Eight Days A Week

In exactly 1 week time, i'll be having my University exam of my 3rd year MBBS. There's a 2 weeks study break for us, and i think it's rightly enough to cover 3 subjects - Ophthalmology, ENT n Community Medicine. Compared to last year, the work load is much lighter, and hopefully, by God's grace, i'll be able to pass all subjects. 1 week, seven days is a bit scary when i think bout it, hopefully i'll manage.

So far, 1 week had passed, and i can't find myself studying too long on my chair. I still get distracted easily, my mind still oftenly wander away, and i still do all kinds of shit. I juz assumed when you get too much free time all by yourself, you tend to take the time for granted and waste it juz like that. Recently, what i did besides studying was downloaded some HD movies and watched some, did some eBaying, played a lil bit of Pro Evo Soccer with frens and practised guitar. I planned to do gym in my room but everyday ended up too lazy or too tired to. So far I have Matrix, Gladiator, Shawshank Redemption, Full Metal Jacket & Dark Knight in HD, and watching them in supreme clarity & details along with crisp Dolby surround sound juz amazes me and make me appreciate them even more. But 8gb for a movie is juz too much sometimes, so i limit them only to my all-time-super-favourite list.

Yesterday, whole India was shocked and anxious bout the Mumbai bombing incident. It was HUGE, merciless, scary, and exciting. Even playing game like Call of Duty doesn't seems as exciting and cruelsome. Imagine: "two super high class 5 star hotels, some hospitals, police station, and railway station... AK-47, hand grenades... super well coordinated, random sweeping of bullets, floor full of blood... UK & US citizens being targetted, police officers died, people running around, numerous hostages......" Wow, the scenery is just "phenominal", "rare".

Today when i went to the toilet in the evening, i saw a 'peeping Tom' sitting quietly outside the windows. It never go away for looong time. I feel shy even to pee or take bath. It was there juz for shelter from the rain, and at the same time peeping on me doing private stuffs. I bet it's a female!!

A Mosquito, My Libido...

The poster I made out of Adobe Photoshop for Community Medicine department as a punishment for having lack of attendance in the subjects. You know, I don't go for morning classes, never, for like 2 years plus, haha.. There's a famous saying "Morning classes are for nerds". I don't mean to be offensive, but i just love to sleep. If i go for morning class at 8am, my whole day will be ruined out of tiredness and lack of concentration. Next time my clinics or whatsoever will be open at 10am.

I'm having my sessional exams now.. Feeling so screwed up.. Argh!!

p/s: Actually the purpose of this post is so that i can print it out at cyber cafe without bringing my pendrive, cz every single lousy computers out there contains virus.

It Was A Very 'Bad Month'

On early september,
It was a very bad month,
A very bad month for KMC,
Our college is derecognised,
by Indian Medical Council,
Our future is uncertain,
It was a very bad month.

On late Spetember,
It was a very bad month,
A very bad month for local Christians,
Churches being robbed and destroyed,
Christians became refugees,
Our faith is being tested,
It was a very bad month.

On early October,
It was a very bad month,
A very bad month for Adriana,
She got a car accident,
Her boyfriend drank and drove,
She had head injuries,
Being treated in ICU,
It was a very bad month.

On early October,
It was a very bad month,
A very bad month for Alok John,
Our dear hostel mate and dear friend,
Who died in his room,
Actual cause still unknown,
Who'll be missed always,
It was a very bad month.

p/s: sing this according to Frank Sinatra's 'It Was A Very Good Year', in a solemn and sober tone..

Money For Nothing

All of us (i mean those who are constantly updated with world news and scenarios, not referring to book-worms or idle or self contained people), knows the world economic is under crisis, a very very big crisis.. However, the news are always full of financial terms and digital digits, making most of the Tom, Dick and Harry scratching their head and then turn away from reading and understand further. It's quite difficult to understand the whole situation in US economic, as i myself thought almost impossible to, but for the sake of my friends, i will make up a story very easy to digest and getting to know the whole picture.

Imagine, in 1998, Kelvin, in US, a newly graduate from college, just started to step into the working world, wants a personal car, a nice private apartments, many high tech gadgets and in a period of dating a girl. So he went to the housing departments and saw that the houses are very cheap, and it's rumored to rise in price in the future, so he went to a local bank A and also saw that the newly set loan deal is very loose, plus the interest rate is really low(due to faulty government policies), so he borrowed a large amount of money to buy a big bungalow, a sport car, and also applied a credit card to buy whatever gadgets he wants and spend all he wish with his girlfriend.

10 years down the line, in 2008, the interest rate which was very low in the first few years, started to became higher. Unable to clear his debt, he just kept dragging and do not pay back the money he borrowed, still owing the bank a large amount of money. Besides, the house prices which was rising all these while, suddenly dropped (due to too many sales of cheap houses in the past 10 years), making him impossible to alternatively to sell off his house to earn some money eventually pay off his debt. At the same time, oil prices had increased, making everything that were on his wish-list became too expensive to buy due to inflation. So, he was declared bankruptcy.

Imagine 5,000 Kelvins are there, 1 Kelvin borrowed 1 million, it will come up to 5 billion borrowed from the same local bank A. So bank A is in trouble, with all their lent money not coming back, so in order to continue their business and maintain liquidity, bank A borrowed from a bigger bank B. 10 banks similar to bank A borrowed from bank B, so bank B in trouble also, so B borrowed from Federal bank C, then C borrowed from D of another rich country, and this trait continues, and so, the whole world are in what we call a "credit crisis". The whole world is 'owing money' to one another in a big circle. We refer Kelvin as "subprime mortgage", a risky and lowly paid money borrower. So, as the credits of banks increases to a very large magnitude, some big companies are bankrupt (eg Lehman Brothers, one of the biggest investment bank in US); AIG (a super big insurance company) is in big crisis and have to sought loans from Federal Reserves; Meryll Lynch (another top 5 investment banks) have to be purchased by Bank of America; mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac were placed into conservatorship. So, the stock of US plummeted like hell, and as US stock (which consist of 21% of world stock) is in a Bear Market, the whole world economy suffered greatly too and get pawned by the same bear's paw.

Oil price is tremendously high, making food prices increase as well, and inflation went on to record a new high. Currently, 63,000 US citizens had lost their job. A man without a job, his/her buying power will drop. As demand is low, and importation from other countries decreased, and so the economic of the other countries dropped together.

What are the US government planning now? A 700 billion bailout. Bailout means the government taking out their own national treasury money to buy up all the rubbish assets of big banks and big companies, helping them to lessen their credit burden so that they'll have more liquidity to resolve their financial issue. However, is it a sure success? Very unlikely. We shall see how it turns out. It might help to strengthen the economics, and at the same time might also lead to a recession. Recession means the output gross of a country is 0 or negative, means no productivity at all, the country doesn't grow but fall, and many more citizens, investors will die

Personally, my Public Mutual Fund in Malaysia became few cents left; my ICICI-Prudential Mutual Fund in India lost quite an amount already; Indian rupee's value dropped like hell (1 USD=47INR now); ICICI Bank (the biggest private bank in India) is under crisis still holding all of our JPA money inside.

So, how we, as timid consumers, can do to prevent ourselves from being sucked up by the crisis?

1. Do not invest on stock market or mutual fund or warrant or debt fund right now.
2. Save, save, save on everything. Do not buy unnecessary items.
3. Never ever use a credit card in your life, you'll regret later.
4. Buy things through eBay, save transportation, save money, save environment as well.
5. Do not withdraw your money from banks in crisis, so that the bank will be able to resolve their problem with the money.
6. Spend most money here in India while you're still here, because it would be stupid to bring such low Indian Rupee back to Malaysia and loss on currency exchange.
7. Read Rich Dad Poor Dad, learn more about how money works.
8. Manage your own money-- spend, save, record at your own will, do not let other people control your money, do not even simply leave the money in Saving Accounts to rot.

p/s: all these writings were totally unprofessional, and were all based on a lame man's shallow thoughts. Personal opinions and feedbacks are most welcomed..

Just Push Play

Preview
Music is my life. Without music, my life would be empty. To me, 'Music' is the next big thing that sustain me besides 'Love' and 'Food'. Music brings me ideas, relaxation, joy, excitement, love, faith, stories, jokes, sorrow. Music is too divine to be defined. Life would be a mistake without music.

Music I like:
Hard Rock, Blues Rock, Rock & Roll, Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Rock, R&B/Soul, Jazz, Country, Pop, Love Songs, Classical...
Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Beatles, Elvis Presley, ABBA, Bob Dylan, Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses, Beethoven, Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry, Bon Jovi, Queen, Air Supply...

Turn on my iTunes, flip through the nice Album Covers, click on one of the many 320 kbps songs, adjust the Creative Xmod external sound card, blast on the Altec Lansing 5021 speakers, and boom!, my ears are on heaven again..

E for Ears
I had problems with my ears last week. While i was talking on phone, the wax suddenly obstruct my external meatus, making all the voices in the air sounds super dull, and my own voice sound super deep and loud. I tried to use the cotton swab to clear it, but in vain. So, i flipped through my ENT text book and also checked on internet- "How to Remove Ear Wax". I guess many of you people are having a super hard wax inside you ear unknowingly. If you have those symptoms, you're one of the suspect.
Symptoms:
1. Water will be logged inside the ear often during bath, which will be gone by itself after few minutes.
2. You are not hearing the sound of a turning fan clearly, or the loud echo of water splashing in the toilet.

The most commonly practiced home remedy is this:
1. Drop a few drops of ear-drop or baby oil using something like an eye-dropper into the ear, your ear will instantly feel obstructed as the wax is swollen now.
2. Lie down for 20 mins with the ear facing upwards. After a few hours, the ears sound will clear by itself.
3. Repeat the procedure 3 times a day for 2-3 days, this will soften the wax and make it easily removable.
4. Use a bulb syringe/ normal syringe, fill in warm water, and spray into the ear through the ear canal.
5. The impacted ear wax should come out with the water.
6. If symptoms persist, consult the ENT doctor for suction, which is the most effective way.

For me, i tried hard to use the syringing way but still can't make my ears clear, so i went to Attavat hospital and got suction from Dr. MCH. It was fast and simple and effective. So now, my ears are prepared for another baby that i bought.

The new gadget
Yesterday, the Creative X-Fi Xmod USB External Sound Card has arrived by parcel. The price ain't cheap at all, cost my bloody Rs 4600. I'd researched and reviewed extensively for the past 3 months on this product and other USB sound cards, and i'm super convinced with this one. It claims to:
"Restore the details and vibrant that your music lost during mp3 compression."
"Enjoy all your music and movies in surround sound on any stereo speakers or headphones."
"Start using in an instant, truly plug-n-play, no installation needed. It works for PC and Mac and any external music devices eg iPod."
I do not chose other USB sound card because they take up plenty of hard disk space during installation, and they suck up CPU while working, and there's many drivers problems and lagging in sounds.
Besides, i never go for a 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound card because i'm only using a 2.1, and i don't think i'll ever use a 5.1 in the future.
In addition, i do not chose those with EAX gaming support ones because they'll cost at least twice the price, plus those with true external hardware acceleration ones only works for desktop PCs, the laptop ones are just host-based acceleration, which means it uses ur PC's RAM and CPU to produce the EAX sounds effects.


Why?
Why do i need a sound card since i already has a high-end speakers? Let me give you a simple illustration:
Imagine the mp3 files in your computer is the raw ingredients. The better the raw materials, the better the food. So, the higher bit rate the mp3 file is, the better its quality. I never compromise on the famously widespread but poor 128 kbps songs. My songs are usually 320 kbps, which means one song will cost me more than 10 MB instead of the normal 4 MB of the 128kbps. The lowest bit rate i can tolerate is 192, and to me there're only very little difference between 192 and 320. As an audiophile wannabe, still i can't differentiate between 320 kbps and lossless FLAC or WAV format, plus my iPod does not support the lossless formats, so, i guess i'll stick with every mp3 above 192 kbps.

Now, take speakers as the chef, the one who produce the food. A skilled chef will keep every details and originality of the food that he prepares, the same applies to speakers. A good speaker will produce no noise when turned on, no distortion of bass, gives you a clear treble and crisp highs.

But even if the ingredients and chefs are top class, there's still a missing link - the process of the food. Be it cleaning, scaling, cutting, marinating, mixing, processing of food is as important, so does a sound card. Nowadays, every laptop and desktop come with a integrated sound card, which main job is to - produce sound. Almost everyone will be satisfied as long as there's sound coming from their laptop, no matter it's good or bad. But to someone like me who take music seriously and pamper my ears a lot, i will not settle for anything less than "excellent". Even with high bit rate mp3 files and high end speakers, i still find the musics a bit dull and flat and lack immersion and width.

So, i opt for this product from Creative and the results is Wow!! The 24-bit Crystalizer really does make a difference to my ears. It restores all the details that before this i'd mostly unheard of. It makes the bass deeper and more powerful, the cymbals more crispy and clear, and the wailing guitar solos more intriguing. The music just sounded much more livelier,and have more energy, wihtout it, everything sounds so flat and detailess. I dunno whether it sounds as good as studio quality, but it has definitely improved the way my ear conceive the sound, and to me they sound better than CD quality. All my songs DO sound better. Listening to music now become more pleasure and enjoyable. When listening to live performance and classicals, i turn on the X-Fi CMSS3D, and instantly, i feel like i'm in the concert hall, Mozart playing right in front of me. While watching movies, every gun shots and explosions sounds much more real-life and heart thumping. Gaming sounds more 3D as well, and i can better identify the directions the enemies are coming from. Besides, being a completely stand-alone device, i can also play my iPod through the sound card to the speakers without opening my laptop, which is really convenient.


In a nutshell
I really love the sound produced by my laptop now. The ingredients, the processing of food, and the production of food are all taken care well. I'm still in the process of rebuilding my whole music library, learning bout classic artists and songs, at the same time re-download the songs in high quality forms. It takes months to slowly rebuild my treasure, but at the same time my knowledge on music grows, as well as my perception of sounds. Rock On!!

Star Sprangled Banner

Last week was Malaysia's 51st National Independence Day.. Oh is it? Maybe many people do not realize or maybe there's nothing interesting to look forward for.. This year's Independence Celebration was marred by many negative issues occurring back in my own country -- the big loss of Barisan National in the election; the loss of 5 states to opposition parties; the rise of Anwar; the accusation of sodomy of Anwar; the further investigation of Najib on killing of a Mongolian lady; the loss of support towards present PM Abdullah; the blog of ex-PM Mahathir who always like to tocuh and flame up any sensitive issues; the conversion of ex-BN members to other opposition parties, the racial issues on chinese as immigrants started by Ahmad,... etc etc... Not to mention the Beijing Olympic that got everyone sticking in front of TV instead of preparing for Merdeka celebration, plus the still unresolved safety problems of the citizens such as raping, killing, snatching, stealing, robbing etc etc..

How can you expect the celebration to be good and full of spirit when everyone is affected by more majot negative issues? And that's why this year's Malaysia's Merdeka celebration was an utterly failure. After half a decade of independence, finally the cycle of curse had reached the so called land of harmonious and land full of honey and milk, a very fast developing country marching hard to reach it's 2020 target. The storm that struck left many political members unsettled, and most importantly, the citizens to become civilians, crying for help from God above. Is there any more hope for the future? Who might be the next Prime Minister? A killer, a sodomizer, or a senile??

51 years ago, all the 3 races were fighting had to hand against aliens that invade our country. Then, there was 51 years of harmony and peace and developement, but i would rather say it "superficial harmony and peace", or 51 years of lies that has been overclouding our mind and eyes, or only "apparent developement", of the outside that we can see, touch, taste but not inside that we can believe and have faith in. People from other countries (esp Indians) will definitely thought that we live in a super high class thrid world country, full of luxuries and fun, but we true Malaysians know what's actually happening deep inside our hearts. The racial issue for example, is like a flame covered with a thin veil, it will burn eventually, just like what's happening today. Are we going to reach "developed" status in 2020? Or is it going to be another recurrence of 513?? All these we'll have to see, nothing is for sure now.

*a change of scene, a beam of aurora flashed in front of your eyes, and 'blink', you're in India*

We, around 150 Malaysians, were celebrating our MSA Merdeka in a new hotel called Deepa Comforts, where people from all walks of life came together in their best dress and cloths to show off their fashion taste, and to try out the taste the buffet of this new hotel.. We invited all the deans from our colleges, the HODs, and some local friends, to witness the slide show and short films of our 'Malaysian culture' and see the dances and skeet performed by our grand grand juniors. A round of applause to them who organised this event and also those who shed sweats to perform. The dinner was a success, and we once again felt we were close to home. How often do we get a chance to meet and talk and eat with and take photos with all the Malaysians residing in this small city called Mangalore? Many bad issues are happening back home, but for us not in Malaysia are saved by grace not being affected much, are still enjoying the peace of mind and the joy of togetherness. Luckily, we students over here, either Malay, Chinese, Indians, or other ethnic groups, are still ONE in spirit and in person, and also in speech.
"Hey, mereka semua 'tempe' tak pernah tengok perempuan sexy ke? Asyik tengok perempuan kita saja? Tsk tsk, still kita Malaysians yang lebih 'high class', haha"
"Ai yer, benda kat hotel ni tak sedap la, tak de Malaysian style langsung!"

Back in Black

Just watched "The Dark Knight" in Adlabs cinema last Sunday. The whole mall was packed, i mean, i'd never saw a day the Barath Mall is as packed as that day. It's like people from all over Mangalore and Manipal just came to watch the sequel of Christopher Nolan's Batman.

To me, it was really a very good movie, cz it's directed by one of my favourite director. It got a 9.6 rating out of 70,000 movie expert's votes in IMDB, WTF!! It broke the opening day record set by Spiderman 3, and it will definitely go on to break the first week record, and maybe all time sales record. But to get 9.6, ahead of all the classic movies like Godfather and Shawshank Redemption? No way!! Dear voters, please put more sense into the movie and lower the ratings.

Heath Ledger is just too awesome as Joker, comparable to Jack Nicholson i'd say, but too sad he died young. Only the good die young.
Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent is perfect as well, full of charisma and energy.
But Chirstian Bale? Nothing much except the pretty face. I really hate the way he lower his tone when he talk in the Batman suit, why can't you talk slower and clearer instead of shouting like a mad bat in the super deep scary voice.
Besides, this Batman is like the 'talk more, threaten more, less actual actions' kind of a guy. All he did is fly and ride on his super cool Batpod, but when come face to face with the bad guy? He became soft. He dun even have the guts to hit his villain's ass as hard as he should be.
In addition, Rachel is UGLY!! Who the hell take such an ugly cast to play her, and made 2 super handsome 'heroes' fall in love with that ugly and old girl???
Moreover, the plot is too fast, too complicated and too many climax. Nolan should have make it a 3 hour movie and let everything develope a lil bit slower. Let the philosophy of 'the meaning of a real hero' implement deeper into audience's heart and brain, instead of leaving more than half the audience scratching their head.
More importantly, the time for Two-Face is too little too short. Imagine a super good Harvey Dent turn bad in 5 mins after a lecture and trick from Joker? It's a joke.
Lastly, the dialogues, of which every sentences are actually full of meanings and humours, should be slower and clearer, making the movie more understandable by younger audience.

It was a very very good movie i'd say, but to be name one of the greatest? I don't think so. The movie could have been better. Anyway, my mind could change if i watch it the second time. i don't know.

A Hard Day's Night

I'd been in my 7th semester of MBBS for 1 month now, and it's like hell.. Everyday 8am - 9am lecture, then 9.30am-1pm postings in hospitals, and then afternoon 2pm - 5 pm lectures again. It's the same schedule every single day, Monday to Saturday. I really really hate this semester, and this insane schedule will go on until December. Fcuk!!

Besides, the classroom uses those individual steel chairs type, WITHOUT the side table for u to write on and rest your arm, plus the AC is often not working, and the whole room stinks of body odour. What the fcuk! I can't even sleep through the lectures. My attention span is very short, max 30 mins, and after that, my mind shuts off, and i dun give a fcuk to boring lectures. Everyday after postings, already i'm half life, and 3 hours more of long boring monotonous lectures in the hot afternoon, i really can't stand it.

I hate this semester, and my hatred towards MBBS grew even more. Many of my friends are already planning not to continue to be a doctor after they finished serving the government, and i do not blame them, because a doctor's life SUXK!!

Well, today is Saturday night, and i'll rest well as well as enjoy online, chatting, playing games, go out for a great dinner etc. Ciao!!

"It's been a hard day's night, i have been working like a dog;
It's been a hard day's night, i should be sleeping like a log..."

Stronger

Yesterday, Caryn is back from her vacation. Yeah!! She was back in Malaysia for 3 weeks. Her holiday is supposed to be 6 weeks, but because she failed 2 subjects in her last final exam, she has to come back for supplementary exam on the 1st of August. She's sad for failing of course, but what most important is to get up again and fight the battle again. It doesn't matter how many times u stumbled, but it is how many times you stand up again. Whenever you face a hard time, God is preparing you for a higher level. The harder the time, the higher level you're going to be, and be stronger. Never be complacent of where and how you are now, but keep striving for better ones, there's always room for improvement, and God is pushing you to be better. All the best!! Since she came back, my life is 'bound' again... for more fun and excitements and great home-made-cookings, hehe. Really glad that she's back here. Besides, she bought me a Bvlgari Aqua Marine perfume. I like the odour a lot a lot, we chose it together when we were in Bengaluru, and she bought a tax free one in KLIA. Thank you so much.


Besides, i'd set up a small gym corner in my room. It was super cheap and simple, consisting of:

1. a yoga mat
2. a jumping rope
3. a pair of 5 kg dumbbells
4. a pair of glove to counter my sweaty hands and provide better grip

Since one month ago, i decided to get serious bout my body condition and shape. I'm super skinny and weak. See i just recovered from sickness yesterday. I was having severe cold, pharyngeal irritation and low grade fever. But today i'm 80% recovered already, Also, last week, i was suffering from swelling of the right thumb which is idiopathic, and at the same time, inflammation at my right wrist at the styloid process. I was so damn sure it wasn't Carpel tunnel syndrome due to excessive computer because my mouse is super ergonomic with a very comfy mouse pad. I think all these joints problems are developed when i sleep, due to improper sleeping positions and over stretched the joints. Since few years back, i'd suffered from many joints problems, sometimes at groin, sometimes at wrists, and sometimes interphalengeal joints. Another major thing is that all my friends, especially those ever sensitive girls, are always laughing bout my big big tummy, so, i think it's time for me to get serious in my body fitness.

I mainly follow a free internet exercise videos of 8 minutes Abs, Buns, Arms, Legs, and Stretch exercises. It will only take up max 8 mins each and 40 mins everyday, and the results are proven to be very good. This series had been very famous since the early 90's, and they are fast, easy, cheap and fun. There's no need to spend so much time going to gym, getting a gym plan, getting a coach, and spending time in travelling to and fro. I counted and compared the cost of both gym ways, and the one i set up is only 5 months' of Moti Mahal Hotel's, plus the effect is almost the same. I hope i have the perseverance and will to do these exercises everyday. As my idol Bruce Lee said: "If you weren't in shape, you couldn't be 100% efficient.""In order to get in excellent shape, you needed strength". The main motive of my 'mini gym' is to shape my body, to be fitter, stronger and healthier, both mentally and physically, that's all. In addition, the keys to keep up with my training schedule are 'drive' and 'endurance', and hopefully this training will help me develop as a person as well.

I Need A Hero

Last Sunday, i went to watch Incredible Hulk with my friends. It's something like a sequel to the Ang Lee's Hulk, but i prefer this one as it makes more senses to my brain and i love Edward Norton. The fight scene with the Abomination is cool, but what wooed me the most is the appearance of Tony Stark at the ending of the movie. So, what's next? Iron Man and Hulk combine forces? Yes! The upcoming Marvel superhero movie is Captain America: The First Avengers, scheduled for 2011. For those who has a proper child hood, you'll know who are all these characters. Hereby, i'll supply you with some background stories:

The Hulk, Iron Man, Ant-Man, Wasp, and Thor are the first 5 members of a superheroes team called The Avengers. All these superheroes are "gathered" by a man called Nick Fury, who appeared in a post-credit scene in 2008's Iron Man. Nick Fury acts as the agent between the government and the superheroes. Actually, the initial assemblage of the 5 is when a God of Evil - Loki, tricked Hulk to fight Loki's adopted brother Thor-God of Thunder. However, Iron Man, Ant-Man and Wasp also get the radio call, and so all 4 of them were fighting Hulk, and there were lots of misunderstanding, until later, they realized their mistake, and all 5 combined to fight off Loki. Ant-Man thought 5 of them worked well together as a group, and Wasp called the group "The Avengers". Hulk left the group very soon cz all the other members are scared of his unstable ability, and Captain America joined in, and took the post of team leader. The Avengers member are ever changing, later also comprised of Spiderman, X-men and Fantastic Four.


So, from then on, we can expect a lot more mish mash superheroes movies coming. See, in the past 5 years, how many superheroes movies were there? Remakes of Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Transformers, Fantastic Four, Hulk, TMNT to name a few, and Batman The Dark Knight is coming soon, i wonder how many more superheroes will we, or our next generation will be exposed to.. Why? Why the hell Hollywood even bother making such "childish", fictional, unreal, illogical, "out of the world" movies? I thought super heroes are meant for children who feel insecure, who have flying imaginations, who will imitate their heroes, who in the time of trouble, shout out loud for their heroes to come and save them? However, everyone seems to like this kind of movies nowadays. What actually is happening to the generation, our present generation?

Yes, everyone needs a hero, be it parents, a wartime hero, a religious idol, a friend, an athlete, an artist, or a cartoon character. Ironically, people today opt for the latest mentioned. Isn't it funny? It shows that everyone, i mean almost everyone, is in need for someone great to save their ass. I'm in so much trouble; the economic is going down like waterfall; i'm out of job; my parents divorced; the fuel price is so high; my fiancee cheated me; my friends wouldn't help me; i'm all alone; i feel like a no one, a waste of space...... Who would be a better man to save them from such troubles? Only a god-like, immortal, miracle-making superheroes can. Everyone has a halo in their soul who needed to be filled, but in this digital, self centered era, everyone is making digital friends through Facebook instead of going out for tea with a bunch of real friends, everyone opt to drown in their own iPod instead of observing the environment, it is hard to find someone who are true and loving, never forsakes nor leave, someone we can turn to in our most troubled time. In fact, some even go for alcohol or drugs to fil their soul, to keep them away from reality full of troubles. But can creating fictional characters help us? Will there be a day Superman come to save the day? I greatly doubt it (It might happen rite, with all the superhuman serum our top secret scientist created, haha)

For me, there's a way more realistic solution - Jesus Chirst.
"Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you; He'll never let the righteous fall".
"I will never leave you nor forsake you", He said. So,
"I can do all things through Christ who strengtens me".
"I am God's child. Whom shall I fear?"
Is there a bigger thouble for the creator of the world? Is there a better 'father', a closer 'friend', a more intimate 'lover', a more godlike 'superhero', whom we can turn to all the time, who'll never forsake us? Parents might despise you; lovers will leave you, friends will betray you; technology will outdate and stop working for you, even a superhero has his own trouble, has time he himself too busy to even know you. Instead of turning to superheroes, why not turn to God? It's definitely a no brainer choice.

The Best Is Yet To Come

Germany team lineup

Spain team lineup

Torres intelligently scored past Lehmann

Torres roars after scoring the match winner

Hero Torres holds the Cup

Spain team celebrates

Yesterday 29th June 2008, was Euro 2008's final, between Germany and Spain. I was very much a Spain supporter because Liverpool is made up of many Spanish players, and our manager Rafa Benitez is Spanish too. In this tournament, there're 4 Liverpool players in the Spain's 23 person team, consist of Torres, Alonso, Reina, and Arbeloa.

Throughout the heart thumping final, Spain played much better football and was more threatening than Germany. However, they cant break the dead lock until my favorite player - Fernando Torres, scored on 33rd minutes. He received a pass from Xavi, run with the ball, but was defended by Germany's Philip Lahm, who is one of the best left back in the tournament. But still, Torres with his lightning speed and sheer determination and bullish-strength, managed to nick into a small space and got his leg slightly in front of Lahm and lob the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper Lehman, and scored the one and only but the most important goal of the tournament. In the end Spain won 1-0, emotionally and deservedly holding the EURO Cup.

Spain well deserved their victory. They played the best football among all teams, scored the most goals with 12 goals, won every single of their matches and are the second youngest team in the tournament. The Top Scorer of the tournament is Spain's David Villa with 4 goals, the Best Player of the tournament is also Spain's Xavi. So altogether, Spain deservedly won the EURO Championship Cup and successfully ended their 44 years wait of a major international tournament cup. Spain was very famous for their underachievement throughout the decades even though their team was always one of the most talented one, so it's finally a "happily ever after" ending for Spain supporters.

Throughout the tournament, Fernando Torres was overshadowed by David Villa's prolific goal scoring record, Xavi's accurate passings, Senna's excellent defensive skills and Sergio Ramos's superb performances, but even though with only 2 goals under his belt, Torres scored the match winning goal that gave Spain their champion's title. At only 24 years old, the best is yet to come from El Nino (The Kid). Hopefully, this EURO win will help Torres grow more as a player and a person, then come back to help Liverpool with a superb 08-09 season. All hail Torres!!

Speed of Sound

I'd bought a Digitech RP350 Guitar multi-effect pedal. It cost me Rs11700. I'd been targeting this music gadget for a very very long time, because all these while i was using my friend's old Digitech RP80, but as i got more used to the sound, i started to get sick of it.

When i brought this new gadget back, i was damn excited and the first thing i did was to jack-in my Fender guitar and then jack in the pedal to my Marshall 10W amp. For an instance, there's no buzzing noise at all when i turn on the amp, unlike the RP80 which produce lots of hissing unwanted noise. Then the second thing i did was to test the difference between direct connection between guitar and amp, with connection of guitar->multi effect pedal->amp, under the Bypass mode, the sounds between both are indistinguishible, which i'm real happy as the old one has so much sound loss at the 2nd test. This pedal brought me to a whole brand new world of tones. It has total of 118 different models of tones, including Distortions, Wah wah, lots of Amps models, lots of Cabinet models, Compressors, Delays, Reverbs, Chorus/FX, Drum machine, USB interface for computer recording and tuning, built-in Tuner, built-in Expression pedal etc etc.. For those who do not know a single term that i wrote above, you're forgiven cz few months ago i was in the same situation.


The sound it produce is very very raw and 'analog', full of power and pump, without any distorted sound, unlike the old RP80 which sound very flat, unreal, muddy and 'digital'. It uses a latest digital music processor (DSP) - AudioDNA2, which is better and more well developed than any other brand's DSP in the market today. The learning curve of this machine is darn simple, and it only took me 15 mins to understand all how they work. I love the tunes a lot, but i'm yet to discover all of them. Imagine mix & match 118 different effects, the net sum is enormous, and the results is never predictable. Sounds are perceived differently by different people, some are sensitive to even slight change in tone and frequency; some are totally tone deaf, while some cannot tolerate whatsoever sounds.. Sounds can hardly be described by words, as i'd tried so hard. It's a very subjective interest and i presume not many people who read this post will understand much, if at all, what i was talking about.

A multi effect processor is never as good as a real life Amp or Cabinet or analog single effect stomp boxes. However, imagine it had digitally combined 118 types of real life huge amps & cabinets and numerous pedals on the floor into one small piece of machine and reproduce them to be as "real" as possible, plus the price is like 118 times cheaper, for an amateur guitar player like me, it's more than enough for daily practicing, even playing live and recording. I love my Digitech RP350, as i think it's better than any other products of the same line of other brands elsewhere. I hope it'll last me for a life time, as long as my beautiful fingers can still dance and tap on the fret board of the guitar. My personal target as a guitarist is to become a guitar player who're able to perform on stage well, so that people will say" oh, this guy is not bad". I'd not dreamt of becoming as good as my guitar heroes like Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), or Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton, or even someone who can invent new riffs and write songs. As long as i can perform well with the "machine gun" baby on my hand, i'm happy. Hopefully my target will be realized.

Good Vibration

 

i bought a new 2.1 speaker. I'd always wanted one really good one, and i'd targeted Logitech Z-4 which cost around RM350. However in India, it's sold for Rs 6000+ and hard to find. Then one day as i was shopping around, i saw a Altec Lansing MX5012. It is the highest line of Altec Lansing speaker product, with THX certification. The boss is very nice n he sell me for only Rs6600, where the ori price is Rs9000. So, after considering for 15 mins, i decided to buy it. So then, now i have one of the best speaker in the world. Altec Lansing MX5021 It is the highest line 2:1 speakers by Altec Lansing. Even though it's the older model, and there's a newer and more expensive FX6021, people says the older version is better than the new one. "Old is gold". Specs:

• Components: 2 satellites, 1 sub
• Satellites: 20 watts each
• Subwoofer: 50 watts
• Output level: 103dB
• Frequency: 30-22000hz

With total of 90 watts, and a output of 103db, the volume is much higher than any speakers. Besides, it is THX certified, which means, it can produce the highest highest quality sound comparable to theatre. Sound quality The first thing i do after bringing this new sound pet into my room is start wiring and set it up on my table. I do not remove my Creative M2500 as i wanna make a side to side comparison with my new AL MX5021. I already have a list of high dynamic songs to test different aspect of the speakers such as the high freq saxaphone or cymbals, the mid range guitar solo and the low freq bass and drums. The results was spectacular. My new speakers just sound so much more better than the old one. The MX5021 sounds much clearer, the high range sounds are so much louder and crisp and you can easily differentiate whether the cymbals are from the left or the flute are from right side. The bass is very solid and even at high volume, there's no distortion at all. The bass can really make ur whole room shattle at high volume, with the songs still sounds nice and clear. Besides, the bass never cover up the mid range sounds at high level, plus every instruments are very clear through the songs and never overlap each other. On the other hand on my old Creative M2500, the sounds of each instruments are overlapping, some instruments loud some soft, and they sound muddy and sloppy compared to the clarity of AL MX5021. The bass is also very easily distorted, and basses very frequantly overwhelm the other sounds. The high freq sounds also easily gets buzzing on some songs. Sound of Music Even though i'm not an audiophile, i can still know what is a "good sound" .I'm still constantly learning and training my ears to be more sensitive to sounds. I can now easily differentiate a good sounding speakers and a cheap one; and find out the difference between a high bit MP3 file and a low bit one. I always keep my favourite songs to 320kbps, which means 1 song of mine is around 10MB. The lowest bit rate acceptable to my ear is 192kbps, and 128kbps sounds too muddy to me, except from those simple Pop songs. Nowadays in a digital world dominated by iPod and MP3s, CDs are already hardly surviving, but mind you they're still sound the best. However, CDs are just too big to be kept, so it's better to rip them into mp3 or AAC files in high bit. I listen to all kinds of music, mostly classic Rock, Rock and Roll, Alternative, Jazz, Blues, R&B, and some Chirstians, Classical and Pop. I let my iTunes play most the time in a day, so i'm constantly exposed to music, so it is necessary my ears are fed with good sounds. I hate all modern musics, especially hip-hop or rap or those meant-to-please-everyone alternatives. I'm still living in a 60s, 70s and 80s era, as these are the Golden Years of music industries. Hardly anything today sound as good as the old days. Appearance The subwoofer is super super tall and heavy, as big as a normal desktop CPU, swt. Even the size of the 2 satellites speakers are beyond what i expected. They're just HUGE. There's a seperate controller for u to put on the desk, with control of Power on/off, Volume, Bass & Treble, plus a auxillary input for iPod or any CD players and a output jack for earphones. It's easy to control the volume anytime and anyhow u like. Another thing i like is there's a wireess remote control, so u can control from ur bed or far away while watching movies. The color of everything is black, with silver color cones and blue LEDs on the controller. The color totally complemet my laptop and all my gadgets. In a Nutshell The size is thrice than that of my old speaker, the price is thrice more, the specs is thrice more, but the sound quality of Altec Lansing MX5021? It's so much better. Nowadays, the best available 2:1 speakers in the market of the world are Logitech Z-2300, JBL Harman Cardon Soundstick II, Klipsch Promedia 2.1, and Altec Lansing MX5021/Fx6021. All of them cost more than RM600 (and i think i'd got a great deal with mine), and they can support any sounds of music, movies, and games at any volume. A good 2:1 is often the choice for everyone than buying a surround 5:1 because most 5:1 do not use drivers as good as 2:1, and 5:1 just cramp up ur room with all the extra wires and speakers. A great speaker can last people forever, and i'm going to use this for my whole life hopefully, if i can find a good way to bring back Malaysia cz it's too huge. I'm really really glad with this new speakers, my ears feel so much soothing and happy now. I wont get headache out of rock songs after long time exposure anymore. I love my Altec Lansing MX5021, it's a perfect companion for my daily needs as it provides pleasant sounds at low volume and cinematic sound at high volume. I would recomend this speaker to anyone if he/she is serious about sounds.

Rainy Day, Dream Away

It had been 6 whole months of scorching sunshine - hot, dry, dusty weather.. But since 2 days ago, it started pouring non stop, indicating it's monsoon again here in Mangalore.. I just finished my exam yday, all the paper were really bad bad bad, cant even write a single thing. Aiks.

Anyway, my 1 week holiday started. Many of the Malaysians went home, some went traveling (i have friends going Turkey, woot!). I chose not to go back, cz firstly, the time is too short, and secondly, i wanna save money. Not much money left in my bank account now (of course excluding my FDs and Mutual Funds). Today is Sunday, i woke up at 11am cz the weather is too cooling and the sun hardly shine through, so i slept so so soundly till i cant even hear my alarm to go to church. i spent whole day buying groceries, and cleaning my room. Ask the cleaner to come and we together cleaned every corner of my room. I'd always like to keep my room very clean and tidy. Phew, so tired now, can have a real nice sleep later.

So what i'm going to do in this one week free time?

1. Watch EURO. Since i'd already given up hope on England 2 years ago in World Cup, and now they dun even qualify for this tournament, i think i would support Spain or France, not so sure which team sto support yet. Every night i'll will be occupied by TV.
2. Play computer games. I'd stopped playing games for the past 3 weeks, so it's time to install again. I'm now playing World in Conflict, and some Pro Evo Soccer 2008 with friends. Good way to spend time and entertain myself.
3. Practice guitar. I'm going to practice guitar 3 sessions a day, each sessions 30 mins, i swear i wanna improve my skills by a lot. My pre-ordered guitar multi-effect processor Digitech RP350 is coming soon, so i would have plenty of sound effects to play on, and at the same time continue to train my ears to be as 'audiophile' as possible.
4. Exercise. Since it's raining season, can't go out to play football, i will do some simple exercise in my room. I already bought a yoga mat and i have a big mirror on my wall, so i can do almost every programmed abs, legs, chest, and arm exercise in my own "mini gym room". Check out YouTube's 8 mins exercise, they're simple, fun, cheap, short and effective.
5. Sleep. "Rainy day, dream away, let the sun take a holiday... Lay back and groove on a rainy day, hey lay back and dream on a rainy day". So it's perfect time to dream a little dream on my bed under the cooling and wet weather. Besides, it will also replenish myself to prepare for my next semester, which is damn hectic and pack. Swt!

Zzz...Zzz...Zzz..

Petrol head

(The top glamours)

Petrol price is Malaysia rose again yesterday, from RM1.92 to RM2.70, by 79 cents.. It was a huge huge amount, almost by 40% increase.. so yesterday, every car packed to any petrol station just to pump in the last drop of "cheap petrol", resulting in severe petrol shortage.. Traffic transportation and river transportation are all suspended, resulting in havoc in almost every part of Malaysia.

The price of petrol in Malaysia is considered one of the cheapest in the world, due to subsidy by our petroleum company Petronas. Petronas is one of the leading oil company of in the world, with one of the world's tallest building in the world as office. Compared with the price in India of Rs60 per litre (RM4.60), Petronas had already subsidized a lot, in fact, most of the profit (about 30%) earned by the company are handed to Federal Government to subsidy the price. That is why we, Malaysians are still having the cheapest oil price in the world. Even with 2.70, it is still comparatively low.

However, for example, how much a Singaporean earn and how much a Malaysian earn in term of Capitol income? Msians earn only 1/3 of what a Singaporeans are earning. Petrol price in Singapore? $RM 5.20, so comparatively we're still at the losing side (they pay twice the amount of petrol but get back thrice in their income). The first impact will be on the citizens.. We're earning less but paying more on petrol. The standard of living will be a big hit. Food prices will go up, almost every items will be more expensive due to increased transportation fee; bus fare will increase, flight fare increase, less people traveling means less mobility in business and less tourism, so business continue to drop.. As income is less, employees suffer more in life, so they tend to earn it the "easy" way, causing increased crime rate. The inflation will be higher as everything become costlier, buying power of the people reduce, life quality will be less.. Already the people in Malaysia are earning hard, buying hard, and living in danger all the time due to super high crime rate here, our life quality will continue to be in jeopardy. Besides, as people do not live happily and safely, they'll start blaming the government, leading to political unrest and instability.

Is it a genuine business point of view to remove the oil subsidy in order to improve the overall economy? Will the reduction in road tax lessen our burden? Or everything is just another way of the federal government sucking up more money from the profit of their largest money making machine? The long term effect is yet to be seen. Hopefully, it'll turn out fine, though i seriously doubt it.. God bless Malaysia..

(The low suffers)

Here Is Gone

Today i just came out from my 1st paper of my 1st sessional exam of 3rd year MBBS. First paper was Community Medicine, a subject which i, together with majority of my class mates, ignore since 1st year. This is a darn boring subject, with all kinds of so called "general knowledge" but actually it's very complicated with all kinds of statistics and definition and methodology. I sat the paper only studied 1/3 of the portions and studied only once, in 4 days time. People spend weeks to study but i use only 4 days, haha, and mind u the 4 days are not those intensive sit-till-your-ass-pain study kind, i still fool around and slack here and there. Today, it only took me 1 n half hour to sit in the exam hall and write, whereas the paper is supposed to be 3 hours long. My paper was super empty. (I'm the 3rd to come out, normally i'm the first, hehe)

Tomorrow is Ophthalmology, and followed by ENT, Medicine and lastly Surgery. Among all, the subject i studied the most is Ophthal (1 week). My mum scolded me through SMS say i lazy, that's why cant finish studying. But think bout it, it wasn't my fault. Let me explain:
I had my Supplementary exam for Pharmacology just 2 weeks before this sessionals, and all these while i was stuck with Pharmac, and every subjects in 3rd year are untouched. So imagine in 2 weeks time to cover these 5 subjects while all other people had 4 long months to cover them, IMPOSSIBLE!! So i tried to allocated my time: 1 week Ophthal, 4 days Comm Med, 3 days ENT, Medicine untouched, Surgery dun even have a book yet, wahaha.. Call me crazy!! Everyone say the professors wont even mark Comm Med and ENT paper, so actually this exam is very insignificant. Besides, i am mentally tired after the Pharmac exam, and few days back when i know that i passed the Pharmac paper, i was relieved and happy, tried to celebrate but can't as this sessionals is coming next.

Come on, this semester is supposed to be a honeymoon sem, everyday max 2 hours class, so of course we're supposed to enjoy and relax and do whatever shit u want. Even the college is not taking this sessionals seriously, so what for crack my head and burn my midnight oil suffering for exam? No way!! So, don't blame me!! It was the lack of time; the insignificance of this exam; the post-exam tiredness; the celebrating mentality, plus the holiday mood which 'encouraged' me not to take this sessionals seriously ..

OK, let's face it.. "Peer pressure".. "Ophthamology" (supposed to be my favourite field).. "They mark this paper".. "I can enjoy even more in the 1 week holiday if i had worked hard for the exam"..
Fine!! Whatever..I should start opening the book right now and study....

射雕英雄传 （修订版）

 

 “不看金庸，非龙的传人也！！” 还记得小学时， 很多朋友都开始手上拿着一本厚厚的小说了。当时我也不例外，可是我看的只是图版西游记，三国演义等之类。还没达到整本书都是字的小说。上了中学，大概90年代末和2千年初，我和我的男性朋友们都开始沉迷电脑游戏，而大多数玩的都是中文rpg，久而久之，对武侠越来越感兴趣， 就开始了一段金庸武侠小说热潮。 当时，我们男生们都会轮流购买武侠小说，然后就回交换来看。当时一本金庸只需要RM8，可是现在，自从金庸第四次改编后，价格提高了几倍，一套四本需要RM90！walau！我很记得Form 1 时，吵妈妈带我去附近的意见漫画中心组小说，而我所看得第一本是：《神雕侠侣》 （当时刚玩完这个游戏，所以特别想读）。借得时间最长是一个礼拜，所以就逼自己一个礼拜看完一本，就这样一个月后，看完了整套。当时我和身边几个男同学，上课时手都拿着一本金庸， 斗谁看得多，读得快，然后就交换心得，切磋武艺，哈哈！ 就这样，就觉得金庸小说太好太迷人了，甚至有几套被列为中华历史以来“好书之一”，就决定买下来，而最想收集的就是《射雕英雄传》，因为它被列为十大好书第五名。我 看了《神雕侠侣》，知道这是一套三部曲 -- 《射雕》 ，《神雕》 ，《倚天》。以是便骑脚车到附近的Midashi文具店买下了，把书皮抱得美美，就开始阅读。最后，就觉得其实《射雕》比《神雕》还好看多，因为他没有一直拖，故事充满精彩环节，而且历史味很重，好郭靖俏黄蓉的配合非常特别，而且天下武林四大高手--“东邪”“西毒”“南帝”“北丐”当时是最光辉时期。比起杨过小龙女那种一拖再拖，纠缠不清的爱情，再加上不断的相思之苦, 《射雕》显得精彩多了。 最近，我在印度读书很闷，就决定上网看经典武侠剧，就迷上了83年版的射雕英雄传。黄日华演的郭靖够笨拙，刚阳，忠直，仁义，赤子之心，正所谓：侠之大者，当为郭靖，被黄日华演得最为体贴；已逝的美少女翁美玲演的黄蓉最调皮，聪明伶俐，诡计多端，可爱中带邪气，是历史以来演得最好的郭靖和黄蓉，而且东邪，西毒，南帝，北丐的角色都非常得体，苗乔伟演的杨康真的是一表人才但心目中却充满了邪恶和不择手段，认贼作父，但对穆念慈却温柔深爱，真是令人又恨又怜惜。 我觉得这部TVB经典武装戏实在太好了，因为它没有现代武侠片那些令人作呕的电脑特技使用各种power飞来飞去，而把故事内容改得不伦不类。以前的戏全都是真手实枪的打斗，而且故事内容，角色性格跟金庸书上所描述的一五一十，的确是史上其中一部最好的一部武侠片。看了这部戏，怀念起英年早逝的翁美玲，一个充满美貌和才艺的26岁女演员就这样为了爱情而不小心自杀，真是可惜。 想在“土豆网”免费观看这套分为三套的《射雕英雄传》：

• 射雕英雄传之铁血丹心
• 射雕英雄传之东邪西毒
• 射雕英雄传之华山论剑

另外，我也在网上辛辛苦苦找到了全套金庸笔下的“十大美侠女”壁纸。喜欢的人可到我的WebAlbum “金庸十二钗”观看下载。 我本身最喜爱的是女角色是--黄蓉。我喜欢她那种调皮任性，古灵精怪，小气，足智多谋，聪明伶俐的性格。生为东邪黄药师之女，一出生就失去母亲，在桃花岛过着小公主般生活，被爸爸传授所有知识，精通琴棋诗画，八卦五门之术，可是一次跟爸爸吵架，离岛出走，在街上碰上郭靖这笨小子，郭靖的好心和忠直感动了她，以是黄蓉作了她一生最聪明的选择--知道不能放过这个机会，决定跟随一位深爱自己的男人，他不用聪明英俊，只要对自己好。黄蓉在家里是个厨艺高超的厨师，在外是名人人崇拜的丐帮帮主。她在《射雕》是名十六岁调皮美少女，在《神雕》是位成熟妇人。她随着丈夫死守襄阳城抵抗蒙古兵，最后为国捐躯，留下倚天剑屠龙刀，还有一位创办峨嵋派的女儿郭襄。郭靖是全金庸笔下最侠义，最为国为民之士，而黄蓉从开始到最后都陪着他创下一段永不忘记的故事。黄蓉可以说是金庸笔下最幸福的女人。她活得有意义，爱得有意义，死得有意义，实在令人难忘。

Just Another Brick in The Wall

Today is Sunday, me and my friends went to watch movie - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. It was beautiful, meaningful and exciting. Much better than the previous one. Though it's just a kid's fantasy movie, it still contains a lot of unexpected and creative twist. I enjoyed the movie very much. For those who thought Lord of The Rings is way better than Narnia, i would say NO, because there's even more creatures, longer time span and the story line has more ups and downs compared to LOTR's mono theme. Actually, there's very much similarities between the 2 greatest epic fantasy of all time written by 2 very very close friends in Oxford - C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolkein. Both geniuses created their own fantasy world, their own languages, creatures, stories etc, just that LOTR is meant for adults and Narnia is meant for children. Both sagas are holding to one main theme, ie Christianity. C.S Lewis is an extreme atheist convert Christian under the influence of his best friend Tolkein. Lewis then became the greatest phylosopher of modern chirstianity, and still is.

In LOTR, the ring that Frodo bear is an illustration of Jesus christ bearing the cross all by himself, carrying the heavy burden of the sins of the world.
In Narnia, Aslan represents Christ who, though himself sinless, willing to sacrifice himself for the good of Narnia world, in the case bearing the wrongs of Edmund who are tempted by the White Witch (like Adam tempted by Satan and fell to sin).
I like both stories, i'd finished reading LOTR and The Hobbit, but i think i am too old to read Narnia now. Anyway, i love both writers (though maybe a bit bias towards C.S Lewis as i read even more of his Christian books). In a nutshell, great job done by Andrew Adamson who made such great stories into a beautiful thrilling movie.


After movie, i went shopping by myself and bought some Jockey inner shirts and a Van Heusen black pants which cost me Rs1800 (woot, i have no choice as all the cheaper ones are quite baggy to me. I hate those baggy formal pants, and that's why i have so few formal pants).

On the other hand, i would also like to sum up here that in the last 2 weeks, i had bought many other things for my computer workstation (which is more importantly also, my study place). I bought a Featherlite branded executive chair which cost me Rs5000, hehe, i know it's damn expensive, but if you count in the number of hours u spend sitting on chair in a day, it's very very worth it, plus the chair is very comfy, very ergonomic and very much adjustable in every aspects.

What i use:

• Dell XPS 1530
• Logitech Premium 4-port USB hub
• Logitech MX518 gaming mouse
• Fenlida mouse mat
• Logitech NewTouch 200 keyboard
• Logitech Alto Express Laptop Stand
• 4GB Sandisk pendrive to ReadyBoost my Vista
• Logitech Dual Action gamepad
• USB sound card
• Creative M2500 2:1 speakers

Phew, i'd listed down all my laptop peripherals. I know it's damn a lot, plus all of them ain't cheap at all (mostly Logitech) However, i'm satisfied with them as all these had, and are, and will serve me well for a long time. And also, i use a giant size cloth gaming mouse mat (whaever China brand it is) which cost so much lesser than other top mousepad brands like Everglide or Razer or Steelpad, but with almost same quality - for smoother & precise mousing; comfy for my hand; and more importantly, can absorb my sweaty hand, swt swt. I have a disease called Hyperhidrosis, which means my palm and plantar leg gets sweaty easily. I wish there's a treatment option right now in Mangalore I really hate it my palms.

Last but not least,, quite proudly i would like to say that i'd manage to form a "wireless working desk" for my room. No more wires tingling around the desk or floor anymore. I'd been thinking of ways to hide all the wires while studying (my ideas seems to soar more when i study sitting quietly there), and here are what i did:
1. Put the USB hub and laptop adapter under my laptop stand
2. Drills 2 small holes at the back of the wooden desk to let my speaker and keyboard wires go through.
3. Fix the multi-socket adapter to the side of the table.
Now, who need all those expensive wireless geeks?

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Yeah, today i just finished off my Pharmacology supplementary exam. I did really well this time and kicked it's ass, haha, hopefully can get a first class. (Duh, i failed it 5 months ago and i studied this one subject in extra 4 months, of course i'm expected to kick ass) Now, i can start concentrating on my coming sessionals exam which features Ophthalmology, E.N.T, and Community Medicine. I'd never really touched all these 3rd year subjects yet cz all these while if not playing so many computer games, it's playing guitar and reading my Pharmac. That's how i spent my first 4 months in 3rd year MBBS, swt. The sessionals kick off on 3rd June, which is damn near actually. Come on, study!! (Compare to 2nd year, we have only 3 subjects this year and the books are so much thinner) My ambition is to become a Ophthalmologist, and let's see how well i do in this subject this year, and may God lead my future.


English Premier League had just finished. Man United retained their well deserved title, but had to get it till the last match of the season in a really long long tussle with Chelsea. So where my Liverpool stands? Erm, 4th, zz.. In the beginning of the season we started damn well, met all expectations, people thought it's maybe our time to get our 1st title in 18 years, but in Dec, our 2 stupid American idiot owner fought against each other, and it had affected everything, both on and off the pitch. So we slumped to a 2 months winless record, diao. But in March, everything went well again, and we won almost all our games. However, Liverpool still has plenty of things to be proud off:

• Fernando Torres, our record signing of 21 million pound broke all records by scoring 24 goals in his debut season (the highest scorer of a foreigner in his 1st season). At last, after Owen, we have one truly prolific and skillful and fast and strong striker, yes!! Love ya!!
• Pepe Reina got the Golden Glove award again, for 3 seasons consecutively, for keeping the most clean sheets in whole season! So who is the best keeper in England? Cech? Van Der Sar? haha
• Liverpool is the English club that scored the most goals in all competition this season - 119 goals! That way above Manchester United. In Champion's League itself, we have 40 goals!!Imagine!!

Ok whatever, we still need to improve a lot a lot, cant always rely on Gerrard and Torres. Next season will surely better, hopefully..


My neighbor Liew bought a new guitar multi effect pedal last week - Zoom GFX 5. It cost Rs11000, but it's really good. Before he bought that, i'd already targeted mine - Digitech RP250 which cost Rs9500, but he got his pedal first and i was left behind still considering. Then this week he bought a new guitar - Ibanez Prestige RG 2570 that cost Rs54000, which is super good looking and super nice to play and as it's name implies, super prestigious. Me? Still stuck on my Fender Squier Strat. So, feeling outdated and get sick of my Strat's 'dull and soft' sound, i decided to modify it myself. I researched so much online, and at last managed to do some fine tuning, and now my guitar sounds much nicer and warmer and louder, and easier to play. I know i cant change a crow into a phoenix, but it can becaome a parrot at least. Today, as i surf for great guitars, i stunbled upon Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster. I was like.. drool..wow..it's the best guitar manufactured by Fender. It's so sexy, and according review, it's touch is so warming and playing it is so exciting and satisfying. It has 3 Samarium Cobalt Pickups, 22 Jumbo frets, Synchronized Tremolo, Sealed Locking Tuning Machines , S-1 pickup switch and highly detailed engineering. Now, it's in my wanted list already, and it's so going to be my next baby.
But wait, let's face it, where do all the money come from? The guitar will cost $1700, which is at least Rs80000. Before this I'd already decided to save more money this term but still i managed to spend so much recently. Finger cross i must not buy all these so fast, at least wait for another 6 months because i think i don't deserve them now, i really don't deserve to have this baby yet. My skills is still noob and i should be happy to settle with my Fender Squier and Digitech RP80 which a friend don't want and gave me. Now, i have a guitar which is not so bad, and a multi effect pedal which has many many effects to be played. Enough Chee Chung!! Be satisfied already!!

Shopping spree

Yesterday was Sunday, i couldn't wake up for church, woke up at 11am. Went to Taj Manjarun for a buffet lunch with Caryn. Then we went to watch movie (One Missed Call). It's a stupid typical Japanese style ghost movie, and the ending didn't bring any sense at all. In fact, the whole movie has no meaning, except some chilling moments that make up jump from the seat. Then, we went to shop for cloths. She bought some cheap Salwa cloths, and i bought a Van Heusen white long sleeve shirt, a Van Heusen informal long pants, and 2 cheap Peter England short sleeve formals. I'm now super lack of formal shirts and pants, i always wear t-shirts to classes and posting, plus some of my tight fitting formal pants that i taylored last year is now unzippable (i'm a man with a belly now, damn). Since JPA just banked in money few days back, it's time to shop till my wallet drop. In 1 day time i spent 4000 rupees on shirts, ouch!! It's my first time stepping into Van Heusen shop, and i fell in love with it instantly. Though the shirts are all expensives, but for that kind of design and comfort, i think it's worth it.

Today, the Logitech Alto Express laptop stand that i bought online few days ago arrived. I'm happy. That day when i was surfing the net, i stumbled upon this laptop stand and thought it was good. Then after some research, i think it is essential for a laptop to have an external keyboard n mouse, plus a stand to elevate the height of the screen. Why? So that you'll have a healthier work place or gaming ground. Just imagine a laptop is so small, the screen is so low, and the user has to bend his back, his neck, and strain his eyes to look down at the small screen and the hand has to stretch up and in front to reach the super small keyboard, what a hard and bad posture, plus the user need to be in this wrong posture for long hours. All this can cause what we called working-place-syndrome such as tendonitis, arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, neck pain, back pain, dizziness, lethargy, insufficient blood circulation, eyes strains and shoulder pain. There're so many working class ppl and students nowadays suffering from all these, just that they did not realise and ignores them. However, these are not minor problem as sooner or later, the problems can become chronic and when turn older, everything comes out together and get severe. So, what we need to do now is to use our computer ergonomically by setting up an appropriate computer work station. Here, i have some very important points of using the computer in an ergonomic ways (click on the pic to enlarge).
"Let all of us work simultaneously towards a healthier working life style by using our computer ergonomically.." by Dr. Kelvin Liu