...
the only downside was the horrible "Yao Cha Guai"...
It was the worst 'yao cha guai' i've ever tasted...ew...

Nonetheless.. you can bet that i'll be eating in that street whenever i can =)
which we already went for the second time the day after just for the Dan Dan...hehe

Having had a dose of good KL food... we went to this supposedly famous Wei Kee Restaurant that serves Roasted Duck..
Needless to say, it was by far t-h-e Best roasted duck rice i've tasted =)

oh, and we also had this humongous pot of claypot chicken rice somewhere near Wai Sek Gai..
What makes this stall so special is that the rice is cooked using charcoal-fire which of course makes it even tastier.

Having said so, I still prefer the one at Petaling street..i thought that was better.

So there you go, performing, lepaking, travelling, shopping, feasting, & graduating =)

that's what i've done so far *winks..

Jobs? next entry =)

till next time den!

Done & Dusted

2007-08-30T16:40:00.000+09:30

some pictures to come soon =)

Angelic to the Core :P

2007-08-01T10:17:00.000+09:30

Which Colour Represents You???
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as White,White represents purity, calmness and innocense, and you fit all this. You are angelic to the core and would never dream of hurting anyone on purpose. The events of this world tend to shock you and you cannot wait to escape to a better place. You believe in the good of people. Your kind and loving nature makes you very hard to resist.

Which Colour Represents You???
created with QuizFarm.com

White

100%

Purple

94%

Black

78%

Red

67%

Orange

61%

Green

56%

Yellow

50%

Pink

50%

Blue

39%

Which Colour Represents You???
created with QuizFarm.com

Not to say I'm a bad person (i suppose?)...
but I know I'm definitely not as angelic as the results suggest...lols

I like white, black, and blue, but definitely not purple...
bad bad bad quiz... =)

After 9 years...

2007-07-29T23:08:00.000+09:30

After 9 years,
I finally have the chance to profess my immense love for you. =)

Penang World Music Festival

2007-07-23T22:49:00.000+09:30

Gmail, JobStreet, "Daily Bread"

2007-07-19T10:53:00.000+09:30

For the past week or so,
Gmail & Jobstreet tops my list of sites i visit most ...

I must admit i am extremely impressed by the efficiency of these recruitment coordinators. However, the job i want most doesn't seem to match the others in terms of efficiency. There can only be 3 explanations i suppose.

1. They are not interested
2. I submitted my application 10 days ago when the deadline for application is in four days.
3. They are not efficient.

Although i wait eagerly for replies, mostly received within two days after the application,
each reply received poses problems rather than solutions.

the million dollar question:
Penang or KL?

No matter how many times i weigh the pros & cons and taking into consideration not only the present situation but also taking the long view and look beyond what the present situation has to offer, I just could not make a decision as both general choices of where to work offers different things. It will always come back to square one

Then again, I read this.

Visiting Alaska for the first time, I was excited that we were staying at the Mt. McKinley Lodge. As we were checking in, I caught a glimpse of a mass of rock through a large picture window, and I hurried out to the deck facing the mountain.

“Wow,” I murmured softly as I took in the view.

A man standing a few feet away said, “Uh, . . . that ain’t it!”

As I discovered that day, visitors to Alaska often miss seeing all of “The Great One.” Standing at 20,320 feet, the mountain is so tall that most of it is hidden on cloudy days. I was seeing only a part of the whole.

Often we’re satisfied with our limited view of life. But Jeremiah 29:11 reminds us, “‘I know the thoughts that I think toward you,’ says the Lord, ‘thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.’” With God’s omniscient, panoramic view, He sees the people He wants us to help, the things He wants us to accomplish, the character traits He wants to develop in us.

Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.” Our view of life is restricted by our humanness, but we can trust ourselves to the One who has an unlimited view! —Cindy Hess Kasper

There’s so much now I cannot see,
My eyesight’s far too dim,
But come what may, I’ll simply trust
And leave it all to Him. —Overton

We see in part; God sees the whole.

No prizes for guessing who i'll turn to..
Jobstreet, gmail, recruitment agencies...
they are all helpful, no doubts about that..

but considering the complexity of my situation
i guess i have better alternatives =)

CHUP. Before anyone starts to breath down my neck.
i know..
It shouldn't be just when i am faced with complex situation that I turn to my Big Boss.
I know that.
I am aware of that.

Lemme learn.
I'm willing to learn.
I'm aware of my position =)

Food Galore!! - Susan's Place & Opus Bistro

2007-07-04T13:10:00.000+09:30

I'm back! that's good news for my blog =)

Anyways, been eating quite a bit lately (there goes my tummy and my wallet), so here are two places i would really recommend to you guys..

First stop, Susan's Place.

This tiny little restaurant is situated at Mahkota Cheras, somewhere far far away at Sg. Long there...
Despite it's low key decorations (they use mahjong paper as table cloth), i must say they serve pretty good dessert! and according to Ashley the pasta is not too bad either.

First, we had a pizza...it was alright, nothing much to boast about. I wouldn't really recommend as it is quite expensive at RM 18 for an ordinary pizza.. but my design of the pizza plate wasn't ordinary though :P

Next, was the Tiramisu..

i must say, at RM 7...it's really a bargain..
and check out the thickness of it!

* yes i realize the mistake that it should be Susan's place instead of Opus Bistro.. lazy to change la

It tasted almost as good as the one i had in England although this one lacks the blueberries at the bottom.. Nonetheless... i would say it's one of the best Tiramisu i've ever had in malaysia... the one at Secret Recipe is simply rubbish.

oh.. Ashley complained that she couldn't taste the liquor.. (wonder who's the alcoholic)

Next: Creme Brulee

We had it twice...one last week and one two days ago..
It was quite horrible last week as the egg taste n smell was a bit too strong that it left a weird after taste.

but this time.. it was superb!

NOW, the main highlight of this post - OPUS BISTRO (in Bangsar)

one word: AWESOME!

Although the price is slightly on the expensive side.. but it's worth every penny as compared to Vincenzo at OneBangsar...

at Opus Bistro, not only was the food good, the service was excellent as well!

For appetizers, we were served bruschettas with olive oil and balsamic vinegar..
the combination of olive and balsamic vinegar is something i really liked since dining at a restaurant in Melbourne with my cousin.. But i must admit, the olive oil and balsamic vinegar at the melb restaurant tasted better...

Next, we had our starters...

Mussels in Arabiatta Sauce

and Opus Shellfish Surprise soup..

Both starters really blew us away..the Arabiatta sauce was just splendid..personally, i usually like my food with a strong taste to it, which probably explains why Teow Chew dishes are not really my thing... this sauce was salty, spicy, and sour enough to really get my appetite going! *slurps

As for the soup.... it tasted extremely fresh with a very strong seafood taste to it.. almost licked the plate clean =)

Btw, check out the portion. Those are already separated into two bowls by the nice waitress, which we didn't even request for it.. talk about good service eh? =)

For our main course, we had pasta dishes each.

1. Spaghetti Alla Opus

the dish they claimed that made them famous..
it came with homemade Angel Hair pasta and a very unique tomato sauce..
It wasn't the typical red colored starchy tomato sauce we usually have.. instead, it was this clear sauce with diced tomatoes under, leaving just a hint of tomato taste to it..and what made it even better was that the tomatoes didn't taste like tomatoes at all! it was a bit salty yet sourish... splendid indeed! and again, the portion the pasta dishes shown here was already separated into two plates as well =)

2. Spaghetti Vongole in Chardonnay sauce.

Just like the Spaghetti Alla Opus, the pasta was just splendid... the down side of this dish was that i couldn't really taste the Chardonnay... i expected something stronger.. so perhaps should try sth else next time.. but it was a good pasta dish nonetheless..

They have quite a number of dishes with duck meat..one of them being Duck Cabonarra..would love to give it a try someday.. =)

For dessert..what else? Ashley's favourite Tiramisu...

Just when i thought susan' s place was awesome..i guess Opus Bistro raised the bar up one notch!

The chocolate powder was so strong that we could smell it even before it was placed on the table..and what i really liked was that the powder was bitter instead of sweet... and to top it..they had a strawberry on top =)

Although the liquor wasn't too say very strong, but it was still stronger than the one at Susan's place. However it can be argued that it was merely a placebo effect as the cake was visibly soaked in liquor.

Right now, i just hope that some restaurant would serve Tiramisu with blueberries or raspberries at the bottom.. =)

After finishing the Tiramisu, we were quite tempted to order another one.. but i figured we should something else.

Hence, the Lemon Meringue...

Although unique in it's presentation, it was quite a dissapoiting end to our dinner as the cake wasn't fresh..tasted as if it were leftovers from the day before.
The only good thing i could say about the cake was the lemon.. tasted rather authentic..

There you go, our night at Opus Bistro.
a splendid place to dine at.. plus, it bears the name of my blog :P

and after a tiring day teaching a bunch of psycho kids, this is how Auntie Ashley look like after a nice dinner =)

p.s. we saw a lady next to our table who ordered a steak... and boy it really looked good..guess i know what i'll be having the next time i visit there =)

p.p.s. all those pictures were taken with my new LG Shine! hehe..

What happened so far.... =)

2007-07-02T17:04:00.000+09:30

I'm back to blogging! only after 8 days landing on Malaysian soil :P At this rate, i think i'm gonna stop blogging soon..in fact, i dun feel as excited(?) writing this post... oh wells =)

Anyways, after finishing my last ever tertiary education exam on the 23rd, .. went to IKEA for lunch before going to the airport... it was only then I realized i could upgrade the load of my baggage to 30kg just by flashing the student card.. didn't work that way back in KLIA... idiots, could've brought back more stuff..

and the flight back? well..
Initially, i got a nice seat somewhere in the front, and because i was so nice to teman freddy, we were given the 40th row(!), which was like 2 seats from the back? there was nothing really wrong with sitting at the back except that we had to wait till the very last moment to get out of the plane, but then again, it takes time for the ground crew to transfer our luggage..so it was alright..In fact, it was good that we were a only steps away from the lavatory and the air crew was nearby whenever we needed extra drinks (Heineken on the plane tasted like water for some strange reason). The only bad thing about the seat was that we were surrounded by a bunch of Chinese from PRC. NOT only were they friggin loud, they kept swapping seats as if they were kids..darn annoying.

Landed, and of course, i find myself trapped in a big arse oven...
it was so hot that i started scratching like a monkey. My skin was so dry and itchy that i almost took my clothes off in the terminal, and the next day, i had ulcers! (btw, the day i came back, it was 1 degress in Adelaide! last summer when i came back, it was 40 degrees in Adelaide..i LEAVE on the extreme eh! ) anyways, went pass customs all that.. bla bla bla.. guess who was there to pick me up *winks... the COUNTDOWN was then OFFICIALLY COMPLETE!! hehehe...

So, what have i been doing so far?
One word- Wii.
I've been playing the nintendo Wii non-stop that i managed to achieve professional level for Wii sports in three days ... wakakaka.. it's a pretty wicked console i would say though long hours of playing will leave you with a sore arm.. which reminds me, i will try and secretly take a video of my parents playing the Wii...it's pretty hilarious i tell u! the sight of my mom playing tennis on Wii... can really pengsan wey!

Moving on.. Ashley came to Penang on friday night..flight was delayed for one hour and by the time we got home it was almost 1.00am...

But we were up and going the next day...had curry mee *slurp.. mee goreng (disappointing).. and ate Him Heang tambun biscuit.. we were curious how the other brand- Ghee Hiang tasted so we bought a small box...and i tell u..it was horrible..euck.. Dragon Ball is alright though.

oh, and we also bought these =)

my V3 Rzr was sent for repairs...and they quoted me RM 250 just to repair it.. parents decided to sponsor me some cash for a new phone..hence the new one. And ashley's? Her birthday/christmas/anniversary/valentines' gift of course, right ms yeong? *winks...

and Job hunting?
Well, I had three job offers which i turned down two of them and considering one.
I turned one down because they wanted me to work on the 25th of June, two days after i return to Malaysia.
The other was sorta like a part time job which i'm not really keen on...
Currently, I'm targeting a position in KL that i really like and almost desperate to land it. Then again, i will leave the decisions to my Big Boss (The one that made Adam and Eve)

So there you ago... pretty much what i did so far =)
oh.. and today is the day
i can legally walk into Genting's Casino although i don't gamble.
i can legally vote..
and like my sister-in-law said: i can legally proclaim myself as an adult..
so.. Happy Birthday to Me =)

and oh..i'm also officially unemployed.. which won't be long..i hope =)

alrighteys...till next time then...

(no more countdown d la! :P )

81 hours late.

2007-06-20T14:10:00.000+09:30

In 4 hrs,i shall be having my first exam.

In 15 hrs, i shall be having my second exam.

In 68 hrs, i shall be having my last exam.

In 81 hrs, i shall be at the KLIA arrival hall.

No it's not "25-minutes too late" (by Michael Learns to Rock, which they are still learning as they're still doing pop)

it's 81 hrs late. Damn.

well..

Happy Birthday Ashley Yeong =)

3.06.36

Last hurdle

2007-06-18T19:48:00.001+09:30

This is much difficult than i thought.

The thought of not passing exams/courses has never come across my mind in the previous 14yrs..

Now, i feel as if i may fail all my subjects. And to add insult to injury, bloody lecturers have yet to return major assignments that may or may not assist in relieving my stress. Guess this is what you feel when you're into your last semester in tertiary education. The consequences of not passing is simply just burdensome both financially and emotionally.

But to think of it, to fall at the last hurdle? I'll be damn gutted if I did.

P1, P2, SP..whatever! I just wanna have a picture of myself wearing that friggin gown and mortarboard while holding that friggin piece of paper WITH my name on it, pose for the camera with a stupid grin and get on with life.

ms. yeong and ms. chin yy..
fly back here and start screaming.. on my behalf.. :P

5.0.53

Green Day Update & Conversations with Dad

2007-06-16T20:32:00.000+09:30

Firstly, this is an update for Green Day..
and this is what i made for lunch yesterday =)

ahh..the Green effect
i feel healthy already.....almost...

-------
Anyways, both jamie and mindy constantly have very interesting/witty conversations with their parents...well, my dad isn't so witty when it comes to online conversations, in fact, he's the total opposite. Short, informative, straight to the point, which i must admit i really like it that way.

From the man who shook my hand on the day i left for Adelaide. (!)

ckkhoo says:
I am now in Kuwait. Time now is 2.05 pm local time here. Will be here till Tuesday, then in KL for 2 more days before coming back to Penang

ckkhoo says:
Thanks for your thoughts on father's day. Internet is free here

thanks for reporting dad =) and you forgot to mention the temperature and time zone *grins

and last december before i came back:

ckkhoo says: I'm glad you'll be returning to Malaysian soil.
aaron says: wtf... (hahaha..kidding i did not say that...:P)

What's worse is that most of the time, i get drawn into this mood he creates of being so serious that i end up talking like him!!
Well, both my housemate and ms. yeong say it runs in the Khoo family, i guess i can't really refute that can i? but hey!if those similarities translates to success, why not? and even if it doesn't, u bet I'd still be proud at it =)
but you guys should really see the mails we (my bro, dad, and myself) wrote to each other.. awesome stuff =)

and oh.. i found my WATCH!! *shows off teeth with wide grin*
yea yea yea...stupid me left it in one hidden compartment in the bag and didn't even realize it was there all along...careless me.. regardless of what, I'm now basking in happiness at the fact i don't have to spend on a new watch =)

6.21.49

Mobile salesman sings Nessun Dorma

2007-06-14T18:29:00.000+09:30

Sorry for the double post, but i would not forgive myself if i did not post this up.

he's a mobile phone salesman!
and when he sings it... he puts so much passion into it. Josh Groban, eat your heart out! l

btw, Nessun Dorma is the Aria (climax) of the Puccini's famous opera- Turandot.

9.02.23

Green Day

2007-06-14T15:24:00.000+09:30

No, I'm not doing a review on the punk rock band Green Day..
I'm talking about these:

I know it's not a lot of vege as compared to what some of you might buy , but for me, that's a LOT!

Thing is this, I haven't been eating enough vegetables and fruits this semester. Have been cooking steak, pasta, lamb chops, and chicken. Vegetables and fruits has never been my favorite, and just like anyone else, i needed a good tight slap on the face to start eating fruit and vegetables. I haven't been feeling well recently, feel tired, had groin pain and back pains among other things.. i had so much protein that i feel as if i'm gonna explode anytime soon. On top of that, i constantly have this feeling that I'm gonna fall sick anytime. Hence the sudden change of diet. *actually also because kena marah d and pimples are starting to grow on my face*
Tomatoes, Multi-grain bread, Lettuce, rockmelon etc..

For those who know me well.. i simply detest tomatoes.. it's slimy and tastes weird.

You can tell that i'm being serious about this.

Don't get me wrong, i eat quite a healthy diet. I cook meat, pasta and stuff like that.. don't always do instant food unless i have to.. laziness and assignments being one of the few reasons i eat instant noodles. So, considering next week is exam week, i reckon i wouldn't have time to cook that much, so i bought these as well :P (and it was only 24 cents per packet )

but hey! you gotta give me credit for the fact that i don't snack at all. Since i came here, i have NOT bought a single bar of chocolate. and my FIRST and ONLY bag of potato chips was like two months ago? hehe..

Anyways, daddy, mummy and Skinner has always thought us that good behaviors are to be rewarded/reinforced..hence, i'm gonna open this in the weekend =)

But before that, i gotta make sure i start eating these vegetables to prevent myself from getting sick during exams and worse, on the plane and come back with a face macam refugee..
As for now, i'm going green!!
wore a green tee, a green hoodie with a green bag when i bought these =)

9.05.14

Baseball Game, Safari, n countdown =)

2007-06-13T16:56:00.000+09:30

"pinch hitter" - hit as many home runs as you can..
my highest score is 20901 =)

and btw, Safari, the internet browser previously for mac users only is now available for windows as well.. and according to tests it's twice as fast as IE..plus they've made it more compatible with other sites already, and boy am i glad safari is now compatible with Blogger now.. don't have to switch to mozilla or netscape whenever i wanna blog.

it works fine for my mac, but try it on ur pc, should work perfectly fine =)

oh, one last thing. check out the countdown on the right above the "profile" ------>
gonna change it everyday till next saturday =)

good day.

p.s. i went straight to nine because there's only four hours left today (the 10th day) :P

10.04.02

Textbooksology

2007-06-10T21:24:00.000+09:30

1) This, is a textbook written by an American.

- Comes with pictures AND diagrams to provide better illustrations.

2) This is a textbook written by an Australian

- Almost NO pictures nor diagrams but at least comes with 'bolded headings' for easier chunking of information.

3) This is a textbook written by a Kiwi.

- er, they have page numbers?

*These examples pretty much show how the rest of the book looks like. I'm not exaggerating.

12.22.59

Fuhh, sh*t!!

2007-06-08T17:25:00.001+09:30

!!!!!!!!..

!!!!!!!!...

i must admit, before clicking on this video, i was expecting some typical lame ass wannabe who's just making a fool of himself. But nooooo...i was totally blown away from the very first measure of the song. He's like cross between John Mayer and Jamie Cullum wey!!

another one.

fuhh..fuhh..fuhh
and yeps, that's what i usually say when i get blown away by something... (not wind larr), but u know like great music..
and watching these really made me go "Fuh...sSHiiit"..

anyways, this guy's name is David Choi and there's more videos of him on youtube.

15.04.09

Commencement or the End?

2007-06-07T22:39:00.000+09:30

Today marks the final class i would ever attend in my undergraduate days. And just like my final day in HELP, i ended it with a small class presentation =)

In response to this, i decided to make this:

Whatever it is, i can't wait for the next class to start.

15.22.11

Lost but not found

2007-06-07T19:23:00.001+09:30

I lost my watch.

It may not worth four digits, but it did cost me RM250 of my own savings. And i only bought it last December for bro's wedding.

sheesh

Still can't believe i lost something that i used to wear 24/7.

*moment of silence for my watch*

suggestions for new watch peeps? *grins

16.0.22

What a Tuesday.

2007-06-05T19:22:00.000+09:30

For starts, my mobile started acting up before going to the city this morning. Couldn't hear a single thing with the only option for switching it over to loud speaker mode. The other alternative i had was to use my spare phone, which incidentally was in my housemate's room, and considering the fact that it was only 9 am and I'll be back in 2 hours time, i said to myself that there was no point waking her up when no one's a freak like me who wakes up 8.30am every morning even if they don't have to and give me a ring. Not wanting to miss the bus and wreck my scedule, i went out without further deliberation.

Arrived at the bus stop, i had my first call (!). Turned on the loudspeaker and it was my coursemate on the line asking if class was canceled (which it was). It was a very cold morning and boy was i glad when the bus came right on time. Got on the bus, i had another call. I answered the call with this faint hope of the phone working back again which, of course as if were a character in a comedy, did not happen. And considering the bus was as quiet as a library, i couldn't possibly turn on the loudspeaker! Not knowing who was calling, i hung up. Within 10 seconds, it rang, again! what the *toot* wey.. i messaged the caller requesting him/her to send an sms instead. Turned out it was an invitation to play a basketball game which i gladly accepted. worth the panic i had =)

Moving on, i reached city west campus and was greeted by this lady at learning connection. I must say, she was t-h-e ideal front line staff: friendly, helpful, no Australian accents, clear and precise in her explanations. Anyways, i needed some details from my mom to complete a form. So i msged her thinking that she'll reply via sms. Well, she called. -_-"

So much for "No one's gonna call me in this early" eh?

Fast forward, did what i set out to do within the two hours as planned. (Just love it when i manage to stick to my schedule, and in case you didn't know, i have this thing for sticking to my schedule/targets).

Moving on, walked past KFC and i decided to have some wicked wings! which, to my dismay, i was told it won't be on sale till like next month.

KFC girl recommended me some boneless hot & spicy chicken instead, which looked quite good PLUS she TOLD me it was 1.95 a piece. So i ordered two, thinking that it would've been the same amount that i was willing to spend in the first place (yea yea..i try to stick to my targets). BUT NOOOO..for once i fell for this typical font sized 7 "with any purchase" trick. Friggin KFC girl conned me!! it was 2.95 for the first piece and 1.95 for the second one! i spend a dollar more than i was supposed to! targets ppl, targets! and please don't say it was because of the girl that i fell for it, didn't even know how she looked like never mind describing how pretty/unpretty she was. But look on the bright side, i knew she was a female! *grins

Fortunately, it tasted quite good with a reasonable portion.

Got to uni, played basketball for two hours before attending my third health psyc lecture of the semester *grins. Played basketball again after class for a further three hours before walking home.

After the 5 hours of basketball, I'm now lying on the bed typing this with my legs tired as hell. But thinking that i would've lost a few pounds after this, i guess it's worth it? *i currently weigh at 62kg- 7kg less than when i first came here, and 3kg less than 3 months ago =) and the best part is, i can lose more! hehe*

i'm so gonna sleep like a pig tonight. ishh...
what a tuesday =)

17.23.53

Libertango and Devil May Care

2007-06-02T13:41:00.000+09:30

Before i begin.....
NO MORE ASSIGNMENTS !!! WOot woot!!!
and i'm 3 weeks away from home..hehe.. =)

anyways, i realized it's been a while since i posted in my virtuosos category,
so here are some really performances/songs that i really like..

Song #1 Devil may care by Diana Krall..

it's not difficult to see why she's dubbed the Queen of cool eh?

Song #2: Libertango, written by Astor Piazzolla..they call him the king of Argentinian tango.

If i'm not mistaken, this should be the original arrangement and performed by YoyoMa, the cellist.
'Bond' also did a version of this song which i thought was totally rubbish.
But having said so, not all alternate renditions are bad, just check out this guitar duet (warning: long video)..

=)
btw, in the movie 'Scent of a Woman' and 'True Lies'..the music behind the tango scenes are composed by A.Piazzolla as well.
here's the tango scene from Scent of a Woman.

i personally think it's a beautiful movie.. watch it if you can =)

that's it! =)

21.06.56

Hujan,hujan, hujan...

2007-06-01T10:55:00.000+09:30

woke up in the morning, the usual ritual- lights, bathroom, toasts/cereals/milk, notebook..and this:

Lemme zoom in...

rain rain and rain..!
yea yea..Adelaide needs rain, but not la everyday, very boring wan leh..*note:boring* but i shall not complain much considering the temperature is low! which is good =)

*in case you might think i'm being crazy for using so many weather forecasting widgets, shall tell you that i usually use TWO only. the many widgets shown are for er.. entertainment purposes? hyperbole =)

Good day peeps!

22.09.44

One and a 3/4 Housmates and Happy Feet

2007-05-31T13:56:00.000+09:30

Watched Happy Feet a bit here and there last night (didn't watch if from start to finish). I'm reluctant to say this but this AUSSIE-PRODUCED animated film is really not too bad, especially towards the last part when the younger bunch of penguins started tap-dancing while the old hags started singing, pretty awesome, gave me goosebumps all over..
oh wells, "good on you maight"..(euck)

Anyways, watched it with my ONE and Three Quarter housemates. shall introduce them.

The 1/4 Housemate: Julia le Francais (i made up the last name, she's french :P)

She lives next door and studies Masters in Wine Appreciation. i call her the 1/4 housemate because she only comes over on Wednesdays to watch House M.D., peeps next door watches another show. She treats Margarita as juice, makes her own shandy and was dancing along with happy feet yesterday night (!) Almost left yesterday towards the end of the show because she thought it would be a bad ending when Mumble was caught in the zoo.(!!)

The 1/2 Housemate: Veronica Portillio (that's her REAL last name mind you) from Mexico.

Since her boyfriend Michael (my ex housemate, more about him next time) moved next door, she has spent most of her time next door. Still, she's the best among the non-malaysian housemates. Studies conflict resolution and makes superb Guacamole.

Finally, the ever present couch potato of the house..

no i haven't got it wrong, that's the right picture, my housemate:Trine Forisdal

wells, she's getting nicer since the i-stormed-up-her-room-and-gave-her-a-piece-of-my-mind incident =) after all it was her who rented the DVD. The amount of domino's pizza she eats can feed a family of four. Currently studying to become a Librarian (!!), sings as bad as William Hung, drinks loads of beer which prolly explains the size. Then again, she's quite cham because she has like numerous allergies and it gets really bad at times. i take pity on her to a certain extend, as long as she minds her own business.
But really i have to say that she treats me rather well, offered me painkillers and stuff the other day and asked about my condition when i wasn't too well two weeks ago.. not too bad actually, just tend to be a bit difficult at times, and credit to her, she knows it. =) see? i'm a nice person..even made a print ad for her :P

there you go, the so called housemates.
and here's what they said after the show:

Salmon: There you go Julia, it's not a sad ending!
Julia : Yeah, but Gloria (female penguin) prolly have to divorce with the other penguin to get
together with Mumble (main character, and she didn't catch the part when Gloria said
she was still single)
Veronia: Neh, they prolly will just have threesome for the rest of their lives.
Aaron : =_=" *punches Veronica

back to my assignment!
Good day =)

23.04.57

Nostalgia

2007-05-29T20:34:00.000+09:30

Since watching the parody of the LOTR by Billy Crystal, i was kinda stuck in nostalgic mode for a while.. and credit to my friend, yi pin, i managed to find the title of my all time favourite anime from way way back in 1997..

presenting....

熱血最強 GOSAURER
translation: panas mia darah palling kuat

anyways, i was really all over this anime and if my memory serves me right.. Astro used to screen this at 5.30pm everyday on wah lai toi..

i was in standard 5 that yr and of course like most of our typical Malaysian parents, they would declare that standard 4 marks the end of honeymoon years. From then on, every year will be important. when you are in:
std 4: UPSR syllabus covers std 4, gotta get serious
std 5: Next year UPSR d, dun pray pray
std 6: UPSR year..what more can you say? prolly scared the shit out of me w all the pressure.
F1 : Things are getting serious from now onwards, UPSR was nothing. (and u wish phones w video recording feature was invented to tape them the previous yr)
F2: Next yr PMR.
F3: PMR yr.
F4: most students think they could take a break after PMR, but noooo, next yr SPM, your future arr..
F5: SPM yr, the life and death year.

anyways (sorry , i tend to digress), i was only allowed to watch one show before dinner time since we had Astro. As a 11 yr old kid, i couldn't possibly watch just one single show! i loved dragon ball as well which was screened on AEC at 3.30pm..so what did i do? i sneaked downstairs, plugged in my earphones (one ear ONLY) before turning on the TV
*smiles widely and shows off teeth*.

And of course at 4.00 p.m..i was back in my room finishing off my homework..mission accomplished =) 5.30pm, i gladly receive my reward for completing my homework and watch which brings us back to this topic, darah panas paling kuat.

So basically, this anime is about this bunch of school kids who can sorta summon robotic dinosaurs.. and incidently, these robots is the school! how cool is that huh? imagine your classroom turns into this friggin big plane, takes off and *boom* . rockets up to the sky and fight villians! cool right?!?! okay nvm.. moving on..

so the first part of the series starts off with this very basic robot call Saurer.

you're probably wondering how the a school turns into this eh? well, we all know the japanese are the best in the business when it comes to all these "transformations" thingyee.. even Transformers have to go "sao pei".. anyways..here's how they do it =)

don't u just love the way they shout? super semangat wey!!

and this is how the robot finishes off the opponents!

the season moves on..and they discovered two other new robots, namely Magnasaurer and Gransaurer.

and of course just like any other typical robot cartoons, how can they resist merging them into one Gigantic-Ultra-Big Arse robot!!?

listen to the song in the background again..
hear anything along the lines of "Let's get psycho!" !! hahahaha...well i'm glad i didn't start singing "let's get psycho" in front of my parents, they probably would've freaked out and totally banned me from watching animes...

btw, the Gigantic-ultra-Big Arse robot is called King Gozaurer, you can hear the name in the song as well which i must say it's quite nicely written, inspiring i would say?

so there you go, my favourite anime of all time, panas mia darah paling kuat - Gosaurer.
in fact, darah panas palling kuat sorta meant human spirit, passion or sth. In several occasions when they were on the brink of losing, they would give like "inspiring" speeches to jeer the other students.. speaking of this, don't u ever wonder that whenever the robots were shot at, the kids feel the pain? it's like their nerves are somehow connected to it through their spinal cords or sth? guess how cool/twisted it'll be if they actually showed that? ........... moving on- i watched it in Cantonese and the word "Gam cheng" was constantly uttered. and i must admit, now that i think of it, it's super hilarious... but think of it, this carries a message across to the Japanese kids, i mean it is really quite good to teach the kids not to give up easily and that human spirit is a very powerful asset we all have. For all you know, the fact the Japanese are so darn hardworking and work their asses off might be a result of all this animes? hmm..research topic anyone? *grins.

anyways..to wrap up..here's the opening theme of the show:

laugh if u want, but I'm so gonna download this anime and keep it just for collection.. heck, i'll just watch it on my way back to Malaysia =)

thanks for reading if you did.

24.23.28

just for laughs...

2007-05-28T20:44:00.000+09:30

bored? frustrated?
vent it on the poor penguin
my record is 303.5m... =)

post ur scores!!!

26.0.11

Incroyable incroyable!!!

2007-05-27T19:59:00.000+09:30

awesome goal by Lionel messi (it's scary how similiar it is to maradonna's goal against england)
even more awesome was the commentating!!!

"Encara Messi encara messi encara messi...Gol gol gol gol gol gol gol gol gol gol gol gol gol gol gol gol gol gol.....!! " LoL
is it just me or did he sounded as if he was humping Messi when shouting "Encara Messi" ?

i'm on cheeky mode =)

27.0.55

My Favourite Things + Lord of the Rings

2007-05-27T11:27:00.000+09:30

One of my favourite songs and movies combined together!!!

param>

"I love every frame, of the LOTR. so i downloaded it.... Last night!! all night! it took all night, it's so damn long!! "
wahahahaha....

u gotta admire some hollywood stars/hosts.. they can both act and sing reasonably well and not come out with some silly album.

27.09.31

it's 2.52 a.m.

2007-05-26T02:51:00.001+09:30

it's 2.52a.m. in the morning..
my ex-alcoholic-drink loving neighbour made me had major cravings for one of my favourite drinks.

dang!

28.18.03

The Day of Finals - American Idol and Champions League

2007-05-24T18:16:00.000+09:30

WARNING(s)
1. If you don't follow AI, i doubt you know what the heck i'm talking about*
2. This is gonna be one heck of a long post cause i just finished by LAST EVER LABBIE!!that's if i dun do post grad..ish... oh wells..dun care..shall savour the moment =)

To start off, whoever started youtube.. God bless you man =)
anyways, through youtube, i managed to catch up with this season's american idol series regularly through..guess what..apart from some phenomenal performances by Melinda Doolittle whom i personally think IS the best singer this season (got kicked out in the last 3), this season has been a DISASTER! last season was loaded with heaps of talent and although some say Taylor Hicks dances and acts like a spastic..i think he sounds good..soulfull voice and to quote Randy Jackson, he has the "Ray Charles kinda vibe". Type American idol on Wikipedia you can see how many Season 5 contenders came out with their own albums and have done reasonably well. As compared to previous seasons' contenders, all you get are winners Kelly Clarkson, Rubben Studdard (still can't believe he won!), Clay Aiken(runner up,check out when he sang "somewhere out there") and Fantasia which is starting to get more and more gross..and she starts to quack more like a duck.

Anyways, back to my ranting for this season..i just finished watching the finale and it was horrendous, disasterous..
out of tune, lack of personality, standing there like kayu and worst, waste my stupid quota. [yes, friggin Aussies charge us differently for different packages depending on the quota e.g. 20GB, 40GB/month etc., but they make up for the speed, so not gonna complain much] Heck, Astro Talent Quest was better!! .. And Simon Cowell's comments tells it all..previous finales have seen him provide the final verdict/prediction on who's gonna win.. he would boldly say "I believe you have done enough to win this competition" to Carrie Underwood and "Assumming my judging for the previous rounds were accurate, you have just won American Idol" to Taylor Hicks..(i hope my episodic memory is as good as i think it is)... i mean, even Jacqueline Victor who was miles ahead of Dina didn't receive such bold comments from the Malaysian Judges.. then again, there's only one Simon Cowell who is brave enough to give such accurate predictions.

this season, nneeeoopppss... he did not say anything!! was it a close contest? you bet it was, but not in a positive way. But i could understand why Jordin Sparks won, the last song was her genre while poor Blake Lewis had to act like a church worship leader singing the last song which was kinda weird because he was the HipHop kinda guy... speaking of hiphop, did you know Yoda could do this:

Gangsta style weyy!!

Anyways, Jordin..BORING!!! Blake, lousy singer but great entertainer... go youtube him singing "When i get you alone" and "You give love a bad name"... he was quite good in those two...and as mentioned..Melinda Doolittle...awesome!! but my uncle said she looked like Ninja Turtle because cannot see her neck.. *no comments.but please please check this out...awesome stuff..

Awesome ay?
to remind you again...she did NOT win =)
[btw, the climax part(last 25secs), i think the camera-person really helped in making her look super good..imagine if they showed that very moment straight from the front instead of moving it sideways at an angle..i thought it would be anti-climatic though..thumbs up for that]
Jordin Sparks did..she was shrieking and out of tune.. same old music principles: you force it, you wreck it. She didn't have enough energy but was pushing herself too hard.. o wells... she WON! i'd rather have Blake coz he was kinda unique in his own way... den again, undoubtedly she was a better singer.

UEFA Champions League Final..Milan won..not that i care because i'm an Arsenal fan :P ..but i was thankful i did not stay up at 3.45a.m. Adelaide time to watch the match.. Landlord (he's Italian) said it was horrible and slightly more interesting than the FA Cup. Well, if it came from an Italian that says a match with an Italian team was boring, you can bet on it that it was really quite horrible. See! this is what happens when you don't have Arsenal playing in a final, just watch last season's final against Barca which we lost *sobs

before i wrao..if you're bored..check out www.idolcritic.com ..i just love the host Liza Persky, evil and witty (hmmm *winks) some of the things she says are pretty true as well.. for example during the special week of "Idol gives back" ... they said the money donated are designated towards Africa and some parts of the United States.. i thought they could be more specific and focused than that, especially in saying AFRICA. you see the problem with that? Africa is huge fellas, you can't give money to the whoe of africa can u ? o wells, not my problem.

anyways..thanks for reading if you did =)
till next post!

thought this was quite cute..
check out Hugh laurie (Dr. House)...Lols..BlueManGroup is cool wey!!
and Hugh Grant looks like he just woke up.. i think they cut that clip out from one of his movies.
dr. phil...as idiotic as ever... =)

30.01.56

Visa Commercials

2007-05-16T15:56:00.000+09:30

Visa commercials boast some of the biggest stars in hollywood e.g. the Catherine Z. Jones-Chimpanzee and Richard Gere-Dove commericial to me was just too conventional although the Brosnan-Bond one was good.

i thought these two VISA ads were good though... check it out =)

hilarious isn't it? Yo!!- Yao.. Yo!! - Gi, Yogi .. lols =)

In terms of effectiveness..i prefer the 2nd though... i mean.. the first one was entertaining, but it ain't gonna make u wanna have a Visa card. You watch it, u laugh, u move on and all you remember is Yao Ming's name and not Visa. As for the 2nd one, it has the qualities of the first ad PLUS it tells you the benefit of the service in a real life situation .. yes, Visa is a service and not a product =)

38.04.53

Reading problem = short attention span ?

2007-05-14T18:50:00.000+09:30

i've always had this problem... not sure whether it happens to most ppl...but i really have a short attention span at times..
or you may call it "impatient"...i don't give a damn about the friggin label right now as i'm not a very happy person right now..

yes..i'm talking about journals..i really really really wanted to read them today. However, after reading every sentence, i have this urge/tendency to skip to the next paragraph thinking that there's a short cut or some sort..yes i do realize it ain't gona work that way..

some may say that this is quite normal considering it is an academic reading material..but i'm doing that even when i read blogs!! not boring blogs but friends', kennysia or even maddox (started reading it today). On top of that, since my last semester at HELP, i realized that my reading strategy has changed dramtically. When i read, i do not even take the effort to remember the information... in other words, i do not make a conscious effort to transfer information from STM to my LTM. And in doing that, i somehow have this faint hope that i would recall them whenever needed... to be honest it did work!! which prolly explains why i'm still doing that.. mind you obviously i couldn't remember every single friggin piece of info i was suppose to.

here's the thing.. should i just continue doing that? change it? or just stop thnking so much?
if you believe every single attribute we have be it adaptive or maladaptive can be attributed to genes..well..my mom sorta kinda has this problem.. just like anyone (or me), her train of thoughts constanty stray away during conversations..my landlord/employer recently said that sometimes i think too much, overanalyze things and having short attention span (which is how i have this idea that my reading deficiencies are caused by short attention span)

well..as i'm writing this.. i realize that attention might be a problem but perhaps it is due the fact i have trouble keeping up with my own thoughts? that i think so much that at times my brain basically had to go into 'suspend' mode? writing this have enabled me to gather my thoughts.. a little..

don't get me wrong.. it's not me to wither under the pressure of assignments and exams hence the frustration right now, trust me i had worst...rather, it is the reoccuring thought that i still have 3 assignments and 4 exams to go before i complete my course and of course go back..this discrepancy between my current situation and the desired situation is annoying the hell out of me.. some motivational theories believe that this discrepancy motivates an individual..heck i even used this strategy to motivate others before and it did worked! well.. it certainly doesn't seem to work on myself.. dang!
on top of that, this dry weather is really annoying the hell out of me right now that my skin is friggin itchy and i can't stop scratching my back..

i'm certainly not in the best of my moods..
luckily it hasn't reach the boiling point....yet.

heck, i even skipped through lines when proof reading this post.. there's gonna be mistakes i reckon..
Help me Mr. brain and Mr. Creator of the brain.

40.01.39
looking at these numbers, i wudn't complain much as it would've been 47.01.39..

2007 NBA Playoffs Commercial by Jeremy Piven

2007-05-12T16:51:00.000+09:30

this is awesome wey...
not about animation or music...but his quotes...

" How do you make the nightmares go away? it's simple..give them to someone else"

"Keep the icing, i wanna taste the cake"

"Nothing cleanses, like the champagne bath"

42.04.01

The Legend of 1900 OST by Ennio Morricone

2007-05-10T17:59:00.000+09:30

this is the main theme of the movie...

beautiful isn't it?
this is even better..

this song is entitled "Love" in the movie 'The Legend of 1900'... watch it.. great movie =)
i like the fact that Tim Roth acted as if he played the piece was kinda impressive..unlike those super fake bamboo flute playing in chinese dramas..heck, their fingerings don't even match the rhythm!!

44.4.26

Muahahahaha =)

2007-05-08T13:54:00.000+09:30

but before that very day, i have to first complete 4 assignments and 4 exams..
oh wells.. =)

46.06.57

Number5

2007-05-05T23:17:00.000+09:30

On the 5th day of the 5th month of the year..
it is my 5th month together w ms. yeong...
and i am 55 days away from boarding the flight back to KL.

talk bout coincidence eh.. =)

55.21.39

Orgy"r"us

2007-05-04T10:34:00.000+09:30

Went to Toys"r"us at Rundle mall yesterday...instead of innocent looking teddy bears, action figures, barbies.... we found these:

HORSE ORGY FEST!!!

well wadaya know... they even have homosexual horses!!

and of course with all the hype about being sexist and stuff.. of course they had lesbian horses as well! (don't ask me how the female horses are actually doing it)

we do live in a modern and open minded society do we? *grins

57.10.03

Do u use "A, B, C...." ???

2007-05-02T19:44:00.000+09:30

Yet another 'insightful' conversation with a RHM (red-haired monkey)....

RHM: So is your name Aaron on the passport
Me: Yeah
RHM: Do a lot of Malaysians have Christian names?
Me: Not so much back then, but nowadays people have christian names coz it's easier to remember...
RHM: oh.. so do you guys use like A, B, C, D to spell these names and stuff back home?
Me: *smiles sarcastically* oh yeah.. we use the same alphabetical system (you dumbass)

well, due to the fact they are a developed country in an isolated continent (yes, not island, but continent, dun pray pray ahh) and we're a Dunia KETIGA mia negara....i shall give him a benefit of a doubt that perhaps the fact that Malaysia's national language is BM, he might have thought that we use Arabic or some other systems to spell my name A-A-R-O-N.

at first, some girl went 'oh wow' when she found out from Sharon that we have milo in Malaysia..now.."do we use ABC??" they might as well ask us whether we use hand language to communicate or not...
In case they asked me this, you can bet on your entire life savings which hand language i'm gonna show him and say:

"Eh, you also know hand language arr??"

idiots

59.0.11

in the midst of ......

2007-05-01T22:29:00.000+09:30

in the midst of having my stomach stirring like mad....
i get this remark.

"lei zhong mm fan lei, ngor fei zho lei"

translation: if you don't come back soon, i'm so gonna dump u.

it helped ease my discomfort for a few seconds..but not anymore as i finish typing this sentence. =(

Blue Devils and Karen Briggs

2007-05-01T18:34:00.000+09:30

Marching bands have differing philosophies...some play to such technical perfection that they overlooked the very basis of playing in a band which in my opinion is musicianship. Without musicianship, i see them as just another piece of machinery.

this band - Blue Devils might not be the best in terms of technical perfection as compared to the Cavaliers (they have this moto "Building the machine"), but they certainly do play with passion (just look at the conductor) which prolly explains why they still hold the record of the most championships. Not only have they won the hearts of the judges, but also the audiences.

Enjoy =)

and this is just a warm-up before the real competition!

speaking of passion for music..i believe this is the perfect example. Although the song is kinda old..but it's still one of the best live performance.. =)
apologies for the long video...the exciting part starts in the 3rd minute..and i assure you it's worth the wait... =)

don't you just love the pizzicato (plucking of strings) passage? =)

60.2.19

of food and weight...

2007-04-27T16:52:00.000+09:30

i can't stop eating this semester.. i get hungry easily and i get cravings for chips, roast chicken and stuff easily
at this rate.. i'm gonna gain back the 7kg i lost last semester in no time..
and considering the fact that this semester they will be almost no basketball games, and no swimming cuz it's gonna be winter soon...
hmm.. speaking of winter..could it due to the colder conditions that i now need to eat more??
(lemme live in denial for moment laa..)

bummer.....
just hope i don't become too fat and get dumped *grins...

64.4.06

RHM - Red-Haired Monkey

2007-04-26T18:48:00.000+09:30

Here am i..stranded in Uni because it's raining like cats and dogs outside. basically i'm not the afraid of the rain type..but at this stage..the risk of getting sick is one that i can ill afford to take.

Anyways, yet another gruelling 150 mins lecture+tutorial of Issues in Criminal justice... i have no idea why i did this subject.. they said its a compulsory of psyc students but i believe we HELP students kena Con... why? most psyc students in this course are mainly HELP students..so why aren't the psyc RHMs taking this course?i reckon they wanna start promoting this course or perhaps the course is still in its early stages and we're sorta kinda the lab rats. darn RHMs..anyhow..no point investigating..i'm already halfway through the semester..

So..we had this RHM guy who supposedly is an expert in victimology..and goodness...he's as powderful as Kurt Lushington (another RHM)...in just one hour..his aura of extreme fatigue-ness was so great that i'm still feeling it even after 2 hours.. God knows whether i might suffer from a relapse tomorrow during work and end up falling off the ladder or something *touchwood*

You might wonder..why did i attend the class den? simple, our RHM tutor, she takes attendance by calling out our names.. and for whatever strange reasons.. she decided not to take attendance today. @#%^$%&#$%@&$%^$@#$!@#!##%$@
On top of that,there was this RHM girl who was just sooooo annoying today. she makes some good points occasionally but it really gets to me when she interupts a fellow student when they have the right to express their thoughts as well..FYI, she interupted a fellow RHM, so i cudn't care less.

You see..if it was a typical Ms. Winnie Class or a Dr. Joseph class...i'm fine even if it rains.. i mean...we use to run off from block E to block A to get on the shuttle bus to main block..and in getting down from the bus.. we encounter huge puddles of water and start skipping over pot holes to get to our cars..Rain?? What rain? it's worth it if u've learned something. Even if it is not rewarding..it could be just to prevent myself from getting barred *grins.. "QUESTION 1!!!" *scrambles to take out a piece of paper* In the example given, identify two different types of learning as proposed by Skinner. - Yes,i'm bored..what do you expect? i'm in the uni lab blogging... Well i suppose i could do something more useful such as start researching for articles..but screw it..procrastination is the key to excellence :p

As days go by and the frequency of interacting with RHMs increases..their idiocy just gets to me at times. they are just so ethnocentric- the inability to see/think from another culture's point of view.

e.g. during work, there was this song that was aired on the radio and my two fellow RHM workers were singing to it.. i asked them what's the name of the band and they were like "You DOINT KNOEW??!?!" (aussie accent)"they're ACDC, one of the classics maaigght"

Not that it's a big thing, but do i play jay chou or lee hom music and go like "Eh, you dong-k know aaahh??" "jay chou and wang lee hom ahh..geng chau ar dai lou.." RHMs..

However, i shall not be like them and over generalize things..mind you, i have 3 cousins who are half English.so i shall conclude this entry by stating that not all RHMs are like that, just some of them..
thx for reading up till this point if u did =)
off to the take the escort back home now..

Goodnoight =)

*red haired monkey is the literal translation for Ang Mohs/Guai Lous in hokkien.

65.00.31

"Hong Kong" by Gorillaz and "Ave Maria" by Bobby McFerrin

2007-04-25T13:14:00.000+09:30

some of you may have seen this already... but check it out still =)

fusion at it's best...
western vocals, traditional chinese instrument, bossa nova beats...

Heavenly =)

66.07.46

Up till now..

2007-04-22T19:43:00.000+09:30

Adelaide's getting to it's depressing mode for me now..turns dark at friggin 6...
and as i was walking back to my house after having my favourite Magill BBQ Chickens (slurp)...
i began to recall events from the very first day i arrived in adelaide till now...

last year..
1. Landed in Adelaide... went through the food checks quite easily as i didn't bring food..
2. Bloody UniSA driver left us at the wrong house...
3. had my first meal in Adelaide - Magill BBQ Chickens...
4. Stayed at jason's place...Watched The Producers, learned how to play mahjong..
5. Went to watch my first movies at Magill Institute (Cinema)...
6. Got to know Adrian and En Nick...took me tour around Magill Campus
7. Went to their place occasionally in the cold dark winter night..
8. Went house hunting with them...walked through almost 3 suburbs (!)
9. Got to know Wee See... provided us with Map and took us up Magill Road to look at this spooky house and Arthur St. which i thought was a very nice house.
10. Adrian thought me how to play DotA. Started playing a bit using Death Prophet
11. Eventually found a place to stay next to Adrian's house
12. The 3 Girls - Ashley =) , Yen Yen, Sook Yee came back late at night from sydney ...and i knew they came back because
they were so loud.
12. The whole bunch went out to celebrate Chiam's birthday at Primo's.
13. Went to "Church" and bought 55 beers that 8 of us drank (!)
14. After those beers we went back and had more hard liquors(!!!) jason, mindy and me felt asleep.. The four puked.
15. Bought 2-dollar a bottle wines started drinking a bottle a movie with Yen Yen
16. Celebrated Sook Yee's 21st at Hogs Breath and P.J. O'Briens and met this wicked trio of friends- Mark, Chris, and XXX..
17. Went to Royal Adelaide Show for this cool ride
18. Went Gold Coast and had loads of fun..met up with Joel, Alice, Calvin and Joyce. Played poker using beer as bets.
19. Had a very informative night out at Brisbane.
20. Started going crazy about drinking games and eventually bought several board/drinking games. (thumbs up to drinking games *winks)
21. Celebrated yet another two birthdays with Freddy and Jason.
22. Puked the first time because of excessive Ports. (haven't drank Ports since)
23. Had study nights at Uni till late at night with Ashley =)
24. Went to Tasmania and........ *smiles
25. Puked the second time after night out at Alma because of Bacardi 151s, Tequilla and Beers.
26. Went back to M'sia to attend Bro's wedding while watching those back in Adelaide celebrate Christmas through the Web Cam.
25. Ashley came back to M'sia, came down to Penang... =)
26. I came back to Adelaide myself.
26. Had a torrid two weeks living and sleeping on the couch in my first two weeks back.

there's is so much that i can tell it all that you might be lazy to continue reading..
night out at different bars, had one of the best ice-coffees at Scoozi...all the movie nights.. chit chatting nights...msn chatting till 3am nights and trying to save myself from the "blinking-pillow-assasin" ... pot lucks..DotA and Counter Strike nights... dinners in the city and all...

all these..i really long for it...
this semester, it's all about class, work, class, work...
last semester i would have gone to habour town and Ikea for about 5 times already... this semester.. zero.
last semester...i would have bought groceries in chinatown and my favourite coffee bean chocolate and Columbian dark foast for 10 times already..this semester..zero.

but then again...isn't life always like that? we remember happy times and hope we can return to those times...
all these crossed my mind as i was walking back home and into that dark alley after Sanford st.
told myself.. that's life.. things progress..i thought i was having my best times during Orchestra and Band days, but then came along the different but bettter HELP days although i still miss making music w friends.
and little did i know that my time here in Adelaide would be even better =) and it was of course as i got together with Ashley.
All i know is...the Best is always yet to come.. i don't know when is the best.. but there will be one.. and so far i have been proven right through things that has happen.

i might be complaining...but i'm actually counting my blessings at the same time =)

69.0.31.

Nike vs Adidas

2007-04-19T18:10:00.000+09:30

i just love commercials like these =)

..at least Nike doesn't have to rely on Stephen Chow to inspire any commericals.

Good day. =P

72.2.50

me blog....jamie cullum=)

2007-04-09T19:40:00.000+09:30

if you have noticed or knew...
my blog carries a music theme...(and life but more about it next time)
caprices, requiems, opus, compositions... they are very much related to music which of course is my passion..
i have great passion for music. from jazz, classical, opera to pop, rock, hip-hop... any genre.

anyways....
i youtube quite a bit (in fact a lot :P ) to check out performances by various artists that i can't even purchase them even i was willing to and i found this incredible performance by jamie cullum.
for those who don't know who he is.. he plays commercial jazz. not 100% pure old school jazz...but commercial jazz..
not very important just FYI =) in this performance he sang Sexyback by Justin Timberlake and some other songs while using the piano as a drum kit and was beepboxing as well (!!!!)

Cool eh?
check out his other songs:
Twentysomething, Next Year Baby, I only have eyes for you, Seven days to change your life, What a difference a day made, Singing in the rain.

82.0.54

Complaint: the expression of dissatisfaction

2007-04-05T21:31:00.000+09:30

Complaint #1
Lousy Australian TV ads.. they are just horrible..simply horrible. for those who know i mean.. remember that stupid Haggle Ad?

Complaint #2
Friggin annoying aussie accent... almost everything they say ends with "oight" ..as though they're gonna puke or something.. NOIGHT...MAIGHT...EAAIGGHT...annoying..

Complaint #3
Lecturers are FRIGGIN boring..if you peeps back in ADP think our dear Puan You-Know-Who is boring.. ish..u haven't seen anything yet.

Complaint #4
Guai Lous (i know guai lous aren't just aussies..but i just wanna pick on them... =P ) are super the paranoid n mafan. Every single stupid thing also wanna study. Today in lecture..i learned that there was something call Penology. Study of punishments. Fine..it might be quite important..but don't u think the more fields of study they create...the more problems that they will be facing? just like when they first found out about Schizophrenia and DID...suddenly the world had an influx of ppl suffering from these mental disorders...ish..

Complaint #5
I know it can be quite nice to know peeps from different parts of the globe.. but right now..my house is like a friggin backpackers. First..Austrians...then Italians who friggin took my room and left a horrible stench of lousy uncle-ish cologne in my room. Now, two from England. they're fine coz they are very nice peeps and they keep the place tidy =) not to say the other weren't that nice..just that when they were here..everything was in a huge mess..both the house and my room issue which i'm lazy to talk about). and next door where poor mindy is staying..they have another 3 guys there...God knows where they came from..don't know, don't care. idiotic landlord.

just feel like bitching.. =)
(no wonder ppl blog)

85.23.29

Alanis Morissette

2007-04-04T14:09:00.001+09:30

i like Alanis Morisette a lot... attitude.. unique.. especially when she first sang this:

but now.... i have no idea why she did his... i suppose she needed sth to revive her career... celebrities do that..
anyways, in the process of poking fun at Fergie and the BEP... i think she made a fool out of herself although it's still a reasonably good arrangement (perhaps i'm biased) if you haven't heard the original version. Try not to watch the video and just listen to the song.. perhaps u'll know what i mean.

wells..she should just stick to what she does best.. and not try to spoof this:

bear in mind that Alanis Morissette isn't that bad you know... just remember her for songs like this:

=)

87.6.31

Plans, Decisions, Challenges, Goals.

2007-04-01T22:24:00.000+09:30

Making too many plans result in more decision making.
Making decisions are challenging because it determines the success rate of achieving a goal.
I embrace challenges.

how do i do that?

"Level of believing = level of receiving"

..
parsimony :)

89.22.23

Random thoughts

2007-03-31T00:08:00.000+09:30

dead bored..hence blogging
if this entry doesn't make sense to u .. it does not mean you're having problems in comprehending what i'm trying to convey or watsoever..its just that i'm so friggin bored that i don't even have anything in particular to talk about.

guess i shall start by talking about the events that led to such boredom..

Had my RAM for me mac upgraded to 1GB today (yipee!!)...i know 1GB isn't much.. but that's all i can afford for now..
anyways..really glad i can use photoshop while using itunes. you have no idea how long it took me to finish the banner of this blog with a 512mb while running photoshop only! plus opening microsoft word takes almost a minute which is just unacceptable.

Anyways.decided to reinstall my windows XP to play some games but for whatever reason, the first process of installng windows which is to make a partition didn't work..
guess i'm gonna have to bring it to the Mac Center and see what they can do about it..
after all.. need to replace my earphones for my iPod (again!) . I guess it's just me with ear phones..or rather non-sony earphones.. my sony ones seem to be alrite despite me always cranking up the volume..

------------

as a psyc student..one thing that really annoys me is when ppl say this to me
"you study psychology..you should know".

If you're a fellow psyc student or a psyc lecturer..fine..obviously the psyc community knows what we are talking about.
if not.. ------- 'sim hoi' laa.

yes I might be defensive..but Heelloooo?!?!?
Number one: i'm an undergrad.
Number two: If i already knew everything..why the heck am i still attending these bore-u-to-death classes and write stupid labbies?

Speaking of labbies.. sometimes i really wonder are they really that important for psyc students or is it just another form of "control"? Standards control people..people who set the standards maintains the power distance hence maintains control over them. Recently i was looking up differences between US and UK spellings and it really made me think, why can't they just reach an agreement and have a unified system in spellings?

i guess having the world cursing "asshole" or "arsehole" makes a whole lot of difference for americans and the english. if either one is more widely use.. it shows one is more influential than the other one
den again..i don't give a damn as long as Australia doesn't start a whole new system of their own, knowing how similar the mentality of aussies and s'poreans are, they might actually do it. ishh.

Anyways.back to the annoying line.
in my opinion, they say that to justify their opinions which they think have a psychological basis. which of course i think they dont. and even if they have, they don't even know whether it is grounded in theory. it's just Common sense to them.

Psychology is not something that is suppose to work like magic (at least for me) .
Some people go into this course expecting to learn about some special skills and facts..
No doubt there are some concepts that are trully remarkable. But what i realize is that some of the things we learn are actually common sense. Then again, common sense it not always universal across the globe.
You'll be surprise how different and difficult it is to be aware of this God-given sense which is deemed common. we still see idiots screaching their tires when obviously they saw you coming out of the junction a good 600m away..
we still have idiots who turn up their hi-fi so loud when obviously the walls in the house are mostly made out of gyprocks which aren't fully soundproof. Also, common sense is so vague and different across cultures. My landlord recently made an interesting comment that christians are hypocrites because they have girlfriends and it is a sin to have a girlfriend.. obviously to him (yes he said this), it is common sense that having a girlfriend means ur gonna have premarital sex.
well... it might be true.. but can it be generalized? psychology has taught me not to.

What i'm trying to say is that what we learn helps us to be more aware of daily issues. I've met a lot of ppl saying " Ayahh... psychology no need to study wan laa... experience only" .
True.. we definitely need experience to understand people more.. but if it's not a guided "understanding" of people, then i would say whatever evaluations they make out of people might not be entirely accurate. I rather play it safe.

well..guess if i go on, the length of this post is gonna be as long as one the journals.
if you've read up til this point...God knows y u did that..

but i appreciate it anyways =)

Goodnight and God Bless.

90.3.21

Room Keys!

2007-03-28T19:52:00.000+09:30

well well well..whadaya know... i'm back..

anyways.. left my keys at home... managed to climb into the house through the window in the kitchen (Adelaide houses..ish..aren't they safe? ) but guess what? i locked the door to my room and yes..with the keys in it.. darn.. had to wait for 3 hours before any of my housemates come back..
in case you're wondering.. anyone in this house can open my room with the front door key..
i guess it's a blessing in disguise knowing how forgetful i can be. =)

wells..luckily i had next door to go and play some Xbox Games while waiting.."Destroy All Humans!" darn wicked game. basically you control an alien and destroy humans using psychokinesis, hypotic skills, zap gun and fry humans' brains =)

yeah yeah yeah..pretty stupid..but i bet you'll laugh ur socks off when u fire the anal probe onto humans and see them running off holding their ass..and the best part is..if u charge the anal probe gun long enuf n fire the humans.. their heads go phluek and explode !!
and u collect the brains for DNA...lols...

i guess sometimes it's just fun to play stupid games and have a good time.. =)

94.4.15

New Hobby?

2007-03-28T14:08:00.000+09:30

hola peeps! =)

welcome to Opus twoseven.eightysix.. (i just love long names :P )

wells..never thought i would even start a blog...
not the tell-it-all kinda guy..plus i really have no idea what to blog about though i frequently visit other blogs.
perhaps like any other bloggers it'll come naturally..i hope.
den again, i figured blogging isn't just about telling the world about our thoughts and happenings in life...
can do stuff i like such as editting pics and designing stuff... (or were u expecting some profound thoughts?)

well..obviously i'm still new to this..took me a while to get it started coz i just refuse to officially start posting without a proper banner, the default template is just toooo........ *cough.. Simple..and nice... (dun want to offend ppl in my 1st post)
as a matter of fact, i had two test posts before this but i took it off coz i wanted a fresh start. fresh start.

anyways, not too sure whether i'll reallly really start blogging.. or this blog mite just end up being yet another piece of junk in the webspace...

o wells... till next time...

94.23.28