Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Tioman Part I: Simple Yet Lovely

Had been extremely busy for the past weeks with Malaysia Most Wanted Beta after the Tioman trip, and didn’t quite have the time and mood to blog. I think I am transforming from a frequent blogger to a casual blogger, as too much priority in life have taken precedence.

Since I am not quite in the mood to work today, I might as well take sometime to blog about Tiomon before it is blurred out from my memory (at least it should cheer me up a bit).

Mei Ru drives us with her 1518 to Batu Pahat, quite a big step for her. Wynn the hustler driver always encourages her to speed, and complained her of too slow. It is not that I like it slow and steady, but there is just too much speed trap based on my past long distance driving experience. RM 300 is too much of a price to pay. She is steady, but more experience would do her good.

Our 1st stop is Batu Pahat, Wynn’s hometown. We meet with her two cute little sister, and their future sister-in-law, Xiao Jie (小洁). We have Yong Tau Fu in the afternoon, and went to the temple for sightseeing and seafood dinner at night.

Big Mama Pig

Batu Pahat Temple

Batu Pahat Temple 2

Wynn's Family (cute little sisters and future sister-in-law)

Before the dinner, we went to Xiao Jie’s house, where her family is pig farmer. So we get to see lots of super huge mama pigs and small piglets. It sure is smelly. BTW, Xiao Jie driver like Initial D in the hilly roads with her jumping Kancil. The temple is near the sea with a fantastic view, and is famous for a big black fish Ju Long (巨龙) which is said to bring good luck if it is touched from head to tail. The seafood is pretty alright with reasonable pricing as well, just next to the temple. It’s Wynn’s treat, TQ Wynn. We had a good night sleep :)

High Class Salang Resort

Our Chalets

Warm Sunset

Wynn’s drive us to Mersing the next day, where we would take a ferry to Pulau Tioman. The journey is around 2 hours plus, and our landing spot is Salang (there are many resorts at different part of the island). The island is great, the water is clear and the weather is nice. We check-in into our Chalets at the “downtown” side of Salang, and there is some extremely beautiful “uptown” high-class resort on the hills on the other side. Nevertheless, chalets are fun and good for budget trips. We had lunch (some not very nice Malay meal), and played some beach volleyball. Our hands hurt like hell, and the fun didn’t lasted very long. Mei Ru and I had some fun in the water, while Wynn and Jamie just sat at the beach chit chatting. At night, we had some Chinese dinner and went to hang around the hammock. Vacation mood, gentle breeze and swinging in the hammock seem to be just perfect. Though felt a bit “lonely”, but it had always been such.

Ice-cream girl

Who are we?

Hammock Girl

Hungry Couple

There is lots of shining stars in the sky, and under their witness holds a lovely beginning. We have a romantic walk and a lovely chat; it just couldn’t get any better than this. Back in the chalets, we played some our usual tattooing game and lure the serious Jamie to join our craziness. It is happy to see her let go of herself and start indulging in some brainless fun. Sadly, a playful and harmless wrestling would turn against me in an unexpecting manner. We are worry Wynn might not be happy, thus accompany her for a night walk and Jamie had her early beauty sleep. Clouds had covered the twinkling stars, but nevertheless, we enjoyed the night chit chat very much as friends. I wonder, would our friendship had changed?

Lesbian Tatoo, SHIT!

Work by a lousy merciless tatoo artist

Violent Girl

It’s time to call it a night, and more adventures await us the next morning.

PS: If our hearts are lovely, why let the twisted detail bother us.

Photo Link: Mei Ru's Dropshot 1, 2

sour to the heart, bitter to the soul

Today there is a certain sadness that gulps up the throat, yet I have to swallow it down.

I never though that it would be that fast before the first drop of tears fell, as I have not gotten tired with all the happiness, laughter and romance. Sadness and arguments are anticipated, but the nevertheless, it still taste sour to the heart and bitter to the soul. Perhaps 24 April 2006 is not a good day, and it is definitely a bad day for us. Not a day I would like to remember, but perhaps it is meant for a greater journey ahead.

Today I work extremely hard for a deadline, I was tired and busy, but I was very enthusiastic and the adrenaline is pumping. Though it is hard work, but I was happy and excited doing it. By the time I crossed the finished line and completed my work, I felt no happiness, as there is no one waiting for me at the finish line. I felt despair and lonely, waiting and praying for a certain familiar voice to appear.

No matter what it may be, I would try my best to ensure our happiness, as the tune of beating is synchronized.

No matter what it may be, I hope the tune of beating is synchronized once again, as I had already fallen deep for it.

No matter what it may be, my intention is to care for you, and not to hurt you in any way.

No matter what it may be, I love you ...

Friend, please don’t ask. My emotions need to flow with words.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

All About Her

I meet her on 1 July 2004 (she is cute and pretty), as we get to sit side by side with plenty of opportunity to talk. I was kinda disappointed when I was moved away from her. We continue with “silent” messenger chatting. We had become chat buddy ever since.

We only work together once on a Brunei project and I kinda raise my voice on her, luckily I realized it half way and manage to soften up in time. I am inexperience at my first time guiding a junior, and impatient. She is pretty good with many unrealized potential, perhaps need more guidance and sharpening.

She likes to organize activities, and I like to join her, always trying to be among the first to register and give her support. We went to Taman Negara (26-28 Feb 2005) and Kota Kinabalu (25 July - 01 August 2005), and it is always fun and enjoyable. Perhaps these are the very few opportunity we get to talk a lot and play together.

She found my blog (together with Christine), thus she gets to know me better of my deeper thoughts and emotion. I don’t write much about her, as she prefers some privacy and it is a bit “inconvenience”. Nevertheless, she is the No.1 reader of Blue Dragon. Because of the discovery of the blog, I get to have the first dinner treat from her at Genki Sushi.

She celebrated my birthday with me, and gave me some nice presents. It is a very happy and simple date, and we have a good time. Somehow we would end up in Karaoke together, she likes to sings, and I enjoyed her company. I blog about her for the 1st time. I decided to give her a belated Christmas gift.

We had Christmas Bash, Morning Jog, Rock Climbing, Farewell, Bad Friend Society Membership, Shopping, Wynn's KL Party, Botanical Garden, Mickey Mouse, Melaka, Weird Conversation, Dance and many more (she shows up in 52 of my posts).

On 15th February is a sad day for her, she cry I front of me for the 1st time because she broke someone’s heart. Probably with tears came courage, which could change her life forever in so many ways.

A day which I never quite thought is possible, for us to be together. We get to have some pretty nice dates, and lots of happy times together. On the Sunday of 02 April 2006 is a magnificent day, a moment in life which could never had been planned.

9 April 2006 is day the day of a lovely new begining, after much hardship, understanding, tolerance and agreement. On a white sandy beach, with the smoothing sound of gentle waves, under the great dark sky with many shining stars, lying side by side, “Will you be my girlfriend?” And it is happily ever after …

让我牵着你的手,一起走向幸福人生的第一步。

PS: TQ for the blessings from Mich and Christine :)

Monday, April 17, 2006

Google 502 Server Error, once in a lifetime, izzit?

While working very hard today, I stumbled upon something which I thought was never quite possible (though technically possible, but the chances of occurrence is very very very low, I think). TADA! Google 502 Server Error, Once in a lifetime.


I asked Mei Ru did she face the same problem, but it doesn’t seem to affect her. Probably is some obscure problem affecting some of Google’s server farm serving pages to me, and fail to redirect or perform fail over (just my theory).

I actually can’t work without Google, thus I am blogging now. It seems like Google had become an important part of my life and my progress is kinda slowed down or even stagnant just because Google is not working, this is a serious kind of dependency here. Should I turned back to Yahoo! Search, or try the new MSN Search, or try the recently hyped Microsoft Start? Perhaps, if Google still doesn’t respond when I finished this post ;)

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Play Hard, Work Hard

Just completed my 5 days vacation at Pulau Tioman and Batu Pahat, and it feels like fun, with many memorable moments and absolutely tiring as well. Will blog more about the trip at a later stage when I found the time, focusing on Wynn’s Hospitality, our Craziness, the smoothing Tioman, the white sandy beach, the crystal clear water, the beautiful coral and hungry fishes. Not to mentioned a lot of video backlogs to edit :(

After so many days of fun, it is time to work extremely hard again (no time for post holiday syndrome). Wake up early tomorrow morning, and work like crazy for the entire day to cover for my lost of productivity, and perhaps some guilt as well. That's the price to pay when you work for yourself and in the struggling stage.

PS: 9th April 2006, is the day of a new lovely beginning :)

Photo Link: Mei Ru's Dropshot 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Trying is very dangerous, you MUST finished it!

A few days back after I finished my class with the children, my cousin asked how my work was. I said I am trying very hard to finish it, then she said, “Trying is very dangerous, you MUST finished it!”

It had been slightly more than 3 months and the first version of my product is not out the door yet. At the beginning I optimistically planned for completion of everything within 3 months, but I guess I didn’t plan well and was over optimistic. As I get my hands on the task, there seems to be more work and technical/business challenges popping up, adding more workloads to my timeline. I was never quite able to meet all the deadlines I set for myself, either because the scope of work keep expanding or because of some disruptions. I need to keep the scope under control, prioritise task and push the product OUT THE DOOR!

Like all software development project, it seems inevitable that the shipping date will be delayed for at least a few times. Nevertheless, we should try to minimise that. We need to get the product out to capture some market shares, but neither could be deliver a defective and low quality product which no one wanna use (or even worst, gave 1st time customer a bad experience and they shall never turn back again).

Again, control the scope, prioritise and work harder!

My SOHO with all the furnitures which I could afford at the moment. Does it boost productivity? At least I like to spent time at my desk, and there is plenty work work space.

I haven't make full use of the whiteboard yet, but it is handy to keep the objectives/strategy and to psycho me from times to time.


PS: StreamyX had finally recovered after almost 2 weeks of bad service, it is a miracle! I faced major upload stream problem (cannot FTP or attached large file for email) and some slow browsing.

Visual Guide to Pasta Cooking

Last week mom was away, thus I have to either cook instant noodle or go out for food, since I have most of my meals at home nowadays. Perhaps it is a good opportunity to learn to cook something, thus I decide on one of my favourite dish, PASTA! After looking through some Internet recipes, here I go!

Goto Jaya Jusco to pickup some ingredients, such as shell-like pasta, round mushroom, mushroom pasta sauce and sausage with cheese.

Boil a big pot of water, and add some salt to it. The Internets say the more watter the better it is.

Pasta will double in size after cooked, so a small bowl is just nice. I add in some extra because I am hungry and I like pasta!

Wash the Round Mushroom (the surface feels a bit slimmy)

Slice them up

Boil the pasta for 10 minutes. Stir them once in a while

Filter the excess water away

Boil the Mushroom

Cook the mushroom with butter and pepper

Yummy Mushroom. Mushroom shrink in size after cooked

Boil and cook the sausage

Pasta + Mushroom + Sausage

Warm up the sauce. It had Tuna in it, which I don't quite like. Next time must pick up another brand or flavour

A Yummy plate of pasta dish! Yeah!

Served it with cold Coke and Pepper, and watch TV while enjoying my meal

Delicious!

Half way through

All done

My alternative food supply for the week

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Moment in Life

If I would ask what the happiest moment in my life is, it just seems so difficult to answer.

Could it be just a very specific moment, or could it be happening all these while at a slower and stealthy pace.

No matter what it may seems, today seems to be one of those day to remember.

No matter how much we plan, or how much we think we could plan, event just have a course for themselves.

簡單的幸福, 就是能跟自己喜歡的人在一起!