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

Transform

Just came back from Horse Face Hill Station, Kudremukh for a Youth Camp on 5th, 6th and 7th April. The theme of the camp is Romans 12:2 "Transform". Almost everyone from my international cell group went. At first all of us are quite reluctant to go, but due to our Pastor's constant encouragement (or i should call "pestering"?), we signed up for it.


Early morning at 5.45 am, i miraculously woke up (i'd never woke up that early in my life, plus i slept at 2 that night), and went to wait for the bus at the church. We took 2.5 hours to reach Kudremukh, and saw already many ppl are there, and about half the number from New Life Church in Bangalore. We got divided into 10 groups, took home cooked breakfast over there, then the worship and sermons sessions straight away started. On the first day, i couldn't get used to the whole thing, was damn too tired as the sessions runs continuously without break till 11pm, crazy, and basically i was sleeping through all the messages. The place that we sleep in is super lousy, only 4 walls and a super thin mattress, with a lamp and fan and limited water supply (only 8 hours water per day), plus 12 person stay in a dorm, sharing 1 and only toilet, zz. The food provided are all home cooked by the New Life church members there, we have to eat with hands and wash the dishes ourselves. The first night i cant well oso, cz the weather is too cold.


2nd day i woke up headache and nauseatic, so all sessions slept off too, zzz, until in the late afternoon of outdoor game time. There are altogether 10 stations of crazy games, and we ran, laughed, shouted, drenched, and sweat. It was real tiring but fun. That's the first time i got to know the group members in my team. Then at night sessions continued, but i was able to concentrate more already. The second night i slept more soundly and was the latest to wake up in the whole house.


On 3rd day, everyone was more "committed" and fired up as it was the last day. We had a spirit-filled long sessions where the pastor we invited prayed and laid hands and God was moving in the hall and performed many miracles and gave out lots of power and blessings. I was kinda 'scared' bout this kind of thing, ppl shouting and crying, and in the end i succumbed. In general, the camp was a big success and everyone enjoyed and being transformed and fired up for God. But all these are only the beginning, it all depends how we live in the secular world. At 6pm. we all went back to Mangalore heavy hearted. The bus is just super super packed, as half the ppl had to stand. But throughout the 3 hours journey , we were singing and shouting and having fun, and time seems to passed fast. At last, at 9.30, i reached my hostel which suddenly seems like heaven to me, with AC and nice bed, ahhh, time to have a long long sleep to compensate the tiresome mind and jaded body.


Few main things i learn from the camp:

• NO One Can Defeat Me, when the holy spirit is with me!!! Live a victorious life!!

• Set your TONGUE to the right directions, you're defeated because of the words that came out from your mouth, your tongue is like ammunition for Jesus to shoot at Satan.

• Nature of sin, Do Not make provision for temptations in the mind. Therefore CONFESS your sin to each other & PRAY for each other so that you may be HEALED. The prayer of a RIGHTEOUS ma is powerful and effective. James 5:16

• Living spiritually in the urban lanscape: Keep your cool, endure hardship, do the work of evangelist, discharge all the duties of ministry. 2 Tim 4:5

M.I.C.K.E.Y M.O.U.S.E

It'd been a long long time since i last posted. I came back to India on 25th Jan, 10 days later than the actual date the school started. It was a great time of holiday having the chance to spend time with my family members, plus Chee Kang is back too. He was back on the 21st, but this careless bro of mine stupidly dunno guided by what spirit went to the AirAsia station, and missed the domestic flight to Kuantan, so he have to come back the 2nd day by bus, swt.. At last i have someone to talk to bout tech geeks, compare our iPod, handsets, exchange games, songs, and played Pro Evo together (though i got trashed by him in all matches). At last, after a one month long holiday, i came back to Mangalore for my 3rd year of MBBS.



I bought a lot of new stuffs back to India. On the 1st day i went to school, everything on my body are brand new. I bought a new brown Nicole leather school bag, new Body Glove pencil case, new Umbro football boots, new Dr. Cardin leather shoe, new Dell XPS laptop, new Logitech gamepad, new games like Bioshock, FEAR, Half Life Orange Box, new Snails Original pants, and few shirts. This time, my luggage is only 25kg, including lots of Caryn's stuffs, cz we posted a 17kg parcel through ship and i'd put most of my dried foods and 3-in-1 drinks into the parcel, so the weight this time is lighter than expected.


I'm finally in 3rd year!! This new semester is just too too free, everyday we have only maximum 2 hours class, posting every morning as usual, and some unimportant posting in the afternoon which can choose to neglect them, hehe. But sadly, i failed my Pharmacology paper in my 2nd year finals, and have to carry over and retake it in around June. Throughout this one month of my 3rd year, i'm just too too free cz there too little classes and exams are all too far ahead. Basically, all i'd done in my room is playing lots of games (finished Bioshock, awesome game! Went for a local Dota tournament feeling that we could pawn any Indians and win the prizes but got fucked totally in 2 games, aiks). I played lots of football as well -almost every evening, as the interclass competition is coming very near. This time, my skills improved, i understand the game better, and less injury prone compare to last year. I'm gonna continue playing football though the year to make up all my free time. Besides, i played some guitar as well, cz i'm gonna perform with my friends on Dental Week interclass program. In addition, i picked up the chinese chess board which had been long abandoned, and played regularly with Cheng Yeow. Also, i started to follow some Hong Kong drama by internet streaming.

This year is the year of Mouse!! It's my year. As usual, we celebrated chinese new year over here. However, this year is quite a small-scaled and less fun compare to last year's. This time we had reunion dinner at Hao Hao. First sad thing is that there is much less people who joined us as the dental students are all having exams; secondly, the amount of food is just too less, and none of us had enough. Anyway, the most important thing of CNY is that everyone can come together and have fun. At night, Cheng Yeow and i went to friend's apartment to gamble as 2 of my friends from Manipal came over. I won around Rs600 this year, hehe. We played till 4am, and we climbed through the apartment wall and came back to hostel.

I'm 23 years old already!! My birthday was on 12th Feb. At 12am, my friends in my hostel gave me a simple surprise party, which i appreciated a lot. Thanks Caryn for organizing so much for this and bought me a cake. Luckily, there were no eggs for my head this year, hehe. Then at night, all the chinese friends celebrated with me in Pizza Hut again. 4 days later, when Caryn finished her exam, she celebrated with me alone again and gave me a treat at The Village Restaurant. Thanks. I've got 2 more shirts as my bday party from my friends (omg, my wardrobe is just so full of shirts now). But the best present i got is from Caryn. She gave me a nice leather guitar strap and a whole set of guitar string. She also bought me a Guy Laroche super cool wallet when i first reached India. She gave me 2 birthday cards as well. You're the best!! So so appreciate all that you've done :)
I'd celebrated Valentine's Day too. I treated Caryn for a special dinner at Taj Manjarun, then i gave her a Nao porcelaine of ballerina baby, a bouquet of red and white roses, and a card. She gave me a lovely card as well.

Ok, it's time to sleep. Tomorrow have to wake up at 6.30 am for football practice, as the match is on Monday. Good night.

That's What Friends Are For

I just came back from Genting and KL trip with a bunch of my old schoolmates (primary school classmate!)

On the 9th Jan, Yik Han, Alvin n me took bus to PJ to meet up at Lip Kuan's house. When we reached his house, Eng Chwan and Shi Hao are already there. Then after we packed lightly, we departed by taxi to One Utama and took Genting bus up to skyway station, then took skyway up to the city of entertainment.
Firstly, we went to the casino de Genting. We entered both Monte Carlo and Starworld. It is our first time going in because the last time we all came here was 3 years ago-when we were still too young to enter. But now, i entered straight without any block from the guard while all my friends kena everytime, haha, maybe they see my white hair n thought i'm old, or maybe i have a more matured attitude and style, hehe.. The casino is nice, and i was standing there trying to find out which type of gambling has the highest probability to win, but in the end i never even bet 1 ringgit cause to me it's simply not worth it and the money in my wallet is very very tight, i would rather spend it on something else. Except Alvin won a mini jackpot, all my other friends lost.
This time, we couldn't play any indoor games cz it's all under maintenance. At night, we all chatted, eat snacks and drank beer in the room. Next day after we checked out from First World Hotel, we went to play the outdoors games.. But half way playing, the rain started pouring down, and we are forced to stop playing and go down the hill. While goin down by skyway, the most exciting moment happened. It was raining really heavily, and there's lightning and thunder. Half way through the journey down hill, the skyway just stopped, and it feels like falling every time it stopped cz the tension of the wire is loosened. This happened many many times and all 6 of us were so scared and prayed hard, but thank God we arrived safely in the end.

We then took bus and stopped at 1U. We had KFC as dinner and then ate 龟苓膏 to reduce the heat. Then we all went to sleep at Lip Kuan's place.

Next day, we went to Jogoya at Star Hill for lunch. When i stepped into the place, i was like, OMG!! This place is just awesome!! The food, the design, the environment, it's just unbelievable. I walked around the buffet line and get lost, haha. I don't know what to eat, all things are just so expensive and high class and many of them i'd never eat before. There's fresh oyster, salmon, prawns, sushi, octopus, mussels, clams etc. There's also all kind of soups, and you can take your own choice of fresh seafood to be stir fried, deep fried, etc etc. For drinks, there're very nice thailand coconut, all kind of fresh fruit juice, teas, coffee etc etc. Deserts there are Baskin Robins, Hagen Das, all kind of fruits, cheese cakes, cookies, mochi, 龟苓膏, puding, strawberry with choc coatings.. Argh, i cant name all. We stayed there for 4 hours, and ate like mad. However, i cant stand the taste of clams, so after i ate mussels and oyster, i puked. Aiks. But at the end of the feast, my stomach is so so round and feel satisfied. Yummy. Everything we ate are well worth, or exceeded the RM78 per head. I personally drank 4 coconut, plus i actually quietly pour another 4 into my bottle, hehe.
Then we went to Pavilion for a walk. Star Hill is for high high class people to shop (minimum watch i can find there is RM10000), and Pavilion which just opened recently is for medium high class people (minimum watch cost RM1000). We cant afford to buy a single thing there, but wait, in 20 years time, i hope i'm a regular customer of this place, not to mention Star Hill first. :)
Later we went to LowYat Plaza. I bought a RM69 Logitech Dual Action gamepad for gaming, mainly for PES, and also helped Caryn to buy Samsung G600. Woot.. Later at night, we went to play Dota at SS2 and ate supper there before goin home.

The next day, me, Yik Han and Alvin came back Kuantan by bus. Eng Chwan and Shi Hao went back to their college. And so, we departed. It was kinda sad to say goodbye cz i hardly even meet them in a year, and Yik Han had been 2.5 years since he last came back fr US. However, i hope that our friendship shall last forever.