Opened an account a few days ago, and I've also got an ATM card... now it'll be easier for me to get money when I travel around Malaysia...

I guess I'm going to go to Klang first before I go over to meet Eric in Bukit Jalil...but got some complications lah.... ay... hopefully I can solve them soon.... Wanna visit my grandmother...haven't seen her in ages! Hope she remembers me...her memory is failing her... I guess I should bring some photos along...

Yippie! Went out to watch a movie with friends on Wednesday... "功夫" directed by 周星驰... haha... funny show (as usual)... I watched for free too! Haha... b'coz it was Wong Wai Kit's birthday (not to be confused with Soo Wai Kit)... but I treated him some popcorn and a drink lah... haha... if not I'll feel very guilty...

Oh, I was also lamenting to my friends that I couldn't find the comic 'Deathnote' (死亡笔记）, and it was such a coincidence that one of my friends wanted to return the set of comics to a friend, so I borrowed it first! Haha! So happy!!!!

(sadly) I'm not going to be able to clear my house before my friends come, so I'll just have to arrange the obsolete furniture and stuff as well as possible... *sighz*... my mother doesn't have time to see new furniture... and she's taken ill... hope she recovers soon... I'm being affected slightly too...

Gonna get my hair cut tomorrow... hope it will be cool!!!

It's terrible!

A massive earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale occured West of Sumatra early last Sunday morning, and this earthquake (along with the aftershocks) caused tsunamis across the Indian Ocean, Andaman sea and Bay of Bengal. I just watched BBC announcing that there are at least 23,000 deaths in India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia... another report says that an Indonesian officer said that there would probably be 20,000 deaths in Aceh alone. Malaysia has its share as well--Penang was the worse hit. Pray for those who have passed away as well as those that are struggling to survive...

On to more personal stuff... I had a chance to exercise at Tasik Y again last Sunday because my sister wanted to go to the playground there. Anyway, I had just finished doing push-ups when I saw this Malay teen (female) who was sitting at the side of the sandpit, and to my shock much of her underwear was visible to all. To make things worse, it was a G-String! My goodness! What has happened to their Islamic teachings and stuff? I mean, you can go ahead and wear a G-String but why parade your butt in front of so many people, young and old, walking in the park! Aiyoh, really 伤风败俗 loh...

Another thing that has happened these few days is that I've met with many of my alma mater teachers. Like on Sunday, I met with 刘勉秀老师，who was my primary school Chinese teacher and 班主任 for 3 1/2 years. We talked a bit... I approached her first of course, because she wouldn't recognise me! Then yesterday when I went to my secondary school to get my Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM-- basically, Malaysia Certificate of Education). I met my Chinese teacher, 苏雪琪 老师 (I think) and we talked. I also saw Mr. Gan, my Malay teacher; Mr. Jaafar, my Bio teacher; Mr. Najib, my Add Maths teacher; Mdm Goh, my English teacher and Ms. Wong, my Maths teacher (who greeted me before I could even open my mouth!)...haha....

Noticed I've used Chinese here and there... Haha! Finally can blog with Chinese on my own comp! Haha! No need to rely on Jeffrey anymore... *jokes*...

Merry Christmas!!! Especially to all my Christian friends out there!

The Christmas 'feel' is not really noticeable here, but I just went past the largest church in BP around 9.00pm yesterday, and it was packed! Children were performing on an outdoor stage... they were playing traditional Chinese songs in the background, so I assume that the church is mainly a Chinese congregation. I've got some gift vouchers to give to my parents and brother. Sorry, no presents for my 2 sisters!

Anyway, my mother is thinking of replacing some of the 'obsolete' furniture in our house... I cannot help but rejoice! Finally! There is a substantial move towards tidying up the house!

I can't help it! I keep procrastinating things! Now i'm in a rush to settle stuff for my Malaysian trip... got to help the guys check up on the bus fees and schedule, and also got to clean up the house, got to get a taxi to KL for myself, and I've got to open a new back account (+ get an ATM card!)... rush, rush, rush!!!!!! Ah... I'm worrying to much lah. Ignore what I wrote...

Oh! Another thing... I just saw Happy Tree Friends on the MTV Channel! They said it was a Christmas Special! Omigosh! That's terrible! Why is the world becoming so sadistic? To those who don't know what I'm talking about, ignorance is bliss!!!!

Not alone at home anymore.... my parents and sisters are back.

Anyway, I'm blogging again now coz there are a few things that I've forgotten to write about:

Penang is in a deplorable state and is losing is lustre as a prominent tourist attraction. The English and Chinese Newspapers are writing about Penang everyday now, and they are mainly highlighting the ugly side of it. Rubbish, pollution etc. And the pitiful state of its tourist attractions. Someone wrote in to say that the snake temple is not worth a trip because there are hardly any snakes there now! That's why there's this campaign now (forgot what it's called; stand up for Penang?) to attempt to reverse the trend. The situation Penang's in is quite sad... and Ching Mien (and Chen Hoay) blame it on the Chief Minister of the State Datuk Koh Tsu Koon... Oh well... and least I believe my trip there will be enjoyable...

Mr. Abdullah Badawi was giving a speech in Dubai (I think) some days ago and he said that all Malaysians must try to improve themselves and make themselves value-added. It was rather interesting for me to hear that coz Singapore ministers always seem to mention about it. Schools too..."best value-added school...blah, blah, blah....". Haha... Mr. Abdullah Badawi is certainly different from Dr. Mahathir... I read in Newsweek that there is an art exhibition in KL and there were some suprising artpieces that I thought would certainly be censored but weren't! Examples: police batons and judges headgear made from cow dung and artworks depicting anti-ISA (Internal Security Act) slogans and stuff. Is Malaysia becoming more liberal? It's too early to tell...

One good thing about being back home is that I get to watch the TV channels I like the most on Astro (Satellite TV Channel provider), such as Discovery Channel and National Geographic. Anyway, there was an interesting show one day about the Naxi people in Lijiang, Yunnan Province, China. The Naxi people are a minority in China, but what makes them outstanding is that they have constantly been adapting to 'foreign' cultures; they practice falconry (rearing Eagles etc.) which they learned from the Mongols; they can write in Chinese which they learned from Han Chinese (and in fact, the ruler of the region at the time had strongly encouraged people to learn it, to the extent he banned their own written language); and finally, they have retained ancient traditional music from past dynasties (people thought the music was extinct).
They also invented a unique water system; the marketplace could be slightly flooded after all the buying and selling hype had ended to wash away dirt and debris! Water will sprout out from the cracks in the stone surface when the water movement in a stream was altered.

They had their own language, the Dongba, which is more or less hieroglyphic. In fact, it is the ONLY remaining 'living' hieroglyph in the world today. However, it's usage is limited to religious purposes to record rituals etc. and for each village there is only one 'priest' family. So, only this 'priest' family is able to read and decipher the Dongba language. Many from these families have chosen not to learn it. The reason, quoted from a Dongba-literate priest is that these people think it is "useless". Preservation of the Naxi culture and language is under way, but tourism is a major threat to them.

To learn more Lijiang and Naxi culture, visit http://www.lijiang.com.cn/english/culture/db_culture/db_culture.htm
http://www.toptrip.cc/destination/yunnan/lijiangdongba.htm

To learn more about the Dongba language, visit
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/naxi.htm

My brother normally comes back to the house during the weekends only. The rest of the week he stays at this shared house in Parit Raja (direct translation: King's Drain). So last weekend he came back and suggested we go 'climb' the Minyak Beku Hill. Minyak Beku by the way is this small village along the way from Batu Pahat to the seashore, and it's direct translation would be 'solidified oil'. Haha...

Anyway, it's been quite long since I climbed that hill, so I agreed loh... Actually it's not climbing lah, just walking up this road that leads to a transmission tower. It's all forest around so it's quite nice... being near to nature... I didn't jog once in a while like last time; I merely walked all the way up. I was thinking of bringing the guys here when they visit my place but I'm worried for Yi Cheng... *sighz*...really don't know where to bring them....

Pratised driving today... haha.... automatic gear driving is sooooo much easier!!!! But still need more practice...

Before eating dinner outside we went to Tasik Y first under my request. The lake is named so after it's shape which is like a 'Y'. But the Chinese call it lian2 hua1 chi2 (Lotus Lake), for whatever reason... it make sense now that they've actually planted lotus plants, but why was it named so before that? Dunno.... I wanted to come here because here is the only place I know where I can do pull-ups! Anyway, i fared quite badly... did only 9 (not continuously, OK!)...

Have a lot of things to do during this holiday....

My parents and my two sisters have gone to Sabah for a short holiday.

My brother is still studying and he's currently staying in Parit Raja, where he rents a house with a group of friends.

That means....

I have the whole house to myself!!!!!!!

(and the household chores as well......oh well......)

I haven't blogged these few days not because I couldn't but there was simply nothing for me to blog about!

I’ve realized that in some ways I’m a perfectionist.
I want things to be in order; like when I arrange furniture in my living room, I tend to arrange them with respect to the lines that form grids on the tile floor.
The fictional character Hercule Poirot is worst than me because he wants things to be symmetrical.

I’m saying this here to vent my frustration because I’ve so far failed to keep my house tidy. What makes things worst is that some of my ASEAN friends might pay a visit to Batu Pahat in January. How can I let them see the mess I’m living in? Argh!!!!

I’m also trying to strengthen myself physically and mentally......it’s going to be rather tough though… I jogged 5 rounds + did 20 push-ups + did 20 dips only 2 days ago, and yesterday I awoke with a sore body! Aiyoh… must exercise more often! But the worst part is, there’s no place nearby for me to do pull-ups! Argh!!!! How?!?!

Got a list of books to read too… “Living Without Procrastination”, “Unlimited Power”, “To Kill a Mockingbird” etc…. I guess it’s going to be quite a busy holiday for me… and I’m not even working yet!

Hey hey! I'm back in Malaysia!

Anyway, I'm thinking of not changing my blog address but change the tagline beneath it soon, to address the real-life situation. Haha...

Many of my Singaporean friends have travelled or are going to travel overseas. 2 of my friends went to Korea, and Winnie is in Taiwan. So lucky! Haha... Nevermind, I'm satisfied enough that I got the chance to visit Europe last year.

Oh! I want to thank Jeffrey and Family for being such kind hosts to me during my brief stay there. I enjoyed your mum's cooking Jeff! Please tell her that and also that I think I am no more allergic to prawns because I've got no rashes whatsoever after eating them! I started noticing my allergy to prawns were diminishing about 3 months ago. Yay! Now I can eat my favourite food without worrying!

Oh, and to all my friends out there who want to contact me, my new M'sian HP no. is
016-7428759. Those in S'pore might have to add a +6 in front I think...

Yay! I'm in Jeffrey's room now, afresh after 8 hours of invigorating sleep and happily typing my blog...

This week has so far been boring and busy. I've been slacking around most of the time doing nothing but watch television (and lamenting the fact that I've really nothing to do...). This is especially so after Yi Cheng went home and brought his newly bought PS2 back home. I missed seeing him play Final Fantasy X... Furthermore, Wilson has gone back too, so I can't play The Sims on his Nokia N-Gage as well. I also didn't had to fuss about clothing, hairstyle etc. for graduation night because I didn't attend it. The only thing I was busy doing was packing my stuff. It's quite a tedious job you know... Thinking whether or not to bring back or throw away my stuff etc. In the end I have 7 boxes and I'm kind of worried if I can put them all in my dad's car.

I shall apologize beforehand here for using Chinese and Malay to blog. I've wanted to try it since quite long ago. So let me try it yah? Thank you. Please use unicode to decode the characters...

终于可以用华文来写网记了! 哈哈!
因为新加坡教育部只肯为我们付宿舍住宿费至12月8日, 所以那天以后就得离开宿舍, 否则的话就要自己付住宿费了（听说是一天45新币！）...... 我当然是不肯啦！恰好我的同班同学在一个多月前已经打算到圣淘沙住宿几天 （12月8日~12月10日）。 于是我就立刻答应参与一份...... 为了方便我老爸，我便请他在星期六的时候才来新加坡接我回家。我知道如果我在12月10日的晚上流浪街头， 以手肘当枕头，以天空当棉被的话，一定会有很多人不忍心看到我沦落到那种凄凉的情况。哈哈！所以就厚着脸皮问问有没有人可怜我而肯收留我...... 哈哈......果然，献仁（Jeffrey) 大发慈悲的让出了一张床给我； 现在我才得以用华文写网记啦！多谢啦！我欠你一份人情啦......

这一次到圣淘沙应该是我头一次吧！原本打算好好的享受一下夏日风情的海滩生活，哪知道这几天的天空都是阴沉沉的，甚至还下了雨...... 不过没关系,至少我现在比较有资格玩Dai Dee 和 Bridge。Luis 还教了我们玩他称为A**hole Dai Dee的游戏。蛮好玩的哦！而且可以很多人一起玩...... 我也学会了简单的麻将玩法。哈哈，真是获益匪浅！除了玩牌，我们也到Palawan Beach去打排球。还算OK啦...... Kai Leong因为有Corporate Pass, 所以我们都不须要付$3.00的入门费。晚餐与午餐我们有时候便回到‘新加坡大陆’的Harbourfront去解决。


Oh! Saya sudah lupa tentang aktiviti 'berbasikal malam' (night cycling) baru-baru ini. Hanya saya, Joanna, Yi Jian, Yi Cheng, Kok Vui dan Ching Mien pergi. Saya sebenarnya takut kalau gadis-gadis kat asrama ingin pergi bersama kerana mereka tentu kayuh perlahan dan kami terpaksalah tunggu mereka. Nasib baik hanya Joanna yang teguh fizikal pergi bersama kami. East Coast Park ialah destinasi pertama kami. Selepas itu, kami telah pergi ke Suntec, Esplanade dan Orchard. Selepas itu kami pun berpatah balik ke asrama. Tak rasa letih pun! Haha...

OK. That's all for now. The next time I blog should be around next Saturday...

I'm so sorry for not blogging for so long, but I'm usually reluctant to use the hostel's computers, plus I have nothing much to say.

Wait after my chalet trip tomorrow!

Finally! Finally I can blog after the A-levels! Many things have been going on... I'll give a chronological update:

27 Nov (Sat) :
Got our testimonials and CCA report today. Honestly, it is just full of flattering comments and exaggerated views about people. Some parts were, in the words of my friend, "cut and paste"... haha...The CCA report is more statistical in nature, so there's not much the teachers can do to boost rankings. I got a 'D' only for my PEARLS points (a way to measure how active you've been in CCAs)... Hope it won't pull me down when I apply to enter U. Oh, there's this part in the testimonial that I love... "effectively bilingual" ... haha...

Someone told me something today, and I just have to repeat: Life is precious and life is uncertain... You'd never know what may happen...

Lunch was at Sumo House... I ate with Wai Kit only another gang had went to Expo. I guess I didn't do much during the afternoon and soon it was time to go out for dinner! Haha... Minh Huong initially wanted a 'farewell barbecue' but in the end we all opted to go Orchard zou3 zou3.
It was sooooooo difficult to find a place to eat (what to expect? Saturday night!). In the end we ate at a more 'ulu' place. The group was rather large (16 people), so it was also difficult to make decisions on what to do, where to go etc. The activity of the day was, in the words of a friend: "go here...oh cannot, cannot!....go there...oh cannot, cannot!:" *sighz* wasted quite a lot of time like this.... In the end however, we got to play pool! I also joined in... you know it's the first time I'm playing it? Got 3 balls in! Haha... I'm trying to learn 'social' games now...like Dai Dee, Bridge, Pool etc. Hope I can go to ECP to roller blade one of these days. Had supper at Simpang Bedok afterwards.

28 Nov (Sun) :
I went to church this morning because I promised Ching Mien about 2 or 3 weeks ago that I'll be going after A-levels. I found out later that he SMSed Wai Kit to make sure I was awake and went to church! Anyway, we (me, Joanna and Wai Kit) went out to Orchard today (again). I brought them to Cineleisure's Subway for lunch coz they never ate there before. Eric came awhile later after sending off Fen Ru to somewhere. Wai Kit was looking everywhere for this 'evangelion' figurine, and he found at Orchard MRT Station's Popular (S$40!!!)...

Went to Heeren HMV, Kinokuniya etc. Bought the newest Sidney Sheldon book at Kinokuniya using vouchers that I bought from Eric, and I somehow got a pair of free movie tickets to watch 'Bridget Jones Diary: The Edge of Reason'! It was going to be screened that night! Argh!!! Had to go back to hostel and come out again. Anyway, when we were at Lido we saw 'Jien' who hosts a number of TV shows, including Malaysian Idol... I still have a S$20 book voucher... what should I buy?

Busy day! Went back to hostel in time for dinner, passed my choir blazer to Melody in exchange for her Geography textbook. Yay! Can study Geog...haha... The movie was going to start at 9.45pm. I found out that the cinema was huge! It was in Shaw Tower by the way. I grab the opportunity to ask Lita out, and she agreed! Hm... I found out from Joanna she usually won't come out after 9pm loh... Anyway, I enjoyed the show (surprisingly, coz I thought it would be a Bimbo show...)... I hope she did too!

29, 30 Nov and 1 Dec :
Finished reading my new book! Thanks to its large text and the fact that I had nothing much else to do... Went bowling with Wai Kit and Jeffrey on the 30th... still cannot make it! I've never been able to reach 100 loh! *sighz*... Didn'e go and play pool with Eric on the 1st because I had already agreed to go to Sim Lim Square long long ago... Yi Cheng bought a PS2! Aiyoh... sooooo expensive!

Singapore Idol: Hmm... I was hoping the Malaysian Idol will perform loh.... she was present but didn't perform. Anyway, Sylvester's singing still needs lots and lots of pruning loh. Taufik was the obvious choice, but I was scared that there were too many silly young teens who rather prefer Singapore to be humiliated on World Idol. But Taufik won! Yeah!!!!