Jamming Without Jam

My old friend Teng Shin, yes, THE Teng Shin, was back for a week from Matriculation, which explains that strong intellectual aura you have all been detecting in Penang for the past few days. But this guy's not just one of the best brains on the planet. He seriously rocks on his guitar too. At the same time my piano-playing sounds like rocks, so it would be perfect for us to jam together, which is what we did on Friday.

Some of the golden oldies took the centrestage, namely "Take Me Home Country Roads" and "All I Have To Do Is Dream". It's a pity I haven't heard "Young Ones" by Cliff Richard, or we would have another good one to play. Not all songs sound good on both guitar and piano, which makes things a little difficult.

Not to forget a little chit-chat about how things have gone since we left high school. Everybody's scattered all around the globe now, and the only way you can catch up is by hear-say, if you can't contact the others in person.

Ladies and gentlemen, TSKhoo!

One word - Skill.

Taken when I was playing "Zero Gravity". Wonder why my right hand's curled up...

The Bozos.

Bullets

I'm normally not the one to do the shooting. I prefer to sit and watch the crossfire. However, I've been pondering over this for a while and I really can't just sit and watch the absurdity anymore. This has gone a bit too far. Although I'm not involved in this issue, I have to speak out on this one.

I do not intend to name anyone here, as it would be tantamount to directly hitting the person(s), something I would very much want to avoid. I acknowledge the fact that I might be wrong, but I've been looking on for months and I just can't see the logic behind this. And, just because you're reading this DOESN'T MEAN IT'S YOU. Don't go on getting sleepless nights over this.

This is what I have to say. If you're unhappy about something or someone, sometimes it is wise to just keep it to yourself, unless you are sure the secrecy will put others at harm. You may have your reasons, but do they justify spreading all kinds of words that can turn the world against your nemesis? Yes you may be right, but what if you're WRONG? There is always something called the benefit of doubt. Misleading others will not help you on your crusade, even if the crusade bears good intentions.

All I ask of you is to sheath that sword until the bloodbath is truly necessary. If you will not give others a second chance, at least give it to yourself. Some things are not what they seem. What lives beneath is what really counts.

Happy Spring Break

First we have a break called the autumn break. Now we have a spring break. If you think we have autumn and spring in this Bolehland, you must have scored G for Geography. If you think I'm talking about the spring made of coiled metal, you need this break more than I do.

In case you don't know what I'm bullshitting about, it's that all TAFE bozos are currently on a 2-week holiday. It's spring in Australia, so we get a free stretch of holidays. It doesn't mean we'll be very free, since we have plenty of weird assignments hogging us, but that doesn't mean we can't relax a bit too.

Blogger's block. Don't know what to type here. So I guess I'll just say happy spring break.

* Eating bak kut teh for dinner on a rainy day makes me sleepy. Don't know why.

Lay Kiew's Birthday

This post is supposed to be for last Saturday, but I was a bit too occupied with manufacturing statements to get the job done. So here's the better late than never post. It's the 2nd birthday we celebrated in the month. This time the Yang Berhormat is none other than Lay Kiew, more fondly known simply as "Duck" among her friends. So to Gurney we went on Saturday to celebrate her birthday. We could not surprise her much as she was already expecting a form of celebration, so we instead used a "fake cake" trick to get the job done. I don't know how effective it actually was as I only thought of it after consuming a tall glass of ice water that probably froze half my brain. I think it worked though.

That said, it's time to let the photos do the talking. It's pointless for me to go on typing when the pictures can actually do a better job.

The Birthday Girl having fun with the "Reserved" sign.

Makan time.

You won't believe how tough it is to even get half of Shun Mu's face into a photo.

The cake makes it's appearance.

Kiew prepares to blow out the lights. This shot was taken a bit too early.

Then the cake is attacked with a plastic knife.

Banyak kertas. Birthday note kot.

Kiew and her present. This photo's supposed to come earlier, but never mind.

That's the present after all the wrapping is opened.

So to end this post I'd like to wish our new 18 year old Lay Kiew happy birthday again ( although by now it's about 2 days late). Best wishes and don't stop quacking!

Ken's Birthday

The fact is that TAFE Semester 2 can't go about without planning birthday surprises. I've said that many times. Eventually it will always be your turn, and whether you're surprised or not is your business. We just do what we think will surprise you. So, today is Ken's turn to be a celebrity. His birthday is actually tomorrow, but unless we could make some of our lecturers sick we wouldn't be able to celebrate tomorrow, so we decided to celebrate today.

...and all along poor Ken was under the impression that we were going to INTI to discuss our law assigments. He actually brought a whole stack of reference material with him. We nearly messed up too. The Sungai Dua McDonalds people just could not shovel the fries fast enough. Luckily we had Karen who managed to stall Ken for about half an hour. How she actually managed that feat is one hell of an amazing mystery. So Kai Wen and I arrived with the food around 15 minutes before Ken.

The surprise worked out, surprisingly. Ken went to level 6 without any idea what his evil classmates had set up. So we did it again! *Rubs palms with evil smirk*

The food.

The drinks.

The cake.

The people.

The people and the camera-shy Shun Mu.

The arrival of the Yang Berhormat.

Yang Berhormat says hi to camera.

YB potong kek.

This is not YB, but also potong kek.

YB cannot believe we actually bought him soft toys as presents.

So as an ending note, happy birthday Ken!!!

Pit Stop

2 assessments are history. Finally. All's left is next week's law and moral assignment. At least sudah half way through.

The moral test today was weird. Just pure weird, but fun. You know I actually ended up concluding that a person's family should allow him to commit suicide. Realizing that it would probably cause me a fail grade, I immediately added a disclaimer behind that sentence stating that it was just an analysis based on a moral theory, and I admitted it sounded like a joke. Hopefully our moral lecturer has a sense of humour.

Other than that I've forgotten what I've written. Talk about short-term memory. I remember I wrote 2 essays, each 1 and 1/2 pages long, but what I crapped about in there has escaped my memory chip. Must learn to cut short my writings. Wasted a lot of time there.

So now it's like a pit stop before the assignments next week (and probably the assessments the week after next). Perfect for a short break. That's why I'm typing all this nonsensical hoo-haa here. If you're reading this you're probably taking a break too. Just don't break until you're broken.

The pear I'm eating has a hint of fermentation to it. I think I better get myself a drink.