Walking in HIS footsteps

BPL 2008/2009 – Wigan Athletic vs Manchester United (MU)

2009-05-14T13:01:00.001+08:00

Nerve wrecking. That is how I would sum up this midweek game. Although we have lost the grasp of one of the six-trophy-target, five trophies is still a record setting achievement that will forever be etched in the hallways of time; if we make it. Coming in to the game, Wigan Athletic had not won their last five matches but things cannot be taken for granted in the BPL. True enough, Wigan were leading 1-0 at half-time to make it excruciatingly painful for the millions of MU fans worldwide. With two of the biggest trophies at stake within the month of May, an early wrap-up on the BPL trophy would provide more space for MU to prepare for the final showdown of the Champions League with Barcelona.

Down at half-time, Ferguson decided to bring on Tevez to put four deadly goal-scorers (Rooney, Ronaldo, Berbatov and Tevez) upfront and thus effectively pinning the Wigan defense deep in their half. The trailing from behind in this game is not something new to MU this season as they, on three other occasions (against Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland), have fought back to turn the result into a win. This reminisces the MU team of 1999 where they won the treble through a series of last minute turnaround winners. The only difference is that this year, it will not be a treble that is targeted but a pentad.

The infusion of Tevez sparked an equalizer, proving that he still wants to be a part of MU. Michael Carrick finished off all hopes from Wigan to just settle for a draw with a fantastic strike. Tevez’s goal in contrast was more audacious and impudent, where he back-heeled the ball into the net to misdirect a helpless Richard Kingson. Fun fact: Did you know that Carrick’s goal at Wigan is the first away goal he has scored in three years at MU?

The goal by Carrick in the 86th minute prevailed and leaves MU now only 1 point from claiming the league title for a 3rd successive year. Only a draw is needed at Arsenal this weekend and all focus can be placed on the clash with Spanish titans, Barcelona.

With all the euphoria and expectations shooting through the veins and arteries of MU fans the world over, it is interesting to note that we celebrate our victory, and not others’ loss. In contrast, when Liverpool won against us in the BPM and thought they were going to progress all the way to the finals of the Champions League, a lot of arrogance was in the air and insults were hurled at MU; fans, players and clubs; through all means possible. This was evidently clear on MSN and Facebook where status/nicks were filled with Liverpool arrogance and insults. Kudos to MU fans for keeping our humility although we are such a great team and focusing on the right thing; celebrating our hard work and not others’ misfortune.

Final score for the day Wigan Athletic 1 - Manchester United 2.

Want A Better Malaysia?

2009-05-07T09:49:00.000+08:00

It has been ages since the elections in our country has been over. Yet the political drama does not desist. What began as a noble call for change, has become a pure greed to achieve personal power. So much time, effort and resources are wasted into uncovering dirt of the other side. So much time, effort and resources are wasted to go through every strand of the law to use it against another party. Neither side seems to have lessened the intensity and in certain cases, it has just been heightened.

What has to be commended is the enthusiasm, energy and commitment invested by both sides; albeit for the wrong reasons. If only all of this could be channeled into something more constructive, for the good of the nation. Why not, instead of proving the other party wrong, prove yourself right; right in the sense that you are the right candidate or party to rule. Look at the rate of violent crime that is rising. I am just so disgusted by the manner in which robbery or thefts are committed nowadays. Not only does it seem that the perpetrators have no regard for life, it even seems that they intentionally want to end it (a bit stupid I would say… from a practical economic standpoint, it is better to have your victim survive so you can rob them again… they should read the story about the Golden Goose).

In just 2 days, we have 2 separate incidents in 2 different states in the country where the victim and the unborn baby are killed (click here for the articles => Incident 1, Incident 2). It is easy to blame the police for not doing their job, but if you really honestly evaluate the situation, even if the police stepped things up, the incidences would still happen. It takes the public to do their part to stop crime in its tracks. I have been a victim of a somewhat similar crime before (back in Jan 2007) and I can tell you that instead of people coming out to help, they will shy away and hide until the incident is over. Crime will not happen when police are around; it only happens when the coast is clear.

But imagine this… imagine if all the ability to garner supporters and protestors and huge crowds for “ceramahs”, can be redirected to forming groups of task force that will work hand-in-hand with the police to stop crime. Why not ask the people to support your agenda by asking them to commit to playing their part in society to stop crime when they see it. Imagine this headline in the news, “Party ABC Supporters Stop Snatch Thieves”. Wow! If this article comes up a lot, you definitely have my vote.

Crime is committed by bullies.. they only choose victims that don’t or won’t fight back. But if the people would only stand together and stand up to them, I can assure you that these bullies will not dare to commit their crimes. What better way to prove your political worthiness than by doing something for the “rakyat” instead of bad-mouthing the other side and just trying to uncover dirt. We still understand political campaigns will always be a way of life. But let’s see that only once in every 5 years (more or less) instead of having it non-stop. Please. Please use the influence you have for good, instead of for your own agenda. Who knows… one day… one of the victims might be your own family member.

Want a better Malaysia? Stop the power struggle. Start looking out for each other.

Neopets Is An Adult Game!

2009-05-05T15:56:00.000+08:00

Everyone understands the power online advertising. Whether it is through blogs, advert placements, or reviews, the internet is definitely one powerful medium to advertise. Apart from it being powerful, it also enables advertisers to only spend money to advertise to their target market, therefore spending resources efficiently to attract the right group of potential customers.

So………

To all my detractors, NEOPETS IS AN ADULT GAME AND I HAVE PROOF!!! Nah, see who is the banner advertiser here:

SAP!! SAP advertises on Neopets. You think they have not done their market research and simply spend money to advertise to kids? Obviously a huge percentage of people on Neopets are adults!! And highly tech savvy adults too. So yeah, so there to all you detractors out there!

P.S. If you have no clue what SAP is, obviously you are the kid. Maybe you should sign-up for a Neopets account and who knows, you may start to become an adult after spending some time in this site. Hehehehe.

Second Half of Chinese New Year

2009-05-01T10:42:00.000+08:00

Yes, it has taken quite some time before I am writing once again on the second half of an eventful CNY. This half was very much focused on food, meeting people and hot babes. So if you think these themes bore you, please refrain from proceeding to read. But if you are going to continue on, proceed at your own risk… or at least make sure you have some food next to you. Hehehe

Bah!! In order for me to be able to write this blog, I had to review the photographs I took. And guess what? I have been affected by my own photos!! I am hungry!! Hahaha… sigh… ok… pause for a moment while I go get a glass of cold chocolate milk. Be right back in 5 minutes. Haha… this is the first time I actually kena myself. Mark must be laughing at me now. Bah!

Again, in the same manner as the first half, there is no chronological order whatsoever and I am just trying to group my thoughts in a more organized manner.

My dad wanted to celebrate his birthday and mine early. We decided to go to the best place in town (currently) to eat Chinese food; Restoran Sea Palace. It was as though we were going to plan for a wedding dinner. We went there a few nights before to test and taste some of the food before ordering. Hahaha. The manager that attended to us was also very professional in not trying to convince us to order as much and as expensive as possible but helped to keep the costs low too. Fantastic restaurant, great food, reasonable prices, trustworthy staff; what more can a customer ask for?

Tau Mew with Enoki Mushroom, Chiu Phai Mee

So on the actual day itself, both the above were ordered, plus many other stuff. Everything was just so yummy!! Here are some photos from the dinner.

And of course, when a birthday is celebrated, there are gifts. Can’t show you the angpows of course… hehe

Remember the bugs from the earlier post? I know they just looked like dots in my previous post so here is a clearer picture of what these nasty pests look like. The one I took a photo of is brown but they are usually green (and stink when you crush them!). I just love my camera… what a lovely shot of the unlovely bug.

So my time in Penang passed very quickly. So quickly that it felt as though I was just standing there and the sun rose and set with a blink of the eye.

This year, firecrackers seemed to be much less. Instead, there was a lot of fireworks. Sighs… it is moments like these when I wish for my DSLR to come sooner. But what to do… bought a bed… no more money for DSLR. Just pray lor…

So although I have been having so much food here, it has not been easy to find the food I want for quite a number of occasions. I was just craving for some delicious Curry Mee, but it was so odd that I tried at different locations, a few different days and each time, I failed to have any Curry Mee. What is wrong with Curry Mee sellers in Penang?? And there was one day where I drove from one end of the island to another and could not find any food to buy and eat. I must have gone to at least 8 locations without being able to get the food I wanted. It was most shocking. I ended up at a coffee shop near my apartment that I was so disheartened that I decided to just buy it home to eat.

Looking for Pork Satay or Curry Mee or Char Koay Teow… all closed

Looking for Curry Mee… closed again!

Looking for Curry Mee yet again… but the stall was closed!!

In the end, I had to settle for Hokkien Mee as I had already spent about 1.5 hours driving around in vain. I was pleasantly surprised at the prices of the Hokkien Mee sold here. It was only RM2.30 for a small bowl!! And it wasn’t that small… wow. Quite nice too. I used to cycle or walk here when I was younger and eat from this stall. However during that time, it was his father who was minding the stall. Looks like the younger generation has taken over and good thing the taste is still good.

So how good was it? I will let the next picture speak for itself.

I have just watched the finals of Greatest American Dog where Travis and Presley won. Very nice show. It showed the bond between owner and dog, and how the owner is responsible for the behaviour of their pets. Here is one dog (and owner) that will definitely not make it into Greatest Penang Dog. Urgh!! Please remind me never to go talk a walk in my parent’s apartment lawn. On a side note, since this post is about hot babes too, check out one of the contestants, Laura. She sure is one hot babe… and her dog is cute too… hehe

You have heard of Touch N Go. This is Poo N Go.

I took some photos of some interesting buildings in Penang, including Penang’s first high rise building which was an apartment facing in sea in Gurney Drive. Here is a photo of that oldest high rise standing proud. Funny how apartments are now for poorer people. When this building was first launched, only the ultra-rich were able to afford it. Amazing isn’t it? So is my photo taking skills to be able to pull off such shots while driving… hahaha.

Other “drive-by-shooting” shots…

Specialty shop selling only Char Koay Teow

Interesting way to carry a baby… personal shade too

Want to mess with your enemies? Volunteer to take their PC for repair and get a virus added for only RM35! LOL!

This trip back has been very good. I learnt that Spicy Ramen at Japanese restaurants is excellently yummy. Learnt this when I went out for dinner with my hot babe friend from primary school. After all these years, she still looks awesome, don’t you think?

And one would think that ~~lightning~~ good things do not strike twice, it did. Daniel and family then had dinner with me too and again, you guessed it right… Spicy Ramen! This was from Nippon Yataimura. This shop even offered spiciness on a scale of 1-10. Wow! Daniel only tried 1 and I told myself I would try at least a 3 and slowly scale up when I get back to KL.

This is the good thing about Malaysians as compared to westerners. Westerners usually meet up over a drink. Right? Right? We Malaysians on the other hand, meet up over FOOD!! Hahaha. Here are some other people I met up with over food.

My Godma, Serene, Jimmy and Jeffrey…

The golden aunties of Hai Oan… most of them have worked at this place even before I was born!!

Good friends of my parents… their daughter looks demure and innocent hor? For those of you who like a fiesty woman, she is actually that… don’t let her looks deceive you. She went up to a student twice her size and physically over-powered her. Respect man! Why would she do that? She’s a prefect lar…

Uncle selling the best lorbak in Penang…

Uncle selling best chendul in the world… even Phua Chu Kang agrees…

There are so many more events but ~~lazy~~ can’t write it all here. Special treatment for friends; go to my Facebook account for more photos.

At last my trip had to come to an end and I needed to fight sleep on my drive back to KL…

First Half of Chinese New Year

2009-03-08T16:52:00.000+08:00

I do apologize to all of you out there for the lack of updates. Life has truly been busy and crazy. I guess that is a good sign in times like these when people lose their jobs without rhyme or reason. Yes, I know it has been more than a month since Chinese New Year (CNY) has past but I guess apart from the hectic pace of work, that would have been one of the more memorable moments since my last post.

So I am going to compress 15 days of CNY into 2 posts (pray that I manage to get the second up... haha), thus only the highlights will be mentioned or shown here.

The trip back to Penang was meant to start at 4am. But even without sleep (sien... I seem to be getting into a habit of driving 400km without sleeping the night before), I could not get ready until about 6am. Traffic was horrendous of course by that time with everyone from the length of Peninsular Malaysia down to Singapore, all making their way up to Penang Island. How I wish I had the abilities of Hiro Nakamura (Heroes Season 3, Part 2 is showing!! Woot!!) and could make time stand still. But I guess I have to settle with time warp...

... at least the clock is warped... haha... how on earth did this happen? This is what I found when I entered my bathroom in Penang. Maybe I did manage to stop time a bit.

So what does a Penangite do when they reach Penang? Eat of course! Haha. First there was "Chneh Hu" (directly translated from Hokkien would mean "Green Fish"), otherwise known as Pasembur or awkwardly named by people outside of Penang as Rojak (please lar you people... cannot tell the difference meh?). Here are photos of before, while and after the sauce has been poured... yummy.

Then there was also "Char Koay Teow" (Fried Koay Teow). If you are wondering, yes, at one sitting. Mmm... doesn't it just look so yummy?

And that was lunch. Then after a couple of hours later (and after some shut eye), I found out that my dad had made some tea time snack for me. Mmm... sounds English? Jolly well no, my good mate. This is my kind of snack: steamed flower crabs! Muahaha. It is odd that it is so difficult to find this species of flower crabs in KL. Even if you do find them, they are usually small and not fresh.

By the way, I think my dad is taking up modeling. See his pose for the day... hehe.

Then after another couple of hours, it was dinner time. It was off to Lorong Selamat for one of the better tasting "Char Hor Fun". We arrived rather late and they had run out of "hor fun", but still had plenty of "ee foo mee" which was fine by me as I prefer this anyway. Look at the way they cook the egg together... lovely. So top that up with a glass of "Keat Poh Peng" to make a lovely meal.

So you may think that my night was over... you are so wrong. My dad was game for supper (after dinner finished at around 10pm) so we went to New Lane to get more... *drum roll* "Char Koay Teow"... hahaha. Yeah, I know... nuts... 2 plates of "Char Koay Teow" in the same day. Inspired by Kevin Ku who ate "Char Koay Teow" a few times in a day when he visited Penang until he got sore throat. Haha. In New Lane itself, there are about 5-6 stalls selling "Char Koay Teow" but I prefer the one from this stall best.

You will be surprised that I kept up this eating the whole time in Penang and when I got back to KL, I actually lost weight. Haha... I love my "diet plan". Nyek nyek. How I eat so much and still lose weight? Don't eat all lar... share with whoever wants to eat too. And that was just my first day.

So as you can see, if I go on a day-by-day account, it will take forever. Therefore, here are some random fun from the first half of my CNY.

They were expanding the bridge in Penang so it gets congested very often.

Reunion dinner nowadays is steamboat... which is fine by me... but I do miss the "Jiu Hu Char"... anybody wanna cook for me next year?

Before I proceed, let me remind you this post has no chronological sequence except what you read above.

I have been taking photos for so many years and realized that I never took photos of the view from my apartment. Hmm... I wonder why... oh well, this weird random thought can be squished with the photos I have taken. Like the view?

I also took some other photos from various relatives' house that I visited. Here are some of them

Hey!! I can see my car! is that person trying to steal my car?

Cool light sharing concept

I discovered new talent. I found a male model who models for notebooks. Any of you ladies out there feel like buying the notebook after looking at this photo? Hahaha...

So since we are on the topic of models, let's show some of the involuntary models that I took photos of. Hehe...

My first boss... when I was 12... hehe

Shot taken by me while driving... hehe

Telephone advertisement in the making. which phone company wants to buy this from me?

I stumbled upon some sweets my dad bought from Marks & Spencer. He said it was for himself and for little kids that came. I just grabbed a piece from the small bag and noticed that it was very unique. Decided to take some photos of it...

... as I wondered why there was such an odd imprint on the sweet. "Port". Why "port"? As I put it into my mouth, I realized. I picked up the bag of sweets and read the content to confirm my "eureka" moment. It was a bag of alcoholic candy!!! There was brandy, rum, and many others. Of the many that were there, I happened to pick the one that sounded least like alcohol... hahaha. Obviously I warned my parents not to give them to little kids. Don't want drunk kids running around amok in my place... haha.

Penang has gotten funnier. I have come across seriously hilarious stuff that words cannot express... not without the help of pictures...

I am sure my photo for a telephone ad is far better than a girl wearing a leaf on her head... hahaha

While in Penang, I also had the opportunity to bump into some politicians. Here is a photo of the state assemblyman, Kenny Teh (Teh Yee Cheu) whom my dad knows personally! Not bad... he still acknowledges and talks to my dad even after he has become someone and does not even want to be called "Yang Berhormat" but just by his name.

On the topic of politicians, I was quite shocked to see Anwar Ibrahim at a ceramah. He looks quite different though.

Hahaha... don't you think this photo makes my dad look like Anwar in a ceramah? Here is a montage of photos for you to compare

Who likes animals? I managed to take some photos of a huge rottweiler while it was having its meal. Cute hor? I brave hor? Haha...

Please DO NOT try this stunt with other rottweilers. They are known to attack anyone that goes near their food. Photos like these can only be take by trained professionals.

Then there was a smaller and less dangerous animal eating...

How to know if the food at a hawker centre is good or not?...

Look at the size of the rats there!

This year was our 10th anniversary reunion after our graduation. Not bad that we are still doing well in numbers after all these years. So fast... 10 years have past... here is a look at some of the changes from the aspect of size, marital status and like tykes.

June & Michael

Me with the famous singer Jason

Han Nee & daughter

Daniel, Peggy & Mervyn

Shai Im

Calvin

Not only has Penang become funny, it has become funky. So much so that even the older generation are catching up. Here are some funky photos of workers and owners in a coffee shop on Macalister Road.

There was something even more freaky. Bugs! Thousands of them! Seriously. Those green tiny bugs that bite you and keep you itching for weeks. They were all over. It was so disgusting and looked like some kind of horror movie. They swarmed round lights and I manage to get some shots of them swarming a light at my place. So many of them also came into the room until I had to use a vacuum to suck them up.

And this post will not be complete without the photos of all the various food I tried.

Last but not least, CNY is about traditions. So in the spirit of keeping up with traditions, here is the photo to crystallize the meaning of CNY tradition. I did not do anything to her this year... whatever food is on her, is her own doing... hehehe.

D'OH!!!!

2009-01-21T09:06:00.000+08:00

I woke up early today. Really early. 6.10am early. I got out from my house early too. 7.00am early. Braved the traffic congestion and made it to KL by 8.00am. Meeting was at 10am. So had some breakfast at Starbucks. Breakfast was over early. 8.30am early. Turned on my notebook to do some work before the meeting. Looked at my appointment time........

.... that is exactly how I felt. My appointment is actually at 3pm. I was 7 hours early....... what lar Eric...... could have and should have slept more. Oh well.......

Complaints About New EPF Housing Withdrawal Ruling Being Circulated

2009-01-20T15:18:00.000+08:00

Blogs and forwarded emails have become an invaluable source of information in our time. In fact, the blogger community event is even comparable nowadays to high profile events once only graced by Datuks, Datins and celebrities (who may already be Datuks and Datins). The people who wields the greatest amount of influence in this generation are not old-fashioned politicians or normal businessmen; it is the people who write blogs like you and me (ok, ok, maybe only me if you are just a reader and not a blogger). What evidence do I have to back this statement?

Look at advertisements these days. More and more money is being spent on advertisements on blogs. I am sure many of you out there who wanted to find out about a product or service before you bought it yourself, have at least read a couple of blogs before you made your decision. I know I do; recently, I had referred to some blogs when getting my jeans altered (found a very professional shop in Subang... will blog about them soon) as well as finding out about a new Japanese restaurant. Heck, even the new Japanese restaurant has its own blog!!

No less powerful are forwarded emails. How many times have I received emails informing about petrol price increase before the television or newspaper or radio officially announced this? Countless times.

Ok, back to blogs. I was invited to a preview screening of Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans yesterday (thanks Nuffnang!). I could see the non-bloggers stare at us with envy. It was like being at a Hollywood premiere, just minus the formal attire and extra revealing clothing. And even within the blogger community, the best seats were reserved for famous bloggers who I am sure were ~~begged~~ cordially invited to attend (I saw Nicole Tan there! Ish... her seats were definitely better than mine even though I was kiasu enough to be 2nd earliest to collect my tickets. You just wait Nicole, one day I will be more famous than you and get even better seats than you.... you just wait maybe 50-100 years.... haha). Another famous blogger that I was surprised not to see there was Soon Seng. What happened to you? So busy ah?

What has all this got to do with EPF Housing Withdrawal? Well there has been an email that has been circulating around (author unknown) complaining about this. Here is the text from the email (please note that I DID NOT write this but am just showing it to you so you know what I am referring to if you receive it).

Untold secret of EPF 2008, don¢t play play*
I am a first time house buyer. I went to apply withdrawal for my house after having all completed S&P documents and loan approval. I went to EPF Georgetown on Nov 6th 2008, all went well and the officer just ask me to wait for the fund, it will take about 2~3 weeks. I waited happily for 3 weeks but nothing came, I went to EPF office again to check on the status and they informed that the application was REJECTED! So, I ask WHY? The officer informed me that the reason shown this house is bought by 2 names and the other person is not related to me. The officer added that this is a NEW RULING that came out on Nov 5th 2008 (exactly 1 day before my application). This NEW RULING seems to be unknown to anyone, it is not announced to the public in the papers or news. I a pplied this on Nov 6th 2008 and the officer should have known this and should have informed me. If they informed me on the spot, I should be able to rectify the situation. 3 weeks have been wasted for WAITING only and now I may have to waste more money if I were to rectify this issue (changing back to my names, I need to pay the STAMP DUTY again, LAWYER FEE for transfer and bank fees). I just felt that I have been robbed off my freedom and my own money by our lovable EPF with the UNREASONABLE POLICY. Why should be the joint house buyers be RELATED to buy a house?? I called to EPF KL office and they just said this is the POLICY and nothing can be done. I ask what provokes to have this NEW RULING, the officer said they have many fraud cases. My question is WHY WE ARE NOT INFORMED about this kind of fraud cases? Should the Government help the citizens to become wiser? Or they thin k we should be wise enough to know about this on our own? I am really disappointed with EPF, I have filed my appeal and let¢s see how efficient they could be. If you guys have more untold secret of EPF, kindly share with MALAYSIANS.

In the earlier part, I shared with you about the good part about blogs and forwarded emails. Now let me share with you about the bad part. Some people have resorted to ONLY reading blogs, forwarded emails, and other unverified sources of information from various websites. They no longer check for themselves to see if there is any truth in what is being said. The email above claims that there was no announcement of this change of rule anywhere at all. I did a quick check on the EPF website and the announcement is actually there (surprise, surprise!). The announcement was in fact published in November 2008 itself. Here is the link explaining it all ==> Myth Debunking Link

And for those of you who are too lazy to check the link (yes, you people whom I have just described in the previous paragraph), the summary of this is that starting November 2008, you are not allowed to withdraw EPF to buy property that is jointly purchased by a person who is not your parent, sibling, spouse or child.

We are all smart people. Let us not just believe every single rumour we hear. Let us do our part to check out information from both official and non-official sources before making any conclusion. If we only take the trouble to do some research and read, I am sure there will be fewer (not none) untold secrets.

BPL 2008/2009 - Bolton Wanderers vs Manchester United (MU)

2009-01-18T01:49:00.000+08:00

Wow! It has been some time since this BFP (Blogger Football Pundit) has written a report on an MU match. As MU was busy putting their structures and team in order, so has this BFP been busy putting his work in order. Anyway, what better time to blog about an MU match again than when MU have moved themselves up to the top of the table. A week ago MU was in 4th place on the table, 8 points behind the league leader. Today, 1 week and 3 league matches later, MU are now top of the table. This should silence critics whom have claimed that Ferguson made an error mid-season to send his team to Asia for an insignificant cup. If you are both a fan of football and magic, this is as good as it gets.

This was a crucial game for MU as they had been lagging behind on games played due to their extensive participation in various matches. This week was the period when they would play enough games to catch up with the top 3 teams. MU started off this grueling week with an excellent devastation of Chelsea with a 3-0 score line. This certainly set the tone for the entire week and boosted morale with the easy demolishment of a title contender. The next was a midweek win against Wigan. Not as impressive but they did the job to churn out a victory.

Today's match at Bolton was definitely no walk in the park. In the past seasons, Bolton have been known to deny MU precious points with their excellent defense. This match was no different with both teams being unable to break the other down.

The first half saw players on both sides making very little mistakes, but were just unable to find the hands of the goalkeeper, what more the back of the net. Maybe it was a lack of concentration or drive, or just pure tactic to conserve their energy for the second half. The only faltering player in the MU side was Anderson who made quite a number of unforced errors. It is always pleasing to see a well oiled MU team playing on the field. The only ugly part of the first half was a vicious attack on Vidic by Makukula. Vidic was the lone last back, and he was facing van der Sar to shield the ball from the charging Makukula. Even after van der Sar had caught the ball, Makukula viciously charged into Vidic, sending him tumbling. It was very generous of the referee to not dish out an immediate red card to Makukula but just gave him a yellow as warning.

By half time, the live commentators were criticizing Berbatov's worth to the MU team. I can understand their gripe when a player of his calibre has only scored 4 goals since his arrival at MU; and 3 of the goals were scored as additional goals, not match deciders. Couple that with Berbatov's lower work rate (as compared to other MU players), doubt will definitely arise to his actual worth to the team. However, Berbatov was never roped in for his work rate, but for his animal instincts to be an opportunist.

The second half was far more lively with both sides "dueling" on both ends of the field. It was a beauty to see continuous play of football with minimal interruption as each side ran at the other, the moment they had possession. Carrick, Ronaldo and Tevez definitely stood out, constantly running at Bolton's defenses mercilessly. It was also good to see that Anderson had also overcome his jitters and was doing much better. The relatively less experienced MU player (Jonathan Evans) was showing a well deserved trust by Ferguson as he certainly defended well, while playing good balls up the field.

At the 69th minute, Ferguson provided a double substitution by bringing in MU's old guard in the form of Giggs and Scholes. This is certainly an interesting way to continue to utilize the experience and abilities of older players, while enabling them to not run out of steam. Fun fact: Did you know that Scholes is almost double the age of some of the players on the field? The move certainly invigorated the team even more with MU looking more sharp on the attack. From afar, you could not tell that it was the old Giggs or Scholes playing as they skipped and twisted and turned past much younger players to provide both support and attack on the Bolton goal.

However no matter what MU threw at Bolton, their keeper was on the mark keeping every shot out. Credit certainly goes to Jaaskelainen for such a display.

How agonizing it was to watch as an MU fan to see this great window of opportunity (to top the table) slowly close before your eyes as the clock ticked on. Onslaught after onslaught was dealt with by the Bolton team and you would have thought that this match would have ended in a stalemate.

But Tevez lived up to this reputation of bull-dog perseverance with an excellent run on the 90th minute. An excellently passed ball by Giggs was picked up by Tevez as two Bolton defenders both converged on Tevez but failed. Running down the right, Tevez just held on to the ball for a moment longer to ensure that the charging Berbatov would not be offside, and then delivered an excellently chipped ball. You could almost see the ball glide through the air in slow motion as anticipation was at its highest peak of all spectators. Berbatov definitely answered his critics with a precise diving header that sent the ball to the left of the net and Jaaskelainen could do nothing but try to parry it away. This of course only skimmed the ball and the stadium broke into a roar as the ball landed into the back of the net. What an excellent goal and full credit goes to both Tevez and Berbatov for such an excellent display of skill and character so late in the game. This certainly brings back memories of 1999 where MU scored during the dying minutes of the game to "magically" change the outcome not only of the game, but the entire season.

Final score for the day Bolton Wanderers 0 - Manchester United 1.

WARNING: Receiving Unsolicited Email (Spam), Can Cause Loss Of Control Of Bladder and Bowels, OR Loss Of Control Of Sexual Restraint

2009-01-16T19:01:00.001+08:00

Yes, it is true. This is hot off the press. I just received information this afternoon with regards to this. Only problem is, I am not sure which is the actual effect, or both! Disturbing isn't it? I am definitely disturbed. I mean, we receive so much spam email nowadays; especially me. I think on an average, I must receive AT LEAST 50 spam emails a day. I am so worried now whether I am going to lose control of my bladder/bowels or my sexual restraint. Worst still, have I already lost control?? So worrisome, so worrisome.... what should I do?

Anyone care to help? I am sure if you are online as much as me, you must be starting to worry about this yourself, on whether you will be affected by this. Let me first provide you with the definition of the original word that was used. The word is:
INCONTINENCE

I searched for the original word and this is what it says:

So I then searched for the root word and found this:

So now my fellow readers, let me show you the email I have received with this disturbing information. Hopefully coupled with the above definitions, one of you will be able to tell me for sure whether the effect is either one of the definitions, both, or something else. I am really looking forward to one smart fella out there who can cut through the myth and bring forth the truth to this matter.

Hehehe..... if you still do not get it, read this entire thing again from the beginning.... hehehe

Debt Revivals

2009-01-04T19:47:00.000+08:00

It is interesting how the nicest of people can be obstinate and stubborn enough to justify something as perfectly all right, just because they are doing it. Some even dare to quote Bible verses (which are totally way off from their justification) to strengthen their position (more like pacify their own conscience).

I have had a conversation recently with some people with regards to taking loans. The Bible clearly states that if we can trust Him enough, He will give us more than enough and we are the ones who will be giving out loans, not taking them. Taking loans (it is different from financing) indicate a lack of faith (hey, but there is nothing wrong with that as long as we recognize it and strive to grow) or greed (this is a big no-no). Most of those who try to justify their actions and throw incorrect Bible verses at you, are those that are greedy and just want to avoid facing the reality of the truth.

I just read an article from The Star that touches on the topic of consequences of taking loans to buy a home. This is with regards to the homeowners in Bukit Antarabangsa. One would think that because you own a house in a high class area, you must be rich. However a lot of people buy things beyond their means and assume that they can slowly pay back by loan. This article is an example of why we should avoid taking loans unnecessarily; read the article for yourself and see the predicament that some of the residents are in because they took loans to buy their houses and still owe money to the banks. (Click on this link to read the article).

Coincidentally, the article in "Our Journey" also talks on this area (with PROPER AND ACCURATE Biblical references) so I thought it would be a good time for me to give a word of caution to those of you who have not taken loans. Don't be compelled to keep up with your peers and own something that you cannot afford by taking a loan; technically, the bank not only owns what you buy, but owns you too. And for those of you who have already taken loans and are in denial, I hope this serves as an eye opener. The first step you can take is to admit your mistake instead of hiding behind a facade of holiness.

Taken from "Our Journey", 3rd January 2009. Anybody who is interested to subscribe to this quarterly publication (from almost anywhere in the world) please let me know.

~~~~~~~

"Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender" - Proverbs 22:7

Also click on the following link for more ==> 2 Kings 4:1-7

A pastor of a US church once said: "You can't serve your Master and MasterCard at the same time." So his congregation began doing something about it. Each month, they had a "debt liquidation revival," where members had their financial debts paid off by other church members.

Those who received help had to be members for a year and were expected to give to future revivals. Along with 1,000 other church members, they cut up their credit cards, and during a revival, members gave until their friends' debts were paid off.

Wow! You might be tempted to find a church like that, strictly for bottom-line reasons. But those revivals were part of a broader strategy to teach members about the dangers of credit card debt. The pastor knew that debt could make people do some desperate things. In 2 Kings 4:1-7, a prophet's widow was desperate because her creditor was coming to take her two sons away as slaves to satisfy her indebtedness. (That makes 20 percent annual interest look downright doable.)

The attitude of the congregation at the church referenced earlier seems like a miracle - just like Elisha's olive-oil gusher for the prophet's widow. For most of us, though, divine intervention is as simple as the lessons in the Bible. God's financial principles can keep us away from irresponsible extravagance.

It's always better to learn prevention than to find a cure. You may be in debt from school or car loans, a mortgage, or credit-card expenses. But learn from the mistakes of others, and don't dig a deeper hole for yourself. Let the Master teach you how to deal with "MasterCard." Rather than being a slave to credit, you will gain a "Visa" to financial freedom. - John Carvalho

more => I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe Him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 1:19-20)
next => Which traits from 2 Peter 1:5-8 do you need to work on? How is God's power visible in your life?

~~~~~~~

Caroling Day 1 - Toilets, Chatter Box, Shoes, Butterfly, Weird Couples, Betting And Much More

2008-12-20T23:48:00.000+08:00

Hi there everyone. Yes, I am back... hopefully more often. I am not dead in case any of you are wondering (thank you my friend from Penang who called me just to find out if I was still alive... haha). I was buried under a tonne of work and have been slogging to make sure things remain in sane (though not in perfect) shape on all fronts. I am praying that the worst is over and I would have more time for myself. I have been either doing this or doing that for this corporation, or this organization, or this group, or this person, and not really been doing anything for myself (unlike some people who complain to be busy with no time for anything, yet have time to build abs... what rubbish! Haha). To end this opening summary (is there such a thing???), I would like to thank all those who have been concerned and wished me well, while all of you who have been picking on me for not doing this or that, don't let me start listing what YOU have not done.... you will regret you ever picked on me. Sorry la ya, my good peeps, this post has started off with an 18SG rating as there have been very inconsiderate people lately and I have been holding back my fury; instead been very kind, polite and patient with them.... this is just a subtle warning to them... hehe.

Okie then.... what have I been making myself busy with? Well, one of them is caroling. I have been having week after week of practices and hopefully the toad has changed into a songbird. This year's caroling is one of most haphazard I have been involved in with everything being uncertain and ever changing, lacking any form or consistency. The good thing is, its Christmas!! And the team members are all in high spirits, ignoring all the rubbish that is going on. So I just ended my first day of carols (and my first year of singing in parts!!!... who would have thought I could be a tenor?) and it was really great to be really enjoying ourselves and trying to do our best without the constant "intervention" and "interruption" from certain quarters. So after a great day with my team, here is a summary (yeah, right... since when are Eric's summaries, summaries? hahaha) of my day... from my eyes... hehe.

We have a big team of about 48 people involved. Look at how big our team is. The only thing that keeps me from taking photos of the full team is that everyone keeps going to toilet!!

Can you spot the 3 people holding their necks in the picture above? It must be the "in-thing" to do... maybe I should try that tomorrow... hahaha. Anyways....

The big team was only for singing at places like The Summit USJ and Sunway Resort. At other places, we were divided into 3 groups. My group consisted of 17 people. We gathered in church for a final round of practice and briefing before leaving for our first stop; The Summit USJ. Seeing that so many children were participating this year, we had to ensure the safety of everyone so we chose the 3 meanest thugs.... errm... I mean big strong men.... to be bouncers.

Forgive the middle one... he is a bouncer in training so he has yet to shave his head... hehe. Anyway, these are not the kind of bouncers you would find outside Euphoria or Zuok.... the only thing that they would bounce are things you throw at them I guess... hahaha.

Anyway, our head honcho Donny Tan emphasized on the importance of walking.... so we actually had a round of walking practice.... or is it practice walking? Whichever la... you get it enough la...

So after that, we can't really take Donny seriously....

Hahaha... no lar... not because of that... I guess everyone was just over excited that the day has finally come and poor Donny had a hard time keeping the sheep all together. I always recommend sheep dogs positioned at various corners to snap at the sheeps. Hehehe. So after we felt confident (yeah, right!), we left for our first assignment at The Summit USJ. So what is the First Takeaway Message of the day? "Benjy has an internal pendulum that points either towards total shyness or extreme extrovert-ism". See the various poses of Benjy:-

Then just as we got into our cars and were leaving for The Summit USJ, I got Takeaway Message #2: "Women not only cannot tell the difference between left and right, they leave their car boots open while driving". Hahaha... it was so funny.... Irene Lai was driving off with her boot wide open and we thought she was so cool to drive that way. We assumed that she purposely left it open as she wanted to load something in further down the road. But being men, *ahem*, we just stopped her to confirm. To our laughter, she had not even realized the boot was open. Hahaha... pity I just missed taking the evidence of the boot being open and only managed to snap a shot of a sheepish Irene... hehehe.

Although the core event had yet to even officially start, we had yet another incident. Eugene Chaw forgot his shoes... hahaha... imagine performing carols with slippers. I mean we are handsome and beautiful enough to ensure that our audience keeps gazing at our faces, but we would not want to take the risk of anyone having a foot fetish finding out. Haha... poor Eugene had to drive all the way home to get his shoes.

As we arrived at The Summit USJ, I spotted a very odd pair that made me rub my eyes in disbelief....

Was Santa Claus dating a she-devil??? Hahahaha. What on earth? Whoever organized this promotional stint should be re-educated on the vast difference of Santa and a she-devil... or maybe this is their idea of "muhibbah". Hahaha. It was at this moment that Takeaway Message #3 was explained to me: "Q: What do you call St. Nick who dates a she-devil? A: Satan Claus". Hahaha.... very witty... I am not sure who exactly in our team coined that, but my salute to your creativity.

After so much hoo-ha, we were at last about to start our caroling.... but... guess what.... a big group of the girls were missing. Where did they go? To the toilet!!! Hahaha... we were all in position ready to sing and realized a lot of them were missing. How did we realize? Because even our conductress (sounds very much like seductress), Kim Mi, was missing too. Hahaha. How awkward we looked standing there waiting and this group of girls, led by Kim Mi walks out of the toilet.

So we belted our parts for 45 minutes non-stop at 2 different locations at The Summit USJ and were pleased that we did our best, albeit some covertly hidden mistakes. I hope all you shoppers who were there today enjoyed it more than it hurt your ears. We do apologize for one or two "heroes" in our team who thought that they are better than everyone else and sang at their own timing and their own note. The rest of us did work together very well and really tried our best to work as a team. Yay for teamwork!

After that, we were pleasantly surprised when we were informed that the nice owner of Kafe Chatter Box (David) had offered ALL of us dinner at his shop which is located directly opposite GSC (at The Summit USJ la... have you not been following the story? hehe). We were even more shocked that he told us to take whatever we wanted from his food lines. I mean, if he were to just offer each of us a drink and some koay teow or bihun, it would have been very generous of him. But to offer 48 ravenous people anything they want, is a really big thing. Thank you Davide for your kindness, above and beyond.

Here's the shop.... with some posers trying very hard to be in the picture

Here is the kind and generous owner, David

Here is the shy worker (they are very friendly and cheerful) of the shop

One thing I do want to mention is that when people offer kindness, don't take full advantage of it and try to squeeze every drop you can get out of that person. That is just not right and downright greedy. You should eat your fill but not purposely stuff your faces just because it is free. Ish, ish... have some dignity and decorum please. You are not hyenas from the wild.

Back to Kafe Chatter Box. Looks can be deceiving. Although the outlook of the shop is rather simple and uncomplicated, they serve really great food. Not only is the food delicious, they have so much variety that ranges from economy rice to nasi kunyit to nasi lemak to chicken rice (the rice is insanely yummy) to hot dogs to egg tarts to laksa to otak-otak to fried rice to kuih-muih and a whole range of other stuff I can't even remember. Although I am not paying this time round, the food was so good that I already was planning for my next visit back and checked out the prices of the food. I was pleased to find that they are very reasonably priced that even students could afford it. This is a place I would definitely come back over and over again. I would seriously encourage you to give it a try if you are at The Summit USJ, and especially if you are about to catch a movie at GSC. Even if you don't want a full meal, they serve a lot of snacks too. I am sure you won't be disappointed.

By 7pm, we had to split into our respective smaller groups (we are Beta!!) and head to our next destination. Remember the shoes from above? Well, it has come back to haunt us. Because Eugene had to drive home to get his pair of shoes earlier, he had to park his car at an unsafe spot. So since we were leaving for locations far, far away, I urged him to re-park his car at a safer spot. So we agreed to meet the rest of the Beta team in front of a school. Now what you need to understand is that there are many many MANY schools in the Subang Jaya and USJ area. We had a "fun" time chasing after our team as each time we got to one school, they told us that they had moved to another school! Hahaha... aiyoh... in trying to help us (because they thought we were lost), they ended up playing cat-and-mouse with us. So through the fiasco of chasing them (and people who kept calling me to talk on my mobile phone while I was trying to catch up), I had to resort to tactics from days of yore, by diverting power of my X-Wing's "shields" and "lasers" to the engines, in order to get enough juice to catch up with them before they left us for another school!

We finally proceeded towards Monterez Golf & Country Club. We were really cutting it close and Eugene was getting nervous as he felt he was the cause of it. That was when we started talking about the "Butterfly Effect", where his shoes were the originating source of all this. It was because he forgot his shoes, that he had to drive back home to get them, that he had to drive to the first location alone, that he had to park in an unsafe place, that he had to re-park, that we had to chase them round from one school to another. So.... I suggested that he find something else that caused him to forget his shoes so that the "blame" can be shifted to something else... hahaha. I guess its not so fun to read it here... but it was really hilarious when it happened in the car.

To our relief, Donny somehow overshot the 2nd location and we had gone so far away from the actual place before we had to turn back. The biggest sigh of relief of course came from Eugene... haha. So we arrived at Monterez about half an hour late. As we were rushing in, I spotted the name of the party we would be singing to..... see the picture... a picture paints a thousand words...

Hahaha.. they must have missed Halloween and wanted to celebrate it together with Christmas. We had to throw out the clown in order for us to start singing. No, really.... there was literally a clown there entertaining the kids and he was stopped kind of abruptly to make way for us. As we tried to quickly arrange ourselves to start, guess what happened? Most of the girls went missing again!!! Guess where they went? You are right!! They went to the toilet again!! Haha.

So after we had sung, I went in search of the long missed turkey... but there was none. Oh well, I had to settle for baked fish and some satay. What was interesting was that all the aunties there wanted to find Donny a wife... hahaha... so nice punya... no need to do anything, people find him a wife... hmmm... what if a few of them does it together... does it mean that Donny will have many wives??? Haha. So after gobbling even more food, we quickly excused ourselves and left for our final location.

Oh yes, before I forget... do you know why we overshot Monterez? Because none of us except Mark actually knew the location of Monterez but when we were in discussion on how to get there (for a couple of times and not only once!!!), Mark conveniently went to ~~flirt~~ fellowship with the younger girls in our team. So none of us knew that he actually stayed opposite Monterez previously until we had missed it by so far and he nonchalantly said he stayed in that vicinity. Hahaha.... doesn't it make you feel like putting the sotong over a grill? Takeaway Message #4: "Mark knows the way to a lot of places because like a sotong, he has been in every nook and cranny". Takeaway Message #5: "Mark is magnetized and drawn to younger girls".

As we were traveling to our 3rd location at Ara Damansara, we again got into a situation where we could bet. Oh ya hor..... I didn't explain earlier how this came about. It is like this.... when you drive on the road and you suddenly keep far right... and there is a traffic light in front.... what are you intending to do? Turn right, correct? But in Donny's case, it was different. Maybe the driving school instructions have changed but during my time, you would only go on the ride hand side of the road at a traffic light if you wanted to turn right. So during the journey, out of 5 times Donny suddenly kept right at a traffic light (the ones that were possible to turn right), he only turned right once. Hahaha... so you can imagine how ~~frustrated~~ tickled we were by the whole thing. Eugene then suggested that we bet on what he would do because the outcome was so unpredictable. So back to Ara Damansara; we either "bet" (just say only lar.... we all good boys one.... don't bet with money punya *angelic look*) that he was going straight or turning right.... but he u-turned instead. Hahaha... there you have it for Donny. So remember people, whenever Donny suddenly swerves to the right before a traffic light, you never know what he would do. If you are bored, you could start ~~betting~~ guessing the outcome. Here are the current stats for the day: twice went straight, twice u-turned, once turned right. Takeaway Message #6: "Traffic rules may have changed, you keep right at a turn right traffic light to go straight". Takeaway Message #7: "Donny's driving style provides opportunities for ~~betting~~ guessing".

So we reached the final house an hour late and had to face some upset people (sorry ya... its the butterfly effect.... and Donny's driving.... and Mark's sotong-ness...). We sang the best we could although most of us already half lost our voices. The last location was really sooooo nice.

Gah! My camera does not do justice to the actual beauty of the place. Anyone wanna get me an SLR for Christmas or my birthday? Just in case any of you are, I am looking for a Sony Alpha 350 (hint, hint). After 7 Takeaway Messages, I would have thought that would be the end of such fun, but to my surprise, there was more to come. The next one speaks for itself in the photo below:

Takeaway Message #8: "Put enough powder on his face and lipstick on his lips and Mark looks like a girl". Hahaha..... maybe that's why he gets along so well with girls.... he looks like them and they mistake him for one of them.... hahaha..... *runs away and hides*.

And finally... before going back to our homes for a well deserved rest, 2 girls gave us one final Takeaway Message:

Takeaway Message #9: "Girls like slapping each others butt; hard and repetitively". Yes, there was so much action (and laughter on my end) that my camera shook very badly. They were taking turns to slap each others' buttocks non-stop, all the way from the gate of the house, to the car. And I am sure all of you want to know the answer to the big question; who on earth are these 2 girls??? Well, here they are..... TADAH!!!!

Hahaha... for all of you who did not come for caroling, don't you wish you signed up? Who said caroling is boring? Remember to sign up next year.... or better still, sign up now itself for next year!!

FUNNI - Pilot Episode

2008-11-14T11:26:00.000+08:00

I have been watching too many talk shows. The ones that easily come to mind are David Letterman (I love his talk show!! Any idea what happened to him? Don't hear about him anymore), Ellen Degeneres, Jay Leno (yucks), Oprah Winfrey (double yucks) and of course recently Jimmy Kimmel. These shows normally introduce quick mini-segments which are fun, but sometimes totally pointless.

To prove all researchers right, that TV does influence how a person acts (more like react), I am hereby introducing a short mini-segment called FUNNI on my blog. FUNNI stands for Flamboyantly Useless aNd Nonsensical Information. This segment will provide information that are true facts, but make no difference to your life or give you no extra benefit to know it. The information provided will either make you slap your forehead or just roll on the floor laughing (it is recommended to use the bed if your floor is filthy).

So to start the ball rolling, here is the first piece of FUNNI:

Oh great..... I didn't know I was a bullfrog. How fun.

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed the first FUNNI segment. If you have similar FUNNI information you would like to share, do send it to me and if it is FUNNI enough, it will be published here on my blog with links back to you.

FUNNI #1 - This FUNNI is brought to you by

Halloween Is Too Commercialized

2008-11-05T23:30:00.000+08:00

Ever felt that seasonal celebrations have become too commercialized? The focus of the seasonal celebrations have become what to buy and shop for, throwing big parties, showing off your best clothes, etc. I am not sure about you, but I certainly have felt that way during Christmas and Chinese New Year that I sometimes just want to get away (perhaps to a small island; that is not called Penang) with a small group of close family and friends and not be a part of the over-rated celebrations that corporate organizations brainwash us into participating, which in turn makes us part with a whole load of cash just to keep up.

The same has started to happen for Halloween and I am sure most ghosts and ghouls (not that I believe in them) would feel the same as me. So much "fun" and "party" and spending atmosphere has been injected into Halloween, that if I am a ghost or ghoul, I would take a vacation during this season and only come out to haunt when the humans are done with their over-rated and over-commercialized celebrations.

So I decided to have lunch today at a quaint little place called The Teapot Cafe. I found out about this place from Jojo's parents (I believe it is the same day she licked me) some months ago when we came here to have scones for tea.

Doesn't this make you feel like you are in England? Or at least Engrish?

Their staff are very friendly but soft spoken; maybe even shy.

Though this sounds just like a tea shop, it sells more than tea time snacks. Here is my Basil Crusted Dory Fish. Simple yet good tasting. The food is also cooked with health in mind as the vegetables are just steamed plain without any salt or butter.

And being in a tea shop, I had to least order a piece of pie since I did not order any tea. Otherwise, my visit would not be complete. Don't you think so, my good chap? So here is my Blueberry Pie (ever wondered why a Blueberry Pie is purple and not blue?)

Went over to Jaya Jusco to pick up some groceries after lunch. *You must be wondering by now, "what on earth with the halloween title?"... well, be patient..... it will pounce on you when you least expect it.... muahahaha.... errr.. I mean hehehe* As I was looking around for eggs, I spotted some duck eggs and decided to get some of those. In Penang, many of the hawker stalls offer duck egg as a choice instead of the normal chicken egg. When I started asking for duck eggs here, people acted as though they have never heard of it before or they do not know what ducks are. At least the supermarket here still sells them so I thought I would buy some fresh ones and cook them myself.

Suddenly, something went past me! I could not believe my eyes and was not sure what I saw. By the time my brain had time to process it, I could not see it anymore. As I walked the aisles of the supermarket, this thing kept going past in front of me. After this happening for at least 7-8 times, I just had to try and take a picture of it. Can you see what I saw in the picture below???

I looked around and nobody seemed to notice what I saw.... hmm... could I be dreaming? Anyway, I got back to my shopping. Woo hoo! Found that the Prego Spaghetti Sauce was on offer. They even gave a free container with it. So decided to pick 2 cans up.

Suddenly, this figure went past me again. Ok, now I was getting kind of freaked out. Am I being followed??? And as usual, nobody seemed to notice except me. As you can see in the next shot below, people are looking at me.... not this figure.

I went on to get the last item on my shopping list.... vegetables. Tadah!

Guess what? The figure continued to glide past in front of me every corner I turned. I could no longer tell if what I saw was real or I was the only one seeing it. Was this an apparition? Or was this a person? I mean it was at this point, thoughts of Halloween being over commercialized popped into my head. Had the hustle and bustle of the "human haunting" season been past long enough for the real haunting to start? I could see that this apparition or figure had a trolley and even filled the trolley to the brim. Oh well, if I was being "haunted" anyway, might as well chase down what I saw and take a few photos.

Can you see anything??? Don't worry lar... neither can I.... hehehe

What about this one?

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Phewww.... it is a human being.....

It was later that other people started staring at her too. Only then did I feel more at ease knowing that I was not the only one who could see her... hahaha. Anyway, I am sure if she went for the Nuffnang Nokia Silent Halloween party, she would have bagged the best costume contest. Ok, ok, I can go back to not believing in the existence of ghosts... hahaha.

Note: To the person who happens to be related to this lady; sorry ya for getting freaked out at the sight of her... but she kept gliding.... errr.... walking past me non-stop. How was I to know ler....

Healthy Eating Is Back

2008-11-01T03:19:00.000+08:00

Yes, I am trying to get back to my more healthy diet. Too much of ~~being stuffed with food by relatives~~ taking relatives around for food has made me gain some weight.... gah... need to keep my 16kg loss (or more) until end of the year.

Just like exercising, once you stop it, it is hard to get back into the routine. So I had to push myself to start eating my healthy sandwiches again.

Tadah! Here is my delicious lunch. And a close up shot of the good stuff too. Notice how thick the layers of vegetables are? I am sure this would send Lai San scurrying away... hehehe.

I tried my first tin of Hormel Foods SPAM and was duly impressed. SPAM is a brand of luncheon meat. It is so famous that it has become like Xerox (no its not a photostat machine) or Jeep (no its not a vehicle), where the brand name is commonly used to describe the item. Your ~~nagging~~ parents would have warned you about the downside of eating luncheon meat (and I do have to agree with them on certain points), but I am totally impressed at Hormel Foods SPAM that I am so gonna continue eating this. Ya, it is more expensive than Ma Ling or Emborg or Tulip, but I really feel it is worth the money. Ok, ok, maybe not everybody is nuts enough to fork out RM14.50 for it, but I think its worth it.

Firstly, they have their luncheon meat in so many different and unique flavours. Being the hot person I am *ahem* I of course chose the one that is flavoured with Tabasco Sauce (fun fact: Tabasco is a brand that produces more than one type of sauce but their pepper sauce is so famous that everyone refers to it as Tabasco Sauce although there are other brands that produce the same.... errr... Tabasco Sauce).

Secondly, they have such cute instructions on how to get to the delicious meat inside and what to do with it. I mean, did you EVER know what to do when you bought Ma Ling, Emborg or Tulip brand? I am SURE the meat just sat in the tin for a very long time. Hahaha.. anyway, it is good fun and the instructions actually work!

Thirdly, the quality of the can just blew me away. For those of you who have ~~greedily devoured~~ consumed a lot of luncheon meat, you would have experienced problems such as opening the can properly, finding metal bits stuck in the meat and even finding that the tin is beginning to rust. Hormel Foods SPAM comes in a very high quality tin that has an easy-to-open lid. The lid is so easy to open that even a fool could not get it wrong (the instructions do help). No need of super-Eric strength to get it open and no metal bits to worry about. Best of all, the ENTIRE internal parts of the can (where the meat is in contact with) is coated with a special white layer of plastic material that prevents rust. WOW! Totally blown away.

So there you have it... an interesting blog about SPAM. Unless you don't like SPAM, then you may consider this post as.... well.... spam! Haha.

Biscuit Lovers Beware!

2008-10-17T11:52:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone.... sorry it has been so long since my last post. As you all know, my computer died. Well, it has resurrected (thanks to Dell) but I am still trying to catch up with work so I will try to post as much as I can.

However, I have now come to warn all you biscuit lovers out there. The melamine tainted food products from China has gone beyond just milk and chocolate products; it has now reached biscuits too! And guess who is the culprit behind all this? You got it right, it is China again! The far reaching effects of China's loose quality controls is beyond what our minds can comprehend. It sends shivers down my spine to wonder how many other ingredients or sub-ingredients in our daily food has been imported from China. I guess this is one of the reasons why western food products are still in demand here. Good thing that I have been buying more imported stuff recently... hehe.

One thing I have to say is that we need to give our Malaysian Health Ministry a standing ovation for their efforts and initiative (I guess when one is not frequently visiting hotels, one can get more work done *wink*). One would have thought that Malaysia would continue to ride on the coat tails of what our Singapore counterparts are doing on the area of melamine. So it is very reassuring and impressive that our Malaysian Health Ministry is actually taking effort to go where Singapore has not gone before. Some weeks back, it was found that cabbages from China contained excessive melamine levels (what is with China and melamine??? free is it? or got some melamine company sponsor product placement of melamine everywhere?). Yesterday, our Malaysian Health Ministry has found Khong Guan biscuits and Khian Guan biscuits to be tainted with excessive levels of melamine too.

This has now set off a domino effect of checks on other brands of biscuits being sold in Malaysia as well. But putting those other checks aside, let's focus on what has been confirmed.

The excessive melamine was found in the ammonium bicarbonate raising agent of the biscuit (Khong Guan and Khian Guan) and not in the dairy portion of it. An order has been issued to remove the affected biscuits from sale immediately and recall products already sold (go check your larders, fridges, storerooms and office drawers for this brand.... get rid of the cockroaches eating at them at the same time.... or better still leave them there and use the biscuits as cockroach poison.... hahaha).

The allowable limit for melamine in food products is 2.5 ppm (parts per million). Khong Guan has 13 times the allowable limit (33.4 ppm) and Khian Guan has 203 times the allowable limit (508 ppm).

I know some of you out there say that you don't bother because it is only a bit and won't cause you much harm because you don't consume so much of a particular product. But imagine if you drank tainted milk from Singapore, sucked on White Rabbit Creamy Candy whenever you are free, eat your mum's cooking of China cabbage and snacked on Khong Guan or Khian Guan biscuits in your free time, you would be filling yourself with melamine with every chomp. Hey, you could be so filled with melamine, I could turn you into melamine wear and use you as a plate or something. So anyway, I think this melamine issue has become something serious and let's play our part to tell these culprits from China that we are not going to be conned and poisoned. Choose wisely the food products you buy as the melamine poisoning could go beyond the food items that have already been confirmed; there is still a lot of food products that come from China whether directly or indirectly (sub-ingredients) that have yet to be tested.

A simple way to be safe is this: if you know someone is peeing upstream, don't drink the water from the stream all the way down. So if you know where the source of melamine is coming from, avoid buying stuff that come from the same source. Simple reasoning.

For more information, click on this link for the full article ==> http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/10/16/nation/20081016125216&sec=nation

I Am Sorry... No Change

2008-09-05T00:20:00.000+08:00

If this post makes no sense to you, please ignore it. It is only meant for those will understand it.

I can't tell a lie. My post will have to remain.

What I Have Been Eating...

2008-08-27T07:18:00.000+08:00

Ok, here it is; a foodie post. Since I will be going on an eating spree soon, it is just the perfect timing to review some of the stuff I had recently.

Sakae Sushi. Went to try another 2 black plates. The Salmon Salad Roll thing was nice but really not worth it (remember, its RM10 per plate). It was just coleslaw wrapped with some skin and a piece of salmon on top. The Salmon with Sea Urchin was quite unique. I never knew sea urchin tasted creamy, slimy and weirdly tangy. Not too bad an experience. I had to order the Salmon Avocado again. Also tested their Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab; it is INSANELY DELICIOUS!! They even have a special sauce for you to dip the crab in. But either with or without the sauce, the crab was totally fantastic as it was crispy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside. Very nicely done. And it came in pairs!! So if I want to have a truly satisfying meal, I would need to have my Grilled Shishamo at Sushi King, then walk over to Sakae Sushi and have my Salmon Avocado with Soft Shell Crab... haha.

Went to Subang Parade on Sunday. We settled to eat at a place simply called "Nyonya". The smells wafting out from the shop definitely helped in making our decision, but sadly, the food is not that great. I only had 1 popiah and a bowl of cendol. They claimed it to be authentic home made cendol... how can it be authentic when there was no red bean inside??? The cendol strips were frozen hard and every bite was like biting into pieces of ice. I am not sure if they even used gula melaka or just coloured sugar. The popiah was just normal... nothing special about it.... and definitely nothing authentic. This is so not how Nyonya people make popiah! I also tasted some food from what Isaac and Kim Mi had. Can you imagine the small amount I ate? Where am I leading to? This; THEY MUST HAVE POURED BAGS OF MSG INTO THEIR FOOD!!! I was so horrifyingly thirsty that my whole mouth actually felt parched. I kept drinking water and it could not take away the thirst. Really horrible experience. I am so NEVER going to go back there. At least the two of them had fun...

On Friday, we were at Kota Kemuning once again (cos home cell is at Mark's house). Since no one planned for dinner, I decided to take the people in my car on a search for new food. As I drove round the area, I found an NTS (New Taman Sea chain of coffee shops) coffee shop branch. Went down and had a look what they offered and was immediately hooked by..... *drum roll*.... Claypot Dried Chili Frog Porridge!!!! Firstly, I have been longing for frog for a very long time but not many seafood restaurants in KL offer it nowadays, so I have been not been able to satisfy that craving. On top of that, I have heard people talk about Claypot Dried Chili Frog Porridge so many times but I have never ever come across a shop or stall selling this in Malaysia (I think they do in Singapore). So when I saw a stall in NTS selling this, I was doubly ecstatic. It was definitely satisfying and delicious. All for a reasonable price of RM12. It is sooooo good that I am so going to drive all the way from my place in Sri Damansara to Kota Kemuning, even when there is no home cell just to eat it.... hahaha.

On Saturday, we had dinner at Asia Cafe after badminton. I had wanted to try the new Thai stall's Mieng Kham for quite a few times already so I determined I would do so on Saturday. I did manage to tire myself out at badminton so I wasn't really feeling hungry and just had Ciku, Mieng Kham and ice-kacang. The ciku was fantastically sweet... makes us wonder if they actually soaked it in sugar water. The ice-kacang was really healthy.... in that it was so not sweet, that it borderlined on being tasteless. The Mieng Kham was quite disappointing... maybe because I had so much better ones before... but still, this was supposed to be done by real Thais but it was just not up to the mark..... sigh.... anybody know where to get a good Mieng Kham in KL?

Next was a restaurant we went to celebrate Shi Wei's birthday about 2 weeks ago. The name of the place is "Restoran Janbo" or "Janbo Restaurant" (more like DUMBO!). I am so offended by the way they do business that I refuse to even show any pictures of their food, but give you a good warning of what to expect if you ever decide to go. They have a couple of branches and I am not sure if they are all the same but I will definitely never step foot back into the Puchong branch. Firstly, their map was totally horrible. The map clearly indicated that the restaurant was just opposite Tesco Puchong. When we could not find the place and called the restaurant to ask for directions, they gave us equally bad directions. It took us almost an hour to actually find the place and when we did, I was totally horrified that the location of the restaurant was nowhere near Tesco and in fact was about 5-10km away in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION!! Real DUMBO. It was supposed to be a "Chinese-seafood-all-you-can-eat meal". This means we sit at the table and order our food, they will cook and serve it, then we order again, as much as we want. So you have heard my first dissatisfaction.... here are the rest. Number Two: We were supposed to mark on the menu what we wanted. Kenrick marked the sharksfin soup and also marked what we wanted to have inside it. It is quite clear we only want 1 bowl (each bowl is for 14 people because we had 14 people there) but they served us 2 bowls and insisted that we made the mistake by marking it twice. At this point I was still giving them the benefit of doubt so we just kept quiet. However, what was surprising was that the restaurant manager did not even have to check our order to tell us this. He must have a photographic memory.... or malicious intent. Number Three: Remember the photographic memory I just mentioned? He so conveniently forgot the expensive stuff we ordered (prawns and fish) and kept serving us only the cheaper stuff like chicken, etc. He even asked us to make the 2nd round of orders and even started serving our 2nd round of food without bringing our seafood out. When I suddenly realized and asked him, he suddenly seemed to lose his mental prowess and claimed that he cannot remember we ordered the seafood dishes. Wah!! Really too much. For the sharksfin soup (by the way, I didn't see a single fin in there and it was full of starch only) he could clearly remember without checking the order form; this he said he cannot remember when it was the same order form!! When we insist that he check, he then apologized and said he would get it done. Fine... still give him benefit of the doubt. Number Four: When we were into our 2nd or 3rd round of ordering, we requested that they cook only half the portion (means enough for 7 people instead of 14). He insisted that it is against company policy and everything we order will come out in portions enough for 14. Even when we pleaded for his leniency he refused and said this is company policy and he is just following rules. So fine. When it was our last call to order, we decided to go for another plate of prawns. We were sure this was something we could finish. However when the portion came out, it was about a quarter the size of the first order of prawns. So if the first order was enough for 14 people, this was only enough for 3.5. And guess what? No more orders... kitchen closed. What happened to company policy? I was so incensed by this time and already made up my mind to write all this so you will be warned before you go eat at Restoran Janbo (or Janbo Restaurant). So ya, I think they should change their name to better reflect they way they do business.

At least we had a good time talking and joking around otherwise this would have been a total failure. Here are some interesting stuff.

And finally, I went to Marks & Spencer some time back and saw this mini-tub of chocolate biscuits on offer. They are called "Extremely Chocolatey Mini Rings". Who on earth can resist a name like that? Hahaha... at least I can't. So though it was expensive, I decided to buy and try it. No regrets. It is superbly delicious. Not only is the taste amazing, the amount of chocolate is actually more than the biscuit. Also, the biscuit melts in your mouth so by the time the biscuit disappears, your entire mouth is still oozing with chocolatey chocolate.... mmmm... yum yum. I need to go and get more stock of this... haha.

BPL 2008/2009 - Portsmouth vs Manchester United (MU)

2008-08-26T22:34:00.000+08:00

Ok, so I missed it again. You can't blame me since this match was on a weekday, and at such an unreasonable hour. If this is a finals game, then different la. It is still early in the season. I also had to wake up early for a customer meeting. So anyway, here is my take and short summary on it.

At last, the "duck has been broken"! (I wonder how one breaks a duck... anyone have any clue where this phrase comes from?)The jinx has ended! MU has won at Portsmouth. If you are not a statistical person, you must be wondering what on earth am I blabbering about. Portsmouth is not even a title contender; not even MU's main threat... why on earth is Eric celebrating?

Well according to statistics (the thing with numbers), yesterday's win was MU's 2nd in 6 attempts at Fratton Park. So it is much to be celebrated about. It is sometimes very odd how some top teams will be unable to break down a single smaller and weaker team for no other reason than just because. So a win here is as precious as a win at Chelsea or Liverpool or Arsenal.

It was a rather tight match and it was only a solitary goal that made the difference. Surprisingly, the man who got last week's equalizer for MU is also the man who secured the points for MU in this game.... at least his shin did in this match (shin is part of the body! haha). Darren Fletcher although being a rather low profile player as compared to the rest of his team mates, has been consistently scoring when it really matters. It shows the spirit of a true player who does not need the spotlight, but just contributes for the good of the entire team. Excellent job Fletcher!

Although Tevez was back in the game, he and Rooney failed to convert any of their shots.

On the transfer front, MU are one step closer to securing another striker in the form of Dimitar Berbatov, although Tottenham is demanding a higher value for their prized striker. It is quite unlikely that MU will play hardball (yeah, they only play football... haha) as they can afford it and Berbatov has been Ferguson's target since last year. This would definitely provide some Bulgarian spice into the MU team. Looking forward to this added firepower in the days to come.

Final score for the day Portsmouth 0 - Manchester United 1.

A Surprise Midnight Female Visitor

2008-08-22T02:00:00.000+08:00

Please note that the following post is totally true. None of it is fictional or even metaphorical. I am relating the story as I experienced it. Viewer discretion is advised.

This just happened 2 hours ago. I was about to go take my bath and go to sleep when a surprise female visitor came. I was rather surprised to see her as it was already midnight. I thought it was bold and daring of her to come at this hour. My mind wondered what she had in her mind to come at this hour. Not properly dressed, I excused myself and went to quickly put on more clothes.

Once I was more appropriately dressed, I came out of my room and decided to find out why she came so late in the night to look for me. She did not seem to want to talk much but just walked back and forth looking at me. I somehow was quite sure she was making some guttural sound. This made me quite nervous.

I persisted in trying to find out from her what she was doing at my place at this hour, while side-stepping her direction as she continued to shyly pace back and forth. She just had such beautiful dual-toned hair and gorgeous Oriental looking squinty eyes.

As we paced around like it was a ballroom dance, she methodically cornered me until I had no place to manoeuvre. I was getting nervous now as she was totally ignoring my questions and put me in a corner where the only way out was to grab hold of her and move her aside. As I stared into her eyes, the inevitable happened. She started to rub her body against mine.

I froze.

She no longer gazed into my eyes but just rubbed her body against mine. What am I to do??!! What am I to do??!!

I squirmed my way out of the corner, careful not to touch her in any way, so not to encourage her.

Once the first touch was broken, her shyness just vanished. She no longer "ballroom danced" but came straight for me and rubbed herself all over me.

You must think I am kidding at this point right? NO I AM NOT! THIS SERIOUSLY HAPPENED! Anyway, back to my story......

This was getting nowhere as she kept throwing herself at me and the only way to stop this was to grab her and throw her out. However, that would be kinda cruel so I decided to keep my composure and try and sort things out. She started to press herself against various parts of my body and I still tried to skip out of her way whenever I could.

I finally gave up and thought the best way to fight fire was with... well... fire. So if that equation holds true, then the only way to fight the body rubbing was to rub back.... hey, I am no expert in this so don't blame me if I got this wrong.

To play it safe, I started by caressing her cheeks... she seemed to like it. The moment I stopped, she would once again press her body against me. So all right, I guess I needed to continue my gentle touch on her soft cheeks. I started rubbing her back which she totally loved and she just suddenly lay down next to me. Wow! That was being totally vulnerable. I continued to rub her back and caress her cheeks as she continued to press herself against me and buried her head into me.

It has been a really, really, REALLY long time since something like this happened so I guess it was a nice feeling for me too.

I soon discovered that she loved me to tickle her neck the most. She just totally melted as I caressed and tickled her neck. I thought this couldn't get any better when the next unexpected thing happened..... she started nibbling at me!!!! She did not bite.... but just gently nibbled at me on various parts of my body.

Wow! I was going to sleep.... who would have thought that my night would end so much differently than I had pictured. Oh well, I can forget about sleeping early now. Sorry... back to the story.....

She continued to playfully nibble at me as I started to put my fingers through her hair.

It was clear after some time that she was feeling hungry (and so was I) so I decided to go look for some food. I was not expecting any guests so I did not have much prepared for a midnight snack. I decided on some canned food instead and opened a tin to share with her. We could not finish the tin between us so I kept the remainder of the meal in the fridge.

After our snack, I took the opportunity to regain my composure by excusing myself. I had put some clothes to wash so I went to put my clothes out to dry while she waited for me in my room. I tried to take my time to hang my clothes, hoping that she would get tired and fall asleep.

No matter how long I could drag the process, it had to come to an end. I tidied up the stuff and went to see if she had fallen asleep. Hahaha... fat chance.

She was curled up at one corner as I peeked in. But the moment she saw me, she lunged at me. Ah... I just gave up trying to avoid and... well.... no need to go into details here.... you can imagine yourself what happened.....

After much "close encounter", I told her that it was time for her to go. Either she could not understand what I was trying to say or refused to as she went on and on with her rubbing. I spent some extra time tickling her at the neck were I knew she liked it, while explaining to her that I really needed her to go as it was getting really late.

As she still refused to budge, I had to end up carrying her out. Even as I put her down outside my apartment door, she still whined and wanted to come in. I had to insist that she leave and close the door on her..... what a night!! Here are some photos I took of the entire incident.

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Ok... here it comes....

Hahahahaha.... what? I did not trick you at all. Your mind just wandered the way YOU wanted it to wander. Tsk, tsk. Re-read my entire post again. Every word is true. And yes, I do talk to cats and plants. Hehehe.... maybe I should start writing some books and see if any publisher would publish it... hehehe.

Anyway, this was so odd. I know she purposely came to look for me. This is because 2 days ago, I met her downstairs at the elevator. She had totally ignored some people before me but when I came to the elevator, she just came out and started mewing and approached me. She even wanted to follow me into the elevator and I quickly shut the doors before she could come in. 2 days later, she managed to find her way up 11 floors to my apartment. She actually climbed in from the kitchen window and through the door which was left open as I was washing clothes and walked right into the hall where I was seated. I was so shocked to see a cat in my apartment! Haha.

Anyway, I am sucker for animals I guess. I can relate very much with the show "Evan Almighty" (now showing on ASTRO). All my life, all sorts of animals (and human kids!!) just seemed to caper and clamber all over me. And I just can't resist them. I even got wild pigeons to eat out of the palm of my hand (and stand on my hand while doing so). No wonder it is my dream to have some lions, tigers, wolves and huskies as pets when I can afford to get the license to own them. Maybe its my nature to like wild things....

Mamma Mia! The Movie

2008-08-20T00:13:00.000+08:00

Whoa!! It is quite rare to have musical movies these days and many fall short of the great classics such as "The King And I" (original one, not the remake) or "The Sound of Music". Recent attempts at such musicals (think Moulin Rouge and Evita) are not up to the mark of the classics. They are great productions but produce a rather sombre feeling. I have heard that this particular musical, (Mamma Mia! lar.... duh!) is being billed as one of the best made in the modern age. I saw a clip of it the other day (different from the Nuffnang clip... see the Nuffnang post on this) and it was awesome!

Then again, it could be the ABBA songs used (no, ABBA is not songs about a father... haha). Shame on any of you if you do not know ABBA. Not knowing ABBA is like not knowing who Elvis Presley is, or not knowing who Britney Spears is. They were one of the best selling pop group (originating from Sweden) in the 1970s and 1980s. Even in today's terms, their songs are still very upbeat and lively and just purely fun. What is even more interesting is that the group has already been disbanded more than 25 years ago and they still sell 2-3 million records every year!! Talk about recurring income!! Read more about ABBA here. What an appropriate selection of music to use for the show.

I am really looking forward to watching this show and I am sure anyone who appreciates dance and music will appreciate this. Even if you are young, I can guarantee you will enjoy this.... unless of course you are a lamer who neither appreciates music nor dance.... then skip it... hehe.

Sooooooo... Timothy Tiah..... continue to show your generosity as you displayed last week in giving away the LCD display you won (pun intended!) by giving me the tickets for this show. Mamma Mia! How can we resist you Timothy Tiah! Hahaha. Maybe Robb and Timothy should perform a piece from ABBA at the Premiere Screening... hehe.

Note to self: Getting excited about Mamma Mia! causes me to use the exclamation mark too many times in this post!!!!

BPL 2008/2009 - Manchester United (MU) vs Newcastle United

2008-08-18T02:38:00.000+08:00

This week marks the start to excitement, sleepless nights, adrenaline, screaming, being out of breath and sweaty bodies. No, I am not talking about sex. I am talking about the start of the new season of English football. The Barclays Premier League (yes, I have at last relented to calling it BPL instead of EPL) started on Saturday but the matches that interest me only started today. Pundits and analyst have predicted this season to be confined to a boxing match between MU and Chelsea for top spot, and Liverpool and Arsenal for 3rd placing. Therefore, my interest lies in the Chelsea and MU matches.

Chelsea kicked-off ahead of MU on Sunday. Although Mourinho was just an over-inflated ego balloon that need not be feared, Scolari is a totally different animal. Mourinho just rode on the wave of Abramovich's Rubles (Russian currency lar) and did nothing "special". It was all about throwing money. See where he is today? Unheard, unknown. But unlike the specially arrogant one, Scolari has an excellent track record and it not to be underestimated. He makes an excellent start to the season by steering his team to a 4-0 romp of Portsmouth. Not only does this give Chelsea the first 3 points of the season, but also indicates their voracious appetite for silverware this season.

MU started off the season well with another piece of trophy; the Community Shield. They defeated Portsmouth (through a penalty shoot-out) last week but the thrashing of Portsmouth by Chelsea makes the Community Shield look even more insignificant than it already is.

Today's game against Newcastle was billed as a relatively easy match and so the draw of 1-1 is definitely a rather disappointing result. Ferguson fielded some new players such as Rafael (whose twin Fabio is also in the main squad), Fraizer Campbell and Rodrigo Possebon. It is uncertain whether this move was to give them the experience or because he was over confident or because this was his best option with key players such as Ronaldo (injured), Nani (suspended) and Tevez (bereavement) were not available.

Although MU looked somewhat threatening on both halves, they just failed to finish and had to settle with just rattling Newcastle's goal posts.

Newcastle took the lead from an excellent cross and and an excellent header that definitely could not be stopped by anything short of a brick wall. But it was amazing how Fletcher always can be counted on to rise to the occasion and he equalized for MU within 2 minutes of the Newcastle goal with an amazing poke at the ball from a sizzling low cross sent in by Giggs.

The match score stood the same from the 24th minute all the way to the end. Ferguson seemed unperturbed by the results but looking back at last season, MU also started off the season with only 1 point. Hopefully we do not get complacent and remember that Scolari is definitely a threat not to be taken lightly.

It is just the start of the season. Let's hope that MU will pick up the pace soon and not play catch-up once again to Chelsea.

My condolences go to Tevez and his family.

Olympic Gold For Malaysia; So Near Yet So Far

2008-08-17T22:12:00.000+08:00

It was a moment all Malaysians were anticipating for. At long last, all Malaysians were united to cheer for our flag bearer in Beijing. At long last Malaysia stands at the throng of earning its first Olympic Gold in badminton. At long last all the ridiculous fracas of this nation's politics were put aside and the hot topic at dinner tables (or coffee tables for people like Isaac) were on Lee Chong Wei. The circus act by our country's top politicians have divided Malaysians, even down to the dinner table where friends or family "argue" just because they support different sides in the political arena. This weekend was certainly a breath of fresh air as people came together and cheered for Lee Chong Wei.

Tonight's match was billed as an exciting and fiery encounter where the world number one and number two would duel it out for Olympic honours. Both players had pretty much demolished their opponents on route to the final (except Chong Wei who dropped a game in the semi finals).

Malaysians from all walks of life were united in cheering for Chong Wei. Me too, especially since he is also a "Penang Kia". At coffee shops you could see everyone (including the hawkers.... haha... let's hope they don't add stuff that is not supposed to be in our food) had their eyes glued on the television to watch the live telecast of all games leading to the finals. Whenever Chong Wei slaughtered his opponent with his precision jumping cross court smash, the crowd roared. Even football fanatics put aside their football channel to watch the badminton finals. It was just amazing.

Sad to say, the results were not as amazing. Lin Dan was just totally on fire and could do no wrong. Forget about the home crowd; Lin Dan was clearly in his element and totally decimated Chong Wei in a rather quick match where Chong Wei lost in straight sets. Since Foo Kok Keong, Chong Wei is one of the coolest players in Malaysian badminton as he showed great maturity and composure even when he was down by such a huge point difference. The signature court sprawling and cheeky return shots of Foo Kok Keong could also be seen clearly in Chong Wei's playing style. Even more heart warming was the "never say die" spirit of Foo Kong Keong (that is no longer seen in most of our badminton players today), is seen once again in Chong Wei. Even when he was so badly behind he still did not give up and continued to fight on with determination on his face. You could even see Lin Dan feel for Chong Wei as he showed true sportsmanship even in defeat. Let us wish Chong Wei the best in continuing to improve his game and let us hope that he will bring back the tenacity and passion in our Malaysian badminton as Foo Kok Keong did during his time. What I see is not only a game of badminton; this is something that pulls at the strings of the heart of every Malaysian and bridges the gap of our differences and unites us as one.

This picture says it all

With this chapter coming to an end, I hope many Malaysians will wise up and cherish moments like this where we stand united as one, and stop being used by politicians who only want to further their own ambitions and careers. Let us be true Malaysians.

OH.... MY.... GOD IS AWESOME!!!

2008-08-14T23:11:00.000+08:00

OH.... MY.... GOD IS AWESOME!!!

I have been praying for a phone for some time now. Praying as in talking to God about whether I really need a new phone and if yes, which phone to get.

Last week when my parents were still around in KL, I got a letter from DiGi. When I first saw the envelope, I told my parents, "Not another scam letter... sigh. Sure got catch one.... where got people give free phone." So I opened the envelope skeptically to see what was inside.

Wah, got nice card some more. Sure scam one. All the idiotic Reader's Digest scam always start with classy looking cards and trinkets.

Opened the card to read its inside. Still was looking at the phones offered in disdain, thinking it was either some lure to get me to pay more money or they are giving away cheap rejected phones.

Then I saw a letter inside. I was so stunned when I read the part, "... no commitments. No contracts. No payment. No subscription required." Now they got my attention. I was so excited that I got a new phone so I turned to my parents to tell them that this was not a scam but for real!! At this point I was thinking they must have given me some cheap phone (see, cheap phone also excited already). Then when I read carefully the details.... and realized that the phone has just been launched in the market.... and it is worth RM1,950 (verified this to make sure the price stated was not inflated to make it look good)..... I went through the roof (ok ok, maybe only through to my neighbour's floor since I live in an apartment and don't have a roof)!

OH.... MY.... GOD IS AWESOME!!!

I am so grateful that God continues to show His kindness upon me and blesses me with stuff beyond what I can imagine and dream. The reason DiGi gave me the phone? No reason in particular.... just want to appreciate me. Haha... immediately my dad jealous and say he has been a DiGi customer for so many years too. When good things happen once, twice, three times, it is a coincidence. But when it happens over and over and over and over again, even a sceptic has to admit the reality of God. I did not even enter any contest or anything, but just prayed. Thank you God! Thank you DiGi! Sorry for being skeptical about your intentions... haha.

That was last Thursday. As I drove to town tonight (1 week later) to collect my phone, and saw what was happening everywhere I drove, it brought back memories and also made my mind contemplate what I am experiencing and what I am seeing around me. It is now the period of the Hungry Ghost Festival and I was quite shocked to see the that both of the sides of the road leading down from my apartment was totally filled with people offering incense (joss sticks), food, hell money and various other stuff made from paper (I only saw small items, no car or house offered here). In all the years that I have stayed here, never have I seen so much activity like this. It was usually the odd one or two families who did it. This was like a whole community doing this.

The scene brought me back to the time before I accepted Christ into my life. I remember during the 7th month of the Chinese calendar, I would help to fold the hell notes to be burnt (ehhh.... I fold quite good you know, fast also... haha). Although now when I think back I laugh, it was not so then. It was out of fear that we offered these things to the wandering spirits so they would not harm us. Although everyone in the neighbourhood did it, everyone was doing it out of fear. I remembered too all the warnings from my parents of what I should not do or say when we were offering these things.

My mind then went back to the other gods that we worshipped on a more frequent basis. One of them was "Tua Pek Kong". My dad used to bring me to this temple some 2-3km from our house to pray every now and then. What he did not know was that I would actually quietly go on my own to pray, to ask for blessings. I spent at least half an hour praying there before coming away from the place. I recall back that our prayers to "Tua Pek Kong" or any other god was on a bargaining basis. I would offer you "this and that" if you would bless me with "this and that", and as a sign of my sincerity, I would give you a small "this and that" first and will give you a bigger "this and that" once you have given me my "this and that". There was no sense of love or gratitude but it was a business transaction.

I am sure many of you who read this will understand what I mean.... and if you are honest enough, you would admit that the term "love", "grace" or "mercy" is never in the vocabulary when we worship these many gods or wandering spirits. It is either a business deal or out of fear. And if a god is not "sneanh" (real) enough, we just pray to other gods who will keep their end of the bargain.

As I drove along the way to collect my new mobile phone, how I wished that these people burning their offerings all along the way would have the same opportunity I have to know a God that emphasizes on "love", "grace" and "mercy". I am just like any of them..... but I have found grace in having the opportunity in knowing a God who is like a Father; who is like a Friend. He is not someone I am afraid of or bargain with and wonder if He will keep His end of the deal. No! It is out of love that I want to be more like Him and it is out of love that He blesses me with more than I can ever imagine. It is not out of fear or bargains. I never bargained for my Old Trafford (UK) trip. I never bargained for this new phone. I just brought my needs to Him, and just like a Daddy, talked to Him about me needing to change this phone. And just like a Daddy, He surprises me by letting me get a free phone (expensive one some more!) from such an odd method and source. Haha.

Too bad that many Christians who "claim" to know God, do not have an intimate enough relationship with Him to really trust Him as their Father. Instead they stick to their same old ways, coming to God in fear and try to bargain with Him or even force Him to bless them by threatening Him (as though something like that would work!). They really do not know how much they are missing out on.

I just hope that you, my readers, will take the step of faith and get to know this Heavenly Daddy who wants to lavish His love on you.... if only you would come.

My thanks once again to my Heavenly Daddy and to DiGi; both are always with me! Hahahahahaha!

Here are some photos of my new phone.

Look at all the stuff in there!!

What a neat, stylish, yet cute charger

And this is not exactly a "phone". It is more of a computer. There are so many things to setup before using it that I am going to need a few days before I learn how to use it *overjoyed*. I can't even begin to tell you how many things this phone can do (but it cannot make coffee) as the more I find out about this phone/mini-computer, the more it seems to be able to do. It is fully integrated with the internet, Flickr, instant messaging, email and much more. To give you an idea of how many functions there are, just look at how many buttons and ports there are on the phone. Each button has 2-4 functions each. Crazy! I can also setup 3D sound projection (like home theatre system). There are also recommended methods on how to hold the phone due to the buttons and ports and receivers and antennas all over... hahaha.

See how cool it looks in the dark! Top view

Bottom view Left view

Right view Back view

This Is Not A Foodie Blog

2008-08-07T22:35:00.000+08:00

Yes, it is not. I have more and more people telling me that my blog is a foodie blog. It is not. It is meant to be like a variety show, where you have lots of different stuff happening. It just so happens the variety includes a lot of different.... errrm.... food. Hahaa... still; it is not a foodie blog!!

With the positive feedback received from my periodic summary post, I have decided to once again write another periodic summary post (click here for the last one). As in the last one, this post will make no chronological sense (except the preservation of these moments in time).

Was at a loss of what to eat so decided to try the promotional items at Sakae Sushi. They currently have a "black plate" promotion where the menu items are supposed to be for a limited time only. Each plate costs RM10. Expensive? Not really.... because as a HSBC credit card holder, I get 100% rebate back... cool hor? So I ate 2 plates (RM20), I got RM20 voucher back. Nice.... my mind already wanders to the Salmon Avocado. Haha. Anyway, here are the photos of the 2 plates I ate.

The first plate is quite a unique contrast to the palate. It is a rice ball (must have gotten their inspiration from Melaka) that is covered with fresh raw salmon, sitting on thin pieces of Philippines mango. I dipped the ball (its so odd! I could not get used to picking it up with my chopstick!) into my wasabe-shoyu mix, took a bite, then bit into some mango too. I was afraid it would be weird but surprisingly it contrasted very well.

The second plate was a triple whammy of salmon: raw salmon, wrapping some salmon mayo, which was wrapping some rice which was wrapping fried salmon skin. Again, it looked so plain and normal but it turned out to be quite tasty. Good job to Sakae Sushi for these new creations.

I wanted to try the one with the sea urchin (no no... not some kid by the sea.... it is a type of seafood.... at least I hope it is... haha) but they did not seem to have stock of it.

Badminton seems to be getting less and less tiring. Need to up the ante. Still have not managed to start on my jogging yet though. In the meantime, if you are playing on the opposite of the net from me, please smash me hard. Wait.... that sounds wrong. What I meant was please smash the shuttlecock hard at me... don't hold back. But if you are my playing next to me, please please please don't smash me (especially Lai San).... haha. Oh yes, just remembered..... I am supposed to do a promo. Badminton is on every Saturday from 5.00pm to 7.30pm in Subang (road behind Carrefour; let me know if you are interested and I will direct you). Everyone is welcome to come, but please do inform before you do.

Wakakaka..... looks like I will be getting a free trip back to Penang soon. Will have a work meeting there so company will be paying for it.... hehe... will see if I got time to go eat some Penang food.

Had Sushi King. Could not find anything better or healthy to eat so decided to go for Sushi King (hmmm.... I see a trend here... dunno what to eat = eat Japanese food). I was shocked when I was so stuffed after just 3 plates (ok ok and also 3 shishamo... so that makes it 4 plates).

God is really good. The haze was getting from bad to worse and it was really affecting a lot of people's health, including mine. Was really praying earnestly yesterday for God to have mercy and let the rain come and wash away the haze. I even prayed not to let the wind blow it away because then other countries would still suffer. I woke up this morning..... haze was reduced, floor was wet. I went out today and it has been raining for a good part of the day. Amazing.... but now.... I need transport from Sunway Pyramid to the workshop in Glenmarie to get my car!! Hahaha... never mind... I will pray also :D

God is really good (nope, I'm not getting senile). When I am sick with sorethroat (it was the haze), I try to avoid as much oil and fried stuff and spicy stuff as possible. So for a person who eats fiery stuff most of the time, there was not much choice of food at my place. But it has been amazing that EVERY SINGLE TIME I am sick and need healthier food, the "chap fan" stall at my place cooks the steamed egg-pork (or is it pork-egg? whichever) and I get to eat just that with some rice. I thought it was just a coincidence when it happened the last couple of times but it just happened again. Just before I fell ill, I was longing to eat the steamed egg-pork (or pork-egg) for months but each time I went, they did not cook it. The day I fell ill and needed to eat that, it was there! Wow! Either that was a miracle... or the "chap fan" fella has installed a spy-cam in my house.... hahaha... I choose to believe it is a miracle.

Been praying a lot recently; for myself and the people around me. I thank God that I can be used to make a difference in the lives of others. Someone came to me for advice about gambling habit. Some people asked for prayer because they were sick (everyone ok already right?). Another friend in hospital for chemotherapy and have been praying for this person for quite some time since the growth was discovered. I thank God for the opportunity to show God's love in times of fear and need, and to give support to this person although this person belongs to a majority people group. It is so sad that we tend to offend people just because they are different from us. I am so thankful for moments like this when religion and race does not matter. What matters is friendship, kindness, respect and concern to help in times of need, even in a simple thing as to remember one in prayer. Received good news that the chemotherapy went well. All glory to God.

I managed to get a lot of items this week. Look at all the stuff! Card holder from Isaac (good.... now in case I hit my head and have amnesia, I will know my name is Hancock... hehe). Sea-shell from Sandra (hor!!.... you buy illegal stuff back from your holiday... I thought they are supposed to be protected). Bought a book recommended by Lionel. It was the last copy in the entire MPH. Great book..... learning so many new things that I just took for granted. Also bought myself a pair of shoes. I love Camel shoes... they really last. The current pair I am wearing was bought somewhere in the year 2000 or 2001. Also bought another book written by a Thai.... very interesting person.... should be a very interesting book.

The Sunway food court "chap fan" has a new way of ensuring you don't take too much of their food. They pour sacks of salt in it. It was crazy.... the fish was so salty, I could barely eat it. It was even more salty than "ham yee". Isaac was the only one who ate it and felt it was normal. Look at him enjoying the fish. My dear cousin, you need to cut down on your salt intake before it affects your heart. Salt, coffee, all the bad stuff that attacks your heart.

He also got a gift from Irene Lai. It is the new type of tie. Not meant for formal wear but for casual wear only. Nice hor?

Hahaha.... in case you can't see clearly, it is a piece of string. He actually wore it all the way back home... haha.

Sent my car for servicing today. Hope I am not left in a lurch again and need the EON van to personally drop me home... haha.

On Sunday, there was a human traffic light in church. As most of you know, green is "go", red is "stop" and yellow (or amber) is "panic and emergency brake or go panic and go faster". Here is what the human traffic light looks like.... though some "lights" (read "sotong") are kinda colour blind.... hahaha...

And to end off my periodic summary, I saved the best for last. Had a great time with someone special (no no, not the learning disability kind of special.... haha). Went for dinner at Tai Thong. We must have looked scary or something because the supervisor knocked over a whole bottle of soya sauce onto the table.... haha. This special person (no no, not OKU special either.... hahaha) also ate so little even though we only ordered 2 dishes (steamed cod fish and kangkung belacan), I had to doggy bag one of the dishes as it was too much for us to finish (guess which one! haha). Visited an expensive toilet after that.... nothing wrong with the food ler..... just happened to need to go. Then ended the day watching dead corpses rising and trying to take over the world (guess what it is! guess what it is!). This was truly the highlight to my week.

P.S. See? Told you this is not a foodie blog.... some posts may be foodie posts.... but this is not a foodie blog. Hehe.

Hokkien Idiom

2008-08-02T11:30:00.000+08:00

I guess I was having a very emo morning when my mind was brought back to this Hokkien saying or idiom. I am not entirely sure if this is really a Hokkien idiom, or just my family's idiom. Whichever way, we are Hokkien, so it makes it a Hokkien idiom.... haha. If you do not know what an idiom is, that does not make you an idiot (pun intended), but just that no one has ever taught you the meaning of the word. Think of phrases like, "It is raining cats and dogs". It is somewhat close to metaphors or parables; just that they are usually short phrases. To learn more about idioms, click here. In short, idioms are things you don't understand unless you learn more about the background of them, and idiots are people whom you just don't want to understand *lol*.

The idiom in Hokkien goes like this:-
"Pang kia poay, tneh kia see"

The idiom refers to the handling of sparrows and the direct translation means, "Let go it will fly, grip on it will die". This idiom talks about an uncertain situation a person is faced with.

I am not sure how many of you have held on to a sparrow before. They are small enough to fit the palm of your hand (if your hands are as big as mine at least.... or as big as the person who invented this idiom). However, sparrows are not birds that will allow you to hold them. They will struggle and try to set themselves free. Since they are so small, there is no proper way to hold them except to grip on to them by palming them in your hand. But being so small and fragile, the clenching of your fist would most likely (but not necessarily) kill them. If you don't clench it tight enough, they will wriggle and fly away.

I believe this is something so real in our lives today. There is a thin line that separates what we should do and what we should not, and to make matters worse, most of the time the thin line is invisible. So we are left without a clue how to balance our actions.

This can be true for most of our choices in life today; it could be your choice of career, a promotion you are after, a girl you are after (or guy you are after if you are a girl, or if you are not straight, then the same sex you are after; but I am straight so I will only say "girl"), a business relationship, and many other areas that could change the course of your entire life.

Let us explore a business relationship. In my years of experience of doing business with other companies, I have come to realize that there is no formula or science behind making a business relationship work. It is never the same for any 2 companies. It is an art to be able to understand how one business partnership works from another. It is usually the big partnerships that I strike with other companies that make me feel, "pang kia poay, tneh kia see". Become too transparent or accommodating with them, and they could take advantage of the situation and put you on the losing end. Keep an arm's length from them and they may not trust you and go to others for business. It is seriously a tough choice.

I have a friend who started a business recently who also faced this same "pang kia poay, tneh kia see" situation. His business was dependent on a sole supplier and that supplier was trying to be nasty and take advantage of my friend's goodwill, thinking that he held an upper hand. It really sucks when sincerity is met with dishonesty and malice. It was a tough time and although I could not offer much help, I prayed daily for him and I thank God that things have turned out well now and he is independent from that nasty supplier.

Even in relationships (Boy-Girl-Relationship otherwise known as BGR), we are faced with the same situation. You find a nice girl you like, but you come on too fast and too strong, the relationship "dies". You don't do enough and the girl thinks you are not really interested, the opportunity "flies away". I am very sad to see most guys (or even girls nowadays) today just do anything it takes to "get the girl", then dump them after they are bored. They do not see it as a relationship, but more like a bird hunt to see how many "dead bird" trophies they can collect. Sickening. Worst part is that most girls don't even realize the danger, or don't care. I have seen so many of my own high school friends leave a trail of "dead birds" behind..... some as high as 1-2 a month. Funny thing is this; when they eventually get married, they get married to a wonderful spouse.... and yet carry on their endeavours of "catching birds" behind their wives back.

I don't have to dive into any more scenarios; I am sure you get the point by now. Doing too much, the opportunity "dies" but doing too little, the opportunity "flies away".

Are there any answers to this dilemma? I don't have them and I doubt anyone would. Only thing is, we need to understand and make our choices accordingly.

As for me, I think I will follow the path of Christ, whom let us know CLEARLY how much He loves us, but never forces us to abide in Him; He gives us the choice to fly into the safety of His hands or to just love us from afar. I will make known my intentions and motives and sincerity as much as I can whether it be in work, business or relationships, but I will let the other party feel comfortable enough to come to me. I would prefer to see the beauty of many birds flying around because I did not "clench my fist", rather than leave a trail of "dead birds" behind me. I may sound foolish to my "bird hunting" buddies, but sorry, this is me. If I am able to tame wild sparrows, pigeons and cats to eat out of my hand, then I should be able to do the same with this too.... should. I just need to learn more patience.

Shopping In The Village

2008-07-31T23:56:00.000+08:00

Wheeeeeeeeee!!! *runs round in circles until exhaustion creeps in and flops face down*

*gets up* Wakakakakakaka!!!!! *runs round in circles until exhaustion creeps in and flops face down*

*gets up again* Wooooohoooooo! *runs round in circles until exhaustion creeps in and flops face down*

I am so excited that I have found an excellent place to do my grocery shopping. I discovered it in June and today was my second trip there. Call me spoilt but I have found that our our supermarkets and hypermarkets lacked the variety and quality of goods as compared to those in the UK. I remembered that when I was young, my parents used to shop at Cold Storage and get all those cool neat stuff that you cannot find here. Memories immediately go back to the marshmallows which was the catalyst that launched me into my first successful business at the age of 8. However Cold Storage today is nothing to shout about as they have also localized and downgraded a lot of their offerings. The only thing that remains are their exorbitant prices but what they sell is not much different from what you would expect to get from Giant, Carrefour, Jusco, Tesco, etc.

By accident, I had stumbled upon The Village Grocer at Bangsar Village back in June 2008 when I was early and waiting for my business partners/associates to turn up. I decided to explore The Village Grocer until they arrived. As I started to explore, I felt like I was in UK again. The store was filled with a lot of goodies you cannot find in supermarkets here. On the spot I felt like jumping up and down and shouting a big "whoooooopie!!!" but since I was nicely attired in work clothes, I just jumped on the inside... haha. I mean where in Malaysia can you find more than 10 varieties of Pop-Tarts in a single store? Forget about 10 varieties... I am sure a lot of you would be asking, "What are Pop-Tarts?". Go watch the movie Air Buddies; there is a direct reference to that there. A lot of other movies also refer to Pop-Tarts. What about Baxters' soups? Mmmmm.... yummy. Ok ok...... so maybe I have been watching too many movies and have been brainwashed with all these imported foods... but come on..... our supermarkets and hypermarkets offer a sad alternative. I don't mind buying Malaysian if the quality is quite similar.... but for about the same prices, I can get good and fantastic imported stuff. Here are some of the things offered there.... could not take much photos.... because it was not allowed anyway and I took these as covertly as I could:

Rows after rows of all the bars you could ever imagine... not the kind of bar that serves alcohol though... haha ;-)

Guilinggao in cans! Just what I need.

SPAM!! Not the internet kind... but the kind you can eat. I mean, look, there is even Tabasco SPAM!!

Biscuits! Great variety of biscuits! In cute containers some more!!

And they have ready cooked meals... just heat them up. Supposedly French Food. So if that selfish Malcolm does not want to invite you to try his cooking, just buy a box from here and heat it up at home. Hehe. I also noticed that they change their variety.

You can also buy Love Potion (not sure if it is number 9.... haha... only people of the older generation would understand that) from here!

Last but not least, the catalyst for me starting my first successful business at the age of 8. Thank God my mum does not read my blogs!! Haha.

I only managed to take very few photos as they have security guards everywhere. Even taking the shots I did was so stressful as they were following me everywhere! Haha. The other things offered are like cheese (at least a hundred varieties! *drools* Uncle Poh Seng, when are you coming? Hehe), meats (another huge range and variety that cannot be seen nor bought elsewhere), Maine Lobster already precooked (*double drool* I have to get that soon), a wide variety of Tabasco sauces (I bet most of you thought that Tabasco sauce is a type of sauce and not a company. Tabasco is actually a company that produces a huge variety of sauces but you only see one in Malaysia) and there are so many more that I cannot name them all. You have to go and see it for yourself.

If you think that is all, you are so wrong. I was quite shocked to see that many of the prices here are lower than that of Jusco, Carrefour, Giant, Tesco, etc. We have been duped!! And you should see the prices of the fresh foods (like vegetables, chicken, fish).... they are so much fresher and reasonably priced. Now I understand why the rich people get richer..... because they buy things cheaper than we do!!! It is a conspiracy to make us believe hypermarkets are cheaper!! Haha.

So here is what I bought for my first and second round of shopping there.

Chicken in a Biskit!! I have been searching for this for the last 5 years and cannot find!! Of all the items in the photo, I believe you can only find the grape juice in other supermarkets. The others are all unique!

Haha... I forgot to buy the Guilinggao on my first trip so I got it this time. Ok lar... this time I did not buy that much unique stuff except the juices... but EVERY SINGLE ITEM I bought here is cheaper than what you get in hypermarkets.

Yup, this is now my favourite place to shop for groceries. I kinda over-over-over-OVER spent in July so taking it easy on my purchases. Next time I come here, muahahaha, I am so gonna go for the really unique stuff.

My throat feels scratchy and it looks like a sore throat is coming. So decided to eat a more conservative type of food for dinner. What you ask? Japanese food lor.... hahaha. Less oily mar... less fried mar... so silly of me to assume that Sushi King would be everywhere. Brought my cash vouchers to Bangsar Village only to discover the only Japanese food they had there was Sakae Sushi. So what to do, eat that lor. Found one very interesting dish.... it is called Salmon Avocado. Very smooth and have a very fruity, yet fresh taste. Sheesh..... am I addicted to good food? I better start eating some hawker food before I forget how to!! Haha.

The Day Of Ultimate Blur-ness...

2008-07-31T11:06:00.000+08:00

I have been saying my life has been very ad-hoc recently. That is because I have been making a lot of impromptu decisions. But today, ad-hoc brought a different meaning.

I was happily doing my work when around 12 noon, I received a call from my colleague. He said that he was feeling sick and could not make it for the demo with our business partner. I told him to rest the whole of today and hopefully he will recover by tomorrow. A sense of eerie fear set in when he said that the meeting was today. I checked my Outlook calendar and it said 31st July. I then checked my emails and it stated 30th July *sweat*. The partner was very fickle and had been changing the meeting date at least 5-6 times and there must have been some miscommunication in between. I called hoping that my calendar was right but was totally horrified that he said it was today. Although I was panicking like crazy at that point, I maintained my calm disposition and informed we would be there on time. I then convinced my colleague to go saying that I will pick him up and all. Then I rushed like crazy to get dressed for my appointment. How could I make a mistake like that? Hahaha... this one meeting set my whole day's plan upside down. Seriously thank God that my colleague called. If everything had been smooth, he would have gone directly there and at 2.30pm I would have received a call and hear his voice saying, "So what time are you arriving?" That would have been bad.... really bad.

By the time I got everything ready and left, it was already 1pm. Was headed towards Desa Petaling to fetch my colleague when ultimate blur-ness number two happened. I am not sure what happened but instead of heading towards Desa Petaling, I suddenly realized that I was approaching a toll. I am quite sure they could not have built a toll in such a short time!! Panicked and called my colleague to only find out I was headed towards Kajang instead. Hahahaha.... what on earth? I have been to his place numerous times... how on earth did I head towards Kajang pulak? It seems as though there was a magnetic force pulling me towards Kajang. Anyway, had to patah balik and go to his place. Thank God for the SMART tunnel that enabled me to get to KL in good time. We were early enough for me to grab a quick bite.

After the demo and dropping him back, I needed to meet up with our vendor to settle some payment matters. Ultimate blur-ness number 3. I got lost again!! Haha... went round in circles before I managed to find the place. Crazy crazy day.

Ended up late to fetch Lionel (thanks for your patience bro). Because I was late, the Federal Highway was badly congested and traffic was not even moving. Thank God Lionel knew the way to KL using the NPE from Jalan Gasing. Today is his birthday (BLESSED BIRTHDAY!)... he thought I didn't know.... nyah nyah.... I know a lot of things punya.... even when I am blur.... haha. Brought him to the new restaurant in Imperial Kuala Lumpur for dinner (yes, yes, eat again). The place was called Essence. The ambience was absolutely lovely.

We had a great time catching up and sharing our deepest darkest secrets (what?? you think only girls can have heart to heart sessions meh?) I was excited to find out that we both have sooooo much in common. It is always good to know someone else who goes through the same struggles and understands how you think and feel. Really great time bro. You were a blessing to me. Teruk fella kept tempting his girlfriend by sending foodie pictures though... hahaha.

Anyway, we started by declining the free flow of wine that came with the dinner (yes, I can hear the screams and shrieks...... sorry lar..... me no likey alcohol... haha). We opted for Hennessy Kiara (hahahahaha..... *lol*.... private joke.... only the reader who understands this will.... errm... understand) instead.

I did not really have much.... just morsels of a variety of food. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

The sashimi was really fresh. They cut it for you from a whole block when you ask for it.

The satay, raw oyster, fish and blue cheese was excellent. Sotong was yucks, tomato was fake.

Roasted beef and Siew Mai was quite tasty. Duck was nice but too fatty.

Ice-cream was really great. The waiter took away my M&Ms before I ate them. Totally forgot until I saw the photos.

Fish was nice, so was the grilled oyster.

Wahaha... I designed this. Requested for a thinner waffle, cut it in half, then put the ice-cream on top. Hehe.

All nice but nothing fantastic.

It is ok. But nice for taking photos. Haha.

In conclusion, Essence has a fantastic ambience, fantastic sashimi, fantastic oysters but mediocre on other stuff. So if you just want to stuff yourself with sashimi and oysters, this is the right place to be. If you a variety of food that is fantastic, sorry this place just does not measure up.

Enjoyed our chat as I sent Lionel back. Almost faced another ultimate blur-ness moment as I was headed towards Subang when he stays at Jalan Gasing. Hahaha. Hope to meet up again with you soon bro. Have a safe trip back!

Of Integrity, Beer Drinking Cows & Getting Payments From LHDN/IRB

2008-07-30T00:40:00.000+08:00

I am thankful to God that He continues to show favour to me as I continue to do things differently and do things right and properly in an environment where people choose to compromise. Managed to establish a good position with a customer that may see increase in our portion of the pie. All I did was to be honest and offer sincere assistance to my customer. Who was to expect that the thing I did was something they had been asking for since more than 6 months from other parties but were ignored. It continues to feel great when the tough stand I make on doing business in a cold and corrupt business world continues to show that people out there are looking for integrity, honesty and for people/companies who really care beyond just making a quick buck out of you.

On a totally separate note, I recently took a customer to have lunch at this nice place called Bistro Cascata in Cyberjaya. I have never been there before and just decided to give it a try. The place was fantastic and nicely located away from the other buildings and you had to take a walk through the landscaped garden to reach the mini-chateau. What a great impression that was already. I was extremely pleased to find out that they had Wagyu Beef on the promotional menu (wah!!! drunk cows are following me everywhere I go!!! Twice in Singapore, once from Jee Jin's maid; although that one the cows were not drunk but just doused in beer; and now one more time here... haha). It came as a course meal and was priced at RM123++. Needless to say it tasted excellent. It was perfectly cooked (to my medium well done preference) and I enjoyed every morsel of it. Sorry lar no photos.... this time I was with a customer so I can't whip out my camera and start taking photos. I am so getting spoilt with all this good food from taking customers out (woo hoo! I am getting more successful! See previous post). I seriously don't understand why some customer would prefer to drink instead of enjoy sumptuous meals like this.... haha... oh well, thank God for customers who enjoy a similar "connoisseur" experience as me.

I also got "ter-berdiri". Hahaha..... *blek*

And finally, I received a cheque from the Income Tax Department (also known as Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri or Inland Revenue Board). Does not matter how much you get paid back but it is always great to receive a cheque from them. Woot!

What Happened In The Last 1.5 weeks...

2008-07-28T04:49:00.000+08:00

Have not had much time to write recently as I have been so busy. I will just highlight my past 1.5 weeks in no particular chronological order....... it is written the way I recollect it so don't try and figure out the sequence of what I have been doing.... haha.

Whatever he said, plus:
1. This is what his children would look like. Sorry lar.... my photoshop skills not as "keng" as his.
2. It is soba, not sobi. Sobi is a mask used in DotA.... hahaha.
3. How scary it would be to meet Isaac in the Ogawa lift alone.
4. Japanese food in Xiamen is excellent.

Went to try Chicken Hot Pot in Kuchai Lama although I have no clue how to get there. I just sat in a car and was driven.
1. Sorry no pictures as this was really ad-hoc and I didn't bring my camera. I seem to be getting more ad-hoc these days... haha. So anyway, here is a link of someone else (whom I do not know at all.... just tagging the blog cos I managed to find photos of Chicken Hot Pot) who actually went there prepared and have proper photos. Click me!
2. I believe the picture is the chicken dish.
3. I wanna go back there.... hope I can remember how to. By the way Desmond, do you know that I actually accidentally went there on my way back home? Hahaha. Hopefully I can "accidentally" go there by choice.....
4. You should try the medium spicy one. But be prepared to breathe flames if you are not used to cili padi..... yummy.
5. I believe the flames used are from a material that is not recommended for cooking...... but unless some health officials go and check, you have to choose to either eat the "poison" or stay away..... I choose the former..haha...

Interestingly, I stumbled across a quote of Mark Twain which I think shall be one of my favourite for a long time..... hahaha.

"Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like" - Mark Twain.

Woo hoo!! I am partially successful! At least some of the time..... must eat more lobsters and caviar to make myself more successful.... haha.

Now what else did I do? I spent 24 hours in a chair (except to go to toilet and get water to drink) (wait... that didn't sound right.... I didn't go to the toilet to get water to drink....they are 2 separate things!! >.<) at an office in Cheras (that is creepy enough for you to start seeing ghosts even if there were none). Reminds me of the time when Desmond was in another company and we slept on the floor of his office for a couple of nights while working on a tender. At least we only had to spend one night at our partner's office and I did not have to sleep on the floor..... only because I did not sleep at all!! Haha. Tried to scare Desmond with some ghost stuff..... too bad it failed. It was too late at night and my plan was not air-tight enough.... bah! I will get you next time.... hehehe.

Went for badminton and redefined the meaning of "ad-hoc" and "last minute". I was about to leave from home when I suddenly discovered (nah.... just forgot actually) that my court shoes were wrecked. Went to Sunway Pyramid to get a new pair. At the same time, as I picked up my racquets, my grips disintegrated so had to get new ones too. Wahahaha.... I should have checked earlier... but I managed to get it all done to make it on time (read late by 30 minutes) for badminton. Have not played for the last 2 years because this bad boy stole all our badminton players to play something more errrm..... sissy (frisbee.... they just put the word "ultimate" in front of it to make it sound more macho).... hehehe. Anyway, not exercising for 2 years and pushing yourself all the way is not a good idea.... but that is what I did. So smart I, did some jogging laps some more until I almost puked from exhaustion.... haha.... need to realize that I am not as young as I was..... but wait.... I will get back to my original form if not better. Was too tired to eat after badminton so just had nothing but lots of fruits and fruit juices.... I may have taken too much as I felt like wanting to puke again. Good thing I am not a woman else I would be worried that I might be pregnant (refer back to making fish pregnant story from Isaac)! I was feeling high and mighty the next day when everyone was in pain and I was not...... only to be humbled as I forget (see lar how long never exercise) that I don't hurt the next day.... I hurt 2 days later!!! Was in such tremendous pain that I could barely move.... haha. And I have such nice friends (her and her) that said they will make me walk even more when I am in Singapore next to get me fitter... *blek*.

Paid a ridiculous amount of money to get something sent from PJ to Kajang.... it could have even been cheaper to take a taxi and send it myself but this was important enough for me to pay the price....haha.

Was hoping to go "tangkap kelawar" but did not happen.

Had a great yearly performance review.... at least in my opinion....

What else? What else? Was supposed to see bathroom mushroom but forgot because a pig..... errr duck was sleeping in the room. Not the bathroom but the room room.

Discovered someone who is as cheeky and naughty as me to drive our teachers/lecturers up the wall (seriously, don't use my sunglasses tactic! It is copyrighted!).

Ah yes..... I have been officially appointed as a consultant for a football body.... wahahaha... so cool! Praise the Lord for this. What a great thing this is.... I mean apart from my love of football, this is something that has come from doing work differently and honestly. I am telling you, it is BEST to honour God in your work.... you don't know what you are missing when you cut corners and compromise on ethics. All glory to God on this!! Let's hope this raises my profile enough to be noticed by the gaffer at Old Trafford.... who knows... I could be called to Old Trafford for some work too!! Haha.... one can always hope.

Had a great mahjong session (no money involved ok.....) with some friends. Was on the brink of losing it all when I did a comeback and won 4 times in a row... woot! Mahjong is so not a game of luck but of skill. Anyway, no gambling to all of you who read this! Else I would throw mahjong tiles at you.

Received some great advice from a friend..... very wise words of wisdom that is practical and helped to fill my "missing link" in what I need to do. Thank you for taking your time to talk to me and let me realize this.... this is a definitive moment for me and will change my life and I will always remember I have you to thank for this. You are the best! *HUGS*! Wei, boyfriend to my friend.... I know you read my blog.... don't get jealous kay? This is only an e-hug and it is because I appreciate what she did. Will not touch her in real life.... hahaha. *double blek* I may touch YOU though.... hahaha... why so long never poke me in Facebook already ah? Hahaha.

At last managed to try the famous food of Chiang Rai.... the restaurant, not the place. Have heard so much about it and have been wanting to try for some time but kept forgetting. At last decided to go with some friends. Verdict: Yummy-licious! We had the Tom Yam Seafood, Baby Kailan and Green Curry Chicken. I saw the wife of my favourite "Sai Chao" cook who disappeared, managing the restaurant. I wonder if this is where they both disappeared to. Hmmm.....must take a peak in the kitchen one day to see if he is cooking there... I am sure he will remember me as the "chee yau char" guy... hahaha

Had a missions convention in church. Our home cell was in charge to educate the people about Philippines. Was still exhausted and blur from the 48 hour stint and I did not do much to contribute.... sorry guys. So I was just there to man the booth. Our booth had some traditional food that Jee Jin's maid cooked (thanks Jee Jin!). She put a lot of effort into it that there was even a mini-flag that came with the dish. The funny part was that the flag had the word "Mabuhay" which is a Filipino greeting but almost everyone thought it was the name of the dish! Hahahaha..... The other thing was, everyone kept asking what meat was used in the dish and we (I started it lor... hehehe) refused to tell them. I wanted to get the people used to mission trips as you are not supposed to ask your host what meat is being served lest you get taken aback and not eat what is being served. It would be a great insult, especially in the villages if you do not eat what they offer you, especially when it is something rare and precious for them to offer (think dog meat, monkey meat, jungle rats, etc). So we ended up telling them it was "Filipino meat" when they asked (thanks Bro. Lam for your support on this!) and people then started asking how many Filipinos did we use to make the dish. It was so funny that 50% of them insisted it was dog meat, 20% said it was pork, another 20% said it was snake, and 10% said it was beef. Nyah nyah.... not gonna tell you guys who still don't know what meat it was. Point was that it was good. Why was it so good? Well for one reason Jee Jin's maid is a great cook.... secondly.... it was cooked with beer!!! No wonder the naughty Jee Jin kept asking us to eat it together with the meat sauces that was at the bottom of the dish.... because it was beer!!! Hahaha..... not bad Pastor Willard was immediately able to tell that there was beer in there. Hmmm... makes me wonder if that was the reason Daniel was so high after eating a few pieces and kept coming back for more..... hahahaha. Oh well, I guess if Tequila and Vodka does nothing to make me high or drunk (what I used to drink in the past but that is now behind me due to my choice to honour God), beer won't even make a dent on my sobriety. The youth had a booth that was very interesting. They offered lots of games which had trivia as part of the games so there was a lot of stuff to learn. I believe that in terms of educating the people about the different cultures and history of various Asian countries, they came out tops. Kudos to all of you! Keep up the good work! Here is some of the stash I won..... wei.... people.... next time make non-carbonated drinks available as prize lar.... I don't drink gassy stuff ler.

Had another session of badminton. Had yet again another "last minute" experience. Suddenly discovered I was out of sports shorts and had to wear a lime green one shorts that was not exactly meant for sports... haha... Didn't get as out of breath playing as the last time. Must have gotten back some of my stamina. Even felt like going for jogging after that but it was already almost 8pm. That wanting to jog brought back memories of the times when Yogi was around and we both used to jog at the KLCC park in the evening (did you all know there is a fantastic jogging park there?). I can remember the fun but somewhat embarrassing moments when he would suddenly start doing push-ups out of nowhere (ok, not out of nowhere... when there are hot babes around.... hahaha) and made a lot of noise to attract attention... kinda miss having him around in Malaysia. At least he is now married to a wonderful doctor in India. Congrats dude! Anyway, the KLCC park was filled with a lot of big corporate bosses there and they seemed to approve of 2 young guys jogging few times a week. Good that I have done badminton 2 weeks in a row... gotta get my jogging back too.

As I was going through my photos, I found this random photo of us cousins trying to be "yau yeng".... haha.... did it work??

Wow! This is my most random and out-of-sequence post I have made. Have fun reading!

Not An Indiana Jones Story.....

2008-07-20T21:38:00.000+08:00

An archeologist walks the throngs of a never seen before civilization. He stands at the edge of the city, wondering if it is worth his effort to enter. Visions of the past flashes back to him as he remembers the single joy and many disappointments he has faced on his archeological expeditions.

For one and a half decades, our archeologist has been searching for the mythical "Holy Grail". Much personal loss and sacrifice has been endured in the quest to discover and bring back these ancient relics. Some of the relics have turned out to be fake, others poisonous. Yet others turned out to be death traps. And the only relic discovered to be truly valuable was cruelly stolen from him that left him in a sorry state of depression and anguish that took him years to recover. Never has he had anything close to success for over 10 years.

With each failure, his courage and resolve diminishes. He even wonders if it is actually worth to continue on these fruitless quests. There were times that he actually did give up, but rumours of new civilizations and artifacts brought him back to his quest. But something has lacked from the recent archeological expeditions; his passion. It was out of considering what the expedition would be worth to him that got him to go on these expeditions. It was no longer about passion. It was about considering the value of the rumoured artifacts. It was the logical thing to do.

Sadly, neither his past passion or logical consideration of value brought any success. Funny part was, our archeologist never took on easy quests that guaranteed success; you need to understand that many of these guaranteed expeditions were even served on a silver platter. Any sane man would have grabbed at it if not for the first time, but at the second, or third, or even fourth. But time after time, our archeologist turns these offers down. Maybe he just had too high ambitions and expectations. Or it could have been a principle and standard he chose to live his life by. As his peers continue to find success in their expeditions, our archeologist continues to hope that one day, he would find his "Holy Grail".

The visions of the past fade and his mind comes back to the present. He sweeps his sights on the challenge that is before him; somehow the past failures are not holding him back anymore. Yet again, he faces an almost impossible quest where hundreds have tried but failed in this perilous expedition. As he considers the risk he faces, he takes a step forward and enters. Nobody can tell what dangers lie ahead. Nobody can tell the number of attempts or continents this expedition will take him. Nobody can tell even if he will come out alive. So why does he make such a resolve and take such a risk when there are easier and more sane expeditions to take? Maybe it is the passion that he has rediscovered.... the passion that has been lost for more than a decade..... the passion of knowing that this is something he wants, and not something that was logical to do......

Singapore Day 3 & 4

2008-07-16T01:12:00.000+08:00

This is another delayed posting from my trip to Singapore back in May 2008. I try not to do back postings anymore but I feel this is important so I will try and keep this brief. The prequels to this post are Singapore - Day 1 and Singapore - Day 2.

I came on this trip quite downcast and tired. Facing the scorching weather in Singapore made me quite miserable the first day and thought I may have made a mistake. The Kuishin-bo outing was really great but I wasn't sure how this day would turn out.

First agenda of the day was to meet Kenny. He was on holiday from Sarawak and I had not seen him in a very long time so I was looking forward to that. We went over to Adrian's room early to wait for him. Since we were sooo early, we took a nap while waiting for him to come.

Took a bus to Boon Lay to take another bus to City Harvest Church (CHC).

Finally arrived at CHC just in time for service.

The grandson of Indonesia's previous President, Sukarno, was also there.

And there was an Indonesian group of 3 girls singing too. I didn't take any photos but I recorded their performance. Lazy to upload such a huge video. Sorry.... hehe.

So I got to know some new people there and also catch up with some I already knew.

Went to Vivo City for lunch..... at 4.30pm!!! Gila people!!! Haha. Anyway, there was a clown making toys out of balloons. Managed to take two photos of his work of art.

At Vivo City, Alex came to meet up with us too. We all decided to have lunch at Marche. Trust me, Marche is so much better in Singapore. Since I tried Marche here, I try to avoid going to Marche in KL.

Look at how much May and Alarize eat. We were supposed to have dinner in about 3 hours and only wanted to have a light snack before dinner. And for your information, that is not all they ate. After we left Marche, they had another round of food there... haha... terror. Adrian and myself just shared a Salmon Rosti and some Mushroom Soup.

So anyway, we left Vivo City for some "authentic American food". The place was called "Botak Jones". Hahaha... what a name. For dinner, my friend Gideon joined us. Also, Samantha and Pink (yes, her name is really Pink... haha) came too.

I was so stuffed that I only shared a steak with Adrian. The portions served were really huge and I was amazed at how much this group of people could eat (again I bring to your attention of how much May and Alarize already ate for lunch... at 4.30pm... hahaha). Food was quite good and reasonably priced too. This is one place I would love to return to.... but with people who would share the food with me. Here are some photos of the food.

So when dinner was over, group photo! Too bad my head got chopped off. Haha.

It was really such a blessing to have such a diverse group of people coming together from all ages and still being able to really enjoy each other's company. I have not had such a great time with so many people in a very long time.... years even... I really thank God that I did come and I thank God for such a wonderful group of people. Our ages ranged from 19 years to 31. Our hometown ranged from Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Sarawak. You people are fantastic and I look forward to meeting up with you all again!!

We then spent the night roaming Singapore. Haha... I am not sure if it was planned but it felt like an aimless walk. No point me describing where we went exactly as I can barely remember so I will just show you the photos.

Artwork wor.... and Kenny touching the artwork... haha

The Durian Dome... the real thing and the replica

Took at least 10-15 shots of this before I was able to get a decent photo. Thanks Rize and Pink for being patient :)

Starbucks under a bride!!

A mini-Merlion

Video surveillance... haha!

The guys

Next day, some of the group went to Katong for Laksa but I decided to spend time with Uncle Poh Seng and Ee Ee instead. Started off by having lunch at home. Simple but delicious meal cooked by Lilik.

We then decided to go visit some aquariums and took the cute little Ivan along. I took an insane number of shots so I will just pick the more interesting ones and display them here. So let's start with photos of Ivan.

Then the aquatic creatures... and some non-aquatic ones too...

So reluctant to come back to KL.... haha.