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May 18 Sound of Music @ Central Station Antwerp (Belgium)This video was made in the Antwerp, Belgium Central Station (train). On a Monday
morning, with no warning to the passengers passing through the station, a
recording of Julie Andrews comes on the public address system singing “Do, Re,
Mi.” Ah! How amazing if people could just burst into song and dance spontaneously without being branded 'crazy'. I think people will live longer and happier. YouTube - Sound of Music | Central Station Antwerp (Belgium) April 28 Soldier of Fortune and the GeneralLet me tell you a story: Once upon a time, there was a country called Gafroniak. It had an army of great and able men led by its firm but kind General. The men and women of the army served the General with purpose and, determination and hard work. Always sacrificing their all for the country. Although they lived in peace as well as abundance, there was an inevitable feeling of not being rewarded fairly for all their work and sacrifice. The General
Slowly but surely the able and skilled men left the army to join private armies which were run by corporate figures who rewarded fairly based on performance and skills. As this was happening, a Colonel and his Lieutenant were still fighting battles, plugging holes where the men left. The Colonel has served over 10 years and his Lieutenant 8 years in the force. Here were 2 of the General’s most trusted men and yet even they were unable to convince the General to reward the men fairly as they deserved. The Colonel
The Colonel finally had enough and was laying down his gun for the private armies too. Leaving his Lieutenant to command the rest of the men who would stay. The Lieutenant kept in communication with all the men who had left and they were all asking him to join them as they are now not only trained in more modern warfare tactics and weaponry but also rewarded very richly based on performance and skills. The Lieutenant
Someone came to knock on the Lieutenant’s door and offered him a better position and reward in their army. Reluctantly, he left the army he had so faithfully served and had deep emotional connections to give his family a better life. The General had to recruit a new Lieutenant to make up for the loss of 2 good men. As it turns out, the new Lieutenant, had the same number of year’s experience as the man he is replacing albeit having served in the armies of various countries. His record was shady and not much known about him. Efforts to trace his past was greeted with information of his ineffectiveness and ‘soldier-of-fortune’ nature. Here was a man the General immediately promoted to Colonel and paid 5-times more than the Colonel and way more than the Lieutenant who just left. ‘Soldier of Fortune’ Colonel
What justice is this? Why were the soldiers who had so faithfully and selflessly served under the General be treated with such injustice? Was the General taking them all for granted that they’d never leave for greener pastures? Was the General being partial? Was he losing it? It doesn’t matter now. All that the good men know is that their departure was fully justified and their emotional attachment to the army of Gafroniak is but all gone. April 27 My Post Referred on BaiDuWow! Didn’t know despite a long hiatus from writing on my blog that one of the blog entries would feature that high on BaiDu. Not proud of the subject though but it may not be as surprising as this should appear to be. I remember either listening to this on the radio or read it in a newspaper report that if you went on search engines and typed in ‘racist, racism’ or other related words, more often than not, reference would be made to websites or blogs in South East Asia. Kids will drive you crazy…My own, that is. Well, most kids do that la but mine are masters at the art of driving parents crazy. I never spare the rod but I’m afraid sometimes I get driven so far, I go berserk. No worries my friends, I have not reached the abuse level yet. However, I fear I may be close to that so I gotta be really conscious when I punish the kids. My wifey provides a good control though. Well, we both try to be the check and balance for each other when we’re angry at the kids. Angelic looking in still photos but far from giving us any stillness at home. December 08 Bukit Antarabangsa LandslideHow does one prepare for tragedies like this? Answer: You don't and you can't. Quite simply, as humans we rarely think about death or being involved in accidents and accidents happen too quickly for you to prepare against it.
For those who don't know where I stay, the area has been throughly covered by news agencies since Saturday 6.12.08. I stay further up the hill from where the landslide happened but I have to pass by the bungalows and houses on the way home. The homes that were destroyed are homes that I am ll too familiar with and see everyday. To know that they no longer stand and some of the inhabitants were killed, brings about a feeling of sadness and thankfulness all at once.
Sad because this was a needless loss of life; a mother, a daughter, a son, a friend, a fellow Malaysian. Thankful because my family and I are not directly affected. My wifey usually has her usual night out on Friday evenings and would return about 3-4 am. That evening she didn't feel very 'nice' and decided to come home early, about 1.30 am or so. If she decided to come home at her usual hours, best case scenario: she'd be cut off from us as she would be at the other end of the landslide, worse case scenario: she'd be buried under tonnes of earth as she drives home. I'm glad neither happened.
I must take my hats off to all those who worked helped in the search and rescue as well as the army that were directly involved in helping residents evacuate the area. My condo is safe. Well at least I think it is but that would be taking things for granted. Nothing is really sure on the hill now. But without power, phone lines (and therefore internet connectivity) for potentially 4-5 days, wifey and I decided to evac to my mom's first.
There's wifey carrying Chloe and Sean walking ahead pass the destruction of houses about 150m away from ground zero.
You'll never guess how the MPV ended up that way. Too much details for me to be bothered to type out.
Left home with 3 sets of clothes each and personal docs and left behind everything else including the 2 cars. Now we're just praying for those who lost loved ones and hope they will heal in time. November 30 Mamma MiaI wouldn't have watched this movie if my wife hadn't out it on on the PC in our bedroom. I'm not the sort of guy that go and seeks out movies like this to watch. I'd on occasions buy them for wifey to watch if I know she wants to watch it badly.
Having said that, it wasn't half as bad as I expected it to be and turned out to be quite enjoyable. In fact, one of the better musicals I've seen. Before Mamma Mia, it'd be High School Musical 1 and 2. Again, watching them was not my choice as my kids would pester me to have it on the telly when it's being shown.
I think I enjoyed it more because it was a resurrection of songs I grew up listening to. Acting was good and who would expect anything less from the likes of Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan? What I was ore impressed with was that Chloe, our little 2 year old enjoyed it even more. She finished the whole movie almost without giving any trouble.
Problem is since then, wifey got hold of the soundtrack and Chloe would insist (and I'm not using this term lightly) to have it on in the car ALL THE TIME!! Everytime there's a screen, whether it's the tele or PC monitor, she INSISTS on watching Mamma Mia again and again and again and again and again.....
Needless to say the words of the songs and the movie is pretty much engraved into the brains of wifey and I by now. However, we began to wean Chloe off Mamma Mia at the same time we're trying to wean her off milk. She would cry blue murder each time we refused to comply with her request to put on anything to do with Mamma Mia. Too bad. Have to teach her that the world is not all blue skies, clear crystal waters and shit does happen.
I'm happy to report though that although she still cries, she's slowly getting the message. Those of you with children, beware of Mamma Mia or giving in to child tantrums. They would eventually kill you on way or another. October 29 Chelsea 0 vs 1 Liverpool - London Bridge has fallen down...For a more detailed match report please visit MyRAWK.
Here's an excerpt; courtesy of my-rawk.com and yours truly: I am well chuffed and there's not much more to say really. Winning away at the fortress called Stamford Bridge where the home team has been undefeated for 86 matches spanning 4 years says a lot already if you ask me. We went into the game with most, if not all pundits expecting Chelsea to maintain their record at the Bridge and even going on to beat us. Well let’s hear them now.
October 25 A Part of AnfieldHow many of you football fans out there can say that you own a piece of the hallowed ground where your beloved trod and battle every week?
I can. Lo and behold, the soil from The Kop End at Anfield.
Seriously. This was taken off the big chunk of soil stuck on the boot of my colleague who was there to take a penalty during 04/05 season's derby game at half time. It's part of his prize for winning a competition.
This hallowed bottle of Anfield will be part of my heirloom and now sits proudly on top of my display shelf in my living room. This will prove more valuable when Liverpool FC moves into its new stadia at Stanley Park.
You'll Never Walk Alone. October 22 Invitation - Chelsea vs Liverpool
MyRAWK, which I am proudly associated to are hosting a viewing party for the Top of the Table clash in the English Premier League. Liverpool vs Chelsea. Chelsea, guided by their new manager Luis Felipe Scolari against the 'chess' master Rafa Benitez. Join me and many others at M Bar in Phileo Damansara 1 as we sing and chant while supporting our beloved team, be it Liverpool or otherwise. The event starts at 8:30pm and there will be some free finger food. Kick off is at 9:30 pm. There will also be freebies - prizes, merchandises and door gifts, for everyone. Test your knowledge on LFC and win yourselves a prize as we will have quizzes and Q&A sessions. Guess the correct final scoreline and one of you will win a grand prize of a Motorola E206 courtesy of Fansrock.
Drink Prices: Happy HOURS all night long Beer Jug: RM35.00 Beer Tower: RM 70.00 October 21 Racial problemsLast weekend as I was driving my son home from school, I was scolding a cabbie out loud (not exactly screaming at the cabbie) in the car for making an illegal 'double-line' lane switch. Then I was just striking up a conversation with Sean and I said "I wonder why these people never get caught making illegal lane switching and I get summonses for illegal parking all the time?"
I was taken aback a bit by his reply although I'm not entirely surprised. He said, "that's because they are the same colour!". I asked him to elaborate and he said the people don't get caught because the authority share the same skin colour as them. Only those whose skin colour is different from the person in authority gets booked.
I never get the kids involved and I never talk about politics and current issues in front of them or out loud. I couldn't have planted this into his head. I asked him wherever did he get this idea and he said he it was his own opinion. My 8-year old son could recognize racism and biasness of people in power! I thought to myself, this country is really in a lot of trouble. The kids can now deduce such problems on their own just through their powers of observation.
A big part of his opinion would have formed when he attended Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan for 3 months last year. His classmates of the majority race huddled together and even bullied him, he was accused of starting a fight when he merely defended himself, his teachers who were obviously the same skin of the perpertrators would not believe my son. The teachers would not spend a single second to teach him anything he doesn't understand but gives attention to the 'others'.
Now, you tell me......where did he get his opinion about racial problems in Malaysia? October 15 An Unassuming Man - Paul PottsAn ordinary man, working out of a mobile phone store with a look no one will cast a second glance on the street. This is Paul Potts. Now, you are going to hear him sing opera to the dreaded Simon Cowell. Do note the facial expressions of all 3 judges. Priceless.
If your hairs stood when you heard him sing, then you know this guy has got talent. Very little will make my hair stand. This was one of it. The other was when Andy Gray shouted "Ohhhh ya beautayyyyy. What a hit son, what a hit!" Liverpool supporters will know what I mean. Paul Potts - Semi FinalPaul here sings Ave Maria in the semi finals of the competition. Great rendition and has a timbre similar to Andrea Bocelli but can be a bit more polished. But still good.
Paul Potts - FinalThe Final performance where Paul sings Nessun Dorma again but in all its glory. The eventual champion of Britain's Got Talent.
Now, if a mobile phone salesman can do it, then so can you. No matter what it may be. Just needs determination and that bit of confidence. October 14 Phone for saleFor my birthday recently, I got this baby as a gift from a friend. The Nokia E71.
Some people say that once you use a PDA phone you can never go back to a normal phone but I guess I never got used to the PDA phone. So this other baby, the Asus P750 which is still in excellent condition and with full box package still intact is for sale. Please mail me if you're interested. Still has about 1/2 year warranty running on it.
Live Streaming TVWell most of you already know I'm a Liverpool supporter and I watch a lot of football but I also happen to like fast cars. Which guy doesn't? So this season's F1 Championship is shaping up quite nicely with Lewis Hamilton leading the points tally. I am an agressive driver myself and I love the agressive F1 drivers. Schumacher was a favourite of mine until a certain incident in Austria left me with no respect for him. Then it was Alonso but his treatment of his old Mclaren team and team mate as well as arrogance drove me to hate him instead.
It was that season where Hamilton shone, outqualified and outdrove his seasoned team mate and looking to be the youngest ever F1 Champion that I had another driver that I admired. His agressive driving reminded me of Schumi and I droll at the prospect of both Schumi and Lewis driving on the same track. This was a young man that walks the fine line between self-confidence and arrogance.
Anyway, this season looked very good for Lewis heading into the last 3 races but because Japan was the host of the race last weekend, I couln't watch it on telly since I had to work. I had to look for a live stream I could watch it on. Fortunately, I found it and work was pretty quiet. Managed to watch the whole race on the web. It wasn't perfect as the internet speed in MAL is pretty bad and it was a start-stop affair but better than nothing.
I was disappointed that Lewis didn't win and Massa scored 2. This meant that the race will be more intense going into China and Brazil. Lewis had better win in China and make sure he stays close to Massa wherever he is on track in Brazil. That'll be the only way he can win the championship.
Go Lewis!
P.s. The live stream for the rest of the races this season can be viewed at: http://tvkitajaltv.blogspot.com/ October 10 I am Chai Kim SenLast night we were having some drinks with a colleague who was leaving us; Chris. It turned comical when Chai, our resident vulgarity lecturer cum joker popped a fish fritter into his mouth while it was till piping hot. The result can be seen in the video. What was funniest about this was he had just done the same thing with a calamari earlier but he obviously never learned his lesson. Lol.
October 06 32A couple of days earlier, I hit 32. Based on recent human lifespan, I'd say I probably reached halfway in my earthly life. I had an idea Cher was planning something for me so I told her that I'm old now. Don't like parties and don't like surprises. I just want to be with family on my birthday. Judging by the sudden influx of many text messages, I reckon I'd be in for a big surprise.
In the office, my colleagues treated me to a nice choc cheese cake. The cake however had this written on it by my fellow manager; an Arse(nal) fan: "MAN CITY 3-2 LIVERPOOL. HAPPY 32th BIRTHDAY." Obviously the scoreline was to rile me up and in conjunction with my age. I however, had it rearranged.
That evening itself, I returned to my mom's after work. Cher and the kids were out and I took a nap in the living room. All of a sudden my dad woke me up to pay for pizza. ?? Huh? It seems that Cher ordered pizza and since nobody cooked dinner I assume it was for that. Cher then returned with huge amounts of sushi and drinks. I went "oh no not a surprise party??" I was pleasantly surprised though that she called only my close guy friends. Gilbert and KCA turned up while Daniel caught the flu, Sam was in Paris for his honeymoon and Eric, well was being Eric. Told her Cher I appreciate being able to spend time catching up with friends.
I'd say it was one of my better birthdays to be honest, thanks to Cher and the team in the office. Martin Skrtel - Get Well SoonMartin Skrtel, 1 part of 4 in our fearsome quartet of defenders. A hard man and mean look.
In last night's match, he injured his knee pretty badly and had to be given oxygen and stretchered off. Early indications would point to ligament damage or it could even be a dislocation. Whatever it is, I hope he gets well soon and reclaims his place in the first 11.
For those who get squirmish at injury images, look away now.
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