End of February

My my.... time really passes faster than most expected! Feb seems to be shorter (blame it on the one who ATE the addition 48 hours!

Right.... so next Friday would be a special day for me. My birthday that is.
So far no plans of celebration yet, but on the 7th of March I'll be heading up to Genting Highlands for Kitaro Live in Genting 2009 again.



Happened to attended his concert back in Nov 2007 with two friends, it was good but too bad the horrendous sound system ruined the great experience. I hope they do not had such problem this time. Perhaps Genting should consider upgrading their ageing speakers system already.

I already prepared the fund to "cultivate" my collection of CDs, and if there is any album which caught my attention on that day I will not hesitate to buy it.

Talking about end of Feb, I checked my Adsense earnings for this month. Still a little short from $20 mark for this month. Noticed the deep plunge in the earnings since last year Dec "thanks" to the economic recession.
No complains here, as I earn just by keeping this blog running and actively updating.

Decided not to withdraw the money yet as I plan to support myself a little while in Jpn. Luckily Western Union service can be easily reached in many parts of the world.

Only 1 more month to go, I had like 31 days left before I left for the better place. Still haven't sort out anything yet, but I think better start preparing early so that I won't messed up things at the end. You know, the final last few days can be crucial when the time seems to be passing very fast and yet still haven't finish load the things in.

Sis CLH is coming back from UK for a short break just 2 days before I left. Basically she just had a whole day to spend at home before sending me off on the next day. Wanted to learn a few cooking tricks from her but I think due to the retrained time I might just learn all by myself. Theoretically I know how it works, but practically I didn't try it before.

I plan to make one farewell gathering like one Theng Tsing had earlier this month.
The location is tentatively at 4 Happy Seasons restaurant which is quite close to my place. Date might be either 27 or 28 March (Fri or Sat), from evening to night.



Details of the gathering I'll keep it updated on this blog and Facebook too. I'm planning to call all those secondary schoolmates to join. Wanted to ask some collegemates to join as well but I felt it might be awkward there as they do not really know my schoolmates, sort of a little clashed there. Sorry collegemates, but you're always in my mind! :)

I appreciate all the friends I had, but when it comes to inviting people, must be very careful as I do not want my guests felt bored and nothing to do as I may not be able to entertain so many people at once. Learn this lesson during my 16th birthday party (wow that was 4 years ago!!).

So that would be a little updates on my thoughts on the end of Feb. Let's just wish that March and the rest of the months can be a good one for me and everyone!! :)

Post # 1700

Hmm.... still got 300 more to my 2k mark.

LOL I have something to blog about today but was driven to exhaustion from the jog I had this evening. Can't resist it, perfect weather to jog!

The upcoming update would be about the sensei's simple birthday party....

OK OK this is not entirely a meaningless blog post. Here's some nice pics I took....

LEXUS LS 460L!!





















* The 460L means the engine is 4.6L/4600cc capacity, and the L stands for "long wheelbase" which means more legroom for the passengers sitting behind.

Took these pics sometime ago during a function at KL Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (雪隆中华大会堂).

I'm quite impressed by the owner who chose the Lexus LS instead of S class & 7 series. There are too many S classers and 7 serieses out there so a little change in norm makes you stand out from the rest of those rich'ers.

My dream car..... but before that I'll settle good with an ordinary Toyota or Honda, heh.

Random facts again

1. McD & KFC are now competing with each other to promote their breakfast menu. Discount coupons are given out in the newspapers. The consumer is the winner. I personally prefer McD to KFC's breakfast.
2. My taste of music had changed latley. No longer shunning vocals, but I only listen to those very good one (in my personal opinion). On the other hand, I try to avoid listening to artificial instrumental pieces, thinking that it would somehow ruined the enjoyment of listening to instrumental pieces.
3. Ever wonder why we ordinary citizens can live a simple live with everyone happily together, but this simple fact never really realised or understood by those foolish politicians?
   

Written all these facts that came across my mind as I've nothing much to update here.
I think this is somewhat a good idea to write such thing on daily basis, only post something big if something happened or so. :)

Bored

A random fact.

I wonder why February only has 28 (29 for leap year) days? Why not stabilised each month at 30 or 31 days at all? Why there's the odd figure in Feb? Kinda mess up all the calculations. Life can be much easier if Feb has 30 days.

What happened to the 2 days? Did the God ate it? Or it is taken off from the Gregorian calendar as a "tax" to the God or sort?

I know it is kinda stupid to argue this point, as this has been calculated by those genius mathematicians long long time ago.

I'm quite curious.... Where gone the 48 hours?

Personality Test

Just some randomly done personality test on the net to entertain this blog....

Some confirmed details to Japan

So I'll be flying to Japan on the fool's day, 1st of April that is. Flight details are confirmed as follows:

1/4/2009 (Wed)
MH 902: 1915 ~ 2000 (KL - Singapore)
NH 607: 2135 ~ 0705 (Singapore - Tokyo)

Transit via Singapore because some of my classmates would be going there from Johor, which is closer than coming all the way up to KLIA.

Besides that, my dormitory has been confirmed. Yamabuki Dorm (やまぶき寮) would be the place I'll be staying for the 1 year period.

Room: Single Room (11.5m2) 40,000JPY／month　（Including water and internet charge, Not including gas and electricity charge）

Facilities: All single rooms with desk, chair, mattress, air-conditioner, closet, kitchen, fiber-optic internet access and veranda. Public toilets, shower and laundry are available.

Time needed to school 25 mins. by train and on foot
(1) 【Dormitory】5mins.on foot【Machiya Sta., Chiyoda Line】3mins.by train【Nishi-Nippori Sta.】4mins. by JR Yamanote Line【JR Komagome Sta.】10mins.on foot【School】
(2) 【Dormitory】3mins. on foot【Machiya Sta., Keisei Line】3 mins. by train 【Nippori Sta.】6mins.by JR Yamanote train【JR Komagome Sta.】10mins.on foot【School】

　

It's located at Arakawa ward, a little further away from Bunkyo ward where my school is located at.
You can check out that place via Google Maps (search "〒116-0002東京都荒川区荒川2-58-10").
Luckily those close friends in the class are staying at the same place too. :)

The visa would be done shortly so pretty much 99% I'm flying offshore soon, a month to go~

Hopefully with all these details confirmed I would not need to worry too much, worry bout something that I had no control of.

Things I Did Lately

Yesterday evening back from Cameron Highlands. Driving up there via the old route (Tapah) was quite an experience for me, windy and curvey route. One lorry toppled over which blocked 3/4 of the entire road. Luckily still got a gap for my car to pass through. I swear that I would never drive through this road again next time....

But anyway it was a nice trip with lots of vegetable-shopping.
Boy those greenies there are cheap and very fresh! Very happy shopping experience indeed.



Ended up bought worth more than RM 100 of veges, quite crazy but they don't mind spend it on healthy stuffs.

The resort we stayed, Strawberry Park Resort.


Nice lodging, good service, and most importantly great food. I'm fully stuffed from lunch to dinner.

On the way back I drove on the new route (connecting Simpang Pulai) which is better than the old route, albeit it's still windy and some parts low visibility (due to fog).

Bought some stuffs in Ipoh before heading back to KL. It wasn't good either, rainy and slippery road, but somehow I still able to cruise through the highway at 120km/h average. A little addicted speeding a little more but constantly warned by father who's monitoring the speedometer beside me.

Had a good sleep last night, and was recharged when I woke up this morning. I better sleep at 2330 instead of the usual 0000++.

So today back to the language class, nothing much going on, except that we're to hand over our passport for visa application.

Had to skip the afternoon class as I had dental appointment at the clinic not so far (and not so near) away. This was my last time visiting a dental clinic before heading off to Jpn.

To my relief, today's checkup went smoothly and rather quick. The doctor commented not much problem except a few parts which I ought to take note of when brushing teeth.
Actually I dislike visiting dentist since I was a kid, thanks to previous horror experiences I had with dentist.....

Since I went home earlier today, so I still got some time to renew my passport which is expiring this Nov.

The entire process was dream-like, I didn't expect such smooth process to renew the passport. Everything is done within an hour, as I thought I would spend like 2 hours for the whole process. Real good service and efficiency from the Immigration department, thumbs up!

(P/S: If you're a student wanted to renew passport, bring along your school/college/university's offer letter or student card to get student's rate, which is 50% off from normal price.)

Well, pretty much updated on it now. Am glad that had some of the matters settled.

A good start in a new week, I can't ask anything better than this. :)

Cameron Highlands here I come!

Will up enjoying some chill breeze up in the hills for this weekend.
Going off tomorrow early morning, and should be back by Sunday noon.

'til then, here's another Enigma's song.

Beyond The Invisible


Again, please don't freak out with this sort of dark music.

Crapped Up Politics

WARNING
This post is dosed with large quantity of gasoline and a spark of fire would set it all ablazed. Please proceed at your own risk.

So many things had happened lately.....

Obviously, the woman is the victim and yet why treat her as if she's the criminal? I think she had done nothing wrong and do not need to resign from her post, but it's up to her to decide whether she would continue the job or not.

She need support from the public, but unfortunately some would still love to stab at the victim, mainly because she's from the opposition and she's a lady. Those so called "pros" would better STFU for good, really, especially the white-haired guy, which do no contribution other than speak poos and craps. I find his statement very stupid and crazy. He would not lash out such comment on his on comrades, wouldn't he?

Perak is a nice state and I do not want to let those idiotic political antics to ruin the place and the people. They're all fighting for personal's greed and glory, how disgusting. Whether it's Z or K, it doesn't matter as I don't see them as good leaders.

You may say that I had a shallow view, but that's what we ordinary folks thought of at the current state of politics. Newspapers are publishing bull dungs and horse craps stories everyday to feed us commoners, and we do not know what's behind all these "bizzare" stories. Likewise, there're are those masterminds whom like to introduce a little anarchy into this country.

As one chapter is closing in, another new chapter would pop up, just like those serial comics going on and on for years. The different is, I would not look forward to check out "what's new" like those comics.

....
.... ....
.... .... ....
.... .... .... ....
.... .... .... .... ....
.... .... .... ....
.... .... ....
.... ....
....

Damn it! Why can't those morons just stop all these dramas and acts? You guys really fucked up this country's credibility! You sucked!

I dunno when the political stability would be achieved again, but surely not in such a short amount of time. That's one of the many reasons why talented young Malaysians are driven out from the country to go abroad, thanks to this fucked up state.

Oh by the way, what those politicians said DO NOT ACTUALLY REFLECT what we commoners THINK OF! There're those minorities who really served the commoners, but mostly the rest are those fame-seekers and limelight-stealer, bunch of sore losers that is.

Like many said, if this phenomena continues, the dooms day are getting closer. Do not waste all the efforts of those pioneers & ancestors to construct this country to be such a wonderful place it used to be.

Malaysia politics sucks big time. PERIOD.

Mich Siew Hui's TAG

1. Each player of this game starts off with 15 weird things / habits / little known facts about yourself.
2. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 15 weird things / habits / little known facts as well as state this rule clearly.
3. At the end, you need to choose 10 people to be tag and list their names.
4. No tags back!


Well I kinda enjoy doing these tagging stuffs when I've nothing much to update this blog.


well well..well.. here it start ...

1) I'm a budding audiophile.

2) Was being called "music maniac", "music perfectionist" because I'm so into the musical details, I want to listen the best quality of music!

3) Been playing the computer since the MS-DOS era.

4) Favourite food would be almost anything to do with chicken (except cooked with bitter-gourd or overcooked).

5) I enjoy all sorts of cuisines, since there're no dietary restriction so I can eat almost anything I want.

6) Would love to had a cup of ice chilled beverage during a blazing hot day (like today!).

7) I dislike alcoholic drinks but I'm doing fine with wine and jolly shandy.

8) Travelled to few places before: China X2, Taiwan, and Perth.

9) Was interested studying in Australia before, such a lovely place to study, love the atmosphere over there!

10) Socially-speaking I may need some time to warm up when meeting someone new.

11) Been writing blog for some years. Nov 2009 would be the 5th anniversary of this blog. :)

12) Was happy to earn a few bucks through blogging! Absolutely handy when I need some cash to spend on something.

13) An avid Nokia user. It's hard to made my change to other brands, but SE is looking good (especially their W series).

14) Sometimes I think that my thought is more matured than those around me. Been thinking some future plans for now....

15) Lastly, I hate flashy people who would like to show off their stuffs, especially those who thought they're the best and the rest are craps. Right now I'm still trying to adapt studying alongside with one of this kind of person.


Hmmm.... dunno whom to tag, as lately many friends are busy with their university or college stuffs.

Title?

Can't think of any title for this post, so just put up a generic one. So basically this post would be another update of what I'm currently up to.

Currently listening to Enigma's chillout music. Not many would like this kind of chilly music I guess, it's even weirder than those usual instrumentals I usually listen to. I only listen it when I need to cool down myself, relax a little bit in the dark. Enigma's songs are not suitable to be appreciated in the days, as it's dark in nature.

Here's a sample of their song, featuring Gregorian, another unusual group of vocalists which I kinda like them (I seldom follow vocals, mind you). They're those background male voices chanting on the background of this song.

"Sadness"


There are surrealism elements featuring in the video, and the song may not be suitable for everyone. I for one, felt a little uncomfortable when I first listen to it. Well, I dare you to try it out! :)

Enigma's music is dark, so in order to counter the "darkness" effect I would listen to some of Kenny G's cheerful pieces like Havana or so, which brings out the "bright" effect.

Alright, enough of music-sharing session now.

Talk about my life, mainly it has been resolving around my language class, if you may have noticed the nature of the posts in the blog.

Had our 2nd test today, it was hard, harder than those of the first one. Ah well, just hope that I can survive this time, hate to fail!

One thing I'd like to brought up here is my thoughts on Petaling Street, better known as 茨廠街, or Chinatown.



I've been dwelling around this place for 2 months or so now and good thing is that I somewhat know which stall serves some good and affordable food for lunch. As you see, this area is a tourist's spot so obviously the prices of food and items are raised higher than usual KL's standard.

Those food stalls operating closer to the centre of Petaling Street usually is overpriced, and that doesn't justify the taste too. Even if it taste good, it's way too expensive for locals to dine in. Some of those back-alley stalls served quite good stuff and reasonably priced, but it's kinda hidden and not many people know the existence of such place to eat. Some adventurous



Petaling Street is famous for it's fake good's open businesses. I never bother about those fake goods they're selling all along Petaling Street. I'm a guy so naturally I was not attracted by those LV or Gucci bags. Even those jerseys and football shoes I used to like, I wouldn't give a damn on those fake stuffs.

One major problem Petaling Street faces is the hygiene issue. It's unfortunate that this tourist spot is such a mess and smelly! Bad sewage & drainage, irresponsible traders whom just dispose their trash besides the street corners, and even worse, human excrement too!

I had bad experience walking from the LRT station to the language institute. When I walk down the stairs, immediately smelled the presence of uric acid & urea. I thought it was the LRT toilet's fault, but I realised is those homeless lurking around the station contributes to this fault scent.

Lots of unpleasant stuffs I smelled on the short walk to the institute. It was not until around noon when those better scents "overwhelm" those of I mentioned earlier. Grilled food, barbecued meat slices etc, smelled quite good but I never try it either it was expensive or not suitable to be taken as lunch (how can you get full with just few pieces of meat slices?)

The population around Petaling Street, has been dominated by foreigners. I'm not saying bout the tourists, but those traders which I believe quite a majority of them are ILLEGAL. Somewhat I don't feel safe walking around there because they overnumberred the locals.

I have not went to any other Chinatown in other cities before so I cannot do a comparison with it. Perhaps I may do so in the Yokohama Chinatown? It's quite some distance away from Tokyo though.

Talk about Japan, I had a little more restlessness feeling in me. Obviously, leaving this country is still a tough decision which I've made. But for the good of my future, it's worth a gamble. Besides, it should be a place which is better than this country so why should I still holding back yet?

I learn that in order to adapt in the new environment quickly, one would have to let go of the past and embrace the unknown, and yet exciting future. It's natural that you have FEAR of something you dunno, an unknown. But once you unveils the mystery of the unknown, soon there will be no fear.

Actually I don't think I'm afraid or in fear of anything in Japan, is just that perhaps homesickness would struck from time to time. I already expect that I won't be feeling so good mentally for the first month there, but slowly once I get used to it everything would be doing fine.

At least I know Japan would be a wonderful place. Take this, Rikugien (六義園) which is close to my school in Tokyo.

A little regret?

Hmm..... I surfed around Creative's website lately and saw their new player, the Creative ZEN X-Fi.



It looks good to me, somewhat a better choice from my initial choice of Sony.
I've been using a few Creative stuffs and I'm confident with their product's quality, nice SQ and design.

This Creative ZEN X-Fi is running on Creative's X-Fi sound technology, which is something sweet in audiophile's world. I dunno how good it is if compared to Sony's tech but rest can be assured that this thing wouldn't dissapoints.

The player boasted a 2.5" screen, which is slightly bigger than my Sony's 2.0". One of the reason I bought this player is because I wanna watch videos from it, but with smaller screen the enjoyment is somewhat limited. If you're watching something, you'll need a bigger screen! I overlooked this issue when I purchase the stuff so it's a little late now.

The earphone they bundled together with then ZEN X-Fi, the EP-830, I believe is a better choice than the Sony's MDR-NC020.



Another issue is that I might have invest a little too much into the player's capacity. I doubt how long I'll need to fill up the 14GB in my player, as I just used like 3GB+ currently. I may have settled nicely with a 8GB unit, much cheaper.

Talk about cheap, I had the feeling that the Creative ZEN X-Fi might be selling cheaper than the Sony Walkman for the same capacity. I'm not sure about this because I haven't check the Creative's unit price. As for the Sony, especially the S series, it's priced same as the iPod Nano. I was hesitating between Sony or Apple, and I opt for Sony that time.

I should have done more homework before laying my cash on the unit. Ah well.... but anyway better regret buying than regret not buying! This is especially true because I missed the chance to get a few Final Fantasy CDs and it's gone for good, I dunno where else I can get it here in M'sia.

I would still stick to my Sony Walkman, and maybe few years later I would reconsider the whole picture again. I bet by that time there will be better players rolling out.

[UPDATE]
I may be wrong from some of the points above which I mentioned. After consulting a few fellow audiophiles in the forum, was quite surprise to read that it's just rated as average instead of great as I thought.
Perhaps I should be content that I've made the right choice?

Alright, another late night post

Hello again late at night, it's almost 3am now.

Life has been pretty busy yet some sort of emptiness in it. Although I'm studying now, but I don't really had the same kind of feeling I had when studying in school & college.
Back then, I've to rush for homework and assignments when I get back home, much of my time are occupied with school & college stuffs.

Now, I'm sort of free after the language class. Those homework given are primary-school standard so basically I can finish it in just within minutes. I don't really like to revise the notes except when the test's approaching, which falls on next "day of water". There will be a speaking test on the "day of fire" while kanji test on the "day of wood". Oh well.....
Confused with those elemental stuffs attached with the days? It represents certain days in a week. :)

The learning atmosphere has been very lively lately. Today's the eve of Valentine's day, some classmates made a surprise for giving the Japanese teacher a rose and some durian magnets (she loves durians!). She was overjoyed, never expect to receive such gifts I bet. I like those kind of surprise which leads to positive outcomes, a surprise party, surprise gift, etc. Negative outcome surprise is called 'shock'.

The teacher and some classmates, during one of the lunchtimes. Seriously she doesn't look like a teacher isn't it?


This morning changed my breakfast routine a little. Instead of having full breakfast at home, I just gulp down a cup of Milo and then headed to the McD near my language institute to had my full breakfast. They're giving out coupon for cheaper breakfast meals so I ought to try it out.



I ordered the McMuffin with egg set. It comes with a hash brown and a cup of coffee. The hash brown is a good finger food to taste some fried stuff normally offered in fast food chains. The McMuffin was the star of the day. Love the soft muffin buns, and the meat patty & egg combined nicely. As for the cup of coffee, it was decent but it doesn't taste that bad, at least it still live up my expectation on a normal cup of coffee.

Since I was so full from the breakfast, I settled my lunch with 2 pies from McD. I usually order 2 because it's cheaper (RM 2 for a piece, RM 3 for 2 pieces). I usually goes by a banana and an apple pie. Still the same taste as I first tasted their pie long long long long..... ago. Simply love it!



I wanted to try out KFC's Zinger Tower as I'm a fan of Zinger burger, but for these few weeks I might stick more to McD. Mmmm..... I'm lovin' it! :D

Lately I've become some sort of musical fanatic, trying to "poison" others with my music collections. The Low Yat's Audiophiles forum has been a place I lurk around the most nowadays, sharing info with fellow audiophiles in order to hear the best sound we can get for now.

I've been experimenting headphone & earphone combinations on certain devices such as this laptop, my Sony Walkman and my phone. Currently placed an order for a portable amplifier. It's not that expensive so I ought to try it. Amplifiers can be a good stuff as some earphones/headphones will only sound the best when amplified.



Well ultimately, the best sound quality would be listen directly from the source without any aid of hearing devices. The best sound quality is those of direct, unaltered and unamplified voice produced by the instruments and human's vocal.
That's why people willing to pay so much for a live concert show, though somehow it can be altered as well. That's one of the job of a sound engineer.

Another friend, Hong Inn, is leaving for Australia to further studies tomorrow (or today, as now is already 14th Feb). He's heading for Canberra, majoring in which field I dunno, but it must be something great.

I've knew him since Standard 1, we're in the same class for 6 years in the primaries. He studied in another secondary school which is not so far from my place, and he's a top student there. Too bad he did not attend the latest primary school gathering which is held last Dec. The last time I met him was the gathering in 2007. :(
Just hope that he can settle down there without much problem. Knowing his studying habit I'm sure he would retain his top student form there. :)

To the right is the man who's flying to Aus soon.


Australia can be a great country to study in, and I do have the intention of studying in Perth when I went there in Jan 2007 (OMG that's 2 years ago! Time flies so fast!).

Alley shot in Curtin University, Perth, Australia.


And oh yeah, today's the Valentine's Day. I'm still a singlet so would not be celebrating anything or so. Wish those doubled (or tripled) would enjoy this nice weekend with their partner(s). I hope that by next year I won't be sabishi lol.



OK that's enough for tonight. Gotto go now. Used up quite some time to write this post, not bad considering this is quite a long post (usually it would take me more than one hour to complete a long one!)

'til then, good night. :)

Acting Up Internet

I can't login to Facebook and Flickr (plus Yahoo sites) since moments ago. Dunno what's going wrong here. Streamyx's fault again?
Either way I'm glad that I still can gain access to some webs (especially GOOGLE!) so I'm not overall cut off from the net.

Let's show you a brief history of Internet in a very easy to understand matter.



Oh my.... I dunno what on the Earth I would be without the Internet! :)

Japanese Lesson Update

OK, so it's already half-way into the language class, still got like 1.5 months to go (7 weeks to be exact) before finishing the class and settle down for a new life in Jpn.

We had a new teacher since Feb, as Komatsubara sensei had returned to Japan. Tsunamoto Maki, hailed from Hiroshima, came over to took over the class for the rest of the 2 months.

Talk about Tsunamoto sensei, she doesn't look like a teacher at all. She's just a few years elder than us, so there's no generation gap between us. Compared to Komatsubara sensei, Tsunamoto sensei is much livelier & friendlier.

Komatsubara sensei represents the traditional method of teaching, while Tsunamoto sensei represents the new generation teaching methods that infuse with creativity and innovation in the class so that we won't get easily bored with the lessons.

So far it's been pretty good for the first 2 weeks, Tsunamoto sensei dine with us for lunch and never afraid of trying new food. We're a little sceptical bringing her to the alley stalls but she just do fine with it. Hopefully her immunity can handle all the food though.

Talk about the class, I'd like to highlight a few points which I thought of my classmates.

I can say that I'm kinda lucky that I'm doing quite well with most of the classmates. There are a few whom I rarely spoke to due to the "geographical differences" (actually is our seats are separated quite far), and we do not speak much during the recess times. Nevermind bout this, sooner or later I'll get this sorted out.

Those sitting nearby me has been helpful and friendly, yeah. Really appreciate it to have a bunch of good friends to study together. :)

On the other hand, I do learn a few notes about human nature. Although I'm quite satisfied getting along with classmates, there are still some whom I find it quite irritating and annoying sometimes.

One of them whom I displeasure is someone whom I'm sort of acquaintance with from an earlier institution. He's quite friendly at first, but the more time I spend with him in the same classroom, the more arrogant he's showing.
I dunno what's wrong with him but my guess would be past competitions (竞争) he faced made him the guy he is today.
It's OK that you do well on your own, but never ever try to take others for granted, like want to say bad things about others while maintain your own superiority.
It's OK if you want to show off your abilities, but never ever try to tease others who doesn't do well at the moment.
In my opinion, whatever came out from his mouth would be negative, something that's either attacking someone else, boasting his confidence, or just some very lame jokes. 出口成脏.
He should learn a lesson or two about modesty.
Besides, he might also need to review his hygiene too....

Actually I don't really know what kind of words can be used to describe it, but I'm just not happy that someone's trying to piss me off flashily.

OK enough of rant now. I rarely spoke about someone's bad things in this blog but once in awhile I just need to do so to fend off my tense feeling. It is not a good thing to talk bad about others but I just can't stand it this time.

Let's just hope that the rest of the things can be a smooth ride....


P/S: Because I know that someone in the class is reading this blog, so I did not disclose the identity directly. If you're observant enough you'd know who am I talking about.

Joe Hisaishi - Nausicaa of The Valley of The Wind "Nausicaa Requiem"

Joe Hisaishi - Nausicaa of The Valley of The Wind "Nausicaa Requiem" 風の谷のナウシカ



Uploaded this video on my Youtube channel!

One of the first songs that I was introduced with Joe Hisaishi's music. At that time I'm still a small kid when I first heard this tune and I still can remember it quite well until today. :)

My only regret is that this video is set in 4:3 screen ratio instead of the 16:9 one due to my negligence overlooked the ratio in the Windows Movie Maker's settings. More used to making 4:3 videos so I didn't notice the change in the screen ratio until I finally publish it. Ah well.

'til then, enjoy the music of Joe Hisaishi! :D

Last Day of Chinese New Year

Just a short post to update a little on what's going on lately.

Today's 元宵节, which is the 15th day of the first month in the Lunar calendar.
Went to Thean Hou Temple (天后宫) to celebrate the final of this CNY.

Hmm..... doing nothing much there. Had a round of Hainanese chicken rice (which is below par than normal standards), capture some photos of the temple, pray, wonder around, and watch the cultural performances.
I had to tagged along as father's having some function here.
Nothing much fancy there, left at 10pm to avoid the traffic jam later on.

Here's a shot I took.

The rest of the pics I'll upload to Flickr (as usual) after processing them.

Alright, tomorrow back to the Japanese language class. Everything would be eventually back to normal. Soon you won't be seeing red decos in shopping malls and on the streets. Perhaps in some states, the political parties' flags would be dominating the streets pretty soon.

Sony Walkman NWZ-S739F

At one point I've decided get a new portable media player (commonly known as MP4 player) to relief my Nokia 5310 from its music player duty, as I think that I better cut short the memory and battery usage to prolong it's service lifespan.

Was eyeing for iPod Nano but since I'm not so confident with it I asked fellow Low Yat forumers. Almost everyone from there recommend me Sony Walkman than iPod as I'm serious in it's sound quality (SQ). Interface and design-wise, iPod wins though.
Since I'm more to it's functionality rather than trendiness, so I'd go for Sony Walkman.

When comparing the price, I noticed the Sony Walkman S series is same price as iPod Nano, 8GB selling for RM 600 while 16GB selling for RM 800. Besides, S series also had a function iPod Nano doesn't have, that is noise-cancelling.

I actually wanted to get it last Friday, went to KLCC to check. Sony Style ran out of stock, so went to Best Denki to check. Thanks to the helpful staff, I've managed to secure the final stock of the 16GB unit. I didn't bring cash with me so I went to withdraw some cash.

I dunno what happened but that day all the ATM machines I tried doesn't spit any money out! Was disappointed but there's nothing can be done so I've just reserved the unit and collect it on this Monday after class.

So Monday I immediately rushed to KLCC after class just to get it. This time the ATM machines are working normally so I happily made the purchase. :D



Freshly-taken out from the box, comparing it to my Nokia 5310.


The Sony earphone that comes with the Walkman player, Sony MDR-NC020. It's an IEM (in-ear monitor).


Although it doesn't look like most standard earphone, but this isn't any ordinary earphone. Without this earphone the Walkman player's noise-cancelling function wouldn't work.


The holes above the Walkman logo is actually the mic used to filter the external ambient noise, which the player will produce a counter-wave to superimpose the ambient noise to achieve noise-cancelling effect.


One thing about the Sony earphone is that it can only be used with the Sony Walkman player but not with other media players (phone, radio, computer etc.) as the jack is slightly different than those normal 3.5mm jacks. However, the Sony Walkman player is fully compatible with other headphones/earphones on the market, so you may use other hearing devices as you wish.

The player uses USB to charge, and needs about 3 hours to fully-charged. File transfers can be done like normal flashdrives (pendrive as such) but I prefer to transfer the files via Windows Media Player, version 11 to be specific.



The Sony Walkman works seamlessly with WMP 11, it syncs perfectly and faster than drag n drop in the flashdrive mode. It's somewhat like iPod uses iTunes to sync but WMP 11 is more flexible and I'm more used to it.

Side-by-side comparison again. Sony Walkman, Nokia 5310 & Microsoft Optical Mouse.


The interface resembles those of a Sony Ericsson W-series phones. After all, they're all from the same root Sony. :)


The buttons, although covered by the protector but you still can see it. Also strongly resembles W-series phone like I mentioned above.


One of the function I like the most is the SensMe Channels which would analyse and categories all the songs based on their channels. Some channels example would be" Energetic, Relaxing, Upbeat & time-based channels (eg: Daytime, Night).


The songs are sorted accordingly into suitable channels. It's sorted quite accurately although there are some outcast assortment. For example, it sorted one of those upbeat songs into the Relax channel....


As for the sound-quality, it can be varied. Since it has quite a few sound enhancement functions built-in, so have to try around to get the best sound for certain songs. The equalisers would have to switch according to the songs. You can't use a piano pieces' equaliser for a techno song can you?


My only disappointment would be the video functionality though. It needs to be converted into appropriate formats and so far every video had to be converted into WMV format. It says it can accept MP4 video but it failed when I tried. Was planning to convert some YouTube videos to put it in, but it'll need quite some work to do so.
Besides, the 2.0" screen is same as my Nokia 5310 so there's not really an upgrade in the display resolution.

Well anyway overall I'm very happy with this new toy. Simply like it! A great gadget to bring along especially when commuting and travelling as the noise-cancelling function actually does the work and you can enjoy the music relatively quieter than the surroundings (though it's not 100% cancel out all the noises).

Bringing these 2 gadgets around while on the go.


Nowadays I love to spend like an hour before I sleep just to spend some quality time with myself enjoying high fidelity music. The Sony Walkman sounds the best when paired up with the Audio Technica ATH-M50 I purchased last month. :D




P/S: The Walkman cost me RM 799, while the rubber case cost RM 59, quite a rip-off! :S

Theng Tsing's Farewell Gathering

So another mate is flying off the shore....

So yesterday was a great day for me which I spent most of my time at the outdoors socialising.

Had a simple meet up with Emily after I finished my language class before that.

Rushed home, grabbed dinner for my mother, took some stuffs and headed to the Pizza Hut nearby.

There's a joke here which I was being fooled by myself. The day before (Thursday) I went to the Pizza Hut and waited for like 30 mins, still no one turns up. Was sort of pissed off, so called some of my friends to ask about it. Blame it on the weather I suppose, as some are in deep slumber due to the rain so no one picked up the phone. Then in the end I got the confirmation from Theng Tsing telling me that the gathering had changed to Friday evening. He said he updated the info on MSN's personal message but because I seldom online MSN so I wasn't updated by it. Hah.... sometimes I can be tricked by simple things like this.

Back to the gathering. It's actually meant for S5 students so I'm sort of an outcast because I'm from S3. Nevermind this though, because I know almost everyone of them lol.

Pictures coming....

Since Wen Ze's leaving early so took an early group pic with those early birds.


KY's the next leaving earlier, so another group pic of the guys. I borrowed his Ixus to took most of the pics as my PowerShot is running low on batt.


The long table, end to end.



Me with TT the man of the day.


Some of the attendees.


Group photo after our first round at Pizza Hut.


Some of them left back home, while the rest of us settled for another round at a restaurant called "Happy Seasons", a fresh establishment open by the boss and mentor Mr Goh.



The theme we settled at, "Spring".


Some are playing cards....


while the other gang is watching some video through handphone and TT's iPod Touch.


A snack.


A stayed for awhile close to 12am before heading back home. Of course, any gathering wouldn't be completed with a group photo.

Us in the "Winter" theme.


With Mr Goh, the owner of the establishment.


So Theng Tsing's flying to Sydney tonight. All the best to your studies and keep in touch!

Here's something else that happened last night.



Had a dose of coffee at "Happy Seasons", but I didn't expect it to last so late until 4:30am! If I can stay up for 3.5 hours more than I would be totally 24 hours sleepless, a new record lol.