My personal blog started in Nov 2004 archiving some of the memorable moments in life. It's also a journal of my personal development from a computer-loving teenager to becoming a digital marketer based in Tokyo. I may have a laughter or two when I read the entries again sometime in the future.
Rather than making glossy colour boots, this time Nike adapted a more conservative move in promoting the football boots for EURO 2008. Basically the only changes are the colours. Here's some of the samples from the Dutch players. (click for larger pics)
Ryan Babel's Mercurial Vapor IV.
Rafael Van Der Vaart's T90 Laser II.
Ruud Van Nistelrooy's Tiempo Legend II.
From these pics you could see the players' customized boots. Van Nistelrooy and Van der Vaart had their child's name printed on the boots, a feat notably done by David Beckham on his Adidas Predator boots.
The Netherlands is one of my favourite European team, and I hope they could at least reach the semi-finals, and better, win the cup as a whole. They're a good team, but they have to justify their worthwhile by winning the trophy.
Phew~ Finally can relax a little after today's cursed paper.
I dont really want to talk about the exam, but I dont think I've any much topics to talk about here other than exam, exam and exam.
Today the papers supposedly to be something I'm quite familiar with. To much of my disappointment, everything seems to wreck up.
Chemistry 2, the question looks kinda straight forward, looks easy at first, but I just can't came up with the answer at few parts. It seems that the Cambridge set some unpopular questions this time. Organic chemistry question, I know what is the end product but I dunno how to draw out its structural shape duh!
Maths Applied paper, supposedly the better maths subject compared to Maths Pure, but this round the situation turn 180'.
Wasted precious time on figuring out a simple question, my brain doesn't seems to be functioning at the optimum level compared to what it used to work when doing exercises. Crap, hate the graph, especially the frequency density stuff. Curse it!
Sigh..... I like being cursed by Maths. Seems that everytime I must have done something bad in either one of the Maths, most of the time is Maths Pure, but this time is Maths Applied. :S
Well on the brighter side, Maths Pure takes up 60% of the entire Maths result while Maths Applied is just 40%. I hope My Pure will cover up my Applied!
So now, I have a week break before finishing off the damn exam. So far no plans to do anything though, maybe start of to revise those final papers?
Anyhow, to ease of the exam tension, I shall be nuking Isabella of Spain tonight, in Civilization IV.... the last standing nation in the game. I'll start a new game with Stalin of Russia, the dictator of Soviet Union pretty soon....
Late afternoon there was this nasty storm and downpour. Electricity tripped, I dont really bother bout that because there's no point I switch it on and to let it tripped off again due to the lightning strikes.
Spend awhile studying tomorrow's Biology practical exam. Done with the reading, so I boot up the laptop using it's laptop battery. Wanna play Civilization 4 again, heh.
Weird huh, today the lightning strikes pretty close to my house, there were white flashes struck not so far outside of my house, close encounter with the deadly bolt.
While I was playing Civ4, another lightning struck, as if the lightning ram into the house, and there goes, frying my ADSL modem on the way.
It was a real shock, because the modem is placed just underneath the computer table. There's this flashy sparks came out of the modem vent. Horrible. I immediately shut down the laptop to prevent any further damage.
Was freak out for that moment, but I can't do anything to diagnose the problem as it's still dangerous to resume the electricity when the storms haven't clear off the sky. Waited and waited, pretty much dreaded anticipation.
Checked the fried modem when the rain stopped. Although the power button still lit, I can smell burning from the modem. I know there's pretty much the end of the modem. Called Yee Kai to ask him about it, since he got similar experience, twice.
The fried TM modem, ZTE ZXDSL 831 in its last action.
After consulting him, I called Streamyx's customer service. The operator is pretty helpful, I guess he handled lots of calls regarding modem struck by lightning, pretty common here. Since the modem's warranty voided 4 years ago, there's no point I send the modem to TM to check and replace it. The only solution, is to get a new modem.
I immediately bought the replacement in Carrefour for RM 79, cheaper than my initial budget. I thought modem cost ~RM 200, well that's the price few years ago. I'm out-dated in terms of modem prices. Anyway, was pretty please with it, for now.
Setup is simple, it works exactly like the fried modem. Just plug all the cables in, and it's ready, no extra setup is needed. Both modem shares the same 3 lights (power, DSL, LAN), same cable ports and most importantly, same function.
I hope this Aztech won't get too strained because I'm a heavy user. Well, the fried modem had serve me for good 5 years since 2003, no complains now. Too bad it "died" in a sparkling matter. :\
Alert for all gamers, WCG is back again in Malaysia! :D
If you're looking for high-end gaming competition, this is it! The ultimate tourney of all! Behold, you're playing against the best of the best in the world!
Hardcore gamers would've heard of WCG before I believe, the mostprestigious stage for gamers around the globe to show off the best of their gaming skills!
The World Cyber Games (WCG) is the largest gaming festival celebrated annually. It is an international e-sports event (or "Cyber Games Festival") operated by Korean company International Cyber Marketing and backed by Samsung and, starting in 2006, Microsoft. The official motto of WCG is "Beyond the Game."
The World Cyber Games were set up in 2000 with the first festival being held in 2001. The festival is influenced by the Olympic Games with a players village for competitors and since 2004 a different host city every year.
Kids nowadays dream of making up their life by playing games as a profession, joining game tournaments and winning up the nice sum of prize money. Ultimately, you'll be heading to some exciting places around the world to participate in the top-league gamers' championship, and the best of all, all you have to do is PLAY withoutPAY!! (reverse of P2P [pay to play] lol) Well, who wouldn't be proud for representing your country to compete in the international arena?
Of course, in order to made it to that level, one have to be real serious with their gaming. Yes, everyone can play games, but not all Tom, Dick and Harry across the streets would take gaming up to another level like those pro-gamers did.
Don't get too laid back yet, you will never know how good you are if you do not try it out isn't it? Here's the deal, Malaysia WCG qualifying session is just weeks to go!
WCG 2007 Grand Final champions - Team USA.
Tempted to join the WCG event? In order to book your ticket to the WCG Final in Cologne, Germany, firstly you have to qualify to represent your country, right? Good news for you then, the WCG 2008 Malaysia Championship will be held from 15th to 17th August at Mid Valley Exhibition Centre. All games champions will be sent to Cologne, Germany this November to represent Malaysia in the Grand Finals! For more information, stay tuned to the official site for further updates on this event!
It's not just that! That is just a tip of the iceberg! The main event is actually held at the out-streets of Low Yat Plaza on the 30th and 31st of May, the WCG 2008 MY Kick-Off!
This event is a latest addition for this year in conjunction with the upcoming WCG 2008 Malaysia Championship. There'll be a VIP from the Ministry of Youth & Sports to officiate this opening, so it must be a huge-scale event!
During the event in Low Yat Plaza, there's almost everything for everyone. Gamers, and non-gamers alike, are all welcome to join the Gamers Fiesta where you'll be served with free snacks and beverages. Oh by the way, they do not serve alcohols. :)
If you love band music, this is the place where you really want to be on that day. There will be a Band Jam Competition where you can see band-enthusiast playing their gig, and you can join them if you're interested to form a band and play with 'em.
Besides, events like this wouldn't be completed with prize-giving activities, right? There's cash prizes to be won every 2 hours! All you have to do is challenge someone on some sort of activities there, and the winner will walk away with RM200! Remember, this will happen every 2 hours throughout the 2 days. Pretty sleek chance to win some cold cash huh!
If you're planning to get some gadgets over there in Low Yat during that time, this is a good chance where you can get those stuffs cheaper than usual as they're going to be auctioning IT goods. You wouldn't want to miss this opportunity if you love to get good stuffs with low price!
Also, there will be another gaming tourney held during the event, which is the WCG Asian Championship Qualifiers. Confusing huh? This WCG AC is exclusively for Asians. This tourney details can be referred here. The games played are War Craft III: DotA, FIFA 08, and Need For Speed: ProStreet. Likewise, upon qualifying on this round, you'll be playing on another international stage where you'll be competing with fellow Asian top players in Singapore in early August. The goal of the Asian Championship, well of course, is to be the champion of the Asia continent, what else?
Either way, it is definitely a fun experience that you'll never ever forget! So come and join the fun in the WCG 2008 MY Kick-Off!! :)
More info about the competition, events and activities can be referred to the official site: http://my.worldcybergames.com .
Sorry people, was totally hooked with the game.... it's just like a drug, I've to depend on it to continue "survive" lol. I'm going to write a review for that game when I've time, probably sometime after next Friday since I will be having a whole week holiday before continuing the last few papers.
Yes, I'm still having exam now, AS exam to be specific, supposedly I should be digging myself with notes & books, but no.... I'm studying history in the world of Civilization IV lol!
Meanwhile, there's this topic stirred up online discussions among Malaysians. Funny.... here's the news:
School uniform sexy, says group
KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian group condemned the uniform worn by girls at government schools, saying it encouraged rape and pre-marital sex.
“The white blouse is too transparent for girls and it becomes a source of attraction,” National Islamic Students Association of Malaysia vice-president Munirah Bahari said in a statement.
A statement made by an ultra-conservative group.... other organizations and groups condemn this silly statement. Saying that the uniform attributed indecency among students, doing some nasty stuffs and so forth. It is foolish and stupid to had such idea, because those people worn the same uniform when they're still studying in school. They may have mention it long time ago, but why now? They're making a fool of themselves here, even the Minister of Education voiced out his objection too.
Enough of those silly news. Nowadays the local media are reporting lots of political stuffs, which are getting more and more boring. When there's more argument between those political figures, the more hopeless we people think of our future, especially with this kiasu (fear of losing) government running around. Even veteran member got so disappointed until quitting the party because of the failure in the leadership.
I say, if Abdullah insist he wanna continue to run the office 'til next term, he's very unlikely to win the next election. Unless, he changed himself up for good, better to get himself brainwashed from all those useless ideas running in his brain as suggested by his cronies and corrupt advisors. He doesn't admit that he's the actual reason behind all the failures. If a leader does not take the responsibility of his party's defeat, he can't be a great leader.
It's not just in a political arena, even in a team also the same applies. If a team doesn't perform well, the first who'll get punished is the leader, not the members. Well, this ideology is being taught while I was in NS. If they can implant it in that programme, why not in the country leaders' mindset?
Talk about bad government administration, I'm enraged by the actions of KL City Council, the notorious DBKL locals referred. They went on to DEMOLISH my FOOD PARADISE in Desa Setapak!! WHAT THE CRAP!!
What the...... 真有够他妈的王八蛋！！
Now that I dunno where should I get my lunch after college. Those familiar stalls are no longer there, I dunno where can I get the delicious and cheap food anymore. With the destruction of those food stalls I patron more than a decade.... it's very sad and yet disappointing to see everything is wiped off in just a matter of hours! Right now I dunno where those stalls will be relocated. I hope they'll back into business somewhere around the old area huh.
I heard that there's foul play in the City Council, saying that they went on to destruct those "illegal" stalls as an excuse of them losing in the general election. Weird huh..... the City Council, is headed by the nearly-defeated party. They aren't happy with it, so now they are dragging us people into the trouble.
The authority however, left out a spot they didn't destruct. A few stalls lying just across the road, selling kuih-muih, pisang goreng, nasi lemak etc stall. No reason why the stalls aren't being demolished as well, these stalls are ILLEGAL like the other food stalls around. Pic:
Apparently, it's all about the skin colour. Those stalls above, are run by the Malays. Compare to the other food stalls run by the Chinese, these stalls are obviously more obstructive as it blocks 3/4 of the pathway to the LRT station. Amazingly, those DBKL officers must be blind to miss that spot, or they're colour-blind?
The conspiracy behind the demolition of the food paradise is questionable. It's hard to get those culprits being "sentenced to justice", as they're sided by the government.
Fuck off! Sorry dont really like to curse but to have disturbing event happened which affects me, really piss me off. I curse those who neglected the orders and take action based on racial judgement, will not be living comfortably.
Until now I haven't recover from the trauma of my favourite food stalls are being ruined by stupid faggots. In the grief of losing wonder food. :(
Sigh.... I'm still really mad with the piglet authorities. Anyway, I guess my situation is far better than those who're suffering from cyclone in Irrawady and the quake in SiChuan.... May God bless their souls. Myanmar gov, you better start opening up your nation borders, let those rescue workers in. They're there to help, not to sabotage your gov. Myanmar Junta is such an example of a failure gov who doesn't take care of their people's well-being. Have a look at your ally China, who did really well in the rescue efforts, no delays and open up every channel for international aids.
Sigh, the world is pretty much messed up for this moment. I hope there won't be anymore tragedies or shocking news in this few months to go. Either way, I don't think there'll be any much good news for the time being. :\
Totally hooked up with this game. Sorry I wont be writing as frequent as I usually do because I'm more concentrate in running my country lol. Currently playing as Mao Zedong for China.
My territory!
Beijing the capital! (doesn't look like the real one at all, Hagia Sophia doesn't belongs to Beijing!)
I suppose to be doing final minute revision on Pure Maths now, but now I'm actually searching CD albums of a particular game, in order to get the music in the game. Sounds pathetic isn't it? Sudden urge want to listen to the music again. Too bad, the CD was nowhere to be found. Was thinking whether I borrow it to my friend last time? Sigh.... it was a good game and nice music there. Btw the game is Civilization III.
I've been looking up 2 games recently, Civilization IV & Age of Empires III. Both are my favourites and I've played the previous series, Civ 3 & Age of Empires II. Both are really good game, and the music played is very good too.
I'm considering getting either one of the bundled games with the expansion packs, but I can only afford one at the moment. Both games now have 2 expansion packs respectively, but the bundled version only comes with one expansion. Hmm.... was thinking whether I should get it now, or wait til later this year to see whether they'll be selling the game bundled with 2 expansions?
Hard to resist the temptation, especially knowing that the game is great, and the music is good. It's a good stuff, and it's just a matter of time until I get both of 'em . >:)
Tomorrow wont be going for class since there's basically no lesson at all. Lecturers aren't continue teaching because they know it isn't worth to continue the lecture, though they "threaten" us that they'll continue teach during the exam period duh!
Now that I'm in the 3rd semester, the final semester, we're still in the transition between the 2nd and 3rd sem, since we haven't really get familiar with the new time-table yet.
Talk about the new time-table, I'm kinda grateful that out of 5 weekdays, I only have 2 days of 8am class! For the other 3 days, my class starts either at 9am or 10am, which I really appreciate it because I can have enough time to sleep! Yeah!! Seriously, getting enough sleep is really precious for us students, especially we "no-life" SPUSers.
On the downside, coming late to college means I'll have to gamble a bit whether my usual parking spot will be taken by other people. When the diploma students come back, everywhere near TARC is pretty much packed with cars. Even today, the new batch diploma students started to turn out, TBR is basically jammed with cars. I wouldn't imagine when the older batch of diploma students coming back next Monday....
Also, coming to the college later will also result in going back later. Tuesday is the worst of all days, class from 8am to 4pm. Well good news is Wednesday 9am only start class, to compensate the day before.
A new time-table also means there may be changes in the lecturers.
Ms. Jeswynna took over Ms. Lynn in GP class. Now we ABC class are having GP lesson together with P class. The reason behind this is because many people will be dropping GP after AS, in the end only a few students will still be continue taking the lesson. Ms Jess looks promising, compared to the fiery Ms Lynn, she's much soft-spoken. Today had the first lesson with her, will be looking forward for her next lesson!
Applied Maths now taken over by Ms Tan. So far haven't start to teach in lecture, she only gave us few questions on AS as a revision for the upcoming test. I dunno why some coursemates are not into her class, well at least I think she's OK since she know the syllabus quite well.
Today we happily welcome back Ms Chong back in Biology lecture after her maternity leave. Discussed a few stuffs regarding the upcoming test and 3rd sem lessons, then she share with us her experience to become a mother. Hah, interesting stories she told, kinda amusing the way she told us. Well then, we're glad that she's back to teach us!
I started to understand what is it about with differential equations when Mr Yap take over the historian Mr Teo's Pure Maths lecture. It ain't that hard as what Mr Teo taught, much simpler than that. Mr Teo must have been deviated from our syllabus. It's crazy to deal with calculus + trigonometry all the time!
Anyway, the killer paper Pure Maths is coming this Thursday. Wish me lots of luck people..... because this is the deadliest of all for me.
Am writing from college currently. Had an extra hour to spare since Mr Low's class is cancelled for today.
Last night spent quite awhile reading my friend Bryan's blog which talks about his experience in technology-fasting. Hah that guy managed to finish off the whole 7-days course if living life without computer, handphone, TV etc. Salute him, because I knew it will be very hard for me to do so.
My experience on techno-fast? Probably is during NS time, where I'm off the hook with the Internet and computer for nearly 2 months (I didn't complete the full 3 months). Hmm.... actually I think I still can live with it, if there's other activities to do to kill time. Else, I'll be bored to death (literally).
Another story....
The latest local news in town is the resignation of ex-PM Tun Mahathir from the political party UMNO. His reason is pretty simple, he wouldn't be a member of UMNO if the current president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi did not step down from all his political post.
Malaysians know what's going on with Abdullah, he ain't as popular as he used to be when he won the general election in year 2004.
In year 2008, he's one of the notorious political figure who're living in his own fantasy world thinking that he's the supreme of all. The fact is he do not want to face the reality, the party had barely won the election by a simple majority (as opposed to the guideline requiring at least 2/3 majority, which they didn't achieve this time).
It is said that Abdullah controlled the main stream media only to broadcast and spread news that's favourable for his political party, and then cripple the reputation of the opposition party.
We say, the UMNO leaders are still in denial on what had happened in the election. They do not believe the fact that they've lost their power and authority to hold a portfolio in the administration or so. They're having the so-called "denial syndrome", as quoted from Marina Mahathir.
Abdullah's leadership is questionable. He did not kept his promise he did when he won the 2004 election. He vowed for a zero-corruption society, a safer community and equality among the races.
After 4 years, he did not fulfill any of the promises, instead everything went from good to bad. The corruptions are getting more and more serious, criminals are at large commiting crimes while the police force couldn't help much because they're "attacked" by the gov, and then there's the racial issues flying around at the end of last year. Besides, the hiking price in daily needs fuels the unsatisfactory on Abdullah's credibility.
As for now, Abdullah insist he is not quitting the party though his predecessor has asked him to do so. Since he's the leader of the whole party, he should be responsible on the defeat in the general election, well that's common sense. A leader should hold the ultimate responsibility on his side's performance.
Although I admire Tun Mahathir's leadership, but I cant help to wonder why he picked Abdullah as his successor at the first place? I intepret that, back then Abdullah is still a "Mr Nice Guy", down-to-earth and do things according to the rules and regulations. He seems to be a promising candidate to be the next PM, so Tun M chose him over instead of the current Deputy PM Najib.
UMNO aren't going anywhere safe if Abdullah is still around. He can only make the situation from bad to worse, if he's still insist that what he has done is rightful. He cannot be considered as a good leader, if he couldn't fix the problems lying around here and there.
Chinese said, "those who put on the bell, will have to remove it by themselves" (解铃还需系铃人), meaning that one who did the mistake will have to settle it up by oneself. Unfortunately, Abdullah did not understand this phrase.
There may be lots of behind-the-scene stories regarding the dark political arena, which we ordinary people may not understand or know. I believe there's lots of conspiracies happening now and then. The future of the country remains doubtful for many people, if the ruling party did not "stand up" after they "fall down", and instead still "lying down" there sulking.
One thing they need to address immediately is the "dispute" within the races. Now that none of the races are threatening each other, so the gov should stop accusing the people trying to cause racial uproar. Actually those politicians themselves are the one who're responsible for strirring up the racial issue. On the grassroot level, there's no problem for different races people living together. What the politicians accused are FALSE. There's no need to mention May 13 again and again, you silly politicians.
At the end of the day, the history of this country will mark a new chapter when the people will vote for the current opposition parties to be the next government, while demoting the current ruling party to be the "opposition" then. This dream may be realised in few years to come.... if Abdullah still refuse to step down. At his age, I think it's impossible to ask him adapt to a new mentality.
This is the second time we experience sudden electricity disruption in the past few months. Hate it.... cant do anything without electric!
The TV went blank, the fan speed decreasing, and the monitor screen disappears at 10pm sharp. Crap. I can't stand there's no electricity at night! Arghh!! It is still OK if it happen during the day, but not at night when you need electricity to run the lights and ventilation! Also, without electricity, computer and Internet is pretty much useless.
I doubt that TNB is also suffering "withdrawal syndrome" like the ruling political party? C'mon! We've been paying the bills and yet you couldn't provide the consumers uninterrupted flow of current! Buckle up your service TNB!!
This doesn't happen frequently, so it's still excusable. But now.... this ain't the first time already! You don't even give notice if there will be interruption or so! Sheez, but what to do? TNB is the only electricity company running in the country :( .
I'm going to lodge a report to the local MP Mr Wee CK, see whether he can help us? I wanna test this new MP, heard about his "achievements" when he's serving in the Bukit Bintang district. Let's see what he can contribute
Currently writing this at 11pm, still no electricity. I expect power resume after 1 hour, but no. I guess I've to wait another hour see? Previously the current went down on 11.45pm and resume around 2am. Tough luck huh?
My laptop still got ~2 hours battery life, and I dont plan to sleep so soon because tomorrow's class start at 9am. Furthermore, this kind of weather is too hot to fall asleep, and you'll also feeding more mosquitoes than you usually do. Those buggy insects love to come out and suck blood when the surrounding is hot. Not to mention, their buzzing sound is very annoying. You can hear things very clearly when the surrounding is so quiet.
Good news, the electricity is back just before I end this post, which is a good news. :D
The time is now 11.20pm, roughly 1.5 hours of electric disconnection. I hope there won't be a third time this happened again....
Hello! It's been awhile since I last write a blog post in Chinese! Oh dear, my chinese has been going downhill, well simply because I long time didn't write it already!
Recently saw many friends blogging in chinese, I felt that I'm being left behind by them. I used to have a chinese blog, but was lazy to update it. That blog serve as a space to complain and rant, even if I finish write a post, I do not felt satisfied with it. So, better leave it aside.
Hmm.... I feel that the way I writing this in chinese is kinda mechanic, unnatural. Nowadays always write articles in English, neglected other languages, even the Malay language, which I rarely use now. Heh luckily I still able to speak it, at least my tongue haven't twisted yet lol.
I uses simple words, nothing to fancy, I cant really write as creatively in others' blog. Heh sometimes I'm envy with them.
It's weird, last time when I was in primary and secondary school most of the time I'm conversing in chinese, but why my essay doesn't seems to be as fluent as my friends'? We're growing up in a similar environment, and yet there is still difference in the essay quality.
There's no point I blame myself or regret, because it's too late already. Everyone has different styles and personalities, and of course everyone has their own hidden talents, so comparing between each other is pretty much useless. Heh you may say that I'm kinda a loser who wants to hide my flaws, well so be it. Still, I believe every individuals living in this world, must have a mission and destiny they have to fulfil in life, and it's just up to themselves whether they realise it or not. You're born with natural abilities and talents in order to help you achieve the goal of life.
At the end of the post, I would like to share this song with you all, a song called "Prayer". Some Japanese composed this song, but brought into fame by Chinese singers.
Let us pray for the victims of Myanmar cyclone and China earthquake tragedies....
People, I need your musical knowledge to help me identify this song. It's a rather short soundclip, but you should recognise it if you're a fan of Star Wars.
A great composition by John Williams, but too bad I have no idea what is it called. The original mp3 file is screwed so I can't figure it out.
This theme is frequently used in episode III: Revenge of The Sith, and if my memory serve me right, it does appear in episode II: Attack of the Clones.
If you know which song is this, kindly leave a message here, thanks alot! :)
Since this is post no. 1400, so wanna post something talk about my views on this blog. Just nice I came across these questions so felt like wanna talk about it here. :)
What goals do I have for this blog? Are they being met? Am I getting closer to meeting them?
Goals for my blog? To be honest I didn't really set a rule or so what my blog will achieve. All I want is to write up what I feel, what I like on my life and so far everything seems to be running according to the original plan. :)
Am I Interested in the Topic?
Definitely. I dont simple write things that I dont like.
Am I getting personal satisfaction from posting?
Yes, whenever I finish a post I felt some sort of satisfactory within myself. It's a relief to let out what's flowing in your mind all the time. Sometimes it might be bugging or annoying.
How Many Posts Did I write in the Last Month?
25 posts from April. Hmm.... looking at this figure, I realised I've written 20 posts (21 for this one) for May, and there's still half month to go! Possibly exceeding 30 this month. :)
Do I have time to keep the blog running?
I try my best to update this blog as frequent as I can, even if I'm kinda busy (like currently, exam period). Sometimes I need some sort of inspiration to start writing a post.
Is anyone reading my blog?
Yes of course. I've friends who're reading this blog, and some readers from other continents. Looking at the statistics, it's kinda freaky to see the majority of the readers of this blog is someone I dont even know! :S
Have I given it enough time?
Yes, I've been spending lots of time on this blog. I think 50% of my online time is spent on blogging, either reading or writing it.
Do I still see myself writing on this blog in 18 months time?
Of course! If possible I'll keep updating this blog for years to come! There's never ending! :D
Is the niche growing or dying?
Hmm.... looking at the stats, unfortunately the size is shrinking. I guess it's because I seldom write about traffic-driving source, those football stuffs. Either way, I'm glad to have more coursemates join me in blogsphere! :D
Is the blog earning anything?
Yep, earning some side-incomes through blogging is definitely one of the main driver behind all this! :D
Is the blog growing my profile and perceived expertise?
Somehow, I think yes, ain't sure bout this!
Are there any other benefits from this blog?
Getting know and interact with people not only from my country, but also get to know some new friends across the continent. :)
Is the blog giving energy to or taking energy away from me?
Rather draining energy from me. It's kinda tired to finish up a post, draining the resources in the brain to came up with something to write on here. Sometimes after having lots of things happened in one day, and you have to write it on the spot, when you finish you basically just too tired to do anything else.
Is the Blog’s traffic and income growing or shrinking?
Traffic is decreasing, but thankfully income is not! :D
Are readers engaging with the content?
Only a few posts really "hits" them to give comments. I appreciate their comments though, as this blog isn't really a highly-commented blog.
If readers are commenting - what are they saying?
Mostly talk about their personal views on what I've wrote. I do welcome positive and negative feedbacks though, as I believe everyone has their right to speak up what they feel about things happening.
What are other bloggers writing about my blog?
No idea, so far haven't really came across other people commenting on my blog, not ever my friends who blog.
Do I have anything original and useful to say on my topic?
Original, yes of course, everything is just taken out from my mind! Some posts might be useful for some people.
What else could I do with the time that I spend on this blog
I dunno, maybe browse the net for more information, or gaming?
What would the impact be of me not blogging? (on readers and me)
Readers eh? Not sure though, probably lost another hangout place heh.
Well for me, the impact can be pretty nasty. I have put in a lot of effort and time in this blog, to able to maintain it since it's started in Nov 2004 until now isn't easy. Close to 4 years already, it's part of my life already. Many things about my past is written in this blog, so if this blog is ruined *touchwood* or whatever, there'll be basically an empty gap in my memory, connecting myself before high-school and college-life (for now).
This blog is like a pensieve, like the one Albus Dumbledore used in Harry Potter universe. :)
It doesn't take a full house orchestra to produce this track, it's just simply a string quartet, a band of percussionist and a choir to achieve this masterpiece, or should I say, a wicked piece of work.
Then again, you might felt different for this song, as different people will feel the song differently. I think it's kinda spooky, yet effective to producing such evil effect. It's definitely a good theme for villains in a movie or game.
First A Level exam, one of the most challenging of all...... Chemistry Practical!
Was kinda nervous to sit for this exam. It starts off with something happened last night....
A nightmare I had, dreaming that I weirdly missed the exam by an hour eventhough I arrived in the college earlier. You know, dreams are unexplainable.... it's just wicked! How on Earth I'll be late for the exam if I've arrived earlier? Either way, it is even weirder I dream of myself just woke up from my desk back in secondary school. I was, WTF?!? Everyone is in their uniform while I'm in my usual college-wear. Wicked.... I know my secondary school is not really far from the college in reality, but to had myself woke up at the other corner of the world is kinda absurd lol.
Anyway the nightmare serve as a joke more than a haunting experience. I wasn't late for today's exam. :D
The exam itself, is wicked too.
Thankfully we've done last year's practical as a mock test, and this year's paper doesn't run far from last year's format.
Like what I did in the mock test, I start off with Question 2 first as I dont wanna fight with my classmates over the chemical reagents later. Question 2 is, salt analysis.
Given FA4, FA5 and FA6. You're required to identify which is NH4I, Al2(SO4)3 and Zn(NO3)2.
The test for the ions are pretty much simple, kinda straight forward. Luckily only 3 of them involved, or else I might get confused with the solutions (as I did in the mock test when playing with 4 solutions).
The weird thing is.... I couldn't get a positive result for testing NH3 gas that will evolved theoretically.... NO3- and NH4+ compounds will definitely give off the gas while heating, weird eh.... Even if I dont test it with damp red litmus paper, I can still smell the distinctive ammonia fume, which I dislike (want to know how it smells, try to goto a toilet that haven't been washed for weeks... yucks!).
Thankfully, I'm able to finish this Q2 within an hour time. Only then I flip to the pages in front to deal with Q1.
Question 1 is titration with a wicked graph, yeah wicked.
It's something unusual that we wouldn't do in normal practicals.
Part C of Q1 killed me lots of precious time as I couldn't figure out how to get the weird volume they asked. In the end I flipped to the next page, and was surprise to see they did give a hint on doing the next part even though I cant get the volume in part C. They even give you a range of values that possibly is the volume you'll need to find in C, wicked....
I managed to draw the graph, but that also took me quite some time to do it because it's an unusual graph like I showed above.
Too bad I dont have enough time to finish off the calculation part. It shouldn't be that hard, but when it ask me to calculate the molecular mass Mr, I was freaked up because of the complexity of the solution.... (NH4)2.FeSO4, this is the molecule if I remembered it correctly. I know calculating Mr is very easy, but no matter how easy it is you basically just can't do it if the invigilator took the paper from you already....
Sigh, 8 marks gone. I just hope I can score well in the rest of Q1 and Q2..... My only hope is that Q2 will get a perfect mark. :)
Next Monday gonna have Physics 2, another wicked paper. Physics is an interesting subject but sometimes it's just wicked, yeah wicked..... Everything is wicked!!
Nobuo Uematsu, one of the best known video games music composer to date. He's been composing soundtracks for video games since the late 80's, and still actively composing songs for future games. He best known works to date, is the Final Fantasy series. Nobuo is a highly versatile composer, his musical styles ranged from classical orchestral to metallic rock.
Nobuo Uematsu is not unfamiliar to gamers around, especially those who played Final Fantasy series before, one of the most successful role-playing-game series in the history of video game.
He has been composing the songs for Square Enix since the first Final Fantasy I and he's been credited for composing the latest Final Fantasy XIII theme song, which the game is yet to be released.
As of Nobuo's style, I shall start things off with this intro scene from Final Fantasy VIII, with the signature theme "Liberi Fatali". It is a strong orchestral piece, featuring some of the initial characters from the game. You'll get to know howy Squall and Seifer got the scar on their respective face here. And yea, eventually you'll get to see the male and female protagonists making up the logo for Final Fantasy VIII. :)
Now here's another scene from Final Fantasy VIII which I really like, the scene where Squall first met Rinoa. Hahah, look at Squall's reaction, dancing noob lol. The song is "Waltz For The Moon", as the name suggest, a waltz, a dancing theme. Definitely one of the most memorable cutscene in the game. :)
Sometimes I think the orchestral version of the songs is better than the original composition heard in the game itself. I take this song, "The Oath" as an example. In the game it's played on a synthesizer, which produces artificial sound effects. The version here, is one of the songs I first noticed how great an orchestra can perform.
"Fisherman's Horizon" is another great song from Final Fantasy VIII. like "The Oath" from above, this is the orchestral version. I like both the in-game version and this orchestral one. A song which I like to listen when I wanna relax abit, ease off my mind. :)
"Eyes On Me", the main theme of Final Fantasy VIII. The song is sang by Faye Wong, and of course it's Nobuo's composition. Another great song, I leave it for you to judge it. :)
"To Zanarkand" is one of the few pieces from Final Fantasy X which I really like. I do not play the game but I do feel a strong emotion poured in this song. It's a soft piano piece, and in this version it is accompanied by a full swing orchestra, which enhance the song greatly.
Before Final Fantasy VII, the game is played on older generation game console like the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), which is a 16-bit system (as oppose to the current 32-bit PC, and 64-bit PS3 & XBox 360). The SNES's hardware capability is limited, but that doesn't prevent Nobuo from composing great pieces as well.
Here's one of the example, the theme song for the Figaro brothers named "Edgar and Sabin" from Final Fantasy VI. No fancy scene here, just the song itself. One of my favourite theme from the game.
Few years ago, Square Enix released a computer-graphic movie based on Final Fantasy VII, named "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children". Nobuo Uematsu himself recompose some of his earlier songs from the original game to suit the movie scene. The result, overwhelming response from fans and the soundtrack receives positive feedbacks from reviews and sale performance.
This battle scene between Tifa and Loz, is one of the best fighting scene from the movie. It features a great piano solo, "Those Who Fight" as the fighting theme. Some people commented they thought this song is played by 2 pianos, but the fact is it's actually performed on a single piano. Noticed near the end part, Loz's mobile ringtone, that's winning theme for Final Fantasy games. :)
Here goes the battle scene from "Advent Children", the grand finale for the movie featuring Cloud VS Sephiroth. The background music "One-Winged Angel", is one of the best track Nobuo Uematsu ever composed. It is a distinctive song as once you heard this song you'll immediately link it to Final Fantasy VII's final boss fight with Sephiroth. In this version, there's a heavy influence of metal rock and a blend of orchestral in it, which I think is a good combination, given that I'm not a fan of rock music. And not to mention, the graphic in the scene is superb!
Personally I played Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VIII and some other titles on GameBoy Advance. One thing Final Fantasy series is so popular is because the music used in the game. Nobuo Uematsu's role in the success of the series is undeniable. Nobuo is comparable the "John Williams" in the video game industry.
I dare to say that he's the greatest composer for video games to date. Until now there's no other composer could achieve his feat.
If you're interested, you can catch up his interview on these links: Part 1 & Part 2. It's English-dubbed.
Phew! I think I'm done with Japanese for now. The next Maestro I'll be talking is about is a German, Hans Zimmer.
Got myself this earphone today after couldn't find the Philips SBC HP195 I wanted. According to the staff in Carrefour that model is currently out of stock, duh! Dont want to wait for them to restock so I picked up another earphone, which the price is just a mere RM 5 difference. Quality-wise, I think I'm still quite satisfied with it. This Philips SHP2000 headphone cost me RM 50.
Looks bulky isn't it? It is.... it's heavier than any previous headphones I've used before. Well at least it fits well on my head, not dangling around, pretty comfortable.
Sound-wise, it produces some of the best sound I've ever heard, I don't need to run the audio enhancement program (currently using SRS Audio Sandbox)and I'm impressed with the audio quality. Now I can enjoy a better music-listening experience on my laptop! :D
As you can see from the box, it's mean not just for PC use, it can be use for TV & other audio systems too, as it comes with an adapter to fit in the conventional 6.3mm audio jack.
Picking up the headphone, bulky.
Chilling with the new headphone.
I noticed something when checking the box.... it's a list of toxic chemicals present in the product. According to the list, this headphone contains Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Chromium (VI), PBB & PBDE. All these are dangerous substance to human.
Everything in Chinese, obviously it's MIC (made in China).
Sounds like I better be careful handling this headphone, or else these heavy metals and complex molecules might do me harm! This is the first time I know headphone can be potential hazardous to human besides causing hearing problems.
On the downside, the headphone doesn't comes with a handy volume control. I have to set the volume via the laptop, such inconvenience. Although it's comfortable as I said, but after putting it on for sometime you'll feel tired because the extra weight you put on your head. Furthermore, poor ventilation in the covered earpiece makes the area around the ears sweaty after use.
I'm an audiophile, so I'm kinda fussy when choosing the right earpiece for the best music experience. Now I might consider getting another sound card, probably by Creative to further boosting the sound quality. Too bad the build-in audio system in Dell computers q(-__-)p . HP laptop comes with Altec Lansing speaker, cool isn't it?
In case you wonder why am I into audio stuffs this much, I might consider taking course related to this field after finishing my A Level studies. Still haven't really decide where should I go, but possible heading to LKWU. :)
If you dont understand what it means, allow me to brief you what really happened.
On the night of Sept 17, 2006, there's this boy Sze Jian, just finished his part-time job, is on the way back home by taking LRT. While he's switching commuter near Masjid Jamek, there comes a robber out of nowhere, and rob him. It's not just that, the evil criminal hit the poor boy with something hard on his head, and then ran away.
Sze Jian still manage to inform his father he's been robbed, via a payphone (his handphone has been stolen). After that, he went unconscious for good.
He remain in coma for more than a year, and it's unfortunate that Sze Jian gasped his last breath today, 11th May 2008. :(
He's my senior in secondary school, a librarian. Although I barely spoke to him, well I know him because he's kinda close with some of the seniors which I usually hang out with. I guess they're feeling down upon hearing this tragic news now....
It's ironic that his demise is today, Mother's Day. It's sure hard for his mother to deal with this.... hoping for him to wake up from coma one day, but ended up laying him to rest in eternity....
Sze Jian & Yin Er, pic dated 2005, his last year in the school. Got this pic from his Friendster, of course he couldn't login the account again....
Since the day he went into coma, there's no news about the damn guy who's responsible for causing his fatal injury. People blamed the police lack of efficiency, but I think no matter where you are in the world, there's no perfect police force and definitely, injustice is just happening everywhere.
Sigh, well rest in peace there my friend. Condolence to the family, and may the culprit face the worst punishment he could ever get....
Recently I'm indulge with the sheer quality of McDonald's food. I rarely pick up any fast food, but take it once in awhile is no harm to the health. Just that, I'm somewhat addicted to McD after having it's breakfast burgers and pies for few mornings.
On the last day of April I took the trouble drive to McD to collect free burgers for friends, thanks to the school admin giving out the free burger voucher.
Free Sausage McMuffin, taste good!
Apple & Banana pies, simply the best! (in terms of quality and cost)
There's one Friday when I'm lazy to get my lunch elsewhere, I decided to ring McD's delivery service to order their set meal. I ordered Quarter Pounder burger to try it out for the first time, and also ordered additional pies because I love them lol!
After waiting close to 50 mins, the delivery reaches my doorstep. Not the fastest in terms of fast-food, but heck at least I dont need to take all the trouble going out myself. :P
The pies are good as usual, they're the reason why I love McD so much hahah!
Now let's see the Quarter Pounder...
What can I say bout this burger? It taste quite OK, but maybe is because I rarely eat beef burger so it's hard to decide whether is good or not. My tastebud isn't suitable to taste beefy food.... I tried BigMac sometime ago, and the felt the same too.... nothing to shout about.
Next time I should try their Chicken McDeluxe, or wait the return of seafood galore, especially the Double Fillet-O-Fish burger. :D
I'm still yet to find any fast-food burger that could beat KFC's Zinger burger, my fav! :)
P/S: This is an experimental post I written on 4th May. Trying out Blogger's scheduled blog post, which means I'm able to write post dated sometime in the future! :) This post was written in-conjunction of a McD Nuffnang ads I just get on this date.
It's something to do with this blog. Just now, I dunno what happened, I seems to have error from Google telling me that I cant access to Blogspot blogs. I was freaked out because that time I'm trying to check my blog. I tried my friends' blog, also the same effect.
I tried to reboot the computer and see, and to my horror, the problem is still persist!
It's freaky.... If there's anything happened to this blog, it's like a dooms day to me!
Since it says running anti-virus and anti-spyware programs, I decided to run AdAware 2007. The McAfee installed is pretty much useless. After the spyware test I run CCleaner to make sure things are cleared.
Well thankfully it works OK for now.... I will never ever again want to see the "http://sorry.google....." URL showing on my address bar..... freak!! It's not only I cant gain access to my blog, but the other's blog too. Without blog, experience on the Internet is much boring lol.
I terminated my Gundam SEED anime download just now fearing that the torrent is the main cause of the problem. Now I regret terminating it lol, but I guess it's still OK since I'm not terminating it at 99%!!
Hmm.... I wonder whether clearing the cookie and cache solve the problem? It was only after doing this then the problem seems to be solved..... Looks like CCleaner doesn't clear much of Firefox's user data.
I heard that I'm not the only victim here eh? I hope Blogger and Google will clear off the mess for good.
