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Dory~Wish upon a star *16 mars My new blog addressMy new blog is located at this address: --> liway.blogspot.com
Hope you could come by and visit me at my new home. And don't forget to leave me a footprint so that I know you were there.  You may wonder why I suddenly put up such a BIG-font-link leading to my new home. It's because someone complaint that she can't see the new link to my new home in the previous post. So I decided to make a big link so that no one got lost.
26 janvier I'm moving....againLately, I'm having problems with Windows Live spaces. I think I mention this in the last entry. I cannot view my own post using neither Firefox nor the newly updated Internet Explorer 7.0. This is one of the reason why I have not post any entry for so long. Another reason is because life is so routine, I have nothing to write about in the blog. I'm sure no one is interested in how my DoryLW in Maple is progressing rite? And no one is interested to hear about my complain on how bad the traffic jam is for the past 4 weeks due to the road work on coastal road. Taking such a long break from writing, I find it hard to write out my thoughts, words don't come naturally anymore which makes this entry kinda cacat in grammar and the arrangement of sentences is inappropriate.
 Microsoft quote, "Microsoft's new, improved, and free web browser" for their new browser. It is very Firefox-like with the multi-tab-in-one-window style and very few menu icons on the top. The menus and options were mostly hidden, takes me some time to find whatever things I needed to find. The multi-tab-in-one-window doesn't really functions properly, when I click on a link another new window pops-up instead of opening in a new tab. What I'd call this new IE version is, I'd call them 'Firefox copycat'...
 The interface looks something like this. This is an image I got from the web coz I'm updating this in the office, cannot printscreen from my own computer. Mine don't have the File, Edit, View and etc options, hidden somewhere.
Anyway, this post is to annouce that I'm moving back to liway.blogspot.com. MSN spaces have become too user friendly, making me unable to add other things other than my 废话 and photos. See you in the new blog!
 20 décembre Starwalk PenangThis entry came a bit too (not a bit, is very very) late. I drafted it out when I stayed late in office last week and totally forgotten about it. Felt heavy hearted to delete what I have drafted, so I post it anyway.
 Drafted and saved on Dec 12 11.05pm
Today is Tuesday, 2 days after the Penang Starwalk, I'm still having muscle pain in my thigh and my waist.
To those of you who read Star newspaper, you must have been exposed to this annual event organise by The Star, it was the StarWalk, a 10km distance walk. This time, again, my company is sponsoring the entree fee to those who are interested to sign-up for the walk.
The bright light at the background is PISA.
It was 6.30am in the morning, you can see people everywhere. According to The Star, there were 12,000 participants taking part in the walk.
At the starting point, everyone is so excited to start the walk.
It was a slow start for me, after about 10 mins, I lost sight of Daniel, he was fast. And so I walk alone, I was hoping I could be in the top 35 in my category so that I can get the medal. After awhile of walking alone, there was this Indian uncle who overtake me. The way he walk doesn't really looks professional, but he can walk so fast, I was impressed! So, I tried to follow his footsteps, follow how he swings his arms. I followed closely behind him, making sure I don't lose sight of him. After awhile, I was able to get a grip of how to walk faster. At about 3km b4 reaching the finishing point, I overtook him. The part of the road was going up hill and the poor uncle must be tired, I feel he walks slower already. I thank him profusely for being my walking coach (thank in my heart only). In front of me were still alot of people, I said to myself "where does all these people come from? am I really so far behind at the starting point?" When ever I saw girls/women with red numbers on their back (the numbers for my category is red), I'll chase them down and over take them. That was really fun!! Haha..
I was 20mins behind the first person who reach the finishing line (for my category), she took 1hr and 17secs, I took around 1 hr 20mins. Not very sure what is my position though.
People mountain p
People mountain people sea!! A line of stalls providing drinks to walkers.
There were stalls setup near the finishing line, providing unlimited drinks to the participants. There was the 100plus stall, Sunquick, Nestle Fitnesse (something like
kelloggs conflakes), Yakult and Milo. I take one cup from each stall, and it makes my stomach bloated..haha! It was so refreshing.
After that, there was the Lucky draw. There were a total of 120 prizes, and again, to my disappointment, I go back empty handed.
Wow, that guy on the right is definately excited about the lucky draw. (He's actually looking towards the screen that shows the lucky draw result)
I'm working late again today.
9 décembre When does writing email become so difficult?It takes me 1 whole hour to write 2 emails. It is just so difficult to have to write politely, and yet still get to stress on your point so that people don't just ignore your emails, or so that actions could be taken ASAP on the other side.
And then there's the technical side, am I using the correct terms? Are my grammar correct? (sometimes the Spelling and Grammar Check are not accurate). Other than that, I have to worry if I write too much or did I miss out anything important. You know, emails should not be too long, especially if their official and important.
Lastly, before sending it out, I need to think whether I should send To: A, Cc: B, C, D or should I sent To: A, B, Cc: C, D or etc.
Emails are one of the reasons why I had to worked late into the night.
 I'm sure it'll get a lot more easier when I get used to it.Office gets kinda scary when it's very empty and the lights are dim. The scariest places are elevator and toilet. 8 décembre Work work and more work..It was a very very busy week for me. I've never been so busy and so pack ever since...ever since I was born. Things started to get a bit pack on last Friday. Every Penangites knows that there'll be a massive traffic jam in Bayan Lepas area on that Fri because a few big events will start on that day, even without those big events, Fridays are usually very jam. The events are:
Even though I'm expecting the jam, I still need to go back hometown because my maternal grandmother leave for a better place, forever. It came as a surprise news for all of us because she was not having any illnesses before that.
Poi Lam was also going back hometown that week, so I get to tumpang his car. We were stuck in jam for one hour and 15 mins before we get on the Penang bridge (if no jam, we can get to bridge in 15 to 20mins). Reaching my Taiping home without my mum welcoming me into the house (she left for her own hometown for the function) makes me think, what were to happen to me if I were to lost my mum? I just cannot imagine it, even the thought about that makes my eyes watery.
The next day, Saturday, my dad and I head to my mum's hometown. At night there was the ceremony and all, which I'm not going to describe, I don't know much about it anyway, just follow along what the adults was doing. Stayed in a very uncomfortable hotel/motel that night, there were not much choices there, my uncle's house was full, not enough for everyone to fit in. Sunday was the funeral, by the time it finish, it was about 1pm. I was already very tired because I didn't have a sound sleep the night before.
That very evening, I need to get back to Penang. Cannot tumpang Poi Lam's car anymore because he went back Penang early, my sis drives me back to Penang, I reached home around 11pm. And after a quick bath, I head to sleep with no idea that more things are coming my way.
Monday morning, everything looks like the same old routine I know. Things changed after I read the email, which sits in my mailbox since Sat, there were some changes in the project I was working on. With the dateline getting nearer, design changes was not what I was looking forward to. Luckily I didn't listen to the lazy me and take the compasinate leave, if not I'll be in hot-boiling oil when I get back to office on Tuesday. With that email, I started my 14-hours working spree daily, from 8am to 10pm. 8 to 8 was the real working time, and 2 hrs for misc things like yoga, qi gong and checking personal emails after the working hours.
Only then that today, after a full busy week, I received another email saying that there was a mistake in the earlier email, which means that what I've been working on for the past few days was not a real issue at all, it was all a mistake. How could they do this to me?? Make me kan cheong for so many days then tell me it was a mistake, everything is now back to normal. Even though it's back to normal, it's not over yet, I think will last for another 2 weeks kua..which then I will be in time to celebrate CHRISTMAS!!!
On another case, there was this stupid Internet Explorer which had a new version, Internet Explorer 7. The interface looks like Mozilla Firefox (IE is a copy cat!!), with the tab at the top, which wont flood ur taskbar with windows, easy RSS feed and so on so forth. The bad thing about it is that I cannot view my MSN spaces properly with the new IE. The pictures was a disaster, not arranged properly. And I cannot view MY Spaces with Firefox either, the pics was also scattered around. So how am I gonna update my blog next time?
I am updating this from office since I cannot view my blog properly back at home..  26 novembre Group photoI live here now, these are my guild members. I say hie and smile to them whenever I meet them. They are my friends.
 We always help each other. I'm happy living here.Try to find me in the picture.....my name should be easy to spot
 25 novembre Bowling tournamentToday is the Altera Bowling Tournament for year 2006. It is held at Pacific Megamall, a shopping complex at the other side of Penang (mainland). I decided to take part in this tournament because there's no reason for me NOT to take part, this event provides free t-shirt, free breakfast and free games..
The day started with meeting up at Daniel's house. Yeow Shen will be driving and Daniel, Hann Jong and me hitching a ride. The registration time was 9 to 10 am, we reached Megamall around 8.45am. There were quite a lot of people there already, but my team is not there yet. Team members were decided by draw (undi) by team leaders. The game is played under the so call "state-of-the-art" laser light system, and is given the name Moonlight Bowling.
The bowling arena under normal lights Under 'state-of-the-art' laser lights
The game started at 10am sharped. There were a total of 48 teams, where each team consists of 5 players. I have not play any bowling since I left KUiTTHO, and it was about 5 to 6 months ago. I also did not have any practice session prior to the tournament, no time la...don't know why so busy..*sigh*
I did not have a very smooth game throughout the 3 games played, maybe because the ball is not suitable for me, too heavy. I was forced to use ball number 11 because my big fat fingers cannot fit into the holes of other lighter balls. My score were totally unconsistent, I can get 2 consecutive strike at one time and then get 2 consecutive zero for the following ones. Totally 'luck' dependent. And for the bowling shoes, at first I'm totally excited for getting a pair of new shoes but after awhile, it starts to get very very uncomfortable. The shoes were hard as rock, how I wish I could play without the shoes on! Wana know how I scored? My points for the 3 games are 64, 81 and 101.
 Improved from one game to another..hehe!After the games, there were prize giving ceremony and lucky draw. Some of the lucky draw rewards are towel, cap, key chain, and the more attractive prizes are like big hamper, bowling ball, bowling shoes and bowling bag.
 Guess I'm not that lucky, I get none of those.For the winners of women single, men single and team event, they get medal. Those also 'mou ngo fan'.
Anyhow, it was a great event! Coming up next is the annual dinner...next 2 weeks!
Footnote: got miss me anot? I so long didn't update...  26 octobre Why is the haze still so serious?It was a long holiday much awaited by everyone, a total of 5 days!! When we were in our student years, 5 days is nothing...the minimum holidays we get in a semester were 7 days and the maximum ones can reach up to 3 months!! But as we entered the working life, 5 days is considered a long break from work.
I've had plenty of outdoor activities during the DeepaRaya holiday. Just as an extra info, do you know that after this year, we will have to wait for another 33 years for Deepavali and Hari Raya to be celebrated together? My outdoor activities are such as hiking, fishing, fishing and hiking..haha.
 Allow me to elaborate.On the start of the holiday (Sat), I went to Pantai Kerachut with Ah Yau and Peng Chee.
P
Peng Chee on the left and Yau on the right
Ah Yau is a friend from Uni and I know Peng Chee from my industrial training in Agilent last year. At first, 2 of my other colleagues from Altera wanted to join but both of them drop out last minutely. Actually, I don't like to have different group of friends on the same outing but this time I don't have much choice as I was not able to find other Uni friends to join. Anyway, both of them get along quite well.
 Pantai Kerachut is a secluded beach located near Teluk Bahang. It is part of the Penang National Park which is at the end of the Batu Feringghi road. You can only get there by either boat or hiking. I'm not sure how long does the boat ride takes but it takes me 1 hour on foot to reach the beach. We need to register ourselves before going in, I think maybe coz it's a National Park gua...
At the beginning of the trail
As usual, it was a hazy day although the night before there was heavy rain. With a lot of food in my bag, a lot of clothes in Peng Chee's bag and a lot of fishing tools in Yau's bag, we begin the one hour hike. At around 10.15am, we arrive at the Jambatan Gantung of Pantai Kerachut.
Yay...we were there!
When we reached the beach, there was a group of ang mohs and another group of young people. The place is actually very clean and the quiet environment feels like paradise. After resting for a while, I started my first fishing experience.
A picture of the beach from the jetty
After about 3 hours of waiting for the fish to bite the baits, we only got 2 fishes. One is edible and one is not. We throw the unedible fish back into the sea and decided to give the edible fish to another group of young people there, who were also fishing. They got quite a lot of fishes and they also bring along stove to cook.
The top one is the fish we caught and the rest were fishes that the other group gets
Later that evening, there was slight rain and the guys went for a swim. I dare not join because there were jelly fish swimming nearby. I wouldn't want the guys to pee on me IF the jelly fish attack (according to FRIENDS, you pee on the spot where jelly fish stings you). We had a late lunch there before leaving.
The clean beach + purple colour morning glory
Ok, lazy ledi, that's all for now. I've covered the first 2 outdoor activities which is hiking and fishing. For the 2 remaining outdoor activities of fishing and hiking I shall keep for the next entry.
 Check out the photo albums, there's more pictures from Pantai Kerachut. 10 octobre It's the best birthday ever!!This is a very outdated entry about how I celebrated my birthday, which is 3 weeks ago. I've write this entry down and keep it as a draft for the past 2 weeks. The reason for the late entry was that I had been waiting for the photos to upload it together with the entry.
(This blog is best viewed using Internet Explorer) Last 2 weeks, on a Saturday (23 Sept), there was a steamboat gathering at Daniel's house. All 3 of us, Daniel, Daniel and me joint venture for the steamboat as a birthday celebration for the 3 of us. Daniel Yeow's birthday is on 22nd September, and Daniel Tai and me fall on the 27th September. There were 14 people who attended the birthday celebration, which is also a gathering for fellow x-KUiTTHOers. At the end of the day, Daniel prepared a game of win, lose or draw for us, with a little modifications and he being the judge, all of us who were there really enjoyed ourselves. We laugh our heads off from the beginning of the game till the end. It was such a great gathering!
Thanks for the presents, the delicious cheese cake and most of all, thanks for attending.
On Monday night after work (25 Sept), Leang treat Daniel and I to a luxurious Haagen-Dazs ice-cream dinner. Leang was being mysterious, not telling both of us where she was taking us. She drive and drive until we reach somewhere in town, which I don't know where. Boy was I happy when I know where we were heading!
That was the most special and the most expensive ice-cream I've ever tasted!! Leang, thanks alot!
Here's some of the photos taken at Haagen-Dazs.
Can you see all the ice-cream scoop?? Yummy...
Dip the cool ice-cream into the melted chocolate, then to the groundnuts..and you'll see how the chocolate freeze and become Ferrero Roche
Not forgetting a group photo
The next day, a Tuesday (26 Sept), I had a department lunch at McD Sunshine. All the colleagues in my group joined except one, who is fasting in this month of Ramadhan. One of my colleague has coupon, when you buy one set of McD foldover large McValue set, you'll get a pack of nuggets (6pcs) for free. That was a very full meal, I cannot finish all the food and had to 'tabao' for tea time. The best of all? Boss belanja....haha..although not everyone know that the next day will be my birthday, I treat that as my birthday celebration with colleagues.
Last but not least, on my birthday itself, company treats me to a 4 days 4 nights holiday trip to Singapore. Oh, my company is soooooo nice....yeah right, dream on!
My boarding pass with my birthdate on it...cool!!
Haha..no such thing as company sending you for holiday on your birthday. The truth is I'll be attending a 2 days training in Singapore with 5 other new hires in my department. Coincidently, we'll be flying to Singapore on my birthday. The training ends on Friday, since the air ticket provided by company covers through and fro Singapore, I decided to extend my stay in Singapore until Sunday. Let's hold the Singapore trip description for the next entry (if I'm hardworking enough to describe it).
This was the best birthday I've ever had (I'm not complaining that my past celebrations ain't great, it's just that this year is better)..so many celebrations with different group of friends at different places. The only bad thing is that I'm one year older now
 24 septembre A Thai Seafood RestaurantThis entry had been ready for some time already, I've busy lately....thus the late entry.
(This blog is best viewed using Internet Explorer)
On my way back to Taiping after convocation, I stop-by KL for dinner. My father suddenly recall that one of his friends recommended a delicious Thai restaurant located somewhere near Sungai Buloh LRT station. After a call and some directions from his friend, we drive around the area looking for that restaurant. There was the newly constructed road, with new traffic lights not yet functioning and a newly built Hospital Sungai Buloh. We turn into a smaller road, which seems to be heading into Kampung. There was a night market by the road side, there were many people. Most of them were foreign workers from Philipines and Thailand, I think, they don't look like Malaysian. Some of them were walking, some cycling and some on motorcycle without helmets. We drive deeper into the village, following the small road, passing a lot of Tom Yam stalls along the way. At last, we saw the sign, De'Chiengmai Thai Seafood Restaurant. They have nicely decorated landscape with ample parking space.
The place seems very 'high-class' from outside, and these are some of the cars parked outside.
I also worried if they'd chop our head off with their prices.
 This is the front porch of the restaurant.
Looks very much like a hotel porch, this car belongs to one of the customer in the restaurant. There's a fountain beside the car
Inside the restaurant, it is air-conditioned, the tables were arranged neatly and it looks very clean. I visited the washroom too, it was clean and nicely decorated.
When one of the waitress saw my sis took out her camera and finding a place to put the camera (we were planning to setup timer-mode for a family photo), she kindly offer to help us take the photo..she's so nice!
The food must have been readily prepared beforehand because less than 15mins of waiting, the dishes were served. The food smells so good and I was so hungry that I forgot to snap pics of the food before started eating. The seafood tom yam was delicious, so were the other dishes.
The price was quite expensive but I guess, if you were compare it with KL standard, it is reasonable..especially with delicious food, nice landscape, cool air-cond and clean washroom. Worth it!!
Here's one more photo to share. I snapped a few more before leaving the place.
Nice little pondok
Surprisingly, the restaurant's business is quite good considering that it is located at some kampong with a lot of foreign workers living there.
19 septembre A late entry on convocationI have been looking forward to convocation, and now it had been over for 2 weeks already. Everything happens in a blink, especially the day before and the convocation day itself.
My phone made history that 2 days, because it was when my handphone ring the most time throughout my entire life of using it, yes..it's true. Usually my phone never ring more than twice a day. Sometimes it never sounds a beep for 2 to 3 days, except for the alarm lar..
Anyway, I'm kinda lazy to update on convocation. Nothing special about it. Or maybe I should juz have a summary of it la, just to remind myself what happen that day in case I forgot.
Saturday morning take off to Johor, at around 2.30pm, stuck in a massive jam on the highway....pay money ledi still have to waste so much time stuck in the jam. Saw Daniel and Weizhi on the highway. Reach Parit Raja around 6.30pm, went to PPA to get my medal but got a shock when they cannot find it. I had to make a few calls to find out where my medal had gone to, someone help me took my medal but didn't let me know, scare the hell out of me nia...anyway, thanks for helping take the medal, I appreciate it, but next time please let me know if you're keeping my things.
Reach Batu Pahat hotel around 7.30pm. Bring family out for dinner, rush to gathering at 9pm at Halo Cafe, go back hotel at 12.30am. Prepare things that need to bring for tomorrow's convo and head to sleep. The next day wake up at 6.15am, get ready to go KUiTTHO. Daniel and I are running late, so we just tapao PAU from Soon Zheong. Such a small PAU
 Get dress up in DK2, sit in the hall wait for name to be call, go up stage, take empty book, come down from stage, continue sitting until about 11am. Go out take photo like crazy, take photo with whoever I see. We're just like superstars, everyone has a private photographer following them around, once you stand together with a few friends, the camera snap non-stop...haha...that was fun!
At about 12pm, it starts to rain. Stop taking photo and return robe. Head back to Batu Pahat to check-out hotel, had a simple lunch. While pass by Parit Raja, stop at See Khee's house to give her a pack of biscuit from Taiping as a sign of appreciation. Thanks for helping me to take the robe, sorry for all the trouble caused. Talking about it now, I forgot to send a sms to her asking if she got the biscuit, See Khee was not in when I stop by, I just pass it to her housemate.
I was hoping to wait for the civil people to come out from the hall, wanted to snap a few pics with them before leaving but time wouldn't permit me, I had to rush back to Taiping. At that time, it was raining like shit, what I could do was just to help pray for a better weather so that my civil friends could have a nice weather to take photo.
Reached KL at around 7.30pm. Went for a Thai dinner at some secluded kampung, which I will cover in the next entry. Send my sis back to somewhere near Bukit Jalil Stadium and we head back Taiping. Stop at Ipoh for 'Nga Choi Kai' at 12am. Reached Taiping at 1.30am.
It's a tired day, travel all the way to Johor just for the convocation..even a summary of events needs 571 words to describe...I remember last time during secondary years, writing an essay with 500words was very tough, I had to crack my head to reach 500words, now is just sap sap sui..haha! Writing useless things is so much easier compare to writing a useful essay...
LAST BUT NOT LEAST, A BIG CONGRATS TO ALL MY FRIENDS!! 5 YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP IN 'THE KING OF DRAIN'........
We have known each other since first year, been through thick and thin throughout the 5 years and now we have to part with each other, chasing our awaiting dreams....good luck to all my friends, we shall meet again soon! Friends forever!! The traditional activity in convocation...HATS THROWING!!
11 septembre Raining season: becareful when drivingNowadays, it rains everyday, everywhere.
Last Sunday was my convocation day. My whole family drives me to Parit Raja for 'd' day that I have been waiting for for the past 5 years. It was a long drive, 7 hours to be exact (if you follow the speed limit of 110km/hr). It was so tiring....the drive was made harder with the constant pouring of heavy rain throughout the journey. Sometimes, the rain was so heavy that even the wiper at full speed did not provide much help, I can only see a plain white view in front of me. This was made worst by those drivers that didn't turn on their headlights, I cannot see the car in front of me without the red rear lights turned on.
At around 2.20pm, I was 5km to reaching the Seremban tol. The rain was heavy and traffic was slow moving. After a few more meters of slow moving traffic, it came to a stop. As usual, those annoying queue jumper created a fourth lane on the emergency lane. We have no idea what happen in front or how much longer we'll be stuck in the jam. Seremban tol exit is only 5km away. What we can see is only 4 rows of cars (on a three-lane highway) crawling up the hill.
After about 40mins of very very slow moving traffic, we found out what had caused the jam. It was an accident. Or maybe many cases of accident. The first thing I saw was an oil tanker stuck to the center divider, stupid me keep on looking that I forgot to take out my camera for a snap (I'm not the driver at that time). Further down, I saw a few cars parked on the emergency lane and a few people standing by the road side with an umbrella. I thought that was it, one accident with the oil tanker and the few cars but I was wrong. 200meter further down the road, a few more cars were parked by the road side, I guess it was another diffferent case of accident. Further down abit, another bunch of cars parked by the road side. Cars involved ranges from new to old, big to small, Malaysian cars to Singapore cars.
No need to say much, these pics sums it all....
Singapore-plate E-class Mercedes Benz
Wira that spins on the highway, it face the opposite of the traffic flow.
Kancil with front and side damage
Wira aeroback
Perdana V6 with front and back damage
Van with a damage door, the door cannot be close anymore...(not taken at a good angle, cannot see the door damage)
The bus plunges into the drain
Old model of Mercedes Benz
Honda City
Perodua Kenari
So, after viewing all these photos, do keep this in mind: "DRIVE EXTRA CAREFULLY WHEN IT IS RAINING..TURN ON YOUR HEADLIGHTS AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT TURN ON YOUR DOUBLE SIGNAL. DOUBLE SIGNALS ARE ONLY MEANT FOR EMERGENCY i.e. CAR BREAK DOWN/ACCIDENT/WHEN YOU STOP YOUR CAR BY THE ROAD SIDE DUE TO FLAT TIRE OR MECHANICAL PROBLEM." 6 septembre Traffic fine reductionOn Tuesday morning when I saw the news of traffic fine reduction, the first thing that comes to my mind was "Wow, finally I can afford to speed on the highway!"...haha..since I'm working now and the fine has been reduce from RM150 to 70 (according to the table in The Star paper). Today's news was "REDUCTION OF TRAFFIC FINES POSTPONED".
Another stupid decision by the government. Why don't they synchronize their move/thoughts before going to the public and media? Is this some kind of publicity to promote the government? Want to learn from artist? Purposely create gossip to get attention from public? Want to be more famous izit? Remember the same case happened regarding the handphone issue in school, that students were allowed to bring handphone to school and then it was banned a few days later? Boh standard lah~ 5 septembre Time is money!Just a short update for today, I'm really tired. The reason why I want to have a short update even though I'm so tired is because, is because, is because....erm....is because I long time din update lor...
 I feel that I'm very busy lately, I don't have enough time to have a proper rest...no, I'm not being haunted by Maple anymore, in fact I've been Maple-free for about one and a half week already (what a great achivement!!). There are so many things to do, personal and non-personal stuff, and so little time to complete. I really missed my college life when what I had was time and where my free-time actually overflowed. I believe I'm having some time-management problem now.
I have not have a proper chit chat with friends for quite some time already, other than the occasional 15mins breakfast, imagine what you can say in 15mins when you have to talk and eat at the same time!
Ok la, bed time liao. Better keep this entry short.
Keyword: Tired, sleepy, no time, busy. 31 août The T-shirt says it allInitially, I took the picture with my head in it. But after a while, I notice that I look pretty stupid in the picture, so I crop my head off...I know, I still look stupid even without the head.
 Thanks Shin Ee, I love the T-shirt.  28 août First team-buildingA working day without sitting in the office and still get paid is what I always love. Today is a team-building day for the whole third floor of Building 2 of Altera. Third floor consist of the IC Design Department, CAD department and of course my department which is known as HCDC (Hardcopy Design Centre). Anyone would like to know what HCDC do? Maybe this can keep for another entry if there's some1 interested to know about it.
It is a full day event, starting at 8.45am and ends at 5pm. The location is at Taman Rimba, Teluk Bahang which some people call it end of the world (maybe bcoz it's located at the other side of the island). We had a slow start in the morning when the facilitators from PSDC were not well organized and the breakfast were a little late. We wasted a lot of time in redistributing the big group of 73 people into 3 teams. Anyhow, the event pick-up pace and goes flawlessly for the rest of the day.
Firstly, we had an ice-breaking activity which got us really close to each other, I mean really 'CLOSE' to each other, as in physically..no pok mong or any ham chu sau around though..haha. Everyone just follow instructions. Later after that, we play games in the 3 teams assigned earlier in the morning. We had a total of 3 games, each team rotate between the games. Each of the games are meant to teach us something different which we can bring back to the office and apply in the working environment. 2 out of 3 of the games need psysical strength, and I'm glad my team has strong guys. They really help a lot that lead us to completing the games.
During this team building event, we're provided breakfast, lunch and tea break. The three meals are prepared by the same Malay people, husband and wife I think. The breakfast was spicy fried bihun with cili padi in them, the lunch was kari ikan, spicy prawn (big prawn), fried chicken and ulam with sambal. Walao!! After a tiring event and everyone having an empty stomach, they give us all the hot and spicy food. Some more have to eat under the hot sun, got shade la, but still hot ma coz no fan. My sweat was really unstoppable at that time. As for the evening tea break, they provide currypuff, red colour fried mee (which I assume is spicy also, I didn't eat that) and only 1 type of kuih. Overall comment on the food: I categorized the food in the delicious category, but the location, time and environment makes it not that nice.
By 4.30pm, we finished all the games. Had to fill up some evaluation form and had a summary of what we had learn throughout the day. At 5pm, we're free to go. But before we go, of course there'll be some photo taking session. Everyone stands in a spot, don't know waiting for what. No one volunteer to take photographs or arrange the group. I came with 2 other colleagues, one of them was very tired and he wants to go back home and have a nice rest, plus, if we leave earlier we can avoid the rush hour traffic jam. And so, I miss the photo session in the end.
 I reached home at 6pm, take a bath and have a nap after that. Very tiring! Wake up later at night to have my dinner. It was my first team building experience.
Altera must be kinda empty today without all the IC Designers and CAD people around, I'm sure the traffic is also smoother without the 73 cars on the road..correct?
Don't think I appear in much of the photos throughout the event, but if I can find my face in those photos, I'll post it here next time. 24 août My first squash lessonPenang International Squash Centre...hmmm, it sounds so international and professional. Heard that Nicol David played there last week during the Squash Penang Open. I was at the centre today.
 Today is my first day to come in-contact with the game of squash. Before that, I don't know what are the rules in squash, how squash ball looks and feels like, haven't even hold a squash racquet before. Yesterday night, Daniel ask me to join Daniel and his Intel colleagues for squash games. (Reminder: They are actually 2 different Daniel..hehe) It took me some time to make my decision because (1) I don't know how to play squash at all (2) I'm afraid of strangers; but anyhow, I decided to go, and it was the correct decison to make because I do like the game.
Squash is actually quite easy to learn. I start enjoying the game after a few ball misses and some explanation from my sifu, Lay Cheng. Lay Cheng has the same name as one of my secondary schoolmate, even their surname is the same, what are the odds! I started sweating like crazy within 5 minutes into the game, and I'm short of breath..teruknya! Surely need more training if I'm going to join Penang Bridge Run again next year.
In my second game, my leg actually gave up on me, I fell to the ground with a heavy thud. I think I'm really overweight, even my leg cannot support me.
 Yesterday, I had yoga and my body, especially my arms and legs are still aching. No worries, I didn't hurt myself and I continue playing. There are 10 of us and we booked 2 courts for 2 hours. Each court's rental is RM10 for a 50mins session. While I was there, saw a few handsome guys..hmm, on second thought, they're not in the leng chai category, more appropriate to put them into the yeng chai category..hehe. They play professionally, even the sound of the ball hitting on the wall is different from us...
Don't want to describe so much, better keep the blog entry short and simple. To end this entry, I'd say I had a great night, thanks to Daniel for asking me to join. I have to rest early today, I'm sure I'll have muscle ache tomorrow morning when I wake up. Believe me or not, my legs are still trembling now... 19 août Sight seeing during office hoursThis morning I had to wake up half and hour earlier because I'm going to apply for a new passport as my Singapore passport is not valid anymore. I'll have to go all the way to town to get it done. Boss was nice enough to allow me to apply my passport without taking away half day of my tiny amount of accumulated leave. I went to the Imigration Office with 2 other colleagues and a friend of my colleague from Agilent.
When we reached there at around 7.30am, there were already a few people standing outside waiting. Totally different as what my manager and other senior colleague told me. My boss said he had to queue up at 4.30am in the morning, and he was the fifth person in the row while another colleague said it will be pack with people which they will rush into the building once the door was open. Totally not the case. While my friends sat at the pavement waiting for the door to open, I had a short walk along the road known as Lebuh Pantai, or Beach Street, or maybe some people call it bank road coz got quite a number of bank there. I was fascinated by the beautiful architecture of the buildings along the road, according to a nice signboard by the road side, the buildings were built based on American achitecture.
The building is very beautiful when I first look at it, but through photo, it is not so..maybe coz of my lousy camera or because of the lousy cameragirl
Another building which is beautiful in real but not really beautiful in the photo
At 8am sharp, the door opened and people are queueing up nicely waiting to enter the building. I got myself the number 1004, which is the fourth person to be served. One of my friend got her passport photo rejected, according to the officer, the photo was too outdated and she had to retake her photo. Photo taking machine is available at the office. After she get her photo taken and requeue, she got the number 1038, so kelian. Once I enter the waiting hall, I saw this:
Why do you need to computerized the system if the system is not going to function properly most of the time?
The computer system was down. All the imigration officer just sit in front of their computer doing nothing. Luckily this time around, the system was restored within 15mins. Apart from this, actually I was surprised that the services provided by our government department had improved so much compare to last time. They work efficiently and all counters were open, my number was called after about 5 mins plus. A big kudos to our prime minister for improving the efficiency of the gov services. There are still one thing to improve, their SMILEs, but I consider it is very good already providing they didn't scold people. Maybe it's still early morning and they're having good mood. I settle my passport at about 8.40am, but still have to wait for my friend who got the number 1038.
And so I walk around the street again, taking pictures here and there. Here's another picture of a beautiful roundabout in Penang, just opposite the Imigration office.
The egg-like Pinang, which I mistakenly thought it was an egg (can you spot the typo in the picture?)
Everybody got their passport done before 10am. The friend from Agilent said he need to get to work already, so won't be joining us for brunch. So we had to send him to work. After that, we head to some place for our brunch. At 11.15am, we reach office. The rest of the working hours pass by very fast because it is a FRIDAY!! Weekend is juz around the corner, hooray!
I can get my passport next Monday, 21 August.  15 août The 3 days that I dislike in a weekI know I've mention this like a hundreds of times before but I still think it is very true....TIME FLIES!!
One day replaced the other, routine such as sleep, work, Maple repeats themselves and without realising it, it has been 2 months since I started working. The days that I dreaded the most in a week is Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. WHY??
Tuesday is the day my department have group meeting. After manager update us on last week's issue, ask questions that he need answers then he'll said "OK, so now let's go around the table...starts from XX (pointing to the person on either his right or left)". We'll have to let him know what we had done for the past week. Usually, other than looking into some of the past projects directory, I don't have anything to do and thus I don't have anything to say, then everybody will know I did not do anything for the past week. Arghh..I hate group meeting!
Wednesday is the day of another meeting. This involved our counterparts in US where there is another bigger boss. Though this meeting I don't have to say anything YET, but sooner or later I will need to say something. Scary
.Friday? It's the last day of the week, why don't like? Coz it's the day where I need to write report to manager, stating what I had done for the past few days. Do nothing + discover nothing = nothing to write.
I know I'm doing very bad at work and are finding solutions to it, but up until now still no progress. I'm the kind of stupid person that need people to kick before I start moving. If no one kick me, then I won't budge. During Uni time, there'll be due date for project/report, so I'll work towards the due date. But here, the scope is too big and it's up to you to learn whatever you can, of course the more you learn the better. And since I'm still new, surely there are no projects to handle and no dateline to meet, it leaves me hanging with no destination/goal in mind.
As time pass by, expectation of manager surely increased.........getting worried of my work.
Still, the question of whether Engineer is the profession I wants linger in my mind whenever I'm alone. Age increases day by day, choices decreases as age increase, I have to make my decision soon.
 FYI, I added photos into the hiking entry.... 8 août Charity SundayAnother early rise weekend, going to do some charity work for some society that I have never heard of. During our hiking the other day, Ah San ask if we're interested to help collect old newspaper, it's for charity he said. Daniel and I agreed to go. During movie outing that night, I ask small Daniel to go along and he, too agree to go.
At around 10.15am, Daniel Yeow driving his Accent together with Daniel Tai come to fetch me. We will meet Ah San near Masjid Negeri because none of us knows how to go to Farlim. When we reached, the old newspaper collection already started. As we were new, we just follow them and help to take the big stack of newspaper. We go from level to level and from block to block, sweating profusely. It was a good form of exercise and I do enjoy it very much. They collect newspapers from different places once in a month, sell it and the money goes to a society, which I'm not very sure what is the name. It was in Chinese and very hard to remember. FYI, the vegetarian fair which will be held on 27 August also belongs to this society. Who'll be going?
Finished the work at about 12.30 noon. Ah San brought us to Sunshine 2000 for lunch after the hard work. It is a food court in Farlim, not supermarket like in Bayan Baru. After lunch, both Daniels and I went to Gurney for movie. Wow, 2 movie in 2 days with 2 Daniels...I love to watch movies..ekeke....
We watch M. Night Shyamalan's Lady In The Water. The same director as Sixth Sense, The Signs and The Village. I think this movie is very nice, interesting storyline, exciting in way but there's some humour in it too. It was scary when the dog-like creature appears, not because of it's appearance but because of the sound effect. The prologue in the beginning of the movie told us the whole story, so guys, if you're going to watch this movie, don't be late if not you'll not be able to figure out what happen. I'm not going to write about the storyline here, coz you can find it easily in the internet. The first scary scene in the movie was not from the movie, it was from 2 girls sitting next to Tai. They shouted so loud!! The second scary scene was when the dog first appear, Yeow who was sitting in between Tai and me splashes popcorn on both of us!!! Haha...it so was funny, I can still laugh whenever I think of it. This movie is suitable for children because there wasn't any intimate moment in it, not even a kiss. The movie expresses love in a natural way. Nowadays, it is so hard to find a movie without kissing scenes.
There's one thing about this movie, in a way, the director expresses that he hate movie critics, because the movie critics character in the movie died sadly...
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