Hilarious Beijing Olympic Advert

WIN 2 TICKETS AND ALL EXPENSES PAID INCLUDING AIR FARES TO THE 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES IN BEIJING, CHINA!

To participate is very easy, just view the attached photo, correctly answer the following questions and send your answers to:


International Olympic Committee,
Private Bag,
Lausanne, Switzerland.

1. Which student seems to appear tired / sleepy?

2. Which ones are male twins?

3. Which ones are the female twins?

4. How many women are in the group?

5. Which one is the teacher?

Good Luck!

I guess you are not going either! Ha ha ha ha!!!

Haunted Apartment blocks?

Someone forwarded me an email just now which contained a security camera video clip. There was a recording of a lady, in office clothes in her 20s walking down a corridor. Nothing unusual there until she turned left abruptedly and walked right through a wall! The title of the clip was clerkghost.wmv, so out of curiousity, I decided to google the word clerk ghost. Nothing exciting turned up, so I decided to google the word 'Genting ghost' instead.

Alot of blog sites and discussion threads popped up and I was going through a couple of them and one in particular was quite interesting and I decided to stay a while and read on. Alot of interesting stories were shared inside on ghost in genting highlands, especially the apartment called Ria almost at the peak with its many incidents and occurances. Here is my short story (which I also shared in the website http://www.spookycorner.com/, enjoy!

I would like to share a funny incident which happened to me many years back in the Ria apartments.

It was way back in 2001, sometime in July to August. During that time I was working in a small IT distribution company in Mid Valley, KL. Since all the colleagues were predominantly Chinese and very close to each other, we always plan trips together either for lunch or dinner right down to overnight trips to Genting Highlands, which we enjoy very much because of the cool breeze and relaxing atmosphere.

On one particular weekend, we decided to go up to Genting Highlands for an apartment stay. There were around 8 of us, 5 guys and 3 gals. We drove up in separate cars and met at Ria Apartments. There were a lot of agents downstairs ready to rent out rooms for guests around so we got hold of one and got a unit. It was a high floor (can’t remember which floor it was) selangor side.

That evening we had a good dinner and all went back early to the apartment to enjoy the company of each other and play cards. As the 2 blocks face each other, we decided to play a game, we wanted to see which block looked creepier than others. So we started looking randomly at the individual units there.

All of a sudden, we saw a unit about 2-3 floors above us on the Pahang side with only a lamp on (warm yellow light illuminating the whole unit (I’m not sure if it’s the hall or bedroom) so it looks quite bright. The curtain was open quite wide so we could clearly see what was going on inside. There was a young couple inside the unit playing catch with each other. The girl would run around in the room and the guy would try to catch her. The girl runs to the window sill and the eerie part is, she would look directly at us and wave frantically. Then finally the guy catches the girl and they would fall down on a sofa or a bed and the girl could be seen struggling with the guy a bit and within a few seconds, the scene repeats itself again in exactly the same manner.


This went on for a good 1-2 hours or so, all of us guys were in the hall in our unit witnessing the whole incident. We were excited at first, as we got to see some ‘action’ for the night, since we were with colleagues and wouldn’t be getting any and the girls were chatting with each other in the room. Getting bored of the incident happening opposite our unit, we decided to watch some tv, have some drinks and play cards, occasionally we would catch a glimpse of the unit above us and like a youtube recording, it keeps replaying itself.

The next day we woke up and went to the window sill to see if the couple was still playing catch with each other and guess what we saw? We saw that the unit looked like it had been abandoned for years, the windows were all boarded in and there was no way anyone could look inside from the opposite direction.

I will never forget that incident.

I can see clearly now that the rain is gone!

Above: The wonders of God! Isn't it beautiful?

Its december again. Looks like it's a wrap for a great year. What a year 2007 was eh? As for me, I had experienced so many things in 1 year which I had previously not in the last, say 20-30 yrs or so.

A new job, moving to a new place, getting a chance at a fresh new start in life with new friends, new surroundings and new decisions. No doubt the results of all my old decisions will keep coming back to haunt me right through the new year and many new years beyond that, I am still thankful that I am still here and able to count my blessings in person.

So whats currently going on in my life? Financially, still unstable as heck, waiting, like everyone else for a miracle or someone to drop a bag of gold coins from the sky directly on top of my head. Or better still striking it rich with a Big Sweep ticket and never having to work another day of my life. If you wish to know, yes, I do stand in line at the Magnum, Toto, Damacai outlets like everyone else for my weekly dose of number betting. And like everyone else, hoping that someday it would be my turn to jump up and down shouting like a mad cow.

In terms of religion... erm.. religion... I prefer to call it 'spiritually' I guess spiritually I am well balanced. Yeah, not imbalanced to the faithless yet not imbalanced to the extremely religious. Well balanced in a sense I have a faith I profess to. Do you notice I try my best not to mention the word religion? In itself, it's a sensitive thing, sensitive enough to humans to kill other humans. So I better leave it at that.

Professionally, well work wise, I guess I am sailing along smoothly. With 6 months into my new job, I am like people say 'Getting with the program and feeling flexible'. In other words, 'getting extremely comfortable in my comfort zone'. Good or bad, it depends on what my priorities are at the moment. At the moment, my priorities are getting with the program and feeling flexible. Sounds simple enough? That said, I must say that one of my new year's resolutions should be to break free from my comfort zone and explore more creative and better ways to optimize my earning potential and plan way ahead into the future.

Mentally, I don't mind the grind. The 9-6 is fine with me plus the occasional stress binges. The irritating boss is slowly becoming part of my everyday routine. The situation is best explained like this: If your neighbour has a dog which barks all day long, at first you would get irritated and think of 1001 ways how to kill your neighbour's dog or its owner or both. Then slowly you learn to live with it. Then one day you realize that you have been listening to that darn dog bark for the last 3 years yet not feel anything. It has already became background noise to you and your brain, being the magnificient super computer it is, has managed to filter all the noise out.

Socially (or more like romantically), i must admit that nothing much has been going on in this part of my life. 2 of my cousins got married this month, and another already announcing her engagement, family members have been asking me the unavoidable question. When? To the family members reading this, I wanna tell you this, I ask this question too, almost everyday. So you will know when I know, kapish? The story so far is, I have been seeing someone recently. I don't know what the outcome is yet by far but the all the signs look quite promising. I have just known her for about a month only. I have already expressed my 'intentions' to become more than friends already (which took me quite abit of courage to do so), right now it's up to her to decide if it's worth it to be with me or not.

What I can say and observe about whats going on is, it started off on the right foot. Everything is going along smoothly, before this i seldom talk on the phone more than 10 minutes but now I find myself talking to her for 30 mins, 1 hour and some times even 1 and a half hours till maxis mandatorily cut our conversation short at exactly 1:30:00

Overall, I'm quite upbeat and positive about life at the moment as everything is sailing along smoothly after the 'storm' for the last 3 years. I can confidently say that I can see clearly now that the rain is gone. I hope my uptrend remains on it's course and even if it doesn't I will be there at the helm to do 'correction' and be the captain of my own ship. Welcome to my destiny!

Another one of my bright ideas?!

Now how catchy is the tagline to this posting? After almost half a year in my new job as a Marketing communications person (well almost)... I have slowly came to realise that taglines are what pushes products and services, not so much what we are selling.

I remember reading in Roger Konopasek's Sales Magnets book that we humans have a few buttons which other people can press to make us do certain things, such as buy more stuff from them for example. Scary huh? Imagine what would happen if this secret were to fall into the wrong hands? It's like handing the switch of an A-bomb to a mad scientist bent on taking over the world! It lies in what people call the secret of marketing.

Well to make you feel better, it HAS already fallen into the wrong hands! May God save us! Well today I'm not going into a whole lot of marketing ideas and stuff. What I left in the office at 6pm today stays there till I go back and chain myself to the desk again tomorrow at 9am.

Now if only I could get my neighbour to stop crooning his Theresa Teng songs so loud. Maybe I should turn up the volume to my Namo Guan Shi Yin Pu Sa chanting... It may not work! Cos the old lady next door is singing at the top of her lungs. I reckon it must be revenge cos I shouted at her dog to shut the heck up earlier.

That aside. I thought about something today. With all the craze about podcasting and stuff, I thought of trying my hands at it. Any ideas and comments? At first I thought of narrating famous business and motivational books like the Blue Ocean Strategy I bought recently, but since I myself fell asleep after reading the first chapter, I wonder what would happen to others who would potentially hear my dull voice narrating each and every line of the book and fall asleep in their cars, mrt trains, while walking on the street, in their office and in their homes. Wouldn't that be a bummer?

My ratings would drop so low it would make John Howard look like the Aussie Prime Minister again! And oh yeah, before I forget, congrats Mr. Rudd! I never would have imagined a pro-asian aussie PM! OK, before you guys hang me from the next up, lets stop talking about politics. One of my favorite tea-time topic with like minded colleagues (a.k.a. DULLARDS!!!)

Now seriously, what do you think about podcasting? It ain't limited to just talk right? If we have the right equipment, we could as well be filming a short clip or something to be shown to the digital world! Personally, I haven't heard a podcast before in my life, but I can imagine it being really interesting. It could very well be the first step to a journalism career for some.

Ok, I think i'm gonna stop here for today, can't really focus on writing when my bloody neighbour is singing 60s top hits at the top of her bloody lungs. Perhaps I should call the mental hospital! For the first time after over 40 postings, I am welcoming comments and feedback to my personal email davegeh@gmail.com, please no spam or I'll spam your email account back so hard your grandkids gonna feel the heat, and not forgetting the fact that if you spam me, I'll stand outside your house every single day of the week till you go crazy and bark like Odie and run around on all fours.

To my dear ex-schoolmates...

I was at the gym earlier this afternoon and I was thinking of how I should write my latest blog posting and I came up with an idea to write in a letter format, you know, like a letter to a friend! Then half an hour ago, when going through my emails and yahoogroups mailbox, i stumbled upon a mail from an ex-schoolmate in my alma mater group mailbox. It was from the head prefect Sze Keat who's currently working in Japan.

What a pleasant surprise to know that recently got married and is going to have his wedding dinner back here in Ipoh. So I thought I'd write a letter to all my ex-schoolmates! Here goes...

To my dear ex-schoolmates,

Oh my gosh! It's November already? Another year gone by in a blink of an eye. It seems like the years are going by faster and faster nowadays, or is it becos we're getting older?
Next year will mark the 14th year we left school. We've been through so much individually and for some of us, together. So, as we brace for the end of the year with the barrage of wedding invitations, the long vacations, the year end closing of our departments and not forgetting Christmas and New Year's.

This time of the year always presents me with a potpurri of emotions ranging from relief to anxiety to stress to joy all bundled together as one like a big xmas gift pack waiting for me at the fireplace. Relief because I finally get to wrap up all the projects I am working on in the office and I can finally pull out the 2008 yearly planner and plan for a better year ahead.

Anxiety because I am yet to meet certain deadlines I am supposed to meet for the year in terms of my job and my personal life, and stress for the same matter. Maybe it's the targets I had set for myself at the beginning of my new career journey which in my personal capacity I have not readied myself enough for, thats why I have to do all the catching up in the end.

Its like climbing Mount Everest without prior training and prepping! The end result is leaves much to be desired. Finally Joy because I can finally look forward to a brand new year which promises to present me with brand new promises, opportunities, friends, challenges, (love and relationships) perhaps?

I break into cold sweat just thinking about the last one. I know my mom and dad hasn't got to pressuring me about it yet, but if I were in their shoes, the thought of their soon to turn 31 year old eldest son still living a bachelor life far away in the capital would get me kind of worried too. But at 55 and 54 respectively, they're still not grumbling about not having grand kids yet, I mean, I wouldn't want to be questioning why I don't have grand kids calling me grandpa yet when I turn 55, thats why I'm pretty sure thats the reason why my mom and dad's not complaining (or so I reckon)... Well they haven't said a thing yet so I'm just gonna leave it at that for the time being.

Opportunities to become rich and not having to work another day of my life? I, like any other person living on the face of this earth, save for those who have already made a ton of money and sipping coconuts on a beach in Malibu, Bahamas or Bermuda, pine and yearn for that day to come. It is no wonder why casino and lotto operators get richer and we get nowhere near. Maybe it's time to wise up and start thinking of better ways of getting rich or, an alternative to that is, to redefine what we mean by getting rich or becoming rich.

To many including me, the definition of richness is having a million bucks in the bank and another million to blow on a 100-room castle, a yacht, 10 ferraris, lamborghinis, maseratis, porsches and the likes, a first class ticket around the world, a handshake and a cuppa with Donald Trump and Warren Buffett perhaps?

Well to redefine it would maybe mean that our definition of richness is now having enough money to send our kids to college and buy ourselves a nice cosy house on a hill overlooking the sea in the Pearl of the Orient (Penang) and still have enough to enjoy a good meal and drinks at a nice restaurant everyday or getting to go on a cruise holiday or take a trip to Europe once a year. Wouldn't that be less stressful on ourselves than set goals and targets too high for our own good?

What I like about the New Year is that each and every one of us gets a clean new sheet of paper to set for ourselves what we want to achieve for that year. Let me gently remind you that the white piece of paper that each and everyone of us gets is for resolutions for that year and that year alone. Perhaps the one thing that holds everyone back from achieving whatever they want to every year is that they set their goals too far ahead, 6-12 months (short term plan), 1-5 years (mid term plan) and 5-20 years (long term plan). Sounds familiar?

Its one thing to be thorough and plan ahead in life. There's nothing wrong with that. I sometimes get carried away and do that too. The problem with that is, we get carried too far ahead that when we look back, we don't see dry land anymore! Thats when all our hopes and dreams fall out. I read in a book that, if your dreams don't scare you, they ain't big enough! The problem with big dreams is that when they do scare us, we're too immobilized to act upon them and thus as a result, don't follow through on them. Then finally one fine day 11 months later you look back at the sheet of paper you wrote your new year's resolutions on 31st December 2007, 2 things would be playing about in your head. First, you'd be thinking of the 31 ways you would want to cook that piece of paper and 2nd, you'd think of 31 ways how you'd want to punish yourself for finding yourself in the same position you were in 11 months ago without feeling or becoming any better, or richer for that matter.

I don't qualify as a preacher, I don't even practice christianity, nor am I a wise old man from the mountains of Tibet. I'm just a writer and an aspiring (perhaps one day) Best Selling Author, my advice for the new year's is this. Dream big, but make reasonable, achievable, measurable and attainable goals. Thats what I'm gonna do, wait a minute, I think Donald Trump said that on a CNBC show. Well, I can't say for sure if thats what he said but if he did, it's really good advice.

To my dear ex-schoolmate Sze Keat and your new found love and happiness, I'd like to warmly congratulate you and wish all the best! I'd also like to wish for you lots of happiness, lots of love for each other, lots blessings from above and lots of kids and grandkids to be proud of eventually!

Perspective

I had seen a comparison of planets in our solar system before, but this goes beyond ours and makes it pale by comparison....

Now this is pretty neat.. kind of puts things in perspective.. Makes you feel pretty insignificant.....



I thought this was enlightening. Didn't even realize we knew much beyond our sun ....
It's a big universe(s).




Antares is the 15th brightest star in the sky.

Now, who doesn't believe in eternity....?

Malaysia's CSI movie - CSI Kg Baru

Malaysia 's CSI movie - CSI ; KAMPUNG BARU

Ahmed died in a fire and his body was so badly burned that the morgue needed someone to identify the body. As he had no family, they called up his two best friends, Ah Beng and Kumar.

Ah Beng went in first and the mortician pulled back the sheet.Ah Beng said, "Wah-lau-eh, he's very barbecued like cha siu.? But if you would roll him over, I will tell you if he's my friend Ahmed or not."The mortician rolled the body over.

Ah Beng looked at his ass and said, "Heng-ah! No-lah, dat not Ahmed." The mortician was puzzled how he was so sure but he didn't say anything. He went and got Kumar to check the body.

Kumar looked closely and said, "Aiyoyo, it is true he's burnt very bad, but need you to roll him over and I can confirm if he's my friend, Ahmed."Again the mortician rolled the body over. Kumar looked down at the ass and said, "Aiyoyo, oh no no, this is definitely not Ahmed."

The mortician, unable to suppress his curiosity any longer, said, "Okay, you have to tell me now - how can you and Ah Beng tell for sure this is not Ahmed?"

Kumar said, "Well, this Ahmed, he had two assholes." "What?!!" the mortician said in disbelief, "He had two assholes?!!"

"Oh yes, everyone in the neighbourhood knows this.?Every time the three of us go out, people always say, ' Here comes Ahmed with the two assholes'. "

Weird!

All images are copyright © of its respective owners.

5 Don'ts when you are sleeping

The last one really cracked me up! haha

DON'T SLEEP WITH WATCH Watches can emit a certain level of radioactivity. Though small, but if you wear your watch to bed for a long time, it might have adverse effects on your health.

DON'T SLEEP WITH PHONE Putting the phone beside your bed or anywhere near you is not encouraged. Though some of us will use phones as alarm clocks, but please put the phone as far as possible. Scientists have proved that electrical items including mobile phone and television sets emit magnetic waves when used. These waves can cause disruptions to our nervous system. Therefore if you need to put your mobile phone near you, switch it off first. DON'T

SLEEP WITH MAKE UP People who sleep with make up might have skin problems in the long run. Sleeping with make up will cause the skin to have difficulty in breathing and problem in perspiring. You will also need a much longer time to go into deep sleep.

DON'T SLEEP WITH BRA Scientists in America have discovered those that wear bras for more than 12 hours have a higher risk of getting breast cancer. So go to bed without it.

DON'T SLEEP WITH OTHERS' WIFE You may never wake up again....

Mother of the year!

In a zoo in California, a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of triplet tiger cubs. Unfortunately, due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to their tiny size, they died shortly after birth.The mother tiger after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to decline in health, although physically she was fine.

The veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a depression. The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother's cubs, perhaps she would improve.After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother. The veterinarians decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment. Sometimes a mother of one species will take on the care of a different species.

The only orphan that could be found quickly, were a litter of weanling pigs. The zoo keepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tiger skin and placed the babies around the mother tiger. Would they become cubs or pork chops? Take a look...you won't believe your eyes!!

Now, please tell me one more time..........

why can't the rest of the world get along?

Davester: This fwd email was one of the rare ones that has enough impact to take my breathe away. A lesson to be learnt for one and all!

All photos are copyright of the owner.

Lessons to be learnt

Perhaps the most profound thing I picked up from reading the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong's biography was 2 things he mentioned inside it. The first was, for one to succeed he/she must be dan da xin xi (bold but cautious). A great leader of men, he had proved to everyone that, success is a result of hard work plus a sharp mind to think. Before I read his biography, I had heard many people say that Uncle Lim (as we all had came to affectionately call him) became successful despite being an illiterate has proved to be totally untrue.

Uncle Lim is not only fully literate, he possesses a mind which is sharper than even the smartest of us all. It's the faculty of reasoning plus street wise common sense that had earned him riches and fame even before his Genting Highlands stint. He also advised us on the virtues of having a positive outlook on life as well as to smile and be courteous to one and all cos we never know who we will meet along the way as we charge ahead in our daily lives.

Other things which I have picked up in the book was, the virtues of being single minded. This is not the same as being close minded or one track mind. It's a totally different ballgame altogether. Being single minded means when you set your mind to doing something, make sure thats what you want to do and not get distracted by your surroundings (friends, colleagues, acquaintances, family members). In this day and age, it's very easy to get distracted by people who promise you fast and easy riches. Becoming 'instant millionaires' is the buzz word nowadays with the promise of even 18 year school leavers buy. I remember a phrase from a Napoleon Hill book, "Fast to make a decision, and slow to change it..." I think he was referring to Henry Ford. Phrases like this was written about Warren Buffet, Donald Trump and other successful people, and Uncle Lim was no exception.

Once he had set his mind to developing a remote mountain into a holiday resort, nobody could get in his way or change his mind about it. He was deeply rooted in his ambition and will to succeed and charged ahead till he saw completion of it.

Another important word inside the book which caught my attention was this, the dual word used to describe 'nation' in mandarin is guojia. It comprises of the word guo which means country and jia which means family. What he says is that family is the most important building block and pillar of strength for a country to truly be a nation. For without family, we would all just be individuals running around fighting our own personal battles and amongst each other for survival. No longer do we live here, we just merely exist. So another important lesson to be learnt from this great man is the virtues of family.

I have a deep admiration and respect for Uncle Lim and every night when I flip the page of his autobiography, I feel truly honored and some what blessed that I am able to read the lines and pick up the stories written by such a great yet humble and down to earth leader of men. I would have given anything to meet him in person when he was alive, but being able to take a journey into his life though his stories makes me a truly lucky person. Like a scene in 'The last samurai' where the Emperor of Japan asked Tom Cruise, "will you tell me how he died?", in which Tom Cruise replied "I will tell you how he lived..."

(In memory of Tan Sri Dato' Seri (Dr) Lim Goh Tong)

On ambition

What would you do if one day you found yourself in the same position you started out from 10 years ago? Would you go screaming mad and start to pull all your hair out? Would your bang your head on the wall and cuss at yourself for not putting in the extra effort to make bring yourself a little closer to your goals and dreams.



I have a friend in the exact same position. In his late thirties where most people would have already achieved a certain level of success in their career or business, he still find himself in the exact same position he started out 15 years ago doing the exact same job while seeing those who started off the same time as him or later than him climb up above him and eventually becoming his boss or leaving the company for jobs which pays 10-15x more.



Well I know that many would say that thats the reality of life when you work with people, but the worst reality is, actually being in that situation and not being able to do anything about it. Talk about being helpless. It's like someone holding a knife to you and whatever is happening to you is way beyond your control.



I work in an office as well, and my situation is no better than the gardener with the lowest salary in my company or the CEO with the highest salary in the company, you know why? Because the 3 of us have to put in the exact same 8 hours a day or 44 hours a week into the job to be entitled to the paycheck at the end of the day be it the gardener, the CEO or me.



If I was the owner of a smart private institution of higher learning, I would come up with a program called "Professional Office Worker" or the likes of it. Or if the person was working with the telephone on the front line, we would call it "Professional Call Advisor" or some nonsense. My best bet is, with excellent PR and an even better marketing plan, we would be selling these programs like hot cakes as the tag line is 'continuous improvement to your work life' and somewhere in between the lines, we would sell the hope of jumping to a better job with a bigger paycheck just cos of the the cert has the word Professional or Certified in it. Wouldn't that be lucrative?



It may sound silly but I actually fell for one of those nonsense many years back when I was a call centre operator.. I mean, Customer Service Officer in Singapore. The company introduced a program called a "Certified Customer Service Professional" offered under the then National Skills Recognition System which was ran by the Workers Development Authority (WDA) of Singapore. The aim of the program we took was to train front line customer service agents to provide consistent service across the board (which we were already doing thanks to our stringent operating standards) and to give recognition and glamour to so called unglamourous and mundane/boring/routine jobs. Those who passed were given a recognition certificate in the presence of everyone in the department and a small little blue tie pin which immediately recognises you as one who have taken the test and had passed with flying colors.



But what got our tails wagging excitedly back then was the fact that, if we decide to change jobs within the industry later on, we would get a better advantage over others. Sadly, today, few years on I'd come to realise that all that was is just alot of hype and a browning toilet paper. I might even like to conclude that we had been taken for a hot air balloon ride back then. But I reckon looking back today, I'd say that it's all in the spirit of competitiveness eh.



Well between someone who will retire a clerk just as he was a clerk for the past 50 years or a clerk retiring as the president of the company, I reckon that there are goals and dreams far bigger than the ones we strive to achieve in the span of our careers. However big they may be, to me, being still young and brash and I may say a little naive, I fail to see whats more important than to make tons of money and look + feel rich. Maybe its bcos of the insecurity of not having enough growing up, or the insecurities I feel now still not having enough after so many year I have put in to my career.



At this juncture of my life, I don't respect mediocracy. I don't respect people who choose to be mediocre or normal. If I myself were to one day choose to be mediocre or normal, I would not respect myself either. Dreams are to be dreamt big, or else, why bother to even dream in the first place, we're just taking up precious time and may in a way obstruct others who may want to dream big ridiculous dreams. But who are we to say people's dreams are big and ridiculous? The airplane and telephone was once big ridiculous dreams... look who's laughing now? Only the ones heading to the bank with sacks of money with dollar signs printed on the sack.



I was once told, if your dreams doesn't scare you, it's not big enough. So why don't we want to dream big? It's free isn't it? We'd stand in line for hours just for free pens or meal vouchers... why not stand in line and start dreaming big? I want to make it a point to dream BIG HAIRY OBNOXIOUS RIDICULOUS OUTRIGHT IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS and i want to do it today without any delay. If Tony Robbins can become a rich dude with a castle at 21, I believe so can I. If Donald Trump can be so rich he travels around in his own personal plane, I believe so can I.

Deepavali day dinner...

Last night we decided to go for dinner at Northam Beach hawker centre along Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah (Formally known as Northam Road, or Millionaire row)

The 1 word I would use to describe the situation all the way from our house to Northam beach is Pandemonium! All sorts of inexperience to inconsiderate drivers came out and decide to become king of the road on this particular day. This plus the army of outstation vehicles and tour buses parking inconsiderately along road shoulders and traffic light junctions really got my dad’s blood boiling I guess. He was cussing and swearing at them all the way to dinner. I can understand his pain. Folks in Penang don’t always have to put up with all this inconvenience, save for festive seasons and school holidays. Yesterday being Deepavali, we unfortunately had to be put through that little 'experience'.

All the way I played what Dr Mano told me the last time I went for my consultation with him. He said, let me draw you a diagram. Do you wash your car youself or send it to the carwash? I said I had washed it myself on few occasions. He said, imagine a water hose, from the tap in the house to the bucket outside a few metres away. You have a short water hose, you take another much thinner water hose and attach to it but it’s still not long enough to reach the bucket. You then take another water hose, much thinner and attach to it and finally it reaches the bucket. While you are controlling the flow of the water, you need to make sure that it’s too high pressured as the water pressure will make all the 3 water host burst and water will spray everywhere.

The water tap represents your heart, the first hose is the artery, the second is your normal blood veins and the 3rd is the veins to your brain. The artery and bigger veins can take the pressure but the much smaller veins, which are the ones in your brain can’t take too much of it. When you cause yourself to be stressed out to the max or suffer from high blood pressure (like I do on certain occasions) you could force the blood veins in your brain to burst itself and you migh end up in a coma or something along that line.

Because my doc painted such a horrible image in my mind, I always remind myself to keep a cool head in every situation and avoid being in situations where I literally turn green, 3 times my size, rip off my shirt, pound on my chest and jump a few hundred feet from where I am standing and destroy every single thing I lay my eyes upon. And oh yeah, not forgetting the thunderous roar.

The same situation unfold on the way home from dinner but in between, the dinner was excellent! We had (lemmie recall), loh bak, seafood popiah, German Sausage, a pot pie, cheese cake and salad set, pizza and my bro had some weird looking ‘french’ food and we all had Apple juice with assam. Quite satisfying for a RM60 or so dinner. I’d highly recommend Northam beach for a really good dinner with first class seats by the beach overlooking the Butterworth Container Terminal and the straits between Penang Island and Province Wellesley. If you can look beyond the dirty beach right below where you are seated to the beautiful background setting further ahead, you might enjoy the experience. The breeze is cool and as it gets darker and the whole place is lit up with miniature xmas tree lights overhead it really turns out to be something like a mini fiesta or beach party like environment. I must say I really enjoyed myself there.

Happy Deepavali to all my hindu friends. Although I feel abit sad this year bcos nobody invited me to their house for makan, I still share in your festive joy the same way I share in every religious and cultural festival in our multicultural country! One of the things I enjoy the most is, every time there is a festival, I get a long long leave. He he he... Now tell me again, whats not nice about being in Malaysia? I'm having a ball here!

A day in the life of...

I used to think that only crazy people with too much time on their hands write in blogs all day but I find myself writing more and more entries after finding out the fact that people actually read the stuff I write, which makes it even more worthwhile. I made a new fan yesterday out of my blog! And I would really like to thank those who take the time to read through the stuff that comes pouring out of my brain. Haha…

Well my day began early yesterday, 8/11/2007. After a really good seafood dinner with a few of my colleagues and lots of coconut flower ‘wine’ mixed with Guinness stout to go around, I finally got a chance to go home and started packing my stuff to catch my 7am flight from the Low Cost Carrier Terminal in KL back to Penang. From all the exhaustion and too much booze, I retired to bed early at around 11:30pm. At 2am I awoke into a situation too awkward for my own comprehension. Rain water was dripping down to where I was sleeping from the window above. Now I did mention that I just moved into a new room where the window was too high for its own good and if it’s open, I have to go through some sort of grueling task just to close it. The windows are located close to the ceiling of the room and the walls are twice the height of the room. The room in its odd configuration reminds me of my aunt’s place many years ago where it was the same design, dubbed an air well, which they decided to make some sort of a double storey room out of.

So, with the rainwater quickly ‘flooding’ my bed, floor and the scarce furniture I have, I had to think of something fast, not easy a task for someone who had too much to drink and had only slept for the past 2 and a half hours. I moved the bed aside, pushed the computer table into its place, placed a plastic stool on top of the table, tied the vacuum cleaner rod to the broom, mop and dustpan rods together with masking tape frantically like a mad dude and climbed on top of the table + stool and tried to push the window lever to shut it. Out of the 3 windows I only managed 2, cos the last one I had the electrician push the air con ducting into so I didn’t have to answer to the landlord about all the holes I drilled into his lovely house. However I managed to close it halfway so that the next time it rained, I don’t have to put up with a flooded room!

After that little incident, I made a mental note to myself to be more cautious in choosing a place to rent the next time around. I mean, every rental lodgings has its own disadvantages doesn’t it? Its just up to you to use your better judgment to analyze whether you want to put up with such things or not. In the long run I reckon it’s all about what you want out of the experience you are going through or decide to put yourself through. As for me, the reason why I chose this place is because it’s convenient. Located near 2 lrt stations, food stalls within a walking distance, 2 hypermarkets literally next to where I stay, bus service literally at my doorstep to every major shopping centre within a 50km radius of me and convenient access in and out of the house. I dread staying in apartments or condominiums, although it’s fun to have all the facilities included and also a view to complement if you are living in a high rise somewhere in a higher altitude. With a house, I simply park my car outside and within 2-3 seconds I have already made my way from my bedroom to it.

But the biggest convenience which I derive out of it is the fact that it’s nearer to where my new office is going to be located in KL.

Ok, back to my story. After the little incident at 2am, I was left too hyperactive to go back to sleep, so I popped a vcd into the player and watched a bit, went out and fixed the broken window at the rear part of the house, took a bath and got ready to leave for the airport. I left the house at 4.30am, it was still raining quite heavily then and all dark. Arrived at Desmond’s house at around 5am, picked him up and left for the airport.

At the airport there were so many people, I’d only imagine a scene out of a Schindler’s list movie or the likes of it. There were people everywhere and the check-in counters at the terminal were jammed pack with people as if every single person was trying to leave KL in a hurry. There were flights scheduled to every single destination where Air Asia flew to that morning. I managed to check in rather fast after standing in line for around 15 mins.

After the check-in counter queue, I proceeded to the MacDonald's queue, which was more irritating cos the space to queue was smaller and every single table was taken up with rubbish not cleared. Feeling quite annoyed, I went outside for a smoke deciding whether I should continue standing in line or go on board with a stomach growling so badly that the cabin crew might think I brought a dog on board.

Just when I was about to light up I heard a familiar voice. It was Susan. “What da heck r u doing at the airport at 6am in the morning?”, she said she was here to drop her brother and his wife off for their trip to Kota Kinabalu. Great! I got a ciggy partner as well as someone to accompany me for breakfast. She said, “Hey I saw your boss just now” “Oh Really? Here? At the airport as well?” hm… I wonder where she’s off to. Anyway, after we had our Sausage MacMuffin and Big Breakfast together with her bro and his wife, I headed to the gate where my plane was already boarding. Everyone was already up in the plane where me and a handful of passengers were still queuing up at the gate waiting to go walk the runway to the plane. From all the exhaustion, once I took my seat in the plane and put on my seat belt, I dozed off till the chief steward announced on the PA that we had landed safely at Penang International Airport. Dad was already waiting in the arrival hall for me and it felt so relaxed to finally come home, even for only 4 days.

Ok, I guess I have written too much this time around. The sadness of not being able to celebrate Deepavali at anyone’s house this year really gets to me. But it’s all good I guess. In place of that, I get to be closer to my family and spend more time with them. Something I really cherish.

Welcome to a world of convenience!

Its 1:20 am in the morning and I'm lying on my best, it's my 2nd night in my new place at Seri Petaling and although I'm tired as heck, I still couldn't sleep. Maybe it's because I have been moving house for the last 3 days non stop everyday or because the air-con guy hasn't come and installed my air-con yet. With the ceiling fan at top speed and another standing fan also at top speed, i'm sweating like a piggy here. Now I'm starting to regret buying the comforter set.

But with Radja's Jujur blaring out of the television speakers and me getting to punch in some words into my fav blog site, I guess all that hard work is all worth it.

Moving from a place where I have came to enjoy living in, it was kind of ackward at first, especially the first night. I couldn't sleep at all. Maybe it's the latex smell of the new mattress, or the bad experience having to sleep on the mattress on the floor, I dunno. But the nice thing is getting up in the morning and being able to take my time driving to work. Guess what? It used to take 30 mins to get from my place to the LRT station where we have to gather to board the company's bus kilang. Now it only takes 5 mins. Hows that for near (and convenient?)

With food stores nearby and 2 hypermarts within walking distance, I begin to ask myself... why didn't I think of this earlier? Maybe after all that searching high and low for a place to stay, this could be the most right choice I have ever made. So far so good, cos I haven't regretted my decision yet.

Besides the exuberance about how convenient this location is, I also rejoice in the fact that, finally there are people to come home and talk with. How nice. But all is not rainbows and butterflies here tho. Parking is a nightmare. With a 66 feet wide road, people seem to be parking everywhere! omigosh! I had to park my car at the end of the road. This place is a cul-de-sac (or deadend for the not so language savvy) BUt at least its ok lah, since it's 66 feet wide, people get to go to the end and make a u-turn back to go out. Its only sometimes some moron will double park their vehicle till its unpassable. Luckily none of that occured when I was driving the 4x4 pickup truck earlier, if not.. hmm.. wonder how an urban demolition derby would look like. (lol)

Anyhow, hope its all good. The air-con guy promised to come at 7am sharp tomorrow. Hope he comes, give me a good solution to my aircon problems and help give me better sleep in a colder climate. its starting to feel like the african sahara at this weather.

My eyes are getting smaller and I'm starting to yawn like a cow. I think i'll stop here for now and maybe continue tomorrow or so. This entry is so shot, so unlike me, but I promise, I would definitely write more soon. Ciao amigos!

Everything will work itself out in the end

I was in the internet chat room the other day as usual, so called 'socializing' in a way I would never do in the real world. In this day and age, the new generation would ask, why would you need the real world for when all you need is right here in cyberspace? You get to experience whatever thrills you want, whenever you want it.

Well, the story I wanted to tell isn't about getting whatever you want from cyberspace whenever you want it. I'm happy... why? Because people actually read my blog postings! Oh my gosh! All I can say is, I'm touched! To me, blogs are a place where you get to thrash out whatever feelings and emotions, thoughts and suggestions whenever you need to, more like a virtual 'toilet'. Spill it all out and flush it all down. Isn't that the way its supposed to be done? I personally reckon that, if everyone were to write a blog entry a day, then there would be less stressed out people, less nutcases, less mental patients and less hatred in the world. It's like a movie I watched many years back, I can't recall what it's called, but I think it's Futureball (or the likes of it)

The objective of futureball is for countries to fight it out in a ball game rather than wage wars against each other. Therefore, I reckon that the same theory would work itself out well in instance of blogs, but not neglecting the importance of self restraint. In other words, write stuff in blogs that don't piss people off or get people to drag your ass to court and sue it off then drag it screaming and kicking off to the slammer.

In my 30 years (soon 31), I can say with confidence that I have never really been a rebel without a cause. I don't have a single traffic ticket to my name, I drive within speed limits, I don't DUI, I don't rape, kill or steal and I try my best to be a role model for others whom may want to emulate me. In other words, I do my best every single day to blend in (to society) I am not saying that the next person who is 180 degrees different from the likes of me, who is rough, obnoxious, who (contemplates) rape, kills (insects...hehe) and steals (from old ladies) doesn't try his best to blend in to society, it's just their way of expressing their uniqueness and individual character.

You know, I never understood why some people need to show off with their modified rides, strange sounds when they reverse their vehicles or when they slam on the brakes, drive like they're on the set of Tokyo Drift, cuss and swear in public, wear ackward looking colors and hairstyles, clothes too large or too small for their own good, tattoos all over their bodies, bits and pieces of metal, gold and silver on their face, pierce their belly buttons and tongues, gamble and drink till it puts a strain on their pockets and health.

I guess I would have to go back to college to get a degree in psychology or probably even a PhD before I can really get a grasp on what goes on in peoples' heads. I reckon I wouldn't want or need to. All I need to do is, learn from the mistakes of mankind and apply it to make myself a more effective, efficient and useful person. In other words, use these metaphors, examples and case studies to 'evolve' and become a better human being. Isn't that what we all would like or want for ourselves? To evolve and become better?

After all being said and done, I guess in conclusion, all I can say is that, either you're a villian, a saint, a prince, a pauper, a liar, a pastor, a conman, a governor, a millionaire, a bankrupt. Whatever or whoever you choose to become or live as, whatever choice you make, either you die poor and happy, rich and remorseful, lived a fulfilled life or one full of what ifs and regrets, everything will work itself out in the end.

Goodbye Uncle Lim

It never crossed my mind to write a blog entry about a deceased person but this individual is so special that I am compelled to write a few last words describing my admiration for him.

It's 27/10/2007 and I woke up bright and early this morning to catch the 8:45am shuttle bus our company arranged for us to go up to Gohtong Villa to pay our last respects to our boss, Tan Sri Dato' Seri (Dr) Lim Goh Tong, which we have came to fondly know as Uncle Lim. When I reached our pickup point, all my colleagues we there already, dressed solemnly in either black or white. They passed me a black ribbon which I was to wear on my left arm before going for the wake.

The journey up took around 1 hour from our pick up point, and when we reached Genting Skyway around 10+, there was already a few hundred people there. Genting had arranged many vans, limousines, private cars etc to ferry people from the skyway to Gohtong Villa located on an exclusive hill in Gohtong Jaya to pay their last respects to Uncle Lim, someone who truly touched the hearts of every Malaysian and possibly every living person who knows him.

We got down from the bus and hopped on the vans which took us up Gohtong Villa. The walk from Gohtong Villa's main entrance to his house was another 100m or so. Lining the walkway was wreathes from almost every company in Malaysia, Singapore, Hongkong, Japan, Macau etc. We had to line up to go in to pay our last respects to him, all around his house the memorial service provider had set up canopies and tents. We couldn't really see how big the house was but judging from the size of the compound, it was really huge! After waiting for around 15mins, we finally got a chance to go into the area where his coffin was placed. As we entered 1 by 1, a taoist monk dressed in black robe instructed each person to put their hands together and take 1 bow, as a show of respect to the deceased, after taking 1 bow, we walked 1 round his coffin and proceeded to the exit.

Uncle Lim was smartly dressed in a black suit with all his medals pinned neatly on it. I dun have any idea what medals he got but I reckon he had his Tan Sri medal and his Dato' Seri medal. He looked so peaceful. Its quite odd, all the way up, I didn't feel any sorrowful or sad emotions until I entered the room where his coffin was. Perhaps it was the sum of collective sadness and sorrow which immediately bounced off me and almost instantly I actually felt sadness for his demise, in that very room.

That feeling wore off the second I walked out of the room down to the basement carpark area where they served food and refreshments. When we were having our drinks, there were still people lining up to go in to pay their last respects to him. It was truly an amazing experience, I had never attended the funeral for a vip before and I really must say it is an experience I will never forget.

I have worked in Star Cruises for a little over 3 months only but really feel inspired and motivated by Uncle Lim, much so after reading bits and pieces of his biography on the internet. I'm not sure if I can still get his book 'My Story - Lim Goh Tong in the bookstores anymore, but if I can, I'm gonna rush out and snap up a copy.

My closing words is, Good bye Uncle Lim, your success is an inspiration to all of us to become successful in face of obstacles, the legacy you have left us in form of Genting resort etc enables us to enjoy our holidays and bring our families together. Last but not least, because of your effort, I have a job and a chance of a long term career in the company you founded. You are our leader, our motivation. Cheers to such a great man!

Just another day in paradise...?

It really gets me wondering, who sits at my desk to work everyday after I go back at 6pm. The reason for saying this is that, every morning when I come to work, my chair is extremely high, feels like someone not so tall sits at my desk and works during the night when everyone else goes home. Is there a possibility? Well, I will never know for sure.

Who in their right mind would want to come to this office after dark? I know I for one would not, it's simply crazy. I work in a purpose converted island. I wouldn't say man made, cos the island was here before the development started, they just enhanced the use of it. There is a township here but with only a handful of people stay here. It's 25km from the nearest town and hardly anyone gives a crap to come here, especially at night, it's a shipping terminal for god sakes.

Well the reason for me to let out steam here at 8:30 in the am isn't about some phantom model employee clocking in extra time on my desk. I just felt like it's time for me to catch up on my blog postings.. hehe...

A new day a new challenge, thats what they all say right? I appreciate new days and I appreciate new challenges. I just wish I was strong enough to face them all when it gets stuffed down my throat all at once or one at a time.

Well just another day in paradise has always been my favorite crooning song at the karaoke joint back in the day. Its the first song I will look for in the song books whenever I escape to 'idol boot camp' singing sessions at the OK. Songs are a reflection of life, right? And if it is, I guess today is just another day in paradise. As it was yesterday, still, I choose to be happy!

Back to work Tuesday

I just got in to the office after a 3 day long weekend which I had spent mostly in my rented apartment in the city rather than back in Penang, my hometown. Much that I don't want to dwell in the sorrow of that, I'm pretty much glad that this morning I get to go back to work bright and early in time to type out this blog entry.

I spent the most part of last night watching Evan Almighty on DVD, which I find really hilarious and would like to congratulate the producers and directors for successfully making me laugh inspite of the strong religious 'hidden message' behind that movie.

Besides watching Evan Almighty on DVD, I also managed to chat up a few new friends on the online chatroom which I frequently visit. Now let me recall, there's Joyce, who looked like a Ribena Berry replica which keeps going Wew! Tsu from Penang who thought I was a gal from my chatroom nickname and Hui Ting, which pretty much impressed me (and I must say inspired me at the same time to get up and chase the goals which I have pretty much given up on a long time ago).

Can you imagine this, a 22 year old Insurance sales agent who drives a 2003 BMW 318i she bought brand new. We were chatting about cars and she was trying to decide between keeping her car and a brand new Volvo S80. I wonder how many 22 year olds have the luxury of that kind of decisions at that age. Well, in fact for a 32 yr old and 42 year old for that matter. After successfully landing my cushy job here in genting, I toy around with a decision on which Proton to change next.

Which got me a thinking. It's in the decision that we make on a daily basis. Its the decisions we make in life which determine what kind of life we end up living. Its the decision we make which determines if we eat instant noodles for dinner everynight or dine on lobsters at the JW Marriotts. God, (whoever it may be for you) gives each and every one of us equal opportunities to be either rich, poor, middle class, upper class, lower class and homeless. Its up to us to choose what we want ourselves to be without prejudice I suppose.

As I wake up today at 5am, I thank the almighty for giving me the opportunity of a brand new day and another chance to make a choice to be who I want to be today. To choose to be happy, rich, loved, lucky and enjoy everything that God has created for me to enjoy around me.

Thank you for the opportunity, thank you for letting me choose. I choose to be Happy!

Season Greetings for the Holidays! Lets all enjoy our 3 day weekend!

Selamat hari raya to all! the long raya weekend, i was dreading this day because it meant i was stuck here in kl for 3 whole days with nothing better to do and also i don't get to go back to Penang. Nevertheless, last night was quite fun. I went out and bought myself 2 pirated dvds (of course), Bourne Ultimatum and Evan Almighty. I didn't get around to watching Evan Almighthy yet, cos i popped Bourne Ultimatum into the dvd player and was amazed that i didn't get ripped off buying a lousy pirated copy. the quality and sound was superb and excellent!

After that i logged online to the chatroom to kill off my boredom. it was around midnight already. the first few people i tried chatting up was either sleeping already or too boring. Normally I only chat with people who put their names or names of real humans as their nicknames (not that i do myself), but it shows a degree of sincerity). i should start reconsidering my own for my degree of sincerity sake.

I clicked on this 'hello_nurse' nickname not expecting anything much more than an inviter bot or porn site advertisement bot. To my surprise, it was a real person.. and a real nurse to top it off. Although i'm not too sure the pictures she sent me during our ym chat session was hers, I reckon i shouldn't have anything to doubt about this one. 38 year old staff nurse somewhere in Malaysia with more provocative chat styles and topics that I could come up with in that short period of time. An experienced chatter i presume. The type of person I have been longing to chat wif for the past 12 yrs i am in the online chatroom.

Well, the chemistry was there, the topics were flowing nicely and get ice was breaking well. Too bad she had to go to bed after a short chat (it was almost 4am already). Well not that I expect anyone to read this silly posting. Nonetheless, if I browse through here in a couple of months time, it might bring back some happy memories of my chatting days.

I was feeling pretty much under the weather a couple of hours ago, between now, typing out this blog and after i turned off the Bourne Ultimatum dvd. Its about someone who called and asked if I was just playing around with peoples feelings and not being serious.

Cmon, I wanna be as serious as I can, given the right circumstances. However, psychologically I push people who want to enter into my world and be part of it away when i feel my 'comfort zone', my feelings are at risk of being hurt badly in the future. Probably it's what I have been through that I subconsciously do so. I don't intend to push people away. I love to be loved and cared for. I loved to be the centre of attention and show love. Please don't get me wrong. Its just that I can't take it when i get hurt over and over again. I rather be alone surrounded by myself in my 'comfort zone'.

I'm not an emotional train wreck. I dun have mood swings or will take you on a roller coaster ride with my mood. If you ask me, i will tell you i'm perfectly fine. I too like to be surrounded by my friends and know that people around me acknowledge my existence. A hermit is what I'm not. When I don't want to see you, you need to understand that I got my own 'stuff' to sort out.

I am capable of loving and being loved too. Its just that i want to make my choice one I won't regret later on in life. After seeing relationships break down, lives of people i know and some even care for change around me, of cos if given a choice i want my storybook to be different right? why go through life with the hassle of communication/relationship breakdowns when you know you can do something about it? When the power to change things is clearly in your hands, of course you set out to find the best possible solution, the best possible ending to your fairy tale.

Don't come and accuse me and ask me to go on fearing the fact that i am afraid to get hurt and push people away. I didn't ask you to pity me. I don't need it.

I reckon we as humans have a tendancy to complicate life. It could be simple and straightforward. I read a forwarded email on Friday. It went something like this:

A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenlyhis room filled with light, and the Lord appeared The Lord told the man he had work for him to do,and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained:that the man was to push against the rock with all his might.This the man did, Day after day. For many years he toiled from sunup to sundown,his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock,Pushing with all his might.

Each night the man returned to his cabin sore,and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.Since the man was showing signs of discouragement,the devil decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man's weary mind:"You have been pushing against that rock for a longtime, and it hasn't budged.Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it."Thus, giving the man the impression that the task was impossibleand that he was a failure.These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man."Why kill myself over this?" he thought. "I'll just put in my time,giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough."And that is what he planned to do, until one day hedecided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord. "Lord," he said, "I have labored long and hard inyour service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked.Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter.What is wrong? Why am I failing?"

The Lord responded compassionately,"My friend, when I asked you to serve meand you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rockwith all your strength, which you have done.Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it.Your task was to push.And now you come to me with your strength spent,thinking that you have failed.But is that really so? Look at yourself.Your arms are strong and muscled, your back is sinewy and brown,your hands are callused from constant pressure,and your legs have become massive and hard.Through opposition you have grown much,and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have.Yet you haven't moved the rock.But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faithand trust in My wisdom. This you have done.I, my friend, will now move the rock."

At times, when we hear a word from the Lord, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants,when actually what the Lord wants is just simple obedience and faith in Him....By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still the Lord who moves the mountains.For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes ... Romans 1:16When everything seems to go wrong ... just P.U.S.H.!When the job gets you down ... just P.U.S.H.!When people don't react the way you think they should just P.U.S.H.!When your money looks "gone" and the bills are due ... just P.U.S.H.!When people just don't understand you ... just P.U.S.H.!

P.U.S.H. = Pray Until Something Happens!!!!!

Now i'm not a christian. Nor do i encourage stories like this to be told to me by people promoting their faith targeted at me. Nonetheless this story, I can say, inspired and uplifted me. The effect was the same as the Footprints story which I heard some time back, which some people mock for having religious promoting elements inside. when it comes to these things i guess im alittle sensitive. Look, I won't say I'm not religious. I am! I have a faith I believe in don't I? I'm a buddhist, or so I confess to be. But I rather it be I'm spiritual. When you're spiritual, you go beyond the boundries of defending your own religion and building a brick wall between you and the person next to you. When you are spiritual, you will always think that there is a supreme being, or can plug into the infinite intelligence of the universe (or things along that line) rather than say that there is God, or Jesus, or Buddha. When you are spiritual, you do not differentiate between your God and my God. God becomes... God, it belongs to nobody, it is the universe and not the creator of it. I dunno if any of this makes sense. Haha... Well it does to me, at least now.

Gosh! Look at home much I have written. I just want to look back at this posting some time later in the future with a smile on my face remembering how eventful today has been, one which started out lousy, turned worst, made me feel good and happy, then crappy then good and happy again to the state i am in right now.

Good night (or rather morning!)

Spitfire Grill

Came home all shagged up today and decided to plop right in front of the telly to catch up on some tv time. for the 1st 2 hours all there was were bad movies and sad sitcoms until i flipped to Star movies (i think) and came across this movie which was just starting, i flipped the info button on the remote and it said "Spitfire Grill" as the title.

This is how the story goes... according to the movie description in yahoo movies:

Percy Talbott, a recently released inmate from a Maine prison, relocates to the small, waning, town of Gilead, whose remaining residents seem to have long since grown numb to the commanding countryside that encloses them. Soon the skeptical citizens of Gilead begin to speculate about her background and criminal past and Percy becomes hard pressed to find a room and work. Finally, Percy finds a job with Hannah, the indomitable owner of the Spitfire Grill, and begins to develop a strong connection with she and her niece-in-law, Shelby. Through their deepening friendship, each woman experiences a personal redemption and, through their solidarity, the narrow-minded citizens of the community are reawakened and reunified.

In my humble opinion, no doubt the show comes on as slow paced and somewhat boring, with predictable plots and storylines, I must admit that I somehow got drawn to watching the movie till the end.

The reason? Maybe because this movie touched on a few subjects which I held close to heart and some of my personal values on humanity and the way people should be treated.

When the main character, Percy Talbott finally spoke about the reason why she was in prisoned at the age of 16 (for manslaughter), it actually became clearer that the system they had there, or more like the system we have everywhere actually punishes the victim of a crime after the crime has been committed to that person and no amount of empathy or pity for that person can save them out of it.

Well, what amazed me out of that movie was the the clear good intention of one person's heart no matter how obscure, will prevail even in face of all injustice, queer eyes, bad intentions, deframation and misperception of everybody around you. The movie has taught me, like they sayings of old, if your heart is pure, then fear not, because it will help you shine through, no matter how dark it may be. (This is not a phrase taken out of the bible, trust me because I'm not a christian.)

It also showed of a person who proved herself brave, in coming 1 step closer to the truth and was not afraid to go all out in search of it.

watching a good movie is like reading a good book i guess. I checked out the title of the movie and found out that it was made in 1996, 11 years ago, but the timelessness of the story and how it touched the very core of people's values was what made it stand out even till today.

It also taught me something, which I had actually known about long before I watched this movie. Perhaps you who are reading my blog would like to know about it and get some idea about it.

The person that the main character worked for in the movie had wanted to sell off her diner for a very long time, but since that place which the movie portraying was a small, waning town, nobody had any money to buy it, let alone want to run it.

Then Percy Talbott suggested that they run an essay writing contest, the participant had to write in an essay stating why Hannah should give the diner to him/her, send a $100 note with the essay and post it to them. The winner would get to diner for free.

Percy got to calling her old prison mates who works on the telephone on some Customer Service job at the prison to do some PR work on the essay contest to be published in the papers in the big towns in the states, like Chicago, Detriot, New York to get people to sign up for the contest.

Then a first letter came, then another and another and 1 day the post master (or rather mistress) came in to their diner with 2 gunny sacks full of mail. They spent the whole night reading all the letters, had a good laugh or 2 and counted the money, $200,000 in all. which meant 2000 people participated in the contest all over America.

How's that for an idea? Cool huh?

To Nano or not to Nano

Perhaps the most overused word today is Nano. Every single advertisement you see on the tube, on billboards, in magazines and in the newspaper, every second new product which hits the market has a Nano technology attached to it or begins and ends with it. It’s at the tip of everybody’s lips!

A few years back when Apple launched its very first portable mp3 player, I remembered it being one of the coolest gadgets that ever hit the market. A small portable device no bigger than your average mobile phone and yet you could store a few thousand songs in it. Before it came along, you would need to carry around your trusty old portable cd player or if you were one who resisted change, a portable cassette player!

And just when I was getting comfortable with these cool looking white IPODs with its roundish dials, Apple shocked the world with yet another first in the market, the IPOD Nano.

Then LG came along and introduced a flip phone with some NANO technology that prevents bacteria from sticking to the surface of the mobile phone so that you can pass your mobile around for all your buddies to use without contracting some kind of unexplainable skin disease one of your buds may have passed to you from borrowing your mobile phone to call his mom.

The South Korean appliance manufacturer hit it off pretty well with the term NANO that their closest rival from the same country even started to introduce washing machines that wash better thanks to NANO.

Shortly after that the market was flooded with something NANO that promises to improve your life, make you live healthier, prettier or a combination of both. NANO cleans your air, NANO purifies your water. Now you can even wash your face with NANO to make your skin so white that you can go on photo shoots feeling more confident. The list goes on and on. Can you imagine your life in the world today if it wasn’t for NANO? Now you wouldn’t want to sound outdated or unfashionable to be caught red handed using some product that didn’t scream NANO would you? And when I thought the worst was over, last week a television advertisement screamed out NANO toothpaste!

Back in the day, I remember my first encounter with the word NANO. It was a sour throat drop that came complete with its very own catchy jingle and animated advertisement. Come to think of it, wasn’t NANO a candy? How could a term that started its life as a humble food item catch on to become something so popular?

I’m no nuclear scientist or bio chemist but thanks to Google, I pretty much got a chance to understand a little about what the NANO technology.

With my new found knowledge, I reckon it would be profitable for me to come up with a NANO something that would make me a rich fellow and I would have to work again for the rest of my life. Now, what it would be, I wonder. Looks like I got to get cracking soon. I wouldn’t want to let the big corporations earn all that money with NANO would i?

Let me see, what other words that began their lives oh so humbly and grew up tol become superstars in the marketing. What about BIO? Yeah, that’s classic isn’t it? Others include PLASMA, OLED, ION, Platinum, Titanium.

What an accident it was

About half an hour ago, while returning from the gym at around 11pm, there was an abnormal crawl along the Grand Saga highway right after the Batu 9 toll plaza. I thanked my lucky stars I didn't drive and was on my motorcycle. Whisking past the jam, further up front there it was, drink containers, cups, plates strewn everywhere right in the middle of the highway. Apparently the driver of the van, returning from it's pasar ramadhan stint somewhere in KL was too eager to get home. With a broken windscreen, 2 flat tyres and a smashed front, I guess it must have hit something hard but the best part was, I didn't even see what it hit. A kancil perhaps.

Funny to say that, that was the exact area where an accident occurred just a few hours ago and the vehicle involved in that earlier accident was still there, a motorcycle. Leads me to think that that area is really 'black' for motorist. Maybe it's the landscape or feng shui of that area. I dunno. But it seems like accidents tend to happen there very often. Or the reason why accidents like this happen so often this month is because of the chinese 7th month Hungry Ghost festival.

I dunno why I am musing about this, but I just felt like I should share with someone about it. It might save someone's life.

Power Tornado Aluminium Air Intake Turbine

The first thing that comes to everyone's mind when thinking of modifying their car with the lowest possible cost is to change the 'bullet' in the car exhaust system. After that comes the grounding cable, the monster spark plug cable, extractor, muffler etc and the list goes on.

Downgrading from a 2000cc V6 DOHC Twin cam EFi to a 1600cc SOHC EFi vehicle, naturally, the reduce in power and pick up is extremely evident and has caused much discomfort to me, especially going uphill or taking of from standstill at a traffic light intersection. However I make up for the reduce in power by revving hard. This causes the engine to wear out faster and also burn more petrol.

During a routine service at my trusted mechanic in Penang, I found out that the old engine oil drained out from engine was only 2L as compared to 4L that went in 5000km ago. Talk about wear and tear. I consulted my mechanic and he told me something that didn't really make sense to me at first. A small device to be fitted inside the air intake system that didn't require any complex installation, screws, wires, electronics or hours of work putting it in place.

I did some googling and saw a write up on the product I just installed in my Proton Waja.

Introducing the Power Tornado air intake turbine, sold in Japanese market it is a very successful product. This will allow you to burn fuel more efficiently resulting on better MPG in addition the turbine will increase air flow and should provide additional HP power and torque.

Made entirely of aircraft grade aluminum, this turbine is machined to perfection, the blades spin freely and smoothly its shaft being supported by a ball bearing.

The Power Tornado has a 2.5 inch diameter, easy mounting, it installs inside the intake hose going to the throttle body from air filter. A clamp is included as well to secure the Power Tornado inside the intake hose, the Power Tornado also includes a rubber coupler that will allow for a tight fit inside the intake hose. If your hose has a diameter greater then 2.5” you must custom fit it therefore please ask your qualified mechanic to install it.

This is Universal and will fit any vehicle, SUV, pickup etc….

I'm not advertising this product or directing you to where you can buy it. Quite frankly I felt that I had paid too much for it anyways, since our good friends in ebay and lelong were selling it for between RM150 to 200. I bought it for RM250, but it was professionally installed by my mechanic.

Right after I had it fitted in my car, I went out and tested my car on a straight road and the difference in power was incredible! I would say around 20%. Even the gear can drag a little longer before changing. The power kicks in around 4000-5000rpm and one of the gears drag till 7000rpm like how a VTEC kicks in for a Honda City or Civic case.

I noticed that even dragging my gears like this, the fuel meter didn't drop much. I'm yet to test it in the long run to see how good the fuel economy is as claimed by my mechanic.

This is what is being claimed by www.australianauto.com.au:

"Everyone's looking to save money on petrol nowadays.

The Tornado is an aluminium air channeling tool that adds spin to the incoming air charge allowing it to whirl around bends faster and more efficiently.Atomizes fuel better resulting in more complete ignition.

You will enjoy better petrol mileage plus an increase of horsepower. Installs behind the mass air sensor, only takes minutes to install, requires no maintenance and it will pay for itself in a few months..."

Have anyone of you tried this product before? Do give me some feedback on how good or lousy it is.

Cheers!

Spiderman 3 vs my Little Self

Last night I went to Gurney Plaza to watch Spiderman 3. It felt abit funny because I went alone and it was the first time I went to the movies alone. So, sitting there alone on seat F03, I went through almost 2 and a half hours of the movie. The ackward part was, I always had someone beside me to discuss about the show every now and then but last night, whenever I turn right to share an opinion, it was an empty seat.

Well what can I remember about the movie. Critics aside, I think the movie was fantastic. Having watched Part 1 and 2, this serves as a continuation of the earlier 2 parts. However, what I feel is that, in this episode, as compared to the earlier 2, the comical or fictional side of the whole Spiderman thingy really screams out loud. Somehow every event or person seem to link itself back to Peter Parker. Coincidence or a boring predictable story line? I dunno, I leave it up to you to decide.

However I do like the fact that there are new villians as well as villian turn friend in part 3. If part 1 and 2 tells a more serious story line, I reckon part 3 tries to portray a more humorous side of the whole Spiderman episode. However with an ending like what it had, we are sure to expect more and more new episodes of the Spiderman saga.

Well, after the movie, I quietly walked out of the cineplex alone watching all the families and couples scurrying by to get out of the complex as fast as they could (it was past 12). I strolled casually to the game arcade and had a few rounds of car racing and target practice.

After the 10 days that I spent in KL running up and down like a headless chicken looking for a job and coming back to an all too familiar and comfortable place, you might say that there is no place like home. On one hand I do appreciate home, with all the comforts and convenience and luxury. On the other hand, I am a 30 year old guy chasing a career, looking forward to a family and trying to become somebody someday.

Do I think that this island is too small for its own good or for my own good? I try not to think of it as so. But what about the constant disappointments and setbacks which I have been facing here before I finally decide to throw in the towel and try my luck in KL or Singapore for that matter to secure my career?

So whenever someone tells me that Penang is a nice place to live. I will be the first to agree with them. But... For retirees and if you're a professional (engineer, doctor, lawyer especially).