yi-shen's blog

sense of humour

2006-05-18T00:48:00.000+08:00

When you watch Top Gear, Rowan Atkinson, you give out loud guffaws with their so-called British dry humour.

When you are watching Simpsons, you laugh yourself silly at Homer's silly antics, when you read Archie, you marvel at their ability to churn out good, clean, corny-yet-I-can't-live-without-it jokes all over the years.

Stephen Chow, you sometimes ridicule his slapstick humour and yet he has prevailed.

To people like Rowan Atkinson and Stephen Chow, humour is a science. You won't catch them in their goofy selves after the director shouts 'cut'.

British have got Rowan Atkinson, the America have... the Simpsons, Hong Kong they have Stephen Chow, back in home we have our very own.... LAT!!!

Lat never failed to make me laugh with his creations, and he is quite a jovial person in real life too. To quote him on his brand of humour "if the intention is not good, or it hurts people, then don't do it". Bravo.

a short one

2006-05-14T21:01:00.000+08:00

why is it you can sing better in your car than in red box?

Posting after almost a year

2006-05-03T00:28:00.000+08:00

Gosh… I am surprised that I can still haul my lazy ass and start posting again… I wanted to start posting once I get the connection at my new place up and going, but judging by the way TM work, I’d better forget about my plans.

Anyway, here I am…

Sad to say, it is not a good reason that spurred me to start posting again. I am stuck in a rut again, the same problem that plagued me and dearest is back to haunt us. I won’t go into what is the root of the problem here, but rather my helplessness when shit happens.

I don’t know who to go to when shit happens… my friends that I used to call? I lost touch with them so long ago after my previous relationship, as a friend, of course they would listen to me but… there are just so many things that I have to update them with in order for them to understand where I am coming from. Anyway, is it such a good thing to let your good friend listen to your rants out of the blue?

Therefore, I will always be stuck on my bed, with thousands and thousands of thoughts rushing through my head, but the people to go to seems so limited, and it is not helping that I can’t sort things out on my own…

Does posting helps?

traffic

2005-07-29T12:19:00.000+08:00

I am a very impatient driver.

...

It always fascinates me that why is it that the people in front have to drive slowly in the fast lane, why is it that there are some ppl who non-chalantly change gear only when the lights turn green, why is it that people will block those at the back just for their own convenience? why...

I have been working for 3 weeks now, and I have to go through rush hour traffic everyday, what and it is always some idiot who is too slow to merge lanes or some one who is cutting lanes that is holding everyone up, so, apart from annoyed by their inconsiderateness, there is always something running in my mind that where we can overcome traffic congestion.

lets face it... we are not traffic specialist, so, even though we spend a large portion of our time on the road everyday, we do not really know what is the best way to overcome traffic congestion, namely, what is the best driving style for avoiding congestions and so on and so forth, sure, it will spark debates in the kopitiam when ppl start talking about traffic congestions, those who have been driving for some time, especially...

should our government instill the proper driving ethics into the mind of drivers instead of those outdated, inadequate training they provide to young drivers these days?

funny bone in a female

2005-07-13T20:43:00.000+08:00

A quick post.

Cheryi is a funny girl, she once saw WALD tuned Nissan March with an enormous spoiler, she remarked on that expensive piece of plastic and asked me:"what is that for? to hang the car up?"

Never once in my wildest imagination she will say that.

last day of my freedom

2005-07-10T22:59:00.000+08:00

hmm...
this is the last day of my carefree life, going to start work tomorrow...
I am on my own!!
then again, what prompts me to write this post is not because I am unhappy that I formally step into another stage of life tomorrow, I am actually quite looking forward to it.

I thought I will spend my very last day as a student/loafer lazing around the house, thinking of the bigger issues in life, gosh am I wrong!! I was working my ass of as production assistant at Mystic Entertainment...

hah!

I was reading my routine sunday paper just now, and there is an interview of one of my favourite columnist. he is noted because of his sharp and witty comments, and he is one of the most well read person around. With impressive arsemal of knowledge, it just empowers him with the right to poke fun, commment and make examples of just everything.

Reading that interview sparks a little something in my mind...

Eyebrows are raised among a few of my friends regarding my first job, since it is not related to what I studied, well, I chose this job because it pays fairly well, and... I am little bit sick of design... just little :)) I was thinking, my field of study my conflict with my field of endeavour, so are a lot other people, just that they switch fields later.... so to empower yourself in your working world.... you have to read... and read.

sometimes, reading a newspaper does really make you stop and think...

I tend to snap at people. The article I read just before I felt like snapping made me stop. to summarise the article, it asks to focus on people's good points instead of their bad one, I really was on the verge of telling people off before that, yes, i might have the plausible reason to do so, and the person is in the wrong, but what use is that? we are not perfect, maybe that shortcoming that I am going to shoot is compensated with something more uniqute, better? I am not perfect either, what about the time when ppl are tempted to shoot me and they stopped in their tracks? Hmm...

But is it really good to focus on ppl's good points instead of their bad ones? they are the ppl close to you, and when they have done wrong, of course you would want to point it out so that they can reflect on themselves... just put the message across with tact...

aiks, confused lah... going to sleep now.

why my last day of freedom is such a tiring one?

story2

2005-07-07T01:16:00.000+08:00

After a hearty lunch and a satisfying cool glass of oolong tea, grandpa yi-shen settled down on his favorite rattan chair in the garden, took a long deep breath at his sisha and continued:

Under the tutorage of Mitsubishi, brother Proton started his endeavor in engineering, as many other students his age, Proton sat through his foundation class in this new and exciting field, although he is not able to utilize his engineering know how to satisfy his creativity yet, he did manage to provide simple and practical engineering solutions for his folks at home.
His parents were so proud of him; they even started to decline the services from the NeepPong family, daddy is confident that his pride and joy is a fast learner, judging by the amount of people who sought Proton’s service in the neighborhood. Little did daddy know though, that being the head of the neighborhood, all his subordinates supports his decisions, although sometimes they do find his decisions a tad drastic, they fundamentally believes that the intention of the village head is for the benefit of the neighborhood. To ensure that Proton can finish his engineering degree and secure the services of the neighborhood, daddy imposed a slight penalty to those who sought the services of NeepPong, gradually, Proton has a stable customer base which comprises of people who needs practical engineering solution at an affordable price, although the quality might be compromised a little bit, but they don’t seem to mind…

“but grampa, why impose a penalty to those who sought the services of NeepPong? Why not let Proton compete with the NeepPong boys at the same level? Why must he prop up the price on purpose?”

“Hey boy, what would you say if I ask you to have a game of Gran Turismo X with Jack next door?”

“No way! He bought that game 4 months ago, whereas I have that game only a week ago, but I would like to give it a shot if he gave me a 3 second handicap..”

“Precisely, that was on the mind of Proton’s dad by then, by the way, he is a well behaved boy in the neighborhood, and people don’t seem to mind his slightly inferior service, moreover, he is able to provide his services at their very doorstep. Those customers of Proton want a local boy to succeed at becoming an engineer too you know…”

Proton was already ten when Perodua was born…

“Grampa, does the name of dua in the name of Perodua denotes second?”

“You bet it does.”

story of the 2 brothers

2005-07-01T23:28:00.000+08:00

Date : 1st July 2060

Being bored to tears by virtual reality TV games, the grandchildren of yi-shen bugged their octagenerian grandpa to tell them interesting stories from his time, after a looong deep puff at his titanium-sisha, he began-

Long before your time, in the western province of Malaysia, lived 2 brothers, Proton and Perodua.

Proton is around 10 years older than Perodua; as there are only 2 sons in the family, both boys are being showered with care and attention, their father even go to the extent of hiring individual tutors for them as he expected them to be one of the few kids in the Sea neighbourhood who can graduate to be an engineer to diversify the family business and reduce it's depend on agricultural products. According to daddy, having engineers in the family is the first step towards that vision.

Daddy has always admired how the NeepPong family is run, the NeepPongs are efficient, well mannered, always in touch with the latest technology, and not to mention, they are a hard working bunch, hell, there are people in this planet who love to work afterall, daddy thought to himself.

"OI, AH PEK, LUNCH IS READY!! I MADE YOUR FAVOURITE STEW BEEF WITH FUCHOK TODAY!!"

Grandma cheryi yelled out, her voice shot through the kitchen, living room, porch, and finally to grandpa yishen in the garden...

"ok, kids, granpa gotta run now, we talk again after lunch, k?"

my first posting in months.....

2005-05-23T00:14:00.000+08:00

hmm...
it's been sometime since I logged on and write something, there is just this little voice deep inside my heart asking me to do something about the connection at my new place.... damn.... and now i am sitting in front of a unfamiliar computer, trying to write something in the risk of being peep by someone else...

been working part time lately, it was an eye opening experience, I liked it, then again, I am too lazy to elaborate too much...

haha...

wanted to talk about my mood swings lately, sometimes, something can just make me feel down there in the pits, and it doesn't help that I cannot do anything about it, cos doing so will hurt more people..... yeesh, it sounds so pessimistic when i put it on screen, then again, I am also too lazy to elaborate regarding this...

haha...

will, then again, at least I took the effort of logging in to jot down what I wanna say lah, you know... maybe will elaborate regarding them in my later posts...

is it hard to say no?

2005-04-20T03:34:00.000+08:00

To whom it may concern:

if you are expecting to read something because you see me typing away, you are going to be disappointed... dig it out from my PC if you really are that anxious to know... see ya...

be careful for what you wish for, you might just get it

2005-04-11T03:41:00.000+08:00

Gosh, it’s incredible, here I am rushing like hell for my FYP yet I managed to login twice to my blog to rant about something…

Well… what prompts me to write this is something rather philosophical…

I always believe that, to certain extent, the more you don’t want something to happen, the more it will happen…

Something contrary to that happened recently, and of course, that happening is something I longed for all these years… Peculiarly, I am not really happy that it happened, because of several more implications that came with it….

So I guess, be careful for what you wish for, you might just get it.. and when you get it, things aren’t that rosy as it seems.

yeeesh

2005-04-10T02:09:00.000+08:00

aiks...
it's been sometime since I logged in... lotsa lotsa things was in my mind, but there just wasn't any motivation to log in...
anyway, what i have in mind now is that my dear has her own blog already, and boy is does look fancy... haih, if she is reading this, substance is more important over form my dear..... try to put in more post instead of making it look pretty...
ahhahaah

now rushing for project and exams... will be logging more often in the future...
chao!!

yeeesh

2005-04-10T02:08:00.000+08:00

shit~ i missed one issue of cars.my

2005-03-16T00:30:00.000+08:00

I have always been religiously buying this car magazine since it's launching years ago...

and after buying their latest issue that day, I found out that I missed their previous issue!! OMG, this wouldn't have happened!! In the course of sleepless nights, tight deadlines, accumulation of many more unread magazines that I endure, I acutally missed one of the most important food for my mind...

I never once missed an issue of some of the magazines which I followed religiously since I started buying them... cars.my being one of them since I enjoyed it's articles very much... I distinctly remembered the issue I missed when it hit the newstands, being the procrastinator I am, I actually didn't go in the shop and bought them...

there are times where you outgrow certain things, when I was young, I told myself I would never survive without TV, namely singaporean TV programmes, but I outgrown them and never missed them one bit when I started my university life... Archie comics is part of my intellectual diet during my secondary days, I did fine without them too when I got busy with my car magazines....

Auto magazines and FHM is part of my university life, I never, ever missed one single issue since I started buying them, I finished every issue with vigour, cover to cover whenever I got hold of them, things started to wane now that I am approaching graduation, I have gotten so busy that I actually didn't get to finish the present issue when the latest is already out...

is this a sign that I will soon out grow auto magazines and step into another period of life where some other form of reading material will take over automagazines and fhms?

Hey, cepatlah a bit....

2005-03-02T23:48:00.000+08:00

Went out for a drive with Ol' Betsy alone just now.

As usual, I used the trunk road instead of the highway, traffic on trunk roads are always light around midnight, and one of the perks of using it is... you don't have to pay toll charges!!

Then again, there are the downsides of using it too...

Road hogs, for instance...

As people around me will know, I am a rather fast(reckless, some say) driver, I would never, ever understand why people would want to drive slow on the right lane and make life difficult for people who want to overtake, yes, it's true, you are driving right on the speed limit, but the right lane is MEANT FOR OVERTAKING. So if you are driving along some high way and you see cars looming behind you, please give way, why would you want to slow everyone down? This is especially true during festive seasons, some people think that as long they adhere to the 110km/h speed limit they can hog the right lane... People will then have a hard time over taking them and voila, traffic congestions!!

And just now, I was waiting at a traffic light junction, when the lights turned green, the car in front of me slooooooowly accelerated and drove at a speed of... 40km/h. Yes, it's a trunk road, and you can drive at any speed you want, but for heaven sakes, why, why would you want to drive at a speed of 40km/h, you can do so when there’s no one behind you, but please please speed up when you see people behind you… It’s not that easy to over take when there are cars coming from the opposite direction, you know…

There are people who assumes the road is owned by their family and slow down or accelerate as they like, what exactly is on their mind when they do this?!?! And driving slow doesn't mean that you are a safe driver, you sometimes can see people chatting away and pointing out sights to their passengers while driving at a speed of 30 km/h... There is a common mentality that a careful driver is a good driver, driving precisely is much more better than driving carefully, I can picture the careful driver always stepping on his brakes upon seeing potholes, when asked why is he doing so, 'I am a careful driver, what...'

Of course, there are some acceptable reasons why people drive slow, some are new drivers, some are not familiar with the road, and the list go on... but the majority of driver who drives slow are those without the 'P' sticker on their windscreen, they just don't give a damn when there is a backlog of 8 cars behind him waiting to overtake him and aren't able to do so!!!

Hrmph, I still don't understand some people have the nerve to drive slowly and don't have qualms about slowing everyone down...

yahoo

2005-02-24T21:57:00.000+08:00

hmm... it's been sometime since I posted something... thoughts are running in my mind a lot, but none of them is mature enough to prompt me to get up from my lazy ass, and what I am going to talk here today is NOT what is running through my mind all these while too, I am writing this because it just so happens I feel like login in to my blogspot and check out for comments (which predictably, is zero).

Then again, there are just times when ideas or thoughts that will come to you in split seconds, right?

...... here goes.

Yahoo messenger is a software every fresh student must pick up when they step into the gates of MMU. I am completely, 100%, utter, thorough computer illiterate when I first came here, imagine my panic when I saw everyone typing, and using the computer as if they are using their hand phones.

Yahoo Messenger is the very first software installed on my 'borrowed' computer from my brother, I was also busy learning the basics of operating the computer then, I was mesmerized by the power of the digital world, what would take ages to duplicate by hand is done in less than one second using the incredible ctrl+c and ctrl+v; I marveled at the wonders of photoshop; digital storage devices that can store loads of songs and videos is like a god send to me too. Internet connection that enables me to look up on my favourite subject, it was just so new to me. Softwares like yahoo messenger opened up another whole new world to me, I developed a new habit, chatting and flirting online, and boy, I really did spent hours chatting online then.

Yahoo messenger has been in my life ever since, new versions are introduced every now and then, features are always changing, and so is it's role in my campus life. The status message function is a stroke of genius, user can tell/announce/rant/express through this function. People around you are 'forced' to know what the heck is going with you when they have you in their list. From the status message that someone posts, one is able to tell something about someone, is he/she someone who rants about anything and everything? is he someone who is so passionate about his hobby that all his status message is about terms that we don't understand? is he a joker that a loud guffaw always follows when you finally understand what his status message is all about? or is he/she the sentimental one who always posts poetry (this is the majority of people in my list)? Or is he/she the ever popular guy/girl who always put on 'busy' to fend off admirers? the list go on.... heck, even people who don’t posts status message are telling something about themselves.

YM has evolved from a chatting tool to an indicator of my friend's mood. When I see something unusual or unexpected on someone's list I would always take note, not everytime something would be done though (you know lah, I procrastinator #1 mah...), but it's like a window/monitor for me to keep tabs of the going on with my friends...

Hmm... if one day yahoo decides to charge for the usage of YM (heaven forbid), I wouldn't mind paying for it... hah!

Ol' Betsy

2005-02-18T02:14:00.000+08:00

Ol' Betsy is in my family for almost 9 years already, she 'married' into my family back in form 1, I still remember she being driven into the porch by the salesman, papers were signed, the old sapphire blue Nissan Sunny was driven away, and then starts her tenure in my family.

She served my family well, although she will throw some petty tantrums now and then, she might shed a bumper trimming now and then, or a punture, or a broken headlight or a... anyway, what she ask for is regular oil changes and routine tuning; dad, being an engineer, understood how a car works, doesn't stinge on her, and always provide her with what she needs. She is well into the 200,000 range already, and still she doesn't need an engine overhaul, that's a testimonial to her health despite her age...

I got my license when she is around 5 years old, being a avid driving game fan, I always rev her hard, you know, I belive in the crap that her torque arrive at the 5000 rpm range, her puny 1.3 litre engine is always singing it's lung out under my heavy right foot.... and, it is not helping that I live in a palm oil estate where roads are unpaved, and everyone in my family drives with guts on unpaved roads...

... and yes, she is still up and going despite the abuse I throw at her... she is just as tough as nails!

and now, she has moved to cyberjaya where roads are paved and smooth, her suspension might take less abuse now, but her engine remains as hardworking as ever under my lead right foot.

It may sound corny, but she sometimes is my refuge, whenever I am unhappy I will take her out for a drive, whether I am kind with her or not, she just doesn't complain. She will swallow my stuff so that I don't have to clutter my table, she will not complain when I listen to the same tracks again and again, she is just a faithful companion to me.

Let's just hope she remains in my hands in time to come.

Makumbo!!

2005-02-15T11:29:00.000+08:00

This post is long overdue...

First thing first, the title have nothing to do with the posting, this posting has something to do with CNY...

It was Chinese New Year eve, a few days before, I was informed by mum that we will stay put in Johor, and we won't be going anywhere, not even Genting (I spent most of my CNYs at Genting since young...). The usual arrangement would be spending the eve of CNY at Genting and then go to Penang on the first day of CNY.

Anyway, it's a new one on me, spending CNY at home, on the eve of CNY, mum cooked a slightly more sumptuous lunch, and then after lunch, dad suggested that... lets go to Genting for CNY...

?!?!

To make a long story short, mum hustled to get everything ready, and Dad prepared the car for the journey, in less than 2 hour, everything was ready, and off we go to Genting!!

The journey there was a smooth one, I did the driving and we had our reunion dinner at Gohtong Jaya, yes, four of us. We are a typical nucleus family. We checked in at Resort Hotel and three of them went to the casino to try out their luck after that, and I was drinking alone...

So, what else is new......?

Nothing actually, we wanted to spend the CNY at Johor to avoid the holiday traffic and the long distance driving, there is a new term coined for this, the chinese call it 'avoiding the year'. Well, I thought I am just that until we went to Genting...

That is not such a bad thing, we all should make the effort to go somewhere, meet up with our relatives, mingle with the crowd... afterall, it's CNY!! This is actually a blessing in disguise, because we still have the resource and means to celebrate CNY, there are a lot of ppl out there who are unable to do so, heck, we should be grateful we are able to hassle for CNY...

Anyway,

I have been wanting write this posting for sometime already, I procrastinated until the 7th dy of CNY...

Happy New Year!! >:D<

sense? scent?

2005-02-08T01:27:00.000+08:00

I couldn’t imagine our life without our senses.

With this, I don’t mean our common sense, I am talking about our senses literally, which is our sense of sight, smell, hearing and such…

I am someone who is not that ‘hearing-inclined’, until this day, I can’t understand a movie fully with the help of subtitles, I can’t understand the lyrics of a song until I read it, and I don’t pay attention orders which are given to me verbally… I remember better things in visual form...

Anyway, I would like to talk more about another sense, the sense of smell…

There are a lot of times where you associate a particular smell to a particular period of time or a particular happening…

A good example for illustrating this would be hair care products, I am sure over the years of using them, we will develop a particular liking for certain brands. As for me, I have developed a liking for hair styling products which are fragrance free, for fear of unpleasant odor assaulting my sniffer… Today, however, being lazy to take out my hair gel from my bag, I used some of my mum’s Wella hair gel, and memories of my secondary school days came flashing into my mind.

This is a typical morning of my Form 5 days,
‘oi, wake up lah, fatty….’
‘huh?ok…’
After a freezing cold bath, I would quickly get dressed and proceed to my parent’s room to apply hair gel…
This goes on almost everyday…

Apparently, my mother likes Wella hair gel very much, she has been an ardent supporter of this brand for at least five years already…

Another hair gel that would evoke memories is a particular type L’Oreal hair cream…

That was four years ago, I was just enrolled in the Early Entrance Program in MMU Melaka, being liberated from the shackles of home, everything was just so new and fresh to me… I would do so many things that I would normally wouldn’t think of doing at home, staying out late, have oily food for supper, reading on bed, using the hair dryer before going to school… And the hair gel I used that time was a L’Oreal…

So, whenever I caught scent of a L’Oreal hair cream, memories of my EEP days will come flashing into my mind, the late nights, the lewd jokes, the cultural shock of university life, the adaptation from Bahasa Melayu to English, the flexible timetable, the adaptation from class room to air conditioned lecture halls, the cheap and nice food of Melaka, Makohta Parade and etc…

It would be fair to say that those scents serve as a marker/indicator of the days I have been through as a human being… from a pimply, scrawny fifteen year old to an alcoholic embracing, more street wise twenty two year old young man…

However, judging by the way my hair ‘grows’, I’d better look for other scents as my indicator of life rather than hair care products, because by the age of thirty, I might not need any hair styling gel at all ‘cause by the time I’d be bald!!

Procrastination

2005-02-01T01:42:00.000+08:00

Procrastinating...

I guess we all have that little bit procrastinator in us, don't we?

Every now and then, something comes into my mind, and I then I will think to myself, hey, this is good material for my blog! Then again, as reality would have it, when it is time for me to sit in front of my computer, I would do anything but login to blogger and write my blog...

I always wanted to come up with a good idea for my TVC, but there are just too many things out there 'preventing' me from doing so, my unfinished magazines, cheesy taiwanese variety shows, chatting, sleeping, mopping around and etc... I guess what we lack is that spark of ignition/motivation that keeps us from up and going... It's like a big chain, somewhere along the chain, there is just this link that stops you from doing something, and that triggers a whole reaction that will makes you just plain lazy to get up from your lazy ass to actually do something.

Whenever I feel bad about procrastinating, I will just say to myself, hey, everyone does it man, you don't have to feel hell, right? Then again, I guess that's what seperate the greats and mere mortals... haha

If I want to do something and be someone in life, I gotta STOP PROCRASTINATING... tomorrow

when I can I have that?

2005-01-24T03:09:00.000+08:00

life is a journey, live it.

... if that is the case, we should enjoy the journey too, right?

I went to Damansara today, on my way back, I drove back with a bunch of friends. I was cruising along LDP with the windows down, and my favourtie David Tao tracks are coming out from the wimpy speakers of Ol' Betsy, the refreshing night air made the journey very much more enjoyable... It's just so relaxing and serene, this, like I have said before, is the simple pleasures in life that doesn't costs too much money...

The night air made my over-active mind working and I started imagining things...

How nice it would be, if I am blasting along PLUS midnight in an open-top car, say a SL500, with my favourite tracks blasting through a Bose stereo, the wind deflector will be in place, and my wifey beside me chatting, don't have to talk much by then, just enjoy the chilling night air... At this point, you will take the longer way to your destination, and wish the journey will last longer......

ok, back to reality, boy...

This wouldn't be possible in the forseeable future, so for now, it's going back to your trusty ol' Betsy and listen to his tracks like nobody's business.... haha...

...and don't forget your class tomorrow!!!

mobility

2005-01-22T13:54:00.000+08:00

hmmm...

I went to mid valley to collect my David Tao album, which I have bought a week ago in a prepurchase event. Upon getting it, it says it has a cd-copy control, meaning that you can't rip it and save it in the computer......

what the hell?!?!

but anyway, that's not my topic here, I am here today because I think with a car, I now have more responsibilities on my shoulder already...

I had around 100 bucks ni my wallet the day before, and after having dinner with my wifey, I thought I might wanna feed ol' betsy also, so, in went 10 dollars of petrol. I think to myself, should be enough to last the car over the weekend, but the fact is... I forgot I am going to midvalley to collect my cd...

So the next morning (a very fine morning), I asked wifey, h, kc and kv along to go down town... to make a long story short, in went another 20 bucks of petrol, that made it 30 dollars of petrol in 2 days... ouch. The fact I am trying to make is, with a car, you have aded mobility, the price you have to pay for mobility is petrol!!

Also when you are downtown, you tend to spend more than usual to feed your stomach... sigh.....

Then again, knowing the fact that you can drive your friends around and then do whatever you desire to because you have a car, you will relise that petrol is a small price to pay... yes, my wallet is even lighter than it's usual feather weight, but.... can manage one lah!!!!

damn, I actually fell for that.

2005-01-11T19:04:00.000+08:00

I bought my new phone yesterday.

Tired of shopping around and doing comparisons, I just went for the one that Kian's got for himself about a month ago, a Sony Ericcson K700i.

I paid for more than I should have.

I went around, surveying, asking for the price in Sungei Wang, prices hover around RM1100, and then, I stopped at the stall which I bought my T720. They quoted a price of RM1050, which is the lowest among all I asked. I told the punk kid there, I will buy now if it's RM1000, he refused to budge the price, and I say... "ok, RM1050, so be it!" and then the f**ker started to convince me that all the prices I asked doesn't include original batteries and charger, and asked me if I would like to add RM130 to get original batteries and charger.

To cut a long story short, I was convinced, and my phone is RM130 over budget.

What the hell, and I thought I will get a good deal in Sungai Wang, original or not, they all are the bloody same, aren't it?

Why I fell for that... why!?!?!?!

City Phone Communications, you just watch out... !@#$&^$%

WTF??

2005-01-08T01:08:00.000+08:00

Went to Rush to celebrate my birthday.

After some whiskey, I pondered over some fundamental issues in my life.

Somehow, I always thought of myself as a lucky bastard, as the youngest in my family, I am the only financial burden to them; both family cars are fully paid for, my parents have no mortgages to pay off, and they can handle my tuition fees without much problem. Money lenders (banks) would not survive if every family is like mine.

Of course there are lots more people out there who is materially-wise better off than me, but I am content with what I have, and I am rather proud of it.

My current phone is rather beaten up, thought of getting a new one, and is now trying to save up for one. However, with the rate I am saving up, my newborn cousin would be in primary school before I saved enough. Mum knew that fact well, and offered to pay for half of it, and that day, she banked in more than that. I should be pleased, however...

I always have this notion that I have everything too easy; and by fufilling me materially, they can place less importance on my emotional well-being... Am I over-reacting? I have no doubts about their love for me, maybe they are not too vocal about their care and concern, and I guess this is just what a typical chinese family is like. As a person who talks a lot, I am the one calls home every now and then, making sure everything is fine and well.

I kept pondering over the issue last night, maybe the alcohol messed up my thoughts, and I actually got pretty upset over it. However, I felt bad about having the thought of my family neglecting me, am I being unfillal? Truth be told, I still felt bad today about having this thought, how can I even doubt their love for me?

To be fair, being overcame by emotions while you are high on alcohol is inevitable, and your emotions will be exaggerated, guess it's just too bad that this particular issue crossed my mind on that night.

Then again, things aren't maybe that bad, we all have our mood swings, don't we? After some pondering, I guess I might just survive on my own after I graduate, and for now, lets just think of my new phone, and my next drinking session...

heartening.

2005-01-03T02:55:00.000+08:00

Was in Sungai Wang shopping that day.

I was pretty low on funds these days, but when I saw the donation box for Tsunami being held out for people to donate, I donated a measly... 2 dollars. Heaven forbid, when have I become so reluctant to give?

Is it because nowadays that I spend too much on myself instead of giving it to the needy? Of course I do.

But then again, it is rather heartening to see the colourful notes in the donation box, it is full of 10 dollars notes, maybe 50 dollar notes are not that obvious, but I am sure there are many generous souls who are willing to give.

A tsunami is the most unfortunate thing that will happen to our country, since young we are being taught that Malaysia is very fortunate to be free from natural catastrophes, the occasional flash floods and landslides are all we have, and they have claimed their fair share of human life. At this point, I don't think even one single human life in this world deserve to have their life claimed by a natural disaster. It is indeed unfortunate if casualties is sustained when prevention is done, but innocent life are being claimed because we do not have a proper warning system...

Countries like Japan which are natural-disaster prone have advanced warning systems; these systems must eat up a chunk of their resources, will a country like Malaysia afford to spend on those systems?

Lets just hope that this unfortunate incident serves as a reminder to everyone that the unthinkable will happen, and be good to the one you love...

boy I love buying shoes...

2005-01-02T01:40:00.000+08:00

boy, I love to buy shoes.

...and for the first time in my life, I bought a pair of Timberland.

As a brand concious person (materialistic) person, I always think of getting a pair for myself, moreover, the build quality looks pretty good to me... Hmmm... I do not know when I will get over the brand barrier when shopping, but brand is what make the merchandise unique, right? (Hell, I am in advertising, and branding is everything in advertising.... haha)

BUT...

That stiched piece of leather and rubber did not really receive rave reviews from my peers, they say it looks too 'ah pek' for my age, then again, their choice of shoes is not really my cup of tea also, haha... well, my new pair of shoe is really comfortable, because a third of the price actually went to the sole, (Timberland call it chassis). They have 2 types of chassis, one is for comfort whereas another one is for 'active'. Being a relaxing bugger, I opt for the comfort one, and the expensive looking chassis is then inserted into the 200 bucks 'shell'. Initial impression upon wearing it is...comfortable... Hell, for almost 300 bucks, it better be, a chunk of my hp fund went to it you know...

Today, I did the unexpected...

Today, while shopping with my wifey and her younger sister and bf, I came upon a pair of North Star white canvas shoes. The proportion and the colour scheme of the shoe are just so right... and it costs just a tenth of my Timberland!!

My wifey, always being the sensible one, tried to stop me from making an impulse purchase, stopped me from buying that, but at RM29.99, it's just so irresistable, from falling in love with it to making the purchase and buying the whitening chalk for it just took 15 minutes... haha

Since I am a car guy, I would liken it as someone who is accustomed to big comfortable SUVs falling in love in a honest to goodness, no frill, good handling hatchback. Think of it as a Range Rover driver falling in love in a Lotus Elise, or to certain extent, a Proton Satria.

Starkness is the reason I bought the pair of North Star, an unpretentious piece of canvas and rubber separating your feet from the elements and terra firma... hell, it even looks good with jeans and t-shirt!! although my wifey's sister did say that north star might be a imitation of all star, I dismissed that fact immediately, although now I am not quite sure about the fact... A pair of stark, simple, no frill canvas shoes does have it's own charms when compared to a pair of big, cosseting, comfortable leather shoes.

Hmm...

Maybe I will get a pair of Tat Sing slipper for myself in the future...

lingering~

2004-12-30T18:50:00.000+08:00

Somethings is lingering in my mind.

It was less than 2 years ago, while chatting with a mild-mannered friend through ICQ... I got acquainted to him during EEP; we had common topics, and therefore we are quite close to each other, we had lots to talk about, from topics in the local dailies to my passionm, cars. However, he remained in Melaka to further his studies in Management while I am in stuck/stranded in Cyberjaya... That said, he regularly forward emails to me and I guess thats his way of acknowledging our friendship...

One day...

I saw him online in ICQ... I rarely log in ICQ for several reasons, and that day I saw him online and we chatted for a while... Everything went well and smooth, until I said I have some computer problem and I am not too worried about it because I can call my brother for help... He had a pretty big reaction to my statement, saying that I haven't changed at all, still asking for help from brother since I stepped into campus life...

... What's wrong with that?

Apart from the engineering, accounting, medical field that existed since the early days, we have several new fields to play and explore with. We now have IT, biotech, communications and etc... everyone is striving to survive and shine in their respective arena, it is not strange that one is not well versed in certain areas. A Phd holder might be a complete computer illiterate. So, I now as a design student have some problem with my computer hardware, and I sought help from someone who knows about them, what's the big deal? In this era of out sourcing, lots of things we see is the effort from several parties, what we should be good at now is the ability to pinpoint the specific problem and source the right person to do the right job... of course, the ability to learn from mistakes is also crucial in this competitive era, but that is a whole different ball game.

Now, I don't bear a grudge towards him, he is still one of my good friends, just that this particular incident is etched deeply in my heart, and I still feel strongly towards it... If he is reading this, most probably he already forgot about this, and if he doesn't.... he is welcomed to email me and screw the shit out of me... haha...

heck, am I a born taxi driver?

2004-12-27T03:14:00.000+08:00

I love to drive.

yesterday, I wasn't really in a good mood, so, I drove aimlessly along the strech of road from cyberia to streetmall, and thought of going somewhere else instead of home. The place I am going to must be a place I never driven to before, and I would love it if the road is unlit and sans heavy traffic.

Where to go, then?

I drove slowly to Dengkil's T-junction, with one that leads to Bangi and another one to Banting/Klang. I drove to Bangi before using that road, so, going the Banting way seems to be the choice. I am not new to this way either, cos I always use this road to Nilai and KLIA; today I am not going to KLIA nor Nilai, I am going to Klang!!

To make a long story short, I drove to Klang without any major hitches, no getting lost, no engine over heating.... What makes this event a worthy entry in my blog is, I have gradually taken a liking to driving alone along a trunk road in the middle of the night with the stereo playing my favourite song repeatedly....

Slightly misty view + cool air - pesky drivers that pisses me off + favourite songs + comfortable driving position = a good time to think and relax.

Then again, what is missing in the equation above?

Slightly misty view + cool air - pesky drivers that pisses me off + favourite songs + comfortable driving position + wifey = a good time to think, relax and talk

So, today, I did the same thing again, and this time with my wifey in tow, you can have too much of a good thing, can't you?

This is how it goes, I dropped her off her at school, and then half way to street mall, while thinking of a place to drive to, I thought of PD, and this time I called and asked her to join me, of course, she gave me the mandatory refusal (as any girl would), knowing this, I plead like a puppy, and she gave in in no time.

Driving along the twisty trunk road, how I wish I can have a nice rally machine to drive with, say, a Subaru WRX? but the body roll and understeering of Ol' Betsy brought me back to reality. Ol' Betsy reached PD without any major complains, and I had a bowl of Curry mee seeing the fried chicken stall that Eng Yooong has raved about is already closed... After devouring the rather untasty curry mee, I drove back to Cyberjaya.

So, I guess I have a new found hobby now -- leisure driving at night. Although I always do drive like a maniac, but I find driving in the middle of the night surprisingly tranquilizing, with no curfews to adhere to, it does have it's risk though (car breaking down in the middle of the night, robbers and etc., Mum and Dad will be hopping mad if they know this, haha). Then again, which hobby doesn't have risk, hell, even stamp collecting will hurt your finances and strain your eyesight......

So, a better equation then the second one mentioned above will be like this :

Slightly misty view + cool air - pesky drivers that pisses me off + favourite songs + comfortable driving position + wifey + rally machine = a good time to think, relax, talk and enjoy

hafta keep it up, buster...

2004-12-22T01:06:00.000+08:00

Just celebrated one of my buddy's birthday at Sunway, it seems to remind me that my own birthday is approaching soon, and in a blink of an eye I will be graduating, AND THEN I AM ON MY OWN ALREADY!!!

I have been reminded many many times that I will be earning for my own keep after graduating, no more asking for more money when I am short of cash, no more fixing ol' Betsy without worrying about the bills... Ol Betsy is now getting on years already, it sprang a leak that day, boy... was I scared, the engine almost overheated... then again, I can't complain much, can I? Ol Betsy is almost 9 years old already, and it hasn't gobble up much money in repairs, all that was spent is for routine maintainance, she really served my family well all these years, heck, even if I inherit this car instead of the Waja, I will still drive it without complains, and if I can afford it, I won't even sell it.

Oh, just as I thought I will stop writing my blog already, I actually remembered the password and username for logging in.... so I thought, I might just log in and write some stuff, haha... hence the title 'hafta keep it up, buster...'

market research.

2004-12-09T23:25:00.000+08:00

em hmm...

been reading my 2 previous post, it looks a little bit cramped, will be a bit of a information overload for those casual readers, but then again, till now, this blog is only made known to one ppl, which is my wifey, so I guess this is not so much of a problem for now...

Looks like my introduction is always something irrelevant to my blog's topic eh? heh, been doing nothing the whole day. Was putting my mind through the grind of a book , it's a nice book, talking about the intricacies of advertising and such, maybe the writing prowess of the author is beyond my modest comprehension, anyway, it mentioned about the irrelevance of marketing research and focus groups.

.....?!?!

it says that focus groups are made up by people who have nothing better to do so they resort to giving pointless opinions about advertising and answering questions which in the first place where they have no answers for. In short, it urges agencies and creatives to rely on their guts and intuition, to create something that will resonates with the audience, to penetrate the cage that the target audience have build over the years. for your notice, I am not quoting directly from the book, but this is my interpretation after reading the material, refer to page 28 - 33 on the book if you wish to know more. :D

I am not in a position to comment about that, but I will opiniate based on the subject I am most familiar with...... cars!!

Original Volkswagen Beetle
Adolf Hitler comissioned Dr. Ferdinand Porsche to build a car for the people, several requirements have to be met, I am not sure what they are, but ease of maintanaince, and adequate room for people are certainly priorities. Pak Cik Porsche gave us the Beetle, and it only went out of production a few years ago, after decades of production. The original Beetle is a people's car, enabling the people with mobility and it acheived cult status around the world, with countless fan clubs. It certainly is a landmark of car manufacturing, and I wonder if Hitler did get opinions from the people when he decided to build a car for the masses....

Original Mini
Sir Alec Issigonis, who conceived the idea of an affordable small car, built the Mini. Certainly no amount of focus group would have come up with the idea in those days. It would be funny to see Sir Alec handing out questionaires asking 'would you like to drive a small front wheel drive car (which until now, nothing has been engineered that way yet)?'. I would like to think of Sir Alec Issigonis relied on his gut and judgement when creating the original Mini.

Then again...

Focus groups did helped in the creation of one of the more successful examples also.... The Volvo XC90, it's creation spunned by the lucrative US SUV market, Volvo is a late contender in the market, but during the process of developing the car, they had the opinions of 'soccer mums' who influenced the design of the car, right to the door handles, engine characteristics, styling, handling and etc. It was a hit during the launch, and a runaway success, it is now one of the best sellers in it's segment around the world. Volvo had no qualms in admitting the female influence in the development of the car....

heh.. it is a nice feeling, having getting opinions out of my chest, it is strange though, what was flashes in my mind took my almost an hour putting them into paper... screen.
Most of the time the mind spins faster then the hands, and this is the time where we lose the motivation to continue writing... wonder how most successful writer deals with this, or how do they transplant thoughts from their mind to paper... keyboard?

Last but not least, what I wrote here is just a fraction of what went through my mind, and everything I wrote went through minimal, non-existent editing, readers (for now it's only my wifey), bear with my uncomprehensible writing for the moment, and my writing skills will (hopefully) improve with time. :D

bored bored

2004-12-06T18:26:00.000+08:00

bored bored bored...
I am bored to tears at home!!!
it is a good thing though, I will turn to my ol' blog when I have nothing or no one to turn to... Sigh, I am thinking of another subject to write about other than my own thoughts, sadly, nothing turned up yet, or is it that I am not sensitive enough or open enough to pour everything online?
I am looking forward to a nice book, I will be banking in money to acmabooks for 2 books tomorrow, authored by one my favourite journalist, jeremy clarkson, but it will be another 5 or 7 bloody weeks upon payment!! gosh...
the Da Vinci code is a nice one, few ppl around is already starting on that book, one of them actually finishing it already, jusging by the people who read that book, I can foretell that I will like that book very much.
jeez, it is a strange feel, here I am, slightly depressed because of nothing to do all day, but things is a little bit more better now that I am pouring my grouses on the keyboard...
heh heh...
think I will now post the blog url in my friendster and let my blog made known.

first posting

2004-12-05T02:08:00.000+08:00

ok...
I have been wanting to post something for sometime already...
due to procrastination, which is an undesirable trait of mine, i keep putting off my registration for a blog spot.
The intention to create a blog is to share my views, and my hobby with like minded people, of course it will also contain my rants on relationships, politics(?!?!), designs, and on interesting going-on in my everyday-life... so it's basically an extension of my thoughts, only sorted and presented... and no, it will not be filtered, the most I can do is to tone down the harshness of the language... that's what a blog is meant to, to let you get the load off your mind... right?
What prompts me to get out of my act to write this is because of a brief disagreement with my gal, although I did say that a blog is an extension of my thoughts, there are times where I choose to solve the problem with action instead of ranting it out for everyone to see...

Ok...
After the rather lenghty introduction, I will now talk about the first posting, for those who knows me, they will know that my only obssession is...... cars. I am not into sports, risking of being called gay and made fun by my sports crazy friends, what is so fun about 22 men chasing a bloody ball around a field?

Now, there are a lot of petrolheads around, we have those ah bengs who are into cheesy car modifying (in regards of the definition of cheesy car modifying, message me at yschung4350@yahoo.com) , we have rich (lucky) fellas who get to buy expensive cars and spend tens of thousands ringgits on it, and then we have individuals who have yet to have the financial ability to dabble in this costly hobby, all we can do is spent our measly allowance on motoring publications and read them cover to cover. I belong to the last category. When you are in this category, you will be scoffed at by some cynics, dismissing us as some young kids who knows nothing about the practical aspects of the automotive business, we are those who can't get their hands dirty when our car have problems...

All is not lost though, by ogling at the fabulous pictures in those publications, we learn about the going ons of the industry, and dreaming of becoming motoring journalists, it's a nice job, getting flown around business class by marketing departments of car makers, enjoying first class accomodation and not to mention driving around in the latest the market has to offer.

Gosh... too much has just flooded my mind, it's pretty late now, i guess I will now sign off, who will read this blog of mine? hah, I guess i will have to post the url in friendster to let ppl know more about me... and I do hope that I will be consistent about wrting my blog.