Pangkor Trip 2007

I got back from Pangkor yesterday and boy, it was fun! Considering I've never been to an island before(Singapore doesn't count), I was surprised at all the different things one could do on an island in the span of only a couple of days. Much thanks to Woon Cherk(again), I'll be posting some of the more interesting pictures from the trip here. Do visit his blog. It's pretty and he did all the coding and designing himself.

Anyway, unto the pics!

The first place that we visited was the Dutch Fortress. It's more than 200+ years old and by the looks of it, it must've gone many battles and somehow the structure still stood the test of time. Amazing.


If you look on the left side of the picture, you can see Cheng Yee and I standing over a ledge. Apparently, it's just an empty square 'room' filled with trash and covered by a metal grating. I would assume that it was used to hold things, like prisoners or ammunitions during battles.


The view from the fort facing the sea. So, this is what it would look like if you were a Dutch soldier defending the fort. Well, sans battleships and angry people on boats.


Afterwards, we went to a temple called 'Foo Ling Kong', if I'm not mistaken and by this temple there's a HUGE piece of rock on the hill that says 'yuan' or fate.


Just to give you an idea of how big the rock is, here's Soon Siong and Kae Deng posing in front of the rock.


Next, we visited this little factory filled with goodies and delicious snacks. We were allowed to go in and take pictures of the people working on the food and packing them. Apparently, everyone have their own things to do, ie. packing, salting the fish, sealing, etc..., in the process of producing things like fish satay sticks, etc...


So, it's the dye that gives these dried fish snacks the taste and colour. Looks like blood, to be honest.


Then we came to this Kuan Yin Miao/Temple by one of the beaches in Pangkor. I found it weird to see cartoon characters like Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse chilling out at the temple. Actually, it was hilarious. I got a kick out of it. Here, you can see Jackie chilling out with a half-naked mermaid. The eyes are scary.


Yup, needless to say I was a very happy man for the 60 secs it took for Woon Cherk to take this picture. That's Hui Beng on the left and Lee Ping on the right.


This picture pretty captures my first impression of the island. I thought the waters are blue but turns out they are green, which isn't so bad considering all the beaches I've ever been to have brownish water. I thought it was beautiful.


You can pretty much see how clear the water is. Of course the water is salty but seeing clear water like this by the beach is a new thing to me.


"We should've stayed out of trouble."


True to the words of Woon Cherk, we are the Mat Rempit and Mat Pedlits of the day. I didn't know how to ride a bicycle and yet I was silly enough to rent a bike and almost got myself shoved off the rode a couple of times. It was fun though, trying to get to places on a bike. NOTE TO SELF: If you hear sounds of cars/vehicles approaching from the back when you're riding a bike, move INWARDS and NOT outwards towards the vehicle lest you want your brains blown to pieces. Point taken.


Water is fun. Playing games in water is fun. Almost have your so-called swimming trunks ripped off by homo-loving, embarrassment-inducing friends is not fun. "DAAANNIIEEELLL!!!!!" *shakes fist*


Pity Kim Wei. Fancy being turned into a mermaid.


Daniel's first foray into beach football.


First promotional poster. Don't forget to book your tickets today to see Daniel in action for the coming Beach Football World Cup.


Woon Cherk and Boon Kiat were so fired up to go canoing but too bad it rained right before they go out to the sea. You can also say that they were fortunate because they didn't get caught in storm while canoing.


It's nice to see pretty birds that you don't see everyday. One of the guys there threw pieces of bread/biscuits upwards and these birds will swoop down from trees and catch it mid-air. It was pretty awesome.


The obligatory group photo of everyone who came for the trip.


Woon Cherk and I at the back of a boat when we went island hopping. The boat 'driver' was a funny man and he was incredibly friendly to us.


Welcome to Turtle Beach, if I'm not mistaken. The boat dude told us that sea turtles would come up here to lay eggs in the middle of the night during the Jan-Mar season.


You see those things that look like poop on the sea floor? Those are sea cucumbers but they aren't edible though. Daniel threw one of those things at someone and I'm pretty sure it must've hurt.


I don't know what's this. I'm guessing it's some sort of coral or shell that's stuck to a piece of rock. Daniel found it and we both thought it's dead until we stuck it back into water.


It would open up it's shell and you can see these hairy things come out.


There are also hermit crabs and here's one in case you've not seen one before.


Now we know why our moms tell us not to drink water that are not boiled.


Snorkeling is awesome, eventhough I didn't know how and couldn't swim. Kae Deng taught me how to swim a little and it was fun to be able to look into the water and breathe at the same time.


Check out all of these fishes. They are pretty fierce and would eat almost anything that you throw into the water.




Banana boat looks fun but too bad I didn't get a ride because I don't feel really good about playing something like that. Well, maybe some other time, I guess.


Here's me with Tangga our boat driver. Awesome guy.


What's an island trip without barbeque by the beach? Food was little but the fun was plenty.


And like all good things in life, it has to come to an end. Good bye, Pangkor!


And most of all, good bye my friends! I will miss all of you. As we all lead our own lives after this, I wish all of you success in all your endeavours.

(Too bad I can't put all the pictures up here. There are roughly 400+ of them.)

My thoughts? I thought it was a fun trip. Although the journey took us more than 8 hours, but it wasn't dull because we're all friends and we have TONS of things to talk about and play with. The food that we had at this particular seafood restaurant was relatively cheap and very filling. Having the boss that looks a bit like my own father is a huge plus too. Pangkor people are generally very nice but they are some pretty nasty tourist trap, so watch out!

Star Wars: Force Unleased

Ryan, check this out:



This just reminded me that we need to get some duel on again, man.

it's never too early...

... to put up the tree:



Yup, I put it right in front of me to remind me that as Christmas gets nearer, exams are going to be over!

"Hyugen's principle states that every point on a wave front will behave as a secondary point source emitting spherical wavelets with the same speed as the original wave in the forward direction only."

before Elvis, there was...

...Ol' Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra:



Listen to that voice!

elvis presley - love me tender

This is some good stuff:



Yes, I know I'm probably DECADES behind time but the man's a class of his own.

good CGI

Want to see some real good CGI? Watch the below .gif
It's kinda huge but let it load and watch it in its entirety.




That's a lot of movie budget blown right there in ONE episode of Heroes.

time to go boom

Heroes Season 1

Sweet.



Score!


I'm such a nerd. :-/

1812 Overture

I know it's weird to have me write about a classical piece, considering how much I like jazz, rock, pop and the like. Still, I've been listening to 1812 Overture, composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, a lot and feel the need to write a bit about it in case you have not heard about this song. Maybe I tried to listen too much into this song but hey, I find it kinda cool.

Imagine this, the song starts out slow and then it will go higher and higher as if it's going to reach it's climax. Just when you thought the song starts to pick up its pace,it will begin to slow down and 'decend'. And suddenly, out of nowhere just when you think the song is going to end and sound draggy, it goes batshit insane. Not just any batshit insane kind of insane but rather almost a victorious sounding and triumphant kind of insane. You know, like when they have won the war, which is true in this case.

Also, have I mentioned that this is actually one of the few songs(less than 10 in the history of music) that requires cannons? That's right. In case you didn't read it properly, IT REQUIRES CANNONS. 16 shots are written into this song with 5 shots in the middle and the other 11 towards the end. I thought Jaco's big band was crazy enough but to have cannons written into a song is simply all kinds of awesome.

So, I decided to look up Wikipedia regarding this song and true enough this was written by Tchaikovsky in 1880 to commemorate the turning point of the Napoleonic War at the Battle of Borodino at the year.... 1812.

Basically, the whole song is structured in such a way to portray how the Russians struggled against the French/Napoleon army. Hence, the draggy and slow intro of the song and slowly as it approaches the Battle of Borodino, which is the turning point of the war, the song picks up. Although it's still a little draggy but you can hear that it's going higher and at the right moment, everything break loose and the song became... 1812 Overture.

Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia on the structure of the song. It will explain a couple of things in the song and hopefully will help you to appreciate this song even more:

Sixteen cannon shots are written into the score of the Overture. Beginning with the plaintive hymn "God Preserve Thy People", which was the old Czarist Russian National Anthem, the piece moves through a mixture of pastoral and militant themes portraying the increasing distress of the Russian people at the hands of the invading French. At the turning point of the invasion—the Battle of Borodino—the score calls for five Russian cannon shots confronting a boastfully repetitive fragment of the Marseillaise. A descending string passage represents the subsequent attrition of the French forces, followed by victory bells and a triumphant repetition of "God Preserve Thy People" as Moscow burns to deny winter quarters to the French. A musical chase scene appears, out of which emerges the anthem "God Save the Tsar!," thundering with eleven more precisely scored shots.

Like all classical pieces, there are many different recordings of this song. In fact, rumours say that Tchaikovsky himself may not have heard this piece as it is written! So, Antal Dorati came along and decided to record this piece AS IT IS WRITTEN for Mercury Records. Wikipedia says:

Dorati uses an actual Carillon called for in the score and they are rung about as close to a zvon then known. The art of Zvon ringing was almost lost due to the Russian Revolution and the atheistic beliefs of the communists. The Dorati recording also uses actual period French Cannon for the 1812 period which belonged to West Point US Military College.

One thing to note about the Carillon is that it is so rare that only a handful of classical pieces uses the Carillon bells. Now, imagine how difficult it is to get the zvon.

Fortunately for all of us, the recording of 1812 Overture by Antal Dorati can be found on YouTube. Yup, with cannons and everything. 1812 Overture starts at 2:44. So, you can fast forward till there if you want to just listen to the song:



If you think I'm kidding about the cannon part, check out the performance of this song by the Eastern Army Corps musical band of the Japan Ground Self Defence Force (JGSDF) using 105mm cannons. Fast forward till 5:03 for the song and the hawt cannon action:



Enough talking and hopefully what I have written is enough to give you an idea and also allow you to enjoy this as much as I did.



(References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_Overture)

Marching bands

Here's a marching band from California, USA performing their 'half-time' shows at a football game versus Washington. Here's the list of games that the marching band did the music for:

1. Pong
2. Tetris
3. Pokemon
4. Legend of Zelda
5. Mario
6. Mario 'End-game' Music



What a bunch of talented people...

house

Here are some 'fan-art' that I found on SomethingAwful. Some of it are borderline creepy, so that means you really don't want to search for them on Google. Trust me.







And.... my favourite of all, from a recent episode(click on it to view the animated .gif):

Music is so beautiful

I was home alone tonight cause the family decided to run some errands outstation leaving me at home to take care of things. Anyway, I turned on one of the radio channels on Astro and after surfing around I decided on 'Opus', which is a satellite radio channel for classical music. Now, whenever someone speak of classical music, people usually think of the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky or rather the 9th Symphony by Beethoven.

Classical music is so much more than that, my friends. Although I have a crappy TV with crappy sound, I still got a huge kick out of listening to the sounds of different instruments and notes as well as chords mixing together into one beautiful piece of work. No, it's not that I'm high on drugs nor am I seeing colours or 'music' around me. It's just that when you listen to these works, as simple as they are sometimes, you can hear that there's a purpose behind everything. Maybe it's trying to accentuate another instrument or even making way for the coming lines.

It's almost like fine dining. Just that it costs next to nothing.

MPPPU Farewell Dinner 2007

Well, yesterday's dinner marked our graduation from our Form 6 studies as we continue to prepare for our STPM Examinations(Oh God help me). It's nice to see everyone unwind themselves for the night and having the whole thing hosted in Prime City's Jupiter Ballroom, which is also the biggest and coldest, gave everyone and excuse to dress up; and for some, to dress down... till almost well, nevermind.

As usual, the food served at the dinner was less than spectacular but considering the price that we paid, RM30, there isn't much room to complain. Hey, you gotta "eat what's on the table", isn't it? I believe Jun Jiat, who is the new President of MPPPU, and his team did a good job eventhough there was a bit of a hitch here and there during the event. But things could have been much worse but it didn't and the team handled all their situations well. So, that's all good.

I personally believe the performances this year was certainly much better than last year's dinner, probably because most of them are my own friends. For those of you who were there, I'm sure you will agree that Cheng Yee's song was fantastic and incredibly hilarious. Also, Mohan did a flawless performance of Michael Jackson's dance. He was incredible. And let's not forget about Elween and Hui Mun's wonderful opera performance.

Man, so many great performances and things to talk about. Rather than typing a butt load of text and ridiculous nonsense, please allow me to post pictures from last night's dinner and much thanks to WOON CHERK (visit his fantastic blog @ panorazzi.com/colorfool) for all the pictures that you will see here. The pictures that I will be posting here are mainly taken before and after the dinner with friends and stuff. As for pics taken DURING the dinner such as speeches, prizes and awards, I will try to get them from Miss Neo or the new MPPPU board and then put them up here for everyone's enjoyment. I will probably have to pay for the pics though. *cross hands*

So, hope you will enjoy these pictures!

I present to you, my class: PU2 F3

Not very graceful, I know, but everyone's got to do it.

Here's Cheng Yee presenting his very own song about the Form 6 life.
Fantastic stuff.

From left: Cheng Yee, Mei San and I.

From left: Boon Cheik, K'Chai, Woon Cherk

Hui Beng and I. Hui Beng is possibly the best dressed girl in the event. Possibly.
She's also in the MPPPU 06/07 board too.

Lee Ping and I. Trustworthy Treasurer of ELS 2006/07.

From left: K'Chai, Woon Cherk, Lee Ping, Miss Neo, Hui Beng, Cheng Yee.

Daniel and I. I finally figured out what made Daniel looked so different last night.
It's his hair and he dyed it with a little bit of blue. Vain.

Chee Yong and I. He's a fantastic guy.

And once again, I present to you, PU2F3.

It's a pity that I couldn't take pictures with everyone. I wish I could. Still, there are plenty more pictures with the new board and I will try to get it from them as soon as possible. Woo...

Some of my final thoughts about the dinner:
I felt happy for everyone because one of the toughest period of our life is finally over and at the same time I'm so proud of everyone when I was up the stage giving my final speech. Being the President of the old board, I had lots of opportunity to speak in front of people and also be able to share my ideas and thoughts with all the students. Standing in front of everyone whom I have tried so hard to care* for and to be able to talk to everyone as a group for the last time makes me really glad that I have decided to stay in Form 6 and to take up the responsibility and the position on the board. I don't regret my decision and I'm glad that I stood by it and have my friends stood by my side and I struggled with all the different dealings and things that I have to put up with.

* Well, not in a motherly way or anything like that but rather more of wanting to protect, take care and stand up for them kind of way. You know what I mean.

WARNING: Some sensitive stuff below:
Having been the President of the board, I have never spoken about the cons of being in this position. So, I'm going to take this opportunity to take it off my chest and maybe some of you will be able to understand what I actually go through.

These 1 and a half years in Form 6 have taught me many new things. Things that are practical as well as the human character. Most of the people I know are great people but nevertheless one has to face the dark side of the human character sometimes.

I have made many new friends indeed. I can see some of these people as my friends forever but there's always this little thought in me that makes me wonder a lot about my relationship with others. I see so many of them as friends and I would go all out to help them and believe me, I have at times almost have to give up an arm or a leg to get some of them out of trouble. But do they take me as a friend? Or am I just some random guy that they will have to respect just because he's a 'president and smiles a whole lot than the other teachers'.

I know I probably shouldn't look at things like this but I would be really stupid and ignorant to take it out of the equation altogether. When I look back at the things that I have done, it's almost as if it's a "horse and a cart" situation: I have many friends and because of that I did my best and do everything to help and at the same time as I do those things, I made many new friends.

My dear friends, whether you really take me as a friend or not, I will still look at you and treat you as a friend. I will call you brothers and some of you sisters. 20 years on, when we all lead our own lives, I will still look back to these pictures and think of the wonderful times we had.

I guess that's what you get when you become a 'public figure'. You form so many new relationships but you will have a hard time trying to tie things up when things have to come to an end. I guess it all takes practice and to me, this is one of my first steps in life and I'm glad I have taken these steps well.

I have done my best and I hope that my best is good enough for all of you. Well, all the best fellas and let's kick STPM's ass together.