Big Black Book

The ONE-77

2010-05-03T20:10:00.004+08:00

The Aston Martin OneSeventySeven is in Malaysia!

Lol. Just pulling yer leg on that, it was in Britain and incidentally a Proton Wira was also filling up at the same Shell station. I'm sure most of you have seen the black one and I'm very sure that most of you or dare I say, all of you haven't seen the one in white. I'm absolutely loving this. The colour brings out all the intricate details of the body. Yes including that fat Beyonce-like ass.

It was leading a pack of supercars from Central London to Silverstone to celebrate the reopening of the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit. TopGear was also the second car in convoy. They were riding in a less exclusive but still quite exclusive DBS Carbon Black.

Source : TopGear

ABT R8 Spyder

2010-04-24T15:37:00.003+08:00

Audi R8 Spyder - ABT from Loniek on Vimeo.

I want...

Falken Tires @ Formula D

2010-04-24T15:25:00.004+08:00

Another great video of Falken Tires at Formula D, Long Beach

SuperHero Motorcycle Suits

2010-04-20T03:58:00.004+08:00

A Super Hero identity CHECK!
A superbike CHECK!

Now all you're missing is a super hero suit. Order yours now from Universal Designs. The company is selling super hero look-alike suits that actually work as motorcycle suits. They have padding in all the right places to cater to those occasional falls. There are even foam paddings to make you look extra buff in the chest and abdominal areas.

Currently you can only be Bruce Wayne (Batman/Dark Knight) or Logan (Wolverine from X-Men) because the only suits on sale now is the Dark Knight one and the Wolverine one. Personally I prefer the Wolverine one as it looks way cooler than the Dark Knight's.

According to the site, they are working on the Tron suit and the Iron Man Mark V Suitcase Suit. Would love to see how these two will look like. I hope the Tron suit would incorporate some glowing LED lines along the suit.

Images from Universal Designs Ltd.

Limbo Rock with a Lamborghini

2010-04-20T03:53:00.001+08:00

Disney went L4D

2010-04-20T03:44:00.004+08:00

On the other side (Yes the 'other' side, pun intended). That's what too much Left4Dead (A first person shooting game, also called L4D) will do to you. The Disney crew had one too many rounds.

Photo from TheClippingPoint

Princesses all grown up

2010-04-20T03:21:00.006+08:00

You probably still remember those Disney tales from your childhood. Rapunzel. Little Red Riding Hood. Beauty & The Beast. Alice In Wonderland recently got a remake. Here's another version of Alice and her other fairy tales friends after 8/10 years from their debut. Some of them are looking pretty hawt! Ouch!

Can you recognise them? Name them in the comments. =)

Photos from WARMPHOTOS

Two wheel madness

2010-04-17T01:51:00.002+08:00

Kiasu? Kiasi?

What's next? Fake engine sounds?

A new head

2010-04-17T01:46:00.003+08:00

Lost yer head Bumbleebee? Fret not, there's one at Tesco going for RM 209.00

Things to look out for when looking for a room in Westlake, Kampar

2010-04-16T21:23:00.004+08:00

Looking for rooms in Westlake, Kampar? Here's a few tips on how you should go about it.

Is the location suitable/comfortable for you?
Look around the area, do you feel comfortable with it? Is it too dark? Is it too eerie? Is it too packed? Is it convenient for you to go to campus from there? How about to New Town where you'll most likely have your dinners/lunch there.

Is the rental within your budget?
Different management will offer different room packages at different rates. Some of them will charge you by the number of occupants staying in the room while others will charge you according to the room. Usually it's 2 occupants per room but it may go up to 4 if the room is big enough, the only room that can accommodate 4 persons comfortably in Westlake is the master bed room in the Yale houses - the two storey houses.

How much is the deposit and what's the policy of the management like?
Normally, most of them would have you pay a 1 month deposit but there are cases where up to 4 months of deposit are taken. What are deposits for? In most cases they are used up as your rental for the last month you're gonna stay at that room. This means that you do not need to pay for the last month of your stay there but on one condition, you'll need to inform the management one month in advance before moving out.

Another use of the deposits are for utility bills. It's to prevent people from not paying their bills. If you do not pay your bills, the amount you owed will be deducted from your deposit and at the end of the day you'll used up your deposit. This deposit is a separate deposit from the room deposit.

You'll need to look at their policies too. Do not sign any documents without making sure that you've read and understand everything that is written in it. You'll be binded to the contract once your signature is on it. Got that from Business Law. =p
Do ask the other party (the management or whoever who is going to rent you the room) to clarify any ambiguous terms.

How about utility bills?
Do you still need to pay for utilities every month on top of your rental? Or does your rental cover it as well? Personally, I prefer the pay-for-what-you-use method rather than include it in the rental because it'll encourage you to save both your money and also the world. People tend to have the "since it's in the rental, I'll have to max it out to get the maximum benefit" mentality when it's included in the rental. However after staying in Westlake ever since I came to UTAR, I've heard of bills that suddenly went incredibly high. I have no explanation for this but the only way to get this problem fix is to write a report to TNB or the water consortium company.

Facilities?
What kind of facilities are they providing you? Start off with your room as it's the place you're gonna be for most of your time here in Kampar. Is there a bed? Mattress? Cupboard? Writing table? Ceiling fan? Chair? Power-points? Lights? Window Grills? Then look at the bathroom. Is is a shared one? Does it come with a shower? And do check the water pressure (I have a thing against low water pressure) if you're planning to stay on the third level of the house.

Then look in the common area. Is there a fridge? Dining table? Chairs? Fan? Lights? Sink? Washing machine?

If you're doing your own laundry, try going out and look if there are enough places for you to hang your clothes after washing them.

After that ask about the internet connection. Are you going to be charged extra for the internet line? How can it be accessed? Wireless? LAN cable? How many lines does the house have? How many person is sharing one line? Most of the internet lines here are shared among students as there's not enough telephone poles to support so many lines and one line for each student would be too expensive, unless you're planning to get your own wireless broadband. 5 person to a line would be ideal by my standards, more than that you'll be plucking hairs out of your head in no time. I have to state that the internet connection in Kampar is not very good either, occasionally you'll be disconnected for quite some time even after the modem is restarted a few times. And on many of those occasions it'll be raining. And on very rare occasions, it's because of your tech savvy housemate whose hoarding/blocking the line.

Do take note that there are some unscrupulous management who charge students for their unnecessary things. Here's one example. There's one management who'll charge the student the cost of building a metal clothes hanger (It's a custom made one, not the ones you can buy and DIY). The occupants of the house should not bear the cost even though they are the ones using it. At the end of the day, when they move out are they going to take the clothes hanger apart and distribute it among each other? That wouldn't be possible. It is an asset of the house and the cost should be paid by the house owner or the management.

Did u know?

2010-03-28T17:09:00.003+08:00

Just so u know...

Mathematics: The probability in a game of bridge of all four players getting a single-suit hand is approximately 4.47×10⁻²⁸

Mathematics: The probability in a game of bridge of one player getting a single-suit hand is approximately 2.52×10⁻¹¹ (0.00000000252%)

Mathematics: The probability of rolling snake eyes 10 times in a row on a pair of fair dice is about 2.74×10⁻¹⁶

Mathematics — Lottery: The odds of winning the Grand Prize (matching all 6 numbers) in the US Powerball lottery, with a single ticket, under the rules as of August 2009, are 195,249,053 to 1 against, for a probability of 5.12×10⁻⁹ (0.000000512%).

Mathematics — Lottery: The odds of winning any prize in the US Powerball Multistate Lottery, with a single ticket, under the rules as of 2006, are 36.61 to 1 against, for a probability of 0.027 (2.7%)

Mathematics — Lottery: The odds of winning the Jackpot (matching the 6 main numbers) in the UK National Lottery, with a single ticket, under the rules as of August 2009, are 13,983,815 to 1 against, for a probability of 7.15×10⁻⁸ (0.00000715%).

Mathematics — Lottery: The odds of winning any prize in the UK National Lottery, with a single ticket, under the rules as of 2003, are 54 to 1 against, for a probability of about 0.018 (1.8%)

Mathematics - Poker: The odds of being dealt a royal flush in poker are 649,739 to 1 against, for a probability of 1.5 × 10⁻⁶ (0.00015%).

Mathematics — Poker: The odds of being dealt a straight flush (other than a royal flush) in poker are 72,192 to 1 against, for a probability of 1.4 × 10⁻⁵ (0.0014%).

Mathematics — Poker: The odds of being dealt a four of a kind in poker are 4,164 to 1 against, for a probability of 2.4 × 10⁻⁴ (0.024%).

Mathematics — Poker: The odds of being dealt a full house in poker are 693 to 1 against, for a probability of 1.4 × 10⁻³ (0.14%).

Mathematics — Poker: The odds of being dealt a flush in poker are 507.8 to 1 against, for a probability of 1.9 × 10⁻³ (0.19%).

Mathematics — Poker: The odds of being dealt a straight in poker are 253.8 to 1 against, for a probability of 4 × 10⁻³ (0.39%).

Mathematics — Poker: The odds of being dealt a three of a kind in poker are 46 to 1 against, for a probability of 0.021 (2.1%)

Mathematics — Poker: The odds of being dealt two pair in poker are 20 to 1 against, for a probability of 0.048 (4.8%).

Mathematics — Poker: The odds of being dealt only one pair in poker are about 5 to 2 against (2.37 to 1), for a probability of 0.42 (42%).

Mathematics — Poker: The odds of being dealt no pair in poker are nearly 1 to 2, for a probability of about 0.5 (50%)

Mathematics — Poker: the number of unique combinations of hands and shared cards in a 10-player game of Texas Hold'em is approximately 2.117 × 10²⁸

Mathematics — Playing cards: There are 2 598 960 different 5-card poker hands that can be dealt from a standard 52-card deck.

Mathematics — Cards: 52! = 80,658,175,170,943,878,571,660,636,856,403,766,975,289,505,440,883,277,824,000,000,000,000 (≈8 × 10⁶⁷) - the number of ways to order the cards in a 52-card deck.

Mathematics: the number system understood by most computers, the binary system, uses 2 digits: 0 and 1.

Mathematics: the hexadecimal system, a common number system used in computer programming, uses 16 digits where the last 6 are usually represented by letters: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F.

Mathematics: π ≈ 3.141592653589793, the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter

Mathematics — Known digits of π: as of 2002, the number of known digits of π was 1,241,100,000,000 (1.2411 × 10¹²).

Mathematics: 7,625,597,484,987 - a number that often appears when dealing with powers of 3. It can be expressed as

196833

279

327

, and ³3 or when using Knuth's up-arrow notation it can be expressed as and .

Mathematics — NCAA Basketball Tournament: There are 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (2⁶³) possible ways to enter the bracket.

Mathematics — Rubik's Cube: There are 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 (about 43 × 10¹⁸) different positions of a 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube.

Mathematics: There are 7,401,196,841,564,901,869,874,093,974,498,574,336,000,000,000 (≈7.401 × 10⁴⁵) possible permutations for the Rubik's Revenge (4x4x4 Rubik's Cube).

Mathematics: There are 282 870 942 277 741 856 536 180 333 107 150 328 293 127 731 985 672 134 721 536 000 000 000 000 000 (2.8287 × 10⁷⁴) possible permutations for the Professor's Cube (5x5x5 Rubik's Cube).

Mathematics: There are 157 152 858 401 024 063 281 013 959 519 483 771 508 510 790 313 968 742 344 694 684 829 502 629 887 168 573 442 107 637 760 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 (1.5715 × 10¹¹⁶) distinguishable permutations of the V-Cube 6 (6x6x6 Rubik's Cube).

Mathematics: There are 19 500 551 183 731 307 835 329 126 754 019 748 794 904 992 692 043 434 567 152 132 912 323 232 706 135 469 180 065 278 712 755 853 360 682 328 551 719 137 311 299 993 600 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 (1.9501 × 10¹⁶⁰) distinguishable permutations of the V-Cube 7 (7x7x7 Rubik's Cube).

Mathematics — Sudoku: There are 6,670,903,752,021,072,936,960 (≈6.7 × 10²¹) 9×9 sudoku grids.

Mathematics: 10 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000; 10¹⁰⁰, a googol.

Mathematics: 10^googol (), a googolplex.

Mathematics: 2^43,112,608 × (2^43,112,609 − 1) is a 25,956,377-digit perfect number, the largest known as of 2009.

Mathematics: Graham's number, the last ten digits of which are ...24641 95387. Arises as an upper bound solution to a problem in Ramsey theory and is probably the largest number seriously used in a mathematical proof. Representation in powers of 10 would be impractical (the number of digits in the exponent far exceeds the number of particles in the observable universe).

Computing: There are 128 characters in the ASCII character set.

Computing — Computational limit of a 32-bit CPU: 2 147 483 647 is equal to 2³¹−1, and as such is the largest number which can fit into a signed (two's complement) 32-bit integer on a computer, thus marking the upper computational limit of a 32-bit CPU such as Intel's Pentium-class computer chips.

Computing - IPv4: 4,294,967,296 (2³²) possible unique IP addresses.

Computing — web pages: approximately 8 × 10⁹ web pages indexed by Google as of 2004

Computing — Manufacturing: An estimated 6 × 10¹⁸ transistors were produced worldwide in 2008.

BioMed: the DNA of the simplest viruses has some 5,000 base pairs.

BioMed: Each neuron in the human brain is estimated to connect to 10,000 others

BioMed: Each human being is estimated to have 30,000 to 40,000 genes.

BioMed — Strands of hair on a head: The average human head has about 100,000–150,000 strands of hair.

BioMed — Species: The World Resources Institute claims that approximately 1.4 million species have been named, out of an unknown number of total species (estimates range between 2 and 100 million species)

BioMed — base pairs in the genome: approximately 3 × 10⁹ base pairs in the human genome.

BioMed — bacteria in the human body: there are roughly 10¹⁰ bacteria in the human oral cavity.

BioMed — Neurons in the brain: approximately 10¹¹ neurons in the human brain.

BioMed — Bacteria on the human body: the surface of the human body houses roughly 10¹² bacteria.

BioMed — Cells in the human body: the human body consists of roughly 10¹⁴ cells, of which only 10¹³ are human. The remainder of the cells are bacteria, which mostly reside in the gastrointestinal tract, although the skin is also covered in bacteria.

BioMed-Insects: 200,000,000,000,000 (2 × 10¹⁴) - The estimated number of ants on Earth.

BioMed — Atoms in the human body: the average human body contains roughly 7 × 10²⁷ atoms.

BioMed: 10³⁰, number of bacterial cells on Earth

Language: There are about 6,500 mutually unintelligible languages and dialects.

Language: There are 20,000–40,000 distinct Chinese characters, depending on how one counts them.

Language: 267,000 words in James Joyce's Ulysses.

Language — English words: The New Oxford Dictionary of English contains about 350,000 definitions for English words.

Records: As of July 2004, the largest number of decimal places of π that have been recited from memory - > 42000

Info — Web sites: as of 26 February, 2010, Wikipedia contains approximately 3,206,530 articles in the English language.

Info — Books: The British Library claims that it holds over 150 million items. The Library of Congress claims that it holds approximately 119 million items.

Genocide: Approximately 6,000,000 Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

Demographics: approx. 402,000,000 native speakers of English.

Demographics — world population: 6,587,890,000 - Estimated total mid-year population for the world in 2007 (April 10).

Physical cosmology — Age of the universe: Current theory and observations suggest that approximately 1.4 × 10¹⁰ years have passed since the Big Bang.

Cosmology: 1 × 10⁶³ is Archimedes’ estimate in The Sand Reckoner of the total number of grains of sand that could fit into the entire cosmos, the diameter of which he estimated to be what we call 2 light years.

Astronomy — stars in our galaxy: approximately 4 × 10¹¹ stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

Marine biology: 3,500,000,000,000 (3.5 × 10¹²) - estimated population of fish in the ocean.

Economics: Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe estimated in February 2009 by some economists at 10 sextillion percent, or a factor of 10²⁰

Geo — Grains of sand: all the world's beaches put together have been estimated to hold roughly 10²¹ grains of sand.

Chemistry: there are roughly 6.022 × 10²³ molecules in one mole of any substance (Avogadro's number)

Chess: 1 × 10⁵⁰ is an estimate of the number of legal chess positions.

Chess: Shannon number, 10¹²⁰, an estimation of the game-tree complexity of chess.

Board games: 4.8231 × 10¹¹⁵, number of ways to arrange the tiles in English Scrabble (100! / 9! / 2! / 2! / 4! / 12! / 2! / 3! / 2! / 9! / 1! / 1! / 4! / 2! / 6! / 8! / 2! / 1! / 6! / 4! / 6! / 4! / 2! / 2! / 1! / 2! / 1! / 2!).

Taken from Wikipedia

Dog vs Car

2010-03-27T02:50:00.006+08:00

Usually you'll hear about dogs biting humans in the news. But have you ever heard of a dog ripping off the front bumper from a police car? The dog, Winston was caught on other cruiser's on-board camera biting and pulling off the front bumper from a Tennessee state police cruiser. The officer displayed a great amount of patience by not stepping on the gas pedal and rolling over the dog. There were cases where dogs have been shot for doing less.

Here watch the video and see how it ends.

Video from NewsChannel9

The Transforming(Prancing) Horse

2010-03-25T15:34:00.008+08:00

OOoohh... The Ferrari 458 Italia is gonna be a new member of the Autobot family? Apparently the director of the Transformers movies, Micheal Bay had announced in his blog that the brand new Ferrari 458 Italia will be the joining the ranks of the Autobots in the 3rd installment of the Transformers franchise.

People, meet the new Autobot

Fans of Michael Bay’s Transformers movies, rejoice! The man himself took to his blog recently to reveal that filming of Transformers 3 is set to begin in a month’s time and they have secured veteran actors Frances McDormand and John Malkovich to star in the latest installment.

But the biggest update Michael Bay gave us on the new Transformers film is that they’ll be welcoming a new Autobot to the family – and it’s a bright red, scorching-hot Ferrari!

Michael blogged: “I also was at a Ferrari charity event this week raising money for a hospital being built by Ferrari in Haiti. I announced that night the newest Autobot to join Transformers: the Ferrari 458 Italia.” Sorry Bumblebee, we think we have just found our new favourite Autobot.

Article from MSN News Reel
ROTF poster from MovieWeb

Formula D Seattle "Breaking Point"

2010-03-25T03:14:00.004+08:00

Formula D Seattle "Breaking Point" (Dirty Version) from Joshua Herron on Vimeo.

Aston Martin DBS Carbon Black Edition

2010-03-18T23:59:00.004+08:00

Simply stunning. But the body panels doesn't look like carbon fibre, maybe it's painted? Saw a DBS in real life before (In KL), it was really a beauty although a lil petite. It was around the size of a RX8.

Coming to a City Near You: Aston Martin DBS Carbon Black Edition
by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) on Mar 16th 2010 at 7:26PM

If you've been waiting patiently – even not so patiently – to get your hands on the new Carbon Black edition of the Aston Martin DBS, you'll still have to wait until the summer to take delivery. Oh, and a trunk full of hundred-dollar bills. But if all you want is to catch a glimpse, we've got good news for you. Because no matter where you are in the continental United States, chances are there's a DBS Carbon coming to a city near you.

In a special demonstration organized by Aston's exclusive audio partner Bang & Olufsen – which furnishes the 13-speaker, 1000-watt sound system in the DBS – a pair of the special Carbon Black editions will be touring America. Along their route, they'll be hitting New York, Washington, Miami, Dallas, Chicago, San Francisco and LA. So unless you live in Oregon, you're covered.

If you do swing by a local Aston dealer when the Carbon Black editions are in town, you'll see a pair of DBS coupes with a special-process black flick paint and an interior with carbon-Kevlar seats covered in black leather with silver stitching, along with special wheels and badging.

Is there an Aston Martin dealer in Malaysia? =)

Article & Images from Autoblog

Kia Forte Koup R

2010-03-18T22:50:00.003+08:00

Come one Naza-Kia! You gotta bring this in! Give the Type-R a run for it's money!

Images from Autoblog

CollegeHumor

2010-03-18T18:43:00.008+08:00

[Click images for bigger ones]

All images from CollegeHumor

Laying tracks

2010-03-17T20:59:00.004+08:00

Soon traveling to another country would be even cheaper than before. Why? Because the train is making a comeback and is going to make the travel industry even more competitive.

The age of the electric trains is here and China is going to make it bigger. When I said big, I meant massive. How massive? When completed, the King's Cross station in London will be connected all the way to Beijing via rail way tracks.

It doesn't stop there, China plans to extend it further till it reaches Singapore.

Amazed? That's only half the story. The trains are not your average steam-powered locomotives or the coal-powered ones. These trains are electric trains which has a top speed of nearly 400 km/h and yet they are still trying to make them go faster. Move aside Air Asia and Firefly! Now everyone can ride (a train)!

New high-speed rail network could trump air travel
By Malcolm Moore, Daily Telegraph March 9, 2010

Railway passengers will be able to travel from King's Cross to Beijing in just two days on a journey that would be almost as fast as by airplane under ambitious new plans from the Chinese.

China is in negotiations to build a high-speed rail network to India and Europe with trains capable of running at more than 320 kilometres per hour within the next 10 years.

By using the Channel Tunnel, the network would eventually carry passengers from London to Beijing and then to Singapore, according to Wang Mengshu, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a senior consultant on China's domestic high-speed railways.

A second project would carry trains through Russia to Germany and into the European railway system, and a third line would extend south to connect Vietnam, Thailand, Burma and Malaysia.

Passengers could board a train in London and step off in Beijing, 8,100 kilometres away as the crow flies, in just two days. Flying time is about 10 hours. They could go on to Singapore, 10,800 kilometres away, within three days.

"We are aiming for the trains to run almost as fast as airplanes," said Wang.

"The best-case scenario is that the three networks will be completed in a decade."

Wang said Beijing was already in negotiations with 17 countries over the rail lines, which would also allow China to transport raw materials more efficiently.

"It was not China that pushed the idea to start with," said Wang. "It was the other countries that came to us, especially India. These countries cannot fully implement the construction of a high-speed rail network and they hoped to draw on our experience and technology."

China is in the middle of a $740 billion Cdn domestic railway expansion project that aims to build nearly 30,500 kilometres of new railways in the next five years, connecting all its major cities with high-speed lines.

The world's fastest train, the Harmony Express, which has a top speed of nearly 400 km/h and links the cities of Wuhan and Guangzhou, was unveiled last year. Wholly Chinesebuilt, but using technology from Siemens and Kawasaki, it can cover 1,000 kilometres, the equivalent of a return journey between London and Edinburgh, in three hours.

Wang said the route of the three lines had yet to be decided, but that construction for the Southeast Asia line had begun in the southern province of Yunnan and that Burma was about to begin building its link. China had offered to bankroll the Burmese line in exchange for the country's rich reserves of lithium, a metal used in batteries.

"We have also already carried out the prospecting and survey work for the European network, and central and eastern European countries are keen for us to start," Wang said.

"The northern network will be the third one to start, although China and Russia have already agreed on a high-speed line across Siberia.

"From our point of view, the biggest issue is money. We will use government money and bank loans, but the railways may also raise financing from the private sector and also from the host countries.

"We would actually prefer the other countries to pay in natural resources rather than make their own capital investment."
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

Article from Edmonton Journal
Images from Flickr (nutleyboy) & Alter Ego & CleanTechnica

Public Bank calling

2010-03-16T12:29:00.006+08:00

For the last few days, people from Public Bank has been calling me. Wasn't sure what they wanted as I can't really hear them through the phone (I think it's the fault of the phone or the line on their side). Received one call during my lecture and another one when I was eating my lunch and the other one while I was still asleep.

Just got one awhile ago and finally I have the time to hear them out properly. In turns out that they have been chasing me to sell me some kind of insurance.. Still can't hear her properly as their phone still suck but I did manage to get a few bits n pieces here and there.

The lady explained the whole package to me and in the end, I told her no. Yes very evil of me but I could have made it easier or less painful for her if she would have asked me the question before explaining the whole thing or ask me if I was interested in it.. Maybe it's company policy? Kesian the lady..

And I thought it was some phone survey thingy, received some in the past and I do not believe in just ending their call just because it's a survey that does not benefit me. Yes yes I'm a nice guy...

*Smiles*

Public Bank building image from Euphoria in Misery
Cheshire cat image from hiltontarrant’s posterous

Guns & Hummers

2010-03-16T11:59:00.004+08:00

I find this very amusing. Remember the product marketing strategy that you were taught in business school where two products are sold for the price of one product? Basically it's your buy one free one tactic. It seems that a dealer in the big ol' US of A is practicing this. Lynch Hummer, a dealer for Hummer SUVs is giving away a Browning Citori White Lightning Shotgun with every Hummer SUV purchased. Yes they are giving away a shotgun.. A complete package for a bank robber to be.

Well, this sounds quite disturbing, to me at least. As we all know, Hummer’s proposed sale to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines failed, and GM is in the process of winding down the brand’s operations. To clear stock, dealer Lynch Hummer is giving away a Browning Citori White Lightning Shotgun with every new Hummer purchased! Just confirms the type of owner Hummer targets, doesn’t it?

Lynch Hummer has teamed up with Browning to make this offer. The Citori White Lightning is a premium over and under shotgun with a retail value of $2,000. “There is now real reason to believe that the current inventory on hand at dealers may be the last of the new Hummers, we wanted to send them off with something memorable,” says Hummer dealer Jim Lynch. “Browning and Hummer are prestigious brands and American Icons – bringing them together is a natural fit.”

Last summer Lynch Hummer, a Hummer dealer since 1994, added guns to the products they offer in their suburban St. Louis location. “Hummer inventory got so low we had to add another product to make up for lost sales. The guns have been a huge hit with our Hummer customers and now we are taking the ‘Guns and Hummers’ concept one step further,” said Lynch. “My hope is that someone will come in and rescue the brand. The right buyer with the right vision could do very well. It will be a real shame if the brand doesn’t survive,” he added.

Article from Paultan.org
Pictures from Blue Ridge Outdoor Sports & About.com:Trucks

Lock him up & eat him instead

2010-03-16T11:45:00.002+08:00

Deputy Director General of Veterinary Services Department (VSD) Dr Ahmad Suhaimi Omar is NOT FIT TO BE A VET!!! He even said that he's thinking out of the box after a veterinarian question him at the forum! He has no empathy for animals, how can he be a vet???

Suggestion to consume strays shot down
by Meena L. Ramadas

PETALING JAYA (March 7, 2010): People with a penchant for exotic meat should be allowed to buy dogs from dog pounds for consumption, Veterinary Services Department (VSD) deputy director general Dr Ahmad Suhaimi Omar says.

Ahmad Suhaimi, who made the suggestion at a forum on effective animal pound management organised by the Petaling Jaya City Council’s Canine Advisory Team last week, said people who have no qualms about eating dog meat should be allowed to eat dogs kept in pounds.

“Do we have to keep the dogs at the pounds forever?” he asked. “They are animals, just like chickens or goats,” he added.

He said consuming dogs kept in pounds will help to check the number of strays at the pounds and help address any unmanageable increase of strays.

His suggestion sparked an outburst from a veterinarian who was among those attending the forum.

Without identifying herself, the vet, who appeared to be quite emotional, said: “About consuming dogs, the answer is simply no.”

She said as an animal lover, it was unimaginable to consume dogs and strays at that.

“I find the suggestion inhumane and cruel,” she said.

Ahmad Suhaimi responded by saying he too did not have the stomach to eat stray dogs, but as a veterinarian who is required to think clinically, it is important to consider all options when dealing with the issue of strays.

“I like to think outside the box,” he said with a laugh, which received some sniggers from those present.

Ahmad Suhaimi’s pitch, however, did not make the cut.

The forum made five recommendations for animal pound management.

This were that local councils should work with the veterinary department; local councils should cooperate with NGOs on catching strays; micro-chipping canines for easy ownership identification, educating pet owners and more stringent licensing laws.

A total of 12 local councils participated in the forum which was held in light of media reports last week about the appalling conditions at the Selayang Municipal Council’s (MPS) dog pound.

State executive councillor for health Dr Xavier Jayakumar, at a press conference earlier, said municipal councils have been instructed to maintain cleanliness at their pounds, and to work with the VSD. Officers in charge also have to treat sick animals and follow guidelines when euthanising them. -- theSun

Updated: 05:05PM Sun, 07 Mar 2010

Via arjun9 from The Sun Daily

Tyre Monsters

2010-03-14T23:46:00.005+08:00

What do you do when a tire company decides to sponsor you with their rubber when you do not own a car/bike/bicycle/truck/bus/plane/or any motor vehicles that uses tyres?

You shred them and turn them into art pieces of course! That's what Ji Yong-Ho has done with those rubber rollies.

[click on the images for a bigger view]

Source : Gana Art

Flash flash

2010-03-14T23:25:00.005+08:00

As you slowly drive your way home one late night, the lights on the traffic light up ahead went amber. You slow your car down and came to a halt.

You patiently waited for the lights to turn green again. You switched channels from Light & Easy which was playing some very light and easy and slow and sleep-inducing oldies to a more upbeat Fly.Fm.

You looked up and the lights are green again. Released the handbrake, and stepped on your accelerator pedal. The car smoothly glide off.

When you were just about to cross the junction, there was a flash. Did you just ran the lights? Clearly that wasn't the case as you remembered waiting for the lights to turn green again. You looked around in panic, trying to spot that damned traffic camera...

%@#^$! teenagers with too much time on their hands..

From Autoblog

Tron 2nd Trailer

2010-03-12T14:56:00.005+08:00

Need to watch this in 3D when it comes out...

Thank you Leonard for sharing.

Another glimpse of the future

2010-03-06T15:35:00.006+08:00

The Porsche 918 Spyder concept

The Bertone-Pandion concept for Alfa Romeo

Pictures from Paultan.org

FlyWorks

2010-02-27T20:58:00.004+08:00

Got an email from my mum and had a good laugh about it. I'll share it here :

What to do when you are bored at work.

1. Kill a few flies

2. Put them in the sun to dry for one hour.

3. Once they are dry, pick a pencil and paper... Let your imagination flow.

Here are a few examples...

that's a lot of flies to kill... lol.

Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief

2010-02-27T20:11:00.005+08:00

I was actually looking forward to the move after watching the trailer on Youtube. The feeling where you go 'Woah.... Canggih.. Gaya.. Gotta watch it when it comes out' all to yourself. So was supposed to go and watch it with the Khatrine Lim and the Eric Poh and the-why-u-so-sayang-me-so-much-wan when the Khatrine Lim comes to Penang. When she arrived in Penang, the Eric Poh suddenly wasn't interested in watching it. So the Khatrine Lim had to give us the aeroplane (ppk or pang puih kee). So.. watched it my the why-u-so-sayang-me-so-much-wan and my bro who is watching it for the second time.

Ok let's get to the review already. Greek Gods treat us human beings like toys and come down to earth and play with us once in a while. Yeah you might bump into one without knowing it. Sometimes when they are feeling generous, they will bless us with fertile lands and a good yield during harvest. When they are feeling angry with us or at each other, that's it for us, thunders roar, lightnings strike, volcanos erupt, the earth splits apart.. And a number of them even mate with us, mortals and these matings eventually lead to a creature half-god, half-human which are called demi-gods or half-bloods. That's the whole Greek mythology for you and it's the core of the movie.

What actually happened in the movie was Zeus's (The big-papa King of the Gods) lightning bolt (one of the most powerful weapon ever created according to the movie)was stolen. He accuses his brother, Poseidon (God of the sea) of stealing it. Poseidon of course denies it. Zeus threatens Poseidon with war if the bolt is not returned in 7 days (Is it 7? Can't really remember). *All these happened in the 21st century and the meeting between Zeus and Poseidon took place on top of the Empire State Building.*

Percy Jackson, a high school going teen happens to be a demi-god, and not just a product of any Greek God, he is the son of Poseidon, one of the three big brothers of Greek Gods. His normal high school going teenager life was disrupted when mythological monsters from ancient Greek comes to life and hunts him down for they believe he stole the lightning bolt for Poseidon. Percy and two of his best friends goes on a journey to find the main culprit behind the stolen bolt which would take them to places which would only exist in stories of Homer (Not the Simpson kind, the epic Greek poet).

To me, the movie is just another High School Musical. Never liked it. I find the whole plot too childish. Maybe I'm getting too old for movies like these.... It's just another average movie, with pretty visual effects. I'm guessing they left out a lot of part from the book? Haven't read the book, is it good?

Pictures from Half Bloods Rule

Here it comes again...

2010-02-21T22:52:00.005+08:00

CNY is over.

Holidays are over.

Back to Kampar.

I'm going to be a Toyota expert soon after writing and referring so much to various sites for my Management Principles assignment. And the crisis had to happen now.. Damn you Toyota, what happened to your Kaizen (改善)?

Midterms are starting tomorrow.

Haven't started my English article review yet, that's one tough cookie! oops, I meant subject. 25 pages filled with very very deep business terms.. *vomit*

Nights people, will return when I have the time. ;)

Btw, Percy Jackson wasn't really that great, was a lil High School Musical to me.. That's not a compliment.. Will do a proper review soon.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-16T02:47:00.003+08:00

The movie Valentine's Day is a pretty good watch and it would have been better if you watch it with your other half and it would be best if both of you watched in on the day itself, 14th February. The all-star cast was very good at playing their own respective roles. I personally like the phone-sex woman (Gotta love those accents! lol), now what's her name again? Ummmm.. I'm bad at recognising celebrities...

The day would have been perfect if it wasn't for the insanely long que of people lining up to get tickets. It was a first for me.. Never have I ever been in a line that snakes all the way to the escalator. And I wonder why the only cinema screening this movie is GSC (Golden Screen Cinemas) in Gurney Plaza? Why is it not available in Queensbay Mall?

Valentine's Day (official site)

Happy V-Day!

2010-02-14T11:20:00.003+08:00

After posting the 'Gong Xi Gong Xi' entry I just realised that it's Valentine's Day. Totally slipped my mind, guess repeated messages do not get through me. lol. Anyway to all the couples out there, Happy Valentine's Day!

...and to the all the singles, don't fret it I'm sure you'll find your other half. ;)

Gong Xi Gong Xi

2010-02-14T11:13:00.003+08:00

Gong Xi Fa Chai
or
Gong Hei Fat Choi
or
Happy Chinese New Year

POP goes the laptop!

2010-02-10T11:20:00.010+08:00

It all began like this :

-Came home from class, switched the laptop on.
-Everything was normal and fine.
-Tried browsing the web.
-The internet line decided to let me down and went into PMS mode.
-FINE!
-Played Battle Realms instead. Love those colourful graphics, =)
-Entered into a skirmish game.
-As my peasants was running to another point to build some huts,
-Screen frozed, blinked and turned blue. (BSoD, T.T)
-A lot of words streamed down the screen, only thing I could catch was 'Dumping physical memory'.
-Then it completely shut down.
-Tried switching it back on again.
-The monitor gave a blank look, I meant the monitor was blank, nothing came up.
-There was power to the laptop as the power button light was lighted up and I heard the whirring of the fan. The fan whirred for a few seconds before it went silent.
-Then it shuts itself down again.
-Tried a couple more times and the same thing happened.

Asked for some opinions, they said :

-Could be an overheating problem. (I have a cooler underneath it and a stand fan blowing at it.)
-Could be a burnt motherboard/monitor/power adapter/hard disk. (No burnt smell from any openings on the laptop, yes I did sniff my entire laptop, lol)

Possible root of problem :

-Motherboard (Had my laptop examined by a technician in a Digital Mall in KL, somewhere near Tropicana Mall when I wanted to buy another piece of RAM to make my laptop run on dual 2Gb units. He said my laptop model won't take 4Gb and advised me to run on a sole 2Gb at that moment because I had a 1Gb unit and a 2Gb unit slotted in. I listened to him and from then onwards I was running on a sole 2Gb. He also added that my motherboard was acting strange as it was showing signs of overheating. A metal plate near the RAM slots was burning hot.)

Solutions :

-Get it repaired. (It will either be not repairable or gonna cost me $ enough for another laptop)
-Get a new laptop. (Yay! =D But my 100Gb of songs, pictures and programs are gone... T.T)

Wishing for :

-A desktop. (But I don't want to carry a 7-8kg box + monitor everytime I go back to Penang)
-A laptop. (Looking at a higher spec one, which will run both Starcraft II and Diablo III without any problems)

The impossible wish :

The Alienware M15X

Specs (full spec model) :

-Intel Core i7 720QM 1.6 GHz
-Intel PM55 Express
-4096 MB, 2x 2048 MByte, DDR3-1333, max. 8 GByte
-NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M - 1024 MB, Core: 550 MHz, Memory: 950 MHz, Shader rate: 1350 MHz, 186.47
-15.6 inch 16:9, 1600x900 pixel, LED-Backlight, glossy: yes
-Seagate ST9250410AS, 250GB 7200 U/Min
-IDT 92HD71B7 @ Intel 82801IB ICH9 - High Definition Audio Controller
-HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GA11N
-height x width x depth (in mm): 49 x 378 x 309
-4.34 kg Power Supply: 0.72 kg
-85 Wh Lithium-Ion, Nine cell

Price : RM 6,599 for the full spec, RM 5,999 for the lower spec
Yes very pricey for a laptop, you can get a fully customised gaming desktop for around RM 3K. But it's a lot more portable than the desktop.

BUT : You get what you paid for.

Fully customisable keyboard lighting display. Look there's even a lighted touchpad!

Even the power cable is lighted. Hmmm.. Is it customisable too?

The box.

Open sesame!!

Inside you'll get :

A leather clad manual

A soft textile case

A cap

A mousepad

Me hearts! Me wants!! Ohh money....

Pictures and specs from Notebookcheck
Price from Dell

Steampunk USB

2010-02-10T03:31:00.005+08:00

Old school tech + USB thumb drive = COOLNESS!

Carved from wood and utilizing pieces from at least 6 different pocket watches (some over 100 years old!), the designer, Rob Smith, claims he spent about 10-12 hours constructing the 16GB USB thumb drive. Adding to the aesthetic appeal, 26 rubies reflect light from the drive, and when plugged in, it glows green from beneath the gears “giving the key a good sense of movement.”

Woah.. Now I want one.. I admit that I do fall for these kinda tricks, the one where a layer of clear glass shows you how things are actually working inside. I own a Gameboy with a transparent casing and I love watches that shows you their inner workings..

Who wouldn't think this is cool? A CNY (Chinese New Year) prezzie please? Skip the 'angpows', I'd rather have this one. ;)

this is EPIC

2010-02-04T23:30:00.005+08:00

Videos like this make me grin all the way through it. Makes me wanna get a 4-rotor RX7 and slide down the approaching corner while clipping the Apex. Bang it into th3rd and POWER out. Sliding slipping smoking into yet another bend...

Get my drift?

watch it in full 1080p for full HD goodness, that is if your connection can take it. =)

felt like watching a drift version of transformers 1...

World's Best Car Alarm

2009-12-01T10:45:00.001+08:00

Twilight : The Disappointment

2009-11-26T22:48:00.005+08:00

I am one of those people who beg to differ with the opinion of the masses on Twilight : New Moon. Seriously, I don't get all the hype behind the movie. The movie itself tries to be the modern interpretation of Romeo & Juliet. The storyline itself was at best cheesy enough for High School Musical watching teenagers. I had to control myself from yelling, "Oi! you sampat aa?" when the crowed in the cinema went 'ooh' and 'aahh' at a few scenes, especially the one where Wolfie (Jacob) took off his shirt to reveal his six-packed abs.. Didn't notice the same expression when the abs are on an older gentlemen for example Vin Diesel. The most probable expression would be; "Geli lah..".

The whole movie can be summarised up in the following paragraph :

Miss Suan : I want to be with you forever.
Boy Vampie : Cannot, where can? I feel guilty when I'm with you. So I cannot be with you.
*Runs away*

Miss Suan : Without him I will die.
*Sits by the window for 3 months*
*Starts having visions about him whenever her adrenaline levels rises*
*Gets addicted to those visions*
*Starts to get involved in dangerous activities*
*Got involved in dangerous activity #1 with the help of Wolfie*
*Develops a close relationship with Wolfie*

Boy Vampie : Hello? May I speak to Miss Suan?
Wolfie : Oh dia sudah mati lo... Hohoho..
Boy Vampie : WTH????
*Kemikkan talipon*
Boy Vampie : Saya pun mau mati...
*Drives a canary yellow 911 to some Vampie High Council and asks them to kill him*
*They declined*
*Went out to expose himself indecently*
*Buka bajung, nampak tek tek, jeng jeng jeng...*

*Stopped by konon-nya mati Miss Suan*
*All 3 brought to Vampie High Council under some apek Vampie's orders*
*Apek vampie test power on Miss Suan*
Apek Vampie : Fuah you hebat.. Kita suruh 1 lagi Vampie test power.
*Nothing happened*
Apek Vampie : U memang hebat, u mesti mati, mari kasi saya gigit...
Alice : Stop, I have visions of her joining us and I will be the one turning her into one.
Apek Vampie : O rly? Mari sini bagi saya tengok..
*Visions of Boy Vampie and Miss Suan running through the forest ala hindu-stan.. Kuch Kuch Hote Hai!*
Apek Vampie : Ok then, you may leave..
*All of them went back to Fork*

Miss Suan : Oh Vampie, please let me join you, please turn me into one of you..
Boy Vampie : I can't..
Miss Suan : Let your family vote then..
*Voted, majority said yes*

*Wolfie confronted Miss Suan and Boy Vampie*
Wolfie : I cannot let them turn you into one of them..
Miss Suan : It's my choice Wolfie..
*Transform!*
*Wolfie turns into a big bag Wolf and was about to pounce on Boy Vampie*
Miss Suan : Over my dead body!
*Wolfie gave one last stare and ran into the forest with his tail in between his legs* <-- Kena belot kao kao...
Boy Vampie : Marry me Miss Suan.

THE END

Seriously that's the whole story, I might miss out a few scenes but trust me, those are just fillers and are not important. N they even left some loose ends out; What really happened to the hikers that were reportedly killed by bears? How did Wolfie turn into Wolfie through Sam? Why are some vampires more powerful than the others? What about the pact between the vampires and the werewolves?

Hmmm.. Maybe I should watch the first part and look for answers to those questions there.. and maybe, just maybe the first part is a more worthy movie to watch than the second one.. and hopefully the third part can redeem the whole Twilight saga from damnation..

I hate haircuts...

2009-10-22T02:05:00.002+08:00

I just remembered this and don't want to add it to the previous post.

I just got a haircut.
Conclusion = I look fugly now.. =(
Tak tau kenapa, I've always hated cutting hair but to leave it long is impractical.. Sigh.

Press the 'RESTART' button?

2009-10-22T00:35:00.006+08:00

Rewinding back a few days, I was asked to choose between two paths. Paths in life.

A : Continue with my degree in Business Administration and finish it.

B : Push the RESTART button, leave my degree and go to 'Med' school(LOL).

What 'Med' school am I talking about? Yeah it's the 'med' school you have in mind. here the M = Medicine. However it comes with a 'BUT'. I'm not gonna enrol in 'med' school to become a full-fledged doctor, my grades from my secondary school do not permit me. Instead, it's a Diploma in Physiotherapy.

Why? Because it's sponsored. It's something like a scholarship but after finishing it, I'm bound to work with the organisation for 6 years.

Where? Most probably in Mahsa college in PJ.

At this point in time, I've chose to push the big red RESTART button and I'm still waiting for an answer from the organisation. So, there's no confirmation whatsoever yet.

I'm gonna be a doctor! Yay! lol..

On a different note, the all-new long-overdue V10 powered Lexus(Toyota) LF-A is out. The back is gorgeous but the front is a lil funny..

Photos from Paultan.org

Konfrontasi all over again?

2009-10-09T02:10:00.002+08:00

Is it going to happen again? This time it might be a lil unofficial as it wasn't launched by the Indonesian government but instead by a group called Benteng Demokrasi Rakyat (Bendera).

Wiki said :
The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation (also known as Konfrontasi in Indonesian and Malay) was an undeclared war over the future of the island of Borneo, between British-backed Malaysia and Indonesia during 1962–1966.

The group, Benteng Demokrasi Rakyat (Bendera), plans to 'invade' Malaysia on the 8th October which is today (Technically it's yesterday already as it has already past 12am). Haven't heard of anything yet.

Why do they want to declare 'war' over some petty issues?

1. Indonesians working here being abused by their employees.
2. Noordin Mohammad Top.
3. Noordin Azhari Husin.
4. Sovereignty over Pulau Ligitan and Pulau Sipadan.

We, Malaysians helped them when they were faced with natural disasters and this is how they are treating us? I read the papers and I saw how ungrateful they were by throwing rocks at our RMAF planes which were carrying supplies for their earthquake victims.

After all is said and done, most of the time, words and actions by a certain group does not represent the majority. I seriously hope that does not, if it is, then they are one ungrateful lot.

A tad sad smile

2009-10-07T16:59:00.002+08:00

Flipping through Facebook made me a tad sad...

Seeing pictures of friends whom I used to share a classroom with are now all over the world. Most of them are overseas furthering their education..

They lead a whole different life from mine.

Some of them who are a lil more fortunate are seen in slick rides and posh parties.

Sigh. Never gonna have one like their's.

But I'm happy for them.

A quater ounce of jealously,
An ounce of melancholy,
And a full teaspoon of smile.
That's how I feel.

Separate entity?

2009-10-07T16:37:00.004+08:00

Have you ever came across people who do not tell you the full story but instead asks you or act in a way to make you read their blog?

I really do not understand their point of doing so. It just complicates things and make matters worse.

Just tell it face to face or just keep it inside and shut up.

By writing it in a blog, you will just make the reader think more; what if I do this? so this is what he/she is really thinking of? so it's my fault? All these questions will pop up in the reader's mind and you just got a more complicated issue at hand.

I'm fine with those who uses their blog for expression of their feelings but these kind of blogs walk a very fine line between expression and deception.

Some uses this cover to get things done their way or things they want. These people are no more than cowards and people should take extra care whenever these type of snakes are around, they might just mercilessly bite (stab) them in the back.

They might seem all nice and fluffy in front of you but in their blog they are total opposites! It surprises you on who they really are... Damn those scheming snakes!

Telah ku kembali...

2009-10-07T16:32:00.003+08:00

Sudah lama ku tidak mengunjungi mu...
Sudah lama ku abaikan mu..
Kini ku telah kembali untuk memberi mu sedikit kasih sayang ku..
Blog ku yang tercinta...

Starting to lose touch with my BM..

Selamat Hari Raya 09

2009-09-17T02:59:00.004+08:00

To Muslims everywhere, Selamat Hari Raya.

Have a good one this weekend.

Duit raya coming.. Heheh.. =)

Back to S1

2009-09-17T02:03:00.003+08:00

After a very tiring and stressful night/morning, I deserve to be rewarded and so was I by me myself and I. Just had my Economics exams this morning, and the night before I only slept for 2 hours (Which should actually be just 1 hour, overslept lah.. lol) because I was trying to gobble up 9 chapters (Which eventually became 8 chapters, Chapter13-Exchange Rates, the last chapter was not coming out, I knew this at the last minute when I reached campus.. =.="). I tell u, I very the geram when I heard about this.. Susah betui I try to telan and understand the last chapter with all the graphs... Oh well.. It's up to my dear tutor now who likes to say, 'See you next sem lor.. Aledi reserve a place for you mah...'.

And so about the reward I was supposed to present myself, I went on a Mafia War rampage and a blog-surfing spree. I jumped from one blog to another and another and another and another.... and until finally I came back here. lol. At the very same time, my Windows Media Player was playing 'My Home Sweet Home' by Nobou Uemetsu from the Final Fantasy 5 piano collection.

The 6 degree of separation theory is kinda true.. I begin with a blog of a total stranger who has links to my friend's friend's friend. Then the chain slowly grew shorter and I end up at my own blog. =)

Fatal Misunderstanding

2009-09-10T11:53:00.004+08:00

Read this on Xue Wei's blog, but I couldn't find the author. A very touching story indeed. And yes it's very very long, macam drama Hokkien but instead of 400++ episodes, this one has 3000++ words. Try reading it only when you are free and there's time for a tear drop or two. =)

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

This is a true story which has touched many readers. As it is quite a long story, reserve it (if you haven't got the time) and read it only when you are in a more relaxed mood..

In either case, do make it a point to savour everyline until the end. This is for all the single, married, divorced, widowed individuals, who take life for granted.

Please, read this story until the end. It is such an eye opener.

You never Know..........!

Just two years after our marriage, hubby brought up the idea of asking Mother to move from the rural hometown and spend her remaining years with us.

Hubby's father passed away while he was still very young. Mother endured much hardship and struggled all on her own to provide for him, see him through to a university degree..

You could say that she suffered a great deal and did everything you could expect of a woman to bring hubby to where he is today.

I immediately agreed and started packing the spare room, which has a balcony facing the South to let her enjoy the sunshine and plant greenery.

Hubby stood in the bright room, and suddenly just picked me up and started spinning round and round.

As I begged him to put me down, he said: "Lets go fetch mother." Hubby is tall and big sized and I love to test on his chest and enjoy the feeling that he could pick me up at any moment put the tiny me into his pockets.

Whenever we have an argument and both refuses to back down, he would pick me up and spin me over his head continuously until I surrender and beg for mercy.

I became addicted to this kind of panic-joy feeling.

Mother brought along her countryside habits and lifestyle with her.

For example; I am so used to buying flowers to decorate the living room, she could not stand it and would comment:
"I do not know how you young people spend your money, why do you buy flowers for?
You also can't eat flowers!"
I smiled and said: "Mum, with flowers in the house, our mood will also become better."

Mother continues to grumble away, and hubby smiled: "Mum, this is a city-people's habit; slowly you will get use to it."

Mother stopped saying anything. But every time thereafter, whenever came home with flowers, she would ask me how much it costs.
I told her and she would shake her head and express displeasure.

Sometimes, when I come home with lots of shopping bags, she would ask each and every item how much they cost, I would tell her honestly and she would get even more upset about it.
Hubby playfully pinched my nose and said: "You little fool, just don't tell her the full price of everything would solve it."

There begins the friction to our otherwise happy lifestyle.

Mother hates it most when hubby wakes up early to prepare the breakfast.
In your view, how could the man of the house cook for the wife?

At the breakfast table, mother facial expression is always like the dark clouds before a thunderstorm and I would pretend not to notice.
She would use her chopsticks and make a lot of noise with it as her silent protest.

As I am a dance teacher in the Children's Palace and am exhausted from along day of dancing around, I do not wish to give up the luxury of that additional few minutes in the comfort of my bed and hence I turned a deaf ear to all the protest mother makes.

From time to time, mother would help out with some housework, but soon her help created additional work for me.

For example: she would keep all kinds of plastic bags accumulating them so that she sell them later on, and resulted in our house being filled with all the trash bags; she would scrimp on dish washing detergent when helping to wash the dishes and so as not to hurt her feelings, I would quietly wash them again.

One day, late at night, mother saw me quietly washing the dishes, and "Bam" she slams her bedroom door and cried very loudly in her room.

Hubby was placed in a difficult position, and after that, he did not speak to me for that entire night.

I pretended to be a spoilt child, tried acting cute, but he totally ignored me.....

I got mad and asked him: "What did I do wrong?" Hubby stared at me and said: "Can't you just give in to her once? We couldn't possibly die eating from a bowl however unclean it is, right?"

After that incident, for a long period of time, mother did not speak to me and you can feel that there is a very awkward feeling hanging in the house.

During that period of cold war, hubby was caught in dilemma as to who to please.

In order to stop her son from having to prepare breakfast, mother took on the "all important" task of preparing breakfast without any prompting.

At the breakfast table, mother would look at hubby happily eating his breakfast and cast that reprimanding stare at me for having failed to perform my duty as a wife.

To avoid the embarrassing breakfast situation, I resorted to buying my own breakfast on my way to work.

That night, while in bed, hubby was a little upset and asked me:
"LD, is it because you think that mum's cooking is not clean that's why you chose not to eat at home?"

He then turned his back on me and left me alone in tears as feeling of unfairness overwhelmed me.
After some time, hubby sighed: "LD, just for me, can you have breakfast at home?"

I am left with no choice but to return to the breakfast table.

The next morning, I was having porridge prepared by mother and I felt a sudden churn in my stomach and everything inside seem to be rushing up my throat.

I tried to suppress the urge to throw up but I could not.
I threw down the bowl, rushed into the washroom, and vomited everything out...

Just as I was catching my breath, I saw mother crying and grumbling very loudly in her dialect, hubby was standing at the washroom doorway staring at me with fire burning in his eyes..

I opened my mouth but no words came out of it, I really did not mean it.

We had our very first big fight that day; mother took a look at us, then stood up and slowly made her way out of the house.

Hubby gave me a final stare in the eye and followed mother down the stairs.

For three days, hubby did not return home, not even a phone call.

I was so furious, since mother arrived; I had been trying my best and putting up with her, what else do you want me to do?

For no reason, I keep having the feeling to throw up and I simply have not appetite for food, coupled with all the events happening at home, I was at then low point in my life..

Finally, a colleague said: "LD, you look terrible; you should go and see a doctor."

The doctor confirmed that I am pregnant.

Now it became clear to me why I threw up that fateful morning, a sense of sadness floated through that otherwise happy news.

Why didn't hubby, and mother who had been through this before, thought of the possibility of this being the reason that day?

At the hospital entrance, I saw my hubby standing there.

It had only been three days, but he looked haggard. I had wanted to turn and leave, but one look at him and my heart soften, I couldn't resist and called out to him.

He followed my voice and finally found me but he pretended that he doesn't know me; he has that disgusted look in his eyes that cut right through my heart.

I told myself not to look at him anymore, and hail a cab.

At that moment, I have such a strong urge inside me to shout to my hubby: "Darling, I am having your baby!" and have him lift me up and spin me around in circles of joy.

What I wanted didn't happen and as I sat in the cab, my tears started rolling down.

Why? Why our love couldn't even withstand the test of one fight?

Back home, I lay on the bed thinking about my hubby, and the disgusted look in his eyes.

I cried and wet the corner of the blanket.

That night, sound of the drawers opening woke me up.

I switched on the lights and I saw hubby with tears rolling down his face.

He was removing the money. I stared at him in silence; he ignored me, took the bank deposit book and some money and left the house.

Maybe he really intends to leave me for good.

What a rational man, so clear-cut in love and money matters.

I gave a few dried laugh and tears starting streaming down again.

The next day, I did not go to work. I wanted to clear this out and have a good talk with hubby.

I reached his office and his secretary gave me a weird look and said:
"Mr. Tan's mother had a traffic accident and is now in the hospital."

I stood there in shock.

I rushed to the hospital and by the time I found hubby, mother had already passed away.

Hubby did not look at me, his face was expressionless.

I looked at mother's pale white and thin face and I couldn't control the tears in my eyes.

My god, how could this happen?

Throughout the funeral, hubby did not say a single word to me, with only the occasional disgusted stare at me.

I only managed to find out brief facts about the accident from other people.

That day, after mother left the house, she walked in dazed toward the bus stop, apparently intending to go back to her old house back in the countryside.
As hubby ran after her, she tried to walk faster and as she tried to cross the street, a public bus came and hit her...

I finally understood how much hubby must hate me, if I had not thrown up that morning, if we had not quarreled, if....

In his heart, I am indirectly the killer of his mother.

Hubby moved into mother's room and came home every night with a strong liquor smell on him.

And me, I am buried under the guilt and self-pity and could hardly breathe.

I wanted to explain to him, tell him that we are going to have our baby soon, but each time, I saw the dead look in his eyes, all the words I have at the brink of my mouth just fell back in.

I had rather he hit me real hard or give me a big and thorough scolding though none of these events happening had been my fault at all.

Many days of suffocating silence went by and as the days went by, hubby came home later and later.

The deadlock between us continues, we were living together like strangers who don't know each other.

I am like the dead knot in his heart.

One day, I passed by a western restaurant, looking into the glass window, I saw hubby and a girl sitting facing each other and he very lightly brushed her hair for her, I understood what it meant.

After recovering from that moment of shock, I entered the restaurant, stood in front of my hubby and stared hard at him, not a tear in my eyes.

I have nothing to say to him, and there is no need to say anything.

The girl looked at me, looks at hubby, stands up and wanted to go, hubby stretched out his hand and stopped her.

He stared back at me,challenging me.

I can only hear my slow heart beat, beating, one by one as if at the brink of death.

I eventually backed down, if I had stood that any longer, I will collapse together with the baby inside me.

That night, he did not come home; he had chosen to use that as a way to indicate to me: Following mother's death so did our love for each other.

He did not come home anymore after that.

Sometimes, when I returned home from work, I can tell that the cupboard had been touched - he had returned to take some of his stuff.

I no longer wish to call him; the initial desire to explain everything to him vanished.

I lived alone; I go for my medical checkups alone, my heart breaks again and again every time I see a guy carefully helping his wife through the physical examination.

My office colleagues hinted to me to consider aborting the baby, I told them No, I will not..

I insisted on having to this baby, perhaps it is my way of repaying mother for causing her death.

One day, I came home and I saw hubby sitting in the living room.
The whole house was filled with cigarette smoke.
On the coffee table, there was this piece of paper.

I know what it is all about without even looking at it.

In the two months plus of living alone, I have gradually learned to find peace within myself.

I looked at him, removed my hat and said: "You wait a while, I will sign."

He looked at me, mixed feelings in his eyes, just like mine.

As I hang up my coat, I keep repeating to myself "You cannot cry, you cannot cry...." my eyes hurt terribly, but I refused to let tears come out from there.

After I hung up my coat, hubby's eyes stared fixed at my bulging tummy. I smiled, walked over to the coffee table and pulled the paper towards me.

Without even looking at what it says, I signed my name on it and pushed the paper to him. "LD, are you pregnant?"

Since mother's accident, this is the first time he spoke to me. I could not control my tears any further and they fell like raindrops.

I said: "Yes, but its ok, you can leave now."

He did not go.

In the dark, we sat, facing each other.

Hubby slowly moved over me, his tears wet the blanket.

In my heart, everything seems so far away, so far that even if I sprint, I could never reach them.

I cannot remember how many times he repeated "sorry" to me.

I had originally thought that I would forgive him, but now I can't.

In the western restaurant, in front of that girl, that cold look in his eyes, I will never forget, ever.

We have drawn such deep scars in each other's heart.

For me, it's unintentional; for him, totally intentional.

I had been waiting for this moment of reconciliation, but I realized now, what had gone past is gone forever and could not repeated.

Other than the thought of the baby inside me that would bring some warmth to my heart, I am totally cold towards him, I no longer eat anything he buys for me, I don't take any presents from him and I stopped talking to him.

From the moment I signed on that piece of paper, marriage and love had vanished from my heart.

Sometimes, hubby will try to come into the bedroom, but when he walks in, I will walk out to the living room.

He had no choice but to sleep in mother's room.

At night, from his room, I can hear light sounds of groaning, I kept quiet.

This used to be his trick; last time, whenever I ignore him, he would fake illness and I will surrender and find out what is wrong with him, he would then grab me and laugh.

He has forgotten that last time I cared for him and am concerned because there was love, but now, what is there between us?

Hubby's groaning came on and off continuing but I continuously ignored him.

Almost everyday, he would buy something for the baby, infant products, children products and books that kids like to read.

Bags and bags of it stacked inside his room till it is full.

I know he is trying to use this to reach out to me, but I am no longer moved by his actions.

He has no choice but to lock himself in his room and I can hear his typing away on his computer keyboard, maybe he is now addicted to web surfing but none of that matters to me anymore.

It was sometime towards the end of Spring in the following year, one late night, I screamed because of a sudden stomach pain, hubby came rushing into the room, its like he did not change and sleep, and had been waiting for this moment.

He carried me and ran down the stairs, stopped a car, holding my hand very tightly and kept wiping the sweat off my brow, throughout the journey to the hospital.

Once we reached the hospital, he carried me and hurried into the delivery suite.

Lying on the back of his skinny but warmth body, a thought crossed my mind:

In my lifetime, who else would love me as much as he did?

He held the delivery suite door opened and watch me go in; his warm eyes caused me to manage a smile at him despite my contraction pain.

Coming out of the delivery room, hubby looked at our son and me, eyes tear with joy and he kept smiling.

I reached out and touched his hand.. Hubby looked at me, smiling and then he slowly collapsed onto the floor.

I cried out for him in pain... He smiled, but without opening that tired eyes of his...

I had thought that I would never shed any tear for him, but the truth is, I have never felt a deeper pain cutting through my body at that moment.

Doctor said that by the time hubby discovered he had liver cancer, it was already in terminal stage and it was a miracle that he managed to last this long.

I asked the doctor when he first discovered he had cancer. Doctor said about 5 months ago and consoled me saying:
"Prepare for his funeral."

I disregarded the nurse's objection and rushed home, I went into his room and checked his computer, and a suffocating pain hits me.

Hubby's cancer was discovered 5 months ago, his groaning was real, and
I had thought that... the computer showed over 200 thousand words he wrote for our son:

"Son, just for you, I have persisted, to be able to take a look at you before I fall, is my biggest wish now...
I know that in your life, you will have many happiness and maybe some setbacks, if only I can accompany you throughout that journey, how nice would it be..
But daddy now no longer has that chance.
Daddy has written inside here all the possible difficulties and problems you may encounter during your lifetime, when you meet with these problems, you can refer to daddy's suggestion....
Son, after writing these 200 thousand words, I feel as if I have accompanied you through life journey.
To be honest, daddy is very happy.
Do love your mother, she has suffered, she is the one who loves you most and also the one who loves me most..."

From play school to primary school, to secondary, university, to work and even in dealing with questions of love, everything big and small was written there.

Hubby has also written a letter for me:
"My dear, to marry you is my biggest happiness, forgive me for the pain I have caused you, forgive me for not telling you my illness, because I want to see you be in a joyful mood waiting for the arrival of our baby....

My dear, if you cried, it means that you have forgiven me and I would smile, thank you for loving me...

These presents, I'm afraid I cannot give them to our son personally, could you help me to give some of them to him every year, the dates on what to give when are all written on the packaging... "

Going back to the hospital, hubby is still in coma.

I brought our son over and place him beside him.

I said: "Open your eyes and smile, I want our son to remember being in the warmth of your arms..."

He struggled to open his eyes and managed a weak smile.

Our son still in his arms was happily waving his tiny hands in the air. I press the button on the camera and the sound of the shutter rang through the air as tears slowly rolled down my face.....

A fatal misunderstanding and the person who loves me the most in this world is gone forever...

"Cruel misunderstandings one after another disrupted the blissful footsteps to our family.

Our original intend of having Mother enjoy some quiet and peaceful moments in her remaining years with us went terribly wrong as destiny's secret is finally revealed at a price, every thing became too late."........

*sniff* *sniff*

A nuisance?

2009-09-08T23:08:00.003+08:00

Do you find it irritating when music from blogs or sites automatically plays while you are listening to your favourite tunes?

There are some sites which makes it so difficult to find the pause or stop button because the whole site is too cluttered. In a worst case scenario, some don't even give you an option to stop the music, your only option? EXIT the site.

Just a random thought. I do find it a nuisance most of the times, but if I'm not listening to any songs, then I wouldn't mind the music. =)

Btw, Transformers soundtrack rock!!

An Inspiring Article

2009-09-07T00:56:00.004+08:00

As I read through the mail, images of Malaysia in my mind began to change.

I was really disappointed when I saw a video of a group of people marching towards a Government building with banners saying, 'Pertahankan Islam, bukan kuil' 'Laksanakan hudud sekarang', 'Islam untuk semua', and 'Kuil untuk Rodziah dan Khalid'. For those who can't read BM (Bahasa Malaysia), they read : 'Defend Islam, not the temple', 'Perform the hudud now', 'Islam for all' and 'A temple for Rodziah and Khalid'(These two person are the one who approved the relocation of the Indian temple). What was even more shocking was the protestors were carrying a severed cow head. For the uninformed, the cow is a sacred animal to the Hindus'. They even had the courage to step and spit on the severed animal's head. Have they no respect for a corpse? This brings up the question, is that what they are taught in their Agama classes? I don't think so.

Weeks before this incident, the Prime Minister announced a new plan to unite all Malaysians aptly named 1Malaysia and yet the police decided to stand and look while the protestors continued their journey. Try holding a peaceful candlelight vigil and in no time, the police will be swooping down on you and arresting every man, woman and child who took part in the peaceful ceremony.

Another May 13 is bound to happen. We will all be consumed by the flames..

That was then...

The letter written by a Malay himself, filled me with a new sense of hope of a united Malaysia. Will it happen or not, it depends on you and me. Be the change you want to see.

Here, read it for yourself :

Anas Zubedy
Saturday, August 29, 2009
NEW BOB AGENCY - What the Quran says about Non-Muslim places of worship

I grew up accustomed to Chinese drums and Hindu temple bells and the experience made me a Muslim who loves the Quran more than any other book in the world.

Let me tell you why …

I grew up at Fettes Park Penang, Evergreen Road to be exact.

From Fettes Road turning into Evergreen Road, you will need to battle a short slope uphill where we kids would need to paddle standing up while riding our bicycles and where many ladies would jump off to push theirs till the road flattens 10 meters ahead – about 100 meters later you will pass my house, house number 14.

There is an empty space almost triangular in shape where the two roads meet. At the centre of that empty land stood a large tall leafy bee infested tree with red colored nuts sprouting from the branches. On one side of the empty land was a row of shop-houses. On its corner lot wall the words NEW BOB AGENCY in red bold capital letters greeted the Fettes Park community for many years. So we call that little corner piece of land - Bob Agency. Across the road to Bob Agency stood two temples; one Chinese and the other a Hindu one.

Bob Agency for the better part of the year was left empty but the piece of land comes alive twice a year when the Chinese temple organize Chinese Operas ( Teng Lang Kho Tai) especially during the Hungry Ghost Festivals. Usually the first two days it would be the Chinese Opera (we use to call it Tong Tong Tong Cheng! Show) and followed by a second two days of modern bands belting the latest Chinese numbers and some popular western songs (I love it when the emcee announced something like “ Andy Gibb chang terk, Shallow Lancing!” ).

Each year the temple committee, both Hindu and Chinese will go house to house to request donation either for the upkeep, repair and temple improvement or for projects like the Hungry Ghost festivals or Thaipusam. Each time my Mom will ask me to tell them politely that as Muslims we cannot donate to a ‘To Kong’. (Besides, we actually did not have any extra cash anyway! Ha!ha!)

They too were polite and understanding and just moved away wishing me thank you regardless. I did not question my mom’s reasoning as I took it as true; not until 1977 when the Penang State Government was building the Penang State Mosque. I was 13.

It was announced that Loh Boon Siew the big Tau Keh of Penang donated RM 1 Million to the building of the state mosque. But wait a minute. We cannot give but we can take? That does not sound right and downright unfair. My mom had no answers so; I had to bring it up during agama class in school. After all, it will not be the first time I was asked to leave the class anyway- so what’s another period of wondering around the school (my eldest sister was not allowed to be in agama class at all during certain years in her school life !!!).

Honestly, I was not a bad boy. In fact I won the agama prize for being top in school twice. But I had questions that needed real solid answers. And, I do not give up easily!

Poor Ustazah. I asked her if I could donate to temples and her answer was a firm ‘No’. We can’t give but we can accept? I told her that my religion sounds unfair and I cannot accept her answer as my Grand Dad told me Islam is the most just religion in the world.

I refused to accept the answer and kept on harping on the RM 1 million from Loh Boon Siew. Finally she relented and said that if we were to give any donations to the ‘To Kong’, we must ‘niat’ that it is money we ‘ buang ke dalam sungai’. I told her ‘Ustazah dah merepet’.

She was by then in tears and it did not help that my classmates were cheering with drum beats – thumping the table top. She rushed out of the class and the rank cheered, the class went into the usual rumpus of school boys without supervision… but it did not last for long.

She returned with Ustaz Mahayudin, whom we were all scared shit of! And he was not alone; he brought his friend a handsomely meter long rotan. He banged the rotan on the teacher’s table a few times, we were dead silent. He uttered a few words of warning, and left. (Actually Ustaz Mahayudin was a kind and nice man, in fact I have never seen him use the rotan on anyone. I had good conversations with him, and he allowed differing opinions although he was worried of my constant questioning of the status quo. He treated Non-Muslims kindly too, and, always with respect).

I did not get my answer until my university days when I took to reading the Quran and Muslim history for myself. I discovered that the Quran suggested,

'WOE UNTO THOSE who give short measure: those who, when they are to receive their due from [other] people, demand that it be given in full, but when they have to measure or weigh whatever they owe to others, give less than what is due! Do they not know that they are bound to be raised from the dead? [and called to account] on an awesome Day (Quran 83: 1-5)

I also discovered that early Muslim leaders created a peaceful environment so that people from the various faiths can practice their way of life. In fact state money was used to build, repair and support the building of not just the mosque but also Non- Muslim places of worship. The Muslim army has a duty to defend all places of worship as the Quran commands,

(They are) those who have been expelled from their homes in defiance of right,- (for no cause) except that they say, "our Lord is God.. Did not God check one set of people by means of another, there would surely have been pulled down monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, in which the name of God is commemorated in abundant measure. God will certainly aid those who aid his (cause);- for verily God is full of Strength, Exalted in Might, (able to enforce His Will).( Quran 22:40)

Back in the mid 90s I decided to buy a condo unit at Sunway area. Beside the wonderful square swimming pool, the other attractions were a Hindu and Chinese temple right in front of the guard house and a mosque just behind the corner. In the morning you can hear the azan, the temple bells and every now and then I get to smell Chinese incense bringing me back memories of growing up in Fettes Park and Bob Agency. The only missing link was a church :(.

Each morning, each evening, each nite – each day that condo where I stayed for a good many years reminds me of another Quranic announcement. It is as though the Quran spoke to me directly,

To thee We sent the Scripture in truth, confirming the scripture that came before it, and guarding it in safety: so judge between them by what God hath revealed, and follow not their vain desires, diverging from the Truth that hath come to thee. To each among you have we prescribed a law and an open way? If God had so willed, He would have made you a single people, but (His plan is) to test you in what He hath given you: so strive as in a race in all virtues. The goal of you all is to God. it is He that will show you the truth of the matters in which ye dispute (Quran 5:48)

Thank You Bob Agency, Thank You Evergreen Road, Thank You Fettes Park, Thank You Penang, Thank You Malaysia!

Thank you for helping see the world the way God wanted me to see it.

Thank You God.

Thank you, Anas for giving me hope. =)
An early Selamat Hari Raya to all Muslims out there.

Top Gear Immortalised

2009-08-23T14:01:00.004+08:00

Their hair looks funny.. lol.. Especially Clarkson's, I wonder what will he say about it..

Source

About McDonald's...

2009-08-22T22:19:00.003+08:00

Formula D Seattle!

2009-08-20T01:21:00.003+08:00

This is how Tokyo Drift should have been done. Turn those speakers up and enjoy!

Rally accident

2009-08-20T01:18:00.003+08:00

For those who are squemish or loves horses, this is NOT for you.

Ouch!

Car + Used Computer = THIS!!

2009-08-20T01:09:00.002+08:00

The future is out there...

2009-08-19T22:56:00.004+08:00

The tall thick wooden gate boomed with a thunderous growl as something slammed against it hard. Bits of the ceiling rained down on me. "BOOM!!" went the gate again and it echoed down the long stone hallway. I took my battle stance, preparing myself for whatever that is about to come through the gate.

BOOOOMM!!! The gates flew open and standing in between them was a creature, half organic, half machine which was almost as tall as a castle tower. It had horns on both sides of its head, one was as white as ivory while the other was as shiny as the blade in my clutches. In its hand was a huge battle-worn wooden maul with runes engraved into them. It was.. It was the minotaur the inscriptions warned me about earlier before I entered into the maze.

It let out a terrible roar that literally rocked the hall accompanied by the stench of its breath. Without wasting any time, I took the first move and rushed towards it. As I reached its hoofs, I started climbing it. The minotaur stomped the ground furiously in an attempt to shake me off. I struggled to hold on to it..

There were chains all over its body which I used to make my way to the back of its neck. I plunged both my blades into its back and ruby red blood gushed out from the wound. The minotaur roared as I tried to pull the blade downwards to enlarge the wound. As I was halfway down its back, suddenly, it grabbed me with its gigantic arms and threw me half way through the hall. I was almost knocked out by the impact on the floor. I forced myself up.

It ran towards me in a battle charge. The ground shook with every step it took. I evaded it by quickly rolling to the left. I felt a shadow enveloping me. I gripped both my blades and was going for round 2 but it was already too late. It was the shadow of the maul and it landed straight on me. My vision went blank.

There was no sound, no minotaur roar, no stomping, nothing at all. Just peace..

A few moment later, I was awoken with a sharp pain piercing through the back of my neck. I sat up and opened my eyes. I realised that I was sitting in a pod-like bed. I rubbed the back of my neck as the pain was still there and to my surprise, I felt something metallic. It's round with smooth edges and in the middle there were holes arranged in a certain configuration, something like an electric socket. I examined my surroundings, what I saw shocked me. There were people all around me, sleeping in pods which look exactly like the one I was sleeping in. Some of them were mumbling, some displayed faces of fear while some others gnashed their teeth. Still in shock, I stood up and step out from my pod. I examined my pod and found stickers all over it, stickers with words "God of War by PlayStation". This means that the world I was in before waking up was just a game? It was too real to be a game, the pain was there, the warm blood that gushed out from the wound onto my hands was there, I felt the coldness of the blade that I was carrying.. It was more like a time machine that transported my consciousness back in time.

Could this be the future of gaming? It is just too damn scary to be just a game..

$$$ Rush..

2009-08-12T23:13:00.004+08:00

Argh.. I'm tired of rushing here and there for PTPTN. Have to certify this and that. Can't they simplify things? Yeah I know it's because money is coming from them to me and in return I have to make sure that all my details are true, but it's really hectic to rush back to Penang to certify all my certs. I'm lucky that the Bar List (A list of names of students who are barred from sitting for Finals because ponteng too much..) is already out as I'll be skipping a few classes just for PTPTN..

Btw, will be in Penang for the weekend. =)

A Letter To The PM

2009-08-10T16:01:00.005+08:00

Our current PM asked, "Why March?" when 20,000 Rakyats went out to the streets of KL to protest against the ISA. This is the answer to our PM's question. Very well written I would say.

Why do Malaysians march?

3 Aug, 2009, The Sun
WHY march, when the government has said that it will review the Internal Security Act? Why march, when there are other very cosy ways of giving your views and feedback?

One would understand if these were questions posed by nine-year-olds. But they are not. They are questions posed by the prime minister of this nation we call our home. Answer we must. So, why?

Because thousands who died while in detention cannot march or speak any more. That is why others have to do it for them.

Because persons in the corridors of power, persons who have amassed tremendous wealth and live in mansions, and persons who are in the position to right wrongs but won’t, continue to rule our nation with suffocating might. And they certainly would not march. They would prevent others from marching.

Because the have-nots, the sidelined, the oppressed, the discriminated and the persecuted have no effective line to the powerful.

Because the nice ways have been tried ad nauseam for decades, but have fallen on deaf ears.

Because none of the major recommendations of Suhakam (including on peaceful assembly), or of the commissions of inquiry, has been implemented. Because the proposed Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) is not in sight, while corruption and insecurity live in every neighbourhood; and (despite reasoned views expressed ever so nicely in opposition) Rela (people’s volunteer corps) is being brought in to make matters even worse.

The proponents in “Su Qiu” (remember them?) were not marchers. In fact it is hard to find nicer ways than “su qiu”, because the term means “present and request” or “inform and request”. In terms of putting forward a view or a request, it is the height of politeness. Yet they were labelled “extremists” – they who did not march.

And now you ask, why march?

Because you gave non-marchers a false name! You called them the “silent majority”, who by virtue of their silence (so you proudly argued with twisted logic) were supporters of government policies since they were not vocal in raising objections. You claimed to be protecting the interest of the “silent majority”. Now some of them do not want to be silent anymore, and you are asking why?

Yes, because double standards and hypocrisy cannot be covered up or explained away forever; and incompetence cannot be indefinitely propped up by depleting resources.

Because cronyism can only take care of a few people, and the rest will eventually wake up to realise the repeated lies that things were done in certain ways purportedly “for their benefit”.

Because the race card, cleverly played for such a long time, is beginning to be seen for what it really is – a despicable tool to divide the rakyat for easier political manipulation.

Because it does not take much to figure out that there is no good reason why Malaysia, a country with abundant human resources and rich natural resources, does not have a standard of living many times higher than that of Singapore, an island state with no natural resources and that has to import human resources from Malaysia and elsewhere.

Because, in general, countries that do not persecute marchers are prosperous or are improving from their previous state of affairs, and those that do are declining.

Because Gandhi marched, Mandela marched, Martin Luther King marched, and Tunku Abdul Rahman marched.

Because more and more people realise that peaceful assemblies are no threat at all to the security of the nation, although they are a threat to the security of tenure of the ruling elite.

Because politicians do not mean it when they say with a straight face or a smile that they are the servants and that the people are the masters. No servant would treat his master with tear gas, batons and handcuffs.

Because if the marchers in history had been stopped in their tracks, places like India, Malaysia and many others would still be colonies today, apartheid would still be thriving in South Africa, Nelson Mandela would still be scribbling on the walls of Cell 5, and Obama would probably be a slave somewhere in Mississippi plotting to make his next midnight dash for the river.

And because liberty, freedom and dignity are not free vouchers posted out to each household.

They do not come to those who just sit and wait. They have to be fought for, and gained.

And if you still want to ask: why march; I can go on and on until the last tree is felled. But I shall
obviously not.

I will end with the following lines from one of the songs sung in the 1960s by civil rights marchers in the US, without whom Obama would not be able to even sit with the whites in a bus, let alone reside in the White House:

“It isn’t nice to block the doorway
It isn’t nice to go to jail
There are nicer ways to do it
But the nice ways have all failed
It isn’t nice; it isn’t nice
You’ve told us once, you’ve told us twice
But if that’s freedom’s price
We don’t mind ...”

Yeo Yang Poh, former Bar Council President

Love your car too much?

2009-08-01T01:42:00.002+08:00

Then wear them!

Malaysia boleh..

2009-08-01T01:23:00.004+08:00

Aaaahh.. It's that month again. The month where we go "Tanggal sini dan sana..". The month where we go nuts with red, blue, white and yellow. The month where some of us are willing to do a fashion suicide. The month where flags become more expensive although demand is increased. The month where Mat Rempits become very patriotic. The month where some of us will lose our voice the following day after barrages of 'Medeka!!'. The month of... August.

The month where we got our independence from the English. 52 years down the road, are we really that different? Are we better off without the English? Yes there are improvements but a lot more work needs to be done..

One fine example :

Malaysia boleh!

An early birthday wish from me to you, Malaysia.
Happy 52nd!

As I sat in the toilet...

2009-08-01T00:49:00.002+08:00

...a few moments ago, ~~doing what I do best~~, there was silence all around ~~except for occasional trumpeting from my rear end~~. Then I overhead a conversation between a guy and a girl which goes like this :

Guy : Nice to meet you!

Girl : Nice to meet you too!

Guy : Is that your bra?

Girl : Yea.

Guy : Is it a B-cup one?

Girl : No, it's a F.. *sarcastically*

Guy : Oh really? Then your nipples must be pink..
I love pink nipples.

After he finished his sentence, I was in deep thought and did not hear the continuation of it. I was thinking to myself, "They just met and the guy is already asking about her bra? And telling her his fantasies? WTH???".

And if that wasn't bad enough, the conversation happened with the guy smoking (I found out from bits of the remaining conversation) in the back alley of my house and the girl, in her room (I'm guessing here because her voice was kinda soft.)with her window facing the back alley.

Call me kampung-minded or old-fashioned, but this is just wrong..

R.A.P - Clarkson style

2009-07-31T16:26:00.004+08:00

Nice one there, Swede Mason!

Chris Daughtry's Poker Face

2009-07-27T16:12:00.002+08:00

Fuh!! A nice cover of the song Poker Face by Chris Daughtry.

Transformers Mania

2009-07-26T18:35:00.005+08:00

Tron

2009-07-26T17:05:00.002+08:00

I'm sure most of you haven't heard of Tron before. For the rest of you who have seen and loved Tron as a child of the 80's, here's the Light Cycle.

The Light Cycle you see here is one of only two in existence. It was put up on display by Disney at Comic-Con behind a replica storefront of Kevin Flynn's Arcade.

Wiki says,

Tron is a 1982 science fiction film by Disney. It stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn (and his program counterpart inside the electronic world, Clu), Bruce Boxleitner as Tron and his User Alan Bradley, Cindy Morgan as Yori and Dr. Lora Baines, and Dan Shor as Ram. David Warner plays all three main antagonists: the program Sark, his User Ed Dillinger, and the voice of the Master Control Program. It was written and directed by Steven Lisberger. Tron has a distinctive visual style, as it was one of the first films from a major studio to use computer graphics extensively.

Source
Source

Revenge of the Half Blood Dinosaur

2009-07-26T16:13:00.002+08:00

Transformers : Revenge of The Fallen

Finally, just got a chance to watch it last two weeks. The first two tries failed because ticket sales were skyrocketing and we weren't able to get tickets for it. Currently, even after two weeks, it was still a sell-out! For a non-hardcore Transformers fan, it was one hella movie! There's more jokes in this version than the first installment and there's a lot more action scenes this time. However, I still love the first one better as it has a lot more 'feel' to it. The anticipation that something is going to happen and the whole journey to the climax was just missing in this movie. It's just missing that 'woah' factor that the first movie has. Nevertheless Revenge of the Fallen gets a 3.5/5 stars from me.

Ice Age 3 : Dawn of the Dinosaurs

This has got to be my favourite of the three. It's a lot more mature and there's Buck! Don't know who he is? He's one funny fella. Imagine Jack Sparrow reincarnated as a possum. Yes seriously Buck is a possum with a Jack Sparrow attitude. He's eccentric, adventurous and above all a possum. Nothing much to be said about this movie except it got me laughing from the start till the end. I love the 'I don't speak wind' and laughing gas scene. The 'losing altitude' was another memorable one. LOL.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

It was a 3 hour long journey into a world filled with magic. But this time around, it was not just magic. The stench of death and impending doom was all around. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince or HP6 (I wonder what's with Malaysian and numbers.. They even have to label Terminator and Fast and Furious for us.) I prefer movies with these kind of themes rather than those which would cater to a younger audience. To me, who's not a HP6 book reader (I stopped at HP4, Goblet of Fire), the movie was good but I was disappointed as I was waiting for the big fight that did not come. According to my sources, a lot of scenes that were not from the book was cut/added into the movie. So there was actually a big fight at the end but it wasn't put into the movie. I'm waiting for the last one, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The smog.

2009-07-25T18:47:00.003+08:00

The haze in Kampar is seriously getting very bad. There's like a white layer over every building and hill. People, do drink more water. I have the I'm-getting-sick-soon feeling already because of the haze. Can we just install a industrial size blower/fan/tsunami/tornado/hurricane generator and blow all the smog back to Indonesia? This is another inconsiderate neighbour..

Do the right thing, UTAR..

2009-07-23T13:35:00.003+08:00

Got up at 10a.m.

Took a bath.

Brushed my teeth.

Texted Darren if he could drop me to campus.

He said yes.

Waited for him.

SMS received...

...From Darren.

Econs class canceled...

.................
............
.......
....
..

*my spark plugs ignited*
*pistons starts to accelerate*
*me engine roared past its redline*
ROOOOAAAARRRRRR!!!

Went back in to the house.
Switched on the laptop.
Logged in to Facebook.

Lucky I did not decide to cycle..

With so many technological advancement, I'm still getting last minute cancelation. I wasn't the only one receiving this. Me lady's class was canceled a few times just before the class started, her's was worse, it was an 8a.m class and she was already in campus, luckily it wasn't her only class on that day.

Hello UTAR, can you please inform us earlier? Not all of us are driving to campus. Most of us are cycling and some of us struggled to get up the fully packed bus to come to campus. Please be more considerate. We are paying you money. Do think of us.

Solution?

2009-07-22T01:08:00.004+08:00

Drums of war are roaring once again...

The air is filled with tension..

Soldiers are trained..

Swords are sharpen..

Bows are strung..

Machines of war are constructed..

What can an observer do to stop this war without making it a three-way fight?

Pirates of the Caribbean medley

2009-07-20T14:55:00.003+08:00

I found this piece in Youtube by kylelandry to be simply amazing! Crank up the volume & enjoy!

Part I

Part II

I beginning to get addicted to piano pieces.

Bust chocolate

2009-07-20T13:53:00.004+08:00

I was minding my own business and playing Mafia Wars on Facebook, doing the usual stuff ; Doing jobs, trying to get loot & collection items and fighting random people. Then suddenly I spied something with my lil eye.. Of all the funny advertisements on Facebook, I found this to be the most eye-popping one. What does it say? F-Cup Cookies. Yes that dirty mind of yours got it right. It's supposed to increase the size of your bust and best of all it looks like your normal chocolate bar except for the packaging of course.

While I was playing Mafia Wars...

The cookie box.

So for bigger n fuller bust, munch down on some F-Cup Cookies now.
For more info : http://www.ravissante.com.my/

Most likely this is a gimmick and I doubt if it'll really work..
Chocolate.. Bust.. LOL! I find it rather amusing..

Liar! Liar! pants on fire! Hangin’ on a telephone wire!

2009-07-20T12:12:00.006+08:00

The Liar

Deceiver, dissembler
Your trousers are alight
From what pole or gallows
Shall they dangle in the night?

When I asked of your career
Why did you have to kick my rear
With that stinking lie of thine
Proclaiming that you owned a mine?

When you asked to borrow my stallion
To visit a nearby moored galleon
How could I ever know that you
Intended to turn him into glue?

What red devil of mendacity
Grips your soul with such tenacity?
Will one you cruelly shower with lies
Put a pistol ball between your eyes?

What infernal serpent
Has lent you his forked tongue?
From what pit of foul deceit
Are all these whoppers sprung?

Deceiver, dissembler
Your trousers are alight
From what pole or gallows
Do they dangle in the night?

~William Blake (1810)

Now who the hell told me Business and Corporate Law was easy and interesting?

Perks of global warming?

2009-07-16T00:31:00.005+08:00

With the effects of global warming getting more severe as time passes, many parties have everything in their power to keep the temperature in control. The Parliament passes bills which promotes reduction of carbon emissions and also amends those with loopholes. NGOs organise campaigns to educate the people on the cause and effects of global warming. Recycling became a trend for most household. The people started to carpool and use more public transport. Greenpeace is still hugging trees.

Now we have a brothel in Berlin giving discounts to customers who arrive with bicycle. You'll get a 5-Euro discount if you come with a bicycle. A 70-Euro ($87.84) for a 45 minute session will be down to 65-Euro ($90.85) for the same duration. It also applies to the 15 minute session where you originally have to pay 30-Euro ($41.91) if you arrive in a GTi, M3 or a AMG 55, but if you were to arrive with a BMX (Not a BMW mind you.) it'll only cost you a measly 25-Euro ($34.93).

So by cycling to the Berlin brothel, not only will you have a healthy body, you'll also have a 5-Euro discount! Sweet deal right? So what are you waiting for? Get a bike n start cycling!

Oh for those who needs to know or for those who are in Berlin, the name of the place is Maison d'Envie.

Source

Manhattanhenge

2009-07-13T22:40:00.008+08:00

Remember the episode on Discovery Channel about how the Mayans built their structures with reference to the sun?

They aligned it so perfectly that at certain times of the year, the sun ray would make a perfectly straight diagonal line across the temple floor and touches the corner where the two walls meet. They did it without calculators and precision tools. It was so awesome and bergaya till some fellas actually theorise that their temples were built by aliens. Yeah transformers... Another fine example would be the Stonehenge.

That was back then. Give it a lil modern twist and you'll get Manhattanhenge.

Wiki says,

"At sunset, a traveler along one of the north-south avenues on the West Side looking east can observe the phenomenon indirectly, being struck by the reflected light of the many windows which are aligned with the grid. An observer on the East Side can look west and see the Sun shining down a canyon-like street."

It can be seen on any street in Manhattan which follows the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, which laid out a grid offset 28.9 degrees from true east-west. This usually happens on May 28 and July 12 or July 13. This year it happened on the 12th.

Beautiful right? The beauty of mother nature amplified by the works of men. Anything similar to it in Malaysia?

First two photos courtesy of Ray Wert.
Source

Chance of a lifetime.. Maybe a few more..

2009-07-10T17:22:00.005+08:00

Now this is quite an interesting idea and I can guarantee there are some young extreme motorheads who will be dumping their summer odd job earnings into a couple of sessions at this joint.

The 6thGear Experience allows anyone to drive a choice of their 4 models of supercars, as long as you are over 4 feet and 10 inches tall and can reach the pedals! The ultimate amusement park, it seems, and with the advent of clutchless transmissions even in the world of pure hardcore supercars, it’s easier than ever for anyone to just go fast in a straight line in one. All of 6thGear Experience’s cars are automatic.

The four cars available are the Aston Martin DB9, the Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, the Ferrari F360 Spider, and the Audi R8. They have a mix of the 4 models but 15 in total. The drop top Gallardo is the most expensive one on the list with a price tag of £140,000 to purchase but there’s no better way to experience the raging bull V10 than with the top down.

Every drive is supervised by a fully trained and experienced instructor who is skilled at drving and have been checked by the CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) to certify them for working with youngers. You don’t want any dodgy person in a car alone with your youngster would you? 6thGear Experience reports that most kids reach an average speed of about 56km/h while driving the cars - must be too intimidating to go further, but some with practice and confidence have reached higher speeds.

Each ride starts from £89 for 10 - 15 minutes driving in one of the four cars above on a specially coned circuit. Hot laps are also available for £20 where you are taken for a ride (you don’t drive) in the Lamborghini as a passenger while a qualified driver/instructor drives the car around the track.

From Paultan

I want!!!

If I Were A Girl...

2009-07-06T22:57:00.007+08:00

If I were a girl, even just for a day,
I'd roll out of bed in the morning,
And take one hour of shower,
And take 1 hour to put on make up,

Then another for the hair,
I'd call up all my cliques,
And yak about this n that, boys n girls all day,
Cause my boy spins money

If I were a girl,
I think I have lots of fans,
Who thinks I'm beautiful,
I swear I'd be Miss World '09...

. . .

After putting monthly bleeding cycle, unstable emotional thunderstorm,
probability of finding a good boyfriend/husband, backstabbing b*tches
& cost of living into the whole equation,
being a guy > being a girl.

So it's a big NO NO from me. Being a guy ROCKSSS!!!

DO THE ACTION & SAY IT WITH ME GUYS :

BOOM! BOOM! FIREPOWAHH!!!

It's a bra bra day...

2009-07-06T22:42:00.002+08:00

No it's not an official day. I just got back from dinner and everyone was replacing words in their sentences with the word 'bra'.

"This bra (actual word : magazine) is all about fingernail-painting."

"Go read my bra (actual word : blog)."

"I need to get my bra (actual word : car)."

"Bra bra black sheep have you any wool."

So it's a bra bra day. I bet Ali-bra-bra would be proud.

Happy Bra Bra day.

Let there be light!

2009-07-06T14:21:00.002+08:00

Turn A PENCIL Into A LIGHT ! - The most amazing videos are a click away

This is useful for breakdowns in the middle of the night. The only difficult part is splitting the pencil half. So you should at least have a Swiss knife with you for this to work.

GayFormers

2009-07-04T14:19:00.001+08:00

NOT everything from Japan is cool.

260609

2009-07-01T01:15:00.005+08:00

Death is life
Death is the end
Death is costly
Death is cheap
Death is sinful
Death is holy
Death is chaos
Death is peace
Death is union
Death is separation
Death is grisly
Death is beautiful
Death is painful
Death is relief
Death is shameful
Death is glorious
Death is everything

Death is... Inevitable.

RIP dearest ah ma.

DIY stupidity...

2009-06-30T19:13:00.001+08:00

Hey guys, I've got a 98 1.8T. I've had a k04 and chip for a while and wanted to get more performance. I was recommended to port and polish the intake and exhaust. We found out they used abrasive material to do it like gritty sand. So I got with my friend that tunes Hondas and we decided to try it ourselves. We got a bag of sandblasting sand and hooked up into the intake and started the car. We had to hold the gas so it would run. He wanted to let the engine suck in the sand through the intake so it would port it out and then push it out the ehxaust so it would port the exhaust manifold.
I was worried that it might cause problems but he figured it'd be OK as long as we didn't make boost and it get sucked in the turbo. After running the car and letting it suck in sand we got about half way through a 25 lb bag. The check engine light was on and the engine was bucking and kicking and sounding really weird. We stopped and hooked the car back up normal and took off the sand supply. We tried to start it again and it was really hard. Once started it couldn't idle and kept making weird noises. We took it out and drove it and it started to make scraping and knocking noises.
Help! Can anyone tell me what to do! My buddy only does Hondas so he doesn't know much about Audis.

From Audi Forums

Dreaming dog

2009-06-22T17:14:00.001+08:00

Even a dog can dream... lol.

Of opposite ends of the scale

2009-06-21T15:11:00.004+08:00

The TOO MUCH end of the scale.

48 cylinder Madness

This monstrosity is the work of Simon Whitlock. It is a Kawasaki H1 with 6 inline-eight engines (Yes you heard it right, 6 inline-eight which has a total displacement of 4.2l and has a whopping 48 cylinders in total) from the S1 (Another Kawasaki bike) with a crankshaft for each of them which is tied together by gears and mated to a BMW transmission. To awaken this beast from its slumber, there's 6 Jaguar E-Type distributors and a 75cc motor under the seat.

Monster GOLF cart GTI

The PUNY end of the scale

Source

D'OH! equation

2009-06-21T12:58:00.003+08:00

The brake rotors

+

The spray paint

=

Painted rotors. o.0 Kebodohan maksimum.

...in a solid wheel.

Hence,

+ attracts +?

2009-06-21T10:21:00.004+08:00

Does positive (+) thoughts attract positive (+) things? I wanted it to rain so much yesterday when I cycled back from uni because it has been very very VERY HOT these few days. It hasn't rained since last two weeks. And it rained yesterday evening!

WANTED : RAIN in KAMPAR.
*Anyone has the power to seed the clouds to rain?*

So does (+) really attracts (+)?

Image by Peter Jaworowski

Pictures at last..

2009-06-19T16:24:00.003+08:00

Pictures from my waterfall expedition added.
It's here : Legend of the falls

Public Nuisance?

2009-06-15T15:56:00.004+08:00

That is the 'Barrel Monster'. It is the creation of a North Carolina State University student. He has been arrested and charged with lacerny for stealing some of those bright orange construction barrels from the road. This is Joseph Carnevale's most daring and biggest project ever. Yes he does have other similar projects. Not only is he a street artist, he's also an urban explorer (Exploring all those dangerous urban places such as construction sites, sewers, abandoned buildings and elevator shafts). In my opinion, this should be placed on every highway and is way better than the lame Ops Sikap.

His other works :

Joseph Carnevale's site

Legend of the Falls

2009-06-15T13:34:00.005+08:00

Yesterday was one very rough day. It was fun nevertheless. I went waterfall hiking with my mates. No idea on what that is? It is a combination of rock climbing, water wading and hiking.

It was the Taman Ros waterfall that we went to. Taman Ros is on the left at the first traffic light on the way to Tapah from Kampar through the trunk road. The rocks were slippery and most of us suffered some form of injury. Even the hiking trail was full of evil leeches and an expedition member, Caroline was hit several times by their vicious attack. We climbed waterfall after waterfall gaining altitude with each, trying to reach the MOTHER of all the falls there.

After hiking and climbing the waterfalls for a few hours, we started to worry about getting back. The hike up was very dangerous, it was filled with slippery and jagged rocks, rotten tree trunk and poisonous insects. We still continued hiking despite the thought.

6 hours into our hike we took 5 and waited for our Tarzan (Chuah aka Chuek) to return because he was the one who lead the team and scouted ahead. He was really a Tarzan! Imagine a guy topless, with only a pair blue shorts jumping from rock to rock, and those rocks are slippery rocks. We waited and waited.. And waited. He still did not return.. Then we sent our Assistant Tarzan, Edward to look for him. He went for awhile and came back with a solemn face, no sign of Tarzan. We waited together again..

The whole merry and happy situation was gone and was replaced by a sense of dread, everyone was quiet and started to plan ahead. If there is still no sign of him in half an hour we would leave for home as sunlight started to diminish. Edward went out looking for him again, one last time before we leave. Again he came back with bad news, no signs of him but he found a jungle trail down the hill. So, we decided to leave him a message carved out on a rock saying 'home' with a stick of cigarette (He is one heavy smoker).

As we were climbing up from the falls to the trail, we saw movements and a tinge of red among the forest green. That couldn't be Chuek because he was topless and was only wearing a blue shorts. We yelled and shouted. Apparently, the tinge of red we saw was the red t-shirts worn by the Rakan Muda troop. We gave a description about our friend who was missing and asked them if they had seen him. They said no.

On the way down we saw some old timers hiking up. We told them our story and they asked us to follow them up to search for Chuek. All of us couldn't afford to follow them, Chuek could already be down there waiting for us. So, Edward followed them up and the rest of us continued our descend. It was a long long trail down. There were even talks among the expedition group that they would give Chuek one hella slap before hugging him when he was found.

Around an hour plus into our descend we got a phone call from Edward saying he found Chuek. We were comforted by the news but it wasn't overwhelming yet. Another hour down, we heard voices from behind us, it was Edward and Chuek! Both of them came down with the old timers and was able to catch up with us. The slapping and hugging had to wait till we get to the bottom.

One of the old timers led the way down, he was jogging down the mountain trail and we had to keep up with him. He was even blabbering non-stop about his life as he jog. I only managed to caught half of what he was saying. "He's a 55 year old trainer who teaches boxing above a shop lot which is near KTAR (Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman)".

After a while of hearing his lecture while jogging down the trail, we reached the foot of the hill. Chuek's time was up, it's clobbering time! *Piak*Piak* He got slapped by Caroline followed by a tight hug from her. He then explained his side of the story.

He was waiting for us a distance ahead from where we waited for him. When Edward went looking for him, Edward found a waterfall that was very difficult to climb as the only way up was a tree trunk with water gushing down it. There was no other way up. Chuek was even beyond that point. He was further away. He climbed the tree and continued on. We also questioned him on why did he not kept visual contact with the rest of us. He said that he saw a shadow and it was calling him to follow it. I don't know it's that's bull***t but the jungle is full of these kind of things.

After changing into dry clothes, we went off for dinner. That was one hella adventure!!

Mr Tarzan trying to climb the rock.

Mr Tarzan up the rock.

Mr Tarzan n gang.

Mr Tarzan puffing like a chimney.

Swing swing!!

I am.... the jungleman, Tarzan!

The expedition members.

Almost the whole crew...

Big Momma preparing snacks for her lil kiddies..

Mr Tarzan's version of 'BOOM! BOOM! FIREPOWER!'

Mr Assitant Tarzan, Edward Loh on the left and Mr Tarzan, Chuek on the right.

My modem has PMS!

2009-06-12T16:33:00.004+08:00

I'm dead serious about this. I was online-ing happily then suddenly... jeng jeng jeng... cannot online.. page tak mau load... everything just bogs down. Reloading/Refreshing the page didn't help either. Then i noticed that I was just connected to the local area network and not the world wide web. How can that happen? Sometimes I'm connected to both but still pages refused to load!

Oh I'm sharing the Internet line through a router. It's cheaper but it's slowwwww, at least it works.. at times... Sigh..

Hmph let it merajuk on its own lah. I'm off to test DOTA 6.60. =)

Life ver. 2?

2009-06-09T00:46:00.002+08:00

Please read this with an open mind, it might sound a lil controversial.

Have you ever wondered where will we go after we pass on? Is there really an afterlife? Is it Heaven or Hell? Do you really meet your maker? This questions has been haunting us, mankind for as long as we exist. Still there is no answer on what will happen to us after we die. It still remains unknown to most of us. (Some have claimed that they have seen the afterworld, that's why I used the word 'most') This fear of the unknown has led some of us to fear death itself. We will all meet Death one day. There is no escape. Death is imminent. It will claim us when our time here is up.

I might sound like I'm believing in the obsidian bewinged figure which dons a long black coat while carrying a long and wicked scythe that descends on us when our time is up and claims our soul but no, I do not believe in such stories. However I do have some doubts on how religion perceives the afterlife. By questioning this, I questioning a far greater power. I'm asking what mankind has always been curious about, is there God?

I'm not too sure if the Big Guy upstairs really exists, but I'm sure that the things that happen are the result of our own work.

I believe that when we die, we actually fall into a deep long sleep. Then the afterlife is like your dream, each of us would have a different dream, a different afterlife. This is what I think it would be like. This is just my opinion, please don't take it too seriously.

There is another question I would like to ask, I can't seem to answer it as both path are possible. Do you really get a second chance at life if you are brought back after being dead for years? With the condition of our body is kept in a perfect condition, meaning no rot has taken place. Can we assemble our own human being if one day we managed to manufacture all our vital organs? Imagine a car, if you have all the parts fixed at the right places, you turn the ignition, it switches on. Apply the same concept on a human body, can it work? If it does work, will the body retain its memories? Will he function like a normal human being? Is he who he is after all those years? Thinking about all these in the middle of the quiet night is a lil disturbing.. Night folks. Hope I got you wondering!

Terminator Salvation

2009-06-08T13:03:00.004+08:00

>>Terminator Salvation was good, but still X-Men : Origins was better. The main theme that drives the plot of Terminator Salvation is conflict. There is conflict everywhere in the movie. There is conflict between man and machine as they battle for supremacy, conflict in between the two main characters, conflict within themselves and even conflict between man as greed and lust takes over them. All this conflict is good as it keeps the action scenes coming. Speaking of the action scenes, it was incredible! Thank you Industrial Light and Magic for all those eye-popping scenes. However the whole past-present-future states are confusing me. Is Terminator Salvation supposed to be T4(Part 4 of the series)? The father-son situation does not help either. When trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together, some parts just don't fit. Oh have you seen the trailer? In my opinion, the trailer kind of gave part of the twist away. It ruined the surprise the directors had for us. Without all the confusion and the giving-away-part-of-the-twist-trailer, it might be the movie of the year. Nevertheless it's this is one wild roller coaster ride!**

Terminator Salvation Offical Site
Skynet Research (Is this for real?)
IMDB : Terminator Salvation

Damned bootlickers!

2009-05-31T15:26:00.003+08:00

Uni life starts all over again tomorrow. However this time it would be a different kind of uni life as I start my degree programme. Workload will definitely increase as well as stress levels. My only worry here are biased lecturers. Lecturers who favor those who 'polish' them. They do exist and they are not only the stuff of every student's nightmare. I've given this topic a lil thought and came to a conclusion that there is only two logical ways of handling them.

Take the Blue Pill...
...and be the bootlicker. Try to polish her whenever there is a chance to. I might save more than my own skin.

Take the Red Pill...
...and start the Revolution! Go against her by writing a formal letter of complain to the Head of Faculty. If that's not enough, write another letter to the President of UTAR himself.

Whichever path should I take, there would be risks. Both path have an equal chance of failing. So which do I take, the Blue Pill or the Red Pill?

Scams!!

2009-05-25T00:42:00.002+08:00

Since MSN is a free software and service, I think they are giving our email addresses to third parties to advertise their products. Something weird just happened a few minutes ago. My brother who is currently in the house with me just came online via MSN. That could not happen because my house has only one Internet line and there's no router! A few seconds later, he sent me a message telling me to buy some pills. I've received the same exact message from other people in my contact list too. There are other messages being sent out as well such as 'I saw you in this picture,' then a website address is given or something similar to it. Another one just came in, and again it's from my brother. It read :

http://www.videocollectionz.com/?secret=your MSN email address
lol found ur stash

Not only is MSN infected with scams. Even my handphone is affected. Every once in a while I'll get a message from 32100. I don't know who he is or they are but they are trying to sell me a different product or service each time they sent me a message. I've just received 10 minutes ago. It read :

RM 0.00: Teach yourself about sexuality, type ON SEX to 32100. (Pelajari rahsia seksualiti anda & pasangan, taip ON SEKS ke 32100. Daftar percuma) by Techexpert.

Where is all these messages coming from? How did they get my number? Did they just sent out their messages to thousands of random numbers? Can the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation do anything about this?

People, do smarten up and think before filling up any form, replying any suspicious messages or entering any websites.

Trade-offs

2009-05-25T00:17:00.002+08:00

I've been giving this some thought for quite some time now..

Currently my laptop is running on 3GB of RAM (Yes the speed is phenomenal!) but it's been having some minor hiccups.

When I switch my laptop on, the screen will not light up, it remains pitch black no matter how long I let it load. My solution to this problem would be to force it to shut down by holding the power button down for a few seconds and start it again approximately one minute after turning it off.

My laptop screen did burned once and I had to sent it for repairs as it was still under warranty when it happened. However the situation was different. When the screen went to Hell for the first time, it showed me a white empty screen. There's nothing on the plain white screen. Nothing happened either after a few minutes. So I knew it was dead.

When my laptop came back, the technician told me that it was because of the RAM. So I went back to the shop where I bought the extra 2GB (My laptop came with 1GB of RAM and was running on Vista) of RAM and got it exchanged with a brand new one.

Now after a few months, my laptop is acting strangely again. It happens around 5% of all the time I switched on my laptop. If it's the RAM acting up again, I have a few choices :

1. Pull out the original 1GB of RAM and live with the 2GB of RAM.

2. Maybe it's because of the 2GB of RAM, so take it out and live with 1GB of RAM.

3. Ignore the signs and continue having speedy performance with 3GB of RAM.

People, advice please? Please be aware that Vista still eats up performance although the Aero function is off.

Taxi : Life

2009-05-24T03:00:00.003+08:00

I don't forward emails but this is something which I want to share with everyone reading my blog. This touching story comes from Rachel K.

I arrived at the address where someone had requested a taxi. I honked but no one came out. I honked again, nothing. So I walked to the door and knocked. 'Just a minute', answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.

After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 90's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie.

By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets..

There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

'Would you carry my bag out to the car?' she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, and then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.

She kept thanking me for my kindness. 'It's nothing', I told her. 'I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated'... 'Oh, you're such a good boy', she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, and then asked, 'Could you drive through downtown?'

'It's not the shortest way,' I answered quickly. 'Oh, I don't mind,' she said. 'I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice'.

I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. 'I don't have any family left,' she continued. 'The doctor says I don't have very long.' I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.

'What route would you like me to take?' I asked. For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator.

We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, 'I'm tired. Let's go now'

We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.

Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her.

I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

'How much do I owe you?' she asked, reaching into her purse.
'Nothing,' I said.
'You have to make a living,' she answered.
'There are other passengers,' I responded.

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. 'You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,' she said. 'Thank you.'

I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life. I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away? On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.

We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.
PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID, BUT THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.

After reading it, I felt my heart stirred. This is one of the best I've ever come across.

T.U.A

2009-05-24T02:38:00.003+08:00

As I read blogs of people who are already in the working world, fear took control of me.

In another 3 years time I'll be finishing my degree and start working. Phase 3 in the life of Vincent Tan. Then I'll start paying bills, rushing for deadlines, coming up with action plans and designing product placement and all those stuff.

This coming August I'll be 21, legal voting age. Last year I hit the big 2-Oh, no longer in the -teen stage anymore. How lah?? Semakin hari semakin tua... I think I'm having Peter Pan disease now and will be finding ways to get back to Neverland and the Lost Boys.

Tinkerbell! I need some fairy dust here!

Cure for boredom?

2009-05-24T02:04:00.002+08:00

Guys what do you do online? After doing all the usual stuff like checking the mail & checking Facebook or Friendster accounts.

Do kindly suggest me some stuff to do online as I'm getting bored after doing the usual stuff. Any free, light but fun online game? Wonderful sites? Interesting articles?

I seriously need a cure for boredom for a few more days as I'll be heading back to Kampung Kampar.

Conspiracy?

2009-05-24T01:45:00.003+08:00

Have you ever wondered about conspiracies in our own Malaysia? That some event might be the result of a cover-up?

In America, they have tons of conspiracy theories. They remain as theories because all of them are not proven but it does suggest a possible situation taking place. UFOs might be top secret military projects or maybe a scouting party from the neighbouring planet or star system. The President of the United States of America has phone numbers of lil green men. Elvis might still be alive and living the rest of his live away from the eyes of the media. Those kind of conspiracies. Do they happen in Malaysia?

Maybe our PM is a part time bomoh? Our friendly mamak recycling his curry and adding addictive ingredients in them? Mat Rempits are actually police cadets?

How about recent events? Snatch thieves and murderers are actually working for a higher syndicate?

Heard any of them? I would love to hear some local conspiracy theories.

Cough cough go away...

2009-05-20T14:51:00.004+08:00

..please dun come again another day

I've been coughing for some time now. It began with dry cough, no phlegm. Then it got worse and soon after, the phlegm came.. Now I sound like an apek.. *Cough*Cough*

The banana bandit!

2009-05-18T03:06:00.002+08:00

A US teenager who was thwarted in an attempt to rob an Internet cafe armed with a hidden banana ate the "weapon" before he was arrested, police say.

John Szwalla entered the shop with a banana concealed under his T-shirt and demanded money, saying he had a gun.

The shop's owner and customers overcame the hapless thief and called for help, but they said the teenager ate his "weapon" before the police arrived.

Officers joked they may charge the 17-year-old with destroying evidence.

Bobby Ray Mabe, the owner of 109 Biz Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, said police officials took pictures of the banana skin instead.

"If he had had a gun he would've shot me," Mr Mabe told the Winston-Salem Journal newspaper. "But he had a banana."

Mr Szwalla has been charged with attempted armed robbery.

All that is left of the suspect's "weapon".

Source

How stupid and desperate can crooks get...

Parking : Japanese Style

2009-05-17T20:32:00.002+08:00

Here's how you do parking in Japan. No more side & reverse parking. So for those who still fail at parking a car, you should move to Tokyo.

How they doit in Tokio

2009-05-17T19:47:00.002+08:00

With the animated sequel Cars 2 being set to be released in theaters in the middle of 2011 which is still a pretty long time, Pixar has created a series of short clips called “Mater’s Tall Tales”. This is one of them and it is a parody of Tokyo Drift.

The loser will be stripped of all modifications and become... STOCK!!

Shocking Batu Feringgi experience

2009-05-17T19:30:00.002+08:00

I'm sure everyone knows Batu Feringgi in Penang for its tourist belts where tons of quirky and pirated stuff can be found. However, the traders there are practising double standards. Here's what happened to me :

Me and me lady was checking out some accessories at a stall. Then a Caucasian tourist came and began to browse through the stall's items as well. Suddenly, the stall owner, an old uncle rudely said in hokkien, "Can you not disturb me doing my business, there are people who are interested in my products. It looks like you are just playing around and not interested in buying them."

Both me and me lady was like what the hell is wrong with you uncle??? You just shooed a potential customer away!

Is this how they should treat their own people? Come on uncle, its not like I do not have the ability to pay for your wares. Any local or foreigner reading this should just boycott them for their snobbish attitude.

If you are asking which uncle is it, his stall is next to a clothes stall which is opposite a stall selling RM4 per piece DVDs.

Big Black Book

The ONE-77

ABT R8 Spyder

Falken Tires @ Formula D

SuperHero Motorcycle Suits

Limbo Rock with a Lamborghini

Disney went L4D

Princesses all grown up

Two wheel madness

A new head

Things to look out for when looking for a room in Westlake, Kampar

Did u know?

Dog vs Car

The Transforming(Prancing) Horse

Formula D Seattle "Breaking Point"

Aston Martin DBS Carbon Black Edition

Kia Forte Koup R

CollegeHumor

Laying tracks

Public Bank calling

Guns & Hummers

Lock him up & eat him instead

Tyre Monsters

Flash flash

Tron 2nd Trailer

Another glimpse of the future

FlyWorks

Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief

Here it comes again...

Valentine's Day

Happy V-Day!

Gong Xi Gong Xi

*POP* goes the laptop!

Steampunk USB

this is EPIC

World's Best Car Alarm

Twilight : The Disappointment

I hate haircuts...

Press the 'RESTART' button?

Konfrontasi all over again?

A tad sad smile

Separate entity?

Telah ku kembali...

Selamat Hari Raya 09

Back to S1

Fatal Misunderstanding

A nuisance?

An Inspiring Article

Top Gear Immortalised

About McDonald's...

Formula D Seattle!

Rally accident

Car + Used Computer = THIS!!

The future is out there...

$$$ Rush..

A Letter To The PM

Love your car too much?

Malaysia boleh..

As I sat in the toilet...

R.A.P - Clarkson style

Chris Daughtry's Poker Face

Transformers Mania

Tron

Revenge of the Half Blood Dinosaur

The smog.

Do the right thing, UTAR..

Solution?

Pirates of the Caribbean medley

Bust chocolate

Liar! Liar! pants on fire! Hangin’ on a telephone wire!

Perks of global warming?

Manhattanhenge

Chance of a lifetime.. Maybe a few more..

If I Were A Girl...

It's a bra bra day...

Let there be light!

GayFormers

260609

DIY stupidity...

Dreaming dog

POP goes the laptop!