There are some things you should know...

Note: This is a personal message AND a declaration at the same time, so bear with me.

My dearest Su Yin, there are things that I would like to let you know.

1. I love Su Yin.
2. Su Yin is my soulmate and fellow traveler in this journey called Life.
3. If I were alone in a room with Su Yin I'd give her a hug cos I know I can never give enough of that to her.
4. I think Su Yin should be want God wants her to be.
5. Su Yin needs plenty of love, hugs and kisses.
6. I want to be with Su Yin.
7. Someday Su Yin will be a Nobel prize winner.
8. Su Yin reminds me of sunshine and fluffy white clouds.
9. Without Su Yin, this journey of mine would be so, so lonely.
10. Memories of Su Yin are of falling in love over and over again with her each time she returned to Penang.
11. Su Yin can be very, very playful.
12. Hmm... what a thoughtful and caring girl, is how I describe meeting Su Yin.
13. Worst thing about Su Yin is that she is so far, far away right now.
14. Best thing about Su Yin is that she agreed to spend the rest of her life with me.
15. I am so blessed and honored to be with Su Yin.

Sweetheart, thanks for this journey so far... looking forward to journeying on with you.

Things to buy at PC Fair

1. Blank CD-ROMs
2. HDD? (Dunno yet... quite expensive ler)
3. Light-weight mic/headphones for Su Yin.
4. Video card - else I can't run NFS2:Underground. (also maybe only)
   

Anyone wants to go with me??? NEXT (thanks Mikey!) Friday night or Sunday afternoon?

A laughter a day... gives you sore jaws :/

This is one funny site... its about a fat asian kid in an obscure photo and then someone superimposed him everywhere! :)

Enjoy! :)

12.1"

What's with people and 12.1" laptop? My colleague just got himself a Dell 700m laptop that has a 12.1" LCD screen? Its small and cute but the viewing screen is so, so small... so hard to see and the keyboard is so, so small... so hard to type... but b'cos of its size, its quite a babe magnet! :) My female colleagues would swoon over the laptop, exclaiming "so small! so cute!"... :/

p.s. I think this model is similar to the one owned by Michael's dad. I wonder if he got it for the same reason! ;) (Just joking Mike!)

Homework

I found this on Minishort's blog... so all credit goes to her. (Don't be angry and rant at me har, Minishorts...)

Anyway, I thought it was fun, and hopefully it would be fun for you too. All you need to do is copy the following passage and paste it on your comment (just click on Trail Post at the bottom of this post to get to the comments section). Then fill in the blanks with using your imagination and creativity. :) Thanks!


I _ Danny.
Danny is _.
If I were alone in a room with Danny _.
I think Danny should _.
Danny needs _.
I want to _ Danny.
Someday Danny will _.
Danny reminds me of _.
Without Danny _.
Memories of Danny are _.
Danny can be _.
_ is how I describe meeting Danny.
Worst thing about Danny is _.
Best thing about Danny is _.
I am __ with Danny.

Remember: Just COPY, PASTE and FILL IN THE BLANKS.

Ramblings part 240705

What a day... today I had to be an usher and a sound man at the same time... never done 2 jobs at the same time before but I think I pulled it off quite well.

Bought this lousy movie called Devilman... its live-action adaptation of a japanese anime/manga series (its about a schoolboy who can transform into a demon, quite a famous manga by Go Nagai). Let me tell you, it sucks like a lemon, not only that... it sucks like a fungus-infested lemon. So its sour and bitter at the same time (trust me on this ok? I've taken enough spoilt food to know what that tastes like!). Yes, its that bad. I know the Japs has a knack of making quirky and weird movies but this one tops it off! Any movie with the boyfriend yelling with a distinct look of disinterest when seeing his beloved girlfriend's head stuck on a pole... done in typical japanese style with eyes open and all (the head, I mean)... deserves to be panned. I don't know if its done to shock or to induce vomit. I nearly had both reactions but for totally the wrong reasons: shocked because its so stupid, vomit cos its so corny... I believed many fans of the original manga series was also up in arms about such a lousy adaptation. Somehow, live-action adaptations of manga/anime usually does not cross the different mediums well... hrmm... Should have gotten some sickly sweet Korean romance comedy... definitely a better way to pass a Sunday afternoon. Sighs... So, anyone wants an unwanted copy of Devilman??? :/

Currently Listening to: God He Reigns, Hillsong Australia. Not too bad but a little formulaic don't you think? Anyone has any recommendations of good P&W albums?

Squatting Toilets

"How do you know you are in SEAsia? There are squatting cubicles in the toilets! Woohoo! Its good to be in familiar surroundings! :)" That was my first thought while in a toilet at Changi Airport coming back from Melbourne a couple of years ago.

After the 8-hour flight, the first thing you look for is a toilet (I never go to toilet close to landing time cos the queue stretches from Changi to Melbourne!). So when I went searching for a quiet toilet to freshen up... it was not difficult to find cos I reached Changi at 5-6am. When I entered one I thought suitable for my needs, it put a smile on my face when I saw the squatting toilets! :)

I recalled all this when I went in search for a toilet today while in Tesco. I was thinking I could tahan till I go home but no... nature waits for no man... I thank God that I found one cos if you feel the call of nature, its definitely better to have a squatting toilet than a sitting toilet... especially if its in M'sian toilets... Whew...

Why? Cos its somehow more bearable and... its easier for you also... if you know what I mean? Wink wink, nod nod... ;P

But then there are pitfalls... figuratively and literally! Cos sometimes, after squatting too long, you might black out while trying to stand up... and a squatting toilet is not a good place to pitam! :)

Of course if I am at home, I'd prefer a sitting toilet so that I can do my reflections. Otherwise, when out shopping, its the squatting toilets for me. However... if there are some 4-5 star hotels... that's another story altogether. :)

Editor's note: as you can see, its late and I'm sleepy... that's my excuse. :)

In defence of the Big Bird

Wow... I really respect Kenny Sia for apologising and I can understand a little of his frustration. I don't know him personally so I can't say whether what he did is in character... but from the reaction of his friends (and not fans) I feel he overdid it by a little bit and now has to take the consequences. Yet, he was bold enough to say sorry and show a little of his own self. It goes to show that Kenny is a real human being like you and me. He makes mistakes and also has feelings too... I think we should all give him space to grow and move on.

Moreover, judge not others lest you be judged yourself. I have to confess that I did judge him for what he did but now I realise that I was wrong and I had no right to do so cos my views and judgment was skewed.

Kenny... keep on blogging but for yourself. Like the Brits, you've got to keep going as you did or else the nay-sayers would have won.

I've got nothing to blog.

My mind is so blank right now...maybe its because its late, and maybe its because I have nothing in my brain right now... hmm...

Anyway... there's another big bomb scare in London. I really admire the Londoners... compared to the New Yorkers, they are really so cool and calm... almost non-chalant. I hope my friend are ok in London.

I have something to add to my wish list: I want Su Yin back here in Penang for good... or me being wherever she is, so we don't have to be apart again...


Another wish list item, this time more materialistic one...

Its called the Nike Oregon Alti-Compass.

Just so happened my birthday is coming up soon... any takers? :)

So now you know some of the things I really want: a watch, a toy and a car... :)

Oh yeah, I went back for classes today. It was not too bad, the class itself and the efforts it took me to climb up 3 flights of stairs. My leg is coping well... though it is still sore after awhile, but its good progress! :)

oh yeah... Kenny and gang are doing something for a good cause. Please click on the banner at the sidebar with the BLOGATHON label to find out more. Much appreciated.

Okaylah thats it for now. Goodnight. Hrmm... I wonder what I'm gonna dream tonight??? :)

Back up your blog

Go back up your blog... ur email and everything... why? See below:

Dear readers of xiaxue.blogspot.com,

Yes, indeed, my blog has been hacked. I understand some of you might be sending emails to me right now, alerting me, and the thought warms my heart (which is very startlingly cold right now mind you).

Unfortunately, the hacker is quite clever. He also managed to guess the password to my gmail account. My 3,000 emails, some of which very important business contacts, are all gone.

*snap!* Gone.

The last time I saw my account, I saw two new emails, and these were the only two. I thought Gmail cocked up on me. I laughed, refreshed, and hey, I got logged out! To my horror I couldn't log in anymore. Can you imagine the amount of time he or she took to delete everything?

Checking blogger.... GONE TOO!

How wonderful. A total of 12 or so blogs, all painstakingly done up, all gone. The media center, the FAQs, the photolog, the Hate site. My hard work of 3 years, gone.

Vanished into thin air now! How very cruel this person is. I wonder what made him or her do this.

I remember I once told Adrian, "You know what is my greatest fear?" "What?" he mumbled (not because he wanted to mumble but because he only grunts and mumbles).

It was that someone would hack into my blogger account.

Adrian laughed and said, "Then did you save all your blog files?"

I told him no. He scolded me and said, "Then you better go and save them now!"

And I did! The latest, however, was the May archives. So if you do have ways to get back the June and July archives, or you saved them even, do tell me! I never thought I would ever be thanking this person, but... xialanbin.blogspot.com did put in some work in copying my files afterall. The URL for my archives are there.

It will be hard work doing up all the old blog entries again. It will take a lot of time and sweat, but I can do it.

Because being Xiaxue means nothing can get me down, ever. Especially when so many of you are with me. Thank you Shuyin, for waking up at 430am to help me.

I started out with nothing, and I can do it all over again. I will stop those bloody tears right this moment.

Help me spread the word. Help me put this message on your blog. Do not email me at xiaxue@gmail.com from now until I get back my account. If you want a word, please email me at wendycheng@gmail.com.

Thank you.

The real Wendy
[Because this email can be authenticated by my friends Shuyin, Wanyi, Mrbrown, Mr Miyagi and Kenny Sia.]

Football

Steven Gerrard looked miserable despite scoring 2 goals during last night's Champions League match against TNS... hmm...

Kevin Davies looks thinner and fitter... saw him playing at the Asia Premier League Trophy just now.

Adriano is THE center-forward... Kaka and Ronaldinho are THE midfielders... Lucio is THE defender...

That's it...

Ramblings part 200705

I miss my fiancee Su Yin... sometimes it is hard not to have her around, especially when you go shopping... seeing all the couples but I have come to realise that it is a good thing, missing her... at least I have someone to miss, someone to long for right? :)

Kenny Sia's blog is very, very subdued today... a little "potong stim" huh?

Alvin has the pictures taken from our mini blogger conference up on his site... go lookie.

Don't really feel like writing anything... my ankle is way better but still have problems with standing up too long... can't wait to go back to work. Will be going back to college to do a 1 and 1/2 hour session with the students.

Life is really so, so fragile. Without relying on God I doubt I'd get very far...

Self-censorship?

Should there be self-censorship when it comes to blogging? Should we be careful what we post on our blogs? Is there a line we should not cross?

I initially thought that blogging was something like our personal diary. A place to jot down whatever we wanted but are there things we are not supposed to post? I realise that even I myself do decide carefully what I write on my blog. In fact, there are a lot of things that I don't write. Why? Sometimes it is to protect myself. Sometimes it is to protect others, especially the ones that I love. Sometimes it is because I plainly forgot what I wanted to write! :)

The thing is we do self-censor ourselves all the time and I think that's good... there should be freedom in what we do but in that freedom, we have to be responsible too. Its ok to do what we want and when we want but if our actions/inactions affect others, it is then when we have to be careful with the freedom we have and this applies to our posts too.

I know it is easier said then done cos I have done so many things that are impulsive and selfish, without thinking about the consequences, and I have suffered for it and probably will continue to suffer for it. For if there are fools, I am probably one of the biggest around.

I guess the point is, we ought to constantly remind ourselves to do unto others what we want others to do unto ourselves.

Yes, it is another one of those grim and depressing blogs...

PCC Mini Blogger Conference

The mini conference cum dinner went nicely. The Ang Chau mee sua was good and everyone was well fed. :) Alvin arrived first with his gf, who for the life of me I can't remember her name now! It was the first time meeting his gf and she is definitely nicer in person that on that photo he put up on his blog - u know... his down the toilet touch up of the picture. :P

Michael arrived about 30 mins later. He was told to come at the wrong time by MR LESLIE! :/

Mr Leslie arrived almost 1 and 1/2 hours later... can't help it I guess, he being a BIG moviestar and all that. Joking lah ok? :)

Anyway, we had dinner and then it was down to some serious work... check out our blogs... cool huh? Still not convinced I'm the most boring blogger in Malaysia? :)

We did some catching up and did some tune up on our blogs... yeah... it was a REAL blog conference! :)

Then we played a game of cards... everyone a few rounds but there was no money involved... After that , the mini conference was then adjourned till the next time.... not too bad lah I guess.

Sunday mornings...

Funny... I woke up to go to church and I found out that there's no water! Apparently, 5 minutes before I woke up, PBA decided that it was time to repair their pipes nearby. No notices, no warning, no coming over to each houses and shouting "Auntie/Makcik, nak baiki paip air... cepat ambik air!" like they did in the past... sighs... those good old times. So I am stuck here smelling like me... managed to brush my teeth with drinking water and did my BIG business. Thankfully, there was still water in the WC... but not anymore! So I'd have to hold whatever that's waiting to come out till much. much later... :(

Anyway, I remembered that they had Gundam Seed on TV at the time and so I turned it on. Guess what? In the 5 minutes that I had left of the anime, I witnessed 2 kisses in it... WOW! Here's a so-called cartoon shown during the children's slot in the morning and the kids in Malaysia had the privilege of witnessing a kiss on TV! We adults have to suffer the indignation of having kissing scenes censored from our movies. Grrrr... Granted, Gundam Seed is not really a kiddie cartoon...

Oh yeah, I had a nostalgic blast to the past at the same time. There was a TV advert break during Gundam Seed and guess what, I saw an advert for... DING DANG! Now that is really something from my brother's time (I was kinda old already but I love cartoons, so I sat with him... nice sibling bonding time, cartoon watching is). DING DANG is a chocolatey snack that includes a plasticky toy, which my brother loved to collect.
Anyway, DING DANG has this distinction for bad quality adverts and for focusing on the TOY instead of the SNACK. Sheesh... You know something? The advert is still so so BAD! :)

Talking about cartoons, what is your favourite cartoon/anime of all time?

Dreams...

Its 1.30am and I am wide awake. I was awoken by the mosquitoes that we having a midnight snack at their local mamak near my foot... :P

Anyway, it was a good thing too cos I was having another one of the weird dreams that I've been having lately. I can't remember most of them except for one where I dreamt about Su Yin but when I look at her, its not her... its another woman! Don't ask me who it was cos I don't think I've seen her before. All I know is that I wake up feeling a little confused by these dreams. They are not scary like nightmares, just confusing. Should really ask God for a peaceful sleep huh?

Anyway, my right eye is disturbing me again... had a series of stye problems there... so I am concerned. I don't know if it is stress or something... I never had problems with stye before and then i get them real bad. :( At least my ankle is much much better.

Oklah, better say my prayer and go to bed... can't open my eyes liao... nitezzzz

Heavenly Father, I really need Your healing touch n Your peace. I need Your healing touch upon my eye and my ankle. I know that Your Son have already paid the price for my healing and I claim the healing by the stripes He bored for me on His back. Thank you Lord for the healing. I know it is already done. Lord, I also ask that you would surround me with Your peace when I sleep. May Your Spirit minister to me as I rest in Your peace. Thank you Lord. In Jesus name I pray... Amen.

Malaysia's most boring blogger! :)

Further prove that I am the proud holder of the said title above...

Just go read Alvin's blog to find out for yourself. Woohoo!!! :)

Wah... i want, i want - part 2

Another one for my wish list:



Its a model from this japanese anime/manga series called Gundam. This particular model is called Sentinel Gundam - Deep Striker. Nice Eh... its huge!



There's a hitch though, it will cost me about RM380 for it. Now you know why its on my wish list and not buy list? :(

Ramblings part 140705

Went to watch Fantastic Four with my friends just now... for free. So nice eh... Wanna just get out for awhile. Leg feels better but walking still a little painful.

During the movie, one of my friends asked me, "What about the 5th guy?", I replied,"Its called Fantastic Four!" (He was actually referring to the other person who got bombarded by radiation... who? Go watch the movie lah... no spoilers here).

Wow... Jessica Alba is cute. Btw, Leslie, the other comic book movie she is acting in is Sin City (but that one is definitely not showing in M'sia).

Wow God has a funny way to show He is listening to you! I was just commenting to an Aunt who came to for lunch that its been awhile since there was torrential rain in Penang, you know, being a tropical country and all... Guess what? It poured like mad just now, with thunder and lightning to boot. Is that awesome or what? God really knows how to put on a show... it goes to show that we've got to be super careful what we muse or wish for... God is ALWAYS listening. :)

Mushy eh?

Hehe... looks like Alvin has caught the deadly Mushy virus that would strike a number of guys when they are very much in love.

Symptoms: Anyone who has caught this potentially deadly disease with display loads of affection towards, and write a lot of sweet and sickly stuff about, their better half. This is coupled with endly displays of affection towards their better half.

Cure: None whatsoever. It may well afflict them for a lifetime.

Treatment: a drop of affection, a pill of appreciation and plenty of hugs and kisses from their better half from time to time to alleviate the symptoms.

Article by Doctor Quack.

Cheap things no good

My DVD player that I bought from Tesco has just crashed on me. :( Good things no cheap, cheap things no good eh? I hope the warranty is still valid... wait, I hope I can find the warranty first! :)

Any good brands to recommend to me guys?

Depression...

No, I am not depressed. Don't worry. :)

I was just thinking (yes I am a little bored now) how easy it is for someone to sink into depression. Just take away their purpose for living and they will slowly die a slow death.

It is so important for someone to have a reason to live. How easy it is for us Christians take it for granted cos Christ is the reason for living and THAT is real hope! But we are as easy as the next person to fall into depression. We really need to hang on to God and ask for His joy and His peace to fill us constantly, and that is something we can, and do, neglect from time to time.

Besides that, it is important who surround yourself with family and friends who not only can comfort and encourage you when you are down, but also can gently admonish us and prevent us from wallowing in self-pity. :)

I thank God for family (including you, Su Yin) and friends who are always there for me... thank you all, you know who you are... I am grateful always for what you have done for me.

Just for laughs

Some of you said that my blog is getting a little depressing... so what? (inside joke - this is for you Su Yin) :)

This blog is about me right?

Anyway, I just came back from the hospital... the doc says that I need another 10 days of rest cos my leg is still swollen and if I stand or walk around too much, it will swell even more due to fluids collected around the ankle/heel region, making it painful and uncomfortable. So here I am, stuck in my room... again.

Interestingly, the swelling of the feet actually occurs naturally... that's what happens to you after standing and walking about the whole day(that's why it is always advisable to buy your shoes at the end the day cos that's when your feet is at its largest size). Its just that now, the fluids doesn't drain off my foot properly and thus increases the discomfort and pain around the injured area.

More depressing news huh? Oh well, see if this works...

Day 2

Does it sound as if I am in a prison or something? :) I'm counting down the days till Su comes back to Penang again. This time, I really have no idea when she will be back again as she is in her final year and she has to work on her FYP, so it is unlikely she will return during the short holidays.

Someone commented that I will get over the fact that I am missing her so much. Will I? I think the point is not whether I would get over the fact that she will not be around for awhile but whether I would miss her or not. You know, when someone you love is away, you will miss her and continue to miss her till the day she returns. In fact, you will miss her even more as the days go by... cos the date of her return is getting closer and you eagerly await her return.

You know, somehow that should be the way we look forward towards the coming of Christ, with eager anticipation and longing... missing Him so much that we can't wait to see Him again. Yet, we know we have to wait, but we wait with eager and joyful expectation while carrying on with our lives on earth.

I doubt that I would ever stop missing Su Yin... and yet I don't thinking that it would affect me or prevent me from doing what I need to do, that is to use this time away from each other wisely, learning and preparing myself. I am thankful to God that His peace and joy is strengthening me everyday, as He is strengthening Su.

And yes, its only the 2nd day... :)

Penang stays in the SUPER league... things looking up?

Penang managed to stay in the Super league for another season... by the skin of their teeth. Is that suppose to be a good thing? I don't know and somehow... I don't really care.

BTW, why do we have 2 leagues called Super and Premier? I thought Premier means the best... so what is Super then? Go figure...

Apart but not alone

I never thought I'd miss Su Yin so much... but I do. Maybe its because we were with each other for the past 3 and 1/2 months. Maybe its hard when soulmates part, even for a short while. I guess I'd have to find a new routine to fit into.

God is so faithful to me... I admit that though I did not forget Him, I was pretty much preoccupied in making up for the time Su Yin and I were apart and do things together. We were apart so long and so often that every time Su Yin comes back to Penang, its like starting the relationship afresh. We had to get use to habits and quirks that we picked up when we were apart. It can be tough but fun and refreshing at the same time. So now that Su Yin has gone back to Kuching again, I realise that I have also neglected my relationship with God.

Still, never has He left me nor forsaken me and I am so thankful for that. Today, I really felt God's presence in church today. I realised that I have neglected this very precious relationship while trying to rebuild another precious one... I realised that I have gotten my priorities wrong in my effort to balance everything in my life. The only way to do that is to focus on my relationship with Him first, and all other things, including relationships will fall into place.

So, even though Su and I are apart, we are not alone... cos both of us can go to the same Father for comfort, peace, shelter, direction and guidance. He will see us through this year and soon, we will be together again.

Thanks for the timely reminder Lord. :)

The Lone Ranger rides again!

[Editor's Note: More mushy stuff again! :) Maybe its just a way for me to cope with Su Yin's return to Kuching without breaking down. So bear with me ya? Thanks.]

Sent Su Yin off to the airport this morning... I think the reality have not sunk in yet. I have not managed to cry... yet! :) Maybe the number of times we have gone through this has strengthen us but I know sometimes the tears may pop up when you least expect it. For the time being, I'm too tired and in pain to worry about that. Moreover, I know Su is going to have a very busy year this time and she needs all the support she can get from me... somehow, I know we will benefit from all of this separation, everything happens for a reason... nothing is by chance or a random occurence.

One last year to go... we have been through 2 years of ups and downs, sometimes its so beautiful, others it was so heartbreaking, but it has also made us stronger and so much closer and more in love with each other. I pray that God would continue to bless this relationship and strengthen our love... just one more year! :)

The most beautiful woman in the world

[Editor's note: the following post is very, very mushy but keep in mind, this IS my blog... so respect ok? Don't say I didn't warn you! :) ]


Have you ever been moved by someone so beautiful and you could cry? Well, I have. I've never stopped being amazed that even after 2-3 years of my relationship with Su Yin, everytime I look at her, it still manages to stir my heart and move me like the very first time I asked her to be my GF. I am so amazed that someone so beautiful could fall in love with someone like me... (those who know me know what I am talking about).

Lord, I am so blessed and honored that you've granted me a chance to be able to love someone like her. I know these chances only come but once in a lifetime. Thank you Lord for this gift. Thank you...

Troubled times

It has been a long day... went to get my ankle x-rayed. The doctors in Tanjung Medical Centre suspect that it might be a crack fracture. Went to my panel GP to get further consultation. I was then advised to refer to an orthopeadic specialist to have a closer examination, so I went to LGL Specialist Centre. The specialist there said that there was nothing broken/fractured but there might be ligament damage and that there would be further examination on Tuesday. Hopefully everything would be ok. Thank God that there was no fracture.

I'm so grateful to Su Yin for ferrying me around, here and there. She was so patient and understanding even when I was a little frus with all that was happened. She was, in the end, so tired but she did not complain at all. I severely disrupted her schedule as she will be going back to Kuching on Saturday. She is supposed to be preparing for her return but here she is helping me instead. I'd be stupid not to marry her huh?

To top it off, I just heard that 6 explosions has just happened on London's Underground network and on a bus in Central London. News of the incidents are very sketchy. It comes 1 day after London had won the bid to host the 2012 Olympics and on the day the G8 meeting has started. It struck a chord in me as I had frequently traveled on many of the train lines affected when I was in England. Hope and pray that my friend Wei Kheng, who is in London, is ok.

Again, it seems to put my pain in perspective as many people had lost their lives or were seriously injured in the explosions. Lord, let your Holy Spirit comfort and minister to those who are caught up in the incidents in London.

Yum Yum

By now you should know that my favourite topic is FOOD. Can't help it, I live in Penang, food paradise. Its true. 2 times I've gone overseas, once to UK and another to the land of Oz, and each time I've lost weight! I lost 20kgs in UK (alright, feeling homesick and having my ex-gf break up with me was also a factor) and I lost 10kgs while I was in Melbourne (alright, that was also because I went to the gym) but the fact is I lost weight.

I've managed to gain everything I lost and more, which is sad... but its ok. I know I can lose it again.

Anyway, what i wanted to say is that even though Penang has got great food, I realise sometimes its the simplest food that is the most palatable and enjoyable. I had stir-fried sawi (chinese mustard) and fried luncheon meat with rice for dinner last night but it was so good, even if it was simple. Better than any char koey teow or laksa.

Sometimes, the simplest things in life are the best.

Simple things in life

Just woke up from my nap, feeling cold and hungry. Cold cos the air-con is on and hungry because I'm always so... :) My ankle still throbs... but not so bad now... I think.

Sighs, nothing like a sprained ankle to put things into perspective. Like how we always take the most mundane tasks for granted... like walking to the toilet to take a leak. Its easier to climb Mt Everest than to walk from my bedroom to the bathroom! :( Its makes me realise how difficult it is for people who are physically disabled to just live life like the rest of us. I really admire Peter Tan for having the courage to wake up in the morning and face the day in front of him. My pain pales in comparison with what he has to go through everyday. We must really appreciate the life God has given us and live it fully and wisely. We have but only one chance.

Oklah, going down to have dinner. Sighs... the stairs, the stairs! :(

Oops...

Guess what? I went out to 'tar pow' my lunch today, and was happily thinking how BCG (Big, Cheap and Good) the food was when I put my foot into a hole on the road I was crossing. Now my right ankle is swollen like a "mi ku" (chinese flour cake). Ouch!

It was so painful that I sunk to my knees, ON THE ROAD! But by God's grace, there was no car passing by at the time and I had the sense to push aside the pain and hobble up the pavement and sat down. The pain was excruciating! I called Su Yin to let her know what happened and then called my students, whom I met when buying food, to buy ice for a cold compress. Thank God for my HP.

You know, it was my fault really... doing too many things at the same time. I was so preoccupied, thinking about the food, and watching out for cars as I was crossing the road at the same time that I did not notice the hole as I was stepping up to the pavement.

As a result of my carelessness, I am stuck in my room cos the doctor asked my to rest my foot. Going to get it x-rayed tomorrow morning. Thank God for my laptop and broadband! :)

There are a few people that I would like to thank for helping me during that terribly painful time. Firstly, I want thank my students - they not only bought me the ice so that I can apply a cold compress but also graciously helped me back to the college (I could not put any weight on the right foot) and accompanied me as I waited for Su to pick me up to see the doctor.

I must also expressed my thanks to Ms Chong for helping me pack my stuff and brought it down for me, as well as informing the relevant people (my dept secretary and HR) about my plight (more like my stupidity... hehe).

Finally, I must thank my dearest Su, who came immediately to pick me up, became my crutch (that is one hard job if you know my size!) when I had to get around seeing the doctor and going back home and making me really comfortable once I'm home. Sighs... I'm so blessed. A good fiancee is from the Lord! :)

Oklah, I wanna go rest now... my ankle is still throbbing. Painkillers kicking in too... ZZZ...

Football woes

The state of Penang football is depressing... I never thought it would happen, that we would be fighting against relegation. Sighs... :(

Oh well, at least there is still Manchester United... Oh right... sighs... :(

Little bits in your mouth

I was just eating Penang-styled Chee Cheong Fun and I realised that , you can sometimes find sesame seeds lodged in your mouth somewhere, even after you've finished the wonderful dish for quite awhile. Finding these little morsels are akin to finding gold! :) In fact, you will experience the same effect when eating Ebikko (prawn roe) sushi! :)

I know, I know, some of you are really grossed out now huh :P Whatever that makes me happy lah... Ooo... I just found another one in the mouth! Ahh... bliss...

I'm a boring blogger... COOL!!! :)

Hey, I've just been told that my blog is boring... the person commented that it's better than sleeping pills. Is that nice or what?

Hehe... I like that, at least I am of help to a sub-section of the community, namely the insomniacs who hang around the Net look for something to occupy their time while they TRY to sleep. That's a niche market on its own! Me? I have no problems sleeping. In fact, I can barely open my eyes now... I think its the effect of my sleep-deprived youth.

Its oklah, I don't really care, if my site boring, mah boring lor. I'll just gonna continue writing what I like, frame my thoughts and feelings like always, and set up my site as I like it to be. I don't have to make its super cool or super funny... mine's super boring! How's that? Hehe...

Food favourites - Part 2

Okok... here's part 2 of the FOOD trilogy... (for part 1, click here).

This list is a mix bag of stuff, especially non-local food, that I really, really like in Penang.

Best Western Food: Western Foo, Fettes Park, shares the same spot as the original Fatty Loh chicken rice shop.
Not the cheapest but portions are sizable, quality is good and service is fast.

Best Nasi Kandar: Subaidah, Fettes Park. Next to Chusan.
It was a close contest between Kayu at Bukit Jambul and Subaidah but Subaidah won on the grounds that it is nearer to my home. :)

Best Japanese Cuisine: Shinjutei, Pulau Tikus, Opposite Public Bank.
Originally, the best outlet to me was Kazoku at Midlands 1-stop but they closed down in the late 90s. The sets here are reasonably cheap, from as low as rm10 for lunch and rm12 (I think) for dinner. The place is also very clean and the service friendly and prompt.

Best Thai Cuisine: Sebai Sebai, Batu Lanchang.
The food is fresh, cooking authentic, portions big and prices are very reasonable for Thai cuisine. Apparently the spices and sauces are brought from Thailand once a week. The food does not overpower your tastebutts too much as Thai cuisine often do.

Best Teochew Cuisine: Goh Huat Seng, corner of Kimberley Street and Rope Walk.
This place serves really good and authentic Teochew dishes. Have been coming here with my family since as long as I can remember. The food is tasty and fresh, and not as oily as Cantonese cuisine. Must try dish: Braised Soy Duck, dipped in the special sour chilli sauce, is WOW!

Best Steamboat: Goh Huat Seng, corner of Kimberley Street and Rope Walk.
The same restaurant also serves one of the more reasonably priced classic steamboat, which is different from the current fad of all-you-can-eat buffet steamboat/BBQ (see below).

Best Steamboat/BBQ: Golden Steamboat, Nagore Road.
This place is one of the pioneers of the steamboat/BBQ fad and is still one of the most popular around. Be sure to make a booking to guarantee a seat.

Best Nasi Dalca: Pak Din, Jelutong. Beneath the overhead bridge.
Nasi dalca was originally from North India but has been localised (this stall is operated by Malays). I dunno how to describe it but the speciality is in the rice and the gravy that is served.
This place is cheap and good. No problems with portions because the food is self-served, so you determine the portions.

Best Italian Food: Little Italy, Bukit Jambul.
This place is indeed little. If you blink, you'd probs miss this place. Just look for Maybank's Bukit Jambul branch, its on the bank's right. The food's BCG.

Best Cakes: Sunflower, Tanjong Bungah.
Close fight between this place and Jenny's but in terms of quality, it edges Jenny's by a bit. Not much but enough for me to place it at the top.

Best Dim Sum: House of Dim Sum, Anson Road, opposite MGS.
Still serves the freshest and best dim sum and still manage to remain affordable. The place is not the cleanest nor the quietest though.

Best Mamak: Ali's, sidelane off Burmah Road, opposite Celcom building.
Not the cleanest place (you realised most places that serves the best food in Penang is not that clean???) but serves the best tasting teh tarik, thick, sweet and milky, with the usual mix bag of staple mamak food (rotis, packet nasi lemak, kuih and mee) to supplement the drink. The boss speaks Hokkien better than some local Chinese I know! :)

Most Mamak stalls/shops (teh tarik/nasi kandar) on a single street: Penang Road.
At the last count, there was 14-15 stalls/shops, big and small, servicing this road that is less than 2km in length... try and beat that, Malaysia! :)

Btw, I do welcome feedback about your choice of best food in Penang. For the final instalment of the trilogy, I will concentrate on good food found outside of Penang (yes, there are such things as good food outside of Penang!). stay tuned. :)

[Note: this list will be edited and grow as I come up with more stuff. So do come back to check it out regularly ok?]

There's a lot of unhappy people out there...

There seems to be an increasing number of people leaving comments on blogs, dissing the bloggers for what they write. Xiaxue just turned her's off (and turned it back on again! go read what she wrote! Funny!), Kenny Sia just wrote something about it today. What is going on? Have people forgotten the fact that blogging was conceived as an online journal, a way for people to express whatever thoughts they have about anything... Why are people so uptight about it and writing really, really bad comments about it? Its so hypocritical! But then, that's what comments are for right? :(

So, it seems we have reached an impasse... people don't like what we are blogging and we don't like what people are commenting...

So, what should bloggers do?

1. Ignore the negative comments: its people's thoughts... they can write what they want... but so can you :) (which is what Xiaxue did! Cool!) Unless you want to...
   
2. Take down the comments section: if you are really affected by the comments, just turn the comments off. Now no one can diss you anymore, but it also mean no one can encourage you or give good comments and constructive feedback. Think about...
   
3. Writing stuff that would not cause offense: yeah right, you can please some people, some of the time and all that... besides, that would defeat the purpose of a blog, right? So you have no choice but to...
   
4. Shut down your site: Not a good option but if you are seriously disillusioned by all these stuff that's going on lately, just quit lor... then nobody can read your blogs anymore, but it means the negative comments have won and you have lost your outlet for your thoughts too...
   

What can blog readers do?

1. Don't read the blogs that you dislike: easier said than done, people generally like to find out about other peoples life, that's how gossip start off... maybe their own life is too mundane or they are voyeurish in some way. So maybe you should just...
   
2. Don't make comments: read and shut up but then... you can't, can you? A comments section is just too tempting :) Therefore, you should...
   
3. Give constructive feedback or positive comments.... but then, there are some articles that will rattle your cage....

So it seems we are back to where we started. :( However, if some of us, especially the readers, can just do some of these things above, the world would be a better place, right?

Colour blindness...

Almost 1 in 10 men and 1 in 200 women suffers from a variety of colour blindness, most common being red/green colour blindness.

Have you ever wondered how it is like to see the world thru the eyes of a colour-blind person? Well, here it is...



The colour chart on the left is how most of us sees colours, where you will see the whole spectrum of colours. On the right is how colours are perceived by someone with colour blindness, basically both colour charts will look the same to them.

If this is the case, then people with colour blindness must really suffer during Christmas cos everything looks brown and yellow to them, right? :(

Acting my age...

Am I really this age to you? Give it a try... :)

You Are 20 Years Old

20 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Proverb of the day - Day 1

Note: This is going to be the 2nd running thingie I have besides the food thingie (I promise part 2 of the food thingie will finalised soon).

Proverb of the day: Having lots of dollars does not guarantee having any "sense".

Cool eh? I thought up that one myself... there are others that I may borrow if they are good. Otherwise, you will have to bear with my words of "wisdom". :)

Dyslexia? what dyslexia?

Did you realise that the word that describe people with an inability or difficulty in reading, including word-blindness and a tendency to reverse letters and words in reading and writing, as DYSLEXIC??? DYSLEXIC?! People with such condition can't even spell dyslexic! Its got to be the hardest word to pronounce! Haven't they been tortured enough?!

Btw, the reason why I rant and rave about it is that sometimes I find myself unable to pronounce words properly... and its happening more frequently lately... am I dyslexic? I don't know... I hope not! I rely on my mouth for a living! On a brighter note, i seem to be able to read off notes/books much better now... I used to struggle with my reading, often making mistakes when I read anything aloud.

Gmail spam - Sighing - Lorries - Su Yin leaving

I hate spam, and I'm beginning to get lots of them over the internet. Must be one of the sites that I logged on to. Does anyone out there have any idea what's going on? What can I do? Keep reporting the spam until Gmail gets rid of them, somehow. Sighs...

I've noticed I sigh a lot when I blog. many claim that blogging is a way to relieve stress and release tension... so adding a sigh here and there is not wrong right?

The lorries that are passing by house everyday is really testing my patience. They are taking soil away to somewhere from this hillock that some developer is clearing behind my housing estate. The lorries basically mess up the road and leave a lot of dust along the roads they travel on... including mine... what am I to do? I don't know really... hope that this will all be over soon, i guess.

Su Yin's leaving for Sarawak next week. Only one more week to spend with her. Sighs.... (see what I mean???) Have to treasure this time I have with her I guess. We've really grown closer during this 3 month break of hers. She's really the one I want to spend the rest of my life with. We've had our quarrels, some small, others really, really big but I'm glad we went through those, cos somehow (by God's grace, I think) we came out closer! :) Still, I'm gonna miss her loads... Sighs... (there I go again... )

I'm griping a lot today, ain't I? Yeah, its one of those days...

Finally...

I managed to get most of stuff recovered from my poor external laptop HDD using a data recovery program. Had to try a few of them before I found one that could do it successfully. I don't get frus when my HDDs crash on me, cos I know that they are not meant to be uncrashable... and knowing me, I hardly defrag my HDD, but I really hate losing all those data that was in them. I'm sure anyone who crashed their HDD, lost their HP or PDAs would understand how I feel.

It was a tough learning curve but hey, every cloud has a silver lining right? At least I got my data back and learnt how to recover my data from a dead HDD. Now if only I can find a way to get rm300 for a new HDD...

Blogging... the way to go?

I just read up somewhere that blogging is gonna be the no. 1 trend that people are going to pick up on the internet. Wow... hmm... so like am I one of those "in" people now?

There are quite a number of famous blogs among the Malaysian blog community. Among them are Kenny Sia, Peter Tan, Jeff Ooi, Paul Tan, Suanie and Minishorts.

Blogging has received quite a lot of publicity lately, especially since the Star newspaper did 2 articles on it recently, one in its StarTwo lifestyle section and others in it's In.tech IT section. News coverage of the now infamous Sarong Party Girl blog has also exposed (no pun intended... you don't know what I mean? Go find out yourself!) a lot of people to this phenomenon.

Hmm... cool eh?

Dead HDD

I think my backup HDD just died on me... I'm not 100% sure but I hope its just the cabling. I do know that external laptop HDD casings have very fragile cables. Hope its just that. Will pray for a miracle so that I dun have to spend some more money. Quite broke liao and the new month has not begun! :(

I wonder if God does answer prayers about restoring electronic equipment???

Meaningless, meaningless

Waiting for class to start. 5 minutes more. Don't feel like doing anything... nothing much to blog too but just feel like writing something to pass time.

Its the middle of the week, what do you expect???

Haloscan trackback service

Hi guys, Haloscan trackback have been added to this blog. Trackbacks will allow me to know if anyone one of you have blogged about me or my posts in your postings and give me a link back to that post of yours.

For anyone using Blogger, it is very easy to set up. All you need to do is just go to the website, sign up and the instructions will take you through the steps of setting up trackbacks for your weblog. Join up will ya?

Real life Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Just finished watching the movie and it got me thinking: how long is it going to be until me and Su Yin's gonna just go through the motions when we are married? Its really strange but its happening in the real world. There are a lot of Mr and Mrs Smith out there, out of touch with each other as they go through their busy schedules and feeling very frustrated. Although they might not fight with each other with guns n knives like in the movie, but a lot of married couples do fight with words and cold shoulders instead, and sometimes i think its even more painful and hurting to use the latter.

Even in our relationship right now, there are times when Su Yin and I will quarrel for the smallest reasons and yet I do know both of us love each other very much. There's just a lot of unmet expectations that we brought into the relationship. The question is, how do we avoid such problems? Or are they unavoidable? If so, how do we overcome them?

There are many advices given by lots of people, Christian and secular, and I have read or heard of some of these advices, like resolve your issues before going to bed, argue objectively, don't point fingers, refrain from using hurtful words, don't bring up the past and stuff... Some of these advices are good, and do-able, and others easier said than done. Still, it has to rely on one element, and that is that the couple both carry them out and often that is not the case. Usually one party is so blinded by rage that he/she does not see the both of them as one but only at him/herself. The other party is so desperate to keep it together that he/she gives in, or worse both parties just won't take the first step. Who says a relationship is easy.

There is no secret formula nor is there a perfect plan for a relationship. Relationships are made out of 2 people from very different worlds, coming together and deciding to trust the other with his/her feelings, likes and dislikes, strength and weaknesses... hoping that it will all work out.

I believe we all can but it does take a lots of effort, patience, tolerance, love, prayers from both parties AND a whole lot of God's favor to make it work and that's the hard part... but if it does work, it is beautiful, not perfect (as we are always working towards perfection) but beautiful. :)

Evil Microsoft empire

You know something? I think that's something seriously wrong about Microsoft's Windows software updates. Of the 2 computers I just reformatted and reinstalled with Windows, both gave me some serious problems after updating them... and one of them I used the original software given by the computer manufacturer? What the???

So right now, I have decided to turn off the automatic updates function for both comp... each running on SP1. Now both seems to be running fine. I figure if I try to minimise my use of MS products then it should be ok. Its risky I know but I am not going to reinstall my desktop n my fiancee's laptop for the umpteenth time liao!!!

Does anyone know what I can do? If so, I would much appreciate it if you can leave your comments for me...

Does Emperor Palpatine bears a striking resemblance to a certain richest man on earth???
The evil empire strikes again! :(

I want, I want!

If there is a car that I would dream about right now it has to be this one - the Nissan X-Trail.

If not then this one would do - a souped-up Perodua MyVI.

Friends

Thank you Lord for reminding me that I have friends and its important to have them around you. Lately I have been very out of my circle of friends. Seeing them less and less, its wholly my own fault. Its not my relationship with Su Yin that made me reluctant to go anywhere, its just me... However, its great to have friends who still love me for who I am, and not what I have.

Thanks Jocelyn for coming back to Penang. If not, I'd be too lethargic to meet up with Leslie and Xe Hui. Sorry about the apartment, I'll make sure its more "occupied" the next time. Sorry for not making more time for you.

Thanks to Leslie and Xe Hui for accepting me for who I am and for not pushing me away. Next time, I'll FORCE Aki to make the banana, cheese and ham pancake for you ok? :) Though, I really doubt that bananas and ham would go well together... well, one man's meat and all that. :)

Most of all, thanks Su Yin for being my best friend and for loving this funny character. Its hard sometimes to be patient with me but I am thankful that you have been so. No regrets, dear... ;)

Slow?

Is it me or am I slow when it comes to catching up with things in the Malaysian blogsphere? Anyway... its oklah, blogging is not about keeping up with the Joneses. Its about me, my thoughts and I, right?

Which M'sian blogger are you?

Congratulations Danny Chen, you are...

minishorts of minishorts.net

You are outgoing, direct, smart, pretty, and a definite go-getter. You are frank, a little too frank perhaps that sometimes you get on people's nerves and make them very upset. If people attack you, you hit back with triple the force without blinking because you are the kind of person who knows exactly what you are talking about or else you wouldn't talk about it. Your quick-thinking is what makes you special. You are an elitist.

Which Malaysian Blogger Are You?

Give it a try... tell me your results, ok?

Happy 2nd B'day PPS

Happy 2nd Anniversary PPS!!!

What is PPS? Project Petaling Street, its like a malaysian blogsphere portal... come to think of it, it IS Malaysia's only blogsphere portal (can someone confirm this for me please? Alvin?).

So if you are a Malaysian and blogs regularly/irregularly... give it a try why wun ya? :)

PMS and me

I had a look at Alvin's blog today had an article about PMS and its something that I have to deal with every month. No... its not me who has PMS but Su Yin who experience very, very BAD mood swings, (though no cramps so far, which is good for her). What do I do? Urm, watch my words, give copious amounts of hugs and kisses and generally try to be nice to her lor.

Chocolates do not work with her cos she does not like them. I have learnt to read the signs and take cover most of the time lor, although sometimes I do step on a landmine with my mouth and KABOOM!!! :) Otherwise, Su Yin is very, very sweet when everything is normal.

Its really not her fault that she has mood swings as its not something she can control. So for 1 week in a month I become my alter-ego: Danny, the human punching bag! :) Would I change it for anything in the world? NEVER, cos its part of her and like everything in life, you have to take the good and not so good right? I'm not perfect either and I quote my mom, "In a relationship, its very important for the both of you to learn how to give and take". Hence, when it comes to PMS, its my turn to give...

Update: Alvin is correct, in the case of PMS, its me doing both the giving (love, patience and affection) and taking (moodiness, tantrums, cold stares and of course, the blows!) but other times, I;m so glad that Su is so patient with me, especially when I go DVD shopping... but that's another story altogether. :)

Dream Team

If I have money like Roman Abramovich and have my own team named Xienyao United, I'd buy these players:

Goalkeeper
- Iker Casillas

Defenders
- Ashley Cole
-
- Rio Ferdinand
- John Heitinga

Midfielders
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Ronaldinho
- Xabi Alonso
- Joaquin

Forwards
- Wayne Rooney
- Fernando Torres

Reserves
- Pter Cech
- Steven Gerrard
- Bastian Schwiensteiger
- Vincent Kompany
- Steward Downing
- Kaka
- Nigel De Jong
(Note: Champions League allows 7 reserves.)

So, what do you think? Make up your own list and lets compare notes. :)

Machine ageing process

Sighs... Moore's law, the bane of all computer buyers. Just 2 months after I got my Compaq notebook, I found out that it is now only rm3000 and is going obsolete soon. :( So fast! I guess that's the price you pay for advancement in technology. So what am I going to do now? Nothing, cos actually it was a good buy at the time. I was given free RAM, pendrive, USB speakers, floppy drive and mini optical mouse... consolation? You bet! :)

Ramblings - part 220605

My mind is a blank right now... had a long day yesterday, and Su Yin's not well, but its ok, I can take it. :)

I've been sprucing up my bloggo... I'm beginning to think that I'm getting carried away, something I do often. Getting carried away with stuff, lose track of what I am supposed to do.

Anyway, I've been sprucing up my bloggo, and its actually quite fun. I've had this small part of Blogosphere for about 9 months now. Its only within these 2 months that I've done some serious blogging. I never knew there was so much to on this part of the Internet. Its really amazing how blogging has grown.

Its a great outlet for my thoughts and feelings, and its a good way to keep in touch with my friends, their lives and their experiences. In fact, its the only way I keep up to date with my brother's life in OZland (sad but true, everytime he calls home, I'm either not at home or not at home!). I think this will definitely supersede personal websites as a way to express ourselves (what am I talking about? I don't know...).

Ok, I've run out of things to say... so I guess I'd better stop... hey, is this thing still on?

Food, glorious food

For those waiting for Food favourites - part 2, you'll have to wait awhile. I dunno how but the list seems to grow longer on its own as I keep coming up with more types of food that I like (and dare I say, the list is not exhaustive!). Moreover, it is very hard to write and salivate at the same time. Ya, I have the dreaded PFL Syndrome... Penang Food Lover Syndrome. :) So it may take sometime for me to compile this list...

Thank you for your patience. Now where is my hankerchief?...

Getting older

Sighs... i found it so hard to wake up this morning. As I get older, its harder to stay up till late and only catch a few hours of sleep and still function at my best. Thank God that the new class I'm taking is lively (they are a good bunch, not too difficult to handle but have to be careful not to let them climb over my head).

Anyway, you'll know that you're OLDER (to me at least) when...
1. You find it harder to get out of bed... literally and figuratively.
2. Stairs are beginning to be a pain.
3. 2 bowls of rice is a challenge when 10 years ago, 8 bowls was not enough.
4. You drive more cautiously and don't take unnecessary risks.
5. Its harder to get rid of the fat around your belly.
6. You begin to eat the things your parents like to eat, like brinjal, bitter gourd, oats...
7. You keep forgetting why you are standin in the room.

Of course, it may be that I have not exercised regularly for the past 1 year but that's another story...

Now that's how you make a Batman movie

Finally, the people at Warner Bros have come to their senses and did what they should have done all these while after the "nipples on the suit" scandal in its last outing... a real, true to its origin, Batman movie - Batman Begins.

I won't go through too much about the movie because there's a lot of stuff out there already and I'm rather sleepy... but its definitely one of the must-see movies of the year and the best comicbook to movie adaptation I've ever seen, even, dare I say it..., better than Spiderman and X-Men, and to me, the latter adaptations are really up there in terms of story and characterisation is concerned. Moreover, the movie was such a roller coaster ride that didn't feel like it was 2+ hours long while still able to flesh out the important characters in the Batman story.

Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, man... this guy is having fun! :) and Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon, I never thought I'd see in a good-guy role but he is so Jim Gordon. I now realise what a good actor he is, when he played baddies, you hated him but in the movies, I was rooting for him. Too cool!

Christian Bale as Batman, brilliant. He really played Batman/Bruce Wayne really well. One of the most memorable scenes was when Alfred, played by Michael Caine (another veteran who really was at his best) reminded Bruce that if he is to succeed in his plans to be Batman, he had to live a double life and the movies should him struggling with that initially, and I thought it was great bcos most times, in comics and other movies, most writers would portray Bruce as enjoying his uber-rich playboy lifestyle, that it came to him naturally as if he was born into that kind of lifestyle.

Btw, you noticed I didn't mention Katie Holmes at all? Hehe...

I like everything about the movie, you should ask Su Yin. I was like wow... the whole time. So what do I like most about the movie? It has got to be the Batmobile... it looks like the one in Dark Knight Returns... a real tank of a car... not some wimpy glow in the dark thingie with fake jet engine... this one really kick the behind!!! and I quote Jim Gordon in the movie. "I really gotta get one of these...".

Wish the fight scene were not so messy though... couldn't really see Batman fight as he would have after acquiring all those fighting skills. If Keanu Reeves can do it, so can Christian Bale.

Burger King, Burger King, Burger King!!!

Can someone tell me why are the franchisees of Burger King not opening an outlet in Penang?! It has got to be the bestest fast-food burger I've ever tasted. Of cos, it cannot beat our very own Malaysian Ramli-dodgymeatsource-Burger, which is closest to burger heaven, but compared to McDonalds, Whopper beats the Big Mac hands down. As an added incentive for conversion, all you Penang McD lovers, just buy the S-sized value meal and you get a all-you-can-drink-till-you-develop-diabetes soft drink offer thrown in for FREE!!! What more can a Penangite want???

Dear Burger King management, if you are reading this... get your Whoppers and free drinks offer up here soon or else, I'll go down there and beg you to bring it up!!! Don't let me do it, it will be very embarassing and excruciating to watch...

There... I feel better now...

Whoa... Happy Father's Day!!!

Nearly forgot to do it... still not too late. To all fathers, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

To my own dad, Happy Father's Day! I don't know if he will ever find his way to my site but I know by now that parents are not as clueless as they let you think they are! :)

Must endeavour to remember this as it will be an important date that I may want people to remember sooner or later :)

Sarong party girl

One blogsite that has been getting a lot of attention in the media lately has been Sarong Party Girl's blog. There was a big blow up in Singapore (she's a Singaporean) when the media highlighted the fact that she published nude pictures of herself in her blogsite. I went to the blogsite to have a read to find out what it is all about and I realised she was doing what a blogger would do, put in whatever she wanted to (Actually, there was only one nude photograph, in black and white, not much different from some professional nude photographs you can see in galleries in western countries). However, as she was from Singapore, she got a lot of flak in it.

I'm not writing in support of her or condemn her what she did. I don't know whether she did it for publicity or just for the sake of it. Personally, I think she went a little too far but I know I can't, and won't, judge her because I have no right to do so, my own life has enough potholes of its own for me to deal with. You know, the plank in the eye thing?

Moreover, its HER blog and she is the only one who is responsible in deciding what she puts in her blog. That's what a blog is right? A weblog, a web journal... except it can be read by the rest of the world, if they want to. So I guess she should have known what reaction it would provoke. At least she realised, albeit belatedly, that she has to keep in mind how her actions can affect the people closest to her.

And so, I'm concentrating on the silver lining that i came to see in that blog instead of that one picture. While reading through her blog, I noticed that she is actually from a Christian family, or at least her father is a Christian, and that even in a situation like this, God's hand is still on her. Despite and in spite of her ultra liberal views and values about life and everything in between, she still mentioned that she appreciates her father's prayer for her. It made me realised that God is still watching over her and I'm sure He has not given up on her and that gives me hope, not only for her, but for me as well. For I know I am one who has disappointed Him time and again.

Yet God loves me so much that He can't help but to keep hanging on to me, reminding me that He is near and that He never left me to fend on my own. God indeed is LOVE and that indeed is profound and AWESOME. For that, I know there is still hope, for me and for sarong party girl.

Food favourites - Part 1

My favourite Penang food (may not be the best to others but its the best to me):
Best Wantan Mee - behind Penang Plaza.
It was so good that everytime I ordered this, I had its special: 3 bor mee (3 portions of noodles instead of the normal 1). I can never tire of eating their noodles. Sadly the family who operated the business decided to quit when they lost the home they were staying in due to the Quit Rent issue (They operated from their home, in the alleyway behind their house). So I'm afraid you can't taste this glorious dish of noodles anymore... :(

Best Mee Goreng/Rebus - formerly Edgecumbe Road, now at MPPP foodcourt, Gurney Drive.
Another one that I don't mind eating everyday. My usual orders: 1 mee goreng, 1 mee rebus, Add vinegar provided, as you like it, to the mee rebus, finish the noodles and pour the leftover gravy into the mee goreng, making it mee basah. Glorious! The best mee goreng/rebus stall, in my humble opinion that is. Most would differ, preferring the one at Bangkok Lane.

Best Bak Kut Teh - Air Itam Road, after the Farlim junction towards Air Itam, before Indian temple.
I forgot the name of this one (Mike Ng finally helped me with this one: Beng Heang. Thanks Mike!), nice... a little pricer than the rest but they have all the ingredients I like and the soup is perfect.

Best Hokkien Mee - Chiu Jang Ka (Under the Trees), Off Burmah Road.
My current favourite. It a stall among an unorganised group of hawkers selling their stuff under a cluster of trees, hence its name. The soup is exquisite, the bee hoon and bean sprouts are not cooked too long and soggy and if you order the rm2.50 version, you'll get a very big bowl for size (both literally and in terms of serving).

Best Char Hor Fun - coffee shop at the corner of the famous Sar Tiau Lor (3rd Street) food stalls.
The noodles are fried just nice, with a nice hint of smoky fragrance. Portions are abit small but it costs only rm2 so I'm not complaining.

Best Roti Canai - Ibrahim's, Pulau Tikus, same row as the police station, next to the newsstand.
This classic hang out of ISCA youths of old has the best roti canai. Not the cleanest though, many a strong stomach (such as myself yao hua, willie and joel) has succumb to the runs after consuming copious amounts of the roti.. So be warned. Only for the strong stomached.

Best Banana Leaf Rice - Vaiduri, Penang CBD.
One of the cheapest around, no frills but they have spruced up the place in view of the competition around. Food also good, again no frilss but healthy portions. This is one food that they should intro to impoverished Malaysian Uni students all over the world. Why? Cos its rice, curry, vege and papadam refills are absolutely FREE!!!

Best Malay Rice - Opposite Ratu Mutiara apartments, Tanjong Bunga.
2 stalls there, I order from both. Vegetables from the middle stall and the rest, especially the fried chicken and the kuah, from the one on the right. Bears all the Penang hallmark (big, cheap and good!). Enough said.

Best Nasi Lemak - Catholic sisters, Tanjong Bunga Market.
Not your typical malay nasi lemak, this one is sold by 2 Chinese sisters of the Catholic faith. Very nice, especially its ikan bilis sambal (my favourite) and chicken curry (Willie's favourite).

Best Laksa - Coffee shop next to the Balik Pulau market.
2 stalls famous in Balik Pulau. Go to the one operated by an old lady. It serves both Penang assam laksa and also Siam laksa lemak, Best if ask for a mix of both... nice.

Best Chendol: Sidelane off Penang Road, between Kimberley Street and Prangin Road.
2 stalls here, go to the one on the right, next to the coffee shop (which btw, also serves good char koey teow and laksa, though, in my opinion, not the best), as you enter the one way street. Still the best by far.

Best ABC: Swatow Lane.
Go to the one at the roadside, that's the original one. You can top the ABC up with ice cream or fruits or both! Price is not too bad and plenty of other good food around.

Best Beef Noodles/Rice: Junction of Beach Street and Chulia Street.
Run by young 2 ladies, it serves the best "Gu Bak" noodles and rice (Personally I like rice better). The soup is thick, flavourful and sweet and you get all different parts of the cow (if you like that) in it too.

Best Penang-style Chee Cheong Fun: Genting Coffee Shop, Island Glades, opposite SM Hamid Khan.
They mix peanut butter with the prawn paste, really creamy and tasty. The cheong fun is also soft and smooth.

Oklah, that's all for now. Wait for part 2. :)

Free SMS? Not likely...

I wonder how many people have been tempted by this sms.ac offer. Although it offers free sms for you, everytime it sends an sms to you are charged a bomb! For those who have already signed up, deregister quickly or else you'll see your mobile account rack up a huge bill. For those you have not, don't ever, ever register... avoid it like the plague.

Don't say I didn't warn you...

Empty nest

Read today's comic strips in the newspaper. The Lois character in the Hi and Lois strip said that seeing an empty nest always bring a tear to her eye. My mom recently hinted to me that she doesn't like the house to be devoid of people, as my sis and bro has already left home and settled down in Australia. My cousin, who is staying with us, is also planning to move out soon. I know eventually that I have to leave too when Su and I go off to start our own home. It made me start thinking how do we cope with this empty nest syndrome or at least help those who are in this position? How do we fill the how with sound again after living in a house always filled with people?

I really don't know but I do know we are never really alone. As Christians, we will always have the best companion ever, the Holy Spirit to guide us, counsel us, comfort us, encourage us and fill us with God's love.

Thank You, Holy Spirit, for Your constant presence within us, keeping us company when we feel lonely and warning us when we are in danger. Thank You for being so patient with us. Just wanted You to know that I really am grateful for Your quiet but real presence in my life. Thank You.

Dream home

As near to my dream place to stay as it can get...

Resolutions

I know its a bit late but here's my new year... no... make that mid-year resolution:

1) Lost weight.
2) Be more focused.
3) Don't force people to do what I think is the right thing to do.

Being happy

I had an online chat with my "daughter" Jocelyn and it made me realised that we are not here in this world to make people happy but we should be happy around people, especially those we love. We don't do that often, do we?

We can't please people all the time also and that the Person that we can easily please the most is God. We don't do that often too, do we?

Lose weight

Got an ultimatum from Su Yin, its either my fat tummy goes or she goes. I have to make a commitment with myself to lose the rolling midriff then. Its the daily struggle that gets to me. She asks me why is it so difficult for me to get going... I really have no answer to that, cos I know I can do it. Its for my own good too. Excess weight is straining my body. It has to work this time. I did it before, once in UK, once in the land of Oz. So, i should be able to do it... sighs.

Father, help me to take care of Your Spirit's dwelling place. I will myself to this endeavour. Amen.

How-Tos

Found an interesting website that gives you tips on how to do almost anything... or at least that's what they are aiming for. Anyway, the website is called eHow, click on this link to get to it. Go have a look... really interesting.

Unbelief

Its so easy to doubt God. What a test I had on Sunday in church. Went out to be prayed for by a visiting speaker for my right eye which has been giving me a whole load of problems lately. Keep watering up for no apparent reason, found out from the Net that it could be a blocked tear duct.
Anyway, i stood there... for one and a half hours! What a way to be tested... I was bypassed time and again. By the time I thought it would be my turn finally, 3 elderly ladies came and stood by me! Tested again! But I told myself I want to meet God today, even if it means embarassing myself. Finally, he got to me, prayed, told me if it didn't get any better to see the doctor. (The speaker was a medical doctor by profession). I definitely did not want to go see the doctor as it meant, putting a needle into my tear duct to unblock it.
After the prayer, still nothing! I told myself, "OH NO!!! This cannot be!" Obviously, I left feeling very disappointed. However, as I was driving back, the still small voice reminded me of this verse that I read before. (I can't even remember the verse!) It went something like "I believe in You, Lord, forgive my unbelief." (Found out later it was: "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!") and guess what? The tears slowly began to dry up. When it started to water again, I repeated the verse again, and again, and again.
I really wanted to believe that God is real. I have been walking further and further away from God lately. I have never been so far away from Him. I guess I was so desperate to have Him back but I now know, He never was away...

P.S. Just in case u wanted to know, the verse was Mark 9:24

Wake up call

Why does it always takes the most hurtful words from the person you love most to wake you up?

Observations... from the driver's seat

Yesterday, while driving back home after dropping Su off at her place, I got really annoyed... AGAIN... by the ways the drivers in Penang behave on the road. What a contrast between KL and Penang drivers. Yes, KL drivers are really aggresive and fast but in terms of road courtesy, most of them will beat us Penangites hands down. Of course there are a few who will try to bully you cos you drive a Penang plated car but most are ok. Penang drivers do not turn on the indicator when they turn or change lanes, if you do indicate, they will accelerate to block you off. Red traffic lights means go as you wish here in Penang and yellow boxes are meant for you to park in it, blocking traffic at the same time...
However, just as I was telling myself that I have absolutely no respect for such people, a still small voice asked me this question: "Why can't you extend the grace that God has shown you when you did something wrong?" Yes, it is undeserved but I realised that it is exactly what I need to do. Extend God's grace to people I think do not deserve them. That's exactly what grace is.
Funny how most of my musings originate from the point of view of the driver's seat. Maybe its because my car radio is "kaputed". So maybe some of us needs to just switch off the car radio once in awhile and spend some time listening to you own voice and the other still small voice that accompanies as all the time, but is ignored by most of us, most of the time...

Chelski revolution or revulsion?

Chelsea seems to think that their wealth allows them to do whatever they want. Tapping up a player here, enticing a sporting director there. When will it all end? They did well the past season, got themselves a great if not endearing manager and used their money to get the right people at the right place and at the same time, the existing players blossomed at the same time. However, for all their achievements, recent events has somewhat soured their achievements and efforts. Sighs... are they going to be the most hated team in England? I think they already are, taking over the dubious title from Manchester United. At least now MU can concentrate on reworking and rebuilding their team, as long as the fans get behind the team regardless of what has happened at ownership level. Arsenal is working at rebuilding as well. Liverpool seems to be going through their own revolution. Is it going to be an interesting season for 2005/06? You betcha! ;)

Ups and downs

God, why am I in this hole that I make for myself? I really want to live my life for You but I keep slipping back into the muddy hole that I wallow in everyday. I really want this to be true:

"The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD
Forever." - Psalm 23

A-1 Headlines

If there is a HK movie that is worth watching from 2004, it has to be A-1 Headlines. Starring Anthony Wong Chau-Sang and Angelica Lee Sin-Jie, it can be considered a whodunit kind of drama. It has a well-paced story but more importantly its how the actors interact with each other that really caught my eye.
Anthony Wong has got to be THE HK actor for me currently. No matter how badly directed/scripted a movie it is, he can manage to bring it alive somehow with his screen presence. He is like good wine, matures well with age.
Go catch it on DVD, VCD, video or whatever...

Big car, big ego

Why is it that people with bigger cars seems to have less decency and common sense?

1st Annual Gasolene Awards 2005

Best Petrol: BP
(Reason: After much testing and searching, I have, in my own opinion, decided that BP petrol gives my Sunny Boy the best power and mileage. How do I know? All I can say is that I can feel the difference!)

Best Petrol Station: BP Green Lane
(Reasons: Friendly staff, willing to let you combine your petrol payment with your miscellaneous payments and the petrol pump, though old, is a breeze to control...)

Lousiest Petrol: Shell
(Reason: really sucks big time... apparently its due to its low octane level in its petrol. Performance of the car really drops!)

Lousiest Petrol Station: Shell Green Lane
(Reason: the lady at the counter is the rudest woman on this planet, she looks and sounds as if she as a bad case of double haemorrhoids on her!)

Note: How can 2 petrol stations, just 500 meters apart can be so different? Well, they can and its evident right here in Penang! :( Anyway, the above awards only covers the Penang island. Other places, I don't know and if you want, you can do your own research and release your own results and awards! :P

Faithful God

This I cannot comprehend but am eternally grateful for...

"If we are faithless, He remains faithful..." 2 Timothy 2:13

Conflicts starts from mere nothingness

Why do we humans argue over the most inconsequential things and then let it simmer till its too late?

Man Utd is dead! Long live Man Utd!

Its a little belated I know but I really dunno how to react to the fact that Man Utd has been bought by this Malcolm Glazer guy. What can I do? Nothing really. Should MU fans panic? I don't think so... But it would be challenging to see what He wants to do to the club... what has been made known so far has not been much. Sighs... I guess I'd just have to plod on and hope for the best lah.
P/S Good job Liverpool... you deserve the Champions League trophy.

enterhisgates.com rocks!

This has got to be one of the coolest online radio sites I know:
enterhisgates.com
It has 2 sections. One for contemporary Christian music and another for praise and worship music.
No problems if whether you are broadband or dialup user. It caters to you both.
It is so, so cool... give it a try, why dun ya?

Haria! Penang!

True fans of Penang football... take a look at this website. Except for the loss to Perlis recently, Penang's Panther's has been roaring loud early this season. Ito Dan has been a revelation to us! All our foreign imports has been performing well. Go Panthers, Go!
(Register yourself as a fan at the Penang Football Supporters Club's website)

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's day! :)

The BIG Question!

This is for those who wanted to ask me how I proposed to Su Yin and for those who are just plain nosy and wanted to read this out of curiousity... :P Happy reading!

Finally, after 2 years, I managed to pop THE question to Su Yin and she said YES! :) Made me the happiest man on the planet. It was just wonderful. I didn't really have any idea what and how to propose to her. Though about a number of ways, like going to the beach or Penang hill, both her favorite romantic spots in Penang... Then I had a look at my 2003 diary and I noticed that it was on 12 February 2003 over a lasagne cooking session at Yuen Chern's place that I began to be interested in her. She was there because Xe Hui was suppose to be there but could not make it at the last minute... I suppose I must thank Yuen Chern for asking me over to learn how to cook lasagne and thank Xe Hui for doing the "disappearing" act! :)

Anyway, it was when I realised that 12/02/2005 was on the day before my Dearest left for Kuching after the Chinese New Year holidays. We had agreed that we wanted to get engaged early 2005 but I couldn't decided when to do so... So I knew that 12/02 was the perfect day for it, now its just how to execute my plans.

Now, i did mention that my Better Half favored the beach or Penang hill... and I also thought about a romantic dinner at a posh restaurant but I ended up deciding that I would personally set up a romantic dinner for 2 at the Tiara View apartment and just cook lasagne for her... perfect! :)

Hence I started gathering all the stuff I need for the dinner cos I had nothing at the apartment. No table, chairs, plates, glasses, cutleries, napkin, table cloth, candles... pathetic huh? Again I got Xe Hui and Leslie to help me (Thanks guys!) I decided also that I would celebrate her birthday albeit belated and Valentine's day albeit be-early :) Got her a birthday cake for her birthday and a bunch of champagne roses (her favorite!) and a Valentine's day gift (cannot tell you what that is) ;) for Valentine's day.

Hey, hey, hey... what about the ring? you might ask... wait lah, I'm getting to that! :) Su Yin had already previously indicated that she wanted a particular ring from a particular jeweller so it was not so hard in this area but I had too keep going back to that shop to make sure that her ring has not been sold. :) Thank God she did not fancy any of the solitaire diamond rings (I never realised how expensive these things were until I went ring hunting... my heart nearly had a seizure!) but she chose a very elegant and delicate ring that had a row of diamonds across it (Trust me guys, its cheaper than the solitaires even though it had more diamonds!) Anyway, I got it for and had to part with a chunk of my savings but let me tell you, it was worth every penny to see that expression on Su Yin's face :)

Anyway, I'm jumping ahead of myself. So I got the ring and other stuff (rushed like a mad person), informed everyone, from my family, her family and our friends about it and waited for her to return for the CNY holidays.

I did not mention to Su Yin about my plans when she returned and she was asking me when are we planning to get engaged as we have informed our family and friends that we were planning to do so early 2005. I keep telling her soon soon... We had a great time during CNY but we also had a few disagreements to spice things up! :) I had to keep telling myself it is all worth it and now I know it is.

So on the big day, I picked her up from her home, went shopping for the ingredients for the lasagne and went to my home to cook. It brought back a lot of memories to me about that special day 3 years ago and how our relationship has progressed. I don't know if many people realised this but there was a time when I said that it was impossible for us to be together... she was in Form 5 then... but that's for another day :)

Back to the day... Xe Hui, Leslie, Yao Hua and Jocelyn's entourage came over for CNY visitation that afternoon (actually Xe Hui and Leslie was suppose to come help me set up the apartment) and I had to excused myself and left Xe Hui to help her (thanks Xe Hui!) and went with the rest over to the apartment. It was so funny as I felt like one of those guys in Queer Eye for a Straight Guy show who gets a makeover! :) and I really did not know how to set up the table (thanks Leslie for your help!).

Anyway, everything was done and we left the place to collect the cake and went back home. The lasagne was cooked by then (Su Yin was so nice to make some salad to go with the lasagne and Mom was too for making mango pudding) and after distributing some to everyone I took Su Yin over to the apartment. Then disaster struck! Su Yin asked me whether we were going to Yao Hua's place after dinner as he was having a gathering and I told her yes cos I wanted us to go as an engaged couple! I did not even realise what I just said until a few seconds later but she was nice enough to pretend not to notice! :)

Anyway, we went up for dinner... and when she saw the place she was surprised and very happy but the table looked funny plonked in the middle of the hall. Then Su Yin had a look at the balcony and wisely suggested that we move the table there and have dinner al-fresco style at the balcony and let me tell you, that's the best suggestion of the whole day! It was wonderful and it was so beautiful... We had a candle lit dinner, with champagne to accompany our salad and lasagne. I was so nervous throughout but Su Yin was really a calming influence as she was so bubbly and talkative that night (normally she is as quiet as a dor-mouse!) and made the night so relaxed and enjoyable. This was made even better as the night sky was filled with fireworks from the people playing at the beach (I would like to thank all those who defied the ban to let off fireworks at the Tanjong Bungah beach!)... perfect!

Then after dessert, I brought out the cake and celebrated her birthday as I had promised to make it up to her for missing her birthday. She was so very touched. Then I surprised her again with the flowers and presents for Valentine's day... By now she was in tears. I told her that I was sorry that I could not spend Valentine's day with her and she asked me to come over and gave me a hug.

Somehow or rather, that had me kneeling next to her and I told her that 3 years ago I fell in love with her over lasagne and 3 years later I was so happy to be able to share lasagne with her... and then I asked her the BIG, BIG Q! She was like "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" and then she said "yes!"... the sweetest word I hear her utter that night! :) I cannot describe how I feel but I am so sure its her I want to spend the rest of my life with. I took out the ring and placed it on her finger... It was so exciting that I could only remember it as a blur. Wah! I am now officially engaged! :)

I wish I could say we lived happily ever after but I know that this is only the beginning of a wonderful, exciting adventure with her. Throughout this process I just realised that there was Someone out there who was helping me every step of the way. I realised that if it wasn't for God, our Father, I would not be writing this for you to read. Everything that I have, Su Yin and our relationship, is from Him and so I just want to acknowledge that fact that it was Him who put us together and allowed things to fall into place so nicely for us. Thank you Lord Jesus.

I would like to thank my parents cos without them I would not be here and for blessing my relationship with Su YIn. I now know how important it is to have your parents' blessings in a relationship.

I would like to thank Su Yin's parents for bringing Su Yin into this world and bringing her up in such a way that she would fit me so nicely. Such are the ways of our Almighty God. I would also like to thank them for trusting me enough to hand their daughter to me, so that I might have the chance to love, take care, cherish the most beautiful woman in the whole world! Thanks!

My gratitude too to all my family and friends who encouraged me and supported me... especially Willie (for a very, very special reason), Jocelyn, Xe Hui, Leslie and Yao Hua and also many more that I can't manage to name here but you know who you are! Thanks!