Little Gray Dots

Food For Thought …

2011-11-29T09:01:00.001+08:00

Received this email this morning. I felt it is good thing to share …

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An economics professor at a US college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan".. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.

The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Could not be any simpler than that.

Remember, there IS a test coming up. The GE 2012.

These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.

Can you think of a reason for not sharing this? Neither could I.

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Ants and Grasshoppers (New Version)

2011-11-01T09:59:00.001+08:00

Got this from a friend of mine. Quite interesting IMHO, so I want to share it out.

I believe we all know about the story of the ant and grasshopper when we studied in primary school. The one below is the modern version with a twist. Enjoy ~~

Older Version

An ant worked hard in the sweltering heat all summer, building its nest and laying up supplies for the winter.

A grasshopper thought the ant was stupid not knowing how to enjoy life. It spent its days laughing, singing & dancing thoroughly enjoying the summer.

Came winter, the ant was warm, comfortable and had no shortage of food.

The grasshopper had no proper shelter, no stored food, and couldn't find anything to eat from the snow-covered ground. So it died and the story ended.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!
_____________________

Modern Version

An ant worked hard in the sweltering heat all summer, building its nest and laying up supplies for the winter.

A grasshopper thought the ant was stupid not knowing how to enjoy life. It spent its days laughing, singing & dancing thoroughly enjoying the summer.

Came winter, the shivering grasshopper called a press conference and demanded to know why the ant should be warm and well fed while he was cold and starving.

TV1, TV2 & TV3 showed up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper alongside to a video clip of the ant in his comfortable home with a table full of food.

The majority of the Malaysian Parliamentarians were stunned by the sharp contrast. How could this poor grasshopper be allowed to suffer?

Khairy staged a demonstration in front of the ant's nest.

Nazri went on a hunger strike along with other grasshoppers demanding that they be relocated to warmer climate area during winter.

The Malaysia Government immediately passed a law forbidding all ants from working hard in the summer so as to bring about equality of poverty between ants and grasshoppers.

Hishammudin increased 'More Special Reservations' for grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services..

The ant was fined for failing to share 30% of his food with the grasshopper. The Prime Minister announced that this was part of the N E P. No ant should question it. (Don't forget, Tax Audits were introduced and targeted at certain individuals who were eventually penalized heavily for not contributing enough to the well-being of the grasshoppers).

Many years later...

Some ant migrated to the US and set up multi-billion dollar companies there.

Hundreds of grasshoppers still died of starvation despite the 'More Special Reservations'.

Losing significant number of hard working ants and free loading the grasshoppers, Malaysia remained a developing country, despite its abundant natural resources.
All because the remaining ANTS were still doing their work .............................

Latest finding showed that almost all the grasshoppers in the political arena and civil service were hoarding corrupt wealth which they refused to share with fellow grasshoppers.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2011.

Passport To Fame – Best Guitarist Award

2011-09-05T16:00:00.001+08:00

I was a bit shocked when I got to know I won the Best Guitarist Award for the Battle of The Band - Passport To Fame 2011 competition. Frankly, I didn’t expect to win at all because there are a few more good players out there in the competition. I was expecting another David from the band “Got A Match” to win. Perhaps the judges have some different expectations.

I want to thank God for the talent and the opportunity that He has given me and also bringing in all the people to help me nurture my skills. I want to thank my guitar mentor – Jose Thomas for all the lesson and guidance and also shaping the way I look about music, guitar and God.

I also want to thank my parents for not stopping me to learn guitar when I was still a secondary school boy and didn’t scold me when I took the PTPTN loan money to buy my first electric guitar during my 1st year in university. My dad bought me a Yamaha acoustic when I was in Form 2 and I still keep it till now.

… My first electric guitar. I still play it now …

Also want to thank En Ismail Ahmed who first opened my eyes on Jazz music when I was still pursuing my degree in UKM. He gave me the opportunity to learn and perform at RTM.

A big thanks to my band members also for keeping up the environment for us to keep on discovering and learning. Although we are not a professionally trained musicians, but sooner or later we’ll grow.. in due time… LOL

I want to thank the judges for choosing me as the prize winner for Best Guitarist Award.

Eler… macam menang Oscar je…

A Journey in “Passport To Fame” …

2011-08-29T11:04:00.001+08:00

One of the biggest Battle of the Band event – Passport To Fame just closed its’ curtain on Saturday at The Opera, Sunway Pyramid. It is one heck of a long competition, from early June till end of August.

My band JUNK took part in this competition. We managed to enter Top 10, but sadly was kicked out of the final 5 selection. Part of the reason??? --- Not commercial enough. We are grateful that the panel of 3 judges wanted us to be in but sadly, we are just not commercial enough for one of the sponsors. So we were left out of the final 5. Apart from that, I think we are still green on these kind of stuff. This is my first Battle of the Band contest, and for the most of the band members too I think. We are also still not technically good, but we are working hard to improve ourselves.

Eizaz was the one who mooted this idea of taking part in the contest because of the Shure products. If we manage to win, we will have some useful stuff for our studio. We are not really interested in the cash prizes or the recording contract or the prizes from the food sponsors bla bla bla bla. But of course to expose ourselves to more people out there la…

Throughout the whole journey in the competition, there are ups and downs in the band as well. Some of us wanted to quit, some of us are just too tired of the hectic practice schedule till 1am everyday after a full day at work and too learn up the complicated parts in a short span of time. Sometimes, I do question why have to make the parts so complicated and settle with the easier ones. But in the end, it all boils down to whether do we want to take up the challenge or not. I’m happy that the band chose took up the challenge to settle with the “technical” route of the music arrangements.

Overall, we gained lots of experience from the competition. There were times that we are very nervous before any shows (sometimes, insomnia). After a series of gigs and from the rounds of the competition, somehow we managed to suppress the pre-gig anxiety and we are more composed when we were on the stage performing, up to the point of “Whack first, Think later”, LOL. Other than that, we managed to composed a few songs as well.

For me, JUNK is a very delicate and special band. Every band member is irreplaceable. Take any member out and you’ll leave a big hole in the music that we play. The band members compliments each other and we really “exploit” everyone. I’m really impressed by how we worked together to sound good, especially in our originals.

I do cherish the moments we had together, from practicing everyday, road trip down to JB for competition, the fright of empty gas tank at the long stretch of dark expressway on our way back to KL, the makan time and etc. It’s definitely a memorable moment for me. Although we didn’t made it to the finals, but we do gain something that are intangible and has no price tags on it.

NEXT UP >> Best Guitarist Award … will post about it once I got hold of the pics.

My notes on recent

2011-07-05T17:09:00.001+08:00

It’s been a while since I last update this blog.

Things are pretty much getting routine till there is nothing about them to blog about.

Band wise, there are ups and downs. JUNK manage to get more gigs in these few months. We played our first Jazz gig in the Malaysian Youth Day and another one in Jazz Ampang. Most of them are free gigs. I don’t really encourage free gigs because as a musician, we want to be respected (or rather compensated) for the amount of resources we’ve put in, monetary in particular. I think I’ll blog about my opinions on free gigs in a separate post in the future.

Also, JUNK took part in a band competition and we managed to go into round 4 of 6. This is my first time taking part in a competition like this. It is a good experience. We somehow manage to get good comments from the judges.

The competition somehow drained us up and we don’t have much time enough to breathe and reflect on what we did. Due to our own personal commitments, work, so on and so forth, we don’t have really have enough opportunity to practice together also. So we have to really “belasah”.

To think from the other perspective, the competition did make some of the deep hidden issues within the band surfaced. So as we band, we’ll have to address these issues as a matured adult, rather than making a reckless decision and regret it later.

Enough said, look on the bright side, we manage to gain more exposure and experience. Compared to our gigs a year or two back, we’d feel anxious, nervous till the point of insomnia before gig. Now, we’re somehow feeling more relaxed and less nervous compared to earlier gigs.

Wish us all the best ……

Annual Injury 2011

2011-05-22T17:27:00.001+08:00

2007 – Toe Tragedy
2008 – Knee Tragedy
2009 – Mishaps
2010 – Annual Injury

Seems like this is going to be an annual event.

How I ended up ? Was cleaning my “new” apartment unit and some of the floor tiles bloated suddenly and some got cracked. So in the midst of pulling it up, the tiles broke and my thumb got cut. Kinda deep, can see the inner flesh and the wound is around 2 inches long. Awful lots of blood..

So got 4 stitches, 1 Tetanus injection and RM100+ gone… and more money to spend to fix the floors…

A thing about the language …

2011-04-27T15:31:00.001+08:00

A friend of mine posted this as his FB status :

“kalau basikal drpd bicyle, motosikal drpd motorcycle, then seterika itu bahasa apa? apesal bukan "hari ini saya tak sempat besi baju?" this is no joke, can someone let me know where this word come from?”

Then a friend of mine manage to shed some lights on the answer. This is his response to the FB status :

“I think I found it: "Strijken" [Dutch. Google translate can pronounce this] Source: http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/hiramoto2007lexical.pdf”

Language is a funny thing isn’t it??

Anyhow, my purpose here is not to promote the study of language but some funny stuff exchange that we had over the posts. Take a look :-

Eat Less Rice ??? …

2011-04-19T09:42:00.001+08:00

Received this email from a colleague of mine which I think I’d like to share here. Feel free to debate.

The human body was never meant to consume rice! You see, our genes have hardly changed in more than 30,000 years. However, our food choices and lifestyle have changed dramatically. The caveman would hardly recognise our food or way of life.

Caveman food was never cooked as fire was not yet tamed. Thus, he ate only those foods that you can eat without treatment with or by fire. He ate fruits, vegetables, fish (sushi anyone?), eggs, nuts and meat. Yes, even meat! You can even eat meat raw if you were starving in the forest. You have the necessary enzymes to digest meat.

However, rice, like wheat and corn, cannot be eaten raw. It must be cooked. Even if you were starving in the desert, you cannot eat rice in the raw form. This is because we do not have the system of enzymes to break rice down. You were never meant to eat rice. To make matters worse, you not only eat rice, but also make it the bulk of your food.

In some parts of Asia , rice forms up to 85% of the plate. Even if you take rice, keep it to a minimum. Remember, it is only for your tongue - not your body. Actually, rice and other grains like wheat and corn are actually worse than sugar. There are many reasons:

Rice becomes sugar - lots of it!
This is a fact that no nutritionist can deny: rice is chemically no different from sugar. One bowl of cooked rice is the caloric equal of 10 teaspoons of sugar. This does not matter whether it is white, brown or herbal rice. Brown rice is richer in fibre, some B vitamins and minerals but it is still the caloric equal of 10 teaspoons of sugar. To get the same 10 teaspoons of sugar, you need to consume lots of kangkong-10 bowls of it.

Rice is digested to become sugar.
Rice cannot be digested before it is thoroughly cooked. However, when thoroughly cooked, it becomes sugar and spikes circulating blood sugar within half an hour-almost as quickly as it would if you took a sugar candy. Rice is very low in the 'rainbow of anti-oxidants. '

This complete anti-oxidant rainbow is necessary for the effective and safe utilisation of sugar. Fruits come with a sugar called fructose. However, they are not empty calories as the fruit is packed with a whole host of other nutrients that help its proper assimilation and digestion.

Rice has no fibre.
The fibre of the kangkong fills you up long before your blood sugar spikes. This is because the fibre bulks and fills up your stomach. Since white rice has no fibre, you end up eating lots of 'calorie dense' food before you get filled up. Brown rice has more fibre but still the same amount of sugar.

Rice is tasteless-sugar is sweet..
There is only so much that you can eat at one sitting. How many teaspoons of sugar can you eat before you feel like throwing up? Could you imagine eating 10 teaspoons of sugar in one seating?

Rice is always the main part of the meal.
While sugar may fill your dessert or sweeten your coffee, it will never be the main part of any meal. You could eat maybe two to three teaspoons of sugar at one meal. However, you could easily eat the equal value of two to three bowls (20-30 teaspoons) of sugar in one meal. I am always amused when I see someone eat sometimes five bowls of rice (equals 50 teaspoons of sugar) and then asks for tea tarik kurang manis!

There is no real 'built in' mechanism for us to prevent overeating of rice:
How much kangkong can you eat?
How much fried chicken can you eat?
How much steamed fish can you eat?
Think about that!

In one seating, you cannot take lots of chicken, fish or cucumber, but you can take lots of rice. Eating rice causes you to eat more salt. As rice is tasteless, you tend to consume more salt-another villain when it comes to high blood pressure. You tend to take more curry that has salt to help flavor rice. We also tend to consume more ketchup and soy sauce which are also rich in salt.

Eating rice causes you to drink less water.
The more rice you eat, the less water you will drink as there is no mechanism to prevent the overeating of rice. Rice, wheat and corn come hidden in our daily food. As rice is tasteless, it tends to end up in other foods that substitute rice like rice flour, noodles and bread. We tend to eat the hidden forms which still get digested into sugar.

Rice, even when cooked, is difficult to digest..
Can't eat raw rice? Try eating rice half cooked. Contrary to popular belief, rice is very difficult to digest. It is 'heavy stuff'. If you have problems with digestion, try skipping
rice for a few days. You will be amazed at how the problem will just go away.

Rice prevents the absorption of several vitamins and minerals.
Rice when taken in bulk will reduce the absorption of vital nutrients like zinc, iron and the B vitamins.

Are you a rice addict? Going rice-less may not be easy but you can go rice-less. Eating less rice could be lot easier than you think. Here are some strategies that you can pursue in your quest to eat less rice:

Eat less rice-cut your rice by half..
Barry Sears, author of the Zone Diet, advises 'eating rice like spice'. Instead, increase your fruits and vegetables. Take more lean meats and fish. You can even take more eggs and nuts.

Have 'riceless' meals.
Take no rice or wheat at say, breakfast. Go for eggs instead.

Go on 'riceless' days.
Go 'western' once a week.

Take no rice and breads for one day every week.
That can't be too difficult. Appreciate the richness of your food. Go for taste, colors and smells. Make eating a culinary delight. Enjoy your food in the original flavors.

Avoid the salt shaker or ketchup.
You will automatically eat less rice.

Eat your fruit dessert before (Yes! No printing error) your meals.
The fibre rich fruits will 'bulk up' in your stomach. Thus, you will eat less rice and more fruits.

It's your life. Decide what you want to eat! But eat less rice!

Pedalboard (circa Apr 2011)

2011-04-12T16:27:00.001+08:00

Just wanna share my current pedalboard for my analog pedals. I’m using it quite extensively now for jamming. It’s not a huge board in terms of number of pedals. (Some pedals are just huge in size)

Power : DC Brick

GUITAR > Korg Pitchblack Tuner > Crybaby GCB95 > Analogman Comprosser > Keeley-mod DS1 > Damage Control Demonizer > Boss Volume Pedal > AMP INPUT

AMP SEND > Analogman Mini Chorus > Eventide TimeFactor > AMP RETURN

Still waiting for the patcher pedal to arrive from US.

Silence ….

2011-03-25T14:56:00.001+08:00

I’m actually feeling guilty for not updating this blog. Not that I’ve lost interest in blogging, just that things are being very routine lately. Probably I’ve lost the interest in noticing the interesting stuff happening around me. Or I’ve subconsciously chose to ignore all these stuff.

Anyhow, I’ll try my best to blog “more often”.

As for myself, I’ve been hitting the gym very often, almost every weekday and some weekends as well. My trainer advised me to take pictures to keep a log of my progress. So I wanna share some progress pics here.


Jan 4th, 2011	Feb 17th, 2011

Mar 4th, 2011	Mar 24th, 2011

Guten Tag!

2011-01-30T22:45:00.001+08:00

I was at Pavilion just now for a dinner with my sister. Thinking whether to dine at La Bodega or Weissbrau. So we ended up at Weissbrau.

I ordered Pork Knuckle and my sister ordered some Sausages. Pretty decent… I will try the sausage next time.

Another “not so new” new toy …

2010-12-16T12:51:00.001+08:00

Tadaa………

Introducing another new addition to the family, the Roland VG99.

Damn interesting piece of gear this is.

New Toy … err… not really new la

2010-12-14T14:20:00.001+08:00

This is kinda very very late post on a new (relatively speaking) toy that I’ve acquired recently. If you ever noticed in some of my previous performance postings, I’ve used a guitar which was not my usual Ibanez or Fender. That’s the new toy I’ve got.

Introducing a new addition to the family, the Don Grosh Retro Classic Custom Guitar.

This toy is beast. I lend this guitar to my guitar sifu, Jose Thomas to use for this gig 2 weeks back at No Black Tie. He liked this guitar too.

I also would like to say Bye to my Fender and Musicman. They have served me well. Hope they will do the same to their new owners.

Fun Stuff

2010-12-10T12:29:00.001+08:00

Attempted T-Square’s Megalith (Bridge Part).

We practiced this part for around 1 hour. HAhaha.. It was fun afterall.

Errrrrr

2010-12-09T10:03:00.001+08:00

Officially 28 today…

Of A Gig on Sunday …

2010-12-08T12:18:00.001+08:00

I was thrilled to be invited as a session guitarist to perform alongside with Mr Syed Sobrie Al Yahya and his wife, Azie. He is a singer-actor that used to be very popular in the early 90s. We were performing for a government dinner event at Putrajaya International Convention Centre. The Prime Minister and ex Prime Minister were part of the guests.

I’m kinda nervous because seldom play in an official big gig such as this. But luckily the band members were fun to be with. The sound crew were very very helpful. Each one treated each other with mutual respect. Overall we did well and the guests were happy. And we are happy too …

Apart from that, we also had our best band lounge so far. Eizaz and I got a complimentary room at JW Marriott Putrajaya to rest and get prepared for the gig. The bed was so comfy …

Starbucks Planner

2010-11-26T11:38:00.001+08:00

Woohoo… Got my first today.

Let’s see how many I can collect this year .. Collected 7 last year

Of A Small but Enjoyable gig

2010-11-22T14:13:00.001+08:00

JUNK was invited to play at this nice cozy little place called “Hot Pot Cafe” at Damansara Damai.

http://ally-fazdly.blogspot.com/2008/10/meh-makan-makan-hotcafe-damansara-damai.html
http://silalahrasa.blogspot.com/2009/06/hot-pot-vista-damansara-damai.html

Owned by musicians, the place is nicely decorated with musical instruments, pictures of musicians, Music Certificates and others. Stage setup was minimalist yet decent. Worth checking out if you are nearby. The owner welcomes bands to perform at the place.

Don’t know how to elaborate more but do visit Jocelyn’s blog here for a review of the gig. The pinnacle of the performance was when Dino climbed up to get his old Trombone and jammed with us and Dr Farah did an impromptu improvisation of Blues vocal with us… (Dino and Dr Farah owns the cafe)

Enough said, the pics …

Upcoming Gigs …

2010-10-11T12:24:00.001+08:00

I’ll be playing in some small gigs this month. Come support us lar…

Oct 13 (Wed)
JUNK - 第六届马大校园华语歌曲创作比赛

Oct 31 (Sun)
HYBRID - Animangaki 2010

Virgin Run – A view from other camera

2010-09-28T14:06:00.001+08:00

Pics from Eizaz’s camera.
Like just finished shower… LOL

My Virgin Run

2010-09-26T09:59:00.000+08:00

Just finished my virgin run. A 7km run organized by McD in conjunction with the Olympics Run. Pain like hell… but worth it la…..

Running with me are Eizaz and Eizhan, along with other thousand over runners. Manage to finish within 35 minutes. Not bad for a first timer and surely can do better next time…

What’s next? 10km run???? Well… we’ll see about that …

Enough said, here are some camwhoring before the race starts …

Another camwhore session after we finish…

Will wait for pics from Eizaz’s camera …

In Loving Memories …

2010-09-20T17:22:00.000+08:00

Chill Out at Chilling Waterfall

2010-09-13T12:10:00.001+08:00

On the first day of Hari Raya, a group of us went to this waterfall nearby Kuala Kubu Bahru. It is sort of a last minute plan between few of us a day or two before Friday.

Can’t really recall my last visit to any waterfall within the last 10 years.

It took us around one hour to reach the trail head. Partly due to we lost our way looking for the place.

To reach the waterfall, we trekked, crossed the stream 6 times and finally arrived at the waterfall after an hour later.

True to its’ name, IT IS CHILLING! I believe the water is less than 10’C.

It is really nice listening to the sound of water falling, stream flowing. So calm and peaceful. The fishes swam around us. The view of the waterfall is so awesome.

Totally a recommended place to get close with nature !!!

I’m still waiting for other pics from my friend’s camera. Will post it once I got a hand on them.

Unexpected Sense of Humor

2010-09-09T11:36:00.000+08:00

Saw this in the gym.. Funny …

OUCH .. my leg hurts …

2010-08-23T12:44:00.001+08:00

Went hiking with my friend and an expat on Saturday at Bukit Gasing, PJ.

It has been a long long time since I went “hiking” back at my hometown. It was fun hiking with friends and met a new friend from Romania. Should do this more often.

The presence of lots middle-aged people, bringing their dogs + kids, family members really encourages me a lot. Bumped into a 69 years old uncle (friend of my friend) who climbed to the highest peak of Bukit Gasing. *Salute*

We’re definitely gonna plan a few more trips like these. Do let me know if anyone of you are interested of joining.

Also, Eizaz enticed me to join a 7km run … Should I go or should I not?

Happy 3rd Anniversary ….

2010-07-29T09:54:00.001+08:00

Just to commemorate a special date 3 years back …

FOR SALE !!!

2010-07-28T14:20:00.001+08:00

Hi guys, my Ernie Ball Music Silhouette for sale.

This guitar is in good condition.
For specs, you can visit here.

Looking to let go at RM5500 (price negotiable)

All parts are original. Hard case is included as well
This is an urgent sale.

Reason for selling? - In need of cash and I seldom use this baby nowadays.

Drop me a message if you need any info or interested …

Gym Progress …

2010-07-15T14:00:00.001+08:00

Taken on Monday …
Looked bigger now…

JUNK - Explorer

2010-07-13T13:36:00.001+08:00

Wanna share a jamming video of my band, JUNK.

We played “Explorer” by T-Square. Hope you’ll like it……

Spot the spot

2010-07-05T13:55:00.001+08:00

Malaysia boleh ……

Dinner @ Villa Danielli, Sheraton Imperial

2010-06-28T13:32:00.001+08:00

Went to this gorgeous place on Saturday evening at Sheraton Imperial, KL by Azura’s (FF Gym friends)invitation. Ahhhhh……

Had a great time, great food, great wine, great company of friends, great chat, great ambience. I got to know a few more new friends and had a good chat ranging from wine, to Europe, and then from man vs woman to porn .. LOL

Fresh bread with Balsamic Vinegar

Fine dining is never complete without some Reds

The appetizers … Mushroom Soup, Calamari and assorted veges

One of the mains … Australian Beef …

Can’t take more pictures because my iPhone battery was flat.

Thank you Azura for the kind invitation and arrangement.

Apart from that, another personal highlight of the day …

Finally, “some” definition at the abs … This pic was taken before the dinner. I was shocked when I saw this and couldn’t believe my eye. Damn happy for the result. Gonna push more for this …

A special thanks my favorite BodyPump instructor Swee and my “PT” Hector for the gym trainings.

Interesting Sign

2010-06-24T16:53:00.001+08:00

Saw this at one of the office that I visited a while back.

Kinda interesting …

Duh …

2010-05-25T14:48:00.001+08:00

Those who are close to me would know how much I hate people smoke in front of me. Contrary to popular belief, I’m actually fine with people smoking in front of me, as long as they don’t EXHALE.

Let us list down some of the harm smoking does to you, shall we?

Make your wallet bleed.
Make your lung bleed.
Annoy the people around you.
Air pollution.
Cause cancer.
Decreased productivity.
Waste time.
And the list goes on and on …

How people would pay money for something that does absolutely nothing good for them in return still puzzles me.

If the smokers can smoke in front of me, can I fart in front of them?

I survived !!!

2010-05-20T11:12:00.001+08:00

There are a few things in life that often hints at you trying to tell you something. What happened to me yesterday was this :

Tempted to accept an invitation for a meal after work.
Getting lazy after a 3 hour long meeting ending at 6pm.
Mistaken yesterday (Wednesday) as Thursday over the phone.

Perhaps the other part of me just wanted me to skip the RPM Endurance class. *lol*

I’m glad that I did not compromise. And so I went for the RPM Endurance class. It is a 90 minutes non-stop group cycling class. This is my first time doing an Endurance class.

A view from my bike. Note the 2 water bottles there.

What amazes me is that despite knowing that all of us will go through hell during the class, the class is still a FULL HOUSE.

The calm before chaos. Everyone is setting up and relaxing.

What amazes me is that despite knowing that all of us will go through hell during the class, the class is still FULL HOUSE. Everyone was cycling like mad as if a group of mad dogs were chasing from behind. And the aftermath, is this ……

Aftermath - A pool of sweat

If you ask me whether I’ll go for such classes again, I’ll definitely go again. It’s a good class.

After class camwhoring with sweat flooded shoe, sweat-wet clothing

Sinful Cravings

2010-04-30T14:59:00.001+08:00

This will be the part 2 post about my recent trip to Thailand.

Opium, anyone???

Naah … Just kidding.

A trip to Thailand is never complete if you did not go for their local delicacies or food, whether is sold by the road side, road stall or on the road. Contrary to usual belief that road side food are not as good as those in air conditioned restaurants, the roadside food along the streets in Thailand are just the total opposite. Apart from that, they are cheap too. Damn cheap …… Sometimes I just wonder why they can keep their price so low even though their petrol price is at least double of what we have here (38.3 baht per litre, which is equivalent of RM3.80 per litre for RON95).

You’ll never get starved in Thailand because the streets are just abundantly packed with food. Note the word “abundant”. Grilled Pork, Meat Balls, Sausages, Dried Cuttlefish, Sticky Rice, Glutinous rice, Sweet deserts are just a damn small part of what you can get on a typical street.

What you see above are pineapples, ready to be “skinned” and eaten on the spot. Though it might look normal in the pictures but wait till you see the actual size at the pic below. It’s smaller than my palm but don’t let the look deceive you. This fruit is damn sweet and nice. And CHEAP!!!

Another one of my favorite is their sticky rice served with various kinds of toppings, notably mango, steam egg custard with coconut milk and etc. Priced at 5 baht, 2 packets of these can feed an adult.

Apart from these local delicacies, there are also various dishes that are pretty much can be found here in Malaysia. One of them is this :-

Chicken Rice …

This stall has really good business and the food taste nice also, and priced at RM2.50 per plate, with a complimentary soup.

For the dessert, this is one of the interesting ones …

Self-made Coconut flavored Ice Cream with real fruit chunks. Taste like heaven … LOL

Hungry now???

Thailand Escapades

2010-04-26T10:56:00.001+08:00

This is the Part 1 post about my recent trip to Thailand.

Some of you might know that I just went to Thailand 2 weeks ago with my family to visit the relatives on my mom’s side. I’ve received lots of messages from friends asking me to reconsider due to the political state in Thailand, but I still went on with the plan.

It’s been close to 7 years since I last went back to my mom’s hometown. It feels good and nice to be able to catch up with the relatives.

“View of the waters surrounding Thailand from above.”

“A view of the airport garden from one of the restaurants”

“In Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport”

During the stay, Thailand was very hot with temperatures ranging from 36 to 38 degree Celsius. Thank God that there were aircond rooms for me to stay in. LOL. That aside, this period is actually a new year period for the Thais, which is called “Songkran”. Water splashings are literally everywhere and falls in just nice with the scorching hot weather. Everywhere you go is a wet war zone where everyone just in the Rapid Water Splashing Mode.

I stayed in the car most of the time because of my wound. So can’t get wet. Otherwise I’ll definitely join the war… LOL…

Annual Injuries

2010-04-22T14:08:00.001+08:00

Don’t know whether this is an annual thingy or not, hopefully it’s not. For every year without fail since 2007, something involving injuries will happen to me. Let’s do some recap, shall we?

2007 – Toe Tragedy
2008 – Knee Tragedy
2009 – Mishaps

This year, my bike skidded when I was on my way home from office on April 9th, 2010. It was a damn rainy day at 4:00pm when I finish work. While driving along the Mahameru Highway, the car in front of me braked suddenly and I brake too. My front wheel went spinning out of control and I fell off from the bike.

Thank God that the injury was not as bad as the 2009 mishaps.

12th day view of the scar.

Final Preparation to BKK

2010-04-09T09:17:00.001+08:00

I’ll be flying off to Bangkok tomorrow morning and then transit to Cheang Rai.

Lots of friend asked me whether I want to reconsider my plan due to the political situation in Thailand. But I just don’t give it a damn…… I haven’t been going back to my mom’s hometown for close to 6 or 7 years already.

Pray that this will be a safe and smooth sailing trip. And pray that my family and I will come back the way before we went.

On another unrelated note, the iPhone has been serving me well with some useful apps. The camera function really comes in handy. This is what I snapped while at gym yesterday …

After posting this pic on my FB, some friends claimed I’m becoming a narcissist. LOL.

My favorite spot

2010-04-01T15:14:00.001+08:00

My favorite spot in Phase4 Studio.

i

2010-03-30T14:19:00.001+08:00

Finally, I’ve joined the iPhone user family over the weekend.

Any good apps to recommend?

Smart Answer to Stupid Questions

2010-03-10T11:17:00.001+08:00

BOY : May I hold your hand?
GIRL : No thanks, it isn't heavy.

GIRL : Say you love me! Say you love me!
BOY : You love me...

GIRL : If we become engaged will you give me a ring??
BOY : Sure, what's your phone number??

GIRL : I think the poorest people are the happiest.
BOY : Then marry me and we'll be the happiest couple

GIRL : Darling, I want to dance like this forever.
BOY : Don't you ever want to improve??

BOY : I love you and I could die for you!
GIRL : How soon??

BOY : I would go to the end of the world for you!
GIRL : Yes, but would you stay there??

SHARON : Have you ever had a hot passionate, burning kiss??
TRACY : I did once. He'd forgotten to take the cigarette out of his mouth.

MAN : You remind me of the sea.
WOMAN : Because I'm wild, romantic and exciting?
MAN : NO, because you make me sick.

WIFE : You tell a man something, it goes in one ear and comes out of the other.
HUSBAND : You tell a woman something: It goes in both ears and comes out of the mouth.

MARY : John says I'm pretty. Andy says I'm ugly.What do you think, Peter?
PETER : A bit of both. I think you're pretty ugly.

Girlfriend : "...And are you sure you love me and no one else ?"
Boyfriend : "Dead Sure! I checked the whole list again yesterday".

Teacher : "Which is more important to us, the sun or the moon?"
Pupil : "The moon".
Teacher : "Why?"
Pupil : "The moon gives us light at night when we need it but the sun gives us light only in the day time when we don't need it".

Teacher : "What do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?"
Pupil : "A teacher".

Waiter : "Would you like your coffee black?"
Customer : "What other colors do you have?"

My father is so old that when he was in school, history was called current affairs.

Teacher : "Sam, you talk a lot !"
Sam : "It's a family tradition".
Teacher : "What do you mean?"
Sam : "Sir, my grandpa was a street hawker, my father is a teacher".
Teacher : "What about your mother?"
Sam : "She's a woman".

Tom : "How should I convey the news to my father that I've failed?"
David: "You just send a telegram: Result declared, past year's performance repeated".

Teacher : "Now, children, if I saw a man beating a donkey and stopped him, what virtue would I be showing?"
Student : "Brotherly love".

Teacher : "Now, Sam, tell me frankly do you say prayers before eating?"
Sam : "No sir, I don't have to, my mom is a good cook".

Patient : "What are the chances of my recovering doctor?"
Doctor : "One hundred percent. Medical records show that nine out of ten people die of the disease you have. Yours is the tenth case I've treated. The others all died".

Teacher : " Can anybody give an example of COINCIDENCE?"
One Student : "Sir, my Mother and Father got married on the same day and at the same time."

Teacher : " George Washington not only chopped down his father's Cherry tree, but also admitted doing it. Now do you know why his father didn't punish him ?"
One Student: " Because George still had the axe in his hand."

New Free Stuff …

2010-03-02T13:02:00.001+08:00

For some unknown reason, it seems that my family likes to have our family outing at Genting. We were there during 2010 Countdown and then again we were there over the weekend.

Somehow, most of our trips there (if not, ALL) were fully sponsored by you know who. *snigger*

AND you know who also paid for our travelling expenses for our family trip to Thailand this coming April. *guffaw*

The last time I went to the Genting casino was around 5 years ago. I manage to win around RM2500 with a RM50 dollar chip on Roulette. Actually I don’t really fancy going to casino as I know myself that I don’t have that kind of luck and guts to place so much of money on the gambling table. AND I don’t like the “smokey” surrounding and the crowd.

I did play 2 games of Baccarat this time and manage to win RM150. So I spent the bounty on a treat for my brother and sister at Starbucks AND got myself a new Nike gym bag ------>

Free stuff aside, these trips truly is a good time for me to spend some time with my family members since all of us live apart from each other. It’s a time that I truly cherish. Should have more trips like these heh? *wink*

Of Food & Fats ……

2010-02-19T12:58:00.001+08:00

To some people, Chinese New Year is a good time to foster closer relationship among family members.

To some people, Chinese New Year is a good time to get extra pocket money.

To some people, Chinese New Year is a time where they are bugged with interrogation by family, friends on their girl/boy friend’s whereabouts, marriage dates blar blar blar.

To some people, Chinese New Year is a good time to sleep through the whole day.

To some people, Chinese New Year is a good time to be well fed with a good family-cooked meal, albeit fattening.

To some people, Chinese New Year is a time to get fat …

NO??? Take a look at these.

How to NOT get fat with all these things around???

Arrrgh……

2010-02-08T12:55:00.001+08:00

CNY is just less than a week away and I still haven’t finish doing my preparation for CNY…

Still have a haircut to get but seems like no time to get one.

Monday – Gym
Tuesday – Gym (might be cancelled if appointment with property agent is ON)
Wednesday – JUNK practice (last practice before CNY)
Thursday – Guitar Class
Friday – Guitar Class
Saturday – BALIK KAMPUNG !!!

Where got time???? Oh my…

Some motivational videos for gym goers …

2010-01-28T12:38:00.001+08:00

I immediately thought of Swee and my fellow BodyPumpers when I saw this video.

Enjoy ……

十月合唱團 - 紅紅的太陽

2010-01-26T12:15:00.001+08:00

最近在水哥的车上听到这首歌。。。

让我回想起以前经常听这首歌。好喜欢它的旋律，歌词。

最近听回去，发现他还是一样那么好听，也喜欢上它的编曲，制作。
想要在这里向各位大大推荐，希望大家会喜欢。

紅紅的太陽

词曲：高德华
编曲：詹凌驾
演唱：十月合唱團

甚麼時候我才能學會飛翔在萬里無雲的天空裡昂揚
世界竟是如此的寬廣印入眼底的是紅紅的太陽

請讓我就這樣的學會飛翔在你的天空裡盡情的昂揚
生命在此刻不斷的成長你就是我那紅紅的太陽

你就是我那紅紅的太陽紅紅的太陽喔
融化我心頭的滄桑
你就是我那紅紅的太陽紅紅的太陽喔
你讓我忘卻了憂傷

回頭望一望走過的路是那麼漫長好多的心事是我沈重的行囊
黑暗之中我已迷失了方向絕望的前方是你溫柔的光

你就是我那紅紅的太陽紅紅的太陽喔
融化我心頭的滄桑
你就是我那紅紅的太陽紅紅的太陽喔
你讓我忘卻了憂傷

Awesome Music

2010-01-20T15:04:00.001+08:00

Just to share a video I got from Andrew Kam.

Hope you’ll like it.

A JUNK gig with Candy Cheah ……

2010-01-15T12:45:00.001+08:00

I was very excited that JUNK will be backing a local diva, Candy Cheah for a Tiger Beer show at KL Live on Jan 12th.

I’d say for a non full time musician like us (All came from IT background, except for SX who is still studying Telco Engineering), we managed to pull off a decent show playing different interesting genres, including Samba, Bossa, Cha Cha, Techno, Fusion, Soca and etc… And Candy Cheah was just simply amazing and very accommodative and very supporting of us.

Too bad Brett can’t join us last minute due to work commitments. Luckily CY is willing to stand in for us and spent time with us practicing.

We had 3 practices before the show and it was tiring but a fun time nevertheless. It feels good to be able to spend time with fellow musician friends to play music. It was truly a great experience.

The audio crews for the show (From REDANTZ) is also worth mentioning as they are one of the best crews that we have worked with. They are very very friendly and willing for accommodate our requests. The sound check was simply short and sweet. It is one of the shortest sound check that I’ve ever had.

In a nutshell, it is cool experience to be able to play music these bunch of people.

Thanks Chris, Hung Siew and Onn for helping us out on the photos and videos.

For the whole photo album, do visit JUNK Facebook here ……

P/S : I almost collapse after the show … Doing backlines and playing for shows is very very tiring…

Upcoming gigs …

2010-01-05T11:50:00.001+08:00

David - 爱心之夜4音乐剧
Jan 9-10, 2010 – KLPAC

JUNK - Candy Cheah feat. Junk
Jan 12, 2010 - KL Live

New Song – Wedding March

2009-12-28T15:45:00.002+08:00

Here’s a wedding march song that Melissa and I have worked on the past few weeks.

It’s a song specially produced for Jacob and Yap’s wedding

Hope you guys will like it.

This Is The Day (Wedding March)

Written and composed by Melissa Teoh
Arranged by David Chin
Performed by Melissa Teoh, David Chin
Recorded at Phase4 Studio

When the music starts When I walk down the aisle
I am trying hard to keep my rhythm as I walk

And here I am waiting, looking at my bride
It’s the moment where our dreams met, and lives are joined as one

This is the day, that the Lord has made for us
It’s the day that we proclaim His love and faithfulness

This is the day, that the Lord has made for us
It’s the love He gave for you and me
To cherish till the end

This is the day

Never will I leave you
Never will I forsake

It’s the greatest love we see
That’s on the Calvary

This is the day, that the Lord has made for us
There is no one else like Him, who gave His life for us
This is the day, that the Lord has made for us
Yes we love because He first loved us

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T16:59:00.001+08:00

I feel very very sorry for not updating this blog often as December is a really busy month for me as always.

Wishing everyone a Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year.

Happy Anniversary …

2009-12-09T04:04:00.000+08:00

Happy anniversary …

Craziest Lucky Draw …

2009-11-26T16:36:00.001+08:00

Ever thought of a lucky draw will actually causing you pain???

That’s what I experienced yesterday in FF Axis. Frankly, I totally have forgotten about this special RPM Challenge class. Luckily (or rather unfortunately) I went there earlier and was shocked to find my regular bike was already occupied.

I was given the “honor” by Margie to draw the song for Track 7. I have no idea what the tracks are because all of them are just identified by their release numbers. And so all the tracks have been chosen and we’re “lucky” enough to get all the long and crazy tracks. DUH.

The class yesterday was insanely long. We started around 7.25 and ended around 8.30. The floors are soaked with a gigantic pool of sweat. AND WHY ON EARTH the time passes so slow during the class??? I lost count of the tracks and literally thought it was the end during track 6. WTH!!

Each rider were given a limited key chain (which I didn’t get due to limited stock) and a can of 100 Plus Activ, also a good calories burn.

I had dinner with Eric, Margie and Teng afterwards at Strawberry Café nearby after the class. Very funny lar with all these lovely jokers around.

Astro Boy

2009-11-19T15:39:00.001+08:00

Got a free preview screening ticket from a friend to watch Astro Boy at GSC @ 1 Utama yesterday.

It’s a 3D animation adaption from the famous japanese manga of the same title. Those who were born in the 1980s would know about this manga. The adaptation is surprisingly good. Far better than what the others did for Dragon Ball which is a total crap.

This animation features some voiceovers from big names such as Nicholas Cage, Eugene Levy, Samuel L Jackson and etc.

Go watch it if you like animations.

Bad Service & Bad Price @ Station One, Sri Rampai

2009-11-18T16:46:00.001+08:00

Went to the Station1 at Sri Rampai last Saturday to meet up with a friend there. My friend and I sat down at the table near their cashier and bar area. No one came to take our order after 15 mins. Then I raised my hand to signal for a waiter and it seems like all the waiters there are too busy serving others and just plainly ignoring us. There was one standing at the cashier doing nothing.

After some “shouting”, finally guy at the cashier counter came and took our order. I blasted him of course for the really bad service before we made our order. After 20 minutes, our drinks still haven’t arrived. So I signaled again and another waiter came and I asked for the status. It seems like our orders weren’t taken. So we have to reorder again. DUH…

And then after 5 mins, the waiter came back and ask whether I’m ordering a cold or hot Honey Milk.. DUH …

Then I ordered a warm sky-juice. I did specifically mentioned WARM sky-juice, but they delivered ICED sky-juice instead. DUH …

There were a few guys who came and left because there is no one to attend to them to take orders after a long period of time... DUH

We were shocked when we got the bill … A whooping RM1.20 for a sky-juice. DUH

So we paid that a lot of money for a BAD SERVICE & BAD PRICE. I won’t be visiting this place again.

And I strongly advise to stay away from this shop.

Starbucks 2010 Planner

2009-11-13T11:53:00.001+08:00

Hohohoho……

Finally got this … Too bad I don’t have last year’s planner, otherwise I can use this with last year’s leather binder …

An attempt to be a designer …

2009-11-06T12:28:00.001+08:00

My company is organizing an annual dinner and I was “lucky” enough to be chosen as part of the organizing committee although I’m still under probation period of 3 months, of which 2 more months to go before I can get confirmed.

I was to be in charge of the dinner liaisons which takes care of invitation cards, lucky draw prizes ;-) , artworks, designs blar blar blar.

I have to admit I’m not really an artistic person when it comes to graphic. I still remember vividly that art classes during my schooling days is a total pain in the ass. I never liked art classes..

So this time, I have to get in touch with my long lost artistic side and come up with a design which will be used in all related printing materials and backdrop and this is what I manage to churn out.

What do you think????

And IF you’re asking why the white logo there, my answer is because of the people from corporate communication insisted that way. So I have no choice.

Camwhoring

2009-10-30T23:14:00.001+08:00

Just went to a salon to color my hair and get a haircut since they are having promotion… This is the first time I’m taking self pics from right angle.

How was it???

Penang Trip

2009-10-23T13:41:00.001+08:00

Erm… this is actually a post on my trip to Penang LAST MONTH… Hehehe…

My friend and I were actually on a food trip to Penang. Will go again next time if my schedule permits. We went around hunting for food along with the local there.

List of food that we had are : - (not limit to ;-) )

- Yam Rice with salted vege soup. I like it very much.

- Blackman Rojak. The sauce was superb.

- Oyster omelets.

- Seafood… Loads of them …

Sidenote : I’m not at all part of the seafood. I’m just camwhoring while waiting for the food. Duh.

Apart from that, we also visited a few places in Bukit Mertajam and Penang Island. Particularly, St Anne’s Cathedral and za Hard Rock Hotel.

If you guys wanna go Penang, let me know… I wanna join .. ;-)

New Environment …

2009-10-21T18:30:00.001+08:00

Tomorrow will be my 4th week with this new company. I joined this company as a Senior Executive for their IT department handling mainly servers. The staff here are very very friendly and more like a family. My manager is a very humble and nice guy. My colleagues are very helpful and entertaining.

A few days after I joined, they had a potluck session to celebrate DeepaRaya. Lots of food I tell ya…

If I’m not mistaken, I had 3 or 4 rounds of food… All Indian and Malay food… which are very nice .. minus the fatty part… All courtesy of the staff here.

Also, we had a fire drill last week… Nothing much noteworthy but managed to get closer with other colleagues. They are really interesting people. Thank God for putting me here.

So if you happen to drop by Damansara Heights for lunch, gimme a call… ;-)

Roty and Tomoto

2009-10-20T11:35:00.001+08:00

Stumbled across this interesting sight when my band went to this particular mamak shop after band practice. It was unnoticeable at first but it caught my attention when we were making payment at the counter.

What amazes me is the top half was okay and the bottom half was where it went wrong.

Maybe they really sell Nasi Tomoto. From Japan perhaps…

I’m still alive

2009-10-19T17:45:00.001+08:00

It has been a while since my last update ….

Just to let you guys know that I’m still pretty much alive.

Just some short updates on what had happened :-

1. I’ve already started working in a new company.
2. I’m intensifying my gym workout
3. I’m saving up money to buy recording / studio equipments

Will try to update more often …

Cute ????

2009-09-29T21:16:00.001+08:00

Cute heh???

In loving memories …

2009-09-20T19:03:00.000+08:00

Wiwi
1996 - 2002

Sawadee Thailand ……

2009-09-09T15:38:00.001+08:00

Last Thursday, I went to Bangkok with a group of friends. This is a trip planned since a few months back when Airasia was having some promo price. Since I haven’t been back to Thailand for a few years already so I thought this is a good chance to go back for a visit. The only difference this time is I’m not going with any of my family members, so it’s quite an adventurous trip for me although I can basically go anywhere because I can speak Thai.

We basically went shopping, food and visit some popular tourist spots. Manage to eat some of the food that I missed dearly, particularly the bamboo glutinous rice. Apart from that, I bought myself quite some stuff, mainly food, a sling bag, clothes, underwear and some medicine too.

I nearly wasted 50% of my 5 day trip to Bangkok because I was down with fever and cough. I lost appetite till the point of the food are tasteless to me. Luckily I still manage to get some medication from a pharmacy nearby the hotel.

We commute mostly using BTS as the hotel is just right beside the BTS station. BTS station is something like our own LRT systems. It’s very fast and timely. People here queue up to enter the train, staffs are helpful.

I’m looking forward to go back again……… Time to hunt for next cheap flight to Bangkok

Better Late Than Never

2009-08-28T22:36:00.001+08:00

Just got these from Eizaz last week. These videos were taken during Junk’s A Green Symphony gig back in June… Enjoy and don’t laugh….

Explorer

Omens Of Love + Sunnyside Cruise

Takarajima

Smooth ……

2009-08-12T11:09:00.001+08:00

I can’t really recall why this thought came to my mind when I was looking at some property at Saffron with Eric. Don’t know how our conversation ended up at all these waxing business.

I was a bit skeptical at first and of course worried about the pain after watching the crazy fellas at “Jackass” did their waxing. After some discussion with Swee, I decided to give it a go. And so I went to the Curve yesterday and did a Boyzillian waxing at Strip. This place was recommended by Eric and Swee.

The whole process of waxing takes around 15 minutes. Plus the extra 15 mins for some post-waxing care treatment. It was painful but only for a split second when the therapist strip off the wax from your skin, so it’s still bearable. I was shy to strip naked for a FEMALE therapist. Didn’t get a reaction, so that saved me from lots of embarrassment. Haha. I did their “xxxx Strip” which means removal of all hairs from pubic area and the butt-crack area. The end result…. damn smooth i tell ya. Haha

The therapist was professional enough and we were talking non-stop while the session is going on. That kept my mind off from thinking all those painful stuff Haha. Found out she worked in their branch in Singapore before and did a lot of session with guys. I was surprised quite a lot of guys went for this stuff also.

If you’re adventurous, try waxing instead of trimming or shaving your pubic. It’s a cool experience. I will go back next time if I wanna do waxing again. Enjoy~~~~

Hot from oven …

2009-08-03T11:18:00.001+08:00

My DVD just arrived …

Quiz

2009-07-28T14:44:00.001+08:00

This is a mathematical challenge, and it's been said that:
If you're an engineer, you should be able to solve it in (under) three minutes (more like 30 seconds),
if you're an architect, in three hours;
if you're a doctor, in six hours;
if you're an accountant, in three months and if you're a lawyer, probably never.
if you're good at math or logical problems,
solve this challenge.

What is the missing number in this logical series?
1, 2, 6, 42, 1806, ____???

Update

2009-07-24T11:17:00.001+08:00

Long time didn’t update this blog.

Nothing much happens these days as the usual routine keep on repeating itself.

Got my haircut yesterday and manage to survive a back-to-back BodyBalance + RPM class yesterday. Damn exhausting I kid you not…

Legs are very very tired due to Monday’s Pump, Tuesday’s BodyBalance, Wednesday’s Pilates, and Thursday’s BodyBalance + RPM. So I’m gonna rest today hehehe…..

Junk will be performing next week at Redang. Wish us all the best lar….

Enjoy ..

2009-07-16T15:27:00.001+08:00

Enjoy ...

Weekend Roundups – Of Trips and Weddings

2009-07-07T12:08:00.001+08:00

Two of my course mates back in my UKM days, Eric and Hoay Chia were married over the weekend and I was invited to attend their wedding dinner at Sungai Petani up north. Thanks to Wai Kit for willing to share out his car. Wai Kit, Elizebeth and I started our journey up north at ungodly hour of 6.30am. I went to bed at around 4.30am because I was testing out the MOTU. So I was snoozing all the way till we reach Penang around 11am.

The trip was a pleasant one (because I was asleep). I DO occasionally wake up to take a look around the surroundings and marvel at the green scenery till my jaw literally dropped.

We made a stop at the Penang island for a meal and to buy some souvenirs. Rang up my brother to meet up at Prangin Mall. So we went around sight seeing and cam whoring.

Then I saw this rather “familliar” shop … GeorgeTown White Coffee…

Seems like everywhere is kopitiam frenzy heh… We have Kemaman Kopitian, Old Town Kopitian and etc…..

Since this is my first visit to this landmark, why not snap some pics heh?

- Wai Kit and Elizebeth (their forehead) -

After some shopping, we went out of Penang via the infamous ferry.

After that, we continued up north and finally reach Sungai Petani around 4pm. We rested for a while at Eric’s place and prepared ourselves for the wedding dinner.

It’s a good time to catch up with my former coursemates. It’s been 4 years since I last seen most of them. Lots of them getting married this year. So it’s gonna burn a big hole in my wallet. Hahaha….

Hopefully will have chance to meet up with them again sometime.

That pretty much conclude the weekend.

New Toy – MOTU 828mk3 & Musicman Silhouette

2009-07-06T10:44:00.001+08:00

Hohohohoho… New toy coming in……

Musicman Silhouette

MOTU 828mk3

Gig Video – SUAC Animangaki 2009

2009-07-01T17:17:00.001+08:00

Hybrid was invited to play as the opening band for the Live Band performance in the SUAC Animangaki 2009 last Sunday. The event was organised by the Sunway University Anime Club.

It was a good experience for me as the crowd are very responsive during our slot. They even sang along with us. Hahaha… Great crowd !!!.

A special and big Thank You to CY for playing drums, Siang Xi for playing synths for us.

Thank you Terry and Eugene for helping us with the audio adjustments.

Thank you for those who liked our performance that day.

Although there were a few power trips during our performance, the crowd were supportive and cheered for us. It was indeed a great experience.

Let me introduce Hybrid again….

HYBRID are

Gary Chua (Vocal)
David Chin (Guitars)
Akira (Guitars)
Choong How (Bass)

Supported by

CY (Drums)
Siang Xi (Synths)

Without wasting much time, here’s the video.

1. Butterfly by 和田光司 (Digimon OP)

2. Ohayou by Keno (Hunter X Hunter OP)

3. ひとりじゃない (Hitorijanai) by DEEN (Dragon Ball GT ED)

4. 夢であるように (Yumedearuyouni) by DEEN (Tales of Destiny OP)

5. 1/3純情な感情 (Sanbun no Junjou na Kanjou) by Siam Shade (Rurouni Kenshin ED)

6. 君がいる (Kimigairu) by Galla (Initial D ED)

7. ENCORE - Butterfly by 和田光司 (Digimon OP)

Gig Video – Encore - Butterfly (Digimon OP)

2009-06-30T12:07:00.001+08:00

Will post my review on the gig later.

Video hijacked from http://anthony-night.blogspot.com/2009/06/sun-u-animangaki.html

Coming Soon …

2009-06-25T16:02:00.001+08:00

Hybrid will be performing at Sunway University’s ANIMANGAKI ‘09 this coming Sunday.

We’ll be the opening band for the live band performance.

Catch us there !!!!

For more info, go here >>>> http://suac.x-tenshi.com

Hybrid will be playing :-

Yumede Aruyouni (Tales of Destiny OP)
Hitori Janai (Dragonball GT ED)
Butterfly (Digimon OP)
Kimi ga Iru (Initial D ED)
1/3 no Junjou no Kanjou (Rurouni Kenshin ED)
Ohayou (Hunter x Hunter OP)

SEE YOU THERE !!!!

苹果花

2009-06-23T21:51:00.001+08:00

A traditional song that I like very much… This is rendition of the song by Mimi Chu .. hehehe

Hope you’ll enjoy….

Time Off

2009-06-18T17:08:00.001+08:00

I can’t remember when was my first visit to this place. Initially, I’m not really a fan of this place. Just don’t know why all of a sudden, I seem to frequent that place at least twice a week for the past few months.

As for this past few days, I’ve been visiting the place everyday during my lunch hour since Monday. The surrounding gives me a cozy, calm feeling and did help to release my work stress level a bit while observing the surrounding people, reading magazines, or just sitting there doing nothing.

Then I came to realize that humans really DO need a time off no matter what they do. Even God himself rests during Sabbath. Time off can be short and long depending on what you want and your constraints. I do often see people rushing off for lunch and then rushing back to work. So if you ask me whether did they really taken their time off during lunch hour? I’d certainly say NO. To me, it’s just like a motorbike stopping at a petrol station for a refill and then carry on the journey. It didn’t really have a time to stop and cool off.

So I’d like to share Joker’s quote from Batman : The Dark Night …

“ WHY SO SERIOUS ???? “

Eh …… ???

After all these gibberish nonsense, did I mention where is this place I’m talking about?????

There you go >>> http://www.whysoserious.com/

Naaaah…………

It’s STARBUCKS !!!

Actually after all those pointless talk, I’m just trying to say that I’ve been visiting Starbucks frequently. Hahaha… My favorite >> Venti-sized Iced Caramel Macchiato with Soy Milk (with just a few cubes of ice) . The barista at the branch opposite Subang Inti seems to memorize my regular order already. Hahahaha….

Photo Shoot – Volume 2

2009-06-16T16:33:00.001+08:00

If you wanna check out the pics from Volume 1, click here.

View Full Album

Gig – A Green Symphony - Part 3 - Snap

2009-06-11T14:57:00.001+08:00

In this episode, I’m gonna compile the pics that I received from various sources on my band. Special thanks to Gabriel Lai, Jason Law and Cloudfly.

Gig – A Green Symphony - Part 2 - Feast

2009-06-10T11:03:00.001+08:00

This is a sequel to the previous post of my rants on this event. However, I’m not going to continue ranting. In this episode, I’m going to share about the feast we had … before and after the gig.

After I voiced out my dissatisfaction to the coordinator, 5 of us (Brett, Choong How, Siang Xi, Yun Xin and me) went off for lunch. Eizaz didn’t join us because he was practicing with the orchestra. And so off we went to the Curve for lunch. Initially, we had a few options in mind, notably Sakae Sushi, McD, Kim Gary and etc and finally we settled at za “Italiannese”

Knowing that their serving is kinda big based on my previous visit, so instead of ordering 5 dishes, we only ordered 3. Brett ordered “Classic Carbonara”, I ordered “Salmon Fettuccine”, Xiao Yu ordered their new xxxxxx Penne in which I’ve forgotten the name.

Luckily, what we ordered is enough to feed the 5 of us. I was already full after I finished the 1st serving. We talked, joked, complained for a while and then helped ourselves with some dessert at Baskin Robbins. I ordered my usual Jamoca Almond Fudge. (Sorry, no pic .. )

After that, we went back to the hall and Brett to studio to take the small tom, cymbals and stands. Then we waited till the event started.

After we finished playing our set, we went to the Curve again for dinner. Eizaz didn’t join us because he still has to perform with the orchestra. We went to Dragon-i for our dinner feast. Choong How and Yun Xin still feel the food during lunch time and so they only ordered dessert. As for me, I ordered their famous soup dumpling, cutie pig red bean paste bun, and a fried pan cake with red bean paste. Brett and Siang Xi ordered some noodles.

Their cutie pig red bean paste bun was too cute and I was a bit reluctant to munch off the cute pig head, too bad I had to do it anyway. Of course I did a wee bit of camwhoring with the bun before eating it.

Gig – A Green Symphony - Part 1 - Rant

2009-06-09T12:05:00.001+08:00

This is the 1st part of the post-mortem.

The “A Green Symphony” event last Sunday at SeGi College, Kota Damansara was a great experience for us as it is the first time we perform with the 6 member lineup. Overall we did well, with some minor mistake but still sounded decent. We had some trouble during the soundchecks and “rehearsal” as the management keep on changing their itinerary. What we can do is to do our part to perform as best as we could.

As far as the PA system is concerned, my worry was true. Not everyone has their own monitor speakers, probably because we are not the main highlights of the event, so they didn’t bother to provide some for the bands. So in the end, Siang Xi cannot hear himself, Brett can only hear Choong How’s bass, Choong How can’t hear mine and others, Xiao Yu can’t hear herself. I on the other hand can hear everyone because my spot is the intersection of the all sound sources. I have no idea how it sounds like from the audience’s seat. Hopefully it will sound decent.

As for the management of events, I can’t say I’m totally satisfied with their work. I am grateful that they gave us a chance to perform on the stage (although we’re not the main highlights), but that does not justify them treat us and the rest of the band like we have all the time in the world to entertain their “ever-changing” itinerary. Things would have been easier if they had discussed with us and see if we can have a workaround. But sadly, they didn’t. So screw them.

More on the “uninforming” organiser. They only inform us about what we should wear only on that day. We didn’t bother to go back just to take our clothes, so I wore a V-neck T-Shirt hehe. Brett had to leave because he got an urgent phone call from his company to debug some issue. THEN, they told us that they’re going to have a full rehearsal so can fine tune the volume balancing and etc. So I called Brett to come back and he told his boss about this and manage to get someone else to stand in for him. AND THEN all of the sudden they say ONLY play 1 song. AND THEN AGAIN, they said the plan has been put off. So I was pissed and raised my voice when talking to the coordinator. So in the end, we manage to have some time to balance the volume between Siang Xi and Xiao Yu’s synth.

The sound crew on the other hand was being very helpful except for ONE, a Malay guy. He seem to not having an idea how to solve on stage problems. During our first soundcheck, we don’t have much issue because both synths are using separate DI Boxes to feed the console. Then after bringing back UPM’s synth on to the stage and they use the DI for that synth, we had more issue during our second soundcheck because both our synth is connected to only 1 DI, then when we requested to separate it again and the fella seems to get pissed. The issue would have been resolved without much hassle if he had connect one of our synth to the other DI. The other soundcrew joined in after that was very helpful and cooperative and helped us to solve our issue right on.

Before our turn for soundcheck, there’s already a band up on the stage doing their “souncheck”. To me, it seems more like a practice than a soundcheck and it’s a complete waste of our time. Seems like either they have never practiced before or never practiced enough and taking their own sweet time on stage to practice without realising they should be sound-checking and there are other people downstairs waiting for them to fuck off from the stage so the others can have their turn to soundcheck. tsk tsk tsk … these inconsiderate twerps. Never mind, we also had some fun time down there laughing and joking with the other bands.

Guess that’s all for Part 1… Stay tuned for Part 2

Jack’s Place

2009-06-03T14:54:00.001+08:00

Last Friday, my colleague and I went to 1U for a team dinner. Initially we planned to go for Chilis, but we opted for somewhere else because the wait was way too long. I was kinda reluctant and don’t mind to wait longer. However, since the majority wants to go somewhere else, so I have no choice but to follow. Finally, we came across this place called “Jack’s Place”.

And so we went in and got our arse seated somewhere near the entrance. The decor is kinda cozy and wide range of dishes is offered, ranging from meat, fish, pasta to pizzas, escargot.

So I ordered their “Jack’s Place Special Steak”, a beef steak topped with their specialty sauce served with asparagus, corn, carrot and fries. The steak is priced at around RM45.

Based on the price, I was expecting more in terms of dish garnishing, presentation and taste. In the end, it’s no different than the normal steak you can find in Steven’s Corner, with the exception on the price.

I was kinda disappointed overall with the dish, right from their presentation to the flavor and their so called “Specialty Sauce” which taste no different with a typical Brown Sauce. I’d rather pay more and wait longer to dine in Chilis which offer more variety, bigger serving, better taste, better presentation and etc.

Guess this will be my first and last visit to this place………

Coming Soon

2009-06-02T09:18:00.001+08:00

The “A Green Symphony” gig is coming soon and in a few more days Junk will be playing in front of a crowd of 1000 and in front of the ministers. This will be Junk’s first ever big gig. Although the main highlight is still the orchestra, nevertheless we’ll do our best to perform.

Brett just came back from Singapore and we’ll be doing our final preparation in these few days as the song we’re going to play is not easy and this is the first one with the full lineup. You’ll know if you see our set list later.

Enough said, do come and support us in the gig as this is going to be a gig with a good cause. You can read more here. Ticket is selling at RM10 per person. For further enquiry please call 03-9543 2201 /03-55410814/ 03-55410884. Details is here or you can visit their official blog.

Out set list for the gig :

T-Square – Omens of Love
T-Square – Sunnyside Cruise
T-Square - Explorer
T-Square – Takarajima

COME AND SUPPORT US !!! See you there !!

Photo Shoot

2009-05-30T15:37:00.001+08:00

Few weeks back, a friend of mine wants to test out her new camera so she asked me whether I’m interested to model for her or not. Just don’t know why, without giving it a thought, I agreed straight away. |||. But never mind, I got a free photo shoot. Hahaha.

It was a hot Sunday afternoon and I was sweating like crazy. But nevertheless, it’s a fun session. She managed to snap around 200+ pics. According to her, I was very stiff. Hahaha… Never mind.. Will do better next time if I have the chance to do it again.

Disclaimer : I’m not a professional nor a trained model.

View Full Album

Hi

2009-05-25T17:00:00.001+08:00

Woah… it’s been long since my last update……Kinda busy these days.

Nothing much happens, just more work and more work….

Just a short update.

Junk will be performing this coming June 7th. Come check us out….

Hybrid is practising hard for the end of June gig in Sunway. Check out the links on the Upcoming Gig box for event info.

We are JUNK

2009-05-16T23:46:00.001+08:00

Ladies and gentlemen, we are JUNK.

Siang Xi on Piano & Synths

Eizaz Azhar on Saxophone & Clarinet

Choong How on Bass

Brett Lee on Drums

David Chin on Guitars

Yun Xin on Synths

I survived!!

2009-05-15T09:26:00.001+08:00

I survived RPM Challenge yesterday!!!

Normally, I’d go for the Eric’s regular RPM class at Menara Axis on Thursdays. However, for yesterday and this coming Thursday, he’ll do RPM Challenge at The Curve, replacing someone. So, I decided to go ahead for the RPM Challenge at the Curve (with an extra hidden agenda ;-). HOT HOT HOT

This is my first RPM Challenge class and I manage to ride through the tracks. Dunno is whether I really can finish the class or I’m just riding on a lower-than-usual intensity hahaha (aka CHEATING).

Anyhow, when there is first, there’s always second time. I’m gonna go for more RPM Challenge class again…

Gig Done

2009-05-09T00:58:00.001+08:00

Just came back from the gig in Jaya One. We did well overall despite we didn’t have the chance to do a full proper soundcheck. Everything just plug and play and sheer luck.

Out of our expectation, we were paid for the gig. And the crowd liked us too. We were requested to do one more extra song for the night.

Brett met with his old colleague, Chit from Rade came as well.

Thank you Eizaz for getting us this gig and those who loved our performance. See ya next week at One Utama.

P/S : I don’t have any pics to post but will post ‘em up once I got a hand on ‘em.

Gig – 20090508

2009-05-08T11:00:00.001+08:00

Junk will be performing in the A Green Symphony roadshow tonight 8.30pm at Jaya One, PJ.

Do come and support the show.

I’m not that wise now ….

2009-05-06T10:57:00.001+08:00

Went for a minor surgical procedure yesterday to take out 2 of my wisdom tooth that’s either rotten or causing pain. The top left one can be extracted normally but the bottom left tooth can’t and need to do some surgery to remove it. I was very scared at first. After some encouragements from fellow friends and church members, I finally have the courage to go for it.

The procedure was smoother than I thought. The dentist and the assistants were good. The dentist also took the trouble to explain the process of the surgery and some post-operative instructions. I’d say it’s a good service.

Still, during the surgery I was very tense…. the dentist kept on telling me to relax hahaha. Finally, after 3 anesthetic, 1 surgery and 2 extractions, 2 of my left wisdom tooth it taken out. So I’m less wise now. I took the 2 tooth back home with me as souvenirs since they charged a whooping 600 bucks for this surgery. :-)

I’m not scared … just “nervous”

2009-05-04T12:32:00.001+08:00

Went to dentistry this morning to check on my tooth because was having toothache since Saturday evening. The dentist says need to do surgery to extract the tooth…..

Nervous nervous ……

Scheduled an appointment with the dentist to do the surgery tomorrow morning.

I definitely need your prayers guys…..

New Toy – Roland GR20

2009-04-28T11:52:00.001+08:00

Hohoho.. I’ve got myself a new toy…

It’s a Roland GR20 Guitar Synthesizer… Got it over the weekend during the Roland Fair at KLCC. I installed the GK3 pickup myself on my Ibanez guitar… I ended up placing the divided pickup right before the bridge pickup because there’s not enough space to slot in the divided pickup near the bridge. Thank God I still manage to get a good signal.

Hohohoho… To know what this thing can do… go dig some videos out from Youtube using the “Roland” “GR20” keyword.

Enough said.. the pics

New Studio Family Member

2009-04-27T11:36:00.001+08:00

Taadaa ….. New addition to Phase4 Studio…

Recent Update

2009-04-23T11:37:00.001+08:00

Long time no see….. Just some quick update regarding a few stuff.

Some of you might have known that my grandmother went through a surgical operation yesterday. She’s okay and the operation was successful and she’s now in a normal ward in Assunta Hospital. I’m gonna visit her later. Thank you so much for the prayers.

As for the blog, I’ve converted from a 2-column layout to 3-column layout and packed a few more information on the 2 sidebars. Added a Media player featuring my previous productions, and also a spot for my upcoming gigs.

However, I can’t seem to get my old blog banner to appear with this layout… *sigh*….

Job wise, I’ve been having this strong urge to quit my current job but somehow I still hang on to the job… Any advise?? Don’t feel wanna do IT anymore… wanna do more on Music….

Layout Change

2009-04-21T13:35:00.003+08:00

I'm in the midst of converting this layout to a 3-column layout...

So please bear with me for the time being.

结束迁就 I’m Sorry

2009-04-12T13:48:00.001+08:00

Just wanna share with a guys a production that I’m involved a few years back.

This is a song by 2tone (2號旋). Got their permission to post this up.
You can visit their blog here... http://rock2tone.pixnet.net/

This song was featured in a local compilation album… Have you guys will like it..

結束遷就

詞/ 向榮
曲/ 溫偉杰向榮
编/ David "dctw" Chin

太久了吧等一通电话得一句回答
挂断了吗仿佛像演独角戏吧

未接电话留言的信箱已装满了吧
冷淡了吗还剩下多久的挣扎

我曾留住信件留住你寄给我的幸福和时间
如今再无空缺该让我撤除删减

Im sorry 我逼不得已
别让我后悔我不想后退回首着原位

Im sorry 我知道你不愿意
别再有要求自私的念头就让一切从挂下了以后
结束迁就

没有挣扎你总是太习惯被动了吧
就选择吧决心更换新的号码

我真的好累你却无所谓坚持为了谁到底这
是你的误会还是我不对你卻不理會是是非非就当点缀

BodyBalance + New Haircut

2009-04-08T16:03:00.001+08:00

For the first time, I went for the BodyBalance class at the Curve yesterday.

It was a nice class.. Stretches a lot…… Gonna add this into my weekly workout routine.

Then after that, went to Phase4 with Choong How to meet up with Hyro for a haircut…

What do you think?

Lang Tengah

2009-04-07T12:48:00.001+08:00

Aaaahhhh……

I miss the beach …

Went to Lang Tengah Islang with a group of friends last week. It was a great trip. The crystal clear waters, swimming with fishes, nice sandy beach and etc… It was really a great place for vacation. I personally think Lang Tengah is better than Redang Island. My other friends thought so too.

During the first day, our boat ride to the island was kinda bumpy at first due to huge waves but it was an exciting ride indeed. However, bad news awaits us at the island because most of the activities were cancelled during the first day due to bad weather. So basically we didn’t go out to the sea for any snorkeling trips. So we stayed in and have our own leisure, be it sleeping, playing mahjong, watching Asian Food Channel, eating and etc.

On second day, the jungle trekking trip was cancelled also due to heavy rain. So we opted to snorkel at the beach nearby and we manage to see lots of corals and fishes.

Weather started to look promising during noon time and we prepared for a round island trip before heading off to the Marine Park for more snorkeling trips. The guide took us round the island before stopping in the middle of the sea so that we can do some snorkeling.

The fishes are not shy and swim along with us. Saw some shy Nemo, and some other very colorful beach, sea cucumber, funny looking corals and etc.

We brought along some bread and feed them to the fishes. Kinda itchy when they came for the bread though.. Feels like going to a Fish Spa.. Hahaha

We had lots of fun feeding the fish hehehe.

The whole group of us looked like a bunch of underage kids looking and playing with these colorful fishes.

After that, we went to the Redang Marine Park for more snorkeling trips. There are more fishes here. But not as many coral compared to May last year. There were lots of people in the Marine Park snorkeling also. I went deep out into the water hoping to see more but there’s nothing much could be seen though…. Probably the corals migrated further out of the perimeter.

And so we went to the dock area where there are lots of fish hanging around that area. We brought along another packet of bread and fed them to the fish here and it was hell lots of fun watching the fish chewing off bits of the bread. We stayed at the Marine Park for around 1 hour or so and headed back to our resort.

The feeling of traveling on the boat was nice. The sea breeze and the wind blowing at us makes us feel so nice.

We continued on with more of our OWN entertainment, more swimming and camwhoring when we got back to our resort. Hahaha

Realising the sun is almost set and there were some nice view, I took the opportunity to take this shot. Kinda nice though.

It was approaching 7pm and we went for dinner and after that, I went off for a shower before excusing myself for the day.

The others were playing mahjong and card games till midnight. Hahaha….

Fun time flies very fast and the 3 days trip ended just like that. Hopefully will have more chances to revisit this place and hopefully the beach will be still clean and the nature is still preserved well.

All of us really looked forward to return to this place again next time.

新调子第12届歌曲创作发表会

2009-03-27T16:09:00.001+08:00

昨天终于以一个观众的身份出席了UKM新调子第12届歌曲创作发表会。

从第6届到第11届，我都是以乐手身份参与。今年终于有机会坐在台下了。

老实说，对我来说，不理想。。。。