370. Underground Band

Went for dinner and live band performance at Church Street Cafe. The food was pretty good, but for a place that's trying to promote live bands, the sound system and setup was crap! And I mean really crap! The MC was very unprofessional and even got the band names wrong. There were 6 bands playing. Citizen of Ice Cream was good. I only sat thru 3 bands before my ears started hurting and I called it quits. The sound setup was so bad that u can't hear the vocals, the lead guitar is too loud and you can't even hear the drums clearly. Sigh.

Church Street Cafe, too bad the sound system didn't do the bands justice

Then went over to meet up with the guys at a steamboat place opposite Tari Cafe. As I've already had my dinner, just joined them for drinks and also Anthony made a caramel custard dessert. After that adjourned to Starbucks at Island Plaza. But they close at about 12ish, so it's an early nite. Good thing too since I need to rise up early tomorrow for Easter service.

Anthony's dessert

369. Good Friday

Today is Good Friday. What's so good about today? Well, if I'm in S'pore or Australia or any other country that declares today as a public holiday, it'll be better, but today is good becoz Jesus died and on Easter Sunday, he will rise again....also the easter bunnies will lay chocolate eggs and hide them. Hmmmmmm.

Like all good *ahem* Christians, went to church cell group meeting at Sally's house. Was pretty good. After that, suppose to go for movie at Gurney Plaza, but due to lukewarm response (all the guys weren't keen on it), ended up at Haagen Daaz for ice cream. Was a rather early nite.

368. Full house

Mom's back from China. Wee & Raine is back from Cambodia and Fen is also back from staying over at her sister's place. So everyone is back home and the house is alive again :) Wee and Raine got me a T-Shirt and a tie from Cambodia. I would've prefered them USD2 lonely planet books Bee Hong was telling about. :)

367. Headed home

Basically went to KLCC for some shopping and head back to Penang. We stopped by Ipoh for Ngah Choi Kai. Twas nice. We reached Penang about 10ish and knocked out after unpacking. :)

366. Sepang track day

Reached KL last nite and immediately disaster struck. My exhaust was leaking. So had to get that fixed. Problem was it's too late a nite and they can't do it. Arrrggghhhhh!!!!!!! I'm left carless! Darn it, after coming all the way here.

Lena took pity on me and offered her Kancil. I initially thot against it as I might ruin her car. Alas, temptation was too great. I'll baby her car on the track, as long as I get to go on track and learn the lines. Chong offered his car to me as well, but I turned it down (though very reluctantly) coz I figured he'd want to enjoy the track too. Appreciate the gesture though.

Well, woke up bright and early and headed over to the Dengkil rest stop to meet up with all the guys, then headed to the Sepang F1 Circuit. Didn't know what to expect, especially that now I'm driving a kancil :)

We reached the circuit and immediately registered ourselves. We're allocated 3 sessions for the day. About 15mins each with an hour breaks in between. As it turned out, I had a really good time. It was well organized and everything went smoothly. I'd definitely do this again. Seems like the next session is in June. :)

All of us at the track:
(Standing L-R))Dennis, Jack, Adrian, Chong, Lai, Roy, Nicholas
(L-R) Me, Tony & Wood


Me a.k.a The Track Clown; Chong getting ready to go out on track


Some of the guys lining up to get on track

Got back to Sunway area at 3ish, collected my car from the workshop. It costs me RM420 just for them to screw in a screw. Screwed I was. Apart from being the track clown (everyone wanted to take photo with my kancil), the RM420 bill became the joke of the day. One day, I'll be able to look back at this and laugh.....one day....some day.

We had dinner at Marché Movenpick, was really looking forward to the hearty meal after a long day. At nite, the guys decided to party at the Loft. I had enough fun for today already, so I'll pass. Some of us just decided to chill at Starbucks. After that, we just walk over to our hotel.

Dinner @ Marché Movenpick, The Curve; Wood molesting Marche's maskot :)

____________________________

My Random Thots:

Well, did 3mins 30secs on the track, not exactly blazin time, but pretty darn good for a kancil. :) Was really glad that I went ahead anyway. Didn't think I'd have as much fun as I actually did. Thanks Lena for loaning me your car. Thanks to Chong also for offering and the rest of the guys who had to wait with me while I get my car sorted out. Overall, this was a really pleasant trip. Oh, I'd like to thank God, my mom, all my friends and people who believed in me......bla bla bla.

365. 150,000km done


Finally did 150,000kms on my old work horse. 6yrs, 150,000kms and still going strong!

364. Woo Hoo!!!!!

3 more days before Sepang track day :) looking forward to it.

Mom left this morning for China. She'll be away for a week. Sigh, no more home cooked food for the time being. Wee & Raine will be leaving tomorrow to Cambodia. Then Dad will leave over the weekend to China. Fen will be staying with her sis, since mom's not around to take care of Ruyi. I'm going to KL this weekend, so that leaves Seng all alone to take care of the house and the dogs :D Boy, it's gonna be quiet.

363. Cheng Beng

Didn't sleep at all last nite as we have to leave 430am to my hometown. Took naps in the car, but it wasn't be enough to keep me fresh. Managed to take some interesting shots while at the cemetery, including one of the Mystical Lions. The day started with a nice sunrise, by the noon it was getting cloudy, but it didn't rain at all. It was a good day to pay respect to my ancestors. Visited some relatives too before we left. Stopped by Nibong Tebal for a late lunch.

The Mystical Lion guarding my grandparent's (mom's side) grave

After we got back from Cheng Beng, took a nap and headed over to Sally's place to celebrate Adriel's b'day. Got him a little something from Gurney Plaza last nite. It's a Magic trick set - The Chain Escape, it's a set which includes everything you need to escape from having your hand's chained. Haven't got a demo of the set yet as Adriel still haven't figured it out.

Adriel opening his presents

After opening all his presents; figuring out the magic trick set

Oh, the front of their house is now a bus stop. I thot it was funny and made Yat Por pose in front of it. :) But according to them, the bus only comes around once a day. So whoever's using this bus service will probably take this bus to town, spend the nite there and come back the next day :D

362. April Fools Day!!!!!!!

U know what, have been rather busy with work and also was looking forward to the evening plans (though still uncertain), totally forgot that it's april fool's day. Strangely no one mentions anything about today being april fool's day too. Am I that detached from reality? Hmmmmm.

Anyway, after work, got home and decided to wash the car. After that it's off to watch Lucky number Slevin on Wee's suggestion. He saw it with Raine the nite before. He liked it. I agree, it was a good show. The build up is confusing and takes a bit to figure out. Half way thru the show, we see people leaving the cineplex. Guess it's either to slow or confusing for them. Whatever the case, I enjoyed the show.

While at Gurney Plaza, dropped by MPH. Tening sent me some gift certificates as my B'day present. Finally decided on what to buy with the "money". Money well spent. "Car Hacks & Mods for DUMMIES" actually contains a lot of information which I took for granted. :) (Thanks T, u're gonna sign the book the next time I see u)

And then the nite activity starts. Initially, wasn't even sure if it was gonna be on. But everything was confirmed later in the evening. So met up with the guys at Flix 11ish. It was basically a guy's nite out. Only 2 brought their gfs out & oddly, 1 had his dad with him. :D Guy bonding I guess. Had fun. We left about 3ish.

Me, Chong & Anthony; On the right most is Felicia, Flix's boss/boss' daughter (whatever title u wanna put on her)

361. Fen's new car!

Finally, Fen got her car today. She initially wanted it in black, but as always, the dealer determines the color if you want your car earlier :P Actually, silver is pretty nice too.

This be Fen's little princess & their new bundle of joy

Also, went to collect the paintball mask I ordered. It's actually more comfortable than I expected. I had it on for a good 10 minutes at home (of course just hiding in my room la) to get a feel for it. Hey, I'm too free, so sue me :P Har har har! With this mask, I'll be unstoppable in the field. Muah har har har har, global domination is just a step away. Errr, did I say that out loud? Anyway, it probably won't improve my game, but it'll definitely make it more comfortable. The rental masks have ventilation problems and the straps hurts my big Mickey Mouse® ears :) And not sharing the sweat of other players is another plus.

Went to catch Final Destination 3 Gurney Plaza. Surprisingly the drive down to town was hassle-free and parking was also non-dramatic. There was, however, a long que to get tickets. Missed the starting of the show, but just a bit.

What do I think of the show....hmmmmm.....I don't particularly enjoy watching people die :P btw, there's something wrong with the rating system in this country. This movie was rated (U), which means anyone can watch it, yes, even kids. The amount of blood, cursing (what sensorship?) and brief frontal nudity should put this in the (18PL) rating. But that's just my old fashioned opinion anyway. :) It's gore galore this one, some actually caught me by surprise, but after the 2nd death, the rest was pretty much no biggie & one can more or less guess what's coming. So, this one doesn't really work for me.

Malaysian Movie Classification:
U - General Viewing for all ages
18SG - For 18+ with non-excessive violent/ horrifying scenes
18SX - For 18+ with non-excessive sex scenes
18PA - For 18+ with political/ religious/ counter-culture elements
18PL - For 18+ with a combination of two or more elements

After that, went for supper at Batu Maung, good thing all the conversation with the guys took my mind off the movie. Managed to down a Tandoori Chicken & Cheese naan set. But, when I remembered the movie, it started to crawl back up. Heh heh. Time to call it a nite.

360. Hairstyle roulette

Today, after work, it's time for me to play my monthly hair style roulette. :) Went over my indian barber and left everything in the hands of fate. This time around, it was a young chap who got on to work on my hair. No big hoo haa except that my left sideburn wasn't aligned to my right. Had to do some touch up later with my trustee shaver.

Well, joined Jack & Dennis at the paintball field again after my hair cut. As you can see from the pix, I'm a bit better dressed for the occasion :D This time we just used rentals and also had armour on. There was another group of 6 there. We played against them 3 on 3. We did good. Then we went with 3 on 5. After that, we got cocky, 3 on 6. That's when we got our butts kicked. Everywhere I looked, there were opponents. After that one of the marshalls joined our team to make it 4 against 6. We learnt new tricks about team work and commands. The marshall that joined us is apparently the USM paintball team captain. This time out, I didn't get any bruises at all.

After some sales pitch, both Jack & I bought a DYE Invision System face shield each.

After that went back and got some rest. At 10:30pm it's off to Flix to meet up with the guys again. Actually had a pretty good time there. After that it's off to supper at Sany Cafe. Tomorrow is gonna be a longgggg day :P

359. Strip song

Holy cow! :O Came across this quiz and decided to take it. Don't think it's meant for guys, but thot what the heck. Heh heh, girls, please take this quiz and let me know what music I should be playing :D har har har. And if u ever wanna see lotsa fat flapping around, then do play "I'm a Slave 4 U by Ms Britney". CAUTION: May cause nausea or drowsiness!

Your Stripper Song Is

I'm a Slave 4 U by Britney Spears "I'm a slave for you. I cannot hold it; I cannot control it. I'm a slave for you. I won't deny it; I'm not trying to hide it." You may seem shy, but you can let your wild side out when you want to!

What Song Should You Strip To?

Then there's ma pimp daddy name! :D Heh heh!

Your Pimp Name Is...

Stud Mystery

What's Your Pimp Name?

358. A new way to relax

Found a new way to relax in the form of an aquarium. This be a virtual aquarium. I tried to have an aquarium some time back. Didn't quite work out. Even the most hardy fishes dies under my care. I had a couple of Siamese Fighting Fishes (Betta Splendens) and they didn't last even a month. Well, at least these virtual fishes will not die on me and they're maintainence free. :)

A screen shot of my new screen saver

I also got myself a new game called Fish Tycoon. Guess we'll see how long this new fad of mine will last. :)

357. A good weekend

Saturday (25th March)
After work, got back home and tried to catch some zzzzzz in preparation for a long nite ahead. We're suppose to have dinner with Edmund & Mei Sieh. After that, will watch the Liverpool Vs Everton match. And later, proceed to Flix for drink with the guys.

It all came to pass, at 6:30, we headed out to Sebai Sebai at green lane for Thai food. It's Ed's treat as we're celebrating, in his own words, the 3 legged horse crossing the finish line (The 3 legged horse, refering to himself being so slow & the finish line refers to marriage). :) He proposed to Mei Sieh......finally. :D Surprisingly, the food there was really good. I always used Cherry Sweet as the benchmark for Thai food. This one is up there too. This is also the first time I see the Jack fruit dessert (Tháp Thim Kràwp) in a punch bowl. Normally they give u a small little bowl which is barely enough. This time, I had more than 2 servings. Yummy :)

The happy couple; My new Thai food place (parking is a problem though)

By 8:30pm we're out of Sebai sebai and racing home to watch the 8:45pm match. It was a horrendous start to the game. Liverpool's captain (Steven Gerrard) was sent off after 18 minutes, now Liverpool is one man short. But just before half time, Phil Neville entered and own goal which puts Liverpool ahead despite the one man handicap. Strikes from Luis Garcia and Harry Kewell seals Liverpools victory 3-1. That was an exciting match to watch.

Watching the game on the big screen

Quickly rushed over to Flix after the match to meet the guys. It was a pretty good crowd. Everyone was there. Anthony will join us as soon as he flies in at about 1am. Ran into Jee Howe and his gf there too. We called it a nite at about 2:30ish.

Tomorrow we're suppose to meet at 10am to inflict pain upon each other :D

Sunday (26th March)
Woke up about 9:30ish. It's drizzling. So figured I'll give it another 30mins to see if the wheather clears up. If it doesn't, our paintball session will be cancelled. Luckily by 10, the wheather clears. So I gave the guys wake up calls. So far only Dennis and Jack resplies. So guys it's just the 3 of us. Didn't know what to expect actually. So just put on some old rags and head out. It was really fun. Despite getting shot and wounded (this is not a figure of speech), I got myself shot pretty good. :) The owners were kind enough to lend us their personal air rifles (called markers) to have a go at it. Big mistake! they were a lot more powerful and accurate. A big mistake on our part I mean. We went head on with one of the "pro" there and gosh, that's when I got hurt. Ouch! Needed the adrenaline rush though. 'Twas fun. This could be a real fun weekend activity. Heh heh. Perhaps we should make this a weekly affair in the name of excercise. Could be a costly affair though.

The battle ground; The arsenal (they're not called guns, they're markers)


Before (International Man of Mystery); After (Ouch! ouch! ouch!)


Close up of my battle scar; You can tell I took quite a few shots


Me brandishing one of the most accurate marker available in the market (according to the owner)

After licking my wounds, went over to Gurney Plaza with Seng, Fen, Wee, Raine and Ruyi. It's nice to just chill after "working out".

After shopping headed home and mom had steamboat prepared for us. :) This is trully a good weekend.

356. Tony's in town

We all decided to meet up at Chef & Brew again for dinner/supper. I guess it's because it's nearby, they serve decent food, wifi access and ample parking spots. Chong and Hiromi joined us also. Pretty quiet nite as most of us have to work tomorrow.

Nothing much happened, just usual drive to a nearby scenic spot and take a few shots. Dennis asks if we're interested to go for Paint ball in USM on sunday. Hmmm, air guns, paint pellets, the ability to inflict pain, what's there not to like :D

One of the "scenic" shots

355. Sick Aunt

After work, decide to visit my sick aunt at Adventist Hospital. But before that, I need to drop by One Stop (which is across the street) to get my vendor to sign an invoice (and also to get some DVDs la). So my bros went ahead to see my aunt without me. While chatting with my vendor, Wee called and said they're done. That was 10mins after we separated at the car park! I was shocked. It seems that my aunt is asleep, so they didn't want to disturb her rest. They just left the flowers and fruit basket and bolted outta there. :P

Since it's only 8:30pm, I suggested that we go over to Haagen Daaz. And Haagen Daaz we did! Hmmmm, to think we were suppose to visit our sick aunt, end up we're having ice cream.

Got home and started watching the DVDs I bought. I bought Underworld: Evolution, a collection of Madonna's music videos and Mariah Carey's music videos. Madonna accompanied me for most of the nite. *yawn* time to sleep.

Good news, figured how to "properly" work the macro function on my camera. Apparently I need to set to zoom to maximum for the camera to focus in macro mode. So here's a shot of my finger that got crushed from 2 months back.

Sorry to traumatize you guys with this ugly photo, but I'm just excited I got the macro function to work :)

354. Busy busy busy

Busy catching up on my work since I wasn't in the office the whole of yesterday.

Damn, just found out that my aunt is suffering from cancer. She'll be going for operation tomorrow. Positive note, it's very early stages, so chances of fully recovering is high.

basically had meeting until about 10pm. So decided to lepas tension by going for a movie. Luckily, Chuwy is crazy enough to join me.

Watched V for Vendetta. I liked it. I thot it was very creative and captivating. 1 thumbs up! would've been a 2 thumbs up, if not for the ending........i won't spoil it for u guys :)

Quotes that I liked from the movie:

V: This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.
__________________________________________________

Evey Hammond: Who are you?

V: Who? Who is but the form following the function of what. And what I am is a man in a mask.

Evey Hammond: I can see that.

V: Of course you can. I am not questioning your powers of observation. I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.
__________________________________________________

Cover to V For Vendetta's Original Comic. Art by David Lloyd

After dropping Chuwy off, didn't feel like going home. So went for a drive....pretty much ended up going halfway round the island. It was a nice relaxing drive.

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My Random Thots:

A relationship without love is like a house without a roof. It looks secure, but it offers no real comfort or protection. You can tell people you have a house, but people can see that something is missing on "top".

353. A day of meeting

Will be stuck in a meeting for the whole day. Much like last month's, more drama unfolds. So basically, they were discussing about branding, value and how everyone of us has a price tag. That for the right price, everyone can be bought. The difference is bargain or luxury. The chairperson mentioned that if we don't recognize the value of an object, we won't appreciate it and will end up destroying it. It's rather obvious isn't it. Everything has a price......but he said everyone. Hmmmm, interesting. Never did place a price on people. Now a whole world of possibilities has opened up. Muah har har har har.

Ok, now back to bed.

After a much needed nap, went over to Chong's place for dinner. His wife cooks brilliantly. Stuffed myself to the brim. Yummy. lovely tuna salad, spaghetti, rice and chicken. Good stuff.

After the lovely dinner, went over to Boony's place to collect something, he'll be going to Taiwan tomorrow, so too lazy to come out with us. Chong & I went over to meet Jack and Ann at Kayu. Ran into Kenny Khoo and gang there.

352. Lazy Sunday

Like how all lazy sunday starts.....lazy! :) slept in despite an invitation by Boony to go church. Twas too beautiful a day to wake up early. Heh Heh. Woke up past 12pm. Had a little makan and started working on my car. Basically did some preventive maintainence. Since F1 doesn't start till 3pm, so I have a couple of hours to work on my baby. :)

F1 was interesting, MSchumacher started 14th on the grid. This is due to the 10 position drop penalty for changing engines. Despite that, he put a valiant effort by finishing 6th. Renault is superbly consistant. They finish 1st & 2nd. Unfortunately for Kimi, he was taken out by Klien in the first lap. Hope his luck picks up as the season progresses.

After watching the race, headed out to Bukit Jambul complex with Yippie. Haven't been there for ages. My favorite VCD shop owner surprisingly still recognizes me. Wow, it has been at least 1 yr since I've been there. Well, Yippie was shopping for a mobile phone and some jeans. He was looking at the new Motorola RAZR V3i. That's one sexy phone. Anyway, while he was shopping for some jeans, I saw a shirt that was rather nice. Actually I liked the material. It's very soft and comfy. Was pleasantly surprised when I went to the counter with it and was told that it's 70% off. I remembered I need to get a new belt too. My old one gave way d, thanks to my expanding equator. :D Found one for RM30. Cheap and good. Then while was shopping for the belt, saw a nice camera bag (Yes, yes, I know I already have one, but this one was going for only RM19.90), so I had to get it. The color matches my camera......ok, so that's just an excuse. :)

My shirt, belt and camera bag

After that, went over to US Pizza to meet up with Chong and Hiromi for dinner.

After dinner, stayed home and cleared some work. Making sure I got everything in order for tomorrow's meeting. After that, decided to go for a drive, withdraw money, make payment (finally SBB 24hrs banking services is open) and eat mee goreng. Ahhh. another fulfilling yet lazy day. Lovely.
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My Random Thots:

Sometimes I get nostalgic, I wonder how some of my old buddies are doing. Some I've lost contact for quite sometime. Just wondering if life has been kind to them.

351. How to back up my blogs?

I need to find a way to back up all my blog entries just in case anything happens to blogger's servers. Anybody have any ideas how to?

Well, after searching the site, I found my own answer. Here it is, for those who's interested in doing the same.

Instructions on how to create a backup of your entire blog

Was at home watching music videos, was watchin BABYFACE: MTV Unplugged NYC 1997. Lovely. Nice way to unwind....at least until the last song. "How come, How Long". It reminds me of a time, many, many moons ago. There's this girl. She was telling us that her boyfriend hits her and all. We later found out that she made it all up to get attention. Damn it! can't believe we all fell for it. Gullible's Travels, chapter 10. Anyway, the lyrics were very meaningful and touching. But it's true, girls seem to like guys like that, or perhaps they feel they deserve it. I dunno, I'll never understand it. What I do understand is that Babyface & Stevie Wonder was brilliant.

How Come, How Long - Babyface & Stevie Wonder

There was a girl I used to know
She was oh so beautiful
But she’s not here anymore
She had a college degree
Smart as anyone could be
She had so much to live for
But she fell in love
With the wrong kinda man
He abused her love and treated her so bad
There was not enough education in her world
That could save the life of this little girl

How come, how long
It’s not right, it’s so wrong
Do we let it just go on
Turn our backs and carry on
Wake up, for it’s too late
Right now, we can’t wait
She won’t have a second try
Open up your hearts
As well as your eyes

She tried to give a cry for help
She even blamed things on herself
But no one came to her aid
Nothing was wrong as far as we could tell
That’s what we’d like to tell ourselves
But no, it wasn’t that way
So she fell in love
With the wrong kinda man
And she paid with her life
For loving that man
So we cannot ignore
We must look for the signs
And maybe next time
We might save somebody’s life

How come, how long
It’s not right, it’s so wrong
Do we let it just go on
Turn our backs and carry on
Wake up, for it’s too late
Right now, we can’t wait
She won’t have a second try
Open up your hearts
As well as your eyes

I on occasion met that guy
He stirred up bad feelings deep inside
Something about him wasn’t right
The way he proves himself a man
By beatin’ his woman with his hands
Oh I wish she’d seen the light
How can someone like that
Call himself a man
In reality he’s far more less than that
And we cannot ignore
Whenever we see the signs
’cause any kinda of abuse
God knows isn’t right

How come, how long
It’s not right, it’s so wrong
Do we let it just go on
Turn our backs and carry on
Wake up, for it’s too late
Right now, we can’t wait
She won’t have a second try
Open up your hearts
As well as your eyes