ivan's blog

Is there honour in honours?

2011-06-22T16:25:00.003+10:00

For a while now I've been very reluctant to pursue honours in my course mainly because it's NOT relevant in the banking sector. And I doubt that I'll change fields once I complete the 5 year bond with them. No sane person would forgo the "then" managerial position and start back at square 1 working as a programmer.

So why am I telling everyone that I'll pursue honours?

I only have 2 motivations for doing honours, namely:

1. to make my parents happy

2. so that I'll have the chance to go on board the Logos for a mission trip

- starting work right after graduation won't give me that chance, at least if I do honours, I'll have a 3 month holiday..

But I highly doubt that OM (the international group in charge of the Logos) will be offering Dec intakes this year, only for reasons known to them. So disappointing.. I wanna board the Logos so badly cuz it's gonna be so fun and a lifetime experience, hopefully life-changing God-willing. What about going elsewhere? Maybe I'm not too keen on elsewhere cuz of the harsher conditions.. Hmm but we'll see.

Not knowing where I'll be in 2 months sucks really badly. Maybe I need a good wake up call/slapping by going there.

Serving your other

2011-06-20T13:44:00.001+10:00

What do you think you have to offer to this relationship?
I was reading thru my friend's blog the other day and stumbled upon that question. A very valid question that every couple/aspiring ones should ask themselves. Going beyond the generic answers such as: friendship and companionship, what can Christian couples offer to the other partner in a BGR? After all, courtship is a preparation for the possibility of marriage. Who in their right mind enters courtship without the end of marriage in their mind? That's just plain immature for someone to think of serving mainly themselves as a basis for entering into a relationship. I think of the short movie clip made by WongFu Productions entitled Strangers again. Where they mentioned that every relationship only goes two directions, towards marriage or break-up. I hope I'm making sense to you so far..

Let's talk about Christians yea? What can someone offer to the other in a healthy relationship? For the guys, I guess we can expect them to be leading their partners to grow more and more Christ like. To offer Christian leadership - some would say. So if my spiritual life isn't strong yet, I don't have hopes of leading another less I lead them astray. Having said that, I look at myself and conclude that I'm so not ready yet..

The War of 2 Worlds

2011-06-19T00:21:00.001+10:00

Have you watched The War of the Worlds directed by Steven Spielberg? You haven't? Me neither lol.

Well we sorta live in 2 parallel worlds at the same time. This one here, where you can activate all 5 senses and some who have a 6th sense.. And we also live in a spiritual world where there is spiritual warfare constantly. I think of all the demons waging war on earth and God's angels fighting back. Though it may seem that the demons are winning now, I trust that someday Jesus will come out with all guns blazing, vanquishing all evil into Hell where they deserve but I digress..

Yup it strikes me, how some people labour all their life here without even knowing about the other world. And how sometimes fellow brothers and sisters seem to forget about the other world as well. It really saddens me when I see them spending so much time and energy building an empire here that would not last for long. It's truly difficult to wage war on both fronts at the same time. It's either on earth here or in the spiritual realm.

You can't serve both masters, either you'll love one and hate the other.

At times I do try my best to fight in the other realm but it's so hard cuz most people in the world (which includes Christians) are so used to the customs of the world and when I suggest a different approach they launch a nuke at me. And I can't please everyone, so God help me.

Both worlds are so different from each other. Toooooooooooooo often we get caught up in the affairs of this world that we tend to forget we don't belong here. Only merely strangers, passing by.. So why not building something that would last in eternity right?

2011-06-18T14:22:00.003+10:00

Looking back at my wish list (the top row on the right of the blog --->) which was made some 2 years ago brings back feelings of nostalgia.

MY WISHLIST ^-^

Hello World and exams..

2011-06-18T14:14:00.000+10:00

Don't quite know I decided to blog again. Maybe cuz I got tired of FB? Probably. Oh man oh man I feel so relieved now having finished the hardest part of my exams last week. I wasn't really looking forward to the paper on Tuesday, reason being cuz the mid semester test was too hard and more than half the class ended up failing it, including yours truly. And don't even mention about the projects. Before entering the examination hall, I rmb clearly praying for just a mere pass, if it were even possible at that time. But to my joy and relief, the paper turned out to be much easier than expected PHEW THANK GOD SERIOUSLY now I don't have to worry about the what ifs should I fail that paper.

Then the pace picked up again so quickly. 2 days after that paper, I had 2 papers on the same day, talk about the mother of all clashes (whoops it wasn't a clash). It was a maths paper and some other 3rd year subject where I was day dreaming most of the time during lectures. The maths paper turned out to be okay-ish. Came home for a quick lunch then exhaustion sunk in due to 4 hour sleep. Then I decided to do something very radical, instead of taking coffee, I took a nap haha. Don't you just love power naps?? They make you so refreshed haha. By the time I came home, I thanked God that one of the craziest weeks had just gone by, by His grace. Slacked the whole day and the day after that watching movies. The BRAIN just refused to work. Thankfully the last paper isn't that scary.

BOO!

2010-03-24T22:22:00.002+11:00

It has been almost 3 months. But I don't feel sorry for abandoning this blog cuz there wasn't anything to write. Now that I'm back in Melbourne, maybe I'd have a little to talk about..

So, the first thing (or maybe one of the first things) I did when I went back home was to install Windows 7 64-bits on my laptop. It's pretty impressive actually.. Lately it went crazy like @@! For no apparent reason, Windows would crash. I went online to search for the cause and *surprise surprise* the forums were full of it! It got pretty annoying when Windows just crashed every 5 minutes. Reformatting again did not help at all. So I went to uni to obtain a copy of the 32-bit version and FINALLY, no more random crashes! So much for 64-bits huh..

Anyone willing to do my assignments for me? lol. I have like a new assignment every week.... If it was programming I wouldn't mind so much but this subject requires so much reading, like about 35 pages worth. ARGHHHH!!! Topics include climate change and statistical data collection of abuse cases of women. Really interests me ... not

Got to go back to reading the amazingly boring pdf file

2009

2010-01-02T18:01:00.002+11:00

December was so packed! One event after another. Don't feel like blogging now that I'm back, so pardon me yea? lol.

Well, Singapore was cool. Sentosa is pretty boring imo nothing much to do there. But I'm surprised that lower food prices in Singapore remains around 2 dollars!!! (Freaking inflation!) Also EVERYONE parks boot in, unlike here. I've learnt to park boot in too! lol. Amazed at how the MRT operates. Much cleaner than Msia and drivers there are nothing like the ones we have here haha. Hardly saw any motorcycles. Oh yea, stayed my uncle's mansionette. If they call it a mansionette there, then my 'house' would be like a palace here lol. Very hard to imagine how a normal sized family could stay in a normal sized apartment. Wow.

2009 has come and gone. It was pretty uneventful for pretty much the whole year. One lesson that God decided to teach me was to always be humble. Sometimes, I forget my roots and pride takes over, always guilty of being over confident. An ex teacher warned me already, but it didn't sink in till now. Thank you for the lesson. Important but very costly.

Hope 2010 will be better than 2009.

2009-12-09T22:42:00.003+11:00

Sorry, haven't blogged in such a long time. Am back home. Now that the chatbox is gone, it feels liberating lol. Should try it too! Will be going to singapore this weekend. And have youth camp right after. Christmas youth party and carolling is next. That's my December. Will probably start work in Jan?? If I feel like working.. Youth camp this year will be rather interesting, theme is "Making Decisions" and there are less girls than both hands can count lol. Nonetheless will still be fun!

tata

2009-11-27T01:27:00.003+11:00

Last night blogging in Melbourne, 9 months has passed. A good 9 months spent, looking back now. It certainly felt good saying, "I'll see you tomorrow mum". Come to think of it, I'm actually missing Melbourne, not Melbourne itself but the people here that I've grown close to over these 9 months.

Many things can happen in 9 months, a baby pops out, a house gets built, and yes friendship grow, wonderful ones you learn to cherish for a lifetime. I'm not sure if I've changed much, if any. That's for you to find out. Only 1 sincere regret, I didn't spend much time with God as I should. Around the same time last year it was much better. Hopefully I'd be, next year..

On the side note, this week has been really pleasant. Played futsal for 3 hours on Monday and Wednesday, finally felt that I've improved my ball control and decision making. Went to help Kay Weng look for cars on Tuesday and later went back for LAN party, yeah! Thursday, was packing time!! Had to keep most of my stuff in the wardrobe, don't want them to be dusty by the time I get back.

Oh I had this "nightmare" a few nights ago. Dreamt that we suddenly became very poor. Then I woke up and realised how blessed I am right now. Will try my best not to complain about material things in future. I guess in the end, it was a good dream after all..

Things to do when I get back:
1. Renew driving license (can't believe I've been driving around with an expired one, shhhh!)
2. Get a haircut!
3. Buy a new desktop and hp! (if my dad lets hehe)
4. get a job??
5. Read christian bookssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, that's all I can think of for now..

Till then.

just for fun

2009-11-13T23:24:00.007+11:00

C
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# include
# include

extern int now();
extern void out();

int main(int argc, char* argv) {

// time since 1 jan 1970
time_t departing = argv[1];
time_t now = time(NULL);

while(now != departing) {
now++;
}

out();

return 0;
}

void out(){
printf("yay");
}

Python
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
import datetime
import sys

now = datetime.datetime.now()

departing = datetime.datetime(2009,11,27,15,45,00,0000)

while (now != departing):
day = now.day
hour = now.hour
minute = now.minute
second = now.second
second += 1
if second == 60:
second = 0
minute = now.minute
minute += 1
if minute == 60:
minute = 0
hour = now.hour
hour += 1
if hour == 24:
hour = 0
day = now.day
day += 1
now = datetime.datetime(2009,11,day,hour,minute,second,0)

print "yay"
sys.exit()

Java
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

import java.util.Calendar;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;

public class DateUtils {
public static final String DATE_FORMAT_NOW = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss";

public static String now() {
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(DATE_FORMAT_NOW);
return sdf.format(cal.getTime());

}

public static void  main(String arg[]) {
String s = DateUtils.now();
int nw = Integer.parseInt(s); // ??
int dep = xxx // ??
while(nw != dep) { nw++; }
System.out.println("yay?");
}
}

Haskell
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
update now =
| depart = put("yay")
| otherwise =update (now + 1)

Ubuntu

2009-11-09T23:36:00.003+11:00

A week ago, GNOME released their latest Operating System, Ubuntu 9.10. Yup and I installed it, reason being I need a fully functioning Linux OS to continue on my quest for total world domination. yup. Cygwin was a total crap, virtual machines aren't that powerful and LiveCDs are limited. So I jumped at Ubuntu. I partitioned a portion of my hard drive (10GB) for it. And I was pleasantly surprised to know that I could in fact access my whole WinXP drive from Ubuntu. Wow! Could even manage to delete certain undeletable folders in WinXP. Besides, I love the graphical capabilities of Ubuntu, which I would say it beat Vista's Aero, rivalling the Mac. The only thing GNOME could improve on is the energy efficiency of this OS. It's very power hungry! Eats roughly 10% more per hour compared to WinXP. It's always running on AC nowadays.

2009-10-31T01:16:00.003+11:00

It's past 1 now but I just felt like blogging. Didn't know that OCF "has" this weird tradition that if you grab someone's ankle, you therefore married.. Bing it's so nonsense, YOUR type of nonsense. And Kay Weng, please don't go around grabbing ankles.. hehe!

On the other hand, Melbourne Uni's Melbourne Model is so crappy. I have to take 6 modules of Breath Subject, meaning 6 modules outside Comp Science. -.-" Wasting ny, and the lady said HAVE to take if not cannot graduate, even more -.-" So far taken macroecons, microecons. Could also take physics, chem, and biology. Solves my problem of getting the required aggregate for each sem but that is like totally wasting money, since i've already done that in A Levels. *arggh pulls hair* I have to take 2 breath subjects a semester, in my remaining 3 sems, cuz i so pandai-pandai take all cores this sem..

Going to work for CIMB after i graduate, wonder what they will make me do hmm.. I don't like doing IT support, imagine someone calling me to tell me that their computer is ______ (fill in the blanks). Was asking someone today if it's better to be doing something you like while earning less or doing something you don't like while earning more. I'd rather do something I like of course, being paid more is more of an added bonus =)

On the other hand, today was a good day, most went according to plan, Thank God! Can't wait to play the guitar next week. If I could choose only 1 ministry to be involved in, my favourite would always be music.

2009-10-24T00:40:00.002+11:00

Why does Melbourne Uni have their exams so late??? argh!! K, at LEAST we have MORE time to study. Starts on the 10th of Nov and ends 13 days later, I'm grateful that it's evenly spaced out. Not too crammed. And this time I'll try not to be a hero. Have to study everyday after assignments are due. Speaking of assignments, I finished a huge one today phew! Do you like Facebook? lol. Here's a link to my assignment, try to break it will you? Please.. Tell me the error too.

Simply register then off you go! Create multiple accounts too, to test the whole functionality of it.

2009-10-19T00:34:00.002+11:00

Oh My ..... Was blog hopping when I came across a new mall, Tropicana City Mall! I wonder where it is, except that it's less than 10 mins from my house. How come I didn't know about it before 1?!?! Shows how outdated I am. Crap. But the good news is, 6 ringgit GSC tickets before 12pm! Beat that TGV. Maybe I can get a job there when I go back, and watch all the movies for free! *evil grins*

Today, I have taken another step in my plans for world domination. woohoo.

Did you know there exists a Google Translalor? It (the program) will translate ANY page in the World Wide Web to ANY language for you.. FOC. That effectively puts 50% of translators out of jobs immediately BECAUSE it is THAT GOOD! Go ahead, try it. Just go to that site and enter any web site, including this one and you'd be utterly amazed at the efficiency of that program. 80% correct grammar. I tested it on this blog.

Time

2009-10-17T00:32:00.002+11:00

Time is precious. While cooking just now, I suddenly realised that it takes time to cook something. For instance, a piece of chicken. We can cook it faster by cutting it into smaller pieces. But is there an upper limit to the time it takes to cook something? We know that it takes thousands of years to produce diamonds. The right amount of heat and pressure is needed, but it still takes a long long time. What else takes time? Hmm..

Takes time to grow,
Takes time to build (anything, friendship...),
Takes time to process,
Takes time to travel,
Takes time to think,
Takes time to learn,
Takes time to act.

Life is too short to worry about:
- what I'm gonna wear tomorrow
- whether my favourite football club will win the next big match
- the parties I'm missing/going to
- whether the share market crashes
- politics in the office/classroom
- has the hour passed? that its time to reply his/her msg

2nd generation Christians

2009-10-09T23:46:00.002+11:00

Sorry everyone, this blog is kinda empty right now. Been very busy with programming assignments and besides, no inspiration. lol. Just a little updates. I'm making a game in Java, where the player moves around in a map fighting monsters, fulfilling a quest. And sort of making a "Facebook" like web-based program. hehe. Quite fun, thank God my team mate finished my C assignment for me. Thanks so much rmui!

Oh suddenly I have something I wanna say.

I was doing bible study today when we were asked this question, "What are the challenges about your faith that you're facing?"

Hmm.. I thought of making this private but, everyone should know. So here goes.

The challenges I face as a 2nd generation Christian are very different. Having been brought up in a Christian family, I was taught about the faith. Unlike 1st generation Christian, I hardly doubt what's in the Bible, I take it as it is, and do not question. A command is simply a command. A warning, is a warning, etc. Sometimes this is like blind faith. I hate admitting it but I know 2nd gen Christians have a problem with having a real relationship with God. I didn't have to make a choice. I've been going to church all this while. The problem is, I didn't have to make much of a choice. But if I had a choice, I'd still go. Cuz it has been a habit and it's the right thing to do.

In the parable of the prodigal son, I'd identify more with the older son. Though I know the correct answer is the younger son.

Still working on it.

2009-10-07T15:11:00.003+11:00

I have the BEST team mate EVER!! Before I even started on my group project, he has written ALL the code. WOW! Thanks so much Roger. Friends in high school and college say they want my brains. I've never said this before, but I want your brains.

It's Daylight Savings Time now in Melbourne, no longer 2 hours ahead of Msian time, 3 now.

2009-10-03T21:20:00.002+10:00

Wah it's the 3rd of October ady..

Wake me up, when September ends (music playing)

My break wasn't a break at all! I want a break! Argh. Man, why do I have so many assignments? Even before I submitted the current one, a brand new one was given, like wtc.

All the best to the PMR people!

Canon Rock in D

2009-10-03T18:08:00.001+10:00

WOW!! Take a look at this.. you'd be amazed!

He's lighting quick. Salute!!

2009-10-03T16:43:00.002+10:00

Learned many things during my 2 week break.

1. Working together on a project saves alot of time!
- 2 brains put together beats working alone. What we did in 2.5 hours, it would have took us 6 hours separately.

2. JIF is the ultimate cleaning agent.
- Instantly removes years of hardened oil!! Normal cleaning agents remove a little at a time, but not JIF. (no I don't get any commission)

3. Haskell is no fun at all!
- The amount of time I spend programming in Haskell can be used to write 5-10 times worth of Java or Python.

4. Exam is 1 month away.

5. Mosquitos are THE most annoying insect/thing EVER!

6. I have the weirdest dreams..
- Dreamt of flying in a wing-less plane which took off after leaving a toll booth in heavy rain.

7. Gotta start studying really soon

2009-09-28T15:05:00.003+10:00

In Medieval times, knights were guardians.

In WWII, battles were won using blitz attacks. Fighter pilots were awesome.

Today, stopping hackers would be so cool.
I'm really bored now. Boredom level is about 60%. If it reaches 99% I'll hack my WiFi at home.

Perfect Imperfections

2009-09-26T12:05:00.005+10:00

Wow! Take a look at this video by the late Yasmin Ahmad.

I strongly agree with her. "The little imperfections that make them 'perfect'." Yes, I think I've mentioned this many times before that no one is perfect, not even the knight in shining armor. Even Achilles had a weak heel. I have so many things to say but not in this public blog.

Cheers!

When I was a boy...

2009-09-23T20:27:00.001+10:00

When I was a boy,
I had no worries,
Got out of bed in the morning,
And food was prepared for me.

When I got to school,
I didn't have to study,
Instead I played like a monkey,
Cuz everything was in me.

When I was a teen,
I still played a lot,
Cuts and stitches did not stop me.

When I was 19,
I asked my bf about a thing,
To be holy or rich was the question,
Be holy was the answer.

When I when to work,
I was too engrossed in it,
Climbing the never-ending ladder,
Was my only goal.

When I was old,
I found this song again,
Read through the words,
And it struck my heart like a spear,
That riches will die,
But holiness lasts for eternity.

2009-09-21T22:12:00.002+10:00

It's interesting how politics can influence/bend the rules, even when the rules are already there for a long time (not only in the outside world). This is crap.

mosquitos

2009-09-21T17:51:00.003+10:00

Ah, spring is here, it's getting nice and warm these days and the flies have come out to play. Remember in school, during English classes? We would memorise idioms and I came up with, as annoying as a mosquito. They are the most annoying wei, seriously. Yesterday I was TRYING to sleep and they just couldn't leave me alone. So I turned on my lights and hunted them.. 4 died and I went back to bed with a smile.

2009-09-17T19:20:00.002+10:00

I found a really interesting online site for learning my nightmare (Haskell programming language).

Here it is.

Not only the language the author uses is flowery, the graphics used to illustrate some concepts are really refreshing and child-like. I seriously urge you to take a look. Trust me.

Just this afternoon I was thanking God for the beautiful weather, not so sunny, just perfect temperature, and not windy. Then it began to pour at 6 when I wanted to head back, and when I finally headed back at 7, the wind decided to come out to play. I quote my friend's fav phrase, "So annoying ah!" lol. If the wind here doesn't blow for 1 minute, it will be raining cows next.

2009-09-14T15:53:00.002+10:00

Yay! Next week is holidays for about 2 weeks. Who doesn't like them? lol. But *sobs* I have 3 programming projects to do by the end of it AND have to learn a new programming language arrgh!!!!!!!! There goes my holidays. At least there's paintball and Counter Strike party to look forward to I hope.

When is Moon Cake Festival ah? Should be soon rite? Well I remember when I was small, we used to have a family gathering every year during the festival and we (my cousins) would light up colored candles and stick them anywhere the candles would stick. After the gate is filled up, it would be the fence. And after the fence it would be on the floor. haha. And we have backup fire, in case the wind decides to blow out the candles. My maid would have a headache the next day *evil grin*. But you can't do that here in Melbourne, the wind is TOO strong. While on my way home, I saw a fallen sign post. Most probably cuz of the wind. It's crazy.

Dunno why my left forearm is sort of like a magnet attracting scars. Yup, my latest one is from frying chicken. =D The oil ar... nvm. But it's not that obvious ady. So it's okay la.

2009-09-05T10:44:00.002+10:00

Guys, you notice the widget on the left? Called My flight home. It's actually very old, I made it when I first came here a year ago (for fun =) ). I'm quite lazy to take it off, it also serves as a good decoration for my 'black' blog. hehe.

adios. i shall think of something to write.. soon

Merdeka

2009-08-31T18:33:00.003+10:00

Kakiku rase tempang,
Krana main bola smalam,
Hari ni tidur sampai malam,
Sebab besok tiada bulan.

LOL. Minta maaf, tak terfikir ayat yang masuk akal dan berima. Tentu kau sedang fikir, "Si budak ni dah jadi gila, entah apa yang t'lah rasuk dia". Minta maaf la ye? Dah lama ku tak cakap dalam Bahasa Melayu, rasa gatal (lol?). Ye, s'karang otak-ku rasa tak baik. Ku pun tak tau kenapa kalau ku guna otak terlebih, ia akan rasa macam nak keluar. hmm..

Kau rindu tak Malaysia? Mungkin tidak, kalau kau belum mengalami keadaan luar negara.

Sebenarnya, lagu kebangsaan kami, agak emo/pilu (lol). Ayat yang paling ku rasa (translasi langsung dari BI) adalah, "Tanah tumpahnya darah ku.." Mungkin kalian tak setuju, tapi kami patutlah pulang kepada tanahair yang dicintai. Ku rasa sedih apabila terdengar ada kawan-kawan yang mau bermigrasi selepas pendidikan tinggi. Tapi kami dilahirkan di Malaysia untuk sebab-sebab yang tertentu. (ye aku telah dirasuki..)

Baiklah, sekian sahaja untuk kali ini. Terima kasih banyak-banyak kepada saudari Kathleen kerana sudi menjadi online-translator saya. lol =)

Selamat Hari Merdeka, warga-warga Malaysia!

2009-08-30T19:59:00.004+10:00

Haven't blogged in ages, quite a nice feeling actually haha!

These past few days have been utterly and totally long. I'm doing a new subject this semester, using the Haskell programming language. And it's not fun I tell you. Some people say it's the 'best' but I beg to differ. If macroecons was hard, this is ten times worse. At least it forces me to study.

Anyway, we had a Merdeka night celebration at my place last night and it was good. There was lots of food, lots of people and certainly lols. lol. I love opening the house cuz that means we'll have lots of leftovers too. Haha! Don't have to cook for the rest of the week, yay!

Oh yea, my friend was telling me that I like to use 1 word answers, which is true I guess. I must learn how to elaborate, sighs.. Like when asked how is my food, instead of answering, "It's good", say, "Yup, it's good. I like it. The ___ is really nice." lol. Do me a favour ya? Tell me when I use 1 word answers in future. I notice that I don't rack my brains enough. Like during bible study also, my answer to application questions seem trivial. How la.. A good example now is, I can't think of an appropriate title for this post, like every other posts as well. Anyone has a title suggestion?

Logical?

2009-08-21T17:28:00.001+10:00

No borogoves are mimsy.
Some borogoves are mimsy.

Hitz.fm

2009-08-15T15:38:00.003+10:00

Ooo.. I found a part of Malaysia in Melbourne today. Was browsing through Hitz.fm's web site and saw this button to listen to the online radio. So I clicked on it and put on my earphones and went straight to sleep. Yes it did feel like I was home again, listening to familiar voices, Iain and JJ. Btw, how many balloons would it take to lift Iain off the ground? LOL. They're going to try it out at Tropicana this Sunday. Sounds cool, wish I could be there, after all it's so near home.

Also went out with my primary school friend who decided to pop by in the city for a visit. Being guys, what did we do other than guys stuff haha. Actually the city is one BIG shopping centre, much bigger than OU and MV combined. Something like a shoppers paradise, except if you're not careful, you'd be run down by a tram (just kidding!). Ya I don't know how we ended up playing the Xbox 360 at Harvey Norman.. lol

Till death..

2009-08-02T18:42:00.003+10:00

Have you ever seen a dead body before? I don't mean the corpse in coffins. I'm talking about those who've just died.. I'm sorry to start off my post this way. Well, I saw one and it was not pretty. I was even asked to move the body aside and while doing so, I was afraid to look into the eyes (yes it was still open).

Life is important. None of us know/appreciate what we have till it's gone. Hope that lesson will always stay with me.

Life is too short to waste..

> insert a title here

2009-07-26T22:00:00.003+10:00

Let me tell you what's happening to me lately..

We were supposed to watch Harry Potty at a cinema at 8.30pm. So I went out and arrived at 8.20 then I realised I was the only one there and SUDDENLY I remembered that it was at Melbourne Central and not at Crown. And I was literally shooting myself at that time!! (FYI, distance between Melb Central and Crown is like from OU to church and back) But since this is Melbourne and not KL, cycling is the next best thing to walking. Even to get from OU to Ikano takes 15 minutes by car excluding parking. So I cycled like mad and got there in 10 mins..

And then yesterday..

My friend and I went to a house warming. Since I didn't know where it was, he was the one leading me. We took a tram since it we were already late and hopped out at the last exit and RAN all the way there (about a km). Boy I was glad once we arrived there. He called the person only to find out that her house was at where we got down from the tram. @-@ I nearly wanted to kill him but then I'd go to jail so I gave that thought a pass. We walked back instead since the both of us were already exhausted.

If only a car would drop from the sky..

HP n MJ

2009-07-25T01:31:00.003+10:00

Hmm, had a random urge to post something. On my last flight, KL-Melbourne which I flew Air Asia, there was this air-stewardess called Mary Jane, nothing special. If you don't know, Air Asia X has this chat system for passengers to chat amongst themselves (I suspect that they had to integrate it cuz it was too much of a bore for passengers on board). Ya so there were various chat rooms la, like "Dota", and erm, "Sports channel". And to my annoyance, there were this group of passengers who seem to be checking out air-stewardesses most of the time esp that one called MJ zzz.

Anyway.. Watched HP & the 1/2 Blood Prince. The movie (to be honest) was not really good. Most of the time, the director chose to focus on budding romance between them, okay la, not anything wrong but he missed many other things in the book. *sigh* One critic said, "They better not screw up the 7th.."

After that rite, I felt like reading the 7th book again. But over here, I don't know anyone who has it, so an inspiration dawned and I found it online!! *yay* You can find anything online IF you know how and where to search for (privileges of learning CS)..

There goes my holidays, back to uni next week.

sorry for my lack of suitable titles lately, I really don't know what to name them!!

2009-07-21T22:50:00.003+10:00

Ahh.. Just watched 3 movies today, at home in the comforts of my room. Among them were A walk to remember. Oh man, that movie is so good. Yes I know I'm very slow rite? LOL. But still better late than never! I'm finally getting some time off, July Camp is finally over (full stop). Good-bye to endless meetings and long emails. *phew* Gonna indulge in all the movies while I can before uni starts next week *groans*..

Oh it just struck me that today marks the first full year I've been abroad. Left on this day last year. One year does fly fast.

I watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix again, just to refresh my memory before watching the Half Blood Prince. And I thought of something quirky, would Harry Potter need an iPhone? LOL. So random.

Tomorrow, it's gonna be another 3 movies *whee*!!

Polls

2009-07-16T01:21:00.003+10:00

See the polls on the right?

To those who answered "NO", congrats!! You saved Mozart!

Life is precious, I don't know how else to emphasize that.. Everyone counts.

It is a true story apparently.

2009-07-16T01:00:00.002+10:00

Time for a happy post!

My results are out and praise be to God, I got what I didn't deserve.

Also congrats to the U15 Captainball team for making it to the finals! I don't think we ever got 2nd before, so it's quite an achievement. Great pictures too! All of a sudden I feel like playing captainball NOW yes, at 1am. LOL. Can't jump ady, ever since coming to Melbourne. But still, love it!

Hmm what else?

Will be going to July Camp this weekend. Heard that the previous Brother's House got broken into everytime there's a camp or some sort cuz everyone will be at the camp and no one will be left at home. Even leaving the radio and lights on didn't solve the problem. One day, my housemate was trying this motion detector camera, it takes a picture whenever someone passes by. Hmm maybe there's a use for it now? Haha.

Oh yes, speaking of house, a housemate left for S'pore to get married and I took over his room, which is way bigger than mine. He gave me his "special" bed, special cuz he said it's made for those who have scoliosis. His bed is like super nice wei!!! Even better than mine at home, Dad!

And the room traps heat way better too. The previous room was always kinda cold in the mornings. Yay! Feel like a 10 year old again.. LOL!

Oh yea, Jeremy came DOWN for vacation and I literally bumped into him in the city. What a coincidence rite? Ailin too. Then the other night we met up with Jun Ming and Eric for some hot chocolate on a cold night.

Till then..

2009-07-07T18:32:00.002+10:00

These past few days have been really hectic! Everyday sure got something up. Like last week, me and another guy helped a lady friend to shift house. Would you believe it if I tell you we moved 2 van loads of stuff? Yup believe it. It was good exercise nonetheless.

Then got group social ystd followed by a long meeting. Came back at 10+. So tiring. Looking forward to getting a paid part time job here. I need money! Okay, who doesn't? HAHA.

We had another LAN party last Saturday where we played Counter Strike from half past 2 till half past 12. No we didn't play continuously, we obviously went for dinner. It turned out to be a marathon kinda thing, but we didn't expect it to be that late. Siao-ness @@. Don't try that at home!

Just now, met up with my primary school friends, some studying in Melbourne, one came from Adelaide. We took this free tourist shuttle bus tour around the CBD. Never been on it before. The bus driver was really good at explaining various things around, including the origin of the 'hook turn', I'm sure you didn't know about that! Ya, thank God for the good weather, not that windy. If not sure can freeze. Oh yea, Jeremy saw me in the city while I was waiting for my friends. What a coincidence right? Yup, it's Jeremy Chan Jianming, the one from TTDIGC. AHAHA! He will be in Melbourne for quite sometime. So looking forward =) And he says Uncle Vincent sends "his love" wor, dunno what that means, or perhaps got hidden agenda? LOL.

2009-07-07T00:14:00.003+10:00

When we genuinely forgive, we set a prisoner free, and then discover that the prisoner set free was us.

2009-07-03T00:32:00.003+10:00

<- I did this cuz I was only bored ->

1. Have you been ever asked out? By friends? yes countless
2. Where was your default picture being taken? Don't have one
3. What is your middle name? Ivan ( i'm guessing)
4. Your current relationship status? Single and not available
5. Does your crush like you back? Hmm
6. What is your current mood? like wtc
7. What color of underwear are you wearing? rainbow?
8. What color shirt are you wearing? cream
9. Missing something? lots!
10. If you could go back in time and change something, what would you do? lots!
11. If you must be an animal one day, what? Why would I wanna be an animal?
12. Ever had a near death experience? Tell me about it
13. Something you do a lot? CS (counter strike and computer science) lol
14. The song stuck in your head? none
15. Who did you copy and paste from? lim hsien tjun
16. Name someone with the same birthday as you? Allyna Goh Shu Min
17. When was the last time you cried? I don't mark it in my diary
18. Have you ever sung in front of a large audience? Will never ever do it!
19. If you could have one super power what would it be? Read minds
20. What's the first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Face?
21. What do you usually order from starbucks? Don't frequent it
22. What's your biggest secret? Ask me about it
23. Favorite color? Metallic silver
24. Do you still watch kiddie movies or tv shows? What do you think? lol
25. What's on your walls? Hooks
26. What are you? I'm God's child =)
27. Do you speak any other language? If I don't and I come from Msia, it's pretty sad
28. What's your favorite smell? How the air smells just after rain
29. Describe your life in one word. Complicated and erm okay
30. Have you ever kissed in the rain? Nah
31. What are you thinking about right now? The stuff that I could have got if I checked my mail at 9.30pm jz now
32..33. What should you be doing? Sleep
34. Who was the last person that made you upset/angry? Rarely get angry, unless it's for a good reason
35. How often do u talk to God? Daily
36. Do you like working in the yard? Depends
37. If you could have any last name in the world, what would you want? i'll have back my name thanks
38. Do you act differently around the person you like? who doesn't lar
39. What is your natural hair color? Green, i dye it black everyday to make it seem that my natural hair colour is black.
40. Who was the last person to make you cry? myself? lol

Now I tag whoever who is bored enough to do this!

2009-07-02T01:19:00.002+10:00

Wah guitar stings nowadays costs an arm and a leg wei!! The last time I checked, Elixir strings costs RM75 in Malaysia and at the same time, it costs only $11 on Ebay Australia. Do the maths.

NOW, not sure how much it costs in Malaysia, but it costs at least $28 on Ebay AU, and $35 in music stores. Oh man.. Why o why?

No I'm not gonna use Elixirs anymore. The reason it costs so much is because it lasts ALOT longer than conventional strings. Well, D'Addario's EXP (extended play) costs much less than an Elixir. Hope it's as good as the Elixir. It's coated too.

I learned Macroecons last semester and about inflation. This certainly isn't inflation. 28/11 = almost 200% increase. Siao.

Crashed my housemate's group social just now cuz they had it at home, haha! Foodwise, it was bountiful in both quantity and quality. Yay. Then we played our favourite Mafia game. I think Mafia is much better than Murderer. The last time I played Murderer was during church camp in Penang, which is about 3 years ago??? That's long... Anyway that time the game was interupted cuz it was really late and people wanted to sleep. So didn't finished. Imagine if we played on, people would come knocking on our door telling us to sleep.

Hmm, why is it that during church camps I wouldn't sleep at night but do the opposite during youth camps? Wanna take a shot?

Transformers & language??

2009-07-01T01:49:00.003+10:00

Caught Transformers 2 today. If you haven't watched it yet, DO NOT CONTINUE READING!!

well it was my first time in Melbourne cinema. not that I didn't wanna go b4, but there weren't any nice shows. and no i'm not gonna spend 10$ for some sloppy movie. only big names babeh. and harry potter is next heh heh.. so, yea the whole movie was full of action from starting till the end. though we sat behind as in really really behind, it was not too bad. and optimus prime died-ed den came back to life. i was like so sad, thinking how would the movie end now that optimus prime has died. yea of course the movie can't end if he's dead haha. who knew that the decepticons could just change league?? weird. yea megan fox is just eye candy, don't think she can really act. she's only a model right? correct me if i'm wrong. another funny thing is the infantries were firing M 16 rounds at the decepticons, like it even hurts..

on the other hand, i've got like so many movies in my laptop now. and slowly enjoy watching them muahahaha!!!

don't know why caps isn't on. epic lazyness man. i learned a new word "epic". haha!! i don't know why we can't find the proper extremes to use. like it just doesn't feel right if i said "super lazyness man", hmm..... and i've been thinking, why do people use the 4 letter word to express intense anger? like when they're angry, they say, f*** this f*** that. which word did they use before using the f language? hmm interesting.

if people find another bad word which is worst than the f language, would it replace it?

i think today's culture has greatly influenced us in the way we are brought up to think and act. like the culture has definitely influenced my friends and they have influenced my, so culture has indirectly influenced me.

i think, i think that saying such vulgarities are a DIRECT defiance to God's face. it's as if one is taking things into one's own hands and not leaving vengence to God. not trusting in God's justice and decision.

may i learn to hold back on profanities, Lord.

Polls

2009-06-29T01:28:00.002+10:00

A medical professor once posed this bio-ethics question to his group of students:

Here's a family history, the father has syphilis, the mother has TB. They already have 4 children, the first is blind, the second has died. The third deaf and the fourth has TB. Now the mother is pregnant again. The parents come to you for advise. They are willing to abort their child if you decide they should. What do you say?

Have your say in the polls at the side column.

Surpassing the Law

2009-06-29T00:45:00.002+10:00

Haven't been blogging for such a loooooong time.. Felt so good haha!

Heard this talk by an Aussie about the law in the Old Testament. He was speaking on the part where Ruth went to work in Boaz's field. Boaz was only obliged by law to allow her to glean (pick up the left overs) from his field but he surpassed the law by giving her more than what was required. He invited her to sit with his workers at meal time, gave her water, ordered his men not to touch her, told his workers to even leave more wheat for her!

So by law, he was only required to do that much, but he did much more. If anyone were to question him for eg, "Did you allow Ruth to glean in your field in accordance to the Law?". His reply would be something like, "What are you talking about? I did much more than that!".

A modern day scenario would be, say a couple, if anyone were to ask them about their "private lives", their reply would be, "What are you talking about? I treat her/him with complete respect!" See the link here?

2009-06-27T15:06:00.003+10:00

Exams are finally over! So the guys came over for a sleepover/CS and we played like till 5.30. Crazy.

Oh I think my fingers have some magic in them. Any phone I touch will go blank like seriously. My own phone went blank and restarted so many times ystd. And when I tried to send a msg with another fren's phone, it TOO went blank. What's happening to me? lol

Today we went present hunting at Victoria Market for a fren who's leaving soon. I tell you Vic Mart has soooo many things wei. Probably comparable to OU itself. And the stuff there is dirt cheap AND nice altogether. Wouldn't mind buying presents there.

Can you believe it? MAS is selling cheaper air fares than Air Asia?? Way to go!!

Oh yea, I dreamt of home last night. Like I was back again, felt so good.

2009-06-21T14:30:00.005+10:00

Post #111

Wtv that means I hope =)

Anyway, tmr's my ECONS PAPER! I'm SOOO dead. WHY o WHY did I choose to do ECONS of all subjects man.. (sees red)

If I get 65 I'll be on the moooooooon..

e d b b b c a c c c e e e e e f e d

Who can figure out what that means?

Off to mug now

2009-06-10T23:34:00.002+10:00

Wow what a day!

Got like 60 over bday wishes on Facebook itself, dunno how come got so many..

My housemates took me out for dinner today at an Italian restaurant. Then the waitress brought out a cake and sang the bday song in the restaurant, malunya.. Haha.

When we got home, my housemate emptied water on top of me while I was looking elsewhere. BUT since Melbourne is ever so cold, I wore my jacket out and it was raining so I also had an umbrella in my hand. They had 3 or 4 buckets of water ready but thanks to my umbrella I was saved. Hallelujah.

Took a nice hot shower and when I came out, it was all dark and smokey, my first thought was like wat's going on. Then heard the bday song.. awww...

What awesome housemates and when I thanked them, Sean said "of course la, you're the baby of the house.." I was like lol

21

2009-06-10T13:19:00.003+10:00

I'm 21! Feels like another day older.. But I wanna be like Peter Pan!

Today got a HUGE shock when I logged into Facebook, saw 20+ (and growing) bday messages, including a wish from someone unknown. Haha.

If God granted me ONE wish today, what would I use it on? Feel tired of studying especially Economics argh! First paper this Friday, hope it's not too bad.

I wanna learn how to play 21! The movie looks cool

Countdown timer

2009-06-03T21:28:00.000+10:00

Ever heard about the story of my countdown timer? Well, it's real..

Know what you listen to

2009-05-31T22:44:00.002+10:00

Disregard the last post..

You know the song Don't Trust Me by 3OH!3? Yea it has a great catchy tune.. Till I looked up the lyrics here. To everyone out there, pretty pretty please check what you're singing!! Here's what someone said:

I'm 16yrs old and was a girl who really liked this song for its beat and overall sound.However i now feel guilty about it because the lyrics are ridiculous, girls i dont know how you sing it out loud and are proud of it because this song is degrading you. You are basically putting yourselves down by singing it. Helen Keller was a fantastic woman who contributed to society dramatically by helping the deaf and blind progress in life. Those guys are being morons and i think they should stop and think about how they're influencing us young people. Because of songs like this, young people think its okay to put women and disadvantaged people like the deaf and blind down, and "its only a song" is not an excuse. Guys really think about what you're singing please.

Besides, the WORST song ever is Right Round by Flo Rida. What do you think it means when the song goes, "You spin my head right round, right round, when you go down, when you go down down, from the top of the pole I watch her go down ..." Goodness. I'd rather listen to a meaningless song then this.

To be made private

2009-05-27T23:09:00.005+10:00

This is SERIOUSLY pissing off..

ivan's dump site will be private 7 days from now.

If you still wanna view this blog, leave your name and email address in the cbox or comment here, I'll send an invitation.

Regards.

Attention!

2009-05-26T00:39:00.001+10:00

Dear blog readers,

I noticed that there are many visitors from Melbourne, mind leaving your name in the chat box? Wanna know who reads my blog.

Thanks!

When Love Story meets Viva La Vida..

2009-05-14T15:34:00.002+10:00

This video is seriously good!!

Karting

2009-05-11T22:57:00.003+10:00

Went karting last Saturday at AceKarts. Ok basically, it was divided into 2 parts, qualifying and the actual race. Got the third fastest for qualifying. Then after they flagged us, I shot up to 2nd. It was a night race, and I have 'rabun malam' *sigh*. I dunno why my kart kept spinning out, 5 or 6 times!!! I overtook #2 a few times but lost the position after spinning @-@! Overall, it was an adrenaline pumping event. A must go! After the race, I was quite unsure of the final 5. Reason is I spun AGAIN towards the last few laps remaining and 4 - 5 cars went past me.. I was like OH NO!! Then I drove like a mad man and finally caught up with #2. Oh btw, he's Jack, my housemate from Hong Kong. The winner is Jordan, he's real quick and didn't skid. Aaargh!

I really think I have 'rabun malam'.. Can't see well when playing sports at night. Will eating more carrots help? But, yay! Got free cap, and it's a nice one too! =)

Me before the race.

Adjusting the cap.. Can you see the smile on my face? =D
Was smiling cuz I thot I got 4th.

Us on the podium.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T20:36:00.001+10:00

Happy Mother's Day mummy! I love you!

Aryton Senna

2009-05-07T16:56:00.003+10:00

Aryton Senna, the greatest Formula 1 driver ever. He was the first to reach the crash site, where another F1 car had just crashed and instead of continuing on with his race, he stopped and got out to help the other driver! Effectively ending his race. Such selflessness.

100th post

2009-05-05T20:26:00.001+10:00

Wah just realised that my finals is in 1 month!! How time flies.. Got to get serious dy.

This is my 100th post! This blog is getting old

Hiro

2009-05-04T00:38:00.002+10:00

Didn't know I could procrastinate this badly.. Got so much reading AND understanding to be done. Suddenly I wish that I could have Hiro Nakamura's ability, to stop time and time travel. For me, that's the best single ability la. Unless you wish to cheat and have Sylar's or Peter's ability. Oooh, Peter's the best but in Season 3, he loses his power to his dad, like so wasted ny!!! Sigh. But Sylar's the villian, so the next best is Matt Parkman. Think reading minds, and influencing people. How good is it if in the midst of your exam, you could just stop time and look up your book, or compare answers XD!! Or if you don't wanna cheat, just stop time before exam and study kau kau!!

But I digress..

So erm, what was I trying to say?

Oh yea, just saw my ex-college fren's youtube videos of him performing solo on his guitar to some mainstream songs and suddenly had this urge to play Jason Mraz's I'm Yours. So difficult! I don't know how to strum to reggae beats. But I shall keep on trying cuz that song is SO cool.

Going karting this Saturday. Feeling kinda intimidated cuz ALL the other racers from church are working dy, that means they are older by at least 4 years. At last! A chance to seriously race and be like ... Fernando Alonso! To sweeten things, they have a trophy for the winner =D

2009-05-03T01:30:00.002+10:00

Thank God Calculus assignment 2 was easy! When's Mother's Day btw? I can't remember dates, as in FT Day, Labour Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, n ... Christmas.. lol kding

OCF

2009-05-02T10:48:00.002+10:00

I love OCF (Overseas Christian Fellowship), it's really a great place. I've grown more over the past months then elsewhere.. The thing about OCF is that it doesn't have all those "dramas" which are ever so time and energy draining. That leaves you free to grow, ie less hindrances along the way. It's better than even RBS! There are so many opportunities for growth and leadership. The leaders step down every year or 2, so it's not held by those certain people. I guess a drama-less environment is always good.

Training to be godly

2009-05-01T17:41:00.003+10:00

Dear readers,

Just wanted to share something. I was reading 1 Tim 4:8, and what seemed like a pretty normal verse had a huge meaning to it. It said basically that physical training has some value, but godliness has value both in this life and for eternity. I didn't know we had to train to be godly. Well, athletes train everyday, musicians too. Didn't know that I have train myself to be godly.

Food for thought.

Annoying documentations

2009-04-30T12:52:00.003+10:00

I'm supposed to do some peer review of the work of my classmates code. Accounts for 5%. Not very little BUT it's killing me! They wrote like heaps of documentation for their code. And the documentation is way way more than the code. That's so frustrating man!

Imagine this (documentations in brackets) >>>

y = 5 ('y' is a variable, which 5 is assigned to it)
z = 4 ('z' is another variable, holding the value of 4)
x = y + z ('x' is the addition of 'y' and 'z')

Aargh!! It's like duh right? Help, 300 lines..

2009-04-26T01:44:00.002+10:00

Oh man.. Just finished my first assignment, programmed in C. So difficult!!! I don't like C!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Firstly it has so many different variations as in no hard and fast rules. My friend coded in one way (the easy way) and when I tried to do it, it for some funny reason couldn't work on my laptop. SWT WEI! So have to debug and debug and debug.. So troublesome, seriously thank god for my housemate and my friend. If not I'm sorta dead. The only good thing was that I learned a lot about debugging the crappy thing.

BESIDES... Suddenly I'm like so busy in OCF this year. ygotsomanythingstodowan. oh well better den none.

Which background is better? Black or white?

2009-04-18T22:48:00.002+10:00

It's the end of Easter holidays.. Went up to Mt. Evelyn to take a look at the July Camp site, that place it seriously THE best! They have EVERY sports activity. Flying fox, archery, indoor basketball and futsal, 3 pool tables, foosball, mountain biking trail, and ropes course, not to mention a small pool too. Totally awesome man! We rented a Corolla 1.6A and I don't know why but it felt like it had a 2 litre engine instead. Really powerful car. After visiting the camp site, we went up to Dandenong for lunch. Ate at this place which was awarded the "Best Pie in the State". Mind you it was really good and cheap.

My friend and I wanted to take some water and we passed a table next to us with 5 girls, with my friend walking in front of me la. Then a girl asked my friend something, which I thought she asked him to take the order, and I blurted out, "Sorry we're not waiters" and took a step forward. The girl and my friend was like HUH?!?! And then I saw her holding a camera and straightaway apologized. Malunya.. After taking the picture, the girls started to make small talk and were like, "Are you guys from Singapore?", I explained and left, saying into my friend's ear, "They're hitting on us.." Argh so malu!

I drove home after lunch, yay!

2009-04-14T10:25:00.002+10:00

How do you like the 'new' look? Too lazy to search for blogskins unlike some people *wink*

Toast to a new beginning!

2009-04-11T21:36:00.003+10:00

I'm making another blog, where I can rant or express my opinions freely.. Surely it will be private, but if you want to view it, leave a comment with your gmail address.

The other day at Good Friday service in church, I heard the most wonderful Good Friday sermon ever! Or rather the best. The speaker was the dean of postgraduate studies at the Bible College of Victoria, and he spoke in a narrative way from Mt 27. It was so good that I thought of entering bible college for a split second.

Tomorrow's Easter.

Good Friday

2009-04-10T02:11:00.003+10:00

Today's Good Friday. We all know what happened in history don't we?

To everybody out there: Jesus loves you!! He loves you till the extent of giving His life for yours..

There are a million things in life I don't know, but that's one thing I know for sure.

Just felt like saying something.

It's d 2nd time I'm missing Easter in church. Wish I could pop back for Easter and Good Friday.

You never really 'know' the value of something till you lose it. We're such ungrateful beings, what a shame.

On a lighter note, Blessed Good Friday!!

May God's love touch your hearts on this day..

2009-04-05T09:33:00.002+10:00

Yay! We turned the clock back an hour, so it's back to 2 hours ahead here. Sorry for not blogging for 3 weeks, had nothing to write. Haha. Anyway, I'm still alive n kickin here. There's this macroecons assignment due on tuesday about recession and why the government introduce stimulus packages. It is hard, but thank God my housemate here is a final semester economics student so we (erm what's that mutualistic relationship called again?) help each other ;)

Then last friday, we were doing a bible study on 1 Tim 3, about the characteristics of overseers and deacons.. Did you know that ability isn't the top criteria of the leadership? Often we choose someone cuz of what they can do but the bible only requires that an overseer 'can teach', others are all character related. Wow.

I do miss home. Just that day, I started playing the guitar and felt kinda lost without the Spectrum's music book I always play with. Now have to find another source.

Oh and Uncle Ray is back again. He had something similar to a heart attack 2 weeks ago at night. Some of us rushed to his house and found him lying on the floor struggling for breath. The ambulance came 10 minutes later and goodness they were inefficient. Taking their own sweet time. You'd expect them to be like in the movies. The paramedics attached electrodes to his chest and gave him O2. It was all kinda scary being there. Never saw anything like this before. BTW, he's our landlord.

I wish I would have a quick painless death. And speaking of death, Good Friday is this week.

*bows head*

100 truths (half)

2009-03-29T10:32:00.004+11:00

001. Real name: Cheong Hsueh-Hsen
002. Nickname(s): Ivan (not cow!)
003. Age: 21 = freedom
004. Horoscope: gemini
005. Male or Female: M
006. Elementary: Tadika Eduland
007. Middle School: Sk Taman kepong
008. High School: SMKB
009. College schook: HELP-me
010. Hair colour: black
011. Long or short: Short
012. Loud or Quiet: above average?
013. Sweats or Jeans: Jeans
014. Phone or Camera: camera phone.. i wanna get a new one
015. Health freak: nope
016. Drink or Smoke: neither
017. Do you have a crush on someone: dunno
018. Eat or Drink: food!!
019. Piercings: Nope
020. Tattoos: nope
021. Social or Anti-Social: depends on d mood lol
022. Righty or Lefty: right
023. First piercing: never man
024. First relationship: -
025. First Best Friend: secret
026. First Award: dunno la.. got alot XD
027. First Kiss: dun hv
028. First Pet: pet koi
029. First Big Vacation: phuket
030. First Love at first sight: dun hv also (sorry la)
031. First Big Birthday: can't rmb lo
032. First Surgery: form 2 i guess
033. First sport you joined: Football. Definitely
034. Orange or Apple Juice: grape
035. Rock or Rap: rock man
036. Country or Screamo: definitely not screamo
037. NSYNC or Backstreet boys: wats d diff anyway?
038. Britney spears or Christina Aguilera: Britney Spears
039. Night or Day: i wud say nite person
040. Sun or Moon: lets thank god for d sun shall we? since we'd probably freeze to death w/o it
041. TV or Internet: both (with good shows)
042. Playstation or xbox: PS3 is THE coolest console
043. Kiss or hug: depends
044. Iguana or turtle: iguanas are fugly
045. Spider or bee: neither
046. Fall or spring: fall i guess
047. Limewire or iTunes: iTunes
048. Soccer or baseball: Soccer
049. Eating: nth now. jz had dinner. no wonder i'm putting on weight hmm
050. Drinking: water?
051. Excitement level: normal la
052. I'm about to: type sth..
053. Listening to: Computer Fan Whirling by Laptop
054. Plan for today: Sleep early i hope
055. Waiting for: my housemate to finish d dishes while i happily blog =)
056. Energy level: normal la..
057. Thinking of someone: dont think so
058. Want kids: yea
059. Want to get married: who doesnt wanna get married?
060. When: b4 30?
061. How many kids do you want: a soccer team!! nah
062. Any name in mind: i'll leave that to my other half
063. What did you want to be when you were little: soldier (luves guns)
064. Careers in mind: something with CIMB....
065. Mellow future or wild: secure future more likely
066. Something you would never try: not studying for an exam?
067. When do you want to die: preferably now but God has other plans for me
068. Which is the better in the boy/girl you like (in the future) Lips or Eyes: comes in a package la
069. Romantic or Funny: Both
070. Shorter or Taller: shorter than me
071. Protective or Caring: Caring (protective gals r scary)
072. Romantic or Spontaneous: Both
073. Nice Stomach or Nice Arms: comes in a package lar
074. Sensitive or Loud: not too loud or sensitive but cant be too choosy
075. Hooked-up or Relationship: Relationship la of cuz
076. Trouble Maker or Hesitant: Neither.
077. Muscular or Normal: muscular gal????
078. Have you ever kissed a stranger: when i wz a lil baby maybe lar
079. Broken a bone: nope
080. Lost glasses or contacts: Nope...
081. Ran away from home: for wat? i hv a lovely home =)
082. Held a gun/knife for self defense: jz kill me i wanna go to heaven
083. Killed somebody: in CS definitely
084. Broken someone's heart: last time maybe
085. Had your heart broken: last time maybe
086. Been arrested: for?
087. Cried when someone died: no one close to me passed away
088. Liked a friend more than a friend: yea
089. Do you believe in yourself: depends
090. Miracles: Yes, if god says so
091. Love at first sight: never
092. Heaven: as real as u
093. Santa Claus: fantasy fantasy
094. Tooth fairy: fantasy fantasy
095. Kiss in the first date: nope
096. Angels: yea
097. Is there 1 person you want to be with right now? yea
098. Are you seriously happy with where you're in life now? nope
099. Do you believe in God? yea
100. Post as 100 truths and tag 6 people.

Mei JEan, Karam, Goloka, Rachel Rocks, Chui Yi, ET

Outing

2009-03-18T10:21:00.003+11:00

Went out with Uncle Jay yesterday when he flew here. Classes were mostly done for the day by 11am. My timetable rocks cuz I have 3 days which have 2 hour lectures only. So when home, finished reading the book to pass to Uncle Jay. Then about 2, left for Bayview Eden. Uncle Jay hadn't had his lunch yet so we went down to St. Kilda by tram for his favourite fish n' chips. Says he has been eating a lot of healthy food. Well, the Whiting fish isn't as nice as the gummy shark in my opinion but it's still delicious! Then we went back to the hotel for coffee at Gloria Jeans.. The coffee blender was so noisy, don't know how people can enjoy their conversations inside. We took ours out and Uncle Jay was telling me about pride. How most of us can't resist hitting back when someone damages our ego. How true, must be more conscious about this now. Then we waited for Uncle Jeffrey and Aunty Vicki to come pick us up.

Imagine having pasta at 1, fish n chips at 3, coffee at 5, now going for dinner at 7!!

Had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant in Little Vietnam somewhere in Richmond. The noodles there were of a different texture, great stuff again. Walked around for a while then decided to have coffee. This time I ordered mocha if not surely cannot sleep at night. We took these at Gloria Jeans in Borders on Lygon. Came back at 10 with a bloated belly and a grateful heart. Thank you Uncle Jay! Oh yea, forgot to mention that my mum passed me the Planet Waves cable I thought was lost. Haha.

Recent happenings

2009-03-15T22:27:00.004+11:00

Went for this Moomba Fest last weekend down at the Yarra River. Had dinner with the OCFers before that. Typical Australian serving, H-U-G-E!! Yup. The festival's highlight is a 15 minute long fireworks display. Seriously good wei! I don't know how to describe, but you can visit my friend's blog to have a look.

Erm, yesterday we opened the house for dinner. About 12 people came, the food was good as usual. We played this really lame game which all of us laughed so hard that I felt the muscles in my cheek ache. Then some of the guys went out to watch the Liverpool-Man Utd match at midnite but I was too tired to join them cuz earlier I went out for a social with my new Bible Study group at Eureka Tower (the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere), yes it's an apartment, and it's super duper cool. Ate sushi and played Monopoly! You know, it's a good thing to go late? Was supposed to meet them at noon in Federation Square but it was raining heavily so I decided not to go, then a little later Zhi Kai n Ren Haw offered to pick me up, haha.

Today played soccer as usual with the church ppl. 1 minute into the game, some guy stepped on my big toe with his spike shoes, really hurts. Didn't say sorry. Never mind, hold back the pain and play on. Less than a minute later, again the same thing happened!! I got kinda angry and said to him, "Dude, could you pls not step on my toe?" But after the game he apologized la, so nvm. No hard feelings cuz we won 4-1, though theirs is a team and ours is a make-shift one.

Yup.

Of people

2009-03-12T11:54:00.004+11:00

Week 2 is gonna end. I've had all my tutes already. Lecture halls are okay la this semester. Sadly though we didn't get Copland Theater this time. I tell you the seats there are like the GSC Gold Class seats wei.. Can totally fall asleep within the first 10 minutes of lecture. Don't even have to dim the lights, don't need the popcorns, just the seats!! Well, without fail every lecture surely will nod off 1.

Hmm this semester leh I have a lecturer who talks at F1 speed. Name: Zoltan Somogyi. You can google him cuz he has a Wikipedia page on himself. If Einstein has an IQ of 160, Zoltan wud have approximately 190 cuz the speed at which he rattles off is so amazing and it amazes you more that he doesn't need to refer to any material AND it corresponds exactly with the slides. And just today, a girl asked him to speak slower, which he did for a couple of minutes. My macroecons lecturer on the other hand is so timid but big that you can't help but just stare at the way she conducts her lectures.

I have a queer classmate. Why do I say queer? Cuz he knows (memorised) the answer to 2^24 down to the last figure. He reminded me of Stephen Hawkings at first. And I find it hard to understand what this tutor of mine is saying cuz his speech is sorta broken.. Like you cut a long sausage into many equal slices and number them, then throw away the even ones.

My housemate Jack laughed at the idea of my prof having a wikipedia page. So I'm gonna make him one myself =)

Characters in this article are purely fictional, any offense to living people isn't intended.

Merlin

2009-03-07T13:00:00.003+11:00

Tales from childhood never cease to amaze me. Among those are the adventures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. I've never thought much about knighthood and chivalry but ever since watching the Merlin series, I realise that there is much more to it. My command of the language is insufficient to describe the kind of feeling I get from the show.

There are many types of shows, like One Tree Hill for example. It talks about friendship, love and struggle. An interesting series. Or Knight Rider, which is about saving the day in a highly sophisticated Ford Mustang GT. Cool gadgets and tech rule that series. Even Smallville, which is about the teenage Clark Kent. But none of these can compare to Merlin. Yea every show has the underlying theme of doing good and saving the day. However, Merlin evokes the awareness of knighthood and chivalry from your core. There is just something different about that series, or maybe it's just my boyhood fantasy to be a knight.

Oh well, I would definitely recommend you to watch Merlin.

I owe it to my mum for bringing me up to love books. She was in charge of her school library last time, and so she brought home many many books for me and my sister to read. I'm certainly glad I did.

Fond Memories..

2009-03-04T22:11:00.004+11:00

Sorry about the quality though, it's not that good

randomness

2009-03-02T23:55:00.002+11:00

Yea baby! I'm beginning to love my new place. At first I thought it would take 20 minutes to get to my nearest lecture hall but now that I know of a shorter route it only takes 10 minutes if I brisk walk. So that's a really good thing. Well today I had an episode with the main door. It took my like some 20 minutes of wrestling with it before it finally gave in. Before that, I was tired, hungry and really really needed to pee. So when the door just wouldn't open, I decided to let go right in the garden. Anyone passing by could see, but at that point of time I just couldn't care less. Only guys could do that. Having relieved myself, I tried again. Actually I have 2 keys which could slot into the key hole. The other is for my room door but I couldn't really remember which was which. So I tried with both keys and finally it gave in! I swear I was gonna break my room window if it wouldn't open.

Everything's nearly sorted now, have great company here in the Brother's House. I'm the youngest, by 5 years! Some of them are working. The unsorted stuff now is my FOOD. Which I really dread doing marketing. But oh well, just got to do it slowly.

Off to bed now, do scribble something in the Cbox.

@tTenTioN rE@Der5..

2009-03-02T19:03:00.003+11:00

My CBox is pretty empty, so TO ALL VISITORS, let's do something about it.

You know a game we played in school last time? Each person in class goes up to the blackboard and writes 5 (only 5) words. So the first person goes up and starts off which is then continued by the second person. Till the story goes completely random n weird. And who knows, if the story is good, it might be published by MPH or Popular one day (hor JJ?).

So EVERYONE, yes start scribbling!

Touched down

2009-03-01T21:41:00.004+11:00

I don't know why I wanted to study abroad. Told my mum that and she said go read your blog. So I read thru the first few posts again. And I'm confused, don't know if it still applies now or not. One good thing though, when I came back, I noticed that I grew spiritually. In a way bolder for God till d fateful nite of 20/12.. Aiya lazy to elaborate more la, go read back my old posts la.

So, arrived at the Brother's House at nearly 2.30 am this morning, after unpacking it was like 3 something then I dropped dead! Yea, I bought a new SIM when I came back but for dunno what reason got some problem couldn't activate till like late in the afternoon. So yea, it's still the same number.

Finished unpacking, and I got this cosy small room. Or should I say small cosy room? It really is cosy cuz everything's within reach from the bed and it really is small cuz everything's withing reach from the bed. So in other words, it's small small room. Hah! But nevermind, I have the whole living room to myself when I open the door. I saw 2 mice running around just now! Maybe it was just one, cuz I saw it at different times. Yawn! Uni is starting tomorrow. Do drop a note>>

2009-02-28T01:48:00.002+11:00

Oh shoot! Was packing just now when my phone's reminder went off saying "Aussie Sim Card", which I thought was in my wallet the last time I saw. I searched frantically for it but nope, it just wasn't there. And for the first time in a long while I screamed my lungs out. Okay that felt much better..

Now got to get a new Aussie number. zzz. Maybe I should just get the new Nokia 5800! Hope it comes along with a plan. Aiya so mah fan..

Warning!

2009-02-23T14:22:00.001+11:00

Warning! Emo post ahead. Skip if you don't wanna feel sad.

Went to OU yesterday with church buddies to watch Benjamin Button. But before leaving church, went around saying good byes to everyone. Then suddenly it struck me that, "Today is the last day I'll be in church.." Immediately felt like tear-ing and choking. I totally forgot about it till then. Guess it was a good thing else I would have lost focus... You know the phrase, "All good things must come to an end"? I just refuse to believe that right now.

Please don't send the usual good bye text messages like how God will take care of me. The heart-brain connection just isn't there. e,g, I know God will take care of me but it doesn't register up there.

Oh no what's wrong with me?!?!

2009-02-18T02:19:00.002+11:00

Just an update to all who's been following this blog..

I
- have stopped work last friday
- am chilling at home
- am wondering what to write..

Seriously dunno what to say, don't wanna sound emo

Home

2009-02-13T14:49:00.003+11:00

Home.. I had a friend from RBS, who crossed out every passing day in the calendar for a month. Michael Buble's Home is her fav song at that time. Everyone knew she wanted to go home so badly.

I can't understand why some people just wanna get out of the country. Anywhere but Msia. Starting a new life in a foreign country. New friends, new environment, etc.. You know, our national anthem?

Negaraku,
Tanah tumpahnya darahku..

To me, that's the best part of the song. Forget about the king. This is MY country. Of course there would never be THE perfect country. Forget about the "American Dream" with the credit crisis looming. I guess there has to be trade-offs. We get the gov for every blessing the country has. I mean that's the only drawback right? (Besides TMNet..) We do have the power to vote for a change, just 4 more years away..

I know of many people who wants to migrate but few who ever said, "I love Msia". If I didn't leave the country, I wouldn't have know this feeling. Why do I say I', Chinese over here but I'm Malaysian elsewhere? Weird! Besides, I really disagree with people who has migrated and just left their old folks here. After all they've done for you, now you abandon them?

The grass is greener on the other side, but who knows? Maybe it isn't so green after all. The moment I heard the pilot announce, " .. dan kepada semua warganegara Malaysia, selamat pulang" I knew I was back home.

525i Sports

2009-02-08T22:24:00.002+11:00

Came back today from my mother's godma's place, and was having a nice nap in the car all the way home. Approaching the entrance, my mother exclaimed that there was a BMW test drive session at the entrance of my housing estate. Hearing that, my eyes opened in a flash! And started begging my dad to go. I was ecstatic getting my wish. The salesman asked which car would I like to test drive. Without hesitating, I said the 525 Sports. Wow imagine driving the 'Ultimate Driving Machine' for the first time. I couldn't wait to test the manual shifter. On the sheets, acceleration from nought to 100 was 7.9 seconds. But i believe that it's understated. Starting from 10km/h, I got the car to about 78km/h in a few seconds. Note: few < 3 seconds. The 525 Sports was really smooth under hard acceleration. One word: WOW! It really lived up to it's tag line the moment I entered the driver's seat. 6 cylinder, 218 bhp, top speed 242 km/h. It really was a little scary at first cuz I was afraid of getting it damaged. Dad and my neighbour was at the back seat, I probably gave them a little scare, hehe. But my record is STILL clean. I seriously wanted to push it much further but it was just a short stretch and the moment traffic was clear, the pedal met the floor, bringing instantaneous acceleration. Yes I can go on and on.. If only I had RM411K in my bank account. I would also love to test the Z4!! But maybe they wouldn't let me. Anyone helping me to rob a bank?

p.s. BMW changed their slogan to 'A company of ideas' but it will always be 'The Ultimate Driving Machine'

Love Story

2009-02-04T14:09:00.000+11:00

We were both young when I first saw you
I close my eyes
And the flashback starts
I'm standing there
On a balcony of summer air

See the lights,
See the party, the ball gowns
I see you make your way through the crowd
You say hello
Little did I know

That you were Romeo you were throwing pebbles
And my daddy said stay away from Juliet
And I was crying on the staircase
Begging you please don't go, and I said:

Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone
I'll be waiting all there's left to do is run
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess
It's a love story baby just say yes

So I sneak out to the garden to see you
We keep quiet cause we're dead if they know
So close your eyes
Escape this town for a little while

Cause you were Romeo I was a scarlet letter
And my daddy said stay away from Juliet
But you were everything to me
I was begging you please don't go and I said:

Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone
I'll be waiting all there's left to do is run
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess
It's a love story baby just say yes

Romeo save me, they try to tell me how to feel
This love is difficult, but it's real,
Don't be afraid
We'll make it out of this mess
It's a love story baby just say yes, oh,

I got tired of waiting
Wondering if you were ever coming around
My faith in you was fading
When I met you on the outskirts of town I said:

Romeo save me I've been feeling so alone
I keep waiting for you but you never come
Is this in my head, I don't know what to think
He knealt to the ground and pulled out a ring

And said:

Marry me Juliet you'll never have to be alone
I love you and that's all I really know
I talked to your dad go pick out a white dress
It's a love story baby just say yes

Oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh, oh

Cause we were both young when I first saw you

(Simply love it)

A formula for Perpetual War

2009-02-03T18:03:00.002+11:00

You guys read the papers right? Even the most ignorant one would know that Israel is assaulting Gaza right now. But why? The papers cover up everything, it doesn't tell you the truth. Afterall, we're in a Muslim country. Read the article at the link below.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=85634

Read it to find out the whole story.

After reading it, I couldn't help feeling angry..

Tag

2009-01-30T12:54:00.003+11:00

Just found out that I've been tagged 2 weeks ago.. haha

1. Do you think you're hot?
Hmm.. That's rather subjective

2. Upload a favourite picture of yourself.

3. Why do you like the picture?
It was a random picture. I didn't know Jo was going to snap and and I went to push my hair down

4. When was the last time you ate pizza?
About a month ago with Jo

5. The last song you listened to?
Regina Spektor - The Call (Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian)

6. What are you doing now besides this?
Blog hopping and reading manga online

7. People I tag?
i) Suet Ling
ii) Rachel Rocks
iii) Jacq Tan
iv) Goloka
v) Mei Jean

8. Who is number one?
Long time childhood fren now abroad

9. Say something bout number 5.
Wah a lot la.. in short, hyper

10. How bout number 4?
Hmm.. strong & fun gal

11. Who is number 2?
My junior

12. Number 3?
College mate who's in love with Torres (i doubt la =))

DO IT!

CNY

2009-01-28T01:00:00.003+11:00

It has been a long time since I updated my blog. So here's how I spent my new year.

Went back to Kuantan, yes it's my hometown, was born there. Didn't really go house hopping cuz I also dunno why haha. Wah every night had to sleep out in the living room with my snoring uncles. Sorry I exaggerated, they don't really snore that loud. But it's still hot and mosquito infested. Then every day also my grandpa would wake up before the cock crows (which is before 6am) and turn on the radio and TV. That's not too bad but he's a little deaf, yup, which means his has to turn up the volume REALLY loud. Sigh. But dad usually comes to my rescue (he also wakes up at that time) by asking me to go sleep inside. The room only has 3 mattresses.

Oh and then rite, grandpa keeps 2 dogs. The white one is caged up forever cuz he has a suspected case of mental illness. Siao wan.. Barks at the hands which feeds him and barks when there is no one, I'm beginning to think that they can see ghost. The black one never learns. The first day, he knocked down Jo's shirt hanging from the clothes hanger and bit it.... 4th uncle gave it a nice scolding and after a day it bit his towel, and uncle gave it another scolding and today it bit my cousin's sandals and got whacked . . . (YES finally!)

And today I deliberately got up early to go to the beach. On the way back we saw crabs everywhere and I quickly covered up the hole to which this crap was scurrying to. So without a hole it was literally stranded. Haha. Got an empty bottle and put the little fella inside. I saw it was a little lonely so went to search for a mate for it. Found one later right next to his hole. So what to do? Got down really slowly, and pushed it away in a flash. It got stranded too and into the bottle it went. Flappy went to join Crappy digging holes in the sand. But my happiness was short lived as Crappy died a few hours later! I have no idea how it died.

Land of nevers

2009-01-14T16:00:00.002+11:00

The world is a funny place. We lead different lifestyles in different places. In school you wear mask A, at work mask B, uni mask C and so on. But why is it that we have to wear different masks? You're afraid that they might not accept you for who you are, hence the mask. In this sense, everyone's unreal. Hence in your mind, you think that you know that person. All you recognize is that mask. Maybe that's why we say people change. Cuz they hardly reveal their real self. If people keep on wearing masks, how can they earn that trust? Trust, once broken can be really hard to reclaim.

I wonder what I will be like if I wasn't a Christian. Life is so tough. Wish I could be like Peter Pan, the kid who never grows up. Fly me to Never Land!

2009-01-12T13:40:00.002+11:00

omgoodness.. Was about to complain about how boring it is here. Then along came a guy giving us (me and my other 2 cousins) some really really really really really redundant work =.="

1. Log in to the program
2. Find every screen that has an error (English word)
3. Printscreen and save

Easy right? But the problem is EVERY screen has an english word =.=" The program is in Farsi (Iranian). Another problem is I only know how to read English and Malay. Unfortunately the gov did not teach us Farsi. Sooooooo how on earth would I know which icon to click lar and if the whole thing is wrong, why not just fix it?

Update: 20 mins later, they came back to us saying don't do yet. phew

pride

2009-01-08T13:45:00.000+11:00

eVER HEARD THE SAYING BEFORE? pRIDE COMES BEFORE A FALL. mINE IS ON THE WAY OR HAS ALREADY HIT ME WITHOUT KNOWING. sOMEONE SAID THAT ALL WRONG DOINGS ORIGINATES FROM PRIDE. iT'S ALWAYS i, ME, MYSELF. hOW HAVE i BEEN PROUD/wHAT AM i PROUD OF?
i'M PROUD BECAUSE - i CAN DO THINGS FASTER/BETTER THAN MY PEERS
iT'S ALL ABOUT MYSELF. mUM SAID THAT THE LETTER 'i' IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WORD 'sIN'. hOW TRUE. nOT EASY BEING HUMBLE. hELP!!

y AM i WRITING LIKE THIS? cUZ i'M THINKING UPSIDE DOWN.

Year that has been..

2009-01-06T18:15:00.000+11:00

Should I blog about the year that has been? I have nothing to do now, so here goes..

Studied like anything last Jan for my finals. Not that I'm smart or anything but consistency is the key to success. I don't believe in what you would call last minute studying. Why? Cuz you panic and very little goes in. CNY was right after my finals and I got a 5610 as an early present. Now it's spoilt and I been using a SonyE ever since, which is kinda hard to switch to. I miss my Nokia.

I didn't have a holiday as it was straight to work at the Call Centre. In a way the first 3 months were very interesting. I got to meet so many different types of people everyday. Learned how to be patient with them (I think I've forgotten ady..). Besides, I'm grateful for the oppurtunity to work there as I learnt how a credit card really works (late charges, interest, limit, why the card is being rejected...). Really an eye opener. There is a funny and weird incident, I was attending to the calls as usual and my fren was also listening to the conversations on a separate headset. Along came my playful colleague who for no good reason poked me. I muted the call and said rather loudly, "You gay ar?" Then the customer who was on the line said, "I'm sorry?" That time we were both looking at each other cuz I was sure that I had muted it. Sigh.

Then in between work, came the youth camp and church camp. These are the 2 events I look forward to very much. Like others would say, bonding time and what not. Haha. Thanks to that 'boi' now I'm stuck with a crappy nick. Seriously TQ la. =.=" Oh yea, then came the stressful waiting period of whether I'd be going to Oz Land of Nerdy Land. Haha. So, it came like 2 weeks before my flight and I was really unprepared to leave and all. Half of my brains were like nerdy land nerdy land oh no you're going to nerdy land. I rather not go thru that kind of unwanted undecideness. Everything was a rush.

The farewell parties were really sweet. Thank God for the invention of video. And the 'surprise' skit at Tadika Diyana too. Those were the good memories of 2008. If I have the time I'd post it here. Yet I was kinda emotionless at that time cuz everything was happening so fast. Didn't feel anything/much when they cried.

That is pretty much my story before this blog came about.

As I reflected on the year that has past, I dare say I've completed 2008's resolutions, to be a better friend (to most). To the rest, I really am sorry.

Sincerely,
Ivan

@ wurk

2009-01-02T14:39:00.003+11:00

By a freak of nature, they allowed me to access Blogger. It was disabled before this. So today's my lucky day.

K I'm gonna blog about work. What do I do here? Well... Nothing! (Almost literally nothing) I was on a translation project previously and ever since it was completed, I had nothing to 'do'. Was told to learn this programming language called SQL (pronounced as sequel), imagine la, reading powerpoint presentations.. Still prefer UniMelb's way haha. BUT saya tak makan gaji k. If you get it. This language is such a bore. I swear I will have nothing to do with databases in future!

Why did I choose CS? I wanted to be in the seat of an F1 car. That's my dream, to circle a track senselessly for hours and hours.. Sigh. If only it would happen. When I went into A-Levels, I wanted to be engineer. Not chemical or bio-tech cuz I don't wanna be in a white lab doing R&D daily. Was thinking of something along the lines of.... Aeronautical!!! Cuz designing UFOs are uber cool. Or even F1 cars. But I guess I'm not daring enough to take the risk. Reason? Tak boleh cari makan di Malaysia. Have to migrate and I don't want to. Well, so much for my dreams..

Am not gonna blog about the past year cuz this is an open blog. Should I make it private? Haha.

Oh no! I'm song leading this Sun and I haven't thought of anything to say YET. crap-o-crap

Maths

2008-12-31T17:39:00.001+11:00

1 - 3 = - 2

That's my profit now.

New year, new resolution. I've must have lower expectations of people, afterall I'm on holiday.

Christmas

2008-12-25T20:50:00.000+11:00

DO NOT WATCH THE SPIRIT! To those of you planning to watch it, I repeat, do not watch The Spirit. Not that it's bad, but I give it 'The worst movie EVER'. It's a waste of time, money and energy. You'd be better off sleeping on the comfortable movie seats than torturing yourself with what's in front.

I learnt in MicroEcons, the concept of sunk costs. Sunk cost is something that once spent, you cannot recover back. For example, time. So in this case, my sunk cost is the value of my movie ticket. I cannot recover back the cost of it, and therefore should not fret. What I could do instead is just walk out of the hall. I would have spent my time better that way. Afterall, it's sunk.

Just felt like letting it out. Now I feel better.

On the other hand, it's Christmas today!!!

Blessed Christmas everyone!

I've learnt a very important lesson this Christmas. That we can't take back what we say, so think a thousand times before we say something. You must be thinking, like that also need reminding, but the fact is I'm so careless about my choice of words. Too often I say something which brings down somebody or stuff like that. If I've ever said those such things to you, I'm sorry. Hope I've learnt something this Christmas.

As I always say, 'May this Christmas be meaningful to you'. It has been for me. Out of something bad, God brings something good.

Have a blessed Christmas people, may this christmas be meaningful to you.. =)

...

2008-12-22T01:06:00.003+11:00

Oh wow. Now what? Visited my blog for the first time in a few days and saw that it was spammed.

Christmas is in a few more days. Will it be the same like previous years? Came back from youth camp last week. We were all challenged by the question, "What makes you think you're a Christian?" "Not everyone who calls me Lord, Lord, will enter heaven." So am I going to church in vain all this while? Hmm..

Yesterday was a really bad day. For some reason, God allowed almost everything to happen. It had to be on that day. Just give me the strength to carry on... I can't live without a few things. I dunno, if God takes away everything just like Job. I wonder what would happen. I take comfort in knowing that God knows our limit and wouldn't give us more than what we can take.

Blessed Christmas to all of you reading my blog!

Random post

2008-12-10T18:27:00.003+11:00

Shhh.. I'm blogging from work. Doing some internship at my uncle's IT firm, currently translating a program into another language. Aiyo, so mah fan and monotonous... But got nice computer AND can listen to music! And oh did I mention I'm connected to the WWW? Haha unlike at CIMB last time. So I'm listening to Hitz and Fly from 9 to 6 now, got to catch up on all the music I missed while away.

Really surprised to see friends so different, since returning from OZ land. Oh well..

Selamat pulang ke Malaysia

2008-11-30T22:01:00.004+11:00

The 'sui chai'/prodigal son has returned. It feels so good to be home again. There's truly nothing like home. I came back on an Airbus A330. The flight was not as comfortable as the Boeing 777 I came in. The best part of the flight was when the Captain announced, "Kepada semua pelawat, selamat datang ke Malaysia dan kepada semua warganegara, selamat pulang..."

You all know right, that I've been saying that I'm only returning next Dec, that is cuz it was meant to be a surprise! Haha. The look on your faces when you saw me on Sunday was priceless. Some were like, "You're back!" Joy had the best expression. She was playing the piano, and I walked up next to her, slowly she realised someone beside her, then she turned her head to see who it was and when she saw my face, she went, "I don't believe this. No you're in Australia. I'm dreaming! I'm halucinating and going crazy. You're not real.. Go away." and turned back. Lol her reaction so cute!

Hmm.. Mum said I lost weight, at first I didn't believe it then I went to weight myself and i lost 3 kilos! Oh no. I'm kinda surprised most of you think I miss captainball the most, actually it's driving. After that would be the guitar/piano.

Reformatted my PC, now it's running at full speed again. Tell you something, I'm kind of proud when I saw a few people in church today. Some changed... for the better, which made me really proud.

Went there for 4 months, back for 3 months. Not bad huh? Lol. My blog will be abandoned for a while now that I'm back.

My plane..

Guess what plane is this

Everyone at the airport were like, "..."

BMH

2008-11-28T02:39:00.003+11:00

Finally finished my last paper on Tuesday. Was super busy packing and unpacking to move into my new place, about 20 mins away. Got a friend to help bring move my stuff by car. 2 full bags, a few other small ones, a box and a guitar. And I thought that was a lot.... until I came home and packed the remaining clothes into my huge bag, then only I realised it was that heavy. So got to make another trip to the BMH to unload everything. Had to drag 2 bags weighing 45 kilos. A laptop and a bag containing my pillow. Yea, was like a crazy man. Almost felt like my hands were about to drop off. Had to stop for every 30m, imagine. When I reached, my friend was like, "YOU dragged all these here yourself?!?!" and I just said, "Yea..." So that explains my recent inactivity (my hands dropped off).

My new housemates!

Microecons

2008-11-23T01:18:00.003+11:00

Microecons has some of the funniest questions.

Two pigs, one dominant and the other subordinate, are put in a box. There is a
lever at one end of the box which, when pressed, dispenses food at the other end.
Thus the pig that presses the lever must run to the other end; by the time it gets
there, the other pig has eaten most, but not all, of the food. The dominant pig is
able to prevent the subordinate pig from getting any of the food when both are at
the food.

This one is unpredictable

Five ferocious pirates are dividing their plunder (100 gold coins) according to the
following rules: pirate #1 suggests a way of sharing the coins (no single coin can be
subdivided); for example, she might suggest (80,5,5,5,5) meaning that she gets 80
coins and the others get 5 coins each. All five pirates vote (by roll call) on the
proposal. If a majority accept, the division is carried out. Otherwise, the first pirate is
thrown overboard and pirate #2 makes a proposal, which is subjected to majority vote,
and so on. Ties are broken in favour of the proposer. A pirate gets a higher utility
from receiving zero coins than from being thrown overboard. Assume also that any
pirate who is indifferent between accepting or rejecting will vote to reject.
What is the rollback equilibrium of the game?

The rollback equilibrium is for the first pirate to offer (98, 0, 1, 0, 1), and this offer
will be approved by 3 pirates.
To understand this answer, begin by thinking about the subgame with 2 pirates. With
two pirates, pirate #4 can offer (100,0) (where payoffs are written in order of the
number of the pirate; in other words pirate #4 gets 100 coins, and pirate #5 gets zero
coins). This will be opposed by pirate #5, but ties are broken in favour of the proposer
so that the proposal would be approved. Then think about the subgame with three
pirates. All pirates know that if the proposal of pirate #3 is rejected then the outcome
will be (0,100,0) (where the first payoff is for pirate #3 etc.). Knowing this, pirate #3
can offer (99,0,1). This would be accepted by pirate #5 (who prefers to get 1 rather
than zero), and so will have majority support (#3 and #5) and be approved. Then
think about the subgame with four pirates. All pirates know that if the proposal of
pirate #2 is rejected then the outcome will be (0,99,0,1) (where the first payoff is for
pirate #2 etc.). Knowing this, pirate #2 can offer (99,0,1,0). This would be accepted
by pirate #4 (who prefers to get 1 rather than zero), and hence will be voted for by
two pirates (#2 and #4). As ties are broken in favour of the proposer, this proposal
would be accepted. Now, think about the case with five pirates. All pirates know that
if the proposal of pirate #1 is rejected then the outcome will be (0,99,0,1,0). Knowing
this, pirate #1 can offer (98,0,1,0,1). This will be accepted by pirates #3 and #5 (both
of whom prefer to get 1 rather than zero). Hence the proposal of pirate #1 will be
voted for by a majority of pirates.

Oh and read this article.

Engineering Systems Design

2008-11-21T16:23:00.002+11:00

2 more papers. ESD was surprisingly good. Everyone knew this was the crappiest subject cuz there was not much solid stuff. We learned about safety... Sustainability... Concept maps... Decision making... Thames Barrier... Solidworks... Robolab... And worst of all >>> MATLAB! There is totally no coherence in this subject. Just yesterday my friend was asking me how to study ESD, which is a day before the exam. Haha. Yup as I said it was quite good cuz most questions were repeated and given the narrow scope, can almost guess what will come out.

Only one problem... There was a question in the exam which involved an obscure unit > Torr... When I saw that unit my jaw just dropped. I came back and checked the lecture slide, it was mentioned but it was also among the other 20 - 30 obscure units!! How to remember lar. . . So I just stoned at the question for a while, not withstanding the fact that I always stone. I so needed my coffee. With Nescafe, my brains would just run at 100% the whole day, till can't sleep at night, so have to drink half a packet only. Such a let down. I think Einstein invented coffee and left the formula hidden among his many discoveries. That's how he was super smart. In the Kyle XY series, they said he was gestated for an additional dunno how many weeks, where his brains developed more than everyone elses . . . But I still think that he secretly consumed coffee. I used the word secret cuz his peers didn't. End of digression, now back to my story.

Then I raised my hand to attract an invigilator's attention. One came running , tripped over a wire and spilled out his guts. Nah! He came and I asked him the meaning of Torr. He mumbled some French/German/Italian interpretation and I just said ok..... A few minutes later, he brought an ENGLISH dictionary to translate himself, pointed to the word Torr and my eyes opened up when I saw 133.32 Pa!!! I thanked him profusely, a little too loud I realised when a few other people turned back to stare at me. Some even frowned and glared.

One trouble solved. The next one was when they asked for the number of moles in Argon. Not that I dunno how to do (smart) but there was no Periodic Table!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What the crap, you expect me to memorise the whole Periodic Table of 100+ elements ar? Siao. So I stoned for a while again, raised my hand up to ask for the ENGLISH dict. Flipped to Argon, but the ENGLISH dictionary just told me that it's an inert gas. So helpful. Flipped to the back, hopefully to find a Periodic Table, noticed a torn page, hmmm..... Stoned again. I remember Ms Ng (A Levels chem teacher) calling me inert cuz I didn't study last time. I guess she used inert cuz no matter how hard she tried pushing me I just didn't wanna move. Then later she said I have a Ferrari brain . . . Her explaination was cuz I got the highest grades w/o studying and instantly understanding the chem concepts in class. Here I go digressing again... K back to today, I thought maybe Argon was 10, so I used 10. Came home to check the Periodic Table and saw 18, jaws dropped again. Stoned a while. Aiya nevermind la, just 1 or 2 marks. Seriously how to remember the Ar of Argon??? If I dunno surely 99.9% of the rest dunno.

Signing out,
Hivan (high ivan)

This is the lamest post I've ever written. Or should it be Livan?