Thursday, June 23, 2005

Venice

Ok people here are some pictures of Venice.


"gondola men" chilling out under the venetian sun Posted by Hello


Pretty pretty masks...it's a "thing" in venice, they're everywhere. Something to do with Venetian tradition. Posted by Hello



The HUGE Rialto bridge, where there are shops on top, and also millions of tourists Posted by Hello



On board a water bus. Just realized how long my hair was. damn... Posted by Hello



Forgot the name of this church, but it so BIG. Look at how small the people are. I wonder why they never let people go in and see the churches in venice. Posted by Hello



St. Marco's Basilica. It's the absolute must see when you get to venice. Posted by Hello



Overlooking the city of Venice from the top of the clocktower in St. Marco's Piazza. Posted by Hello



Gondolas chilling out after a hard day's work under the watchful eyes of its owner. Posted by Hello



The evening sky just makes everything look pretty. Took the picture from on board a water bus and was joslting with the people onboard to get into a good shooting postion. Nearly fell overboard. Posted by Hello



Maybe this is a better shot... Posted by Hello


ok thats all for venice! hope u enjoy the pics!

something's wrong with the "posting" page

....
but anyways, its been so long since i posted. errr...sheer laziness i suppose. Holidays with nothing much to do (again due to sheer laziness) has an effect on you. OK anyways here's some little stuff which has been going on since my last post:

Finished my last 2 exam papers.
Watched "star wars: the revenge of the sith" (i think thats the title, really cant remember the same day my exams ended and concluded that movies nowadays never live up to the hype.
Packed up, left london and went off to italy for a 10 day holiday - Venice, Florence, Pisa, Naples and Rome!
Flew back to Malaysia. Guitar and guitar case was damged on the way home- felt like flying back to London specially to smack the daylights out of the lady who idioticaly did not put the "FRAGILE" sign on my guitar case.
Realised that Malaysia is indeed a very hot country. Didnt stop sweating for the first few days.
Cut my hair.
Bummed at home for 2 weeks playing PS2.
Went off to the land where i was born, Borneo(East Malaysia) to conquer South East Asia'a tallest peak, Mt Kinabalu. Sabah rocks!
Died of food poisoining in Kota Kinabalu - Sabah curry noodles dont rock.
Back home in Melaka again, continue playing more PS2, and my thumb hurts really bad now.

So far it's been pretty interesting. KL this weekend, subang(maybe) next weekend....and then we'll see how things go from there.

On a side note, where did all the toolbar buttons such as numbering, copy, paste ,etc go??

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

So free that i can make 2 posts in 15 mins....

Modern Laws of Nature

Lorenz's Law of Mechanical Repair:
After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch.

Anthony's Law of the Workshop:
Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

Kovac's Conundrum:
When you dial a wrong number, you never get an engaged one.

Cannon's Karmic Law:
If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat
tire, the next morning you will have a flat tire.

O'brien's Variation Law:
If you change queues, the one you have left will start to move
faster than the one you are in now.

BELL'S THEOREM
When the body is immersed in water , the telephone rings.

RUBY'S PRINCIPLE OF CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are
with someone you don't want to be seen with.

WILLOUGHBY'S LAW
When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will.

ZADRA'S LAW OF BIOMECHANICS
The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.

BREDA'S RULE
At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle arrive
last.

OWEN'S LAW
As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask
you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

Oh yeah i got another 2 more papers to go....hooray!!!!!

bye bye econs....

After 3 years of torment, its finally over.


This damned book. Selling for 22.99 pounds. Anybody wants? leave me a comment with your details. Posted by Hello


Or is it not??

(rumour has it that we'll see it in a different form next year....nooooooooooo)

Saturday, May 07, 2005

Sweeter

Everyday with you Lord
Is sweeter than the day before
Everyday with You Lord
Is sweeter than the day before

Every morning I will worship
Every evening I'll adore
Cause everyday with You
Is sweeter than the day before

What a privilledge to know you
Like I know You
To be loved
Like You love me
What an honour to worship
Truly worship
From this heart that You have freed

From the rising of the sun
To the setting of the same

Everyday with You Lord
Is sweeter than the day before
Everyday with You Lord
Is sweeter than the day before

Every morning I will worship
Every evening I'll adore
Everyday with You is sweeter
Sweeter than the day before

What wonder to live like
Really live like
Overcoming anything
What a reason to lift up
Freely lift up
Everyday my everything

From the rising of the sun
To the setting of the same

Everyday with You Lord
Is sweeter than the day before
Everyday with You Lord
Is sweeter than the day before

Every morning I will worship
Every evening I'll adore
Everyday with You Lord
Is sweeter than the day before

Everyday, everyday with You Lord
Everyday sweeter than the day before

From the album "Cover the Earth" by Lakewood Church
Thank You Jesus!!!!!!
(you can guess that the stats paper went relatively well)
Anyways just a side note, if you like Joe Satriani or mad guitaring in general check this out by clicking here.

Friday, May 06, 2005

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Though the fig tree may not blossom
Nor fruit be on the vines
Though the labor of the olive may fail
And the fields yield no food
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold
And there be no herd in the stalls
Yet i will rejoice in the Lord
I will joy in the God of my salvation

The Lord God is my strength
He will make my feet like the deer's feet
And He will make me walk on my high hills


No matter what happens, I choose to praise You.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Financial and Investment Math 03/05/05

First day of Uni exams today. I think in that 3 hour paper i aged at least 3 years. Never have i ever in an exam experience such paralysing fear, yet in that i experienced grace of untold proportions today.

The venue itself was an interesting one, it was held in the basement of and old catholic church(which is still in use today and the church is actually a very nice place) which is called the crypt. So i was on my way there nice and early. Not really feeling anything. There was a feeling of uneasy silence within me though, and i did my best to shake it off by singing some songs to myself on the way.

So in the exam venue itself....felt pretty confident looking through the paper during reading time. Somehow midway through the second question, there was something slightly abnormal about it, and it kinda threw me off course. The 3rd question was my bogey question, and at that time i knew my mind was in a state of panic. I tried my very hardest to refocus and get it back in check but i just couldnt. So bad till i couldnt read values off a table without having to recheck it 15 times. Skipped it and went to question 4, a very much easier question which i would ace on any given day. My mind was blank. I didnt know what to do or how to start. At this point of time i knew i was going to fail the paper if i went on. My mind started imagining coming back early to london during the summer to resit the paper, no scholarship money next term, no exemptions, everything negative that you could think of was bombarding my mind.

I stood up immediately without even asking the invigilators(did i spell that right?), and asked to go to the washroom, knowing that if i went on i would surely fail. That few moments in the washroom was so so crucial and tense. I even told the escorting invigilator "man i'm panicking man.." to which he gave a curt reply of "you need to relax". Yeah easy for you to say cause you're not the one taking it.

But i did come back from the toilet a lot more composed. And i managed to salvage most of the paper, including the 1st few ones which i panicked in. I didnt really get them right, neither was i able to complete a question at the end, but at least now there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Not excellent maybe(considering the fact that out of all my subjects this is the one i had most confidence in), but at least i have a decent chance of retaining my scholarship and getting that exemption.

Looking back, i can actually be bitter about the fact that i panicked and amost failed in the exam. But i guess i wont, apart from the side fact that it would do me no good to feel that way, but more importantly i guess this is a good chance to thank God that i actually escaped from the brink of failure. Never have i before in the middle of an exam began rebuking feelings of panic(which surfaced again after i came back from the toilet) and recalling all those bible verses of God's promises...and man...i really believe that was what saw me through today. The worst might not yet have come, but as Paul said "What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:26

i think the best way to sum this day's event up is to echo the words of the hymnwriter

And because He lives
I can face tomorrow
Because He lives
All fear is gone
And because i know, i know
He holds the future
And life is worth the living
Just because He lives.
The next paper will probably be the worst of all. But i will not fear, or neither will i yield.
"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerers through Him who loves us" Romans 8:37
Amen

Sunday, May 01, 2005

Its a sick sad world

Was reading cnn today and came across 2 articles. Heres extracts of the 2 of them with the headlines:

Iraqi police: Abducted CARE official's belongings found

"BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi and U.S. forces detained six suspected insurgents Sunday during a raid in a Baghdad suburb and found a handbag, ID and clothing that belonged to kidnapped CARE official Margaret Hassan, Iraqi police said.
Hassan, former director of the humanitarian organization CARE in Iraq, is a British citizen who was taken hostage in October. A video purportedly showing her being shot to death surfaced about a month later on the Arabic-language Al-Jazeera satellite television channel....."

Prosecutor: Marine intended to make example of detainees

"CAMP LEJEUNE, North Carolina (AP) -- A Marine accused of murdering two Iraqi detainees intended to make an example of them by shooting them 60 times and hanging a sign over their bodies, prosecutors said Saturday during closing arguments in a pretrial hearing..."


The world is a sick place.

Friday, April 29, 2005

Just for laughs

Was chilling out a bit today doing some blog surfing and i came across this site-which i will not reveal, but i'll tell you its 2 clicks away from my blog- and there was this comment made which made me laugh like crazy:

"Untuk ATHEIS, maaf, anda tidak layak hidup di bumi Tuhan, sebab kalian tidak pernah percaya akan wujudnya Tuhan. Sila cari tempat lain yang tidak diciptakan Tuhan. Jangan hirup oksigen tuhan. Hidu oksigen yang kalian cipta sendiri sahaja."

And if you cant read it you're not malaysian so you wont understand the context of the joke(and more like cos i'm lazy to translate it into english).

But anyways (no offence intended to atheists btw), referring to that above, some ppl were talking about the religious scene in our country (which in my opinion the article was rubbish) and were talking about all those blahs about religions, of which i stumbled across that sentence.

Man there are some seriously funny people out there. And funny not in a hilarious way.

Oh yeah exams are soon. Like this tuesday. I need some motivation and psyching up.


-scene from the movie "Troy", where Achilles and his indestructable Mermidons sail in to fight the Trojans-

Achilles: Men! You know what lies behind those shores?

(Mermidons stop rowing boat and looks up towards Achilles)

Achilles: IMMORTALITY! TAKE IT AND IT SHALL BE YOURS!!!!!

(Mermidons there give a shout of triumph and proceed to swarm trojan beaches.)



Immortality. It shall be mine for the duration of this exams.


(Oh yeah by the way the only time the mermidons ever died in this movie was right after achilles' speech when they swarmed the beaches and got their asses shot to bits by trojan arches)

Bummer...

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

When life was good.....


Seems like an eternity ago when we had our eurotrip. This was taken in a park in luxembourg. When life was free and there was nothing to worry about.

Man i hate exams. Especially when i'm not prepared for them. And theres money at stake. Lots of it.

Hope dangles on a string.

Friday, April 22, 2005

WHY!??

why cant i do anything right?

Can't buy a guitar case right,
Can't exchange a new guitar case right,
Can't keep a pair of shoes right,
Can't do my bloody probability right,
Can't study right,
Can't live my life right,
Can't talk right.

All lights the end of the tunnel,
Were just freight trains coming my way,
Thought i was looking at the right channel,
But now how do you expect me not to sway.

Nevertheless, i will

Praise the Lord with all my heart
Praise Him for He has done great things
His banner over me is love, His love
His banner over me is love, His love

Monday, April 11, 2005

dim sum gurl.......

[Intro}
This song goes out to all you sexy gurl
Who push the dim sum car all over the world
You know who you are babeeeeee
You wok so hard and we lap u so much
Check it out yo!

[Verse 1]
It's been so long since i see you smile
Looking so quick coming down that aisle
Wit the sexy dress and the little dim sum
Make me klazee when i order chao fan
Peeeeple, they telling me that i shouldnt bother with a ladee like you
You lock my wol
Yes you, my dim sum gurl

Watching, waiting, waiting for you babeee
To tell me that i'm the guy for you and that chiu wanna be my ladeee
One day yes you will seee that i will always be
The one who make fly lice for you for all eterniteee

[Chorus]
Dim sum gurl
You leally lock my wol
My dim sum girl
I never thought i find her
Girl from nothern china
Make me feel so good (so good, so goood-2nd time)

Dim sum gurrrlllll
In such a crazeee world
My dim sum gurl
I'm going to make the order
You can party all night
So beautiful and pure
My dim sum gurl

[Talking]
Why you gotta tease me babee
You driving me craaazeeee
Dont chiu see
Dont play me like that baby
Please, just gimme one more chence

[Verse 2]
In the morning, at noon, at night
I think about you and it feels so right
So hap-pee when you look my way
When i talk to you you make my day
I see the tear, in your eye, pleasee my babee dont chiu cry
Tommorrow... is a whole new day
Its me and you sing kala-OK

Toogether, forever, that's the way its gott to be
Please make my dleam come true so i can lib my fantasee
Oh say that you be mine,
You know its a matter of time
Come eat my rice with your chopstick and leave the spoon behind

[Chorus repeats]

wooooooo
woah hooo ooooo
woah hooo oohhhh

[outro]

[Goes on in background x4]
I dont want to live without you dim sum gurl (dim sum gurllll - 2nd time onwards)
Take me awaaaaay into dim sum wooorrrld
I love u soooo, I love you soooo
Please say you will be mine oh mineeee

[Talking]
Hey babee you wear that dress for me?
ahh.. you look great
Wah time you get off work huh?
You must be sooo tired
Wot say you mee go get some bobile tea huh? relax...

Wahs long babee? wahs long?
Did I say something?
Dont leave me this way babee
Dont go
You are the only one for me
Please dont bleak my heart like this
No more fooling around
I'm not the player anymore
Come back to me babeee
Come back to meee...

(fade out)

Song by TheNotoriousMSG : Dim sum gurl. Check them out by clicking here.

Dammit it was hard figuring out what the heck they were singing and spelling it to make sound like how they sang it. (Tell me if u have better spelling suggestions, or if there's any mistake in the lyrics) Half an hour wasted where instead i could've used it to study probability. Oh wait, i still hate it.

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

OFFICIAL DISCLAIMER:
THIS SONG IS ONLY A SONG AND DOES NOT, I REPEAT DOES NOT, HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH ANYONE OR ANYTHING RELATED TO ME

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

I hate probability

I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability I hate probability

ahh...that felt good.
oh btw, just in case you dont know...
i hate probability

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

The actuary

Often I have had many people ask me what course am i in exactly, and what i would be doing in the future. And mroe often than not when i tell them "Actuarial Science" and "Actuary" it would often end up with moments of deep thoughtful looks which ultimately ends up in the question "So whats an actuary again?"

So while flipping through my books i stumbled across a textbook defination of an actuary. Here's the answer to the great mystery:

"A person who passes as an expert on the basis of his/her prolific ability to produce an infinte variety of incomprehensible figures calculated with micrometric precisioon from the vaguest of assumptions based on debatable evidence from inconclusive data derived by persons of doubtful reliability for the sole purpose of confusing an already hopelessly befuddled group of persons who never read statistics anyway."
Steven Haberman (My actuarial methods lecturer)
So folks, i hope that you all have got your enlightenment on what actuaries do.

(By the way, my computer apparently is heading towards a hard disk failure-took a insane half hour to start up this morning. So if i disappear for some time, it probably means that my hard disk died...or i'm too lazy to post anything.)

Over and out.

Friday, March 25, 2005

Turbulence

Here is a free advert for Nike shoes.

Nike Air Turbulence





Pics courtesy of Lim Chia Wei who forgot about the chicken in the oven while taking the pics. Dont worry the chicken was fine.

Ok, ok i went shopping and feel the extreme need to show off.
Muahahahaha
Man i'm a walking billboard.

Monday, March 14, 2005

Of time, friends and love

Another week has gone by. And its sunday evening again, after church, and tommorow is the monday. A week drawn to a close, another week looming ahead..and passing by soon. I guess some of us never really appreciate time when we have it. And then often we run short of it, then complaining about how we have no time while we took it for granted when it was there all along. Was chilling out in my room after a long day not too long ago, reflecting on life in london so far. And it suddenly struck me that i've been here for a full 6 months. Which then made me think of how i've improved as a person, what have i accomplished, what have i done to be a friend to others and so on. "Not much.." i realised. Very much to my shock and fear. And time that has gone by can't be regained. And then you wish you can turn back time, which you cant of course. All you can do is try to make up for lost time, and hope you not lose focus again.
And reflecting on life, makes you think a lot about the friendships you have formed and made. I have never placed( or rather, fully understood) the issue of taking time out from your schedule to build relationships of such high importance till i came over here. Family, friends here, friends back home. Don't know what made me realize that. Maybe its the london air or the little bits of wisdom you get when u get older.
Speaking of which, you never know how much you love someone till something happens to that person.No i'm not talking about romantic love which the world so often sells and potrays, the best way to describe it is probably the same kind of love you have for a family member, a brother or a sister. Love that was formed by close and strong friendship. Unconditional and pure. Reading my friend's recent post on the lost of another friend made me think back on the events of that happened earlier in the week, where something i thought never possible happened to someone closest to me. Never thought i'd feel such anguish with concern and worry because of someone. Though it was never really a matter of life and death, I couldn't begin to imagine how my life would be like if i never met that person, be inspired, encouraged and loved. Definately nowhere near where or who i am today. Probably still wasting it away. Life that i was never really meant to have anyway. Only because of grace.
At the end of the day, what struck me was the realisation of how important people are. Family, friends, acquantainces, strangers on the street, they all matter. So here's a thank you to all of you, that have played a part in this life of mine, being there when i needed your support and encouragement, a friendly smile, or even if it was just taking time out talking crap together. A very big thank you.
I guess you can never underestimate the impact you can have on someone's life. Cherish people. Cherish life.

Monday, March 07, 2005

events of the past few weeks

Its been a while since i posted anything. Mostly due to the lack of time available. And time is still limited. Even as i'm smashing my way through my keyboard typing words and sentences that form in my head-occasionally stopping and deleting it cos it doesnt make no sense- the clock is ticking. Sometimes i wished that there were 30 hours to a day, then i could spent half of it cathching up on badly needed sleep, as i'm typing its been 18 hours(!!!) since i woke up this morning and had any rest at all, coupled with the lack of sleep that has been accumuated over the past week. And they say you're supposed to chill out on sundays.
So anyways the week has been hectic. I had a short sense of elation when i finished my 3 assignments(Finanacial and Investment Math, Statistics and Actuarial Methods-notice that they are ALL MATH!) only the find out the very next day we had a new MATH coursework to do. And also another Economics coursework (this subject continues to haunt me) due at the end of this month, not to mention an economics test in 10 days time, plus the fact that its already week 8 of the term(out of 10) and theres like another 4 courseworks coming up before the term ends, and also that i have major catching up to do in my studies(which includes this and last terms work), and also not to mention attending church related events 4(at least) days out of 7 (hey am not grumbling, i enjoy every moment of it-it keeps me sane), and also that i should be speding at least an hour a day practicing my guitar, plus going to classes....whoever needs a life, you can have mine.
But amidst all that, i still managed to plan up a trip to italy in the summer, which i'm really looking foward to. We(me and chia wei) are planning to catch a plane to venice, then go down to florence, rome and finally naples. Kinda excited about it. Wish i had a 1GB memory stick for my digicam. Also, not to mention helping other people's courseworks, mainly Human Resource Management and Math for Economists. There's a running joke here(which in truth isnt really funny if you are me) about me graduating with a double degree at the end of 3 years - when in truth i'm trying to survive and stay afloat in my 1st year here. Apparently now word has spread and i got a call from another friend from another course asking me to help her with her coursework also. Something about decision analysis-which i of course, honestly told her i had no idea what it was and politely declined. And also not to mention clocking up more hours on that satanic-time-wasting-violent-rage inducing game so fondly and affectionately known as counterstrike.
And today came wind about Matt Redman coming to Hillsong London for the 7pm service-to worship lead of course. After some initial hestitation, i decided to put away all the burdens and work and worries of my life(ie listed above) and go for the service. (For those who are wondering who the heck Matt Redman is, he's a famous british christian songwriter well known among christian circles all around the world, and also Hillsong London is the church i attend here in london, sister church of the more globally known Hillsong Sydney) . So as expected the dominion theater(thats where we have church) was packed to the brim, and squashing my way through to the front row seat where my friend had so kindly reserved for me. Anyways, Matt Redman came on, and then proceeded to lead the congregation in a time of praise and worship. The atmosphere was electrifying, and also ridiculously warm(maybe it was due the the fact that i was wearing long johns underneath in a tightly packed area) and indeed it was and awesome time of praise and worship.
One thing caught my eye though- Matt Redman is just an ordinary bloke. I dont mean that in a negative way, i'm not belittling him in any way, but rather that he is just like you and me. No aura of superiority or super holiness or whatever, just normal like you and me. And what i'm pointing to here is that here is a normal dude who chose to give and live his life to God, and through that has accomplished many amazing things that many of us only can dream of.
So folks, stop messing about and start living right. Me included.
"We were meant to live for so much more, but we lost ourselves"
How true is that.


Oh and it snowed proper snow this time. Enough for us to have snowball fight on the way to class. Totally awesome.

Peace out folks. Will post more if i survive the coming weeks.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

faith, hope and love

In my weakness is Your strength made complete

This is a moment made for worshipping
Cause this is a moment I'm alive.

Thank You dear Jesus. I love You.

Sunday, February 20, 2005

untitled

Insecurity
Inability
Where Turmoil reigns
And Despair sings

Anxiety, complexity
Driven by a never ending calamity
In Confusion darkness overwhelms
Drowned out, defeated and broken down.

And I call on You
I wait on You
I look to You

So lift me up from the ground
Take my hand and walk me on
I want to go to a place
Where blind men can see
Higher
I want to fly
Before my world comes crashing down
Be my Saviour once again

Sunday, February 13, 2005

delays

Sorry folks for the delays with the eurotrip blog. have been busy lately with some stuff.

Anyways chinese new year over here was a blast, as good as it can get without family, relatives and ang pows *sighs* But we did cook up a storm among the few of us, had a superb dinner down in Heyworth Halls. gluttony.

Went to Woodsworth Park today in Putney Bridge to play futbol with church folks. Its ridiculously far...took me and hour on the Underground to get there. Had fun playing, up to the point where i fell akwardly on my left elbow and hurt it. Its in a bandage now. One injury after another. How depressing. Cant even put a shirt on without a decent amount of pain. and there's nothing decent about pain.

Another week has flown by and once again i've done squat academically. bleh.

Oh yeah. Happy CNY folks. and here's some pics from that day's dinner. Read them from bottom to top by the way.

no i promise you we werent drunk when we took this picture...(which makes it more frightening doesnt it??)

this is why you should stay away from alchohol

and after all that furious cooking...makan time

Here is alvin preparing grilled chicken while dennis wacthes over...and jacky has conceded defeat to afif who still is in the same pose

Ding demonstrates his cooking skills, while afif and jacky compete for the arms akimbo award.

chuen looking in shock at the amount of food we have on the table....and chia wei is..umm...dunno whats he doing

Friday, February 04, 2005

One day.....

One day, 3 guys named daniel, chia wei and alvin got bored of sitting in their holes...i mean halls of residence and decided to take a walk around london and kai kai. off they went armed with windbreakers and a camera.... so off they went...took a bus


the famous red london buses....it really does exist!!

On board the bus....not exactly the most comfortable settings. It has a wire which you pull to ring bell...talk about old fashioned.

Our first stop: Tottenham Court Road. Home of the famous Dominion Theater where they show the "We Will Rock You" show. Yet to watch it though. But anyways, this is where Hillsong church has its services...come join us for service on sundays 1130am, 3pm, 7pm.....see you there!!

Next we go to: Chinatown....apparently according to that banner it might not be there any longer. But anyways. ppl here speak cantonese and mandarin. Some of them dont speak english at all!! I'm pretty sure there's some secret plan by the Chinese government to secretly infest other countries and one day take over the world...... heheh....bleh

And then I drag my 3 friends with me to the Paradise City: Charing Cross Road. I guess i'll let the picture tell you why i call it paradise. oh yeah btw i'm a guitarist...makes sense?? So...soo...many guitars....i neeeddd....one.....help....

Another guitar shop in Charing Cross Road. Man this place is crazy....I want I WANTTT!!!!!!!! oh btw every guitar hanging here is at least 2000 pounds=RM 14000!!!!

Then at the spur of the moment i say to my friends, hey lets head back to Tottenham Court Road(actually i just got the order of the picstures wrong...hehe) and go to Virgin Megastores. Go in, turn left and go down the escalator....and you'll seeee.....

Someone pleaseeeeeeee buy me a Martin Guitar *smiles sweetly*.... ;) Anyways this is whats here. There are like tons more of acoustic guitars, electric guitars, bass guitars, HUGE gargantuan amps, keyboards, drums and all... and actually on the left of this guitars is a glass room...where inside they keep they really EXPENSIVE guitars. say like maybe at least RM 10K... my preciousssssss

Finally we stop for a picture: Alvin, Me and Chia Wei. This is somewhere near picadilly circus....thx to the nice passerby who took the picture for us (its is SO blantantly obvious now that i've got the order of the pics wrong)

And this is: Her Majesty's Theatre - home of the Phantom of the Opera. Hillsong London had church here on the 1st Sunday of the 2005...cool eh??

From The Phantom of The Opera, we walked on and loafed a bit, and suddenly found ourselves in Trafalgar Square.....we stopped here initially and went into a art gallery. They didnt allow cameras in there(what spoilsports!!!) so i kept the camera away...came back out for more pictures though...

alvin posing in front of the statue....we had to endure weird stares of passerbys associating us to him while we where taking the picture

kiasu sized christmas tree in the square

The Malaysian flag flying high over a building near trafalgar square....Negaraku....tanah tumpahnya darahku.......

Me climbing over a gate of some building in trafalgar square.Notice the right gate is open...more importantly notice the CCTV on the top left of the door which i didnt see until i came home and looked at the pictures

Pigeon's frolicking on the grass in front of the gate which i invaded. Notice that they locked the gates after that

King George the Fourth whose horse has overshadowed him

A lion chilling out on his slab of stone

A different view of trafalgar square

We got bored of Trafalgar Square after a while, and simply walked about. Then i think we came across the House of Commons, though i'm probably wrong...tell me if u know

We went in for a closer look. The we saw the guards on duty. Wanted to do a stupid pose in front of the hourse but it stinked too bad. Yes boys and girls, horses stink. Dont let them movies fool you where the fella hugs and kisses his horse. By the way, he and his horse doesn't move.

....nor does he

This is the front view of the building that the guard was guarding. I forgot what is this actually...but we took a walk inside to take a look see.

Walking through the tunnel you see in the earlier picture, we came across a huge plain of sand, surrounded by magnificent buildings. So i whipped out my camera again and started taking pictures. Havent got a clue what building this is too

This is the other side of the building which had the tunnel that we entered through earlier. Dont know why i took this picture also...

Anyways after that we walked on, and came to the famous Big Ben. Its some huge iconic clock in London. And i think the British Parliament meets here also.

Here's another shot of Big Ben and the parliment..... arghh the couple got in the way

After Big Ben we took a tube and headed to see Buckingham Palace. Here it is. I do wonder does the Royal family really live here??Wonder how does it feel to live in a house(ok masion, castle, whatever) thats a tourist attraction.

A close up of the mighty gates of Buckingham. Notice how small the women is relative to it. Ok ok...its not actually that big

Me in front of the Buckingham Palace

Where's Chia Wei????

Then we wanted to go see the London Eye. The London Eye(whose picture for some unknown reason i didnt take) is a huge ferris wheel that rotates slowly so people who are in it can get to see the view of the entire London. We didnt take it though, cos it was getting late and we were getting hungry. Anyways heres a view of the thames river with Big Ben(the clocktower) in the background

This was me posing through something which i have no idea where it was and what it is. Its near the London Eye. Oh you can see a bit of the London Eye in the background on the left. Not much though.

By now we were seriously worn out and tired and hungry. So we found the nearest McD's, had a nice lunch there. Then Alvin said "Lets go to Canary Wharf and look see since we have a day travelcard". So off we went and the first thing alvin there did was to get his head stuck inside someone elses.(actually i got the order of the pictures wrong again :P)

And here it is:Canary Wharf.all the beautiful buildings. Very pretty when lighted up at night. Also very expensive. After this we all decided to go home and have dinner and rot in our holes... i mean halls of residence for the rest of the night. But anyways hope u enjoyed the mini tour of London. Will be back soon with some pics of our trip to europe. Take care folks!!

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

tuesday madness

7 hours of lectures. these people are phsychotic. the 1st time i make the effort to attend class and not ponteng ends up with 7 hours. thats more that the hours of sleep i get

while i could go on and on and complain about how 7 hours of lectures is this and that and that and this, i shall leave it here. for now. till next tuesday.

monday brought the revelation of 2 classes whose existence i didnt know about.

and tuesday was... sad, partly because arsenal lost 4-2(yes typing out the score is painful) to man u, and more importantly my old wrist injury has resurfaced again. and it feels a lot more severe now. have to lay off the guitar for some time *sighs sadly* and hope it recovers soon. cant even put coins into a machine without it hurting. bah! what an irritant.

on the bright side, i've got off my addiction of sims 2, there's likely to be a jam session next monday with the hillsong musicians(YAY!!!!!!!!!-ugghh my wrist...*sighs*) and wednesdays are off days- which is today, or tommorrow, whatever.

thank you Jesus that no matter how things suck life still rocks cos i have You.


Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Moses and the 10 things

real good stuff-a conversation between God and Moses

"Excuse me, sir."
"Is that you again, Moses?"
"I'm afraid it is, sir."
"What is it this time, Moses. More computer problems?"
"How did you guess?"
"I don't have to guess, Moses. Remember?"
"Oh, yeah. I forgot."
"Tell me what you want, Moses."
"But you already know. Remember?"
"Moses!"
"Sorry, sir."
"Well, go ahead, Moses. Spit it out!"
"Well, I have a question, sir. You know those 'ten things' you sent me?"
"You mean the Commandments, Moses?"
"That's it. I was wondering if they were important..."
"What do you mean 'were important', Moses? Of course, they're important. Otherwise I wouldn't have sent them to you."
"Well, sorry, but I lost them. I could say the dog ate them, but of course you would see right through that."
"What do you mean, 'you lost them'! Are you trying to tell me you didn't save them, Moses?"
"No, sir. I forgot."
"You should always save, Moses."
"Yeah, I know. You told me that before. I was going to, but I forgot. I did send them to some people before I lost them though."
"And did you hear back from any of them?"
"You already know I did. What about that one guy who said he never uses 'shalt not'... can he change the words a little bit?"
"Yes, Moses. As long as he doesn't change the meaning."
"And what about the guy who thought your stance was a little harsh, and recommended calling them the Ten Suggestions, or letting people pick one or two to try for a while?"
"Moses, I'll act like I didn't hear that."
"I think that means 'no'. Well, what about the guy who said I was scamming him?"
"I think that is 'spamming', Moses."
"Oh, yeah. I e-mailed him back and told him I don't even eat that stuff, and I have no idea how you can send it to someone through a computer."
"And what he did say?"
"You know what he said. He used Your name in vain. You don't think he might have sent me one of those - er - plagues, and that's the reason I lost those ten things, do you?"
"They're called viruses, Moses."
"Whatever! This computer stuff is just too much for me. Can we just go back to those stone tablets? It was hard on my back taking them out and reading them each day, but I never lost them."
"We'll do it the new way, Moses."
"I was afraid you would say that, sir."
"Moses, what did I tell you to do if you messed up?"
"You told me to hold up this rat and stretch it out toward the computer."
"It's a mouse, Moses. Mouse! MOUSE! And did you do that?"
"No, I decided to try the technical support first. After all, who knows more about this stuff than you, and I really like your hours. By the way, sir, did Noah have two of these mice on the ark?"
"No, Moses."
"One other thing. Why didn't you name them frogs instead of mice? Because didn't you tell me the thing they sit on is a pad?"
"I didn't name them, Moses. Man did, and you can call yours a frog, if you want to."
"Oh, that explains it. Kind of like Adam, huh, sir? I bet some woman told him to call it a mouse.After all, wasn't it a woman who named one of the computers Apple?"
"Say good night, Moses."
"Wait a minute, sir. I am stretching out the mouse, and it seems to be working. Yes, a couple of the 'ten things' have come back."
"Which ones are they, Moses?"
"Let's see. 'Thou shalt not steal from any grave an image' and 'Thou shalt not uncover thy neighbor's wife'."
"Turn the computer off, Moses. I'm sending you another set of stone tablets.How does 'Fed Ex' sound? .... and I am sending them Freight Collect this time!"

stole this awesome stuff from leona... thx..even though i didnt ask permission :P

Monday, January 31, 2005

dare you to move

guess everybody has heard this song...but hey it has some awesome lyrics:

Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence
Everyone's here
Everyone's here
Everybody's watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next
What happens next
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened before
Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
Tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be
Maybe redemption has stories to tell
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened before
Words and Music by Switchfoot


beautiful aint it??

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Life....O life.....

Life is good. Oh yes indeed it is. Totally awesome and rocking.

My absence from the blog for sometime has been due to this flippin wicked game called Sims 2. It has kept me busy for sometime, exchanging violence and killing of Counterstrike for the peaceful, family building simulation of the Sims 2. Very nice game. Note of warning though, don't start cause u'll get addicted.

But anyways me and my friend were chit chatting that day and he said "My life is becoming meaningless". So I asked him what he meant by that and he said it was the same old rountine stuff, wake up, go class, come back from class, eat, chill out, sleep. Repeat process day after day. And mind you this isn't coming from some slacker numero, but from a guy who one of the most intelligent people i've met. So it got me wondering, if my friend, who by far is intellectually more supreme than the average Ah Beng(or Ah Lian) out there and the No 1 Mr Nice Guy you'll ever meet, finds life meaningless, how many others out there would feel the same too(for those who actually stop to think about it)?

So where's the meaning in our lives..? Success? Awesome grades, awesome job, fantastic pay, a social life that rocks, friends who'd stick by you no matter what, girlfriend, boyfriend, money, good family, your dreams coming true blah blah...... do you find it there? Or is it found in something deeper?

Think about it.

Monday, January 24, 2005

hiccups *hic*

This is *hic* bad *hic hic*. i've been *hic* hiccupping since yesterday(saturday) *hic* DANGNAMIT WONT U LEAVE ME ALONE! *hic* BAH!!! *hic hic hic*. how to stop the dang hiccups??!!

*hic*
sigh....

counterstrike

NO MORE CS!!!!!!!!!NO MOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday, January 22, 2005

How CS can ruin your life

How computer games can ruin your life(notably CS with a LAN connection):

  1. You forget to eat or drink.
  2. You screw up your biological clock staying up killing your friends .
  3. You end up feeling not too happy about friends who are "campers" .
  4. Your friends and yourself go through periods of self denial screaming "NO MORE!!!NO MORE CS!!!" but promptly end up playing again that very night for 4 hours straight-this one is credited to alvin
  5. You forget to pangsai(ie take a crap) and end up constipated.
  6. You wreck your optical mouse smashing it repeatedly.
  7. You have no life on Friday nights. Or on the weekends either. Wait, we played CS throughout the entire week didnt we, guys?
  8. Every other moment not playing CS is spend either discussing strategies, complaining about campers, or once again denying that you will ever play CS again.
  9. You play other games in the vain hope of ending the CS addiction, but end up playing both games anyway and thus destroying all social life.
  10. You end up typing lame blogs about the evils of CS.

That's why you shouldnt play CS, boys and girls. Be a shin fei.

Oh btw some one said i look silly in that picture. oh well.....heheh...i'd put sillier ones if i could.

edit- 1 more point i remembered when i woke up this morning:
11. Your peaceful dreams suddenly end up in crazy gun fights among terrorists and cts....

Man this is bad.


Friday, January 21, 2005

the 11 day journey

"It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road." Deut. 1:2

And so my journey begins..... lets hope i don't take forty years

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

american history x

Just came off from watching this movie called "American History X". Talks about this white american guy who's got problems with ppl who are not white(ie he's a racist) and how stuff happened to him causing him to change for good. Its a fantastic movie. One of the best movies i've ever seen. A recommended must watch for every one. Very touching movie.
Finally took time to do-up my blog a bit, hyperlinking and all that, as you can see.
And by the way, here's a little something to think about:

"When I'm feeling love and happy
When I'm feeling all alone
When I'm failing to remember
All the love that I've been shown
Every single beat of my heart
Is another new place to start
To know

This is a moment made for worshipping
Cause this is a moment I'm alive
And this is a moment I was made to sing
A song of living sacrifice
For every moment that I live and breathe
This is a moment made for worshipping

From the rising of the sun
To the setting the sun
The name of the Lord is worthy to be praised "

Lyrics by Steven Curtis Chapman.From the album "All About Love"

"To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Phillipians 4:20

Monday, January 17, 2005

too lazy to do this properly

I'm too lazy too get my blog set up properly. At the moment, its only linked to two of my friends here in city university, and that was also because of experimenting on html text and all that. i guess i'll just leave my blog in its sad case for the moment.
Today's message in church was good. Topic was on praise and worship and why we do our jumping, screaming, hand lifting and all those during service. So WHY???? Why then do we do it?
As the pastor pointed out, its pretty normal for ppl to jump to the beat in a U2 concert, normal to life your hands up and wave it during a Robbie Williams show, normal to clap your hands off when Tina Turner comes on stage(who the heck is she anyway???), or jumped up like a madman screaming "YEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHHH" when your favourite football team scores a goal. But then all of a sudden its weird when people in church do it. Point is, its a natural human response. Period. Thats how we are made. Its like how when you hear a noise behind you your head turns to that direction. So why not then jump to a beat and sing your heart out during praise and worship and give a loud shout of acknowledgement that God is good?
But more importantly about the message was what praise and worship is about. Well, basically praise is a way of saying and declaring out loud "God You are good" and about all of the good and awesome things He has done for us, and also a decision we make to praise God in spite of sucky circumstances, and through that, paving a way to invite His presence to where we are. And we worship God not to appease God. The pastor said something that made me think a little.
"We become what we worship"
And that is why God wants us to worship Him. He wants us to be more like Him. And that is why He will not have us worship other things or people or whatever. He wants the best for us.
Amazing eh? What a cool and awesome God we have....

Now i've gotta get back to my vacumming. Maybe properly set up my blog. Maybe......

Note: This is just a statement of my views and what I believe in. No insult or offense intended to those of other religions and beliefs. My apoligies if it offended you, do tell me and i will remove this post. Not that anybody reads this anyway...haha

Saturday, January 15, 2005

alright lets try to do this properly

hmm...exams are over. just over in fact. Now that we've got that out of the way., i can actually try to set this dang blog up decently. firstly,i 've gotta figure out how to link this to other blogs, then upload some pics, and more importantly, do some decent blogging.
i've still yet to decide on how i want my blog to be like. should it be one where i pour out my heart and deep feelings into, or should it just one of those typical nonsense ramblings that i do. quite a dilemma. i think i'll prolly end up doing both. that is if my interest in blogging sustains.
so i shall set about it now, while the interest is there
adios and wish me the best

Sunday, January 02, 2005

setting up a blog

this is proving a lot harder than i expected.
oh btw, happy 2005