Anyway, i left you guys on a cliffhanger last time around. Yes, my accident. It might have been long time ago, but it is actually still in my head, and I replay it sometimes to remind myself, NEVER take the small lanes ever again! and make sure I look before I go! The bill came back yesterday, total cost of repairing his car, my car and his laptop screen amounted to RM3k!! crap man, that's alot of money for a mistake! In brief, what happen was I was crossing this intersection of the small lanes, and because there were alot of cars, I couldn't see the oncoming traffic, so I just went, and the other car suddenly appeared. And so, with no time to react, the car hit my car on the side. According to witness, my car skidded badly and they all thought my car was gonna topple! Must have been some hit! But thankfully, everyone was fine. At one stage I thought I was gonna crash into the shop coz it was really close to it! Thankfully the car stopped in time. Although, that would have definitely made the headlines for crashing in the shop, haha!!

Enough of the accident, lets move on to MJ. Yes, as everyone knows, MJ is now gone. No one can say they have not heard of MJ's songs, be it "You Are Not Alone", "Heal The World", "Black or White", "Thriller", "Earth Song"... and the list goes on. That shows how many hits he has given us, countless! But the song that strangely stood out for me from the rest is "Remember the Time". I love watching the video for that song, strangely. The dance moves is not as great as "Thriller", and the vocals are not as good as "You Are Not Alone", but somehow, I feel this song gives a perfect blend of dance moves and vocals. Dance moves can get too much for "Thriller", and "You Are Not Alone" has no dances, so "Remember the Time" blends both his aspects really well.

Another song that I really like is "Scream", which he did with Janet. They both sound really good together, and their voices gelled in the song. Pity that was the only collaboration they had. Anyway, I spent the afternoon just watching MJ's memorial service (yes, I downloaded it!). It's really sad to see all his friends, coming up to the stage and talk about his life, and how they described him as a caring and loving person, far from what the media has told everyone. It really shows how much impact he has made over the music industry. I mean, he is the ONLY one that could pull off one hand glove, ridiculously colourful jackets, change from black to white(!) and still adored by millions, young and old. His accomplishments show that he stood the test of time. I mean, we won't remember say Pussycat Dolls in 30 years time, but we will probably still adore MJ for that long. Ok, as you can see, watching the service will undoubtly get you a little emo-ish. But hey, in 30 years time, not many can say you lived in the same era as MJ right? Brooke Shields gave the most heartfelt speech by far during the service. You can see when the rest of them came up to talk, they didn't talk with so much passion and love for MJ as Brooke did. She must have really gone through thick and thin with him! I was still ok watching the service, but when it got to the daughter's speech, when she tried so hard to hold in her tears and told everyone how much she loved her father, I had tears rolling down! It's so heartbreaking to see a child lose her father!

Anyway, watching that kinda made me emo already, so I decided to find back an old TVB series, Burning Flame 2. Now, for those of you who have no clue what happened in the show, at the final episode, the main character died in the fire. His girlfriend and cousin had to lie to his daughter that he was caught up at work and couldn't come home while trying to hold themselves together. In the end, the scene was she was looking at pictures of her and her father, and the cousin came in and ask her what she was doing. When she turn around, she started tearing, as she figured out that her father will never come home again. That whole scene was so sad, I cried again (a rather emo afternoon!). If that was not enough, I went and watch PS: I Love You!! That movie was so sad, but at the same time interesting how Jerry planned everything out for Holly to move on, crazy!! So yea la, you get how my afternoon went that day!!

Shifting the mood AWAY from emo, let's talk about Redang! My dad and I went to Redang for a dive trip, convenietly a day after my final paper!! I was a little worried of the trip actually, not because we're going diving, but the journey to get there and back!! The last two times I went to an island, it wasn't so fun!! The last time I went Redang with friends back in 2005, we took a bus from KL to Terengganu, then a boat from the jeti to the island, and a speed boat from the island to the resort. I tell you, it was NOT fun!! The bus is some kinda bus mini-turn-coach kinda bus, and the suspension is in serious need of servicing. When we reach the jeti at 5am, we had to wait another 2 hours before the first boat leaves! It was terrible as there was no shops that was open, and everyone was so tired we just bored ourselves to death! The trip back was no fun either. The bus decided to turn itself into a public bus, picking and dropping people off at every village! So the whole trip back was start, stop, start, stop..... So a reminder to everyone, NEVER, EVER, TAKE THE BUS!! The other time I had to go to an island, was when I took my diving license. We had to squeeze in a minivan, all 10 of us!! And we had to sit for 4 hours before we reach the jeti! And the island was SO FAR the boat ride took 4 hours!! If you guys don't know already, Im prone to motion sickness, so the whole trip was just me trying to hold myself from vomitting, terrible man!!

Anyway, back to Redang. This time, my dad decided we took a plane instead to the island, instead of bus and boat. Now that's what Im talking about!! Ok, so the plane is not the 747 ot private jet type, but so what? As long as there was no bus, Im fine anyway!! The plane we took was Berjaya Air, which is a propeller plane used during the war times. Obviously, they had to refurbish it and all. It's actually quite fun to see the propeller spinning and the wind that comes off it when it is in the air! Of coz, its more expensive than bus, but I don't care!!

So we arrived at the resort, and settled in, then we went to check out the dive centre. As we didn't dive for like what, a year? We had to do a refresher course just to remind ourselves of how to gear up and the signals we need to know. This refresher course must be sucker's money for them I reckon, since they will ask you "So, What did you forget?". I mean, if we can't remember, do you think we actually know what we forgot?? In the end, we just ask him to teach us everything in 2 hours la! RM 190 gone just like that, pooofff!! After the course, the guide took us for a shore dive, which basically means diving near the shore no deeper than 7m. Obviously, the shallower it is, the less things to see, but I enjoyed it anyway, maybe because I actually forgot how it felt great to just stay in the water and see corals and fishes!! Somehow, diving makes you tired, even though you're actually doing nothing but let the water carry you around for 40 minutes =.=. So we came up, and slept right away til dinner time. Oh, which reminds me, the whole trip, we only did 3 activities. EAT. SLEEP. DIVE. Every minute that we didn't dive, we slept, wake up for food, then sleep again until the next morning to dive. Now, that's life isn't it?? haha!! Overall, the diving was fun, but not the carrying the gears part!!

Back when I took the diving license, the tank and gears was all on the boat. So we just have to step into the boat and gear up from there. Now, when you are doing fun dive, its obvious that this luxury is no more! So we had to gear up at the centre, wear all the equipment except mask, put on the tank, and walk with all of it from the centre, across the beach, into the water, and CLIMB up to the boat!! It was not fun lugging all the gears, plus weights on ur waist belt, walk for 10 minutes while you are sinking into the sand every step you take, and get burnt by the unforgiving sun, get into the water, and then have to climb the ladder with all the weight around you, to the boat!! I tell you, getting to the boat was like a bull ride man! Bu once you dive into the water, you'll forget everything that you have to go through, and get lost in the beauty of the underwater world. The corals, the fishes and the colours in the sea will leave you in awe, as was I!! This time, we managed to see turtles and huge sting rays up close and personal!!! It's so fun seeing them stare at you while they swim past you. It's like they're saying "What the heck are these foos doing here?". Of coz, it was not fun, when during one of the dives, one of the bigger fishes decided to play chasing with me and chased me, while biting me!! Not harmful, but certainly not fun! Never know what's biting you in the waters right?? One of the guys managed to see a blue-tipped shark!! Damn it, I want to see!! Guess haven't paid my dues yet, next time I'll get it! Sharks are seriously misunderstood creatures really. Most of the species of sharks are actually not aggressive and will only attack if provoked, like smacking them. But honestly, who won't retaliate if someone smacks you right? Other than that, you can actually touch them and they will be friendly! Only of coz, if you meet a bull shark, hammer head shark or a great white shark, then you really gotta flee for your life!! Other than them, the rest are friendly creatures!

So, to wrap up this post, somehting Brooke Shields said in the MJ service really touched me. She mentioned that MJ's favourite song, was "Smile" written by Charlie Chaplin, and in the song, there is a line that says "Smile, though your heart is aching". So whenever we feel sad, let down or grieving a loss, just remember:

Smile, though your heart is aching,

Smile, even though its breaking,

When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by,

If you smile, through your fear and sorrow,

Smile, and maybe tomorrow,

You'll see the sun, come shining through for you.

Light up your face with gladness,

Hide every trace of sadness,

Although a tear, may be ever so near,

That's the time, you must keep on trying,

Smile, what's the use of crying?

You'll find that life is still worthwhile,

If you, just, SMILE!!

Chris Daughtry - Have You Really Loved A Woman

Adam Lambert - Mad World

Adam Lambert - Tracks of My Tears

January

So, its the start of the new year, throw away 2008 and welcome 2009. For me, 2008 was not quite a good year for me, trying to recover and recollect myself after some disasters. Failed some units too. But this year, I can feel that things are different. Of course, my friends have mostly graduated which means we'll see each other less, so hopefully we'll all make the effort to see each other more often before all the work starts to kick in. Anyway, besides that, I also feel this is a good year for me, I don't know why yet, but I can just feel it. haha, hopefully the feel will come true!! Anyway, before I get carried away with that, let me bring you back to January and describe what happens this month.

Firstly, we celebrated New Year on a cruise!!!! Ok, before all of you start looking at me in the envy, jealous eyes, its called a cruise, but its not exactly the type of cruise your thinking k, its just a small motor boat that they take u around the small part of clarke quay and park it near the stadium. But I have to say, they did park at a good spot as the fireworks was like right on top of us!! Tried to call my friends back in Malaysia to see how they're doing with the hill climbing (=.=), finally got through like 10 minutes before the countdown. Hopefully the fireworks on the hill is worth it guys!!!

Anyway, 3 weeks later, it was Chinese New Year! This is actually the first time I celebrate CNY while working. Was looking forward to coming back because my friends and I had set up a pre CNY dinner!!! That was also the first time I realise how useful Facebook is. Planning became so much easier. Of course, in the end the venue and time is all last minute, but what's the fun of planning if its not last minute right? no kick that way haha! Anyway, we manage to gather everyone together and lou sang-ed for all our year to be fruitful and full of blessings. That also when someone told Wendy, that because she cut the "sou" mee, her life will be cut short =.=.. OMG man!! I need to rmb who is that to whack the fella, for saying that 1 day before CNY haha! After dinner we went to a bar at hartamas. At first it was just regular chit chatting among outselves while my friends TRIED to dedicate "show me the meaning of being lonely to me" to me, but somehow the guy got it wrong and they sang the old version of "Mandy", which is totally out =.=. After that we proceeded to play this game, called thumb master. For those who don't know this game, pls google it k. Anyway, it was quite fun, until they said the punishment is to drink this beer that is mixed with soya sauce, chilli padi and wasabi (im not sure if there are other things!!). In the end, Ee Wen took the fall and drank the thing. Honestly, while she's drinking it, i feel sick for her stomach man! *vomit*!

February

Technically, nothing much really happened in February, except for the looming fact that I will be facing Monash one more year. The prospect suddenly shudders me. I mean, of course, given the situation now, studying is actually better than working, but the thought of going to Uni and realise that the whole group of friends that have been with me are not there anymore makes me emo-ish. Again, before i get carried away about emotions, let me enlighten you on what happened on the 27th March 2009!!! no, its not B'day, no its not the day I get hooked up, no its not my break up anniversary (=.=).. More significant, its the day that the Vertical Limits happens in real life, the day where the dream of you slipping and falling into the empty space, waiting for your bones to shatter, and your heart beat to stop..........

Ok, that was EXTREMELY exagerrated. Anyway, im talking about Bukit Tabur here. For those who are not sure where is it and what its about, go to google and type Bukit Tabur, it will show you a news where 2 doctors died falling while climbing this very hill!!! OMG man, i almost made headlines there! haha. Of course, this explains the odd slipper that we find along the way (must have fallen and died, but no1 knew =.=).

It all started off at the wrong foot that day. With me being late, and us only managing to drive off from bryan's house an hour later, thus hiting the jam. Also, along the way, bryan kinda lost his bearing and we had to go back and forth IN the jam, no mean feat there. We were all losing hope and contemplating of whether to change course and go to genting =.=. Anyway, in the end, we found the bloody Tesco whose singboard is at the OTHER side of the road, how to see la!!! And so, in the end, we only manage to reach at the foot of Bukit Tabur about 9 plus, which was quite hot already. And off we go... little did we know, we went to the wrong side of the hill!! wtf, we're suppose to go to the easier 1 that has stairs down at the other end. But, as fate calls it, we went to the more challenging 1. I know I know, you guys all made it up and down with no problems, but you guys dont have weight issues like me!! seriously, when we met andrew's friend almost at the peak (wtf right? andrew can still meet his friend at a bloody hill!), when he told us the only way down is the only way up, i was like "shit, im so screwed!". Coz it took me so much effort just to get up, and going down is suppose to be the hard 1!? Plus, i have a certain friend that decides to call me and ask me to go down myself first, you know who you are =P. In the end, what was a routine climb down turned into a massive rescue thingy where andrew and his friend had to climb back up to supply me and another guy down. At first, they were like 'chill la, take your time' Until the sun set and it was pitch dark la, they were impatient 'faster la wei, damn dark and late d' haha! especially Andrew, he constantly look back (i can see k!) coz he was last in the group and there were weird sounds from the back, haha! In the end, of course, we all manage to come down, 11 hours after we started ascending!!! And, that night ended with me buying everyone bah kut teh to thank all my saviours that day! haha. FYI, the bak kut teh was my inspiration to keep going the whole day!!

March and April flew by without much happenings, except knowing that all my friends have started work! that means less meet up, more gossip to talk about when we do! haha.

Mid Sem Break

This year, mid sem break was one of the most tiring and packed break ever!!! It starts off with Genting, where mich, andrew, bryan and I decided to go, in conjunction with mich's rare multi days break! So, we took the bus to the cable car site. The bus ride was ok, mainly coz i took pills and thanks to Ipod!! Cable car was so so only actually, it would have been better if they made the bottom transparent, that would be fun!! And so, we reached Genting after an hour and a half. Oh, as a note, this is the first time i step foot on Genting since 13 years ago! no kidding man! things are certainly newer there, and its been awhile since i enjoyed fresh cooling air, so it was great to be up there. Yin and Alwin joined us later. We decided not to do the themepark as it was quite boring. So, in Genting, if you dont go to the themepark, where would you go?? the Casino of course!!!! So we went around hunting for the casino, and honestly, the casinos there are nothing to shout about, very Cina, smoky, and very high stakes (rm25 minimum!!). So we walked around, looking at the aunties and uncles gamble. These ppl gamble, no joke man, 700-800 bucks 1 go, crazy! It makes me wonder, where the hell they get the money man, pension ar? or Investments, so geng meh, everyone losing money they strike big?? We went for lunch after that, guess where we went to, McDs!!! honestly, i didn't know food there was that expensive man, even McDs was 20% higher than the normal 1s, super ripe off. After food, we went to Snow World, that's where the drama all started la!!!

Snow World was actually kinda fun, the cold biting feeling is really addictive (even though the snow is actually fake!) . So we proceed to play the slide, which made our butts pain because it bumps so hard and goes quite fast! After playing in there for like an hour, we went out and walked around, taking weird posed pictures and final destination like pictures (see FB for that!!! it really looks freaky!). Oh, you're wondering, where is the drama?? well, the drama came after we took one of the pictures with andrew holding his back pocket. Only then did he realise, his wallet is missing!! Hah, wallet missing in Genting, confirm gone d la all the money!! So, without further hesitation, we all rushed to Snow World and explained to the staff that his wallet was lost. Guess what, we all manage to go in one more time coz we had to go in and find. and there we were, without any winter clothings, just our normal wear, walking into the extremely cold room!! It was actually quite nice, to get ur skin bitingly cold! beats summer bites man!!! In the end, he found his wallet, but as expected with no money, so we came up with this theory that no matter how you want to refrain losing money in Genting, they will never let you walk away free!! haha. So the rest of the evening was just us chilling at Starbucks (when will you get to sit outside Starbucks without sweating!). When we started talking about how to go home, then only we realise, we're in another drama!!

See, when we came up, we actually talked about what time we wana leave and all, but we totally forgotten about getting the tickets first!!! so now, the problem is, all the transports are full already!! we frantically searched for the bus stations but to no avail! so, with no transport down, and the night getting dark, AND no hotels available, we were all sweating!! In the end, thank god that Alwin drove, and Bryan met his friends. So mich, yin, andrew and I followed Alwin while Bryan followed his friends. If Alwin hadn't come, or Bryan didn't meet his friend, we would really be in deep trouble. But as it goes, everything fell into place and we reached down, safely. The night ended with Sushi Zanmai at 1U.

So, that was the first day of Mid Sem Break. On the last day, we decided to have ANOTHER trip, this time to Melaka, with mich, bryan, adam, wendy and I driving my mom's car down. I shall not get into details with our trip around as its the usual chicken rice ball, jonker street chendol, satay babi and all that. Ill just skip to the night, where the unfortunate happened! As we were looking for the portugese ikan bakar, we came across this weird roundabout and a left turn. To describe this round about further, the roundabout is at the right hand side of the road, while there is a big left turn on the left! Seeing that I only realised there was a roundabout when I was approaching it, I indicated to the right to cut in and make the roundabout. Little did I know, as I pass the roundabout, I was stopped by a police!! He said, I cut queue when taking the roundabout. I tried explaining to him that Im from KL and don't know the roads really well, and you know what he replied me? " You KL ppl always cut queue 1, if i were to go KL, ill never do that!" Hello!!!??? In KL, there are no weird, stupid roundabouts that is on the right and big left turn on the left?? Of course, no point arguing, so I just gave him the license to take down, and left. In the end, we didn't exactly find the portugese ikan bakar, but we found a chinese shop that makes it, and it was not bad at all! plus some beer, that meal ended the night for us!

Exhausted yet from reading this LONG post? I shall keep some for the next post, and oh, btw, I just got into an accident......


To Be Continued...

So you see, in the end, If we say that this is going to be a fantastic year, it will be! Hence, say with me everyone, 2009 is going to be a WONDERFUL year!!!