Saturday, December 29, 2007

feeling abit beh song lo...



haha, heineken christmas tree,(actually it's not heineken, a reader corrected that it is grolsch!) taken from here

oh well, sometimes i just don't really like those people who sort of force you to do things you don't like to do. a very gud example for me - drink beer.

actually it's a mystery to me why people like to drink beer, taste so bitter, why choose bitter if you can choose sweet? like coca cola? furthermore, we are not living in temparate country whereby we need to drink beer to keep warm.

anyway, i was attending my company annual dinner, as i went to the toilet, i got "pulled" to sit down on a table and drink beer. during that sort of situation it's very hard to reject or to tell them that i don't drink beer. (damn, i hate it)

so oh well, what the heck, i quickly finish half a small cup that one of my colleage poured me. i was thinking to finish it off quickly and quickly ran off. but right after i finish it, a boss who's sitting at the table, say, hey...i haven't give a toast to you yet...then he poured me another cup.

i was like...oh shit...i say i cannot lar...but then all others say drink lar..drink lar with their devils horn poppping out. the second was much more difficult for me, as the bitterness from the first cup is still in my throat. but i eventually finish it and as i set off, another boss at the table try to toast me another cup.

but i quickly decline,shaking my hand and head. and to be more dramatic, i even used hand language showing a cut throat sign. hmm...thinking back, i think this sign language is quite effective, haha, should use it next time.

after that as i return to my seat, my face started to turn red and hot. and started to feel abit dizzy but i'm still consious. the worst feeling is that i feel abit like almost want to vomit but cannot vomit. oh...and thanks to the beer, i lose my appetite for the night.

sign...i should have been more firm and rejected them and show them the cut throat sign language next time.

although i know that it's a socializing way for people to drink beer and to get business, but hey, not everyone like it. example lar,the durian theory: if you like to eat durian, it doesn't mean that all people like to eat durian.

so please do respect others that are non alchoholic.

for me so far, if i want to give face, half a cup is almost limit, if you want me to drink more...haha sorry cannot. drinking beer is definitely not my cup of tea.

christmas DIY project round two

argh....to my disapointment, it was a guy who received the gift. ngaiti....maybe recently i didn't do enough charity so this happen to me.

aiyo, it makes me abit beh song, but what to do, aii...i think i wouldn't do a DIY gift for present exchange liao next time. although that guy was very suprised also that he received a DIY gift, but nevertheless, you wouldn't feel so good if a guy received it compare to a girl, which would cherish it more.

but then i have another chance as i would be meeting up with a fren of mine, who happens to be a leng lui and likes DIY also. (haha, i send my first DIY christmas to her last time)

making another mini christmas tree is too time consuming so i decided to make a simple stand instead:P



at first i thought of cutting the green sponge again into christmas tree shape and sticking it on the stand, but later i find it difficult to cut the green sponge into a small size christmas tree shape. so i decided to draw it on a piece of paper and cut and stick it up instead.

i thought of drawing santa, but i couldn't manage to draw a cute looking santa, so i try out drawing reindeer and eh...i think it's not bad also. at least it looks much more cuter than the santa i drawn.

and also not forgeting to add some inspirational words at the back, this sentence is copied from a DIY card from technographic



when i saw this sentence i found it to be quite meaningful and i quickly take note of it. haha, hope it would you guys some inspirations or encouragement too.

finally, merry jingle bells number two from me:)

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

merry christmas 2007~



first of all, a very merry christmas to all^_^

and behold my christmas DIY gifts!

tomorrow i would be attending a yearly small dinner and christmas exchange gathering with friends. usually i would just buy gifts but this year i've got some inspiration to do DIY gifts.

as you can see in the picture, the DIY includes the christmas tree,the little present box and the background card. the display box is borrowed from a friend's gift to me last time:)

the christmas tree is actually not a new idea as i made one before two years ago as a gift to a friend. but then this size is the 1/4 of the original size. i was quite proud of the first original one, as all the ideas is original. too bad i didn't take the picture as rememberance:(



it's actually not hard to do the christmas tree, just that it's pretty time consuming for me to do. it took me 2 nights to finish everything up. one night for the christmas tree, and one night for the present box and the wrapping.

the christmas tree is made from those hard green sponge cut into circular shape and stapple together, but it's hard to control it to a perfect circular shape like the christmas tree. haha, but if you see from far, luckily wouldn't notice that much. the body of the tree and the christmas tree star is made by bending small iron wire.

the original version i use disco dust as decoration for the tree, but this time somehow i couldn't find it. so i tried to use golden string to hang it up as decoration but it ended up as a disaster, not beautiful...so i took it all off. but luckily i manage to think of something, which i cut color paper into tiny pieces and scatter it on the christmas tree instead.



overall i'm satisfied of the result. but i'm concerned of the christmas tree's condition if the box got shaken badly and it would collaspe! ahha, it's a smaller version (therefore more fragile) and the display box got many space for the tree to collaspe into. ahaha, when the present is open you see the christmas tree collaspe, not nice le...haha

i've always have this feeling after i finished my DIY project. since i spended some time on it and has some relationship with it i would tend to like it myself and wouldn't want to give it away. but it would be more meaningful if it given as a gift rather than to made it for yourself to keep.



anyway, i hope that the person who received the gift tomorrow would like it and cherish it and take gud care of it. ahha, hopefully it would be a girl, as girl would cherish DIY gifts more than guys.

once again, a very merry jingle bells....

it's been a while~



image taken from here

the picture above is Team Shohoku, it is the main team of a very popular basketball manga called "Slam Dunk"

this is the link to my old post in frienster about slam dunk.

it's been a while since i played basketball, actually i've forgotten when is the last time i even touch basketball, 1 year ago? 2 year ago? ahha, makes me a bit pai seh (embarassed) to say that basketball is one my hobbies.

just that to play basketball it's a bit harder as you need to find basketball court, have basketball and a few players to play. i really miss the time when i'm in my old house whereby my dad set up a basketball net for me and almost every evening i would play basketball with my neighbours.(thanks dad!)

anyway, last sunday my friend suddenly called me to play basketball at a park at arang road, so thinking that it's really been a while since i lasted played and i miss it so much, i quickly agreed.

i reach there high spiritly and to my amazement i scored my first two short. oh...i was thinking, not bad, seems like i haven't loose my touch:P

as we played 3 on 3 with other people, and as the game progress. i started to get tired and so my accuracy gradually drops untill i scored air ball too many times. argghh.. kek tiok. and we played 3 rounds loose three round.

i think playing basketball is more tiring and stamina consuming than badminton as you need to run a bigger space. and i think playing badminton is easier as it would require less thing in order to be played. haha i think that's why this few years became lazy to play basketball.

anyway i hope in hope i would have more chance to play again in future.

haha, tat's all for now:)

Sunday, December 23, 2007

冬至快乐!汤圆!汤圆!

today is dong zhi (冬至), a traditional chinese festival that marks the coming of winter. strangely, other festival such as chinese new year, lantern festival, duan wu jie, all got stories of how and why the festival is celebrated, but not dong zhi. haha or does anyone know?

well according to mum, long ago, when winter comes, most daily activity would be hindered and winter would be a very tough time for most people to get through the bitter cold.

so celebrating dong zhi is equal to having a small feast before the long, cold winter. cos after the winter in spring, they would be celebrating new year. dong zhi is also a time to worship our ancester. hmm...i think it's because we need to burn something for our ancester to eat also during their winter up there;p

i think it's hard for me to imagine their situation as living in in Malaysia all my life i've never experience the cold of winter before. the weather here it's either sunny, rainy, or foggy.

for me the highlight of dong zhi is of course the "汤圆" (tang yuan), as it's the only time of the year we get to eat it. nowadays tang yuan comes in a variety of choice but i still sincerely prefer those home made ones.



image taken from here

i can still remember from my childhood memories the fun of rolling the tang yuan and making it into other shapes as it seems like playing plastesin.

anyway, i would like to wish you all a happy dong zhi.

Monday, December 10, 2007

a brief encounter with gangster at the auction in kuching airport



picture taken from here

it was a few weeks ago that i went to visit the auction at the airport where i've always heard rumours that there's alot of tattooed people controlling the auction. well, it appears that the rumour is quite true.

haha, you just gotta see it with your own eyes to believe it. the gangster would controlled the auction by being the only dominant bidder. They aim to sapu (buy all) the auction item and resell it to other bidders at the end of the auction at a higher price.

If there's other people who want to bid, they would stare or shout at them and tell them not to bid. If other bidders want to bid, they must need to find the gangster and pay an additional commission to them to get the item they want.

it is very unfair as the public would need to pay for the unecessary additional payment. it's also very sad that the local authorities cannot do anything about it.
there are 5-6 policeman standby beside the auction hall but they can't do anything about it also. i think it's also because what the gangster is doing is unfair but it is not illegal. tat's the problem here.



picture taken from here

oh well, one thing that caught my attention though, is tat i saw of one of the police officer helding a MP5 submachine gun! Ngaiti~ an auction like this need to bring sub machine gun meh, handgun not enough ka? i suddenly feel a bit not safe. but i notice that the magazine of the gun is not loaded;p haha he even wear sun glassess. i dunno whether it is for him to look cool like terminator or he don't want people to recognize him in case he shoot down some people>_<



picture taken from here

later i even have a chance to talk to the sub-machine gunner as we walk by. it was something like this:

police: oh...ada beli kereta ka? ( oh...got bought any car?)

me: oh..tiada, cuma datang tengok saja, ini MP5 ka? ( oh no, i just came to have a look, is that MP5?)

police: eh..macam mana kamu tahu? (eh, how u know about it?)

me: oh..saya ada main game. saya tahu lo. (oh..i've played computer games so i know)

police: kamu tahu apa maksud MP dalam MP5 ka? (you know what's the meaning of MP in MP5?)

me: er...tidak (er..nope)

police: haha, ia sebenarnya maksud Mini Pistol! (haha, it actually means mini pistol!)

then someone called him, and the conversation end like this.

it was an interesting short conversation. ahha, i was about to ask him y he didn't put on the ammunition? or he just use it to scare people only?:P

but i half half believe him about what he say about the meaning of MP5 becos he answer it with a proud wide grin. i've even go check up wikipedia, but it didn't mentioned the MP stands for Mini Pistol.

oh...back to the main topic...

as conclusion,this has been a new experience for me. if you guys want to see them gangster auction next time, you can go there and see for yourself.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

technographic saberkas closing...sob....sob...T_T

i passed by technographic saberkas last week and saw that they're having stock clearance sale from 1st december 2007 to 1st January 2008... i ask a fren of mine who's working there and it seems that they're moving back to their HQ in rubber road. the current shop lot in saberkas shall be rent to a computer company.

aiyo, although they're having stock clearance discounts (oh guys, they're selling it off cheap, go there and get it!), but i still feel abit sad lo. cos last time i used to spend alot of time in technographic doing DIY stuff and school art projects. now kenot no more:(

my relationship with technographic started back in my secondary school days. my fren who's working there happens to be my fren's girlfren's sister. so that how i get to know her. My fren's who's working there is very frenly and helpful. so along with my other frens, we used to go there alot to do art projects, (haha where else can you find a shop that let you use their place to do your art work without charges? , oh it was last time, now cannot:P)

my fren would also give discount when i buy stuff from time to time. she also become my mentor of DIY projects and sometimes i would go there to seek her advice, or seek inspirations or discuss art stuff with her. i think if there's no technographic as a standing stone, i may not love to do DIY stuff as much as i like today.

so as a token of gratitude i'm now writing this post and do a free promotion for them. so do drop by, cos i think in future to drop by their rubber road HQ is abit off the way for me, not as convinient as it is in saberkas.


this is what i bought from the sales, haha i know it's little, i bought the picutre colour paper as i think it looks nice and maybe would have future use. i bought the metalic gold pen as i also think got future use in doing art work. i got a silver one previously also bought from technographic.

aii...it's really sad. it's like a small little part of me being taken away. my fren there also feel reluctant to move. aii... can't say anything more...aii...aiii...aii...

i really gona miss da place.

Monday, December 3, 2007

the wedding singer- part 2 the actual performance



thanks to ai min for the photo:)

here is part 2, the actual performance itself.

hmm....after a few practises,i think i should be able to do it ok. But nevertheless, i still feel very kinteo before i went up the stage. and as usual, if i know that i'll be performing, i wouldn't be able to eat alot as i'm very nervous and would lose my appetite. besides, eating too much is also not good as the extra weight you gain would make you a little bit harder to sing! haha.

my colleagues ask me to sing earlier so that i would have the appetite to eat. but i didn't expect them to ask me be the first. oh wow...being the first to sing has more pressure le. but it was the host himself that start the performance with 2 old songs and then i was the first from the audience to go up.

as usual, i was quite nervous as i went up the stage. the mic is plucked inside a holder beside a small tv in front of the stage. the music is already running when i'm trying to unpluck the mic from the holder, which make me more nervous is that i have a little difficulty in unplucking and i'm afraid that i wouldn't be able to make it in time to sing when the song starts. luckily it didn't happen....pheww...

as i pick up the mic, luckily things go back to normal abit. haha, when got mic in hand and start to sing, my nervousness lessen as my attention all goes to my singing. i think it's because the presense of my boss and my big boss that suddenly make me kinteo again. at one time i even feel that my legs got tremble abit but i quickly try to hold it off, at least i still sing it normally. (but later i think i should have been able to sing better:P)

and yes, i've been able to sing the shouting part o.k. after the song when i went back to the table, the nervousness that i was trying to hold off on the stage suddenly all burst out. haha, that's what they say, when upstage, kenot let the audience see, must tahan until you go downstage. i was trying to held a chopstick and my colleagues laugh at me seeing my hands trembling. i also feel very funny as previously in my performance i'm never been this much nervous.

but anyway now that i've done my part. i can start to enjoy the food and listen to other performance. there was one performer that night that is very special and although he sang old song, he's very active and playfull and entertaining on stage. i need to thank him alot as he reminded me that i should relax more and tone down alot of my nervousness.

that whole night i was the only performer from the younger generation audience (oh except for the bridge and bridegroom, they sang "ni jui zhen gui" ) maybe that's why my colleague ask me to sing another song.

oh well, at least i've prepare for my backup song- "more than words". this time i sang it with less nervousness far more better than the first. in the beginning i've thought of doing something different and be like westlife cos when they sing this song, there's one part showing them sing while sitting in front of the stage. hmm...but aiya i dun dare! the mic is wired so it'll be a bit hard to do it too. but as i think back i think it would be fun and i should've try it. haha, at least it would be a new experience for me.

hmm...after that as i went back to my sit, my colleagues ask for another one, haha, but i say no la, enought for 2nite cos i think i should also give other people opportuniy to perform as well.

but there's one thing no good about singing in a wedding dinner is that not all people would be looking at you while you sing as some would be eating, chatting or doing "yam seng", too much distraction. although this might make u less nervous cos less people look at you, but it'll make u feel abit like you're not appreciated lo. haha, but at least when i went up stage and sing and as i quickly scan through the audience i found some of them looking at me smilling, especially younger generation, haha cos i sing new song mar~. haha then i feel abit worth it lo and it would boost my confidence as well.

overall i feel ok lar, satisfied. but still got alot more to improve. wat is very funny is that after the dinner my frens ask me to go podwave to sing k, and they also got choose the same two song that i sang.

thanks everyone for your support in asking me to sing and saying my voice nice. i really appreciate it. haha but i know i'm not that good, i just like to sing and dare to perform, there's still many things to learn and improve.

ok, tat's all for now, cheers:)

the wedding singer- part 1 preparation

oh ya, first of all, a very congratz to my colleage Mr. Peter Ho on his marriage to his beloved wife Ms. Sophia:)

last friday i became a wedding singer. oh... not the paid wedding singer tat people invited, just that my other colleages have been requesting me to sing a few songs at the wedding, so i sing lo. (actually i also very much wanted to sing myself:P)

my last singing performance before this was a long time ago sometime this year, it's on my cousin's wedding and it is a much smaller scale and i totally didn't prepare for it. i was in the toilet and suddenly i heard the MC saying my name tat i would be singing. (somebody pass my name to the MC) so i just simply pick a song and sang. i sang 张栋梁's "北极星的眼泪". haha...i know it was not a suitable song to sing in wedding as it is a sad song, but that was the best song i can choose from the list of songs available there. my performance after i self evaluate is also just cincai cincai lo, no preparation.

anyway tis time is different as i've prepared for it. luckily i've already got the karaoke version of the song my colleage requested me to sing which is 曹格's "世界唯一的你". (previously i've written a post about this song in my friendster blog) but sadly my home's karaoke set is not working so i've been going to K-box to keep in practise for 3days before the event. there was one part where u need to shout "woah woah wooooo~~~" and i was worried because sometimes i cannot sing that part well (3.44-3.52min)



having some previous experience, i decided that i also need to prepare a back up song just in case. i was thinking of singing english song and the first thing that came into my mind is Westlife. y Westlife? becos for me i like da song and it's easy to sing and i've sung them before in previous uni performance;) but problem is tat i don't have westlife karaoke! so on the night before the wedding i went to scout around kuching's pirate vcd heaven- kenyalang to try my luck.

the biggest store didn't sell it as expected becos it's not a new song and it's quite hard to find English Karaoke song compare to chinese karaoke song. i think perhaps Westeners didn't like to sing karaokes as much as Asian. (karaoke is invented in Japan by the way) tat's y it's hard to find. but as i go to the other store, i flipped thru the old cds and gotcha! i've finally found it.

i was so happy:)

they got all the good songs tat i wanted: flying without wings, if i let you go, more than words. too bad don't have: my love, i lay my love on you.

it took me a while to decide which of these 3 songs to sing as backup.

flying without wings - best lyrics to sing in wedding, i've sung this before in another wedding, but it's harder to sing and requires some strength (for me). the atmosphere that is created from this song feels abit like 世界唯一的你 so i feel tat i should choose another song.

if i let you go - lyrics a little not suitable to sing in wedding, but among these three song, i feel tat the melody is the most cheerful. i've also sang this song before during my uni days student council's installation dinner. i actually wanted to sing this song as backup but considering the lyrics...aiya too bad le.

more than words- lyrics ok la, suitable for wedding, most easy to sing among these three. i've also sang this song before back in my uni day's prom nite. so being playing safe, i choose this song to sing among the three.

i've also dug up some of my available karaoke songs by 张智城 & 林俊杰 as extra backups.

ok, tat's all for part1. part 2 i'll talk about the actual performance.

P.S. please note that i'm not trying to promote pirated vcd:P
it's actually very hard to buy original karaoke disc in kuching.