Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Gunung Ledang (Mt. Ophir) Compilation


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Gua Musang + Jelawang (Stong) Waterfall



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Monday, April 23, 2007

Who am I, and what I am here to do?

I got the above idea from Oprah. In the weaker moment in our life, we need support desperately. It may be from our family, spouse, friends, religion, a TV show like Oprah or just a time off to release ourselves from our normal daily life. There is where I got the idea where people are in need of support, they embrace a religion easily. After all, it is a place for people who believe in the same thing, and a good platform for support and social activities.

Anyway, I like the above question, so I am going to give it a go, in hope to kill some time and to find myself within.

Who am I? I am a boy, a man, a son, a boyfriend, a brother, a friend, a programmer, an entrepreneur wannabe. These are the roles I play. But, who am I really? Hmm, this seems more difficult than I though, so I started to Google for some writing guidance.

What is my very first memory? I am quite a happy and lucky child, where the biggest focus of my entire childhood is about my grades and results. Though I am very good at my studies, but I found that I am not good at many other things. Some I choose to be just mediocre (it is impossible to be good at everything), while some I try to change and improve myself. I have done a few “bad” things, which I began to felt the guilt. Thus I decide never to do things which is going to make me feel guilty again, thus I decide to be more open and truthful. I was never very brave, and perhaps I worry a lot as well. Thus I always have a lot of pre-emptive measure, to ensure I wasn’t haunted by sadness and fear in the future. I do what I can today, to ensure a better tomorrow. My motto was never to do things which I would regret, but once it’s done, don’t whine about it. I was not quite a spontaneous person; perhaps I like to be in control and not caught off guard. At the same time, I would try to persuade myself to be spontaneous at times, so to get some adventure and experience something out of the ordinary.

What do I like and hate about myself? I like myself being tall, though it’s a pity that I am not good in sports (so I can only do it for leisure). I like myself being confident (perhaps over confident at times), but sometimes I am just not as strong as I ought to be. I like the fact that I manage to change myself and become someone better, yet I notice I might have pick up a few bad characteristic along the way with still many more lessons to be learnt. Some commented that I have wisdom and I am strong, but no matter how great someone is, there is always a slump period, moment of weakness. Once I thought I was invincible, later I was as fragile as a glass. Perhaps the strength lies in how we stand up once we had fallen, not how great we used to be or ought to be. The effort to come back from a slump is tremendous, but the reward should last for a lifetime nevertheless. I can feel it, and I just have to figure out a way to make it.

Who do I admire the most? I seldom admire people, but I definitely could find a few “hero”. An unsung hero which I didn’t realize until lately, my father. Though he work for others throughout his entire life and never quite make it rich, but he take good care of the children and keep the family warm. He had done his responsibility as a father exceptionally well, and it ain’t easy. It is not easy to keep yourself in employment until they day you retired, as there are many challenges and dissatisfaction in between. My mom and dad had been an excellent parents, and I couldn't think of anyone else who might have done a better job. They protected me well, and they let go of me when it’s time.

How about Bill Gates? He is too big and too far away, which I find it very hard to relate to him. Though his success inspired me many years ago, but I believe I want to be like Joel Spolsky (ex-employee of Microsoft, and a successful ISV). He started a small and successful software company, and makes enough money to keep everyone happy. That’s all I need, small and happy.

What is “Who Am I” all about? Just an exercise to get to know myself and it’s far from over. And what I am here to do? What is my destiny? And there is what left to be explore, at another time. There are too much thoughts going on at this moment, and I need to take things one at a time.

Hopefully, somehow, I could figure about who am I and what I am suppose to do.

Monday, April 16, 2007

What's good about Australia?

I went to Australia 2 weeks ago with my sister and parents, and it is quite a relaxing and enlightening vacation. I get to understand my sister and parents more, and I get to know another culture and city. Though it is fairly expensive, but I personally think it is timely and worthwhile to have a family vacation, before I no longer have a chance to do so. The older all of us became, I felt that I need and appreciate them more. Who in the world would love and tolerate me more than anyone else, if not my parents. Though I kinda “mis-treated” them at times, but I do love and appreciate them.


I used to hear story about how good Australia is, but I never quite felt and understand what is so good about it. So what is actually so nice about the country, the culture and the city?
  • It had nice weather, at least for autumn and spring. I am there for autumn, and the weather is cool (slightly dry), slightly windy and sunny (felt like Cameron Highlands). I never sweat and felt tired walking around the city; in fact, it is a nice weather to walk around.
  • Because of the nice weather, it is very comfortable to have picnic in the park or having a coffee at the sidewalk cafĂ©.
  • The streets in the city are no congested with cars. I think the cost of driving into the city is very high, with expensive toll and parking; which is good in the sense that they actually solve traffic jam and make the street more peaceful. The car on the road in "clean" as well, where they don't left off irritating carbon monoxide smelly gas.
  • They provide first class transportation of train, bus, tram and monorails, where you could actually reach most part of the city without a car. The payment for all their transportation system is linked together. Meaning you could just buy a single ticket and board any public transport without much hassle.
  • They have wide sidewalks, so you don’t physically bump into someone that easily while trying to squeeze through. And it is pleasant to walk around the city.
  • They have a lot of nice clean park like KLCC Park, where you would feel like lying down on the green green grass. You could have a family picnic, or read a book there, or just lying down to take a short nap and have a chit chat. It helps to relax and release stress.
  • There driver there are much courteous, where most of them would usually give way to pedestrian under any circumstances. Though some of them are less patient, but at least none of them try to run down the pedestrian.
  • Australia are pretty multi cultural with lots of immigrants, thus you could easily find all sort of Asian and Western food around, and see a good mixture of crowd.
  • They have good quality fruits and food.
  • Everyone house in Australia have different design and large compound.
  • It felt safer.

Nothing is perfect. Australia got its own share of problem, such as the high cost of living, high tax rate and alike. In returns, the government gives you better education and healthcare benefit, and you could choose to stay in the sub-urban area to lower the cost of living (which is well connected by trains to the city). Typically Europeans have a more relaxed lifestyle, while Asians are workaholic. So most of their shops close early, so that they could spent more time enjoying life (probably make people happy and cause less society stress). Most of the workers there are protected by the union for the minimum wages and working hours, so it kinda make sure most of the workers could survive the current standard of living, but it will drive the cost of living up as well.

Now I can see why people like to migrate to Australia: for the better lifestyle.

All about her, again

It is about her, a girl which I met a few years ago, gone through a lot of heart warming moment together and miraculously one day, she become my girlfriend, and eventually land up as the love of my life.

She may not be the most pretty or the smartest on planet earth, but she is special, very special. When I am near her, I felt very calm, and I just enjoy the every moment I spent with her. If possible, there is nothing more I wish to do, besides spending more time with her from times to time. Somehow or rather, she had become more and more significant part of my life, a part which I cannot live without. All these happen in a slow and silent manner, without me realizing it in the beginning.

Usually she would come to seek my advice regarding things about work, about her emotion and thoughts. Although I am the mentor, but deep inside me, I feel that I am the person who needs her more. She is my silent teacher, and she is the support for my spirit. She could help me in so many ways, for just being around me. She is much stronger and had more talent than she think. Somehow, I might be more dependent on her, in many small ways.

There are many pretty girls in this world, which could easily catch my attention. But the thought which came to my mind is: no matter how pretty or attractive they are, they are not really important to me. They are not special to me, I don’t really need them, and I certainly don’t depend on them, and most of all, I don’t think of spending the rest of my life with them. They are just pretty faces which are pleasant to the eye, but I love someone who is comforting to my soul. Someone I care very much about, someone whom I try to give my best for her, and someone which I am very afraid to loose.

Someone used to ask me the question did I really love someone. I found “love” is very hard to define, especially about its closeness to “like” and having good feelings. Somehow, I think I am very much in love with her for sure, for the very first time in my life. It is the first time that I am spiritually so dependent on someone, that I am so afraid of loosing her, and I want to do my best for her and I want to be with her for a long long time. If it more that just heart pounding or hormone rushing, I had her engraved in my heart. I am still not sure what love is really all about, but she is definitely someone very special and important to me.

I love her very much :)

PS: Only if I can give her more, but I am trying to straighten my life and not to screw it up, so that I can offer a more comfortable future for both of us.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Would you weep for a spider?


For so many reasons, I think Charlotte Web is a nice and relaxing movie. I am no big fan of story book and novel, as I don’t read Lord of the Rings or Harry Porter, and don’t intend to dwell on the anytime soon. I like movies, so thank God so many good books are turning into movies nowadays.


At first, I was attracted by the pig who ramp against the wooden fence. Then I notice that there are some other animal around, so it should be cute and funny. Later, I realize it was all about the spider, with the calm and serene voice (I didn’t realize that Charlotte is Julia Roberts).

It is almost destined that most farm animal will ended as food on our table, especially true for piggies. How to save a cute little big from turning into my favourite bacon? A spider need to learn to read (in fact, all animals know how, haha) and write (actually, she can weave the word out). It’s quite amazing seeing her swinging and sliding around to make the web (and words), accompanied nice camera angel, animation and music. What did she write? SOME PIG is TERRIFIC and HUMBLE, haha.

At the end, it is sad to see the spider somehow sacrifice her life to save the pig (she basically work to death). No sure I am in the emotional or sentimental stage, I did actually feel much like crying when I saw the spider dying. I haven’t have tears in my eye for quite a long while. I didn’t cry with all the shit holes surrounding my life, with the pressure from my change of career and thinking of long time survival plan. But crying for an animated spider? Nah, this is a good movie to watch.

Thinking of it, though the spring pig survived to see the first winter, but for how long? Everyone remember the big, but will the spider be forgotten? Such as in life, of happy ending and fairness.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

The Shadow Dancer

The story started where the great writer Weldon Parish stop writing since his wife’s death, and Jeremy was sent by a book publisher to convince him to write again, after 20 years.


At a nice and beautiful village in Italy, where life seems perfect and beautiful in every sense. The dirty stone house, the perfect mountain village, the crystal clear oasis and the breathtaking scenery of the valley. Life seems to be alive there, start to makes me wonder why would we want to deteorate our lifestyle in the city. Why can’t we leave everything we have behind, and move to our perfect place and live our perfect life? What are we reluctant to leave behind?

Weldon stop writing due to heartache in the beginning, but later he was afraid. He is a talented and creative writer, and every creative person is supposed to behave slightly out of norm, lunatic so to say. He likes writing, and is he afraid of writing? He is afraid of failing, not being as great as he used to be. Because of fear for failure, he has to stop something which he likes so much, where is heart yearning to do it. Is the result all that important, that we actually stop doing the things that we like? He had much fear in him, and he is tearing his life apart. He needs an unsuspecting life savior, Jeremy.

There is the beautiful Isabella (daughter of Weldon, Jeremy's love interest), which eyes look like someone who had fallen in love at the first sight. I remember her eye and facial expression, but I just can’t recall from which movie. Yes (after some googling), Joe Black. The ever so demure and soft girl which would capture the heart of every guys she crosses path with. Dancing is still a fantastic thing to do. After dancing for so long, it makes me wonder did I dance with my heart, or with my brain and counting the steps. Perhaps there are differences in learning and the actual dancing, but I don’t do much actual dancing, do I?


What else if life about, besides fear and love? Sometimes in order to build something good, we need to break something old down which we already put in much time and effort into it. To rewrite a novel perhaps, after writing a pretty good 100 pages? Move to someplace we want to but don’t dare to do it, after building our career and life in another place for the past 20 years. Why can’t we do it, is the questions we have to ask ourselves if we have a good reason for it.

The Shadow Dancer is a nice movie, with good casts, amazing background, mind intriguing dialogue and a comforting feeling. It makes we wonder what is stopping me from moving closer to nature, and start a grapevine (or plantation), while writing a book (or developing a software). Why do we buy another brick block in the congested city, and try to make more money to secure our future against the ever rising cost of living? I guess we are all the rats trapped in the rat rice, where we can’t see beyond our race track.

To a better tomorrow, with less fear and more life.

"why do you want to be a writer?"
"because I can't think of anything else I would want to do."

Monday, March 05, 2007

Annual CNY Gathering

Last Saturday was pretty interesting, as I get meet with all the old friends from my ex-company in a pot luck cum BBQ cum CNY celebration. It is nice that we grew so close and still have this yearly event to meet up.

As the years goes by, people have change slightly due to changes of life, shift of focus and responsibility. Married people will have to be family centric, and go home early to take care of wife and children. There will be lots of kids running around, but none of them is crying or screaming. There will be people who no longer interested in gamble, some gamble less and some never gamble as usual, some continue gambling and some got addicted to it. Some remain pretty much the same, while some had move on, but most still have the same fundamental behavior intact.

The party is pretty alright, with people busy eating and chatting. Perhaps everyone is too busy, thus doesn’t quite have the chance for some in depth chit chatting (perhaps I was at the wrong section of the house, haha). Kinda sad everything ends so fast, and I have yet the chance to catch up with some people, or I also uncertain what to talk about. Just felt that time flies, so little is done.

Yek, Cham and Rock have pretty much turn into a good family man and dad. Mee Mee had become a caring mom and good wife. The not married bunch like me, Mei Ru, Tang, Chooi, Rathi, Weng, Kenny and Michelle still looks pretty much the same. Kok Wai still busy with golf and family, while Gilbert had tone down by the days. Joe is no longer as thin, and Chim is no longer “single” by this year. Khim and hubby looks good, and I think she is expecting. Karthik and wife still as energetic and optimistic. Everyone is slowing moving towards couple hood, marriage and children. And Yek, Cham, Rock and Tang is reunited under one company again.

CNY is pretty much over, so ends the holiday, celebration and expectation. May the year of Metal Pig (or Fire) be a prosperous one. Wish everyone I love and care for good health, be safe and happy always.

PS: I felt that I always have the tendency to write when I am most busy, perhaps more thoughts came out when I am under pressure, or when I am feeling pretty down.