Clouded Pawn: The Chessboard of My Life

While this blog remains (almost) inactive...

2012-01-30T00:17:00.000+08:00

Do check out my "express" version of this blog and click on the link below:

Clouded Pawn Express

As you may know the current idea behind this blog has long evolved to be updated with videos of events in Kuching and anything else that catches my fancy. However, it is unfortunate that I cannot ~~be disciplined enough~~ keep up with the amount of videos I need to edit before I post it up. I struggled to juggle my time between my day job, the gym and socializing, and it is sad I had to put video blogging aside to accomodate my other activities.

~~(Oh, it's also a little bit disappointing for me to put up the effort on the videos, only for very few readers to view it.)~~

Hence the express version, which is meant for me to keep blogging at its very basic form. Short and sweet.

I've plans to revamp this blog and all that, but I do not know when I can commit to making the major changes.

Until then, I'm not out of the blogging scene...but I need to sort myself out with the future of this blog first.

Thank you, 2011.

2011-12-31T19:03:00.000+08:00

Thank you 2011 for the many of the good, the bad and the weird memories.

This year was definitely the most year of my life in terms of travel. Not only did I travelled to Thailand not once but twice this year, but I was very fortunately to travel to the European continent, particulary the chance to travel to Gdansk, Poland.

I may have missed out on travelling to Europe the last two years despite a promise by the company I would...but I am glad the company has now allowed me to travel to Europe. I learnt so much only on the work and career side of the trip, but also the Polish culture as a whole. The trip truly changed my perception on Poland as a whole.

The Thailand trips: first was earlier in January to Bangkok and Pattaya, while the second was recently to Krabi in November. To say I've not fallen in love with the country is a lie! I love the food, I love the adventure of travelling alone early in the year, and I love the beautiful Hong Island at the Krabi province which I had my close friend Daniel to thank for.

Sadly, there was a big scar to my life from the most recent trip: I had my smartphone stolen on my way back from Krabi to KL in the plane. Long story. But it was enough to traumatise me to not think of any travelling for the first six months of 2012! Damn it 2011, I saved my hard-earned money for that smartphone...and I only had it for three months! If God wanted to punish me, then it was such a cruel way.

2011 was also a year where I made new friends. Unfortunately I've also had friendships broken, and the was enough hated of mine towards certain individuals...enough for Buddha to not forgive me I shamefully admit. I had a couple of horrible colleagues, and I had to deal with people I still feel they do not deserved to be in the town I called home.

That said, I am also glad I had some of the best nights in 2011 with a circle of friends. Especially the boys from Sarawak Bloggers. To my brothers Fahriee, Rodz, Cyril, Kim and Reyes, I thank you for the non-stop laughter from all the reference of "Sio Bee" and all the other talk-cocks we had whenever we met!

Oh sure, I still haven't found love. I was certain there were chances with several ladies I had met here in 2011, but I'm afraid my Cupid seemed to have a poor shot accuracy. But I wouldn't blame him; I wasn't really serious to begin it. I had a career to focused, debts to clear, money and power to be obtained. I supposed until love has proven me otherwise, I shall stick to "friends with benefits" if you know what I mean.

Oh, how could I forget my family, who has been supportive of me when I had my troubles!

Ok, enough rant. I must head off to a pot-luck dinner and the clubs for the countdown to 2012. 2011 isn't the best year I ever had, but it was definitely far better than the last three years.

Thank you once again, 2011.

The Opening of La Senza's First Pin-Up Store in Kuching

2011-12-27T01:51:00.001+08:00

A couple of weeks ago, La Senza opened its first store in Kuching. Rejoice for the women (and men) in Kuching! :)

I will update further on the event, but I suppose what would interest you is this:

#twtupkch - Game lounges tips and tricks

2011-12-09T17:06:00.000+08:00

(Right I shall challenge myself to write each sentence of this blog within the Twitter standard of 140 characters.)

#twtupkch (Tweet-Up Kuching) is an event by Sarawak Bloggers which will be happening at The Spring tomorrow from 11am to 4pm+.

#twtupkch basically gets people who use Twitter to meet other Twitter users, be friends and play games together.

There will be 354 'tweeps' who will be attending (not sure if all of them are coming la) which means you're sure to make new friends!

Now, if you're naturally competitive like me you'll want to win all the games from the game lounges at the #twtupkch event.

The list of games tomorrow include: Arm wrestling, Jenga!, Monopoly, BINGO, PC & PS2 games, Cangkul and UNO.

Normally I wouldn't give gaming tips (Kiasu mah), but I feel good today so here's a quick tip for each game above:

Arm wrestling:

When ready to finish your opponent, rotate your body so your shoulder is in line with the direction you want your arm to go.

Jenga!:

Push it gently: if it refuses to budge, try another piece.

Monopoly:

Railroads are better to own than utilities, but utilities should be purchased if the opportunity arises (esp. if you can get both of them).

BINGO:

One strategy to increase your odds at Bingo is to play as many cards at one time as you can; but do be careful!

PC & PS2 games:

Well it depends on the games; just surf to GameFAQs.com for the game that's currently being played. Heh.

Cangkul:

To be honest I dunno!

UNO:

Save your draw cards and wild cards; you'll need them to stop someone from winning the round.

Yes, I heard you scream "WTF these tips is so obvious!"...of course la it's obvious 'cause I kiasu mah!

Hehe anyway that's what Google is for right?

So let's meet up at #twtupkch tomorrow & challenge each other to any friendly game above...except Cangkul. Yes I never played it before!

Kuching, a boring city?

2011-11-30T16:05:00.001+08:00

It was sometime ago a debate was sparked in the world of Twitter regarding the Cat City of Sarawak, Kuching. Well it wasn't so much of a debate; rather it was more statements of disappointments and frustration from a certain individual. Some of these key statements include the need for more events in Kuching on a monthly basis, having new and improved products to attract tourists and locals alike and more importantly, the need for the relevant authorities to pretty much "upped their game" in making Kuching, well, less boring per say.

And I can perfectly understand the point the individual was making; I too once had the very same thoughts and reactions to the status of Kuching. When I was younger doing tertiary studies, I would be back in Kuching for Chinese New Year, and each time I returned to celebrate there was never a chance for a new place to visit, a new form of activity or an interesting event to enjoy or even a new franchise to check out. Each time I came back I asked "When will Kuching ever be developed into the likes of Kuala Lumpur, or just the satellite cities Subang Jaya, Damansara or Bangsar?"

That was circa 2002 to 2006. Now though, I looked back at my own thoughts with some regret. Of course Kuching will never be like KL in so many ways. Number of population, number of events, number of shopping malls and clubs, number of major financial investments...there isn't much need for explanation really.

To say the relevant authorities are not doing enough for Kuching isn't accurate though. Being in the tourism industry myself, I know the authorities are doing what they can to make Kuching a more happening place. The Government didn't build BCCK for nothing (save the political conspiracy please).

If one needs to compare Kuching with the rest of the world though, Kuching seems like a decent place after all. According to Simon Busch, MSN Travel UK editor, these are some of following places best described as boring and dull:

Britain (with special mentions to Luton and Lincolnshire) - "It's cold, grey, violent and the population is completely controlled by the media."
New Zealand - "We moved to New Zealand for a change of lifestyle. We certainly got it; we felt like we've moved into semi-retirement."
Finland - "freezing cold for eight months and [swarming with] millions of mosquitoes in the damp summer."
Switzerland - "Beautiful scenery but by God it's dull. Even in the centre of Zurich the bars are all shut by 11pm. The national pastime is growing 'interesting' moustaches."
Canada - "like a giant shopping mall with a huge car park and McDonald's every 50 metres."
Weedsport, New York - "It is only a street"
and even the MOON.

Now if you asked me, I can't agree to all of that being boring! I've been to New Zealand and I love the fresh air, the food and the people and I would love to return again for the thrill of adrenaline rush the country takes pride on. I've plans to visit Britain (specifically Manchester) for English Premier League and for the English pub culture. Canada too for the Montreal Just For Laughs Festival. Surely Finland and Switzerland aren't that bad either! The only one I'm not certain is Weedsport. And maybe the moon.

Then again, if I worked there long enough I could possibly agree to such?

Despite the above, or the fact the sources came from a not-so-credible MSN Travel UK (the Moon, seriously?), Mr. Simon made a powerful statement:

The most boring place on Earth is the place next to you.

Let me just copy and paste the paragraphs for this statement:

If our discussion of the world's most boring places illustrates anything, however, it is that dullness is relative. It depends, to a large extent, on you.

One user, Bert Bretherton, sums it up honestly: "I am a 67-year-old, grumpy, twice married, twice divorced man. The space next to me – wherever I am – must be the dullest place on Earth."

Redundant and Happy puts it this way: "If you live in a small place far from anywhere, with one pub full of old men, then it will seem dull if you want a city centre party atmosphere. On the other hand, if you want peace and quiet and to live happily with your partner away from all the [loudmouths] who make our towns no-go areas in the evening, then rural living is anything but dull."

The whole paragraph sums up the whole point of what I am trying to say. You can either make the place exciting, or the place boring. Ultimately, it's the company you keep and how you interact with others that defines the attractiveness of the place.

To each their own.

A bigger Switch for the iLovers

2011-10-28T18:51:00.001+08:00

"Hah! You really did go for the Steve Jobs look huh?" my brother said with a wide grin.

"Yea, well, I just wanna know what's it like to follow his fashion style..." I said. Not in full enthusiam mind you. In fact, I'm not sure why I went all metrosexual when I was invited to cover the grand launch of Switch at the Spring Shopping Mall last Sunday.

Normally on a weekend I'll love to wear a football jersey, jeans and sandals; obviously that particular Sunday was not a norm.

So anyway, Switch used to be located at the corner nearby DiGi and while it was a prominent area, it was just 600 square feet. That's pretty small space for a company that sells one of the biggest brands in the world: Apple.

Now of course, it got bigger. 2000 square feet bigger...that's 3.3 times bigger! And they didn't grow bigger without a reason: Switch Spring has upgraded from Apple Authorized Reseller (AAR) status to Apple Premium Reseller (APR) status.

What's the difference you asked? Well, when Switch Spring was under AAR they can sell only a selected range of Apple software and hardware. Now with APR, they don't just provide the full Apple products, but they now have a training room which they can provide classes for customers to help them familiarize with their Apple products.

How awesome is that?? Oh, they have a service centre too. The only Apple Service Provider in East Malaysia somemore (There's four in Malaysia). So iHooray for the Apple lovers! (By the way, Switch pretty much took over the store where Nokia once stood...kesian Nokia)

Of course, no launch is complete without activities yea? So with the help of photos to narrate this was basically what happened at the event:

Customers testing out the iPods

Boys playing Fruit Ninja on the iPad2

Guess what iPod model is this?

Then & Now: My iPod Nano 1st Generation (left) and the iPod Nano 6th Generation (right)

Something that excite us bloggers...

I'll like this in my room :)

Cyril winning an iPad2 cover from a pop quiz

If only that website was actually painted on the wall...

Fruit Ninja Competition: I thought of joining this at first so I practiced playing Fruit Ninja the night before...gosh I sucked at it!

One of the Top 10 Finalist slicing away fruits like a Samurai

The kid in white is the winner with 219 points.

Treasure Hunt: Unfortunately I did not take much on this as the hunt started two hours after the original schedule. But I do know who's the winner and it's that...

...boy in the middle, Fahriee. He and his partner won an iPod Shuffle each. It's only natural for an Apple fanboy like him to win an Apple event! But he did something wonderful to his prize.

Best thing for me at this event? The lunch provided was fantastic! Kudos to the management for picking Banquet as their caterer.

I must say though...sorry Steve, your fashion style is not my style!

(Watch this space for a video!)

It's a bird! It's a plane! No it's...

2011-10-05T01:14:00.002+08:00

...just me having the most awesome 10 seconds of my life this year!

I'm sure from the video you just saw, you could feel my adrenaline and my euphoria of being up in the air!

And nope, I did not pissed in my pants. Nor did I puked afterwards, or had jelly legs. For this, I am proud of myself (put a star sticker on me will ya? :D)!

Anyway, my excitement aside, this reverse bungee jump (also known as the The Elevator/bungy ejector) was available for the public during last month's Sarawak Regatta. For RM30 (normal price RM60), it sure was very reasonable for some adrenaline rush! Not to mention an awesome view of the Sarawak river as well as the IWWF Wakeboard World Cup that was also happening that time. Well, only for 10 or so seconds at least.

Oh, kudos to the organizers who brought The Elevator in; it certainly made Sarawak Regatta a much more interesting event to go to. Otherwise, you wouldn't have expected Cyril to blog about his orgasm over his 'jump'!

They should have this bungy ejector more often in Kuching really. As Fahriee would have said, we don't get a lot of fun around Kuching so this is very much a big welcome!

You know, it would be interesting if this machine is setup at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching. Hmm that's a thought...

Oh yea, I was given a second chance to go up again. And I heard my friends demanding for a somersault. Well then...

I AM AN ADRENALINE JUNKIE!!

If you want more info on The Elevator check out www.theelevator.asia

DJ Patricia K? Or DJ Joey G?

2011-09-13T19:24:00.005+08:00

Several weeks back, I dropped by BarZ!ng with my friends from KL to listen to the babalicious DJ Patricia K. A mix Danish-Chinese, I was keen to see how exotic she looked in my own eyes and just as importantly, to hear if the co-host of Maxis Football Extra has what it takes to be on the DJ console. All without prior research on her on YouTube.

We arrived around midnight, expecting the club to be full house and her rocking away the music.

However, it wasn't the case. Unlike the time I went for DJ Mari Ferrari, there's nothing of what you called a crowd there. Odd, it's midnight leh not 9.30p.m. why no crowd?

In a way I'm glad there wasn't much party-goers at BarZ!ng that night as that meant I could watch DJ Patricia K in full glory! Perverted it might sound but I <3 mix looks!

Hot and all sexiness aside, there's something about her and her work as a DJ. No, her music did not suck. It was not great but it was acceptable and a lil' bit different. Something else disturbed my time there. And I figured why:

-What is DJ Joey G doing at BarZ!ng?-

Seriously?

I did not see him at BarZ!ng Facebook advertisement. So why did I ended up watching him on the console more than DJ Patricia K? If the advert featured the couple then that's fine...but I DID NOT COME TO BARZ!NG TO WATCH HIM PERFORM!

Don't get me wrong. He's a cool guy, but I came to see his girl do her work, not him doing her work! Which leads me to another question...

Was the music I've been hearing at the club her work? Or his work?

Gutted to have seen more of him than her in my brief time at BarZ!ng, we decided to do some pub-hopping; we even attempted to find some dodgy massage at Chong Lin Park after.

Of course, I did not leave the building without a photo of DJ Patricia K :)

Maybe she did performed on her own much earlier. Maybe she's new and has DJ Joey G to train her up. But until she's back in Kuching performing I can't be quite sure if I like her style.

Or I could just ignore my own thoughts and just cuci mata.

For more photos of the event, click here.

Enfin, Délifrance à Kuching!

2011-08-12T16:56:00.000+08:00

Ah yes, Délifrance. Together with Dave's Deli, Kenny Rogers and Oliver's Sandwiches, Délifrance was one of the 'new' franchises I learnt of when I first moved to Subang Jaya in 1996. It was the branch in Subang Parade where I had my first taste of Délifrance. I can't quite recalled what I had then, but I believed I had some bites of their famous croissant as well as their mushroom soup. I supposed that was my first taste of French food.

Fast forward to 2011. And after years of waiting, Délifrance is FINALLY HERE IN KUCHING!

Can Délifrance charmed the Kuchingites with its French cuisine? That's what the management of Délifrance will find out by inviting the Kuching bloggers (myself included...despite the lack of updates...) to have a food tasting session at the newest cafe in town last week.

"What took you guys so long to open??"

I noticed there was a bunch of baguettes at the side of the registration table. A symbol of French culture :) Do read this for its interesting history.

So while we wait I took some wannabe "creative" shots like this:

or this

or this

Ok, fine I don't do photo shots well. I am blaming on my digicam lol.

I must say the interior of this Délifrance is not the ones I was used to in Subang Jaya/Kuala Lumpur; in fact this looked more inviting to come. It has similarities with Starbucks if I must compare.

The one I never got to try. Yet.

This was the first appertizer, the Mini Blueberry Apple Danish and of course, my long-awaited Butter Croissant!

I ate the Mini Blueberry Apple Danish first.

Upon my first bite, my taste buds had a surprising enjoyment from its sweet, fruity cream. The pastry that holds the cream had a nice, slightly crispy (for the lack of a better word) taste which goes together with the sweetness of the blueberry apple.

Then I had the Butter Croissant.

I read that a good croissant has to be flaky, buttery, not too big and airy and unravels nicely when you pull the ends. This one seems to match most of it!

While it could use just a bit more butter in it, basically it was what I've been missing for the longest time: a good, tasty croissant! This would definitely be my "must order" the next time I return to Délifrance.

As we waited for the main course, Mr. Gabriel Hii, General Manager of Hills Management introduced himself together with his team. I would love to see Délifrance be successful in Kuching under their care :)

From left: John (F&B Consultant, Délifrance), Janice (Operations Manager, Délifrance), Gabriel Hii (General Manager, Hills), Sabrina Douglas (Marketing Manager, Hills), Mary Rachael (Marketing Executive, Hills) & Goh Sheng Hui (Senior Leasing Executive, Hills).

This is the main course; a couple of ciabattas.

I wasn't expecting sandwiches to be honest.

By the way, did you know 'Ciabatta' literally means "carpet slippers" in Italian? God bless Wikipedia for that!

The two ciabattas come in two types:

This one being the Ciabatta Beef Pepperoni S'preme...

...while the other being the Ciabatta Tuna D'licious.

While the bread has a nice, crisp crust I personally felt the bread should not be plain but with bits of black olives, seeds or any additional ingredients to make it tastier. While my brother did not fancy the raw white onions in it, I could actually enjoy the tang of the onions. We both agreed red onions would be the better choice though.

While awaiting for the desserts.

The last was the desserts. I was given a slice of Mango Delights and a slice of Opera Cake.

The Mango Delights had just the right amount of mango flavour and the Opera Cake had a delicious sweetness to it. However I was hoping the slices would be bigger to truly appreciate the depth of the cakes.

At the end of the food tasting session, I was given a loaf of baguette to try at home. According to Irene, the way I hold the baguette is very manly.

So what's the future of Délifrance Kuching? I reckon the pastries would sell well, and with some improvements over the ciabatta and possibly the rest on the menu as well as some aggressive

marketing I believed Délifrance will be at Hills Shopping Mall for quite a long while.

In the meantime, at least I know where to get a good Croissant now :)

Lufthansa: My First and My Last!

2011-07-24T14:07:00.007+08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was on a business trip to Gdansk, Poland. After three years of promise, the company I currently worked for has finally allowed me to travel to an industry training conference which is always at Europe. Being my first ever trip to Europe, what more to Poland, naturally I was very delighted with the opportunity to learn the Polish/European culture and be culture shocked by some of it.

And that started with an airline I was not familiar with: Lufthansa. Now before I proceed further, this post would only be focusing on Lufthansa's long-haul flight from Singapore to Germany as well as the return flight. I wouldn't touch on my transfer flight from Germany to Poland and vice versa...as for Gdansk itself, I'll have to save that for another post (if I do have the time!). You can however view the photos here.

Being the German flag carrier, it was not surprising that the majority of the passengers waiting at the departure lobby of Changi Airport were Germans. I can't say I was the only Asian at the lobby, but it's been a while since I had the feeling of being in the minority within a crowd. Not since my time studying in Brisbane years ago.

My flight was to Munich, Germany and it would be 12 hours long. I was given a modern A380 aircraft, on a 2-4-2 seating lane.

First impressions? I was surprised the seat was just about as comfortable as your typical Air Asia seat! The seat wasn't exactly 100% covered with cushion, so parts of was simply the plain plastic. But the huge German sitting beside me had it worst I believe; he never looked comfortable the whole flight duration. As for the air hostresses, don't expect the sexy and beautiful MAS or Singapore Airlines type. I was told prior to this flight the Lufthansa air hostresses looks like your typical aunt at a family home and all but one younger lady at my flight seemed to filled that stereotype.

Thankfully I've my entertainment screen to distract me for thinking about the air hostresses much. Their service levels is OK so far.

The entertainment screen lacked any form of interactive games, which is a shame considering I was highly expecting myself to play some SNES games especially when I get to play such on a MAS flight to/from Brisbane. Despite that, it had enough selection of movies, TV shows and documentaries (not to mention a big list of CDs to enjoy) for me to last the flight. I ended up watching "Inside Google", "The Eagle", "Tangled", "The Lincoln Lawyer" and documentaries on Franz Beckenbauer and Ronaldo (The Fat One).

As for the food and drinks, I was given some kind of biscuits to start. A variety kind of taste, some salty, some bitter. It went well with my neat whiskey though :) I love the free flow of alcohol on this flight!

This was my dinner:

The main meal was beef with pasta noodles and vegetables, with a side dish of fresh salmon with creamy potatoes and bread pudding and standard bread. It was actually very nice this meal! Oddly the air hostress gave me chopsticks too for this meal. Very considerate...or racist much?

The movie watching and some three hours of sleep later, here came breakfast:

Main course consist of omelette with tomato sauce, potatoes and a type of vegetables that I can't quite recognised. Salty greens. Comes with plain yogurt, the standard bread with butter and a very nice raspberry jam.

My butt was aching a lil bit after I arrived to Munich but so far it's ok Lufthansa. Landing was alright as well.

However, things were different when I was done with my conference and I was to head to Singapore from Frankfurt.

This time I was given their oldest plane, the Boeing 747! It was a 3-4-3 lane which was not cool because I was given the window seat and I have to ask two passangers to move so I can take a leak! But more importantly I have NO PERSONAL ENTERTAINMENT SCREEN!!! Instead I have to watch whatever they have on their overhead monitor with the others!

And annoying enough it was raining and the airline had to wait for a bunch of Singaporean tour group to arrive at the airplane, and they weren't showing anything on the monitor for 1 hour at least!

Same biscuits, but I hit harder on the alcohol due to the lack of entertainment!

In their in-flight magazine they said they were gonna show three movies, beginning with Rio.

But I waited for like 90 minutes and they were showing other shit instead:

News, a Donald Duck cartoon and Lufthansa's bloody own advertisement on in-flight entertainment later I finally get to watch Rio...

BUT FOR SOME FUCKING REASON THEY DECIDED TO TURN OFF THE MONITOR AT THE CLIMAX OF THE MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHY THE FUCK!? WHY!??? CAUSE OF THE ASSUMPTION THAT WE SHOULD ALL BE SLEEPING!???

And the torture didn't end there...

My dinner was beef with rice, carrots and peas while the side dish was some salad and fruits, cheese and bread. Being asian, I've some standards on the rice and in all honesty the rice was crap, the beef was a lil bit tough and the vegetables were tasteless. The fruits and cheese was good though.

Without much entertainment, I got restless. I tried to sleep, but obviously I can't. I ended up getting to know a Singaporean sitting beside me for he shared the same angry feelings with me too.
Blessing in disguise you can say but this is not valued for money nonetheless!

And here's my breakfast:

Main course: Omelette with some kind of spicy sauce, fried onions and that same salty vegetable from before. Yogurt and bread as side dish. The omelette was a lil bit overcooked. Not my ideal last meal in flight too.

Upon arrival to Changi Airport, my butt and my left thigh was aching (despite the exercises and a walkabout). The service levels of the air hostresses in this flight is sub-par too; one air hostress was not smilling at all. Funny enough the seat was more comfortable than the other flight but it did looked old and needed a new material.

Still, it was the longest 12 hour flight I ever had to date.

So I think you know by now where was the turning point for my interest levels to the Lufthansa brand. Why don't they refit this particular plane with the modern personal entertainment screen is beyond my understanding...and even if they did planned to do so I'll say "Too late guys!". And why oh why must they turn off the screen during a movie? I don't understand that.

I can only round up my experience with Lufthansa with this:

I will not fly Lufthansa again (until I'm sure I am flying on their more modern planes!)

Come support me team!

2011-06-10T22:37:00.003+08:00

Tomorrow, I will be competing for the Counter-Strike Competition (Amateur Level) at the Kyan!me Expo at the Hills Shopping Mall.

Come support my team as we attempted to beat possibly 15 or more teams to win the cash of I-dunno-how-much-to-be-honest!

The battlefield

So come over tomorrow to see our awesome/pathetic shooting and team-tactic skills; I know you will enjoy watching us play!

Sarawak Bloggers Talk: More than A Blog (and more than a talk!)

2011-06-02T17:29:00.005+08:00

Not too long ago, I attended this talk which was organized by Willie of Reptoz.com. Willie, together with Cyril Dason & Alvin Leong were the speakers for the event, which was held at Supreme Hotel.

Having attended a two-day conference at Kuala Lumpur last year, I was curious to listen to them and see if they offered a different view on the world of blogging as well as their advice to the Sarawakian bloggers. Of course, they're also my friends lah so to not show up and support this event would be a cardinal sin for me!

The talk began with Cyril talking about his baby, the Sarawak Bloggers group. He spoke about his vision for the group as well as the challenges and the criticism he faced during its short establishment.

While he was nervous on stage, his talk itself was interesting. His speech gave me a sense of pride to be part of Sarawak Bloggers!

Willie's talk was next, with his topic called "How to Increase Your blog Readership". While I may not agree with one or two of his advices, generally he got this topic spot on. In fact, he gave a great tip which I've not heard of at the conference, which is to google your blog title to see if it's unique or too common. Nice on Willie!

After a makan-break (which I consumed 2 1/2 plates of Fried Beehoon...let's not count the calories here), it was Alvin, the last speaker for the night to inspire us with his presentation.

Now I personally think his speech is the most inspiring of the three. Apprarently he hated photography when he was much younger...to listen to his past stuggles and to see him now as a master of what he used to hate showed how life works in a very funny way. I used to love photography until the advent of Digital SLR, which significantly increased people's interest in photography and as well as those who think they know it all.

I ain't the guy that usually follow the trends and popularity (such as the case with iPhone), but after listening to Alvin and looking at his work of art I take a slightly different stance towards digital photography in general. I know I just said "slightly", but better than nothing right?

Here's the group photo of delegates & friends at the event. (Taken from the Sarawak Bloggers website)

It may be just a small group but I definitely enjoyed the night :) I look forward to the next one!

Read more about this event here.

What to do when she tries to cancel dates at the last minute

2011-05-19T14:22:00.005+08:00

"Cancel our date today? Have something on later~"

"Eee so last min cancel wan! :("

"Sorry sorry"

"So when do you want to meet up again?"

"Can't confirm yet~"

Right. I know you're not interested to go out with me woman!

This is not the first time I've experienced having a date cancelled by someone. In fact, such things happened quite often in my life.

Not too long ago I've told a female Thai ~~friend~~ acquaintance I was coming over to Bangkok and I was hoping to meet up with her years after our time back in university. I've contacted her months ago and I've reminded her on the final few weeks before my trip, but of course we never fucking meet despite her saying she will do so.

Sometimes, I wonder why do people do this kinda shit? Such actions disrespected me and disrespected my time! Even if they have a real valid reason (the one on top isn't!) they should have the courtesy to arrange for another meeting.

Guys, I sure you have experienced this before in your life. We know it's not a nice feeling to be canceled out just like that. Even worst when you made the effort to keep your time slot free, book the table for dinner and so on. It can put a dent to your confidence/ego, and makes you wonder what crime have you done to her.

After I read from a few gurus on Google though, I realized there's really nothing to make a big deal of!

The next time a girl does a similar thing to you, you should do this:

Her: Oh sorry wei, I cannot make it later la I have to ...

You: So what you're saying is, you'd like to go, but because of circumstance you can't control and weren't expecting, you wouldn't be able to?

Her: Ah yea lor. (Sure will say this wan...unless she damn straightforward la to say she just isn't interested)

You: Well, since you said you'd like go, what arrangements would you like to make to do that right now?

Now, you shut up and listen to what response/crap she will say. She will have to set up a day with you, otherwise she would be revealed as the liar she truly is.

I came all the way just for you, Mr. Walker!

2011-04-23T11:22:00.000+08:00

"Oi, I want you to imagine you're on a hot air balloon going upwards..."

"Urrrghh.."

"...and then I want you to imagine you see some really beautiful plains..."

"Urrgghhh..."

"Ok...now I want to breath in...5..4...3"

"Ohhh..."

"Breath out...5...4...3..."

"...zzz..."

It was a long, long night....
_______________________________________________________

April 9, 2011: Suited up and ready to walk down from the hotel room to the Johnnie Walker Black Circuit Lounge, I wished my young friend Fahriee well, for he had the misfortune of not being able to cuci mata and flirt with the ladies at the so-called F1 party.

With confidence that his gift, a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label would keep him company together with his MacBook I went down to the venue with my buddy Dennis.

The Black Circuit Lounge was held outside on the big field beside Palace of the Golden Horses (which I still think it's a poor choice of venue; I avocate the use of LRT and Monorail to move around not overpriced taxi rides thank you).

Upon arrival, I saw the official Johnnie Walker's Porche Cayenne.

Johnnie Walker understandably has an expensive taste :)

We met with Sherrie and two new friends of mine, Kim and Cate. Funny lot these cute couple! We were queing up 1/2 hour before 8pm so we could be the 1st 200 people to get the door gift. Kiasu leh we Kuchingites :P

So while waiting, I did the usual guy thing and just check out the ladies.

Hello, hello :)

There was an eye-sore moment though. There's this distinguishly gay dude who walked pass us. Without even talking to him, I could tell he has to be the most narcissist guy I've ever seen. Not only did he wore banana-colour attire to this event (read: BLACK), but he has like a caricature of himself ALMOST NAKED ON HIS FUCKING SHIRT! Oh, his pants has images of him too! What the fuckkkk...interesting and gossip-starting none the less.

We waited long. We were supposed to have a sip of JW by 8pm. I didn't come miles away just to wait.

Then at just pass 9pm, we got in. Oh yes, the excitement is back!

Photo taken by Hitomi Ng.

We walked down the red carpet. With all the camera flashes at us, we sure felt like celebrities!

As we got into the tent, we spotted the "Bloggers" table nearby the stage. With DJ Faith, Malaysia's very own DJ being the 1st to perform, we sat down and we were given three different cocktails from the waiters & waitresses. I do not know the names of the cocktails, but I chose a black-coloured liquid of the three...as it looked like the safest drink to consume at such an early stage of this event.

DJ Faith was awesome with her choice of music. Unfortunately the alcohol and the atmosphere didn't give us the kick to enjoy yet. And it didn't help that the tent WAS HOT!!!

I was sweating just 5 minutes after my first sip, and the first cheers with the gang. Apparently the air-con malfunctioned? On an event like this??

Anyway, we drank a bit more. I had to place some ice on my neck while trying to get into the groove with DJ Faith's work.

While allowing the JW cocktail into my system, I walked around to take some shots.

And shots with the ladies of course :)

Oh, by the way this was the gift door I had. A JW money clip. Likeys!

Although...the packaging of it makes it look like a small male genital though...

After DJ Faith, DJ I-TEK was up to perform. I'm not sure about the rest who came, but my friends at the table didn't enjoy his work and I don't enjoy his work too. It's bad if you could remix two of my favourite songs, "Intergalactic" by Beastie Boys and "Harder Better Faster" by Daft Punk (if I could remember!)...and then I went "Meh, that didn't mix well...".

With him dj-ing, I decided to walked around with Dennis to do more cuci mata moment. We ended up being tricked by this hot chick in her "drinking game".

After a brief walkabout, we headed back to our table...and then I saw several ladies up on stage, dancing provocatively. I like :)

Of course, the drinking continued. I believed at this point our first bottle of JW Black Label was emptied by us. The camwhoring started around this period too.

And somemore photos...this time with Naomi, whom I've not seen in a while :)

I've managed to take photo with Shaolin Tiger too!

Fuck, this photo is not giving me confidence with my height. But he does look like a smaller version of WWE's Big Show. Now imagine me standing beside the Big Show...I feel like a hobbit already.

Photo taken from Jun Fook

Bump into Jun Fook too. All Kuchingites above yo!

Cheers to Hitomi the photographer for the group photo earlier in this post :)

I'm sure at this stage I was on a high. And boy, the timing of the high was great because...DJ Sophia Lin was playing! Oh she was aweeeeesommmmmmmeeee!!

The dancers were on stage again...

...so I cuci-mata-ing to the max :)

And to make my night (and this trip) a very wonderful night:

Ho ho a photo with Hannah Tan! :D She was the MC for the night together with E-News! Asia's Dominic Lau. Oh he was nearby too...but nah, not interested to pose with him!

Good to know I'm just about her height :P

The party got crazier under DJ Sophia Lin...

OK, so the photos may have shown otherwise but really, she's awesome in getting the crowd going!

Kim, Dennis and I danced the njagat somemore on the dance floor...with a video camera recording us me thinks! LOL

Last decent photo. Then everyone got high.

and high.

And there's DJ Bento...

But we're too high to be critical of his music. So everything he played sounds good too!

Took random photos too. Coincidencely met a beautiful lady from this group too. Even end up in a "photobomb" in one of her photos keke

Photo taken from Michael Yip

We even drank together with Joshua Law and his friends! (I believed he won the best blog post for this event?) Oh I did managed to cheer with Tian Chad too. Forgot to take photo with him!

Guess the one who can't handle the drink?

And the last photo...before we had to rush off around 1am...

Glad I came all the way from Kuching for this. I cuci mata-ed like a teen with raging hormones, made new friends with Cate & Kim, plus a couple of ladies above :)

I'll never look at Johnnie Walker the same way again :)

I'm still dreaming of this night at the time of writing...
____________________________________________________________

April 10th, 2011, 1.32 a.m.: The hotel room at Palace of the Golden Horses...

"Oi, I want you to imagine you're on a hot air balloon going upwards..." I said.

"Urrrghh.." moans Sherrie, lying on the bed.

"...and then I want you to imagine you see some really beautiful plains...". Boy I'm getting good at this bullshit.

"Urrgghhh..." was Sherrie's response...

"Ok...now I want to breath in...5..4...3"

"Ohhh..."

"Breath out...5...4...3..."

"...zzz..."

It was a long, long night....

And you thought I WAS WASTED HUH!?

Johnnie Walker Black Circuit Lounge. In KL. Must go!

2011-04-01T20:06:00.003+08:00

There are a few events in KL that would make me fly all the way from Kuching just to attend and party. Johnnie Walker Black Circuit Lounge is one of it!

Happening on Saturday 9^th of April 2011, 8pm at I-dunno-where (until I got the pass!), this event is not one to be missed as it is the official race party of the Malaysian Grand Prix, making it a very exclusive party.

Still not sure what’s the entire buzz about? Let me tell you more:

Who is Johnnie Walker?

So now you know him.

Johnnie Walker is involved in Formula One which is a stylish and sophisticated sport. Yes, the actual F1 is far cooler and more complicated than playing it on Playstation! So as such Johnnie Walker, which by the way is the world’s leading Scotch whisky has partnered with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. They both share the values of innovation, winning and leadership...so naturally they got together la! From this partnership (formed since 2005), Johnnie Walker has created a cool and inspirational campaign with the Black Circuit Lounge that allows you to experience the lifestyle of Formula One.

Experience the lifestyle of Formula One? Oh yea! I sure admire the life of two of the coolest British F1 drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button!

As 2008 & 2009 F1 World Champions respectively, it’s really exciting to watch them race together under VMM!

With the babelicious DJ Sophia Lin, DVDJ I-tek & DJ Faith will be there spinning, I don’t see why you wouldn’t come for this glamorous party!

Now I love to be there, and I want my friends to be there too...but for me to do so, I gotta answer this question:

“What you have done to deserve the rewards of luxury and a successful lifestyle?”

I graduated with a foreign degree, I was fortunate to be on a reality TV show, I met some celebrities in my life (and probably Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button soon!) and now I have a good career. Yet I still owe money to the banks and my parents, and not able to spend a lot of things. That’s not quite a luxurious and successful lifestyle hey?

But I realized I have done something significant that was beyond fame and fortune: facing one of my inner fears.

When I was younger, I love to be around friends. I love the joys of sharing good memories with other people.

But I was naive over one thing. I never experienced what was like to be lonely...until my first year in college.

Simply put I had no friends there. I tried to blend in, but I was ignored and felt unwanted.

I contemplated suicide. I was about to slash myself when I heard a voice: “Do not die.” From that moment, I learnt never to give up on life. I left that college to another...and like Johnnie Walker’s mantra, I kept walking since.

On January 2011, I travelled to Thailand on my own for a week and came home a very happy man. I’ve officially won my battle against my fear of loneliness. What better way to celebrate this victory than to be at B.C.L with my friends, of whom one will them will celebrate her birthday at the event!

So if you're now bold enough have Johnnie Walker’s “Keep Walking” mentality, then visit their stylish page, like them and say "delivered in black" to them!

So be there and I quote Lewis Hamilton: “Keep walking and remember...NEVER DRINK AND DRIVE.”

Sarawak Bloggers 1st Anniversary

2011-03-29T00:13:00.005+08:00

Earlier this month, I've attended the Sarawak Bloggers' 1st Anniversary party which was held at Myst Cafe, 101 Premier. Knowing the guys behind Sarawak Bloggers for such a long time (including being part of that -famous- commercial with them!), I just had to come! Besides, I was to deliver a couple of awesome birthday cakes for them too :)

While waiting for the rest of the bloggers to come, I played "aeroplane chess" with Angel, Sherrie and Yong Lim a bit. Gosh, last time I played this board game was like 10 years+ ago! But this Myst Cafe is pretty cool as you can relive your childhood games with their collection of board games.

Host Datuk Cyril, explaining how nuclear reactor works.

So yea, there were 23 cool people who came for this already awesome party...a number of then are new faces for me ...which is great 'cause I love to meet new friends (and give away my namecards la! :P)

Food was alright la, though I could not truly enjoyed it as I was getting a sore throat. I must come back to Myst again to really taste their food.

The food. Not exactly kind to my sore throat.

This dessert was gila-wah-lao-eh sweet wei! And it would later become the punishment food for our Jenga session....

Oh and I won a T-Shirt too for remembering everyone's names in a contest! All without the use of an iPhone!

The T-Shirt that I've won, as modeled by Datin Amiey. No, that's her own T-Shirt not mine...and no, that cake was not for me! (But you can order that cake (Blackforest) from me! Twitter me for more details kekeke

I'm glad I made new friends at the party :) I'm also just as glad to be able to my new friends these two videos (and embarrass the Sarawak Bloggers coordinating team with the video...which is my present to them kekeke)

Happy anniversary Sarawak Bloggers! Glad to be apart of this wonderful night :)

Oh, yea...do see Natasha beat up Fahriee here!

My first (and hopefully the last!) visit to MBKS Open House.

2011-02-26T22:01:00.004+08:00

A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I went down to MBKS to look at their Open House...to have their free food of course.

While I waited for my friend at the meeting point, I saw a dog running around the area.

Cute! But I don't think the security guard was pleased to see it do itz thing...

I got thirsty and I went to grab something to drink. That's when I realized why I shouldn't be in this place!

When I was at a booth that was giving away soft drinks for free, I thought people would actually queue up and such. I've completely forgotten that I live in a city where a certain notorious Malaysian culture was applied; the art of pushing and shoving for something free!

People were pushing each other, fighting for a drink. The scene was (with upmost respect) comparable to the hungry children in Africa. Seriously.

You know what's really embarrassing? The fact that it wasn't just the kids or teens pushing their way for a cup of Coke but middle-age ADULTS! Despite the orders by the scouts (who are there to control the crowd) to queue up, these uncivilised adults just continued to brage in. All for a fucking drink! And a few people managed to grab a drink before me simply because they shoved their hand close to the filling cup! I had to wait for like 4 jugs later before I had to my hand up too and get the fuck out of there!

I felt so ashamed to be Malaysian.

Giving out balloons only annoy hungry people.

By the time my friend arrived I've lost the interest to eat free food. For the sake of my friend though, we waited for the official announcement for the booths to give the food away to ~~childish~~ hungry civilians of Kuching.

Apparently one of the booths allowed their food giveaways a lil' too early. The crowd rushed to the booth like a swamp of bees!

It was so fast and so bad, I heard the table was broken and I even saw the buntings of the booth fall!

As for a booth we were waiting, my friend went into the 'moshpit' while I became his 'cover/bodyguard', giving him some space while I wrestled with yet another middle-age man! Dah la a well-built-middle-aged man trying to push me!!!

In the end we got the food, but we still ended up having a fantastic Laksa at the kopitiam at 100% Discount store around Jalan Ang Cheng Ho. I rather pay for food if it means avoiding the crowd.

On our way out of the 'war zone', there was something that at least enjoyed looking at:

A proper queue up! (What, you thought I saw a hot chick?) Whether or not this queue would turned out to be another chaos like the video above I am not sure.

But I don't want to come for a public open house again! Not unless I've either...

A spike-jacket so people do not dare to go near me! Or...
A stink-bomb to clear the crowd away for me to grab the food in peace.

Either way, I'm so ashamed of the level of Kuching people's manners. It was a good thing the organizers provided barriers and scouts to control the crowd. Otherwise it could have been worst like this:

What's your view on the lack of manners in queuing up...or simply the general lack of manners by our society?

DJ Mari Ferrari. The hottest DJ to play in Kuching. EVER!

2011-02-12T23:26:00.009+08:00

Greetings and Happy Chinese New Year!

I hope you've missed me. Cause I do miss updating this blog...(hangs head in shame).

Anyway, last Saturday I went to Barzing to check out this really hot DJ from Russia, DJ Mari Ferrari. Joining me to cuci mata was Fahriee and Rodz.

Image taken from Barzing.

The entry fee for this event was RM35. Initially I thought it's expensive, but the entry fee also include two bottles of Heineken and a packet of Dunhill. Now that's value for money!

After we're in, it didn't take too long for the MC to introduced DJ Mari to the DJ console.

And like an angel that came down from Heaven, us boys were star-struck!

Image taken from Barzing.

She is that beautiful in real-life I tell you! Even with a bunch of girls dancing in front of us, she's way above them in terms of beauty!

No wonder she was a Playboy model. Not sure if she still is though.

Now, the thing is...we know she's known for more than just a pretty DJ.

In fact, DJ Mari Ferrari is most known for...

Yeap. A TOPLESS DJ! A first in Kuching!

The crowd went wild seeing her boobs! OK so she wasn't completely topless with her metal-nipple-cover-thing but still...it's not often we have someone like her around this town!

As much as I want to show you the uncensored version, I can't do so as that will only bleach the terms & conditions with Sarawak Bloggers. However, if you do want to see more of her you can always go to the official Barzing's Facebook. Or you can see videos of her in action.

Sadly she was only topless for like less than 10 mins? I heard some envious bitch complained and going all conservative (irony this possibly-religious bitch would come to a club and drink).

Nonetheless, we boys were happy. Very happy :) I heard she's coming back in April so expect us to be back and seeing her ~~boobs~~ beautiful looks!

"Hang on, what about her style of music?"

Oh...erm..Euro-style kua?

Hello.

2011-02-12T23:24:00.000+08:00

Yes I'm back on blogging now!

Away from blogging

2011-01-09T00:25:00.003+08:00

Hie guys, I know I'm supposed to be updating this blog a little bit more often...but I'll be away from blogging as I will be enjoying myself in the land of the smiles, Thailand :)

I will only be back in Kuching on the 17 January 2011. So even if I wanna update my blog I can't do so until the 18 January 2011 at least. No I'm not going to make the effort to find a cybercafe in Thailand, nor am I bringing my heavy-as-a-brick laptop with me.

Until then, thank you for reading and "enjoy" this photo while I'm away making sure I don't end up in bed with this "ladies"!

LOL with the Life On Line Show (#LOLshow)

2010-12-31T17:20:00.000+08:00

I rarely listen to podcast. In fact I think the last time I've listened to a podcast was one of the Mr. Brown Show sometime last year! So for the first time this year (which the year is about to end in less than half a day left!) I listened to one. And it has to be the Life On Line Show, or LOLshow for short. (http://zineradio.com/lolshow/)

The LOLShow is all about the social media today, told from a Malaysian point of view. The hosts included John Lim, Niki Cheong, David Wang and David Lian; all who are famous within the social media circle. Together they discuss, bitch or whine on all the latest news on the Web every week.

LOLShow is currently on its 11th episode and the last for 2010: if you haven't listen to it yet you can click play at the link below!

The listening experience:

The 11th episode was all about the best of 2010, with the boys talking about the new Twitter, Google VS China, Google Wave & Buzz, #yorais hashtag trend, social media for change, Wikileaks and Facebook.

Here's my thoughts on the topics in brief:

New Twitter: I don't mind the new Twitter, but like the old Twitter I will only use it if TweetDeck is down, or I'm on a public PC. So it doesn't quite made a different to me really.
Google VS China: Hey it's China, of course they are going to give Google a hard time with the rules and regulations.
Google Wave & Buzz: The products wasn't popular enough among my peers to make me use it. But yes I agree with all the comments from the boys regarding this.
#yorais hashtag trend: Thanks guys! I never really knew why this was a trend on Twitter until you guys explained it! This topic was very enlightening to me.
Social media for change: Obama sure missed the chance didn't he?
Wikileaks: It became a new vocabulary for many of my conversations with friends and colleagues. Especially when people ask me "How did you find out?" on certain gossips, I'll just say "I wikileak it"!
Facebook: Oh what will the world be without Facebook! I really feel sad for Friendster and MySpace for not stopping the rise of Facebook. As for privacy, well I don't share my real thoughts on Facebook to avoid getting the sack/trouble as my boss is on Facebook. And yes I envy Mark Zuckerberg.

So what do I think of the show?

As this is my first time listening to the show, I can't say I was truly impressed by it. While it was very informative (especially about #yorais), I wasn't quite entertained; in fact I felt I was listening to a business show. I felt the show is kind of serious a little bit.

In my humble opinion, I think the show requires more humour on the topics...and if that's not possible to naturally pull off funny lines during the recording surely the boys could do a skit that is relevant to future topics.

Also, I think there's an unbalanced amount of time given to the topics; 10 minutes on Facebook vs the rest?

I'm not sure it there was a lot of improvement from previous episodes, but there's certainly room to impove, especially the technical side of things. David Wang sounded so odd compared to the rest! And did one of the guys moved some kind of stuff halfway through the recordings?

I must admit though; i did LOL on Niki Cheong's "podcast virginity"! Now, I'm gonna listen more of LOLShow to see, or rather hear whether my comments has been taken into consideration and if that is the case...they just got themselves another regular listener!

So from this feedback of mine, I am hoping that I can win myself a...

Yeap. A Blackberry Curve 9300 3G!

This smartphone is actually the Christmas Giveaway by the LOLShow. With its 2MP camera with flash (so you can camwhore your drunk look at the nightclub), GPS, Wifi & 3G, Optical trackpad plus media keys and of course Blackberry messenger, I could certainly use a new phone for the new year!

If I don't get it though, feat not, 'cause you stand a chance to get it too! Now all you need to do is to listen to the LOLShow (as if you haven't yet!), write about about it (check out the website for more info) and just let them know about your entry. It's that easy friend!

So stop reading already and write that post liao! And with that, Happy New Year to you readers!

The Top 10 events I really wanted to blog about but I didn't get to for 2010

2010-12-29T17:37:00.000+08:00

I'm a bad, bad blogger am I?

This year I've been to events that deserved to be written on this blog, and I've plenty of videos to share with you my experience. But I've been busy doing other stuff, meeting friends till late or working out. Sometimes I do not have the inspiration to write about the events ~~(nice way of saying lazy)~~

As such, I blog something that could have been hot news but now it's really old news. Just like the Level Up Fitness launch.

However, no matter how old the event was I still find great satisfaction in blogging about it. I guess I just don't like keep the old stories without sharing my thoughts on it.

There's a lot that should have been in this blog, but here's the Top 10 events I should have blogged about a long time ago!

1) Exercising with the Project Alpha Bloggers at Level Up Fitness.

On the 30 January this year Project Alpha, an online reality TV show had one of its recording session at Kenny Sia's gym. Despite having to dance to the tune of Doraemon (I shall leave the dance sequence to your imagination) and struggling to catch up with the dance instructor, I had the beautiful Jojo Struys as well as the rest of the female bloggers to cuci mata upon. Even if I had to dance with another guy in one sequence.

2) Listening to my childhood memories at Video Games Live!, KL Convention Centre.

I flew to KL just to listen to video game music... Orchestra style! Video Games Live! was held on 17 April and I must say it was worth every single bit of the ticket price and my time. It wasn't just the fact they played classic tunes from the games like Final Fantasy 7's "One-Winged Angel" Chrono Cross, Metal Gear Solid, Mario Brothers and even Pong remix; from the fantastic Tommy Tallarico as the MC, to the funny moments on stage and even the interactive moments...it was just a great experience to be in! I have to be honest though; this was one of the blogs I did not want to write about at the time. It was at the time where I didn't want some people to know I was in KL so yea.

3) Meeting Uncle Wally Amos, the founder of Famous Amos cookies at the Napoleon Hill International Convention, Borneo Convention Centre Kuching.

It was a great honour to meet the man behind the famous cookies, Uncle Wally Amos at the Napoleon Hill International Convention on 24 June 2010. With his trademark watermelon hat and a great smile, his speeches during the convention has taught me a great deal on not only the financial challenges of life, but on a personal and emotional challenges too. It was also one of the best things my company has done for me after all the work commitment for them.

4) Getting a scar just above my left eye during the World Cup period.

Without the shadow of the doubt the accident that made me more...macho. This happened during a game of futsal; I was the goalkeeper...I caught the ball and after the catch I was lying on the ground. My friend was chasing for the ball but I got the ball first. He was going to crash onto me as I was already lying on the ground with the ball. He tried to jump over me, but he mis queue the jump and knee-d me ~~Muay Thai style~~ instead. Blood on the ground. The stitching up was more painful than the blow though.

Six stitches later, England lost to Germany 4-1 at the World Cup (27 June 2010). And my immediate boss thought I was faking a Medical Leave!

5) Partying to the smell of mud at Rainforest World Music Festival, Sarawak Cultural Village.

I like the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) because of the rave-party-like atmosphere and of course the music you'll otherwise don't listen to on hitz.fm. But while the music workshops was the best I've attended in my three visits to the festival, this year's RWMF (9 - 11 July 2010) was terribly disappointing for me as too many of the performers were playing the kind of music that would be more appropriate for a coffee session at Starbucks. The music tempo was simply not head-banging, Ah-Beng dancing friendly. It could just be me, but I believed my mates could testify that too.

I might give next year's RWMF a pass this time.

6) Running my lungs out at the Race To Space Run, Old Kuching Courthouse.

Would you believe that this was my very first run? Yeap, this was my first although I was close to doing one last year. Race to Space Run was held on the 24 October 2010...and while a 5KM run may not seem much to some of you, but my GOD my lungs wanted to die after I've finished the run! I finished just pass the half hour mark, which was just out of the requirement to receive the certificate :( Thank my lucky stars though as the organizers decided to give the certs to everyone who participated :)

7) Meeting the Kuching DJs from Era FM, My FM and Hitz FM at Pullman Hotel.

Long ago when I was an active listener to radio (until my car radio decided to give up the ghost..since 2009) I once wondered why most radio contests and giveaways are all based in West Malaysia. I mean I know KL's the capital city and priority should be taken to Klang Valley but since we're all preaching about 1 Malaysia, why ignore us East Malaysians? Thankfully Media Prima listened to our dilemma and hence established Hitz FM Sarawak (they did their launch on 28 October 2010)! At last we could be excited to listen to Hitz FM from 10am to 12pm to call in and stand a chance to win movie tickets that doesn't scream "cinemas in Klang Valley only!".

Sure, the Hitz FM Kuching DJs aren't close to awesomeness like JJ & ~~Rudy~~ Ean, but I'm sure in due time they will! An extra support for DJ Herman who happens to come from my high school.

8) Surviving a DiGi 24 hour movie marathon at MBO, The Spring.

I wrote about this not too long ago but I didn't tell you I've only lasted three out of the eleven movies during this competition, which was held on 6 November 2010. No, I didn't fall asleep during a movie; in fact I was still very awake and excited to watch more movies! It was simply the fact that I was apparently not back on time (like a mere seconds!) hence I got disqualified together with my friends. I got disqualified right after I had a sugar-rush dosage of chocolates and Red Bull! Couldn't sleep until 4 a.m.

Urgh, thinking back about this still makes me angry. If there is another one next year, I will surely join again, not to win the prizes but to simply survive. I will be very kiasu next time!

9) Checking out the ladies at the Miss Sarawak Race Queen Finals, Borneo Convention Centre Kuching.

I wished I could say I had plenty to cuci mata about but I really can't say I did. In truth, I put more "eye-candy-time" on the judges more and any of the finalists of the Miss Sarawak Race Queen, held on 27 November 2010. Even the winner of this beauty pageant did not catch my fancy. Before you judge me for only looking at the physical beauty, let me also humbly state my opinion that the winner as well as the first runner-up...no wait, ESPECIALLY the first runner-up does not deserve such positions. As much I'll like to explain why, you will have to wait until I've upload the videos on YouTube. But I'll give you a hint: If the event is in English, please answer the damn question in English!

10) Chilling out at NewAsia Bar, Swissotel Singapore.

OK, so this was very recent (20 December 2010...just nine days ago!) and it doesn't quite deserve to be in this post. But hey, I was not sure if I was ever going to blog about this before the year ends!

I was in Singapore to attend one of my close friend's wedding. Unlike my previous trip to Singapore (which I didn't quite enjoyed myself then), this trip was a fantastic one to me! A childhood friend of mine brought me up to this bar at Swissotel and I was really blown away with the view at night! Viewing Singapore from the 70th floor, I truly enjoyed the blight lights of the buildings and street lights as well as laughing together with my friends.

This was also the the time I really, REALLY cuci mata in Singapore. Hmm...maybe I should write more about this next month!

So that's my Top 10 events I really, really wanted to write. Here's some special mentioned that didn't made it to the Top 10:

Krista Centurian Kindergarden Graduation: The children are sooo adorable to watch! Had I taken at least one photo (instead of just complete video) this would have made it to the Top 10.
Earth Dance at Pullman: Nice dance routine! But like above, I've no photos only videos.
Uniqlo: Yes I did visit the most talked-about Japanese clothing store on social media while I was in KL for work purpose. I did brought some clothes for my Chinese New Year shopping :)
Kuching Festival: I was introduced to the best ever German sausages in town thanks to Kuching Festival!
Dog Competition at Kenyalang Park: Cause the dogs are cute!

As for the new year...well, I wouldn't promise anything other than to continue keeping this blog alive after four years. Who knows I will have a dotcom website instead of the current web address. Or maybe the website will be Thai language.

Whatever it is, Happy New Year to you, my fellow readers.

One Contest, Two Prizes, Three Months, All Smiles!

2010-12-05T23:07:00.008+08:00

This blog took three months odd to do so! (Serious...)

19 September 2010: Finally I've done the Air Asia Megastore Commercial for the contest that was organised by Koolred! The contest, known as the Mega Shopping Experience Video Contest, challenged Koolred members to create a commercial which highlights the positives of buying online, especially at the Air Asia Megastore.

After some hurried pre-production, fluffing my lines so often it'll put my Acting teacher to shame during production, as well as some hissy fit over the quality of the acting at the post-production...let me introduce to you Mr. SOH EE ZI!

The character, Mr. Soh Ee Zi was a play on the words "So Easy", which was a key message to the audience regarding shopping online. Also, Soh Ee Zi's original name was to be "Soh Leh Zi"...a play on "So Lazy" and as you see his lifestyle in the video.

But enough of the description. I've put quite an effort over this, so in truth I'm expecting to win something...especially after I've seen some of the really, really crappy (and ANNOYING) entries. As such as I'll like to tell you, you better see it for yourselves.

11 October 2010: YES! I WON IT! I WAS CHOSEN AS ONE OF THE WINNERS!! Shame I wasn't able to win the first prize (which was an Olympus Pen E-PL1 and RM300 Air Asia Megastore e-vouchers) but hey I was aiming after the consulation prize. An Olympus FE-4030 Digicam + RM150 of the same e-vouchers as all I ever wanted :) :) :)

As least, if the digicam gets stolen while I'm on a vacation...I wouldn't feel as bad as losing the Pen E-PL1....(CHOY! Why am I saying such things!!?)

I hope the digicam comes in black...

19 November 2010: My, it was such a long wait...but yes I've finally picked up my prize at Nationwide office :D

Even then I didn't had time to open it until the next day. So the video below unveils the package (and my lame reaction)

But in case you don't plan to watch it...here's what it looks like in stages:-

The box after I've took out the wrapping...initially I thought I won myself a box of Beryl's Camior Chocolate!!!

My prizes after I've got rid of a box of "Beryl's"...now these are as sweets as the "chocolates" itself! :)

The camera comes with a Koolred instruction manual...I think. By the way, why THIS COLOUR NOT BLACK LIKE IT'S SHOWN ON THE BOX!? :(

5 December 2010: At last, after all the procastination, poor time management, rather-watch-Youtube-than-blog moments...here's Mr. Soh Ee Zi's thank you video to Koolred, Air Asia Megastore & Olympus!

It's not my best actually; the acting could have been much better...and the last part was such an afterthought...I really hope you guys enjoyed it.

Phew! I'm glad I've finally wrote about this. My God it's December already?

A Peaceful Birthday

2010-11-17T19:34:00.006+08:00

Over the last five years I've been celebrating my birthday with friends, and it always resolve around entertainment...and of course alcohol. While generally I had a good time with the celebrations, there was a couple of times where I didn't enjoy my birthday at all:

- The one where I got myself a long, you-have-to-be-the-perfect-bf lecture by my ex on our way to Cairns, Australia in 2006

and

- The one where I flew all the way to KL last year just to celebrate, only to be really let down by my closest buddies with their attitude and event planning (and like my zodiac characteristics I've yet to forgive them to this day).

So this year, I wanted something different. Something that doesn't involved friends. That doesn't involved a pub or a happening place.

That is peaceful.

A celebration in isolation.

Yes, that's how I want to celebrate this year. A celebration in isolation.

So two days back, I went to Permai Beach Resort on my own.

I swam, explored, took photos, ate junk food, looked around and even slept on the sand. And no one was around me the whole morning. Love it!

And then I wanted to do something that was otherwise not advisable. Exploring somewhere that can be dangerous on your own.

I had no regard for my own safety; there was a tiny, isolated tree from the photo above...that was where I tried to swim to. Crazy as it was, I really wanted to be there. I supposed in a fortunate turn of event, 1/4 way to the location my instincts told me to turn back as I felt my body wasn't able to swim all the way there, let alone back to the beach.

Even when I got back to shore, I was still keen to find a way to that place. So I followed a path in the jungle, hoping that would lead me to there. Again, my instincts told me not to go too deep as if I was certain to be lost in the jungle and die from starvation.

So I never did able to touch that isolated tree, but I was very thrilled by the adventure and the danger that came along with it!

Like the yin yang, I did some self-reflection moment too during and after the adventure. I asked myself so many questions. Some questions that can't be shared in this not so private blog. Some questions I can't quite answer myself, like the meaning of friendship.

Or my dreams and my future.

Or my own character.

Or my role in this world.

Yes, some serious questions like that on my own birthday. But the truth is I intentionally wanted to go to the beach so I can ask myself such questions. And while I may not have gotten my answers from that morning, I'm glad I did ask myself.

So that was how I celebrate in isolation.

(Edit: And now to finish writing this quickly cause I'm tired and I spent too long on this entry!)

After 2pm I went back to civilisation...or rather I went back home to sleep somemore. Got a nice cake from my cousin :) But as of now I've yet to eat that cake :(

And at night, my friends asked me out for some chit-chat session at Jalan Song...only to received another cake...

Die la my calorie intake over kao kao! But hey it's my birthday so fuck that!

Though the 2nd cake was too sweet and crunchy for my liking, I like the sweet thoughts these group of friends have to me.

Thank you Debbie for the photo

For they're part of the answer to the meaning of friendship I suppose.

Thank you guys. And a happy birthday to me!

P.S.: I managed to sip some Japanese Sake I brought back a year ago to the beach. The alcohol has not been forgotten after all.

The Launching of Radio Kenyalang

2010-11-12T19:25:00.005+08:00

I was invited by Sarawak Bloggers group to come over to see the launching of Radio Kenyalang (Astro Channel 870), the new Direct To Home (DTH) radio channel is Astro's first and only radio channel which focuses on traditional ethnic and cultural music from Sarawak.

The venue of the launch was at Orangery Water Front...but honestly we locals know it better as simply 'beside The Square Tower'!

Anyway, here's a six-minute video of the event itself:

Kudos Astro. Good to know they're doing what they can to promote traditional music!

From the goodie bag.

Oh, Rodz managed to take a photo of me together with Hitz FM's Herman together with two of the cruisers. Can you guess which one is my cousin?

Now just in case you've no idea what Sarawak traditional music sounds like...here's one for your ears :)

P.S. I went to listen to this channel a few days ago. I was left to listen to more modern beats than the famous Sape music somehow. Meh! And I don't really listen to DTH radio very often (parents hogging the TV... ~~I'm busy with the Playstation 2~~ ) so I'm hoping Astro/AMP will somehow have this channel on Internet streaming!

Can I survive a 24 hour movie marathon?

2010-11-05T22:19:00.003+08:00

In less than 15-odd hours, I will be sitting my ass for over 24 hours, watching god-knows-what movies, thanks to the yellow men:

Together with Fahriee, Cyril and Eve Dutches and 196 ~~insane school kids~~ challengers we will torture ourselves, depriving ourselves from sleep in hopes of becoming the DiGi zombie and win RM2,500!

Eh, that's more than my salary you know? If I win this it's like getting a bonus ok?

So with my mamak-session training in KL over the years, I shall beat the team of possibly 10 to 12 movies and earn my reward!

Level Up Fitness...one year (plus) ago! Oh and their 1st Anniversary :)

2010-11-02T23:02:00.007+08:00

I know, I'm probably the only guy in the history of blogging to post something that happened...a year ago! In fact, it was more than a year ago when I was invited by Kenny Sia to his brand-new (at the time)gym, Level Up Fitness! Don't ask why I haven't blogged about it any sooner than now.

So do me a favour here. Let's just imagine today is 25 October, 2009.

Together with the Kuching bloggers, photographers and the rest of the media people and curious associates, we given the chance to look around the gym as part of the media preview, test out the gym equipment, lift some weights...and of course to take photos (in my case, video) a couple of beautiful models, together with a couple of hunks for the ladies on that day!

I'll love to try ~~to date her out~~ this machine!

With the founder of Level Up Fitness. He mentioned this was his secret project in his blog.

And with the ladies :) She wanted me to hold her waist, honest!

My goodie bag for visiting Level Up Fitness, which will be officially be opened on 30 October 2009.

Of course, I did video this event. And edited to make it more interesting. Enjoy :)

Now, fast forward to 30 October 2010.

Level Up Fitness is officially 1 year old! Ironic as it is, the staff along with the members celebrated the anniversary with...a sponge cake! (Oh my, the calories)

The celebration was low-key, but that's OK since we're all busy sweating and shedding our fat away before this.

I decided to buy them a cake too, since the gym is very much my 2nd home.

I like it when some of the guys called this cake cute...but from what I saw they like the official cake more than this chocolate fudge cake. (Oh my, that's a lot more calories!) :(

So happy birthday Level Up Fitness. Ever since I met you, I lost a lot of fat :) With you, I can bring back my glorious skinny high-school days again!

I'm glad I've met them.

2010-10-19T23:21:00.003+08:00

I'll like to dedicate the Sarawak Bloggers a song. Yeap, so high school stuff but hey :)

But seriously, I'll like to dedicate this to you guys because...well, ever since I met you guys I don't feel so lonely in this life of mine.

It's Thank You For Loving Me by Bon Jovi

Thank you, Sarawak Bloggers. It’s been a journey of laughter, friendship, joy, unity and experience to our Sarawakian culture with you guys.

So yea...1 SARAWAKKKK!

Watching the Cub go round and round...

2010-10-12T22:55:00.007+08:00

A couple of Saturdays ago, I decided to drop by one of my friend's event, which is the Sarawak Cub Prix 2010. I wanted to take videos of not the motorcycles, but the possibly beautiful models that will pose with it.

Obviously, I know my target audience well :)

However, when I arrived at the Sarawak Stadium I realized a race was about to happen.

Sadly, the models (and the racers) were on the other side of the road and under the tent!

So what to do? I waited for a while and see if there's an opportunity to video those models.

Instead, I was watching people walking past the drink booths...

...and I actually stayed on to watch one kapchai race! My first. Ever!

After half an hour though, I couldn't quite stand with the hot weather so I left.

On the way back though, I was thinking about the kids who were watching all that racing.

Will they grow up inspired by the passion from these riders...and may one day be a MotoGP champion, just like Valentino Rossi?

Or will they grow up corrupted by the wrong crowd and be the notorious Mat Rempit?

I hope these kids choose their path well. Even if the guy above looks like he's enjoying himself.

I love Sarawak...because I won a phone!

2010-10-06T22:42:00.006+08:00

Last month I've joined in the Sarawak Bloggers "Snap & Win" contest. The prizes that was given out for the contest included 3 RM50 vouchers from Parkson and a Nokia 5130 XpressMusic, which was the grand prize.

I was aiming for the vouchers since I could get like ~~six/seven boxes of underwear~~ a new pair of shoes with it. Actually, I was just being pessimistic; I can't possibly be that lucky to win a phone right?

Either way, I uploaded just one photo for the contest. It was taken at the Permai beach in the afternoon, after the Sarawak Bloggers Street Photography event.

The slogan wrote for this was: "I love Sarawak because no matter how hard life throws at you, you can always find peace and happiness in Sarawak!"

When the results came out on September 16...

...I scrolled down to know the winners, only to see...

...myself as the grand prize winner!!!

I was speechless leh I tell you! However I was (and still is) very gladful for my good friend Ivan for not only taking the photo but also suggesting to head to Permai just to drink beer! (Did anyone noticed I was holding a can of beer by the way?)

So fast forward to last Sunday. I got my prize off from Cyril at a dog show event.

Brought it home, and I decided to unbox it.

I was surprised with the weight, and this being an XpressMusic, the speakers are pretty good...in fact it's far superior than my LG Viewty with its sound depth! My one complain so far: why is it not red like what the box showed? :(

Anyway, it didn't matter. Since I have a phone that's still better than the Nokia 5130 XpressMusic (5mb photo...great quality video...white colour lol) I could have sold it for RM300. That's like the price of ~~15 boxes of underwear~~ a long-sleeve original Manchester United jersey leh!

But instead I gave it to my mum.

Priceless.

Check your health on your left...and then buy the chips on your right!

2010-09-30T23:04:00.003+08:00

I was walking around the BIMP-EAGA Conference at BCCK earlier today...then I saw the Herbalife booth.

It's nothing really. I just find it ironic that they're opposite a booth like...

..this.

I mean, they're really just opposite each other leh!

The junk food's selling at RM1 by the way.

Watching the 1st episode of The Amazing Race Asia with Ivan & Hilda

2010-09-27T21:32:00.006+08:00

The fourth season of The Amazing Race Asia started last Thursday and I decided to watch the premiere at...my favourite gym Level Up Fitness!

I know what you're thinking. What an odd place to watch TV right? But you see, it's special to watch it there...because one of the teams racing in The Amazing Race Asia 4 is there to watch too!

Yeap, I was watching TARA with Ivan & Hilda!

See, Ivan's an instructor at the gym...so that explains why we're watching TARA and eating food at a place you're supposed to lose weight.

But know you, I met them before they got their lucky break on the show. In fact, I met them while my cousin and I were auditioning for TARA itself! I must thank the three sago worms that I had to eat for the audition...if it wasn't for them Ivan & Hilda would never had started the conversation with the following "OH MY GAWD YOU FREAKING ATE THE WORMS!?".

So since they made it...here's their advice on this video:

So with that...just maybe...

...I will be holding the real TARA envelope next season???

1 Sarawak Commercial (and the inspiration behind it)

2010-09-17T20:51:00.004+08:00

10 years ago, when Facebook, Twitter and especially YouTube has yet to exist, there was a certain video clip which I received by email. This video clip was a commercial was about a group of American friends who has their unique way to greet each other. It was made for Budweiser and it was a pop culture throughout the world thanks to the Internet.

The video clip was none other than the famous 'Wassup' commercial written and directed by Charles Stone III:

10 years on, I still go back to this video to have a laugh or two. Probably why I've been greeting people with 'wassup' on a regular basis. OK, maybe most of the time. But I love it nonetheless. And I love the other 'wassup' commercials that was of Charles' creation. And when he made a follow-up commercial to 'wassup' (simply entitled 'wassup 2008') I laughed at it so hard I was literally rolling on the floor laughing!

Then one day, an idea hit me. I recalled many Datuks, VIPs and MCs opening their speeches with Salam 1 Malaysia. So why not use that 1 Malaysia slogan into an alternative to 'Hello?', or rather 'Wassup?'

Suddenly, I wanted to do my own wassup commercial based on that idea!

And after a few months of thinking, planning, and procastinating...I decided to call up my mates from Sarawak Bloggers and the next thing we know, we got the script up and we did the production on the 3rd day of Hari Raya.

And after the post-production, I've officially launched it yesterday, on Malaysia's very first Malaysia Day celebration.

If you haven't seen it, here it is!

Here's the major changes from the original:

- A bowl of Laksa instead of a bottle of Budweiser
- Bahasa Sarawak & two lines of Hokkein language instead of English
- All of us wearing the Sarawak Bloggers T-shirt
- All sorts of techical inferiority to the original (Production quality, lame acting, etc) LOL

OK, I know what you're thinking...why 1 Sarawak and not 1 Malaysia? Well it's simple: if you haven't figured it out this commerical is for Sarawak Bloggers website. So it makes more sense to cry 1 Sarawak with all the reference of Sarawak as above. Heck, all of the actors are Sarawakians! You have to make it relevant.

Political critics intending to shoot down this video can forget it. We all love Malaysia, but that doesn't mean we can't love our state right? After all, Sarawak is part of Malaysia. For the other states, they can always do their edition. In fact, I am looking forward to a 1 Penang commercial (featuring Penang Laksa, and their Penang version of their Hokkien language...that'll be cool!).

So what do you think? :) Please share it yea! Oh, and...

1 SARAWAKKKKKKK!!!!!

Sarawak Bloggers Street Photography Music Video

2010-09-06T18:53:00.004+08:00

A couple of Sundays ago, I dropped by the Street Photography event organised by Sarawak Bloggers. Initially I've only wanted to collect my T-Shirt from Cyril and just to hang out with a bloggers a little bit.

Somehow, out of the blue I had this random idea of taking videos of the photographers "working hard" and documentating this event.

And the end result?

Call me a geek, but this is like the 100th time I am watching this video...and I still can't get sick of it! >.<

P.S.: Whoa! Sarawak Bloggers website has beaten me to publishing this music video! Thank you so much guys for liking this video!

Has Kim Bay won me back as a customer after the fly incident?

2010-08-24T00:28:00.012+08:00

"What? Your boss didn't tell you to reserve a couple of vouchers for me??" I said, amused with the answer I just heard.

"Yes, nothing from boss leh..." the cashier replied.

Oh, the catastrophe! And here I was with my friend hoping this restaurant could convince us to drop our boycott and have our dinner with them...

Back in June 28, I blogged about my disgust with Kim Bay HK & Macau Restaurant at The Spring Shopping Mall. At that time, I decided to boycott them as a result of the incident. The soulless meal as well as the staff's indifference towards the incident triggered my action to not step into Kim Bay ever again.

A couple of weeks later however, I received a phone call while I was at work.

Me: "Hello?"
A man with a polite voice: "Hie is this Ah_Mike?"
Me: "Yes I am. May I know who's this?"
Polite voice: "My name's Steven and I'm calling from Kim Bay Restaurant..."

I stopped doing my work the moment I heard that. My mind was clouded with pessimistic thoughts...something along the lines of "if you dare to talk shit about my restaurant again I will beat you up/sue you/rape you/call mommy".

Of course, that wasn't the case:
Steven: "I got your number from your friend Louis Wong. I called because I heard about your complain from him..."
Me: "Uhuh..."
Steven: "and I would like to sincerely apologize for the unfortunate incident. As such, I would like to offer you two vouchers to eat at Kim Bay for free."

Me: "EHHHH???"

I was really taken aback by his words. Seriously, this is the kind of customer relations you wish a lot of companies (especially companies in Kuching) should do!

So I told my friend about the vouchers but since he was away for a holiday, I had to wait until he was back in Kuching. After his return and a few more schedule clashes we finally meet up for dinner at Kim Bay last Sunday.

I was told by Steven I could pick up the vouchers at the counter, which I did just that. Who would have thought the staff was not aware about that.

"So how?" I asked, with my irritation level going dangerously high.

"Er...sir, maybe you can pay first?"

"No, I came here to use the voucher by tonight."

"Err...how about I get your contact first, then I let the management call you on Monday? So you can eat first no need to pay tonight"

"OK la"

So my friend and I sat down and looked at the menu. We knew the vouchers were worth 10 ringgit each so obviously we were looking at the dishes under RM10:

I went for the French Style Fried Rice:

Drinks wise we both ordered Jasmine Tea...otherwise "over-budget" liao!

It wasn't long before my dish came...

This was his:

Hey they both look very much like in the menu!

And our food review?

When we were done with our meals, there was a man who approached our table. He's Albert, a relative to Steven, and he came all the way just to pass us our vouchers!

That was a really nice thing to do; coming to meet the customer instead of waiting. It was also nice of him to sit down and just have a small chat with us.

But we didn't get to use it. While we were at the counter to pay using the vouchers, Albert treated us for the dinner! OK so maybe RM20 was nothing to him but still...we only knew him for like 10 minutes somemore.

So as a conclusion, yes I will be coming back to Kim Bay. No more boycott...but of course I'm not saying the food's all fantastic at Kim Bay, but neither was it crap like the lunch set I had the other day. According to Albert the fly case was only the 2nd case in their time of operations (the other being some sort of a bug). I will certainly bring my other friends to eat at Kim Bay again...and of course our honest opinions of our food for customer feedback :)

We know things like this is unavoidable...but if restaurants make the effort to apologize and win back customers I'm sure their business will be better.

My TV's telling me something...

2010-08-17T22:19:00.005+08:00

I was watching some television last Sunday morning when I saw this football match:

In an instance I was sure my television was telling me something.

I have every right to believe my TV is very much a fUcking hardcore Manchester United fan :) Wait maybe it's a fan of Everton...

Later that night, Arsenal barely managed to draw with Liverpool thanks to Pepe Reina's superb own goal.

Learning from the top bloggers at the Asian Bloggers Conference

2010-08-14T12:18:00.001+08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I made a trip down to Kuala Lumpur for the Asian Bloggers & Social Media Conference, which was held at Berjaya Hotel.

I've been blogging about six years now (one year on a very personal blog on a very crappy blog site) yet I felt I've still got much to learn about writing stuff that could, would and should entertain my readers. With the desire to learn more and meet new people, I decided to fork out RM150 for this conference.

I had high expectations from this conference; unlike most delegates I had to pay for my own flight and accomodation (Dato Sri Tony Fernandes would be proud to know which airlines & hotel I am supporting). I almost couldn't make it in fact had my immediate boss took almost forever to approve my leave.

So let me review this conference in as much as I could possible remember:

Day 1 (28 July 2010):
Even before the conference started I had a poor impression on the Berjaya Hotel staff already. As I arrived at the lobby I asked a Berjaya Hotel personnel on the location of the conference. Coming from the hospitality industy I was very amused this personnel did not smile one bit; sure he told me where it was, but I was left to wonder if he knew his job requirements included smiling to guests within the hotel.

The small matter aside, the day went well. I had the chance to sit beside the lovely Annna, who had no idea about this conference prior to me telling her about it.

The above video showed the venue of the conference...plus Annna's way to opening a Mentos packet. Nice one!

One of the other reasons I've decided to join this conference was because Dato' Sri Tony Fernandes was among the speakers for this conference. Wow, the man behind AirAsia was really entertaining in his speech!

Then there was the other famous person I wanted to hear:

YAB Tun Dr. Mahathir! I still have a lot of respect for what he has done for the country, not including some of the more...interesting actions he made in his time as the Prime Minister.

YAB Tun Dr. Mahathir giving out mementos to some of the speakers.

His speech, though interesting as well wasn't quite as entertaining as Dato' Sri Tony Fernandes.

So as YAB Tun Dr Mahathir was about to leave the conference...

Annna sprung on the opportunity to take a photo with Dato Sri Tony Fernandes! Heh.

More speeches of course for the rest of Day 1. There was a mix variety of topics that cater to the delegates with business suits and to the bloggers. Have a look at the programme here; to me I took great interest in listening to Ahmad Nazuwan (of Beautiful Nara blog), Joyce Wong (KinkyBlueFairy) and Khailee Ng (Youth Asia).

Not to offend the other speakers on Day 1, but I could relate most to this three. For Nazuwan I met him when he was in Kuching for his Project Alpha online show (and Annna and I are just a calefare in the show...heh), Khailee for him being an Executive Director at around my age (Read: Envy) and Joyce...well, she's hot! Quite a Kinky Blue Fairy with her awesome hairdo :)

Day 2 (29 July 2010):
Day 2 was just about as remarkable as Day 1. Of the more memorable speeches, I learnt alot about law and blogging practices from Mr. Eddie Law, marvelled at Niki Cheong's presentation slides and his answer to the difference between a blogger and journalist, and having to keep up with Mr. Amit Varma's strong Indian accent.

Of course, what is this conference without argurably the most popular blogger in Malaysia, Mr. Kenny Sia himself!

Sempat take photo some more lol.

Honestly though, while people in Peninsular looked at him as a ~~celebrity~~ well-known blogger, I looked at him as the boss of my second home, Level Up Fitness. And as a fellow Kuchingite, it was a very nice gesture of him to acknowlege Annna and I (at least, just by our names) in his speech :) His speech itself was also enlightening to me as he taught the ways of how a company should approach bloggers differently from journalists.

Towards the end of the conference was a panel discussion among the speakers from both days, plus special guest Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir as one of the panelists. Being a panel discussion, it was expected to have questions from the delegates for them to answer.

Kenny Sia talking about freedom of speech during the panel discussion. Do not ask why I recorded him instead of Joyce Wong or the other panelists.

However, as Niki Cheong (being the last panelist to have his say) was halfway through his speech...ALL HAIL A CERTAIN FASHIONABLY LATE V.I.P TO SHOW UP AND RUIN THE DISCUSSION!

With V.I.P YB Dato' Raja Nong Chik's presence, the organisers had to hastily end the discussion (without the Q&A session at all) for this big shot to give his closing remarks. Dato', do you know how ~~bad I wanted to ask Kinky Blue Fairy on how can she be so sexy with her wild hairstyle kah???~~ much I needed to know the remarks I made in my own blog is safe & ethical or not??

The Summary, and Lessons Learnt:
Despite the conference ended with quite an anti-climax, I felt my time and money for this conference was well spent.

Here's a little bit of what I've learnt from some of the speakers (in no particular order):
Beautiful Nara - Always be funny and engage your readers.
Beng Soo Ong - Get full confidence from customer reviews, positive and negative reviews
YAB Tun Dr. Mahathir - Stick to the truth
KinkyBlueFairy - Blogging fuels other interests
Dato Sri Tony Fernandes - Don't just sell...brand!
Khailee Ng - Share good reasons for young people to tell their friends
Niki Cheong - Don't think of social media as cheap & free
Kenny Sia - Don't expect bloggers to write just because you gave them goodie bags!

So is it worth coming to the next Asian Bloggers & Social Media Conference? Well, it depends to be honest. If the programme next year is just about as interesting as this year's, the conference is on the weekend, without that business attires, and certainly without any kind of government VIPs for a closing speech...I'll most definitely would go again.

It's not just what you learnt from the speakers; it's also about networking with the delegates. I am very thankful to ~~flirt with~~ meet new people from Malaysia and even some from abroad...all whom I get to share my experience with.

I wish to thank MyEvents and for organising this event and all the respective speakers for their tips and hints...otherwise I wouldn't be updating this blog as often!

P.S. I apologise for the lack of any video of any of their speeches...that's because I was recording all their speeches on audio instead :) As much I would love to share the audios though, for the benefit of those who actually paid to listen to the speakers (myself included) it will not be given out for free! No, wait, let me rephase that...I can give you two audio speeches for free (because these two audio recordings were interrupted by a phonecall -__-)! OK whattttt.

However, if you comment on this post and follow me on Twitter then I could consider giving out a couple of the full speeches to you. Even better if you plan to give me some money. Hehe ($_$).

162nd Old Thomian Association Dinner

2010-08-09T18:32:00.014+08:00

Last Saturday, I attended the 162nd Old Thomian Association Dinner.

It was held at SMK St. Thomas Kuching itself and as an ex-Thomian I loved the idea of having a reunion dinner at my own high school, rather than a typical one at a budget, er, classy hotel.

Unlike the hotels though, the school does not have a big space to do the dinner indoors...so the event was divided into two parts: dinner at the carpark as shown above...

...and the ~~boring speeches~~ interesting performances part inside the school hall.

As I was there a little bit early, I decided to walk around the school for some "memory-lane-wtf-since-when-got-this-thing-wan!?" moment. And true enough, I did have that "gosh-time-sure-flies" feeling.

I haven't taken much photos of the school since I wanted to conserve the battery life of my phone for the videos later...but among the big changes included:

The expansion of the staff office block, where I used to get a talking to by my teachers...

...and a nicer, safer walkway down to the school canteen. Back then, the concrete path was uneven, taking quite a number of victims by making them fall.

Oh, back then the area was more plain grass than the current leafy environment. I am not surprised if various types of flower showed up here in the near future, to the joy of any boy who would flirt with a Form 6 girl with a plucked hibiscus...or possibly to court a more 'feminine' boy (as the school was notorious for..in my time at least).

Some parts of the school remained the same as far as I could remember though like this pathway at the main building.

Anyway, enough of the tour. There was a section in the school where the organizers showcased the history of St. Thomas School. From school achievements to "The Square" student newsletter, the annual school magazine, important people who were Thomians and even the ties and badges used over the years.

Bugger, last time their ties so nice wan...silk material somemore...my year leh? Crappy plain dark blue cotton tie with a school logo so big you can tell which school I was from kilometres away, prompting you to call the police because I lepak outside school during school hours!

I continued to look around, hoping to see any one from my batch, or at least a familiar face. Aside from Gerald, the owner of Sarakraf and Alvin Leong...by the time dinner started, I felt I was in some old folks dinner instead!

Like seriously, most of the attendees are old enough to be my father and mother...heck, some of them are old enough to be my GRANDFATHER! Thankfully I got my schoolmate to share the akward feeling, and a couple of guys at our table are actually younger than us (but are not ex-Thomians...they were here only because they have the tickets...OK...)

Maybe for the old-timers they thought I'm still a Form 5 student, escaping from the other St. Thomas students who were there to help out this event. Maybe they are right...because at that moment in time I would rather hang out and talk DOTA or teen-friendly topics to the school boys than to feel like I'm somebody's kid/boy-toy!

Food was good nonetheless. Banquet Restaurant provided the dishes.

It was raining earlier and it got heavier, so thankfully the timing was just nice for all of us to move into the school hall. After the usual welcoming speech, we were greeted with a boy playing a big Chinese drum...followed by a couple of singing performance by the school choir team.

Ah, yes, the school song! Honestly I doubt any other school songs in Malaysia is as awesome as this!

Ok...so I kinda forgotten the lyrics. But hey, last I sang this was nine years ago!

As the choir team left the stage, I took the chance to cuci mata...and spotted a pretty girl within the team...ah, the RM50 dinner seemed worth it already!

From there on, the night became boring, with more speeches dedicated to teachers that has no relation whatsoever to my class. On the technical side of it I couldn't quite understand why someone presented a photo of a late teacher (my father's teacher somemore) in Microsoft WORD instead of Powerpoint...

It became clear that this stage of the event was not well thought, as more and more attendees started to leave. Towards the end of the event, the MC mentioned a performance by "The Showdon", a school rock group that won the school's "Battle of the Bands" contest. And how did they fare?

OK la I guess. Who knows this video would bring them fame?

Then there was a second performance by a group of students who could play Chinese musical instruments, in which I shamefully do not know the names of such instruments. I was sure this performance would be more entertaining to the Thomians with an age difference of at least 20 years between myself and them.

Interestingly, this group of performers would later be joined up by "The Showdon" members in what the MC said "to showcase the combination of traditional music with modern music". Er, that was done many times before I'm sure.

And what song did they pick to showcase that music hybrid? RASA SAYANG of course!

I can fully understand the boys weren't exactly excited to perform that piece.

To cut it short, after the performance there was a lucky draw (only two hampers...geezz!) and another performance by the school choir team. By this time, most of the attendess had left and I was paying more attention to that pretty choir girl than filming.

Maybe if I actually had my ex classmates together the night would be a little bit more interesting...but knowing my mates well we would be celebrating our reunion at a pub with lots of beer and not cordial orange juice.

In my humble opinion, I feel this dinner would be better if there was a school play by the current students, portraying the history of St. Thomas and the unity we had among Thomians...otherwise it looks like the next reunion dinner will most likely be at a hotel again.

In due time, I might consider joining the organising committee. Whether I am dedicated to the cause or prepared for some kind of internal politics remains to be seen. All I know is they could use a young blood...a kid to spice up this event!

And now would you excuse me, I got Starcraft 2 to finish!

Soo Wincci's MV Audition at Level Up Fitness

2010-08-04T23:09:00.009+08:00

A month ago (yes, sorry la it was a month ago!), Miss Malaysia World 2008 Wincci Soo came down to Kuching to do her upcoming music video and she was looking for a male actor to be in her MV. Interestingly enough she and her producers decided to do the audition at my favourite gym, Level Up Fitness.

I only knew about it the morning itself, and since I sort of knew her before she got famous (and wanting her signature and photo of course!) I thought I should take a look at the audition itself. I had an injury near the eye though so I had major doubts I can be selected to begin with. No matter, I wore an eyepatch to the audition.

Upon arrival, I saw familiar faces from my gym taking part in the audition.

All the best to my gym buddies, cause they had no idea what an audition for a music video was like!!

Up first though; a man all the way from Miri just for this audition!

And he was very good at acting! My gut feeling told me he must be a freelance actor or something...

Up next was my joker friend Johnston with his audition....

I don't know what they were joking about (since me no understanding Mandarin), but all I know was he was stunned and clueless! HAHA!

It wasn't long before my gym instructor Jeff went up on stage...

And fellow colleague and Level Up Fitness trainer Mr. Taugey took his place on camera as well. Him trying to get Wincci to be his girlfriend...funny as!

So at this point, I was dying to try out the audition as well. So I signed up...

...only to be dissappointed with the criteria! :( Oh, and a broken English moment...

While I was waiting, I got to see my friend Steve doing his audition as well:

The way Wincci kept running during the set sure distracted me :P

And finally, my name was called up. I dreamt I would have gotten either the 'get-her-as-your-girlfriend' scene or the breakup scene. And...

Gee, just because I wore an eyepatch that doesn't mean I HAD TO PLAY PIRATE with her! Gargh! Don't make me be Captain Mike Sparrow!

Anyway, it was all fun and memorable night :) I'm really glad Wincci came all the way to Kuching for her MV shoot...otherwise where and when the hell can I get the chance to take photo with a gorgeus babe like her la!?

Nice for her to remember me too...although she thought I was from Taylor's A-Levels...which I'm not and I'm not smart enough to be part of any A-Levels student!

So support her music, buy original or just watch her 'Beauty with a Purpose' video on YouTube. Show your purpose to the beauty!

While I'm still figuring out how to fix the audio...

2010-07-17T17:14:00.003+08:00

Here's a bit of Amy Winehouse* for you from the Borneo Funk Fest!

For the third time in a row...

2010-07-10T00:59:00.003+08:00

I shall see you at the Rainforest World Music Festival later today!

Borneo Funk Fest Preview

2010-07-01T23:46:00.002+08:00

I'll let Lady Gaga* do the singing for you :)

*impersonator

Lady Gaga and Madonna is coming to Kuching!

2010-07-01T19:28:00.002+08:00

OK, so the Queen of Pop and that "Poker Face" is not the real Madonna or Lady Gaga. If the two were really here you guys would know it a freaking long time ago, and more likely the shows will be in KL than in Kuching. (Of course, with BCCK around now who's knows right?)

But hey, so what? I heard the impersonators are really, really good at singing and I'm excited to feed my curiousity if they can match (or be even better) than the real celebrities.

So come over to the Borneo Funk Fest tomorrow 5pm till 12am at Grand Margherita Hotel...and yes, if can't make tomorrow there's always Saturday :)

So if you can make sure you take a photo of these celebrities (by their own rights!) and then brag to your friends that you've actually caught in a bad romance with Lady Gaga. Rah ! Rah!

Oh waiter, there's a FLY on my dish!

2010-06-28T21:52:00.004+08:00

I was at Kim Bay HK & Macau Restaurant, The Spring Shopping Mall the other day with a couple of friends.

Food was horrible. The dishes we ordered had no flavour; in fact it was like the chef did not have a soul and passion to actually cook.

Then my friend discovered something horrible on his Chicken with Black Pepper Sauce with Rice:

OK, so upon closer view on the "shiny little shell" we discovered it's a...FUCKING FLY!

Oh sure, my friend who ordered the dish got his refund back. But even then the staff showed no real concern over this, and with that so ends any support from us to give our hard earned money to Kim G-AY.

You know what to do. Boycott Kim Bay Restaurant at the Spring, not just for the kind of attitude the staff showed to this incident but for the characterless taste in its food. Unless you're a fan of dirty stir-fried fly with soulless, tasteless dish.

Watch the World Cup knockout stages at Rajang Lobby Lounge and WIN!

2010-06-26T20:45:00.003+08:00

Dunno where to watch the World Cup in Kuching? Then come over to the Rajang Lobby Lounge at Grand Margherita Hotel and scream your lungs out at your favourite (or rather, team you bet your money on) team!

Nice right?

From the press release:

In the spirit of the FIFA World Cup 2010, the Rajang Lobby Lounge of Grand Margherita Hotel has come up with a string of promotions to celebrate this sporting event boasting billions of fans worldwide. From 1st June onwards till 31st July, football fans would be able to collect their very own exclusive FIFA World Cup mug, shaped in none other than the form of the World Cup trophy with any purchase of the World Cup Cocktail at RM35.00++. You can also get this porcelain mug with purchase of the World Cup Mocktail at RM25.00++ or if you're just out to collect the 'trophy', purchase of the mug is at RM22.00+ each. Beer lovers are also welcome to try their range of imported beers from the qualifying countries, especially air-flown for this occasion.

Rajang Lobby Lounge and The Club Lobby Lounge of the Riverside Majestic Hotel would also be starting the World Cup Lucky Draw where exclusive FIFA World Cup merchandises would be up for grabs. Participation for the lucky draw is simple. With every purchase above RM30, you are entitled to ONE (1) lucky draw form. Drop off your completed form onto the draw box and keep your fingers crossed for your name to be called when the draw is made at every match's half time. Even if your name is not called; you still stand a chance to walk away with RM1,000 worth of ADIDAS products during the Grand Draw on 11 July 2010 during the finals. Apart from the lucky draw merchandises, patrons can also collect their very own FIFA World Cup double-sided car stickers anytime they are at either one of the lounges during the promotional period.

When meet, the hotel spokesperson said that the promotions, along with the World Cup theme decorations at both lounges; are part of their effort to create the perfect ambience to watch the LIVE daily matches. She added that a total of RM2,000 worth of ADIDAS products will be given away during the night of 11 July since both lounges are offering RM1,000 each, compliments of Lea Sports Centre. Lea Sports Centre is also the sponsor for both lounges' daily lucky draws. Another main sponsor for the FIFA World Cup promotions would be Guinness Anchor Berhad.

For more information about the FIFA World Cup promotions at Rajang Lobby Lounge or The Club Lobby Lounge, they can be contacted respectively at 082-423111 ext 1109/1158 and 082-247777 ext 4412.

The Opening of The Club, Riverside Majestic Hotel

2010-05-22T11:56:00.003+08:00

I was invited by Annna last week to have a look at Riverside Majestic Hotel's brand new lobby lounge, simply called "The Club".

Finally, after all these years Riverside Majestic has a place to chill while waiting for someone or an event beside the hotel entrance. Before that one must go up to their pub on another level, well hidden amongst the crowd (and perfect for a dato' to have an affair).

It's located where a shoe shop (the expensive shoe shop to be precise) used to be. And my, this has to be one of the best decisions the Management has made!

Check out the video and see for yourselves!

Cool right?? Oh and I got myself a Privilege Card too... which is a 10% discount on the total bill of food and beverage in the hotel lounges – The Club, Riverside Majestic Hotel and it's 'older sister' Rajang Lobby Lounge, Grand Margherita Hotel.

SWEET....

For more info on The Club, check out the following bloggers:

Annna: http://annna.net/the-club-riverside-majestic-hotel/

Frankie: http://funkye.blogspot.com/2010/05/club-riverside-majestic-hotel.html

Alvin Pazuzu: http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/alvin-pazuzu/article?mid=3176

Cyril Dason: http://cyrildason.com/2010/05/13/the-clubs-lobby-lounge-kuching/

Eve: http://ahask.blogspot.com/2010/05/club-riverside-majestic-kuching.html

Gerrard Lim: http://www.randomshutter.com/journal/2010/5/15/the-club-lobby-lounge-cocktail-reception.html

So come over and have a bite yea!

Thank you for giving me money to B.O.T.A.K

2010-05-15T10:04:00.006+08:00

Many thanks to my immediate family and colleagues for donating and showing their support for the Go Balder Than Ever campaign which starts tomorrow.

All the cash that was collected has been converted into a cheque. The total amount? Well, I admit it's not much...

...but it's certainly a very prosperous number for the Sarawak Children’s Cancer Society and their goal to hit RM1million for their new centre!

So come see me go bald tomorrow at the Spring Shopping Mall. My time slot is 1.50pm - 2.40pm.

And by Monday I'll be the talk of the ~~town~~ office. In a "OMG-you're-bald-HAHA" way.

Don't forget this Sunday...

2010-05-10T18:16:00.003+08:00

....cause I've confirmed going botak!

Remember to come to the Spring this Sunday (I think the shaving is around 2p.m.) if you wanna see a show of a (not-so) lifetime yea :)

Oh, and don't forget to donate too!

You better go B.O.T.A.K! (Bald Over the Amazing Kids)

2010-04-09T00:41:00.005+08:00

On 15 February last year Kuching was taken in by a bald-storm. Many heads were chopped, er, shaved off, revenue for hair care products was down like the economy crisis and the town was a lot “shinier” during that period.

You probably thought the town has gone bonkers over Rovilson Fernandez ‘s hairstyle. That may be quite an amusing scenario to imagine, but nah it’s wayyyy better than that.

In fact, on that fateful day Kuchingites showed the children of The Sarawak Children Cancer Society (SCCS) that being bald is cool and more importantly, nothing to be afraid or ashamed about.

Kenny Sia showed his manliness to be bald last year; you better have a look here if you can’t imagine how he looked like hairless. More terror news was Georgette Tan, who at the time had hair Rapunzel would be (well, almost) proud of gracefully let it all off and hence national headlines was born. And yes, you should see her shining head here too.

More than RM200, 000 was raised from 112 botak-liao heroes. Not bad for the debut Go Bald charity event huh?

Ah, I heard you said “So you were one of the 112?” Well, shamefully I wasn’t one of the baldies. Boo at me all you like, but at least I’ve donated (did YOU?) and I was there to cover the event. And before you could follow-up and call me a coward, I know what’s like to be bald.

How I know? Because I WAS BALD BEFORE LA!

Eh salah, wrong photo.

See?

And you know what? It’s fantastic to be bald! Here’s why:

Time at the shower was cut down from 10 minutes to 5 minutes (that’s 50% FASTER!*);
In turn, I arrived at my workplace earlier by 30%*;
If I’m late, I don’t need to shower use perfume enough liao;
Hence saving two months*’ supply of shampoo and hair gel;
The weather’s cooler without it;
I can party all night long and still have my hair “standing” AND;
The chicks dig* botak ;)

OK la, maybe just one* of six. But above all else, you’re setting and creating awareness for Childhood Cancer. That’s the most awesome part of being bald!

Now, come 16 May 2010, the Go Bald event returns with bigger, balder heads!

This time, the target is to raise RM1million with/and 300 brave and kind heads. This aim is for the construction of a new SCCS centre to provide an unprecedented level of care and support.

Artist's impression on SCCS new center

So if you know some rich guys ask them for a six-digit cheque or sell their Ferraris, BMWs and Merdeces’ away and donate the money to SCCS instead la. Better they show off their money by giving it to the ones that really need it than their fancy rides right?

But if that’s not possible, then just come over, donate and shave lo. Even if you can’t be shaved on the day you can still donate what.

“So you will be shaved” you asked?

I HOPE SO! I don’t even know if I will be in Kuching on that day. I could either begin to race around Asia or be working outside of Sarawak by then (or neither!). I could still shave my head on my own to show my support nonetheless.

If you are interested in learning more about the event, you may contact the Project Coordinator, Allen Ang at 013-8115966 or you may e-mail him at admin@gobald.my. On the other hand, if you want to know more about SCCS, you may contact them via phone at 012-8073131 or via e-mail at sccs@tm.net.my. You may also visit their information counter during the week-long roadshow from the 10th-16 of May 2010.

So remember, Go Balder Than Ever!

GO BALD day: 16 May, 2010
Venue: South Court, Spring Shopping Mall, Kuching

Now read this, this, this, this, this, this, this and certainly THIS!

*Results may vary over other individuals such as yourself

10 days to decide

2010-04-05T23:29:00.003+08:00

Dear Lady Luck,

I'm really looking forward for the phone call from The Amazing Race Asia producers in the next ten days. Ever since I took up the audition last month, my mind just can't stop thinking about being in the race itself. I dreamt of running with my cousin around urban and rural landscapes, doing those roadblocks and team tasks we would never thought of doing. I imagined myself struggling to speak to strangers for directions, cursing about the journey and maybe bitching about the other teams.

I want the opportunity to be where my heart really wants to be at; television. I want to amend a mistake I made the last time I was on TV and more importantly I want a change of career. I want to face the cameras again, and I want to make sure I can entertain people this time around. And with TARA, I know that's the only option to make an impact and give me the momentum to pursue my dream.

I want to spice up my life, and I'm putting all my hopes on T.A.R.A. Should I not receive a phone call in the next ten days...then I will have to redecide my further. But that's not what I want to do.

All I want is to be in the race. Please give me the chance!

-Desperate for the chance of a lifetime-

Good luck, bad luck and a foreplay to Lady Luck

2010-03-20T21:46:00.011+08:00

According to the fortune tellers, I was told I will have an average year during the year of the Tiger.

Initially I don't quite believe that...especially when I won a prize from Malaysian Pollster.

All I did was to vote for fun, and the next thing I know I've won myself a 2GB thumbdrive.

However, the good luck ran out. And in came bad luck:

OH COCK!

I spun out at the Fishing Boat roundabout on a wet road. My friends thought I was trying to be clever and drift...but in truth, the road drifted me instead at only 55km/h. I...don't think that is fast for a roundabout right?

Nevermind all that. The damage was RM2,025. This was one evidence my life isn't all fair and square. I mean, I won a thumbdrive that's like what RM30? Instead I've to cut down a lot of my activites (hence, er, able to update this blog) as an attempt to save and pay that amount to my sponsor.

Too add salt to the wound (and solify my believe that I'm having a _crap_ run of luck), I didn't win a car despite my best abilities to think of the perfect slogan and applying the law of attraction.

What was supposed to be my new ride...

Sigh, you have no idea how many nights I've seen this photo on my wallpaper, watching Top Gear playing ice hockey with it and actually drove the car...on a PS2. All in the name of law of attraction. Oh, and there goes RM65,000 to clear my debts instantly too.

But now, all of the above is no longer a matter to me.

What I need is some serious good luck. A good luck so serious it will change my life.

Cliche it seems. Of course everyone wants some serious good luck. But I need it more than anyone because of this:

Yes, I've auditioned for it. Yes, I've watched most of the previous seasons, working my sweat off to get fit, and have the main theme song as my ringtone.

Yes, I want it so bad because I want a life-changing moment again. I don't want an average life and I certainly do not want an average luck. Now, the only thing I need the most is Lady Luck to love me again.

Sago-worm-tea anyone? (worms not shown to avoid gore content)

If there was a ritual to increase the blessing of Lady Luck then I've done it. I've sacrificed three sago worms (by eating them alive of course) for the audition tape. Surely their lives wouldn't be gone to waste?

Wish me luck already.

Happy Chinese New Year (and Happy Valentine's Day too!)

2010-02-14T00:50:00.004+08:00

May you have a roaring new year ahead with your loved ones :)

I know I'll be having a good time with this "tigress" hehe.

Miss Yung Kong Bosch 2010 Final Preview

2010-01-30T07:28:00.003+08:00

Last week I was at The Spring to check out the ladies of the Miss Yung Kong Bosch 2010.

more to follow

The long tail of blogging is dying

2010-01-18T22:38:00.003+08:00

The popularity of blogging seems to be fading as people turn to the easier aspects of social media: status updates and tweeting.

Written by Charles Arthur, guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 24 June 2009 19.00 BST

Make sure you click on this link first before reading!

Blogging is dying. Actually, no, let me qualify that. The long tail of blogging is dying. I say this with confidence. That confidence is based on two things: my anecdotal, but wide-ranging, analysis of what and how people remark on content from this section, and the surveys carried out by Technorati – which provides the Guardian with the feedback data that appears on our web pages. The interesting question is, what has replaced that blogging?

First, to my anecdotal analysis. Since the relaunch of this section in September 2005, we've included blog pingbacks among the "letters" section, recognising that people might not want to write a letter, or even send us an email (to tech@guardian.co.uk) when they have an opinion about something we've written. Instead, they might write a post on their own blog. Since January 2006 I've automated the process of searching for those blogposts. (Put simply: collect the links from the section – which I do anyway, stored on a MySQL database on my laptop – then input them into blog search engines via a preconfigured script.)

I'd then follow these posts. There were always a certain number of splogs – spam blogs – which simply pick up keywords and dress them with Google AdSense adverts. Boring, but easily ignored. Then there would be the blogs that copied entire articles – annoying (it denies us page views and advertising revenue), though usually they're easily persuaded not to persist. Then there would be those who had read the piece and had comments and insight, which we could extract for inclusion in the Letters and blogs section. Of course, the number of physical letters we received about what appeared here was absolutely tiny: months would go by without any arriving. Email remained the principal source, though blogs quickly began to make up the majority of content.

But recently – over the past six months – I've noticed a new trend: fewer blogs with links, and fewer with any contextual comment. (I'm defining a blog here as an individual site, whether on Blogger or Wordpress or an individual domain, with regular entries.) Some weeks, apart from the splogs, there would be hardly anything. I didn't think we'd suddenly become dull. Nor was it for want of searching: mining for blog comments, I use Icerocket.com. Technorati.com and Google's Blogsearch.

Where is everybody? Anecdotally and experimentally, they've all gone to Facebook, and especially Twitter. At least with Twitter, one can search for comments via backtweets.com – though it's still quite rare for people to make a comment on a piece in a tweet; more usually it's a "retweet", echoing the headline. The New York Times also noticed this trend, with a piece on 9 June about "Blogs Falling In An Empty Forest", which pointed to Technorati's 2008 survey of the state of the blogosphere, which found that only 7.4m out of the 133m blogs it tracks had been updated in the past 120 days. As the New York Times put it, "that translates to 95% of blogs being essentially abandoned".

I see it: NetNewsWire, my RSS feed reader, has nearly 500 feeds. When one of them hasn't been updated for 60 days, it turns brown, like a plant dying for lack of water. More and more of the feeds I follow are turning brown. Why? Because blogging isn't easy. More precisely, other things are easier – and it's to easier things that people are turning. Facebook's success is built on the ease of doing everything in one place. (Search tools can't index it to see who's talking about what, which may be a benefit or a failing.) Twitter offers instant content and reaction. Writing a blog post is a lot harder than posting a status update, putting a funny link on someone's Wall, or tweeting. People are still reading blogs, and other content. But for the creation of amateur content, their heyday for the wider population has, I think, already passed. The short head of blogging thrives. Its long tail, though, has lapsed into desuetude.

Taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jun/24/charles-arthur-blogging-twitter without permission...

Farewell and fuck off 2009!

2009-12-31T20:52:00.005+08:00

Oh 2009, there's a lot of things I didn't like about you.

When you were here, I was forced to spend more than I could afford.

When you were here, I lost some of of my passion at work.

And when you were here, I lost some of my friends too. I even got backstabbed and my trust broken by him and her.

But that's OK 2009, that's OK. You were still nothing to a certain year in which I courted death by depression.

You meant to teach me yet again about the hardships of life. You wanted to teach me about the meaning of hard-work, the meaning of finance, the meaning of friendship and the meaning of trust.

Above all, you handed me a can of humbleness and a simple slap of reality check.

You were also kind enough to let me meet new friends to compesate for the ones I've lost.

And thanks to you, I became more pessimistic than ever before. Because optimism brought me trouble, I shall embrace 2010 with care and caution.

So farewell 2009, and thank you for your kind teachings of life. Now fuck off and bring it on 2010!

What I didn't blog in: March 2009

2009-12-28T21:22:00.002+08:00

Nothing much actually other than seeing cute, pampered dogs at the MKA All Breed Championship Show at Chung Hua Middle School No.1...

...and celebrating the cute Annna's birthday at Starbucks!

Er, happy belated birthday Na? :P

What I didn't blog in: February 2009

2009-12-26T19:35:00.002+08:00

This was a month where a lot of Kuching people became bald. No, it wasn't for a fashion trend but it was for a good cause. In fact, it was for the "Give Hope, Go Bald" campaign that was organized by Sarawak Children's Cancer Society.

And I am honored to know a lady who made national headlines with her appearance...

Respect the lady, respect Georgette Tan!

And for your entertainment:

What I didn't blog in: January 2009

2009-12-12T21:54:00.005+08:00

Back in January this year I went to this cafe called the Tarot Cafe. This cafe was in unique in that you can have your future read by a professional Tarot Card reader while your mates can eat and drink (and expecting lots of laugh at your future)

Death sure comes cheap at RM6.90

So yes I had my future read over there. After going through a moment of cleansing, stern instructions and a need of an English-speaking translator ('cause the reader was from China and she speaking no Engrish), I was asked by the card reader the question I would like answered by the Tarot.

It was as simple as "What is my 2009 like"?

The next thing I know I was asked if I have a girlfriend. All I could say was "No" in sheer disappointment.

"Congratulations! You will find your true love this year!!!!"

Now that was some bold answer from Mr. Tarot! Anyway, at the time I was excited to hear that as I was out of the dating scene for quite some time.

Then she ruined the excitement by pointing out the "Tower" card and said "but you must go through barriers in order to get the one you love".

Alamak...then why la the card reader had to congratulate me for??

Other than that, the card told me that I will be working extra hard for the year 2009 and that I could be rich by my mid-40s.

Hmm...I'm not sure if I'm the next Richard Branson yet, but the card was decently accurate on the working hard part. For RM30 I'm not sure if I plan to go back for a 2nd card reading.

As of now though, Mr. Tarot has 19 days to prove that I could find my true love after all...or have I failed already?

Oh yea, Fann Wong came to Kuching as well in that month...but she married already liao...

New PUMA logo, leaked!

2009-11-28T21:51:00.006+08:00

After years of using their current logo, PUMA has finally decided to change their logo in their effort to attract new customers and increase their revenue and their brand awareness across the world...

The new logo, codenamed "Pussy" was silently launched at the E-mart supermarket in Kuching.

So make sure you get yourself your PUSSY PUMA (R) today!

-----------------------
On a serious note, there's a lot of updates I want to blog about but my lifestyle right now isn't giving me a lot of time to commit to this blog. Should I...retire from blogging then? :(
-----------------------

How Facebook ruined one man's happiness.

2009-11-05T22:43:00.004+08:00

Before it happened, he was always on Facebook, uploading his latest photographic works and showing us his creativity with his DSLR. Indirectly he also introduced us men to the wonderful beauty of female models he shot; we even got to know their names all thanks to the tagging system of Facebook.

And then, he created a contest. A contest that would changed his life.

The contest was simple; all you needed to do was to send him a photo of yourself, which will be uploaded to Facebook, and people will vote for you by simply clicking the 'Like' button. The prize was studio photographs of yourself, taken none other than the man himself.

It was meant to be a way for the friends and fans of his to vote the contestant that was the most photogenic, or simply to support the contestant he or she knew. It was meant to dig out the potential models for photographers to take for their creative shoots.

It was meant to be harmless fun.

But things took turn for the worst, when some contestants decided to abuse the tagging system of Facebook and literally spam anyone and everyone they could...all in the name of begging them to 'Like' them and score voting points.

"Congratulations, Mr. Bean! You look like shite but because you tag everyone including Kim Jong Il, squeezed your balls as you beg your mother to open a Facebook account just to vote for you and even paid some kids to click 'Like' on your photo, you have qualified to the next round and defeated the likes of Brad Pitt, Cristiano Ronaldo and Clouded Pawn!"

It was a shameless cheat.

And then like wildfire, the 'victims' of being tagged by the cheating contestants got annoyed. Really annoyed.

As a result of such annoyance, someone created a Facebook fan group and called it "the man's contest is stupid".

Most people who joined this group were complaining about how he or she had so many tag notifications by contestants they don't know and they don't like. But upon further reading, it was more than just complains; this group took the opportunity to really bitch about him:

"He's a homosexual and he is washing his eyes with the attractive guys"

"He's not handsome enough that's why he started this whole contest"

"Sending your photos to him is like sending your virgin body to him, girls!"

"He FAILED in everything!!!! ROFL!!!!"

Those are some of the actual comments on the page.

And as more and more "haters" joined this group, you could tell the maturity of the group; comments such as "I'm the 1022nd fan! WOW!" and "LOLs!" was quite a clear indication of their mentality really.

What they don't realized though is how nasty they were to this man. Because some moronic contestant(s) decided to tag people, he gets the stick? Because your email account was flooded with notifications you can call this man whatever you want? Because you envy him you want to take him down?

Maybe some do really hate him. Some said he was such a big liar, a hypocrite, a pervert. But even if he could be all of the above, what gives these people the right to insult him and ruin some bit of his reputation in such a public site like Facebook?

And now thanks to the group, he would like to stop using Facebook for the time being. A victory to the bastard who created the group, and misery to the man who only wanted to have fun.

Your thoughts? I might continue writing but I would like to read your point of views first.

Wacoal Lingerie Fashion Show & Pink Ribbon Campaign

2009-10-24T22:34:00.009+08:00

Earlier this month I went to check out Ms. Carmen Soo & Ms. Elaine Daly who were both in Kuching for the launching of the Wacoal Pink Ribbon Campaign.

I've never seen them up close before so I was obviously excited to see how beautiful they are in my own eyes.

While waiting for their appearance though, I had to see some Wacoal bras (and a slip-up by one of the models!) :

Ladies what do you think of the bras/fashion? And my...Carmen is really hot!

There were speeches by both of them but I could hardly hear them, thanks to the poor sound.

Could you hear what they are saying?

Anyway, after the speech they proceed to launch the campaign with a bunch of senior managers of their respective companies.

And that was it. And they left. Gee, not even a photoshoot with the crowd :(

Oh well, I'm sure I'll see them again somehow in the future. In the meantime, let us support this campaign!

Krista Centurion Tanglung Night 2009

2009-10-18T18:02:00.009+08:00

Finally after so long, I've finished the video of the Krista Taman Centurion Tanglung Night!

Seen the video? Do comment about it yea! :)

To put in short, it was quite an pleasant sight to see the children running around, playing catch and being amazed with the presence of the Chipsmore Mascot and the cute hamsters :)

Initially I felt pretty old with the kids around but thanks so some of the bloggers who play and jump around like kids (and they're adults by the way!) I felt like a little kid myself!

I'm looking forward to do a better job in recording the next video for Krista's annual event such as this.

Oh I must thank Krista Taman Centurion for the goodie bag!

Inside the goodie bag was the following:-

Can you guess all of the above?

P.S. And yes, it took me 20 days to finish the video...if you count in the cost of time for ~~sleeping and being lazy~~ planning a video that is actually interesting to watch rather than simply uploading an unedited video to YouTube!

The Sushi King Big Bowl Challenge - Part 2

2009-09-30T18:50:00.000+08:00

I'll be honest: I never enjoyed my meals at Sushi King. I never enjoyed the tiny, plain and/or expensive dishes they serve and their sushi's freshness was never consistent, especially their salmon.

But this challenge is very interesting indeed. Such challenge don't occur very often. And hence I visited the Sushi King at The Spring last week.

If you haven't seen Part 1 yet:

The battlefield.

For the challenge you could choose between a big bowl of "Soba" noodles or a big bowl of "Udon" noodles. As seen from Part 1, my friend took the "Soba" noodles in which he failed to finished and hence having to pay a hefty RM38.80. Ouch!

I wanted the "Udon" set just to be different from his; unfortunately Sushi King didn't had enough "Udon" noodles to meet the criteria for the big bowl challenge :(

Lucky me though, as the branch manager at Sushi King told me it was harder to finish the "Udon" noodles due to the nature of the noodles (thicker, and such noodles absorbed the freaking hot soup much more).

And nobody finished the "Udon" set ever. So I'll stick to "Soba" then.

To let the whole customers at the restaurant know a challenge is going on, the management of Sushi King provided this big alarm clock as a countdown timer.

Shaped like a cheese grater, it was intimidating to look at while you rush to finish that big bowl!

Oh, I had to fill up some "insurance form".

Filling this form gave me the impression that I was on death row.

And now the moment you've been waiting for. Here's Part 2 of the Sushi King Big Bowl Challenge video!

If you ask me, I'll think twice now if Sushi King is having the same challenge next year!

The Sushi King Big Bowl Challenge - Part 1

2009-09-24T22:28:00.003+08:00

On Tuesday my friend and I took up this daring challenge:-

I wouldn't go into details tonight, but I'll let you guys enjoy this video yea!

Selamat Hari Raya, Mr. Bear!

2009-09-20T17:41:00.005+08:00

Earlier this morning I was at Memory Lane to buy a card for my mom's birthday. While I was browsing though the cards the shop had to offer, a little girl poked me and said:

"You Bear!"

I was quite confused and I simply replied "Me, bear?"

"YA! You bear...like that one!"

She pointed to one direction, and I can't help but to look to where she was pointing:-

Ha ha...very funny ho little girl...(-___-'')

Anyway, Selamat Hari Raya to all Muslim and non-Muslim readers of mine! :)

She's a beauty with a purpose

2009-09-13T18:00:00.010+08:00

----------------------------------------
Congratulations to April for winning the Breeze Magazine's Model Search!
----------------------------------------

Five years ago, I met a beautiful acquittance back in college. At the time I was selling a video CD of a college play, and she was interested to buy one from me. We only met once as for her to collect the video (and I was to collect her RM10, which in student terms that was some decent money!).

Who would have thought five years on, I would end up returning the favour to her.

If only I knew she was to be the Miss Malaysia World 2008 back then...

In any case, I ordered this CD from Speedy Video and I was pleasantly surprised that Soo Wincci's debut album was selling at only a mere RM21.90. Even if it's just six songs...

...and three of them are the same song in three different language.

Despite the few songs, I'm in support for musicians I actually met before so buying the original CD was never without any hesitation for me in this case.

Other than the usual lyrics section, this album includes a postcard and a small photo album of her. OK la for RM21.90!

If you're a fan of her, or you are charmed by her beauty you should have Soo Wincci's album with you already. For those who needs a bit of convincing though I'll let her voice do the persuasion.

Here's her debut song "Beauty with a Purpose (English version)":-

St. Thomas Parish Sales 2009

2009-09-06T15:08:00.003+08:00

Yesterday I've attended the annual St. Thomas Parish Sale. The last time I attended this event was when I was in Form 5?

It started around 7.30a.m so I thought I would bring my brother along for breakfast. Sure enough there was plenty of food to choose. But we decided to look around before buying so we ended up seeing...

...old books...

...old clothes (plenty from the 90s!)...

...and old yet super-cheap cups.

As it was very much a food fair, such non-food related items are limited to a small room. So we keeping walking, looking for food...

...and looked somemore...

...only to buy some kuih/cakes for a quick bite before heading to Carpenter Street for breakfast. I did managed to buy a couple of chicken pies off the Interact Club from St. Mary's. It was decent at best.

But really, I guess we didn't end up eating at the Parish Sale 'cause a lot of shops were selling similar items (chicken rice, chicken wings, lemang) and a number of them don't exactly look appetizing. Can't blame them since it was cooked for the masses.

Ever since I could remember this event has always been the same as it was before. It does made me wonder how to make this event a more happening event, rather the low level of excitement the Parish sale has indicated over the years.

Not too keen to really think right now, but I believe for a start creative names could be used to improve the event...

...like this one for example.

Green International Festival Kuching 2009 - Part 2

2009-08-30T21:59:00.002+08:00

Click here for Part 1

Oi! Oi! Oi! It's the United Kids of Oi!

Fourteen year old Sharon Lugun was up next. She's well known as part of the members of "Kani'd", a group which performed at the Rainforest Music Festival last year.

A fashion catwalk was done as part of a break from all the rock music madness. If I'm not mistaken three participants of the "Breeze Model Search" are in this fashion catwalk.
No recordings was done for the males (cause I'm a sexist!)

Next is the end of the fashion show.

Back to rocking, Mayze style.

It's Khai!

The last band to perform, and none other than Visualies.

To be honest, my battery was low halfway through this concert so I had to be selective with my recordings. A thousand apologies to the bands Dyerbreed, Dream Machine, Number, Christopher Kho and those that I missed out as such.

Green International Festival Kuching 2009 - Concert Preview

2009-08-08T08:49:00.009+08:00

Tonight, the rockers of Kuching will be performing at the newly built Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK).

If you haven't gotten your tickets yet then shame on you! This event is officially the first event of BCCK and because it's the first, I can assure you the BCCK crew will show off their five-star standard and redefine the meaning of 'quality standards' for events in Kuching.

Here are some photos of the event's rehearsal last night, which features the band 'Khai':

And if you need a preview of what Kuching rock sounds like here's one for you:

So let's rock on tonight! See you at BCCK!

P.S. For you males with raging hormones, the models of Breeze magazine will be there too ;)

When Bryan Robson visited Malaysia

2009-08-04T19:38:00.005+08:00

I'm BACK! Sorry I didn't tell you guys I was on a two and a half week break (also known as lazy!) from blogging.

Anyway, I went to KL a couple of weeks back to watch Manchester United play against our very own Malaysia Select XI. While I was there, I discovered from my friend that Bryan Robson, an ex-Man United player will be visiting the Manchester United Supporters' Club Malaysia for an autograph session.

Knowing that I would never have this opportunity again in a long time (or rather, knowing that getting signatures from the current United squad is almost impossible here with the kind of security they have at the stadium) I rushed to the place.

The supporters' club is a house located in SS2...I still can't believe I have never seen or heard of this place while I was working in KL!

When I arrived, the house was packed with the Red Army.

I was told Robson would come around 11 a.m. but at 12 plus he still hasn't showed up. A couple of fans had a bit of some glamour moments:-

Thankfully, it was another 15 minutes before he finally arrived in an Audi A4 Avant:-

As you can see, I was so excited so see him I dropped my pen while I was going to shake his hand, as well as forgetting all about recording at that moment in time...

And then I had to queue for his signature. The wait was sure long so I got bored and took a photo of a boy...

..and a chick, though not obvious.

(can you see a chick?)

By 1.30p.m. I was just about to go into the house...it was that many people!

(The best thing about this supporters' club is that they do sell retro jerseys...like 1999 jerseys!)

I saw a set of United goalkeeper kits on the 2nd floor of the house while I was just 10 fans away from 'Robbo's' signature... rare and lovely!

Then...at just 5 fans away to a priceless moment...this has to happen:

NOOO!!!!! I WAS SO CLOSE!!!!!! :(

So my consolation? A visit to the shrine of Eric Cantona at the house instead:

Despite missing out on Robbo's autograph, I'm really glad I visited this Supporters' Club. Fantastic place I tell you!

And oh, a pose with a rare artist impression of the famous Ryan Giggs' goal against Arsenal back in 1999:

And just in case you can't relate the significance of this photo:

GLORY GLORY MAN UTD!

Rainforest World Music Festival 2009 - Night

2009-07-16T07:34:00.003+08:00

For those who missed out on the RWMF 2009 here are the video clips from the night!

The opening performance was by Asika from the West side of Malaysia:-

Personally, I think it's not the kind of music we were expecting for an opening. I mean, we would want a more up-beat music to start, no? At least on their third song it was more upbeat and I saw people imitating a Malay slow dance.

Anyway, next is our local group Lan-E Tuyang with their sapes:-

Ah...it's a peaceful tune...but I was more tempo!

The fun part from this session though was when one of the members performed the Dayak warrior's dance:

This got the crowd doing the Dayak warrior screams!

Fahriee and I thought the third performance will be a slow tempo too...so we thought it would be better to head back to our camp and drink.

We were initially right with the group playing a slow tune as well...until they suddenly increased the tempo! From their first performance alone Oudaden from Morocco certainly got the crowd going...and we rushed back to the party area to dance!

Oh they're good...a bit repetitive on some parts though.

Up next was the Finnish band Jouhiorkestari:

I guess it's not the most appealing music to dance to. By this time it was my third can of beer.

Moving on, we got ourselves a Kiwi treatment from the New Zealand group Moana and the Tribe:-

Apologies for the extreme bass in the video. They are entertaining :)

On to the 6th performance...from the US of A, Jeff and Vida with their country-music! YEEEEEHHAAAA!!

Seriously, I don't fancy country music. Somehow the crowd could dance to it so my group also follow....

The last performance was by Dazkarieh from Portugal was clearly the best of them all. First, it was rock music (yea!) and second the group has one HOT looking singer (Woo hoo!)

Sadly, I was standing right in front of an amplifier and my camera doesn't handle loud noise well...so the audio was crap :(

But still, I love this band!

(By the way, anyone know what was that musical instrument the guy on the left is using?)

Just a shame their CD is like RM80....very the expensive la...

So ends the RMWF 2009. I really think last year's overall music group had a much better music for the crowd to dance to than this year's.

*More pictures to upload actually, so there'll be a full version of this entry...should be up next week*