A Summary of 2008 - My Year of Firsts

The end of another year - the passing of my 15th year in this world.

And, with it goes my meaningful, wonderful Form Three life - "A Year of Firsts", as i call it.

What are my achievements in this Year of Firsts?
What are the changes that i've experienced?

Plenty.

I suppose i'm gonna summarize up all (all that i could remember) the things that makes my Form Three life memorable.

My list of "First"s :

= Highest mark that i ever got for English in my secondary-school history - 97%.
- Actually i don't know whether my English proficiency DID improve, or its just because that my English teacher favours me :|

= Submitted an English essay entitled "Never Give Up Hope" to the school magazine.
- The essay was accepted, waiting for the magazine now.

= Tried my luck + confidence by attending the public speaking "audition".
- Got my first impromptu speech, didn't get chosen (Foreseen..), but yeah, i'm contented with my confidence to embarass myself when i gave my impromptu speech.

= Embarassed myself by singing Secondhand Serenade - Fall For You on-stage, during the last few days of school.
- No idea how serious the damage i did to plenty of eardrums.

= Actually widened my "scope" of life.
- Participating in as many competitions as i could, and joining in many activities that i could find, and making as many friends that comes in my sight.

= Started my first blog.
- Yeah, this is the first.
(The "amateur" website(s) and blog that i made when i was in Standard Five doesn't count, right?)
*Don't ask me for the link to the old blog, some things are best kept secret, XD.*

= Joined a band - the Banana Chapalang Bloody Band.
- Really thanks a lot to Fish. My first chance to hold (and play) a bass guitar - it's all because of Fish who gave me a chance.

= Made my first card.
- Of course, with guidance from the legendary card-queen, Inn. The results turned out quite okay, and i'm (quite) happy with the purple sunflower card that i made, XD.

= Experienced the feeling of having someone close to me pass away.
- What with my grandmother's and my uncle's death both in one year, i understood - and appreciated life more than before. Moreover, the first two funerals that i've ever attended in my life are theirs - a Buddhist (Taoist to be exact) funeral and a Christian funeral.

.. List of "Tried and Achieved" :

= Submitted a Malay essay (Anti-drug) for a competition in school.
- Got second place. Not perfect, but contented anyways.

= Extended my writing-skills for English.
- Thanks to blogging, and some "long-essay-writing" when i'm bored.
(Au Revoir, The House)

= Made up two poems (The first two that i've ever made in my life)

Sunflower
A sunflower so perfect, so flawless,
Brings nothing but joy and happiness;
Surviving rain and other hardships,
The true symbol of eternal friendship.

Hailstorms of Light
Showers of joy, hailstorms of light,
Eliminates darkness, diminishes fright;
Moments of rapture, moments of bliss,
Precious memories that I savour and miss.

= Brought more exercise (sports) into my life.
- Thanks to Teoh, i've discovered a new sport - Frisbee. Moreoever, weekly badminton games make me happy too, :P.

= Won the inter-class volleyball team for the year
- Not much actually, but it's kinda proud to win with a team like this, XD.

= And, of course - Getting 7A1B for my PMR exams.
- Disappointed, but still contented.

And, a list of "Changes" :

= The most obvious change in me - my looks.
- Used to be quite "flabby" and "sideways" when i was in Form One + Two. Glad i don't look like that anymore.

= My attitude.
- Quite a helluva change from my past years' attitude. A lot of changes for the better, and for the worse perhaps. But still.. There're still more, there're still more..

= Sheer drop for gaming.
- I haven't been gaming as much as i did last time. Reasons? Blogging, MSN, forum, homework, etc etc etc. Even now, the only game i play is World of Goo, a "physics-puzzle-game".

A year of firsts,
A year of achievements,
A year of changes,
A year of memories.

That's the one - Form Three.

I'll miss this year - most of us will.

I miss my classmates - even though some of them sucks, XD.
I miss my teachers - even though some of them sucks, haha.
I miss my class - even though it sucks, lol.

*Reminiscences*

No choice.

Goodbye, Form Three.

*Comment all you like about me, or all you hate about me, i'm okay with them~*

PMR Results

The days before -

"what shud we wear to school?"
"confident or not?"
"what time collect results?"

The DAY before -

"did you cut your hair?"
"goodluck 2morrow wor.."
"im dead T_T"

And still, the DAY before..

I phoned my aunt to ask about tomorrow's details - what should we wear, when are the results announced, do i need to have my hair trimmed etc.

What should we wear?
She - PJ shirt and green long pants of course, i doubt that other outfits are allowed.
Me - What about PJ shirt + jeans?
She - Absolutely no way.

When are the results announced?
She - It's just nice to come at 11am, but you can come earlier if you want to chat with friends or something.

Do i need to have my hair trimmed?
She - Yes, you MUST! The disciplinary teachers won't only kill you when they see your hair - they'll kill me too for being your aunt!
Me - Oh, crap, but i have no more alternatives already, dad's not at home, and its too late for a barber trip i guess (its already 11pm)
She - Err, come on over to my house and i'll give you a quick haircut.

So i turned off my computer, saying quick goodbyes to the army of MSN soldiers firing nonstop at friends chatting with me. And i drove to my aunt's house after locking up the house.

***

Today
Come to think of it, is it worth it for me to have my hair trimmed earlier by one week just to go to school for 2 hours? I could save ONE WHOLE WEEK if i trim my hair only on the day before school starts, geez.

No idea - i guess the school disciplinary teachers were being hyper-psycho as usual, making me thank god that i trimmed my hair yesterday.

***

*Skips plenty of the story*

Well, after the results were announced and students started vacating the area already, Mah and a few other frisbee friends started a frisbee game right in the basketball court - my weird idea of course. Wonder how many people thought that we're mental :|

While playing frisbee, my mind was full of thoughts - till i missed most of the throws made by Mah.

What was i thinking?

My PMR results of course.

I've only got a 7A - 1B for Chinese.
Big deal huh?

Actually expected that would happen, but still, it was quite a blow for me.

Chinese..
Chinese..
A Chinese that couldn't get an A for Chinese?

"Ang mor sai".

The term keeps floating to the front of my mind, no idea why.

Well, after i informed my family about my results - i got encouraging remarks instead.

From my parents, from my sister, from my brother.

They were all supportive, happy for me that i got 7As, while asking me not to be overly disappointed.

Nah, i'm not disappointed..

Or am i?

My sister got 8As,
My brother got 8As,
And i got 7As.

I've single-handedly broke the 8A-streak among my siblings! XD..

Well, there has to be a first for everything as i understand.
But i'm still disappointed.

I've always been "full-speed-ahead" on the three subjects i like - Maths, Science, English.
Guess i neglected Chinese. My Chinese standard was usually around 70 during past exams. I guess i was unlucky this time :|

Oh well..

Wasn't just me alone who got unlucky perhaps, haha.

So i should think more optimistically.

I won't say that im a failure as many of my friends call themselves.
The finishing line is still ages away, how could i know that i've failed if i haven't reached it?

By surrendering, of course.
Unfortunately, i'm not going to surrender.
It takes more than that to make me fall.

Strive, strive, strive for the future.
PMR is just a benchmark for me to set my foundations on so as to improve myself from Form Four and beyond.

Chinese - you're my first target.

And now i'm wondering whether i have the initiative to improve my Chinese, sigh..
Wonder what my Chinese teacher would say if he ever sees this post.

Form Four.. Here i come.

No, wait, i've got to get my hair fixed by my dad first - Pn Ho didn't exactly do a perfect job on trimming my hair, XD. But still, i'm grateful that i was safe from today's "disciplinary-purge".

And about my results..

"We may have lost the battle, but not the war" -Quoted from Call of Duty 4.

"You are in a lion fight. You lost. But that doesn't mean you don't know how to ROAR." -Quoted by Yimin.

So.. RAWR!!

Christmas - The Night Before

Looks like Christmas didn't affect me one bit.

Or did it?

Oh well, Merry Christmas anyways.

And a quick summary of what i did these two days -

23rd December night

Actually the party was planned a few days ago - a surprise farewell party for Sheewei, disguised as a birthday party for Haochuan. And of course.. credits goes to Yimin, SR, Mit, etc. (The "Organizers" - as they call themselves)

Weirdly, i was invited to the party too by Yimin.

Why weird?

I guess i initially thought that the party guests were more of.. Sheewei's "Closer Circle of Friends", but oh well, count myself lucky, XD.

After mom helped me prepare a container of nuggets as planned, i drove to Haochuan's house right on 6.30PM, recalling the sentence that Yimin put in her e-mail to us guests.

"6.30PM. Be punctual!"

I guess i was punctual enough.

When i reached Haochuan's house, i was greeted by his cute dog - Poppy, which came running up to greet me, sniffing my basketball sneakers interestedly.

And i was thinking
"Oh Poppy, you wouldn't want to smell those shoes i wear for sports.."

.. while BK came out and exclaimed
"Why doesn't it bark at you, while i got barked at like mad just now? That's just so unfair!"

No choice, i guess my shoes smell nicer than his.


Cute little Poppy. His fur looks so fake though.
[Click on the thumbnails for larger images (640x480, originals are at Yimin's blog ^^)]

Ooh well, eventually other friends arrived too after me. And so we waited, and waited.. and.. waited for SW to come, while looking at the food on the table expectantly.. And all the while Yimin was like -

"SW ar come faster la, i'm damn hungry dy la!"

Felt thankful that i ate before coming.

*Geez, don't feel like narrating so much.. Oh well.. *

*Skips a LOT of the story*

Or maybe i should change format?

Ahh, this'll be better i think.

Food was okay, seeing as SS spent quite a lot on food for us - sausages and marinated chicken. Weirdly, the sausages i left on the grill usually disappears all by itself. Never tried to find the culprit, but stole others' sausages instead, *laughs evilly*


Food that we brought! (And bought too!)


The sausages that we dominated, and Yimin's legendary chicken wing that spoilt the barbeque grill later on :|


And there they were, poking the candle into the..

The..


JustBread cake.

Struggling to have a slash at the cake.

Notice the chopsticks there?

Overall, the food was common, but oh well that's not the main point for the party anyways.

Activities however.. was totally unplanned. Still recall Yimin scolding me and BK for not suggesting activities for that night seriously. But hey i did isn't it? I said "Frisbee"!

Lewl, however, we ended up with 4 groups -

Group 1 - Playing some helluva game upstairs, Meetoto if i'm not mistaken, duh.

Group 2 - Chatting around the round table.

Group 3 - Watching Grey's Anatomy being aired on TV. (Closely related to Group 4 too)

Group 4 - Risking their lives Testing their luck and courage by playing "Woodblocks Stacking".


Stakes were VERY high, seeing as the loser has a chance to experience our homemade Beverage-of-the-day.
Note: Not suitable for weak eyes / stomach.


Don't ask us what're the ingredients. No one knows. We just keep adding more and more. Though the ingredients that i'd like to note are..
"Ketchup and Milo". The best combination in the world, ever. They should add it to a list of poisons or something :|

And we gathered for some kinda "group shot" (so says Yimin) at the porch later on.


And yet, i couldn't stop myself from deliberately commenting on Yimin's height, XD.
*Sorry Yimin~*

The last things i did before going home were -

- Watching some weird people try to get a fire ready for the REAL barbeque.. Notice that i wrote "try".
- Thanked and wished HC happy birthday right on 12 sharp.

And i drove home.
Abrupt end to the story.

24th December night

Was invited to a musical - "The Kefira Show", by Fish a few days ago. According to him, the show was going to turn up pretty excellent.

Guess the show reached its goal then (Or perhaps nearly)

An overall summary of the musical..

Music - The music was not bad, as they had enough equipment, enough talent, and enough practice. The band of theirs makes me miss mine.

Drama - The drama was AWESOME! Script was well written, actors were well prepared, costumes were well made, etc. And as said, the one who wrote the script should be given credits. A LOT of credits.

And umm, i won't comment on that night's events further.

***

Two days combined in one post, and i could see clearly two "groups of friends" of my circle.

Which brings me to my next point.

To Be An Angel Or A Devil.

To Be An Angel Or A Devil

To be an Angel, or a Devil? I ask.

Indeed, which one would you choose?

Note that my definition of "Angel" and "Devil" probably isn't the one you're thinking of.

In other words, an "angel" isn't necessarily Superman that saves people's asses wherever he goes,
And a "devil" isn't necessarily Lord Voldemort or something who takes killing as his hobby or something.

No, i'm speaking of.. umm, lighter terms.

As in attitude.

An angel is.. say, someone who never lies, who is a bookworm, who doesn't touch the computer at all, who follows instructions word by word, etc etc etc.

A devil, however, is the exact opposite of an angel. Go figure it out yourself :þ.

To be an Angel, or a Devil?

Would you prefer being "flawless" and "perfect as an "Angel", renowned as the "Oh-That-Good-Boy" in your school? Will you be the one who enjoys being the apple of every teacher's eye, gaining respect among the "Cleverer" classed students etc.?

Or would you prefer leading a gang, gaining reputation as one of the "Top-10-Scariest-Students" in your school? Students, even teachers probably would start to fear you, would start to allow you to do as you like, etc. (Till you eventually get kicked out from the school)

Again.. (ARGH)

To be an Angel, or a Devil? (Okay no more..)

You might say that there's always a place in the world for an "Angel", but not necessarily for a "Devil".

But will you be truly happy being trapped in the "Never-break-a-rule" world of being an "Angel"?

Ever wondered why most people prefer to be a "Devil"?

Most of them do it for the fun.

Oh come on, sometimes its fun to be rebellious too.

But how rebellious exactly?

Here's my skill build (Sounds kinda RPG-like..)

I usually prefer things to be hybrid than pure one-sided. As YD says - that's the natural characteristic of Librans. True? I guess so.

So i'd be half angel, half devil - a "hybrid".

I believe in duality - Yin and Yang, Light and Darkness, Heaven and Hell etc etc.

So why should we go towards a specific direction and block out the other?

Okay so this is what i do. (Forgive my lack of modesty in the following list)

- I strive to achieve academical excellence (Nah, not excellence, XD. Just as good as my ability allows me)
- I stay away from drugs, cigarettes, gangs.
- I'll usually try to stay polite.
- I argue for my rights at times.
- I stay in front of my computer more than i study.
- I would use profanity sometimes if i'm really pissed.

So, i might not be the "good person" you think i am, nor i am the "bad guy" you expect i am too.

I'm - as i said, a "hybrid", and i might be a "hybrid" forever.

I can be a bookworm, i can be a gamer, i can be a guitar player, or i can be a athlete.

The force that pushes me to achieve that?

Initiative.

Most people who've knew me this year might be deceived - thinking that i was an "Angel", till they come to the end of the year.

Quoted from Yimin's post - Amis eva!

"..Not a nerd like what you guys think anyway."
Yuck, do i seem like a nerd to others? LMAO.

Well, back to my point.

The pro and con (not plural) of being a hybrid?

Pro:

I would (usually) be welcomed in both "Heaven" and "Hell". That means i might have more "reputation" amongst the bookworms, or the computer nerds, or volleyball players, etc.

Con:

I couldn't STAND OUT at what i do.
Results - there has to be someone who's better than me.
Sports - there has to be someone who's better than me.
Gaming - there has to be someone who's better than me.

So that's the con of being a hybrid. Your skills are dispersed.
You are a close-combat-shotgun instead of a long-range-sniper-rifle.

You won't be good at everything, unless you really strive to make it so. (e.g. YD, lol)

To be an Angel, or a Devil?

Oops!...I Did It Again - Britney Spears.

Fame or fun?

You decide.

Gears in Motion

..

Time passes so fast.

..

I still remember the first day of our holidays so clear - where everybody including me were whining.

"Sooo boring la this holidays, first day and i'm bored to death already.. Dunno whether i can survive the holidays?"

..

A few trips to Singapore, KL, Gua Kelam, Banting, Johor, etc etc..

A few thrice-weekly badminton practices..

A routine of daily blogging, chatting, (but not much gaming sadly)..

Till..

Bang, and the dust is gone!

And here we come to the late part of the one-and-a-half month holidays.

I just had my monthly orthodontic appointment the day before yesterday. Has one month really passed? I mean - i still remember my last appointment so clearly!

Has somebody bewitched time to go extra fast?

Or.. am i just too slow?

Geez, the start of another year looms near - followed by many new subjects, many new friends (probably), many new teachers (probably NOT), and many new experiences (hope so).

And i still can't believe that time passed so fast.

Am i the glad person who's happy because the holidays are coming to an end, and i can return to my normal "hectic" school life instead of being stuck in the monotonous holidays where i can't meet my friends freely?

Or am i the person in the corner sulking and dreading the start of a new year - where i might be overwhelmed by so many new things and new kinds of stress?

As i've said plenty of times - age 15's where i've learnt a lot, i've tried a lot, i've been very sad at some times, and i've been very happy at some times.

You could say that the age that i love the most is 15 - for the time being.

Do i savour my past, or do i try to enjoy myself walking towards my future?


"When it hurts to look back, and you're scared to look ahead, you can look beside you and your best friend will be there."
Which brings me to my next thought.

***

Best friend.

I doubt i have one.
Yet i hope i have one.

My best friend is myself, i could trust only myself, no more others.
Or are there?
Well, i haven't found him / her yet,
OR i might have found him / her, but i didn't realise it,
OR, i might've found him / her, but i've just lost him / her.


"Friendship is one mind in two bodies."
If we accept that the above statement is true, does it mean that i've never experienced friendship before?

One mind in two bodies.

To think about it, can a person really understand me? Can he / she predict what i'm about to do the next moment?

Can you?

I guess my outer disguise is what prevents me from getting a "best friend".
I guess my concealment of the inner me is what prevents others from knowing who i am.

Since my primary school years till now, i've never got the experience of having a "best friend" - like those you meet everyday, chat, and play together, no quarrels, etc.

Friends in my life just come and go - one year they're close to you, and the next year they wouldn't know you anymore.

And, friends in my life have different "groups" -

- for the "Tech" group - CCM
- for the "Art" group - Inn
- for the "Blog" group - Yimin
- for the "Badminton" group - Mah
- for the "Frisbee" group - Aaron
- for the "Band" group - My whole band (Cat, Fish, Bunny, Jailman).
- for the "Voll- *STOP!*

Okay, stop, stop it before i go too far. There's sooo many other friends of mine to be named, but i couldn't possibly fit them into the confined space of my blog.
(Sorry if your name isn't in this "list", but as i said, i couldn't possibly put all of you in..)

Friends - they're everywhere.
True friends - they're hidden somewhere.

As i said - for now, my best friend is myself.
Till someone proves otherwise.

Hmm, i think i'm having one of those "Late-December-Blues".

Probably not me alone, but most of my mates too, XD.

Everybody's changing.. I've changed..

Till then.

*Note: Geez, this post just feels so emo.

Ultimately..

R.AGE Cover Story, 7 August 2006:

"Bad refereeing, poor sportsmanship, play-acting, illegal challenges - these are just some items from the long list of things that bring shame to many professional and amateur sports today."

...

It does not have to be like this and those who follow Ultimate Frisbee firmly believe that sportsmanship should never come second to winning. This is the Spirit of the Game.

...

It is down to the players themselves, as individuals and as a team to determine how they would behave and act on the pitch, both to themselves and to the other team.

The Golden Rule of the Spirit of the Game is to "treat others as you would want to be treated;" a spirited game can only come about through mutual respect and players assuming the best of each other.

That's right, the most unpopular sport in Kedah - Ultimate Frisbee.

One might call it a "Weak Game", one might call it a "Dog's Game", but i still prefer the other name for it.

"Gentlemen's Game".

Lewl.

Okay, okay, not exactly a "Gentlemen's Game", but i couldn't deny that in my opinion, Ultimate Frisbee is considered the best-mannered sport ever - a sport that still makes you perspire while avoiding body contact with others.

What makes frisbee so special to me?

1) The chance to run

I admit it, i don't quite like jogging, but i'd do it if you ask me to. But i just don't like jogging much. Biking.. Not really too, though again, i'd gladly do it if you ask me to.

So where can i train my leg muscles?

Volleyball? Badminton?

Volleyball - Not much running in a volleyball court, you just need the brains to receive a ball, set it, and spike it. More unto arm-strength than leg-strength.

Badminton - Playing badminton's quite an effective way to get sweat pouring out of your body in a few hours. One of my favourites. But still, the only person that can make me really sweat while running for the shuttlecock is Aaron, :|

Frisbee?

Frisbee is a combination of the two above.

Stamina, speed, strategy, sweat, they're all mixed into a seemingly easy game.

But is it easy as it seems?

Imagine having to run back and forth in the field just to get a single 175 grammed disc - That'll take the stamina of a football player.
Imagine having to jump a few feet high just to get a single 175 grammed disc - That'll take the jumping height of a basketball player.
Imagine having to try and have fun on the field, always upholding the Spirit of the Game, and not using vulgarities at all - That'll take the courtesy of a true gentleman.
Imagine having to plan a strategy to beat the other team - That'll take the cunningness of a politician.

Just kidding about the politician part.

And oh, just to explain why i don't quite like jogging, but like Ultimate instead - I guess i need to have a target to chase. Jogging seems "meaningless" to me without something to chase after, :|

2) The Players and the Spirit of the Game

Well, ya know, it's actually hard to find foul-mouthed Ultimate players (If you don't meet me, that is), and people who intentionally slam into you so as to get the disc. As i said, a "Gentlemen's Game". Disputes are settled verbally in a polite manner, and no punishment is given to those who commit fouls - assuming that players commit fouls at all.

.. Back to my point today.

Well, actually joined the frisbee tourney in Polo Grounds, Penang, with my teammates - Joe, Asyraf, Chandra, Eugene, Nigel. Notice that there're only six of us? Well, i'll explain later.

I was elected team captain for no reason - which makes me responsible for registering the team, and asking my teammates to control their behaviour on the field (if they're rude or something).

I never asked for them to vote me as the captain. I swear.

Luckily, Teoh came at last minute to inform us that he was able to join and play as a player - he was supposed to help out the organizers originally. Not complaining am i? Teoh did all the "captain's work", while i tagged along behind him and watched.

***

The players were "diversified" as there were local players (Malays, Chineses, Indians), American players and even Nigerian. A total of 8 teams participated in today's tourney, and one of them is us - the Unsung SP'ers.

Unsung SP'ers?

The name was thought by Teoh, doesn't sound frightening, but its better than our original ideas.

"Penang General Hospital" - said Eugene, referring to the hospital opposite the field.

"Kumar's Angels" - said i, referring to Chandra's T-Shirt that says "Kumar's Textiles".

"Tenaga Nasional Berhad" - said Chandra, referring to Asyraf's T-Shirt.

So, looking at our initial ideas, Unsung SP'ers seems.. seems.. good enough for us.

After waiting and waiting, we came to our first round - against some Malay team called "Coma".

Coma

I still have to say the same one thing about Malays:

They run bloody fast.

Alright, not really fast, but what amazes me is their stamina. Only Teoh in our team has the ability to compete with their stamina, but not us. Gradually Teoh was out of breath too, seeing as none of us was running fast enough to help him much in the game. There was a player that pissed me off too - as his blockings were all body-contact, restricting my arm movement etc.

What i said to him - "Get your hands off me". Lewl.

Final score: We lost by two points if im not wrong, as we didn't score any goals.

*Oh, forgot to say that i tripped over my teammate's leg again this round, which brought me sliding on the field. Didn't hurt much, except for the fact that my knee wound from yesterday bursted into blood. Okay i'm exaggerating, it just bled.*

The inexistent lunch bell rang, signalling the time for us to fill our grumbling stomachs. The Unsung SP'ers - that's us, walked across the street, heading for Penang General Hospital's canteen for food..

.. Just to find out that their canteen wasn't fit at all for a hospital.

Nasi briyani, capati, ayam tandoori, all sorts. The food were more suitable in a Nasi Kandar stall.

And i thought that food in hospital canteens are supposed to be HEALTHY for PATIENTS to eat?

Obviously not this. This hospital canteen serves food that's for HEALTHY people to eat and be PATIENTS in their hospital.

No one managed to eat much - I just ate two slices of fruitcake just to stifle the groaning of my stomach and keep me alive. Barely.

Our second opponent after our lunch break -

"Team USM" (Forgot their team name)

This team has to be the coolest team that i've seen the whole day. Americans, Chineses, a Nigerian (Told you so), and i forgot what more. Playing with them was fun, as they're quite friendly and are willing to accept their mistakes. The atmosphere was definitely more relaxed and different from the first round - which was like a war instead of a game.

Our team players actually started to RUN more this match, however insignificant the effect is. And i ignored my aching knee-wound and ran as hard i can too - towards their end-zone, and at last our team scored by a few points.

Final score - We lost by only a point.

And just after we finished our second round, we had to face our third opponent - WITHOUT ANY REST.

Awesome.

Revelation

Nothing much to say about this team, they were around the same level as us, but a little bit higher. "Higher" not only in terms of skill but height too. I was dispirited looking at their "highly-charged" faces, especially without any rest time (I mean for us). Moreover, i was actually secretly hoping that i'd be substituted out so that i can rest (I didn't get substituted one single time in the last two matches). Cruelly, my wish came true - in a way that i'd never wished for.

After around a goal scored by each team, i started to run towards the opponent's endzone again..

.. Till ..

.. Till my left leg started to hurt.

A muscle cramp.

Damn, at this time?

Had no choice but to see the Revelations score yet another goal for their team, before i told Teoh that i had a muscle cramp on my leg.
By a stroke of bad luck, actually found out that Nigel got the same problem too, and we were both substituted out for a while, and started to stretch our legs.

Though i got my wish at last - to be substituted out and have a chance to watch the match, the price is the pain that throbs at the joint of my left leg (behind my knee).

The game went on as usual with regular ferocity and speed.

Eugene gives a far throw.
Teoh sprints towards the direction where the disc was flying to - the endzone.
Teoh gets near the disc.
Teoh dives.
He catches the disc.
And falls on the ground, sliding as i always do.

Though he was unluckier.

From what i've seen, when Teoh dived, i guess he injured his knee or something. All i saw was him curled up on the ground, grimacing in pain, clutching his knee. He couldn't stand up at all, so he had to crawl back to the "Organizer's tent" for first-aid.

No choice.

Nigel and i had to go back into the game - even though my leg-cramp are still throbbing everytime i run.

And that was the last pull of the disc - as it was time-out before we could score a goal (or the other team could). I actually heaved a thankful sigh when i heard the siren, being thankful that the game didnt last longer - or i might faint, XD.

Our final score?
A tie!

Geez, noticed that our scores improved by each match, though it still wasn't enough. I was kinda sad with how fate works - so many leg injuries on the last game.

And i missed out one thing - everytime we lost a game to the opposing team, Teoh would gather us all, thank the other team, and wish them goodluck with a triple "Hip hip hooray!". Frisbee courtesy - the Spirit of the Game.

After the end of the game, we went to sit at the sides - behind the Organizer's tent, while swapping chats between different team's players too. All the players were super-duper friendly, especially the USM team - nearly everyone of them did small chat with us (mostly me and Teoh), and.. Ah well, they're just friendly, that's all.

My parents came at around 1500, and it was time for me to go home already. Got a complimentary MyDisc from Douglas (The one in charge), said goodbye to him, to all the other team's players, and of course to my own team members, before i started my journey back home.

***

If frisbee was a religion, i'd definitely be converted already - thanks to all the frisbee players that i've met out there who're so friendly and outgoing.

And.. to think that frisbee doesn't help in academics. This might prove you wrong.

Till then, bye. I'm so tired and my whole body aches. My eyelids are drooping and i have no idea why i'm still writing this post. Forgive me for lack of details and any mistakes (factual / grammatical) that i've made. I'm too sleepy to recheck my post.

Ultimate..!

Updates of My ACTUAL Life

Geez, it seems that i haven't been bringing my blog up-to-date about my life, my health, my activities.

I've been so busy trying to motivate myself by writing those "motivation" posts, but it seems that i'm failing, or i've already failed. Damn that.

Well, i'll just adjust the time till yesterday.

***

Yesterday morning.

Waked up early as usual, and had to attend my volleyball training in school - which was scheduled at 0830. God knows what reason the captain asked us all to reach school at 0745 - but only me, the captain, and Hoong got there and started waiting.

And we waited.

Still waiting.

No one came yet.

Then we tried to phone the other players.

No response.

So we had no choice but to start our warm-ups early - running the perimeter of the basketball court for.. I forgot how many rounds. I just followed the seemingly endless stamina of Hoong, who was leading the running.

Practice was normal, probably because i did some extra training at home for my digging and my setting - actually we all did (Yeoh, Hoong, SheeWei, Haochuan etc) the "extra-training", which was venued at Sin Min Primary.

My role in the team?

A setter - not because i give perfect sets.

Its because that we're short of players, and we don't have a "fulltime" setter.

Ah well..

Reached home at 12, with my leg muscles aching, though not as much as usual, thanks to the regular badminton games that i attend :|

After a quick chat on MSN, i went on with my "routine" - to take a nap before a certain "Christmas barbeque party" (so says Emmeric, who invited me)

*Chrono-jump*

Was on my way to the venue for the Christmas barbeque party, and i had no idea where the house is.

Till i received a message from Emmeric (Original, unchanged):

Theses a junction between laman used cars n esso use it n go straight until u passed sk saraswathy n on d 1st x junction turn left then you'll c a junction . We r there .

And i have no idea what he's trying to explain. Note the use of punctuation marks too :|

I understood the part where i turned in to the junction between Laman used cars and Esso. And i followed his following instructions till we got lost - mom had to ask for directions from a passerby instead :|

Reason why i got lost?

He messed up "left" with "right".

However, i'm considered lucky, as Siqi got a message saying that its "Caltex" instead of "Esso".

Okay, Emmeric's definitely not someone i would trust on directions, XD.

And so the party started at around.. Umm, umm, 1930 something?

Where they started handing Santa hats to every one of us, asking us to wear it throughout the party.

Oh, did you think that i'd do that?
And sacrifice my hair?
Lol, no thanks.

Luckily i got an alibi - the purple dye gel might stain the Santa hat if i wear it.

And wee, i got excepted from wearing the hat, *laughs evilly*

I suck at explaining things in detail, but here goes the events at the party:

1) Ice-breaking

We were all divided into three groups. The members of each group has to introduce themselves to each other (Only confined to members from the same group), and after five minutes we have to remember at least SIX members from our group - their name, their school, and their hobby.

Names were quite easy to remember,
Schools were moderate,
But hobbies..

We made them up, XD.

"What's Mabel's hobby?"
'Watching dramas.'
"Is that right, Mabel?"
'Yes.' *Crosses fingers behind back*

And so that was the first part gao dim-ed.

2) Think of a group name, a group motto, and a group action

Three teams, right?
The rules is that the names must end with a "-man".

We have a team called "Superman",
Another one called "Spiderman",
And us.

"Very man".

I'm so sorry to say that i thought of that stupid name, but i didn't expect my groupmates to really suggest that as our name, geez.

So, group name's done.

Group motto?

Okay, everyone has no idea about this, and no one bothered to think of one.

So i accessed my "Childish" part of my mind again, lewl.

Actually i thought of both at once - group action, accompanied by a group motto.

The problem was suggesting the idea to my other groupmates.

Here's my stupid idea -

Motto - One, Two, Three, Four; "Very man" will rock the floor!
Accompanied by a "starfish" act, which is popular among childish kids.

Ya know.. The starfish act..

Don't expect me to post up a video (Though my friend took one of us doing the stupid dance), and no illustrations either, i tried drawing a simple diagram but i laughed at my own skills in drawing stickmans, XD.

Gawd, the shame.
Though i was quite happy that the whole group did the same as i did, XD.

After a quick prayer by the Christians, we started dinner.

Nothing much worth describing, as i didn't actually took notice of the food catered there. I just picked three slices of watermelons and went back in. Talk about "diet", :|, but i ain't on one.

Next.

3) Caroling (Okay, not actually caroling, just singing Christian songs, XD

Songs, songs, yet more songs.

And i sang quite enthusiastically till Emmeric's brother asked me:

"What's your religion?"

And i was thinking secretly:

"Who the fuck cares? I could be an atheist too but how on earth does it matter?"

But what came out of my mouth was:

"I'm a buddhist."

He went quiet.

Sorry, but i don't quite like religion questions.

4) The 21st century version of the Birth of Jesus Christ act

An act brought to us by the church youth - can't say it was interesting, but can't say it isn't either.

No comments.

Next.. Umm, my memory about the next few events are kinda.. messy. So i'm not sure whether i missed out anything / messed up the sequence.

5) Musical presents

The game started with one person holding one present each.

The aim of the game? Pass the presents to the person on your left when the music starts, and stop passing when the music stops. Whichever person who's holding two or more presents gets "punished", and the punishment is up to the pastor of the church :|

As usual, i won't explain more about this event - perhaps i don't really like describing events, or i'm not skillful at doing it.

Ah well, nothing interesting happened after that, and we went home at around 2300.

Summary - Not-bad community, not-bad events, but i just didn't feel "fully fun" there. And i don't know the reason why.

And here's the present i got from the "Musical Presents", a cute little bear - i guess the "giver" is a girl, :|



***

Today

Got a phone call from Teoh yesterday, informing me that he's back in SP, and asking whether i'm free on today morning.

Of course, i said yes. And i did my usual duty - to inform the other Sin Min players.

The worst part of it all is that i lost my frisbee member list the time i formatted my C drive (10th of December), so i had to dig out my memory for their names.

Aaron - he's in Australia.
Joe - couldn't come because he had to help in his grandma's business.
.. And so on ..

So i informed the backup players - those from Sg Pasir, Ibrahim and Sin Min Private.

And today?

The only Sin Min players who turned up were JiaWei and me.

And for the first time in my life, i wasn't disappointed at all - thanks to a few things.

1) My new Discraft

Actually i asked Teoh to help me get one since my black MyDisc broke into half last time. He brought it today and i was like so excited, constantly examining the good quality of the Discraft (which costed RM25 for one).



And here i start bragging about my new Discraft.

It's simply perfect in my opinion. The size, the material (It isnt as hard as MyDiscs), and the perfect balance. Sooo awesome, especially if you do long throws - they wont "get heavier on one side" and go out of bounds so easily.

Oh okay i'd better stop.

2) The Spirit of The Game (Again)

It's been so long since i really enjoyed frisbee - that was like so long ago where Teoh and Aaron were still in the game.

"Perfect passing, cool blocking, super-fast-running by Aaron, super-high-jumping-and-catching by me"
I miss those times, i really do.

Perhaps last time it was because Teoh was constantly asking us all to run instead of jog, or perhaps it was because games were more competitive last time when Aaron and I were at opposing teams. Either reason, i didn't really enjoy the slow-paced games - mostly caused by Jail and Joe.

But today's pickup was helluva change.

Met some new friends - Nigel, Eugene, Chandra, and another guy whom i forgot his name :|, and our team of 7 (final match's layout) consisted of: Me, Nigel, Eugene, Chandra, Ashraf, and JiaWei.

At least it wasn't only one team winning today - we got some wins and losses.

The game was fun yet tough, and i felt the consequences of the "tough"ness.

...
After passing the disc to my teammate, i started running towards the endzone, but tripped accidentally on the "I-forgot-his-name" guy's foot, which brought me diving to the ground, even sliding for a few inches after falling - ON THE HARD SANDY, PEBBLY GROUND.

Just my luck, my injury spots are the same as last time -
- Above elbow
- Side
- Palms.

Guess fun comes with a price after all.

With my enthusiasm of the game as a pain-killer, i continued the game as usual, with my role as the giraffe who catches the disc in the end-zone again.

Teoh revised the Horizontal Stack strategy with us five (Me, Nigel, Eugene, Chandra, Ashraf) whom are joining a tourney in Penang tomorrow. (For more details, check StarMetro - 17th December 2008 LAST page.)

"Aiya no need so tense la, we go there get experience nia" - So says one of the players.

Probably.

Going for the tourney at the Polo Grounds tomorrow, so wish me luck (I know none of you will, XD), and don't expect me to be online before that night.

Till then, seeyah all.

One more thing - I get pissed really easy nowadays. Avoid asking me stupid questions or doing stupid things that'll annoy me till i'm normal again.

*Plagiarized* : The Carrot, The Egg and The Coffee Bean

Just a little something from a forwarded PowerPoint file that i'd like to share:

Put three pots of water over the fire.

In the first pot, put some carrots.
In the second pot, put some eggs.
In the third pot, put some coffee beans that have been grounded into coffee powder.

Boil all three pots for 15 minutes.

Take out what you put in.

The carrots went in hard.
They are now soft.

The eggs went in soft inside.
Now they are hard inside.

The coffee powder has disappeared.
But the water has the colour and the wonderful smell of coffee.

Now think about life.

Life is not always easy.
Life is not always comfortable.

Sometimes life is very hard.

Things don’t happen like we wish.
People don’t treat us like we hope.
We work very hard but get few results.

What happens when we face difficulties?

Now think about the pots.

The boiling water is like the problems of life.

We can be like the carrots.
We go in tough and strong.
We come out soft and weak.
We get very tired.
We lose hope.
We give up.
There is no more fighting spirit.

We can be like the eggs.
We start with a soft and sensitive heart.
We end up very hard and unfeeling inside.
We hate others.
We don’t like ourselves.
We become hard-hearted.
There is no warm feeling, only bitterness.

We can be like the coffee beans.
The water does not change the coffee powder.
The coffee powder changes the water!
The water has become different because of the coffee powder.

"See it.
Smell it.
Drink it."

The hotter the water, the better the taste.
We can be like the coffee beans.
We make something good from the difficulties we face.


We learn new things.
We have new knowledge, new skills, new abilities.
We grow in experience.
We make the world around us better.

To succeed, we must try… and try again.
We must believe in what we are doing.
We must not give up.
We must be patient.
We must keep pushing.

Problems and difficulties give us the chance to become stronger… and better… and tougher.

What are we like when things do not go well?

Are we like the carrot…
or the egg…
or the coffee bean?

Be like the coffee bean!

Christmastide

As Santa emerged from his turbo-charged reindeer sled, he stole a glance at his military chronograph, which he stole from someone's house long ago, smiling at the thought that people around the world might be singing Christmas carols this very moment.

11:59:58.
11:59:59.
12:00:00.

Beep beep.

Grabbing a handful of fake Rolexes costing 10 bucks each, he began his climb into his first "target house", completely ignoring the CCTV directly aimed at his face.

"I wonder whether the kids are aslee- aslee- oh crap."

Santa had got stuck halfway through the chimney.

***

Within hours, Santa was beaten around, handcuffed, and sent to the local police station, charged for the offence "Burglary Attempt".

Reason?

He messed up the date. It was the 25th of November.
_____

Okay. I admit it, i was (and still am) bored out of my wits.

Everywhere i look, i see signs of Christmas creeping up the corner.

"i wish u all hav a creepy christmas this year"
"marry christmas everyone^^"
"*+ It's CHRISTMAS!!! *+"
"wish everybody gud luck in PMR.."

Okay, the last one's nonsense - just the personal message of someone who hasn't been online for ages.

Christmas trees, candy canes, presents - does those actually DEFINE Christmas?

I've only celebrated Christmas once in my life - that was with my uncle's family like four years ago.
Our family doesn't celebrate Christmas. To us, its just "a day on the calendar".

Putting up tinsels, hanging mistletoes, i've only seen all those in books.

Novels.

Not yet in real life :|

Would i ever get to know the true meaning of Christmas?

Not the "technical definition" of course - Christmas technically means the mark of the winter solstice. (Source: Wikipedia + Da Vinci Code)

But what does Christmas actually symbolize?

A happy time to celebrate?
A reunion for friends?
A time for family members to gather?
Or a combination of all above?

I never understood Christmas, seeing as i never celebrated it, and i don't have the chance to do so.

Chances arrive eventually.

And they did arrive at my doorstep already.

Well, i've got invited to two "Christmas parties" - one by Wong, one by Fong. (no rhyme intended)

Wong's was supposed to be a Christmas Barbeque Party
Fong's was supposed to be a Christmas Musical Concert.

And now im just getting more confused about Christmas, geez.

Food?
Music?

I'll decide after i attend both.

Wong's party is supposed to be held tomorrow night, i'll see whether i'd be lucky enough to get some photos.

Till then, seeyah all.

Btw, i bet i wont get any presents after all, pitiful Santa XD.

So.. an early Merry Christmas to you all?

Outlooks The Truth

The first impression, the good outlook - usually it's all that makes you able to qualify for a job, for something you wanted, for your dreams.

Agreed?

No, i don't.

Does good outlooks really mean EVERYTHING?

Does it mean that we wouldn't have to check and examine further?

Does it mean that we should fog our eyes by looking only at the fog that veils the actual object?

No, it doesn't mean that.

You get them all the time, people who care about the OUTSIDE more than the INSIDE.

A: "Hey, i got a new laptop for RM6,XXX yesterday!" *shows the receipt*
B: "Ooh it looks fabulous! What's the processor speed?"
A: "Uhh..? What's that?"

A sample conversation related to me by my cousin. To some, the performance of laptops are defined by the "cover look", and the amount of money wasted on it.

Slow computer?
ADD RAM!

Bad graphics?
BUY NEW GRAPHIC PROCESSING UNIT!

Sadly, those are actually some real situations.

Slow computer?
Why not check your computer for adware / spyware, and delete unnecessary files to clear up space?

Bad graphics?
Who knows, you might have forgotten to set the graphics to "High" yet?

Some people believe that money solves everything.

My advice to them:
Stuff RM5 into your floppy drive and ask your computer to take care of itself, go on.

Sometimes, its even more fun to know how things actually WORK, instead of just enjoying the OUTPUT.

Take your computer for example, find out what the components mean, and find out how they work.

A computer keyboard distinguishes each physical key from every other and reports all keypresses to the controlling software.

As usual, quoted from Wikipedia - the best site to read about how things work (in my opinion). The more you read, the more you will read - that's my personal opinion of Wikipedia.

Mentioned earlier, it's always fascinating to learn about how things work, and how people thought of making it work.

My next point?

Its actually useful to know how things work too.

By knowing how a lock works, you might learn the way of picking locks.
By understanding HTML commands, you know how to extract a song from a website.
By knowing how people's minds usually think, you might learn the art of psychology (or mind-reading, hehe!)
By understanding the simple formula involved behind mind games, you could understand how does THIS "MIND-READER GAME" works, :P.
By understanding your computer, you'd know where to scan when you get infected by a computer virus.
By understanding how computer viruses work, you'd know the way to cure it.

Sheesh, didn't know that i wrote so many Bys..

Oh, i went out-of-topic.

Well, about outlook again, i don't fully believe in outlooks, nor do i use Microsoft Outlook. I believe that there's sure to be something hidden in every person, something unique.

"It's good to see things from a different perspective."
[Quoted from YD at Perspective : Calligraphy - Answer]

I guess it is.

People who're weak in one point may be excellent in another.

And people like me are feeling bored right now and feels like lazing off instead of blogging.

Hmm, what would i think next time when i look back at these posts after a few years maybe?

It might be a nice reminder of my teenage years..
It might bring back unhappy memories..
Or i might not be lucky to live till a few years later, lol.

Who knows?

The Bridge of Trust & The Breach of Trust

“I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.”

Once we breach the "once-perfect" trust between ourselves and a friend, would he/she still trust us the same?

There's a big possibility of the answer "No".

Breach of trust -

A close friend of yours whom you trusted stole your favourite pen (or might probably unintentionally took it) without telling you. You get angry and scold him / her, asking him / her not to touch your belongings, ever, again.

That's a minor breach of trust.

You gave your boy / girlfriend your bank account number, but found out that your account is emptied a few days after, as all the money were transferred to a foreign account instead. You phoned your friend for an explanation, but he / she had already changed his / her number already.

That's a MAJOR breach of trust.

Trust - it ranges from virtually every level, every aspect.

You trust that your best friend would help you out when you're facing a problem.
You trust your friend not to alter your blog after you gave him / her access and control over it.
You trust that your volleyball teammate would help cover the area behind you.
You trust that honest guy to help you deliver an important package.

It's everywhere.

True friendship wouldn't have existed without trust.
Marriage wouldn't have happened without trust.
An organization wouldn't have survived without trust.
The world wouldn't last till today without trust.

People sense how you feel about them. If you want to change their attitudes toward you, change the negative attitudes you have toward them.

That's what i think anyway, as trust is two-wayed.

If you want someone to trust you, you'd have to trust that person first.

One more thing:

If you listen well, people will trust you.

I actually searched back fat404's archive for something he said long ago, and i found it at last.

"I would rather teach someone who is dumb but is willing to learn than someone who is smart and lazy"
(Source: My Teammates, My Band Of Brothers, Thursday, October 18 2007 @ 1:06 AM, fat404's Journal)

Teamwork, trust, integrity, the initiative to listen - they're all related.

Ever wondered why some psychologists have the ability to make people confide in them, while others can't?

Easy - because expert psychologists has the skill to get "close" to patients, to make patients trust them. They would listen and give constructive advices instead of reprimanding the patients before the patients open their mouth.

Who'd want to befriend a person that has a reputation for backstabbing his / her friends?

Well, uhhm, no one but a few.

Who'd want to be in the same team with a person that has a reputation for jeopardizing his / her team always?

Again, no one but a few.

But the problem is, the "few" is hard to find.

So, it's always better to be someone whom people trust ..

.. rather than being someone who's constantly discriminated by others.

Which am i?
Am i the one whom people trust?
Am i just a regular person?
Or.. Am i the person whom people avoid?

That's up to others to decide, but for me to control.

Seems pretty "Zen", huh?

“Trust is like a vase.. once it's broken, though you can fix it, the vase will never be the same again.”

P/S: @fat, I WANT GAME!! Geez, i've only played 6.57 for once, and the last version i played was 6.49 a few months ago, imagine that.

And oh btw, i don't know if i'll continue blogging for a while, as i might need time to give my mind peace.
I might still blog, or i might not.
Depends.

Seven Strangies

Referring to The Moody Minstrel's tag - to list seven strange facts about myself.

Crap, now i feel like pulling out.

There's still chance to quit, cmon..

Too late.

Here goes -

1. The English language

I've been the "experimental" youngest child in my family, meaning that i was brought up with my first language as ENGLISH instead of chinese as my sister and brother got. In my childhood years, i would speak in english, sing the english oldie "Lemon Tree" (that was my first song that i ever sang, and not nursery songs), watch english movies (even though i don't fully understand them yet), and yes, i remember my childhood cartoon - Barney The Purple Dinosaur.

Of course, i got some name-calling treatments too.

"Ang Mor Sai".

That came from my Chinese-educated uncle(s). Maybe he wants me to provoke me into learning Chinese, or maybe he's just jealous that i could speak English at such an early age. I don't know. Well, what i did was close my ears to his / their name-callings.

Gradually entered primary school, and my English was useless against my peers who all spoke Chinese. The teachers won't speak English to you unless he's / she's an English language teacher. Needless to say, my English proficiency rotted, going down and down, and i can't speak as fluently as i used to anymore.

Till i came to secondary school. There were plenty of chances to speak in English. And i grabbed the chance to converse in English outside - as English is used widely in KL, Singapore, etc etc. My grasp of the language shooted up again, and thank god that my friends havent started calling me Ang Mor Sai yet.

Or Banana Man.

Yet.

(Or they do already, but i haven't noticed anything, XD.)

2. My Height

I dunno, i've always been on the tall side for an Asian teenager. My grandfather wasn't tall, my grandmother wasn't tall, my uncles and aunts weren't tall, but my dad was. I wonder why huh?

According to him, its the nutrients that he consumed, and the sports (basketball, volleyball, football, you name it) that he played during his lifetime. Naah, im thinking probably he got a lucky gene / hormone.

Thanks to him, me and my siblings inherited his height. And now our family's height rankings go like this:

1. Dad
2. Me
3. Brother (Younger than sister)
4. Eldest Sister
5. Mom.

Notice that the younger you are, the taller you will be? (Applies to 2 - 5 only).

XD okay no more bragging.

Well, almost every time an adult sees me, they'd say (usually my father's friends) - "Wow, you're gonna be taller than your dad already! Dyou play basketball?"

"No."

No. That's right - My dad doesn't allow me to play basketball, in fear of me getting injuries as he did last time. Whether i should thank him or hate him for doing that.. I think i'd thank him, XD.

So that brings me to the next point, that is..

3. Bulging Muscles? You joking me?

*Laughs bitterly*

I don't have any muscles like that to be proud of.

I am.. On first sight - a gamer's / bookworm's body build.

Lanky, on the skinny side (my parent's view, duh), and weak on the arms, that might be exactly what i have.

Think about it, with my height, i could do a lot of things right? I could join the basketball team and pwn with my height, i could participate in high-jump events, i could be a marathon runner, i could do a lot of things.

Weirdly, i had my ass stuck in front of my computer most of the time i have in hand. Oooh, that explains the "gamer's build" then.

I have a liking for stamina-training and running sports, but not arm-strength sports. Lets see..

I love frisbee, badminton, jogging, and cycling.

But i'm weak at basketball, volleyball, and other things that involve arm-strength.

Got my point already?

I wonder why my body just couldn't toughen up, i guess that i didn't take the effort to do it, lol.

Okay, that's not exactly a strange thing about me, but oh well..

4. Piano Fingos

Up next - My fingers.

Since i stepped into the adolescence stage, i realised that i have LONG fingers. Okay not extremely long, but longer than the regular ratio.

When comparing my hand to Eugene's and my dad's, i realised that the length of my hand was the same as theirs.

But my fingers are longer than theirs.
And their palms take up more space than mine.

Oh well, i ain't complaining am i? Long fingers OWN. Piano, guitar, keyboard, measurement (WHAT?), i could do them easily with my "abnormal" fingers (what my friends and relatives say).

And oh one more thing, my fingers could do unbelievable things.

The 90degrees and the 180degrees. I know some people could do that too, but i haven't found them yet.


The 90degrees, sideways - its like miming a scissors with your fingers.


Another one of the 90degrees.


Finger Yoga! 180degrees leg finger stretch!

And i forgot to say that - when i open up my fingers 90degrees, it forms a right-angled triangle right?
Well, the hypotenuse is lengthed 15cm (for now), dunno whether it'll increase / decrease when my hand + fingers grow again.

Okay that's it, we'd like to thank the fingers for playing a part in this blog.

5. Protectiveness

Hmm, i have a tendency of responsibility / protectiveness of people around me that i know.

Take this:

If i were in a tour with my friends or something, i'd always walk at the last, like a sheperd watching over his sheep. I don't know, i just feel like i don't want anyone to get missed out of the "troop", or get hurt, or whatever.

Or probably i just love walking at the back, duh.

Its like i'd always give priority to my friends before me myself. No one actually notices, but who cares anyway? XD i just do it most of the time.

Oh speaking of sacrificing oneself..

There was a question that goes like this:

If your friend was about to be shot, what would you do?
A. Stand helplessly watching the scene
B. Dive in front of your friend, shielding him / her, even if the bullet kills you.
C. Shield your friend, if only the bullet doesn't kill you.

I chose C. Ironic huh? I guess i haven't got to the level where i would die for my friends yet.

Geez, i went out-of-topic.

6. Childishness

Ahh, kewl!

Many friends who thought they knew me got deceived by my height - i'm actually a little child still growing. Or probably a little child that never grows.

Oh yeah, you can say that my thinking's mature, my writing / talking style's mature, but who still says "Nana nana boo boo" at the age of 15?

God, even a 9 year-old boy said that im childish when i "Nana nana boo boo"ed him. XD, how shameful.

Of course, i'll get serious when i face serious matters, i'm not perma-childish for gods sake.

Or maybe i am, o.o||..

I wonder whether if i'd get shunnned by my friends because of my childishness?

Whatever.

Nana nana boo boo~~!
*Sticks tongue out at you all*

7. Weird Interests

I actually like unusual things, unique things (not one that my peers probably like anyway)

I love uniqueness, i love to be unique.

Btw,

Say.. You have two choices of a travel destination, and you could only choose one -

1) To Los Angeles city - where malls, entertainment centres and other infrastructures await you.
Or
2) To South Africa - the country voted as the most beautiful country on earth, where its hard to find entertainment and people?

I'd choose Choice Two.

Most (not all) people would go to Los Angeles - The City of Angels, and probably enjoy the night-life or shopping-life there. But i'd gladly pick South Africa for the scenery, the peace, the serenity.

To put it in another way..
I'd prefer elephants than buses, XD.

I play games that most of my friends doesn't play.
I (sometimes) think that some objects that's considered ugly by others, as an object that's beautiful. (Wonder if you got what i mean?)

***

There you go - Seven Strangies about myself.

Lets see.. Who do i tag next?

I tag whoever who reads this post, but you could choose not to write if you don't feel like doing it.

However, there're a few people that i tag specifically - higher priorities :D.

Tzeinn, Yimin, Teoh Wee Kiat (Mr-FcuK), Pandabonium (If you read this), and fat404.

There're still others whom i'd like to tag, but seeing as they haven't been blogging for a while..

Post your Seven Strangies and post a comment here, *wink*.

That's all, Ryo OUT.

P/S: And oh here's my blackish computer set, except the damn MODEM!! XD!!

Pride - Not To Change At All

*Be reminded, that if you're one of the people listed down there, and your PRIDE doesn't allow you to be criticized, please read no further but press the X button on the top-right side of your browser instead.

You have been warned.

I take no responsibility on any textual / pictorial / verbal offence towards whichever party in the following text.*

“It is better to lose your pride with someone you love rather than to lose that someone you love with your useless pride.”

“Temper gets you into trouble. Pride keeps you there.”

“A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you're looking down, you can't see something that's above you.”

define:pride
unreasonable and inordinate self-esteem (personified as one of the deadly sins).

Personified as one of the deadly sins.
DEADLY SINS.

Yet, almost everyone in this world has pride - the only matter left is whether they control their pride or let it control them.

Forums, games, societies, organizations, you see it everywhere.

And here're some examples of obsessive pride that really pisses me off:

Seen on someone's forum signature:


That's just plain bs.
However, i see people like that in almost every damn Chinese forum, posting just comments like "Ha ha" (2 words) in a long long topic, and i bet he didn't actually read the main post.

To them i say - High postcounts doesn't mean anything. It doesn't necessarily mean that you're active on the forum, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're productive on the forum, it just means one thing -

That you're a mindless spammer.

***

In religion:
Pride's the one causing religion problems in the whole world.

"My God is better than your God"

Don't laugh. I've actually seen people saying that. Still unconvinced? Check out Angels and Demons by Dan Brown - the book that touchs on some of the historical facts between Christianity and their "adversaries".

It's not the religion that's problematic.

Its just some blind believers.

And of course, the cause is pride again.

***

"I'm older and i have more experience, while you're JUST AN UNEXPERIENCED TEEN."

I bet some (not all) adults love to say them.

我吃的盐比你吃的饭还要多.

Oh really?

Sorry, but here's my reply.

你们吃的是70年代的盐，而我们吃的是21世纪的饭哩！

Okay, PLEASE, don't ever let your parents see that.

What i'm trying to say is - many adults now don't want to, or don't dare to CHANGE. They keep on supporting their own mistakes even if someone else points them out - especially "unexperienced teens".

English teachers will say that their grammar is definitely better than yours.
Maths teachers will say that their formulae to solve a specific problem is the best.
ICT teachers would shove you out of the way, try to solve a computer problem without listening to you, convinced that you have absolutely no idea on tech stuff.

***

Of course, i'm not convincing you guys to hate all these types of people - that makes you show pride yourself instead. Just filter what they say / do, analyze it yourself, and decide whether to follow them, or not.

Its just that simple.

Pride won't get you far, it just makes you stuck.

As i probably said before - You're the one who could change your own life. You change - with probably some help from others who point out your mistakes. Try to stay away from pride as much as possible.

Of course, i can't deny that i have some acts of annoying pride too.

- Trying to think of some useless alibi to cover my mistakes.
- The determination of winning, and to prove that i'm right.
- Setting up a "Designed by IceGlacial" credit-image on whoever's blogs i designed.
- And of course, my pride on the English language, acting like a full-time defender of the language.
- Da ebil laugh (so says Yimin, XD)

Summary:

- You are the one who changes yourself.
- Don't close yourself to others' advices. In fact, filter them and change rationally.
- Say no to pride.

And, a postnote : Please give some more of my "Acts of pride" in comment-form if there're some i missed.

Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real,
Being natural is better than forcing an expression or a pose.

Don't you agree?

The Guts to TRY

Here goes one of my "Motivational" / "Thought" / "Crap" post again.

Today's topic - glad you're able to guess it, "The guts to TRY".

Actually it's related to my past post - Chances.

How hard is it to attempt something?
How hard is it to accept a chance to develop your talent?

I know, some of you might answer me:
Will you still talk like this after facing defeat and shame - all because you TRIED?

Well, if you never try, you'd never find out whether you'll succeed or suffocate, ain't it?

Lets see.. A few examples of trying in several aspects.

Imagine that it's 8am you're lying in your cosy bed, lazy to get up, even that you're already awake. Your reason? "I'm still tired" - Even though you slept at 10pm the day before.
TRY to get up from your bed.
Then you'd realise that you aren't so tired as you expected.

***

Imagine that you're playing DotA, using a life-stealing hero against 2 INT heroes on one lane. Would you go forward and kill both of them? Or would you stay back and cower against their nukes?
Just TRY to kill them (or harrass them if you couldn't).
Though i won't advise you to do that, unless you're strong enough, XD.

Okay, point taken, bad example - its an example of idiocy.

***

Imagine that there's an essay-writing competition held by MPH or some other organizer. You're quite good in writing, and the prize is a thousand bucks.
And some of you might be thinking that "No, i can't. I don't think that i'll win even if i send in my essay, there's still participants from KL and other states.."

How would you know if you don't try to TRY?
There isn't any harm in trying - just an extra paper for the judges to read.
If something like "I can't think of anything to write about" keeps popping out, stopping you from writing, TRY to start. You'd find that there's actually a lot of ideas hidden in your mind, waiting for the starting gun to fire.

Same goes with blogging - if you don't TRY to crap, how would you know that you don't have anything to crap about?

***

The chances to try are boundariless. There're bound to be something for you to try out - may it be a new beverage, a new sport, a new food, a new language, etc etc etc.

Imagine this again:
A guy (Q) and a girl (Z) were sitting beside one another in the LRT. Q broke the silence by starting a conversation with Z, and guess what, Q and Z are married now.

What if Q didn't pluck up his courage to talk with Z?

Think about it.

My favourite language - English.
Though some of my friends disagree.

Hatred of the langauge?
Fear of the language?
Disgust towards the language?

I don't know.

"Yeah right. Maybe for you it's easy, but I could never make that much."
Actually copied the quote above from a site in the net. (Recommended for reading)
But that's exactly what i hear most of the time.

Some people daren't converse in English for fear of the reason
"If any English terms gets out of my mouth, i'd surely be a laughing-stock."

The words haven't been uttered and you're a laughing-stock already - a laughing-stock of yourself.

Again, TRY.

Speak out for yourself.
Do what you haven't did before.
The result has a 75% chance to turn up nice, trust me.

Now, TRY to say something bad about this post, or my blog.

Say..
"You suck."

That'll be an unexpected turn of events ain't it?

Back =)

Thank god its not another 2 months.

XD.

Well, firstly, thanks to Inn for putting up that notice, quite fast after i informed you o.o||

Here goes a BRIEF summary of my trip to KL. I promise that it'll not be long.

Read about the landslide in KL when i was in Lowyat Plaza.. Was actually silently happy - grateful that we weren't near (or at) Bukit Antarabangsa, Ulu Klang.

To think that i was just miles away from getting involved in a landslide disaster, and who knows, i might lose my life or something, or i might lose the handkerchief in my pocket. (Wth that's so random?!)

Well, here's some good things about Sungai Petani - the Farmer's River.
According to my dad, there hadn't been any serious disasters in Sungai Petani. Not much crime, no landslide (not that i know of anyway), no curfew, no whatever-whatever disasters.

But i'll have to add one more.

No GOOD internet service.

*Rewinds back time*

The 6th of December, the first day of our departure to KL - Dad phoned the our local ISP (Telekom), asking them to send someone over to fix the interferences in our line - both internet and phone.

Well, what they did was -
They arrived.
They unplugged the telephone wire for 30 minutes.
They reconnected the line, and phoned us asking whether the phone line's okay.
Lo and behold, the line's still the same as ever - crackly and noisy. We gave them our reply then - No.
They said they'll CHANGE the line then. (Omg what the hell were they doing previously then?)
And they drove off.
We couldn't do anything, had to start our journey to KL already.

And to find that they havn't did a damn thing about the line, except to leave it unattended, unfixed for 5 days.

Geez, the workers should use Google.

define:fix
repair: restore by replacing a part or putting together what is torn or broken.

It's definitely not "remove and not giving a damn about it anymore".

Well, lets see.. Criticizing Telekom again - Check.
Now for the next part.

Window-shopped at Lowyat Plaza - nah, was actually just tagging along with my brother, who was looking for his new 22" LCD monitor - Samsung 2233BW. Too bad, the version was already "obsolete", so says the person who worked in Samsung. Every other shop gave the same response too.

So he settled for a Samsung 2233SW, which isnt the one he wanted. The ratio was 16:9 instead of the 16:10 on his initial target (2233BW).

Ah well, i'd better stop the computer terms right now. What i'm trying to say is - My brother got a replacement for his 17" LCD monitor.

And i got a replacement for my 15" CRT monitor too - his LCD, mwahahaha.

So now my computer set's wholly black, all except the keyboard.

Mwahaha mwahaha, that just makes my loss of the internet more bearable..

Out.

无题。

Ice要我帮他转告各位一件事情，由于我的英文很烂，所以用华文来写（虽然华文也好不到哪里去），不便之处，敬请原谅，谢谢。Ice说他的net line不知道怎样给telekom的人“搞”坏了，所以最近都不能上网，请多多包含。没话说了，谢谢，拜拜~

Hairstyles - Does It Really Matter?

Hair - a covering for the body (or parts of it) - here i mean the head, consisting of a dense growth of threadlike structures; helps to prevent heat loss.

By telling your hairstylist "I need a new haircut today", you might get..

"Which hairdo will you want today?"

Male

"Will it be a Mohawk?"



"Moptop?"



"Or a clean shave?"



***

Female

"An Urchin-style?"



"Or a long wavy cut?"



***

Hairstyles.

They come in all kinds, all colors, all styles.

They grow on every head (Well, uhh almost every head then, not counting those who're bald).

So what's the big deal?

"Ooh its a blonde! I bet she's a total dumbass!" *

"Who on earth would want to have a head of rainbow-coloured hair? He's such a sick punk, *shakes head*"

Discrimination.

Most people judge others by their outlook, their appearance.
As people say - "The first impression is always the most important aspect".

I agree.

But does that mean that we're confined to stick to our natural hair colour or our natural hair-style?

God, if that's the case, we'd see people wearing wigs on the streets next.

Sadly, i was one of the hair-style-discrimination victims too.

"Eh, rambut k'napa gitu panjang pulak? Anak saudara Pn Ho pun bgini?!"

What does being the nephew of Pn Ho have anything to do with this?

So i should sit in my seat like a geek, hair combed to one side NEATLY, wearing thick-framed specs?

Image in mind:


Absolutely no way.

Why couldn't i have my spiky hairstyle? Why? WHY?
Is it because that spiky hair are supposed to be normal only for punks? For gangsters?

Geez, check my disciplinary record. I'm clean from any disciplinary problems.

And they care about my hairstyle?

Okay, forget the school problem.

But its almost the same outside.

Remember the female monk last time?

"You are very rebellious, and you don't listen to elders' advices."

"You're too influenced by Western culture."

My hair.
Duh.

Get this straight - I could sport a disheveled hair, i could have my spiky hairstyle like now, or i could even shave my hair bald just like Daughtry.

But one thing doesn't change - I'm still Ryo, my personalities are the same yet.

To me? Hairstyles are just but part of our "outer shell", just a covering, just an appearance.

Who cares if someone disapproves of your hairstyle anyway?

Just as long you feel confident in that hairstyle, you're fine to go.

Isn't it true?

Ahhh, i should go for a rebonding treatment next, XD.

* In defence of blondes, (which i have no offence towards):

A blonde and a lawyer are seated next to each other on a flight from LA to NY. The lawyer asks if she would like to play a fun game? The blonde, tired, just wants to take a nap, politely declines and rolls over to the window to catch a few winks. The lawyer persists and explains that the game is easy and a lot of fun. He explains, "I ask you a question, and if you don't know the answer, you pay me $5.00, and vice versa. " Again, she declines and tries to get some sleep. The lawyer, now agitated, says, "Okay, if you don't know the answer you pay me $5.00, and if I don't know the answer, I will pay you $500.00." This catches the blonde's attention and, figuring there will be no end to this torment unless she plays, agrees to the game. The lawyer asks the first question. "What's the distance from the earth to the moon?" The blonde doesn't say a word, reaches into her purse, pulls out a $5.00 bill and hands it to the lawyer. "Okay" says the lawyer, "your turn." She asks the lawyer, "What goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four legs?" The lawyer, puzzled, takes out his laptop computer and searches all his references, no answer. He taps into the air phone with his modem and searches the net and the library of congress, no answer.

Frustrated, he sends e-mails to all his friends and coworkers, to no avail. After an hour, he wakes the blonde, and hands her $500.00. The blonde says, "Thank you," and turns back to get some more sleep. The lawyer, who is more than a little miffed, wakes the blonde and asks, "Well, what's the answer?" Without a word, the blonde reaches into her purse, hands the lawyer $5.00, and goes back to sleep.

***

That's all, seeyah all then.

*I won't be home from 6 - 8 December. I'm going to KL again for my sister's house-warming and to attend a wedding dinner - of course with my hair dye-gelled metallic purple again.

Chances

Look, everyone appreciates a chance given to them, right?

"Here, you can have a go on my car"

And we'll be like "Oh geez! You trust me to drive it? Thanks a bunch!"

Obviously, chances are defined as tokens of trust that is given by an individual to another.

"Hey Ryo, would you wanna come over for our band practice at Cat's house?" -Shelhiel.

That marked the start of my experience in a band.
The Banana Chapalang Bloody Band.
I got the chance to play as a bassist in a band - and that's the bloody first time that i ever played a bass guitar.
I turned out okay though.
Our performance in the annual dinner was considered "not bad".

And it all started with a guy that gave a chance to a talentless me.
Thanks to him, i've got experience in a band.
Thanks to him, i met two new friends - whom i never spoken a word to before.

The Banana Chapalang Bloody Band.
Cat, Fish, Meg, Jailman, Capati.
Thanks a lot, guyz.

"Ryo, your badminton skills is considered okay already. Just a few more trainings and you'll be better." -Yeap.

That's how i got invited to every badminton practice scheduled by him.
That's one of the remaining "exercise outlets" that i could go to, as frisbee's not much fun nowadays - my friends are starting to lose enthusiasm for it.
And that's how i got a chance to improve my meagre badminton skills.
And to socialise with friends whom i couldn't usually meet during the holidays.

Well, i'll get back to my point.

Everybody has talent.

Its either they SHOW their talent or they DO NOT have enough courage to show them.

How do we help them dig out their hidden talent?

By giving them chances, of course.

A simple
"Cmon Rachel, sing a song for us!"
might shape a future that goes like..
"Ohmigod, Rachel's gonna perform in KL! You got tickets for her concert already?"

The word i use the most nowadays - "Who knows?"

The achievement of your future might depend on a simple chance given to you by someone in the present.

Whether it be sports, management or other talent skills - give the chance to beginners if you already did it before.

They need it more than you.
They'll appreciate it and they'll be grateful.
They might succeed in the future because of you.

Think about it, it isn't such a bad thing isnt it?
Giving chances to people?

Horoscopes

Here's mine, my star sign's a Libra.

Traditional Libra Traits..

Diplomatic and urbane
Romantic and charming
Easygoing and sociable
Idealistic and peaceable

On the dark side though..

Indecisive and changeable
Gullible and easily infuenced
Flirtatious and self-indulgent

Likes..

The finer things in life
Sharing
Conviviality
Gentleness

Dislikes..

Violence
Injustice
Brutishness
Being a slave to fashion

Do horoscopes really affect our characteristics and our attributes?
If astrologists say that Librans are stupid, would all Librans would really be stupid?

Are we what we are born to be, or what we grow up to be?

Say.. One Libran might be a renowned artist,
while his nextdoor neighbour Libran might be a serial killer hired to kill the artist.

I mean, who knows what you might become in the future?

Only you alone.

Only you could change your future.

Not me, not us.

Just you.

You might follow what your horoscope says,
You might follow what your parents say,
You might follow the footsteps of your idol,
You might follow the footsteps of an antagonist / protagonist in a novel.

But its up to you on how to change yourself, and your future.

Of course, i couldn't say that horoscopes are definitely inaccurate too. Take me myself for example - some of the traits of Librans apply to me, truthfully, accurately.

Yes, you heard me - I'm not a critic of horoscopes, nor i am a fan of it.
I'm just neutral.

Who knows, if i state that i don't believe in horoscopes, i might get half the world discriminating me.

However, if i say that i believe in horoscopes, the other half of the world might scoff at me.

So its better to be neutral.

Anyone like me to tell your fortune by having a look at your palm?

"Ahh, the lines on your hand.. I can see that you're a human!
Am i right, that you were human too yesterday?"

I don't believe in fortune-telling though.

I hope you all won't, too.

Goodluck in building the foundation for your future.

*P/S: Holy moly cow! This post is just so "motivational-talker-like"!
Another choice for my future career then - Psychology / Motivational skills.