The last day of year 2010

The blue sky looks great with some white clouds hanging around; the wind is blowing slowly, gently leading the tree branches and leaves to dance happily. The weather sure is nice today. Maybe I should take a walk in the town later in the afternoon, strolling aimlessly to kill the loneliness of being away from the family and perhaps to find some food for the weekend. Yeah, that would be great, killing two birds with a stone.

While fingers are dancing on the keyboards, my mind is already miles away, thinking about my new year resolution. It's a bit late, but it's never too late to set our mind on some good ones, especially those which can change our life into a better one.

Hmm... what should I do. I should strive harder in my study, yeah, it's inevitable for the sake of finishing up my course. What's next? I smirked a bit, I guess maybe to exercise more often in the evening. It's about time to slim down my lil tummy. I guess it's never too late to stretch my muscles a bit eh.

Maybe that's all I could think of for now, will try to add more when more crosses my mind later. So, what about yours, my dear reader? :)

Also, Happy New Year :D

Big Mac + French Fries + Coke = Happiness

McDonald French Fries with Big Mac

Oh great, the queue is so long, I told myself. Maybe I shouldn't have come here. Hmm... but it's been a really long time and I've been craving for one to satisfy my tummy. I really missed it. Looking back, it's been... umm *counting the fingers* more than half a year since I last stepped into a McDonald fast food restaurant. 

I glanced at my wrist watch again, it's 1 minute past one. The day is still long, I guess I'll wait for my turn. Here come my Big Mac. I was in full anticipation, after all, having Big Mac with some French Fries is surely a great happiness.

My thoughts started running wild, thinking how should I start eating these yummy delicacies, should I start with French Fries dipped with some ketchup... no perhaps chili sauce is better. It's finger licking good, like the old man KFC said. Hmm maybe I should start with the main course, the Big Mac. Sinking my teeth into the juicy burger will be a great moment to recall. Yummy!

"Sir, would you like to eat here or take away?" a familiar voice rang in my ears. I was brought back from miles away immediately. I looked at the girl in front of me, with a smile I answered: "take away please" Most of the tables have been occupied anyway. 

"Big Mac Lunch Set please", I requested. It cost RM9.60 after adding the tax. After paying, I waited a bit for them to finish packing my order. While waiting, I took a quick glance at the queue, oh, still quite a long queue we have there. I guess most people are waiting in great anticipation too. I'm Lovin' it! The McD's slogan suddenly crossed my mind and I found myself flashing back to the English class. State verbs can't have -ing form, but what about "I'm loving it"? Well, there are some exceptional cases, this is to emphasis on the speaker being starting to love the the situation described.

"Big Mac lunch set ready" once again, I was brought back to my current state. "Thank you", I took my food and walked quickly towards my motorcycle. It's meal time. Thank goodness, maybe I should visit McDonald more often to quench my thirst for yummy burgers. Nothing's better than a good meal for the tummy.

Suzuki Cup Final 2nd leg

"Oh damn, why did you pass like that?"

"yeah lor, silly him, if I were him, I would have dribbled the ball pass the defenders instead and then scoooooooooooooooooooore"

"I'll be the same too, haha... shoot like a rocket *with his legs raised a bit like kicking a ball* "

"Look at Gonzales, I don't like his face... How can they have an imported player in their team?"

"Why did you even bother about his face? hahaha.That's the way Ang Moh looks lah"

ps: The coversation I caught while watching the live match. Well, suddenly everyone becomes a football commenter :P

from livescore.net

Finally, it's the time for the second leg of Suzuki Cup Final. I decided to watch the last twenty minutes. The television showed Malaysia led 1-0 at the moment I arrived. I could see that the Malaysian team isn't in their top form, they were defending most of the time and sending a teeny bit of counter attack upon fended off the ferocious attacks from the Indonesian team. 

This isn't good, Malaysia would lose a few goal if this keeps up, I thought. This is the complete opposite of the high-spirited Malaysian team when playing in the first leg, even after leading three goals in front, they still keep on attacking. Are the Malaysian team being blinded by the clear leads? Are they being satisfied with the game? Don't they want to have a win in the opponent's place too?

Sure enough, finally Indonesian's attack connected. A cross pass from the midfield wasn't being cleared away in time by the defender, the Indonesian team grabbed this golden opportunity and scored a goal to tie the game. 1-1. All the spectators were in shock. Oh, how did we get such a mistake in defend? We must quickly defend our lead from the first leg. Indonesia has cast a deadly spell on the Malaysian's defense, strucking fear in their hearts.While in the mess, the Indonesian team managed to pick up a second goal and turned the table. Their fans were in totally awe, shouting and cheering like there's no tomorrow.

However, it's a bit too late, the Indonesian team only picked up their pace in the last few minutes. There wasn't enough time left for them to score more goals to turn the tide. And more importantly, they can't blame on laser this time *smirk* Just kidding :P

Malaysia won 4-2 in aggregate. Even with a loss in the 2nd game, it's not enough to nullify the lead from the first leg. All the Malaysian fans were in craze. It's complete madness and a totally fabulous night for all Malaysian. Well, done, Malaysian team. Even though the second leg's match is quite sloppy, still, all the Malaysian football fans won't forget the great matches in the Suzuki cup this time, especially being able to lift the cup after such a long time. 

Great job, Rajagobal. We're looking forward to a better future of Malaysian football. Cheers.

Goal! Goal! Goal!

"Goaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!" followed by some loud cheers. The loud cheers was such a contrast towards the peaceful silence of the night.

I was still in front of my lappy surfing the internet when I heard the cheers coming from downstairs. I hesitated a bit earlier, so I didn't went down to watch the Suzuki Cup Final's first leg live. I know that Malaysia has always been a sleeping tiger, sometime we get our hopes too high, but ended up being crushed to bitterness. Hence, I don't really want to face this kind of disappointment, again. However, it's a completely different story this time. With the brilliance of Rajagopal, the sleeping tiger has awakened, turning into a young tiger hunger for wins.

When the lift door opened, my first step was welcomed by a second goal from Malaysia team. 2-0! I was quite shocked, still couldn't believe my eyes. Is this the usual Malaysian football team that has always been criticised by their own country for playing cheap football?

Having eyed on a sofa right in front of the TV, I quickly sat down and continued watching the remaining of the 20 minutes of the game, 22 minutes to be exact. I was feasted with another goal, a third goal from Malaysia not too long after this. The whole scene was drown in ecstasy, it's complete madness, the cheer was so loud that even I couldn't help myself to cheer for my country too.

Towards the last 10 minutes, I thought the Malaysian team would slow down since they were having a healthy lead 3-0. However much to my surprise, they didn't use any wasting time technic, but kept on attacking the opponents goal. It's a really enjoyable match, indeed. Not getting too carried away with the lead, Malaysia team displayed full attacking tactics to counter Indonesia team.

Great job, Rajagobal for bringing up such splendid young team and to prove to the whole Malaysia and the world that Malaysia has definitely made a huge come back, with more hunger for wins and trophies.

Sidenote (from livescore):
60'    [1 - 0]    B.M. Sali
68'    [2 - 0]    B. Samsudin
72'    [3 - 0]    B.M. Sali

小时侯vs长大后

“不要！”
“快点啦。”
“我不要玩了！”
“不管你了。。。砰。。。砰。。。砰。。。去死吧！”
“你太无赖。砰。。。砰。。。你也死了”
“怎么死人也可以开枪的？”
“哈哈哈”

正当我还在熟睡当中，叽叽喳喳得吵个不停，而且又很大声，就这样被他们吵醒了。揉了揉眼睛，我走出了屋子，观查了那些小孩儿一会。不难发现他们脸上都挂着灿烂的笑容，似乎依然无忧无虑的。顿时被他们的快乐感染了，心情也开始好起来了。

 

小孩啊，你可是多么的快乐，多么的无忧无虑，你可知道吗？而且，似乎每个人小时候都是比较爱说话，比较叽喳。可是长大后越来越少话了。为何呢？是为了保护自己？是因为不再容易相信别人？还是因为如今只会把更多话深埋在心底，只跟自己对话？

Kelvin's wedding dinner

First off, sorry for the long wait. Still trying to find the drive to blog, but nothing much popped up in my mind, so I would just dig up some past events in my life.

I attended Kelvin's wedding last month, on the 6th of November. He is a friend of mine during the secondary school days. We used to join the Red Crescent Society and had really great fun time together. I was still having a holiday when he FB-mailed me, asking if I would like to attend his wedding dinner in Imperial Mall.  I promptly agreed on the spot.

On the exact day, when I reached the destined destined location, I saw a few of my previous students whom I taught English during the temporary teaching days. I thought they were joining the dinner too, so I didn't stop by to talk to them. I headed towards the elevator and found more friends there. I haven't seen some of them since graduating Form 5, looking back, it's been 7 plus years, such a long time. Glad that we're still friends and still remember each others.

Upon entering the dining room, I saw even more friends from my middle school. I had a great time chatting with them, we talked on lots of things, from school times till working times. We're dished with some great cuisine and some interesting shows from the host, including slide shows the journey of their love. The bride and bridegroom even sang a few songs too. Then we have a yamsei ceremony to cheer on the newly wedded couples. It turned out that most of us were quite shy to cheer so loudly. Oh well :P

From left: Aron, me, Kelvin, Adrian, Anthony, Yieng Fuong, Teck Ho and Yew Chong

The dinner ended around 9.30pm, however a few of us still stayed around to continue our chat since it's been a really long time since we talked to each other. However, sadly, the restaurant has reached their end of operating hours, so we have to move somewhere else to continue our chat. We chose another restaurant close by to have a drink while having some nice little talk.

Thanks a lot for the great times together, my friends :)

Enjoying the silence

Geez, ever since yesterday, my lappy is sick, the fan system somehow went bonker and hence the lappy easily caught a fever and would just go to sleep without my permission. I was left speechless staring at him. I can't summon him back.

So, I started my life without my dear lappy. I rolled on the sofa in front of TV with a hand holding on the TV controller. No program caught my interest at all. I switched off the TV and continue to roll on the sofa till I went to the dreamland.

Argh.. I can't adopt to a life without laptop. Life seems so boring without going online. Am I addicted? Yeah... But sadly nothing much I can do. I've picked up this kind of life ever since I started my uni life.

This afternoon, I brough my lappy to see doctor, but somehow the doctor said that would take a long time since there's no suitable parts in my place. Ouch! My poor lappy. How I miss you now.

Oh well, I will try to enjoy my few days of silence now.

给我一首歌的时间

 
同样是周杰伦迷的咱们，再加上咱们都热爱同样的面子书游戏，很快地结为要好兄弟。两三年前，当我前往吉隆坡游时，我还在在你的地方逗留了一会儿，进而促进了咱们的友谊。

但是，经过岁月的洗礼后、因为忙着工作、因为生活的另一半。。。等种种理由，咱们之间的隔膜越来越深了，像个无底洞。

我知道你很忙碌，在公司里忙得不可开交。我也知道你必须把剩余的空闲时间分担给你的另一半，所以不再像以往那么常上线聊天。这些我的能够体谅。

但是你可知道吗？我在乎的并不是你能否在网上更我聊天，而是你能否抽出那么的一点时间，问候我，不管一星期只能够问候一次，或是一个月一次，哪怕只是一首歌的时间？难道我的要求太难办了吗？

Too many disasters lately

Within this week, our neighbour Indonesia has experienced one of the worst part, hellish days. Tsunami and volcano eruption both hit at the same time.

3 meter wave hit Mentawai Island which is just to the west of Sumatera island according to BBC, leaving more than 100 people died and 500 people missing and 4,000 homes destroyed. As for the volcano eruption, it was Mount Merapi volcano which was located at Java island, the death toll recorded is 25 so far according to BBC.

The hardship faced by our neighbours isn't something we can easily comprehend by us who have been living in peaceful days. Still, we should show our concern about their current situation, let's help them in whatever affordable ways we can. Best wishes to our friends in Indonesia there.

Fast Speech in English

Ever wonder why those Ang Mohs (English native speaker) can speak so fast that we could hardly understand what exactly are them talking about? We're speaking the same English language with the same ABC's, but somehow the way they speak sounds like Greek to us. Today, I'm going to share a bit on the secret of fast speaking.

Recently, I took up short English course to polish up my English. After not learning English for so many years, I really can feel that something is missing and my English seems to have become rusty. In one of the phonetics classes, I was dished with the way to pronounce short words (a, of, or).

Short words like articles (a, the), conjunctions (and, or) and prepositions (to, of) are usually unstressed.Every line has the stress pattern oOoO. They have this rythm because the first and third words are all unstressed.. These words are: some, and, a, of, a, for, the, to, or, as.

Shopping List

Some milk and eggs,

A tin of peas,

A snack for lunch,

Some fruit and cheese.

The loaf of bread,

A jar of jam,

Some juice to drink,

A piece of ham.

Some pears or grapes,

Some beans and rice,

A can of beer,

As cold as ice

Here's the tips. When a word is being stressed, it's being pronounced a bit louder, but the unstressed word is being pronounced lightly and quickly. Let's look at the phonetics for these unstressed words (credit to Merriam-Webster).

Phonetics
a	/ə/
and	/ən/
some	/səm/
for	/fə/
of	/əv/

You'll notice that in fast speech, these words aren't being pronounced as clearly as they are being pronounced alone. Take the word "some" for example, when it's pronounced alone, the pronunciation is very close to the word 'sum', but in fast speech, the pronunciation is close to "serm". You might notice this while watching movies.

Another example for fast speech:

and sounds like an: an apple and an orange and an onion of sounds like a: a bit of this and a bit of that

*** Edited on 29th October upon request on expanding the explaination for the second part ***

and sounds like an:

an apple and an orange and an onion

• Note that in fast speech, you'll hear this sentence like "n apple n n orange n n onion". Yes, you'll hear both "and" & "an" sounds similar to the letter "n".

of sounds like a:

a bit of this and a bit of that

• Note that in fast speech, you'll hear this sentence like "a bit a this n a bit a that". Uh huh, the word "of" sounds almost like the word "a".

That's all, I'll post up more interesting things on English if I come across in the future. Till then, stay tune :)

2 years old kid singing to plead her dad to stop smoking

Also on Facebook

。。。我的爸爸每天都在抽烟
打他骂他都听不见，
爸爸为什么你要抽烟
抽烟身体会生病
为什么你要花钱去买香烟。

Translation:

 ... My dad smokes everyday

Scolding him is useless

Dad, why do you smoke?

Smoking will bring harm to our body

Why do you want to waste your money to buy cigarette?

This video was mentioned in The Star Online:

Sin Chew Daily reported about a two-year-old girl in Singapore who sang to her father, pleading to him to stop smoking.

Apparently, the videoclip of her singing has become a hit on the Internet after it was circulated through Facebook. The 39-second footage showed the girl sitting on the floor, singing in front of a camera, believed to be held by her mother.

Online viewers commented that the man was lucky indeed to have a daughter who could express herself well. They also hoped it would encourage other smokers, especially those with children, to give up the habit.

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

I came across this video yesterday.This could be her mum's setup for her kids to sing, but still, at such a young age, she knows that smoking is bad for health. It's quite touching to see that a 2 years old kid is so concern about her dad's health.

What about you? Are you aware that smoking is bad for health?

A Pit Stop 暂停

 一小时的午睡后，突然想去跑步。毕竟，已经有一段很长的日子没去运动了。隐约可以感觉得到身体的变动，尤其是开始有了小肚腩（羞）。

戴上了鸭嘴帽及一手提着苹果的 ipod，我便开始跑步了。一边听着音乐，我一边思考几件事情。我已经察觉到队部落格的那股热情开始冷淡了少许。也许可以一边休息一边寻找对自己有兴趣的文章材料。无论如何，我必须找会以前的那股劲力，以不辜负读者的期望。

跑呀跑，听完了三首歌曲后，开始感觉到全身有点痛，而且又很累，上气接不到下气。唉，看来以后的日子都必须更加努力运动，加油吧!

my ipod

After napped for an hour, out of blue, I decided to go jogging a bit. It's been a really long time since I last jogged. Really can feel the changes on my body, especially tummy which needs to be worked on more :P

After I put on a blue cap and got my ipod, I jogged happily out of my house. While listening to the music, I let my mind running wild while trying to grasp a few things. I did realise that my interest for blogging has dwindled lately. Perhaps taking a break is necessary and try to find a topic that interest me. Whatever the method is, I need a fresh start to regain the passion for blogging again so that I won't let my readers down again.

After listening to 3 songs, I started to feel the fatigue, my legs were giving up and pretty much out of breathe. Really, I need to force myself to exercise more in the future. Gambateh!

Prego - Halal Issue?

I just read an article about a famous spaghetti sauce, Prego in Facebook, written by Tok Wan this afternoon. It piqued my interest as I like eating spaghetti and the pasta paste added in it is always from the Prego brand.

Prego - spaghetti paste

Among the interesting lines quoted from the article:

Anak saya Kamal makan sampai dua pinggan, sedap sangat spegetti Ummi  masak dan kebetulan pula memang favouritenya, saya cuma sepinggan kecil  sekadar nak rasa. Setahu saya sauce speghetti biasanya tomato dan  kadang-kala ada mushrooms tetapi yang ini lain sedikit......

  saya pun bergegas ke dapur, pergi lihat botol sauce yang diberi nama  Italian Sausage for Speghetti keluaran PREGGO made in USA ..

Tiba-tiba terlihat INGREDIENTS: tomato,bla-bla,bla-bla..... ... pork minced meat!

translation (by myself):

My son Kamal ate till 2 plates (of spaghetti), mum's cooking is delicious and spaghetti is so happen to be his favourite, whereas I only ate a plate (of spaghetti). As far as I know, spaghetti paste usually consists of tomato (paste) and sometime got mushroom, but this one (Prego) is a bit different.

I rushed to the kitchen to check on the (Prego) bottle which was named Italian sausage for the spaghetti product of Prego in USA.

Suddenly, saw (the words) INGREDIENTS: tomato, ... minced pork!

side note: pig's meat is called pork, we never call it pork meat. Here, it seems that the writer of the note is a bit suspicious to include the word meat, at least those Westerners would hardly use wrong grammar in a label which is distributed through out the world. I doubt if he really copy it 100% exactly from the label. However, I'm not suggesting if he made it up.

A sudden strange feeling rushed to my head since I ate spaghetti this morning. I quickly raced too the fridge to find out the truth. I check on the label thoroughly and took a few pictures. Here there are:

Prego - front view (click on the pic for a better view)

Prego - side view (click on the pic for a better view)

Prego - side view (click on the pic for a better view)

Prego - Ingredients (note that no pork mentioned)

By comparing the pictures taken by my camera and the note, you'll notice that there's no such thing as minced pork in Prego, at least not the Prego spaghetti paste I bought. It's a really bad habit to spread rumours, however, it's always good to be precautious of whatever we eat. Think twice and check thoroughly for details first before we speak of something, like a Chinese proverb saying, once spoken, it's hard to get back our words.

This reminded me of the recent rumours spread across the internet regarding the Indonesian instant noodle, Indomie containing cosmetic ingredients, which was later proven wrong by the Health Ministry of Malaysia according to the Star Online. 

Too many rumours lately, it makes me wonder how true is this world. Is it so hard to remain being truthful?

33 trapped miners rescued in Chile

miners being rescued using capsules

The men were trapped underground since 5th of August when the tunnel collapsed due to rockfall. The rescue job began on Tuesday (12th October) for about a day. Finally, those 33 survivals were managed to be rescued. The rescued miners have been taken to hospital. All have severe dental infections, and some have eye problems. A few unfortunate ones didn't survive those hardship and passed away underground there, according to BBC News.

在观看了网上的拯救片段后，隐约可以感觉到他们的那份喜悦，终于摆脱了被困在地低下的困境。当中，有一位小男孩很焦急地等待爸爸被拯救的那一刻。看到爸爸后，小男孩立刻冲向爸爸，场面很温馨。

I saw the video of rescuing them with the capsule to carry a person per trip, which takes about half an hour per trip due to long journey.When the men were being rescued one by one, their family waited out there anxiously. There's a boy who cried when seeing his father being successfully rescued. All those applause when the father hugged his child and wife made the scene so much touching.

Accident happens anywhere and usually is uninvited and unplanned. So, we should take precaution and stick to the safety rules based on OSHA. It's like taking flights, having taken more flights doesn't decrease or increase the probability of plane crash. It's all random.

搏君一笑 Joke

前阵子，在面子书上看到了一份漫画，说起来是有点很现实的，也很搞笑。

For a bigger view, click on this picture (read from left to right)

For my English reader, here's my translation. It's done within a hurry, so please forgive me if the translation isn't that accurate. If you would like to correct any mistake or give any suggestion, feel free to drop your comment. Would be my honour to be corrected. Anyway, have fun.

disclaimer: I'm trying to minimise the usage of Singlish or any other broken English in attempt to improve my English :P





1. During primary One
- Mom: "You're now in primary one! No longer a baby, do you understand? Don't play anymore, study harder!"

2. During primary six
- Mom: "Thinking of playing the whole day! Go study now! You thought that you're still in primary one?"

3. During Form One in secondary school
- Mom: "If you're still a primary school student, I won't blame you for being so playful. But you're now in primary one in secondary school, don't only think of playing, understood?"

4. During Form Six in secondary school
- Mom: "Still thinking of playing! Playing and playing! You thought you're still in Form one? You're 18 years old now, understood?"

5. During the first year in University
- Lecturer: "Everyone, if you're still a secondary school student, being playful is understandable, but you've entered a university now, don't be so playful anymore, understood?"

6. During the last year in university
- Lecturer: "You're going to face the society soon! You can't be playful anymore! You all thought that you've just entered uni?"

7. Just stepped into the society
- Dad: "You're in the society now, find a job, don't be playful anymore, understood? You're no longer in your honeymoon student time!"

8. During marriage
If you're being playful previously, I don't blame you! But now you have a family, it's time to stop being so behaving!"

9. Upon becoming a parent
- "You've become a dad, still acting so playfully! Are you scared that you won't have the time for it next time? Go and earn more money!"

10. At old age
- Wife: "You're already seventy eighty years old! Still being so playful! You thought that you're just in your thirties? Sit properly can't you?"

11. Before death
- Wife: "After retiring, didn't try to enjoy himself, now before the last breath,only then thought of enjoying! *sigh*"

12. After death
- Soul A: "Someone didn't try to play football before death, now that you're dead, isn't it a bit too late?"
- poor guy: "I really want to kick this ball... !@#$%^& Till when can I start playing?"

Relieved

Lately, I've been dried of idea what to write, so my blog is getting less frequently updated. I thought nobody cares if I don't update my blog, except Hui Hui my UTM friend. Apparently, I was wrong. I received a mail from Jamy asking why am I slacking off. I totally caught me off guard as I never thought that there is someone still looking forward my posts here.

Feeling much relieved, I took a deep breath and started to write again. Thanks for the support, everyone who is reading this. I'll try my best to work on more interesting posts.

By the way, I'm most probably returning to my secondary school tomorrow for a food fair. Let's look forward for a better post tomorrow :D

MSN hacked?

Recently someone asked me if I know how to solve problem such as MSN messenger being hacked. The question kind of struck me, I have never thought of this possibility. So, I googled a bit, finally came across a quite reasonable answer.

As quoted from Ambucias posted on 24th March 2010 on kiosko.net:

If your MSN Account has been hacked, go to MSN email support:
https://support.live.com/eform.aspx?productKey=wlid&ct=eformts&scrx=1

You have to give all informations about your problem and about your identity:
*Your e-mail (the "Windows Live ID").
*Your first name and full name.
*Your date of birth (month / day / year).
*Your country.
*The state, province or department in which you reside.
*Your zip code.
*The IP address of each computer used to access your account, or the most commonly used. To find your IP address, visit : http://www.monip.org/
*The answer to your secret question (if you don't remember it, notify it).
*Emergency address email registered for this account (if no emergency address, notify it).
*Your Internet service provider (at work or at home).
*The date and approximate time of your last login.
*The information below:
*For Windows Live Hotmail user :
*Examples of files names which you created in addition to those existing by defect
*Examples of contacts contained in your address book.
*Examples of old email titles contained in your inbox folders or messages.
*For Windows Live Messenger user :
*Examples of contacts contained in your contact list.
*The nickname under which you appear on Windows Live Messenger.


VERY IMPORTANT ! Write your request in a clear and understandable English, avoiding the SMS language, spelling and abbreviations !
Remember and do not forget that this is the only way you can expect to recover your account!

Amazing Feat of Human Spirit

I came across a video about an amazing guy, Derek Redmond. He's a British athlete, namely in the 400 meter relay. He's quite a successful athlete, but an occasion caused people to remember his amazing human spirit. 

During the 1992 Olympic Summer Games in Barcelona, he torn his hamstring and fell on the track. He was in great pain, his pain was clearly written on his face as he was lying on the track. When the medic team approached Derek, he made a great decision to finish his race. While limping on his unhurt leg, he tried to finish his race, but his face was in agony pain and tears began rolling down as he understood that his Olympic dream has gone down the drain. 

Suddenly, a huge man ran out of the grandstand towards Derek. The man is Derek's father. He couldn't stand his son in pain and he knew how his son wanted to compete in the Olympics, so he decided to help his son to finish his race. Together, arm in arm, they both managed to finish the rest. The whole stadium, 65,000 people all stood up and gave them a round applause as they acknowledge their amazing feat.

Read more about the great moment: ESPN

 

BlogFest Asia 2010

Just came across this news, Penang will host the international blog festival from 1st till 3rd October at the Wawasan Open University, according to BERNAMA and TheStar. More than 200 local bloggers and 100 foreign bloggers, including those from Cambodia, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, China and Mongolia, are to be expected coming. 

 If you wish to join in the fun, do not hesitate to register here: BlogFest Asia 2010

As for me, I wish I could join the fun too, but since transport is a big issue for me, I can't just fly over to Penang with the expensive air ticket. Even though Airasia is promoting 'Everyone Can Fly' slogan, it's still quite expensive for a student like me.

For those who've registered, have fun. Please don't forget to post up pics to share with us.

Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节

Mooncakes 月饼

 中秋节快乐！又是吃月饼及赏月的时候了。今晚的月亮最圆了。可惜老天不作美，一整晚都是乌云密布，而且又很闷热 。。。算了，还是呆在家里一边上网一边吃花生。呵呵。

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, or more commonly known as Moon Cake Festival, to all Chinese. It's the time for moon cake, a delicacy for this festival, and observing the moon as the moon is at her fullest tonight. However, it's a pity that dark clouds didn't want to give way to the beauty of moonlight, the wind was also nowhere to be felt... Whatever, I would just stay at home, going online while eating peanuts.

Yumcha 2 喝茶 2

今晚又约了两位朋友去喝茶，俊雄及啊Chong。真的感觉到时间的洗礼，友谊是需要经营的，不然就会荒废了，生活圈子也会慢慢得缩小。

回到家后，为自己轻唱生日歌，已经习惯自己一个人度过生日了。已经二十五岁了，时间真的过得很快。



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Had a drink with my friends tonight, with Chiun Hsiung and Ah Chong this time. The effect of time could really be felt, if we don't work on the relationship, it would get worse and might even vanish with time.

Upon reaching home, I sang a birthday song for myself, I've gotten used to celebrating my own birthday alone all this time. Oh well...

Yumcha 喝茶

Last night, I had a drink with my old friends, Kah Yong and Chiun Hsiung, at CM2. I haven't met them for quite a while, maybe it's been a year already.

Time really flies. We met each other during the secondary school days through Red Crescent Society. Lots of happenings between us, like camps, jungle trekking, swimming in Lambir National Park and even staying up late to disturb others. It's complete madness that time, but it's really fun.

We talked all night long. Great time!

Fatigue 累了

经过了二十几天的斋戒，终于感觉到了斋戒月的超级累的状态。整个人终觉得很累，一直想继续睡觉，充电充电。也许是已经把身上的脂肪统统用尽了。笑。

结果，堆积了一篇又一篇的草稿，得赶快处理它。

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After fasting for over twenty plus days, finally the extreme fatigue has caught up. The feeling of wobbling around  with the fatigue body, is not something  that we encounter during normal days. Perhaps all those fats in the body has been used up.

A few drafts have been piled up, I got to finish them off soon.

Independence Day 国庆日

Credit to Mezain

This is my all time favourite patriotic song, 31 August by Sudirman Hj Arshad.

The theme for 53rd Independence day is 1Malaysia Menjana Transformasi (source: Harian Metro). We might get buoyed by this theme, but how effective is it so far, especially in our multiracial community? 

With lots of sensitive issues stirred up lately, we should take a good look at ourselves. We can still see quite clear racial discrimination, poking at each others weaknesses from time to time. No one should feel or be made uncomfortable in their own home. We are all Malaysians after all.

I came across a FB note written by the great granddaughter of our first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman. I really like it as it really suits the current situation. Here's a few lines from the note:

For the concept to succeed, I think the government should stop with the race politics. It's tiring, really. We grew up with application forms asking us to tick our race. We should stop painting a negative image of the other races, stop thinking about 'us' and 'them' and focus on 'we', 'our' and 'Malaysians'.

source: Facebook Note

 Here's a very meaningful video for our multiracial community made by Cempaka Schools:


Let's look back at how much we have done to our beloved country and think about what we can to do to conserve the harmony of our beloved country.

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

Ramadan Bazaar 开斋月市场

 上个星期，我去了在家乡的开斋月市场。这时已经很接近开斋时刻，再加上又是放工时间，男女老少都纷纷来了，难免造成有点拥挤的现象。而我呢，边走边照相。呵呵。

Last week, I went to the ramadan bazaar in Saberkas at my hometown Miri. It's quite a sight, lots of people swarming the place making it so hard to move around freely. Well, it's time for people who just finished their work to get some food for breaking fast a bit later. While walking around the bazaar, I managed to take a few pictures with my phone.

Lots of people swarming the place

走啊走，看见了烤肉叔叔在烧烤着一串串的鸡翅膀。平时都是看正面的画面，偶尔看一看正在勤奋工作的背影也不错，就因此拍了一张照片。

While walking around, I saw an uncle barbecuing some chicken wing. Well, the front view of a someone barbecuing is pretty common, having a pic from the behind view is not bad, hence I took one.

BBQ chicken

走了一阵子，来到了印度煎饼档子。印度煎饼叔叔正在忙着准备，而太太则把已经做好的印度煎饼包好。

After walking for a while, I came across a Roti Canai stall, the husband was busy making roti canai while the wife was packing the roti canai.

The making of Murtabak

当然也少不了马来同胞的香蕉饼，小时候的我很喜欢吃的哦，现在也是。

Of course, there were pisang goreng too. It's one of Malay's delicacy.

Pisang Goreng

Have you visited any Ramadan bazaar lately? If not yet, what are you waiting for? Grab those delicious food there now!

Xue Hai 学海

学海部落

在偶然的机会下，看见了朋友在面子书上张贴了有关学海的文章。心里突然开始偷笑了，真是令人怀念。

顿时想起中四中五的情景，当时的华文老师，彭老师铁定要每位有拿华文科的同学一律订购学海以补一补咱们的华语。记得某一天下午，在彭老师还没来之前，班长向每位学生征收学海的订购费，并且在黑板上写上了 “请还血海订购费”。

当老师走进教室时，他的脚步突然停了下来，双眼瞪着黑板上的七个字，大概是看傻了眼吧。而我们呢，忍不住头笑了起来。老师立刻纠正了黑板上的错误，然后再问是否我们有那么讨厌学海？平时总是那么严肃的彭老师，不知怎么那天他竟然也笑了一声。呵呵。

总觉得当年的我活得更快乐。

Recall 回忆

 正当我在上网时，手提电脑突然播了一首很熟悉的歌曲，2R 的 Shining Friends，勾起了许多美好回忆。顿时陶醉在以往与朋友疯疯癫癫的日子。。。

While I was surfing internet, suddenly the my laptop played a song, Shining Friends by 2R, stirred up lots of beautiful recalls.

A little faith brightens a rainy day

life is difficult, you can't go away

don't hide yourselves in the corner

you have my place to stay

sorrow is gonna say goodbye

opens up, you'll see the happy sunshine

keep going on with your dream

chasing tomorrow's sunrise

the spirit can never die

sun will shine my friend

won't let you cry my dear

seeing you shed a tear

make my world disappear

you'll never be alone in darkness

see my smile my friend

we are with you holding hands

you have got to believe

you are my destiny

we're meant to be your friends

that's what a friend should be

说起童年，最令我回味无穷的是中学的那段日子，许许多多的第一次。第一次参加运动会、第一次参加露营、第一次不在家里温暖的被窝里睡觉、第一次自己学习煮饭吃、第一次当上巡查员、第一次遇到车祸、第一次进医院、第一次开刀、第一次有那么多朋友来探望我、第一次深感朋友的重要、第一次与许多朋友离别。。。 写到这儿时，不知为何泪水开始不听话了，不，那绝对是汗水。。。绝对。。。

Talking about the past, what I treasured the most is my secondary school days, lots o first times. First time joining sports, first time joining camping, first time not sleeping in the warm bed at home, first time learning to cook, first time joining school prefect board, first time meeting an accident, first time entering the hospital, first time being operated, first time having so many friends coming to visit me, first time knowing the importance of friends, first time saying goodbye to so many friends... When writing till this part, tears began to lose control, no, its definitely sweat... definitely...

Manila Bus Hijack Incident

Few days ago, a bus hijack incident happened in Manila has caused quite an uproar. The hijacker, a disgruntled ex-police officers was too desperate to get back his previous job that he even shot a few Hong Kong tourists who lost their life. The Philippine police claimed that they've shot and killed the hijacker later.

After the incident, quite a lot of people questioned the efficiency of the police force, why didn't the police act faster to gain control of the situation, perhaps they should have shot the hijacker while they were negotiating as the hijacker is clearly seen at the bus door there. Too many blames there, but perhaps it was because of too peaceful days that not much preparation to handle such abrupt incident? Too idle at peaceful time?

Looking back, it is pretty peaceful in our country Malaysia. Are we prepared for any sudden cases or incidents? How fast could we react accordingly? How efficient could it be? Hopefully it would not be disappointing.

Read more:

1. BBC online news, "Hong Kong hostages killed in Manila bus siege"
2. MSN online news, "Philippine bus hijack over but some hostages feared dead"

What happened to Malaysia? 大马怎么啦? (2nd)

Once again, our education was marred by unthoughtful comments from the educators themselves. According to New Straits Times:

"On Aug 12, 17 students from SMK Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra in Kulai Jaya, Johor lodged police reports claiming their headmistress had uttered derogatory remarks during the launch of the school's Merdeka celebrations, taking aim at Chinese and Indian students."

According to Malaysia Today:

"According to the reports, one of the complainant quoted that Siti Inshah had during the school assembly said “Chinese students are not needed here and can return to China or Foon Yew schools. For the Indian students, the prayer string tied around their neck and wrist makes them look like dogs because only dogs are tied like that."

For educator to utter such unthoughtful racist words in public, it's seriously unforgivable. Malaysia is made up of various races, without them, it's no longer Malaysia we know. Together, we achieved lots of wonderful things, like getting independence day in London, the team sent there consisted of Malay, Chinese and Indian. There is no such thing as which race is more superior than the others.

According to my personal experience, while studying in my secondary school in Miri, Sarawak and Matriculation College in Labuan, I witnessed closer relationship between different races. Different races can sit together and do things together. However when I was studying in UTM, Johor, I witness a totally different scenario. The races awareness is too high, each race prefers to sit or talk with their own races. They seldom join other races, unless if they have to do group assignments. I can't comprehend it at all. I felt so much deserted there in west Malaysia. What happen to the One Malaysia slogan?

Just like the story we heard when we're still young, a single match stick is easily broken, but when lots of match sticks are bound together, it's a lot harder to break them all at once. As proud Malaysians, we should work together regardless of differences in skin colour, races, genders and religions. Let's work together  towards our year 2020 Vision.

Read more:

1. New Strait Times
2. New Strait Times
3. Columnist 'PERKASA'
4. Blogger Satu Malaysia

What happened to Malaysia? 大马怎么啦?

While I was surfing the internet, my friend, Adeline gave me a link regarding the recent broadcasting issue. Having known another Malay who can speak fluent Mandarin, I got more interested in this issue.

By the way, I've asked for permission from the Ruby, the blog owner, for me to use a few lines and pics in my blog.

98.8 FM DJ Jamaluddin Ibrahim, source: FMT

Oriental Daily News Headline, source: TalkPower

Well, I am not a 988 FM frequent listener, mainly because the station is out of range in my place. I am not someone who really understand politics either. Politics always give me a shady impression, always play of words and power abuses cases.

This incident really gave a very bad impression of Malaysia. Freedom of talk? Not really, seriously doubt so.

I don't feel like talking more into politics, as a Chinese Proverb says 'Talking too much would lead to trouble'.

Also:
News in Chinese

Drive Safely

Recently, I came across a video regarding driving safely on the road. It's a very meaningful video. I cried while watching the video. It saddened me that lots of life lost due to irresponsible driving, including drunken driving and one-handed driving while talking or typing on mobile phone.

It could be just a moment of miscalculation but could end up a regret of a whole life.



Or watch it on Metacafe or Facebook.

Freak Storm in Jasin

the aftermath of the freak storm in Jasin

On 3rd Ramadan, a sudden freak storm visited the Ramadan bazaar (store) in Jasin, killed 2 people and 2 others being seriously injured by flying debris during the incident, according to The Star online. The freak storm came too fast without any warning, thus leaving all the Jasin Ramadan traders in awe shock. Their tents were blown by the storm.

Here's 2 videos regarding the incident (Facebook videos)

1. During the incident
2.  The aftermath

 To all Muslim, please send your Al-Fatihah to those victims.

Watermelon 西瓜

 最近，我家长了一棵西瓜，可怜的西瓜似乎厌倦了生长在泥土上的日子了，竟然从墙上扎根。也许是一些蚂蚁把西瓜种子带回它们的窝里，而顽强的西瓜硬硬要继续生活下去，就造出了奇迹。

Recently, a watermelon plant grows from the wall, quite a miracle, the poor thing growing totally out of blue. Perhaps some ants brought the seeds back to their home and it strong-willed watermelon keeps on growing out of the crack in the wall to prove of its existance.

小西瓜树 the early days, just a small plant

自从知道了西瓜的存在，我便开始观察它的成长。一天，长出了同样大小的两粒小西瓜。但，经过了岁月的洗礼后，有一粒西瓜终于撑不下去了，枯死了。


I've been watching over it everyday, watching it growing slowly. One day, the plant started bearing 2 small watermelons. They were of the same size at first, but after quite some time, a very significant difference in size started to show up as the smaller ones started to wither.

2 watermelons, the smaller one which is behind the big watermelon withered later

a better view from the top

剩下的那里西瓜至今依然在那儿，而且还在成长中，现在已经超过了15工分。


The last standing watermelon is still there, it's a lot bigger now, slightly longer than a 15cm ruler.

the last standing watermelon, slightly longer than 15cm

可爱的西瓜，希望你能够好好地继续成长。加油！

Still wondering how much bigger can it grow, fingers crossed, hoping it would keep on growing till it ripe one day.

Zhou Qu Landslide Disaster

 当我正在观看电视节目时，看到了一则为舟曲哀悼的新闻报道。中国各地都纷纷降半旗默哀遇难同胞。

国际社会继续向中方表示慰问。 希望灾民早日恢复以往的和平日子。

In Zhouqu residents and rescue workers attended a memorial ceremony -BBC-

I was watching the television and came across the news about landslide incident in ZhouQu. China was holding a day mourning for those killed in the flood and landslides, the death toll rose to 1,239 people according to BBC.

My condolence for those victims in this disaster. Hopefully they would return to their peaceful life soon.

Zettai Kareshi Drama

Ever thought of a robot having its own feeling? Even to love somebody? Robots are invention of human being, with lots of microchips, wires, metal and other parts. A humanoid robot might look like this:

Here, I'm going to introduce a touching Japanese drama about having a robot as boy friend. Here's a bit synopsis from Fuji TV:

"Robot maker, Kronos Heaven, finally develops "01", the perfect male humanoid programmed to be devoted and completely loyal to his lover. The company chooses temp worker Izawa Riko to take part in a 5-day free trial. At first, Riko only sees the robot as a household appliance. But when she finds out how deep his devotion to herself is, Riko finds herself falling in love with him. Joining the love triangle is Asamoto Soshi, a distinguished young executive at her company who has feelings for her."

credit: Ultrastar Asian songs

This drama is adapted from a shojo manga, with the same name too, Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend). The manga is about a high school girl, whereas the drama is about a working woman. A slight difference in the background, but the storyline is more or less the same.

Zettai Kareshi manga, source: Wikipedia

I love the main song in this drama, Okaeri by Ayaka. It matches the drama perfectly.

Ayaka - Okaeri (drama version), source: youtube

Ayaka - Okaeri (full version), source: youtube

Personally, I prefer Japanese drama more than Korean drama. Japanese drama always brings some messages within the drama, especially touching ones and great moral values; whereas Korean dramas are more on fluffy stuffs, but there are undeniably a few good ones.

Korean Drama, My Fair Lady 韩剧《拜托小姐》

刚看完一部韩剧，名为《拜托小姐》，由尹恩惠主演，是一部蛮值得去看得韩剧。我更喜欢当中的歌曲，尤其是其主题曲。更多详情

Just finished watching a Korean Drama, My fair Lady, cast by Yoon Eun Hye and Yoon Sang Hyun. It's a pretty nice drama, the songs within the drama are great. Going to introduce a few here.

 主题曲 The opening "I Love You" by Brown Eyed Girls

"Helpless Love" by Yoon Sang Hyun

puasa started 斋戒开始

星期二晚上，我锁在电视机前，聆听八点的新闻。平时不是八点新闻常客的我，顿时心里有点紧张，不晓得何时会揭晓开始禁斋的日子。

一个又一个新闻过了，怎么还没揭晓啊。心里开始焦急起来了，难道我错过了？不会吧，八时零五分才开始转台去听新闻的我，不可能错过了揭晓时刻。一心想继续看日剧《绝对男友》，可是还是得知道什么时候开始禁斋。耐心，对，需要更多耐心地等待下去。

总于，皇天不负苦心人，八时十五分，掌玺大臣丹斯里厄恩姑依布拉欣在获得各州统治者允准下，宣布全国各州属的斋戒月，将于8月11日开始。其实，差不多每一次都是不会看到月亮，因此通常不会在隔天开始，但今年却一往反常，隔天就开始了。

凌晨四时左右，依旧在朦胧的睡意里，勉强得爬起来。在进食当儿，突然想起了在工大与洁媛及咏辉一起在P19 sahur 的情景。大学生活真是叫人怀念。

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On Tuesday night, I was locked onto the television, listening to the 8 o'clock news, which wasn't something I do daily. I must admit, I was a bit anxious to know when would the Ramadhan fasting start.

One by one, the newscaster reported news. I've been thinking all this while, when would the date be announced. I was watching a Japanese Drama "Zettai Kareshi" till 8.05pm, only then changed over to TV1 for the news. Don't tell me that I've missed it. Patience, yes, patience is virtue.

Finally, at 8.15pm, the long awaited moment came, Tan Sri Engku Ibrahim announced that the fasting month started the next day, which is 11th August. Usually the too-cloudy condition would disrupt the moon observation procedure and hence would not fall on the next day. But it's totally different this time, puasa starts on the next day.

Around 4 o'clock in the morning, I barely woke up, still in my sweetest dream. While having my meal, suddenly I recalled my uni life with Jie Yuan and Yeong Huey in P19 of UTM. It was a very memorable moment.

A Hot Afternoon 炎热的下午

正在吃午饭时，家外有几位大叔在割草，感觉上有点草率，马马虎虎地割一下就走了。

今天的天气怎么啦。一点风也没有、树叶不再像以往自由的摆动了、小鸟不知躲到哪儿去了、天空总是那么的晴朗。。。

真的很热！这不就是每次在课本所读到的 "Green House Effect"，一时忘了华语的词汇，绿色什么。哈哈，这是真体会到什么叫做书到用时方很少。*笑*

突然有种想去海边的感觉，已经很久没去了，吹吹海边风也好。


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

While I was still having my lunch, there were a few men cutting the grass, it was a bit too quick, seemed like just merely cutting for a few grasses then went away.

What's with the weather today. Not even a wee bit of wind, the leaves no longer danced like usual, the birds were nowhere to be seen, the sky was always so clear......

It's very hot! Isn't this what they called 'Green House Effect'?

Suddenly, there was an urge of going to the beach, it's been a while, it's always good to feel the sea breeze.