Brave.. new... world

Freedom is a funny thing, with the recent touch down of Hicks from his 5-year ordeal and along with weekly headlines of new arrests made in America and whatnot, this made me wonder... What has the.. so called.. democratic society.. turned into?

I recall westerners fear of the 'communists' and nazi's back around the cold war period, fear of losing their freedom and being "controlled" by high power governments. Isn't it funny that in today’s society, you can be taken away for 2 weeks, no questions asked for being a suspect of terrorism activity? No no, this isn't in America, this is in Australia........ America as it seems, can lock you away for 5 years or more .. without being charged..... I was taught from a very early age of the westerner's 'democratic' justice ideology of "innocent until proven guilty'... guess that was thrown out the window years ago.

Today in the headlines, one entry read.. "US doctor convicted of supporting AL Qaeda".. if found guilty, faces max 30 years in prison. How funny, it was reported that they were set up by an undercover agent, and based on them "swearing allegiance to Al Qaeda".. they were convicted... As far as I can see, the doctor simply said I will help those who gets wounded. Hell.. the case didn't even involve any attack plot... This is pure BS.. the 'Attempting to provide material support or resources' clause of the legislation is such a gray line that basically enables the law to witch hunt anyone that's remotely plausible to be involved with Al Qaeda.

Now.. I ain no expert in the medical field... but from my limited knowledge, doctors should make no discrimination in who they can or should treat. However, it seems this is not the case anymore, apparently there are groups of people we should openly discriminate against.

I've held back my thoughts about Hicks for a while, but this is it, enough is enough.. Sure, the guy was stupid enough to be in training camps with the group, but what has he done up to the point that he was arrested? NOTHING.... that’s right ladies and gentlemen, NADDA, ZILL, NOTHING. All his charges were based on 'if he continued.... he could've...' and 'If he wasn't caught, he would've.."... I don't know about you, but that seems like a lot of hypotheticals with the "If's", "could've" and "would've". If the justice system takes a preventive approach, hell, in the future... people who play CS who prefers Terrorists class would probably all be arrested, or players who choose protoss or Zerg instead of Human in Starcraft could also be convicted in conspiracy against ‘our way of life’….

My hypothetical sounds ludicrous to you? I better hope so... Least that shows you have a lot more sense than those in power….

Well-done America... We feel really safer now.

Oz Trains..

"Aussie trains among worlds worse" was on the headlines this week.. Oh why doesn't this surprise me..

Where do I start.. It was found that "SYDNEY'S train system boasted performance levels hopelessly below every major city from Europe to South America, according to a damning independent report yet to be presented by CityRail."

"Rail experts from Hong Kong were paid by CityRail to compare Sydney with metro systems around the world for efficiency, cost effectiveness, reliability and maintenance."

As I'm no expert in trains, I won't comment on reliability, maintenance and cost effectiveness. Efficiency wise, I have a thing or two to talk about. Trains in Sydney are double decker. Whilst in theory, it can carry more people per carriage, it is actually not designed to handle peak hour traffic.

Whys that? First of all, the design of the carriages centers on a spacious ideology with plenty of space and minimal poles. That may have worked 20 years ago, but given the sharp rise of population density in Sydney CBD, the design should focus on supporting plenty of standing passengers given the limited space on train carriages.

Secondly, the seating arrangement on the top and bottom levels is, again, very inefficient. If the floor plans accounted room for standing passengers, they could easily fit loads more in the same space. Obviously I'm not saying we should strip the seats, but the current isle are way too small to accommodate standing passengers resulting in underutilization of 2 level carriage design.

Finally, with lack of poles in the main carriage area, standing passengers cling to the few poles available which happens to be near the door exits. This creates a bottleneck in the carriage, significantly slowing the in and out flow of passengers. Nice design City Rail.

I see a bird outside..

Instead of the usual 'its been a long time since I blogged', I might just get straight into it.. Oh wait.. I just did it again.. doh!

Thank you to those who came to spectate the annual UNSW Easter badminton open.. although there weren't much to see.. hehe.... and for the unfortunate ones who stayed, they got to see the angry sportsmen side of me.. well I wasn't angry really, its just concentration and to put off the opponents =p Once again, I made it to quarter-finals. It's good to know I haven't slipped since my last dig at this comp =]

AnYwAy! What else happened, oh yea, my birthday, which was a little over a month ago now, I had to work over time on the actual day of my bday =.= ...... But thank you to the people who dragged me outta this hole to get some dinner :D The gift is awesome :) I shall put it to good use!

what else happened, oh yes, people who moved away came back for a visit! And finally had a catchup with someone who came back from overseas several months ago.... who ALSO works in North Sydney (not mentioning any names *cough*)

=]

Feb 14th... hm!

So it’s V-day again, but being in a different status gave me a whole new dimension on things..

It wasn't long ago when transportation was limited to trains, horse carts and the trusty legs that god has given us. Towns were designed differently back then. With limited range that each person can travel on foot, shops were more localised and within walking distance. People walked, talked and actually knew each other in their area, a very connected socialised community. Postmen actually knew the person by face rather than some name to some number.

Now fast forward many decades, population explodes exponentially, however with cities like Sydney which is quite densely populated, loneliness is at an all time high. With the discovery of petrol and invention of cars, cities are developed to channel people to certain districts to do their specific shopping. We no longer know our neighbours, no longer have to walk to go to shops, and no longer know each other who lives in the same area. Is this an advancement or a break down of one of humanity's founding aspect, communities and interactivity.

In fact, it's getting worse, with greater freedom of choice and technology, they promote individualism and isolates people from face-to-face interaction. Home theatre, internet shopping, and internet itself are some of the new technologies that do just that.

Isn't it ironic that whilst humans strive to meet their material needs, they lose one of the most foundational aspects of human life.

So what was the idea again..

So here I am, almost exactly one year later since I suddenly decided to let my hair grow...

After going through many new styles.... let it flow, curl, half up half down, pony tail, tied high, tied low.... but it all ends now. Not the original end which I had in mind, but hmm this was impulse.. again.

I don't believe my hair (now) is long enough for dread locks, beads nor afro.. sadly, impulse has taken those opportunities away... also I'll no longer be mistaken as the guy in 'dragon tiger gate'... my dreams of crashing a matial art dojo will have to be forever on the to-do list.. until the next time my brain goes haywire'd and decide to let the fur grow again..

Farewell my fans, may my image of the me back then be forever lasting... =p

Something stuck on my mind..

Ok, I know its a bit tacky to post lyrics in a blog entry, but what ever! :P

Whatever - Oasis

I'm free to be whatever I
Whatever I choose
And I'll sing the blues if I want

I'm free to say whatever I
Whatever I like
If it's wrong or right it's alright

Always seems to me
You always see what people want you to see
How long's it gonna be
Before we get on the bus
And cause no fussGet a grip on yourself
It dont cost much

Free to be whatever you
Whatever you say
If it comes my way it's alright

You're free to be wherever you
Wherever you please
You can shoot the breeze if you want

It always seems to me
You always see what people want you to see
How long's it gonna be
Before we get on the bus
And cause no fuss
Get a grip on yourself
It don't cost much

I'm free to be whatever I
Whatever I choose
And I'll sing the blues if I want

Here in my mind
You know you might find
Something that you
You thought you once knew
But now it's all gone
And you know it's no fun
Yeah I know it's no fun
Oh I know it's no fun

I'm free to be whatever I
Whatever I choose
And I'll sing the blues if I want

I'm free to be whatever I
Whatever I choose
And I'll sing the blues if I want

Whatever you do
Whatever you say
Yeah I know it's alright

Whatever you do
Whatever you say
Yeah I know it's alright

2007.. already?!

Wow, I still can't believe its almost the end of Jan 2007 already!!!!!

December of 2006 was surprisingly eventful for me. Since I missed the Asia holiday band wagan, I expected to spend my December getting in touch with the Zen and be one with nature's harmony (ie. isolation and boredom). Instead, it turned out to be quite good! Caught up with several friends whom I haven't contacted for a while.

This year's xmas n new years is something that I haven't experienced before. Was glad it turned out to be good. =]

Oh and Jan turned around, and what a surprise! Bumped into Kat! (Yea good one! don't tell anyone that you're back!.. or maybe just me eih =p) A big welcome back to everyone who went overseas!

Dribbling from a mad man

hey hey uh uh...

Lost.
Word that describes my current sense of direction. (okok, i am asian afterall.. ?!)

Spring.
Already gone.

Rain.
Missing.

Forcast reader.
You.

Heat.
Equals flies and sweat... also unpleasent surprises.. =.=

Regret.
One too many things.

Feelings.
Numb.

Fitness.
Lacking.

Fat.
Gained.

Thought of the day...

"Just being alive is such a lovely and wonderful thing"... Such a simple phrase, yet overlooked by most.

I sometimes wonder how one can live life to its fullest and yet be pessimistic and cynical.. maybe the simple answer is, they can't. 'Why is that' you may ask, its simple, once their mind gets bogged down by all the negativity they see, they simply cannot gather the positive in people and things.. eventually, cynicism kicks in and the rest is history. If the standard of happiness is set to such high standards, its very difficult to live life to its fullest and be happy every day.

I'll finish this short entry with one question.. Do you love life? Not a simple 'I like to be alive', but grateful to be alive. Why? Because only then, you can really appreciate everything and everyone that is around you.

muuuun cake festival!

The mid-autumn festival has come and gone.. to the untrained minds, its simply a festival that doesn't hold much meaning.

Whilst the unknowingly go by their daily chores, the chinese community was busy stocking up moon cakes, exchanging and driving up prices similar to the .com stares.

This year.. somehow.. I was landed the task of acquiring moon cakes for work mates... As most of them are white... I figured....
1) most of them have no idea what day the festival is
2) prices of the moon cakes drops after the moon festival day ho ho ho..
So it was logical to buy it after the festival day, HEHE..... my wallet will be happy and work mates will be happy.....one stone hit 2 birds indeed! [moon cakes:0, me:1]

On Friday arvo... I went by the local chinese supermarket... checked out the moon cakes... making a list of those that I would be getting the day after (and secretly laughing at those who payed the inflated prices.. [insert evil laugh].... well actually, i got a box myself a week prior.. ;p BUT ANYWAY!).....

Interestingly, during my short stay at the supermarket, I've witness heavy price slashing of moon cakes... almost like a share market crash! But I resisted.. as the next day will be rock bottom prices... kekeke... well, theoretically anyway.

So Saturday rolls by, and I confidently walk in to get some tight-arse priced moon cakes... only to find the tables where mountains of moon cake once stood... is now an empty space..! WTF! My plan has failed?!?! Panicky.. I went around other supermarkets hoping they will have a few left..... but no, they're gone! All gone! WHAT?! Now I understand why there was heavy slashes of prices on the day of the festival... They get rid of the stock on the day! (moon cakes:1, me:1)

Out of sheer desperation, I remembered something! There is one last chinese supermarket I haven't checked yet.... its located at the outskirts from the main shopping area... my last hope!

After my battle with traffic, I finally arrived......made my way in (elbowed anyone who got in my way, outtah mah way!!! It was an emergency situation)... nervously looked aorund..saw A DESK near the front counter! that's good! That means something is on display!.. Upon further inspection, tin boxes! .. (looking good!)........ took a few more steps toward the desk..... MOON CAKE!!!!!!!!!! SCORE! [moon cakes:1, me:2]

Then it occurred to me that people avoided that desk whilst walking into the shop..... why?! Oh wait.. Tight ass price... for tight ass people.. DOH!... Problem number 2.... How to get a box without appearing to be tight ass.... but seriously, this is for my white work mates! They ain for me!... >.< ... [moon cakes:2, me:2]

The break through finally came when an old lady walked toward the dusty display .... I tailgated her to the desk and used my height advantage to check out the boxes whilst looking like an innocent bystander....

First box....WHAT, 4 egg yolk still cost 40 odd dollars .. (big NO sign popped into my head)?!?!?! Quick look left n right.. some other pricy ones (bah!)..... ah, some unknown brand for 15$ .. SCORE!...But Wait! Dilemma! To get a nice tasty one.. or just a cheap cheap one. hmmm!!!... After some careful consideration (basically.. they're white.. they won't be able to tell the difference, HEHEHE)..... I bought a box and quickly fled the scene... [moon cakes:2, me:3]

Quick zap back to a year ago..

After twiddling with my thumbs for a while, something suddenly hit me......2005 had a lot of memorable firsts for me!!!! So before I forget.. here's some of them...

First time getting mates together to form a team and played in a bball comp for a few seasons... first time playing in a soccer team outside of school... first time skiing in Australia.. my first badminton trophy!..... and first badminton comp in Australia (resulted in many which followed =] ).... my first uni graduation!... First time cruise party!......... first french toast! (yes yes, I know. .a bit shocking..)... first boot camp (doh.. I've gained weight since ... >.< )........ first time eating giant pineapple bun...... first full time job..... hmm.. I'm sure there's a lot more.. but can't quite think of anymore for now....

Oh and of course, should mention the memorable 2004 netball comp... also my first.

:)

PS. Feel free to remind me of any which I have missed. =p

Falls creek

It was only after my 3rd time dozing off on a bouncing seat when it finally hit me... I'm on holiday... but something doesn't feel right, I can't be on holiday.... surely this can't be real?!

I'm quite surprised to recognise that I've fallen victim to the 9-5 weekdaytitas....

The trip to falls creek was very good, partially because it’s the first time I've been there, and partially due to the fact that I need a break. Apart from dozing in n out of consciousness during the road trip, there weren't much else to comment on... except, for the first time, I saw the milkyway.. NOT on a textbook or some internet webpage... but the actual thing, right in front of me (well. .several million light years away)..

In the mist of near pitch darkness, there was nothing except for the slight shimmerings of the moon light. The night sky was crystal clear, then there it was, a bandit of white globes loitering together in the spaciousness of the sky....

Next day, we hit the slopes... while I was busy red-line'ing my skis (damnit, they gave me long skis ;( ), others pointed out the view of the lake, at which point I looked up and whoa!!! What an amazing view! (sadly I didn't bring my camera on the first day)... Oh oh, and I went on the magic carpet for the first time in my life, hehehe... and no, I didn't do it alone =p

Day after was interesting.... the mountain was all fogged up, you can't see past a few meters ahead of you.. which made it kinda scary and exciting at the same time... since you can't see how steep it is, you kinda.. just have to handle the sudden pickup of speed as is.. heeh....... Then I did the box! yep, that's right, I jumped the box! :) And yes, I made it through both times, ho ho ho :D

I'll see if I can post up photos somewhere… Anyhow... back to the 9-5......

PS. Safeway sounds weird! =p and dammit... i somehow managed to miss the welcome to nsw/victoria sign twice with my camera >.<

science?!

"SCIENTISTS have vaccinated rats against a weight-gain hormone, allowing them to eat freely without getting fat, in a development that raises hopes for treatments for overweight and obese humans."

OK.. this is ridiculous, this subject has been boiling in my head for a while, and this new take on the fat issue is finally over the top!

First we get the "carb-free" diet... a quick fix solution to starve your body of glucose in which your body eventually chews on it self... yes, even the creator died of some internal organ failure? Look at the Chinese, we've had RICE pretty much all our lives, and in fact, the main proportion of every meal is rice… but are we fat?! Go back to China for a month, then come back, you would notice 2 things...

1) there are shit loads of Chinese there, and lots of whities here....

2) people here are much fatter than ones in china... yet.. apparently.. we've taken on the "carb-free" diet.. HA!

Next, we have low sugar, diet-coke solution.... now if you drink SO MUCH coke that you need to use diet-coke as a substitute.. isn't the problem poking you in the face?! Ok ok.. so they made coke-zero... but do you really think that chemical cocktail is any good for you?! Sure, too much sugar is bad for you, but trying to substitute sugar intake with some sort of sweetener.. is surely not the answer...

So lets see.... we eat more... we sit around more, we travel by car more, walk less...... and yay to the US...non-disabled people are now using motorized carts to replace walking...

Result? Nations are having obesity problems....

To top that off, now SCIENTISTS are going to invent some vaccine to combat weight-gain hormone?! They make it sound like it's a disease that is contracted or passed on from human to human... ok sure, I acknowledge that some people are born with obesity problem, but I can assure you, 99% of the fat people around the world were NOT born with that problem! I mean, dude... you intake more, you need to output more, you take away exercise (output) from the equation, obviously you'll gain KG's...

It angers me that they spend all this money on R&D in something like this instead of researching on some other deadly life threatening disease and advance our knowledge in medicine...

Up and down..

For the past week or so, it felt like a rollercoaster ride for me.....

Free 4 hour session of badminton :D... Waiter charged me 9.50$ for 100$+ worth of food (woot! but no, i told him he got it wrong... yes i am a good boi)..... Then company blocked youtube (argh! I swear it wasn't coz of me.... although i did finish watching a chinese series on that.. ho ho ho) ... Internet going down @ work.... (2x argh!)....

On the upside, internet @ work came back up (yay!)..... youtube got unblocked!!!! (2x YAY!) ... but.. wtf... msn port got blocked?! (10000x argh!)

Now I just hope what's around the corner ain a free falling pants pooping 100M drop...

And so it begins...

Argh... it's like a never beep-test... before you fully recover, the machine beeps, and you have to run like a dog to the other side... I wonder what stage I can get to...

A big thank you for those who rocked up to bball and ones who saw me during the break :) Was good to catch up :D

Also, an big apology in advance, as I may disappear in the coming 3 months .. :
Anyhow! During this break, I've reached my goal of almost averaging 10 hours a weekend of sport :) Also doing great in the first round of the badminton comp =] (no we didn't lose, we drew the first match of the round 1 round-robbin series).

Ok, that's it for now, over and out.

PS. I'm still online during working hours =p
Feel free to catch me there =]
See yous on the other side... or is it this side.. hmmm...

Blockers...

Yes.. the most hated kind of people on the planet.....

First it was introduced in CS... let me explain... blockers are team mates that get in your way, block your bullets when you are firing at the enemy, AND block your way to back off when you see a grenade flying your way... nice one guys!

I didn't mind that TOO much... like hey, shit happens... and it's a game afterall.

But it becomes too much when it happens in real life.... like when the train JUST arrives, but some mofo decides to casually stroll up the stairs IN THE BLOODY MIDDLE of the stairway which only has enough room for 2 people to walk side by side.....

What the hell is wrong with them? Can't they HEAR heavy foot steps coming from behind them?! Seriously, train arrives, you hear heavy breathing and running steps from behind, do you what? Shut off all senses AND block their way?!

Ok, say.. they *somehow* didn't hear all that AND *somehow* didn't sense people behind them is trying to catch the train..... you run up behind them, TRYING to side step them, basically with your body trying to squeeze past them... their reaction? Look at you weird.. and continue to STAY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STAIRWAY... **AND**.. amazingly... still walk in a slowmo pace....... GTFO.. (GET THE @#$% out..) of my way dude! seriously...

Mind you, they ain old people what so ever, if they're old and gray, fine, I can accept that, but mid-aged fit people?!

And no... they ain in 15 inch heals or anything un-walkable..

Sigh.. what is the world coming to....... one day, i'll just drag them back and fling them down the stairs... do the world a favour... this has happened to me far too many times already...

Peace.

End of the tunnel...

Nup.. there is no light here.... no light...

Not even the moon light can pierce the dark fog surrounding the exit of the tunnel.. damn the charcoal coughing exhausts....

Someone throw a torch this way plz...

So time flies yet its slow?!

It's weird when you doze by, and before you know it, it's already the end of the week... Yet, during the week, you feel the pain of seconds ticking by...ever... so.... slowly.........

Life is full of contradictions huh.

I try to keep my desk clean, but I always seem to need all 6 pages of notes facing up, so I can readily access them... and somehow those pages of notes never end up stacked up neatly as 6 piles on my desk....

I try to be on a healthy diet, yet when I order a Caesar salad, I must have tones of those mayo'ish sauce.... (for those who don't know.. the mayo thingo sauce is FAT.. REAL FAT.. high in everything bad for you... colestro, sugar, fat.. bla bla bla)... Then I drink hot chocolate in the morning, eat chocolate bars and M&M.. hahaha.. there goes my... diet... or was I ever on one?! =p

I suppose what matters is whats in your mind.. mind over matter right?!

So in my mind...
Hot chocolate in morning = warm my body up (must be good for body)
Salade = greens = good stuff (bacan inside are just "decorations")
M&M's = energy booster, must intake to keep up the sugar high to keep up the "productivity".

Overall: Healthy, everything has been taken for a good purpose, and is justified.

=p

Light at the end of the tunnel??

Isn't what the norm? Light at the end of the tunnel?!

I was in a category 10 storm for the past 2 months or so, with project releases for work and uni wrapping up, I was forced to stay indoors, cut out from the outside world for practically 2 months...

Exam finally finished last week, so expectation for the calm was high.. except.. little did I know.. shit was hitting the fan whilst I was dealing with one end of the storm....

I should've taken the whole week off rather than going back to work on a Friday.. knowing there's a major release on Monday for work.....

So what happened? Late night on friday.. work on sunday... and late night on monday... but we did end up clearing the deadline by a mere 3 hours.. Woohoo... =.=.... reminds me of CSE online submission of assignments actually.. except I never submit 3 hours before the dead line.. more like.. within seconds of the dead line...

To make things worse, on the same weekend, I "smartly" decided to play a bit of bball.. (a bit... well... that "a bit" turned out to be a 3-4 hour full course session).... the result? Blister on feet.. with skin rubbed off, and every muscle in my body felt shattered.

To top THAT off? Had to go for a shower... forgot about the naked blister... Result? ... My scream echoing around the block....... ah.. priceless...

Then Sunday.. Work day.. DOH, slept in, ran out the door with pants falling off, didn't realise till I was near the bus stop, like holy shit... Jumped on the bus hoping no one saw anything...

Monday night.. .felt full after manager feeding us.. reward for staying late and getting the release on time..... on the way home.. walked into a road work barrier... in full view of a group of diners who just happened to walk out of the restaurant facing the barrier.... yes I hobbled the hell outta there….. (and yes, my feet still hurt from the naked blister..)

Surely I should be at the end of the tunnel now?!

What if..

With some spare time, a thought came to my head...

If someone took a photo of me, and the photo reflect everything that is within me and nothing on the superficial layer..

What would I look like in that photo...

Would I be an ugly beast? A slimy worm? An animal? Or simply.. nothingless..

I wonder...