Mind Graffiti

True Story

2011-12-10T01:07:00.000+08:00

Davangere

2011-11-18T23:42:00.003+08:00

Davangere.

Her cold harsh winds tear at your skin, peeling away any semblance of dignity and nobility you brought with you. She lusts for the blood of scholars and academics alike, yet blessed with nothing but old ugly men in unkempt beards and ravaged women with wild hair.

Davangere.

She claws at your mind with dirty nails, gleers down your eyes, sneers. Her skirt drags a poisonous path, winding down the destiny of your life. She knows she has you and conspires to keep you here forever.

Oh Davangere.

God has forgotten her, and the Devil shuns her. And the angels weep.

Happy Diwali in India

2011-10-26T01:36:00.004+08:00

Train station in Mysore, India

Its 11.15pm now on the eve of Diwali/Deepavali and I've decided that its already too late to get any studying done.

Spent the morning and half the afternoon rewatching the Pirates of the Carribean trilogy with Victor. After that, I studied a bit of Pharmacology. Then for dinner I went to Cafe Haven with my roommate Zeff for some burgers. I thought I would return back to the room and get a couple more hours of studying done but instead went out to play firecrackers and fireworks with the gang. Today was hardly a productive day with under 2 hours of revision, and I feel guilty considering first internal exams are barely a week away.

A couple of thoughts I've had in the past few days:

1. I get more sleep now than when I was in secondary school. My eye bags have decreased dramatically ever since I finished Form 5.

2. Scientia potentia est (knowledge is power). Guard it well.

3. My intellect is gradually deteriorating as more energy is spent on rote memorization of things that "already exist" rather than being spent on brainstorming new ideas and creating.

I think thats all for now. Perhaps tomorrow will be a more productive day.

Interesting Life

2011-10-21T12:39:00.002+08:00

On a scale of 1-10, how evil and mischievous do I look.

2nd Year

2011-10-14T03:14:00.003+08:00

Feels like this year will be a tough one for me. 6 subjects with exams this time (Microbiology, Pathology, Pharmacology, Dental Materials, Pre-Clinical Orthodontics & Prosthodontics).

Also, classes and practicals from 8am - 5pm everyday, Monday through to Saturday.

I've decided that Im not going to complain and take everything with a good attitude. Its the attitude that matters. But sometimes its hard to differentiate having a good attitude and having a defeatist attitude.

Im gonna make it through the next 8 months with a smile on my face :)

(And hopefully an iPhone 4S in my pocket)

SPM vs Medical School

2011-05-20T00:05:00.005+08:00

---EXAMS---

"Wow exams are easy maybe I should be a doctor!"

2 years later: What have I done?

Ps- Just for lols. Im not even in Medical school.

India Food

2011-03-11T11:22:00.003+08:00

I dont like mess food in India...

Because it tastes worse than

making me want to

--The End--

The problem of Silent Evidence

2011-03-10T01:39:00.003+08:00

More than two thousand years ago, the Roman orator, belletrist, thinker, Stoic, manipulator-politician, and (usually) virtuous gentleman, Marcus Tullius Ciero, presented the following story.

One Diagoras, a nonbeliever in the gods, was shown painted tablets bearing the portraits of some worshippers who prayed, then survived a subsequent shipwreck. The implication was that praying protects you from drowning. Diagoras asked, "Where were the pictures of those who prayed, then drowned?".

The drowned worshippers, being dead, would have a lot of trouble advertising their experiences from the bottom of the sea. This can fool the casual observer into believing in miracles.

-Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan

Chronicle of Food Poisoning In India

2011-02-21T21:01:00.005+08:00

Sunday

12.00am:

I was trying to sleep when there was a sudden onset of muscular and joint pain followed by mild fever.

Having gone through a few cases of food poisoning in KTT, I knew this were the initial symptoms. So I went to my cupboard, took out my medication, laid it out on the table, and warned my roommate that I might be groaning in pain in 3-4 hours.

(On hindsight, I should have taken activated charcoal the moment I knew it was food poisoning, but I didnt.)

12.00-6.00am:

Tossing and turning, high fever, and delirium. I thought my "thyroid gland" was infected and going to burst out of me like an Alien parasite.

6.00am:

Walked to the toilet and proceeded to puke every inch of my guts out.

6.00am-12pm:

Tossing and turning, high fever, half dead. Cant even walk to the toilet to shit without feeling like I just climbed Mount Everest.

My mum called me to tell me ~~what a big disappointment I was in her eyes and I should be studying instead of lying down in bed even with food poisoning~~ that she was really really worried about me. Thanks mum :)

12pm:

Literally crawled to the toilet, (ok fine, walked bent over), and puked bile.

After puking, felt much better, so I cooked myself porridge. Ate a handful of porridge, exhausted, and lied back in bed.

1.00pm-6.00pm:

Tossing and turning, high fever, in various stages of death. I was delirious again and thought my bed was divided into two, one side for cats and one side for dogs. So I slept on the "dog side" because I didn't want to anger the cats.

What on earth, right?

6.00pm:

Ate another handful of porridge, exhausted, lied back in bed.

9.00pm:

Talked with Victor on the phone, but could barely speak. I think I made everyone worried lol because it was really serious. After a few indiscernible grunts, I said goodbye...

..and then suddenly felt a lot better.

10.00pm-12.00am:

Rapid progression of getting back to health.

Monday:

I FEELING THE AWESOME. So much better.

Lessons learnt:

1. If something looks even mildly suspicious in India: DONT EAT IT.

2. On first indication of food poisoning, drown a few tablets of activated charcoal. If I had done this I dont think it would have been that serious.

3. Thank God I had a lot of spare shorts to change into. Bring lots of shorts/baju tidur to India. In case, you know, of leakage. LOL.

4. A smartphone is your biggest asset while lying down in bed half dead.

5. I realized if you add LOL to the end of bad sentences, you'll sound more optimistic. I have food poisoning LOL. I'm dying LOL.

Ok thats all

Sandwich Technique

2010-12-09T16:34:00.002+08:00

The so called Sandwich Technique involves using glass inomer cement as a dentine replacement and a composite as the enamel. On the other hand, I haven't had a sandwich in 4 months.

Class Is Something Like This:

2010-12-08T00:04:00.002+08:00

Photo Greetings From India

2010-11-26T01:42:00.009+08:00

Wow its been 5 months since I last blogged.

This place is turning out to be quite the wasteland, isn't it? I mean, by blog- not India. Well... maybe India too.

To be honest I have been updating my Twitter account daily (sometimes, 10 times a day, to the horror of my followers). If you have a Twitter account why not follow me here. I confirm that my tweets are damn funny one, guarantee.

Ok now that the shameless self-promotion is over... allow me to present:

INCREDIBLE INDIA !!!

Family of 8 pigs walking/trotting by, setting the scenery

for the butter thosai stall that we frequent.

The thosai here is frikkin awesome.

Diarrhea guaranteed.

A daily sight on the streets:

Holy Elephant passing by, Please Make Way

An 8 road-junction/intersection without traffic light

Babuji Dental College and Hospital,

One of the 40+ Tertiary Institutions in Davangere

The local dairy that sells really good fresh

(pasteurized) milk for rm0.70 per huge pack.

Diarrhea and stomachache guaranteed.

Market. They always try to cheat our money.

Mandipet Street. We buy all out household goods and

appliances here for, again, exorbitant prices.

The streets here are 40% motorbikes, 40% yellow autos and

20% bullock carts. Cars? WHAT CARS? *snort*

Cars haven't discovered this kampung ok.

Pointless sign leading to the wrong way.

Behind is the local Medical Boys Hostel mess cafeteria.

Caution sign.

Behind is the local dental boys hostel.

International Boys Hostel

Inside of JJM Medical College

Labs on every floor.

Classes/Lectures are usually like this. Chalk, chalk and chalk.

Better to sit in front to listen to the 75 yr old professor.

Dissection. We are usually left alone to cut the body up.

Half the time Im not sure what Im cutting up here.

Biochemistry Lab. Everytime I have practicals here there is this surreal

sense of "Seriously, what year is this again?"

Luqman and I during Dental Anatomy Class.

The only two Malaysian boys in my year.

Eating "Bombay Toast" also known as French Toast at our favourite

local stall. Diarrhea not guaranteed! And thats the best part XD

Drinking coconut for RM0.70. Light and refreshing in between or after class.

And finally, cheers!

Sorry for the lack of words! In the next post, which will come very soon, I'll try to sum up my feelings on what India is like and how Im doing here.

All in all, its not too bad. Depressing, sometimes, but not too bad.

Cheers!

What I've Been Doing

2010-07-08T11:52:00.007+08:00

For the first few weeks, lazing around at home and vegetating.

In between the long bouts of boredom were rollercoaster excitements of church, gatherings, and lots of camwhorings.

Then I went to Kuala Lumpur for my Predeparture briefing and found out my departure date to India has been set back to 25th August! 1.5 months more of vegetation again! On the bottom right of the picture, bank officers are handling ~USD$300,000.00 in travellers check.

I stayed with Victor for a night in KTT ahem ♩♪♫♬♪♫~ lol

Then I stayed in Cititel Midvalley with Zeff, Chai, Queenie and Lynthia for a few days. We did a lot of eating, and it was a extravagant and decadent lifestyle.

Zeff, Queenie, Chai, Lynthia and I had pancakes for breakfast at Paddington House of Pancakes. Look at that. That is absolutely amazing. Whoever invented pancakes is a genius and deserves the noble prize.

And as a last note, the gayest shirt I ever wore. Victor gave it to me. Lol.

Ok bye.

Lets talk about Justin Bieber

2010-06-20T01:38:00.006+08:00

Today, I would like to talk about Justin Bieber.

WAIT!

Before you throw your hands up in the air in disgust and swear yourself as my mortal enemy-for-life (as well as projectile vomit all over your computer screen, trust me I did that when google imaging Miley Cyrus and the bits and pieces are really hard to clean up), allow me to explain:

It all started a couple of weeks ago when I found myself subconsciously google imaging Justin Bieber for FIVE whole minutes. When the moment of realization of what I just did dawned on me, I almost fell from my chair.

"Harakiri!" I screamed to myself. "I must die for committing this atrocity! I have failed humanity and deserve to live as much as a coachroach!"

You see, until then, I hated Justin Bieber!

Hated him with a passion, a burning-all-consuming fire. WHY did I hate him? Why did I distance myself from his songs like leprosy? Why did I verbally harass girls who like him? Why did I, on the 13th of April 2010, slap myself hard on the face when I found myself humming to "Baby baby baby oooh"?

Why did I hate Justin Bieber? Answer: Because everyone else does.

Too lazy to get up from my computer chair to kill myself, I thought to myself: "Since I have sunk so low as to google image Justin Bieber, I might as well download his albums and listen to his songs. And then maybe after that, I'll die naturally from overdosing on his beaver voice."

So I downloaded his album. And to my surprise, I did not fall over dead! I checked my pulse over and over again, shocked!

His songs are really, actually, quite good!

So I asked myself again: Why do a lot of my friends hate Justin Bieber?

And I discovered the answer. Haters hate Justin Bieber because:

1. He is younger than us but MUCH more successful than us

2. He attained his success "unfairly" ie YouTube

3. He is an overnight sensation and damn popular

So basically you dislike him because of a "sense-of-injustice" at his success.

You know the saying, "We dislike people who are more successful than us." You hate him because you feel he hasn't worked hard enough to achieve his celebrity status. Admit it. Most of my friends who hate him have a talent for singing or musical instruments, so what they feel is actually "unfairness" which they translate over to "dislike".

The thing is, in life, some people are more lucky than others.

I have gotten over my "sense-of-injustice" over his fame and decided that YES, his songs are nice, and Im a fan. Its much better than being a fan of Lady Gaga anyway.

Bieber blast! And out.

Lost

2010-06-10T14:41:00.003+08:00

Truly the best, most epic, emotionally intense, intellectually stimulating and incredible TV series ever. For you to have ended in a glorious blaze of resolution and revelation puts tears in my eyes.

Thank you, Lost. Its now time to move on.

My Placement In India

2010-04-25T03:21:00.016+08:00

Ok, here's the deal with JPA scholarships to India: They don't ever let you choose your own university.

Shocked?

I've been waiting for 2 years now to know which part of India JPA will place me. One week ago, I found out that I will be going to a place called Davangere in the state of Kanartaka. The moment I found out that I was going to Davangere, I googled the place, as well as asked my seniors what its about. This was my reaction after reading about it:

OMGWTFBBQ?!

The worse thing is when I Google Imaged the word "Devangere" with SafeSearch Off, the first few pictures were pornography. I shit you not, my eyes still burn from flashes of private parts. My laptop is no longer a virgin, damnit!

From my investigations, I discovered that:

1. Davangere has no airport!
2. The closest form of civilization (Bangalore) is 5-10 hours away!
3. The landmark of Davangere is pigs roaming the streets! Serious.
4. There is barely any internet connection!
5. Hot and dusty and in the middle of nowhere!

This is the state of Kanartaka in West India.
Davangere is right smack in the middle of the desert.

A typical scene when walking around town.

Taken from a senior's facebook album. He's already in Davangere.
I asked them if there is a risk of pigs jumping on you and attacking you,
but nobody has replied yet.

So, thinking that this was the most of my troubles, I googled the College I was being sent to. Its known as the College of Dental Sciences. The first thing I found out was that its the Top 7th Dental College in India! AWESOME.

Then I tried to find pictures of my college. Nothing came up.
I tried Google Maps to find my college. Nothing came up.
I tried Google Images to find my college. Absolutely nothing came up.

The only thing that suggested College of Dental Sciences was real was a very crappy website that told nothing useful. I begin to wonder if my college existed at all.

This is a rough estimate, since College of Dental Science's only currently exists in Unicorn Land.

Now, by the time I finished googling, I was feeling a bit down and upset. Thinking that all hope is lost and that God and JPA had forsaken me (I am a big drama king la), I asked around my batchmates to see what placement they received.

Replies of Manipal and Mangalore and cities like Mysore (a tourist destination) was a frequent reply. I was disappointed!

But all hope was not lost!

I soon found out, that Queenie and Zeff was going to Davangere too! My two bestest friends in college, who I hang out with every night to eat dinner for the past 1 year! The very two friends who I adventured with after A-Levels to Genting without a plan but a purpose: To have fun!

Zeff (on the right) and I.

A very unglamor picture of Queenie and I.
Ok why cant I find better pictures of the both of us together?
And why cant I find pictures of the THREE of us together??

The probability that 3 of us are together again is incredibly low! I DARE a mathematician out there to calculate the probability:

1. There are 140 scholars in my batch going to India
2. We are placed in 12 colleges.
3. Assume an equal distribution of 11 persons per college.
4. Assume a ratial ratio of Malay:Chinese:Indian is 5:4:2 in all calculations
5. Remember that Zeff is (considered) Malay, and Queenie and I are Chinese.

What then is the probability that three of us are placed in the same college?

Also, I will have companionship in the form of Sharon! Sarah Lee! Yasmin! And many other crazy fellows who will be going to Davangere. Life doesnt sound so sad after all.

Like I once said:

"If Davangere is not awesome, then I will go there and MAKE it AWESOME!"

Are You The Revolution?

2010-04-11T21:01:00.008+08:00

Acts Church has this awesome series of events that occur yearly called Revo Tours. Its part of the UrTheRevolution movement to spread the Love of God all around Malaysia!

Recently in my college area, Acts Church held our very own Revo Nilai!

Almost everyone who was remotely non-Malay from my hostel got ready on Saturday evening to go to Empress Hotel for the event. The headcount revealed 47 people, and we were all gathered in front of the college for the bus.

Kek cool, I knew the camera was pointed at me haha!

We waited and waited and for 40 minutes no bus arrived. Then Melissa gave a call and we discovered that the bus had lost its way! Haha, NO wonder, since we are located in what I like to call "The armpit of Malaysia" (The Deep Jungles of Sepang).

47 people ready to go and NO BUS?!

But the Acts Church leaders told Melissa not to worry, they will send cars to pick us up.

47 people to go in CARS?!

We waited for another 5 minutes when suddenly...

The calvary arrived...

We were so shocked because we never saw a "convoy" of so many cars come to our college at once. Haha, so as the typical Malaysians we are, we started taking pictures.

We arrived in Empress Hotel just in time for Revo Nilai!

Sitting down listening to Pastor Dave

Laughing at all the "lame jokes" lol
But seriously nobody can beat Kuching people punya lameness

Basically, the message was preached that we are called to be World Changers.

"If you really believe it, BE and LIVE it!"

"When was the last time you stood up for something you believed in?"

It was a heart convicting message. I have not heard a more REAL message being preached in a long time, and it really made me think a lot on my believes and passions.

Not forgetting, the awesome music!

And so that was Revo Nilai in a nutshell. I wont lie: Im blogging this because the convoy of cars that came to our college was too awesome a sight to pass up!

See you guys soon!

On Learning Languages

2010-04-03T10:27:00.006+08:00

I have not updated my blog in over a month.

The main reason for this is because I update mainly through my Twitter account now. You should get Twitter and follow me! I promise happy, healthy and honest updates!

For the past month I have been undergoing (what JPA likes to call) Kursus Intensif or Intensive Course. Its basically a bridging course before I go to India to do ~~Medicine~~ Dentistry in August.

Right now, what we learn are the three main languages (Hindi, Tamil and Kannada) of the region where I will be placed in India. Im also taking Anatomy and Physiology now as a preemptive strike, because I reckon there'll be a lot of culture shock and adjusting to do once I get there.

(I've been trying to upload photos of my desk, notice board etc for the past 30 minutes but seems like my college wifi is blocking me from uploading stuffs somehow. I'll try again later I suppose)

But until then, add me on Twitter!

New Year Resolutions 2010

2010-02-26T19:23:00.006+08:00

1. [ ] Go To India

2. [ ] Travel the famous parts of India

3. [DONE] Eat a lot of expensive chocolates

4. [ ] Keep myself alive

5. [ ] Retain my scholarship

6. [ ] Read 100 new novels

7. [ ] Shake Prime Minister's hand

8. [ ] Find a INDIAN GIRLFRIEND...

9. [ ] ... whose dad is DAMN RICH...

10.[ ] ... AND MARRY HER =D

Thrills of Destruction

2010-01-31T20:39:00.004+08:00

Dinner time.

My sister asked me, "Which part of your life do you enjoy the most?"

There was a long, indefinite pause (I was slowly chewing the ends of some spinach, and I was is no hurry to rush it down only to choke spasm and die). In defence of the murderous spinach whose plans were then foiled, I did do some thinking on the question:

"Well," I answered, "EVERYTHING, I guess."

And Its true.

Me in Niah Caves.
Why was I wearing jeans and Nike while jungle trekking?
Because some bastard stole my luggage on the bus to Miri.

A friend mentioned to me once, "Daniel. Why do thrilling things always happen to you?"

Well I have a two point answer to that: One, because of my attitude in life. Two, because I like telling stories and I make everything seem bigger and exciting than it actually is, so my life sound much more interesting than the average human being.

No matter what awesome or shitty things happen in your life, I think sometimes all it takes to enjoy is is a nice lovely attitude that goes, 'Oh well cant help it, its happened already' and then make a big fuss of it by telling your friends what happened.

The more you go on doing that, the more things will happen to you. That's true too.

Like when I lost my luggage on the Bus Ride from Hell.

Here, in explicit detail, are my thoughts the exact moment I found out that all my clothes have been stolen:

Oh shit, where's my luggage bag?
Ok dont panic.
Duck your head into the luggage compartment, look left, look right...
Oh shit.
This will make an awesome blog post.
First time somebody robbed me!!!
This is so cool!
I knew this would happen.
Oh shit, where's my luggage bag?
Dont panic, dont panic.
I wonder how to start off that blog post?
What does that bastard need six new pairs of underwear for.

"I've been wearing my underwear two days in a row! Success!"

So if any of you wonder why I'm wearing the same old clothes over and over again, this is the reason why.

December

2009-12-29T11:50:00.004+08:00

One month has passed since I came back to Kuching.

I said I would blog more often. And the mood to do some actual blogging is still quite festive in my mind- but some days I would sit and stare at a blank Create New Post page and wonder whether Santa knew I had been a bad boy and took all my creativity away.

At first I missed college, and then I suddenly didn't anymore.

It's odd in a way- but I think my personality is such that I can quickly forget and swiftly adapt. According to Queenie and Zeff, that's probably why I don't have much of a guilty conscience. "You forget so easily. So how can you remain guilty over something you've forgotten about?"

I rarely get angry, hurt or guilty at anything. Susu says that I'm indifferent and impartial because "You dont care enough". But in all honesty, I really do find sympathy and empathy to be lacking- these days though, I'm aiming for more compassion.

But no more about me, lets start picturing events:

Youth, the Lame Gang, having gathering in McDonalds in Kuching Airport
Airport? Crazy right.

Taking a Lame shot in Church

Being Lame in Gasoline, Spring

I've been getting more than my fair share of Facebook and MSN at home.

Really starting to get addicted to the internet all over again- today, when Streamyx was down for a couple of hours, I felt terrible. I felt like my body was a shell of its former glory, and my soul taken away from me- disjointed, unconnected, frail. Connection is life.

But also been going out everyday, meeting old friends, getting to know new ones. College groups, youth groups, parties, dinners, gatherings. In the past month, I've probably been to bing! over 10 times!

The hectic fun will slow down once January comes and school restarts.

Time to reorganize, prioritize, and put up New Years Resolution!

College Over, Holidays Start

2009-12-09T03:34:00.005+08:00

My A-Levels are done with.

1.5 years of college life flew by really fast. It's been an awesome ride and I feel like my time in West Malaysia was just one long extended holiday. It doesn't feel as all like I've been stressed out about exams or anything!

I did so many things. MC'ed for different events including Graduation Day, performed modern dances, sketches, games... did things i will remember my whole life and those I'll regret my whole life (Some of those sketches are horrible! I cant bear to look back at them!)

Strictly speaking, sometimes a little "self-motivation" is in order.
Self praise IS still praise~ Hehe

Sure, exams are tough and I study like hell for them. In fact, I would say studying takes up the majority of my time, much more than other of my peers. But I enjoy it and don't mind it, especially biology, because I like it a lot!

The natural selection and evolution chapter is my favourite chapter in the whole A levels, also seeing how this year is/was Darwin's "Origin of Species" 150th anniversary, a number of magazines decided to do a full feature!

My Malaysian Studies Lecturer in full glory in this candid snapshot.

Lecturers (and lectures) were often ineffective, but sometimes fun. I will always remember my Malaysian Studies lecturer- a staunch supporter of BN, a Puteri Umno, and wife of a Wakil Parlimen. She would often hammer into our heads the Greatness of the current Government.

Now that Im three months free of lectures, I wonder whether there will be any more joy of sleeping-in in the mornings. Knowing full well that even if I do sleep-in, I wont be skipping any classes anyway. (Theres logic in this paragraph!)

Comparing water from pipe in bucket with (actual) Pepsi in bottle
It was seriously the same color... trust me...

I remember when the water problem was so bad that our waterfilters became the color of my eyebrows within two days. Somehow, I still blame the pipe water supply on the number of medical conditions amongst students in my college...

Which includes cancer, hair loss, loss of apetite, hormonal imbalance, depression, my constantly pain eyes (which is probably due to the haze anyway), fever, diarrhea, acne.

If there's such thing as elixir of life, our water was the direct opposite.

Multi-colored M&M looking rice

The food though, was awesome. Sure, we all ate fried rice almost every day out of 550 days in college! Every day! (One of the first things I told my mum when I got back to Kuching was "Please dont ever cook fried rice... ever again")

But we sort of justified our poor diet with going out every weekend to KL or Putrajaya to get a decent meal and expensive meal. The only reconciliation for our empty wallets was... that warm fuzzy feeling in our stomachs and the thought of "Kill me now, nothing matters anymore!".

And not forgetting, of course, the craziness of friends, which will take up a whole different blog post.

I'll be having holidays until March. What will I do? What should I do? Sit around and rot like an unwattered potted plant... or do something useful. Either way, I will be blogging regularly again!

Either way, I have a car to drive around with now. Call me up!

Lets go out and paint this town red!

Grandfathers Army Days Photolog

2009-11-30T21:35:00.006+08:00

I was in Kuala Lumpur last week when we digged out old photos of my belated Grandfather. I never knew he was in the army, and so I was quite surprised to view albums of him in soldier uniform.

Since the quality of the photographs were in bad shape, all I could do was take snapshots using my digital camera.

This is my paternal grandfather (when he is 20-ish)?

He served in the army for a period. Im not sure in what army though,
does anyone recognize the uniform?

Guns are cool!

He was quite the poser, there were many pictures of him posing with rifles.

Second to the right

He was also there during Merdeka day: Actual photo! Just like in the Sejarah books!

I suppose he was part of the formation if he could take pictures from this angle.

Merdeka must have been pretty exciting!

I'm not sure where this is. Perhaps a parade during Merdeka?

Even in the old days, friendship and camaraderie was important. =)

Just a thought, now in the days of digital photos, we never really do develop much. What will we leave behind for our children, and our grandchildren to see? The digital form wont last forever, and if your hard disc spoils or your dvds spoils, then what?

I'm going to look through my hard drive and select pictures to develop into an album! Something tangible that I can revisit in the future. You should too!

Intervention

2009-09-27T14:12:00.004+08:00

This is my handmade notice board in front of my study desk!
Homemade as in made from shoe box and wrapping paper and double taped to the wall.
Notice all the SELF MOTIVATION? Hee hee.

Was thinking what an unproductive yet fun week-long holidays I just had.

Ate a lot of good food in Kuching with friends and family! Went to Carvery for buffet, to Riverside Majestic for the Japanese Buffet, Bing! for their drinks and amazing brownies, 175º Cafe for the good food and fish spa. Then of course also ate incredible amounts of laksa and kolo mee from the local coffeeshops around town!

Also spent most of the time bumming at home. I watched 3 Seasons of Spongebob, 2 Seasons of Gundam 00. Spongebob has really mature jokes and Im not sure how it actually appeals to the younger demographic. Have you heard Squidward talking? His English is seriously keng lor. And now I know why Gundam is so popular- its a really good anime series that deals with real life issues like war ethics, morality, peace and justice, but sugar coated with fighting robots!

I also studied half a chapter of Physics applications in 1.5 WEEKS.

So basically EPIC FAIL at studying this holidays. =( I feel quite guilty.

Since A2 is in less than 30 DAYS and my lecturers have not completed the syllabus yet, I will now take the liberty of telling you that I wont be online very much for the next month. I am going to be studying like crazy. Seriously. I am going to live breathe and eat Physics, Bio and Chem until I feel sufficiently brave enough to risk getting addicted to Facebook again.

STUDY ON! YAY!

Creation

2009-09-17T00:05:00.006+08:00

I bought Play-Doh two weeks ago on a whim.

I picked a fight with Queenie.

Who would make a better God, Daniel or Queenie.

"By mere fart, whole universes are born in my name. The Big Bang!" I say. "My spit would shape the galaxies, my burp breathing life to the stars."

Queenie laughs in contempt.

"Hah! Farting? What flatulent ingenious," she cries! "Why, dead cells which fall off my skin sparks off new universes. A short walk to the toilet would birth a thousand and one universes!"

And Daniel pauses. Batters eyelids. And says:

"That's vegetative propagation."

Today is Merdeka

2009-08-31T17:54:00.008+08:00

It is the 31st of August, Independence Day for Malaysia.

I walk down the corridor of my college. My friend is beside me.

"I love Malaysia," I say. "I wish there could be true racial unity. It'll be awesome."

"Why so patriotic," my friend sneers, and the contempt in his voice makes me cringe. "You Sabahan and Sarawakians are unbelievable. You obviously haven't lived in West Malaysia long enough."

"Huh?"

"Just because Sabah and Sarawak is so mixed, with everyone having two or three bloods at once, its not the same here okay." He explains. "Its damn different here. You cant look at them without thinking, 'You took MY scholarship', or 'The Government gave you everything, EVERYTHING, and what did you do with it?'".

He sums it up, " Why should we minority step up and initiate racial unity when they are the majority and they still gang up against us? Whats the use?" Then he quickly adds, "You cant help being racist here, not with the way things are."

I remain quiet. Deep down inside, I know I love Malaysia, through all the political faults, the skepticism of racial unity, the finger pointing and the distractions. Perhaps I am being too noble, too disillusioned, too proud or brainwashed.

Or perhaps not. I love my country, do you?

***

.
But suppose God is black? What if we go to Heaven and we, all our lives, have treated the Negro as an inferior, and God is there, and we look up and He is not white? What then is our response? -Robert F Kennedy

What I've Learnt

2009-08-02T23:16:00.006+08:00

This was me leading worship in 2006

We had CF meeting just now which lasted for almost two hours. There were lots of planning and discussion about the CF, juniors and life in general. We planned the next two months ahead with super extra fun activities already and I'm suppose to invite Uncle Chan to speak on passion, I hope he'll be free on that day!

Then suddenly Susu asked us, "What did you learn this year as a committee member in CF?"

And I was stunned. I kept thinking and thinking, wondering- What lessons have I learnt? Was there anything I sacrificed? How have I grown spiritually, intellectually, emotionally as a Christian? Was there anything, even ONE thing, that I learnt as a Vice President for CF?

And again, I was stunned.

The answers were slow to come, but they came eventually. I'll share it one day!

This was me leading worship in 2008

My year here in KL has been a spiritual roller coaster- a series of adrenaline injections one after another, with varying degrees of intensity and time frames. In between these highs would be periods of extreme lows. I must have some form of spiritual-bi-polar disorder!

There is always that ounce of regret I will feel, because I know I could have done so much more for CF. Sometimes I wonder, why didn't I give my ALL when there was SO MUCH to give? Sometimes I did, and the heart was there, but...

But I gave my part, and Im thankful to God for that.

To all my juniors, I hope you don't ever regret like I did! If you want to be in the CF committee, GIVE YOUR BEST AND ALL! Don't do something half-heartedly and finally struggle in the end to give an answer to a simple question like "What have you learnt?".

Know your priorities, know your foundation, and know your passion.

Touch This

2009-08-01T01:08:00.003+08:00

This story starts with me all alone in a dark classroom, and a blown lightbulb.

Caught your attention? Well, I'll tell you three emotions you're definitely feeling now: Pissing, in and pants. Don't worry, you're feeling the exact same things I felt when the glowing ball of light exploded above my head.

BANG.

Everything i memorized from the Biology textbook in the last 30 minutes was literally blown away from my mind in a fit of asthma and wheezing. I don't generally do well under traumatic surprise. And there was that smell, like burnt rubber or plastic, but with a very sickly sweet aftertaste.

I did not panic, but walked to the door.

THEN SOMETHING TOUCHED ME.

I whipped back to see who did that, but nobody was there!

Even now as I'm writing this I'm wondering If my hyperactive overimagination thought it up or if I really did feel a hand on my shoulders. Either way, if any of you enter a classroom in the morning and the lights don't turn on, you know.

You know.

College Life Again

2009-07-14T18:42:00.005+08:00

Life's like a cute furry tiger (this is Shawn's pencilcase btw!) over a bunsen burner. Im not sure how the analogy works but this picture is damn cute.

With junior orientation week just over, and exams upon us, I feel like Im being heated over a flame. But of course, Im cuter than the tiger. Muahaha.

Orientation week was very fun.

I was in charge of Group 3 and we did a sketch performance. It was supposed to be a sad sketch, where people CRY left right and centre, but I saw Miss Azian my Biology lecturer laughing her eyeballs out. But in my defence, it was indeed quite funny! LOL sorry Group 3.

My seniors vs our batch in DOTA early this year

Juniors, still waiting for you guys to make the first move in suggesting a group activity with us seniors!!!

The Tarot Cafe

2009-06-20T20:02:00.004+08:00

After being the biggest failure in the restaurant industry by naming itself The Two Bananas, the corner shop at Bormil has since reinvented itself as The Tarot Cafe.

Picture stolen from someone else blog

But sanity in mind, who would ever eat at a cafe named two bananas in the first place?? It sounds like a gay strip bar. Every time I passed that cafe after tuition, I would wonder what kind of food they served. Banana Milkshake... with two lychees.. and chocolate shaving. Wahaha perverted mind!

Anyway, on to The Tarot Cafe!

We order our drinks according to numerology.
We add our birthdates together and see what drink it coincides with.

In this cafe apparently you can get Tarot Card consultation at RM30 per session (must have appointment first)! This is a cool concept but not really necessary because I don't need another person to tell me how awesome I am!

I haven't seen this concept yet in West Malaysia... maybe they have, but I never encountered it! Supernatural blend with food, a very good concept that will make everyone happy. Especially someone like me who loves food and weird things.

Funky cranberry juice + asamboi + sprite + mint + unknown substance. 8/10
Thick vanilla milkshake + cincau + sago + icecream. 6/10

Tarot Cafe is like Bing! or dare I compare it to Starbucks. Its more famous for its interesting drinks, where as the food is not as good. Larry, Phyllis, Siew Lin and I went jalan jalan cari makan and decided on this place because none of us have tried it before.

The inside of the restaurant is quite dark with phenolphthalein pink lighting

I ordered Honey Chicken, which was quite ordinary but still pleasant tasting. The rest ordered Seafood Fried Rice, Pataya Fried Rice and Sweet Sour Chicken. Overall, the food I can say is quite average and nothing to shout about. The price is also reasonable for such fancy cafes, meaning around the RM7 range per dish.

All of us were very full, and the total price for 4 people is RM60.

For people who have never tried it, at least go once for the experience! Its a nice place to hang out, but I still prefer Bing! .

Holiday + Damai Trip

2009-06-17T17:10:00.006+08:00

The first part of my holiday has been legen-waitforit-dary!

First I met up with old friends and just had a really good time.

Second, I finished watching three and a half seasons of "How I Met Your Mother" which is the most awesome sitcom that everyone has to watch! Barney Stinson is my idol!

First solve: 1 day 6 hours
(In my defense, it was really hard to understand the video!)

Third, I can solve the Rubiks cube under 3 minutes! I finally decided to learn the algorithms because I was so bored in the car on a roadtrip to Lundu last week. The ability to solve the cube is so cool, its like a superhero ability everyone can gain!

I've taught Kelvin and Larry so far. Pretty soon, the whole world will know!

Beh and Eric: Streetfighter Style

Fourth, Beh and Eric are in Kuching and we went Damai beach to stay!

We stayed in a chalet beside the beach which I can say is a few times cleaner than the Batu Feringhi beach (Penang) and a 1000 times cleaner than the Sepang Gold Coast beach (otherwise known as Mud Central, stay away, far away!)

Clear waters, white sand, green hills, blue skies.
Only Sabah beats this. Sarawakians be proud!

Honestly Borneo rocks. The West Coast of Semenanjung is like one long stretch of empty bottles, aluminium cans, plastic bags and mud.Oh God, Sepang Gold Coast, dont even THINK of going there. Worse beach ever. Whats so Gold about that place anyway.

We had fun in the pool/beach/sea and got sunburnt. Built a sandcastle, canoe'd around in the sea. Eric cant swim so he got really scared when we went out to the (not so) deep part.

Me and cute awesome handsome Beh (dont kill me CL!)

The only two sane guys who actually thought of bringing goggles.

I shall go to Damai Puri one day and compare!

By the way, question: Guys, when you wear underwear, do you park your thing upwards or downwards? Serious question. I only inserted this in the middle of the blog post because people dont read the intro or the ending.

After that we played tennis in the court and ended up chasing balls more that hitting it. Then we went to Buntal to eat seafood, but the nice famous restaurant (at the end of the kampong) was closed so we had to settle for one of the middle ones. The food was okayish only, definitely not foodgarsmic.

You know that feeling after a good meal?
"Kill me right now, while I feel contented and happy with life"

Jellyfish, fried prawns, oyster pancake, belachan midin, steamed fish, char kueh tiaw, and a lot of Teh C Special. Those two West Malaysian guys loved Teh C Special so much they drank rounds and rounds of it. (Either that or they found the food too salty, because I did)

I swear our oyster pancake is better than whatever scrambly eggish one the Penang people claim is the best. They eat theirs with chilli sauce for Gods sake!

At night we played pool and 21, and Beh has his first cocktail and alcohol. LOL. He was giggling like a silly kid at the end of it. I won a grand total of RM4, gosh I feel so good.

We had fun. Beh, Me, and Kelvin.

Funny story: In the lounge bar there was a family from KL on holiday there, so I went up to one of the kids- a 16/17 year old guy- to talk to him, socialize, get to know each other. Sounds good right? NO. I totally forgot that this is Malaysia, where the first rule of the thumb is Dont Talk To Strangers. Imagine really awkward silence. =)

The Sky is falling! The Sky is falling!

Hope the rest of my holidays are just as fun!!

The Textbook and I

2009-05-19T12:43:00.006+08:00

The apartment is quiet. I glance up from my table and arch my back, praying away the headache and backpain. That's when all of a sudden, someone voiced out.

“I am God.”

I stare at the Physics textbook. “Cool,” I reply back nonchalantly, ignoring the fact that an inanimate object I was studying a minute ago just initiated dialogue with me. “But that’s just bullshit talking.”

“Think, Daniel, think,” a ray of Malaysian sunshine hits its plastic cover giving it a supernatural glow. “You worship me. You study my word every day and memorize my laws.” The textbook flaps its great pages, as though lecturing an impertinent child “And my believers put their faith in me to the test in exams.”

“Then not a lot of people have faith, I suppose,” I scratch my head.

The textbook ignores me and continues orating. “People around the world glorify me for who I am and what I’ve done in their lives. I am prayed to, by millions of people around the world- on the classroom board, upon their notes and papers, and engraved in their hearts.”

“Well, there’s a difference between personal conviction and being told what to do. I’m being forced to study Physics, doesn’t mean you are God.” I told it off. The textbook performs a stupid little dance on my study table. “Doesn’t mean I think you are God and...”

It stops dancing and suddenly turns around, a hard look on its face. In a serious voice it said, “Well my brothers Biology and Chemistry do make serious contenders for the throne but…”

I cut back. “…and surely you are not supposed to be talking.”

“That’s the point. I’m not talking. You’re imagining this whole conversation in your head.”

Revelation hits me. I’m stunned speechless. I’m imagining you? This is just a fantasy?

“That’s right,” the textbook plops down dead on the table again. It concludes in a fading voice.

“Exactly like God…”

Underseasoned and Overcooked

2009-04-19T14:56:00.004+08:00

Sigh...

I cooked dinner for my family the night before I went back to college.
It actually looks pretty good. That is, until you put it in your mouth.
Oh well, we cant all be perfect.

I dont know what went wrong~

It was an attempt to recreate this: Italian Baked Lamb.
You know I followed everything online, down to the very last pinch of salt.
And yet it ended up tasting sad. Very very sad.

Haha no worries! I shall try my hand at cooking once again when I get back to Kuching in June.

But for now, AS exams are upon me, and valiant efforts are due. Study on!

The Firecracker Tale

2009-04-18T02:12:00.006+08:00

This is a real story that occurred 12 years ago, when I was in Standard 1. It's the most vivid memory I have as a seven year old boy, namely because It was a really damn brave thing to do.

I was studying in SK Ong Tiang Swee. While other students had their own communal seats with friends, I was forced to sit at the teachers table so the teacher could keep a close eye on me- as I was a notorious hyperactive attention whore. I recall the dull pain of the rotan stick, and the sharp twisted tug at my sideburns whenever I got too carried away. I was quite the little devil!

One early morning after the Chinese New Year break, I climbed up my father's cupboard to take down some match firecrackers. Slipping it into my pocket, I waltzed into the car like nothing happened and was ushered to school.

I think, five minutes after being dropped off, I lighted a cracker and threw it in the hallway.

Full of students my age.

In the chaos that followed- the panicked screams, followed by loud cries and sobs, of teachers running and scrambling- I stood there like a statue among the storm. I took everything in, every tear and every frantic look. I think at that moment I realized my calling in life, and with that revelation I walked away with a sneer on my face, cracker box tucked away at the folds of my socks.

One step, two step, three step.

A million steps away, 12 years into the future, I realized I haven't changed much. No, not at all.

My Great Grandfather

2009-04-13T01:10:00.003+08:00

This is a photo of my Great Grandfather.

Does he look anything like me? After three generations of genetic distillation and watering down, I'm still his descendant, and he's still my ancestor. And I'm proud of him!

He's Peranakan, meaning Baba. I wanted to take a picture of my Great Nonya Grandmother who looks so so pretty but my grandfather wouldn't let me, because she was pregnant in that picture, and I think its pantang to take picture.

So yeah. Pretty awesome aye?

March Babies

2009-04-09T23:23:00.005+08:00

I think Secret Recipe is awesome.

Sharon and I went to Secret Recipe to order a huge cake. So after a long long time, we finally decided on a 4kg Mango Delight cake. We politely asked the staff if we could decorate the cake ourselves, and they said yes!

Observe the huge ass cake that Sharon and I beautifully decorated:

Red by Sharon, Green by me!

So we blindfolded all seven March Babies and brought them downstairs to the cafeteria area where we curi-curi use their tables and chairs. Then, after a count to three, we unblinfolded them and they scream like crazy.

Joel was being greedy!

Blowing the huge 4kg (I cant help repeating the weight) cake...

From the left, Queenie, Christine, Eric, Chua, Choong, Joel and Li Yan

Ok this post is short because I am lazy. Just to show you the beautiful cake. Haha.

Buy Secret Recipe!

Lets Talk Crap

2009-03-18T01:47:00.007+08:00

All my life I've been quite a vocal person, speaking out my thoughts in random sentences. I love questioning and arguing, and I absolutely adore explaining something I am passionate about.

In fact, debate has been one of the most enjoyable moments of my Secondary School life.

We won and won in 2006. 2007, 2008...

I like talking in English and using big ostentatious words to confound and dumbfound. See, I did it again. But only on stage where big words are allowed, and with friends (or the lack thereof) who understand and are not put off. I'm not inclined to go around saying smart things and getting my head whacked for being elitist. Heck, I'm not even inclined to use the word inclined in normal sentences.

You can see why I feel out of place in college. But anyway.

Talking is only awesome if the other party actually understands what going on.

Gasping happens to be a vital part in the listen-talk cycle.

Either way, being in a fully government-sponsored college is.. odd.

People study too much, and don't talk, equalizing their social skill to slightly above 3.141592654 over 100.

Or people do socialize, but only on a superficial layer where everything seems "Oh how are you, old chap?" and "Why fine, thank you, spot of tea with that Pi?" followed by a string of curse words. And nothing ever goes beyond that fine onion skin.

OK, actually I'm exaggerating to prove a point. Who can take away people like Joel or Chua or Shawn, I ask you? Crazy asses. I would die in college without them.

Teaching and learning from juniors are awesome. Absolutely awesome.

Which makes me slightly doubt my ability to be in the medical profession. Maybe all doctors were solemn and somber and silent when in their teens. Maybe I should have been a clown. Or a priest?

My moral parsimony score came out at 41%, for Lord's sake!

I'm vocal. Give me a script and a character and I'll bloody bring him to life. Give me an abstract topic and I'll expound and propound until your ears bleed. Give me a medical textbook and I'll make you eat all 6782 pages of it.

Oh wait, I know. I'll learn Mandarin!

College- Where People Kill YOU!

2009-03-14T02:37:00.007+08:00

I Love Superheroes

2009-03-08T14:28:00.005+08:00

I shall name myself Daniel, Protector of Bags.

I just watched Watchmen, it was a 8/10 awesome that I'm so gonna go to Comics MART and buy myself their comics.

After a long delay I finally read all of Marvel Civil War, Initiative and Road to Civil War.

I finished playing Call of Duty 4 and Crysis. Crysis was crazy awesome I wonder why it took 2 years for a 2007-Game-Of-The-Year to reach me.

I ate some Irish lamb stew pie at Pastis, The Gardens last night for dinner, for free. Thanks Jason you're awesome!

And my eyes hurt so now I'm gonna publish post and sign out...

Time and Time again

2009-02-16T17:03:00.005+08:00

I remember this particular incident when my friends and I were telling ghost stories at 3am on a dark and deserted beach- Saturday night. I told it after my malay friend told us about Orang Bunian and how they can lead little children away in jungles.

View from outside my house

In Primary 2, I was still living in Terengganu, in the small town on Kertih. I was studying in the only primary school in the area, SK Rantau Petronas- a school built by the said oil company for the children of its workers.

My school was beside the beach.

Around the middle of the year, we had a jogathon where we had to run a length of the beach and around the half deserted area. I took part in this jogathon test-run. Not the actual jogathon, just the part where you learn the proper routes. There were teachers and prefects stationed at almost every corner, so it was almost impossible to get lost.

But I still did. I got lost.

I'll tell the story like how I remember it. I was jogging, jogging, jogging, with my group of 8 year old friends. I remember seeing an old teacher in tudung waving us to the right. Sini Sini she waved her hand and we all took the turn. That was the last words I heard. Sini sini.

I cant quite recall what happened, but I soon found myself jogging alone. It was not a sudden sort of thing where you suddenly find yourself all alone, but I think I was jogging in a daze. It was sort of like sleepwalking, where you can only remember that you were walking when you've woken up.

I found myself standing alone in the middle of a cow field.

I walked around for quite some time, confused and wondering where I was. The place reeked of cowshit and flies buzzed all over the place. But very soon, a teacher came running to me and dragged me back to school, all the while scolding me and asking why I'd ran away. I could'nt answer her. Apparently, the cow field was just a short distance behind the school, past some light jungle area.

When I got back to school, I found out the jogathon run had finished almost two hours ago.

More than two hours of my life gone. Because I got lost very early in the jogathon run. I couldn't and cant explain what happened. It could be my current memory of what happened then, distorted by years of living. Or maybe I fell asleep while jogging and went into the sleepwalking phase that i had when I was a child.

Sometimes when I try hard to think back at that moment, I hazily recall jogging, not alone, but with someone else. Another friend. Or another child- laughter and jogging and sweat. Pushing and leading. But then, like dreams, the memory's something i cant grab a hold on to.

But I know I never took part in a jogathon again.

From Boy To Man

2009-02-03T18:11:00.008+08:00

Disclaimer: Some words in this blog post may be considered dirty/obscene but I'm just telling it as it is. =)

"Hey Chua, why you never shave yet?"

"Because my mustache make me look more 'man' lor... macho macho woo woo..." Chua squeaked his reply under a tropical forest of 'man'hood.

"But it makes you look horny =.=" like a horny old man," I teased him. "Come on, so old liao la you, 18 years de... shave shave shave!"

"Walau you... okay whatever."

So, as comrades in arms, we searched the whole apartment for a new shaving razor, and after many minutes, we finally found one worthy of Chua's beautiful face.

He shivered in anticipation as he lathered the cool cream over his chin.
Nearby, the razor awaited its destiny.

It was a moment like no other in our apartment. Here we have a young boy, Chua, who has never taken a razor upon his chin, but ever ready to pursue his dreams to manhood. His virgin skin gleamed under the fluorescent light at the watch of 5 pairs of eyes. His mind turmoiled against itself- "Maicheeebye, how I get myself into this?!?"

But in his act of determination, history was redefined.

The world watched the event unfold.
There was a great silence as the blade touched his skin for the first time.

And when the ordeal was over, the rites of initiation complete, Chua came out a new man. With a gleam in his eyes, a smile on his lips, he wiped his face and looked into a mirror. His first words brought tears to our eyes...

"FARKKKK WHY I LOOK LIKE GIRL NOW?!"

Oh Good Lord =3 So cute hahaha...

College life. Truly a time of new beginnings.

What will you hit?

2009-01-27T12:56:00.003+08:00

Happy New Year btw!

Top 10 things I want to eat before I turn 30

2009-01-19T13:31:00.005+08:00

1. Foie Gras, only because its so damn expensive.

2. Sturgeon Caviar

3. Every cheese the world has to offer, or to be more practical, at least twenty types of cheese. But currently I prefer processed cheese like Cheesedale, so I my palate is probably screwed up.

4. White truffle or Black Périgord Truffle, if only to understand why it should taste any better than chinese black fungus used to cook most yummy soups.

5. New York-style Pizza, and yes, from New York

6. Italian cream puffs or cream pastry, the Good Lord only knows what they're called. But they're supposed to be heavenly. Cannolis?!

7. Vietnamese beef noodles from a road-side stall in Vietnam

8. Turkish kebab

9. A deep fried sandwich exploding with ham, tomatoes and cheese and sinfully dripping in oil. Oh. My. Go..

10. Greek baked lamb with potatoes and something with a lot of yogurt

Today I...

2009-01-15T18:26:00.002+08:00

Played Big 2 until 4.00am.

Slept at 4.00am.

Woke up at 10.15am for a 10.00am Physics lecture.

Went to lecture incredibly late only to find out class barely started.

At 12.00pm lunch for rm4.50 consisting of chicken, curry potatoes and taugeh.

Study study study.

At 2.oopm went to Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi to withdraw money and eat second lunch: KFC.

At 4.00pm, attended a ceramah by super-seniors in final year medical India.

Laughed and cried until almost died at their explanations of life in India.

Bad: Life sucks there, big big time. =(
Good: At 700USD a month, you save a lot and most of the seniors have gone holidaying to the UK and US already. =D

At 6.45pm, blogging...

2008: Change We Can Believe In

2008-12-31T16:28:00.008+08:00

1. [√] Straight A1 for SPM 2007

2. [√] 100% Scholarship

3. [√] Post SPM job and achieve ≥1k

4. [X] New 3.2mp+ Handphone

5. [X] Dell XPS or Macbook

6. [???] Do something outstanding

7. [X] And get featured in newspaper

8. [√] And handshake by Prime Minister

9. [√] And rule Malaysia

10.[√] WORLD DOMINATION!!!

I Sold My Soul To Steve Jobs

2008-12-31T00:53:00.003+08:00

And all I got in return was dead pixels.

Short Stories from College

2008-12-09T01:25:00.005+08:00

#1 Earth Gods

The day was long and hot; The land was dry and barren. Below the cracked surface, the brown mold that covers the things beneath and between, the sand rocks and gravel, and under that too- the Earth Gods lay in their waste.

Their skin split. Their hands and feet and limbs crumbled and spilt.

One by one the Earth Gods died, and died, and died. Until the last one gave its last breath and returned to its creation; for from dust it was born, and to dust it will return. And Earth and all her spirit returned with it.

High above, humans turn open their taps...

#2 Poetry to the Cup

Its a little absurd,
To think that a little lizard,
Would have such the nerve
As to take bath in my cup!

If only it had deterred,
The poor screwed-up little lizard,
A fate it did not deserve-
To take bath in my cup!

#3 Effects of Vampire Bites on Washington Apples

Studies using the scientific method show that apples bitten by the King of all Vampires rarely display supernatural tendencies. In the most widely accepted study, "Effects of Vampire Bites on Washington Apples," Dracula was asked to bite 50 Washington apples, and a non-vampire bit an additional 50 apples as part of the control group.

Of the results, only four apples bitten by Count Dracula demonstrated paranormal attributes. That is, at night, they would grow wings and attempt to fly. The wings were too small and weak to produce any kind of lift.

Conversely, only one apple in the control group demonstrated paranormal attributes. It divided into two apples, both of which were later married to each other in a mock ceremony conducted by overzealous scientists.

#4 The Paper Man

Dear Aunt Help,

My roommate has a problem: He hates my guts.

Its as though he exists in his own world! Seriously! Every day he just lies down on his bed and study study STUDY! He ignores everything and anything around him, especially me!

I've tried reaching out to him, talking to him, buying him food, washing his dishes. However, every time I try to do something good to him, he ignores me! He does not pay any attention to me and just continues being a "geek" and study!

I think one day he will turn into paper, if he studies any more!! Help me, Aunt Help, how do I reach out to him, stop him from studying, and make him my friend?

Daniel

#5 The Penang Trip

One holiday ago, my friends and I went to Penang for a 4 day 3 nights holiday. It was a good but bad trip. For the most part, as helpless penniless students, we had to use public transport ie Rapid Penang, which wasted at least half our time there.

We stayed at Batu Feringghi for the first two nights, and at Gurney on the last night.

It was a great trip! Penang has a lot of hot ~~guys~~ girls!!!

Waiting for Rapid Penang bus while fooling around at Batu Feringghi

Vanity kills

SMS

2008-12-05T14:11:00.003+08:00

"Have you had any surgery?"
"No."
"Are you on any special medication?"
"No."

Its the same old routine questions.
I glanced at the checklist in the nurse's hands.
My gosh, not even a quarter through!
This is getting boring.

The nurse went on with her questions.
I let my thoughts wander.
I nod and shake my head as necessary...

"...are you?"
I jumped!
I realized that I haven't been paying attention
for at least the past five questions.

"I'm sorry?"
"How big are you? What's your SIZE?"
I thought I heard sultriness in her voice.

I looked at her.
She was glancing sidelong at me.
A small smile on her lips.
A mischievous smile...
And that look, is that coyness?

I leaned closer, close enough to give her a scent of me...
And with my lips at her ear, I whispered...

"LARGE."

-My first SMS of the day from a friend, that woke me up from my sleep. Here's to you, buddy. Hope your medical checkup doesn't show up anything that's not supposed to be there. Cheers.

CF in KTT

2008-11-29T16:15:00.006+08:00

Looks like its been a thousand years since I've been blogging. Or two thousand, by blogosphere standards.

A couple of reasons have been flying haywire like bees in an empty stadium (like a sea of delocalized electrons?), namely: Oh you know arhhh... Daniel don't blog anymore because he's been infected by the scholarship blog-ban scare... later he kicked out of college, how!?

Or a more honest and truthful reason: Oh you know arhhh... Daniel don't blog anymore because he's scared shitless by the semester final exams and wants to score high marks and he's just been studying 25 hours a day and has no social life and yakity yak yak chicken dung.

Which is, of course, is what really happened. Minus an hour, and the chicken dung.

So for this short brief post, Christian Fellowship in KTT!

Your regulars in a "lecture hall", about 20 people. It looks like PBK yeah?

CF at Nilai Baptist Church in... Nilai. Lol.

Group picture! Because we're all natural cam~~whores~~angels...

Andrew, the previous President of CF, he is very handsome horh?

Jun Kai the lousy boy =P

No Christian Fellowship is complete without its regular demon...

I go to two churches every Sunday now. Nilai Baptist Church in the morning and Acts Church in the evening. So basically church for me is a 10.30am-9.30pm thing... 12 hours on the run. Its not that i'm trying to be "super holy" or anything, but church is a really fun place to go to!

And I guess thats all, folks.

I think i've lost my blogging spirit!

Fantasyland

2008-10-26T13:30:00.004+08:00

I grab open the car door and climb in, one foot at a time, until my whole body snuggles comfortably into the back seat of a Kancil. My uncle turns the ignition, fires up the car's engine to a smooth purr, and I tell myself Oh Lord this is going to be one hell of a trip.

The Kancil backs out of the parking lot. I thumb my knees, I stare out of the window, the world slows down around me and I... and I...

I'm a superhero with superpowers, I mind control those around me to do my will... I'm a pink butterfly flying around earth observing everything... Dragons and demons emerge from the webway and attack humankind... I'm in Barney the dinosaur's suit, and I rhyme new songs for little kids... The space-time continuum is disrupted and burns a hole in our dimension; past present and future implodes upon a single point... I'm Charlie in the chocolate factory... I'm...

BANG!

The real world comes into focus as the driver parks the car. We're finally at our destination. What the.. what time is it, I bring my watch to view and let out an audible gasp. Shock hits me as I realize that I've just lost track of four hours of my life- that I almost permanently blanked out in fantasyland.

A moment of revelation comes to me. All the instances that I retreated to my own domain- church, lectures, classes, studying, while taking a shower. How many hours have I lost?

Sometimes, the world just spins around me and I feel like I'm going mental.

Or maybe I already am.

Worship Leading (and Cake)

2008-10-21T01:05:00.009+08:00

The title of this blog post is one of those impossible things- dream, fantasy, fiction and everything in between.

But apparently nothing is impossible. Or I'm Alice in Wonderland.

Me and Susu, Black and White

The first day of being 18 years old, and there I was worship leading in my home church in West Malaysia- Nilai Baptist Church. I never thought God would give me this wonderful chance in a place out of my hometown.

The past few days before the Sunday Service, about 18 of us students were living in the church's student house in Nilai. That was because there was NO WATER in my college because a main water pipe burst somewhere.

Imagine 4 days in college with no water, no food, no taking bath- makes me really appreciate good clean water. Thank goodness for the church for letting us stay in the student house.

Here are some random pictures:

The worship team.

From the left, Susu, Daniel, Li Yen, Hui Fen, Sarah and Andrew

Me and Sarah (You know, Sarah from TMC Kuching? LOL)
I know holding a guitar like that is... bad for the guitar. But still, awesome picture, no?
Having dinner- CHINESE FOOD FOR ONCE!! =D
Something to seriously thank God for, after eating Malay food everyday in KTT. =.=

In the student house we did not manage to sleep for 4 days. We played Taboo, Pictionary, Truth or Dare, camwhored, ~~gossiped~~ chatted and sung many songs until very early in the morning.

And my friends also surprised me by celebrating my birthday!

I forgot that it was already midnight and it was 18th October because we were watching a movie. Then suddenly Chua said he had stomach ache and went to the back of the house. 1 minute later the whole place exploded in HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUU!!! while Chua and Joel ran out with a chocolate cake and it just shocked me speechless.

The cake said "Happy Birthday Beautiful Boy"

A fantastic way to start off my 18th year of life on this beautiful planet.

Worship Leading and Cake. =)

Like Ice on a BBQ Pit

2008-10-18T00:00:00.000+08:00

And if you count the number of ice, it tallies at 18. One for every year.

Happy Birthday to me, I'm finally 18 and legal.

Pecutan PMR

2008-10-09T21:34:00.005+08:00

"What's X times X?"

Awkward silence hung in the air. I tried rephrasing my question in Malay.

"Apa X darab dengan X?"

Slow blinks and confused stares; I could hear the tiny tinkle of gear grudgingly churning in their minds. But no answer.

"Seriously... anyone? X times X? Anyone?" I looked, one by one, at my group of three Form3 students. My shoulders dropped an inch. An audible sigh.

"Anyone??"

There I was, in SMK Engku Husain in Semenyih, part of a Pecutan PMR program to help the poor Form3 students who were going to sit for their PMR next week. My college had chosen the school as its "sekolah angkat" and about 40 A level students had gone to help out in the Pecutan PMR program.

My group consisted of 3 students, of whom all but one barely understood a syllable of English. My Bahasa Melayu being so atrocious, I wondered if being there teaching them was any help at all. Honestly, I was quite disheartened when I found out how poor they were in their studies- If they did not know what X times X means, how on earth are they going to take PMR just a week later?

"Damn," I muttered to myself, as I got around to teaching them that the question involving X and Y's does NOT mean you can draw dirty cartoons all over the answer sheet. Does NOT mean you can sleep and drool over the answer sheet. Does NOT mean you can make paper planes OUT OF the answer sheet.

Two excruciating days later (and numerous explanations on "X"s, the existence of something called "saliva", and why humans really really need oxygen), we finished the program. 40 sighs of relief could be heard throughout the hall.

Just before leaving however, my three students came up to me.

Shaking my hands, they thanked me.

"Terima kasih kerana sudi datang... kerana sudi mengajar kami."

After wishing them all the best in their PMR, I turned around and walked out the Hall. Deep inside me, I really was hoping the best for them. If not in their studies, then maybe some other aspect of life. If not now, then later on in life.

Me? I've finally realized how blessed I am and where I am at this moment.

And I'm grateful.

Mooncake at Nilai + KTT

2008-09-19T09:59:00.005+08:00

Nilai College Mooncake Festival

A short geographical lesson.

INTI College, Nilai College and East Tech College (ahem... Kolej teknologi Timur) are all in the same area, ie the Sepang area near KLIA. We're probably only 10 minutes from each other by car.

All three colleges are in the middle of nowhere. Good luck if you come.

As entertainment deprived students, we went all the way to Nilai College
to celebrate Mooncake Festival with them

There were games like peeling the pamelo, making lanterns...

And then we played lantern and walked around this huge RESORT of a college.
The college is super beautiful. It got what Best Looking College Award or something.

Anak Murid Kolej Teknologi Timur

KTT MOONCAKE FESTIVAL

In the past few weeks a lot have happened, and one of the more interesting ones is that i'm elected as a Student Council Representative for my college. Apparently, I am now the EXCO Keceriaan dan Pembangunan.

This KTT Mooncake Festival is one of our newly formed Student Council's pet project.

To see if we can actually organize an activity. =)

Registration in front of the college. RM1 for lantern+four candles+mooncakes.

We walked with our lanterns up to the hill in front of our college. The hill overlooks the whole of Sepang and has a great view of KLIA and airplanes in a far distance...

Because I'm vain...

On the hill, college students revealed themselves to be the camwhore they truly are...

And that was my mooncake festival. Nice nice hor?

SUPP Dinner, Subang, and a Wedding Lunch

2008-09-02T14:36:00.008+08:00

Last Friday, I went to a dinner held by SUPP (Sarawak United Peoples Party) at JW Marriot Putrajaya.

I never knew a Menteri Perusahaan Perladangan dan Komoditi existed....

A 9 course meal enough to make any ~~half dead of starvation~~ hungry KTTian happy for a month or two. At least until the next drought comes in (which is bloody hell NOW, because the cafeterias DONT open for lunch due to puasa). Although it doesn't make much difference if the cafeterias are open anyway.

KTT food = Sad
INTI food= Pork
Subang food= Can die happy
JW Marriot food= Please dont let me die I want an eternity to eat it

Methodist Sibu dudes, Nicholas on the bus window, and Yii Change/Joyce/Jene

After the dinner I did not follow the bus back to my college but went to Nicholas Ting's house in Subang to bunk for the night. He picked me up at JW Marriot Putrajaya, drove to Ampang, took a wrong turn, RETURNED BACK to Putrajaya, and we took another extra one hour LOST on the road before reaching home at 1am.

Feeling= Damn sien + tired
After seeing the house= "Damn that's one huge......"

Daniel, Brenda, Joyce, Larry, Lucky and Nicholas

Larry came over on Saturday and we hung out together. We went to a book fest in Bandar Utama and I bought a few books, namely "The Book Thief", a huge ass bible looking "Edgar Allan Poe Selected Works" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns."

Total damage done= Less than a hundred omg

I felt so nauseated after walking for hours through the crowd of books and sweaty people trying to grab at half priced literature. I saw a lot of "Breaking Dawn"s in peoples baskets, silly fools. Wont they be so disappointed. Heh heh.

Happy moments gaying multiple guys shall never be erased from memory!!!

Have you ever felt hungry at 3am and said, "Hey, lets go to McDonalds!" and really went and binged on fries and apple pies. Well, now I can say I have. Somehow I wish I was schooling in Taylors...

Staying at Subang for 4 days is fun. You should try it.

Lalalala...

On Sunday I went to my cousin's wedding luncheon at Puchong. ~~He got someone pregn...~~ I mean, he and a girl got married on a spur of a moment which of course incurs some suspicion. Either way, I've never seen my cousin before until now and I dont really care.

As long as free food flows, Im happy with whoever you bang.

Stomach= Happy these few days

Relatives I never knew existed

And on Monday I went back by Komuter to Nilai. Three hours of crowded hell in a train.

Happiness.

Laser Tag

2008-08-23T00:09:00.005+08:00

They should open ten more of these outlets in Kuching. Its like a playing CS in real life. I think its better than paintball, because laser tag has unlimited bullets and it doesnt give you horrific bruises when shot.

Today Larry messaged me "Hey, lets go out!" which woke me up from my beauty afternoon nap. So after receiving the message, I went to the living room to watch some TV... when suddenly...

Hon Hon Hon!!!

Larry was outside my house already! SWT! He just messaged me 1 minute ago and straight away come to my house. So I just went with him and we managed to play laser tag. That game is really damn fun, it made me sweat for the first time in a long time. Then after that we went to the BSN to get his Yayasan Sarawak RM500 SPM money banked in, and he sent me home.

Which is kinda all I did today.

The sad life of Daniel Chong. Lol.

The Historian

2008-08-21T13:36:00.003+08:00

There are books in this world that will make you think: How did I EVER live my life before reading this book?!

These are the kind of books that will make you say: Shit. This means all the books I've been reading BEFORE this is a truckload of rubbish rubbish rubbish!

HOLY MOTHER OF GODZILLA!?

And this was the reaction I had after reading this book finish, followed by the longest mental orgasm I have ever had in my life. This has to be the most amazing crazy fantastic wonderful masterpiece of a novel I have read in a long time, I'm literally jumping up and down in my seat right now typing this blog post.

Either that or Breaking Dawn just left my brains dry and rotting away in barren wasteland that any damn novel would have made me explode in excitement.

The Historian is a crazy good read which gave me a crazy good backache too.

Don't worry no spoilers! In this novel, basically, a young woman finds- tucked away in her fathers old and aging library- an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters.

The book is blank, and the letters addressed to "My dear and unfortunate successor..." and they plunge her into a world she never dreamed of—a labyrinth where the secrets of her father's past and her mother's mysterious fate connect to an inconceivable evil hidden in the depths of history.

And the letters? Oh nothing much... other than the fact that it describes an ongoing quest to find out the truth about history's darkest times and what really happened to Vlad the Impaler, the medieval ruler whose barbarous reign formed the basis of the legend of Dracula.

You have to get this book, seriously.
Make your daddy bring you to the nearest bookstore.

Oh no, this isn't just another "stupid vampire story". No way. I think this novel is a lot of notches above Harry Potter and puts the Twilight Series into the negatives. Heck, Buffy, Angel or Darren Shan is for butterflies after reading this. Stephen King probably squirmed in his seat in embarrassment when he read this.

The only thing I'm regretting is, this book was published in 2005.

HOW IN ULTRAMANS SACRED NAME DID I MISS THIS BOOK AND BUY IT THIS WEEK ONLY, FOUR YEARS AFTER ITS RELEASE??!

You think I actually read in the toilet? Of course not la.. acting only.

I'm so sure I'm the last person in Kuching to read this novel. In other case, this blog post is most probably redundant and I can only urge you to...

READ IT AGAIN~~!!

Breaking Dawn Sucked

2008-08-06T12:44:00.003+08:00

Spoiler Warning!

Getting this Breaking Dawn eBook one hour before the Malaysian release date made me blow up and just haemolyze out of extreme happiness. Reading the SILLY SMALL FONT on the laptop however did wonders to my eyes and I now find myself able to shoot radioactive lasers out of my iris. Among other Xray wonders, hoho!

Finishing this novel is like... finally being able to die of boredome.

The entire novel was a mishmash missmatch combo of a horrendously linked plot, tacky tacked-on storylines and a wonderful deus ex machina to end it with a blast (of gay pink confetti).

Bella's pregnancy was too "well-scripted" that I think every reader knew she was pregnant before she and Edward got down to doing it in the first place. Dreams of babies that were never explained (what, she's psychic now?) and supercalifragilistic long boring romance scenes (although the black French lingirie was a nice touch, hoho!)...

Bla bla bla the middle of the book. Yawn.

The ending was crazy boring. Here, we have the ancient kick-ass Volturi against the Carlisle family + Shapeshifting Puppies, and no rivers-of-blood-mountains-of-bodies fight?? The novel's failed attempt at trying so hard to make us believe that there would be a fight made "having a fight" the only possible plot twist that the whole thing actually doesnt make sense anymore. If you get my logic. You don't? Oh...

Alice suddenly budging in machine god style. Bad bad bad.

My advice is to buy the book only if you want to be able to tell your friends that you've read it. Or... there's Wikipedia?

Lecturers Day In KTT

2008-07-26T19:25:00.008+08:00

I have not been studying for the past week. Why?

Because of a certain special day for all the lecturers in KTT, which is, Lecturers Day!

The lecturers performing a funny sketch for us students to watch

Involvement in the college choir, we sang You Raised Me Up

And I also danced Ballroom Cha Cha on the smallest stage in the universe You Tube video coming up soon!

Random Pictures of Silly People

This picture taken in IELTS class and has nothing to do with anything...

LETS PUT A SMILE ON YOUR FACE~

Anyway, I went to watch Batman Dark Night today in GSC. I'd have to say that the Joker has become my number 1 idol from now on and its my current life long goal to be like him, smile like him, talk like him, and laugh like him.

On another note, Pak Cik Parang went on an amok rampage the other day and slapped two of my friends, of whom one is my housemate.Word of it got out on Recom, an education forum, and our College went all out to stamp it out and erase all posts in order to keep things hush hush. How interesting to watch freedom of speech get choked when students are getting slapped left right centre.

Perhaps one day we will be able to get back at him.

But then again... WHY SO SERIOUS??

I Dropped Maths

2008-07-18T17:52:00.004+08:00

Guts: checked.

Balls: checked.

I puffed up my chest in mock bravery, and entered the Academic Head's office. There he was, a Mr. Razib, at his desk saving the world with every letter he typed unto his Dell laptop. The intense sense of purpose etched upon the frown on his forehead spoke of absolute power and incontrovertible command.

I almost fainted as he looked up and pierced my fragile shallow heart with a stare that could move many mountains.

"Yes?" he asked. His voice echoed throughout the four corners of the globe.

"I would like to..." I began smoothly, until I saw the red glint on his eyes, a sudden expression that blossomed from that vicious twinkle, something that unquestionably brought up memories of instant death by noodles. So I stammered, "to to to to to... drop Maths."

"Why?"

"Well sir... well... because Its really really boring..."

Body bag: checked.

Orientation Week Has Ended

2008-07-04T19:04:00.004+08:00

KTT has the bestest bunch of lecturers and MPPs (Majlis Perwakilan Pelajar) in the world. I can say about 90% of our lecturers graduated overseas with a Degree and Masters in their respective fields, and their English is too good that I feel scared. The MPPs are so friendly and supportive of us juniors.

No ragging here= PHEW!

The performance competition was not a flop, and our group's Drama got number 2. Big nice hampers were won and shall be eaten soon enough. Muahaha. Which is good considering we practiced till unearthly hours of the night.

Ugly picture swt

Oh yeah, and I got crowned Prince of Orientation Week. So sexy, eh? LOL

My KTT Apartment

2008-07-02T13:02:00.002+08:00

People here are scary. I just came back from an insanely mad rush at buying the Chemistry and Biology textbook which were limited in stock . RM300 for both, I am absolutely pokai for now. To compensate, I bought second hand Physics and Maths textbooks for a couple of Ringgit each and I shall now laugh at you all:

Hua hua hua! =P

About the apartments here, It actually exceeded expectations lah. Its probably nothing compared to what Taylors, Sedaya and INTI Nilai students are getting (free air con, you little buggers...), but I'm happy with it.

Lets take a look at a two day old apartment:

Lusciously glazed porcelain tiles of the finest and rarest quality, flown in from distant Persia, as the base upon which all things stand upon.

Tables and cupboards made from the the hardest of ancient timber, handcrafted to perfection by ~~child labourers~~ skilled artisans of mixed and exotic nationality. The chair made of durable polycarbonate, the very same one used on the Macbook.

Roommates made from... sugar, spice and everything nice.

Bed and pillows stuffed with feathers of near extinct birds, sleeping on it requires a spirit of pleasure and self fulfillment. This room is not my room but an example of how roomy a room can get. You don't need to bring your own fan because its provided and it can get VERY cold at night.

The kitchen area. Nothing much to say, only that we will have to take away a few kettles. Rules are one kettle per apartment only.

And the toilet that God forsook. Yesterday, my roommates and I poured stain remover everywhere and proceeded to give a good scrub down. It now looks 10 times better. Trust me.

And that's it. Time to rest for a while before going down again.

This Week is Orientation Week

2008-07-01T23:11:00.003+08:00

Oh. My. God.

That's the first thing I said to myself when I was elected as Ketua for my orientation group- a group that was 3/4 tudung'ites. Before I came here, I vowed to stay as low key as possible and not attract any attention. No, I did not want to be any leader with any responsibility of any sort. No I do not want to be the head of any student council. No I do not want to molest every guy and girl out there. No, No, NO!

Now after two days- and already written a drama script under an hour, organized a group, spoke ACTUAL Malay in a GROUP (I hear you gaspeth!), and shouted till I ran to the cafeteria to order an instant Air Limau throat reliever- I feel shiok.

Like damn shiok, ok?

My apartment is the epitome (the very essence) of spacious. I say this to make everyone jealous. Four students to an apartment. Each apartment has two rooms, a huge ginormous living room with 4 study tables, a kitchen, a bathroom and a balcony.

About the bathroom? Its hell incarnate. And I'll leave it at that for now.

Ps- Coacroaches here are as big as two thumbs. =)

The Broadway Musical

2008-06-29T16:56:00.007+08:00

This is all so damn effing fancy, I told myself.

I raided the Japanese sushi section and left out the Viet and Thai.

We went to the cocktail party in the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, and damn was it the most posh event I've ever been to. There was MCA President, Ong Ka Ting, sipping away at his orange juice three meters away. I know its hard to believe... but yes, it was orange juice! A glance to the right and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi from the Prime Minister's office... stuffing himself with sushi. The presidents of CIMB Bank were there. It was all too unbelievable. You know, for common folk like me.

What on earth am I doing here, I asked.

Sexy ticket

Two days ago, my dad told me that he had gotten two tickets to the Beauty and The Beast broadway musical and I almost fainted from shock. Oddly, I did faint from shock when he told me each ticket costs Rm350. It seemed... preposterous.

There was a 2 hour cocktail party to attend to before the show, and I was dressed all formal. There were bloody lots of rich kids around that night (and I'll let you know that Im as poor as a pauper so I dont count!)- and I made friends with a certain boy named Ashton.

Ashton. Son of some big-shot-president-of-a-bank or the other. The way his name rolled off your tongue already subtly spoke of a pedigree background; What could a commoner, one of the great unwashed, with a name like Daniel do to compete? We made friends and spoke a bit about Apple, the iPhone, Mac, iPod, and... well, everything to do with Apple.

Taking pictures is not allowed but hey... the show did not start yet =)

The show started at 8.30pm. And WOW was it good. It had your basic Beauty and the Beast storyline, even with your basic LoooOOoove as old as time... song. But the quality of acting and singing was just so good I just had to brag by smsing to Sean during the intermission. Lowly human qualities, bragging, I know, but... damn was it a good musical.

It ended at 11.00pm.

Nah, a cheap shot at the end.
Initially I thought the songs and special effects were recorded, but no.
Freaking live band yo!

There was a picture taking session with a few of the casts. Bella was not there, and neither was the Beast. =( But okay lah, managed to take pictures at least.

The Clock and I
The Bartender and I
The Bookseller and I
The Candle and I

After the show ended, we waited for my uncle to come and pick us up in front of the convention centre. Ashton was there, and we talked about the musical and the stupid technical problem that occured during the climax of the show. "I love you Bella" "And I love you too, Beast" Suddenly, Bloody Blackout! Go figure.

My car came. So I said goodbye to Ashton and told him my car is here liao.

"Oh... that BMW over there?" he asked, cocking his head to the left, rubbing the sleeve of his Giordano shirt on his Tag Heur watch.

"Er... no?" I said, and walked towards the car waving goodbye. I could already imagine his immediate shock as I entered a small grey Viva. And with a smirk on my face, I said to myself:

This is just too damn effing fancy.

My Supposed Will

2008-06-27T01:22:00.005+08:00

In preparation of a worse-case scenario, I just want to leave behind a few last words:

1. Should I meet any fatality, mum and dad, don't you DARE give a single thing away to my friends. I'm dead. They should not reap any rewards from a dead Daniel. Screw tokens of memory of a long gone friend.

Instructions: There are no such things as souveniers from the dead, get me? Great.

2. However I understand that Larry is in dire need of more underwears. So dad, you may pass to him my entire collection of holey boxers and floral patterned briefs as charity.

Instructions: I disclaim all propriety rights to my undergarments (and articles of clothings that may be classified thereof) should I die.

3. There are some people whom I hate with my life. Since I am dead, I cant hate them anymore with my life (duh?). I therefore task the responsibility of hating these people to Larry, Albert, Joyce, Siew Lin, Phyllis and my sisters. You may find the 100 name long list in the pink envelope within the 4th drawer of my second closet.

Instructions: Open envelope 1 week after my burial.

4. My guitar goes to Jonathan Tay, and my violin should be buried with me. I know giving away my guitar contradicts my first motion, but what the heck. This is my will. I get to say what I want on it. So suxorz to you. Nyeh nyeh poo poo.

Instructions: Please somebody help me restring the guitar, so shameful if give to him out of tune. =.=

5. My premium Korean landtitles and various land investments throughout Asia should be sold off. 90% of the revenue should be divided equally between my keluarga asas. The other 10% should go to charity work in Papua New Guinea:
Mainly in the distribution of Wonder Bra and undergarments. As to why tribal natives are using a Sony Vaio, you may check out the original post here.

Instructions: Tribal people of Papua New Guinea in serious need of help.

6. The person who gave me the sunshine shaped handmade card? I love you.

The End.

Larry's Farewell

2008-06-24T01:33:00.003+08:00

On Monday night, Larry had a farewell party. He will be leaving for INTEC this Friday, to do his A-Levels before going to Ireland to pursue Medicine.

Yes. Amateurs.

I went over to his house at about 6pm to help with the pulverizing of the meat on hot coals. The man eating mosquitoes attacked my body and covered me with a trillion and one itchy bites. By 7.15 all the meat was overcooked- cremated chicken, incinerated lamb, combusted fish and scorched wild boar.

The rest only came after 7, so we had some time to play with the...

Cool as Cucumbers. Not.

Oddly, we did not find anything wrong with playing with a oversized cucumber. Indeed, the poor vegetable (Actually, its a fruit. Ha! Surprised!) became the butt of many an innuendo. Which shall not be recounted in this blog less the higher powers strip me of my right to ever blog again.

The eating began with a great grab of whatever meat which was not either undercooked or overcooked. Easier said than done. I can feel the charcoal and free radicals eating away my age and youth already.

Any vegetarian might easily go amok at such a sight.

Then we talked and talked. And talked. For two hours we teased and punned and pulled quirky anecdotes out of thin air. The climax of the day was when Joyce willingly declared her undying irrevocable and ever-consuming love for (a certain boy who shall not be named). =D

The second climax of the day (yes, some of us more potent males are able to do so within the same hour) was when Nicholas told me that his laptop budget was RM5k and I almost pengsan. =.=

Meet you guys, in, uh... 7 years.

Then we said sweet goodbyes to the Form 6'ers (Phyllis and Siew Lin) who had to rush home and do their homework. Then the rest of us who stayed back watched Kungfu Panda. It was a great show, although the ending was a bit.. hehe.. no spoilers lah! Just watch it!

Daniel the Dragon Warrior! Heee yah!!

Children of Hurin

2008-06-23T14:49:00.004+08:00

A mini (biased and personal) no spoiler review.

I borrowed Children of Hurin from the Club Library on Larry's advice, who gave rave reviews about it in his blog. As well as torment me with countless text messages and phone calls describing the splen'drous glory of such a magnificent novel.

Indeed, when I finally picked up the book, I was waiting for my fingers to start shining gold and the heavens to open upon my life.

Looking back, I now wonder how I could have wasted 4 hours of my life when the first thoughts that came to my mind- holding it sacredly with both hands while looking down reverently at its cover, was, "I now hold in my hands the most anticipated novel since... uh... the iPhone 3G!"

I ploughed through the first 30 pages like an old bull. Or rather, the first 30 pages was bull. Paragraphs after paragraphs of introductions, history, poems and names- each more depressingly dreary than the previous.

In fact, reaching the end of every paragraph, I would have forgotten the 26 names (Anfauglith, Fingolfin, Hurin, Turin, Elwind, Hingol, Phingol, Talafenghil...) and the 57 places (Menegroth of the Thousand Caves, Angband The Hells of Iron on the Summits of Thangorodrim, Nan-tasarion in Taur-na-Neldor in the jungles of Tauremornalome...) and entered a state of mental paralysis. All in ONE paragraph!

By page 31 onwards things started to get more interesting. We are greeted by Turin, son of Hurin, a man living on the grace of an Elven King. His brief life buttered with violence, hatred, betrayal, love and enough emotions to make Oprah Winfrey scream in delight. Content wise, it was okay, a 5/10. Occasionally I found the prose short and jumpy- but since it has minimal editorial presence as said by Christopher Tolkien, its almost pardonable. I'm sure Tolkien is crying from his grave, demanding to know why his short notes have been compiled into a novel. Because that's exactly what I felt I was reading, little post-it notes rearranged into a marketable product.

Is it worth reading? Maybe. Are you an original Tolkien fan, and if yes, why not? If you've just watched the movies, played the games, and presume yourself to be a LoTR "fan", don't bother. It certainly didn't do me any good.

Times and Popular are offering 25% off the novel for all card members. Retail price goes for about RM54.90. Or if you're a stingy bastard like me: borrow from a library.

Remember Kids, KK Should Be Fun Filled

2008-06-22T23:16:00.008+08:00

The last hour has been spent going through my computer's picture folders for old times sake- not just because I have ran out of things to blog (although I have). A few pictures though, stirred up my memory.

The Red Cross Donation Drive 2007.

My group and I were placed in Tun Jugah to collect donations. However, within a span of 2 minutes, the security guards chased us out quoting "Kamu tidak ada lesen di sini!!". We retreated to the area outside Tun Jugah (just opposite Coffee Bean at Sarawak Plaza) instead to rip off innocent victims.

30 minutes passed and nobody was interested in us- even though we were strategically placed at the traffic light where shoppers kept crossing the road. We shoved our huge tins in front of their faces, demanding exhorbitant ringgits in exchange for cheap stickers. Heck, some of them even gave us evil glares as though we were out to steal their hard earned cash. Its not daylight roberry you know. Its charity!!

So, as daring youths and enterprising business strategists, we improvised:

We sang Rasa Sayang Hey Rasa Sayang Sayang Hey!
YES, the WHOLE song. AT FULL VOICE.

Two minutes into the acapella, we had quite a crowd gathered. Money began to flow into our tins and we began to realize, heck, people ARE willing to part with their change if they see something funny, creative, or... people making fools of themselves. How interesting.

Honestly though, we were bored off our asses. We HAD to do something fun while collecting donations. Kokurikulum should not be boring, it should be a fun filled activity full of adventure, drama and mystery! So...

So we began a dance routine WHILE singing Rasa Sayang.
Please ignore the gay hand wave. =D
It was part of the musical!

And guess what, at the end of the day, my group collected the most money. The cutest thing ever was when this Malay family with young kids came by, and the kids began to sing the traditional song with us for a while. The most memorable donor for me though, was an old man who stared at us with an incredulous face (he must have been thinking, "Fools, their parents must be so ashamed of them...") and proceeded to put an RM5 note into a tin.

My underwear was showing la, chicken =.=
Must remember to buy new belt liao.

Yes, I did instigate a random musical in front of Tun Jugah. Yes, we had all the fun and adventure we needed to last a month. The thing was though, we had fun WHILE doing a seemingly menial task forced upon us by dedicated teachers aiming for a Guru Cemerlang.

Go ahead, beat the system.

Dont Cry For Me

2008-06-18T22:17:00.003+08:00

I will be going to this shoplot college in the middle of the jungles of Sepang. Explain- why do I feel excited?

Now, where did I put my army gear?

Yours Is Here

2008-06-16T13:57:00.010+08:00

Yes, yes. I got a Dell 1420. Stop braying for my blood now, would you, Apple fans?

I ordered it online on Sunday night and it was delivered on Saturday morning.
Thats a total of 6 days for manufacture and delivery. For this I give a thumbs up.

I will be going off to college soon. Up to date I have been previously using a 15" Compaq that weighs more than a 100 year old sperm whale on growth steroids. Lugging it to Kuala Lumpur and back to Kuching again gave me backaches which lasted for days. Its temperature also skyrockets and using it on my lap would mean fried eggs for dinner.

Inevitably, my mind geared itself for a more portable 13" or 14" laptop. After reading a million online reviews, it was a showdown of epic proportions between Macbook, Dell XPS, Compaq V3700 or the ubiquitous Dell 1420. Unfortunately, this list of laptops was written before the petrol price hiked up. When petrol prices increased by 70 cents, ultimately, it was the government who made my mind up for me. So it was no high end fashionable gizmos but the almighty student budget laptop, the made-in-Malaysia Dell 1420.

From the Box. They use too much plastic.
I have to find a name for my new baby. Any recommendations?
The first startup took one minute.

I customized it with 2.0ghz Intel Core2Duo, 2gb RAM, 250gb memory, NVIDIA GeForce 8400 128mb in a glossy Alpine White color. Why white? Because I wanted a Macbook so much, that, if I cant have one, I'm at least getting something that looks slightly like one. Delusional people are sad, I'll give you that. =)

Overall I am quite pleased with the specs, although I'm sure it'll be obsolete in 6 months. In due time the RAM will have to be upgraded for Vista performance when my machine starts to get bogged down.

It came with a Targus backpack
Definitely one of the best keyboard I've used in years.
I love the Warhammer 40k Universe, so sue me.

Running Dawn of War Soulstorm is very smooth. However, playing a strategy game on this 14" screen has destroyed my eyes completely. Strategy gaming capability is severely limited on this screen size, regardless of whatever graphics card is installed, as I cant even select the units let alone move them. On the other hand, Halo 2 worked fine.

Vista Home Premium looks cool. Although the annoying user-control popups are beginning to get on my nerves. I clicked on that program because I want to use it, dont bloody ask me if I REALLY want to use it, because IF I CLICKED ON IT MEANS I WANT TO, idiot! Omg Vista is for babies.

End note, for those thinking of getting a Dell Inspiron-series laptop, I suggest waiting for a while before buying. This is because Dell is getting ready to roll out their new Studio line, for the higher end market. This line is more sexy, an XPS look alike with slot loading optical drives and enough fashion factor to wow the masses.

And oh, Cedric. Sorry. No Macbook. =P

You Died Because I Made You Get a Facelift

2008-06-10T23:06:00.007+08:00

The certified Motorola technician said it would be OK- he said it'll take "no more than a couple of minutes"; that everything will be alright. No pain and no suffering. No, it was to be a simple procedure to give you a facelift and transform you back to your once beautiful pristine self.

He lied.

He hit an artery and now you are dead, your lifeline is flat. And I can never forgive myself.

I blame myself for forcing you to go through that plastic surgery. I despise myself for not loving you as much as I used to when you were young and beautiful. I hate myself for looking at you first thing in the morning, wishing we'd never had been together, wishing I had another.

Everyday without fail, I would mistreat and abuse you. Dropped you on the floor, left you in the cold; Misplaced you, never bothered to find you. I even remembered that one time when I accidentally knocked you into the toilet bowl. You didn't drown that time. No, you came out alive and well.

Remember that time, when I carefully treated you back to health with a hairdryer? I'll admit it now. It wasn't an accident when you fell.

I pushed. =(

I sit down here as the tears freely flow, typing- calming myself that even though you have gone, your spirit still lives on within me. I know you went without knowing that I loved you. All the sadness in the world cannot compare to knowing that you left this earth, thinking that nobody cared for you, that nobody loved you. But I really do.

I love you.

I Dreamt This Afternoon

2008-06-09T17:19:00.003+08:00

I dreamt.

I was sitting under a tree in a place where no trees grew.

I looked up in the sky where the soft wind blew.

Faraway music tingled my ears, the stars appeared and softened my fears.

Suddenly they went in full formation, marching band in grand celebration.

And thats when I saw you, I knew it was true,
The brightest star of the most Golden hue.

*~*~*~*~*~*

These day's I am going loony, I just know it. One day you all will find me in Tanjung Rambutan or Seventh Mile or some other Happy Farm dedicated to the, ah, mentally impaired. This afternoon I ate a plate of home-cooked french fries (yes, for lunch- now you know why I look so malnutritioned) before drifting off to slumberland.

Lesson 1: Never ever eat a lot of oily salty fries before going to sleep.

I immediately had this super fantastic dream that was in high-definition fantasy-esque theme that when I woke, there was a poem in my head ready to write itself. So I took my handphone and wrote down the poem. You ask yourself: Since when is Daniel this jiwang/emo/loony one? Its the fries I tell you!

I also blame looking at Mac OSX Leopard's reviews online. Because in my dream, the stars were exactly like the default wallpaper for OSX Leopard.

Lesson 2: Do not lust after the Mac.

I figure if I dont eat food for the next 10 months, I might just about save enough allowance money for a Macbook.

Wanna see if I can pull a Jesus on this one?

JPA Medical Checkup

2008-06-04T21:47:00.006+08:00

Tut tut now, stay still, Warned the young lady in nurse clothings, sterile and cleancut looking, her hands tearing open a pack of syringe longer than my longest finger. Almost like a Macbook, I said to myself- commenting on the choice of uniform, Although I was sure there was more Leopard in her bite than otherwise.

Didn't think she was as user friendly too.

Will this hurt bad, I asked her nervously, not daring to fully look at the long silver needle she now held in her right hand. Just a little pinch, Nurse Macbook replied with curt tact. I think she smiled patiently, the careful resigned smiles a nurse on overtime usually gives- but I wasn't looking.

No, there was too much self pity involved to think of her feelings.

Sudden inspiration hit me, and I looked back for my dad. He was there sitting leisurely on the couch, reading the morning papers, tut tut tutting away at the fuel hike. I thought of asking Dad to take photos of this momentous occasion, something to blog about with enormous fanfare. A syringe poking into Daniel's arm, drawing up precious life fluids- premier blogging material!

Do you need your dad here with you, asked Nurse Macbook with all the kindness in the world.

No. Way. No. Way. I didn't say it, of course, I merely shook my head. The syringe was already scaring the fishsticks out of me, I definitely did not need parental support. I assume she nodded carelessly, because I wasn't looking again. Whats your name? She murmured, her voice cold and distant. Oh, hmm, what was it already? HEY didn't I tell YOU my name when I-

Cold metal seared through my skin in an avalanche of pain, puncturing my vein, my world was on fire, my life was flashing through my eyes, my brain closed down, imploded on itself, nothingness, nothingness, double vision, faint, faint, I see Heaven before me, hysteria, Lord give me one last chance to say I Love You to all those...

Then it was over.

Halfway Up The Hindu Kush

2008-05-27T09:37:00.004+08:00

LOL!

I got India!

It's probably odd, but I don't feel a single bit disappointed at all. (If you guys check out the online forum sites, goodness, they are rioting over there because of getting India!). I mean, I knew what I was getting into when I choose the course in the application form- India was at the head of the list of places to be sent to.

So any feeling of being cheated or shorthanded? Nope.
Heck, its a free education. They can send me to Iraq for all I care.

I shall come back looking like this. Aloha~

So, a few important things. Will I get an Indian girlfriend? Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Ambiguous answer! Hoho. Is the standard of education in India good? Yes, places like Manipal are centers of education. Standard of living? Depends on where I go- if its places like Manipal, heck, great. If I go to ulu places like Salem, one roll of toilet paper is RM3!

And one more thing. I WILL HAVE INDIAN LANGUAGE CLASSES.

*faints!*Its funny how my past photographs all point to me heading to India.
Aloha~!!

I knew I should not have blogged about those thousand marginalized Indian gods~

Note: Fine, so the Hindu Kush is NOT in India. But its a nice song. Katie Melua, that.

Your Neighbour is a new JPA Scholar when...

2008-05-22T17:22:00.003+08:00

1. Around midnight, jubilant screaming and shouting ensues from their house. You wonder what manner of evil has occurred within their four walls. Screaming and shouting usually lasts 30 minutes to 1 hour. On some occasions, police are called.

2. Permanent smiles etched on neighbor's family faces for the next three weeks or so. At least, until the hype dies down. Phone calls will attack their house every 30 minutes or so.

3. You start hearing catchphrases and keywords bouncing around the airwaves. Things like "lucky", "won the loterry", "scholarship" and "hope the offer letter comes soon" will be norm for at least one week.

4. Other neighbors however, will utter phrases that slightly contradict, such as "lucky bastard", "won the bloody loterry", "biased bloody scholarship" and "hope the offer letter never comes."

5. Your neighbor begins to haunt the mailbox. Some make tents around the mailbox and hold the semi-occasional campfire.

6. Your neighbor jumps to attention at the sound of a motorcycle passing by his house. Your neighbor will also stare manically at any PosLaju van within the vicinity, hands scrunched in fists, cold sweat pouring down the forehead.

7. Your neighbor experiences bouts of hysteria every time somebody honks outside their house, followed by depression. At this point, your neighbor has placed a chair in the living room that views the porch. He sits there from 8.00am to 5pm, staring; Just staring.

8. Displays extreme annoyance whenever someone asks the question, "So, which country will you be sent to?" Your neighbor, within his own moral compass, would most likely want to answer "I'd bloody well know if the letter arrives sooner!" but can't because its considered rude.

Anything else I forgot to add in?

Toasted Cicak Bread

2008-05-19T13:55:00.003+08:00

I AM POISONED!

For the past few months or (goodness knows how long!) I have been TOASTING BREAD in this toasting machine thingamajigy. It was the nicest tasting toasted bread I have ever eaten. The crunchy delightful taste of toasted bread. Oh heaven. Oh heaven!

OBVIOUSLY NICE TASTING LA.

ITS BEEN SEASONED WITH DEAD CICAK!!!

Idiotic toaster took many minutes to unscrew and open up.

If you look properly, thats a dead cicak stuck in there.

The smell is horrigiblistic.

And not only ONE cicak, but THREE CICAK.

I will never ever eat toasted bread again. Stupid toaster. I wanted to throw the thing away but my dad say just wipe it with wet cloth and spray with lysol, its good enough, "Dont need waste money, can use it again!". DONT eat toasted bread in my house. Poisoned later.

V For Vendetta

2008-05-14T08:37:00.005+08:00

Why is it, that, when I ask friends if they have watched this supremely fantastic movie, the answer that is always thrown back is an irritated NO. Oh, well not only that, but also a:

"If you mention that movie one more time I WILL stuff this microphone down your throat!"

Well, it is not my fault. Its my favorite movie up to date, and one day I will get sick and tired of watching it. It came out in 2005 when I was 15 years old. Somebody PLEASE bring me out to watch movies so I can find another one I love. But until that day comes, bear with me. Here are a few quotes I have gathered from the movie:

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

Fear became the ultimate tool of this government.

Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an Idea, and Ideas are bulletproof.

There is no certainty, only opportunity.

Artists use lies to tell the truth while politicians use them to cover the truth up.

Strength through unity, Unity through faith!

A beautiful movie with a beautiful message. Go watch it have have a beautiful day! In any event, I am so glad it was what I said for my Sime Darby telephone interview- because during the next two interviews itself I was quized on this odd choice of movie.

Artist Impression of what went on in Sime Darby Interview

Then began a long enthusiastic (and actually intelligent sounding, good heavens) retelling of the themes, plot and action sequence of the movie. Ah. God loves me.

JPA

2008-05-10T23:57:00.001+08:00

I wanna thank God a hundred times hundred times infinity. I wanna give thanks to God Almighty for blessing me with this abundance. Gosh.

Thank you God for giving me a scholarship!

And to think I put my parent's ACTUAL salary when filling up the form! I thought it was the decent thing to do; how was I to know that fair play doesn't really exist in the realm of scholarships.

Some of my friends were all like "OMG Daniel why did you put your parents real salary!? Why you did not lower it a bit.. or a lot? Haiyo... you want to commit suicide is it?" And this kind of got me uptight. You know the drill:

Cut of a few thousand here. A couple thousand there. Oh, why not put my mum as housewife? And my dad as a retiree! Aha! But I live in a triple storey banglo house and I have a PS3 and XBOX360! Oh oh why not ADD SEVEN SIBLINGS for fun too! Ah never mind, what JPA don't know wont kill them.

Ah but God knows, and he likes honest people!

Have to thank so many people also.

Thank you mum for praying for me every day that I will get it. Thank you dad who said "I saw the hand writing on the wall that you will get JPA." Thank you relatives! Thanks every leader, pastor, uncle or auntie from church who prayed for me and were concerned for me even though im not their 'real anak'. Gee too many people. Thank you all my friends. Classmates. Im just so relieved and gratefull la. Samuel... Sean... =P

NO THANKS to Christopher Bong for saying I was a bloody liar. Ha. Ha. Now go back under your rock and find more Greeks to bang. =P

Hmm I wonder if Joyce got JPA.

Have to update my wishlist down there liao.

Parliamentary Debate 2008

2008-05-03T10:01:00.012+08:00

After reading Samantha's blog for absolutely years (okay, months) I have decided to follow her style of collaging photo's in this post. You may sue me after reading through. =D

The Batu Lintang Debate Team was made up of Emmanuel and Nathaniel as First Speakers, Luke as Second Speaker and Ryner as Rebuttal Speaker. Sophia doing everything else that can and should be done.

Cikgu Anita headed the team, where as Joyce and I were there to polish off their scripts, have fun and eat. Puan Lo was a great help too, she bought Chicken Brands for everyone and also the paperwork. And Uncle with his witty remarks.

Verse One: Im a new soul, I came to this strange world, (of debating)

Debate preparations were exciting to say the least. Cikgu Anita treated us to loads and loads of food and junk, we were actually commanded to win or pay back the full amount (okay, maybe not, but uncle did say that at least the food was not wasted XD).

So, okay, we had a few arguments about effort and determination in this competition. Trivial matter but I'm sure some of us were hurt. ~~Muahaha~~. Ryner's hyperactiveness could move mountains- if you touch his skin when he goes into one of his hyperactive POI moments, you can actually feel him VIBRATE! Omg.

Hoping I could learn a bit bout how to give and take, (POIs)

When they were in quarantine, we EXPECTED them to be screaming their scripts to oblivion, POIing Ryner (with the fury of a scorned woman) who only writes his rebuttals in that one hour ~~because he is lazy~~, dancing around tables with obscene hand gestures, and everything you expect debaters to do.

Instead they play haolien, taking photo's. This simply shows the one hour is too long. =.=

But since I came here, felt the joy and the fear, (of debating in front of people)

After the semi finals, we all agreed that debate is bad bad bad because it gives an untrue first impression of the debaters character. For example, in debate, you have to be all forms of aggressive and bitchy just to win the competition- which might or might not be your personality in real life.

I myself have been called arrogant a few times just because my facade in debate is the cool-as-a-cucumber-but-screw-harder-than-one type. I suppose its something you have to make up for at the END of the debate when you shake hands with the other team and TRY to be gracious losers/winners.

Its worse when you debate against friends.

Finding myself making every possible mistake,
(OMFG how could I have said that stupid stupid POI?!)

The day before the finals, we went to Friendship Park. Then we figured that the statue dude (what on earth is his name? Laksamana Cheng Ho? Sir Francis Light?) looked like he was debating- arms outstretched and all. So we took more photos.

By the way, there was this group of boys from a band who were shuffling in Friendship Park (I heard its to promote their band?). I don't know about you, but I felt so embarrassed for them. They had balls, I must credit them. But... well... if you were there, you'd understand.

Interesting to note was that Ryner and I was running circles around the living room sofa set, screaming rebuttals at each other. Really. Both of us were so extremely hyper its like someone drugged us.

Verse 2: See I'm a young soul in this very strange world, (of debating)

During the Finals, which was "This House believes that Technology will eventually destroy this Civilisation" we had to leave Cikgu Anita's house (which we slept over at) at 5.30 am. This being the case I shall admit that Joyce had zero sleep in 36 hours where as I had a miserable 3 hours sleep in said time frame.

It was an incredibly SILENT 2 hour trip, compared to the previous few where we sang Yael Naims "New Soul" until teacher wanted to murder us, and just plain scream POIs at each other. Honestly I think the driver was happy. I was dead and terribly carsick by the time we reached Sematan, I wanted to vomit ten times over.

Hoping I could learn a bit bout what is true and fake,
(their statistics true or not!?)

After the debate, we had phototaking sessions. I saw Sean there, so I went to gay him up. Debate team was happy that we won. To me it felt like three years of hard work that culminated to this point of time- the previous two years we were in Finals and we never won.

Our Pengetua came and was happy that his 2 hour trip was not wasted.

But why all this hate? Try to communicate,
Finding trust and love is not always easy to make.
(So true to mean after the debate, but GRSS were nicer than most)

The Green Road Team were nice. Congratulations also, because you were NOT like that-other-school who left without shaking hands or anything the moment results were announced. Great fight. ~~Nice girls~~

According to Ryner, "I went to the Green Road debater blogs and they seemed like normal human beings like us only ler! It just feels so weird! We are normal human beings! Human beings!" Haha, no idea. Go figure. Like a revelation to him.

This is a happy end

Come and give me your hand
I'll take you far away...

***

Listen to New Soul by Yael Naim.

Do Animals Go To Heaven

2008-04-28T11:55:00.004+08:00

The stench was horrible. It was the rotting foul pong of decay that assaulted every single olfactory receptor on my very pointy yet beautiful nose.

(Speaking of nose, my Sime Darby interviewers asked me if I was a Daniel anak Chong, of mixed blood or had foreign ancestry. I asked why. They commented on my sharpish nose. I am still trying to figure out if it was rude or complimentary.)

But I digress.

As I was saying, the stench was horrible:

The poor cat lay dead upon my backyard pavement. Flies, insects of decay and servants of plague and pestilence, zoomed in orbit around the skeleton of an animal. Maggots of various sizes were attacking its flesh. It was ~~a terrible~~ an interesting sight to behold.

As the eldest in the family, it came upon me as my duty to rid my household of such... adjectives fail me. Anyway. I had to pick up the dead cat, place it in a plastic bag, and throw it. Ey, why arh only ONE day and the cat looked so decaying and had maggots already? Good thing the guts did not spill out.

I have to say that the odd thing was, I had cravings for Korean Kimchi right after that. I wonder why. I love kimchi.

What I've Done in One Week

2008-04-26T18:30:00.006+08:00

1. Went to Kuala Lumpur twice, and accidentally bringing this HUGE ASS penknife in my backpack through customs FOUR times. Without being caught. It sorts of reflects on Malaysian Airport security, doesn't it?

Note: I always forget its in my backpack until I'm on the plane, and thats when I start panicking and wondering when my name will be called through the plane speakers.

"All passengers please remain calm. Mr Daniel Chong please reveal yourself to any flight attendant."

2. Celebrated my dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad!

Note: The Taka cheesecake at RH Plaza there SUCKS to the maximum! It tastes salty!! Omg, what kind of cheesecake tastes salty as though its been through ten years of rot and mould. If I wanted salty funguscake I would suck on my socks, thank you. Damn it. Boycott Taka!

3. Helped out my school debate team. I definitely feel braindead.

Note: I wonder if there are any debate motions like "This House believes God is Singular and not Plural." I would love to have a serious debate on quirky motions like that. Oh. And my school debate teacher rocks.

4. Recieved Anugerah PIBG. Aku sangat bangga ni...

Note: Datuk Yong Khoon Seng, the Timbalan Menteri for Kerja Raya Malaysia, graced our award ceremony. And I quote him, "I got all D's in STPM in my time."

All I can imagine is on Monday, students telling their teachers they don't want to study anymore because "Look, Yong Khoon Seng got all D's for STPM and he's a minister in parliament today!" Oh god.

5. Went out. Hehehe.

Note: I know. Impossible, right? SIAPA TUUU....

6. Turned Straight! I told you it would happen one day! I told you!

Note: Or maybe not... poor innocent kid.

Daniel, signing out~

Sime Darby Scholarship

2008-04-19T10:02:00.005+08:00

Morning

Stepping into Wisma Sime Darby was comparable to stepping into a deep freeze machine (usually the ones used by KFC to membeku live chickens in 5 seconds for packaging). I immediately regretted not being kiasu enough to wear a coat/suit/tuxedo which, apparently, a quarter of the interviewees were wearing.

There were 20 something of us from all over Malaysia. A quick get-to-know and bonding session between all of us confirmed 6 East Malaysians, many orang KL, and one each from Kelantan, Pahang and Terengganu.

I don't think Sime Darby really takes "parents salary" into account because, ah, many of them sported Nokia N95s or Iphones or K850i's. That is, if richness is parallel to the expensiveness of you handphone.

Every single one of them were super-achievers and I felt very incredibly supremely small small fry smaal fry. We compared certs and some of them have all the "mewakili Malaysia" kinds. Those that were Malay could speak English with the lihainess that flabbergasted me (I mean, you just DONT find Malays our age in Kuching who can talk about the Tibet issue and how it contradicts oh-so-idealistic China's Pax Sinica- in English!). In fact, a brief mention of V for Vendetta had many eyes lighting up and twinkling. Ah, I sense a similarity here.

Oh, and everyone had either debated or public speaked. Great.

The individual interview was shockingly sweet and breezy. Two HR Executives basically wanted to know about me and my character. Everything was about me- my goals, ambition, dreams, weakness, views on sustainable development, ie. One thing Mr Rakesh told me was "We basically know that everyone of you are incredibly smart. What we want to access is your personality, and how your specific characteristics can contribute to the company."

AIYO. Haha I felt so flattered, he called me incredibly smart. Oh god. Im boasting, arent I? In my own blog.

By noon, I had pneumonia.

Afternoon

An essay that nearly choked the life out of everyone. We were given a case study (think, a mini novel) concerning drug abuse and told to, in 30 minutes, finish reading it and

"Identify the problem from all aspects and define it clearly."
"Draft up a policy that could suitably combat the problem."
"something too high-standard that I forgot what it is liao..."

Blah. Pens flew like crazy. Furthermore we were drifting off to hibernation in the ridiculous cold. Trying to read and understand the stupid papers and reports was one thing. Writing down the problem and policy was another. 30 minutes was too short to WRITE things down.

Mr Rakesh commented that my handwriting was beautiful. XD Oh god.

Group B

Next came the group presentation. We were suppose to "Reinnovate Government Policies Concerning Drug Abuse" in 40 minutes. The surprise came when everyone discovered that they received different case studies viewing drug abuse from different angles.

Group A: FOUR people.
Me, Kershia, Lynthia and Balthazar (sorry, I kinda forgot your name, but in the meantime i'll refer to you as Balthazar cause it sounds like that)

GroupB: FIVE people.

Group C: SIX people.

Not fair, can or not!? Why my group only has four people? Ha? Ha?

Group C

During the hot fury presentation to the Parliament, I was clearly noted by the interviewers as sadistic due to my staunch almost fanatical approach to dealing the DEATH ROW to every single drug dealer and addict out there. People fired at me at "playing God" and stuff like that. It was incredibly fun firing back. INCREDIBLY FUN. Kill them all, I said! Death to the masses! Hoi polloi will be what they are- UNCLEAN! Cleanse them! BURNNN.

Ok Im joking. Not so serious until like that lah.

I could see the interviewers enjoying it also. After all, there was no right or wrong in this. It wasn't a debate because nobody wins and nobody loses- albeit being conducted debate style. A small tip off also confirmed that the interviewers studied psychology in university.

Now i've blown my chances by revealing my megalomaniac side of my character. =.= They wont want me now. Unless the company has plans to take over the world, heh heh.

Haha omg Mr Rakesh asked if my parents were lawyers. XD Mom, dad, you should be proud la!!

END

Ok I look weird in this picture.
Mr Rakesh and Mr Ismail.
And everyone else.

I asked around for help on how to take the LRT. My relatives asked me to find my own way back. X.X

Before we checked out of Wisma Sime Darby, we compared hands. All were shaking and shivering, with a slight blue discoloration to the tinge. We knew it, as certain as the moon is made of cheese:

Frostbite.

J. CO vs Big Apple

2008-04-15T11:10:00.005+08:00

Am I the only one who notices the stunning physical similarities between J.Co Donuts and Big Apple Donuts? Oh, who was it again that said Big Apple was under/bought over/another smaller franchise under J.Co? Too lazy to research.

J.Co Donuts

Big Apple Donuts

Like super similar, no? Attack of the Clones?

In my opinion, J.Co wins pants down because its 2-3 times sweeter than Big Apple. A sugar addict like me can tell- I don't seem to get the typical sugar rush that makes me ~~more horny than usual~~ hyper when eating Big Apple.

Er. Ah. That still doesn't give you a reason NOT to line up in The Spring. Please do! Please feel the bloody irritation and impatience like I did! PLEASE DO!

I was one of those people who lined up for absolutely hours (~35 minutes) to get two dozen. I absolutely DEPLORE you- If you're insane enough to line up for that long, please do NOT buy like 6 donuts only? =.=" The 4 or 5 people in front of me lined up as long as I did and only bought 6. Whats the point?

Buy the whole range of flavors, would you?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I shall be in Kuala Lumpur from Tuesday to Sunday for the Sime Darby interview. The interview is actually one day only but then go extra days... holiday bah! Might come online to MSN since I brought laptop over. Or maybe not.

Internet addicts like me will find a way to get their fix. One way or another.

Muahahaha

Pokemon is Evil

2008-04-12T16:43:00.002+08:00

The picture says it all.

Courtesy of Azizul.

I laughed my ass off so bad when I saw this picture. Hahaha. XD

My God Moment

2008-04-09T23:32:00.009+08:00

Have any of you ever felt like you want to be God?

Simpler question: Have any of you watched Bruce Almighty?

A few days ago I had an experience I would like to call the "God Moment."

I was walking back from Hui Sing after buying my lunch a few days ago. Then I heard the sound of thunder and rain, and I felt the air, and I knew the floodgates would open and drench Kuching once again. You know you can "feel" it in the air if its going to rain? I wonder why.

Anyway I had my handphone in my pocket and I'll be damned if I got it spoiled by the rain. I mean, if it did, I know for sure those thousand marginalized indian gods really do exist!

So I looked up to the Heavens, pointed my hand to the clouds, and said:

Dont you BLOODY dare.

In exact words, I said that. And I shit you not, rain started to fall all around me, and did not hit me!! There was like ONE CIRCULAR band of force field around me as I stood at the pavement waiting to cross the road. You could see rain drops all around me, but a 1 meter radius at which I WAS THE ORIGIN, THERE WAS NO BLOODY RAIN DROPS.

*light shines down from heaven and falls on me like a spotlight*

I feel like a saint I tell you.

Anyway the God Moment lasted for like 10-15 seconds when the force field just burst and rain started to hit me. Blah. So I rushed back home and ended up wet anyway.

But it was SO AWESOME awestruck for a brief moment that I had the power to control rain la. Muahaha.

Cikgu Lucy

2008-04-05T16:43:00.006+08:00

I'm sure each of you have had that "one teacher" whom you admired greatly. If you don't, then education and school life has been wasted on you. I cant imagine living through 5 years of Secondary School without at least, one single teacher, who you can go to for support and encouragement.

Cikgu Lucy is one of those Great Teachers who I will always remember forever.

She brought us out to chia us. Look at that frilly blouse shirt thing she has on. So cute, can!
I mean Cikgu Lucy of course.

I remember having her as an English teacher in Form1. Her first assignment for our class was a freestyle essay. I wrote my first ever (brilliant) English essay to her about the time I cried in Primary 5 when an Ustaz threw a box of chalk at me. Bloody Ustaz. The super touching essay was 5 pages long.

She brought me aside and told me to forgive and forget. To let the past be the past. To let old wounds heal. I could tell she was really concerned for me... It was odd and strange at that time.

This was at Westwood. The main bulk of our conversations went to JPA Scholarships.
And pregnancy. Dont ask. =P

I remember in Form 2, we were given a topic "Recycling" to present for our Oral Exam. Everyone had to present something in front of the class. I went up with a plastic shower cap, used a scissor to cut two holes in it, and presented my speech:

"Waterproof Underwear! Just slip it on and your nether regions will be clean and dry forever! Recycle your shower caps, save the environment, waterproof your privates!

The class went up in shrieks of laughter, I tell you. LOL. Cikgu Lucy tells me that she still relates the story to her students every year. I guess now everyone knows how perverted Daniel Chong is, even in Form2. Sigh.

Cikgu Lucy: Wahh... you applied for Medicine? But why ever?!
Larry: I want to save the world. I do. Seriously.
*fiction

I remember in Form3, my friends and I initiated the Authors Guild (which eventually became known as the Journalism Club). We were a student based organization ~~bent on destroying the world~~ who wrote stories and articles, compiled them, and made a monthly magazine which we distributed at cost price. It was more of a hobby than a club, drawing in students who had the extra time to write.

When news hit the upper echelons of the School Administration of our para-cocuriculum activities, they tried to shut us down. We were supposedly a deviant of the English Club. Our ajaran sesat were supposedly destroying the school of sanity.

Cikgu Lucy fought for us, and showed the Principal our student based magazines. The thing that clinched it for us, however, was when a few parents called the school up to commend the Authors Guild's efforts in producing the magazine. Cikgu Lucy then became our Club Teacher.

This has nothing to do with Cikgu Lucy but since its such a nice picture I decided to put it up anyway. XD Me and Larry.We so sepadan horrr...?

If told you everything she did in Form4 and Form5 I think you guys will kill me because this post will be super damn long. But that was the type of teacher she was. She went all out to help any of her students, without being biased. Its these types of teacher that form a special bond with students that eventually change the course of the future. They make winners of ordinary people and inspire them for a greater good.

Top from left: Daniel, Phyllis, Siew Lin
Bottom from left: Larry, Cikgu Lucy, Joyce

We love you Cikgu Lucy!

Ps- Aiyo. If any of my teachers out there are reading this post, I did not forget you also la! You all are great to me! I don't remember a single teacher who was all out on killing me/destroying my life. Oh wait. The Faridah.

*Cue horror music*

JPA Interview

2008-04-01T11:15:00.008+08:00

The most coveted after scholarship of high prestige in Malaysia, the JPA Scholarship Award (Public Service Department) to fund you, and your smart brains, over the seas to a land far-far away. This scholarship is held in high regard by all others. Hungry applicants vie for it, as fearful parents pray and pray and pray.

*cue dramatic intro*

Thousands upon thousands of applicants each year.

Yet only 2000 golden tickets to your dream education.

WHO will win the Grand Prize?

Who likes what I wore, hmm? Looks so smart orh.

The interview for the Kuching batch was held at Pustaka Negeri. My time was at 8.00am. With me were Amanda, Sebastian, Vivian and Ivan Liao. We all gathered at the main lobby talking with each other about possible topics that would come out. I also went around getting to know new friends. Found a sole Lodgian and went to brighten his day. Hoho.

Clothes
I wore this light brown long sleeved shirt, brown tie, slacks and working shoes. Forums such as Recom suggested light colors like brown, yellow, beige. Looking around, I saw most of the boys wearing "safe" colors with the vogue being white shirt with blue tie. The girls were a random rojak mix- baju kurungs, long sleeve+skirt, long sleeve+slacks, and even a coat. There was one girl who wore sleeveless. I feel for her, because she will surely get scolded.

At 8.45 we started discussing the possibility that the topic for the interview would be "Malaysians are always late."

At 9.00am, one miserable hour after the supposed start of the interview (some of us came one hour earlier, so it was a two hour wait?), we were ushered up to the Library where we took our respective seats. We had to hand in our certified photostated copy of our certificates. Then we were given a number and ushered to the interview room.

We were ushered up here to take our seats.

Interview-Introduction
The interviewers were friendly with us, joking around and asking us not to look like "manic dogs" panicking to high heaven. Since each of us were given a number, we started introducing ourselves according to what number we were.

And please oh God, when you introduce yourself, DO NOT talk nonsense. Please prepare! Someone was blabbering about how he liked to play DOTA (and the various benefits of playing it) and his favourite foods as well as his hobby for collecting stamps. The interviewers were literally flabbergasted at the weirded-out introduction. I half expected him to tell us his favourite shampoo and brand of underwear.

They don't tell you what to say in the introduction, but its obvious. Your name, previous school, course you choose, why did you choose that course, greatest achievement, and maybe a few hobbies that compliment the course you choose.

In my opinion, the introduction is actually the part of the whole interview where you make the most difference. Its your first impression to the interviewers; How you portray yourself, your words and your values. First impressions count.

DO NOT TALK ABOUT DOTA. omg... suicide.

The interview room. We all sat in one row facing the interviewers.
Odd, since I imagined we would be siting around a table.

Interview-Group Discussion
Then the interviewer gave a topic. For my group it was "Increasing oil prices threatens our country's economy" after which we were divided into two groups to conduct the discussion debate style. We were given 1 minute to prepare what to say. Since the topic was in English, we wrote our points in English.

"Ok, start talking," went the interviewer.

DOTA boy raised his hands, and starts the introduction in English.

Suddenly, the interviewer said, "You all are so fluent in English already. Talk in Malay instead. This whole topic will be in Malay."

My whole group was like omg, we wrote our points in English la. So began the process of tuning our brains from the hyped out English mode to Malay mode. Suffice to say, I mixed my language up real bad, speaking half Malay half English. And I was not the "best" speaker in the room, since there was one Malay girl who used bombastic Malay.

Haih, what to do?

We got April Fooled by interviewers pulak.

Unbeknown to many, this is actually Amy Hii and Phyllis.
Phyllis, in a baju kurung! =D

All in all the interview went quite well. The atmosphere was not as tense as I imagined it to be since the interviewers were joking with us. The debate was not really a debate since we went out of topic a hundred times. I mean, what does fish have to do with oil prices?

Hope I get the scholarship. =)

Hope is a good thing.

Interview o.O

2008-03-26T12:25:00.002+08:00

The following events occurred at 12.30pm.

Ring ring Ring ring
Ring ring Ring ring

I jumped from my computer chair and scrambled for the phone in haste. An unknown number! A West Malaysian number! Whats going on, I asked myself, as I pressed the green answer call button.

"Hello?" I said in my most professional tone of voice.

"Hello is that Mr Daniel Chong?" a lady answered back, businesslike, polite.

"Yes this is."

"I would like to confirm that you applied for OUR scholarship?" she said.

My mind went from high-static energy to a flat zero- blank. I did not even think to ask WHAT scholarship. To effect, I am quite sure my pupils dilated and cold sweat broke upon my forehead, but I could have been hallucinating.

"Daniel, I'd like to conduct an on the spot interview with you."

The world erupted in a haze of brilliant blue and fuschia pink as I struggled to hold my train of thought at a single place. I was not coherent. My brain seemed to jump inside the confines of my skull, struggling, violent, threatening to squeeze out of every facial orifice in warm lumps.

"Okay," I answered.

"Daniel," the interviewer said my name again, as though reading it out from a mortuary list. Execution. Death. "Would you please tell me about your favourite film?"

Favourite film? Favourite movie? WHAT THE HECK IS A MOVIE.

OMGWTFBBQ

(At this moment, I knew that a thousand marginalized indian gods had descended in fury upon the barren wastelands of my non-existent social life some time ago, giving me an abosolute no-no knowledge on movies)

So I replied, "V for Vendetta"

Then I went on rambling incoherently about the socio political message the movie brought in our time and world today and about how the action sequence was fantastic. I talked a little bit about the Iraq War (what THAT has to do with anything God knows?!) and how the freedom fighter V sought a revamp in the current totalitarian government. Everything was in pieces and it wasn't even 30 seconds long.

Then I realized she was most probably sleeping, or did not understand what I was saying. No, in fact I imagine her rolling her eyes and yawning loudly.

The interview ended as abruptly as it begin, with a "Thank you for your time."

I would have been better prepared if I had not been gorging down on a hot bowl of steaming rice and spicy asam pedas just before the call (Yes I eat in front of the computer). I don't even know what scholarship that was. God.