Family's House

As of today, my parents are officially "migrated" to Klang Valley from my hometown, Raub. Raub is a small town in Pahang and is about 1.5 hours away from KL. It is famous for its peanuts, gold mines (long time ago...and no, my family wasn't involved in anyway) and durian orchards.

My parents have sold off the house which we have stayed in since 1990. The decision for my parents to relocate came about when we felt that it would be better for everyone if they were nearer to us. In any case of emergency, it would be faster for us to reach them. After all, my parents are already in their 60s and my dad is still weak after suffering a minor stroke 2 years ago. So after some considerations, they decided to sell off the house back in Raub and get an apartment unit nearby my 2nd sister and her family.

The paperworks were at last finalised and the buyer will be taking over the house next week. So this morning, I went back with my 2nd sister and my nephew to pick up my parents and to do the final packing.

Although I seldom went back to my hometown since working here except for festive seasons, there was this strange feeling being back today. Perhaps cause I know that today would be the last day that house served as our home. I guess my mom felt a lot too as it was given to her by my grandfather. There were just so much memories...

Here are the last looks of our home in Raub. The next time we see it, it would already be different.

Happy Birthday, Malaysia!!

Mini Botak Head

It's a traditional custom to shave off the baby's hair when the baby is about a month old. Here are some pictures of my niece with her botak head. She turned a month old a few weeks ago.

You like my new look??

Don't I look like a japanese doll (minus the hair) with my mata sepet??

Haha...stop flattering me.. I know I'm cute

Dashboard Reading

Everything seems good enough to be put into a blog when you just started blogging.

Anyway when I got into my car to go home from work today, I saw from my dashboard that my car's remaining distance and the covered distance had the same digits...

BitTorrent

BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing(P2P) communications protocol. It is a method of distributing large amounts of data widely without the original distributor incurring the entire costs of resources. Instead, when data is distributed using the BitTorrent protocol, each recipient supplies pieces of the data to newer recipients, reducing the cost and burden on any given individual source, providing redundancy against system problems, and reducing dependence on the original distributor. - Source: Wikipedia

In laymen's term, we use it to download files (series, movies, software, games etc) from other people's computers and vice versa.

Please note that when you download copyrighted materials, you are infringing the copyright law. So if you are downloading those, download at your own risk!

What you need?
In order for you to be able to download anything using BitTorrent, you will need to:

1. Install a BitTorrent client (such as BitComet, uTorrent, BitLord etc).

2. You will need to have the torrent file (.tor) which to me is like a pointer to where the actual files (or bits and pieces of the files) are residing. To find the torrent files, you can use websites like torrentz to search for your desired series, movies, etc.

How to download?
So how do you go about downloading a series, movies etc to your local drive?

1. Go to websites like torrentz and search for the desired files.

2. In the Search results, you will see a list of different websites that houses the torrent file. (A reminder….torrent file is NOT the actual file but rather a pointer to where the actual file is). Go for those with links that are still healthy (usually green bar) to indicate that there are many people sharing these files.

3. After you have selected one, you may be brought to a different website that houses this torrent file. I usually will only proceed if the file is in .avi or .rmvb format. (.avi is DivX format; .rmvb is Real Player format) as I dare not take the risk with zipped files (.rar, .zip etc) which may contain viruses. If you want to play DivX on your PC, you can download the player from their site.

4. If everything is okay, click the “Download Torrent” link. A pop up message will ask you whether you want to open, save or cancel. Select “Open”.

5. Once the torrent file is opened, you will see that your BitTorrent client is opened automatically. It will have a popup confirming that you want to download the file and the location of download. Select accordingly.

6. Then just leave your BitTorrent client to download the file. There will be a status bar advising you the % of your download.

The Man In The Mirror

- from a book called "You can do it" by Paul Hanna

If you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day
Then go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what the man has to say

For it isn't a man's father, mother or wife
Whose judgement upon him must pass
The fellow whose verdict count's most in life
Is the man staring back from the glass

He's the fellow to please, never mind all the rest
For he's with you right up to the end
And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult task
If the man in the glass is your friend

You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass
But your final reward will be heartache and tears
If you've cheated the man in the glass

Bad Report

Got my blood test report back yesterday. I have been trying to make it a routine to get my blood checked every year although I skipped that last year. I usually go to Pathlab for this.

Anyway my report is noooooooo gooooood. You know like in your school exam papers when you made any mistakes and the teachers would highlight them with red ink?.....well in Pathlab's reports they would highlight those test results which fell out of the healthy range. They do this using the fluorescent yellow highlighter though.

My report has quite a bit of highlighting done.. :-(

My main problem was low HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol), borderline LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) and high triglycerides (fats!). The other problems were pretty minor and due to stress, sleeping late and too much of beans intake (yeah...I took too much of soya bean milk!!).

The consultant who explained my report to me told me that I need to really adjust my diet due to my cholesterol levels. She said with my slim size (did I tell you how much I liked her??), the fats could easily cover most part of my blood vessels.

Looks like its bye-bye to all my favourite food like nasi lemak, rendang, curry, fried kuey teow etc etc... oh dear, why am I feeling depressed writing these... :-(

Mmmmm...

Oooooooo...

Yummy.....

I think I should just go kill myself now.

Oh... and I will need to start my gym routine again....and it's no longer for vanity sake!

Different Choices, Different Paths

Yesterday I was telling my colleagues about my previous job hunting experiences long time ago when I was jobless for a few months after quitting a job which I hated so darn much. I used to refer to that hated company as "hell hole".

"Get me out of here!!!"

Anyway during that period of time (major "dark cloud over my head" period), there was this company which I interviewed for and was then offered the position via e-mail. The HR later called me and asked me to provide them the necessary documents etc. I was asked to wait while they process my offer package. Of course I was so ecstatic because I thought that's the end of the dry job hunting spell. Moreover this is a huge MNC company which tend to be more attractive.

A week later, they contacted me and told me that there was a change in headcounts for that department, thus they had to retract the job offer. Could you imagine the huge disappointment I had?

"Why does this happen to me?"

Then yesterday, the HR from this company called me out of the blue and asked me whether I was still interested to take up the job..... after almost a year since the incident! Their headcounts must have been freed up... or someone must have quit his/her job creating an opening. After considering for a while, I told them that I was happy with my current company and did not intend to change for the time being.

Funny how life plays you sometimes. When you really wanted something at that very time, you usually would not get them. For my case, it felt as if I got it and then it slipped through my fingers. I guess that type of feeling is more frustrating that not getting it at all. And when they come, it's usually not at the right time.

Different choices, different paths

Anyhow looking back, every choice that we made will create a new path towards a new journey. I made a wrong choice last time by joining the "hell hole" which turned my career topsy turvy for a while, but I am happy with where I ended up now. This may change in time to come (well, all things, good or bad are impermanent..) but until then, I intend to enjoy whatever that I have now.

Grass

Grass by Tan Chade Meng

When I have the time to take a walk, I would often take the time to admire the grass.

Grass doesn't make a fuss. It doesn't try to be beautiful or outstanding. It doesn't want to attract attention. It is so humble that it even allows people to walk all over it. Yet, it possess such strength. It glows in healthy green despite being stepped all over, and when a typhoon strikes and all the flowers die and all the trees get uprooted, humble grass survives. And humble grass, in its own humble way, provides food for animals, shelter for insects, and joy to some funny guy walking past.

I think a virtuous man should be like grass. Humble, unnoticed, yet possessing great strength and kindness.

Fairy Tales - HK Style

Something to clear away the Monday blues. You will need to know Cantonese to appreciate them...

Cinderella


Beauty & the Beast


Snow White

Family Reunion

We just had our family reunion dinner a few hours ago. This was the first time all of us (13 to be exact) present on the same table since Chinese New Year in February. This time around there is an additional headcount, my new niece, making the total to 14.

We went to this chinese restaurant, Hei Loi Ton in Seri Kembangan for dinner. Like other chinese restaurants in Malaysia, there were many varieties of live seafood to pick from.

Lobsters

"Soon Hork"

"Crabs"

To make things easier for their customers, the restaurant prepared different sets of dishes. We chose the one that cost RM398++. Some of the dishes were as below:

Four Hot & Cold Combination

Steamed Promfret Superior Soy Sauce

Stir Fried HK Vegetables

Pan Fried Prawn "Mongolian" Style

The dishes were quite good I think... cos my mom told me a few times on how good they tasted. I was never the fussy one when it comes to food.... it's either good or really bad for me. So I am a very bad judge in this sense. The rest of my family members seemed to be satisfied.

My 1 month old niece had her share of dinner too....

"Nen Nen"

To Tell or Not To Tell

I was put into a very difficult situation today. A close friend's family member gave me a call in the morning and wanted to borrow some money. What happened after that does not really matter as it is not the reason for this posting. Anyway, this person specifically told me not to mention it to my close friend. I was really in a dilemma on whether to tell or not to tell. On one hand, telling my close friend felt like I was betraying the family member. On another, not telling felt like I was betraying my close friend.

I then thought, if I was in my close friend's shoes, I would want to know because this may have a big effect on the family.... but still, I wasn't sure on what's the right thing to do. So I consulted a few friends over MSN. Of course in consulting them, I did not mention any names.

One of them told me something which made the bulb on top of my head lit up.

*Ding*

She said, (well not in her actual words but along this line) "you are friends with your close friend first...therefore your loyalty should be with him/her instead of the family member". Besides that, I looked into my intention and it is noble.... a good indication on what IS the right thing to do.

So, I told my close friend.

I am sure many of us have been put into similar situations before. It could be the case where we saw a friend's spouse or lover being intimate with someone else. It could be the case where we saw someone close to a friend doing something illegal. It could also be the case where we found out some hidden secrets about our friend's family member which could jeopardize their lives.

So what do we do.?... or rather what SHOULD we do? Should we just mind our own business and pretend not to know...even if we know it will affect our friends' lives? Or should we tell them and risk being the catalyst to a broken relationship? I really do not have any answers to these questions... maybe it's really a case to case basis.

So much to consider!!!

I guess for me, I will follow this basic guideline:
First, get things right. Are they facts or merely assumptions or suspicions?
Second, what's my intention of telling... is it noble or based on malicious intent?

Oh... and having some smart friends to consult helps too!!

Home Improvement

Since moving to my apartment 2 years ago, I never got to getting a decent side table for my bedroom. I have been using this for a while now:

Today I got to meet JW up for dinner at Ikano Power Station. After dinner, we went to Ikea and I saw this simple and cheap (very important!!) side table for only RM45. So I got one for my "home improvement" mini project.

Installation was pretty easy. Just put the screw on the leg (the table's leg lah!) and start screwing to the table top. I got the table done in less than 10 minutes. I didn't usually get much luck with assembling Ikea's stuff before.

And the result....Taa Daaaaaaaaa

It Is Okay To Make Mistakes

This is the 2nd part of "I Try To Remember" by author unknown.

"Making mistakes is something we all do, and I am still fine and worthwhile person when I make them. There is no reason for me to get upset when I make a mistake. I am trying, and if I make a mistake, I am going to continue trying. I can handle making a mistake. It is okay for others to make mistakes too. I will accept mistakes in myself and also mistakes that others make."

Post Vacation Blues

Time to wind it up again....

Singapore Trip (11-13 Aug 07)

Some of the pictures taken during my Singapore trip.... I am going back tomorrow, boooo hoooooo hoooooooo.

Sentosa Island

Train to Sentosa

If driving to Sentosa, you will pass through this arch

Siloso beach

Giant crabs in Underwater World!!! Serious!!

Deng deng deng deng (to the sountrack of "Jaws")

Underwater tunnel

Merlion in Sentosa - Side view

Merlion in Sentosa...err...semi side view

Dolphins performance in Dolphin Lagoon...Oooooooo......

Aaaaaaaa......

Want to pet a dolphin??

Merlion Square

The original Merlion

Hear me roar.....once I am done puking water

I once see the big blue sea... now I see only cranes

Esplanade

2 giant "liulian"s

"Liulian" upclose

Another view of the "liulian"