heheheheheh

Runaway...

...and hide. and cry.

I want to.

On EPF

Saving for retirement.

Following today's new annoucement on the automatic reduction of our EPF contributions from 11% to 8% -further proving the incompetence of our current govt- we shall all have increase it back up to 11% on our own again.

To all the readers of this blog, please do yourself a favour and increase your EPF contribution back up to 11%, cos honestly, 11% is really not enough too.

Apparently you can download the form from the EPF website, www.kwsp.gov.my but at the time of writing the website can't be loaded (surprise surprise).

Rather than spamming your mailboxes....

I'll just post these here.


TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn't punish him?
LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand.
______________________________________
TEACHER: Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?
SIMON: No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook.
______________________________
TEACHER: Clyde , your composition on 'My Dog' is exactly the same as your brother's. Did you copy his?
CLYDE : No, sir. It's the same dog.
___________________________________
TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?
HAROLD: A teacher

Break in!!!!

My house was broken into!!!

Got home after work yesterday, walked into the house, walked into the room, noticed that something my laptop was missing, and mouse and mic was on the floor, speakers were upturned, my drawers were open, my guitar pedal was emptied out of my bag.

The muppet came in from the kitchen window and made of with my laptop and cash that I kept in the drawer. Thankfully, none of my other housemates stuff were touched.

The dude (or dudes) took the money which was meant for my tithe for the month. I think he(they) is(are) screwed for stealing that money. FACE YOUR MAKER AND DIE! FOOL!!! (hooray for grammatically correct english)

Moral of the story:

1. Close your windows. Even if you live on the 12th floor, when there's a will, there's a way for them.
2. Buy desktops. Big bulky stuff is hard to transport out of the window from 12 storey's above.
3. Don't leave substantial amounts of cash in the house.
4. Get home contents insurance.

I surprisingly, am more upset at the fact that I suffered from food poisoining last night and couldn't sleep properly than from the theft incident. But I am also thankful they didn't steal my guitar stuff, or else i'd have been absolutely livid. That one I guarantee will hunt them down to the ends of the earth and hang them by wiring a guitar string through their balls.

Anyways. Other than the loss of the two items (laptop and cash) , nothing else was taken and no one was hurt, so that's all good.

Time to go buy a new computer.

Maxis

I have now ported over from Digi to Maxis. Hooray for number porting!

Release

There's no better relief than release.

must eat more papaya =P

Lessons in Life

Lesson #1: When it involves money, especially YOUR money, never procrastinate on the issue, get it settled as quick as possible.

Lesson #2: While there still are a few good men out there who are responsible and trustworthy, you cannot trust people when they owe you money, no matter how honourable you have been with them; cos it's likely they will conveniently disappear when it's time for them to pay you back.

Lesson 3#: If they are property agents, don't trust them at all. Don't show mercy.

Sigh.

It's been a while since I was this annoyed. Nice feeling.

Hey God...

Thanks for everything.

Away from those horrible exams...

I have found my distortion pedal!

pwnage

Well at least I can confirm that when I get my pass in dec, its 100% God and 0% me. 

Boy, faith is tough.

Emo

When it rains, it pours. 

Dancing Stars

Tonight we are
Looking up into the skies
Seeing the stars as one
Swaying in the night

They dance in our eyes
Like little fireflies
When we look hard enough
When we stare long enough

And tonight
It's just us
In the stillness of it all
With the dancing stars

Job

...is one heck of a guy.

I had a mini revelation of sorts of when reading through the book of Job this morning - okok i know i'm just a teeny weeny bit behind in terms of the bible reading plan. roughly about 10 books XD

The books of Job begins by saying how Job was a upright, blameless shunned evil and feared God, who was blessed inmmensely by his Creator, and was the greatest man (in terms of wealth and possesions) in the East of his time. In short, he was the model christian, what most of us aspire to be; do good obey God, and be blessed out of your socks.

Then along comes Satan (or the Accuser) to God one day, and they have a conversation of sorts where God boasts to Satan about Job, saying how pleased He is with Job. So Satan retorts back, "Of course la, you bless him with so much, anyone can do that and would do that with that kind of blessings." Malaysian slang is my own interpretation.

Well then God says, "Well dude, go ahead and do whatever you want with Job, but do not harm him."

So anyways Satan goes out and takes everything away from Job in one go - all his wealth, his servants, his children; all in a single night.

Job's response to all this "misfortune"; after grieving for the loss of everything that he had (read tearing his robes and shaving his head), was to get up and say; "Naked I come, and naked I go, God gives and God takes away, and I will praise my God regardless."

Reading this got me thinking quite a bit. More often at the first sign of trouble, we end up questioning "why why why waaaaiiiiiii God did you allow this to happen... I've been loyal and faithful and etc" and go off into a state of depression. And justifiably so. It's the natural and normal human response.

Job however, passed the test/challenge that was put before him with flying colurs.

Even without everything, will you still love Me?

Or

Do you love Me for what I (can) give; or do you love Me for who I AM?

Boy, talk about tough questions.

Job, you the man.

1 year...

...is a long time. Very long.

Exactly 1 year ago, we were counting down to our 50th year of independence.

And today we're counting down to our 51st year of independence.

How things have changed. And how things have not.

quote

Faith is tough boy, but God gives grace.
So take a deep breath, head up, set your face like flint
Stop being a wimp.

I wish I could write blog posts like this guy

http://www.picidwells.blogspot.com/

But unfortunately scrolling through my previous blog posts has revealed to me that I'm just a rather shallow emo twat; although I still maintain a person should not be judged by his (or her - depending on whether I feel a bit more "danielle" than "daniel") blog, but having said that I think a blog is somehow quite a true reflection of a person's character/personality.

Some spend 90% of their blog posts talking about what they did all day/yesterday/tomorrow
Some crack wise ass jokes
Some tell the world about their love lives "omg she's such a hottie"
Some observe the world around them and journal down what they see
Some are just plain random
Some try to spread a message
And so on.. you get the idea.

That said none of the above is wrong. Heck its your blog, write what you want.

It just makes me think whether people go away richer/better after reading my posts.

Nahhhh. This is a place when I'm shallow, immature and silly (doesn't mean I'm not that way in real life).

Walls

How do you get around them?
Are you supposed to get around them?
If you are, when is the right time to get around them?

All these is very unsettling.

Lockdown

Loose my grip You say
Let down those defences
Just let go
Watch it all unfold

I would let go if I knew
Of what I am holding on to
We're playing a deadly game
One that I must not lose

Lay down your weapons
Strip off that armor
I've got you on lock down
There's nothing to fear

Let go and hold on
That's all to be done right now

For the first time visitor...

Harlow!!!!! XD

We all need some randomness.

Up

Tired faces don't lie
So take off your mask of disguise
Hemmed in from all sides
You've got nowhere to run or hide

The only escape is
Up, up, up
Come on reach down and pull me
Up, up, up

Courage alone never won a war
Only those with a purpose to fight for
So let's draw up our battle lines
Stand tall and we may just be fine

Don't run, cause you can't hide
It's the temporal bliss from tragedy

Supernatural

To fear flight for the pain of falling
Living merely in the possible
Who have we to blame?
Where do we put our shame?

Open your eyes and see the supernatural
Not for glory, not for fame
But for living life as it can and should be
Limitless boundaries and unending potential

Do we dare try? Do we dare fly?
Break off the chains of illusion and see reality
Cos we're meant to do the impossible
Come on step up step in take the plunge

Not fear but faith
Not fear but faith
In He who is limitless
In Him who holds it all

Don't let go

When I lose sight of what's important and long for the here and now
Dear Lord, hold my hand
Hold my hand

When I am overcome with fear at the sight of things unseen
Dear Lord, hold my hand
Hold my hand

When doubt overcomes faith in the face of mountains
Dear Lord, hold my hand
Hold my hand

When I am full of discontent and in need of quiet
Dear Lord, hold my hand
Hold my hand

When I am in my moment of weakness and in need of strength
Dear Lord, hold my hand
Hold my hand

When I slip and fall down and hurt myself
Dear Lord, hold my hand
Hold my hand

When I turn my back on You and push You away
Dear Lord, hold my hand
Hold my hand

When I say "I trust You" and jump into Your river with faith, anticipation and trembling
Dear Lord, hold my hand
Hold my hand

When everything around is beautiful and is as it should be
And I am happy
Dear Lord, hold my hand
Hold my hand

Don't let me go.

Rain Rain on my face

700am.... the sound of the rain falling on the window panes, dark skies, cool breezes. Perfect.

710am... the alarm rings... ending what could've been the perfect sleep in.

*drags corpse to work*

It's criminal to get up for work on a rainy morning like today.

Stoned

Tossed and turned all night in anticipation of exam results (and other reasons); hardly got a wink of sleep and nursing a cold; trying to work in office.

Ah the bitter pill of failure. Have to start studying again, dammit.

---------------------

This week, I've stepped off the proverbial boat into the proverbial sea. Time to swim, baby. Or sink. Woohooooooo!

Thursday Night

Last night a friend of mine, very excitedly ran up to me while calling my name.

"Daniel!! DANIEL!!!" she cried.

So wondering what it was all about, I turned to face her.

"I know how you'll look like in 30 years time!!!!" said with an excitement that can't be described with words.

Wooookaaay.

-_-"

United Live Concert @ Glad Tidings PJ

By some weird turn of events, yesterday I found out that I had actually paid RM50 to buy a ticket to attend a United Live concert. Many thanks to Agnel to talked me into buying the ticket (about a month or 2 back), and many thanks to Jeffrey who reminded me about the concert. Else sure burn RM50.

Anyways, the band, is pretty good. They are a very polished act, the sound mix was pretty good as well (although it deteriotated through the show, but possibly because I was getting deafer as the concert wore on), very nice lightings, smoke machines and all to get the very nice rock concert feel. For RM50, its quite worth the musical experience.

My only peeve was that we were unwittingly caught in a mosh pit of screaming teenagers, and I started to go deaf due to the constant screaming in my ear. And it started to smell really bad about 20 mins into the show. We mentioned after the show how great it would have been to have a gigantic fire hydrant + hose to wash the whole lot of them. Ugh. Kids nowadays need to learn to take a shower.

But I guess the best part of the night was that I found a new potential housemate, so for that, RM50 was quite worth it.

Aha aha aha.

*I want to continue blogging but my boss just walked past and I think he noticed that I was err... blogging. Time to runnnnnnnn*

A little rant

On spammers.

In this case, I'm referring to those people who are in your contact list who can't get by without forwarding a few emails to the whole wide world everyday.

Look. This is the lowdown.

Eating a certain kind of brocolli will not give you cancer, if you eat sufficient amounts you might turn green, yes; but no it will not cause cancer of any sort.
Yes I sympathize with that poor american girl who was kidnapped while holidaying in carribean, I'd love to keep an eye out for her if she appears lost and desperate walking about in the taman where I live, yes especially if she's really hot. Mmmm.
And as much as you'd love to believe that a certain alignment of stars and planets are a sign of the coming of end of the world (which according to your email was last Friday), I suggest that rather than spending your last precious days on earth forwarding emails, how about going out and spending some quality time with your family/friends instead of spamming my mailbox?

Blah. And you would think education would make people a bit more discerning.

On another note;

Must. Not. Forget. To. Renew. Road. Tax.

Blog blog blog

I need to upload some pics. But not today. Maybe tmr. Maybe next week. Nonetheless....

I was talking to my housemate today after reading on some billionaire and how he spends money. We both pondered on the possibilties of what could be done with 1 billion bucks.

A lot.

Like I could buy the entire new condo development in my taman and have a healthy chunk to spare. And then sell it off for a profit.

Sigh. 1 billion.

Anyways, moving on from fantasies to realities....

I was trying to renew my road tax online by JPJ's online portal. After keying in everything, an error message came up saying that there were no records of my insurance policy number. Having dealt with online govt portals I wasn't too surprised and dismissed it as the usual half past six quality of work that we're used to.

Today, much to my surprise, the company who is in charge of the website called me up, and enquired about what went wrong with my transaction. And even solved my problem for me (which apparently was that before you can renew your road tax you need to ensure that your insurance policy cover is valid for the renewal period). I was extremely impressed. Quite amazing stuff to have service like that. You don't even get that when buying stuff from private companies. The company's name is MYEG - well done! Here's a good mention for you.

That said, I have to renew my car insurance first then my road tax. Sigh pokai ady.

Must. Not. Forget. To. Renew. Road. Tax.

Soon

I can't waiiittttttt!

soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon soon !!!!11

Sabbatical

Over the next 2 weeks, I shall disappear from the public as much as possible.

Time to rest, recuperate and reflect.

Oh dang it it's Monday tomorrow.

Waking up when you don't want to

I'm supposed to still be sleeping. And I'm supposed to be on half day leave.

But noooo. My body has to wake up at 730 even without an alarm clock even though I slept at about 130am, and have been sleep deficient for about a week.

But anyways since I woke up I decided I might as well go to work.

Sigh. Nowadays I look to my weekends with dread. They are more tiring than my 5 weekdays put together.



One thing that I never regretted is the decision to learn how to play guitar. Right from that fateful day when I was 12 and decided I wanted to learn (though any proper guitar learning only occured about 6 years later), it's been loads of fun. Never mind the fact that I've blown close to RM10k for it, or the fact that I started learning guitar too late and by the time I'll be able to play anything decent will be just about never, or that its results in me having no social life, or this or that... there's just a certain satisfaction about playing. Cos it's play. Muahaha.

I think I need more sleep.

Movies

The short version:

Ironman was good.

Cinema and ppl in cinema was...bad.

The long version:
Last night I went out with a few friends to catch Ironman. Much to my delight, this movie was waaaaaaaaaay better than the last two that I watched (read: Forbidden Kingdom, Lars and The Real Girl). I guess my only gripe to the show is that I thought the final battle could be a tad bit longer and more developed. Nonetheless, it was a fantastic movie.

Disappointing though, was the cinema in Sunway Pyramid. TGV sucks. This is the second consecutive movie I've watched where the screen was not aligned properly which resulted in half of the actors heads being chopped off. And then dare charge me RM11 for it. I have half a mind to write a letter of complaint to them and demand for a refund.

Amusing were the other people in the cinema, who for some reason, loved to applaud at certain scenes in the movie. Ok la, dudes, I know that Ironman is cool and all, but has it occured to you that we're watching a movie? You know, it's like scripted? It's not like a football match where you applaud a team -_-"

I guess there's beauty in diversity.

On Rest

Rest.

Somehow I don't seem to get enough of it, regardless of the amount I sleep. It's been a long while since I woke up in the morning feel fresh and alive, even on weekends where I sleep in for an extra couple of hours, and then followed by another 2 hour nap in the afternoon post lunch. Kinda sucks coming to work all bleary eyed and feeling like you're going to collapse any moment.

Take last night for example.

Mondays are usually bad days for me in terms of rest, as I always end my Sundays totally shattered. So coming home from work on Mondays means I feel the full brunt of the weekend's exertions, and yesterday evening was no exception. So in obeying the desires/need of my body, I decided to take a nap in the evening - though it was more like proper sleep since I completely died in that 1 1/2 hours. Waking up feeling groggy and all, did the usual dinner and post dinner stuff on a Monday night. Come midnight, went to bed feeling tired, lay down, and my brain decides to wake up and go for a walk. So there I was tossing and turning not being able to sleep, and when I eventually did, all I had was lots of weird dreams which involved a lot of exertion, running around doing stuff.

And then I wake up today morning, feeling no better than how I felt when I woke up yesterday morning.

It's a vicious cycle.

Ironic, isn't it?

Hallelujah

Now I lay, I lay me down to sleep
Hallelujah, almighty dollar
I praise the Lord afford my roll to keep
Hallelujah, almighty dollar

Money, I need more money
Just a little more money
I said, I need more money
Yeah, yeah

Money, money
I need more money
Just a little more money
Yeah, I need more money

And give us these days our daily bread
Only you we praise, almighty dollar

Money, my personal savior
Money, material love
Money, life's only treasure
Money, in God we trust

And if I should die before I wake
Hallelujah, almighty dollar
I'm gonna take the money that I make
Hallelujah, almighty dollar

Money, I need more money
Just a little more money
I said, I need more money
Yeah, yeah

Money, money
I need more money
Just a little more money
Yeah, I need more money

And give us these days our daily bread
Only you we praise, almighty dollar

Money, my personal savior
Money, a material love
Money, life's only treasure
Money, in God we trust
Money

I wan' lay, I lay me down to sleep
I pray to Lord, afford my roll to keep
If I should die before I wake
I'm gonna take all the ****' money hard way

Money, my personal savior
Money, oh, material love
Money, life's only treasure
Money, in God we trust

Money, my personal savior
Money, oh, material love
Money, yeah, yeah, life's only treasure
Money, in God we, yeah, in God we
Yeah, in God we trust

Hallelujah!

Music and Lyrics by Extreme, Money (In God We Trust)


I need more $$$$$$$$

We all write like 15 year olds

Apparently I touched a nerve in my previous post when I said that blogging down whatever you did over the weekend to the whole wide world is akin to the writing of that of a 15 year old. Guess I'm not the only overaged 15 year old writer out there =P

Hahhaa. The thought of it cracks me up.

Nonetheless, for the lack of better justifications, I shall continue to post 15 year old writings. Well not all the time. But most of the time.

The thought of not further humiliating myself and no longer damaging innocent surfers mind's (by not blogging anymore - not the other stuff that I do; sorry folks that's here to stay XD ), has crossed my mind many times. But somehow I think there's some therapeautic quality involved when you know whatever rubbish you write will still have some sort of readership. Well ok maybe only I read my own blog but that's besides the point. Like I mean, really, who cares about what you did over the weekend!?!?! Who cares if you drove up to Genting to enjoy some nice view but all you ended up seeing was fog? But yet there's a certain joy in sharing your experiences to others (and it's even better on the internet cos you can tell more people with just one post!), no matter how superficial it may be.

I think I'm shallow.

aha aha aha.

One of those crazy weekends

My weekends, seem to fly by without me knowing much about them, and yet again this monday morning I'm here trying to retrace what exactly happened to the latest weekend.

Chronologically:

Thursday night - Movie outing with campus students: Forbidden Kingdom. Come to think of it, teruk la the movie. 11 bucks for a movie like that. I think that was the funny part of it . Bleh. And also how I realized that i'm getting olddddddddd.

Friday night: Movie outing (again!2 nights in a row!! zomg)... with Agnel, Kysern and Cheryl. Initialy Agnel called me up and said, "daniel, let's go watch forbidden kingdom!" zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. After quickly shooting down the idea and telling him that its not worth your 11bucks and friday night, we ended up watching "Lars and The Real Girl". Which I have to say was a better movie than "Forbidden Kingdom". It's an indie film, the low budget kind with minimal soundtracks and all, a bit longer than it should be but on overall very interesting.

Saturday: Did some housechores, went to scout for guitar pedals (with no end product), church meeting, then dinner at Cineleisure for agnel's birthday with the AF guys + girlfriends. Then had this crazy idea (I believe it's agnel's) to drive up to genting to have kopi, where apparently (according to agnel) there was this great outdoor cafe (coffee bean) thing where you can sip coffee and enjoy an excellent view. All that happened when we got there was the fantastic view of the kabus (fog). zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. So that evening we made a general consensus that if agnel says it's really good, rate down 30%, and if he says its really bad, rate up 30%. Plus when the kabus cleared all we saw was darkness. -_-" Eventually got home at 230am, no thanks to my louya savvy. 2nd gear all the way going up genting. What was funny was that there was agnel & gf, David Gary & gf, and me & kysern. ahahahaa. So we pretended to be a couple for a while.

Sunday: Whole day in church.

Today: ugghhhhhh monday morningggggg.

--------------------------------------------------------

I'm suddenly questioning myself what possessed me to narrate all that I did over the weekend for everyone to see. It's like so..... 15 year old. But then again to have typed this much nonsense and not post it would be cardinal.

*shamelessly clicks post*

Broke-rhitis

What started out as for-fun instrument is now sucking the juices out of my wallet. Guitar playing is expensive I tell you, now that i've caught the pedal-buying-bug aka quest for eric johnson's guitar tone.

Here's the list of money that could've and (would be) been better spent elsewhere (eg funding my dictatorship plans):

Bought:
Vox Big Ben Overdrive - RM450
RMC Wizard Wah - RM 680

Soon to buy:
Pedal flight case - RM300
Boss DD20 Giga Delay - RM700 (zomg i'm buying a delay pedal... what has the world come to?!?!)
MI Audio Crunchbox - RM500

Thinking of buying:
RC/AC/BB booster - RM500 (at least)
Volume Pedal - ???

The above already comes up to a whopping Rm3000. That's double the price of my electric guitar -_-"

Any rich sugar mama's out there? *grin*

I feel so so old.

In my attempts to be more sociable with people around me (read: social experiment #1), last night I agreed to join some of my church's campus students for a movie outing.

And boy, I'm feeling the age gap.

You see, being a dec baby, I'm quite used to being the youngest among my group of friends that I hang out with. Most of my friends are at least my age, or older. Last night was a complete role reversal. Many jokes were made by them, of which none did I understand. The cake came when a friend of mine was telling me about this comedian he saw on you tube, and how I should go check it out etc... which at that moment it dawned on me that the only YouTube videos that are non music or football related which I watch nowadays are Barak Obama's presidential campaign speeches.

To top it off, while everyone was hyper at about 9pm lining up for popcorn, I was yawning. zzzzzzz. And I still am.

Old old old old old.

On other fronts, we watched Forbidden Kingdom. The movie.., man I dunno what to say. I found the production more funny than the show itself. It felt kinda B grade, with the flying martial (I initially typed "marshall" -_-" ) arts and all that, but it was quite nostalgic for me to see sun wu kong (the monkey king) again in a movie. Brought back childhood memories. But all in all I quite enjoyed it.

Monday morning blues

It's one of those days where you wake up on monday morning and realize you didn't have much of the weekend to youself and suddenly find yourself at work again.

Corpses, I tell you. I understand how it feels like to be one.

*returns to crunching numbers*

*crunch crunch crunch crunhc zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz*

died-ed

Playing futsal is bad for health when

• the last time you did any proper sort of running was all the way back in Nov 2006
• all the people you're playing with are superfit buffalos
• shortly before playing you had a giant serving of banana leaf rice

Ughh. I think I'm going to die any moment.

Someone come collect my corpse please.

*collapses onto bed*

Social Experiment #1

I found out, I'm a lot more vulnerable than I imagined myself to be.

I've always thought that I could place a firm lid on my emotions (any form; anger, despair, affections, bliss etc), hence rendering myself "less vulnerable" than your average 24 year old guy out there.

But damn, sometimes no matter how hard you try, it just goes beyond you. I guess I'm human after all. Heck even by posting something like this is already out of norm/character for me.

Bleh. Oh well, just embrace it.

Self social experiments make you vulnerable.



On a totally unrelated matter, I should get myself a good pair of headphones. Just need to find a pair that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Everything is so expensive nowadays.

Blunders and Bloopers

When I was a young boy at the wee age of 10, my dad imparted to me very profound words of wisdom, which somehow rather unfortunately went unheeded by me up to this day. It's called:

"Read properly."

-_-"

Sometimes regulatory work can be a tad bit mundane, but occasionally something comes up. Unfortunately for me, this time the "something" that came up was a mistake entirely down to my inability to read off the correct column, resulting in a rather embarassing conversation with another company's actuary.

"Well, if you take the figure from the 'Business Outside Malaysia' column and add it with the figure from the 'Business Within Malaysia' column, you will get the figure in the report."

"oh...whoops."

*smacks self on forehead*

Ughh. Shy only.

Reflection for today

Deny sin, not desire.

Reading the book "The Journey of Desire" by John Eldredge (not sure how his name goes) opened my eyes to this. Often as christians (or actually anybody, for that matter) we've been indoctrinated -unconciously maybe- that to desire is evil.

Truth is, we were meant to desire. God made us that way. Always longing for a life that can and should be better. Always seeking that special moment in life where you are at peace with the world, content and satisfied with what you have, love and loved by the people around you, having a sense of worth, purpose and destiny and so on.

Unfortunately, our short term myopic nature always leads us to seek quick fixes, things that feel good for the moment, but never really satisfy, and in the end makes us worse off. We try better jobs, faster cars, bigger houses, sex, porn, alchohol and whatever else; in our attempt to fulfill that desire that is bursting deep within us.

Some of us never stop trying, but end up finding ourselves in the depths the morning after our high. Some of us, in our attempt to stop being disappointed, kill our desire, and then go on with life trying to get by.

In the beginning, when God created Man and declared that "It is good" and was pleased with what he had made -much like how I would be happy with myself writing and pulling off a blazing guitar solo-, life then was as it was meant to be. When Man could fellowship freely with God and enjoyed His divine company. Then came the Fall and the rest is history for us.

Restoration, or the fulfillment of our desire; will come in that day when the creation is united with the Creator again. In moments of worship when you have an Encounter with God, we have a glimpse of what the union will be like, a time where the deepest longings of our souls will be fulfilled, as it was meant to be.

Till then, keep desiring.

-------------------

On to more trivial matters...

Aiyo! Arsenal out of all competitions again(!) this season. Referee kayuu! Last week didn't give a stonewall penalty, this week give a penalty that wasn't -_-"

Edit: I just watched the highlights and zomg... Arsenal got pawned by the referees.

Bleh.

Now that it's finally over...

I can have my social life again.

But just for the record, people should ban 6 hour exams. They are bad bad bad. I don't even play guitar or study for 6 hours, but I had to WRITE for 6 hours. Uggh. I'm just glad it' s over.

My most grateful thank you's to all the people who have been praying for me. I know some of you prayed harder for me than I did for myself. Thank you so much. You all are wonderful brothers and sisters. Me love all of you =)

--------------------------------

I was watching a youtube video of Barak Obama giving a speech at some event (will link it later), he's one cool guy. I admire the values and the message of hope that he stands for. Maybe one day our country will have a leader like that.

---------------------------------

It's nice to be back at work again, though it's kinda killjoy when you're done with your exams, happi-fied and all then suddenly you realize that you've gotta go to work the next day. Heh. Nonetheless a quiet day in the office so far, most people are away on study leave with the exam

period being now.

-----------------------------------

Aiyo they recalled the Savvy. So now have to take another day's leave to send the car to the workshop. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Proton proton...

I should not blog when my thoughts are all over the place like that.

Quarantine III

Screw studying.

Im'ma play my guitar till the cows come home. HOOOOO!

Quarantine II

Being in quarantine does mean that you're less in touch with the outside world. So last night while hanging out with my friends, they asked me, "hey daniel, have you ever heard of ken lee?"
"ken lee? who?"
"go see la oh youtube"

930am this morning, i youtubed "ken lee"



My poor brain.

But I gotta say that's one hot judge =P

Quarantine

Over the past 4 days I realized I can withstand significant periods of solitude, specifically, not having human interaction for some days in a row. In fact I'm beginning to enjoy the lack of human interaction. Not bad not bad.

But maybe that also explains why I've been talking to myself more often. It plays tricks on your mind I tell you.


That said, I can't wait for Monday to come so I can get this exams done and over with.

Exams! HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

This is why Eric Clapton is Legend

On Equity and Fairness

In view of my impending dictatorship, some plans and thoughts have to be trashed out first so that the future implementation is as smooth as possible.

A friend of mine drew my attention to an article in the Star that he penned (okay so at least the paper is not all propoganda) regarding scholarships for rich kids. Incidentally, I had been contemplating (yes this is how I fill up my free time) on the same issue but on a more general scale.

There have been many calls by various quarters over the years in our country to award education scholarships/university places based on meritocracy. As much as it seems a wonderful and just idea, on closer inspection it's not so simple as giving you your place cause you have a couple more A's.

What meritocracy assumes (and champions) is that we all have equal opportunities. Most people would see "equal opportunities" as you getting your chance because you "deserve" it, i.e. you have better results.

However, it is also important then, to consider whether all of us had equal opportunities right from the start. Reality is, we don't. Some of us have good parents, some of us have no parents, some are poor, some are rich, some are better academically, some have better teachers etc. So strictly speaking "meritocracy" doesn't exist.

So now one questions. Is it fair then to compare and allocate university places or scholarships (as far as govt sponsored scholarships as a public service) solely based on one's academic results? If not, how then do we decide?

What irks me most nowadays are students from well to do families complaining night and day about fairness and equality when they don't get a scholarship. They need a reality check. Firstly, scholarships are a privilledge, not a right. It's not stated in the Malaysian constitution that you will get that scholarship because you scored more A's than another person. Secondly, they would do well to consider other families who struggle to send their kid to high school, let alone Uni before they decide to start ranting about equality.

That unnecessary rant aside, there needs to be a way to recognize the talents of different people, ensuring that they are not handicapped by their circumstance. Also needed is a way to draw out those talents from within them, and giving them a platform to express themselves.

Pancit

April 7th is the date of an extremely important but annoying 6 hour actuarial exam for me. Since the turn of the year, I've been slaving away studying ridiculous amounts of material to prepare for the exam. But even after all that if I take the paper right now the odds are still extremely bleak.

Today is the first day that I actually woke up and felt that I've run out of steam. There's just something that kinda puts you off when despite slaving your ass for so long you are nowhere close to completion in the preparation of the exam paper.

This qualified actuarial salary better be worth the annoyance.

@#$%@#$%^@#$%!!

Tommy Emmanuel

He just makes you want to play guitar.

Talk about inspiration.

Dictatorship plan is back on

And after that totally random post on programming, its back to the elections.

Just as the swearing in of the Perak MB has been called off for today (I lazy to link, go read any of the online newspaper sites), I have subsequently reignited my quest for my dictatorship.

Over the last few days, we've seen how fragile things can be in this country. Especially when our politicians are involved. Let's take the opposition for example. Right after denying BN two thirds majority, they act as if they are the new superheroes and saviours of the country. Worse still now, within a week we've seen all sorts of undermining, squabbling for seats, backstabbing, rumours of rallies to claim the deputy MBs post etc.

Muppets. Don't they realize that the votes in the last election was not for them but rather against the existing government? They just happen to be in power in a few places now by default. I was slowly being persuaded over that these people are sincere in their quest for a better Malaysia, but all that it looks like now is that their all power hungry idiots who put themselves first before anything. How the royal family of Perak has the patience to put up with all this nonsense about the MBs post and the state exco line is beyond me. I have serious respect for them (royal family of Perak), because if I were them I'd just kick out the whole lot and rule the state myself.

Fortunately for them, the ruling coalition (ie our dear friends BN) can't do much about it at the moment since they are all fighting for their own individual political survival. MCA is having infighting (nothing new), UMNO is also infighting (also nothing new) , and let's not even get started about MIC. So lots of mudslinging going around at the moment everywhere, and the best part is its internal.

This country is seriously in need of a few good men. We need some proper leaders.

Maybe we should all just have Sultan Azlan Shah & family to rule the nation for now. They seem the most level headed and respected people around.

Or maybe I should just run for dictator.

me and programming, it's a love hate thing

Away from the europhia of the elections....

One of the nice things about my job is that I get to use whatever approach (within reasonable limits) I want to do my work.

So occasionally when I get bored of writing reports (which is actually, very often), I usually muck around a bit doing other stuff. One of them of which is building spreadsheets with macros and all.

The VBA I learnt (or didn't learn) back in Uni days seems like a lifetime ago. All I remember about those classes was a huge dark hall, comfy chair, droning voice of my lecturer and a lot of sleep. Which resulted in me not really knowing squat about VBA.

Nonetheless, my construction skills learnt from many hours of playing Lego when I was a kid was revived when I started poking around a VBA module again. And I gotta admit, its quite fun (hardcoregeek alert!). The many hours spent staring a stupid code that spouts out error messages, causes excel to hang in the middle of 10000 simulations (which is happening as I type), and then finding out that there was not much point in simulating that part of the data, and finally scrapping the whole thing... so ... so... headexploding.

But its worth it when it finally works. *smirk*

Living in historic times

As far as Malaysians are concerned, we are.

Last night's election results were -if there's such a word- "tsunamical". Mind blowing in fact. Anyways, lets just recall the day bit by bit.

It was my first time voting, and naturally with everything that has been going on the past week -eg opposition ceramah's gathering up to 10000 ppl- everyone knew that this was not going to be just another election, but a rather pivotal one. And I, was ridiculously excited. So early morning 10am I marched off to the nearby polling station, and well, I was caught totally unawares of what I saw there.

Nothing.

Just a handful of people. In my mind I had always imagined it to be packed, with ppl screaming for you to vote their party as you approach the place, flags, hats, everything. But this was just quiet. So much so that I completely forgot about my earlier plans to take a few photos. The whole process took like 3 mins, go in, get your slip, X marks the party, insert into ballot boxes, and the end. Kthxbai go home.

So go home we did. And chilled for the rest of the day, talked a bit of politics with my tailor who came by to hand me some stuff that I made, and then waited. Till night.

To say that I am happy with the results is an understatement (for those of you who have no idea what happened, for the first time in 40 years, the opposition parties in Malaysia managed to reduce the ruling coalition's 2/3 majority). As most people are. No one had expected such a result, not even the opposition parties.

And for the ignorant, don't get me wrong. I'm no anti establishment person (unlike some muppet datuk on the tv3 interview who tried to fan some racial flames by saying the chinese in Penang are an ungrateful lot etc...until later they found out that selangor, perak and kedah -predominantly majority malay states- had also fallen to the opposition, and had nothing to say. In your face foo!), or anti malay or whatever. This is a victory for democracy, where previously they could change and amend the constitution as and when they like, but now no more. Finally after so many years there finally is a form of check and balance in the Malaysian parliament, and more importantly for Malaysia, a hope for multiracial politics, where we are no longer defined by skin colour, but are all Malaysians.

----------------------------------

edit: I found out the name of the racist muppet. Let's name him and shame him. Malaysia has no place for people like him. He's no dato, but he is as stated by Malaysiakini (in an article by Neil Khor entitled "DAP must rise above race now"):

"....On the national front, these gains can quickly turn sour if we allow certain racist elements to dominate the airwaves. Already Zainal Kling, emeritus professor at UPSI (Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris), deliberately explained the electoral results through a racist lens. He was on TV3 throughout the election results night refusing the accept the reality that Malaysians have rejected the BN's race-based formula in Penang, Kedah, Kelantan, Perak and Selangor. Most of these states have a overwhelming Malay majority..."

------------------------------------

So here's to a better Malaysia.

-------------------------------
And to make things even better:

Man U 0 Portsmouth 1
Barnsley 1 Chelsea 0


MWAHAHAHAAHAHAH


This has been one heck of a weekend I tell you.

Crossroads

For our country.

Tomorrow we vote. Tomorrow we decide.

Let's vote for a better Malaysia, for a better future.

We interrupt this election season for a short commercial break......

ARRRRSSSSSSEEEEENALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Football makes the world a better place. Especially when your team wins XD

Anwar Ibrahim

While many will argue he's not a saint and might have a hidden agenda or two, I tell you, he's one heck of an orator. Give him a listen and see what I mean.







Man I tell you, the internet rocks.

Malaysia Votes

http://malaysiavotes.com/wp/

And the Pursuit of a Better Future

March 8th baby.

If you are eligible to vote but aren't eligible because you didn't register, smack yourself on the head for being a muppet. And be ashamed of yourself.

And if you are registered and can vote, make that trip to the polling station, and vote.

We love Malaysia!

The pursuit of Happiness

To be happy is to be content.

To be content is to be at peace.

To be at peace is to be secure.

To be secure is to know no matter how many times the shit hits the fan, you can still be happy.



That's one for the vicious cycles in life.

And I am happy! =)


Disclaimer: I made the cycle up. But its roughly about sensible.

dreams

The day that I think I've forgotten you, you unexpectedly show up in my dream and tell me everything I've hoped for.

And then I wake up, wishing that I never dreamt it, because some dreams are nothing more than dreams.

I want to go back to zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

thoughts

It pains me to see old people going around, bowing down to others and begging for food.

It pains me more when the poor old lady walks away from a crowded food court hungry and alone.

Simply Irresistible!!!

Robert Palmer, I salute you. You are my new hero. Anyone who can write a song this good should win 25 oscars.

8 March 2008

The next general election is upon us! To arms!!!

Alas, preparations for my rule as dictator is not ready yet. Maybe the next election.

welovefridaywelovefridaywelovefriday!!!!!

"Call me Champion"

Sg Buloh Ah Beng has been coming across funny stories these days, and he was relating another one of them to me concerning his brother Sly, who happens also to be a friend of mine.

Sly is studying overseas, and one day at a class there was a small icebreaking introduce yourself thing going on.

Cue chinese national, who introduced himself with his chinese name, but decided to do everyone a favour by adding, "but you can call me Hanson, its easier".

Sly, in true Malaysian fashion, misheard the name as "Handsome", proceeded to introduce his own chinese name, and then added at the end, "but you can call me Champion". Then with a smirk as he sat down, told the guy next to him, "cannot lose to Handsome".

It remains unknown to this day whether Sly found out his mistake. But then again, knowing Sg Buloh Ah Beng and company they probably would've laughed till their teeth fell out.

In front of him.


Call me champion, baby yeah!

I just came back from the Switchfoot concert

My ears are still ringing from it. My heart still pounding from the adrenalin and energy.

And boy. THEY. ROCKED. LIEK. BIG. TIME.

Super respect for them.

I'm officially a switchfoot convert.

Take me nowwwwwwwwwwwww!!!

10 day holiday

It's a good feeling coming to work knowing that you'll be having a nice 10 day holiday beginning the next day. Hurrah for CNY dates falling on a Thurs & Fri (7 & 8 Feb) and my boss letting me take the preceding Monday to Wednesday off. And also that tomorrow is FT day. Good good goodie.

Switchfoot concert is coming this Saturday. Man I hope they're worth the money I paid for them.

And here's a nice joke I got from a sg. buloh ahbeng (thx!) through the email:

-----------------------

This joke can be enjoyed by everyone.

Not only that. It is politically correct and with a moral lesson.

VOTE WISELY IN THE COMING ELECTION

While walking down the street one day a Malaysian Boleh Minister is tragically hit by a truck and dies. His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

"Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you."

"No problem, just let me in," says the man.

"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity."

"Really, I have made up my mind. I want to be in heaven," says the Yang Berhormat

"I'm sorry, but we have our rules," says St. Peter.

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him. Everyone is very happy and dressed in the finest batik there is. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people. They play a friendly game of golf and then indulge themselves on lobsters, caviar and the most expensive food there is. Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go. Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises. The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.

"Now it' s time to visit heaven."

So, 24 hours pass with the Yang Berhormat joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

"Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity."

The Yang Berhormat reflects for a minute, then he answers:

"Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think Ai yam better off in hell."

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage. He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above. The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder.

"I don't understand," stammers the Yang Berhormat. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"

The devil looks at him, smiles and says, "Yesterday we were campaigning just like you during an election...... Today you voted."

Custom made muppet

This morning, I received a letter saying that my CA1 (mother of all exams) notes was withheld by the customs department.

Which happens to be very annoying since I have to go all the way to the post office at the LCCT to collect it (a 1 1/2 hour drive + toll + petrol - one way), of which I have already paid 60 GBP to have it delivered to me.

What would they want with actuarial notes anyway.

Muppets.

Public holiday!

Weds is a public holiday for Thaipusam. PM announced yesterday in a speech (which looks like some serious PR work to get support back for MIC).

Nonetheless, I'll be enjoying the holiday, and some haagen daz as well thanks to a certain person who didn't believe me that Weds is a holiday for KL and agreed to bet on it with a tub of haagen daz. Freekill baby yeah =p

I suddenly want to eat pisang goreng. Dammit.

Cloverfield

Is the kind of movie to never never EVER watch on a big screen.

The movie itself has a wonderful storyline, except that the muppet who thought it was a good idea to film the show in first person view should be kicked in the head. A hundred times over. Really really hard.

I've never been in such agony watching a movie before, and until now my head is still hurting despite having exited the cinema 4 hours ago.

Lawak bodoh tahun baru cina

apek: itu potong zaka ada bagut ka ?

ali : manyak bagut..bila lu potong haa lu punya barang manyak bersih loo..

apek:?!! err..saya kawan ada cakap,potong zaka aaahh.. manyak ploblem..

ali : apa probrem ?

apek:manyak buang lui..lagi aahh..dia punya performance tatak bagut.. manyak cinang semputloh..

ali : cehh.. apek, lu apa celita.. saya suda lama potong.. tada apa problem.. bini saya manyak puas woo..

apek:lu mini puas sama itu potong zaka ka?

ali : ya la.. bila lu potong aahh.. lagi sedap maen woo.. lu lagi lambat pancut..

apek:???!!! err..lu punya 1.3 atau 1.5 ??

ali : ??!! woi apek cakap baik2 sikit ha.. saya punya 6 incila..

apek:??! tiu nia ma.. lu jgn maen2 haa.. mana ada potong zaka 6 inci..

ali : cilaka apek ni..nah tengok ( bukak sluar tunjuk pale butoh..)

apek: chee sin punya olang..gua tanya baik2 lu tunjuk lu punya lancau..

ali : abis.. lu tarak percaya..saya tunjuk la..

apek: saya tatak tanya sama lu punya lancau.. saya tanya lu pasal itu nasional car.. potong zaka.. molo punya olang..

ali : aiya.. apek.. lain kali lu sebut betul2 la..kasi susa saja.. bukan potong zaka la.. proton saga.. cinabeng btulla..

hahahahaha.. lawak bodo tawun baru ciner..

SOMEBODY!!!

KNOCK SOME SENSE INTO ME AND STOP ME FROM BUYING THAT GUITAR!!
ARGHHHHH!!!

*screams and runs off into sunset, in the direction of the guitar store*

Pic edit: I tell you, I am desperate

All of a sudden....

I really really miss London.

Erm.

I really need to stop referring to guitars in the female persona.

But anyways the past few days has been a battleground in my head on whether to buy or not to buy a new guitar.

And its still a battleground.

Interesting to note when human desire is involved the pros and cons or needs and wants approach doesn't really work anymore. Somehow there's always a way to rationalize and justify it.

*headspins*

--------------------------------

I've been feeling a pulse at the top of my left eyelid for sometime already. Annoying.

---------------------------------------

Man. I dunno how to describe whats in my mind now.

And I guess I won't.

To or not to

Today I met HER.

thinkthinkthinkthinkthinkthinkthink

Thinks.

Thinking.

On waking up in the middle of the night

Waking up in the middle of the night, every night, is mildly annoying, if you can fall back asleep immediately. However, it becomes extremely annoying, when you wake up at 4am, stumble to the toilet to take a pee, go back to your bed, roll about and not fall asleep again until 645am. And you're totally zonked when your alarm goes off at 7am. Plus its Monday. Bleh.

At least this Thursday is public holiday. Hooray!

2007... A Pictoric (like historic..geddit?!! Hahahah..err nvm) Recap

In no particular order of time, 2007 in pictures with commentaries.

Bought my first pedal!

Had to deal with some serious issues of guitar lust. No I didn't buy get to buy the PRS =(

Took the KTM to Singapore (first time ever - KTM & S'pore). It was a fun trip

Started work in KL.

Flew home from London.

Pondered on the meaning of life.

Went to Porto with a really bad beanie, and err.. had too much Portuguese wine.

Watched the greatest band in the world live, THE HAMSTERS!

Chilled in Mallorca, Spain.

Welcomed Pa & Ma to London.

Watched a play at the shakespeare globe theather. Othello it was.

Went to paris with Pa & Ma.

And also to Rome. For the second time.

Lived in the ghetto in London for the 2nd year running. (Thanks Katy for the great picture!)

Watched Arsenal at the Emirates!!!

Fell in love with Jessica Alba. Until she played that bimbo role in Fantastic Four ><

Had a jolly good time in London. Miss the phal briyani.

Learnt that in life, many things don't turn out the way you hope for it to.
And that I hate pizzas.

Was part of City Uni Christian Union.

Went to the Emirates again with my really ugly beanie.

Went to Dover & Calais.

Bid goodbye to some real good friends.

Didn't pay attention in class.

Wrote a final year project, got a ridiculously high mark, and still don't understand what I wrote.

And then I got lazy to take pictures.

On the other side,

Hello 2008!