601. Chilling @ Home

After a nite out drinking tea @ a local taiwanese tea joint, headed home. It was rather uneventful until I got to the 2nd last corner before my house (literally dat close to my house), when a dog dashed out of no where. Good thing I wasn't going fast, managed to jam the brakes. I think I must've nudged the dog pretty hard as I found the damage it did to my car. But anyway, since there's no blood traces, I reckon it shud be ok. :) It's back home chilling to wine and watching The Kingdom with my bros. The Kingdom turned out to be a really good movie. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

I may have mortally wounded a dog; chilling with Seng & Wee

600. Bar Hopping

Wee and How, inspired by last week's "boycott" of all things familiar, decided to go bar hopping along Chulia Street & forego Soho. Turned out it was quite fun actually. The ppl there were actually very friendly. Very unlike the Penang I'm used to. I reckon it's becoz of their exposure to foreigners, esp back packers.

The gang started off @ HK bar while I had dinner with Ana at the nearby hawker center. Famous for their Wantan Mee, Sar Hor Fun and also satay. I ordered myself Wan Tan Mee, Sar Hor Fun, a few pieces of Apom and Cendol. :) The food was cheap & good.

Chulia Street hawker food

Then it's off to HK bar to meet up with the gang. HK Bar, the first time I went there was with Viny. Unfortunately the old "authentic" HK Bar burnt down several years back, together with all the log books it kept since the 60s. Well, the new "old" HK bar is just different. The log books have been reintroduced, but it wasn't as fun as reading those pre-fire books. but they've lost the antique decor and furniture. The owners are still the same, they no longer served Tia Maria, good thing I can now drink brandy.

After a few drinks, we head off to the next pub, The Banana Guest House. This one has a pool table. The drinks are equally cheap but not so cozy this one. It's crowded (and by crowded, I mean there were 2 other tables occupied) compared to HK bar.

Banana Guess House

Then they got hungry and we had to let the Ascenzi's experience local food at its best. So it's back to the same hawker center I went earlier. This time, it's Char Koay Teow, Satay, Pasembor, more Apom & to top it off, corn!

Another food break; Back in HK Bar

After the hearty meal, it's back to HK Bar. This time, the owner brought out some games. there's this battleship like thingy and also some puzzles. While Mike battle it out with the bartender/owner/PRO, I had my hands full with a puzzle she handed me.

Challenging the bartender/owner; managing to solve the puzzle all by myself

Interesting nite. Good to know that Penang still has its charm.

Ferry & Komtar; Sunset in Penang, both taken while on the ferry back to the island

599. Chap Goh Meh

Last nite was officially the end of the Lunar New Year celebrations. It's also the Chinese Valentine's day. This is the time where the Chinese people go the the beach (Gurney drive for Penangites) and the ladies will throw oranges into the sea in hope of finding a good husband and the guys would throw apples hoping for a wonderful wife. Bla bla bla. Meanwhile, people like me (and my bros) would much rather just stay home in the company of friends. Then later in the evening, we decided it's time to light the fireworks, and light the fireworks we did. James brought along some fireworks to our place and we had our own stash as well. We almost got our ass blown off thanks to daredevil James who decided to launch one from his hands. Of all the fireworks, he chose one that was "faulty". Instead of streaming into the sky, it just exploded in his hands. Good thing no one was hurt. Subsequent launches were much more successful. Sigh, another year begins!

The culprits

James & his exploding fireworks

James & a successful launch; Debris from the fireworks

Met up with Chong, Antz, Jia Li, Jack, & Ann @ Queensbay Mall. My, my, how Yukki & Aloysius has grown.

Antz & Alousius; Yukki

Went for seafood sat nite with How and gang @ The Fishing Village, Batu Ferringi. As usual, the food was splendid. Louisa got Wee & I a nice pendant watch thingy. I think it's really unique. Thank Lou. :)

My old PC died on me. It seems that the HDD with the OS kaputed, so I had to transfer the working HDD to my new PC. The problem is that the old HDD is IDE while my new PC only supports SATA drives. So I had to run to my local PC store to get the IDE to SATA converter. After that, had to spend the next 2hrs trying diff settings and all before it worked.

My work shoes are a tad worned out, so went out to get a new pair, while I was there, spotted a pair of casual shoes on sale. My friend insisted it's nice, so I thot I'd take a risk. I personally didn't like the design, so it's a good sign. hehe.

The IDE to SATA converter; My new shoes

Had a leisure to watch several movies and also the complete Season 2 of Heroes. First, the 2nd season of Heroes only had 11 chapters, think this has to do with the writers strike. Anyway, it was getting more interesting and at the same time confusing, especially the time travelling bit. It seems that now, apart from Sylar, there's also another villian. Looking forward to season 3.

As for movies, National Treasure: The Book Of Secrets was pretty good. I'd say it's better than the first one. Next there's Kung Fu Dunk starring Jay Chou. Always thot Chou's acting was a bit stiff, but this time around he's better. Not a lot better, just slightly. Story line is crappy, but entertaining nonetheless. Then there's the much anticipated Stephen Chow's CJ7. Didn't like it at all. Thot that he could've done so much more for the show. I mean "seriously", Aliens, poor student, school. There's so much potential for humour there. Hopefully his next movie will be better.

Beowulf was surprisingly animated. From the preview, I didn't realise it was actually an animation. I was looking forward to seeing Angelina Jolie, but turned out she's just a cartoon. A very naked one though. Then there's Meet The Spartans and Superbad. Both are very funny. Just turn off your brains and enjoy the movie.

598. Karpil's Farewell & Mau's birthday

Was @ Soho for Karpil's farewell & also celebrate Mau's birthday. It seems like it's "mess-with-Woon Hong's-head" nite. Called Wee to check if he's there already, didn't pick up. Called How, no answer, called Raine (to check if Wee is @ home), no answer, called Ana, she didn't pick up either. Not only dat, called two other friends, again, no one picked up. For a moment there, I thot I shud take the hint and just go home and sulk the rest of the evening. But then I thot, it'll be rather unusual that Wee & gang isn't there. So I went anyway. Lo & behold, everyone was there (EVEN RAINE), just that they didn't hear my calls. What were the chances dat all didn't hear my call? I smell a rat! It's a conspiracy I tell u! :)

Karpil & gang; Mau & gang


Found this lost froggy hanging on the car

597. Valentine's Day

Went out with Wee, Raine and Isaac for ice cream @ Queensbay Mall. We wanted to go to Swensen's but it seems that they only serve set meals and not ala carte since it's Valentine's day. Dumbasses, if the restaurant was full, I can understand, but it was rather empty. Their lost, we head to Haagen Daaz instead.

Issac playing with the display card; digging in

Content with his ice cream; My date for the evening

596. Of CNY Celebrations & Reunions

@ Home

Ruyi & Isaac; Isaac & Raine


@ Wei Wei's


@ How's


@ Mook San's


@ Chuang's - Roger, the errrrr "ball-less" dog


Saints @ Perut Rumah

@ Perut Rumah; @ QE2


@ Manhattan Fish Market; @ Mois


Firecrackers @ Home

Fireworks; Offering to Tee Kong

Offerings; Dispensed fireworks & Lucky number from the firecrackers

2 interesting firsts for me this CNY:

(1) I finally met someone who can solve the Rubik's cube (3X3) before my very eyes. And Andrew did it in a few minutes only. I've had a few Rubik's Cube (note the plural) myself, but have never solved any. He also has the Rubik's Revenge (4X4) and Professor's Cube (5X5). I was impressed.

(2) A dog that has been neutered. According to its owner, it's now more loving and no longer humps his guests' legs. Dunno abt the loving part, but I can attest to the latter. I remember it wouldn't stop humping people's leg.