will i am's delayed diary

Horn and Yam Originally uploaded by williamnyk . During my childhood, the Mid-Autumn festival was a time of cheap mooncakes (those that came in stacks), nightly lantern-toting sessions and playing with candles. Now, city kids only eat mooncakes that cost more than $10.00 per piece. Gone are the simple flavours of read bean, lotus paste and mixed nuts. Buying mooncakes these days is a confusing affair of brands and 'innovative flavours'. Many new manufacturers are joining the fray now. 10 years ago, KLT and HWT were considered premium brands. Fast-forward today, you get many new players from bakeries, hotels and restaurant out to grab a piece of the mooncake market. Flavours are also getting stranger and stranger by the day. Durian, green tea and chocolate used to be special, but now we get wolfberry, ginseng, black sesame, dragon fruit, haw flakes, ginger, spirulina, mochi, tiramisu, coconut, cheese, berries, cofee... you name it, they've got it. In addition to the

Tan Soo Suan Originally uploaded by williamnyk . Let me start off by saying that I'm no fan of romantic movies, romantic ballads, romance novels and any of its ilk. So if that confession somehow cuts my chances of snagging any of my readers who may be smitten with me, so be it ( come on, a guy can dream and it's my blog ). As you can guess, my review of Dama Orchestra's Butterfly Lovers: The Musical might be a bit biased due to my lack of appreciation for such storylines. However, it is a classic and it features the talented local soprano, Tan soo Suan , so I had to get tickets. She caught my eye ever since I saw her in September Tales: A Tribute to Theresa Teng sometime last September ( in case you don't know, Theresa died in September ). As usual, this Dama performance was held at the KL Performing Arts Centre, Sentul Park . The place is fantastic. A great place to take photos ( I forgot to bring my camera, so I had to resort to my cellphone ). A haven in t

Storytime Originally uploaded by Flamejob1 . No matter how tired I am after work, I find that my alertness increases the closer I am to my bedtime (I try to sleep before 1am, but it's usually 12:30-ish). Felines circle the ground the sleep on for a couple of times before dozing off, but I on the other hand like to read. Anything will do, but it's usually books or comics. And I have this habit of re-reading. Recently, I had exhausted my reading material cache, so I had to resort to digging up my boxes (untouched since I moved over from OUG so I practically had to wrestle them from the dust bunnies). I found many issues of graphic novels my brother (my source of reading material as I am too cheap to actually buy books) left behind coz his place was overflowing with stuff. Even his shelves sag in the middle. Good for me. So, I re-read issues of Lone Wolf and Cub , Preacher , Blade of the Immortal , Books of Magic and . But those didn't last me too long, so I actually

My source code / database / workflow server was moved to another location today and you know what? The OS died on me. F*ck!!! Lesson: Don't move the server without first consulting a Feng Shui expert to make sure that the stars are correctly aligned. Anyway, the problem was solved. Turns out that the monitor resolution was too low to support the OS settings, hence causing the Windows 2003 Server to crash. Elegant, right?

fsktmupm Originally uploaded by williamnyk . Here's a pic of University Putra Malaysia's Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology . FSKTM in short. Specially posted for Vengelyne . For me, I had just recently visited University Malaya . It wasn't planned, I was en route from PJ to MidValley Megamall . A shortcut. Hehe. Didn't turn up to FSKTM, but I saw that the Economy Faculty has a spanking new building now! Bukan main futuristik lagi rekaannya. Not much changes overall really. Just that the speed bumps have gotten ridiculously higher (it's like they're trying to slow down monster trucks) and Dewan Tunku Canselor has stained-glass windows now. They also erected a 100-year anniversary thingy. Just another place to snap photos during convocation I guess. Kinda miss my undergraduate days, but that's history now... Even most of my friends from university days have disappeared. Both sides need to make an effort, but kalau dahlah mengada-

Sushi Originally uploaded by williamnyk . Karaoke madness again on Saturday at RedBox Sunway Pyramid . A solid 4 hours of melalak and melolong . Can't say I did much of the singing as my grasp of Chinese is quite sendirian berhad . The chorus has some English phrases?! Give me the mic! The highlight of the afternoon was a rousing rendition of yet another Therese Teng hokkien folk classic, Sky Black Black . Nearly brought the house down, and made some friends 'vomit batteries'. By the time we were done, it was raining cats and dogs. Well, I guess the Malay idiom Katak memanggil hujan has some truth to it. In the evening, we were entertained by SK and HP's place again. But this time, most of the cooking was done by FK. Nippon ryori no less. She prepared several types of sushi (sake, tamago, unagi), maki, miso soup, salmon teriyaki and tempura (prawn, aubergines, ubi ). Too much sushi rice. Couldn't move after dinner. Post-dinner was tea, mooncakes and wa

KoalaBoomerang Originally uploaded by williamnyk . "Criikey! I've got a giant boomerang glued to me balls!", exclaimed the Mr. Koala. That can practically sum up my job at the moment. I have 40+ screens to finish by November, with only 2 other colleagues to help out. I'm screwed. Looks like I'll have to cancel my Raya holiday plans too. Stress... I woke up today, brushed my teeth. Walked to my chest of drawers. Picked up my alarm clock. Saw that the time was 4:00AM. F*ck. Ugh. PS: The koala is a souvenier from Australia my colleague got me. And yes, the boomerang IS glued to his balls.

loiterspend Originally uploaded by williamnyk . One must compliment the management of Sunway Pyramid for putting up this sign. Since my secondary school days, loitering or more affectionately called gejala lepak has been scourge among the youths in Malaysia. I really admire the management for doing their bit for the betterment our community by trying to deter the act of loitering. Their approach is really novel. Why loiter around the corridors (God forbid making a mess and scaring away honest shoppers) when you can spend good money at our tenants. Who cares if you're a truant form three student with no pocket money to spare. We don't care how you get money, just move your asses into our stores and start generating some sales. There's only barely 11 shopping hours for God's sake! At the end of the day, we're happy. You're happy. The community's happy.

Yellow Card Originally uploaded by regrettheerror . Although I can do one stroke now, I find that each time I get to the pool, I need to struggle a while before I get the hang of things. The skill is kinda stored in my short term memory. Need to warm up before it all comes back to me. I forget how to breathe. I forget how to move. Maybe once a week is far too big a gap, but scheduling some "me" time to swim can be a bitch at times with shitty work schedules and other commitments. Back to my ninth lesson. Another instructor. Again. Michael this time. The face of Learn2Swim . No swimming this time, but water safety. The ominously named Dead Man's Float . All that keeping bouyant by taking in breaths had me dizzy after 30 breaths or so. In addition, I was taught how to "stand" in the water after floating on one's back. Lastly, was shown the right way to move from face-down to face-up position. Drank some refreshing pool water in the process of getting

brands Originally uploaded by williamnyk . Exams have always been a focal point in our education system, but I've recently noticed that people are becoming VERY preoccupied with it. Maybe coz parents are way more kiasu these days... Parent A: Wah, your son sooooo clever ah, score 10 A's in his SPM! Parent B: Aiyah, he sooooo stupid. Got one subject he only got a B! Parent C: Aiyoo, cannot talk to you now. Have to send my girl to class. 3pm swimming. 4pm mandarin class. 6pm Smart Reader. Parent D: Aikk, your daugther not 3 years old only meh?! The exam mentality has even invaded marketing and ad campaigns. Pencils these days are sold as OMR-tested and exam grade . Tuition centers are buying air time and giving out tips on radio stations. Chicken essence is being sold as an indispensable exam companion. Aren't we so glad that the kid in poster managed to secure himself such outstanding results by popping chicken essence? It might as well be a poster for Ritalin

snakeoil Originally uploaded by williamnyk . The photo is of a literal snake oil salesman who was plying his trade at Taman Cempaka . Normally, what you would you get is products with spurious claims of enhancing virility", "rediscovering the experience of malam pengantin baru ", "recharging one's batteries", "curing aches and pains", "regrowing lost imbs", "getting x-ray vision", etc. OK, I exaggerate, but sometimes it's just that amazing. However, this is not the case for this husband and wife team. They were selling a snake oil beauty cream that is supposedly able to cure your acne in just 4 days! Move over Activa! Once your acne is gone, it will make your skin smooth and supple. Find that hard to believe? Go snuggle the old guy's face. 100% hypoallergenic. Put a dollop in your eye. You won't go blind! La Mer can balik kampung . I was waiting around hoping that he would have some snake-charming show, b

Speed Limit Originally uploaded by kegger . Typical rush hour mornings-- After braving the bloody traffic at Old Klang Road , I got onto Federal Highway and subsequently up the Kerinci Link ramp. If you've used the highway before, I'm sure you now that it has a speed detector coupled with an information. It's supposed to tell you how fast you're going and if you're over the limit, it'll add a friendly little reminder for you to slow down. Well, just the other day, one car in front of me clocked a shocking 300 km/j ! If it wasn't a malfunction, I'd swear the guy would have flown off the ramp already. I for one don't think that the electronic board actually deters the motorists from speeding. Perhaps if they tweaked the message a bit: 70 km/j. Your reg # has been recorded. We have your ass.

All my apps belong to us Originally uploaded by lisamac . Warning: Geek post ahead. It took me 3 days to force an old set of source code into Microsoft's VSS 6.0 and get it running. Another 2 days to unbind a new set of source from its current source control server to another server. The source code must really hate me . Lesson learnt: When unbinding a .NET solution from VSS, you should bloody well delete all the *.scc, *.vssscc, *.vspscc files from the directory structure. If all else fails, manually edit the solution file to remove the "GlobalSection(SourceCodeControl)" portion. For the project files, also throw away the "SAK" lines. There!

.happy sunday. Originally uploaded by .serena. . Congratulations to SK on the occasion of her graduation on Sunday. Two years of hard work and heartache has culminated in a Master of Science degree. She had received many gifts from well-wishers, but I have to specifically mention two due to their novel value: 1) A Spongebob Squarepants bolster (in Winnie the Pooh colour scheme) 2) A gift basket of chocolates and potato chips Have you received any weird graduation gifts?

stewrice Originally uploaded by williamnyk . Haven't done food posts in a while. Maybe coz nobody belanja makan . :D Packed dinner at Seri Petaling the other night at the "Big Fried" stall smack dab in front of Magnum 4D. I must say that their stewed rice is fantastic. At $5.00, you get a generous serving of white rice ( duh! ), chicken meat, beancurd, okra, eggplant, lettuce, kacang botor , prawns, cuttlefish, chillies and fried pork lard bits. Can't find that combination elsewhere.

Ginseng in Namdaemun Market, Seoul Originally uploaded by Peter Garnhum . The aussieBum Essence is probably the first undergear in the world to combine minerals with fabrics. This particular undergear contains microencapsulated Ginseng or Vitamin C within the fabric, allowing it to get absorbed into your skin for greater comfort and wellness. Everybody needs a little pampering down there and everybody surely deserves a pair of aussieBum Essence. SK raised a very pertinent question regarding the practicality of this product-- laundry. I guess on the product care label they either specify that you not wash it, or just drink the wash water to reduce wastage. The possibilities are endless, err.... maybe they will partner with Pfizer in the future to apply micro-encapsulated Sildenafil. Would you like some pamparing down there?

penari-jaipong-JI2005-0007 Originally uploaded by JI2005 . Mentor may not be as popular as Malaysian Idol, Akademi Fantasia, One in a Million and its ilk, but it offers no less fun times. The host, Ashraf Sinclair is as annoying as Jien. I used to watch a few episodes because my irama Malaysia singer, Nuraniza Idris was one of the mentors. I have gotten many sideways glances and disapproving glares for professing my preference for her. Mortified friends and colleagues express shock that I would choose her over Siti Nurhaliza . But that's the fun. Siti's so "mainstream". For unknown reasons, the general populous dislikes her. One colleague remarked that her performances are over-the-top, with a whole kampung on stage. For this reason and many others, her albums are really hard to find, original or otherwise. I hunted for her album ( Sawo Matang ) all over the Klang Valley, but I finally got hold of it at 1am in a Johor bus stop whilst on the way down to S

Hats off ! Originally uploaded by Robert Silverwood . I don't know about other universities, but in UM and UKM, when graduates collect their graduation robe and graduation package, they are given a large paper bag to dump all the stuff into. However, this is not the case at UPM where SK collected her graduation robe the other day. The robe collection went on smoothly, but the graduation package collection was messy due to the fact that university included a whole online survey into the process. Adakan penggunaan ICT dalam proses pembelajaran memuaskan? Adakah anda akan melanjutkan pengajian anda di UPM? Graduates were required to fill in an online form and print out a verification slip as proof of form completion before collecting the graduation package. Some did not fill in the survey. Some did not print out the verification slip. And for those that actually printed it out, they still wanted to manually verify it. You can imagine the chaos. But I digress. Back to the whol

Pepper takes a dip Originally uploaded by tschopper . For everyone's reading pleasure, I have condensed 4 posts into 1. This is to spare you the details of my excruciatingly slow progress in the last 4 lessons. But I'm glad to report I have finally reached a milestone! 8 lessons, 5 instructors and 1 physics lesson later, my "kermit stroke" has been declared decent. I just recently managed to do it with one kick and one pull and for a decent distance. One more lesson in turning and I'll be able to ditch my green card for a yellow one. No significance to me ( no, yellow does not go better with my trunks ), but the instructors make it seem like a big deal. With just 4 more lessons to go, I hope to at least be learn another stroke. The gains from my aquatic activities aren't very significant ( where's my toned, swimmer bod?! ), but I do see minor improvements to my lung capacity and stamina. I'm not as tired after my swim anymore, but I have a nag

match 2 Originally uploaded by PocketAces Certified . So far, I have gotten mixed remarks regarding my new hair colour. It's no Ernst & Young white paper, but here are the results in a no less attractive format: POSITIVE: 1) Close friends seem cool with it. 2) My R&D Manager found it refreshing and he said it made me look more alert . 3) One colleague remarked that with my tanned face (thanks to the swimming), I now look like a beach boy. NEGATIVE: 1) My project manager compared me to "Che-Sun" aka Golden-Haired Lion King from Louis Cha's famous novel. 2) One colleague started a dare that she would dye her hair white, if someone else would do a green. I was tempted to start a fund just to see it through. 3) One colleague remarked that with my tanned face (thanks to the swimming), I now look burnt . I'm not pissed with the comments or whatever, as Mel said, some people just don't know how to give a complimenent or just lack the tact to shut u

GnomeInCorinth Originally uploaded by williamnyk . In conjuction with the 1000+ hit on my blog: Gnome is back! Never staying at one place for too long, Gnome split from Barcelona and is now in Greece . An ancient place that brought us the Olympics, democracy and uh....... "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (?). Today's photo is of ancient Corinth, the facade of the lower fountain of the Agora . The significance of the place is unknown to me. If you're curious enough, Google it. PS: My hit count reachad 1k thanks to a visitor from KL who actually visited most of my past entries. Thanks!

Urinal Fun in Thailand Originally uploaded by sloganmaker . Maybe I was imagining things, but I think I was given an indecent proposal at the Plaza OUG toilet the other day. I walked in and headed towards the urinals. Nobody else was around, except for an Indian guy in his 30s doing his business at the urinals. He was looking to his side. I didn't find it unusual as it was the general direction of the entrace and the sinks. While I was peeing one urinal away, I heard him say something: Ah chai, ......(unclear).... 2 ringgit? Ah chai... At first I thought he was asking for the time, but that's just weird. I distinctly remember hearing 2 ringgit . I decided not to acknowledge the guy. Just finished up, washed my hands and walked out like I didn't hear a thing. Gross. If you read the papers, sexual predators normally try to purchase their underaged victims' silence with sums like $1. Come on, kids aren't so dumb. PS: What do you think? Was he asking for mone

readdig Originally uploaded by williamnyk . Ever since I've moved from OUG to Bukit Jalil and having changed my mailing address, I thought I had managed to escape the scourge of the Reader's Digest 600,000 Super Contest . After 2 years of bliss, I knew it was over when I received a letter in the mail marked Exress Day Timed Delivery and Time-sensitive Documents Enclosed . The evil people at Reader's Digest have finally ganged up with Citibank. Arggghh! Citibank sold me out. I really hate that contest. All those fake "important" documents, faux cheques, obnoxioussignatures and plastic car keys. Return within 7 days! Eligible for One Hundred and Ten Thousand Ringgit Urgent! This key could help you open the doors to a brand-new car! Just to get me to subscribe to the expensive publication. I'd rather subscribe to National Geographic. Screw Dennis Tam, Finance Director, Prize Payment Centre, Contest Committee, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Treepapa Originally uploaded by doc18 . Watched the Siti and Datuk K's Majlis Persandingan some time ago (and I better blog this before they become yesterday's news), and boy, it was a boring affair. Her pearl-studded gown from Khoon Hoi was a yawn and the performances put my mother to sleep. However, certain parts were entertaining. Firstly is the performance from one Datuk M. Daud Kilau (not Datuk Mat Kilau as I was corrected by IkanBilis). This veteran singer really moves with the grace of a woman. He looked stunning with his butterfly brooch. Secondly is the quip from Indonesian diva Hetty Koes Endang : We have the same taste in men........ (long pause) ......... We like men with moustaches. The whole thing ended with the cake cutting ceremony. The golden couple sliced the $12k multi-layered cake with a sabre! While her parents got to slice a $50 (by my estimates) yellow glutinous rice cake the size of birthday cake. Talk about contrasts. It's the thought that counts,

menkl Originally uploaded by williamnyk . Warning: Irate geek ramblings ahead. Once again, stupidity has reared its ugly head at one of my client sites. They went ahead and installed a service pack on the production server without first conducting a thorough test and consulting us. I didn't even know that fact before I got there. The whole day, both of my ears were stuck to a phone supporting and getting pressure from the managers. All my efforts for remote support failed, so I was "convinced" to get my ass down to the site to oversee a restart of the whole system. It was Merdeka eve and it rained during the rush hour, so the trip there was REALLY enjoyable. I made a few wrong turns and it didn't help my current mood. By 10pm, we decided on an interim solution to divert the server traffic. Up till now, my technical manager and I are still looking for a permanent solution. Lesson learned: An internal HTTPRequest with SSL within a Windows 2003 Server will no

new hair...4! Originally uploaded by fussy tassy . I'm actually blogging from Snips, OUG . I definitely have a problem. Finally recoloured my hair again. Regained my beng -ish looks with copper brown and highlights of orange. I'll get a mouthful at the office tomorrow. My stylist was very discreet in asking why I missed my last appointment and I answered very coyly too: Yeah, I skipped a haircut. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

currywurst Originally uploaded by spanier . A private post. If it doesn't make sense to you. Don't worry, you're not high. You're not losing your mind. Mel whipped up another batch of her special Bhai Curry on Merdeka eve. Just bring the chapati , we'll start a party. You go girl!

"d Red Kokeshi b" Originally uploaded by doc18 . Do you listen to music in the office? Do you use headphones? If you answered "true" to both questions, proceed to the final question: Have you been so intent on work that you plug in your headphones, but there's no music playing? If you answered "false" to the first question, goodness, tak tahan! . If you answered "false" to the second question, I hope your colleagues approciate your choice of music. I know mine won't

Yoga can be bad for health (AP) Originally uploaded by snoweyes . Gotta love the new Carefree Sanitary Pad advertisement on TV. Setting: Yoga class Characters: Handsome yoga instructor, Beautiful yoga student who need I say is having her menses and of course is using a Carefree sanitary pad, extras The pretty boy yoga teacher goes around adjusting his students' poses. Desperate to gain his attention, the female protaganist does some advanced poses and falters. Guess what? The advanced design and materials coupled with tea tree extract give her the confidence to attempt this cheap attempt to score. Does the instructor bite?

TemMaPen Originally uploaded by williamnyk . Another fun-filled Sunday. Woke up at 7:00am to get out to Confucian Independent Chinese School for a charity thing. The school was celebrating its 100 year anniversary. More than a hundred students were dressed in Tang Dynasty costumes of officers. Most of them decked out in red, looking resplendent with their matching black headdress, ala God of Prosperity Convention . Instead of gold ingots, they were holding a staff topped off with a long feather (like the Monkey King) and a tasseled flute. The honour guard stood at the side, in green, holding staffs with plastic dragon heads (think the Yang Family Matriarch ), war hammers and etc. After a lengthy speech, they honoured a giant banner of Confucious , performing a little dance and offering flowers, while acompanied by traditional music (something like those tunes you hear at Taoist funerals). The ceremony ended with red crackers and a dragon dance. I'd never thought that at t

Congratulations to Atok K and Makcik Siti on the occassion of their marriage! PS: The happy couple are in no way related to Datuk K and Siti Nurhaliza.

Coincidently, with Venge's parents off for two weeks on a trip to Australia, my mum just came back from a holiday in China. The "7 Day Trip to Wonderland" had her travelling to Jiuzhaigou, Mount Er Mei, Leshan and other scenic places in the vicinity. While she was soaking in China's beauty at thousands of feet above sea level, I was home alone. The weekdays were ueventful. With work leeching much fun out of life these days, I usually only leave the office late. Dinner would usually be a simple affair. However, I had to be more creative on the weekends as my mum stocked up groceries for me, so hafta clear stock. Sometimes, soup in a slow cooker before leaving for work, or have SK and HP do some cooking with my raw materials. The little cooking I did was really weird, I just combined misc stuff that was lying around. Bread with fried fish fillet flakes, with a pumpkin soup on the side. Or instant ramen with tomatoes, seaweed, egg and coral lettuce. Don't flinch, it

Fishie Originally uploaded by grandylion . Progress is slow at the pool. My fourth post. My fourth lesson. And yes, you've guessed it, my fourth instructor. Jordan this time. Seeing my lack of progress, Jordan has advised me to revisit fundamentals. Just focus on the hand portion and getting maximum air intake. It seems that I'm not opening my mouth big enough. Thus, I kinda sink like a rock, midstroke. So, his advice: Open your mouth wide! Just for Vengelyne and Zemien's amusement, I'll venture to say that it sounds like some kind of fellatio lesson. I'm still not getting it right. At the end of the hour, my arms and legs were dead tired. Couldn't get a decent thrust in the water. Stiff as a board the next morning. Is it me or was there just too many double entendres in the last couple of sentences? . I've also noticed that I'm beginning to develop an unsightly tan line. Noticed that my legs were like boiled lobster tails when I came up to sho

HPM-W10496-05y Originally uploaded by williamnyk . The Megasale Carnival is here again and you know what? No bargains have caught my eye yet. I want to get some leather shoes for casual wear, but I haven't found the one yet. Cheap and Pretty. Hah. I was interested in a pair of suede Hush Puppies at first, but upon trying them on, GAWD. Ronald McDonald. Any suggestions? PS: Fikiran jangan melencong on the "cheap and pretty" bit.

receiver Originally uploaded by trudi_ . Years back, I've been told that I sound differently over the phone. Having been told that, I have never verified it myself as I can't very well put two phones over both my ears and make a call. Never thought of leaving a message on a friend's voice mail and then listening to it. This thought resurfaced recently when I made a video recording with my digital camera and it captured my speech. My reaction was: Do I *REALLY* sound like that?! I sound different in my head. Outside, it's kinda....... umm.... nasal?! Having your voice distorted over copper wires is one thing, but to sound differently to what I myself hear is .... I dunno, a bit freaky. It's not like I like to listen to the sound of my own voice, but I imagine that I sound cooler than that. But then, my friend verifies it. "That *IS* your voice" Oh well. At least I don't sound like the BM voice over guys for Doraemon. On the other hand, I'v

kclin Originally uploaded by williamnyk . After loads of inane posts, I'm back to food posts. Back to my roots. Recently had lunch with a bunch of colleagues at Rehoboth Natural Health Land , Kuchai Lama. One among the myriad of organic shops in the Klang Valley. This particular shop is the brainchild of Dr K.C. Lin (a PhD holder, I presume). The premises are full of his books and a whole shelf of paranoid books from CAP-- the ones where you need to throw out everything from your: Medicine cabinet - Watch that paracetamol intake Beauty stash - Beware of the suspected dangers of PG and PEG Pantry - Don't pop that rainbow coloured cereal into your mouth just yet Wardrobe - Guys, throw out that microfibre underwear if you don't want static electricity frying your swimmers Still, I don't know the guy. The story goes that his mother was stricken with cancer, and after eating healthy (the K.C. Lin way), his mother is now a cancer survivor and he would like to share

Nate's new (now DECEASED) frog Originally uploaded by phrenophile . This is my first lesson in a fortnight. I skipped the last one because they were closed on month ends. And this time, I went on Sunday (coz I was zombie-fied on Saturday). The crowd was fantastic. Kids everywhere. A collision course in all directions. Another instructor today-- Vincent. Might conform to Zeemien's requirements. Strict. Ala drill sergeant. Precise movements. Got plenty of corrections and pointers from him. Got flamed as well. If you keep standing around, how am I gonna see how you swim? If you don't see you swim, how can I correct you? Corrected my breathing ( Inhale into your lungs! Not your cheeks! ). Corrected my stroke ( higher! More to the side! can you feel the difference now?! ). Learned to breathe mid-stroke ( face down, blow bubbles, 1, 2, 3, up for air, hands stroke -- I still don't get it. He showed me 10 times! ). But I'm still as coordinated as a drunken juggler

hair Originally uploaded by bunchofpants . A recent series of events have asserted the fact that I'm quite bad with faces. Most of the time, I get a notion of familiarity from the faces I see, but then I'm not quite sure. If the face really registers in my brain, most of the time I forget the name that goes with it. Some time back, I met with an colleague that I had worked with a couple of years back in Bangkok. She looked familiar and I had the guts to ask if she went to the same university as me. Guess what? She remembered me, and even my name. Boy, was I red in the face. Fast forward to a few days back ( this sounds a bit like an oxymoron ), I met a new colleague. I had a tickle in my brain again, but I ignored it. Once again, my forgetfulness got the better of me. Turns out she was my coursemate and also knows my name... Ehehe. I have also met with another coursemate on the LRT, I also forgot his name. And his face even. :P. This reveals a little about my universi

Web 1.0 Summit: My Garage, San Francisco Originally uploaded by merlinmann . I'm back. Went AWOL for days due to lack of "connectivity". My laptop's still not back. I'm tempted to post pictures on the back of milk cartons. WARNING: This post contains geeky content in excess of the FDA's safety limit. Even the pic is hazardous to one's health. The last weekend really had me spinning. On Friday night, I met up with CPK and his financial controller on Friday night to discuss a freelance job. It's basically an enhancement job, but I'm tempted to redo the thing since it has not been in production yet. The prototype they showed me was developed in with Microsoft Access 2000 with VBA. Crude. But it basically covered all the requirements of reporting and data entry. However, it was littered with misc. bugs that I have no idea how to fix. The advantage of working on the prototype is that 90% of the work is done, but I don't know how the "s

Sigh, I'm without my laptop now. When I signed the asset possession form at the office, I filled in a remark that the laptop had a defect when I received it (a dent at the corner, definitely from physical impact-- macam Kancil sendol punggung Wira ). So, the admin staff had a cow. Complained that I should've reported the matter earlier (the laptop was used in a previous training session and wasn't assigned to me after that, so I didn't care), insinuated that I may have damaged it, blah, blah, blah. The whole tai chi scenario. Anyways, they grudgingly took it back for a replacement. And you know what? It will take a week. Woo hoo. If they don't get me a decent workstation soon, tak yah kerjalah

panadol Originally uploaded by williamnyk . I took this photo at the Taman Tun Market . At a famous soya bean stall that has pictures of political figures who have tasted its soya bean. Both our most recent PMs have have their pictures on the wall, but it doesn't mean they liked it. :P. Your mind is more powerful than a Panadol Tell this someone with a history of migraine and they'll give you a bitter laugh. The mind is definitely a powerful tool, but I think most of us lack the mind power and mental capacity to block off pain in an effective way. At best, we are able to distract ourselves from the feeling, but to be completely numb to it, I don't think so. Even analgesics can't work wonders. But there are exceptions to the norm of course. One of my close friends JM, advocate the concept of mind over matter. Most of the time, he shrugs off his illness. He wills himself to be better. Even when he does take Panadol as a last resort, he doesn't swallow them, h