My Last Post For A Few Months - Perhaps

Sigh..

I guess I won't be updating my blog for quite a while.

Spoilt motherboard, unsubscribed line..

There's no way for me to come online at home.

Till my Internet and new computer comes, I'd have to start counting the days I can live without my computer, XD.

Sigh, this post is so lame..

Happy "Niu" Year to all of you, and may you all be happy always.

I'll be ending today's post with a poem that I thought up myself. Have fun this festive season!

People cheering, crackers blasting,
The time has come again,
Where people start to dance and sing,
Where people go insane.

On new year's eve families unite,
Together they would dine,
Celebrating the single night,
Drinking beer and wine.

The next day people start to say
the Chinese wish "Gong Xi Fa Cai",
The fest that lasts for fifteen days,
Have fun and don't be shy.

A poem I thought up in English,
I hope you'd find it dear,
With all my heart I'd like to wish,
Happy Chinese New Year.

Haywired Thoughts on Life

A rich man asked a famous Zen master to paint a painting for good luck and great blessing for his new house.

When the painting was completed, the rich man was shocked! He was so angry that he ran to the temple to confront the Zen master.

"I have paid so much money to help build this temple. How can you curse me and my family?"

The painting reads -


Father dies,
Son dies,
Then grandson dies.


The Zen master explains, "Death is inevitable! If you think this painting does not bring you great blessing, would changing these sequences be better?"

*****

Many people are afraid of death. The mere mention of this word brings gross unhappiness to many.

Have you planned your death?

Do you know that at least 10000 people would never see the next sun rise tomorrow?

Are you grateful that you are alive today?

Death brings fear to many people - but is there any reason we should be afraid?

"It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more." - Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter - The Half-Blood Prince.
It is common human nature to fear death, and usually fear leads them to look for help to lessen their fears.

Hell..
Heaven..
Life after death..

Are those facts?
Or are those just fictions stitched up by people who fear death?

Is religion naught but just something to soothe our fears?

I'm not actually an atheist - I respect all sorts of religions, but I don't spend my time to be a religious devout or something.

I am my own God.
While everyone is a God themselves.

People keep looking for the "greater being", the Creator, the Lord-of-Everything, they keep looking for a omniscient, all-benevolent being. The more they can't find it, the more they'll want to continue searching.

Every religion has a common base - to guide a person to the right path.

Do good - and you'll go to heaven after death. (Or perhaps get 72 virgins or something)

Commit crimes - and you get thrown into hell.

Of course, there're different versions of the "punishments" yet, but it all shows the same meaning:

The action you take now determines the action that would be taken on you in the future.

I still wonder though..

Why do people fear death so much?

Death is but ".. going to bed after a very long day. After all, to the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure .." (Quoted from Dumbledore again, Sorcerer's Stone -.-)

If you lived your life well, there isn't any reason to fear death, isn't it?

Oh wait, how's "lived your life well" defined then..

There isn't a set standard for the definition of "Success", or "Successful Life". It differs according to one's own opinion.

Just a few days ago while our Civic subject teacher was discussing "Our Aim in Life" in class, she asked us for our personal aims.

Some people said..

"Get good results, and get a good job."

"Get a good spouse."

"Earn lots of money."

When it was my turn, I answered:
"Achieve happiness in every aspect of my life."

While the teacher commented that my aim was seemingly far-fetched.

Who says I couldn't achieve happiness in every aspect of my life?

I couldn't do that all at once, so I'll do that using the Daffodil Principle.

One step at a time, to complete the whole picture.

How do I find happiness?

By being happy myself first, of course.
"If you are happy, you will see happy things and happy people."

It's just that simple.

*****

"Beginning today I will no longer worry about yesterday.
It is in the past and the past will never change.
Only I can change by choosing to do so.

Beginning today I will no longer worry about tomorrow.
Tomorrow will always be there, waiting for me to make the most of it.
But I cannot make the most of tomorrow without first
making the most of today.

Beginning today I will look in the mirror and I will see a person worthy of my respect and admiration.
This capable person looking back at me is someone I enjoy spending time with and someone I would like to get to know better.

Beginning today I will cherish each moment of my life.
I value this gift bestowed upon me in this world and I will unselfishly share this gift with others.
I will use this gift to enhance the lives of others.

Beginning today I will take a moment to step off the beaten path and to revel in the mysteries I encounter.
I will face challenges with courage and determination.
I will overcome what barriers there may be which hinder my quest for growth and self-improvement.

Beginning today I will take life one day at a time, one step at a time.
Discouragement will not be allowed to taint my positive self-image,
my desire to succeed or my capacity to love.

Beginning today I walk with renewed faith in human kindness.
Regardless of what has gone before, I believe there is hope
for a brighter and better future.

Beginning today I will open my mind and my heart.
I will welcome new experiences. I will meet new people.
I will not expect perfection from myself nor anyone else: perfection does not exist in an imperfect world.
But I will applaud the attempt to overcome human foibles.

Beginning today I am responsible for my own happiness and I will do things that make me happy . . .
admire the beautiful wonders of nature, listen to my favorite music,
pet a kitten or a puppy, soak in a bubble bath . . .
pleasure can be found in the most simple of gestures.

Beginning today I will learn something new; I will try something different; I will savor all the various flavors life has to offer.
I will change what I can and the rest I will let go.
I will strive to become the best me I can possibly be.

Beginning today. And every day."
I'm hereby marking the 100th post of my blog. Never thought I'd come so far..

"If A is a success in life, than A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut", - Albert Einstein.

"I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy", - Dalai Lama.

The Parting

Here's a poem that I've just made - just to stimulate the curiosities of my friends.

*Laughs evilly*


The Parting

On the day - the time we both first met,
I thought we'd last for long,
Thought that things were readily set,
But now it's naught but song.

Through toil and strife we tried to last,
And clashes we've endured,
But wings could break in just a gust,
So I wasn't quite assured.

I longed for others, I dreamt of them,
You were silent all those years,
Bringing the person I solely am,
To the verge of hollow tears.

One perfect day you ended it,
Breaking off from me,
Leaving me speechless in my seat,
Oh, that was misery.

Chanceless again to be at your side,
No more "you and me",
For in pure freedom you now reside,
Here's my apology.

And people would start asking - "Who's the 'you'?"

No one guessed it right.
Not even close.

No one had any idea of what I wrote, XD.

Interpret it in your own way, and have fun. Let the poem remain a mystery except to me myself, :P.

Isolation From The Internet Computer

Thanks to my motherboard - which was 75% confirmed as the main culprit of my signal-lost drives, I was finally able to enjoy the other part of my life better.

The "other part" of my life?

Uh, I don't really think so - I think I should use the term "my actual life".

Well, I've just looked back to my past and realized that I'm literally "living in a virtual world". The MSN me isn't like the real me. The blogger me is one hell more mature than the real me (Is it?). The gamer me is more commanding, more decisive than the real me.

And where does that lead me to?

Multiple personalities?

Probably, but my point is something more minor - Constantly relying on my computer.

Whenever I have free time, I wouldn't be thinking "Hmm, what new skill should I learn today?", no, I wouldn't be thinking around those lines. Instead, whenever I have free time, my first destination would be my computer.

My computer was my way of relaxation.
My computer was my source of merriment.
My computer was my method of communication.
My computer was 75% of my daily life.

I bet that 75% of my daily life in front of a computer accounts for my saintly myopia degree.

Uhh..

Left : -8.00
Right : -8.75

Well, I used to argue that my high leveled short-sightedness was mainly due to family heritage - my brother and sister have powers of -6.00 and above too. But it seems that it isn't - entirely - true.

I have the highest degree of short-sightedness in my family.

Oh geez, this comes from a teenage boy who had his first experience using a computer since the age of 4, Yahoo! mail since age 5, and my first pair of spectacles before I even entered preschool. Weirdly, I still remember my first way of holding a mouse, and my first game I played in my computer - Counter Strike beta 7.

*****

[Walks away from the topic]

Now.. Here I come ranting about my computer history.

I've always been "home-trained". That is, I've never ever been in a cybercafe - no matter how absurd that sounds. But trust me, I've never entered one before.

How do I train up my gaming skills then?

Huh?

Firstly, I have friends who're patient enough to help me, training me up as a "gamer".

So - A lotta thanks to fat404 firstly. My DotA experiences and lessons came mostly from him (And his blog). Strategy-planning, skill-building, stuff. He played a great role as a team-leader and a player too.

Coming next - arc. He's my brother - who introduced games to me (As I never bothered to download games myself), and "provoked" me to be more skilled in some games more than him. I've been (Pardon me for the lack of modesty) training hard to beat him in every game possible - CoD4, DotA, O2Jam, NFS, etc.

Of course - fatty87. The one who owns mp_creek in CoD4. He was the one who brought up my CoD4 skills, training up my reflexes etc.

And of course, something to take note of - the three guys above are not the same age as I am. They're, to be precise - 6 years older than me.

Till now, no one from the same age as I am had been able to "train up" my skills at a specific game. They're all more interested in playing MMORPG games, which I dislike since mid-2008.

"Home-trained" - it applies to mostly everything I have in my computer. Simple programming, PhotoShopping, computer performance-optimizing, etc. I still remember the time when my sister and brother went to "Informatics" to take Visual Basic C++ trainings, and I was the little brother who stayed at home to leech their lessons. Java, C++.. I have books left by them in my keeping. PhotoShop was a little bit different though. As no one in my family used PhotoShop before - I had to resort to the way I preferred the most. Self-learning. It was undeniably hard at first, with all those weird tools and things, but.. as my personal adage goes - "The more you know it, the more you'll love it". A pioneer in my family to start using PhotoShop? Dream on.

Who says that a gamer must have entered a cybercafe before?
Who says that PhotoShop must be learnt using a handbook or manual?
Says who?

I'm proving them wrong.

[End of off-topic]

*****

I guess I've been spending way too much time on the computer.
I think I need more fresh air.
I decided that I need to try more new things in real-life.
I plan to eat real food instead of feasting on my computer electricity.

That's why I planned for some more new things for the Year 2009.

= Have another 90+% in my English paper. (Kinda impossible)
= Learn up a new instrument. (Most likely piano / whichever Chinese instrument)
= Join the choir. (Gawd?!)
= Get a nice position in whichever organization / society I'm joining now. (By nice, I mean something high up)
= Have a frisbee pickup at least once this year.. (Sounds easy, but its actually hard)

Might probably update this list - with new goals / achieved goals in the future.

Till then. I might not be online much for this year (Or probably only for this few days, XD. See how long could I endure my isolation..)

Cheerio.

What Major Suits Me?

Here's a quiz from Spiral's blog. Got bored with nothing else on this laptop, so I thought I'd have a go on it.

Original Quiz link is HERE.

Accurate? Not sure. All I know is that it doesn't point to my planned career - Accounting and Finance.

***

You Scored as Education/Counseling You should strongly consider majoring in Education, such as early childhood education, middle childhood education, secondary education, or related majors (e.g., Vocational Education, Special Education, P.E./Physical Education). It is possible that the best major for you is your 2nd, 3rd, or even 5th listed category, so be sure to consider ALL majors in your OTHER high scoring categories (below). You may score high in a category you didnt think you would--it is possible that a great major for you is something you once dismissed as not for you. The right major for you will be something 1) you love and enjoy and 2) are really great at it. Consider adding a minor or double majoring to make yourself standout and to combine your interests. Psychology is a great minor for education majors. Please post your results in your myspace/blog/journal. Education/Counseling 81% Biology/Chemistry/Geology 81% English/Journalism/Comm 81% French/Spanish/OtherLanguage 75% Psychology/Sociology 69% Accounting/Finance/Marketing 69% Mathematics/Statistics 56% HR/BusinessManagement 50% Physics/Engineering/Computer 50% Religion/Theology 44% Visual&PerformingArts 38% Nursing/AthleticTraining/Health 31% PoliticalScience/Philosophy 19% History/Anthropology/LiberalArts 13%

Series of.. Unfortunate Events

*Notice : Might not be blogging much this year. I'll blog when I want to, but definitely not these few days specifically. I can't blog away from my OWN keyboard, XD.*

I wonder whether whether I have bad karma for this year or something - things just fail to work out for me every time.

I'm not sure about the first few days of 2009, but I'm sure of the date that I've been the unluckiest this year.

7 January 2009.

It all started in school when I was asked to stay back after my duty session as a librarian - to clean and tidy up the old (1980s) school magazines and books stored in our library store room. So, what my duty-end time (3pm) was extended to 5pm, while the extra two hours were devoted to dust and cockroach droppings that probably existed since the 80s.

After our duty session ended, the only ones left were Jiawei, Wong and me. Switched off all the lights and fans, while Wong departed the library through the staircase leading to the teacher's study. Later, Jiawei and me exited through the main library door, while I locked the door behind me before closing it.

Walked down the stairs..

.. Just to face a closed and locked grilled door.

Sheesh, I suppose that the doors were locked so as no student could go upstairs.

But it seems to be preventing us from going downstairs now.

So what could we do - as we couldn't go back to the library as I just locked it?

By trying to capture the attention of the teachers downstairs, of course.

After waving our hands like madmen.. (Okay, we didn't.), we finally got noticed by a teacher (Lim Kee Boon), and he hand-signed to us that he'll inform the office assistants to unlock the staircase grills.

..

.. While that yielded no results - as the guard was the only one having the keys to the staircase (as the assistant told us) ..

.. So, we had no choice but to wait for the library clerk to re-unlock the library, re-unlock the main door, so that we could pass through the library > teacher's study > back outside.

The waiting's one thing, and the misunderstandings by the teachers were another. Glad it wasn't too serious.

Arrived home at 5.30, and had my long-thirsted nap till around 6, before going out for dinner at around 8.

*Fast-forwards*

Arrived home at 10, and entered my computer room, imagining my computer greeting me after a long long time gap since I last used it (Which was only one day ago, XD.)

Opened my usual routine-programs - Opera and Miranda..

.. 5 minutes later ..

"Miranda - Database failure. Miranda will now shutdown."

"Opera - Could not save to D:\Program Files\Opera\profiles.dat. Please check your directory etc etc."

Nice..

Suspecting that my D drive probably got weird for a while or something, I went to My Computer to check out my D partition.

"Local Drive (D:\) - 0 bytes total, 0 bytes free, 0 bytes remaining".

Oh my god?

*Tries to open by various ways - address bar, double click etc.*

Result - "Drive D:\ is either corrupted or unreadable."

Damned perfect.

Turned off my computer, and tightened the power cords + data cables connected to my HDD + motherboard - before turning on my computer again.

Everything worked normal (Uhh well, NOT - my D drive was still detected-but-unreadable) - with me relying on my 80GB HDD - which has only 8GB free space left. Reinstalled Miranda on this drive and phoned my brother for a through-the-phone diagnosis of my computer.

arc : "Reconnect the power cords for the HDD and try again see."

me : "I did that already just now."

arc : "Oh.. So, umm I'll have a look at your HDD probably this coming CNY when I come back or something."

Nice, that just leaves like only 3 weeks left, right?

3 weeks of doom in my prediction.

Oh well, gotta try to survive.

Continued my chatting on MSN, till my mom called my name from downstairs in a emergency-like, high-pitched voice, which lead me thinking that something serious had happened. So I took off my headphone, lay it on my computer table, and started to rush downstairs - till I tripped over my headphone wire, and a resounding crash was heard.

The crash..
.. came from ..
.. my LCD monitor which slammed headfirst onto my microphone ..

I lifted up the screen again, and noticed a few "dent spots" on the center-right part of the screen.

Greeeat. And it turns out that my mom's "emergency-call" was nothing much but a reminder for me to wish my cousin sister a Happy Birthday. How I wish to scream at the top of my lungs.

200GB HDD lost signal, LCD damaged, whats next?

Today's events, of course.

Turned on my computer as usual of course - started the few routine-programs again.. And bingo, my computer just hanged at where it was.

Waited for a whole 5 minutes before I decided to restart my computer.

And what I got during the boot was this.

"\WINDOWS\system32\Config\System could not be accessed. Please insert the Windows XP installation disk into your CD-ROM and press "r" in the first page to repair."

..

Am I dreaming..?

Tightened the cords of my drives to my motherboard again..

.. But the result was still the same. Some system error. Seems that my C drive (80GB) lost signal too.

So I put my Windows XP installation disc into my CD-ROM so as to try to repair the drive.. Just to receive another surprise once again.

"Windows XP Installation Disk Error - INF file txtsetup.sif is corrupt or unreadable. Setup cannot continue at this time."

I guess it isn't the problem of my drives - but my motherboard (I guess) which I suspect is dying.

Arc said that it might be because of insufficient power from the PSU too, and advised me to replace it. I might do so when I'm free tomorrow I guess.

These are only the things that happened to my computer - I didn't touch much on what happened to ME in real life. I guess I won't do so..

Who on earth cursed me? Lol.

Attending the "school-team-qualification" for my school volleyball team tomorrow. I guess I'll have to wear my contact lenses + knee pads for extra precaution - I predict that I might get hit in the face by a full-speed ball or something, just my bad luck these few days.

Wish everything would be better.

Signing off, IceGlacial.

My Second Day At School

As I brought the "Buku Kawalan" upstairs to my class - my first job as a temporary class monitor (How I got to be the class monitor is best unexplained, though the main culprit is Yimin, -.-), prefects were asking classes by classes to gather at the basketball court - we were guessing that we were going to get a briefing by the teachers about our Form 4 subject packages.

Turns out it isn't.

"To save up time, the teachers had arranged all of you into respective classes according to your PMR results and remarks from your subject teachers."

Ain't that something that sucks?

And we were all thinking that we could have a few days to get briefed on the new packages, the streams, and ponder about what stream we would take.

Well, not so.

"For your information, the classes aren't divided into 'good classes' or 'bad classes' anymore. There'll be 8As in every class, 7As in every class etc. We've taken care of that for you."

"Those students whose names are called, please enter your new classes.."

.. 4.0 ..

.. And I could only stare as most of my friends got called to enter class 4.0.

.. 4.1 ..

.. I didn't regret not able to enter this class, XD.

.. 4.2 ..

.. .. .. Ho Rui You .. ..

***

And 4.2's the new class that I'm in right now.
Glanced around the class - perfect, another class where I have none of my past-year classmates.

Speaking of that, I recalled my past-year experiences of my classes too.

Form 1 to Form 2 : 1.7 to 2.2 - There were none of my 1.7 classmates in class 2.2.
Form 2 to Form 3 : 2.2 to 3.9 - There was only TWO of my classmates from 2.2.
Form 3 to Form 4 : 3.9 to 4.2 - I guess there's no more.

My fate?

Probably.

SOME people might think that I'm unlucky, always unlucky enough to enter a class full of strangers. Personally though, I think that I'm quite fortunate - as fate gave me a chance to widen my circle of friends by being able to bring new friends into the circle. Anyway, life's all about extending and expanding, isn't it?

Well, about my class.

It's really quite unique in a way that we have students from different "expertises" in class 4.2.

We have students who're good in their academical achievements..
We have students who fly high in their co-curricular activities (posts)..
And we have students who're good in sports (though not the best).

I couldn't just say anything about my new class yet - I couldn't judge my class just by watching them for one day. See how it turns out after a few months then.

4.2 is one of the Science-streamed class, so - the basic subjects that I'm taking are..

The three major languages - Malay, Chinese, English.
The three branches of science - Physics, Chemistry, Biology.
The two mathes - Modern Maths, Additional Maths.
The two useless subjects - Moral Education, History.

That makes a total of 10 subjects, excluding Physical Education and Civic Education.

Extra subjects?

Accounting, & English in Science and Technology.
(Decided not to take EST after advices by my aunt and sister)

So I'd be taking 11 subjects overall - might not seem much to you, but who cares? I aim for my career, not for glamour anyways.

"There won't be any teachers teaching Accounting for science stream this year. If you want to learn Accounting, you'd have to either take tuitions or study by yourself."

My initial plan was to study myself - but after consideration.. Oh well..

I decided to take tuition for Accounting - at least for a few weeks / months, to see whether I could cope with the subject. If yes, I'll drop my tuition then.

And so goes my tuition schedule.

Sunday : 4-6pm BM DoReMe
Monday : [Free]
Tuesday : 4-6pm ACC Pn.Chew
Wednesday : 8-10pm PHYSICS Einstein
Thursday : 4-6pm MT En.Loke
Friday : 8-10pm CHEMISTRY Pn.Kum
Saturday : [Free]

Crap, gotta go. It's 12.15am and mom just asked me to get to sleep right now.

Catch ya all later.

Criticism & Encouragement - It Helps

Here comes my ranting again, with one minor improvement - my I(s) are all capitalized already! XD!

Well, I'm feeling quite exhausted - tired out by the vigorous volleyball training (as usual) in my school a few hours earlier. Actually realized that our volleyball coach - "Ong", wasn't only a volleyball coach that yells at the players for fun.

Oh, right.

Actually, he does yell at us when we make mistakes - especially stupid ones, but well, who's complaining? By just a few weeks of training under the coaching of Ong, I've actually learnt and understood how cruel and how challenging the world could be. Of course - he isn't the person who makes my life hell, but the person that taught us all how hell is like.

Back to my point then, (originally planned to write about how he made us understood hell, but no thanks).

Criticism.

You see them all the time everywhere. Simon Cowell actually criticises people LIVE on TV (American Idol), and he doesn't care about the boos made by the audience towards him.

Some people might think that this is cruel and stupid, but it isn't the same for me - To me, Cowell was doing a saintly job that most people hate to do - to criticise people and make them improve.

What good is it to compliment people with absolutely no talent at all, while talking negatively behind his/her back?

Won't it be better to point out his/her mistakes to him/her, so that he'll/she'll (Duh, I'll just use "he" as a general term..) learn and improve?

Spend time wrongly complimenting people for the wrong things, and you'll end up ruining their future; Spend time pointing out mistakes to them, and you'll end up being their saviour of life.

Of course, I'm not actually asking all of you to fit criticism in every sentence that comes out of your mouths. No, I'm just asking you not to refrain from criticising when need arises.

Saaaay..

Situation:
Your friend composed and sang a song all by himself and asked you to give comments. To you, it's just an average song - not perfect, but not bad too.

Reaction 1:
"Wow, that song is absolutely fabulous! I bet if you compile an album, you'll get to the Top 10!"

Reaction 2:
"Good work on the song! Now you just have to edit the last verse of the song - make it higher by an octave, and increase the volume of the bass guitar and you're good to go!"

Reaction 3:
"It sounds like shit to me - the vocals get out of tune frequently, and I'm wondering who made the lyrics. Oh, is it you? I'm sorry then, but oh yeah, no offence dude, just don't send it to a publisher or something."

Which would most people prefer?

Which would YOU prefer?

About MY personal preference.. I'd pick Reaction 2.

I'd do exactly that, and I'd like to get that reaction if i was the "your-friend-the-composer".

But oh, if you're immune to negative criticism, and you'd like to improve, Reaction 3 might suit you. One to one's taste.

My exact point?

Have a mixture of criticism and encouragement in your comment(s) you make to others. You might disguise your criticism as an encouragement, or vice versa. Just make sure that you mean both of it.

Encouragement.

Encouragement requires sincere SUPPORT.

What good will it do if encouragement flows out of your mouth freely, effortlessly?
Your encouragement wouldn't encourage people at all.

When somebody confides a problem to you -
By giving sincere encouragement, you are actually showing people that you understand their problems, and you're willing to help. It shows that you listened to them when they confided in you, and you'd always be there for them. That's what a sincere encouragement can do.

The thing is, the difference between a sincere encouragement and a false-hearted encouragement is just a thin line..

1) "Cmon, go for it! I know you can win, seriously!"         

2) "Cmon, go for it! I know you can win, seriously!" -----

Can you figure out the difference?

It's actually possible, but normally people won't figure it out.

Encouragement - when you get it from others, ponder about it for a moment - is the encouragement sincere or false-hearted?

Both ways, it should prove helpful to you as it strengthens your morale - but yet, its usually inadvisable to follow a false-hearted encouragement or comment, as it might lead you wrong.

On the "giving" side, though, would you give sincere encouragements?

Or do encouragements come from you like free unwanted sweets?

And.. Did you manage to find the difference between 1 and 2? They're different, trust me.

Summary:
Positive Criticism + Sincere Encouragement = A great help to the person who hears it.

"Compassion without wisdom is as dangerous as wisdom without compassion."
-Quoted from robin's karma.

The end.

...

...

It's really the end, duh.

*P/S: Got this quote from a site of my friend's mother - guess teachers should see this.

"A teacher must know his stuff.
He must know the pupils he intends to stuff.
Above all, he must stuff them artistically."

So Long, 2008; Hello, 2009.

Well, it's 12 sharp.

Fireworks start blasting outside, and my computer clock changes from 31 December 2008 to 1 January 2009.

Good morning, 2009.

Happy Niu (Cow) Year to you all.

Mooo~