109. Through the Eyes of the Pancake Hawker

Ideals/ Personal

- Through my eyes and mind.

First of all, thanks to Ninie~ for encouraging me to write on (especially on travel experiences - yes, on Mount Rinjani climb. Ninie is my fellow adventure/travel friend.) But I don't have yet the motivation and maybe, honestly no full and free-spirited spare time to lay down my accounts on the climbing experience. Much have been recorded through the photos and mostly kept dearly in the heart and mind. I did keep a timeline journal though.

*

It's late in the morning after a bank visit, a little boy his hand held by his mummy walk into a hawker centre. The mother said they will have some pancakes for lunch. Boy nods. So she makes the order and they stand by the pan-fried pancake hawker stall. This boy watches as the uncle cooks magic. With steam and smoke billowing up everywhere (it's common in any hawker centre.)

"Uncle, tua eh chi pao."

 "M: uncle, big one. one packet."

"Pao eh chi pao. ho, ho."

 "Uncle: one packet. ok ok." 

"lai, nor kor." 

"Uncle: come, two ringgit."

"oo chau bo uncle? Hor lu goh kor." 

"M: got change, uncle? Give you five ringgit."

"ei sai ei sai. chau lu sah kor. ho ah, kamsiah kamsiah."

 "Uncle: can can. Change you three ringgit. ok, thank you."

"kamsiah." 

"M: thank you."

*

So, I am (kinda) back (again.) haha. Was having just a little chat with my mum (I miss my family and home), and a bruder on our homeland (island to be specific) Penang and its heritage preservation. So much fuss about it in recent years. The matter has been around for decades since independence of the country anyway. It's so much fuss because we Penangites want our home to look like our home in they way it has always been very badly. The state government has been trying to do whatever it can. But of course nothing is perfect. There are times when nothing works out fine and times when efforts bear fruits. The keypoint is having growth and state wealth proportionate and at the same time preserving its heritage, maximum? Or just looks like that but in actual fact everything is like an overdressed mannequin. Read this article on Penang being soulless which has been on share circulation on Facebook among my fellow islander friends. Really, we really love Penang so much really.

I am not touching on how are we doing it or how do we do it. This just an expression. I am not involved in the cultural preservation and conservation of the heritages of Penang. Just a little bit here and there of how things look like through my experiences.

Just the mention of the word "Penang" whether as a name of place, your home or something to do with visiting places most locals will have a picture of hawker food stalls if not mobile street vendors if not the simple yet majestic Penang Bridge if not hill cable car if not Kek Lok Si temple if not traffic jam! No, traffic jam is exclusive to KL. My cousin says it's tenfold worse in Jakarta, Indonesia. True enough, I'd experienced it along the roads and highways around Bandung(also Indonesia.) yada yada

Yes, I am talking about the food stalls in Penang. Penangites just love to eat. And being health conscious at the same time. That's why we don't have the rate of obesity like in America. Just look at your food! How much oil and fat are in it - really yummy. Even Halal food in the streets- picture Nasi Kandar, served with generous amount of fat and oil. Surrender, as long as you enjoy eating.

That's one of the things that make up the picturesque Penang Island. A lot of chinese being non-Muslims so you have a lot of non-Halal food by the streets. I admit, even most simple Chinese dishes have pork lards all over them. I can read your mind, it reads char koay teow. Google whatever names/terms I post here which you think are alien.

The matter I am expressing on is the fact which brings about the existence of so many hawker food stalls there. I don't know even if there is a time when it all started. Or is it just natural, consequential or the thing to do to live. In other words, ricebowl for the vendors. History for sure tells us that there is a lot of immigrants from China, India and Arab. Whole lot of them were workers either forced by the colonizing army or just migrators. My grandfather (father's side) was one of them. So, that explains why are there so many Chinese vendors there in Penang. On why are they mostly revolved around food, it boils back to Penangites being food-lovers.hah. Food is generally the fuel to sustenance. To fill the stomach to survive.

Workers need food to continue working. Families need food to feed their children. The king needs food. We all need food. Again, why does it look like it's so abundant in Penang. Let's not over-analyze. Analysis and socio-economy reports have them. We're here to express and share. The fun part is that we Penangites are very proud of it for having such tasty gastronomy and it is officially regarded as a food paradise.

Typical of a hawker centre.

Many of the vendors were being interviewed over the recent years. They all shared one thing in common. They mention passion. But is that passion conceived (through interest) or through the need to survive back in the older days. Both ways, it can still be passion. Passion to serve is another way. I believe most of them serve as out of passion today. Most of them already have families. You and I and the rest are related to them here and there. Their immediate children may be already doing well in their careers. Some open a fixed shop as part of their family business expansion plan. This is one of the kinds of growth you see in Penang. Food and retail businesses.

Some could be still struggling to make ends meet. Putting bread on the plates of their families. Blood, sweat and tears still spill - the test of time do not compromise on this. No free lunch, so they say. Through my eyes I can only tell that they are working hard whether it is to serve society or as a hobby/passion (to cook and serve food) or altogether. The need to survive lies in the heart and soul of the people doing it.

*

Today, the boy who is a grown young man already. He walks to the stall and make his order, this time by himself with his family seated. This pan-fried pancake seller is still the same man who served in this hawker centre since a decade ago. Only shorter in height due to a slight hunch, with greyer hair and very seasoned/ worked skin. The same simple clothing and towels around. The pancake may not taste the same physically but it will still bear the same values of humility as of a cook's love in his cooking. And maybe the need to survive.

It still make children smile and grown adults cheer while they have the food. The child is me.

"uncle, tua eh chi pua." 

"J: uncle, big one, one plate."

"chiak eh ah? ho ah." 

"Uncle: eat here? ok."

"ah. chei lai bin"

 "J: yes, sitting inside"

"ho, ho." 

"Uncle: ok ok."

"lai siao lien eh, si kor."

 "Uncle: come young one, four ringgit."

"(wah..ki kheh liao..) ah." 

"J: (wah, price increase" yes."

"ok ya, chau lu chi kor."

 "Uncle: ok, change you one ringgit."

*

I can remember two places which sell this pan-fried pancake. A place which is no more was along Beach Street. Another which still exist is in Pulau Tikus. Check link for pictures. Keys: pancake, chinese, banana. Ah memories. My parents used to bring me to eat it or buy back home.

[Direct romanization/"pinyin" of Hokkien words are not accurate and may be incorrect. me not a complete penang hokkien speaker. buat malu jaa..a]
[Account of storytelling is not exact. Drama is added for twist.]
[Picture googled]

83. Search in Silence

Personal

Depeche Mode says it, Enjoy the Silence.

Simon & Garfunkel explains in the Sound of Silence.

Anyways, they are repeated quotes.

So there goes my last day and nights for Penang. Where I was at home. So many times I find myself doing nothing. As in nothing beneficial and just wasting time at least to my own senses. Like putting off agendas and rather than accomplishing them I just procrastinate.
And I always forget about giving myself a rest. ahha.. finally, after badminton on Tuesday I decided to give up on any fun activities. My mood's totally screwed. My heart sank. My muscles crying for some stationary comfortable oxygenated air. So, I contacted my brathers and a seester to announce my ppk-ing.

I went for silence after that.
Yer can say, I look moody. More like sleepy actually. My aim for my last day was to rest as "effectively"... Went out with my brother. Drop mum. Breakfast. Lorong Kulit. In between them were sleeps. And then treated myself with scrumptious, succulent, luscious, waliaueh blablabla KFC Zinger Tower X-Meal. Makan puas-puas dan kuat-kuat. Played a few missions of Ace Combat Zero. Did amazing dogfighting manoeuvres. Easy mode...so enemies are quite easily shot down.

At night after dinner was the consequence of last minute packing...it's normal. So the effective rest taken was put to energize myself to stand till pass midnight. Damn myself again...for having so much to pack and bring down to my rented house...especially moving new items. Still not all I have a household shopping list when I reach the jungle-forsaken-abode.

*

So there. I think I have typed too much to express my silence.

There's actually a lot of tension and pressure in myself when I stayed quiet. Lots of things running through my head. Trying to clear up my thoughts which bring me down. Thinking. Resolving. Searching.

And to Hooi, YW, Jonathan, KY and Jon thank you all for the company and fun activities together. To the others whom I met along the way and the invitations to join more fun activities, "merci beau coup".

Sepang says, "welcome back student".
Nilai says, "welcome back sucker".
I say, "cb-iah"/"cb-llar"-ala-TheHooiMAN

Song for a quiet company: Joe Satriani - Searching

82. Fuel and Food

Ideals/Personal

At the very least I could do for people lingering around the net with the existence of my blog is to update. Not obliging but of interest and fun which led to the conception of this blog.

And for Razor, who expressed his want of seeing an update. Thanks for joining our mini ball volleying morning exercise. Plenty soon. Some kicking ones.

What day is today? What significance does it bring? Nothing much. But for those celebrating and praying, Merry your Christmas happy the new year.

What does it mean to me?
1. A public holiday
2. Parents will be off from work
3. Going out or staying at home with parents
4. Collect presents from babysitter's house (years ago haha)
5. Being in Penang (but maybe not in the future, maybe)
6. Seeing chaos and somewhat polluted people at hype places (only for these few years because I only started to go out on the streets)
7. 6 days away from Global New Year

Nothing much.

But if you do have presents for me, do present it to me. I will sincerely find something to repay your kindness. Sadly, I am the lame and hopeless present buyer/giver for any occasion.

*

My main point is being alive and this blog is not abandoned.

With this comeback, I would like to congratulate Argyll Roti Canai stall for the upgrade, development and relocation to become a restaurant..as in it is now in a shop lot.

http://aini.rumahatiku.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/argyll-road-canai.jpg

No means of plagiarism but just linking and referring. That's the old place. Just some 4-cars-long distance from there is their new place. No photo of the new place, go see it for yourself.

It's my self-induced gratitude to give some recognition and promotion to them here. That's the Argyll Road RC which you somehow would have came across the term in my old posts. Situated near Ah Hooi's place. Argyll Road la..tahu-tahulah.dari Penang Road dan di penjuru tiga situ.

My opinion of pros and cons.
Pros:
1. Cleaner
2. More space, to accomodate for more customers
3. Proper place for business
4. Safer

Cons:
1. Hot if ventilation fails
2. The sink place blocks some places of seats so communication and ordering deteriorates
3. May lose the original feel and somehow taste (in terms of environment)

Point 3 of cons are in my opinion the disasters to many places which have done a similar change. The loss of the original feel. Sometimes a cleaner, brightly lit and tiled place isn't a good match to the great preparation of great food.

This applies greatly in Penang. Cos penang is environmental. Its phenomenal food recognition and exquisiteness especially for the hawker food pay due homage to the environment. Just that. But the environment is quickly fluctuating already succumbing to modernisation and infrastructure development into a much busier place.

No big deal. Nothing stays forever.*

At least for me. It's also the homeliness which I adore of Penang. Not related to Malaysian Hospitality.

*"You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain/victim" kinda applies. You live long enough to see an empire fall or you die remembering it as a great place.

*

Ok, to date...after coming back, the local food I had taken was:
1. RC
2. Jones Road Hainan Loh Mee
3. Fettes Park Hainanese Western Food - (wth..price increases while portion decreases)
4. Subaidah nasi kandar
5...

I think so.

57. Island Speedometer Tour

Friends & Family

30km/h

70km/h

...120km/h which is equivalent to 64.79 knots with negligible external forces such as pressure, viscosity and compressibility effects at sea level. That's practically achieved with a longer highway with no obstructing vehicles and a little bumpy road using an auto-transmission Kenari or Viva. Best spots in Penang(so far as tried): Jelutung Expressway and Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah from Bayan Lepas (highway leading to the airport).

Of course, beware of speed traps and hiding traffic policemen. And it's not worth it to lose your life on the road. Make it worthwhile by hitting the speed of sound woohoo..

Back to island for a week. Of course it's exhilarating..going through all the distinctive food in Penang. By the way, I came back by flight. I brought my Borneo friends for holiday here..since it's costly to go back there two times each semester. My first time by Air Asia. Low fares wat so I just tried. Inspection/audit on flight:
-Good condition of the plane (at least visually. Got the one with brand new ad on skin)
-All tight hot smiles from the red-jacketed ladies (the one demonstrating emergency measures was just 50cm from me)
-Good smellin' lavatory (I planned and purposed-ly got in..just to play with the flush)
-A hard touchdown but an overall smooth decelerating on the runway
-Delay of departure time by 30 minutes
-The plane flew straight into turbulence wooh..can see the bag compartment structure "detaching" from the fuselage cabin, just free tolerance movement between structures.heh
...hahaha alang-alang "cacing hendak menjadi naga"

Okay tell you what..we're not really good at tour guiding in our own state. So we just do..
-Teluk Bayan: Claypot chicken rice.Belacan fried rice.Hokkien mee.Hong Kong Chee Cheong Fun.Panggang stingray.Fried Oyster.
-New World Park: Mee goreng.Pasembur.Lam mee.Cendul....and a few something else.
-Fettes Park Hainan Western Food
-Jones Road: Loh Mee
-Queensbay: Kapitan nasi kandar restaurant
-Argyll Road: Roti canai
-Jalan Rambutan: Laksa
-Macalister Road: Town Steamboat
-Home: Dad tapao some koay teow th'ng back (duno bought from where)
-Chulia Street: Char koay teow. Curry mee. Wantan mee.
-Penang Road: Line Clear nasi kandar place
-Home: Mum tapao some hokkien mee and koay kak back (duno bought from where)
-Esplanade: Mee Sotong
-Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah: Joo Leong house ..hard to describe wat kind of food..got frog.
-Bukit Jambul flat compound under the trees place: Pan mee
-Queensbay Mall: Paddington Pancakes..

Missed out on:
-Gurney Drive hawker centre (better Indian/Muslim pasembur).
-Macalister Road: Mr Lim Birthday mee (Lam mee)
-Batu Lanchang market: almost anything there..all good and cheap
-and the overrated expensive char koay teow stalls
(in accordance only to my places of interest experience)
Visits and sceneries:
-Penang Free School...wtfreak enormous erected lighted banner...
-Gurney Plaza. and Queensbay Mall.
-Kek Lok Si temple
-Highways
-Batu Feringghi
-CC
-City/Town roads and buildings
-....nothing so much
----missed out on Penang Hill actually....
What's so good about Penang? The hospitality, homeliness and great variety of food. And narrow uneven patched roads.

Here's my faithful personal picks.
The black one is "strongest and oldest" like Viktor(Underworld) heh, it's really the oldest since its purchase in 2004. The edges are slowly wearing out following abuses over the years hah. Now I find it sounds good with classics and blues playing. And the green one symbolises hardcore and speed...I just feel it because I started to use it to play all those metal and it feels good. Flexible yet rigid. And it's ESP. That another one transparent is my new addition to my family. That block is a metal piece that I cut using a hacksaw to fabricate a mini hammer.

As for my Ernie Ball strings they still rock my underwears off. Bleeding bends still don't break them. haha

Coming up soon will be a post dedicated to my gears and material dreams.

And the perfect cruising lonely journey album (in car), Joe Satriani - Professor Satchafunkilus and Musterion of Rock.

Rainy. Wet. Strong winds. Thunders. Goodbye, back to brainwreckage workloading study..by bus.

[thanks to maps.google.com and wikimapia.org for the help of identifying the road names]
[Temple picture captured by friend Ben and not edited]

53. The New Celebration

Personal/Friends & Family

Ayam kicap

Sayur kuning

Telur sotong...

First time in my life minus the infant years, I slept till as late as 11am on the first day of Chinese New Year. Nice, at that time for the every past years I should be in the temple or relatives' houses chewing sweet cookies and having hard time pushing in the bulk of angpows into the pocket. Lazy morning for everyone. Because my mum woke really late too hahah only to be wake-up called by my aunt.

New clothes. You can see you know, on the roads, in the shops, at the house porches, everywhere people are, you see their clothes.. They are all bright(as in fresh and new) and clean. Good ol' tradition for us chinese Malaysians. Peace be unto all.

As for me, on the first day of the Chinese New Year I had lunch with my family, with aunts who are sisters to my mother. The night before was a reunion at Butterworth with the family of my father's side....very big....I'm like uncle to dozens of nieces and nephews. And then to Jonathan's house. Right timing for a lion dance blessing ceremony. AHHH...I'm so HAPPY. My favourite entertainment is lion dances and stunts. AND that close to me with the ear-blowing drums.
uh..a meal with guests there. That was 4.30pm and plans later changed for the good and energy-saving. Hooi and I chatted with Jonathan. Until 6, we left for home for dinner. Secret Recipe was my destination. CC trip was next. With Hooi, YW and Andrew. Played Counter Strike for 5mins then freaking failed-trying to play Left4Dead without disconnections. Dota for some time and then proceeded to pwn at Left4Dead.. Good, the game went smoothly until the difficulty was set to Expert..woohooo the zombies came barging in like holy cows. Great game..

It's 1am already. Andrew left early. Where after CC? Subaidah Sungai Dua. Paper Tosai(s) and nasi kandar....

So, there was a heavy lunch meal, then a heavy tea time meal, a filling fattening dinner and finally a heavy midnight supper. That's called heavy metal. No breakfast that's all but altogether 4 meals for me..my stomach's small you don't know and my arms are small so pushing all of them into me is a blessing. Ame.

~It's a war to stop war...so war is redundant, natural and existences mean wars; competition in life.

oh great, I retired from being a driver this time. It's a car, it's a vios, it's holy-shit...it's Hooi's driving gig. Yeah. From north to south to west and east, pump it.

[ahh...it was my ambition long time ago to join the troupe..either under the lion or at the drums]

Happy celebrating. Happy eating. Happy visiting. Happy collecting. Happy driving. Happy riding. Happy flying. Happy travelling. Happy sexing. Happy, try as real as possible to be happy.

49. Filler Feeder

Friends & Family

The 50th post shall be the final stage for the year 2008. Might not necessarily be posted by 1st of January. But it shall serve as an ending and an opening to the ought-to-be magnificent year 2009. So..let's fill up the gap and feed some fun into our souls.

Wokei..we did it with almost a cancellation due to the rain. Penang Hill hike, until point 84. Good for YW, catching up with all our outdoor activities. With wet, muddy and slippery terrains...and uncountable slippings on the rocks we braved the jungle with landslide sites. It was a spiritual journey though this time. With Albert.

Some sort of crazy affinity. Just after getting out of the toilet, this dog appeared to have already set the target of keeping an extra company. He's totally our main source of amusement. Taking care of each other and concerns of safety and accompaniment. Good dog. YW is writing on it, the post will be out soon. With plenty of photos and one or two videos. Sadly, we had to leave it. Albert, we salute you. See you again someday.

And, having a mum who works in that big company brings a lot of benefit. Good advantage. You know that Jesselton mansion owner, yeah he's the owner of the company. First, I got free tickets to PESSOC performance but of course no dining there we're not VIPs. And then, being an honourable employee who regularly patronizes Miraku(also owned by that company) in G-Hotel my mother got a very nice and good service from the chief manager for our dinner.

First, he served us two complimentary plates of tauhu dishes. Then he came in again and served a plate of mixed vegetables, we told him we didn't ordered that and he replied, "it's complimentary, miss". Wah. Minutes later, he came AGAIN to serve a plate of deepfried chicken. I lost my sanity. Is this some kind of "poh lampa/chibai" treatment or just very good appreciation and regard. Or is he afraid that my mum came to audit the restaurant secretly. In the end, he came for the final compliment, the great-tastebud-buster green tea ice cream and some jelly dessert. WTF

That dinner actually had a cash voucher already and yet we're getting stupendous good amount more of food. Too much to not to be wasted, all into our stomachs with pride and joy. Except, with exceptionally small oesophagus, small stomach and slow digestion didn't manage to lick the plates grease-free. I love you mum muahaha

And then, getting a micro splinter into my palm. Dig. Scrape. Bleed. Tear. Push. Pull. Needle. Antiseptic. Fingernail. Biting the towel. Aaah nice pain.

NEXT:
1. Hooi's gig.
2. G3 jamming 2 at YW's + New Year boozing with KY
3. CNY shopping
4. Packing and settling necessities for return to MIAT
5. Leave once again
6. Return for CNY haha
7. Fitness regularity for Mt. Kinabalu expedition

ah..my knees. So sad. Weak ligaments and hmm..maybe weakened synovial cushioning. I can't give up hiking I tell you or any other tougher outdoor sports activities. It's like losing your fingers as guitar player.

Happy end year 2008

[Pride and Joy happened to be a song title from Stevie Ray Vaughn]

47. The Holiday Joy Ultimatum

Friends & Family

First of all, Merry Christmas. It's the dawn of 25th of December. Hooi, ur disappointing...sleeping wth you should be granting people happiness and be worshipped, the Jeesus.

To obliterate the murky and gloomy past...cover up with joyous moments spent together with friends and family. Back in hometown. The island. The great floating land linked by a sophisticated stand-firm bridge...longest in South East Asia right?

hang on...the writer's brain block slowly dissipating...boo. Boom.

Alright it has been almost 3 weeks since I came back from my campus. And the last written post was a tribute to Hide. The previous was just an informative post.

As you know, I've been granted an electric guitar already. ahha got photos already..

And I've done lots of activities since then. The ranked top as the most frequently done activity is(besides food) CC. Malei... It's a tour of death la.. Getting such freaky affinity for DOTA. Not just because it's a great game(interesting) but I keep playing it to learn more and more and improve and most of the time, to no avail. I'm a holy shit owning noob. Dun challenge me. Boring.

Here's a short video of my game back in my hostel room to kill time. It was a Naruto TD. Background music was actually my laptop speaker blaring, Slipknot - Gematria(The Killing Name).

Alright, so let's go. I will go through very briefly what I've done and been doing.
-Tried the guitar in different positions and styles. Getting comfortable with it. hah.

-....wait, I can't really remember anymore what I did. Let's see..there's Jason. Oh yes. I have been catching up with this long time bruddy(Jbrother+buddy) this holidays. Only that he left for KL so soon. Haven't swam with him. So I brought him out to hiking. First was the wednesday with Hooi. And then a food recommendation tour to the Argyll Road Roti Canai(RC) stall. I had earlier mentioned it as my childhood favourite RC place.

-Roti racist-roti masin-roti mini-roti dahaga-

But...it was a bad day. What a bad impression to Jason. It's so farking bad that day! So small in size and yet it tastes like eating solid sea water, figuratively...totally like salt accidentally spilt into the preparation. The worse is the fact that only our table(chinese boys) receive such small pieces of RC and they taste horrible. So we started thinking of racism. Fark. I almost vomited...like forcing 100% sodium chloride ingestion. I complained to the manager and cook. They started explaining...bla bla..ok la give chance la since I still love this place.

-did some Botanical Gardens jogging and exercising too with him and Hooi.

-Ye-Wheen came back too . Then we did our first G3 extravagance overnight. With guest performance by Jonathan. haha. It was rather a tiring night...with a late binge and booze. Heck, YW added Carlsberg into the noodle..ramen I think..kimchi-esque..ok la. Get high. The PS3 games of the night were Soul Calibur 4 (or 5??) and The Siren. The Siren is a farkup thriller horrifying game. I call it like that. Similar to the likes of Silent Hill where you brace the darkness and fear in a dead place. It's a great game, with each of us taking turns to complete the objectives. Super fun plus agitation plus fear plus 4am ambience.

-hmm..what else? oh yeah, swimming. First blood. With Jonathan and YW. Fun. But certainly cold with the morning wind chills at my apartment outdoor pool. Followed by a very satisfying wallet-blowing-jacking billed lunch. At El Mondo's. RM112 for 3 persons. wooh. 3 pizzas with drinks and service charge with government tax.

-hmmm...then? CC lo.. Eating out lo.. Garena at home lo... Basically these make up the life during this holidays.

-Should be nothing so significant anymore..so it's Jonathan's party occasion. His conceived plan of organizing a BBQ party. Exclusively for close friends and especially his loved one who came down to visit Penang. So we had fun doing disco while cooking daging(Zohan quote). Good chicken, beef, balls, sausages, corn and bellpeppers from Mr. Ng Khang Yang. The ending, the forced-to-finish-it-up cooking was ended abruptly by the tiny droplets of drizzling. CC was the destination after that. Until 1am.

Aeroplanes in the sky, landing. Big loo...wuahh...

-ok coming near to today already. woohoo..speed reading or whatever...I know not enough alluring visual-enhancing photos here.

-After the BBQ and CC, a few hours later..as in 11am the next morning, we went hiking till number 3 of Youth Park. woooh...rock climbing and rope climbing were the amusement. And there I had my scratch on my leg. I FARKING SLIPPED OFF THE small CLIFF. Funny the way i slided down. Even YW's handphone flung out of his pocket without him knowing. "kenot break one". And then lunch at Batu Lanchang market. And then CC. Serious..the same venue.

-Dinner with family at...El Mondo's. haha. Here a picture. Folded pizza..

-Swimming, this time with YW and Khang Yang. Same thing..bone chilling winds. This time the amusement was delving into deep depth of the pool to touch the bottom. YW even got his head touched to the bottom. I failed. But I managed, to crawl underwater..wooohoo..sounds fun huh.

...ooh it's bright already... 7.30am and I'ven't sleep yet.

-The Monday, 22nd. Went for dental. Given the plan of removing my braces in February. YEAH! Then to Hooi's house to kill time. Next fetch YW and Raymond. MEE SOTONG. Compulsory holiday outing and get-together lunch. With Joel. And yeah, meeting up with the arch-mouth-debating-rivals Daniel and Andrew. Proceeded to PENANG BOWL for bowling. Jonathan tagged along. Joined the organizer people, Eric, Seow, Razeen, Danial and Reshvinder(a pal who parted since 2006 for Australia).

- 23rd. Home Garena as usual..to kill time. Then the night, rockers' trip to PESSOC performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony at Dewan Sri Pinang. Woohoo..Ode To Joy. Then meet up with Adelyn the violinist haaha after the show. Like so many bunches of PFS mates around especially the Chorus people.. Hooi wearing a T-shirt inside with the phrase, "If it ain't Rock, it ain't music", ahaha such irony. Luckily no bash up by the Jascha Shimano the Yngwie Malmsteen-huge-Conductor of the orchestra. Penang CM Mr. Lim was supposed to be there but according to my mum, he only made it to the Sushi Kin dining with the horde of Dato's and Datin's. Elite arrogant rich manifests...

---->It was a Tuesday. And it rained before and after the night. Hell yeah. Actually I was invited by Cheng Yee to Wei Loon's homecoming party. Fux..couldn't make it. Sorry dudes..

- and then....?? Nothing else. I slept the whole day as a matter of hangover...lousy driver's remorse. Then Garena gaming till like what??few hours ago. And then the writing of this post. Very meaningful life I got here.

Ok..one more picture(urh..a little dark.forgot to edit a bit). To show you my guitar, the most recent look. The Rose.

Oh yeah! One more thing. Just yesterday I had a dream. And this guy, my class monitor appeared and did something. I forgot what. I was thinking why the heck I dreamt of him. Fark. Hours later, I received a voice mail while my phone was switched off from him. A distress call regarding our practical assignment. Fark. I am the Dream sucker.

So, next big thing..hmm..

-Kerachut Hike & Beach Leisure. Who wanna go, tag along and say YES to me. Not confirmed when.

-USM Jazz performance. Hooi is in! GO GO GO! But tickets are selling like hot sex.
-2nd G3 extravagance at YW's. Live footage recording
-hmmm....around 15 days left to go back to MIAT

ok time to sleep. Enjoy your life. Merry Christmas to those who are celebrating. I'm not. I only receive presents. But my number of presents dwindled down like from having (similar example) 20 boxes to now receiving like maybe 5 or less or close to nil. Aging. Also, have a happy new year. 2009. Should be a nice year for ..duno..anything joyous. Rock on.

Next posts should touch more photos..especially my guitar and particularly my activity captures.

45. An Angel Crucified + Island Supreme + Decendance of The Rose

Personal/Ideals

Rocker

HIDE
1964 - 1998

True rock blitz. True Bliss.

We will always love you Hide. XD

[Hide is pronounced as "hee-day". Ian, bash em' who get it wrong. Hooi, show em' the picks YW bought for you]


-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

[The best looking food I served myself, Nasi Briani Lemak]

So, I'm back. I'm going absorb the smithereens of blowed-up shits and filter the pollution back in the island and shower them in form of confettis for you guys. You will have 4 weeks to farck me.

Carlsberg SUX. Laksa. Dunhill. Wantanmee. Mee sotong. Bowling. GSC. House of The Dead 2. Aunt's homecook. Vios Exhaust emission. Penang Hill marathon. Bring it on. I've got an axe.

Licks. Chops. Riffs. Rolls. Harmonizing.
Tremolo. Harmonics. Bending. Tapping.
Groin-kicked-face. Roar. Scream. Moan.
Headbang. Axe-swing. Drumset crashing. Axe-smashing.
ER. 130+ Decibel blown eardrums. Profuse bleeding chick wall scraped-smear in on the torso.

I find it too little time to accomplish too many things but I'll have to live with it with two arms and two legs and a brain chopped halfway into two.

It's a merciless cult...people in our lives just have to come and go and leave everyone all gasping for love. It bites >.< [Song title thievery from Dir En Grey - Merciless Cult] In memorial from the band, X-Japan.
Yeah this is a way-too-cool glam hair band.
This is a video of the same song but it's the official PV which was dated 1994


-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Heard of Da Vinci Code? And the sacred Black Stone at the Ka'Ba?

Then you might stumble upon the mystery of The Rose..

[After 4 years of playing-with-the-air-guitar, The Rose was finally brought to the stage]

1.You hear Guns N' Roses...
2.You know how a rose looks like...
3.You know a rose has thorns...
4.You know my MSN contact address...
5.then here comes the unravelled never-before-kept secret.

ANS:
1.A significant term derived from the Rock n Roll world.
2.Rose is beautiful.
3.It's a long and a little painful journey to finally get to own one.
4.yeah..my address is HARD..haha
5.X-Japan even has a song with the title 'Rose of Pain'.

More to come on it. I know I want it. heh

37. Melaka Blitz + Booze Entropy 2

Personal/Friends & Family

oooh..Butterfly award awarded by Cheng Yee...the instructions there I ain't gona follow. My appreciation..sob sob thank you thank you..ahhahaahahha

So...for the Deepavali holiday weekend my friends and I had planned for a holiday plan. It was initially a Genting trip..bus fare only Rm7.80 from Kajang. But then we have a friend who is a prince of Melaka who suggested we go make a visit to the historical state of Malaysia that is Melaka.

We departed in the evening of last friday and reached there within one hour, there's only the border. A few more 10 minutes to reach the cities and first stop was a dinner spot with the friend's family. A treat. Nice food. Then we begun on a night excursion around the city and so we hopped onto the Sungai Melaka River Cruise. A 40 minutes cruising to see the famous spots of Melaka, a night scene of course.

After that, it's 12am already. Our friend took us around to check out the famous bars/clubs/pubs there. Cool eh..Good eh...chicks eh...There is one called Pure Bar. They are organizing a Halloween party. Anyone who come with make-up/costume gets free entrance. Another one just across the road is The Office, I had an inner attraction to it somehow...and then we strolled along the jetty entertainment centre. I could see the Eye of Malaysia already erected there. Balik rumah(friend's grandma house) buat si-eh then tidur...sucker Jonathan pwned the bed..leaving us blanketless and spaceless..my ass got banged basically until I gave up to change to another room without air-cond to rest in peace, literally. That was already 6am.

It's Saturday, whole lotta new places awaited my visit. It was my first time to visit Melaka. Even my family hasn't came. So, let these sets of photos tell the story. It started with a Chicken Rice-ball breakfast. I had 7 or 8 balls. Absolutely tasty. No pictures.

^This picture came through into life..all the while it was only found in the Sejarah Textbooks.

^This is the statue of Admiral Zheng He.

^This place too became a reality.

^A distant view of Eye Of Malaysia...or is it Eye on Malaysia?? hmm..

^The Beast & the Harlot in the City of Evil...note in the writings, the occupation of the deceased as a "merchant" and "captain" ahhah

^I think this is St. Paul.

^Japanese high school students...A LOT. I'm telling you, (fux the max!) I'm excited to see them(girls). But I had an experience there which then I identified them as Jipunas..I ain't writing it here. Ladies, don't bother to be curious I wouldn't want to let you people know. hahahaha

We had lunch at one of the very famous shop which serves Baba Nyonya delicacies from cendol to nasi lemak. We all had nasi lemak, laksa and cendol. All santan-based recipe. Total stomach euphoria. Of course I did buy gifts for people back at Penang. We went on to Makhota Parade shopping mall. Great place..cool. Balik rumah mandi pergi makan malam dengan ayah dan adik si kawan. It's something like bak kut teh..but no it's not, with pork meat and small intestines..in hokkien, hoon cheong. And then we walked on to the roads there which are named Jonker Walk, Taufu Walk..etc(i think so)..similar to Petaling Street night market. After that...

Clubbing. At The Office. Pure Bar was too crowded and packed. #$%^&*(*&^%$#$%^&^%$#$%^& fux &^%$%^&*()*&^%$#$%^& I love the place. It's not usual like dance party clubbing, it's more of a leisure slow-burn clubbing but there are still people who were high and dancing. The waitresses all are dressed in office outfits...sexy. The chicks there...hot and cold. And I'm all hyped up, as I was served by 3 ladies. The music is LOUD so we have to talk(or shout) to the ears..that's the fux, communicating with them ear-to-ear so near(I can feel the ear and the lips..). AH, I can't forget that, man...my first club. 1 bucket of Tuborg. Muahah my friend said he's not bringing me along anymore next time because all the ladies approached only me muahah I'm telling you, I love it.

^So dark..

Oh ya there's prostitutes too luring rich men there...and one successfully caught one. My friend knows how to identify them..body language. Hot and slutty. Lepas tu balik rumah buat si-eh lagi tidur...

The next day, in fact before the next dawn at 5am. The stomach melancholy begun. Terrible stomach ache and food poisoning. The worst/best in my life to date. Toilet was my company of the day. oh the bed too. Porridge and Buns became the meals. Sigh, what's with me with new holiday places. Always. Enough, I don't want to remember the pain here...

Back to campus the next day because other friends were in pain too.
@$$#$%^&*

Melaka is great. Penang and Melaka the two "tak berkutu" states. Even Penang State CM came from Melaka. Fux

Homework homework assignment assignment sports workout rest...

Oh ya.. I got an old album of Lost Prophets - Start Something from there, one that I couldn't find in most shops.

{Advice...Clubbing destroys the heart. The music destroys the ear drums. Drinking destroys the liver. Smoking destroys the lungs. Unprotected ONS destroys the body. Excesses lead to a slow and young demise. Don't go over the line...for leisure once a while it's ok but be conscientious. I'm telling this to myself...but it's a live fast, die young hedonistic cult..huh}

[All the photos were taken by my handphone and some of them have been downsized, the proper size of the photo uploaded is under the link]

34. Break Stuff

Personal/Friends & Family

scheduled posting...by the time this post is posted I am in the class doing one of my midterm exam...

O k..holidays' over. What a life I experienced back in Penang, the island. Yeah, heavy endless rain and news of flood in the city, sad.. but yet, such fun..ain't it fun?

I drove a lot...until a point where my right leg becomes lazy to step for acceleration. So I went on a 40km/h city cruising, annoyed drivers please overtake me haha But no, most of the time I've been speeding, cutting, overtaking and no, I don't tailgate like Jonathan (haha!). It's fun and actually dangerous, think of your loved ones and the consequences when you think of attempting any speed stunts on the road. I always do, and I think that I get to reach them faster and see them sooner =D no la, that's not the point. My point is, THERE HAD BEEN SO MANY ROAD ACCIDENTS HAPPENING. They always happen but that was one day where I witnessed like more than 2 crash sites in a day. Scary. And ya, I inter-knock my sidemirror with someone else's. Not good.

So, it's been fun and pleasurable doing all the activities with friends back there. Meeting and visiting people, cheer up and cast a rain of smiles. Especially visiting my former babysitter with guavas for her...I hope I'd make her happy. The proud thing is I went alone and had a sit and get to eat her homemade jelly "chai-ean" and watching the kids play. They all have grown up so much...who I used to help babysit 8 years ago. fyi my babysitter, she used to babysit our Malaysia's Squash player Nicol David too..proud eh..

And for a reunion with friends. Pretty much joyful. We did like countless of CC outings..bowling games and pool. erh..and consecutive Fettes Park western food. Oh, tau lau juak for a farewell for Shen How. Our future doctor, who just went to Russia for his medicine studies. 6 years-ordeal urh.. As I know, my form 5 class monitor Jeffrey and another guy Edwin are the people who are pursuing medicine. Cool. All the best to them.

This. People who are not in Penang anymore... From right, that's Jonathan, Daniel, X and Andrew. Daniel's in Nottingham and Andrew in Singapore...Nottingham in Semenyih...hehe

[ah...cool growing up photo, thanks to Andrew for the capture and Daniel for sending. btw that's my belt protruded not anything else hah]

Spent most of the time with Ah Hooi la...lonely rocker. DAMN...RM250 for the whole electric guitar package from Andrew. Yeah, never mind I get to at least touch and feel the power before pressing my balls for the next near 3 months. Wait for me!!! I shall come back and complete the harmonizing. And I had the best so far in my experience nasi kandar woohoo...at RM7.50; pahaayam kicap, telur puyuh and daging kambing ketul...fux I will dearly miss it.

Aiya...don't get to spend more time with this buddy la, Mr. Jon...he's darn occupied...never mind haha as long as everybody is happy..

Did shoppings....got 2 new jerseys, sports tops which are so comfortable hopefully they will serve me well in sports. A replacement for my broken tumbler bottle. Got my favourite windbreaker from my aunt yay. And most importantly new sets of underwear...YEARGH! haha

That should summarize a bit or so on the things I did back at home sweet home...it's fun except for the part I have to rush(still slacking) for my homework. At home, I'm really the part-time slacker I once was...eat, play guitar, air drum while listening to music, then sleep and repeat. Or sleep, computer, chat, eat and repeat. Not productive. Only hiking and walk rounds with Hooi sum up the hard work I had. and yeah, new additions of music into my laptop playlist. Jonathan should be fully equipped with games too! There goes the studying motivation...oh yeah, vodka and chocolates from friends from abroad. Hopefully alcohol and cigarettes don't make up a part of me in future...kuatkan iman!

OH YA! Forgotten! Khang Yang's birthday! hahaha We went to celebrate for him. Birthday cake and KFC, and a pair of white school shoes which he need too. 18 years old people....I'm gonna join them soon woohoo...condom sales will shoot up too soon.

[Song title thievery from Limpbizkit - Break Stuff]

Back to jungle life, dudes and babes. Take care and cheers. All the best people =D

This is a crazy shit...A7X - Bat Country TOC Live LBC

28. Merdeka Special: Rise of the Jungle

Personal

I slept early for two days straight! VERY early! hahaha

Because I was wrecking my brains to complete my Physics assignment using the weekend holidays. I was up the whole 2 nights of Merdeka eve and er..Merdeka early morning(midnight). hmm..actually it's somewhat fun, being awake until all others wake the next morning then go breakfast with them. Then only fall apart at 11am. I skipped lunch and wake up at 5pm to bathe and do laundry. How fun...

And then...the celebration. Syiok-sendiri celebration. It just so happened we wanna toxicate ourselves on the Merdeka eve. Tuborg from 7-Eleven. We then went in to stroll around INTI Nilai. My senior commented that the place was dry...not hip and hot, no chicks spotted mer dat's why..

[peeled and pasted the brand sticker on my closet door]

It's....almost 6am now. Jonathan playing CS:Source. Wise and good-willing Muslim boys should be up by now for their morning prayers. I need to turn my clock around eh..nightshift studying is not so healthy..nocturnal I have became, start sleeping at the time the sun rises..

[few days later].I seriously need to control a bit and save money(for a scotch whisky next timeXD). I bought and drank Jolly Shandy...then the next day to supposedly keep myself awake and high to do my work(but I didn't--time to relax) I had Danish Royal Stout...so far RM17 on alcohol.

PS(random):hmm...don't think I'll get to enjoy to the fullest of World Cup 2010 because it will fall around the final exam of semester 5..or hopefully it's during the semester break hah

"I'm just too young to worry..." ~Seize The Day, Avenged Sevenfold

Assignments!!! So fun yet so tedious...but Moral assignment is the suckest. The topics in the syllabus is really crazy...so so so so Stressm-ish stuffs. But in Bahasa Melayu and my BM really sucks big hole...imagine preaching Stressm in Bahasa Kebangsaan.

That's all for today, I am going to sleep the whole day...

23. I'm Not Home

Personal

I learn to...
{not in the mood to type..}
Why?
Not in the upbeat music rocking environment.
Is in the library, with plenty of people around.
No feeling of privacy. hah
I will complete this soon.
Cheers people.
By the way, I am not in KL la...I am in Dengkil! Or Sepang. haha
[1st Physics & Aerodynamics class assignment done in 30minutes...woohoo..]
- - - - - - -

Twist of fate. I earlier decided to stop dead this post while I was in the toilet. But I decided again to continue it after returning from toilet the following day. I wrote this in a very nice environment. Offline, I wrote this in a piece of text document before posting it. Nice environment=music+privacy. Even though there's a friend watching me now. And Jonathan taking a nap.

[A sound recording of our self-proclaimed motto/rally after a student made that funny MIAT rally]

So, 2 weeks(only?) have passed. The first 4 days of Orientation handled by the seniors were awful. I mean really, not the usual seniority ragging.. but the mental and physical torture that only make you feel like you have came to wrong place. It's not really the senior's fault. It's this one @#$%^&U* who took advantage of the blissful 2-4am time to punish us. Demoralizing. I'm not the only one who wish to express this. There's many others out there who loathed him too. Slept only more or less 5 hours in 3 days and nights.

However, the group fun activities and meal times were really fun. Especially sharing joyful moments with new friends from all over Malaysia with different slangs, accents, and styles. We learn a lot of fun stuffs like dances and claps...heard of Chicken Dance? Yeah, that's actually famous. We learnt to live in harmony. Actually only within the group heh.. It's more of a competition among groups in the games. Intimidating. More over, my group mates were consisted of the people staying in the same floor of our hostel. So it's kinda like really good relationship. Neighbourship. My chinese friends were all mostly from Borneo. waha... one from Labuan, one from Kuching, one from Sabah. Another who is a Siamese from Kedah. And the girls who enrolled are all, girls with tudungs... There's only one who is an international student from Pakistan who stood out from all of them and not wearing a tudung.

So, ..(i have been to Midvalley twice already since being here..woohoo good place to cleanse the mind and the eyes)(argh..i gotta learn to sustain eye contact longer and strike machoness...hmph),

So, basically coming from 300 plus kilometres away from home to study is a stage in life where I learn to be independent. Or at least, more independent. Bangun pagi gosok gigi salin pakaian eh mandi dulu...taklah begini, susah betul. Wake up, look at the clock, back to sleep, wake up OH HOLY MIAT it's 9.30am!!! That happened the previous Friday, the last day of the orientation for the school admin to give briefings on the studies we will have. Yeah shit happens for real. It's the 6th day staying in hostel. Jonathan and I overslept and didn't make it for the first two talks. Coincidentally, many others didn't turn up too so one of the admin guy gave a warning,those who didn't come later in the evening will face disclipine action. Of course we made it.

Our class leader is the smallest guy in size haha he is being made fun of by every lecturer who attended class this week. Lots of changes in the timetable..very bad. So the worst thing ever expected, my class got an off-day on Wednesday. Dumb.

6 subjects, want me to list them down? Ok I try.... Moral Studies(LAN), Technical Mathematics I, Aviation English Foundation, Physics & Aerodynamics, Material & Hardware and Electrical Fundamental I. Sounds fun? The final result is based on 10% of quiz, 10% of Midterm exam, 50% of assignments and practicals, and 30% from Finals exam. Also maximum of 10% absence without reason from the total study hours, which is rounded up to 3 days. Fun stuff heh. A lecturer said it's easier like this compared to 100% result from Finals in the past. The passing mark is 75% to be able to continue into the next semester studies. Maximum of 4 failures after that the whole semester will have to be repeated. Less than that, then a retake of the particular subject in the next semester. Means more shit time. This I think applies similarly to the other schools in our tertiary education system.

So basically study hard, work hard and concentrate hard...serious sick future, man.. this career in aviation is all about work. My physics teacher said, it's all about safety. A few doctors in an operation theatre can do a mistake and kill one life. But if an engineer wrongly certifies for a unsafe plane to fly, hundreds of lives perish. I'm not boasting off my career prospect la but just, I gotta work hard from now on. Be it pilot or what... These only matter to me in the future, DCA, LWTR, EASA, CAT A ~777, CAT B ~737, LAE/LAME, PPL, CPL, ATPL, 747, 777, 4 Bars, Medal of #$%^&*, A340...etc, CIMB, retire with KWSP then rest in peace with honour. Alhamdullilah and Insya-Allah everything goes on well with full HP bar. haha

[Photo Credit: Boeing - Boeing 777]

I will do the Great Gig In The Sky and For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) because You Can't Kill Rock & Roll.

Nasi goreng kampung..nasi goreng cina..nasi paprik...gulai ayam...nasi putih...teh ais...sirap...

[Midvalley's Food Junction's Bakmi Chicken Noodle - Sangat enak dan lazat]

I miss homecook food la. I've been porkless for 2 weeks. My friend said, "bo chiak bak wa ai ki siao liao...".

And it's a smoking community here...dunhill/salem/pall mall/mild seven/semporna.. 1 upon waking up. 1 before brushing teeth. 1 after bath. 1 before meal. 1 after meal. 1 on the way back to room. 2 in the room. 1 on the way to class. 1 after class. 1 in the room. 1 on the way to laundry. 1 after the laundry. 1 after bath. 1 while homeworking. 1 on the way to lunch. 1 after lunch. 1 after nap. 1 before class. 1 after class. 1 before dinner. 1 after dinner. 1 in the room. 1 while trying to sleep. So there's at least 24 ***batangs*** a day for the nicotine fix. hah

[Song title thievery from Pink Floyd - Great Gig In The Sky, AC/DC - For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) and Ozzy Osbourne - You Can't Kill Rock & Roll]