My New Toy - X'mas 2010

Went to the Hong Kong Christmas Bookfest 2010 on Christmas eve.  Bought some books of course and then I spotted a counter that sells Logitech mouse and stuff.  It wasn't the mouse or keyboard that caught my eyes.  It was the Kanvus products that caught my eyes.  I have been looking at similar products for quite some time now and found that the better quality ones are usually quite pricey. This one wasn't quite as expensive.

I tested it a bit and it was not bad!  It was on sale as well.  The sales assistant introduced the Kanvus Life 106 to me as I'm not a hardcore graphic designer (actually not a graphic designer at all!!), and I just like to paint, so this should be perfect for me.

Yes, I bought it.  For less than HK$800 I even got a set of 6 colour markers as gift!  hahahaha!  So I got it home but I didn't want to open it until after Christmas.  So I waited... anxiously...

Then it was Tuesday, when I got to stay home on my own.  I took it out and set it up.

Tada!!

This is the first painting that I painted.  Just scribbling and practicing... but I like it so it's here.


And this morning, again, I'm on my own.  So I sat down, and played with my new toy again (mind you, I'm not a man or a child but I do love to play!)

And this is what I got...

  

my first "water colour" painting in a long long time!

It feels really weird painting without having to use paper and real colour and you can "undo" your dabs!!  I'm not sure if I would grow to love painting like this more than the conventional way of painting.  But it looks like it's the most sustainable method for an amateur.

I'm still looking at my options with ceramics here in HK -- a studio could be a good idea.

OO... Briefcase...s!!

 I received a parcel... erm... a carton to be exact.  I opened it and there are 2 silver  briefcases in it. 


OOOOOoooooo.... I thought to myself, "this is strange..."  because I haven't bought anything online lately (not that I don't want to, ai...) and I don't recognize the sender.  Hmmm...

I opened it and... tada!!

Doesn't it just look like a case for firearms?  Or, ermmm... something for parts of a errr... w*rheads?  OOOOoooooo... and both briefcases are identical.  Gosh, blogging this could get me into big trouble...!! 

But, there's always a "BUT", and that's the word that makes things interesting, or not... I suddenly remembered, a lighting supplier was supposed to send me 2 spotlight samples.  That should be it.  So I emailed them and asked where my diamonds have gone. hahaha!!

It turns out, their logistic dept. has made a mistake -- not surprised at all, coz the factory/warehouse/manufacturer/supplier is in PRC.  Though the product is designed in Germany for a Swedish company, which is very well designed I must say, but, the screw up just caused half of my confidence in them.

Anyway, they're going to send the ones that actually have been loaded with the lights, straight away.

dying young

I've been watching repeats of some HK movies on TV.  It's quite sad that most of the times, at least one or two actors/actresses are dead.  Sometimes, 2 out  of 3 main actors.  Though dying young, they were good at what they did, really good, by Asian standard.

Rouge -- both of them died

This is just one of the many examples.  Well, good example from Hollywood, The Dark Knight -- Heath Ledger, I only watched this move in a cinema after he died... felt so so so strange.

I'm sure everyone knows at lease one star like that... an unforgettable one, that will always live in his/her work.

They were once, very very shiny stars and they, are simply irreplaceable. 
It's like, the more they shine, the more their early death weighs...

I don't know, just want to say that they change how a movie should look, or meant knowing that they are already dead whilst I'm watching it.  hmm...

正能量！

看吧~ 我在发放正能量的样子哩~~ 是的！头发是会飞起来的~~ 呵呵呵呵呵呵呵~~~

我以前都不用脸书的... 那时候，离开澳门的时候，在朋友们的要求下，才决定和老公共用一个account。 也因此跟很多失联的朋友/同学从新联络上 -- 不小的收获哦！ 说实在，真的让我有一种整个人都充满着正能量一样。 超爽！！


最近，发现某一部分我认识的人，我在意的人，很奇怪地，都同时在他们的人生里遇到了一些让人烦恼的事情。  希望你们能接收到我发放给你们的正能量，变得更有勇气去面对一切挑战哦！ 像九把刀说的，"人生就是不停的戰鬥！" 


大家！ 用力地加油哦！我也会一起加油的！

我的家人朋友們, 我最親爱的你們, 我的小宇宙還有很多很多的正能量存貨哦, 有需要就别客氣哦! 來! 拿去! 喔喔喔喔喔喔喔喔喔喔喔喔喔喔~~~~~~

Homemade Wantons!

I craved for wanton last night, after my Yoga session and a scroll in Page One.  I figured I'd cook them myself since I've got some minced pork in the fridge.  So I went and hunted for the prawns and wanton wrappers.  Got the prawns but no wanton wrappers anywhere (well I only looked in 3 supermarkets, not a lot)!!!  So I have decided to pay for the prawns and go home and make my own wanton wrappers.

I googled a recipe, and started right away!!

Flour x 150g, egg x 1, water x 2 tbsp, salt x 1 tsp, mix them up and make the dough (knead until it doesn't stick to your hands anymore), leave for 30 minutes (cover the bowl with a damp cloth).

Then, while waiting, mix the minced pork and prawn in a bowl (stir them up in one direction until it's very sticky). Of course, mix in the salt & pepper as well.

Then roll the dough (split them in a few portions) into very flat sheets, as thin as possible, best if you can see the light through the sheets. Cut them in to 6cm x 6cm squares (actually, any shape you like as long as it's just as big).  And them, wrap!!

Well, depending how big you like your wantons, wrap as much filling you want.  I like them small, about half an inch diameter.

TADA!!!

You can fry them, cook them in chicken/fish broth, have egg noodles with it, bla bla bla...

Dang！I'm sooooooooooooooooooooo good!

How many books do you read a year?

5? 10? 50?
Me, just about 20 I guess...

How many books do you intend to read a year? 

5? 10? 50? 100?
Me, n or as many as possible.  Unfortunately I don't earned enough to buy so many, I haven't got so much time to read so many (for some reason, I can't read on a moving vehicle any more, that's killing me), and the books I read just get thicker and thicker.

For me, I intend to read a book every 2 or 3 days.  But that's just wishful thinking.  I remember I used to read one book a day when I was in high school.  I would visit the library everyday, and just pick up the next book card from the drawer that I left off a day before.  Sometimes, I could read up to 2 or 3 books a day.  But now, I can only manage 1 a week.  @__@

I only read Chinese books back then and are still what I read most, but I do read a bit of English books occasionally and once in a blue moon, Japanese comics. 

What do I find in books that I read?  Mmm... brain work out, heart work out, sometimes, lacrimal gland work out.  Naa, it's a lot more than that.  You'll only find out when you start reading.

Love this Auto-Reply

It was a boring afternoon, but then I received this Auto-Reply from a supplier, LOVE IT!   I have highlighted the bit I love in Red...

Thank you for your Email. Unfortunatelly I am currently out of office with
limited access to my Emails. Your Email, therefore, will not be read.

One more funny thing is that at 16:03 I received his previous email asking questions about his $$, then at 16:51 I replied, and then a minute later, came this Auto-Reply...

Steve's comment, "a slippery character" hehe

My latest piece - 開心 (Open Heart, means Happy)

1st Anniversary!

View all

Get your own

Yup, in a day, it's gonna be our anniversary! We celebrated it a couple of days earlier because Adrian won't be able to get home early enough to have dinner on the day itself... What to do, he's an important man... hehe

Feels strange and, what a year it has been!!  One down, a lifetime to go!!!

I'm almost a genius!

Free-IQTest.net - IQ Test

Ya ya, I took another IQ test this morning, after the one called Mensa Workout that I've taken last night at the Mensa website... I only scored 22/30, I think 2 of those that I didn't get was because my English is not good enough... eeeeeee!!

Well, looking at the Score Guide from the one I've taken this morning, I have an IQ or 141... And then I was told that I have to add some 5 - 10% on top of my score because English is not my native language (I wonder if there's anything in Chinese out there...).  That would make me... erm... a genius then!!! WAAAA~~~ I could be in the same category as Einstein!! 

I'd never thought that I could possibly be a genius!!  But, they say, IQ is less important than EQ these days.  I think that's just about right, coz being a woman, I usually don't make use of my IQ when I shop, eat, fall in love, drink... etc. etc.  and my EQ must be somewhere on another planet when I get angry... I think some of my friends, who know me well enough can tell.

Conclusion,  although I have an IQ of a genius, because I don't really have very high EQ, that makes me... errr.... just A NORMAL PERSON!!   But I'm going to tell my mom and dad about my IQ anyway, just to make them proud -- having a daughter with an IQ of almost a genius could make them quite happy hahaha!!


Challenged Brian Goode aka Brain Good (my x-boss in the RCT) to it because he's one of the smartest person I've ever known... After the test, he said, "... not sure what happened, only 156."  @___@

World Cup and Octopus

Yes, there's this thing called a Psychic octopus, its name, Paul. 

I saw this on Sky News this morning.  And then received the above link from Steve E.  It is said that Paul has made predictions about the German's matches in the World Cup and the accuracy, 100%!

I simply think that he liked the colours of the German flag, 2 out of 3 are happy colours.  And then it got bored, coz besides that flag in the tank, everyone outside the tank has the same flag... so this time, he's decided to choose something different, different from all the flags surrounding him...!!

Sorry, I'm being boring again -- "why do you have to rationalize everything?" asks my better half.

After all, octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.  Why not a phychic?

Is this seat taken?

We have shuttle bus service between the apartment and Hankow Road in TST every 15 minutes which is very convenient - saves a lot of walking and $$ as well.

Today, we went shopping in TST.  We jumped on the shuttle bus to get home.  The bus provides 29 seats and, all are double seaters but the last one at the back on the left. -- only a few seats left and none of them was together...  It was quite full by the time we got on the bus.  I guessed we had to sit separate.  I proceeded towards the back portion of the bus and found 2 seats alongside, separated by the aisle, perfect.  So I said, "Excuse me, ..." to the young woman who had the window seat and her shopping bags on the seat next to her (by the aisle) so that she could remove the not-a-big-deal shopping bag from the seat to her lap and I could sit down.  She wasn't impressed.  And to my surprise, the man across the aisle (yup, he was sitting by the window on the same row with an empty seat by the aisle as well), reached over and grabbed the shopping bags... ar... I see, they're together.  The man then decided that he would sit with his partner instead of my husband (Hong Kongers don't generally like to sit with big hairy gweilos if you noticed).  So, we had the double seater where the man was sitting.

Whenever we get on the shuttle bus, we would sit together no matter how much shopping we've got -- we once had a dehumidifier, cutlery set, adjustable rod (1.7m in length) and a few other shopping bags + my handbag, still sitting together seemed like the right thing to do.  Unfortunately, some ppl just don't do it -- can't sit with shopping bags on their laps -- too heavy!!

I suggested to Adrian, that next time, I should ask the man instead of the young woman, with a slightly stimulating tone of voice -- we were both very tempted to see the woman's face turn and how she would react to the situation (Hong Kong girls are naturally very defensive/agressive when another woman, quite attractive and in her super deep V top, intends to talk/sit/engage any kind of activity with her partner with or without her presence/consent).  Both Adrian and I were really torn with the idea.  haha!!

I know, I know, me baaaaaaaaaad!!

The Curious Diary of Mr. Jam

The Curious Diary of Mr. Jam is a blog that I follow on a daily basis ever since I first read Mr. Jam's articles in The Standard.  The stuff that he writes is really funny and so are the comments that follow.  I can understand why -- Great minds think alike.  hehee  And then I started posting comments on some of his posts -- can't help it, they're just so interesting sometimes you just want to be part of it.

Yesterday, Mr. Jam himself posted a comment on my blog...!!!  If you've noticed, no one really leave any comments in this blog, I just know so far, this blog has had more than 12000 visits and that's because I put a counter here.  Otherwise, I would think that only Adrian and a few of my closest friends read what I write.  Depressing?  Not really.  I think it's a very good way to improve my English and at the same time, practice typing.  Also, I don't only write in English, I sometimes write in Chinese and Japanese as well (that's very rare because Adrian would always ask what I have written -- that means translations needed... which I still find quite difficult to translate from Chinese/Japanese accurately) when I think that only Chinese/Japanese could express what I really wanted to say.

Right, back to Mr. Jam's comment.  It's really encouraging.  So I sent him an email to thank him and told him my surname (he asked, OK.).  And to my surprise, he found one of my photos taken at a charity ball organized by the International Ladies Club of Macau and with my consent, he posted it on his blog.  I'm really flattered.  Haha! 

Maybe I should start to wear make up to work?  Naa~~ then I'll have to wake up at least half an hour earlier... Not a good idea.

Another use of handouts...

On the streets of TST, just a 5-minute walk and you'll collect enough newspaper (in the morning)/flyers/name cards for your child's next "Make Your Own Recycled Paper" project.

Today, as we were making our way to our lunch, waiting for the little red man to turn green, right in front of us was a couple (a Caucasian man and a Chinese lady, although it's irrelevant to what we were about to witness, but being Chinese and having married to a gweilo, I felt like I could relate to... whatever).  The lady took a handout in the form of a name card a few steps before they stopped at the light.  It was quite sunny and the man has obviously sweat quite a bit while waiting.  Guess what happened next?  The lady wiped his sweat on the bold patch with the name card!!!  WOW!!  That's really creative!  I must admit I lack creativity when it comes to things like this... I thought only tissues/handkerchiefs/towels or even sleeves are used to do the job... or is it only me? 

But I guess wiping sweat for your better half is an act of love.  So who cares what you use?  Does it really matter if your better half gets a telephone number complete with name & company logo on his forehead?  I guess not in this case hehehe

Pity I was too shock to take a picture of it to show... ai!!

What comes first??

OK, what do you call it?  Strawberries with Whipped Cream?  Whipped Cream on Strawberries?  Whipped Cream Strawberries?  Strawberries Whipped Cream??  Which one is it???

Well, whatever it is called, we're doing it again!  Yes, it's Getting-Fat-Time again!  This time, we will have dessert first, yes, dessert first.  Then, dinner.  hehehe if we were hungry after that... So tell me, what comes first?  Health?  Good food (according to a friend, eating fantastic food could actually be almost like an orgasm -- that didn't really impress her fiance then, who's now her husband)?  or the smile on your loved ones' face?

This time, we've bought some better quality strawberries.  So it's a lot better than last time, although, it was already freaking good the last time.  Same old trick, I had to beat the cream to death, working all the calories that I'm due to consume away efficiently -- honestly, I've been beating it for 15 - 20 minutes, I can have the whole portion.  However, because I love my husband so much, and he loves me as much, I'll share it with him heehehe!

See how happy my baby is?  It means everything in the world to me ^___^  Not difficult to tell what comes first, right?

Remember Me

Nothing beats a good movie and with a couple of G&T's in the arms of your better half.  Yes, we watched Remember Me.  I must admit, it's because of Robert Pattinson, we decided that we should watch it.  And if you have watched Twilight, you should be able to understand why we made the decision.

It's started out with a homicide on a New York City Subway platform in 1991.  And then the story went on as quite an ordinary love story.  Towards the end of the movie, when I pretty much assumed that it was gonna be one of those lame romantic movies, the final twist impressed me, so much that it made the movie a million times better.  It made both Adrian and I cried.

I strongly recommend that you check it out.

English Names

Traditional Chinese do not give their children English names.  So most of us grow up with Chinese names, normally made out of 1 to 2 Chinese characters.  The lack of an English name means that it is not easy for English speakers to remember us because it is difficult to pronounce our names and therefore, most of us, normally starting from high school (or as and when we feel we needed one), we get ourselves our own English names.  Although it's become a trend now for parents to give their children English names at birth, some still don't do it or they would prefer for the children to choose, whether or not to have an English name, or if they choose to have one, they can choose their own...

In Malaysia, the English names are quite normal, Kelvin, Kevin, Stephanie, Cindy, Tracy, Danny, Jonathan, Joey, Vincent, Irene, Helen, Elaine, Catherine/Cathy/Katherine, Eric... If you shout out one of these names in a supermarket, you'd probably have a least half a dozen of ppl answering...

And then I got to Macau, now HK... I can't help but notice some of the very unique English names the younger ppl have here:


Basically, there are quite a few catagories...

There are the ambitious ones like Million(!), Handsome(!)...
Then stationary/instrument... Staple, Paper, Piano (there must be a flute somewhere, or a trumpet...), Yoyo (a very common girls' name in HK/Macau)...

Then food... Orange, Spaghetti (OMG), Honey (uh-hm, this is my cousin brother's English name)...
Weather... Windy, Rain, Sky...
Adjective...  Mainly, Aware, Fancy (could be a noun as well...@_@)

Characteristic...  Sinner (one of my x-colleague, Sin is his surname...), Ego (what can I say?), Freeman, Fairy, Baby, Honey (yes, it's my cousin brother)
Body parts... Fanny, Pinky...

Then there are some that I don't know how to catagorize...  Weko, Midco, Fifi, Ginny (drinkable or simply Italian?), Shirty (who turns out to be a fantastic wife, mother and friend), Mask (yup, MASK, not Mark)... hmm...

Some sound really funny and I'm sure you've come across quite a lot if you've been here long enough or met enough ppl.  But hey, there's no way to figure out what the younger (Gosh I feel soooooooo freaking old already!!) generation has in mind...

What's for dinner?

Getting home from work everyday feels good but when it comes to time to figure out what to have for dinner, it's not so much fun.  And one of Adrian's favourite question on the phone during the day is "what are we doing for dinner tonight?"  Sometimes he would have ideas and even prep the dinner himself.  But it's just like lunch at work... you know what I mean.

It's Saturday today.  I have minced beef in the fridge and that's it... hmm... I looked it up. And it looks like the Minced beef sauce on mash is the easiest choice.  And, it turned out to be great.  Chinese style mash... coz you have some oyster sauce in it.  Yum yum.  Well at least Adrian thinks that it's bursting with flavours hahaha!!

Mission accomplished.

My crocheting project - Bloom & Blossom

I started work approx. 4 weeks ago.  The office is in a building at the beginning of Canton Road, right next to Harbour City.  Everyday when I go home, I have to walk pass all these super brands before I could get off the street (it's not like they're not there in the morning, they're just not opened yet, so I could hardly notice their existence).  On the first day, I spotted this white crocheted handbag in one of the shops, gosh, it was soooooo beautiful!!  Ya, of course, it costs just about HK$15K, of course it's beautiful!  Err... well maybe not all the expensive ones are beautiful (especially the ones that are covered with logos and monograms...) but trust me, this one is.

And so, I thought, well, it's crocheted, with a bit of leather handles & trimming and all... I can live without the leather trimming and handles and...  I just like how it's crocheted.  There I was standing outside the facade of a super brand, making the decision to crochet myself a nice looking bag.  hehee

I decided that it shouldn't be white (it's gonna be summer and ppl are gonna get sweaty and the bag is gonna end up greyish or something... or when I have curry, it will get spotty).  So I went down to the wet market in Jordan, there's this stall that sells some simple yarns.  I picked the pink one (would have picked another colour if they had anything nicer than pink...), paid HK$18 (should be more than enough for even a tank top).  Went back to the apartment and started crocheting away...

One week later, it's 60% done, with a lot of trial and error -- that's what you have to do when you don't have a pattern to follow... Adrian and I went down to Sham Shui Po hunting for the handles, zipper and the yarn for the trimming.  It took us all afternoon, exhausted but we got what we wanted.

With just a bit of trimming to go and a zipper to attach, I went off the Shanghai for a workshop.  Left it home with Adrian.  Mind you, Adrian was surprised that I didn't bring it with me and finish it off in Shanghai.  C'mon, I'm there with my new colleagues, I don't want them to think that I'm a weird, anti-social new colleague that came from Malaysia -- a place that does not need this thing called sweater, hence no one needs to know how to knit or crochet...???

Anyway, I returned to HK exhausted, but I just couldn't resist the thought of using a handbag that I've crocheted for the first time!  Well, I did have something like a bag crocheted when I was a kid but it was nothing serious like this one.  This one, I am going to use it, in HK, on Canton Road, in my office, with many many many colleagues in the sportswear retail industry (some might have some hi-fashion background!!), maybe 2/3 times a week!!  So this is bloody serious!

I completed the project last Saturday (total cost of material: HK$98), this is how it looks now... I've been using it since Monday (well Tuesday didn't count coz I was on a sickie)...

Bloom & Blossom

This is one side, if you compare with the picture below, it's got slightly different buds...

This is the other side, can you tell the difference between the two sides?






My colleagues has given me a special title, The Knitting Lady (織女)... hmm...
 

Getting fat on whipped cream!

I went down to the wet market today.  Well, I was there to get the ingredients for the dinner, for Adrian - the one's going to cook... Didn't really know how he'd manage because he only gets off work just about 7...

As I was making my way back to the apartment, towards the end of the stretch of stalls, $20 for a box of strawberries!  Not the best in the world but good enough... I was very tempted and so I bought bought hehehe

Like I said, they weren't the best strawberries but they do look and taste good enough.  Then I start to wonder... eat it like that?  Nah~~~ And so l googled it... everything seems so complicated!  You can either make a dessert or jam... to turn these strawberries into some form of dessert, pastry and oven is a must... nope, I only have a simple microwave and a convection stove, a pot, a sauce pan and a pan.  Jam?  I'm gonna have to need to buy a glass jar and then the cooking and bottling and blah blah blah... bottom line is, it's a lot of work.

I guess just the normal whipped cream on that should do it.  So I googled it again... lucky me, I found the best anwer: how to make whipped cream from scratch (I just know Adrian wouldn't appreciate those that came from a bottle).

And so I went out hunting for cream and a whisk, at just about 5pm, 2 hours before Adrian get home and I have budgeted it to be just about $30.  I got them both at $30.  Although I had to look in 3 different shops for a reasonably priced whisk, so that I don't blow my budget hehehe

I managed to get back to the apartment just before 6, had the air-con on full swing, started cooking our main course, Chicken Chasseur.  Just about 20 minutes before Adrian got back.  Then I started whisking, whilst the chicken's being cooked.  It was really hard work (arm exercise!) but when you see it rise, man, it was wonderful!!  WAHAHAHA


Yup, we stuffed ourselves, after the Chicken Chasseur (that I cooked, as instructed by Adrian), we stuffed ourselves with the dessert.  I just chucked all the strawberry cubes into the whipped cream, mixed them up and then just served in the sauce pan.  And it was fantastic!  And I feel good about Adrian being able to have semi-proper dessert after dinner -- his mom spoiled him!!

This is how the saucepan looked... felt so much like licking it!!

も一度日本へ行きたいなあ～～

初めで日本へ行ったのは２００７年の十月だ。　メンヂィちゃんと一緒に東京へ旅行に行った。　すごく楽しかった。　買い物して、料理をたくさん食べて、温泉に入って、道をちょっと迷って、いい思い出だよ！

今月、仕事でも一度香港に戻った。　今度、昔からずっと欲しくて、理想な仕事ができて、よかった。　仕事、頑張って、主人と一緒に、今度の十月、も一度日本へ行くつもりだ。 　そして、鈴鹿サーキットで日本のF1グランプリを観戦できるんだ。　やった～～

Voo~ Hoo~~~ Vettel and good job to Lewis!!

Despite the fact that his engine failed him the first 2 races, he finally nailed it this time!  Good job!!

And Lewis, VERY WELL DONE INDEED!! From 20th to 6th, it's unbelievable!  He made the race so interesting.  If there was a driver like that in the 90's, I wouldn't have called it "the dumbers-go-round"(儍佬兜圈）!! 

I just love how Lewis drives, he's just sooooooo good!  And to top it all off, I've got a couple of pints of Guinness to go with!!


Great weekend!  --  Although Adrian doesn't agree, but it's good to be back!

Where to Cross the Border?

Received a forwarded mail today, sadly, it reflects something really funny about Malaysia, and it's nothing to be proud of...  it goes something like this....


WHERE TO CROSS THE BORDER?


If You Cross The North Korean Border Illegally, You get 12 years Hard Labour.  (Worse if you're a North Korean and try to cross the border to leave the country illegally!)
  
If You Cross The Iranian Border Illegally, You Are Detained Indefinitely.
   
If You Cross The Afghan Border Illegally, You Get Shot.

If You Cross The Saudi Arabian Border Illegally, You Will Be Jailed.

If You Cross The Chinese Border Illegally, You May Never Be Heard Again.

If You Cross The Venezuelan Border Illegally, You Will Be Branded A Spy And Your Fate Will Be Sealed.

If You Cross The Cuban Border Illegally, You Will Be Thrown Into Political Prison To Rot.
   
If You Enter Britain Illegally, You Will Be Arrested, Prosecuted And Sent To Prison And Deported

If You Are An Indonesian AND ILLEGALLY CROSS THE MALAYSIAN BORDER

   YOU GET:
  
   -  MyPR (Permanent Residence / Pemastautin Tetap)
   -  A Driving License,
   -  Voting Rights,
   -  Job Reservation,
   -  Special Privilege to be Considered as Bumi,
   -  Credit Cards,
   -  Subsidized Rental Or A Loan To Buy A House,
   -  Free Education,
   -  Free Health Care

 Oh Malaysia, what a great country!!

Malaysian Cable TV - Astro

Astro, Malaysian Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) Pay Television service, erm otherwise known as Malaysia's one and only Cable TV service provider (mind you, they also have radios aired through their channels).

I've subscribed to it's service for more than 10 years now.  Except when it rains and we lose the signal, and when there is more airtime for advertisements than the actual programmes in some channels, I really like them a lot.  I'm sure most ppl know what I'm talking about -- it's like half of what you are paying is for the advertisement that are usually a pain in the arse!

If you have watched AXN Asia, you'll notice that the volume of the actual programmes are generally very very low but the volume of the advertisements is usually at least 2 times louder.  So if you were watching, say, the replay of House (one of my favourites), some time in the middle of the night, when the rest of the family is sleeping but that's the only time you have the TV to yourself, you'd better have the remote control in your hand so that you can mute it immediately when it's the commercial break that you have paid for... otherwise you risk waking up the whole family.  It's not just ordinary advertisements, some of them must have been made in hell... e.g. Video Zonkers, So You Think You Can Dance (when they have Mary Murphy screaming like a lunatic - I wish I could slap her and you can tell how annoyed Nigel is) and so on.  Well maybe it wouldn't be so bad if they could just cut the bit where ppl or Mary Murphy is screaming... Goodness...

So I've been using this decoder since the day I signed up, erm... at least a decade ago, now, I found that it doesn't really receive any signal anymore.  It sounded like they won't replace your decoder until it's exploded spontaneously.  Until then, you'll have to call them every time your decoder dies on you and wait for them to send a technician over to fix it for you.  And every single visit costs RM50...

Well, with the technology today, I'm sure we can watch just about everything online instead of having to have a decoder, a remote control and a satellite dish hanging out your balcony... However, with the crappy "broadband" service available and the limited internet knowledge that my mom and dad have, close to none I should say, it's just impossible.

At the mean time, we can just hope and pray for the best.  Let's see what turns up after the technician's visit...

Another marvelous book!! 又一好書!!

I've finished this book whilst I was in the UK for our very long Christmas/New Year holiday.  It was... breathtaking!  It's called "Chinese Tiger", obviously, by a Chinese novelist (Li Ke Wei) and it's in Chinse...

The story is fiction but it's based on facts - the fact about how the Chinese have destroyed the environment and one of the most precious animals in the country.  Once again, the truth about how Chinese deals with things area revealed by through an interesting story on the surface, the fact on the background - a story of how a Chinese tiger was seen and found and observed; how funding & specialists both from some other parts of the world have been put in to prevent the extinction of this beautiful creature; how tremendous efforts were put in to help it breed, probably for the last time in its existence, and succeeded; how fascinating the creatures are and how the human have owed it all to them; how at the same time illegal hunters were sent in by another country where the funding would be if the creature has become extinct for real...

It is very disappointing but I have decided to ignore the saddening fact about the creature while I was reading it and enjoyed the story.  Otherwise it would be too sad to read.  Let's hope that there's still hope.

刚看完了"中国虎"这本由李克威写的小说, 一部让人看得眼冒金星也不愿放下的好书!  又一部藉由小说来揭开中国急速发展背后的悲哀... 也再一次揭露了人性的丑陋... 看了一小半后, 我决定不理作者想带出来的残酷的现实 -- 看完就算, 不然的话太沉重了... 而我, 人微言轻, 根本没有办法去改变些什么...

The book "I don't want to be Chinese again" 来生不做中国人

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Based on a research on www.163.com in September 2006, titled "If there is next life, would you want to be a Chinese again?"  and in just 12 days, 65.1% of 11271 voters said no to being Chinese again.  The poll was terminated and the web page was deleted 26 days before the end date of the poll two editors of the website were sacked on the same day.

This incidence inspired the writer of this book, Joe Chung (a journalist, born & bred in HK, currently resides in Norway), to write this book named "I don't want to be born a Chinese again" 来生不做中国人

This book is banned in China because it is too "aggressive".  I couldn't find it in Malaysia so I asked Adrian to buy it when he went to HK. 


I got to know this book based on a critic by Ni Kuang (the famous Chinese/HK novelist and screenwriter) published in one of his books.  This is a book that reveals the truth about China... from a Chinese point of view.  Being a Malaysian Chinese, I guess I'm luckier... However, with China growing by the minute, it is very difficult to avoid being affected by the irresponsible actions of her people.  And the impact is ginormous, but some may not notice... Also, it kinda explains why I feel different from most of my HK/Macau friends.  I didn't know what it was but now I have a better picture.  It's sad and the truth is very cruel, the writer has been very blunt.

I have written to the writer to express my appreciation.  He replied and this is what he said (I have translated them into English, not very well translated though):


我寫這些文章，是因為我們必須誠實的面對人生。能發聲的，

必須為弱者呼喊。至于這會得罪多少人，是毫不重要的。

中國文化本身已是百孔千瘡，「虛假」二字，是其精髓所在。人誰無過，最壞的還不是百孔千瘡，而是不肯面對百孔千瘡這個事實。

希望你能向親友推介此書，讓更多人了解中國。

"I have written these articles because we have to be true to ourselves.  If we can speak, we must speak for the weak and helpless.  It does not matter how many people may have been offended during the process, it is simply not important.

The Chinese culture itself is already very badly damaged, FAKE is the word to describe it.  Everybody makes mistakes, the worst is not that it is badly damaged, the worst is not willing to admit to the fact that it has been badly damaged.

I hope you can introduce this book to your friends in order to let more people know China."

(please do not hesitate to comment/let me know if there's a better way of translating what he has written)

I am still searching for an English version of this particular book, I know some of my friends who cannot read Chinese might be interested.

 (click on image to view original size)