Painting Colours

Ironically, my return this time is more relishable than it ought to be. I enjoyed every second spent with my dad at the badminton court. More like lessons rather than plays. I got beaten by regular housewives who play there, you can tell how lousy a player I am. Wrong idle stances, racket handling is inappropriate and poor strength estimation and control. However, I find bliss in identifying my flaws, as well as learning to correct or rectify them. Hopefully I will improve in no time, or if not, gradually. This reminds me of a saying by Confucius, “It doesn’t matter how slow you walk, as long as you reach your destination.”. Tomorrow will be my last lesson before I get my ass back in KL as they play on Mondays and Wednesdays only.

These few days, time kinda flew. We (Kee Wei, Tze Fong, Cicak and me) spent quality time eating at several places (Even at Mak Long’s shack!), watching movies and playing 2 friendly matches of D.O.T.A. , shopped for housewarming gift prior to Cteng’s housewarming party, in conjunction with her brother’s birthday celebration. During the party, her brother’s buddies were having some kind of a Digimon Rumble match which I found it very amusing. The noteworthy scene was when the infamous Shan’s brother, usually addressed as “Ah Yu” gasconading his skill in gaming and challenged his acquaintances. Obviously like his sohai brother, the haolien-ness imprinted on him or originated from birth, of that I’m not sure. “Lai ah, kia-lu ah!” (I’m fearless, bring it on!) , he exclaimed in Hokkien. When defeated, he minimized his discouragement by accusing his opponent of playing balless-ly. “Tho bou-chi eh la!”, he shouted in Hokkien. How funny! I guess gaming is regarded as a platform for kids here to exhibit their boldness and skillfulness or intelligence if you must and as an activity which they take pride in doing. We sent Kee Wei home and watched an episode of Naruto Shippuuden before we continued playing cards and drank sparkling juice with beer at Cteng’s house. Kee Wei left for KL later that day.

Yesterday, those girls except Cteng came to “Paris” to kacau-kacau sekejap before we all went out to jalan-jalan, later followed by Tze Fong and Cicak. Visited Page 2, HOTS and A&W. Thiam Boon and Yen Ling joined us at A&W. Curly Fries and Root Beer Float, nyum nyum.  Cicak later send all the girls back, while I fetched Tze Fong to purchase his special brush at GQ Stationery. The guys, including me stayed at "Paris" for a lil' Animatrix sensation before we left for dinner at Desa Hill. What a day!


Last Row: Tze Fong, Kee Wei


Last Row: Nobu, Cicak, Rui, Iza  -  Front Row: Cteng, Mei, Ying


Jom Makan: Nasi Minyak, Nasi Kunyit, A bucket of KFC, Confections, Oranges

Happy Homecoming

Back in my hometown since last Wednesday. Nothing much has really changed. Apart from a few new outlets, MPKT is renamed to MBKT, wearing the "Bandaraya" status proudly and I can see a few minor improvements in China Town, some paint jobs done and improved road. There are still road works going on in some other part of the town. Spent the first few days trash-hunting in my room at "Paris". Obsolete VCDs, used book of all kinds, newspaper cuttings, third grade toys and etc; All are sorted and ready to be recycled or given away to cousins. I found some of my old notebooks which I sketched and scribbled alot in, random arts and journals, some are quite impressive. (Haha, Puji diri.) CDs and more CDs, now reorganised and nicely kept. Novels too are rearranged.

On Sunday, 2 days ago, I went to yumchar with old buddies (Tze Fong, Kok Jiun, Cicak, Cteng, Iza and Ying) at the first branch of Secret Recipe in KT. We had the time of our lives. We were like the noisiest bunch there, laughed hysterically like no one was around. As usual-lah, naughty jokes, teases and crazy talks. Ying ordered Banana Yogurt Drink, gross. No offense, it looks like a blend of bananas and semen. We joked that the male staffs took turn to fill up the glass xD. Satisfied with the appetizers, we moved on to the next stop which is just a few steps away. Uncle Chua Kopitiam. The Cham Peng was ridiculously sweet but the food was ok. Poor service though, snail-like. And more sohai talks continued.

The next day, which was yesterday, I went to Mydin Hypermart with Cicak, Iza and Ying. The first ever gigantic hypermart in my hometown, very crowded. Ying went all the way there just to buy a pair of selipar getah jepun, while I bought 2 bottles of lotion and 2 packs of Topaz Razors as requested by my mom. Then we stopped by a while at Cteng's new house near Chuk Lim Vegetarian Restaurant. We intended to watch a movie there at first but due to the noise pollution by the renovation work of her stairs, we only killed 10 minutes and off we went to the first McD in KT. Makan-makan kejap and drove them around town jalan-jalan, then we called it a day.

Oh yeah, Merry Christmas to all. Hopefully Santa will send me a lenglui this year. He has been ignoring me for 7 years already.



From left: Nobu, Iza, Cteng, Ying, Kok Jiun


Right most: Cicak


The only guy who is not in previous pics: Tze Fong

M For Malaysia

Check out this parody version of V for Vendetta. My dad found it some time ago. Enjoy!

V For Vendetta

I've been watching it 3 times in a row now, summing it up to a total of 4 times if counting the first time I watched it last year. An ingenious movie I must say. High praise goes to the Wachowski Brothers again for their brilliant screenplay. Not to forget Sammy Sheldon for her splendid work in making V looks charmingly cool in his costume. We all know Hugo Weaving can act, and it's Natalie Portman who truly shines in this film. Really impressed, I am. The satiric dialogues get me everytime too. The details keep you moving, portraying the idea of a dystopian future, under a selfish dictatorship rule. The kind that will sacrifice innocent lives for the sake of the development of biological weapons that promises more power in return. It proves to you how rotten a government can be, masking their inhumanity with propagandas in order to twist the truth. Some of the memorable quotes from V For Vendetta, "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." - V and "You wear a mask for so long, you forget who you were beneath it." - Gordon Deitrich. I don't wish to leak out more spoilers. Please do watch it. I salute to the crew members who gave it a 110% in producing the film. I bought the original two-discs special edition DVD release that comes with a mini graphic novel and customized my desktop to celebrate my infatuation.

Ungrateful Maid

On the 8th of December, I found out that the maid who's working in my uncle's house is the one who stole the mp3 players. She never had thought that I would went up that fast since I was in the theatre room which I would usually spend an hour or two. I could see her panic face when I was out from the theatre room. I knew something was wrong. I saw 2 mp3 players, nicely plugged into my Lynda (Laptop) for charging. This could only mean one thing, that she sneaked into the room I'm staying beforehand. (The whole family went to US for vacation.) I pretended like I saw nothing out of the blue and went down for dinner. While I was filling up my mouth, she moved towards the living room and I heard the opening of the main door. After dinner, I headed straight into the room to find that the mp3 players were removed. You should get it now eh? (The opening of the main door was just a distraction, she went up to retrieve them.) I went out early for the final exam on 10th of December. When I got back, I realised that she had used my Lynda for charging again. I usually turn on the plug when I'm using it, but on that day when I turned Lynda on, the charging icon was lit up.

I acted like nothing happened until my uncle and his family were back from vacation. My aunt asked if she had seen the mp3 players, and she replied, “Erm, no. I don't even know what they are.” We checked with the cams' recording based on the time I jotted down, she indeed had went up to the room. My uncle and aunt then approached her and talked about it. They promised not to complicate the matter if she returned them back, and so she did. My aunt phoned the agent and earlier today the agent showed up to deal with the matter. The agent asked her if she wanted to continue working, she said no. We didn't even force her to go home, she made that choice herself. This was before we found out the darker side of her. Read on.

Here's the interesting part. After she had packed up for the leave, the agent checked through all her belongings and her body (The bra can be a secure place to hide items.) She tried to abscond some items before leaving. Some cash were found inside a folded pants, not inside any of the pockets, and a “Las Vegas” key chain which she claimed that she found it on the roadside. Very funny, the key chain is one of the souvenirs they bought from the US and she was saying that she found it on the roadside. My cousin counted the key chains from her bag and realised that they were short of one. This is not even the worst part yet. After she left with the agent, we checked her room through and through. Surprise surprise. More stolen items. (Refer to the pictures below.) She even scribbled a note on the bed sheet. It reads,

“Inilah kisah yang sangat menyakitkan bagi yang ada di sini. Hai kawan, perkenalkan nama saya Yanti, berasal dari Kalimantan Barat Pontianak. Saya bekerja di sini hanya sampai setahun dan saya dipulangkan ke Ejen kerna hanya sedikit kesalahan yang tidak di senyaja. Dan bagi yang baru di sini aku pesankan harus hati=2 kerna di Malaysia tidak sama dengan di Indonesia. Dan kebanyakan di Malaysia orangnya jahat dan tidak segan. Selesai.”
(Click here to view the picture.)

Translation: “This is a very saddening story for those who are here. Hi my friend, my name is Yanti, I'm from West Kalimantan, Pontianak. I've worked here barely a year and I'm sent back to agency just because I unpurposely made a minor mistake. And for you who are new here, I warn you to be aware and becareful because Malaysia is not the same if compared to Indonesia. And most of the people here are mean and disgraceful. That's all.”

My patience has its limit. I'm so enraged even though I'm not the owner of the house, that's why I'm writing this post to reveal it to all. It's not that we treated her badly. I will show you her room, I tell you it's even better than the one I'm renting in Arena Green. (Refer to the picures below.) And she's free to cook whatever she likes with the stockup ingredients and fresh food. How can she be so ungrateful? Note the phrase “unpurposely made a minor mistake”. Yea right, you call a theft an unintentional misdoing? Well, F**k You. Despite not feeling sorry, she's blaming us. She also left another random scribble on a box in the garden store room which states,

“______ ku tak perna hilang, tak pernah ku inginkan perpisahan ini terjadi_______ kekuatan hati yang _____ Jul. (Love) __ Wo Ai Ni” (Yes, she knows abit of mandarin and cantonese.)
(Click here to view the picture.)

Translation: “_____ I was never lost, I never intended such a separation to happen______ the strength of the heart that's_____ Jul. (Love)___ I Love You.”

I started to think that she has mental illness. In addition to this, we found 2 wrappers of chocolates from US. She must had eaten them secretly in the garden store room earlier. Felt like an idiot that I pitied her before this. Appearance can be very deceiving, just to remind you guys. 


Stolen items:


Sony MP3 Players


Cash


"Las Vegas" Key-chain.


Lilian's notebook and fish charm necklace.




Her room:


Queen-size Bed


Wall clock, cupboards and wardrobe.


Classy ceiling fan with remote control.

The Golden Compass

The team who made the intriguing trailer must be praised for the good impression it gives and the anticipation I had. How bad can it be with great visuals and prominent cast members I thought. To my surprise, this movie has most of the elements that define a bad movie. Lame dialogues, unmoving music, laughable choreography and unconvincing acting. All the pieces fail to connect brilliantly, making it a stodgy 2-hour feed. It's such a waste for casting Eva Green, Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman in it. The visual candies are the only remaining fun factor that keeps me seated, I still yawned like 5 times nevertheless. Everytime when Lyra spaces out when she enquires the compass, it reminds me of the Ghost Rider's Penance Stare. They share the same lameness. If the alethiometer is indeed that powerful to seek the truths in the world full of the Magisterium's propagandas; Why not just use it to clear all the doubts Lyra has and find out the Magisterium's weaknesses? Instead of using it to reveal Serafina Pekkala's first love. It's not funny. *Eyes rolling* Another obvious sohai scene is when the Magisterium's troops are trying to take down Iorek. While Iorek is free and pawning their comrades, they try to shoot like hell and miss miserably. When they finally hooked Iorek down with the rope-anchor thingy, the rest of the troops just aim at Iorek without shooting. It's like they delay it on purpose, to get pawned by the witches (Gyptians' reinforcement) before taking him down. You should see the look of Billy's face when Lyra recovers him after the “intercition”. He looks as though a stud has been suffering from a sudden Erectile Dysfunction. Excuse me for ruining the supposedly melancholic scene. I'm not directly critising Philip Pullman's novel, actually I haven't read it. I'm just paying my two cents on the movie by itself. Sorry if I have offended the fans of the movie. It's just my honest point of view. I would name it "The Vapid Compass".

Life Pledge? Nah.

Things to do before I die, let's see. I haven't set my foot on Japan or got to own a mac book yet, so those two are gonna be in. Then earn enough money to repay my parents? I think I'm considered a filial son, never did anything too rebellious except for some verbal fights and stayed out late burning cash at cyber cafe with friends in the recent past years. I certainly hope to take them to wherever they wanna go and spend some quality time together.

Er clubbing? I'm not really sure if I wanna do this but what people say is that you have to at least experience it once. Booze, horny guys, girls, annoying lights and loud shitty music. Okay the girls part does sound like a good reason. I might give it a try. Next, contribute, do something helpful to others, be a good citizen and stuff like that. Learn more and try to have an in-depth understanding of Buddhism. I may be humsup, but I'm not a bad person. You'll be surprised how nice I can be. xD

Watch movies, suck onto music to my heart's content. I certainly cannot live without them. They are like the oxygen to my soul. I would really love to see all those talented and down to earth independent artists and film makers gain more recognition and impress more tasteful audience. The world need more people like Chris Martin and Yasmin Ahmad. People who see the good in people and try to make the world a better place with their creative juice.

Finally, I do hope to find my soul mate. My love life seems very bleak to me. I can see no light at all along the path. Damn, all these years I have only felt the transient heat and sensation of love from dramas and movies. How pathetic. Can't help but to feel empty sometimes. You single souls out there should be very clear of what I mean. 

Good day to you and thanks for reading my shit.

Reciprocated Request

I'm truly grateful that my request for school food punishment's sophomore album ("air feel, color swim") turned out to be fruitful. After days of unreplied thread, finally a generous chap (One80) sent me a private message on Jpopsuki. He intentionally uploaded the album to Sendspace to share it with his friends but somehow he happened to come across my request. Thus, he provided me the spade to harvest the crop. The zipped package includes a promotional video of "you may crawl" and a live video besides the album. I couldn't be happier. That totally makes my day! I have uploaded the PV to Youtube. 
Please click here to watch it.  



(Note: The album art above is taken from the official website)