New Location

I decided to use Wordpress for writing my blogs.

You can access through: http://sgpang.wordpress.com/

See you there!

Leaving Kristal

This is a delayed post.

(May 2006)
I'm leaving my 'play home' of 3.5 years. Great memories...

My room...

The 'clothes and pantry' Hybrid Zone...

Closing my door...


"Gifts" to the new tenants:


Lik's goodbye, in his typical relaxed style...


Four years of exams, teh gelas besar, WCIII, FIFA, ....My, what a good life I left :-p.

Approval Seeker

Mary, 5, sees a group of children playing in the playground. "Mom, can I play with those kids?"..."Sure, Mary...have fun". Mary has a great time, and gets to know another kid, John. She likes playing with him..."Mom, I had a great time. What do you think about John?". "He's a nice boy!". Mary smiles, feels happy...

Mary, 10. Falls down a few steps. Her leg hurts a little, not really serious. Before going to see the doctor, there's something else to do...
Mom: Let me take a look...
Mary: (it doesn't hurt much, actually) Awww.....it hurts!!!!
Mom: Poor mary...
Mary: (warm glow inside) Sob, sob, ....
Mom (hugging her): It'll be alright. Let's go and see a doctor.
Mary: (very 'cham' face...feeling very relieved inside) Oh...aiyo, aiyo...yeah......you're right, I should see a doctor....Awww....sob...sob...

Mary, 20. Dating age. She sees a nice flower she really likes....she has more than enough monay, and will not mind paying...but maybe OTHERS will not like it? She waits for a few hours, and brings her boyfriend there..
Mary: That flower's bad...
BF: No it's not. It's lovely
Mary: (lightens up) Oooo...really??
BF: Sure, it will look very nice on you.
Mary: (feels great!) Hmm...no it will not look nice on my face.
BF: Your face is pretty, darling.
Mary: (yes! I feel great!) (smiling shyly) hehehe...alright, I brought RM600 with me...I can pay for it.
BF: Wow! You've really planned everything...Hey, I'll pay for it
Mary: (yay, he knows how good my planning is) Hahaha...nah..I'll pay for it...
Mary: (he will think I'm very considerate...)

Mary, 31, disgruntled with job. She doesn't want to go anywhere, too much hassle. I'll just tell people how bad my job is.

She her mind is set to stay in her job....even if she doesn't like it. But she wants pity. She's stuck in a rut, and wants people to confirm that her life is miserable. Her MSN is about boredom. Her blogs talk about how terrible everything had gone.

Mary: My job's terrible,....the this....the that...you see..
Friend: Yalor, really terrible.
Mary: You see lar, I can't do anything...this ar...that ah...
Fried: Yeah, so bad hor...
Mary (Feels vindicated. Feels warm...they agree with ME!)

The rest of her story is pretty much predictable. She says her life is terrible, and it is! People agree with her, too! She says she can't change anything, and of course! She's not doing anything to change! People have agreed with her as well when she told them her distressed life history.

Mary: Now why does Ann, who grew up with me stay happy so long? Her manager oso terrible what. She's not that rich. MUST be her genes. She was born in that happy family mar, not like me. She got good birth mah. She just dare to decide what to do and do it...of course lah born wif that skill already. She always so confident, can execute well...also because her father lah, always teach well....NEH, how can I compare with her woh?


This blog author was pretty much an approval seeker. That little boy who never grew up. Needs mama/GF/Friends to tell him what to do. But when we do this, needing approval all the time, how are we going to take actions that really make a difference in the quality of life?

Are You an Exam Answer Sheet?

Really. The occasional 'serious' blog.



Do you keep marks of yourself?

I admit it. I did.

The feel was like "I'd not be 'happy' until I had sufficient marks in each category". I told myself that I should always show a serious face, and think of my current success as 'small', not worthy of respect.

Worse, it felt like I was not eligible to feel good because: "ONLY after I have......., I will be happy....sigh I can't be happy now". Failures looked very BIG, success looked small.

Living with 'rules of achievement' has been constant misery. 'Wanting' things had led to things going further away. 'Trying' to be nice to people only made you susceptible to abuse.

Even after leaving this behind, it's hard to undo the damage we have done in the past. Sometims people see you the same way. I realised we can do only that much. I just relaxed and accepted things are they were. I'm peaceful, that's what matters.

A big thanks to all the friends who stayed cheerful despite all the problems in their lives. You have been inspiring. Sometimes when we think a problem can 'only happen to us', it actually happens to many other people.

What 'Eng' Final Year Students Do

It was early May. We've just finished our final exams. I breathed a sigh of relief after the final paper. It wasn't my best performance.

"Take it calmly, Geat", said my mind, trying to avoid discussion about that paper with groups of friends. That's because the 'discussion' was nothing but swearing and curses--what a way to finish 16+ years of exam-orientated lives.

Fun roommate online-ing

Life was incredibly pretty much the same after exams. My roommate was at his 'online' best. Friends played DOTA until 5am, I was reading 'The Count of Monte Cristo'.



For comparison, during exam times friends are more hardworking. They only played games until 3AM! That's 2 hours less man! Think about how many Maple levels that will be in two weeks! As for me, I read thinner books during exams. Agatha Christie and Reader's Digest will do just fine.

ONLINE

Speaking about uni life, being 'online' was a must. Our lives are too boring without it. Finding a replacement in entertainment value is just too difficult.

So, on the morning of 4/5/06, there was no electricity. Bored and hot, we decided to go to Jusco Tebrau and 100+km away. Our minds were made up within 5mins of power shortage. Ever since Jusco Tebrau opened, it appeared to be a great place to relieve ourselves whenever entertainment was neeed.

Fun ex-roommate posing.

It turned out to be great! KTV at RedBox, watched MI:3 at the new 'big screen' TGV, and ate at a 'Hong Kong Cuisine' restaurant. I guess that because the trip wasn't planned, it added to the excitement.



One of the revelations of the trip was...the KTV bill. When you have time, it's great to go KTV in the lunch session. The five of us can attest to that.

Bye friends, all the best. It's been great!

Bored with the Web? Stumble!

Stumble!

I found* a neat little toolbar for the excellent Firefox browser: StumbleUpon. * All credits to SF Pang.

All you have to do is download the 'Extension' and sign up for its service.

Basically, Stumble is a service that recommends interesting websites based on topic and popularity. Its presence is felt in the browser through this toolbar:


During the sign up process you will be prompted to provide the topics you are interested in. Topics you can pick include: Chinese Music News, Cars, Online Games, Psychology, Food recipes, "Kristal Housemates Forever"*, "Lok people from the north"*, ...over 100 boredom-eradicating categories!

*How I wish the last two were really there!

Then, all you have to do is click on "Stumble" and off to a ramdom site you go. Don't like it? Click Stumble again and another site pops out. In each case you get to approve ("I Like It") or disapprove the site, allowing Stumble to keep a user record of INTERESTING and uninteresting sites, further improving the service.

One nice little site I stumbled upon was the "Laser" game, where you use mirrors and prisms to control a laser beam. FUN!

The "Laser " game. Click on it for a larger view

Here's another interesting picture from Ebaumsworld, "Dirty Minds", an indicator of how 'dirty' we have came to be :-)...


Take a look at the picture, what do you see? The following quotes are from the site:

"Research has shown that young children cannot identify the intimate couple because they do not have prior memory associated with such scenario. What they will see are the nine dolphins.
Additional note: This is a test to determine if you already have a corrupted mind. If it's hard for you to find the dolphins within 3 seconds, your mind is indeed corrupted."


The Truth: It was extremely difficult to see any dolphin at all!!! My oh my...

It's True

I mean it.

It's time to leave, time to say goodbye to the beloved AK01**** . (another option is to say you've lost it, pay RM50, and use it for watching cheap movies for the rest of your life)

Complain, talk, hate, whatever, it's time to say goodbye to KUiTTHO...and especially, Parit Raja. I think that we won't be forgetting the place any time soon because...

1) We complain about it ALL the time.
2) Lots and lots of nicknames are given (drain king, tortoise head?)
3) We say bad things because we feel guilty that we really, really, secretly like the place

It may even mean we will start to MISS the place.

Maybe the place isn't important. We tend to miss places because of the wonderful experiences we have experienced with the PEOPLE. They never fail to brighten up our spirits...so that we will 'aim high...'

One interesting bloke who isn't easy to forget...'aim high!'

A New Year...by request

Everyone has the same amount of time to spend. I often ponder whether I've made good use of my time.

During the 'Streamyx is here!' time of 2004, when the prospect of unlimited connectivity with 'the world' came, it was all about Warcraft.

But something didn't feel right inside. Of course we gain some kind of vicarious experience playing games or watching soap operas (a.k.a. 'drama'), but if done excessively, it takes out quality time that is better spent improving myself. It is just another routine that saps out time.

Realization: Do not be tied by routines. Routines are just like 'The Matrix', the world of Neo. We have the choice to shape our destiny, so don't get trapped by it and think that every day is 'just another boring day'. Everyday is another special day. Break the routine, and learn to 'fly' (freedom). Do something different everyday.

Interpersonal communication as the vital yet-to-achieve milestone for me. This is what 2006 is all about. Hmm...what is for certain, I can't gain any of it sitting in front of the computer screen. It's time to go out to the field!

Guys and gals, what are your plans?

'Time' by Pink Floyd puts it nicely: '...you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking, racing around to come up behind you again...the sun is the same in a relative way but you're older...one day closer to death...'