Of Taiping, Penang, and Christmas!

Supremo Trip! Taiping is a great place! Food's good, air's good, view's (Lake Garden) good, and best of all, no traffic jam like K.L.!

Let's see, what have I done on the first day? Go straight to Taiping in Ken's car with Vijay and Sek Lun, then had a rest in Ken's house, then went around Taiping for a bit and ended up in Tesco to buy barbeque stuffs (bought my badminton shoe for Maxwell Hill and went into Taiping Central to watch midnight show of Ip Man (Great fighting moves!). Met a few of Ken's and Vijay's friends, who went with us to Maxwell Hill as well, very friendly they are. Then Sek Lun went hungry and so Ken brought us to a mamak stall. Went back and sleep in Ken's house.

Next day, packed up and got ready for Maxwell Hill/Bukit Larut/ Sing Kei San, and Sek Lun went a little sick, but nonetheless we still got up there. Took around 30 minutes to get up there with a jeep, it was hot then at 12 p.m. but when we reached the place, temperature dropped to like around 20 Celcius (I think). We rented an old bungalow of course, to stay for the night. Relaxed for a while at the place and went hiking for a bit, then a leech managed to stick itself on my ankle and sucked my blood. Vijay burned it and it fell off, but was released and spared of its life (with its stomach full). It's anti-coagulant saliva kept the blood flowing out, the wound took a whole night to dry.

I really regretted that I didn't hike the other places, but still it was relaxing up there. But we had barbeque of course, but the charcoal BBQ stove's too small and (only used it to smoke the sausages and fishballs) took too long to cook the chickens so we fried them instead, and we watched a movie on a laptop and went Christmas Carolling... at 2 a.m., then went to sleep. The old house filled with bugs.. moths particularly. The next day, woke up quite late, and went downhill at 12 p.m., and went for lunch before resting again in Ken's house. Then went out again for sightseeing around Taiping. Went to Lake Garden and yes, the view is fantastic. Then went and bought a racquet to substitute all my broken ones near the place where we all had lunch earlier.

After all that, we went to Sepetang (near the sea) to have seafood dinner, met another friend and then we all went to the Taiping Zoo for Night Safari, lotsa animals, but most are sleeping, and the African animals are grazing, oh well, animals.. sleep and eat. Finally, we went for a drink, and went back to Ken's house to sleep. Next day, packed for Penang, went straight there, and went to Batu Ferringhi to find a hotel but everything's too expensive, so we went for a casino cruise and rented a cabin to sleep. But before that we went to Gurney Plaza and explored the new wing with another of Vijay's friend, had lunch and played pool. And so, we boarded the ship that ferries us to the cruise, explored the cruise and found there's nothing worth doing other than gambling and eating, and also enjoying the sea's wind. Played Rm5 worth of slot machine and found out it's a stupid game, then went to the casino and see people win and lose money, then went back to sleep in the cabin.

Thus, we went back to Taiping and collected by badminton racquet, had lunch and counted our accounts, found out we spent more than RM300 throughout the trip, I spent almost RM500 including the racquet and badminton shoe... Ouch. Then took the bus and in 4 hours I've reached K.L. with Sek Lun. Brought him to Masjid Jamek Putra station to go to KL Sentral, and I myself went to take Masjid Jamek Star station, then walked another 20 minutes (as usual) to get home. And here I am, typing all these like a diary. Another of my memoir sealed in the blog. (If not, I might forget.) Time to sleep again!

Upcoming Holidays?

OH YES... Holiday is coming and tomorrow.. or in fact today (it's after 12.00 A.M.), I will be leaving for Taiping with a few friends and will be back before Christmas (hopefully). Really hope to have a good time there, taste some good food and get all the Law out of my head for a few days. Perhaps after the trip it really is time to buck up, and get REALLY into study mode (which probably won't happen with the self-discipline that I currently have). Of course, I'd love to go for more trips after this one, so anyone with plans please count me in as well!

In the meantime, let's look at the recent developments of US economy, this news in particular, really interests me. Chrysler and GM getting $17.4 Billion to get their arses off the hot pan, which they themselves created. Americans really are oil-guzzlers (and also money guzzlers, trying to , don't you think? Because of them, oil goes up to almost $150 per barrel, and yet (partly) because of them, oil goes back down to around $40 per barrel. Ford as well, who's closing down 10 of its factories, (Chrysler closes 30 and GM closes 2o) is also in deep sh*t.

And this bailout really stinks, are they going back to protectionism like what Malaysia is doing? They want their Big 3 to be like Proton? (at least still better than Proton though) If they're gonna wound up, why not let them? They deserved it for not forecasting an economic downpour, it's what all companies do, you don't get out of the trouble, or don't avoid the trouble in the first place, you simply die off and let the stronger competitor (Toyota) take the place. How many bailouts the Americanos are gonna make? All the big companies going bust will be expecting help from the government then? And I don't see much change in the stocks, merely rallied at +0.4% ( for the time being). How many jobs could the government save? The whole automobile industry only amounts to 0.6% of the working Americans.

Nonetheless, the loan's given, and it's up to Obama's decisions to save America. In fact, America is a great place for investment now, house prices have gone down, interest rates are down, it's currency depreciated again, and things are facing deflation, compare it with China and see. Oh well, I guess I have to stop here, gotta wake up early tomorrow for the trip. I'll be back.

JAC, MACC and Malaysia's Financial State? (Don't really know a lot, but I'd love to comment(criticise) on it)

As you know, our beloved PM (I'm going to love him if comparing him to the one planning to go up in March 2008) laid down a double bill to be discussed and debated in the Parliament, the JAC and MACC bills. One thing I'd really want to criticise is that a lot of things are still in the powers of the PM, and these powers would soon end up in another PM's hands which I doubted greatly whether or not his hands are actually clean (Please don't catch me for this, I merely doubted...). If the final say of the appointment of judges, even after through several stages of filtering through the interviews and recommendations of the JAC, cronyism might still happen (PM determines the allowances of the JAC members and also the final decision to appoint). Would there be a clash with the doctrine of separation of powers then? PM might be there to keep a check on the judiciary but PM's interest is still in the government, shouldn't the judiciary be more independent so that the government would not be involved so much (though I don't really suggest that the government be absolutely ignorant of the judiciary's processes or else there won't be check and balance).

I don't really know if judges are still sent for "kursus" or so called boot camp for deciding against the government, but JAC still is a good thing compared to what we have now, much better than the secret sounding (korek, korek, korek) technique of appointing judges. So do the MACC, with 5 different institutions keeping a check on it, it would at least be better than the one in ACA now. But in a nutshell, whether there can actually be a significant drop in corruption in Malaysia would still be determined by the people appointed in all of these institutions. It still depends on their conscience and I'd really hope that these guys won't be paid so little that they have to resort to corruption to at least support their family. Sometimes we cannot blame on the people as well, in a financial state that Malaysia have today, growing inflation and all, we should know how difficult it is to find money. But if these guys are already rich, then corruptions are definitely not justified.

Now how easy it is to find money? One recent article that I have read in The Star, shows that how one can be billionaire by dealing with the government and by having connections with the ones at the top. Do common people have all these connections? Essentially, no. But if one managed to get one, its a great opportunity. And it's just that one opportunity that changes one's life (remember Eminem's song?).

Another recent news, that the government recommended that we don't retrench workers to prevent rising unemployment that had happened in so many countries (Sony in Japan slashed 16k people off their jobs, GM and Chrysler in US which are pretty much on the brink of bankruptcy, highest jobless claims in 25 years in US, Europe especially U.K. not doing very well, you could see that in their depreciating currency).Why do they do that? Isn't that because they aren't doing very well due to the submortgage crisis that caused one of the largest bankruptcy (Lehman Bros.) in history? But Malaysia is pretty insulated as our banks aren't involved as much as other banks in other countries, would the damage still be coming next year?

In my opinion, keeping workers that aren't productive (simple waste of money) isn't justified at all. If a company isn't doing well already, why keep that fellow who simply saps on the lifeline of the company and not doing anything else? This goes for government as well. But those at sub-standard productiveness will now also be affected isn't it? Those who did their work, but does not have much contribution to the company, became the next target to retrench after the least productive ones. Those who got retrenched would be out of their jobs, and what else could they do? In this age where a lot of degree holders had difficulty to look for jobs, would they be able to look for jobs (jobs equivalent to the one they had) elsewhere? Or would they just resort to a downgraded job to support their family or even their own lives? Or would they have enough money to upgrade themselves through education, increasing their mobility in job seeking? Then, would there be enough aid from the government to help these retrenched people to upgrade themselves? I have seen a programme in Hong Kong where in HK they had a governmental committee which offers monetary aid to those who wants to upgrade themselves, and those who had less than $7000 in wages are exempted from education fees to study. Is there something like that in Malaysia? Would SOCSO aid and Job Carnivals be enough?

But how can there be not enough jobs in Malaysia? Please think who are the ones working as waiters (in coffee shops and stalls, not the ones in hotels or large restaurants), construction workers, and maids in Malaysia? Immigrants took these jobs out of Malaysian's consideration, or was it Malaysians that are so fussy that they do not want to work in these jobs? Competition for these jobs seems to be out of Malaysians' mindset.

Oh well, speaking of competition, the ASEAN Open Skies programme are gonna be another step towards globalisation, opening up Malaysia to more tourists and more competitions. And we get to have cheaper flight tickets for flights in SE Asia! Hope there's the same move of removing on import duties of cars. Protectionism isn't good (kept Proton in a state of stagnancy, though I would say that Proton tried improving, but not much).

I've been asking too many questions today, but as Socrates says, questioning improves your intelligence. So go and ask more and more if you don't know of anything (I am contradicting myself again! I didn't ask as much. Yes, this generates self-awareness and creates accountability. ). Don't leave it unanswered or you'll be ignorant of it for the rest of your life.

Reunion of the Yesteryear's Comrades

It's been a while since the last post.

Saturday was one of the happy days again, almost every Saturday I guess, because of badminton every weekend.. But this one was special!

A great day indeed it was, after badminton... went straight to Tay's (one of the most respected student in St. John's Institution, proud to be his friend for more than 10 years!) house and copied some games (almost addicted to it... self-awareness tells me to stop playing), then there was Jason and Joey arriving in Jason's Mazda 3 Limited Edition (nice car!). Had a bit of chat and fetch another Cheah (also friend for more than 10 years) then went to Jusco Maluri (glad it wasn't JCard day) for a drink.. then another bunch gathered at Tay's house again.. Gilbert (ATC punya orang sekarang!), MW, and Simon.

Then it was a very nice dinner with 7 of my schoolmates and friends... with pork leg/(hand?), curry, fried chicken and all.. very oily dinner but not bad.. still better than hotel's food... and much cheaper as well. During these process of course, lots of talk are going on. Of course many topics, gossips, and stuffs. Then we all went back happy and here seals again a memoir.

Now let's recount all these past experiences of reunion... I cannot remember a lot of it... but I am glad everyone is doing well. Looking back, human lives are really... sentimental, and yet short... sometimes things go slow in the present, and when one look back, it was like a blink of an eye. Time is money, people say.. but I've just realised something... time really is a common enemy of humanity, but a comrade to those who realise that time is what makes them grow and makes them go through sufferings of life itself. Time is a comrade to those who use it wisely, an enemy to those who do not have goals or dreams, who simply live for... nothing other than survival.. What makes us humans anyway? We were given supreme intelligence to understand a lot of things. Compared to animals, our lives are much more interesting than to.. hunt for food.. search for water.. and have a family.. and die.

Now of course, after such analysis, we should all realise that we are very lucky to be alive, and if you can read this, you are very lucky to be literate. Now where have I left off, ahh... the reunion... I am so glad that I have so many friends and I hope everyone is doing well!

Let's get back to our lives again... do not delve into the past.. but merely see them as happy experiences that accumulates throughout our lives. The future awaits.. and it is the PRESENT that we have to be aware of. Let us practise self-awareness throughout our daily lives... be aware when you drink water (feel the moist on your tongue... a lot of people and even animals died from dehydration)... when you eat your food (taste the food with gladness.. think of those who is suffering from hunger)... and when you lie on your bed (be glad that you have a bed)... and of course... when you are in a class, be aware of the lecture (your family paid for it, or you did). One last thing... be aware of your own self. Don't forget to breathe.

BAC Annual Dinner 2008, Noche Espanola!

Yesterday was a spectacular night! Glad I was one of the committee members who contributed a bit on it. Things seemed to fall into place and worked quite well. Everyone looked really good, dressed almost flamboyantly for the night, that's good of course.

Performances are great as well, I've heard powerful voices and soothing voices in singing, seen great dancing moves and performances, tasted.. not so good food, enjoyed the ambience and environment, helped in the organisation of the prom, did a bit of dancing and singing as well, chatted with a lot of friends; loved it indeed.

And there it was a birthday party again right outside the hall, many thanks to everyone who sang the birthday song for me, it's the first time i heard that many people celebrating for me, really did appreciated it. So, many thanks indeed to everyone.

However, life has to go on, and thus here enshrines this memory of the spectacular night (better than last year I felt), and let us march on to - Criminal Class in 1 hour and 20 minutes from now.

Cambridge Journal Rocks!

Recently, I got the password from Athens and logged in to Cambridge Journals, the information collected in there is absolutely STUNNING! It will probably take a lifetime, perhaps a few to read them all. I found another site to surf now, and it will probably fill in the gaps of my lazy times.

Still, I got too used to clicking on the Manga tab instead of the articles that are useful. Anyway, go and read History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi, perhaps you'll get addicted to manga like me as well.

How about recent developments of the country? Highway concessionaire has to go public, that's a good thing, bad thing to Mr. Samy though (since he has always been using the Official Secret Act to prevent these from going out to public). And fuel prices goes down another 15 cents, it should go lower since the crude oil is now like $55 per barrel.

Oh well, time to sleep. I've recently learnt a bit of french, a very small bit that is.. Bonne nuit.

Exhaustion and Laziness

As the title says so, the day of badminton, basketball, and the day before of swimming and a bit of exercise at home, placed me in a state of forty winks in front of Federer's and Murray's match. The nap made me even lazier (as almost all naps do), and prevented me from even trying to touch my notes. And now, lets go to the main topic at the paragraph below.

ZZZZZZ...

.....Oh, I just remembered to do something, yes.. that is to remind the UOL External students to go check their accounts and get the Athens password, and also those who had PTPTN applications to submit their forms ASAP. And also finish... essayzzz....ZZZZZZ...

The Economy and Education

Look at the oil price, look at the recession in UK, look at China trying to save its skin with $586 billion, look at US trying to save its automobile sector dominated by Jap Cars now... the signs of global economic failure all spruced up like mushrooms. And of course, Singapore was hit by this too.. its dependence on trade alone, my goodness - made them one of the worst blow in its economy. (Malaysia though, you should know what state we are in and going to be in, with Mr. Najib up there to lead us in 2009, hope this isn't seditious) So is it right to do so that we go to Singapore to look for fortune? Wage there is almost double here, yet going there takes a wealth of consideration, family, friends, environment.. and of course, qualification.

Decisions like these change one's life, and yet a lot of students let their parents decide on things, and a lot of them didn't really care. Studying overseas = Large investment (millions for a medicine degree) = High return? Roads and bridges are laid down by their parents, some might follow, some might not. Some creates their roads by themselves, working and paying for their own education. Sometimes, life can be seen in both these extremes, but there are the roads that are built by different parties. Parents of course, gives out financial support, as we call it.. the FAMA scholarship. Some parents, let their children decide, and if they approve of it, then the child walks that road.. but sometimes parents might perhaps be micromanaging their kids education, wanting them to be this and that since they were born, and try to mold them into one.

It is of utmost difficulty to see a child grow to what he/she wants to be. Some of them never had goals, some of them are too ambitious, some of them are just lazy ( I think I am here), and some had all the determination and tenacity to go for their goals (I hope I am here, and others too). Are these some problems of Malaysian students? Or is it the fault of the Education of Malaysia? Or is it the fault of parents' improper upbringing? Because of these, is it our fault, the youth of Malaysia, that the country and economy is in such a state (not seditious right? I didn't say its in good or bad position) (compared to Singapore with no natural resources while we have so much, that Petronas could lease the land from Ananda Krishnan and build the twin towers) ? Have we been given too much since young, and too little when we grow older? Is it that the country do not have enough smart people? Or have they all went elsewhere like Singapore (with good pay) (A lot of friends in Australia)? These are the questions I post for today... I felt like I have a lot of things to do, yet I am not doing them.. Don't procrastinate like me please.

To the Readers of this Blog

I am new to blogging, please give me lots of opinions and stuffs that might help me in blogging (Maybe on other stuffs as well). And of course, add the blog on yours. Good day! ( I feel like I have a lot to talk, but maybe later.)

Resurrection of the Blog

It has been a while since I had wrote in a blog, I'd actually have no idea why people like to blog, but I guess I am starting to understand the feeling of sharing things with people. It might be a change in me that made me feel this way, or do we call this maturity?

I still do not think I am mature at all, many things in this world are left unlearned, and what I have learnt is just the tip of an iceberg. Still, what I need to learn now is the English law, which I am taking a degree on, of course.

Writing a blog of course, helps in this. Improving my English while doing this is a better way than just reading notes and stuffs. Now, now, what I have been writing is all about.. "I" or simply
"me".. I myself felt that I am just a little too selfish in things. Thus, we have to start thinking where we could make the "me" into "we"!

Things have started quite OK since the days of lectures and tutorials, and I was lucky that I do not feel regret in taking law itself. We as students should usually not regret in things, as one should have made the correct decision since the starting point itself. Regrets are not good things, yet it remind us of what we used to be and how immature we were. How much we could do in life would eventually become less and less when we grow into a more mature stage.

Well, since we have to appreciate the life of a college student now, lets go do something fun! Well, I do have something fun to share with people here! A game of World of Goo. Quite an original puzzle game, go and try it guys/gals! Use torrent to download it.. its only 60 Mb. Here's the link.

And also for those who are using torrent and experiencing bad speed. Read this below.

Might as well write a new post about this. My favourite bittorrent application is a specially configured version of Bitcomet 0.64. It seems to bypass Streamyx’s throttling, maxing out my connection every time. You don’t have to perform port forwarding either. It seems to work better without port forwarding. You can download it here

http://www.mediafire.com/?yq7wnlwnzpi

Don’t change any of the settings for it. Just change your default download folder.

Additional Instructions:

For vista:
And if you have not increased the number of max half open connections on vista yet, do it asap.

http://torrentfreak.com/optimize-vista-for-bittorrent-emule-p2ptv/

that link will show u how to do so on vista.the default half open connections on vista is only 2 ( default for xp is only 10). This means that your computer can only wait for 2 other connections.this slows down bittorrent a lot.

For windows xp:
follow this link to remove the limit on half open connections. i set mine to 500
http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=1497

hope this helps

PS. This seems to work best for people on windows xp. A Vista user reports tremendous increase in his bittorrent download speed by performing the TCP/IP patch.

PS: The above issue on BitComet are all copied from another blog, credit to http://konchy.wordpress.com/2008/08/21/bittorrent/

Oh well, I guess I have to stop here. Let's wait till I have some things to share with you guys/gals!