haphazard cogitation

2008-11-19T07:51:00.001+11:00

is it so hard to love myself again?
being engulfed in the ambitions of what you can and may be
constantly searching for a better opportunity
worrying day and night
sleepless and wide awake
perspiring everytime i toss and turn

there has got to be more to life than wanting a better 9 to 5
will everything become mundane after a year?

my perception is wrong
my attitude is wrong
life must come first
then work

but what is life? is it a relationship? a hobby?
im tired of staying awake afraid to sleep

i need to work on life. ideas anyone?

Days in the Diocese Commissioning Mass, Telstra Dome

2008-08-04T20:19:00.006+10:00

It was a joyous scene all over Melbourne. I headed down to the city by train. Pilgrims from all over the world were in the same train singing their praises at the top of their voices. Cheering and challenging other coutries pilgrims. This reminded me of the world scout jamboree I attended in Thailand 6 years ago combined with the patriotism from the commonwealth games. People from all over the world united for a cause. A common interest, a common goal, to worship God.

For the whole weekend the pilgrims were just walking around the city with their flag held high, strumming their guitars, singing and just having fun. It kind of gave Melbourne a jolt of fun at that time.

Freezing cold outside the Telstra Dome

Pilgrims from East Timor

Pilgrims all over the world marching towards the Telstra dome waving their flags proudly while singing praises.

And the french..

More french

St Anthony's participants

All the holy people.

Two isles full of priest from all over the world!

Yes yes..we had to seek down the malaysian flag to take a picture. Some of them were from KL and some of them were from JB

View of the crowd

good collaboration of artists. unity indeed

2008-05-26T22:48:00.001+10:00

Rest in peace grandmum

2008-05-11T22:21:00.002+10:00

its good to see that you are in a better place now.
somewhere you dont have to suffer anymore.
to finally lay your head to rest.
we will never forget you.

thank god.

2008-05-06T00:20:00.000+10:00

Luke 6:29

And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also

2008-04-28T23:00:00.003+10:00

2008-04-22T00:46:00.000+10:00

101st

2008-04-20T21:41:00.003+10:00

As I walked the streets of Burke, the chilling breeze blowing through my thin clothing. Heavy hearted, soul unrested, agitated.

I see souls from all walks of life walking hastily to a purpose. As they walk pass me, I turn to the side to catch a glimpse of their determine eyes. I pondered what was going through their minds with such focus.

I see happy faces, people who laugh at almost everything, who are so carefree. With a group of friends they are comfortable with, sharing whatever comes to mind and speaking it freely.

I see couples holding hands, hugging each other tightly bracing through the breeze. My hands found itself deeper in the pocket.

I then see people who arent so different from me, walking alone. Most of them walking and staring at the floor as they drag themself somewhere.

I then ponder, what would people perceive me as I pass by them.

"I give you a new commandment: love one another, as i have loved you"

Mount Dandy

2008-04-16T22:23:00.005+10:00

View from the peak

An idiot who used a smaller spare tyre and drove up the mountain.

Pooven after 500 steps up

Sue made it after 1000 steps

This is the best pic of all, no dog and cat mating?

Mornington Peninsular

2008-04-15T23:24:00.002+10:00

Autumn's need

2008-04-14T20:58:00.002+10:00

As the season changes through a gradual transition,
As the colors fade and dull,
Where leaves shed, barks chip and fall,
Branches left bare amongst the wind.

Its time for a change, a subtle timid retractment from the environment,
To hide from the harshest of the world has to offer,
Snuggled tight in shelter awaiting for its moment,
Humbled with its hidden potential,
To spring back to its first bloom.

2008-04-12T09:49:00.002+10:00

Its been a while since I have posted anything. I have been through one of my many lows in my life. Faced with decision I never thought would occur so soon.

I guess this should be a big thank you to those who were there for me. Those who dragged me off the floor, carried me up and put me back on my 2 limbs. Those who slapped me silly, lifted my chin up and opened my eyes. Those who spoke sense into me. Those who showed me kindness, those who showed me that there is so much the world has to offer.

Celine- Thanks for talking sense into, putting some perspective into my life, allowing me to take a step back from all the hell that broke loose to realised what is going on and to re-evaluate on what life has to offer.

Jc- Thanks for walking me through every step of the way.

Sern Liang - Thanks for being online as the person I can talk to and share whenever whatever.

Sue- Thanks for the radiating enthusiam since you were here.

Vonne and ryn - Thanks for being there like how a family would.

Jaclyn - Thanks for being my comrade.

Ashwin - Thanks for being my wingman in the office.

And to all of you who I havent mentioned who shed some light and guidance.

k'ebww, ud tiy 'ew ew'subf rgus, giow tiy 'ew g'oot 'bs qwkk. u qukk vw tiye deuwbd aiib. cwet aiib

2008-02-24T10:51:00.001+11:00

you set me free.
you showed me the world
you showed me what i could have

cogitating

2008-01-28T00:24:00.000+11:00

I wish I was an infant.
As I gazed at this little girl sitting diagonally across me, she smiled back at me.
Being torn inside out, I envy such pure minds without worries, clueless of what the world holds for her.
She smiled with confidence and then looked away towards the window of the train.
Shes yet to learn the decisions that will engulf her.
The crossings which lay ahead, absolutely clueless.. Que Sera Sera.

I wish I could be like her, carefree and taking everything at face value.
She looks at me again and smiles.
How did I turn into such mess.
Why cant we maintain our purity?
Why cant we feel loved the same way she is.
No wonder they say children are gifts from God.
Such untainted and trusting, allowing anyone to love them as long as they share their thoughts of the world to them.
As I leave this train and this little girl, I feel slightly better.
I learnt from her that with the thought of being loved by someone, I can seek comfort...
All I have to do is to try and love again without being judgemental.
But it all comes down to whom I can trust..
Que Sera Sera

Met my resolutions?

2007-12-30T12:00:00.000+11:00

anyways, while waiting for vick to drive to meet Joseph i was thinking of the goals for the year.

1. Graduate with first class honors
I did graduate with first class honours, heres the proof!!!

2. Get a PR overseas and work overseas or do masters
I'm amidst my PR application and just waiting for my course certifications and some small stuff before i can lodge my application!!!

3. Settle my driving license and drive legally, prolly drive to penang or melacca before i leave for aus.
Before i left for australia i got my driving license, but im not sure whether i can drive around australia with malaysian P license. Guess i have to wait till end of next year to get it to a full license then convert it.

4. Get a job overseas to gather international working exp
Well..I did work in CycoTec part time when i was studying. Kinda gave me a clue on how aussies really work and stuff. Ill be getting a job soon...REALLY SOOON. dammit...

5. Fix my ankle so i can play sports again
My ankles all good and ready! Played basketball and squash..its all good.. not forgetting my vigorous training with PK would require good ankles.

6. Learn how to parkour or breakdance
Learnt how to PK!!!! List of vaults i can do..

Tic tac vault
Lazy vault
Monkey vault
Speed vault
Two handed vault
Turn vault
360 degree vault
ROLL!!!! weeeee!!! the most satisfying of PK things is to break a fall and roll!!!

some combos will be,
lazy to reverse vault
monkey to 360 vault

and of course

THE KONG VAULT

heres a kong vault over a table,

heres a kong vault over a standard park bench.

7. Read a book, anything but a textbook

Ok, i kinda read more than A book. more like 1 and a half books. I read half of "The are of Happiness" by the Dalai Lama and Dr. Howard Cutler. Tells you how you shouldnt take things for granted, how to feel empathetic, and what are the pure sources of happiness which doesnt root from greed, evil nor obsession. just the basic stuff to make you happy.

The WHOLE book which i read was called "Narcissist daughter" by Craid Holden. This book is kinda sick...Its about this couple, Ted and Joyce who had a daugther. Then the story revolves around Syd who is a worker at the couple's medical center who is sleeping with Ted's wife and it is being recorded because Ted gets a kick out of watching his wife getting screwed or getting picked up at bars. Syd then builds an infatuation for Joyce and at the same time dates her daugther Jessi. Which later then Jessi walks into Syd and her mum making out and having sex.

yeah...soo..i didnt buy this book actually..i took it from the South East Flats pavillion..dunno who actually bought this sick book. how could the author think of such things..

being a nomad

2007-11-28T21:56:00.000+11:00

There are 2 difficult moments in the year. End of the year where you move out or go somewhere and the beginning of the year when you come back and move into somewhere new.

The time is here again for me where i move out to a new life. Leaving friends you love, cherish, share meals, throw parties with, drink with, play taboo with and basically share your life with like youre family. Not forgetting the one you leave behind which you just met and you got accustomed to.

Everytime you pack, remove pictures from the wall, remove posters from the door, remove postcards from the once boring wall, you see that your 4 walls, your sanctuary, representing what you were and what kinda person you lived as in your room. As I pack my speakers, memories of my neighbour complaining of noise reminisces. As remove the blue tacs on my wall, reminded me of the hectic dates in uni, targets made in academic struggles as well as the amount of receipts for the cooking group mounted after each week.

As i did all that, i realised, its the end of my uni life, another chapter comes to an end and a new chapter flips open. And here i am again, with a pen in hand, starting a new phase. And life goes on...

i love parkour!!!

2007-11-26T20:58:00.000+11:00

I finally got the balls to do a kong vault thanks to kevin who showed me a few pointers on how far i could actually do a monkey vault from and where i land.

heres a kong vault over a table,

heres a kong vault over a standard park bench.

cooking therapy

2007-11-22T23:28:00.001+11:00

Tumeric chicken with serai and shallots.

Ingredients
Tumeric powder
Ginger 1 knob
3 cloves garlic
1 Stalk of serai
4 shallots
Salt
Sugar

Pound all the ginger, garlic, serai and shallots into a paste. Since i didnt have a mortar..i had to chop it manually to tiny bits and smash it with the side of the knife with my palm.

Marinate the chicken all over with the paste, add salt and sugar. Add tumeric powder to the chicken till its nice and yellow all over. It will look like this. Marinate this overnight for extra shiokness. I wrapped it with aluminum to lock in the taste.

To cook, throw it in the oven at 190 degrees for about 30-40 minutes. Best in the oven till the skin becomes crispy and the paste becomes crunchy.

This is what i had for lunch today :)

Minced pork with eggplant
Took this from a website and it turned out perfect

Ingredients

3 eggplants
salt
2 garlic cloves
1 knob ginger, peeled
8 spring onions
peanut oil (or vegetable oil) for shallow frying
300g pork mince
2 tbsp chilli bean paste ( i used the spicy black bean paste instead)
4 tbsp soy sauce
5 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine (or substitute dry sherry)
1 tsp sesame oil
4 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup water

Slice eggplants into short, thin strips and scatter with salt, then leave in a colander for 30-40 minutes. Rinse and pat dry with kitchen paper. This allows the salt to extract the moist from inside the eggplant allowing it to absorb the sauce and taste from the paste during cooking. Picture of the water extracted by the salt.

In a mortar and pestle (or food processor), crush garlic, ginger and four spring onions to a paste. Slice the other spring onions into 5cm lengths. Again...i didnt have a Set aside. See below

Heat a wok with a cup of oil and when hot, fry the eggplants until golden brown - it's best to do this in two batches. Remove with a slotted spoon to drain on kitchen paper and discard oil.

Heat the wok with a few tablespoons of fresh oil and add the garlic paste and pork mince. Stir-fry for 5 minutes on high until the pork is cooked, then add all the remaining ingredients, including the sliced spring onions. Cook for a few minutes until they have softened and the flavours have melded together.

Stir in the eggplant, check the seasoning (if a little salty add more water) and serve.

Serves 4

Voila!! damn nice...

how do we save malaysia? corruption?

2007-11-21T17:42:00.000+11:00

What has Malaysia been doing recently?
Lets see..

Firstly,

As part of a transaction whereby the Malaysian government bought 18 Sukhoi Su-30MKM fighter jets, the Russian Federal Space Agency has agreed to take a Malaysian into space in 2007 as part of the Angkasawan program

They sent a surgeon/model to space with no particular reason;Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor.
When he returns from space, how does he feel to be the first malaysian to be in space with no qualifications related to astronomy or particle physics? "I miss nasi lemak"

I think it was a sign from God that his brother slipped and rammed his head into a pillar and face planted to the ground, being pissed.

Im sure there are more intellectual and capable malaysians that could be sent to space for a reason. Heck, they should send Dr. Lan from Monash.

Secondly,
Malaysia claims to be a democratic country with freedom of speech allowing public rally to take course. And our Information Minister said " Protests are illegal"

The people in the crowd has two mentalities, the first would be, "hey my friends are going there for the rally, that will be fun, should get my adrenaline running" - trouble makers. The other ones would be genuine malaysian rallying for a transparent election where those are the ones who i pity for getting chemicals stuck in their eyes when they want malaysia to really make something of themselves.

I had a discussion with Riorn the other day. He said he wants to become a politician and lead Sabah and declare it as an independant state. And our conversation eventually led to why malaysia is slacking off compared to singapore.

Why are the malaysian police corrupt?
- they dont get paid enough, they get 3 figure salaries. why shouldnt they take bribes to feed their many children and few wives?
- they have no pride in their work, they dont feel proud to be part of the police force.
- there is no transparent system of monitoring the amount of people they stop

How do we stop corruption?

-what happened to the police wearing the badges saying that they dont take bribes? As suspected malaysia only is enthusiastic and carries out efforts to better the country for a short period of time, after a month or so, it goes cold and it just slides.

- pay the police more, make them content and make their pay increments proportional to the amount of summons issued.

- reduce summons to a bearable level, majority of the malaysians cant afford to pay fines, reduce fines to the amount a bribe would cost, RM50.

- introduce a system which records the offender digitally on the road and uploads it to the police server for record, and no police can issue a summon without a video proof of the offender being caught red handed. Of course this will cost alot to implement but this would be good for road blocks.

- digitize the whole summons issuing, like speed cameras, police do not have to issue the summon and the summon is issued digitally and posted to the offenders.

-breathalyzers, digitized, when it passes a certain alcohol blood ratio level, the information is directly sent to the police station to issue the summons digitally, driver's license and identification cards are scanned like how cheques are deposited, and the identification card or details can be read through the embedded chip. so you just have to swipe the card, exhale into the breathalyzer and its done. Of course this would be expensive to implement and we must assure that it is fool proof for highschool graduate policeman or they could undergo some training courses.

-video cameras in the police cars recorded constantly like in the states.

im done venting..

2007-11-11T13:00:00.000+11:00

So are we lost or do we know
Which direction we should go
Sit around and wait for someone to take our hands and lead the way

Cause every day we're getting older
And every day we all get colder
We're sick of waiting for our answers

Wake up, Wake up, Wake up,
Yeah so tired of waiting, waiting for us to
Wake up, Wake up, Wake up,
Yeah so sick of waiting, for us to make a move

Are we meant to take the pain
Should we sit around and wait
Are we being saved
Or was I another lie you made to make us hate

How many pages does a thesis take?

2007-10-10T21:51:00.000+10:00

ok let me break down the pages
Cover page, assessment page, TOC abstract - 7 pages
Main report - 47 pages
Page seperators and engineering drawings - 14 pages
Lab preliminary reading which i wrote - 25 pages
Lab exercises written - 11 pages
Program print out 1 - 17 pages
Program print out 2 - 39 pages
Program print out 3 - 12 pages

So thats a total of... 172 pages

the best thing is..they want TWO copies..
so thats makes spanking total of 344 pages!

just great

Jobs in Msia

2007-10-02T01:32:00.000+10:00

Just to keep track of the pay in Malaysia for engineering fresh graduates or similar

Maybank - RM2800
Shell - RM2600
Intel - RM2500
Exxon - RM2800
Maxis - RM3000
Accenture - RM3200

anyone out there want to add to the list?

tis a season to be jolly....for now

2007-09-30T11:36:00.000+10:00

so, let me start of with this cute picture of Jc putting his cuddlies to sleep

yeah..short weekend getaway before more hell after the holidays

Soo.. before the holidays started we (the usual bunch of ppl) had 2 balls to go to. The residents ball and the MUMSU ball. No pics from the residents ball because i brought my camera and left my SD card at home.. great.

heres the table setting for the night in the aquarium

This is the only picture i have which you can see the fishtanks as the back drop. Pity li yee who burnt her dress and had to borrow jaclyns. Amazing she can fit into jac's dress. It kinda looks like her own dress.

Here's tots and aik peeping through the holes to "look at the performance from a different angle"

This wasnt a performance i was expecting that night, i dont know whose idea was it. but it was quite entertaining looking at them dance around the poles. Reminds me of the scouting days where i tried to do all that on the thick ass manila hemp rope

This is one of the best shots of them hanging upside down. =P

Heres all the mechatronics students at the ball, except for marvin, bloody civil engineer infiltrated our photo shoot.

Heres a pic of me, su lin and jc (not sure whether i got her name right

The after party was at lavish and as usual it was so crowded that it was like celebrating merdeka on bukit bintang walk. Here is a picture or some random girl who came up to joseph and dirty danced with him. She was grinding him and flinging her hair all of over the place like a firefly in a tribal dance. I think she was really drunk or on E. She almost knocked heads with the ppl around. Joseph was too shocked to see what the hell she was doing.

Aik and li yee makes melb city look like their backyard:

Jc and me on the lawn outside crown waiting for a premonition. "lets do something crazy" we always said, i guess this was our moment.

untitled

2007-09-20T22:59:00.000+10:00

when you envisage a perfect event
all you receive is despair

walks of two in the night
wondering why youre the odd one out

isnt it just a coincidence?
or are you the weed that sticks out of the green?

cogitations

2007-09-13T21:08:00.000+10:00

everything passes by,
blurry images streaked by motion,
waiting for the stop,
sitting down waiting attentively.

feeling lost but calm,
looking at the bearings,
things are so close but seem so far,
keeping my eyes peeled i hope for the best

when you reach the destination,
you realise, you still have to walk on,
im not there yet.

free running

2007-09-08T18:35:00.000+10:00

yes yes, parkour is also called free running. been working on my monkey vaults and my popvaults. have a look

heres the popvault, i need to work on my getting over the obstacle and making it more fluid. wanted to practice more but the college head's room is next door. the sound of my feet banging against the wooden wall isnt really soothing.

finally got my monkey vaults to work, once i have perfected my technique i shall conquer greater heights. kekeke

more parkour

2007-08-12T19:25:00.000+10:00

its been a while since i posted. finally had some free time to do some pk.

from the previous post the turn vault roll i did was wrong because i was turning in the opposite direction of my roll angle when i land. So i either change my roll from over the right shoulder to over the left shoulder or i change the hand position before i jump the opposite. Thanks to my brother for pointing this out. Since rolling over my right shoulder was consistent and not risking of hurting myself when i land so i changed my hand position.

Here is a lazy vault landing into a roll, returning with a turnvault and ending with a turnvault roll

another lazyvault roll followed by a turnvault

this is a video of me landing wrongly before a roll, my footing position was in the wrong angle for me to roll.

heres a jump from 5 steps from the stairs landing into a roll. Then continuing into a lazy vault then for the prestige, the perfected turnvault landing into a roll. This taken from another angle.

parkour-ing

2007-08-07T16:08:00.000+10:00

heres a turn vault roll
been practicing into keeping the momentum, but its harder with a turn vault cause its difficult to determine which angle youre going to land after the turn.
anyways, need to work on my landing
:)

found and lost

2007-08-04T17:17:00.000+10:00

i love you
i miss you
nothing i do to myself will distract
everythings hollow
it hurts
its tormenting
it better to leave than to be left behind
ill see you soon
my love

the long awaited moment

2007-06-14T14:17:00.000+10:00

1 and a half years
numbed the sense touch
dissensatized emotions
isolated from physical contact

pieces of life shredded to puzzles
jumbled up and left to be solved

1 and a half years later,
i have a few fortnights
just after tomorrow's sunset

time ticks...

its time to put the puzzle together
how much fun it would be, to slowly see
how everything fits perfectly just as the puzzle was made
every color, every shade;
harmoniously blending in

anxiously guessing
what each distinct piece represents
what important aspects it resembles;
upon completion

to finally lean back and unwind
to admire bigger picture

and figure out whats next

Happy Birthday 22nd Joanna!!!

2007-06-11T01:27:00.000+10:00

well if you all have been wondering why my personal message on msn says "Joanna = the superest nicest person on earth"

This is the person im refering to.

Its been a year knowing you and conversations were never dull with you. hahaha. All the random stuff that you come up with...absolutely entertaining...thanks for showing me around, feeding me at your house with your mums cooking...hhmmmmm..sambal prawns....ahhhh.. and for all the happy happy times we had in kl and in melbourne

HAPPY 22nd Birthday!!! Hope your wishes come true.

you love making those monkey faces dont you.. hahha

things in my head

2007-06-11T01:23:00.001+10:00

1) The date
I looked at the expiry date on my pineapple mango fruit juice a week ago, it stated 15th June 2007. Thats the date larnees coming down. The funny thing is when i ended the phone conversation with her last night it was "see you next week" then i laughed like a maniac...

it has been 1 and a half years since ive seen you, im so excited....i think words cannot justify the feeling... its just a few more days...i really cant wait

2) Words that mean more when given thought
My friend told me the following.
"you should go out and make more friends, you might never know when you can 'use' them in the future"

what does this imply?
till now this statement haunts me whenever i have anything to do with that person

Tactile sensing with a robotic manipulator

2007-05-28T19:48:00.000+10:00

This is a picture of the tactile sensor mounted on the gripper.

Heres a vdo of what ive been slaving on for my thesis project. Each movement and timing and sensing is done in C/C++. It uses the tactile sensor to detect the object by searchign the workspace systematically. When detected, it stores the coordinates, move the arm to the point. It then closes the gripper once to align the cylinder to the center, rotates the gripper 90 degrees then closes it to pick it up. So much time spent just to do something to simple... irony.

Alma Mater

2007-05-26T15:24:00.001+10:00

There comes a time where you have gone so far and experienced so much. Then you come to ponder... what was i before? what made me who i am? where did i grow? Where did i make my achievements?

Just recently i aik was talking about how his school was on wikipedia.. so bored and nothing to do i searched for my school. The sense of pride of my schooling days of a johannian returned. It was such a unforgettable experience studying here. To be a part of the rich heritage which still has not been lost completely.

Then i scrolled down to check if they had any new scoops on the scouts. To my amazement... everything was there, all the achievements, all the history AND my name..

"As the troop has endured the ups and downs, the highs and lows over his existance for 44 years, it is the undying spirit and the faith of not just the members of this troop but everyone including the parents, teachers and scouters who has enabled this troop to overcome all odds. Among those who have been highly honoured as the leader of the Eagle Scout Group throughout the last decade includes Mr. Simon Ng, Mrs Pok Mee Chin, Joseph Anthony Gomes, Joel Ng, Lee Jia Wen, Leonard Chooi, Bryan Chang and Christy Vicknesraj."

Im honored that someone really took note of the hardships that all of us went through to bring the troop back to its glory days.We really loved the troop. I do still think of it. and i how i wish i was back there to help and teach the juniors.

Click here for the article

cogitating

2007-05-19T11:37:00.000+10:00

countless ticks.
striving for an answer
every silent step in doubt
longing for a decent path

iterating, assuming, perusing

vision failing
only the nearest is clearest
too much focus
deters your soul
seeking for the harmony
between the two contrasts

all for what?
the 6 degrees of freedom
x, y, z, roll, pitch, and yaw

when is it enough?
when is it acceptable?
when do you feel that you have accomplished something?
please define the finish line

self control

2007-05-04T23:04:00.000+10:00

moments of panic
moments of depression

take a breath
cry some tears
then bounce back

life isnt easy
so suck it up
everyone is capable
if you push forward

no giving up
never an option
its do or die

a foot at a time
plot a path
eye a place for your first step
then a second one
before you know it
you should be there
landing on both feet
standing with your head high

life in uni, it was never easy, not for engineering of course

Happy XXII Birthday Aik!!!

2007-04-28T13:02:00.000+10:00

I guess the theme for your birthday was suprises. Roller coaster suprises. Well for being ever so sporting, you were rewarded. First with alice and then your present. haha..

1st suprise,
Torture ala kerusi..topped with alice

2nd suprise,
Torture ala pen and bottle... garnished with an Ipod Shuffle. (thank those who contributed, me, Jc, Tots, Joleen, Li yee, Vonne AND SERN LIANG! especially sern liang)

3rd suprise, Aik's puking and he had to pay 25 bucks which we all chipped in. Save the aik puke foundation in Gin Palace

Pub crawl
Jc and I organized the pub crawl. After locating all the pubs on the map of the city grid. We drew a line of best fit so we could visit more pubs efficiently. Sorry were just being engineers. So we drew a path of 16 pubs...The number of pubs we ACTUALLY visited were

1. Young and Jacksons.
Looked kinda dead and oldish from outside.. didnt really want to go in.

2. Lustre Lounge.
As tots said, it was cramped like our corridor of our flat. Had really cheap drinks (comparisson with the others) but the music was too loud and it was too crowded

3. Manchester Lane
Manchester lane featured a live band the whole night. If im not mistaken it was a 7 piece band?

Jc had a designated driver and i had a lychee mojito

4. 3 below
3 below was quite plain. With a few places to sit and a small bar. It was kinda after working hours kinda atmosphere. I had a pisco which came in some black statue bottle which tasted like firewater. Jc had a drink which tasted like sugar and alcohol. I had to persuade jc to mix his drink with mine. aik had some plum wine and tots had some other fire water forgot the name.

Entrance of 3 below

5. Harry Canary
Harry canary, as head from bernard, used to hold gay nights on wednesdays. Torn seats, dirty table. And sucky drinks.. The one tots and I shared was the birds eye view. It tastes like chilli and lime and some alcohol. Yuck.. ended up skulling it through a straw. Alice's and atika's M3 was just as bad.

6.Long room
This place was awesome. Nice music, nice concept with sushi bars and bars. A huge long bar. Everyone was in dresses and suits and i was warned by the guard about my red snickers and jeans. hahaha. Crowd was like 30-40 ish. Not our type so we hopped on

7. Gin palace
This is where we ended our pub crawl. Aik puked. Most money spent here. The atmosphere was superb. It was like as if it was an arabic mating chamber with cushions everywhere. The bartenders were super nice. We kept on asking them to recommend shots and they managed to whip out something fabulous.

Representing westside.

tots the maniac cameraman on a frenzy. Joleen, yee vonne,me,jc and li yee. Lionel looks on

doing what they do best, way to go tots and james

This is what i drank with aik, midori, strawberry and baileys

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

So aik, hope you enjoyed your birthday. All of us put lotsa planning into this to make sure everything was "cekap". The reason why we went through all the trouble was because you are a great friend and a brother to all of us. Thanks for the great times we had, and for those more to come.

no plastics please?

2007-04-25T18:25:00.000+10:00

plastic people
no... they are not people who solely relies on their credit cards to live on.

plastic people are people who puts on a mask to hide their inner insecure self about anything. It could be one's personality, the fight they just had, the plan they didnt meet, the pair of shoes they didnt get, things you long for and you wish you had..BUT you didnt. SO they put on a mask. A mask that suits the theme of the atmosphere they are in like a masquerade.

Its fine if you put on a mask to hide your displeasure and not let everyone beside you succumb to it.. But the worse are people who wears the mask and makes use of people with an alterior motive. Sly and cunning people with masks like these are the ones to be aware of. Some individuals have the gift to identify these individuals in their presence... some are just puppeted around.

People changes mask every now and then to best suit the occasion. A friendly gathering, a reunion dinner, a formal meeting, a competitive event etc etc. There is a mask for every occasion.

To all the plastic people out there. Know yourself..dont let that "mask" consume you. Knowing yourself is the best and it suits every ocassion and its all natural. those who can see through your mask find all these really irritating.

plastic people with plastic masks...
at the end of the day, YOU are the one going to wake up and stare yourself in the mirror and one day you might not recognize your reflection.

whisper

2007-04-07T11:45:00.001+10:00

I stood too long,
In the shadow of a doubt, I need some sun,
It seems the time returns to me once more,
But I have less now then before,

And when I feel my world falling down,
I think of you, I think of you,
And when I feel I cant breath no more,
You speak to me, you speak to me,

When the brightest star,
Smiles as its square shoulders greet the night,
You let that going;ambers of my own light,
Do you know?
Your words can track the moon down from the sky,
So choose my frozen heart with your work right,
You really made me listen from a voice,
And I had millions.

neither here nor there

2007-04-02T23:40:00.000+10:00

they say home is where the heart is...
segments of the heart strewn all over the continents
bits and pieces all over the world
canada, malaysia, us, australia
so where is home?

too many changes
too many differences
too many new scenes
just too many changes

when some things settle, its time to move again
when will it end? when will it be the place?
where would all the loved ones be? family?friends?
where would your career be? would you be happy?

only time would tell when the bits and pieces would merge and be whole. or it may never be.

to find home again. everything, everyone in a single place. just seem almost impossible
at least for me. reaching forth the green glow

Happy Birthday Lucille! April fool's baby!!

2007-04-01T18:53:00.000+10:00

Hey, sorry im not there to celebrate you birthday back in malaysia. nevertheless, hope you have a good one back home. Thanks for all the entertaining times in shell, eating breakfast together, finding you a new boyfriend and planning your office image with carol. Hahaha.. keep in touch ok? see you soon in msia. Take care and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Happy 21st Birthday Li Yee!!

2007-04-01T02:34:00.000+10:00

Happy 21st Birthday Li Yee!!! Hope you have a great "headstart" "deeper" into adulthood so you wouldnt drink the waters of misery. Anyways. All the best, it was fun for all of knowing you and spending precious moments with you. Alot of your "li yee" moments.

As usual, your bday is the most happening one prolly coz its the first birthday we celebrate in Melbourne. So we had dinner at Lygons.At some italian restaurant..this is what she ate, which she didnt really digest much later. Hahahha. AND GELATI!!!! durian gelati!!

male domination

Female dominate lionel..hahaha

tots, me and pei ryn

Then we went to Beach Club which was along the Docklands. It's a club by the waterfront. With the view of yachts docked nearby. Really nice..

As usual, where ever we go, we get VIP tables or nice seats. This time thanks to Thian aik..hahahahha. Kevin looks on..

Random shots at the club

Hui Wen and Jc

Kit Mey and Me

Vonne, Joleen, Jc, Li yee, me and lionel

Me and aikster

camwhoring as usual, smalls, hui wen, vonne and shaun

jun and me

Time for personal shots

Aik and Li yee, black sambuca

Tots and Li yee

Yee vonne, joleen and li yee, tequila shot

Jc and Li yee, vodka shot

Absinthe was the shot i got her..that did the trick. the strongest was bacardi 151(75%), but they were out of it. So the next best they had was absinthe (60%)

Jc posing with the bottle.

The night was complete. She was out..

More like what came out? Remember the picture of the food she ate earlier? hahhaa

Time to call the maxi cab to fit all the drunket ppl back, view of the docks behind. not very clear though.

Cake cutting time!!!

Oh what a view...SEF free show!!! after the movie night

2007-03-30T00:08:00.001+10:00

i know this is kinda wicked..and inhumane..But i had a bloody good laugh..i thought U the world should see. =)

thanks to my panasonic fx-9 and the ever universal blu tac which mounted the camera to the window pane while we switched off the lights and peeped through.

sigh i thought it would go all the way but the flatmate just had to come out and get water...wtf...
what a Make out...

Joel or Joel?

2007-03-29T20:54:00.000+10:00

there are 2 ways of pronouncing my name..

1) in british english, it is pronounced as,

hear it

yeah it sounds like a jo with a hint of "L" At the back more like how you say jolok but you minus off the "ok'

2) in french its pronounced as jo-el. like Really!!!
so which is it? back home in malaysia, my Name would be jo-el since i was smallEE... this is mainly caused by the countless times my parents was frustrated and needed me to run errands or for me to pick up after myself. so they call me JOOOOO-ELLLLL. i guess its nicer to shout my name with 2 syllables.

Well. in australia..when i introduce myself as jo-el, they would be, "huh? joel?". so if you dont know me N youre a caucasian (cauc + asian, hahahhahaha, guess all you fuckers are asians too!!) from the commonwealth. call me joel and not jo-el if you want to. Blah!

if you know me well enough and you dont feel embarassed to shout my name in french "JO-EL" by all means go ahead because thats my name i answered to since i started pooping in my pampers. MISS those dayss.....

But either one ill answer too...heck but i think i like french, french toast, french fries, french loaf, french dressing, french kiss, french maid, french .... anymore french stuff??maybe YOU can help.

surfed at torquay beach, Happy St. Patricks Day!!

2007-03-19T00:05:00.000+11:00

Torquay Beach

I finally managed to learn how to surf and stand on the board and ride a wave.. although not a very big wave..but still. Jc and I joined the monash sport day trip to torquay to surf and to visit bells beach, somewhere after geelong.

me and the surfboard. Its 8 feet 6 inches. Long boards are used to surf straight, shorter ones are for style surfing.

Bells beach. One of the most famous surfing beaches in australia. The ripcurl pro surfing festival will be held here during easter. Featuring surfers like Kelly Slater and Mick Fanning

Picture of Kelly Slater doing his thing

Frolicking at Bells Beach

A overhanging cliff which we were afraid of going under to take a picture. A part of the cliff might just fall down and kill us instantly. Thinking of how larnee almost died from ice pieces falling right infront of her.

Revealing perspectives

Jc first handstand!! Congrats bro!!

Marking Bells Beach. Planted my flag.

Shadow pose

In the bus after surfing. Wished they let us surf somemore, only had about 2-3 hours of surfing.It was good fun though.

Look what we found at the parking lot of the surf retail outlets. A Porche with a bike mount...Better be some Trek bike and not some cheap made in china one.

Later that night we went to Dooleys, an irish pub for the St. Patricks Celebration. The place was packed and they charged us 5 bucks for cover. Since it was one of the nearest pub cum club to monash uni, we saw lotsa familar faces.

My surf instructor spotted me from the crowd. and i was like.. omg.. wtf are you doing here. Torquay beach was like a 2 hours drive from monash uni in clayton. Todd was studying in Mannix college, so it explains everything. He works as a surf instructor on weekends and gets paid about 20 bucks per hour. He owns 3 surfboards. 2 second hand ones which cost about 300 aud and a new one cost 600 aud. crazy..dunno where he managed to save all that money

Me, Todd and Alex

My souvenir for the day, i feel like an alcoholic!!

So now i have officially surfed dived and skied. I guess bungee and sky diving is next =)

meeting death

2007-03-15T20:44:00.000+11:00

hopefully Bearing shades of gray
when everything turns grey
tunneled vision
best if it doesn’t hurt
when you hit the dirt

what happens in the last few seconds?

Reminiscing the past? flashes Of memories like a movie fast forwarded?

Would you be,
filled with regrets? hopes? love? anguish?

did you presence in your lifetime influence others?
for the better or the worse?

did you meet all your ambitions?
were you content with what you had?

have you said your goodbyes?
have you pardoned and been pardoned?
have you lived your life?

you may meet him soon, you might meet him Now

at the final gathering,
sighs and mourns shouldnt exist
Instead a celebration of life that Existed
the good times, trivial moments which made life Worth living and Near misses

could Be anyone of us...anytime.

Happy 22nd Birthday Bro

2007-03-14T00:48:00.000+11:00

Happy Birthday Grand Master Drunket Liang!

One of the few pictures with your eyes open.

Sorry for not able to celebrate your birthday with you for the past 2 years. Nevertheless you should go out and live up to you GM title.

Thanks for sticking through with me thick and thin, all the obstacles we had since highschool. Remember we met in a chess game in Form 1? and you were hugging your square school bag? hahahha.

Thanks for driving me around all the time when i was lost my license, when i come back ill be your driver ok? Thanks for being the walking textbook, following me around the police station, visiting me at the hospital and for many other occasions you were there.

And most of all thanks for being my bro and for everything you have done in one way or another, the smallest gesture or the most subtle favour or even second thoughts before doing something. Thank you for all that.

It hit me that i was leaving malaysia and going back to australia, when i said bye to you when you came over. i guess thats something

Happy bday bro, enjoy your life while you can!

Happy 22nd Birthday dear!!!

2007-03-06T16:14:00.000+11:00

Happy birthday dear!!
Thanks for being born on this day, 22 years ago. Your life coinciding with mine has made me what i am today. A stronger better person than I was before. With your existence, you subconsciously molded me to what i am now. Sorry im not there to celebrate your bday with you, but i will when were in melbourne. Have fun =) XOXO WNB

Its just 101 days, 8 hours, 38 minutes and 24 seconds until Saturday, June 16, 2007 till i get to see you again!!!
YEY!!!

Last day at Shell

2007-02-28T18:43:00.000+11:00

The last day was too stressful...i didnt have enough sleep because i was out clubbing with my colleagues the night before and i havent even practiced anything for my presentation till the day itself. BUT it all went well.. Thank you all who made my learning experience such a memorable and joyful one. Im missing the office already.

Picture of me giving a 30 minute long presentation in the alpha boardroom

Me and Boss No. 1, Haji Zaid

Me and Boss No.2 on the right in purple Abdul Basir

Behind - Audrey, Edwin and Mahathir
Me and Maria

Posing after my presentation..stress reliever...phew...

Azlinu... the person i worked with for the business excellence project

My cubicle comrades. Zairi, me and Aqil. Thanks Aqil for all the "entertaining" jokes.

Mureen!!

Sigh..didnt manage to get a picture with the rest of the ppl because of the chinese new year holidays.. but oh well..

genting->penang->australia

2007-02-28T00:02:00.000+11:00

I was trying very hard to enjoy whatever is left of my holidays..so it started with a trip to visit uncle lim.

All of us in the car but Jc driving. Cant get a shot with him.

Finally learned how to parkour. Me doing a tic tac against the wall

Posing happily after our investments in Genting paid off. Bwahahhaha. We beat the odds..

Me and the grandmasters of gambling. both of their bets hit a numbered bet in roullete..crazy shit..

Ahh... nothing much in penang.. just food.. mainly went there for food

Lets start off with some assam laksa....

Some penang lobak...yummmm

Penang Char Kueh Teow made by the sisters at lorong selamat

We waited 1 hour under the hot sun in the line for it and it costs 6 bucks a plate. total ripoff. no more going back there. i think they are over rated.

Then shopping at Queensbay mall.. Me and my brother.. i think this is the first picture of him in my blog. Well anyways..glad i spent whatever time i had left in msia with you.. it was good times catching up.

self explanatory

2007-02-15T22:38:00.001+11:00

Happy 22nd Jc!

2007-02-12T23:50:00.000+11:00

Happy birthday bro!!

Hope you liked our concoction, made with love, delivered with care, drank without a clue

Since your bday was such a public scene, you had to drink a cup of wasabi diluted alcohol and a cup with a pax of pounded chilli padi which sern liang and i pain stakingly wash, pulled the tips off and pounded with the kampung like pounding stone thingy

Guess which is which?
Left wasabi, the other chilli padi...hot like shit

Being your bitch for the night.. hahahha..this is sick. Wearing my new specs which i chipped on the night itself.And it was the first time i wore it out..GREAT

Jc managed to cake my face while i did to him.

Hope you enjoyed your birthday. Thanks for being such a great friend, brother and a associate chef, teaching me your spring onion beef and tumeric chicken. Thanks for all the haku moments which cheered us on. Stay haku..stay jc

Happy Birthday Bro!!!

Honsuka Campsite

2007-02-09T00:44:00.000+11:00

I attended the Eagle Link-Rover Crew-Court of Honor meeting of the Eagle Scout Group.
The campsite was somewhere along hulu langat. at some turn off in some kampung area. The place was so secluded that there was no one from the public there, even on a sunday. But of course the road there was like...a kampung road. I pity nanda he drove his lowered fully modified naturally aspired car through the pot holes. The road was so bad that his car wheels got stuck in the holes and the chasis was on the road. It was like on first gear, then a scraping sound.. then stop..then first gear again..deeper scraping sound. There was once I had to get out of the car and push the car out of the hole. Besides the chasis wreck, the branches along the way scratched his car and the other. When we reached there, he took out his ciggs and dragged as if his life depended on it..

We took about a 30 minutes hike inside the jungle trying to locate the waterfall, but it was no where near as we couldnt hear it after 30 minutes, so we decided to takea dip

Me, Nanda and Vick at our dam before taking a dip

Eagle scout group in woodcraft sign. luckily the 3 of us remembered

It was so refreshing to get out of the city and head back to nature. Got a leech in my sock for about an hour or two. Didnt know it was inside eventhought i felt it.. I though it was some insect, so i wiggled my toes to kill it, then it stopped. But when i headed back to the river for a second dip, there it was all fat like and full. My socks was full of blood and the fat leech was still on me. So i pulled it off with a leaf and stepped it to death. =)

Eventhough i had like 5 hours of sleep the previous night, the jungle is sure refreshing and it managed to keep me awake and enthusiastic the entire time.

Month of February

2007-02-03T03:30:00.000+11:00

In between all that time, i hope to meet everyone before i leave.. sigh..

Happy 21st "Joleen Tham Hsu Lynn"!

2007-01-30T01:54:00.000+11:00

Hope you enjoyed your all in one maturity kit. Took us an extra set of manhoods to get what you got. Shall not enclose here :)

Anyways, thanks for being a great friend and company. Eventhough ive just met you in aussie, but the times we spent together were priceless, like laughing about whatever nonsence your horny brain could think about. Hahaha..were going to rock SEF man!!!

HAPPY 21st!!!

The Happy Melbourne Family plus SL and Rowena

6 of us... Aik.. we miss you... as you can see.. SL is replacing you.

haphazard cogitation

2007-01-27T07:27:00.000+11:00

haphazard thoughts
drifting voices
varying views
many perspectives

hardened back
wizened up
thankful for what i have
greatful for what i have found

hands wet
deeper in life
decisions arise

nearing crossroads
no retreating, no astern
gasps and ponders while it ticks, congitating

blessed against statistic
opportunity against chance
fearing to let go; longing for more through time

youre almost here...
so close.. so far..
with a blink of an eye, everything will be where it was.
everything will fit like a jigsaw piece into the picture of life
which you are

Working in PD for the 2nd week

2007-01-26T02:17:00.000+11:00

Was in the pd from the 14th to 19th Feb. Was overseeing the project, shotblasting machine installation and the requalification of the rail tail wagon

Some pictures at work. Other pictures cannot be published due to confidentiality issues

RTW with ventilation hose and lighting inside during the Magnetic Particle Inspection

Meter during the hydro testing of the tank

Contrast paint sprayed on the testing spots during the Magnetic Particle Inspection to check for cracks.

In full gear at the reconditioning plant(safety specs, helmet, fire retardant jacket)

Friday was offday because of awal muharram (is that how you spell it?"). So it was sunbathing and 37 laps in the pool for me.

Dont have shades with me.. so i guess the safety specs is as good as it gets

The view from my sunbathing spot

Random shot

Picture of the sunset taken from my room

This time, i only at room service food.. didnt bother to go down to the coffee house coz it would be too sad. I practically tried EVERYTHING on the menu by now

The lunch before i left for PD, Club sandwich

Tropical platter and salmon steak with balsamic sauce

Chicken chop

Tropical platter, lychee and mee goreng.. the mee goreng was damn nice

Singapore Fried Mee Hoon and mushroom soup.

Which pair of shoes?? hrmm.....

2007-01-26T01:48:00.000+11:00

While waiting for my boss to give me work at the office...ahh.. this is how my office looks like. finally got a chance to take a picture early in the morning of the office.

This is my office desk. 2 laptops, 1 for engineering drawings and the other for internal mail,shell network resources and of course internet. The two people who sits infront of me are Aqil(Incharge of all the LPG tankers) on the left and Tee Siong(incharge of the distribution of the shell tong gas in the klang valley) on the right.

View directly on the right of me, Venesa(in charge of bulk sales in south peninsular) on the left and Nazreen(in charge of engineering matter of installation of tanks at customers,factory,hotels) on the right.

View from the left of me. Hanif(handles order processing) on the left, Zairi(handles metal management, purchasing,s crapping and allocation of cylinders) on the right

As i was saying, while waiting for my boss to give me work, i was surfing online and spoke to my brother. Since he was coming back, Im planning to get a pair of onitsuka tigers since my brother is coming back from US and the shoes are cheaper in compared to australia. and you cannot find them in malaysia. anyways.. i narrowed down to 3 designs

Probably going to get the first one displayed..what do you think? hehehe, time to splurge on myself with my pay cheque and allowances. =)

Fuel for thought

2007-01-25T01:19:00.000+11:00

Conversation on the way to work with my dad

Dad:Guess how many miles a battle tank can travel on a gallon?
Me: Err.. 4 miles?
Dad: Reverse it..
Me: Huh?
Dad: 4 gallons per mile...
Me: Are you sure the consumption is so inefficient?
Dad:Yeah...

Then to my disbelief i searched online.. and... its 8 Gallons PER MILE DAMMIT!! for an M1A1 Abrams Tank.

Then i came across lotsa figures on the fuel consumption of the US Army.

Here are the facts which kept me off guard

"M-1 Abrams tank can eat up 252 gallons an hour in battle"

"500,000 gallons a day to supply an armored division of 348 tanks "

"A B-52 bomber gulps down 86 barrels per hour"

"F-4 Phantom fighter/bombers devour 40 barrels per hour"

"At peak thrust, F-15 fighters burn 25 gallons per minute".

"An F-16 jet on a training mission ignites more fuel in a single hour than the average car owner consumes in two years. "

"To reach supersonic speeds, a pilot turns on the plane’s afterburners which can triple a jet’s speed and increase fuel consumption twenty times. With its afterburner kicked in, Cutler states, the "relatively fuel-efficient" F-15 fighter torches fuel at the astounding rate of four gallons per second — 14,400 gallons per hour."

"Now try to magnify these figures by factoring in the 300 US jets stationed on four aircraft carrier groups in the Gulf, another 700 planes stationed in Saudi Arabia and 22 Stealth bombers."

Now the conclusion

"Between wars, one would think the military’s main purpose would be to "guard the peace." Not so. During times of peace, Tom Cutler writes: "The military’s primary objective [emphasis added] is to ensure adequate oil supplies for the national defense...." Cutler should know: he once headed NATO’s Petroleum Planning Committee and the is the author of The Military Demand for Oil (Petroleum Economist, London, England)."

Read the whole article here
http://www.envirosagainstwar.org/know/read.php?itemid=593

No wonder US attacked Iraq...oh... like duh...

Happy Belated Birthday Iqram!!

2007-01-13T18:39:00.000+11:00

Really sorry it took sometime to find a picture of you and me and to upload stuff on photobucket..but anyways..being the youngest of the lot, 31st december baby!!!

Happy Birthday man! Glad to have finally met up and laugh like we used to, as if we just left high school yesterday. Thanks for being such a great pal under all circumstances.

Malaysia boleh

2007-01-13T14:32:00.000+11:00

Its been a while since my dad actually bought any DVD's in Msia because I was in Australia. So after making my suit in Amcorp Mall, we headed down to the "Vision Center". So, my dad and I couldnt stop picking out movies because obviously we havent seen all of them (movie deprived in australia).

So after our selecting we counter we had...14 DVDs..so we asked the guy.. how much? Then he said, buy 10 free 1, 10 bucks for 1. So he said.. you either deduct 3 or chose 6 more and when you buy 20 you get 3 free. so we ended up chosing 9 more dvds.. HEBATEST.. my dad and I was like..since we didnt buy for the whole of last year ...and its a holiday for me..why not?

I only had like 100 bucks in my wallet and my dad had 50 because he paid for the deposit for my suit....sooo..we were like discussing out loud whether we had enough. Then the DVD seller pointed to the corner of his cashier table. There was a credit cards transaction machine.

I literally laughed out loud at him and said..."yau mou!"

hahhaha. i meant what happened to Malaysia battle agains piracy and abolishing shops like this.. now they even can even manage credit card transactions? i wonder what they declare their business as? recordable DVD and CDs?

Why cant they curb piracy?
This business is providing income for families with a roof over their head and also a lucrative export. I spoke to a DVD seller before when i a cell, he said that his "tai kor" the leader for a certain area would bail him out if they were caught and made sure they had nothing tied against them. I cant remember how much they were paying, but i was really intrigued by his story of which police station lock up serves better food.

Yes, our DVDs are found as far as India, Thailand, Taiwan. etc. I guess its the Multimedia Super Corridor. But whatever malaysia boleh..it definitely is squash and pirated multimedia.

I wonder whats next?

New years resolution?

2007-01-07T05:34:00.000+11:00

well, its kinda late for new years resolution and for the first post of the year. i wanted to post earlier but i had problems uploading to photobucket because of the stupid earthquake and damaged the fiber optic cables. anyways. i guess the only post i could do was a full text one.

anyways, while waiting for vick to drive to meet Joseph i was thinking of the goals for the year.

1. Graduate with first class honors
2. Get a PR overseas and work overseas or do masters
3. Settle my driving license and drive legally, prolly drive to penang or melacca before i leave for aus.
4. Get a job overseas to gather international working exp
5. Fix my ankle so i can play sports again
6. Learn how to parkour or breakdance
7. Read a book, anything but a textbook

by the way, i never laughed so hard throughout whole of last year with anyone else other than my highschool friends.. all you need to trigger it is, nanda tell a story..and vick says potu in a subtle manner half way interrupting enthusiastic nanda... and we laughed for at least 10 minutes non stop, as in laugh and not talk.. i never laughed till every part of my abs were sore and i was suffocating.. really nice to meet everyone (joseph, jiawen, vick, nanda and mark) . It was as if i just left highschool yesterday and im sitting down and talking to you. Its as if we could just catch up on where we left off.

First post of the year.. weeeee.... will post those pictures once they patch those cables.

Three clubs in a week.

2007-01-01T14:23:00.000+11:00

After the stupid tiring and sad week in PD, it was time to experience civilization. All the stupid hotel food and loneliness ended. All the drinking and NOT WORKING started..

It all began at Poppy Garden on the eve of christmas eve

Price paid : 38 bucks per person
No of bottles : 2 Chivas Regal

Thank God i know Joanna who knows the head bouncer and the manager, Kumar there. Opened 2 bottles and got 15 ppl in without extra cover charges. I organized this outing, wanted everyone to have a good time together. It was stressful...hectic and consumed 50 ringgit of credit.

This is Joanna, the Tai kar che who got us in for free last time and waived the charges..VIP..dont play play.

Candid shot of the whole gang and the 2 tables we got at poppies

Dunno why chee ming so happy..

Picture of us caught in the act at the huge industrial ventilation fan..god i love the fan
me, chee ming, boon kiat and sl.

Jo's necklace became my crown of thorns on the eve of christmas eve. Was it Jo's necklace?

SL, Celine and Jo

Tots, me and Meng

The flaming lamborghini that burnt Sl's hair. which he was complaining for the next few days. hahaha.

Group pic

DK and Soo Chee getting it on with themselves

Followed by Josephine's Farewell @ Zouk's Ghetto Heaven, Ladies night on Thursday

No of bottles : 1 Hennesy VSOP (480 per bottle)

Well, as suggested by karen to organize a farewell.. she conveniently made me plan the outing and made sure everyone was informed. So we ppl from Shell, young ppl from Shell, went out on a thursday to zouk, btw we had work the next day.. crazy asses..never slept so little in my life...

Picture of me and Josphine.. the office is sure quiet without you, but lucilles taking over your place really soon!! hahah

No of bottles : 1 Hennesy VSOP (480 per bottle)

L-R - Josephine, Lucille, Carol, Azlinu and Karen

Vivian's Friend, Chin, Lucille, Karen, Vivian, Me and Linu, clarence taking the picture.

Celebrated 2007 and ended the year with Maison, Heritage Row

Price paid: 85 per person
No of bottles : 2 Dewars priced at 570 before 10pm

A picture of the bar at Maison, which was more happening than BED that day.

Cheers to 2007.

Hahaha, somewhere during all the dancing...sl dropped his camera and it landed on the lens. the lens retracting mechanism was stuck erected and couldnt retract. it went like...pzz pzz pzz.. and stay stilled put. SL immediately became sober. End of the day, Jc bent the casing back in place and the camera works fine now.. give it up for olympus for durability.

Me and the grand master drunket liang, which did his usual thing after club..gutter and him..very good friends

Lou Poh and Lou Kung

Sigh...missing one person... AIK!!! see la you.. miss out on all the fun... :(.. miss you man

Thanks Li Yee for the hat, which all of us camwhored with.

This is how we ended our session, walking back to St John's Cathedral where we parked our cars because we thought it would be a terrible jam everywhere. Can you see Li Yee not wearing any shoes and walking around? Her feet was to pain to walk on her heels anymore. She's reverting back to caveman era. 24 degrees? really?

Im done clubbing..i have spent too much money.. drank too much alcohol...compromised too much sleep and screwed up my body clock.. i need a break...no more clubbing...for a long long time

7 days in Port Dickson

2006-12-23T19:19:00.000+11:00

I left civilization for a week and headed to PD for
1. Shell Family Day celebration in Guoman
2. Industrial training assignment and stayed in corus

No internet, no friends, no family, no larnee. When i was staying in Corus for the week, i had buffet breakfast by myself everyday. Dinner buffet by myself. Some days were just too depressing so i resorted to room service food.

Here are the few meals i ate. As you can see im really bored in the hotel all alone and spent most of my time taking pics

Pic of the bed

The other half of my room

And the view outside my window

View of the beach

Food i ate at the hotel

Er.. beef steak with scallops, william potatoes and asparagus with horlicks

Spaghetti Bolognaise, carrot juics and a tropical platter

Khoo Fatt fried rice with carrot juice

Finished eating the chicken rice. and the tropical platter again with coconut water.

What was i doing the whole week?
Well, this rail tail wagon vessels need to be re-qualified every 10 years to ensure that its safe to use and transport liquefied petroleum gas (yes cooking gas). The plant in pd is the main plant and redistributes the LPG to Johor and Ipoh through the railway track for filling in other states.

Pic of the vessels that need requalification

The process, free the gas from the vessel. Flush it out with water. Gas test and oxygen content test to ensure safe entry for cleaning. Magnetic partical ink test to ensure to crack propogations and hydrotesting (pumps the vessel to a certain pressure to ensure its safe to use, uses either nitrogen or water. this case water coz nitrogen too exp) and non destructive tests

Picture of Joseph gearing up

Picture of the the contract worker's first entrance emergency rescue procedure simulation before given approval to start work.

Pic of Ravi double checking Joseph's breathing apparatus

Pic of the maintenance shed where the vessel will be towed to for requalification

Pic of the baffle plate that reinforces the vessel. Can you see the rust? doesnt mean that the vessel has been gas freed and flushed with water and it still isnt dangerous. The rust scales might have trapped some LPG gas inside them or have reacted with LPG to form some pyrophoric compound.

Pic of the KTM routing control board

It my sound easy but there are alot of safety procedures to follow to ensure that people dont blow themselves up. I mean ALOT and they are VERY stringent.

What was my role?
I had to make sure they dont blow themself up. I had to make sure all the equipment were explosion proof(torch lights,2 way radios etc). Ensure that they dont simply smoke and use the handphone in the maintenance vicinity. Keep a daily log and report activities to my superior. Liaising with the KTM, contracted re-qualifiers with Shell. In short i was the ear, eyes, mouth and hands of Shell stranded in the middle of the railway track.

Fun while working?
yeah man.. i got to ride the engine around the refinery track when they were towing empty operational vessels for filling.

Pic of me in the engine

The gear changer of the engine. and the reverse lever underneath it.

Rare signage irresistable camwhoring moment

Besides that, at night the contractors took me out in aid to fend off boredom to me. So they bought me drinks, food and also a few games of pool which Ravi trashed my ass. Thanks Mr. Choo, director of Risen Engineering. Had a talk with him on how his started his business and how he manages it and the potention in engineering jobs. He took me to 2 bars which featured filipino live bands, the one in Corus and the other in Royal Adelphi in Seremban. Drinks i tried, magarita, singapore sling and santa's something. hahhaa. and beers of course. Didnt drink much coz the next day i had to work and i need to be on top of my game to make sure nothing stupid goes on.

Ravi promised to take me out fishing on his motor boat if i come back to PD the following week after christmas to oversee the rest of the project. But i told him, whether im coming back or not relies entirely on Mr. Zaid (Shell engineering manager for LPG sector)

So.. how much did Shell spend on me?
Well, internet charges, room service, dinner buffets, breakfast buffets, laundry services were paid for.

A spanking total of 1119.90 ringgit. feeling guilty? yeah, abit. Feeling fortunate? hell yeah!

What have i learnt?

Well, liaising with the contractors, and the KTM workers is not an easy thing. Most of them only have secondary highshool education and some primary school. being a young kiddo that goes there and supervises them is kinda uninvited for. Plus im just a trainee. So what i had to do was to bring myself down to their par, converse with them like i know them for ages..communicated humbly and friendly. The best ice breaker for these simple fold are, "sudah makan ker belum?" in a very friendly manner. In return they will offer you coffee, biscuits or a story. At first i was intimidated by their presence being the only chinese among the indians and malays. but later to my suprise they are all very friendly ppl who doesnt care less about who or where you come from, it didnt take me long to get used to the scenario.

AND engineering stuff of course. Regulations, saftey procedures, risk that accompanies petroleum industries, technical knowledge, mechanical knowledge on gate and ball valves.

4 years of knowing, loving and being with you

2006-12-14T22:58:00.000+11:00

Today will be our 4th Anniversary, yes..4 years..this day marks 1461 days of sharing my life with you. i wonder how the days went by so fast.

Thank you for all the times we had together. Thanks for all the times you made my heart race. I am grateful for you being there for me during my ups and downs. Thank you for holding my hand and being with me while i step into the real world with you. Thank you for always talking sense into me when im a wreck. I enjoyed doing all the crazy things with you. I enjoyed doing anything and everything with you. Thank you for living my life with me. Thank you for painting the colors in my black and white masterpiece. Thank you for showing me what life is all about and what really matters to an individual.

You are the wisest person i know about life. Thank you for being my mentor in many wonderful things you have interested me in. Thank you for showing me what it means to live and to be alive. Thank you for always putting persepective in whatever i do or whenver i am lost.

I am what I am today because of you, growing all these years with your company and knowledge and your influences. Behind every man's success there is a woman, and clearly you played that role in my life and i thank you for that.

Thank you for staying strong this year for being apart for almost a year now without seeing each other. Thank you for having faith in our relationship. Thank your for making this long distance relationship to work. Thank you for the times you reassured me when i was on the verge of giving up.

Thank you for being with me for 4 years. Will be looking forward to celebrating our anniversary in Melbourne.

Shell Annual Dinner@KL Hilton follow by Poppies

2006-12-10T15:49:00.000+11:00

Its about time I blog again.. been busy busy busy. Yeah, so the theme for the annual dinner was PIRATES!!!

Well, only permenant staff was invited to go, but some of my colleagues wife didnt want to go and there were a few empty spaces and voila..free makan!

It was soo cool to see so many people actually were sporting enough to adhere to the theme. I wish I could too but i just found out about it the day before about and empty slow. Oh well.

This is what the stage looks like. Its kinda amazing they actually built half a ship just for the event.

Picture of the "switch dancers" performing some tribal dance

This is what the table setup looks like. We had free flow of beer and the chinese food was great. First time i actually liked hotel food. Everything was so fresh. Hilton should get me a cut for commenting on their good food since the dim sum post. The waitress at my table was so damn efficient, you get everything you want and straight away and she never fails to return a smile. Ok clearly KL Hilton should have this kinda service, all the others should follow suit.

Me and Josephine. I like your dress la..its nice laa stop saying u look to mature or old in it..ishh.

A game of being tied and trying to tie a scarf around your team mate using anything but your hands. Thats Zairi in purple paired with Azrin. Look kinda scandalous from other angles..im sure everyone thought that it was Zairi's baby. hehe

Josephine, Raj and me. Raj won best costume for the night. He had too many beers and was fumbling all over the stage during the parading of his costume..it was hillarious..hahhhaa..effects of free flow of beer and when you put an indian next to alcohol.. you get a drunk person, duh

Where the hell was poppies at?

After the dinner, sl and i decided to head down to poppies to have some time off and chill. For those of you reading this and know you ffk...i dont blame you guys because i told you in kinda...ok very short notice. Anyways hope to see you all sometime again. Ok ok pictures.

Here's a great looking picture of sl and soo chee. hahahaha. Ahem*

Finally a decent picture with sern liang. Its been fun spending time with you. Glad distance didnt change anything. Its going to be sad leaving you behind again..i guess ill just have to stick with JC. hahahhaa. Thanks for still being a great bro.

From rags to riches story.

Anyway, the story was like this. Knowing that paying cover charge and buying drinks wasn't really cheap..so we decided to to buy a bottle and keep (me and sl) for next time. The bottle costs 280. Bot of us had just about enough money for it.. then the girl said that she forgot to charge the mixers which was 11 bucks..so that brings us t a spanking total of 291..which we were 7 dollars short (sl had 1 and i had 3 dollars). We shyly took back our 280 and asked the girl where the nearest atm was.."down the road turn left". So we walked from poppies to hong leong bank 2 blocks away AND..all their ATMs were temporarily out of other.. all 10 of them. GREAT.
On the way to the bank, we saw police fighting with a few guys next to their patrol car and km told me that there would be roadblocks. So we were now skeptical about going to poppies.

So with out minds all set to go home, we decided to at least have a drink at a mamak before heading back in dissapointment. Decided to tell soo chee and her friends that we had no money.
Before leaving we met up with her and her friends. So after telling her our sympathetic story. She brought is in for free through the backdoor after being labelled VIP on our hands. OMG...from depressed to happy.. mix emotions. We even got a table..not exactly a table la..but we were happy, coz you know poppies is packed and we were sharing with her friends.

Somehow at the end of the day, things will end up fine, always?

Trip to the PD Shell LPG filling plant

2006-12-05T00:02:00.000+11:00

Last week, Zairi took me to PD to tour the filling plant.

This is a pic of me and Hanif. The new employee in Shell LPG. Very humble and open. Had a few interesting discussion with him, mainly about islam and christianity. hahhaa. Me wearing helmet, construction boots and a shell jacket.. i already feel like an engineer.hahaha

Did you know that the fire lighted at the tip of the chimney is to burn the waste of the petroleum? some engineering dude told me that.

Another thing. Did you know that every century like years with 2000,2100,2200; is a leap year regardless whether it has or havent finished its 4 year cycle? Thanks to Mr.Chuah..things you learn in shell.

More picture of the plant

Shell..earlydays as an intern

2006-11-22T23:38:00.000+11:00

20th Nov 2006
I was supposed to report to office at 9 am to meet the person in-charge of my internship. Wanting to give a good impression, i reached there early..toooo early..i reach at 8.15am. My superior only came at 9.20am. He briefed me on what he expected of me and what i should learn and i was to be placed in the engineering logistics department. His name is Md Zaid. He told me that he wants my internship here to be a fruitful one and not photocopy stuff and make coffee. He was telling me about how i should cherish my experience here and learn as much as you can from it and enjoy my internship.

I was then passed over to the HR manager for Shell LPG Msia and Spore to get my RFID tag and also was briefed on the fire escape routes and what i should do. AND i was briefed on the whole company structure and going through every department and who was the head of dept and who was under them..and what they were in charge of. I was soooo sleepy and im trying to hard to remember everything.. all the abbreviations for each department and what they stand for and who is what in the chain of command. I have never woke up soooo early for such a long time (7am). Then i was taken around the WHOLE officeand introduced to everysingle person from the security guard, to the receptionist to the finance staff. I was having a fun time trying to introduce myself in different ways. After that...i was supposed to report back to Zaid for a briefing. He had my job description all written our and a Gantt chart of my learning pace and targets. I have to write a weekly report on what i have learnt and also give a presentation on what i leant throughout my internship at the end of it.

THEN!!!i was thrown 2 manuals to read. 90 pages all together, A4 size by the way. I was to learn the scientific fact of LPG. Then in those 2 manuals i had to understand the engineering standards on how LPG should be kept and hazards it succumbs to and stuff like that. 90 pages of new stuff. it felt like i was crashing for exam. Was trying very hard to stay awake and give a good impression and actually getting some reading done.

I followed the whole office to Bukit Aman to eat sup daging. Was very confused with whos doing what and what peoples names were. Everyone was very motivated with their jobs and was happy with what they were working for in shell..everyone was so happy to explain what they do for work in shell and its not like a single line or a single paragraph description. it was more like a 5000 word essay. Before the day was done, i was thrown 2 more manuals but this time on equipments in the LPG filling plant for read up. This was relevant to my course.

21st Nov 2006

I came to work early, a few guys from the HSSE department grabbed me to have breakfast with them. Got to know some people better and realized how the world was so small. Viz, when i was having a joint troop meeting with MBS and he was one of the scouters present that time. Headed back to my second manual and finished it just before lunch. Headed for lunch with the guys from HSSE and went to Maarof to eat at banana leaf. It was good shit la..Nice fried bittergourd, yummy!! When i came back i started on the new manuals.. and yes..by the end of the day.. i got somemore stuff to read.. MORE manuals and a project tender (cant say what, not allowed to) to study so that i can assist him in Kuching some time december i guess. I got to have a proper conversation with some of the people there today because i was finally finished introducing myself to everyone. I met Vanessa, she sits a table away from me, shes a Chem eng and doing sales. Excellent! waste of course study. Anyways, i keep asking people why they dont exploit our expertise and they said its because they like the way engineers think compared to other students. Cause and effect mentality and efficient thinking...CHEWAH!! Then an intern josephine invited me to join all the new ppl (the new gang) and interns for breakfast to socialize. That was nice.

22nd Nov 2006
I came to work later compared to usual because i left the house slightly later then the past 2 days.. yes yes..the cause and effect of traffic congestions. Went there and met the new gang and socialized with them during breakfast. Met a few senior staff there also, they were plant managers and sales department manager. Shared a long conversation about life and the mentality of people nowadays and how society has changed. Interesting topics which sometimes became dull when he elaborated boring stuff.
Went to the office and headed back to reading the other manuals..total i have 6 folders of stuff to read up to date about 300 pages total i guess. Then i was told that i needed to do some "engineering cataloging", which was of course...rearranging his engineering records, files and stuff. basically becoming a librarian. Finish reading the 2nd last booklet of stuff and headed for lunch. Followed the HSSE guys to lunch with a singaporean employee. He was here for briefing on his new job and a tour of the plants. We went to Hilton KL and ate in a restaurant called Chynna. It was the most luxurious chinese restaurant and restaurant ive been to so far. Waitresses were dressed in cheong sams that costs 1k ringgit, cutleries used were the dining cutleries of tradional chinese dining with crafted chopstick rests. We were served ginseng tea upon arrival, it was poured by an employee which was flown all the way here to pour the tea from a 20 cm long spout or longer. We had dim sum for lunch. the prawns was soooo fresh that you can feel the texture when you bite into them. Its like biting into a pomello but with prawn taste..the scallop too was soo fresh that it would just melt in your mouth when you put it in. everything was soo good. i had the best dim sum in my life..i had scallop chee cheong fun..omg.. heavenly..soo fresssh!!! I was soo tempted to take a picture of everything but i didnt want to act like a jakun infront of everyone. The bill came to 300 ringgit for 4 people for dim sum..damn nice price also. Had a long lunch.. soo full.. and tried to read my manuals again.. and i couldnt.. so spent the rest of my time arranging the files and records in the store room. I wasnt soo tired compared to other days. was getting used to the early and long hours in the office. Guess its not so bad. infact.. it was great. i love shell.. work hard and enjoy life and work

getting there

2006-11-16T02:18:00.000+11:00

I decided to spend my weekdays with my parents while i can before starting work. So in order to do that..lets play golf... We have scheduled a golf game on friday with my parents and Uncle Desmond at the Rahman Putra Golf club, not sure where it is. Anyways, i have been to the driving range at Bukit Jalil twice this week. My parents have been making sure i forget all the stupid things my useless coach thought me and tried to instill the proper techniques which she picked up from coaches and books. I guess i can hit fairly well, was kinda suprised i could hit like that actually. I learnt how to use my torso and my shoulders to swing instead of my forearms. Its all in the swinging motion, not the forcing motion. Have a look

Here is a video of me hitting with the 5 iron (s-yard)

Here is the side view

Another video but with me hitting with the 5 wood (big bertha)

Back home

2006-11-14T21:00:00.001+11:00

10th November

When i stepped out of the airport, i was already sweating and it was raining. Suprisingly it had rained for a month religiously during the evenings. I was happy that it wasnt so hot and it would be better for me to cope. Yeah and its bloody humid. You roughly feel like a dim sum in a steamer in Msia. I was happy to see my parents, they have aged. I somehow feel sympathetic for them being older and less capable. Wish there was a cure to aging. I got home, looked for my dog..and he was gone..he ran away.. :( . I wonder where is oreo now. The last time my parents saw him he was at sri petaling and my parents took him home and he ran away again. Sighs.

Guess what i ate for dinner, my first meal in KL was.. SATAY!! My dad packed it for me and i ate it at home with ketupat and cucumbers and the sweeeet satay sauce.

I came back to my room, it was all stuff and dusty. Smelled like a store room. Every corner of my room reminded me or larnee. Her presence there previously or something she gave me was nicely displayed on the tables, side tables. SIGH

Another dissapointment was my cousin. He ripped off the whole wireless setup which i fixed at home just because he could not find away to connect the xbox through the wireless router and made my dad REWIRE the whole house again an bought a Gateway modem/router thingy.. ass..Im sure there was an easier way then to implement CAT5 cables again...IDIOT...simple analogy like the malaysian education system, malay to english and back to malay.

11th November

Went out to buy some essentials and met my juniors at the St John's Scout den. All of them looked so different with piercings and stuff. Unfortunately no one from my batch was there. They had a potluck barbeque thingy going on using firewood and charcoal. Cool shit. Smelled like firewood when i came back at 7pm. Here's what we worked with

Met up with Sern Liang at the LRT station to meet up with Monash friends (chee kang, melvin,derek,chee ming and aik) at the curve laundry and the later ate at some restaurant which had a wireless call button for customer service. We had such a great time talking cock that overflowed through every hole of our body. Everyone was still the same.. no one changed.

12th November

Woke up late and met SL in the evening for a game of snooker and played the XBOX360. Supposed to meet up with Chiong and Ken. But Chiong and SL was sick ..so Ken and i decided to meet next week, hopefully before i start work at shell. So i spent the rest of the day familarizing myself to my room and my environment..no laptop..sobz

13th November

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIT MEY!!!
Happy 20th Birthday Kit Mey, sorry i have no picture to put up now because my laptop has it all. Im sorry i wasnt there to make you birthday more interesting if you know what i mean. Anyways, enjoy your birthday celebration in Sydney and tell me all about it when i see you again. All the best in your future endeavours. You have been a very nice person to talk to, down to earth, tolerant and cheerful. Take care!!! Cheers!

Headed down to Glenmarie with my dad to send my laptop in for some minor warranty claims. My fan was not working very well..my sd card had some problems deleting contents and my battery clip spring came lose. Later I then followed him to Angkasapuri for some job. I went into Wisma TV(the actual place where they manage the airing of TV1 and TV2). They were having a buka puasa thingy. It was soo crowded in the building with food stalls everywhere (food sucked). I was wondering how come there was sooo many people operating these 2 channels and yet the quality is soo STUUPID? For the quality airing they are providing now i think you can hire 50 ppl to run the TV station. 10 for finance, 10 for IT and maintenance and 30 for production and editting. Have you recently watched TV1 or TV2? yes...feel the dissapointment....

After that we headed down to Old Klang Road to see the someone in the driving school and handed in my suspension forms to get a consult on how to attain my new license.

Later in the evening, my parents and i headed down to the driving range to help me brush up on my swing so that ill be fit to play on friday at rahman putra i think. I was hitting really well after coaching from my mum. My stupid coach last time thought me all the wrong techniques when i was young..now im slowly correcting my bad "habits".

14th November

Slept almost the whole day,sleep was interlaced with activities. woke up..at breakfast..slept...woke up.. ate lunch watched house..slept...woke up.... I dont know why i have been sleeping so much and feeling awfully latargic.(is that how you spell it). I think because im depressed. depressed that something or someone is missing. oh well.im going to cook dinner for my parents and relatives. going to cook lambchops..hope all goes well..

Melbourne Cup at Joanna's House!!!

2006-11-09T00:49:00.000+11:00

Jo out of no where invited me to her place to "celebrate" Melbourne Cup. She told me it was a public holiday which i had no clue of. Melbourne Cup is a day commemorating the many years of horse racing in Australia. This is when Australians family and friends come over to a relatives house to bet and watch the horse race. Or go to the race course and do the same. I had a first hand experience in Jo's house. What we did was wrote down all the horses for the ceremonial race and then put it in a jar, and then write down the names of the people who wants to be in seperate pieces of paper. Then the children picked the names out, and then picked the horse. This was a randomized bet among each other. So it was good fun. My horse was Dizzele which came out 17th out of the 24 horses..dammit..So the winner won 75 Aud and i lost 5 aud. Oh well.. it was good fun.

Besides that.. i had LOADS of food. Prawn sambal...lamb curry...spare ribs...stir fry veg...noodles. For desert was lime cheese cake, some crackers with basil leaves with tomatoes, cheese, jam and some weird looking dip. The food was good. Thanks Aunt Odette for the meal and Unc Phil. The drinks accompanied me throughout the day were, Malibu with OJ andChampagne with OJ.

By the way, Jo's house was nice. I wouldnt mind spending the rest of my life in it. It was a double story sorta corner house. Top floor was all rooms. Ground floor was a kitchen, entertainment room and a dining area. Outside the dining area was a wooden deck with a table and sofa's around. It was an open air lounge with a heater.. The deck was overlooking the garden and a park not too far away.. it was gorgeous. After we stuffed ourselves enough that day, Jo took the guitar out and people took turns to play for each other while slowly enjoying their drinks. I was definitely enjoying my Malibu OJ.. We then went to the park and took Jo's cousins around. After that, Jordan, Thayne and I went to a public primary school and played basketball. Being all sweaty and after having a shower at her place, we then met up with my friends at Glen to watch Saw III. The show was quite disturbing.i wonder who actually sat down and thought of all the ways to torture ppl to put it in the movie. Sicko...

Anyways, THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH JOANNA for having me over. It was nice being in an actual Australian home. Havent been to a home for almost a year now. Will be going home to my home soon. :) WIPPIE!!

Texas hold 'em poker

2006-11-06T16:54:00.000+11:00

One of the weekends before my exams we (Aiks, tots and Jc) signed up for a social poker tournament in at Glen organized by the ASEAN club. The entrance fee was 10 AUSD and the first prize was the xbox 360 and the second an Ipod Nano. The ASEAN club is not an international club its a Australian Born Chinese club.. Its damn irritating to see chinese that looks like you who talks with a slang. Somehow we Msians find ABCs damn bloody irritating. And the best thing is.. they say they are chinese but they cant speak a word of it..of any dialect. Oh well. But people there were quite friendly eventhough they sounded arrogant..but that my misconception.

The setup was very professional, they hired a few professional dealers and they had the huge digital display to tell you when the blinds are going to change and how much. There was the nice smooth carpeted tables with nice padded arm rest. It was a good atmosphere. Very tournament like.

Here a shot of me at the professional poker table with real heavy chips and trying to shuffle chips.. which i can now i think :)

Heres a a macro shot of the nice smoooth carpet that enables the cards to slide to an arrangement.

Unfortunately i didnt win, because i went all in on a pair of jacks and lost to a pair of kings.. oh well...it was a memorable experience to compete professionally.

Selamat Hari Jadi Kecik!!

2006-11-03T23:51:00.000+11:00

Kecik sekarang sudah berumur dua puluh. Zaman remaja kamu sudah lalu dan masa menjadi dewasa yang betanggung jawab dan insan yang berguna. Saya ingin mengucapkan terima kasih kerana menjadi kawan yang saya hormati dan untuk masa-masa yang lucu dan seronok selama ini. Walaupun kami baru berjumpa, masa saya menjadi jiran kamu adalah pengalaman yang tidak boleh dilupai. Semoga harapan anda ditemui dan mulailah masa dewasa anda dengan hati yang tabah dan minda yang tajam

Is your windows XP starting up slow? tweak it

2006-10-28T12:01:00.000+10:00

Yes..i have exams and i still have time to do something like this..im sick of studying and somehow everything else seems more interesting..

Anyways, by tweaking the registry and the task scheduler for the system tray in the taskbar, my startup and running has been quicker.

The one i found that made most difference and has no risk at all if you follow instructions is tweaking the windows prefetcher.. dont be afraid.. its kinda easy

Tweaking the windows prefetcher.
By adjusting this, it assigns more resources to the system to prefetch application data during the startup of windows.

first open the run window by holding down (windows key + R)
key in "regedit" in the open field
Then click OK.
Then browse your way through the directory tree to

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Session Manager \ Memory Management \ PrefetchParameters]

Once you get to that directory, you will be able to see a file named "Enable Prefetcher".
Double click it, and a window will come out with fields for a value name and a value data
Change the value data to 5, the preset setting was 3, change it to 5. Dont change the base settings, let it remain in hexadecimal. Click Ok and close the window. Restart your system and notice the difference.

Verdict - Extremely fast windows startup times (Jc, i really recommend you do this to speed up your startup)

Removing unwanted background programs in the system tray

This removes all the stupid irritating program running in the background that is sucking up the system resources. If you can't remove those programs manually at the bottom right of your screen by right click and setting it not to start up when the system starts(called system tray),
this is what you can do to get rid of it once and for all manually

Windows key + R
In the open field - key in "msconfig"
a window will then popup
click the Startup tab
uncheck all the stupid irritating programs that always sucks up your resources at start up
becareful to only uncheck programs that you know and which is the one you want to remove.
do not remove any system files.

Verdict - Starting up at faster speeds, remove stupid programs irritating at startup.

There are other things you can do, but i think these 2 are the simplest and the most effective.

Other tweaks i have done, remove thumbnail cache
This is kinda tricky and you have to follow carefully and you might screw up..so proceed with caution from the site link. How does this improve your system speed? when you have a folder full of videos or pictures, windows xp stores all those picture in cache and it may take up lotsa memory, and system cache is important so it rather be storing some other important files than thumbnails. So by editting this, the system only opens the thumbnail when you open the folder and its not preloaded.

Verdict - Slightly faster system performance, if you have lotsa images and vdos, i think it will make more difference to you

For a full explanation and guide go to
http://arstechnica.com/guides/tweaks/sgp-tweaks.ars

haphazard cogitation

2006-10-24T19:14:00.000+10:00

thoughts of you never left my mind
your presence reside in my conscience
wanting nothing but you beside me
to be whole again, together and whole again..
the feeling inside is numb and dull
the need to fulfill a void
a void deeper than my soul

taking a day at a time
begging for mercy from seconds
wishing the future would fly past
to a time where everything can be constant again

things doesnt feel so good anymore
satisfaction and pleasures are all temporary and shallow
i guess there is a deeper meaning in life
a meaning where being alone is insignificant

wish things could be how it were. dont you think so?

Black Jack Birthday!

2006-10-20T02:16:00.000+10:00

11.25 pm 19th october

Jian Cai and smalls came to my room. They said, "its time". I told them i need to change(hehe, but i took a bottle of baby oil) They were escorting me to a certain death. I was walking the green mile to my celebration..my doom... The walk from my room to the Richo games room was a long one. I stopped and checked every corner making sure no one ambushed me. or threw something at me.. It was as if i was playing live counter strike with my life at stake.

11.30 pm
Games room. The gang was there. (Aik, Tots, Li Yee, Joleen, Boon Kiat, David, Kit Mey). I was expecting them to throw flour at me when i least expected it..but noooo...they had something worse..They made me sit on a chair. They tied me down with lashing, bounded my hands to the arm rest, legs to the legs of the chair. The hell began..From what i overheard when being tied down was...lets start the first stage now..

I guess li yee was incharge of this..she took out a make up kit.. applied eye shadow, blusher and lip gloss. They were making me a drag queen. Then out of nowhere, they took out a bra...i guess it was A cup, but all of them didnt know whos was it.. And it smelled like grass, not nice.. They then took out huge ribbons and tied me down firmly to the chair.. When they were done with their make up..Tots said, "Stage 2!!!"

Stage 2 comprised of
- EVERYONE tickling me simultaneously
- Random ppl pinching and flicking my nipples(mainly boon kiat...sick sick)
All this was done when i was bound to the chair. I couldnt run, i couldnt move..and i was at their mercy. I laughed so much till i wasnt ticklish anymore. They then decided to give me a break..and continue tickling again when my nerves were refreshed.

Stage 3
When they were all done, they carried me to the lake, yes together with the chair. From the games room to the lake, it was about 200 meters. Yes they carried me. I felt like a victim of
some tribal sacrificial ritual.

We passed by the security guards and strangers, i was yelling "help me" from the chair. hahaha. and they just ignored me..what if i was really dying or getting kidnapped? So next time if you wanna kidnap someone, just say its their birthday and laugh along with it. They put me down on a jogging path somewhere beside the lake. Then they had their revenge. Aik poured a whole packet of flour (he got floured on his bday).

Tots poured vinegar on me(to even scores with the gravy i poured on his bday), more like splashed it on my body, i didnt know what vinegar will do to my delicate organs below, so i was like bracing for a burning sensation..luckily there was nothing, . Jc threw a rotten egg at me and book kiat threw a fresh one. The rotten egg.. looked like lotus paste..like some coffee jelly..OMG...Btw im still tied down to the chair.

By now,my underwear was soaked with vinegar, i looked like a sourdough bread with eggs..and make up that made me look like a rape victim.

11.55pm
Stage 4
When they were done with all that. They carried me and the chair nearer to the lake. and they laid down the chair with the back rest on the ground and me looking into the sky.

They waited to 12, then they lit the candle and placed it on a krispy kreme doughnut (which i didnt eat, coz it was contaminated with all the stuff they baked me with). They sang happy birthday AND they put me into the shallow part of the lake with the chair(david,boons and tots revenge for throwing them in the lake). My feet to my shin was submerged with lake water. Then they left me there to bake in the lake for a few minutes. When they figure out i was ready, they came back and decided to untie me.. but everyone was reluctant..scared that i would chase them. Tots said that it my birthday wish to chose who i want to untie me. So i chose him. Hahahaa. but i didnt do anythign to him because he was removing the knots. I tried to splash water from the lake out to the other..but i failed..Tots was having problems removing the knots, so they called hui wen to bring scissors down when she joined us. While waiting for the scissors, we decided to burn the lashing loose..so he did from under the arm rest..and...yes yes..it caught fire.. and tots looked at jc and ask him what to do when my hand was going to catch fire. Then tots decided to splash lake water on the fire.. good thinking man...i was glad he didnt run away. =) . Sooooo when the scissors came, tots cut me lose and pretended that he was still cutting me lose, he was telling me who i should chase and we were discussing my plan of attack. I decided to catch the mastemind, JC first.. then go for the faster ppl then chase the slower ones later. tots counted to 3, (i grabbed the baby oil from my back pocket and uncapped it). I ran to jc, squeezed a fair amount on him and hunted down everyone and sprayin everyone with it.. Joleen ran and fell, so..i rubbed all the flour and egg on her. while i hugged the rest. hahhaha
that was fun. We then headed to the games room for a post mortem.

I told larnee all these, and shes said "They must really love you to plan all this and the fact that you let them do it, you must love them loads too"

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

Dinner time till late

The twelve of us went for dinner at a hot pot place at Glen Waverly (aik, tots, joleen, li yee,smalls,kit mey,boon kiat,david,hui wen, yee vonne and Jc). Buffet style which was kinda ok. Kinda sad that we didnt make reservations and had to sit at 2 seperate tables but luckily next to each toher. Then there was the cake and champagne.

Hot pot..

Group shot

Another group shot

Some of us at PI

look who i found at the city? sorry brenda, owe you a picture next time

The mastermind of my torture..The head of the torture camp

Thanks guys for making it a memorable 21st..thanks for the "night" in the city too.Thanks for the presents too.yeah you guys broke me..for the love of God are you guys happy now? please no more next time ok? Thanks all of you back in Msia for the sms and the calls. If i didnt answer them at midnight, you know why...Thanks larnee for the bday present :)

hari yang panas bagaikan kayu membara

2006-10-11T21:50:00.000+10:00

Seperti biasa, saya bangun selewat saya boleh supaya saya dapat menghadiri class tanpa mengabaikan pelajaran. Perkara pertama saya buat ialah, pergi ke peti sejuk, tuangkan semangkuk susu dengan bijirin jagung saya. Lepas itu, duduk atas kerusi saya dengan mata saya separuh terbuka dan melayari internet untuk mengetahui suasana dan suhu hari. Dengan kekaguman, suhu hari ini , 30 darjah. GILA...

Penukaran suhu dari semalam ke hari in amat drastik. Kebanyakan kawan saya, dengan kebarangkalian 50 peratus mengalami sakit kepala. Kesakitan ini amat mengacaukan apabila saya cuba sedaya upaya untuk mengulangkaji untuk peperiksaan yang akan mula tidak lama lagi. Terasa bingung dengan kesakitan, saya pun tidur untuk melegakan kesakitan. Apabila saya bangun, kesakitan..masih berada di tempat yang sama..celaka...

Cuaca diluar amat melegakan selepas mengulangkaji. Apabila saya berjalan untuk mengambil baju saya di mesin pencuci, saya terhenti dan terharu dengan bunyi angin yang meniup sunyi ke atas pokok yang berhampiran. Matahari pula tidak begitu panas dan silau, rumput dan pokok-pokok renek bergerak mengikut irama angin yang bertiupan. Tanpa menyedari, saya telah berdiri di tempat yang sama selama beberapa minit untuk menghargai cuaca yang indah yang jarang berlaku.

Melainkan cuaca yang panas gila pada masa pagi and tengah hari, suasana di sini amat indah apabila matahari terbit.

Happy 21st birthday Chiong.

2006-10-08T23:30:00.000+10:00

Happy birthday bro, tried calling you twice, and came online to wish you, but guess youre just tooo busy partying. Anyways, all the best, thanks for being there for me since highschool. thanks for everything you have done. Will meet with you when i get back, very soooon!!

Tulip Farm Trip

2006-09-30T22:00:00.000+10:00

Yes yes yes, me a guy, went to the tulip farm festival.
The festival was located somewhere in dandenong. What was in store was live jazz, 3 tokens to wine tasting, overpriced food and loads and loads of tulips

So.. i had 7 tokens(3 from smalls and 1 from kit mey). I had the chardonnay, cabernet savignon, merlot, semillon, pinot noir.Cant remember the rest of them. Oh and i had blue cheese, brie cheese and the swiss cheese. Yummy..

As you can see i was abit reluctant when i arrived at 1030ish in the morning. the journey took bout an hour on bus. When we arrived, smalls had motion sickness and she tried to puke. poor kecik.

What woke me up as a guy was a display of steam engines. Here is a pic. All the engineers flocked to the side to check the machines out.

Once done, we headed to the tulips. I didnt know tulips could catch my attention for a long time. I spent most of my time photographing macro shots of it. here are some. There were rows and rows of tulips of its particular color. Some were crossbred to give another shade of color. amazing. genetic engineering..

Not sure what flower, but check the bee out hovering over the petals

Blackish tulips

Here is a shot where a stray flower grew among the common

Posing among the tulips, me, jia yun and alya

The males in our group. Trying to look entertained

We then as usual got into a photo taking frenzy

Here is one trying to mimic the windmill while a bunch of indian tourist staring at us waiting to get the windmill for themselves. Hui wen always comes up with crazy ideas.

A perfect picture for a cd cover.

Another with the 6 of us

Me, Jc and Aik, keeping ourselves entertained

Posing next to a wine truck

Now for the best part... we planned to make a bollywood scene at the tulip farm since there were tonnes of tulips..this is what we did.armed with spontaneity, 2 cameras, and tulips. and lotsa editting and laughing.

The story is, both of the ppl in the video is looking for their soulmate. A friend points out that he is on the bus. Somehow the scenery brought them to common ground. And happy ending.(oh, tots was in the video too, forgot to put it in the cast.sorry! :( )

So, the tulips wasnt so bad, when you had other agendas and great friends around you.

the moment

2006-09-28T02:13:00.000+10:00

as requested by aik.

this shot taken by kit mey has really got him on his toes. its really disturbing. how can someone you think as your closest friend "reveal" his other side to you during a drinking session. Take a look, tots is really happy having aiks hand. aik said he has been thinking about what the hell is going on.

well you all know alcohol dont lie, so what does this mean? anyone?tots...?

Roberts Hall Ball followed by MUMSU's after party @ PI

2006-09-24T00:50:00.000+10:00

As you can see, Jc and I were enthusiastic to pose on the chartered ventura public bus. "License to carry 71, 42 adults seated"?

Bus ride took about 10 minutes to reach our destination, the Merrimu Reception Centre. It was just opposite the Maccas near Chadstone. The entrance of the place look like one of a small town's chapel.

Hopping around and taking photos before it began. Ladies and gentlemen, the foursome from roberts.

The girls from japan in our table, Yoko and Emi from tokyo and eriko from yokohama. Very friendly people, always wanting a good conversation to practice their english :)

The President and Vice with presenting the Ball awards, 2006 king is Dale Robert and queen Laura. I think this is the best venue of all the balls and functions i went to in australia. Very grand, from the picture, the backlight currently in blue, changes every few moments to a different glow. very cool.

Jian Cai and me feeling bored when the DJ started playing stupid songs. I brought the Haku out. hehehehhehe. From this moment on, Jc is as carefree as a toddler

Sweet sweet Joleen.

Some of the Roberts residents posing on the stairs before we left, cant remember hugging keith..

By now, the 4 of were high on free flow alcohol(sweet wine) because we decided not to spend a single cent in the club. but, that didnt happen.

Arriving at PI, the trinity complete, met up with Smalls after her MUMSU ball.

Oh and yee vonne too

And i found aik too..

Meet hong sze, just met her through aik, shes funny and super hyper and sober eventhough she doesnt look like it in the picture.scary eyes.

another picture of the cam models..at every opportunity they have..see see, smalls has a hat..later she has something different. She loves accessorizing

Me, tots and aik. they were chilling in the city with vonne before they met us in the club.

smalls and hui wen stealing the lime light and a tie.

PI ( ex-amber), the management was ok, just abit stingy now since they didnt give a free bowl of doritos compared to amber. but there is nothing wrong with the music except they played a song 3 times.

All of us had a wicked time, and left the club after 3am, and headed down to Chillipadi to yam char. I had roti ruben which i did taste unlike last time(donated 20 bucks for them to clean my puke and didnt finish my food). Suprisingly i met Shereen from SAM, first time seeing her in melboune oh and darren too for the 2nd time, at chillipadi too.

The day out ended at 530 am when we reach the halls in an eight seater cab which caused the 7 of us 70 bucks i think.

A wicked wicked night....

Cheers

2006-09-23T13:33:00.000+10:00

This is a really really really funny and emotional clip. I think it was worth figuring out how to post this clip on the blog to share it with everyone.

I watched it a few times.. and im amazed how good they could act.

To every little good things in life, Cheers! :lol:

Home sweeeeet home.

2006-09-20T23:53:00.000+10:00

When JC wakes up early in the morning..the first living thing that greets him would be..

a shade of light brown on its exoskeleton,feelers, hairy legs and has a shape of a rugby ball, some of them are capable of flight too.

if you had not guessed it..its a COCKROACH(es). i managed to look it up and its species is call Blatella.

This is how it looks like

I have been sharing a fridge with JC since i moved to australia. As time passes by, more and more cockroaches seeked refuge in our fridge. They chose to stay between the rubber insulation on the fridge door. This must be the best place since the inside is cold and the frame is hot. So its an IDEAL place. Thus staying between the rubber insulations, its rather convinient to just crawl to our food and grab a bite and head back home. or head back for supper like we go mamaking.

Everytime i open his fridge in the morning to grab some cereal, ill see "friends" of ours everywhere. from the lower compartment where you store your veggies, to the egg storing cases.

The infestation is soo bad, when you flick or knock the rubber insulations, you will see a few of out friends coming out from a small hole. Yes, many sizes of cockroaches. from sizes to a grain of rice to sizes of a sweet. one big happy family

Recently the infestation got worse. You can see at least a cockroach crawling around the fridge, on the floor and yes.. on JC's study table. which is by the way.. less than a meter away from where he sleeps.

What have we done? tupperwared any foodstuff. kill any cockroach on sight. Jc got a can of insecticide to declare chemical warfare on them. And according to him, they are kinda immune. they still get to run away. they dont die on the spot. I think we need more powerful stuff like sheltox or baygon.

The most annoying thing now. is that... i just spotted one near the toilet sink on the bathroom cabinet, where we put out tooth brushes, facial wash, and contact lenses. The toilet sink is less than 3 meters from JC's room.

Smalls, JC and Hua Sim, things are getting serious. Smalls' room, by the way is 3 meters from JC's room. so..smalls..your room is next in the line for infestation.

......
Jc and I have decided to move the fridge out of his room and temporarily store all our food stuff in smalls room for the time being. When moving the foodstuff out, we found 2 live cockroaches in the egg container, 1 near the vegetable storage area and a few small ones all around. We then sprayed insecticide into the hole between the insulation and the frame. We also filled the whole fridge with insecticide and set it to the coldest setting hoping to freeze it to death.

here is a shot of the cockroach eggs we found on the carpet under the fridge after we moved it out

Corporate dinner

2006-09-15T00:08:00.000+10:00

Few days ago i attended the Mechatronics club corporate dinner. We were reluctant to go because it cost 20AUSD, buy rayner already did the bookings so we were forced to go. What happened at the corporate dinner was, engineers from prospective mechatronics employers sat down and had dinner with us. The main agenda for us was to squeeze what ever information we needed to ask about internship, employment, company background and valueble first hand experiences from people from our field. It was really an experience as put by aik, "money cant buy". Each table had corporate representative sitting with students for the night. My table had Wayne from Invetech and cant remember her name from Careers and Employment Monash.

This took place at novotel at glen waverly. This is where it was held, at the waverly conference room. 7 tables, small venue but big results.

This is how it looked like from our table. The people on stage were the ones who made all of this possible. Thanks y'all. Oh by the way, second from the left.. thats a she..

questions

2006-09-06T23:33:00.000+10:00

are you there yet?
are you ok?

how is everything?
how are the people over there?
how do you like it?

are you comfortable?
are you alone?
are you lonely?

when are you coming on?
when are you going to sleep?
when are you having your meals?

why arent you here?
why arent you online?
why are things so complicated?

what are you doing?
what are you thinking about now?
what is the time there?

my first chlorine competition

2006-09-06T23:12:00.000+10:00

After the field trip, i was supposed to represent roberts hall for a swim meet. At 7.30pm, all of us gathered at the roberts common room to head to the monash sports and recreation center. Thanks JC for accompanying me there, kept my nerves calm. I swam 2 events, the 25m x 4 relay and the 50m mens.

Okay.. the 50meters mens.
It was my turn to go, i was supposed to step on the dive board thingy.. (by the way i havent dived in the pool from a board) I stepped on thinking..should i step on the edge..or the middle..noooo..the edge is slippery (saw someone fell before this). Suddenly the referree blew his whistle.. I jumped..it was fantastic..like how a cat jumped into the water.. I jumped belly and head first.. a terrible start..at the corner of the eyes i saw everyone ahead of me. struggling to resurface myself.. i sped off..i was catching up...swimming somewhere in the middle...then..wall..eerrr..turn??(i was supposed to somersault, ive done it many times). whoops.. dead end.. touched the wall..stopped.. turn around.. AND i lost more time.. hahah...

later the 25m x 4, Jc said i swam intermediate in comparisson to the others (since there wasnt any diving nor turning around). hah. i smiled. the others in roberts didnt do too bad, christa got 3rd while reggie won the 25 meter breaststroke(he is a national swimmer). I spotted a Kit Wai look alike. same figure, face and built. like some say, a crab on a stick. he swam so fast, his hands looked like knives chopping meat with both hands. he sped off like a thorpedo.

my hamstrings and calves felt like rocks after the 2 events. my vision blurring..
it was a good competitive experience to learn from, laughing at my mistakes.

stepped into the world of robotics

2006-09-06T22:29:00.000+10:00

i visited the ABB robotics factory today. It was a field trip organized by the mechatronics club. Supposedly a field trip when it was only a 5 min walk from the halls. I arrived with boon kiat, david, rayner, and jian kuang. The others were too lazy to be bothered. The reception look rather familar.

Have a look

and now

look at this..

this is taken from the monash website, if you know monash, its exactly the same color scheme and layout. I guess the advertising company sold the same templates to both of them. Bummers.

So we had a presentation on how robots were used in everyday life. Automobile assembly...cutting... welding...and the most interesting.. the processing line of chocolates. One of the presenters showed us a full clip of the whole line of the Cadbury easter egg facility. NICE..

I was sitting at the right corner of the "theaterette"(thats what was written at the door). The presentations were not dull nor entertaining. But Rayner and Jian Kuang started to dose off..Once of the presenters, Paul i think, caught them. He scolded them saying "im sorry im keeping you awake, im sure you had a whole day of classes". We were stunned. After his presentation, he sat next to me to make sure they were awake for the rest of the session.

After all that, we walked around their factory aka storage facility. Boring.... we didnt get to see any machines in action. They were all caged up in fences and we couldnt go in because we didnt wear safety boots. It felt like a new aged zoo where animals were replaced with robots. which by the way..didnt move..how interesting. and the person bringing us around was throwing technical specifications at us and regulations and operating standards. Like how some of these robots are actually water proof and is capable of a wash down. It seems they are also washed using dry ice so that it does not short circuit the electronics. sorry for the nerdy moment there. have a look through the cage.

BTW they made us wear lab goggles in the factory when there is absolutely no moving or dangerous objects nearby. i guess it was to protect ourselves from his accidental projectile of saliva when he was making a point. utter nonsence.

The time all of us were waiting for.. refreshment. i think i liked this part the most. i had miniature shepard pies, fried chicken, beef pies, a variety of sandwiches, some weird cheesy pastries, 2 bottle of softdrinks and tapaued a bottle of beer. contented.

When i was about to leave, i thanked Paul for the great presentation and he said.. "i hope i wasnt keeping you awake". I was...i wasnt sleeping..thats Jian Kuang. wtf? but i didnt say anything. i just stood stunned and continued shaking his hand. i guess all asians look alike huh?

at the end of the day..we all had souvenirs, david had lab goggles, and the others had a bottle of beer each. were just being FAs. all natural

a wooden box with metal strings..oh what fun.

2006-09-03T23:28:00.000+10:00

When i heard chris's had a guitar, i was overjoyed. i got his room extension from smalls, called him, barged into his room when he was studying and borrowed his guitar. I was so anxious to get my hands on a guitar since easter break. I spent all my free time trying to recall all the songs i used to play and learnt a few. My finger tips are sooo sore. thats how long i havent been playing; till my callouses became soft.

Thanks chris for lending me your guitar for 3 whole days.

merdeka Merdeka MERDEKA!

2006-09-01T00:26:00.000+10:00

Those were the words we shouted out when the clock ticked midnight. There were at least 30 of us Malaysian who decided to be patriotic, harking to my call to gather to cheer and sing our national anthem. The word spread like a wild fire. Tots called people from Richo, aik called his friends from normanby and i called all in roberts. Despite the short notice and the allowance of 30 minutes from not knowing whats going on, to be utterly enthusiastic.

We gathered outside Richo's common room. The crowd was too big, hence the guards watching our every move. We were like forming an illegal gathering waiting to proceed to a riot. Thinking quickly and decided not to dissapoint everyone that came down in their night clothes, aik and i decided to go to hill in the middle of Roberts hall. (the hill is in the center where all the room windows of roberts and richo faced). When we were on the hill, we had 2 more minutes. I was hesitating when to start since estimating when the 10 second countdown from my handphone clock. I made a rough guess, and inhaled... and i led by shouting....

10,9,8........1. merdeka Merdeka MERDEKA!!!

Everyone shouted as one. one citizenship. one voice, in a foreign land

(btw, australia doesnt have an independance day, i found out quite recently, they are still under the british through some technicality in order to maintain a western image in an asian continent)

The shouts of merdeka were then followed by our national anthem, which we all sang proudly on top of a mountain, waking the whole of roberts hall and richo. We saw people from the window drawing their curtains to check what the F**K was going on with such a racket. They peered through, then they jerked it closed with anger. The guards were hot on our voices, they gradually climbed the hill to stop the noise, just as they were close enough to say anything, we finished the national anthem and we fled. Yes we fled. Like a bunch of DVD sellers in a pasar malam when the police came.

Malaysian who heard us from their rooms, came down to see whether there was a formal gathering. The others thought we were a nuisance. Some thought our gathering at richo earlier was a fight. But all of us who sang on top of our lungs were proud (not the running away part) that we were celebrating our first Independance Day outside our country.

I didnt know i could be so patriotic to do such things after the country has thrown me to jail based on nothing(read corrupted malaysia link) and suspended my license because i followed the "efficient" system.

BUT i was glad, that the need to celebrate this day was satisfied. to be patriotic

i wish it didnt hurt so bad

2006-08-30T19:56:00.000+10:00

i wish it didnt hurt so bad
i wish it didnt hurt so bad
i wish things were predictable
i wish for things to be as it is
i wish there was no pain in this world
i wish i couldnt bleed
i wish i couldnt cry
i wish there wouldnt be any pressure
i wish for things to be easier
i wish i didnt have to sleep
i wish there was an easy option in life
i wish everything would just fall into place
i wish everyone understood each other
i wish time wasnt so cruel
i wish distance wasnt so far
i wish price didnt matter

i wish it didnt hurt so bad
i wish it didnt hurt so bad

3 and a half more steps to heaven

2006-08-29T20:23:00.000+10:00

It was a long time since i made a decent post, you could tell i was busy. I have been studying my ass off for the mid semester test for Power Electronics. Thanks to our Malaysian lecturers last time who didnt really deliver the concepts and basics in electronics, most of the malaysian transfer students were threading deadly waters. On top of that, our course had been revamped. So this means since 2 years ago, we never had an past year papers to familiarize with the exam format. So we were studying blindly from the textbook. As usual all of us overstudied to avoid the worse case scenario of the most difficult combination of questions.

When the test over, all of us sprang to life. Everyone was bubbly, giggly and cheerful. Nobody concentrated for the classed lined up for the rest of the day. Everyone was stress free. I however was half as happy as them due to the few hours of sleep i got last night from burning the midnight oil. Following our usual routine in the evening, we went to the gym. We worked on our shoulders and abs. Tots has been my training all this while;my source of training routines and information. thanks man.

After the gym, Aik conducted the "SE7EN STEPS TO HEAVEN". OMG. The fitness routine performed by most footballers few days before an important match according to Aik. In other sports its called a different name. SOOO Aik being the experienced football coach, layed out 5 way points aligned in a empty path. Each way point is like 3 huge steps from each other. Seven steps means seven different varieties of running(more like sprinting) through and from the first to the last way point. And this is repeated 3 times.

I only made 3 and a half steps to heaven. Then my butt started to hurt due to ducking down and the touching of waypoints and swift turnings to head for another. I "pancited" badly. Lack of sleep really kills you when you do tiring exercises like this.

On the way back, my vision was blacking out slowly. I went to my room, rehydrated myself and lied down. I knocked out for 15 minutes, at least. I was half as dead compared to before when i woke up.

So, i learned that, when you dont have enough sleep...dont be stupid.

things to do before death

2006-08-24T22:36:00.000+10:00

In no significant order and progressive

Anyone out there who has a clue on how to help me achieve the following, Ill gladly put your name next to it!

1. Learn to breakdance
2. Learn to parkour
3. Surf
4. Own an Italian sports car
5. Sky diving
6. Travel the world, or at least a country in each continent.
7. Change peoples life for the better
8. Eat in a hindu temple
9. Bungee jumping
10. Hike to the top of a mountain
11. Tell everyone my friends how they have changed my life in some way or another.
12. Stay in a penthouse
13. Be a mischievious grandfather
14. Marry my soulmate
15. Slap a Malaysian policeman
16. Fly a plane/helicopter
17. Pay someone i dont know to shut up
18. Snowboard at the Swiss Alps
19. A hole in one
20. Go hunting
21. Visit Rome
22. Write a book
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.

FOOTY!!!

2006-08-20T17:36:00.000+10:00

I dragged myself out of bed at the latest time i could afford in order not to miss the 11.30 bus. I was fatiqued after that stupid walk the previous day to Maccas. I had to watch the first match in my life which was fully sponsored by the Monash Residential Services providing tickets and the transport.

Having no knowledge of the rules of the game or how its played (besides kicking the ball and throwing it), we wanted to watch and learn the game. So we decided to pick a team and support it to make it a more enjoyable experience and it was indeed. We supported the Western Bulldogs because they were the underdogs. At the first quarter which lasted 20 minutes, they dominated the game. then the next 2 quarters they lagged behind. The players were so demoralised. Then there was a sudden turn of luck and it was a close fight till the end with the score of 105-98. Jc and i was going crazy anticipating every kick as it headed towards the middle poles. When they won, we were overjoyed and started giving high 5s to other fans of bulldogs we didnt know. We had a stress relieving time of shouting and screaming. At the end of the day we got scarves to mark our start as a footy fan. Aik wasnt too enthusiastic as you can see.

GO DOGGIES!!

The Western Bulldogs fan section

The footy field

well deserved time off

2006-08-20T17:17:00.000+10:00

Friday this week was the dateline for an assignment as well as a report for our project. Being procrastinators of the highest order, my friends and i left everything till the last critical moment. Having 27 hours a week of contact hours a week, i guess that why we procrastinate. We didnt have time for anything. After handing the stuff in, we were so relieved. So we decided to watch United 93.

United 93 is the dumbest cheapskate amateur movie ever created. This is the WORST movie i saw in my life. Half of the screening time was focused on the procedures and phone conversations reporting a highjack between the FAA headquarters and the military outpost. the rest of the time they were screening on how passengers queued up and line up and got on the plane.Plus there were stupid actors (E.g chinese man) standing next to the FAA's person in charge.. his presence was annonying as he didnt do anything and he just stood there with a blur and non cinematic like face. The only line he said was "JESUS CHRIST!" in an america accent out of the total time his face was shown on the screen. The cameraman for the movie was so stupid. He could never keep his hands still, it was as if he had the fits or something. I guess they figure the movie was too lame and they decided to shake the camera abit. The movie is a "pieceofshit". I regret not watching miami vice since i read bad reviews about it. but united 93 is WORSE im sooo sure. I should have taken my 11.5 ausd and thrown it at the wall, im sure thats more entertaining.

well, after the movie we headed to the richardson study room. and yes.. we did not study. We played texas hold em. Abang yung and kenneth were our mentors leading us in the first few rounds, then i swindled money from them. by the time i stopped playing it was 3am. I decided to sleep but on they way back i met up with indar, prahna,biggie,gaia,aaliyah and jason in the games room and they persuaded me to take a walk ALL THE WAY TO Mc Donalds@ Mulgrave. It was about a 80 minutes walk there and back. I had a small value meal and 6 nuggets.It wasnt worth while. I was hungry walking there and i was hungry walking back. By the time i got back, it was 6am in the morning and i decided to ruin smalls beauty sleep. woke her up for a while then asked he some silly questions and went to bed. I had to sleep, i was supposed to watch the footy match tmrw.

Crystal Clear

2006-08-15T18:19:00.000+10:00

Getting my glasses yesterday was the best feeling i had in a long time. I never knew things were so beautiful from afar. Everything was so crisp, edges were so sharp and well focused which made Australia a whole different place. I could see the twigs of trees so distinct from the leaves. How the colors of the flowers fall against the bushes. I could see how the color blended with the surrounding colors, to see colors so vibrant and bright. To see mother nature in her true form which i had gradually forgotten or i have never experienced. It was amazing how the small missing blurred images all my life had made things so different, so dull. I stepped into a whole new world;a wondrous and marvelous world.

I found myself looking at the sceneries more on the way to class, looking out my window to enjoy the well landscaped campus, looking at signs and words from a far. It was awesome. Besides that, i was able to see everything in lectures withouts reconfirming with my friends of what i thought i saw on the slide. My eyes felt so relaxed during lectures not needing to be strained. That in return was feeding too much information into my brains hence a slight headache. I dont think my mind was used to such huge imagery capacities. I think its temporary till i get use to it.

The only downside i find is that, when i look down on my feet, i look shorter. Wearing glasses and walking around felt like you were going through your life as if you were watching it on tv. You could see the frames and lenses which was centered but you could also see the outer parts which was quite annoying. But its all good.

People say i look smarter and nerdy in my glasses. Oh well... better than looking like a pedophile or a pervert. =)

Night in Tinseltown

2006-08-11T18:37:00.000+10:00

Before the ball, i came back from class at 11am, had lunch. Then i was rushing my project so that i could go to the ball with a clear mind since the dateline was tomorrow. So, with my part left since Jc did his part, i spend the whole afternoon touching up the CAD and drawing visuals for the report. So while everyone went to the sports and recreation center, i was in my room with my eyes glued to my laptop. Thanks celine for reproducing the drawing and teaching me polylines, you really saved me lotsa time!!! I owe you one. When i was done, it was 530. Havent ironed my shirt and had a bath i had to get to the bus meeting place at 630. I spent 30 minutes ironing my shirt(first shirt ironed in aus). I think Gerard's iron wasnt hot enough or maybe it was just me. but i managed to do it.

A ball there was,
Residence amongst,
A night in Tinseltown its called;
Gentlemen were dressed in shades of black,
Matching shirts and shoes, except for me.
The ladies were their very best,
Trying glow and gleam from the rest,

I looked around in dismay,
Being shy of a suit, was me.

Table set up with the elegant theme of gold and white. Nice deco and ambience.

The best thing about this ball, its not because its a 3 course dine, but it was a free flow of Victoria Bitter, Chardonnay and Shiraz. I was reluctant to drink considering my 11am lecture the next day, but i soon gave in as Jun started drinking with me. The best thing was, out of the 20+ tables, there was only 2 tables with asians.

So being unique, i thought...lets do the " YAAAAAAAAM......SENG!!". So mustered all the power i could from our table and started our barbaric chant. The other asian table beside us(who were our friends) thought we should do an all asian thingy. SO BOTH tables did it again while every other table was eating, drinking or people dancing. Its a stress reliever and a culture shock for the aussie. oh well..spreading our culture. You can sense that everyone stopped and stared at us FA to see what the hell was going on. A local then, came up to me(claimed to be from a drinking club) wanted to know what we yelled before we drank. so i told him.. and he said he would introduce it to his drinking team. i was like, (thumbs up!) cool!

Picture of us in action

The only downside was the event started late. So while waiting for the ball to start, everyone went into a picture taking frenzy. Here are a few.

Arabian Nights?

Don Corleone sent us to give you an offer you cant refuse.

The dazzling starlets.

Representing Stairway 8

She was my date, was she? I think so. Are you?

We always have our gay moments, but its not easy keeping a straight face. We DID not kiss, i say again. WE DID NOT.

Aik and I warming up to the ambience.

Who dances like a wave moving through a body of water, Aaliyah

Hello Kitty!!

The three from F floor.

The four corners of a square

It was worst than a chinese wedding being off schedule. And they starved us. The first served us a bun with butter. We gobbled it up and we were still hungry.. it was about 8 and we still havent had dinner. Then they teased us with their entree that looked like this.

Some baked fish with sweet and sour sauce with lemon, tasted like the msian sweet and sour sauce back home. Everyone else was happy with their meals and started heading off to the dance floor. I was still hungry and getting grumpy. The whole ball was an interlace of food and dance. I later had enough to eat when my mains arrived and then the desert(tasted like crap).

This was what we found on our table coming back from the dance floor.Its a...breast pad thingy which you insert in your bra to make it look bigger.Jun with alcohol running through his veins by now, took the boob thingy and placed it on his chest (INSIDE HIS SHIRT). Then he gave us a sexy poses flaunting his new boobs to us.So all of us rushed to feel his new boobs out. He looked like an A cup instantly.He felt like one too :P. Later we decided to give it a new look. I took a melon seed and placed it in the respective area. So its a guys perfect dream, boobs with alcohol.

Di and I at the dance floor. Shes a can of sunshine.

The guy i got drunk, AGAIN

After the dancing, all of us boarded 3 buses that left in 30 minutes intervals from 1130. We were like school children being obedient after having a crazy night. Li yee was my escort back home. feeling high with a camera, this is what you get

there you go smalls, thanks for rushing me for the post..really appreciate it.. :P~

+1 to the sick population

2006-08-10T00:16:00.000+10:00

Since my previous post ive been popping panadols every 4 hours to keep me on my feet. suprisingly when im it, i feel like normal. when it reaches the 3rd-4th hour, i feel abit week. then i pop again.

While being sick, i managed to learn autocad and produce a drawing for my project withing 24 hours. I had to draw an automated wheelchair(TIMMY!!!) which Jc and I designed, as you can see.

I went to the optometrist and the lenses costs me 140AUSD and the FCUK frame is 200AUSD. thats a spanking 340 AUSD for my specs. The correction for my eye is, -1. Not knowing what it meant i just nodded and was bombarded by friends on what -1 meant. i dont know. My glasses will arrive on friday or either early next week. the sooner the better because i have been relying on Pei Ryn to read out equations from the slides or copy it off her notes. Thanks Pei Ryn.

Thanks Jc and Boon Keat for a good laugh. Jc poured chocolate milk all over himself cause he thought the cap was tight wanting to shake the precious chocolate that settled at the bottom. As for Boon Keat, he was drinking water and he coughed in lecture. I thought he was puking, stream of water flew 2 rows infront and some of it hit Rayner. LOL. Really sights to behold.

Today smalls got her new fridge. SO that means...i was free labour. i had to carry her fridge up 5 flights of stairs to her room with lionels help. then i had to carry her fridge out to the corridor for her to wipe all the previous owner's hair our and dirt and help her push it back in. There is SOOOOO much hair all over the place, inside the fridge, outside the fridge. God knows that the heck was going on while they were using the fridge. Maybe the were bored with the conventional positions and decided to use the freezer or something.

Oh, i got a new decoration for my door. Its a monash engineering sign saying Industrial Designed. Too bad there werent any mechatronic ones. Cant really read the sign cause of the permenant corridor lighting.

So besides popping pills every 4 hours, i guess it isnt so bad.

The day off, or so it seems

2006-08-07T23:11:00.000+10:00

Jc knocks on the door saying, "when you wanted to go to the campus center?"
replies "err...now now"
Yawwwnn....

*snorts,snorts harder,cough cough*

feels a jelly like substance stuck in between my teeth.

goes to the toilet feeling sick, cold and feverish

*spits*

brownish reddish thick jelly like tangy mucus with saliva stuck on the sink.

The day began with..knnccb..im sick..feeling cold i put on a another layer.

Grabbed a fruit, popped pills and headed to the MRS to collect my bank drafts and parcel. meaning..I GOT MY MINISD CARD!!! *being sickly excited* Thanks Lim Sern Liang!! for the books too..Made my way through the cold, shiverring as my body could not produce more heat, headed to the bank, optometrist and the computer lab. Banked my drafts, saw the receptionist of the optometrist center. Thank goodness it only cost nothing for an eye consultation with my OSHC card. Wipeee!! The optometrist had a packed schedule and i need to make an appointment.For the whole week, the only available times are 8 or 9 am on weekdays. So i scheduled it for tmrw 9am. Meaning i have to skip class, what a perfect excuse. hah!

Came back, did my stupid report. Worked on another, slept in between, cooked curry ala laksa and long beans with JC for the gang. Came back and brainstormed more on the report with Jc and got work done.

So much for a day off. Nothing eventful for the day but what the heck, im trying to blog regularly.

p/s thanks for the people who tried to comment and didnt work(brenda, alysha,chiong), got that fixed now. Thanks Jo for the opinion for more photos, i finally have a photobucket account(thanks to smalls). Thanks to everyone else for your support and compliments (larnee, li yee)

Some random photos

Falls Creek 29.7.06

London Bridge@ The Great Ocean Road

Uprooting the Split Point Lighthouse

Marking territory

food for thought

2006-08-06T21:20:00.000+10:00

Lunch @ the golden tower cafe along Swanston.

Like any other weekend, we headed to the city. This time i suggested we try something new which wasnt mekong or beef tongue. So we tried some local cafe cum deli type foods which had a touch of italian taste. For some reason my mentality changed to trying out the recommended specials on the boards. We ordered the hamburger with the lot + pepsi + chips for 9.50 ausd. It was quite ok for a meal in the city to cost below the 10 bucks margin especially with a drink. Being fcuking hungry we waited and waited and it seemed the wait was endless. Every one who didnt order the special already had their meals served and was digging in. Not so long after that, the burger came. The burger was huge and outlandish. Meat all over the place with eggs and bacon and cheese which melted on the patty. Some tomatoes and lettuce. AWESOME. Jc, joleen, tots and i was smilling from ear to ear.

Now, how would you eat an outlandish overflowing burger? Here are the options i figured were possible by watching my team mates eat and through self experience.

1. Grab the burger with both your bare hands and attempt to hold it together
Pros: You get to experience the way a burger was meant to be with the fusion of all the juices and flavors as you chew through the layers. To see how well the meal was arranged to present the taste to the customer.
Cons: Messy hands, if you dont hold it with the right technique, everything will just fall apart lke and apartment in an earthquake.

-What i reckon is the right technique:
1. Make sure your burger is positioned properly with all the stuffs centered. If it isnt, arrange it.
2. Hold the burger with both hands.
3. Place your thumbs and your pinky firmly at the base of the burger; this is essential so that all the stuffings wont fallout. Be careful not to put too much pressure on it or your burger would just twist and shear then you would have halves or quarters.
4. Use both your pointers to keep your burger clammed but not with too much pressure as explained. Hold the rest of the bugger like how a pillow snugly allows your head to rest.
5. When you bite, try to bite an equal amount from the top and the lower level of the bread.
6. As your burger gets smaller, reposition your hands to a firm and stable grip keeping in mind points 2,3 and 4.
7. When you reach the last bite of the burger, you should have an even upper and lower layer of bread with the stuff still inside.

2. Cut the burger into smaller pieces while keeping the layers together
Pros: Well you get to taste it like explained previously but it isnt that messy. This is the best you can do if youre with company you are not comfortable with or in a classy place.
Cons: Depends on the cutlery provided, sharp knives would give the best result on how even the bottom and lower layer is cut.

3. Remove the burger layer by layer and consume it as you reach the layer.
Pros: Get to taste each layer to how it is prepared. To judge how much effort is done to make each seperate layer tastes. For this burger, you could chew and feel the texture of the crispy bacon. How well the bread of the hamburger was toasted and melted with butter. How the cheese complemented the patty of the burger. And when you reach the salad part, it would be like...having a salad. heck.
Cons: Unable to tastes how everything goes together. Finish the best layers too soon depending on the arrangement. for example, after eating the bacon an patty, it was just the sucky salad and the lower layer of the bread.

Soooo.. what i did was, option 1 and 2. I hate half the burger with my bare hands. after getting sick of how everything tasted as a whole, i took it apart layer by layer and had my way with it.

Does anyone have more creative options on how to prolong/perfecting a burger eating experience? Im all ears.

Dinner @ the A1 Cafe
What i had was an egg chiffon with spam, sausages and ham and OIL. mainly it was oil. Tasted awful, aik and i felt like puking after that. spam tasted like how it meant in junk mails. terrible and annoying. never going to touch it again. luncheon meat tastes far better.

and i had the "taro milkshake". not knowing what i was, i hailed a waitress to ask but she refered me to another. Thats ok. So not for long she came over, i pointed to the line in the menu and the conversation went like this.

me: Excuse me, what is a Taro milkshake?What is a taro?
waitress: Taro... is a taro
me: oooohh
waitress: you dont know what taro is?
me: err..nooooo (at this point i didnt know how to ask her to explain)
waitress: (pauses for a while) its something that grows underground
Jc: is it something like a potato
waitress: yeah it is. but it doesnt taste like a potato
me: hmm..oook ill have it (being adventurous)

when the drink arrived. it was purplish in colour and milky. It was a yam milkshake. So taro = yam.

Things i learned today and it tasted good. Except for the ham,spam and sausages.

groceries a chore, but with closed ones its a delight

2006-08-06T11:06:00.000+10:00

Have you ever been forced to do something, which would bore you to death and you do it week after week after week, doing the same thing for the same purpose on the same day around the same time and wasting half of your day. yes for those who stay at home under your parent's roof and don't lift a finger;this is grocery shopping.

Like the table of contents in a book, it was an agenda for every saturday around 12. We caught the 12.15 bus and headed to on of the nearer towns called Glen Waverly. Well, there is nothing much there, a few asian grocers, hair dresser, a few banks, a cinema, a slot machine gaming area(Tabarets) and a shopping complex equivalent to the size of Pyramid back at Sunway.

First on the list was to keep out stomachs quiet, because most of us didnt bother waking up early to eat any breakfast. The "grand tofu" was our destination. I had the today's special which was crispy hainanese chicken rice for 8.20 AUSD. Being enthusiastic as specials would taste fulfilling, that was my hopes as well as Joleen and Kit Mey. The meal was nothing special but brownish blackish burnt on the skin of the hainanese chicken. The portion was ridiculous, it was just a drumstick with a bit of thigh on it, which was very small for an australian portion and the standart mold of rice from a chinese bowl.what the heck meal is this? i had enough of scrutinizing it and stating questions in my mind all within the few seconds while the waitress handed the "meals" to us, so i shoveled voraciously with a feeble attempt to keep myself satisfied.

Today i had extra plans on this day,
1. Get my eyes checked
2. Buy some special spices for my Asian style pork chop i was going to cook tonight.
3. Look for formal pants for the MRS ball

I went to 3 optometrists in the Glen Waverly shopping complex, and to my astonishment, it will cost me 60 AUSD to just get my eyes checked. If i was a PR in australia, i could just flash my medicare card and the bill can be claimed from taxes(bulk billing is what they call it over here). Desperate for an eye check but now willing to spend, i guess ill just wait to check out the campus center's optometrist to see whether its any cheaper, if its not, ill just have to pay for it. Back in malaysia you would have to pay NOTHING for an eye check so paying an amount like this some what made me a scrooge.

All of us were shopping for ball clothes and all of us were just too dissapointed with the prices as we converted it to what it usually costs back home. Some of us half-heartedly bought some clothes. I was saving my money for a better buy for a buck in the city.

So we went about doing our weekly grocery shopping routine after that(to Safeway and then the asian grocer). It was suprising how the day felt so short with your friends around there to keep you company, say stupid things, give you constructive criticism, keeping tabs on your emotional state, exchanging view and life plans and plainly having a good time together,

We then got back home about, 5.45. I didnt have time to rest, remember the special spices i needed to buy? yeah i was planning to cook this. :). Trying hard not to dissapoint my panel of judges, instead of marinating the chops for 6 hours in the fridge, i had to boost the prep time by 3o minutes in the freezer. heh! Followed everything in the recipe but the sherry. My friends said my replica tasted good, i was content.

Asian-Style Pork Chop Bake

Submitted by: Valerie Serao

"Baked loin pork chops with an Asian citrus flair. The marinade will thicken in the oven, creating a thick glaze for the meat."

Original recipe yield: 6 servings.

Servings:: 6 (change)

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup dry sherry
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root
2 cloves garlic, minced
ground black pepper to taste
1 dash ground allspice
6 (3/4 inch) thick pork chops