Spot the Difference

Taking a break from my travel log to post these photos:P It's courtesy of Handsome Devil, Lim Leng Chye:

A Very Enjoyable BUT Stressful Week (part 1)

From Tampin to KL to Dubai to Manchester to Edinburgh. Within 7 days:) After the relaxing week before, the hectic schedule was back the moment I reached KL but it was well worth it because I got to do so much before I went off to Edinburgh for a new chapter of my life. I also got to meet almost all my good friends before I cabut off for at least 6 months.

Sunday 3rd September 2006

9.30am: Left Tampin after having breakfast with my mum and dad. Reached KL about 10.30am. Gave Otak-otak to my cell members and ex-cell leader. Decided to go attend church celebration in DUMC for the last time, at least till I'm back. Worth cause the worship was good and the message was pretty good as well:) "The Christian's Understanding on Love and Sex" Wow, I believe God's message or gentle reminder to me cannot be clearer.

Usual DUMC enthuasiastic worship

Senior Pastor Daniel Ho, sincere and yet straightforward in his message to the church

Managed to bump into coolcat and took a photo with her:)
This is one articulate, creative and talented lady. Don play play guys, her ability to whip the pen (erm, keyboard) and her Nikon D50 will put many a men to shame, including humble me:P

Had lunch at Midvalley to take opportunity to say goodbye to two wonderful ex-colleagues , May Yee and Debbie, from Open Source Systems. These two have been like 2 elder sisters to me all this while since we've met although, unfortunately for me, both look so much younger than me:P

May Yee

Debbie

Younger than me in looks and in mental maturity too apparently:P

Had lunch and went window shopping with these 2 ladies;) Actually they went shopping, I just simply jalan about, letting them do their slow shop-by-shop visits while I went about taking photos such as this:

It's amazing what boredom can do to you:)) But no regrets la. Get to kacau these two ding-dongs. It's been a while since our carefree OSS days.

At 5pm, had to rush off to Desa Kiara Condominium to collect a gift from my aunt from Australia. She posted it to her friend and I went to collect from that friend. I had no idea where was the place but somehow, God showed me the way and I reached there despite only having vague instructions on getting there. It was really amazing. After that, I was off to One-Utama to get a birthday cake. Cake was for Shell IT's Fair Lady's birthday. One-Utama's Sun Moulin was suggested by Peng Peng. Was the celebration at One-U too? Nope, it was at The Curve. As there wasnt any traffic jam then, I took the risk and went in 1-U. Got the cake and got out within 1/2 hour. Pretty amazing stuff.

Reached The Curve at Mutiara Damansara about 7.30pm for Ann's birthday. Miss Fair lady belanja-ed, so we ordered as much as we can, more like we "threatened" to order as much as we want. In the end, we didnt:P

Dinner at Italianies

Usual cake-cutting ceremony for birthday. Cheesecake from Sun Moulin was bought by me:)

Went to Colonial Times to meet some MMU friends at 9.30pm, borak borak a bit then finally went home at about 11.30pm. Reached home 12am with a sore throat and busted body. Hmmm..not so smart to get myself into this situation before leaving but it's not an everyday thing to say goodbye for such a long period. So ultimately, worth it;)

Monday 4th September 2006

Came to office after a week's break. Got the scare of my life. Couldnt find my login profile. Dont tell me they've deleted my account already. So soon!!! No la, just so ngam that DHCP server had some problem assigning IPs and hence, my machine wasnt able to connect to the network. Phew! If my account was deleted, I was gonna be in deep sh*t since I've still got a document to finish. Well, after the machine was ok, borak borak abit with friends, did a bit of work, it was lunch. My manager, Siew-Chin, gave me a treat cause I've been a good boy in office:) Did my duties and even more. Hehehe. But it was good! Managed to finish the last task I was given, writing a very very very long document. Got great sense of satisfaction, leaving work with no baggages whatsover.

Tuesday 5th September 2006

Last day in Shell. No work to do already. So pretty lepak. Said goodbyes to many good people. Tidy up my workspace. Pretty much that's it

Lunch at KFC with friends I met during Shell's Inter-D games.

Came back from lunch, lepak again. Then my dept, Global Linux/Unix actually threw me a farewell party as well. Wah, feel so humbled and honoured at the same time. Cause farewell parties are normally given for leaders and managers only. Engineers, got ppl remember he/she leaving, sudah cukup baik lor. Really dont know what to say except that it's been a most fruitful and fantastic 6 months in Shell. Everything really just nice. It's really all God's blessings, I'm just a passenger in this amazing journey. I know I kinda keep repeating myself but it's really just so so unbelievable. No doubt, there'll also be bad times in the future but it's memories like this that will keep me going, knowing that bad times are temporal only, cause I have such good times to prove it:)

Most practical farewell gift, angpow:P

Gratitude written all over my face, isnt it?

Which was why I decided to give GLUX the 2nd-place trophy I won from CBJ Idol. I think it's more meaningful for them to keep as it gives the dept something to shout about and memories to keep as well.

End of part 1. Really too many things happened that I cannot put everything in 1 post. Stay tuned for part 2 and part 3:P

A Very Enjoyable AND Relaxing Week

Spent my last full week at home in Muar mostly. Relaxing at home, sleep 12 hours, eat, chat on the net, meet some friends. Here are some proof of that:)

Met my mom's colleagues for dinner and had, of all things, lamb chops:P It was good, though not very Malaysian. I supposed any food that is not self-cooked will be missed

Food I'l miss from Muar:

It's quite strange actually. Waffles are the same everywhere and yet for some reason I only feel like eating them when I'm back at home. So, it has sort of become my ritual to eat them whenever I'm home. Strange indeed

Apologies to all my Muslim friends because these 2 pictures are not halal. Stewed Pork (Loh Bak in Hokkien). Added a few pieces of BBQ pork (Bak Gua in Hokkien) for one of my lunches at home.

Mee Siput (literally translated as Snail Noodle). Made of .. actually I have no idea what they're made of but I do not they taste dam good especially with good sambal. Crunchy and soggy at the same time when soaked with lots of sambal. Shit, mouth watering again. Bad idea to post this when I'm already in Edinburgh. Here's a picture guide on how to get the sambal going:
Take the pack of sambal and erm, take a photo of it:p

Open up the packet of Mee Siput.

Pour a healthy dose of sambal into it.

Mix it up until sambal and snail become evenly distributed or hand pain or mouth tak boleh tahan already.

Chui Kueh (literally meant Watery Cake). Again, I have no idea what the white stuff are made of but they taste dam good especially when it comes with the brown stuff (Chai Poh in Hokkien or Choi Po in Cantonese). Even better if you add a bit of the sambal from the Mee Siput's "dressing":P

Some nice Soya Drink (Tao Jiong in Cantonese) to quench one's thirst after all the spicy and oily food;)

Claypot Chicken rice. Looks good. Tastes pretty good as well

Used to like satay a lot until ate too much of it. Ate until vomited once. Stopped eating satay after that. What a pity. So lesson learnt, never eat too much of something even if you like it a it. The moment you eat until puke, you'll never like it again:P

Roti Tissue. Very special dish in M'sia. Cant find it in any other country I think.

Home for 18 years before I went off for studies in Malacca and subsequently Cyberjaya. Rarely went home after moving to Cyber:P A bit more consistent after starting work, twice a month but for weekends only. Very comfortable house

With a nice garden/fountain

Pretty big living room

Finally, on Saturday, my parent's cell group members had a BBQ party at Tampin. Pretty cool as well. Received a lot of well-wishes, gifts and ang pows:)

View of a nice-looking mountain from dad's house in Tampin. Quite nice. Edinburgh is 10x more beautiful.

Some short speech to celebate my departure, mum's birthday and dad's 1 year anniversary in Tampin:)

Almost every church member came. Very cool!

Had a cake for mum.

Led worship to thank and praise God for His blessings.

Received a lot of blessings and well-wishes from everyone. So blessed

Nice week before I went off to UK. So relaxing and rewarding. Time passed very fast though as I went to KL after the BBQ party.

A Legend Retires

Like or hate him, you cannot deny he's a great driver. Michael Schumacher, thank you for introducing Formula 1 to me in 1995. Been your fan ever since. Waited 4 years from 1996 till 1999 before your first driver's championship with Ferrari in 2000. What a battle with Hakkinen. Unforgettable! Here are some of the amazing statistics of Schummi's career, courtesy of itv:
Most world titles: 7 (1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)

* Most consecutive titles: 5 (2000-2004)

* Most wins: 90

* Most wins in a single season: 13 (2004)

* Most consecutive wins in single season: 7 (2004)

* Most wins at the same race: 8 (French GP)

* Most wins from pole: 40

* Most wins with one team: 71

* Most pole positions: 68

* Most front-row starts: 114

* Most second place finishes: 43

* Most podium finishes: 153

* Most points scored: 1,354

* Most points finishes: 188

* Most points in a single season: 148 (from a maximum of 180, in 2004)

* Most fastest laps: 75

* Most races led: 139

* Most laps led: 5,059

* Most consecutive podiums: 19 (USA 2001-Japan 2002)

* Most consecutive points finishes: 24 (Hungary 2001-Malaysia 2003)

* Most consecutive seasons with a win: 15

* Most ‘clean sweeps’ (pole, win, fastest lap): 22

* Largest points gap between champion and runner-up: 67 (2002)

* Earliest title winner: 2002 (in July, with 6 races remaining)

* Longest spell with one team: 11 seasons (Ferrari – 1996-2006)

* Most time between first and last race wins: 13 years, 11 months and 3 days

* Never outqualified in 1992, 1993 or 1994

* Only driver to have finished every race on the podium: 2002

Que Sera Sera

(Warning, the video above contains very long credits at the end:P)
Que Sera Sera

When I was just a little girl
I asked my mother
What will I be?
Will I be pretty?
Will I be rich?
Here's what she said to me:

Que sera, sera.
Whatever will be, will be.
The future's not ours to see.
Que sera, sera.
What will be, will be.

When I grew up and fell in love
I asked my sweetheart
What lies ahead?
Will we have rainbows
Day after day?
Here's what my sweetheart said:

Que sera, sera.
Whatever will be, will be.
The future's not ours to see.
Que sera, sera.
What will be, will be.

Now I have children of my own.
They ask their mother,
What will I be?
Will I be handsome?
Will I be rich?
I tell them tenderly:

Que sera, sera.
Whatever will be, will be.
The future's not ours to see.
Que sera, sera.
What will be, will be.
Que sera, sera.

The only reason why I put this song up (other than it being such a lovely classic) is because a friend just made a pretty remark about this song last night. She said that the line "The future's not ours to see." sounds pretty much like "The future's no eyes to see." This is only funny if you know cantonese since "no eyes to see", though not very correct gramatically basically means mo ngan tai, a statement us Chinese like to make whenever we wanna express our disappointment, when we decided to give up on someone/something. Hahaha. Same song, twist the lyrics a bit and the meaning comes out rather differently, doesnt it?

Which brings me to a rather interesting observation. Many times, you do realise that optimism or pessimism is more often than not just a matter of perspective. Yes, age-old analogy of cup half-full vs half-empty springs to mind. It's common sense, I know. But how often do we really apply the correct perspective in our surroundings.

Quick example, whenever a subordinate does well, an optismistic boss would tell people "See, my employee's doing his job WELL! Pretty proud of him/her!" whereas the pessimistic fella would say "See, my employee's JUST doing his/her job. Let's see how long he/she will last before making a mistake". Simple example but I think you see my point. Same situation, different perspective but what a world of difference it will make.

And so the next you're hit with a dilemna or you're talking to a highly pessimistic person, why not take a step back and try to look at things from a more positive perpective. It might not change the situation but it will make you feel better inside. Worse comes to worse, just remember
Que Sera Sera,
Whatever will be will be,
PAUSE!
The future's not ours to see (a carefree positive attitude)
or
The future's no eyes to see (a give-up on the future attitude)
CONTINUE!
Que Sera Sera,
What will be, will be.