Short picture update from down under!

Yahhhh, finally some proper internet access. Well after a long break of silence, I thought I would upload some pictures of us, just a few though ... not much time. I have been very busy with work lately but hopefully this long weekend will provide some respite! Long live the labourers! :)

Mooncake Festival

Mooncake on Weet-Bix?

View from our apartment (1)

View from our apartment (2)

Where are you guys!

Wonder how's everyone doing by now...

Vegetarian restaurant @ SS2

I went to a vegetarian restaurant cum cakehouse at SS2 on Tuesday evening. The food there is not bad.. actually has been there for quite some time - almost more than a year i think. Unfortunately, due to my failing memory I can't recall the name at the moment. I think it is called "Tian Yan"; it has a big green neon signboard, and is located near the goldsmith shops, at the inner road facing the houses in Chao Yang ( just the road behind the bus stop where u see all the ppl waiting on the fringe of the ss2 golden square) Ok, enough talk, on to the pictures!

Vegetarian Noodles - Clear and yummy

Assam fish - actually seeweed with bean strips

Orange Plum Drink

????

Digital Camera Bought!! (short update)

How did I ever go from wanting to buy a stylish sleek fashion icon, the Canon Ixus,

into buying a dufus looking camera ... 0-o".

One word, good salesmanship and me being me .. *boggle*

Pre-farewell Dinner?

Went to the company's bowling session on Tuesday night.
Hasn't been to one for quite a long long time - thanks to the all famous ***ll.

Well, it was a good game - minus the heavy bowling ball.
Being the small size me, I usually opt for the 9 pound ones.
That day, it was all seized up by other players and I'll just had to make do with a 10 pound one.
Scored a lot of zeros too!

After that, we went for dinner - sort of like a Pre-Farewell Dinner.
You see, there's only 4 of us in that dinner.
Jason & Su Ann's leaving very soon - like in a week's time.


Benny will be following soon too.


Cos...


I'm the only one left - hanging around in KL.

Well, all geared up for the official farewell dinner!

(Now, is it confirmed adi?)

Food for thought

曾 经在美国住过 一阵子，他 们的社区里，每到下班 时间，就看到一家家的先生开 车回来。回来后可没 闲着，衣服一换 ，不是除草修自行车，就是遛狗整理庭院。夜 幕低垂，全家一起看电视，很早就上床睡 觉，很少人会去喝酒 应酬。周末假日，不 是在院子里除草、烤肉，或在 车库办个小型旧物拍卖 ，就是全家出门旅行。 他们 回 家，是把心和身和爱，都一起放在家里。

反 观我们这 儿，卖命加班、努力 应酬、拚命喝酒、用劲 唱歌，把实验室当家、把 PUB 当家、把朋友家当家 , 你的家只是摸黑回去了，管他是沙发是地板是浴室，倒 头就睡。醒来迷迷糊糊的，梳洗一番又去上班了，没跟太太 说上一句 话，没跟孩子 打 过一个照面，搞不好跑错 人家，你都不知道。做爸爸的如此，儿女上行下效也如 此，做 妈的心想，你们都不回来，我也出去吧！ " 家 " 就变成了一个空壳子 。 不论你家 谁是一家之主，不妨率先示范：

※ 每周最多一 晚去 应酬；不管是 谈生意，跟朋友聊天，或是跟主管笼络感情，一周 最多一次，其余 时间应该留给伴 侣谈话，和孩子聊天，跟家人建立感情。

※ 即使晚归 ，也要清醒 ；醉酒 开车要重罚，真是一个福音，至少大家都不敢在夜里 喝酒。最好是 连出租车也拒 载酒醉之人，说 不定能挽救不少形同陌路的婚姻。因为 没喝酒，回到家，至少还能清醒的跟家人 说说话。

※ 回家以后，不以自己会赚钱 自夸，照样乐 在家事中；家事是全家人的事，在外奔 波 虽然很辛苦，但是在家忙碌，也不轻 松。互相体贴，付出 爱心，随手做家事。

※ 不要把一生心血精华卖给公司 ，留给家人的却是破 铜烂铁；为 公司卖命， 赢得高 薪与高 职，确实 很有成就感。但随着你的退休被淘汰，这 些都成过眼云烟。然而你 给家人的 爱，却是一辈子不会 变质，他们 会回报你以更多的 爱。（ Be home with your heart) 看完这一封信，不知道你是否也和我一 样有相同的感触，我们每个人似乎都将工 作的顺 位给颠倒了， 总是工作第一、应酬第二，忽略了家庭的重要性。甚至未婚的 年轻 男女，也许因 为过于卖命的工作，而失去了 许多结 交男女朋友的时间与机 会，而已婚的男女，亦常常忽略了家人的重要性，不要以为结 了婚就是保证，殊不 知现在离婚率 这么高，每 五对 夫妻，就有一对离婚 。

也 许我们 都应该停下来想一想， 我们 工作的目的是为了什 么？是为 了改善目前的 生活， 让家人过好日子呢？是 为了要让 喜欢的人得到幸福而事先做好准 备呢？还是 毫无意义 的工作，只因为自己已 长大了？抑或是在权力和地位上的追求， 满足自己 的虚荣心？不要管任何人怎 么想，真实的面 对你自己，正视 你所要的是什么，也 许 将脚步 放慢点，你会发现我 们要的不仅 是为了 赚很多钱，而是 为了自己的理想在努 力奋斗， 为了实现对你所 爱的人的承诺 ，没有什么是不能 舍得 ，因为 有舍才有 得。

Quote from: Unknown

不能说的秘密 - afterthoughts

First and foremost, even though I do enjoy listening to some of Jay Chou's songs, I am in no way his "ahhhh(high pitch scream)-Its JAY!!"-frenzy type of fan. By a long stretch, I would say. To tell the truth, after his lack-lustre performance in his Initial-D debut, and given the "lovey dovey" nature of the 不能说的秘密 film, I did not have very high hopes for the movie.

But I was mistaken .. I actually came out of the movie feeling that I got more than my money's worth (maybe having low expectations actually brings your standards down a bit but I left the cinema with a little "wow" factor and with a little something etched in my memory - basically that is what every film maker strives to do isn't it?) Sad to say, Jay Chou's acting skills did nothing much for me. He was still as emotionless in his acting as ever, albiet a little better then his previous efforts, i.e. Initial D cool look the whole movie. He tries hard but pales very much in comparison to the ever affable Anthony Wong. Anthony doesn't win awards for nothing, he injects humour and light moments to what could have potentially been a dull and boring film. I have to say that out of all the actors/actresses in the movie, he was the most impressive of them all.

Jay and Anthony in one of the lighter moments in the movie

Well basically the actresses provided the eye candy for the guys :) Both of the main actresses exuded charm and "sweetness" (okok, accounted for by the fact that they are both very attractive looking) Alice Tzeng (Sky) could just stand there and look pretty with her smile all day long but I think Kwai Lun Mei (Rain) actually gave the extra "ummphh" to her character with her acting skills. After doing a quick search on the net, I realised that I'd seen her in a movie before but she looked really different in that movie (Blue Gate Crossing - about a young girl discovering her sexuality) If Anthony Wong was the soul of the movie, Kwai Lun Mei was the heart of the movie. Her portrayal of the character actually gets the audience pulled into the movie and emphatize with her character.

Kwai Lun Mei in one of her many "secret" moments

Kwai Lun Mei in Blue Gate Crossing

Cast aside, what really made the movie for me was the story and the plot. It was all your regular love movie and all that "feel good" stuff until the secret starts unravelling ( I am referring to the actual secret, not the secret that Rain told Jay about) , I was like what the ....! Although some people think that the movie actually copied a number of others, I found the implementation quite interesting and infact quite entertaining, low expectations may have something to do with it but I don't see why that should have effected my view on the movie.


Another highlight of the movie I forgot to mention was the impressive "Piano Battle". After that I came back and practiced my "puny" organ playing skills, but sadly sounded nowhere near to what I saw in the movie. I was a little disappointed that Jay's song for the movie was not played until the credits started rolling. I was trying to play that song but unsuprisingly didn't sound that nice (hey- gimme a break ok! I haven't played regularly for like over 10 years :p)


The piano battle from "the legend of 1900". An old movie but as impressive as the one in 不能说的秘密

If I say anymore, I might spoil the movie for anyone who hasn't watched it yet so I will stop here. Pretty long post too, A mega blogbuster weekend! Definitely a thumbs up movie for me, just don't try to disect the movie logically or it will spoil the experience. A lot of "bonus" points if you go and watch with your "significant other". Guaranteed hugs and cuddles after :D

Surviving in a zombie apocalypse - aka Resident Evil style

I stumbled on an interesting page just moments ago. What are your chances of surviving a zombie holocaust? You know,typical movie scenarios where those people end up screaming as zombies break into their houses trying to eat their brains. Find out more at http://mingle2.com/zombie-quiz

This was my result, looks like I am just brain food for zombies :( .

44%

不能说的秘密

不能说的秘密, a movie I am going to watch today :). Enjoy the music MTV from Jay Chou. I find him quite a talented musician, considering that he writes his own lyrics and scores.

Timing and Life

Though I probably realised this long ago, certain recent events have reminded me that all things are in God's hands. Sometimes, you think that you have the right to make choices through your actions and words, but then you realise, you are who you are and those choices would have been made anyway (well sometimes it is not so clear cut but... maybe it is reality).

Another time, another place, I might have thought differently - I still believe that your life is in your hands but certain choices are not yours to make, particularly with respect to the timing of events; things happen when you least expect it.

Anyway, I am thankful, I consider my life blessed and I am satisfied (but never complacent, there is a big difference there people! - we can continuously seek for better things even when we are satisfied, contradicatory perhaps, but my believe is so). Perhaps, it is how satisfied we are with life that drives our choices and "happiness".

Enough of this deep cryptic stuff already :) , anyhow it fills up the blogspace since the two other chipmunks are a bunch of lazy nutters !

Travelling again ...

As I prepare to go over to Sydney again, the excitement like what had preceeded the first trip I made down there is kind of dampened. There is always nothing like the first time, as the saying goes. Well, at least I've got good company :) Alvin is down there already eagerly awaiting our weekly badminton sessions, and I've got Su Ann (a.k.a. the giraffe - still can't figure out her fascination with giraffes -_-") and good ol' Seng going down as together as well. A good chance to try out Seng's trademark homecooked dishes!

I've got my pre-travel arrangements sorted out, flight ticket booked and accomodation on the way, bought my brand new S41 joybook that is supposed to bring me hours of joy (just found out that my supposedly performance joybook can't run Microsoft's Lost Planet at above 15 fps with all settings at minimum :*( , well I guess I can't ask for too much ....). So what's left, packing I suppose - getting all my gear together and all those essentials for keeping self entertained and occupied. Don't know what the internet access opportunities will be like in the apartment, Alv has commented that it is pretty costly to get it set up privately, maybe can "borrow" a neighbour's line :p . Pretty funny tho, the coffee shops over there don't seem to offer the free wireless internet services that is so common over here in Malaysia.

Probably need to start looking for the stuff to bring over ... I think I've pretty much sorted all my clothing and sporting gear, maybe have to shop a little for foodstuff. I got a weird look from the customs guy the last time when I opened up by bag and cheerfully took out and declared bottles of --- chili sambal! (hey, don't laugh .. those are highly priced commodities over there, ok!) O ya, almost forgot. Next on my shopping list is probably a point and shoot digital camera. I've got a semi-SLR digital camera but it is just too bulky for casual photography, like those quick candid shots that I want to take for blogging. Well look out for a camera review soon. I don't know whether I will pick it up before I go though, that was some hefty spending for the joybook.

Melbourne Trip

Hi guys......nice to see you all contributing to the blog. Sorry if i had not been taking part in the contribution. Been rather busy. Spent the weekend over in Melbourne. I must say that the place is very unique and peaceful as compared to Sydney. When i reached there last saturday i felt like i was in a place rojak between British and Australian culture and architecture. Nice indeed......Personal preference.......Melbourne....Why????? Not so crowded........Asian food a plenty.

BenQ Price Drop

Curses ... BenQ announced a RM200 price drop on the S41 Joybook, the very next day after i bought it -_-"