Wait for meeeeeee......

I love titles that are totally irrelevant to the article.

Anyways, I pretty much confirmed my return flight home already, which will be on the 10th of September, via Malaysian Airlines, 12pm from KLIA. So i'll be flying off together with Ding, Sze Chuen and Chia Wei, barring anymore threats of bombs or whatever. It's gonna be a pain as it is if they don't lift the "NO CABIN LUGGAGE OR ELECTRONIC DEVICES" restriction when I fly. I bet my laptop will never leave KLIA if i put it in the baggae compartment. Some idiot's bound to steal it. But then again, satistically, if everyone brought laptops and put their laptops in the check in baggage, that would mean the risk is pooled and each of us will have less chance of having our laptops stolen... But that's not the point. I want zero risk.

As it is, I've sort of confirmed my topic for my final year project. I'm planinng to do some reaserch on VaR and Tail-VaR, but the other day and I wrote to a potential project supervisor and asked whether he'd be interested in overseeing the project. All he said was "drop by my office and we'll talk about it", and although I pointed out that i couldn't do so because I am not in London at the moment, he then just told me to see him when I get back. So I get this feeling that my project is hanging in the balance waiting for some sort of approval. While in the meantime, do I go looking for another project or what? I hate uncertainty. And I'll hate it more if I have to go looking for another final year project to do 2 weeks before term begins. Somehow things like this always happen to me. Sigh. Third year looks like it's gonna stick a big big knife up my butt already.

A song that played in my head this morning when I woke up:

Fill my eyes, O my God
With the vision of the cross
Fill my heart, with love for Jesus
The Nazarene
Fill my mouth, with thy praise
Let me sing though endless days
Take my will, let my life,
Be wholly Thine.

I just hope I don't end up being another hypocrite. I probably already am one. Well I guess nobody ever said that life would be easy.

Moving on, time has really flown during my stay back here. In two weeks time I'll be leaving Subang and heading home to Melaka to spend time with my family for another fortnight, and then I'll be back to London for my final year of studies. But I must say it's been a really good time back here, meeting up with so many old friends, even though some of them have taken different paths, but nonetheless, its still great to know that at the end of the day we're still like brothers and sisters. And so many new friends! It has been really really great to meet and be freinds with so many awesome and wonderful people. Life's a lot better with them around.

I'm still wondering how best to spend my second last week in subang. Tomorrow night I'll be heading off to church after work to try out a song with Enoch (hopefully I don't screw it up again) and then on Weds going to the Malaysian Philharmonic Orhcestra to watch Fourplay (HURRAH!-note to self: do not forget to bring tickets). But I guess tonight would mean practicing till my fingers bleed (or I get the tempo thing sorted out, whichever comes first) so that everything will be smooth flowing tomorrow. Friday night would then be either futsal or meeting up with Kenneth Chan aka Lord of Madness or both, depending. Thursday night I might have to head of to One U to get that VaR book. And Saturday night is church, Sunday night has something on but I can't remember what. Looks like the week's quite well filled up.

Lat night I was watching a concert DVD that Enoch passed to me till about 2am, all japanese music. I'm only like 10% through it, but my goodness. I wanna be Japanese. I mean I wanna play music like they do. There were these two funk/jazz bands that were playing, Casiopea and The Square. Didn't manage to see much of Casiopea yet, but I caught about 20 mins of The Square, and the only thing that felt like a square was my head. They are soooooooooooooo good. Another CD added to my "must buy" list. Which probably brings the list to a grand total of 20 CDs or something like that. I smell something burning. And I think it's my debit card. But like Enoch said, you only live once. What the heck. Retail therapy is the new health for me.

And I'm still waiting for my paycheck from Bank Negara. It's like 15 days late. Sometimes people don't realise that when they don't do things properly they're tarnishing more than just their own image. I want my paaaayyyyy........so I get that cool jacket that I saw too. Which will set me back by another Rm180.

I think I've finally got over my addiction of FM2006. But I haven't deleted it of my comp yet, so that danger is still there. Blearghh! It's a love hate relationship I tell you.

Sometimes sitting here in the office with absolutely nothing to do makes me wonder what the heck am I doing here. But yet I justify it by saying this is the only way I'll get to spend my summer in KL with my friends. And at least there's some semblance of work. Else I'd really rot. To the point where I'd pick up a pen and think its a new apple product or something.

So here's to the last 2 weeks in subang for the year. *sigh*

Life at Work

Lazyness got the better of me , so I didn't blog for the past months.

Anyways that was a pretty lousy intro for a blog entry, but lets move on.

So here I am sitting in the office of Bank Negara Malaysia in the insurance supervision department. I found that as as intern in Bank Negara you are usually overpaid and underworked. So to keep myself from falling asleep, I shall spend time telling you all about life in the past month.

Lets start off with work. Working life is...well..cool? I dont't know. It definately has its pros and cons, but I think as far as this job is concerned, whatever pros that I foresaw as a student for a working person has been completely blown to bits. All because i buntut gatal and decided that I wanna study Actuarial Science and be an actuary. (And by the way, to that smart ass, no, actuarial science has NOTHING TO DO with botany. Unless of course one day some insurance company decides to insure your durian tree in your ah kong's dusun, but thats another story.)

Back to my point. Well you see, the main complain I had as a student is the endless amount of studying which I am supposed -but never did- to do... you know, like after you get home from Uni at 7pm, cook your dinner, then you gotta start reading about todays class material, assignments, etc. Thats a pain. Working life -I thought- would mean just getting up early in the morning, brave the rush hour, work till evening, brave the rush hour again, then you're home scott free for the rest of the evening. Well that still holds true for most professions. I mean, even if you're an auditor being overworked and underpaid in PWC no rest for 24 hours 7 days a week 6 months of the year, well heck....you don't need to do anything once you get home from work - I just realised my auditor anology is not going to work but I'm too lazy to think of another one - As for this field that I'm in, coming home would still mean bringing fat textbooks with you, studying, preparing for actuarial exams, understanding what other new mathematical/statistical methods geeks like you in the industry have come up with and so on and so forth. Where's the social life man??? Like I said, the auditor analogy doesnt work cos most of them take their CAP papers to become chartered accountants.

Well so much for working life. Its still fun though. I'm beggining to see all the math and stats that I've learnt in the past 2 years fall into application, and just somehow its gives a little bit more meaning to my life when I'll be sitting down in front of books reading theories and math that I don't really understand much about. So thats a little bit more motivation to study harder. Not.

I take the bus to work -yes, you heard me right. THE BUS- everyday. And I must say, the much maligned Malaysian public transport system isn't that bad after all. Well at least for the buses and the area I'm in, it's pretty decent. I've been living in SS13 subang Jaya for the past month, and taking the no 10 and 13 metrobus -talk about metro guys, we've got metro bus- to work. Well before this I was taking the KTM, and also the yellow mini buses to get to the KTM station. And heck they are good. So far everyday, every 5-10 minutes there'd be a metrobus coming along to take me to KL. So too for the yellow buses. Very good service. The KTM is pretty decent too, only that a train comes every 15 mins. If they improved the frequency of it or added some extra carriages it'd be much better.

I actually took the time to write an email to the KL Urban Transport Department, praising them for the existing bus service that I use -I'm sure almost all 26 million Malaysians out there would disagree with me- and also outlining some suggestions on how to further improve the existing system. I actually wrote it on a feedback page on their website, and the whole thing took me 45 mins to write. Unfortunately for me, when I clicked the "send" button, the next thing that appeared was an error screen. When I think of that even up to today, words still fail me. Here is this guy taking the trouble to PRAISE the authorities for the PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM and the blasted webpage gives me an error message. Talk about ungratefulness. But it's more likely that 26 million malaysians out there are spamming the site with hate messages and death threats (which would be the reason why it got stuck...so I guess I'll blame them instead. Heh.

In the headlines today it was announced that Malaysia Airlines, under its restructuring program, will increase its domestic airfares effective in 2 weeks time (which I assume would be somewhere mid August). First thing when my dad saw it in the news last night was to call me up and ask me to hurry up and get my plane ticket before the international fares went up too. Did my research first thing in the morning today.... and guess what I found.

Flights to London (one way, inc tax and fees):
MAS RM3100
Emirates RM2400 (transit at Dubai)
British Airways RM 5100 (transit at HK via Cathay Pacific)
Thai Airways RM 4098 (transit at Bangkok)
Qantas RM 2300 (from Changi)
SIA RM 2200 (from KLIA-transit at Changi S'pore)
SIA RM 3300 (from Changi)

Seems to me like SIA is doing some serious predatory pricing on MAS's ass here. Talk about friendly relations. If I were Singaporean I'd buy a plane ticket with SIA from Malaysia and fly to London from KLIA. Take a train or a coach up to KLIA. That way you'd still save at least RM500. And Thai Airways better be giving some Thai massage onboard to justify that price. BA can just fly home on their own.

I'd regard myself as slightly more patriotic that the average Malaysian citizen out there -heck the fact that I praised the transport system should make me the most patriotic one already by default - but paying RM 900 more isn't my idea of competiveness. MAS better get their pricing strategy right. Or sabotage SIA. Else someone's gonna need another bailout soon.

I'd like to stop blogging now but I'd have too much free time on my hands then an don't know what to do with it so I guess i'll just continue on with another couple of paragraphs.

Oh yeah, exams result came out like a month ago. I did pretty alright. In fact it was a miracle considering the marks that I got. All glory to God. He truly is faithful when I am faithless. All that desperation, sleepless nights, prayers, emotions, trauma... gosh. Seems like a lifetime ago. But i guess I'll be in for another round in my third year. Funny how exams can shape you so much. Now I won't have to go back early in august and resit. Don't think I'd be able to survive the resit if I had failed the first try.

Another thing that's been going through my mind not too long ago was concerning this too. There's plenty of folks out there like me, who by God's amazing grace, at the point of failure, went into an exam hall, came out with distinctions or marks that they can only dream of. But what about those who DID fail? I won't dispute the fact that God is gracious and He is sovereign, He knows and controls it all, and everything that happens is within His grand design if things, good or bad, that's a fact and truth that is infallible - well unless you don't believe God exist or you believe in a version of God that's quite different from mine, but that's besides the point- I mean, what do you say to these people? What can you possibly say to console them? This whole thing has caused me to be a bit skeptical about the whole go-up-in-front-and-share-your-testimony-about-your-exams-results thing. Sure, I rejoice with you when you do well, but what about that brother or sister in the same room who just failed the exams even after trying so hard, if not harder? But I believe in some things the "why" is not for us to know. But nonetheless I'm a bit careful nowadays with whom and how I tell news like this to. Just something to think about. Cos there are more serious issues in life than exams which will have similiar scenarios.

Well.... I think thats a nice blog entry that'll make up for all the laziness so far. Heh. Till later.

Heat, Humidity, MyTeam and TmNet

Yeah!! Finally I decided to update.

Been back in Malaysia since the 20th, left Heathrow on the 19th evening in a largely uneventful and routine flight. Before that was the trip to Newcastle to watch the jaw dropping Tommy Emmanuel concert, which of course a fantastic weekend. Then came the Champions League final where Arsenal lost to Barcelona, but what the heck...our one man team (which I just found out that his middle name is Daniel!!!) is staying put at Arsenal so its all good. After that was helping Magda (who probably will be my new housemate next year, yay!) move her stuff over to my place, which of course, was no joke since now there's hardly enough space to walk about in my room.

Anyways since I've got back I've been constantly complaining about how hot it is back home, but then at the end of the day I still love it here compared to London anyday. Except for the fact that I wake up at 9am every morning because it's too hot to continue sleeping. And the humidity!! GAH! I pretty upset about the fact that my 1 week old guitar strings are now all covered in rust and now I have to replace them again. And the tanglewood's G-string snapped. I blame the heat and rust too.

Apart from that issue, been catching up with friends for the pass 2 weeks, going out at night and just chilling, went to genting with my family last weekend, then over to my grandparents place in KL and Melaka. Life is good at the moment. This weekend I'll be off to Port Dickson for my family church camp, where they put me in charge of the games. And I'm gonna torture all the uncles and aunties with insane non stop running heart attack inducing games so that they'll never ask me to do games again. Shock therapy. *grin* (which reminds me of course that I have to actually start planning it)

And then next weekend off to Subang!! Whee! Cant wait for that. And Mr Limus is coming down on thursday (unless he FFK me) and maybe Uncle Nick too to Melaka and then we'll be going up together on saturday. (and those who know me well enough will know that it's actually my evil play to get them to help carry my stuff up to subang. mauahaha.) *Hey guys if u read that, come anyway and i bribe u with cendol and ikan bakar and satay celup and chicken rice ball. Good deal what...* =D

And also not forgetting the other 2 topics on my title, i'll start with TmNet 1st cos I have to complain about them. TmNet sucks laaa!!!! Ok got that out.
MyTeam..... I was cheering for them the whole way in the match against the Malaysian national team (except the part where I missed the 2nd half cause I went out for mamak). Aiyo but seriously watching Malaysia football is like watching a comedy la. And its quite a good comedy I must say. I'd like to hantam FAM but then it'd do no good. So forget it lah.

Still waiting for my internship replies. Quite stressful I tell you.Especially when you have to call Bank Negara. I think i'll prolly end up working in AsiaCafe la. Of maybe starbucks that took over Mee Yoke. hehee...not.

And now I must go off and sweep the floor before my mama kick my ass. And futsal tonight...yeah!! adios!

p.s. was thinking about posting up pictures of wonderful delicious Malaysian food (hint people in Uk who aren't back yet and wont be back for a long long time) but then the internet connection is so bad and its too hot and I have limited patience so I'll spare you guys this time. Just this time.

i told you he's gay

mralvin: mama you're coming here says:
come sit on my lap
mralvin: mama you're coming here says:
i offer guidance

ughhhhh.....

mralvin: mama you're coming here says:
why u attach negative connotations?
mralvin: mama you're coming here says:
to my sincere innocent gesture


I wonder what innocent gesture he's talking about

I've the Joy!

Something's changed. I feel a whole lot better. Happy. Joyful. Hopeful. Not afraid. But everything hasn't. In fact it's got worse. I still can't do contingencies in the time limit, (which i assure u is the least of my worries at the moment - getting half of them done right is the one i'm after), IM is nearer now than ever and i've only just finished reading the module and looking at past year exams i've no idea what the question wants even after doing my reading. So in other words it look tougher more than ever now. And not to mention I've forgotten half the stuff I studied from 2 weeks ago.

But a couple of days ago after that post of despair, I don't know. Many prayers have been said. Many complaints of despair to both daddy's, earthly dad and heavenly Dad. Friends from home have been there to listen and to encourage.

And today. Today i woke up with a sense of joy. Of peace inside. With that sudden realisation that, no matter what comes my way, no matter what happends in the end,

"Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strenghten you,
Yes I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
Isaiah 41:10

That's the promise. And countless more of them. I do not fear anymore.

Sigh. Funny how God uses mundane boring things like exams to bring you to your knees and closer to Him.

Time to not run with my strength anymore. It's time for battle.

i am scared

I am afraid. Truly I am.
My heart is gripped with fear like never before.

Never have i ever been in such a position before exams, the 1st paper is about a week away, and despite 3 weeks of studying 6 hours a day minimum, which subsequently went up to 10-12 hours in the last week, still render at the stage that if i were to take any paper now, I almost definately won't pass.

If only I have one more week. That would make a hell lot of difference.

But I don't. I am scared. My heart cannot deny the fear that grips me.

Fact is, humanly speaking, no matter how I prepare this last few days, there's no way I'm going to be able to scrape it this time. Knowing my abilites and my limitations, I know there's no way. And thoughts like this have been going through my mind even as I went to bed last night.

I woke up with the same thoughts this morning, but I was reminded of the song, which goes:

God will make a way,
When there seems to be no way.
He works in ways we cannot see,
He will make a way for me.
He will be my guide,
Hold me closely to His side.
With Love and Strength for each new day
He will make a way.

By a roadway in the wilderness,
He'll lead me.
And rivers in the desert will I see.
Heaven and earth shall fade,
But His Word will still remain,
He will do something new today.

His word will still remain. Times like these, when everything is beyond me, all I can do is hold on to the promises of God.

Psalm 25:1, 2, 15, 20

To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
O my God, I trust in You;
Let me not be ashamed...

My eyes are ever toward the LORD,
For He shall pluck my feet out of the net...

Keep my soul, and deliver me,
Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You.

And this is the one that I want to be able to say with all my heart.

Psalm 27: 1, 3, 5, 7,9

The Lord is my light and salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?

Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I willbe confident.

For in the time of trouble,
He shall hide me in His pavillion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.

Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice!!
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

Do not hide Your face from me;
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not leave me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation.

Psalm 28: 1, 2, 6, 7

To You I will cry, O Lord my Rock;
Do not be silent to me,
Lest, if You are silent to me,
I become like those who go down to the pit.
Hear the voice of my supplications
When I cry to You,
When I lift up my hands toward You holy sanctuary

Blessed be the LORD,
Because He has heard the voice of my supplications!
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore my heart greatly rejoices
And with my song I will praise Him.

Psalm 27: 14

Wait on the LORD;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the LORD!

I will wait on You O my God. I need a miracle from You.

Random

It's been a long three months. Lots of work, capped of with a final marathon of exams needing to be done at sprint speed. 6 papers in 2 weeks!! No wonder people say 2nd year of Actuarial Science is the hardest. Third year what so hard? FYP only marrr... :P (i know that statement's gonna come bite me back in the ass...watch out for a post on it in about 6-8 months time)

Anyways, enough of exams and work. Who wants to listen to boring stuff like that. I'll always remember what a girl from church told me when I told her I had spent the weekend doing my assignments : "You're so booorrrriiing..." =_=" like i had a choice....hmmph!!

So i think i'll blog on something else. Like for example my guitar heroes....

Well I'm no fret flying rockstar of a guitarist, my housemates (and generally the entire block of apartments) will testify to the noise that they hear on a frequent basis. Hey, i know its bad, but thats why i practice maa...

Anyways, let's not digress. On to my guitar heroes:

Tommy Emmanuel


You won't hear him on the radio in our pop/hip-hop(dangdut??) music culture today, but heck, he's one of the maddest guitarist around. If you listen to his music, you'd think there's a whole band 3 guitars playing when there's actually only one. Totally superb. I don't really dig his style (but mainly because I won't be able to play like him even after 100 years of practice), and neither does my playing have much of his influence, but something very basic and simple that he said kept me going through the times when i felt like chucking my guitar out of the window (more like sell on ebay) when i was frustrated with non-existent progress, "Whatever you do, never give up." That sentence has kept me doggedly going all these while. *looks to housemates, sorry guys, blame uncle tommy*

Eric Clapton


I think he was my first ever guitar hero. Some people don't think he's that good, but this guy's guitar playing gives a whole new meaning to term emo-music. This one la real emo, not the rubbish called simple plan that 14 year old kids go crazy about. Aiyo he coming to london la this may, but one ticket now costs 145 pounds.... eeeeek!! If only i knew earlier.

Slash

Ok, so maybe he's not the best role model for kids out there, taking drugs, smoking ciggies onstage pulling of solos, but heck man, I think every guitarist at one point of their lives wanted/ still wants to play guitar GnR style. Very very influential. And I like that hat.

John Mayer


Ok Ok i confess I'm a fan. AND HE'S GOOD OK! Partly because I invested some money buying his Room For Squares CD out of impulse one day. And also the tab book. And many hours of practice. *smirks* By the way he has a new band now called John Mayer Trio, and they have pretty good stuff too. Blues rock style.

Zakk Wylde
His music is not for the faint hearted. Screaming guitars punctuated with pinch harmonics ever interval, mad solos. But anyways heard his playing from Ozzy's No More Tears album and liked it very much. I'll be singing Mama I'm Coming Home this May 19th. Nasi lemakkkkk!

And finally,

Paul Gilbert

If the romans worshipped guitarists, he'd be one of the gods. Probably zeus (although that is open for debate). He's one of those guys whose playing skills are on a totally different level from every one else. I've been listening to his stuff daily at least twice a day. Haha. Its mad la. He's mad. Whoever heard of using a power drill to play guitar? I mean, Hendrix used his teeth, but man, this guy uses a BLOODY DRILL. And he's got the coolest website ever. Plus usually when I hear these guys playing, i wanna give up straight. But his playing inspires me for some reason.

And i just realised i forgot to put Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi's gutiarist) and Mike Einzieger (Incubus) in. But I also malas want to type, and I doubt anybody made it this far down reading it anyways....

Oh well.

Time for pro evo before apu comes to take his controllers back.

[Edit: Oh shit we played to 6am in the morning. I hate myself for doing things like this... sigh]

this says its all

a conversation on skype with my housemate (which i shall not name) which got me quite worried.

[10:50:10 PM] choongchingyek says: well at least i'm not un-gay

I guess one can conclude that being un-something means that he is something.

I'm bolting the doors tonight.

Stupid blogspot

I was looking at my past archives when i noticed the header titled February 1990.

Wait a minute. I was only 6 years old in 1990. There was no internet at that time. There was no computer in our house. Internet not invented then too. Curious, i clicked on it.

SO THATS WHERE THE MISSING POST WENT!

stupid blogspot.

Investment Markets

Shit happens. Too often in the past few days.

This is probably the most painful piece of coursework i have ever done. More interestingly, it is also a group project which i managed to complete without meeting my group member. Interesting.

Yes it was hell for 4 days, no sleep, countless redoing due to initially misunderstanding and then later misinformation. What the heck. And when i handed it in yesterday i was so relieved thinking that this bitch of a coursework is finally over.

And when i woke up this morning, guess what i found? A page of the coursework that i left out. And its a saturday today so the office is closed and i cant take it in. Gotta wait till monday.

Oh yeah, did i mention that the deadline was yesterday?

Just when I thought it was clear to cross the road, a truck came right up and ran over me.

Sigh. Life, oh life.

Now to do that thing called stochastic modelling.

Tired

Dear God,

I'm tired
Tired of a life that I shouldn't be in
Tired of trying to do things that I can't
Tired of fighting in leagues I don't belong
Tired of failing to meet expectations
Tired of smiling when I don't feel happy
Tired of being bold
Tired of lagging behind
Tired of being frustrated all the time
Tired of fighting inferiority complexes,
When I truly am inferior
Tired of always not being good enough
Tired of dreaming big
Tired of trying to reach things beyond me
Tired of falling down,
And not having much strength left when each time I get up
Tired of trying
Tired of it all.

I need rest.
No, God. I need You.
I need to hear Your promise again.
I need to feel You near me.
I need to know that You are looking after me.
I need to know You're right beside me
I need to know that when I can't make it to the end
You will carry me there.
I need to see You.
I need You.
God I need You.

hahaha huh???

Its the time of the year again when the courseworks are piling up to no end, and the difficulty of this course is sticking its butt out real high. As of the "status update" post which i did a few weeks ago, the grand total of courseworks came up to 12 due in 5 weeks. This friday again there are 3 due. But at least after that it will be 6 out of 12 done.

Aiya, this is madness lah. Madness I tell you.

And i bet you exactly one year from now i'll be complaining about the same thing again.

Babi punya courseworks!

And really, the 2 guitars a proving to be the death of me. Electric by day and acoustic by night. Surf internet and chill out in between. Where got time to study? Wannabe rock star mah.....

Aiyah have to go face the courseworks.

*Cue scene from LOTR-The Two Towers where the King Theoden ...erm actually i can't remember what scence, but what the heck... anyways, all of the riders of rohan shout in a great voice*

TO DEATH AND GLORYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!

I think there'll only be death and no glory in the case the courseworks.

Newspaper headlines near you soon.

22 YEAR OLD STUDENT DIES DUE TO EXCESSIVE COURSEWORK
Hot Rock Star Prospect(note: wannabe) Found Dead in Room Holding on to Guitars.




Wakakaka.

Hahaha.

Saw this post today on the star online.

"Your right to expect good service"

read the headline, in regard to the public transportation issue. I think someone should tell them

"Your responsibility to ensure good service"

Sigh.

The Malaysian Public Transport System

I should be studying, but what the heck. Anyways, i originally wanted to blog about arsenal's amazing week capped off with the win against liverpool today, but then reading the star online about malaysian public transport system made my mind turn to other things instead. Yes and turn away from studying mortality rates.

But anyways, i very very seldom put my country down, but our transport system, to put it very gently, needs some work. Some serious work. So much so that i even dare say that the government should consider nationalising the whole freaking system.

Basically, what should be done (in my opinion) is pretty expensive at the start, but in the long run should prove worthwhile IF THEY STICK WITH IT AND DO NOT LEPAK HALFWAY LIKE THEY ALWAYS DO!

Anyways if i was a rich guy with a few billion to spare (hint goverment with money from fuel increases) , this is what I'd do:

Firstly, unite the entire transport system under one company. These will prevent idiots from petty squabbling about profit margins on stupid issues like 5 or 10 sen profit from touch and go cards.

One company for the trains and LRT, and another one for buses.

Make (ie force, with the threat of RM5 million fines with failure to comply) the touch and go card be available to use on every public transport system in the capital (and of course PJ, subang, damansara or whatever parts of selangor. Heck just chuck the whole selangor in.). But then if everything was united under one company we wont need to force people right?

Make the KTM trains run more frequently. Especially during peak hours. There must be trains passing a station every 3 minutes during peak hours, not a 15 minute wait like it is at the moment.

The LRTs are working fine, as long as they sort out their touch and go card issue it'll be all cool.

And now the buses. The buses. Those damned buses.

Under the unified system, buses are made sure to run on schedule (ie not waiting at a crowded kota raya road for the bus to fill up first before moving). Every 5-8 minutes the bus should pass its designated bus stop. Inspectors must go round making sure bus drivers stick to the schedule (actually all they need is to periodically check the stop points). And fine the drivers if they stop and lepak for a limau ais at the nearby gerai.

Routes are to be set out clearly. And routes must not be too far and too long. Each bus stop must have a proper map of the buses stopping at the bus stop, and where they are going, how long are they expected to take.

Standardize the fares. It should be a flat rate for any bus trip. Point A to point B or point A to point C should be charged at the same rate. This helps streamline the fares and the use of the touch and go card. It should be the same for the LRTs and KTM too.

Divide up the capital into zones. Zone one should be the centre and most busy parts of KL, zone 2,3,4,...progressing outward from there. Flat rate within zones, and of course from zone 2 to zone one should cost more than within zone 1.

Have things like day travelcards, or monthly passes, for bus only, or for bus and train. This works in such a way in the case of a day bus pass, that the commuter pays a flat rate say, RM4, and can use as much of the bus as he wants on that day.

And what about funding? How does the government keep this up?

I suggest the use of congestion charging. Follow singapore or London's example. Charge people a rate of RM5(something like that lah) a day, when they enter into the capital. Then u can abolish the tolls within KL already. Use cameras, whatever needed to enforce it. But of course for this to work the public transport system needs to be working properly. Else there'll be riots. And of course, exempt commercial vehicles like lorrys and other goods transporting services from it. We don't want to completely hinder commerce now, don't we?

Another controversial move is to tax every 2nd/3rd car that a household has. Increase the road tax by another 100% or something on the extra car that the household has. Discourage people from buying so many cars (at this point i know if i ever run for PM i'll be shot dead at my campaining rounds). But then again this is a trade off in national interest as i believe we wanna promote proton and perodua. Heck then tax only if its not proton or perodua. Wahaha i'm a genius. Again not a popular move. But it'll work i'm sure.

Make sure ONLY BUSES USE BUS LANES. Fine the offenders to bits. Set up cameras everywhere and more importantly, make sure they are working (ie not only empty cameras with no film or whatever inside).

And of course, simple economics, peak and off peak pricing. Encourage the use of the LRT and KTM during off peak hours. Especially to school kids. Give them half price discounts, student rates or whatever for them to travel on the LRT. And make it cheaper to travel during off peak hours on the LRT and KTM.

And make full use of the current feeder buses. Not when the putra bus drivers stop at the Terminal Gombak and cram into their little cubicle and smoke while passengers wait frustratedly for the bus driver to finish his ciggie and teh tarik before he decides to drive the bus. If only the feeder buses worked then the LRT will be fully utilised.

Encourage companies to promote car pooling. Or a company bus or something. Give them incentives to do so. But of course insurance companies insuring that particular company will cry foul in the event of a tragedy when all the worker perish in an accident. Pokai straight the insurance firm. (That an actuarist thought for you).

OK la i got to read mortality rates liao. Its not a perfect solution above but i'm betting that its better than the one we have now. Why doesn't the goverment just send people over to study how successful public transport systems work and learn from them? And if any dungu fella opposes the move (worker's unions, ministers, politicians) make sure they don't get a car to themselves and ask them to take public transport to work. That'll teach them to complain.

Kesian all those people who have to take public transport in Malaysia. Heck if we had the power to do something about it. IF. But then those in charge supposed to do their job la. So its their responsibility. Not ours. We complain in our blogs in far far away lands like london. And when we come back we still drive our papa's car. wahaha.

Thoughts and suggestions welcomed (a implicit way of knowing how many people actually read this blog... *grin* . If u see 0 comments u know la....)

Status update

Death is in the air. I sense it. Near me.

Death not of physical form (although one can never be sure of that) , but death in the mind. Here's a reality check:

Assignments due in the near future:

Subject: Financial Economics
Type: Individual project
Due date: 7th March
Completion status: 75% (barring errors)
Difficulty level: OK

Subject: Prob and Stats
Type: Groupwork
Due date: 9th March
Completion status: 0%
Difficulty level: can die

Subject: Stochastic Models
Type: Solo project
Due date: 10th March
Completion status: 0%
Difficulty level: Sure die

Subject: Actuarial Planning and control
Type: Group work
Group meeting date: 3th March
Completion status: 10%
Difficulty level: Do-able

Subject: Finance and Financial Reporting
Type: Group work
Due date: 24th March
Completion status: Haven't even downloaded the coursework yet -25%
Difficulty level: Not assesed

Subject: Investment Markets
Type: Group work
Due date: 31st March
Completion status: 0%
Difficulty level: OK

Current health status:
Severe sleep deficit
At the brink of illness

Chance of survival: low

DIE LA DIE! the courseworks i mean. Not me.

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

Inexplicably we lost to blackburn. And they are above us in the league table now. BLACKBURN ABOVE ARSENAL??!!! Troubling times indeed. But anyways, through thick and thin man. Through thick and thin.Go gooners. GOOOOO!

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

This CU job is as tough as i expected it. But its great fun. It'll be all worth in the end.

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

And on friday night i ate on of the best meals ever since coming here - which of course does not really say much about my cooking skills - but anyways, we were at auntie Lilian's place, the kepala of Bank Negara in London. Wonderful lady. Inviting us over to her place. And we even got leftovers which we're goona cook with phall. Oh yeah baby yeah!

Time to eat. I hear the food calling.

Henry! Henry! Thierry Henry!!!!

HENRY HENRY HENRY THIERRY HENRY!!!
HENRY HENRY HENRY THIERRY HENRY!!!
HENRY HENRY HENRY THIERRY HENRY!!!
HENRY HENRY HENRY THIERRY HENRY!!!
HENRY HENRY HENRY THIERRY HENRY!!!
HENRY HENRY HENRY THIERRY HENRY!!!
HENRY HENRY HENRY THIERRY HENRY!!!
HENRY HENRY HENRY THIERRY HENRY!!!
HENRY HENRY HENRY THIERRY HENRY!!!
HENRY HENRY HENRY THIERRY HENRY!!!
HENRY HENRY HENRY THIERRY HENRY!!!

oh by the way just in case you don't know, arsenal beat real madrid 1-0 at the barnebeu tonight. And guess who scored.

Truth is, next week they could come to highbury and rape our arses by 4 goals or something... but for now i shall enjoy the moment.

HENRY HENRY HENRY THIERRY HENRY!!!

--------------------------------------------------
Blogspot is rubbish. Not too long a go i typed in a long entry with pictures and all about my new guitar, and then when i clicked the post button it all but dissappeared.

STUPID BLOGSPOT.

U administrators better do something about it before the world switches to xanga. then u die. u dieeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

-------------------------------------------------
Oh yeah i got my new guitar too!!

Ah my baby....

--------------------------------------
And today I found out that i have 6 courseworks due in 3 weeks. The first one is due this fri (contingencies - what can be better by starting of a glorious tuesday morning with the probability of someone dying??) , and i have yet to complete it. Not to mention that 6 page report i have to do for prob and stats. or stochastic modelling. Or FFR. Or investment markets. Or Financial economics.

And just one last time, all together now....


HENRY HENRY HENRY THIERRY HENRY!!!

A matter of Choice.

George, my housemate, trying hard to inflate an inflatable mattress without a pump. I know he plays a clarinet but this is pushing it.

Over the past few days i've been staring hard at the accumulating pile of work that sits on my table. Well, not that it all sits on my table -in fact not enough space - its just a figure of speech-lah! But anyway i continued staring hard at it for some time. Nothing happened. Dang. Was hoping it will magically go down.

Now to put some of the things i have to do into perspective:

1. Prepare for this friday's prob and stats test.
2. Prepare songs for tmr's CU meeting.
3. Read and research actuarial planning and control presentation.
4. Study contingencies.
5. Do contingencies corpsework.
   
6. Find out dateline of contingencies corpsework or be a corpse.
7. Do prob and stats 2 lab sheet 7 & 8.
8. Do prob and stats 2 corpsework
   
9. Look through mistakes made in previous prob and stats assignment.
10. Study financial reporting - corpsework come soon.
11. Study FFR - there should be another corpsework coming too.
12. Get some sleep.
13. Get that new guitar.
14. Get a life.

You see with the unending list - i bet there are more that i havent found out/remembered about - means that i'll perpetually be busy. When i complete all those there's bound to be more things that need to be done.

So i make a choice. I choose not to be busy. I'll make myself free to do the stuff I WANT TO do. Which of course in no way justifies that 6 hours spent in Apu's place playing PES5 and ending up missing church meeting at night.

But then hey. Back to work i guess.

busy people everywhere. haha....

Not observant enough..........

This is a picture taken during the ACTS games back in August/September. Volleyball competition I think. I was going round taking pictures of people, and I saw little Jonathan sitting alone. Tried very hard to get him to smile to take a picture but he refused to which I found all so puzzling. Only after the picture did I notice what he was pointing at and why he wasn't smiling....LOL. Silly me.


I think it hurts a bit ;P Just a little.

12pm

10am....
11am....
12pm....

I woke up from my 9 hour nap. Looked dark in the room. Lifted up my hand and pulled the curtain away a bit. Hmm, not too bright either. Stupid London weather. Sat up, checked the clock. 12:02pm. Laid back in my bed for a while. Thought through yesterdays events.

.......arsenal won 2-1 at cardiff.......my new cd came....eeeK! there was football yesterday??!! That meant yesterday was saturday. WHICH MEANS TODAY IS SUNDAY!!! WHICH ALSO MEANS THAT I OVERSLEPT AND MISSED CHURCH!!!!!!

And the world was dead silent for a moment.

Arghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!
GAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BLRGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupidstupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid

Sigh. The folly of me.

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

Woke up yesterday morning and greeted the sight of an amazon.co.uk package at my door. Yay! My CD is finally here. And it was:



Paul Gilbert's Live in Tokyo Acoustic Samurai album. Cost me 10.50 pounds. Including delivery and VAT. Which after an subconcious mental conversion of the currencies leads to the grand amount of RM70+/-. So it better be good.

And it was good. I actually heard one song of this album, his acoustic version of Abba's Dancing Queen. And man it rocked. Which was the reason that possessed me to go and buy the entire album. Even though I've not heard much of Paul Gilbert's stuff before, save for a few clips of his guitar clinics (which btw, is absolutely amazing).

This album seriously rocks. In an acoustic kind of way. A must have for guitarist I guess. Man who needs to play electric guitars when you can play acoustics like this guy.



Oh wait he's holding an electric guitar. So yeah we still need electrics for that maddening solos. Which is already maddening in itself but more maddening when he does it on acoustic guitar.

Speaking of acoustic guitars. There's been one which I have been contemplating for a long time. OK maybe not that long, but its been a couple of months now more or less. Weighing up reasons and different alternatives:

1. Buy now:

Cons:

• Financially not secure enough yet. Even if I used the taxpayer's money which has been given to me I'd prolly be able to buy it but there's no certainty that I won't starve to that before end May. Now we don't want to uncover no skeletons hugging on to a guitar 5 months from now in my room.
• Buying now means have to carry back home. Which leave's me with the problem of having 2 hands for 2 guitars in cases and not forgetting my luggage. Siao. And there's no guarantee that the wood is suited for tropical climate. Not to mention then after that I have to carry back two guitars to London.
  
• No time to play. Already have have electric guitar is like having one girl. Takes up most of your time. And even that when the courseworks were pouring in like the Malaysian monsoon rain it was neglected. Another guitar? Lu mai siao.
  

Pros:

• But then buying now means I get to hold it in my hands now. Feel it, play it, make some music/noise with it. Priceless. Something which makes the "buy now" alternative most appealing.
• I get to give Paul Gilbert's acoustic songs a go!! WHEE! (note I just said "give a go", not play like him :p )
  

2. Buy back home in Malaysia.

Pros:

• Definately cheaper than buying here. Buy RM 400 at least. And they can throw in freebies too. Like a guitar case. With cables. And a couple of picks. Which you are unlikely to get if you buy in London. And I have a car which I can put it in and not have to lug it back all the way in the bus instead.
  
• I have the time to play. Cos i'll be free in the summer and have nothing to do for 4 months but play Paul Gilbert's Dancing Queen. And i'll probably be able to play it properly then.
• I would be able to buy it without having the fear of starving to death. Mama cooking at home. No worries.

Cons:

• I might not have any money left to buy then. All spent eating ikan bakar at alai.
• Even if got money, probably can't get the model in Malaysia. Have to go to Singapore to find. Which in itself will sky rocket the cost to bits.
• My dad will think I'm too rich and not give me any pocket money.

Don't buy at all:

Pros:

• No need to worry about money, time and all that stuff above.

Cons:

• NO ACOUSTIC GUITAR!!!! booo hooo.

Anyway this is the baby I've been looking at:


Sigh. Decisions decisions.

What to do?

Anyways it's time for lunch.

And I blame Civilization IV for me forgetting today is Sunday. BLEH!

It's alive!!!!

Happy New Year folks! Peace to all of you!

Woohoo! Dust off the cobwebs, take out that vacumn, time to bring this blog back to life again. Laziness is the ultimate danger to a blog i tell you. Not flaming, not hacking, but laziness. But anyways it's time for an update.

First and foremost, belated seasons greetings. Super belated merry christmas and belated happy new year to everyone. 2006 is here, and its a new year, time to make your resolutions if you're a resolution making person. Funny thing as i spent some time thinking of what happened to 2005, you know, the annual review kind of thing, i realised: dang i can't remember the resolutions i made at the beginning of 2005. Bummer. Out of the window went the annual review.

But anyways looking back again on 2005, it has been a pretty good and happy year for me (of course you gotta forget about the forgotten resolutions).

I spent yesterday reading this guy's blog: http://kennysia.com/ If you haven't read it yet, go read it, i bet you'll laugh your teeth out. But then again one man's meat is another man's poison. BUT WAIT! Don't go till you finish reading this. I'll make it worth your while. (I'll lie to get people to read my ramblings....muahahhaha)

I seem to have forgotten what I want to say.

Anyways, i went skiing in france just before Christmas, and it was one of the best holidays ever. Skiing's the thing. If any of you have the opportunity to try it out, go do it. And here's a great site to get you relatively cheap skiing. I recommend them. 2 thumbs up. The place is great, the food is great, the instructors are mad, and the cost is very affordable even for students (studying in UK on taxpayer's money, that is). It's a non profit organisation btw.

And anyway here is some of the pictures:

Posing for the camera on the last day of skiing. This place was La Flegere, 1894m above sea level, plenty lots of beautiful snow. And also killer cliffs. Awesome. From left to right: Kuok How, Rubin, Me, Alvin, Muz, Chia Wei

Sunset in the alps, while we were waiting for the cable car to bring us back down.

And this was up in La Flegere, while we were chilling out eating lunch in the snow.

The sun shining down on the town of Argentiere. A frozen river.

The sight which greeted us when we opened our room window. Pretty pretty.

So that was the ski trip in pictures for you. (say thanks to the malaysian taxpayers) Unfortunately I could not get any shots of us actually skiing cause none of us were good enough skiiers or cameramen to take pictures of other skiing at the same time without crashing into someone or something.

Funny how you meet people. When we were there, we bumped into a huge group of malaysians from cambridge. Like 20 of them. A lot. A freaking lot. Malaysians were taking over the place. It was mad. Haha. And by some freak accident, we met another BNM Scholar (short form for using-malaysian-taxpayer's-money-to-go-skiing-scholar). Rubin. Also known as Robin Hood to the ski instructors. Real funny guy. I got this theory that most BNM scholars are mad. Either mad scholars ( that is those who study real hard) or mad mental (ie bonkers). I think Rubin falls into the latter. And I think I'm in it too.

Anyways i think thats all for now. I wanted to blog a bit more but I can't get blogger's pictures to come out where I want them to when I upload them, and then it involves a lot of cutting and pasting which is too much trouble and not worth it. Anyone has a better way of uploading pics, let me know.

Have fun!

I is 21

Today, or yesterday rather, i celebrated my 21st birthday. A joyous and momentous occasion, which the first few hours was spent rushing to settle my probability and stats 2 coursework. Hard life aint it?

But anyways, coursework was duly and promptly settled, and after a long day of class till 6pm, i went home, took a bath and waited for alvin to blow dry his hair before we set off again to chia wei's place. Anyways we had a nice meal there, lots of tembaking of each other, especially chia wei(poor boy got shot to bits). But anyways the delightful surprise of the night for me was the birthday present which i got from the whole lot of them. Really nice of them.

And now here i am, 21 years of age, deciding wearing my new arsenal home kit, sitting in front of the computer blogging about stuff.

And they just rushed up saying its time for dota.

So i guess i'll stop here now, show san loo i can pawn him but i give chance, and more importantly just have some fun....lol.

Before the throne of God above

My favourite hymnm. It's basically the Gospel and the love of God all rolled into it.

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong, a perfect plea
A great High Priest whose name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look and see Him there,
Who made an end to all my sin

Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free
For God the Just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me

Before the throne of God, I come
Before the throne of God, I come

Behold Him there, the risen Lamb
My perfect spotless righteousness
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace

My name is graven on His hands
My name is written on His heart
I know that while in Heaven, He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart

One with Himself I cannot die
My soul is purchased with His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ my Savior and my God
With Christ my Savior and my God

author unknown

Time for another update....

Its about time for another update, but i have no time. Not to mention that this post that i typed earlier was screwed up by some technicalities. So i guess i'll cut the crap and go straight to the point. Last weekend we had a day trip to Bath(the city that is, not bathe for one whole day). And here are some pics which i took:

1st stop was the stonehenge, which at the end of the day, is just a bunch of rocks.

The Stonehenge

The Stonehenge from far. With the many people invading it.

The Stonehenge. With the sun above it. Nice lens flare though.

After that we headed of to Bath, and was loafing and trampling about the city for the rest of the day.

Autumn leaves

The pathetic english version of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. Quite disappointing really.

The big church in Bath. I forgot the name. AND WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING ON THE LOWER LEFT!! GAH!!! SPOILT THE PICTURE!!!! FOOL!!!!!!

One day if i ever apply to be photographer for National Geographic this is the pic i'll send in with my CV.

Chia Wei always wears the same pants as me. Don't know whats wrong with that boy. Anyways we're posing on a tree here, as u can see. And alvin looks gay as usual.

Another duck.

Group picture under the Trees of Echoes(I named it that)

An extraodinary moment. I dont know how we got Shin Fei to do this picture, but we did it. And man if you're reading this.....let me know.

And after a long day Alvin shares a philosophical moment while Ding looks on skeptically.

Anyways that was the trip. Now back to reading so i can finish the coursework and go for more trips.

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

But I might just blog a bit more on second thought.

Was in the bus today and some talk came up among me and my friends which revolved around fuel prices, corruption, race favouritism(or more known as Affirmative Action elsewhere) and governments. And my conclusion of the whole thing was that, sometimes we are too easily critical of our leaders (and hence more often than not as a result of that being hypocritical - which i myself am extremely prone to at times) and the people that govern us. But as far as my country is concerned - sweet sweet Malaysia - despite what people say, it's the best place to be in. Not because we're better, not because we have warm sunny skies all year round, not because of anything else, but because it's where I belong. And I'm thankful and grateful for it. And for all the people who live in it and but yet diss it so much,

don't bite the hands that feed you

While the chicken defrosts in the microwave...

So i'm here typing away while waiting for the chicken to be defrsted in the microwave after a long week...dammit its only tuesday. But anyways mondays and tuesdays are the worst days of the week as it has the heaviest subjects all crammed nice and tight together (and its compounded by the hangover of DOTA over the weekends), so it's pretty much a holiday again. Tmr's a day off, and so is friday, while thursdays is just a blip in the weekend.

But anyways i was playing this new virtual trading game called fxstudentchallenge where one assumes the role of a currency speculator armed 50 million pounds in cash. So there i was, not really bothering about it until this week's prize -the iPod Nano- was up for grabs. Suddenly that damned game mattered. And heck i was winning big on the 1st day ie Monday. However as the proverbial goes, "It isnt a sunday everyday" and today life came crashing down back to earth with record losses. What the heck. I need to fine new vices. I reckon that if i took a job for titicaca selling tickets for trips around UK in city uni i'd have a higher chance of getting enough money for a Nano. Not that i need it (Nano) anyways.

A few lessons can be drawn from this game:

1. It's never enough. Human nature is such that we are meant to want more. No matter how much we have. Like how when i had 170k on monday morning i decided to let it go higher but the only direction it went was down. And many more times today which led to my demise in the game. So dont be greedy.
   
2. If you have 50 million, go do yourself a favour and invest it in something better than currencies. Feed africa or something. I'm serious. The risk is just not worth the returns. Coupled with inflationary effects and making losses half the time, you'd be better off doing a desk job and donating 50 million GBP to those starving people in Niger.
3. Go do something more worthwhile with your time. Spending lots of time looking at the screen analysing (vain attempts) graphs and trying to predict where the currencies are heading next (only happens if you are a mad fella like me) with money that never existed and will never exist is a real pathetic way to spend your life. Go read a book or something. Or maybe play DOTA...no DONT PLAY DOTA! That's bad too. But you get my drift.
   

But anyways that's my conclusion of the game while i'm flicking tabs looking at my USD/JPY climb higher and higher while my earnings are rapidly disappearing (damn youse USD!!). And that was the bell for my chicken.

Adios folks.

i blame this on leona

Three names you go by:
1. boi!
2. danny
3. dan

Three screen names you've had:
1. iamdaniel
2. mrdaniel
3. assasin (it was CS ok!)

Three physical things you like about yourself:
1. My mop of hair
2. The lack of facial hair (no need to waste time shaving)
3. My skinny ass...nah....

Three physical things you don't like about yourself:
1. Eat like cow but cannot fat
2. Lightweight built
3. European girls generally taller than me :(

Three things that scare you:
1. Getting assaulted again (it isn't fun getting whacked and not being able to whack back)
2. Losing my debit card
3. Leona (wakakaka...joking joking) ...ermm backsliding

Three of your everyday essentials:
1. My i tunes
2. Lunch and dinner
3. Lots of sleep (which i lack atm..again i blame leona cos its 2am and i should be sleeping now, but noooo..... i had to poke her blog hyperlink and read this thing...dammit)

Three things that you are wearing right now:
1. t shirt
2. short pants (soon to be changed to a track bottom once i sleep)
3. Hush puppies underwear....phunk me baby!

Three of your musical bands/artistes:
1. Guns n Roses
2. Jamiroquai
3. Foo Fighters (Dear God please don't anyone bid higher than me on EBay for those tickets...)

Three of your favourite songs:
1. Sweeter - Lakewood Church
2. Everlong - Foo Fighters
3. Breezin' - George Benson

Three things you want in a relationship:
1. A whole lotsa loving - and it isnt confined to romantic love only-
2. Tolerance and honesty
3. Someone i can gila with

2 truths 1 lie:
1. I never sleep in class
2. I'm a rock guitarist (wannabe)
3. I don't snore
(oh damn that's 2 lies....)

Three physical things of the preferred sex that appeal to you:
-lets clarify that the "preferred sex" refers to women-
1. Smile
2. Eyes
3. Body

Three of your favourite hobbies:
1. Play guitar
2. Read book
3. Stoning at home

Three things that you want to do really badly right now:
1. Talk to her
2. Eat ikan bakar in Malim....aiyo hungry lah wei!
3. UNDERSTAND HOW THE HECK DO YOU FIND THE COORDINATE VECTOR OF V WITH RESPECT TO {V1, V2,.....Vn}!!! damn youse linear algebra...damn youse!

Three careers you've considered/considering:
1. Rock star (considering)
2. Doctor
3. Teacher

Three places you want to go on vacation:
1. The Alps (french,swiss, austrian...i dont care...just take me to the alps baby)
2. Egypt
3. US

Three things you want to do before you die:
1. Eat ikan bakar in malim and nasi lemak at the food court in bukit beruang..gah this is driving me nuts...london sucks
2. Spend loads of time with all my wonderful friends in Subang
3. Play guitar like David Gary wants me to

Three ways that you are stereotypically a boy:
1. Wanna be tough and macho - yeah right the last time the opportunity came i just stood there and bengang
2. Act like a 13 year old boi?
3. DIE BOYBANDS DIE!!!!!!!

Three ways that you are stereotypically a girl:
1. My name is danielle *bats eyelids superfast*
2. I'm quite happy to follow along and let others decide (is that girlish?)
3. Touching movies make me tear...die lah sure kena target from now on when watching emo movies

Three female celeb crushes:
1. Liv Tyler in LOTR (man those elven ears rock!)
2. Cameron Diaz (it's that big big smile i tell you)
3. Jeniffer Gardner (dont ask me why, i'm not even sure whether i spelt her name right)

Three people that i would like to see take this quiz now:
Don't bother lah its too long. Unless you got nothing to do go post it on friendster or something. yeah that's right go ahead.

some thoughts

On friendship....
Its not whether you've got my back,
but rather I've got your back

On life...
I'm here to serve,
Not to be served

On the passing of Datin Seri Endon...
God bless you dear PM,
May you be strong in this dark hours,
We're blessed to have such a leader as you.
You have our support as you lead our country.
You are in our prayers.

On the Lake District...
Fantastic beauty,
But a trip which was marred by a series of unfortunate events

On people....
Humans differences are only skin deep

On Linear Algebra...
It hurts my brain,
But i think i'm beginning to see the light.
Or is it just an illusion?

On Chia Wei...
Still the god of crappers

On this post...
I should go back to studying linear algebra

Manchester and The Lake District

Went away during the weekend to visit some friends in Manchester and also to enjoy the scenic beauty of the Lake District. A series of unfortunate and very forgettable events however, rather ruined the whole thing and left me feeling rather disappointed. But anyways here are a few pics which I managed to get.












The last one is the Manchester Eye. The rest are in the lake district. The pics really dont do any justice to the scenic beauty of the place, there were really many more pretty sceneries which were totally mind blowing, just that circumstances were such that I wasnt abole to take any pictures. Its quite depressing thinking of it.

But anyways, that was a weekend, a few lessons learnt and new friendships forged. Back to school tomorrow, I guess.

It's been a while..

Heck i should really be looking up on my stats so that I don't die so fast in class tommorow but, I guess what's life without a little disruption to routine....

Just got my 3MBps internet line a few days ago, and ever since then I've been going on a downloading frenzy. However, as my other housemates(i.e Alvin) is also busy downloading and eating up bandwidth, the connection aint exactly flying at the moment. I guess we'll just have to wait for the saturation point where everyone exhaust's their HDDs and CDRs. But no matter, cos that will take a while. I guess we might even run out of things to download at this rate.

My bank statement came today and it wasn't a pretty sight. Been overspending again. Haha...funny how even when I live in this cheap ass place in London which supposedly gives me more room to save money, I end up just spending more money than before and whatever benefits of staying in a cheaper place has been negated. Oh well, at least that means i can enjoy more material comforts in life...for now. Till the money runs out. Or I learn prudency. Whichever comes 1st, although most likely they'll come hand in hand.

But anyways I'll be off to Manchester this coming weekend, to see the city and also to go to the famed Lake District nearby(another money burning weekend). Will be meeting up with some of my secondary school mates. Interesting how things have developed as I would never have forseen this back then in my secondary school days, I mean, going for a trip together (!) in the UK (!!!!!).

Also I've been mulling over the possibility of me buying a new electric guitar. I've already saw the one I wanted, it's a Tanglewood. Not too sure of the model name, in fact i have no clue, but i remember the beautiful sweet acoustic sound that eminated(is there such a word??) from it... but it's freaking 300 pounds. GAH! Should i spend the money or not...I don't know. think think think think think...........

And I'e just finished watching a movie that I loved so much(and still do) as a kid...TRANSFORMERS THE MOVIE. wahah....man it rocks. Felt like a 4 year old again watching autobots kick deceptercons ass...man i need help. But anyways it was nice to watch it again and be reminded of my childhood days. Like how I watched it so many times last time til the tape spoiled. Praise God for CDs nowadays. And my new housemate, George is a fan too and he said we could go to HMV and get all 3 seasons(!!!!!) for 15 pounds. Man sounds like a bargain to me. I guess there goes my budget...and my 2nd year.

2nd year has been cool so far, really been enjoying it. I've got really excellent housemates, nice and really really funny folks. Very entertaining to be in the same house. Thank God for them. Uni hasn't been that evil (yet), so i have time to loaf about and debate whether or not i wanna play guitar or go out or read a book or do something else. Speaking of guitars, i still need to nail that stupid solo for civil war. really can't comprehend how a simple wah pedal can make a riff sound so complicated till i can't pick out what exactly is being played. I need to get a Wah pedal too ( there goes the budget again...) POKAI LA!

Recently i've started to subscribe to The Economist magazine. It's really cheap over here, but more than that i take it as a desperate bid to improve my knowledge of economies and whatever the heck is happening out there in the world today. Somehow after sometime whatever my dad says makes some sense. So reading is the way to go, wish me all the best in my plans. And i can't believe i'm saying this but i'm kinda excited at the prospect that i'll be learning multiple intergration...woo hoo....man i need to be slapped. But i'm looking foward to it. I might even start ahead of the lecturer ( now that's plain loco...)

And on to more serious matters. Was talking to a friend of mine in Uni. The guy is from Zimbabwe, and the situation over there in their country is not good. Hyperinflation(which means that the country's currency is of no value) has wiped out the entire nation's economy, due to rulers who are incompetent and just plain greedy. And it makes me realise at times how ungrateful we are about our nations and rulers, we complain about so many things but forget to give thanks for the overall well being of our nations. I mean, what the heck is a late bus compared to people who has seen 20 years of savings dissappear overnight. And man, what he's going through now is no joke. I have a newfound respect for that guy. He's awesome, realising his responsibility and the weight of the burden that he carries, yet he shoulders it without complaining and takes it like a real man. Unlike some of us who claim to be "man" and measure it by stupid things.

But anyways, i guess that's enough for now....stil wondering whether i should start my stats or procrastinate even further. we'll see i guess...

This is why Subang rocks so much

Cos we're family.

Memories

Was flipping through one of my church songbooks today and i came across this song that we used to sing back in CF in secondary school. Kinda reminded me of what we are supposed to be to each other. We kinda used it to "welcome" someone who just came to CF for the 1st time...haha a little freaky for the poor kid but hey it was genuine...anyways the lyrics go:


Welcome to the family,
We're glad that you have come
To share your life with us
As we grow in love
And may we always be to you what God would have us be:
A family always there
To be strong and to lean on
May we learn to love each other more with each new day
May words of love be on our lips in everything we say
May God's Spirit melt our hearts and teach us how to pray
That we might be a true family


Kinda sad that sometimes we forget that we're all a family in Christ and let nonsense separate and divide.

Hymms and Choruses?

Stole this off my sis' blog...i think it hilarious...haha...

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Hymns and Choruses

An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.
"Well," said the farmer, "It was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns."
"Praise choruses," said his wife, "What are those?"
"Oh, they're okay. They're sort of like hymns, only different," said the farmer.
"Well, what's the difference?" ask his wife.
The farmer said,"Well, it's like this - If i were to say to you:

'Martha, the cows are in the corn,'

well, that would be a hymn. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you:

Martha Martha, Martha, Oh, Martha, MARTHA MARTHA, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black and white cows, the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, care in the corn, the CORN, CORN, CORN

then, if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well that would be a praise chorus."

As lucky would have it, the exact same Sunday a young, new Christian from the city church attended the small town church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was. "Well," said the young man, "It was good. They did something different, however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs."
"Hymns," said his wife, "what are those?"
"Oh, they're okay. They're sort of like regular songs, only different,"said the young man.
"Well, what's the difference?" asked his wife.
The young man said,"Well it's likethis. If I were to say to you,

' Martha, the cows are in the corn,'

well, that would be a regular song. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you:

Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my vry.
Inclinesthine ear to the words of my mouth.
Turn the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth.
For the way of the animals who can explain?
There in their headsin no shadow of sense.
Hearkenest they in God's sun ot his rain.
Unless from the mild, tempting cort they are fenced.
Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight,
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed.
Then goaded by minious of darkness and night.
They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.
So look to that bright shinning day by and by,
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn.
Where no vicious animals makes my soul cry
And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn.


Then, if I were to do only verses one, three and four and do a key change on the last verse, well that would be a hymn."

Not too good

These past few days haven't been too good. Got hit by the flu bug again, of which made me realise that i fall sick on average once every 3 weeks. Which is not a good thing when u have plans made for the week ahead which have to all be cancelled because of some damned flu. And to make things worse, i woke up yesterday morning feeling as if my right eyelids had been glued together. Mumbling incoherent curses to myself as i climbed out of bed straight to the bathroom to spit phelgm and look at my eye. I mumbled another curse when i saw my eye. Conjunctivitis! BAH!

Feeling pissed off and decidedly feeling pissed for the rest of the day, I took a shower and headed of to the local clinic. Driving there and still muttering curses at my ill health and just plain rotten luck at getting sore eyes I took a wrong turn and headed to town instead of the clinic, of which I realised instantly, and yell out another curse. And from the corner of my eye I saw another motorist waiting at a red light on the opposite side of the road turn and look bewilderedly at me. Must be all the loud mouthed cursing, I thought as I made a U turn back in the right direction. For those who are surprised at all my cursing confessions, I'm a lot more verbally expressive when I'm alone and pissed at something. Try not to do it but it happens sometimes.

Reaching the clinic did put a lot of things into perspective for me. Sitting down waiting for my turn, you see people coming in for checkups for hypertension, a sick man with his three young children waiting for their turn and their mom nowhere to be seen, and old man slowly shuffling to his seat, a young boy waiting with his mom...the list goes on.

Which struck me when I compared the magnitude of my sorrows to theirs. Whats a little flu and a sore eyes. Plenty of discomfort and inconvenience of course, but no more than that. And I guess I went away from the clinic a better person than before, maybe not physically, but a little bit more grateful for what I have.

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*clears throat and wipe some snort of the nose with the pack of tissues beside me*


And last night before i slept i was thinking about how much of the holidays i had left. Slightly under a month. How time flies again. Soon it'll be time to go back to london again. Which then my thoughts strayed to all the stuff i had planned to do and what have i actually manage to do. Here's a little list:

• Plan 1 - Practice guitar 8 hours a day everyday for 4 months and play like Slash at the end of it. In truth, on a very good day I'd get down 5 hours of practice, and some days i didn't touch my guitar at all cos i was too busy saving Middle Earth or taking over Vice City. And I'm still stuck at that same spot for GNR's Sweet Child of Mine. A little bit closer though.
• Plan 2 - Sleep early, wake up early. Never happened.
• Plan 3 - Go swimming every day in the morning, do some other sports in the evening in the hope that i might build up some muscle. Went swimming for about 2 months, never did sports in the evening cos i was sleeping/killing orcs, and no muscles built. In fact am skinnier that before.
• Plan 4 - Go travelling around Malaysia, Kinabalu, Tioman, Penang and also visit Singapore. Got as far as Kinabalu and went bankrupt after that. Talk about money laundering.
• Plan 5 - Buy my younger brother a drum kit. Went broke as described above.
• Plan 6 - Read a number of books. Read one book, When Heaven is Silent by Rob Dunn. But that was about it though.
• Plan 7 - Spent about a month in Subang with friends. Been there for about 5 days only. Not entirely my fault though, circumstances have dictated otherwise. But it was one of the best times i had so far since I got back.
• Plan 8 - Recover my lost footballing skills. Kicked a ball about my lawn about twice I think.

Well I guess this just goes to show that life never goes as planned. Strive for idealism we can, but its all strife at the end I guess. At least for me. Bwahaha.

*cough cough cough cough*

Candid Moment

We were touring Luxembourg and Alvin volunteered to be navigator. Here we are in this moment staring at our hero looking up the map on the bus stop. As Alvin lead us on our way, Ding turned to me and said, " You know Daniel, knowing Alvin, we should've gone the opposite direction instead."

Well history charts for us that we indeed went the wrong way.

Revelation

A few months back I remember sitting in my room in london trying hard to play Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean". And as hard as i tried, i could never get the same tone or sound that was in the song during the solo part.

Today, while i was playing GTA Vice City and the in game's radio station Flash FM started playing that same song...half listening to it while driving around shooting innocent civilians a revelation dawned on me:

IT'S A BASS GUITAR SOLO!!!!

no wonder i could never get it right. blah!

*smashes head on wall repeatedly till blood oozes like the characters in happytreefriends*

die chelsea die!

Anyone (well maybe except chelsea fans) watching last night premiership opening match between chelsea and wigan would have felt sorrow and sadness for wigan. Hardwork, sheer desire and commitment, but it wasnt enough. Like how life is always unfair. Like how that monkey crespo(a very good monkey i must say) hit in a wonder goal in the last 30 secs of the match. And like how Wigan should have kept Camara on and maybe he would have scored that 2 golden chances they had and then the scoreline would be Wigan 2 Chelsea 0. Or maybe if Drogba just did us all a favour and kicked himself in the teeth ( and i know apu will support me on this). And as for the Arsenal-Newcastle match, yeah, poor Mr Jenas who got sent off didn't really deserve it either, but he could have broken someone's knee, and I'd would be really pissed if that had happened cos we dont have Vieira anymore. So PADAN MUKA! oh yeah, i'm an Arsenal fan btw...damn so fast talking crap again.

On to more depressing issues. The holidays is 3/4 gone. I only have 1 month left. 1 MONTH!!!?? *tee hee...yeah 1 month..big smiley grin* Anyways, sigh. How time flies. And I didnt get to do all I wanted to do throughout this hols. And also the realisation that this will be the 2nd last time i ever get such a holiday as long as this. Next year it would be the last, then that would be the end of my student life where I get to loaf the days away.

And the haze has finally left Melaka alone and make it's way up to north Malaysia, sorry Penang-lang. Well life aint fair, ain't it? But why is it still so bleeding hot in Melaka?? It's even hotter than concrete KL. Wierd. If Alvin lived in Melaka i'm sure he'd be able to give a pretty good suggestion why...but he doesnt.

I'm looking foward to going up to Subang again, one more time before I fly back to gloomy no sun no warmth London. Gotta get my pedals too. And meet all those wonderful ACTS people again.

HOT LAH HOT!!!!!!!!

another untitled

Frustrations,
Stacked over layers of ....

blah.
i'm too pissed to write.