08-25-2009

Don't really have much to say now, so I'll make it short and sweet. I would like to thank all of you who wished me on my birthday and as a token of my appreciation I would like to write your names here on my blog. It's the least I could do, or maybe it's the most I could do, since I don't really know how to thank you all better than this (tho someone has been begging me for a tiramisu cake. *ahem* YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE ).

Ok. The early wishes first.
1. Looi Shi Jie
2. Yeoh Yun Huai
3. Ong Qi Jia
4. Merritt Lau
5. Tan Chuin Hwa

Now for the wishes on the day itself. Names listed in order.
1. Lydia Ong (wanted me to acknowledge her as the first person to wish me on my birthday itself, even though she was early by 2 minutes. After INSISTING that it was 12am on her watch, I relented. Congrats. I hope ur happy...lol)
2. Joanne Lau
3. Prissie Dennis
4. Celine Lim
5. Ng Hui Ern
6. Lim Weng Aik
7. Ronald Longgou ( I hope I spelt your name right Ronald )
8. Juena Sibarani
9. Shane "BL" Low (was tempted to put the BL in the middle. Sorry)
10. Ooi Boon Yau
11. Tan Yi Lin
12. Lim Kai Yuan
13. Tan Yangson
14. Edwin Koh
15. Neoh Kuang Hong
16. Ronald Koh
17. Ng Hui Li
18. Chen Xiang Foong
19. Hoh Tjun Yee
20. Venessa Lim
21. Shaun Kuan, Iise Chew, Derick Chuah and Adrian Ong (had to put these 4 names together. Got a t-shirt from them. How nice. Of all the t-shirts they could choose they ended up choosing one with a picture of "ELMO the friggin red furball thing" on the front. Shaun said I'd remember the gift better that way. Guess they succeeded)
22. Tan Chunlim
23. Khoo Tjen Khai
24. Neo Yung Wei
25. Wling Teh (sorry, I'm not too sure what your full name really is)
26. Elson Ng
27. Andrew Thor
28. Phang Yik Chia
29. Vincent Ong
30. Elizabeth Ewe
31. Eugene Tiong
32. Andrea Kok
33. Charmaine Neoh
34. Ong Jing Ming
35. Ooi Sheng Cheing
36. Cindy Lim
37. Lem Shen Yung
38. Yeoh Zhi Hong

Late wishes. Still counted.
1. Ooi Jian Rong
2. Ong Hooi Ching (former Bio teacher. How nice)

Ok, that's about it. Once again, thanks for the wishes.

End of log.

The coming of the storm.

Some random shot...

Suddenly had the urge to blog. Somehow the urge to blog is somewhat similar to the urge you get when you're hungry and you want to raid your refrigerator, but not as frequent. Had to update somehow.

Anyway, school's out and this week is a holiday for us. Sure as hell doesn't feel like one tho. Our school's trial examination starts on the 2nd of Septem

ber, a few days after our so-called "holiday" has ended. So for me (and many of my 17 year old friends) this holiday will be spent studying, studying, and studying some more. Note that I said "many of my 17 year old friends" and not "all of my 17 year old friends". The reason for this being the fact that I still have one particular friend who is NOT sitting for SPM and is studying the equivalent of Form 6 in an international school when the rest of us have to put up with our crappy education system for one more year. Yes, you know who you are....

I only have 2 words for you.

F*** YOU

As for the rest of y'all who will be sitting for your trial examination soon, then all the best. Good luck studying, and pray that we all survive....

D-day's approaching...

Tough battle ahead of us...

Guess that's all for now.

End of log.

L.O.V.E.

Well, hello again. I doubt anyone would be following this blog as I haven't posted an article in awhile. Anyway, a few days ago I was reading a friend's blog and apparently the latest article in that blog was about love. After reading it, thoughts started to fill my mind. What is love, really? My good friend Tjun Yee encouraged me to put those thoughts on paper (or rather, a Word document). So, here it is...my personal thoughts on love.

P.s: Thanks for editing my article, Tjun Yee. Although I REALLY had to delete the unnecessary "LOL"s you added. Yes, I know you couldn't resist. I believe that if I edited one of your articles, then I probably would have done something similar as well...XD

Love. A definition, anyone?

Love. It is truly amazing that such simple four letter word that has such an impact on everyone’s life. I’m sure everyone has heard of the word love. If you have not even heard of the word love before, then I will personally use a permanent marker to write your name on my bottom and leave it there for as long as possible. Everyone has had encounters with love at least once in their lifetime, and love can mean different things to different people. So, what exactly is love?

Well, for me, love can mean a few things. Remember, this is just a personal opinion and what I feel about love may not be what other people feel about love.

Now for the first kind of love…

1. “My first love, Mommy dearest.”

On the day you were born, the first person to see you, and love you, is probably your mother, or any other family member present when you first came into being. Family love and bonding is probably the first kind of love anyone has been exposed to. Ask any kindergartener about the person they like the most, they’ll probably mention their dad, mum, grandparents, brother etc. If you asked them who the prettiest woman in the world is, they would probably say it’s their mom (even though their mom may look like Susan Boyle after being run over by an 18-wheeler). Even if you do not get along well with any one of your siblings, you will, at one point or another, be willing to help them or stand up for them when the time comes. As the saying goes, blood is thicker than water.

2. “ We’re BFFs.”

Humans are social animals, and every one of us needs friends. Why, if we did not feel any love for friends, then an innocent game of pick-up sticks played by a group of 7-year-olds will probably end with everyone jabbing the sticks into each others eyes. Ok, maybe that’s a lil’ overboard. Friends come and go, but the bond between each friend that has entered your life remains strong until the day you die (Quote “Our friends may come and go, but our bonds stay eternal”). A friend is someone who understands you. Someone who may have the same interests as you do. Most importantly, however, is that a true friend cares for you. One thing about the love for a friend is that sometimes, that love is so powerful; you would do anything for that friend, even if it means putting yourself in the line of fire. If required, you may lie, cheat, sacrifice yourself, all for the sake of that one true friend. Why do you think that marines, upon seeing their comrades lying in the dirt and bleeding to death, are willing to risk getting their own heads blown off by rifle and machine gun fire, just to get their squad mate to safety?

3. “Oh honey, will you marry me?”

Most people look at this third kind of love as the real definition of love itself. It is the love for a boy/girlfriend or spouse. Now I must admit, I have not really ventured into this part of love yet in my life, as I’m still a teenager going through his last year in high school, which means that technically, I’m still “too young” for this sort of thing ( either that, or I’m just too shy to ask someone out on a date, depending on how you see it ). Most of what I write on this section will be based on mere observation, so correct me if I’m wrong. Everyone is looking for that special someone, or rather, that “perfect” someone. It seems that people tend to look for at least some degree of perfection in their potential husbands/wives. Take a look at the scores of teenage girls around the world screaming “Omigosh! I want Edward Cullen!”, and you can see that girls are so desperate for that perfect guy, that they end up overlooking the fact that their “perfect” man may be a mythical bloodsucking monster who can probably break your neck with one hand and turn your body into a lifeless husk within less than a minute if he sees fit (just a joke, of course). Another thing I noticed is that teenagers’ first experiencing feelings of so-called love tend to mix true love with infatuation, fuelled by grade-A testosterone. Having crushes, I believe, is also due to a rush of hormones rather than a feeling of true love. I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with having a crush. Why, if we did not have these hormone rushes, the human race wouldn’t reproduce that often and we wouldn’t survive this long. Hell, I even have a crush of my own ( not that I’m going to tell you who she is ). I’m just saying that we should not settle for our crushes and mistake them for true love. I’ve also noticed people torn apart by relationships and end up blaming their sorrows on “love”. In my opinion, however, their sorrow isn’t due to love, but rather, the lack of love and understanding by their partner. Either that, or they were pumped chock full of hormones to even notice what a sorry arse they ended up dating.

4. “Need help, sir?”

The next form of love is probably the love for a stranger, though this may be more towards compassion rather than love. Compassion is feeling sympathy to a person in need, and the willingness to help him/her get out of his current state. You feel compelled to help that person, therefore it is similar to, yet not exactly, love. Still, depending on how you see it, it may also be considered as love.

5. “I love the whole world, and all its sights and sounds, boomdeyada boomdeyada boomdeyada boomdeyada…”

I’m not sure if you remember the “The World Is Just Awesome” advert by Discovery Channel, but it perfectly describes the love that I’m going to talk about next, which is the love for an inanimate object, or a particular activity, or anything that isn’t a human being. Somehow, I feel that this may be the most overlooked form of love that we all have. We have it, yet we never really classify this feeling as true love. “I love the mountains”, “I love the clear blue sky”, “I love shiny objects”, “I love fast cars”, “I love kittens”, “I love computer programming” ( well, some people do….) etc are all still considered as “love”. Some of us still acknowledge this as love, but to most of us, true love is usually the “boyfriend/girlfriend” kind of love. Remember, the interest in a particular object or activity is also love.

6. "Our father, which art in heaven; hallowed be thy name..."

This last form of love which I want to talk about is probably the most mysterious form of love that anyone has. That is, the love for a higher being or deity. We feel as if we are really close to our God, despite not being able to feel His physical presence. We feel like he is a family member, so close to us, yet so far. Somehow the love for a God is, well…hmm…mysterious…yet wonderful at the same time. Up to now I still do not truly know why people have such a deep feeling of love for their own God, and I myself occasionally spend my free time just thinking and contemplating about my own Christian faith and why I actually believe and love a God I have never met. The love for him shown by others, however, is equal, or maybe even more, compared to the love we show other fellow human beings. Sadly, this is manipulated by some of the so-called “religious” leaders to compel people to harm others and make them think that what they are doing is the will of their God. To me, strapping bundles of C4 or TNT onto your body and blowing yourself up in the middle of a crowded city square is not a gesture of “love” but an act of sheer stupidity.

Conclusions, conclusions…It’s always hard to find a suitable ending to something, eh?

Well, love, as you can see, represents many things. To some, it may be one thing. To others, it may be another thing altogether. However, I think all forms of love have something in common, and that similarity, I believe, is shown in a verse from the Bible…

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

1 Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 4-7

So, for all those who may be heartbroken over a lost lover, do not think that love has left your world. Rather, take time to appreciate the love that you already have. Enjoy the time with your family and friends, and continue doing the things you love most, and admiring the wonders of this world. Have hope that someday, that one person who loves you, will find you and will add love to your already love-filled world. Oh, and one more thing. In order to find love, you must show your love to others first.

Anyway, that's about it. My opinion on what love is. If you agree? That's great. If not, then that's fine, although I would appreciate your comment on this article. Please, no "WOHOO SPAMMZ!", "Ur fucking wrong you dickwad" or any other such comments on my article.

Thanks for reading...

Oh, btw, there's this other article on the net about love. Do read it as well.

http://www.anvari.org/fun/Quizzes_and_Tests/Are_You_in_Love.html

Conscripted

*keys in web address*

*http://www.khidmatnegara.gov.my/interaktif.asp*

*waits....*

...

...

*waiting* "Stupid government websites..."

...

...

*waiting*

Tahniah dan Selamat Maju Jaya!
NOKP : 92082507****
NAMA : CHAWIN USAHA

*temporary moment of shock*

Oh crap...

Woo...kayy....guess I got selected for NS. Everyone around me was like "OMG" or "Hahaha, sure die ade. Hahaha, how do you feel?" Well, they're basically expecting some kinda "OSHIT I'M DOOMED" reaction from me, but well...fate has brought me this outcome. Can't change that. All I can do is look at the bright side of things. On one hand the NS program is a waste of 3 months and is also a program famous for it's numerous "incidents"... 

BUT

On the other hand, it's also one way I can get, well, "military training" (they say they teach hand-to-hand combat there but how true is that remains to be seen...). It's also a sorta new experience and can probably train me to survive on my own. And one more bonus...

THE M16A1! Haven't touched that sweet sexy baby in 2 years....haha

So, I guess I should just look at it as half cup full instead of half cup empty. 

Strangely though, for the past few years, at least 4 cadets from the CLHS Police Cadet force get selected for NS. This year though, it seems that I am the "Chosen One" and only cadet to get selected...hmm...why? Random selection? I guess I'll never know.

Anyway, guess this might be a good thing after all. It's probably God's plan for me, so I'll serve him as best I can, even if it has to be as "Conscript Chawin Usaha"...haha

I'll keep praying though. I hope I end up in a good camp with true tough training and not "sang sang jiak sai" training. That, and I also hope to get into a camp with a majority of East Malaysians or basically more friendly people. I also hope I won't get TOO sick of Teh O after I get back (drinking the same Teh 6 times a day for 3 days already made me sick and tired of it. Imagine drinking it for 3 months....haha).

Basic training here I come. Atten-hut!

End of log.

*idontknowwhativebeentold

Victory Forever Remembered in the Halls of Glory

The day: 20th of June 2009.

The location: Kuantan, Pahang.

A day that will live on in the hearts of 34 cadets.

For it is the day...

Where the elites of Chung Ling were tried and put to the ultimate test.

One small squad...

30 cadets, 1 commander, 3 reservists, ALL filled with a burning desire for victory.

Beat 13 other teams. The best from the country.

And emerged as....

THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

Our elite status now proven.

Went for the National Marching Competition in Kuantan last Saturday. After months of hard work, marching under the hot sun, all the blood, sweat and tears. All for just one day....

And it was worth it.

All worth it.

Fellow Cadets, give yourselves a pat on the back. If we had lost anyone of the 34 with us, our squad would not be victorious. Congratulate yourselves for the excellent team effort and spirit you all have shown. Vode an. Brothers all...

To the next batch of Form 4 would-be seniors, continue this legacy and maintain this victory. Hell, if anyone can do it, it's you guys.

Here are some pics taken on the day of our rehearsal. (Pictures of the actual competition will not be posted as it has been our tradition not to post pictures of our uniform and police logo on the net. The past seniors say its a disgrace. I personally think it's alright to do so but as an example to the juniors I will not post them nonetheless.)

...

Vode an.

On a personal note, I seriously wonder what the Genting McDonalds cashier felt that Saturday night upon seeing 30+ bald teenage boys barging in to McDonalds at 11 o' clock at night....lol

End of log.

*idontknowwhativebeentold

Teenage Vampire Romances? I think I'll pass...

Alright. I finished the entire Twilight saga just a short while ago (weird for a guy, isn't it). Just thought of doing a short post on what I think of the entire series...

Twilight


















Yes, the book that raised every teenage girl's expectations for their future boyfriends (do you know how hard it is for a guy to find a girlfriend nowadays?! C'mon!). I posted a review of this book quite some time ago, so in short, I think this is quite a nice book. Stephanie Meyer manages to transform a "dark creature from the night" into one of the most well loved pop culture characters today. And she does it quite nicely too. But, are the other 3 books up to par with the first book? Well, comin' up, what I think about the other 3....

New Moon


















Most other books, movies etc that suffer from a bad storyline is cause they toss the reader/viewer too many characters and sub plots without fully going into detail, which results in, of course, a very vague storyline. New Moon, however, is the exact opposite. It tends to focus alot on elaborating the back story behind all the supporting characters that it fails to provide any significant change in the storyline. Sure, there's the absence of Edward, and the little shit storm with the Volturi Guard, but somehow, the story could have progressed further and deeper had Stephanie Meyer spent less time elaborating on every single supporting character. Honestly the most disappointing of the four books.

Eclipse


















How many of you have read New Moon, getting the suspense that Victoria's about to get her revenge, and had that suspense just simply die off at the end of the novel because....she didn't attack AT ALL? Most of us had that feeling. Yes, she did attack, but only at the end of the novel. This still suffers from the same flaws as New Moon, albeit a bit less this time. Tho I sorta thought the fight with the newborns could have been more exciting. I understand it's Stephanie Meyer's style to only write from one character's POV alone, but in some parts, that tends to be a shortcoming. The newborn fight is one example. Slightly better than New Moon, but still not up to expectations.

Breaking Dawn


















Breaking Dawn is the final novel in this series. It wasn't as disappointing as the two novels mentioned earlier, but it is still not quite up to par with the first book. In this book, it seems like Stephenie Meyer was in a rush to complete the saga, as the ending was VERY anti-climactic. I mean, you have an inevitable vampire fight, then you suddenly cut it short, just like that? BIG letdown for me. The birth of Renesmee could also have brought more twists to the story, reviving the original novel's former glory. Sadly, this was not the case.

Conclusion
This series really has the potential to go far. In the end, however, there seems nothing much that seperates this saga from any other teenage romance novel. The three novels really had the potential to shine, but sadly, all of them fail to live up to the first novel's awesomeness. In the end, from a guy's point of view, what was an interesting story idea turned into nothing but a lovey-dovey puke fest. Seriously could have been better....

*Note: This is just how I felt like when reading the novels. Not really meant to be a formal "review". Please accept it as just one man's point of view. Thanks.

End of log.
*idontknowwhativebeentold

Half Past Dead

*Initializing....

*Confirm removal of blog from stasis....

...

*Request confirmed....

...

*Status: ACTIVE

*Duration: Temporary

ARRGH!!!

Look, I know this blog has been dead for so long, so I would like to just apologize to anyone who was waiting for an update....really really sorry. And I would also like to apologize for the lack of content (or rather pics) for this particular post. So, in short...

SORRY

Anyway, see that picture I put up? That basically sums up my current state today, the day before, and the weeks before....Sleepy. Why? So many things coming up.

1. State level marching competition.

So we won the zone level marching comp, and now the next level is on the 4th of nex month. Which means 1 thing, no, 2 actually. One, more training. Two, the Logistics Dept (myself and a fellow comrade) will be busy handling the needs of the uniforms of the juniors. Trust me, that's hard, especially with a few less-than-cooperative seniors...hmmph. Headache.

2. Mid Year Exams.

Pressure's on....SPM this year, plus an unsatisfactory performance in the last exam. GAHH!!!

3. Kawalan Kehormatan (Honor Guard) for the Hari Kor Kadet Polis

It's cool to hold an M16A1 once in a while. But not when you have training almost every weekday afternoon for 2 weeks, tiring you out so much you can barely stay awake in class....energy sapping you know.

That's pretty much it. i can probably rant alot more about nonsensical stuff like my friend's obsession with Call of Duty 4 or the fact that a n00b just became our Prime Minister, but I'd rather not crap too much...

Things to do:

Cadet stuff + exams

Things that are not important but I still want to do nonetheless:

Finish reading Breaking Dawn, The Founding, Halo: The Cole Protocol, DOW2....

Btw, check out this XBOX 360 add:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNuRQmvykwk

Some may think it shows how the 360 tends to promote violence, but nonetheless, I personally think this add is quite creative and down right awesome...

Think that's it for now. 

End of log.

*Return blog to stasis mode...

*Request complete...

*Status: IN STASIS

*idontknowwhativebeentold.....

Technical Problem

This blog is currently in a near-death state....please pray for new updates soon....I hope.....Grrr.....

Revival

*chest compressions....*

"C'mon, C'MON....."

*chest compressions....*

"C'mon baby.....don't die now...BREATHE!!!"

*one....two....breathe..."

"Ah, it's done...this blog ain't dead....for now...."

Been quite awhile since I last typed something here....in that time frame it seems that a number of people have already given up hope on their dying blogs and discontinued their blog's life support system. Well, I could do that....but then again if I felt like blogging again...I'd have to create a new account from scratch....

BLOODY WASTE OF TIME!!!

So here I am, again, with my next post....

Quite alot happening lately....dreaded 1st term Test is starting this March the 10th, and I'm still not ready....GAHH!!! So help me God....

Ah, yes....had our cross-country race last friday...it was tough man...had to push myself not to bloody stop, no matter what. I even resorted to humming the tune of "Blood Ravens Approach" just to keep myself going....I know, I know...some of you may think that running a video game soundtrack in your head is kinda stupid...but hey, it got the job done....I ended up with 15th place in my category, and considering the fact that I'm not that much of an athletic person, that's quite an alrite achievement for me....heh...

Still so many other things that happened.....Education Fair, Police Cadet Open Day (wayyy back in January) but then I wouldn't want to bore you all talking about all that with no pics, so....nvm

Well, I'd guess I have to go now...the call of duty beckons me....

Pray that my blog doesn't die...

Signing off....

End of log.

*idontknowwhativebeentold

A must get...

Yes, I know...this blog has been dead for quite awhile (and will probably be hibernating for some time afterwards). Well, here I am, with my next update.

Bought quite a few games for the XBOX 360, played them, and now I suggest you go and get them, as they are quite entertaining in their own way...(note that some of the games here are also available for the PS3 and PC)

1. Assassin's Creed 

  

Set in both the Crusades* and the near future, you play as a skilled Muslim assassin named Altair who is tasked with killing some of the most corrupted and evil men in the Holy Land. 

*FYI, The Crusades = "Perang Salib" in Malay...for the benefit of those studying under the lousy Malaysian Education System....haha

What to expect:

(i) Crowds of people react to your every move.

(ii) Choose to either complete your mission silently or fight your way in and out, unlike Splinter Cell where stealth is usually emphasized.

(iii) Awesome twist in the storyline.

(iv) Great stress reliever. (Swordfighting and stabbing have a better eff

ect at stress relieving compared to gunfire)

"Nothing is true. Everything is permitted" -Altair

2. Dead Space

As engineer Isaac Clarke, you are sent along with a team to investigate a distress signal sent by the mining ship USG Ishimura, only to find out that the whole ship is infected by an alien infestation with the ability to reanimate dead bodies, and the whole crew turned into nasty monsters known as Necromorphs. Alone, you must find out what went wrong. Typical.

Things I like:

(i) Doom 3 was scary. F.E.A.R. was creepy...this combines a little of both....

(ii) No HUD (makes smoother gameplay), game info

 (such as health) are displayed on the armor itself or the weapon. 

(iii) Short and sweet, it makes you so scared you just want to get away from the XBOX, yet engrossing enough to be able to make you glued to the screen for quite some time.....

(iv) Enemies are scary and ugly at the same time....even when dead.....

Warning: You might have nightmares....or not being able to sleep at all.....

3. Gears of War 2

Continuing the story after the first Gears of War, the Locust Horde is back, and guess who has the job of shooting, fragging, and chainsaw-ing their sorry arses....Marcus Fenix of course...storyline's ok...nothing outstanding...but gameplay is quite nice.

Things I like:

(i) Another great stress reliever. Your primary assault rifle has a chainsaw bayonet. Great fun (especially if you hold a grudge with someone in your heart...rev up the chainsaw and let rip!)

(ii) So far has some of the best cover systems in videogames.

(iii) Fast paced action guarenteed to keep gamers on their toes.

(iv) More weapons, more aliens, more fun!

Wanna rip someone into shreds? Get this....

4. Battlefield: Bad Company

Wonder why the logo is a smiley faced grenade? Basically, you blow stuff up and enjoy doing it. You can demolish walls with grenades, and your weapons sound and feel powerful. But what sets this game apart from the others is your team mates....THEY'RE SO DAMN FUNNY SOMETIMES!!!

Things i like:

(i) Almost everything is destructible...giving new opportunities for new strategies.

(ii) Most realistic gun sounds....ever....

(iii) Nice graphics.

(iv) Hillarious team mates make continuing the game very entertaining.

"This isn't safe..."

"Safe? My middle name ain't safe....well actually, its...er....Gordon..."

-in game dialogue

5. Fallot 3

(somehow I can't get the cover art to appear...weird....)

Set in the year 2277, 200 years after a devastating 2 hour nuclear war between the US and China ended up changing the world into a radioactive wasteland. You are a random guy who'se born in an underground vault designed before the war to keep people safe in the event of a nuclear attack. Once you turn 18, your dad mysteriously leaves the vault, and you go out into what used to be Washington DC....searching for your dad.

Things I like:

(i) Half shooter, half role-playing game. Very addictive.

(ii) In game there's this V.A.T.S. system which allows you to target specific body parts, and watch your bullet hit home in slow-mo.

(iii) There's a large area in the game world for you to explore and travel.

(iv) Loads of different enemies, weapons, armor, items etc that you can pick, use, or trade.

(v) Entertaining quests keep you playing longer.

"Don't feed the Yao Guai. That is all."

CNY's coming soon....might not have time for games anymore....*sigh*...

Well, back to my one year of hell...

End of log.

*idontknowwhativebeentold