Intensive Bali

Actually the trip was very impulsive as usual all thanks to Air Asia, so now everyone can fly! It will take up to 4-5 days to explore the Bali Island normally but due to extreme time constraint we compressed it into a 3 days 2 nights trip. So expectedly, it was hell rushing and tiring at the end of the day cos we had to catch our flight back to KL at 6am! What a horrifying ungodly hour! After all it is said that there are no free lunch in this world, thus, mega discounted air fares constitute to mega bad timing. Again, 6am *faints*. But overall minus all the unpleasant experiences, it was still more fun than a clown on fire, in a good way :) Balinese hospitality is beyond praise and I think no one will have second thought about that. Besides, things are really cheap on that very island itself especially batik, sarung, artsy-fartsy products, handmade souvenirs dan sebagainya with the condition of bargaining. I love the way how people exchange prices when bargaining cos they compromise quite easily in very friendly way on your desired price which more often than not, 3-5 folds of the vendor price. Do the same in Petaling Street and you'll most probably end up in a sack over your head whilst being badly beaten in the filthy alley, or maybe it won't be that worse but be prepared to face profanities, humiliations and impolite remarks on yourselves. We practically bargained for everything under the sun from hotel stays to transport to spa and massage...Bargaining has never been more fun in Bali! Now I would really like to go to Bali once again if only Air Asia permitted cos I haven't got the chance to visit so many temples, Dolphin bay, witness Barong dance...yada! By the way, I'm eyeing on Bangkok after RS project cos Air Asia is urging us to fly to the Land of Smiles with its ever humanistic mega discounted fares again! All-in for only less than RM 200 anyone? My hands are very itchy right now the more I type about this cos I really wanna book first and think later wtf.

p/s : thumbs down for Indonesian government on that unexplainable immigration service charge imposed on all departure foreigners. i thought they have already waived it but all of sudden we were informed to lose another Rp. 150k from our badly drained pocket before we board the plane. this happened to my bintan trip as well remember(hidden taxes + rasuah) ? stupid. ngentot. hopefully their next government after the coming election on april will be more seng mok!

家门不幸

老姐刚告诉我一件丧尽天良的事令我感到特恶心。

老妈先把事儿传到了上海，才经由老姐那里传到我的耳里，奇怪。

事情是酱啦。。。

我表哥竟然不懂哪里来的豹子胆把我的外婆赶出家门，还好她现在暂住在我家。

具体的情况还不晓得因为所谓的大人叫我们甭理，但是祸根很可能是出自于我外婆的慢性老人痴呆症。

但是。。。但是，毕竟再怎么糟也不能把一个八旬的老妇赶出家门吧！那个画面你可以想象吗？成和提统！说出来了都让人丢脸，简直是家耻，跟社会新闻没两样。

感叹啊，所谓百行孝为先，我们华人传承了五千年的美德，孝道，到底还存不存在?!

就算再怎么诚心拜佛吃素，当你一不孝就有任何理由被天打雷劈。一切凭良心讲罢了！

真想辱骂他一句，他X的，干！

p/s : onwards i shall revert back to writing in english and end this fit. the truth is i'm getting annoyed by my own typing speed finally. either way, my pin yin sucks or i need a foolproof input software that meant for...well a fool like me. right now, i'm seriously not in the mood to do anything, especially all the RS stuffs that have been forcefully stuffed in my face. not like i don't deserve this afterall i promised to take up the post which now i realise that i shouldn't be in the first place. it weights less than all other things that i really keen to do. but well, i don't think i can quit, i just wanna ask why didn't i learn the lesson of ON? 2 things, firstly, i don't need to proof my ability to future university/employer through this pathetic way ( the promise of certs are all bogus deals) since i've moved on without those certs already. secondly, i have an immediate bedridden parent at home currently which i have all the more reasons to set priority on her more than anything...but i didn't instead i opted for an event that will impoverish my precious leftover time in home country. is acknowledging some random strangers as god father/mother more important than any one of the aforementioned personal interests? not like i don't have a real biological parents myself, in fact, i have 2 more pairs of god parents on hand ever since i came to senses that rarely involved in my life nowadays one of which with an unfeeling son who throw my grandmother out of comfort zone. sad but true. this is really beyond absurdity. i don't understand why this family that has been acting so pious to their religion don't even have room in heart for a helpless old lady that lived her life a widow whilst bringing up all 7 of her children over the vicissitudes. i guess all the praying in front of the altar ain't helping at all, you are nothing but an empty soul if you can't apprehend the deeper meaning behind religion worshiping especially for peace loving buddism and confucianism, the fusion being the foundation of all chinese traditions with one important element to distinguish us from other cultures, filial piety. where has it gone? anyways back to RS, many a time i feel that my partner in RS has comments on me but she chose to release them in ways other than telling me in my face which i don't really fancy. i don't know la...feel weird about it. i think something bad will happen. i was so disheartened when i couldn't answer some of the questions my group members asked me in my face during our 1st meeting. they must have thought why is this headless guy leading us instead one that knows better. this happened during ON as well. i wasn't informed about things that I needed to know and they pushed me to the battlefield. i'm trying to get in touch with some low profile seniors right now instead of turning my face to my advisors and high profile seniors cos they are taking too much pride in what they did. let's hope that they are helpful enough to give some words of advice on the ground of...hmm giving "friendly" unbiased constructive advices without sense of superiority. i will be better on the next group meeting i swear. but i have to agree that RS is harmless, it's just that people behind it like to stir up puny issues unbeknownst to us, little by little...god knows when it will erupt.

改变什么？

嗨！最近不知道怎么搞的，压根儿没有想要以英文书写的意思，甚至一度想不开想应用那久违的国语但可想而知，早生锈到不懂哪里去了！明明受了很完整的五年国语教育体制但偏偏就是没能开口成诗，下笔如神，甚至连最基本的文法(Tatabahasa)都一并归还给老师了，仅存的只是极度口语化的腔调罢了（堪称：Bahasa Pasar)。我如果讲那些年来好像南柯一梦， 政府听了不撞墙倒台都不行，凄凉！试想到了国外以后给人的印象只有国语讲得烂，母语半桶水，英语半天吊！典型的马来西亚华人。其实我一直都很崇拜能操一口特流利 "机关腔" 印尼语的印尼华人，很喜欢充满速度挑战，饶舌和鼻音的语言。之所以本人在众多罗马语系中只偏好西班牙语的一大原因便是如此，很享受舌头讲到打节的感觉啦！在此郑重声明本人并不鼓励印尼华人摒弃母语但是当你口口声声自称自己是某个国度的公民时，连它最基本的国语都说不好，那么就甭怪罪他人把我们当寄居者看待了。

另外，我得到一个结论就是从前我们对国语的排斥其实也莫过于它和那一些烦人的课业牵扯上了关系。而如今本人也开始对英文产生厌恶，显然的英文=Assignments, Tests, Quizzes, Attendance, Presentations, Assessments, Applications, I-20, CGPA, Admission Requirements, AUP, College, USA...很多很多！死完完啦看了都烦！这充其量为本人一套非专业理论, 与废话是有着异曲同工之妙。（不好笑）

今天第一次的Organic Chemistry测验姑且不提命中率还算勉强可以在限时里提笔把整个试卷涂鸦完且不留白，但要旗开得胜，立杆见影来个满堂红就是另外一回事儿了。 毕竟这是化学科系里最重要的一个分系，要专修于它可不是易如反掌啊！看到上千页课本里群魔乱舞成堆的公程式都足以让人飙冷汗！还是一句老话：去死吧，化学!

我阿爷又在自家摔得头破血流，这已经不是第一次了。他很想凭自身的力量站起来走路但已步入十旬的人瑞手脚根本就不灵活了嘛! 那顽强固执且宁死不挫的个性，真的是有着他当年离乡背井飘扬过海来到本土不惜劳苦落地生根的决心，承蒙如此才足以让后代丰衣足食，所谓前人种树，后人乘凉，没有他那顽强的个性我们也不会有今天。真希望我能遗传他一半的决心就够了。其实我一直以来都很想和我阿爷好好沟通并了解他的故事但毕竟语言不通是最大的障碍，我的粤语已是不怎么灵光，再加上阿爷那特浓厚的广东四邑乡音更是注定了我们彼此莫大的隔阂。如果阿爷能操港式粤语，潮州话或甚至普通话的话，事情就好办多了，哈哈！还有，老妈子告诉我电疗和物理治疗很痛很伤神，听了特心疼，真希望我能分担她的痛楚。但往好的方面想，天抵下哪来不苦口之良药，半年之后应该就能康复了吧！祈望咯。。。

转眼又要再开始为下乡服务而忙忙忙了！本人徐娘半老的体质不知道要怎么去负荷。挡期都排得超满的，连周六都要报到你讲死不死？转眼都已经最后一个学期了，不感叹时光飞逝都不行啊！然后啊，未来不到一个月的时间内本大爷又要添寿了！甭提年长与否，你老我老的，能活到今天也算是前世修来的福，无比荣幸！

还有hor, 在我搁笔前，我想说，如果你有事理亏在先就甭想在我身上期待些什么的好，省得大家在又要在那边胡思乱想。

食言记

话说啊我的一对情侣朋友，一路走来分分合合，尤其是在二周年之际更是频繁，欲分又止，哎呀总而言之吵得喋喋不休啦！巴刹都没他们般热闹。在此将以A,B,C,D昵称所有当事人以不侵犯他人隐私为大前提。毕竟其中一位当事人乃本人网络日记的少数读者之一但不通晓中文。甭提废话了，故事的开始要追朔回三年前，正当我们一票同学都还在为一对公认的金童玉女（A君和B女) 以不到半年的时间便分手收场而错愕之时，殊不知更加令人恶心的事实是原来A君爱上了同是班上另外一对长跑了数年感情的情侣(C君和D女）之D女。很巧合的是同一时期B女和C君都面临既将回归祖国的厄运，而正好当下A君和D女同病相怜处于面临残酷远距离经营感情的脆弱。或许是因为他们都认识彼此而体会到彼此的痛楚，其中一方便能借时趁虚而入以博得对方欢心，好像患难见真情一般的畸恋。好啦，有情人最终终成眷属，当初被人歧视的A君和D女恋也得到了大家的接受和祝福，将近两年了。另一方面厢我与A君和D女亦还是交情甚笃的朋友，虽然我与A君和B女的感情比较要好，矛盾归矛盾但毕竟朋友一场嘛！

几个月前又无意中获知A君和D女分手了，从前偶尔也会断断续续听到A君苦诉说他们有沟通上的问题(注：A君=本地人 B女=韩国人 C君=孟加拉人 D女=日本人, 很国际化且复杂的周旋) *冷笑*。我说啊，大家都是人类没有什么狗屁不通的啦！怪就怪男的已经厌倦了那个女的，因为女的非A君不嫁，她时不时还常会向我炫耀男的又买了几十卡拉的钻戒给她啦什么的。然后，还会侃侃而谈他们的大婚计划但我始终会以笑置之因为我很了解那个男的他肯定不想年纪轻轻就坠入爱情坟墓，想必也得多风流个几载，毕竟人家乃现代韦小宝花花公子一位，家境特富裕，有那个虚荣肤浅都会女子的芳心不为此动容呢？典型的案例罢了。 然而这边厢分手，那边又复合了，真让人难以捉摸。就这样的无聊的分分合合，但我怀疑是那女的把他紧咬不放罢了，男的也藕断丝连，看了都pek chek。一番风风雨雨后，有一天勒，那个男的正好被我撞见与另一个我不认识的女子公然在大街上托手，我想当时A君和D女才刚分手，尸骨未寒又有新欢，花花指数实在令人发指。同一时期，又与前几任女友暧昧什么的，妈的！看了都喷火！但是我没有在撞见他的当下质问他，我凭什么？所以我假装没看到他咯! 事后我传了一则简讯问他有没有在某天某时在某地出没，他一口否认并恼羞成怒，还叫我别好管闲事。我想了也还好我没差便让这事不了了之，人家都开口说明叫我别理了嘛! 但我实在不能忍受D女还对他一片痴心却换来一场欺骗毕竟人家经常找我畅谈他们之间的感情因为他们都知晓我是单身主义所以比较可以掏心掏肺。况且只有我是少数还有和他们联络的旧同学，一切事情发生的始与终我都有在场。

几天前，我又很惊讶的获悉他们又复和了。烦死！正当我还在挣扎要不要把实情都告诉D女时，我又想了想，这又何必？讲了大家嘛撕破脸皮翻桌咯！我也没差。但是我又再想，不讲会不会害了谁呢？或许D女一直以来都知道A君的行径但选择欺骗自己，假装幸福，不甘寂寞吧！ 会不会就好像"爱的发声练习"里所讲的爱什么都不是,就是不断付出一直到一方厌倦为止? 或许又是一放爱说谎, 另一方爱听谎呢? 所谓 "L for Love, L for Lies" 的一念之差, 一不小心掉落到不讨喜的那一个领域, 日积月累, 最终溃堤时,下场也不都如此, 还不如大家趁早把话都说开以减轻痛苦。奇怪的是，诺言和谎言就往往只隔阂在一条细小的缝隙之间对望，险象环生！听说啊，那个男的今年很被动性地庆祝情人节，完全异于往年，女的还得自个儿去订餐厅，男的反而置之不理但女的硬是要庆祝。难道纯粹为了庆祝而庆祝？再不然就是要做场面戏或者想要向旁人证明什么的吗？完全是见仁见智但我认为以上三个可能性都不小。

总而言之，说出真相的结果只有两个，（一）失去两个朋友，（二）眼看朋友受难但见死不救。我知道世人都不喜欢听取真心话，总爱沐浴在谎言满天飞的世界但请告诉我若以现实的角度去分析的话哪一个选择比较值得呢？还是你有更好的办法呢？其实我也可以选择视而不见对吗？

哦，祝全天下有情人终成眷属，情人节快乐！要了解其背后的真正意义而不是盲目地沦陷为资本主义和企业家脚下的又一个牺牲品，还有。。。不要劈腿！　

ｐ／ｓ：很想去体验陈绮贞四月在新加玻的Live演唱会leh, 是一个难得的机会，而且人家也应该不会随随便便因为被男友毒打而展期或者面临取消的命运吧！　　

ｐｐ／ｓ：Ｙａｙ，下个周末去巴厘岛！Ａｉｒ　Ａｓｉａ有特价才８８令吉来回，很人道的价钱，但是要翘一天课！惨！　

Canciones de amor para todos

One Semester of Spanish Love Song

English translation :

hola senorita - Hello Ms.
como te llamas? - What's your name?
me llamo Mike, me llamo Mike - My name is Mike, my name is Mike
donde esta el banyo? - Where is the bathroom?
feliz cumpleanos - Happy Birthday
que hora es? que hora es? - What time is it? What time is it?
la la la la la
me gusta la biblioteca - I like the library
vivo en la casa roja - I live in a red house
yo tengo dos bicicletas - I have two bicycles
muchos gracias y de nada - Thank you very much and don't mention (hmm it should be muchas gracias not muchos)
cuantos anos tienes - How old are you?
un momento por favor - One moment please
mi mama es bonita - My mother is beautiful
me gato es muy blanco - I have a white cat
perdone me perdone me - Excuse me, excuse me
la la la la la
uno dos tres y cuatro cinco seis siete ocho nueve diez - 1, 2, 3, and 4, 5 6 7 8 9 10...
Au revoir! (French for goodbye -_-)

*****

2nd Semester of Spanish Love Song

English translation :

Escucha me - Listen to me
Mi amor para tu es en fuego - My love for you is on fire
Escucha me - Listen to me
Yo compro zapatos con dinero - I buy shoes with money
Esucha me - Listen to me
Es verdad yo vivo con mis padres - It is true that I live with my parents
Esucha me - Listen to me
Necesito mucho queso en mi chalupa - I need much cheese in my chalupa (Spanish sandwich thingy)
Corona! - (Some Spanish beer)
Es una cervesa mas fina - It is a very fine beer
Telemundo programas son muy ridiculoso - Television programmes are very ridiculous
No leavo! No Leavo! - (Ungrammatical terms. It's a racist remark like no problemo, not sure)
Yo tengo Sangria! - I have Sangria
Y un pequeno Perro para ti - And a small dog for you
No leavo! No Leavo! I bego - (Ungrammatical)
No leavo...Conozco Erik Estrada - No leavo...I know Erik Estrada
Erik Estrada esta aqui - Erik Estrada is here
Erik Estrada
Erik Estrada es muy guapo - Erik Estrada is very handsome
Erik Estrada
Estrada gusta muchas cosas - Estrada likes many things
Le Gusta la musica - He likes musics
Y caminar a la playa - And walk at the beach
Estrada gusta futbol - Estrada likes football
No that other kind of futbol
He's Erik Estrada
En un bicycle con Erik Estrada - It is a bicycle with Erik Estrada
Estudiar con Erik Estrada - Study with Erik Estrada
bebo cerveza con Erik Estrada - Drink beer with Erik Estrada
en el gimnasio con Erik Estrada - In the gymnasium with Erik Estrada
Feliz Navidad con Erik Estrada - Merry Christmas with Erik Estrada
En la luna con Erik Estrada - In the moon with Erik Estrada
En Erik Estrada con Erik Estrada - In Erik Estrada with Erik Estrada

It reminds me so much of my Spanish lesson! Jaja, es mi problema en la clase del Español, pero me gusta mucho!

Expreso Oriental ~la versión de la gente~

I think some people may have already forgotten how I look like so I felt compelled to post up some photos of me in order to be remembered. Haiz...one word, pathetic!

When I traveled, I hardly asked people to take photos of me because I'm not gau bin puay that sort, you know thick-faced. Furthermore, most of the random people I requested to have my photo taken got freaked out by my camera because it's a twice-of-grenade sized physical matter that doesn't look friendly to them. So they either hit the wrong shutter, messed up my settings or typically gave me accidental soft focus/out-of-focus focus/shaky effects that I didn't want at all. To lug around a monstrous legging tripod is also inappropriate since I already needed to take care of my so many luggages, hello, shopping season + winter ok! Also, my sole principle is to experience by heart and eyes rather than excessive post trip photographic appreciation. Therefore, taking redundant photos is inefficient and merely a waste of time during vacation, not that I have anything to prove also.

Digressed.

So yea, the following are the continuation of my first post about my trip except for few more people involved.

First of all, tapas para todos mis amigos! Let's start with some appetizers.

Yummeh, deep fried cocoons and a listless me. I call them protein balls because nutritionally speaking they are sumber protein. Sadly, their dermatologic effect is not apparent at all since my face is still busied with zits, zit scars and few more unidentified elevations from skin surface.

Deep fried black scorpions and baby scorpions, mi favorito! They are just like normal crisps when eaten, something like keropok. I had them few sticks because according to some people, they can actually trigger a higher metabolism rate so probably can help in renewing skins by consuming more kut. Twisties and Chipster should totally consider for a scorpion flavour in their next release, don't see a reason why not.

This photo was taken unprepared. So Mr. Li and his staffs from Happy Dragon were pretty candid especially Mr. Li himself with that effeminated finger gesture. Oh say hi to my double chins again, I have put on weight I know so why don't you just shut up and let me go, HEY! * cues The Ting Tings' song* I look crappier in this pic because I had a super long day thanks to the torturous Great Wall trip so I should eat more scorpions.

Me and Gan in New Summer Palace. I met him in Happy Dragon. He took 7 weeks unpaid leave annually for backpacking. Was under an around the East Asia stint then. He's also the holder of the round-the-world plane boarding pass I damn jealous ok! We buy our tickets during mega promotional price slashing period with a dictionary of limitations hoping for a hard seat only but people buy mileage can go as free as bird to anywhere in the world, of course need to pay more la! I also want to work as an aeronautical engineer when I grow up, in my next life.

2nd tallest building in PRC that resembles a lotus throne or maybe our truly Asia's Twin Towers? It's the Shanghai Jinmao Tower (something like world trade centre) and next to it is the tallest building "can opener" Shanghai World Financial Tower in PRC. They are currently building another building that is going to surpass Taipei 101 in terms of height. It's like a trend everywhere must build tallest building only can jadi famous, like Dubai. 1 km is seriously...you would probably ask yourselves "were they on dope when first proposed the blue print?" These Arabs just have to prove that they are the richest what else. I mean come on, won't it be a bit off to erect so many buildings in desert land? Even a man made skiing centre! Trying so hard to become another place but nice try. Yet another city without identity just like KL and Sg.

Posing because I was forcedasked to do so under effing low temperature weather + wind chill factor. This photo doesn't really depict the coldness I suffered. Single-digit Centigrade it was around Huangpu River that day. I have no idea why cold wave only attacked on weekends maybe to urge people not to infest the streets and malls, go hide in little nest instead so that I can alone conquer the city without the usual atrocious crowd hehe. I was holding Lee Hom's original album die die also didn't want to let go. CDs are ridiculously cheap in PRC, like 2 times cheaper for pre-order!!!

Wai Ling and me at the Bund. Wind was crazily strong.

Lian Wai and me at Xin Tian Di before heading to Shanghai Times Square. There are so many Times Squares in the world from New York to Jalan Imbi. Not sien meh you see.

Lastly, all black us ( 2 x Wai Ling's and me, yea Wai Ling on the right shares the same surname as us and given name as my sister in the middle and she's our highschool mate) in the fanfuckingtastic Teppanyaki place. Buffet style eat until die but still cheaper than Tenji and Jogoya. They serve Foie Gras and Kobe Beef in free flow order manner. Crazy or not?! But then in very small portion each la, I also paiseh to order so many times. But I ordered so many glasses of umeshu, assorted sake and kirin beer because they are all free flow as well siao or not now who'd bother about free flow of Häagen-Dazs anymore? I think many celebrities and politicians used to dine in this place judging from all the "honourable" proof of photos hanging around all over the place. Still, the price is so so so so so much friendlier than what we have here.

p/s : I just realize that my eyes are getting smaller nowadays don't know why. Perhaps my face is expanding and pushing my eyes into linear extreme from all the weight gained. Ufffffffff, qué rollo! Qué te pasa conmingo! Qué triste estás, Tristán! Cogida! Ayudarme...

pp/s : Pardon the overuse of Spanish words because I find no other ground to practice my writing other than here. Although, they are still very broken and ungrammatical haha...bueno, hasta luego amigos! Oops.

3 and 103

Today. Wednesday. An uneventful day spent in my little cage doing nothing productive but stoning in different corner of the enclosed area either reading non-academic stuffs or fiddling around with my frosty palm sized gaming console for obsolete games from yesterday. Have not been sleeping really well after CNY mainly due to the withdrawal effects and endless earth shattering renovation banging on right above the ceiling at the soonest hour where they are allowed to loose their tools. 9 am. Bitch. I think I shall measure their working rate on the Richter Magnitude Scale. Nice tries (note the plural). What about a 6.5 for all of you boss-hating workers. I understand by hitting/drilling those concrete walls harder is your only emotional outlet but then you know cause I am more or less leading the nocturnal way these days therefore, 9 am, read that NINE aaay-aemm is barely 3 hours after the first stage of REM aka dream, you could have started later but you did not. That I am sorry cause you need to swallow my first middle finger. You cannot possibly assume that everyone wakes up at such ungodly hour to kick start their yet another rat-race routine so the entire building is in theory emptied out as a result. This ain't Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York or the like you seem to have confused. Because, face it, we are no where near that level yet, so we have all the more reasons to be lackadaisical. Now eat my second middle finger. What? Do you think I like having 2 hours day, 3 days week late afternoon classes whilst spending the rest of the time in my life staring into nothingness is it? I am picking up again cause I am again, officially HIRED. The national economy and labour force need me afterall. Muahaha. Fine, go, laugh like I care. I am *takes deep breath* getting a life finally!

Whatever it is, I just printed out my Orgo handouts off the online college blackboard system in light of boosting some mood to actually read them for Test 1, not even hoping to call for a deeper level revision also, but you know procrastination and short term memory have always got the better of me, I just realized that I completely forgotten about their innocent existence instantly as usual. Bah!

The thing I have been doing for the whole day is Wiki-hopping. It is like snow ball effect where my curiosity is being triggered from 1 pixel to 20 mega pixels as I read on some facts about my options of university, I eventually evolved into the reading of Chinese history mainly orbiting around issues between PRC and ROC...and then finally my ancestry. It makes me feel so thankful for what my grandparents brought to us. They had to leave behind their home in pain and fled to a foreign land that hardly acknowledge their contributions. I can almost feel their dilemma already because between nationalism and bread, which one would you choose then?

My grandfather pondering on his next move against my younger cousin during the second day of CNY and that is my mum with a comical neckguard on far left. He was once a regional grandmaster of Chinese chess judging from all the old and dusty trophies that has been lying around his house for ages. In the end, all 3 of my older and younger cousins bit the dust, to a person who almost live across 3 centuries. Do not even mention about me because the only chess I know is snake and ladder or is "dam" considered as chess too? In fact, most of the time my parents are shamefully more dementia-tic than him. If you have not noticed yet, his stripey pajamas pants are very classic and old school. He tailored made them by himself anyways, so as many of our pajamas, curtains, blankets, quilts, pillow/bolster covers...you name it in his heyday. Up to now, he is still not sickness bound except for some inevitable physical weakness that all other people will suffer at this age. We do not expect a man in 3 pass hundred to jump around like your immature terrier at home.

One a lighter note, meet my nephew, the one that prone to a lot of childhood violence characteristics just like many other toddlers today. Prolly my cousin and cousin-in-law spoiled him but nonetheless he is still very adorable as I always pinch his cheeks when he is acting all sulky. The bowl-shaped bob is also very classic of him courtesy of his mother. Ain't it cute? Oh and my mum is camhogging behind him with her ever famous significance of 2009 neckguard again. Let's say hi to her neckguard and pray that she will not ever stumble across my blog.

Kam Wuen

My mum's condition is not that bad after the doctor explained everything off the MRI scans today. Doctor said there are slight slipped disc resulting from bone fractures on her back bone that causes osteophytes (bone spurs) where the projection indented some of her spinal nerves, it's called scoliosis or some medical jargons to that effect. Besides, there are also some fractures on her shoulder bone and slipped cervical disc around C-5 to C-7. Basically all the complications are one led to another. I swear I don't feel any better than otherwise hearing the need of operation cos they critically involving spinal, the root of our body. I would appreciate more if the doctor could explain everything in a less busy version so that it wouldn't sound so frightening. Another important thing is do not interpret medical scanning result with your layman's knowledge. Due to the fact that the chiropractor was on CNY break soon before we got the MRI scans, we were left with those scans without the slightest idea of what are those circled, arrowed and highlighted parts about. Fear not, we had few immediate run of the mill physicians came about to do the interpretation. Firstly, my dad hold the scans upside down and diagnosed the shady part as some bacterial infections in his businessman's perspective. Then, my sister cleverly signalized those circled parts and justified that they could be signs of cancerous cells which terribly petrified all of us with her unconvincing marketing graduate's point of view. As you may know also at this point of time, fellow folks will bestow layman's tips and traditional remedies for better or worse out of good will. They are futile things like consuming herbs, roots of some plants, obscene parts of some animals and even resort to Chinese 铁打师傅 that in worst case, can crush your bones altogether and shorten the way to eternal ground below. It's not that they are bad but IMO traditional remedies can only be used as a follow up for recuperation after recovery. To uproot the problem of all, there's no other better way but seeking a certified chiropractic specialist, who else or you prefer bomoh instead? Anyways, doctor has prescribed medication to my mum together with arrangement for a series of electrotheraphy and physiotherapy treatments up to 3 months. According to mum, the electrotheraphy was very ticklish at first and ended up in soreness but well, what's bitter to the mouth is always good for health right? At any rate, I have to thank god for my initial prediction is totally wrong. Let's wish her a speedy recovery! Also, happy birthday to my dad!

OxOxOx

Finally the much desired thing called luck came to me at the beginning of Ox year! Eventhough I dah kam pun sai sao this year, no more physical gambling but then I tiok lottery (beh sai 1 big only)! Maybe I really deserve it after so many black forces surrounded me. I have also received my first university acceptance from the university that I thought least possible (after SBU, sad case). CNY was kinda dry this year as mum is incapacitated in the mean time. We ate out everyday and watched midnight movies in cinema from chor 2 to chor 5. As for Lunar 30th we went Old Temple at downtown and Lunar 29th to Chinatown (Gu Chia Zui) as usual and again got the luck to see Little Nyonya cast having stage rehearsal in the middle of Eu Tong Sen Rd. for the countdown event on Lunar 30th! We were very close to the stage when we drove pass amid the jam haha although I hardly watched the drama since I was away during that period but my parents are so obsessed over it, prolly the whole of JB-ians too. But I still prefer Holland Village all time. The rest of the CNY was just boring bai nin sessions from Seremban to JB to PD to KL. They were soooo exhausting but then ang paos that I reaped are more than enough to offset the fatigue (risked life for the sake of debt relief ah!). What to do, CNY takkan menjadi nyata dan berpuas hati without the content of red packets :) Hello, we are Chinese and that's the best part of everything.

Going back to class in few hours time, I so wish that college will burn down before my class. Somebody but me please commit arson or let it collapses altogether! Bad things all go away.

Hopefully this year will be a better year for all.

谨祝 新年快乐 福星高照 开心吉祥 百事顺遂 鸿运当头 牛转乾坤！

Keong Hee Huak Chai

p/s : kia jik chiu puek, ua beh hu bai ti gong lau yia, wu tak zi, ai ke yi eh si nang ok deng, jin sien. kiu tee gong poh ho soon soon li li. ua mm si hok kien nang tapi pun si tang tang yu yi la. pai seh ah! kam siah!

Getting on nerves again!

Bad thing really comes in a bundle. I just found out that FF accidentally double charged me for the final month (yea canceled my subscription finally) of my membership. Fuck College, FF and Paypal all owing me $! Damn shitty lor. No more 年年有余 already. What a way to kick start a new year.

Yea la I'm very superstitious, you got a problem is it?

Sick fuck.

Nvm. Hopefully everything will be coming back to me after CNY. The gravity, the force, the feng shui, the qi, the luck, the prosperity, the wisdom, the health, the wealth, the goodness...everything. All mine.

Argh.

On a completely irrelevant not, I think mod style is super neoclassical and it looks fabulous on Londoners but I find it quite an annoying sight to see a lot of Malaysians dogging the trend blindly. Leave aside the fact that we don't have 4 seasons over here but you know right, Carnaby St. is in London, not some places like Kuala Kubu Baru or Jalan PP Narayanan. So why isn't there a trend called Bukit Bintang Style (Lalaism remember?) or Starhill style for you xenophiles?

Getting on nerves

I suspect Paypal is some kinda syndicate that will withdraw money from your bank account/credit/debit card without authorization and then earn a fortune from it. Ironically, they even go all the way trumpeting that they are the safest medium on their website (kononnya) but I just wonder how do they justify their claim when they can even let pass transactions that are obviously, if not too obvious enough, phishing scam and spoof? I have a Paypal account ever since 2007 just for the fun of eBay and has never remain activated ever since for quite some time UNTIL yesterday when I received 2 emails from xxx@paypal.com sender saying that I have deals with a VoIP provider or something like that called Betamax which for the love of my life, I have never ever came across this company at all! So I thought it might be a spam or what that did not go into spam folder instead. Somehow, I could still smell something fishy in this matter and so I logged in my Paypal account to find out that they had restricted my account due to security purposes (apparently they found out there has been a third party trying to access my account, indeed accessed and completed the freaking transactions in matter without my permission at all). So I was told to change my password and security question again but then I couldn't close my account or remove my card because my account is in dispute (wth?). This is really not intelligent anymore in the sense that my account was being restricted for some reasons that I did not understand and worse of all, my card got charged for payment that I did not approve. Double jeopardy! As a result, I filed 3 angry emails over to sound and complaint about this matter as they needed proof of address in order to restore my account otherwise it will be a no-end. Heck, the only way to get proof of address is to send them a copy of any utility bill under my name + street address except mobile phone bill and online bill statement to prove that your are the resident in that particular street address you registered with them. Fuck these shits la, like hell I'm the one who's paying for all the utility bills back home 400 km away from where I'm residing right now is it? I'm still consider a minor despite my age since I don't work for living and the like. Due to the extreme ridiculousness, I even called the bank at 3 am just to inform them about the fraud and luckily the amount is still pending by 3 am when I called. At last, they refunded the sum which previously debited in Euro into my Paypal account again but will put on hold until they resolved the matter with that stupid seller which means before this I will still lose an amount in my card to Paypal because I did not have stored value in my Paypal account all the while unless I request for withdrawal from my card which will be approved by the bank and Paypal of course. Yea, and that is what the extremely unintelligent bogus seller did and I do not know how the hell they manage to do this unless assisted by Paypal because this problem has been lying around for so long but Paypal still can't seem to work on that efficiently or may be intentionally overlooked. So if that's the case, it led us to the suspicion of JV where they share information with each other behind the curtain. I don't know. It sucks. I need to wait for another 30 business days just to allow the refunded $ being held in my Paypal account currently to be credited back into my card again. I seriously never made any purchase from Betamax at all you see. All these happened for nothing but their negligence!

Fine! I know I've swear upon my blog to whine a little lesser but look at those things that coming in to me one after another. But well I'm optimistic cos I'll be seeing it as a phase before all good things happen afterall! Surely there must be bounce back from the valley extreme of luck in the promising year of Ox, hopefully. Somebody just tell me can I get anymore unlucky in time to come?

Flexiblelove

Saw this noble invention on 康熙来了. Whoopee doopee! Very impressive can fit in a truckload of people at its maximum expansion, wait no, only 16 at max but that's hell lot in capacity. Furthermore, it's highly flexible and customizable provided you can bend it in any forms and shapes you like. The best of all is it's made from PAPER! Three cheers to this industrial design artist called 林飞!

More at http://www.flexiblelove.com

**********

Have to give special mention to the following seriously or else I won't rest in peace. I.AM.GONNA eliminate all the 小人 right now before CNY. There has been few showdowns already. First I was being treated as fwb by certain someone which I'm definitely not very pleased at but I never reveal my dissatisfaction for the peace of the world. Secondly, my landlord's dick is itching again for some reasons he just indirectly sounded me for using too much electricities but wtf not like I never pay every single cent worth of all the kilowatts I've been using so just shut the fuck up and go kiss toilet bowl before I blow the cover of you exaggerating the utility bills . I feel so exploited cos I suspect I paid extra cost despite all his accusations, he would never show us those bills so we practically have no idea how true is his statement afterall. Sucky right? Fear not, all these endurances will be up by the 2nd quarter. I can't imagine how I can take this further prolly I will murder someone in the end and end up in either gallows or mental asylum. The first victim will be this particular ccb monstrous landlord. Oh and although I have to start numbering my days left in Malaysia but one thing for sure, I WILL NOT hesitate to leave college. I will never enjoy college life in this place because people there just suck, I don't want to explain any further on this so don't bother to ask why.

It's so scary to realise how time flies! This will be my last CNY in my home country before transferring. Just within this few months, more things are worrying me like my parents for example, they are taking their health for granted. I sounded my dad last week for his rocketed LDL level by 100! This is no kid for people at retirement age as he's exposed to high risk of heart disease and the like. Then my mum is even more horrible, me and my sister had to force her to go for X-rays due to her constant back pain after she complained about numbness not long ago. Guess what? The result shows that she's having infection on 2 columns of her spinal cord which can lead to a thumping of medical complications had we discovered too late OR can be caused by the spreading of other hidden sickness in other parts of body which I don't wanna know what are they cos the worst case scenario could be cancer. We are forcing her to do further check up across the causeway because we don't really have faith in medical quality here sighs. She will be going for another thorough scanning by next week before CNY but the result will be out most probably after CNY (she's fearing about hearing bad news that will affect her CNY mood -_-) to see if she critically needs operation. Now she's on a comical neck guard for the time being. And therefore it makes me so reluctant to transfer right now at this point but what to do, it still goes on. Hopefully she will be fully recovered by August so long as my prayers in Tibet are answered!

Can't believe I'm still eating

My initial plan for today was very healthy. It started with hitting the long lost gym and the thought of having muesli + skim milk for dinner. Uber healthy, so to say. Halt the intake of fatty things and boost bowel movement lalala. Beautifully planned UNTIL someone called and cajoled for a Japanese buffet treat AGAIN. This is like the 12128748th buffet I had within a month. I vowed to stop, vowed to replenish the hollow in savings and I break those vows 1 hour after I made them. This is why I hate making whatever festival-driven resolutions that I know I won't stick through at the end. Now look, raw example right in front your eyes.

So, I'm gonna make not-resolutions (which IMO sounds better than making typical mainstream resolutions) like certain rebelled blogger I've been stalking since eons ago.

In 2009, I. WILL. NOT :

1. Splurge on unnecessary things like T-Shirt that cost more than RM 40 in order to save more $ for whatever I'll like to do (oi food is considered essential la).
2. Have so many meals ala buffet. SERIOUSLY.
3. Stop reducing my weight.
4. Buy LOMO cam (wanted to buy a Horizon or LCA but no time to explore and it's not essential afterall).
5. Look up to people who think they lead a perfect life. Mine's perfect in its own way.
6. Make new friends in college or through other mediums for the first 2 quarters of the year (getting to know a complete stranger at this stage is a hassle don't you think so?).
7. Consume so much shishas.
8. Leave home too much.
9. Whine so much about studies and life lor...whatever will be, will be.
10.Dine in Nandos and Shogun cos I just hate them especially Nandos.

That's all about it. I will sit back and cross my fingers to see how am I gonna keep up with each and every one of them.

*****

The head of conspiracy : Tenji at Solaris Mont Kiara

Got free flow Haagen Dazs with limited flavours quite similar to Jogoya! Pricing is quite Jogoya-ish or cheaper you do the calculation.

Oriental Express (The I-Was-There touristy version)

沪

Camwhored at 陆家嘴东方明珠塔 (The Oriental Pearl Tower at Lujiazui)

人民公园 (People's Park at People's Square)

董家渡上海老街城隍庙前 (The Town God's Temple of Shanghai Old Street at Dongjiadu)

*****

皖

黄山国家公园 (The Huangshan Geopark) - So many pine trees, grotesque rocks and clouds! Couldn't see the significant sunrise and sunset due to bad weather cos it rains 360 days a year averagely on the peaks of Huangshan kononnya. Too bad.

黄山翡翠谷 (Jade Valley at Huangshan Geopark) - Some parts of the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (卧虎藏龙）was filmed here. (note : blurriness credit to my sister, i don't think i have any decent photo of me being sharply focused under her hands)

Still like to act cute at her age. Haih sisters nowadays...but my sister is an exception cos I can't thank her enough for everything muacks!

There were snow storm and frozen rain on the second day of us at Huangshan (the ugly "trash bag" raincoat explains it all) so the cable car system shut down and we had to trail all the way down which took us a good 4 hours and a foot massage session in Shanghai courtesy of my sister :)

*****

京

北京大学西门 (The west entrance of Peking University) - We went in to explore a bit by chance. Quite conducive to studies since part of it is built within the limits of many ancient gardens and palaces including Summer Palace/圆明园 (Old Summer Palace) cos the interior is way too historical and beautiful for a university. Beijing is very beautiful and its population density is way lower than Shanghai. Furthermore, most of the people in Beijing are very friendly and polite unlike Shanghai but somehow they still spit like nobody's business despite the geographical discrepancy :(

颐和园十七孔桥 (17-Arches Bridge in The Summer Palace) - This place is effing huge, I think the compound size is almost equivalent to whole Bandar Sunway (if that doesn't sound too big to you then it's ok cos I could have sensed wrongly haha).

金山岭长城 ( Jinshanling segment of the Great Wall) - I was being forced to travel with a bunch of ethnocentric Europeans through out this day tour which I don't know how many times I had to roll my eyes for enough but fortunately I had Gan (my Aus. expat. travel buddy from Sg. on an around the world stint whom I met in Happy Dragon). We traveled 3-4 hours by van from Beijing city to the Jinshanling segment (not the typical 八达岭/Badaling segment which is only 90km away from Beijing city) somewhere around 河北省 (Hebei province) and when we were at it, we walked a further 4 hours along the wall all the way to another segment called 司马台(Simatai). Not to forget, we also have to pay entrance ticket for each segment and a cable car ride ticket. All about $.

*****

藏

布达拉宫 (Potala Palace) - Kononnya the highest (not tallest) building in the world but I really don't fancy Lhasa cos it's just like any other cities in the mainland with excessive luxuries of entertainment outlets. My land tour guide brought me to a club in Lhasa and I thought it was sinful if I ever enjoyed myself inside. It just didn't feel right when I saw so many Han Chinese patronize the place instead of the natives. And don't expect to find any eatery shops that serve authentic Tibetan food at ease unless you are 100 km away from the city. For some reasons, I had been eating mostly 川菜 (Sichuan dishes) rather than 藏餐 (Tibetan meal). However still, kudos to the Chinese government for developing the place all these years so that our fellow Zang minorities are at least provided with basic amenities to counter inconvenience at high altitude and slowly liberate them from poverty. This place has been part (it still is) of China before the United States of America is called a "country" so what do you think?

雅鲁藏布江 (The Brahmaputra) - Holy river and one of the icons that represents the Tibetans. It was on my way to 日喀则 (Shigatse) via 三一八国道 (318 National Highway - longest highway in China that stretched from Shanghai all the way to Nepalese border where the road condition on the segment we traveled was ok, not too bumpy but we drove along/across/between/within canyons and the Brahmaputra so I had got nothing to complain except for we spent almost 8 hours for a good 300 km land cruiser ride.

纳木错湖 (Nam-tso Lake) - One of the three holiest lakes within the Tibet Autonomous Region. 4718m above sea level makes it the highest salt lake in the world. Very holy as you can see from those prayer flags behind me. The surrounding sceneries look very surreal as if I was somewhere around the polar extreme. Windchill factor was around -30+ centigrade but thank god I had the oversize cashmere around my neck but barely able to open my eyes due to the wind and sunlight.

雪古拉山口 (Mount Xuegu-La Pass) - My awesome land cruiser driver wanted to bring me to 羊八井地热温泉 (Yangpachen Geothermal Hotspring) from 日喀则 (Shigatse) via gravel roads and onwards towards the highest point I ever traveled on earth, Mount Xuegu-La Pass at 5438m. To reach the summit we climbed the steep pass through a number of hairpins and arrived at the top where typically lotsa prayer flags adorned the hillside. View of surrounding mountains were breathtaking but the air pressure was even more breathtaking than the view. Fortunately, I didn't suffer from apparent altitude sickness from the trip, miraculously, all thanks to 红景天/rhodiola (a kind of Tibetan remedy that prevents hypoxia). Thus, my canned oxygen laid untouched until the officer at Lhasa train station confiscated it. But well one thing I had learned, pure oxygen doesn't smell very pleasant, it's something between dried cuttle fish or polystyrene board.

那根拉山口 (Nagen-La Pass) - The last mountain pass we encountered in the Nam-tso National Park before the Nam-tso Lake. 5190m equally breathtaking (pun intended). The wind was extremely strong and the thermometer in our land cruiser recorded around -20 centigrade here. Can die as I wasn't wearing very thick long johns and with only 2 layers + my down jacket!

p/s : i have to seriously thank my personal land tour guide and driver for maximizing my time in Tibet with so many fantastic sites. shifu purposely took the pebbly route that less traveled by the mainstream just so that i could enjoy an eye-opening journey. nonetheless he brought home the bacon albeit his 4WD ran over a sheep along the way but i have to say luckily it wasn't a yak or else i won't be sitting here typing all these shits. besides, i thought i was gonna die when our 4WD lost control almost overturned and then flung away from the precipice at the frozen pathway to Nam-tso lake. god blessed our 4WD worked smoothly all the way without even the typical tyre puncture at extreme road condition. i think those Gautama Buddha 开光 (light introduced) talismans and ornaments that i carried along did work on us :) however, there is a little disappointment when my guide told me that i couldn't get passed with the permit for access to Mt. Everest Base Camp (5200m, unknown to some people that winter is the best season to travel in such places cos the sky will be crystal clear to catch glimpse at the Everest/Qomolangma peak!) due to strict enforcement this season (unbecoming statistics thanks to some reckless drivers and terrible road condition) as my request came quite spontaneous. probably the most potong stim ever in this trip but i saved myself a 3 days 2 nights torturous on-road journey under -30 centigrade on average weather temperature for a visit to a higher mountain pass unknown to most (Xuegu-La - 5438m) en route to Yangpachen town. don't really need to punch my chest that hard after all.

*****

Flow of my entire journey :

Flight to Pudong Airport ex KLIA (approx. 5 hours) - Flight to Chengdu Shuangliu Airport ex Pudong (approx. 3 hours and my flight delayed 5 hours due to massive fog formed at Chengdu outskirt) - Flight to Lhasa Gongga Airport ex Shuangliu (approx. 2 hours) - Train via Qinghai-Tibet railway ex Lhasa to Beijing took 3 days 2 nights or around 48 hours (with sleeper berth, phew) - Train ex Beijing to Shanghai took 13 hours (was stupid enough to opt for the hardseat due to huge price disparity with sleeper and gotten a real hard lesson and backbone after the ride) - 5 hours car ride ex Shanghai to Huangshan and another 5 hours fro - Flight to KLIA ex PVG

Force fed myself with sooooooo many food (major spending) so much so that I was too lazy to lug my bulky camera around whilst looking for food cos not like you xenophilic Malaysians wanna see anyway, thus the absence of foodie on prowl with monitor-lickable food photos! From deep fried scorpios to multinational buffets, after everything, I thought I was gonna see exponential horizontal growth in me but after reassuring myself with the credibility of 4 different weighing machines, I mysteriously lost 2 kg! Best of the best! It's just that somehow the physical result is not obvious enough to convince people but screw you like I care.

Also brought home with luggages full of harvest from retail therapy that has already overweight by an acceptable amount + some still left with my sister. Couldn't resist the Xmas/New Year sales hoohaas when all we have back home is 10%-30% markdown for the riches. Let me give you an example or two, a pair of Energie jean on 70% discount, a pair of Ben Sherman denim on 50% discount...and when you buy in grand total of let's say 800 CNY they will give you further markdown of 200-300 CNY off the bill. Sales on sales. That's the way! And the most thrilling part of all is to further divide all the price on bills by about 2 on forex! *faints*

Well and also...

There goes a month of my holiday and savings! :(

Next up is to plan for my 4 months hiatus before leaving for the States. Gosh, again gotta crack my little brain again in order not to waste time, and roll up my sleeves to slog for studies and $.

Organic Chemistry, I am so gonna you in the most brutal manner, EVER!

More to come. Bye.