The Banquet-Fathers Day Dinner

My family and I went to The Banquet, a recently opened restaurant, to have a Fathers' Day dinner with my grandfather. My own dad couldn't make it since he was in KL, so we ate his share. Which...as you will soon find out, wasn't very much.



The Banquet is a halal restaurant that was constructed since last year and just opened around a month ago. They serve Chinese food minus the pork and so far the reviews on the food have been pretty good.



The interior of the restaurant is bathed in a semi-bright yellow glow and the placing of the tables are pretty tightly packed together. The ceiling was decorated with about 30-40 lights and it created a "starry effect". There was another building where, I was told, private functions were held in.

Goose Feet? (I did not eat this)

Cue the Food. Well, I have to say, presentation wise it's nothing spectacular. Taste was great though. (Imagine fighting cousins) Portion was...incredibly small. In a table of 6 children 5 adults, only the adults were full. That's not even half!

Five Deluxe Szechuan and Cantonese Combination The spring rolls were the first to vanish.

Buttered Prawns. Gone in 60 seconds.

Desert was served warm. It got mixed reviews.

The whole place seems to be decorated with some form of lights or another. At the entrance, on the walls...all have lights that can change colours.


Then I took a picture of their fountain, which was in between the main restaurant and the "private function room". When I got back and started resizing/editing the photos. I realised there was something...Extra in the photo.


Can you spot the extra *coughguycough*? The designers of the place either strategically placed the plant there, or are really interested in exposing their customers.

I was at the Banquet =)

A Case For Reading Novels

An unpolished first draft of a Square (school newsletter) article:

Rafidah Aziz made an interesting point in a STAR interview some time ago.

‘I don’t read novels. Only non-fiction.”

Granted, Malaysia’s ‘Iron Woman’ is a busy, active professional, a good example of a woman who balances her time between a multitude of responsibilities (she plays sudoku and a gameboy to keep her mind occupied). What she reads is entirely up to her and suits her career and personal tastes.

But really now – why should people read novels?

I was piqued by her comment and started asking around.

“Novels? I read textbooks!”

“No time; must study.”

“Escapism, relaxation and … entertainment?” my aunt suggested. I mulled over her words.

“Then doesn’t that make books equal to television?”

But by then of course I had lost her to a Romance novel, and was left to reason on my own.

Novels are at its most basic works of fiction – stories told to enrapture and entertain and engage the reader. But entertainment alone wasn’t enough to justify reading to me: I could easily say the same for the computer, couldn’t I?

Well, no. Books require you to visualize scenes while reading – and each visualization is unique to the reader. I can never forgive Daniel Radcliffe for his portrayal of Harry Potter – he is far less the geeky, ordinary boy that roamed in my imagination.

Then, one day, I came across Lord Of The Flies.

And I had my answer. Golding’s tale of school children stranded on an island wasn’t just a story. It was a statement – that all men have evil tendencies, and civilization is our attempt at controlling them. Golding’s story is like a car crash: you want to turn away from the carnage – the kids killing each other – and yet you can’t.

I started seeing statements wherever I looked after that. Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss was about Western dominance, even in the isolated jungles of Kathmadu. Lionel Shriver’s We Need To Talk About Kevin asked if we should blame mothers for their son’s actions, amongst other things. And The Age Of Innocence turned out to be more than a love story – it was a front for a difficult question: Who are the heroes of our society – and what does that say about us?

Edna O’Brien deserves a mention here: “I believe that the novelist is the psychic and moral historian of his or her society.”

They say reading maketh a man. But what books do we read – and what does that say about us?

The Lion Whisperer

That's what they call Kevin Richardson.


It's quite apparent that the lion is rather comfortable with him being around. Not only that, the lion even allows him to be that close. My CAT wouldn't allow me to do that without first trying to shred me to pieces!


Well it does look like he's having a rough time here, but I guess the lionesses are just being playful. They are very big cats, after all.


This picture undoubtedly reaffirms the fact that Mr. Kevin here has a special bond with big cats. The lions actually want him to cuddle them and rub their bellies (well.. cats generally do that. Lions are cats too!) I have never seen anything quite like this. Not with lions, at least. How I wish to have a chance like that, to be able to play with lions without getting my head bitten off.


Quite a scary sight, it's as though the lioness is actually biting him. I think it might hurt, but I'm sure she was just playing with him. Otherwise you would see a lot of blood spurting in the picture.

He's a lucky man.

I have enough problems with my cat.

BUGS rated G

I came across an interesting site yesterday, it was featured in a Malaysian blog, michaelooi.net. The post there was entitled, the 50 raunchiest blogs in Malaysia, based on a website where you can type in your blog address and it assesses the rating, for General audiences, PG, R or NC17.

So.. then I decided to play around and see how BUGS or some BUGGERS blogs would be rated. Here are the results.

First, I tried out Boss's blog...

Hmm... Boss uses the words suck and dead and that's bad? Thus, making his blog a PG blog.


Next, tried out UGS admin kvys2000's blog.

Oh, another PG blog. Tsk tsk, abkk used the sh*t word.

Then, Andrew Ho's blog was put up to the test.

His blog was safely pronounced friendly for everybody to read, "crappy" supposedly is not that bad a word.

I was next wondering what kind of results kubuk's blog would produce..

Wah, has the word porn but is rated G. Hmm...

Proud to say, the two female admin of UGS passed the test with flying colours!

Sam passed, no bad words were found on her blog. Haha!

Wandkey passed too! Exemplary behaviour, no bad words were found in my blog either.


Finally, the Undergroundsquare blog was put to the test.

And hey, we would have got 100% if it were not for somebody blogging about gays.. Haha. Nah, not your fault.

So, you can try this out for yourself at Mingle2. And why not share how your blog is rated?

What next after Form 5?

If you think you can wait till exams are over before starting to think what would be the next step you take in terms of your education after Form 5, you are seriously mistaken. Waiting till then can mean precious time lost especially if you wish to go for private institutions of learning post Form 5. Therefore, here’s a short guide to give you a rough idea of what choices there are to allow you to make a better decision for your future.

Basically, there are two main routes after Form 5, going to public education or private. First, we will talk about the choices available for public institutions.

Form 6

After Form 5, you go for Form 6, natural progression? No. Form 6 no doubt will allow you to have a chance of entering public universities in Malaysia but bear in mind there’s a huge difference between Form 5 and Form 6. Mind you the workload and syllabus is daunting considering the short time period required to finish it all. You have to have a rough idea of what you would want to pursue in the future to choose which subjects to take first of all, and if you flunk Form 6 exams (STPM), it’s all back to square one, having only Form 5 standard qualifications.

Well, the pros about Form 6 are that it’s internationally recognised, meaning you also have the option of furthering your studies overseas, should you wish to. Apart from that, Form 6 is of course cheaper than going to private institutions. And despite the myths surrounding Form 6, what we learn is pretty much up to standard, the syllabus being kind of similar to A-levels.

Form 6 starts in May the year after you finish Form 5, so you probably have some time to think through other options before going for Form 6.

Matriculation

Ah, the notoriously difficult for non-Bumiputeras to get in matriculation. But if you do get in, it’s said to be an easier route to public universities. I’m not very sure about this, since I have not been through that, but the syllabus is supposedly not as detailed and comprehensive as Form 6. Thus, it is easier for them to score well? Plus, their results are not all decided by one final exam, unlike for Form 6.

The thing about matriculation though is that there are limited places, very few places offer matriculation relative to Form 6. And, again I’m not too sure about this, but it is not as internationally recognised as STPM? Do correct me if I’m wrong.

Then, we have the private pre-university choices.. Which are aplenty these days, will just touch on the more popular ones. Of course, going to these places will mean you stand no chance for entry into public Malaysian unversities.

A-levels

A-levels are the very same exams sat by students in United Kingdom. There are two major boards for the A-levels exams, the Cambridge board and the London board. Both with their differences in testing system. Well, the good thing about A-levels it the diversity of subjects you can take, which can be specialised to suit your future career choice. Meaning pre-law students can take subjects relating to law and etc. Usually, there are a few intakes for A-levels in different colleges here in Malaysia and the whole thing takes 1.5 years.

There are a few colleges in Malaysia more well-known for churning out top scorers in A-levels, being Taylor’s, HELP, and perhaps Inti. Or if you’ve cash to burn, you can even go to UK to do your A-levels, there are scholarships and bursaries available for students who do well in their Form 5 exams.

SAM

South Australian Matriculation. To know more about this, you really ought to consult one of our BUGGERs here, kvys2000, who’s currently doing his SAM at Taylor’s. The pros of this course are that it’s short, only 1 year! Which translates into cheaper tuition fees, and faster entry into university. The cons? Perhaps being that not as widely internationally recognised as say, A-levels. And that they syllabus is not as detailed. My friend who went for SAM had to struggle a bit when studying medicine as there were many things not yet taught in detail, while the other Form 6 and A-levels students already knew them.

Year 12 at Australia/New Zealand etc

Now this one is really if you are decided that you want to continue your studies at those places or you have PR or something. Otherwise, it’s a really pricey route to take. Undoubtedly, the whole experience will really be an eye-opener and the way of teaching, facilities and learning atmosphere will probably be better but really, what’s the rush to go overseas? Haha.

Diploma

Very sure of what your future career choice? Then perhaps you can consider going for diploma. It’s less expensive than some of the other private college choices here but you really have to be sure that that’s what you would want to pursue a career in. Normally, you can choose to do a year or two more to get a Bachelor’s degree after getting a diploma, but the problem may be that limited universities would recognise the diploma. Failing that, you can just choose to work straight after getting a diploma, but the pay generally wouldn’t be as good as someone who has a degree.

Foundation

Another pre-university option is Foundation, which normally lasts a year. After which you can directly go to universitiy and enter First Year. The thing about Foundation is that what you learn would be very closely related to what you learn later on in unversity, unlike more general education as for A-levels, Form 6 or the like.

However, Foundation courses typically only allow you entry into a certain university. You may not have a choice to change to other universities for your Bachelor’s Degree.

So, that’s just a few pre-university options to consider. Of course there are many other routes, such as going for those scholarships like JPA or Petronas but these are the usual routes that students in Malaysia would normally take.

Singles in Kuching

Our national Mens Singles are coming to Kuching next month! To prepare for the World Championships!

No...Not Single men. MEN'S SINGLES! Allow me to clarify if it isn't already crystal for you.
BADMINTON PLAYERS!!!!



WHEEEEE~~ Lee Chong Wei, Mohd Hafiz Hashim, Lee Tsuen Seng, and Roslin Hashim (wild card) are the players who will be coming here. Lee Tsuen Seng has been improving a lot lately meanwhile...I can't for my life accept the fact that Roslin got the wild card instead of Choong Hann. Choong Hann has performed considerably better in tournaments lately and before! Roslin seems to only have gotten it because he made a lot of noise about being left out two Competitions.

Sigh?

The Doubles team however will be going to Malacca. (Insert disappointed smiley). These are all the men, where are the women!? Anyway! THEY ARE COMING.

Let me say Yay again.

YAY!

I was high over badminton again.

Use Pedestrian Bridge For Your Safety, Please...

With Malaysian drivers' attitute on the road speeding as if they are on Formula One racing circuit fighting over the championship with Micheal Schumacher, it's almost impossible for other 'normal' road users to feel safe on the road, especially pedestrians *like me!*

In fact, we are putting our life at danger each time we cross busy roads in big cities. Any time, our lives can be taken away.

So the government actually spend on building pedestrian bridge for pedestrians to use when crossing busy road. Not only we feel safe, but it saves time without the need to look "left right and left again..." That's what we learn in primary school anyway.

To build a pedestrian bridge is not cheap! It costs RM500,000 for an overhead bridge. Imagine RM500,000 we can buy two Mazda RX8 or perhaps a Semi Detach house at Kuching. With half a million ringgits, we can also fund many poor families. RM500,000 can be put for better social welfare fund.

However, our lives are more important right? Our lives worth more than RM500,000. In fact, can say it's infinity value! So we can't blame the government for spending RM500,000 for building a pedestrian bridge for the sake of the public.

BUT!

When does spending RM500,000 is a waste?

Take a clearer look of this photo below!

I came across this article in The Star today.

Can you notice something wrong?

Few pedestrians actually cross the road WITHOUT using the newly officiated bridge! What a waste... sigh!

People spent RM500,000 on a bridge and even had all those ministers officiated along with lion dance... but it's just a waste when we typical Malaysians just ignore our safety and prefer to risk our lives by crossing the road. Can't we walk a little far by using the bridge and we actually keep our body more fit?

Post Form 6 : Converges in Paths

Number one reason why people go for Form 6, to eventually get into public universities. And I have a feeling I may be going to defy that.

It’s been a few days since results of acceptance into public universities in Malaysia have been announced. Surprisingly, many people I know managed to end up with courses of their choice, if not the first choice. Which wasn’t what I expected from the system, after the horrors I’ve heard of students doing brilliantly yet ending up with courses that they did not apply for but were pushed upon them.

Well well, no doubt that the dates of releasing the results are a little too close to the registration date for comfort, it’s a week plus to 1^st July! But that supposedly was due to the matriculation results which needed processing.

So, what did I end up with? Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Biochemistry. Hmm. With a GPA like mine, I knew I didn’t stand much of a chance of getting my first choice, which was USM, biomedicine, but this isn’t too bad. Well, congrats to my classmate who managed to get into Universiti Malaya for medicine, I can’t remember the last student from our school who managed to do that (and yes, he is Chinese). And congrats to the others who managed to get into the top public universities of our nation.

Seems like just a short while ago that I was still in Form 6, and now everyone is going their separate paths. C’est la vie. What would life bring? Time will tell.

Magic

Love conquers all.

Love defeats everything.

Love thwarts evil.

Love surmounts pain.

Love overthrows sanity.

Love subdues happiness.

Virgil quoted "love conquers all" not to explain to us the magic of being in love. But rather, to warn us about what love brings; all things beautiful and also everything else that follows.

Love....is magic.

And the magic is gone.

Original Mockery

Boss posted on how one of the Congratulatory Poems sent to our newly wed Prime Minister was a work of plagiarism.

While blog surfing, I found another poem, 100% Original that made me smile until I finished reading it.

by Martin Jalleh

Samy had proudly sent to Jeanne and Badawi,
A congratulatory statement in perfect poetry,
So spellbound was Bolehland by his originality.

But damn, a sharp reader of Malaysiakini
Spotted Samy’s true and hidden capability
For from two poems, the Minister did copy.

As shame no longer exists in our country
Slowly but surely, silently, subtly and slyly
Samy sends in his handy press secretary.

“Blame not my master,” said he slavishly
“But blame rather on my lapse of memory.
“The authors I have left out inadvertently!”

Our sympathies, dear Jeanne and Badawi
For being treated to Samy’s cheap publicity
and pathetic excuses of his press secretary.

In light of government’s leaking credibility
Samy should stay focused on his Ministry
And save plagarised poems only for MIC.

Disclaimer: All references in the poem are purely accidental.

In the beginning...

And they lived happily ever after...

Organized...Finally

It's been 2 weeks or so I think since I've left for Labuan(again) and I've finally gotten used to the wheather and have my rescheduled schedule figured out. Here's my initial schedule:

Monday to Thursday(Fridays are insignificant) :

0530-1530 Breakfast-Class-Lunch-Class Again
1600-1830 Work
18450-1915 Laundry-Bath
1930-2000 Dinner
2030-2230 Work Again
2300- Lights Out


Rescheduled Schedule:

0630-1530 Skip Breakfast-Class-Big Lunch-Class
1600-1900 Work
1930-2000 Dinner
2030-2200 Work
2230-2300 Laundry-Bath
2330- Lights Out

With the new schedule comes a new class and I was praying really hard for a little more Chinese people in my class(I'm not racist ok) and believe me I did not know what i was getting myself into! I got my prayers answered. I should feel happy right? NO!! The Chinese students here are so zealous that it's become very intimidating! They have all their work done WAY before deadline and some usually start doing the other chapters on their own! I tried to follow suit but I got sick instead so I take off my hat to you chinese dudes.

Albeit the crazy new schedule and class,there're also good things in life to look forward too.

1)Tuesdays-Roti canai day!

2)Saturday-Crap day...don't ask!

3)Sundays-Sio Bak day!

Not bad for college life when you only have 3 things to keep you sane... and the world continues to spin.

Male. Crazy.

Vivian recently wrote up an encyclopedia a list to let other people understand her various whims and fancies. Allow me to do the steorotypical male version:

When I say I'm confused, I'm confused
When I say yes, I mean yes
When I say I hate you I mean I hate you
When I say No, I mean No
When I say I'm bored I mean no football.
I NEVER say I'm moody.
When I say I love you, I really do.
When I say you smile is sweet, it means off to the bed
When I say you's good-looking, give me a tight slap
I never say LOL
When I say I'm freezing, I mean I'm freezing.
When I say good luck, I mean good luck
When I say I like you, I mean I like you.
When I say it's not important, I mean it's not important (why keep bloody asking?).
When I say dunno how, don't tell me.
When I say I'm in love, I'm probably mad.
When I say I wanna buy new stuff, I mean I wanna buy new stuff.
When I say I'm crying, I'm gay.
When I say you rock, I mean you rock.
When I say my results suck, I mean my results suck.
When I say I'm stupid, don't say anything (or risk getting your brains blown out).
When I say something stupid, carry on talking.
when I say I miss you, I probably did.
When I say dude, I think you're one of the guys.
When I say dun feel like doing it, it means I want a beer.
when I say I want to see you, it means I want to see you in the bedroom.
When I say ish, I mean ish.
I never say whatever.
When I say you're sombong, I mean you're sombong.
When I say I want to see cute guys, punch me.
When I say I hate that nickname, I mean I hate that nickname.
When I say go die larh, I mean go die larh.
When I say F***, I can mean many things.
I never say muaks
When I say I'm tired, I mean I'm tired.
When I'm quiet, it doesn't mean anything (so stop asking).
When I say it's a secret, I mean it's a secret
When I say I hate my home, I mean I hate my home
When I say I'm innocent, *flash smile*
When I say that guy is cute, I AM SO GAY
When I got nothing to say, I mean I've got nothing to say.
When I give you advise, buy me a beer
When I say I love Nicholas Teo, kill me.
When I say she is not pretty, I mean **** *** *** ****** she's not pretty.
When I say OMG, I mean OMG
When I say I hate badminton, check to see if it's World Cup season
When I say hello, I mean hello.
When I stare at you, slap me.
Why would I say I'm lesbian?
When I say, means this it is the end of this post.

Losing Weights; Top 5 Food To Avoid

Today I wore a new smaller sized shirt which I just bought last weekend. A number of my classmates actually just realised that I lost a lot of weight from the first day they met me. A few came to me and asked me how did I manage to lose so much weights in this short period of time. Not to mention, two of my female classmates actually want to join me in the weekend jogging now. Lolx!~

There are many ways I follow in my lose weight challenge. Of course the very first important thing must do is diet. Diet means eating the right food on the right time, NOT starving ourselves.

Let's me just sum up the very first step in losing weights, that is avoiding the Top 5 food in our diet.

Carbonated Drinks

If you're seriously thinking about losing weights, you should not consume any carbonated drinks at all! Carbonated drinks are drinks like Cocal Cola, Sprite, 100 Plus etc. These drinks actually contain a large amount of sugar, contributing a large quantity of calories intake. Which is not helping in losing weights, but gaining weights instead. In fact, staying at KL for three months, I've not consumed carbonated drinks more than five times.

Ice Cream and Chocolate


Yea... Ice cream and chocolate are common favourite food Asians, especially among girls. Do you actually know that ice cream and chocolate contribute fats in the body? The more ice cream and chocolate you eat, the more weight you gain.

Rice


Losing weights is about calories deficit, decreasing the amount of calories intake based on calories burn in a day. No doubt for Asians, rice has been a very common and essential food that we must take at least in two meals a day; luncn and dinner. Do you actually know that a bowl of white rice contains ten table-spoon of sugar?

Rice is categoriesed under carbs (carbohydrate) whch is the main source of energy (calories). Rice makes us feel full, yet we feel hungry very soon. If you're serious about losing weights, you might as well consider decreasing the amount of rice intake. I only have half bowl of rice daily.

Noodle

Yay!~ Noodle, needless to mention is a favourite food among Chinese. I can't deny myself the affection towards noodle (kolo mee) last time. In fact, noodle contains more carbs than rice, contributing a large amount of calories intake. Usually the noodles served in Malaysia contains a lot of carbs, less other nutritients like protein. It's best advised that we shouldn't take noodle if we are losing weights.

I actually kill my affection towards noodle in this period of time. Imagine going back to my hometown two weeks ago, I only had kolo mee once (last time at least four times a week)!

Oily Food/Fried Food


Oily food contains a lot of fats, inceasing body fats. Oily food is also part of fried food like fried noodle or fried rice. Others like curry or fat meats (skin) are also considered part of it. The ideal way of losing weights is losing body fats (BF). If we take more of these food, we are actually increasing BF than losing BF%.

Take only lean meat instead, chicken breast or beef. It's best to consume less meat, more vegetables and fruits.

If you're planning to lose weights, you should consider giving up your favourite food above. Decrease the amount of carbs intake. When I'm more free next week, I will write up the type of food I take in my losing weight challenge.

Till then, all the best and together we live up healthy lifestyle! Lolx!~

Bananas

ba·nan·a /bəˈnænə/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciatio[buh-nan-uh] Pronunciation Key –noun

1.	a tropical plant of the genus Musa, certain species of which are cultivated for their nutritious fruit. Compare banana family.

2.	the fruit, esp. that of M. paradisiaca, with yellow or reddish rind.

From dictionary.com

But do you know another meaning for banana?

An asian person who acts like they are white. Yellow on the outside, white on the inside.

Quang doesn't know what Dim Sum is? man that guy's a Banana.

From urbandictionary.com

Now, as with the real kind of banana, there are many different kinds of “banana”s, or rather, varying degrees of banana-ness.

First condition to be a banana: You have to be Asian, or of Asian parentage.

And the rest, is variable. In this post, we would focus more on the Chinese bananas, since that is what I kind of am, and thus I’m more familiar with this.

What makes me, or anybody, a banana? Any of the following…

• Not knowing how to converse in Chinese
• Not knowing how to read and write Chinese
• Speaking English in “ang mo” style
• Generally acting like Western people, whatever that means
• Not knowing Chinese traditions and following Western kind of lifestyle

People can range from being mildy banana to extremely banana, not even a hint that they are Asian apart from the fact that they look slightly like Asians. It is not easy for bananas in this society, they may get comments like, “Now even ang mo lang (Westerners) learn Chinese, you are Chinese but don’t know Chinese!” or other worse comments.

Most Asian parents discourage their children from becoming bananas and ingrain Asian traditions and family values in them from a young age. However, it is inevitable in this age of globalisation that youngsters will be exposed to the way of life of the West, which has now generally become the way of life of the World.

Take this blog for example, a majority of us bloggers here are Chinese, but all the posts are in English. If we did not tell you that we are Chinese, would you have known from what and how we write? In most cases, I doubt so. Thus, are we bananas? Hmm.. that is an increasingly difficult question to answer.

Some of us here have learnt Chinese from a young age, studied at Chinese schools up until primary or secondary school. Yet somehow, many of us here prefer to communicate using English. But does that necessarily mean we forsake our Chinese origins? No.

Life for the new Generation Y is like a constant turmoil between choosing to be respectful of the traditions of our heritage and being forward thinking, and how much of each. Undoubtedly, there is a time and place for everything. During Chinese celebrations, we may still maintain quite a few traditions, and perhaps add in a few additions of our own. In everyday life however, we may not be so focused on these traditions. The elder generation may chide us for our “liberal” behaviour, but it can’t be help that situation has changed and thus people have to change too.

Ah well, life’s like that, complicated and I think I think too much for my own good sometimes. Which leads to posts like this…

*Listens around for the symphony of people snoring*

4.4 pounds past sanity

What happens when you eat too much of this…

And don’t get enough of this…

It's exercise by the way...

Shocking weight gain! I do hope it’s as I believe, that the scales have gone wonky. However, I have a sinking feeling that it does not lie. Although according to it, my brother has put on weight too. Hmm..

Alas, it is as I feared, working has made me gain weight, or perhaps changed my perception of weight. Remember my post in which I said that my surrounding my work place is a high concentration of beauty and slimming centres? Well, I think I may have somehow, subconsciously, succumbed to something along the way. Ok, I probably have to tone up more than slim down. But looking at all those skinny and tall girls walking about in the vicinity who work at those centres, sure makes you feel like a lumpy, thunder-thighed walrus even if you aren’t one.

They saunter around, you can see them around at lunch time or after work, though do they actually eat? And they always go around in pairs, always! Thin, well-groomed, make up done just so, legs looking further elongated by heels, hair tied up in a bun and never out of place, they really are walking advertisements. And eyes follow them wherever they go…

They are further identified by their uniforms, which are all so fitted that only the very slim can wear them, and the skirts are all pencil skirts, which we know are difficult to wear without making your hips look gigantic. Dark brown suit girls from Marie France Bodyline. Beige suits with dark brown buttons girls from Bella Skincare. Light beige suits with white trim girls from Clara International. Oohlala..

I rest my case. I might as well enjoy food in Kuching while I can, before going off to Kuala Lumpur for studies. If form 6 made me lose weight, I wonder if university would do the same, or worse.

Roti's

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players!"

That has absolutely nothing (nada, zero, zilch) to do with my post today, but it just seemed so proper to begin with a quote like debators usually do. That stupid sentence has been stuck in my mind for two days now and Im wondering if Im normal. Or mental.

The topic of extreme importance today is the great, indispensable , celebrated and downright fantastic (albeit not so common) ROTI BOOM!

Looks like a squashed donut

No, Im serious. Thats what they call it. Roti Boom , pronounced 'Roh-tea Bomb' with a tangible chinese slang that the prata-man will laugh at if you're non native. I had this piece of roti at some indian specialty stall at some street off 7th Mile, so I am not sure if its a local delicacy (never heard of it in my life). Or maybe I just dont eat enough.

This thing is heavenly!

To be honest, I ordered it because of its fancy name. I wanted to know the connection between 'boom' and the squashed piece of fried roti, and whether the title could be substantiated by overwhelming evidence to support its claim of... well... BOOM.

This thing is heavenly!

It doesnt exactly look impressive... squashed piece of..

Then when the roti arrived, I thought I had made the wrong choice. Then of course, I cautiously took a bite... a tiny morsel... just a small little nibble... nothing but a munch... and..

MY GOD IT WAS HEAVENLY!!!

I dont want to tell you what its made of, what its filled with, or exactly how it tastes like. Thats what you have to find out for yourself, when you visit your nearest indian roti stall. Just ask for a Roti Boom, and angelic choirs will sing its torrential cry of glory.

And yes, I believe that it does live up to its name.

BOOM.

Kuching on a nice and sunny day

There is somewhere public where you can catch amazing views of Kuching city. No, not Civic Centre, although that’s quite nice too. It’s the 9^th floor of the Medan Pelita, which is where Star Cineplex is. *CoughAgainIncludingNamesToGetMoreGoogleHitsCough* And yesterday, after watching Shrek 3 with my brother and sister, we wandered around while waiting for transport and found ourselves enjoying the scenery while people-watching, or in my brother’s case, car-watching from the 9^th floor.

From one side, you can see the “Golden Triangle” of Kuching, where the hotels and shopping plazas are with the beautiful greenery adding a soft touch to the “concrete jungle”. Here you can see the tallest building in Kuching, which if I’m not mistaken is Gateway, with that huge red OCBC Bank ad at its top.

Then another side, you could see the river, the old Main Bazaar shops and across the river, the Dewan Undangan Negeri building construction site, which looks huge. The building itself is next to the old Fort Magherita, a fort built during the English colonial era and which was later turned into the Police Museum. And a little further on it’s other side is the Astana, where the Governor of the state resides. Ah, what a contrast between old and new. All these buildings are along the Sarawak River, and opposite them is the Waterfront, very green, very nice looking from the top actually.

And if you move to the other side of the Medan Pelita building, you can see another different view. On a clear, sunny day like yesterday, you can see Matang Mountain in the far distance. Off to the left is the Merdeka Palace Hotel. And in front of you, you can see the old Bishop House (or is it Guesthouse?) surrounded by beautiful greenery and situated in the same grounds as the St Thomas Church. Next to that is actually a Chinese temple, not included in photo. In fact, if you look closely in this photo, you can even spot the golden domes of the mosque in the old town side of Kuching. See.. one photo in Kuching can supposedly capture places of worship of three different religions. But, that wasn’t my aim at that time, so hence I only have this to make do with.

So, this is Kuching for you, a mix of old and new, a place still grounded in rich history and culture yet forward looking, my hometown. Who wants to come over to Kuching for a visit? Rainforest World Music Festival is on from the 13^th to 15^th July, very good reason to come over. Haha. Somehow this has turned into a tourism promo…

Vienna Teng

This post was drafted since January but since Odeo doesn't like me very much, I will use YouTube instead. Watch the video, really, watch it.

I first heard her on MTV CHI Rocks. The show bored me, but I wanted to watch Machi at the end...instead, I totally missed out on Machi because I busy looking for Vienna Teng online!

Her real name is Cynthia Shih, but un-shockingly, she's not using that name. She likes Vienna, so she uses Vienna for her "Artist Name" (insert Lor).

Interestingly, she has a degree in Computer Science, but ended up as a performer. She's played the piano since the age of 5...and damn I like her hands ^.^

Watching her on MTV Chi Rocks, she could sing and play at the same time so fluidly whereas some performers I've seen tend to do well in either the playing or singing and the other would be background fluff. She wrote all of her songs on her third album, Dreaming through the Noise !!!!

ViennaTeng.com is pretty informative and there's one section of the website where letters are sent in saying how her songs have affected them so and so. I don't think her songs has affected me that much. But Gosh~ They are so nice and peaceful.

I haven't even reached the Lyrics yet =)



City hall, the first song I heard from her and the song that made me fall in love with the rest of her songs.

*Other songs that are really really nice...(especially when you're not feeling particularly happy XD )
Lullaby for a Stormy Night.
Harbor.
The Tower.

You can press play and start listening now.

First Feature Film On Youtube

Four Eyed Monsters - 70 minutes long. Marshall Kirkpatrick is raving about it: the film being a “model of new media in action” and will be available on YouTube for one week.

Here it is: (for one week):



I'm watching. And am amazed at the quality of it.

Sami Vellu, Closet Poet

You should all know by now that Sami's penned a poem for Pak Lah and his bride to be. Rather cute, if this was the 1990s and the internet didn't exist. But some genius of a investigative reporter (I'll not be surprised if he/she is a blogger - this seems to be exactly what our kind would do) - did some research. Here's what they came up with:

From This Day Forward
Author Unknown

From this day forward,
You shall not walk alone.
My heart will be your shelter,
And my arms will be your home

Blessing For A Marriage
by James Dillet Freeman

May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should
bring, and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding

May you always need one another - not so much to fill your emptiness as to
help you to know your fullness. A mountain needs a valley to be complete; the
valley does not make the mountain less, but more; and the valley is more a
valley because it has a mountain towering over it. So let it be with
you and
you

Combined, shaken and stirred, we have
Sami's poem:

From this day forward
You shall not walk alone.
Her heart will be your shelter,
And her arms will be your home.
A mountain needs a valley to be complete;
the valley does not make
the mountain less, but more;
and the valley is more a valley because
it has a mountain towering over it

Who says only school children plagiarise?

What Does It Mean To Be Manly?

Wonder whether you've noticed this - in POTC 3 Johnny Depp has something exquisitely feminine tied around his left wrist: a wisp of white lace.


A outward expression of his feminine side? Or (as he says) a trophy piece from a young woman?

There were two articles in Thursday's Star that caught my eye. One was Dina Zaman's (author of I am Muslim) musings on what maketh a Malaysian man, and the other was a Los Angeles Times-Washington Post piece titled What Is Manly?

Both drew similar conclusions - that it is infinitely better to be a girl in this day and age.

What a striking contrast that is! A few years back women would be stuck at home; no degree, no money no independence. Today they're being prepared to lead corporations, to excel in the workplace, to become pillars of society!

Well, at least in other nations they are. Malaysia is still by and large patriarchal and will be for the next generation or so.

The LAT-WP article highlights the fallout from the feminism movement in one paragraph:

"In trying to empower the girls," Sandborn says "we implicitly sent a message that the guys were not as good. Women have succeeded in creating positive new roles for themselves. What we haven't come up with is what a positive image of a man should be"

And then it goes on to explain mating rituals - years ago it was so clear cut: young man asks girl out, picks her up and takes her home. Times 10.

Now she will drive herself, meet up with him and either offer to pay for herself or insist on paying. She may bolt, or she may end up in bed with him, but chances are he would have no idea just what caused any of the many combination of actions she could do.

"The male has to learn to interpret the direct and indirect actions of the female" says Gabriel Harries, a student of Union College in Schenectady, NY. "Most of my friends make an effort to do that, but it's stressful."

The old days sounds so simple.

It's not only enough to be macho these days. Guys like me will have to search for that sweet spot between meathead and pushover. In Dina Zaman's words:

It is not enough to have a good job, he has to be a millionaire. It is not enough to have a wife and family, he must have mistresses and other wives. If that's not enough, men compete with other men for cars watches clothes holidays hobbies country clubs. And on top of this you can't marry the girl you love - you must marry a girl from the right sort of background ...

She ends with: My God these men!

I would like to retort: likewise, but then I realize I can't. And that shows you how bad this actually is.

So Ugly It Causes Fits

Oh, I love the new London 2012 logo. It costs £400,000, was produced by an amazing team of professional graphic designers over a period of months, and was unveiled (with David Beckham, no less) on July 4th.

Here it is, in all its resplendent glory ARRGH MY EYES!:

And here's what the designers have to say about it:

The new emblem is dynamic, modern and flexible. It will work with new technology and across traditional and new media networks.

It will become London 2012’s visual icon, instantly recognisable amongst all age groups, all around the world. It will establish the character and identity of the London 2012 Games and what the Games will symbolise nationally and internationally.

I am laughing so hard at London so proud of London.

Then BBC took a tongue in cheek step and asked readers to submit their own logo creations. Check out this done-in-30-minutes user submitted logo:

Or this one by James Wren:


Or maybe Glen Hollands:

Or the Chicago 2016 logo (done by monkeys who can't hold a fork to London's designers):

There's so much to see! I LOVE this one:


Reasons behind it? Andrew Robinson: "The five colours represent Olympic tradition. Also a bundle of taxpayers money going down the drain."

[Update]: BBC reports on how the new London logo causes epileptic fits amongst viewers! Hurrah! We've got ourselves a new Special Olympics logo!

[Update 2]: Some opinions collected on BBC's sports blog:

• I have vomited better logos
• a broken swastika
• a window I recently kicked a ball through
• It looks like a logo designed for young people by old people

Lovely. I really should ask these guys to design the UGS logo. Hopefully then all our tagboard spammers would die of epileptic fits.

*insert evil laugh*