'Tis the Season To Be Jolly

So sorry for the long wait, and so here it is.

Well, Christmas on the whole was a rather quiet affair, (yes, Ellana, really.) Must say, though, I really had a whole lot of fun. Before I went back to Ipoh for the 25th, I went carroling with the St. Mary's youth group. Now let me tell you, this really was not as it seemed. Most people who have heard of St. Mary's church are under the impression that they are a very pious sort of churchgoers, you know, hymms, rosaries, the sort. So I (doubtfully) thought that this would be a quiet event as well, but since Vanessa asked me to go, well.

Not on your life.

I tell you honestly, these bunch of teenagers were one of the noisiest things I've ever heard(believe me, I've heard quite a few things) and some of it, honestly, was quite annoying. You'd be annoyed too, if some dude starts singing "Sweet Child Of Mine" next to your ear in an extremely loud bass voice while you were trying to take a nap.

Now most of it was really fun, and we sang, ate(Thanks again, Mike.), and talked all the way from one house to another. The trip took us more than half a day, just because the driver took his "shortcuts" and landed us in the middle of nowhere with some "sakai" and "jakun" looking at us with their mouths half open. Each house only took us half an hour, maximum. The time was all spent on travelling. (not that I'm complaining, with all the fun we had on the bus.)

Ooookay. *deep breath*

After the event in KL, went back to good ol' Ipoh via Plusliner bus. Got on the night bus, no hassle nor jam, got to the terminal on time, all that. I was thinking "Yay! going back to Ipoh!!" all the way to the bus and about 20 minutes into the trip.

Bus started out slow........towards the direction of Ipoh.

30 minutes later.........still slow. I thought "Okay, maybe he needs to get out to the highway."

After getting to the highway........... STILL slow. I was looking to see if anything was blocking his way, and from the looks of things, other passengers were doing the same thing as me. Cars were lined up to a point which I couldn't really what was going on, except some flashing lights.

Turns out there was a police check. Out of the blue, in the middle of the night. Well, alright. Though I suppose that's why Malaysian Police are called "chai lou" in Cantonese. "Chai lou" directly means "guess man". They never really seem to have a reason to do the things they do. They just say "based on a private source" most of the time. Must be the the Chief of Police saying "Hm....I feel that there are going to be people speeding/drinking/(you name it kesalahan) tonight".

Well, after he passed the police check line, AND was out of sight, the speed suddenly went from 50 km/h to about 120 km/h. (I guess he felt the need for speed too.) All was well from that point, (except from the snoring coming from the uncle beside me) and needless to say, we all got back safe and sound.

Well, after I got home, played with my cat a little, things quickly started to get boring. Sitting at home with nothing to do everyday may seem nice, but until you try it, you won't know how dull it really is.

After a while, I got used to the process of just enjoying the day (namely, being lazy.) and found litle things to do like walk around the neighborhood and watch TV with my parents.

Yes, lazy just like this.

The 24th came.

There was a barbecue buffet at my church on Christmas Eve, and so I went with my parents. Saw most of the old HM gang there, had some fun, ate some, and then went for the midnight service at about 10 p.m.

On Christmas, I......had nothing to do.

On the 26th, went out drinking with Aaron, Pui san, Kim, Diming, Dijie and Raymond. I was the "transporter" for the evening, and thankfully I do not get drunk easily.

Had Smirnoff vodka for the evening.

Went to the usual spot, a jazz bistro in Casuarina hotel, and talked the night away. Aaron came back just in time, so we picked him up from the bus terminal and went straight to the hotel. Talked half our ears off, drank some, requested our(my) favourite songs, and the bartender, which I knew from somewhere back, very kindly gave us a staff discount on the whole deal. Diming kept drinking, cause we only ordered one bottle, which wasn't enough for him. So he ordered a Bloody Mary. AND he wasn't used to drinking. (for readers who don't know, a Bloody Mary is a kind of drink which is quite potent and takes some getting used to.) In the end, he ended up having to be shouldered out of the bistro.

He'll be fine.

After that, we went to a mamak stall in Greentown and tried to clear our drunkenness (actually, we were hungry.) and the night passed on. Dijie tried this thing called a shisha, which looked kinda wierd but smelled really nice. According to him, it was something like scented water vapor, but it looked like scented smoke going through cold water to me, so I didn't try it. After a while, we decided that was it and we all went home after that.

All in all, it was a really fun outing. Thanks guys.

Thanks again to the bartender whom so kindly gave me a discount.

Let it snow.

Update Frenzy

Gonna be updating for Christmas, New Year, and general stuff all in one go, so bear with me, hm?

Thank you.

Paradise Lost

25th November, went back to my quaint little hometown of Ipoh. Ahh, the sweet feeling of being home after a long stretch in the hectic city of Kuala Lumpur.

As my friend Aaron and I said as we beheld the town...

Ipoh, where the traffic is still smooth and clear....

Ipoh, where the food is good, clean, and comes at a good price....

Ipoh, where the hottest women come from....

Ipoh, where the birds still sing and the skies are purest blue....


I was home.


Sad to say, it was not to last. The elation that I felt when I reached home was soon squelched by a growing feeling in my gut that something was going to go wrong. The feeling started off as a small emotion growing at the back of my mind, so I didn't pay much attention to it.

There was an event which I was expected to attend during the week, and to be honest, I was not looking forward to it. It sort of, well, lacked importance.

Now, it was a formal event, and everyone was expected to be in formal attire, or at least in smart casual. It was to be in a hotel ballroom, with a buffet dinner and tables and seats. Now naturally, when there are tables and seats, there are limits to how many people can sit, and therefore a limit to how many people can actually attend the event. At the reception, I was asked to fill up a card (yeah, I was surprised too.) and pay a fee of RM 20. I was expecting to keep the card or something and use it as a ticket for entrance. No deal. They asked for the card and said it was to "be able to keep in touch with the newcomers".

Well alright then.

What really messed it up was when the introductions had already started and the buffet was open to crowd. I noticed that there was still people still coming in and out of the hall. Latecomers , I thought to myself. And so, when I had took some coffee mousse (really nice, by the way) it was nothing to think about. To be honest, I didn't have an appetite for the buffet as I didn't like standing in a line which consisted of about a hundred people all scrambling for food like it was the only meal they had that day.

And there I was enjoying my mousse and talking with my friends when some of the committee came up to us and asked us if we could split up and sit at different tables because nobody would. The people at the tables mentioned consisted of older folk, and I suppose I understand the feeling of not wanting to sit with people you are uncomfortable with, but what the heck man? No arrangements? And you dare to ask people whom have already got their seats, sat down with their food, to get up and split up and sit in different tables JUST LIKE THAT?

No friggin' deal, man.

I was so angry, I just put down my food and walked off. Manners prevented me from making a scene of myself, which I still say would have served them right. So I mingled around, talked to some people, and took a look around the place. Took some pics of the place, talked to some of the staff, and after cooling off a bit, went back in. Wasn't really thinking much at the time, but when I saw the way the events went, I was gripped by a strong feeling of revulsion. Yes, revulsion. As in the kind of feeling you get when watching a gory movie and all you want to see is the ending credits.

An Indian "kollam" which was put there for Deepavali.

The drama was lousy, the acting horrible, and the characters were so over-dramaticized that each and every one of them looked and felt like they were trying to be Romeo and Juliet in Happy Tree Friends. After the spectacle, I sat outside the hall trying to recompose myself when my friends came and joined me. By and by, we decided that a drink would be welcome and we asked the reception for the location of the bar.

And so the rest of the night passed relatively well, with us unanimously agreeing that the couple of hours spent talking, laughing and listening to the pleasing sounds of jazz was infinitely better than the fiasco in the Crystal Ballroom.(Heh.)

Me and Eric after the event.



Me and Aaron.

An afterthought. When I saw how things were done here, it gave me a twinge of pride in myself that I could have done so much better and, at the same time, a mixture of regret and pity for the people who spent their time and money, to say nothing of effort, and came up with this....event.

In truth, the whole organization was like an old rundown car, not unlike my own, rusted and creaking at the joints. The owner will try and repair the car to an extent, try to polish it up a little, and the like. The sad thing is, you guys don't need to change the oil or tune the engine once in a while, you guys need a friggin' overhaul. Damn.

The saddest thing is, I used to be with you. I used to do things with you. I laughed with you. I worked with you. I used to be proud of the fact that I was one of you. And yet, after I left, I realised exactly what was going on that made the situation it is today.

How can I sum it all up? A lack of exposure, lack of management, no sense of responsibility. I respect the fact that the management gave a lot of effort for this event, but if the work was put into place correctly, do all of you think that it would have gone the way it had? I for one do not think so.

Think on it.

This is the truth. You guys are immature. You can make some pretty bold claims on how you will "make history", but you can't even make it into the hearts and minds of your OWN people. Don't come to me with excuses when you had the resources, the time, and the manpower for the job. As my friend said, it would have made a phenomenal difference if even a small change like seating arrangements were made.

You guys could have done so much better. Sigh.

A trip back home has never been so disappointing.

Paraíso Perdido.

Two Sides of The Same Coin

Knowledge is power.

Or so it is said. But is it truly? Yes, knowing about things makes one more aware of his or her surroundings then they usually would be, knowing where to go and what to do at what time.

But is it really all as great as it's cracked up to be?

Knowing some of the things I do has certainly have helped me with the things I do in my life,
although I could say the opposite about some. Frankly speaking, some of the knowledge I possess have really helped me out, saving my bacon on more than one occasion.

What happens when you know more than you should? Or find out something you shouldn't?
Forgetting isn't as convenient as that, you know. Most people would keep mum, as the British say, or in Malaysian terms tutup mulut. Alas, more often than not, word spills out and suddenly everyone from your peers in college or colleagues in your workplace to your fishmonger in your local pasar malam is gossiping about the latest scandal about you.

Sometimes when a person has the chance to do something good to or for someone else, they find out something about the opposing party that will inevitably have an irreparable effect on the person that they want to help. In that kind of situation, what is the person to do? Tell the friend and risk breaking their spirit about the whole matter? Or do they sit tight and keep quiet and risk having the friend finding out on their own and then lying through their teeth about not knowing a thing about it? Descisions, descisions.

Personally, I think that the person deserves to know, depending on the type of situation, of course. If the person is expected to not be able to handle it, then if you go ahead and tell them, don't say I didn't warn you.

In any case, rushing is definitely not recommended. Trust me, it will most times result in misunderstanding. One must find a catalyst, or medium, to breach the subject to the person they want to tell it to. (That is, IF they want to divulge it.)

Well, for guys, they tend to take it head on, so for them, it probably doesn't matter how you approach them. (Although any misunderstandings are to be put straight immediately.)

For girls................sigh. Do try the gentler approach. Misunderstandings aplenty.

This post was not meant to offend anybody, so kindly do not take offence and just take it as it is.

Now if only i can find the right way to tell that person. Sigh.

A (Somewhat) Surprising Request

First: a question.

Has anybody ever came to you and asked you a question you never thought you'd encounter?

I'll bet some of you have this experience; then I'm sure you know the feeling.

Here's the story; a girl and I was chatting on msn, (rubbish talk as usual) when I complimented her on the dress she was wearing in her display picture. I told her that she was having the kind of expression of a person who is expecting something more in the reflection that she sees in the mirror. (Weird, yes. I know.)

Well what do you know. She went on and started asking me to teach her how to attract guys and I'm like if I teach you about attracting and chasing after guys then that means I'm gay isn't it? Weird.

Well, all I can do is provide insight and information into the male mind, advice aside, but that's about it.

I am honored that you have trust enough in me to share your feelings and thoughts on this guy that's captured your (rather tempestuous) heart. I sincerely hope that the guy you have feelings for will notice and reciprocate your actions toward him.

For the most part, I was (damn I feel old) rather surprised.

Best of luck to you.

New Semester

Finally.....new sem!! It's been too long, seriously. But I'm thankful for the time that I had to, shall we say, pursue my personal interests.

This semester I'm going to have about twice the headache I had over the last few sems, I suppose. Just looking at the subjects and the contents are enough to make us all sigh. And there's STILL maths subjects! Darn.

Being not a study person, I suppose I'm gonna have to put in extra work for this sem. Plus i gotta balance my time between work and play. Sheesh.

Got three new classmates this time, two Chinese and one Indian. Same case as last time, one and only female in the whole class. Nice people in general, but kinda hard to communicate with them since I'm not very good in speaking Mandarin.(Gotta learn, I guess.)

Well, that's it for this post. Will post sometime when something comes up.

I just hope I can cope with it this time.

A Little Something to Think About

It's been a awhile since my last post......been quite busy these days. It's so tiring these days......hope to get my mind off things for a while.

Been chatting with a friend of mine from college today, discussion went on from music to games to useless stuff like wasting time talking on how to waste time (useless isn't it?) until the topic of "romantic relationships" came up.

Hard topic to talk about, normally, except when speaking from personal experience. She told me that due to an incident 3 years ago, she didn't believe in "love" anymore. Well, what could I say? It's all your fault? Obviously not. More like "There, there my dear, don't cry" kinda thing.

As I read on, one thing became apparent to me; people are very funny. She said to me, " A relationship is not a relationship when one in a couple have no feelings towards the other."
I said to her, "Well then, are you telling me to give up?"

If, and only if, someone starts to have feelings towards another party can something come out of it, no? Yes, the feeling should be mutual, and yet, some people think if it wasn't meant to be, it wasn't meant to be. So might as well give up.

Everybody has flaws. Everybody will be rejected in their relationships one way or another, at one time or another. And then what becomes of that? Just because one relationship ended in a bad way means no more relationships? Well, then you could say that just because a meal tasted bad then you aren't gonna eat anymore? Or because the air smells bad then you aren't gonna breathe anymore?

Get up, I say. Get up and keep moving forward. The past is history, the future is a mystery. Today is a gift, thats why it's called the present.(Thanks Dave.)

Keep moving forward. Experience life in all it's abundance. Give yourself a chance to see the beauty of the things God has given you. Live. Even if you fall down, always know that someone somewhere will pick you up and help you move on. And if someone falls in front of you, help them to move on in their life. We are flawed, which is why we need each other. And through helping others and yourself, you will find yourself. That's what it means to be human.

Think about it.