Simple White Tofu

Half Way Passed 2009

2009-07-05T15:06:00.007+08:00

Another 6 months and it'll be 2010. Some people make New Year resolutions and some are more laid-back. Taking in the events as it comes. I'm not the kinda person who makes New Year resolution because I know most of the time, I won't fulfill them. I'm the 2nd type of person. Looking back, how much have you achieved? Or are you the person who just live life as it is?

There's still challenges ahead of me in terms of better handling my finance, EQ and communication. Finance is a common topic for the working class as we struggle through the economic slump. I need to improve on my cash liquidity, diversify investment portfolio, decrease liabilities and fine tune the P&L sheet. And of course, to do smart purchasing. Merdeka Sales is coming soon ;)

Emotionally, I think I fared better than first 6 months of last year. Maybe I've picked up jogging which Ames has done well promoting it. And of course, picking up potted plants gardening at my balcony, having pets (hamster) at my home, going out more with friends, partly vegetarian (later half of the day; weekdays; if no supper dates), learning to laugh more and to take things easy. It may sound weird but I have started talking to my hamster and plants. HA HA HA HA.

As I have switched to another department in my work now, I still found myself lacking in good English communication. In my weekly job, I need to communicate with more people in the US, namely from the Eastern and Central region. I'm still lacking the vocab and fluency during my work conference call. Maybe it's a matter of confidence. I definitely need an English accent neutralization class!! Not forgetting my Japanese! The guilt of neglecting it for such a long time.

And I'm working towards to talk more to my parents instead of just continuing to online when I'm back at hometown. Family is utmost important.

As I age another year and another year is passing, how can we be a better person then? Or just don't care about it cos life is meant to be enjoyed and care less. Or we are just too busy with our life and not sure what's the reason to be so busy with.

A perspective.

Transformer 2 Movie Review

2009-07-01T22:52:00.005+08:00

The highly expected movie was here last last week. It was so crazy till the whole GSC cinema website bandwidth was choked to the max with ticket booking/purchase requests. And the movie went on-screen and exploded with a whimper! Ha!

Generally it was OK and the movie was action packed. All the missiles, huge robots and human size robots. Banging from the start till the end. I was very intrigued by those mysterious symbols and all the long stories behind it. But as it dragged from the meat shop to the museum, it went too draggy. And the fighting scenes at the dessert was too much. Some scenes can be cut. I was like 'OMG, when is this fighting gonna end, and get on with it'. During the fighting scenes, at some moments, I was lost which were the Autobots and Decepticons. Their colors are almost the same.

On the good side, I enjoyed the new character. Sam's roomate. He's hilarious. And that butcher guy. I forgot his name. Ames commented there were 2 touching scenes in the movie, which I've totally lost it. Perhaps it was the scene when Sam was talking to BumbleBee in the garage about going to college. The next one, I guess must be the dying moments of Optimus Prime. I enjoyed the fighting scenes but just not too much of it.

I kinda like Starscream. He's just so cunning. His evil intentions was obvious in the Transformer cartoon series. And of course Bumblebee is great. Dinobots are just too dumb!

My Birthday Weekend

2009-06-29T00:03:00.004+08:00

Birthday weekend was great! The birthday eve on Saturday was with my university ex coursemates, lunch at New Paris restaurant at Section 19, PJ. The group and I had a great chat and caught up with the news of our life. The food was good and filling. Later on, we went to Decanter, a nice comfy cafe located at a secluded area among the shophouses opposite the Tiara Damansara condo, at Section 17, PJ. We had the banana peach crumble and the apple pie. I like the banana peach crumble. As a matter of fact, I like anything with banana, LOL.

Before Ames arrived, the Saturday evening was doing my weekly house chores. Just out of my shower, after a hot sweaty house cleaning, he was at my doorstep! Good timing. We drove to Sunway Pyramid since he was holding 2 TGV movie vouchers. Dinner was at Sushi King. Those green beans were nice. My first time eating them. We wanted to watch '17 Again' but the timing was not ideal. Terminator 2 was the selected one. I accompanied him watching the movie; I've watched it a few weeks ago. It was still OK. I was able to catch up some missed scenes during the first round. The late night was spent together at the sofa watching Michael Jackson concert at Budapest. The world will miss him. All the nice songs he brought to us.

On my birthday Sunday morning, we didn't sleep much from listening to each other's snores. I woke up Ames earlier than expected, confused the ticket pick up hour as the screening time. I had a difficult time booking Transformer 2 tickets at GSC and lady luck was on my side when I book them at Cathay cinema at Curve. Strategic seating locations too. Lunch was at Pho Hua, the Vietnamese restaurant. He like it there, me too. Away from the busy crowds of the flea market, and the seats were near a piazza with running water and lots of green plants.

My thoughts about the movie? Will do it on my next post. Ha Ha ha. But I've briefed my thoughts to Ames since he can't wait for my movie review blog entry. Overall, it was enjoyable. And I was more distracted with the Harry Potter: The Half-Blood Prince movie trailer. So was him. Will date him out for the HP movie later.

Back home, Sunday evening was spent on bed, sleeping. And by the time we woke up, it was 9pm++ already. With all these all day/night activities, we really needed some naps. Late dinner was at Station One. Enjoyed the meal and the nice chats before we ended the weekend and he had a long drive back home.

Thanks Ames for such a wonderful birthday weekend for me. Thanks for everything. It was just too great! Thanks to my university course mates too for the thoughtful lunch date. And all the mobile text and MSN birthday messages from my other friends! One of them came from my manager. And it was a total surprise!

Recycling Begins @ Home

2009-06-23T19:46:00.005+08:00

The idea of recycling at home came to me when I was at Alves's house and he was keeping all the assorted plastics, papers, metals and glasses. With all the hype of Earth Hour, Earth Day, Home (the movie), IKEA Green Campaign, etc; my awareness was heightened. I was even more enthusiastic to join the Green campaign.

Sharing with you, all the items I have collected. This is not the first round of my household recycling exercise. Hopefully, this entry can inject sufficient awareness to the Malaysian society on the recycling campaign. When I was staying with my host family at Osaka, Japan, my 'okaasan' taught me on sorting organic/inorganic waste in her household. I was very impressed.

Looking at my items, you can guess my favorite drinks. And those beer bottles were collected during our booze session during the New Year's Eve period with William, SK and David (aka Apollo).

Plastics and papers

Glasses and metals

Papers and overview of my household recycling items.

A Summary of MySelf

2009-06-19T22:46:00.003+08:00

I'm not sure what to write. So I'll just write about myself. The things I do, like, dislikes and things like that.

A Cancerian, being homely and have a regular plan to go back hometown on weekends, perhaps twice monthly. Love to be with family at Seremban. I'm a person who love cold spacious places and cultural stuffs. Plains, the mountains, the lakes. I like to go to New Zealand, Switzerland and Italy. I've been to crowded Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan because I've friends there. I haven't been to any concerts before. My favorite season is late Autumn/early Winter.

At 'mamak' stalls, my default drink is 'milo-ais' and most probable food is 'nasi lemak ayam' or 'mee goreng ayam'. I take caffeine drinks such as 'teh-ais' or 'nescafe-ais' or 'ying-yong' when I have the mood to get high. I get 'high and drunk' when I take caffeine stuffs. When I'm with newly met people, I try to avoid spicy food. Because I will sweat a lot. Sweet things are my favorites. Desserts and pastries. Singaolla, soya bean milk and Oreo. Prefer chicken then pork follow by lamb and duck. I don't take beef.

I spent most of my time at home online, watch TV or reading books. Mainly anime and series. Trying to catch up Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy. Susan Mayer is cool. I'm enjoying a lot reading chic-lits than fiction. Particularly by Cecilia Ahern and Sophia Kinsella. Including fantasies such as LOTR, Harry Potter, Narnia, Golden Compass are my favorites too.

I'm a quiet person but I ask a lot of questions, so other people can talk more. Good listener with moderate patience. I belive in Science, a supporter of Darwinism and defensive about it. And take life as it goes following the Buddhism philosophies. When I'm outdoor, I avoid mirrors. I don't like my own reflection. And my outings are usually having meals and watching movies. And I'm curious about Death because I want to know where's our next destination.

I like pink, orange, white, blue and green. Prefer numbers ending with 0, 2, 6, 8. More action during the night than day. Likes to go out on Fri and Sat nights but not Sunday night. Love the month of December with festivals. Prefer to celebrate Christmas Day than Chinese New Year. Like to hang out at MidValley, One Utama, Curve, Ikano but not at Bintang (Pavillion, Sg. Wang, Times Square, etc) and KLCC area. In shopping malls, will unconsciously always walk on the left side of the lane. It's like driving. Listening to Fish Leung, Hins Cheung, Sammi Cheng, Sandy Lam and Leo Ku. Favourite radio channel is 988FM, DJs are KK and Luke.

That's all.

Lang-8 Language Website Review

2009-06-14T12:55:00.004+08:00

As some of my blog readers know, I've reached the level of JLPT3 (Info on JLPT) but due to most of my time is spent on work and the money is on my house, I've stopped attending Japanese classes. So, I'm just stagnant with JLPT3 certification. Once a while I blog in Japanese to get those Japanese part of my mind running.

The problem was (past tense; now I've found the solution), no one really can help me to correct my Japanese blog entries on grammar and vocab. Yesterday, I came across Tofugu Top 10 Online Resources for Learning Japanese for Free. And that blog author's first choice in the Top 10 list is Lang-8 website. When you register, you are being asked for your native language and your studying language. My studying language is Japanese and Chinese. A bit tricky on my native language part. Officially should be Malay but I rather put it as English. But I'm not a Westerner. And I can't put Chinese though I'm an ethnic Chinese but I'm not good with Chinese. Here's my Lang-8 profile.

Anyway..... the members of one native language help to correct journals submitted by the members of studying language. Next time, I can have native Japanese correcting my Japanese blog entries before I post them. Their correction turn around time is fast too. It's also good that I can interact with them and learn from it. It's like having a virtual remote language teacher. And I have the chance to correct English journals written by others too. So far I've corrected English journals written by a Chinese, a Japanese and a Korean. If you are a foreign language student in the intermediate level who needs guidance, this is a good site to go.

Just sharing this site with you all since I'm benefiting from it. This is how it looks like while the journal is being corrected.

Of Making Plans and Breaking Promises

2009-06-12T18:06:00.004+08:00

A friend and I promised to have dinner and window shopping at MidValley later this evening. But he text'ed me saying he's not feeling well and he apologized for that. Fine. Forgiven. Another friend promised me to watch Transformer together soon. But he got a free Gold Class ticket and offered to watch the movie again with me or any other movie I like. Fine. Forgiven.

Unless it's there's any issues/problems/events with health, family, work and feel guilty enough to offer another chance to compensate, I'm NOT that forgiving at all.

I hate it when there are ideas of going places, eating nice food, watch interesting movies and etc, making everyone so excited but... when I asked when, no reply. How about this date? Reply: Busy. That date? Reply: Busy. Another date? Reply: Not sure.

Note to myself: I'm not going to take it seriously anymore. My reply to them is, when you are free to do all these, then only you ask me out.

I also hate it when I'm planning to date some people out. I suggest a date/time or asking them when they are free then no reply. Or reply is 'not sure'. Then when the date/time comes, the person is busy with somebody else or with other group of people. It's like I've become so low priority to them. When there's no other plans, then only they agree to my date. I'm like their back-up plan! I'm so pissed!

Note to myself: I'm not asking anymore outings with these people unless they are asking me out in the first place.

I love it when people book me in advance because I can plan my schedule to make time for them. Tell me there's an event on this date/time and venue, then I can plan out my time. In a way, it's also helping them to plan their time and find a common date so people can make it together.

As SK told/advised/sounded me before, don't take a friend as a back-up plan when another friend's plan cannot make it. Go outing with the person because you love to be with them and not just to fill up the boring time.

Not to myself: Continue to take friends' appointments as first come first serve basis, without priority. It's fair to all. Unless there's issues/problems/events with health/family/work, then I have no choice but to reject them and make amends with them.

Where Rainbows End Book Review

2009-06-10T18:43:00.003+08:00

A refreshing book with contemporary style in story telling. It's being told via pages of email correspondence, instant messaging and mobile phone text messages. I felt a sense of familiarity in this format because personally, I spent most of my time online, doing all the emailing, MSN and mobile text'ing. So, it's very easier for me to related to the story of Rosie, Alex, their family and growing up life from childhood to old ages.

Alex and Rosie has been good friends since pre-school days and they are best friends. Both of them have been very caring, missing each other and do all the things best friends do. As they grow up, Alex and Rosie life began to diverge. Alex moved to Boston and Rosie at Dublin. Alex pursued his goal in studying medicine, got married has kids and divorced. Rosie was involved in teen pregnancy, single mother, re-married and divorced. And things like that. Though both of them had a tough life, they supported each other.

Alex and Rosie had feelings for each other but just too afraid to admit that. They don't want to ruin their friendship. They were trying to be happily married and telling each other, they are fine. Sometimes both of them really miss each other. Miserable as it can be. And they held their words and only till the end they confess their feelings. Though it was late but never too late. They struggled for 40 years to express their hearts!!

Fate has a funny way of doing things. Sometimes, some people are meant to be together. Some are not. No matter how much we tried to stay together. No matter how deeply hurt at the ending of a relationship. If it's not meant for it, then it's just won't work out. And in the end, people just be happily in love with the most unexpected people in their life.

Very often, I received emails telling us to express our feelings. I did it a car in Oct 2008, by the dark quiet roadside, after a KFC meal. Though the reply was unexpected but I moved on awhile with some hope. And now I've already gave up hope. Because fate wasn't just on our side. Sometimes, some people are only just meant to be friends. Nothing more. Unlike Alex and Rosie.

'Where Rainbows End', a modern love story, with fate tearing them apart and putting them together again.

Terminator Salvation Movie Review

2009-06-07T22:51:00.004+08:00

I have to agree that Marcus has more screen time than John. The whole movie was like a subplot to introduce Marcus and the teenager life of Kyle. Not that Kyle has a normal life anyway. I'm really quite confused with the Terminator storyline and apart from the Marcus and Kyle; and subsequently destroying San Francisco server link at the SkyNet, the whole Terminator movie is.... is.... I'm lost.

Christian Bale is better in acting as Bruce Wayne than John Connor. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's the impression and excitement I feel for Bruce fighting the Joker. Or perhaps Christian Bale is better looking as Bruce compared to rugged John. Anyway, the movie Terminator as a whole, I'm not sure where it's heading. The story is beginning to sound the same. Countless models of Terminator to hunt down John and the resistance. And that time travel thing.

And why Kyle is younger than John when Kyle suppose to be John's dad? Am I missing something? Because I'm not watching The Sarah Connor Chronicles on satellite TV.

Given the 1 week apart between Star Trek and Terminator, Star Trek fairs better. The THX chest thumping sound effect in the cinema only leaves a temporarily effect on me. Or maybe I'm just a Trekkie to have this bias movie review.

Ikano Bird Park

2009-06-07T00:27:00.007+08:00

I was having lunch at Ikea on Friday noon and had a stroll over to the adjoining Ikano Power Centre shopping mall. What a surprise to see such a huge bird cage at the atrium. And then I recalled Eric idea of having a bird park at Ikano in his blog. It was well done! There was this bird cage with all the parrots, owl, and assorted birds for everyone to see. Each has an information plate about the bird. Then the 2nd part was the corner where kids can hold on to the birds, and have a photograph shot. The last section was the free roaming area. When a person can step into the cage and mingle with the birds. And there's also a place where the KL Bird Park doing their promo with brochures and all.

I took some photos for sharing with you all.

Eclectus Parrots, Barn Owl, African Grey Parrot

Pesquet Parrot, Assorted Love Birds, Conures and Parakeet, Lesser Sulfur Crested Cockatoo

A Day in Career Life

2009-06-03T23:30:00.002+08:00

There are times when one need to move along to higher grounds or perhaps to different grounds. These are the times when all what was built is going to be left behind. And all anew for a new beginning. At times like this, moving out of the comfort zone, the natural resistance is there. Surely, these are the times, confidence can be dented but one must hang on to the perseverance. And times to dream, to have the ambition to reach the highest peak of the new ground. And soar like an eagle!

My Hanging Out Place at MidValley City

2009-06-01T22:06:00.003+08:00

I like to watch movies and hanging out with friends. And these activities need a shopping mall. If you are to ask me to select a shopping mall for meeting up, I will select MidValley City. It has all the supermarkets namely, Jusco, Carrefour and MetroJaya. Just a walk away, we have Isetan and Robinson at Gardens. Good for my grocery shopping.

The location of MidValley is not bad. Accessible from Bangsar, Federal Highway, Cheras, Old Klang Road (incl of Puchong) and the it makes it kind of neutral, so that everyone doesn't need to drive extra mile or anything. And I like the car parks too. My favourite spot is Zone U. No problem parking there at all. And the mall can be accessible by KTM Kommuter.

Not forgetting the cinema. The GSC cinemas are not bad. Now that I'm staying at my new place, I'm watching more movies at MidValley than at OneUtama. I wonder how it feels to watch movies at GSC Signature cinemas. Or Gold Class even. But these days, don't have any movies worth watching at these expensive places.

Why am I writing this entry? Well.... it's just that I'm frequently go there more often than I thought of. And here's to the location and direction to MidValley City.

The Cultural Gap in the Chinese Community

2009-05-30T12:14:00.005+08:00

Yesterday night had the opportunity drinking (tea and desserts!) with Raymond. It would say it was kind of serious conversation like ~~Oprah Winfrey~~ Jay Leno/David Letterman talk show; whereby I'm the host, he's the guest. He's in the in Chinese news publication line and I'm from the English blogging line. So, inadvertently, the chat topic focused on publications.

I will just skip the details and make a summary out of it. Cos we chatted from about 10.30PM to 1AM (surprisingly, the whole conversation was done in Mandarin). Undoubtedly, language can be uniting and also creating polarization. Not so much along the racial lines but on the subcultures within the local population.

Both of us agreed that the Chinese media focused more on the region of mainland China, Taiwan and HongKong, where as, the English media do more on America and Europe. Particularly, in the areas of movies, songs, literature, food, lifestyle and so forth. A very typical scenario is that, most people who read English media tune to HitzFM and MixFM; and the people who read Chinese media tune to MyFM or 988FM. But handful of people, like me, being reading English media tuning to 988FM (only understand 80% of the contents).

A very generic conclusion, that some how, the media of different language is in a way, creating a cultural gap. I have better chance of sharing my interested of JK Rowling, JRR Tolkien, Paulo Coelho or Sophie Kinsella among my English-educated friends than Chinese-educated friends. And most of my English-ed friends don't even listen to Canto-pop like Hins Cheung or Fish Leung. Or recognizing the historical entertainment value of Red Cliff. Personally, I do not know the significants of CaoCao, Guan Yu and ZhuGeLiang. So, is there a way where English-ed group of friends can mingle nicely with my Chinese-ed group of friends? When I said English-ed, means almost pure 'banana'.

Recognizing this gap, I think there should be more cross cultural exposure in the publications in the language-specific media. And I was shocked (more of a surprisingly glad) that the Chinese news company Raymond is working at, is having an English section to expose better understanding of the Chinese lifestyle to the English-ed community. Likewise in the English newspaper I'm reading, at least it's starting from the cuisine areas.

My A-Z Favourite List

2009-05-26T23:10:00.003+08:00

Got tagged from foongpc, and here's my list. Anyone is welcome to do this tag. Just think of a label from A to Z and give an answer to that label. I have written a similar post before, 'A-Z Things U Might Want To Know About Me'.

My A-Z Favourite List.

Actor - Christian Bale
Book - Tuesdays with Morrie
Chocolate - Black
Drink - Soyabean milk
European country - Switzerland
Fastfood outlet - KFC
Greeting - 'hie'
Hair Colour - Black
Ice cream - Haagen Daz
Japanese food - sashimi
Korean food - kimchi
Language - Japanese
Movie - Harry Potter
Number - 2
Occupation - IT line
Past time - reading
Quote - "all good and bad things shall pass"
Radio station - 988 FM
Science subject - Physics
Tea - Jasmine
Underwear - Renoma
Vegetable - Mushroom
Weather - Autumn
X-Men - Jean Grey
Year - 2010
Zodiac - Cancer

Weekend with the Ex

2009-05-25T01:12:00.007+08:00

This weekend was full of ex. The first message came in from my First Year university dormitory , first ex roomate. I was really fascinated that he started blogging!! And he said it was my influence, ha ha ha. I hope it is a good thing. Good to hear from him again and still greet me as 'roommate'. Warm and nostalgic. He's currently having a scholarship doing his post graduate studies at Hiroshima, Japan. You can read his blog at 'Manglish, Please'. Please do stop by his blog for a visit. Thanks to him, that I got to know so much about nice oldies songs.

And this Sunday evening was spent entirely with my latest ex roomate. It has been quite a long time since I've meet him. Gained some weight. Looks much better with the new physique and look more handsome now. Catch up a lot of our life stories while walking at Mid Valley from 6pm to 10pm. Great to know that he's doing well in his job now and has the potential to promote to the managerial level soon. Being much young than me, he's really quick in his corporate ladder. Great to know!

Dinner period was joined by my latest ex lover too. My ex and my latest ex roomate know each other since the beginning when my ex and I were together. So, 3 of us had a very casual and frank chats over dinner. My ex roomate and I continue to walk at MidValley until my ex got off work and 3 of us continued our chat over supper.

Generally, great to know everyone is doing fine. And now, tomorrow will be the Monday blues....

Parks and Beaches of Kuantan

2009-05-23T22:17:00.012+08:00

I just came back from Kuantan not long ago. The 3 hours journey was good, thanks to the chat I had with the people in my car. Else, I will be falling asleep. Actually I was there for my ex university coursemate wedding dinner. And a group of us stayed at a hotel, with the Kuantan river view. We were been told there's a river cruise for it but we didn't have enough time for that.

There's an esplanade along the river and we rested at the eatery stalls over there. On the tables, have this leaf wrappings. Inside was, I guess it's fermented rice. A whiff of alcoholic smell at first bite. Not bad but by the second helping, I had enough of it. First glance looks like .....erm.... hanging testicles (what's in my mind!!). And I also had ABC, (shaved ice with sweet toppings). Colorful one.

The next morning, after the wedding dinner, I was to wake up at 6am! Gosh! Still half-awoke, I was driven to Teluk Cempedak (Cempedak Bay) to witness sunrise, but too bad, it was drizzling and all the misty sky. Sigh. At dusk, all the pics turned out blue. And later on, we walked the wooden pathway, leading to another section of the beach. I like that pathway, on the left is lush of greens and right is the stoning sloop overlooking the beach.

The next stop was Tmn Gelora. There's a beach nearby and also a park. There's a huge waterlily pond there but not all the lilies were in full bloom. We took a walk around the park, among the pines. After that, we went to Balok Beach. I like the scenes over there, with rocks out at the sea. The water was clear and many hermit crabs too but assorted kinds of shells. Crawling on hands, playing around with them. Reminded me of the Tg Rhu beach at Langkawi with similar landscape. The last beach destination before I left Kuantan was Batu Hitam beach (not in the pics).

Lunch was mee rojak with that bowl of cendol. Supposedly to be quite famous at Kuantan. And then headed back to KL!! The downhill after Genting Sempah stretch was so exciting and upon entering KL area, the MRR2 highway was so jam !!

The TV Series I Am Following

2009-05-21T23:10:00.003+08:00

Been almost 2 days I've not been blogging about anything and I foresee there's no interesting blog topic for the next few days. Besides attending work meeting with my team mates from the Western time zone, I'm either watching TV over the public channels or I'm watching anime or I'm reading my book. Current anime is Macross Frontier and the current book is Where Rainbow Ends by Cecilia Ahern. The previous book was A Place Called Here, also written by Cecilia Ahern. ( ...man, i need to find more books to read other than chic lits... )

I'm trying to follow the Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives when time permits (means when I don't have my night work meetings during the showtime). There was one episode, talking about Eli Scruggs funerals and all the good things he had done for the ladies. All the flashbacks, on Eli comforting the ladies, being a good man he was. I was so touched towards the end. Almost cried.

I like Ugly Betty too. There was an episode she was to choose between career and family. The period she has to attend the YETI interview and her sister was having a party for her saloon. Not forgetting the part, sometimes talks about his little brother. The perception of have a 'different' brother and handling the issue within the family. From the public TV point of view.

Last Saturday, I have finally sat down and watched Grey's Anatomy. Interesting tv series. Phua Chu Kang has lost its glory without the Margaret, Beng, Aloysius and the mother. Perhaps some brief moments of laughter but still..... not as good. Next on the show is, Mr. Siao's Mandarin Class (a local version of Mind Your Language). Actually the Mind Your Language is funnier. Maybe I don't get those chinese written jokes in that show.

That's all, the tv programs I'm occassionally watching, apart from the NTV7 news. I know I'm soooooo outdated on those tv series.

Meals and Movie with Ryan

2009-05-19T22:19:00.004+08:00

Both of us were quite busy to meet up. Our last meeting was last week of August last year during our trip together to HongKong/Macau. But the chance came last Friday during our movie date of 'Angels and Demons'. Ryan and I had the time to walk around Pavilion shopping mall, had dinner and desserts. Took some food pics, chatting and all.

His birthday is coming soon towards end of this month but knowing his weekend plans for the month, I guess we won't be meeting up so soon again. I paid for our dinner at Crystal Jade restaurant and movie at GSC cinema. Perhaps, taking it as the birthday treat for him. And he paid for our dessert at Hong Kong Dessert Place cafe.

Angels and Demons Movie Review

2009-05-16T20:45:00.003+08:00

Compared to 'The Da Vinci Code' and the 'Angels and Demons', the former was better. The story of the latter about the cat and mouse game was kinda predictable. Save for the twist of the event, showing the real mastermind of the plot towards the end of the movie. Actually, at one scene, the dialog gave obvious hints who is the mastermind. Apart from the detective-ish kinda of storyline, I was like having a tour around Rome and Vatican. It brought back sweet memories of my 3-week backpack holiday at Italy, particularly Rome, around 9 years ago. The memories of Pantheon, Piazza del Popolo, Castel Sant'Angelo, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican Grottoes and many more. I've missed visiting the Sistine Chapel and through the movie, I know it looks like, from the inside.

A better performance was expected from Tom Hanks but it was not, but Ewan McGregor gave a recommendable act in it. Seeing Ewan walking around the Church in his black robes reminded me of him in Star Wars, a Jedi with his brown robes. Ayelet Zurer was great too, a refreshing cast in the movie. It was easily to focus on her, since she's the only female character in the entire movie.

Apart from the almost cheesy storyline (can't blame it, since it's a novel adaption from Dan Brown), the scene showing the Pantheon from the ceiling view was obviously very fake. It could be better. I was at the Pantheon during my Rome trip and the memory of its interior was still very clear to me. Perhaps that's the best they can do with all the restriction in Rome.

Since the first movie, this one also brought back many principles I've stand against which, the Church of disposing Galileo and at least the Church came to its senses by pardoning Galileo in the year 1992. Throughtout the movie, it talks about the LHC and at one scene, showing a person with the placard about the embroynic stem cell research. I'm currently helping to analyze data from the LHC via BOINC program and I'm also in support of embroynic stem cell research.

Local, American, Hong Kong, Japanese Office Working Culture

2009-05-14T20:18:00.006+08:00

This is going to be some serious topic after so many entries of food reviews, movie reviews, relationship and bla bla bla.

Over the years of my working experience, I have worked in companies with local, Japanese, Hong Kong and American working cultures. My Japanese office working culture experience was when I was a vendor to a Japanese electronic manufacturing plant at Shah Alam, Hong Kong one was when I worked there for a few months and American one is my current working experience.

Japanese working style is very systematic with all the process well defined. Have a communal exercise in the morning. And just do your work according to the defined process. They have process for almost everything and the one I remember is the 5S Japanese workspace management methodology. In addition are, being strict discipline, punctual and respect your seniors. It cannot be denied that it gets the work done. It's so focused on the process that I believe it needs improvement on people management. I read at Akatsukiotoko blog on the 'senpai-kouhai' concept, and it's real intimidating. Those which are not adhering to the defined process may be labeled as a black sheep. Limiting creativity and out-of-the-box thinking.

The American office working culture has more liberty in the style. I have learnt that my team mates at New Jersey work from home almost the entire week. And the New Jersey office is practically empty unless work meeting is held. Discipline is something cultivated individually. So do responsibility and accountability. When one is given the task, one just complete it, regardless of the method doing it. This approach only works when the team members are matured in their work disciplines and the trust from the superiors. Encourages team empowerment and improves creativity but it needs caution as too many diversified approach in a team can affect the team cohesiveness and directions.

The impression of Hong Kong working culture is something like the Koreans and Japanese too. Long hours. Stressing on working hard and I always like to rebel by igniting the concept of working smart. They believe long working hours means better productivity but to me it's just bad project planning. But I believe it's a society culture too, because people who comes back early from work at being scorned at. And jobless guys in Japan are considered 'useless' to the society. But looking at the population of Hong Kong and Japan with limited jobs availability, many are willing to work longer hours to secure their jobs. Else, someone else is more than willing to have it.

And my final thought of local companies, not to be racial, but from the term, 'China-man' company, the concept is 'maximizing employee effort with minimizing employer cost'. This concept is that by engaging your skills, paying for the services/consultations, the employer is expecting extra added values to these deals. Doubling the deliverable. Though the productivity can be high, and many job experience can be learn from it but it needs to improve on career planning, skills training and welfare of the employee. But most often, it is being overlooked because of over stressing client satisfaction and Return-of-Investment from the employees. Employee attrition can be an issue here.

I believe most of my blog readers or perhaps half of the total readers are already in the supervising or managerial role in their job, so... how do you define your office working culture in your team?

Star Trek Movie Review

2009-05-10T23:24:00.006+08:00

Here's another movie review about Star Trek. I just love it. Not for the storyline though, but more to the nostalgic reasons. I've been following the Star Trek series many years back, since Capt. Picard to Capt. Janeway and then Capt. Archer. Occasionally watched some Capt. Kirk series but not too keen. And neither was Capt. Sisko. Praises to the director, JJ Abrams for making it so fantastic. For the record, he's also the director of Cloverfield, another movie which I adore.

The bridge of NCC 1701 looks much neater and cooler than the original Star Trek Capt Kirk tv series. Spock and Kirk both look handsome and surprisingly Uhura is having an affair with Spock! I like Chekov English with Russian accent. Sulu did some hiccups. Such a funny act. Star Trek used to be so 'brainy', and the director has added humor to it. Great job! I felt so ecstatic watching Leonard Nimoy starring the Star Trek again. Acting in his original role!! Albeit the Spock senior. I just love it. Not forgetting San Francisco, the base of the Starfleet Command. And the irony was, they didn't mention the Jupiter Station. Perhaps it wasn't built yet.

And the crescendo part of the ending of the movie, with Nimoy narrating the opening lines of the Star Trek series, and then the theme of the Star Trek tv series started playing. It was so orgasmic!

Just some trivia question to you all, if you claim to be a Star Trek fans. No prices but just for the fun of it.

1. What do the acronym of USS and NCC stands for in 'USS Enterprise NCC 1701'
2. What is the primary mission of Capt. Janeway.
3. Who discovered the warp speed technology.
4. What event triggered the event of Vulcan contacting Earth.
5. And the last one is, what is the serial number of USS Enterprise for Capt. Picard.

Colourful Flowers at Home

2009-05-07T00:02:00.008+08:00

I'm just fascinated with flowers and plants. When I was young, my parents drove me out with my brothers to the Lake Gardens, walking around the green fields, playing chasing with my brothers. And the evening outing ended at the botanical sections admiring the myriad colours of flowers blooming in the summer weather. I enjoyed my family outings too at the Penang Botanical Gardens. Not forgetting all the gardens at Melbourne, Kyoto and Nara. Hopefully, I get to visit the famous Kew Gardens at London too.

Here are the pictures of the flowers at my parent's home at the front yard and my own home at the balcony. Among them are daisy, hibiscus, orchids and other unknown plants. Particularly, this flower plant which I'm not sure what's the flower is called in English but in Chinese (cantonese) is 'fu guai fa'. And it happens to be blooming albino types. So rare. Can I sell it at eBay? LOL.

Not sure if Hans knows about the name though. To me, he's already an expert with orchids.

May all of you all have a wonderful Mother's Day this coming weekend and enjoy the day with more love and colours, just like the flowers. Don't forget about carnation ;)

It's Easy As 1234 to Say I Love You

2009-05-03T22:51:00.003+08:00

Whenever I'm listening to this song, I'm wearing a smiley on my face. I feel happy, satisfied, so full of love... music flowing through my ears, swinging my body left and right, closing my eyes, keep me motivated, seems like all the worries just disappeared. The whole world is so merry and gay. I feel so innocent again. Like a kid. Life can be so simple.

The song name is simple too, "1234", by Plain White T's. Below is the lyrics and the music video (appreciated your patience to wait for the video to load). The MV is just so sweet. Showing lovely couples, family, their kids, their pets, and friends. Love exist in so many ways. I love my family, my excellent friends, and all the lovely people walking with me in my life. No matter in the past or in the present. Including all the readers of this blog too. And of course, dedicating this song, to the person who was watching Hairspray with me in my house on a hot afternoon ;)

Hope will cheer you up on the first day of work on a brand new week tomorrow.

1,2 - 1 2 3 4
give me more lovin then i've ever had.
make it all better when i'm feelin sad.
tell me that i'm special even when i know i'm not.
make me feel good when i hurt so bad.
barely gettin mad,
im so glad i found you.
i love bein around you.
you make it easy,
as easy as 1 2,(1 2 3 4.)
theres only one thing two do three words four you.
i love you.
(i love you)
theres only one way two say those three words
and that's what i'll do.
i love you.
(i love you)
give me more lovin from the very start.
piece me back together when i fall apart.
tell me things you never even tell your closest friends.
make me feel good when i hurt so bad.
best that i've had.
im so glad that i found you.
i love bein around you.
you make it easy as easy as 1 2,(1 2 3 4.)
theres only one thing two do three words four you.
i love you.
(i love you)
theres only one way two say those three words
and that's what i'll do.
i love you.i love you
(i love you)
you make it easy, its easy as 1234
theres only one thing two do three words four you i love you
(i love you)
theres only one way two say those three words
thats what ill do i love you
(i love you)
i love you i love you.
one two three four i love you.
(iloveyou)
i love you
(i love you)

Labour Day Holiday with Bloggers

2009-05-02T00:49:00.005+08:00

The Labour Day holiday was a homely bloggers affair. I had breakfast as SK's house and SK cooked dinner for Eva, David (aka apollo) and I. As always, the dinner was fulfilling and full of satisfaction. We had the Marmite Sauce Chicken, Ginger Pork Liver and Kidney, Fish Balls with Green Vege and everyone with a bowl of herbal soup and brown rice. After chatting for awhile, SK decided wanted to go IKEA. David had to return back to his work. SK picked up Daniel (aka bunny) and 3 of us together did some shopping at IKEA. Stuffs mainly for David and William. I was more like window shopping. We had supper at the Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks shop. Soya bean milk definitely not going well with the oyster mee sua.

I always like the idea of friends eating together in a homely manner. All the chatting and sharing the moments among each others. The previous time we had the blogger dinner meet was also at SK's place, with William, David, Joe (aka silencer), Daniel and I. Thanks SK for all the effort.

Herbal soup, brown rice, Marmite sauce chicken

Pork liver and kidney, fish balls with vege, Eva dinner pack

May is a Month of Frustration

2009-04-30T21:10:00.011+08:00

My mood hasn't been good this month. Perhaps of all the bills coming in plus the income tax, annual car insurance payment and the road tax. I'm just easily agitated. And I'm trying my very best to be patient with everything.

I know of some friends are dropping hints that the birthday is coming. But, don't try to push it too hard. And I know they are jokingly demanding birthday present but I really just can't make it for this month. But I will try my best to have a birthday treat. Hopefully not too expensive. And I just find it weird, that the birthday person openly asking for a birthday present and a birthday treat. Seriously, I definitely don't... and won't do that. I mean what's the sincerity of the gift if it's being asked? Perhaps I'm just too serious about all these stuffs.

And the second thing is, I just don't get it why some people cannot be considerate or have a good understanding of the situation I'm in. If I can't make it for a date/trip/event due to a family event or work commitment, shouldn't I have a good reason to excuse myself? What's with all the fuss about it? Am I expected to leave my family or work commitments, so we can have some fun? I know everyone is very busy with each other schedule, but it's best we find a compromise on that.

And another thing I hate, is when I tell people I can't afford to buy this and that. Or when I'm commenting this thing is too expensive. They are some people who tease me why I shouldn't be enjoying life with all the good pampering, while I'm earning 'beribu-ribu ringgit' (thousands of dollars). I just very hate that !!!! I'm just very mindful of how I should be doing my expenditure. Some people are wondering, why am I still so mindful with money, despite with the job I'm having now. Some people are just born lucky in a well-to-do family. Not supporting parents. Not paying for their own house. Not paying for their parents bills. Own bills. My family always comes first. And I'll try to enjoy myself within my own limit.

I'm not trying to be anti-social. So, please, have some understanding on that.