Incredible Jack

Baked Cheese Tart

2011-07-10T11:18:00.004+08:00

Recently, my cousin Vivian has been involving her son Zheng An in a nearby baking supply shop's baking classes.

The shop is in USJ, called Best Baking Solutions. My cousin is very enthusiastic, and has gotten herself lots of supplies, but she has no oven in her home. So they come over to my place to do the baking.

So far, have been trying this recipe twice now, the Baked Cheese Tart with blueberry.

Mainly, Vivian and I do the work, but Zheng An has been getting more involved. So far the results are very tasty, but the proportions always confuse us. We always end up with more filling than pastry available.

May try apple pie next.

Gas Tank empty!

2011-04-25T20:43:00.003+08:00

Sigh, must rant about work!

I feel like the Go-To person for every single thing in my projects lately. And all projects are very critical, very stressful and very rushed.

Help, my gas tank is empty! Getting sick so often nowadays too. Need to recharge, need to be motivated, need to destress!

I wanted to kick some of my colleagues' asses because I felt that they were not doing the right thing. But my boss said, don't rock the boat and I should crack my head to think about how we can all work together according to our strengths. Sigh, sometimes I wish the bosses would crack their heads and just give us some specific instructions to follow. It's so tiring to keep doing the thinking and managing in my own head. I am tired of leading, and I long to be a follower for a change!

Rant, rant, rant!

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Ok.... it's out of my system. Back to the tough and trying daily grind. Put on my happy face, try to be look more mature than I really am, try to sound smarter than I really am, and become the Go-To guy again.

Definitely need to ask for more advice from friends and family on how to refill my gas tank.

Grr... Angry! Tank Empty! Grr!

Porky Pork

2010-12-06T10:19:00.003+08:00

Before we get to the food, a small rant about the level of quality from a big brand. I have been an Amway member for some years now. Introduced to this by an old classmate, I am currently consuming some of their health supplements and the eSpring water filter. 1 year has passed and the filter was due for changing. Can you see the difference between the old and new filter?

Tsk tsk tsk, spot the difference?

Yes, the black washer ring is missing from the new filter! A call to Amway confirms that there should be a matching washer ring in the new unit. The staff on the line said I could only do 2 things: send it back to the distribution centre for a replacement, or try to remove the old filter's washer ring and place it into the new one. I eventually managed to do the latter. But for the amount of money they charge on these things, the quality assurance is definitely lacking.

Anyhow, I purchased some pork from Jaya Grocer the other day and my mom got some from Pudu market. Both of which will be used in my roast pork experiment of the weekend. Loosely based off this recipe on the internet, i attempted to tackle the pork in my oven. I have no tabasco, so I used chilli sauce instead. There is a line of instruction saying the pork needs to be marinated 24 hours. I only read this on the day I was planning to have dinner, so the flavours did not have a change to penetrate. Boo Hoo... I also started the oven roasting bit late. The pork was bit tough when we ate it. Accompanying it was a sauce similar to the marinade, but with some whisky in it. I had my parents, grandma, cousin Vivian and son Zhen An, join us for dinner, and I forgot about the whisky till after the young man's lips become red (!). I am such a bad uncle aren't I? Also, some of the sauce splattered onto the casserole dish I used for the oven and burnt. This left a dark stain on the dish, which I am yet to clean.

Bought a wholewheat loaf of bread from Jaya Grocer too. To accompany the pork, I made a coleslaw. Cabbage, carrots and bit of onion. Dressed it in my own dressing of low fat mayo, cider vinegar (free from GNC points accumulation), brown sugar, black pepper. The slaw was a hit.

Sliced Pork, Coleslaw, Bread

Dad, Grandma, Vivian

My cousin and her boy came over to use the oven. So we made some egg tarts and a premix chocolate cake. My grandma and cousin are trying the tarts for the first time and quite like it. The chocolate cake turned out ok too and we sprinkled some coloured chocolate rice on top. The oven was heavily used during this day.

Pilsbury Chocolate Cake

Next time I need to read the recipe instructions better!

Enter Android!

2010-11-03T10:04:00.005+08:00

Finally moved to the smart phone realm! Good bye faithful Sony Ericsson W700i. You have been an ever faithful partner, right until you had SIM card detection problems.

Probably still my MP3 player?

Purchased a unit of HTC Aria just 2 weeks ago. Went with the Digi plan. For a 2 year data plan, you can get the phone for RM799. I decided to go for this plan at that time due to fact that I thought I will YouTube a lot. But more on this later.

I actually wanted to get the iPhone, but it was not easy to shop for this as DiGi stores were always out of stock. After a couple of times of asking, and from some other research done, I decided Android phones were also very good. iPhone4 is still tops in terms of display technology, Apple AppsStore choices, and ease of use. My original 2nd choice was the HTC Legend which was also available from DiGi. Legend has AMOLED screen and a stylish brushed aluminium body. Consumers are so much more tech savvy these days, and being a great alternative to iPhone, HTC Legend was also out of stock in all DiGi and HTC stores I visited. So I settled for the next in line model from HTC, called Aria.

Aria is a slim build phone, running on the Google Android OS ver 2.1 Eclair. HTC Sense is included on top of the Android platform, improving some of the UI experience. Upon launching, you'll see the familiar HTC calendar as your home screen.

Hail Android!

Contacts are also easily linked between your phone contacts, GMail contacts and Facebook. This makes browsing through all your friend and family info a joy. It does mean you have to do your linking homework before this really comes to life. I was keen to sync my contacts and calendar with my office laptop Outlook, but I could not. Current version of HTC sync software only supports Outlook 2010 32 bit, and I am on 64 bit. I was quite pissed when I discovered this after frustrating troubleshooting. I worked around by exporting my contacts to GMail, which the phone auto syncs with.

Android apps are obtained from Android Market, which is almost always FOC. Popular apps which you are familiar with iPhone almost always has an Android counterpart, so that's cool. Angry Birds was my first download, and it was the full version FOC. The slim build design means the battery is quite small, so is not lasting if you play lots of games or use lots of internet. I did feel the phone tends to get warm after heavy gaming.

AGPS is also available, but I've yet to try loading the Papago maps into the phone. The connectivity to internet via mobile network also seems buggy, as if there is no network available, the phone goes into "Turning on internet... connecting...." mode forever. During which, you cannot cancel the attempt, so that wasn't great.

My main use is occasional gaming, reading RSS feeds from Engadget, comic strips, YouTube, Facebook reading. And for this purposes, the phone is excellent. It fits easily into my pants pocket, even with the casing attached. Most of my iPhone4 mates slip the phone into their shirt pocket, which sounds like a bend-over-drop-out risk. But it's all about habit, which can be trained.

I am happy with the phone, and do not miss iPhone4 too badly. Let's see any new developments in 2011.

Getaway in Terengganu

2010-09-14T07:55:00.006+08:00

Local holiday again, this time to Terengganu. Decided to try FireFly airline this time. Very convenient for me, as it is in Subang airport. Just 15 minutes from my apartment.

Fly High! Proudly sponsored by SP Setia

Destination is YTL's Tanjong Jara Resort. It is between Kuala Terengganu and Kerteh (where all the petroleum refineries are). From Sultan Mahmud airport, it is about 1 hour to get to the hotel.

As with all YTL resorts, there are some familiar touches reminiscent of Pangkor Laut. Lots of leafy trees, wooden architecture, lavish bathrooms, thoughtfully placed decor items etc. Tanjong Jara is smaller in size compared to Pangkor laut but almost as comfy. A facility to wash your feet to avoid sand getting into your room, umbrellas in your cupboard for a rainy day, bath salts for your bath tub, 2 sinks, ceiling fan + air conditioning, the list goes on and on...

Freshly house kept whilst you are out for dinner

Double sink, and a dressing table!

Bathtub!

A water pot with water to wash your sandy feet before entering your room.

We went during Hari Raya period, so as a welcome treat, they gave us a box of Dodol sweets. There was also an open 'tent' where they served Hari Raya goodies like keropok lekor, Nasi Minyak, Rendang Tok etc.

The card looks handwritten too. That's a nice personal touch.

Decorative shelf in your room. Wine sold separately.

I was worried this place may be boring for kids, but I was wrong. The hotel manager got a trained monkey and handler to help pluck young juicy coconuts from the trees around the hotel. The fallen fruit is chopped up and straws placed inside and served to you on the spot. That was really fun for the young kids to see.

There are also lots of animals in the resort. We saw squirrels, iguanas, monkeys, many kinds of birds. Heck, I didn't know iguanas climb trees, but I saw one do so at the resort.

Hammock anyone?

The sand on this beach is quite rough, but the beach and water is clean. We saw schools of colourful fish swimming really close to shore. The beach is private, in a bay. So no other people crowd the beach. I flew a kite for the first time in years, and totally crashed. My cousin had to teach me again how to fly it. I got the hang of it in the end. Also made sand castles as well. Got tanned after doing this.

Sunset beach

The package we got is a full board package with 2 spa sessions each. The food here is above average. There is a credit limit, but you will never hit it. The main restaurant (Di Atas Sungei) has a different concept. A Menu Master staff comes over to your table to ask you what you'd like to eat. If you say fish, she will recommend the cooking style for you. This is somewhat like Chinese restaurant style, but in a Malay setting. The breakfast is also served here.

A morning view above the river (Di Atas Sungei)

There are also 2 different pools provided. One is for general adults and children. This one has a portion for jacuzzi jets, and the pool floor is shallow and shaped like a reclining chair! You can lie down with support for your back and knees... how cool is that!

There are also fish ponds with some tortoises by the reception. Kids can get free fish food to feed the fish. Alternatively, knick some bread from the breakfast table and feed the tortoises.

Gardenia, so good you can event feed tortoises

We had a very special outing in Terengganu. We managed to release baby turtles to the sea, see them hatch from the ground, and also catch a mother dig its nest and lay eggs! This was a real experience, and I've not tried this before. We are very lucky to be able to witness all of the different turtle activities. At this time, it is the end of the egg laying season, so much fewer turtles come on shore. It was no easy task to wait for the turtle to lay its eggs. We left the hotel at 9pm and returned at 3:30am! Some kids that joined us couldn't stay awake, but most of us made it. Turtles are indeed a special kind of creature. We managed to see green turtle during our trip. The more iconic black leatherbacks have all but gone from Malaysia. But we are still very thankful for what we did see during our outing.

Look at them go! All the best little ones...

The babies are attracted to light. Our guide showed us how they followed the torch.

It's climbing on my hand! So cute!

The spa sessions were really good too. I think the masseurs were very skilled, but the oil and tea drinks at Pangkor Laut are still better. In Tanjong Jara they specialise in Malay style massage. Again, I surprise myself because I really enjoyed the massage. Never really had these before, but the 1 hour flew by before I knew it. They also give you a pretty sarong after you're done with your session.

Lack of staff due to the holiday season resulted in long waiting times at the restaurants. But besides this, not much complaints. We also played tennis, and I went to a gym. So we were quite activity filled throughout.

I did not manage to try snorkelling at Pulau Tenggol (off the resort beach). I hope to try this one day. There are also boat cruises, waterfall excursions, cooking classes, visits to local markets as optional chargeable activities you may opt for.

I will be sure to try coming back to this place soon.

Happy memories at Tanjong Jara.

Egg Tart Experiment

2010-08-21T22:41:00.007+08:00

So... I itching to use the oven again. And I wanted to use some of the vanilla essence that I had manufactured. I bought a bottle of plain Absolut vodka and soaked some of the leftover vanilla beans I got from my previous Bali trip last year into it. Just leave it in a jar for a few weeks, shaking it about once a week, and here's what I get.

Vanilla + Vodka = Vanilla Essence

I'm thinking that I could probably mix this vanilla into cola and get vanilla coke too. Might try this tomorrow.

Using this off the net recipe as a base, here is my own adjusted recipe:

Makes 20 tarts, Preparation Time 30 mins plus Baking Time 15-20 mins

Ingredients

Tart Shell

1 cup sugar
3 cups wheat flour
250g butter or butter blend
1 egg, beaten

Filling

1/3 cup white sugar
3/4 cups water
5 eggs
1 dash vanilla essence
1/2 cup evaporated milk

Directions

In a medium bowl, mix together the confectioners' sugar and flour. Mix in butter with a fork until it is in small crumbs. Stir in the egg until the mixture forms a dough. The texture should be slightly moist.
Shape dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, and press the balls into tart molds so that it covers the bottom, and goes up higher than the sides. Use both thumbs, pressing gently while going around the mold.
Combine the white sugar and water in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil. Cook until the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat. Alternatively, just use hot water and dissolve sugar. Let this cool to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 230°C.
Strain the eggs through a sieve
Whisk eggs into the sugar mixture. Stir in the evaporated milk and vanilla. Strain the filling through a sieve, and fill the tart shells.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown, and the filling is puffed up a little bit.

Before...

After

I had some left over dough, which i just put into the oven anyway. So that become a cookie. I did fill the shells too much, so I spilt some when putting it into the oven. So kiasu of me... To be frank I think This recipe can make 21 shells, but I only had 20 aluminum tart foils.

I think 20 minutes baking time is pushing it a bit, 15 would have been better, then just let the tarts continue baking in the still-warm oven. I sampled one finished tart with my parents. The bottom is slightly burnt. The custard is nice and firm though.

I still got lots of flour and evaporated milk left. Will probably keep trying this till I finish the flour.

Got some friends coming over for dinner tomorrow. Let's get more guinea pig feedback tomorrow.

Revenge Complete... God of War 3

2010-08-20T07:34:00.005+08:00

Finally, I have recently finished God of War 3. Yes I know, this is not a new game title. Forgive my tardiness.

So after finishing God of War 1 and 2 on PS2, how does the third installment on PS3 stack up?

This installment begins with the Titans scaling Mt Olympus, trying to squash Zeus and his buddies. From the get go, this does not give any sense of possible victory on the part of the Titans. They are just slow, lumbering, giants trying to bite off more than they can chew.

One really cool feature is that the Titans themselves become your battle arena, not just your opponents/allies. You can run along their arms or bodies fighting off smaller sized enemies. With the camera view zooming in and out to show you the scale of your environment, it's truly a technological marvel to see the Santa Monica Studios team achieve this very seamlessly.

Itsy bitsy Kratos on Cronos' arm

Another game mechanic that blew me away was the flights up the massive Icarus vents throughout the gameplay. Coupled with the exciting soundtrack, the flights are amazing to watch, frustrating to get a hang off, immensely satisfying when overcome. You've got to play it to believe it.

The violence in this game has also been upped several notches. Not only can you beat the daylights out of your foes, you can have your victim's eye view of the beating! That's sick. And cool at the same time.

Kratos! You've got something stuck in your teeth! So stop beating me up and clean it!

You can also rip out various body parts for your pleasure. One of your opponents is Helios, God of the Sun. I had to laugh out loud during this sequence, because after ripping out his head, you can use it as a torchlight. That's cruel. That's sick. And cool.

Kratos Massage Service... Guaranteed to relieve all headaches

Besides fighting the Gods of Olympus, you get to boogie with Hercules too. After settling issues with Herc (i.e. beating him up) you get a really cool looking pair of boxing gloves. This is my 2nd favourite weapon after the default Blades. They are slower that the other weapons but pack a heavier punch. Plus they are in animal motifs!

Meet Simba and Mufasa... say hello to my pretty babies

Gameplay was far easier than what I recall for God of War 1 and 2. That disappointed me somewhat. The ending plot was also kind of weird, because Kratos harakiri-ed himself, releasing hope to the destroyed world. They do not show Kratos' corpse at the end of the tale, and there are still other Gods roaming around (e.g. Aphrodite and Anthena). If Athena is anything to go by, this means all the murdered Gods can still make an impact to the story.

Still highly enjoyable, but short of being a masterpiece in my view.

Rating:

Old Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4

2010-08-19T07:44:00.012+08:00

Acquired a PS3 console this year. So far, quite enjoyed the games on this console. Then again, the games are really pricey (RM150 and above), so I have to buy sparingly!

One of the ones which I really enjoyed from PS2 was Metal Gear Solid 3. So how does MGS4 stack up?

In this final installment of the metal gear series, you control Old Snake. Nanomachines have gone awry and aged this super soldier dramatically. Nothing an occasional bottle of Regain (not to be confused with hair growth serums!) and some Boss smokes won't cure in an instant.

Perk me up baby...

All the elements of stealth players have come to love return. A great improvement is the OctoCamo suit that auto changes the camouflage for you. In MGS3, this had to be micro managed quite often, so with this improvement this task is no longer a hassle.

You also get a handy remote controlled robot to fool around with. You can use it to pick up mines, go scouting, electrocute enemies and make distracting noises. Very handy indeed.

There are a lot more mecha enemies this time in MGS4. But there are a lot more interesting allies as well. At times, the storyline is too emo for my liking, but it's a small price to pay for a very intricate and detailed plot. One of the most emo good guys is Jack @ Raiden. No guns for this hero, just a sword will do. He's all about protecting Snake with no regard for his own safety. Later on he loses both his arms, but still battles with his sword in his mouth. He does get replacement arms at the end though, so I guess it all worked out.

I am the Lightning in the Rain... I am Raiden

Part of the mecha enemies in the game are the Beauty and the Beasts. Young girls who have been mentally scarred by war are placed into high tech battle suits to help your enemies make your life difficult. Defeating them usually rewards you with a full HD video cutscene of the girls doing... well, it's difficult to describe. Go YouTube if you'd like to see some of the action.

They really do look like this in the game. Really.

Of course, there is also some genius humour in MGS. You can now hold up an enemy and search him for goodies. Hit the button combos in the right time, and you can knock him out with a strike to the family jewels.

Oh my!

There is also this hilarious scene with Psycho Mantis at the end involving memory cards and vibrations. I won't spoil it for you... go play the game yourself.

I found myself playing till 2am sometimes, just so eager to get to the next scene or chapter. That's always a sign of a winning game. Cutscenes are detailed and aplenty, and only after you complete your mission. Almost all characters are complex and pull you in to the story. A lot of oldies make an appearance too, so that adds to the game's nostalgia greatly. I spent many a time restarting or redoing part of my mission to see if there were other ways to get past certain obstacles. I did resort to some FAQ help sometimes, but hey, that's also the mark of a winning game. Who would want something so straight forward right?

I am sad that this series has come to an end. I had a lot of enjoyable hours with Snake and will miss this dearly. We should all give this soldier a rest I guess and move on to look for some new 'classics'.

Snake, I wish you all the best and give the cigarettes a rest!

Overall rating:

Settling in (1 month)

2010-06-12T10:00:00.008+08:00

Gosh, can't believe it's been almost 2 months since moving!

Here are some updated pics

We've installed grille for front door. Reusing the simple colour box shelves for a shoe rack at the moment. I do plan to look for another one soon.

I'm real pleased with the dining table. It's got a real solid feel and the colour matches well with the wall.

Here's the TV area and couch. We are in need of a coffee table. Will go hunting for this today. Will probably move the couch further back as well to accommodate the table. It'll have to be a small table though.

We've put in some potted plants at the balcony area. I do have one more power point at the balcony. In future, may put a water feature here.

Here's the kitchen with stuff in it!

Here's the study area with stuff in it!

Mom and Dad's room have the best view.

One of the dinners I made recently. Leek and Chickpea soup with toast. I hope to do more cooking over the weekends to come. I've also made toast pizza to great succcess.

Okay, I'm off to look for a table now.

Move Date!

2010-04-04T13:57:00.002+08:00

09 - 11 Apr!

Progress so far

2010-03-28T22:52:00.013+08:00

So far the following are completed

Wiring and Light fixtures
Paint
Kitchen Cabinets, Built in Wardrobes, Study tables, dressing tables, TV shelf... 95% done.

Paint color:

Plain Maxilite white on ceilings
Almond white on 80% of all walls
Orange red on Dining wall
Green on one wall of each bedroom

Below are latest pictures taken last weekend

Balcony Area

TV Area

Kitchen Entrance from Living Area

Kitchen Area - Stove

E2Saver gadget next to the fusebox

From Main Entrance door looking at dining area

Study area

Bedroom

Built in Wardrobe

Tomorrow:

Install curtains
Final work on cabinets
Connect plumbing to kitchen sink

New Home Ideas: Living Room

2009-11-22T21:40:00.013+08:00

Shape:

Rectangle, adjoining dining hall
TV area wall 9'
Opposite wall all windows
1.5" wood skirting
White 2ft tile floor

Ideas

Cream or beige sofa sofa
Dark brown rug/carpet
Potted plants at window corners
Dark brown but not as dark as coffee - TV shelf, display cabinet
Curtain: Sheer and Full (two curtain tracks)

Purchased this L-shaped sofa, from a local manufacturer. Colour yet to be decided.

Purchased - Lighting

Above sofa and above dining table, 5 bulbs, metal frame

On either side of air con area, feature light yellow, but currently out of stock. Shopowner will try to source it again for me.

Appliances

Looking at Panasonic Viera Plasma TV 42" TH-P42G10K

New Home Ideas: Balcony

2009-11-22T21:38:00.005+08:00

Rattan chair with cushion x 1
Water feature
Small potted plant

Purchased - Western Classic looking lamp, yellow light bulb. Mom's choice.

New Home Ideas: Kitchen

2009-11-22T21:23:00.008+08:00

Space

L shaped

Ideas

Light to medium coloured Wood grain pattern

Dark brown, and white solid surface top

Unsure: Stove top in the corner?

Purchased - Lights 2 bulbs

New Home Ideas: Dining Room

2009-11-22T21:21:00.003+08:00

Mirror
Bright overhead light, but not chandelier
Dark brown (coffee) long table. 6 seater, not 8

New Home Ideas: Bedroom

2009-11-22T20:54:00.006+08:00

Shape

L or Rectangular
Laminated wood floor

Ideas

Light Purple or Blue wall
Dark Brown (coffee) bed frame
Dark brown (coffee) bedside table
Dark brown (coffee) table lamp
Purchased king sized bed from local manufacturer OrthoRest

Purchased - lamps x 2 for each bedroom

Opportunity in many forms

2009-09-19T10:45:00.005+08:00

Sometimes there are just various opportunities available around me.

At my workplace, and in the project which I'm part of, there is a requirement to have 2 team members to be in London at any one time. There was a bit of stigma last time, in that some felt it would be a very trying time. Living in a far off country, unfamiliar culture and environment, time zone difference, sense of loneliness. Maybe that was true in the beginning, but wow, has things changed this year. We used to have one person going 3 months at a time. This year, we've had team members going for almost a year. For the project, it would ensure more continuity in terms of knowledge retention. And with a bit of courage, people can travel to many other nice places that many just dream about. From London, it is so easy to hop over to Europe for a weekend. Even London itself is known as one of the most happening cities in the world. Not to mention the amount of daily allowance the company bestows on someone during this time.

In short, I will say that these long term oversea assignments is not for everyone. Some already have the personality to be able to adapt, some need to have the potential to adapt. If one has neither, it would not be a pleasurable experience. But for those that do have what it takes, the opportunity should really not be missed....

Recently I had to participate in a RFP and the follow up Presentation. If I were to list all my inadequacies, it would be a long list. I am first to admit that I do not have much knowledge and experience with these kind of things. Most of my work is in operational support on old legacy systems. The projects I handle are very small scale. Very low hardware and networking knowledge. I am also not familiar with the client, but every other colleague involved in this effort is. They can readily spout many points heard or observed from the client gained from previous visits to their office, whereas I cannot. So for all these reasons and more, I felt like a fish out of water. I also received critique that I was too quiet during discussions. Of course, that made me feel like I was performing even more poorly. Discussions for the preparations were always done late at night, and I had errands to run early in the mornings. At times I felt like a zombie and was too tired to focus.

So I could have banged my head on the wall, and admitted defeat, just go along with the motions. But I knew that I would be no better off if I did. I tried my best to overcome my shortcomings. Don't know if others can acknowledge any improvement, but heck, if you allow your life to only feel validated by the yardstick others impose of you, it would be very unhappy indeed. Better to have checked your own measure of success, ensuring it is honest of course, and validate against that instead. I don't believe I have grown leaps and bounds, but I think I have grown. Until I am thrown into another challenge, only then can I review my improvements. So I await for the next oppurtunity then.

My next challenge is One Hundred Pushups. Wish me luck!

Seek and pursue!

Persona 3: FES... Momento Mori

2009-08-08T16:09:00.010+08:00

Alright, I finally finished one round of Persona 3: FES. I had actually played Persona 4 first. But since Persona 3 is fresh in my mind, I think it's best to pen down what I have just experienced.

The setting for this RPG is in a Japanese highschool. Ain't it interesting to note that all the cool stuff happens in Japan high schools? hehehe

Basically, special student were born with a gift to control a power called Persona. The English translations in the game say this is a latent psyche ability within an individual. But to awaken the power, the students use a device called an Evoker: a tool shaped like a gun. So guns are used for shooting things, and to use the Evoker, you are supposed to shoot your head.

That's right folks... blow your brains out.

Bang! Bang!

The hero has the ability to control many different Persona, setting him apart from others. You can combine Personas to create new ones, fuse them into weapons and of course, use them to kill monsters. Yes, Japan always has many monsters and no matter how many heroes are born to vanquish them, monsters always come back... so that we can continue making use of them for new RPG stories.

Any key concept is that your Personas get stronger as you develop your social links with friends. Better relationships yield better rewards. Of course some of your friends are girls, so this means... you should start as many girlfriend relationships as you can. Oh... but if you are in the serious level of your relationship with more than one girl... and if the other girl catches you with said girl, all your girlfriends will turn sour. Realistic huh?

Girl 1: "He loves me"

Girl 2: "No, he loves me"

Girl 3: "The boy is mine"

You also have a smart canine companion as part of your team. And this little fella doesn't need to shoot himself to use his powers. Guess the dog is more capable than the human team mates?

Woof woof! No silly guns for me thank you...

There is a running time and calendar concept in this game. Certain events require the calendar date to be triggered. Sundays are non school days. There are even holidays, school trips, etc.

As you fight monsters, you get tired. This affects your accuracy and agility. There will be times your attacks (or adversely, your enemies attacks) take advantage of your inherent weakness, or is just plain lucky strong. These times you get knocked down. Any damage sustained is higher than normal. If you are able to knock down all your enemies, your team can perform All-Out Attacks. They rush in as a group and open a can of whoop ass on your foes.

Yes, the can of whoop ass is like an Adam West Batman rerun

Despite the very low level graphics, the story line is engaging enough. There is almighty supreme evil boss for the final show down... which is later explained to be not really evil. The hero will do a courageous deed in protecting his friend in the end. No spoilers from me though... go play it yourself!

This is one game where FAQs are highly recommended. I didn't realise there are long school holidays in January, and developed my social links poorly. Only 2 girlfriends! There are 3 more girls I could've dated! Also, there are special armor equipment in the game that are in the form of lady swimsuits. There are also stuff like toilet brushes, spiked bras and other eye opening things to discover and play with.

Voice acting is really top notch, and more than compensates the low level graphics. Actually the anime style graphics might charm some of you out there. Dark and slightly ghostly... it suits the heavy atmosphere of the game.

All in all, the final boss is a piece of cake. The tough parts are all the optional goodies in the games. If you'd like the badass equipment, you have to do some farming. If you want perfect relationships, you have to do some reading in the FAQs, as there some subtleties that you won't figure out yourselves because it is REALLY not obvious.

Persona 3 is actually a standalone game, but the Persona 3: FES is an extended edition that has a playable section for the story that happens after the events of the original Persona 3. If you intend to use FAQs, one strong word of advice...

If you are playing Persona 3... read Persona 3 FAQs. If you are playing Persona 3 FES, read Persona 3 FES FAQs. I thought since the front portion is the same, I could use any FAQ. Boy was I wrong, and the mistake is very costly. Ok, ok... you may think I'm dumb and a fool for making the mistake in the first place and I can agree with you.

So congrats to Atlus for making another winner. Reception of this game was really good in Japan, and around the globe. Not hard to see why. There's a lot of charm in the game. Not too much excessive randomness, lots of humour, and if you plan your strategy you are rewarded.

Two thumbs up! Can't wait to get into the FES portion of the game.

Gameplay: *****
Sound and Music: ****
Graphics: ***

Persona 3: Frustrations

2009-07-20T11:12:00.003+08:00

Argh!!! I am towards the ending for the game. And there are so many holidays! My remaining undeveloped social links are all my school girl friends! Argh!!! I will never get my 3rd girlfriend at this rate. Why didn't the FAQs recommend you to work on school friendships first! Why why why! I'm wasting so many days!

ARGH...

Yahoo says "I can't talk now, could be under attack?"

2009-07-09T10:18:00.004+08:00

It's amusing sometimes to see how friendly and cordial error messages from computer systems are these days. Just now, Yahoo in in "can't talk now" mode

Latest update:

I wonder if the interruption in Yahoo's services was due to the below or not major cyber attack from North Korea just a few hours ago. Sounds really coincidental.

Indian Heritage and Panna Cotta

2009-06-22T15:26:00.010+08:00

Went out last weekend for dinner with my folks, and we decided to drop by a Northern Indian place newly opened in Taipan USJ called "Indian Heritage". It is facing the main road, same row as Thai Corner and EON Bank.

I am no expert in Indian cuisine. In fact I will say this is my first time trying Indian fine dining in Malaysia. I did try one similar restaurant in Melbourne Australia.

Indian Heritage had an attractive looking buffet lunch promotion for RM15.90++. Sorry for the blur image... my Sony Ericsson W700i isn't great in dim lighting.

Decor is quite classy I guess... there is a feature chandelier in the middle, the walls have a texturised pattern on them, and the captain is dressed in a formal looking suit. He actually wished my dad "Happy Father's Day to you sir"! Heck, I had forgotten myself... oh, the shame...

The restaurant has a lot of patrons on the weekend dinner time that we were there. A lot of wealthy looking Indians came, and some westerners too.

We went with Fish Methi (very very tasty), Chicken Kadel and a saag (spinach dish). Ordered a briyani and 2 portions of plain naan.

As a testament to the taste, you can see our bowls are scraped quite clean.

The total bill came to about RM75 for 3 people. It is a little on the high side I feel and the meat and fish was a little on the small side for portion size. They do give you tonnes of gravy though.

The service was good. The captain was friendly and the staff do come by occasionally to check if everything is good, is the food alright etc etc.

Definitely a good place to have a meal with family and friends.

On another note, I had bought back a packet of vanilla pods from my earlier trip to Bali, Indonesia. It is so expensive and hard to find it here in normal supermarkets. I tried to make a Panna Cotta with them.

Below are my results...

Panna Cotta is basically cooked cream with some hardening agent like gelatine. The only flavour I added was the vanilla pod and brown sugar. I didn't put enough gelatine so I couldn't get it to slide out of the cup easily. I also used cooking oil to grease the cup beforehand, but I think the gelatine was not making it hard enough.... so the oil didn't help. Plus, I didn't realise it was peanut oil... so it left a weird aftertaste in your mouth after the creamy vanilla custard sat in your tongue.

The recipe recommended tart fruit like strawberry or rasberry, but I substituted for seedless grapes instead. I did find a cool tip in a Jamie Oliver recipe to freeze the grapes to make it more interesting. Don't they look cool below?

When you bite the frozen grape, it's like a popsicle!

My parents loved it. I not so much... I still have quite a few pods left, and maybe I can try again next time, with much more gelatine, and margarine instead of peanut oil!

Bali Hai.... Bali Hai

2009-06-21T16:45:00.015+08:00

Some months ago, some of my colleagues invited me to join them on a trip to Bali, Indonesia. Since I love travelling, I said "Count me in".

We didn't count on the Swine Flu now permeating all corners of the globe. Indonesia however has not officially declared that it has any confirmed cases of the disease. Well, whether this is knowingly true or not, only God knows I guess.

So just to be safe, I donned a face mask in KL's LCCT and in the plane going to Bali.

So Bali is known as "the ultimate island". It's got nice beaches and seas, hills and volcanoes, and remains largely rural. The busy tourism business however makes the locals quite globalised: many Balinese are multi lingual, know the value of foreign currency in relation to their own, and lots have satelite tv.

Here is my room mate buddy, Chien Hui with me at Kintomani, a hill area close to the Bali volcano. I am doing a "kawaii" pose. Don't I look charming?

Here's June, our other travelling mate. She thought she looked kawaii enough by herself.

For the most part, Malaysians need to be aware that Bali is more expensive than Malaysia. A simple lunch of rice at a roadside stall can easily cost you US$1.50 (more than RM5.00). Back home, a similar plate of rice costs RM3.50 or RM4.00. To save costs, I highly suggest you stay at Legian or Kuta, which, while being the more touristy area of Bali, is also very centrally located on the island.

We did take a trip up north, to Lovina Beach, which is famous for its dolphins and black sand. However, the statue erected on the beach, is unlike any images of dolphins I am familiar with. They look rather beastly and frightening instead.

I aM tHe FRieNdLY DoLPhiN oF BALI!

No Bali trip will be complete without enjoying some fun on the beach. Here are my two smiley friends on an inflatable raft called "Big Mabel". This raft is dragged across the water by speedboat. We also spent some time snorkelling and diving. All this was done in Nusa Dua, south Bali.

We are lucky June had an underwater casing for her camera. We had some fun taking shots like the ones below.

We also had our first taste of Balinese food, called "bakso". Basically it is pork or beef mixed with flour to form meat balls. We must have been a bit unlucky, because the one we tried was not good at all. But we had other food which was okay, so that's fine... can't be roses all the time right?

One of our visits was to an art factory. In there, there was a piece I absolutely fell in love with: a painting of golden padi fields with some farmers. I am told it is done by a famous artist and is a limited edition piece. The asking price? US$100... which was out of my budget. I do pine for it sometimes... At least I have this digital photo for a keepsake.

So beautifully simple and stunning

We went to other places as well, like Hard Rock in Kuta. This hotel is really pretty. The bar has a raised stage in middle, the pool has an area with sand to simulate a beach, and the hotel walls are lined with electric guitars. Cool, cool, cool.

We spent 5 nights in Bali, blew our spending budget out of the water, two of us had slight fever (gasp!), but all in all, it was a nice trip. I may think of coming back here again in the future.

Bali Hai... Bali Hai...

Grandia III

2009-06-06T22:55:00.007+08:00

Another RPG that I had the chance to play some time ago is Grandia III.

Again, although quite a few of the games I've played are long established series, I regret to say I have not played the predecessors. Grandia III is a Square Enix effort, the masterminds behind the phenomenally successful Final Fantasy series, which I love to bits.

Grandia III follows the exploits of young pilot, Yuki. Kinda sounds feminine, but I am no expert in names. In this picture, Yuki tries to 'touch the sky'...

The environments are beautifully drawn, as expected from Square. Some environments look really cool... you can even see hints of northern lights from this snowy landscape area.

On to battle mechanics... RPGs are all about fighting lots of baddies, right? One cool feature in the game is the ability to knock enemies into the air. Then, once they are freefalling back to the ground, you can do some extra moves that are more damaging and look cooler than your normal ones.

4.6 metres high... a new personal best!

The other nice part is the way magic is contolled. Anyone can do any kind of magic. Some are better suited to the job, but to have anyone to be able to do the super insane magic attacks gives you a lot of flexibility. You can even 'hatch' new magic by combining special items called Mana Eggs in a little machine that looks like a robotic chicken with 2 heads. You have to play the game to find out what I mean...

As usual too, all the characters have special moves that have lots of coloured lights and are real flashy. Also, you have to practice these moves to make them more powerful and also to learn new moves. However, the fights are rarely very challenging. Maybe because it gets quite easy to churn out special move after special move towards the end.

One of the key things I was hoping for was an engaging story line. All Final Fantasy games have such gripping story lines, so how did Grandia III fare?

To me, this game had some hits and misses. They reused the tried and true formula of a young upstart male hero protecting the fragile heroine. That's fine... it is a tried and true formula. The dream about Yuki striving to become a top notch pilot is believable. The plot development to bring all the main fighters together was also quite good and flowed naturally.

The final climax fight that leads you to meet the big bad boss was kinda boring. The struggle between Alfina and her brother, which is like the 2nd level big bad boss was also kinda boring. I guess there was not enough plot about character attachment or loss, so it felt like a let down. I guess not every story fantastic.

Also, not too many secrets or in game activities to delve into, and feels too straight forward at times.

I enjoyed the journey getting to the finale more than the finale itself for this game.

Still it is an okay game to while away the hours.

Lest we forget what reality TV really is

2009-06-03T22:57:00.010+08:00

Two things really struck a chord with me recently.

Firstly, it's how much we need sensationalism to draw out the tiniest response from our being nowadays.

Recently, a lot of news has been sensationalised on some contestants of Britain's Got Talent year 3 (2009). The most famous name is Susan Boyle.

An elderly lady with a great voice, but did not look polished in appearance. Whether the numerous Youtube clips of the judges frowning and giving cynical smiles actually happened or was edited into the video for sensationalising purposes, the effect was good. It made it look like the odds were against Susan and when a good singing voice was produced from her cheeky grinnng face, the contrast made for good entertainment value. See it here

Society nowadays can be so de-sensitised that something that was considered remarkable not so long ago, is considered common place and mundane today. Is it any wonder that we need something that is presented at such extreme ends of the spectrum to trigger some emotion from us? A lamentable situation in my opinion.

The second thing that really caught me is how much expectation we put on those in the limelight nowadays... It can be really unbelievable sometimes.

I am a fan of reality talent shows. A shameless fan I am. American Idol, Malaysian Idol, Britain's Got Talent, America's Got Talent etc etc. Being a huge music fan, I always love hearing new voices and singers trying to make their mark on what must be an incredibly arduous process of star making.

No disrespect to established and yet to be established artists going the conventional route i.e. doing gigs at clubs, sending audition tapes, going through performing arts courses... But the amount of stress, scrutiny and work that is crammed into that short space of time to make the filming of a show is truly frightening at times. One such casualty is ten year old Hollie Steel, also from the same show as Susan Boyle.

Also doing singing, Hollie did wonderfully in her auditions, just like Susan. Weeks go by, the machinery of reality TV chomps on ahead... and Hollie had a breakdown during the next show. She made some mistakes in her voice control, and after a couple, she couldn't take it anymore and cried. She didn't finish her performance, and requested a second chance. See it here. Susan is also reported to have had a breakdown and required medical care.

Truth be told, the public would have forgiven her mistakes the first time round, but she herself felt she was a disaster. When we see those in the media always performing flawlessly, we lull ourselves into thinking THAT is reality sometimes.

We forget that when movies are captured onto film by cameramen, there's that little black and white board that marks down how many takes it needs to get the scene perfect. We forget musicians practice as many hours as a programmer spends writing code. We forget that masters of their craft still spend just as many hours maintaining their skill level as a beginner tries to hone theirs. We just forget...

Reality TV show, judging scene, Take 70!

Snake Eaterrrrrr!

2009-05-15T14:29:00.008+08:00

I give my life Not for honor, but for you (snake eater) In my time there'll be no one else Crime, it's the way i fly to you (snake eater) I'm still in a dream, snake eater

lyrics to MGS3 title song, Snake Eater

Another lovely game I have managed to play and finish is the very cool Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, or MGS3 for short.

I've not tried the Metal Gear series before... I have my reservations. My gaming TV is a tiny 14" CRT with only 1 sound speaker. Yes I finished MGS3 in a mono sound environment with a tiny TV! Thinking back, I am astonished I managed to pull it off.

MGS3 reprises the series' hero, a stealth agent named Snake. Much of the games focus is on sneaking and springing the element of surprise. You can go around like a doofus and try to do away with your enemies with brute force, but there's no fun in that. Close Quarters Combat (CQC) is the main arsenal in this game. With a revolver or knife, you can do so many things to put the hurt on your opponent. Knock him out, choke him, use him as a meat shield, interrogate him...

Another major arsenal is the tranquilizer gun. A lot of times, this is the preferrable weapon. If an enemy is brought down using tranquilizers, they are knocked out quietly and do not raise alerts to their comrades. You can also use this special gun to hunt for food. Animals captured in this way can be stored in cages, which means they will still be alive and kicking when you devour them. If not, the "food" can rot, and if eaten later, will lose its efficacy and cause you a tummy upset.

Another big part of the game is staying healthy. You got to eat right, else you get tired and can't aim your gun properly. You got to treat serious wounds, else you cannot recover to maximum strength. Realism can get stretchy here... I mean, there is one point in the game, that Snake sustains several broken bones and cuts, but is still able to perform stitches and surgery on himself. That's the escapism of games right? Don't be so cynical, Jack. By the way, Snake's real name is Jack! All the cool characters are always named Jack.... yes, yes they are.

Camoflauge can be obtained by defeating enemies, or picking them up whilst in the mission field. Heck, not every camoflauge is actually meant to be worn as clothes. You can even use cardboard boxes to give your enemies to slip! This was really hillarious, and I couldn't help but laugh out loud when trying this out.

A lot of times, enemy bosses can be dealt with in 2 ways: Drain their life with attacks that wound them, or drain their stamina by shooting tranquilizers at them. If you take the time to drain their stamina, you will usually be rewarded with some amazing camoflauge items. Some make you totally invisible, some restore stamina, some make you soundless...

Oh yeah, the other cute feature of this game is that during the cut scenes, you actually are able to take control of the camera view to a certain extent. So there's this one scene with a female agent, Eva, and she's by a campfire, and she's crawling towards Snake, and she's...

Go play the game and find out yourself.

Some dislikes.... Ocelot. Oh man, after the second time watching him twirl his guns, I wanted to smack his head. It just looks too flashy and showy to be stomached.

I am the Ocelot, king of pistols, watch me twirl and twirl and twirl and twirl and twirl and twirl them!

The other major sticking point with me is that, the First Person View (FPV) requires you to remain stationary. You can imagine how much tougher this makes precision shooting during boss fights. Is this part of the challenge mechanism? All I know was this was such a major pain during the final fight with Snake's mentor, The Boss. Not only is her speed more than double of Snake, her CQC skills are higher too. If you do manage to knock her off her feet, you want to capitalise on her down time and pump some lead or tranquilisers into her. A lot of the time, you may not be able to see her due to your viewing angle. Plus you can't take your sweet time... the fight with The Boss is five minutes tops. Else Soviet MIGs will bomb you to kingdom come.

How's that feel Jack? Pain lets you know you're alive baby....

Of course, do take into account my frustration is probably highly due to the small TV and mono sound that I am playing the game with.

Other than the above, I'll say I had a great time with this game.

Verdict:

Gameplay: *****
Music: ****
Graphics: *****

Odin Sphere

2009-05-12T09:27:00.006+08:00

Another significant portion of my life is my Playstation (PS) 2. So it's only right that I blog about some games I've finished playing on my trusty unit.

I still remember the generosity of my friend Kah Jun who lent me his PS1 whilst we were back in secondary school to play Final Fantasy VII and VIII. I am forever in your debt my friend! That got me really hooked. The one fine day, I decided to get a PS2 unit for myself.

So in no particular order, here is my 2¢ on Odin Sphere, a beautifully crafted Action RPG from Atlus. I should mention I have a soft spot for fantasy genre RPGs.

It's been a long time since I touched an RPG with a side scrolling platform feel. I thought it may feel dated and obsolete. Odin Sphere overcomes this with some of the most gorgeous 2D artwork I've ever seen. Every environment is lovingly detailed, sometimes I just walk through the maps slowly to take a look at it all.

You take control of several heroes in the game, all of which give you a gameplay of the same storyline from different points of view. There will be times you co-operate and also battle against the other heroes. Another cool feature is the game has a in-game video timeline tool which allows you to play back all the videos you've seen in the game. So Hero B Event 1 may occur just after Hero A's Event 2. And after you've finished playing all heroes, you can watch the events occur in proper time sequence.

Another big part of this game is alchemy. You'll be finding lots of ingredients around the Odin Sphere world. Some popup from the ground (no kidding!), some can be ground, and if you mix the correct combination of ingredients, you can create new ones. This include useful potions, and food. In fact, there are kitchens and cafes in the game you can visit.

You can find little recipe scrolls throughout the game, and if you bring the chef the ingredients, they can make lovely food for you. Food is great to restore your health and gain exeperience. That's right, eating steak tartare and roasted lamb can give you experience points.

I love the ending battles of the games too. It has a grand finality feeling to it. Although a lot of it felt really tragic, in the end... a lot of the complex RPG storylines are like that. It's not all doom and gloom though... there are some happy moments too.

The music can get a little cutesy at times, especially during meal times. The voice acting is quite decent though.

Everyone should give Odin Sphere a try. I enjoyed it immensely and believe that if you're willing to give it a chance, you will be pleasantly surprised and richly rewarded.

Verdict:

Gameplay: ****
Music: *****
Graphics: *****

This is kind a cool!

2009-05-07T19:10:00.003+08:00

If you haven't seen Blinkx before, go have a look see. It loads up about a 2 second animated clip into one of many tiny "tv" screens.

Quite cool don't you think?

Chuan Kie, Gotong Jaya

2009-05-03T18:17:00.009+08:00

It was a fact I didn't want to admit. It's so much easier to blog about food than anything else.

So here's another entry from me about food. Went out for a family outing today to Genting. First stop was Lim Goh Tong memorial.

Still amazes me when I think what a huge empire Lim manage to build on our Malaysian mountain side area. First World Hotel is a record holder with > 10,000 rooms.

Above the memorial is a pavillion. Wouldn't this make a nice place for a late night get together?

Next was lunch at Gotong Jaya in Chuan Kie restaurant. There are lots of Chinese eating shops in Gotong Jaya's main street. They all look alike. They all serve roughly the same stuff too. Chuan Kie's distinguishing feature is that inside the restaurant, its walls are plastered full of celebrity photos taken with Chuan Kie staff.

Here's Mr Andy Lau Tak Wah. This picture must be really old, the colour has faded.

Here's Sally Yeh and George Lam. There are a lot more... maybe you can go look for Chuan Kie and have some fun identifying who you can recognise.

Food arrived, and is usual Chinese fare. The dish on the bottom left is "ka fah yok", but it tasted like pieces of fried lard, nothing more. Not for the health conscious. The taste was quite normal too. We had another patin fish dish, but it wasn't too fresh either. And the patin was RM90/kg. Word of advice, always ask for price and freshness before ordering!

Tenji Buffet

2009-05-01T21:19:00.015+08:00

Made my way to the spanking new Solaris Mont Kiara. A new business area development comprising of office and shop lots, created with paved roads, pretty landscaping... Done in the vein of PJ's Jaya One. I guess the old trend of having lots of shop lots packed together, with inadequate parking is fading away. Taipan USJ comes to mind as one of those old trends.

I was at Solaris today to sample the Tenji buffet for lunch with a colleague. Comparisons with Jogoya at Starhill are inevitable.

Tenji's built up area is huge and can acommodate well over 100 tables with some private rooms too. There is an indoor air conditioned area and seating outdoors as well.

There are large chef stations throughout the interior, each one doing up a different food or drink. There are plenty of food and drink you can pick up off the counters. There are also food options that require on the spot cooking, so you drop in a little metal marker with your table number printed on it in baskets that correspond to that food choice you want. Once its prepared, someone sends the food to your table.

Undoubtedly, the japanese stuff drew the largest crowds. Do take note that lunch prices are cheaper than dinner, and well... I guess food quality is in proportion to the price. My colleague feels the dinner food is much nicer than today's lunch.

Be careful to read the labels carefully... some are not edible ho ho ho...

I did enjoy this grilled fish that my colleague took for us to share. It is small enough to fit nicely on a skewer and in the belly cavity, there was some egg. Very tasty, the sweet egg was great with the grilled fish meat.

Oysters were fresh too. Dinner oysters are supposedly twice this size.

There are the usual roast lamb, chinese stir fried dishes, sashimi, grilled seafood, tempura etc. The tempura is an order you have to use the metal marker. We made an order for octopus tempura, but it arrived quite cold and was not crispy. Sashimi was quite okay some more interesting choices of scallop, silverfish, abolone, and several types of jelly fish. Dessert are the usual cakes and pastries, with Haagen Dazs ice cream (as opposed to Jogoya's Movenpick).

On the whole, Jogoya's food is more enjoyable I think. But Tenji's restaurant is definitely more comfortable. It is also easier to get to. Tenji's afternoon buffet priced at about RM77++ per person. But I had dinner at Jogoya, maybe it's not a fair comparison... I don't know.

After lunch we peeked at Schokolart chocolate bar's menu. The friendly staff explained that this weekend there would be a pole dancing event in the evenings! Also provided was a free flow of chocolate cocktails. RM75 per head.

Solaris has a lot more to offer than Tenji and Schokolart, and I'll need to explore more of it another day to find other gems and treasures.

Hanazen, Jaya One

2009-04-27T12:29:00.012+08:00

So here's a post of a nice dinner I had during New Year's Day. That's 01 Jan 2009, which is many many days ago... I could apologise for the lateness, but what good would that do? Ho ho ho...

Met up with my friend Tim and Algy for a dinner at Hanazen Restaurant at Jaya One. Great location, lots of parking spots, and so many eating choices... Jaya One is one of my favourite eating spots.

By the way, Tim and Algy, you both look fabulous! Better than anything I remember from our study time together in Monash Sunway.

Tim Shim, that's him

Algy Algy, looking good.

So Tim went and ordered the biggest bento on the menu. I expected nothing less from the man. And it was gorgeous. Grilled fish, crispy prawn tempura, fresh sashimi, snails with rice, chawan mushi, pickled vegetables, miso soup, some fruit and tea. He was grinning throughout the meal, so it must be good.

Algy ordered the unagi set. The portion was really generous. She had trouble finishing it.

I ordered the fish and sashimi set. You cannot see the vinegar rice on the sashimi because the topping is too big.

Look at the pretty colours

Pretty much everything was wonderful. Some good conversation catch up, tasty food... restaurant was quite noisy due to high number of customers, and the fact that the interior was all smooth and hard materials like wood and glass. The sound echo was quite high.

The only damper of the night was a less than impressive baby octopus dish which Algy ordered on a whim. It was overly salty, so we didn't enjoy this one much.

we are salty... said the baby octopi

I still loved the food and am planning to go again with another bunch of friends soon. Maybe 2 of us can share the gigantic Hanazen Bento!

Viva La Vida, Joe sues Coldplay

2009-04-14T10:02:00.006+08:00

Viva La Vida, a song from UK based band Coldplay is in trouble. According to Joe Satriani, the song's chorus is much to similar to his own song If I Could Fly.

Viva La Vida did very well in many awards last year, including a coveted Grammy 2009 for Song of the Year.

There are so many conflicting views on this. Copyright infringement is a major issue, especially for the arts. It is also interesting to see how easily a party is perceived as liable to plagiarism. Joe Satriani has always been acknowledged as a artist with super talent and skills, but did not find mainstream success like Coldplay has. And with a song like Viva, all the attention it got and is still getting today, it's hard not to draw comparisons to the similarities. Coldplay's predicament is not unheard of... KD Lang's Constant Craving also bore similarities to other artists' work some time back. Even further back in history, classical music composers like Strauss found themselves copycat rivals too.

It's definitely easier to pick out strengths and flaws of Viva, a song currently so high in profile. If it was downright plagiarism of a catchy hook, and only Coldplay themselves can answer this, then Satriani should be given his dues. If it was pure coincidence, which I am more inclined to believe it was so, I wish Satriani could just be content that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery".

SSRS 2008: Request failed with HTTP status 401: Unauthorized

2009-04-13T16:14:00.007+08:00

I decided to blog on some of the technology problems I encounter in my daily job.

Last week, one of the servers I was helping to manage got its machine name changed. However, not all the configurations for all the programs were changed as well. So all those applications with the old settings started crying out for help.

One of it was SQL Reporting Services (SSRS). In SSRS 2005, the reporting services configuration manager showed you a little tick icon

In SSRS 2008, those little icons are gone.

Viewing my trusty Report Manager yielded this cry for help.

No permission setting changed, so what's the deal?

Well, apparently a lot of the settings for SSRS was set to use the machine name previously. If you go to the Database item of the configuration manager, you'll understand what I mean.

How to resolve?

1. Correct the entries in sys.servers - you'll have to run the following statement into as many database servers as you have

EXEC sp_dropserver @server = <oldname>

EXEC sp_addserver @server = <newname>

2. Update the settings in configuration manager, so set the new servername. Just run through the database portion as you normally would in setup.

After that, "Bob's your uncle" as my English friends would say...

Jade necklace & Going to Melbourne

2009-02-15T20:55:00.002+08:00

I'm making trip down under again. Since we will be staying with some gracious hosts, mom arranged to have some gifts for our hosts. My aunt has been doing jade handicraft for some years now. Mom ordered 2 sets with my aunt. Here are the results.

Aren't they classy?

Will be going off on 27 Feb. Hope the Melbourne trip is good!

Oh my DELL!

2009-01-10T14:46:00.004+08:00

My new desktop has arrived!

My good friend's wedding and 2nd roast chicken attempt

2008-12-28T09:53:00.008+08:00

My old friend Thiru had his wedding at Cyberview Lodge on Boxing Day 2008. It was my first time there, and I have to admit that it was a very pretty place for a garden wedding. Pardon the pictures, they are taken with my Sony Ericsson W700 camera phone ^.^

Thiru, Theva, Govin in traditional Indian attire

The newlyweds together, Thiru & Evelyn

It was a very sunny day. Had a bit of cloudy weather, but thank God it held up nicely. Our mutual friend Donny Tan was playing guitar and singing during part of the ceremony. Donny and the music team had the full blast of the evening sun on them when they went on stage. Poor them! You can see they were sweating like nobody's business. Donny had to squint his eyes a lot too to avoid the glare.

Thiru and Evelyn exchanged their own vows on top of the normal one. Very sweet... The guests were given coloured rice to shower onto the newlyweds. However, most got over enthusiastic when the groom kissed the bride, and sort of pelted them when they were sharing an intimate moment. The bride's father got rained with the rice too... poor daddy ^.^

Rice anyone?

The wedding dinner was filled with performances from the friends and family. Definitely 2 highlights was Evelyn's dad's singing "Love is a many splendoured thing", and the final dance item from the newlyweds and the entourage. The song from Evelyn's dad was very well sung, and he was even backed by 2 violins and a piano. The final dance item was in true blue Bollywood style, with Indian music and playful choreography.

On a side note, the next day, I did another roast chicken. This time with patatoes in the tray. However, I only put the patatoes in after I removed the foil. The toaster oven really isn't very hot, so some pieces weren't cooked all the way through. Still quite successful I think. See my previous effort here. Ate this with some lightly steamed brocolli with melted margarine. Lovely lovely... washed down with some simple red wine.... bliss baby, bliss!

Making right on past wrongs

2008-12-21T16:40:00.004+08:00

Heard a lot of good press regarding this book and movie, so I finally decided to rent it.

Kite Runner: Awarded a "Truly Moving Movie" honour

The story is set in America and Afghanistan, with 2 boys as the main characters. One is wealthy and of high status, Amir, the other is a servant's son, Hassan. Amir is intellectual, waited on hand and foot, spoilt. Hassan is courageous and overtly loyal to the point of self sacrificing. Despite this, they are close friends up to the point of Kabul's kite flying contest. Both boys worked together and managed to clinch the kite flying tournament. Later on, during a moment of incredible cowardice, Amir allowed Hassan to be beaten up for his sake. Amir even went so far as to get Hassan and his father evicted from his home, deeply wronging his companion and severing ties with each other. Then the Russian invasion of Afghanistan began, and Amir flees to America.

Amir leads a sheltered, safe life in America, whilst the Taliban takes over Afghanistan. Later on, news reaches Amir that Hassan has been murdered in Afghanistan, and that both these childhood friends are really brothers of the same father.

Trying to right a wrong with Hassan, Amir journeys into the heart of Kabul to pluck Hassan's young son, Sohrab away to America for a better life. On the way, we see examples of Taliban extreemism, violence, injustice. After mortal danger, Amir succeeds in locating and whisking Hassan's child, and rightfully his nephew back to America.

The film concludes with Amir teaching Sohrab kite running, and gives Hassan due praise for all his skill and nobility by sharing all of Hassan's goodness with young Sohrab. Sohrab, although initially treating Amir as a stranger, slowly accepts Amir, and the Amir's wrong is slowly being righted.

I thought this film would be highly preachy. There are some gruesome highlights, e.g. stoning of an adulterous couple. But other parts are handled with deftness, e.g. class and social standing, honour and shame, courage to stand up for belief and being loyal to those you care about.

One of my favourite scenes is how Hassan's bravery with the slingshot is again shown by Sohrab years later, and again it was done in defence of Amir.

Another part I love is the beauty of Kabul and the Afghan mountains. Instead of the images of war and violence, we often forget that the Afghan countryside are amongst the most scenic in the world. Kudos to the film makers for highlighting this.

That is postcard perfect, that is...

Righting a wrong done to an innocent party is not a new theme for movies. Kite Runner succeeds in using childhood friendship as the key element and ending it with a salute to this element again when Amir reaches out to Sohrab.

It was a good movie. It exceeds expectations. Is it exceptional in the tear jerking and heart moving department? Not for myself personally. But in a world where high tech gimmicks and unbelievably photogenic movie stars grace the screens, Kite Runner is a welcome breath of fresh Afghan mountain air. Here's hoping more such tales of human spirit continue to be written and made to films.

Sohrab-jan.... fly as your father flew.

Pavarotti and Pangkor Laut

2008-12-18T23:15:00.012+08:00

Back from work... quite tired, but thought i would type a little blog post of my Pangkor Laut trip. Heaven knows I enjoyed it lots. Only fair that I give it some blog space.

The opera tenor Pavarotti once visited this island more than 10 years ago. He declared it one of the most beautiful place on earth. He gave a very exclusive performance to a handful of VIPs during Tan Sri Francis Yeoh's official opening that time.

Cousin Vivian and young An-An boarding the plane.

Went via Berjaya Air to Pangkor Island first. It was a modest plane, but highly convenient because it left from Subang Airport instead of KLIA or LCCT. Then onto a ferry to the exclusive Pangkor Laut island. It is wholly owned by YTL Corporation and only has 1 hotel. One of the world's best spa resorts and small luxury hotels.

This is a special hotel indeed!

Comfy bed and room

I cannot do justice to the beauty of the place no matter how many photos I place on the blog. I just want to say, if you ever have the chance to honeymoon or just relax at this place, you will love it to bits. Incredibly well maintained, never overcrowded, excellent dining and recreation options... *sigh* just a fantastic place to stay and let your worries slip away.

my humble attempt to create a romantic photograph for my folks :)

A night shot from the island jetty of the hotel.

The beautiful infinity edged pool just beside the sandy beach.

Such a lovely setup at the spa village

I had a massage for the first time in my life. It was included in the package for this holiday. It was bliss. The spa "village" is away from the main hotel area. Quiet and peaceful, only spa guests may enter the village.

I was told to change into a sarong, and sarong only. I was quite self conscious of course due to my skinny physique hahaha! No cameras allowed, so no photos from me... sorry about that. A personal spa attendant will lead you all the way through your spa session. Mine was a young lady from Bali. Then had a brief foot massage first, before a spray of ice cold water on my body and a wading pool session. The pool was also cold water, then I was told by told to wade across the pool. Oh dear I thought, but I did it anyway. Then walked up to a small landing area with 4 steaming columns of aromatherapy steam. "Breath in each one slowly, and relax", she says. They smelt divine.

Then was a bath session. Old fashioned malay style, with a 'cedok' (small scoop), more aromatherapy toiletries and warm water. I forgot how refreshing this kind of bath was, and enjoyed it immensely. They had a very interesting banana shampoo too.

Then was a body scrub session. This was quite an eye opener to me too. I was covered in some exfoliating paste, rubbed down, then had warm water splashed on me till I was squeaky clean. Then came a short session for warm ginger tea. I was left to drink and relax for a few minutes.

Then the main event, my Balinese massage. I was lead to a massage room, with soft lighting and Enya music in the background. I chose one of three massage oils, and was rubbed down with "Medium" strength. I was ticklish in some parts, and tried my best to control myself. My attendant was so good. I really felt relieved and relaxed. The massage was almost 40 minutes, and she did my whole body. Oh my goodness... how I miss it!

every night, they give you a fresh aromatherapy candle in your room!

All around the place you can see how YTL cares for the establishment. Amongst the daily routine of the hotel staff:

Fresh flower petals are laid near decorative jars around the hotel.
The sand in all ash trays are pressed with a decorative motif
All decor are gently dusted and cleaned... even the big pots that are used to stored umbrellas!
All guest rooms are cleaned only during breakfast time when the guests are NOT IN THE ROOM so that you are not disturbed
The beautiful bath tub in the room is provided with bath salts
A fresh fruit is provided to your room everyday: mango, papaya, apples
When you are out for dinner, the staff come to your room, turn on the dim lights, and set the air con to low, turn on the classical music radio station, so that when you return you arrive in a confortable, welcoming room for rest!

look at this gorgeous bathtub!

When I get hitched, I am going back to this place for sure!

Roasted Chicken and other updates

2008-12-15T10:32:00.004+08:00

Ha! Another entry in my blog! Which I'm sure no one else reads because its only updated twice a year maybe and I never publicise it except when I feel like it.

So Saturday night, I had a themed dinner event with my colleagues. Theme was East and West. Emphasis on having both elements together in the dressing. Almost 90% came in a chinese top. Some were more adventerous, doing Thai, Japanese, hip hop street style. One of them even crossed dressed, as in a guy wearing a ladies' gown. Undoubtedly this one drew the most cat calling and photo oppurtunities. I myself went to Giant hypermarket to get a casual Indian top. The food was quite tasty, and mostly italian fare done in buffet style. The restaurant is Rick's Cafe Casblanca at One Bangsar. Our event occupied the entire upper floor. Quite happy to see that we had 90% turnout in numbers and all took some effort to match the evening's theme. There was free flow of wine, red and white. Of course, this lead to some extravagant toasting attempts, and many had to chill out after the dinner to allow the effects of alcohol to settle down.
Christmas is just round the corner.

Oh yeah, my house has been fitted with Astro now. That's Malaysia's sattelite TV service, and has channels like CNN, BBC, HBO, Hallmark etc. But my favourite channel is Discovery Travel and Living, and also the Asian Food Channel (AFC). Favourite program is cooking shows. Its just so relaxing to watch food being prepared. No Hell's Kitchen for me thank you. Gordon Ramsay is too theatrical and the show is far removed from any level of sanity. But I do know people who are fans... so to each his and her own.

I'm always amazed at how the western chefs do so much with their ovens. So I decided to try using our "oven" for a cooking attempt. Except... that I don't have a real oven. My home only has a toaster oven. So here is my first attempt using a toaster oven to try roasting a chicken.
Mom had bought a really nice and clean Nutriplus air dried chicken from Carrefour last Friday. Very clean bird, and the flesh just looked lovely. Saw a tip from a show by Kylie Kwong, to cook the chicken in the oven but wrapped in foil first. After an hour, remove the foil to start the roasting proper. Cooking in foil will ensure the chicken is steamed with lots of moisture first, thus keeping the juices.
So my recipe today was taken from some internet website and the cooking method from Kylie.

1 chicken, about 1.5kg, cavity cleaned

5 cloves of garlic

1/2 a large red onion

2 tbsp paprika powder

1 tsp dried rosemary leaves

1/2 cup of olive oil

1 lemon

Salt

Black pepper

Aluminium foil.
1. Make sure chicken is properly defrosted.

2. Rinse chircken cavity and season with salt and pepper.

3. Cut lemon in half. Stick one of the lemon halves into the chicken cavity.

4. Pound garlic and onion in a pestle and mortar. And some salt while pounding to increase abrasion.

5. Once onion and garlic are evenly mushed up, add paprika and rosemary. Pound again.

6. Add olive oil to pounded mixture, and stir with spoon. If you choose to pound it instead of spooning, you'll just make a mess I think ^.^

7. Rub chicken all over with mixture... i mean, rub mixture all over the chicken

8. With leftover lemon half, cut into 4 slices to obtain 4 circular pieces.

9. Oil a roasting tray.

10. Lay 4 pieces of lemon on the oven roasting tray.

11. Place chicken on lemon. The lemon pieces prevent the chicken skin/flesh from direct contact with the tray.

12. Cover roasting tray with aluminium foil. Wrap it well, keeping in mind to not allow any gaps, else moisture will escape.

13. Place into oven at 250 celsius for 1 hour.

14. After 1 hour, remove from oven and discard foil.

15. Place back into oven for 45 minutes.

Here is the result!

Tada! Chicken from toaster oven

Extremely juicy and tender. So juicy I had problems to cut it up because juice was spurting out everywhere. Maybe I should have rested the chicken on a drip tray or something. The flavour is very simple, but my mom quite likes it. So I feel validated enough ho ho ho. More paprika would've given the roast a deeper colour too. The original internet recipe called for onion and garlic powder too, not fresh onion and garlic. Maybe that made it too wet too.
I count this as a success!

Maybe I can roast something every other week. God knows my bottle of paprika powder still has lots of leftovers! I wonder what else can you use paprika for? I add rosemary to my fried eggs and tuna sandwich fillings. But paprika is a mystery still.

So I think I will do the same roast for Christmas. Will do my roasted mash patatoes too, and think of something for a cold salad.

Off to Pangkor!

2008-09-27T22:24:00.002+08:00

Going off to Pangkor Laut tomorrow. The beautiful place that made Pavarotti cry because of its beauty.

Hope it turns out a good trip.

Must be disciplined to blog

2008-09-08T10:23:00.002+08:00

*sigh* after many months of neglect, I will try once again to blog regularly.

I think my main problem is that I think too much before I write.

So even if it's just going to be one or two lines.... I am going to be regular! So I henceforth declare!

I'm sure I can do it... I'm sure

I'm sure... I think

MyVI's first weekend drive

2008-03-16T17:09:00.008+08:00

So I have made a new purchase in my life. A new Perodua Myvi. Have purchased the 1.3 EZi Premium type that comes with ABS and airbags. Colour is silver, and had some tinting done for heat and safety, and finally changed to slightly wider Michellin tyres. Was thinking of getting a new car for sometime, and last year I was aiming for a 1.5L car, like the Toyota Vios or Honda City. But thinking about the cost of fuel and the car model (those babies are easily RM90K on the road), I settled for a more humble car instead. So here she is, my new silver Myvi...

Honk honk! Buy number, buy number!

Only collected the car on Saturday afternoon. 2 weeks lead time from booking payment, so it was pretty fast. Salesman was accomodating and friendly, loan was approved easily... It was quite a hassle free purchase. I forgot to ask for number plate sandbalsting, and so did the salesman. And it was at this fateful moment, that I did the unthinkable. I made my first scratch on my brand new car, by dropping the car keys on the driver side door handle.

Honk honk! I made an ouchie!

I spent about 15 seconds, spaced out at the idiocy of self inflicting the first scar on my new car. Then I proceeded on with my life ^.^

Today I went to Columbia Asia in Shah Alam to visit my grandmother. She has had some tough health problems, and it came to a point she needed round the clock care. So my family made a decision to have her taken care of by professionals. My uncle found this centre, and my grandmother has been here for some weeks now. So off I went in my newly scarred Myvi to Shah Alam.

Columbia Asia's main entrance

I have been here once before, so I didn't get lost driving to the centre. Ain't Jack incredible? ^.^

Grandma is very alert. Body is getting thinner though. But she's much better than when we were trying to care for her ourselves. Nurses report that she eats normally, and she's able to sleep. Both things were a rarity when she was with any of our family. The good turn comes at a steep price though. Suffice to say that with my humble salary, I am not able to support the monthly fees required to have her in the centre, not even half of it. Cost of healthcare is at such a high rate here in Malaysia. Even if you'd like to lead a quiet and simple life, make no mistake, you need at least RM1M stored up to be safe. Depending on Malaysia's inflation rates, this could be a much higher number in the future. Grandma has done the prudent thing and made savings for herself. But with the need for care of this standard and attention, one wonders if long life is that great.

The centre itself is no Hollywood styled retreat. It is actually very simplistic, but it has a clean, bright and comfortable feeling. If you've been to some of those old folks or nursing homes housed in bungalows, you may understand what I'm getting at. Most are overcrowded, dimly lit and there is a sense of heaviness as soon as you step into the place. Columbia Asia is styled like hospital wards, with nursing stations on each floor. The staff are friendly, and they give you a sense of security that your loved one will be in responsible hands. The food is simple, the tables and chairs are still normal plastic/wood, and they only have normal non-Astro TV. Not that my grandma watches TV anymore. anyway. Yet this comes at a high price indeed.

I am really glad she's comfortable and is well looked after, don't doubt me on that. But as I stroke her head and hold her hand, I thank God that my own parents are still able bodied and sound of mind. Some day, when the unforunate time comes where I am unable to fend for my own needs, I hope that the resources built in my youth are sufficient to see me through.

Simple and sweet accomodations, but high in price

I drive home from Columbia Asia, with mixed feelings. May the road forward and the final destination at the finish be clear and smooth. Amen to that

Going to London and coming back to Malaysia

2008-02-23T22:07:00.014+08:00

Just returned from a 4 week work stint in London, England. I had a really rough and frantic time preparing for the trip. After 4 years of doing this, I had hoped rushed arrangements like these would be a thing of the past ^.^ which just goes to show how much further there is to grow ho ho ho. Left Malaysia on Jan 21st

This is my first trip to this particular client's locale in London. My company had rented an apartment unit in Borough, which is 15 mins walk from London Bridge. There is a well equipped kitchen with 2 ovens, toaster, stove, cooker hood, rice cooker and a gigantic fridge. So this translates to lots of spaghetti cooking for myself. Fresh foodstuffs are quite cheap (with company allowance... don't convert! don't convert!). So it is not surprising to find myself at the Sainsbury's or grocery shop every other day of the week. There is also a TV with some cable channels. Mostly british programs though, with some american ones.

Spent CNY in London. The main festivities happen on the first saturday of CNY. So me and my colleague walked to the Strand to watch the CNY parade. It was quite lively, with a lot of costumes. There were some good music and dances. Some were just people dressed in chinese costumes that just walked past in ho-hum fashion. There were so many people coming down to watch the parade. Mostly whites. And here's where you a get the real feeling of just how populous London is. Everywhere as far as the eye can see, thousands and thousands of people.

The parade procession down The Strand. They had lion dancing too!

Happy CNY from Kung Fu Panda movie

Some locals dressed up their pets. Ain't this one adorable?

On the other weekends, I did manage to get around town. Looked up all the touristy places once more. St Paul's cathedral, Tower of London, Buckingha Palace, Oxford and Regent street, Westminster, London Eye, took a cruise down River Thames, visited some museums... All in all, took in a lot of sights. Went for Lion King theatre musical at Lyceum Theatre too. Thanks Liz for arranging this. Really enjoyed the creative show. Anyone who has a chance to catch it, make sure you do. You should not miss the oppurtunity no matter what!

St Jack at St Paul's. Just kidding :P

Big Ben and Skinny Jack

Even took a trip to Kent one weekend. This was to visit Leeds Castle. Took a train from London Victoria to Bearsted station, then took the shuttle. It was bitterly cold the day I did the trip, and I really felt it. Here, the castle's resident dragon attempts to warm me up with its fiery breath.

Oh mighty dragon, I'm not as tasty as you think

Met up with my old schoolmate Ruth one weekend. Had lunch together, and also went to Hillsong church together at Dominion Theatre, Tottenham Court road. It is my first visit to Hillsong, and it was fantastic. They were going to do a DVD recording of the worship session the week after I went. Unfortunate that I missed my 2 seconds of fame moment. The worship was so lively and the message was very relevant to the youth audience.

Met my cousin Joseph, wife Maki and brother Andrew for dinner this week too. Had an amazing meal at Galvin, Baker Street which serves frech food. They told me of their Great Atlantic Race. adventures. They are greatly tanned and sport lots of facial hair now. But they seemed to have a great time, and I salute their achievement. It is quite an amazing feat if you think of it. Go see the site I linked above to understand the enormity of the race. Wish you guys best of luck for the next great adventure.

On my journey back to Malaysia on Feb 20, the worst of worst things happened. I got sick. Developed a fever on the plane. If that's not enough, I had the noisiest fellow passenger in the world. He was having a coughing fit, and he was so loud. He coughed every 5 minutes. I took 6 panadols during the flight to control my fever and chills.

When I thoughr my nightmare was over, things got spicier. The captain of Malaysia Airlnes flight MH001 on Feb 20 from London Heathrow to KLIA decided that for the last 10 minutes of the flight, he would do something really cheeky. He descended the aircraft and changed the cabin presure so fast that I had a migraine. Not a headache, but a migraine. The kind where you hurt so much, you puke and you can't stand up. I felt like I was going to have a stroke due to the pressure in my head. I needed a wheelchair when we landed. And 3 other passengers too needed wheelchair assistance.

So what's the first thing I did when I arrived? On my taxi ride back to my house, I puked.

Then after collapsing into my bed in my house, I developed my fever again. And the icing on the cake is I developed a cough too, which I'm certain was courtesy of my fellow flight mate in MH001.

Besides the very uncomfrotable return to Malaysia, I am glad to have had the chance to visit London again. Goodbye London, I had a great time. It would be great to see London in a season other than winter, which is the only season I've seen from all my visits so far!

London and CNY

2008-01-19T15:51:00.000+08:00

Have a last minute trip to London, UK planned for next week. Will be going for 4 weeks, so that means CNY will be spent in UK. Got an uneasy feeling leaving all the responsibilities of my current project to others on such a short notice.

Sigh... I do wish this trip was managed in a more orderly fashion. But will soldier on anyway. Have to take a long hard look at where I'm at now with my colleages and workplace.

^.^ sounds like a review and appraisal process!

Secret and Glasses

2008-01-06T10:22:00.000+08:00

“Secret”
“Follow the notes upon the journey
At first sight marks one's destiny
Once the voyage comes to an end
Return lies within hasty keys”

Mr Chou's movie directorial debut

Recently had the chance to watch this movie directed and acted by Jay Chou himself. I am very impressed with the story and the music. It is about two young pianists of different times, chancing upon each other via a very special piece of music, and of course, falling in love. I've always had a soft spot for movies about music (The Red Violin, The Legend of 1900 etc.). I really like the story and the heart tugging moments of the film. Chou's pronunciation sucks as always, but the acting is more belivable than in his other movies (e.g. Initial-D, Curse of the Golden Flower). Must be highly attributed to the fact this is a movie about pianists ho ho ho... The time travel arc has been done many times, but this one's take is fresh and some scenes like the liquid paper on the desk was just genius.

Mr Jay Chou, I applaud and salute your movie. This was highly romantic and enjoyable! I'm trying to learn the movie songs on my piano now.

On a side note, I picked up a new pair of glasses today. Had my eyes tested the week before, and I'm shocked that my astigmatism went up so much! I used to have just a little on my right eye, now I have it in both. I am also very shocked at how much a pair of new glasses cost these days. Heck even the frames can be in the excess of RM1000. Why is this possible? Is inflation to blame? Money, money, money.... it's a rich man's world. So for the poor man like me, I was only able to bring myself to fork out RM500 (including lenses). Sigh... hope this pair lasts me a good while! What do they look like, you ask? See below for a tiny picture. Why tiny? Because currently got a lot of pimples... so I'm shy to post a bigger one ho ho ho ^.^

Most people say I need rectangular frames, so I went with it

2008 and 2007

2008-01-01T13:16:00.000+08:00

Well, well.... 2008 has come at last. 2007 ended just a few hours ago. How did I end the year?

Christmas time was nice and quiet, and had a homecooked dinner with family. I actually made the salad of pea sprouts and cherry tomatoes, dressed with olive oil, lemon zest and honey. Also made the mash potatoes. I left the patatoes boiling in water till the water dried up, so they started roasting instead! I caught it before it burnt though. Made the mash anyway, and it had a lovely roasted smell & taste, and it was a hit! Cooking is really all about experimentation I guess. Forgot camera, so no pics though... you have to take my word for it :)

Attended a good friend's wedding at Hilton Hotel, PJ on 30th Dec. Congratulations to Zijin and Eu Gin again! They gave some milk chocolates in cute tin containers as a token of remembrance.

Inside of me is chocolate

One of the dishes served was fried prawns in oats. I've heard of this dish being served in weddings sometimes, I think this is my first time tasting it. Oats help to flush cholesterol out from the body, and prawns are supposed to be high in cholesterol. Therefore the pairing is meant to make the dish healthier.

Prawns with Oats - Guilt Reduced

Got to meet up with old classmates Khee Ven and Chun Yian. Khee Ven, your weight loss is scary. But you must be cash loaded by now, so you can buy all the nice rich food anytime you wish I guess. Just remember to take care of your body. Still... I think I'm skinnier than you by far.

We adjourned for a drink at Starbucks. My friends were sweet enough to get me a cake slice and sing me happy birthday. Thanks guys... appreciate the gesture. I didn't do anything special on the birthday itself. There's a lot of stress at the workplace even now at the year end. I just took it easy at home and relaxed.

Chocolate cake from the gang

Spent New Year's eve at my project manager's house in Bukit Jelutong. Will blog about that next time.

I must say that my personal new year's resolution will only be 2 things:

Excercise to put on weight. Thiru, you are my inspiration! But to do this, I first have to...
Learn how to work smarter and less hours! I really have to sort this out this year. I'm not getting any younger, and my health profile just sucks. I guess since I'm not a superman in talent or looks, I probably have to take a pay cut, less responsibilities or make some other change in career and lifestyle to achive this goals.

To all in cyberspace... Happy and Healthy Year 2008 to all! World peace, world peace and less global warming I hope!

2007 Dinner and Dance

2007-12-23T00:53:00.000+08:00

So year 2007 is drawing to a close. Only 7 more days till it's over! In December especially, my place of employment has been truly busy. With resource management to take care of, announcements to make, events to attend, employee appraisals to do, myself to be appraised -.-"

December was also a month of many firsts. E.g:

First annual dinner event that was organised by a committee.

Previous dinners was planned by my manager mainly. Had the do at this little hideout called Rahsia, near Jalan Tun Razak in KL.

First dinner event with a dress code

Besides the dinner event planning by a committee, another first was that there was a dress code for the night. Whites for gents, and ladies in red. They were even giving out some prizes for best dressed and best hairstyle.

First time Jack made any effort to dress up

I actually went around Sunway Pyramid one weekend to look for white pants. Settled on a pair of Lois jeans. Another weekend was spent looking for a shirt. Found a nice one in Key NG. The design was simple, but it had some cool details like seams sewn with multicolored threads. Also found a cheap (RM40+) but nice pair of Bata brown shoes.

I quite liked the color and simple design. Bargain price too!

Besides clothes, I also attempted to change my hair. Read somewhere that the spikey look is simple to do with a hair dryer. So I borrowed my mom's and experimented. Below is a sample of where I got to.

Experimenting, experimenting!

I thought it looked quite ok actually. Unfortunately I didn't understand that to maintain this spiky look with hair that is as long as mine, you need industrial strength hairspray or gel to fix it. After about 30 mins, the hair dried, and became frizzy. I couldn't be bothered to try and salvage it. I'm such a fashion disaster ^.^

Can you see my fluffy hair?

Anyway, I need not have bothered with dress or hair. I didn't win anything. Best dressed went to my friend below instead.

Spence (far right), I salute your fashion

Dinner was okay. Had higher expectations on the food though. Service was not as quick and food portions not of the size I was expecting. But we had a great time anyway. Alcohol makes pretty of many things, so they say.

To many more happy times ahead!

Some of the gang decided that the night was still young. So we dropped by at Aloha after the dinner event concluded. Group of 12 went to "attempt dancing", and drink more alcohol. I think I gotta really go learn some dance steps. Been to clubs few times already, and all I can do is bop my head around, and do the hand movements for YMCA. Ordered 2 small bottles of JW Black, and between 12 people, we finished 1 and a half bottles.

Quite abit of JW went to Shoon's stomach? :)

Around 2:30am, I had to get out of the club hall to get a breather. Haven't drank much whisky lately, so I was feeling the effects. Have to admit that age is catching up maybe? At 3am, we left Aloha to get something to eat at a nearby mamak, which served the worst fried kuay teow I have ever tried in my life. But I downed it anyway because I was so hungry. Witnessed one my junior colleagues puke at the mamak. I however commend him on doing it in such a calm and cool manner ho ho ho....

Reached home at 4am. Woke up at 8 am. Why? Because MPSJ decided that 8am that day was a good day to cut grass at the field in front of my home. So I awoke, whether I was ready to or not, to the sound of grass cutter machines in all their entusiastic glory. Felt poorly the whole day. At night, at 8pm, crawled back into bed, and slept all the way for 12 hours till the next morning.

Ahhh... 2007 company annual dinner was quite fun wasn't it?

Style Anxiety

2007-12-15T09:40:00.000+08:00

Tonight is my company's Annual dinner. The event committee has dictated that guys dress in white.

I have so far only purchased some white jeans. Besides that I have no idea what to do for a shirt.

Panic Panic Panic

Part of the committee also highly encouraged guys to get accessories (ties, watches etc etc).

Stress Stress Stress

We are also encouraged to do something different with hair

Anxiety Anxiety Anxiety

Tennis in Malaysia, Pastures in Australia

2007-12-02T21:25:00.000+08:00

Recently, one of my friends offered some free tickets to watch the semi final matches for the Malaysian Tennis Open Festival. Before you jump to conclusions, this is not the high profile Nadal-Gasquet and Sampras-Federer matches.

Malaysia Open, held at the National Tennis Centre, Jalan Duta KL

Nevertheless, it was a good game to watch anyway. Thank you very much Sharon! I made it a family outing, bringing mom and dad along, and also my cousin Poh with her little boy An-An. We manage to catch a Croatia vs Australia men's singles, and a men's doubles between India and Australia.

The shiny and beautiful National Tennis Centre, Jalan Duta KL.

Shiny empty seats hahaha!

As you can see, the Malaysia crowd support was sparse. The stadium itself was very comfortable, and it was roofed. It was kinda fun to watch all the outrageous 200kmph serves from the skinny players, almost all of which were aces. I do miss the older playing style though... where players relied more on strategy and did rallies that tested skills other than returning a serve. Also, these semis used a different scoring system, only needing each side to win 2 sets instead of the usual 3. Each game ended in about 40mins.

Had a catch up with old pals Sharon and David. Once again, we spoke of their affirmative to migrate to Oz. Also found out that an Australian Matriculation education does not exempt you from needing an English proficiency test like IELTS. Again, a good example of red tape without logic. Seems like Malaysia is not the only one. Did you also hear about New Zealand's example of red tape? If you are too obese, you can't apply to be a permanent resident, else you will put the country's medical care system under undue stress. I'm sure that there is a better logical explanation for the refusal of entry for the poor, overweight soul, but NZ felt it better to go with this one instead.

More pals of mine are seeking greener pastures outside of Malaysia. Some going as far as doing a complete career and training turnaround to pick up 'hot market skills'. E.g. nursing, .NET to Java because Java is hotter in Oz. I do applaud the confidence and self belief my pals have in making a drastic change. Heck, it is actually such risk takers that come out far ahead in life anyway. I do admit I am tempted to get away from Malaysia myself, and Oz does look very tempting he he he! Hate the drought though. There are some distant family members in Oz too, and of course some good friends in Melb, Perth, Sydney. Ahhh... let's do some research for shicks and giggles.

A Day of Nothing

2007-11-08T15:00:00.000+08:00

Today is Deepavali (or Divali) Day in Malaysia, a major festival for the Indian community. The victory of light over darkness, and is usually symbolised with lighted lamps (if I recall, they are known as diyas or kandis). At the stroke of midnight today, I heard all the firecracker and firework noises from around my neighbourhood.

Work has been tiresome and unpleasant quite a number of times these few weeks. All the life and light I had from my holiday in Oz seems so far away now. I have finally opened my bottle of Johnnie Walker Black this week to get some alcohol into my system. More and more, it seems that I am put in situations to become a lone ranger at work. While sipping the whisky I asked myself "where are you now?" (just like James Blunt's 'Wisemen' song exclaims).

Good ol' Johnnie Walker

Today all I wanted to do was laze around, enjoy the cool and light rainy weather, each chocolate, play some music, call up my Indian friends to wish them well and catch up with them... and that's exactly what I did. Sometimes you just need some space and time to do... nothing. Just do nothing at all. No personal errands, no DIY project, no games. And doing nothing in itself can be incredibly satisfying.

There'll be another challenging day tomorrow. There will be another set of standards to hit, deliverables to package, problems to tackle, people to appease etc etc.

All I want to say is Happy Deepavali everyone, and remember that in this hectic world and maddening pace, it pays to take time to do nothing!

Back from Australia

2007-10-27T12:23:00.000+08:00

Got back from Oz a week and a half ago. Went to Sydney & Canberra during the Hari Raya break. Had a tonne of work to do before I left, and it was in a sorry state of organisation when I departed from the office.

Anyhow, I had planned this holiday and gave up front notice 2 months in advance. Yet somehow, I am still roped into help with a new, fast paced project on the eve of my holiday. Work in my organisation is sapping my strength and spirits at time. Did not even get into a holiday mindset when I left. Although you have all the well-meaning "don't think too much about work" talk from the colleagues, you know in your heart it will not be possible.

Well, instead of dwelling on spilt milk... Oz was a good trip. Sydney is a truly beautiful city full of activity. Darling Harbour, Sydney Tower, the many parks, the Sydney Fish Market are all great places to visit. Canberra is akin to Malaysia's Putrajaya, which means its really dead in the evening. But the new and old buildings are well maintained, signage is obvious and informative, parks are well managed. This is the season of spring, and the weather is sunny with cool breezes.

The food portions, are well, not all it is cracked up to be. Maybe holidaying increases your appetite, but I managed to finish all the regular Aussie portions of food with no sweat. Think that inflation plays a role. The Aussie dollar in Oz is stronger than US Dollar when I was there. But the greens are so fresh and tasty, and the meats are juicy. The cooking only lightly flavours the food, which is very healthy and I love this style of cooking. Malaysian food tastes great, but to be honest, it is not healthy at all. Coconut cream, ghee, lard.... you guys know what I mean *wink wink*. Also love the many gelato stalls all around. My favourite flavours are still Rum Raisin and Macadamia Caramel.

Locals are a little unfriendly at times, except when you are doing business with them. Case in point... I asked a waitress of a cafe for directions, and she looked at me like she was reading a quantum physics textbook. My question seemed to cause her a headache, because her eyes narrowed, the brow furrowed and other signs of discomfort showed. The truly warm people are the ones in the tourist attractions or in hospitality service.

I really love the smaller towns too... I passed by Dickson and also Wollongoong and Katoomba. The lifestyle is slower than the bigger towns, but the places are so beautiful. They are all by the blue blue sea, and being there just makes you feel so refreshed. Passing by all the quaint and curious shops, watching kids play in the park, oggling and surfer chicks heheheh. What I wouldn't give to have a place in one of these towns.

Isn't Wollongong beautiful?

As I sigh a wantful sigh, here I am back in the thick of work. Till the next holiday!

Korea Barbecue and IT apathy

2007-09-30T18:17:00.000+08:00

THad a first try of the now infamous Korean Barbecue recently with an old friend. We patranoised a joint at SS2 Petaling Jaya called Korea House. I am not much of a food blogger, and therefore forgot to take many pics of the outing. Shame on me, shame on me ^.^

The decor and ambience is ok. Yellow lights, dark wooden furniture. On the night we came, we were served by a senior and junior staff. I don't think they were Korean. Their English wasn't so good, and was heavily accented. When asking for recommendation, the senior rattled off for 2 minutes on 2 items off every page of the menu. I guess the food must be really good then hur hur hur... We settled on pork and beef meat, one kimchi soup and an egg dish.

Sizzle sizzle... BBQ pork with the many condiments surrounding the hot plate

The meat was quite tender and juicy with 4 different dipping sauces. It was quite tasty on its own. The barbecuing was done by the restaurant staff. First, some hot coals are placed under the iron dish. Once it's hot, the meat is cooked. Once the beef is done, they changed the plate for cooking the pork. Guess this keeps the meat flavour pure? There are many accompanying side dishes of vegetables, achovies, patatoes etc. Something out of norm is that we were served cold tea with our food. To cool down from the fires of BBQ maybe?

Kimchi soup, green leaf vege, BBQ Pork, Egg, BBQ Beef

After polishing off the beef... the senior staff came over to explain which dipping sauce goes with what. A little bit sooner would have been better leh big bro! The my friend suddenly recalled that the fresh green leaf vege (the name eludes me at this moment), is supposed to be used as a wrap for the meat and fresh garlic. The kimchi soup was quite delicious. The egg dish was really plain.

All in all, the bill came up to RM100 for 2 pax. The food is decent. We were overstuffed. Could've gone without the extra egg dish.

Over dinner, we moaned about work, clients and all the usual stuff. We did discuss why Malaysia was not an IT frontrunner in the world. We realised that while it is normal to develop pretty looking applications that meet business requirements, Malaysians don't think ahead about making something the best or something that is innovative. Now can work, means good already lor. I wonder what technology R & D departments do in Malaysia. Do they aim to come up with good methodology to solve problems for present and future needs? Or are they doing 'needle in haystack' kind of work, where finding the elusive solution ends the research part of R & D? When the business of IT holds absolute power on time and resourcing, and passion for ideas and risk-taking relegated to lower priority, we can't help it if we are stuck in this rut. We have lots of brilliant and fast thinking young minds, born and bred in our country's soil, that are snatched away, often willingly, to more attractive lures from foreign bodies. I too am increasingly satisfied to 'finish my tasks' and escape from my desk as soon as possible. Are we apathetic about such things?

Such apathy doesn't work well in the food business. If your food ain't tasty, and if you are not on your toes regarding changing trends, you will definitely run into business problems.

Maybe bored and apathetic IT guys should try their hands at the food business for a real challenge in life? Hyuk hyuk hyuk...

Chocolate and Vanilla

2007-09-24T21:57:00.000+08:00

Had the oppurtunity to see the movie 'Hairspray' with a friend of mine last Sunday. Highly, marvellously entertaining show. Hats off to Nikki Blonsky with her believable and lovable portrayal of Tracy Turnblad.

Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) ensuring that the hair spray industry never need worry about hitting next quarter's sales targets

Towards the ending, the music sounded too similar. But it has quite a few catchy tunes. The opening one of 'Good Morning Baltimore', and 'I can hear the bells' I can't get out of my head. John Travolta was okay... I don't know why they couldn't get a real female actress for the part though. You tend to laugh much more at his character simply because you know it is a guy. Michelle Pfeiffer was quite a letdown. There was just no punch or sizzle to her portrayal of the villain.

The show does highlight issues of negro and white segregation. The terms 'chocolate' and 'vanilla' are used extensively throughout the show to describe negros and whites. Whites are partrayed as less than angelic, negros as underdogs. A plus sized body being a disadvantageous is also discussed, albeit in a thoroughly slapstick fashion. Because it is parodied so much, this particular message is kind of lost.

Of course everyone wants freedom to do and be what they wish, and still gain acceptance from family, peers and society in doing so. And it is entirely understandable to be suspicious, even antoagonistic towards the new and unfamiliar. And it would be great to have foresight as to whether a change is for the better, and also, pehaps just as important, whether it'll be accepted well enough.

I think about my own country of different skin colours, the varied tongues and cultures. We school together, eat together, salute the same national anthem together. Camraderie like Tracy and company is still an exception rather than the norm. Our differences are too old and familiar to be called as such anymore. I ponder at my own relationships and those that I've witnessed. Why are we not more integrated in inter-race relationships? It is a beautiful thing that Tracy and company have. We could do with more beauty in this oft bleak world.

Maybe I will come to a better answer after more bowls of cereal...

Does Koko Krunch Duo (choc and white choc) has the answer I seek?

Festival of the Moon.. more or less ^.^

2007-09-23T00:24:00.000+08:00

It is the mid autmn festival for Chinese around the globe. As I enjoyed some warm Tie Kuan Yin tea and savour some mooncake, I reminisce what this festival was like in my younger days, and also what it has become today.

I do not come from a very traditional Chinese family. I speak more English with my core family than any Chinese dialect. I can only comprehend basic Chinese myself. Therefore this has hampered my understanding of this festival somewhat. My information sources for this festival included cartoons drawn by Lat. I remember a cartoon that had characters in ancient China, eating mooncake and pulling out pieces of paper containing secret messages in the cakes. I also remember the story of an archer and his wife. There are lots of versions to this tale. Visit wikipedia for quite a good summary of the popular versions.

traditional paper lanterns

I do remember mooncakes and playing with lanterns at night. I remember lanterns made of coloured paper, and lit with actual candles. Of course this was the most fun thing of the festival to a child. Occasionally someones lantern will glow a little brighter than others, and also hotter than others (aka on fire hyuk hyuk hyuk). Later on, we had battery operated lanterns made with coloured cellophane. And nowadays we have lanterns in hard plastic that make strange noises and come in every guise imaginable. Pokemon motifs were quite popular a while back. I had some family members with lanterns of the yellow lantern going "Pika! Pika Pika! Pika CHUuuuuu..."

Mooncakes too have seen a transformation. We used to have only 2 main types: Lotus Seed, Red Bean. I think next came the Mix Nuts, then the snow skins. and now a plethora of others. Corn, durian, green tea, coffee, cheese, chocolate... even some with meat in them! As with some experiments, some work... some do not. The durian snowskin mooncake from Tai Thong is surprisingly good. I tried an orange flavoured one from another brand.. and it was just weird. Mooncakes are big business nowadays. The box which you get mooncakes in are works of art themselves. It is common to see every major hotel's chefs making these for sale too.

I wonder what further changes we will see to this festival in the coming years? Will paper lanterns still be available? Will we get ratatouille flavoured mooncakes? Will we get the story of the archer and his wife done in 3D models like the Final Fantasy movie?

I sit here with my cup of steaming tea, and a slice of lotus paste mooncake, listening to the friendly banter with family members... pondering if more is really needed.

Then... I hear it. The unmistakable sound of...

"Pika! Pika Pika! Pika CHUuuuuu..."

I thought I knew my skin!

2007-09-15T16:50:00.000+08:00

Personally I have been struggling poor facial skin for the longest time. Started at about 16 years old I guess. Yes... this picture is my real face. Hope I didn't blind you with my Brad Pitt mug. It has been known to happen. If you find yourself feeling faint, don't worry... you are not the first.

Now, here I am in my late 20s, still bothered by this issue. It has not left me alone after my adolescence had passed. (Or maybe am I still an adolescent, and I have not really passed that stage of my life? I am still easily entertained by computer games, Ultraman cartoons and the like)

Anyhow... I have many well meaning friends and relatives who have tried to improve the appearance of my skin. Among the many things I have tried:

Clarifying, deep pore cleansing cleanser, pore retightening, alcohol free, glycolic acid, salicylic acid, alpha hydroxy acids cleanser + toner + moisturisers. This includes, but is not limited to the brands Artistry, J&J, Neutrogena, Biotherm, Proactiv, Oxy, Clearasil, Biore, Ginvera and some others I can't recall.

Using skin peeling gels (Retin A)

Drinking more water (3 litres a day)

Oral Antibiotics.

Blotting excess oil

Pimple creams

General health supplements

For items 2 and 4, they were suggestions by a qualified dermatologist. And lo and behold, after 3 days, I did notice marked improvement. The downside was I had to down antibiotic pills like there was no tomorrow. This is an effort to sterilise my body of acne causing bacteria. However that was 10 years ago. After some months had passed, my body began protesting against the pill intake. I had extreme hunger pangs, waking up in the wee hours of the morning to eat and drink to stop the rumbling. I decided it wasn't a long term solution for me.

Item 7 is interesting. I had joined an Amway group before because among the forefront of Amway marketing strategies is 'Health and Wellness'. So I tried their Nutrilite and Artistry range. Amongst the advice given is that I should eat about 3x the normal dosage of Nutrilite supplements because I have bad skin. So like a good little soldier, I tried. The above picture was taken when I was consuming my Nutrilite rations. I still honestly believe Amway products are truly good. But I must face the fact that it is not effective for me. Bet you it works for thousands of others though.

I finally plucked the courage to go to a skin centre to have a consult. What I heard really gave me food for thought. I am told I actually have sensitive and dehydrated skin. I was waiting for the word 'oily', but that did not come into the conversation till I brought it up myself. I am told my skin secreted extra oil to compensate for lack of moisture. They advised me to fix the moisture problem, which will then help my oil problem, which will also help my acne.

I've never been given such advice before for my skin. It seems to make perfect logical sense. What should Jack do now?

Finding your feet, finding yourself

2006-07-10T18:29:00.000+08:00

For a long while now, I've come to question whether or not I'm cut out for the software industry. There is a desire in me to excel and be prominent in a field of my choosing. But tracing back the history of my actions, I'm perplexed by decisions I made:

peer pressure

Went into IT studies - no direction
Did IT projects during university summer holidays - practical experience
Studied hard to get good grades - report card mentality

money pressure

Jumped straight into a programmer job after graduation - You must heard these lines before if you're from an Asian family. "When are you going to get a job?", "You can start looking already even before you graduate, don't you know?". But usually this one takes the cake, "Do you know that [insert name of family member/friend here... best if chosen person is a genius or alpha male/female] has already started new job at [insert name of glorious multinational company here] with [insert generous salary amount here]. "

society pressure

Stuck with the same company for 2 years - don't hop too soon, bad on your resume
Self study new skill (.NET platform, SQL Server) - More skill, more valuable

And yet here I am now

Currently in a technology consulting firm of 30+ people.
Been in the industry for almost 5 years now in development and support lines
Worked with local Malaysians and other nationalities
Given travel oppurtunity for work assignments
And sometimes, people actually like what I've worked on!

Sometimes it just blows my mind about what has happened in these 5 years. Kind of makes you wonder what would have happened if I had truly focused my effort and willpower into making an IT career an obession. Case in point, my dad's cousin left me a violin. Without attending any classes, I managed to play well enough to do small time performances. This was at a late age of 16/17.

Bottomline? I should've picked up the violin earlier! *snicker* But IT ain't all bad either *wink wink*

2006-06-21T23:33:00.000+08:00

Hello World!