Londoner on the move

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T22:14:00.002+01:00

Happy Mother's Day!!! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be who I am today. Thank you for your ample and undying love. There are uncountable angels that appeared in my life but you are the one angel that I will never ever let go. Can't wait to see you, mommy!!! Just another one and a half months to go!!! =)

We shall remember this day, one day after 2010's Mother's day, we will battle at the same time, mine is just final exams; yours is much much more important, I wish that I can transfer all my luck to you. Everything will go smoothly and everything will be fine. Jia you!!!

Love you, mum!!!

=S

2011-05-08T15:14:00.005+01:00

*spoiler alert*rant post*pls avoid if you are in good mood*read only if you are a busybody*

How did I get dragged into all these? And I'm the scapegoat now? It's so obvious who is she targeting but I just had to stick my foot in? *facepalm* Nice meat shield you have got there, friend. But whatever it is, I will remain as the scapegoat as not to make things worse. Hey dudette, your friends are not dumb, we just chose not to unveil you as to protect your image. But don't overdo it.

Should have listened to another friend's advice, "don't get involved in this kind of complicated issue, best is to stay away. Heck, you think I want to get involved? But I have to admit, it's my fault too. "Curiosity killed the cat", and I'm the dead cat now *meow*. Why did I even ask that question? One question led to so many complications. What's worse was that question was directed at the last person on Earth that you would want to ask.

Lesson learned: ~~Don't kepoh.~~ Be smarter if you want to kepoh =D

hahaha just joking. Honestly? MYOB. Mind your own business. Advise only when you're approached. That's in general.

As for case-specific lesson: Avoid talking to instigator that enjoy watching "drama" or people that will use you as meat-shield.

p/s: my deepest apologies to you know who. will somehow make it up to you. back to study!

Love you mom!!! =)

2011-04-19T16:19:00.003+01:00

A true angel indeed. During her stay in the ward, although she was bearing sickness and had a weak body, she still helped the other patients in the same ward. She even comforted them and shed tears when she heard their stories.

Dear God, do you want me to sponsor you a pair of glasses? But anyhow, thanks to Your blessings; she's stable and healthy now =)

Life. Love. Family.

2011-04-16T21:32:00.012+01:00

The walk back home from the library was deeply melancholy and depressing. What's worse was that it was amplified further by the overcast and gloomy sky.

People walked past me individually and in groups. Some of them were laughing, cheering, talking, whispering, staring blankly into the void of space; some looked stressed, some looked busy, some looked elated. Everyone was doing something. They were trying to occupy their life with "things", moving on, trying to keep up with the pace; following the trail of what a "normal" human being is "supposed and ought to do". The proceeding of this routine never failed, it seems like the correct thing to do. What are all these "things" that we do? Does it even matter if we do it or not? So what if I'm studying in a prestigious university, graduate with a distinctive degree and get a high-paying job offer? It's still the same old looping cycle. Tell me, what is life?

Coincidental or not, a posh 4 meters long limousine, a few convertible sports cars stopped right beside me en route back home. I saw a few wealthy-looking young people and their overly-ornamented attires, blasting music with their car-roof retracted, living a seemingly "happy" and extravagant life. I glanced for a fleeting moment and turned my head away. Nothing, absolutely nothing was imprinted in my mind. They don't impress me anymore like they used to. Are they even happy and content with their life?

What is there to be enjoyed when your loved ones are not around? Who can we share the happiness with? At that very moment, the saying "family first, money second" manifested lucidly in my mind. The impact caused was huge and the repercussion will last till when I go six feet under. I have sworn to myself at that very moment, that I will put both my current family and future family in the first place, at the very top of my priorities-list.

Whenever I thought of that shocking scene that my dad told me, I broke down every time without fail. We almost lost her. Thanks to my siblings' calm and effective response, my dad's unyielding and relentless emergency aid, she was successfully rescued from the devil's grasp. The bond between caring humans is clearly strong than the devil's grasp. Well done, bro, sis and dad. (edit: Thanks to my neighbours and family friends too!!!)

The thought of losing your loved ones can be very very scary. It's a feeling where you just don't care about anything anymore, and you are willing to let go of everything, anything to amend it. Nothing seems important to you at all, except that one special person. So please promise me, don't wait until that feeling haunts you, treasure your loved ones now. Give them a call, if u r far away from home; give them a big kiss and hug, if you're right beside them. Don't be shy and don't wait any longer.

So, may someone please kindly enlighten me, what is life? Food for thought.

Alright, time to pull myself back together, final exam is imminent.
I have to be strong and show her a fantastic report card. Don't worry =)

Stay strong. I love you.

2011-04-16T04:55:00.006+01:00

"I'm praying hard for you, may God bless you. I'm truly sorry that I found out this late. I feel ashamed of myself. You are one of the most important people in my life. If an angel like you get this kind of treatment, then I know God isn't fair. I couldn't take it.

Please please please stay strong and healthy. I have absolute faith in you. I'm certain that it will turn out to be just fine. I've stopped crying, I will be strong; so you have to stay strong too, promise me. I love you."

I'm sorry dad, I couldn't control myself just now and wept like a small kid in front of you, and made you cried as well. I will pray hard for her and study hard at the same time.

Don't worry dad, I fully understand the heavy responsibilities that both of us have to carry, as the eldest son and as the head of the family. This acts as a wake up call for me too. Amituofo.

Love you.

=)

2011-04-07T23:52:00.001+01:00

哭过就好了 =)

王光良，江美琪 - 對你有感覺

我曾深刻体会对爱感到胆怯
还好有懂我的你给我安慰
看你失落的脸又在为爱憔悴
我心痛的感觉竟如此的强烈

眼角的泪它给过谁伤透了心也无所谓我会愿意静静的陪在你身
如果说爱已不可为那我宁愿藏心里面

其实我害怕会失去你的感觉
怎么会开始对你有了感觉又害怕朋友默契转身不见

矛盾着犹豫不决没准备跨越爱的界限
怎么会开始对你有了感觉深陷朋友恋人之间的危险

进与特都狼狈谁能解围让一切完美
你和我拥抱瞬间不后悔这完美
星光唯美把爱放心里面

==============================================================

只要你开心就好 =)

五月天 - 天使

你就是我的天使
保护著我的天使
从此我再没有忧伤

你就是我的天使
给我快乐的天使
甚至我学会了飞翔
飞过人间的无常
才懂爱才是宝藏

不管世界变得怎黱样
只要有你就会是天堂
像孩子依赖著肩膀
像眼泪依赖著脸庞

你就像天使一样
给我依赖给我力量
像诗人依赖著月亮
像海豚依赖海洋

你是天使你是天使
你是我最初和最后的天堂

murdered

2011-04-02T15:39:00.003+01:00

The angel you once sworn to protect and to love;

When she decided to kill you,

it can be very very hurtful.

Tears

2011-02-28T21:27:00.001Z

At first, when your tears drenched my coat,
I thought I should just wait and let them dry,
But those tears became bigger clouds and wind,
And are falling as a rain that stops my feet.

While getting drenched by the rain that can't be stopped or avoided,
Where am I supposed to go?
I lost my way.

Even though I want to run far away,
You stay on my mind,
And I keep coming back.
I want to protect you,
And I want to treat you well.

=)

2011-02-22T04:19:00.001Z

And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile.

=)

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!

2011-02-16T22:52:00.002Z

Lol!!! Epic fireworks in a quiet neighbourhood in Malaysia. MUST WATCH!!! Turn up your speaker's volume!!!

Colours

2010-12-23T03:49:00.008Z

Favourite colours eh?

I was chatting with this naughty lil girl, and she stirred up my deeply buried childhood memories.

Why am I writing this random piece of shout-out?

It felt so warm and nostalgic, by merely thinking of my childhood.

Time flies. Opsss. I meant, time vrrrrrooooommmsss.

I am a 3rd year university student now!!!

Hmmm... what are our favourite colours? That was our late night topic.

I love wearing black, white and red clothes. You will certainly see me in those daily. Especially in London, gosh. She loves sky blue =)

Busy and overworked people in London like to wear something simple and easy-to-match clothes.

Hence the black and grey cohort of people, adding more melancholy to the already gloomy and obscure sky.

"Why red?" she asked.

"It's so bright!"

Let me see. Since when I started liking red?

Right! Since my mom nagged me on the CNY around 10 years back.

"Ah Zhai ahhh, don't wear black shirt on this prosperous occasion, bu ji li, later ah gong muka hitam hitam."

"Faster go change into something red. Good boy!" she said

"Hmmm, I have got no red shirt at all. It's all black and white, and a few other random colours scattering in my wardrobe." I said to myself.

If I know the word "GG" at that time, I would have shouted it out loud, "MAMA, WO JEE JEEE LIAO!!!"

One simple solution, shopping!!!

So, eventually, I got myself a red shirt. "Hmmm, this new look ain't that bad!" I whispered to myself again.

Black, white and red. Black looks so solemn, easy to mix and match and I just look cooler in it.

Oh, and white!!! I just look sexy in it. Just look at my profile pictures. And you will know why is it so. (perasan)

Lastly, the unsung hero.

The colour that unfailingly calms and cools me down.

SKY BLUE.

I don't have any sky blue shirt. Because it just looks weird on me. It's like aquaman or iceman talking a stroll on the street. LOL!!!

I like sky blue since I was really young.

This brings us back to my primary school time, when I was still staying in a small and quiet neighbourhood in KL.

It was not exactly in the city center.

After school, I would take a bus home. Ahhh, I can still remember my bus driver's face. The fierce look. RAWR.

I had always bullied the poor old uncle by pouring Mamee pieces on the bus' floor. LOL good ol' times.

Then, I would have quickly alighted and ran back to my house. After grabbing my bicycle, I went house by house and yelled at my friends. "TIME TO HANGOUT!!"

Then, you would spot the "famous bicycle gang" roaming on the street.

I enjoyed playing at our favourite playground a lot.

Loved to lie down on the big and chilly concrete slide.

And stared blankly into the void of the sky.

Looked at the different shapes of cloud.

And enjoyed each other's companionship.

Sky blue.

Lovely.

I know. We know. These feelings and memories cannot be revived.

It will remain deeply buried. Forever.

Thank you Sun Mei. For giving me a chance to relive my old memories.

Even just for a fleeting moment.

Journey

2010-10-03T02:01:00.002+01:00

This is what I feel now, hours before I leave this lovely place. Leaving a safe and cosy sanctuary with cheerful, sincere, and warm faces, to face piles and piles of cold dead books and sadly, people. But this is part of my journey in life, hence I have to brace it and move forward valiantly.

Be a man, do the right thing =P

Someone still owes me a recorded version of this song!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
it's a long long journey
till i know where i'm supposed to be
it's a long long journey
and i don't know if i can believe
when shadows fall and block my eyes
i am lost and know that i must hide
it's a long long journey
till i find my way home to you

many days i've spent
drifting on through empty shores
wondering what's my purpose
wondering how to make me strong

i know i will falter i know i will cry
i know you'll be standing by my side
it's a long long journey
and i need to be close to you

sometimes it feels no one understands
i don't even know why
i do the things i do
when pride builds me up till i can't see my soul
will you break down these walls and pull me through

cause it's a long long journey
till i feel that i am worth the price
you paid for me on cavalry
beneath those stormy skies

when satan mocks and friends turn to foes
it feel like everything is out to make me lose control
it's a long long journey
till i find my way home to you

to you

Easter ... oh ....Easter!!

2010-03-31T22:48:00.003+01:00

Yea... it's Easter holiday now. but guess how I'm gonna spend it? Nonono... bad guess, not traveling. Guess again!! Yes!! Study!! Gosh... 3 more papers this year, comparing to the previous year, which makes a total of 11 subjects.

Siennnnn... How am I going to do this?? No wonder my seniors said 2nd year EE engineering is tough. 28 hours of lectures, labs, tutorials a week, tonnes of assignments, 11 papers, one language (Japanese) etc... gosh!!! That's the hardest engineering course (claimed to be =P) in the best engineering university in the UK for you!!!!

Can't wait for the Italy trip on summer holidays after exam!!! Then go home!!! =)

I said I'll be back and I'm back!!! RAWR!!! Errr did I say that?

2010-01-11T21:36:00.002Z

Alright. 2 words. My bad. Left you unattended. No food. No shelter. No warmth. How sad. But!!! I am back now!!! First thing first, as a first-aider, let me check your conditions. Hmmm no breathing (duh). Detected some pulses. Savable!!

Now I'm back in London. Summer holiday was very memorable and fun. Spent quality time with my dear family and friends. Will blog shortly about my summer holiday later.

It has been one month through the winter season and it's getting dead cold here. It's like living in an icebox, though not as bad as some of my friends in the states. For their case, it's like living in frozen meat storage rooms =P

Dark and bewildered road lies ahead from now on. Heaps of problem sheets, tutorial sheets, lectures which suck the last drop of your brain juice, coursework, group project, Japanese language, work from autumn term etc are just the tip of an iceberg.

O! Wanderers in the shadowed land
despair not! For though dark they stand,
all woods there be must end at last,
and see the open sun go past:
the setting sun, the rising sun,
the day's end, or the day begun.
For east or west all woods must fail...
[The Lord of the Rings]

I will fight on. Just wait and see.

On my way home

2009-06-20T06:14:00.003+01:00

I'm blogging from Dubai Airport currently.

I'm lucky enough to get a power point and Wi-fi connection =P

If not, I'll be bored to death ( gotta wait for 7 hours... sien... )

Feeling very sleepy now, but I can't sleep now.

If I can't wake up in time, and missed the flight, haha... haha... then I will walk in a straight line out of the airport till I reach the desert =.=''

Didn't sleep last night, I was doing the last bit of packing and so on. And I managed to sleep for 2 hours in the flight from London to Dubai. Watched 2 movies, The Legend of Chun-Li, and ermmmm... what's the other one... crap... can't recall... too sleepy de...

Oh yea, love the food and services of Emirates. The food was good =)

And thanks Justin!!! Thanks for waking up at 5am!! I appreciate it =)

I'm going home

2009-06-19T13:01:00.004+01:00

- I'm going home -
~ Chris Daughtry ~

I'm staring out into the night,
Trying to hide the pain.
I'm going to the place where love
And feeling good don't ever cost a thing.
And the pain you feel's a different kind of pain.

Well I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I'm not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old,
So I'm going home.
Well I'm going home.

The miles are getting longer, it seems,
The closer I get to you.
I've not always been the best man or friend for you.
But your love, it makes true.
And I don't know why.
You always seem to give me another try.

So I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I'm not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old,
So I'm going home.
I'm going home.

Be careful what you wish for,
'Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all,
And then some you don't want.
Be careful what you wish for,
'Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all, yeah.

Oh, well I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I'm not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old.
I said these places and these faces are getting old,
So I'm going home.
I'm going home.

===========================================

The next 22.5 hours will be just pure travelling.

1.5 hour for me to reach Gatwick Airport.
(I wonder why Emirates gave me gatwick instead of heathrow =.=)
7 hours of flight from London to Dubai.
7 hours of nothing-ness in Dubai Airport.
Another 7 hours from Dubai to Kuala Lumpur.

22.5 hours. It's definitely worthwhile.

I'm going home.

Shopping list, anyone??

2009-06-18T13:45:00.004+01:00

Alright, today is my second last day in London. Going back home on 20th June, which is this coming Saturday.

Gonna go do some souvenir-shopping in Oxford n Regent Street.

Hmmmmmm....

2009-06-15T13:48:00.000+01:00

What lar?

Analogue Electronics

2009-06-08T13:13:00.003+01:00

Just finished analogue electronics exam, it was really tough, as expected.

Analogue, communication (and maths 2) are the toughest papers.

Comms will be my last paper, which is on 12th of June.

Weeeeeee !! 2 more papers to go!! And I'm going home!!

Flying back to Malaysia on 20th June!!

Miss home!! =P

BLOOD DRIVE SMDU '09

2009-06-04T01:04:00.002+01:00

BLOOD DRIVE SMDU '09
(from siow karmen)

You must be familiar with the four seasons; spring, summer, autumn and winter but what about seasons of love?

In the hectic world of today, too many people suffer from blood loss or low percentage of blood content

in their bodies wether through accidents, wars or natural birth.

We the BSMM ( Red Crescent ) SL (Y) 180 partnering the SJAM DU Division

are working hand in hand in organizing a blood donation campaign as a volunteering philanthropic event

to show our care and kindness towards the needies by finding blood donors to help them.

Thus, we need your support and lending hand. We want you to be a hero by saving peoples' lives through blood donation.

Show your little drops of kindness, which can make a difference in others life.

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by the blood we give.

One donation, three lives. Think about it.

The need is constant. The gratification is instant. Give love, give blood.

Date: 19th June 2009

Time: 8.00am- 4.00pm

Venue: SMK Damansara Utama,

Jalan SS20/21, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES:

-ranging from age 17 to 60

-must be at least 45kg

-be in good general health with no history of hepatitis or HIV/AIDS

-at least 6 hours of sleep on the day before

- free from chronic, infectious diseases

-previous blood donation must be more than 3 months ago

-have not gone through major operation for the past 1 year

-have not gotten malaria for the past 3 years

-have not practiced unsafe sex

-have not shared the same needles with others

-have not consumed alcohol a day before

-have never tested positive for HIV

-have not had sex with the partners of the same sex even once

-do not have hemophilia or another Blood clotting disorder and received clotting factor concentrate

-have not been held in a correctional facility (including jails, prisons and/or detention centers) for more than 72 hours in the last 12 months

Men’s skin have many colours, but human blood is always red.

So come come come! Bring your friends and forward this e-mail to all who are eligible for this event.

If this is what you fear, it’s time for you to overcome it. Make this a challenge.

Be a hero that saves lives.

I Don't Wanna Know

2009-06-01T20:30:00.002+01:00

Your eyes were covered in sunglasses
When they first met mine
I sat there and stared at you
You didn't seem to mind
The awkward ways we meet

First comes heavy breathing
Staring at the ceiling
What will happen next
I don't wanna know
I don't wanna know

~I don't wanna know~
new found glory

Learn Mandarin in 1 minute

2009-05-31T19:16:00.003+01:00

hehe found this in a random website. Very funny xD

Fa Kin Su Pah!!!

Arghhhh examsss, wish me luck!!

Summer BBQ

2009-05-23T02:13:00.007+01:00

Yessss! It's summer soon!! But this summer isn't like what we experience in Malaysia.

Mild sunshine with refreshing and cooling breeze. Lovely.

BBQ in my hall's garden

Warden & sub-wardens are grilling the foooodddd!!

Best strawberry I've ever had. Even better than Cameron Highlands' ones.
Thanks Justin!!

Dark Berry Mocha anyone? New flavour. Slurppp!!

Starbucks coffee, sandwiches, course notes, and the lovely summer weather.

Wish me luck! =)

Pretty Vs Normal?

2009-05-05T12:29:00.011+01:00

Gearing up for final exams!! Removed my previous blog banner, a few of my brothers said it's darn funny, but it doesn't suit my age =.='' right...... Put up a new one. It's taken in Prague.

Haha!! Miss home!! Going back on 20th June!! All my friends in Msia!! Must meet up and yam cha kay??

Found this piece of interesting article. Read it if you have time. It's about life of pretty and normal girls (from a certain point of view). But sadly, it's in Mandarin, my fellow banana friends, my deepest apologies =)

漂亮女孩 vs 普通女孩

漂亮女孩拥有漂亮的面孔和很好的身材。她们是众多男生的追捧对象，她们的天空总是晴朗，大家都认为她们很幸福。　

普通女孩拥有普通的面孔和普通的身材,很少有男生注意他们，看着周围的一切，有时她们也会抱怨生活的不公正。　

漂亮女孩周围总是有很多不同凡响的男孩，至少感觉很优秀。既然有这么优越的条件，漂亮女孩自然提高了眼界，他们勾画出未来的男朋友或爱人的形象无疑是完美无缺的，她们不停的选择，她们需要浪漫的快乐，等待她们的白马王子的到来。　

普通女孩象普通人一样生活，很多时候身旁的男孩把她当作朋友却又经常忽视她们是女孩的事实。她们也会想象自己的白马王子，不同的是他是一个普通的人。普通女孩可以容忍男朋友有一些缺点，她们只需要这一生一世不变的爱。　

如果你是普通女孩，那么请抬起头，因为世界并不仅是漂亮女孩的，懂得爱情的人是不以漂亮的外表而迁就自己的爱情的。相信自己相信爱情，用心珍惜，用心去爱，生活原本精彩。　

如果你喜欢上了漂亮女孩，那么通常你要进行坚苦卓绝的斗争，无论成功与否，你都要理直气壮的对自己说：重要的不是结果而是经历。成功了要对继续保持稳定有长远的打算，失败了也要明白考上清华的难度就不一样。我只想告诉同胞：你可能是喜欢漂亮女孩的外表才准备进一步前进的，但是她们一样需要真正的爱情，欺骗别人的感情来达到炫耀的目的，终有一天你会失去爱情的权利。　

如果你喜欢上了普通女孩，那么请用心去追求，用心去爱，你会发现她们的心是那么可爱，她们的感情是那么细腻。你要鼓足勇气告诉别人：“在爱情和美丽之间，我选择了爱情”，你要相信用心的爱情是永恒的。

漂亮女孩经常不知道该选择哪一个，常常对着月亮在祈祷神来告诉她。　

普通女孩相信自己的选择，也相信自己一生的选择。　

漂亮女孩有太多的机会，她们喜欢捉弄机会，喜欢短暂的浪漫，来展示她们的与众不同。他们经常告诉追求者“你只是他们中的普通一个”。

普通女孩用心去珍惜每一次机会，她们用一颗心来维护这感情持久。她们会用眼神和目光告诉他：“这是我们一生的选择”。　

漂亮女孩的追求者每天都在考虑两个问题：一个是“情敌又多了吗？”，一个是“我怎样才能胜出”。通常第一个回答是肯定的，而第二个很多是否定的。　

普通女孩的追求者只会偶尔想一想：如果她答应我了，我们就去骑自行车环岛。　

漂亮女孩的男朋友和她的追求者没有本质的界限，虽然拥着她满是自豪，但每天躺在床上又要打算明天战斗，因为竞争太激烈了，通常这种生活要保持到那披上婚纱那一刻　。　

普通女孩的男朋友虽然没有那种自豪，但是心中很幸福，他默默告诉自己：生活需要平淡，我寻找的是共风雨的爱人，而不是炫耀的商品。　

漂亮女孩经常不经意的把男朋友当做奴隶，因为她们觉这是应该的。她们毫不客气的做麦当劳的常客，穿巴黎春天的衣服用着摩托罗拉的V998或V8088，那微微翘起的嘴角仿佛告诉男友：“你的女朋友--我是最漂亮的，享用这些是应该的”。　

普通女孩体贴入微的关心男朋友，因为她们觉得这个世界无论多苦多累，都不是自己一个人走，无论未来多么变换末测，都是两个人共同应付，珍惜他就是珍惜自己的未来。普通女孩偶尔也会奢侈一下，只是让男朋友只记得温馨与可爱。　

漂亮女孩的爱情充满浪漫，她的心中从未考虑什么是持久的爱情。　

普通女孩的爱情平淡无奇，她的心中向往浪漫，却更懂得天长地久的珍贵。　

漂亮女孩的丈夫都很出色，出色的丈夫身旁有很多比漂亮女孩更漂亮更年轻的女孩，于是，漂亮女孩开始了保卫爱情的战役，因为她们知道当初自己可以吸引丈夫，那么那些女孩同样也可以吸引他。只是在漂亮女孩的心中她开始问自己：“什么是爱情”。　

普通女孩的丈夫有的很出色，虽然也有出色的女孩围绕在他的周围，但是普通女孩知道：在众多选择中最终选择了自己的丈夫不会背叛自己，因为他懂得爱情不是美丽的外表。普通女孩会对自己说：我知道了爱情的含义了。　

漂亮女孩的家庭并不稳定，漂亮女孩的漂亮外表渐渐变老，她在心中有很多疑问：当初我在追求什么，我又获得了什么。　

普通女孩的家庭很幸福，常常听见自己刚刚懂事的儿女趴在耳边说：妈妈，你是最漂亮的，于是普通女孩笑了。　

时间过得真快，漂亮女孩与普通女孩没什么区别了，岁月无情的掩盖了漂亮女孩曾经漂亮的外表。或许漂亮女孩终于找到了答案：原来这就是爱情。　

普通女孩依旧普通，普通的心在回忆过去，在儿孙满堂时告诉别人，我没有错过珍贵的爱情。

Source: http://www.x-coz.com/viewthread.php?tid=2262&extra=page%3D3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

女孩? Imperial College 没有(几个)。

男孩就大把，你要吗？

Haha!!!

Iron Man Vs Bruce Lee!!!

2009-04-28T03:27:00.005+01:00

Found this nice short clip in Youtube. A combination of photos of action-figure toys that's made into an realistic fighting scene. Simple but creative technique!! Watch it in HD!! Love it!! xD

First Written Exam!!!

2009-04-28T00:59:00.006+01:00

I did my first written exam today, which is Introduction to Business & Management paper. I took 2 days to prepare that (studied the text book for 2 rounds). It's just like Sejarah that we once learned in high school, 20% understanding and 80% memorising.

Overall, I think the paper was alright. My last-minute-adrenaline-memory is pretty alright, I guess. Haha! The funny thing is, this paper carries 10% score, while other electrical and electronics related papers carry only 7% each xD

The next paper will be on 26th of May. 1 more month to go!

Miss home so so much... my family, my friends, my room, the food, the places I used to hang around, the hot and humid weather, the atmosphere and the home-sweet-home feeling! Gonna be back to Malaysia around mid of June via Emirates Airlines. I found a pretty good deal, lucky me!

But I might take some time to get used to a certain thing in Malaysia. Just look at the following picture and you will know why xD

Haha!!! Amazed? That is my current internet speed now, 70 times faster than Streamyx (1Mbps package).

So far, my top download speed was 10Mb/s, it's like half a second for one MP3 file or 70 seconds per movie. GG!!!

K!! Back to study!! Gonna see you guys in less than 2 months' time~~ tschüss!!

Final Exam

2009-04-23T19:34:00.002+01:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I apologise for the recent inactivity. Unfortunately, the blog post about my prague and berlin trip will not be posted so soon. I might not blog at all until 12th of June, the day when my final exam ends. I have accumulated a lot of blogging materials and will post it all up when I reached Malaysia. Miss home so much...

My deepest apologies.

Jx

Londoner, Berliner, Praguer

2009-04-05T08:12:00.021+01:00

Opsssss, sorry for the long hiatus again!!

I just reached London in the afternoon yesterday. Had amazing fun in Berlin and Prague.

The word 'amazing' is definitely not sufficient to describe the trip.

Words such as fattening (ice creams and currywurst, guys!!), erotic (what happened in prague, stays in prague... ahemm), feet-pragueing, random wandering, jump-shooting, ninja-training, passport-missing, random-girls-courting, indirect-national-monument-disgracing, shutter-spamming, 'nightly live orchestra', DSLRssss battalion-in-action, mannequin-appreciatting, currywursting, ice-creamming, currywursting, sauerkratting..... might not be enough to describe the trip as well.

I have subcribed a Flikcr pro account just to upload these amazing memories.
Anticipate it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivanjx/

Finally, a huge THANKS to our trip organiser, JACOB HO!!!
The trip was amazingly perfect!!!
Love you, muax muax!!

Just some sneak preview before I find some time to do a proper blog post about the trip:

P/s: Full size photos can be obtained from my Flickr photostream.

National-Monument-Appreciating

Jump-Shooting

Beer-Appreciating

And what's after.
(99% sober with 100% red ol' drunk face)

Local-Girls-Appreciating

Local-Girls-Appreciating-on-A-Larger-Scale

Meeting-Up-with-Lovely-Friends (Shing Yee & Terri)

Now.

40 years later.

Attempt-on-understanding-foreign-menus

The-Lack-of-Public-Toilet-at-Tourist-Attractions-Problem

Problem-Solved.

Mass-Gelato-Fodder-Feeding-Scheme

Sauerkraut-ting (it's really sauer >.<'').

Currywurst-ting.

Prague-in-Focus-Literally
(because I'm off focus =P)

Seniors-Bumping-in-Prague

Scenery-Appreciating

Majestic.Stunning.Gorgeous.

Classic.Genuine.

Epic.Heart-stopping.

.
.
.
.
.

And lastly,

Licking.

Anticipate.

Another ordinary day in South Kensington.....

2009-03-10T05:50:00.007Z

6th March 2009

Yup... another ordinary day in the university...

Today, I did my technical communication presentation. I prepared the materials and rehearsed it in one day (to be exact, it's 9 hours). Gotta stop doing last minute work already, it's not fun at all haha!! Got a pretty decent score for an one day work, which is 79/100.

I did something about harnessing lightning power, this technology might be implemented in the near future, and I have dream to spearhead this project.

Every lightning bolt that struck on a lightning power receptor can produce electricity equivalent to a 20 MW power station working for 50 hours continuously!!! You tell me, it's awesome, isn't it??? Okay... enough with the technical stuff, it might bored you all to death =.=

I felt very very tired and worn-out after that, and decided to get back home to take a nap. But, my stomach was growling so loudly, that the lady on the opposite of the pedestrian cross can hear it... haha, jk!! Hmmmm... ''The Sandwich Shop'' it is!!! They make awesome baguettes, and it's not very expensive as well, love it!!

On my way there, I saw this cute little ''car''.... I thought some Malaysians that read my blog would be interested to see, as people that stay in London are pretty much used to this kind of eccentric and creative items.

It's for people as mini as mickey mouse =.=

Bought a chicken supreme baguette, potato wedges and cappuccino. When I ordered the wedges, the cute (either Greek or French) waitress (another reason I always patronise that restaurant, haha jk!!) ask me :

Cute waitress: 'Sauteh en vernegaar?'

Me: 'Pardon?'

Cute waitress (smiles): Sauteh en virnegar?

Me (confused): 'I'm sorry, may you repeat that again?'

Cute waitress (smiles awkwardly) : 'Do you want sault en vinegar?'

Me (VERY enlightened): 'Owhhhh!!! SALT AND VINEGAR?? YESSS, SURE SURE, DEFINITELY, WHY NOT?? THANKS THANKS. SORRYYY.... oppsssssss'

Cute waitress (smiles hyper-relievedly with her mouth wide open
like she just hit the lottery XD): 'Haha, you're welcome.'

Then, I went out and laughed like I just got a royal flush in Las Vegas... I was feeling thirsty and took a small sip of the cappuccino in a white polystyrene cup.

Bwaaaahhhhhh!!! HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT!!!!! 3 billion of my good ol' faithful ''tongue cells' have just been burnt to death!!! Omg, I could't taste anything...

A lesson learnt, never get conned by the white polystyrene cup, you will not feel the heat when you hold the cup, as it is a very good heat insulator.

Jeeezzz.... I continued walking back. And I saw this interesting thing.

LOLLLLLL.... Sausagesssss....... LOLLLL...... Everyone that walked pass them with look at it... quite cute though =)

Reached home in about 10 minutes, took a sweeeet nap.

First time Karaoke-ing in London!!!

2009-02-20T04:46:00.003Z

Organised a birthday bash for 3 lucky stars....

And guess what? It's gonna be a Karaoke Night!!!!

Quoted from the karaoke bar that we're going tomorrow:

''The atmosphere depends totally on who you choose to go out with as there’s nobody else around.

Inevitably the vibe will be slightly tentative and awkward at first, as everyone nervously eyes the microphones and TV screen.

However, after a few drinks and one brave soul breaking the ice to have the first go, the ball starts to roll and you’ll be hard pushed not to get caught up in all the fun.

Karaoke is all about singing badly, and after a while nobody cares that you’re all tone deaf.''

So y'all!! You all are going down tomorrow!! Everyone is singing, no exception!! I'll be the 'brave soul' that breaks the ice >.< haha!!

Tan Hong Ming

2009-02-10T06:29:00.009Z

I was doing some blog-hopping and stumbled upon this touching video on a friend's blog.
Initially, I thought it's a random video about a school boy.
Apparently, it's a Hari Merdeka advertisement made by Yasmin Ahmad for Petronas.

Kudos to Yasmin Ahmad!!!

Yasmin Ahmad definitely has her own unique way of bringing out different kinds of feelings out of Malaysians' heart. In fact, her productions have never failed to make fellow Malaysians to review and reevaluate the way we perceive the relationship between races. One of her most notable production was Sepet (you guessed it right!!). All of her meaningful advertisements undoubtedly imbued a strong impact to me and it actually made me think (which no other commercial manages to do).

It's ashamed that human get categorised and separated by races, religions, ideologies, social status, etc. Undeniably, it's hard to consolidate these ruptures; people who did, doing and going to do so are truly praiseworthy and creditable. As a matter of fact, it's a divine and honorable deed.

I am glad that I have a few close Malay and Indian friends. Also, I got to know a few great Malay friends in Imperial College. Indeed, I enjoy chatting and hanging out (do crazy and sohai things haha!! XD) with them a lot. In fact, some of them are even more open-minded than some of my Chinese friends. I'm glad I have you guys as my bro!!

The epic and controversial film

I found another very very touching commercial directed by Yasmin Ahmad. It conveys a truly meaningful message to all. Treasure and cherish your family. The impact caused is amplified, especially when you are studying overseas >.<

Kudos to Yasmin Ahmad!!!

Love Food Hate Waste

2009-02-04T02:19:00.013Z

I stumbled upon this video on elliyana's facebook profile, and thought that it's a very meaningful reminder to all.

The photos shown in this video had won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize.

If you still have a sense of compassion, click on the play button and take action immediately.

It isn't that hard: save food, save water, help needy people, donate to charity, etc.

Did you all notice green colour Love Food Hate Waste signboards along the streets of London?
Actually, it's a very dignified and divine campaign.

"Love Food Hate Waste is the ‘Waste Not Want Not’ of the modern day, providing handy tips, advice and recipes for leftovers to help everyone waste less food.

Around a third of all the food we buy ends up being thrown in the bin and most of this could have been eaten.

Reducing food waste is a major issue and not just about good food going to waste; wasting food costs the average family £420 a year and has serious environmental implications too.

If we all stop wasting food that could have been eaten, the CO2 impact would be the equivalent of taking 1 in 5 cars off the road."

Quoted from http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/.

Justin: "Where is my snowman?"

2009-02-02T02:40:00.006Z

Opsssssssssssssss......

I think..... he..... ate it.....

Guess what happened to that piece of snow
that blocked my leng zhai face?

I ate it, munch it, chew it... haha!

Freezing~~

Malaysians!! (except sayed)

One of the heaviest snow ever in London!!!

Londoners on the move

2009-01-22T06:47:00.009Z

Changed my banner and blog title, which suit my current life (& location) more.

Took the photo in Nottingham. It was my idea to do so.
We peed in the middle of the plaza, with everyone looking at us!!
Crazy right?
Straight after we did that, a bunch of local young girls copied us =.= haha!

Also, Andrew Yong showed me this super FUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNY video clip.
It is a MUST-WATCH video clip!!! I LAUGHED MY ASS OFF!!!
The editor translated the Indian song to funny English lyrics!!!
MAXXXXXXX YOUR SPEAKERS' VOLUME!!! It's a nice Indian song!!
LOL!!! BENNY LAVA FTW!!

NICE? HAHA!!!

That's all for today =D

Yes!! It's snowing again!! Better, faster, stronger, colder!!

2009-01-19T07:02:00.003Z

5th Jan 2009

Around 2.00am, I looked at the weather forecast widget, it stated that there's 40% chance that London will snow. But right after that, Justin called me.

Justin: IVAN! COME OUT! IT'S SNOWING AGAIN!!!
Me: UH YAY!!!

This time it's different. Because I've bought a new camera and I'm gonna test it out!!
So, I wore 4 layers of clothes and took my camera, tripod, etc out.

Wow, it's really snowing. It's already 2.00am, but I still can see ppl with camera outside their halls. You see, it doesn't snow so often in London. This is the 3rd time and the heaviest one.

Okay, I'm a bit lazy now, so this is gonna be a photos post with captions.

Pretty?

The 2 jakun and crazy photographers.

Justin, Jason from HK, Meng Kit n me.

Goloka n MK.

Friends from the same hall.

This photo is so gay. Okay, maybe it's just me.

3 jakuns. Justin and me were so thrilled that we shouted and woke some ppl up =D haha!!

Pretty?

I was crazy again >.<

Balancing a chunk of compressed snow was fun! >.<

Weee!!

Nice right? That's Fisher Hall.

Love this photo too.

The rich mans' street. We're staying there.

One of my senior told me, there is 2 kinds of ppl in South Kensington, either you are a billionaire or you are a student >.<

True true... =.=

Cool right? BMW covered in snow.

Was trying to make snow angel/starfish.

Then, I called my mom and told her about the amazing sight.
She was amazed that I was still awake.
Haha! It was still holiday and snow doesn't come often in London.

Then I made a snowball and tossed it at Ian and Justin.
And the snowball war was officially started!!

Hehe!! Cool

Haha! The snowball hit my head >.<

We took 20++ shots to get this right! It wasn't easy okay?
Must get the perfect timing and flawless coordination.
It was fun though!!

Then I decided to make a mini snowman.
It's plausible because this time it snowed more heavily.
And we wanted to prove a point:
You can make a snowman in London!!!

Gay.....

Bzzzt...

Voila!! This baby took us 1 to 2 hours to complete.

"Gaier"....

We're so proud of our baby. Oh, did we name it, Justin?

Happy moments~

Guess what time we went in?
5.30am~~~ HAHA!!!

Another funny thing is, my friend told me,
when he walked out of his hall the "next" morning,
he saw a pile of messy mixture of melted snow and leaves at the walkway...

Okay~~ I told him, it was an epic snowman 5 hours before that.

My friend (dumbfounded): Did you said "snowman"?
Me: GG!!

Love is in the air

2009-01-14T00:22:00.000Z

Contagious Imperial Disease

- 4th Stage - All Guys Are Hot -

HAHA!!! Feel the gayness?

Look again closely, it's not real =.=

Makan-makan in Malaysian Hall, Bayswater

2009-01-11T19:49:00.022Z

2nd Jan 2008

Yay!! Another makan outing! My bro, Andrew and Zhen Shan came to visit London weeks ago, but I haven't meet up with them. So, I decided to call a few ppl (yes, the few ppl that didn't go back to Malaysia) out for lunch.

Initially, it was just Andrew, Zhu Lian, Chee Chung, Zhen Shan, and me!
Then, I found out Elias and a few others (Kuo Jian, Amelia Foo, Justin, and Laura) planned to makan outside. And then we thought, why not join together?
Voila! Here we go!

We met up at Malaysian Hall's canteen in Bayswater. As we walked down the path to Malaysian Hall, we saw familiar faces (Malay n Chinese) and overheard familiar languages & accent (Bahasa Malaysia, Manglish - lah - mah, etc).

The food there was decent, prices were reasonable.

My makanan =D 4.50 pounds >.<

Rude Andrew, rude boy!! Naughty naughty!!

Look at their unanimous and harmonious postures =D
I guess they're inspired by Amelia/Laura's charismatic speeches.

Andrew was messing around with my camera.

Andrew, you got no skill la. See? Overexposed photo haha!

Zhu Lian was hungry

Andrew the noob >.<

Sweet smile!

Smile-lah!

That's better =D

Kawaii~~!!!

Wow, you (reader) must be thinking :
"why jun xuen posted so many photos of kuo jian?"
"Is he trying to make an album for kuo jian or he is just gay?"
Hahahah! XD

The noobie

"Yes?"

Candid sweet smile =D
Justin, you are really good at taking candid shots ah!~

Azrul, you are the man!
(You got the number you wanted right? haha!!)

Is Laura thinking, "Gah... the food sucks... don't feel well de..."?

Group photo in front of Malaysian Hall.

Then, out of no where, one friendly stranger (DHL personnel) said he delivers mails to Malaysian Hall, and all Malaysians are his friends.
He asked us to take a photo with him.
Voila!

Then, we brought our friend from Bristol, Zhen Shan to have a walk at Hyde Park, since she went to most of the tourist attraction in London de.

White white innocent looking swans
(You frigging swan, I fed you, but you bit my fingers =.=)

Ahhhh, my jeans... It's dirty now.... haha!

Hope you enjoyed the day, zhen shan!!

p/s: Thank you, Justin! For letting me to steal all your amazing photos =D
Click here to see more of his masterpiece(s).

GG

2009-01-09T07:30:00.002Z

New Year Countdown at London Eye

2009-01-07T17:42:00.035Z

31st Dec 2008

Sorry for long hiatus again! Lazy to update, somehow =D

We gathered in Southwell Hall around 7.10pm. As usual, we have to wait for Meng Kit the "Late" King for at least 30minutes. If we agreed to meet at 7.00pm, he would start bathing at 7.00pm and smile like a sohai when he turned up. haha!

waiting~~

FYI, the temperature that day is 0 or -1 degree Celsius. We left the hall around 7.25pm. We took the tube and arrived Westminster around 8.00pm.

YES!! WE ARRIVED AT 8.00PM, 4 HOURS TO THE FIREWORKS!!
0 degree Celsius, 4 hours of chillness =D

2 reasons, first reason is that we wanna get a good spot; second reason is Justin and me wanna get a good spot to set up tripod and take photos.

I was fully battle-ready : 1 long-sleeve shirt, 1 sweater, 1 jacket, 2 trousers, 1 scarf, 1 pair of cashmere socks, and 1 pair of Nike shoes =D

To all non-Londoners, fyi, Big Ben and London Eye are quite near (across Thames River)

Lo and behold the one and only London Eye!

Can you see the police officers that are riding on horses?
Can you see the brown and sticky stuffs on the ground?

Yup!! It's the horses' poo!!!!
Someone actually stepped on it accidentally.
How can he not see it? It's huge!!

The crowd :

Big Ben's there.

Frankly, I personally think that the new year countdowns at The Curve and One Utama are way better. It is because they have performances and celebrities entertaining us while we wait for the fireworks. But over here, there was only a DJ and some music, though the fireworks at London Eye was awesome.

So, while waiting, we :

Guys from Imperial College (mostly)

Ancient but effective way of keeping warm >.<

Friends from LSE

Chee Chung acting kawaii >.<

Strangled =D

Sohai

1 more minute to 2009:

5

4

3

2

1

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

One of the best I've seen. Looks like meteor rain. Romantic >.<

Countdown & Fireworks:

Then we sang Auld Lang Syne. We, as in the WHOLE CROWD!! Imagine 400k people singing together. This is probably one of the best part. Sweet and touching scene =)

So far, have you notice one missing person? One sohai that rather take photos than having fun and welcome the new year with friends >.< Yes, that sohai is the one and only Justin Chin. Guess what? It was that sohai's birthday too. Darn sohai right? 1st of Jan? Hope he enjoyed his surprise birthday celebration XD

Around 6.00pm, I called Elias out to get a birthday cake for that sohai. We went to Mark & Spencer and Sainsbury to check out the cakes. We found a nice chocolate cake. Then I bought some candles as well. I hid it in my sling bag throughout the whole journey, I even brought knife and tissues too. The cake was a bit out of shape, considering the amount of ppl in the tube and Westminster >.< I tried my best to protect it de.

After the fireworks, I took out the cake, lit the candles and the whole group of ppl started searching for the lone photographer. Glad we made it in time, before the candles were burnt out. I was expecting tears from the new year boy, hahaha! But never mind, the smile on the sohai face is good enough already =D

Check out Justin's Flickr for more fireworks photos.

Tried my best to protect the cake (it was in my bag).
See the hole? Xing Xian stole the choc star >.<

GG >.<

Okay, please ignore this disturbing sight. We were crazy that night =D

The friendly polices.

Epic

Abstract

After the countdown.

Free tube and bus services from 11.45pm to 4.00am.
It was really congested in the tube station after the countdown.
Reached my hall around 2.00am.

Awesome day!!

It's Not For Girls

2008-12-14T19:29:00.008Z

Yes, today I will show you guys some weird & creative stuffs in UK.

Nestle's product (chocolate bar. yes, just chocolate, nothing else).
Girls, beware!
It's not for you!
You don't want mustache and beard, do you? Haha =D

MANsize tissues! It's huge, it's firm!
That's the "misconception" that they want us to perceive.

The following are just something funny :

My comfy socks! A gift from my uncle.
In fact, it's quite good at keeping warm. Just that it looks gay.

Courtesy of Yi Jet. 10 cups of rice in a 1.8 liter rice cooker.
Poor thing. We cooked for 14 ppl.

One cup of rice is 160cm3, one cup of water is 160ml.
The rice to water ratio suppose to be 1 : 1.2 !
Do your math!

I still don't know how he did it. Maybe he reduced the amount of water.
And applied heavy direct pressure on the cover =D haha!

This photo was shot on 12 of October.
About a week since we arrived London.
Still learning how to cook that time =D haha!

Presenting... drum rolls.....

2008-12-12T05:03:00.011Z

To all fellow Malaysians in UK, here is something impressive to refresh yourself from all the harsh, tormenting assignments and assessments......

Ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to present you -

-suspense, please scroll down-

YES!!! YOU ARE RIGHT!! CICAK MAN 2!!!! 2 ???!!!! LOL !!!
[don't hold yourself back, just have a good laugh]

(thank you charmaine, for informing me about this =D)

Source: http://www.cicakman.com/

Be really proud of your own country's production!

Must support if you are going back to Malaysia!

Malaysia Boleh ! =D

By the way, have a look at this:

Ouch... okay... and I am walking to uni tomorrow.....
Waterloo isn't that far away.
So, I guess the weather must be more or less the same in South Kensington.

20 minutes walk........ =.=
I love 8, please don't give me 4... haha!

When mere mortals have nothing else better to do

2008-12-04T19:21:00.012Z

Sorry for the long hiatus. Engineering students are always busy. My Christmas break is also conquered by homework and assignments.

On 28th Nov, I've attended a briefing and makan-makan event organised by JPA London. I had the longest, worst, chilling, lonely walk on that day. My class ended around 5.30pm on that day, but I was suppose to arrive at Malaysian Hall at 6.30pm. I took 20min to get back to my room, 10min to bathe and change. It's already 6pm! My friends were waiting for me at a bus stop 10min away from my hall, I asked them to go on without me, or else I might slow down everyone. Paiseh ma XD

FYI, the sky in London on autumn turns dark and gloomy around 4.30pm. I went to the Malaysian Hall twice, but that was in the morning and I can walk through Hyde Park to get there. But it's so dark now and Hyde Park was closed, the best part was, I WAS ALONE!!

So, I called my mates and asked for direction. Elias suggested to take the tube at High St. Kensington Station which is 10min away from my current location (I have reached the entrance of Hyde Park at that time). On the othe hand, Yi Jet said taking tube and walking there will cost me the same amount of time. Being a student with a limited flow of cash, I chose the latter choice. (Which I've regretted so much).

In fact, I realised that it took longer to get there by walking, but there's no turning back.

I had the longest, worst, freezing, and lonely walk on that day.

A night scene in Hyde Park. Took this on my way to Malaysian Hall.
(It's actually very dark, but I used 5 seconds shutter speed).

It took me one hour to get there. I was late as expected. Walking into the hall with everyone looking at ME was challenging and thrilling XD
What can get worse than this - the entrance of the hall is adjacent to the stage (where Mr Adib gave a speech)!

I apologised and explained my situation, then I dashed in as fast as possible. Fortunately, they did understand my situation. Phew, or else my next allowances will be reduced XD haha!

Ahhhh, malaysian foooooooood !!

Makan-makan and mingle-mingle time!

Ian was trying my camera's 5x zoom =.=

I tried 3x zoom on him (ISO 800).

OMG!! I love this one.
One of my best smile XD

Thank you, Ian!

Photo session!

Met my primary school mate there, Yuan Hao.

Love this one as well!!

On the way back. Fruitful day. The briefing turned out to be a story telling session =D
Mr Adib shared his experiences with us.

We reached our hall around 10.20pm. Elias suggested another chiiling session in his hall, Southwell Hall. Weeee !!! Hot chocolate for only 50p!!! I love the coffee bar's interior design. Pure red.

Suddenly, coffee drinking and chit chatting session turned into cam-whoring session XD
What to do? Wanna try out my new camera ma.... >.<

Classic

Red.

Yeng...

Shuai XD

Wow, Xing Xian, I'm impressed!

Candid!

Sweet!!

Wow... I still can't believe that's me XD

BEST SHOT OF THE DAY
-When Mere Mortals Have Nothing Else Better to Do-

or

-A Rose Among the Thorns-

Thank you, Han Yang!! Sadly, you are not in the photo >.<

Warning : Explicit Material

And the most epic photo!! Don't look at me!!!
Pressie from a hallmate to another hallmate XD

It was a pretty nice day, despite the torturing walk around Hyde Park.

Gayyyyy!!!!

2008-11-18T00:14:00.004Z

Ahem... * clear throat*...

Today, around 5.15pm, I was in the Electrical & Electronic Department's lecture theater. Yes, we have lectures on 5 to 6pm...

I was sitting at the last seat on 2nd row. Halfway throughout the lecture, I heard a funny noise. Usually I hear that noise when there is a male friend overnight in my room (ahem... they stay faraway).

So I started searching for the source.

When I turned my head to the left, OH MY GOSH!!! 4 male creatures (man) were sleeping beside me!!!! One of them snored!!! It was not that loud that lecturer can hear it, but it's loud enough to annoy me.

Then, an Indian classmate at the the other end looked at me.

Guess what? We laughed at the same time !!!

We could see each other because the 4 guys that were sitting in between us were sleeping on the table....

By the way, half of the class were sleeping...

I still can't believe that I saw this scene in Imperial College... Either they're too smart or they're so crazy that they're smart (what nonsense is this)......

Healthy Life

2008-11-16T17:43:00.005Z

It's 4.15 pm and I havent taken my lunch. So I decided to take a walk outside to grab some food. Since it's a Sunday, I walked down further down Fulham Road to check out the shop lots. Hehe.. it's my first time exploring the street near my hall for the first time ><" I bet a lot of my other friends havent done so too.

The minute I stepped out of my hall, the first scene that welcomed me is the dark and gloomy sky. Gosh, it's only 4.15pm... The atmosphere kinda made me feel depressed a lil... Justin told me it's gonna get worse soon... Yea... During winter, I guess sunset around 3pm?

raspberries and cranberries

Ahhh, screw it! It's just the sky. My stomach was growling hard.. While I walked down the street, I found 2 Starbucks just a few hundred meters apart along the same street. Then I saw a pharmacy and recalled that my dad asked me to get something.

I'm supposed to get the prebio 7 but somehow I ended up with this many items >.<" haha! Oats, brown rice, prebio 7 (for digestion), chamomile & honey tea (for relaxation), green tea, soya milk (alternative to milk) and ginkgo biloba (for concentration).

Guess how much is it? 20pounds (RM120)....

Yes... In a nutshell, leading a healthy life in London isn't cheap (for foreign student).

Sneak Previews

2008-11-10T16:54:00.008Z

Sorry again ><"
I am really busy recently, don't have time to update my bloggie.

There's tonnes of works to do : programming test, presentation, tutorial sheets, problem sheets, lab report, lab experiments !!

It was fun to slack and I am ready to face the consequences!!
Come on, I love challenges!!

My burden will be lessen by this weekend and I shall upload a complete blog post by then.

Here's some sneak previews of the upcoming posts, so that you guys know what to expect!!

Stay tuned!!

I found this huge poster in the Electrical & Electronic Engineering Department's library.

READ IT!!

This shows that the engineering students are extremely ~~nerdy~~ enthusiastic and technically inclined here. Haha! =P

My room (it's freaking huge and nice, will post more photos next time =D).

I cooked this wholesome and scrumptious meal in 20 minutes. Looks good? Chun-leh! Power-chef!

Went ~~clubbing~~ socialising and chilled out in Sound at Leicester Square.

-Hollywood Glamor-

It's an event organised by Malaysian & Singaporean Society of London School of Economics.

Bruges, Belgium. Stunning sceneries.

Look what's behind me.

My brothers - Elias and Justin.

Awesome nonsense. You just lost one potential customer!

Walao!! Heaven!!

The sweetest smile in whole of Bruges, Belgium. The smile that made Bruges so famous.

Stay tuned for more extremely gay, affectuous, and contagious smiles!!!

OMG!! IT'S SNOWING!!!

2008-11-01T01:52:00.004Z

Date: 28th October 2008
Location: Evelyn Garden, London
Season: Autumn

28th Oct 2008 - A memorable day, the day which I will never forget in my entire life.

7.00pm (outside Imperial College London):

A few buddies were on their way back. Justin took out his iPhone and showed us something.

Justin: Eh guys, it might snow around 9pm later, according to the weather forecast.
Guys: Haha, dont lie-lah. Go fix your iPhone! Booo! iPhone sucks!!
Justin: Really!!

We just continued our journey back. Although we teased his iPhone and made a big hoo ha about it, but deep down in everyone's heart, we were hoping and praying hard that Steve Job's product won't let us down.

9.00pm (in my warm and cosy room):

I was chatting with my friend in msn. Then, I thought about the incident happened 2 hours ago. I opened my window, no sign of snow at all. But it's rather cold outside. (My huge room is in basement, I can see the sky though, but I gotta stick my head out to see more of it.) I didn't really check it out though.

Cheh... iPhone.... zzzz....

A few minutes later, my room's phone rang. A thrilled and hysterical madman was shouting at me! I thought terrorist was bombing his place!! LOL !!!

Madman: EH JUN XUEN!! OH MY GOSH!!! ZHU LIAN HERE!!! IT'S SNOWINGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!! GET OUTSIDE AND SEE!!! FAST FAST!! IT'S VERY NICE!!! ALL THE CARS WERE COVERED WITH SNOW!! I CAN EVEN MAKE A SNOWBALL!!! FAST FAST!!!

Almost-mad Jun Xuen: WAH!!!! SERIOUS??? I'M FLYING OUTSIDE NOW!! THANKS FOR INFORMING!!! BYEEEEE!!!!

VROOOOOOMMMM, after 3 seconds, I ran one floor up and rushed to the main entrance!!! (with only a thin HELP Uni T-shirt and a thin trousers)

When I opened the door, the most memorable and amazing sight appeared in front of me. Behold and lo!! OMG IT'S REALLY SNOWING!!!! My first time in life. Real Snow. Touched. Excited.

Soon, when I slowly gained back my "consciousness", I realised I was wearing very thin clothes and my body was shivering and "rocking" hard!! And things got worse, I forgotten to bring my swipe card out!!! I couldn't get back into my hall!!!

Jeng Jeng Jeng, the door was opened, my saviour, Ian Eng (my twin brother, will tell you all abt our similarities soon) appeared. Haha!! Then another friend, Han Yang appeared. LOL !! What to do? Malaysian... jakun jakun, all first time see snow, ran out straight. 3 Malaysians outside the hall. I ran back to my room to grab my sweater and ran back out. We took a lot of "jakun n ah beng" shots.

Apparently, the sleet shower (snow and rain) seems to be heavier around UCL (zhu lian's uni) area and Paddington. It's not that heavy here.

100% Professional Jakun-ish look with 100% perfected Ah Beng's Pose

Trying hard to focus "the force" on my palm.

The force

Errrr... sporting ppl!!! They're willing to do silly pose with me. haha!!

Actually, it's still raining and snowing. We endured the freezing sensation just to take photos!! My hands were totally numb XD

Han Yang

Ian, the cool ah beng! haha just joking!!

I will never ever forget this meaningful day =)

Touchdown!! London 101

2008-10-25T19:00:00.000+01:00

I'm really sorry for the long hiatus, as I was settling down in London. Since I am more or less settled down now, I will blog again! London is really amazing, it was beyond my expectation. Every little new things here never failed to excite me!

3rd Oct 2008, the day I left Malaysia and headed to London. My family and friends went to KLIA to see me off. I was really touched and grateful. You guys rock!! I will upload the photos taken in KLIA soon. It was a really heartbreaking scene back then, but I suppressed myself not to shed tear. I wana leave a "neat" last image before departing >.<

In the Aerotrain

Departure Hall

Last glimpse of Malaysia

Me!

I was lucky enough to meet another 4 JPA scholars in the airplane. Guess what? All of them were heading to Imperial College London as well!! They were sitting very close to me. I thought that I was the most lucky person in the plane. Guess what again? There were 3 seats in my row and the 2 seats beside me were EMPTY!!! OMG!!! I CAN PRACTICALLY SLEEP THERE!! I GOT BUSINESS CLASS SEAT and PAID ECONOMY CLASS PRICE !!! My mate, Xing Xian complained that the girl that sat beside him "tak boleh tengok" XD. So I asked him to sit beside me. I sacrificed the business class enjoyment for friendship !! haha!

Took a very blur photo from the plane. Aerial night scene of London. It was freaking nice when viewed from the such a great altitude.

After a tormenting 13 hours of flight, I reached London officially !! It was 5.50am and it was freaking cold. The temperature outside was 5C!! The scene that I saw in movie happened to me now, I saw mist when I talked XD

A passage in Heathrow Airport

Was waiting at the carousel to claim my luggage

"Yeng" or not >< UK Border Agency

I was quite lucky. My friend, Han Yang has a cousin that stays in London. He was very kind and guided us to our accommodation. We managed to save a lot of money. To take a cab to Evelyn Garden (my hall), I need a whopping 60GBP (divide by 2 person). By taking tube (& walking), we spent 2GBP only !! LOL !! Thanks Darwin!!

Tube station

Bought my Oyster card there

Was posing outside the tube station. My attire was formal cos JPA asked me to do so.
And I like it =D G2000 suit XD

Yan Sheng, Xing Xian n Han Yang

Guess what I saw in the telephone booth? Ahem... advertisement of... ahem.. nude(almost)... ahem... girls... ahem... with... their phone... numbers... Lots of them.... Wow.... Anyways, I glanced through only... jx = good boy !

After we dropped our luggage in our room, Darwin brought us and toured around London. Very very nice of him =) We headed to Oxford Street first.

The first item I bought in UK (I guess)!! I'm still keeping it. It costs me 2GBP. And I just realised that Marks & Spencer sells food as well (just like Tesco).

Then, Darwin brought us to Cafe Nero, where I had my first meal in London. The food was really nice. I had ham panini, cappucino n raspberry pie. Awesome !! The price was awesome too >.<

Cappucino. Tastes real good.

Chilled Raspberry Pie

All these photos were taken using Nokia N73's camera. Looks good?? Haha, this proved that a good photographer doesn't need a top-of-the-line camera to take great photos. ( Am I trying to hint something or anything? Hmmm... =D)

Ham panini

Argos Store. My first discovery in London - catalogue shopping!! Never heard of it before? You shop by browsing through catalogue and take down it's code and get it from a counter!! Very interesting concept >.<

Primark. You can get very cheap stuffs here. A great relief for students.

A statue at Queen's Gate.

London street

Yan Sheng was stunned.

The great Royal Albert Hall

Regent Street

Loooooooong limo..... darn it !!

Will post more photos on my life in London and trip to Belgium soon. Cheers =D

Off to London

2008-10-02T20:51:00.018+01:00

It's 4 am now. Guess what? I haven't started packing anything yet. Don't know where to start.

I thought of a lot of stuffs today.

Thought of how my parents brought me up, thought of my dad's advice, thought of how my mom taught me how to cook, thought of my naughty and mischievous sister, thought my thoughtful and sensible brother, thought of the time I've spent with my dear brah-ders, thought of sweet and sour incidents I've gone through.

All of these, will exist as sweet memories in 18 hours.

HALT!!!!! What nonsense is this... I've gone out of my mind >.<>

Usually, ppl that get to study abroad will feel very excited but it's the other way round for me. I miss everyone and everything here, in this lovely place.

Sadness>happiness = sad

It has been a hard time for me during the past few months. During the final exams period, when I was suppose to concentrate on my studies, I have struggled on scholarship applications, university applications, things I should not have worried about. But I made it through.

I dreamt of studying in UK since long time ago but my family's financial status hinders my dream. I need a staggering RM850k to study in Imperial College London.

Oh yes, I was also lucky enough to secure an offer from Imperial College London. I jumped around like a kangaroo in my living room when UCAS informed me about the offer. It's ranked 5th in the world by Times Higher Education.

Top unis in the world

During the final exams period, I have applied for 7 scholarships, even the not-so-relevant ones. The furthest I could go was Astro Scholarship; I managed to get into the final interview with 7 other scholars. But unfortunately, I bumped into a professor (Malay Literature) that had no idea wtf I was talking about. I guess engineering ppl doesn't go that well with literati. Or it's just my sole unfortunate case.

Then my saviors, Princess Char, Prince AndrewTan and Prince Sithan informed me about the inaugural JPA scholarship solely for students that managed to secure offers from top universities in the world. Char was the first to inform me and encouraged me to really look into it. Andrew informed me a bit later. He too, called me and encouraged me to pursue my dreams over and over again. Sithan, although he informed me about this scholarship one day before the deadline, I am also grateful that I am in your mind. Thanks everyone !!

I am trying to find out how to get to my hostel by tube tomorrow. Although my seniors recommended us to take the cab but I want to save money. Things ain't so cheap there. I can save at least 45 pounds by taking tube. Also, I will reached London around 5.50am tmr. Plenty of time to explore around and find my way there. I love to explore new places, it's challenging!! Wish me luck !!

Tube map

Oh ya, to my dear sis, Ellen... A sincere advice to you, it's not easy to make me cry in the airport later. In fact, it's darn hard >.<

Ellen

Farewell Card

Farewell Dinner

Macho Mr Mark

Smile!!

It's 4.56 am now, I guess I should start packing >.<>

Pangkor, HERE I COME!!!!

2008-09-04T20:20:00.005+01:00

Im sorryyyyyyy!! Whoopssss, can't you see I'm trying hard to revive my blog?? I am really really busy with all the visa, med check-up, university and scholarship stuffs. I will make a "Flashback Series" in dairy style soon to make up for my unforgivable laziness for the past 3 months ><

Yes.... Im going to Pangkor not long after the Redang trip. This 3-days-2-nights-trip is organised by Malaysian Union of Imperial College London. It's actually a predeparture "brief-ing"... Fortunately, the union itself is filthy rich, therefore the trip is heavily subsidised!! It will only cost me RM65 for a 3D2N trip. Gosh!!

Haha, ICL students always wants to be special, unlike other commoners who have held their briefings sessions in hotel ><

It's 3.45am now and yet I still have not pack my luggage yet. Gonna take bus tmr... I wonder how many hours it takes to reach our destination ><"

Sex-ratio and other tables (quoted from wiki)
The Daily Mail, The Sun and other media outlets have republished statistical data on the ratio of female to male undergraduates that is researched by Push.co.uk. Push also publishes a wide range of tables and data about UK universities. The statistics show that the Royal Veterinary College has the highest ratio of females to males (80:20) and Imperial College London has the highest ratio of males to females (63:37)!!!

That's why andrew tan calls

Imperial College London

Imgayforreal College London.

Wish List : 1) I sincerely hope that this Pangkor Trip is not a gay trip.
2) I sincerely hope that this Pangkor Trip is not a gay trip.
3) I sincerely hope that this Pangkor Trip is not a gay trip.

(Kuo Jian, Elias, Chee Chung pls pray together LOL)

Okie, that's it for today! I will post more photos when I return.

Redang~~~ Here I come !!!

2008-07-01T03:18:00.002+01:00

hehe... As mentioned in the title, I'll be off to Redang Island for 4D3N. The flight is on 3.10pm. I will post photos up here soon !! WoooHoooooooooooo !!!!

WoooooHooooooo!! Redang trip in on!!!

2008-06-29T06:21:00.004+01:00

I've sent an e-mail to those that are joining the trip. I will post it up here as well.

Just a few things to add on before we embark on our very own 4D3N Redang Adventure. Although fuel price shot up crazily lately, but fortunately, our trip expenditure will not be affected. Currently, our group consists of 20 people.

Our original 3D2N budget was RM360. But since we are taking flight and reach KT one day earlier, we will have to spend another RM60 to 70+. I believe I've told all of you about this.

p/s : please bring some extra cash** (RM 50 will do), just in case you spent more than your own budget. (This happens a lot, especially to those with itchy hands >.<)

** : Transport to LCCT (if you are not going LCCT straight), taxi fare from KT airport to Hotel, lunch/dinner in KT (not Redang island), souvenirs, extra services etc etc.

Anyways, the trip is from 1st of July (Tuesday) to 4th of July (Friday). Hopefully no one misremembered the date.

Okay, this is our current plan.

1st of July

Plan A - 10.30am - Meet up at Ikano Power Centre. There is a free shuttle bus service to
Kelana Jaya LRT Station - KL Sentral - Lunch - LCCT Airport - K.Terengganu Airport - - Seri Malaysia Hotel

Plan B - Meet at KL Sentral straight on 11.15am

Plan C - Meet at LCCT straight on 2.10pm

Ppl staying in BU, DU, DJ, KT, TTDI are recommended to pick Plan A.

( Pls SMS me to inform that you're coming ).

The flight is on 3.10pm. We will reach KT around 4.00pm.

2nd of July

6.30 / 7.00 am - Wake up - breakfast - check out.
8.00am +/- - Pelangi's coach will pick us from Seri Malaysia Hotel and drop us at Merang Jetty.
9.30am - Board boat to Redang Island.

Complete Itinerary - http://www.redangpelangi.com/itinerary.htm

4th of July

9.00am - Check out
1.00pm - Board bus back to PWTC
9.00pm - Reached PWTC** - Dinner (optional)

** - There is a monorail station nearby. It leads to KL Sentral. Most probably I will board the monorail back. You can join me if you want.

Bring sunblock/sunglasses if you don't wana turn into roasted pork.
Don't eat too much these few days, unless you don't mind looking at your flabby flabs "flabbing" around >.<
Please be considerate too, don't pollute the gorgeous scenery of Redang Island.
Haha! Just joking!

Please call me if you have anything to ask.

Cheers,
Jun Xuen

I'm Back !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-06-28T16:47:00.003+01:00

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee !!!!!!! Exams is over !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Opsssss, I meant A-Levels is over !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hehe... really sorry for leaving this blog empty and dead... It has been 2 months since my last update. Gladly, exam is over! Got a lot of stuffs to catch up now. So, I will be very very active these few days... There's a great amount of events that happened when I was inactive here.

Went to 1utama today. Bought some very very nice Seed and Padini shirts. I'm suppose to get only 2 shirts, but eventually I bought 3 shirts. It's because I can't make up my mind btwn 2 very classy looking shirts, so I bought both >.<
It's expensiveeeeeeeeeeeee !!! Burnt a darn big hole in my wallet.
But it's absolutely worthwhile.
I'm gonna wear it soon at prom. No worries, you will see it soon.

I wandered around in 1U for 2 hours to search for a gift for my date. Then, I stumbled upon something nice and sweet. Hopefully she will like it =)

Prom is on Monday and I still have ZERO knowledge regarding ballroom dancing... Gah... went out with buddies practically everyday and forgotten abt that >.<
Also, Redang Island trip is just on the next day after prom. Can't wait!!!
Tight schedule haha!!

Wootz... gonna go 1u again to get my swimming trunks... I was so blur, totally forgotten abt it when I shopped for shirts zzzz

K ciaoz =)

China Earthquake & Myanmar Cyclone

2008-05-19T15:37:00.005+01:00

Feel free to link or republish the 2 previous posts regarding the donation info/relief fund in your website or blog. Just like how Renise did in her blog. I don't know her but she did a great job on republishing the donation infos.

Please spread the words.

Save as many life as possible.

Thank you =)

China Earthquake

2008-05-17T14:56:00.011+01:00

Disasters struck the Earth consecutively, unrelentingly and cruelly.

Just a few days after Nargis cyclonic storm struck Myanmar, an earthquake hit SiChuan province, China.

The whole of Wenchuan province was destroyed.

I feel sad and depressed after reading the news. There was this parents that shielded their 4 years old daughter using their own bodies. A wall fell down and crushed the girl's parents. The girl was safe and unharmed. But does she realize that her parents sacrificed their life to save her and she is an orphan now? After the rescuers brought her out from a pile of debris, she kept repeating her own name, house address, where she is studying etc in an innocent way.
This is a scene that will make even the most cruel criminal shed tear.

A primary school with 19 classes of students with a total amount of 900 PRIMARY school students were buried ALIVE when they're studying....
ahhhhhh how can that happen???? WHY???
When a boy was rescued out alive, a whole crowd of anxious and worried parents rushed to him and asked him did he see their children? Then the boy said, "I heard my friend, Mong Ying was complaining that something heavy is pressing on her, she was murmuring that her body is very pain..."

A survivor's hand.

Horrible sight. Look closely. This is not fair but what can we do?

It was also reported that one primary school teacher used his own body to shield 3 primary school students from falling debris. The 3 students were safe but the teacher sacrificed his own life. These 3 students really really have to remember this scene in their entire life and be very very grateful for what their teacher had done for them. This incident have to be spread to their future generations, as without the teacher, they will not exist in this world.
I truly salute this honorable teacher. He did more than what a teacher should do.

In the hospital, a lot of children have to be amputated in order to stay alive. They're bleeding profusely. There was this young boy that was about to lose both his arms. The doctor told the boy that he have to amputate the boy's arm. The boy said, "Doctor, can you please leave one arm for me? I have to do my homework." The doctor said, "I'm sorry, my boy. If you want to keep one arm, that arm will cost your life."

So, please help them.

And yea, something weird that I wana share. Today, one of my friend that is quite wealthy sms me to ask me whether am I donating to the China's Relief Fund. I replied yes, and I'm truly grateful that he is willing to approach me initiatively. So, he asked me how much am I donating. I told him the amount.

Then guess what he replied? He said, "Where you get that money?"

My own money lahhh, duhhh. Haha!!! xD I felt weird and a bit insulted. My first impression to that reply is that, he is shocked that I'm donating an amount of money that doesn't suit me. Haha! I'm not living in a wooden house. Okay, I might not be as rich as you and I know I don't spend a lot when I go out. I don't simply spend money. I save money. And I only use it when it is necessary, just like this case.

****************************************************************************************
I've compiled a list of local funds to aid the China ppl.

—- DONATION WEBSITES —-

-Local-

YAYASAN SIN CHEW
http://www.sinchew-i.com/special/wecare/

(I strongly recommend you all to donate to this aid fund. It is a very creditable and trustable fund, they've engaged in charity since 2001)

FOR YAYASAN SIN CHEW, send/Direct Bank In cheques to:
YAYASAN SIN CHEW

2-12479-00043019 (RHB Bank)

or send to 星洲日报总社义款部 19, Jalan Semangat, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Established in 2001, it is the official charity arm of Sin Chew Daily. It provides a reliable and transparent channel for donors to contribute towards the needy regardless of age, race, creed or religion. Projects include Rumah Charis, Project Love, WeCare Sponsor-A-Child, Cambodia Education Project, Society of the Interpreters For The Deaf and bursaries for poor students.

Tel: 03-7965 8675

For ppl that can read Mandarin.
http://www.sinchew-i.com/donation.html

Credits to:
http://www.usj.com.my/bulletin/upload/showthread.php?threadid=22925

Mercy Malaysia
http://www.mercy.org.my/main/index.php

(I'm not sure whether are they aiding Myanmar only or they aid both China and Myanmar.)

MAYBANK
Account's name: MERCY Humanitarian Fund
Account no. : 5621 - 7950 - 4126

ABA Swift Code: MBB EMY KLA
Address: MAYBANK BERHAD, 20G-28G, Jalan Wawasan 4/5, Bandar Baru Ampang, 68000 Ampang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.

For Maybank2u.com users, donate here.

The Buddhist Tzu Chi Merit Society

The Buddhist Tzu Chi Merit Society has set up a fund in aid of earthquake victims in Sichuan Province in China.

To contribute to the Buddhist Tzu Chi International Relief Fund, Malaysians can send their cheques made payable to the Buddhist Tzu Chi Merit Society to the association's office at 316, Jalan Macalister, 10460 Penang.

They can also bank the cheques into Maybank account 507013126489 at 9, Union Street; or Public Bank account 3102212517 at 87, Lebuh Bishop.

Donations can be made online at www.maybank2u.com.myor www.pbebank.com.

Donors should mail their bank-in slip, name, MyKad number and address to the society for the issuance of receipts.

**********************************************************************************
These info are taken from this website.
Kudos to them! Good job! Thank you for compiling these data.
http://www.pjnet.com.my/ftopic-12827-0-days0-orderasc-.html

Help the Sichuan, China Earthquake Victims / 帮助四川地震灾民
May 14, 2008 — lifeinmotion

—- DONATION WEBSITES —-

——————–
INTERNATIONAL
——————–

To donate directly to a Chinese Non-profit, a good choice is Jet Li’s One Foundation. Jet Li is an ambassador for the Red Cross Society of China. His fund, as of 4/15/2008, has raised RMB 10,677,267 ($6,590/RMB 46,130 from Paypal donations)

http://www.one-foundation.com/html/cn/beneficence_01.htm
Click on the “paypal” button

The site is in Chinese only, but I have read it. One key point to know about your donation there:
1. The FULL amount of your donation will be transferred to the Red Cross Society of China.

The website provides full transparency on how its funds are distributed.

http://www.one-foundation.com/html/02/n-102.html

I Googled the foundation and found quite a bit of press coverage, so I felt comfortable posting it as a donation destination.

——
U.S.
——

FINALLY! You can now donate directly to the American Red Cross China Relief fund. The link is provided below, before you donate, please read the paragraphs regarding fund use:

https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?idb=252516977&df_id=3198&3198.donation=form1

Additional information regarding relief efforts by the American Red Cross is provided here
http://www.redcross.org/news/in/profiles/Intl_profile_ChinaEarthquake.html

A recent post in this group mentions the possibility that donations to the American Red Cross does not fully transfer over to the Red Cross Society of China. I am attempting to reach the local director of the Red Cross in my area for a clarification on the exact use of fund for everyone, but probably won’t get an answer until tomorrow afternoon.

If anyone has any clarification on the matter please let everyone know ASAP.

All this being said, ARC does have a four star rating from Charity Navigator for its effective use of donations. http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/content.view/catid/2/cpid/43.htm
And your donation will be used specifically for the Chinese Relief effort.

However, your donation maybe be put to best use by directly wiring money to the Red Cross Society of China (listed in the CHINA section) or through Jet Li’s One Foundation (listed in the INTERNATIONAL section) rather than the American Red Cross.

More updates to come.

——–
CHINA
——–
Directly wiring your donation to Chinese banks is possible:

Account name: Red Cross Society of China
开户单位：中国红十字会总会

RMB Donations:
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China:
人民币开户行: 中国工商银行北京分行东四南支行
人民币账号: 0200001009014413252

Foreign Current Donations:
CITIC Bank branch:
外币开户行：中信银行酒仙桥支行
外币账号: 7112111482600000209

Hotline: (8610) 65139999
Online donations:
Red Cross Society of China website: www.redcross.org.cn

中国红十字基金会同时也接受社会各界捐赠：
http://www.crcf.org.cn/donationol/donation.asp
Thank you Clare Gu for the notification!

Thank you for spending your precious time!

Flame on !!!

2008-05-09T14:42:00.019+01:00

My 2nd post of the day. Usually, if I blog twice in a day, the 2nd post must be something very special, shocking, depressing or agitating. In this case, it's AGITATING. If you're standing near me now, I bet you can feel the torrents of heat dissipating from my head now.

I'm furious now, as in REALLY WRATHFUL NOW. My mouth is wide open and the word "wtf wtf" keep appearing in my mind. I'm utterly speechless now. I'm not being emotional, but I sense something ain't right.

I'm sure you all know abt the Myanmar Cyclonic Storm Nargis issue. That's really shocking. But what's more shocking that rendered me speechless is THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS AND FINALLY THIS !!! Credits to these websites for revealing the truth. =)

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- Authorities in cyclone-ravaged Myanmar have seized United Nations aid intended for victims of the disaster, prompting the organization to halt future relief flights, a U.N. World Food Program official said.

"This is another example of them actively getting in the way of relief getting to the victims," said Tony Banbury, Asia director of the World Food Program.

"This has never happened before," he told CNN on Friday.

To complicate matters, Myanmar's embassy in Bangkok, Thailand -- where aid groups have been waiting for days for entry permission -- was closed on Friday for a holiday.

(really pathetic ppl)

BANGKOK - With up to 100,000 dead and one million homeless, aid is slowly making its way to victims of cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, but the country's military regime continued Thursday to stall many foreign efforts.

"I don't think we're entirely surprised. We know the nature of the Burmese military regime. This is a regime that hasn't been known to take the interests and rights of its people to heart. We know about their abuses, not just of democracy but of human rights in Burma, but nevertheless, the Burmese people are suffering. Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, are dead or displaced. The world community wants to help, and I think we're all prepared to put aside our concerns about how Burma is run for the next few weeks, just to deliver humanitarian assistance," Harper said Thursday.

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday urged Myanmar's junta to allow international aid into the country to help victims of the cyclone, saying it should not be a political issue.

Rice said the United States had appealed to countries with influence over Myanmar -- China, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and India -- to get them to use their leverage to convince the junta to allow in aid so far refused.

"What remains is for the Burmese (Myanmar) government to allow the international community to help its people. It should be a simple matter. It is not a matter of politics. This is a matter of a humanitarian crisis," Rice told reporters.

"The junta should please open its doors and let the international community provide humanitarian assistance to the people in Burma," he added. "I don't want to say a whole lot more because I don't want to politicize this."

YANGON, May 9 (Reuters) - The U.N. food agency suspended aid flights to cyclone-struck Myanmar on Friday after the military government seized two deliveries at Yangon airport, apparently determined to distribute supplies on its own. The shipments of 38 tonnes of high-energy biscuits, enough to feed 95,000 people, were intended to be loaded on trucks and sent to the inundated Irrawaddy delta where most of the estimated 1.5 million victims need help.

"We're going to have to shut down our very small airlift operation until we get guarantees from the authorities that we'll be able to have the food when it arrives," U.N. World Food Programme regional director Tony Banbury told CNN.

"I am furious. It is unacceptable."

"It should be on trucks headed to the victims. You've seen the conditions they are in. That food is now sitting on a tarmac doing no good," Banbury said.

All these are extracted from the above linked websites.

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p/s : In case you have no idea what is military junta, I will explain it here.

A military junta is government by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors. It originally referred to an executive body that came to power after a military coup in 20th century Latin America. Often it becomes a military dictatorship, though the terms are not synonymous.

The military junta that governs Myanmar currently is called the State Peace and Development Council (if I'm not mistaken).

****************************************************************************************

Yes, this is what angers me!!
Planes loaded with food and equipment from several Asian countries have landed in Yangon in the past few days and two flights with supplies from the WFP. SUPPLIES TO AID THE NEEDY PPL ARE STUCK AT THE AIRPORTS, HARBORS !! The supplies --- food, medical supplies, water are THERE, but the ppl cannot use it !! How ironic is that??!! They are already at the doorsteps of Myanmar. No time should be wasted; visa and travel documents should be speedily approved to allow relief operations to fly in as soon as possible !!

"In this case, Asean should encourage and apply reasonable pressure on the Myanmar government to allow relief operations to come in without having to go through Myanmar’s restrictive normal political or immigration channel."

"Humanitarian aid and relief operations should now supersede all forms of political considerations."

Yes, I know the western countries have imposed tough sanctions against Myanmar over its human rights record, punitive measures that have antagonized the government.
But still... humans life are at stake now..
In my humble opinion, they should put aside all their political disputes and ease the pain of their ppl at the moment. MILLIONS OF YOUR PPL are in pain, starving and dying!!

This is our current world now, so be it.

Anyways, pls check out my previous blog post if you're interested to donate money/ help the needy ppl.

Myanmar Cyclone

2008-05-09T11:40:00.012+01:00

Please read the p/s right at the end of this post!!

WorldVision

These are video clips from World Vision.

Cyclone Nargis has wreaked major devastation on the Irrawaddy Delta region and Yangon city of Myanmar.
According to state news reports more than 22,000 people were killed and over 1 million have lost their homes. The cyclone is the deadliest natural disaster to hit Myanmar in recent history. The government has declared a state of emergency in five provinces, and has invited World Vision to assist in relief efforts.

World Vision is distributing relief items and has sent assessment teams to the worst hit areas.
For updates, please visit http://www.wvasiapacific.org/

To contribute towards relief efforts undertaken by World Vision, please click here.

MERCY MALAYSIA

MERCY Malaysia is an international non-governmental organisation, a member of the Asian Disaster Reduction & Response Network (ADRRN) and the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA). MERCY Malaysia has Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC) and is certified by the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) International.

MERCY Malaysia Prepares Deployment of Rapid Assessment Team to Yangon, Myanmar

MERCY Malaysia will be deploying a two-member relief team to Yangon tonight (8th May). A second team will be deployed on Friday. If you wish to support our efforts to bring emergency humanitarian aid to the survivors of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar.

At present, MERCY Malaysia is preparing emergency relief items to be sent to Yangon, including 400 kilogrammes or 57,600 pieces of water purification sachets. Each sachet purifies 10 litres of water.

Safe potable water is critically needed in Myanmar post-Cyclone, and MERCY Malaysia plans to expand its Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programmes to ensure safe water for the survivors is sustained.

Other items include 2,000 kilogrammes of plastic sheets and 50 kilogrammes of pharmaceutical drugs to be sent to Yangon.

MAYBANK
Account's name: MERCY Humanitarian Fund
Account no. : 5621 - 7950 - 4126

ABA Swift Code: MBB EMY KLA
Address: MAYBANK BERHAD, 20G-28G, Jalan Wawasan 4/5, Bandar Baru Ampang, 68000 Ampang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.

OR

RHB Bank
Account's name: MERCY Malaysia
Account no : 2-12273-0000-9257

Cyclone Nargis, Myanmar
Tuesday, 06 May 2008

The following are the details of emergency response :

Latest Update

International Response

Source: http://www.reuters.com

Nearly 22,500 killed, 41,000 missing.
One million homeless.
Irrawaddy delta - 5,000 sq km under water.
Entire towns virtually destroyed

MERCY Malaysia is on standby to deploy a team to Myanmar to help survivors of Cyclone Nargis.
MERCY Malaysia has allocated an initial RM150,000 for aid response in Myanmar.
MERCY Malaysia issued a public appeal via its website for funds.
The International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) has allocated USD189,263 from the Emergency Fund to support the Myanmar Red Cross (MRCS) to conduct assessments of affected areas and distribution of relief items.
The IFRC will distribute 2,000 extended family kits in Yangon today.
A total of 2,000 hygiene kits and 2,000 shelter kits are ready to be flown from Kuala Lumpur and Dubai to Myanmar, due to arrive in two days.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has handed over four vehicles and drivers to MRCS to conduct needs assessment in provinces.
World Vision will provide food and water in Yangon.
The United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA)’s Logistics Supply Unit are on standby to mobilise supplies from Brindisi, Italy including a shipment of water supply and sanitation items, as well as shelter items. Yangon airport is however still closed.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is prepared to lead the shelter cluster and provide medical supplies and other non-food items but will await more information from Yangon before confirming its role.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has 400 metric tonnes of food prepared to delivery to Myanmar.
The United Nations’ Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has water, school, nutrition and medical kits prepared.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is prepared to provide medical kits.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has prepared other relief materials.

Pls do contribute, no matter how big/small the amount is, because every cent helps!!!

I know it's hard for me to go there but the least I can do is to provide them with financial aid. So everyone, pls do your part!

p/s: I'm going to donate via MERCY MALAYSIA's bank account, whoever that is lazy to walk to the bank, I can "tumpang" you. Just give me a call and tell me how much you wana donate, you can pay me back later. Thanks!

The Ultimate Showdown

2008-05-08T11:19:00.007+01:00

Next Tuesday, which is May 13th 2008.
It will be the day that is able to change my future ENTIRELY.
If I succeed, I will be able to help a lot a lot of people next time.
Thanks for giving me another chance to prove myself worthy.
I really appreciate that!

Stay tune for more updates! xD haha
I decided to keep this suspended. Suspense is good for health =)

The ultimate showdown, the final touchdown
May 13th 2008

My day

2008-05-07T16:03:00.017+01:00

Yesterday, first round of interview for Astro scholarship has ended. And I was the last candidate. I guess they saved the best for the last. Just jokin' Haha !! must be humble, boy.

I'm informed by Ms Connie, the soft-spoken and friendly Human Capital Development personnel (HR) that there was 100+ ppl that applied for this scholarship and I'm among the 20+ ppl that got shortlisted. (for engineering courses, I suppose). There was 3 interviewers, Ms Jolyn, Mr Karuna, Mr Law and 1 observer, Ms Connie. They were very friendly and made the interview session more like a chit-chatting session. Thanks again !!! =)

Ms Connie, thanks for arranging my interview session, I really appreciate it =)

Astro HQ is quite far from my place. Mom dropped me at Kelana Jaya LRT Station. Then I went to Masjid Jamek Station. Switched to StarLink and went to Bkt Jalil Station. Took a cab to Astro HQ in Technology Park. It was quite far in. Then I realised I have only a piece of rm50 bank note. The cab fare was rm3.50. Fortunately, I managed to scavenge rm3 worth of coins. He accepted it. I guess my persuading skill was superb (or the cab driver was friendly enough xD haha).

My first self-portrait in this blog xD haha! how how?
Taken in Sri Petaling Station after interview. Lookin' smart? nah...

Taken the same road back. But it's very hard to hail a cab or bus in front of Astro HQ. I've waited for some time. So I decided to seek help from ppl driving out from Astro HQ.
Hehe, tested my persuading skill again. Haha! There was this friendly guy that is willing to accept a hitchhiker. Keep that wide smile on your face and be very polite, it always works for me!!

He dropped me at Sri Petaling Station. I had a chat with him. Apparently, he works in the production section of the company. And he get to see ARTISTE ALL THE TIME!!! Whoa!! He definitely enjoys his work a lot. Thanks, Mr Kuok Chong !! (if i'm not mistaken xD)

Today, went to library in college. Practiced Mechanics. Then suddenly dee dee char char (not bu bu cha cha xD) popped up from no where. They gave me a huge surprise!!! They gave me a birthday present!! that's sweet =) Thanks again ya!! I really appreciate it!! Im gonna wear it on Friday xD or prom xD (char will strangle me, then slice me into 18^5 pieces, then bring my corpse to Redang and put on the BBQ grill)

Nicely Wrapped

Guess what's inside?

A T-Shirt!! Funny quote >.<

That's my day. How's yours?

30-HOUR FAMINE by WorldVision !

2008-05-04T14:45:00.004+01:00

Yes !!!! 30-HOUR FAMINE is BACK !!!!!!!!!!! It's bigger, stronger and and and what?

30-HOUR FAMINE 2008
by WorldVision

The Famine has always been about enlarging world views and empowering people to fight poverty and injustice. This year we are taking it a step further and giving West Malaysians the power to run their own unique Famine camps.

26 + 4 = 30!
Fast for 26 hours with your camp mates and come for an exciting 4-hour countdown event on the 24th August 2008.

A centralised Famine camp will be organised for East Malaysians from 29th - 30th November 2008.

More details will be made available on the official Famine website. (Coming Soon!)

Click here for more info !

I will definitely join it again, if I'm still in Malaysia at that time.
So, who's up for the challenge ??
And yes, for charity !!
Even I can stand 30 hours of hunger, I'm pretty sure you all sure can do it as well !!!

Weeeee !! Astro Scholarship Awards Interview !!!

2008-05-02T12:53:00.004+01:00

Went to watch Ironman with aloi, danny, nicholas, wen loong and andrew today...

IT'S DEFINITELY THE COOLEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR so far!!!

It's a "must watch" movie!! Two thumbs up !!! The whole movie was really thrilling, right from the start to the end.

Cool heh? You should see how he assembles his gold titanium alloy suit.

I'm not going to be a spoiler, so go watch it yourself. The movie ended at 4.25pm. Then we hanged around in the arcade till 5pm+
I din play anything tho, im seriously broke lately.

Then I went to 7-11 in the curve to get some sweets. I saw strepsils and that reminded me abt "the coughing girl" that interrogated me abt my student ID when I was half-conscious. So I sms her to ask abt her the coughing. She hasnt cured yet, she said. So, I sent her a peppermint-flavour-flying-kiss-via-handphone , but to no avail xD

But she was happy that she had bought a pair of radiant shoes that made her looks like a princess. I guess it's for prom, Princess Char.

Then, miracle happened. Straight after she sms me, I received a call from an unknown number. So, I answered it.

Here it goes, "May I speak to E.. J.. X...? I'm calling from Astro. It's regarding the Astro Scholarship Award. Congratulations! You have been shortlisted for the first round of interview."

I was utterly dumbfounded. So elated and shocked.
Then after 10 seconds, WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!
I'M SHORTLISTED FOR A SCHOLARSHIP INTERVIEW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess char (or her glowing shoes) is my lucky star !!

Gotta study for final exams and prepare for interview. ZzZzZzzz

That's my day, how's yours?